Tournament Arc
Chapter 06 – Poison Touch

…

The sun rose over the temple into a cloudless blue sky. Excitement buzzed through the air like a horde of Beedrill. The anticipation of the previous day had only grown. No more pussyfooting around. It was time for the real fighting to begin.

The semifinals would run through the morning, bringing the numbers down to the final eight. After that, it was a mad dash to the end. Last man standing wins.

"Oh, my head."

Some would have a harder time with this than others.

"You drank too much."

"Wha, no, no it was only a couple."

Blaziken shook his head at his friend's rationalization, "When will you learn?"

"Learn what? Oh, my head."

What indeed.

"First bout, Blaziken versus Toxicroak. Fighters to the ring!"

"Looks like you're up," groaned Breloom.

"Perhaps you might take this chance to meditate, fix that headache."

"What head… oh, my head."

Blaziken snickered and shook his own head. He was consistent at least. You couldn't say he wasn't that.

Leaving his friend to ponder on the source of his cranial trauma, Blaziken stepped up to the stage. His opponent, Toxicroak, was already there, waiting. The two eyed each other from across the ring. Blaziken had seen fighters like this before, poison users. They were especially dangerous. Even a light jab could determine the outcome of a fight.

He had little experience fighting them, though he would readily admit it was better he fight this poison toad than Breloom. Even without the hangover the type disadvantage combined with this fighter's apparent skill might well have proved more than his friend could handle.

Time to see if he'd do any better.

"Fighters ready? Begin!"

Legs wreathed in flames, Blaziken descended on his opponent. Toxicroak retreated with haste in the wake of this flaming assault, dancing acrobatically around the stage.

It was taxing to keep the flames lit across both legs, but it was important he not let the poison toad touch him. For all the energy he was expending to remain ablaze, he would expend even more if he were to be poisoned.

Pursuing Toxicroak around the ring he proved extremely agile, staying just ahead of Blaziken and his flaming chicken legs. Changing up his strategy, Blaziken charged a Fire punch and slammed it into the ground.

The wave of fire was unavoidable and Toxicroak was knocked back by the force of the attack. He recovered quickly and rushed Blaziken with his toxic hands.

Unable to renew his own assault first it was now Blaziken's turn to play duck, duck, Farfetch'd. There was only one problem. His first step back almost impaled his foot on a glistening spike. There were a lot of glistening spikes and they were all around him.

The glistening he rightly suspected was poison. Poison spikes. Toxicroak must have been discreetly spreading them while bounding around the ring. The moment of hesitation cost him, and a Poison jab slid across his leg as he pivoted to dodge. Toxicroak didn't let up and pressed his attack with a series of lightning fast jabs.

Forced to watch his footing as well as his opponent, Blaziken darted around the shrunken ring, ignoring the growing tingle in his leg as he fought to avoid picking up anymore.

Following Blaziken's example, Toxicroak changed up his own strategy. Picking up speed, poison strikes became mixed with non-poisonous attacks. Assailed from a greater number of angles it was harder to simply dodge, he had to block.

Most of the attacks could be blocked, but doing so would allow his crafty opponent to feint in a Poison jab. It was a good tactic and given the urgency of his assault, Blaziken had little choice but to be drawn in and engage the toxic toad on his terms.

He blocked strike after strike, coming in much closer than he liked. Watching for the dreaded poison appendage to lash out, quickly avoiding each time it did. His absolute focus on his enemy caused him to forget about his surroundings. Right up until he stepped on the first spike.

He bit back on epithet which caused him to miss the next attack. The pain of the blow was nothing compared to the feel of the poison seeping in.

In a fit of anger, he exploded in flame. Hastily retreating, Toxicroak stood off, ready but waiting. He could afford to wait now. His poison was in. The fight was his if he could just run out the clock, so to speak.

Blaziken was painfully aware of this, feeling the burn of the poison in his foot and his gut. He had to end it, before the poison could end him.

Pushing the pain to the back of his mind, he surged forward like a flaming comet. Toxicroak evaded his attack and acrobatically bounced away from the follow up. The game was obvious now. Toxicroak no longer had to hit him. He just had to avoid getting hit till his poison did its job. His great agility made this possible, but Blaziken was not without his own tricks.

Plucking a trio of the poison spikes in a flaming hand he hurled them at the hopping fighter. Unprepared for such an attack he dodged one but took the other two straight on. Blaziken repeated this two more times then, with a flaming Low kick, sent an entire barrage of burning spikes shooting at the poison user.

Unable to dodge such a broad attack he covered himself defensively. The move protected his face, but blinded him to his enemy. The fight ended quickly, a half dozen burning kicks and Toxicroak fell to the ground unconscious.

"Toxicroak is unable to battle. Blaziken is the winner!"

He barely heard the referee declare his victory. His ears were ringing, and it took all his will to hold up the massive lead weights that were his arms while his whole body burned.

He needed to rest. Just for a few minutes. Yes, a few minutes wouldn't hurt.

"Gotcha buddy," said Breloom who appeared out of nowhere so Blaziken could pitch forward onto him.