Dappled sunlight danced across Ash Ketchum's profile, outlining the boy's tightly pursed lips and overly focused gaze.
Misty sat hugging her knees atop a moss-covered boulder, her gaze locked firmly onto that figure as if drawn by an invisible thread.
"Pikachu, Quick Attack! Get behind it! Don't let it land and charge up!"
The voice was crisp and sharp, cutting through the crackling sound of Pikachu tearing through the air.
Golden light exploded; Pikachu's silhouette nearly burned an afterimage onto the retina as it slammed instantly into the fragile junction of a Beedrill's waist.
The Beedrill hissed in pain, its motion to charge its poison sting interrupted.
There is no absolute 'Super Armor' in the real world—that's the trouble.
"Pidgey, now! Gust, maximum power!" Ash's arm swung down violently.
"Goo—!" Circling in mid-air, Pidgey let out a loud, long cry, flapping its wings with full force!
It was no longer just the vision-obscuring airflow from before.
This time, the gale howled, sweeping up fallen leaves and gravel from the ground, forming a visible, rotating pillar of gray-green wind that slammed viciously into the Beedrill, which had already lost its balance from Pikachu's hit.
The wind pillar collided with Beedrill's hard carapace, emitting a dull thud.
Beedrill was swept away, tumbling through the air until it smashed heavily against a zelkova tree. Its wings crooked, it struggled a few times but failed to take flight immediately.
[Pidgey's level has risen to LV18!]
[Pidgey's stats have breached the critical point!]
[Pidgey meets evolution conditions!]
Three pale blue System notifications flashed rapidly in the corner of Ash Ketchum's vision.
Just as Ash was about to order Pikachu to land the finishing blow—
"Goo—!!!"
Pidgey's body suddenly erupted with intense white light!
The light was so dazzling that it instantly swallowed its grayish-brown figure, dispelling the shadows of the surrounding forest.
Within the light, its silhouette expanded and elongated rapidly!
Its wings became broad, its tail feathers grew long and slender, the crest on its head stood tall, and a sharp gaze pierced through the white light.
The white light faded.
A Pidgeotto—far more robust than a Pidgey, with full, powerful wings and eyes as sharp as knives—hovered with its head held high where Pidgey had just been.
—Pidgeotto—
Nickname: Eye of the Sky
Level: 18
Nature: Jolly
Ability: Keen Eye
IVs: Good
Moves: Tackle LV2, Sand Attack LV2, Gust LV1, Quick Attack LV1, Whirlwind LV1
During the training of this period, Pidgey's strength had been improving across the board... and likely due to the System, it automatically learned certain moves as it improved.
"Yes!" Ash's cheer carried heartfelt excitement. "Eye of the Sky! This is the form you were meant to have!"
Pidgeotto let out a clear cry that seemed to pierce clouds and crack stones. Its sharp gaze swept the field, and its invisible pressure made the Beedrill, which had just scrambled up, flinch.
This Beedrill wasn't particularly strong, and it was only being bullied because it was alone.
Level didn't completely represent combat power; right now, the lowest leveled one, the Level 10 Pikachu, was actually the strongest in Ash's hands.
Different Pokémon have different growth rates.
For example, theoretically, the maximum level in the game is 100, but in reality, the experience points required for different Pokémon to reach Level 100 varies.
According to game standards, the total experience to reach Level 100 is divided into 6 tiers.
The highest tier requires 1.64 million experience.
The lowest tier requires only 600,000 experience.
Of course, after converting to reality, this obscure trivia had undergone some changes.
What Ash was thinking now was: since the Magikarp stage levels up so fast, will the Gyarados stage level up very slowly?
"Pika-pi!" Pikachu also cried out excitedly, happy for its partner's evolution.
However, just as the glow of evolution had not yet fully dissipated, from the muddy little puddle nearby—
"Pu-la-la-la—!"
Magikarp understood nothing; it simply used all its strength to bounce within the pitifully shallow muddy water.
Every leap kicked up large splashes of turbid water, its golden scales reflecting blinding light under the sun that filtered through the forest canopy.
It jumped so high, so fiercely, that once it almost crashed into Pikachu, who was watching in a daze.
"...You're already very impressive," Ash said, looking at the Magikarp in the puddle.
It had already reached Level 19.
Splash had leveled up from LV5 to LV9.
On the surface, aside from jumping high and having scales that blinded the eye, there were no changes; it still had zero combat power.
But this was proof of Magikarp's hard work.
Current testing of the System showed that captured Pokémon could continuously level up and evolve.
And there were no bottlenecks stuck in the way.
"Splash!" Magikarp flopped heavily back into the mud, splattering Misty with mud spots.
It seemed to sense some invisible barrier as well; the faint light in its fish eyes dimmed, and the strength of its tail slapping the mud lessened significantly.
Misty silently wiped the mud from her face, looked at the goldfish struggling futilely in the mire, then at the magnificent Pidgeotto in the air and the electricity-wreathed Pikachu. Finally, her gaze landed on Ash's face, which held a mixture of relief, anticipation, and a trace of imperceptible exasperation.
She finally couldn't hold back and spoke faintly:
"So... when exactly is your 'extreme individual', your 'one in a million' treasure... going to evolve?"
"When do you plan to leave here?" Misty had already been grinding levels here with Ash for quite some time.
Ash: "..."
He bent down, silently pulled out a blue-glowing Pokéblock, and tossed it precisely into Magikarp's open mouth.
Watching the Golden Magikarp instantly start flopping around again as if injected with adrenaline, he took a deep breath, as if mentally preparing himself—Patience... I'm going to be the Sword God of Ten Mile Slope...
With the current lineup, I can't beat Brock.
It's best to wait for Magikarp to evolve into Gyarados.
"Pika..." Pikachu patted Ash's pant leg with a small paw, seemingly comforting him.
Misty watched Ash forcefully feeding himself 'chicken soup for the soul', then looked at the Magikarp flopping in the mud pit, flashing golden light but still only knowing "Splash", and suddenly felt the stifling resentment from being called a "frog in a well" earlier strangely dissipate.
In fact, she kind of wanted to laugh.
She crossed her arms, her orange ponytail swaying in the sunlight, her tone carrying a hint of subtle teasing:
"Hey, future Water-type Master reservist, your heir to the 'Deep Sea Throne'... seems to be lacking a bit, huh?"
Ash didn't look back, just staring at the golden Magikarp struggling with all its might: "...Two days at most. If it doesn't work, we leave."
What Ash wanted to bet on was... could Magikarp evolve under the System's influence when it hit Level 20?
Just then.
Another person approached from the distance.
"Hello there, I am Akemi, a Trainer from Viridian City."
"Coming from this direction, you must be from Pallet Town, right?"
"But I recall the Trainers from Pallet Town this year should have departed a long time ago."
"1, 2, 3... You're the fourth one."
"Can you let me see the level of this year's Pallet Town Trainers?"
"Please have a Pokémon battle with me!!"
"The wager is 200 Pokédollars!"
A young girl, about fifteen or sixteen years old, walked over.
"What? Two hundred?" Ash heard the wager with keen interest. "I accept your challenge!"
Although Mom had given him quite a bit of money when he left, and said he could ask for more if it wasn't enough.
But... since he was already out traveling, it was naturally best to earn it himself if he could.
"...So he's greedy for money," Misty quietly quipped.
She didn't think there was anything wrong with that, though; after all, not everyone was wealthy.
____
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