Chapter 145

Chapter 145: Chapter 145

The exhibition match continued even though millions of viewers were temporarily staring at an error screen.

"Gothitelle, Psychic!"

"Wyrdeer, Psychic!"

Gothitelle raised both hands as tremendous psychic force erupted from her body and surged across the battlefield.

At the same time, energy gathered around Wyrdeer’s antlers before an equally powerful wave of telekinetic force rushed forward.

The two invisible attacks crashed together.

The resulting pressure detonated between them with enough force to shake the battlefield.

"Gothitelle, Energy Ball!"

"Psyshield Bash!"

Gothitelle disappeared into the cloud of dust created by the first collision, but before she could properly attack from within it, a large figure burst through the smoke.

Wyrdeer slammed into her with psychic energy wrapped around his entire body.

Gothitelle was launched backward and tumbled several times through the air before regaining control and levitating in place.

The announcer’s excitement rose another level.

"Lucian just ordered Wyrdeer to use Psyshield Bash! Yet another technique I’ve never seen before! Ladies and gentlemen, this exhibition match keeps giving us surprises!"

Caitlin tightened one hand.

"Gothitelle, Psyshock!"

"Match it with Psyshock!"

Visible waves of psychic energy shot from both Pokémon and collided violently, producing another explosion and flooding the field with smoke.

Wyrdeer immediately moved, using the cloud as cover until his entire body disappeared from Gothitelle’s sight.

Caitlin calmly closed her eyes.

Her own psychic senses spread across the battlefield.

Then she raised one hand.

"There."

Her finger pointed directly into the smoke.

"Energy Ball!"

Gothitelle immediately launched the attack toward the position Caitlin had identified.

Lucian reacted at once and ordered Wyrdeer to dodge, but the Energy Ball still exploded close enough to send him tumbling across the ground.

Lucian narrowed his eyes.

’Psychic Trainers really are unfair.’

The Pokémon couldn’t locate Wyrdeer through the smoke, but Caitlin herself could.

Apparently, everyone else in the Psychic-specialist business received supernatural abilities except him.

Wyrdeer trembled as he forced himself upright and shook his head.

"WYYYYR!"

His cry carried unmistakable defiance.

Lucian smiled faintly.

"If you still want to fight, then let’s go. Psyshield Bash!"

Psychic energy wrapped around Wyrdeer again as he charged directly toward Gothitelle.

"Psyshock!"

The two attacks collided, forcing both Pokémon backward.

"Energy Ball!"

"Shadow Ball!"

Green and violet energy met in midair.

BOOM!

Another explosion covered the battlefield in smoke, and fireworks erupted above the arena.

That was enough.

This was an exhibition, not a serious League battle, and both sides understood when to stop.

Wyrdeer and Gothitelle returned to their respective Trainers, while Lucian and Caitlin walked toward the center of the field and shook hands.

"Thank you for the match," Lucian said.

Caitlin’s attention, however, remained on Wyrdeer.

"What exactly is Wyrdeer?"

Reporters near the field immediately pointed their cameras toward the two Elite Four members.

Lucian answered calmly.

"Wyrdeer is a Normal- and Psychic-type Pokémon. More importantly, it is the evolved form of Stantler."

Caitlin visibly paused.

"As far as I know, Stantler doesn’t evolve."

"That’s something we can discuss privately later. This event is supposed to be about Unova’s Psychic Trainers, not our research."

Caitlin accepted that and nodded.

Unfortunately, the audience did not.

Disappointed protests immediately rose from the stands.

Hearing them, Lucian accepted a microphone from one of the organizers.

"Everyone, detailed information about Wyrdeer will be released shortly. Professor Oak of Kanto, Professor Rowan of Sinnoh, and Professor Kukui of Alola will jointly publish the research, Pokédex data, and supporting reports."

The crowd quieted enough to listen.

"My work with Professor Kukui will also include the method by which Stantler can evolve into Wyrdeer."

That promise immediately restored the audience’s excitement.

"For now, though, please allow us to return the stage to the Trainers who came here to participate in today’s event."

Lucian and Caitlin each took one of the ceremonial launchers provided by the organizers and fired them together.

Colorful streamers burst above the arena.

With that, Unova’s first Psychic-type Trainer Tournament officially began.

The two Elite Four members returned to the guest section while the audience continued discussing Wyrdeer.

The arrangement had worked perfectly.

The tournament organizers received an enormous surge of global attention because of Wyrdeer’s debut, while Lucian and the Sinnoh research team gained the perfect public stage on which to reintroduce an extinct evolution to the modern world.

Both sides got exactly what they wanted.

Caitlin continued staring at Lucian after they sat down.

He adjusted his glasses.

"This is one of Sinnoh’s recent research discoveries. Wyrdeer evolves from Stantler after learning Psyshield Bash and fulfilling a particular condition."

"Psyshield Bash?"

"It’s a technique unique to the Stantler evolutionary family. It uses psychic power to reinforce the body before making physical contact, so despite being Psychic-type, it’s a physical move."

Lucian opened the detailed Pokédex profile on his phone and handed it to her.

Caitlin studied the information carefully.

"A mixed attacker?"

"Yes. Both its physical and special offense are well developed."

She continued reading before eventually handing the phone back.

"So when Cynthia told me recently that she was too busy to come see me... was she working on this?"

Lucian went silent.

He suddenly found himself facing an extremely dangerous diplomatic problem.

Should he tell Caitlin the truth—that Cynthia had contributed to the project, certainly, but had mostly made a few calls before disappearing into historical research while Lucian himself did much of the running around and continued processing League paperwork?

Or should he lie and claim Cynthia had spent the past several weeks working herself to exhaustion for Wyrdeer?

Unfortunately, Lucian had been the one actually working himself to exhaustion.

His conscience refused to surrender that achievement.

"The boss has mainly been researching another part of the project," he eventually said.

"Another part?"

"Yes. The history and mythology surrounding ancient Sinnoh, including the circumstances that caused Pokémon such as Wyrdeer to disappear from the region."

Caitlin’s expression softened in understanding.

"So that’s why she was too busy to visit..."

She rested her chin on her knees again and fell quiet.

Lucian silently exhaled in relief before pulling out his phone and opening the fan group.

As expected, it had exploded.

[Tomodachi_UwU: ???]

[Mad Silence: ???]

[Professor Purple: ???]

[Juice Bro: ???]

The chat was almost nothing but question marks.

[Juice Bro: @IDon’tWantOvertime WHAT WAS THAT?!]

[Juice Bro: What Pokémon did you just send out?!]

[Mike: That was Wyrdeer, Stantler’s evolved form.]

[Juice Bro: No kidding! Lucian literally announced that!]

[Juice Bro: I’m asking how the hell Stantler evolves into one!]

[Mike: Learn Psyshield Bash and use it twenty times in Agile Style.]

[Juice Bro: Deadbeat uploader, stay out of this. I’m trying to ask someone who actually knows what he’s talking about.]

[Juice Bro: If your answer didn’t sound so specific, I’d almost think YOU were the one who discovered the evolution.]

[Mike: ...]

[Mike: GengarGoingFeral.jpg]

Lucian had to suppress a laugh.

Then another message appeared.

[Akabara: HOLY SHIT. Guys, go look at the reports Professor Oak, Professor Rowan, and Professor Kukui just published.]

[Akabara: WHY IS MIKE’S NAME ON EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM?!]

[Mike: Nothing unusual. Try not to be too impressed.]

[Mad Silence: Holy shit, it really is there.]

[Mad Silence: Did you get your name added through connections? Are you insane? Academic fraud on something THIS public would ruin you.]

[Professor Purple: You actually dared to pull strings on research this big?!]

[Genie_Unshackled: Academic fraud too? You’re really expanding your skill set.]

[Mike: ???]

[Mike: Has it occurred to ANY of you that maybe I actually discovered it?]

The chat became silent for a moment.

[Mimikyu_DCX: ...]

[Juice Bro: ...]

[Mad Silence: ...]

[Professor Purple: Sure, buddy. Whatever you say. Go play with Gengar.]

Lucian nearly doubled over laughing.

Caitlin looked toward him in confusion.

Lucian forced himself to straighten, gave her a polite nod as though absolutely nothing was wrong, then looked back at the long message he had already typed.

He deleted the whole thing.

Then he started again.

Caitlin watched him for another moment before returning her attention to the tournament.

Although both she and Lucian specialized in Psychic types, they rarely interacted outside official League business.

Lucian finally sent his response.

[IDon’tWantOvertime: I can confirm this one. It really was Mike.]

[IDon’tWantOvertime: During the period when he was staying in Oreburgh and wasn’t uploading anything, he was leading research involving me, Professor Kukui, and the others.]

[IDon’tWantOvertime: The theory that Stantler could evolve into Wyrdeer originally came from him, and the method was worked out through research he conducted together with Professor Oak, Professor Rowan, and Professor Kukui.]

[IDon’tWantOvertime: So no, the lack of videos during that period really wasn’t him being lazy. The research was confidential.]

[IDon’tWantOvertime: Also, I almost forgot—his name will be on my paper too.]

Lucian might as well have dropped a bomb into the group.

For several seconds, nobody said anything.

Then—

[Gholdengo Is Number One: I knew it. Mike isn’t the kind of person who would fake academic credentials.]

[Darkwaver: You were laughing harder than anyone five minutes ago.]

[Gholdengo Is Number One: ...]

[Mad Silence: ...My streamer actually does research?]

[Juice Bro: Ahem. Mike, I’ve always believed in you. Love you, man.]

[Mike: Heh.]

[Mike: You doubted me when I was nobody. Now you can’t afford me!]

Then a group notification appeared.

{IDontWantOvertime invited ReallyWantIceCream to the group.}

[ReallyWantIceCream: Hello, everyone.]

The entire group went silent.

[IDon’tWantOvertime: This is Cynthia, Champion of the Sinnoh region.]

Another wall of silence followed.

Fortunately, Cynthia only sent that single greeting before apparently returning to work.

A moment later, Gholdengo Is Number One changed the subject.

[Gholdengo Is Number One: Start a livestream. I’ll send gifts.]

[Mike: Please. I am now a distinguished Pokémon researcher. Do you really think I’d compromise my principles for a few gifts?]

[Gholdengo Is Number One: Ten thousand pokedollars.]

[Mike: My integrity is not for sale.]

[Gholdengo Is Number One: Make it thirty.]

There was barely a pause.

[Mike: Preparing the livestream now. See you all shortly. Love you guys!]

[Tomodachi_UwU: ???]

[Yopleasee: ???]

[Juice Bro: ???]

[Overtime Bro: ...]

[Tomodachi_UwU: "My integrity is not for sale." LMAOO]

{Tomodachi_UwU was muted for thirty minutes by GengarStopStealingMyDrumStick.}

Lucian stared at the notification, then typed a single response.

[IDon’tWantOvertime: Well played.]

While the fan group continued descending into chaos, the scientific community was experiencing a much larger crisis.

Professor Rowan’s phone was already ringing nonstop.

So was Professor Oak’s.

So was Professor Kukui’s.

Researchers, Professors, historians, and Pokémon specialists from every region were calling one after another, all asking the same questions.

What was Wyrdeer?

How had Stantler evolved?

And how had a Pokémon believed lost since the age of Hisui suddenly returned to the modern world?