Pokémon: The Genetic Researcher Just Wants to Slack Off

Chapter 51 Azure receives notification to begin tracking

"In ancient times, people discovered that Eevee was a very peculiar Pokémon; it would change its form when it touched certain stones containing special energy."

"People didn't know why until your genetic theory was published, then I understood that it's because Ibrahimovic's genes are very special."

"Perhaps Giovanni realized this as well, which is why he had me conduct some experiments on Eevee. He's a smart guy."

"Through experiments, I discovered that if you inflict pain that is ten times more painful than fainting, you can cause the evolved Eevee to regress."

Xia Ye's expression remained unchanged, but his hands behind his back involuntarily clenched into fists.

Dr. Fuji was oblivious to Natsuno's subtle actions and continued to talk at length about his findings.

"In theory, this means that Eevee can switch between all its evolutionary forms, but of course, it requires special methods."

"But no matter how many times we try, we can only switch between three forms. Any more than that and they will break down."

"Your theory reveals that the essence of moves and traits is genes, which has greatly inspired me."

"This means that the genes for the moves that the evolved form can learn have always existed in Eevee's body, but they have not been activated."

"In other words, theoretically, after fully activating the genes, one can directly learn all evolutionary moves during the Eevee stage."

"But we're still stuck on activating three evolutionary move genes; any more and we'll break down."

"Genes are not as stable or easily rewritten as we imagine; in fact, they can easily break down, right?"

Faced with Fuji's question, Natsuno nodded, then shook his head.

"I have some speculations about this. But if I may be frank, you are merely crudely simulating extreme environments to induce deep gene expression."

"It might work for Pokémon like Eevee, whose genes are inherently unstable and have multiple evolutionary paths, but what about other Pokémon with a single evolutionary form?"

"Watching your process was so crude, it was no different from watching a slaughterhouse, or even more swift and efficient."

"Didn't you ever think about exploring the composition of genes? And then finding ways to extract gene sequences from cells?"

"We comprehensively read all the genes in a Pokémon's body and, through comparative analysis, determine the traits corresponding to each sequence."

Dr. Fuji smiled.

"I have performed many surgeries, and in my opinion, there is no difference between surgery and slaughtering, except that the former places great emphasis on sterility, infection prevention, and extremely stringent requirements for precision."

"Sakaki only gave me this to practice on. Now that you're here, you're welcome to offer suggestions for improvement on the subsequent research plan."

Xia Ye looked up and around, stroking his chin as he pondered deeply.

"Pokémon experiments should be put on hold for now; even if we continue with the current approach for another decade or more, we may not achieve any breakthroughs."

"Our top priority is to get us the right research equipment so we can directly explore the genes."

"A-Ju, let him see me out. Sakaki even asked me out for dinner tonight."

Fuji pressed a button and said, "Please come in."

Two minutes later, Ah Ju opened the door and walked in: "Gentlemen, is there anything you need?"

"All of this Pokémon research can be stopped for now. You're just messing around and occasionally you might stumble upon something by chance."

"I was sent back to the city through the official procedures of the alliance, and the higher-ups are paying attention to me."

"Besides, official status is very useful; research materials can be obtained through official channels."

Ah Ju gestured, "Okay, please come this way."

...

"Where did this guy go? He sent his location and then disappeared right there!"

"I sent her a message but she didn't reply. She told me to come here with her. What am I supposed to do in this desolate place?"

The girl in the black dress stood behind a tree next to the pile of fruit that Ma Xueshi had set up earlier, stomping her feet vigorously.

The girl's face was full of resentment; it was Bilan.

When Bilan suddenly received Natsuno's message, she originally didn't intend to respond.

She happened to sneak into the volunteer team that was helping Evergreen Forest at noon and followed the main group into the forest.

But then he thought that Natsuno could see through all his moves, and if he didn't go, he might get punished.

While feeling a chill run down my spine, I glanced at the location the other party had sent; the location wasn't far.

They rushed as fast as they could, arriving at the patch of grass just as Natsuno entered the base.

That was the end of the location Natsuno sent; there was no further news.

Bilan even suspected that the evil Natsuno had tricked her into coming here and was going to play a trick on her.

She shoved her phone back into her chest, picked up a twig from the ground, and her eyes turned fierce.

He slammed his fist against the ground with all his might, as if the grass itself were some hateful person, and the tree branch snapped into several pieces with a crack.

In the midst of his rage, he inadvertently noticed human tracks on the ground and, cursing, headed toward them.

Halfway there, I suddenly heard footsteps coming from both sides.

Azure was startled and, using both hands and feet, climbed up a large tree in a few seconds to hide herself.

Footsteps approached quickly, and a dozen or so people ran out from each side and gathered under the tree.

Azure could only see that these people were wearing uniform black R-shaped uniforms, hats and masks, so their faces were not visible even in broad daylight.

The two team leaders wore gray uniforms, unlike the others, so they were probably squad leaders or something similar.

"It's Group C? Weren't you guys on a mission to Dark Grey?"

"Oh, you just got back from your job, and now you've been sent here to help relocate the branch base. Are you guys here too?"

"I really don't understand what the higher-ups are thinking. They just moved one person a couple of days ago, and now they've moved another one."

"Who cares? We'll just have to obey the organization's arrangements. I reckon we'll be transferred to the headquarters after this."

"Really? Doesn't that mean I'll have a chance to see the boss every day?"

"Dream on. You'd be lucky to see it once or twice. Anyway, be quick so you don't miss it."

"Let's go."

The two groups left quickly, and the azure in the tree remembered everything they had just said.

Only after confirming that no one was around did they climb down from the tree.

Azure carefully compared the activity traces and confirmed that the direction in which the group of people moved was consistent with the direction of the traces.

"That guy said he was going to infiltrate some mysterious organization."

"These people were just talking about an organization, could they be from the same organization?"

"We can't worry about that now, let's follow them and see what's going on."

Bilan reached into her chest and pulled out her phone, sending a message to Xia Ye about where she was.

After quickly stuffing her phone away, Bilan carefully followed after them.

On the other side, Natsuno followed Aju towards the base and arrived at an open area.

A hot air balloon marked with the letter R was parked in front of them, and two Team Rocket minions were directing two Charizards to heat up the air.

The ceiling above the hot air balloon opened up on both sides, revealing the blue sky.

A-Ju extended her hand to Natsuno and Fuji: "Please, both of you."

The group boarded a hot air balloon, which was equipped with several chairs.

After sitting down and fastening his seatbelt, Natsuno watched the scenery on both sides slowly sink down, feeling a sense of wonder.

Is riding in a hot air balloon a tradition of the Rockets?

Once the balloon reached the appropriate altitude, the two henchmen released two Pidgeots to guide it and ensure it stayed on the right track.

As soon as he left a certain area, Natsuno felt his pockets vibrating incessantly.

I reached out, and instead of a ghost vibrating, I took out my phone.

Before I could even look, Dr. Fuji, who was sitting next to me, slapped me hard on the shoulder.

Fuji held his phone in his hand, looking at it and exclaiming in amazement.

"You're really something, Natsuno!"