"Battle—start!" The referee gave an order, signaling the official start of the challenge.
"Charizard, use Flamethrower!" The moment the voice fell, Ash immediately issued an order to Charizard, and it was the powerful Flamethrower!
"Roar!" Fire-type energy quickly condensed in Charizard's mouth, a circle of sparks spread out in front of its mouth, and the next moment, flames blasted out, straight down!
The speed of the Flamethrower was very fast, and it had passed tens of meters in just two seconds. The flame was still some distance away from the ground, but it left a scorched black mark on the path it passed through, which showed how hot it was!
"Venonat, use Agility to dodge the attack!" Koga's face changed slightly. Although he had expected that Charizard's flame might be different, it was only when he faced it that he could understand how powerful this flame was!
"Veno—!" Venonat, who received the order, immediately activated its Psychic Type move, Agility, and disappeared in place. The next moment, it appeared a few meters to the left and continued to move at an extraordinary speed.
Naturally, Charizard would not let Venonat go, turning its direction slightly. It kept the momentum of the flame emission, controlled the flame, and swept towards Venonat's direction!
Charizard's action drove the flames, and the ground it shot over instantly became scorched black!
"Use Protect!" Seeing that he couldn't dodge Charizard's attack, Koga had Venonat use Protect to block the attack!
Normal-type energy was stimulated, and white translucent energy gushed out from Venonat's body, forming an energy shield around it, protecting its whole body!
"Boom!" The flames bombarded the energy shield, and the violent power caused the energy shield to continuously ripple, as if it would be broken in the next moment!
Koga, who witnessed this scene, showed a horrified look. Although Venonat was only at the Bronze level, and Charizard was at the Silver level, the move Protect, even if it crossed two levels, could still defend against the attack.
But at this time, Charizard's attack almost shattered the energy shield formed by Protect; this meant that the power of Charizard's attack had exceeded the Silver level, and even reached the Gym level!
"Unbelievable, is this really just an Silver Charizard?" Koga was amazed at Charizard's strength; with its Golden flame that was different from ordinary ones, it was truly special!
Although the power of the Flamethrower had shaken the energy shield formed by Protect, it was still unable to break it in the end. After the flames dissipated, the energy shield was still strong, protecting Venonat!
"Encore, Flamethrower!" Ash continued to let Charizard attack. Protect could be used for a short time, but if it was used continuously in a short period, there was a chance to break through it.
Of course, with training, the chance of failure would be minimized.
"Venonat, use Agility and get close to Charizard!" Koga knew that he couldn't be caught by Ash, and he switched from defense to offense, allowing Venonat to take the initiative!
The Flamethrower was sent out again, attacking Venonat, but Venonat also used Agility, and while avoiding the flames as much as possible, approached Charizard!
What surprised Koga was that although the Flamethrower missed Venonat, its scorching heat made Venonat very uncomfortable, resulting in deformed movements.
For a while, it couldn't close the distance between itself and Charizard and was constantly driven away by the flames.
Because of this, it gradually came to the edge of the battlefield!
"Not only is it powerful, but it also lasts for a long time. What kind of monster is this..." Even Koga couldn't find a way to break the game, Charizard's strength was too extraordinary, and Venonat was just Bronze-level and it wasn't even trained by Koga himself.
Venonat, who had been cornered, had no way to avoid it, so Koga could only make Venonat use Protect again, hoping to fend off Charizard's attack.
However, the white translucent energy had just formed an energy shield, and the next moment, it was like a mirror shattering.
"Boom!" The flames completely engulfed Venonat, and the violent force even sent Venonat flying, passing by Koga's side, pushing all the way to the wall behind, and it lasted for several seconds before the flames stopped.
"Venonat is unable to battle, and Charizard wins!" The referee looked at the scene with astonishment. It was unbelievable that this challenger defeated Koga's Venonat so effortlessly.
The audience fell silent for a moment after the referee's announcement, and then erupted in excitement. Charizard's strength exceeded everyone's expectations, and they were shocked that Koga's Venonat was defeated so easily.
Even considering the level and type disadvantage, the opponent was Koga, the Gym Leader closest to the Elite Four in terms of skill!
The strength displayed by Charizard was beyond what Koga's prepared Pokémon could handle. After recalling Venonat, Koga sent out Weezing to battle and used Smokescreen to delay the fight, but ultimately lost to Charizard.
"Weezing is unable to battle, and Charizard wins! Since the Gym Leader has lost two Pokémon, the winner of this challenge is Ash!" The referee announced the final result loudly, and the battle hall erupted in cheers and discussions.
Ash and Charizard's strength had opened their eyes, and some people were already curious to learn more about Ash.
"That was truly amazing. You and your Charizard are very powerful!" After recalling Weezing, Koga crossed the battlefield to approach Ash. He looked at the Charizard beside Ash, then at the Pikachu on Ash's shoulder, his pupils contracting slightly.
He could clearly see how extraordinary this Pikachu was; the feeling it gave him was almost the same as the feeling Charizard gave him. This proved that Pikachu also possessed combat power beyond its level!
A Trainer who had debuted for less than a year had cultivated two such formidable Pokémon. Koga couldn't help but marvel at Ash's talent.
"You are not just a Poke-ball level Trainer, but a Great-ball one." Koga handed the pink Soul Badge, shaped like a cherry blossom petal, to Ash and spoke sincerely.
"Thank you for your compliment, Mr. Koga." Ash put away the Badge and thanked Koga, but he felt a little regretful that he didn't have a proper battle with Koga. Gym challenges were still too restrictive.
Seeing Ash's regret, Koga was surprised but also admired him. He patted Ash on the shoulder and said, "There will be a chance. I believe with your growth rate, we will definitely meet on the battlefield in the near future!"
"I also hope that when the time comes, I can have an all-out battle with you!"
Koga's words silenced the noisy battle hall. The audience clearly hadn't expected Koga to give Ash such high praise.
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