Soyln hurriedly said, "Sorry, sorry. I'll do it right now... Birch? What are you still sitting there for?"
Birch let out a sigh. He looked like a man who had just been sentenced to prison, but he still got up and went upstairs, leading Shiro to a room around the corner on the second floor.
"This is the guest room. It's cleaned regularly." After saying that, Birch took a key from the rack in the hallway beside them and handed it over. "Here's the key."
"Okay, thanks."
Shiro took the key and entered the room to have a look around. The guest room was not very big. The bed was right in front of him as soon as he entered, while the toilet and bathroom were within reach. It had all the basic facilities he needed.
Birch had already left. From downstairs, Shiro could faintly hear the two of them arguing again.
Thud.
The door closed, and Shiro finally let out a sigh of relief.
After washing up, he soon fell asleep.
* * *
The next day.
As usual, Shiro got up at six, washed up, and then began his usual meditation and Pokémon training.
About two hours later, at eight in the morning, Birch and his wife finally got up one after another and prepared breakfast.
Even with Shiro as a guest, the atmosphere at the dining table was still tense and awkward. Neither of them seemed willing to say a word. Sapphire simply ate her berry pie with a blank expression before getting up and going upstairs.
After finishing his meal and politely thanking them, Shiro was about to continue training his Pokémon when Birch grabbed him.
"Didn't we already agree yesterday? We're going to do research today!"
Birch looked completely serious.
Shiro rubbed his forehead. Since this was indeed something he had agreed to himself, he had no choice but to accept.
After grabbing his backpack and tools, the two of them followed the path in front of the house and headed north out of Littleroot Town, arriving at Route 101, which had been planned by the League.
Route 101 was located between Littleroot Town and Oldale Town. A small patch of woodland stood in the middle of the route, filled with bushes and grass. Many relatively weak Pokémon, such as Wurmple and Sewaddle, lived in large numbers among them.
Since the League's planned routes were official paths specifically provided for new League trainers, Pokémon that could potentially pose a danger had been driven away or hunted to protect inexperienced trainers.
"Zigzagoon and Poochyena used to live around here, but they're gone now." In the middle of the route, Birch bent down slightly and plucked a blade of grass covered in dew.
"The nearest stream is also several hundred meters away. Given the movement speed of Bug-type Pokémon, it would be difficult for them to make the trip there and back in a short amount of time."
"They mostly survive by absorbing the moisture from the trees around them... and from the plants they eat."
As he spoke, Birch simply sat down in the grass. He took off his backpack, pulled out a small folding table and two chairs, and set them up.
Shiro had no idea what Birch was planning, but he sat down as well.
Birch took out some paper and a pen, put on his glasses, and calmly explained, "I want to figure out the patterns between Pokémon and their habitats so that we can determine what Pokémon species might exist in any given type of terrain."
"You're pretty familiar with the Pokémon of Galar, aren't you, Shiro? I've heard that people in Galar also travel around the region, visiting different cities and challenging Gyms. Tell me about it."
He removed the cap from his pen and stared seriously at Shiro.
Birch was eager to learn about Pokémon from Galar.
Studying Pokémon distribution and habitats required a researcher to travel around, see more, and observe more. However, as the Hoenn region's resident professor, Birch had mostly been limited to conducting research within Hoenn.
Hoenn was his hometown, and he had already studied it thoroughly. He knew which areas had unusual conditions, as well as how Pokémon in certain areas differed from those living in similar environments. Birch was already very familiar with all of it.
He had always been adventurous and was willing to explore almost anywhere.
However, after getting married and having children, he had barely left the area around Littleroot Town. That made him especially curious about other regions.
"Professor Birch..." Shiro, however, remained serious. "You should know that this isn't allowed."
A region's Pokémon knowledge was a valuable resource belonging to that region. The law clearly prohibited recording and spreading such information, let alone giving detailed information to people from other regions.
Of course, within the Pokémon research community, this rule was practically meaningless.
But even though most researchers and almost all professors could easily obtain Pokémon data from different regions, they were still not allowed to distribute it outside their region, especially not publicly.
The main problem was that Shiro had never handed over any Pokémon information from Galar. Even Oak had never mentioned anything about it. Logically speaking, Rose should have had Oleana organize the information and send it to Oak Research Institute.
Without knowing what Birch intended to use the information for, Shiro found it difficult to cooperate with him.
On top of that, Birch simply did not seem very reliable.
"Uh..." Birch hesitated. "Then..."
Shiro quickly changed the subject. "As for what you said earlier about trying to summarize the patterns of Pokémon habitats through research, I don't think that's really possible."
Birch immediately became interested again. "Pokémon of each type naturally tend to favor environments that suit their type. Fire-type Pokémon can't possibly live in the ocean, while Grass-type Pokémon can't live in volcanoes or lava—"
"But that's only the basic rule." Shiro interrupted. "Many Pokémon have dual types. Besides, after Pokémon of different species migrate to new environments, they can even change their types to adapt to those environments."
"It's not impossible to find a Fire-type Pokémon in a frozen, snow-covered region, or even a species that shares a type with certain Fire-type Pokémon."
Birch fell into deep thought.
He had spent most of his time in Hoenn over the years. Aside from academic conferences, he had little communication with other regions and few opportunities to interact with them.
As a result, he had never really encountered many Pokémon from other regions.
Birch carefully asked, "For example, what kind of Pokémon?"
"Do you know about Alola?" Shiro picked up his pen and simply sketched a Ninetales on a sheet of draft paper.
"Alola..." Birch felt like the name was somewhat familiar, but he couldn't remember where he had heard it.
He seemed to have heard someone mention it before, but only once or twice, and he had never paid much attention to it.
"Is Alola a region or city in Galar?" Birch asked in confusion. "Is that a Ninetales you drew?"
Shiro paused before shaking his head. "Alola is a region that hasn't joined the League yet. Its environment is very different from Ninetales' original habitat, so there is an Ice-type Ninetales."
"An Ice-type Ninetales?"
Birch exclaimed in surprise. He immediately followed up, unable to hide his excitement. "Do you have any information about this Ice-type Ninetales?"
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