After heading off with Charizard and Clawitzer to let them recover their stamina, Auron made his way back to their temporary spot.
"Peter? What's wrong? Why the long face?" Even from a distance, Auron could see Peter sitting on the ground looking utterly dejected.
"Lost." Tim shot Peter a pitiful glance. In situations like this, whoever gets knocked out first is the one who has to eat the embarrassment.
After all, back during the Baby Cup, Tim had been the first one eliminated and gotten mocked relentlessly by Jace—to the point of questioning his will to live. Though, to be fair, Jace had been knocked out not long after either.
"It's not a big deal. It's just one freshman tournament match." Auron walked over, smiling as he gave Peter a pat on the shoulder.
"Besides—you only have one Pokémon. Everyone else has two. Making it this far is genuinely impressive."
Peter lifted his head with a deflated sigh. "Really?"
Auron laughed. "Of course it is. Would your master lie to you?"
"On top of that, you're running a Sandstorm weather team. Before Vibrava evolves into Flygon, making it this far is already a solid result."
Peter bounced back to full energy in the blink of an eye. "Master—you truly understand me!"
"That... was an incredibly fast recovery." Tim and Lena stared, completely speechless. So it was all an act just now, wasn't it?
Peter spread his hands helplessly. "I had no choice. Who would've expected the opponent to have a Politoed?"
Tim choked. "Alright... truly a tragic tale."
"Don't worry. Once Vibrava evolves into Flygon, things will change." Auron smiled and settled down onto the grass.
"Oh—by the way. Adding a Grass/Steel type like Nutbell to your team wouldn't be a bad idea either. Quad resistance to Grass, double resistance to Water."
"The downside, of course, is the 4x Fire weakness." Tim chimed in cheerfully from the side.
Auron nodded. "True. But my suggestion for your next Pokémon would be a Sky Scorpion—Flying and Ground type. Not only does it resist Grass, but it can serve as a pivot too. That said, if you do go with Sky Scorpion, you'd ideally want to work a Water Shield into the team as well."
Peter blinked. "But... isn't Sky Scorpion's ceiling too low?"
Auron also blinked. "It's not low at all. Sky Scorpion evolves into Sky Scorpion King—the power ceiling is more than enough."
"Evolves? Sky Scorpion can evolve?"
At that, not only Peter, but Simon and the rest all turned to look.
Auron watched their faces and suddenly slapped his own forehead. "Oh—right. I haven't told you guys about this, have I?"
"No, you haven't!" Everyone stared at him. Since when had he told them anything?
"What do you mean, 'no'?"
"Perfect timing—let Jace explain it to you all." Spotting Jace come bounding over at that very moment, Auron promptly offloaded the responsibility onto him.
Jace's stride faltered. He came to a slow stop right where he stood, looking bewildered. "Uh... what?"
Peter quickly reminded him from the side. "The Sky Scorpion King thing."
Only then did it dawn on Jace. "Oh—oh, Sky Scorpion King! Yeah, Auron did tell me about that."
Jace plopped down onto the grass, then turned his head toward Auron amid everyone's eager, expectant gazes. "So—have you found the king of the Sky Scorpion clan yet?"
"Pfft~"
The sip of water Auron had just taken sprayed right onto Dratini's face.
"Myu!"
Seeing the fury on Dratini's face, Auron hurriedly pulled out a fried chicken leg he'd been saving for her midday snack and stuffed it straight into her mouth.
Only after calming Dratini down did he turn to everyone with a helpless expression.
"Sky Scorpion King is Sky Scorpion's evolved form. It's... roughly similar to Great Steel Serpent, I suppose. I discovered it as well. The papers and research data have already been submitted to the authorities—it should be officially released in the near future."
Peter's eyes went wide. "So if I raise a Sky Scorpion now, it'll be able to evolve into Sky Scorpion King when the time comes?"
Auron looked at him with a helpless laugh. "If you raise one now, it'll be able to evolve into Sky Scorpion King regardless of whether the authorities officially announce it or not."
"Then—Sky Scorpion King isn't the king of the Sky Scorpion clan. It's Sky Scorpion's evolved form. By that logic, the Slowking you told me about before wasn't the king of the Slowpoke clan either—it's Slowpoke's evolved form? And Greninja Sovereign is Greninja's evolved form?"
Only now did Jace catch on. Back when Auron had originally told him, they'd been talking about completely different things.
Auron nodded. "Slowking is another evolution path for Slowpoke. Greninja Sovereign is likewise another evolution path for Greninja. All of these should be officially announced by the authorities within the coming weeks."
"You discovered all of them?"
"Of course. Where else do you think my doctorate came from?" Auron nodded matter-of-factly. As if he'd gotten it through the back door or something.
"You have a doctorate?!"
Everyone stared at Auron in shock.
Auron hesitated, then nodded. "Uh... didn't I tell you guys?"
Jace and Tim pounced at the same time, pinning Auron flat to the ground.
"Talk. What else have you been hiding from us?"
"That's completely unfair! This really is all there is! I thought I'd already told you guys!"
"I don't believe it. Spill." Serena joined in from the sidelines, thoroughly enjoying the spectacle.
"Ding-ling~"
"Haha—you guys keep up the interrogation. Simon and I have a match to get to. Tell me the results when we're back." Lena laughed and headed off alongside Simon.
"Go ahead, we've got this under control here. Now talk—or it's the heavy treatment." Tim patted his own chest confidently as he saw Lena and Simon off, then immediately turned back and cranked up the pressure on Auron.
"That really is everything! There's nothing else! Dratini—save me!"
Dratini glanced at Auron with a cheerful little smile, then turned right back around and continued munching on her chicken leg.
Out of sight, out of mind. That was what he got for spraying water all over her face just now.
"Okay, okay—I'll talk, I'll talk. Let go first."
With even Dratini refusing to take his side, Auron had no choice. He surrendered entirely to the two of them.
"Alright. The truth is—aside from Great Steel Serpent, Sky Scorpion King, Slowking, and Greninja Sovereign, there are others as well."
"But those haven't been fully developed yet—just a rough outline at this point. You'll probably be able to see them this afternoon or tomorrow."
"That's not what I'm asking about." Tim's eyes lit up with laser focus. "What I mean is—are there any Dragon-type Pokémon out there with new evolved forms? Like Desert Dragonfly? Or an evolution for Blast Turtle Beast? If nothing else, even Elder Dragon would do."
"Yes!" Auron nodded.
"Which Pokémon?"
"Sea Thorn Dragon."
Tim's face went flat with disbelief. "Don't mess with me. Just because the name has 'Dragon' in it doesn't mean it's actually Dragon type."
"Lala Algae isn't Dragon type either—but it becomes Dragon type after it evolves."
Why shouldn't having 'Dragon' in the name count as Dragon type? Could someone on the level of Tao possibly suffer such an indignity?
"...Fair point." Tim thought it over carefully, then nodded with mounting excitement.
"So would Sea Thorn Dragon's evolved form actually fit my team?"
"Of course it would. Why wouldn't it?"
"After evolving, it's Water and Dragon type—Ice-type attacks only deal neutral damage. That means I can actually go up against Serena's Milotic and Cloyster."
Serena: ???
"I'm RIGHT HERE!"