In the footage—
Infernape fell like a shooting star, but Ash's voice reached right into its heart. In an instant, Infernape opened its eyes!
Just before hitting the ground, it opened its mouth and blasted a stream of flames downward! The force of the fire slowed Infernape's descent, allowing it to spin around and land firmly on its feet—landing completely safe!
Moltres, however, wasn't so stable. It crashed directly into the ground without any resistance, creating a massive explosion! The hard rocky ground was smashed into a huge crater from the impact. That fall alone dealt heavy damage.
"Well done, Infernape!"
"Whaa!"
Seeing Moltres fall into the giant crater without getting back up right away, Ash enthusiastically praised Infernape. Infernape hopped around happily; it hadn't enjoyed such a thrilling, satisfying battle in a long time!
"Ash, be careful!"
Just as Ash and Infernape were celebrating, Gary noticed the small flames on Moltres inside the pit suddenly erupting! He quickly shouted out a warning.
Even without Gary's reminder, both Ash and Infernape could already feel the overwhelming pressure in the air!
"To think... it still has so much power left?!"
As expected of a Legendary Pokémon! Taking two direct hits from Flare Blitz plus crashing from a great height, yet it seemed barely weakened! There was certainly damage, but not enough to take it out of the fight! Not only that, but Moltres was now thoroughly enraged!
Screech!!!
Moltres flew out of the crater, flames covering its body as it roared with unprecedented heat! It was furious! It had tried to avoid the battle, yet a Fire-type move from a wild monkey injured it.
This was the second time today—a complete humiliation! It was utterly unbearable! Even if it meant exhausting itself, it was determined to crush this monkey in front of it!
Seeing Moltres burning with rage, the fighting spirit in Ash and Infernape burned just as fiercely. Fighting such an opponent was beyond thrilling!
"Infernape, are you at your limit?"
"Whaa!" Not even close!
"In that case... let's release all of our power! The power of Aura is in my heart!"
Ash placed his right hand over his heart, and the Aura power within him surged forth with his words, pouring entirely into Infernape!
Infernape instantly felt an explosion of energy filling its entire body! It glanced back at Ash in wonder—since returning to Sinnoh, not only had it been training, but its trainer had also gained incredible new strength!
"Infernape, get ready! Unleash all of your hidden power! If your physical stamina runs out... I'll hold it up for you!"
"Whaa-BOOM!!!"
Infernape felt its power rising and realized it could now trigger its Blaze ability, yet its body still felt full of energy! This wasn't its own stamina, but the strength Ash provided through the power of Aura!
Blaze, like other pinch abilities, normally activates only when a Pokémon's physical stamina is at its limit. While it grants an explosive increase in power for a short time, the downside is that it drains energy rapidly.
Activating Blaze is a complete race against time—if you can't defeat the opponent quickly, you'll collapse first! Using Flare Blitz makes that timer even shorter!
However... Ash's Aura power completely compensated for this drawback! Now Infernape could combine the explosive power of Blaze with long-lasting endurance!
This form should be called—Super Bond Blaze!!
"ROAR!!!"
Infernape threw its head back and let out a mighty roar. The flames atop its head exploded, shooting straight into the sky! The entire valley sky was painted red by the flames!
The bursting heat completely shattered the momentum Moltres had gathered, even forcing the legendary bird to take a step back involuntarily. Infernape hadn't even used a move yet; it had simply released all the power inside its body!
Gary and Chloe stood on the side, completely stunned.
"This... what is this?" Chloe muttered in disbelief.
"Gulp... this should be... Blaze, right?" Gary swallowed hard, trying to soothe his dry throat. Under this scorching heat, he felt like he was about to evaporate.
"Blaze...? I've read a lot of books, don't trick me!"
How could normal Blaze do something like this?! Right now, Infernape hadn't even used a move—just bursting its energy was enough to evaporate all the moisture in the surrounding air!
Never mind the two of them—even Moltres across the field, who was acting proud and overbearing moments ago, now had wide eyes and constricted pupils, looking utterly bewildered. Even the flames on its own body noticeably dimmed.
Just now... that monkey across from it hadn't even been using its full power?! Was this a joke?! Even the strongest Moltres in their flock couldn't produce flames like this! Perhaps only the legendary Ho-Oh could... No... impossible! How could a monkey's fire rival the legendary Ho-Oh?!
Global Forum Chat Board
[Flint]: Wow! Just wow! Is Ash's Infernape really the same species as my Infernape??
[Lucian]: Be confident, Flint! If your Infernape's Blaze was even half as strong as Ash's, you wouldn't have missed out on taking the Champion seat.
[Volkner]: This is the first time I've seen an Infernape stronger than Flint's. I really didn't expect Ash's Infernape to have a hidden trump card like this!
In the Sinnoh region, whenever people mentioned Infernape, everyone immediately thought of Flint's Infernape! He was recognized as having the strongest Infernape in the world, having even narrowly defeated Cynthia's Garchomp in a past exhibition match.
Although Garchomp had been worn down by the previous Elite Four members, Flint's Infernape was undeniably powerful.
However, aside from Infernape, Flint's other Pokémon were somewhat more average, leading many to call him "Infernape Brother!" In a one-on-one duel, Flint's Infernape was close to the level of a Champion's ace.
The only one who could surpass Flint in mastering Infernape was Ash's Infernape shown in the image! It was clear just how terrifying Infernape in this Super Blaze state truly was.
[Diantha]: I would like to call Lance the greatest prophet!
Just moments ago, Lance had claimed that Moltres would completely overwhelm Infernape once it stopped holding back. As a result... the reality hit like a whirlwind, taking less than three minutes to prove him wrong!
[Lance]: You can't blame me for that! Even though Infernape's Blaze exceeded everyone's expectations and gave it the power to suppress a Legendary Pokémon, once Blaze triggers, it means its stamina is nearly gone!
[Lance]: Moltres also has the Flying type advantage over Infernape. In this state, if Infernape takes a single Flying-type move, it could lose the battle instantly! Therefore...
[Cynthia]: Lance, let me remind you of what Ash said just now... "The power of Aura is in my heart." I don't know if you caught that.
[Lance]: ...
After Cynthia's reminder, Lance instantly remembered that Ash had shouted that phrase before the fight. "The power of Aura is in my heart" was the exact trigger phrase Ash used when syncing Aura with Lucario!
During that Aura resonance, Lucario's stamina and power increased dramatically! But that was Lucario—an Aura Pokémon with a thousand-year destiny tied to Ash! It made sense for them to have a special Aura resonance. But why Infernape?! Could this Infernape also share a special bond with Ash?!
[Riley]: Although I can't resonate Aura with my Lucario the way Ash does, I can use my Aura power to connect with Lucario to boost its strength.
[Riley]: Not just Lucario, but my other Pokémon as well. Though it doesn't work on wild Pokémon since our bond isn't strong enough.
[Riley]: Of course, this method consumes a lot of my own physical stamina, and it can't boost a Pokémon's strength as much as Ash does. But this proves that even without Ash's unique connection, Aura power can strengthen Pokémon. Not to mention, we can't rule out a special bond between Ash and Infernape.
Riley, who hadn't appeared in a while, explained the applications of Aura to everyone. Aura power was remarkably versatile—surpassing even psychic abilities in certain aspects. Currently, there were fewer than five known Aura users in the world, making them rarer than psychic users.
Psychic boosts generally only buffed specific moves, whereas Riley's experiments showed that as long as a strong bond existed, Aura power could amplify a Pokémon's overall capabilities! It was practically a universal, un-itemized version of Mega Evolution!
[Flint]: So you're saying... even though Ash's Infernape activated Blaze while its stamina was low, Ash added a buff that allowed Infernape to draw from Ash's own stamina instead?!
[Riley]: Well... to sum it up, that's pretty much what it means.
[Flint]: Holy power! Referee, he's using a cheat!
[Volkner]: How should I put this... this is way too unfair! It's even more foul than Mega Evolution!
[Cynthia]: Hehe... being able to trigger Blaze without running out of health, especially a Super Blaze version... it really is a bit of a cheat!
[Steven]: Ash claims small boosts aren't cheats, but isn't this basically having extra battle systems? Counting it up, current Ash has... six systems?!
Bond Phenomenon Greninja, Super Bond Blaze Infernape, Aura Resonance Lucario, Mega Evolved Charizard, 10,000,000 Volt Pikachu, plus Gigantamaxing...
Good grief, what a lineup! Six different power systems, five of which rely directly on deep bonds! It was completely off the charts!
[Leon]: Is this for real...
Even Leon was stunned when considering Ash's six systems. By his estimation, if base Ash fought at full power, their matchup would be around 6/4 in Leon's favor. But that was without factoring in all these special systems! If Ash deployed all six systems as Steven described, the odds would flip completely!
[Cynthia]: It's not quite that exaggerated. Five of Ash's six systems depend on the trainer's own physical endurance. Even with Ash's superhuman conditioning, using three in a single match would be an incredible feat.
[Professor Oak]: Even four systems would be quite overwhelming.
[Goodshow]: I just wonder if the Masters Eight Tournament in the video will restrict system usage. If it's limited to one system per match... it might not affect Ash as much as people think.
Out of Ash's six systems, three were completely natural powers tied to bonds rather than items. If rules banned powers activated purely through bonds without items, the tournament wouldn't be fair.
Pokémon battles were all about the bond between trainer and Pokémon, so banning natural bond powers would directly target Ash. Therefore, Ash's three itemless bond systems wouldn't be restricted by standard item rules.
In other words, aside from Ash's own physical limits, nothing could restrict his bond systems!
Backyard of Professor Oak's Laboratory:
Ash scratched his head. Hearing the Champions discuss his abilities on the screen, he thought about his special powers for a moment...
It turned out he really was using incredible advantages! And in the real world, he had unlocked them even earlier than shown in the video! Aside from his other team members, his core ace Pokémon were already fully prepared!