Prelude[]
Pokemon vs Legend of Zelda! Which magma-making monster is hot to the touch, and who will burn the other a disintegrating death?
Description[]
"Heatran vs Volvagia" is a What If Death Battle by LukeTime128. It is his third What If Death Battle (Season 1 Episode 3). It pits Heatran from the Pokemon franchise against Volvagia from the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
Introduction[]
Wiz: The destructive power of a volcanic eruption is tremendous. Requiring force in the megatons just to pull off, humankind had long since struggled to battle the rushing magma that has claimed countless lives.
Boomstick: And these two giants can weaponise it! With their bodies!
Wiz: Heatran, the Lava Dome Pokemon of Stark and Reversal Mountain
Boomstick: And Volvagia, the Goron-eating Lava Dragon of Death Mountain. He's Wiz and I'm Boomstick.
Wiz: And it's our job to analyse their weapons, armour and skills to find out who would win, a Death Battle.
Heatran[]
Boomstick: Man, what's not to love about Legendary Pokemon? So many awesome dragons, kaiju, giant birds and... whatever the hell the Ultra Beasts are.
Wiz: Indeed. And one of these Legendaries rests in the deepest chambers of the volcanic Stark Mountain in Sinnoh. This is Heatran, the Lava Dome Pokemon.
Boomstick: ...Uh, Wiz? Why does its face look like a toy aeroplane?
Wiz: Yeah, the origins of Heatran's design are... kinda complicated. To summarise, he's part dragon, part turtle, part cockroach, and part "volcanic remains".
Boomstick: Game Freak's designers scare me sometimes.
Wiz: Anyway, Heatran dwells in volcanoes and is formed of burned, rugged steel. Naturally, this makes it incredibly heavy - around 950 lbs to be exact.
Boomstick: That's one thicc block of iron! But Heatran's way more than just heavy metal, and has a ton of awesome fire techniques to incinerate any dumb 10 year old who tries to stuff it in a tiny ball.
Wiz: Heatran can conjure molten rock to launch Lava Plumes, reaching far distances and burning foes. In addition, it also has limited control over air that enables it to use Heat Wave, sending burning hot air towards its opponent.
Boomstick: Fire Spin traps foes in a tornado of fire that deals damage over time. And if Heatran wants to get in close and personal, it can ignite its metal jaws for a Fire Fang!
Wiz: Heatran doesn't always need to ignite its bites, though, as a powerful Crunch will usually suffice. And it can also ram foes with its metal body for an Iron Head.
Boomstick: But as a volcano Pokemon, Heatran has just as much control over earth as it does fire. With Ancient Power and Stone Edge, it hurls rocks at its foes, and can erupt the earth beneath its foes. And Heatran has a bunch of other powers that don't hurt people, which kinda sucks, but Wiz thinks they matter somehow.
Note: Heatran's damaging attacks have surprisingly decent odds of effecting foes. Crunch and Earth Power can decrease defenses 20% of the time, Fire Fang and Iron Head can stun, and Ancient Power has a 10% chance of boosting all of Heatran's stats.
Wiz: Heatran can drop its enemy's defenses with Leer and Metal Sound, and slow them down with Scary Face. The latter in particular is extra useful, since Heatran's speed is fairly underwhelming relative to most Pokemon.
Boomstick: Yeah, but who needs to run fast when you can crawl along walls like a fiery Spider-Man! Like this!
Boomstick attempts to climb up a brick wall barely a foot higher than he is tall, but his shotgun leg stops him from taking off the floor with enough force to get over
Wiz: It's safe to say that, without the Magma Stone keeping Heatran sealed away in a volcano, it has plenty of tools to overwhelm any opponent.
Wiz presses a button on a remote that causes the floor beneath Boomstick to rise, pushing him up on top of the wall
Boomstick: Haha! Success! But anyway, we haven't even mentioned Heatran's signature move: Magma Storm. Remember Fire Spin? It's... it's like that, but... better!
Wiz: Magma Storm not only prevents foes from escaping, but also deals much damage as attacks formally described as "earthquakes". While it's hard to measure the exact power of these attacks, they can defeat most Pokemon weak to it in a single blast.
Boomstick: I guess that explains Heatran's power! He can take battle other Legendaries in even fights, including Regigigas, a Pokemon credited with moving continents!
Note: This continent feat is difficult to justify, as Pokedex entries are often considered unreliable. However, the other Legendary Golems can hold their own against Pokemon more powerful than Heatran, and Regigigas is supposed to be stronger than all of them. The manga also debatable scaling to the official continuity, but this instance seems consistent with the implied strength of both Pokemon.
Boomstick: And Heatran can just take a hit from Old Gigi here, no problem!
Wiz: Not just that, but Heatran is also completely immune to fire and lava thanks to its Flash Fire ability, meaning any fire-based attack will just be absorbed and added to Heatran's own power.
Boomstick: Unfortunately for the big fire cockroach, Heatran's not invincible. He has multiple elemental weaknesses, like Water and Fighting, and is even more weak to Ground. And while Heatran has fought Regigigas, the actual battle's outcome was never revealed, and Heatran's lost basically every other battle its been in.
Wiz: Still, Heatran is a legend for a very, VERY good reason.
Heatran: Gwogobo gwobobobo!
Volvagia[]
Wiz: The Gorons remain a greatly respected race within the realm of Hyrule. With their herculean strength, expertise in mining and explosives, and... well, the fact that they're giant rock people who could probably crush most of the kingdom's enemies in an instant, they are incredibly valued members of Hylian society.
Boomstick: So naturally, when you're a secretly maniacal pig sorcerer who wants to take over the world, you'd need a special counter-measure to deal with these concrete cretins.
Wiz: Huh, nice alliteration Boomstick. Anyway, luckily for Ganondorf, he already had a perfect candidate to take down the Gorons - the Subterranean Lava Dragon, Volvagia.
Boomstick: Can't exactly call Ganondorf's decision difficult, really. See, hundreds of years before Ocarina of Time even happened, Vovlagia was already killing and eating Gorons by the dozen every day. Talk about a quick meal...
Wiz: Fortunately, a legendary Hero of the Gorons showed up one day to slay Volvagia, and took him down with the power of a legendary hammer. Though the identity or... basically anything about this hero has been lost to time...
Boomstick: Like unicorns!
Wiz: ...No. But despite this shortcoming, Volvagia was an integral part of Ganondorf's plan to defeat the Gorons. It was able to inhabit the erupting Death Mountain and be completely immune to the scorching heat of the volcano, making way for a perfectly perilous dungeon for the Hero of Time to traverse.
Boomstick: But Volvie's too badass to let his stage do all the killing for him! Being a giant dragon and all, he has no problem hacking up green fairy boys with his big, sharp claws or burning them to a crisp with his fire breath.
Wiz: Volvagia's battle prowess is further enhanced by its flying power, able to stay away from most of Link's attacks, and also call down rocks from the sky to attack him.
Note: Given their size and speed, these rocks do not appear to be meteorites, but rather molten rocks caused by the erupting volcano. Assuming they were meteorites is inconsistent with Volvagia's established powers. While it's possible Volvagia was intentionally heating up the surrounding air of Death Mountain via air manipulation, this is also hard to prove.
Boomstick: ...Wait, that's it?
Wiz: Well, Volvagia can also carry or eat opponents in its mouth and claws, but doesn't seem to rely on this in battle. It's just a single boss fight, after all.
Boomstick: Awh. Well luckily, Volvagia isn't only reliant on pure moveset and versatility for its fights. Being a giant dragon, Volvie is super strong, fast and tough, all at once!
Wiz: It is especially important to stress Volvagia's nigh-immunity to heat. Lava can reach over 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit, well over 10 times the boiling temperature of water that severely burns most humans. And Volvagia emerges from lava completely unscathed.
Boomstick: Even better, Volvagia is capable of trading blows with the Hero of Time, who'd previously defeated Phantom Ganon and can shove giant 40 ton boulders with barely any effort.
Note: This calculation is due to the size of the blocks that Link can push unassisted by the Golden/Silver Gauntlets, assuming logical a granite composition. Link was accepted as being 5 foot 7 inches according to official information.
Boomstick: And we also know Link can react at speeds worth 11% the speed of light., meaning Volvagia's hella fast to be able to catch him off guard with his weird... fire... hair?
Note: It has been confirmed that Volga from Hyrule Warriors is a reincarnation of the same Volvagia, despite possessing completely different abilities and identities. As Volga can fight on par with Link, this supports Volvagia's speed and power.
Wiz: Volvagia's likely even stronger than that. It was able to fight off Darunia, the Goron chief, and best him in battle. Gorons are frequently portrayed as being physically superior to Hylians, making Volvagia's ability to fight him off and kill him fairly quickly a testament to its immense power and durability . Boomstick: And this isn't even getting into Volvagia's ability to erupt volcanoes. Those things need megatons of force to move all that magma around!
Wiz: Volvagia may have lost to Link, but it sure put up a fight worthy of the Hero of Time's heroic legacy, especially considering it basically fought two absurdly powerful beings one after another.
Note: There have been multiple theories that there are other incarnations of Volvagia throughout the series, but none of these have been confirmed, and possess abilities and physical features that are very different to Volvagia's.
Boomstick: This lethal lava lizard is one dragon no hero wants to mess with!
Volvagia's head pops out from a lava hole and breathes fire at Link, killing him.
Pre-Fight[]
Wiz: All right, the combatants are set and we've run the data through all possibilities.
Boomstick: Its time for a DEATH BAAAAATTLE!!!
Fight[]
The magma of Death Mountain rested deep in the deepest, volcanic chamber of the Fire Temple. The volcano reached high up into the clouds, with spires of rock shooting from the ground, the largest among them forming a reasonable landscape across the interior.
Above the smoke-covered clouds, a great fire surged across them. As this flame descended from the atmosphere, it is revealed to be Volvagia, retreating to its home with a Goron in its mouth - its newest prey.
The rock monster lay unconscious, dangling from Volvagia's flaming maw. Following its mysterious resurrection, Volvagia was in the middle of taking its revenge on the inhabitants of Hyrule, starting with the Gorons. Unfortunately, its meal was about to be interrupted.
As Volvagia hurled the Goron into the air to devour it in one bite, the ground beneath it shook, causing it to fail to catch the rock-man, who fell into the lava below. Infuriated, the infernal dragon roared, demanding who was responsible for this inconvenience, as a spire of magma erupted behind it.
When the magma suddenly cooled, forming another spire, a creature Volvagia had not previously encountered climbed to the top; Heatran, who had decided his volcano would be perfect for its new home. Well, perfect if you ignore the Lizalfos that had attacked it upon its earlier awakening.
Both lava monsters glared at each other - one was interrupting the other's natural habitat, and however this confrontation ended, one would have to die for the other to claim it and reign as king.
Heatran: TRAN! Heeaatran!
Volvagia roars in response to its opponent's suggestion, signalling the start of a scorching battle
Fight!
Heatran used pyrokinesis to summon a rain of magma to strike its foe - the Lava Plume technique. However, Volvagia took to the sky to avoid the attack with ease. In response to tihs, Volvagia began charging its fire breath - this would be suitable punishment for causing the lava dragon to lose its meal.
But while the attack consumed the spire, causing the rock to melt, Heatran leaped out of the fire beam, completely unharmed. Charged up by its Flash Fire ability, it launched a Heat Wave into the sky, ensuring its opponent could not escape. But alas, the Subterranean Lava Dragon didn't even flinch at the attack's impact.
Heatran: Heat?
Volvagia roared at this apparent insult - these fire attacks meant nothing to a monster that dwells within the volcano's magma chambers. Deciding to show it the true power of fire, it blasted another fire breath towards the turtle... cockroach... thing from Stark Mountain, but Heatran was completely unharmed, undeterred by the weak fire of this inferior beast of flames...
...Yeah, this is getting stupid...
Realising that fire was no use against their opponent, both Heatran and Volvagia made a change in tactics; Heatran leading by tossing large rocks toward its foe - the Ancient Power technique, while Volvagia summoned magma rocks from above.
Both rock attacks smashed against each other, but some of the rocks avoided this fate, striking their respective opponents
Heatran: (pained) HEATRAAAN!
Volvagia also roared in pain as the rocks brought it to the ground. As the fire dragon looked up, it was rammed in the face by Heatran's Iron Head technique, stunning it. Heatran then followed up with an Earth Power on the downed Volvagia, launching it back up into the air, but also creating a gap in the rocky platform. Volvagia took advantage of this development and dived down into the hole.
Heatran was unsure of where its opponent had gone, as it moved over to look into the hole of magma. But this was what Volvagia was prepared for.
Flying out of the hole, Volvagia struck Heatran with its fiery hair; though the attack dealt no damage, it surprised Heatran and threw it off guard, enabling Volvagia to follow up with a claw strike.
This attack sent Heatran across the surface of the rock platform, knocking it onto its back. Vulnerable, Heatran is unable to retaliate when Volvagia lifted it up in its claw and flew up, out of the volcano.
Upon reaching the mountain's summit, Volvagia released its foe and Heatran was tossed down the cliffs of Death Mountain, bouncing off of the solid rock as Volvagia pursued by flying downward to continue the battle.
After Heatran began clinging to the cliff's edge to halt its fall, Volvagia took advantage and gripped Heatran in its jaws. If this monster would cost it its meal, Volvagia decided it would have to suffice as a replacement. Faced with limited options, Heatran had to escape now.
As Volvagia tossed it into the air, Heatran turned around and retaliated with a Metal Sound. The incredibly loud noise stunned Volvagia, allowing the Lava Dome Pokemon to tackle it to the ground with another Iron Head.
Both lava monsters landed on the outskirts of Kakariko Village - the green, grassy ground being the perfect contrast to their starting arena. Not that it would remain that way for long.
As Volvagia roared in anger at its opponent of escaping its grasp, Heatran let out an even more terrifying roar in response - the Scary Face technique - slowing Volvagia and allowing Heatran to enact the next part of its plan. Releasing a large stream of fire from its mouth that began circling around Volvagia - the Magma Storm technique.
Volvagia wasn't impressed with its opponent's strategy, and attempted to escape the fire, but was surprisingly thrown back in by the force. Unable to escape, Volvagia roared in frustration.
Heatran: HEEEEAAATRAAAAAAAN!
Volvagia's dropped speed meant it was unable to dodge Heatran's follow up attack - the Stone Edge shooting up and impaling the fire dragon. The severity of the injury caused Volvagia to fall to the ground, where Heatran was waiting for it. Opening its large, steel jaw for a Crunch attack, Heatran caught Volvagia's head in its jaw, and began to bite.
Volvagia struggled to overpower Heatran's might, roaring in fury and defiance and firing fire breath down Heatran's throat, but all was in vain, as the Lava Dome Pokemon channelled all its physical might into the Crunch attack, crushing the skull of the Subterranean Lava Dragon.
K.O.
Heatran released the corpse of its opponent from its mouth, and began walking back to the volcano. Slowly. Up the entirety of Death Mountain. From ground level...
...This may take a while.
Meanwhile, Volvagia's corpse burned until all that was left was a skeletal structure, which faded away into dark energy.
Analysis[]
Boomstick: Whoa, what a "hot" battle! Oh wait, I should probably save the puns for later... oops.
Wiz: This one was tricky. Both Heatran and Volvagia were virtually immune to the other's fire attacks, and many characteristics like strength and durability were incredibly vague and hard to measure exactly. As a result, we had to work with what we had to discover their limits.
Boomstick: It was obvious Volvagia had the speed advantage, since he's a flying dragon who can react to speeds faster than anything we could reasonably scale Heatran to. But that didn't matter too much, since Heatran's Scary Face slowed him right back down again!
Wiz: Good point, Boomstick. Heatran's main advantage was its versatile arsenal, which not only let it weaken Volvagia to give itself the edge in physical attributes, but also work its way around Volvagia's fire immunity with its Rock and Steel type attacks.
Note: Volvagia had limited geokinesis with its ability to summon rocks from the sky, but since Heatran isn't weak to Rock type attacks, and given its natural bulk and durability, this alone wouldn't give Volvagia a win.
Boomstick: But what would Heatran's moveset advantage be any good for if Volvagia just picked it up and dumped it in the ocean? Couldn't Volvagia just overpower Heatran before it could retaliate?
Wiz: True. One way or another, this vital question remained. However, the difference in power was surprisingly well defined.
Boomstick: We knew Volvagia could create volcanic eruptions, which needed force somewhere in the megatons to pull off. There's a lot of unknown factors in how Volvagia was actually able to do this, and it likely doesn't reach higher than 10 megatons given how it's presented, but for the sake of argument, lets just highball it and say that he's about as strong as that.
Wiz: While Heatran has technically been defeated by foes weaker than that, like Lucario, its also gone face-to-face with Regigigas. While we can't say for sure how big the continents Regigigas can pull are, they'd have to be larger than Greenland for them to qualify. With this in mind, Heatran has been fighting on par with foes who's potential power reaches into the teratons.
Boomstick: And in their battle, Regigigas had help from the Lake Trio, three other Legendaries on top of his awesome power! Even if we undersell Heatran's power in this duel, he shouldn't be any weaker than 10% of Heatran's power, which would still make him stronger.
Note: Based on the power of the Legendary Golem Trio, who can also compare to Regigigas when fighting together, they were individually able to fight about as capably as Heatran (defeated similar opponents, power measures somewhere in the megatons at least etc.). This makes Heatran around 33% as strong as Regigigas if this scaling is accurate, though it's implied Heatran is supposed to be stronger than any one of the golems individually.
Wiz: With this in mind, Heatran should be more than capable of keeping up with Volvagia's power even before decreasing its stats, making this battle a far more decisive win than it seemed for the Lava Dome Pokemon.
Boomstick: Volvagia really heat-ran-ed up this battle, but was left to burn to "Death" on the "Mountain".
Wiz: ... Ok. The winner is Heatran.
Next Time Haiku[]
Combination ghosts
Don't feel fear, just push onward
Watch out for the spikes!