Pokémon: Virus Evolution

Through Kuran's eyes, Lucius spotted a Vulpix.

The small, orange fox-like Pokémon with six fluffy tails was curled up in the arms of a young female Trainer, its face contorted in pain.

Vulpix was already an incredibly adorable Pokémon, but in its injured state, it looked even more pitiful—tugging at the heartstrings of anyone who laid eyes on it.

Healing it was the doctor's job. For Lucius, however, his goal was not to cure, but to infect and take over.

Since he was in a hospital, the perfect environment for infections, he certainly wouldn't waste his efforts on a common Pokémon found everywhere.

Compared to the more frequently seen species, Vulpix was relatively rare. If he missed this opportunity, who knew when he'd encounter another one?

Having locked onto his target, Lucius wasted no time.

He commanded his virus swarm to leave Kulan's body and spread out.

"Well, kid, farewell. Consider your improved physique as rent payment, haha."

The moment he emerged, Lucius felt his vitality rapidly draining.

"It seems this hospital has strong disinfection measures. As a Level 1 virus, I can't survive in the air for long without a host."

Lucius could clearly sense his virus swarm diminishing. A quick glance at the system panel showed his vitality decreasing at a rate of two points per second. Without a host and the +200 vitality bonus it provided, his mere 110 life points wouldn't last even a minute.

Luckily, Kulan was already very close to the female Trainer, and within seconds, Lucius had reached the Vulpix, which was now being placed onto a small stretcher by a Chansey.

The Vulpix had likely sustained injuries in battle, as its body was covered in small wounds. Lying on the stretcher, it remained completely unaware of the approaching virus swarm.

"Perfect. Time to invade."

For a host with open wounds, there was no need to enter through the mouth or nose—direct infection through the wounds would be enough.

Lucius directed his viruses to swarm toward Vulpix's body.

Then—

"What the—?!"

The moment the virus made contact with the wounds, Lucius immediately felt a violent resistance from Vulpix's body.

Unlike Kuran's weak immune response, Vulpix's body temperature spiked dramatically. Every cell was radiating searing heat, burning away the invading virus at an alarming rate.

"Its immunity is this strong?!"

A sudden system notification popped up in his consciousness:

[Warning! Warning! Host's Flash Fire ability is actively incinerating the virus!"]

"Damn, I didn't see that coming."

Lucius could feel his initial virus force getting completely wiped out. In just moments, he had lost nearly a third of his total vitality. Combined with the hospital's sterilization measures, his HP was plummeting even further.

Realizing the dire situation, Lucius had no time to think—he immediately withdrew his remaining virus units from Vulpix's body and redirected them toward the Chansey pushing the stretcher.

With the Vulpix's Trainer and Chansey being the nearest potential hosts, Chansey was the safer choice.

"Chansey~" Chansey cheerfully hummed as it pushed the stretcher toward the examination room, completely oblivious to the viral invasion.

"Infect! Hurry!"

This time, Lucius encountered no significant resistance. He rapidly spread within Chansey's body, taking control as fast as possible.

Though infection speed was noticeably slower than in humans, at least his vitality had stabilized—it was no longer dropping.

"That was close… I thought I was done for."

(￣へ￣)

"So, not every Pokémon can be infected, huh?"

Vulpix was a Fire-type, and with Flash Fire as its ability, its genetic structure contained a unique energy that a Level 1 virus simply couldn't overcome. It seemed Lucius would have to start by infecting Normal-type Pokémon first.

Thinking back, Kuran's Trainer classification had also shown up as "Normal" on the system panel. This gave Lucius some insight into how things worked.

Pulling up his system interface, he noticed some updates:

Host: Lucius

Virus Type: Progenitor Virus

Level: Lv1

Host Infected: 1/1 (Chansey)

Vitality: 26/790, 30/790, 34/790 (110 base, +680 from host bonus)

Adaptability: Level 1 (Can only survive briefly without a host; can live indefinitely within a host)

Evolution Progress: 22%

Abilities:

Enhances host's brain activity by 12% (exceeding the host's biological limits may cause host collapse or unknown mutations).

Boosts host's cellular activity by 8% (exceeding the host's biological limits may cause host collapse or unknown mutations).

Increases host's muscle resilience by 2% (exceeding the host's biological limits may cause host collapse or unknown mutations).

Mission: Upgrade the Progenitor Virus to Level 2.

Following this, the host's detailed stats appeared:

Current Host: Chansey

Species: Egg Pokémon

Type: Normal

Ability: Serene Grace

HP: 734 (680 base, +54 virus bonus)

Attack: 47 (46 base, +1 virus bonus)

Defense: 66 (65 base, +1 virus bonus)

Special Attack: 82 (73 base, +9 virus bonus)

Special Defense: 110

Speed: 50

Role: Nurse

Moves: Soft-Boiled, Double Slap, Sing, Heal Pulse, Sweet Kiss, Light Screen.

After reading through the updated information, Lucius was momentarily dumbfounded.

"Wait… so Pokémon can actually learn more than four moves?"

Pokémon were absurdly strong compared to humans—they weren't even in the same league.

His previous host, Kuran, was a 14- or 15-year-old boy. While not a fully grown adult, he was still physically decent.

But compared to Chansey, Kuran's stats were completely insignificant.

No wonder in the anime, Chansey could effortlessly throw a full-grown human several meters into the air. Even without viral enhancements, its base Attack stat of nearly 50 was already about seven or eight times that of an average human.

Not to mention, its natural Special Defense exceeding 100 made it one of the tankiest Pokémon around.

"Haha, this is great!"

Lucius was already grinning internally. Once he fully assimilated Chansey's genetic data, his evolution progress would skyrocket.

And based on the previous status updates, the higher his evolution progress, the greater the attribute boosts he'd gain.

For example, increasing brain activity by 12% directly enhanced the host's Special Attack.

Similarly, boosting cellular activity by 8% increased the host's HP, and the host's base HP was also added to the virus' total vitality.

At this point, the virus and its host were in a mutually beneficial state—both were gaining from the symbiosis.

Meanwhile, Chansey was using Heal Pulse on Vulpix, sending a soft pink glow toward the injured Pokémon. Vulpix's pain visibly eased.

Taking advantage of the situation, Lucius directed his virus to firmly establish itself within Chansey's body, digging deeper and fusing with its genetic structure.

Now that things had stabilized, Lucius finally had time to think.

As his evolution progress increased, his viral capabilities were also strengthening. But every ability came with the same warning:

[If the host exceeds its biological limits, it may collapse or undergo unknown mutations.]

Which raised an important question—

What exactly were the biological limits of a host?

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