Ash wasn't worried about Dragonite's Outrage on its own. He could handle it himself if he had to. But most of his techniques leaned lethal, and Joe's Dragonite was already badly hurt. One wrong move and he'd kill him outright.
So Charizard it was.
...
"Roarrr!" Charizard's massive wings beat hard as he shot skyward, closing in on the rampaging Dragonite in seconds. The moment Dragonite locked onto him, the rage redirected instantly. The Hurricane swung toward Charizard like a living weapon.
Nearby, Sabrina's eyes lit up with blue light, psychic energy spreading outward in a quiet shield that wrapped around everyone still standing near the arena. The winds hammered against it but couldn't get through.
"Is this really what Outrage does to a Dragon-type?" Liza asked, watching the tornado churn. She wasn't panicking, not with Sabrina's barrier holding, but the sheer scale of it had her shaken.
"Not always," Sabrina said, eyes still glowing as she maintained the barrier. "Most Dragon-types just get a doubled stat boost when Outrage kicks in, usually speed or raw strength. But look at what's happening to the sky."
The clouds above had fully joined the spiral now, bending into the vortex as lightning threaded through the upper layer.
"That's elemental influence," Sabrina continued. "Affecting natural weather like that is something only Legendary Pokémon are supposed to manage. But Ash's Dragonite carries ancient bloodline genes, and this Dragonite is her direct offspring." She paused. "The talent passes down. Ash's Dragonite has mastered Thunder as a natural force. This one... it looks like Water."
Liza stared at the churning storm above them. "In one year."
"In one year," Sabrina confirmed quietly.
...
Up in the sky, Charizard's tail ignited with a sharp green glow, the Dragon Tail's energy swallowing the flame as he swung hard. Dragonite never saw it coming.
The hit landed clean.
"Bang!" Dragonite was sent spinning through the air, Dragon-type moves cutting through his own typing with brutal efficiency.
Ash watched him tumble and made his call. "Don't chase. Hit the center of the tornado, focused Flamethrower, compressed output."
Charizard peeled off and climbed above the tornado's eye, then unleashed it. Not the wide-spread version, but a tight dense column of flame with all the power condensed into a single drilling stream. It punched into the tornado's core like a spike.
The grey funnel cloud turned red instantly. A fire tornado, pulling heat and ash across everything in its path and scorching the arena floor black.
Ash watched the tornado begin to shrink and clicked his tongue. "Still not enough."
He raised his right arm. The limb shifted, components folding outward from a device built into the forearm, assembling into a compact laser cannon in the space of two seconds. A dense sphere of purple energy gathered at the barrel.
Charizard broke away from the fast-approaching Dragonite, buying Ash the clean line of sight he needed.
"Fire."
The beam hit the tornado dead center.
...
For a half second, nothing happened.
Then the tornado expanded violently outward and detonated.
"BOOM."
A black and red mushroom cloud climbed above the arena. The mountain shook. Every Pokémon in the surrounding forest bolted for cover simultaneously, and the shockwave blasted outward in a ring that flattened the grass along the treeline.
The hurricane collapsed. Gone in an instant.
Dragonite, his focus shattered by the explosion, staggered in midair, the bloodshot fury in his eyes flickering.
Charizard moved the moment the opening appeared, materializing behind Dragonite in silence. One clean strike to the base of the neck.
Dragonite went limp and began to fall.
...
"I thought we were going to die," Liza breathed, her hand pressed flat against her chest.
Joe had already broken free of Elder Kabu's grip. She was running before Dragonite even hit the ground, sprinting toward Charizard as the old Pokémon lowered her partner carefully from the sky.
"Dragonite..."