As the brilliant white glow gradually faded, the evolved form stood revealed—Golbat had arrived.
Pokémon: Golbat
Gender: Female
Type: Poison/Flying
Ability: Infiltrator (Can strike through opponents' barriers and substitutes.)
Potential: Orange
Basic Moves: Absorb, Supersonic, Astonish, Mean Look, Poison Fang, Swift, Confuse Ray, Shadow Ball, Quick Guard
Egg Moves: Cross Poison, Air Slash, Pursuit
After evolving, Golbat was at least twice the size of Zubat, and her presence on the field was so much more intimidating.
"Awesome, Golbat!"
Auron almost jumped for joy. It was his first time witnessing a Pokémon evolve—and it was his own partner. He was nearly overwhelmed with happiness.
"Golbat is still able to battle. The match continues!"
The referee waved his flag to indicate the battle would proceed. It was standard for referees to pause matches if a Pokémon evolved on the field—interrupting an evolution could severely injure a Pokémon, and anyone caught doing so would be condemned by the entire community and possibly even penalized by the League.
"Golbat, are you okay?"
"Gol-baaat!" she called back, voice strong.
"Alright, then—let's go!"
"Golbat, Air Slash!"
Jace was already grinning. "Keep it up, Torkoal—Clear Smog!"
His reasoning was simple: Even if Zubat evolved, Golbat's stamina would only have recovered a little. She wasn't back at full health, so instead of risking the low accuracy of Stone Edge, it was better to keep trading hits with Clear Smog. Torkoal had plenty of stamina; sooner or later, Golbat would go down.
Sure enough, Golbat took another hit from Clear Smog and was left panting, her evolution only restoring her enough to keep fighting for now.
"Hang in there, Golbat!"
Auron called out, concern in his voice.
But Golbat refused to quit. She wanted to finish this battle herself—even if she lost, she wanted to see it through.
Auron understood what she meant.
"Alright, then. Golbat—Shadow Ball!"
"Torkoal, Stone Edge!"
Jace caught Auron off guard. He'd expected Jace to keep trading with Clear Smog, but suddenly, the boy went for broke with Stone Edge—a devastating Rock-type move.
Golbat was already bracing herself to take another hit, but as the deadly barrage of stones shot toward her, she twisted and dodged the first few with her newly increased speed and agility. But there were too many—she got clipped by the last set.
"Golbat is unable to battle. Torkoal wins. Challenger, send out your next Pokémon. Timeout will result in a loss."
"Good job, Golbat. You did great," Auron said, recalling her to her Poké Ball. Then, reaching for another ball, he grinned.
"Alright, munchlax—let's teach this sneaky Jace a lesson!"
"Snor!"
munchlax appeared on the field, doing his best to look fierce—but with his chubby cheeks and dopey face, it was more hilarious than scary. Auron nearly laughed out loud, and Jace burst out laughing on the other side.
munchlax scratched his head, totally lost.
"munchlax—close the gap and Counter!"
"Torkoal, Stone Edge!"
As munchlax lumbered forward, Stone Edge struck him—perfect for activating Counter. With a flash of black energy, munchlax sent the force of the attack right back at Torkoal, slamming it hard.
"Damn, he read me!"
Jace shot Auron a dirty look. Training match or not, Auron still read his moves in advance.
Auron just grinned, knowing Jace had no choice but to open with Stone Edge against munchlax's defenses. What Jace didn't expect was munchlax's Counter. With its massive special defense and the Thick Fat ability halving Ice and Fire damage, Torkoal's only real shot was Stone Edge.
"munchlax, use Heavy Slam!"
"Torkoal, Withdraw!"
munchlax barreled forward, landing a massive hit on Torkoal's shell, shaking the ground—though the actual damage wasn't much.
Neither side could do much. munchlax's current attacks were all physical, and Torkoal's physical defense was through the roof, especially after using Withdraw. Auron considered Earthquake or Stomping Tantrum, but munchlax hadn't learned those yet; there was Fissure, a one-hit KO move, but the accuracy was so bad he needed to be careful.
Jace was equally frustrated. munchlax was slow, but so was Torkoal, and unless he could land a clean hit, he was stuck. Torkoal's attacking moves weren't going to cut it, but Counter made things risky.
"munchlax, Bulk Up!"
"Torkoal, Haze!"
munchlax posed dramatically, only for Torkoal to blast him in the face with a cloud of purple poison. No poison effect, though.
"munchlax, again—Bulk Up!"
"I don't believe it—Torkoal, Haze!"
Again, munchlax powered up; again, Torkoal cleared his buffs. Finally, after the third round, Haze succeeded in poisoning munchlax.
"One more for good measure—Bulk Up!"
"Torkoal, Stone Edge!"
But with munchlax now quadruple-buffed, even Stone Edge only did a little damage.
Aside from the poison, Torkoal had no way to seriously hurt munchlax.
"munchlax, Thunder Punch—again and again!"
"Torkoal, Withdraw!"
munchlax's fists crackled with lightning as he hammered Torkoal's shell over and over, each hit boosted by Bulk Up until Torkoal finally started to wear down.
"Hang in there, Torkoal—Withdraw!"
Auron grinned. "Alright, munchlax—Fissure!"
munchlax smiled doofily, then stomped the ground. A small crack snaked out and, as luck would have it, swallowed the heavily-defended Torkoal right up.
"Torkoal is unable to battle. munchlax wins!"
The referee raised his flag over the dizzy, defeated Torkoal.
Jace gave a wry smile, recalling his partner. The battle was over. He realized that all those Bulk Ups from munchlax had just been a feint—Auron's real killer move was Fissure, waiting for Torkoal to be locked down in Withdraw. If munchlax hadn't had Fissure, Torkoal would probably have won; instead, Auron had outfoxed him again.
"Not bad, man. You've really gotten a lot better," Auron said, clapping Jace on the shoulder.
Jace shrugged, smiling. "Still couldn't beat you, though."
Auron waved it off. "It's not your fault. You can't always predict an Egg Move like that."
"Yeah, guess you're right."
With Auron's encouragement, Jace shook off his frustration and returned to the stands, calling out to Serena and Tim.
"You two want to battle?"
Tim glanced at Serena, then shook his head. "Probably not a good idea. I just asked what her Pokémon's hidden moves were—her Shellder's got Icicle Spear and Ice Shard, and her Feebas knows Ice Beam. My Dratini going up against both of them would be tough, so maybe not today."
Jace slung an arm around Tim's neck, grinning.
"Oh come on, how do you know until you try?"
Tim slipped free, facing Jace. "How about you and I battle next time?"
Jace: "No way! Why not battle Auron?"
Tim: "Already did. I lost."
Jace: "I've lost to him too!"
Tim grinned. "Exactly. You lost to me last time, so this time, I want to win!"
Jace, mock-indignant: "Oh, it's on! I don't believe it!"
Tim flashed a sly, fox-like smile. "Next week, after Swablu hatches—let's do two-on-two. Fair and square."
Serena piped up, "Baby Cup next week, remember?"
Tim squinted. "Then the week after! We'll get our match in eventually."
Jace pouted. "Fine, we'll battle. It's not like I'm going to lose again."
Tim just smiled, completely at ease. "Deal."
After a round of jokes and banter, everyone did a bit more Pokémon training. Auron said he had to leave early—he had something to do at home.
He'd been thinking about the Mega Stones from the other day. If his memory was right, his dad's research lab had some stones that looked awfully similar. At the time, he hadn't paid attention, but now, maybe those really were Mega Stones. If so, maybe he could get a head start on researching Mega Evolution for real.
At the breeding house, as Auron walked in, he found his mom at the counter, mindlessly scrolling through videos on her phone.
"Hey, Mom, is Dad in the lab?"
She put down her phone and shot him a glare.
"All day long, it's 'Dad this, Dad that.' Can't you talk to your mother for once?"
Auron sighed. "Mom, don't start. I just have a research question for him."
"Boring. He's in there—go find him yourself," she said, slumping back over her phone.
"Thanks, Mom," Auron called, then headed for the back.
"Gengar!!"
"Ah—jeez!"
"Gengar, you scared me again!"
"Geng~!"
Just as he turned the corner, Auron nearly jumped out of his skin as the family Gengar popped out of nowhere. Ghost-types really leaned into their prankster side, and Gengar was a master.
"Wait a sec, I'll play with you after, okay? I just need to ask Dad something first."
"Geng~!"
Gengar nodded and tugged Auron by the hand, leading him right to the research lab door and pointing him in.
"Alright, thanks. And Gengar—don't go up front, Mom's there, remember?"
Gengar wiped imaginary sweat off his brow, looking deeply relieved.
Auron grinned. Payback for all those times Gengar had startled him.
Pushing open the door, Auron stepped into the lab. His dad wasn't alone—someone else was there, deep in conversation. As the stranger turned at the sound of the door, Auron stared in surprise.
"What are you doing here?!"
End of Chapter
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