There were many powerful, experienced Trainers in the world who could read a Pokémon's general strength at a glance, and even accurately judge its level. Trainers like Ash, who could see a Pokémon's level and full stat profile instantly, were the rarer sort.
But Ash had never heard of anyone who judged a Pokémon's level by smell. This girl named Liza was clearly anything but ordinary.
"Let's head into the valley first. I'll give you a tour. After that, you can bring out your Charizard and let him spar with the other Charizards here. That's probably one of the main reasons you came to Charicific Valley anyway, right?" Liza opened the gate.
The half-shut doorway swung open, revealing a large number of Charizards behind it. They varied in size, but even the smallest of them was bigger than the average specimen. Ash had always considered his own Charizard physically impressive, but compared to these wild ones, his Charizard suddenly looked a notch smaller.
At most, his Charizard would only be considered average size here. He could only acknowledge that the world was vast and full of strange things.
That said, a larger size didn't automatically mean greater strength or greater potential. It was just a surface feature. A large Charizard wasn't necessarily powerful, and a small Charizard wasn't necessarily weak. Although his Charizard's build hadn't reached an outlandish scale, it was still solid.
Growing much larger might compromise his agility and flexibility, which would actually hurt his combat power. Not that bigger was inherently bad. The size that suited him was the size he had.
"Everyone, they're not here to wreck the place. Stand down. Don't keep up the guard. This young man is also a Charizard Trainer, and his Charizard is impressively powerful. You can spar with him later." Liza's words made the assembled Charizards lower their guard. Their gazes softened on Ash and his group.
The reason all of them had been packed at the back gate was that Liza had just said someone might be here to cause trouble, which had explained the fierce expressions. With the misunderstanding cleared up, the wall of guard dragons relaxed.
"This is the first time I've ever seen this many Charizards, and they're all huge." Misty's eyes went wide.
Even though she and Ash had seen plenty of wonders by now, this was the first time she'd seen so many Charizards appearing in one place at once. And these weren't ordinary Charizards. Each one was enormous, and not a one of them looked weak.
Serena, who'd been with Ash since the Orange Islands, couldn't speak. The Charizards were each roughly three times her own height. Looking up at one was genuinely intimidating.
"Come on. Let's go inside the valley and have a look. Oh, you should come out with us too. Charizard!" Ash threw the Poké Ball in his hand, and Charizard appeared in a brief flash of light.
"He really has been well trained. The refinement, the muscle tone, the body proportions. Simply perfect. Ash, how did you train such a perfect Charizard?" Before Ash could react, Liza had already walked up to his Charizard. Her small, pale hands stroked along Charizard's body, her mouth running with admiration, astonishment, and disbelief, as if Charizard's physical condition was something she'd seen perhaps once in her life.
Charizard looked bewildered by Liza's enthusiastic hands. He glanced at Ash with a helpless expression, as if asking whether he should breathe fire to get her off.
Ash shook his head sharply. Breathing fire at Liza would almost certainly provoke a charge from every Charizard in the valley. But letting Liza keep manhandling Charizard wasn't great either, so Ash stepped up, gave Liza's shoulder a tap, and said, "Um, Miss Liza. Isn't this a bit off-topic? Didn't you want to take us on a tour of the valley?"
"Ah, yes, sorry. I got completely caught up in your Charizard. I've never seen one this perfectly raised. This isn't a question of level, it's the physical condition. Almost flawless. Your Charizard might not be the strongest yet, but I believe he'll one day become the strongest Charizard in the world." Liza's verdict, given on first sight, left the entire group at a loss.
Was this their Charizard or hers? If you didn't know better, you'd think she'd been raising him for years, with that much confidence in him.
Even Charizard himself was a little embarrassed by it. He had the confidence to become the world's number one Charizard, and his Trainer believed in him too. But family opinions were one thing. An outsider's opinion was another.
For a human to see him for the first time and praise him to that degree was genuinely something. Even for an over-confident Charizard, it was a little embarrassing. Then again, to be praised by an outsider to that extent was proof that his daily effort hadn't been wasted. Thinking about the imminent chance to clash with other Charizards in the valley, his blood was practically boiling.
"All right, let's go in." Liza reluctantly pulled her hand off Charizard's body and led Ash and the others into Charicific Valley.
Inside the valley, the heat was even more intense. Ash and the other two veterans of mountain trails were fine. Serena, who had never experienced an environment this harsh, was struggling. Sweat ran down her pale face, and even though she was wearing short sleeves, her clothes were soaking through.
Ash glanced at her, then took her hand.
In an instant, Serena's already flushed face went redder than an apple, and her already burning body suddenly felt like a volcano had gone off inside her. Before she could even get a word out, she felt a cool sensation spread from her palm. The chill ran through her body, rapidly cooling the heat that had been overwhelming her. A soft, comfortable sigh slipped out, and Serena slapped her other hand over her red lips, startled at herself.
"How are you, Serena? Feel any better?"
"Better. A little. What was that?"
"One of the effects of Aura Power. It looks miraculous, but really it's just using Aura Power to push the heat out from inside your body, and then forming a thin Aura barrier on the surface of your skin to keep the external heat from getting back in."
"This way, the heat doesn't sink in." Ash said it casually, then released Serena's hand.
Don't be fooled by how lightly he said it. In reality, that effect was only achievable under extremely precise Aura Power control. Of course, for Ash, it really was easy. After all, his Aura Power was already comparable to a god's.
Insulation was barely even a flex.
"Wait! Aura Power can do that? I want one too, Ash! I'm so hot!" Misty stepped up and grabbed Ash's arm, half-whining.
"Huh? A little heat like this shouldn't even register for you, Misty?"
"You idiot, Ash. Given the choice between toughing it out and being comfortable, who picks toughing it out? Just because I can handle this heat doesn't mean I want to!" Misty rolled her eyes. Even dating her, his social skills still hadn't improved much.
"Ah. I get it. Brock, I'll set you up too. And, Liza, would you like one as well?"
Under Ash's Aura coverage, each of them felt as if they'd stepped into a new world. Plenty of people had felt that pure, sudden relief of walking into an air-conditioned mall after being stuck in summer heat. Brock and the others were feeling exactly that.
Even Liza, who had completely adapted to the fiery air of the valley, found herself reluctant to leave the bubble once she'd experienced it. She was used to and acclimated to Charicific Valley, but she didn't actually enjoy being baked in it. If she didn't have to worry about the heat, she wouldn't be running around in shorts and a crop top.
Along the way, Liza was openly amazed by Ash's miraculous Aura ability. No wonder Ash could raise such a perfect Charizard. He himself wasn't an ordinary person. It made sense.
Inside the valley, there were quite a few structures, but they weren't built for human use. They were training facilities for the Charizards. Large, sturdy boulders for strength training. Special metals used for testing flame temperature.
Equipment used to help restore the unique fire-breathing power of the species after exertion. Looking at all of it, Ash felt, for the first time, that he actually had even more room to improve in his own Charizard training. If he let Charizard use these facilities, the rate of growth might actually pull ahead of where it was now.
Apart from the training facilities, there was only one house in Charicific Valley, and that was Liza's. It wasn't particularly large, just a single story, but it was more than enough for her to live in alone.
Midway through the tour, Brock's affliction acted up again. He started insisting that Liza's house was too empty and that she needed someone to keep her company and ease the loneliness. That someone, naturally, was him. Seeing Brock falling all over himself again, Misty pulled out the finisher.
Brock's brief interlude didn't slow Liza's introduction. In Liza's house, beyond Liza herself, there was actually one more "family member." Or more precisely, a Pokémon. That was Liza's own Charizard, Charla. She wore a bow on her head and looked deceptively delicate. The word "delicate" applied to a Charizard sounded unbelievable, but Liza's Charizard genuinely gave off that impression.
That said, don't be fooled by Charla's appearance. She lived in Charicific Valley, and her strength was anything but weak. Under Ash's reading, Charla had already reached Initial High level. Within Charicific Valley that level might be only middling, but in the outside world a High-level Pokémon was a genuinely high-tier individual.
The environment really did have an enormous influence on a Pokémon's growth. According to Liza, Charla didn't actually like fighting or training. Under the constant pressure of Charicific Valley's environment, though, her strength had climbed rapidly.
Another notable detail. Ash's Charizard, on seeing Charla, seemed to develop unusual feelings for her. Among the Charizards of the local population, Charla's appearance stood out like a beautiful woman among ordinary folk. Ash's Charizard, however, had been through grueling training. He had real feelings for Charla, but he wasn't going to barrel straight in like Brock would. He believed that as long as he displayed his strength clearly, he'd naturally draw her attention.
"All right. That's the situation inside Charicific Valley, give or take. Anything else you want to look at in more detail?" After their wander, Liza had brought Ash and the others back to the main entrance of the valley. Over two hours of sightseeing, she'd shown them most of the spots inside Charicific Valley. It was a single mountain valley, after all. Two hours was actually a slow pace.
"That place. We haven't been there yet, have we?" Ash pointed.
Liza looked in the direction Ash was indicating, and when she saw which area he meant, her beautiful blue eyes narrowed slightly.
"That spot is off-limits. That's where the strongest one in the valley lives. Even I have to request permission an hour in advance to go up there. It's not that he's some kind of dignitary. It's that the environment in there isn't on the same level as out here. If an ordinary person walked in, their legs would melt off."
"Apart from the strongest dragon in the valley, no other Charizard could even withstand those conditions. Every time we pass by that area, the strongest Charizard has to stop training for at least an hour to let us through. If we walked by while he was still training, the residual shockwaves alone would land us in the hospital."
Ash and the others exchanged glances. Honestly, the description sounded a touch exaggerated, but from Liza's expression, she wasn't overstating it. Just how harsh were the conditions in there? Just how powerful would a Charizard trained there be?
Ash and Charizard turned and looked toward the mountain at the same instant. Undisguised fighting spirit rose in both pairs of eyes.