Pokémon: Chronicles of Freedom-Chapter 657 - 656: Torchic’s Evolution

Cain watched as flames suddenly appeared around Torchic, causing his eyes to light up with excitement.

Quickly, he ran with Aron toward Torchic.

At that moment, the flames had nearly engulfed Torchic entirely.

Torchic was also a little confused, as it was the first time experiencing something like this. Inside the fire, its small, puzzled eyes looked at Cain, seeking help.

As he observed the data provided by the system, Cain smiled and said, "Torchic, don't worry. This is normal because... you're about to evolve!"

Hearing Cain's explanation, Torchic's eyes instantly lit up.

Ever since witnessing Mudkip's evolution, all the Pokémon in the second team had developed a strong desire to evolve. They all wanted to discover what abilities they would gain and how they would look after evolving. freeweɓnovel.cѳm

Because of this, they trained with much more enthusiasm, eager to reach that state of evolution soon.

Torchic had been excited all day due to the internal energy that naturally made it more active as its evolution approached.

At that moment, its entire body was enveloped in flames, except for its face, which was still visible. Both its feathers and head plume were practically transformed into fire.

This was the Fire-type energy reshaping its body—a normal process during evolution.

Though it was intriguing, Torchic wasn't surrounded by the characteristic white glow of evolution.

Cain couldn't understand why this was happening, but according to the system's data, all its stats had already maxed out, signaling that Torchic was ready to evolve.

Without dwelling on it further, Cain retrieved a dose of the attribute-enhancement potion specific to Torchic.

Torchic's evolution was significant for Cain, not only because it was one of his Pokémon capable of mega evolving, but also because it served as a crucial test to determine if the potions could enhance the dark blue quality of his Pokémon.

"Torchic, this is the quality enhancement potion, just like the one Mudkip had! Drink it!" Cain said, holding out the potion.

"Chiiic!"

Torchic eagerly opened its mouth, waiting for Cain to give it the potion.

...

The moment turned awkward.

Cain had forgotten that, with its entire body covered in flames, Torchic couldn't simply drink the potion.

To avoid burning himself, Cain used his psychic abilities to control the potion, slowly pouring the liquid into Torchic's mouth.

"Chiiic!"

After drinking it all, Torchic let out a loud cry, ready to begin evolving.

However, the most embarrassing part was that the flames around its body began to gradually subside.

Cain frowned.

"Is it still missing something?"

He retrieved a Poké Ball and summoned Slowking.

"Slowking, use Flamethrower on Torchic. Torchic, absorb as much energy as you can!"

"Yadon!"

Slowking nodded seriously and unleashed its Flamethrower, directly engulfing Torchic.

For the first time, Torchic experienced the heat of an external fire. It was intense, and it wanted to scream, but Cain quickly stopped it.

"Torchic, endure it! Don't cry out. If you do now, the potion's effects might diminish. Absorb all the fire energy from Slowking!"

Hearing this, Torchic closed its eyes and endured the discomfort while absorbing the fire energy.

One minute...

Two minutes...

Three minutes...

After five minutes, when Slowking was nearly exhausted, Torchic's body began showing new changes.

"That's enough, Slowking. You can stop," Cain said, handing a Pokéblock to Slowking.

After all, Slowking, being a Water/Psychic type, wasn't specialized in Fire moves, so it was natural for it to tire after such an effort.

Torchic absorbed the last breath of fire from Slowking, and the flames around its body exploded, fully engulfing it in a red-and-yellow fireball.

Finally, Torchic began to shine with a white light.

It was finally entering the state of evolution.

Cain found it strange that Torchic hadn't emitted the glow earlier, but he realized it had expended much of its energy during the battle with Scyther. Its body simply didn't have enough energy to trigger evolution at that moment.

Fortunately, Cain had acted quickly, and with Slowking's help, Torchic was able to recover the energy it needed.

Otherwise, the valuable potion would have been wasted, and Torchic might have suffered permanent damage from an interrupted evolution.

Finally, the evolution process began correctly.

The system monitored Torchic's changes in real time. Its stats had already surpassed normal limits.

Cain, Slowking, and Aron watched intently as Torchic remained enveloped in light.

Gradually, Torchic's silhouette began to change. Its height increased visibly, and its small wings elongated considerably, resembling human arms.

In its new form, Torchic gained the Fighting type, which would significantly boost its close-combat abilities.

The Fighting type was also an important addition to Cain's team, which lacked Pokémon of that type, helping cover certain weaknesses.

After ten minutes, the glow started to fade, revealing a Pokémon with three red feathers on its head, a light yellow body, and sturdy red legs.

Its new arms, which now resembled elongated wings, nearly touched the ground when standing, as if they were weapons ready for battle, with three sharp claws at the tips.

Additionally, its legs had strengthened significantly, clearly capable of leaping great distances with ease.

This was Combusken, Torchic's evolved form.

From a small, childlike Pokémon, Torchic had grown into an adolescent-looking form. Its face no longer displayed the innocence it once had.

It had grown from 40 cm to an impressive height of 90 cm.

"Congratulations, Combusken! How do you feel after evolving?" Cain asked with a smile.

"Bussk!"

Combusken jumped powerfully, delivering a kick to a nearby tree, followed by another mid-air kick.

The tree fell to the ground instantly.

Combusken landed on one knee, arms spread in an incredibly elegant and powerful stance.

(End of Chapter)