The morning the International Journal of Pokémon Evolution released its newest volume, it was as if lightning struck twice in the same place.
Just months earlier, the academic world had been rocked by Albert Deford's revelations on five new Eeveelutions—a discovery so unprecedented that researchers were still struggling to catch their breath.
Labs across regions were still dissecting data, trainers were still testing the findings in practice, and yet here, another bombshell arrived.
The front page bore a title that would immediately change the course of evolutionary research forever:
"Happiness and Intimacy as Evolutionary Catalysts: Seventeen Newly Documented Happiness-Induced Evolutions Across Species."
Author: Deford
Second Author: Samuel Oak
Below it followed three revised submissions, expanding the framework for Umbreon, Espeon, and Sylveon with freshly gathered emotional resonance data.
Within hours, the news had spread across regions.
Online forums crashed under traffic.
Trainers pored over the data, their jaws dropping as they read vivid descriptions of evolutions once considered mysteries.
The reactions were instantaneous and explosive.
Peer researchers who had just begun exploring the ramifications of new Eeveelutions found themselves blindsided yet again.
"Another paper? No—seventeen evolutions at once?"
"And it's not speculation—these are fully documented, measured, and peer-reviewed!"
"Professor Oak's name is there as second author…then it's beyond question."
What stunned the community wasn't only the quantity, but the precision.
Albert hadn't merely listed evolutionary triggers; he had presented full data sets—weights, heights, resonance patterns, even behavioral observations post-evolution.
Trainers devoured the pages that detailed not just how to achieve evolutions, but also the "hobbies" and traits of the newly evolved forms.
Coordinators, especially, lit up social networks with ideas about how these evolutions could reshape contest performances.
"So it's happiness that evolves Buneary into Lopunny?!"
"Wait—Golbat becomes Crobat this way? We thought it was impossible to prove!"
"Hold on, Riolu becomes Lucario in this manner? And Swadloon too?"
In research institutes, shock turned to feverish activity.
Graduate students scrambled to recalibrate their own projects. Laboratories rushed to obtain the newly christened Deford Resonance Meters from Devon Corp's pilot shipments.
For the first time, happiness was no longer an abstract theory, but a measurable science.
Professors and graduate students alike stared at their screens in awe, muttering that this was a revolution—not just in Pokémon evolution, but in how humans and Pokémon relationships were studied altogether.
And layered beneath the awe was disbelief that such monumental work had once again come from the same name.
Only months had passed since "Eeveelution" had entered the scientific lexicon, and now, this?
In staff rooms, professors whispered what they scarcely dared to believe:
"Is this boy rewriting evolution as we know it… twice, before his sixth birthday?"
In Pallet City, Indigo Realm, at Oak's laboratory, assistants were inundated with calls requesting collaborations.
In Evergreen Island, Joseph Stone fielded offers and pleas from corporations desperate to buy into Devon's partnership with Albert.
It was then that Joseph Stone stepped forward on behalf of Albert and Professor Oak.
At a press briefing held in the polished halls of Devon Corp headquarters, he addressed the surging storm of questions:
"Ladies and gentlemen, as you can see, these findings are not speculation but rigorously documented science. To further transparency and understanding, Devon Corp—together with Professor Samuel Oak—will host a global conference next week. Researcher Deford himself will present his findings, demonstrate emotional resonance in practice, and open the floor for questions from the world's leading researchers."
The announcement spread just as quickly as the papers themselves, setting the world abuzz with anticipation.
For many, it was unthinkable: a child, not yet six, about to stand before the titans of Pokémon science and defend his work.
Yet Albert had already proven the impossible once before, and now, all eyes turned toward the coming conference.