"There are, yes, but it's certainly not the norm."

"If they depend on specific conditions- you mentioned diet- how often are new evolutions discovered? Are there any that you only see in the wild, or don't see in the wild?"

Well. That sounds an awful lot like a jumping-off point for a whole entire lecture. If Scott has anything else to do tonight he may want to figure out how to interrupt her at some point.

He will happily listen to her talk about magical animals from another world!

(Kero, meanwhile, drifts off, bored-)

(-and realizes that he can probably sneak some snacks from Scott's backpack while no one is looking.)

Snacks? Snacks? Ooh, Sylveon wants some snacks.

Kero will play keep-away, sure. They're his snacks.

Scott is happy to prod at evolution and related topics for a while, especially if this lecture allows for questions. Does evolving depend on overall health; do some pokemon experience delayed evolution? Are there any evolutions that are rarer than others, relying on specific conditions- like those lizards that change gender or animals that camouflage themselves?

It's definitely based on things pokemon themselves do, so if one is too weak or sick to get up and do things, it won't evolve. But there doesn't seem to be an inherently critical time period- a sick pokemon that gets better can still evolve as usual. There are some evolutions that seem to be associated with certain times of day- like umbreon and espeon only evolving during the night or day- or locations. Ellie's read about a certain rock formation in the Galar region that the native yamask have to visit before they can evolve, and their evolved form is different than yamask elsewhere.

"Do they have spawning grounds? Do wild pokemon keep their own territories?"

"Pokemon generally make nests where they live and lay eggs there. They'll have at least accustomed ranges if perhaps not territories per se. But that's something that varies by species. Rattata packs are very fierce about defending their space, whereas something like a fearow will roam about hundreds of miles and not care too much about what others are around."

"What about Sylvie? Do evolutions behave differently than their earlier forms? What does the science say? It's so cool that you're on the cutting edge of it."

"Sylvie's a snugglebug. Always has been. Personalities in general carry over through evolution, most of the time when things change it follows from changes in the body plan- venonat gets wings when it evolves into venomoth, for example."

Scott wants to compare and contrast! Which species (evolutionary lines?), if any,  have live births? How much do Pokemon change on longer timescales- do they seem to have natural selection at all?

This is all very much an area of active research. They're starting to brush up against the limits of what's known for sure.

"Are there any big questions you're hoping you'll solve?"

"Me specifically? It'd be really cool if I could find one of the so-called missing eeveelutions, Or prove conclusively that they can't exist, but that's more of a stretch."