Chapter 68: The Feasibility Of The Mareep Pasture
In the blink of an eye, Snivy’s body was engulfed by that dense white light.
Within the light, its appearance rapidly changed.
“Snivy…”
Snivy gritted its teeth, enduring.
At this critical moment, the evolutionary light on Snivy’s body suddenly shifted and disappeared.
Seeing this, Lei Wen was slightly taken aback.
This… was a failed evolution?
“Huff… huff!”
Snivy panted, as if enduring the evolution had taken a lot of its energy.
Looking at this scene, Lei Wen immediately reacted.
It wasn’t that Snivy had failed to evolve… but that it had resisted evolution.
Why?
Lei Wen was a bit confused and crouched down, trying to ask Snivy its thoughts.
“Snivy, do you dislike evolving?”
Evolution makes Pokémon stronger. Logically, most Pokémon would naturally pursue greater strength and wouldn’t refuse to evolve.
No… perhaps it wasn’t like that.
Lei Wen then thought of some examples from anime.
Sometimes, Pokémon couldn’t control their power after evolving, causing significant damage and burden to their bodies, leading to irreversible consequences.
For example, the Grass/Bug Type Pokémon Paras. When it evolves into Parasect, Paras dies as its internal essence and energy are drained by the mushroom. The mushroom parasitic on its back then begins to control this new body to move.
For a Trainer, this is absolutely unacceptable.
“Snivy…”
Snivy’s face showed a hesitant expression, but after a moment, it firmly shook its head.
That’s right, it didn’t want to evolve!
A memory from a long, long time ago surfaced in Snivy’s mind.
It was a night with a very full moon.
It encountered a Serperior in the forest.
Although that Serperior was very powerful, it no longer had the legs to run or the hands to hold things.
At that time, Snivy’s heart was filled with fear about evolution.
Because after evolving, it would also lose its hands and feet.
To it, that appearance was no different from being disabled.
Snivy was a Pokémon with an inherently proud nature and self-respect. Even though Lei Wen was by its side now, and Lei Wen treated it very well… even so, it couldn’t accept a future where it would need Lei Wen to feed it even Berries.
Although Lei Wen couldn’t understand Snivy’s words, looking at Snivy’s demeanor, he could clearly feel its resistance to evolution.
While he felt a little disappointed, reality wasn’t a game, and he couldn’t force a Pokémon to evolve.
Lei Wen adjusted his emotions and then said to Snivy:
“It’s okay, it’s okay not to evolve!”
“Snivy…” Snivy was slightly startled, then looked up at Lei Wen.
Lei Wen grinned, “We can still become stronger, can’t we?”
Wasn’t Ash’s Snivy like that too?
It was able to defeat its evolved form, Servine, in its initial stage.
In the Pokémon World, similar examples are countless.
More importantly, even without evolving into a Serperior, Snivy could learn Leaf Storm.
In fact, in the game, Serperior needs to reach level fifty-six to learn Leaf Storm.
Snivy, on the other hand, only needs to reach level forty-three, even earlier than Serperior.
Therefore, Lei Wen was willing to respect Snivy’s wishes.
“Snivy…”
Snivy’s eyes flickered. It stared blankly at Lei Wen before it, then turned its head and closed its eyes, not looking at him.
However, Snivy’s Friendship increased from 70 to 90.
In the end, Snivy was also a little scared.
It feared that if it didn’t evolve, Lei Wen would give up on it.
After all, from their days together, it knew very well that Lei Wen really hoped the Pokémon around him would evolve.
For instance, Dratini.
But Snivy couldn’t accept becoming like that; it would rather stay by Lei Wen’s side in its current form.
Now, seeing that Lei Wen hadn’t abandoned it and had even encouraged it, Snivy was deeply moved.
It had grown to like this human.
“Alright, let’s put this matter behind us!” Lei Wen reached out and patted Snivy’s small head. “From now on, we’ll continue training diligently like before!”
This time, Snivy didn’t act proud again but gave a firm response.
“Snivy!”
Just then, a voice called out.
“Prince Lei Wen, so you’re here!”
Lei Wen turned his head and saw the Old Butler, Elif, hurrying over.
“What is it?” Lei Wen asked.
“Ryan, Cleveland, and Christina are back!” Elif reported.
Lei Wen immediately remembered Ryan and the others he had dispatched a few days prior to investigate the surrounding Pokémon ecology.
He hurried back to the Lord’s Hall with Snivy and Dratini, and sure enough, he saw Ryan and the other two waiting there.
Christina handed the notebook in her hands to Lei Wen with both hands, her eyes bright as she said:
“Prince Lei Wen, we have completed the task you assigned!”
The taciturn Cleveland stood by.
Ryan grinned, “Mission accomplished with flying colors! After the ice and snow melted, many new monsters have appeared around here!”
“Oh?” Hearing this, Lei Wen became interested.
He sat down in a chair and then opened the notebook used for recording Pokémon data.
The first page recorded a Pokémon that was small in size, somewhat like a sheep, with oval eyes, green curled ears, and a body covered in fluffy cotton.
Is this… Whimsicott?
Christina had made a note of this below.
【They are very lively, but they don’t seem to have a fixed habitat. They are very light and are blown into the sky by the wind to drift around.】
Whimsicott, huh? It can produce cotton, which can be used to make quilts and clothes, Lei Wen thought.
But the problem is that these Whimsicott are very light and get blown away by the wind… that’s a problem.
Lei Wen continued reading.
The Pokémon ecology in spring was significantly more abundant than in winter.
Basculin, Roserade, Emolga, Heracross, Pinsir, the spring form of Sawsbuck, Zangoose, Seviper, Tangela, Gligar, Explosion Head Water Buffalo, Clauncher, Lickilicky, Jigglypuff, and even a Slaking.
“As expected, the variety is very rich!”
Lei Wen casually flipped to the last page.
There, he saw a rather familiar figure.
A furry Pokémon covered in thick wool, with an orange light bulb at the end of its tail.
Mareep!
Christina had made a note of this below.
【They are gentle, gregarious monsters, and can be approached and petted even upon the first encounter. However, they seem to possess some kind of power; if you touch them suddenly, your hand will become painful and numb.】
