"ROAAARR!"
The flame dragon was here!
Ash's old friend has been training in the Charicific Valley for a while now, and has now really become the strongest Charizard in the entire valley.
Just by being there with his orange-red fire dragon body, he can generate heat strong enough to where it seems to distort the air and light.
The ice field had already melted into water from the battle between Moltres and Latios, but it's different with Charizard.
As soon as Charizard appeared on the stage, water vapor began to evaporate at an alarming rate, and when Charizard flapped its wings, everyone got to see the majestic large draconian wings spread outward.
Its current size is really frightening, well over three meters.
And this is just a conservative estimate based on visual inspection while it is flying in the air. The height machine in the stadium and Ash knew that this Charizard is roughly 3.6 meters tall!
After Dragonair evolved, Ash would sometimes send it to Liza and so Charizard and Dragonair could better work out their training understandings from Rayquaza.
Dragonair once wanted to challenge Charizard, but was directly beaten into submission by a single of Dragon Claw of Charizard.
And this only shows how unshakable Rayquaza's strength is, even Charizard now is more than a little inferior.
If it was the Rayquaza before being caught, Charizard would be weaker, yes, but not by so much. But now under Ash, a Pokémon like Rayquaza was also gaining strength at a quicker rate.
Anyway, unexpectedly, they met this Darkrai here. Ash and Charizard finally had another chance to have a good fight.
May looked at Darkrai and couldn't help but feel creepy, but she still subconsciously took out her Pokémon Pokédex, only to find that there was no information on it about this. Not only her, but even Gary, Max, Norman, and Tyson also looked confused, not to mention Morrison.
Somehow the one with the closest one to a real answer was Molly, which, honestly, was not that surprising considering how many fairytale stories she read.
However, seeing the light of understanding in Ash's eyes, Tobias became even more excited, "Ash, I didn't expect you to know Darkrai!"
"Darkrai, classified as the Pitch-Black Pokémon and a Mythical Pokémon. It is said that it will appear on moonless nights, causing people to fall asleep and suffer from nightmares. Of course, that is just to protect itself, and it has no real malicious intent!"
Darkrai, this is the Pokémon that Ash wants very much, as this is one of his favorite Pokémon's as… Luke? Or was it Lucas?
Ash suddenly felt a pain in his head—he couldn't even remember who Luke was.
But he understood… he understood that he was slowly losing even more of his memories… memories not relating to Pokémon's.
However, he was gaining more data about Pokémon, almost as if he was a Pokédex.
Ash immediately got himself out of that, this was neither the time or place to think about such matters.
But he is confident. With a smile, he knew that he would definitely have a Darkrai one day!
Hearing Ash tell his information and understand his kind so well, Darkrai's bright blue eyes also looked at Ash and his Charizard in a different way.
"Ash, you are really different!" Tobias' fighting spirit broke through its limit, for the untold time. As the referee announced the start of the battle, he took the lead and started the action, "Darkrai, use Dark Pulse!"
This was effectively Darkrai's main offensive skill. The evil aura was chilling to the core. After all, it came from the clone that was closest to its Mythical parent.
The power of this move was definitely stronger than that Moltres he used in the last round. That Moltres, while being a successful clone, was not able to get as much power from the Moltres it got its DNA from.
But for Ash and Charizard, it was just a small scene, even Latios, weak to the Dark-type attack could handle it, "Dragon Claw!"
Facing the signature attack of the Dark-type, Charizard used one of his favorites in Dragon Claw. The cyan dragon energy condensed in an instant, covering Charizard's strong arm and especially claws with large cyan and green Dragon Claw.
The power of Charizard was very terrifying now, even against Darkrai's Dark Pulse, it stretched out its Dragon Claw and tore it apart like it was nothing.
This battle was exactly the reason he came here, Tobias was very excited. It was the first time he met an interesting Trainer like Ash, where he could take a regular Pokémon and make it as strong as a Legendary Pokémon, "Darkrai, use Double Team! And then Dark Void!"
Darkrai's single figure instantly transformed into dozens and surrounded Charizard, and then each of them threw a dark ball towards Charizard!
This was not a Shadow Ball or even an attacking move at all, but instead this was Dark Void.
A more that forces the opponent into a dark world and puts them into a terrible sleep filled with nightmares.
This was also Darkrai's exclusive/signature skill!
At this moment, there are dozens of fake and only one real Dark Void thrown at Charizard all at the same time. Though only one of them has any powers, once Charizard is hit, he will definitely fall into an annoying deep sleep. In this now mostly water venue, if Charizard falls into sleep, it will be quite dangerous even for something as strong as him.
Darkrai, known as the Nightmare God, has a large number of skills related to sleep, and it will use them all to get its victory!
And Trainers, normal or experienced, would have panicked at this time, but Ash just showed one of his signature smiles that made all the girls begin to scream.
[I don't think May and Winona like that…] Ciel commented, holding her own annoyance at these vixens vying for her lover's attention.
'What can I even do other than to please them later in bed…'
Ash's Aura Force can easily detect which of these are the real Dark Void! Little tricks like Double Team pose no threat to him at all, and it certainly never will… right?
If it were some of his other Pokémon with weaker instincts, Ash would have used his Aura Forces detection skills to cheat, but now the one fighting alongside him is his Charizard!
Someone with insane instincts and power to retaliate.
"Heat Wave!"
Charizard flapped his dragon wings violently, summoning blasts of wind that were very very hot. The clones of the clone Darkrai's attack were all destroyed in an instant, nothing left, leaving only Charizard in the middle. And he was not polite at all.
A Flamethrower now could seal the battle.
The combined fighting power of Ash and Charizard was overwhelming. Without even needing Ash's order, Charizard vibrated his dragon wings again, and his figure had instantly arrived by Darkrai's side!
That same terrifying Dragon Claw slashed towards Darkrai!
"Damn it, get away!" Tobias' eyes widened. He couldn't keep up with the movements of Ash's Charizard at all no matter how much he tried to.
Tobias had always been very conceited and never took ordinary Pokémon seriously, and that's the primary reason why he never trained ordinary Pokemons at all, to the point of getting his hands on clones of Legendary and Mythical Pokémon's.
But today, he saw something different, he didn't expect his strongest clone would be brutalized by this regular Pokémon so easily.
Darkrai's movement is just like how a ghost moves, quick and always through something damn solid, but with that he really was able to avoid Charizard's attack.
"Flamethrower!"
How could Ash let go of such a sweet opportunity to end this battle? Since he was already so close, he had to be taught a good lesson before he could leave.
Tobias felt overwhelmed by Ash's might. He could only struggle to hold on, and only barely while his opponent wasn't even sweating.
Just how strong is this Charizard?
"Dark Void!"
The only way now is to find an opportunity to make Dark Void land on Charizard. As long as Charizard fell into a deep sleep, he was very sure that his Darkrai could slowly chip away at Charizard's health.
But will Ash even let him get to that part of his wish?
Yeah, no.
Dark Void did finally come close to hitting Charizard, but was again destroyed by Charizard like it was nothing, and this time blazing flames almost gave Darkrai a burn, the real Status Effect one.
"Darkrai, use Ice Beam!"
Ice-type skills have a neutral effect on Charizard, as it is stronger against it with its primary Fire-type, but weak against it with its secondary Flying-type; however, this can limit its movement, right?
Again, no.
Little did Tobias know that Ash's Charizard was the first to train with the Macho Brace. So its speed was really nothing to scoff at.
"Up!" Ash gave an order, and Charizard understood it. He flapped his dragon wings and it almost seemed as if he teleported to the sky. The freezing light of Ice Beam immediately followed and hit the field. The half-melted ice field froze solid again.
Charizard then flapped its wings again to gently land on the new ice field.
At this point in the battle, Ash has the absolute upper hand, to the point where even a Jubat could see. Darkrai had not gained any advantage throughout its battle with Charizard.
Whether it's Physical Attack or Special Attack, Speed, or Physical Defense or Special Defense, Charizard had the upper hand, not to mention the bond between Ash and his real Charizard that transcends everything and was ready to make him stronger at any given time.
"Ash, I suppose my victory or defeat depends on this move!" Tobias was satisfied, even with this loss. He no longer thought about letting Darkrai sweep Ash's six Pokémon. The Charizard in front of him made him understand the power difference between him and Ash.
Even that Latios he used previously is strong enough to defeat his Darkrai, his strongest Pokémon.
Not only that, his purpose of coming here has been achieved. He wants to bring a perfect end to this battle with Ash!
"Darkrai, use Dark Pulse at maximum output!" There are no moves in Darkrai's arsenal that can be considered game changing other than its signature Dark Void move. Darkrai's tactic is to use Dark Void to drag the opponent into deep sleep, and then make them incapable of fighting in the nightmare and also attacking them from the outside if necessary.
It had always worked. Until today.
This is yet another one of the reasons why he couldn't defeat Ash.
"Flamethrower!"
Ash waved his hand, and the iconic Fire-type skill spurted out. Two classic and iconic Special Attacks collided and exploded.
And with that, the Ever Grande Conference ended perfectly with this pillar of dark purple fire.