Ash, wearing a blue-and-white short-sleeved shirt, rushed straight toward Terrance as soon as he entered Professor Oak's Laboratory, proudly showing off his eight Badges.
"Brother Terrance, look. I've already defeated eight Gym Leaders, and now I'm qualified to challenge the Indigo Plateau Conference!"
Seeing Ash's smug expression, Terrance gave an awkward smile, not sure how to respond.
Fortunately, two figures following behind Ash immediately voiced what Terrance was thinking: "As if you didn't get them all out of sympathy."
At this point in time, Ash was still somewhat immature compared to how he would be a few years later.
Hearing this, Ash's face turned blue and then purple. He wanted to argue back but didn't even know where to start, and in his frustration he decided to prove himself to Terrance through a battle.
"Brother Terrance, let's battle again. I've gotten stronger!"
"No, no, you'll definitely lose badly," Misty waved her hand.
"I'm guessing you'll still get one-shotted," Brock nodded.
"They're both making some sense," Professor Oak added, twisting the knife and making Ash's whole expression fall.
"Hahaha, alright then, let's battle again and see," Terrance said with a slight smile to Ash. "Consider it a test of your training results before the Indigo Plateau Conference."
"Awesome!!" Overjoyed at Terrance accepting his battle invitation, Ash leapt up excitedly, shouting, "Professor Oak, can I borrow the backyard?"
"Uh… that's no big deal," Professor Oak replied.
Seeing that Ash really meant to challenge Terrance, everyone smacked their foreheads. There was no need to guess the outcome of the battle. But Ash was brimming with enthusiasm, and for him, winning or losing had never mattered; what mattered was fighting with all his strength.
"On my side, it's this one."
In Professor Oak's Laboratory backyard, Terrance sent out a Pokémon. Although this Pokémon was small—smaller even than Pikachu—Misty and Brock both froze at once, looking at Ash with concern.
"Ash, be careful! That Castform is the Pokémon that defeated the Giant Tentacruel." Although Misty had just been belittling Ash, when it came to the battle she hurried to tell him this crucial information, afraid he wouldn't recognize Castform.
"Got it," Ash nodded. He pulled out his Pokédex but found no data. Only after Professor Oak reminded him did he realize it was a Pokémon from another region.
This Castform probably specialized in Ice-type moves. Ash hesitated; having also experienced the Acapulco incident, he naturally remembered how terrifying that power was, which had frozen over half the sea.
Recalling its strength made even Ash, usually so carefree, tense up.
"Charizard, I choose you!!" With a turn of his cap, Ash finally made up his mind and threw out Charizard's Poké Ball.
This choice made Brock's expression grow serious. "If I remember right, Ash still can't command this Charizard. Although it's powerful, can Ash really make it obey?"
"You big idiot," Misty fumed.
Stunted development.
From the first glance at Ash's Charizard, Terrance could tell the condition of its growth. Although it was clear that it had been earnestly trained, its development was, frankly, a mess; it was a classic case of being forced to evolve without a solid foundation.
Once the battle began, Ash took the initiative and ordered Charizard to use Flamethrower.
But in response, Charizard disdainfully blew out a puff of black smoke and lay down on the spot.
"Charizard, fight! The opponent is really strong!" Ash shouted.
"What an arrogant Pokémon," Terrance remarked, giving Castform an instruction. In an instant, the weather turned sunny, and warmth filled the entire backyard.
Above, the sunlight blazed. Lifting one's head to look at the sky would surely sting the eyes.
"It's Sunny Day… but why… this benefits Charizard too," Brock frowned. By now, Castform had already adapted to the weather and changed form, becoming its Fire-type Sunny Form.
"Charizard, if you won't obey your own Trainer, how much of your strength can you even bring out?" Terrance said aloud. "Castform, give it a Flamethrower as a greeting."
"Castformmm~~~" Castform shot out raging flames, turning them into a massive wave that looked ready to engulf Charizard. Faced with the attack, Charizard's eyes shot open and it tried to take off to dodge, but suddenly the Flamethrower seemed to explode, accelerating, and at the very moment Charizard tried to dodge, it was instantly swallowed up.
Terrance calmly watched Ash's worried shouting and the Charizard swallowed by flames. That move had actually used very little of Castform's power; it was meant to give Charizard an opening.
Sure enough, the next second, Charizard whipped its tail to scatter the flames, now fixing its gaze seriously on Castform.
"Alright, Charizard, then it's our turn to counterattack," Ash said happily when he saw Charizard unharmed. "Fly up, Charizard!"
Then Charizard took off. While Misty and Brock were puzzled, they also felt something was off.
"Charizard, from above, sweep with Flamethrower," Ash ordered.
"Roar!" Charizard exhaled, forming a Fire Spin that swept toward Castform.
Seeing this, Misty and the others wore an "as expected" expression. It still wasn't following commands.
"Castform, spinning Fire Blast," Terrance snapped his fingers, and Castform instantly flew up, forming a human-shaped flame. But instead of firing it, it controlled the move to spin continuously before itself. The thick flames gathered densely, spinning faster and faster, and by the time Fire Spin descended, it had already transformed into a circular vortex due to its incredible speed.
"This…" Ash froze, unable to tell which part was even Fire Spin anymore. Charizard's move hit the spinning Fire Blast and was instantly absorbed, without even making a ripple.
"What exquisite control," Professor Oak nodded, then suddenly noticed something strange.
The spinning Fire Blast began gradually thickening, as if mixing sand and water, slowly turning into a lava-like substance.
Boom!!
As the lava exploded, countless streams of magma burst out like inverted raindrops, flying towards the Charizard fluttering in the air, resembling a dense, reverse rain of fire!
The lava, created by mixing Sandstorm, Fire, and Water, possessed a higher temperature and was more lethal than Castform's pure flames!
Almost instantly, Charizard was burned by the force released from the exploding lava and fell weakly to the ground.
The burns from the lava left deep marks on Charizard's body. Seeing this injury, Professor Oak and the others frowned. This move of Terrance's hadn't held back at all. I was aimed at completely and thoroughly injuring Charizard.
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