"Do you agree?" Eddie asked when he saw that the Helioptile's expression suddenly became less resistant.
"Hmmmm~"
The Helioptile nodded frantically.
Seeing this, Eddie said happily: "Since you are so sensible, I won't bother you about what happened before. Here... this is for you to eat." As he said that, he loosened his hand that was holding the Helioptile, placed it in his palm, and then gave it the fruit that the Helioptile had returned before.
"Hey~"
The Helioptile took the fruit and held it in its arms, then began to chew it happily. It finished the whole fruit in no time.
Its body is very small, not much bigger than Eddie's palm, so it can move easily in Eddie's hands.
"Hey~"
After quickly eating up a fruit, the Helioptile stretched out its little hand towards Eddie again.
"More? You're quite a eater!" Eddie said in surprise at the cute little body of the Helioptile, and then took out another fruit and handed it to it, "I'll give you another one, but this is the last one. It's not good to eat too much at once."
The fruits that Eddie took out were not small. Each one was as big as an adult's fist. He was worried that the Helioptile would burst its stomach if it ate two at a time.
"Hey beep~Hey beep~"
It was unclear whether the Helioptile had listened to Eddie's words or not. It just nodded randomly and started eating voraciously again.
Seeing that the Helioptile was eating enthusiastically, Eddie turned to Selene and Popplio and said, "Okay, we can go home now."
"Huh?" Aren't we going to capture Pokémon that have Stun Spore skills?
The Popplio asked doubtfully.
Eddie held up the Helioptile in his hand and said to it: "Look, with this little guy here, it doesn't matter if we don't have to find a Pokémon that can use Stun Spore."
"Woo!" Hum!
Seeing Eddie so happy, the Popplio thought that he particularly liked the yellow four-legged lizard.
After returning, Eddie introduced the new member, the Helioptile, to the Talonflame, Fletchinder, and Diggersby family.
The Diggersby warmly welcomed the Helioptile, but the Talonflame and Fletchinder seemed surprised, as they did not expect to see the Helioptile.
After all, you managed to get in!
It turns out that this Helioptile is a frequent visitor to Prosper Peak. In the past, it tried to sneak in and steal things every few days, but each time it was caught by the Talonflame or the Fletchinder and thrown out.
So the Talonflame and Fletchinder are already very familiar with it.
The key point is that this little guy is quite stubborn. Every time he comes, he can't get any advantage and will be taught a lesson, but he still insists on running here.
Now that I think about it, isn't this fate?
Seeing the ferocious Talonflame, the Helioptile was a little scared. It shook its two long ears and quietly hid behind Eddie's back.
Eddie didn't know that the Helioptile and Prosper Peak had such a history. He smiled and comforted the Helioptile and said, "What happened in the past is in the past. As long as you behave yourself in the future, we won't care."
The Talonflame nodded when he heard this. Since the boss said so, he certainly had no objection.
After hearing this, the Helioptile breathed a sigh of relief and walked out from behind Eddie.
In this way, Helioptile became Eddie's second Pokémon and settled down on Prosper Peak.
After solving the problem of Selene and Popplio's hidden energy circuits, Eddie's daily life returned to normal. Every day he was either cultivating fruit trees or training Pokémon. He used his free time to study and read, and every now and then he helped Selene and Popplio light up their hidden energy circuits.
The days are fulfilling and busy.
With the help of the Thunder Wave of the Helioptile, Selene and the Popplio's "operation" can be completed smoothly every time, and the hidden energy circuits that are lit up increase in an orderly manner.
The changes this brings to the two Pokémon are very obvious.
First of all, the number of energy cubes they consume every day is increasing, which shows that their efficiency in accumulating original energy is increasing, among which the changes in Selene are the most obvious.
There is no way. Its energy circuit is much more complicated than that of the Popplio. A single move can affect the entire body. The lighting of the hidden energy circuit makes its entire energy circuit run at high speed.
For this purpose, Eddie greatly increased the frequency of combing, compressing, and purifying its original energy.
The next thing was the change in appearance. Eddie had never thought that lighting up the hidden energy circuit could actually help the two Pokémon achieve a cosmetic effect.
Selene's figure became more and more symmetrical and taller. The average height of a Pokémon like Gardevoir is generally 1.6 meters, and Selene used to be even shorter than the average Gardevoir.
But since the hidden energy circuit was lit up, it actually began to grow.
Can you believe that I can still grow taller after being a mother for more than ten years?
After a period of time, Selene's height gradually grew to about 1.7 meters and then slowly began to show no obvious changes.
In addition to her height, Selene's appearance has become more and more beautiful. Her bright eyes are like the bright moon in the sky, her emerald green hair is greener than the new green leaves, her long skirt is as white as snow, and her slender legs...
If an old pervert saw such beauty, wouldn't he be frightened?
Eddie silently swore in his heart that he must protect his mother who was becoming more and more beautiful day by day!
The changes of the Popplio are mainly reflected in its physical condition. Although its deep blue skin is becoming more and more blue, its biggest change is still reflected in its throat.
[TL: Just me?]
In the past, when the Popplio sang, Eddie really wanted to cover his ears.
But now it's different. Its voice condition is getting better little by little, and it has gradually changed from being tone-deaf to a musical genius.
After a while, its singing actually became able to give people a relaxing and happy feeling.
At first, this change was not obvious and no one noticed it. Then suddenly one day, Diggersby said, "The Popplio sings quite well!" Everyone suddenly realized that the Popplio's vocal conditions had changed.
The sound that Eddie remembered most profoundly was the cry of the Milotic that he encountered when he was drifting on the sea. Although a long time had passed, that sound was still deeply engraved in his mind like the sound of nature.
After hearing that sound, Eddie felt that any songs or music he listened to afterwards were lacking in quality.
Now that the Popplio has suddenly undergone this change, Eddie began to look forward to its future.
The sound conditions are getting better and better, and correspondingly, the Popplio's control over the skill of Sing is becoming more and more perfect.
Now, every time it uses its Sing to control the moisture in the air to water the orchard, everyone thinks it is performing its Rain Dance skills.
In fact, it doesn't have the skill of Rain Dance at all.
Although it took the Popplio so long to practice the Sing to the effect of Rain Dance, it is not as convenient to use as Rain Dance, but what it pursues is not just the skill effect, but the control over the skill.
There is an essential difference between the effects achieved through the skills themselves and controlling the attribute energy to actively form the desired effects in your mind.
As for the Helioptile, Eddie has not yet lit up its hidden energy circuit.
On the one hand, it is because it is too young, as if it was born not long ago, and its body is not fully developed yet; on the other hand, the paralyzed state cannot be inflicted on Electric-type Pokémon, so if you want to shield the pain of the Helioptile, you have to find another way.
The Helioptile was very satisfied with its new life. Eddie had fulfilled his previous promise to it: it could eat as much fruit as it wanted and also had a supply of more delicious energy blocks.
There is no happier life than this.
The Helioptile has never seen its parents since it was born, and has often been hungry since it became conscious. It is common for it to not eat for several days, so it used to often run to Prosper Peak to steal things.
This experience made it develop the habit of cherishing food very much.
For example, one day Eddie was thinning the fruits on the fruit tree that he took special care of. That means removing the small fruits that were not growing well or were growing too densely, so as to ensure that the remaining fruits grow better.
Unexpectedly, the Helioptile ran over at some point. Eddie cut a fruit and threw it on the ground. It immediately picked it up and put it in its mouth, chewing it twice and swallowing it into its stomach. The unripe fruits have no taste and are even a bit sour, but the Helioptile can eat them without batting an eyelid.
When Eddie found it, its belly was already swollen and it was lying on the ground, unable to even walk.
Eddie was at a loss whether to laugh or cry.
Like Selene and Popplio, the Helioptile completely fell in love with this activity after undergoing a major health care. It did not expect that it could enjoy this special benefit by following Eddie.
This further strengthened its determination to follow Eddie's footsteps unwaveringly.
Time passed day by day, and in the blink of an eye it was July. The Liechi Berry trees on the top of the mountain began to bloom one after another, and Eddie began to think about their pollination problem.
He made an appointment with the pollination agency based on the contact information given by Mr. Ramos and agreed on a time. When the Liechi Berry trees began to bloom on a large scale, they would send someone with pollination Pokémon to help.
When the Liechi Berry trees bloomed, the people from the pollination agency came to Prosper Peak with a group of Vivillon.
Because these fruit trees grown by Eddie have a high energy rating, their flowers are popular with the Vivillon.
The people at the pollination agency are all experienced. They can roughly judge the energy rating of the fruit trees from the reaction of the Vivillon, so they were surprised that this client actually owns such a high-quality orchard.
Professional pollinating Pokémon are different from wild Pokémon. They have all received rigorous training and are very disciplined when pollinating. There are regulations on where to start and where to end, unlike wild Pokémon who do it haphazardly.
From then on, people from the pollination agency would bring Vivillon to Prosper Peak every three to five days.
The fees charged by this agency are indeed very fair. After Eddie paid the money, they enthusiastically expressed that they are willing to continue cooperating next time and may even give him a discount.
High-quality flowers are also good for the growth of their pollinating Pokémon, which is why they are so enthusiastic.
The East District of Coumarine City has a good environment and abundant usable land, so there are many plantations and orchards, but most of them are ordinary growers, and the fruits they grow are mostly sold to ordinary people as edible fruits.
It is rare to find an orchard like Prosper Peak that can cultivate a large number of high-quality fruit trees, so the people in the pollination agency are of course happy to make friends with him.
Moreover, Eddie was a client introduced to them by Master Ramos. As the Gym Leader of the Alliance, Master Ramos was one of the most influential people in Coumarine City.
On this day, Eddie took some time out to visit Master Ramos at the Coumarine Gym, but he saw that he had a sad face. After asking him carefully, he found out that the ancient sapling was dead after all.
When Eddie met Master Ramos, he was taking care of a new ancient tree seed.
"I hope it can sprout successfully." Uncle Ramos said with a sigh.
This new seed was obtained by Mr. Ramos from somewhere else. He had always been brooding over the death of the previous ancient sapling, and finally decided to try again.
Captain Sanders's research institute no longer had any other ancient plant seeds for Mr. Ramos to "waste". After all, this thing was not easy to find, so he asked a friend to get one from somewhere else.
This one is also different from the previous ones. It is no longer a Liechi Berry seed.
Seeing this, Eddie asked, "Why did the ancient tree wither?"
Mr. Ramos shook his head and said, "It would be nice if I knew the reason."
"Is the sapling still there? Can I take a look at it?" Eddie asked.
"It's still there." After all, he had spent a lot of effort to cultivate it, so even though the sapling had withered, Master Ramos was reluctant to get rid of it. "Go and see if you want."
Under the guidance of Master Ramos, Eddie indeed saw the "corpse" of the ancient sapling. It had been pulled out intact from the flower bed by Master Ramos.
Eddie picked up the dried sapling and found that its roots were indeed very weak. Although not much different from the roots of modern fruit trees, it was a bit inferior compared to its developed energy structure.
Although Pokémon can actively absorb energy by eating Berries and Pokémon food, the simplest way to obtain energy is to passively absorb energy from the air through energy circuits.
The same is true for the energy diagram of fruit trees.
After a period of research, Eddie discovered that there are two ways for fruit trees to obtain energy. The energy here does not refer to the organic energy that maintains its life, but the magical energy unique to the Pokémon world that is only stored in its energy diagram.
One is to draw free energy from the air through the top of the tree (the crown), and the other is to draw energy from the earth through the bottom of the tree (the roots).
This is similar to how plants obtain organic energy by using their leaves for photosynthesis while using their roots to absorb nutrients from the soil.
The roots of modern fruit tree energy diagrams have degenerated, so the main way to obtain magical energy is to absorb it from the air in the upper part of the energy diagram, while the lower part can only serve as icing on the cake.
The key is that modern fruit trees have evolved to adapt to this way of absorbing magical energy, but ancient plants cannot. They must obtain magical energy in two ways at the same time in order to grow successfully.
Living things are complex and diverse and contain countless difficult-to-explain secrets. Although the magical energy and organic energy in the fruit tree are two different things, they are closely related. If one of them collapses, the other will inevitably be affected.
Eddie suspected that the reason why the ancient sapling died was because its roots were not fully developed, which made it impossible for it to absorb enough magical energy from the earth, thus affecting its organic energy cycle. That was why it remained thin and weak and ultimately could not escape the fate of withering.
Of course, if the roots are not fully developed, the fruit tree's access to beneficial energy will certainly be affected. It should be said to be a double blow!
However, these are just Eddie's guesses. They have not been verified, so he cannot guarantee that his guesses are correct.
At this moment, Eddie suddenly noticed that Master Ramos was holding a very thick book in his arms, with the words Compendium of Ancient Plants written in large letters on it.
He suddenly had an idea and asked, "Master Ramos, can I see the book in your arms?"
Upon hearing this, Uncle Ramos smiled and said, "What? Are you also interested in cultivating ancient plants?" Then he handed the book in his arms to Eddie.
"A little bit, after all, I have been studying the cultivation of fruit trees, and there are always similarities between the cultivation of plants."
Master Ramos nodded and said, "You are right. As the saying goes, you can draw inferences from one instance to another. There is no harm in learning more knowledge. They will all become nutrients for your growth in the future."
Eddie nodded, took Ramos's book, and started reading it.
The contents of this book are the results of botanists' painstaking research, and it even includes many pictures of ancient plants.
Most of these pictures were restored based on the excavated plant fossils. Eddie found them very interesting as he looked at them.
"Uncle Ramos, look here." Eddie suddenly pointed to a picture in the book and said.
"What's wrong?" Ramos looked in the direction of Eddie's finger and saw that what Eddie was pointing at was an illustration of an ancient Liechi Berry tree. "Is there any problem with this?"
Eddie casually explained: "Look at its proportions, the proportions of the roots and the whole tree!"
The Liechi Berry tree pictured here has a very developed root system that is almost larger than its crown.v
After Eddie's reminder, Ramos immediately discovered the problem. He picked up the withered sapling and compared it with the picture.
"The proportions of the roots are wrong!" he muttered to himself.
"Yes, we see that the roots of this sapling are fine, but according to this restored picture, the roots are obviously not well developed. If the roots can't grow well, how can this tree grow big?"
"You're right, that's the truth!" Uncle Ramos said excitedly, "The environment in ancient times is different from that in modern times. There must be some related factors that affect the development of plants."
Seeing that Master Ramos had already discovered the problem, Eddie didn't say much. This hint was enough.
Although he couldn't be sure that his guess was correct, Ramos was still in the research stage, and it wouldn't be a bad thing to try more.
Mr. Ramos has helped him so much, so of course he hopes that Mr. Ramos's research will go smoothly.
Sure enough, after a while, Eddie learned from Master Ramos that the sapling he had cultivated again was growing well and would most likely grow up successfully. This time Master Ramos was full of confidence.