Evolution: First Badge

"Ah?" Falkner froze for a moment, then quickly realized what he meant. "Oh! Sorry! Just now, I—"

Heiduo waved a hand. "Fake Out. I saw it. And I learned it! I concede."

There was no choice but to concede. Pidgeotto had reacted in time without receiving Falkner's instructions—or perhaps under Falkner's subtle prompting. That kind of coordination definitely could not be achieved without long-term training.

Falkner had been praised before, but this was definitely the first time he had been praised as a Gym Leader. He was delighted.

"Since you learned it, don't worry—I'll teach you even more! Noctowl!" Falkner's gaze sharpened. "Come on, let's give this challenger a lesson!"

...Bro, why did you suddenly get so full of yourself? It was clearly just a draw.

Heiduo looked at Falkner's confident face and felt rather speechless.

Still, a level forty-eight Noctowl would not be easy to beat. Winning would take luck.

He could crush anything below level thirty, contend with those below level forty, but above level forty... he could only rely on luck and skill.

His foundation was too shallow. If only he had been born in Pokémon World from the start, then he would have had some confidence.

The rain was still falling.

By Heiduo's estimate, Elekid's Rain Dance had around five minutes left.

"I'm counting on you! Don't let me down!" Heiduo wiped the rainwater from his face and released Ekans. Ekans was the highest-level Pokémon he had, and was only one step away from evolving into Arbok.

If he was lucky, evolving two of them today would not be a problem.

Ekans rolled its eyes at Heiduo. "Hiss!" You didn't say that to me last night! You said I was just here to make an appearance!

As early as last night, Heiduo had thought Elekid would be able to sweep the whole match. Who would have expected Elekid to get taken out directly in the second round?

But complaints aside, Ekans still understood what its job was.

It had eaten and drunk for free at Heiduo's place for so many days. It was time to create some value for him.

"Dig!"

At the command, Ekans quickly parted the ground and burrowed underground.

Out of Noctowl's five moves, two were long-ranged, two were status moves, and one was close-range.

If Ekans did not find somewhere to hide, it would definitely get kited around.

Seeing Ekans vanish underground, Falkner remained unhurried. "Foresight! Find its position!"

Seriously?!

Foresight could see the location of a Pokémon using Dig?

Heiduo paused. Wasn't Foresight supposed to be used to attack Ghost-type Pokémon?

Ding!

With a soft sound, Noctowl's eyes emitted searchlight-like white beams. It flapped through the air as it searched, the white light sweeping over the ground. Before long, the shadow of a snake wandering beneath the earth appeared before everyone's eyes.

Holy shit!

"Shadow Ball! Blast it out!"

"It found you! Counter with Rock Slide!"

Heiduo shouted. Sitting around waiting to die was absolutely not an option!

Ekans swiftly poked its head out, then whipped a huge rock forward with its tail!

Boom!

The rock collided with a black-and-purple sphere, causing an explosion.

Fragments from the shattered rock and soil filled the field.

Even in the rain, the cloud of dust did not disperse easily.

"Keep using Foresight! Smoke can't block it!" Falkner did not forget to explain the Foresight move to Heiduo.

Then Heiduo watched those two flashlight-like white beams locate Ekans within the dust cloud.

Was this Foresight some goddamn all-purpose ability?

Heiduo was starting to lose it. "Glare! Then Dig back down!"

The moment he spoke, Noctowl, flying overhead, felt a sudden chill in its heart. A flash of white light abruptly burst before its eyes, and two phantom snake pupils appeared in front of it. Noctowl's body stiffened.

It was paralyzed!

And the Paralysis triggered the instant it took effect!

Falkner was startled and was just about to issue an order when he heard Heiduo shout, "Now! Rock Slide! Keep hitting it!"

Among Ekans's moves, Rock Slide was the only one that could effectively deal with Flying-type Pokémon!

Bang!

Ekans dug an opening beneath Noctowl, thrust its body out, and whipped rocks out again with its tail—two in succession.

The rocks struck Noctowl, knocking it straight down to the ground.

It was still paralyzed!

"Roost!" Falkner tried to have Noctowl recover its stamina.

Milky-white feathers fell from the sky onto Noctowl's body, and green light glowed around it.

"Not a chance! Toxic!" The best way to counter a recovery move was to inflict Poison. No matter how much it recovered, it would lose just as much.

Ekans extended its venomous fangs and viciously bit Noctowl.

Noctowl's face turned purple, and purple bubbles rose from its body.

"Air Slash!" Falkner's expression changed. Poison-type Pokémon were annoying precisely because of this.

Noctowl flew high into the air. Unlike in the games, where a Pokémon could only suffer one negative status condition, there was no limit to negative conditions in reality!

Invisible wind blades bore down on Ekans. The vastly higher stats gave Noctowl such casting speed that Ekans was hit by five or six wind blades.

"Hiss!" Ekans cried out in pain.

Suddenly, the raindrops grew lighter, and the rain stopped!

"Dig! Get down!" Heiduo had Ekans burrow underground. Without the rain, Noctowl would be even more agile! Going underground was obviously better than becoming a target on the surface!

Ekans endured the pain and dug through the rain-softened soil.

"Roost!" Falkner tried to restore Noctowl's stamina to the point where even Poison would not matter much.

Did this guy never learn his lesson?!

Heiduo was shocked. Roost had such a huge windup—wasn't he just giving Ekans a free chance to attack?

He had clearly suffered from it just now!

No! He was baiting me!

Heiduo saw the assured expression on Falkner's face, and his heart tightened. Falkner definitely had something planned!

Ekans could not get close to Noctowl!

Heiduo swallowed the urge to have Ekans use Sucker Punch. The move would fail if the opponent was not using an attacking move; otherwise, it would strike first.

"Rock Slide!"

At least Rock Slide was a ranged move. Ekans did not need to get close to Noctowl.

Ekans poked its head out again, but before it could attack, Noctowl swooped down with lightning speed!

"Use Fly to grab it! Then use Shadow Ball!"

Falkner shouted. In truth, he did not need to say it at all. He and Noctowl had long since reached perfect understanding; sometimes, a single look was enough for them to know what the other was thinking.

He was mainly saying it for Heiduo to hear.

Noctowl suddenly seized Ekans, its pair of iron claws clamping tightly around Ekans's body!

"Fly gives you a speed boost?!" Heiduo's voice cracked. Paralysis was supposed to halve speed, but Noctowl did not look slowed down at all!

Falkner smiled slightly. "That's flight technique, not a move's speed boost! Even on rainy days, as long as you adapt to the airflow, wind, and inertia in the sky, instantly increasing your agility is perfectly normal! It's a basic training subject at our Gym!"

Besides serving as a route for challenging the Pokémon League and earning badges, Violet Gym also accepted many students. As long as one was willing to pay, the Gym Leader would teach them the Pokémon knowledge he specialized in.

The Pokémon League was very relaxed about this sort of thing. After all, everyone had to make a living.

Of course, not every Gym Leader accepted disciples from the public. Blackthorn Gym, for example, only accepted people from Dragon's Den; Goldenrod Gym's Gym Leader was an entertainer and simply had no time to take students.

What the hell was this?!

This was the first time Heiduo had heard that Pokémon World had something like this. Was getting this close to reality really okay? Couldn't it be a little more fantastical?

"Gunk Shot! Aim for its head!" Heiduo could not sit around and wait to die, even if Noctowl had overwhelming level superiority.

Ekans forcibly twisted its head around and sprayed a mass of thick purple energy fluid from its gaping mouth at Noctowl!

Noctowl was alarmed and fired a Shadow Ball back at Ekans.

Smack!

The Gunk Shot was scattered apart, and a large amount of slime splattered onto Noctowl's body.

"Your Ekans knows so many moves!" Falkner exclaimed. Whether it was Elekid or Ekans, the moves they knew left him utterly amazed.

This was absolutely not the caliber a rookie Trainer with not even one badge should possess!

Heiduo grinned. "Not bad. I don't have any other hobbies—I just like making Pokémon learn all kinds of moves! But compared to that, your Pokémon are really strong!"

This was not the difficulty of the first Gym at all!

The two spoke with hidden meanings, each probing the other.

Falkner glanced at the miserable Noctowl. Toxic was still steadily draining its stamina. If the battle turned into a war of attrition, he would definitely lose.

"That's enough." Falkner called to Noctowl in the sky. "It's over! Come down!"

Falkner was not a conventional Gym Leader, after all. There was no need to fight to the death. This was enough; continuing would have no meaning.

Noctowl understood. It flew down and tossed the battered Ekans into Heiduo's arms.

Ekans's body had not only the wounds caused by the wind blades, but also abrasions from rubbing against rocks and soil while digging underground.

"You did well. I didn't spoil you for nothing!" Heiduo rubbed Ekans's head. As his first Pokémon, Ekans had always received slightly better treatment than the other three. As long as its requests were not too excessive, Heiduo would generally fulfill every one of them.

Ekans had not betrayed Heiduo's trust in it.

"Hiss!" Ekans lifted its chin. It was exhausted. As a snake without hands or feet, frantically digging tunnels through the ground had drained a tremendous amount of its strength every time it burrowed downward.

On the other side, Falkner took a peach-shaped fruit and a small cherry-like fruit from his pocket and fed them to Noctowl.

The former was a Pecha Berry, also known as a Sweet Peach, and it could cure Poison. The latter was a Cheri Berry, also known as a Paralysis Berry, as the name implied.

[Ding! Ekans leveled up! Current level: 21!]

[Ding! Ekans leveled up! Current level: 22!]

[Ding! Ekans leveled up! Current level: 23!]

As expected of a level forty-eight opponent—it had gone up three levels at once.

If it had defeated Noctowl, it probably would have gained even more experience, right?

The translucent text before Heiduo's eyes had barely vanished when the Ekans in his arms began to glow blue.

It was evolving! Sure enough, it evolved at around level twenty!

[Ding! Achievement "First Badge" completed!]