Chapter 199: New Discovery at Mt. Moon
Professor Oak's Laboratory, back garden.
Fire trucks, a bulldozer, and semi-trailers loaded with various evolution stones filled the space.
"Merge, merge, merge!"
Two Rotom dove frantically into the vehicles, possessing them one after another. Each time they merged, Natsume ran an appraisal of their typing.
[Fire Truck Rotom: Electric + Fighting]
"Why isn't it Water-type?" Natsume muttered, puzzled.
[Bulldozer Rotom: Electric + Fighting]
"And why isn't this one Ground-type?"
After trying several vehicles in a row, Natsume turned his attention to a neat line of semi-trailers. On their flatbeds lay stacks of shimmering evolution stones. Natsume had meticulously sorted them by batch—one truck for Fire Stones, another for Water Stones—lined up in perfect order. They were all pure, high-quality stones without a single impurity.
"Rotom, merge!"
The two Rotom possessed the trailers loaded with Fire Stones and Water Stones, respectively. Golden eyes gleamed from each truck's grille as Natsume ran the appraisal with high hopes.
[Electric + Fighting]
[Electric + Fighting]
"Why?" Natsume still didn't understand.
He took the Rotom and headed straight for the cold-storage room where the Central AI resided.
"Got any USB drives?" were the first words out of the Central AI.
But a split second later, a yellow flash shot into its hardware.
Uh-oh, I don't think I can control myself!
A sweating bean emoji popped up on the screen. A moment later, those familiar golden eyes replaced the bean face.
[Electric + Psychic]
So the System's appraisal isn't broken! Natsume realized.
He still couldn't wrap his head around it—weren't the trucks outside the same principle as the sludge truck? The Rotom flew back into Natsume's Rotom Phone.
"What do you think?" Natsume asked as he casually plugged in a USB drive.
A bean emoji wearing sunglasses and smoking a cigarette swaggered onto the screen. After a long silence, the Central AI finally drawled, "Maybe those vehicles aren't considered a single, integrated whole?"
"For example, with a fire truck: the truck is still the truck, and the water is still the water. It's the same for those evolution stones."
"I see..." Natsume had considered that possibility. "But then why did the sludge truck Rotom work?" he asked, perplexed.
"No idea," the AI replied. "Maybe the stench permeated every single component?"
"Is that so..." Natsume raised an eyebrow.
If that was the case, it wasn't quite what he had in mind. Muttering to himself, he walked back into the lab.
Two hours later.
"Natsume, what is that?!" Honora stared at him in shock.
In Natsume's hands was a small handcart. It was a crude frame of wooden planks with a few old circuit boards serving as the bed, all held together by crooked iron wire. One push made it wobble; clods of mud fell off, and the wheels left wet tracks across the floor.
"This is Natsume-No. 1, an invention of great research significance."
The little cart was exceedingly rough. Natsume could barely take a step while pushing it; to an outsider, it looked as though he were trying to walk on the moon. At last, the cart reached the back garden.
"Alright, Rotom—ready?" Natsume looked at the Rotom Phone at his side.
"Roto!" Rotom nodded vigorously and joined Natsume in staring at the mud cart.
Today might be one small step for Natsume, but it was one giant leap for humankind! Natsume watched, laser-focused, as Rotom slipped into the mud cart. The next second, the data for the Mud Cart Rotom appeared.
All six stats were miserable—single digits across the board—and a decimal point even appeared for its Speed: 0.2. But that didn't matter; Natsume's focus was elsewhere. He looked tensely at the typing readout.
[Electric + Ground]
"Yes—success!" Natsume nearly wept for joy. At long last, the Fighting-type curse was broken!
However, a new question arose: if the raw material's original function must be maintained, how could other materials exert enough influence to change the Rotom's properties? Natsume racked his brain but couldn't think of any human technology that could achieve that effect.
What about Legendary-grade items?
Many such items could affect Legendary Pokémon, inducing form changes. If those items could alter a Pokémon's form, they could surely alter a vehicle Rotom's typing. But where was he supposed to get them?
Natsume looked up in despair. If he hadn't been riding on Ash Ketchum's protagonist aura, he probably wouldn't have encountered more than a handful of Legendary Pokémon by now.
Beep—beep—Professor Oak calling!
His Rotom Phone suddenly rang, and Natsume answered on reflex.
"Why did you apply to the League for two fire trucks and a bulldozer?" Professor Oak's panicked voice burst through the speaker.
Ever since Natsume had decided not to accompany Ash to the Orange Islands, Oak had harbored a bad feeling. He was certain his lab was headed for trouble! Sure enough, he had spotted the requisition forms today.
"You didn't flatten something again, did you?"
Before Natsume could respond, Professor Oak hung up and immediately placed a video call.
"See? Everything is right here. I'm just conducting an experiment for Rotom." Natsume pointed the camera toward the rows of vehicles. "These are just on loan. The League will send people to drive them back this afternoon."
"What's under those black tarps on the trucks?" Professor Oak asked, puzzled.
"Evolution stones. Since you weren't at the lab these past few months, I converted all my requisitions into stones."
"Is that so?" Professor Oak narrowed his eyes. His sixth sense was sharp; he felt as though something had definitely happened. "Walk me through the lab?"
He gestured toward the research building. For all he knew, Natsume was standing in front of a heap of rubble. However, as Natsume walked through, everything looked normal. In fact, it was so normal it felt suspicious. The locks were intact, and the cleanliness was impeccable.
"Oh, molecular deconstructor—praise this beam of synchrotron radiation that pierces the essence of matter!" Professor Westgrove drifted past in the background, muttering to himself.
Professor Oak froze, feeling a sting of sympathy. In an instant, he thought he understood. Natsume hadn't caused trouble—Westgrove had likely been silently bearing the brunt of Natsume's antics. The man was tormented to the point of talking to himself, yet he never complained. What a good old pal! Oak thought.
"Ahem... Professor Oak, let's talk outside," Natsume said, hurriedly teleporting out of the building. "Professor Westgrove has his own work to handle."
"So there really isn't a problem inside the lab?"
"Of course not, Professor Oak. When you come back, you'll definitely praise me."
"Heh... Natsume, how is the chat with my granddaughter going?" Suddenly, Professor Magnolia's face appeared on the call.
"She blocked me."
"..."
"By the way, Professor Oak—why are you at Mt. Moon?" Natsume noticed that the Professor was no longer on his usual island.
"I told you last time, didn't I? There's been a new discovery at Mt. Moon, so I came over to investigate." As he spoke, Oak's expression turned solemn. "We found this. Are you sure you don't want to come take a look?"
He lifted a glassy protective case. Inside lay half of an ancient stone tablet.
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