Chapter 49
The Fire Masters Part 3
The sun was high in the sky, and the arena was ready. There were two passages, at the front and the back to enter from. A few minutes ago the students were separated into two groups by Pele and Sadio. Cinder was back in the waiting area, so Blaze knew he was fighting Furno or Diego first.
The arena itself was large, about twice the size of the Dojo that it was behind. There were stands on the right and left to watch matches, despite being able to accommodate a full crowd, the only spectators were the three instructors, Pele, Sadio, and Kelvin.
Kelvin was the only instructor Blaze disliked, and as such had avoided interacting with him as much as possible. Kelvin was a large, red-and-yellow-striped Pokémon with an egg-shaped body. He had pink lips on his dark face and yellow, tubular arms with a black "band" on both and three small claws on the black part of each "hand". His legs were small in proportion to the rest of his body with pink thighs, red feet, and black shackles around his ankles. He had one large yellow flame on his head, as well as large red flames on his shoulders and tail. Additionally, he had four pink spikes on its back. The brutal Magmortor was focused on strength and success above all else, which is why he and Furno got along so well.
Pele stood up as Blaze's opponent arrived, it was Diego, much to Blaze's sadness. He had hoped to fight Furno first, that way whether he lost the finals or not one of his friends would win it all.
"Welcome to the Trail Of Skill, you will fight until one of you yields or is knocked out, now to oversee the rest of the Trail, Welcome the masters, Ran and Shaw!" Pele announced before setting down.
On cue, two black figures flew down with the sun behind them, once Blaze blinked the sunlight out of his eyes he saw the masters landing in the stands next to Pele. They were the most intimidating fire types he had ever seen.
Both of them were Charizards, slightly taller than Paul with jet black scales and red membranes inside their wings. One was wearing a metal collar with a tangerine-colored stone and a red mega evolution sigil while the other had a blue and black mega stone-like Paul's. The Charizard with the tangerine stone had a whited out left eye with a scar across it while the Charizard with the blue stone had a massive scar on his belly.
"I am Ran," The Charizard with the tangerine mega stone said.
"And I am Shaw, I look forward to seeing what you have learned," said the Charizard with the blue mega stone.
Blaze took a fighting stance only for Diego to walk up and offer him a paw.
"I really enjoyed training with you, regardless of who wins I hope we can still be friends" Diego admitted.
Blaze smiled and shook paws before saying "I feel the exact same way"
Diego nodded and walked back to the other end of the arena. In the stands, Pele, Sadio, and the masters smiled at the show of chivalry.
"Begin" Shaw ordered.
Diego opened with Pyro Balls, the balls of fire streaking towards his opponent to catch Blaze off guard.
Blaze sidestepped as the balls of fire sailed past, going for a brick break as Diego easily jumped away from before dashing in for a barrage of rapid kicks.
Blaze took a few hits before unleashing a shockwave of fire to knock his opponent back, Diego then went back to his ranged moves.
Diego retaliated with more Pyro Balls, and while Blaze understood his strategy completely, it was one he didn't have an answer for. In essence, he was using the balls of fire to keep Blaze off balance, before going in for a flurry of his trademark kicks. Pyro Ball was arguably the strongest physical fire type move, and only Raboots and Cinderaces could learn it.
Blaze's luck ran out as he was hit in the face by a Pyro ball, thrown to the ground. He struggled to get back up, it was clear Diego had him on the ropes.
"I'm better than this...focus," Blaze thought to himself.
Blaze focused on the fire coming towards him, sure it was a compressed ball of fire, but it was still fire. He felt the energy and managed to detonate the Pyro Balls right in front of Diego, causing a smokescreen to engulf the area
The Rabbit saw the light of Blaze charging an attack and blew through the smoke with a Hi Jump Kick, his foot glowing white. However, Blaze was nowhere to be found as he got through the haze. Diego hit the ground and his glowing leg sparked with red energy as it hit the ground. Hi Jump Kick's fatal flaw of recoil upon missing had finally caught up with him.
Diego bit back on the pain, Blaze had used the light of his tail flame to make him commit to the attack.
He turned to see Blaze with both of his fists glowing, with a brick break to the gut and head, Diego was knocked out.
"Blaze is the winner!" Ran announced triumphantly.
Immediately Blaze ran back to the waiting room and returned with a reviver seed. He broke it over Diego's unconscious body and healed him completely.
As Diego regained consciousness, he scowled at the ground before turning his gaze to Blaze and smiling.
Blaze smiled back and offered the Raboot a helping hand up, which Diego gladly accepted.
"Good match" Blaze complimented
Diego nodded and replied "Same to you"
The two of them walked up to the stands and watched as Cinder and Furno arrived in the arena.
"Begin" Ran ordered.
Cinder opened with a psybeam, but Furno ducked under it and tackled Cinder to the ground.
Cinder tried to throw him off with Psychic, but Funro punched her at a precise point on her head, a tactic Blaze instantly recognized. He had somehow learned about the mental pressure point, an incredibly rare feat.
Funro wailed on Cinder repeatedly, without her psychic powers her physical body was helpless again shush strength.
Furno punched for almost a full minute before Cinder tapped the ground and said "I yield"
Furno continued his assault regardless until Shaw stood up and shouted "ENOUGH!"
Funro finally got up as Diego and Blaze ran down from the stands to help their friend. Both of Cinder's eyes were black and her right cheek was clearly bruised under her fur.
Diego helped her to her feet as the defeated Braxien looked to Blaze and whispered "kick his ass" the two then limped off to the waiting room.
"ONE WIN TO GO!" Funro shouted as Kelvin had a smirk on his face, earning a disapproving look from Pele and Sadio. Even Ran and Shaw was somewhat distraught by the barbaric victory. It was clear Kelvin had taught him about the psychic pressure point.
Suddenly Funro began to glow, as it turned out he had finally trained up enough to evolve, this mental high point was all he needed. When the light faded he was much taller, his red nose bigger and he had large bushy black eyebrows and two tusks protruding from his lower jaw. Constantly burning flames covered the front of his neck and shoulders. He still had short legs and thick arms. His arms had orange upper portions while the legs had red upper portions. All of his limbs had black lower portions with thin yellow lines where the upper and lower colors meet. These lines were straight on the arms and spiked on the legs. The arms had red lines around the wrists and tufts of fur on the elbows. His hands were tipped with three claws, while the feet had two claws.
"Ready to lose?" The newly evolved Emboar taunted.
Blaze scowled and said "I'll never to lose to someone like you"
As the two headed to the edge of the arena Pele turned to Ran and said "this is unfair, and you know it"
The Charizard shook his head and replied "it is, but he evolved as a result of his victory, we cannot cancel the match"
Shaw ordered the fight to begin, and immediately Furno rushed towards his now smaller opponent.
Blaze dodged the hammer arm, which made a massive crater in the ground where it hit. He knew he was outmatched in strength, so speed was his best shot.
Furno chased him down and kept swinging, Blaze sidestepped again and brick braked his opponent in the face, however, this only seemed to anger the Emboar, who grabbed his opponent and soaked him into the ground before following up with a hammer arm.
Blaze felt the air being forced from his lungs, that blow could've easily broken a rib or two.
Blaze laid there, at the brink of passing out, but in his mind, he found the motivation to stand.
"I survived the storms of Amp Plains, I survived the dark future and I fought Dialga at Temporal Tower, I have come too far to lose now"
Funro chuckled at the sight of Blaze getting to his feet and brought down two hammer arms at once, but against all odds, Blaze stopped both arms with his own, the ground around him cracking as he sunk into the ground from holding back the attack.
"I overcame Dialga, I WILL OVERCOME YOU!" Blaze yelled as he unleashed a flamethrower right in Furno's face, it did little damage but it was enough to stagger him backward.
Blaze tail burned a hot white as his passive ability activated, this time however he was in complete control thanks to his mental training with Pele. He held his hand out flat at the ground beneath Furno, which sizzled before erupting into a pool of lava. The display of the rare skill earning a gasp from everyone, even Ran and Shaw.
"What...HOW?" Funro demanded as he began to sink into lava, even for a fire type, the molten rock was painfully hot.
Blaze didn't respond as he lifted his hands up, the lava bubbling before erupting into a geyser of lava taller than the stands, Funro still inside the hellish attack.
When the geyser finally stopped, the lava hardened instantly to reveal an unconscious Funro charred black and unconscious, but alive regardless.
"I win…" Blaze stated bluntly before passing out.
When Blaze woke up he was laying in a serene garden, a small fountain in the center surrounded by bushes with beautiful orange petals. He turned around and saw a massive wooden door that he recognized instantly. That was the door to the master's dwellings, and he was on the other side of it.
"Finally awake I see" Ran noted and he and Shaw landed in front of Blaze.
Blaze realized where he was and immediately kneeled in respect.
"Please rise, you have more than earned the right to stand in our presence" Shaw assured him.
"I'm honored to train with you, is Cinder ok?" Blaze questioned.
Ran smiled at the thought of his concern for his friends and said "Yes, she has made a full recovery, as for Furno, he was expelled and is recovering back in Noe town. Cinder and Diego have accepted the offer to train her next year"
"The both of us were very impressed with that display of lava manipulation" Shaw admitted.
Blaze gave a confused look and replied "I impressed you two?"
Ran nodded and revealed "It's an exceedingly rare ability, in fact, my brother here is the only Pokémon I've ever known to possess it" Ran said with a point to Shaw.
"I'm looking forward to passing on some of the techniques I've created for it," the Charizard said with unmistakable excitement in his voice.
Blaze smiled at them and really lied "I want to better myself, and I think this will be a major step"
Both Charizards nodded and said, "shall we begin?"
Author's Note- There you have it, the Finale of the Fire Masters, Blaze will reveal what the masters taught him when he meets up with Alex again...
1. You get a digital high five if you know what Ran and Shaw are inspired by without looking it up!
2. Up next is Alex's three-part journey, the Sun Gazer which will finally explain his inner power (Now that I have found the proper terminology and decided on a name)
3. Leave a review, I hope the action scenes were enjoyable, and I like having someone evolving mid-fight not giving them an auto-win for once!
