"Eevee, go back to your original form," Gary said.
"Vee."
Flareon nodded. White light spread across its body, and its figure rapidly shrank inside the glow. When the light faded, it had already returned to its normal Eevee form.
Gary looked it over carefully.
"Any discomfort?"
"Vee."
Eevee shook its head, indicating that there was no problem.
"By the way, Eevee, have you ever tried evolving continuously?" Gary asked.
"Vee...?"
Eevee tilted its head.
Ever since Blaine had sent the research data to Professor Oak, they had always tested the Multi-Attribute Evolution System according to Blaine's conclusions: evolve once, then wait at least one hour before attempting another evolution.
Eevee had never tried evolving again immediately after a transformation.
"So," Gary said, "do you want to test your limit?"
Eevee immediately had a bad feeling.
Test its limit...?
How exactly was that supposed to be tested?
"Try evolving again. This time, become Vaporeon," Gary said.
"Vee..."
Eevee looked hesitant. Even though it had never tried it before, it knew from Professor Oak's explanations that consecutive evolution would be painful.
"Just think of it as taking a heavy hit from an opponent's move," Gary said. "You should know where your limit is. If something unexpected happens in the future and you have to do this in an emergency, it's better to know now than panic later."
Eevee hesitated for a while, but in the end, it nodded.
"Alright, then let's begin."
"Vee."
Eevee once again mobilized the elemental energy inside the Attribute System. This time, it drew on the Water-type evolutionary power. The moment the power entered its body, Eevee frowned in obvious pain.
Gary watched very carefully.
Although it was painful, Eevee still completed the transformation. Its body grew larger again, and when the light faded, Vaporeon stood in front of him.
"Vaporeon!"
Vaporeon immediately voiced its dissatisfaction. Its whole body had hurt terribly during the evolution process, but Eevee's willpower was strong enough to endure it.
"Does it hurt?" Gary asked.
"Vee!"
Of course it hurt.
Eevee made it very clear—not only was it painful, but it had also consumed a huge amount of stamina. Just this one consecutive evolution had taken nearly a quarter of its physical strength.
"The stamina loss is that serious..."
Gary was genuinely surprised.
No wonder the Eevee in Blaine's research had fainted shortly after being forced to evolve continuously.
It seemed the cost of continuous evolution was very high. Once the body reached its limit, fainting was inevitable.
"Do you still feel pain now?" Gary asked.
"Vee."
Eevee thought for a moment, then shook its head. After the evolution was complete, it felt much better. The real pain was during the actual transformation process.
Gary then checked the data after Eevee had become Vaporeon.
The move changes were similar to Flareon. It had gained Water Gun, and its Ability had become Hydration. Other than that, neither the base Ability framework nor the Hidden Ability slot had changed.
"Try using Liquidation," Gary said.
"Vaporeon."
Vaporeon swung its tail, and a layer of water quickly wrapped around it. The compressed water formed a blade over three meters long, and as Vaporeon whipped its tail, the water blade cut toward the ground.
Bang!!
The earth split open, leaving a slash several dozen centimeters deep. The move's power was clearly impressive.
The only unfortunate thing was that Liquidation was a physical Water-type move.
Vaporeon was a special attacker. If it had a strong special Water-type move instead, its damage output would be even higher.
The same problem existed for Flareon.
Flareon was a physical attacker, but at the moment, Eevee only had Fire Blast and Flame Charge as major Fire-type moves. Fire Blast was special, while Flame Charge's power wasn't especially high.
"It looks like I'll need to exchange for some stronger physical or special moves."
Gary thought about the remaining Sinnoh Gyms. There were still a few he hadn't challenged yet, including some that specialized in Fire-types. It seemed he would have to clear them all and collect more useful move rewards.
After figuring out the basic situation of Eevee's transformations, Gary returned to the Pokémon Center.
From that point on, every day he focused on training his Sinnoh team, trying to improve their levels as much as possible before the Lily of the Valley Conference.
A week passed in the blink of an eye.
Early that morning, Gary got up, washed up, and rode Garchomp toward Mt. Coronet.
He was going to check the ruins at Mt. Coronet again.
During the past week, Gary had already found the exact location of the ruins. Since then, he had been coming every morning to observe the area, then returning in the afternoon to continue training. It had become part of his daily routine.
In order to avoid being discovered by Team Galactic, Gary had Garchomp circle around the mountains and use the ridgelines as cover. Even with that cautious route, it still took more than ten minutes to get near the ruins.
The moment he reached the mountainside overlooking the entrance, Gary saw four familiar figures hiding behind a large boulder.
"Hm? Looker... and Team Rocket?"
Gary didn't remember every detail of the Sinnoh storyline clearly, but if Looker and the Team Rocket trio had ended up together, then they were probably about to play some key role here.
He also saw Team Galactic personnel.
At the entrance of the ruins, four Team Galactic grunts were standing guard. Their green bowl-cut wigs and white uniforms made them instantly recognizable.
Gary decided to wait and see what Looker and Team Rocket were planning. In any case, sooner or later Team Galactic would bring the Lake Trio here.
Gary released another Pokémon.
"Gengar."
"Gengga."
"Hide in the shadow near the entrance of the ruins. Wait and act according to my signal. If you aren't discovered, don't move on your own."
"Gengga!"
Gengar gave an OK sign, then merged into the shadows and quietly moved toward the entrance of the ruins.
At the same time, Looker and the Team Rocket trio also began to act.
Gary watched with some surprise as Team Rocket somehow produced a set of Team Galactic uniforms. After putting on the uniforms and wigs, they looked almost exactly like actual Team Galactic members. There were no obvious flaws at all.
Then the four of them—Looker included—walked toward the gate of the ruins with complete confidence.
The four Team Galactic guards saw that the approaching group was wearing proper uniforms and immediately assumed they had come to take over the watch. Their vigilance naturally relaxed.
Looker and Team Rocket might not have especially powerful Pokémon, but all four of them were quite skilled personally.
You could underestimate Team Rocket's brains, but you should never underestimate their individual abilities.
The combat training given to elite Team Rocket members was still very solid. Among the trio, Jessie was actually the strongest in a physical fight. She had once boasted that if a Pokémon wanted to fight her, it could come directly.
The four of them struck quickly.
Before the Team Galactic guards had time to react, they were all knocked out, tied up, and dragged behind the nearby boulders.