"Scyther, Wing Attack!"
"Misdreavus, Confuse Ray!"
While the Pokémon Center was still under construction for Anna Joy, a battle raged on the flat arena inside the Pokémon Battle Dome. Arthur and Hector faced off, with Anna—Arthur's mother—serving as the sole referee.
Scyther, long frustrated by this elusive Ghost-type that rendered most of its attacks useless, clenched its eyes shut, determined not to fall victim to the Confuse Ray's disorienting light.
After countless battles, Hector had discovered a simple but effective counter for Confuse Ray: Just close your eyes!
Momentarily halting its Wing Attack, Scyther's wings blurred with motion, beating so rapidly they were invisible to the naked eye. A white light shimmered across them as it used the vibrations in the air to locate its opponent.
Although Misdreavus was a Ghost-type, Ocasia's variant wasn't a true Ghost. Its presence still left ripples in the air—subtle tremors that sensitive Bug and Flying-types like Scyther could detect.
But Arthur had trained his Misdreavus well. Aware of its vulnerability to airborne tracking, he taught it to slip into an alternate space during battles, especially against Flying-types.
The moment Misdreavus phased into the other space, its form remained faintly visible, but its presence vanished completely.
To Scyther, it was as if the target had disappeared into thin air.
With Confuse Ray still active, Scyther dared not open its eyes. Unable to pinpoint Misdreavus, it could only hope luck would guide its Wing Attack.
But Arthur wasn't about to leave anything to chance.
"Misdreavus, another Growl!"
"Mis~!" The eerie cry echoed through the dome as Misdreavus let out another ghostly Growl, striking Scyther again.
Normally, a fierce Pokémon like Scyther could shake off the effects of Growl quickly—but not this time. Its mental state had already been shaken by repeated battles against Misdreavus—and this wasn't the first time it had been hit by Growl in this battle.
Scyther trembled, its combat instinct dulled, its stats—especially Attack—plummeting to rock bottom.
At last, it opened its eyes—and froze.
It stared at Misdreavus, not with rage, but with fear.
What could it do?
Scyther only knew two moves that could hit a Ghost-type: Fury Cutter and Wing Attack—and both required it to get in close.
Technically, it could use Normal-type moves, but those only landed when Misdreavus was caught completely off guard.
It was far more reliable to stick with its Bug and Flying-type attacks.
But with Growl stacking, its strength had been sapped. At this point, it was nothing more than a sitting mantis—an easy target for the mischievous Misdreavus to toy with.
"This is just a bad matchup!" Hector muttered, frustrated—but there was nothing he could do.
His Beedrill had been stronger than Arthur's Pikachu, but thanks to paralysis, Pikachu had managed to take it down before fainting. Now, Scyther was all he had left to face Misdreavus.
It was one-sided.
Scyther was powerful in many ways, but it had a consistent weakness: status effects.
Spores and powders from his wife's team, Growl spam from his son, and even his daughter had her Lapras lull it to sleep with Sing. No matter where it battled, Scyther was always getting shut down by something.
At this point, it was both numb and disgusted by these dirty tactics.
Arthur grinned. "Dad, this is the charm of Pokémon battles!"
Hector rolled his eyes, but deep down, he agreed. It really was fun.
Even when Scyther grumbled after every loss, Hector could tell it was enjoying the challenge too.
If I keep enduring this, I'll build resistance!One day, I'll be immune to these despicable tricks! Scyther swore silently.
In the end, after taking a pitiful Fury Cutter to the face without so much as a flinch, Misdreavus calmly finished the fight with Confusion—adding a final insult with the confusion effect, as if Scyther hadn't suffered enough already.
"That makes twenty wins against Hector, Arthur." Anna, watching the battle with a warm smile, clapped her hands in congratulations.
Then she turned to Hector with a teasing smile. "Dear, you've never won a single battle against Arthur."
Hector's face twitched.
What could he say? He wanted to protest that Arthur had too many advantages over his Pokémon, but the words stuck in his throat.
Who had cursed his luck like this?
Even before Arthur had Misdreavus, Beedrill kept getting paralyzed after just one electric attack from Pikachu. And since Beedrill's speed was its greatest asset, defeat was all but certain.
This wasn't fair!
So now, Hector was training Beedrill hard, hoping to teach it a ranged attack so it wouldn't have to get close to Pikachu and risk paralysis anymore.
"I'll win next time..." Hector sighed, applying a Potion to his Scyther and giving it an encouraging pat.
Arthur didn't know how to comfort him.
Honestly, he wanted to let his dad win at least once. But faking a defeat wasn't something he could do—not for Hector, not for their Pokémon. Respecting opponents and giving your all—that's what battling was about.
After a moment's thought, Arthur spoke up. "Do you want to try evolving your Scyther?"
Scyther had reached level 18—high enough to be stable and to evolve safely. Besides, Arthur had been itching to study Trade evolution sooner rather than later. With new Pokémon templates being developed and created using this method to evolve, the earlier he learned, the better to ensure everything went smoothly.
"My Scyther can evolve?" Hector asked in surprise, while Scyther looked on with longing.
Remembering that Scyther already had a total of 500 base stats, Hector wondered—could it really evolve? Wouldn't it become much stronger?
Seeing the question in Hector's eyes, Arthur shook his head. "Although Scyther can evolve, its total base stats will remain the same."
Those words surprised everyone—both humans and Pokémon alike.
Wouldn't evolving make a Pokémon stronger?
Their expressions seemed to silently ask, Are you sure you're telling the truth? Arthur curled his lips, feeling just as doubtful.
Honestly, Arthur had always believed that Scizor had higher total base stats than Scyther—but using the Memora Potion made him realize that wasn't the case.
In fact, that was one of the unsettling side effects of the Memora Potion.
Well, not the potion's fault—his own.
The truth was, their stats remained the same—but his long-held belief that Scizor had higher total base stats clashed violently with that reality.
His mind refused to accept it.
He convinced himself that his memory must be faulty, or maybe the stats he saw online were incorrect.
As his mind denied the truth and clung harder to his own thoughts, he suddenly felt a buzzing in his head—and then he fainted.
It took three days before he woke up, causing worry and unrest for his family and the entire Rastor Village.
Determined not to faint again, Arthur gritted his teeth and decided to trust his memory instead of his ideal.
He didn't want to relive the mental chaos of Reshiram and Zekrom crashing together and Kyurem being born inside his mind ever again.
Did believing that Scizor had higher total base stats than Scyther count as holding an ideal?
He wasn't sure, but he had to choose either truth or ideal.
In the end, he chose Reshiram—he chose to believe in the truth.
Arthur shook his head mentally with a sigh before turning to his dad. "Yes, but when Scyther evolves, its typing changes from Bug and Flying to Bug and Steel. This shift greatly boosts its defenses—Steel typing grants many resistances and cuts its weaknesses down to just Fire type, which is its biggest threat.
"Alternatively, it can evolve into a Bug and Rock type. This form focuses more on raw offensive power and has a unique move, but it comes with weaknesses to Water, Rock, and Steel.
"Both evolutions have their own strengths and weaknesses— the Steel evolution is bulkier and better at taking hits, while the Rock evolution hits harder but is less durable."
Pausing slightly, Arthur added, "Or you can just keep it as Scyther, which is very fast and hits hard but is frail and has a major weakness to Rock-type moves because of its Bug and Flying typing.
"All three share the same total base stats, but their stats are distributed differently depending on the form."
Of course, Arthur hoped Hector and Scyther would choose Scizor over Kleavor.
Scizor reigned supreme!
Besides, only Scizor needed Trade evolution, which would serve his research well.
But in the end, he let them choose for themselves.
Scyther and Hector exchanged quiet words before nodding together, then Hector turned to face Arthur. "We choose the Bug and Steel evolution."
"Alright," Arthur nodded calmly, though inside, he was thrilled.
Scizor reigned supreme!
That had to be said twice!
He then advised, "However, the evolution method is a bit tricky—wait a moment."
Arthur left the Pokémon Battle Dome to fetch a Metal Coat from his research lab, a simple metallic cream used on Pokémon. On his way back, he met Lena and returned with her.
After arriving, he handed the bottle of metallic cream to his dad and explained, "To evolve Scyther into a Bug and Steel type, you have to apply this metallic cream onto Scyther's body. The tricky part is that it requires a 'Trade.'"
"Trade?" everyone exclaimed in unison, tilting their heads in confusion along with their Pokémon.
Arthur gave a wry smile and shook his head. "I don't really know either. We can only try with the concept of 'Trade' in mind."
"That does sound tricky..." Lena agreed. "Can't we just put Scyther in its Poké Ball and have dad hand it to bro to complete the trade?"
"I hope it's that easy..." Arthur muttered. He'd tried to recall how Trade evolution worked from the anime using the Memora Potion, but the memories were vague—sometimes it happened during level up, sometimes through friendship at the right moment, but it was never explained clearly and often seemed random.
At first, he considered changing it to a simple level-up condition, but since some Pokémon evolve through abstract concepts like 'Friendship' anyway, he decided to keep the 'Trade' method and leave it for his future self to figure out.
After Hector applied the Metal Coat on his Scyther, its green carapace gleamed with a metallic shine, looking quite handsome. He then pulled out a Poké Ball. "Scyther, come back."
Scyther nodded, tapped its metallic scythes on the Poké Ball, and was absorbed inside.
Hector held the Poké Ball up, looked at Arthur, then stepped forward and extended it toward his son.
Arthur opened his hand to receive the Poké Ball as it dropped into his palm.
Trade complete!
...
..
.
Awkward silence.
For some reason, the whole scene felt oddly awkward.
Arthur and Hector both felt a wave of secondhand embarrassment at the same time, while Anna and Lena simply watched the scene unfold with amused expressions.
"Did it work?" Hector asked, forcing a smile.
"No idea..." Arthur replied, peering into the Poké Ball. There was no visible change.
"Come out, Scyther." He released the Pokémon, and Scyther appeared with a metallic sheen still coating its body, standing awkwardly in place—its cheeks tinged with a faint blush.
It could accept losing battles—those could be redeemed over time.
But having its handsomeness ruined by sheer awkwardness? That was unforgivable!
Losing streaks could be reversed. Handsomeness was forever!
"What should I do…" Arthur muttered, raking his brain. What exactly did Trade mean in this context?
Maybe it didn't refer to a trade between Trainers at all... Maybe it meant trading something of itself for something new?
After all, Pokémon could evolve in the wild too. Just like friendship evolutions could happen through bonds between wild Pokémon—not necessarily with a Trainer.
He glanced at Scyther, who now had both scythes covering its face, too embarrassed to look around. Arthur's eyes narrowed as they traced the metallic coating on its body. A thought began to form.
"Bro! Maybe 'trading' means it's trading its body—for Steel!" Lena suddenly exclaimed, beaming with pride at her theory.
"I think so too," Arthur nodded, having come to the same conclusion.
"You're no fun..." Lena pouted and gave him a light punch in the chest, annoyed at the lack of surprise.
"Wow, you're a genius!" Arthur suddenly declared, dramatically scooping her up in a spin. His tone so exaggerated it couldn't have been more fake.
"Put me down! No one's buying that!" Lena pouted, swinging her fists in protest.
"Ouch, ouch—haha!" Arthur chuckled, setting her down and giving her a playful pat on the head.
I'm the big sister! I'm supposed to be the one giving headpats to my little bro! Lena grumbled internally—but she still enjoyed the headpat anyway.
Turning to Scyther, Arthur said, "Scyther, let's try something else."
Try? What try!? Scyther groaned internally. I don't want to do anything else uncool!
Still, it gave a firm nod.
Above all else, it wanted to evolve.
Even if its total base stats wouldn't change, it longed to break out of its current rut. If things stayed the same, it would take far too long to finally secure a win against Arthur—for Hector's sake.
Besides, it was starting to believe that raw offense wasn't enough to withstand the torment it endured in battle. So it made its choice: It would become Steel.
It didn't know exactly how durable Steel was… but surely it had to be better than Flying.
Arthur smiled and gave a small nod. Then he turned to his dad. "Dad, apply another layer of Metal Coat on Scyther."
The metallic sheen had faded slightly since the last application, and Arthur didn't want to risk any uncertainty.
"Alright." Hector nodded and carefully smeared a fresh coat of the silvery cream across Scyther's carapace once more.
When he was done, Arthur pointed to a training dummy set up at the far end of the Pokémon Battle Dome. "Now, keep using Wing Attack on that dummy. Don't stop, even if you feel exhausted. Use up all the Flying-type energy in your body."
Scyther—and everyone else—perked up at his words.
They finally understood what Arthur was trying to do.
He was attempting to make Scyther 'trade' its Flying-type energy for Steel—drawing from the essence of the Metal Coat.
"That's worth a try," Hector nodded firmly, patting his partner Scyther on the shoulder. "Do your best, partner!"
Scyther gave a determined nod and took off toward the far corner of the Battle Dome, immediately unleashing a relentless barrage of Wing Attack on the dummy.
The sharp whoosh of its wings echoed through the dome, rhythmic and precise.
Over and over, Scyther unleashed Wing Attack, its wings slicing through the air with fierce determination—even as its stamina waned and its energy began to drain.
Panting heavily, Scyther was not only physically drained—it was spiritually exhausted. Its bond with Flying-type energy was slipping away, deliberately worn down by sheer willpower and effort.
Its wings, once glowing faintly with white energy during Wing Attack, now flapped normally, with barely glimmer of power left.
Each strike slowed—not from simple fatigue, but because Scyther's very body was resisting the Flying energy it had relied on for so long.
Meanwhile, the silvery gleam of the Metal Coat on its carapace began to shimmer brighter, pulsing softly as the metallic essence seeped deeper. The familiar green of its carapace started to fade, replaced by a striking red metallic sheen.
This has to work! Arthur murmured, eyes narrowing with focused excitement.
Then, midair, Scyther suddenly froze—and fell to the ground.
"Scyther?!" Hector's voice cracked with worry, but he held back, knowing this was a critical moment for his partner.
The Battle Dome fell silent.
Scyther lowered its scythes, trembling slightly. It stared down at its own body—now gleaming unnaturally. The metallic cream was no longer just a surface coating; it had fused, becoming part of its very being.
Suddenly, Scyther's eyes flared bright as it opened its mouth and unleashed a thick stream of String Shot.
The sticky silk quickly enveloped its body, forming a massive cocoon pulsing with a mesmerizing blend of green and metallic red—like a beating heart, alive with the promise of transformation.
This looked different from the usual evolution cocoon? Arthur gulped, quickly pulling out a notebook from his spatial waist bag and furiously jotting down every detail of the phenomenon.
A low hum filled the Battle Dome, the air shimmering faintly around Scyther's cocoon. Everyone instinctively took a step back.
The cocoon pulsed with molten shimmer, like heated metal being reforged and reshaped. Inside, thinner wings folded inward, vanishing beneath armored plates. The scythes on its arms dulled, then morphed into massive, pincer-like claws. Its body thickened, armored in dark crimson steel.
Scyther was evolving at a breathtaking speed!
Arthur's eyes widened in disbelief. This speed… don't tell me it's going to evolve almost instantly?!
This was unlike any evolution he'd seen before, which usually took days.
He pondered thoughtfully, Maybe the essence of 'trading' isn't just a biological transformation, but more like replacing old body parts with new ones…That could explain why the evolution is happening so quickly.
He made a mental note to ask his dad and Scyther for permission to study this further later.
By this logic, wouldn't that mean Pokémon that evolve through trading could potentially switch forms back and forth, as long as some part of their body was 'traded' away?
Arthur frowned, thinking about Gengar. Gengar only needs a Trade—no extra item or resource…What exactly does Gengar 'trade' to transform its body?
He had no idea.
Maybe Scyther's case was unique since its total base stats stayed the same after evolution. Clearly, he'd need to research Trade evolution more deeply in the future.
Eventually, the red glow around the cocoon dimmed, and a hole was punched through the shimmering shell, revealing a red, metallic, pincer-like claw.
Then, with a sudden burst of strength, Scyther broke free, revealing its new form to everyone present.
The evolved Pokémon was a sleek, insectoid figure clad in glossy red armor. Its small, narrow head bore sharp eyes and a V-shaped crest, while its massive scissor-like pincers—marked with black and yellow spots—were its most striking features. Thin, transparent metallic wings sprouted from its back, though they seemed too heavy to allow for high flight.
"Sci~zor!" Scyther raised its pincers and let out a triumphant cry.
Scyther had successfully evolved into Scizor!