Alex first wanted to find out of friendship evolution was a thing in this world. From the facts he remembered from his previous life, the Pokemon he remembered that evolved from friendship were Blissey, Crobat, three Eeveelutions, and the bunch of baby Pokemon, like Pichu, Cleffa, Igglybuff, Azurill, Togepi and Munchlax. There was also Buneary, Budew, Chingiling, Swoobat, Swadloon, and Riolu.
Out of these, the data from baby Pokemon could be excluded, because everyone loves baby Pokemon, and they are easy to make friends with. Chansey was almost exclusively monopolized by Nurse Joy, and they had a great relationship with their partners. Crobat was rarer, but anyone who put up with the smelly and ugly Zubat and Golbat would probably be best buds with it, and it shouldn't be a surprise that it evolved.
Bunery and Riolu were rare, and their trainers had a great relationship with them.
Hence there was not much data that could prove or disprove the existence of friendship evolution. Hence he decided to experiment in batches. He would give great friendship and care for some of the Eevee, while he would partially isolate the others, and do the same stimulations to them. If they both evolve, it could be definitely proven that friendship evolution was not a part of this world.
On the other hand, Sylveon's evolution. condition, that is only evolving when it knows a Fairy type move, seemed more straightforward and applicable to even this world.
Hence, he first selected 2 groups of 8 Eevee, and put 4 of each group in relative isolation. Among each of these subgroups in one group, he made sure 2 learnt the Dark type move Bite, and the other two did not. He did the same with the other group, but he made them learn Rest instead.
He then performed a few experiments, including creating an artificial abundance of Dark type energy or Psychic type energy.
He made sure that all the Eevee's in the experiment were fed with the best food and had the most comfortable rest.
One week later, he got the result he wanted.
"Professor, among the 16 I worked on this week, 4 of the Eevee evolved into Umbreon and 4 of them evolved into Espeon" said Alex proudly to Professor Oak.
Professor Oak, looked up shocked, "Are you done already? Alakazam told me you had asked it to teach 4 Eevee Bite and 4 Eevee Rest. Is that the required condition?" asked Professor Oak.
"One of them Professor. The other one is the time of the day. Umbreon can only evolve at night, while Espeon can evolve only in the daytime. There is no need for exposure to sunlight or moonlight. According to an experiment, even the Eevee placed deep in the basement evolved. So I concluded that just the time of day mattered" said Alex. "The other condition is comfort or relaxation. The best fastest way to evolve them as I found, is on the meeting of the other two conditions, feed the Eevee the best food, give it a massage, and use some stimulus like a light breeze and music to make it as relaxed as possible. It will them evolve."
"I see. Can this experiment be considered successful?" asked the Professor.
"Not yet sir. I still believe I can find the evolution conditions for Leafeon and Glaceon. I believe that some special environmental conditions are needed for Thai evolution to occur. I made a list of all sightings of the Pokemon in the wild, and got one spot for each of those Pokemon. The Petalburg Woods in the Hoenn region for Lefeaon and Snowpoint City in the Sinnoh region for Glaceon. If convenient, I would like to lead an expedition to those places with the remaining 22 Eevee and try to evolve them to Leafeon and Glaceon" said Alex.
Professor Oak thought for a while and said, "Alright. I will allow you to lead an expedition to those two places and arrange for some locals to escort you. You can also take Nidoking with you for protection" said Professor Oak.
Alex happily smiled. As soon as he found the Moss Rock and the Ice Rock, he could 'discover' the evolution method of Leafeon and Glaceon. He was now wondering if it would be appropriate for him to 'discover' Silvyon. A few of the Eevee already knew Baby Doll Eyes.
"By the way, I will publish the articles about Slowking, Politoed and the King's Rock next week. I put you down as the primary researcher and myself as the co-researcher" said the Professor. "Also, to prevent unwanted attention, I did not use your full name. I can release it when you think you are strong enough to handle the consequences" he continued. "For now, I put your title as 'Researcher Burns'. "
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