Outrage struck true, slamming into the Strongest Charizard head-on. He hadn't expected the swirling flames of Fire Spin to fail to hold for even a fraction of a second. There was no time to dodge before Outrage hit him.
The instant Outrage landed, along with the raw pain, the Strongest Charizard also grasped what had gone wrong. Fire-type moves were extremely ineffective against Charizard in his current form.
That included the flames he'd already thrown out at every stage of the fight so far. He'd deliberately pushed the temperature of his Fire-type attacks well past his usual output, to the point where even Fire-resistant Pokémon should have been taking noticeably more damage than their base resistance would ordinarily allow.
Against Ash's Charizard, though, all of that had been like tickling him. Mega Charizard X's dual Dragon and Fire typing gave him massive resistance to flame. Fire-type attacks were almost entirely wasted on him. So Fire Spin's function had collapsed to nothing but a mechanical trap, a vortex trying to confine him.
Without the flame damage bleeding out his momentum, Charizard had simply used the raw force of Outrage and plowed through the containment with pure brute strength.
Realizing all of this now was already too late. Outrage had landed, and the damage was considerable. Even at his current level, with his physical strength approaching that of an ordinary Legendary Pokémon, the Strongest Charizard's stamina wasn't limitless.
Charizard's raw attack power, layered with every buff he'd taken on, had subtly climbed to the level of Champion Peak. Combined with the fact that Dragon-type moves were his strongest angle against a Dragon-type opponent, the accumulated Dragon-type damage from the last few exchanges had chewed the Strongest Charizard's remaining stamina down to less than half.
A massive explosion erupted from the dust cloud, and Charizard's dark figure shot out through it.
Outrage was a move that used the body itself as the striking instrument, but unlike Flare Blitz, it didn't carry the self-sacrificing energy detonation. At most it produced a recoil on impact. Even so, in Charizard's current state, every scrap of stamina mattered. Even that recoil from Outrage was chipping at his reserves.
Panting hard, Charizard stared into the dust, his whole body still braced, refusing to relax for a single beat. After the string of attacks, he could barely keep pace with his opponent. Not even keep pace, actually. He'd only just started closing the gap. This was still the beginning.
"Roar!"
A deafening roar echoed out of the dust, reverberating through the entire valley. The thick black mist scattered in a single wave, and the Strongest Charizard came back into view. Covered in wounds, but not a shred of exhaustion in his bearing. Rather than being ground down by the repeated setbacks, his fighting spirit had surged. An opponent like this was genuinely fascinating.
He refused to let his fading stamina slow him. Every claw strike, every collision, was delivered at full power. If it had been possible, he'd have wanted to fight an opponent like this while at his own prime. As things stood now, even if he won, the victory would be tainted. That was the rule, though. Even wanting a fair duel wasn't an option here. They could talk about it after the fight. And as for the outcome, even if it was an unfair victory, he still intended to win.
The Strongest Charizard beat his wings, and countless silver-white light blades shot out from his body. Air Cutter. A Flying-type move.
Flying-type attacks could still inflict normal damage against a Dragon and Fire type. Even though the Strongest Charizard's Flying moves weren't as polished as his Fire moves, and even though every day of his training had gone into perfecting Fire techniques above all, the damage his Air Cutter could deal to Charizard right now was easily comparable to what a Fire-type move could deal, if not more.
"Dodge, then use Dragon Claw!"
Seeing the Strongest Charizard reach for Air Cutter instead of another flame attack, Ash knew Charizard's typing had been fully read. Otherwise the opponent wouldn't have abandoned Fire moves so decisively. Although Charizard had both Flying and Fire attributes going for him, the Strongest Charizard's daily training was clearly built around Fire.
Both in proficiency and in raw output, his Fire moves stood well above his Flying repertoire. Switching to a Flying-type move meant he'd recognized that Fire attacks were no longer meaningfully hurting Charizard.
In the past, dodging Fire-type attacks had actually cost Charizard more energy than blocking them. Flying-type attacks were different. They had to be dodged.
Under the guidance of Aura Power, what looked like a dense, impenetrable barrage without a single gap was, in Charizard's eyes, riddled with dodgeable openings. This was another of Ash's trump cards for taking on the Strongest Charizard.
In a same-tier battle, a skilled use of Aura Power was unmatched in combat support. Its observational precision, at the same tier, was enough to guarantee invincibility.
Bang, bang, bang. Charizard slipped every Air Cutter blade, his hands lit up with emerald green Dragon Claws, and he slammed down.
In that exact moment, the Strongest Charizard opened his blood-filled maw, and a rich, familiar Dragon-type energy condensed inside. Charizard's Dragon Claw struck home an instant later, its sharp claws again opening deep wounds across the Strongest Charizard's body. Even so, it didn't stop the Strongest Charizard's counter. The Dragon energy in his mouth only concentrated further.
Boom!
A dark blue beam of energy tore out and swallowed Charizard whole. Dragon Pulse. A Dragon-type move used against a Dragon-type opponent. Even though it wasn't from the Strongest Charizard's own type specialization, super-effective damage against a Dragon-type still hit for enormous force.
Ash flinched, arms instinctively wrapping around himself, taking an involuntary step backward. In the Aura fusion state, both Ash and Charizard shared physical sensation, and Ash's own drain was actually heavier than Charizard's. The strike hadn't only ripped into Charizard. It had cut straight into Ash himself.
After a fight this long, Ash was already worn thin, and now a super-effective counter had landed on top of it. Salt in the wound didn't begin to cover it.
When the three-attack chain from the Strongest Charizard finished, numerous visible wounds now marked Charizard's body. His complexion had turned noticeably weaker, and the Dragon Claws around his hands had faded away.
The Strongest Charizard let out a long exhale, and a mixed expression of pain and satisfaction crossed his face. The satisfaction came from correctly reading his opponent's typing. They could resist Fire moves.
The Strongest Charizard's mind ran through it. Charizards were unquestionably a Fire-type species. The second attribute, though, was almost always Dragon. Yet from the opponent's constant use of Dragon-type moves, and from how effectively they'd been reinforced, it was clear that Charizard's own second attribute wasn't fully Dragon-typed. Otherwise the Dragon-type reinforcement on his own moves would've been visible in every clash.
The human's Charizard was different, though. A Mega-Evolved form. The Strongest Charizard had made a gamble, believing this Charizard might genuinely possess a Dragon attribute, and had chosen to trade blows.
Air Cutter as bait. If it hit, that was ideal. If it missed, then he'd take one strike from the opponent in exchange for landing a Dragon-type move of his own, wearing down the enemy's stamina.
The gamble had paid off exactly as he'd predicted. Dragon Pulse had inflicted massive damage on the opponent, and he'd also managed to tank a Dragon Claw in the process.
The attack power on this Charizard was truly terrifying, though. His own body had been forged day and night in the flames of the Purgatory Valley. Still flesh and blood, but far tougher than an ordinary Charizard's, with defense far beyond what any regular one could reach. And yet against this opponent, his hard-forged body might as well have been paper. One touch, and it broke.
If the challenger had faced him at full strength from the start, his odds of losing would have been over ninety percent. There were no ifs, though. This challenger had already burned through most of his stamina before even reaching him. On top of that, the accumulated damage from the earlier exchanges, plus the counter-effective Dragon Pulse, meant Charizard could barely lift his arm now.
"Roar!"
The outcome is decided. You are an incredibly powerful Charizard, and you're still young. In about two years, you'll pass this trial without breaking a sweat. But for now, the King's throne isn't yours to take.
The Strongest Charizard prepared the finishing strike. Charizard had lost the ability to fight. He himself had taken serious wounds, but nothing fatal. Now he just had to deliver one last blow.
His claws extended along sharp talons of Dragon energy. Dragon Claw. Out of respect for the opponent who'd pushed him this far, he decided to end this with a Dragon-type technique. The remaining Charizard had earned that much.
Half-sitting on the scorched rock, Ash suddenly lifted his head, drew a deep breath, and shouted.
"We're not giving up yet! The more desperate we are, the stronger you become! Charizard, show the King of the Valley what real flames look like! Flare Blitz!"
"Roar!"
Charizard, who'd been slumped forward on his knees, roared back at Ash's call. A vast surge of power seemed to pour into him. Like Ash, he snapped his head up. The flames flickering weakly at the corners of his mouth and the tip of his tail suddenly blazed to life again, but this time the color shifted. From blue to pitch black.
Black flames erupted across Charizard's entire body. The Amaterasu Flame lifted the Purgatory Valley's already unbearable temperature to a whole new level.
The Strongest Charizard's eyes widened in shock. Black flames. Even he had never seen anything like it. And the temperature. He hadn't even touched it, and he could already feel it. This fire was more than one full tier hotter than his own. His own flames didn't change color even at their maximum, but their temperature had already exceeded that of ordinary blue fire.
Some flames shifted color once they crossed a temperature threshold. His own belonged to the class that returned to the original red no matter how hot they burned. Even the legendary Fire-type gods couldn't rival him in raw temperature. He wasn't certain he could match one in pure combat power, but on heat alone, he was confident.
And yet this black flame. Its temperature was more than a tier above his. What other flame in the world could reach this level? And this was the power unleashed by a Charizard who was already at death's door. How was this possible?
"Roar!"
Charizard let out another furious roar. The black flames sheathed his entire body. The distance between them was only half a meter. Charizard beat his wings once, and his figure slammed forward into the Strongest Charizard.
The Strongest Charizard raised his Dragon Claws on instinct, throwing them up as a shield. The emerald claws held for less than a tenth of a second before the black flames incinerated them entirely. Nothing was left behind.
Boom!
A detonation unlike anything the Purgatory Valley had ever seen tore through the central chamber. The violent shockwave rocked the entire valley. This was unprecedented. Not even the fiercest exchange between the Strongest Charizard and Lance's Charizard a year ago had produced tremors on this scale.
Outside the valley, Liza clearly felt the ground shift.
The color drained from her face. The rocks of the Purgatory Valley were nearly indestructible. She knew exactly what a tremor of this magnitude meant. The impact that had erupted inside had to be devastating beyond imagination.
"Retreat! Now!"
Her sharp voice cut through the air. Before Misty and Serena could react, Charla swept down and scooped them both up in a single motion, hurling them backward. Liza herself vaulted onto Charla's back a heartbeat later, and Brock, confused but obedient, scrambled to keep up.
"Miss Liza, what's happening?"
Brock's question broke off the instant he understood. The ground where they'd been standing had turned a visible red, then melted, dissolving into a pool of lava. If they'd stayed there even a second longer, they'd have burst into flame on the spot.
Charla descended gently and set Misty and Serena down at a safer distance. In the emergency, protecting the girls had come first. Even Liza had ridden Charla out of instinct.
"What is this? What's going on, Miss Liza?" Serena asked, still stunned.
Liza's expression stayed grim, and the tremor in her voice was unmistakable.
"The battle inside has pushed the temperature of the entire Purgatory Valley so high that the Purgatory rocks can't absorb the heat anymore. It's leaking out to the surface. I've never seen this happen before."
The rocks of the Purgatory Valley absorbed heat at a scale comparable to molten lava itself. This type of stone was extremely rare, not just in Charicific Valley but in the entire world. Liza had always believed that only Ho-Oh's Sacred Fire could produce a flame hot enough to exceed the rocks' capacity. Nothing else should have been able to overflow them.
And yet today she was watching exactly that happen.
However fierce the battle inside had actually gotten, it had been enough to push the Purgatory rocks past their absolute limit. Whether the flame that had done it belonged to the Strongest Charizard, or to Ash's Charizard, the answer would come soon enough.