Thanks for reading. I don't own Pokemon. As usual, reviews and constructive criticism would be appreciated.
Italics: Telepathy.
'Word': thoughts.
"Words": spoken words.
"Words": words spoken by Pokemon.
Ash looked to Serena to ensure that she held his Pokedex. At a nod from her, he gestured to Infernape and gave him the go ahead. Infernape took the initiative, charging towards the larger fire type with a Mach Punch. Taken aback by Infernape's speed and held back by the fact that he was pretty immobile thanks to his weight, Heatran was shoved backwards hard. "Follow up! Close Combat!" Infernape promptly started punching and kicking Heatran with the form of an MMA fighter. The Lava Dome Pokemon groaned as the blows rained down on him from all sides. Infernape soon stopped the barrage and jumped away with the grace of a dancer. He clenched his teeth in pain, however, Heatran's half-steel body made it hard to hit him without hurting himself.
"Dodge!" Snapping himself back to attention, Infernape leapt to the side as an Overheat blasted the spot where he had just been standing. He growled and retaliated with a Flamethrower, grinning when Heatran looked uncomfortable in it. The Pokemon may have lived in lava and heat, but it was still partly a Steel Type Pokemon. Fire attacks could hurt it.
Heatran's eye's glowed and he summoned a storm of rocks, directing them to land on or around Infernape. Infernape leapt to the sides and dodged around attacks, but eventually found himself boxed in. With only one way to go, he leapt high into the air… only to see Heatran charging a Flash Cannon. He desperately tried to reach the ground in time, but the Flash Cannon nailed him and sent him flying into the nearby wall. He groaned; the crash hurt more than the actual attack. Infernape gritted his teeth and pulled himself to hit feet, but his eyes widened as a Flamethrower flew at him. "Counter with your own Flamethrower!" Heeding his trainer's call, Infernape managed to hold Heatran's fire off with his own long enough to back out of range.
"Infernape!" Ash shouted. "Approach from above! It doesn't really look like he has a neck, so it's a blind spot!" The flaming monkey grinned and charged forward in Flame Wheel, using the wheel's velocity to gain momentum. As Heatran fired another Flamethrower, he jumped and stopped the Flame Wheel, managing to end up right above Heatran. "Straight down and Close Combat!" As Infernape let gravity take him down, however, he missed Heatran starting to glow a slight shade of red. Suddenly, Heatran's body sent out waves and waves of fire in all directions, even above him. Infernape was startled and was sent flying off his attack course. Heatran smirked. "I have ways to get around my blind spots."
The angry Fire Chimp leapt to his feet and screeched, both irritated and damaged by the very fast Magma Storm. Ash was awed; that was a new attack on him. It looked like an omni-directional Heat Wave! Infernape turned to Ash. He got the message pretty fast. "Want to try out some of your newer moves?" At the chimps nod, he grinned and nodded. "Okay! Thunder Punch!" Infernape's fist lit up with electricity. He kicked off the ground with immense speech and charged Heatran. The Lava Dome Pokemon tried to force Infernape back with a Flash Cannon, but the Flame Pokemon nimbly sidestepped it and slammed his fist into Heatran. The legendary Pokemon roared in pain at the electricity flowing into him. It may not have been a super effective move, but it was unexpected, and that made the pain much worse. "Follow up with Mach Punch!"
Infernape slammed another fist, this time glowing blue, into the steel on Heatran's back. Heatran roared again, but this time Infernape cringed and jumped back. His hands were once again hurt by punching the hard steel on Heatran's back. His attempt at an escape was quickly cut off by another Magma Storm before a Rock Slide nailed him. Ash winced as he noted Infernape's struggle to pull himself up. "Infernape, fall back! Use Flame Wheel!"
Heatran's eyes glowed as he summoned even more rocks from the sky to drop on Infernape, but the Flame Pokemon had none of it. He promptly curled up in Flame Wheel and managed to navigate through all of the rocks, making it back to his side of the battlefield without taking any extra hits. "Gotta work around that steel on his body somehow…" Ash muttered. He could have Infernape aim for Heatran's sides, but if the legendary Pokemon so much as leaned to the side that wouldn't help much. The Lava Dome Pokemon only had a few blind spots, and the best one was the one covered with the most steel on his back. Punching that would only hurt Infernape's hands more. Ash looked at Heatran for a bit. Sides, not an option. Head… too susceptible to Flash Cannon. Back wouldn't help, and even if it did Heatran had Magma Storm to defend that area. He winced when Heatran raised its massive, thick feet and slammed them onto the floor, starting shockwaves and knocking Infernape to the floor with an Earthquake. The seismic waves flowed out from underneath Heatran. "Wait… underneath Heatran… that's it!" Ash turned to his Flame Pokemon.
"You don't happen to know Smokescreen, right?" The Flame Pokemon shook his head slowly. "Okay… In that case, it's time to break out that new move from Professor Oak's lab! Ready?!" "You got it!"
Heatran stared at the Flame Pokemon and his trainer for a few seconds before he fired a Flash Cannon. The fire chimp once again easily hopped to the side. Heatran glared. That thing was too fast. He only seemed to be able to hit it by catching it off guard, and it resisted most of his attacks. He glared as a Flamethrower flew towards him. With glowing eyes he summoned part of a Rock Slide. A massive boulder blocked the attack. He waited until the whoosh accompanying the flames was no longer audible before firing a Flash Cannon through the rock and destroying it. To his surprise, Infernape was still standing exactly where he had started. He would have expected the Flame Pokemon to charge in using the boulder as cover… shaking off his surprise, he fired a Flamethrower at Infernape. The Pokemon dodged and charged in at his trainer's command. Heatran promptly summoned Rock Slide once more. "Strafe!" Ash shouted. Infernape promptly ran from side to side, letting the rocks crash into the ground behind him. Heatran was even more suspicious. Why wasn't it dodging with Flame Wheel again? Maybe he was tired or something…
"Go!" The Infernape reached Heatran and drew a fist back in a punch. Heatran smirked before firing a Flash Cannon at him, sending him flying into the wall. "Approaching me and not even using an attack? You're not as smart as I thought!"
Ash smirked. "Am I?" Heatran was confused by his smirk. He glared at Infernape, still embedded in the wall, and wondered what the Flame Pokemon was planning. To his immense shock, the Flame Pokemon looked at him, smirked, and vanished in a puff of smoke. His eyes widened, however, when he felt the ground below him tremble. He quickly raised his legs and prepared to smash them down in Earthquake, but was too late. In a blur of movement, Infernape smashed through the ground and nailed a dig into his soft stomach. Heatran shouted in pain and was toppled over by the sheer force of the attack. He landed on his bad, exposing his fleshy stomach to the air; the stomach that wasn't covered with a layer of steel. It was designed to look tough, but if he was entirely steel he wouldn't have been able to move much at all. So when Infernape leapt into the air and brought a Mach Punch down on his stomach, he almost passed out.
Ash grinned. "Infernape, time to finish this up! Jump into the air! Then use Thunder Punch with one hand, Mach Punch with the other, and combine them in close combat!" The command was complicated, but Infernape and Ash had trained and come prepared. The chimp leapt into the air. His left hand was cloaked in a harsh blue glow; his right surrounded by a yellow, crackling aura. Gravity took him back towards his target as he roared and repeatedly slammed his fists into the opponent. Heatran yelled in pain before his legs gave out and he gave into unconsciousness. Infernape hopped back to Ash and glared at Heatran for a few seconds before determining that it wasn't getting back up. He had won.
"Gah, that was painful." Heatran muttered as he dragged himself up. "What was that last trick? You shouldn't be able to learn Teleport…" Ash grinned. "A very well-timed substitute. That was why Infernape didn't use any moves, even when he was about to hit you. But we knew if you saw us using Dig you would just use Earthquake, so we had to distract you. Luckily it worked out."
Heatran nodded. "Impressive. Annoying, but impressive. Anyway, if you would leave me to heal in peace, I believe you have what you came for?"
Ash nodded. "Thanks again for the battle. You can make it back to the lava pool to heal, right?"
When Heatran nodded, Ash smiled. "Got it. Serena! Pikachu! Let's get back to the tree!"
Chapter 21: Complete.
Date Uploaded: February 13