On the battlefield, golden pillars of lightning struck Snorlax one after another. Its stamina was being whittled down steadily. Its immense stamina pool and strong special defense let it absorb some of the damage, but not indefinitely. Snorlax tried to counterattack several times, but Jolteon changed positions too quickly to track.
Ash didn't say a word. As if he'd accepted his fate.
In the stands, Serena's fingers unconsciously clenched the hem of her skirt. If this continued, Snorlax would lose.
"Don't worry." Misty's voice came from beside her, carrying very little concern. Serena turned her head and saw that although Misty was watching the field, there was no panic in her eyes. Only confidence.
"Ash isn't the type to just stand there and take it. He's working something out right now."
Serena looked back at the boy standing in the Trainer's box. Indeed, there was no anxiety on Ash's face. He just quietly watched the golden streak constantly shifting positions across the arena, his gaze focused and steady, as if he were waiting for something.
And he was. In the state of Aura fusion, his senses were shared with Snorlax. He could see Jolteon's movement trajectory through Snorlax's eyes, feel the pain of every Thunderbolt through Snorlax's body, and most importantly, he could perceive Jolteon's movements through Aura Power.
Jolteon was fast, and it changed direction after every attack. But no matter how it moved, there was always a pattern. Where it liked to strike from. Which direction it habitually turned after striking. Its rhythm of acceleration and deceleration. Observing these with the naked eye would take too long. Snorlax would go down before any results came. But Aura Power was different. For reading movement patterns, it was on another level entirely.
Every hit Snorlax endured was gathering data. Almost there. Just hold on a bit longer.
Five Thunderbolts in. Even with Snorlax's massive stamina, it was bottoming out. Scorch marks covered its body, every breath was a heavy gasp, and its frame trembled slightly. One more hit and it was done.
Right at that moment, the deep blue light in Ash's eyes flared.
Found it.
"Snorlax, Giga Impact."
Volkner raised an eyebrow. Giga Impact? Now? Jolteon was running at full speed with full stamina. Giga Impact was a straight-line charge. With Snorlax's current state, it couldn't even graze Jolteon. Had Ash finally given up and decided to go out swinging?
Then Volkner looked at Ash's face, and froze.
There was no desperation there. Only complete confidence. Even now, Ash hadn't given up. No, this wasn't just "not giving up." This was the expression of someone who had everything figured out.
Volkner sensed something was wrong, but couldn't identify what.
At Ash's command, Snorlax gathered every last scrap of energy in its body. Its scarred form was enveloped in dense white light, and it lunged forward like a speeding meteor, charging straight toward what looked like an empty section of the arena.
Nobody understood why Snorlax would charge there. Nobody except Volkner, whose expression changed drastically.
Because Jolteon's running trajectory passed right through that exact spot.
Ash had predicted Jolteon's landing point.
But how? Even setting aside how Ash read the trajectory, Snorlax needed at least a two-second lead time to reach that position. And Ash hadn't even given Snorlax a specific direction. He'd just said "Giga Impact," and Snorlax had charged to the right spot on its own. Had Ash and this Snorlax already achieved such a level of synchronization through Aura fusion that they didn't need specific commands to share targeting data?
The thoughts exploded in Volkner's mind, but there was no time to process them. Jolteon was in danger.
"Jolteon, dodge!" Volkner's voice carried real anxiety for the first time.
Jolteon sensed the threat too, but at full sprint, its entire body was locked into its momentum. Changing direction on the spot was physically impossible. The only option left was to attack.
"Thunder!"
All the lightning around Jolteon's body gathered into a single point and transformed into a thick, pillar-like golden bolt, crashing down toward the oncoming Snorlax. The might of that Thunder was more terrifying than all the previous Thunderbolts combined. The entire Gym was illuminated in blinding gold, and the dancing arcs on the Electric Terrain gathered frantically toward the bolt.
This was the strongest strike an Elite Four Peak Jolteon could unleash.
Snorlax did not dodge. Could not dodge. This charge was everything it had left, squeezed from the last dregs of its stamina. No room for retreat. Everything on this single blow.
The two forces collided.
Thunder hit Snorlax. But the distance was simply too close, and the bolt failed to stop Snorlax's momentum.
Giga Impact slammed solidly into Jolteon, sending its slender pale-yellow body flying high into the air. Like a spinning top, it flipped several times before crashing heavily onto the ground, sliding a long distance before barely coming to a stop.
On Jolteon's body was a deep wound from the Giga Impact. After being hit at full stamina, its health had instantly plummeted to near zero. That was the power of a Belly Drum-boosted Snorlax combined with a STAB ultimate move. Not getting knocked out in one hit was already a miracle, and one that only happened because Jolteon was Elite Four Peak. Any lower and it would have been over.
On the other side, Snorlax's condition was even worse. The Thunder had fully detonated on its body, leaving shocking scorch marks everywhere. Its originally glossy fur was charred black in large patches.
It rolled away from the recoil and came to a stop in front of Ash, who was also half-kneeling on the ground with his eyes half-closed, visibly in pain. In Aura fusion, their senses were shared. What Snorlax felt, Ash felt.
"Sno..." Snorlax looked at Ash and let out a weak cry. It still tried to stand, but its arm could only lift halfway before falling back down.
"Snorlax is unable to battle. Jolteon wins!" Jay's voice rang out, carrying shock he couldn't quite hide.
Although Snorlax lost, it went down in glory. Even with Aura fusion boosting its level, the gap between them was enormous, and Snorlax had already spent energy defeating a Elite Four High Manectric before this fight even started. The fact that it could achieve what it did came down to Ash's command and tactics.
The Belly Drum combo exceeded expectations. The phantom-like speed rewrote their understanding. The final prediction of Jolteon's landing point was borderline precognition. Even a Champion-level Trainer would have suffered a setback facing this Snorlax for the first time.
Ash recovered for a moment and came to Snorlax's side. He wasn't in great shape either, but a gentle smile still appeared on his face. "Thanks, Snorlax. Get some good rest. You were incredible."
Snorlax's body shifted slightly in response. Ash recalled it into the Poké Ball, feeling a quiet regret. If Snorlax had reached Elite Four through its own strength rather than relying on Aura fusion, its stamina and defense would have been on a completely different level.
Aura fusion could boost attack power and speed, but it couldn't make up for the physical gap caused by a true level difference. Snorlax had essentially used High-level durability to tank five Thunderbolts from an Elite Four Peak opponent. The fact that it survived that long was just Snorlax being absurdly tanky by nature.
If it had truly been Elite Four Mid, it would have swept both of Volkner's Pokémon without going down.
"Amazing." Volkner's voice carried genuine respect. "No matter what methods you used, your Snorlax relied on High-level strength to defeat an Elite Four High opponent and injure an Elite Four Peak one. That battle record alone could be written into the history books."
Ash returned the Poké Ball to his waist and pulled out another. "Yeah? If that's enough for the history books, then my partners and I have already filled a whole library."
Volkner stared at him. Give the kid a compliment and he runs with it.
Did he really think something like what Snorlax just pulled off could happen twice? If miracles happened on command, they wouldn't be called miracles.
"I choose you, Lucario!"
A flash of light, and a slender, blue-and-black figure landed steadily in the center of the arena. Lucario. The Aura wielder.
Upon seeing Lucario, Volkner raised an eyebrow slightly. In terms of type matchups, Lucario resisted Electric-type moves, and Jolteon's stamina had been heavily depleted. If this one could also unleash the kind of power Snorlax just had, things would get troublesome for Jolteon. But only a bit.
"Come on. Let me see what your Lucario can do." Volkner waved his hand. The expression on his face was now completely different from when Ash had first walked in. That was excitement. Something that hadn't appeared on Volkner's face in a very long time. A matchup like this was what a real battle felt like.
"Lucario, Mach Punch!"
"Jolteon, dodge and counter with Thunderbolt!"
Ash attacked first. Volkner's command came a fraction of a second later, but that tiny delay shouldn't have mattered. He knew Jolteon's speed. Even if the opponent moved first, Jolteon's agility was enough to withdraw from Mach Punch's range before it landed, then retaliate with a Thunderbolt.
That was what Volkner thought.
The moment Lucario vanished from where it stood, there wasn't even time for an afterimage. Before Jolteon's body could even begin to move, a blue-and-black figure was already standing right in front of it.
Lucario's crimson eyes locked onto Jolteon's gaze, its right fist already fully charged, wrapped in shimmering white Fighting-type energy.
One clean hit to the side of Jolteon's head. Jolteon rolled like a bowling ball, tumbling several times on the ground and sliding all the way to Volkner's feet. Its body trembled once, then went still.
Jolteon was unable to battle.
Lucario slowly retracted its fist, expression unchanged.
...
STONES 💎
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