The battle resumed.
Some color had finally returned to Asher's face. The panic in his eyes was gone, replaced by a small, almost relieved smile.
Deep down, he had already accepted the loss.
Blaze had beaten him fair and square, then gone out of his way to spare him the humiliation of being swept by a single Pokémon. At this point, there was no pride left to protect and nothing left to prove to the crowd.
He just wanted to finish the match properly, Trainer against Trainer, with no regrets.
"Blaze, come on!"
A spark returned to his eyes.
"Let's enjoy these last two battles. We'll give it everything we've got!"
For the first time in a while, he actually looked fired up.
Blaze grinned back.
"All right. Let's do it."
"Flygon, Sand Tomb!"
Asher swept a hand forward.
"Flyyy-gon!"
An earthy yellow glow spread over Flygon's body. With a powerful beat of its wings, sand erupted across the battlefield and twisted into a violent vortex that surged toward Arcanine.
"Arcanine, break through with Extreme Speed!"
"ARF!"
The massive canine became a crimson blur.
It tore straight through the swirling sand and burst out the other side before Flygon could reposition.
BOOM!
The impact sent the Dragon-type spinning through the air.
"Flyyy—!"
That high-pitched cry rang out again.
Arcanine's ears twitched in visible irritation.
"Steady yourself! Supersonic!"
Flygon fought through the pain and regained its balance in midair. It opened its mouth, releasing a piercing ultrasonic wave that spread across the field.
An attack like that was difficult to avoid simply by moving aside.
"Whuff...?!"
The sound hit.
Arcanine staggered, shaking its head as its gaze lost focus.
Confusion had set in.
"Good! Earthquake!"
Asher seized the opening immediately.
"Flygon!"
Ground-type energy surged through Flygon as it dropped lower and slammed both feet into the battlefield.
KRAKOOOM!
The ground bucked violently.
Powerful shockwaves ripped across the field toward the disoriented canine.
Earthquake already received STAB, and Ground-type attacks were super effective against Arcanine. A clean hit would hurt badly.
Worse, the attack covered such a wide area that confusion made avoiding it even harder.
The spectators quickly realized the same thing.
"Damn, that combo is nasty."
"Supersonic first, then Earthquake... How's Arcanine supposed to dodge that while confused?"
For the first time since Arcanine entered the field, things looked dangerous.
...
Then Blaze's eyes turned crimson.
A strange pressure rolled off his body as his red hair lifted despite the still air.
For a brief moment, he looked ridiculously like a Super Saiyan.
Firelight burned in his eyes.
"Arcanine."
His voice cut through the arena.
"Wake up."
Crimson light flashed around the canine's body.
Its unfocused eyes sharpened instantly.
The confusion vanished.
A wave of shocked voices swept through the stands.
"What?!"
"He can do that?!"
Blaze gave no one time to process what had happened.
"Arcanine! Blazing Extreme Speed!"
"RRAUFF!"
Flames exploded around the massive canine as its body tensed.
Agility.
Extreme Speed.
And Blaze's fire.
Three separate forces synchronized into a single attack.
Combining two moves was already difficult. With enough training, exceptional Pokémon could learn to overlap techniques and make them function as one.
Three at once was another story entirely.
It demanded extraordinary coordination, precise energy control, and enough natural talent to keep the entire combination from collapsing under its own complexity.
But this Arcanine had something else working in its favor.
Blaze's superpower.
His flames acted as the link binding the different parts of the technique together, allowing his partner to push Agility, Extreme Speed, and Fire-type energy into a true triple combination move.
Even with that advantage, pulling it off required an exceptional Trainer-Pokémon pair.
...
Arcanine vanished.
One moment, flames were roaring around its body. The next, a blazing red streak had already crossed the battlefield like a meteor.
Flygon never had a chance to react.
BOOOOM!
The collision detonated across the arena.
To Flygon, it must have felt like getting hit by a truck that happened to be on fire.
"FLYYY—!"
The Dragon-type was launched more than twenty meters, bouncing off the ground before crashing into a crater.
Dust and shattered stone exploded into the air, hiding the battlefield from view.
The difference in power was brutal.
Agility and Extreme Speed had pushed Arcanine's acceleration to an absurd level, while the flames wrapped around its body turned all that momentum into even more destructive force.
It was fast enough that Flygon could barely register the attack.
And powerful enough that seeing it coming probably would not have helped.
That was what made a triple combination so terrifying.
Compared with something like this, a single move—or even an ordinary two-move combination—was operating on an entirely different level.
And both Extreme Speed and Agility had already reached Perfect proficiency.
Flygon had been completely outclassed.