Chapter 248: Charizard
Upon seeing Ash, Charizard increased its flight speed, and when it finally landed, it tackled Ash straight to the ground.
"Not bad, Charizard, you've become much stronger!"
Ash took a look and was surprised to find that Charizard's level was already at the high-end of quasi-Champion, just one step away from becoming a Champion-tier Pokémon.
Aside from its level, the biggest change was Charizard's height; in less than three months, it had reached nearly 4 meters, growing faster than if it were on hormones.
"This is a Charizard? Are you kidding me? How can it be so big?"
The nearly 4-meter-tall Charizard made Clair doubt her own reality; she remembered that Lance's Charizard was only about two and a half meters tall.
"Hi, how is everyone?"
Just then, Liza, riding on Lisa, arrived late.
Liza exclaimed, "I knew it! No wonder Charizard was flying so fast; it turns out you are here too, Ash!"
"Ms. Liza, Lisa, long time no see!" Ash waved and greeted them.
"Ms. Liza~~" Brock started acting up again.
Seeing that Liza was very familiar with Ash's group, Clair asked in confusion, "Eh? Liza, do you know Ash and the others?"
"Of course I do! Didn't that guy Lance tell you? Ash is the youngest Patrol Officer in the League. Back when Lance went to the Orange Islands to challenge Lorelei, one of the Kanto Elite Four, he even had a three-way battle against one of Ash's Pokémon, and both Lance and Lorelei lost..." Liza said.
The more she said, the darker Clair's expression became.
Because Lance was her cousin, and they were both from the same Family, yet Lance hadn't told her anything, while he told Liza, the guardian of the Charizard Valley, everything.
However, Liza's words also made Clair even more wary of Ash.
"Ms. Liza, Ms. Clair, now is not the time to reminisce. If we don't catch up to Dragonite, the Team Rockets will run off with the Dragon Fang." Ash reminded them.
"Ah, that's right, the Dragon Fang is important. Dragonair, hurry and catch up!"
Clair finally remembered there was still business to attend to.
"Dragon Fang? What Dragon Fang?" Liza was puzzled.
...
Meanwhile.
The Team Rocket Trio had been brought to the side of a temple by Dragonite.
At the same time, Dragonite also told them that a more important item was hidden here.
The Team Rocket Trio were good at grasping the key points; no sooner had Dragonite mentioned it than they set their sights on the treasure inside the temple.
Taking advantage of the time Dragonite was resting, they snuck quietly into the temple.
The temple wasn't enshrining a Pokémon statue or a spirit tablet; it was empty, save for a brazier burning with orange-red flames.
"Wow, this golden vessel is so shiny!"
The Team Rocket Trio locked eyes on the brazier in front of them.
"Hurry, put out the fire and take it away!" Jessie suggested.
James reached out to stop her, saying, "Wait a minute, the significance of this item must be tied to the fire, so if we're going to take it, we should take the fire with it!"
A minute later, the brazier, still carrying the flames, flew out of the temple. Then, the entire temple was set ablaze by the flames on James's hands, and the flower bushes outside were also ignited by the tossed brazier.
As soon as they exited the temple, they were blown into the sea of fire by the angry Dragonite, and then hit by a Hyper Beam.
Just like that, because they were meddlesome, the Team Rocket Trio was chased and beaten by Dragonite, who had entered an Outrage state.
The fire they started caused a large number of wild Pokémon to flee in panic.
Seeing the situation was critical, Ash shouted, "Charizard, fly faster!"
"Roar~" Upon hearing this, Charizard exerted its full strength, increasing its speed once more.
Before long, they arrived at the scene.
"That Dragonite's state isn't right, Ash!" Brock warned.
"Yeah, it must be the fire here that caused Dragonite to enter an Outrage state. Now we have no choice but to knock it back to its senses. Charizard, I'll leave Dragonite to you." Ash instructed.
"Roar!" Charizard nodded, then spread its wings and charged toward Dragonite.
Afterward, Ash released Milotic and said, "Milotic, use Rain Dance to put out the fire."
Seeing this, Misty also let her Pokémon out to help perform Rain Dance.
The Rain Dance move performed by several Pokémon together covered a wide area, and the fire was quickly brought under control.
Meanwhile, as for Charizard, when Dragonite unleashed a Hyper Beam to finish off the Team Rocket Trio, it timely blocked it with Flamethrower.
"It's the Ash's Charizard, we're saved!" Meowth rejoiced.
No sooner had he finished speaking than Ash appeared behind them. "Saved? You three idiots caused such a huge mess, you have to pay the price, right?"
James swallowed hard and said, "K-Ash, w-what do you want to do?"
"When you make a mistake, you have to own up to it. When you're about to get hit, stand still. Hand it over!"
Ash took back the box containing the Dragon Fang, then said to Pikachu, "Pikachu, teach them a lesson with Thunderbolt."
"Pika!" Finally having work to do, Pikachu was very happy.
Zzzzt~ Pikachu gave the Team Rocket Trio a little lesson every minute.
In less than five minutes, the trio was completely numbed by electricity, with every cell in their bodies feeling a tingling sensation.
On the other side, Clair also brought Dragonair into the battle against Charizard, "Dragonair, find a way to restrict Dragonite's movements!"
Seeing Dragonair use Bind on Dragonite, Charizard opened its mouth and unleashed a Flamethrower. After Dragonite was set ablaze, Charizard rushed up, grabbed one of Dragonite's arms, and used Seismic Toss to throw it heavily into the Lake.
With Misty's help, Kaburagi put the brazier that Team Rocket had thrown out of the temple back into place.
Just as Dragonite surfaced from the Lake, it was struck again by Charizard's Dragon Tail.
After being whipped several times in succession, the hostility in Dragonite's eyes finally cleared up.
"Charizard, that's enough, Dragonite has returned to normal!" Ash hurriedly called for Charizard to stop.
After all the commotion caused by Team Rocket, Ash's Gym challenge would have to wait until the next day.
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