Chapter 53: Evolve Like a Tidal Wave!
"Evolve!"
"Evolve! Believe in yourself!"
Rio shouted towards the Squirtle Boss as if with all his might.
"Boss, evolve!" This was the shout from the Oddish.
"We believe you can definitely evolve!" Machop, Mankey, and other Pokémon shouted loudly.
"!" Some of the severely injured Pokémon couldn't speak, but could only offer encouragement with their expectant eyes.
"…"
"Evolve!"
All the Pokémon of Sunrise Valley cried out in unison.
In this world, what could be more precious, and at the same time more empowering, than the trust of one's companions?
No, nothing!
This was the best encouragement, the greatest strength!
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!"
The Squirtle Boss tensed his entire body. Circle after circle of blue water currents surged from his body, rapidly spinning and winding around him. The azure blue light grew brighter and brighter, shining across the entire field like a dazzling sun.
"Sizzle!" Hegemon Nidoking felt as if it were holding a scorching hot source of heat, so hot that it couldn't help but release its claws from the shell.
The Squirtle Boss, landing on the ground, clenched his fists, his head slightly lowered. The ground beneath his feet trembled, and suddenly, a thick jet of water erupted violently from underground. Upon touching the blazing light on the Squirtle Boss's body, it immediately dispersed, forming surging waves that rushed out in all directions.
Under the expectant gazes of the Pokémon, the light glowing from the Squirtle Boss flickered and distorted. A phantom with ears like wings and a tail like a sea wave seemed about to form.
However, only Rio could see that the black hole within the Squirtle Boss's body was stimulated to churn even more frequently. That immensely powerful energy was continuously sucked in, like an eternally insatiable abyss. And the bright light on the Squirtle Boss's body, after reaching its peak brightness, slowly began to dim. That phantom, formed with such difficulty, gradually dissipated into the air like melting snowflakes.
"Damn it, damn it, damn it..."
The Squirtle Boss himself felt that familiar sense of powerlessness. His heart was filled with unwillingness and resentment—resenting his own powerlessness, resenting that he had failed their expectations.
"A black hole that crazily absorbs energy... A bursting point of light... A Hegemon's Presence... energy... ENERGY!!!"
"I've got it!!!"
Rio was suddenly enlightened.
He propped himself up with his right arm, barely enduring Nidoqueen's [Stomp], and took the opportunity to quickly tap his chest a few times with his left hand.
"Swoosh, swoosh," the jet nozzles on his back armor sprayed a powerful airflow, launching Rio away, avoiding Nidoqueen's tireless stomping.
"Cough, cough, if there's not enough energy, then use this to supplement it!"
Rio ignored the blood he coughed up from his internal injuries, reached into the void, and pulled out two clear blue stones that seemed to have endless water vapor rippling within them.
They were the Water Stones obtained as a system reward a long time ago.
"Boss, catch!"
Rio forcefully threw the two Water Stones in his hand. The Squirtle Boss, bewildered, caught them with both hands.
"Crush these two stones!"
Although he didn't know why, the Squirtle Boss subconsciously squeezed with force, directly crushing the two Water Stones to powder.
"Pop," "Pop."
Along with two crisp cracking sounds, the crystal-clear Water Stones shattered directly.
"Splash, splash—" "Splash, splash—"
The sound of surging waves seemed to echo in the Pokémon's ears. The Pokémon with fur even felt a layer of damp, sticky water vapor clinging to them. Moreover, the air began to grow humid.
Instantly, countless points of light, shimmering with an azure blue glow, escaped from the two shattered Water Stones, and then, as if impatiently, surged into the Squirtle Boss's body.
"Come on, evolve!"
Rio stared intently at the Squirtle Boss.
Absorb! Endless absorption! A frenzied absorption as if without limit!
Finally, this abyss-like black hole seemed to have absorbed to its limit. At the critical moment, it turned from dark to light, and an even more dazzling light burst forth in an instant!
"Ahhhhhh—"
The Squirtle Boss tilted his head back and roared, even if his voice was hoarse, he had to roar out his unwillingness and resentment.
His figure grew brighter and brighter, the light he radiated becoming more and more magnificent.
At this moment, the blue light completely spread out, breaking through the red-black light that enveloped everything. The two distinctly different colored splendors stood in defiance of each other, neither giving way.
The extremely bright light made all the Pokémon, including Hegemon Nidoking, involuntarily narrow their eyes. The ongoing attacks couldn't help but stop.
"This energy fluctuation..."
Hegemon Nidoking's face was ashen as it felt this suffocating energy intensity. A trace of fear began to grow in its originally cruel heart.
"Boom—"
The waves surrounding the Squirtle Boss surged even more wildly. Amidst the churning waves, a blue light enveloped the Squirtle Boss. His form gradually transformed into a pair of snow-white, wing-like ears, and two gracefully wave-shaped tails emerged from his shell. The skin of the entire Pokémon turned from sky blue to indigo, and its physique became much taller than before.
"Wartortle! Squirtle's evolved form!"
Rio said excitedly. Just as he had expected, the reason the Squirtle Boss couldn't evolve was that every time he tried, the generated evolutionary energy was absorbed by that black hole. Lacking sufficient energy, he naturally couldn't evolve smoothly. And that black hole, it looked like...
"Not enough, still not enough..."
Feeling the power within his body, now several times stronger than before, the Squirtle Boss was not satisfied. He knew that even if he evolved into the form of Wartortle, compared to Hegemon Nidoking, who had inexplicably gained immense power, he was still much inferior.
He wanted to be stronger, to have more powerful strength, a more powerful form.
"Power! I need more power to protect everyone!!!!!"
"EVOLVE!!!!!"
The frustration suppressed for a long time due to his inability to evolve, the grief of being mercilessly abandoned by his trainer, the hardship of sweating and training day after day, and the determination to protect his companions—all kinds of emotions, accompanied by his roar, were vented without reservation.
A broad, heavy shadow suddenly magnified.
"BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM"!
The fiercely churning waves surrounding that stubborn figure shot straight up into the sky, then fell heavily to the ground, scattering into countless water droplets, revealing the Squirtle Boss's figure.
No, at this time, it was no longer a Squirtle.
A stout, turtle-like Pokémon with two menacing cannons protruding from the shell on its back now stood tall amidst the waves.
Final evolution!
The heavy cannoneer like a tidal wave—Blastoise!
"This, is this the final evolution of the original starter, Blastoise? This is too domineering..."
Rio stared blankly at that broad back.
Compared to the final evolutions of the other two original starters—the Grass/Poison-type Venusaur and the Fire/Flying-type Charizard—Blastoise's popularity wasn't as high. This was because Blastoise didn't have the powerful offensive capabilities and extremely cool appearance of Charizard, nor did it have various status moves for support like Venusaur. Its only outstanding feature was probably its decent defensive capability. But if one wanted to use a defensive strategy, there were many other Pokémon with better stats or more suitable abilities to choose from. In addition, its seemingly bloated and stocky appearance in the games was not as handsome as other Pokémon. Therefore, in the games of his previous life, Rio rarely chose the Squirtle line as his main Pokémon for playthroughs.
But in the current real world, looking at those sturdy and powerful limbs, that broad and thick shell, and those two cannons with wisps of white smoke coming from their muzzles—all these combined to form the domineering Pokémon that was Blastoise.
"Roar!"
A roar reawakened the surrounding dazed Pokémon.
"So what if you evolved!"
Hegemon Nidoking roared, raising its arms and lunging towards Blastoise.
"Slap," "Slap," Blastoise caught Hegemon Nidoking's claws with each of its hands. The two Pokémon were locked together like battling bulls.
"Hrrrraaaaagh!"
Hegemon Nidoking pushed with all its might, its two thick legs stomping hard on the ground, trying to use brute force to topple Blastoise.
But even using all its strength, it only felt like it was pushing against an unmovable boulder, completely unable to budge it.
And the Blastoise before it still had a calm expression on its face, as if it wasn't using any strength at all.
It was no wonder Hegemon Nidoking couldn't move Blastoise. An ordinarily evolved Blastoise already weighed nearly 90 kilograms, while Nidoking's weight was only around 62 kilograms. The difference between the two was a full 1/3. With weight being a determining factor in core strength, it was wishful thinking for Hegemon Nidoking to try and win against Blastotoise with pure strength.
The leaders of both sides were in a stalemate. The remaining Pokémon, awakened by Hegemon Nidoking's roar, returned to their respective battles.
However, the Pokémon from the Toxic Swamp, still under the buff of Hegemon Nidoking's Presence, remained in an advantageous state, suppressing the Pokémon from Sunrise Valley and Crescent Lake.
"[Rock Slide]!"
In a corner of the battlefield, several Diglett with glowing red eyes worked together to form a huge rock in mid-air and dropped it towards the Oddish siblings.
The giant rock fell, whistling through the air.
Looking at this rock, several times larger than itself, the eldest Oddish brother's little face turned pale. It could only desperately use the leaves on its head to cover its younger siblings, attempting to protect them like a mantis trying to stop a chariot.
In mortal danger!