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At that moment, Arcanine seemed to transform into a blur of motion, moving so quickly that it was nearly impossible to detect with the naked eye. Even Ash failed to react in time. The instant Arcanine burst through the flames, it struck Charizard with tremendous force.
"Graaaah!"
Charizard's body, hit by Arcanine's devastating attack, flew backward uncontrollably. The impact sent the Fire-type Pokemon tumbling through the air before crashing heavily into one of the stone pillars that dotted the volcanic battlefield.
With a thunderous crash, the stone pillar crumbled instantly under the force of impact. Through the cloud of dust and debris that followed, a streak of orange and black leaped gracefully from the smoke, landing with perfect balance on another nearby stone pillar. Arcanine's movements remained fluid and elegant despite the intense battle.
On the opposite side of the arena, smoke continued to drift from the destruction. Green, who had been watching the battle intently, looked toward the smoke-covered area with obvious concern etched across her face. However, Ash remained completely calm, his expression focused as he listened carefully to the sounds coming from within the haze.
"ROOOOOAAAAR!"
An earth-shaking roar suddenly erupted from the smoke cloud. The powerful sound waves generated by the cry created strong air currents that instantly dispersed all the smoke and dust, revealing what lay beneath.
Standing proudly atop the broken remnants of the stone pillar was Charizard. The upper portion of the pillar had completely shattered from the impact, with chunks of stone falling into the bubbling magma below. The molten rock splashed dramatically behind Charizard as the debris hit the lava, creating an impressive backdrop of fire and destruction.
Despite the violent collision and dramatic surroundings, Charizard stood unmoved and resolute. The Dragon-type's eyes remained locked solely on its opponent across the battlefield. When Arcanine saw that Charizard had emerged from the attack completely unharmed, flames of excitement and determination seemed to ignite in its own eyes.
"Ash, that Charizard of yours is indeed surprisingly powerful," Blaine called out, his voice carrying genuine appreciation for the Pokemon's strength. "However, if it cannot match Arcanine's incredible speed, raw power alone will be meaningless. Arcanine, use Extreme Speed!"
While Blaine acknowledged Charizard's impressive capabilities, his confidence remained unshaken. It was true that Charizard possessed remarkable strength, but as long as it couldn't counter Arcanine's lightning-fast Extreme Speed attack, even that tremendous power would prove useless.
Upon hearing its trainer's command, Arcanine's body became surrounded by a translucent aura of incredible speed. The Pokemon launched itself from its perch on the stone pillar, streaking through the air toward Charizard's position with breathtaking velocity.
"Fire Pledge!" Ash commanded, his eyes narrowing with determination.
The moment Charizard heard its trainer's order, the flames burning at the tip of its tail suddenly flared with increased intensity. A red glow enveloped the Pokemon's entire body as it raised its powerful fist and struck downward with tremendous force, slamming into the stone pillar beneath its feet.
Ash had made a tactical decision: since Charizard couldn't match Arcanine's superior speed, it would have to meet the attack head-on with its own devastating power.
"BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!"
The explosive force of Fire Pledge activated immediately. From the magma flowing below the battlefield, massive pillars of fire suddenly erupted from the molten rock directly in front of Charizard's position. Although Arcanine possessed incredible speed, the Legendary Pokemon found itself unable to change direction once it had committed to its high-speed charge.
In their previous battles on flat, open ground, Arcanine's exceptional balance had allowed it to make sharp directional changes even while using Extreme Speed. The Pokemon's natural agility and coordination made such maneuvers possible under normal circumstances.
However, this volcanic battlefield presented a completely different challenge. With only small stone pillars providing footing above the dangerous lava, Arcanine had to rely on jumping and leaping to navigate the terrain. Every movement required careful calculation and precise timing.
Now, as Arcanine sailed through the air in the middle of its jumping attack, there was no solid ground beneath its feet to provide the leverage needed for a sudden direction change. The Pokemon was completely committed to its current trajectory.
A towering pillar of fire burst upward from directly below Arcanine's path. The Fire Pledge attack, drawing its power from the volcanic magma itself, proved even more potent than usual. The column of flames struck Arcanine directly from underneath with tremendous force.
The impact sent Arcanine's body flying higher into the air, though the Pokemon remained conscious and alert. Thanks to the protective aura of Extreme Speed that still surrounded its body, and its natural resistance as a Fire-type Pokemon, Arcanine managed to avoid taking any serious damage from the Fire Pledge.
Arcanine's body continued to climb through the air, but the experienced Pokemon quickly adapted to the situation. Using the remaining momentum from its Extreme Speed technique, Arcanine managed to control its flight path and began to descend in a controlled manner. The speed-boosting aura had not yet completely faded from its body.
As Arcanine fell from its peak height, it demonstrated remarkable agility by landing against the side of a nearby stone pillar. All four of its paws gripped the vertical surface simultaneously, making it appear as though the Pokemon had somehow escaped the normal effects of gravity.
In reality, Arcanine hadn't defied gravity at all. The Pokemon wasn't like a comic book hero that could simply stick to walls indefinitely. Instead, at the precise moment of contact with the pillar, Arcanine used the solid surface as a launching point. The remaining power from its Extreme Speed technique exploded outward through all four legs simultaneously.
With this burst of energy, Arcanine kicked off from the stone pillar and launched itself toward Charizard once again, streaking through the air with the incredible velocity of Extreme Speed. Seeing this display of tactical brilliance, Ash's expression became more serious, and he couldn't help but feel a surge of respect for his opponent.
This Arcanine truly was Blaine's strongest and most trusted partner. Defeating such a skilled and experienced Pokemon would require everything Charizard had to offer.
"Charizard, Thunder Punch!" Ash called out sharply.
Watching Arcanine racing toward his Pokemon once again at tremendous speed, Ash realized there wasn't enough time for Charizard to take flight and gain altitude. The only option was to meet this attack with direct confrontation.
Upon hearing its trainer's command, Charizard immediately rose to its full height, standing tall and proud on the broken stone pillar. The Pokemon clenched its right claw into a tight fist, and electrical energy began crackling around the appendage. With a powerful forward motion, Charizard swung its electrified fist to meet Arcanine's incoming charge.
"CRASH!"
The two opposing forces collided with explosive results. A tremendous shockwave of air pressure burst outward from the point of impact, causing the surrounding stone pillars to develop long cracks running through their centers. Even the magma flowing below the battlefield began to churn and bubble more violently in response to the tremendous forces unleashed above.
The two Pokemon remained locked in their struggle, with neither able to immediately overpower the other. Their combined strength created a perfect stalemate as each fighter pushed against their opponent with everything they had.
"Their power levels are almost identical! Charizard should be able to hold its ground," Green observed aloud, watching the intense clash with fascination.
"Given their current positions, I wouldn't be so certain about that," Agatha interjected, her experienced voice carrying a note of concern.
Green looked surprised by the Elite Four member's comment. When she turned to study Agatha's expression, she found the Ghost-type specialist watching the battlefield with intense concentration and obvious worry.
Rather than asking for clarification, Green turned her attention back to the ongoing battle. It was then that she noticed what had caught Agatha's attention. Under the tremendous pressure created by both Pokemon pushing against each other with full force, the damaged stone pillar supporting Charizard's weight was beginning to show additional signs of stress.
Long cracks continued to spread through the remaining portion of the pillar as the structure struggled to support the massive forces being exerted upon it. While the two Pokemon appeared evenly matched in terms of raw power, their positioning created a significant disadvantage for Charizard.
Arcanine had managed to attack from a higher angle, which meant that Charizard was being forced to direct much of its strength downward through its legs and into the already-damaged pillar. The stone structure was gradually reaching its breaking point under the sustained pressure. If the battle continued much longer, the pillar would certainly collapse completely.
Below them lay nothing but dangerous, bubbling lava. While Fire-type Pokemon possessed natural resistance to high temperatures, they were not completely immune to harm from such extreme conditions. Just as Electric-type Pokemon could still suffer from paralysis, Fire-types remained vulnerable to burns from sufficiently intense heat.
"So that's Blaine's real strategy!" Green exclaimed as understanding dawned on her. The pieces of the puzzle finally came together in her mind.
However, something still puzzled her about the situation. Even if Charizard lost its footing when the pillar collapsed, wouldn't Arcanine find itself in the exact same predicament?
"CRACK!"
Before she could fully work through the implications, a sudden sound drew everyone's attention back to the battle.
The stone pillar had finally reached its limit. Charizard's expression showed a flash of concern as its body began to fall toward the dangerous lava below. Initially, Ash had assumed that Arcanine would face the same problem without a place to stand, but what happened next left Green amazed by the Pokemon's incredible skill.
At the precise moment when the stone pillar gave way completely, chunks of broken rock began floating through the air around the collapse site. As Arcanine's body started to fall alongside Charizard, the agile Pokemon managed to land one paw on a piece of falling debris and used it as a springboard to leap upward.
Arcanine then continued this remarkable display by stepping rapidly from one piece of rubble to another, performing a series of continuous jumps with incredible precision. Its body moved as lightly as a feather, using each small fragment of stone as a temporary foothold. Through this amazing sequence of movements, Arcanine gradually gained height and distance until it could safely land on another intact stone pillar.
Meanwhile, Charizard continued falling toward the bubbling magma that marked the mouth of the volcano. Ash's eyes remained locked on his Pokemon with unwavering focus, and Charizard seemed to sense its trainer's intense gaze even during its descent.
"Fly!" Ash shouted with perfect timing.
Just as Charizard's body was about to make contact with the molten rock below, the Pokemon heard its trainer's voice cutting through the air. At that critical moment, Charizard spread its powerful wings wide, rolled its body so that its belly faced downward, and began beating its wings with tremendous force. The wingbeats stirred up the surface of the magma as Charizard's body skimmed just above the dangerous molten rock, narrowly avoiding what could have been a devastating impact.