Chapter 20
Desperation
"You've lost! Come quietly or die right here!" Paul threatened.
"I've come too far, and lost too much to give up now! I need that time gear! Even if I need to kill Azelf!" Nigel said defiantly, as if he was telling himself more than Paul.
Paul shook his head and replied "you're insane if you think anything you've done is justified. I'll show you the willpower that overcame Rayquaza, I'm not holding anything back!"
"Neither am I" Nigel replied coldly before rushing forward and slashing Wave in the legs so fast that Paul could barely react in time even with his adrenaline pumping.
Wave tried to get back up only for Nigel to slash him in the back, Wave was powerless against a foe with both a type advantage and such ludicrous speed.
"THAT IS IT!" Paul yelled, the change in the usually calm Charizard's voice startling Nigel.
The Charizard tore off his treasure bag and scarf, throwing them aside with his master ranked badge clattering on the crystal floor. Around his neck was a metal collar with a blue and black gem in it, one Nigel instantly recognized.
After a brief flash of light, Paul looked completely different, his body and legs were beefier and his skin had turned black with a sky-blue underside. Two spikes with blue tips curved upward from the front and back of each shoulder, while the tips of his horns sharpened, turned blue, and curved slightly upward. His wings were smaller and were divided in four sharp points.
Nigel mega evolved in response, knowing he would need his mega form to keep up.
Paul roared and rushed at him with blue fire pouring out of his mouth and his claws glowing with green energy.
Nigel dodged with precision, counterattacking and striking at obscene speeds, from an outside view two flashes of green and blue light were fighting. They eventually shoved each other back a ways.
Paul flew forward, eager to trade slashes again, but Nigel had found his opening, he fired a full powered dragon pulse, intending on ending the fight with this attack.
However Paul's will proved stronger as he disregarded the pain and smashed through the attack. Catching Nigel off guard he grabbed him and took him up into the air, doing loops and picking up speed causing a whirlwind to form in the cavern. Nigel couldn't move as the centrifugal force crushed him in place.
With a bloodthirsty roar Paul lobbed Nigel back to the ground with a seismic toss. The centrifugal force and the Mega Charizard X's absurd strength causing a massive impact crater about 10 feet wide.
Nigel opened his eyes only to see Paul charging a ball of fire in his mouth, he fired in right at Nigel's feet. The ball of deadly blue plasma embedded itself in the ground before pillars of fire erupted from the earth, the hellish inferno completely consuming Nigel before exploding, creating a plume of smoke so high that hit the roof of the cave.
Paul landed, breathing heavily but still able to fight, the blast burn had nearly drained him. As the smoke cleared he tensed slightly.
Nigel was on his knees, his mega form gone and the drain bangle smoking. The fire absorbing item had reached its limit and was only able to stop the energy rather than healing it's wearer.
Nigel managed to get to his feet, Paul just now noticed Nigel's treasure bag at the edge of the crater, he was a few feet from it though so Paul assumed he hadn't been in it.
"Had enough?" Paul asked sarcastically.
Nigel was breathing heavily, clearly exhausted but managed to say "Not….quite….yet"
Paul flew towards him, only for Nigel to turn around with a time gear in his hand. He held it forward causing a beam of blue light to erupt from the artifact. Paul could only go wide eyed as he was completely frozen in place. Nigel turned the time gear counter clockwise, in a flash Paul was back to normal with his mega stone around his neck. Nigel had physically reverted his body to an earlier point in time.
The time gear was smoking, Nigel dropped it, his hand burned and steaming. He walked up to Paul and grabbed his mega stone, tossing it aside before slashing him with three leaf blades, one on each wing and his face and a dragon pulse point blank. Paul was unfrozen and fell to the ground, bruised with two broken wings. He was unconscious before he hit the ground, thanks to the time gear both of his wings had broken at the exact same time, the agony was far too great for Paul to maintain consciousness.
Nigel went to his bag and devoured sitrus berry in two bites, his burned hand wasn't healing like the rest of his body though.
"Last chance Azelf, lower the failsafe and I won't harm you further" Nigel offered.
"Never!" Azelf replied, she was still too weak to move but spat in Nigel's face.
"So be it" Nigel admitted in a somber voice before a blast seed hit him in the chest, staggering him as two new Pokémon arrived at the lake. An Axew and a Chimchar that Nigel recognized from Mesprit's lake.
"You've got to be kidding me!" Nigel yelled.
"We're stopping you!" Alex said as firmly as he could, it was clear he wasn't brimming with confidence.
"I have not the time nor the desire to brawl with you rookies!" Normal said before summoning an grass energy ball in his mouth and firing it at Team Outriders.
Alex shoved Blaze aside and took his stance, bouncing it back at Nigel with Tutaminis. Nigel held out his hand and redirected it as well, throwing the ball aside with his own Tutaminis.
Nigel and Alex's jaws dropped at the same time, both shocked at the skill each other has just demonstrated.
"How do you know that!" Nigel demanded.
"I could ask you the same thing!" Alex replied.
"I'm gonna give you a chance to back off kid, stand aside or I'll have to hurt you!" Nigel said, genuine concern in his voice.
Alex grunted and took his stance, ready to redirect energy or fight up close.
"Sorry kid" Nigel said before shooting a dragon pulse at Alex, he held out his hand to redirect it but just before it connected he heard Ivan's warning in his head
"the super effective energy flowing through your body will overwhelm you, it would be like an attack hitting you from the inside out. The pain is unimaginable and if it's too powerful it can very likely kill you."
The energy of the dragon pulse poured into his body, attacking him on the inside, unfathomable pain poured through Alex, falling to the ground and seeing spots. His body was spasming with blue sparks around him. Luckily Nigel held back with the attack slightly, but even then the attack had come within an inch of killing him. He was unconscious but still flailing in pain for a bit before becoming still.
"NO! I WON'T LET YOU HURT ANYONE ELSE!" Blaze screamed, with tears pouring from his eyes.
Nigel fired another dragon pulse, sending Blaze flying, but as he got up a look of sheer and utter determination appeared in the Chimchar's eyes, a tornado of fire formed around him, the heat causing Nigel to stagger back, but his drain bangle was back to normal now and ready for any fire attack. He was hoping to have ended the fight with that attack, but it seemed as Blaze still had some fight left in him.
However, Nigel wasn't ready for his opponent's new appearance, When the flames parted Blaze was a whole foot taller, his eyes had a thick blue marking above them and a small, red marking in-between. There was now a white ruff of fur around his neck and gold bands around his arms near its shoulders. He now had a long orange tail with a flame at the tip.
The newly evolved Monferno charged at Nigel with a Mach Punch, his tail flame became a searing white, something Nigel instantly recognized as a Monferno's special ability also named Blaze. When on the brink of defeat, a Monferno gained enhanced attacking power.
Blaze landed Mach Punch after Mach Punch, he managed to knock the drain bangle off of Nigel's arm, but he was in such a blind fury that he probably didn't know what it did. He opened his mouth and unleashed a torrent of white fire, completely consuming Nigel. As the flames parted however there was nothing in front of him.
Blaze had no time to think as Nigel uppercutted him from beneath the ground, the dig attack finally knocking Blaze out.
"Does anyone else want to make a dramatic entrance!" Nigel yelled sarcastically, tired of outside interference
"I do" a cold voice announced.
Nigel froze, a chill running down his spine, it couldn't be him, not now. His worst fears were confirmed as Ivan appeared in front of him.
"It's been a long time, old friend!" Ivan said calmly.
Nigel shook his head and replied "you followed me, you followed even HERE! You're persistent beyond belief!"
Ivan chuckled and said "you expected any different? You're out of tricks so give up!"
"Come and get me!" Nigel taunted, unbeknownst to Ivan he was reaching into his bag behind him.
"So be it!" Ivan said as he rushed forward with a shadow punch, the blow never landed though as a luminous orb blinded his view. When he could see again Nigel was gone.
"COWARD! You can't run forever!" Ivan yelled before vanishing again, teleporting after his foe.
Azlef was barely conscious, she looked around to see all the fallen explorers around her, Nigel had bested her and 4 explorers in a row by himself! Only Ivan's last second arrival had saved her life, but Nigel was still at large.
Then in the distance Azlef saw a crowd of Pokémon led by a Wigglytuff with a guildmaster ranked badge, help had arrived just a few seconds too late. She lost consciousness soon after….
Authors notes- what a chapter, tell me what you think of the longest most involved action scene I've ever written. There was a lot of rapid fire info in this chapter so a few brief explanations below.
1. Yes! Evolution will work the normal way in this story, Alex will evolve once before the final arc in the time crisis, not sure when yet. This is to show them growing but more importantly to make the power levels more believable later on.
2. I made sure to show Nigel's limits, he would've lost to Paul without the reviver seed and the time gear. I need to have a way to make him winning against Paul seem believable so the time gear has powers without being in place, I mean they probably have powers of their own if they regulate and control time. Paul's final moves are actually from Pokken Tournament.
3. You may ask why he didn't use this instant win weapon until now, two reasons. Firstly it wouldn't work on the lake guardians, they are immune to the time gear's energy. The absence of one causes the time wave that can affect them. More importantly it's incredibly risky. The sheer energy burned his hand so bad a sitrus berry couldn't heal it at a reasonable pace. That will take some rest and more berries to heal. Use that energy too much it could cause a time stop blast or disintegrate the user. Fans of justice leauge unlimted will get the inspiration for Nigel using the time gear.
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