For this match between Ash and Gary, Mewtwo wasn't only out to keep the surrounding buildings standing. It was also acting as the referee.
After all the time at Ash's side, it had seen plenty of referees. The job came down to calling the end of a match, halting attacks once a Pokémon was down, and announcing the winner. As for fouls and anything along those lines, it hadn't yet seen a battle where one came up.
So aside from keeping order, the referee's position wasn't a heavy responsibility. Compared to a human, a Pokémon with strong power, high intelligence, and the ability to communicate with humans was, frankly, a better fit for the role.
For Ash and Gary both, this was the first time they'd fought a match with a Pokémon serving as referee. It didn't really change anything, but a Pokémon in the official's seat still felt a little odd to look at.
Ash had no problem with it. Mewtwo was his Pokémon, so its taking the role was a small thing. Gary was much less comfortable. Mewtwo had not only beaten him senseless at the Viridian Gym, it had also given him a hard time on New Island. Knowing for some time now that it was on Ash's side hadn't done much to settle that old reflex. He pushed the discomfort down, though. The match against Ash was what mattered now.
"Go, Blastoise!"
"I choose you, Charizard!"
The two threw their Poké Balls in the same beat, and the classic Water and Fire starters dropped onto the field. The Water-type Blastoise and the Fire-type Charizard were the final forms of the Kanto starters, and both were aces in their Trainers' hands.
An "ace" usually refers to the strongest Pokémon a Trainer has, the one that can hold out hope in the worst situations. As long as there's still breath left, there's still a chance to win. That's what an ace is. For Gary, Blastoise filled that role. For Ash, things weren't so simple with Charizard.
If the question was about a Pokémon that could bring hope out of a corner, then Charizard qualified. If the question was about the absolute strongest in Ash's hand, then Pikachu and Gardevoir had something to say about that. The big three on Ash's team, leaving Mewtwo aside, were basically on the same line.
If anyone wanted to argue for one, Pikachu at his peak might edge ahead, but as things stood right now he was even a notch behind Charizard and Gardevoir. Without partner form, he was outright outclassed by Gardevoir and Charizard in both level and stats.
Bring Pikachu in partner form into the comparison, though, and the other two would have something to say about that too.
"Learn about Mega Evolution."
So until Pikachu climbed back, he could only count as the weakest of the team's big three. Even as the weakest, he was still an ace. The difference between Ash and other Trainers was that other Trainers only had one ace. Ash had three.
Looking at Gary's Blastoise, a flicker of surprise crossed Ash's eyes. At the Indigo Plateau Conference, Gary's Blastoise had already been at Low Elite Level. After their match ended, it should have ticked up another step to Elite Mid Level. In just one month, though, Gary's Blastoise had reached Elite Four High level, the same as Charizard.
Ash checked again, then again. There was no mistake. Blastoise was at Elite Four High level. The pace of that progress was almost absurd. Gary's Blastoise had been two levels below Gardevoir back at the Plateau. How did that even make sense?
Charizard wasn't merely Low Elite Four Level now either. The battle against Lorelei's Cloyster had given him a wealth of experience, and after a period of consolidation he'd jumped up to Elite Four High Level. To outsiders that climb probably looked just as baffling, but only Ash knew how much work he'd put into raising his Pokémon.
Forget the guidance he got from various powerful figures. Even the food his Pokémon ate was on a different tier than what most Trainers could offer. Add in the extra supporting items, and the rate of growth, while not blistering, wasn't otherworldly either. Gary's Blastoise, on the other hand, was the one whose progress was genuinely freakish.
How had Gary brought Blastoise this far in a single month?
"Surprised, right? I know you have the ability to see through a Pokémon's level. By now you've already read Blastoise's, haven't you?" Gary said, catching the look on Ash's face.
Gary didn't find Ash's ability strange. The wonders of Ash's Aura Power couldn't be summed up in a few sentences. Next to raising a Pokémon a full major tier, or going hand-to-hand with a god level being, simply seeing through a Pokémon's level was nothing. Seeing was one thing, though. There was no way Ash could guess how Gary had trained Blastoise to this level in one month. All of it came down to the memory he'd obtained after the Indigo Plateau Conference ended.
"I can see it. How did you do it, Gary? You actually raised Blastoise to Elite Four High level in a month. That pace is more freakish than mine." Ash said it with real feeling.
He was genuinely curious. Even for him, without extra help from chat group, raising a Elite Low Level Pokémon to Elite Four High Level in a month would have been tough.
"I'll tell you after the fight. First, let's get one thing straight. You can't use that weird power of yours to boost your Pokémon this time. Otherwise no one would even bother fighting you." Gary held off on the answer and laid down a condition: no Aura Power amping up his Pokémon.
Even with the epic-tier boost Gary had just received, once Ash used Aura Power on his Pokémon, he could push Charizard straight up to Champion-level in a single breath.
Gary hadn't skipped Ash's match against Lorelei. The banner of Aura Power and Mega Evolution had overpowered a Champion Intermediate Level Cloyster in raw strength. And Charizard had only been at Low Elite Four Level back then. With a leap that wide on the boost, who would even want to fight that? Even with his Blastoise now at Elite Four Level, the gap to Champion-level was still a chasm.
So if Ash used Aura Power, Gary would simply turn around and walk away. What was the point of fighting?
"I won't use it. When the level gap isn't too wide, I never use Aura Power to boost my Pokémon. Overwhelming people with raw levels isn't my style." Ash curled his lip in mild disdain.
His battle style had always been to fight up against higher-level opponents. There were almost no situations where his own level outclassed the other side's, this match included. Back at the Indigo Plateau Conference when he'd fought Gary, the Pokémon he'd sent out were either at the same level as Gary's or below.
If he'd led with his top Pokémon like Charizard back then, he could have ended Gary in six turns flat, one turn per Pokémon. To him that kind of battle was meaningless, barely even a battle. It wouldn't have grown him or his Pokémon. Why bother? To satisfy some itch for bullying the weak? So even without Gary asking, he wasn't going to use Aura Power.
"Yeah, that fits you. You don't fight stomp matches, do you?" Gary remembered that Ash basically never fought one-sided fights. If Ash really used Aura Power on his Pokémon, this match would be hollow.
The two stood quiet for a second, then raised their arms together. "Charizard, Mega Evolution!"
"Blastoise, Mega Evolution!"
Two ribbons of rainbow light burst on the field. In a moment, Mega Charizard X and Mega Blastoise stood there.
Professor Oak had stepped out of the laboratory at some point. Looking at the two Mega Evolution Pokémon, he couldn't help but sigh inwardly. The times really had changed.
These days, without Mega Evolution, a Trainer fought peak-level matches with one hand tied behind their back. There was no way to reach the top of the meta. Back in his day their battles hadn't had so many overlapping systems. No Gigantamax. No Z-Moves. No Mega Evolution. None of it.
What they competed on was the raw strength of their Pokémon, the command level of the Trainer, and the bond between the two. Now, on top of all of that, both sides also had to compete on their foundations. The Trainers carrying all three trump cards, Gigantamax, Mega Evolution, and Z-Moves, were the ones who could pull a step ahead.
The times really had changed.
"Mega Evolution right out of the gate? You think a lot of me." The corner of Gary's mouth lifted.
"Same to you. Didn't you go straight to Mega Evolution yourself?" Ash shrugged, and his expression sharpened.
"Charizard, Flamethrower!"
"Blastoise, Water Pulse!"
The instant the orders dropped, both Mega Pokémon erupted with power. Charizard threw its mouth wide, and a torrent of dense dark-blue flame surged out wrapped in searing heat. The air distorted from the temperature alone, and the ground beneath the flame's path was streaked with shallow scorch marks.
On the other side, the cannon on Mega Blastoise's back lit up with brilliant white light, and at the same moment two more Water Pulses formed at the smaller cannons on its hands. Three pale blue spheres of Water Pulse energy merged in mid-air into a thick column of water, dragging fine spray and a sharp wind pressure behind it as it surged to meet the flame.
Dark-blue fire and pale-blue water column collided in the center of the field, and the violent energy exploded outward. The heat of the flame and the cold of the water clashed, throwing up a hazy curtain of mist. Sparks and low growls kept erupting inside that mist.
The ground around them trembled, and the hot and cold breaths twisted together overhead. The terrifying aftermath struck the barrier set up by Mewtwo and pushed ripples through it.
The deadlock stretched for more than ten seconds. Then, on Charizard's roar, the flame surged another notch. Its reach grew, and it swallowed the Water Pulse formed from the three streams whole.
The watery mist evaporated into great clouds of white steam under the burning. The Water Pulse column collapsed, breaking apart into fine spray that rained across the field. With most of its power spent vaporizing the water, the flame only had a sliver of heat left by the time it reached Blastoise. It guttered against Blastoise's shell, leaving a few scorched streaks, and faded away.
The exchange ended with Charizard holding the slim upper hand.
Gary's expression turned heavy. That clash made one thing painfully clear: even with how fast Blastoise had grown, it was still no match for Charizard in a head-on collision. That Charizard of Ash's was on a monster's tier.
Forget the simple fact that Water suppressed Fire. Blastoise's Water Pulse had been boosted by Mega Launcher, and its raw power was basically on par with Flamethrower. Add the type advantage on top, and after a stalemate Water Pulse should have come out ahead. Instead the result was the exact opposite. There was only one explanation. Charizard was the stronger Pokémon in raw strength.
It was absurd. Gary had brought Blastoise this far only because of a special encounter, and matching that month-long pace again afterward would be all but impossible. So what had Ash leaned on to take Charizard from Low to High Elite Four Level in just one month? If he remembered correctly, a week ago, when Ash had fought Lorelei, Charizard had still been at Low Elite Four Level. Now it was High Elite Four Level? Cheating wasn't even this fast.
The two rivals were now mutually staggered. Gary was floored by how fast Ash's Charizard had risen, Ash was floored by how fast Gary's Blastoise had risen, and the third-party spectator, Professor Oak, was floored by the simple conclusion that both of them were absolute freaks.