“Switched Pokémon?”
As this deep yellow Pokémon appeared, May and the others were clearly startled.
“Yes, but it’s not a normal switch… This is the move Baton Pass. It can pass the strengthening effects Ribombee obtained on to the next Pokémon. I think the exaggerated all-around boost Ribombee gained has probably all been transferred to this Pokémon now,” Brock said with a grave expression.
Vespiquen!
The Pokémon Terrance switched to was Vespiquen.
Seeing this Vespiquen, Kotoko showed an expression of realization. This Vespiquen was one Terrance had specially entrusted to her to raise. It had only just evolved not long ago, and its strength had not yet matured. It was far inferior to Ribombee, but if it had been passed the strengthening effects, perhaps they would be able to see Vespiquen’s perfect form ahead of time.
“Ash, your opponent next is it,” Terrance said, arms crossed.
Terrance’s raising of this Vespiquen had imitated the method used by Aaron, that Bug Type Elite Four from the Sinnoh region. Now that Vespiquen had received Ribombee’s boost relay, it could already preliminarily display the battle style Terrance wanted.
This time, Terrance was also using Vespiquen against Ash because he wanted to test the results of Vespiquen’s special training.
Back when Terrance had been defeated by Aaron in Sinnoh’s Battle Zone, Aaron became one of the Sinnoh region’s Elite Four not long afterward. It was the battle style of his Vespiquen that had given Terrance inspiration, which in turn led to the birth of the butterfly swarm form. Now, this Vespiquen was an ace Pokémon Terrance had raised for Fallarbor Gym after his theory had matured, imitating the Bug Elite Four.
“Attack Order!”
As Terrance spoke, Vespiquen tilted its body, exposing the hive portion. With a series of whoosh sounds, even Kotoko, who had spent quite a bit of time with Vespiquen, felt surprised.
“Vespiquen after being boosted actually has this kind of strength?”
Dense swarms of Combee grubs transformed into a torrent and surged out of the hive, causing Ash’s pupils to shrink. Somewhat unable to understand this move, he hurriedly ordered Pidgeot to dodge. But this torrent suddenly split into two paths, scattering one after another. Like an organized army, they arranged a closed formation around the Pidgeot that had suddenly stopped.
“Those are Pokémon?” Brock said in disbelief. Although he was a Breeder, he was not extremely familiar with every Pokémon. This move of Vespiquen’s was something Brock had never heard of before.
“Attack Order, one of the three major moves exclusive to Vespiquen. It can perfectly command the Combee grubs inside its body to attack. In theory, these Combee grubs are immature Combee, so they can’t leave Vespiquen for long. In battle rules, it is recorded that Vespiquen, like Kangaskhan, can have multiple Pokémon fight together,” Kotoko explained.
The Vespiquen family has two methods of reproduction. One is laying eggs, but that requires losing a great deal of nutrition. The lifeform hatched from the egg is directly a Combee. The second is giving birth to Combee grubs inside the body. The growth of these Combee grubs depends on Vespiquen’s developmental stage and requires even more nutrition. Generally speaking, wild Combee grubs have a hard time becoming Combee and can only spend their lives serving Vespiquen’s commands.
Although there was only one Pokémon on the field, Vespiquen, the raising method Aaron used was equivalent to raising dozens of Pokémon at the same time, including the Combee grubs inside its body.
Surrounded by the army of Combee grubs, Pidgeot looked at these tiny bugs it could swallow in one bite and furrowed its brow. It was just about to condense wind blades and slice them apart when a sweet wind suddenly blew violently from all directions, catching Pidgeot off guard. After inhaling Sweet Scent, Pidgeot immediately began flapping its wings dizzily, losing its sense of direction.
This group of Combee grubs executed the combo of Gust and Sweet Scent exceptionally skillfully, which was all thanks to Vespiquen’s proper command. Next, Pidgeot, whose responsiveness had drastically dropped, didn’t even have a chance to dodge before the Combee grubs riding the tailwind all bit down together. Although these Combee grubs were small, and the parts where they bit Pidgeot looked insignificant, at this moment Pidgeot revealed a look of pain Ash had never seen before. In an instant, Pidgeot’s entire body went weak.
“Fell Stinger!”
Seizing this chance, Terrance calmly spoke the move that would end the match. A deep yellow figure, surrounded by the Combee grubs, instantly delivered a fatal blow to Pidgeot, easily one-shotting its opponent.
“Ash… sigh!!” Seeing this result, Brock covered his face, knowing Ash had fallen into his old habit again.
Whenever he encountered a situation outside his control, Ash liked to give the order “dodge quickly,” handing the rhythm of the battle over to the Pokémon itself. But affected by Sweet Scent, Pidgeot’s evasion ability had fallen, and it simply could not break out from the dense army of Combee grubs. Having Pidgeot dodge at a time like this had to be said to be a very mistaken command from Ash.
By comparison, using moves like “Steel Wing” or “Feather Dance” could instead, to some extent, prevent the Combee grubs from getting close. Even if they could approach, it would be difficult for them to break through Pidgeot’s defensive layer…
“At this time, Ash still hasn’t learned the ‘Counter Shield’ technique. I remember he got the inspiration for that technique from that Coordinator friend called Dawn, right?” Seeing Pidgeot fall, Terrance sighed inwardly.
Pidgeot, whose stamina had been mostly drained by the Combee grubs’ “Endeavor” move, was already very faint in consciousness. At this point, Vespiquen’s Fell Stinger one-shotting Pidgeot was already an obvious result. Most importantly, as Pidgeot was defeated, its last trace of energy was also absorbed by Vespiquen through its stinger, becoming fuel for it to further strengthen itself.
“It’s the move Fell Stinger… Good thing Terrance didn’t go hard, otherwise this move could turn into a very vicious one.” Seeing Ash’s troubled expression, Brock breathed a sigh of relief. Although Ash was making rapid progress, it was still a little too early for him to face a Top Trainer. Fortunately, his opponent was someone familiar like Terrance, who knew how to hold back. Otherwise, Ash’s Pidgeot would not have been so lucky.
As Pidgeot fell, Ash comforted it with a word. Then he glanced at Pikachu beside him, who was cheering him on, gritted his teeth, and took out Charizard’s Poké Ball.
Someone had once given Ash advice, telling him not to rely only on Pikachu, because Light Ball Pikachu’s strength had already surpassed that of the other Pokémon on his team by far too much. Continuing like that would be detrimental to his progress. Ash had taken that in, so in this challenge of Fallarbor Gym, Ash had no intention of letting Pikachu battle. Instead, he had called back two of his great generals from the Pallet Town forest and Charicific Valley: Pidgeot and Charizard.
As the unruly-looking Charizard appeared on the field, breathing fire, Vespiquen and Charizard’s sharp gazes instantly collided.
You can read ahead upto 65 chapters on my patreon and I’ve also activated (date to date) subscription model on my patreon.