Chapter Nine: An Old Friend Turned New Enemy
Morning had come and the two Pokemon under the Oran berry tree had decided to wake up.
"Hey, Isaac. Is it okay if we could go to another town? I wanna see the sights this region has to offer." Laura asked, looking at Isaac. Her eyes filled with hope and wonder.
Isaac couldn't say no to such a look and nodded his head. "Of course Laura. But it's best we try not to attract attention to ourselves, remember what the Nurse said back in solaceon town. We need to act like we're looking for..." He shuddered, not liking the next words he's about to say. "...'our trainer'." He finished, standing up and pulling Laura with him, soon starting to walk back in the direction of solaceon town.
"If you'd like Laura, we can start back in solaceon town, we never did look around there did we." Isaac said, earning a nod from Laura as she walked beside him, wrapping her arms around one of his
But their trip into town was interrupted. A trainer had caught sight of them, grinning at the chance to either catch or beat a lopunny and a monferno. "Hey!" He shouted, getting the monferno and lopunnys attention. "Hitmonlee and Golduck" the trainer called, releasing said Pokemon.
But when Isaac lay eyes upon the hitmonlee, he felt like he knew who it was, given that all Pokemon of the same species look similar if they are of the same gender. Yet still, he was compelled to check.
"Sokudo?" Isaac questioned, to which the hitmonlee replied by looking at Isaac in worry and sadness.
"I'm sorry Ignitus, I've failed everyone at the dojo for allowing myself to get caught." Was all that Sokudo said before taking a fighting stance, the Golduck beside Sokudo also took a fighting stance.
"Isaac. Let me take care of them, you don't need to fight an old friend of yours." Laura offered, clearly noting Isaacs distraught look. He didn't answer, he simply slunk to the floor in disbelief that one of his mentors and closest friends had been caught and is willingly being used as a tool to fight.
Laura took a fighting stance, ready to take on a hitmonlee AND a Golduck. "Hitmonlee, make this quick with a high jump kick!" The trainer called, to which Sokudo jumped high into the air and flipped around, descending fast with his right leg extended.
Laura saw the attack and dodged it quickly. "Golduck, hydro pump!" The trainer called and the Golduck obeyed, firing off a hydro pump directly for an unaware Laura. It was a direct hit, leaving Laura injured and soaked.
Laura wouldn't have any of it though as she fired off a thunder bolt towards the Golduck. "Golduck, get out of there!" The trainer called, but it was too late, the Golduck was hit and surprisingly fainted. The trainer growled as he returned the Golduck to it's pokeball. "Grrr. Hitmonlee, use focus blast!" The trainer shouted, to which Sokudo raised his hands into the air, a big ball of energy appearing above them. Sokudo soon fired the blast as soon as it was ready towards a weakened Laura.
Laura tried to move, but she knew that she wouldn't make it in time to dodge the attack. She flinched in anticipation for the focus blast, but a shadow appeared in front of her. It was Isaac. "Isaac, wait!" Laura cried out, but her cry landed upon deaf ears as Isaac took the hit, receiving heavy damage, but not fatal.
Due to the attack, and his typing weakness to fighting type attacks, Isaac was lucky to survive the focus blast. He feel to his knees, but managed to pick himself up and straighten himself up a bit, only kneeling on one knee as he glared at his old 'friend'. "So... That's how you wish to fight Sokudo?" Isaac asked, his anger growing. "You'd go against everything your brother and Sensei Ronin taught you?" He asked again, but as soon as he did, Isaac was engulfed in a bright white light. His body had grown taller and his limbs grew longer as he stood up. The fire on his tail vanished and was placed upon his head. Circular patterns riddled his body, on his shoulders, hands and chest. Isaac had evolved from a monferno, into an infernape.
But his condition was the same, badly injured from the focus blast. "If you wish to harm Laura any more than you already have..." He started, the fire on his head growing fiercer, his eyes turning bloodshot as his blaze ability activated. "Then you'll have to get through me first!" He challenged, taking a fighting stance.
"Hitmonlee, use high jump kick on that infernape!" The trainer called, but before Sokudo could jump into the air, Isaac was already in front of him and soon began unleashing a flurry of punches and kicks. After about ten seconds of Isaacs close combat, he lept backwards, landing in front of Laura again, his hands and feet feeling warm and steam coming off of them.
But Isaac was not finished yet, once his hands and feet felt cooler, he began to charge up an attack as he brought his hands together and held them behind him.
"Come on hitmonlee, quickly! Stop it from charging its attack with low sweep!" The trainer called, to which Sokudo obeyed, reaching Isaac. But his timing was terrible as Isaac extended his arms and fired off a hyper beam point blank into Sokudo, creating a large dust cloud around them.
Once the dust cleared from the attack, Sokudo was on the floor, unconscious. The trainer returned him to his pokeball then bailed for the closest town, which was luckily in the opposite direction to where Laura and Isaac were going.
Isaac turned around to Laura, kneeling in front of her as his eyes returned to normal and his flame calmed down. "Are you alright Laura?" He asked, his voice deeper than when he was a monferno.
Laura blushed at how better she thought Isaac looked now, soon hugging him to hide her face. "I'm fine Isaac, thank you for protecting me." She said, to which Isaac hugged her back and stood up, allowing the two to stand on their feet.
After a few seconds, they finally let go of one another and simply held hands, Laura's paw in Isaacs hand. "Shall we head off to solaceon town again Laura?" Isaac asked, earning a giggle and a nod from Laura.
And so the two Pokemon left for solaceon town, unaware that a ghost was following them...
