"Which Charizard to start with... Let's go with him." Ash casually pointed at a Charizard, which was even larger than his own Charizard and ranked among the top in the Charicific Valley in terms of overall capability.
The first Charizard was so strong that it would undoubtedly cause significant physical strength loss to Ash's Charizard, and whether Ash's Charizard could defeat it was still unknown.
Liza was also surprised that Ash chose such a strong one to start with, without even intending to warm up, directly getting to the point. Not even Lance would have been so arrogant!
It seemed that the external praise might have somewhat clouded Ash's judgment. Hopefully, this trial would allow Ash to ground himself a bit.
Liza sighed inwardly, ready to comfort Ash. Being a bit reckless when young and accomplished was very normal, and she didn't want to see a rising Charizard Trainer extinguish his brilliance.
"Roar!!" The chosen Charizard flared its wings, flying over from afar and landing in front of Ash and his Charizard. Its eyes burned with fierce battle intent, as it was the representative for the first battle on this side of the Charicific Valley, and it had to perform well.
Ideally, it could defeat the opponent. If not, it needed to at least exhaust the opponent's physical strength as much as possible.
"Let's go all out from the start, Charizard, transcend evolution, MEGA Evolution!!" Without any hesitation, Ash raised his arm with the bracelet. A colorful light shimmered on Charizard, changing its form from the original orange-yellow to a jet-black dragon!
With blue flames burning at the corners of Charizard's mouth, the intimidating appearance immediately daunted the opposing Charizard. Not only was the Charizard facing off against Ash's Charizard startled, but even the surrounding Charizard watching were shocked at seeing Charizard MEGA Evolve.
Obviously, it was their first time witnessing MEGA Evolution. After all, in the entire Charicific Valley, only where Liza lived had a television, so if one hadn't watched the battle between Charizard and Lorelei, they wouldn't know of MEGA Charizard's existence.
Because in the whole world, only Ash's Charizard had undergone MEGA Evolution!
As for Liza, while surprised, it was just the awe of seeing Charizard MEGA Evolve in person. She had naturally seen Ash's Charizard battle against Lorelei before, being a devoted promoter of Charizard.
Back then, like everyone else, she was also amazed that Charizard could evolve even further. Truth be told, the evolved jet-black dragon looked much more impressive than the original Charizard!
After MEGA Evolution, Charizard's power had reached another level. Though it hadn't broken through to Elite Advanced Level yet, it was on the verge. Its strength was an improvement over when battling Norman's Blissey.
However, penetrating through Charicific Valley was still quite challenging.
"Roar!!" It took several seconds for the chosen Charizard to barely recover from the intimidating state of Ash's MEGA Evolved Charizard, simultaneously letting out a roar at Ash's Charizard. This roar was both a declaration of war and a way to dispel its own pressure and fear.
"Let's begin, Charizard, use Dragon Claw!!" Ash waved, issuing the first command to Charizard.
Charizard spread its arms, with emerald energy forming sharp claws covering its hands. The opposing Charizard took a deep breath, then spouted an orange-red flame—Flamethrower!
In terms of race, Charizard is more suited for long-range attacks. Charizards like Ash's, preferring close combat, are few.
The Flamethrower shot directly toward Ash's Charizard, whose saw-like wings flapped, making its black silhouette vanish in an instant!
The opponent's Charizard's flame attack missed completely, and before it could react, Ash's Charizard had appeared above it, slashing down with sharp Dragon Claws!
"Screech!!" Just as the piercing sound echoed, the robust Charizard collapsed heavily!
Ash's Charizard suddenly landed on the ground with a booming sound, some blood still trickling down the sharp Dragon Claws.
Defeated in one move!
The Charizard, which seemed not weak, was defeated in a single blow by Ash's Charizard.
Even the blindly trusting Misty and others found it hard to believe for a moment. Ash's Charizard was strong, but to think it could defeat an opponent in just one move seemed rash!
Without knowing, one might think the opponent went easy to let Ash's Charizard win.
Misty and others were shocked, and Liza was beyond that—she was astonished!
The Charizard Ash chose was of mid-to-high rank in the entire Charicific Valley. If Lance's Charizard had defeated it in one move, she wouldn't be too surprised since Lance's Charizard was Champion Level at that time.
But Ash's Charizard was only Elite Level. Even with MEGA Evolution, that an Elite Level Charizard could one-shot a Gym Peak Level Charizard was somewhat unbelievable.
"Next!" Ash's voice signaled the end of the first battle, and Charizard flew back beside Ash. Its sharp gaze swept across the Charizard around the valley, establishing a commanding presence from the first victory.
No matter what level of Charizard came next, they would naturally be inferior in terms of momentum.
"Roar!!" After several seconds of silence, another Charizard flew up, roaring fiercely at Ash's Charizard.
"One after another, let's go, Charizard!!"
"Roar!!"
...
In the Charicific Valley, the booming never ceased, with the sounds of burning flames, explosive collisions, and the wails of the defeated resonating.
Four hours had passed, and inside Charicific Valley, the Charizard were almost entirely vanquished!
Liza widened her emerald eyes, her expression frozen in shock. She never imagined that Ash and his Charizard could achieve this!
All Charizard below Elite Level inside the valley had been defeated by Ash and his partner, and over eighty percent of the Elite Level Charizard had been defeated. The remaining Charizard were among the best in Charicific Valley, but their numbers had dwindled drastically.
From an original count of two hundred eighty-seven Charizard, it was down to seven, among which were three Elite Advanced Level, three Elite Peak Level, and one Champion Level.
While these remaining Charizard were top fighters in Charicific Valley, after witnessing Ash and his Charizard's variety of one-hit KOs, even they, seasoned as they were, felt some apprehension.
Midway through, Ash's Charizard experienced a burst of growth in power. It was undoubtedly from Ash using Aura Power. If he had started with Aura Power, Charizard wouldn't have lasted till the end.
However, without Aura Power, getting entangled with similar-strength Charizard would make defeating the strongest impossible.
Thus, Ash started without Aura Power, opting instead for MEGA Evolution, having Charizard use raw strength and its Tough Claws Ability to swiftly one-shot weaker Charizard.
Once Elite Level Charizard entered from the Charicific Valley side, Ash and Charizard activated Aura Fusion to elevate their strength further and instantly defeat the opponent!
If the opponents were below Elite Level, Charizard's innate power sufficed to one-shot them.
The good news was, aside from the strongest Charizard, only one Champion Level Charizard was present in Charicific Valley; if there were just two more, this trial might have turned out very dire.
As for now... sorry, but they were going to win this trial!