"Quilava, use Spark!"
Chen Jiaxing gave the command, and Quilava immediately gathered its strength, spewing a powerful Spark forward, directly at Pikachu.
"Pikachu, dodge, then use Thunderbolt!" Jiang Mo responded calmly.
Pikachu was agile, easily leaping to the side to avoid the Spark attack, then its cheeks released a powerful electric current. Thunderbolt, like a golden flash of lightning, shot towards Quilava.
Quilava was unable to dodge and was hit by Thunderbolt, its body momentarily paralyzed. But it quickly recovered, its eyes burning with rage, and the flames on its back became even more violent.
"Did its Blaze ability activate...?"
Jiang Mo was slightly stunned, not expecting Pikachu's single move to trigger Quilava's Blaze.
"Quilava, use Flame Wheel!"
Seeing this, Chen Jiaxing could only grit his teeth and fight hard.
Quilava quickly curled into a ball of fire, spinning at high speed as it charged towards Pikachu.
"Pikachu, use Iron Tail!"
Pikachu's tail instantly became hard as iron, gleaming with a metallic luster, and smashed fiercely into Flame Wheel.
Flame Wheel and Iron Tail collided, emitting a dazzling light and a huge sound, with energy waves spreading in all directions.
Chen Jiaxing saw the unfavorable situation and shouted, "Quilava, get in close and use Fury Swipes!"
Quilava used the impact of the collision to break through the light, extending its sharp claws to scratch Pikachu.
"Pikachu, move quickly, use Quick Attack!" Jiang Mo commanded swiftly.
Pikachu transformed into a white light, instantly moving behind Quilava, releasing a Thunder Shock that hit Quilava again.
Quilava suffered continuous attacks, its stamina gradually failing, but it still stood stubbornly.
Chen Jiaxing gritted his teeth, "Quilava, one last effort, use Flame Wheel!"
"Pikachu, use Volt Tackle!"
Pikachu and Quilava instantly crashed into each other, stirring up clouds of smoke.
As the smoke gradually cleared, Quilava had fallen to the ground, no longer able to battle.
The referee raised the flag and loudly declared, "Quilava is unable to battle! The winner is Jiang Mo!"
The battle ended, and Chen Jiaxing recalled his Quilava. Jiang Mo walked over to him and patted his shoulder, then the two walked off the examination field together.
After leaving the field, while Jiang Mo was still using Tokiwa Power to heal Chen Jiaxing's Quilava, news of Mu Qingxue's victory came from the adjacent examination field.
Originally, this meant that he and Mu Qingxue would face off in the finals.
However, the city-level joint examination was approaching, and especially the top ten competition was exceptionally fierce, with many students' Pokémon sustaining significant injuries.
The school, fearing that Jiang Mo and Mu Qingxue would not have enough time to recover from their injuries after the battle and thus affect their subsequent matches, halted the remaining assessment battles. The specific rankings would be determined in the city-level competition.
"Ah, what a pity. I won't get to see you and Sis-in-law tear each other apart for now," Chen Jiaxing said with a punchable expression.
...
At Jiang Mo's home.
During this period, in addition to training Pikachu and Gastly, Jiang Mo also kept up with his physical training.
Looking at the well-defined, powerful eight-pack abs in the mirror, Jiang Mo couldn't help but nod in satisfaction.
Enhanced physique meant he could retrieve more high-grade Tree Fruit from the game panel. Pikachu and Gastly were probably the only two Pokémon in this world that could achieve new type Tree Fruit freedom.
For high-grade Tree Fruit like Dragon Fruit and sand scale fruit, which can enhance special attack and speed, Jiang Mo basically provided unlimited supplies to Pikachu and Gastly.
"Pikachu, eat a little less. These will be used to make energy cubes later."
Looking at Pikachu, who was devouring Dragon Fruit with ketchup on the side, Jiang Mo helplessly reminded him.
Pikachu, with its mouth full of juice and cheeks puffed out, its small eyes narrowed into slits, was immersed in the enjoyment of the food, completely ignoring Jiang Mo's words.
No matter what kind of Tree Fruit, making it into an energy cube maximizes its effect.
But unfortunately, Pikachu just loved the original, juicy taste of the Tree Fruit, so every time Jiang Mo prepared energy cubes, he would be short on ingredients.
Compared to Pikachu, Gastly was much less trouble; it would eat anything it was fed, and sometimes when it was hungry, it would even go out and find food on its own.
It's just that for some reason, all the Hoothoot that used to hoot outside every night were gone.
Perhaps they were reported for disturbing the peace, as the property management in this villa area was quite effective.
It couldn't have been Gastly, could it? It's just a small Gastly, it shouldn't be able to do something like that...
Gastly: ૮ ₍ ᵔ ⤙ ᵔ ₎ ა Burp~
"Xiao Mo, come down quickly, Mom brought you something good back."
Hearing the commotion downstairs, Jiang Mo immediately went downstairs with Pikachu and Gastly.
"Mom, what's so good?"
Lin Zhiqiu was holding an exquisite sandalwood box. Jiang Mo curiously took it, gently opened it, and saw that it was a Thunder Stone!
And it was a perfect quality, top-grade Thunder Stone. The Thunder Stone emitted a mysterious and alluring glow under the light.
It's important to know that the price of an ite varies depending on its quality, ranging from hundreds of thousands to several millions.
But a perfect quality ite is rare and hard to come by, basically having no market price. Lin Zhiqiu must have paid a considerable price to get him such a Thunder Stone.
"The city-level joint examination is about to start, so Mom thought of getting you a Thunder Stone."
Lin Zhiqiu looked at Jiang Mo gently and said, "Pikachu's strength will also greatly increase after evolving into Raichu, which can help you achieve better results."
Jiang Mo was very touched by Lin Zhiqiu's actions. His mother had always been selfless in her dedication to him, always trying to give him the best of everything.
However, Jiang Mo stated that the matter of evolution still depended on Pikachu's wishes.
Jiang Mo held the Thunder Stone in front of Pikachu, gently shaking it, "Pikachu, what do you think? Do you want to evolve and gain even greater power?"
But as soon as Pikachu saw the Thunder Stone in front of him, he instantly became agitated, his eyes wide, and he quickly retreated a few steps, his body trembling slightly, as if he had seen something terrifying.
"Pika Pika!"
Pikachu frantically shook his head, strongly resisting the idea of evolution.
"Pikachu, why don't you want to evolve?"
Lin Zhiqiu was very puzzled. Logically, evolution is a Pokémon's instinct; it allows them to gain greater power and a sublimation of life. Very few Pokémon would resist it.
Jiang Mo smiled slightly, then put away the Thunder Stone and said, "Since you don't want to evolve, then we won't evolve. Who says you can only become strong through evolution? I believe in you, Pikachu, let's work hard together."
In fact, Pikachu's reaction was already within Jiang Mo's expectations, after all, the game panel said it was the protagonist of a certain world.
If Pikachu evolved into Raichu, would he still be the protagonist?