In trainer battles, prediction is everything. The mind game begins the moment the first Pokémon is sent out, and that opening choice can decide the entire fight.
That was why Paul had picked Magmortar when he suspected Ash might lead with Venusaur, rather than blindly sticking with Torterra. Ash had surprised him by sending out Monferno instead, but Magmortar still held a crushing type advantage. The path had wobbled, but the destination looked the same.
So why had Paul done nothing? Why let Ash recall Monferno without pressing the advantage? It was tantamount to surrendering the round for free.
No wonder Ash looked stunned. The cold, iron-fisted Paul was handing out charity?
"No need," Ash said, shaking his head. "Monferno has trained a long time for this. He wants to show you how strong he's become."
Paul's expression cooled another degree. "I know you can unlock his potential. But this still isn't his moment to be on that stage."
Ash studied him for a moment. "Paul... are you actually worried about Monferno?"
It was the only explanation that fit. Paul seemed afraid that a crushing defeat would shatter the monkey's fragile confidence before it had fully formed. Coming from the trainer who had once discarded Monferno without a second thought, it was difficult to believe. Yet the behaviour was hard to read any other way.
The remark landed. Paul's face darkened and the air between them dropped another temperature. "I just want to fight you at full strength. If you're going to waste my time with this Pokémon, then after I'm done with you, you can sit backstage and think about what you threw away."
He stopped holding back. "Magmortar, Flamethrower!"
Ash had been right. Paul was thinking of Monferno. Somewhere along the way, watching how Ash and the monkey treated each other had quietly shifted something inside him.
He could never fully remake himself into that kind of trainer. But Ash had shaken him in a way that the battle at the pyramid never quite had. Strength did not come only through pressure and ruthlessness. There was more than one path.
As Monferno had grown stronger under Ash's care, Paul had felt no envy or regret. Only the quiet acknowledgment that he had never been the right trainer for that Pokémon, and never could be.
He expressed concern differently. In battle he had told Ash the monkey wasn't ready, when what he actually meant was that he wanted to protect Monferno's confidence before it could be broken.
Same feeling, different language, and in Paul's mouth it came out sounding like a blade.
But Ash was stubborn, and Monferno would fight. Fine. Whatever came next was theirs to carry.
Magmortar levelled both arms and unleashed twin columns of fire that converged on Monferno from either side. Given the gap in level, even a glancing hit would leave the monkey on its last legs.
Ash's eyes flared that deep, familiar blue. Power surged through Monferno, and in its altered perception the twin flames seemed to slow.
"Monferno, dodge!"
The monkey launched itself sideways, twisting clear of the crossfire. Magmortar swept both cannons in pursuit, lashing the Flamethrowers after it. Mid-air, Monferno ran out of room. Impact was a heartbeat away.
"Detect!"
It was a strange call. Airborne with nowhere to go, Protect would have made far more sense. Detect without room to evade seemed pointless, and the crowd clearly thought so too.
Monferno answered the question a moment later.
Facing the oncoming fire, it corkscrewed its body sideways and thrust both hands directly into the streams. The jets scraped past its palms, crossed behind it and shot toward the stands.
The fire hammered into an invisible barrier and exploded in a spray of sparks. Spectators grabbed their armrests. The League had anticipated exactly this. The official protective barrier, which had gone untested through the earlier rounds, finally had reason to exist.
Anything short of Elite Four Level output could not break it, and if by some impossibility it did, the Elites themselves were present. The crowd could breathe. Tickets at these prices came with the reasonable expectation of not being incinerated.
As the flames scattered harmlessly against the shield, Monferno touched down.
"Monferno, use Quick Attack!"
With a cry Monferno launched forward, closing the gap in an instant. Its fists blurred into a flurry of strikes, filling Magmortar's vision with overlapping afterimages. Each shadow was a punch already landed.
Bang bang bang!
The blows hammered into Magmortar. Bolstered by Aura Power, Monferno was now hitting at Peak Level strength, and Magmortar felt every one of them.
"Flare Blitz," Paul said, unmoved.
Magmortar ignited. Scorching flames erupted across its body, hot enough to blister the ground beneath its feet. Monferno, still mid-combination, caught the edge of the blaze and pulled back sharply, one fist blackened. There was no punching through that.
Wrapping itself in fire to drive attackers away was exactly Paul's kind of move.
"Charge!"
Magmortar surged forward like a volcano given legs, barreling toward Monferno in a wall of heat and scorched air.
"Detect."
Normally Detect could not be used back to back, but Monferno's Quick Attack in between had reset it.
A gleam lit Monferno's eyes as its perception sharpened, the oncoming charge slowing in its sight. Even so, the speed was too much to fully escape. Magmortar left a trail of charred earth in its wake, and in less than a second it was on top of Monferno.
The flames wrapped around its body detonated outward in a three-metre radius. There was no room to run.
Boom
A shockwave rolled across the entire field. Protective barriers flared to life in front of both trainer platforms.
The smoke drifted away to reveal Monferno sliding across the ground, scorched in a dozen places, coming to a stop near Ash's feet.
At the moment of detonation it had thrown up a Flame Wheel to shield itself. The blast had been wide rather than direct, so the move absorbed the worst of it. Even so, the damage was clear. The gap between their levels left little room for heroics.
When the smoke fully cleared, Magmortar stood at the centre of a wide crater, eyes fixed on Monferno with open contempt.
A glancing blow had already done that much damage. A direct hit would have put Monferno far beyond what any Pokémon Center could fix in time.
And this was the Pokémon that had stolen its place as Paul's lead?
Magmortar had always been Paul's primary Fire-type, the team's main source of firepower. Then Chimchar had come along and all of Paul's attention had shifted to the little monkey as though it were destined to become the new ace.
In Paul's team the strong earned their place, and Magmortar accepted that without complaint. But Chimchar had been a disappointment by any measure. No matter the method or the pressure applied, its power never developed.
The Blaze ability it carried never showed anything remarkable. It lagged behind in every category. At first Magmortar had simply endured it, but the frustration had quietly grown. Watching a weak Pokémon drain their trainer's time and effort felt like a waste he could not stand.
When Paul finally released Chimchar and restored Magmortar to the front line, the matter had seemed settled. He had heard nothing more about the monkey after that.
Until today.
Even fully evolved, Magmortar recognized those eyes and that presence. This Monferno was Paul's former Chimchar.
Only days had passed and the creature was barely recognizable. Still nowhere near Magmortar's level, but the change was impossible to ignore. What grated most was the obvious reason behind it.
Under Paul, the monkey had shown nothing. Under a rival trainer it was thriving. In Magmortar's mind, Chimchar had deliberately held back, resisting Paul's methods out of stubbornness. Now under a gentler hand it was finally performing.
Ungrateful, and insulting besides. Without Paul's grueling foundation, none of this rapid growth would even be possible.
For that, Magmortar intended to settle the score personally.
Ash and Paul were unaware of any of this, but the field made the situation plain enough. A single glancing blow had left Monferno struggling. What could it realistically do from here?
"Monferno." Ash's voice cut through the noise, steady and clear. "Draw out the power inside you. It's yours. Don't fear it. Let's master it together."
The hesitation in Monferno's eyes vanished. Resolve took its place.
The true danger of Super Blaze wasn't just the raw boost it provided. It was how easily it could be triggered. With Monferno's consent, the ability could be activated the moment its stamina dropped below half, on demand.
That moment had come.
A pillar of fire erupted from Monferno's body, heat flooding across the entire field.