Chapter 476: The Masochistic Avalugg!

Avalugg was still using Recover.

Even while Mega Charizard Y's golden flames continued to engulf its body, the gray-white light of the move kept repairing the damage almost as fast as it appeared. For a few bizarre moments, the effect made Avalugg look as though it were being reborn through fire.

The problem was that every time its injuries healed, Charizard's Super Flamethrower immediately burned it all over again.

Pain.

Relief.

Pain again.

The cycle repeated so quickly that Avalugg seemed trapped between agony and pleasure.

"AVAL... ugg... AVAL..."

Its cries grew stranger by the second as it stubbornly continued using Recover.

...

Aaron stared down from the ice pillar, his expression twisting.

"What the hell...?"

His mouth twitched.

Is this thing actually enjoying itself?

The longer he listened, the worse it sounded.

Aaron's patience ran out.

"Charizard."

Mega Charizard Y glanced back.

"Enough. Wipe it out."

Aaron raised his hand.

"Super Lightning-Flame Dragon Mode."

Then his eyes sharpened.

"Finish it with Super Lightning-Flame Dragon's Flamethrower!"

He had officially heard enough of Avalugg's increasingly disturbing noises.

"GRAAAZARD!"

Crimson fire flared in Mega Charizard Y's eyes.

An instant later, a violent aura erupted from its body.

Scorching red flames surged around its scales while bolts of lightning crackled through the air like living serpents. The fire on its tail shot upward, burning brighter and hotter than before.

BOOM!

CRACKLE!

Flame and lightning twisted together around Charizard until it looked like some monstrous dragon forged from a thunderstorm and an inferno.

The pressure rolling off it filled the cavern.

Even Grant, Ryan, and the two technicians, standing well away from the battlefield, felt cold sweat gather on their backs.

One of the technicians swallowed.

"So... this is what Aaron's Charizard looks like when it actually gets serious?"

The other man stared upward.

"We're this far away and I still feel like I'm about to get cooked."

Grant rubbed his forehead.

"I told you. Aaron's a freak, and somehow his Pokémon are even worse."

The technician nodded slowly.

"Yeah... I'm starting to believe you."

His expression then changed.

"Wait. If Charizard is really this strong... wouldn't that put it at Class Champion level?"

Ryan's eyes widened slightly.

"An eighteen-year-old Trainer with a Class Champion-level Pokémon..."

He let out a low breath.

"That's absurd."

Grant did not disagree.

Ryan kept watching Aaron.

"Grant... he really came from an ordinary family?"

"Yeah."

Grant's answer was immediate.

"Sealine City. Normal family. Nothing special in his background."

Ryan was silent for a moment.

That fact seemed to affect him more than Charizard's power itself.

"There really is a path upward, then..."

Grant glanced at him.

Ryan had come from a modest background himself. He knew better than most how difficult it was to rise without money, connections, or a powerful family name behind him.

For someone like Ryan, reaching his current position had already required years of effort.

Aaron had started from even less and, at eighteen, had already climbed far beyond what most people could accomplish in a lifetime.

That was what Ryan found truly unbelievable.

...

"GRAAAZARD!"

Mega Charizard Y roared.

Wrapped in lightning and boiling flame, it looked almost like a living star inside the frozen cavern.

Then it opened its jaws.

Golden fire erupted.

This time, the attack was different.

The flames came out denser, hotter, and far more violent than before. Lightning threaded through the torrent as the blast tore across the cavern toward Avalugg.

The surrounding glacier began melting before the attack even reached its target.

Avalugg saw it coming.

And, strangely enough, it was ready.

The earlier cycle of pain and relief had affected it in a way even Aaron had not expected. Every time the flames burned through its body, Recover restored it almost immediately afterward, and the contrast between those sensations had become strangely intoxicating.

Avalugg had started to look forward to the next hit.

Then the new attack arrived.

Its anticipation vanished instantly.

This was nothing like the flames from before.

The golden inferno slammed into Avalugg like molten metal.

BOOOOM!

"AVALUUUUGG!"

Its scream tore through the cavern.

This time, Recover could not keep up.

The crystalline armor covering its body blackened and cracked almost instantly. The horrifying heat burned straight through the restored layers before they could stabilize, overwhelming Avalugg in seconds.

Its eyes rolled back.

Then its enormous body collapsed.

BOOM!

The impact sent shards of ice skittering across the cavern floor.

Avalugg lay motionless, its body scorched black, spirals in its eyes.

It had completely lost the ability to battle.

One attack.

That was all it took once Charizard stopped holding back.

...

"GRAAAZARD!"

Mega Charizard Y threw its head back and roared in victory.

The flames and lightning surrounding it gradually faded. The enhanced state ended, leaving Charizard hovering above the glacier in its regular Mega Y form.

It flew back toward Aaron.

"Nice work, Charizard."

Aaron smiled and ran a hand along the scales at its neck.

"Zard."

Charizard snorted proudly, two small bursts of flame shooting from its nostrils.

Aaron laughed.

"Come on. Let's head over to the others."

He climbed onto Charizard's back, and the Pokémon carried him across the cavern.

A few seconds later, Mega Charizard Y landed heavily in front of Grant, Ryan, and the two technicians.

Aaron hopped down.

All four men were still staring at him.

Aaron looked from one face to the next.

"What?"

No one answered.

He smiled.

"You guys still aren't used to this?"

Grant's eye twitched.

Aaron shrugged.

"Come on. That was basic stuff."

Silence.

Ryan stared at him.

The two technicians stared at him.

Grant slowly closed his eyes.

All four of them had roughly the same thought.

I really want to punch this kid.

Then came the obvious problem.

Aaron technically outranked all of them, and none of them were eager to find out what the Pokémon League would do if they actually laid a hand on an Honorary General.

One of the technicians sighed.

"Yeah... probably not worth it."

Grant nodded.

"Definitely not."