Well I managed to get an update up on time, using my sick day constructivly. So you get another Episode and things start to get a little hectic as Persian isn't the only thing that seems to be after Flame and the gang.
Comments are very much appreciated, still. So comment damnit!
Episode 103: Face Off
It was five minutes of wandering through the trees, every shadow a potential trap, before I felt that familiar sense of unease.
"Where the fuck are you?" I muttered to myself, listening closely for any sign of an imending attack.
"Right here," came the purr from above me, "I was wondering when you were going to show your face."
I didn't bother looking up, I knew what it was about to do and dived out of the way as it pounced from the treetops. I got to my feet and stared down the Persian, which laughed to itself.
"Wow, you actually managed to get out of the way on your own. Instead of having someone dive in and save your butt. Last time we fought, I hadn't slept or eaten in days so you had the advantage. Now I am fully prepared, plus I have a little guardian of my own."
"Shut up," I growled, "can we just get this overwith?"
The Persian grinned again, baring those pointy fangs.
"My pleasure," it laughed before letting loose a huge roar. The deep noise bounced around the small clearing and seemed to be coming from every angle, sending a shiver down my spine.
"You may be powerfull, but can you fight your emotions as well as me?" It asked before vanishing into the bushes.
"Shit," I muttered, mentaly asking myself what insanity caused me to try and take down that thing on my own.
Another roar, this one from behind me, caused me to quake underneath my scales. I hated to admit it, but I didn't have a hope in hell of winning. Then I remembered the last time I fought the Persian and recalled its tactics, realising what it was going to do and diving out of the way as it shot out of the bushes from my right and just missed me.
"Ambushing doesn't work twice in a row," I chuckled as we faced each other again.
"True," Persian replied, "so let's try the more direct approach. Flash!"
"Eh?" I muttered untill a massive flash of light, similar to the one that got Scyther, caused my vision to explode.
"Shit!" I yelled, covering my sore seeing-orbs. Then I dived to the side again, feeling a shockwave ripple through the air as the Persian dashed past again. It'd used my distraction to pounce, my instincts were the only thing that saved my hide.
"Pretty fast," came the purr as my eyes burned. I hated to see what my eyes must have looked like, they must have been very red from that sudden outburst.
"I can keep this up all day, can you?" It asked me as I squinted, trying to make out the blobs and whatnot as my vision tried to repair itself, "guess not. Shall I put you out of your misery?"
"Do you just love to hear yourself blabber?" I countered, staring in the direction of the Persian's voice.
I heard it pounce and sidestepped, swinging out my claws as it shot past. They connected and I heard the Persian curse as blood poured onto my hand.
"Time for a little payback," I chuckled, my lack of proper vision was proving to be a blessing as it hightened my other senses and gave me pleanty of warning when it charged again.
I didn't bother getting out of the way and launched a fireball in the direction of the noise, forcing the Persian to dodge.
'I cannot believe that I am winning, and blind! ' I thought to myself, keeping my senses tuned for any sign of it attacking again.
"Not bad," came a voice from behind me, a much quieter and less throaty one than the Persian's, "so let's turn up the heat a little."
"Who the hell?" I muttered, glancing back with my returning vision. I could just make out the colours, a pink blob.
"You couldn't have forgotten me already," it laughed and the blob seemed to change shape and colour, becoming a light orange.
"Me and the Persian here have been wanting revenge, on both you and your little gang. And now we have you in our claws," the newcomer chuckled, "who'd have thought that all it would take to lure you out is an attack on that Pikachu."
'I don't like the sound of this,' I thought as I finally was able to make out the newcomer proper.
I was looking at an almost carbon copy of myself. My first though was simply, 'oh shit, another robot,' but then I noticed a second scar that ran across the other me's throat. Then it clicked into place. Pink blob plus scar and wanting revenge. There was only one Pokémon that could have all of those.
"Asmodeus," I growled.
"You finally remember," he chuckled, "me and Persian here formed a little partnership so we could take you and your party down. And you get the grand honour to be the last one standing."
"What the hell does that mean?" I asked, untill I was knocked to the ground. The Persian had tackled me from behind.
Asmodeus stepped fowards and wrapped a vine around my muzzle.
"We wouldn't want you injuring yourself with those nasty fireballs now, would we?" He laughed as he bound my paws and feet with more vines and I ended up tied to a rock, unable to speak or move.
"Ain't he such a cutie," Asmodeus laughed before spitting on the ground in front of me and becoming dead serious, "shame Persian here agreed to my plan on the condition that you stay alive untill we've dealt with you friends."
I glared at him, wanting so much to rip his throat out.
"Now now, don't give me that look," he muttered, leaning closer, "you're going to be looked after by Persian here while I get to pretend to be you and bring everyone to this spot."
"And then, I ambush them and you get to watch the blood fly," Persian added.
"Except for that Blacky, we're going to make a special exception for his case."
"But we'll keep that little detail to ourselves, we wouldn't want to spoil the suprise."
I tried to pull myself free of the vines that bound me but it was a useless effort, which Asmodeus found asmusing. He also found it amusing when he punched me in the gut, my inability to roll with the blow meaning that it hurt a lot more than normal.
"Asmodeus," the Persian spoke up, "how are you going to pretend to be the Charmander if you have a scar that he doesn't?"
"Now that was a stroke of genius on my part," Asmodeus replied as he walked over to a bush and pulled out a small box., inside which was a large amount of various powders of all colours, "a little brick dust will do the trick."
I could do nothing but watch as he took a pinch of the orange power and rubbed it along the white scar, the dust staining the scales and perfectly hiding the marking. Now he looked identical to me.
"What do you think?" He asked me, mimicing my own voice, "perfect duplicate. Your friends won't know the difference."
He turned away and headed off into the undergrowth, heading back towards Cerulean to continue with his deception while I could do nothing but slump back against the rock. Defeated. The Persian lay on the ground a little way off, watching me through the those piercing eyes.
'I hope the others are not as stupid as I am,' I mentaly sighed, 'because the blood is going to be on my hands if Asmodeus wins.'
I spent a little while longer in despair untill my common sense kicked in.
'What the fuck am I thinking? They are not that stupid. Well, Squirt is. But the others will notice something is up. He may look like me but he cannot mimic everything to do with me. Besides, there has to be a way out. I beat both of these bastards before, by Mew, I am going to find a way to beat them again.'
I mentaly smirked as the Persian began to doze off, they hadn't beaten me yet.
'I am a true Charmander, we don't give up that easily. Think you can stop me with these vines, Asmodeus, you have got another thing coming.'