Pokémon: Raising Abandoned Pokémon into Legends

Chapter 260: The Lily of the Valley Falls Silent (Part 1)

With Ace’s approval, Rio recalled Eevee and took out Charizard’s Luxury Ball. "Charizard—show Sinnoh’s Fire-type Elite Four what you’ve got!"

"Roaar~" With a flash of light, Charizard appeared in all its majesty.

The moment it appeared, the announcer’s voice rang out in excitement: "Whoa—a black Charizard! Following Sinnoh’s Fire-type Elite Four Flint’s request, visiting Kanto League Champion Rio has sent out his ace, Charizard! This is shaping up to be an incredible match!"

"I’m sure many of you don’t know just how powerful Champion Rio’s Charizard is. Let me give you a quick rundown—a few months ago at the Indigo Conference in Kanto, Champion Rio relied on this very Charizard to win every match from the preliminaries to the finals without a single defeat, claiming the championship..."

Listening to the announcer’s hype, Flint watched Rio’s ace Charizard with a grin. That’s more like it. If he’d won against a non-main Pokémon, people would have said Rio was holding back. A win now would be a real win—and if he pulled it off, he’d boost Sinnoh’s reputation and become the most famous Elite Four member.

"Flareon—Swift!" As the referee gave the signal, Flint struck first, his voice booming with confidence.

"Roar~" Flareon opened its mouth and fired a volley of star-shaped projectiles at Charizard.

"Charizard—Sacred Fire!" Rio replied calmly.

Flint wanted to see Charizard’s full power—and Charizard’s true power required Mega Evolution. But Rio didn’t think that was necessary. At Level 70, with Sacred Fire in its arsenal, a non-Flash-Fire Flareon stood no chance.

So—

"Wow! Our Fire-type Elite Four commands Flareon to use Swift, while Kanto’s Champion Rio has Charizard use—Sacred Fire?" the announcer continued, still unaware of what was coming. "What kind of move is Sacred Fire? From Charizard’s stance, it looks similar to Flamethrower. I wonder how it’ll fare against Flareon’s Swift..."

"Hick," one of Ace’s group scoffed at the announcer’s ignorance. "They don’t even know what Sacred Fire is."

Ace and the others glanced around at the crowd still cheering for Flareon, shouting things like "Take down that Charizard!" They shook their heads. "You’ll find out soon enough."

Purple flames erupted from Charizard’s mouth and collided with Flareon’s Swift midair. The result was instantaneous—Swift barely caused a split in the flames before they consumed it. Then, in a flash, the purple fire was upon Flareon. The searing heat made it cry out in pain.

Three seconds later, Charizard stopped its attack, revealing a Flareon on the verge of collapse.

"Flareon—hold on! Use Baby-Doll Eyes!" Flint’s pupils contracted. He hadn’t expected the battle to go like this—one hit had nearly taken out his Flareon. What was Sacred Fire? Why was it so overwhelmingly powerful?

Flareon was not only barely standing but also covered in purple flames—clearly afflicted with a burn. Flint also noticed the heat was unbearable; sweat was already pouring down his face after just a few seconds.

Then Flareon collapsed. It hadn’t been able to endure Flint’s command and never got the chance to lower Charizard’s Attack.

The entire stadium fell silent. The cheering crowd was frozen in shock. Their Fire-type Elite Four’s ace had just been defeated in a single move by the visiting Kanto Champion’s black Charizard.

Even the announcer, who had been so enthusiastic moments before, was left speechless.

In the contestants’ area, every participant stared in disbelief at the fallen Flareon. They had expected a close, evenly matched battle between their Elite Four and the visiting Champion—something to learn from, a display of high-level combat.

Instead, the very first Pokémon was taken down in one shot. And that Pokémon belonged to their Elite Four. How were they supposed to learn from this? Their wildest dreams were to become Sinnoh Champion—they’d never imagined anyone could one-shot an Elite Four’s ace.

"Is this... really the Charizard I know?" Cynthia covered her mouth in shock. She thought she was the one who knew Rio’s strength best—having fought him multiple times in Lavender Town. Although she’d always lost, Rio’s power had never been on this level before. She’d planned to challenge Rio’s Charizard with her Garchomp after becoming the Lily of the Valley Champion—but after seeing Flareon get one-shot, where did she even find the courage?

About ten meters away from Cynthia, Volkner—Sinnoh’s strongest Gym Leader—was equally stunned. "So this is the strength of a Kanto League Champion? Didn’t Flint say this Champion barely beat Professor Carolina’s granddaughter?" He muttered, glancing at Cynthia. "If that was a narrow win, then she’s not just winning this conference—she’ll be taking the Sinnoh Champion title soon too."

But the ones enjoying this the most were Ace and the other three attendants. They basked in the stunned expressions of the Sinnoh crowd.

Keep cheering—go on! We were trying to be polite, to play this as an exhibition match and save your region some face. But no—you had to go and demand our Champion send out his ace. Happy now? Satisfied?

And this isn’t even his full power. According to Elite Four Lance, the reason he lost so easily was because Rio’s Charizard can evolve again—that’s when it’s truly terrifying.

Ace and the others fought the urge to applaud—because they were surrounded by Sinnoh supporters. Sometimes, you have to read the room.

But they couldn’t help smirking. You think that was loud? Just wait. It’s going to get even louder.