Gotta Catch That One

Chapter 22: Charizard vs Mega Charizard

Ash couldn't believe it. As he fell, he had thought his luck had finally run out, and that his habit of jumping and falling from high places had finally put him in a situation he couldn't get out of. Then, when he was caught, he had assumed it was Pidgeot or Noivern that had caught him, but then he noticed the unmistakable orange on his saviour's back. He had heard a screech that had sounded familiar too, and he looked up to see another old friend. Infernape held Greninja, who was now in his regular form and unconscious, at the top of the building. He'd caught the frog-ninja Pokemon, while Charizard had caught Ash. Ash had begun to feel the pain as Greninja was struck, but for some reason, it had quickly disappeared. He felt tired, but he assumed Greninja had managed to cut off their connection before he'd been knocked out.

Charizard roared and flapped his wings and Ash felt his stomach lurch as the two of them whipped upwards and into view of those on top of the building. Ash noticed Serena on her knees, staring dumbfounded at the unexpected saviours. Mairin had a similar wide-eyed expression, while Malva glared at him.

"Ready for round two?" Ash called out to Alain, who looked surprised, but wasn't letting this faze him.

All of a sudden a flamethrower attack went rushing towards Serena. Ash didn't have time to order an attack, but Charizard took the initiative. He fired off a counter flamethrower which intercepted the other halfway, creating a huge blast of smoke.

Malva laughed. "So, you've got some reinforcements...that's fine. Houndoom, mega evolve!" She yelled. She pressed on her stone and her Houndoom began to glow with a bright, white light. The dog-like Pokemon emerged a much more intimidating sight. Its had grown and were now pointing up, rather than being curved. And, its silver, bony stripes had become something like a coat of armour, with jagged spikes around its chest and near its head.

Ash looked over at Infernape. "Infernape, I'm counting on you to keep, Serena and Mairin safe from that Houndoom, alright?"

Infernape looked up at its trainer. "Infernape!" It yelled back and nodded. He set Greninja down gently and leaped in front of the girls it was tasked with protecting. Ash saw Delphox run to the unconscious Greninja to care for him.

Ash looked back at Alain. He gently patted Charizard's neck. "I hope your ready for a challenge, Charizard, because you've never faced an opponent like this before." He whispered to his old friend. Charizard looked at Ash from the corner of his eye and spat out a flame. Ash smiled. "Good."

Alain looked at Ash. Ash realized that his opponent seemed to be unhappy with Malva's attack on Serena, but he was clearly going to stubbornly continue the fight with Ash. "Charizard, flamethrower!" He yelled, and the fierce battle continued.

"You too!" Ash ordered his own Charizard. Ash had always considered Charizard to be his strongest Pokemon. Even stronger than Pikachu, Infernape or even Greninja. Charizard had a battling spirit that almost no Pokemon could match and it showed itself here. His flamethrower met the mega evolution charged flamethrower evenly and the attacks exploded against each other and knocked both Charizards backwards. Ash took a quick glance down to the battle on the roof and saw Infernape land a perfect flame wheel attack on Malva's Houndoom.

"Charizard, use steel wing!" Alain yelled.

Ash snapped his attention back to his own battle. "Dragon tail!" He ordered. As Alain's Charizard charged towards them. Alain's Charizard's wing glowed white and then appeared to have a silvery gleam to it as it swung it towards Ash and his Charizard. Ash's Charizard pulled back just in time and flew up, quickly swinging up his glowing, green tail and smashing it into the face of Alain's Charizard. It was a super effective hit that caused Alain's Charizard to stagger back in extreme pain.