As the saying goes, a thousand years for a turtle, ten thousand for a tortoise.
Wartortle has an extremely long lifespan. For a Wartortle, the short lifespan of humans is merely the blink of an eye.
Therefore, some large families specifically cultivate Blastoise as their main Pokémon, making it convenient for them to pass down through generations.
There was also a yellow lightning symbol on Wartortle's head, which seemed to be a brand left after being struck by lightning.
Qingwu looked at the scar on Wartortle's head and really wanted to complain, "Are you Harry Potter?"
Wartortle's successful evolution boosted Qingwu's confidence.
"Let's go, everyone," Qingwu looked up at the sky. The fish-scale-like white clouds gradually dispersed, and the blue of the sky lightened a bit.
The middle of the sky was azure, with light blue on both sides, like a sapphire.
Just then, mounds of dirt constantly emerged from the trees in the forest. Qingwu saw countless Pokémon burrowing out of the dirt mounds.
These Pokémon had white bodies, with a pair of brown forelegs and white hind limbs.
There were two antenna-like things next to its mouth. It had a pair of small green wings on its body.
It's Nincada!!!
Nincada builds nests under the roots of large trees. When in the dark underground, they use their whisker-like antennae to navigate.
Nincada uses its antennae to explore its surroundings, replacing its almost sightless eyes.
This is a type of Pokémon that lives its entire life underground and rarely appears.
To say they are rare, they appear in clusters when they do appear; to say they are not rare, they are rarely seen normally.
Nincada only emerge from the ground when they are evolving, climbing onto a tree to prepare for their long evolutionary journey.
Nincada are most vulnerable during evolution, as this is when a large number of predators appear.
They take advantage of Nincada's motionless evolution to hunt frantically.
During the evolution process, Nincada's body gradually hardens, eventually turning into a tough shell.
Then their backs split open, and their natural enemy is released.
At this time, the newly evolved Ninjask are at their most fragile, their bones not yet hardened, making them extremely susceptible to predation.
Flying-type Pokémon are the most frantic at this time, as Ninjask are a mad source of protein.
Once Ninjask's wings are fully extended and hardened, the roles of prey and hunter will switch. Ninjask will prey on smaller Flying-type Pokémon to recover their stamina.
997 Ninjask are shaped like cicadas, with a pair of transparent wings that have red markings on them.
They have a pair of sharp pincers that can quickly take an enemy's life.
Their bodies are yellow and black, with a pair of ruby-colored eyes.
Ninjask's speed is as fast as the wind. Because only their cries can be heard when they fly, they are also known as the "Ninja of the Wind."
Nincada feed on the tender rootlets of trees, making them a Pokémon that causes significant damage to trees.
Predators also reduce tree damage by controlling the number of Nincada.
During evolution, Nincada hide in various places on large trees to avoid predator attacks.
Qingwu saw many Flying-type Pokémon already lurking nearby, eyeing them covetously.
Taillow, Pidgey, Swellow, Pidgeotto, and so on.
Because Ninjask can lay a dozen Pokémon Eggs at once, they pass on their offspring by laying many eggs.
Qingwu used the system to scan this group of Nincada, but unfortunately, there were hardly any with good aptitude.
Besides evolving into Ninjask, Nincada can also evolve into Shedinja.
Shedinja's evolution method is quite special. In the game, as long as you have a Nincada and place it at the head of your party.
And if you have a Poké Ball and a spare slot in your party, a Shedinja will appear after Nincada evolves.
But the real world is not like that. Qingwu once caught a Nincada and tried to follow the game's method.
After Nincada shed its old shell, it completely became a cicada husk. Besides getting a high-quality Pokémon medicinal ingredient, no trace of Shedinja was seen.
However, Qingwu had a theory: Ghost-type Pokémon aren't directly transformed; they must have a soul.
Shedinja, as a Ghost-type Pokémon, has only one HP.
Qingwu wondered if the souls of other tragically deceased Nincada gathered together to become Shedinja.
After all, when Nincada evolves into Ninjask, the cicada husk cannot have a soul.
The only possibility is that during the evolution process, Nincada was attacked by a Ghost-type Pokémon.
The vengeful spirits of tragically deceased Nincada merged into one or two of the already shed cicada husks, thus forming Shedinja.
However, people only saw the old body shed by Ninjask and mistakenly thought that Nincada suddenly became two Pokémon.
Then, through word-of-mouth, this result was eventually written in the Pokédex.
Qingwu didn't want to correct the League's mistake, but he could leave it to professionals to disprove.
Qingwu could also add another alternate identity as a researcher to record everything that happened in the area.
After instructing his Pokémon to train themselves, Qingwu recorded the Nincada's collective evolution scene with a camera.
The scene of Nincada evolving collectively was extremely rare.
In his previous life, Qingwu's Nincada was also a Pokémon dug up by one of Qingwu's Rhyperior while digging a hole.
Qingwu had only seen such an evolution scene on television.
The entire evolution process lasted one night. The already evolved Nincada had taken up their fixed positions.
Their carapaces had already hardened.
The infrared camera clearly captured the various changes of the Nincada.
Qingwu found that Flying-type Pokémon preferred Ninjask more than newly emerged Nincada.
The evidence was that Flying-type Pokémon only hunted a few newly emerged Nincada and then stopped.
Qingwu thought this might be because Ninjask, having undergone a life leap, might have more tender flesh and richer energy.
As dawn broke, the trees by Dragon Island Lake were covered with Nincada. Their shells had turned milky white, and the curled shape of a cicada could be clearly seen inside.
They remained motionless, and the surrounding trees were densely packed with Flying-type Pokémon.
When the first ray of morning light shone on one of the Nincada.
With a crack, a sharp pincer suddenly broke through the Nincada's hard shell from within.
A larger Ninjask, soaking wet, crawled out and painstakingly climbed to a hidden corner, its transparent wings unfolding.
In just five minutes, its wings would harden completely, and Ninjask would be able to spread its wings and fly high.
Then came countless cracking sounds.
These sounds echoed through the forest like a signal gun, and countless Flying-type Pokémon set out, beginning their ultimate feast.
Ursaring, Slakoth, Rattata, Persian—these Pokémon had also waited a long time. Nincada were a rich source of protein. A Taillow eagerly used a Peck attack, a flash of white light across its beak, piercing the newly emerged Ninjask with even faster speed.
Countless green juices flowed from Ninjask's wound. Just as the Taillow was about to feast.
Ninjask's attack also arrived. Ninjask used the Fury Cutter move, tearing the Taillow into pieces.
Although this Ninjask killed a Taillow, more Flying-type Pokémon swarmed in and quickly tore the Ninjask into countless pieces.
Such bloody scenes were playing out everywhere.
Ursaring extended its sharp claws, tearing several Ninjask into pieces.
If too many Ninjask survived, the number of hatched Nincada would surge, seriously endangering the ecological balance of Dragon Island.
So many Pokémon were actively hunting Ninjask.
Qingwu was recording relevant data, watching a clever Nincada.
This Nincada found a very hidden spot and successfully emerged from its shell, leaving behind a beautiful cicada husk.
This Nincada was a relatively rare yellow aptitude Pokémon. To prevent its beautiful cicada husk from being destroyed, Qingwu.
He preemptively captured the motionless Ninjask, which was waiting for its body to harden, right after it shed its shell.
This Ninjask could sell for a lot of money on the black market. Qingwu noticed that this Ninjask had the Speed Boost ability.
Ninjask with Speed Boost are constantly sought after by the Hunter Guild, but the price is usually 10-20% lower than on the black market.
Unfortunately, Qingwu searched for a while before finding this well-hidden yellow aptitude Ninjask.
This also meant that if this cicada husk could successfully complete the soul transformation, it would become a Shedinja.
Ninjask are common, but Shedinja are not. On average, not even one Shedinja appears for every thousand Ninjask.
A Shedinja with good aptitude could even sell for an astronomical price. To prove the persuasiveness of his thesis, Qingwu also had to catch a Shedinja.
"Gastly, help me sense the soul fluctuations," Qingwu called out to Gastly.
"Ralts, help me translate," With Ralts as a natural Pokémon translator, Qingwu saved a lot of effort.
"Qingwu, Gastly says it senses countless vengeful spirits of Nincada pouring into that cicada husk," Ralts replied.
Indeed!!! This confirmed Qingwu's idea. "Where is that cicada husk?" Qingwu pointed to a tattered cicada husk.
This was because the Ninjask sensed the presence of predators and was eager to break out of the cicada husk, tearing it apart in the process.
Unfortunately, the owner of this cicada husk had already been eaten.
"That cicada husk had vengeful spirits entering it, but because the cicada husk was damaged, they all leaked out through the cracks," Ralts said after communicating with Gastly for a while.
In the Pokédex, Shedinja is described as a discarded shell that gained a soul.
If one peers into the crack on its back, their soul seems to be sucked away.
So, Qingwu understood one of the conditions for Shedinja's formation:
The shed cicada husk must be complete; an incomplete cicada husk cannot contain vengeful spirits.
After reaching this conclusion, Qingwu had another thought: would a Shedinja be born from every complete cicada husk?
Qingwu had a sharp-eyed Crobat detect three complete cicada husks and asked Gastly to record them.
At this moment, the cicada husk Qingwu was observing had already begun to transform into Shedinja. Countless vengeful spirits of Nincada merged together.
Qingwu saw the cicada husk move, and a halo slowly rose from it. Just as Shedinja was about to disappear.
A Mean Look focused on its body, followed by a Poké Ball, and Shedinja was captured.
Because Shedinja's HP was too low, the Poké Ball didn't even shake before Shedinja was caught.
"Gastly says that the cicada husk is filled with thousands of vengeful spirits, which merged to form a soul fire."
"Only then did it transform into a Ghost-type Pokémon."
Ralts translated truthfully.
"What about the other three cicada husks?" Qingwu still saw no signs of transformation, and the slaughter was almost over.
The surviving Ninjask began their counter-hunt.
"The number of souls in the cicada husks is not enough; quantitative change cannot produce qualitative change," Ralts shook its head.
"Crobat, use Air Slash on one of the cicada husks," Qingwu snapped his fingers.
Crobat then unleashed an Air Slash, and the cicada husk instantly disintegrated into dust.
"The number of vengeful spirits is now enough. Although it's much less than the first cicada husk, it's enough to produce a soul."
"If you compare the Shedinja you just caught, which has one thousand soul equivalents, then these two Shedinja only have five hundred equivalents each."
In Ralts's real-time translation, Qingwu heard many technical terms and looked at Gastly with newfound respect.
Could this Gastly be the soul transformation of a scientist?
Then Qingwu repeated his trick, using Mean Look to lock onto Shedinja, then threw a Poké Ball.
{Yellow, Orange, Orange} These were the aptitudes of the three Shedinja Qingwu caught.
"What a pity. If I had destroyed the other cicada husks, would this Shedinja have become green aptitude?" Qingwu regretted a bit.
The second condition Qingwu obtained for Shedinja's transformation was that there must be a sufficient quantity of souls.
According to Gastly, one equivalent of a soul equals one Shedinja's spirit.
Souls of different species have different equivalents.
Qingwu had a prediction: Shedinja's aptitude has nothing to do with its original body, the Nincada's aptitude.
It's only related to the quantity of vengeful spirits, but this lacks crucial data and can only be considered a hypothesis.
However, Qingwu looked at the remaining dense cicada husks and exclaimed how rich he was. Cicada husks are extremely valuable resources in the Pokémon world.
Although Nincada have strong reproductive energy, they usually appear in remote places, so these cicada husks can sell for high prices on the black market.
Qingwu swept away the cicada husks, then walked briskly towards the mountains.
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