Chapter 38: Narrow Escape
Maverick and Isaac stood each others ground, each staring at their opponent, waiting for one to make the first move.
Isaac didn't know what he was going to do, Maverick was so much more powerful then him. Isaacs small size would make any physical attacks useless, and he highly doubted using a bubble attack on a superior water type would do much good either.
Isaac thought his best bet was to try an attack he rarely got the chance to use, Peck.
He leapt forward, aiming for Mavericks face so he could do a maximum amount of damage. Maverick seemed to be caught off guard and didn't try to dodge Isaacs attack. When Isaac reached his target, he thrust his head forward, striking Maverick square in the forehead.
The attack did nothing, Isaac felt like he had just pecked a very sturdy brick wall.
Maverick swatted Isaac away as if he was nothing more then an annoying bug pokemon. Isaac flew up high, and came crashing down on a pile of empty cardboard boxes. Isaac quickly recovered, but was sent flying again when Maverick shot him with an unbelievably powerful Bubblebeam attack.
Each individual bubble felt like it was a very wet boulder, each one nearly crushing Isaac. This time Isaac had a hard time getting up after Mavericks attack.
I can't win... Mavericks far too powerful.
Maverick began to run towards Isaac, the claw like tips of his wings glowing white. He was going to try to hit Isaac with a very powerful Metal Claw attack. Isaac leapt forward, right over Mavericks head. Maverick tried to slash at Isaac in mid-air but missed.
Isaac, taking advantage of Mavericks turned back, fired out multiple Bubble attacks. Each one harmlessly popped on Mavericks back.
Maverick turned around and laughed at Isaac. "Pathetic." He ran at Isaac again, this time his claws glowing a dark purple, Shadow Claw. Isaac decided to try to avoid Maverick again by jumping over him as he ran forward, but as Isaac was in the air, Maverick slashed upwards, hitting Isaac and sending him flying straight into the air.
As Isaac dropped back down, Maverick fired a Bubblebeam into the air, hitting Isaac as he came down, and finished the attack by slashing Isaac again with Metal Claw, which sent Isaac flying across the factory and crashing into on of the machines that controlled the conveyer belts.
Suddenly, some kind of intercom came on. "Self Destruction activated, time until destruction, five minutes." It announced loudly. Maverick walked over to where Isaac had landed, but before he could do anything, the intercom came to life again. "Did you hear that Maverick!? You need to escape right now! That intruder must have activated the self destruction somehow! Hurry!"
Maverick seemed to be ignoring the message to him. He lifted up one of his giant feet and brought it down hard on Isaac, and began to press down on him, crushing Isaac. Isaac tried to push Maverick off of him, but Maverick was far too strong. Isaac opened his beak and bit down hard on Mavericks foot, causing Maverick to back away and yell in pain.
Isaac was now sure that there was no way he was going to defeat Maverick, Isaac simply jumped up on one of the conveyor belts and ran down it to escape. Maverick ran along side the belt and soon caught up with Isaac, and pulled him off of the belt and pinned him down.
"You're not getting away Isaac. I've had enough of chasing you around." Maverick pressed down on Isaac neck, choking him. Isaac tried to breath but he couldn't, and he couldn't get away either, Maverick had Isaac right where he wanted him and there was nothing Isaac could do.
"I killed our father, our entire clan, all I need to do is kill you and my entire past is erased."
"Time until destruction, four minutes."
Isaac used his one free hand to feel around, hoping to find something, anything, he could use to save himself before Maverick finally squeezed the last bit of life out of him. Isaac reached above and, and finally grasped onto something, it felt like a rock of some kind. Isaac wondered what a rock was doing in a factory, until he realized that it wasn't any normal rock he had just grabbed.
Isaacs entire body glowed brightly, the light nearly blinding Maverick, causing him to stop pressing down on Isaacs neck. Isaac grew in size, and with a newfound strength, pushed Maverick off of him, sending him crashing against another machine that controlled the conveyor belts.
Maverick looked up at Isaac, wondering how on earth he could have overpowered him. Isaac was no longer the Piplup he was at the beginning of the battle, he was now a much more powerful Prinplup pokemon
"Time until destruction, three minutes."
"I'm glad you're tired of chasing me around, Maverick." Said Isaac, his voice almost the same, only slightly deeper. "Because I'm tired of being chased. You wanna finish this? Then lets finish this."
Maverick laughed a strange, almost insane sounding laugh. "You think evolving is going to give you any chance of beating me? You will never beat me Isaac, I'll kill you no matter how much stronger you get!"
"Well then, come get me, times ticking."
Maverick got up and immediately sprinted towards Isaac, his wing-tip claws glowing a dark purple color again. Isaac leapt towards Maverick, but not to dodge like before, he jumped right for Mavericks head and pecked him square in the forehead multiple times like he had tried at the beginning of the battle.
This time, his attack worked, and Maverick cried out in pain because of it and fell back. Isaac wasn't done though, he stood on top of Maverick and fired a much more powerful bubble attack straight down at Mavericks head.
The roles of the battle had turned. It was now Isaac who had the advantage, and it was Maverick who was getting knocked around.
"Time until destruction, two minutes."
Isaac just realized that he now had nothing standing in his was to freedom. Isaac left Maverick without a word and dashed towards the exit. The battle had caused both he and Maverick to move far from the door, so Isaac ran as fast as he could so he could get far enough away from the building before it exploded.
Half way there, Isaac saw another pokemon run towards the exit, it was that Weavile, Crimson. Isaac kept running, hoping he would make it before her, but she had an advantage with both speed and distance from the door. She made it first, and closed the door. Isaac ran all the way until he reached the door as well and tried to push it open, but Crimson must have blocked the door somehow, Isaac couldn't get it open.
"Not good, not good, not good!" Isaac said to himself, pushing the door with all his might. Isaac kept trying to push it open until he heard the sound of Maverick running at him. Isaac didn't have time to dodge, so he crossed his arms in front of him and braced himself for whatever attack was coming.
Maverick charged right into Isaac, and Isaac was barely able to hold his ground. Isaac and Maverick pushed against each other, both trying to overpower their respective opponent.
"Time until destruction, one minute."
"Maverick!" Isaac yelled as he continued to struggle against Maverick. "We've got to stop! This place is going to explode!"
"I don't care, as long as you die with me, I don't care."
"Time until destruction, forty five seconds."
"Maverick, stop, you don't want this and neither do I! Just help me find a way out and we can finish this some other time."
"I'll finish it now, thank you very much!"
"Time until destruction, thirty seconds."
I gotta think fast. Isaac looked behind him, and saw that his back was positioned to the door. That might work... I sure hope Mavericks heavy enough.
"Well, that's just too bad Maverick, I don't plan on dying any time soon." Isaac grabbed Maverick and pushed him towards the door. Maverick wasn't able to stop himself and crashed into it. The door gave way and swung open, giving Isaac the escape route he was trying to find for so long.
Before he forgot, Isaac went back and picked up the book he had taken earlier, and ran towards the exit. Isaac jumped over Maverick, who was probably stunned momentarily by the collision, and he landed on the sandy ground that was the outside. He was finally free.
He took two steps away from the factory, but then stopped and looked back. Maverick wasn't moving at all. Is he unconscious? Thought Isaac.
"Time until destruction, ten seconds."
Isaac didn't like it, but there was no way he could just leave Maverick lying on the ground, about to get buried underneath a blown up building. Isaac ran as fast as he could over to Mavericks body and began to drag him away.
"Nine, eight, seven, six..."
Come on, come on, come on!
"Five, four, three, two, one... Self Destruction activated."
Isaac ducked down to the ground and covered his face and ears. The explosion was much more spectacular then Isaac had imagined, fire shot out of the door they had just escaped, just barely stopping short of where Isaac managed to drag Maverick too. The walls began to buckle and soon the entire building just fell over, leaving nothing fire and rubble.
Relieved he managed to escape so narrowly, Isaac let out a very loud sigh.
He looked at Maverick, and saw that he was still out like a light. He wasn't going to cause Isaac any trouble any time soon.
Isaac saw that Maverick had a small pouch around his ankle, Isaac carefully removed it and looked inside. Based on the amount of empty space in the pouch, Isaac figure this was where Maverick kept the radio he was carrying around. The only thing that was left inside was a small, folded piece of paper. When Isaac opened it, Isaac was happy to find the paper was actually a miniature map, which had a small red dot and the scribbled words "That Infinity Stone Factory." Isaac studied the map to find where he was, and according to it, Isaac was about a three hour walk (half if he ran the whole way) south east from where he wanted to go, Sunset Spire. He could easily find it and reach it by using the sun to determine the direction he was going.
Isaac didn't want to, but he knew his only choice if he wanted to catch up to his friends before they fell into Mewtwos trap was to leave Maverick. Isaac wasn't about to just finish him off like this, and he definitely had no time to bring him to the Brotherhood Headquarters so he could be properly punished.
Isaac crumpled up the tiny map, and threw it away, then, after looking at Mavericks unconscious body one last time, ran towards Sunset Spire. Hoping to reach it before his friends could.
—
A few hours earlier, at the Brotherhood Headquarters, Team Valiant was just leaving Havok City.
"Ok, Rita, which way do we go?" Said Lloyd.
Rita pulled her map out of one of the bags and looked at it. "Says that the Sunset Spire is a mystery dungeon to the north, about a days walk" She closed the map. "Lloyd, what are we going to do if Isaac gets there before us? He could get himself killed!"
"That's why we have to go now." Said Jennifer. "I don't know what I'd do if something happened to Isaac..."
"Don't worry everyone, I'm sure everything will be fine. If Isaac makes it there before us, then we'll just have to go up and help him."
"What about those other two pokemon." Asked Sakura. "Didn't the note say he would kill them both if we tried to interfere?"
"I'm sure if Isaac gets up there before us, Maverick will be too busy with Isaac to be on look out for us."
"I guess you're right about that." Said Sakura.
"Listen guys, were wasting time just standing around, lets just go. Isaac is walking into a trap as we speak, lets not let him spring it."
Everyone nodded, and followed Lloyd as he lead the way across the wasteland towards the Sunset Spire.