Author's note: College is still currently kicking my butt. Expect the next one to be late too
;A; Sorryyyy!
Chapter 16: Shiva Part 2
Brawly glared furiously at his two opponents.
"Here I come," Brawly said. In a blink of an eye, both Brawly Mega Medicham disappeared. For a fraction of a second, Beatrice could see Mega Medicham's fist flying through the air toward her face, but couldn't react. She was sent flying like a torpedo. Lucia swung her head.
"Beatrice!" She howled.
"I'm your opponent!" Brawly cried. Lucia swung her head to Brawly. Brawly clenched both of his fists as he disappeared in a flash of light. Suddenly, waves of ultraviolet light flew like projectiles toward Lucia. The young challenger's body lurched about as though she were being pelted by a million arrows. The mixture of Psychic and Fighting type energy pounding onto her body at near light speed was overwhelming. Pain washed over her entire body as she staggered back, and immediately she felt her back bump into Brawly's. She spun around, and her face met with Brawly's elbow. It dug into her nose. As Lucia grabbed her nose in pain and stumbled back, Brawly's eyes shined with psychic power. The Seven golden arms that were attached to Brawly's back shined as well.
"AAA-TATATATATATATATA!" Brawly bellowed a high-pitched battle cry as he and his golden fists rapidly punched Lucia with so much force that the girl's feet slowly from the ground. "AAAAAATAAAAAA!" Brawly cried as Lucia was sent flying by a final uppercut. The girl was sent flying straight into the ceiling As Lucia flew, she grit her teeth and flipped in mid air. Her feet touched the ceiling before she darted herself after Brawly with a battle cry. She raised her dragon-flame sword and kept Shelgon close, as though he were a shield.
Brawly looked up at her as she came and leapt straight after her. From a spectator's view, the two were like stars that were about to collide, and once they did, Lucia thrust her sword. Brawly narrowly dodged before landing a punch straight into Lucia's face. The girl was sent flying all over again into the ceiling, her body slamming onto it back first. Lucia tried to pry her body off the ceiling as Brawly flew after her.
"Shelgon!" Lucia freed the arm that had Shelgon attached to it and shot him at the gym leader. "Flamethrower!" Shelgon opened its mouth and released a blazing torrent of flame at Brawly. Just before the flame caught him, Brawly wordlessly shot his palm at the flame and fired a Focus Blast directly at the fire. The Focus blast pushed the Flamethrower right back to its sender in an instant. Lucia cried out in shock before the focus blast reached the two and exploded on impact.
Meanwhile- Beatrice threw flaming kick after kick at the Mega Medicham, who ducked and swerved to dodge. The Pokémon grabbed Beatrice's leg as it brushed past its cheek and used its immense strength to lift the girl off her feet. The Pokémon held onto her with both hands as he threw her over its shoulder. Beatrice's body was sent flying like a shuriken. She crashed into a wall from her side before falling toward the ground back-first. Suddenly, Medicham came crashing down onto Beatrice's stomach knee-first and slammed the ground with intense force. Beatrice's armor protected her from harm- but she could feel the intensity of the impact once her body touched the ground.
Mega Medicham's eyes shifted once Vulpix let out a battle cry. It spun his head and couldn't dodge the Quick attack that knocked him off of Beatrice. Vulpix's trainer quickly sprang to her feet.
"Darn it.." Beatrice said. She turned her head to Vulpix, who stood beside her. Her Pokémon looked like he was trembling in weakness. The attack she received earlier was transferred to him. She then looked at Mega Medicham. Mega Medicham looked extremely displeased. It was as though he were looking down at them as weaklings.
"That's the look I used to give other trainers..." Beatrice said. "When I know I've outclassed them in every way…. Now you're giving me that same look," She shook her head as she chuckled lightly at the irony of the situation. "Your arrogance will be what brings you down..! You've made a mistake, underestimating us!" "You haven't outclassed us! Vulpix and I… We won't let you look down on us!" Vulpix roared his name in agreement.
The explosion from the Focus blast Lucia and Shelgon were hit by finally began to clear. The duo's bodies finally peeled off of the ceiling and plummeted to the ground. When the two hit the ground, they groaned in pain. The purple haired girl looked up and saw Brawly teleport in front of her and look down at her with a curious look.
"... Darn it..!" Lucia said as she slammed her fist onto the ground. Her nails dug into the ground as she slowly began to stand up. "...While you were kicking my butt.. I was thinking to myself… 'What would Beatrice do in this situation..?' What would Marie do to win?"
A smile came to Brawly's face as Lucia finally got back on her feet.
"But now... all I'm thinking about is just winning my way. I'm going to brute force my way through this fight... and beat you!"
Lucia entered a battle stance, and Shelgon did as well.
From a bird's eye view, Lucia, Beatrice and their Pokémon were in a pincer formation. Brawly and Mega Medicham were surrounded by the four of them. Lucia locked onto Brawly, while Beatrice locked onto Mega Medicham.
The girls smiled.
"Lucia!" Beatrice cried. "Ready?!"
"Yeah..!" Lucia said.
"LET'S GO!" The girls shouted at the same time and rushed after their opponents. Lucia charged as Brawly shot his open hand at her. The golden arms floating behind the Gym leader flew like rockets toward the purple haired girl. Lucia dodged the oncoming fists, flipping and jumping about- one fist even brushed by her cheek as she dodged. Shelgon rushed ahead of his trainer. Suddenly, Shelgon's body burst into azure flames as Lucia lifted her leg and punted the dragon-type like a soccer ball. The Pokémon collected heat like a meteor and burst into azure flames as it closed in onto Brawly. The Gym leader shot his arm out in an attempt to catch him, but the moment Shelgon crashed into him, an explosion rang out. As the explosion rang out and dust leapt into the air from Shelgon's attack, Mega Medicham backflipped into the smoke in an attempt to dodge an oncoming salvo of flames. Beatrice stood still with both hands extended, blasting the Fighting/Psychic type alongside Vulpix with tiny bullet-sized embers at incredible speeds. After flipping high into the air, Mega Medicham used his Psychic ability to fly and send his body like a rocket after Vulpix and Beatrice. He maneuvered past the oncoming blasts as he closed in onto the duo. Just before Mega Medicham touched the ground, Beatrice and Vulpix leapt into the air. Shards of earth rose from the ground as Mega Medicham slammed onto the floor. Mega Medicham swung its head upward and threw kicks that sent waves of Psychic energy after Beatrice and Vulpix.
"It's using Psycho Cut! Vulpix! Help me!" Beatrice shot her hand out at the approaching waves of Psychic energy and shot balls of fire at them. The projectiles exploded upon impact, and smoke covered the air and obscured Beatrice's vision. Suddenly, Mega Medicham emerged from the smoke and threw a punch, only for it to be grabbed.
"You're so predictable!" She cried. "Vulpix! Do it!" Vulpix, who was above Beatrice, opened its mouth and blasted a raging Flamethrower that carried Mega Medicham toward the ground. Mega Medicham crashed into the ground as the flames dispersed, and quickly flipped back to his feet.
"Urgh..!" Brawly cried. As Beatrice and Vulpix landed in front of it, Mega Medicham swung its head to Brawly. Brawly was using both hands to hold back Shelgon's rapidly spinning body from crushing him. Mega Medicham's eyes widened in worry, and in a blink of an eye, the Fighting/Psychic type disappeared from sight. Beatrice's eyes widened. She swung her head around and saw Mega Medicham now standing behind Brawly.
Brawly's eyes widened with ferocity as a second wind came to him. Together, he and his Pokémon began pounding their fists against Shelgon's body again and again like machines.
"AAAHH–TATATATATATATATA!" Brawly roared with every mighty punch- inch by inch, he was pushing Shelgon back. "WHAAA-TATATATATATATATATA!" Shelgon bellowed a warcry of his own as he pushed against the two opponents pounding him back.
Beatrice ran over to Lucia while this was happening.
"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Lucia asked.
Beatrice and Vulpix wordlessly nodded. Lucia grinned and crossed both of her arms.
She was going to hit them with everything she had.
She had to gather all of the Dragon-type energy she could get. An azure flame-like aura burst around the girl. Lucia started to yell at the top of her lungs as her Dragon-aura became larger. Without even realizing it, Lucia sprouted two dragon wings made of azure flames from her back. The girl started to yell even more- so much so that the earth began to tremble.
Beatrice closed her eyes. She briefly remembered the time when she watched Marie leave the ship that brought her to this city. Marie's ultimate technique- when she became lightning itself.
"Vulpix, follow my lead." Beatrice said.
How did Marie do it? The scene played out in her head like a recording.
First, Marie went on all fours. Beatrice slowly did the same.
Then, Pichu went on top of her head. Almost instinctively, Vulpix did just as Pichu did.
Beatrice's eyes shot open as flaming energy erupted from her body. Her long crimson red hair rose and flew rapidly, as though an intense wind was blowing around her. As the flaming energy continued to gather around her, it began to blanket her entire body and cover her entirely- to the point that she became a being of pure fire.
The fire continued to change however- slowly but surely, the flames that covered her body took the shape of a Fox.
"THIS IS IT!" Lucia roared. "THIS IS EVERYTHING WE'VE GOOOOOT!" Lucia's aura shot into the sky like a geyser, and slowly, the aura began to change in shape. Slowly- the Aura took the form of a raging azure dragon made of flames.
The dragon made of azure flames bellowed a loud roar as the Firefox Beatrice and Vulpix had become leapt into the air. It began spinning somersaulting into the air and spun and spun until it became a ball of pure flame. The dragon-shaped aura moved close to the large ball of fire and opened its massive jaws.
"WAAA-TATATATATATATATATATATA!" Meanwhile, Brawly roared his battle roar as he and his Pokémon pounded against Shelgon's rapidly spinning body. "AAAAATAAAAAH!" Brawly launched a final punch that sent the Dragon type flying away. As the Gym leader breathed a heavy sigh of relief, he and his Pokémon spun to see what looked like a massive Dragon about to breathe fire onto him.
"What-!?" Brawly cried. The dragon shot its head back before sending the orange flames down at Brawly like a laser.
Brawly and Medicham could do nothing but watch as the laser crashed onto them. The explosion that followed was so violent that the entirety of the gym exploded. The inhabitants of Dewford town stared in absolute shock and terror as the explosion rang out. No passersby were hurt- but the massive orange explosion was heard from miles away.
Soon, the smoke and ash cleared. The sands of Dewford town was charred and burnt a deep black. Lucia alone stood in front of a downed Brawly and back-to-normal Medicham. Her entire body was trembling with weakness as she stared at her opponents with bated breath.
"How… d'ya like that!?" Lucia crumbled to the ground and fell on her face. "Ow…" she mumbled. Beatrice fell from the sky and landed onto the ground next to Lucia with a crouch. Vulpix remained on Beatrice's shoulder as his trainer stood up and turned to Lucia. The red-haired trainer crouched down in front of Lucia and smiled. Slowly, Lucia's trembling hand raised up to Beatrice as she raised her head from the dirt.
The two smiled and gave each other a High-five.
"That was amazing!" Brawly's voice came to the girls' ears. Beatrice spun around to see Brawly approaching by himself. His invoker armor was disengaged, and his Pokémon was nowhere to be found- so Beatrice assumed the gym leader returned the Medicham back into his Pokéball. "That attack you two did.. It was breathtaking! It was unlike anything I've ever seen before! How long have you two practiced that attack!?"
"Pardon, one moment please," Beatrice said, crouching down to help Lucia up. "Give me your shoulder," She said as Lucia put her arm around Beatrice's neck. Together, the girls stood up.
"Where's… Shelgon?" Lucia said. Her eyes darted about- and just as he was spoken about- she found the Dragon type slowly approaching his trainer. He looked up at his trainer with wide, proud eyes.
"We did it, Shelgon!" Lucia said. Shelgon nodded.
"To answer your question from earlier," Beatrice said, turning to Brawly. "Our final attack was completely improvised."
"Improvised!? Unbelievable!" Brawly shouted. "An attack like that only comes from people who've worked together for years! How long have you two known each other?!"
"I… dunno.." Lucia replied weakly. "Two.. maybe three?"
"Three what?" Brawly asked.
"Seconds?" Lucia said.
"I will drop you," Beatrice mumbled.
"Yeah- don't do that," Lucia coughed a bit.
"Before I give you the Gym badges you two rightfully earned, there's something that I have to address," Brawly said.
"What's up?" Lucia asked.
"A word of advice, perhaps?" Beatrice said. Brawly shook his head.
"You two don't need my advice. I just noticed something, is all." Brawly sighed as he crossed his arms and raised his bent pointer finger to his lower lip. He cleared his throat. "It wasn't for long, but while I was pushing back Shelgon, I noticed you two gathering power. Neither of us could do anything about it or else Shelgon would have crushed me." Brawly pointed at Beatrice. "You did something similar to what the former champion Marie did. You combined your strength given to you by your invoker with Vulpix's. Then, your bodies merged and became one for a single moment. I assume you took the form of a fox for strategic reasons..?"
"...Not really." Beatrice said. "That was my first time doing it. To be honest, I didn't think it'd work so well. But maybe.." Beatrice turned to Vulpix. "I think we took the form of a fox because Vulpix here is a fox Pokémon."
Vulpix nodded in agreement.
"Right." Brawly said. "That makes sense. But the real anomaly is you, Lucia." Brawly moved his pointer finger to Lucia. "Beatrice and Vulpix combined their strength to take that form from earlier. You, on the other hand, Lucia, you brought that dragon out of your body all by yourself. Shelgon was busy using his power to push me back, so he couldn't have helped you. What happened?"
"...Oh." Lucia said. "Uh... I dunno."
"I'm wondering the same thing," Brawly said, crossing his arms. "I'm thinking that It has to have something to do with the Special Invoker you have."
"How do you know her invoker is different than ours?" Beatrice said. "She came in without any armor, so you could have just assumed that she was some idiot who liked being punched in the face."
"I do NOT like being punched in the face!" Lucia cried.
"Are you sure? Because you know by making me angrier, I'm considering doing just that."
"If I could move, YOU'D be the one punched in the face!"
"If you could move, you'd be having a great relationship with the ground right about now. In fact, I could drop you now and-"
"Sorry to cut in, but I'll answer your question Beatrice," Brawly said, grabbing the girls' attention immediately. "First off, we don't let people fight invoker battles with us if they don't have invokers themselves. I knew it was a special invoker from the start, because Roxanne told me about it during our call. She told me all about Lucia's Invoker, saying that she learned from Birch about how it worked. She probably wanted to learn about it for curiosity's sake- and she told me about it because I'd definitely be confused if you challenged me without any armor. Anyway- from what I remember, the main differences between our Invokers and Lucia's, is that hers has a stealth mode, and most notably-" Brawly raised a finger. "It has a weaker link between Lucia and her Pokémon. I'm not sure how weak said link is, but it's weak enough so the armor doesn't turn on its weights to pull Lucia down should her Pokémon fall. I could be wrong, but this could mean that she shouldn't benefit from her Pokémon powering up as well."
"Huh? I got everything but that last part," Lucia said.
"Remember when I linked with Medicham earlier, and I became a lot stronger when he mega evolved?" Brawly asked. "Basically, when an Invoker links itself with a Pokémon, the user becomes stronger if the Pokémon becomes stronger. In other words, as long as I'm linked with him, If Medicham becomes stronger, so do I."
"Ohhh!" Lucia said. "Okay, I get it. Okay. So, when my Shelgon evolves into Salamance, and I decided mega evolved him, I wouldn't gain a power up from him is what you're saying."
"Yes. Although, I could be wrong; I'm only throwing guesses."
"Huh. Then where did that power come from? Does this mean I have superpowers?" Lucia asked.
"No," Beatrice said. "Your link isn't so weak that you can't use the same moves as your Pokémon. You obviously are use the same moves as your Pokémon while linked with them, so no, you have no superpowers."
"What's even weirder," Brawly continued, "is that dragon wings sprout from her back. There's no other person in this world who sprouts dragon wings while using Dragon-type Pokémon in Invoker battl-"
"WAIT, MY WINGS WERE BACK?!" Lucia roared.
Beatrice smacked her own face.
"How did you not notice...?!" Beatrice groaned.
"Was it really that obvious!?" Lucia roared.
"You're making me consider violence," Beatrice groaned.
"Okay, okay, shut up!" Lucia cried. "Brawly- Did I really have my dragon wings out!? For real!?" Lucia sounded exceptionally excited. Brawly nodded.
"Yeah. Even the first time we fought; they came out."
"YAY! I'VE NEVER NOTICED THEM!" Lucia cried. "The only time I really noticed them was when I fought against my Machoke for the first time. But until then- I never noticed them!"
"Were you in a pinch when your wings came out against Machoke?" Brawly asked. "Because those wings came out before when you were at your last leg on our first match."
"Oh really? Huh. Anyway- Yeah...I was on my last leg against my Machoke when they first came out. Shelgon was just a Bagon back then, too."
"... I think I may have a theory." Brawly said. "I think Birch may have inadvertently created an invoker that draws on the trainer's Willpower instead of their Pokémon's energy."
"What-?" Beatrice's eyes widened.
"Wait, what?!" Lucia cried. "Are you saying... that my willpower was what created that Dragon!?"
"Can you think of another time when you were in a pinch?" Brawly asked. "A time where you did something really crazy? Like, I don't know, gain super-strength or something when you really needed it?"
"I-... Yeah- I can...! I had a rematch against my Machoke. Only difference was that I fought him by myself. When he went full power against me, he was powerful. Like, super powerful. Like, he could move a mountain if he wanted, powerful. But for whatever reason... I was able to match his strength. Because I-"
"Because you really, really wanted to!" Brawly cried. "In other words, your willpower kicked in, and your Invoker must've reacted to it!"
"Oh jeez... That could explain a lot, actually..." Lucia said, crossing her arms. "It could explain why I can't bring out the Dragon wings by myself. I guess they only come out when I'm in a pinch..."
"So that dragon that came out of her body was her invoker reacting to her willpower?" Beatrice asked. "Huh."
"Again, this is just a theory," Brawly said. "So, I could be totally wrong."
"I see," Beatrice said."Interesting theory."
"It would explain why I was able to fight against My Machoke and match him blow for blow," Lucia said."I'm going to keep this in mind while fighting. Maybe that'll help me learn how to bring out my wings."
"I think they'll only come out when you're in a pinch," Brawly said.
"Well, that's too bad, because I need them so I can soar into the sky! Shelgon and I have a dream to fly! So I'm definitely gonna learn how to bring them out at will, and totally fly!" Lucia grinned. "I bet my wings kinda popped out just now, didn't they?"
"No, they didn't," Brawly said.
"Awww..."
"I still don't know how you didn't notice how you had wings behind your back, Lucia." Beatrice grumbled.
"Having something on your back like that is less noticeable than you think," Brawly said. "It should feel like it was always a part of your body to begin with."
"I see. So when you gained power from your Mega Medicham, you didn't feel the extra arms that grew out of your back either, did you?"
"I HAD ARMS GROW OUT OF MY BACK?! I THOUGHT THEY WERE FLOATING!"
Beatrice slapped her face once again.
"...I'm surrounded by idiots," Beatrice groaned. She turned her head to her Vulpix on her shoulder and patted his head. "Except you.. Of course," She said.
"Anyway- Go to the Pokécenter and rest up! Once you two are fixed up, I'll give you your badges! You two earned it."
"...Sorry about your Gym, by the way," Lucia said. "We kinda.. Y'know, blew it up."
"It's fine! Really! We'll fix things up in no time. A good redesign of the gym would do wonders!"
"Your mood's quite admirable." Beatrice said. "I'll come back to pick up our badges once I drop Lucia of-"
Lucia's stomach started growling.
"BEATRIIIICE… IM HUNGRYYYY!" Lucia moaned.
"I'll buy food for us when I get the chance- let me say goodbye-"
"I WANNA EAAAAAAAAAT!"
Beatrice pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed.
"I'll be back soon," Beatrice and Lucia turned and walked off. Shelgon scurried over to the two of them.
Brawly smiled as put his hands on his waist.
"Together, those two are something else… But Lucia… If my theory is right... Then Lucia could become the strongest Trainer who ever lived."