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" SquirtleSquirt SquSquirtle Squirtle Squirtle Squirtle !" (You can capture me, but you must send someone with the same strength as me to defeat me properly, so that I'll be convinced! Otherwise, you're just bullying the weak!)
Squirtle delivered a lengthy speech and finally revealed its true purpose.
This creature was extremely cunning. It had observed that Eddie's Pokémon were almost all Peak-level and above, and immediately deduced that Eddie didn't possess any Pokémon at its current strength level.
That's precisely why it made such a demand, and its objective was naturally to avoid being captured so easily.
The ideal scenario would be for Eddie to search for a Pokémon with similar strength and leave temporarily. In that case, it would naturally abandon this location with its gang members.
Of course, if Eddie chose to ignore its conditions, it actually had no real recourse, but as it stated, it wouldn't be truly convinced, and it remained questionable whether it would obey commands during future battles.
This was a very obvious threat. As a Pokémon that had lived as a delinquent for so long, it was natural for such calculating thoughts to occupy its mind.
"You're actually threatening me? Others might bully the weak, but you think I'm too strong and still dare to make such demands. You're quite bold indeed."
Eddie naturally understood Squirtle's scheme. It was simply an obvious ploy. If he hadn't seen through it, he wouldn't have reached his current level of success.
"But unfortunately, your hopes are about to be crushed. If you had made this demand much earlier, I might have spent considerable time searching. Now, I happen to have a Pokémon with similar strength to yours."
Eddie displayed a confident smile, retrieved an Ultra Ball and tossed it lightly, causing the recently captured Venusaur to appear directly in front of Squirtle.
"Da Na~" (Are we going to battle so soon?)
Venusaur spoke eagerly the moment it materialized. It seemed that this particular Pokémon was genuinely battle-hungry.
"Squirtle~~~" (Damn it! This is a mistake~~~)
As soon as Squirtle saw Venusaur, it could sense that the aura emanating from its body was only slightly stronger than its own, clearly indicating a Pokémon with comparable strength. Suddenly, the entire turtle felt deeply troubled.
What made it even more unacceptable was that it could clearly identify Venusaur as obviously a Grass-type Pokémon, a species that held type advantage over it. With such a small difference in raw power, it would prove quite difficult for it to defeat Venusaur in battle.
"What's wrong? Are you scared? So you're only at this level? It seems I need to reconsider whether to capture a coward like you."
Eddie displayed a delighted smile and spoke to Squirtle with obvious mockery.
Just moments ago, Squirtle had been playing psychological games, and now it was his turn. Although toying with a Pokémon in this manner might seem somewhat childish, he felt entertained, so who really cared about appearances?
"Squa!? Squirrrtle !" (What?! You're calling me a coward!!)
As the gang leader, Squirtle hadn't heard such insulting words in quite some time.
Because the nearby town and its trainers were relatively weak—at least weaker than itself—this particular Pokémon had been dominating this territory for an extended period, and it hadn't encountered such taunting language for ages.
So this creature absolutely exploded upon hearing these words, displaying the indignant attitude of someone whose pride had been severely wounded.
Then it became so enraged that it evolved directly.
Yes, it evolved, no longer suppressing its natural development, releasing its restrained power, and its body immediately began emitting the brilliant light of evolution.
Like the previous Venusaur, it evolved continuously in rapid succession, first transforming into Wartortle, and then evolving once again into the massive form of Blastoise.
"Blastoise! Blastoise Blastoise!!" (Damn it! Let's fight! I'll lose face if I back down now!)
Blastoise had just completed its evolution and roared fiercely at Eddie, appearing both reckless and thoroughly delinquent.
However, this creature didn't follow conventional battle etiquette, and while still speaking, it activated the move Rain Dance.
The sky above was instantly covered with dark storm clouds, and then the entire area suddenly experienced heavy rainfall.
"You're really something—you understand the principle of striking first to gain advantage."
Eddie didn't know whether to laugh or feel exasperated. The sudden downpour meant he couldn't find adequate shelter from the rain.
Fortunately, Eevee cared about him most deeply. Upon seeing the rainfall, it transformed into Espeon and approached Eddie's position.
Then it used Psychic to deflect the rain that would have fallen on Eddie.
It was now an peak-level Pokémon. Although it couldn't use Psychic to create powerful winds, it could still employ Psychic abilities to divert rainfall away from Eddie effectively.
"Good job, Eevee is still the most thoughtful."
Eddie gently touched Espeon's head and spoke with obvious affection.
Of course, he didn't forget what situation they were currently facing, and then turned his attention back toward Blastoise.
"You refuse to accept this, don't you? Then I'll beat you until you do accept it!"
"Venusaur, use Vine Whip!"
Since Blastoise had already launched an underhanded attack, Eddie would begin his counteroffensive.
Venusaur roared with pure excitement, and dozens of Vine Whips extended from its body to assault Blastoise directly.
"Blastoise!"
Blastoise roared to bolster its own courage, and then its limbs and head all retracted into its shell, spinning rapidly to break through the Vine Whip attack and charge directly toward Venusaur.
"Rapid Spin? That's genuinely clever—realizing that Water-type moves aren't very effective, so you're quickly closing the distance to strike Venusaur, then follow up with moves like Bite or Tackle."
"And this Rain Dance doesn't just increase the power of Water-type moves, but also allows your ability to activate."
Eddie immediately recognized several of Blastoise's tactical intentions. After all, these were essentially all the options available to Blastoise in its current situation.
It had to be acknowledged that without a trainer's guidance, this Blastoise was already remarkably intelligent to devise such strategies, and its battle awareness was quite impressive.
Unfortunately, it had encountered Eddie, a gym leader-level trainer who had completely analyzed its approach.
"Venusaur, use Double Team, then Petal Blizzard!"
Blastoise had intended to exploit Venusaur's large size making it difficult to dodge, but Venusaur directly created ten Double Team copies and relocated to a different position.
Blastoise's head remained retracted within its shell, so naturally it had no idea that Venusaur was no longer in that location, and it continued charging straight ahead, smashing directly through the illusory clone.
Then it immediately extended its limbs and head, opened its mouth and prepared to use Bite on Venusaur.
As a result, it discovered that Venusaur wasn't there, and then found itself surrounded and attacked by a massive barrage of falling flower petals.
Grass-type moves were super effective against Water-type Pokémon.
Blastoise lost nearly half of its HP from this single attack, but it could slowly recover its strength during the rainy weather, so it remained capable of continuing the battle.
It maintained this optimistic thinking, but when it turned around, it saw a Venusaur that appeared even larger than before, staring directly at it.
And it suddenly found itself surrounded by even more petals than previously, and it seemed that the power of these petals was significantly stronger than the earlier attack.
The situation was clearly deteriorating for its chances, and Blastoise began sweating nervously in a rather comical fashion.
The previous move had already eliminated nearly half of its HP, but this attack appeared stronger than before, and Venusaur had obviously received some kind of power boost. It felt that if this attack connected, it would probably collapse immediately.
It looked toward Eddie, as if hoping to surrender. Although it had only exchanged a few attacks, it had already realized that it truly couldn't achieve victory, so surrendering seemed like the wise choice, didn't it?
However, Eddie responded with a bright, cheerful smile.
"Venusaur, beat it until it surrenders completely."