Compared to Ralts' full confidence, Luther still had a bit of concern.
If this were a game, he could just check the Experience bar, find a Rare Candy, and force-feed it until the Evolution conditions were met.
However, there were no Experience bars to refer to here. Rare Candy in this world was still considered an experimental drug, its side effects were almost as serious as Dynamaxing...
Moreover, the mainstream academic community had all kinds of conflicting theories on Pokémon Evolution. Just listing the situations that could potentially trigger Evolution was enough to make your head spin.
Luther would have to explore and experiment.
…
"You want to borrow my Exeggutor? You're going to try that again?"
Before the gym opened, Luther went to find Gardenia. She thought Luther was planning to keep challenging her.
"No, I want to try helping Ralts evolve."
Gardenia was even more confused now. She scratched her head and said, "What does your Ralts evolving have to do with my Exeggutor...?"
"It's hard to explain all at once. If you're interested, come watch at noon."
"I have no problem with that. I probably won't need him today. Just say hi to him, he'll understand. Every day he just squats in the corner of the yard without moving so he is very easy to find."
Sure enough, when Luther found Exeggutor, just like Gardenia said, he was still standing in the corner of the yard by the wall, keeping a tree company, staring at the ground with a gloomy face.
Gardenia said that ever since she caught him, she had never seen all three of his heads smiling at the same time. But this kind of gloomy expression, now that was something they were always in sync on.
Luther poured a bit of water on Exeggutor's body with a watering can. The dazed guy slowly turned around.
After Luther explained the situation, Exeggutor followed him to the area in front of the break room.
Luther planned to first take care of some other Pokémon's training arrangements.
Abomasnow, who wasn't scheduled to battle, ran over happily under the lure of a bag of Pokémon food.
Luther stuffed Marill into Abomasnow's arms. "Please demonstrate the Ice Punch move for her a few times so she can get familiar with it."
After Abomasnow left with Marill, Luther released Jumpluff, Espurr, and Chansey.
"Chansey, your training event today is dodging. Jumpluff, Espurr, you two will intermittently attack Chansey with offensive moves. Try to keep the rhythm staggered. Chansey, your goal is to dodge the moves as quickly as possible. I know your defensive abilities are strong, but in real battles, it's still better to take fewer hits."
The three Pokémon began their dodge training not far from Luther.
Ralts looked up at the towering Exeggutor. Seeing all six of Exeggutor's eyes staring intently at her made her shiver involuntarily.
"Exeggutor, suppress Ralts with your Psychic power. I mean cover her entire body, your mental energy should press down on her from every angle. Can you do that?"
A hint of hesitation appeared on Exeggutor's gloomy face and he quickly shook his head. It didn't make sense, yesterday you suppressed Espurr so easily, but now you can't do it with Ralts?
Exeggutor showed a painful expression, frowning and baring his teeth, then looked at Ralts and continued shaking his head.
"You're afraid Ralts will get hurt because of it?"
Exeggutor stopped shaking his head. It looked like Luther had guessed right.
"Please try to control your power. She needs to feel a higher level of mental pressure, only then will she realize her own shortcomings."
Ralts understood what Luther meant and proactively stepped forward, signaling to Exeggutor that she was fine with it.
Exeggutor hesitated, took a few steps back, and glanced at Luther who was still standing beside Ralts. Luther immediately understood what that look meant, it was basically saying: you're kind of in the way…
Luther took the hint and moved back a little.
Ralts took a deep breath and gave a shout to Exeggutor. The next second, Luther watched as Ralts was suddenly blasted backwards, literally flew.
A powerful wave of psychic energy pushed Ralts several meters away. Fortunately, Exeggutor quickly withdrew his power and gently caught Ralts in a soft psychic embrace, pulling her back.
Luther held his head, looked like Exeggutor still hadn't quite mastered his damage output.
Ralts, looking like she just rode a roller coaster, clutched her chest with her tiny hands, this might have been too intense.
"Try releasing your psychic pressure from top to bottom. That should work better."
Exeggutor carefully reviewed the force he had just used and took a while to readjust his stance.
Luther couldn't clearly see the psychic pressure weighing down on Ralts, but he could vaguely sense a faint glow outlining her body.
At first, Ralts stood up straight, then she clenched her teeth but couldn't lift her head, and finally, her strength gave out completely and she collapsed onto the grass, unable to rise no matter how hard she struggled.
The whole process lasted less than ten seconds.
Luther picked up a small notebook and walked over to Exeggutor. On the notebook, the numbers 1 through 10 were written.
"Let's say 1 means full power output, and 10 means just one-tenth of your normal power. Roughly where was your output just now? Can you estimate it?"
Exeggutor pondered for a while, then used psychic power to tap the pen Luther had placed on the notebook, he tapped just after the number 6.
After tapping, he seemed a bit confused as he thought back, this kind of question was clearly a first for him.
"Then try using level 7 to suppress Ralts."
Ralts had already gotten back up. Exeggutor adjusted again and released another wave of powerful psychic pressure. This time, Ralts managed to hold on for just under fifteen seconds.
Level by level, even at Exeggutor's weakest, level 10, Ralts couldn't last more than forty seconds.
Luther had known Exeggutor was strong, and that Ralts might not be able to withstand his pressure moves. But Luther hadn't expected the gap to be this big.
Luther thought for a moment, then quietly said a few words to Exeggutor.
Exeggutor's troubled expression eased a little. He had still been thinking about how to control his strength, but Luther's new idea was clearly easier to put into practice.
A wave of psychic power silently descended on Ralts, gradually pressing her to the ground. Ralts struggled a bit and found that as long as she stayed prone, she couldn't feel the surrounding pressure. But the moment she tried to rise, the psychic power would surge in from all directions.
"Keep Ralts pinned so she can't stand up, just like that. Don't actively pressure her. Instead, create a barrier."
Luther's instructions were simple, he wanted Ralts to keep attempting to break through the psychic barrier Exeggutor had created. During this process, she would slowly come to understand the difference between her own psychic power and Exeggutor's.
Luther's method wasn't very smart, he was hoping that by creating a sense of pressure and crisis, he could stimulate Ralts and trigger her Evolution.
(End of Chapter)
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