In an instant, a moon-white, extraordinary Meteor Beam shot toward the Charizard in mid-air with lightning speed.
Sadie hadn't expected Kirlia to have mastered Meteor Beam, much less anticipated its incredibly fast execution.
It's worth noting that in battle simulations, Meteor Beam typically requires a charging period and increases the user's Special Attack by one stage.
While there's no turn-based system in reality, using the move still requires considerable charging time, though this can be gradually shortened as proficiency increases.
However, at this moment, Kirlia's Meteor Beam seemed to have no such limitation.
It charged for barely a moment before firing immediately, leaving no time to react.
"Charizard, dodge quickly!"
"ROAR!!"
The Charizard in mid-air watched the moon-white beam heading straight for it, sensing an aura it instinctively detested.
It's crucial to remember that the Rock-type Meteor Beam is quadruple super effective against the Fire and Flying-type Charizard.
Charizard immediately twisted its body to evade, but Kirlia's attack was too swift. Even with a full-power dodge, one of Charizard's wings was still grazed by the Meteor Beam.
"ROAR!"
After being struck by Meteor Beam, Charizard let out a loud roar of pain, its figure stumbling from mid-air toward the ground.
With one wing injured, it could no longer maintain flight.
"Charizard!"
The outcome of the battle became clear at that moment. A Charizard without the ability to fly could unleash at most only half of its true power.
How could it possibly match Kirlia now?
Resigned, Sadie shook her head and decided to have Charizard launch one final attack—at least to bring a proper conclusion to this match.
"Charizard, use Overheat at full power!"
Since there was no need to consider future battles, the move's side effects were irrelevant. Sadie directly commanded Charizard to use its strongest Fire-type attack.
Overheat was a devastating move that attacked the target with overwhelming flames. However, the user's Special Attack sharply decreased afterward due to the intense recoil.
"ROAR!"
A dragon's roar echoed across the battlefield as the grounded Charizard immediately unleashed Overheat.
In an instant, the temperature on the battlefield surged by more than ten degrees. The scorching heat radiating from the attack made even David, standing outside the arena, feel uncomfortable.
No longer needing to consider the aftermath, Charizard's eyes locked onto its opponent with fierce determination.
After its wing was injured, Charizard already understood that it probably couldn't secure victory for its Trainer this time, unlike in past battles.
But even if it lost, it would lose while standing proud.
Overwhelming, blazing flames filled the entire battlefield, surging toward Kirlia all at once.
After unleashing this full-power move, Charizard was utterly exhausted, panting heavily in place.
Against such a wide-range attack, Kirlia's most proficient move—Teleport—was completely useless.
David understood that Sadie and Charizard were forcing them into a direct confrontation.
Suddenly, a slight smile appeared on David's face. So what if it was a head-on clash? If they wanted a direct confrontation, then so be it. It was the perfect way to conclude today's Gym challenge.
"Dark Mode: Stage One Activate! Kirlia! Moonblast combined with Dark Pulse!"
Upon hearing David's command, Kirlia closed its eyes, and the surrounding Dark-type energy began gathering frantically around it.
The dark aura became almost tangible. The next moment, Kirlia opened its eyes, and a crimson glow ignited within them.
At this moment, Dark Kirlia had descended!
One hand extended forward gracefully, and the vast Dark-type energy that had gathered transformed into Dark Pulse, resting obediently in its palm.
The other hand raised high, and to everyone's astonished gaze—despite being in an indoor arena—a faint, illusory moon shadow subtly appeared in the sky above.
When no one was paying attention, a faint, shimmering silver moon marking on Kirlia's forehead resonated with the illusory moon overhead.
The illusory moon shadow cast moonlight, and the clear lunar glow gathered in Kirlia's other hand.
It was the signature Fairy-type move—Moonblast.
Kirlia brought its hands together. The two originally conflicting forces, under its precise control, actually merged.
After the two moves became one, they transformed into a chaotic-colored disc that shot directly toward the surging inferno.
During the mid-term examination, with the help of Clefable's Moon Stones, Ralts's Fairy-type energy had surged dramatically after evolving into Kirlia.
Even its previously somewhat deficient life force had been replenished. Since then, Kirlia had been able to appropriately manipulate a small amount of the dark power within its body.
As long as it didn't excessively tap into the dormant dark energy, Kirlia could now enter Dark Mode without causing harmful side effects to its body or risking loss of control.
After entering Dark Mode, Kirlia's manipulation of Dark-type energy improved greatly, and its power increased significantly.
Additionally, due to the Moon Stone's influence, Kirlia's moon-based moves had become quite potent.
So David and Kirlia had attempted to develop a new technique—controlling the two elemental powers within Kirlia's body to achieve balance in Dark Mode, merging two conflicting elemental moves and releasing them simultaneously.
It took half a semester, but eventually, through their combined efforts, they succeeded.
The move before them was the fruit of their labor. Because it was a fusion of the Dark-type Dark Pulse and the Fairy-type Moonblast, David named this technique—Dark Moon.
The chaotic-colored moon wheel cut through the sea of flames created by Overheat as easily as a hot knife through butter.
Without losing momentum, it attacked Charizard directly. The moon wheel's speed was too fast, and coupled with its injured wing, Charizard had no choice but to use Dragon Claw in place to defend.
"BOOM!"
However, this was clearly futile. As the explosion sound rang out and the smoke cleared, Charizard's figure had already collapsed. Fortunately, with Kirlia holding back its power, the Flame Pokémon wasn't too severely injured.
It was fortunate that David and his Pokémon had only used this move in battle after extensive experimentation and practice.
It's worth noting that when they first successfully tested it, Kirlia—unable to control the amount of energy input—had nearly blown up David's entire backyard.
"Charizard is unable to battle. The Gym Trainer has lost all three Pokémon. The winner of this match is—Challenger David!"
After a brief silence, thunderous applause erupted from the surrounding stands.
It was applause for today's exciting match, and also for the Cloudspire region producing another genius Trainer.
David and his three Pokémon's performance had completely captivated everyone present.
"Charizard..."
Sadie checked Charizard's condition, and after discovering it had only sustained light injuries, she breathed a sigh of relief. She recalled Charizard to its Poké Ball, and after a brief moment of composure, walked over to David.
A staff member quickly brought over a presentation tray.
"This is Promise Gym's Intermediate Badge. Your performance is absolutely worthy of it."
Receiving the badge from Sadie's hand, David examined the Intermediate Badge. It featured an all-silver design, engraved with the flame emblem representing Promise Gym.
"Thank you!"
David politely thanked her after accepting the badge.
"Zorua, Lucario, Kirlia—we earned the Blazing Badge!"
Then, striking Ash Ketchum's classic victory pose, he celebrated with the three Pokémon who had gathered around him.
"Zorua~"
"Lucario~"
"Kirlia~"
The Pokémon cheered happily as well. This was the first badge they and their Trainer had ever earned together!
Looking at David and his Pokémon—still somewhat youthful and exuberant at this moment—Sadie couldn't help but sigh softly. Only now did David truly seem like a rookie Trainer who had obtained his Pokémon less than half a year ago...