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Mid-April.
Early morning of this day.
It happened to be the small pre-tournament vacation Xu He had given them.
There needed to be a balance between tension and relaxation.
Xu He forced them to take some time off for themselves and their Pokémon, to adjust their states, but Li Xiang had other plans.
With less than a week left before the Spring Tournament, perhaps it was time for Doublade to evolve.
He hadn't let it evolve earlier mainly because he wanted to use it to learn the Ten Forms of Ksitigarbha, which would speed up the learning progress if studied alongside his other Pokémon.
Additionally, consecutive evolutions might have potential risks and required a cooldown period.
That's why it had been put on hold.
Now, taking advantage of this mandatory break to allow Pokémon to rest and recuperate,
Li Xiang felt it was time for Doublade to undergo its new transformation. Coincidentally, Greninja had initially mastered the Ten Forms of Ksitigarbha, and the rest was just a matter of time.
If the God-Slaying Blade Art were available, he might have hesitated, but it wasn't.
So, as the morning sun had just risen, after Doublade finished its breakfast and was taking a short nap under the eaves with its eyes closed, Li Xiang approached, holding a small box containing a Dusk Stone.
"I told you last night and even polished you up specially, remember?"
He sat down beside Doublade, a wide smile on his face, stroking its cloth tassels.
Doublade opened its eyes, saw the Dusk Stone in the box, and a flash of recollection passed through its gaze.
Li Xiang had indeed said something like that before bedtime last night.
'Time to evolve again?'
Evolve into the form of the Sword Spirit. After nearly four months...
Clang clang~
It gently tapped its own guard, indicating it was ready and could evolve at any time.
"Camera, camera! Are you ready?"
Li Xiang quickly turned around and saw Riolu and Rotom holding the camera.
Camera—OK.
Security measures... OK.
Li Xiang looked away from the very curious Metagross and Incineroar.
The other Pokémon were also there, scattered in various places. After all, it was an important evolution for a partner; no one could be absent.
"Let's begin."
He nodded to Doublade.
Upon hearing this, Doublade extended its two pink cloth tassels and pressed them against the Dusk Stone.
Once this step was taken, the situation where two moves were used as one would no longer exist. The combined Quick Attack + Drawing Slash might also need reconsideration, and its two eyes would revert to one eye.
But in return, it gained a unique Ability and an exclusive skill only it could use.
If the base hardness of an ordinary Protect was one, then the base hardness of King's Shield was two.
A higher starting point.
Moreover, it also had the ability to lower the Attack of those who make contact.
Under Li Xiang's gaze, the Dusk Stone flowed like liquid, following Doublade's cloth tassels into its body.
Then, brilliant evolutionary light erupted.
Countless, fluttering luminous particles swirled around Doublade, rapidly changing its body shape...
And its essence.
Li Xiang stared intently.
Speaking of which, the Pokémon Aegislash received two nerfs in the games: one to its base stats, with both Defense and Special Defense reduced by ten points each, totaling twenty points.
The second nerf was to its exclusive move, [King's Shield], which originally lowered the contacting opponent's Attack by two stages, but was changed to one stage.
These were major, soul-crushing nerfs.
Fortunately, this world wasn't affected by Game Freak. Not to mention that the extent of Attack reduction was inherently ambiguous, and base stats didn't present as fixed numbers either.
After all, individual differences existed.
This meant that strong Aegislash would still be strong, and weak ones would still be weak.
Nothing would change.
In his sight, the two swords fused into one, becoming an enormous greatsword.
Then, the two pink cloth tassels transformed into black palms with purple tips. Their connection point also shifted from the pommel's end to the left and right sides of the greatsword, like a person's slender arms.
The original bamboo-tube-shaped hilt changed into a sprouting bamboo shoot style, resembling a sharp horn.
Most crucially, the original thin leaf shield transformed into a round shield with three swirl patterns in the center, placed in front of the sharp greatsword.
The miraculous evolution ended.
Doublade... no, Aegislash, displayed its completely new appearance and even more powerful strength.
Ability—[Stance Change]. In-game effect: When using an attacking move, it changes to Blade Forme. When using the exclusive move King's Shield, it changes to Shield Forme.
Its Physical Defense, Special Defense, Physical Attack, and Special Attack base stats swap accordingly.
This was also the fundamental reason why, in the games, Aegislash was said to have a base stat total of 720 when played well and 320 when played poorly.
Li Xiang took two steps back, giving Aegislash enough space to move.
According to predictions, the evolved Aegislash could master spiritual power more skillfully and was highly likely to develop telepathic abilities like the Guardian Sword Spirit.
"Can you hear me?"
He looked at the single-eyed, seemingly expressionless Aegislash and asked softly.
Swoosh—!
A light ringing sound!
Aegislash unsheathed itself from the round shield, transforming into a shining, brilliant silver light and disappearing from Li Xiang's sight!
Thump!
A sound like a deflating ball.
Li Xiang turned around and saw, beside a target over twenty meters behind him, Aegislash looking completely bewildered.
"Awake?"
He walked over quickly, not daring to touch Aegislash's body for fear of being cut by this still-disoriented guy.
Incidentally, he was also hoping this guy could communicate with him via telepathy.
But Li Xiang didn't get what he wanted.
Aegislash remained silent, coldly observing its surroundings with its single eye, its movements slightly more agile than before.
Holding the round shield in one hand, exposing the gleaming sword blade, the emotions from its past were gradually returning in its purple single pupil.
It turned and looked at Li Xiang, extending its other hand to touch his face.
"What's wrong?"
Li Xiang was somewhat confused, but Aegislash seemed to enjoy touching him, just as he used to touch its sword body, continuously touching his face.
This process lasted a full five minutes.
From his hair to his lips—if Li Xiang hadn't kept his mouth closed, it might even have tried to put its hand inside.
After thoroughly studying every inch of the skin on Li Xiang's face, Aegislash took a step back, its body swaying as if gathering itself.
After a while, its hand touched his cheek again, and in his mind, a voice emerged, indistinguishable as male or female.
"Li... Xiang."
There was a pause of about three seconds in between, as if saying these two words was very strenuous.
However, Li Xiang wasn't having an easy time either.
Because when the voice sounded, his body lost control, manipulated by Aegislash's spiritual power, almost becoming its puppet.
He only regained freedom when Aegislash's arm let go.
"You can talk now!"
Faced with this terrifying situation, Li Xiang wasn't panicked at all; instead, he was overjoyed.
For him, direct verbal communication with Pokémon was naturally more reliable than guessing their intentions.
Moreover, Aegislash itself didn't possess the ability to speak, making communication with its trainer extremely difficult.
It mostly relied on eye contact.
Unfortunately, Aegislash narrowed its pupil and shook its body.
Indicating it still couldn't speak, or at least couldn't speak clearly and fluently.
"Hmm... it's fine. We'll just practice more."
Li Xiang maintained his calm, patting Aegislash's body to comfort it.
Afterward, there was brief communication and adaptation.
Faced with a new body, Aegislash indeed needed time to adjust. Plus, it used to hold a sword, but now it held a shield.
Not only were its combat methods different, but its perspective for observing enemies had also changed.
Returning to the most important part—
New moves.
Without a doubt, [King's Shield] was always the core of the core.
The test subject was Incineroar.
The external manifestation was an enlarged energy shield, identical to its own shield, but its protective capability was top-notch.
Even without Incineroar using Bulk Up, Aegislash could block its Fire Punch in Shield Forme.
"Roar.."
Incineroar looked at Aegislash, showing an expression of admiration.
The benefits of evolution really are high. Especially this evolution from the middle stage to the final stage.
It itself had made rapid progress thanks to its final evolution.
The second move.
—[Head Smash], a powerful Rock-type physical move that deals recoil damage to the user.
Very powerful. Incineroar said it hurt...
The third move.
—[Flash Cannon], a powerful Steel-type special move that also consumes the user's HP.
The difference is that the former reduces HP based on damage dealt to the opponent, while the latter is a fixed reduction.
Whether it's useful or not depends on perspective.
The fourth.
—[Toxic].
Learning this move was something Li Xiang hadn't anticipated. He previously couldn't get Doublade to learn it and thought it might be an eighth-generation Doublade.
Unexpectedly, it learned it on its own after evolution.
These were the four newly learned moves, but having all of them be useful was a relatively rare occurrence.
Practicing old moves again, because its body was different from before, the way it used moves also changed again.
Often, to maintain combat effectiveness, Aegislash had to free one hand to hold its shield.
But as a result, its agility decreased slightly.
Unlike before, when the leaf shield itself didn't offer much protection, so dropping it was no big deal.
After all, Li Xiang would pick it up.
But the current round shield needed to coordinate with King's Shield and couldn't be discarded except in critical moments.
What constituted a critical moment?
When Li Xiang began reciting his opening….
"Sword, come!"
Faced with Aegislash's full of anticipation gaze, Li Xiang had to extend his hand and, under the utterly speechless stares of the surrounding Pokémon, shouted loudly.
Swoosh!
Aegislash unsheathed, resolutely abandoning the round shield it relied on for protection. Its purple single pupil flashed with light as it flew above Li Xiang's head, blade pointing up, hilt pointing down.
Simultaneously, its arms tightly wrapped around Li Xiang's arms.
At this moment, Li Xiang felt as if possessed by Shimazaki Hitomi, shouting his opening poem. First, he assumed the stance of the Niten Ichiryu style, then, using the techniques of the Shimazaki family, suddenly slashed down!
A towering, earth-reaching emerald green light pillar transformed into a shining star!
Solar Blade!
Abandoning all defense for this single strike!
Its meaning—
One-Sword Asura!