🎆 Happy New Year! 🎆
Thank you all for the amazing support throughout this year. 💙To celebrate the arrival of the new year, here is a special New Year code:
🎁 Code:NewYear: F3B16
📅 Code validity:
Start: December 30, 2025 at 11:55 p.m.
End: January 2, 2026 at 11:00 p.m.
Enjoy it and let's start this new year strong. 🚀✨Here's to an amazing 2026! 🎉
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"Come out, Exeggutor, Starmie!"
The man in black quickly opened two of his Dark Balls, and the silhouettes of Exeggutor and Starmie appeared on the field.
"Two more?"
A troubled expression appeared on Ethan Black's face. At this moment, the disadvantages of being a rookie trainer were clear: in total, he only had seven Pokémon.
After losing Absol and Shellder, he had only five usable ones left, not even enough to make up the standard six for a full battle.
Moreover, Shellder had been his defensive core. Now that it had evolved together with Slowpoke into Slowking, he could only rely on Cacturne to take care of defense.
Fortunately, the opponent's Pokémon specialized in Psychic-type moves. Cacturne, being a Dark type, could resist many of those attacks with its own body, and with the support of its roots, its safety was guaranteed for the moment.
He also arranged Sandslash, Meltan, Trapinch, and Shuckle around him, to avoid being caught off guard by the lack of a solid defensive wall.
On the opposing side, the man in black's eyes watched Sandslash cautiously. Similarly, he placed Mr. Mime as his defensive shield, pulling the rest of his Pokémon back close to him.
Before the final confrontation, both sides set their Pokémon in formation, prepared to go all out in battle.
Boom!
On the field, the battle between Gengar and Slowking had already begun.
One was a Ghost type, the other Psychic. They seemed like natural enemies, attacking and countering each other relentlessly.
Boom!
Once again, Shadow Ball and Psychic collided in the air, exploding on impact and releasing a wave of energy that shook the entire place.
Boom!
Just after the two moves canceled each other out, Shellder's eyes, on Slowking's head, began to glow. A Psychic move instantly formed and blasted powerfully toward Gengar.
Caught off guard, Gengar went flying and crashed into the wall.
"What...?"
"Why can the Shellder on Slowking's head launch attacks?"
The man in black was stunned to see a Psychic move come directly from Shellder and muttered: "Could this be Slowking's special ability?"
"Slowking's special ability?"
Ethan Black was also bewildered.
After all, it was his first time seeing Slowking in real life. In the games, no such ability existed—but in reality... it was a different story.
Besides, his Shellder from birth had great psychic power and a defective shell; perhaps that combination explained this phenomenon.
Incidentally, Ethan Black noticed that after evolution, the cracks in Shellder's shell seemed to have vanished.
Boom!
As Ethan Black reflected, the battle intensified once again.
The ruby on Shellder's shell gleamed with dazzling light, releasing a blue radiance that spread toward Gengar, completely enveloping it.
It was the move Confusion—or rather, Shellder's Psychic-type Hidden Power. But thanks to the evolution into Slowking, it was no longer just Shellder's Psychic-type Hidden Power, but the real move Confusion: it directly immobilized Gengar!
Even so, it wasn't easy to fully contain him. Although Confusion wrapped around his body, Gengar could still move—though much more slowly.
Boom!
That was enough. While Gengar struggled against Confusion, Slowpoke had already launched another Psychic.
Once again, Gengar went flying and embedded itself into the cave wall.
"What is this...? Wasn't this supposed to be a one-on-one battle? How did it turn into a group beatdown?"
Both Ethan Black and the man in black were dumbfounded as they watched Shellder and Slowpoke, alternating one after the other, maintain an unbelievable coordination that overwhelmed Gengar.
Boom, boom, boom!
The duo complemented each other: Shellder immobilized with Confusion, and Slowpoke attacked with Psychic. Slowking had perfected this strategy, sending Gengar flying again and again.
After so many attacks, even Gengar was exhausted. Panting heavily, it returned to its master's side.
"Are you telling me to withdraw?"
The man in black frowned at Gengar's gestures.
After looking at Slowking, then at Ethan Black surrounded by his Pokémon, he clenched his teeth and finally ordered his Pokémon to use Teleport. In an instant, they vanished from the cave.
"He left?"
Ethan Black let out a long sigh as he saw the man in black flee.
Fortunately, thanks to Slowking, they had managed to restrain that terrifying Gengar. Otherwise, in terms of power, Ethan Black would have stood no chance against that enemy.
"Right, Absol."
Ethan Black quickly ran toward him.
Absol was still shrouded in black mist, his face twisted in pain.
Then, Slowking stepped forward. Gathering psychic energy into its hands, it enveloped Absol in a beam of mental light.
Under that light, the suffering on Absol's face began to fade. Finally, the black mist surrounding him trembled and was completely absorbed into his body.
Having taken in all that energy, Absol's expression eased, and he collapsed onto the ground, unconscious.
"Absol!"
Ethan Black cried out in worry. But seeing that the pain had vanished from his face, he breathed a sigh of relief and returned him to his Poké Ball.
"Thank you... Slowking."
Ethan Black looked to his side, hesitating a moment before speaking.
In his heart, he felt a mix of emotions. Even though Shellder and Slowpoke had evolved together into Slowking, did that mean Shellder no longer existed as itself?
And what was the relationship now—with Slowpoke, with Shellder... or with Slowking itself?
"Yadon!"
As if understanding Ethan Black's thoughts, the intelligent Slowking bent down and embraced him. The ruby on Shellder's head gleamed brightly.
At that moment, the Poké Ball that had once belonged to Shellder rose softly from Ethan Black's belt and floated into his hand.
(End of chapter)