Inside Purgatory Valley, the landscape—which had remained unchanged for over a century—had finally undergone a drastic transformation.
Rocks once hailed as indestructible—said to be incapable of shattering under any circumstances—now lay in fragments across the terrain. The entire Purgatory Valley had been reduced to a scene of utter devastation.
These rocks had not been shattered by physical force or shockwaves; rather, they had cracked and crumbled because they could no longer contain the extraordinarily high-temperature flames unleashed by Ash's Charizard.
One could only imagine the sheer magnitude of the heat generated by Charizard X's flames—reaching a level of intensity that defied all previous understanding. A thick black mist swirled through the valley; had anyone else been present, they likely wouldn't have been able to see their own fingers even if they held them right in front of their faces.
Ash lowered the arm he had instinctively raised to shield himself, fixing his gaze upon the swirling mist.
He could "see" the scene hidden within—a sight invisible to others—not with his eyes, but through the power of his Aura.
Through the lens of his Aura, the true state of the battlefield was projected directly into his mind.
Charizard X was half-kneeling on the ground, while the Charizard King remained standing upright.
Judging solely by appearances, the outcome of the battle seemed glaringly obvious.
However, Ash—whose Aura was inextricably linked to Charizard's—knew the truth: Charizard's Aura had not yet completely faded.
This meant Charizard had not lost its ability to battle. Even though Ash currently felt as if lifting a single finger required immense effort, as long as Charizard retained its fighting capability, they had not lost.
In contrast, consider the Charizard King: though he remained standing, the Aura within his body was even weaker than Charizard X's.
An Aura of such diminished intensity was, for all intents and purposes, indistinguishable from having lost the ability to battle entirely.
The fact that the Charizard King remained standing now was merely a manifestation of his lingering tenacity—a final, stubborn refusal to yield.
Ash stumbled forward, eventually reaching Charizard's side.
"Can you still stand up, Charizard?"
"Roar..."
Charizard's cry no longer possessed the resonant power of the battle's opening moments; it had become incredibly feeble.
Yet, with Ash's assistance, Charizard managed to rise to its feet.
Ash, too, had absorbed the recoil damage from Charizard's Flare Blitz—and the resulting drain on his physical stamina was even more severe than Charizard's own.
That was precisely why Charizard had not yet been rendered unable to battle. In the entire history of Pokémon battles, Ash was undoubtedly the very first Trainer to willingly shoulder the damage intended for his Pokémon.
"We won, Charizard!" Seeing that Charizard had sustained no critical injuries, a radiant smile finally broke across Ash's face as he spoke, his voice trembling with irrepressible excitement.
They had successfully cleared both trials of Charizard Valley. No matter how arduous the process, nor how brutal the cost, a victory was a victory!
In terms of the final outcome, they had already surpassed...
They had surpassed the battle record established by Lance's Charizard—and now, his Charizard had officially become the new King of Charizard Valley!
No matter how many trials Ash had endured, he was still, at heart, merely a fifteen-year-old boy—not even sixteen yet.
To have titles like "King of Charizards" or "The Strongest Charizard" bestowed upon his partner filled Ash with sheer exhilaration!
He was no ascetic sage indifferent to fame; moreover, these titles signified that his Charizard had truly ascended to the pinnacle of the world stage!
That said, in a one-on-one duel fought without any special enhancements, his Charizard still had considerable room for improvement; without the aid of Aura Fusion and Mega Evolution, it would still fall quite short of being able to go toe-to-toe with the absolute elites of the world.
However, bolstered by the power of those two abilities, Ash feared nothing—not even if Leon's Charizard were to show up!
"Let me recover my stamina for a moment, and then I'll heal you up. That last battle really took it out of me!"
Ash said. Yet, instead of immediately sitting down to rest, he helped support his Charizard as they approached the King of Charizards, where he used his Viridian Power to assess the latter's condition.
Once he confirmed that the King had not sustained any overly severe injuries, the last lingering weight lifted from his mind, and he finally settled down to begin the process of recovering his own stamina with peace of mind.
...
Outside—
A full thirty minutes had elapsed since the tremors ceased.
Given the sheer intensity of the explosive energy unleashed moments earlier, it seemed obvious that the battle had reached its conclusion; yet, to this moment, no one had emerged from within.
Regardless of whether Ash or the King of Charizards had emerged victorious, the logical course of action would have been for them to exit the Inferno Valley immediately.
While the environment within the Inferno Valley was tolerable for the King of Charizards—who was long accustomed to it—it was undoubtedly a grueling ordeal for Ash's Charizard.
No matter how high a Pokémon's heat resistance might be, enduring such an environment while completely drained of stamina amounted to nothing short of torture.
Therefore, once the battle ended—regardless of who won or lost—they should have exited the valley at once... unless... all three of them—the two Charizards and Ash—had collapsed unconscious inside!
If that were the case, they would be in for a world of trouble. As these thoughts crossed her mind, a look of grave concern settled upon Liza's lovely features.
She patted the young Charla, who stood beside her, and said, "Charla, go down to the valley's lava fields and summon Alek. Tell him to enter the Inferno Valley and see what's going on."
Alekwas the Charizard King's second-in-command—one of only two Champion-level Charizard in the entire valley, and the very last one to be defeated by Ash's Charizard just moments ago.
Although he had been defeated, he hadn't sustained any truly severe injuries. After a period of recovery, he should have regained a significant amount of his stamina by now; at the very least, entering the Inferno Valley to retrieve two Charizard and bring them back out shouldn't pose a problem.
Charla nodded and was just about to depart when Brock stopped her.
"There's no need for all that trouble, Miss Liza. Ash and the others will be fine."
Liza's delicate brows furrowed slightly.
"You saw the commotion erupting from the Inferno Valley just now, didn't you? Given those temperatures, even a Champion-level Charizard would likely struggle to withstand the heat inside—let alone a human. I know Ash possesses a special ability, but since he used that power to boost his Charizard's combat prowess, surely he can't have much energy left to protect himself, can he?"
She was well aware of the unique power Ash possessed—an ability known as the Aura.
By harnessing this psychic force, Ash could theoretically stand on equal footing with even Champion-level Pokémon; however, that applied only under normal circumstances.
The Charizard King's power level was, at the very least, at the High-Champion tier—if not higher.
Furthermore, having just endured hundreds of battles, both Ash and his Charizard were likely severely depleted of stamina.
Facing off against the Charizard King, simply using that special ability to hold their ground against him would have pushed them to their absolute limit; how, then, could they possibly have any residual energy left to withstand the punishing environmental effects of the Inferno Valley?
That was why Liza felt that Brock's suggestion was utterly reckless.
Regardless of anything else, the immediate priority had to be entering the Inferno Valley to assess the situation firsthand.
"Rest assured, Miss Liza. Ash possesses more than just the power of Aura; he also has an incredibly reliable partner by his side. While the environment within the Valley of Inferno is indeed harsh, it is not so extreme that the Pokémon accompanying Ash would be unable to withstand it."
Even though Liza had clearly laid out all the potential risks involved, Brock showed not the slightest sign of worry; on the contrary, he sought to reassure her.
Liza turned her gaze toward Misty and Serena. She noticed that while there was a hint of concern on both young women's faces, it was minimal—merely an instinctive worry. In truth, they, too, were confident that Ash would come to no harm inside.
Was it because of that Gardevoir?
That Gardevoir certainly possessed formidable psychic powers, but surely a Gardevoir alone couldn't survive for long in the environment of the Valley of Inferno, could it?
To say nothing of having to endure the shockwaves and residual explosions generated by the battle between the Charizard King and Ash's own Charizard.
Just as Liza was still lost in speculation, three figures slowly emerged from the entrance to the Valley of Inferno.
Liza focused her gaze and realized it was indeed Ash, his Charizard, and the Charizard King. Although both Charizard were covered in battle scars, they appeared to be in surprisingly good spirits.
What on earth is going on? Did they not fight the battle to its conclusion?
Did they stop halfway through to sit down and have a chat instead?
Who actually won—and who lost?
"Roar!"
Before Liza could even open her mouth, the Charizard King let out a mighty roar.
Although Liza lacked Ash's unique ability to understand the languages of all Pokémon, she could generally grasp the meaning behind the roars of the Charizard clan.
Precisely for this reason, Liza stood frozen in place, utterly dumbfounded: "Are you saying... you lost?"
Her soft murmur was laced with sheer disbelief. Ash's Charizard was undeniably powerful—that much was true—but surely it couldn't be this absurdly overpowered!
Because the Charizard King's injuries had not yet healed, its aura was currently leaking outward uncontrollably.
Consequently, Liza—who had previously been unable to gauge the Charizard King's power level—could now clearly discern exactly where it stood.
Peak Champion Rank!
The Charizard King—at the absolute pinnacle of Champion-level power—could likely defeat even Lance's Charizard in its prime.
Yet now, he claims to have lost to Ash's Charizard—a Pokémon that had already endured over two hundred battles and was on the verge of total exhaustion?!
What kind of joke is this?!
"You didn't go easy on him, did you?"
Liza pondered for a good while; this was the only explanation she could come up with.
Aside from holding back, she truly couldn't fathom how Ash's Charizard could have possibly won.
At this, the Charizard King let out a disgruntled roar. Go easy on him?
That was a pure, unadulterated insult!
Whether facing a powerful Charizard or a weak one, he always fought with every ounce of his strength.
That remark wasn't just an insult to him; it was an insult to Ash's Charizard as well!
Ash's Charizard had defeated him in a head-to-head confrontation fair and square.
As for that bizarre black flame at the very end—the Charizard King felt that even if he were to ascend to the God tier, he likely still wouldn't be able to wield flames of that caliber.
In all likelihood, only the legendary Sacred Flames of Ho-Oh could possibly rival those flames.
"Ash... surely your Charizard isn't... at the God tier?" With her initial guess shot down, Liza blurted out her second hypothesis without a second thought.
This hypothesis was even more preposterous than the first, for currently, no ordinary Pokémon in the world had ever managed to ascend to the God tier.
Every single God Pokémon known to the public was a Legendary Pokémon—without exception!
Therefore, the notion of Ash's Charizard reaching the God tier was even more far-fetched than the Charizard King having gone easy on him!
Yet, aside from that, Liza truly couldn't imagine how Ash had managed to defeat the Charizard King.
To defeat a Champion-level Pokémon at its absolute peak—and while running on fumes, no less—what the hell could it possibly be, if not a God Pokémon?!
Faced with Liza's questioning, Ash simply shook his head: "Come on, Ms. Liza—don't be ridiculous. My Charizard is currently only at the High Elite Four tier."
Hearing this, Liza rolled her eyes at Ash—a beautiful, expressive eye-roll. High Elite Four tier?
Yeah, right—do you even believe that yourself?!
A Charizard at the High-Tier Elite rank—after defeating 287 other Charizard (including one at the Junior Champion level)—went on to battle a Peak Champion-level Charizard that held every advantage: the right timing, the right terrain, and the right human support.
And in the end, it actually won!
If word of this got out, people wouldn't think the speaker was lying; rather, they'd assume she had lost her mind!
Yet, Ash truly hadn't lied to Liza.
Even after defeating the "King of Charizard," his Charizard's level hadn't suddenly skyrocketed all the way to the Peak Elite rank.
The experience points gained from battling opponents of a higher rank—combined with the physical enhancements triggered by unleashing its full, explosive power—had indeed allowed Charizard's strength to grow significantly once again. But that was the extent of it.
He had only just been promoted to the High-Tier Elite rank that very day; how could he possibly leap all the way to the Peak Elite rank so quickly?
That would be utterly absurd.
However, Liza's conjecture wasn't entirely wrong.
Without the aid of God-tier power, given Charizard's condition at the time, defeating the King of Charizard would have been an absolute impossibility.
Charizard's "Black Flames" simply could not be utilized without first engaging in a "Aura Fusion" with Ash.
Although the Black Flames were an innate part of Charizard, he was unable to access them on his own.
Perhaps once he reached the Peak Champion level, he might be able to wield those flames freely; until then, however, using them required one of two conditions: either entering a state of Aura Fusion, or having Ash use his God-tier Aura power to catalyze the release.
Furthermore, once those flames were unleashed—regardless of whether the opponent was incapacitated—Charizard would be left completely drained of the strength to continue battling. In essence, it was a move tantamount to a mutual-destruction attack.
That said, Charizard wouldn't actually lose consciousness. Therefore, if one could guarantee that the move would successfully defeat the opponent, then using it was a viable strategy.
However, if the "Black Flames" failed to take down the adversary, then the battle could be considered a definitive loss.
Naturally, Ash didn't go into exhaustive detail explaining every nuance of the situation to Liza.
The specifics regarding the Black Flames were difficult to articulate anyway; ultimately, knowing the result was sufficient—there was no need to delve too deeply into the intricacies of the process.
With the King of Charizard serving as the official witness, it was confirmed that Ash's Charizard had indeed emerged victorious in the battle to determine the strongest Charizard in Charizard Valley.
This signifies that if Ash's Charizard chooses to remain in Charizard Valley, he would not only gain the authority to command every Charizard within the valley but also gain access to the "Inferno Valley"—a special training ground reserved exclusively for the Charizard King.
The notion that a Charizard who had only just arrived in the valley could immediately ascend to the throne of Charizard Valley King was a preposterous concept—one that the average person would find truly difficult to accept.
However, upon receiving this news, the Charizards residing in the valley raised no objections whatsoever.
This was because Ash's Charizard had earned his title through sheer strength, defeating each of them in turn before finally vanquishing the former King to claim his rightful place.
Regardless of whether Ash played a role in this outcome, or whether Charizard's power might diminish should he ever leave Ash's side, one thing remained indisputable: at this very moment, he was—in every sense of the word—the legitimate Charizard King.
As for the prospect of remaining in Charizard Valley, Ash's Charizard felt a twinge of hesitation; he did not believe that staying within the valley would facilitate his growth any faster than remaining by Ash's side.
Consequently, the decision to stay would require further deliberation; however, the valley's sacred heirloom—its legacy artifact—was something he could certainly claim right away...