"Zweei!"
Blue Char's eyes rolled slightly, and the corners of its mouth kept lifting upward, clearly excited about receiving a new name. However, compared to the original head on the left, it was much more tsundere. Only after Theo called its new name several more times did it reluctantly lean over and rub against him.
Theo gently stroked both Black Char and Blue Char's heads. One was calm while the other was lively, their contrasting personalities making the corners of his lips curl up unconsciously.
Yet deep in his mind, he was already thinking about something much more important, which was the future evolutionary path of this Zweilous.
This was something the old matriarch from the Village of Dragons had specifically reminded him of back when he brought Tyrantrum back from Sootopolis City.
At the time, when the old matriarch saw the small bulge on Deino's neck, she smiled and said the little fellow was about to evolve. She then deliberately mentioned that there were two completely different evolutionary routes for Zweilous, so Theo should be prepared in advance.
The first evolutionary direction was the most common one: a single-consciousness Hydreigon.
After evolution, only the middle head would possess independent awareness. The two side heads would not have independent brains or consciousness. They would merely act as auxiliary organs for attacking and feeding, completely controlled by the main head.
This process was somewhat similar to the evolution of the Bug and Grass type Pokémon Paras in the Kanto region.
Of course, it was only similar. The evolution of Zweilous was nowhere near as cruel as that of Paras.
Paras, a Pokémon that resembled a small crab with two mushrooms growing on its back, had an adorable appearance and was once widely loved, even kept as a pet by many.
However, as it grew, the mushrooms on its back would continuously absorb nutrients from the insect body beneath, gradually taking over as the dominant entity.
By the time Paras evolved into Parasect, the lively and agile insect consciousness at the bottom would completely disappear. Only the mushroom's consciousness remained, controlling the body through its mycelium.
It was somewhat like the parasitic ironworms from Theo's previous life, where the host insect lost control of its body and ultimately perished, a process that carried a rather tragic and unsettling tone.
This phenomenon had been discovered ten years ago by a young girl in the Kanto region who specialized in raising Grass type Pokémon. Her name was Erika, now the Gym Leader of Celadon City.
She noticed that her Paras was behaving increasingly strangely. Its once lively eyes had become dull, like those of a dead fish.
At first, she thought it was simply because it was close to evolving and thus becoming less active, but the more she observed, the more something felt wrong. Paras became more and more sluggish, its mind seemed to deteriorate, and it began forgetting things. This made Erika deeply upset, so she quickly took Paras to Professor Oak for help.
Professor Oak conducted specialized research on Paras and eventually uncovered the cruel truth behind its evolution into Parasect.
After that, he immediately halted the experiment and had all the Paras involved wear Everstones.
With over a year of careful nurturing and sufficient exposure to sunlight, the Paras that had not yet evolved gradually regained their original consciousness.
During this research period, Professor Oak and Erika also continuously published reports on Pokémon forums about Paras's evolutionary process, attracting widespread attention from trainers and caretakers.
Since then, many people who kept Paras as pets chose to have them hold Everstones, preferring to stop them from evolving rather than watch their beloved companions lose their consciousness.
As for trainers who wanted Parasect for battle, they would instead capture already evolved ones in the wild rather than raise Paras themselves.
Of course, Zweilous's evolution was only slightly similar to Paras's case and nowhere near as horrifying. Theo had already asked the old matriarch about this in detail.
When Zweilous evolves into Hydreigon, the two existing consciousnesses do not disappear. Instead, they merge into a single consciousness within the central head. One consciousness becomes dominant, while the other integrates into it as part of the subconscious, ultimately forming a more unified existence.
Even so, many residents in the Dragon Village who owned Zweilous were reluctant to let them evolve.
After all, once Deino evolved into Zweilous, the two heads developed distinct personalities, almost like raising two separate Pokémon at once.
Even though evolving into Hydreigon did not involve outright devouring consciousness like Paras, it still left a bittersweet feeling.
Liam was one such person.
He was responsible for raising and caring for the Deino lineage in the Village of Dragons. Having witnessed countless cases of Zweilous evolving into a single-consciousness Hydreigon, he could never quite accept it emotionally.
Thus, after years of continuous research and breeding efforts, Liam finally developed a second evolutionary path for Hydreigon.
Instead of three heads sharing one consciousness, each of the three heads would possess its own independent awareness while sharing the same body.
Typically, the original head that formed first would become increasingly calm and wise over time. It would always be able to identify the key points of battle amid chaos and would not attack recklessly. This head functioned as the strategic brain, directing the overall battle.
The second head, which formed later, would inherit a more irritable and aggressive temperament. Its eyes burned with constant fury, as if ready to tear everything apart. It was usually the first to initiate attacks, unleashing dragon breaths with fierce intensity. It acted as the assault brain, breaking through the opponent's defenses with sheer force.
The third head, formed last, would possess a cunning and agile personality. During intense battles, it would actively search for weaknesses in the opponent and even use feints to deceive them.
However, this evolutionary route was far more difficult than the standard one.
With three separate consciousnesses sharing a single body, the physical requirements were extraordinarily high. Only a sufficiently powerful body could nurture and sustain a third consciousness.
If the body was not strong enough, the evolution might even need to be forcibly suppressed, gradually strengthening the body until a solid foundation was achieved before proceeding along this path.
Fortunately, for Theo's Zweilous, this requirement was not an issue at all.
Back then, when Cynthia chose this Deino, it was precisely because it was born with the move Outrage, a powerful physical Dragon type move that already demonstrated its exceptional physical potential.
Combined with the advanced energy orbs Theo provided, along with Metagross's daily gravity field training and combat practice, reaching the required physical condition for evolution would be entirely achievable.
And if it still was not enough, then he would simply push Zweilous even further, letting Metagross increase the gravity field's intensity and duration as needed.
Thinking of this, Theo could not help but feel a surge of anticipation.
He imagined his Zweilous completing this special evolutionary path and ultimately becoming a terrifying existence with three heads and three independent consciousnesses, something akin to the legendary King Ghidorah from the films of his previous life.
(End of Chapter)