Who needs a girlfriend when you have Pokémon?

Sure enough, the next second Eevee and Masked Cat quickly exchanged seven or eight blows on the stage.

This is a "Pokémon battle"!

In the form of a stage performance, the two sides take turns dancing, exchanging attacks and defenses with seemingly large movements.

Theoretically speaking, real Pokémon battles wouldn't involve such large-scale movements. The entire back-and-forth would clearly involve feeding each other moves and showcasing skills, and the various moves wouldn't be aimed at dealing damage; the main focus would be on making the battles "look beautiful"...

The judges were well aware of this, just like the difference between a real street fight and a kung fu movie. In most cases, the actions in a street fight would never have anything to do with the word "cool," let alone the feat of one person taking on ten people as seen in a kung fu movie.

The latter are naturally specially designed movements, many of which seem useless in actual combat, but are only meant to make the confrontation between the two sides more pleasing to the eye.

In short, it's what's called artistic embellishment...

...Otherwise, if you start by targeting vital areas like the eyes, throat, and perineum, it's not very elegant to fight like that, and you could easily cause serious injury if you're not careful.

So, although it looks like Masked Meow and Eevee are fighting fiercely, they actually don't even touch each other much. The intense exchange of moves is just for show.

However, as we all know, stage effects are also very important. Some fights are obviously fake, but they can still make people feel that the fight is very intense. Others, on the other hand, give people the feeling that they are acting at first glance, and the fights have no tension or sense of design.

Furthermore, for a Pokémon's moves to look intimidating but actually have little power, it requires quite precise control.

Just like cutting a cucumber with a knife isn't difficult, but if you put paper under the cucumber and cut the cucumber without tearing the paper, that requires a certain level of knife skills.

The saying goes, "It's not true skill to be able to release something; the real proof of mastering a technique is being able to release and retract it!"

Luo Wei was putting on this act right in front of all the judges...

However, the theme is growth and bonds, not Pokémon battles...

This left the judges somewhat puzzled. If the theme of Lowe's performance this time was a cool racetrack and the beauty of Pokémon competition, then it was indeed a very outstanding performance.

Although the performance was of a similar standard and not particularly outstanding among similar categories, it was good enough to get a passing grade.

But the theme that Lo Wei chose is growth and bonds, so how does his current performance relate to that?

The situation on the field quickly changed. As Masked Cat pressed forward, Eevee fought and retreated, soon finding himself on the defensive.

But facing Eevee, who was slowly showing weakness, Meowth showed no mercy and continued to launch a fierce pursuit. Even though everyone knew it was an act, the continuous swipes of its claws, the movements so fast that they left afterimages, and the sonic boom-like power of each strike gave people a suffocating sense of pressure.

"..."

Although Kamen Rider herself was very dissatisfied with the villainous character setting, she actually seemed quite immersed in the role during her performance, exuding the aura of a female villain, almost as if she was about to unleash a queenly three-stage laugh while wielding a rattan whip.

Actually, Lo Wei had considered including this segment in the design, but after thinking about it, we are a film for all ages. This kind of segment is fine for people to enjoy in private. Releasing it in public would have an immeasurable negative impact on young people!

In short, Masked Cat suddenly changed tactics, retracting its claws and then quickly sweeping out with a side kick.

Eevee couldn't keep up with the movement at all. The cat's paw disappeared from in front of him, and the long, black-stockinged legs came rushing in with a gust of wind. Although he managed to dodge the direct hit at the last second, he was still sent flying by the force of the wind.

Of course, this is also a stage effect. At least half of the time, Eevee was knocked away by jumping with force, but in the eyes of the audience, it looked like Masked Cat kicked Eevee away.

Rowe quickly stepped forward and tightly hugged Ibrahimovic, who was flying towards him.

If your carefully nurtured Pokémon suffers such a crushing defeat, how should a trainer react?

Lovi stood up and resolutely shielded Ibrahimovic behind him...

Chapter 127 Sylveon, making a grand entrance!

Rowe stood up and shielded Ibrahimovic behind him.

Of course, this action is actually meaningless, because the power of Pokémon is far greater than that of ordinary people, and if the trainer directly intervenes, it will only result in one more person being laid off.

Even so, if such a situation were to actually occur, I believe any Pokémon trainer who truly loves Pokémon would rush to help.

...Knowing you can win but not fighting is a matter of attitude, but knowing you can't win but still fighting is a matter of intelligence.

These days, you can have a bad attitude, but you absolutely can't be brainless...

...That's how it should have been.

But this world will never lack people who, knowing this, still choose to act irrationally.

They may have been well aware of how foolish their actions were, but at that moment, their bodies still reacted.

Knowing full well that they can't win, why do they still come up to their deaths?

Because my most important partners are behind me, I absolutely cannot back down here...

Even knowing the outcome, there are reasons why one would never back down...

Important treasures, beloved companions, beliefs poured into faith—there are always some things in this world that can transcend so-called "reason."

This is a spirit... though many people see it as a kind of neurosis...

If the theme of the performance is attachment and growth, then this performance barely reveals a hint of attachment...

...But if that's all there is to it, then this performance still only gets a passing grade; at best, it barely touches on the theme.

The next question is whether human belief can reverse an inevitable defeat.

This sounds rather idealistic, and in most cases it's naturally unlikely. Beliefs, in many situations, are truly useless...

However, under certain conditions, and indeed at a specific point in history, it was precisely because of this unwavering belief that the one and only miracle was brought about.

Just you wait and see...

...The bond between humans and Pokémon, a miracle summoned!

Protected by Loewon, Eevee's entire body began to emit a dazzling white light...

"what?"

At that moment, both the audience and the judges were stunned...

...They were certainly familiar with this light; any Pokémon trainer should be very familiar with this kind of scene.

This is the light of Pokémon evolution, but why is it here?

Because the accumulated experience met the conditions, the on-site evolution was completed under the influence of the idealistic bonus of the bond.

But isn't this a stage performance?!

Indeed, by deliberately controlling the level, it is possible to control the timing of a Pokémon's evolution. Lowell himself consciously controlled the evolution progress of his Meowth and Gardevoir.

However, being able to do it doesn't mean the action is simple; on the contrary, this behavior is quite complex.

Aside from evolution stones, there are generally two ways to achieve evolution: either spend a lot of time accumulating experience and consciously use items like Everstones to suppress evolution, and then gain experience to achieve evolution in one step when needed.

This method is relatively simple, as Masked Cat did, but it requires a lot of time to accumulate experience; Lo Wei and Masked Cat used it for six years.

The second method is to specifically calculate the required level and experience. After all, this is not a game where there is an experience bar on your forehead that makes it easy to determine the specific experience and level.

Determining experience through estimation requires extremely extensive Pokémon knowledge and exceptional calculation skills.

Gardevoir operates in this way because it possesses telepathic abilities. Lowell can receive feedback about his physical condition from Gardevoir at any time, allowing him to plan the timing of his evolution in accordance with his training progress.

Otherwise, it's not that easy...

As for Ibrahimovic, neither of the above two conditions apply...

...because Loewon's Eevee doesn't evolve based on experience points, but rather on "friendship," which is even more mysterious than experience points and levels.

Although experience points are invisible and intangible, at least level is a fixed value. You level up, and you accumulate experience points by leveling up, so it's still possible to estimate them.

But how do you quantify favorability? It's impossible to have a data bar for it, and besides, favorability can theoretically fluctuate up and down.

Experience and level only increase, never decrease, but favorability can even decrease if you make a mistake...

In this situation, achieving friendship evolution is inherently more difficult than experience-based evolution. While controlling experience-based evolution requires highly sophisticated calculations, controlling friendship evolution truly relies on the synergy between the Pokémon…

...an absolute, unspoken understanding between them!

Lillie and Manch finally understood what Rowe meant by "it could be a good job, or it could be a disaster."

He actually wants to integrate the evolution of his popularity into his performance, making it a part of the show?

Indeed, if this can be completed on the spot right on time, it would be quite an impressive feat. But if it fails, it would be incredibly embarrassing, and the entire segment could potentially fall apart.

Fortunately, Luo Wei did it...

...And then, the crucial part of this job begins.

Amidst the light, the evolved Eevee appeared, instantly piquing the curiosity of everyone present.

Eevee is arguably the Pokémon with the most different evolution types among all Pokémon currently available, so what it will eventually evolve into is certainly something to be curious about.

If the final evolution is the form achieved using an evolution stone, then it's not a good thing. In other words, it's just a matter of secretly evolving on the spot using an evolution stone.

But the judges in the audience knew perfectly well that Loew didn't evolve with an evolution stone, but rather chose to evolve through friendship. In that case, it did perfectly fit the theme of "growth and bonds".

More importantly, if the friendship evolution was completed on the spot, it means that this was not just a stage performance. Eevee and Loewol really have a very high friendship level to complete the on-site evolution.

The highest level of stage performance is to create something so realistic that it makes people forget that this is a story on stage!

Reality and stage merge here; in the light, a pink and white figure appears... a "fairy" with flowing ribbons swaying all over her body, gracefully rising with light steps~

"That...that's..."

The judges were stunned for a moment, but Rukia, who was also in the audience, honestly gave the first reaction that probably popped into the minds of 80% of the audience...

"That child is so cute!!! Wait, is that Eevee's evolved form? I've never seen one like that before!"

That's right. Just like the Fairy type was only recently discovered and confirmed, there hasn't been a Fairy-type Eevee evolution in this timeline yet.

Sylveon... makes its grand entrance!

Chapter 128 What looks like ribbons are actually tentacles~

For the first time, an evolution that had never occurred in this timeline was revealing entirely new possibilities to everyone.

Having mastered Fairy-type moves, Eevee evolves through friendship and affection, resulting in its new form...

...This is the so-called Sylveon!

In terms of appearance, it can be considered one of the most powerful new Pokémon in recent years, a strong proof of the theorem that "beauty is justice"!

In other words, unprecedented elements have been incorporated into this stage performance...

The on-site favorability has evolved into a completely new type of Pokémon that has never appeared before!