The manor had fallen into an almost reverent quiet.
The yard, once a stage of glowing transformations, now hosted Pokémon resting in their new bodies, exhausted but content.
Albert, however, could not rest.
His notebook overflowed with sketches, half-legible figures, and hurried notes, but they were not enough.
He needed concrete evidence, hence he needed to write.
Down in his underground lab, Albert spread pages across his desk like the pieces of a puzzle.
His fingers trembled as he adjusted his glasses, his eyes darting from one set of measurements to another.
Height differentials, weight increases, ability adjustments, emotional resonance thresholds—he organized them all into clean tables, annotated with careful explanations.
This time, he would not submit just five papers. He would submit much more.
Albert's study had become a sanctuary of scribbled notes, stacks of data sheets, and polished drafts.
For weeks, he poured himself into writing—each paper an exhaustive dissection of a newly uncovered evolutionary pathway.
From Golbat's radiant shift into Crobat under intimacy resonance, to the mysterious unraveling of Type: Null's bonds into Silvally, his pen moved with a speed that defied his age.
It was work born not just of knowledge, but of urgency.
Every graph had to be flawless. Every figure had to match.
His papers didn't simply report evolution—they breathed it, charting thresholds of friendship value, behavioral quirks, and even the hobbies each species leaned toward after transformation.
He wasn't just mapping evolution—he was sketching the emotional lives of Pokémon in a way no one else had attempted.
Each Pokémon was deserving of its own dedicated analysis.
"Pichu to Pikachu: Emotional Resonance Thresholds in Pichu Species' Evolutionary Pathways."
"Budew to Roselia: The Role of Intrinsic Happiness in Evolution."
"Type: Null to Silvally: The Liberation of Identity Through Intimacy Bonds."
The titles came almost too easily, flowing from his pen like truths waiting to be written.
Yet Albert did not stop there.
His eyes drifted to the old Eeveelution manuscripts stacked neatly in the corner.
Eevee's evolutionary branches had been his first triumph, but they were incomplete.
Espeon, Umbreon, and Sylveon—at the time, their evolutions had been recorded as rare, mysterious events.
Now he can fully explain their true nature.
Carefully, he drew new graphs, showing how sunlight and psychic resonance had coincided with Espeon's evolution, not as an isolated factor, but as a convergence of happiness-driven thresholds.
Umbreon's notes were expanded with his meticulous recordings of intimacy strength under moonlight, proving that its evolution had not been mere environmental influence but also a deep emotional anchor.
Sylveon, previously labeled under "unknown orientation," now stood revealed as the clearest expression of intimacy resonance, triggered when happiness overflowed into a new type of bond.
Albert rewrote those papers entirely, updating their conclusions: Eevee's lesser-known evolutions were not exceptions, but proof of a greater principle—happiness as a universal force in evolution.
Joseph stopped by once, quietly setting down a tray of untouched food at the edge of the desk.
He didn't interrupt, only watching the young prodigy's quill scratch feverishly across the paper.
Over the next few weeks, the Stone Manor lab became both a study hall and a publishing house.
Steven, free after school, hovered at Albert's side, flipping through diagrams or fetching books Joseph provided at the request of the young researcher.
Sometimes he read drafts aloud, stumbling through the technical language while Albert corrected him, their laughter breaking the tension.
But when Albert returned to writing, his focus sharpened like a blade.
He poured every observation into the journals—detailed descriptions of physical transformations, before-and-after resonance charts, even notes on the Pokémon's hobbies and personalities.
Trainers and coordinators alike would probably devour the sections outlining how happiness shaped not only strength but artistry.
However, Albert knew raw brilliance was not enough.
Legitimacy mattered. Trust mattered.
And so, once he had assembled the drafts, he sealed them not for the journal—but for Professor Samuel Oak.
The transmission arrived in Pallet City late in the evening. Oak opened the files with curious anticipation, his eyes widening as he scrolled. "Seventeen…? And three revisions, too?" His voice trembled as he read line after line of Albert's sharp, analytical prose.
The following days were marked with back-and-forth exchanges.
Oak combed through the data with a seasoned eye, marking suggestions, clarifying points, and strengthening the frameworks with decades of experience.
He did not change Albert's core discoveries—he couldn't. They were airtight.
But his edits polished the presentation, aligning them with established academic discoveries, ensuring reviewers would have no excuse to dismiss the work as the product of a child's hand.
When Albert saw the revised versions, he smiled faintly. "Then… you should be the second author," he said, almost too casually.
Oak blinked. "Me? No, these are your discoveries. The world needs to see your name."
Albert shook his head. "It's better this way. It'll help people accept the papers faster. And besides…" he smirked slightly, "you did help a lot."
Oak chuckled, touched despite himself.
In truth, he knew what the boy was asking: not just for guidance, but for legitimacy. To have a world-class professor's name alongside his would be an anchor, a shield against skeptics.
And so it was settled.
For the first time in history, the papers that would shake the world bore a pairing no one could have expected: Researcher Deford and Professor Samuel Oak.
By the end of the month, seventeen manuscripts were stacked neatly in a digital folder.
Each one had been written, rewritten, and revised according to the stringent standards of the International Journal of Pokémon Evolution.
And among them were the fully updated Eeveelution papers, now unified into his broader thesis: Eevee was not an anomaly—it was the herald of a deeper evolutionary truth.
Joseph glanced at the case one evening, lips curving into the faintest smile. "Ready?"
Albert nodded, exhaustion clear in his face but fire burning in his eyes. "Yes. The world is waiting. And these papers will prove it—happiness is not just a feeling. It's another key to evolution."
Joseph placed a steadying hand on the boy's shoulder. "Then let's send them off."
And so, once again, Devon's private channels hummed with encrypted transmissions, twenty shining jewels of discovery packaged and delivered to the most prestigious journal in the field.
The world had barely begun to digest Eevee's new evolutions.
Now, it would face an even greater revelation—the universality of happiness as a catalyst for evolution.