Chapter 431: What Kind of Eevee Should I Evolve Into?

Two flowers bloom on separate branches; let us speak of each in turn.

While the Serperior demonstrated its strength to subdue underlings, the Tinkatuff dragged Luo Mu all the way back to the cave in one breathless sprint.

It was panting from exhaustion, yet Luo Mu felt he still had energy to spare.

Compared to a full day of farm labor, plus acting as a role model by running laps with the Pokémon and continuously doing push-ups and other exercises, this intensity was nothing special.

His daily nutritional intake was ample, and ever since bringing Lei Guan Wang back to the farm, he always felt healthier each day than the last; no matter how strong the fatigue accumulated yesterday, a single night's sleep would leave him refreshed and clear-headed, with all exhaustion completely vanished.

It was just like resetting one's status in a game.

In short, Luo Mu felt terrifyingly strong right now.

Give him a few mud balls, and he could go solo and subdue a Tinkatuff purely by strength.

The Tinkatuff looked at Luo Mu, who hadn't even broken a sweat, in disbelief, suspecting its own judgment might be flawed.

How is his endurance even better than mine!?

The Tinkatuff plunged into deep self-doubt.

Only when it caught sight of the hammer in its hand did the Tinkatuff feel it had discovered the truth.

The hammer must be too heavy, dragging me down! Once it thought this through, a smile returned to the Tinkatuff's face; it fell silent as it watched Luo Mu, who was looking left and right inside the cave like some sightseeing tourist.

"Tinka."

Isn't this human being a little too familiar too soon?

After observing the entire cave, Luo Mu did not forget his purpose; he placed the thermal container before the Tinkatuff and smiled, saying, "Consider it a meeting gift, and a thank-you for not forgetting me even while fleeing just now."

To be honest, Luo Mu was quite surprised that the Tinkatuff would choose to flee while bringing along a human it had only met twice in total.

Just last night, its wariness had been so strong.

Setting aside the fact that the Houndoom and Houndour posed no real threat, the Tinkatuff's nature was indeed very kind.

By offering a gift, Luo Mu also added a few more ounces of sincerity to his intentions, rather than merely thinking about finding a suitable craftsman.

The Tinkatuff blinked, hesitated for a moment, then set down its hammer and stepped forward, intending to lift the thermal container to see what was inside.

The moment it lifted, the Tinkatuff was instantly stunned.

To possess the strength to crush ore, it had some confidence in its arm strength, so it wasn't as if it couldn't lift the thermal container at all.

But what exactly was inside this large, strange container that made it heavier than its own hammer!? The Tinkatuff realized its self-justifying theory now had a hole in it.

Did this human carry this thing all the way while following me back here? Damn it, I actually lost.

The Tinkatuff's heart was filled with unwillingness.

Seeing the Tinkatuff frozen in place, Luo Mu mistakenly thought it was surprised with joy at receiving a gift, and his smile widened even further.

"What's wrong? Won't you open it and take a look?"

"Tinka?" (Open?) Coming to its senses, the Tinkatuff sized up the thermal container, which seemed like a seamless whole with no gaps visible from its perspective, and began pondering how to open the thing.

Originally, Luo Mu had intended to help, but after the Tinkatuff examined it up and down and rubbed the thermal container back and forth for a while, it seemed to figure out the opening method and directly lifted the lid with its hands.

Luo Mu was somewhat surprised; it seemed the description in the Tinkaton Pokédex stating "high intelligence" was indeed no false claim.

Picking up the lid of the thermal container and feeling its slightly cool texture, the Tinkatuff's first reaction was that this lid could serve as material to add to its hammer... but in the next instant.

The moment swirling steam rose carrying a fresh, savory aroma that shot straight to the brain, the Tinkatuff's attention could no longer be focused.

Never having smelled anything so fresh and so fragrant before, even the Tinkatuff itself didn't realize the few drops of crystal-clear droplets gradually seeping from the corners of its mouth.

In common parlance, it was drooling.

"Tinka!?"

The Tinkatuff looked at Luo Mu, then looked again at the thermal container still emitting hot steam, its small eyes filled with longing.

Is he really going to give something this fragrant to me? "Eat up; if it's not enough, there's more."

Luo Mu smiled gently and nodded, affirming the Tinkatuff's thoughts.

Now the Tinkatuff could hold back no longer; it lifted the thermal container and, disregarding the fact that the mushroom soup was still scalding hot, began gulping it down: gulp, gulp, gulp.

Its posture was quite bold and unconstrained, completely at odds with its cute appearance.

In just a short while, the Tinkatuff drank all the mushroom soup in the entire thermal container in one go, not leaving a single dreg behind; if it didn't lack the innate advantage of a Lickilicky's long tongue, the Tinkatuff would have surely licked the bottom and walls of the container clean as well.

The Tinkatuff stared at Luo Mu, its gaze becoming much friendlier.

If reality were a game, this would be just like the trope of giving gifts to an NPC to increase affinity.

At this moment, perhaps some notification about increased affinity would appear before Luo Mu's eyes.

【Ding! The Tinkatuff's affinity has increased!】

"... I didn't ask you to imitate that; go play somewhere else."

【Got it!】

After dismissing the prompt system, which had finally achieved the accomplishment of appearing for two consecutive days, Luo Mu checked the time and prepared to descend the mountain.

Before that, he took the thermal container back from the Tinkatuff, lifted the now successfully lightened container, and waved casually to the Tinkatuff.

"Next time I come to find you, I'll bring more delicious food; it's getting late, so I'm leaving first."

Changing its mind, the Tinkatuff had originally wanted to interact more with Luo Mu to see if there was a chance to lure him up the mountain to serve as its captive chef, but it could only wave back in response.

There was no help for it; just as Luo Mu had said, it was getting late.

Once darkness fell, descending the mountain would become very difficult, not to mention the many dangerous nocturnal Pokémon that would appear; before even climbing this small mountain, the Tinkatuff had witnessed floating Will-o'-Wisps at night more than once.

Although this human was currently a bit stronger than itself, to prevent him from meeting with an accident and leaving no one to bring it delicious food, the Tinkatuff decided to let him go for now.

Once I evolve into a Tinkaton, I'll go down the mountain and kidnap him!

Unaware of the Tinkatuff's dangerous thoughts, Luo Mu waved his hand, left the Tinkatuff with a casual back view, and headed down the mountain.

A moment later.

Taking advantage of the twilight glow, Luo Mu arrived halfway up the mountain and, as expected, bumped into the Serperior already waiting there.

But when he saw the ground where the Serperior stood covered in marks left by a whipping tail, cold sweat immediately broke out on his forehead and back.

Thinking he could not just sit and wait for death, Luo Mu pondered briefly, then stepped forward with his usual smile. Under the Serperior's deathly glare, he calmly brought up the subsequent plan. "Do you remember Sha Li, the photographer who took our family portrait? She invited us to go help out in Kitakami. When we get there, I thought we could look around a bit."

"Gah-lok?"

The vines stirring restlessly within the leaves of the Serperior paused; it raised its head and looked at Luo Mu in confusion.

It vaguely remembered that person, but why bring her up now? Seeing the Serperior's attention fully captured, Luo Mu pressed his advantage: "As for the item needed for Applin's evolution, we should be able to collect some of good quality over there."

Mentioning its adopted child, the Serperior's attention was now completely seized.

Its expression shifted from a dark scowl to one of slight disgust.

Tropius was fine, being in its final form since birth, but Applin still had to undergo evolution.

Previously curious, the Serperior had asked Luo Mu to show it Applin's evolved forms; upon seeing the designs of Flapple and Appletun, the Serperior was dumbfounded.

Wait, were these two creatures really evolved from their own plump, white-and-green little caterpillar?

They were too ugly.

The Serperior bluntly expressed its disgust; it simply could not accept its adopted child turning into something like that.

The Serperior extended a vine whip and tapped Luo Mu's hand lightly, not even leaving a red mark.

It looked at Luo Mu urgingly; could it be that Applin truly had no third branching evolution? If this were the Luo Mu of the past, he could only answer with helplessness.

But this time was different; wearing a confident smile, Luo Mu said gently, "I wish to formally introduce to you Applin's third evolutionary branch—Dipplin, and its further evolved form, Hydrapple!"

The Serperior immediately became interested.

Hydrapple!? Applin could evolve into a snake like itself? The Serperior immediately wanted to see what Dipplin and Hydrapple looked like; Luo Mu did not keep it in suspense and directly displayed two photos for it to see.

Looking at the photos of Dipplin and Hydrapple, the Serperior's hanging heart finally settled.

Thank goodness; although they looked a bit silly, they were at least better than Appletun and Flapple. Moreover, that child Applin was already a bit slow-witted; perhaps two negatives make a positive, and it might even learn a bit of its temperament?

Seeing the Serperior focused intently on the photos, while secretly cheering in his heart that he had passed the test, Luo Mu recalled how he had learned of Dipplin and Hydrapple's existence.

A few days ago, when he had asked Alder to return to the Unova League, he had requested that Alder send him the training method for Volt Tackle.

Who would have guessed that due to an operational error, Alder, who had Blueberry Academy permissions, accidentally sent Luo Mu several newly discovered moves from Blueberry Academy, along with Pokémon evolved forms.

Among them were Applin's evolved forms, Dipplin and Hydrapple; according to research conclusions, Applin completed this evolution only after eating a special type of apple from Kitakami.

That apple was called "Syrupy Apple"; it was said that among the vast number of apple trees planted on the massive Apple Hill in Kitakami, this type of apple was difficult to bear even once throughout the entire year.

If not for a student from Kitakami bringing such an apple back to Blueberry Academy a month ago, and coincidentally having an Applin as a partner, who knew when Applin's new evolved form would have been discovered?

The above was all knowledge Luo Mu had gained from the information Alder sent, which was not classified.

Interrupting his thoughts, seeing the Serperior continually examining the appearance of Hydrapple in the photo, Luo Mu cleared his throat lightly to attract its attention.

When the Serperior looked at him, Luo Mu said with a serious face, "Don't forget, no matter which form it wants to evolve into, we must respect Applin's own will."

"If you force your own ideas onto it and claim it is just for its own good, wouldn't you be very angry in that situation?"

The Serperior froze.

That was right.

During its time as a Snivy, hadn't it also disliked having everything controlled?

Because of that, it had caused many ridiculous and amusing incidents; looking back now, its state of mind was completely different.

Thinking of this, the Serperior closed its eyes, as if making a certain resolution.

A moment later, the Serperior opened its eyes and signaled Luo Mu to hurry and go down the mountain with it.

If they did not hurry, the sky would soon turn dark.

As for which form Applin wanted to evolve into... never mind, let it be as it wished.

After all, it was an adopted child it had raised with its own hands.

Once the decision was made, the Serperior suddenly felt that all its previous entanglements were like a joke; just like looking back at its past self as a Snivy, the Serperior now looking back at its recent self found its state of mind entirely changed.

On the way home.

Even without words, Luo Mu could sense the Serperior's good mood.

After all, along the entire journey, it had been hooking its vines around his wrist, just like Peony's Sylveon did.

"Gah-lok?" (Those two Eevees, which evolution do you think would be better for them?) the Serperior suddenly asked.

It remembered that Eevee seemed capable of evolving into many types of Pokémon; that red-and-blue-haired bob-cut student of Luo Mu raised quite a few Eevees.

This made the Serperior curious about Luo Mu's preferences regarding Eevee's evolved forms.

Understanding the Serperior's meaning slightly, and after pondering briefly, Luo Mu rubbed his chin and answered, "The answer is definitely that I will accept whichever form it evolves into."

"However, if I must have a preference... Espeon, Umbreon, Leafeon, Sylveon, and Glaceon are all quite excellent; Flareon, Vaporeon, and Jolteon also have their own unique characteristics; it's hard to decide..."

The Serperior rolled its eyes at him.

What kind of answer was that? Was it the classic "I want them all" again?

But Luo Mu seemed to be thinking seriously, carefully recalling in his mind the appearances of shiny Eevee after evolution.

Flareon, the sole king... its body fur turned yellow; that was barely acceptable.

Vaporeon and Jolteon, however, were a deadly pink-purple and a poisoned green, making one want to call the police; could Game Freak not put any heart into coloring shiny Pokémon?

Leafeon and Glaceon only had very subtle color changes; it was nearly impossible to see the differences.

After a good while, he murmured to himself in distress, "Big Sister Eevee is easy to deal with, but for the shiny Little Sister Eevee, most evolved forms have huge chests; in terms of looks, Sylveon and Umbreon definitely have unique features, however, Espeon's appearance, which looks like a Grass-type Pokémon, also seems not bad..."

Time moved to the next day.

Early in the morning, Luo Mu, who had originally prepared to go to class, received some surprising news from Oranguru.

Naclstack and the others... after settling for such a long time, and with the soil dug from Mt. Silver nearly eaten up, they had finally evolved! When he rushed to the entrance of the Salt Hut, he was immediately startled by three huge figures.

At the same time, Luo Mu also understood why Oranguru had hurriedly stopped him.

The Salt Hut, originally built based on the average height of Garganacl plus a certain range of deviation, had a gate capable of accommodating Pokémon around 2.6 or 2.7 meters tall... it was no longer sufficient!

(End of Chapter)