BOOM! A flaming meteor smashed through dozens of trees and crashed into the rocky cliff wall a hundred meters away. CRASH! Another thunderou
BOOM!
A flaming meteor smashed through dozens of trees and crashed into the rocky cliff wall a hundred meters away.
CRASH!
Another thunderous impact.
The cliff struck by the blazing meteor cracked and crumbled piece by piece. Mienshao, buried in the pile of rocks, couldn't get back up.
Even though it had managed to activate Quick Guard at the last second under Mustard's command, the result stayed the same.
Because Mega Blaziken's kick wasn't something you could just block.
Using Flare Blitz to boost its whole body speed, then Quick Attack to make its legs even faster, High Jump Kick for extra power, and finally Force Palm on top of everything else.
Four moves combined into one.
The power of that kick was scary.
Mienshao getting knocked out in one hit wasn't unfair at all.
After all, in John's whole team, besides Mega Blaziken, only Kubfu, who'd been training alongside it, could smoothly mix four moves into a single attack.
"Your Blaziken has been trained really well," Mustard said, pulling out his Pokeball to recall Mienshao. He looked at John's Blaziken and nodded with approval.
He grabbed another Pokeball and released it.
Silver light flashed, and a tall, powerful Pokemon appeared.
It had black and white fur with a white headband across its forehead. Its eyes were sharp and fierce, and its presence felt as solid as a mountain.
[Urshifu (Single Strike Style) LV97]
"Urshifu," John said, genuinely surprised.
Mustard had two different Urshifu, John knew this from when they first met. He'd figured Mustard would save these two powerhouses for his final Pokemon.
But here it was, only the second match, and Mustard was already playing his trump card.
Seems like Mega Blaziken was putting enough pressure on the old master to force his hand.
"Be careful, this is a Single Strike Urshifu. Its specialty is one-hit KO," Mustard warned.
"What a coincidence. My Blaziken also fights with the one-hit style," John shot back.
"Really?" Mustard smiled. Without wasting time, he raised his hand and called out, "Wicked Blow!"
Urshifu immediately stepped forward with its right foot as gray energy burst out instantly. With its body as the center, the area around it seemed to fall into a dark world.
Streams of gray energy gathered into power lines, coming from everywhere and wrapping around Urshifu's body.
Some kind of energy was building up and getting stronger.
An extremely dangerous and heavy feeling covered the entire battle area.
The few brave trainers on Challenge Beach who'd been watching the fight took one look at this scene and immediately ran away, some even wondered if they should leave the Isle of Armor entirely.
Because this attack might just shatter the whole island.
John couldn't help but raise his eyebrows.
Wicked Blow, Single Strike Urshifu's special signature move.
In the games, the move wasn't super powerful, not even as strong as Crunch or Aura Sphere, which had less than 100 base power. But it had the crazy ability to always hit critical spots.
The attack method this Urshifu was showing didn't look weak at all.
It looked incredibly powerful and definitely would hit where it hurt most.
Really was one hit to kill everything.
But John wasn't backing down. He hadn't given up just now, either.
While Blaziken was good at "Fire Chain Kicks," and Blaze Kick + Force Palm + endless Double Kick combos were its signature moves, ever since John's breakthrough in the Steel Region, Blaziken's training had shifted from combo attacks to one-hit power moves!
Because...
John quietly pulled something from his pocket.
A golden crystal ore about the size of his fist.
This was a "Resonance Stone" from the Ferrum Region. It would give Blaziken new powers.
Then he took out a Fire-type Z-Crystal from his other pocket.
"Z-Move, Inferno Overdrive!" John first pressed the Fire Z-Crystal onto the Z-Power bracelet on his wrist.
Light flashed, and red energy burst from John's body and fell onto Mega Blaziken.
Mega Blaziken's whole body was immediately covered in bright, blazing fire. The burning flames reached toward the sky like pillars that seemed ready to tear apart the dim sky.
The crazy heat had already melted several feet of ground around them.
You couldn't see Mega Blaziken's face clearly anymore, it just floated in mid-air.
Kind of like... a Super Saiyan?
A red fireball quickly formed on its chest. This was a fireball made of super-concentrated flame energy. It was also the heart of the Z-Move Inferno Overdrive. Turning Mega Blaziken into a "Saiyan" was just a bonus.
But it wasn't over yet.
John held up the Resonance Stone and gave his command.
"Blazing Flash Kick!"
The Resonance Stone burst out with bright, pure light.
Urshifu raised its head slightly, locked eyes on the Mega Blaziken floating in mid-air, and took a step forward. The mist filling the sky formed into a huge bear head that roared toward the heavens.
The core moves were Blaziken's special Resonance technique "Blazing Flash Kick," plus the Fire-type Z-Move "Inferno Overdrive," the diving skill "Brave Bird," and the tough extra move "Superpower."
The Urshifu on the ground had finished powering up too. Now it was covered in dark mist, like it was wearing black armor, looking mysterious and dangerous.
And Mega Blaziken had built up enough energy from its earlier battle with Mienshao.
"BLAZIKEN!" A sharp cry came from Mega Blaziken.
A perfect kick, like a shooting star falling from the sky!
The next moment, the giant bear collided head-on with the meteor from above.
This was Mega Blaziken's ultimate special move.
Unlike Dynamax, Mega Evolution, and Z-Crystals, the power needed for the Resonance Stone came entirely from the Pokemon itself, gathered from the "fighting spirit and energy" the Pokemon had built up in previous battles.
With a roar full of wild power, Urshifu's gathered strength instantly went crazy.
The Inferno Overdrive in Blaziken's hands was thrown high into the sky, and it shot up hundreds of feet. It gathered all its strength at the highest point.
Mega Blaziken kicked forward. Its body was pushed faster by countless flames, crashed through Inferno Overdrive, and sped up again.
ROAR!
John called it "Crimson Kick."
A special ultimate move that could only be used after reaching a certain level.
With one strike, the giant bear roared toward the sky!
The flames surged again.