Third POV
After his talk with his Pokémon and parents, Grey went back to the gym to continue training alongside his Pokémon.
Over the next few days of the remaining week, Grey slowly got better. Not only did the medication and rest help, but so did the exercises and repeated attempts at walking without the crutch. Two days before the end of the week, he was able to walk normally without any support for extended periods of time. Even so, he continued taking it easy and kept up with the exercises to ensure a full recovery.
The progress by the day before his departure was impressive.
As for his team, within such a short time there had been massive growth. Training with an elite Gym Leader's Pokémon helped a lot. Yes, he had fallen behind in terms of badges because he was forced to stay in Vermilion, but in terms of training and the growth of his Pokémon, he had gained far more than he would have if he had simply continued traveling.
Firstly, Cloyster could now fight Ampharos for extended periods of time and was able to execute its Counter Shield again, both the Ice and Water variants. They seemed to have become even stronger than before. While it still wasn't spinning as fast as it used to as a Shellder, getting the move back to a workable degree was a massive boon. Combined with its absurd offensive presence after using Shell Smash, Cloyster was looking more and more like a hidden ace for the team, one that could potentially sweep entire teams if left unchecked.
For Persian, it had learned how to use Iron Tail with a minimal success rate. The move didn't seem particularly powerful compared to its Night Slash or Shadow Claw yet, as it had only recently learned it. What improved far more was its speed and reaction time. While Surge's old Raichu still beat Persian black and blue during their sparring sessions, Persian could now at least react to it and fight back. Grey realized that Persian might have had the most underrated yet arguably the best growth out of all his Pokémon, as it had increased its overall potential through the guided training Raichu provided.
Not that Persian gave the rat any respect, of course. In its mind, it was simply happy they would be leaving soon, as it had hated almost every second of that week regardless of how much stronger it had become because of it.
For Axew, it refined its moves, specifically Dragon Claw, which it had learned at the S.S. Anne in a very rough state. The move was now far more polished. It had also figured out Dragon Pulse to a usable degree. Charmander, meanwhile, had experienced almost the opposite effect. It had barely learned Dragon Claw but seemed to prefer using Metal Claw instead. However, it was now able to use Dragon Pulse and Flamethrower competently enough. More importantly, it had managed to defeat Pikachu once or twice during their training bouts, which gave the little lizard a massive boost in confidence.
And finally, Exeggcute.
It was the Pokémon that struggled the most during training. It was difficult to determine whether it had actually learned Psychic or not. Its psychic output had increased tremendously while using Confusion, and it had succeeded in multitasking by lifting the heavy plates while simultaneously blocking Pichu's attacks. However, both Grey and Exeggcute doubted whether this meant it had learned Psychic or if it had simply improved Confusion to a terrifying degree.
Grey had even called Nurse Joy once just to ask for her opinion on the matter. She had been surprised by what she saw. While the device she used to record learned moves did not list Psychic among Exeggcute's moves, the feats Exeggcute demonstrated in front of her using its psychic powers should have been impossible with Confusion alone. The sheer psychic output shouldn't have been achievable through that move. By all logic, it should have been Psychic.
This put both Grey and Exeggcute in a bit of a conundrum.
Exeggcute only wanted to evolve after learning Psychic. However, according to every measurement available, it technically hadn't learned the move. At the same time, it was performing feats that only Psychic should have been capable of, as Confusion simply shouldn't have been able to produce that level of power and control.
Grey consulted Bill on the matter as well. After all, Bill was both a genius and a researcher.
Bill's response was straightforward.
According to him, Exeggcute had already achieved what it set out to do.
What Exeggcute was doing with Confusion was simply impossible within the normal boundaries of the move. Based on everything Bill observed, Exeggcute had effectively unlocked Psychic already. The move recorder might not recognize it yet, but in practice, Exeggcute was already using Psychic through Confusion. Bill even theorized that evolving Exeggcute might simply cause the move to properly register as Psychic because the Pokémon had already reached the required threshold.
Eventually, Exeggcute agreed to evolve.
Grey had asked for the opinions of many people, and nearly all of them reached the same conclusion. What Exeggcute had achieved as an Exeggcute was practically unheard of. Even if the device didn't officially record Psychic as one of its moves, everyone agreed that it was already using the move indirectly.
With that settled, Grey finally decided to bring out the Leaf Stone and evolve Exeggcute.
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The rehabilitation area of the gym was quiet as Surge, Grey, Bill, and the rehabilitation Pokémon waited to witness Exeggcute's evolution.
Grey's entire team was out to watch the event. He had invited both Bill and Surge to see it, with Surge even rescheduling a trainer battle by thirty minutes just so he could be present for the evolution.
Grey walked up to Exeggcute and smiled.
"This is it, buddy."
He then took out the Leaf Stone to evolve the Egg Pokémon.
Exeggcute steeled itself for the moment as Grey placed the high-quality Leaf Stone, the one he had received from Red, onto the Pokémon.
Grey had guessed there were some high-quality evolutionary stones hidden in the Vermilion Sea due to treasure scattered throughout the area. In the Pokémon manga, the Poké House had searched for such treasure, and Red had only obtained his Water Stone while facing Surge. Of course, this world wasn't exactly the same as the manga. Surge was a good man, if a bit cranky at times, but some things still seemed to hold true, such as evolutionary stones being hidden in the sea.
That was how Shellder had evolved.
And now Exeggcute would too.
The moment the Leaf Stone made contact, Exeggcute began to glow.
A brilliant green light engulfed the cluster of eggs, forcing everyone nearby to shield their eyes.
The six eggs slowly lifted from the ground as the energy surrounding them intensified. Their bodies began to stretch and reshape. The cracks on their shells widened before sealing shut completely. One by one, the eggs fused together into a single larger body.
The mass twisted and expanded upward.
What had once been six separate eggs now formed a sturdy brown trunk. Green leaves sprouted from the top, growing rapidly into a thick canopy. The individual faces remained, but they now sat among the leaves like strange coconuts, each with its own expression.
The psychic energy radiating from the evolution caused loose pebbles and bits of dirt around the room to float into the air.
Several rehabilitation Pokémon stared in awe.
Even the veteran Electabuzz raised an eyebrow.
The glow finally faded.
Standing before Grey was an Exeggutor.
It was slightly larger than a normal Exeggutor, standing a bit taller and broader than average, but nowhere near the absurd size of Cloyster. The Pokémon looked healthy, powerful, and full of energy.
The moment it opened its eyes, Grey heard a familiar voice inside his mind.
"Thank you, friend Grey, for listening to my stubborn request."
Grey smiled.
"I can feel incredible power surging through me. It feels as though everything I could do before was nothing compared to what I can do now. And I can tell Nurse Joy and Bill were right. I can feel that I have unlocked the move Psychic."
One of Exeggutor's heads looked around the rehabilitation center.
"Though I do not wish to test it here. I have a feeling I might accidentally destroy part of the gym if I unleash it right now."
Grey laughed and nodded.
"Let's avoid that."
He walked forward and gently patted the leaves on top of Exeggutor's head.
The rest of the team quickly surrounded the newly evolved Pokémon.
Well, almost all of them.
Cloyster remained where it was, staring at Exeggutor with narrowed eyes.
One of Exeggutor's heads immediately noticed.
The newly evolved Pokémon spoke through the telepathic link.
"What are you looking at, brute? Surprised to see me reach a level of power greater than yours?"
Cloyster's shell clicked.
"You stronger? Che. We can settle that in the ring if you want. I can tell you've gotten stronger, but I can take you on any day."
Exeggutor snorted.
"We can fight any day, brute. But not today. Friend Grey is happy about my evolution. Let us not add more trouble to his life."
Cloyster grumbled.
"Fine. But we will settle who's stronger."
"Agreed."
Grey sighed.
Some things never changed.
Most of the rehabilitation Pokémon and Grey's team gathered around Exeggutor, asking questions about evolution and how it felt.
Exeggutor seemed more than happy to answer.
Axew, in particular, was asking question after question. The young dragon could already feel itself approaching evolution and wanted to know everything possible about the experience.
Exeggutor patiently explained what the surge of power felt like, how its body had changed, and how its psychic abilities felt clearer than ever before.
Surge eventually walked over and congratulated Grey.
"I can already tell your Exeggutor is probably as strong as your Cloyster now," he said.
Grey blinked.
"That strong?"
Surge nodded.
"Maybe stronger in some situations. The point is, you've probably got two Pokémon capable of fighting at an eighth-badge level already."
Grey looked toward the bickering Exeggutor and Cloyster.
That was a scary thought.
Surge continued.
"If I were you, I'd start using your other Pokémon more often against local trainers. Unless you're fighting trainers with eight badges or stronger, those two are honestly overkill."
Grey nodded.
That had been his thought process as well.
Axew and Charmander especially needed the battle experience.
Surge checked the time and sighed.
"Well, I'd better get moving. There's a trainer waiting for the battle I postponed."
With that, he left the rehabilitation area and headed back toward the gym proper.
Bill also walked over and congratulated Grey.
"Think Abra can talk with Exeggutor?" he asked. "Maybe learn some psychic tricks?"
Grey shrugged.
"As long as Exeggutor doesn't mind."
One of Exeggutor's heads immediately nodded.
"I would be happy to help."
Bill looked delighted at that answer.
All in all, it had been a great day for Grey.
His injury was nearly healed.
His journey would resume soon.
Exeggcute had finally achieved the evolution it had worked so hard for.
And for the first time in a while, Grey felt genuinely excited for what came next.
Author's Note:
The title was just a prank. Pokémon anime fans might have realized that after seeing the Bye Bye Psyduck episode reference.
Anyway, I wanted to talk a bit about my Patreon. Realistically, I don't think I'm going to have enough time to maintain extra chapter releases or any sort of advance schedule there. Because of that, all chapters are going to remain free, and I'll try to release them on all platforms at roughly the same time to make things easier for me to manage.
That said, Patreon is still useful for a few things. It has polling features that I can use, along with posts where I can share the directions I'm considering taking the fic. Webnovel doesn't really have a proper voting system, so Patreon gives me a way to gather opinions on things like future Pokémon Grey might catch, route choices he could take, or even broader decisions regarding the structure of the fanfic going forward.
To be honest, I can't really count votes the way I used to anymore. The fic has grown large enough that even regular chapters get a lot of comments now. I'm genuinely a little scared that if I upload a dedicated voting chapter, it would get absolutely flooded with responses and become difficult to keep track of.
So Patreon will mainly serve as a place for polls, discussions, random thoughts about the story, and updates on any future projects or ideas I might want to work on.
Anyway, as I mentioned in yesterday's comment section, here is the new chapter as promised.