Blazing Spirit (Blaziken vs Machamp)
The blaziken landed heavily on the ground before the cavern, kicking up a small cloud of dust.
Embers sparked out of his legs and charred the grass around his feet as his wrists lit up in bright, furious flames. The fiery rooster glared into the cavern and let out a loud, defiant caw that echoed through the mountainous valley as his claws closed into determined fists. Today was the day.
For several moments, silence. Blaziken repeated his challenge with an even louder caw and spat out a gout of fire into the air. He planted his talons on the soil and crossed his arms, an annoyed snort slipping out of him as he waited.
Finally, a response came from within the cavern. A deep rumble shook the land and Blaziken's bones as the inhabitant moved from its position and slowly made its way outside.
Machamp, the humungous champion of the forest and strongest fighter in the area, walked out of his lair and growled down at the flaming bird that dared to defy his position. Unlike most of his kind, known for being fairly short, Machamp towered over Blaziken by almost half a meter. His sheer size and enormous amounts of muscle mass made him a living mountain of a pokemon, result from years and years of vigorous training and battling. The same years that had granted him the multiple battle scars littering his skin. He was old, but no less powerful than he had been during his prime.
Blaziken, however, didn't back down from the Champion's imposing glare; rather, his flames grew even brighter from his will to fight, the grass around him now freely burning from the intensity of his fire. He screeched his challenge a third time, itching to fight.
Machamp narrowed his eyes and crossed his four huge arms in thought, evaluating the arrogant youngster. Blaziken was clearly powerful, judging from the heat he emanated. The Champion had no doubt he knew how to use that power. To top it all, he was determined to win.
An interesting challenge indeed.
Machamp opened a fierce grin and pounded his chest with a fist, causing a loud thump. He then turned around and started walking towards his training grounds, beckoning the eager Blaziken over with his lower arms. He was briskly followed.
Within moments, the two pokemon, Champion and challenger, were standing on opposite sides of a large battlefield carved through the rocky terrain of the mountainside. Smaller dwellers had come to watch the battle from secure spots along the surface of the mountain. Mienfoo, machop, geodude, golem, meditite, all sorts of fighters and stone dwellers reunited to watch the battle about to unfold.
Machamp had his four arms crossed as he glared at Blaziken, who was across the field stretching, fire emanating from his crest. The Champion simply laced his two pairs of hands together and snapped his joints.
Once the fiery rooster was ready to begin, he took a deep breath and screeched defiantly across the arena, spewing a flame into the air. The Champion smirked and slammed a fist on his chest, before bellowing. The spectators echoed it with roars and cries of their own.
It then began.
Blaziken instantly planted his talons on the ground and burst forwards at unbeliavable speed, crossing the entire battlefield in less than five seconds. Flames freely blazed off his legs and charred the stone below, leaving brief trails of fire as he suddenly leapt towards the immobile figure of Machamp and threw his weight forwards for a devastating blazing kick to his chest.
The Champion grit his teeth and took on a defensive stance just in time to weather the massive blow head on. The kick barely budged the massive Machamp and the flames dispersed across his thick skin, and the fighter quickly threw a fist forwards to land a swift punch on Blaziken's briefly vulnerable guard.
The flaming bird gasped as the air was cleanly knocked out of his lungs and his body thrown away. He had the reflex to spread his body and roll along the ground once he fell, stopping halfway across the arena.
The spectators cheered at the succesful attack and celebrated the Champion's assumed victory, only to fall in silence as Blaziken suddenly jumped to his feet and cawed angrily, jets of flames shooting out out his wrists as he tensed and jumped.
Machamp looked up with narrowed eyes as his challenger flew straight across the battlefield and soared over his head, only to land gracefully right behind him. The Champion spun around in a fluid motion to chop towards Blaziken with his lower arms, only for the fire rooster to jump again.
Blaziken cawed as he used his momentum to strike a fire coated fist straight into Machamp's face, causing the huge fighter to stumble. The Champion reacted with blinding speed and met the following kick with an iron grip. Machamp yanked his opponent away and slammed him on the ground, before throwing a kick towards his ribs for good measure.
Blaziken narrowly managed to roll away from the kick before standing up fast enough to see Machamp chasing after him with clenched fists. The fiery rooster quickly recomposed himself to blast a huge stream of fire against his opponent to hold the Champion back.
The huge fighter grunted as the tongues of fire engulfed him, forced to shield himself with his four arms and back off from the intense heat. Blaziken shakily stood up while bathing Machamp in his raging inferno, decreasing the ones in his wrists to add on to the unrelenting assault.
The espectators were forced to back off as their Champion was engulfed in that enormous blaze, the heat becoming uncomfortable at that distance while the flames engulfed their vision in hot white. Machamp had stopped screaming. He seemed to have been lost in the growing inferno and succumbed to the might of the flames that roared hungrily against their target
Then, suddenly, a loud bellow filled the arena, surpassing the roars of the flames. The blackened figure of the juggernaut charged straight towards Blaziken, braving the inferno at a speed deceptive to his size. Blaziken gasped and tried to retreat, but a balled fist slammed hard into his gut and sent him crumpling to the ground, before a mighty kick hurled him away and onto the mountainside.
The powerful Machamp was panting and grunting in pain, shaking. He was covered in nasty looking burns that spread all over his chest and arms, which had mostly shielded his face. His entire body was charred, but the limbs had absorbed the worst of the damage.
Oddly enough, despite the heavy damage to his arms, the Champion looked somewhat bigger than before. The burns had triggered an adrenaline rush that only made him angrier and more dangerous the more he took hits. A complex web of muscle and veins bulged from within his skin, making him even stronger. Playtime was over.
Blaziken eyed the Champion from his spot in a daze, shocked at how well the fighter had taken such a massive hit. But he wasn't intimidated; no, if anything, this only made him more eager to win. His heart hungered for this challenge.
The fiery rooster struggled to stand, the devastating blows he took taking their toll on his body. But he wouldn't let up. He would come through.
Machamp silently watched as Blaziken got to his feet and emitted one more battle cry, before his entire body exploded in white flames as he unleashed all the power he had left. The Champion was forced to shield his eyes as the blazing inferno melted the rocky battlefield around the burning fighter and covered the entire arena in steam and smoke, heat waves freely blazing around.
The larger stone dwellers watching the match were forced to shield the smaller ones from the sheer heat coming from the battlefield, and even then they cringed. This was getting too dangerous.
The flames diminished until they surrounded Blaziken in a white blazing aura, and the fiery bird glared defiantly at the hulking form of the Champion, who had taken an aggressive stance and was currently tensing up.
In a blink of an eye, the two fighters clashed in the middle of the field. Blaziken screeched madly as he launched flurry after flurry of lightspeed kicks coated in white fire, too quick for the untrained eye to see. Machamp was silent as each of his four arms operated swiftly and smoothly like a well oiled machine, each darting forwards to block and counter each kick with precise chops and punches. Power, speed and experience clashed furiously to a stalemate, neither giving ground to the other. Blaziken's fire hurt the Champion badly, but also boosted his strength.
Eventually, however, the stalemate was broken.
Machamp's grip faltered for so much as a fraction of a second, and it was enough. One mighty kick slipped through his defenses and struck his chest with enough force to shatter a boulder into powder. The Champion had just enough time to throw one last chop against Blaziken's torso before being pushed away by the impact, skidding several meters back. Machamp dug his heels into the ground to steady himself, spitting some blood on the rocks before glancing up.
The broken, bleeding figure of Blaziken could barely stand as he glared at the Champion, his entire body engulfed in flames like a reborn phoenix. He knew for a fact he had broken bones, but the adrenaline kept him going. He knew this was it. He had to end this fight right now.
The fiery rooster reared his arms back and pumped every ounce of power he had left into one last, devastating strike, one that needed to get the job done. The fighter almost disappeared beneath the flames as they condensed over his body like a cloak of death. Blaziken took off, a burst of fire spreading after him as he rushed towards Machamp. The fiery rooster's screech was like a roaring fire as he crossed the field like a falling, blinding meteor.
The Champion narrowed his eyes and gritted his teeth as he regarded the massive blow that was to come. He couldn't hope to dodge this. He would have to retaliate and hold the attack as best as he could.
Blaziken blasted forwards like a blazing rocket, intent on crashing against the powerful Champion with his inferno and finish the battle. He moved closer, closer, ready to strike-
An immense impact slammed into the fiery rooster and knocked the breath out of him as Machamp suddenly intercepted the devastating attack with his mighty four arms and utilized the momentum to launch them both into the air with a backwards jump, squeezing his burning opponent tightly. The sudden jerking didn't put the flames out, however, and Machamp took high up in a fireball before starting his way down like a comet, falling down with Blaziken firmly in his arms. The burning fighter screeched in anger and agony as he desperately tried to force his way out of that deadly grip, but Machamp barely budged.
A second before they landed, the Champion stretched his arms and slammed the fire bird straight into the ground, before crashing violently himself.
The world shook from the vicious impact as the earth shattered like glass and burst beneath the massive force deployed by the Champion, a heat wave blasting out of the humungous crater the living comet had caused. Debris and dust rained across the battlefield and many towards the spectators, who had to run or cover each other from the projectiles.
Only when the debris stopped falling and the earth ceased to crack could they come back to see what was left.
Most of the arena had been uplifted from the force of the blow, and a huge crater lay at the center. The bottom couldn't be seen, but the sounds of pained grunts and something hitting the rock soon filled the air.
Blaziken was lightly thrown out of the hole, his form a broken, bleeding mess of limbs. He had clearly broken several bones and had cuts littering his body, but the fire rooster was strong. He would survive.
Machamp climbed up with difficulty moments later, his four arms hooking him out of the crater like a spider. He shakily stood up and stared up at the crowd, panting. The fighter's body was in a terrible shape: several burns of varying intensities seared his body, as well as a plethora of cuts and bruises. His sheer bulk had prevented serious lasting damage, although one of his lower arms seemed to struggle to stay up. He staggered for a moment and was forced to his knees, panting.
Not long after, the Champion shakily got back to his feet and pumped his four fists into the air with a savage roar of victory, prompting the stunned crowd to snap to reality and bellow triumphantly at their Champion's win, shooting attacks into the air and cheering loudly for Machamp.
The old fighter was almost overwhelmed by their noise, but a tired grin was plastered on his face. He would never get tired of this.
He looked down at Blaziken. The young fighter had given him quite a challenge, one he wouldn't forget so soon. There was room for improvement, but the fiery bird was quite a powerful opponent. He would be sure to keep an eye on this young fighter. He could go far.
It didn't matter for the time being, however. Machamp pumped his fists once again, smirking. He was the true Champion of the Mountain. And that was sure to remain for years to come.
Hello, and thank you for reading this far. This is the first chapter of a collection of one-shots involving pairs of pokemon fighting it out for whatever reason they may have. I intend on updating about once a week and I might accept requests, so long as it makes sense for these two pokemon to meet in the wild, meaning stuff like Glalie vs Magcargo isn't gonna happen.
Human trainers won't appear in this story, meaning the fighters won't know TM and Tutor moves unless given a specific reason to.
Thank you for reading! :)