Pokemon: This Ash Is Too Versatile

Facing the onrushing Gyarados, Ash didn’t retreat even half a step.

Nor did Greninja.

The Aura Link between them became clearer than ever in that instant; Ash could clearly feel that what was coming from Greninja wasn’t fear, but a battle spirit burning ever higher.

"We can still get stronger, right, Greninja!" Ash shouted at the top of his lungs, his voice echoing clearly across the trembling arena.

"Krokaa!!" Greninja raised its head in response, that cry piercing straight through the roar of Gyarados.

At the very moment his voice fell, a sky‑piercing water column suddenly erupted beneath Greninja’s feet.

The water column was thick and overwhelming, surging upward with the force of crashing mountains straight toward the open skylight at the top of the Gym; spray exploded outward, shrouding the entire field in a hazy mist.

Inside the water column, Greninja’s silhouette began to change as well.

A huge X‑shaped scar appeared on its back, as if something had once been attached there; the tongue around its neck stretched longer, drifting in the water like a cape.

A dark red cross mark appeared on its head, and the sides of its ears turned black; on closer look, it actually bore a few similarities to Ash!

Those scarlet eyes, even through the water column, clearly showed the razor‑sharp gleam contained within.

At this moment, their bond turned into power!

"This is—!" Lance sprang up from his seat, the usual calm on his face now replaced by sheer shock.

Misty and Serena almost stood up at the same time, their eyes wide and round as they stared fixedly at that increasingly unfamiliar figure inside the water column.

Even the always composed Cynthia showed a rare flicker of emotion between her brows.

She subconsciously took out her Key Stone from her pocket; that stone, which would usually resonate with a Pokemon’s Evolution Stone, was now completely unresponsive, as quiet as an ordinary rock.

"This isn’t Mega Evolution..." Cynthia murmured under her breath, her golden eyes full of curiosity and scrutiny.

Since the Key Stone gave no reaction, it was clearly not the MEGA Evolution she knew.

But then how was she supposed to explain this change happening to Greninja?

It was obviously a further form, a kind of evolution she had never heard of, never seen before.

What shocked her even more was that the aura of that Greninja within the water column was skyrocketing, becoming so strong she could barely get a read on it.

As for what level it had actually reached...

Cynthia narrowed her eyes slightly; even she couldn’t clearly sense that upper limit.

A Professional Junior Level Pokemon was actually making a Champion Trainer like her unable to perceive its upper limit—saying it out loud would sound completely absurd, yet it was happening right before their eyes.

Lance was the same; he focused on sensing it for quite a while, then slowly shook his head, his face heavy and grave.

If even the two of them at Champion Level couldn’t see through it, then that Greninja’s power at this moment had probably broken through some shackle of common sense.

"Just how many trump cards does that Ash still have..." Lance said with a wry shake of his head.

Dawn, though she didn’t ’spring to her feet on the spot’, was just as stunned; her mouth hung wide open at the scene before her, unable to utter a single word.

Why did it feel like Ash and Greninja had fused into one? She’d had that impression from the start, but it hadn’t been this strong.

Now, however, there was this sense of complete fusion, no distinction between the two.

So this is...the power born from the bond between humans and Pokemon?

On the other side of the field, the excitement on Clair’s face had already frozen, replaced by a thick layer of shock.

Her lips moved soundlessly as she stared at that figure wrapped in the water column, for the first time feeling something she could not put into words.

That Greninja, which had forcefully risen from Professional Junior Level to Gym Beginner Level, now seemed to truly possess the lethal strength to threaten Gyarados!

"Gyarados!" Clair suppressed the tremor in her heart and shouted sharply.

But her shout came too late; Gyarados, wreathed in Giga Impact, was already crashing down toward where Greninja stood like a purple comet.

Yet at the instant before the two sides collided, Greninja merely gave a light twist with the tip of its toe inside the water column.

"Kra‑la—!"

The floor beneath its feet shattered with a crack, spider‑web cracks instantly spreading across the spot where it had been standing.

The next moment, Greninja’s figure vanished from where it had been, as if it had evaporated into thin air.

Gyarados’s unstoppable Giga Impact slammed savagely into the empty ground, blasting up a storm of dust and rubble, crashing heavily into the barrier and sending out ripples in dense concentric waves.

But in the end, that blow still missed.

"Where did it go?" Clair held her breath, trying to locate Greninja, but found no trace of it.

The next instant, Greninja’s figure ghosted into view high in the air behind Gyarados. "Right behind you!"

As Ash’s shout fell, a blinding ring of light flared beneath Greninja’s soles, and its entire body plummeted like a falling streak of light from the heavens.

Aerial Ace!

"Boom!!"

Its kick landed solidly on the top of Gyarados’s head.

That massive body was driven straight down by the kick, smashed into the ground and blasted out a huge crater; shards of stone flew, and the entire Gym shook violently!!

Gyarados let out a howl of excruciating pain, that single kick nearly costing it half its life; even those scarlet eyes had become somewhat unfocused.

"How is this possible..." Clair muttered to herself, her pretty face full of disbelief.