The situation seemed to be turning in Ash's favor again.
However, just when everyone thought Ash's Snorlax would continue its impressive performance, Gary sent out his Scizor. With incredible speed, it defeated both Snorlax and Muk consecutively, shifting the advantage back to Gary.
Most crucially, Ash now only had one Pokémon left that hadn't battled, while Gary still had three. No matter how you looked at it, Gary's chances of winning seemed much higher.
The camera panned to Misty and Brock in the friends-and-family section. They looked tense, clearly worried about Ash's situation.
In contrast, the audience was thoroughly enjoying the unpredictable battle, finding it incredibly exciting. They now believed the announcer's pre-match hype—this truly was a focal and intense battle!
On the field, Ash solemnly took out his last Poké Ball. Under everyone's gaze, he threw it high, and a Charizard appeared on the battlefield.
"Huh?" Seeing this Charizard, Erika couldn't help but ask in surprise, "Isn't it supposed to be at the Charicific Valley? Why is it here?"
"What's so surprising about that?" Natsui laughed. "Facing Gary, Ash must have felt unsure and called it back temporarily."
In fact, since leaving his own Charizard at the Charicific Valley, Natsui had kept in touch with the caretaker, Liza, via text messages, constantly getting updates on his Charizard's training progress.
Both his Charizard and Ash's were the hardworking type. They had improved rapidly in the valley. In just over half a month, their rankings within the valley had already risen significantly.
His own Charizard, for example, had reached the upper tier and was challenging the top twenty. Ash's Charizard had reached the middle tier and could now hold its own against the average valley Charizard.
Returning his thoughts to the field, Gary seemed to have expected Ash's Charizard. He didn't switch his Pokémon, continuing to battle with Scizor.
Perhaps he wanted to test Charizard's current strength with Scizor first. Unfortunately, with a four-times type disadvantage, Scizor was defeated by Charizard's flames shortly after the battle began.
Gary's expression didn't change. He sent out a new Pokémon.
With a loud rumbling sound and trembling earth, a round, heavy Golem appeared on the field.
In terms of typing, the Rock-type Golem naturally wasn't afraid of Charizard's fire attacks. But with one Pokémon in the air and the other on the ground, both seemed to have their own path to victory.
An interesting event occurred during the battle. Knowing fire wouldn't significantly harm Golem, Ash tried to use Seismic Toss to finish it. However, he underestimated Golem's weight. Charizard barely managed to lift it before having to let go, dropping it back onto the ground.
Ultimately, Charizard's strength proved superior. When Golem used Rollout, Charizard defeated it with a Dragon Rage.
With that, Charizard scored two consecutive knockouts, leveling the playing field once again.
Now, both Ash and Gary were down to their last Pokémon. Ash had Charizard on the field, and Gary had his ace, Blastoise!
This Top 16 match was truly intense, reaching its final climax.
However, the situation was unfavorable for Ash. Blastoise had a type advantage, and it had rested for a while, giving it more stamina than Charizard, which had just fought two battles.
As the final battle began, everyone focused intently.
Just as expected, Blastoise took the upper hand from the start. Even when Charizard flew into the air, Blastoise fired Hydro Pump from the two cannons on its back, creating an anti-air barrage like flak cannons, forcing Charizard to keep its distance.
As expected of Ash, he never fought conventionally.
Despite the disadvantage, he suddenly ordered Charizard to breathe fire onto the surrounding rocks.
This move baffled not only the audience but also Gary and Blastoise on the field, who had no idea what Ash was up to.
As Charizard continuously spewed flames, the temperature on the field rose steadily. Some smaller rocks were even burned into fragments. Under the intense heat, the entire field became scorching, visibly turning red hot.
Although Gary didn't know what Ash was doing, he knew he couldn't let him succeed.
At his command, Blastoise began spraying water everywhere, trying to cool the field down. But when the cold water hit the superheated rocks, it instantly generated massive amounts of steam, which quickly enveloped the entire battlefield!
"I see..." Natsui understood Ash's plan now.
The steam obscured everyone's vision; no one could see what was happening inside. Fortunately, the steam dissipated as quickly as it had formed.
As the steam cleared, people looked closely and saw that Charizard had somehow gotten close to Blastoise. The two Pokémon were locked in a grapple, claws interlocked, engaged in a test of strength!
The announcer was stunned for a moment before saying, "Charizard couldn't get close to Blastoise before, but using the steam as cover, it approached safely! Competitor Ash's strategy is truly eye-opening!"
Most importantly, with its arms bound, Blastoise couldn't adjust its cannons to fire Hydro Pump at Charizard!
This was definitely bad news for Gary.
Locked in this stalemate, Charizard lifted Blastoise into the air and used Seismic Toss again. After spinning rapidly several times, it slammed Blastoise hard onto the ground.
BOOM!
Dust flew everywhere. The audience eagerly looked towards the field and saw both Pokémon struggling to get up. But compared to Charizard, Blastoise was covered in injuries. It swayed a few times and then collapsed backward!
As the referee raised the flag high, the battle's outcome was decided. Ash, after being at a disadvantage early on, had turned the tables and won the victory!
The stands erupted in fervent cheers. Delia, in particular, jumped up and down with joy, a stark contrast to the slightly awkward Professor Oak beside her, who didn't quite know how to react.
"He actually won!"
Erika covered her mouth in surprise. Although Natsui had accurately predicted Ash's victory beforehand, during such an intense battle where Gary had led, she had thought Gary would win. She never expected Ash to make a comeback!
"Actually, Gary made a mistake," Natsui said, shaking his head with a hint of regret. "During that last Seismic Toss, you could see he clearly panicked and didn't give the right command. If it were me, I would have definitely ordered Blastoise to withdraw into its shell. That way, even if it took some impact damage, it wouldn't have been defeated so easily."
At that moment, unlike the celebrating crowd around him, Ash stood frozen in place, staring blankly, seemingly unable to believe he had actually won.
In contrast, Gary was quite composed. He glanced at Ash, then left the battlefield without a word.
In the first-floor lobby, Natsui finished the last sip of his cocktail and stopped watching the TV, waiting there for Ash to return.
Four matches were scheduled for today. Three had already concluded, with Harrison, Ash, and himself advancing to the Top 8. The next match featured two competitors from the other half of the bracket. Since he didn't know them and they weren't direct competitors yet, he wasn't particularly interested.
As for Kenta, Marina, and the others' battles, they were scheduled for tomorrow. This gave him time to properly study Ash's lineup!
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