The light was so blinding that the livestream camera overexposed for a split second. Countless viewers instinctively covered their eyes.
Evolution light!
The sudden change threw the entire chat into stunned silence. Just moments ago, they'd been arguing, mocking, waiting for a punchline.
Now—
The screen exploded.
[Kindergarten Food Theif: Holy crap?! Light?! It evolved?!]
[PopcornEater: Wait... what? It was crying a second ago and now it evolves? Isn't that way too fast?!]
[RandomGuy: Don't tell me this is scripted too. What kind of script can control a Pokémon's evolution down to the second? That's nature, not CGI!]
...
That was the part that truly shook them.
You can fake tears.You can fake props.You can even fake special effects.
But you can't force a living Pokémon to erupt in evolution light at this exact second.
Evolution required the right level—and something far more mysterious: a trigger.
Even the loudest troll fell silent.
[TrollKing99: Th-this... coincidence! Has to be! You don't just evolve on command! That's not how it works!]
On screen, Logan Moore showed no surprise at all. His eyes were calm, as if everything had unfolded exactly as expected.
He lifted his cup, took a sip, and began his live "lesson."
"Coincidence?"
"In the world of Pokémon, there's no such thing. Everything flows naturally."
He gestured at the glowing cocoon twisting on screen.
"This is exactly why I said it was top-tier."
"A quick fun fact. Oddish typically evolves around level twenty-one. This one—like I observed earlier—was already overfilled with energy. It had more than enough to evolve."
"So why didn't it?"
He let the question hang, then answered it himself, a hint of sympathy in his voice.
"Suppression."
"It knew that evolving into Gloom would make it smell worse. It was afraid its trainer would dislike it. Afraid of being abandoned."
"So it locked its own genetic threshold with sheer willpower. It resisted its biological instinct."
"And now..."
Logan glanced at the girl on screen, crying her heart out.
"Her hug was the key."
"Emotional barriers gone. Energy released. This isn't a script. It's the power of bond. When suppression reaches its limit—there's rebound."
The combination of his explanation and the sacred evolution light sent chills through the few hundred viewers watching.
[LevelEightGale: I'm tearing up... It didn't want to evolve to protect her. That Oddish is too pure!]
[MatchaLatteMan: This streamer's insane. The way he explains things—I believe him. This guy's legit.]
[TrollKing99: Hmph. So what if it evolved? It's still Gloom! That thing's basically a biological weapon! It stank before—after evolving? Heh. Better call an ambulance.]
...
As much as the troll was reaching, he had a point.
The evolution light faded.
A new figure slowly appeared in Fawn in the Woods' arms.
The glow withdrew.
There it stood.
A bipedal Pokémon with a deep blue, round body. Its once bright, round eyes were now permanently sleepy slits, giving it a lazy, dopey charm.
The most eye-catching feature was its thick, purple, sausage-like lips, glistening slightly.
And above its head—
A massive reddish-brown flower bloomed, thick petals dotted with white spots. At its center, the dark core seemed like a bottomless void, quietly releasing invisible particles.
Gloom.
True to its name, it was widely known as the "scent assassin" of the Pokémon world.
The Pokédex made it clear: its stench could knock people unconscious. Its nectar was the source of the odor.
Right now, Fawn in the Woods still had her eyes tightly shut, hugging it close.
She was waiting.
Waiting for the wave of stench that should have been a hundred times worse than before.
The chat held its breath.
[PopcornEater: Here we go! Gloom debut! That design already looks... kinda questionable.]
[Kindergarten Food Theif: Those purple lips... that's gotta be toxin buildup. And she's still sniffing?!]
One second passed.
Two seconds.
Five.
She didn't foam at the mouth.
She didn't collapse.
Instead—
Her tightly furrowed brows slowly relaxed.
The pale look on her face—left over from gagging earlier—shifted into something else.
Confusion.
Even... enjoyment?
"Huh?"
Her nose twitched.
Carefully, she opened her eyes and looked at the dramatically changed little Pokémon in her arms.
No stench?
Not just no stench.
There was a scent.
Clear. Elegant. Yet overwhelmingly vivid.
It wasn't cheap synthetic perfume.
It wasn't cloying floral sweetness.
It was more like—
A pine forest after rain, blended with morning jasmine, layered with something aged and medicinal, like refined agarwood steeped for centuries.
Completely different notes—yet perfectly fused into one harmonious fragrance.
It felt like a magnetic field for the soul.
She took one breath.
And the splitting headache from stress, oxygen deprivation, and crying vanished instantly.
The nausea in her stomach smoothed out.
Her whole body felt like it had sunk into a warm herbal bath. Every pore relaxed.
"What... what is this..."
She stared blankly.
Slowly, she loosened her hold and cupped Gloom's adorably ugly face with trembling hands. Then she leaned toward the enormous flower and inhaled deeply again.
Sharp inhale.
Fragrant.
Soothing.
"Master!!!"
She whipped toward the camera, tears streaming down her face again—but this time from pure joy.
"It's fragrant! It's actually fragrant! It doesn't stink at all!"
"And—it smells amazing! Master, you're incredible! I swear my sinus problems just cleared up!"
Her shout rang through the microphone, reaching every viewer.
On the other end, Logan smiled faintly, calm as ever, sipping his water like a man who'd predicted the future.
The chat froze for half a second.
Then detonated.
[?????]
[No way?! Girl, are you hallucinating from the fumes?!]
[RandomGuy: Impossible! It's Gloom! The textbooks say it emits a stench that can knock out an elephant! And you're telling me it smells good?!]
[TrollKing99: Act. Keep acting. Oscar-level performance right here! Gloom smelling good? That's the biggest joke I've heard all year. Either my nose is broken or hers is dead!]
...
Logan wasn't surprised.
This overturned common knowledge.
He cleared his throat and shifted into lecture mode again.
"Hard to believe?"
"Think it violates common sense?"
"You only know half the story."
He raised one finger.
"Textbooks say Gloom smells because ninety-nine percent of them release defensive toxic pollen."
"But here's a very niche detail—even some veteran researchers overlook it."
"Gloom's pollen secretion is controlled by emotion."
"When it feels fear, stress, danger—it instinctively releases foul toxins."
"But if..."
He paused, gaze softening as he looked at the Gloom nuzzling against its trainer.
"If it's in a state of absolute peace. Absolute calm. Surrounded by love."
"Combined with its S-tier Individual Values (IVs), and the pure Grass-Poison dual-type energy refined over time by its reserved temperament..."
"When things reach an extreme—they reverse."
"What it releases is no longer toxic stench."
"It becomes a highly purified life fragrance—capable of soothing body and mind."
The theory was airtight.
Maybe a little mystical.
But paired with Logan's steady tone and Fawn in the Woods' blissful expression, it was impossible to refute outright.
[HeNanLatteMan: I... I actually think that makes sense! I swear I read a paper once saying Gloom can mutate under certain conditions!]
[YaoiLover: This is the power of knowledge. Master really is Master.]
[TrollKing99: ...Make it up. Keep making it up. We can't smell it through the screen! You say it's fragrant, so it's fragrant? I say it's sweet!]
...
Logan chuckled.
"Can't smell it, huh? Still don't believe it?"
"Fine."
He snapped his fingers.
"Miss Fawn, since someone is practically begging to be slapped in the face, let's grant their wish."
"Order some delivery. Anything. Just get a delivery guy to your door."
"He's a random passerby. The most honest scent tester you'll get. If it stinks in there, if you're acting—his first reaction when he walks in won't be fake."
"If he throws up on the spot, I'll eat my keyboard."
"But if..."
Logan's eyes glinted with amusement.
"If he compliments how nice it smells, then TrollKing99, remember that promise you made about Washing your hair Upside Down."
By now, Fawn in the Woods practically worshipped him.
"No problem, Master! I'll order right now! I'll get milk tea from downstairs—ten minutes max!"
"I'm going to prove to everyone that my Gloom is the most fragrant baby in the world!"