"Vee~"
Gazing at the giant pitcher plant before it, Eevee's eyes burned with intensity. It glanced back at Owen as if to confirm a simple fact.
Fire beats Grass, right?
"Yeah..." Owen nodded.
...
"Begin!" the referee shouted once more.
Whoosh!
Victreebel's vines—long, slender, and flexible as whips—lashed out. There were only two, but they moved so fast they left afterimages in the air.
Whir—whir—whir—
The powerful sound of displaced air made the nearby freshmen swallow hard. It wasn't just fast; the strength behind those vines was formidable.
However, Eevee completely ignored the incoming strike. It flicked out a Shadow Ball and began walking straight toward its opponent.
Snap!!Snap!!
As the whip-shadows descended, Eevee utilized its secret technique: "Repeat Side-Jumping," dodging them with effortless grace.
If one were to ask which areas Eevee had improved most after gaining the potential to evolve into Espeon, its mental strength was the first, and its reaction speed was the second. Its predictive abilities had reached a new level.
An Espeon can predict its opponent's actions and even the weather simply by sensing air currents through its fine fur.
Eevee had been training this "Danger Premonition" since birth, and its predictive reflexes were its absolute forte.
While it couldn't yet predict the weather or specific complex sequences like a fully realized Espeon, dodging high-speed Vine Whips was child's play.
"It actually dodged!" a Battle Club member exclaimed. One vine was a feint and the other was the killing blow; dodging one was easy, but dodging both usually taxed even their own Pokémon... yet Eevee looked like it was taking a leisurely stroll.
Boom!
On the other side, Victreebel swirled a flurry of Razor Leaves, slicing the Shadow Ball apart mid-air.
Suddenly, Eevee accelerated. Its body became shrouded in white light as it closed the distance with Quick Attack.
Vmmm!!
Simultaneously, Eevee's eyes glowed with a crimson light. A wave of Swagger—a mental fluctuation—swept forward. Victreebel, staring directly at Eevee, fell right into the trap! Its mental fortitude was nowhere near Eevee's level.
"Gyaaah!!!" Fallen into a state of confusion, Victreebel began lashing out wildly with its vines and leaves in every direction.
Eevee continued its high-speed approach. The mindless, frantic attacks had no hope of hitting it.
Afterimages!
During its movement, Eevee's afterimages absorbed the stray hits. Utilizing its high speed, Eevee deployed Double Team to further scramble Victreebel's judgment.
"Not bad—" Tao noted. Seeing Victreebel confused didn't make him panic. He caught a whiff of a sweet scent in the air; Victreebel would likely snap out of it soon using its own Sweet Scent.
"Care to guess how long it'll take for my Victreebel to recover?" Tao asked.
Victreebel are naturally ferocious and won't hesitate to swallow anything that intrudes on their territory. An enraged Victreebel attacks with a frequency much higher than most people imagine.
Faced with this "downpour" of attacks, it seemed Eevee could only focus on dodging. Of course, this would rapidly drain Victreebel's stamina.
"Guess my foot," Owen muttered. You really are treating me like a little junior, aren't you? Well, here comes the hammer.
"Substitute!"
At Owen's command, Eevee split in two. The Substitute charged forward, raising a Light Screen to absorb the brunt of the onslaught.
The frantic attacks began to crack the screen. Snap— the Light Screen shattered.
Thwack!!!
In the next instant, the Eevee Substitute was shredded by the high-speed vines, dissipating into smoke like an explosion.
Owen grinned.
Tao, who had been monitoring every change on the field, felt his expression shift instantly. His heart hammered as he looked at the real Eevee standing nearby.
A Substitute and the main body using moves simultaneously??
If it were just that, Tao wouldn't have been so alarmed. Even a Shadow Ball wouldn't knock out a Victreebel instantly; if anything, the pain would wake it up.
But then...
A fireball as bright as the sun materialized in front of Eevee. Tao's eyes nearly popped out of his head. Watching that flaming sphere rotate like a wheel of fire, he couldn't comprehend it.
Why the hell can an Eevee use Fire-type moves?!
...
Empowered by the solar energy stored within its modified genetic code, Eevee's Hidden Power (Fire) was terrifying.
Furthermore, due to Eevee's training habits, the spinning fireball had been granted an "explosive" quality.
It functioned similarly to a Flame Burst. Because it didn't have the "support" of a Substitute to stabilize it during the launch, its range was a bit limited—but Eevee was already right in Victreebel's face. Distance was no longer an issue.
Eevee flicked its body, launching the Hidden Power fireball. BOOM!! The sphere detonated right in the dazed Victreebel's face.
A massive shadow of flame erupted, followed by wave after wave of frantic fire, clawing and tearing as if to swallow the Victreebel whole.
Stray sparks hissed through the air as the scorching heat ruthlessly consumed everything in its path. Victreebel's silhouette was instantly submerged in the inferno.
The gymnasium fell into a sudden, deathly silence.
Wh... what?
Not just the freshmen—even the Battle Club reviewers were reeling.
"Senior, does this count as my win?" Owen asked with a polite smile.
Though he didn't know if that single blast was enough to knock Victreebel out completely, it was certainly heavily injured.
Owen hadn't ordered Eevee to follow up with a finishing blow, showing some restraint. Otherwise, Victreebel definitely wouldn't have held on.
Tao's heart was heavy with the same realization Lu Liang had just moments ago: Why was I so stubborn? There are so many freshmen; why did I have to pick a fight with Owen?
...
A moment later, the gymnasium exploded into an uproar.
"Holy crap, was that Eevee raised on Fire Stones?!" "If it ate a Fire Stone, it should have evolved into a Flareon! How is it still an Eevee..." "Maybe it ate an Everstone and a Fire Stone together. Either way, it's a freak of nature."
An Eevee mastering fire was a reality that both freshmen and seniors found difficult to swallow. It wasn't until the name of the move "Hidden Power" began to circulate that they finally understood—though they still found it hard to accept.
A veteran member of the Battle Club... couldn't even last a few exchanges against Owen.
Did this mean Owen already had the qualifications to join the varsity team??
Joining the varsity team usually required at least three Pokémon of significant strength, which Owen didn't yet have... but this level of power was simply not "freshman-like."
"Alright... let's go welcome Owen. The Battle Club has a new member," the Club President said after a long silence. "Though, I suspect he'll pass the varsity tryouts in less than two years..."
The freshmen who knew Owen were reminded once again of his dominance, and those who didn't know him certainly knew him now.
On the campus forum, a thread appeared almost instantly: [Fire-Wielding Eevee Roasts Victreebel alive].
Owen knew he would draw a lot of attention for being the first to beat a senior, but he didn't care. Being popular in university might lead to a few love letters, but what Owen really wanted was his third Pokémon.
Bulbasaur, Chimchar... These were choices he had pondered deeply. But which one to choose would ultimately depend on the specific talents of the Pokémon available.
🌟 The story is already written… waiting to be unleashed. Claim early access on Patreon: [email protected]/Master_Studios677
🔓 You hold the keys to bonus chapters:💬 10 reviews ignite 1 bonus chapter🔷 100 Power Stones summon another
🔥 Your power determines how fast the tale unfolds.