Chapter 28
Moments ago, the blonde haired girl known as Arika was examining Blake's Crest, the next both teenagers were on the ground while a black figure snatched up the baby Toby from the bench he had been seated on.
"Toby!" Arika called out a second time as she jumped to her feet, searching the skies for Zane who had vanished just as fast as he had appeared.
Blake lay flat on his back, looking up at the blue sky before the calls from Arika for Toby snapped him out of his daze. Seeing Arika's outstretched hand, he accepted it and rose to his feet with her help.
"Thanks." Blake began as the blonde female continued to look around for where Zane hand run off to. "But can you tell me what's going on here."
"I'll explain later, you have to help me find Toby." Arika explained as she opened her Crest, the four cyan colored lines circling around her wrist like bracelets beginning to extend down her forearm.
Without an answer from Blake, Arika grabbed his left arm and leaped into the air, pulling him up with her to the roof tops. The by standers that had seen Zane push away Blake and Arika and then steal Toby were even more astonished to see the fourteen year old girl jump to the top of a four story building.
The small baby in Zane's arms continued to cry and scream as the man began to move across the roof tops of the city, a wide smirk on his face.
"I told Alan I'd be able to steal you even though there were three other Crests guarding you." Zane said to Toby who only screamed in return, trying to wiggle out of his grasp. 'Now all I have to do is leave the city and I'm home free.'
"Hold it right there!" A female shouted from behind him, getting Zane's attention.
Glancing over his shoulder, Zane spotted Arika blitzing toward with giants leaps that skipped several buildings even with the extra weight of Blake who she was still pulling along by his wrist, his Pupitar chasing after them.
Blake wore a blank expression as Arika jumped from building to building, still trying to comprehend the fact that she was building hopping with ease.
As Zane began to increase his pace, two moving figures caught his attention from the corner of his left eye. Jim and Marilyn were moving to intercept his course, and by the looks of it, he would have to fight all these people now. Coming to a halt on a rectangular 40' by 60' roof, Zane found himself surrounding by Jim, Marilyn, Arika and Blake who was currently resting on his bottom, staring the at the group of freaks he had run into now.
"Give back Toby!" Arika shouted, pointing at Zane who was observing the four people and one Pokemon that were surrounding him.
"I was hoping it wouldn't end up like this, but it's a good thing I took the precaution of preparing a trump card." Zane said, raising his left hand above his head. "Heatran, come!"
"What?" Jim exclaimed as Zane's Crest became even brighter, almost blinding before a loud roar shook the building.
'Heatran should still be out cold from the battle in Mauville!' Marilyn said mentally.
Everyone but Zane and Pupitar lost their footing, landing on their bottoms as a large Pokemon standing on all fours landed next to Zane, creating a ripple effect of cracks in the roof.
Blake snapped out his daze at the sight of Heatran, recognizing the Fire type Pokemon from what he had seen on Mt Tsugi. The Lava Dome Pokemon roared at Zane who jumped back.
"Just take care of those two kids behind me and you can go back to sleep." Zane replied, pointing toward Arika and Blake with his thumb.
"What's that Pokemon doing here?" Blake asked with a serious expression, staring at Zane and Heatran.
"Heatran. That's Zane's partner. They've been hunting us down to try and steal Toby for a few months now." Arika explained, glancing at the boy beside her. "It's heavily damaged right now from our last battle with it so it shouldn't be that much of a threat right now."
"Then leave Heatran to me. You get the baby back." Blake replied, his eyes becoming a lime green color. "Pupitar, are you ready?"
"Tar." The Hard Shell Pokemon replied, its eyes becoming a lime green as well.
"We'll make and opening for you, after that, its up to you." Blake said to Arika who gave him a nod. 'Pupitar, use Dark Pulse!'
The silent order was received by Blake's partner, a sinister black orb with a purple outline forming in front of Pupitar. Without a word, the sphere of energy was fired at Heatran who had its back turned, but just before the Dark Pulse made contact with Heatran, it jumped.
Zane smirked as the orb flew past him, on a direct course for Jim who was seated up right on the ground. The blonde haired male barely managed to put his arms up in front of him in time to block the attack, but the power still sent him sliding across the roof while Zane took this opportunity to make his move.
The red head jumped to the next roof, beginning to exit the scene leaving Marilyn to rise to her feet and pursue him while Jim came to a stop, his forearms blackened from the hit.
"Daddy!" Arika shouted when she realized Blake's missed attack had hit her father instead. The girl quick sprinted over to her father to observe the damage to his arms.
"Don't worry, its nothing major." Jim said as Heatran landed on the adjacent roof, glaring at Blake and Pupitar who had tried to attack it. "We have to take Toby back no matter what, so go help your mother. Is that boy trying to help us?"
"Yes dad, he's the King." Arika replied, gaining a gasp from her father.
"The King?"
"Yeah, but I don't know how much he can help us since he can't even open his Crest at the moment." Arika explained, watching her father sit of straight, observing Blake who had giving Pupitar another order to attack Heatran who dodged it with ease before unleashing a Flamethrower attack on Pupitar who easily shook of the attack.
"But he's battling with Pokemon and that's more than enough to help us at the moment." Jim said calmly before pointing in the direction Zane and Marilyn had left in. "Go back up your mother, I'll be there in a minute."
"Be safe." Arika said as they bumped fists before leaping off the roof the pursue her mother.
'Pupitar, use Stone Edge!' Blake commanded. Focused attacks couldn't keep up with the surprisingly high speed Heatran could move at, so now Blake was attempting a spread tactic.
"Pupi-tar!" It said, a white halo appearing around it as chunks of the roof were ripped out from the structure, floating in the air around Pupitar. "Tar!"
The chunks of stone were launched at Heatran all together, covering a wide area that would hopefully trap the Lava Dome Pokemon.
"Tran!" The Fire type Pokemon roared as a white halo appeared around it as well, pieces of the roof it was standing on rising around it to protect it from Pupitar's attack. Both the attacking stones and defending stones shattered on impact with each other, resulting in Blake and Pupitar being right back where they were at the beginning of the battle.
"Damn, this is going to be annoying." Blake muttered under his breath.
"That's exactly what I said the first time I battled this Heatran." Jim said, gaining Blake attention. "Don't worry about hitting it for now. It's damaged right now and if you keep wearing it down right now, its stamina will run out and that's when you can take it down."
Blake gave Jim a blank stare for at least three seconds, an unnerving stare that was beginning to creep Jim out before the boy finally thanked him for the tip.
"Anytime." Jim said before turning in the direction his wife, daughter and Zane had left in. "Good luck, King."
Blake's eyes widened as he looked back at Jim again, but the man had was already sailing through the air to join the chase for Zane.
'Pupitar, did you hear that?' Blake asked his partner mentally.
"Tar." It replied, moving to its left to dodge a large burst flames from Heatran.
'But you want to fight Heatran head on don't you?' Blake asked, receiving a firm response from his Pokemon.
"Pupitar!" It replied.
'Alright then, start of with Rock Polish.' Blake said, watching Pupitar begin to glow, the rugged body it possessed becoming polished and reflective. 'Now let's attack with Iron Head.'
The front of Pupitar's body became as bright white as it burst forward toward Heatran with a new level of speed, catching the Lava Dome Pokemon off guard.
"Tran!" It roared after taking the hit, sliding across the roof on its side.
'Pupitar, don't let up. Use Dark Pulse and follow up with Iron Head again!' Blake said mentally.
"Pu!" Pupitar said as it charged up another sphere of black energy in front of it before firing it at the downed Heatran. As soon as the Dark Pulse was fired, Pupitar burst forward as well, the front part the Hard Shell Pokemon beginning to glow white as it charged toward the Fire type Pokemon.
"Heat-tran!" The Legendary Pokemon shouted, rising to its feet as the claws on its two forward feet extended in length, coming a bright silver color.
Easily slapping away with the Dark Pulse with one of its forward feet, Heatran charged toward the approaching Pupitar.
"Pupitar!" Blake shouted as Heatran slapped away Pupitar with ease just as it had to the Dark Pulse.
With its black and white vision, Heatran noticed the oddly colored energy coming from Blake's right arm, a dark silver. A color the Lava Dome Pokemon had never seen before.
Roaring at Blake, Heatran took off in a charge towards the undefended sixteen year old boy.
'Oh crap.' Blake muttered as Heatran leaped toward him, raising one of its feet which it planned to smash down onto the boy.
Jumping backward, Blake barely evaded Heatran's claws. With a sigh of relief, Blake was glad he moved since the small portion of the roof Heatran's attack had hit crumbled beneath its foot. Heatran quickly pulled its foot out the hole it had created and charged at Blake again like a raging bull.
Reaching for one of the Poke-balls on his belt, Blake was planning to release another Pokemon to back up Pupitar, but as he got his hand on the Poke-ball, Heatran was in front of him, swing its massive foot toward him with its extended claws that would tear Blake to shreds.
Bracing himself for the hit, Blake didn't notice the gray blur rushing toward him from his left, managing to slip itself in between Blake and Heatran's claws, taking the hit for him.
'Pupitar?' Blake explained before feeling Pupitar's body being smashed into his, the Hard Shell Pokemon being unable to hold back Heatran's foot. Both trainer and Pokemon were sent flying to their right, over the edge of the building where Blake realized they were in for at least a four story drop before they hit the ground of the alleyway.
"Crap." Blake muttered, looking down at the distance he and Pupitar were beginning to fall, the Hard Shell Pokemon appearing to be dazed from the hard hit it took from Heatran to protect Blake.
"Pup-itar!" Blake's partner shouted as a surge of energy traveled through Blake's body, not originating from his right wrist but his chest.
"Pupitar?" Blake said, looking at his partner who began to glow in a bright white beneath him. "You're, evolving."
The Hard Shell Pokemon began to grow in size, easily surpassing Blake in size and weight. Before it evolution was complete, the evolving Pupitar and Blake hit the ground with a loud thud, Blake landing onto of his partner while it destroyed the pavement on impact, creating a dust cloud which gained the attention of any bystanders.
"Tyranitar." A deep voice mumbled from beneath Blake. As the cloud began to clear, Blake could see Pupitar's newly evolved form, resembling its body as a Larvitar only three times as big.
"You did it. You made it all the way to your final evolution." Blake exclaimed, looking down at the large Pokemon he was resting on top of, Tyranitar returning his statement with a smirk. "You've gotten stronger over the course of our journey, and now it's time for me to show my strength too."
Blake's Crest began to glow even brighter, gray lines extending from each of the five parts of the pentagon, up his arm up to his shoulder where it branched out onto his upper torso and neck like it had when he was traveling to Mt Pyre. Energy raged through Blake's body as he felt his body become lighter than a feather, almost like he could fly at his own will.
Jumping off of Tyranitar, Blake recalled the Armor Pokemon to its Poke-ball before deciding to see if he could jump like Arika could with her Crest open.
"Let's do this." Blake said, jump straight up, easily exiting the dust cloud Tyranitar had created before pushing off the wall to continue his upward movement toward the roof Heatran had thrown him off of.
With two more wall jumps, Blake was standing on the adjacent roof to the one Heatran was located on, the Lava Dome Pokemon glaring at him.
"Tyranitar." Blake said, calling out his partner who jumped out its Poke-ball, appearing beside Blake. "Use the Modified Dark Pulse." Blake said, pointing at Heatran.
"Tyranitar." It said, raising one hand above it head to allow the sphere of blank energy to form. For the first time in quite a while, Blake watched as dual type Pokemon flattened the Dark Pulse into a disk with a purple outline which it then threw at Heatran.
Unleashing a blast of scarlet flames, Heatran planned to steer away the attack, but the Dark Pulse easily cut through the flames, running straight into Heatran which sent the Legendary Pokemon flying off the roof.
"Nice, Tyranitar."
Heatran came flying into an open plaza in Slateport City like a meteorite, hitting the large fountain that was the center piece to the beautiful area, breaking through the stone with ease.
Many people that were in the plaza stared in shock, looking up at the sky to see if any more Pokemon were coming down.
"What Pokemon is that?" Many on lookers asked, watching Heatran struggle to rise to his feet, groaning as it rose.
Moments later, another figure landed in the plaza, directly in front the fountain where Heatran was resting.
"Tyranitar, Absol, Gallade, come on out!" Blake said, releasing three Pokemon at once to finish his battle with Heatran.
Both Absol and Gallade glanced at Tyranitar, noticing that Pupitar possessed a new form. Before either could make a comment, their attention was drawn to Heatran who now back on its feet, soaked in water and panting.
Blake's eyes became a lime green once again as did Tyranitar's, Gallade's and Absol's. The first thing Blake noticed was that he could see Heatran through three different perspectives, something he wasn't planning on.
'Dustin told me I could only Synchronize with one of them at a time.' Blake said, recalling the first time he had Synchronize with his entire time at once which caused him great pain and a huge drain on his stamina, yet he wasn't feeling either of those at the moment. 'Unless…'
Glancing at his glowing wrist, Blake could only come up with one answer.
"It must be the Crest." Blake said before looking at his team with smirk. 'Alright guys, this is what I want you to do.'
Tyranitar, Absol and Gallade gave Blake one collective nod before preparing their attacks for the one combined attack that Blake had explained to them via the Synchronism.
Creating a Modified Dark Pulse, Tyranitar glanced at Absol and Gallade to its left, waiting for them to have their attacks read as well. Absol had charged up an orb of royal purple energy in front its open mouth, nodding to Tyranitar.
Both looked to Gallade who's forearm was glowing in a neon pink, continuing to pour all its energy into this Psycho Cut attack like Blake had told it to do.
'Ready…go!' Blake shouted. Absol was first to fire its attack, launching its Shadow Ball attack Heatran. Tyranitar was next, throwing the disk which quickly caught up with the Shadow Ball fusing with the attack which resulted with the Shadow Ball becoming the center of the spinning disk.
Gallade was last, firing off a huge Psycho with a swing of its arm, releasing a wide pink crescent that combined with the attack as well, giving the disk a pink outline.
Heatran's eyes widened at the approaching attack before it decided to use all the energy it had left to try and over power the attack. As its body gained a red tint, Heatran opened its mouth revealing a white light. From its mouth, Heatran produced a white beam with orange flames spiraling around the beam that raced toward the collaboration attack.
The two attacks met with in silence, but to everyone's surprise, Blake's combination attack deflected Heatran's Overheat to the right, sending the attack into a building, blowing a large hole through the structure. Continuing its path, the spinning Dark Pulse, Shadow Ball, Psycho Cut combination hit Heatran head on. The attack dispersed, creating a large purple dome that sent Heatran flying into one of the nearby buildings where it hit the wall, leaving an imprint before dropping to the ground.
Its eyes were replaced with swirls; the signal for Blake to make sure this battle was over. Opening his backpack packet as quickly as he could, Blake pulled out one of the black and yellow balls he had purchased with his IBF winnings.
Pressing the center of the tiny Ultra Ball that had been stored in his bag, the ball grew to match the size of Blake's palm. Giving it a toss, the Ultra Ball hit Heatran, swallowing the Pokemon before it dropped the ground, shaking back and forth. This continued for several moments before a low hum could be heard from the ball in the silent area.
Many of the people who were watching burst into cheers, applauding Blake for his successful, action packed capture of Heatran.
Zane rested on his bottom, bruised in battered as he held his left shoulder which was throbbing in pain. He had been stripped of Toby just a few minutes ago and then beaten to a pulp by the family that he failed to out run.
"You guys proved to be a lot stronger than I planned on." Zane mumbled, looking down as he tried to think of a way out of this situation.
Jim, Marilyn and Arika possessed Crests so they knew handing him over the local authorities would be pointless, so they were probably trying to figure out how they should remove his Crest.
'If I stayed with Heatran, maybe this would've gone better since they couldn't call out their Pokemon. But that boy that showed up with the girl kept Heatran distracted while all three of them came after me.' Zane muttered mentally, glaring at the group. 'After that I was pretty much finished.'
Feeling a draining sensation wash over him, Zane's eyes became wide.
"Damn it!" He shouted, jumping to his feet despite the amount of pain it caused his muscles. Becoming a blur, Zane began to bounce from roof to roof in search of Heatran. 'That damn kid must've captured it. I only have a few minutes at the most to get it back out or else it'll be too late.'
"He must be going to check on Heatran." Jim said, receiving nods from Marilyn and Arika. "Let's move!"
The crying Toby had become quiet the moment he had been taken back by his care takers, happy to be back with people that didn't reek of dark vibes.
Collecting the Ultra Ball from the ground, Blake pocketed the ball before turning to the three Pokemon he had used in battle, giving them a thumbs up. All three of them returned it with a smirk, happy that the content with how successful the collaboration attack had been.
"Rest up guys." Blake said, holding up two Poke-balls to return Absol and Gallade, but before either of them could withdrawn to their Poke-balls, Zane dropped down behind Blake, quickly wrapping his left arm around Blake's neck, capturing the boy in a headlock.
All three of the Pokemon Blake had out were surrounding Zane in an instant, Gallade placing its sharp forearm near Zane's neck, Absol doing the same with its horn. Tyranitar was giving Zane its darkest glare as it charged up another Modified Dark Pulse, prepared to attack if needed.
Glancing at all three Pokemon, one after another, Zane grunted.
'Have to get rid of these nuisances first, then get Heatran back.' Zane said mentally, condensing his energy into three different points on his body. His left forearm, his left shoulder, and his right knee.
From each of those spots on his body, a thin line of purples was fired at each of Blake's Pokemon. Blake watched in horror as Gallade was pierced straight through torso from a flames coming from Zane's right shoulder.
Absol howled in pain as the line of flames from Zane's right knee went through its torso as well while Tyranitar dropped to the ground after the flames cracked straight through its armor, putting a hole straight its neck.
All three of Blake's Pokemon were down on the ground, their eyes becoming dark which was bad sign.
"No." Blake said in whisper before his Crest lit up, covering his entire right arm in a white light while a white halo enveloped his body. "NO!"
Blake roared as his eyes became a bright silver color, the white halo forcing Zane to release his hold on Blake as the halo grew in size. Jumping back, Zane took his distance, but in the blink of an eye, Blake was behind him, landing a full roundhouse kick to his torso which sent Zane tumbling across the flat surface.
As Zane came to stop, laying flat on his back, Blake landed on top of him, pinning him down to the ground by his neck which he held tightly, beginning to choke the man. Blake glared at the man darkly, watching the blotches of orange covering Zane's body begin to recede into his Crest.
Grabbing Zane's left wrist with his right hand, Blake's hand become white as well as he gathered a large amount of energy into the palm of his hand, the focus point for the attack. Zane gasped, recognized the attack Blake was about to use.
Zane's left wrist and his hand disappeared as beam of white energy was fired from Blake's palm, completely consuming the man's hand and wrist in the light which vaporized his appendage.
Arika, Marilyn and Jim looked down from the roof they stood, watching Blake's display.
"I thought you said he didn't have any training." Jim said, looking at his daughter who put her hands up in defense.
"He couldn't even open his Crest when I met him, I can't explain how he can suddenly use a Crest Beam." Arika responded before Marilyn shushed them.
"It looks like its over." She said, pointing down at Zane and Blake.
Zane began to scream as the light cleared; revealing his left arm that now lacked a hand and wrist, blood beginning to drain out the large wound. For a few moments the man just screamed, staring at his wrist before his eyes became unfocused. Zane's arm dropped, hitting his chest with a dull thud where it remained as he became very quiet.
The silver color that had taken over Blake's eyes faded away along with halo and Blake's Crest. Blake blinked several times, looking around a bit at the crowd of people that had been watching, the crowd beginning to disperse.
'Did I…kill him?' Blake asked himself before turning to look back at his three Pokemon that lay on the ground, none of them moving at all. Returning his gaze Zane once more, Blake rose to his feet, allowing his bangs to drop down in front his eyes, but then his lips curved up into a dark smile. 'With all that power.'
Blake looked down at his right wrist, recalling how easily he could move with his Crest open. He was faster, stronger and he could Synchronize with more than one Pokemon at once with it. It was, exciting. It felt good. He wanted to do that again.
'What the hell?' Blake asked himself suddenly when he realized what was going through his mind. 'That's…wrong, right? Ugh, whatever!'
Blake turned to his Pokemon, quickly returning each of them to their respective Poke-balls and collecting the Ultra Ball he had caught Heatran in before beginning his search for the Pokemon center.
"Well that's quite surprising." Marilyn commented.
"What's surprising?" Jim and Arika asked together.
"We've been battling Zane for months and we barely survived most of the battles against Heatran, but this boy can't even use his Crest properly yet he destroyed Zane's Crest with one shot and captured Heatran." She explained.
"Hey, we spent all those months weakening Heatran, all he did was show up at the right time with some strong Pokemon and catch it after we did all the work." Jim pointed out.
"No daddy, that's just the power of the King." Arika said as they watched Blake push his way through the crowd, disappearing into the sea of people that had watched his battle.
Slateport Pokemon Center
"I'm not going to ask what happened to them, but it'll be at least a week before they're battle ready again." Nurse Joy said, examining the Gallade that was currently being treated by one of the Chansey's.
Blake gave her a nod and a thanks before exiting the room, sighing once he was outside.
"Something wrong?" A female voice asked, gaining Blake attention. Looking to his right, Blake found Arika, Jim, Toby and Marilyn waiting for him.
"If there anything you need?" Blake asked, raising one eyebrow at the group.
"Well…because you helped us save our beloved Toby, we wanted to come and thank you." Marilyn replied with a smile which Blake didn't return.
"It was no trouble." Blake said, turning away from the family to begin walking down the hall.
"Hey, hold on." Arika said, grabbing his right arm to prevent him from getting away again. Blake tore his arm loose from her grip, grunting in pain from how sore his muscles were.
"Heh, looks like he's already beginning to suffer from the withdrawal." Jim stated with a smile as Blake gave him a casual glare.
"What withdrawal are you talking about?" Blake asked in a deadpan, holding his right arm as he tried to ignore the pain.
"Roll up your sleeve." Marilyn said, pointing toward his jacket.
Blake did as he was told and was shocked to see how almost every vein in his forearm appeared to bulge out, easily visible from a distance.
"That's what happens when you use your Crest so recklessly." Arika commented playfully, gaining a glare from Blake.
"Would like me to fix this up for you?" Marilyn asked as Blake pulled down his sleeve.
"No thanks, I'm fine." Blake replied uneasily before Jim placed his hand on Blake's shoulder to hold him back once again.
"We won't accept no for an answer. You're the King, and you need to know how to use your Crest with hurting yourself." Jim said. "So until your Pokemon are done resting, we'll be training you on how to use your Crest without having to take some of the more serious repercussions."
Before Blake could even answer, Jim and Arika grabbed him by his left arm, dragging him along with them toward the exit of the Pokemon center.
Part 28. Sorry for taking so long with this part. I had some trouble getting certain parts down in words so I spent a few extra days trying to sort things out.
Anyway, Blake joins the battle against Zane to retrieve Toby, being tossed into a death match against a damaged Heatran in order to help out Toby's caretakers who also possess Crests. Now that Blake's first battle with a Dark Crest is finished with a victory for him, he faces a challenge. Learning what he can about his Crest in a one week crash course.
For all you people that were liking the IBF battles, don't worry, there are plenty of battles to come.
Please Review. Anything you have to say is appreciated, especially if you have some tips or pointers.
Read, Review and Enjoy! :D