Chapter 77: Wild Miltank, Cosmog Evolves
The next day, Ryan set out with Ash and his friends toward Goldenrod City. Initially, Ryan was reluctant to travel with Ash's group, but since they were heading in the same direction, he had no choice but to tag along. Besides, Ryan had already lost too much time in the temporal vortex, and he couldn't afford to waste another day.
They hadn't walked long before arriving at the next town, where a firefighting competition was taking place. Ash and his friends eagerly participated. Ryan said he wasn't interested, bid farewell to the group, and continued on his solo journey.
After two days of travel, they arrived at a peaceful meadow. As Ryan prepared for lunch, he spotted several wild Miltank grazing nearby. This discovery thrilled him immensely. First, his breeding ranch didn't have any Miltank, and the Moomoo Milk produced by Miltank was incredibly valuable—both delicious and nutritious. Since Miltank were largely controlled by established ranches, encountering wild ones was an extremely rare opportunity.
He counted six in total. One was clearly an elite-tier specimen, while the others were intermediate to low-grade. Ryan immediately deployed several Pokémon to surround the Miltank herd.
"Gengar, attack from behind. Alakazam to the right, Dragonite to the left. Celebi, help out too—don't you love Moomoo Milk?" Ryan instructed strategically. "Finally, Wobbuffet, engage them head-on."
"Wobbuffet!" As soon as Wobbuffet appeared, he immediately used Shadow Tag on the elite-tier Miltank. With his ability activated, the Miltank couldn't escape from battle.
Realizing it couldn't flee, the Miltank immediately charged at Wobbuffet with a powerful Body Slam. Ryan called out, "Wobbuffet, Counter!"
As the Miltank slammed into Wobbuffet, a brilliant flash of energy coursed through his body, sending the attacking Miltank flying back with double the force.
"Listen up, Miltank! If you defeat my Wobbuffet, I'll let you all go free. But if you lose, I'll capture you for my ranch," Ryan declared confidently.
"Miltank!" the elite-grade Miltank bellowed, and all six Miltank charged at Wobbuffet simultaneously with coordinated Body Slams.
"Counter everything at once!" Ryan shouted.
The six Miltank slammed into Wobbuffet, their combined impacts merging into one devastating counterattack that struck the elite-grade Miltank directly, instantly sending it flying several meters. Dragonite caught it gently, and Ryan captured it with an Ultra Ball, then transferred it to his ranch.
"Is that really all you've got?" Ryan taunted. Wobbuffet's HP was only down to four-fifths; wearing down the opposition would be no problem.
The five remaining Miltank instantly used Rollout, their bodies forming tight spheres as they rolled toward Wobbuffet in formation.
"Same strategy," Ryan said calmly.
The five impacts combined into one massive counterattack that struck another Miltank, instantly knocking it out. Ryan threw another Ultra Ball to capture it, then checked Wobbuffet's condition: three-fifths HP remaining—still plenty to work with.
Seeing this devastating pattern, the four remaining Miltank opened their mouths and fired Ice Beam attacks at Wobbuffet simultaneously.
"Mirror Coat!" Ryan commanded.
Four reflected Ice Beams returned with double power, striking all four Miltank directly. One unlucky Miltank had its legs frozen solid. Another immediately used Heal Bell to cure the status condition. Then one Miltank launched another Ice Beam at Wobbuffet while another tried a Seismic Toss.
"Using both physical and special attacks at once?" Ryan observed. "Too bad for you—with your limited Special Attack potential, the damage won't be significant. Wobbuffet, Counter and Mirror Coat!"
Wobbuffet absorbed both attacks and reflected them back with doubled power, instantly defeating the Miltank that had used Seismic Toss. The remaining Miltank looked terrified and tried to flee, but Wobbuffet's Shadow Tag ability prevented its escape—it was trapped in battle.
Ryan rubbed his chin thoughtfully. Wobbuffet really was incredibly useful in the right situation. While it couldn't launch offensive attacks, its reflected damage was always doubled. Plus, if it was knocked out, Destiny Bond could take the opponent down too. It was remarkably annoying to face. But there were downsides—since it couldn't attack directly, battles had to be won through patience and strategy. Trainers without patience would probably go insane.
The three remaining Miltank seemed to realize this tactical limitation. After using Milk Drink to restore their health, they simply sat down on the ground and refused to attack. They stared defiantly at Ryan, their expressions clearly saying, "What are you going to do about it?"
"Oh come on, you're really going to be stubborn? Fine, if you won't attack, I'll switch Pokémon," Ryan said with exasperation.
"Miltank!" one of them called out, essentially saying, "Do whatever you want!"
"Dragonite, finish them off," Ryan commanded.
Dragonite nodded and gathered energy in its claws, firing three precise Dragon Pulse attacks at the Miltank. The Miltank, resigned to their fate, offered no resistance and were instantly defeated by the powerful Dragon-type moves.
Three Ultra Balls were thrown, successfully capturing all the remaining Miltank.
"Ding! Cosmog is ready to evolve. Please release it immediately to facilitate evolution."
Just as the three Poké Balls were transferred to his ranch, the mysterious system notification chimed. Ryan thought excitedly, "Finally! Cosmog is ready to evolve!"
He immediately retrieved his Master Ball and released Cosmog. A brilliant white light gradually emanated from the sleeping Nebula Pokémon, but in an instant, the light intensified dramatically, revealing it had become Cosmoem. However, a dangerous vortex formed around Cosmoem, and all surrounding light was being pulled into it, creating what looked like a miniature black hole!
"Oh no!" Even Ryan, with all his self-control, couldn't help but curse. He instantly recalled all his Pokémon and began running for his life. But he quickly realized escape was futile—the powerful gravitational pull had already caught him, making movement nearly impossible. If Ryan tried to run now, he risked being sucked into the dimensional anomaly completely.
Ryan frantically recalled Cosmoem's Pokédex entry from his knowledge of the games:
"The king who ruled Alola in ancient times called it the Cocoon of Stars and built an altar to worship it. Within its hard shell, something is forming by drawing in surrounding energy, growing as it absorbs light. The golden shell is extraordinarily hard."
The system directly provided additional information Ryan desperately needed.
"Stop giving me trivia! I can't hold on much longer!" Ryan cried out. He was already flat on the ground, his hands and feet digging into the earth for purchase, but even so, he was being dragged backward. His fingers had carved twenty to thirty centimeter trenches in the dirt, and several nails had torn off completely. Despite the excruciating pain, he couldn't let go now!
"Emergency Protocol Activated: 10,000 credits required. Provide sufficient energy to Cosmoem for stable evolution."
"Almost there! Do it! Take the credits!" Ryan roared desperately.
"Credits deducted. Energy being supplied."
Suddenly, Ryan began radiating an intense golden light that was immediately absorbed by the gravitational anomaly. Fortunately, the continuous energy supply helped maintain equilibrium, and Ryan felt the dangerous suction gradually weaken before finally stopping completely.
"System, heal my injuries—keep whatever credits you need. And what in the world just happened? Nothing like this ever occurred in the anime or games!" Ryan demanded while examining his torn fingernails.
"Ding. Medical treatment completed. Analysis complete: Cosmoem did not absorb sufficient solar and lunar energy during its Cosmog stage, which caused this emergency evolution state as it attempted to gather all necessary power at once."
"Explain that in simple terms."
"Translation: It spent too much time in backpacks and Poké Balls instead of being outside absorbing natural light and cosmic energy."
Ryan looked up at the sky in complete exasperation.
(End of Chapter)
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