Useless Evolution Pokemon!

In Pewter City Gym, Flint handed Zephyr the gray Boulder Badge.

Both of Flint's Pokémon were defeated, and as the Gym Leader standing in for his son Brock, Flint had to reward the challenger.

"You're one of the most impressive rookie trainers I've ever seen. Where are you from?" Flint asked as he passed the badge to Zephyr.

Zephyr accepted it calmly. "I'm from Pallet Town."

Flint's eyes widened. "Pallet Town? Do you know Ash Ketchum?"

Zephyr nodded. "We grew up together. I ran into him in Viridian Forest."

Flint chuckled. "Pallet Town sure produces amazing trainers. My son Brock left with Ash not too long ago. How about joining me for dinner? You've earned it."

Zephyr shook his head politely. "Thank you, but I'll pass. I have plans to head to Mount Moon. There's something I need to take care of there."

Flint looked curious but didn't press further. "Fair enough. Good luck, Zephyr."

---

Zephyr left Pewter City and made his way toward Mount Moon. Along the way, wild Pokémon like Zubat and Geodude occasionally appeared, but Zephyr ignored them. His goal was the cave at the mountain's summit.

From a distance, he spotted the entrance to the cave. "This is it," Zephyr murmured. In the anime, Clefairy lived here, and the area was rich with Moon Stones. Team Rocket had also targeted this place before, though their plans failed miserably.

Zephyr smirked. "Not this time."

---

By nightfall, Zephyr reached the top of Mount Moon. Near the cave entrance, he noticed two figures: researchers.

One was a middle-aged man jotting notes on a clipboard. The other was a young woman in a tight white lab coat, wearing round glasses. Her confident smile and focused demeanor caught Zephyr's eye.

"Great. A late-night beauty in the middle of nowhere," Zephyr muttered to himself.

---

"Emma, you just graduated. You shouldn't be roughing it out here," the man said, looking concerned.

Emma smiled. "It's fine. I won't be here long. I'm just wrapping up my research report on Mount Moon."

Their conversation was cut short as smoke wafted over them. Zephyr had activated his device—a gas emitter from his system. The two researchers collapsed within moments.

Hidden in the shadows, Zephyr pulled a scarf over his face and approached the cave. He activated another device—a powder blower—sending a fine mist deep into the cave.

"Haunter," Zephyr called out. The mischievous Ghost-type emerged from its Poké Ball. "Check inside. Make sure the area's clear."

Haunter floated inside. A few minutes later, it reappeared, giving a wicked grin. Their plan was working.

Zephyr released his shiny Beedrill next. "The cave is yours. Take care of the Clefairy and grab every Moon Stone you can find. Anything useful—bring it back to me."

Weedle made some strange noise in acknowledgment and darted into the cave. Crashes and faint cries echoed as Haunter and Weedle went to work. Zephyr smirked as the system chimed.

[Your Pokémon's combat power has increased. Clefairy defeated. Moon Stone acquired.]

While waiting, Zephyr glanced at Emma's unconscious form. Without hesitation, he lifted her and carried her into his flying boat.

What happened inside the boat remained a mystery.

###

In the flying boat, Zephyr sat on the sofa and poured himself a glass of beer.

"It's really good to be a villain... you can really be lawless," Zephyr muttered softly.

Just as he sighed, something moved outside the flying boat.

Zephyr went outside, only to see a flash of light — a Weedle, waiting anxiously for Zephyr.

"What's the matter, little guy?" Zephyr asked.

Seeing the little Weedle appear with that panicked expression, Zephyr felt that something must have happened in the cave.

He also faintly sensed it just now, as the system hadn't given him any notification for a while.

If Haunter and Weedle's training were going well, their combat effectiveness should have been improving, and the system would have notified him.

"Come on, come in with me," Zephyr said, lifting the Weedle in one hand.

He quickly walked into the cave.

Inside the cave, many Pokémon were fainted, like Pidgey, Zubat, and even a few Machop.

These Pokémon were too weak, and Zephyr had no interest in catching them.

After walking a short distance, Zephyr heard the sound of fighting ahead.

In the deeper parts of the cave, three figures were relentlessly chasing Haunter, surrounding it. Haunter, with a combat power of over 500, wasn't so easy to defeat.

But in this cave, there were still Pokémon strong enough to take it on.

It seemed Haunter was still at a disadvantage.

[Ding, 20 meters away, there is a Clefairy.

Clefairy is a Fairy-type Pokémon with excellent hearing, able to hear sounds from up to a kilometer away.

Comprehended skills: Metronome, Moonblast, Follow Me, Attract.

Combat power: 450 points.]

...

[Ding, 25 meters away, there is another Clefairy.

Combat power: 460 points.]

...

[Ding, 23 meters away, there is another Clefairy.

Combat power: 430 points.]

After approaching, Zephyr immediately received the system's prompt. It turned out that Haunter was fighting against the Clefairy. The combined combat power of these three Clefairy exceeded haunter's overall combat power, and the smoke screen and sleep powder Zephyr bought couldn't defeat them directly but only weakened them slightly.

"Haunter, don't use intimidating moves; they don't work on Fairy-types. You can use Shadow Clone and take out the weakest Clefairy first with Shadow Ball!" Zephyr shouted.

Seeing this, Zephyr immediately issued his command. The situation was urgent. If it took too long, other variables might interfere.

It was time to fight fast!

Under Zephyr's command, Haunter launched a surprise attack on the weakest Clefairy.

The Clefairy, still affected by the poison powder, had reduced combat power and couldn't resist Haunter's fierce attack. After being hit by Shadow Ball, it fainted immediately.

"Weedle, you go too, help Haunter a little. Use String Shot and restrain the other Clefairy," Zephyr ordered the Weedle in his arms.

Without hesitation, the Weedle jumped down and landed on the cave floor.

Its current combat power was 210.

Although it wasn't a match for Clefairy, Zephyr's presence gave it a lot of confidence, otherwise, it wouldn't dare step up.

Weedle immediately spun rapidly, wrapping the Clefairy in Silk Thread, restraining its movements. But this only angered the Clefairy, and it charged directly at Weedle, slapping it repeatedly.

This was the difference in power!

Clefairy's combat strength was over twice that of Weedle, making it a crushing match.

Zephyr rubbed his face, unable to watch any longer.

However, with Haunter now focusing on the strongest Clefairy, the situation was more manageable. After using a few moves, Haunter was clearly about to win.

In the end, after using another Shadow Ball, the strongest Clefairy was knocked out.

But all eyes turned to Weedle, who had been slapped so hard its eyes were tearing up.

At that moment, a bright light appeared around it!

[Ding, Weedle is evolving.]

"Due to its weak combat power, Weedle triggered its evolution. Congratulations to the host! The first evolution of Weedle is complete and rewarded with points...]

...

Name: Kakuna

Bug-type Pokémon, the evolved form of Weedle, with a hard, yellow shell protecting its body. Kakuna can no longer move but has evolved to a stronger form.

Comprehended skills: String Shot, Harden.

Special Ability: Shed Skin.

Evolution value: 0 (Next stage is Beedrill.)

Combat power: Impossible to estimate for now.]

Zephyr was excited upon seeing Weedle's evolution. Evolving in battle was impressive and greatly increased its combat power.

However, after seeing Kakuna's info, Zephyr was confused.

He remembered that Weedle's evolution into Kakuna was quite useless. Kakuna was motionless, had no combat power, and was weaker than Weedle before the evolution.

Even Kakuna seemed a bit confused.

What happened? The fierce desire to fight just disappeared.

Evolving into Kakuna... what could it do?

"..."

"Well, this is embarrassing. I thought you'd evolve into something powerful and sweep the battlefield," Zephyr muttered weakly.

He then turned to Haunter, who was also confused.

What's going on? Wasn't that Weedle supposed to evolve into something stronger? Why is it over so quickly?

After a moment of awkward silence, Haunter snapped out of it and quickly took down the last Clefairy. It didn't take long for Clefairy to faint.

Zephyr quickly returned Kakuna's Poké Ball. He really didn't want to see this little guy anymore. Even though Kakuna was a shiny Pokémon, what good was a shiny Pokémon if it couldn't do anything?

"Hey, wait and see, it might be stronger when it evolves into Beedrill," Zephyr tried to comfort himself and walked deeper into the cave.

Ahead, a large stone appeared, surrounded by unconscious Clefairy.