Flames would only make it stronger.
In an instant, even more violent orange-red flames burst apart the fire vortex.
Then—
A figure slowly emerged from within the flames.
It was Infernape.
Infernape calmly stepped forward.
Then, under the wary gazes of Tobias and Heatran, it revealed a cruel grin.
Next—
Infernape raised its arm high and clenched its fist hard!
With that motion—
The Aura Sphere, which had been drifting forward at a leisurely pace, detonated instantly!
Alright.
This time, it was truly an Aura nuke!
In a single moment, raging red-and-blue Aura energy swept across the entire battlefield!
The Aura surged outward like a scythe, slashing in all directions.
And the closest target—
Naturally—
Was Heatran!
Heatran had never imagined things would turn out like this. How could it have any guard up?
It took the full brunt of the expanding Aura Sphere head-on!
"Infernape! Go! Let Tobias see the bond between us!"
"Use the final finishing move of this promotion battle—end this fight!"
Ash raised his fist high into the air!
In response—
Infernape bent its body slightly.
Then, at blinding speed, it broke through straight toward the still-dazed Heatran!
Fists! Knees! Feet!
Every part of its body that could be used as a weapon became an instrument of attack!
Punch after punch! Kick after kick!
Every heavy blow left a deep brand burned into Heatran's body!
Under this all-out assault—
Heatran had no room to fight back!
So what if Heatran had massive stamina and terrifying defense?!
What did it matter?!
Infernape's stamina seemed endless!
As long as Ash didn't call a halt, Infernape's attacks would never stop!
Not even for a second!
And—
Infernape's assault wasn't chaotic at all!
Every strike flowed perfectly into the next.
The instant a fist was withdrawn, a kick or knee followed immediately!
Heatran wasn't given even a fraction of a second to breathe!
The visceral, flesh-on-flesh blows sent the audience's adrenaline skyrocketing!
It felt as if they themselves were the ones throwing punches!
The entire crowd roared!
Even though they had already witnessed Sceptile's godlike speed as it cut down Darkrai—
The impact of speed paled in comparison to this brutal close-quarters beating!
Every single hit ignited the blood of everyone watching the livestream!
However—
Some sharp-eyed viewers soon noticed something strange.
Why did Infernape's punching style look exactly the same as Ash's movements at the edge of the field?
Every time Ash made a motion—
Infernape reproduced it perfectly on Heatran's body!
For a moment—
A terrifying thought spread through countless minds.
Could it be—
That Ash, connected to Infernape through Aura, was now in a state of live player substitution?
Or—
Had Ash synchronized all of his combat experience directly into Infernape?!
Hiss—!
Good grief, he's not even pretending anymore?!
This attack speed and frequency—
No ordinary human could pull that off!
So—
Ash, are you a Pokémon now?!
Actually subbing in to fight?!
Shameless—two-on-one!
[Steven: Chairman Damaran, may I ask something? Is this kind of situation even allowed in battle? This really looks like Ash himself is playing live!]
[Chairman Damaran: Under normal circumstances, Trainers are strictly forbidden from entering the battlefield in official League matches. After all, Pokémon battles are Pokémon battles, not Trainer-versus-Pokémon fights.
But Ash's case is… special. He didn't step onto the field, nor did he directly attack. We can't exactly disqualify him just because he's making the same poses as his Pokémon, can we?]
[Korrina's Grandfather: That makes sense. Korrina, why don't you go apprentice under Ash too? If you master Aura, you could directly join Pokémon battles and do live combat yourself!]
[Korrina: But I can't even beat Bea…]
[Bea: ?]
Seeing Korrina's comment—
Bea slowly typed a single question mark.
What do you mean by that?
Are you saying I'm weak or something?!
For the record, she was the daughter of Galar's Karate King!
Strong beyond belief, alright?!
Sure, she wasn't as outrageous as Ash—
But she could still exchange blows with her own Machamp!
How did she suddenly become cannon fodder in Korrina's mouth?!
[Bea: Korrina, aren't you being a bit disrespectful right now?]
[Korrina: Sorry, sorry! You know I didn't mean it that way!]
[Bruno: Damn! So this is possible?! Then if I master Aura, does that mean I can learn Pokémon moves through them?!]
It had to be said—
Bruno's way of thinking was truly unique!
On par with Flint, honestly.
While everyone else was thinking about using Aura to strengthen Pokémon—
He jumped straight to learning Pokémon moves himself!
So what—next time he can't win, he just throws a move at the opposing Trainer from the sidelines?!
A real Trainer war?!
"Trainer warming up," huh?!
...
Back on the battlefield—
Heatran was completely overwhelmed by the savage assault.
Anyone with eyes could tell—
Infernape's offensive power had jumped up an entire tier!
Thank goodness the opponent was Heatran—thick-skinned and insanely durable!
Otherwise, it would've been beaten to death!
After all—
Its opponent was Ash and Infernape together!
Two-player co-op—how do you lose?!
Sometimes, being tanky wasn't a good thing.
Under the relentless barrage, Heatran somehow still hadn't lost consciousness!
It actually held on!
What, were you holding a Focus Sash?
Forced HP lock?!
After finishing its combo, Infernape didn't linger.
With a nimble backward leap, it retreated to the edge of the field.
"Heatran, are you okay?!"
Tobias hurriedly checked on his Pokémon.
Heatran shook its massive head, its poor condition obvious at a glance.
"Good! Then it's our turn to counterattack!"
Seeing that Heatran could still fight, Tobias finally let out a breath.
Although Heatran was in terrible shape—
It wasn't over yet!
Infernape had taken Heatran's signature move, Magma Storm!
And Magma Storm dealt continuous damage!
On top of that—
After using Close Combat, Infernape's Defense and Special Defense had dropped!
At this moment—
Infernape had to be on its last legs!
All Tobias needed—
Was a single chance.
One opportunity—
And he could completely extinguish this dying flame and take the win!
The best options now were either Overheat or Fire Blast.
Both were devastating Fire-type special attacks.
Fire Blast had wider coverage.
Overheat had even greater power.
After a brief consideration—
Tobias made his decision.
"Heatran! End this with Fire Blast!"
He issued the command immediately.
Now was the time to play it safe.
He had to win this exchange with minimal cost.
After all—
In this 3v3 battle so far, Ash hadn't lost a single Pokémon!
This had never happened before!
A massive crisis!
Tobias's gaze grew dark.
Troublesome—unimaginably troublesome!
Ash was no longer just an opponent.
He was a formidable enemy!
At Tobias's command—
Heatran shook its head, forcing itself to stay conscious.
Then it opened its enormous jaws!
An unimaginable heat wave began to gather!
As one of the most powerful Fire-type moves—
Fire Blast already possessed terrifying might!
Combined with Heatran's exceptional Special Attack—
This attack became even more horrifying!
Advantage is mine!
This time—I win, right?!
Reality proved one thing:
Never celebrate at halftime.
Under the gaze of countless eyes—
Ash and Infernape moved at the exact same moment!
Both raised a leg high—
Then slammed it down hard onto the ground!
"This is the final kill!"
"Aura Stomp!"
[Flint: Wait—this isn't right! Ash, you heretic! Infernape is a Fire-type Pokémon, and you still haven't used a single Fire-type move! This is unforgivable!]
[Alder: Hahaha, you really are an unqualified Sinnoh Fire-type Elite Four. Even a soon-to-retire Unova Champion like me knows that this situation clearly involves a Fire-countering ability—like Flash Fire.]
[Cynthia: Indeed. In mythology, Heatran possesses the power to draw in and amplify flames, which aligns perfectly with the Flash Fire ability.]
[Steven: So Ash deliberately used Fighting-type moves the entire time—he even used Aura to personally "sub in."]
[Flint: Ah… what?]
[Lucian: You should resign in shame. You're embarrassing all of Sinnoh.]
[Aaron: I agree. Flint is indeed slow and bad with words, though his strength is fine. Still, I recommend Volkner take his place.]
[Volkner: I don't really like helping out. Feels like I overworked myself to death in a past life—probably died playing on some fox's phone.
I just want a quiet life this time.
…but if I can replace Flint, I'm willing.]
(So that's the truth! No wonder you and Flint are friends—it's because his flaming red hair looks like a chili pepper! Even if it's a bell pepper!)
[Flint: Volkner! We're sworn brothers!]
[Volkner: It's fine. Lucian just called me—he said he can pay extra.]
Sworn brothers or not—
They're paying more!
...
On screen—
"Stomp!"
As Ash's voice fell, Dawn's heart nearly jumped into her throat.
Can this really hold?!
Heatran was unleashing Fire Blast!
One of the strongest Fire-type moves!
Can Stomp really stop that?!
Reality answered her doubts.
Or rather—
Dawn had underestimated how terrifying Infernape became once Ash personally "subbed in"!
Normally, Stomp dealt damage and had a chance to lower the opponent's Speed.
That was the standard use.
But—
This was anything but standard.
Watching Ash and Infernape raise their legs high, Tobias sensed something was wrong.
He just couldn't pinpoint what.
But when that foot struck the ground—
And the震动 came crashing in from every direction—
Tobias finally understood.
Damn it, this is the second time!
First you said "X-Scissor" and used hand signals to make Sceptile Dig!
Now you say "Stomp"?!
But is this really Stomp?!
Since when could Stomp shake the entire battlefield like this?!
This is Earthquake!
Ash!
You, with those thick eyebrows, are actually using military deception?!
Heatran, which was quadruple weak to Ground, couldn't withstand this blow at all!
It didn't even get the chance to fire off Fire Blast!
It collapsed directly onto the battlefield, which had already cracked apart from the quake.
Tobias silently watched everything unfold.
He had a strong premonition—
He might not win today.
He might even be swept 3–0.
GG.
"Heatran has lost its ability to battle! Tobias, please send out your next Pokémon!"
Only when the Rotom Referee spoke did Tobias snap back to reality.
He recalled the unconscious Heatran, then looked at Ash with firm resolve.
"Ash, you're strong. You defeated me twice in a row through tactics."
"But I will not fall for it a third time!"
"Huh?"
Ash was still basking in the joy of victory and hadn't even heard what Tobias said.
Honestly, Tobias had misunderstood him this time.
Against Darkrai, Ash had indeed used words and gestures together to finish the fight with Sceptile.
But this time?
Absolutely not!
Ash was an honest kid.
If he said it was Stomp—
Then it was Stomp.
What Tobias didn't realize—
Was that Ash himself was the unpredictable variable!
This Stomp was unleashed by Infernape using Ash's power and all of his Aura!
The震动 came from Aura waves resonating with the ground itself!
Infernape was merely the medium—
And Ash's Aura was a massive combat amplifier!
Together, they didn't just amplify Infernape's strength—
They also turned "Stomp" into "Earthquake"!
"I did use Stomp!"
Ash protested indignantly once he came back to his senses.
But Tobias didn't dwell on it.
A loss was a loss.
Now—
The most important thing was figuring out how to turn the tables!
[Flint: Damn! 2–0! Even I could go up and win! I thought Tobias's legendary Pokémon were supposed to be amazing—turns out they're nothing special! My review: not even as good as one hair on Ash's Infernape!]
[Volkner: Watch your language. You're embarrassing Sinnoh.]
[Aaron: Exactly. People will think all Sinnoh Trainers are like you.]
[Bea: I have a question. Does Ash reinforcing Pokémon with Aura count as cheating? If I run into a Trainer like that, can I request a bare-handed karate match instead?]
[Bruno: Huh? That's outside my knowledge base.]
[Sabrina: What? Aura isn't Ash's own power? Or do you think Psychic powers don't count as a Trainer's strength either? Then should I invite people to psychic duels during battles?]
[Lance: Please don't. Ash at most is slightly overpowered. You'd be straight-up broken, Sabrina. Using Psychic powers on people can literally kill them.]
[Chairman Damaran: Ahem—Lance is correct. Whether Psychic power or Aura, they are considered a Trainer's own abilities. As long as they do not directly attack the opposing Trainer, they are theoretically unrestricted.]
[Flint: That's not fair! They have Psychic powers, Aura—what do I have?! Am I just trash?!]
[Lucian: How strange, Flint. You actually have self-awareness. Remarkable.]
[Flint: …]
Listen to that—
Is that even something a human would say?!
...
Back on the battlefield—
Infernape clearly had no remaining fighting capacity.
Sceptile, on the other hand, was still at full strength.
But Tobias's third Pokémon would be Latios.
With Latios's speed, Ash's Sceptile wouldn't have the upper hand.
Which meant—
As long as Tobias played it steady—
Latios could take down both of Ash's remaining Pokémon.
The score would become 2–2!
However—
Based on what Tobias now knew about Ash—
Ash would definitely recall the barely-standing Infernape.
He wouldn't give Tobias the chance to kick someone while they were down!
That said, Tobias wasn't too worried.
In the first battle, Sceptile vs. Darkrai had been an overwhelming victory for Ash.
But in the second—
Infernape's win had been incredibly hard-fought.
Without relying on Ash's own power—
With its Fire-type sealed by abilities and matchups—
There was no way Infernape could've beaten Heatran.
By that logic—
The next battle should absolutely tilt in his favor!
Still—
Tobias had no intention of lowering his guard.
After all, he had already lost twice.
Playing it safe was paramount.
If he lost 3–0—
He'd be nailed to the pillar of shame forever.
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