"Later on, in his twilight years, Duke Protector Li Jing went out traveling and lost his way, stumbling upon this village. There he heard the legend of the Politoed."
"Greatly intrigued, the Duke Protector went to where the Politoed lived—near the 'Jue Gorge' noted by that itinerant Taoist."
"After much patient persuasion, the Duke Protector finally brought the Politoed back to the imperial palace, and it brought a torrential rain down upon Vantora City."
"Not long after, the Duke Protector grew frail and passed away. The Politoed vanished without a trace as well."
Auron finished reading. Ashen took a sip of tea and said:
"This is, after all, an unofficial chronicle. Its reliability isn't exactly high. For starters, the bit about the Duke Protector doesn't quite ring true."
"Remember, ever since the First Emperor unified the Dragon Nation, there's been a nascent rainmaking corps. By the High Tang, it had fully developed—not only a rainmaking unit, but also a sun-clearing unit. You could say they had reduced weather's impact on the crops to an absolute minimum."
"In that case, there was no need at all for the Duke Protector to bring back a Pokémon that knew [Rain Dance]."
Auron thought for a moment, then pointed at the line on the screen that read "it formed a country of marshes on its own."
"Dad, what if that phrase is hinting the Pokémon's Ability was Drizzle?"
Ashen nodded, interest piqued. "That's possible. Go on—what else?"
Auron pointed at the words "crown atop its head."
"In my view, that crown could be the key to this Poliwirl-line evolution."
Ashen considered it.
"Crowns… We already know exactly what Silver Bottle Cap and Gold Bottle Cap do, and neither is unknown to be used on Poliwhirl. Neither ever showed the slightest sign of triggering evolution."
"However, your grandpa's institute does have another crown—one we still don't know the purpose of. Could it be that one?"
Auron blinked. "What does it look like?"
"A crown carved out of wood. Your grandpa used Aura to probe it; it seems to have some link with… something."
Auron's mind reeled. A wooden crown with some kind of link? Don't tell me that's the Wooden Crown used to summon Calyrex…
He forced a couple of dry chuckles and tried to keep the surprise off his face.
"Ha… Grandpa's institute really does have everything."
"Of course. Your grandpa's institute is national. And given his Aura talent, whenever the state obtains an unknown artifact, the first thing they do is bring it to him."
Suddenly, Auron remembered what Grandpa Flint had promised—that Auron could choose one item from his private collection (see Chapter 79). He hurriedly asked:
"Dad, Grandpa Flint said that once things were settled, I could pick something from his collection. He's the director—does his collection amount to the institute's collection?"
Ashen gave Auron a puzzled look.
"What are you thinking? His collection is his private collection. The institute's holdings belong to the state. They're not the same thing at all."
Auron scratched his head and gave an embarrassed grin.
"Right…"
He couldn't help pressing further.
"Then… is there any chance I could pick something from the institute's vault?"
Ashen kept his gaze level on Auron until the latter started to feel sheepish. Then he smiled.
"So you've set your sights on the institute's treasures, huh? Let me guess—did your Aura tell you something about that wooden crown?"
Auron rubbed the back of his head and grinned guilelessly.
"Mm. My Aura says that wooden crown can summon a certain Pokémon."
"Like how the Magma Stone draws out Heatran, that sort of thing?"
"Yeah."
Ashen kneaded his brow.
"Your Aura is more impressive than I expected. I thought you'd need to see the object before you'd get a premonition. Didn't think you'd sense anything just from hearing about it."
He clapped Auron on the shoulder and looked straight into his eyes.
"In my report, I described your Aura as this: upon touching an object, you might receive an intuition—an impression—about it. From now on, that's the ability you show. Got it?"
Auron nodded. "Right. The part where I get a premonition without touching the thing—that's a little too broken."
Ashen nodded with satisfaction.
"Exactly. If this part got out, our own government would be pleased, but other nations would be very much not."
"And then you'd wind up like your grandpa: first they entice; if that fails, they abduct; if that still fails, they destroy—'if we can't have it, no one can.'"
Auron stiffened. "Destroy if they can't get it" was going way too far.
Inwardly, he swore at his so-called system.
"Crummy system, crummy system—look at other people, they start with a Legendary as bodyguard. Where's my starter guardian Legendary?"
Sensing Auron's unease, Ashen laughed and tried to reassure him.
"Relax. What I reported was that you can occasionally get a sense of an item's function. That doesn't make you as high-value as your grandpa. You'll be fine."
Auron pulled a face. In his heart, he sighed: "But I really don't have any special powers."
After comforting his son, Ashen turned back to the computer screen.
"All right, we've drifted far afield. Keep this up and neither of us is getting home tonight."
"Here's the deal. If you want to pick from the national vault, first you have to be one of us—which, well, we are."
"Second, you need a certain level of merit. Taking down that Church stronghold with your Uncle Dax—that's merit. But it's still not high enough for the national treasury. Your Uncle Dax will explain the particulars when the time comes."
"For now, let's get back to your hypothesis about a new evolution branch for the Poliwag line."
Auron grabbed the carton of milk at his elbow, took a swig, and said:
"Crowns come in more than those few kinds. Don't forget the King's Rock I took as war loot from the Church two days ago—that's crown-shaped too."
"It was seeing the King's Rock that reminded me of this old unofficial tale. So I've been wondering—could the crown the Poliwag-line Pokémon wears be the King's Rock?"
Ashen jotted down everything Auron said, thought for a moment, and answered:
"It's not impossible. But Poliwhirl can battle while holding a King's Rock; that alone doesn't trigger anything. Your idea doesn't stand on its own."
Auron pointed at the two characters on the screen: "Jue Gorge."
"Then what if it's connected to this Jue Gorge? Like I said earlier—what if the conditions for evolution are more than just one?"
"Jue Gorge…"
"Right. Maybe there's something in that gorge that's one of the conditions needed for this new evolution in the Poliwag line."
"You mean something like how Eevee's Glaceon form used to require evolving in a snow-capped mountain or the Arctic—an environmental condition?"
"Exactly. The environment could be one of the conditions for this new evolution."
Ashen flexed his wrist, thought a while, and said:
"If that's the case, Glaceon needed a place rich in Ice-type energy. Would this new Poliwag-line form need a place saturated with Water-type energy?"
"Near Vantora City, areas dense with Water-type energy… the Jing River and the Wei River. Could it be the very point where the Jing and Wei run side by side without mixing—that 'clear division of the Jing and Wei'? The Water-type energy there is extremely dense. It's also habitat to many Poliwhirl clans."
(End of this chapter)