"Aerial Ace!"
Ariel ordered in a low voice.
Frogadier crouched low, avoiding Sceptile's first wave of attacks, then immediately counter-charged with an incredible speed.
Aerial Ace, a Flying-type move that never misses, carried a powerful impact.
The moment Frogadier launched its attack, a faint glow shimmered around its body—a sign that its Protean ability had been triggered.
Its surface color became lighter, as if blending into the air.
Sensing the change in Frogadier's aura, Sceptile's attack hesitated for a split second. And in that split second, Frogadier's Aerial Ace landed.
Thud!
Frogadier's body slammed into Sceptile's chest with a dull thud.
Sceptile shuddered and staggered back several steps.
It stared at Frogadier in disbelief. Its own Leaf Blade attack, now striking Frogadier, felt as if its power had been drastically weakened.
"It... it turned into a Flying-type?"
Cenk stared blankly at the field, his voice hoarse.
Sen's pupils contracted sharply.
Protean!
This ability manifested with extreme threat in Frogadier.
Facing the Grass-type Sceptile, Frogadier had become a Flying-type. Not only did it double the power of Aerial Ace, but it also gained resistance to Sceptile's Grass-type attacks!
"Quick Attack! Then Aerial Ace, Encore!"
Ariel's commands were like blades.
Frogadier's speed exploded once more. It transformed into a blue-white blur, moving at high speed around Sceptile.
Sceptile tried to block with Leaf Blade, but Frogadier's speed and angles were too tricky, and the trajectory of Aerial Ace was too elusive to grasp.
Impact after impact, each one left Sceptile feeling a dull ache in its chest.
Though its Leaf Blade was sharp, its effect was greatly reduced when striking the now Flying-type Frogadier.
In contrast, each of Frogadier's Aerial Aces carried a powerful impact, landing precisely on Sceptile.
Sceptile roared in defiance. It stomped the ground, forcibly erupting with speed, trying to grab Frogadier.
Its tail lashed out like a whip towards Frogadier, while its arms crossed its Leaf Blades, unleashing an X-Scissor.
Frogadier's body, having accumulated heavy fatigue from its high-speed movement, barely dodged the tail whip but couldn't fully evade the X-Scissor.
The Leaf Blade sliced a gash on its left arm, and blood immediately seeped out.
Intense pain caused Frogadier's movement to falter, but the determination in its eyes only grew stronger.
The wind in the forest carried a scorching tension.
Charizard grunted in pain, its broad wing pierced by a Water Pulse. Scales shattered, and blood dripped from its claws onto the hard, dry soil.
It struggled to take flight again, but the severe pain in its left wing forced it to remain half-kneeling on the ground, suppressed sparks of anger rumbling in its throat.
On the other side, Sceptile leaned against a thick tree trunk, the clear marks from the Aerial Ace impacts visible on its chest. Fine beads of sweat oozed from its blue-green skin.
They hadn't lost the ability to fight, but the feeling of being suppressed by a lower-level opponent struck these proud Starter Pokémon with an unprecedented sense of threat.
Drak's face turned from greenish to pale as he stared fixedly at the equally wounded Frogadier.
The wound on its left arm was still bleeding, and its ragged panting sounded especially clear in the silent forest.
But the frog's gaze was too cold, cold like a short blade tempered in ice.
"It's not over! Charizard, get up!"
Drak roared, a trace of barely detectable panic in his voice.
Ariel remained standing in place, hands in his pockets, fingertips lightly tracing the fabric's texture inside.
He could feel the energy suppressed to its extreme within Frogadier beginning to boil.
It was a will forged through countless brushes with death, honed alone in the darkness, and now it had finally collided with the thin membrane of evolution.
"Now."
Ariel said softly.
As the words fell, a pure and dazzling white light rose from Frogadier's feet, instantly engulfing its small frame.
The air in the forest seemed to freeze at that moment. Sen instinctively raised a hand to shield his eyes from the intense light, while Yuno's gaze pierced through the radiance, landing on the gradually elongating, transforming silhouette.
It was a leap in the hierarchy of life.
Within the light, Frogadier's originally rounded silhouette became slender and sharp.
Its limbs extended, its muscle lines becoming like drawn bowstrings, filled with explosive tension.
The white frothy scarf that once wrapped around its neck dissipated in the light, replaced by its long tongue—like a pink scarf, neatly wrapped around its neck, the end fluttering in the wind.
The light faded.
A deep blue pokémon with a ninja-like, efficient form appeared in the center of the field.
Its head had unique protrusions, its eyes narrow and cold, exuding a murderous aura that seemed hidden in the shadows.
Greninja!
Cenk gasped, he could feel that the aura of this pokémon before him had completely changed.
If the previous Frogadier was a sharp dagger, then this Greninja was a demonic blade thirsting for blood under the moonlight.
Greninja tilted its head slightly, looking at its injured left arm.
The energy of evolution had repaired most of the wound, leaving only a faint red mark.
It extended a finger, tracing a line in the air with a movement so light it didn't stir a single breeze.
Immediately after, a deep blue shuriken materialized in its hand!
This was a new move learned upon evolving into Greninja! It was also Greninja's signature move!
Water Shuriken!
Greninja's gaze swept over Charizard and Sceptile.
There was no extra emotion in those eyes, only a pure will to fight.
It didn't wait for further instruction from Ariel. Its body crouched slightly, and in the next instant, only a blurred afterimage remained where it stood.
Drak's Adam's apple bobbed. He knew something was wrong.
Frogadier's attacks earlier were fierce, but at least they were within the scope of his expectations.
But now, this evolved ninja pokémon's speed exceeded common sense.
Charizard and Sceptile couldn't even track its movement.
"Double Team!"
Ariel's voice echoed through the forest, devoid of any ripple.
Before the words faded, Greninja's afterimage solidified in mid-air. Then, one became two, two became four, four became eight...
In the blink of an eye, eight nearly identical Greninjas surrounded Charizard and Sceptile like ghosts, forming an impenetrable encirclement.
Their stances varied—some crouched in a lunge ready to strike, others rested a hand on a knee—each emanating a real sense of pressure, indistinguishable from the real one.