Chapter 4

Kai and Arven threw their pokeballs.

"Go, Skwovet!" Arven shouted.

"Go! Quaxly!" Kai cried.

Both of their respective Pokémon appeared in front of them once their Pokéballs opened.

"Go, Mankey!" The male Team star grunt roared.

"Go, Meowth!" The female team star grunt yelled. The two Pokémon they unleashed cried out their names in excitement.

The male team star grunt grinned as he cracked his knuckles and walked forward. "You take the kid; I'll take on the taller one!" The male grunt sprinted forward along with Mankey.

"Don't run in by yourself, moron!" The female grunt cried, running in with Meowth.

The angry grunt raised his arm and bellowed a war cry as he charged after Arven, Kai and their Pokémon.

"Quaxly, Air slash, now!" Kai commanded as he sprinted forwards. Quaxly swung his wings widely and fired waves of wind that flew toward then past the water type's trainer.

Kai closed the gap between him and the male grunt- The male grunt swung his fist, and Kai ducked under it and landed a devastating gut punch. Mankey leapt at Kai in an attempt to defend its trainer, only for Quaxly's air slash attack to strike ighting type and send it tumbling to the ground.

Kai swung his leg like a whip and it landed on the back of male grunt's neck, sending him to the ground with a thud.

"Don't forget about me!" The female grunt's voice reached Kai's ears. He looked up to see the Female grunt and Meowth with their arms raised, as though they were beasts pouncing on their prey.

Just then, Skwovet slammed into the girl's stomach and took the girl down.

Arven lunged at the Meowth, grabbing the poor cat by the head before it could reach Kai.

"Sorry, Meowth, I'm gonna get a little rough!" Arven slammed his opponent's Pokémon onto the ground with enough force to make the earth crack. He soon lifted his hand off Meowth's face and clenched it. Suddenly, the gauntlet of Arven's armor began to morph, the sound of moving machinery and metal echoed as Arven's glove took the shape of a arm-cannon.

"Hope you can handle it…" Arven said. "Bullet seed!"

Seeds flew out of Arven's arm cannon like a machine gun's bullets would. One by one the seeds riddled and slammed into Meowth's body like pins on a pincushion. After a bit, the bullets finally stopped, and Meowth exhaled before going unconscious. Arven sighed as his arm cannon reverted itself back into a gauntlet and Skwovet scurried over to his trainer.

Kai and Quaxly just stared in pure shock.

"THAT WAS SO FRIGGIN' COOL!" Nemona screamed before squealing and jumping up and down like a kid being shown the biggest birthday cake on the planet.

"D-Dang it, Nemona!" Kai cried. "You didn't tell me that Invokers can turn your arms into cannons!"

"That's the thing- they can't! But for some reason, Arven's can!" Nemona shouted.

Kai's eyes widened in disbelief. "What!?" He shouted.

"YOU HAVE TO TELL ME HOW YOU DID THAT! WHAT BUTTONS DID YOU PRESS!?" Nemona yelled. N-Not that there ARE any buttons, but there has to be a way! Tell me, tell me Tell me!"

Arven sighed.

"Well, I'm using a modified invoker made by my parents."

"Whoa… Who are your parents, anyway?!" Nemona asked.

Arven shot a glare.

"Why don't you just mind your own business!?" He cried.

"Whoa- no need to get angry." Kai said, raising his arms as though he were being held at gun point. "Why don't we calm down, and-"

"H-Hey…!" The male grunt who was knocked down by Kai was now on his feet and had managed to put distance between himself and his enemies.

"Oh, right, I forgot about you," Kai said.

The grunt pointed at both of the boys. "You think this is over?! I'm not finished yet!"

"Emphasis on 'yet.'" Arven said.

"Listen man." Kai said. "Save yourself the embarrassment and just stop."

"Just stop!? You sound just like everyone else who looks down on us!" The male team star member glared furiously. "That's it! You've made me mad, really, really mad!" The male grunt pulled out a tera orb from his pocket.

"Wait, that's-..!" Arven's eyes widened.

"You think you're cool because you have modifications on your invokers just like our bosses?! So what?! I'll show you who will shine the brightest!" The male grunt crushed the tera ball, and it exploded like glitter confetti.

Nemona's eyes widened. "He- He crushed the tera ball..!" Nemona shouted. "That means..!"

Mankey leapt onto the male grunt's shoulder as a pillar of light rose from below their feet. Both Kai and Arven covered their eyes as wind blasted against them both. Soon, the pillar of light faded to reveal the grunt glowing like a crystal. His Mankey was nowhere to be found. And because he had tera-fused with a fighting type, the male grunt was wearing large punching gloves, both of which were the size of his head. He pounded both of his fists together.

"I'm gonna pound some sense into both of you!" He cried.

Kai chuckled. "Heh. Pound. Cause you have punching gloves. Nice."

"Kai," Arven said, sweating a bit as he stepped forward. "This is gonna be a problem. We're gonna have to work together and-"

Kai moved his arm in front of Arven and stepped forward. "Nah, I can take him." He said, smiling an arrogant smile.

"Quaxly!" Quaxly said his name happily as he approached alongside Kai, but then Kai turned to his Pokémon.

"No no no, Quaxly, I got this," Kai said. Quaxly's eyebrows rose.

"Wha-" Arven said. "Do- do you have any idea what you're messing with!?"

"It'll be fiiiine." Kai said, shrugging. "There's no way he can beat me, anyway."

Kai turned his gaze over to Aeon, who watched with a blank stare.

"Maybe if I say cool things like that, he'll notice me…" Kai muttered. His eyes shifted over to the tera fused grunt as he took a few steps forward.

"All right, let's see what you've got." Kai said, entering a battle stance. "But I'm pretty sure I won't be surpri-"

In a blink of an eye, the male grunt closed the distance and appeared in front of Kai as though he teleported. The grunt threw a punch that landed directly into Kai's stomach, and the moment this hit connected, spit flew out of Quaxly's mouth, for all of the damage Kai took transferred to the water type. The grunt swiftly threw a left hook at Kai's face, sending him flying like a torpedo toward the ground and causing an eruption of dirt to fly from the ground and cover the air. Once the dirt fell and the dust settled down, it revealed Kai to be buried under the ground with his feet sticking out.

"Ooooooh…" Nemona moaned. "That's gotta hurt."

"...I hate to say it," Arven said, narrowing his eyes. "But you kind of deserved that, Kai."

Aeon nodded. "Deserved." He said in a monotone voice.

"MMMMMMPH!" Kai cried, kicking his feet like he was trying to stay afloat in water. Arven turned his head to see Quaxly completely unconscious.

"Oh boy," Arven groaned.

"Well, with that other grunt down and Kai down…" Nemona spoke as she put a hand on her hip. "I guess it's back to a regular two-on-two! What do you think, Aeon?"

Aeon said nothing.

"Well…" Arven sighed. "I guess it's up to me… " He turned and glanced at the grunt, who was throwing punches to warm himself up.

"Hope you're ready to get crushed!" The grunt cried.

"MMMPH!" Kai groaned.

"Wait. Hold on. Time out." Arven approached Kai, whose muffled screaming was getting even louder. Arven grabbed Kai by one of his legs and then pulled him out like a vegetable. Kai's helmet was gone because it was stuck inside the dirt, so it revealed his angry face. "That punch was so hard I almost felt them through the armor! The heck was that!?" Kai cried. "I want a do-over! That didn't count!" Arven pulled Quaxly's Pokeball from Kai's pocket and returned the water type behind him into his ball.

"You already lost, squirt," Arven said. "Sit on the sidelines and watch how it's done. Hey, Nemona? Catch!" Arven threw Kai and Quaxly's ball toward Nemona and Aeon.

Nemona, completely caught off guard, ran and barely managed to catch Kai after jumping and sliding across the ground. Quaxly's ball landed directly on Kai's stomach.

"Aaand. Safe!" She said."You should be able to move after a few minutes, Kai!"

Kai grumbled as he stayed lying on the ground.

"Up you go!" Nemona managed to pick Kai up like a groom would his bride and started to walk back toward Aeon. "You acting all cocky was off character for you, Kai. It's like you were trying to impress someone or somethi-"

Nemona paused. Her eyes darted to Aeon.

Then back to Kai.

Then back to Aeon,

and back to Kai.

"OHHHHHHH!" Nemona cried. "IT'S BECAUSE YOU HAVE A CRUS-"

"SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!" Kai cried with a face as red as a tomato. "IF YOU DON'T STOP TALKING I WILL EAT YOUR POKEBALLS SO YOU CAN NEVER BATTLE AGAIN!"

"WHAT?! NOOOO!" Nemona cried.

Arven groaned as he stared at his only opponent.

"This is a real bad situation," Arven mumbled. "Skwovet's a normal type, so naturally he'll take more damage from this guy's attacks. Man..."

Arven turned to Aeon, who never stopped looking at his older brother ever since the battle started.

Aeon stared with unblinking eyes, and then smiled a bit.

"At least you're reacting." Arven grumbled. "Well, if you're gonna react to me fighting, you'd better react when I win this. Then I'll get to see your stupid face get surprised. It'll be your just deserts for making me try to get you to say or do something for so long."

"Ready to get pummeled yet!?" The grunt cried.

Arven groaned.

"Ugh- you're so loud! I'm gonna have to teach you some manners."