High above the mice's burrow, beneath a cloudless blue sky—
"Mom, I'm so angry!" The cocky little Fletchling was flapping madly as it tattled to the much larger female Talonflame beside it, the grievance obvious in its voice. "That Tandemaus lot just hide in their hole like turtles! They won't come out and fight me head-on, so I can't get any real combat practice!"
"There, there, don't be upset, my sweet baby." The female Talonflame brushed the tip of a wing over her child's head, eyes brimming with doting affection.
Her fiery red plumage glinted luxuriously in the sun; her gaze was hawk-keen, blade-sharp—yet turned to her child, it softened to a liquid tenderness.
She glanced at the silent but even more imposing male Talonflame at her side, then told the Fletchling, "Don't worry. Mommy will take care of it. It's time these lowly Tandemaus learned who rules this forest. In a moment I'll teach you a new move—watch closely!"
The male Talonflame still said nothing, his razor gaze locked on the burrow below.
Given her promise, the Fletchling perked up at once, chittering as it circled.
The female Talonflame's eyes went cold and cruel in an instant.
With a single powerful beat, she shot upward like a fired shell.
At once, a visible mantle of crimson energy flared and roared around her.
"Watch, child! This move is Flame Charge! The essence is to cloak yourself in fire so you attack and get faster at the same time!"
With a sky-rending cry, she was completely wrapped in red energy and plunged straight down at the mice's burrow like an unstoppable spear.
KRA-KOOM!
The ground shuddered.
This time the thick layer of soil and tangled roots above the burrow tore and vaporized like paper before absolute force.
A violent shockwave of dirt and flame raged through the tunnels.
The Tandemaus' terrified squeals were drowned in the blast; the entire burrow hovered on the brink of collapse and ruin.
A rock the size of a human head was hurled by the shockwave—straight toward the fruit pile hiding Jason.
"Seriously? I get friendly-fired too?"
He went numb. Still in Oran Berry form, he had zero desire to be pounded into jam.
At this point, exposure didn't matter.
SPLUT!
An instant before the rock hit, the ordinary "Oran Berry" flashed—and became Ditto.
Jason lurched aside in a decidedly undignified scramble, barely dodging the lethal stone.
His sudden appearance froze the chaos for a beat.
Up above, the Talonflame family; down below, the Tandemaus about to scatter—everyone stared.
A few mice had seen it happen in the confusion.
"Am I seeing things?" a little white mouse rubbed its eyes, stammering. "I could've sworn… one of our stored berries just turned into a Pokémon?"
"Huh? What Pokémon is that? Purple and squishy. Never seen it."
"I know that one! Ditto!" a well-traveled Maushold elder squeaked. "I've seen it before—it can transform into anything!"
"Forget the Ditto! The Talonflame's attacking!"
"Right! Should we just go all out? I'm sick of hiding!"
The commotion lasted only a heartbeat. Survival instinct and solidarity snapped the mice's focus back to the real enemy.
Up in the sky, the female Talonflame's eyes flashed with malice at the sight of the purple creature that had appeared out of nowhere and dodged the falling rock mid-attack.
"Reinforcements the Tandemaus brought?"
The thought flickered and died. As the local apex, her policy was simple and brutal:
Eliminate unknowns. Immediately.
"Watch closely—here's an even stronger move!"
Flames roared brighter around her wings, the fire-type aura warping the very air. This time, instead of red energy, raw fire wrapped her entire body—she became a blazing comet.
She aimed straight at Jason and unleashed her strongest finisher—
Flare Blitz!
"Coming at me?"
Girl, you going for the kill?
Jason's survival instincts spiked off the charts.
The fireball swelled in his vision. No time to think—his body switched forms in a heartbeat.
Glimmet!
It was the only form he had that could counter her typing.
A tenth of a second before the inferno hit, he poured everything into his outer shell—
Harden!
Time seemed to slow.
He saw the Talonflame's rage-twisted face, the killing intent in her eyes, the steel-melting flames swallowing him inch by inch—
BOOM!
His world became blinding white and scorching red.
Fire blossomed from him in a mushrooming burst, shockwaves flooding the shattered burrow. Twigs and stones charred in the heat; the air itself warped; the tunnels became a literal sea of fire.
This strike was even fiercer than the one that blew the roof.
When it ended, the female Talonflame let out a satisfied cry, banked back into the air with haughty poise, and flashed her child a proud look.
"See that, dear? Mommy's Flare Blitz is pretty great, huh? Practice hard and you'll be just like me!"
The Fletchling blinked its clear eyes, glanced at the blazing pit below—then, right in front of its mother, brutally undercut her:
"Doesn't look that great. Mom, look—the purple thing's still alive."
"What?"
The female Talonflame snapped her gaze down.
There, in the heart of the fire, a battered figure was wobbling to its… feet?
Her hawk eyes went wide.
Impossible.
Never mind why that purple thing could turn into other Pokémon—she knew the power of her Flare Blitz. It only hits that hard by taking heavy recoil in return. Since evolving, she'd never failed with it.
Down in the flames, Jason looked awful. Pain crashed over every nerve in waves. He could feel the damage.
"Damn… that almost ended me," he thought, shaken.
He'd survived by exactly three factors:
First—and biggest—type advantage. Rock resists Fire ×2. Flare Blitz is Fire; as Glimmet he cut the damage way down.
Second, Harden. He'd boosted Defense at the last instant—and Flare Blitz is physical.
Third, terrain. The cramped burrow shortened her dive and capped her speed, so the impact hit below theoretical max.
"Miss one of those and I'd be toast," he shuddered.
The mice, too, were shell-shocked. They'd bolted far enough during Flame Charge to avoid the blast; the sheer menace of Flare Blitz had frozen them in place. They'd fully expected the stranger to die on the spot—yet he'd tanked it.
Any one of them would have been obliterated.
For a moment, their eyes held shock—and a touch of awe.
In the sky, seeing her "insta-kill" fail, the female Talonflame felt her prestige slip in front of her child. Cold, humiliated fury burned in her gaze.
She'd erase this embarrassment immediately.
But she also recognized the burrow was cramping her style. So she tucked her wings, dropped the fire, and chose the most direct option:
Fly.
Soar high, then stoop—tear him apart with iron beak and talons.
Watching her abandon Fire-type finishers to double down on a Flying-type physical attack—into a Rock type—Jason could only shake his head.
Girl, have you just been brute-forcing fights your whole life? Not one brain cell grown?
You do realize Flying is also hard-countered by Rock… right?