Sunlight filtered through the leaves in scattered shards, tracing the tight set of Ash's jaw and the excessive focus in his eyes.
Misty hugged her knees on a moss-covered boulder, but her gaze was anchored by invisible strings—stuck on the boy in front of her.
"Pikachu, Quick Attack around it! Don't let that Beedrill land and charge up!"
His voice rang out clear and sharp, cutting through the crackle of Pikachu's lightning.
Gold flashed—Pikachu's body burned its afterimage into their retinas as it slammed into the Beedrill's vulnerable waist joint.
Beedrill screeched, its stinger attack interrupted mid-charge.
Reality didn't have "super armor." That was the tricky part.
"Pidgey, now! Hurricane—full power!" Ash swung his arm down.
"Coo—!"Pidgey cried from overhead, wings beating at full strength.
This wasn't the lighter turbulence from before.
This time, the wind roared up dead leaves and grit from the forest floor, forming a visible, spinning green-gray column that crashed into the BeedrillPikachu had knocked off-balance.
The wind slammed into its chitinous shell with a dull, heavy impact.
Beedrill was thrown tumbling, smashed into a beech tree, its wings crooked. It twitched a few times, but couldn't take off right away.
[Pidgey's level rose to Lv.18!]
[Pidgey's stats have reached an evolution threshold!]
[Pidgey meets evolution conditions!]
Three pale blue notifications flickered in the corner of Ash's vision.
Just as he was about to order Pikachu to finish the fight—
"Coo—!!!"
Pidgey's body suddenly flared with blinding white light.
It was so bright it swallowed its small gray-brown silhouette in an instant, forcing back the forest's shadows for several meters around.
Inside the light, its outline swelled and stretched at high speed.
Wings broadened, tail feathers lengthened, a crest rose proudly from its head, and its sharp gaze shone through the glow.
When the light faded—
Hovering in the air where Pidgey had been was a much larger bird, body sturdier, wings full and powerful, eyes like blades.
[Pidgeotto]
[Nickname: Eye in the Sky]
[Level: 18]
[Nature: Jolly]
[Ability: Keen Eye]
[Individual Values: Not Bad]
[Moves: Tackle Lv.2, Sand Attack Lv.2, Hurricane Lv.1, Quick Attack Lv.1, Gust Lv.1]
All this training hadn't just strengthened Pidgey across the board—
And thanks to the system, it seemed to automatically pick up certain moves as it leveled.
"Yes!" Ash's cheer was pure and fierce. "Eye in the Sky—that's what you were meant to be!"
Pidgeotto let out a cry that sounded like it could split the sky, its sharp gaze sweeping the battlefield. That alone was enough to make the Beedrill that had just staggered upright flinch.
This Beedrill wasn't particularly strong, and it was alone, which was the only reason they were bullying it like this.
Level didn't always equal power. Right now, the lowest-leveled one—Lv.10 Pikachu—was actually Ash's strongest.
Different species grew at very different rates.
In the games, "Lv.100" was the cap, but even there, different Pokémon needed vastly different experience totals to reach it.
According to game categories, the EXP required to hit Lv.100 was divided into six groups.
The highest group needed 1.64 million EXP.
The lowest group only needed 600,000.
Of course, once you translated that into reality, those obscure mechanics got a bit… rewritten.
What Ash was really thinking right now was: If Magikarp levels this fast now, is Gyarados going to level at a snail's pace later…?
"Pika pi!"Pikachu squeaked, thrilled for its partner's evolution.
But as the brilliance of that evolution was still fading, in that muddy puddle nearby—
Splash-splash-splash—!
Magikarp, understanding nothing, was flinging itself up and down with everything it had.
Every leap threw up a huge burst of muddy water, its golden scales catching the sunlight into blinding flashes.
It jumped so high, so hard, that one time it nearly slammed into Pikachu, who'd been watching in a daze.
"…You're doing great already," Ash said, looking at it.
It had already reached Lv.19.
Splash had gone from Lv.5 to Lv.9.
On the surface, nothing had changed except its jump height and how much its scales could blind people. It still had zero combat power.
But that effort was Magikarp's proof.
So far, the system tests showed that captured Pokémon could just keep leveling and evolving.
No "bottleneck levels."
Splash!
Magikarp crashed back into the puddle again, spraying Misty with mud.
It seemed to feel some invisible wall—
the light in its big, dumb fish eyes dimmed, and even its tail slaps lost force.
Misty quietly wiped the mud from her face.
She looked at the golden fish thrashing in the muck, then at the majestic Pidgeotto soaring above and Pikachu wrapped in crackling electricity, and finally at Ash's face—some mix of pride, hope, and why is this my life?
She couldn't hold it in anymore.
"So… this 'extreme individual,' this 'one-in-ten-thousand treasure' of yours…" she said faintly, "just when is it planning to evolve?"
"And when are you planning to leave this place?"Misty had been here grinding levels with Ash for a while now.
Ash: "…"
He bent down, pulled out another shimmering blue Pokéblock, and tossed it straight into Magikarp's open mouth.
As the golden fish immediately went into overdrive again, splashing like a mad thing, Ash took a deep breath—like he was trying to convince himself.
Patience… I'll be the Sword Saint of Ten-Mile Slope if I have to…
With his current team, he couldn't beat Brock.
Best-case scenario was to evolve Magikarp into Gyarados first.
"Pika…"Pikachu patted his pant leg with a tiny paw, as if to comfort him.
Watching Ash forcibly chug his own motivational speech, then glancing at the golden fish in the puddle that sparkled and jumped like crazy but still only knew Splash, Misty felt that earlier "frog in a well" resentment… dissolve a little.
She even kind of wanted to laugh.
Folding her arms, she tilted her orange ponytail in the sunlight, her tone carrying a subtle tease.
"Hey, future Water-type Master in training—your heir to the 'throne of the deep'… still looks a bit underqualified, don't you think?"
Ash didn't look back. He just stared at the Magikarp still leaping its heart out.
"…Two days. If it hasn't evolved by then, we move on."
What he really wanted to test was—
Would the system let Magikarp evolve at Lv.20?
Right then—
Someone else appeared in the distance.
"Hello there, I'm Akemi, a Trainer from Viridian City."
"You're coming from the direction of Pallet Town, right?"
"If I recall correctly, this year's Pallet Town Trainers set off pretty early."
"One, two, three… that makes you the fourth."
"Would you let me see what kind of level Pallet Town's Trainers are at this year?"
"Please have a Pokémon battle with me!"
"We'll wager… 200 Pokéyen!"
A girl of about fifteen or sixteen walked over as she spoke.
"What? Two hundred?" Ash's ears locked onto the number instantly. "I accept your challenge!"
Hanako had given him plenty of money when he left, and she'd said he could always ask for more if he needed it.
But now that he was out on his journey, if he could earn it himself, he absolutely wanted to.
"…So he is a little money-grubbing,"Misty muttered under her breath.
Not that she thought there was anything wrong with that.
Not everyone could afford to be rich and carefree.
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