Ash and Gary had agreed to go all out. Sending Primeape felt like a brush-off. Ash hadn't been like this against Ritchie or Conway. He had only fielded a bunch of second-string Pokémon against some random opponent in the quarterfinals. Against Ritchie, a comparatively weaker challenger, Ash had still brought out Pikachu and Charizard. Even his third pick that match, Butterfree, was a top-tier member of his second team.
So why, when it was Gary's turn, did he get Primeape?
Gary had always claimed he stood a chance if Ash used his second string. But deep down, he hadn't actually wanted that. They were childhood rivals. He wanted a full-powered battle, not a fight against a handicapped Ash.
Just as his expression darkened, Ash smiled across the field and called out to him.
"Remember what I said yesterday? That I'd show you a brand-new power of mine."
Gary paused.
He did vaguely recall that. At the time he had assumed Ash meant another Mega Evolution. A new species capable of it would be mildly surprising, sure, but not shocking. Gary understood the Mega Evolution system well enough by now. Ash already had more than one or two Mega-capable Pokémon. Another one wouldn't be a bombshell.
"Watch closely," Ash said. "This is Primeape's brand-new evolution. Primeape, you're ready. Under this spotlight, on this stage, evolve!"
Primeape planted its hands on its waist and let out a long howl toward the sky. Its body erupted in a blazing surge of multicolored light.
Under the stunned eyes of thousands of spectators, its frame expanded. Then, slowly, the light faded.
What stood in its place bore little resemblance to the Primeape that had entered the field. Its once white, fluffy fur had turned ash grey. Its limbs, formerly brown, were now a deep and sunken black. Long white hair, wild as a vengeful spirit's, erupted from its head and reached upward.
Its eyes, once dark, had turned a solid, burning crimson. Its arms were thicker, more powerful. One of the iron shackles that had been locked around its wrists lay shattered on the ground. The other dangled from its wrist, cracked and barely holding.
The transformation was total. And the presence it gave off was something else entirely, like a wrathful ghost that had clawed its way back from the underworld.
Gary's mouth fell open. His eyes trembled as if the ground beneath him had shifted. He wanted to say something but the words wouldn't come.
The stadium erupted.
"What is that thing?! Is that Primeape's Mega Evolution? Should I call it cool or terrifying?"
"No, that's not Mega Evolution. Mega Evolution needs two items and produces a beam of light between the Trainer and the Pokémon. None of that happened just now."
"Exactly. This looks more like a regular evolution, but how can Primeape still evolve?!"
"If this is Primeape's natural evolution, then that means..."
"Ash just discovered a brand-new evolution!!"
"That thing looks absolutely terrifying. Any kid who got stared down by those eyes would burst into tears in under three seconds."
The crowd buzzed on, debating whether it was a Mega Evolution or something else entirely. The skeptics were quickly shut down by the more informed spectators who had spent enough time following Mega Evolution research online to know what it did and didn't look like.
Ash hadn't publicly released detailed information on the mechanic yet, but researchers had pieced together a solid picture from battle footage: Mega Evolution requires specific items, a special bond between Trainer and Pokémon, the emergence of a gemstone on the Pokémon's body, and a visible beam of light connecting them during the transformation.
None of that had happened just now.
What they had just witnessed was a completely ordinary evolution.
But Primeape was universally known as Mankey's final evolution. How could there possibly be another stage beyond it? If one existed, it would have been discovered long ago.
In the stands, Professor Oak shot to his feet, eyes locked on the newly evolved Pokémon. On Annihilape, as it would now have to be called.
Ash had mentioned the possibility of Primeape evolving further before, but Oak had quietly written it off as wishful thinking. He had studied Ash's Primeape carefully. Genetically, Primeape's form was already a dead end. Further evolution simply wasn't possible.
That said, Ash's Primeape had always been unusual. It could use Ghost-type moves, specifically a move called Rage Fist, which no other Primeape had ever been recorded using. That alone made it an outlier. But inferring an entirely undiscovered evolution from a single anomalous move felt like a stretch, even coming from Ash.
Even when Ash claimed his Aura Power had detected the potential, Oak had only believed it about thirty percent. Aura was powerful, but the idea that it could perceive a Pokémon's hidden evolutionary path felt too far-fetched.
Now it felt as though two invisible hands had slapped him across the face.
Primeape really did have another evolution.
And the implications were significant. A first-stage evolution and a second-stage evolution were entirely different propositions. Pokémon locked into a single evolution typically received a massive boost when they finally evolved, sometimes comparable to two consecutive evolutions in other species.
Primeape had already been a strong Pokémon after its first evolution from Mankey. With a second evolution now confirmed, Annihilape might be capable of rivaling pseudo-legendaries.
That was speculation, of course. But Oak found himself silently hoping the match would end quickly. He wanted to get through tomorrow's final and then get back to his lab as fast as possible. There was an entirely new species to study.
This was something distinct from Mega Evolution entirely.
Up in the VIP section, the Elite Four and Steven had all risen from their seats as well, eyes fixed on the field. In the span of two days, Ash had handed them more surprises than most trainers managed in a career. First a second simultaneous Mega Evolution, and now a previously unknown evolutionary form.
The Indigo Plateau Conference had quietly become Ash's personal showcase.
Lance and the others had already projected Ash as the likely champion. They just hadn't anticipated it looking like this.
"Primeape's evolution..." Lance murmured, shaking his head slowly. "Ash never stops finding strange new things. It really does prove the old saying: heroes rise from the young."
If he hadn't known Ash's age and background, Lance might have genuinely wondered whether Arceus had taken human form just to mess around in the mortal world. The surprises kept coming with no end in sight.
"A new evolution for Primeape, and it looks incredible." Bruno was already rubbing his hands together. "I'll have to get Ash to help me find one. It should still be Fighting-type after evolving, right?"
Lorelei glanced at him sideways. "What does it matter? Do you own any Pokémon that aren't Fighting-type?"
Bruno scratched the back of his head. Fair point, technically, though he did have an Onix that had evolved into Steelix, so type hardly mattered. Annihilape would suit him either way.
Not unlike Lance, who called himself a Dragon-type Elite Four member while fielding Charizard, Gyarados, and Aerodactyl alongside Dragonite, Kingdra, and Altaria. The first three had "Dragon" resemblance, but carried no Dragon typing whatsoever.
By any honest count, five of Lance's six Pokémon were Flying-type. A Flying-type Elite Four title would have been far more accurate.
Lance caught Lorelei's sidelong look and felt a sudden inexplicable chill. Whatever she was thinking, it probably wasn't flattering.
Bruno, still being silently judged, shrugged it off. With Lance blazing the trail as the most loosely defined Dragon specialist in history, Bruno figured his own situation was fine by comparison.
Out on the field, both Ash and Annihilape were smiling.
This was exactly the reaction they had been waiting for. Why else hold back for so long before evolving? The whole point was to do it here, in front of everyone, and let the moment land with full force.
Part of it was showmanship, admittedly. But the more important reason ran deeper.
By evolving in front of thousands of witnesses, with the world watching, Ash was doing something specific: he was rewriting the collective belief that Primeape could not evolve. That mass acknowledgment was the key. The theory had come from the veterans in the Chat Group, and it had turned out to be correct. Ash could already see it happening in real time. Annihilape's potential was shifting.
[Species: Annihilape]
[Gender: Male]
[Type: Fighting / Ghost]
[Level: Elite Level]
[Ability: Defiant]
[Moves: Rage Fist, Cross Chop, Shadow Punch, Outrage, Close Combat...]
[Stats: Attack S (S), Special Attack C (C), Defense C (B), Special Defense C (B), HP B (A), Speed S (S)]
In under ten seconds, every stat had climbed by a full grade. Attack and Speed had hit their absolute ceiling, reaching S-rank.
Before evolving, Annihilape had been sitting at Peak. The jump was staggering, nearly a full tier in one bound. And unlike what had happened with Monferno, there was no instability. Monferno had also leapt two levels upon evolution but couldn't reliably output power at its own level. Annihilape was not only stable but had already maximized its two most critical stats.
The difference came down to how the potential had been stored. Chimchar's accumulation had been forced. Primeape's had been deliberate. It had chosen to compress its power, holding back for months and waiting for this exact moment to release everything at once.
The other factor was what the Chat Group's members called World Recognition.
Because Annihilape was a Pokémon that defied the current understanding of the world's rules, two outcomes were possible upon its evolution. In the first, the world simply refused to acknowledge it. The evolution would be valid in form but rejected in substance, leaving Annihilape unable to grow further and its innate talent quietly suppressed. It would not truly be an Annihilape so much as a creature abandoned by the world's framework entirely.
In the second outcome, the world accepted it. Because it was a genuinely new species, its potential could reach heights that existing Pokémon could not, and its growth going forward would be faster than normal.
The veterans had provided the method to guarantee the better result: evolve under the eyes of as many people as possible, on a stage with the whole world watching, shattering the universal assumption that Primeape had no further evolution. Rewrite enough minds at once, and the world's recognition would follow almost automatically.