Lumiere's sudden sneak attack this time was truly unexpected. Pikachu didn't react at all before being tackled to the ground.
What's more, it realized that this human was actually taking advantage of the situation to grope it all over—who could tolerate that?!
"Pikachu!"
Thunderbolt was unleashed instantly. Yellow lightning wrapped tightly around Lumiere's body and spread everywhere, as if even his skeletal outline could be seen.
"I'm numb… totally numb…"
Black smoke puffed from Lumiere's mouth. His eyes rolled back, his hair stood on end, sparks and smoke rising all over his body. He stiffened, then collapsed limply, seemingly losing his ability to fight once again…
But the Pikachu, its face flushed with shame and fury, feeling thoroughly violated, had no intention of letting him off!
Just as it was about to fire another Thunderbolt to finish him off, seeing Lumiere being bullied, Rowlet turned pink and shot over with a whoosh, pulling an egg from its pouch and smashing it onto Pikachu's head.
"Pikachu…"
Pikachu endured the pain and turned around, just brushing past the flying Rowlet.
The little pink egg quickly used Life Dew to heal Lumiere, barely keeping him alive. He managed to sit up, though he was still a bit dazed.
However, in just that short moment, the Pikachu surrounded him again. The situation instantly turned dire—and this time, even the leader was present…
The enraged Pikachu wouldn't give him time for last words anymore. All the yellow rats unleashed Thunder Shock at once, while the boss also fired Thunderbolt!
Seeing the overwhelming lightning about to strike him, Lumiere snapped back to his senses. The corner of his mouth lifted slightly, because this time, things were different!
In an instant, he tossed the yellow fur he had secretly plucked from Pikachu's belly when tackling it into the tailoring machine—and a brand-new battle outfit was produced!
Rowlet donned the outfit, its feathers instantly turning yellow. Lumiere held it high in his hands, and at the exact moment all the lightning surged toward them, Lightning Rod activated!
Thunder Shock or Thunderbolt—it all got absorbed, and it didn't stop there!
Rowlet kept absorbing their electricity! At this moment, its special attack had skyrocketed to the highest level in the universe—higher than Mega Mewtwo Y!
The boss noticed something was wrong. Looking at that figure bathed in crackling lightning, it hurriedly ordered its underlings to stop attacking—but it was already too late!
"Discharge!"
As Lumiere spoke, Rowlet unleashed its full power. All the electricity it had just absorbed was amplified by 1000% and released in an instant!
Rowlet Mythic—Thunder Descends!
Terrifying lightning poured down like a storm, wreaking havoc on everything around. Even the ground was shattered completely, rubble flying everywhere!
One by one, the Pikachu were struck by the power of thunder. Even as Electric-types, they simply couldn't withstand such a horrifying attack!
In the end, even Emolga collapsed along with them, leaving only the boss, who had also absorbed the electricity…
Lumiere's body twitched as he barely remained standing. Discharge was an indiscriminate attack—even allies could be hit.
Fortunately, since it was Rowlet doing it, he managed to endure it. He then looked at the little yellow ball in his hands…
〔Spirit: Rowlet (Pikachu form) ♀〕
〔Type: Grass + Flying (Electric)〕
〔Ability: Lightning Rod (Absorbs electricity and converts it into special attack; great for checking Electric types)〕
〔Moves: Volt Tackle, Nasty Plot, Quick Attack, Thunder Wave, Double Team, Feint, Agility, Discharge, Slam, Thunderbolt〕
〔Status: Living Doll (Will not evolve, no innate ability, cannot learn other moves), Sp. Atk +6 (Terrifying)〕
〔Favorability: 100 (Your bond is practically overflowing)〕
Lumiere nodded in satisfaction. He had finally stolen this ability.
Then he looked at the Pikachu opposite him, its expression dark, favorability already dropped to -100, and said calmly, "Now it's one-on-one. Fair."
"Pikachu!" Pikachu replied angrily.
"???"
Lumiere couldn't understand it, but now that he had the advantage, he could afford to mess around a bit and observe the surroundings.
This place was an abandoned construction site, with a small hill beside it. Checking his phone's map, he found that it was about four kilometers away from the Spirit Academy. He hadn't expected to have run this far.
But strangely, Glameow was nowhere to be seen. Could it have escaped on its own, forcing these guys to go back and try to catch it again?
That seemed possible, but if so, Glameow's trail was lost again. Pikachu might know something, but even if it said it, Lumiere wouldn't understand.
And with the opponent's favorability practically breaking the lower limit in reverse, it seemed this fight was unavoidable.
"Rowlet, prepare for batt—huh?"
Lumiere paused mid-sentence, because he suddenly noticed something was off about Pikachu's condition.
Although it was glaring at him like he'd murdered its husband, despite having absorbed electricity just moments ago, it was now panting heavily, its body seeming unable to hold up.
After checking its status again, he finally understood the reason—the infection in Pikachu's tail wound had begun to worsen!
Combined with its exhaustion, its stamina was already nearly depleted. It was only holding on through sheer willpower, refusing to collapse out of pride.
"Why are you so obsessed with capturing Glameow? And what about the wounds on you and your underlings—what happened to them?"
These questions surfaced in Lumiere's mind. He tried to step closer to take a look, but Pikachu immediately fired a Thunderbolt at him.
Rowlet merely swayed its body and absorbed it, then rubbed its belly with a stuffed expression, as if it had overeaten.
"I mean no harm. I just want to look at your wound," Lumiere said gently.
"Pikachu!"
Pikachu shouted, kicked off the ground with its hind legs, and leapt forward, turning into a streak of white light. Since it couldn't deal with that stupid bird, it would just use Quick Attack to go straight for the Trainer!
But it was out of strength. Halfway through the charge, its body went limp, unable to support itself any further.
Just as it was about to fall, Rowlet descended smoothly, spread its wings elegantly, and caught it, giving Lumiere the chance to hold Pikachu and examine its body.
"Three very deep wounds… Poison-type attack? Looks like claw marks…"
From the status description, Lumiere could tell that although Pikachu had been cured of the poison, the wounds themselves hadn't healed, leading to this condition.
Thinking back to the half Pecha Berry Rowlet had found, everything suddenly clicked.
Looking at the Pikachu in his arms, he said, "So you were the one spying on Nabi yesterday. You were injured and still got caught in the rain—aren't you afraid of infection?"
Being held by this annoying human and lectured at like this, Pikachu showed a vicious expression. Proud by nature, it absolutely wouldn't allow a human to touch it like this!
And it couldn't collapse here either, because all its unconscious underlings still needed their boss to protect them!
Gritting its teeth, it tried to release Thunderbolt again, but the sparks on its cheeks flickered once and died out.
Giving up on electric attacks, it opened its mouth and bit straight at Lumiere's arm!
But Rowlet suddenly spun around and smacked the back of its head with its tail. Pikachu's eyes went dark, and it finally lost the ability to fight…
Lumiere: "..."
Rowlet tilted its head blankly, then pretended nothing had happened and flew onto his shoulder.
"Rowlet."