This is the second of four chapters today.
"That was cool!" Molly said, as her Spinda dissolved back into a sparkle of light. "Your Quilava's strong – and cute, too!"
Quilava ruffled her quills, standing on her hind legs, and smiled. Then fell over, the Dizzy Punches finally taking their toll.
"Actually, she's not mine," Brock revealed, returning the Fire-type. "I borrowed her off Ash."
"The Pokémon League Champion?" Molly asked. "He was only eleven, right?"
"Yeah, he was," Brock agreed. "Quilava's one of his new Pokémon."
He switched 'balls. "Okay, Stantler, give it your best shot!"
Stantler nodded, dancing back and forth a bit on his hooves.
"Oh, that's cute too!" Molly enthused. "Are Stantlers normally like that?"
"He's still a fawn," Brock explained.
"Wow." Molly beamed. "You've got good taste in Pokémon, Brock! Beautifly!"
Stantler looked up at Beautifly, and shook his horns. "Okay... let's see..."
"Use Stun Spore!" Molly instructed.
Beautifly flew overhead, spores dropping from its wings, and coated Stantler. He stumbled for a moment, then nearly froze and began visibly struggling to move.
"Great!" Molly said. "Now, use Mega Drain!"
Brock frowned. "Stantler, jump and then use Stomp!"
The Mega Drain attack focused in on the paralyzed Stantler – and did nothing.
Stantler sprang into the air, suddenly moving as agilely as ever, and slammed in a Stomp attack on Beautifly before coming back to the ground.
"What was that?" Molly asked, blinking.
"Stantler's ability, Sap Sipper," Brock explained. "Grass type attacks don't work on him!"
Stantler licked his lips, tasting the Stun Spores. "They're kind of tingly..."
"Okay!" Molly said, frowning. "If I can't use Grass attacks, I'll use Bug ones! Use Bug Buzz!"
The attack lanced down from Beautifly, hitting Stantler, and revealing him to be an illusion.
"Stantler can make illusions from their horns," Brock explained, as Stantler melted back into visibility... possibly. "He's good at it!"
Molly pointed. "Enough playing around! Use Silver Wind on the whole battlefield!"
The attack built and focussed – then spread out, covering every square inch in dusty, energized scales.
Stantler cried out, his illusion fading and revealing his location.
"Get him now!" Molly told her imagined Beautifly. "Hurry!"
Beautifly produced a Gust of wind, which knocked Stantler over, and then hit him with an Aerial Ace as he tried to get up.
"You win that one," Brock said, returning Stantler. "Good job, Stantler."
He picked up the other ball he'd been lent. "Heracross!"
"Hmmm..." Molly considered, as Beautifly shattered back into sparkles. "Ponyta!"
With a flash of blue and white light, a Ponyta appeared – one with blue flames crackling from its mane and tail, not red/orange.
"A Shiny Pokémon?" Brock asked. "Interesting."
"Flame Charge!" Molly called.
Blue flames swirled around Ponyta's hooves, and he whinnied before charging forward in a shower of sparks.
Heracross stood in a wide stance, awaiting Ponyta's arrival, and then nodded his head forwards. His big horn dug into the ground, lifting up a slab of the arena floor, and he brought his head up in a sharp movement – heaving the slab into the air, and knocking Ponyta back.
"That's clever!" Molly grinned. "But why don't you give some Pokémon orders, mister Brock?"
Brock kept one eye on the Ponyta as it regained its footing, and began to canter in a wide circle to build up speed. "Some Pokémon are well trained enough to fight mostly on their own. Heracross is one – he's another of Ash's new Pokémon."
Ponyta came back in, hooves striking sparks on the floor as he accelerated into a Quick Attack.
Heracross blocked, crossing his arms across his chest, with some success. He then jumped into the air and opened his wing cases, fluttering up into the air with the wings usually concealed beneath.
"Good move!" Brock called up. "Keep your distance! Can you use Aura Sphere from up there?"
Heracross' reply was to put his arms together and concentrate. Slowly, a ball of blue energy began to form.
"Don't let him finish it!" Molly ordered. "Bounce!"
Ponyta reared up, giving another whinny, and pranced forwards. After three steps, he crouched down, nearly to the floor... and leapt.
"Look out!" Brock called.
Heracross was already moving. He closed his wings with a clack, dropping down even as Ponyta reached his top height, and fired the Aura Sphere.
It hit Ponyta's glowing hooves, out in front as he dropped, and produced a cloud of smoke. The smoke-cloud hid the results, but the subsequent impact produced a shockwave which tugged at hair and fur all around the battlefield.
When it faded, Ponyta was coming to his feet – and Heracross was unconscious, half-buried in a crater at least four feet deep.
"...wow," Brock said, blinking.
"Shiny Pokémon are the best!" Molly said, stroking the Ponyta as it came over to her and then dissolved. "Ready for the final match?"
She winked. "I've already won, but you did say it was going to be all six!"
"Yeah, that's right." Brock produced a Pokéball. "Crobat!"
"Ooh, a Crobat." Molly looked contemplative, then conjured her last Pokémon. "Pachirisu!"
Brock raised a hand. "Can I switch to Geodude, please?"
"Nope!" Molly giggled. "You're a gym leader, you should know these things!"
"It was worth a try... Crobat! Poison Fang!"
"Dodge it!"
Pachirisu bounced from paw to paw, then jumped in the air over Crobat.
"Thunder wave!"
"Air Slash!" Brock said quickly, hoping to deflect the electric attack.
Molly turned to Entei with shining eyes. "This is so much fun, papa!"
The Pokémon nodded gravely. I am happy, because you are happy.
"Okay, here we are," Ash said, as they reached a sandy beachfront. "Second floor."
He glanced over at his friend. "You ready, Misty?"
"You bet!" Misty gave thumbs-up. "If Molly wants a fight, she's not getting a Cascade badge easily!"
"You've got a full team, right?" Ash checked.
"Of course I have." Misty ticked off on her fingers. "Kingler, Totodile, Squirtle, Staryu, Gyarados and Seadra. They're the strongest, pretty much."
"Why is Staryu stronger than Starmie?" he asked.
"Starmie is basically a specialist," Misty replied. "It works best with Psychic attacks. Staryu is a general combatant, and better at underwater battles."
"Right."
They were interrupted by a blue flash, as Molly appeared in front of them – Entei beside her.
"That still seems weird," Ash muttered. "I mean, I know this is kind of her dream or something, but..."
Molly had a shiny Boulderbadge pinned to her clothes. "Hi! I beat Brock, the Pewter Gym Leader – so who's next?"
"I'll battle you!" Misty said. "The rules for my fight are that it's six one-on-one battles, and that I'll only use Water type Pokémon!"
"Right!" Molly nodded. "I'll only use Water Pokémon too!"
She gestured, a smile on her face, and the sea rose in a colossal wave that broke over the shore and kept rising.
Ready this time, Ash and Misty took deep breaths. They waited until the water had come over their heads, and then – not without some trepidation – started breathing normally.
"Hee, do you like it?" Molly asked.
"It's pretty cool," Misty agreed. "I've used a rebreather before, but this is a lot closer to being a Water Pokémon myself."
Ash tapped Misty's shoulder, then swam off towards the stairs. Misty took out a Pokéball as he did, and spoke up. "Right! It's time for the first battle of your Cascade badge challenge, Molly! Go, Totodile!"
Totodile materialized, and looked around. "Hey, an underwater battle!"
"That's right," Misty agreed.
"That's another cute Pokémon!" Molly said, smiling. "I'll face it with a Spheal!"
"Hiya!" Totodile said, waving.
The Spheal looked a bit blank.
"Spheal!" Molly called, swimming up a bit. "Use Ice Ball!"
Spheal bounced up and down. "Spheal!"
It rolled into a ball, and started trundling along the floor. As it moved, ice started to form around it, gradually increasing in thickness.
"Uh-oh..." Misty said. "Totodile, start by swimming out of the way!"
Totodile nodded, and swam upwards, beating his tail to add to his momentum.
"Don't think you can get away that easily!" Molly pointed. "Spheal, keep using Ice Ball, and use the ground to bounce up!"
"Spheal!" the pudgy Water-type said, accelerating. It ramped up on a small hill, and began churning the water as its ice coating grew.
"Uh..." Misty frowned. "Do you know Scald, Totodile?"
Totodile shook his head.
"Right. Get above it and use Water Gun!"
Totodile swam upwards again, as fast as he could, and just managed to clear the oncoming Spheal. His Water Gun was visible as a stream of distortion, and in the way that the Spheal's icy layer went rapidly down towards the floor again.
"Follow it and keep using Water Gun!" Misty ordered. "Then use Headbutt as it hits the beach!"
"Got mmf," Totodile mumbled. He let up his water gun for a moment to speed up, then fired the 'gun again.
Spheal's ice hit the sand of the beach, and cracked slightly as it found a rock underneath. Then Totodile's headbutt hit, and the cracks widened.
"Oh no!" Molly said, as the Ice Ball shattered. "Quick, use Bubblebeam!"
"Bite!" Misty called. "Wait a second – Spheal don't learn Bubblebeam-"
Totodile clamped onto Spheal's tail.
The Ice/Water type thrashed about to try to get him off, but he hung on grimly.
As it turned out, however, Molly's imagined Spheal did know Bubblebeam. Totodile was pummelled badly by the stream of white bubbles, and his grip started to loosen.
"Totodile, hang in there!" Misty called. "Slash!"
"Aurora Beam!"
The Ice attack froze Totodile in place, and Spheal managed to break free.
Misty sent out her next Pokémon - Gyarados. "Can I thaw out Totodile first?" she asked.
"Sure!" Molly nodded, as Spheal dissolved.
"Okay, Gyarados," Misty ordered. "Flamethrower!"
Underwater, this basically resulted in Scald.
Once Totodile was thawed and returned, Molly sent her own Pokémon out. "Mudkip!"
Gyarados gave voice to a loud moan.
"Okay, Gyarados, you've got the advantage," Misty said. "Use Dragon Rage!"
Gyarados produced a blast of multicoloured flames.
"Mudkip!" Molly shouted. "Dig!"
Down Mudkip went, burrowing into the sandy bottom with ease.
"Stay on alert, Gyarados..." Misty swam up, looking around for where Mudkip was going to come back out. "You don't want to be caught by surprise."
"Mudkip!" Molly called. "Use Hydro Cannon!"
The seafloor erupted in a colossal geyser of water which barely missed Misty and sent Gyarados rocketing off into the distance.
"Two for zero!" Molly said, making a V-sign. "What's next, Misty?"
Misty scowled, returning Gyarados. "Staryu!"
"Mantine!" Molly's Mudkip dissolved, replaced by a Mantine. "Use Whirlpool!"
The Mantine came swimming smoothly forwards, and circled Staryu at speed. Faster and faster, it produced a swirling underwater twister (not Twister) which imprisoned Staryu.
"Rapid Spin!" Misty ordered in return – this bit, at least, was familiar.
The Whirlpool fragmented and then burst apart under the counter-rotation of Staryu's attack.
"Wow," Molly said. "I didn't know there was an attack that did that."
She looked determined. "Okay, Mantine, use Take Down!"
Misty waited until Mantine was close. "Thunder wave, Staryu!"
"What?" Molly asked, then winced as the electric attack crackled into the water and made her fingers tingle.
"Thunderbolt!" Misty added, as Mantine was caught and paralyzed by the crackling electricity.
"You're strong, Misty!" Molly said, her Mantine falling apart in a cloud of sparkles. "Milotic!"
"Seadra!" Misty said, throwing the Pokéball in a backspin.
Seadra looked at the Milotic, and rolled his head around a bit. "Right!"
"Still no news from the ongoing situation in Greenfield," Roxy said to camera. "We've been hearing analysis from Professor Ivy on the likely situation, but it is all just speculation I'm afraid. Professor Samuel Oak has been contacted about the presence of the latest Indigo champion, a trainer from Pallet, at the scene – however, he has declined to comment."
"Roxy," her cameraman said, interrupting her. "Look!"
He tilted the camera, and Roxy followed his gaze. "Oh, my!" After a moment, she composed herself, and turned back to the camera. "It appears that new developments are indeed taking place here outside the Hale mansion. A large Charizard has just flown overhead and is taking up a position over the mansion. It's circling quite high, but is definitely orbiting the mansion directly."
She pressed a finger into her ear. "What's that?"
Pause.
"I see. I've just been reminded that the champion, Ash Ketchum, is known to have a Charizard. As of yet we don't know if this is his Charizard, but it can't be ruled out."
Charla stuck her head out of the window. "Hey, everyone! You should see this!"
"Wait..." Liza said, as Charizard flew in from all over the valley. "That is the kid's Charizard, right?"
"It is," Charla agreed. "He flew off about half an hour ago."
"Huh."
"Hang in there, Seadra!" Misty called, wincing. "Bubblebeam!"
"Water Pulse, Milotic!" Molly replied.
The attacks hit one another, producing an explosion.
"Now use Wrap!" Molly said quickly.
Seadra tried to evade, but was caught by Milotic's long body.
"Oh, no..." Misty said as Seadra was squeezed. "You can do it, Seadra! Come on!"
Seadra struggled. "I... can... do this!"
He thrashed about, fins working hard, and energy swirled around them.
"That's a Dragon Dance!" Misty said, recognizing it. "Good! Keep it up!"
Milotic squeezed tighter. "Milo-tic!"
The energy of the Dragon Dance built in intensity, growing until it was painful to look at.
"Twister!"
There was a stream of multicoloured energy, which swirled around like a tornado. Then it suddenly intensified, and exploded outwards.
Misty sculled the water, steadying herself, and blinked.
"What was that?" Molly asked, looking towards the battle. Then a Dragon Pulse hit her Milotic, and it passed out.
Kingdra swam over to Misty as the shock waves died away. "I did it!"
"You certainly did!" Misty swam out to meet him, and rubbed his neck. "Good work!"
Kingdra nodded, leaning into the rub.
"Well done," she added. "Time to get a well earned rest."
She returned him with a flash of light.
"Two each," she said. "Let's see who wins!"
She then realized what she had to do, and sighed. "Okay, here we go... Squirtle!"
Molly blinked at the glasses-wearing Squirtle. "Is that another of the Pokémon that boy Ash has?"
"That's right," Misty confirmed. "Worse luck."
"Then I'll send out my Eevee!"
Misty waited for the flash of blue light.
It didn't come. Instead, an Eevee swam over from the direction of Entei, and turned into a Vaporeon in a flash of white light.
"Vaporeon," it announced.
"Right!" Squirtle took his sunglasses off, and flourished them. "In case you haven't met me, I'm the badass Squirtle who's the leader of the Squirtle Squad! In case you haven't met them, I'm the Pokémon who runs the most awesome group of Pokémon this side of Sinnoh! And in case you're so strange that you don't even care about all that, then you should still know I'm the most awesome Pokémon you're going to meet in this – you're not even understanding this, are you."
By the time he reached the end of his patter, he was looking a bit downcast.
"Vaporeon."
"What was he saying?" Molly asked Entei.
I didn't understand it. All the words made sense, except 'badass', but I don't understand how he fit them together.
"Whatever!" Squirtle crossed his arms. "Since you're a Water type, I'll handle you the badass Squirtle way!"
He pulled off his shades and threw them.
"Acid armour!" Molly ordered quickly.
Vaporeon faded to the transparency of the water itself, and the shades passed right through her without connecting.
Squirtle's expression as he silently caught the returning shades was a picture.
"Fine," he said eventually, as Vaporeon's head reformed. "Be that way."
With that, he pointed to the heavens.
Water began to swirl around his arm.
"What attack's that?" Molly asked.
"I have absolutely no idea," Misty confided.
Vaporeon tilted her head. "Vaporeon?"
The swirling intensified, and began to build into a current that tugged at the feet of the battlers. Misty swam quickly over to a rock, and Entei bounded forwards to give Molly a place to grip.
"What are you doing?" Misty asked, then looked up.
She gaped. "You're draining the whole battlefield!?"
Squinting, she spotted Vaporeon resolidifying next to Molly. A moment later, the water level dropped past the former beach they were on, and left them all high and dry.
Then Squirtle launched the attack skywards as a tiny blue drill of water.
"Gotcha!" he announced, using his free hand to throw his shades again.
Startled, Vaporon was hit by the pair of sunglasses, and they pinned her to the floor.
Squirtle sat back on his tail, and grinned. "Three, two, one-"
The tiny blue drill of water arrived back down again.
Directly on top of Vaporeon.
And exploded.
"That was weird," Ash said.
Pikachu stuck his head out of the bag. "Yeah. What happened to the water?"
"Squirtle, I think," Ash replied, looking down.
Then he yelped. "Ack! Here it comes again!"
Pikachu stuck his head back in the bag, and Ash started to take the steps four at a time.
"I win," Squirtle concluded, pointing at the concussed Vaporeon.
No-one answered him.
About twenty seconds later, Misty finished swimming back over. "Explain."
"It was awesome!"
Misty recalled him, unable to come up with a meaningful counter using words.
Then she looked over at Molly, who was coming back over on Entei. "I think that means I win."
Molly's lip quivered. "Not if I win this last one!" she said. "Then it's a draw!"
"Okay, fine." Misty nodded. "Kingler!"
Molly glanced back uncertainly at Entei, who nodded.
"Uh... um... Mom!"
Misty blinked. Pardon?
There was a silver-and-blue blur, and a Suicune stood next to Molly. She hugged it, and it nuzzled her gently before turning to face Misty.
"Wait. That's your mom?" Misty asked, thrown.
Molly is my daughter. If she loses, she will not be happy. So I will make sure she is happy.
Misty took that in. If Molly had not only created an Entei as her father but also a Suicune as her mother...
"Ash, I hope you're okay," she whispered. Then, as Molly retrieved her Vaporeon (which reverted to an Eevee as she picked it up), she took a deep breath of the breathable water. "Okay, Kingler, think you can do this?"
"I can certainly try."
Ash finally reached the top of the long stairs, legs aching a little.
"Nearly there," he said, and Pikachu made a wordless sound of agreement. "Let's hope we can sort this out quickly..."
"Amen to that." Pikachu unzipped the bag. "Who are you going to want with you?"
"That's why I didn't lend out you or Lucario. You need to be ready." Ash looked around the bedroom, and saw a sleeping Molly Hale – the real one – on the bed. "Okay." He took a steadying breath. "Here goes."
Ash walked forwards, towards the sleeping girl. "Molly?" he said.
A growl came from his left, from the other side of the bed.
"Huh?" he asked, turning. "What's-"
Raikou tackled him, moving very fast. His paws swiped at Ash, achieving only glancing blows, but the sheer weight and speed of the imagined Legendary Beast sent him tumbling backwards towards the window.
Leave us ALONE!
Raikou roared, sounding like thunder rolling directly overhead, and electricity crackled from his fangs. A Thunder attack shot towards Ash as he charged towards the trainer again.
Pikachu pulled his top half over the lip of the backpack's zipper, and fired a thunderbolt of his own. It intercepted Raikou's thunder, and the attack crackled down it into Pikachu – absorbed harmlessly, though the force of it made Pikachu gasp and his cheeks snap and crackle.
Pikachu couldn't do anything about the second body-check, though. That hit Ash as he tried to reach Lucario's Pokéball, and sent boy, bag and Pokémon smashing out the thin crystal of the bedroom window.
"Brother?" Molly asked, blinking and rubbing her eyes. "What just happened?"
Raikou was about to answer, when an earsplitting roar came from outside accompanied by an orange blur and a rush of wind.
"I've got you," Charizard said, cradling Ash in his forearms. "Lucky I got here in time."
"Yeah." Ash nodded, glancing back to make sure Pikachu was okay. "Thanks, Charizard."
"Pleasure."
"We've got trouble, though," Ash added, as Charizard lifted him to dragonback. "That wasn't Entei, it was a Raikou."
"That could be a problem," Charizard admitted. "My attacks work a bit better, but his work a lot better."
"How are we going to do this?" Pikachu asked. "Lucario needs solid ground, he's wasted up here, and he weighs a lot as well."
Ash replied by retrieving Lucario's Pokéball, expanding it, and pointing it. "Go!"
The Aura Pokémon materialized on the side of the tower. Taking in the situation at a glance, he ran up on blue-glowing paws towards the window.
With a creaking rumble, a crystalline shard grew from the base of the window. Raikou ran out onto it, and launched a powerful Electric attack at Charizard.
It knifed in, then curved towards Pikachu and dissipated. In reply, Charizard exhaled a Flamethrower, and Raikou jumped nimbly aside.
At that point, Lucario reached him, and threw an Aura Sphere which connected with the surprised Pokémon. It didn't look like it had done much, though – as Charizard banked around for another run, Ash could see Raikou kicking out at Lucario with undiminished ferocity and charging a second Thunderbolt at the same time.
"This is gonna feel weird, Charizard," Pikachu warned. "Thunder armour!"
Electricity snapped and crackled out from him, running up Charizard's wings and along his body without causing any pain or damage.
"Tingly," was Charizard's main reaction. He aimed carefully, and Flamethrowered into the melee – just missing Lucario, and scoring a hit on Raikou.
"They're too close together," he reported, speeding past, his wings producing faint snap sounds as the thunder armour equalized charges. "I can't hit Raikou with anything big for fear of getting Lucario as well."
"Just use Dragon attacks?" Ash suggested.
"Worth a try."
Charizard pulled up, rolling in a wingover, and then dove again on the battle. Halfway down, a second Legendary joined the fight on the window platform.
"That's Entei!" Charizard said in surprise. "Does this-"
"I've no idea where the Raikou came from!" Ash called back. "We saw Entei first!"
Charizard didn't reply, too busy retargeting.
With Lucario engaged in a close-quarters fist-and-aura fight with Entei, Raikou was free to lope much further out on the platform and attack him.
By the same token, he was free to attack Raikou without worrying about friendly Fire. A Fire Blast roared out, the five-pointed explosion clipping Raikou as he dodged and blowing him off the platform – though the Electric-type Beast simply landed on a second platform which snapped out from the tower to catch him, and resumed attacking Charizard.
One attack was caught by the thunder armour, the second one – stronger or just better aimed – strained it to the point that Charizard's wing took a hit, and he winced.
"How are you doing?" Ash asked.
"Fine," Charizard assured them, banking wide. "Any ideas?"
"You could try blowing up the ground they're standing on?" Pikachu suggested, cheeks glowing as he maintained the armour.
"Sounds good," Ash agreed. "Charizard?"
"Worth a try." Charizard angled down slightly, and fired. This time, his attack was aimed not for Raikou, but for his support.
The crystal exploded into fragments, sending the Beast falling, but within seconds another grew. Then a bolt of lightning crackled out at Charizard, who was forced to roll to snatch his wing away from the danger zone.
Ash clung on. "Whoa – wait!" His voice took on an urgent tone. "Look out, Charizard!"
Charizard let out an ulp of surprise as more crystal shards grew from the side of the tower. Racing along them was a determined-looking Suicune, who opened her mouth and blew a barrage of Bubblebeam at the flying Pokémon.
"All three?!" Charizard snarled, indignant. "This is not what-"
A Hydro Pump went just overhead, forcing him lower. The quick-footed Suicune kept the attack up, maintaining it over Charizard and driving him towards the ground in an attempt to force him to crash or take the hit.
Frowning in concentration, Pikachu jumped from the backpack to Ash's shoulder. Clinging on with all four paws, he launched a Thunderbolt from his tail at Suicune, giving her a shock and forcing her to give up the hydro pump for now.
Wings hammering, Charizard gained enough height to get over the former greenhouse which stood in his path, and a dodge to the side avoided a spike of greenish-purple crystal as it tried to impale him.
Snorting, he banked wide and began to charge a Dragon Rage.
Lucario fought with one eye open and one eye closed. Mixing aura sense and eyesight, he ducked around the more powerful Fire attacks and endured the less powerful ones with quick shields of Protect. The physical blows, he was mostly forced to allow to hit and merely roll with them or tough them out.
Entei lunged, paw ready to bat him aside. Lucario countered by reversing his left hand and hitting the forepaw with the back of his wrist – deliberately making the sharp spike there dig in, and producing a surprised and pained roar like the sound of an erupting volcano.
"Papa!" the girl, Molly, shouted.
Entei stepped back two paces, and spat a Flamethrower at Lucario. The Fighting-type dove out of the way, landing on one outstretched hand. Pivoting on it, he formed an aura sphere with his feet and kicked it back at Entei, who jinked to one side to ensure it missed.
Lucario kept on the move, jumping to the wall and sticking there briefly before kicking off as a Fire Blast shot towards him. The blast from the explosion buffeted him, but he stuck a three-point landing behind Entei and kicked out viciously as the Legendary turned.
Entei whoofed as air was driven from his lungs by the blow, snarled, and leapt forward with a spark-strewing Flame Charge. Lucario used a Protect shield to help mitigate it and dropped low for a leg sweep, trading blows with the result he rolled once before coming back to his feet.
A Fire Blast rumbled in as he stood, and Lucario fired a hasty Aura Sphere to break it up enough he could dive through the flame and ride it out. Unable to gather his bearings, Lucario elected to jump as high as possible the moment his feet hit the ground on the other side, and the follow-up Flamethrower attack only singed his tail.
Forming two Aura Spheres, one in each hand, Lucario rammed them together to create a cloud of smaller ones which went in all directions before homing back in on Entei. The big Fire-type jumped clear, but the spheres changed direction to follow him and hit in a series of tiny explosions.
Lucario was by this point breathing heavily – close quarters combat at this kind of a disadvantage was making him spend Aura like water to avoid taking a heavy hit, and he wasn't sure how much longer he could last.
He jumped back down again, the push and gravity combining to add force to his Mach Punch, and Entei leaped aside once more. Lucario cancelled the attack, turning his momentum into a forward roll, and found his way to Entei blocked by a crystalline spire which had risen out of the ground.
Entei rounded the spire, mouth glowing orange as he used Fire Fang, and Lucario readied a Force Palm to knock Entei's head to the side and ward off the attack.
The tower shook slightly as something exploded outside.
AN:
As part of my desire to make the movies have permanent consequences, Misty's former Horsea has achieved his goal of turning into a Kingdra. (Turns out a gigantic string of Dragon Dance and a load of Unown bending reality can substitute for a dragon scale.)
Onto the enormous battle!
I did say I'd turned up the threat level a few steps.
