Xin Mu had been away from home for quite a while this time. For a long stretch, no one had lived here except Regirock and the other Pokémon left behind.
And to some people, that meant an opportunity to burgle an empty house.
Before Xin Mu moved in, this house had also stood unoccupied for a long time, but back then, there had been no signs of anyone living here.
Even thieves had a purpose when they came calling. Naturally, they had no interest in an empty house.
After all, it was built into the ground. They couldn't exactly carry the whole house away.
Once Xin Mu moved in, however, that meant there were valuables inside.
Someone had previously scouted the place and noticed that nobody had come or gone for a long time, so they had decided to take a look.
On their way in, however, they had spotted the Eevee living in the backyard.
Eevee were very popular Pokémon. Their wide range of evolutions offered all sorts of possibilities. In theory, with so many different types available, there was always an Eevee evolution someone would like.
Even without evolving, they were cute-and that was only their appeal to ordinary people.
Eevee also had tremendous scientific value, which likewise stemmed from their internal imbalances and unstable genetic makeup.
In theory, Eevee evolved to adapt more quickly to their surroundings, giving them a greater ability to cope with extreme weather such as bitter cold and scorching heat, as well as disasters like floods.
Yet this ability had not allowed Eevee populations to flourish. Their numbers remained relatively low.
Legitimate research institutes used field observations to study how Pokémon like Eevee behaved in their natural habitats, but not every researcher worked that way.
Team Rocket's research institutes took a more aggressive