The remaining Charizards came at Ash's Charizard in ascending order, weakest first, strongest last. In truth, the stronger Charizards had wanted to face Ash's Charizard while he was still relatively fresh, earlier in the sequence. They didn't want to win by taking advantage of a spent opponent.
They wanted to fight him at his best. It wasn't personal, just the code. During the chaotic opening exchanges, there had been no order, but as things settled, the stronger Charizards had claimed the later slots.
So the next round was the High Elite Four Charizards' turn to step forward. This tier was already above Ash's Charizard's baseline without Mega Evolution.
But in terms of stat spread, even without Mega Evolution, Ash's Charizard's fire output was still on par with, even a notch above, the previous Charizard he'd fought. That was without Mega.
Now, Ash's Charizard had grown noticeably stronger during the trial. After defeating over two hundred Charizards in succession, even though most had been one-shotted and lower-tier than him, they had each given him meaningful battle experience.
The level-up also restored some of his stamina. It wasn't at his peak, but he still had over a third of his original reserves. On top of the level increase, he was even more effective in battle. Against a Charizard of the same tier, even without Ash's Aura fusion, he was confident he could put one down in three minutes flat.
The problem was, he wasn't facing just one High Elite Four Charizard. He was facing seven registered at Elite Four tier or above. If he relied solely on his own strength, even if he ultimately won, he'd be spent by the end. Standing at the finish line was the strongest Charizard in the valley. So he still had to accept the boost.
"Aura Resides Within Me!" Ash's Aura Power surged into Charizard's body again. This time, he wouldn't need to pull it back. These were the final battles. Defeat them, and he'd see the strongest Charizard.
"Roar!"
The High Elite Four Charizard let out an angry roar. Its wings suddenly beat sharply, sending countless white blades of light hurtling at Ash's Charizard. Air Cutter.
Facing the dense volley of blades, Ash's Charizard reached for the move he was already using most, Dragon Claw. The sharp, emerald claws extended from both hands. In the next instant, his wings beat, and his figure streaked forward like black lightning. The emerald claws swept along his flight path, shattering the Air Cutter blades one by one. That violent acceleration brought him to the High Elite Four Charizard in almost no time, and a single dragon claw slammed down.
The sound of flesh tearing rang out. The High Elite Four Charizard, who had looked untouchable a moment before, crashed straight to the ground. Still a single strike, still an instant kill, no different from the very first Charizard. Just took a few seconds more to close the gap because the opponent's speed was higher.
For Ash's Charizard now, everything he did was effectively a one-shot, even against Elite Four Charizards. With Aura Power boosting his fire output, his current strength was close to Champion Peak. Never mind High Elite Four. Even an Elite Four Peak Charizard couldn't survive a single claw strike from him.
If this trial had been a group brawl instead of a relay, Ash and his Charizard could have unleashed their full power and settled the whole thing in ten minutes. In the face of absolute strength, tactics, numbers, and clever strategy all fell away. However versatile you were, you still couldn't out-match one Dragon Claw.
The Charicific Valley had probably considered this possibility, which was why the trial wasn't a group brawl. A relay format was a different kind of collective combat. However powerful you were, the stamina spent using moves would inevitably bottom out. Continuous move-casting drained even a Champion-level Pokémon eventually.
This kind of battle was actually harder than the League's Champion Succession Battle, because in a Champion Succession Battle you could switch to your other Pokémon. Even if you exhausted six Pokémon, you could rotate in six more. As long as your team was deep enough, you'd never be forced into a nonstop series of fights on one Pokémon.
But the Charicific Valley trial was different. This was truly a trial where only one Pokémon could pass. It tested the Pokémon's stamina, willpower, and overall strength. The demands were enormous.
After the first High Elite Four Charizard went down in one hit, the next several Charizards challenged Ash's Charizard, and without exception, they were each knocked unconscious by a single slap. It wasn't until an Elite Four Peak Charizard reached the arena that anyone could barely hold their own against him.
At that point, all the Charizards in Charicific Valley had been subdued by Ash's Charizard, except for Liza's Charla. Charla hadn't participated in the battles, and not because Liza was playing favorites to keep her out of harm's way. She was on transport duty.
Carrying the unconscious Charizards to the valley's healing station one by one had exhausted Charla on its own. Fighting on top of that was simply out of the question.
After the last Charizard was defeated, Liza couldn't help but clap.
"Truly, the younger generation surpasses the older. Ash, you and your Charizard have set a new record, over an hour faster than Lance's. I apologize for underestimating you and your Charizard earlier."
She bowed deeply to Ash and his Charizard. She genuinely felt her initial contempt for Ash and his crew had been a snobbish judgment. She'd taken her limited read of Charizards and jumped to a conclusion. It turned out the arrogant one wasn't Ash. It was her.
Now Liza also deeply understood just how powerful Ash and his Charizard truly were. The word "overpowered" was practically written across the faces of both the Trainer and his dragon.
Even though Liza had had her suspicions about Ash's boosting ability, that power still exceeded what she'd imagined. A boosted Charizard could one-shot practically anyone, and only a Champion-tier Charizard could withstand him even briefly. Even then, that was all they could do.
Liza could sense that Ash's Charizard wasn't at his true limit either. He was clearly saving strength for the final battle against the strongest Charizard in the valley.
Setting aside stamina, Ash's Charizard's boosted power was orders of magnitude greater than his baseline. But stamina was still the most critical factor, and there was no way to completely ignore it.
Ash's Charizard's boosted power clearly came with significant side effects. Even though Ash and Charizard had been conserving their own energy the whole way through, Ash was breathing hard, his stamina likely below a third of its peak.
In this respect, Lance's Charizard had done better. After completing the first stage of the same trial, Lance's Charizard's stamina had been over half. Part of that was because Lance had focused more on conservation during the fights, letting his Charizard pace better.
Part of it was because Lance's Charizard had relied entirely on its own strength. Compared to borrowing external power, the biggest advantage of relying on your own strength was that it drained far less stamina.
Put bluntly, letting a High Elite Four Charizard punch at Champion level was, setting everything else aside, absolutely brutal in terms of physical toll. That was why Ash and his Charizard hadn't chosen the slow, drawn-out method Lance had used. They'd gone for quick wins.
In Lance's approach, using the slow method, Charizard's stamina had recovered gradually between fights, and by the time he'd faced the Elite Four-tier Charizards, he'd been near-full. Only then had his stamina really started to burn.
Ash's Charizard was the opposite. The longer the trial dragged on, the worse it got, because his stamina drain far outpaced any recovery. Trying to slowly bleed opponents down like Lance had done was simply not an option for them.
Even so, Liza had never expected Ash and his Charizard to clear the first trial. Now that they'd done it, and even though his stamina was only at a third, the result had already far exceeded her expectations.
"Come on. I'll take you over to meet the strongest Charizard." Liza waved a hand, then swung up onto Charla, who had already returned from her transport duties. From the moment the trumpet sounded, the strongest Charizard had come out of his brutal training environment inside the mountain and had been waiting at the entrance to his section of the valley for a while now.
Ash climbed onto his own Charizard's back. He released Gardevoir from her Poké Ball to carry Misty and the others via Psychic. Following Liza's flight path, in less than two minutes the group arrived in front of the forbidden section of the valley.
The closer they got, the more they could feel the harsh environment Liza had described. Even before they entered the inner area, they were sweating hard, feeling as if their skin was about to melt. Fortunately, Gardevoir sensed something was wrong with the ambient conditions and used her psychic power to block the heat, keeping Misty and the others reasonably comfortable.
"Here." Liza patted Charla beneath her. Charla dropped down, and Ash followed. Before their feet had even landed, both his expression and Charizard's turned serious. As a reaction to a powerful being, they could clearly sense an extremely formidable figure below.
As the two Charizards touched down, Ash finally saw the strongest Charizard in the flesh. This Charizard was significantly larger than his own Charizard. On top of that, his body was covered in shocking scars. Even though those wounds had long since scabbed over and healed, you could still see just how severe the injuries this Charizard had sustained.
The Charizards of the valley all bore scars from combat, because after fighting inside the valley they would retreat into the internal lava streams and rely on heat and flame to heal. Unless the injuries were fundamental, they could recover completely on natural lava. Without proper treatment, though, every wound left a scar behind.
Even so, this Charizard had more scars on its body than any Ash had ever seen. Each one represented the scale of a past battle, and the ferocity of the one who'd fought it. There was a reason this Charizard was the strongest in the valley.
"Roar!"
The strongest Charizard glanced at Ash and the others, then let out a roar aimed at Liza. Everyone except Liza couldn't understand it. Only Ash could.
Is this the challenger this time? He has a decent Charizard.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Ash, from Pallet Town. This is my partner. Thank you for the compliment." Ash jumped down from Charizard's back, patted his broad shoulder, and smiled at the other Charizard.
"Roar?"
"Yes. I can understand everything Pokémon say." Facing the strongest Charizard's question, Ash nodded and answered plainly.
"Roar!"
Even though the situation isn't fair to you, rules are rules. Let's begin now. The final duel.
"There's no such thing as fair or unfair. There's no such thing as an absolutely fair contest in the world. My partner and I got to stand here through absolute strength. In this battle, we won't lose."
Hearing this, the strongest Charizard looked at Ash for a long moment, then waved a claw and walked deeper into the valley.
The strongest Charizard's decisive battleground was inside the Purgatory Valley. That was where Lance's Charizard had gone to duel him too. Lance himself hadn't followed inside, because the place simply wasn't an environment a human could survive in. If Lance had been there to command directly, maybe the final outcome would have been different.
That was one of the rules of the trial, and Liza had already walked the group through it. This trial, from start to finish, favored the strongest Charizard of Charicific Valley. In theory, as long as the king hadn't stepped down, replacing him was effectively impossible. Timing, location, and conditions all worked in the king's favor. Even a Champion Peak Charizard, running into these rules, would have to break through three layers of obstacles first.
"It's all right. The environment here doesn't really affect me. I'll go in first. Misty, you all wait outside for a bit. I'll come back with good news soon." Ash flashed a bright smile at the group, then followed Charizard and the strongest one into the Purgatory Valley without hesitation.