Sorry about the massive delay. Getting rid of that time-traveling duck took a lot more effort than I originally thought. To make up for this, I made this chapter extra long so everyone can enjoy even more randomness than usual. Enjoy!
Ch 4: The Battle for Everyone's Sanity
"... ..."
"Umm… I'm just warming up…"
Regardless of what Ethan would claim about the battle in the years to come, the fact remained that the opening moves of the showdown had been nothing short of a slaughter. Ethan had thrown out his Politoed, Noctowl, Gyarados, and Togetic only for them to be instantly fried by Pikachu's earth-shattering Thunderbolt. To the boy's credit, all of the defeated Pokémon seemed powerful in their own right but it was clear that they were far below Pikachu's level of power. Of course, it also did not help that most of Ethan's Pokémon had been weak to electric attacks either. For the first time since Red had seen him, Ethan dropped his overly enthusiastic smile as he tried to hide his nervousness.
"Alright, I'll admit you're a lot stronger than I thought." Red simply raised an eyebrow at this. "Okay, fine! You're miles above what I expected. However! I'm not out of this yet and I've yet to bring out… him."
With a shaking hand, Ethan dramatically pulled out his fifth Pokéball and looked at it with a clearly worried expression. Even Red could not help but feel a bit apprehensive as Ethan took a deep breath to calm himself before reluctantly tossing the ball forward as if he was summoning some horrifying harbinger of destruction. With a flash of light that seemed brighter than usual, the ball flew open to reveal…
A Furret. A simple brown Furret.
"... ..."
"Hey, don't judge! I don't really have a lot of options left, okay?"
From the looks of things, the Furret was clearly Ethan's HM Slave as it looked pretty confused as to why it was being called out into battle. Feeling rather sorry for the poor thing, Red signaled towards Pikachu to give the first move to the Furret. While Pikachu would have normally argued against an order like this, even the sadistic electric rodent felt a tiny amount of pity for the pathetic HM Slave. Of course, that would not stop him from completely atomizing the poor creature if he so much as breathed on his fur but that was another matter entirely.
Surprised that his Furret was not turned into a pile of ashes yet, Ethan mentally fumbled for a bit before finally taking advantage of the chance that he had been given.
"Alright! Furret, obliterate them with Strength!"
Furret immediately began to glow with a white light as it gathered energy into itself. With a loud battle cry, Furret began charging at Pikachu with its front paw outstretched. Right as the punch was about to land, Red suddenly got the strange feeling that something terrible would happen if the attack connected. He quickly motioned for Pikachu to dodge the attack but his warning came too late. With a bright flash of light, Furret's punch made direct contact with Pikachu's face… only to do absolutely no damage.
Despite its impressive presentation, the attack did not even manage to budge Pikachu. For several tense seconds, Furret simply stood there with its tiny fist resting squarely on Pikachu's forehead. Then, with a smile that looked utterly demonic, Pikachu spoke up.
"Pika… Pi…"
Whatever these words meant, it was enough to freeze the poor Furret in absolute terror. Without a hint of hesitation, Pikachu unleashed its ultimate Thunder attack directly at its helpless victim. By the time both trainers could see through the debris that the attack had created, absolutely nothing remained of the brown ferret. Not even ashes were left as the air around them continued to crackle with electricity.
Silence permeated the summit as the two trainers continued to stare at the explosion site in shock. Red was obviously mortified and mentally braced himself for the obvious outcry that Ethan would no doubt unleash. After a long bout of uncomfortable silence, Ethan gave a sigh and finally spoke up.
"Well… there goes another one of my HM Slaves. Still at least this one didn't get eaten like the last one."
"... ..."
"What?" Ethan said in response to Red's incredulous look. "How was I supposed to know that Erika's Victreebel had a taste for Sentrets? Besides, they're just HM Slaves. It's not like they're exactly valuable or anything."
As a professional trainer and proud owner of several HM Slaves himself, Red really did not have much to say against this. Instead he chose to simply cross his arms and raised a questioning eyebrow at Ethan.
"Oh, right… I still need to defeat you." Ethan looked a bit sheepish as he realized that he only had one Pokémon left while Red still had not shown anything other than his Pikachu. However, his determined look soon returned as he turned around and shouted out into the cave behind him. "Hey, Typhlosion! I need you up here pronto!"
It took roughly five minutes before the enormous backpack came into view. Just like before, Typhlosion was completely hidden from view giving the impression that the backpack was slowly dragging itself out of the cave and up to the summit. Several more minutes later, Typhlosion set the backpack down a few feet away from Ethan and crawled out from underneath looking practically dead.
With another sigh, Ethan walked over and pulled out a Full Restore from the giant backpack and used it on Typhlosion. As he did so, he gave a quick run-down as to what had happened during Typhlosion's absence. Upon hearing the part about Red being some kind of ancient spirit and the ensuing Pokémon battle, Typhlosion rolled his eyes before turning his head and giving Red an apologetic look. Typhlosion was used to dealing with Ethan's delusions of grandeur but this one seemed to be particularly severe. As such, Typhlosion was genuinely feeling sorry for this poor trainer who just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. By the time Ethan finished explaining, Typhlosion was back in top condition and began stretching in preparation for the battle.
"So… think you can do it?" Ethan asked. Typhlosion just gave a casual shrug as he walked over to the designated arena.
From what Red could tell, Ethan's Typhlosion was a bit on the small side. That, combined with the tired look in his eyes, made Ethan's final choice in the battle very questionable. Regardless though, Red prepared to take down his opponent before Pikachu could take matters into his own hands again. As soon as Typhlosion and Ethan signaled that they were ready, Red motioned for Pikachu to use his standard Thunderbolt.
Unfortunately, Pikachu's inner bloodlust had been awakened by the last battle and was starting to feel rather annoyed by this pointless charade. Ignoring Red's signal, Pikachu gave an evil-looking grin before blasting out another full-power Thunder. Before Red could do anything, Pikachu's attack made direct contact with Typhlosion and the summit exploded with electrical energy once again.
Pikachu simply looked at the destruction his attack had caused with a content look as he turned around to head back inside his Pokéball. However, he immediately stopped when he heard something from behind him. Something that sounded oddly like… a yawn.
Hardly daring to believe it, Pikachu turned around and watched with utter shock as the smoke and debris cleared to reveal Typhlosion still standing with barely a scratch on him. Even more surprising, the fire Pokémon looked completely unimpressed by the attack as he gave another theatrical yawn before glancing backwards at Ethan for further instructions.
While Pikachu and Red just stared in shock, Ethan gave a sigh before issuing his command.
"Alright then… use Flame Wheel. Just make sure to tone it down a notch. I don't want you bringing down this entire mountain and ruining my chance of getting a legendary sword."
Typhlosion gave a smirk as a blazing red flame appeared on the back of his neck. Turning his eyes on the still-stunned Pikachu, Typhlosion expanded the flame until his entire body was cloaked in a fiery veil. Then, with barely any hint of a warning, Typhlosion charged at unbelievable speed. However, Pikachu managed to gather his wits just as his opponent was within a yard of him and prepared to launch another devastating Thunder at point-blank range. Just as Pikachu tried to throw out his ultimate attack, Typhlosion suddenly vanished from view. Before Pikachu could react, Typhlosion reappeared behind him and slammed into him at speeds that could have toppled an armored tank. The end result was Pikachu being sent flying before crashing into a nearby cluster of boulders with enough force to shatter the smaller rocks while leaving sizable cracks in the rest.
As Red stared with an open mouth at this, Ethan loudly let out an exuberant cheer.
"Whoo! Nice one Typhlosion! I guess all that weight training actually did some good!"
Typhlosion simply rolled his eyes again before dispelling the flames around him. The fire on his collar was still left on though as he patiently waited for Red to recover and send out his next Pokémon.
After nearly a minute, Red recalled his unconscious Pikachu before throwing out his Blastoise. From what he figured, his best chance of taking down Typhlosion was to analyze him while also whittling his health down with a type advantage.
As Blastoise emerged with a mighty roar, Typhlosion gave an amused smile as if he had been expecting Red to make a move like this. After getting a confirmation nod from Ethan, Typhlosion took a deep breath and took on a fighting stance as if waiting for Blastoise to make the first move.
Unlike Ethan, Red was quick to take advantage of this and motioned for Blastoise to use Surf. Responding almost instantaneously, Blastoise aimed at his foe and fired an enormous volume of water from his cannons which took on the form of a giant wave. The attack seemed to make direct contact with its target as Ethan's half of the battlefield was completely flooded. While the sight of Ethan floundering about in the sudden torrent was amusing, Red was too experienced to let down his guard at something like this. As such, he managed to see a barely visible red blur jump on top of a nearby boulder to avoid the attack before making a beeline towards his Blastoise. Reacting instantly, Red motioned towards his left. Blastoise moved in perfect sync to his trainer's commands and shifted towards the indicated direction before letting loose another blast of water which neutralized a Flamethrower that was headed towards him. As the two attacks collided, a giant cloud of steam was produced which covered most of the battlefield.
With their trainers temporarily blocked from view by the steam, the two Pokémon were left to continue the battle at their own discretion. Typhlosion was the first to act as he used the steam cover to sneak around to Blastoise's backside and aimed a punch at the giant turtle's head. However, it was clear that Blastoise was a capable brawler even when alone as he quickly turned around and stopped Typhlosion's punch by grabbing it with his own hand. Just as Blastoise was about to swing the fiery badger through the air and smash him into the ground, Typhlosion gave off a little smirk. Seeing this, Blastoise took a closer look at his opponent and realized too late what was going to happen. Before he could react, Typhlosion swung his other fist forward which was suddenly covered in sparks. Trapped in such close quarters, Blastoise could do nothing as the ThunderPunch made direct contact with his body.
Outside of the steam cloud, Red and Ethan waited anxiously to see what was happening. Suddenly a giant electrical explosion shook the entire mountaintop as the smoke finally began to clear. As the two trainers watched with open mouths, Typhlosion walked out of the fading steam dragging an unconscious Blastoise behind him. With a casual swing, the fiery badger tossed the two hundred pound turtle over to Red. Thankfully, the Kanto Champion managed to recover from his shock just in time to return Blastoise to his Pokéball before his Pokémon crushed him.
Red gave Typhlosion a glare for this as he tried to figure out whom to send out next. Typhlosion pretended not to notice as he simply stood there with a bored expression while his trainer began jumping up and down in joy once more.
"Awesome job! Now we're one step closer to getting that legendary sword and ruling the world! Ha ha! I can hardly wait!"
Okay, there is no way I'm losing to this idiot, Red thought with growing frustration. The fact that he had not been able to gain further insight on his opponent from the last battle only served to annoy him further. All he knew for now was that Typhlosion had some form of electric attack as well as Flame Wheel and Flamethrower. However, without knowing exactly what the attack was, Red was hesitant on using Charizard as he had originally planned. With that in mind, Red decided to stall for a bit longer until he had a solid idea of exactly what he was up against.
Deciding that saying anything now would only lead to more shenanigans, Red kept up his silent act and called out his Espeon. Thankfully, his Pokémon was able to read his mind with his powers so it was a lot easier to convey his orders than during the last two battles.
Use Psychic and Reflect to keep your opponent at bay so that we can analyze his attacks and movements. If you see an opening though, make sure to hit him with everything you've got.
Espeon gave a slight nod before releasing a blast of psychic energy towards Typhlosion. As expected, Typhlosion turned into a blur again as it dodged the incoming attack and headed directly towards his opponent. Much to his dismay however, he realized that getting into close range of Espeon was futile as the Psychic Pokémon had set up a large boundary field around himself with Reflect. After bouncing off of the shield, Typhlosion quickly landed on the ground and let loose a mighty Flamethrower. Not wanting to test the durability of his psychic shield against an attack of that magnitude, Espeon quickly grabbed a couple of boulders with his powers to form a rocky barrier. While this did block off the attack, both Red and Espeon noted with great shock that most of the boulders had actually melted from the heat. Realizing that letting their opponent fire off another deadly attack like that would be foolish, Red quickly revised his plan.
Espeon, use Psychic to throw those boulders at Typhlosion. That should tire him out while also stopping him from using another full-powered attack.
With another nod, Espeon followed through with the command. Being a rather rocky mountaintop, there was no shortage of ammo for Espeon to use as he began raining down a miniature avalanche worth of boulders.
Surprisingly, this actually seemed to have some effect as Typhlosion finally lost the indifferent look he had been wearing the whole time and put on a slight scowl as he weaved through the boulders crashing down towards him. While none of the rocks made direct contact with him, it was obvious that dodging this many projectiles was exhausting even for Typhlosion. As the first volley finally ended, Typhlosion was seen standing amidst the boulders breathing rather heavily.
We got him now, Red thought triumphantly as both he and Espeon gave a satisfied smile.
On the other end of the battlefield, Ethan was being surprisingly quiet. However, the look on his face indicated that his silence was not due to worry but because he was busy thinking about something. While Ethan was not one for putting much thought into anything he did, this time seemed to be different. After carefully judging his opponent and looking at his Typhlosion's condition, Ethan finally spoke up.
"Hey, do you think you can pull off that technique we've been working on?"
Typhlosion seemed surprised to hear this as he turned around to face his trainer. When he saw the serious look on Ethan's face, Typhlosion slowly gave a nod while also putting on a questioning look.
"Yeah, I know we haven't perfected it but this is an emergency," Ethan replied with a shrug. "It's clear that our opponent is even stronger than Blue was and I don't think conventional attacks are going to cut it. Besides, I've thought about it and it looks like that technique would be the ultimate counter to Espeon's attack as long as you can properly materialize it."
Typhlosion still seemed a bit hesitant to follow through on this but eventually decided to trust his trainer. While Ethan was a bit… overdramatic at times, he tended to show off his talented and sharp-minded side when things got tough. And considering the dire situation that they were in now, there was no better time to listen to what Ethan said.
As Espeon lifted up another group of boulders, Typhlosion covered his entire body in fire once more. However, instead of rushing in at Espeon like Red expected, Typhlosion simply stood in place with his eyes closed as if he was charging up for some kind of attack. As he did so, Ethan suddenly took on what he thought to be a dramatic pose as he began a strange chant.
"I am the wick of my flame.
Flint is my body and fire is my-"
Ethan's theatrics was quickly cut short when Typhlosion opened his eyes and turned to glare at his trainer. While Typhlosion was willing to follow Ethan's plan, he was not going to tolerate his trainer's mind-numbing antics during such a precarious situation. Rather miffed about being interrupted, Ethan crossed his arms and gave an exaggerated sigh of disappointment.
"Sheesh. Where's your sense of drama?" Typhlosion simply continued to glare at him in response. "Alright, fine. I'll skip the incantation but I'm still calling out the name of the attack when you use it."
Typhlosion rolled his eyes but figured it was the best he was going to get. Returning his focus onto the battle, Typhlosion began channeling his energy again as the fire surrounding him began to grow brighter. Unfortunately for him, Espeon had taken advantage of this convenient interlude to surround his opponent on all sides with levitating boulders. As it stood, Typhlosion was about to be buried underneath a virtual rockslide that would fly in from all directions.
I'm sure that Typhlosion will survive… probably, Red thought before turning back to his Espeon. Anyways, it looks like their trump card will take a while to use. Let's finish them off before they can get that chance!
With a loud battle cry from Espeon, the boulders were finally launched towards their target. However, Typhlosion did not need as long of a charge time as Red had thought and he opened his eyes with a confident smile just as the boulders were within a few meters from crushing him. Seeing his Pokémon finish his preparations, Ethan gave a smile of his own as he took on his dramatic pose once more.
"Time to show them our ultimate move!" Ethan shouted out. "Unlimited Flame Works!"
Even before Ethan had finished calling out the attack's name, a barrage of miniature fireballs were launched from the flames surrounding Typhlosion. With perfect accuracy, the fireballs flew into the air and blasted apart all of the boulders in midair. However, this was not the full extent of Typhlosion's secret technique as a ring of fire suddenly surrounded the entire battlefield. As Red and Espeon watched with growing shock, multiple pillars of fire suddenly shot out of the ground at irregular intervals causing the mountaintop to take on the appearance of an active volcano. Trapped within this fiery landscape and having his attack completely neutralized, Espeon could not help but feel worried for the first time during the battle.
Stay calm, Red told his Pokémon as he quickly analyzed the situation. A flashy attack like this has to cost an enormous amount of energy to maintain. If you keep holding him back with those boulders, we might be able to tire him out and then finish him off with a head-on psychic blast.
Espeon regained his composure at this as he gave a nod and levitated another group of boulders. Seeing this, Ethan gave a little smirk.
"Are you two seriously going to continue fighting? Oh, well. I guess I'll have to enlighten you two seeing as how neither of you seems to fully understand the situation you're in." Judging from his opponent's silence, Ethan decided it was safe to continue on with his explanation. "Unlimited Flame Works transforms the battlefield into one that Typhlosion fully controls. In it, he has access to practically every known form of fire attacks he has seen and analyzed. And considering the amount of battles we've been in, you can bet that he has a ton of attacks recorded and ready to use at a moment's notice. To put it simply, you have absolutely no chance of winning now."
While Red believed that telling your opponent about your secret attack was an idiotic move, he could not argue with the fact that Ethan actually did have the liberty to gloat about his current situation. From what Red was seeing, this technique was far beyond anything that he and his team had ever faced before. However, the Champion of Kanto was not one to simply back down from a challenge and decided to see just how far he could make it against such impossible-looking odds.
Seeing the resolute look on Red's face, Ethan shook his head with a sigh.
"You know, it's kind of pointless to continue this battle. But then again, I guess it would be a bit anti-climactic if you just gave up now." Saying this, Ethan put on his silly little grin again as he faced down his opponent with an equally determined look. "Here we come, Spirit of the Sacred Sword. Do you have enough rocks at your disposal?"
With that, an incredible crossfire began. For every boulder that Espeon hurled towards Typhlosion, a fireball was summoned from the flaming boundary field and pillars to counter it. Taking a closer look, Red saw that each of these fireballs were actually modified versions of various known fire attacks such as Ember and Fire Blast. Even more surprising though was the fact that each of these fireballs had just enough power to neutralize its designated target without wasting energy. Just like Ethan had explained, Typhlosion actually did seem to have complete control over the fiery battleground as he instantly analyzed and efficiently countered everything that was being used against him. Even the bursts of psychic energy that Espeon tried to dish out towards Typhlosion's backside were being shot down as if the fiery badger had eyes all throughout the place. After nearly a minute of this exchange, it became obvious that Espeon was fighting a losing battle. Even with all his effort, Espeon could not match the speed at which the fireballs were being summoned. As such, the tables quickly turned and Espeon became the defender as Typhlosion fired off a flurry of fireballs directly at him. Reacting quickly, Espeon unleashed a blast of psychic energy to ward off the attack. While this did dispel the fireballs, it gave the opportunity that Typhlosion had been seeking. With all of his power diverted to fending off the fireballs, Espeon had to lower his Reflect for a fraction of a second. This was all Typhlosion needed as he charged in with a raging Flame Wheel and slammed directly into his defenseless opponent. With a spectacular explosion, Espeon was sent flying out of the arena and landed in a heap next to an awe-struck Red.
"And down goes number three!" Ethan shouted out with a cheer. "Let's keep up the winning streak Typhlosion!"
Typhlosion decided to simply remain silent and conserve his strength. While he was maintaining a strong front to intimidate his opponent, he was actually using up a huge amount of energy to maintain his Unlimited Flame Works. From what he estimated, he had at least another five minutes before he had to shut down his boundary field or risk fainting from exhaustion.
Thankfully for Typhlosion, Red severely overestimated his opponent's stamina. As such, he did not bother stalling for time as he quickly returned Espeon to his Pokéball and sent out Venusaur. While Red knew that Venusaur was a terrible choice considering the situation, the fact remained that he needed to use his grass Pokémon eventually and it was better to use him now than as his final Pokémon.
Besides, Red thought, it'll still be in my favor if Venusaur manages to get even one lucky hit in before being taken down. After all, every little bit of damage matters at this point.
Sadly, Red's hopeful thoughts were instantly vaporized the moment the battle started. The titanic floral beast had just enough time to let out a roar before being blasted from all sides by a barrage of fireballs. With a look bordering on frustration and resignation, Red recalled his now extra-crispy Pokémon as Ethan began to do a victory dance on the other side.
As far as Red could tell, he now had the choice of using Charizard next despite his weakness to Typhlosion's electric attack or he could hold onto him as a one-hit finisher. After taking a few seconds to think about it, Red decided to go with the latter. If things went according to plan, Snorlax would be able to prolong the battle with his tankiness and possibly tire out Typhlosion to the point that a speedy attack from Charizard could finish him off. Figuring there was not much else he could do other than that, Red called out his Snorlax into the fray.
Just as with Venusaur, Snorlax was assaulted by a torrent of fireballs as soon as the battle started. Just as Ethan tried to let out a cheer though, Snorlax appeared out of the smoke and made a surprisingly speedy dash towards Typhlosion. While others would have been too surprised to react in time, Typhlosion managed to know what Snorlax was planning thanks to his boundary field's effects. With barely a second to spare, Typhlosion jumped out of the way as Snorlax flattened the area he had just been in with a Body Slam. Seeing the crater that was left behind, Typhlosion realized that treating this opponent lightly would mean certain doom for him. With a brief burst of focus, Typhlosion created an uncountable amount of fireballs that immediately flew towards Snorlax. However, Red was prepared this time and gave a short hand signal that Snorlax immediately acted upon. Gathering his hands together in a meditative stance, Snorlax stood in place with a strangely peaceful look on his face as the fireballs made contact. The entire mountaintop shook from the explosions as both trainers were nearly blasted backwards by the ensuing shockwaves. As the smoke finally cleared, Ethan was surprised to see that Snorlax was still standing. Realizing that the giant Pokémon had tanked through the attack by using Amnesia, Ethan gave an impressed smile.
"I've got to hand it to you spirit. You really are an amazing opponent. I never thought that anyone would be able to drag on a fight with my Typhlosion for this long."
Red himself could not help but give a small smile at this. While he still found Ethan to be rather annoying, he could readily admit that the energetic kid was the first trainer to give him such an intense fight in quite a while. While he truly did enjoy the peace and comfort that he had lounged around in for the last year and a half, Red realized that he had actually missed the excitement of being in a fierce battle with a worthy opponent. And from the battle so far, Red could tell that Ethan and his Typhlosion were clearly at the ranks of a real Champion and were definitely strong enough to go toe-to-toe with him.
Having acknowledged each other's strength, the two returned their focus onto the battle. From what Red could tell, the only way to weaken Typhlosion and set-up a potential sweep by Charizard was to dispel the boundary field created by Unlimited Flame Works. Luckily, Red figured that he had just the move to do so.
With a few hand signals, Red managed to convey his plan to Snorlax. With a grim-faced nod, Snorlax took a deep breath… and flopped down to take a nap. Ethan and Typhlosion were so confused by this bizarre behavior that it took them a few seconds to realize that Snorlax was actually restoring his health by using Rest. Knowing that whittling down Snorlax's HP would be even harder now thanks to the usage of Amnesia, Ethan quickly ordered Typhlosion to do as much damage as possible before Snorlax woke up. With a loud battle cry, Typhlosion summoned another slew of fireballs to blast his opponent with. Even as the fiery maelstrom began to bombard him, Snorlax continued to sleep without a care in the world.
After nearly a minute of this with no noticeable results, Typhlosion decided to switch tactics. Figuring that he would be able to end this battle with a fully powered Flame Wheel, Typhlosion stopped the rain of fireballs and began to gather energy into himself. If all went according to plan, Typhlosion would have just enough strength left to hold up his boundary field when facing his last opponent. And considering the advantages he held within his ultimate technique, victory would then be completely secured.
Unbeknownst to Typhlosion however, Snorlax was also gathering up his own energy even while sleeping. While he had not been able to understand the exact thought process of Red thanks to his unusual bout of silence, Snorlax was able to infer from the situation and hand motions what he needed to do. With that in mind, Snorlax was fully prepared to face defeat in this battle for the sake of his team.
After a few seconds, Typhlosion finished boosting up his signature move and charged in as a red blur. Just as Typhlosion was a foot away from blasting away Snorlax, his opponent unveiled an unexpected surprise. Having just finished charging up in the nick of time, Snorlax let loose a tremendous Snore attack. Much to his surprise, Typhlosion realized that the attack was not as strong as he expected it to be as the sound blast did nothing more than barely slow down his charge. In the end, this sudden attack did not make any difference as Typhlosion successfully landed the Flame Wheel and launched Snorlax a good meter or so away. As the large Pokémon fell to the ground in an unconscious heap, Typhlosion let out a satisfied smile as he turned around expecting to see Ethan's jubilant face. However, that was when he noticed that something was wrong. Instead of cheering, Ethan was frozen with a look of utter shock. And looking around, it was not hard to see the cause for Ethan's surprise.
Instead of a fiery boundary field, the mountaintop was back to being its usual rocky self as not even a single spark of ember could be seen throughout the place. With this shocking sight, Typhlosion finally realized that he no longer felt the strain of maintaining his technique. For a few seconds, Typhlosion was completely lost as to what was going on before he finally realized the actual motive for Snorlax's final attack. Instead of aiming for him, Snorlax had purposefully blasted his attack all throughout the battlefield. With his unstoppable charging speed and fiery energy field protecting him, Typhlosion had been relatively unaffected by the wide-range attack but his boundary field had not been so lucky. With a single, concentrated burst of energy, Snorlax had done what Ethan and his Pokémon thought to be impossible and shattered Typhlosion's ultimate technique.
Great job, Snorlax, Red thought with a satisfied smile as he recalled his Pokémon. With that weird technique gone, Charizard should now have a real shot at winning this!
With that uplifting though, Red called out his final Pokémon with a triumphant look.
As soon as Ethan and Typhlosion saw Charizard, they knew that they were in serious trouble. Based on his quick movements as Charizard took to the air, Ethan was able to guess that his opponent was planning on finishing off his exhausted partner with a speedy strike from the skies. And with Unlimited Flame Works destroyed and no time to try and recreate it, Typhlosion was practically a sitting duck.
As all this ran through his mind, Ethan realized with a fair amount of surprise that his opponent had masterfully planned this entire situation since the last battle and had succeeded in luring his opponent into a corner. Realizing that he was facing someone who clearly possessed the strength and knowledge of a Champion, Ethan took a closer look at who he had originally thought to be some mystical spirit. For some reason, his opponent's vest and hat caught Ethan's eye and he vaguely recalled seeing someone who wore the exact same thing not too long ago. In fact, he was fairly certain that he had also seen this exact same Pokémon line-up as well. After a brief moment of intense concentration, Ethan managed to remember that he had seen a photo of his opponent standing with his Pokémon somewhere before. However, he could not tell where exactly he had seen this photo and he was left even more confused than ever.
While Ethan was still struggling to recall the identity of his opponent, Typhlosion was more focused on the imminent battle. He knew that the moment Charizard swooped in, he would be a goner. Even though he still had a bit of energy left, the last five battles had left Typhlosion in a pretty exhausted state. While he had succeeded in not taking any serious damage, the sheer length of this confrontation was starting to wear him down. And judging from the Charizard's movements, Typhlosion knew he would have a hard time avoiding his opponent even if he was in perfect condition. Not knowing exactly what to do in this situation, Typhlosion turned around to see if Ethan had any ideas. Much to his dismay, however, he found his trainer spacing out instead of focusing on the battle.
Ethan was brought out of his reverie when Typhlosion gave him a loud, angry growl. Realizing that they still had a battle to fight, Ethan finally returned back to reality and quickly assessed the situation. After a few seconds, Ethan came to the conclusion that the only way to even have a remote chance of winning now was to simply square off against Charizard in a head-to-head collision. Ethan knew it was a crude plan and that it was very unlikely to succeed but it was the best that they could do in the current situation.
"Listen up, Typhlosion," Ethan eventually commanded. "Put in every last bit energy into your ThunderPunch and try to hit your opponent head-on when he eventually dives in. You won't be able to avoid his attack though so this will all come down to who can survive this final trade."
Taking a deep breath to mentally prepare himself, Typhlosion followed his trainer's orders and began charging up his ThunderPunch. Seeing this, Red realized what his opponent was planning and decided to play along. While he could have created a plan to end this without even giving his opponent a chance, Red could not help but feel that it was fitting to end this epic battle with one final clash. Wondering if Ethan's love for theatrics was beginning to rub off on him, Red signaled to Charizard to prepare a dive-bombing Slash attack.
Time came to a standstill as the two Pokémon stared each other down while preparing to strike at a moment's notice. Absolute silence covered the mountaintop as the world itself seemed to be holding its breath to see who the ultimate victor would be. After a grueling confrontation, it all came down to this one final attack. With a determined look on their faces, both Charizard and Typhlosion acknowledged the other as a worthy opponent and gave a respectful nod. With that, the two prepared themselves and-
"HOLY MAGIKARP! YOU'RE RED, AREN'T YOU?!"
All the tension in the air immediately evaporated with Ethan's shout. Typhlosion couldn't help but look back at his trainer with a confused look while Ethan began to babble some incoherent nonsense as he mentally broke down from the shock of suddenly remembering this important fact. On the other side of the battlefield, both Charizard and Red were frozen in shock and horror at being identified. Red in particular was severely affected by this and was close to having a mental breakdown of his own as he started panicking from being found out. Awkward silence replaced the tense atmosphere from before as the two trainers and their Pokémon tried and failed to gather their bearings.
Looking back on it, Ethan was surprised that he did not recognize who his opponent was the moment he saw him. Just a couple of days ago, Ethan had accessed the Hall of Fame on his PC out of boredom and happened to see a picture of Red and his Pokémon proudly displayed as one of the more recent Champions. He had even spent a few minutes reading over the news articles about Red detailing his mysterious disappearance over a year ago. Despite all this prior knowledge though, Ethan (being the hyperactive drama-queen that he was) had completely forgotten about that until now due to his little delusions of grandeur.
Red, of course, was heavily mortified about facing his absolute worst case scenario. Now that Ethan knew who he was, it was only a matter of time before his secret hideout was discovered. Ethan would no doubt brag about seeing Red to everyone and it would not take long before the fans caught wind of this and stormed Mt. Silver. After all the hard work he had to go through to disappear from the public eye, he was now doomed to return to his old lifestyle of living off of Caterpies and sleeping in landfills.
Still, Red's optimistic side told him, it's possible that Ethan will respect your privacy and keep quiet about this if you tell him about the situation.
This thought was practically shot dead with Ethan's following outburst.
"I can't believe you're actually the legendary lost Champion! Your disappearance is considered one of the greatest modern day mysteries! Oh my god! I need to contact the people at the Radio Tower so that I can tell the whole world about this! I'll be known as the trainer who actually found and battled with the missing Champion of Kanto! I'll become the most famous person of the modern era!"
Ethan was so busy fantasizing about his success that he did not notice the large, hulking figure that suddenly appeared behind him. A large, hulking figure that just so happened to have a wooden baseball bat in his hands.
With a loud thwack! that resounded across the entire mountaintop, Red's Tyranitar associate knocked out Ethan with a direct swing to the back of the trainer's head. While the blow had not been as powerful as it could have been, it was still strong enough to be potentially lethal as Ethan crumpled onto the ground in a lifeless heap.
For a couple of minutes, no one could figure out what to say or do as they stared at the bizarre sight of the bat-wielding behemoth standing before the collapsed trainer with a rather guilty look on his face. When Red finally managed to gather enough sense to give the Tyranitar a questioning look, the Pokémon could only give a sheepish shrug.
Having been in the far corner of the battlefield, Tyranitar's hiding place had been relatively unaffected by all the commotion of the battle. Thanks to that, he had managed to see the entire confrontation and had been silently waiting to see if his client would need some help in dealing with this intruder. Just when he had been thinking that Red would be able to deal with the situation on his own, Ethan had shouted out his revelation and caused the subsequent dilemma. Knowing that his main source of income would be jeopardized if Ethan told the world about Red, Tyranitar had decided to take matters into his own hands and had snuck out to deal with the annoying little problem. However, he had overestimated just how tough Ethan's head would be and as a result was now standing over what was presumably a dead body.
After a long bout of uncomfortable silence, Red finally spoke up for the first time since his battle on top of the mountain.
"Well… I guess this just goes to show why you need to have a Repel with you when you're at a mountain." As all of the gathered Pokémon gave him a questioning look, Red gave a silly little grin. "Get it? It's to keep away all the bats."
The only responses Red got for his terrible joke was a whack to the head from Charizard and a pair of exasperated sighs.