Chapter 46: VS Flint
I understood now why Bertha wore the coat and scarf. With all the heat that Flint was putting into his room, they probably couldn't afford to heat the rest of the castle. The room was scorching, and there were fire pits lining the walls on both sides, flames flickering lazily. The man himself stood across the arena, grinning widely. "So you finally showed up! I was wondering when I was going to see you." he called.
"To be honest, I'm pretty excited about this too." I said, releasing Cerberus. "You're the only one who I think is going to be a challenge, other than Cynthia of course."
"Of course." he nodded, grabbing a pokeball. "Now, let's get this show on the road, eh?" He tossed the ball, revealing a Houndoom to match my own. The two dogs growled at each other, circling slowly. If it wasn't for the shades that Cerberus now wore, I wouldn't have been able to tell which was which. Suddenly, both Houndoom charged, horns lowered. They were acting more like rams now than dogs, but the effect was still devastating. With a loud crack they collided in the center of the ring, horns locked as they battled for superiority. Cerberus gained the high ground, tripping his opponent and headbutting him into the ground. The other dog bounced from the force and lay still, defeated from the powerful Strength attack.
"Wow, that was really crazy." Flint complimented, returning his fallen pokemon. "But I've got something up my sleeve that'll put your Houndoom to shame. Infernape!" he cried, releasing the fire monkey. I immediately recalled Cerberus, knowing that the dark-type was no match for the martial artist. Instead, I sent out Moka, who performed a few quick loops, excited for her second bout in the Elite Four.
"Infernape, use Flare Blitz!" Flint ordered, and the pokemon obeyed, charging forward swiftly, flames spewing from its mane and covering its body in a cloak of fire. The ape was taking a slight amount of damage from the flames, as anything would be if engulfed in fire like that, but if the attack hit it would do far more damage to Moka.
The attack didn't hit, however, because even without an order, Moka flew high up into the air, easily getting out of range of the attack. Infernape quelled the flames, knowing that it's quarry had escaped. Picking up speed, Moka flew around and around, before diving down as fast as she could. Infernape was well trained, and held its ground until the last possible moment. Unfortunately for him, the last possible moment was far to late. Moka slammed into his stomach, knocking the fire-type flying back into the wall. It slumped onto the floor, defeated.
Cerberus made his return to the arena, facing down against Flints next pokemon, a Magmortar. The large humanoid pokemon too my and Cerberus by surprise by unleashing a Thunderbolt attack, but Cerberus shrugged it off. "This is nothing compared to what that cat can do." he growled, biting down into Magmortars flesh with a Crunch attack. Another Crunch sealed the deal, and the flame-patterned pokemon was defeated.
"Man, this battle is starting to burn out." Flint quipped. I groaned. Oh god, here come the fire puns I thought. Instead, Flint sent out a Flareon, which was easily dispatched by a Crunch/Strength combo, the poor, delicate fox unable to take the brutal attacks. Flints final pokemon, a Rapidash, only had time to set up a Sunny Day before another physical beat-down secured our victory.
"Man, that was awesome! I was burned to cinders! You and your pokemon are hot stuff!" Flint declared.
"Do me a favor Flint. Cool it with the fire puns." I muttered.
In the waiting room for the next area, I healed up Cerberus while discussing the next battle. "You're gonna be on the front lines again man. You too Mufasa." I said, looking over at the large cat.
"Wait, I've got to fight with him?" Cerberus asked, mortified. "No way, I'm not getting my butt saved by that damn cat again."
"Who says I'm willing to save you this time?" Mufasa asked. Cerberus growled at him, and if I wasn't holding onto the large dog, probably would have attacked. Oh man, what am I going to do with these two? I thought.