No one knew where Horsea had learned all this. When it first arrived, it was so aloof, but now it had a goofy streak. They say one takes on the color of one's company, but Wen Qi firmly refused to believe this was his influence.
Recalling that yesterday's plans for Poliwag were still unsettled, Wen Qi said to it, "I've designed two paths for you. Which one do you want to take?"
Wen Qi explained the two evolution options in detail, along with the difficulties and specifics after evolution, letting Poliwag think it over for itself.
After hearing Wen Qi out, Poliwag fell into deep thought, then asked, "If I evolve into Politoed, can I become the leader of the group?"
Wen Qi was momentarily stunned by Poliwag's question, but seeing its slightly shy expression, he understood Poliwag's choice. He never expected the unassuming Poliwag to harbor such grand ambitions, aiming to seize its own father's position as leader. But since that was the choice, Wen Qi agreed, promising to raise it into a Politoed later.
After finishing this discussion, Wen Qi arranged training plans for both of them. Poliwag needed to eat and sleep more, as it was somewhat malnourished and required proper nourishment. It also needed to strengthen its physique and skills, focusing more on support moves. Horsea, on the other hand, would focus on physical training, mainly practicing Focus Energy, Dragon Dance, and Dragon Pulse to boost its offensive power.
Having arranged for these two, Wen Qi summoned Sandshrew. As soon as it arrived and saw Wen Qi, it ran over, hugged his leg tightly, eyes brimming with tears, and rubbed its little head against him. Wen Qi had no idea when Sandshrew had learned this trick—it did this every time, and he couldn't understand why it loved to act so clingy. "Little one, you're a boy—how can you be like this?" Still, he knew rodent Pokémon were often timid, so he didn't say more, figuring it would toughen up once it evolved into Sandslash.
Looking at the tearful Sandshrew, Wen Qi said, "Little one, I want to ask you: in the future, do you want to focus on battling or on farming?"
Sandshrew was a bit confused by the question, not understanding what Wen Qi meant. Seeing its dazed expression, Wen Qi patiently explained, "If you want to go the battle route, you'll need to learn many combat skills and train frequently. You might get hurt during battles, but your strength will grow quickly. If you choose farming, you'll just need to train your physique and some digging skills, eat and sleep, but your progress will be slower. So, what's your choice? I'll respect it."
After hearing Wen Qi's explanation, Sandshrew finally understood. It thought for a moment and asked, "Will my mom and dad only farm from now on?"
Wen Qi said, "Yes, Sandslash and the others will farm on the ranch from now on."
Then Sandshrew said, "Then I want to battle."
Wen Qi was surprised by Sandshrew's choice. He had expected the timid Sandshrew to pick farming, but it chose battle instead. Still, since it was Sandshrew's decision, he wouldn't argue and respected it. He also thought the combination of Sandshrew and Rhyhorn—one attacking, one defending—was quite good.
With that, Wen Qi said to Sandshrew, "Little one, are you ready? Training will be tougher from now on."
"Sand, sand..." Sandshrew chirped that it wasn't afraid.
The subsequent training would still focus on stamina and speed dodging, since as an attacker in the future, it would need excellent speed and agility—its defense was still relatively weak. For skills, it would mainly train Defense Curl, Rollout, Rapid Spin, Swords Dance, and later learn Metal Claw.
After arranging Sandshrew's training, Wen Qi turned his attention to Gogoat beside him, which was currently the highest-level Pokémon. Following the previous plan, he had Gogoat train its stamina and speed. As for other skills, it could follow its own preferences, but mainly focus on a few attack and recovery moves.
Wen Qi went over to Turtwig, where the little one was training hard, cultivating life energy and sensing nature in its own way. At that moment, Wen Qi noticed signs that Turtwig was about to evolve, so he said, "Turtwig, stop training for a moment."
Wen Qi hadn't expected evolution to come so quickly. Approaching Turtwig, he took out a pile of high-grade perfect energy cubes and told it to eat plenty. Normally, it couldn't consume such high-grade ones because they were hard to digest, but during evolution, it didn't matter—they would all convert into evolution energy, enhancing its foundation.
Turtwig looked at the mountain of energy cubes before it, feeling like it was in heaven. It couldn't believe such good fortune had come its way and quickly started eating. But even with evolution approaching, it felt full after just a few cubes.
However, Wen Qi said, "Eat a bit more—it's fine. It'll all be digested during evolution."
Turtwig forced down a few more cubes, but eventually couldn't swallow another bite. Seeing that Turtwig truly couldn't eat anymore, Wen Qi took out some supplements and had it drink them, finally even forcing the grass essence worth ten thousand points into Turtwig's mouth.
Feeling like it was about to burst, Turtwig was in agony, as if it might explode. It lay painfully on the grass, the warm sunlight shining on its shell, casting a faint glow. Suddenly, its body began to tremble slightly, as if a surging power was racing through it. Its eyes sparkled with an unprecedented light.
Then, its body began to undergo a wondrous transformation. The patterns on its shell grew more intricate and exquisite, as if crafted by nature itself, every inch brimming with vibrant life. Its limbs gradually became stronger, able to support its body more steadily. As time slowly passed, Turtwig's body grew larger, more robust and majestic. Its gaze became more resolute, as if ready to face any future challenges.
Finally, when the evolution light fully faded, a majestic, enormous Grotle stood before Wen Qi. Staring at the two-meter-tall giant, Wen Qi was startled out of his wits. He never imagined that the tiny Turtwig would become so massive after evolution. Normal Grotle were only about 1.1 meters tall, but his was nearly double that—and that was just height. Looking at the broad, massive shell diameter, Wen Qi felt that the Turtwig that used to cuddle in his arms was a distant memory.
Grotle, delighted with its evolved form, happily charged toward Wen Qi. But Wen Qi felt no joy at all. Seeing the huge creature rushing at him, he felt like he might wet himself—if that massive Grotle rammed into him, he'd be meeting his parents. So he quickly shouted, "Grotle, stop!" and immediately had Gogoat block it.
Hearing Wen Qi tell it to stop and even have Gogoat intercept it, Grotle felt deeply saddened, thinking Wen Qi no longer liked it. Seeing Grotle's sorrowful expression, Wen Qi understood its thoughts. This little one, despite evolving so huge, still had a fragile heart. So he quickly said, "You idiot, look at how big you are now! If you'd charged at me just now, you'd have taken my life. With my small frame, one hit from you, and this book would be over."
Hearing Wen Qi's explanation, Grotle felt a bit embarrassed. It looked at how much it had grown, and then at Wen Qi, who it used to have to look up to but now could look down on. Realizing it was because of this, not because Wen Qi didn't love it anymore, it slowly approached him. It gently rubbed its big head against Wen Qi, but probably because it had just evolved and hadn't yet controlled its strength, it pushed Wen Qi back several steps. If Wen Qi hadn't been agile, he would have been knocked over.
Grotle looked awkward, its big head at a loss, unsure whether to keep rubbing or stop. Wen Qi found this amusing, so he stepped forward and gently stroked Grotle's big head, saying, "Little one—no, now I should call you big guy—congratulations on evolving. I hope you'll keep getting better. Don't worry, you're my starter Pokémon. Always believe you're the one I cherish most."
Hearing Wen Qi's words, Grotle grinned happily. Seeing it so joyful, Wen Qi knew it was still just a child at heart.
Wen Qi checked Grotle's information:
Pokémon: Grotle Level: 20 Type: Grass Ability: Overgrow (Powers up Grass-type moves when HP is low) Talent: Light Blue Moves: Tackle (Proficient), Withdraw (Proficient), Absorb (Proficient), Ingrain (Proficient), Growth (Proficient), Synthesis (Proficient), Razor Leaf (Proficient), Energy Ball (Proficient), Earth Power (Proficient, Variant), Grassy Terrain (Proficient, Variant), Mega Drain (Proficient), Leech Seed (Proficient), Bite (Beginner), Stomp (Beginner), Giga Drain (Beginner), Protect (Beginner)
Wen Qi saw that after evolving into Grotle, its level had risen to 20, and it had learned four new moves. Most importantly, its talent had indeed improved—now he finally had a blue-talent Pokémon. Wen Qi knew that this talent boost was partly due to luck. Otherwise, with just one grass essence on a deep green talent base, evolving to light blue was likely because the earlier divine beast blessing hadn't been fully absorbed. This evolution had triggered the talent upgrade. Now at light blue, further improvements would be harder and would require gradual progress.
Watching Grotle happily getting used to its new body, Wen Qi felt he needed to step up its training, especially battle practice. After settling the ranch affairs, he could either head to the mountains to find wild Pokémon for battles or return to the city, where there were battle halls with more diverse options.