Chapter 21
A Battle of Mega Proportions
The crowd watched in stunned silence as the glowing meteor smashed into the stadium floor. Not a second later, a violent tempest tore through the air as an explosion erupted from the point of impact. Debris was flung at the psychic barrier around the audience, shattering to dust upon impact. Many of the audience flinched from the sheer volume of the explosion, most of whom were unaccustomed to such battles. Treble himself was hurled through skies, unable to fly straight through the shockwave that followed the attack.
The guild members in the stands all watched with either awe, horror, or worry from the damage that the blast caused. Up in the guildmaster box, Aodhan was looked especially ecstatic while Tobias wore a mask of impassiveness.
A large plume of smoke billowed from the stadium, shielding the entire ground from view. Up above, the two mega Charizard hovered above the destruction, both looking triumphant in their attack.
"Ha! How'd you like that, pup!" Spire jeered at the smoke. He laughed madly as he looked down at the smoke, confident that he had finished off his foe. "I guess you couldn't take the heat!"
He was met with no response, something that made him increasingly giddy. Landon glanced at his brother and shook his head before casting a sympathetic look towards the obscured stadium, feeling slightly guilty over the intensity of their attack.
"WHAT A SPECTACLE, FOLKS!" Treble shouted, slightly winded after fighting to stay in the air. "A BRUTAL COMBINATION FROM SPIRE AND LANDON HAS COMPLETELY SHIELDED THE STADIUM FROM VIEW! I'M NOT ONE TO COUNT MY TORCHIC BEFORE THEY HATCH, BUT I BELIEVE THAT THIS IS THE END OF DJ AND COLLIN!"
"Hmph, might as well call the match now," Spire boasted. "Their both done."
Up in the stands, a certain Charmeleon was shaking his head. "Whelp, it's over," he said. "I said that they wouldn't be able to handle that kind of fight, and now-OW!"
Rubbing the back of his head, he whirled around to snarl at the Frogadier that had just hit him. "What the hell was that for?!"
"You don't know that they've lost," Katara hissed venomously.
"Oh, really?" John said snidely. "News flash, sweetheart, your buddy's part steel type. That attack was both a grass and fire oriented move. There's no way he could-OW! Quit it!"
"Don't call me 'sweetheart'," Katara said coldly, raising her hand threateningly. "You may not have faith in him or your leader, but I do, so shut your mouth!"
"Okay, okay," John said, leaning away from the irate water type. He turned away from Katara, grumbling to himself. "Damn water types and their denial of the obvious."
Katara growled angrily, but said nothing. Instead she looked back towards the stadium, her webbed hands clenched into fists.
DJ, she thought. Please be okay.
-Legend-
Back in the stadium, the smoke was just beginning to disperse. Spire waited impatiently in the air, growling every go often. He ignored Treble as the Chatot continued to shout to the audience over what they had just witnessed. He crossed his arms, tapping a claw against his arm in an irritated manner.
Finally, having enough of waiting, Spire flew down to the ground and started beating his wings rapidly. He stirred up a small gust of wind that assisted in dispersing the smoke cloud.
"Come on already!" he shouted as he beat his wings. "I want this to be over with already!"
Spire's shiny counterpart sighed exasperatedly before he too assisted in the dispersal of the smoke. With both twins flapping their wings, the smoke was being blown away at a much quicker pace. Soon, part of the cracked and broken stadium floor could be seen.
Spire grinned a bloodthirsty grin as he saw that damage they had caused. As more smoke was blown away, the visage of two figures could be seen, still slightly obscured. Slowly, the Charizard's grin fell into a frown before becoming a completely gobsmacked expression.
"No way..."
In the center of the now fading were two figures; one kneeling and one standing. On one knee, looking little worse for wear, was a slightly panting DJ with a bruised and battered Collin standing in front of him, his arms in a crossed guard.
"Impossible," Landon murmured, mirroring his brother's sentiment.
"Man that was close," DJ whistled appreciatively, looking up at the Blaziken. "You okay, Collin?"
"More or less," Collin said with barely concealed pain. "Thankfully both fire and grass type moves aren't very effective against me."
"Still, that was quite the hit," DJ commented, getting to his feet, albeit rather shakily. He glanced up at the two mega evolved Pokémon and grinned crookedly. "You two are a lot tougher than I thought, though I guess I shouldn't be too surprised."
"You seem awfully calm given your situation," Landon commented, slowly descending until he was a few inches off the ground.
"Situation?" DJ asked curiously.
"Of course," Landon said as Spire flew next to him, sending the Lucario a scathing look. "You can't honestly expect to beat us in your present state."
DJ looked over himself and Collin before chuckling sheepishly. "Heh, I guess you're right."
Spire smirked victoriously, thinking that DJ was about to surrender. He was unpleasantly surprised by what the Lucario said next.
"Then I guess, I'll have to change my current state."
Both Charizard blanched at the Lucario's blatant remark. "What the hell are you on about?!" Spire growled angrily.
"Well, since you've shown us your mega evolution, it only seems right to show you mine," DJ said slyly, raising his arm and bringing attention to his bracer and mega stone.
"Hey! Don't leave me out," Collin exclaimed in offense.
"Huh?"
"You're not the only one who can mega evolve here!" Collin retorted. He reached up and parted the tan feathers that fell over his chest, revealing a silver necklace with a tan and red orb in the center.
"Oh, you can mega evolve too?" DJ questioned.
"Obviously," Collin responded with an eye roll.
"Well alright then," DJ said, cracking his knuckles and giving the two megas a toothy grin. "Then let's get started."
All at once, both of the the fighting type's stones shone brightly. A familiar red light engulfed the duo, encompassing their forms and altering them.
-Legend-
"They can mega evolve?!" Red exclaimed, shocked, angry, and in awe all at once. "I thought that bracer was just for show!"
"I told you," Aquila commented with a smirk, "as far as Lucario's go, he's one in a million."
-Legend-
"Since when can Collin mega evolve?!" John ranted angrily over not knowing this information. The rest of his team looked just as shocked at the Charmeleon but all of them were relieved that their leader was okay.
The rest of Team Stardust was cheering rowdily over this turn of events, completely ignorant to the glares that were getting from the stands' other occupants. Katara clasped her hands together, a smile splayed over her lips.
"Thank Arceus."
-Legend-
"WHAT?!" Aodhan roared in anger and denial over what he was witnessing. "That can't be!"
"Wha'? You didn' think tha' your lot were the only one's tha' could mega evolve, did ye?" Bour questioned, laughing hardly at the glare that was sent his way.
"I must say, it is surprising that they hid this power for so long," Echo commented, looking at the now smirking Gallade. "Is it a fighting type tendency to not go full out until the very end?"
"Possibly," Tobias commented slyly. "Though I have to admit that I find myself pleasantly surprised over this development."
"You mean you didn't know that they could do this?!" Aodhan shouted.
"No, I gave them all a month of training on their own, free of missions," Tobias answered truthfully. "They both have clearly made incredible leaps in power in that time."
-Legend-
Back in the stadium, the red light had finally faded from the duo's new forms. DJ form looked more or less the same with some changes. His paws, feet, and tips of his aura sensors -which now reached the small of his back- appeared to have been dipped in red pain. Black lines stretched over his arms and legs and his 'mask' looked more jagged and sharp. He possessed two spikes on both of his paws and feet along with two that pointed out from the front of his shoulders, in line with his center spike. The tan fur on his chest had grown longer and looked a lot more shaggy. The back of this fur trailed down forming a large bushy tail.
Collin now had black markings on his upper legs and chest. The tan feathers on his head took on a wing-like shape and pointed upwards while the portion around his chest and shoulders also appeared rougher. The antenna-like crest on his head had changed into a horn that was bent back, similar to a small shark fin. The flames around his wrist were now in two long ribbon-like streams.
DJ rolled his neck and stretched his arms. "Man," he said, "it's been a while since I've been in this form. I hope I'm not out of practice."
"I guess we'll find out," Collin responded, smirking at the shell-shocked dragons.
Spire spluttered incoherently as if he did not fully comprehend what he was seeing. Landon too looked shocked, but he schooled his expression. After several seconds of gaping, Spire seemed to find his voice. "W-Well d-don't think that this will make a difference! We still have the type advantage!"
"Because that helped you before you mega evolved," Collin pointed out.
"I think we've talked long enough," DJ said, cutting Spire off before he could retort. "Let's just end this."
"Yes, let's," Spire growled, extending his wings in a show to make himself look bigger. Behind him, Landon prepared himself for the ensuing battle, but Spire ignored him in favor of trash talking. "This won't take long, I promise you. Soon, you'll both be on the ground begging for-"
He was cut off as a red blur dashed past him at dizzying speeds. Spire turned around just in time to see Collin crash into Landon, catching his brother off guard with a thunder punch to his stomach. Landon roared in pain as he was thrown across the stadium floor, the now incredibly speedy Blaziken hot on his trail.
Spire growled and was prepared to assist his brother when a sudden chill traveled down his spine. "You're not part flying any more," a voice said from behind him, "so this will hurt. A lot."
Spire turned his head only to be met with a glowing bone that crashed into the side of his face. Reeling back in pain, Spire shook his head in attempt to alleviate the spots in his vision. Just as his vision came back to him he was met with a relentless barrage. With twin bones in his paws, DJ was ruthless in his attack. Spire was hard-pressed to block let alone dodge the Lucario's attacks and with his type resistance gone, each hit did a considerable amount of damage.
Growling in frustration, Spire released a stream of blue flames at the fighting-steel type, forcing him to leap back to dodge. Trying to capitalize, Spire shot forward, flying low to the ground and channeling dragon type energy into one of his claws. Just as he was about to slash at the Lucario, he banished his bones and met the attack with a metal claw.
Spire's eyes widened in surprise as the claw that formed over the Lucario's paw was a lot larger and sturdier looking than they previously had been. The two claw attacks met the other with a loud clang, generating a plethora of sparks as they scraped against the other.
Seeing the look of confusion on the Charizard's, DJ could not help but to smirk. "Don't look too surprised. My ability now is adaptability. Meaning, any move I use that is my own type is strengthened. Which means-" He pulled back in off hand as a bright orange swirl of energy engulfed it, "-this is gonna hurt!"
Before Spire could react in defense, DJ buried a powered up power-up punch to the fire-dragon type's stomach. Air escaping his lungs, Spire was sent flying away from the aura Pokémon. After several yards he smashed into the ground and skidded to a stop. Slowly getting to his feet, the sound of fighting from behind him drew his attention temporarily from the Lucario to where his brother and the Blaziken were fighting.
Landon was in as much trouble as Spire was. He had taken to the air and shooting flame bursts at the mega evolved fire-fighting type, but he was having no luck. The Blaziken avoided each ball of fire with obvious ease and if that was not bad enough, he seemed to be getting faster with each passing second.
Frustration clear on Landon's face, he dove straight down towards the blaze Pokémon, his wings coated in flying type energy. Unbeknownst to the Charizard, Collin smirked at the action. He waited until the last second before sidestepping and smashing thunder punch into the Charizard's face.
Caught off guard, Landon was sent reeling off course and crashed into the ground, digging up a small trench as he did so. Just as he was getting up, Collin had appeared in front of him and snapped his head back with a swift sky uppercut.
"Pay attention!" DJ suddenly shouted, snapping Spire back to his own fight. Before he could react he was hit with another power-up punch that had enough force to send him back to the ground.
Cursing himself for his own inattentiveness, he lashed out with a dragon tail, catching DJ off guard and tossing him back a ways. He then flew towards his brother as quick as he could.
As if sensing the encroaching dragon, Collin leapt straight into the air and avoided the Charizard. Stopping immediately, Spire turned his attention to the sky and flew after the Blaziken. Just as Spire was about to reach him, a large aura sphere, almost half his size, exploded against his side, sending him careening. As he tried to straighten himself, Collin descended upon him and sent him to the ground with a swift, but powerful, double kick.
Seeing his brother crash to the ground, Landon glared angrily at the Blaziken and flew at him with wing attack. However, like his brother, before he could get to the fire-fighting type, he was met with resistance. Seemingly out of nowhere, DJ appeared before him and before Landon knew what was happening, he was sent to the plummeting back to the ground by a power-up punch.
With both Charizard on the ground, the two dual fighting type's landed gracefully. The crowds roared in approval as the previously determined underdogs were gaining the upper hand once again. Treble himself seemed to be at a loss for words at this stunning turn of events. Neither Collin or DJ paid attention to any of this however. Their gazes were firmly on the two mega Pokémon who were just starting to get to their feet.
Both Charizard were covered in multiple bruises and scratches and both looked pissed. They glared hatefully at the two representatives from Gallade's Guild, neither being able to comprehend how things had changed for them. They noted that both DJ and Collin looked just as injured as them and both were panting from exertion. They were all on their last legs.
"Enough of this!" Spire roared, practically foaming at the mouth from frustration and anger. He took to the skies, his brother following closely behind. When he was just above the first few rows of the stadium he stopped and glared down at their enemies. "THIS ENDS NOW!"
The flame on his tail exploded with new life as blue flames began to swirl around his mouth. At the same time, Landon began to gather energy from the increased sunlight, forming a greenish-yellow orb in front of him.
Seeing this, DJ cupped his hands to his side and began to draw upon his own aura. The wild flames of aura began to come together and expand into a large burning sphere that grew until it was his size. Collin too began to draw his own power. His mouth/beak was wide open as red hot flames began to coalesce in his throat.
"RAH!" With a roar, Spire released a fire blast, almost twice the size as his previous one, with his remaining energy at the duo. Landon soon fired his own attack as well closely behind, causing the two attacks to fuse together.
"RWAR!" DJ met Spire's roar with one of his own and released the wildly swirling ball of aura at the incoming attack at the same time Collin unleashed a powerful flamethrower. Like the Charizard's attacks, Collin's flames mixed in with the large aura sphere making a large sphere of what appeared to be blue fire.
The two attacks raced towards each other and met in the middle, creating a large shockwave that tore through the stadium. Even behind the barrier, the audience could feel the intensity behind both attacks and shivered at the power they were emitting. Treble was forced to take cover lest he get caught up in the hurricane generated by the two attacks.
The two attacks pushed against the other, neither one seeming to be able to overcome the other. Electricity lashed out, tearing against the stadium floor and the barrier. Then, the blue sun began to slowly push back against the fire blast/solar beam combination. Spire and Landon, with their energy all used up, could only watch in horror as the flaming aura sphere began to tear through their attack, absorbing some of the energy as it did so and swelling in size.
After several seconds, DJ and Collin's attack completely cut through the Charizard's attack and hurled straight towards the two fliers. Unable to dodge, the now hill sized attack engulfed the duo and exploded with a blinding flash of light and a shockwave strong enough to crack the psychic barrier.
Several audience members screamed in shock as several cracks began to appear in front of them. A couple psychic types fell unconscious from the amount of power they forced into the barrier to keep it from collapsing.
The shockwaves steadily began to peter out along with the the blinding light. Almost tentatively, the audience glanced back towards the center of the stadium and saw a large cloud of smoke in the sky. All at once, two objects fell from the smoke and crashed into the ground, kicking up dirt and debris upon impact.
They all sat on the edge of their seats, craning their necks to see what had fallen. As the dust settled, it could be seen that there, laying splayed across the ground, unmoving, were Spire and Landon. Both out of their mega forms and unconscious.
A second passed as the audience processed what they were seeing before an earsplitting applause roared through the crowds and shook the coliseum.
"AND THAT'S IT, FOLKS!" a frayed, ruffled, and overall disheveled Treble exclaimed over the roar of the crowd. "BOTH DJ AND COLLIN HAVE PULLED OFF AN AMAZING COMEBACK TO WIN THE BATTLE FOR GALLADE'S GUILD!"
If possible, the cheers grew even louder.
-Legend-
"No...way," John mumbled, mouth agape. "They actually won?"
"Oh ye of so little faith," Katara said smugly though inwardly she was sighing in relief.
"Geez, that Lucario of ours never ceases to impress," Jet said appreciatively.
"W-Well if it wasn't for Collin, he wouldn't have won," John said. "That's a win for Team Sunburst."
"Weren't you the one saying that they couldn't win?" Blitz deadpanned causing the Charmeleon to splutter indigently much to everyone's amusement.
-Legend-
"It appears your trust was well placed," Veil said stoically to Asura. "Were you aware of their ability to mega evolve."
"I had my suspicions about DJ, but I was not aware Collin possessed the ability as well," Asura admitted.
"Even so, they showed some true grit," Sobek commented reluctantly.
"It still would have gone quicker if I had been allowed to fight," Kimberly grumbled sourly.
Asura sighed and shook his head. From the corner of his eye he noticed the other members from Charizard's Guild edging away from Guise, who was clenching the railing around their box with enough force to dent the metal.
"That can't be good," he muttered to himself.
-Legend-
"And that is why you always wait for the ending before you make assumptions," Tobias laughed merrily.
"Man, Tobias, those two are really something," Plate said, still in awe over the destroyed arena.
"Your guild is certainly full of powerful members," Echo said, sounding slightly envious.
"My dear, every Pokémon has the potential to be great. All it takes is the will to become strong," Tobias said, glancing at Aodhan. "Those boys of yours are a perfect example of that, Aodhan. They both are incredibly strong for their age. You should be proud."
"Hmph," the Charizard grunted noncommittally, doing his best to ignore the laughing Bour and the dancing Emrys.
-Legend-
"Phew," DJ sighed tiredly, collapsing back on his rear. In a flash of red light, he had reverted to his normal state. "That was close. I didn't think we could pull that off for a second."
"You and me both," Collin stated, reverting back as well.
A groan from the two Charizard pulled the duo's attention towards their defeated foes. Slowly, the two fire-flying types were beginning to stir and move around.
"We...lost?" Spire muttered in disbelief.
"It would appear that way," Landon said, hissing in pain.
DJ frowned before clambering to his feet. Collin sent the Lucario a confused look as he walked past him over to the Charizard. "DJ?"
The aura Pokémon did not respond and continued to walk over to the duo. Spire noticed his approach and growled angrily. "What? Come to gloat?"
DJ remained silent with an unreadable expression on his face. His silence seemed to anger the Charizard who looked ready to explode. Just as Spire opened his mouth to shout at the silent jackal, DJ thrust out a paw to him. Caught off guard, Spire gave DJ a confused and slightly wary look.
"What's this?" he questioned.
"Offering an olive branch," DJ commented dryly before looking sheepish. "Or rather a paw of friendship."
"Why?"
"Because, that was a fun battle." Spire appeared startled by that response.
"It was...fun?"
"Of course. I haven't been in such an intense battle since my fight with Luke a few months back. It really got my blood pumping and I want to have another one at some point."
Spire took one look at the eager expression on DJ's face before laughing out loud. DJ frowned at the laughing Charizard and huffed in annoyance, "What's so funny?"
"Haha. You fighting types are all the same," Spire laughed. "All you think about is fighting to the point where you can't walk." He wiped a mirthful tear from his eyes before pinning DJ with a penetrating look. "What make you think that I want to fight you again?"
"Because we still have a score to settle." At Spire's confused look, DJ clarified, "You've beaten me once and now I've beaten you once. We still need a tie breaker."
Spire looked at him funny before chuckling, "Idiot." He grabbed DJ's paw and allowed himself to be pulled to his feet. Once back on his feet he gave the Lucario a challenging grin. "Don't think you'll beat me come next time. I underestimated you this time. That won't happen again."
"Whatever you say," DJ shot back, giving the larger Pokémon a matching grin.
The two rivals tightly gripped the others hand/paw before separating; Spire moving to help his brother and DJ walking back to Collin. By that point several medics rushed out onto the field to assist the four of them in healing. Soon all for of them were on stretchers -much to DJ's ire- and were being escorted out towards the stadium exit. As they passed the other competitors, DJ locked eyes with the other Lucario.
"Who's a disgrace to our species, now?" he questioned, a cheeky smirk on his face.
Red glared at DJ, but nodded in both acceptance and respect for the former human. DJ grinned at that and happily allowed himself to be carted off to the infirmary where he would most likely be a long night. He just hoped that it would be better than the infirmary at his guild. Not every infirmary could be that bad.
-Legend-
He was wrong. All infirmaries were evil.
Several hours found DJ sneaking through the shadowed halls of the coliseum. He had tried to stay the night, he really did, but he just could not do it. The former human was not sure what it was about infirmaries and hospitals that made him just want to escape, whether it was the idea of being forced to stay in one place or some other factor, DJ was not sure, but he just could not stay in infirmaries.
Spire, Landon, and even Collin were allowed to leave before nightfall, but he, having sustained a numerous amount of damage from super-effective attacks, was confined to a night in the infirmary. He had tried to argue that he was fine, but the Wigglytuff in charge of him was adamant. So here he was sneaking through the corridors with no set goal in mind.
Adrenaline still pumped through DJ, further prompting this midnight stroll. The battle had been hard fought and intense to the point where his heart would start to beat quickly at the mere thought. He could not wait for their rematch.
He was pulled by his thoughts by a distant scream reaching his ears. Acting on pure instinct, the Lucario dashed in the direction in which the scream came from. A few minutes into his run and DJ was panting, his still healing injuries making themselves known, but he just ignored it in favor of finding the source.
Down the winding corridors he went, following the steadily growing screams of pain until he came upon a single door at the end of a hallway. Recognizing it as one of the rooms where competitors were staying for the games, DJ approached cautiously. He slowly crept up to the door, placed an ear to the door, and listened.
"...don't you think that's enough, Guise?" DJ heard a voice said.
Malum, DJ thought, recognizing the voice. That means this is the room for Charizard's Guild.
"I'll tell you when it's enough." DJ snapped out of his thoughts as a cold voice cut through the silence. He nearly jumped when a second round of screaming started. Curiosity getting the better of him, DJ activated his aura sight and gasped at what he saw.
Both Spire and Landon were sprawled across the floor writhing in apparent pain. Their limbs twitched as if electrocuted and pained screams tearing from their throats. Before them were their teammates, all of them possessing looks of sympathy and fear, save for one.
DJ felt an involuntary shiver run down his spine as he focused on the last member. The Gengar was smiling cruelly down at the withering Charizard at his feet. His aura was all wrong. It was permeated with darkness and vileness, reminding DJ of Luke when he had been exposed to the dark well.
How could someone let someone like that into their guild? DJ thought to himself in disgust before focusing on the darkness Pokémon.
"This is what happens when you lose," Guise said coldly. "This is what happens when you bring shame to my guild!"
The ghost-poison type seemed to release a pulse of some kind of energy that DJ barely detected. It rushed towards the two Charizard and seemed to enter their bodies. Not a second later, both brothers were writhing in pain once more.
DJ gasped at the sight. He's hurting his own teammates?! he thought incredulously. What kind of sick creep is this guy?!
Unfortunately, his gasp did not go unnoticed. The Gengar's attention snapped away from his two victims to the door. The ghost Pokémon's gaze seemed to reach past the door and find DJ's. For what seemed to be an eternity, Guise seemed to hold DJ's gaze with a slight frown. Then, as if understanding something, his usual smile crept over his face.
Seeing the Gengar grin snapped DJ out of whatever feeling it was keeping him trapped in place. He deactivated his aura sight and fled from the door, knowing full and well he was in no shape to fight against the Gengar and possibly the others.
I have to tell the others, he thought as he hurried down the hallways, determined to put as much space between him and that Gengar as he could.