Chapter 54: The Polyphony of Evolution
Although he was outmatched in strength in the contest with Blastoise, Hegemon Nidoking, seeing its subordinates fighting so fiercely, couldn't help but grin menacingly. "You see, even if you evolve, the situation won't change. In the end, only failure and submission await you."
Facing Hegemon Nidoking's provocation, Blastoise, who had been silent since evolving, slowly spoke, "No, you are mistaken. They trust in me, and therefore, I believe in them."
"What 'believe' or 'not believe'? It's just empty talk."
Hegemon Nidoking was dismissive.
"They gave me strength, allowing me to break through my limits. Now, it's my turn to give them strength!"
Blastoise suddenly roared in a low voice.
"Useless. None of this will change anything... urgh."
Hegemon Nidoking suddenly felt the claws gripping his tighten.
"Watch closely."
Blastoise stared intently into Hegemon Nidoking's crimson eyes.
"This! Is! The! Power! Of! Our! Bond!"
"Hegemon's Presence, activate!"
Following Blastoise's furious roar, countless blue lights gathered from beneath its feet, winding around Blastoise in a spiral and rising. When they reached the very top, the light scattered like a goddess scattering flowers, extending into a multitude of light points. These light points, tracing blue trajectories, quickly entered the bodies of the Sunrise Valley Pokémon. Viewed from a slightly greater distance, it was as if Blastoise was the core, with countless blue light rays extending outwards, weaving a blue network that connected all the Pokémon of Sunrise Valley.
"What is this?"
"My body!"
"Such strong, warm power."
"Ahhhh, I'm going to..."
The Pokémon of Sunrise Valley let out gasps of amazement as lights of different colors shone from their bodies simultaneously.
…
The giant rock was still falling unstoppably.
But just before it could hit its target, several dazzling, verdant green lights instantly lit up.
"Oddish evolve! Gloom!"
Several voices, some crisp, some cheerful, some tender, rang out.
The light disappeared, and in their place were several Pokémon of a brand-new form.
"Pat-pat-pat-pat-pat," a continuous stream of plant seeds directly blasted the giant rock apart, revealing the Gloom underneath. The flower buds on their heads emitted a pungent odor that wafted through the air.
The Diglett's bright red noses were assailed by the pungent smell from the Gloom, and their eyes immediately rolled back as they fainted, foaming at the mouth.
"Yay!" The Gloom, who were the original Oddish siblings, hugged each other happily, then quickly separated. "Big brother/Little brother/Little sister, you stink so much! Ugh."
A Gloom complaining that another Gloom stinks... hmm, very realistic.
…
"Machop evolve! Machoke!"
"Geodude evolve! Graveler!"
"Mankey evolve! Primeape!"
Evolutionary lights of different colors flashed past.
A tall, imposing, and muscular Machoke, like a human bodybuilder.
A larger Graveler, its exterior covered in hard rock.
A fierce-eyed Primeape, with veins bulging on its forehead.
Each Pokémon was basically over 1 meter tall. They all looked down from above at the Nido-family Pokémon before them, who didn't even reach their knees.
Under this intimidating gaze, even with their hearts full of berserk fighting spirit, the Nido-family Pokémon couldn't help but take a few steps back.
"Go! Wreck 'em!"
Machoke shouted, and this group of Pokémon, extremely skilled in fighting, advanced and delivered a flurry of punches and kicks to their opponents, completely disregarding the toxicity of the Nido-family's poison spikes.
…
"Caterpie evolve!..."
"Weedle evolve!..."
A bright light emanated from the Caterpie and Weedle, and they resolutely evolved into... uh, Metapod and Kakuna, two types of Pokémon without limbs, only a hard chrysalis shell.
The Metapod and Kakuna looked at each other with lifeless, dead-fish eyes.
Metapod: "..."
Kakuna: "..."
When they were still in their Caterpie or Weedle forms, they could at least use Bug-type moves to contend with the opposing Koffing. Now that they had evolved into this immobile state, they could only be passively beaten in misery.
"Geh, geh, geh, this is all you evolved into? You startled me," a Koffing revealed a sinister smile, poison gas spraying from the vents on its body. "Let me send you on your way, [Poison Gas]... Ah!"
A pair of fists came from nowhere and directly sent the Koffing flying with one punch. It crashed heavily into a nearby tree, looking dazed.
A small Poliwhirl hopped out.
It looked at its handiwork with satisfaction, then noticed the Metapod and Kakuna playing dead behind it. Its eyes darted around, and it giggled as it ran over to them. "Look, look, my hands grew out!"
It said while showing off its pot-sized fists.
It was the Poliwhirl evolved from the mischievous Poliwag that used to cause trouble in Sunrise Valley's water pool all day.
Listening to Poliwhirl's rambling words, the Metapod and Kakuna could only continuously roll their eyes in response.
Why was it that other Pokémon displayed great power after evolving, while they could only lie there and get beaten? It was truly Arceus's unfairness.
…
Gloom, Machoke, Graveler, Primeape, Metapod, Kakuna, Poliwhirl, and so on—the evolved forms of the various Sunrise Valley Pokémon instantly raised Sunrise Valley's combat power considerably.
Unfortunately, apart from this group of normal-level Pokémon, the Elite Pokémon like Elite Machop and Scyther showed no special changes after receiving the blue light.
However, this was enough to change the entire course of the battle. With both sides now having the enhancement of a presence ability, their strengths were once again on equal footing.
Sunrise Valley, whose individual strength was originally weaker and had to rely on group coordination, had now erased the gap in individual strength after the Pokémon evolved. Coupled with their already proficient coordination and numerical advantage, they once again beat the Pokémon from the Toxic Swamp into a steady retreat.
The advantage at the ordinary Pokémon level created a snowball effect, allowing more Pokémon to help each other. With one side's strength diminishing and the other's growing, the entire battlefield now showed a one-sided trend.
A large number of Pokémon from the Toxic Swamp were subdued or knocked out. Even Elite-level Pokémon like Sandslash and Nidoqueen were suppressed by the swarming Pokémon and defeated, being outnumbered.
As its own side's Pokémon were continuously defeated, Hegemon Nidoking's expression changed from ferocious, to resentful, and finally to a deathly stillness.
It glanced at the only remaining Arbok by its side and said expressionlessly, "Even if you defeat me, you can never defeat my master, or that noble deity."
"And then? So what?" Blastoise said noncommittally, then suddenly exerted force. "I only know that I will defeat you, and then give a victory to my companions who trust me and who also protect me!"
"[Water Gun]!"
"Boom!" A thick column of water erupted from Blastoise's mouth. Different from when it was a Squirtle, this same move, when used by the domineering Blastoise, was several levels higher in both force and intensity.
Hegemon Nidoking also roared, "[Horn Attack]!"
Aiming the protruding horn on its head, it charged towards Blastoise with immense brute force.
"Splash!" The water column only held for a moment before being directly broken through by Hegemon Nidoking.
The latter's momentum did not decrease, its broad feet leaving deep prints on the ground.
"[Iron Defense]!" Blastoise, unhurriedly, raised its arms, which glinted with a steely sheen, and forcefully clamped down, catching Hegemon Nidoking's [Horn Attack].
Then, pressing down with its left hand on Hegemon Nidoking's head and grabbing the sharp horn with its right, with an agility that belied its heavy body, it executed a shoulder throw!
"Smack!" Hegemon Nidoking was forcefully slammed onto the ground, crying out in pain.
"[Surf]!"
Blastoise didn't waste many words. It slammed both hands on the ground, and blue Water-type energy shot from its body through its arms into the earth.
Then.
"Rumble, rumble, rumble—"
The ground undulated slightly, as if ten thousand waves were galloping beneath.
"Damn it!" Hegemon Nidoking, seeing the situation was bad, wanted to roll away.
Unfortunately, it was too late. Surging, torrential waves burst from the ground, crashing fiercely onto Hegemon Nidoking's body.
Ground-type Pokémon were already afraid of Water-type moves. And Hegemon Nidoking, as strong as it was, still couldn't escape the natural law of type disadvantages. Struck by such a ferocious tide, even its original fierceness couldn't help but wane.
"Very good, very good! In that case, then none of you should think about leaving!"
Hegemon Nidoking, having barely found its footing, became desperate, its crimson eyes burning with infinite rage.
It raised its right foot high, and ground energy, so powerful it seemed about to crack, began to gather.
"Maximum power output! Su-per, great, [Earthquake]!"
Hegemon Nidoking roared maniacally, its roar shaking the heavens.
Having already foreseen its defeat, Hegemon Nidoking still wanted to use its strongest move for mutual destruction.
"Don't even think about it! Ultimate Charge! [Hydro Cannon]!"
Blastoise roared in kind.
"Bzzzzzt."
The loud sound of energy gathering echoed from Blastoise's two cannon barrels. Almost tangible, surging energy was crazily sucked into them, causing the air near the barrels to vibrate with visible ripples.
"I will tear all your fantasies to shreds!"
"Now, you will just..."
The cannon barrels, emitting a faint blue glow, aimed at Hegemon Nidoking. A huge sense of danger instantly welled up in Hegemon Nidoking's heart.
"Fall!!!!!"
BOOM—
The blasting energy beam roared as it shot out from the cannon barrels. The energy was so strong it even scraped two deep trenches into the ground along its path.
"Roar, roar... no..."
The [Hydro Cannon] slammed heavily into Hegemon Nidoking's face, blasting it backward, and the energy that had been gathering at its feet instantly dissipated.
"Bzzzzzzzzzz—"
The [Hydro Cannon] continuously intensified. The energy beam grew thicker, fiercer, and its explosive impact sent Hegemon Nidoking and the nearby Arbok flying, directly knocking them into a state where they could no longer battle.
"Boom—"
The cannon blast, its momentum unspent, only extinguished after slamming into a nearby rock wall, blasting open two large holes.
"Hiss, hiss," white smoke billowed from the just-fired cannon barrels. Seeing its opponent had fallen, Blastoise finally let out a sigh of relief.
And as Hegemon Nidoking fell, the red light that had covered the entire field due to its presence ability gradually dissipated, and the clear blue sky once again sprinkled warm sunlight across the land.
At this point, all the Pokémon from the Toxic Swamp had been defeated. Sunrise Valley and Crescent Lake had achieved a great victory!