After catching the Moxie Heracross, Ash and his companions decided to find a place for special training.
Soon, they arrived at a wide valley.
"Alright, we'll start our special training here!"
Ash was very satisfied with the valley; it had open spaces, enough for several Pokémon to stretch their legs.
However, just as they were about to enter the valley, the ground beneath them began to shake violently.
"What's going on? Is it an earthquake?" Misty instinctively grabbed Ash's arm.
"It doesn't seem like an earthquake, more like a move from some Ground-type Pokémon. Let's go check it out!" Ash scanned with his Aura power but found nothing.
Soon, the group discovered a Donphan by the side of the mountain path.
"This Donphan should have a trainer!" Ash concluded.
Indeed, as soon as he spoke, a beautiful young woman appeared next to the Donphan.
"Beautiful lady, if you don't mind, please tell me your name!" Brock's speed in that instant was so fast that even Ash's Aura power couldn't track him.
As if teleporting, he was already in front of the young woman, holding her hand, and speaking in a very affectionate tone.
Clearly, this made the young woman quite flustered, but she still said, "Um, my name is Rochelle, and this Donphan is my Pokémon!"
"My name is Brock, and this necklace looks absolutely stunning on you!" As Brock said this, Ash finally noticed that Miss Rochelle was wearing an agate necklace around her neck.
"Is that a gem?" As a girl, Misty naturally had no resistance to things like gems.
Brock explained, "That's right, princesses and noblewomen in the past used to wear agates as jewels!"
"Miss Rochelle, this must be Donphan Valley, right!"
Ash stepped forward and said, "On the way here, I heard about a valley rich in agates. The villages near this valley have generations of people who train Donphan and make a living by finding and processing agate products!"
Miss Rochelle nodded, "You're very well-informed!"
"I hope to conduct some Pokémon special training in this valley. I wonder if that's alright?"
After all, it was someone else's land, so he still needed to ask the owner's permission.
Such a large valley was truly an excellent training ground.
And since it produced agate gems, which couldn't be eaten, there was no fear of Snorlax eating their local specialty.
"Of course!" Since Ash had asked so politely, Miss Rochelle naturally wouldn't refuse. "However, all the Donphan here have trainers, so please be careful."
"Also, if you find any agates, you can come to the village and find me. I can process them for you for free!"
Although Miss Rochelle didn't hold out much hope that Ash and his companions would find any agates, she still politely offered.
She had a pretty good impression of Ash.
"Thank you then!"
Bidding farewell to Rochelle, Ash and his companions arrived in the valley.
"Come out!"
"Charizard, Snorlax, Bulbasaur, Squirtle, Heracross!"
Snorlax was still fast asleep, having just eaten the system feed Ash gave it that morning, and was in the middle of a sweet dream.
"It's good to get some sun!" Ash didn't intend to wake it up; he'd wait until it got hungry later.
"It's rare for you to train, Ash. It seems you've really grown!" Misty found a shady spot and sat down.
After traveling day and night for so many days, she was truly exhausted.
Brock also started preparing food, as training consumes a lot of energy.
"Pikachu, this might be very tough!" Ash wanted to train Pikachu to learn Iron Tail, which would require a lot of tail strength training.
"Pika!" Pikachu indicated it was ready for the challenge.
Seeing Pikachu's high spirits, Ash smiled and tied a stone to its lightning-shaped tail.
"Pika?"
With a thud, the weight of the stone caused Pikachu's tail to smack directly onto the ground.
"Pikachu, you can do it! I'll have Bulbasaur help you!" Seeing this, Ash couldn't help but shake his head.
Pikachu was indeed lacking a lot of training at the moment. The previous Ash had only taught Pikachu Iron Tail after finishing his journey in the Johto region and while in the Hoenn region.
But Ash believed in Pikachu; it would definitely learn the Iron Tail move!
"Next up is Charizard!"
Leaving Pikachu to continuously practice tail swipes with Bulbasaur's vine whip assistance, Ash began to focus his attention on Charizard.
"Roar!"
Charizard spewed a Flamethrower towards Ash; it seemed to be one of its little habits.
However, a blue light flashed, and the flames were blocked.
Ash smiled and said, "It seems you're full of fighting spirit, which is great!"
Compared to Pikachu, Charizard's training would be much harder.
"Roar!"
"Then take this!" Ash chuckled mischievously and threw over an item that looked like an hourglass.
Then, Charizard's entire body was bound by shackles, making it almost unable to move.
"This is a forced training device. You, my ace, are you ready?" Ash looked at Charizard twisted into a ball and said with a mischievous smile.
This was an item from the system, with immense restrictive power, but also providing extremely effective training, very suitable for Charizard, who forced itself to evolve to its final stage.
Charizard stretched its arms, feeling very heavy, but still nodded, indicating it could accept the training.
"That's good, I've wanted to do this for a long time!"
Ash's mischievous smile suddenly vanished, and his fist, glowing with blue light, slammed into Charizard's round belly!
The fist covered with Aura Power was like being covered with Armament Haki, not only strengthening the power of Ash's punch but also making it very painful!
Charizard was punched back repeatedly, even hitting the mountain wall.
"Ash!"
This scene terrified Brock and Misty.
However, Ash's face was frosty at this moment. "Charizard, our strength is still too far off. We must not be arrogant and complacent, understand?"
"Roar!"
Charizard roared and struggled to stand up. It didn't use Flamethrower, nor did it fly up, but instead raised its fist and punched towards Ash.
However, with its speed reduced by the forced training device, Charizard's punch was very slow and weak.
Ash ducked and dodged the punch, and his left fist again flashed with blue light, striking towards Charizard's armpit.
He knocked Charizard back again.
But this time, Charizard spun in place, and its thick, flame-burning tail whipped towards Ash.
"Good one, buddy!"
Ash didn't dodge or retreat, his right fist, glowing with blue light, directly slammed forward!
Charizard: 155 / 255
Charizard: 160 / 255
Charizard: 165 / 255