Among them, Kiawe was always the most reserved. Perhaps it was because of his family background. But when it came to strength, he was undoubtedly the strongest of the group—even without considering the Charizard his grandfather had passed down to him.
"Kiawe, go get him! You've got to avenge me!!" Mallow had completely forgotten her earlier promise to cheer for Maki, now shouting at the top of her lungs in support of Kiawe.
"Don't worry. I won't lose," Kiawe replied confidently.
"Charmeleon." Maki beckoned the Fire-type, who had been silently watching the match from the sidelines.
Given Kiawe's preference for Fire-type Pokémon, Mawile would be at a disadvantage here. Judging by his earlier battle with Mallow, his strength was no joke.
Mallow's Pokémon were already at Great Ball-tier. If Kiawe was even stronger, then his team was definitely at Great Ball-tier or higher. That meant Pokémon like Mawile or Absol—who hadn't evolved or specialized in Fire-type resistance—wouldn't stand much of a chance.
After considering all options, Maki realized there was really only one viable choice—Charmeleon.
At the same time, Maki glanced up at the sky. The lingering effect of Whimsicott's Sunny Day still hadn't faded. That meant Charmeleon could still operate at full strength under the blazing sunlight.
"Go, Marowak."
This was Maki's first time seeing an Alolan Marowak in person. While Kanto's Marowak was also familiar to him, the environmental differences between regions had led to significant differences in form.
Of course, those differences mainly appeared in typing and move compatibility. Visually, the two looked quite similar—almost identical, even.
But unlike its Kanto counterpart, the Alolan Marowak's body was blackened, with a flame symbol emblazoned on its skull. The bone club it wielded burned with eerie ghostly blue fire at both ends.
Otherwise, it matched the standard Marowak in shape and stature.
"Good luck, Maki!" Unlike Mallow, who had already switched sides, Lilie puffed out her cheeks and shouted out her support for Maki. He responded with a small smile, reassuring her.
He had never lost a battle like this before—and today wouldn't be the first.
"Not so fast~" said Lana, who appeared like a ghost beside Lilie.
"Huh? What is it?" Lilie turned around curiously.
"You're cheering for Maki and not Kiawe? Very suspicious~" teased Lana, floating like a mischievous spirit around Lilie.
"Because… because Maki and I are friends!"
"And Kiawe isn't?"
"Well, that's…"
"Alright, Lana. Don't tease her so much," Mallow said with a sigh as she stepped in, seeing how flustered Lilie was getting.
While the girls were bantering, Maki's battle had already begun.
"Dragon Dance!"
Marowak was known for its incredible attack and defense. Its only notable weakness was speed—after all, no Pokémon could be perfect in every way.
Before evolving into Charizard, Charmeleon's only real advantage against a Marowak was its speed.
"Bonemerang!"
After witnessing Mallow's defeat earlier, Kiawe knew better than to let Charmeleon power up. With a sharp motion, Marowak hurled its flame-tipped bone club, sending it spinning straight toward Charmeleon.
It was one of Marowak's favorite moves. Throwing techniques like this allowed it to make full use of its raw strength without being hindered by its own low speed.
The velocity of a thrown weapon depended solely on the user's power.
Maki's eyes followed the flying bone. For a moment, he considered ordering Charmeleon to intercept it, but quickly dismissed the idea.
Alolan Marowak's strength was immense—probably even greater than a Mega Medicham before it evolved, and that wasn't just because of its Ability.
The secret lay in its bone club.
Nearly half of Marowak's power came from that weapon. Without it, the Pokémon's base strength wasn't that impressive.
If Tsareena's weakness was the crown on her head, then Marowak's weakness was the club in its hand.
So when the club was thrown, Maki momentarily thought of sending Charmeleon in to steal it—but doing so would be too risky.
Kiawe clearly prized the weapon and was likely skilled at controlling it. If Charmeleon tried to intercept it, he might take heavy damage without even succeeding.
"Flamethrower!"
After dodging the first and second hits of the Bonemerang, Charmeleon retaliated with a blazing jet of flame. Even though Marowak was a Fire-type as well, the sunlight-boosted Flamethrower would still deal more damage than Dragon Pulse—a simple math calculation.
Not to mention, Charmeleon had far better mastery over Flamethrower than Dragon Pulse.
Even Kiawe was momentarily stunned by the sheer ferocity of the flames. It was hard to believe such power came from a mere Charmeleon. For a second, he even felt relieved that Marowak was a Fire-type.
If it weren't… could it have survived that attack?
Kiawe shook his head fiercely, banishing the thought. He aspired to become the next Island Kahuna. He couldn't allow doubt to cloud his mind.
"Shadow Bone!"
Marowak caught its returning bone club mid-air, its surface now flaring with spiritual energy. The ghostly flames intensified into a roaring blaze.
Raising its weapon like a shield, Marowak charged straight into the Flamethrower!
The entire battlefield was engulfed in crimson fire, yet amidst the flames, a streak of eerie blue ghost-light advanced steadily toward Charmeleon.
It's not enough… Maki realized. If this had been a regular Marowak, he'd be confident that the Flamethrower would overpower it. But this was an Alolan Marowak…
And worse—this kind of strategy put a massive strain on Charmeleon's stamina. In just a few seconds, it had burned more energy than all of Whimsicott's earlier "infinite firepower" rounds combined.
Whimsicott had relied on a slow burn, a war of attrition. Charmeleon's strategy hinged on explosive bursts—and that simply wasn't sustainable.
Maki signaled Charmeleon to lower the intensity of its flames to conserve energy, but Marowak seized the opportunity to close the distance.
As the fire subsided, the onlookers could finally see Marowak clearly—and its condition didn't look good…
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