"Farfetch'd!"
Just as Electabuzz's fist was about to slam into Ray Chu's cheek, a leek intercepted it. A burst of air rushed outward as fist and leek collided with a metallic clang.
Dapple stood before Ray Chu like a knight protecting her lord.
Electabuzz skidded backward before steadying itself, its sharp gaze fixed on the Farfetch'd in front of it.
"Oh?" Ray Chu raised an eyebrow as he studied Electabuzz. This Pokémon certainly didn't seem like something Jessie and James could have trained to this level.
In fact, Jessie herself was rather bewildered. After releasing Electabuzz, she had no idea what commands to give it. All she could do was clear her throat and fall back on the universal standby for Electric-type Pokémon.
"Electabuzz, use [THUNDERBOLT]!"
Electabuzz merely cocked its head, completely ignoring Jessie's command. It was clearly an unruly one.
For a moment, the atmosphere became painfully awkward...
"In that case, we'll attack first. Dapple, use [AERIAL ACE]!"
Dapple nodded and dashed toward Electabuzz, the leek in her hand tracing two beautiful arcs through the air.
Faced with the attack, Electabuzz thrust both hands forward. A transparent Light Screen appeared before it, blocking Dapple's strikes.
But Dapple was a veteran of countless battles and had clashed with Team Rocket several times before. Knowing full well how troublesome her opponent was, she had readied herself for a second attack as soon as the first ended. Spreading her wings, she swept into the air in a streak of light and brought her leek down hard against Electabuzz's exposed lower back.
Electabuzz roared in pain. A startling burst of electricity erupted from its body, the indiscriminate discharge shocking Dapple as well and blasting her backward.
The tips of her wing feathers were scorched black. Both Electabuzz's strength and its reactions had exceeded expectations, and neither side had gained the upper hand in their first exchange.
In terms of base stats, however, Electabuzz was far above Farfetch'd, and the type matchup also favored it. Dapple was strong, but winning this battle would be extremely difficult.
Ray Chu frowned. He wondered whether he should slip away for a moment and switch in Pikachu instead—or simply fight Electabuzz himself. He had punched even an Ultimate Life Form apart with a single blow. A mere Electabuzz was hardly worth taking seriously.
Still, a human defeating a fairly powerful Pokémon like Electabuzz would certainly be outrageous enough.
"Farfetch'd!"
A cry suddenly interrupted Ray Chu's thoughts.
It was Dapple.
As Ray Chu's companion, she seemed to have figured out what he was thinking. Even so, she still wanted to defeat this powerful opponent herself.
Seeing the determination in Dapple's eyes, Ray Chu understood what she wanted.
"In that case, Dapple—use [BRAVE BIRD]!"
Dapple let out a delighted cry and shot into the sky with a beat of her wings. At the highest point, she abruptly folded them against her body and plunged toward Electabuzz below like an arrow.
Electabuzz refused to back down and used Thunder Punch again.
The instant they collided, violent electrical currents arced outward from between them, making every feather on Dapple's body stand on end.
Electric-types held far too great an advantage over Flying-types. In a head-on clash like this, Dapple was at a severe disadvantage, and she was forcibly knocked away.
Yet the moment her feet touched the nearby wall, she kicked off and surged forward instead of retreating, launching herself at Electabuzz once more.
"Now! Use [AIR SLASH]!"
Compared with the sheer impact behind the Flying-type moves of most Pokémon, Dapple's greatest strength lay in the leek she wielded. Like a sword, it cleaved through the air and carved one deep wound after another across Electabuzz's body, some deep enough to expose bone.
Electabuzz immediately let out an agonized roar. The shriek was painfully piercing, waves of sound rapidly spreading outward with its cry.
[SCREECH]
Few Pokémon learned the move, yet this Electabuzz used it to astonishing effect. Not only did Dapple's offensive momentum falter, but Electabuzz immediately seized the brief opening.
[SHOCK WAVE]
A spiraling surge of electricity erupted from Electabuzz's hands and struck Dapple head-on, blasting her far away. Sapphire-blue feathers drifted through the air. The attack had clearly dealt considerable damage.
"Jiggly!" Lala ran forward anxiously, wanting to persuade Dapple to stop fighting.
Dapple shook her head at Lala and used her leek to push herself back to her feet. Though wounded, she still assumed a fighting stance and cried out, "Farfetch'd!"
The gesture only provoked Electabuzz further. It pounded both hands against its chest, then turned into a bolt of lightning and charged straight at Dapple.
Dapple snapped her leek up as Electabuzz charged.
But unlike before, she did not try to clash with it directly. Instead, she relied on agile footwork to dodge and circle around it, occasionally darting in to carve another wound across Electabuzz's body with her leek.
Gradually, Electabuzz's movements grew slower and slower.
Dapple was becoming exhausted as well, but her gaze remained razor-sharp. After dodging one final full-power Thunderbolt from Electabuzz, she suddenly rushed in and unleashed Swords Dance.
At last, beneath a storm of countless leek-shaped afterimages, the powerful Electabuzz screamed and collapsed unconscious.
"H-How could this happen?!" Jessie stared at the scene in a daze.
The Pokémon that a high-ranking Team Rocket executive had given her had lost just like that—and worse, it had lost to a Farfetch'd, a Pokémon famous for being "food." She was having a little trouble accepting it.
James gently nudged her from the side.
Only then did Jessie realize that Electabuzz was not the only one that had been beaten senseless. Her Arbok and Koffing were already sprawled on the ground, completely unable to battle.
The Team Rocket members who had come with them had also been thoroughly defeated by Ray Chu's three starter Pokémon and were in no condition to get back up.
So when Ray Chu merely glanced their way, Jessie and James obediently moved into the corner, raised their hands, and surrendered.
Since they were being so cooperative, Ray Chu saw no need to follow up by sending the trio blasting off. Someone would naturally come along to clean up the mess soon enough.
What mattered most right now was checking on Dapple.
She had defeated Electabuzz, but she had suffered quite a few injuries herself.
Before Ray Chu had even taken two steps, however, a white light enveloped Dapple's body, startling Lala, who had been tending to her nearby.
"This is... evolution?"
Ray Chu was no stranger to this light. Ivysaur and Squirtle had been surrounded by the same mysterious glow when they evolved.
The female host, still hiding beneath the table, dutifully instructed the cameraman to keep filming in secret. Even she was astonished by what she saw.
"Farfetch'd can evolve too?"
In the Kanto region, only Farfetch'd's original form had ever been known. No one had ever heard of Farfetch'd being able to evolve.
Chairman Sorata, who was hiding beneath the table as well, suddenly coughed and adjusted the sunglasses on the bridge of his nose.
"Farfetch'd can evolve. In the Galar region, a Farfetch'd that has gone through countless battles can evolve into Sirfetch'd. It's an extremely rare Pokémon."
"So that's how it is..." The host nodded, then motioned for the cameraman to aim the lens at the Farfetch'd that was about to evolve into Sirfetch'd.
Discovering a new evolutionary form was highly valuable news in its own right, and she certainly wasn't going to let it slip away.
The host's admiring reaction also made Chairman Sorata burst into hearty laughter.
No matter what, the admiration of a young woman always put a man in a good mood.
---
T/N: its back! sorry if theres any naming inconsistencies for OC's (highest tier member asked for it back ^_^)
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