Chapter 198: Micro-Regional Forms
In the next few days, the frequency of calls from Ash Ketchum dropped noticeably. Most of the time, the Pokédex was in Tracey Sketchit's hands, and Natsume offered pointers a few times along the way.
At last, on a clear and lovely afternoon—
[Ding! Special Pokémon detected: Crystal Onix. A-Rank Research Task—"Decipher the Crystal Onix" has been posted!]
[Task complete. Ultra Ball Scratch-Off +1.]
The posting and completion sounds came almost at the same time, leaving Natsume a little surprised. He proactively dialed Ash's Pokédex, and Tracey picked up.
"How did it go?" Natsume asked, knowingly.
"We're organizing the data—we were just about to send it to you for review, Mr. Natsume!" Tracey's hair was a bird's nest, but he couldn't hide his excitement.
"No need," Natsume said, shaking his head.
"Is… is there something wrong?" Tracey stammered. Although he was confident, having borrowed the Pokémon Center's instruments and used Natsume's data as a foundation, it was his first attempt. He couldn't guarantee one hundred percent correctness.
"No problem. Just tell me directly." Natsume waved a hand, indicating there was no need to be so tense. Since the system reward had already been delivered, Tracey's conclusion had to be fine.
"Okay, Mr. Natsume. I made a PowerPoint—should I send it over to go with my explanation?" Tracey took a deep breath and sat up straight.
Natsume: "…"
There was really no need to be that formal. Still, for a researcher, rigorous seriousness is a rare virtue, and Natsume certainly wouldn't dampen it.
"Alright, send it over."
Natsume imported the PowerPoint to his computer and opened the first slide: "A Hypothesis on the Evolution of the Crystal Onix Based on Micro-Regional Forms." Seeing this, Natsume nodded slightly; this was what he had in mind as well.
On the other end, Tracey drew a deep breath and adjusted his headband as if giving himself a pep talk.
"Mr. Natsume, I'll state my conclusion first. As for the existence of the Crystal Onix, I believe it comes from a micro-regional form of Onix. I carried out experimental demonstrations from several aspects, starting with genetic comparison; the source sample came from a piece bitten off by a Marill while sleepwalking—"
As Tracey explained, Natsume kept nodding.
Micro-regional forms differ greatly from the regional forms people are familiar with. According to League scholars, a regional form is defined as a change a Pokémon makes to itself in order to adapt to environmental shifts in its ecology. This change is remarkable, to the point that even a Pokémon's typing can change. For example, a normal Ninetales is Fire-type, whereas in the Alola region, Ninetales is Ice-type.
While Tracey spoke, Natsume thought of his Motorbike Rotom. Almost all Motorbike Rotom are Electric/Fighting. Only a garbage-truck Rotom that has been in service for a long time will become Electric/Poison. In a sense, could the motorbike actually function like an ecological environment for Rotom?
Natsume had considered this before but quickly vetoed it. The relationship between Rotom and a motorbike looks more like the relationship between a Pokémon and its living environment under a micro-regional form.
"Compared with regional forms, Pokémon with micro-regional forms make smaller compromises in response to the environment," Tracey's voice continued.
For research into Pokémon with micro-regional forms, Professor Ivy of the Orange Archipelago has been delving deeply down this path. The Orange Archipelago has hundreds of islands, which invisibly divide into hundreds of different environments, naturally suiting the birth of micro-regional-form Pokémon.
"For example, one island we visited had all-pink Pokémon, because they were all exposed to a certain fruit… However, although Professor Ivy calls the Orange Archipelago a paradise for researchers of micro-regional-form Pokémon, so far I've only seen that one island…" Tracey smiled awkwardly, then looked to Natsume with hope, expecting him to add more.
"Well, the most obvious factor is body size," Natsume said, gnawing on an apple. "When you travel, pay attention to this. The larger the island, the more Pokémon trend larger in body size; the smaller the island, the more Pokémon trend smaller in body size. The League has statistics on this; you can search them yourself."
Hearing this, Tracey nodded repeatedly and took detailed notes. This phenomenon already has names: island gigantism and island dwarfism.
The principle is simple—a matter of resource allocation. For the same Pokémon species, on resource-rich large islands, larger individuals have stronger competitive ability. On resource-poor small islands, smaller body size means lower energy consumption, which yields better survival. Add in isolation by the sea, and natural selection passes the genes down. There's even a record of a Raticate on a large island in the Orange Archipelago being bigger than a Nidoking from the smallest island!
"So your point is that this Crystal Onix is a micro-regional form. But why do I see that its typing has changed?" Natsume glanced at the slides. They clearly stated the Crystal Onix isn't afraid of Water but is weak to Fire.
In academia, the most important index distinguishing regional forms from micro-regional forms is whether the typing changes.
"Mm, that's right. As for the typing assessment of the Crystal Onix, I measured it as Rock/Ice," Tracey spoke, then slowly added: "However, I asked Professor Ivy, and for some micro-regional-form Pokémon, there are occasional individual cases where typing does change. Professor Ivy's view is that the micro-regional form is a transitional stage toward a regional form… But it seems many people in academia don't endorse this claim, so there's controversy."
"Of course they don't endorse it," Natsume said indifferently.
"Why?" Tracey was extremely curious.
"No particular reason."
A lot of researchers make their living on micro-regional-form Pokémon. If Professor Ivy's view were officially recognized, then micro-regional-form research would likely become a subordinate track under regional-form research. That brings in issues with funding allocation and prestige. Tracey would understand once he's in the field.
After hanging up, Natsume stretched lazily, feeling refreshed. Tracey's report had given him quite a bit of inspiration. If he treated the motorbike as the environment and Rotom as the resident, certain changes in the motorbike could alter Rotom's typing.
So then, how can you make an environment keep changing? Snatch Arceus's Plates and build them into a rotary device for the bike?
Natsume felt that wasn't very realistic. Just as well—Mewtwo was studying hard, and the construction crew would still take a few days. With some free time, Natsume planned to look for a way for a Motorbike Rotom to switch typings freely.
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