"The option to choose Pseudo-Legendary Pokémon is really luxurious..."
Pseudo-Legendary Pokémon are a unique category among all Pokémon in the Pokémon universe.
To qualify as a Pseudo-Legendary Pokémon, it must, without exception, have a 600 BST, which is on par with some Legendary Pokémon or even higher!
It also has to have a three-stage evolution.
While Pseudo-Legendary Pokémon have slow level rates and high evolution level requirements, when they reach the final evolution stage, they are very powerful, often considered to be among the most powerful Pokémon.
But before that, they tend to be rather weak, and it takes a long time for them to reach their final evolution stage, which is why they are often considered late bloomers.
Of course, there are some Pokémon that don't follow that rule, such as Archaludon, which has only a 2-evolution stage but has 600 BST, or Slaking, which has a whopping 670 BST!
Then there are Wishiwashi and Palafin, which don't have strong BST but can change form with their BST also changing to 620 and 650, respectively.
Still, Pseudo-Legendary Pokémon are exceptionally strong, making them highly desirable.
"And now I get to choose one of them..." Wang Shóu muttered, looking at each Pseudo-Legendary Pokémon.
Thinking it over, Wang Shóu, without hesitation, chose Tyranitar.
I mean, who would deny the chance to become a literal Godzilla?
Wang Shóu really likes Godzilla, both because it's the Protector of Earth and because Godzilla looks really cool. But of course, Wang Shóu didn't blindly choose Tyranitar for a childish reason.
Well, it is part of the reason, but still, men would understand, right?
Dragonite and Salamence are good, but he already has enough Flying-Type Pokémon, so they are not necessary.
As for Dragapult, he already has Basculin, which will soon evolve into Basculegion with a Ghost-Type, so it's out too.
Same for Metagross—he already has Corvisquire, which will evolve into Corviknight with a Steel-Type.
As for Kommo-o, Baxcalibur, Goodra, and Hydreigon, they are good, but they don't have Mega-Evolution, which placed them at a lower priority.
So, the final choice was either Garchomp or Tyranitar, which was really a tough choice as both are really good, and they can both Mega-Evolve, making them very powerful.
But after a little deliberation, Wang Shóu finally chose Tyranitar, as he particularly valued Tyranitar's ability, which is Sand Stream.
Sand Stream allows the user to create a sandstorm that will last for 5 turns. In this weather, all Pokémon that are not Ground, Rock, or Steel Type will lose 1/16 of their HP every turn, and all Rock-Type Pokémon's Special Defense will be boosted by 50%.
This is very strong as it allows Tyranitar to change the environment in its favor, making it very bulky while still remaining very powerful!
However, what sets Tyranitar apart from Garchomp is that it can learn Dragon Dance, which raises Attack and Speed by 1 stage—a very useful move.
And lastly, it is just a hunch, but Wang Shóu felt that choosing a Pseudo-Legendary Pokémon with a Dragon Type was probably not a good idea.
Because there is Di Tian, the Golden-Eyed Black Dragon, and Gu Yuena, the Silver Dragon King, who is currently sleeping in the Lake of Life.
Dragon spirit beasts are very rare, especially powerful ones, due to being hunted by humans.
So, if Di Tian and Gu Yuena were to sense him, especially when he wanted to enter the inner region, which is close to the core region, Wang Shóu didn't know what might happen.
"So, I choose you, Tyranitar!"
Wang Shóu's Charizard form immediately shape-shifted into a much smaller creature, about the height of 2 basketballs together.
Soon, a small, green reptilian Pokémon with rocky skin appeared. It had a blunt spike on top of its head and triangular black markings on its stomach. Below its red eyes were also black markings, similar to scars. It had red scales on its diamond-shaped belly. Its short arms lacked fingers, and it had a tail with a conical center surrounded by a ring of plate-like scales.
Wang Shóu had officially turned into Larvitar!
"Larvi! Larvi?" (Awesome! I've changed into Larv—huh?)
Wang Shóu patted his throat in surprise.
'What's going on?! Why did I—Oh, right...' Wang Shóu immediately smacked his head in realization. 'Because Larvitar has not reached level 50, making me unable to speak.'
'Sigh, well, it doesn't really matter anyway. I'm used to it.'
Patting his body, feeling it up, Wang Shóu then asked the system to bring up the Status Window. 'System, show my Status Window.'
[Affirmative]
Quickly, the blue panel showed up, listing Wang Shóu's detailed information.
[Name: Wang Shóu]
[Race: Larvitar]
[Ability: Guts]
[Type: Rock, and Ground]
[Level: 25 (750)]
[Pokémon: Pikachu (51), Charizard (55), Clefairy (44), Corvisquire (42), Basculin (40)]
'Oh? It seems that after killing that Soul Saint, my Pokémon have leveled up quite a lot.'
'And it seems that most of my Pokémon should be ready to evolve soon...' Wang Shóu especially glanced at Clefairy, Corvisquire, and Basculin.
Clefairy doesn't have any level requirement—only a Moon Stone is needed to evolve into Clefable. Though Heaven and Earth treasures imbued with moonlight are rare, there should hopefully be one in the upper region.
Corvisquire is level 42, which exceeds the level 38 requirement to evolve into Corviknight. So, taking Scarlet Blood Fruit should allow Corvisquire to evolve.
And as for Basculin...it is a bit of a special case. Basculin does not have any level requirement or item needed to evolve.
What Basculin needs...is to suffer 294 recoil damage in battle to evolve?
'Rather a strange requirement, but it is a requirement in the game, so...' Wang Shóu stroked his chin with his chubby hand, thinking.
'Hey, system. If my hunch is correct, instead of recoil damage, Basculin needs to be on the verge of death to evolve into Basculegion?'
[Yes, your hunch is indeed correct.]
'Phew, I'm glad that is the case.' Wang Shóu couldn't help but sigh in relief.
Don't get him wrong; it's not like he likes to be on the verge of death. On the contrary, he is really afraid of death.
It's just that according to lore, Basculin evolves into Basculegion by absorbing the souls of fallen Basculin who failed to journey upstream. Meaning that the death of Wang Shóu's companion could be a requirement to evolve.
And evolving with the death of his precious companions is absolutely something that Wang Shóu would not tolerate.
So, Wang Shóu was happy to find that this was indeed not the case.
'And besides, if I'm really on the verge of death...I can just switch to Pikachu and electrocute them to death!' Wang Shóu grinned, not worrying about the dilemma of Basculin's evolution anymore.
Then he glanced at himself, who was very small.
'I'm currently level 25. So, after 5 more levels, I will evolve into Pupitar. But after that...hahaha.' Wang Shóu laughed somewhat awkwardly when he remembered the situation with Pupitar.
Because Pupitar is literally just a huge shell.
Though Pupitar can move pretty fast, which is a lot better compared to Metapod and Kakuna, he couldn't imagine a shell beating literally supernatural dangerous creatures.
And he has to wait until he is level 55 until he can evolve into Tyranitar.
'No wonder Pseudo-Legendary Pokémon are called late bloomers.' Nodding his head, Wang Shóu suddenly remembered something.
'Hmm, wait...late bloomers? Wasn't there an item that's perfect for this situation?'
'System, bring up the Item Store!'
[Affirmative]
Then a large blue panel showed up, displaying six different categories.
Wang Shóu quickly pressed the Held Item category, and the Item Store panel immediately showed a long list of item names in A-Z order.
Then he moved his hand on the blue panel, scrolling through the list.
'Hmm, not this one...or this...or this one too...' After scrolling for a fair amount of time, Wang Shóu's eyes lit up.
'Yes, this one!' Wang Shóu immediately pressed on it, and the panel quickly showed the item's information.
[Lucky Egg]
[Effect: An item to be held by a Pokémon. It is said to bring happiness, and Pokémon will earn 150% of the original experience gained.]
[BP Cost: 5,000]
'This is the perfect one! With this, Larvitar can grow by 50% more!'
'But ah, it costs 5,000 BP, which is all I have left...' Wang Shóu couldn't help but smile bitterly. With this purchase, he is now completely penniless.
'It is just temporary. Soon, I will earn it all back and even more!' Comforting himself, Wang Shóu selected to purchase the Lucky Egg.
Then, almost immediately, something akin to data started condensing in the air, forming a large egg, like a digital item being created.
Soon, the creation of the large egg was completed, and it fell into Wang Shóu's short arm.
'Whoa, it is lighter than I expected.' Holding the large egg, which was almost as large as Larvitar's head, Wang Shóu tapped the egg with his arm.
'But uhh...it's so large. How am I going to carry this?'
[You do not need to carry it. You can absorb it, and if you wish to give it to another Pokémon, you just need to exude it out.]
'Oh, so I just need to absorb it? Huh, that explains why Held Items never get damaged despite being in so many fierce Pokémon battles.'
Looking at the large egg, Wang Shóu then brought it to his stomach and focused on absorbing it. Soon, the large egg melded with Wang Shóu's body and was completely absorbed.
'Easier than I expected. Though I feel kinda bloated, it's probably the item slot limitation.'
Patting his stomach, Wang Shóu looked around, still in the large cave.
'It's probably been quite a while since Xiong Yong and Zhuzhu went out to get food. I should change back into Charizard to not scare them.'
So, Wang Shóu quickly changed from his small Larvitar form into a large, domineering Charizard form.
Then Wang Shóu suddenly grunted in pain and lay down. Obviously, the deep injuries on Charizard's stomach had not fully healed. "Ugh, it will definitely take a while to fully recover..."
"But when I do...I will head to the upper region, and I will definitely become so powerful that I won't ever fall into this situation again!" Wang Shóu gripped his hand, his blue eyes blazing with determination.