Chapter 319:
"Floragato?"
Floragato cautiously peeked out, looking at the picture on the phone.
This picture was just something Hayashi Kaede found randomly; it wasn't carefully selected.
He hadn't realized before that Floragato cared so much about its appearance.
But thinking back now, it made sense.
Every time Hayashi Kaede petted it and put it down, the then Sprigatito would gently lick its slightly messy fur back into place.
Sometimes, if he petted against the grain, Sprigatito would bare its teeth, but only the first time; later, it seemed to have given up?
Floragato looked at the picture on the phone.
Although still humanoid, the figure looked much more proportionate, with two long capes behind it, and the flower on its neck floating in the air.
The eyes didn't look as childish as they did now; there was an indescribable quality to them.
The legs were also much longer, wrapped in smooth black fur.
Although it had never seen Meowscarada before, Floragato instinctively felt that the Pokémon in the picture was much better looking than its current self.
"Floragato..."
It finally blinked and looked at Hayashi Kaede.
"Is evolving into this okay?" Hayashi Kaede took out a Medium Rare Candy.
"Floragato..."
Floragato nodded.
"Come here, let me hold you. Don't be sad anymore."
Seeing this, Hayashi Kaede carefully lifted Floragato out of the cabinet and brought the Rare Candy to its mouth. "Here, eat this. It'll help you evolve faster."
At the same time, he checked Floragato's stats.
[Pokémon: Floragato]
[Gender: Female]
[Ability: Overgrow]
[Potential: Red]
[IVs: HP (24) Attack (28) Sp. Atk (22) Defense (28) Sp. Def (24) Speed (31)]
[Level: 21 — 23]
[Moves: Ally Switch, Leech Seed, Leafage, Tail Whip, Hone Claws, Quick Attack, Seed Bomb, Grassy Glide.]
[Friendship: 95]
[Happiness: 20]
"Floragato.."
After obediently eating the candy, Floragato's level became 23-24.
Hayashi Kaede calculated that if he fed it a Rare Candy every three days, Floragato would likely evolve again in just over a month.
However, a newly evolved Meowscarada might not have good control over its energy.
But that wasn't a big problem. He just needed to make sure Floragato didn't spend all its time sunbathing in the coming period and instead spent some time familiarizing itself with its energy.
Thinking this, Hayashi Kaede gently placed Floragato on the ground. "Floragato, if you want to evolve quickly, you might need to go through a little bit of training."
"Floragato?"
Floragato looked at Hayashi Kaede, puzzled.
Hayashi Kaede gently stroked its head. "For example, you'll need to experience quite a few battles. This will bring your evolution time forward."
Like in the anime, battles and training can speed up a Pokémon's leveling rate.
In the Eastova region, there is a researcher specializing in this field, Dr. Lawson.
He wrote a thesis – "On Whether the Rate of Strengthening Increases When Pokémon and Trainers Fight Together?"
The thesis clearly states—
If a Pokémon is with a Trainer and receives the Trainer's belief in mutual progress and strengthening, the Pokémon's rate of strengthening becomes faster.
Simultaneously, the probability and speed of evolution also increase.
This isn't baseless; it was researched through extensive recording and evidence collection.
Dr. Lawson recorded one hundred novice Trainers whose first Pokémon was Bulbasaur.
He also went to a Bulbasaur habitat.
He recorded another one hundred Bulbasaur born around the same time, labeling them.
He tracked and recorded data after one year, three years, and five years.
He found that, often, the Bulbasaur with Trainers had a higher number of evolutions after one, three, and five years—sometimes more than double.
Later, to rule out differences among Bulbasaur, he conducted another experiment, having one hundred novice Trainers each catch one Bulbasaur from the same habitat, and recorded them alongside the wild Bulbasaur from the same group.
The data obtained still showed that Bulbasaur with Trainers had a higher evolution rate.
Similarly, this applied to Pokémon like Meowth, Poliwag, and Bellsprout.
When Hayashi Kaede was in high school, he had read this thesis and remarked, "As expected of the Pokémon world, the power of belief is truly amazing."
"Floragato..."
Floragato glanced outside with some trepidation.
In this weather, unless the sun was out, it preferred staying by the heater rather than going outside.
Wouldn't battle training be too cold?
"If you want to evolve into Meowscarada quickly, you need to battle. I'll be with you too. Of course, if you think it's too cold, we can take it slower."
Hayashi Kaede didn't force Floragato, insisting it must battle or train every day.
Effort and reward are often proportional in most things.
To evolve faster, it needs to battle and train its moves.
Under Hayashi Kaede's gaze, Floragato's eyes flickered, then quickly grew determined.
Compared to the cold weather outside, it wanted to evolve quickly even more.
"Floragato!" (I want to get stronger! I want to evolve quickly!)
"Alright then."
Hayashi Kaede patted Floragato's head and extended his hand. "Let's do our best together then~"
"Floragato..." Floragato also reached out its paw.
...
December 7th.
Afternoon.
Today wasn't a challenge day.
But since he promised to help Floragato evolve faster, Hayashi Kaede had to leave the warm, cozy house.
Essentially, it was about ensuring Floragato could master its energy proficiently while consuming Rare Candies.
To address this, Hayashi Kaede adopted two measures.
First was simple, straightforward battling.
The other was mastering move proficiency, just like when Snivy trained with Magical Leaf.
"Seed Bomb, Quick Attack, Leafage..."
Looking at Floragato's list of moves, Hayashi Kaede fell into thought.
These were all moves Floragato learned naturally as its level increased.
Ally Switch and Leech Seed were its egg moves.
After a brief consideration, Hayashi Kaede found a training direction for each move.
First, Quick Attack – the simplest one.
That involved letting the ever-"challenging" Pidgeot intervene.
Have Floragato formally participate in the "Sky Challenge" evasion training.
This was almost the best training method for Quick Attack.
Next was Leafage, also quite simple.
Layered leaves, just like when Snivy trained Magical Leaf before.
However, to increase Floragato's sense of accomplishment during training, Hayashi Kaede made a slight adjustment to this move's training.
This again required Pidgeot's help.
That was, have Floragato maintain the Leafage's form within Pidgeot's Gust.
Then proceed with layered training.
Although the difficulty would increase later, correspondingly, seeing itself achieve the training goals step by step would give Floragato a unique sense of accomplishment.
As for Leech Seed and Seed Bomb,
Hayashi Kaede also had corresponding training methods.
These included, but weren't limited to, improving the concentration of Leech Seed, the accuracy of Seed Bomb (this could be improved by being the attacker in the Sky Challenge), and also having Floragato mix Leech Seed within Leafage, allowing the Leech Seed to hit the target accurately while floating unpredictably.
"Hmm, that's all for now."
After organizing his thoughts, Hayashi Kaede looked at Floragato. "We're starting. Are you ready?"
"Floragato!"