Chapter 65: Victreebel

After searching for almost half an hour, Ace finally found a trench within a rocky section of the seabed.

The trench's crevice wasn't large; Lapras couldn't enter, but Ace could.

Ace told Lapras to wait, then swam towards the trench.

"Splash!"

A breaking water sound echoed as Ace fell into the trench.

Landing steadily on a rock, Ace removed his diving mask and rebreather, taking a deep breath. "What a strange place."

He looked around. The area, which should have been filled with seawater, was eerily dry. Amidst a group of rocks, a flower-stem-like stone pillar stood upright. On top of the pillar, four evolutionary stones bloomed like "petals."

"This is it!" Ace exclaimed joyfully, pulling out a Poké Ball. He opened it, and Weepinbell appeared beside him.

Ace took a few steps to the evolutionary stones and effortlessly picked up the Leaf Stone.

"Leaf Stone (Mutated): Can absorb energy free-floating in the air and store it within the stone itself, helping Grass-type Pokémon evolve. Current energy: 100%, can be used multiple times."

Ace smiled. This was a rare, top-grade item!

Ace returned to Weepinbell with the evolutionary stone and placed the Leaf Stone on Weepinbell's leaf. He said to Weepinbell, "Absorb as much energy as possible from this stone and evolve, Weepinbell."

Weepinbell glanced at Ace, nodded, and wrapped its leaf around the Leaf Stone. Then, Weepinbell burst into light.

Weepinbell began to evolve, but Ace's gaze was fixed on the Leaf Stone.

"100%, 98%, 96%..."

The energy in the Leaf Stone was rapidly absorbed by Weepinbell, and the light around Weepinbell grew increasingly bright.

When the Leaf Stone's energy reserve was only 10% remaining, Weepinbell released it. Its body was already at maximum energy capacity and couldn't absorb any more from the Leaf Stone.

The next moment, Weepinbell's body within the light began to change, gradually elongating.

When all the light dissipated, Weepinbell was gone, and in its place stood a very large Victreebel!

Ace picked up the Leaf Stone, which had most of its energy consumed. Just as he was about to say something to Victreebel, an extremely enticing aroma emanated from Victreebel's huge mouth.

Ace smelled the aroma, and immediately, a flood of delicious delicacies appeared in his mind. His feet involuntarily took a step forward.

But as Ace took that step, he instantly snapped back to awareness. Victreebel was also trying its best to control its scent. Having just evolved, it was still a bit unaccustomed to its new body.

"In the wild, Victreebel uses its unique aromatic dissolving fluid to attract prey, making them willingly walk into its mouth to be digested by the fluid."

Ace patted Victreebel's body and nodded. "It was right to have you practice combining Acid and Sweet Scent when you were a Weepinbell. After evolving into Victreebel, this scent can attract a large amount of prey even if you do nothing. In battle, it can also make the opponent's untrained Pokémon lose their initiative."

One could imagine this as playing a game where Victreebel activated a cheat that automatically cast Sweet Scent every turn. Everyone knew how much the opponent's evasion rate would drop.

After checking Victreebel's physical condition and confirming everything was alright, Ace had it practice controlling its scent first.

Otherwise, if Ace took Victreebel outside and the scent spread, it would likely attract a large number of wild Pokémon.

As for Ace, after putting away the Leaf Stone, he walked to the other three evolutionary stones and took them all down one by one.

The Fire Stone and Thunder Stone both had 100% energy reserves, but the Water Stone only had 73%!

However, Ace quickly understood; the consumed energy was likely borrowed by Ash's Poliwhirl.

That's why the Water Stone's energy was depleted.

But for Ace, it didn't matter. With time, the energy would eventually recharge; it was just a matter of how long it would take.

After staying underwater for a while, Ace purchased a Victreebel Training Manual. Following its instructions, he guided Victreebel in controlling its scent.

Victreebel took half an hour to learn this skill, successfully controlling its hard-to-conceal aroma.

Done with his tasks, Victreebel used Vine Whip to send Ace up into the seawater, and Ace then recalled Victreebel.

Lapras, who had been waiting there for a long time, picked up Ace. Ace patted Lapras's neck and said glumly, "Let's go, we're heading up."

Lapras nodded, moving its limbs and swimming upwards towards the surface with Ace.

Ten minutes later, Lapras surfaced with Ace. Ace immediately took off his diving goggles and rebreather, greedily inhaling the air. "Fresh air really is more comfortable."

But before Ace could marvel for too long, a dark shadow fell. Ace immediately became alert, his muscles tensing, instinctively preparing to have Lapras attack.

"I finally found you, Ace! This time, let's see where you'll run!"

Cynthia, riding Dragonair, looked at Ace with an unfriendly gaze.

In her arms, Riolu also looked at Ace; it had put in a lot of effort to find him.

Ace's Aura was intermittently disturbed by the water while he was underwater, and Riolu had directed Dragonair around for a long time before finally pinpointing Ace's location.

"Cynthia?"

Ace looked at Cynthia, riding Dragonair, with some confusion, frowning slightly. "Why are you here?"

"Duh, I found you here while looking for you."

Cynthia said huffily, "You're really good at running; I almost lost you. But now I have a flying Pokémon too. This time, let's see how you'll shake me off."

"Why are you like a burr?"

"You dare call me a burr! I... I... I'll bite you to death!"

"Wait! Don't bite!"

"No! Way!"

Cynthia leaped down from Dragonair, pounced on Ace, and bit hard on his arm.

Ace shook his arm, somewhat helpless.

He was still wearing his diving suit, which could withstand strong water pressure. Cynthia's "bite" was like a light drizzle; Ace didn't feel any pain at all.

"Let go. What exactly do you want? Didn't I tell you it's dangerous to be with me?"

Ace was exasperated. What exactly did Cynthia want? Why was she so determined to stick by him?

"I'm not afraid!"

Cynthia said after letting go, "I already told you, I'll follow you for a while, and once I help you deal with the guy chasing you, I'll leave. How about it?"

Seeing Cynthia's stubbornness, Ace lost his temper with her. Plus, she had even deliberately gotten a flying Pokémon, making it difficult to shake her off now.

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