"So sharp… you caught the faint scent of Sabrina on me, and that's why you're trembling, aren't you?"
Logan muttered softly, his gaze fixed on the small Eevee before him. His eyes burned with desire.
A Pokémon this rare, this one-of-a-kind… letting it slip away would be unthinkable. In truth, this Eevee's rarity rivaled that of Legendary Pokémon. It was unique—utterly irreplaceable. And yet, compared to them, the difficulty of capturing it was far lower.
"Hmph… one day, I will command the God of the Skies itself. But to reach that day, I need to grow stronger, to make a grand plan. Gods don't yield easily to mortals."
Logan's lips curved into a small, determined smile.
"…So for now, let's start here. Go, Gabite!"
He flicked his wrist, releasing the Poké Ball. The fierce dragon emerged in a burst of red light—Gabite's snarling form exuding a violent, terrifying aura. Instantly, the Flareon in front of them bared its fangs. From Gabite, it sensed danger.
A roar—and flames surged. Flareon spewed a torrent of scorching fire, the blazing heat warping the very air. The temperature spiked in an instant—hundreds of degrees, enough to sear lungs with a single breath. An ordinary human standing here would already be dead. But a Trainer, shielded by the protective barrier of their Pokémon's bond, could endure it. Even so, the heat swept across Logan like a tidal wave of molten air.
Gabite only sneered. It didn't even flinch. Taking a step forward, the dragon let the inferno crash against its scales. The fire dissipated into nothing but drifting black soot.
"Breaking through a dragon's hide with nothing but fire? That's impossible."
Logan chuckled, but Flareon panicked. It stumbled back, body shimmering faintly—and then, with a flash of light, it transformed into a Vaporeon.
"As I thought," Logan muttered, narrowing his eyes. "A wild Pokémon with no Trainer can only rely on instinct. Fire fails, so you switch to water. But something's off about you…"
Vaporeon unleashed a Hydro Pump, the water slicing through the air like blades sharp enough to carve stone. The high-pressure torrent struck Gabite, forcing it back a step—but only that. Its scales, tougher than rock, shrugged off the blow.
The difference was absolute. Gabite, trained by Logan through countless battles, had become a monster in its own right. Against it, this Eevee was helpless.
Though special, it had never truly been trained. Team Rocket never had the chance. Aside from its strange ability to evolve freely, it was weak. That weakness made Logan anxious—any halfway-decent Trainer could have taken it if they'd stumbled across it first.
Gabite must be close to evolving into Garchomp, Logan realized. He could read its condition like an open book. Evolution wasn't an end—it was only a beginning. And when that day came, he would push Gabite to even greater heights.
Meanwhile, Eevee shifted again. From Vaporeon into Jolteon.
Logan frowned deeper. "Exactly what I suspected. Every time you change form, your energy plummets. It looks like it's tearing at you—almost as if the act of evolving itself is hurting you."
That was dangerous. For a Pokémon, energy was life itself. If every evolution drained that life away, it meant Eevee wasn't built for prolonged battle.
"…But there's a solution," Logan said, hand slipping into his pocket to touch the permanent Water Stone he carried. "If you rely on your own energy to force each evolution, of course it's painful. With the proper stones, it wouldn't be a problem."
He sighed. If Eevee could only evolve into Flareon, Vaporeon, or Jolteon, it would be a waste. Its true potential was beyond that—evolving fluidly to counter any opponent, any environment. Fire, water, lightning… these could be solved with stones. But the rest? Stones alone wouldn't suffice.
Then Logan chuckled and tapped his forehead. "I'm being stupid. If it's just an issue of energy, then I'll train you. I'll make you strong enough that this little drawback won't even matter. If you had ten units of energy now, each evolution costs one—that's devastating. But if you had a hundred, or a thousand, what's one point then?"
It made sense. Likely, Team Rocket had planned the same: find a Trainer to raise Eevee until its body could sustain its ability. But before that could happen, their lab had been destroyed.
"Well then. Gabite—stop enjoying Jolteon's little electric massage. End this with Earthquake!"
Logan snapped his fingers. The timing was perfect: Jolteon, pure Electric-type, was completely vulnerable.
Gabite slammed its foot down. The ground convulsed, the air itself vibrating as if a giant's heartbeat thundered beneath the earth. Jolteon's wide eyes reflected terror a heartbeat before the explosion hit.
The shockwave hurled the Electric-type like a ragdoll, smashing it through the wall of a wooden house. Its body trembled, broken, overwhelmed. Its earlier evolutions, the energy drain, the type disadvantage—it all piled up. One Earthquake had nearly finished it.
"Still standing, are you?" Logan muttered, watching Jolteon struggle back to its feet. He admired it. "You refuse to surrender, even broken like this… you chase freedom with everything you have. That spirit, I like."
But Gabite was relentless. The ground buckled again, splitting open with raw power. Jolteon screamed as it was launched skyward, before plummeting back down—already reverting to Eevee mid-fall, its body limp and battered.
This was the reality of capturing wild Pokémon. Without crushing their resistance first, no capture could succeed.
Logan tossed a Poké Ball. This time, the Eevee had no fight left. The ball clicked shut.
It rolled back into his hand, trembling faintly. Inside, Eevee still breathed weakly. Logan sighed and dug into his pocket, pulling out a healing cube. He released Eevee again.
The small creature emerged, eyes defiant but body too frail to move.
"You really are stubborn," Logan said softly. "But I'm not Rocket. I won't experiment on you. I'll protect you. So trust me."
He cradled Eevee gently, brushing its sleek fur, and pressed the healing cube to its mouth.
And then—
From the forest, vines lashed out, coiling around Gabite's arms and legs. At the same moment, a storm of razor-sharp leaves tore through the air toward Logan.
"Mewtwo—thanks for the warning," he muttered. His eyes narrowed.
"Leaf Blade!"
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