517 CH148 (512), Beginning Of The End (3)

Since Arcday signaled the arrival of the new month, I decided to switch the project theme. Well, it did not count as a complete change since I still chose a variant-centered project. However, unlike the ones I joined last month, this time I went for the historical ones instead.

There were a few variant species that had been common/abundant in the past but stopped appearing at some point for various reasons, and Oak Labs had research projects that looked into two of these historical variants since these two were variants of certain kantonian species.

The two Pokemon lines in question were the Voltorb/Electrode and Growlithe/Arcanine lines. Some of the questions these teams dealt with were "Why could these variations have appeared in the first place?", or "Did they disappear because the condition for their change vanished, or is there another reason?", or "Was there an outside influence involved or was it a natural process?".

I spent the next two weeks working with both project teams, spending a week with each team, and I was quite impressed by the dedication these two research groups showed. Unlike the other variant projects/teams, these two had no way of studying a living example of their research subject, so all their work was founded on a theoretical framework based on records, documents, books, and partly on hearsay.

The oldest records mentioning one of the two lines that they managed to dig up referred to the start of the third human civilization/era. According to everything they managed to find, these variants both lived in the area that was presently called Sinnoh.

However, other documents mentioned that the population of the species began to thin down at some point and that they completely vanished by the end of the third era. There was speculation, that it was the actions of the humans of that era that caused the disappearance, either through direct actions against the species, or due to the destruction/exhaustion of whatever caused the appearance of these species in the first place.

Knowing what I did about the third human civilization, both were possible, and I was certain that it was their fault in some form or way. The other theories that speculated that a natural event caused the dissapreance were less interesting to me due to the impression I had of the third era.

The general consensus was that they could no longer be found in the Sinnoh area in the current era and that there were no other known places where those tribes flourished. Though, individual members of the two species had been found/documented even after the end of the third era, and our current one.

The most recent case of a historical Voltorb/Electrode variant appearance was documented around 600 years ago, while the latest recorded case of a historical Growlithe/Arcanine variant was documented about 400 years ago. Cases such as these were what validated the older records, and ensured that they were not dismissed as fiction.

Furthermore, while the two previously mentioned variants were probably still alive, the lab had been unable to study them in person, which was why their work was based purely on theoretical sources. Still, all this meant that there was no dispute over the appearance of the historical Voltorb/Electrode and Growlithe/Arcanine, or rather the electric/grass Voltorb as well as Electrode and fire/rock Growlithe as well as Arcanine variants.

In my opinion, the Voltorb and Electrode variants looked good enough, but I honestly thought that the Growlithe gave a dopey impression, which was somewhat fine since the Arcanine variant looked awesome. Honestly, it was Arcanine's impressive look that saved the face of their species/line.

Anyway, the two weeks I spent with these projects were a bit dry, but that was fine on occasion as well. Though, I made sure to choose a less dry project at the start of the third week. In the end, I decided to be a bit witty and joined a project that I caused the creation of, namely the Ursaluna project.

Professor Oak had created a habitat for Ursaluna here at the lab's property and relocated the Ursaluna I "discovered" along with its sleuth, which consisted of 5 Ursaring and 13 Teddiursa, to the habitat. Professor Oak had actually approached me at the start of this project and bought a lot of my Peat Block substitute so that he/they could use it during the creation of the habitat.

They did that to ensure that the conditions for more Ursaluna evolutions were available. That was also the reason they brought along Ursaluna's sleuth. Well, aside from the obvious one, that being that they did not want to separate their group if they did not have to.

From my observation of Ursaluna and his sleuth during this week, I came to the conclusion that at least one of the Ursaring was likely to evolve into Ursaluna soon since they showed an active interest in doing so unlike the other Ursaring.

As for the Teddiursa, I believed that it was too soon to make a verdict for them. It was better to let them evolve to Ursaring first before coming back to the question of whether they would want to evolve to Ursaluna or not.

Nonetheless, it was interesting to take part in a project I knew I caused and since I was considered the forerunner in the field thanks/due to my papers, the project team paid extra attention to my words during any decision or activity.

It was the same with the Ursasol project I joined in the following/fourth week. The team paid a lot of attention to me during my time with them. For the project itself, Professor Oak had prepared a specific habitat as well, and just like with the Ursaluna habitat, he came to me for the Ursasol habitat as well.

He bought a few batches of Sunshine Bellflowers from me to add them to the habitat. There were a few Ursaring in Ursasol's sleuth that showed an interest in the flowers, along with pretty much every Teddiursa. However, in their case, the Teddiursa were paying attention to the flowers because they found them fascinating, and not because they represented the chance for the evolution to Ursasol.

Regardless, once I left the lab on Dialday, I was only four days away from my final month at the lab since the 15th month ended on Mewday. The 16th month was the final one of my term and since I would need to attend the final exams starting from the middle of the third week, I only had two and a half more weeks before my time at Oak Labs was pretty much over.

I, theoretically, did have a few more days once the final exams were done, but that was pretty much it for my internship. I could not believe that it had been nearly 3 years since I started my internship. Still, considering all that, I decided to hit the books for a bit on Kyoday, just to refresh my knowledge on the topics that were going to come up during the final exams.

I had Mothra/Butterfree keep my company while I was doing that, and she simply laid down on top of my head while I was looking through the books. She actually played with her air/flying energy manipulation while lounging on my head, but I did not mind that at all since she was mindful not to disturb me. Moreover, she was causing the occasional nice breeze, which was rather pleasant.

I stopped close to four hours later, after which I made my way inside Utopia to spend the rest of the day with my Pokemon, much to the joy of Mothra, who had started to get bored. I did the same on Grouday as well. Once I was done with breakfast, I first spent about 4 hours hitting the books with Mothra before making my way inside Utopia.

However, since it was Grouday I made sure that everyone went through the weekly routine check-up. I was pleasantly surprised when I found out that Horus/Xatu had raised his endurance to SSS, which left his vitality as his only SS parameter.

Once that one rose as well, Horus would be done with his limit-breaking phase and could break through to the dark gold stage. Well, it also meant that he had caught up to Stan/Gyarados, at least for the moment. Now, the question became who among the two would be the first to compete their LB and break through to the next stage.

Though I had to admit that Stan's chances of finishing first were higher than Horus' chances. Nonetheless, both were full of eagerness to catch up with Mothra, and everyone cheered them on.

The next morning heralded the final two days of this month. On Giratiday the final month would begin, but it seemed that Arcday did not want me to leave without giving me a farewell gift. While I was at the lab looking into the projects to choose which two I wanted for my last two full weeks at the lab, I, or rather the thought stream that was keeping an eye on Utopia, saw and heard Eggy/Salandit cheering.

It seemed that my boy had finally advanced to the (high) bronze stage. It took him about 24 months to do so, and I was proud of him since I knew that he did his best every single day. Even during rest days, Eggy spent an hour asking his seniors for advice.

By now, he was fully aware that he had the lowest potential among our main group and that he was the one that was growing the slowest, but he did not let that get to him, and instead used it as a source of motivation since he knew that I stood behind him.

I had also been upfront with him on the topic of his evolution. He knew that the male evolution for Salandit was only a rumor and that no one had actually seen one in centuries or even millennia. However, I did add that I was looking into it and that I would find out how to trigger his evolution, and Eggy did not doubt my words for one bit.

I mean, why should he? He had so many examples of me actually doing something like that for others on the team after all. Anyway, Eggy's excited cries attracted the attention of the others and they began going over to his side. Those that made it there saw that he had advanced and congratulated him.

Before long everyone was there and I told them that we would celebrate in the evening when I was done at the lab. Still, I did not leave them completely hanging and distributed some snacks for all of them to enjoy while they were hanging around.

While they were doing that, I finally settled on the projects I wanted to wrap up my internship with. For this week, I chose the project that focused on Porygon. Porygon could be considered a relatively new species since it was only about 3000 years old.

It was a Pokemon that could be considered somewhat between an artificial Pokemon and a natural one since it started out as an artificial being before it was turned into a complete and subsequently natural one. The documentation on the creation was quite complete, and one of the reasons the higher-ups were keen on ensuring that no one broke the rules.

Anyway, what happened was that roughly 3000 years ago one of the leading scientists of our era studied some remnants/records from the second era and got inspired by them, which led to him coding an AI. It took him a decade or two, but he succeeded in creating a fully aware artificial intelligence.

With his success came a visit from a Mew, the science community is unsure if it was Mother Mew or one of the other Mew. Regardless of which one it was, Mew told him that he had managed to create a being that managed to perfectly simulate/emulate a life, but that it did not truly count as alive without a soul, which he (the scientist) could not create.

Nonetheless, that was the reason Mew came in the first place. An offer was extended to turn his creation into a true living being, and after the scientist, who was the father of Professor Izuki Akihabara by the way, accepted Mew's offer, Porygon received a soul and was turned into a natural being. Its code was encrypted and made copy-protected.

Mew then created another 5 Porygon, so that they could propagate naturally before entrusting them to Dr. Kira. I had already read that up in the past thanks to my super library, but it was quite interesting, so I did not interrupt the leading assistant when he shared the "story" with me after I joined their project.

-----------------------------

Advertising plug-in:

Currently, the lowest number of advanced chapters available on patre'on is 6, while the highest number of advanced chapters is 10.

Sketches, drawings of the MC, Variants and maps can be found on my Patre'on. A patre'on exclusive Legendary Lore series can be found there as well.

Help me stay motivated.

patreo*n/Azrail93