We are nearing the finish! Here we go, chapter 29!
Edit: There's a move that happens in this chapter that Charizard pulls that I re-edited to clarify a bit more. Hopefully this version is better.
The two pokemon faced each other, standing eerily still. Neither so much as twitched, and Aerodactyl could have easily passed for a crowd noise died down, then changed to murmurs of confusion. Nearly 30 whole seconds had passed, and neither pokemon had made their move.
Ash took a shallow breath. The referee glanced between the two pokemon, then up at the screen, where Freddie could be seen. Freddie glanced at the other announcers then down at the field. Still, the pokemon remained motionless-
Something shifted. Something undetectable to all but Tobias and Ash, a change the air, a slight tensing of muscles. The standoff had ended. The battle had begun.
"Double-Edge." Aerodactyl burst higher into the sky, then dove at Charizard like a stony comet.
"Now, Spin Dodge!" Ash called. Charizard flew to meet Aerodactyl, folding his wings tight and spinning his whole body.
"Open your wings!" At the last second, Aerodactyl flared its wings, grazing Charizard hard. Even so, the momentum from his spin pushed him past Aerodactyl, allowing him to remain mostly undamaged. Aerodactyl halted its flight, spun around, and glared at Charizard with narrowed eyes. Ash just smiled slightly. He owed a lot to his journey through Sinnoh, he realized. A regular dodge would never have worked so well against an opponent like this 'mega' Aerodactyl. At least this way he managed to deflect the worst of the attack.
White sparks of energy burst across Aerodactyl's form making it flinch. Ash tilted his head slightly and frowned. Huh... Did Aerodactyl just take recoil damage? Perhaps this 'mega evolution also changed their abilities... Which meant Rock Head no longer protected it. He smiled.
"Alright Charizard, get in there!" he shouted.
With a roar, Charizard flew at Aerodactyl again. The two clashed mid-air, then burst apart again, fury etched across their faces. Then they attacked again. Ash understood implicitly that this wasn't the time for commands - Both pokemon would go head to head to test their strength. He just needed to wait for the perfect opening.
Charizard fired a stream of flames at Aerodactyl, who spiraled around the fire then shot a flurry of rocks at Charizard. The rocks battered into Charizard, briefly obscuring him. Undeterred, he flew across the field, wings glowing, and hit Aerodactyl twice. Aerodactyl snapped electricity cloaked jaws into Chairzard's stomach, making the fire-type roar and blast Aerodactyl with another face full of fire.
The two dipped in and out, matching each other flawlessly, blow for blow, strike for strike. For every powerful hit Aerodactyl landed, Charizard struck with two of his own. And with every strike of Charizard, Aerodactyl retaliated with a devastating blow.
Aerodactyl shot into the air, away from the fire, then dropped a pile of boulders onto Charizard, covering him completely. With a furious roar, the rocks exploded apart and a beam of blue energy uppercutted Aerodactyl. Yet it hardly acknowledged the attack, switching immediately back to Thunder Fang, diving down and sinking his jaws into Charizard's neck. Another burst of flames washed over Aerodactyl. It reared back with a snarl before dodging around to grab Charizard by the base of his wings. Then it shot up into the air, dragging the fire-type with him.
Charizard writhed in the larger pokemon's grasp, trying to jerk free. Unfortunately, Aerodactyl's talons had a grip of stone. He twisted his head, angling to attack with his jaws, but Aerodactyl wrapped its own, much larger, jaws around Charizard's neck to hold him in place.
Now Charizard was truly immobilized, Ash realized. His wings were mostly free but seemingly useless against Aerodactyl's bulk, and he couldn't turn his head to attack either. His thoughts raced.
Aerodactyl turned and dove towards the ground head-first, picking up speed. Fierce winds tore past the two pokemon as they approached the ground at an alarming rate.
There. This was his opening. "Charizard, use your Charicific training and turn this around!"
Still locked in Aerodactyl's grasp, a dastardly smirk grew on the Charizard's maw. He reached up and grabbed Aerodactyl's ankles with his claws, digging in tight. Then he angled his tail and wings downward, catching the wind and forcing the two into a flip, pulling Aerodactyl under him and angling the rock-type straight at the ground.
Aerodactyl gave a shriek of shock and instantly released Charizard, flaring its wings wide in a desperate attempt to halt its fall. Charizard pushed off it with his hind legs and threw himself forwards, opening his wings and skimming over the ground.
Behind him, Aerodactyl tumbled in freefall, as it struggled to right itself. Unfortunately, gravity was not in its favor. Its increased weight combined with the fact that it was going far to fast meant stopping was completely impossible. It spiraled wildly through the air, unable to slow. A split second later, Aerodactyl's cry was cut short as it smashed headfirst into the battlefield.
Dust flew up shielded the mega-evolved pokemon for a moment. As it settled, Ash saw it push itself to its feet, looking dazed. It shook its head, pushing aside the exhaustion with some difficulty.
Ash couldn't help but wonder how much longer both pokemon could continue.
"Double Edge. You know what to do." Hurling itself forward, staying low to the ground, it surged toward Charizard.
"Dodge again!" Once more, Charizard flew forwards and spun. Aerodactyl flew straight past him toward the wall. Then, tucking its head in and angling its wings, it somersaulted tail over head, planted its feet into the wall, and launched off. A white aura flared across its body as it soared upside down like a streak, twisted right side up, and rammed Charizard in the back.
Charizard smashed into the ground, skidding forward as Aerodactyl soared up, hovering above him.
"Finish this. Rock Slide." Aerodactyl gave a grating screech and flared its wings. Rocks formed in the air around it and plummeted down at Charizard, battering him further in and burying him under a heaping pile of stones.
"Charizard!" Ash's heart skipped a beat.
Aerodactyl grimaced and tensed as it was struck with the recoil. This time, the blowback seemed to hurt even more, and Ash saw it falter briefly before catching itself. Its eyes could barely stay open, and Ash recalled that the recoil they got was based off how much damage they'd done to the opponent. But if they recoil was that bad, then how was Charizard faring?
On the field, nothing could be seen of Charizard beyond a pile of rubble. "Charizard!" Ash shouted. "Remember everything we've been through! Don't give up now, I know you can do this! You can win this!"
Aerodactyl landed, jaws hanging open as it panted, though it looked very pleased with itself. Tobias gave a sort of pitying smile. "This was an impressive match, but I'm afraid no pokemon can stand up to a hit like that-"
Deep, orange light began to pulse from within the pile of rocks. The glow grew brighter and brighter, turning from orange to burning red. Then the rocks began to melt. Slowly, a puddle of magma began to form until the rocks were gone entirely. And in their place lay Charizard, crouched on all fours and wrapped in a tight cloak of fire. His eyes burned a vivid white through the flames, and he appeared to be made of pure lava.
A shiver rippled down Ash's spine as he realized what he was seeing. Something that until now, he'd never seen activate for Charizard. Something he'd always wondered about, but never seen in action, save for Infernape. It was Charizard's Blaze.
Magma dripped off his hide. His eyes burned as he opened his jaws and blasted a wave of flames right at Aerodactyl. Aerodactyl screeched and formed a barrier of rocks in front of it. Fire struck the rocks, but they began to melt. A moment later they collapsed disintegrated and Aerodactyl screeched as it vanished under a wave of vivid orange.
Still burning with energy, Charizard closed his jaws, flames spewing from its snout with every labored breath. Aerodactyl lay on the field, hardly moving. Then, to Ash's shock, it began to rise, swaying unsteadily. Its jaws formed a weak snarl. Limbs trembling, it tried to take a step forward, only for it to collapse, its eyes rolling back.
A burst of light surged from his form and returned to the form of a regular Aerodactyl.
Stunned, it took Tobias a second to withdraw his pokeball and return Aerodactyl. The blazing light that Charizard had been giving off faded slightly, subduing into white flames pulsing from his tail and fire flaring around his body.
"Absolutely stunning." Tobias smiled widely. "In any other circumstance, I would beg you for a trade, but I can see your Charizard and you belong together. The bond you share is like nothing I've seen, just as the bond you share with all your pokemon." His gaze drifted to Pikachu, who stood beside Ash's eyes wide with wonder at the power Charizard was giving off. "Especially your Pikachu. You and your Pikachu are truly of one heart and soul."
Ash's heart was still racing from the fact that he'd actually won. He managed a half nod, still awed by his Charizard.
"I have to say, I never believed this battle would go so far." He shook his head and chuckled before continuing. "But here we are. I am down to my very last pokemon." He took a finall ball from his belt, a worn, scuffed looking pokeball. It was plain in appearance and looked like it had seen many years of use. "And I have never been happier. You gave me the chance to show off some of my greatest accomplishments some of the rarest pokemon of this world. And now... Now you have pushed me to place I haven't been in for a long time. Thank you."
"T-thank you?" Ash stammered.
Tobias nodded. "Of course. Because of you, my closest companion will get a chance to battle. A proper battle, against an equal. Ash, I would like you to meet my starter." His thumb brushed fondly over the pokeball in his hand, and he gazed at it with a surprising degree of fondness. Then the moment was gone. He looked up, the light of battle once again burning in his eyes, more intensely than ever before. Standing in a relaxed pose, he casually threw the ball onto the field. "Get ready for battle, old friend."
EDIT: Fixed Charizard's maneuver to hopefully make his technique clearer and easier to understand!
YIKES. Jeez. This chapter was really really hard to write. I hit a major case of hardcore burnout. But I pressed through, and hopefully the result is satisfying. And I cant help myself, I had to end on a cliffhanger of sorts, teasing the reveal of the pokemon we've all been waiting for. Because if Tobias was able to catch/raise rare and powerful pokemon, he had to start somewhere. And if he's been training, then what pokemon does he have thats that strong? Who has journeyed with him this whole time, and is his oldest friend. Who is Tobias' starter?
All that aside, one has to wonder. If Charizard's ability is Blaze, why haven't we seen it? Does that mean Charizard has never truly properly been pushed to his limits? Well, now we know. His Blaze is edgier, more hardcore, and more extreme and over the top than even Infernape.
Yeah I know it might be a bit overkill but also heck its fun. I like doing cool stuff. Besides, if Infernape can do it in canon, why not charizard?
Also, I know many people were expecting a double KO, but I actually decided to let Charizard win. Normally, Aerodactyl would have, save for two VERY key factors.
Garchomp. He dealt a solid bit of damage to Aerodactyl before going down. This whole battle has been a team effort.
Aerodactyl got stronger but lost Rock Head. So no more recoil protection. So he hurt himself bad.
Although I think it goes without saying, he wont be fighting much more after this at all. Poor thing is basically spent.
For those who may not have realized the connection, my version of Tobias is a collector of rare/unique pokemon. He's not really after legendaries, he caught them because they are rare and one of kind type pokemon. This is why his team doesn't have a ton of legendaries.
Okay now, review time!
Reviews:
Xavier: Ah, but why not? For real though, its because I feel like a traveled trainer like Tobias would use Mega's. Plus, I feel like Ash gets to look cooler for defeating a mega, as hard as it was. Plus, all things considered, mega really only powers up your strength, but it doesn't actively change the approach much. You still hit the pokemon, try to dodge, and try to hit again. So even though he hasn't seen one, beating one is still the same principle
Lean: Thanks! And yeah, I admit its not my best work, honestly when I started it was supposed to be done in like... ten chapters. Whoops.
Thesonicsuperstar: Oh yeah, things are getting 'spicy' in this battle. And as you can see, Charizard not only beat him, but is somehow still standing! And there's only one reason why. Garchomp. Even though he didn't last long, Garchomp did get to land a few solid blows, and it was just enough to give Charizard the strength to be the last one standing. Barely. But it was very, very, very close.
StoruaRyoma: Thank you ^.^! I figured it would be nice to tie in a reference to Kalos and give Ash a yeah, technically neither Primeape nor Krookodile fainted. Both are still able to battle but severely weakened. Basically only a few HP left. Sceptile and Garchomp are the only two who actually fainted. I am not surprised people expect Charizard to tie, but I decided to let him scrape out a win. Just bc. And it wouldn't have happened if Garchomp hadn't gone before him. Besides, Aero was damaged pre mega, so its not like he got healed.
And thanks again! I really wanted this fight between Ash/Tobias to feel realistic and different. As I mentioned, I wanted Tobias to feel like a collector of odd/unique pokemon, not just a guy who has uber-strong pokemon.
Guest: Currently, I don't plan to continue this version of Ash. But on the bright side, I do have some plans brewing for other Ash-centric fics! Some different AU's and rewrite style stuff. But for the moment, don't expect to see anything in the TOO near future, since I have a lot on my plate right now. I'm glad you like my take though :)
Reader: It pleases me to hear that I am surprising people a lot with this fight.
As for a Bond Phenomenon... well sadly, no. Not like Greninja, at least. Although I do have a wealth of theories about aura, strength and how a trainers fortitude enhances their pokemon.
Suffice to say, not just anyone could beat Tobias...