The yard had become a sanctuary of resonance.
Weeks of testing, charting, and calibration had refined Albert's instruments to the point where even the smallest pulse of joy translated into measurable spikes.
He felt the data humming all around him—dozens of Pokémon, living threads of emotion woven into a tapestry of happiness.
The first evolution began subtly, almost too quietly to notice.
Pichu, who had spent the day video-calling its trainer and chasing toys Steven scattered across the grass, suddenly froze.
Its resonance meter leapt, climbing past thresholds Albert had only hypothesized about.
Then came the light.
Pichu's body blazed white, the brilliance forcing Albert and Steven to shield their eyes.
For a full minute, the small Pokémon's silhouette blurred, stretching, reshaping. When the light dimmed, in its place stood Pikachu—taller, stronger, its fur sleek and bright, long ears tipped in black. Its red cheeks crackled faintly as it blinked at Albert with shining eyes.
Albert's pen clattered from his hand. "It's happening. Real, measurable… happiness-induced evolution!"
The revelation had barely sunk in when another glow surged across the yard.
Budew, who had spent hours nestled in the sun with careful watering, was enveloped in brilliance.
Its tiny body swelled and split, petals unfurling in the white light until it stood transformed as Roselia. Its delicate arms now bore a red and a blue rose, colors vivid against its green body.
Steven gasped. "Two… two in one day?!"
But it was only the beginning.
Igglybuff, having been soothed by Sister Maribel's lullabies over a video call, shivered with a joy so deep the resonance meter nearly broke.
White light consumed its round frame until it reshaped into a graceful Jigglypuff, its once fragile voice now steady and musical.
A Riolu followed days later under a sunset sky.
After an especially heartfelt conversation with its trainer, its small form glowed so fiercely the entire yard seemed to burn with dawnlight. When the radiance cleared, Lucario stood tall, its aura-sensing appendages twitching with life.
Albert nearly collapsed with awe, scrambling to scribble every detail before the image of it blurred in his excitement.
Others soon joined:
Cleffa, glowing into Clefairy with spread wings of charm.
Munchlax, which swells into the massive Snorlax after a day of hearty meals and laughter.
Woobat, blossoming into Swoobat after hours of play with Albert and Steven.
Buneary, beaming into Lopunny, its slender body leaping gracefully into its trainer's waiting arms on the holoscreen.
Chingling, glowing until Chimecho's elegant form rang out a chime that echoed across the manor.
Even the more unusual cases were not spared.
Type: Null, who had grown steadily under patient care, shuddered violently under the glow, its mask cracking as it shed into the majestic Silvally, tail whipping like a banner of newfound freedom.
Snom, once timid and fragile, burst into dazzling white before emerging as Frosmoth, wings like sheets of frost scattering powder across the yard.
Each glow was the same—an intense, blinding white lasting for a minute or more, before revealing the new body, each detail as though carved from a dream into reality.
Albert watched them all, his instruments screaming with resonance data he could barely process, but his heart caught on something more profound.
He looked from Pokémon to Pokémon—Pikachu, Roselia, Lucario, Frosmoth—and realized that none of this was just numbers or proof.
It was joy given shape, bonds crystallized into evolution.
Joseph stood in the manor's doorway, silent but stunned, taking in the sight of yet another revolution born under his roof.
Steven, meanwhile, nearly jumped with each new burst of light, his face alight with boyish wonder.
As the last glow faded and the yard settled into twilight, Albert's notebook lay open beside him, half-filled with frantic notes, half-stained with the imprint of his own shaking hands.
The research was no longer theory.
It was reality.
And the world of Pokémon would never be the same.