Chapter 391:
"Are you sure?"
Kaede rubbed Little Nine's face.
Regarding evolution, what he hoped for was that each of them would have their own evolved form, and one that they themselves liked.
Because once they evolved, they basically couldn't go back.
"Eevee!" (Yes, yes!)
Little Nine nodded firmly.
"Alright then."
Kaede said no more and took out the Leaf Stone.
It was a bluish-green stone rewarded by the system. It didn't look big, but it was emerald green all over. Just holding it felt like it was brimming with vibrant vitality.
This was for Little Three. In fact, only Little Three needed an evolution stone. The other two Eevees only needed their Everstones removed to evolve.
Leading the three Eevees to the plantation, under the brilliant moonlight, he handed the Leaf Stone to Little Three. "Hold this well, and you'll evolve into a Leafeon."
"Eevee!"
Little Three hurriedly took it seriously.
Then, under the expectant gazes of the three Eevees, Kaede removed their Everstones.
Almost the moment they were taken off, three beams of light rose from their bodies.
This made Alolan Ninetales, who had followed them, let out a series of excited cries.
Kaede couldn't help but laugh. "It's not you evolving, why do you seem more nervous than them?"
"Ninetales..."
Alolan Ninetales nodded as if it were obvious.
Of course it was nervous! After all, it, Alolan Ninetales, was the leader of this little team!
It then turned its nervous gaze to where the white light was.
As the white light took shape and settled, Kaede's slightly tense expression relaxed.
The forms were basically confirmed; none of the three little ones had evolved into the wrong form.
The one with the most dramatic evolution was Little Five. The moment its Everstone was removed, the moon in the sky seemed to brighten, pouring its radiance onto it.
In less than five seconds, all evolutions were complete.
The three Pokémon, who looked similar just moments before, now all had changed forms, becoming their respective evolved forms.
First was Little Three.
Its eyes, once black like obsidian, had become amber-colored. Its originally long, upright ears and tail seemed to have turned into leaves. Its overall color was now a light yellow, with many green, leaf-like tufts of fur on its body.
"Eevee?"
Then came Little Five.
It evolved into Umbreon. Its overall body shape, compared to its previous Eevee form, changed most noticeably in its fur. Its fur had turned entirely black, with many yellow rings on its body. Under the moonlight, these rings seemed to glow, adding a mysterious aura.
Standing in the middle was the one with the most dramatic change: Sylveon.
With light blue pupils and a main color scheme of pink and white, it had ribbons on its ears and neck that looked like tied bows. The long ribbons floated ethereally around its head and neck, making it look like a fairy.
"Eevee.."
After evolving, the three Eeveelutions first looked at their own bodies.
When they saw their changes were correct, expressions of delight appeared on their faces.
"Eevee!" (It's Sylveon!)
"Eevee..." (I'm Leafeon...)
"Eevee..."
They circled at Kaede's feet. Over there, Alolan Ninetales also seemed to relax and let out a sigh of relief.
Kaede took this time to check the status of the Pokémon.
[Pokémon: Sylveon]
[Gender: Female]
[Type: Fairy]
[Ability: Pixilate]
[Aptitude: Red]
[IVs: HP (24) Attack (23) Sp. Atk (25) Defense (24) Sp. Def (24) Speed (27)]
[Strength: 38-39]
[Moves: Tackle, Tail Whip, Growl, Quick Attack, Charm, Swift, Cute Charm, Misty Terrain, Light Screen, Draining Kiss, Baby-Doll Eyes, Disarming Voice...]
[Friendship: 99...100]
[Happiness: 80 (I evolved!)]
The Friendship, which was just 99, had now risen to 100.
And the system notification arrived as expected.
[Congratulations, Host, for raising Sylveon's Friendship to 100. Reward: One Leaf of Life from Xerneas. (A leaf formed from condensed life energy after the legendary Xerneas transformed into a tree. Possesses miraculous effects!)]
'Xerneas!'
Hearing this reward, Kaede's eyes lit up.
As the legendary Life Pokémon, he had been hoping for a reward related to it for a long time.
He originally thought it would take much longer.
Could it be used to create a life-extending dish?
Kaede felt excited, but remained steady.
He had wanted to create a life-extending dish for a while.
But no matter how he tried, the result was always a dish with "health and longevity" effects.
While this effect was quite good, and combined with his Veridian Power, could significantly extend a Pokémon's lifespan, it was ultimately still too limited.
Because Bug-type Pokémon and Pokémon like Alcremie had very scarce life energy.
Ryō Fū's Beedrill had made Kaede aware of this, so he also worried about his own Butterfree and Alcremie.
But there was no rush now.
After all, his Butterfree and Alcremie were less than a year old.
There was plenty of time~
Pulling his thoughts back, he looked down at the bouncing Sylveon, who even wanted to jump into his arms. Kaede crouched down. "Looks like the evolution wasn't a mistake~"
But just as he was about to place his hand on its head to feel Sylveon's texture, the two longer ribbons on Little Nine's neck swiftly attached themselves, tightly wrapping around Hayashi Kaede's right hand.
"Eevee~"
Little Nine was clearly excited to try out its new body parts.
Not only did the two ribbons bind his right hand, but the ribbons on its neck even tried to reach over too.
"Alright, alright."
Kaede was amused and exasperated. He gently pulled the ribbons off his hand and placed his hand on its back.
He quickly experienced a different texture compared to its Eevee days.
Eevee's fur was abundant, like a fox's, feeling fluffy. But now, as Sylveon, its fur had become much shorter and finer, yet very dense, lying against its body like a smooth layer of skin.
This was similar to the Umbreon beside it.
Umbreon's fur had also become like this.
After gently stroking it, Kaede soon turned his gaze to Little Five.
[Pokémon: Umbreon]
[Gender: Male]
[Type: Dark]
[Ability: Synchronize]
[Aptitude: Purple]
[IVs: HP (21) Attack (22) Sp. Atk (24) Defense (26) Sp. Def (21) Speed (27)]
[Strength: 35-37]
[Moves: Tackle, Tail Whip, Growl, Quick Attack, Sand Attack, Confuse Ray, Assurance, Moonlight, Dark Pulse, Crunch, Curse...]
[Friendship: 95]
[Happiness: 78]
Its red eyes met Kaede's as he looked over.
Little Five was clearly very happy too at this moment. It stretched out its tongue and licked Kaede's hand. However, it wasn't as active as Little Nine, so it didn't have the urge to jump onto him.
As for the biggest one, Little Three.
It actually benefited the most from this evolution.
Kaede looked at it.
[Pokémon: Leafeon]
[Gender: Female]
[Type: Grass]
[Ability: Leaf Guard]
[Aptitude: Gold]
[IVs: HP (27) Attack (28) Sp. Atk (28) Defense (29) Sp. Def (21) Speed (29)]
[Strength: 41-44]
[Moves: Tackle, Tail Whip, Growl, Quick Attack, Leech Seed, Magical Leaf, Synthesis, Sunny Day, Swords Dance, Leaf Blade, Giga Drain, Calm Mind, Dig...]
[Friendship: 96]
[Happiness: 85]
It was the only one among the three Eeveelutions to directly reach Gold Aptitude through evolution.
Moreover, its energy level had increased the most.
This wasn't surprising, because the Leaf Stone he provided had a corresponding description: capable of altering genes and sublimating aptitude.
It seemed this effect was remarkably good.
Little Three had the shyest personality among the three Eeveelutions. Initially, when it saw Kaede crouch down, it seemed a bit embarrassed. It was only after he beckoned that it walked over with small steps.
It was the only one among the evolved forms that still had fine, dense fur all over its body.
Looking at its lively, leaf-like ears, Kaede's hands itched, and he reached for its ears.
He gave a gentle pinch.
Contrary to his expectation, Little Three's ears, after evolution, actually felt like leaves to the touch—cool and leaf-like—while below the ears, its body was warm...
"Great, wonderful, you've all evolved!"
Kaede petted one, then another, then took out a scale and weighed each Eeveelution after evolution.
Little Three — 29kg.
Little Five — 31kg.
Little Nine — 25kg.
Calculated this way, Little Nine was the lightest, and the male Little Five was the heaviest.
Incidentally, this was a bit heavier than the average evolved Eevee.
But Kaede wasn't surprised.
After all, they did look a bit taller.
The average evolved Eevee has a height of about 1m.
These three were all around 1.1m.
Later, Alolan Ninetales clamored to be weighed too.
When it stepped on the scale, it was quite interesting.
One would think the tallest, largest-looking one would be the heaviest.
Unexpectedly, the nearly 1.3m tall Alolan Ninetales weighed only 21kg?
So it looked so big, but it was all due to its fluffy fur adding volume.
No wonder it always felt so light when carried.
"Heh, skinny fox..." Kaede couldn't help but tease.
But what followed was Alolan Ninetales pouncing directly onto his face.
Along with a rather mortified tone, "Ninetales!" (Don't say that!)
"Okay, okay."
It was only after Kaede agreed that Alolan Ninetales climbed off him.
They had left as three Eevees and one Alolan Ninetales; returning home, they were now three different Eeveelutions and one Alolan Ninetales.
"Woof..."
Entering the house, Kaede saw Growlithe guarding the door. It barked at him a few times, its tail wagging like a rattle drum.
Its tongue was hanging out.
When it saw the three Eeveelutions following Kaede, Growlithe froze for a moment, instinctively baring its teeth. But soon, it caught the familiar scent on the three Eeveelutions and retracted its teeth.
Seeing this, Kaede couldn't help but smile.
"This is Little Nine and the others. They evolved."
Kaede patted Growlithe.
It suddenly occurred to him that Growlithe had been here for a while now.
Should it evolve soon too?
Kaede looked at Growlithe's status panel.
[Pokémon: Growlithe]
[Gender: Male]
[Ability: Flash Fire]
[Aptitude: Blue]
[IVs: HP (25) Attack (18) Sp. Atk (24) Defense (16) Sp. Def (18) Speed (19)]
[Strength: 18-19]
[Moves: Leer, Ember, Howl, Bite, Flame Wheel, Morning Sun...]
Okay.
It still needed some more time.
Evolving a Pokémon that requires an evolution stone too early, while not having a major impact, would result in a period of energy adaptation.
This energy adaptation period would be prolonged.
But since it could be avoided, there was no rush.
Besides, he didn't have an SSS-grade Fire Stone in his system space right now. No rush, no rush.
He patted the little dog's head.
Kaede checked the time.
Only 8 PM.
He suddenly realized that if this were his previous world, it would probably be the start of nightlife. But in this world, except for some major competitions, it was almost time to rest and sleep.
This made Kaede sigh with emotion.
Less work, good food, good routine—that was life for most people in this world. No wonder the humans here generally had better physical constitutions.
The evolved Eeveelutions, before getting on the bed, each used their respective energies to remove the dust from their feet.
Then, they started bouncing on the bed.
Fortunately, Hayashi Kaede had considered earlier that if the Eevees evolved, a small bed definitely wouldn't be enough for them. So he had specially chosen a very large bed for this very reason.
It was the first day after evolution.
After bouncing around enough, the Eeveelutions sat in front of Alolan Ninetales, who acted like a leader giving a speech.
It began its routine summary.
Stating that this was their first step towards becoming stronger, and there would be a second step, a third step...
Until finally challenging the Sky Dragon!
They had to work hard and strive for it!
Then...
Then they pulled Rotom over and started watching anime....
Hmm, it was the last episode of the first season today. So even though, as their strength gradually grew, the content of the anime became increasingly uninteresting, they still had to finish this episode!
Hayashi Kaede didn't bother them. Instead, he turned and sought out Serperior, who was coiled up on a rug, its amber eyes closed.
"Serperior?"
Sensing Hayashi Kaede's gaze, Serperior turned its head.
"When do you want to go see the Tree of Beginning?"
Hayashi Kaede asked with a smile as he approached.