Chapter 28: The Gap in Strength.
Xia He, having guided Mega Lucario through the garden, demonstrated its speed and power, giving him a clear assessment of its strength.
Its base stats had increased from 525 to 625—a truly significant difference.
Even though the speed increase wasn't as outstanding as its Attack and Special Attack, it was still substantial.
In short, Mega Lucario's current strength allowed it to easily defeat a level 41 Growlithe.
Even with its Steel type being weak to Growlithe's Fire type, the outcome wouldn't change.
With Mega Evolution, it could easily defeat an opponent of the same level despite a type disadvantage.
Unless it was suppressed by a higher level or a higher base stat. Against a level 41 Arcanine, Mega Lucario's victory would be much more difficult.
Xia He's initial calculations suggested this increase was between 5 and 10 levels.
In other words, a level 36 Lucario, after Mega Evolution, was at least comparable to a level 41 Arcanine, and possibly even stronger.
Against ordinary Pokémon, and with type advantage, defeating level 46 or even 50 Pokémon wouldn't be a problem.
"Alright, deactivate Mega Evolution, Lucario."
After understanding the situation, Xia Mu deactivated Mega Lucario's state.
Deactivating it was actually just a matter of Xia Mu unilaterally cutting it off.
Mega Evolution, while achieved using a Mega Stone and Evolution Key, was, after experiencing it firsthand, something Xia Mu understood was Bond Pact Evolution.
It was just different from Ash and Greninja's Bond Pact Evolution in the original story. In short, that was a cheat code exclusive to Ash; otherwise, it wouldn't have the exclusive title.
Deactivating the evolution, Mega Lucario reverted to its original Lucario form.
This evolution wasn't permanent; Lucario understood, as did Growlithe, Beedrill, and the red Gyarados.
Even so, it's still a way to become stronger, and they all want to possess it.
Xia Mu's answer was that he currently only had Mega Stones for Lucario and Beedrill.
He planned to find Mega Stones for Gyarados and Arcanine later, giving Growlithe a glimmer of hope.
As for Gyarados, he'd deal with that later; at least with Growlithe by his side and unable to Mega Evolve, it wouldn't have any negative feelings even if it wanted to.
Regarding Beedrill, who already had a Mega Stone, Xia Mu replied that it would be fine once they were more in sync.
This left Beedrill with a cliffhanger, to see if their bond would increase rapidly in the coming days.
That night, Xia Mu, after much deliberation, stayed up very late before finally falling asleep.
The next morning, Xia Mu was awakened by a phone call.
Looking at the time, it was only a little before 7:30, and the caller was Professor Elm.
After a brief conversation, Xia Mu learned the purpose of Professor Elm's call.
After their encounter the day before yesterday, Professor Ivy collected information about Riolu.
She hadn't been able to contact him yesterday due to other commitments, but finally managed to squeeze in some time today.
So, she wanted to take advantage of the free morning to conduct further research on Riolu.
Of course, she phrased it tactfully, because she couldn't force Xia He if he didn't have time.
Besides, as Riolu's trainer, she needed Xia He's permission to conduct research.
Xia He didn't refuse; after all, Professor Ivy had helped him in a way, and he might need her help in the future, so he agreed.
Ultimately, Pokémon researchers like them mainly collect data and make new discoveries, generally without endangering the safety of Pokémon.
However, some things needed to be said upfront, and he also told Professor Ivy that Riolu had now evolved into Lucario.
Although it evolved from Riolu, Lucario was no longer Riolu.
Xia He hadn't expected that just mentioning Riolu's evolution would make Professor Ivy even more eager to come and conduct research.
So instead of Xia Mu taking Lucario to the Pokémon Lab in Cinnabar Island, Xia Mu waited at home for Umi to come over.
After agreeing on a time, Xia Mu quickly got up and washed.
Then he went downstairs to find his mother, Mu Xiuli.
After a simple breakfast, Xia Mu casually mentioned that Professor Ivy was coming to study Lucario.
Sure enough, judging from his mother's reaction, her relationship with Professor Ivy was quite close.
Perhaps there was an age gap, but their relationship was probably not much different from that of best friends.
After chatting with his mother for a while, they talked about his father's affairs in Hoenn. After learning that everything was going smoothly, Xia Mu decided to go to the backyard to see the four little ones.
The four little ones had stayed in the backyard last night out of curiosity.
Coincidentally, the construction workers arrived at that time to continue the work that hadn't been finished the day before.
Xia Mu took the initiative to lead them into the backyard and also showed them the design drawings that Mu Xiuli had given them.
It must be said that his mother had really thought things through; this was practically turning the place into their own private mini-wilderness area.
Xia Mu led them to the backyard and saw how they were carrying out the garden renovation.
There were six people in total, with clear division of labor and everything running smoothly.
Machop and Machoke were responsible for building walls and fences, and planting trees. Geodude and Graveler handled the heavy lifting, helping with moving things and tidying up the messy rubble and useless debris in the yard.
Diglett, Dugtrio, Bellsprout, and Tangela, along with others, tended the lawn, tilled the land, and dug small streams.
The backyard was large and spacious; it wouldn't have been possible without dozens or even hundreds of Pokémon.
Now, with the construction team at work, it suddenly felt bustling with activity.
This left Xia Mu and the four little ones completely stunned.
The efficiency was simply too high.
Xia Mu thought would take at least a week or two to complete, now, after recalculating, could be finished even if not today; another day would be enough.
And according to the leader, they aimed to finish all the renovations by evening.
A full half hour passed, and Xia Mu remained in awe.
It wasn't until Professor Ivy arrived that Xia Mu's attention was diverted. After greeting Professor Ivy, Keishou temporarily handed over the task of entertaining Xia Mu and hurriedly left, saying she had to go to the company and would be back soon.
Xia Mu and Professor Ivy didn't have much to say, only engaging in some simple discussions and exchanges about Pokémon knowledge.
Professor Ivy wasn't one to dawdle, so she immediately began gathering information on Lucario.
Xia Mu had already prepared Lucario for this, so Lucario was quite cooperative.
The sooner it cooperated, the sooner it would be over.
However, what was originally just gathering information about Lucario became even more exciting when Professor Ivy saw Xia Mu's red Gyarados.
Shiny Pokémon are incredibly rare, let alone a Pokémon like Gyarados, which is known for its fierce reputation and is not commonly seen.
Xia Mu was completely overwhelmed.
He truly hadn't expected Pokémon research to be so complex and troublesome.
He thought it would just be basic information gathering, but it turned out to involve all sorts of details.
During the research process, Professor Ivy also contacted many well-known Pokémon professors to share information.
Among them is Professor Oak, the most famous professor in the Kanto region.
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(End of Chapter)