Professor Sycamore watched the rampaging Garchomp. It had a berry stuck on its scythe, paused its destruction to take a bite, chewed twice, and then spat the berry out.
He looked at his assistant. "Are there any case studies on Garchomp in the papers?"
The assistant hurriedly searched through the papers. "One moment, let me check. Found it."
The assistant was overjoyed: "Garchomp, the Mach Pokémon, mostly have irritable temperaments, love destruction, and often go berserk. For this situation, we can prepare several delicacies to soothe them. However, it should be noted that Garchomp's taste leans towards sweet and astringent, so the delicacies can be prepared with a sweet and astringent flavor profile."
"Garchomp actually likes sweet and astringent flavors?"
Professor Sycamore frowned as he spoke. He walked to a tree with slightly astringent berries, picked one, and threw it towards the Garchomp not far away.
The Garchomp pinned the berry with its claw, its scarlet eyes staring fixedly at Professor Sycamore.
Professor Sycamore reached out and picked a berry for himself, gestured to the Garchomp, and put it in his mouth to chew.
A bit astringent. Not tasty.
Seeing this, the Garchomp looked at the berry pinned by its sharp claw, put it in its mouth, and took a bite.
Slightly astringent. Satisfying.
The Garchomp quickly finished the berry and then continued to watch Professor Sycamore.
Professor Sycamore threw a few more berries towards the Garchomp again, and the Garchomp caught them all.
Seeing this, Professor Sycamore was a bit surprised. It really does like astringent flavors?
Professor Sycamore turned his head to look at the assistant holding the paper. "Are there any specific foods that fit? Is there a preparation method?"
The assistant nodded. "There is one that our Research Institute can make right now."
"What is it?"
"Garchomp Special Fried Rice. The ingredients are some rice, an appropriate amount of eggs, one vegetable, 80-120g of regular sweet honey, 5g of Energy Root powder, one Revitalizing Bud, 10g of Heal Grass powder, two servings of Mago Berry juice, stir-fried over medium heat."
After reading it, the assistant looked up at Professor Sycamore and asked, "Professor Sycamore, shall we give it a try?"
Professor Sycamore looked at the Garchomp meeting his gaze, pondered for a moment, and then nodded.
"As soon as possible."
"Yes."
The assistant hurried away with the paper.
Soon, a generous portion of fried rice was brought up by the assistant. Professor Sycamore took the fried rice, hesitated for a moment, and carefully walked towards the Garchomp with it.
The Garchomp watched Professor Sycamore walking towards it, roared, and raised the scythe on its arm, aiming it at Professor Sycamore.
"kao!"
It warned Professor Sycamore not to get closer.
Professor Sycamore gestured to the fried rice in his hand towards the Garchomp. "Don't be nervous, I'm here to bring you food. I'll leave once I get the food to you."
Professor Sycamore soothed the Garchomp while continuing to approach it.
Earth-yellow energy began to gather in the Garchomp's mouth.
Seeing this, Professor Sycamore quickly stopped, placed the fried rice on a broken chair nearby, and said, "I'll leave it here."
After saying this, Professor Sycamore retreated a distance.
After seeing Professor Sycamore retreat, the Garchomp dispersed the energy that had gathered in its mouth. It looked at Professor Sycamore, then glanced at the fried rice on the chair. The aroma drifted into its nose with the wind. So—so fragrant—
The Garchomp swallowed its saliva. Seeing that Professor Sycamore and the two assistants were just standing there, it walked over to the fried rice, picked up the bowl, and tentatively took a bite.
Sweet and astringent, very much to its taste.
The Garchomp's eyes widened, and then it just sat on the floor and focused on eating the fried rice.
The assistant didn't know if this method would work, so he only prepared a small portion of fried rice.
The Garchomp quickly finished the fried rice. Not yet satisfied, it handed the bowl to Professor Sycamore, signaling that it wanted more.
Professor Sycamore: ? It actually worked?
Professor Sycamore looked at the assistant. The assistant was clearly also shocked. When he saw the Professor looking at him, he hurriedly nodded and left.
Before long, he returned with a super-sized portion of fried rice. Professor Sycamore tried to take the fried rice and hand it to the Garchomp again. This time, the Garchomp was not as stressed or hostile towards Professor Sycamore's approach as it was at the beginning, but it was still very vigilant.
Professor Sycamore handed the fried rice to it, and it didn't stand on ceremony at all, taking the fried rice and continuing to feast.
Professor Sycamore took the opportunity to sit beside it and hesitantly placed his hand on its back. The Garchomp stopped eating, glanced at him sideways. Because the fried rice had added some herbal medicine, the Garchomp did not explode in anger and hurt him as imagined. It just shifted its body to get away from Professor Sycamore and continued to bury its head in the food.
Professor Sycamore: ————
Professor Sycamore: ? What kind of principle is this?
Professor Sycamore fell into doubt. He asked the assistant to hand him the paper and carefully studied it again.
Breeding House.
Lucas, who was taking a nap in the rest area, felt like a sun was baking him from beside him.
He suddenly opened his eyes and sat up straight. The fan overhead was whirring.
Gothitelle, who was reading a book nearby, saw Lucas suddenly sit up, took off the glasses on her face, and looked at Lucas curiously.
"Gothitelle?" Had a nightmare?
Lucas wiped the sweat from his forehead. "I dreamed that a sun was chasing me."
"By the way, Gothitelle, where did you get those glasses?"
Gothitelle looked down.
"Gothitelle." Bought them yesterday, no prescription, 9.9 including shipping.
"I see, as long as you like them."
Lucas nodded. A cool breeze came from beside him. Turning his head, he discovered it was Female fanning him.
"Thank you, Female."
Lucas rubbed Female's little head and thanked her.
"Meow~"
Then Lucas looked at Ninetales lying beside him. "I say, Ninetales, it's summer now, why don't you stay a bit further away from me?"
Ninetales was the culprit who woke Lucas up with heat.
Unlike Gengar, the heat on Ninetales's body was unexpectedly terrifying. Even the temperature drop from Gengar approaching Lucas couldn't withstand the heat brought by Ninetales.
Upon hearing this, Ninetales, lying on the carpet, opened its eyes and stared at Lucas without a word.
After a long while, Ninetales stood up, turned around, and prepared to leave.
Seeing this, Lucas hurriedly reached out to hug Ninetales's neck, pulling its head into his arms.
"No, no, no, I was joking. How could I bear to let our cute Ninetales leave, right?"
Ninetales said nothing.
Ninetales didn't speak, nor did it use its tail to whip him, so Lucas knew it was bad; Ninetales was truly angry.
Lucas kept comforting Ninetales. Just as Ninetales was about to return to normal, a voice that made Lucas feel like he had fallen into an abyss came from beside him.
"Gen Gengar—"
When you need it in winter, you call it Ninetales baby; when it's hot in summer, you tell it to stay away from you. Heh, men.
Ninetales's eyes, which had turned gentle, became cold again.
"!" Gengar! Still fanning the flames!
Lucas bared his teeth at Gengar, and Gengar made a face back.
After spending another half hour, Lucas finally coaxed Ninetales back to a good mood. Looking at the fox head lying in his arms with closed eyes, Lucas looked up at the ceiling. There was only one large fan spinning, blowing wind.
"Tomorrow, we need to install a large air conditioner in the rest area, the best kind. Otherwise, I'm afraid it will drive people crazy with the heat."
Mr. and Mrs. Fujino, Gengar, and other Pokémon all nodded in agreement.
Summer had started over a week ago, the Martial Arts Tournament had also ended over a week ago, and the Breeding House was getting hotter and hotter.
When Lucas first came to the Breeding House, it was already the end of summer. By the time he had prepared things for the Breeding House, it had officially entered autumn, so he didn't feel the heat.
At that time, there weren't so many Pokémon gathered together either.
The Sinnoh region has distinct four seasons, extremely distinct. Spring is warm, summer is hot, autumn is cool, and winter is cold. Lucas is the type of person who hates heat, so when he discovered there was no air conditioner in the rest area of the Breeding House, he couldn't stand it at all.
"Mr. Fujino, if you have time, please help contact a moving company in Twinleaf Town and ask if they can come tomorrow to install an air conditioner. It's so hot, it won't be easy to entertain guests otherwise."
Mr. Fujino nodded, stood up, and went to the backyard to make a call.
After Ninetales snuggled with Lucas for a while, it lifted its head from Lucas's arms and went to a place some distance away from Lucas, lying down again.
Feeling a bit cooler, Lucas breathed a sigh of relief.
Ninetales is still very sensible. Apart from liking to whip Lucas, liking to sleep, and being a bit clingy to Lucas, it has no other hobbies.
"Store Manager, it's done. The moving company will come tomorrow to install the air conditioner. It is said to be a newly launched air conditioner, and the effect is quite good."
Mr. Fujino walked out from behind the counter and said to Lucas, who was lying on the armchair.
Lucas nodded and said, "The weather is so hot today, how about we have a big ice cream party?"
"It should be a great party." Mrs. Fujino was full of anticipation.
The Pokémon also loudly agreed.
At this moment, Lucas's phone rang.
"Gothitelle, help me find my phone."
As soon as he finished speaking, Gothitelle used her psychic power to pull the phone out from under Lucas's butt and answered the call.
Looking at Professor Oak appearing on the screen, Lucas greeted him enthusiastically.
"Good afternoon, Professor Oak."
"Good afternoon, Lucas. It's very lively over there. Is something going on?"
Lucas glanced at the Pokémon who were raising their hands to tell Alcremie what kind of ice cream they wanted to eat today, and said, "The weather is too hot today, so I was thinking of having an ice cream party later to cool down."
"An ice cream party? That's indeed a good way to cool down in the hot summer. Now that you mention it, I want to eat ice cream too. I'll go buy one later."
Professor Oak said with a smile.
"Next time you come to the Breeding House, I'll make some for you. My ice cream-making skills are top-notch."
"I understand. Champion Cynthia likes eating ice cream, right? I understand everything~"
Lucas: ----
"Professor, is there something you wanted to ask me about?"
"Oh, right. Have you checked the Pokémon Academic Network?"
"Pokémon Academic Network? What is that thing?"
Lucas looked confused. Pokémon Academic Network? Could it be----
"You don't know? That's right, my fault. I haven't mentioned it to you. The Pokémon Academic Network is a website where Pokémon professors, Researchers, and scholars publish their papers and opinions. It's also the only website used by all Pokémon professors, Researchers, and scholars. That's where I posted your paper."
Professor Oak explained the Pokémon Academic Network, and Lucas nodded to show he understood.
Seeing Lucas's uninterested expression, Professor Oak couldn't help but laugh. "You guy, you look so uninterested."
After being called out, Lucas didn't feel embarrassed; he just scratched his head. "You know, I'm just a junior Breeder."
"You—do you know that because of your paper, the Pokémon Academic Network has been very lively lately? You've even gained a group of loyal supporters."
Professor Oak said with a smile.
Lucas was stunned. "Huh? Me? Academic supporters? What does that mean?"
Lucas looked confused.
Do I have academic supporters now? But Professor Oak helped me write my paper, right? Does this count as academic fraud?
Will I get arrested if I'm found out?
Oh—I'm the Champion—
The Champion shouldn't get arrested, right?
"You should go check the details yourself. I've registered an account for you, so just log in."
Under Professor Oak's guidance, Lucas logged into the Pokémon Academic Network on his tablet. The website was like a combination of Wiki and Insta, with both an academic section and a forum section.
Following Professor Oak's suggestion, Lucas searched for his paper and found a ton of replies underneath.
There were doubts, but there was even more feedback. Pokémon scholars and Researchers from various regions had experimentally tried the methods described in the paper, and the results were outstanding; they all came back to provide feedback.
Lucas clicked on his paper and read it for a few moments. He had to admit, Professor Oak is indeed Professor Oak; he really knows how to conduct academic research.
The paper was written differently. He used professional terminology one after another, much of which Lucas didn't even understand.
"Oh, right. Have you heard of Professor Sycamore from the Kalos region?"
Professor Oak's voice sounded, and Lucas paused.
"Professor Sycamore? The doctor from the Kalos region who specializes in Mega Evolution?"
Professor Oak nodded. "That's right, it's him. When your paper was first published, he was the doctor who held the deepest doubts, but a few days later, he became the doctor who supported your paper the most."
Professor Oak laughed. "According to him, he seems to have tested all the methods mentioned in your paper, and judging by the results, they were outstanding."
Lucas clicked on Sycamore's homepage and found that the last few days were filled with experimental feedback regarding his paper—organized, logical, and totaling over a hundred entries.
"Over a hundred entries—he finished testing the methods I summarized over nearly a year in just a few days?"
Lucas felt some admiration for him.
He remembered Sycamore; in ZA, he heard it was because of academic fraud that he fled Lumiose City.
But as everyone knows, ZA isn't a main game, at least Lucas doesn't consider it one.
Mega Evolution is definitely not something any stray dog on the roadside can just do, and it's even less possible for an opponent to help you Mega Evolve.
"How about it, Lucas? What are your thoughts? How does it feel to have a Professor as an academic supporter before you've even become a Professor yourself?"
The smile on Professor Oak's face never faded.
As one of the only two authorities in the Pokémon academic world, he was very happy to see a new, excellent scholar emerge in the Pokémon academic field.
"Please don't make fun of me. You helped me write the paper anyway."
Lucas felt a bit ashamed; he knew his own limitations.
"Don't worry. If you have the strength, you have the strength. There's nothing to be afraid of."
Professor Oak said: "Oh, right. Next week, there is an academic conference in the Pokémon academic world. Pokémon professors from all over the world, along with some excellent Pokémon scholars and Researchers, will go there to exchange learning and share recent research results. How about it? Are you interested in coming to participate? It's a good opportunity to secure a status for you."
"Don't be in a hurry to refuse. Professor Rowan and I, as the two authorities in the academic world, will score the research results of others. Those with high scores will receive generous rewards. After all, research also requires material support to continue, doesn't it?"
"At the same time, we will take this opportunity to announce this year's list of those promoted to professor."
Lucas was somewhat tempted. "But I only have one paper worth showing, and what's more, you and Professor Rowan helped me write it."
"Hahahaha, what does that matter? We just used more professional terminology to describe the materials you provided. The ideas are yours, and that's what's most important."
"Besides, going there to listen to other professors' research results will also benefit you greatly. Every time, a whole bunch of Pokémon Researchers and scholars go there to listen to others' results."
Lucas nodded. "Then I can go and listen. After all, if it's held in the Sinnoh region, it's not far for me to go, and business at the Breeding House has been relatively slow recently."
"Then it's settled happily. I'll send you the invitation letter now. Remember to make your research results into a detailed PPT to use when you go on stage to report."
"Huh? Do I have to go on stage too?"
Lucas felt like he had boarded a pirate ship.
Professor Oak smiled. "Don't be afraid. Just read from the PPT."
Lucas: ----
"I always feel like you're tricking me."
"Hahaha, nonsense. How could such an upright old man like me set you up? That's prejudice against old people."
"Alright."
Lucas nodded, and while waiting for Professor Oak to hang up, he looked down at Sycamore's feedback.
"Don't worry, Rowan. Are you still worried when I've taken action? I've tricked him into coming. It's fine; the list is already prepared."
Lucas looked up and found that Professor Oak hadn't hung up the phone; he seemed to be talking to someone on the big screen.
"Professor—you didn't hang up—"
Lucas reminded him.
Professor Oak paused, then his expression remained unchanged.
"What did you say? Sorry, the internet is a bit laggy."
Then the screen went black.
Lucas rolled his eyes.
I knew it—
Professor Oak is just an old fox who has become a spirit.
After complaining, he continued to look down at the post Sycamore had made.
The more he read, the more he felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity.
After pondering for a long time, he finally understood where this inexplicable sense of familiarity came from.
What Mendel and Morgan of the Pokémon world?!
Looking at how Sycamore initially questioned his paper in every way, swearing that his methods were just wishful thinking and armchair theory.
To later: "My God, how can there be such a simple and easy-to-use method?"
"How on earth did you come up with this method? Simple, practical, and effective. Lucas, you really are an amazing person."
"Hahahaha, I succeeded again. Applying this method to raising Pokémon has unexpected results. It seems it can also be applied to Mega Evolution."
"Oh God, he even understands Mega Evolution—"
And so on; Lucas was convinced.
This is clearly the Mendel and Morgan of the Pokémon world.
The story of peas and fruit flies.
Sycamore really is a genius.
Lucas said, covering his face..
***************************
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