Evolving mid-battle is impossible for Pokémon in the games, but it does occur in the anime. This can happen when a Pokémon is near defeat and needs extra power, if they have pulled off an impressive feat of newfound strength or even if they are just trying to combat danger.
However, evolving mid-battle is not an absolute guarantee of success. It will obviously grant the Pokémon better stats and moves, but there are cases in the anime where this is not enough. Evolving mid-battle does not necessarily give the Pokémon enough time to adjust to their new form. This means that not every Pokémon can unleash their newfound power immediately.
7 Misty’s Poliwag Evolving Into Poliwhirl Still Couldn’t Help It Get Past Bulbasaur
In “The Totodile Duel” Ash and Misty argued about who deserved to capture Totodile, when Brock suggested that they have a 3-on-3 battle to decide. With the bout at one win apiece, it came down to Bulbasaur versus Poliwag.
With Poliwag seemingly down and out, it evolved into Poliwhirl, giving it more physical bulk. It could now deal huge damage with its Body Slam but it still lost the battle due to a well-timed Solar Beam from Bulbasaur. While this was a terrific win for Bulbasaur, the evolution of Poliwag into Poliwhirl seemed moot when the evolved Pokémon still immediately lost its fight.
6 Chimchar Evolving Into Monferno Couldn’t Stop Paul From Obliterating Ash At Lake Acuity
Ash and Paul’s Lake Acuity showdown was one of two major 6-on-6 bouts between the pair during the Diamond & Pearl series. It was expected to be close but Ash quickly found himself with one Pokémon remaining against Paul’s five.
Chimchar managed to rally against the dangerous Ursaring and defeat it, prompting its evolution into Monferno. However, it was ultimately unable to capitalize on this momentum and it lost relatively quickly to Paul’s Electabuzz. It was a humbling defeat for Ash, with Chimchar’s evolution not having its desired effect, even if it did stop the rampaging Ursaring.
5 Ash’s Sewaddle Evolved Into Swadloon Against Burgh But Eventually Lost To Leavanny
Ash versus Burgh was one of the better Gym battles of the Black & White series. Tepig lost to Dwebble in record time, but Sewaddle proved to be the unlikely driving force in this Gym challenge. Not only did it defeat Dwebble, but it evolved into Swadloon while facing Whirlipede and picked up another victory.
Burgh sent out Swadloon’s evolved form Leavanny as his final Pokémon and it finally defeated the impressive Swadloon. Pikachu would enter and win the battle for Ash, but Swadloon was undoubtedly the MVP of the bout, despite not being able to go all the way.
4 Evolving Into Torracat Gave Ash’s Litten A Fighting Chance Against The Masked Royal’s Incineroar
Ash’s Torracat formed quite the rivalry with the Masked Royal’s Incineroar, and it all started when it was a mere Litten. In “Pushing The Fiery Envelope,” Litten was struggling to use Flame Charge when the Masked Royal challenged them to a battle.
Litten continued to struggle against the far superior Incineroar, until finally it evolved into Torracat. Torracat mastered Flame Charge and took the fight to Incineroar but was eventually defeated despite its best efforts. Ash reassured Torracat that its performance was stellar, acknowledging Incineroar as a formidable opponent.
3 Ash’s Turtwig Lost Its Speed When It Evolved Against Paul’s Honchkrow
Paul and Ash had several battles during their intense Sinnoh rivalry. One of the bouts that is often forgotten about is the 1-on-1 between Ash’s Turtwig and Paul’s Honchkrow. Turtwig had the speed and evasiveness to dodge some of Honchkrow’s attacks but not all of them. It eventually evolved into Grotle but that didn’t change the battle for the better.
In fact, evolving removed the one aspect of Turtwig that was keeping it in the battle, its speed. As a Grotle it was now larger and slower, allowing Honchkrow to continue its onslaught and easily dispatch the newly-evolved Pokémon.
“Here’s Lookin’ At You, Elekid” saw a strange turn of events regarding the Team Rocket trio’s team. James traded away his Victreebel to the infamous Magikarp salesman for a Weepinbell, only for it to subsequently evolve into Victreebel almost immediately.
It evolved after hitting a Vine Whip on Ash’s Phanpy, before Jessie turned on the newly-evolved Victreebel when it snapped at her. She had Arbok send it flying, where it coincidentally met with James’ old Victreebel and the pair left together. It was a bizarre episode and the evolution did very little, other than adding comedic effect.
Not only did Ash’s Litten evolve into Torracat while battling the Masked Royal’s Incineroar, but it also evolved into an Incineroar after facing the same Pokémon at the Manalo Conference. The Masked Royal was revealed to have been Professor Kukui in disguise all along, and the two had an exhibition 6-on-6 battle after Ash won the Alola League.
Torracat defied the odds and expectations to defeat Kukui’s Incineroar on this occasion, after a hard-fought battle. However, following the victory, Torracat evolved into Incineroar but was too tired from the previous battle to continue further. It collapsed on the spot and had to be replaced as the battle continued. This is testament to how hard this Pokémon tried throughout this tough contest, but it was a shame that it couldn’t continue the battle in its formidable new form.
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