It had been three whole days since Charizard had first arrived in the Alola region, and Ash's team were just adjusting to their new training regimen. Rowlet was now constantly on his toes, always trying his best to stay awake or he would face the wrath of his new training supervisor. Everyone had no doubts about how strong Charizard was, especially he had taken over a dozen of Lycanroc's Accelerock and Rock Throw attacks without so much as a scratch, despite having a 4X weakness to rocks, before knocking Lycanroc out cold with a single Fire Spin. Ash had had Charizard pay special attention to Litten, who was now trying to master both Flamethrower and Slash. He shot Ember repeatedly at the rock wall near the seaside, trying to turn the small fireballs into a continuous stream of fire.
While Ash had Charizard undergo training of his own as well; he'd made Charizard lay waste to fallen logs and boulders with Dragon Claw & Slash, knock down a good portion of trees in the forest with Earthquake and shoot Flamethrower at the rock wall. All in all, training was well underway with everyone putting in their all, and Ash was pleased.
"OK, everyone, take a break! Professor Kukui's left us a bowl of fruits on the kitchen table!" Pikachu, Lycanroc, Litten and Rowlet cried out happily, leaving Ash and Charizard outside. "What do you think of them, Charizard?" The fire-type didn't say anything, but a simple thumbs-up was enough to answer Ash's question. The two friends stood in silence for a while, before Ash asked his next question.
"Did you watch the footage from the Kalos League, Charizard?"
The huge fire dragon nodded, a grim look on his face. "So you saw Greninja's power, and Alain's Mega Charizard?" Another nod. Ash sighed. "I miss Greninja. He would've have made a great addition to the team." Charizard placed his huge clawed hand on his Trainer's back, patting him sympathetically. He knew how Ash and Greninja had parted ways, and he did want to meet Greninja in person. "Anyways, I wanted to give you more training, so that we could win the League together. I mean, it's been a while since you participated in a League right? Seeing Alain's Charizard reminded me of you." Charizard gave an angry growl. He did not like the idea of Ash losing a League to someone of his own kind, and already he was dying for an opportunity to get back at the upstart that had defeated Greninja.
Ash raised a fist. "Let's get stronger together, Charizard." Charizard gave a loud affirmative roar.
Suddenly, Ash caught a flash of white in the sky. He looked up, and his eyes lit up. "Could it be?"
His hunch was proven right. Solgaleo roared as he descended from the clouds towards the ground on which Ash was standing on. But what Ash noticed was different was the figure standing on Solgaleo's back. It was strangely familiar, a familiar blue, a familiar gait -
"Greninja!"
Ash and Greninja ran in each other's arms as soon as Greninja's feet touched the ground. (No, I am NOT shipping them.) "I've missed you so much, Greninja. I take it Kalos is safe now?"
"Kouga." Greninja nodded before motioning to Solgaleo.
"Thanks for bringing him here to me, Solgaleo." Ash said, going over to pat the Legendary's head. Solgaleo purred affectionately to his foster father, who brought out several sugar stars for him to eat.
Once Solgaleo had left, Ash turned to see Greninja staring at Charizard curiously. "By the way, Greninja, this is Charizard. He's one of my oldest Pokemon, and one of my strongest as well. I brought him here to train the others for the League." Greninja stared wide-eyed at Charizard; he was a lot larger than Alain's Charizard, and he certainly looked powerful enough to wallop him. "You guys will be training together from now on."
It didn't take long for the Alolan Pokemon to get acquainted with Greninja, whom Pikachu was delighted to see again. Ash watched proudly as Greninja had taken to training Rowlet personally, as Rowlet's swift and stealthy battling style was most similar to his. Greninja was now teaching Rowlet how to use Aerial Ace, a move that would undoubtedly boost his speed in battles. He didn't have to worry about Rowlet's tendency to doze off; when Pikachu told Greninja about it, all Greninja had to do was to put a Water Shuriken to Rowlet's throat, and Rowlet swore never, ever to fall asleep. Well, unless Greninja gave him permission to. Ash had Rotom scan Greninja, and was pleasantly surprised to see the new moves that Greninja had learnt: Night Slash, Ice Beam and Sacred Sword.
Just then, he was jolted from his thoughts by the bright light across the beach. Everyone gathered to watch as the bright light that surrounded Litten grew ever brighter and brighter, at the same time that Litten's body was growing a lot larger as well. When the light subsided, where Litten had once stood, a Torracat now stood proudly, beaming at Ash.
"Awesome, Litten! You evolved!" Ash cried out happily, running over to hug Torracat. As he did so, Torracat suddenly opened his mouth a shot a large bout of flames in Ash's face. "Torracat has learnt Flamethrower!" Rotom exclaimed in surprise. Pikachu and Charizard were both laughing loudly, seeing how Torracat had taken after Charizard in showing Ash affection.
A stunned Ash shook off the soot on his face, before he resumed his cuddling of Torracat who licked his Trainer's face affectionately.
Later in the evening, Ash stood atop the mountain overlooking his house, watching his Pokemon feed. Next to him stood Charizard and Greninja.
"I'm so glad the two of you guys came back." Ash turned to them. "With you two, I just know that we've already come that much closer to winning the League. Greninja…"
Ash turned to Greninja, whose head was slightly bowed. He knew what his strongest Water type was thinking about. "It's okay that you lost. Alain's Mega Charizard was just too strong. But I know we can be stronger; we may have mastered the transformation, but I certainly don't believe that we've unleashed its full potential." Greninja nodded, agreeing wholeheartedly.
"Also…" Ash paused. "I want to try it out with Charizard as well. The Bond Phenomenon."
Both Greninja and Charizard stared at him with wide eyes, looking as though he had gone utterly mad. "I know Charizard's strong, but I want him to be even stronger. Believe it or not, Greninja, Charizard here is as bitter about the loss is Kalos as you. I was thinking of Mega Evolution for Charizard but we're in Alola right now, and both forms of Mega Charizard have their own fair share of limitations, so I was thinking to try the Bond Phenomenon with him first."
Greninja and Charizard nodded. "Let's do this."
The three of them closed their eyes and focused.
Ash – I will be the greatest Pokemon Master ever…and winning this League will bring me closer to that!
Charizard – I will be the strongest Charizard…I will be stronger than any Mega Charizard ever!
Greninja – I will become stronger…I will help Ash win the League this time for sure! I will beat all of my opponents for sure!
They all opened their eyes at once. A familiar vortex of water swirled and churned around Greninja, filling him with that familiar surge of power, that unmatched, raw power fueled by hearts beating as one. The red crown and those black-red spikes emerged on Greninja's head, while the vortex of water split to form the giant Water Shuriken on his back. Ash-Greninja was back.
But what really caught Ash's attention was the swirling tornado of blue flames that surrounded Charizard's body. Charizard roared, and his roar was now at least four times as loud as his usual one. Spikes, three spikes grew out of the top of his head, while his entire back, wings and all turned as black as a Darkrai, while his underbelly remained orange. A red crown and black-red spikes grew on his head. The flames split apart, revealing his new form with Red-Blue flames located on the tip of his tail and on either side of his jaws.
Ash and Greninja looked on in amazement. It had worked. Ash-Charizard was born.
Author's Note: The concept of Ash-Charizard was inspired by Wattpad user awesomeasim 's Ash-Charizard concept. Special thanks to him for letting me use it.