Who needs a girlfriend when you have Pokémon?

The Masked Meow and Gardevoir are now much stronger than when they last met. It hasn't been long since they parted ways in Slateport City, yet their progress has been so terrifying.

Almost every time Rowe conquers a gym, he gains a considerable amount of experience and knowledge from the battles, and learns their techniques from the gym leaders.

The gym leaders were not stingy with their skills; they welcomed other trainers to learn from them, though whether they could actually learn it was another matter entirely.

Rowe's learning ability is astonishing; after visiting three gyms, his fighting strength is now on par with the gym leaders...

but……

Pink light gathered on the paws of the leaping Meowth, and it launched a Playful Attack directly at Salamence. With its STAB boost and type advantage, Meowth was confident that this attack would send its opponent flying.

"storm!"

However, Sigana's Salamence flapped its wings and took off, its body enveloped in a sharp gust of air. With a flap of its wings, a tornado rose from the ground!

Masked Cat crashed headfirst into the flying tornado, her expression freezing instantly. The surging tornado exhausted her forward momentum, forcefully blowing her back.

"...Hot wind!"

Over there, showing absolutely no mercy, the second command came in, and the Salamence condensed crimson flames in its mouth before suddenly spewing out a burst of intense heat...

Chapter 139: Too much hair and weak fire

The two skills, Storm and Hot Wind, were quickly combined and put to use. The wind fueled the fire, and the golden-red flames that were integrated into the tornado surged more than tenfold in one go, directly raising a giant wave of flames out of thin air!

If it weren't for the fact that the scale was too large, Rowe would have suspected that it could have been even bigger. After all, unless a Pokémon is powerful enough to influence the environment, its power is still constrained by the environment.

The most basic point here is that no one wants the large cavern to collapse, otherwise the Pokémon could escape without much trouble, since most trainers are still just mortals.

We're not considering out-of-the-box characters like Aura Warriors or psychics here; at least everyone here is just an ordinary person...

……perhaps

After all, Luo Wei himself was able to strengthen his body with ultimate power for a short time and do things that were obviously beyond the scale of normal people, but this time would not be long, even now it could only last for a few seconds... before his body could not withstand it.

That power was originally intended for Pokémon. Although humans might be considered a kind of Pokémon in the Pokémon world, their physical structure is different from that of ordinary Pokémon, but their underlying structure is likely to have similarities.

This explains why there are superpowered individuals among humans; you can just think of them as a subspecies of telekinesis among humans.

In short, the battle strength of Pokémon also depends on the trainer's factors in some cases. For example, right now, the fire waves are surging and the surrounding temperature is rising sharply, so Rowe can only take a few steps back to avoid the attack.

At the critical moment, a psychic light screen appeared beside Rowe. Gardevoir was still in the middle of the battle and did not have the energy to be distracted. This light screen was released by Rowe's last Pokémon, Sylveon.

Although Sylveon is a Fairy-type Pokémon, it can also use Psychic-type moves. In other words, Sylveon, a special Pokémon with highly unstable genetic factors, can theoretically adapt to moves of almost any type.

Water, Fire, Lightning, Evil, Grass, Ice... plus the newly discovered Fairy and the rest of the main family, the Eevee family has almost completely covered all types...

While Sylveon's psychic power is certainly not as strong as Gardevoir's, it's enough to handle the situation. The reason Sylveon wasn't sent along was to protect Loewol.

After all, the previous battles were all proper Pokémon battles, and there was no need to consider the trainer's condition, because in a proper battle, you wouldn't rush up and attack the trainer.

However, dealing with villainous forces like Team Ocean who don't know any martial ethics is another story. Team Rocket has also frequently targeted trainers with their full force, so it's natural to prepare in advance.

With Sylveon's protection, at least Lowell and Lillie's safety wasn't a major concern. Sylveon sent a ribbon flying over and wrapped it around Lowell's wrist twice.

Like Gardevoir, Sylveon can also sense the emotions of others through psychic abilities. However, unlike Gardevoir, which can read minds from a distance, Sylveon needs to rely on its ribbons or tentacles to touch the other person in order to read their emotions.

From Sylveon's ribbon, Rowe felt a sense of security. The little guy on his shoulder turned his head and gave him a bright smile.

"Okay, thank you for your help~"

Luo Wei reached out and gently rubbed the little guy's chin, then turned his attention back to the battlefield...

The situation is not optimistic. Although Masked Meow can change its attribute at will, and just switched its attribute to Fairy by playing around, the damage that fire can do to it is actually not much anymore.

However, the problem is that some things have nothing to do with how much damage is done. To put it bluntly, it's in the nature of living things to be afraid of fire. Especially when Masked Cat looked at its fur, the keyword "more fur means less fire" quickly popped into Luo Wei's mind.

"...There's no other way, let's find a way to clear a path first. Gardevoir, use Psychic!"

Faced with the ever-approaching wave of fire, Masked Cat was definitely out of options, so Lowe simply handed the situation over to Gardevoir...

Although Gardevoir sees herself as Rowe's personal maid, that's only in front of Rowe...

...Although she appears obedient and docile in front of Rowe, just like she did with Ralts, she is by no means such a docile maid when facing an opponent.

At that moment, the Incredible Queen displayed her unique charm!

For her beloved trainer, the Queen, who could conjure black holes with her bare hands, raised her arm, her eyes flashing with intense light. Her powerful psychic energy, so strong it was visible to the naked eye, was compressed into a solid mass and launched out with a whoosh!

As he released his psychic energy, Luo Wei raised his hand and assumed a fighting stance, his entire body radiating a blazing, fiery light.

Gardevoir absorbed the ultimate power released by Loewon in one go, and an incredible aura immediately appeared beneath its feet, instantly unleashing a Psychic Field that spread out...

With the enhancement of the psychic field, this condensed psychic energy released by the powerful mental energy forcefully tore the approaching wave of fire in half from the center!

Without needing to hear anything from Lovido, Masked Cat already understood. With a nimble leap, it crossed the torn fire wave and arrived right in front of Salamence.

The cat's paw, glowing with pink light, clenched tightly. The seemingly harmless, pink paw, at this moment, possessed enough destructive power to send a flying dragon soaring into the sky.

At the critical moment, a figure broke free from Gardevoir's psychic restraints and stood directly in front of Salamence...

"..."

Indeed, Gardevoir just used Psychic to tear apart the fire wave released by Salamence, but because it was multitasking, it relaxed a little when facing Tyranitar's Psychic suppression.

After all, no matter how strong Gardevoir's psychic power is, it is indeed a bit of a stretch for him to fight two opponents at once. If it were facing the grunts of Team Aqua, Gardevoir could easily take on ten of them. However, Sisanna's strength is clearly enough to be at the level of a Gym Leader.

Moreover, Rowe was certain that Higana hadn't revealed all her cards; she still had an even stronger trump card up her sleeve.

After all, she is...

While it was still thinking, the Tyrannosaurus Rex was hit by a Playful attack from the Masked Cat and was immediately sent flying into the air by a punch. The Tyrannosaurus Rex, which was more than three meters tall, flew out like it was made of paper and was sent flying out of the battle circle.

In an instant, Sidgard's Pokémon were reduced to only Salamence...

"Oh well, there's nothing I can do about it~"

Seeing this, Xijiana understood that continuing to "hide her talents" would definitely not be able to compete with Luo Wei.

"There's no other way, so... Salamence..."

At that moment, a jewel embedded in the anklet on Higana's calf shone with dazzling light...

"...The secret technique passed down through our race to this day, this is... an evolution that transcends evolution!"

Chapter 140 Evolution Beyond Evolution: Mega Evolution!

Seeing the Jawed Dragon fall, Higana knew very well that if she didn't reveal her trump card soon, she would probably be completely overwhelmed by Rowe.

Thinking about this, she felt relieved. The trump card she had been hiding was finally ready to be used.

A burst of intense light, visible to the naked eye, erupted from the leg ring located on Higanbana's calf. Under the intense light, Salamence was completely enveloped in the light.

"The secret technique passed down through our race is an evolution beyond evolution itself—mega evolution!"

As the strange light enveloped it, the Salamence's body twisted and changed under Rowe's gaze. It seemed to be enduring some immense pain, its body being torn apart in that instant, and crystalline substances enveloping its entire body.

Unlike normal evolution, the secret technique used by Shiraz is essentially a further extraction of the hidden potential within a Pokémon, building upon the foundation of normal evolution.

This evolutionary posture cannot be maintained for long, and simply activating this power requires enduring considerable pressure, which a Pokémon on its own cannot normally withstand.

However, at that moment, the light emanating from the jewel adorning Higana's leg ring instantly spread to her thigh as an inscription. Although her facial expression appeared unchanged, her eyebrows did twitch slightly for a brief instant.

...Pokémons themselves cannot withstand this pressure, but they can share some of it with their trainers through Key Stones. Although trainers' physical abilities are far superior to those of Pokémons, this pressure is not only physical but also a form of mental anguish.

The moment when the trainer and Pokémon unite their thoughts and overcome the painful thorns together, breaking free from their constraints, is the moment of "breaking out of the cocoon and becoming a butterfly"!

The crystallized sphere shattered instantly, in just a few seconds. As the light dispersed, the Salamence's new form was revealed...

Its wings have merged with its body, forming a UFO-like shape. This is the Salamence after its complete evolution...

Mega Salamence!

"Mega evolution..."

Rowe looked at the leg ring on Higana's calf... Of course, this wasn't because Rowe himself had any strange fetish; he was more focused on the jewel on the leg ring, which resembled an ornament.

The jewel appears to be made of jade, shimmering with a rainbow of seven colors, and seemingly concealing a pattern resembling a DNA helix.

The reason for this attention is that when Lowe was attacked by Sigana's Salamence in the back mountain, he happened to find an identical orb on the ground.

That's the key to triggering Mega Evolution, the so-called "Key Stone"...

...The switch to Mega Evolution, the key connecting Trainer and Pokémon.

The situation from last time now seems clear...

"...I see. If I'm not mistaken, that was when Sidgar's Salamence failed to Mega Evolve, right?"

Mega Evolution is quite painful, and if the trainer cannot share the burden, the Pokémon will lose control under immense pain. This was clearly the case with Salamence at that time.

That was six years ago. If you calculate the time, then Higanbana was probably around ten years old at that time, which is about the age when she can get Pokémon and start training.

In other words, that time it must have been Higanbana training the power of Mega Evolution, but she lost control and that accident happened.

As for why Higana was training there at the time, that was probably just a coincidence...

And when Higanbana completed her Mega Evolution, another incredible thing happened.

As if resonating with Higana's Keystone, the previously unremarkable, completely unresponsive bluish-white meteorite suddenly began to burst forth with brilliant light.

"what?!"

This situation greatly alarmed Dr. Solance, who was already detached from the battlefield. As a geology PhD, he had studied this meteorite in the local area for many years. He even dared to say that in the academic community of the Hoenn region, no one knew more about Meteor Falls and this meteorite than him.

Even so, this situation was completely beyond his expectations. He never imagined that the meteorite would undergo such a change.

This meteorite fell to earth thousands of years ago along with the arrival of the sky god. It is the largest and best-preserved of all the meteorites that fell at that time...

Afterwards, the god of the sky quelled the anger of the gods of the earth and the sea, and this meteorite, because of its connection with the god of the sky, was regarded as a talisman to suppress the anger of the two gods and was endowed with considerable humanistic value.

Although the alliance has since determined through scientific analysis that the meteorite's composition is neither special nor complex, meaning it is essentially no different from an ordinary meteorite.

But after thousands of years of faith here, just like the idols themselves, which are essentially just wooden or clay sculptures. If you insist on saying there's anything special about their composition, of course there isn't. But if these things are old enough and have been worshipped for a long time... they can be given different meanings.

It is this significance that makes this meteorite a national treasure-like object. Under normal circumstances, no one would consider moving it. So when Sigana said that the meteorite belonged to "them," Dr. Solans was furious.

You say it belongs to you, but if you call it, will it answer?