Pre-chapter A/N; Since everyone is asking for one of these, here's a breakdown of the character names before we get into things
Broly - Kleavor
Quicksilver - Pidgeot (dead)
Kisame - Milotic
Igneel - Charizard
Kenpachi - Tyranitar
Ino - Gardevoir
Snorlax - Snorlax
Tsunade - Clefable
Gai - Hakomo-o
Magnezone - Magnezone
Hashirama- Trevenant
Special thanks to the folks on pa-atreon for making this possible. Now without further ado let's get into it.
After all that hype, I found myself somewhat excited to see the last pokemon he was going to unleash on the field. Both the Arcanine and Magmar had been monsters. While the thought of facing a third pokemon of that level didn't bode well for my chances of leaving here with a gym badge, it still excited me. This was what I'd become a trainer for, after all, wasn't it? This thrill. Placing yourself against the best the world had to offer and putting it all on the line. This is what it means to be a pokemon trainer, and I was never more grateful to be one.
He picked up a ball from within his lab coat. I was too far to see much detail about the ball, but I could still see that it was more faded than any I'd gotten the chance to personally examine. Even Oak's balls were less aged. Fuck. That sounded weird. Never mentioning that thought anywhere.
The Charizard that came out of the red light announced its presence with a roar. 'Prepare yourself, Kisame. This one will be tough.' In between blinks, the Charizard had sent a massive flamethrower at my seasnake. She easily blocked it with a wave of water but that was only the first prong of the attack. The fire dragon sped through the steam with the green aura of Dragon rush only to crash into Kisame's protect. I smiled at the sight and sent my next orders through the bond. For this fight, I wasn't going to be taking any risks.
Kisame intensified the rain dance, and the Charizard roared at her before retreating as she gathered more water towards her. Once she was safely ensconced in her 'water prison', we started working on the second part.
At least, we were about to. Until the heat around the charizard intensified and began evaporating every drop of rain that got within a few feet of it. After that, it charged at Kisame again, only to be forced to abort by multiple tendrils of water that lashed out at it.
"Blizzard" I barked and the change the field took was slow and methodical. The winds around both pokemon intensified, and the cold came with it. In the next few seconds, the rain from the rain dance began to freeze as it fell, and it joined the icicles floating around in the Blizzard.
The Charizard floated, almost unbothered, within the storm. The heat shield around its body seemed to have gotten a bit smaller, but that could have just been wishful thinking.
"Light it all up" Blaine commanded with a wide smile I could just barely make out with the poor visibility. The next thing that happened had both Kisame and I reeling in shock. The charizard snatched rain dance from Kisame with a powerful sunny day. The clouds cleared up near instantly, and it flapped its wings twice to create a counter current that turned into a mini hurricane. It didn't do any damage to Kisame but Blizzard was now gone. What kind of monster was this?
It sped at Kisame again, and although she managed to ward him off, I could see that losing her environmental advantages so quickly had affected her.
"Calm down, girl. We still have this" I said with a confident smile even though that's the exact opposite of what I felt at the moment. 'Hydro pump. Make it rain' I told Kisame with the bond, and she sent blast after blast of water at the fire dragon. It managed to dodge them all by weaving around the attacks and allowing some of them to crash into its heat shield and evaporate instead. That was strange, I thought.
Oak had spent a good deal of the time we had together working on my ability to notice things like this, so the second time the Charizard dodged out of the way of a hydropump, I figured out what was wrong. The Charizard dodged some hits. Why would it do that if its shield could take the blasts of water with no difficulty.
"Water prison" I shouted at Kisame. She nodded imperceptibly and sent massive tendrils of water at the Charizard. Whenever it dodged one, she was there with the next one. At the end of the day it was only a matter of time. Of course, the hacked pokemon had to disagree with that.
Even with all Kisame's attacks, it managed to charge straight at her from an angle. I could see that she wouldn't be able to react in time to avoid the hit, but she could still do some damage before being knocked out. As the Charizard's fist buried into her midsection, a massive wave of water crashed into the both of them. It was sent with little control, and a lot of power, so there was no way the Charizard was getting up unscathed.
I returned Kisame to her ball and whispered my thanks to her before preparing my last pokemon. When the steam cleared up, I was proven right. The charizard was banged up, a few bruises littered across its body. By far the worst piece of damage it had suffered was the broken wing on its back. I smiled at that and changed my choice.
This might piss off Igneel a bit but Gai needed a gym battle of his own. I reared back and tossed his ball into the field. My Hakomo-o took his place with an air of nobility that none of my other pokemon could match. He looked like royalty as he walked towards the Charizard. The massive fire dragon ceased roaring in pain to look at his new opponent, and that's when Gai struck. A fist went sailing straight at the Charizard's head. While it managed to dodge that, it didn't manage to dodge the kick to the stomach. It didn't budge, but the roar it let out told me it felt it.
I smiled in anticipation. This was going to be fun. Very fun. Gai didn't let up his assault at all. Oak had an entire ecosystem of fighting types on the ranch, and they'd taken Gai as one of theirs. His skills had shot through the roof in the past few months. Not just stronger or faster, but smarter, more technical. He was well on his way to being a complete powerhouse. The only thing holding him back from matching up to the rest of the team's powerhouses was his evolution. As powerful as he was right now, both Snorlax and Kenpachi could stomp him with apparent ease.
While I hd my internal monologue, Gai enjoyed himself at the Charizard's expense. Without the benefit of flight, there was little the dragon could do against my fighting type. Gai weaved through whatever attacks it attempted, and struck with devastating strength. At this point, the only thing keeping the Charizard in the fight was sheer stubbornness. It just refused to stay down. Gai hit it everywhere and anywhere, only avoiding its broken wing out of a sense of honour that I couldn't fault in this fight. I'd be much less tolerant of such frivolities if we were even close to losing this one. 'It was already decided', I thought and that's when shit hit the fan.
Gai moved in for one more punch to its skull, and the Charizard suddenly caught it. I watched in shock as its tail flame turned blue and it roared in triumph before tossing Gai straight out of the ring.
Gai panicked for only a second before calming down and sending two punches at the lava underneath him. The force split it and forced him up. He did the same to the air behind him and managed to generate enough force to send him crashing back into the field. Pokemon physics was bullshit.
With the sudden boost in power and strength, the dragon roared and ran straight at Gai. They reared back and tossed their best punches, the arena shattered around them, but neither of them budged. From there, they started an exchange of fists I couldn't keep up with. All I knew was that Gai was enjoying himself immensely. Enjoying himself and losing apparently. My eyes were able to pick out more and more of their fight and I could see that he was taking half again as many hits as he was dishing out. That was made even worse by the fact that he wasn't quite as durable as the dragon across from him. He might have only been taking half again more hits, but he was probably taking at least double the damage. This was unsustainable. "Belly drum" I shouted at the field and Gai performed admirably. He disengaged quickly and suddenly with a few backflips and once he felt far enough, he began banging on his stomach with those powerful fists of his. The sound sent shockwaves across the arena and I had to readjust to ensure I kept my footing. Blaine didn't even look bothered by the vibrations. A red aura slowly built up around Gai and the Charizard stood still waiting for Gai to finish his buff. Dragons were prideful creatures, and I guess Blaine's Charizard was no exception to the rule.
When the move was complete, both pokemon rushed at each other once again. Their fists tore the arena apart, and this time, Gai clearly had the advantage. The Charizard didn't let up though. It kept going till the very end. Giving and taking punches with tremendous force. After a few minutes, I began to fear that the pokemon would never go down, and then, it let out a roar before flying into the sky with its broken wing. I looked on in shock as the green energy of dragon dance surrounded it, and the sunny day above both pokemon grew even more intense. 'Protect', I ordered Gai, sensing that what was coming wouldn't be very good for his health or my chances of victory. I watched as the fire-type pokemon began building up what was perhaps the most powerful fire-type move ever, blast burn. Even after only a few seconds, it already surpassed what Igneel was capable of with the move. The dense ball of fire was warping the very air around it, turning the heat up from mere sweltering to roasting. Parts of my skin were already beginning to redden. There had to be some end to this.
Maybe Gia sensed my discomfort, or maybe he decided sheltering in a protect wouldn't be enough, or maybe he just got tired of waiting, but Gai left his shield and charged straight at the fire type. The Charizard could hardly manoeuvre in the air with a broken wing, so Gai was able to get his first punch in with little difficulty, and from there, he kept going. Eventually, the move the Charizard was trying to build and control blew up in both their faces.
With all the damage it had already taken, the Charizard was unconscious before it even hit the ground. Gai, on the other hand, was able to recover and land on his feet. He wasn't unscathed, don't get me wrong, burns covered his body and he was barely able to keep to his feet after landing. Blaine returned his unconscious pokemon with a smile on his face.
"Thank you for giving her a fight like that. She's never going to forget that dragon of yours now." I only nodded and returned Gai to his ball.
"Congratulations, Oak. I expected nothing less." He shouted across the field before he teleported right next to me. I barely managed to avoid screaming in shock as his voice suddenly came from right next to me. "Here's your seventh badge. You've proven yourself worthy of it." I advise you take a bit of time to train up your team before attempting an eight badge. Something tells me you'll only be challenging the pinnacle gyms for that and both Blackthorne and Viridian are well-known for breaking eight-badge challengers. Evolve that dragon of yours. It's more than ready. Focus on grass type moves for that ghost of yours. You've already hit the limit of what it can achieve with the ghost typing." I nodded at his advice. He was probably right.
"Thank you, Gym leader Blaine" I said with a bow.
"None of that. For a son of Oak, I'll always be Blaine. Now, get going. See to your pokemon."
I nodded at his words and made my way out of the gym. Heading straight for the Silph research centre in Cinnabar.
A/N; Happy New Year's day everyone (those of us using the Gregorian calendar). This also depends on when you receive this. Thanks for reading. We just finished with Chapter 40 on the pa-atreon page. Feel free to join me there if you feel like supporting my work. Same username as up here. The link's on my profile.
I also want to mention that this is probably the best time to get a yearly subscription to my pa-atreon. Comes with a really cool discount.