Kyle grew increasingly frustrated on the battlefield. He had thought that after his Rockruff evolved into Lycanroc, he would completely dominate the match, but to his dismay, he had played his advantage poorly and allowed Jacob’s Treecko to hold out until now. He needed to defeat the Treecko quickly. Although the Leech Seed was draining energy very slowly, and the Grassy Terrain was restoring some health, after battling for so long, his Lycanroc was beginning to weaken.

“Lycanroc, finish it off quickly! Use Fire Punch!” Kyle commanded.

The same Fire Punch attack came again, heading straight for Treecko.

“Treecko, Detect!” Jacob ordered calmly.

Treecko had just used Leech Seed, which had refreshed the success rate of Detect. Naturally, the success rate of using Detect this time was 100%.

Fighting energy surged through Treecko’s body, putting it into a defensive state. Even though Lycanroc’s Fire Punch looked fierce, it couldn’t break through Treecko’s protective barrier.

At the same time, the effects of Leech Seed and Grassy Terrain activated again, continuously healing Treecko’s injuries.

“Argh! You’re so annoying! You’re completely shameless!” Kyle was nearly driven to madness. How could there be such frustrating combinations as Detect, Protect, Grassy Terrain, and Leech Seed?

“Let’s see what you can do to stop me this time. Fire Punch again!” Kyle spat with hatred. Revenge would be his today. He secretly decided that after this battle, no matter the cost, his Lycanroc would learn Taunt. Weren’t there plenty of status moves? He would simply prevent Jacob from using them.

‘This jerk only knows how to use these cheap tactics,’ Kyle thought bitterly. ‘Are all the top-ranked trainers this cunning? Wouldn’t it be better to just battle with pure strength?’

Jacob’s mind was racing. The situation had slightly tilted in his favor. His current plan was to have Treecko use Synthesis, which could restore a significant amount of health. Combined with its remaining stamina, it would likely withstand another Fire Punch followed by another Detect, allowing it to hold out a while longer.

But suddenly, something unexpected happened—a faint white light enveloped Treecko’s body.

“Is this… evolution?”

The Treecko that Jacob had captured in the Secret Realm was already on the verge of evolving. After being caught, Jacob had been feeding it Grass-type and Dragon-type energy supplements over the past few days. This large amount of energy had pushed Treecko to the critical point of evolution, making it perfectly normal for it to evolve now.

…

“Lycanroc, stop attacking.”

Both Kyle and Jacob watched the scene in surprise. Although they often quarreled, they actually had a love-hate relationship. Their friendship had always been quite close. At this moment, Kyle immediately ordered Lycanroc to cease its attack so as not to interrupt Treecko’s evolution.

The white light stretched Treecko’s body, making it taller and stronger. When the light faded, Treecko had evolved into Grovyle. Its height had nearly doubled, and its size and weight had increased significantly.

More importantly, while an ordinary Grovyle stands about 0.9 meters tall and weighs roughly 21.6 kilograms, Jacob’s Grovyle was about 1.6 meters tall and weighed almost twice as much as normal.

“What a massive Grovyle,” Kyle couldn’t help but exclaim. The size of this Grovyle truly exceeded that of ordinary ones, almost approaching the dimensions of a typical Sceptile. “The potential of this Grovyle is extraordinary.”

It was common knowledge that one of the most basic metrics for judging a Pokémon was its size. A taller and stronger Pokémon typically meant better physical attributes and often indicated greater talent than average specimens, making it more likely to become the leader of its species.

Therefore, it was clear how exceptional Jacob’s giant Grovyle was.

“Hey, Jacob, what’s the qualification rating of your Grovyle?” Kyle asked curiously, with a hint of envy in his eyes. Jacob was so lucky to have caught such a powerful Treecko just when the Secret Realm appeared.

“It hasn’t been tested yet, but it’s probably just King level,” Jacob replied. He had indeed never taken his Pokémon for official testing, and of course, there was no need to do so. Testing would only attract unwanted attention, so Jacob tried to be modest and added, “The battle isn’t over yet, Kyle. It’s fine if you want to forfeit now.”

Jacob cleverly changed the subject and successfully provoked Kyle: “Who’s going to forfeit? My Lycanroc will win!”

“Grovyle!”

The newly evolved Grovyle examined its transformed body, let out a proud cry, and looked toward Lycanroc with fighting spirit gleaming in its eyes.

If the previous Treecko had lacked the ability to confront Lycanroc head-on, the evolved Grovyle was now fully capable of standing its ground.

“Then let’s continue the battle.”

“Let’s go, Lycanroc, use Fire Punch!” Kyle ordered.

“Grovyle, Mega Drain!” Jacob commanded.

Lycanroc still used Fire Punch, which was super effective against Grass-types, but this time Jacob didn’t have Grovyle dodge. Instead, he had it counterattack with Mega Drain.

[Mega Drain]: A Grass-type special attack move that drains the opponent’s health, restoring the user’s HP by half the damage dealt.

Grovyle excelled at special attacks, so Jacob naturally chose to utilize its special attack moves. Grass energy surged and formed thin energy needles that flew toward Lycanroc.

“ROAR!”

Lycanroc howled and charged toward Grovyle. Its fiery fist emitted a dazzling flame that engulfed Grovyle instantly.

At the same time, the fine needles formed by Grass energy landed on Lycanroc, furiously draining its health.

BOOM!

After colliding head-on, both Pokémon quickly separated. This time, there was no strategy in their clash—it was pure power against power. Both sides suffered considerable damage, but judging from their conditions, Lycanroc was clearly more severely injured.

Although its Fire Punch was incredibly powerful with the type advantage, and it still benefited from Grassy Terrain’s recovery effect, Grovyle’s Mega Drain not only had STAB (Same Type Attack Bonus), but also the power boost from Grassy Terrain for Grass-type moves. Its strength was almost equivalent to Fire Punch, and most importantly, Mega Drain restored half of the damage it inflicted, healing most of Grovyle’s injuries.

With the additional help from Leech Seed and Grassy Terrain’s recovery, Grovyle barely took any damage at all.

“Ugh…”

Lycanroc was panting heavily. This was the first time it had been at a disadvantage since the battle began, but now the situation had completely shifted in Jacob’s favor. This turn of events made Kyle regret his earlier choices. He’d been careless and too eager to win quickly.

If he had used Howl a few more times to boost Lycanroc’s Attack instead of trying to end the battle immediately, he wouldn’t be at such a disadvantage now.

“Kyle, looks like I’m going to win again today,” Jacob said with a smile. The effects of Grassy Terrain were gradually fading away, but that no longer mattered.

“Grovyle, use Mega Drain again!”

“Lycanroc, Fire Punch!”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep