It's time for the final stretch of Team Valor's-Eruption Cave. Luckily, this battle is far from over!
Team Valor and Team Majesta were unknowingly headed in the same direction. They both had one goal-to meet the other team as soon as possible. However, they, specifically Infernape, would face the biggest challenge of the entire journey. The boss in Eruption Cave was by far the toughest. Mr. Mime, Alakazam, Metagross, Honchkrow, Ampharos- none of them even stood a chance against this certain boss.
However, Infernape and the rest of Team Valor were painfully oblivious to these hard facts as they trekked on. Eruption Crater was a small volcano, but it was big enough to see from a distance of one mile.
"So, there it is. The last destination to our journey. Eruption Crater." Drapion said.
"I will definitely have a disadvantage in a place like that." Abomasnow rumbled with a hint of fear. Then he quickly amended himself. "But still, I would do anything for Roserade."
"Good for you, Abomasnow. But can you back it up?" Machamp asked.
"You faced and defeated a boss Pokémon that was strong enough to kill your parents and had a slight advantage over you, just for the sake of Medicham. You think that Abomasnow wouldn't do the same for Roserade?" Luxray asked pointedly.
"Point taken, Luxray." Machamp replied.
Infernape smiled. It was just this kind of friendly bickering amongst his team that he enjoyed so much. It kept things interesting.
"Guys, stop. It's getting annoying. Besides, it's Infernape's turn to fight. No point in fighting over who's going to take down the boss." Staraptor said.
"We are not fighting over who's going to take down the boss. We are merely stating facts." Luxray retorted.
"Speaking of facts, Luxray, does the map say anything about Eruption Crater?" Infernape asked.
Luxray opened the map and stared at it while walking. "All that it says is that Eruption Crater is a very dangerous place and should be avoided by the weak."
Machamp groaned. "That's what it said for Corruption Cave, Mt. Dynamo, Forest of Clouds, and Thunderous Plains!"
"At least it's accurate. Except for the Wall of Ice, they were all pretty dangerous. Corruption Cave had a chance of being permanently taken over, Mt. Dynamo and Forest of Clouds had Pokémon that battled in groups, and Thunderous Plains had those storms." Drapion recalled.
Infernape chuckled. "But they were all beaten. And besides, we're almost to Eruption Crater, so we I think that we should rest for a little bit." He said.
Team Valor found a secluded spot and began to eat. They were almost out of certain types of berries, but there was still enough food for all of them. While eating, they took out their gifts for Team Majesta, and merely looked at them.
"Guys, we going to have to wait to give these gifts, so we should put them away before some thief tries to steal them." Abomasnow said.
Just then, a black shadow dropped down on Luxray. He stumbled due to the surprise attack, but stopped and gave the assailant a Thunderbolt. It was nothing but a Murkrow from the Forest of Clouds.
"A Murkrow? Disappointing. Discharge!" Luxray commanded. An electric bolt honed in on the Murkrow, and it also exposed other Murkrow trying to hide for another surprise attack.
After the Murkrow fled, Team Valor finished their meals and moved on to the entrance of Eruption Crater. Once there, Infernape cracked his knuckles, ready for the battle of his life. He began to build up his flames as well, preparing to release the power that he charged up. With the built-up power, he was able to charge the air with heat so much that Team Valor began sweating profusely.
"Infernape, can you lower the heat a bit? It's beginning to cause us to sweat." Drapion asked. Infernape did lower the heat just enough to stop his teammates' sweat, but he still had enough to cause his head fire to burn more brightly than normal.
"He's just wants to end the battle as quickly as possible. Can any of you really blame him?" Luxray defended his friend.
"I could blame him for the heat, but not the feelings." Machamp said. Infernape stopped abruptly. Luxray, who was walking behind him, collided with the supercharged monkey of heat and got himself quite a few burns. Luckily, the Rawst berries he ate earlier stopped the burns from doing any real damage.
"Hey, Infernape, why'd you stop?" Machamp asked.
"Well, remember when Abomasnow said we'd have to wait a little bit before we could give the gifts to Team Majesta?" Infernape asked without looking back. Everyone nodded. "Well…" Infernape trailed off and pointed downwards into a pit in front of which Infernape had stopped.
Team Valor stepped forward and they couldn't believe their eyes! There, Team Majesta was battling a Camerupt. The Camerupt was preparing an attack, but it looked like it was relatively fresh. Team Majesta had a few bruises.
Infernape leapt into action, using all his agility to whirl into the battle, despite Luxray's warning. As he flew down, he heard Camerupt yell, "Eruption!" and aim the volcanoes on its back at Team Majesta.
"Close Combat!" Infernape shouted. Upon hearing this, Team Majesta looked up at Infernape. Upon seeing him and the rest of Team Valor, Lopunny brightened, Ninetales gasped, Swellow smiled, Medicham grinned, Kricketune hummed happily, and Roserade waved. Infernape let loose a series of punches and kicks into Camerupt's side just as the Eruption was fired. The attack was veered off course with Infernape's interference, and hit the wall of the pit. It was also funny watching an average-sized orange monkey doing major damage to a huge cow/camel with volcanoes on its back.
With the final kick, Camerupt was pushed back, but remained standing. Infernape kicked off of his body and landed with a fist on the ground and a raised arm right in front of Team Majesta.
"Infernape!" Lopunny called. Infernape looked back and smiled in relief. Team Majesta all looked fine, aside from the bruises. Lopunny jumped forward and tackled Infernape with a hug, while Infernape calmly wrapped his arms around her and put his head on top of hers. The rest of Team Valor slid down to greet their own significant ones.
Ninetales pounced on Luxray and they licked each other's faces like no one else was there with them. Staraptor and Swellow had a little aerial dance above. Machamp and Medicham were hugging each other so tightly that they nearly ran out of breath. Drapion was gently holding a claw on Kricketune's shoulder and humming a song that she herself taught him. Abomasnow had lifted Roserade by her waist and spun her around, both of them laughing.
This romantic reunion was short-lived as Camerupt roared. "Hey! Just so you idiots know, I'm still here!" Infernape broke out of his hug and glared at Camerupt.
"Lopunny, stay back and join the others. This one is mine." Infernape growled. Lopunny nodded and ran to where the others were, just as Team Valor and Team Majesta began telling each other about their journeys.
"So, you're Infernape of Team Valor. They say that you're the leader, and the strongest out of all of them. I, Camerupt, will make you and your team pay for what you did to my colleagues! Mr. Mime, Alakazam, Metagross, Honchkrow, Ampharos- none of them are a match for me!" Camerupt bellowed.
"Oh, really? If you're so tough, then let's see what you can do!" Infernape challenged.
"Earth Power!" Camerupt roared. Numerous earth pillars began to rise out of the ground towards Infernape. Infernape leapt away before he could get hit. He knew that even one hit from Earth Power could be dangerous, even for him.
"Flare Blitz!" Infernape was coated in fire and he rushed forward with astonishing speed. Camerupt did not sit back, though.
"Eruption!" Camerupt commanded. He aimed his volcanoes at the charging Infernape and fired. Infernape dodged the attack and scored a direct hit. Despite this, Camerupt managed to get away with a burned bruise only.
"Lava Plume!" Camerupt stomped the ground and waves of lava spread out in a wide ring. Infernape jumped to dodge them, as did Team Valor and Team Majesta, who were also in the range of the attack. When Infernape landed, he got a small burn on his foot, but he ignored it.
"Flamethrower!" Infernape yelled. He fired the burst of flames from his mouth.
"Rock Slide!" Camerupt roared. An avalanche of rocks tumbled in front of Camerupt, blocking the Flamethrower. Camerupt, though, was not done. "Earth Power!" Infernape's eyes widened as a pillar of earth shot up from below him and got him in the stomach. He was flung into the air, and as he came down, another pillar shot him back up. This process continued a few times until Infernape was able to straighten himself in the air, leap off a pillar, and land on his feet, but not without major wounds.
"Close Combat into Flare Blitz into Flamethrower!" Infernape shouted. He used his far superior speed to break through the rocks and hit Camerupt with the onslaught of punches and kicks. With a kick-off, he dived back in with a Flare Blitz. Before he hit Camerupt, however, he launched a Flamethrower to further damage Camerupt. It hit Camerupt a second before Flare Blitz.
Infernape leapt back after the combination. When the dust form the combination cleared, Camerupt was breathing heavily. Infernape, however, was also panting due to the recoil effect of Flare Blitz.
Camerupt gave an evil grin. "It's time to finish this. Eruption!" For the third time, Camerupt aimed his volcanoes at Infernape and fired the deadly attack. To the spectators' horror, Infernape couldn't even get away, and it looked like it was over after a cloud of dust blew up as a result of the Eruption and nothing seemed to happen within the cloud for a few tense moments.
"Infernape!" Lopunny screamed. There was no response as the scream echoed.
Camerupt laughed. "It's over!" He then set his sights on the spectators and opened his mouth to call out an attack when a voice coming from the cloud of dust spoke out.
"Is that really what you think?" the voice said smugly. There was an echo to it. Camerupt turned his head back to the cloud of dust slowly as it all blew away due to a rush of energy.
When the Pokémon saw the form there, they gasped in shock. It was Infernape, completely coated in a fireball!
"That's Blaze! Infernape's ability has been activated!" Kricketune gasped.
"That's the same ability that he used to save Lopunny ever so long ago, isn't it?" Medicham laughed.
"Camerupt is going to get it now!" Machamp agreed.
"You can do it, Infernape!" Lopunny encouraged.
"Whether or not you have an ability, you still can't beat me! Eruption!" Camerupt roared.
"He really does like using Eruption, doesn't he?" Ninetales asked with a smile.
"It's not going to work. Infernape won't even need to dodge." Luxray predicted. He was right. As the attack flew towards Infernape, he stretched out a hand in front of him and stopped the Eruption with it.
"Flamethrower." He stated. The fire attack broke right through Eruption and scored a direct hit on Camerupt. The attack disoriented the cow/camel.
"Wait. How did Infernape do that?" Roserade asked.
"Yeah. Eruption is more powerful than Flamethrower, right?" Drapion asked.
"Actually, in this case, no." it was surprisingly Abomasnow who spoke up. "Eruption is at its strongest when the user is at its strongest. The weaker you are, the weaker Eruption is. Also, Infernape has Blaze, which almost doubles your fire attacks' power. It's no surprise that a Blaze-powered Flamethrower could break through an Eruption used by someone with barely any energy." he explained.
"How do you all know this, anyway?" Swellow asked.
Abomasnow shrugged. "I had to know my weaknesses, so I studied up on Fire-Type attacks."
"Touché." Staraptor said.
They turned their attention back to the battle. Infernape was using the final attack. He ran with all speed and leapt onto Camerupt's back. "Blast…Burn." he growled. He launched the vicious Fire-Type attack and finished Camerupt off. He then jumped off and Camerupt collapsed. The Blaze around Infernape dissipated and he began to sway.
Luckily, Staraptor reacted quickly enough, flew down, and grabbed Infernape, flying back up to set his leader down. There, Luxray gave him a Sitrus Berry to heal his wounds.
Infernape slowly opened his eyes and into the smiling face of Lopunny, who was now standing above him. "You did it, Infernape. You managed to save us, and beat Camerupt." she said. Infernape grinned, and stood back up.
"But, you have to hear this. It looks like all this was a distraction. The real threat is back in Laxos. It was all part of Dusknoir's plan. If we don't hurry, Laxos is in major trouble." Luxray warned.
Not bad, if I do say so myself.
Don't worry, in the next chapter, they'll get back to Laxos sooner than expected, thanks to the help of an old friend! There's also going to be a lot of romance and a huge tragedy. Please read and review.