"Will Charizard be alright?"
On the side of Ironvale City Pokémon University, the students were full of concern.
"He should be fine."
"Look, the flame on his tail is still burning."
Many fixed their gaze on Charizard's tail.
Seeing the flame still burning, most of them sighed in relief.
The referee also noticed it and began silently counting.
Although Charizard had not completely lost the ability to battle, if he did not break the ice within 10 seconds, he would be declared unable to fight.
Crack... crack...
But the referee had barely counted one when the sound of ice melting could be heard.
Amid a cloud of white vapor, Charizard slowly emerged, his bright red body radiating heat.
"He's out!"
"The ice melted directly!"
"What a high temperature!"
Some spectators in the front rows loosened their shirt collars.
Even with the protective barrier, they could feel a wave of heat.
The heat surrounding Charizard distorted the air, and just looking at him made it feel as though the heat was rising to one's face.
"Abomasnow, keep attacking."
Noticing the change in Charizard, Eirik ordered another attack.
Whoosh~
The icy wind rose again, rushing toward Charizard.
"Fire Spin!"
At the same time, Ethan's command was heard.
Facing the incoming attack of the move Blizzard, Charizard opened his mouth and spat out a spiral of fire.
"Using Fire Spin against Blizzard?"
The students of Harvard Pokémon University were left with their mouths open.
If only the power of the moves were compared, the move Blizzard was clearly superior.
But after what Charizard had already shown, they no longer dared to blindly trust their theories.
Whoosh~
Suddenly, the flames transformed into a wave of fire.
Under everyone's stunned gaze, they devoured the snowstorm and covered half the battlefield.
When the flames dissipated, Abomasnow—the grass and ice-type Pokémon—could not withstand the fire-type attack that countered it four times, and lost all its fighting strength.
"Abomasnow has lost the ability to battle. Charizard is the winner!"
When the referee finished speaking, the atmosphere of the stadium fell silent. No one cheered; everyone frowned as they looked at Charizard on the field.
Eirik was ranked fourth in the Valhalla League among the participants, and even after sending out his main Pokémon for snow-weather teams, he had been completely suppressed by his opponent.
After defeating Harry, Ethan once again displayed his most dominant side. Even Eirik, who was also one of the favorites to qualify, could not stop his advance.
Afterward, Eirik sent another of his Pokémon onto the field. However, after the defeat of the Abomasnow responsible for the weather and with the field already under the effect of the move Sunny Day, his other two ice-type Pokémon were also unable to withstand Charizard's fire-type moves and lost the ability to battle one after another.
When the battle ended, the stadium once again erupted in murmurs. Although Charizard had both type and weather advantage, no one expected him to defeat three Pokémon in a row.
"Is this really a 20-year-old trainer?"
"Why is he so strong?"
"That Charizard is already completely a Quasi-Elite level Pokémon!"
Seeing this scene, the students of Harvard Pokémon University had very unpleasant expressions.
When they were at the university, they thought Rhyperior was Ethan's strongest Pokémon, but in the first round Vibrava had proven to be even stronger.
And when they believed Vibrava was his trump card, this Charizard appeared showing even greater power.
After being proven wrong again and again, the faces of those students became extremely gloomy.
"Don't worry, student James hasn't acted yet."
"James is third in our Federal League! He's the strongest student our university has ever had. At only 22 years old he's already the captain of the university team! That Ethan is definitely no match for him!"
At that moment, one of the students suddenly spoke, and the others calmed down a little.
However, James had been assigned to Group 6, so they could only face each other in the knockout rounds, which left them somewhat dissatisfied.
Ideally, Ethan would be eliminated before the knockout stage.
After all, he was only 20 years old; if he managed to enter the knockout rounds it would already be a great honor. Even if he lost in the first round, it would still be an honorable defeat.
"Wait... the person in the same group as Ethan seems to be..."
"Ah, I remember now! It's Johnson, from the Red Sun League!"
"Yes, that's him! Ranger Johnson. I didn't expect him to also participate in this tournament!"
At that moment someone excitedly pointed at the list of participants in Ethan's group.
"Johnson?"
One student showed a confused expression.
He looked at the list and discovered that the name was not among the five favorites to qualify.
"Not everyone is so flashy. I know Johnson. He's a student of Professor Max from our ranger specialty. I've seen him once."
The student continued speaking in a confident tone and also quite excited.
If Johnson was there, and someone else defeated Ethan even once, then Ethan would be out of the knockout stage.
...
While the audience discussed animatedly, Ethan walked down from the stage.
"Ethan, has your Charizard already entered the Quasi-Elite level?"
After he stepped down, the other participants from the Daleron League approached.
Recalling the terrifying power Charizard had displayed earlier, Adrian Vane hesitated for a moment before asking.
"Yes, it has already reached that level."
Ethan smiled broadly.
Before, Charizard's strength had still been very far from the Quasi-Elite level. Under normal circumstances, it would have needed much more time to reach it. But with Mega Evolution, that distance was greatly reduced.
Charizard only needed three months to achieve that breakthrough!
After all, Mega Evolution is a leap in the level of life.
Although Charizard cannot permanently maintain the mega-evolved form, that leap in its life level is completely real.
Moreover, Mega-Charizard Y shares the same fire and flying types, so during Mega Evolution Charizard's control over both energies increased enormously.
But the most important thing was something else: its temperature control ability.
When it evolved into Mega-Charizard Y and obtained the ability Drought, its temperature control—which had been stagnant for a long time—made a huge leap forward.
With all these factors combined, Charizard's strength jumped directly to the Quasi-Elite level, becoming another powerhouse of that level in Ethan's team.
"Sss...!"
Hearing this, everyone inhaled sharply.
During that time, they had also raised Quasi-Elite level Pokémon.
But making a professional-level Pokémon directly advance to that level, as Ethan had done, was something no one else could achieve.
Moreover, the current Charizard truly possessed that level of power, not like Vibrava, which reached it through special techniques.
Now, with a Quasi-Elite level Charizard, if it used moves like the Dragon of Sunny Day or the instant Solar Beam, its strength could even surpass ordinary Quasi-Elite level Pokémon.
(End of Chapter)