Auron thought for a moment, then said,
"I don't think that sharply divided confluence is it. That's the Poliwhirl clan's home. If that were one of the evolution conditions, there's no way not a single Poliwhirl holding a King's Rock has been there all this time."
"Fair point."
Ashen agreed, and the room fell quiet again.
Ashen didn't know of any other places near Vantora where Water-type energy was especially dense.
Auron, on the other hand, knew that evolving into Politoed didn't actually require dense Water-type energy—but he had no idea how to bring that up.
"Riiing—riiing—"
Suddenly, a phone rang. It was Ashen's.
He was still chewing over the problem and hadn't fully switched gears, so he answered without even checking the screen.
"Ashen Vale! You left our son at the lab again, didn't you? If you don't get back here, don't bother coming home tonight!"
Mom's roar blasted out of the speaker. Before Ashen could say a word, she hung up.
Ashen held the phone aloft and gave Auron a rueful look.
"Let's go home."
Auron nodded, just as helpless.
"Yeah."
By the time the two of them got back, dinner was already on the table.
"Eat."
Mom didn't say anything else—she just called them over.
Father and son sat obediently. Their eyes did the talking.
Thank goodness Mom and Dad had always upheld their "no scolding before meals" policy. That meant they had a few precious minutes to come up with a countermeasure before the post-dinner tribunal.
Auron flicked a glance at Ashen: "What do we do?"
Ashen lifted a brow: "No idea."
Auron: "???"
It had been like this the whole way back—Auron asked what to do; Ashen replied that he didn't know. They were home now, and it was still the same.
Auron arched an eyebrow, exasperated. "So what then? Just wait for the axe to fall?"
Ashen blinked. "Wait for the axe to fall."
Mom's brows knit. "What's wrong with your eyes, you two?"
They both shook their heads in a hurry and buried their faces in their rice.
A short while later, they forced themselves to swallow the last grain in their bowls. That also meant Mom's struggle session was about to begin.
Sure enough, taking the initiative to clear the plates and bowls did nothing to stop it.
"Look at you two—how many times is this now? Every time I end up eating alone while I wait for you to come back!"
"I cook just to eat by myself? You two…"
While Auron listened to the scolding, his hand moved—very quietly.
"Ni~"
"Huh? Charmander, how did you get out?"
Auron pretended the Charmander had let itself out of its Poké Ball and fumbled to scoop it up.
"A Shiny… Charmander!"
Just as Auron expected, Mom's attention was instantly snared by the little lizard. For the moment, she forgot all about the trial.
Seeing Mom happily tease the Charmander, Ashen shot Auron an approving look.
Auron finally let out the breath he'd been holding and released Golbat and Munchlax as well.
After the last few "struggle sessions," Golbat and Munchlax had learned their lesson; they'd voluntarily returned to their Poké Balls before coming inside. Otherwise, they'd have been stuck listening to the scolding right along with father and son.
"Did it hatch today?"
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Auron answered sweetly, "Mm. We were in class and it suddenly hatched."
"Not bad. Golden—an auspicious sign."
Mom lifted the golden-hued Charmander up toward the light, beaming. The little one wasn't afraid at all; it let out a milky laugh.
Seeing Mom like this, Golbat and Munchlax relaxed too.
Munchlax hugged Auron's leg, blinking up at him with a practiced, irresistible plea for snacks. Golbat wheeled overhead in support, cheering Munchlax on.
Auron chuckled and rubbed Munchlax's head.
"Alright, I'll cook for you two right now."
The family slipped back into their usual, easy rhythm.
————————————
The following afternoon after school, Auron headed back to Ashen's lab to continue their discussion about the second condition needed for a Poliwhirl to evolve into Politoed.
"Dad, what if the other condition isn't Water-type energy at all? Helioptile is Electric-type, but it still evolves with a Sun Stone."
Ashen scratched his head, a little exasperated.
"That's possible. But what then—do we use the dumb approach and check every box canyon around Vantora one by one?"
"And never mind how the terrain could've changed over time—those canyons might not even be canyons anymore. The canyon thing is just a hypothesis anyway. It might not be the second condition for Poliwhirl's evolution at all. And even King's Rock… that's still our conjecture."
Auron fell silent. He did know all of this. But he also understood that, to Ashen, it was only guesswork unless they could prove it.
Watching Auron clam up made Ashen feel a little guilty. This was his son's first time proposing a full, highly plausible theory about a new evolutionary branch.
Ashen thought for a moment.
"How about this—we ask your grandpa to send over a few Poliwhirl. We test it first."
"Send them over? Right, send them over!"
Auron slapped his thigh. This world had transfer systems. Why had he been fixated on canyons? Trade evolution was the simplest path of all.
"Dad, could we ask Grandpa to send a King's Rock too?"
"Sure. I'll talk to him and have him courier one over."
Ashen said it and moved to contact Auron's grandfather, asking him to get a few Poliwhirl ready.
Auron froze. Only then did he dredge up the relevant memory.
Since the transfer system hadn't existed for very many years and held items were generally expensive, the standard here was to send Pokémon and held items separately.
In other words, you'd transfer the Pokémon first, then use a longer-standing, more trusted courier service to deliver the held item.
Auron gave a wry smile. He'd just realized the key point: when they transferred a Poké Ball through the system, the Pokémon wasn't sent holding an item.
Then another thought hit him. Wait a second—if that's true, then not just Politoed and Slowking… every other trade evolution that depends on a held item wouldn't work either.
Like Steelix and Scizor, which evolve via trade while holding a Metal Coat. And then there's Gengar, which evolves by trade too.
Hm? But Gengar… that can't be right. There were Gengar even in ancient times, long before trade evolution existed. And he'd never heard that Dad's Gengar evolved by trade either.
The more Auron thought about it, the more tangled it got. He had no choice but to dig into the literature; besides, the Poliwhirl couldn't be transferred yet anyway.
He let Ashen know he was heading back to his little room, fired up his computer, and started searching for information about all the Pokémon he remembered that evolved by trade.
He was even beginning to doubt his own memory—maybe Gengar didn't need to be traded after all?
After poring over a lot of materials and papers, a rough picture finally started to emerge.
Just then, his phone alarm went off.
He had no choice but to stop what he was doing and call for Dad so they could head home.
After last night's tragedy, Auron had taken the wise route—set an alarm and leave on time. That way, there'd be no scolding.
(End of Chapter)