Nephew? More like an illegitimate son, right?
Riyue muttered to himself.
Some kid who came out of nowhere, and Giovanni's gifting him a house, plus all this bizarre equipment filling the place…
Riyue was 99% sure Elijah was the result of one of Giovanni's flings during a trip, only recently found, and now Giovanni was making up for lost time with all these gifts.
Gotta hand it to rich folks—their imaginations run wild.
Ahem. "This is Mr. Riyue, president of Sandslash Real Estate."
Giovanni cleared his throat, introducing him to Elijah to change the subject. "His daughter's about your age."
Riyue smiled. "Come visit our place sometime, Little Elijah. I'll introduce you two."
He was almost certain Elijah was Giovanni's secret son.
Sure, Riyue was a well-known tycoon in Johto, but compared to Giovanni, the strongest Gym Leader in Kanto, the most powerful region, he was still a step below.
If his daughter could hit it off with Giovanni's son… tsk tsk, wouldn't that be a jackpot?
"Is she pretty?"
Elijah asked reflexively.
Couldn't help it—it's a guy's DNA at work.
He wasn't some protagonist who stays pure after ten thousand chapters.
Giovanni and Riyue fell silent simultaneously.
Well, damn, that's real.
"Haha! Don't worry, my daughter perfectly inherited the best genes from me and her late mother."
After a brief pause, Riyue burst out laughing.
His biggest fear was Elijah showing no interest.
Giovanni couldn't resist teasing, "Hey, hey, a ten-year-old thinking about this stuff? Isn't that a bit early?"
Elijah shrugged.
He wanted to retort, Do you know how many girls Ash has charmed by age ten? If his heart wasn't set on Pikachu, Delia might've been a grandma by thirty-five.
But considering Ash was probably still in diapers at this point, maybe not even talking yet, Elijah held back.
After a bit more small talk, Elijah and Giovanni made plans to grab dinner sometime, and Riyue left with his staff.
With the help of Machoke Moving Company, the basic equipment was set up.
Elijah couldn't wait to kick off his scientific journey in the Pokémon world.
"Don't worry, Little Black, it won't hurt… hm?"
As Elijah prepared to draw some of Umbreon's blood to check her condition, he noticed new bruises and impact marks on her body.
She didn't have these when he tucked her into bed yesterday.
"What happened? What went down while I was out?"
Su Sheng's expression darkened.
Had a burglar broken in?
"Bree…"
Umbreon avoided Elijah's gaze, lowering its head and shaking it gently.
"…Alright, if you don't want to talk, that's fine."
After a brief silence, Elijah didn't press her.
Even if she wanted to explain, with the language barrier, it'd be hard for Umbreon to make herself clear, right?
This is where Meowth's value shines.
Speaking of which, just the ability to communicate fluently with both Pokémon and humans should've made Team Rocket's trio filthy rich for life.
No clue why those three are always broke.
…
Elijah began examining Umbreon's body.
After confirming there were no serious injuries, he finally relaxed.
"Uncle, let your Pokémon out too."
Elijah added.
"For what?"
Giovanni asked instinctively.
"One Umbreon isn't enough for my research. Don't you have plenty of Pokémon on hand?"
Elijah grinned mischievously.
Giovanni rolled his eyes inwardly.
But since Elijah only wanted to draw some blood, he didn't make a fuss.
He casually released his signature Ground-types—Nidoking, Nidoqueen—and even his ace, Beedrill.
Nidoking, who Elijah had already met, was fine.
But when Elijah approached Beedrill and the others with a syringe, the Champion-level Pokémon instinctively radiated a hint of killing intent toward him.
"Bree!!"
Umbreon instantly leaped off the examination table, baring its fangs and roaring at Beedrill and the others.
Talk about a fearless calf facing a tiger.
"Easy, Beedrill, they're on our side."
Giovanni quickly calmed them.
Then, watching Elijah draw blood from Beedrill, Giovanni's eyes flickered with surprise.
"Not many can stay so calm under Beedrill's killing intent."
"You get used to it."
Elijah shrugged nonchalantly.
Compared to the aura of the world's top-tier Fruit user from One Piece, this killing intent wasn't worth a dime.
Elijah then smeared the Pokémon's blood onto slides and placed them under the microscope.
"This is getting interesting."
At the very first step of his research, Elijah broke into an excited grin.
That expression was like the heroine of 30 Days Unlocked finally seeing her dream guy.
"What?"
Though it wasn't his expertise, Giovanni's curiosity got the better of him.
"Eevee's DNA reminds me of a species I studied before…"
Its genes are highly unstable, capable of changing based on the environment and merging with whatever it comes into contact with.
That's likely why it has so many evolution paths.
This reminded Su Sheng of the Lunarians he'd studied before.
The race of Jin, the second-in-command of the Beasts Pirates.
That clan was once called the "gods."
Incredibly adaptable, able to survive in any environment.
They could also fuse with various bloodline factors.
That's why Vegapunk replicated them, creating the new Pacifistas, nicknamed the "strongest humans," the Seraphim.
This is very similar to Eevee—extreme genetic adaptability.
Back then, Vegapunk grafted the genes of the Seven Warlords onto cloned Lunarians to create Seraphim versions of the Warlords… hm?
Thinking of those kid-sized Warlords, Elijah's mind drifted to Pokémon in this world that could freely change forms or even types.
Deoxys with its four forms, Silvally's type-switching discs, and… Arceus's type-shifting!
Come to think of it, Eevee might have that kind of potential too.
After all, its evolution paths are so diverse, they rival Digimon's Greymon-line complexity.
With that, Elijah fell silent, tinkering with the equipment.
He occasionally scribbled and sketched on paper.
"Where did this kid learn all this?"
Giovanni grew more shocked the longer he watched.
Forget everything else—Elijah's proficiency alone matched the scientists he kept at Team Rocket's secret base.
And what did he mean by "studied before"?
Studied when? He's what, ten?
In the womb?
Years later, when Giovanni spoke to his subordinates about Elijah, he'd often start with:
"This was my first encounter with that guy, the one '500 years ahead of his time,' known as the [Greatest Mind]…"
(End of Chapter)