Chapter XIV

Flying back to King's Landing, I noticed big smoke clouds from beyond the horizon. As I got closer, I saw an endless procession of refugees leaving the city. Screaming in terror when they noticed my dragon.

"Come on Alpha, let's check it out," I commanded.

The whole city was turned into an inferno. The walls and towers were crumbling. What was a fierce and proud fortress just a dozen hours ago, now looked like ancient ruins.

"Yo Finn, check this out, get back here!" I said over the audio connection we still had up.

"I can't, the game won't allow me," my little brother replied.

My private instance just got a little more private.

I started describing the scene to Finn, who apparently was in King's Landing as well. In his instance everything was still quiet and peaceful.

"I'm now moving towards the Red Keep," I reported, while Finn was setting up to watch my stream. "Gym guide is gone. Let me just fly up to the throne room instead… One moment."

There was a breach in the castle large enough for a dragon to enter the hall from which mighty kings reign.

"Entering now," I described the situation to Finn. "Wait, seems like there's something coming out of it… Oh fuck…"

"What's going on?" Finn asked.

"Kyurem! Big, big dragon incoming!"

"Holy shit!" Finn exclaimed as he established a live stream from my feed, witnessing everything I was seeing.

While my supersized Charizard circled the Red Keep, an equally enhanced version of Kyurem came flying towards us. On its back was the Night King, with his zombie skin and chilling blue eyes, giving me a sinister smirk.

It was mainly the Kyurem that sent a shiver down my spine. The ice dragon was one of the absolute ubers from the franchise. Meanwhile two health bars appeared on my user interface, indicating a Pokémon battle had begun.

"Do something! Attack!" Finn shouted.

I wanted to, but while the health bars did appear, the rest of my user interface was empty. It didn't show the level of the Pokémon or the menu that allowed access to usable items or the moves of my Pokémon.

"I don't know what attacks I can use, it doesn't show!" I screamed back at Finn.

At that moment my Charizard got hit with an Ancient Power, a rock attack. My enemy didn't wait for its turn to strike, it just did.

I noticed the health bar of my Charizard going down fast. Rock attacks are a double weakness for a Pokémon that is both Fire and Flying type. Coming from a powerful monster like Kyurem, this attack should be an instant knock-out.

Somehow my Charizard kept around fifteen percent of his health.

"Roost!" I yelled at it. "Roost! Roost!"

My one and only hope was that I could choose any attack Charizard is able to learn. Just like there apparently are no turns in this match, this restriction could be lifted as well. Like in the anime.

It worked. Charizard recovered half of its health, but my chances at winning this were still slim.

"You know why you didn't faint from that attack?" Finn said.

"Why?"

"The game made Charizard Fire/Dragon, it lost its double weakness," Finn explained. "He is what he is not, like the riddle."

This meant a couple of things. It took away a couple of weaknesses, but also added a few. Dragon types are weak against other Dragon types, for example. And Dragon type attacks are extra powerful when used by Dragon type Pokémon. One hit with one of these "STAB" (same-type attack bonus) moves and you lose this match no matter what.

My main focus was to avoid all attacks that damn Kyurem could unleash upon me. He now came in with an Earth Power.

"Protect!" I commanded.

My Charizard successfully blocked the attack. Kyurem instantly attacked once more. Now he shot an Ice Beam at us.

Using Protect twice in a row has a big chance of failure. There was just a second before the decisive Ice type move would hit and I panicked.

"Dive! Get out of range!" I simply yelled.

When I screamed "Dive!", I did not mean the Water type move. Charizard can't even learn that move. I only tried to instruct my Pokémon to nosedive away from danger. And it did.

"Wow! Did you see that?" I asked Finn.

"Awesome!"

"OK Charizard, one more Roost just to be sure."

The orange dragon now was at full health again. Kyurem unleashed another Ice Beam.

"Jump up and dash away!"

Charizard did just that. This was something else. Riding my dragon while he was battling in real-time and following up on every command was an adrenaline rush you did not often get to experience in regular gameplay on Satoshi.

The battle went on like this for multiple minutes. The dragons were dog fighting in the air, while the city below us was burning. Attacks were dodged and parried in thick smoke clouds. Some attacks did hit, but just barely. These minor scratches only lowered the health bars by a little. It was clear this match would only be won by a direct hit.

"Alpha," I commanded my Charizard, using its nickname. "Cloak yourself in the smoke and hide behind that big tower there."

The dragon let out a combatant cry and did as instructed. I kept my eye on the ice dragon and the Night King on top of it. They were up high in the sky after a failed attack a moment before. When they would turn around, we'd be gone.

"Easy now, Alpha. No more wing clapping, just glide in position."

We hid behind a tower that was still mostly intact. The bricks trembled when Kyurem let out a furious cry. Shortly after he went berserk, in a rage the ice dragon brought destruction to anything still standing up in King's Landing.

The destruction created a dense fog of smoke and dust that covered the city. I carefully took a peek of the mayhem and saw bright flashes in the mist everytime Kyurem used an attack. The dragon itself was barely noticeable. The light bursts created giant shadows of our foe in the haze.

"I have an idea," I said, realising I was now talking to Alpha instead of Finn. "Get ready for the grand finale."

I waited until the sound of destruction got a bit further away.

"Now! Alpha! Fly up high, above the clouds, towards the sun!"

Charizard followed orders. I could barely hang on to the dragon when it launched itself. A few seconds later we were up in the sky overlooking the chaos.

"Warp your shadow all over the smoke," I instructed. "Let's drive them crazy."

My Pokémon made all kinds of turns in the sky, creating the illusion he was right there in the mist with Kyurem. Our enemy soon noticed the decoy and attacked with a Draco Meteor, giving away his exact location.

"Now! Now! Get in! Dragon Claw!"

I didn't want to leave anything up to chance with a ranged attack. Charizard came down like an asteroid, crashing into the ice dragon and striking it with his razor-sharp claw.

Kyurem didn't know what just happened, it was a perfect hit. He shook spastically, throwing off the Night King. The big bad zombie leader fell down into the inferno, no longer smiling. His dragon followed right after.

"Great job, Alpha!" I cheered like a little kid. "Awesome!"

"Boy, if they made all battles on Satoshi work like this we might get a respectable player count again," Finn remarked. "Yeah, this was pretty awesome."

"Now let's check out that throne room, or what's still left of it," I said.

The Iron Throne with all its blades still stood intact, but everything around it was crumbling. This is where John Snow murdered his aunt-girlfriend in the show, after which her last dragon melted the pointy chair with his fiery breath. I told Charizard to do just that.

After the Pokémon turned the throne in a puddle of molten metal a small card appeared hovering above it. Black with chique white letters. It had only a few words.

"Congratulations! You're invited to ladies night at the Demon Gate."