章 152: Taking the Knee

"CHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!""

Even as two roars echoed, numerous gasps and exclamations could be heard from the appearance of the two Charizards.

My Charizard glistened under the midday sun, his white scales reflecting a myriad of colors as he stood tall and proud, the flame on the tip of his tail burning brightly as it too emitted numerous vibtrant colors.

Blaine's on the other hand stood several feet taller than my own Charizard, and was covered in numerous scars complete with even a few holes in it's wings, showing it was well aged with PLENTY of battle experience behind it.

The two Charizard stared each other down while simultaneously sizing each other up, though I was pretty sure I saw a flicker of awe in the eyes and aura of Blaine's as it gazed upon mine. Which was understandable since mine was directly blessed by Ho-Oh.

"How beautiful..." Blaine uttered as he beheld my starter, making both of us puff our chests out in pride.

"Do you have any idea why he looks like that?" Blaine asked, while seemingly unable to tear his eyes away from Charizard.

"He was blessed by Ho-Oh while still in his egg, when we saw him the very same day I started my journey." I answered, seeing no reason to continue hiding that particular fact. I was already at the very top of Team Rocket's shit list, the cult of Ho-Oh was hunting me down because of Charizard, and I had already proven my team could hold their own against Champion level pokemon.

"I see..." Blaine said while nodding slowly in contemplation.

"Do you know why I specialize in fire type pokemon?" He asked suddenly.

"No, I don't." I answered.

"Many years ago, when I was just a boy, I got lost in a mountain range in the middle of winter, nearly freezing to death as I struggled to find my way to safety. The only reason I managed to escape those mountains alive was due to Moltres himself showing me the way out, and from then on I have devoted myself to his sect, and to raising fire type pokemon in his name."

A series of mutterings could be heard from Blaine's story, which I don't believe he's ever said in an interview or publicized before. But it made sense, considering how close Cinnabar Island was to One Island, where the cult of Moltres made it's home(and where Moltres himself rested if my game knowledge was still correct). But it also worried me considering the relationships between the two cults.

This must have shown on my face, as Blaine smiled wryly and said, "Its ok lad, I don't believe the nonsense about Lugia and Ho-Oh being bitter enemies. Maybe in my youth, but nowadays I have better things to spend my time on than an imaginary war between gods."

"Phew... Thats good. Cause as far as I'm aware, the war between those two is complete and utter Tauros-shit. Which is also why I want NOTHING to do with either cult." I replied, making the old man smirk. However around us the people, and even Falkner, exploded into a storm of muttering and contemplation on their part regarding everything Blaine and I had just exposed.

Aside from the imaginary war between gods, the biggest bomb that had been dropped was probably my seeing Ho-Oh, who then blessed my Charizard. Ho-Oh hadn't been seen or heard from in hundreds of years, except maybe by the exceptionally rare circumstance that no one would ever believe. Except this time I had proof of seeing Ho-Oh, being my Charizard.

"Well then, let's have own little war right here and now! A cultist of Moltres, versus he who has received the blessing of Ho-Oh!" Blaine declared, ramping up the dramatics while his Charizard roared in agrement.

"What do you say buddy? You up for it?" I asked Charizard, who merely growled in affirmation while smoke trickled from his nostrils.

"Count us in. Flame Charge."

"CHAAAAAR!"

At my command, Charizard roared before blitzing Blaine's Charizard while multi-colored flames covered his body. He rushed forward like a vengeful meteor hell-bent on defeating his opponent, only to be stopped completely in his tracks by the opposing Charizard.

"Would you be insulted if I said that was predictable?" Blaine asked with a smirk, before ordering, "Now Charizard, Slam it HARD."

"CHAR!"

With a roar, Blaine's Charizard readily swung and then slammed my own into one of the volcanic spires that dotted the arena, shattering it and sending my starter tumbling to the ground. Instead of staying down though, Charizard rolled back up to his feet without pause with a snarl and fire gathering in his mouth.

"Lets show you two what fire types are REALLY capable of. Flare Blitz." Blaine said with a smirk, to which his Charizard shot up into the air while cloaking itself in flames far stronger than those used in Flame Charge.

It then shot down at Charizard like a vengeful comet from above, impacting him with enough force that I could feel the ship shuddering beneath my feet, while flames shot out in every direction. Thankfully this time there were no cries and screams from the gallery, as they learned well enough that they needed to stay back for a battle between fire type pokemon.

Blaine and I remained calm though as the flames licked at our ankles, our eyes not leaving the inferno our pokemon were within for the slightest second. When the flames finally began to clear though, we caught sight of both Charizard panting and injured from within.

That was the downside of moves like Flare Blitz, they also damaged the user in exchange for dealing extreme amounts of damage. But, my Charizard didn't look like it had sustained all that much damage from the attack.

"Now keep up the momentum!" Blaine declared while I just watched on. "Blast Burn!"

"Fly up Charizard!" I commanded at the new attack, putting urgency in my voice.

"Char!"

Charizard readily complied as he shot up into the air, creating a downdraft that buffeted everyone as he raced away, all while Blaine's Charizard gathered nearly every single drop of energy it possessed into it's fire as it took in an impossibly deep breath.

"..."

There was a beat of silence, and then we were all deafened by the roar of fire as heat more intense than anything yet washed over us.

A torrent of flame filled the skies in a manner similar to Dragonite's Flamethrower back on Mt. Moon, only much more intense, hot, and bright. It was as if the sun itself was descending upon us.

And caught up in the very middle of it was Charizard, the target of the attack.

It was an attack that was bound to do untold damage since not even fire type pokemon were immune to fire type attacks, unless of course they possessed a certain ability.

When the flames finally began to die down, a noise drew our attention back to Blaine's Charizard as it fell to one knee, exhausted and breathing hard as it tried to ctach it's breath. That was downside of certain moves like Blast Burn, or Hyper Beam, they comletely drained the user after just one use. Though typically the tradeoff was worth it since only the strongest pokemon would even remain standing if they took such an attack.

"That was the strongest move in our arsenal. I just hope you boy is ok after taking it." Blaine said with obvious pride, before sounding a bit worried afterwards.

"Oh he can take it." I said with a smirk, confusing both the old man and his Charizard as they looked at me quizzically.

"I never told you, did I Blaine?" I said as if I had just realized it, before looking at him with a shit-eating grin. "MY Charizard has the Flash Fire ability."

""!?!""

"CHAAAAAAAAAR!"

Right on cue, Charizard dove down from the cloud of lingering flames looking better than ever, his attention focused entirely on Blaine's Charizard.

"Now's your chance." I told Charizard in a calm voice, even as his tail began to shimmer with metal type energy.

The Iron Tail slammed into Blaine's Charizard from above, sending it crashing down into the arena and kicking up a cloud of dust, but he was far from done.

"Lay it on him."

"Char!"

At my prompting, Charizard delivered a series of rapid succession attacks on his opponent, Slash, Fire Punch, Thunder Punch, Dragon Claw, another Iron Tail to knock it back down, and then a Dragon Breath to keep it down to finish up.

Had our opponent been anyone else, then this would have been enough to keep them down. But we were facing an absuredly powerful Charizard with decades of battle experience and training, while my own Charizard was only a couple months old.

Naturally Blaine's Charizard didn't stay down, even after all of that, and stood tall once more after Charizard delivered his storm of attacks. Even as his opponent towered over him though, seemingly unfazed by the numerous attacks it had just taken, Charizard was undaunted.

"CHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!"

Instead of cowing down, Charizard unleashed a mighty roar of challenge to declared that he would not back down, no matter what.

"""..."""

No one spoke for a moment after that, all of us watching with bated breaths as we watched the two pokemon stare each other down. Even I didn't know what was about to happen since the aura of Blaine's Charizard was unreadable.

Then...

"""!?!"""

I heard several gasps and mutters of disbelief at what happened, which mirrored my own reaction as we all watched Blaine's Charizard lower itself before my starter.

"Moltres above..." Blaine uttered with similar disbelief, and it was HIS pokemon that did it.

Right here, with numerous witnesses and cameras recording, Blaine's Charizard knelt before mine in an act that couldn't be confused for anything but submission.

"Charizard is unwilling to battle!" The drone suddenly declared, startling more than a few people as they seemingly forgot it was there.

"Charizard and Ace Ketchum win the battle!"

Declaring such, the drone flew off to officiate some other battle, but nobody cared about that at the moment.

"In all my years, I've NEVER seen anything like this..." Blaine said.

"Right? Though I doubt my words hold as much weight." I joked, but still couldn't help but to be impressed with what was happening.

"Here." Blaine said suddenly, approaching me while offering the Volcano Badge. "Can't say you two haven't earned this."

"Thanks." I said while accepting the Badge, now being halfway through my Kanto League journey.

"Of course, but there's something else too." Blaine said seriously, making me curious. "Your Charizard is truly special, but also very young. Once you gather a few more Badges and it matures some more, I want to help train your Charizard by teaching it those two moves that mine used during the battle, Flare Blitz and Blast Burn."

I blinked at the offer, before smiling wide.

"Of course! I still four Badges to get from Kanto, plus I've been debating on gathering the Badges from Johto before the next conference if I have the time. Especially considering how many I can earn while on the SS. Anne."

"Excellent! He should learn and mature quite a bit during such a journey! Also, when you go to Johto there is a place near Violet city that wild and powerful Charizard have gathered. It is managed by my grandaughter, Liza, and is called the Charicific Valley. It would definitely be worth your time to check it out on your travels."

"I'll vouch for that." Falkner said as he approached us. "I've battled Liza and her Charizard quite a few times by now, as well as some of the Charizard that live in the valley. They're all quite strong, and make for good opponents. If you stop by Violet city during your travels in Johto, I can show you where it is since the location is secret to most."

"Thank you." I said to Falkner with genuine gratitude, I already couldn't wait to see this place for myself now!

"Good. Now I say it's time we let these two rest." Blaine said, recalling his Charizard while I did the same.

"You all did really well." I whispered to my pokeballs, all three of which gave a little shake of appreciation.

"So who's next on Ace Ketchum's list of opponents?" Blaine asked with a sparkle in his eye.

"Lunch." I replied seriously, right as my stomach began to grumble in affirmation.

"Pft... HAHAHAHAHA! Of course!" Blaine laughed loudly in response, making me roll my eyes at him.

I bid farewell to the two Gym Leaders as I went in search of the rest of the group, since we all agreed to have lunch together to hang out.

Along the way to our meeting location, I came across another battle taking place between someone I knew, and someone else.

"Is this truly ALL the brother of the strongest Champion in the world is capable of?" Sneered a guy with curly blond hair, and who was wearing a long coat of various purples despite the midday heat. And his opponent was none other than Hop, brother of the Champion Leon from the Galar region.

I frowned at the exchange as the challenger taunted Hop in a way I could see troubled him greatly, even without me having to look at his aura.

With Hop being so negatively affected, it was short work for the other guy to finish off his Thwackey with his own Galarian Ponyta, which I had to admit was quite beautiful.

"Thwackey is unable to battle! Ponyta and Bede win!" The drone announced, before flying off.

"Humph." Bede sneered at Hop in disdain, recalling his pokemon before turning away from without a single backwards glance.

"Don't let it get you down Hop." I said while approaching him from behind, calling out Chansey at the same time so she could take a look at Thwackey.

"Oh... Hey Ace..." He muttered Mareepishly, which was understandable considering what I'd just witnessed.

"What's that look for?" I asked him.

"Eh? Nothing..." Hop answered, though that was obviously NOT the case.

"Alright then." I responded, not digging further. It was obvious that he'd be upset after losing a battle, though I could tell there was more to it than just that. But it wasn't my place to pry, especially since we'd only known each other a couple days. If Hop himself wanted to talk to me though, then it would be a different situation.

"I'm on my way to lunch. You coming with?" I asked.

"Sure. I could use some food, and I'm sure Thwackey needs some as well." He answered accepting the still unconscious pokemon from Chansey after she finished treating it.

"Thank you."

"See see!"

I returned Chansey after he gave her his thanks, and the two of us began making our way to the place everyone was meeting up for lunch.

"So how has your morning gone so far?" I asked him.

"Well enough. I won a couple battles, but then you saw what just happened."

"Yeah. Well, you win some, you lose some." I said with a shrug.

"YOU haven't."

"I have, its just that the only loss of mine thats been recorded was when I battled Nemona the other day. Other than that, I lost a few battles back before I got my license, and in battles with extenuating circumstances. So those aren't recorded."

"I see... So even you've lost some battles..." Hop said slowly, though it seemed the thought had cheered him up a little.

We continued chatting for a few minutes as we made our way to one of the upper decks, where there was a private area that had been rented out for us. And as we got there, the majority of the others were already there waiting for us.