Pokémon: Trainers Start as Bounty Hunters.

Tetsuya still chose not to change his Pokémon, which was a testament to his trust in Pidgeot and his confidence.

"Ji Jia is in a very bad situation now. Two of her Pokémon have lost their ability to battle, leaving her with only one Pokémon."

Meanwhile, Tetsuya's first Pokémon, Pidgeot, still has decent stamina. Will Kijima be able to turn the tide and create a miracle?

The commentator's voice remained as natural as ever.

Noriyoshi Sugiyama felt like she couldn't catch her breath and immediately wanted to run up to the commentator's platform and punch him.

A comeback? How could she possibly turn the tide? With her head? She mentally pounded the commentator's head in frustration.

"However, even if I can't beat you, I won't give up so easily. I have to at least beat your Pidgeot."

She suddenly spoke to Tetsuya.

The referee didn't stop it; it was just a normal conversation and didn't affect the game.

"come on."

Tetsuya paused for a moment, then replied in what he considered a friendly manner.

"Dumb Beast, use all your strength to take down that bird."

Noriyoshi Sugiyama's lips twitched as she decisively threw out her last deluxe ball of the match, her tone quite unfriendly.

"predict--"

A lazy voice rang out.

A bipedal elf, entirely pink with cream-colored stripes on its belly and its tail gripped tightly by a spinning shell, appeared on the field.

This is Slowpoke, a Pokémon that evolves from the fusion of Slowpoke and Shellder. It is also known as Slowpoke.

Chapter 256, Scene 2: Preparation for the Grass Field (14/22)

Slowbro is a Pokémon of great research value and significance, as it is currently the only known Pokémon that truly conforms to the theory of fusion evolution.

Why do you say that?

Because Slowpoke and Shellder, which make up Slowpoke, still retain their individual consciousness and can communicate with each other, and even if the Shellder on Slowpoke's tail falls off, Slowpoke will revert to Slowpoke.

It is the only known Pokémon in the Pokémon world that can evolve and then "devolve".

Many PhDs and scholars have also speculated that Slowpoke and Shellder evolved into Slowbro rather than through a fusion, or rather, they formed a very special symbiotic relationship that is unique to them.

The other Pokémon that look like, or are called fusion evolutions, actually have very different evolution methods from Slowbro.

At least they cannot evolve and then degenerate.

For example, in the Johto region, if a baby Manta Rayquaza wants to evolve into a Mega Manta Rayquaza, it must level up together with a Remora.

When trainers catch a giant flying fish in the wild, they often find a remora attached to its body.

Although both of them can be illogically put into a single Poké Ball at the same time, the existence of Repulsaur afterward will not affect Manta Rayquaza's form change. After Repulsaur stops following Manta Rayquaza, it can freely evolve into Octobuzz.

They have always been recognized as two Pokémon, unlike Slowbro, which is considered a single Pokémon.

For this reason, many official competitions, including regional tournaments, require giant flying fish to undergo manual testing before entering the battle—to prevent cannonfish from attaching to the giant flying fish and creating a two-on-one situation.

Furthermore, Pokémon like Double Ice, Dugtrio, and Magneton, which appear to be two or even three pre-form Pokémon evolving together, actually evolve in a process more akin to split evolution, essentially remaining a single Pokémon.

The same applies to the pseudo-legendary Metagross.

The evolution from Beldum to MetalGreymon, and then to Metagross, does not require two different Beldum or MetalGreymon to evolve together. It can be done as long as one Pokémon reaches the energy level and splits itself.

If that weren't the case, then the current Hoenn Champion, Steven Stone, would need four different shiny Beldums to evolve into his Shiny Metagross.

Not to mention Mega Metagross, which requires eight of them, because Mega Metagross is formed by combining one Metagross, one MetalGreymon, and two Iron Dumbbells.

Even with its vast resources, Devon Group can't afford to be played like this.

The description in the Pokédex that it is composed of two Iron Dumbbell/Metal Monsters is correct; at least the number is correct.

The Nosegate and Proboscis, which are eaten by Metagross, also evolve in a similar way. If Nosegate is in a special magnetic field, it will attract three more small Nosegates after leveling up, thus evolving into a Proboscis that is 1.4 meters tall.

These three little north-facing noses are not actually individual spirits, but rather parts or components that can only be attracted by a special magnetic field.

It can only be said that there are all sorts of ways for Pokémon to evolve, but the evolution methods of Slowpoke and Slowbro are unique.

Slowpoke's tail is as delicious as Farfetch'd, but its evolution was called one of the Seven Mysteries of Pokémon by Dr. Nishinomori (V).

The professor who worked with Professor Oak to develop the Pokédex. Before Professor Oak appeared, the Nishinomori family was the most prestigious professor family in the Kanto region. From Professor Nishinomori I to Professor Nishinomori V, they all made great contributions to improving the information about Pokémon.

"Slowbro, use Blizzard!"

Seeing Tetsuya standing there in a daze, not making the first move, Sugiyama Norika's face turned red with anger. Fine, you look down on me, huh? Well then, I'll still beat you... Pidgeot.

She gritted her teeth and commanded the Slowbro to unleash a wide-area attack.

Forget about the Ice Beam attack; it's too easy for Pidgeot to dodge with its speed.

Slowbro's dull eyes lit up slightly, and it gathered ice energy with an unusually fast reaction speed that belied its appearance.

Thanks to the terrain, the blizzard took shape in no time. The pale blue wind howled and attacked the still Pidgeot in the sky. The flying ice shards and snowflakes seemed gentle, but were actually extremely violent.

"Moving at high speed".

Slightly distracted, Tetsuya directed Pidgeot to dodge.

A light flashed across Pidgeot's body, making its feathers seem even shinier.

With a flap of its wings, the Pidgeot flies at high speed, leaving several long afterimages in its wake, a sight to behold.

"call--"

The blizzard followed closely behind, refusing to give an inch.

"Tsk, their superpowers aren't weak either," Tetsuya remarked.

If a non-ice-type Pokémon were to use the ice-type Blizzard, it wouldn't be able to control it so freely.

The reason Slowbro can control blizzards to chase and attack Pidgeot can be seen from its blue-purple glowing eyes; it's using its psychic powers to assist in control.

The blizzard gradually grew larger.

Using Ice-type moves in an Ice Field has many advantages.

Tetsuya definitely couldn't let Blizzard hit Pidgeot. Ice-type moves are extremely effective against Pidgeot, and Blizzard is known for its power. This attack would take away at least half of Pidgeot's HP.

"Steel Wings, crush it."

Tetsuya chose the most violent method.

"Beep~"

The eagle's proud cry echoed throughout the arena, and its wings gradually took on a steely color.

With a whirlwind, Pidgeot gathered its wings, brimming with steel-type energy, to protect its body and charged directly into the blizzard.

After a brief silence.

“bo~”

A crisp cracking sound rang out.

The blizzard that had been raging just moments before vanished without a trace.

Pidgeot, emerging from the void, spread its wings once more and flew leisurely in the air, its eyes fixed on Slowbro below.

Sugiyama Noriyoshi felt a sense of helplessness. Even if Steel-type has an advantage over Ice-type, this was still a bit too easy.

Slowbro's skills were completely overwhelmed, which put it in a bad way.

The blizzard just now was imbued with its psychic powers. Pidgeot destroyed the blizzard while also damaging its psychic powers, and now its mental energy is somewhat disordered.

“If you’re not going to go, then it’s my turn,” Tetsuya said. “Sparkling Lightning followed by a wing attack.”

The methods for dealing with the powerful Slowbro and the Vileplume are completely different. Ranged attacks are not very effective and can easily be blocked by objects manipulated by superpowers.

Not to mention that Slowbro's defensive capabilities are quite outstanding, and if you slowly whittle it down with ranged attacks, it's hard to say how long it would take.

However, compared to Pidgeot's lightning-fast movement speed, Slowbro's movement speed can only be described as a snail's pace, even now in icy water. One to one hundred and two to one hundred may seem like twice as fast, but in reality, it's not very useful.

In close combat, even if Slowbro's brain reacts, its body can't keep up.

Pidgeot's entire body seemed to be composed of white light, and with even greater speed than when it had dodged the blizzard, it spread its wide wings and charged toward the Slowbro on the water's surface.

The passage formed a channel, and the water below was forced to flow to both sides by the pressure.

"Shell Blade." Sugiyama Noriyoshi could only pray that the Slowbro had recovered from its previous bad condition.

Unfortunately, her prayers were not answered.

"boom."

Pidgeot charged forward, its wings slamming hard against Slowbro's pink body.

The Slowbro was blasted out of the water, tumbling through the air before landing on one of the few remaining ice floes behind it.

"The swallows return."

Under Tetsuya's command, Pidgeot launched wave after wave of attacks.

"Psychic power to stabilize the body."

Seeing Slowbro launched into the air by Hidden Eagle's counterattack, Noriyoshi Sugiyama could only try to help Slowbro stabilize itself and land in the water or on the ice floes.

Even with the help of psychic powers, Slowbro can levitate and even fly, but its opponent is Pidgeot. Even Flying-type Pokémon like Beautifly can only passively take hits when facing it, so how could Slowbro possibly do any better?

“Give it a hand, the wind is rising.” Tetsuya showed no mercy.

Since you don't want to stay in the air, then get down.

Pidgeot leaped up and instantly appeared directly above Slowbro's head.

"Whoohoo~~"

Its powerful wings flapped wildly, creating a strong wind that seemed to press down the water's surface below.

"puff"

The sound of falling into the water rang out, and the Slowbro, which was using its psychic powers to keep itself slowly falling, was suddenly thrown into the water by an external force.

Thankfully, Sugiyama Noriyoshi was relieved. Fortunately, the wind from Pidgeot had blown away the floating ice. The damage from falling into water is completely different from that from falling onto solid ice.

Falling into the water from this height would at most cause some discomfort.

Moreover, after falling into the water, Pidgeot should be unable to attack Slowbro for a while, and it can recover a little.

This isn't passive play; he was forced to stay in the game by Pidgeot, which is allowed by the rules and is considered fair use.

However, the time cannot be too long, otherwise the referee will still intervene.

"storm."

Tetsuya ignored everything and directly commanded Pidgeot to unleash its ultimate attack.

Pidgeot wasn't unable to find Slowbro's location; with its sharp eyes and love for hunting fish-like Pokémon, it was quite aware of the underwater situation.

However, fighting water-type Pokémon in the water is really not very interesting.

It would be more convenient to simply use a storm to stir up the water, leaving Slowbro nowhere to hide.

"crash"

A water column shot straight into the sky and appeared in the next moment, and the powerful storm turned into a waterspout, just like when Gyarados uses Dragon Rage in the ocean.

Noriyoshi Sugiyama wanted to give the order, but she could only let her hands, which were resting on the railing of the command platform, fall limply.

In this situation, the idea that Slowbro could maintain its fighting ability became a pipe dream.

Pidgeot flew to the side closest to Tetsuya and quietly watched the endlessly spinning waterspout.

More than half a minute passed before the huge waterspout finally dissipated, and the scene barely returned to calm.

"What a magnificent scene! Tetsuya's Pidgeot's Storm completely exceeded my expectations. It's like an enlarged version of a tornado."

The narrator's voice always came at just the right time.

However, his statement was accepted by many viewers, as that scene was indeed very exciting.

Although they were some distance from the battlefield for safety reasons, the water they were splashed with still got all over them.

This kind of thing happens every year, and everyone is very experienced in preparing raincoats, otherwise some audience members' clothing wouldn't be suitable for walking back to the hotel soaking wet.

"Bu~"