Cyndaquil stood on the battlefield, gazing at the green, long-necked dinosaur before it, the flame blazing fiercely on its back. It still wanted to keep fighting; the recent battle had completely ignited its fighting spirit. Noticing Cyndaquil's eagerness, Ash lowered the hand he had just raised.
"Cyndaquil, do you still want to go on?"
Cyndaquil nodded. This time, it wanted to pull off a sweep. Ash decided to respect its wishes.
"In that case, use Flamethrower."
"Meganium, use Light Screen to block it!"
An energy wall instantly materialized in front of Meganium, scattering Cyndaquil's flames in all directions. Meganium looked completely unaffected behind the barrier. The Light Screen had successfully absorbed a massive amount of the heat, and whatever was left was easily endurable. Seeing that Flamethrower wasn't doing much, Ash immediately had Cyndaquil use Flame Wheel, hoping to break through the Light Screen with a physical attack. However, instead of inflicting heavy damage on Meganium as Ash had expected, the Flame Wheel bounced right off, sending Cyndaquil crashing to the ground.
"Reflect, is it? Why is fighting against a favorable type so tough?! Meganium's defensive moves are so well prepared!" Ash gritted his teeth. He then decided to have Cyndaquil use SmokeScreen, looking for an opening within the smoke. But instead of using Smokescreen as Ash intended, Cyndaquil began swaying unsteadily, looking as if it were drunk.
"Heh, Cyndaquil fell for Meganium's Sweet Scent! Meganium, grab Cyndaquil with Vine Whip, then use Slam!"
Meganium swung both sides of its body, and two thick vine whips emerged from the flower-like structures on its neck. Seeing this, Ash immediately shouted for Cyndaquil to dodge, but Cyndaquil's reflexes had dropped due to the toll of the battle, and it failed to escape the vines, getting slammed hard onto the ground.
"Now, Meganium, use Sunny Day, get ready for Solar Beam!" Jackson intended to finish off Cyndaquil with this powerful Grass-type move.
"Cyndaquil! Use Flame Wheel to break free!" Ash finally thought of a countermeasure.
In an instant, the Cyndaquil wrapped in Meganium's vines transformed from a soft, squishy ball into a true fireball. Meganium couldn't bear the pain and instinctively released Cyndaquil; otherwise, those two vines would have been ruined. Just then, Meganium unleashed its Solar Beam, but because it had been distracted by the pain, its aim was off, striking the ground just in front of Cyndaquil. Cyndaquil itself was struck by the flying debris from the explosion.
"Meganium, fire Solar Beam again!" Jackson commanded once more.
"Block it with Flamethrower!" The flames on Cyndaquil's back suddenly surged, and a red glow washed over its body. A pillar of fire, thicker than before, clashed head-on against Meganium's Solar Beam. The Flamethrower broke right through the Solar Beam and struck Meganium dead on—it was super effective! The front of Meganium's body, along parts of its flower, had been charred black.
"A Flamethrower amplified by Blaze and Sunny Day is practically like magma!" Ash said happily.
*If I'd known, I wouldn't have used Sunny Day,* Jackson regretted deeply, kicking himself for rushing to fire off the Solar Beam. At this moment, Ash ordered Cyndaquil to unleash a full-power Flamethrower. Seeing this, Jackson desperately tried to have Meganium throw up a Light Screen, but the sheer power of the previous attack was too overwhelming, and Meganium had even been afflicted with a burn. This prevented Meganium from executing the barrier, allowing Cyndaquil's full-power Flamethrower to strike it squarely. The scent in the air suddenly shifted to the smell of roasted meat.
"Meganium is unable to battle! Cyndaquil wins! Since challenger Jackson has lost three Pokémon, Ash is the winner!" the referee announced. But no sooner had the referee declared the result than light suddenly began to shine from Cyndaquil's body—it was evolving! As the light faded, its small body grew longer and sleeker, and its eyes transformed from Brock-like slits into Ash-like eyes.
*Bip, bip.*
*Quilava! The Volcano Pokémon. The evolved form of Cyndaquil. The fur covering its body is completely fireproof, rendering it unfazed by any flame attacks.*
"Incredible! Ash has defeated three of Jackson's Pokémon using only two, and furthermore, Cyndaquil has evolved through battle into Quilava! Absolutely amazing, let's give a big round of applause to Ash!" the commentator shouted, wildly hyping up the atmosphere. The roar of cheers in the stadium was deafening as the spectators applauded Ash. Ash waved back enthusiastically, sharing the hard-earned victory with Quilava and Pikachu.
"Has Jackson really been beaten this thoroughly?" murmured a boy up in the stands. He was utterly shocked by the strength Ash had displayed, defeating Jackson's ace Meganium and Magneton with an unevolved Cyndaquil. Even with the type advantage, overcoming such a gap in experience to win was remarkable. What's more, this Quilava wasn't even one of Ash's strongest Pokémon. The boy felt as though he were facing a formidable enemy.
"Should we go find Jackson? He must be feeling awful after losing like that," a girl next to him suggested.
"Yeah, let's go." With that, the two headed toward the exit.
"I'm looking forward to battling you more and more. To think you could make it this far with an unevolved Pokémon," Gary said from the stands. He had watched Ash's match from start to finish and was completely stunned by the power Ash currently possessed.
"Jackson played a really great match, I almost lost," Ash comforted on his way to the Pokémon Center. Though his tactical command had improved by leaps and bounds, consoling people was definitely not Ash's strong suit.
"Sigh! A loss is a loss, nothing more to say. And I wanted to show off in front of Nana, too," Jackson mumbled despondently. He had wanted to put on a good display for Nana, but he hadn't even forced out his opponent's third Pokémon, making a complete fool of himself in front of Marina.
"It's fine, Jackson. Look at the bright side—maybe that Nana girl you mentioned didn't even watch your match," Ash tried to reason.
That only made Jackson feel even more depressed.
"It's just a match. If you lose, you can just win it back next time," a capable-looking boy wearing a red shirt and yellow shorts suddenly walked over from the side.
"That's right, Jackson has another match tomorrow, there's still a chance," chimed in a pretty girl wearing a white jacket and long blue hair, encouraging Jackson as well.
"Uh, Marina, Ash already secured six points and advanced early. Their block is finished," the boy in red scratched his head and explained.
"Ah!" Marina was just about to apologize when Jackson stopped her. He just wanted to clear his head right now, so he said a quick goodbye to Ash and the others and hurried away.
"We'll get going too. By the way, let me introduce myself, I'm Kenta. I've also advanced to the championship tournament, hope we run into each other." Kenta introduced himself.
"I'm Marina, just a spectator here to cheer everyone on," Marina introduced herself in turn.
"Oh, I'm Ash, and this is my partner, Pikachu! I'm really looking forward to battling you too, Kenta! And Marina, I've heard Jackson talk about you. Jackson played a really great match!"
"Pika-pika!" Ash hurriedly introduced himself, not forgetting to put in a good word for Jackson. Ash never wanted anyone to call him dense again, and this was a perfect opportunity to help Jackson out.
Hearing Ash's words, however, Marina wore an awkward expression; she had watched the entire match from the start, and she told herself she really needed to rewatch how it all went down.
"Alright, we'll head off first." Seeing that it was getting late, Ash bid farewell to Kenta and Marina, then headed alone to the Pokémon Center. Quilava had just evolved and sustained quite a few injuries; it needed proper care and rest. Besides, Misty and Brock were waiting for him to recount the details of the battle.
Pedestrians hurried past along the street, and Ash caught snatches of people discussing his recent match.
"Hahaha, Pikachu, looks like we're getting a little famous."
"Pika, pika!" Pikachu happily responded to Ash.
Walking along, Ash finally reached the Pokémon Center. Misty and Brock immediately stepped forward to congratulate him as soon as they saw him.
"Ash, you played really well out there today. It reminded me of your first match in the Indigo League," Brock said with a narrowing of his eyes in praise.
"Yeah, you didn't even have to send out your third Pokémon! Was all this part of your plan, Ash?" Misty asked with curiosity.
"Not really. I just saw that Quilava's fighting spirit was burning so brightly, so I wanted to let it go all out. By the way, Misty, how are your preparations coming along?"
"Me? Don't worry, I'm all set! You guys just wait and see!" Misty declared with confidence.