Chapter Twenty-Eight: Koboro

“Egg, egg... egg!”
“Gar... garlic!”

Eggy had at last managed to produce a complete Energy Ball. Though it took quite a while, there was no mistaking it for anything else. Meanwhile, Bulbasaur fired a blurred attempt at an Energy Ball; it fizzled out halfway, but the progress was evident.

At that moment...

Eggy and Bulbasaur’s bodies began to shimmer. Bathed in a radiant light, their outlines started to swell and shift noticeably.

Amu’s attention was wholly captured by the spectacle.

A moment later, as the light faded, now standing before them were Exeggutor and Ivysaur!

Clearly, during their efforts to learn Energy Ball, Eggy had absorbed the power of the Leaf Stone, and Bulbasaur had just reached level sixteen—the requirement for its evolution—so both transformations occurred at once.

“Ivy! Ivy!” Ivysaur cried out, venting its excitement.

Though it hadn’t yet fully mastered Energy Ball, completing its evolution left Ivysaur elated.

As for Eggy, now an Exeggutor, its split-personality symptoms had improved greatly—what had once been six eggs were now three heads.

Each wore a silly grin, and its stubby legs bounced gleefully from side to side.

Nearby, Electrode merely rolled its eyes and let out a disdainful, “Boom…”—clearly unimpressed by their progress.

After evolving, Ivysaur’s base stats reached 405. With an individual value bonus of 8% and a growth value of 8%, at level 16, its theoretical combat power surpassed 7,000.

Exeggutor’s transformation was even more impressive. Now in its final evolutionary stage, with a base stat total of 530—a high figure—and having just ascended to level 27, plus a 3% individual value and 13% growth value, its combat power now exceeded 15,000, entering the so-called competition tier.

Growth values capped out at 50%—and that was notoriously hard to reach. Achieving a 50% growth value was far more challenging than simply hitting level 100. For most trainers and Pokémon of average aptitude, even decades of effort might only yield a growth value around 30% by level 100.

The ratio of level to growth value was, to some extent, an indicator of training efficiency. If it remained around 2:1, the Pokémon’s potential was still developing; if it approached 3:1, their growth was slowing. Once it slipped below 3:1, further leveling became nearly impossible…

Seeing their successful evolutions, Amu was genuinely delighted—after all, even though Ivysaur’s standard evolution was at level sixteen, there were plenty of cases where it failed or was delayed.

Both had grown much larger: Exeggutor now stood just over two meters tall from the base to the top of its leafy crown, and Ivysaur’s flower bud reached a meter high.

Gone were the days of perching them on his shoulder.

Now, Ivysaur was nuzzling Amu affectionately with its smooth, froggy head, while Exeggutor, still grinning blankly, lifted Amu onto its treetop using its psychic powers.

Electrode looked on with utter disdain, rolling its eyes yet again, but just then, a vine snaked out from beneath Ivysaur’s sepals, hoisting Electrode into the air as well.

Electrode looked thoroughly unwilling, but didn’t retaliate with Thunderbolt.

...

After a round of celebrations and once Ivysaur and Exeggutor had acclimated to their new forms, Amu led them out of the training room—exercise, after all, required both tension and release.

When they returned to the Pokémon Center, Amu spotted Misty and Sonoko together, accompanied by a middle-aged man with a thin mustache.

“Uncle Kogoro, you really outdid yourself today—even cracked such a tough case!” Sonoko praised him, sounding genuinely impressed, then caught sight of Amu approaching in the background.

Amu: ...

“Ah! Amu, over here… You missed our shopping trip today—what a pity! Do you know what happened? There was an explosion! Luckily, Uncle Kogoro was there… Oh! I haven’t introduced you yet—this is Ran’s father, Uncle Kogoro.” Sonoko hurriedly beckoned Amu over to meet the famous detective.

Amu: ...

At first, Kogoro looked a little sheepish, but he quickly composed himself, straightened his collar, and declared, “Ahem, that’s right—when there’s a case, you can always count on Kogoro! As for those kid detectives, they’re still far behind, only able to handle the easy stuff, haha…”

Amu: ...

Catching Conan’s eye, Amu saw that the boy, too, looked utterly speechless.

But Amu was even more so.

“An explosion? I thought Viridian City’s public safety was always pretty good?” Amu asked, his expression odd.

After all, this was Giovanni’s backyard; Team Rocket wouldn’t mess up their own turf, and any other troublemakers would find themselves “taken care of” by Team Rocket as well.

“There are always some maniacs, but as long as Detective Kogoro is here, evil has nowhere to hide! Hahaha…” Kogoro laughed, full of self-praise.

Ran, deeply embarrassed, tried to hush her father’s foolish display.

“You truly are remarkable, Mr. Kogoro…” Amu said with genuine admiration.

And it was only right to be impressed—after all, this was Viridian City, one of the six great metropolises of Kanto and Giovanni’s base of operations, yet somehow these people had still managed to get mixed up in an explosion!

“Is your detective agency based here in Viridian?” Amu wondered if Giovanni should consider moving elsewhere if that were the case.

Kogoro froze for a moment, then coughed and replied, “Ahem, no, it’s so that I can help more people and root out evil wherever it hides… I’m a traveling detective!”

In other words, he didn’t have a fixed office.

Following Kogoro’s gaze, Amu spotted a camper van emblazoned with “Kogoro Detective Agency.”

Very well, a roving “event generator” like this was impossible to avoid.

It seemed Dr. Agasa’s tranquilizer watch had also been improved—otherwise, in this world, people’s resistance to poison was surprisingly robust.

After offering Kogoro a few more compliments, Amu accepted the business card he handed over.

On it, alongside Kogoro’s own portrait, were images of three Pokémon—clearly his partners as a “Pokémon Detective”: Inteleon, Arcanine, and Throh!

Though Kogoro wasn’t a member of the Officer Jenny family, as a former Jenny himself, having an Arcanine was entirely normal...

Throh was most common in Unova, but as a fairly common Fighting-type, it could be found in many regions and was skilled at wrestling techniques.

The rare one was Inteleon—a Water-type starter’s final evolution from Galar. It seemed Kogoro had spent time studying in Galar?

Given Kogoro’s character, Amu suspected it might even have the “Sniper” ability.

Ran, unable to watch her father’s antics any longer, dragged him away by force.

Amu then joined Misty and Sonoko in the dining hall, curious about the “explosion case.”

Though this world was generally safe—certainly less deadly than the “real” Conan’s—Shinichi himself had solved murder cases before.

This time, it had nearly turned tragic. Apparently, someone had caught several Voltorb and secretly brought them onto a train…