Crimson flames sparkled on its body. The eerie blue light of Aura bloomed in its pupils.
[The power of Aura is in my heart.]
An invisible bridge was constructed between Ash and Charmeleon. Power, an unprecedentedly surging power, like a breached flood, continuously poured into Charmeleon's limbs and bones. It felt as if every single one of its cells was burning, shouting, and cheering!
"Gaa oh—!!!" Charmeleon's roar pierced through the clamor of the battlefield.
Its eyes, originally full of fighting spirit, were now shooting out brilliant light, as if two clusters of tangible blue flames were burning within its pupils. Facing the Incineroar, whose size and strength far exceeded its own, it did not shrink back in the slightest; instead, it proactively launched a charge!
"Foolish! You have absolutely no chance of winning in a head-on clash! Incineroar, Throat Chop!" Cross grinned hideously, commanding Incineroar's sharp claws, wreathed in pitch-black Dark-type energy, to strike straight at Charmeleon's heart.
To this, Ash merely looked at Cross... faintly, Ash saw a black shadow on Cross's body.
Of course, the surrounding battle would not stop because of their confrontation. Facing Incineroar's Throat Chop, Charmeleon's movements changed. It did not choose to counter-bombard with Flamethrower, nor did it blindly rely on its speed to dodge.
Guided by the Aura perception transmitted synchronously from Ash, which integrated the essence of Fighting, its body seemed to possess its own combat wisdom. Under the synchronized state of Aura, it inherently came with Agility and shared mutual perception.
Charmeleon didn't need to look with its own eyes; the information transmitted from Ash would tell it the broader picture. It was just like the third-person perspective in playing video games. A comparison more similar to this scene would be the shared vision of the six paths of Pain's puppets in Naruto.
Just as the sharp claws were about to touch its body, Charmeleon's body executed a tiny yet precise sideways sliding step, like a matador avoiding a wild bull, narrowly dodging this fatal blow. At the same time, its right claw delivered a swift and fierce knife-hand strike, chopping right onto the inner joint of the arm Incineroar had swung out!
At the Fighting Spirit Dojo, Ash and Charmeleon had obtained a massive boost in strength. The most typical aspect of this was learning how to use [Normal Attacks].
Unlike in the games where there are only moves, Pokémon battles in reality often involve [Normal Attack behaviors]. This point was even more prominent in terms of Fighting techniques. Using normal attacks—which have shorter wind-ups, consume less, and bear a lower burden—to interrupt the opponent's moves... was one of the essential fundamentals of Fighting to learn.
Compared to [Normal Attacks], the power of a Pokémon's [Moves] is indeed very high, but the consumption is not low either.
"Bang!"
A muffled sound echoed, accompanied by Incineroar's pained grunt. That wasn't the scorching of flames, but a penetrating impact force. It was as if a hidden force had been struck directly into its muscles and bones, causing its entire arm to instantly go numb, abruptly halting its offensive in its tracks.
This was also one of the flaws of biological-type Pokémon... the physical conditioned reflex. Speaking of which, biological-type Pokémon indeed had many more flaws compared to inorganic-type Pokémon. This was an element that usually seemed inconspicuous, but had a huge impact when actually fighting. For example, whether or not breathing is required... This is a type of adaptability to extreme environments.
"What?!" Cross's pupils shrank.
This was fundamentally not the way Pokémon battled within his understanding! There was no clash of dazzling moves, only the most primal, most perilous close-quarters hand-to-hand combat.
Although his Incineroar looked brutal and powerful, it was fundamentally not adept at Fighting. It merely relied on a stronger body and moves with greater power to forcibly slaughter its opponents. This was very useful in most Pokémon battles that favored clashes of ultimate moves. But once it encountered an opponent who favored high-precision manipulation... it would be played with in the palm of their hands.
The combat style had completely changed. Flames occasionally erupted, but they were more like interference and feints. The true killing strikes were the Fighting techniques integrated into every stance and motion.
Charmeleon was like a true Martial Artist, its footwork nimble and versatile, sometimes like a butterfly threading through flowers, sometimes as steady as a boulder. It utilized its relatively petite size to constantly cut into Incineroar's blind spots of attack.
...The so-called close-quarters combat would indeed have this issue.
...Just like how many burly men can't scratch their own backs.
...One's own actions would be jammed by one's own body.
"Gaa oh!" A kick imbued with the power of Aura swept across the ankle of Incineroar's supporting leg. Incineroar's massive frame stumbled.
"Roar!" It angrily swung its other claw, attempting to grab this slippery opponent.
Charmeleon, however, took advantage of the momentum to lower its body, unleashing the[Iron Mountain Lean] it had learned from Ash and practiced at the dojo. Its shoulder, condensing its entire body's strength and Aura, crashed ruthlessly into Incineroar's soft waist and abdomen like a battering ram.
"Thud!" The heavy impact sound set one's teeth on edge.
Incineroar was knocked back continuously, its face revealing an expression of pain and disbelief. Its proud strength and defense seemed to lose their usefulness in the face of these skill-based Fighting techniques. Fire damage it could endure head-on, but this kind of impact that acted directly upon the interior of its body left its internal organs churning.
"Impossible!" "Incineroar, what are you doing!"
"Use Blast Burn!" "Burn it to ashes for me!" Cross roared in exasperation.
He could not accept that the final evolved form he had painstakingly cultivated was actually falling into a disadvantage at the hands of the Charmeleon he had abandoned. Incineroar roared, attempting to gather a massive amount of Fire-type energy.
But Charmeleon gave it no such opportunity!
Within Ash's synchronized Aura perception, Incineroar's bodily movements and muscle exertions were clearly visible. Instinct told Ash exactly what Incineroar's next move would be. Unlike a Psychic's Future Sight. The foresight of Fighting is a summation based on experience.
"Now!" Ash shouted in his heart.
Charmeleon understood tacitly. It took all the Aura and power within its body, along with that resolute will to bid farewell to the past and prove itself, and completely poured it into this assault! It did not choose a ranged clash of energy; instead, like a bolt of crimson lightning, it brazenly closed the distance once more.
In the split second before Incineroar's Blast Burn could take shape, Charmeleon unleashed the ultimate strike it had practiced for a long time, integrating the force-generation of Fighting with its own characteristics. It abruptly leaped up, its body spinning rapidly in mid-air.
That tail, burning with raging flames, was no longer an ornament at this moment, but had transformed into the most terrifying weapon! Flare Blitz? Iron Tail? It probably had elements of both.
This was not merely the power of flames! As the tail tore through the air, the whistling sound it brought about contained highly compressed and condensed Aura!
"BOOM!!!"
The burning tail hacked into Incineroar's vital lower jaw like a battleaxe. This is one of the most fragile parts of a biological structure. As long as an uppercut can land, it can often achieve a one-hit knockout. The jaw is connected to the cranial nerves; the upward impact force of this strike will directly rattle the brain, easily causing one to instantly become dizzy, lose their balance, or even fall straight to the ground.
In this regard, biological-type Pokémon are the same. The penetrating damage caused by the Fighting technique erupted instantly! Incineroar's half-gathered Blast Burn was forcibly interrupted. Its massive body was sent flying upward by this strike that gathered all of Charmeleon's strength. Then, it smashed heavily onto the ground, splashing up large swaths of muddy water and dust.
Incineroar struggled, wanting to climb up. But the severe pain radiating from its lower jaw and the chaotically jolted energy within its body left its limbs weak; after several attempts, it powerlessly collapsed back down. It could only let out a pained whimper, its eyes filled with unwillingness and bewilderment.
It, Incineroar, had lost. Lost to the techniques it had once looked down upon the most. Its proud, pure strength, when pitted against skill, had lost in a head-on collision.
"Gaa oh... Gaa oh!" Charmeleon landed on the ground, its body trembling slightly due to exhaustion and the overdrawing of its energy. It panted heavily, the flames on its body dimming significantly.
But Charmeleon still stood tenaciously, raising its head to the sky and letting out a roar filled with weariness, yet incomparably proud and immensely exhilarated! It had done it! It had defeated head-on this powerful enemy that had oppressed it countless times and symbolized its unbearable past!
The knot that had accumulated in Charmeleon's heart was untied. Now, it even felt a sense of mental clarity.
"Im... Impossible! Absolutely impossible!" Cross looked as if he had been struck by lightning, his eyes widened into circles. Pointing at the fallen Incineroar, he began to hurl insults in exasperation: "Trash!" "Useless thing!" "Get up! You are a final evolved form! How could you lose to a little lizard that hasn't even finished its evolution! Stand up!"
However, no matter how he roared, Incineroar only let out a feeble groan. Charmeleon's final strike, which merged Aura and the essence of Fighting, caused not just superficial damage, but was a precise strike against its brain functions.
Something like a concussion is fundamentally difficult to recover from in a short period of time. Unless one had no brain at all. For example, a Pokémon like Muk is completely unafraid of concussions.
Muk: What is a brain?
Grimer: I don't know.
Cross's face turned livid; he could only indignantly use his Poké Ball to recall the Incineroar that had lost its combat capability. He abruptly raised his head, his eyes bloodshot and filled with maddened killing intent, and threw out another Poké Ball: "Lycanroc! Get in there! Tear that Charmeleon to shreds!"
Opposite him.
"That's enough, Charmeleon, you did extremely, extremely well." Ash gently enveloped the exhausted yet proud Charmeleon in the red light of the Poké Ball. "Rest well. Leave the rest to your partners."
In this battle, Charmeleon could be considered to have overperformed its limits. The burden on its body was very great. Afterward, it must go to the Pokémon Center for a proper treatment... If the situation was truly severe, Ash felt it would be best to send it back to Professor Oak's Laboratory.
The red light retreated. Ash didn't even spare another glance at the fiercely pouncing Lycanroc; he just gently patted his shoulder.
"Partner."
"Pika!"
Pikachu, who had long been gathering power and waiting, turned into a streak of golden lightning and vanished from its spot in an instant. There was no flashy wind-up for its move, no deafening roar. There was only speed. Absolute speed that surpassed the limits of visual capture.
Lycanroc hadn't even figured out what was happening; it only felt a bolt of golden lightning descend from the heavens like divine punishment, striking the top of its head.
And then, there was no 'then'.
As a Partner Pikachu, carrying a Light Ball was extremely exaggerated. In the early stages, the performance wasn't too obvious, but the later it got, the more exaggerated it would become.
"Pika—chu!!!"
The lightning, compressed and condensed to the extreme, acted like a golden Spear of Judgment, instantly piercing through Lycanroc's body.
"Arooo—!" Lycanroc only had time to let out a brief, shrill scream before its body convulsed violently amidst that devastating electrical energy. Then, emitting black smoke, it fell straight down, losing all consciousness.
Instant kill! A one-hit instant kill without any suspense! From Pikachu launching its attack to Lycanroc hitting the ground, the entire process took less than a second. It truly was an exhilarating battle.
(Lycanroc: ...What just happened!)
The scene fell into a dead silence. Only the sounds of chaos still echoing from the distance contrasted with the eerie quietness of this place.
The expression on Cross's face shifted from anger to astonishment, and then to utter sluggishness and disbelief. He fundamentally couldn't believe the reality unfolding before his eyes. Nor did he dare to acknowledge the reality before his eyes.
If all of this is real. Then what am I? I... I... I...
Cross stood with his mouth agape, his eyes staring blankly at the smoking Lycanroc on the ground, and then looked at Pikachu on Ash's shoulder, who seemed as if it had merely done an insignificant little thing. His brain felt as if it had been struck by a thunderbolt, turning completely blank.
"No... No... Hallucination... Hallucination... Lycanroc... How is it possible... One shot..." He muttered to himself, refusing to accept this reality that overturned all his cognition.
Ash slowly raised his head, his gaze falling calmly onto the utterly despondent Cross. In that gaze, there was no longer the anger from before. Instead, it carried a kind of downward gaze. It was a top-down, almost pitying sort of apathy. It was the composure and denial of a victor toward a loser.
He spoke. His voice was not loud. Yet it clearly entered Cross's ears. Carrying a strange rhythm, as if penetrating the weaknesses of the human heart:
"The same words, I originally didn't want to say a second time. But I'll make an exception for you today..."
"You are a weak trainer. You are the worst trainer. Hollow power, fake confidence, like a fortress piled up from sand and gravel. Narrow-minded cognition, cheap tricks, the pinnacle of incompetence is nothing more than this..."
"You have never even understood what the most basic 'power' is. Your failure, from the moment you abandoned Charmander, was already carved into your destiny."
"The current you doesn't even have the qualifications to make me take you seriously. Your capacity ends here."
Ash truly loathed this [thing]. So of course his words had to be harsh. Furthermore, earlier... when the Aura power had highly surged... Ash had seen a blurred shadow on Cross's body.
—Marshadow?
—Has the trial of the Rainbow Hero begun?
Ash recognized this fact. Since that was the case, then simply dealing with Cross would not solve the problem they were currently facing. So he had to go a step further. For instance, forcing this guy in front of him to flee, to see if he could force Marshadow out.
After all, he had to solve the problem from its roots. Upon discovering that the trial of the Rainbow Hero had begun. And that Marshadow had already intervened. The Cross in front of him was just a trivial problem not worth mentioning.
Although Ash was indeed very displeased with this guy, the main focus of the problem right now was not him. After all... Marshadow truly did not have a good temper. Ash remembered Marshadow's behavior in the original anime... That had genuinely caused the [him] of that worldline to give up First Blood. He was beaten directly until not even ash remained.
So from this moment on, all actions had to become cautious... and then he needed to teach Marshadow a severe lesson.
Opposite Ash. Cross's dignity was already shattered beyond repair. He abruptly raised his head to look at Ash. Those calm, placid eyes—in those pupils, he saw no mockery, no smugness, only a kind of bottomless, bone-chilling indifference.
This was a disregard. As if he wasn't looking at him at all.
"...How could it be like this..." Berating me on one hand. Yet acting as if he doesn't see me on the other. Do I not even have the value to be seen?
"I... I..." Cross's lips trembled. He wanted to retort, he wanted to curse in anger, but he found that all words were stuck in his throat, turning into meaningless gasps. His conviction completely collapsed in front of the iron-clad reality before him.
"Fear, resent, and then run away!" Ash didn't know where Marshadow was, but it definitely had to do with Cross. "And then never appear in front of me again."
So now he needed to let this guy go; this was playing hard to get to catch the prey.
"Ahhhhh—" Cross began to flee, as if suffering a mental breakdown.
And his escape route.
"As expected... Is it really at the garbage dump?" Ash looked at Cross's back. "Let's go."
He rode the Golden Gyarados and set off directly. He didn't think to notify Brock and Misty. Since the trial of the Rainbow Hero had already begun, then it wasn't something ordinary external forces could interfere with. Moreover, they still needed to protect the city.
[Early Stage - After 40 hours of playtime - 79942 R2]
[After 4 hours of playtime - Early Stage]
[Chang]
[m Bongftah]
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