"The next match will be Ephraim and his Skiploom, making their first appearance, against the mysterious trainer of unknown origin, Mr. K and his Victreebel!"
After Ash's landslide victory, it was Ephraim's turn to take the stage.
Ephraim's opponent was none other than James, dressed in a bizarre disguise. James's Victreebel shared an incredibly high Bond Value with him! Although it was a bitter struggle for a time, Ephraim ultimately secured the win. The speed of his Double Team grew faster and faster, as he perfectly utilized Skiploom's light weight to his advantage.
In the next round, Ash found himself matched against Jessie, who had entered with Meowth. Jessie was sensible enough to realize who she was up against. Seeing that her opponent was Ash, she forfeited immediately, saving Ash the trouble of beating her back to her original form.
After his grueling battle with James, Ephraim had managed to find his focus. He carved a path through the brackets, winning match after match until he reached the finals to face Ash.
"Ephraim, you've done well, but I'm taking that championship!" Ash could see that both Ephraim and Skiploom were improving rapidly through their consecutive battles.
"I won't lose to you!" The string of victories had bolstered Ephraim's confidence. "Skiploom, use Double Team!"
"That move again?" Ash wanted to see how Ephraim would adapt. "Magical Leaf!"
To his surprise, while the Magical Leaf did strike every shadow, new clones were generated the very instant an old one vanished. By the time the Magical Leaf attack subsided, dozens of Skiploom still remained on the field, surrounding Bayleef.
"Skiploom, use Leech Seed!"
Dozens of Skiploom fired seeds simultaneously, but only one was real!
"Vine Whip!"
Ignoring the confusion, Bayleef extended her vines and swatted every single seed back. Naturally, the one real seed was among them.
"Good speed. Now, Sweet Scent!" Ash praised. A fragrant Sweet Scent drifted toward the Skiploom once again.
"Oh no!" Seeing Skiploom's footing become unsteady, Ephraim knew they were in trouble. He hadn't expected to fall to Ash's Sweet Scent again!
"Skiploom, it's not over! We won't give up until the very end!" Ephraim's voice revitalized Skiploom's spirit. The flower atop its head began to gather solar energy!
Ash's Aura Power sensed the shift immediately. "I didn't expect it to learn a new move at the last second!"
"But Ephraim, I've been working hard this whole way too!" Ash smiled slightly. "Bayleef, we'll use Solar Beam too!"
Bayleef had learned Solar Beam long ago. The massive sickle-shaped leaf on her head gathered sunlight even faster!
"Bloom! Solar Beam!"
The two Solar Beams collided and exploded in the small arena, shining as brilliantly as a miniature sun. All the Grass-type Pokémon in the area cheered in excitement.
"Skiploom is unable to battle! Bayleef wins! Therefore, the victor is Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town!"
"Ash is truly incredible! Even though Skiploom suddenly mastered a new move, it still fell before the overwhelming power of Bayleef! Ash Ketchum is our champion!"
"Hooray! Ash and Bayleef won!" Molly rushed out from the waiting area and threw her arms around Bayleef's neck. The two girls had truly developed a deep bond.
"Ash, thank you. I'm not giving up, though. Skiploom and I are going to keep working hard!" Ephraim's attitude was excellent.
The prizes for the Grass Pokémon Tournament were quite generous. Aside from the trophy, there were twenty Leaf Stones. These were precious evolution stones, capable of evolving Gloom into Vileplume, Weepinbell into Victreebel, Exeggcute into Exeggutor, and more.
The issue was that Ash had the system, which allowed him to exchange for extremely high-quality Leaf Stones. These regular stones were essentially useless to him. Therefore, he gave five to Ephraim's family. Since they were Grass-type breeders, they would certainly find a use for them.
As for the rest...
"System, do you recycle these?"
Ding! System has detected fifteen low-quality Leaf Stones. The host may consume exchange points to purify them into a single high-quality Leaf Stone!
Thus, Ash spent a small amount of points and received a system-produced Leaf Stone. It was only one, but it was top-tier. He didn't need it for now, so he tucked it away.
"Bayleef?"
Bayleef, who was celebrating with Molly, suddenly cried out as her body began to emit a blinding light!
"Ash!" Molly quickly jumped down from her back.
"Don't be afraid, she's evolving! Bayleef is about to bloom!" Ash comforted Molly, though he was actually more excited than she was.
Bayleef was the first of the six starters he had caughtexcluding Charizardto reach her final evolution. This proved he was now moving entirely beyond his predecessor's shadow. Soon, the other four would surely complete their evolutions as well.
Bayleef's size continued to grow until she reached a height of two meters. The leaf on her head disappeared, replaced by two stamen-like protrusions. The bud around her neck finally opened into beautiful pink flowers. In an instant, the entire arena was filled with a rich floral fragrance!
"Mom, Dad, it's a Meganium!" Ephraim couldn't hide his emotion. He had witnessed the exact moment of Meganium's evolution!
The newly evolved Meganium walked over to Ash, lowering her head to nuzzle his face and hands affectionately. Ash gently stroked her neck. "That competitive, stubborn little girl has finally grown up."
Name: Meganium (Female)
Type: Grass
Ability: Overgrow
Bond Value: 244/255
Moves: Petal Dance, Petal Blizzard, Razor Leaf, Magical Leaf, Synthesis, Sweet Scent, Body Slam, Solar Beam...
It was just as Ash expected; Meganium's Bond Value had already been very high as a Bayleef. After evolving, her compatibility had spiked, hitting the ceiling and pushing her Bond Value to 244.
She only needed one more point to trigger the transition stage of Bond Evolution. Once compatibility reached its peak and only the last 10 points of Bond Value remained, a transition stage would appearlike Charizard's great fireball, Houndoom's black flame orb, or Greninja's water veil.
Those final eleven points of Bond Value would be easy to achieve!
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