Chapter 76: Just for fun

"We're so close…" Arven said. He hadn't looked away from his phone once he had started walking side by side alone with his brother. Aeon frowned a bit, not at the fact that his brother was talking to him, but… about the fact that Bombirdier may still be afraid of him. The robot boy raised one bent finger to his lower lip and wrapped his other arm arond his stomach while deep in thought, then nodded to himself.

"Arven?" Aeon asked.

"Yeah? What's up?" Arven said, not even glancing at his brother.

"I think we should have a plan. Kai's Bombirdier may be peaceful until it finds out I'm with you. The moment it sees me, I think it may panic and run away. Or worse, fight us. I think when we get close, I should hide. That way-"

"Uh, about that?" Arven said.

"What?"

"Bombirdier's right there." Arven pointed up at the sky, and once Aeon looked up, his eyes widened.

Kai's Bombardier was flying right above him, with the Herba mystica in its beak. Aeon took a step back.

"I-" Aeon said, raising his hands in a surrender motion. "I don't mean any harm- just- please… Could you-"

Kai's bombardier tossed the Herba Mystica into the air, and swallowed it in one gulp.

"No!" Arven shouted.

The moment Bombirdier ate the Herba Mystica, its body began to radiate with green energy. Its eyes began to shine white as it began rapidly growing.

"Ugh… I thought we could avoid this…" Aeon said. "Activating combat mode level-"

Arven took a step forward, raising an arm in front of his little brother. "Let me handle this," Arven said. "You can't afford to fight that thing right now. Who knows if you'll go berserk?"

"But…"

"Don't worry. Skwovet and I have been training for this." Arven pulled out Skwovet's pokeball with his free hand, and dropped in front of it. Skwovet let out a cry before looking up at its massive opponent. It took a step back and began to shiver.

"Hey- Skwovet! Look sharp. We can beat that thing together." Arven said.

Aeon sighed deeply. "Arven-"

"I can handle it."

"Arven- listen to me." Aeon said. "I get that you're having a moment, but you have to remember, that Bombirdier's strong. Kai can't control it yet because it's too strong for him. You're not as powerful as Kai, right?"

Arven scratched the back of his head. "Well-"

"Well, if that's the case, if we consider how Kai told us how far that thing pushed him- that means that you can't handle him alone." Aeon lowered Arven's arm that blocked his way. "I understand you're worried, but you have to let me help you. If we work together, we can beat hi-"

The sudden pained squawk of a Bombirdier made both Arven and Aeon spin their heads.

Something had struck Bombirdier on the stomach, and that something was a Pokémon. It was Annihilape, the same one that Geeta had previously put down.

And it looked absolutely livid, so much so that its body was turning red. With one strike alone, the Bombardier's body fell toward the ground. The Annihilape landed on the ground and howled as loudly as it could- so much so that a flame-like ghost-type purple aura radiated around its landed on the ground between Arven, Aeon, Skwovet, and the Annihilape.

All of their eyes were on the bird…and the flying type suddenly coughed up the Herba Mystica it had in its mouth. Everyone's eyes were on that plant.

Aeon and Arven gritted their teeth as Skwovet got ready to sprint.

Annihilape began to go on all fours, ready to sprint.

A wind blew past all of them. Then- they moved.

"Skwovet! Bullet seed!" Arven shot his finger out as Skwovet leapt, and fired a barrage of bullets, which bounced off the Annihilape's stampeding body.

"Go for the herb, Arven!" Aeon cried. "I'll take the Annhilape!" Electricity surged around Aeon as he began running faster. "Activating combat… Level..!" Aeon pulled his fist back. "ONE!"

Annihilape swatted away Aeon's hand, and punched the robot in the gut. Aeon's mouth shot open as he was sent tumbling past Arven, who kept running with Skwovet.

"Skwovet..!" Arven shouted, pointing a finger at Annihilape as they were inches away from the herb between them. "Hyper voice!"

Skwovet yelled so loudly that visible shockwaves flew out of its mouth- and yet, despite the incredible push from the tiny squirrel Pokémon's thunderous voice. Annhilape was able to push through and tackle the tiny normal type away with its shoulder. Arven turned his head to his Pokémon. "Skwovet- no!" He shouted, putting his open hand out at his fallen Pokémon.

Arven then heard the growling of the Annihilape, who was ready to smack down Arven with a punch aimed directly at his gut.

Just then- Aeon appeared in front of Arven in a blink of an eye, and caught the oncoming punch that came for his brother.

"Don't you dare touch…!" Aeon pulled his free arm back and curled his hand into a fist. "My brother!"

"Annihilape! Return!"

Just before Aeon's fist could touch the fighting/ghost type, a laser that came from a Pokéball touched Annihilape, and its entire body turned red before turning into light and being sucked into its ball. Aeon's fist flew through the air, missing its target. The moment Aeon's eyes followed the trail of the person who had returned their Pokémon, his eyebrows raised.

"Who…are you?" Aeon asked.

A giant of a girl who had face paint on her body, a wrestler-like outfit with a black cape, blonde hair and platinum-colored eyes.

"Hi," The girl said. "I'm Eri, from Team Star. I want to…apologize. My Annihilape got very angry suddenly, and ran off on its own… I've been looking for it for a while."

Aeon and Arven stared at her with a perplexed look. Just then, Bombirdier let out a loud cough.

The Gym stage located on Levincia city was lively- many people were around, watching Kai, who stood alone waiting for the Gym leader to come.

Geeta and Nemona were sitting on the sidelines- there was a small round table between them, and the table was holding an umbrella.

"I can't wait to see this…" Nemona said, smiling. "This is gonna be great..!"

Geeta smiled and nodded.

Meanwhile, Kai turned back and forth, looking for the gym leader. "Uh… where's the Gym leade-"

"IIII'M LAAAATE!" Everyone's heads swung to the girl who shouted those words out moments before walking out of the automatic glass doors that lead into the gym stage. It was a pink haired girl with teal highlights on her hair, and two magemite dolls on her hair as accessories. She wore a large yellow coat with a black large stripe at the bottom that showed an image of a phone, and the sleeves of said jacket were so large that you couldn't see her hands. Under her coat she wore an outfit that covered her from top to bottom, save for her right leg, which had a ribbon tied around her waist.

Her Pokephone was floating right in front of her the entire time. "Sorry guys-" The gym leader said, "My donations were going crazy, and I was talking with my chat about how I should enter the room, and…!" The girl looked out of breath. Kai tilted his head.

"Huh? Are you a streamer?" Kai asked.

The girl grinned, and winked. "Yup! My name's Iono- and your eyeballs will be mine! You're gonna be caught in my electroweb!"

Iono grinned at her phone as she ran over to the stage to stand in front of Kai. She suddenly twirled, then raised her hands. "It's tiiiiime for…the Iono zooooooone! I wanna see chat go absolutely CRAAZYYY!"

Iono and her phone spun to Kai. Kai glanced at the phone and saw that there was indeed a recording going on, and there was indeed a chat. The chat was scrolling down so quickly due to the influx of new people chatting every second that he couldn't even read a single word.

"All right chat, take a gander at my new challenger! He's looking rough and tough, ready to rumble!" Iono hopped, skipped, and jumped over to Kai's side. "So, Wanna tell the chat your name?" Iono asked.

Kai felt a knot form in his stomach. He didn't think he'd be in front of a camera so suddenly…

"Uh-... Uh… It's K-" Kai shook his head to snap himself out of it- he wasn't here to be timid- he was here to be confident! "My name's Kai," Kai said firmly.

"Okay, Kai! On a scale of one to ten, how confident are you that you'll win?"

Kai couldn't help but smirk as a thought came to his mind on how to answer. "One hundred." Kai said.

"One hundred?!" Iono cried. "Chat- our challenger's super determined- ready to catch that 'W' real quick! But we're here to put a stop to that and hand him that hard L!"

"Uh," Geeta said, "What does she mean by, 'W and L'?"

"It's slang. 'W' means 'Win'," Nemona said. "'L' means loss."

"Goodness," Geeta said, shaking her head. "Kids and their slang these days."

"Now then Kai," Iono took a few steps back and turned her head to Kai. "Before we begin, I've got something to admit. Geeta asked me to use 100% of my full, electro-charged up might against you! And you know what that means, chat?!" Iono and her phone looked away from Kai and raised her hands as she hopped in excitement. "BRIIING UP THE BOAAAAAARD!""

Suddenly, a large projector began rising from the ground- the sound of mechanical noises rang in everyone's ears as it rose. On the projector, it said, 'Viewer count' and the viewer count was well over 1000.

"Usually, I wouldn't fight with this, but since I was told to go absolutely wild, I have to SHOCK you with this piece of news! I'll tell it to you straight about my Gym's gimmick: The more views I get, the more SHOCKING this fight'll get!" Iono started giggling. "All right, enough with the stun-puns, it's time for ACTION!"

Iono twirled to face Kai. Then, slowly, she raised one arm over her head, high enough that her jacket couldn't hide her pointing finger.

"Bring down the THUNDER!" Iono shouted. Just then, a thunderbolt blasted from the sky and down toward the streamer, striking her, and sending blasts of wind Kai's way. Everyone in the vicinity covered their eyes with their arms as the blasts of wind spread across the entire gym. From the sky, a Kilowattrel flew out from the clouds and dove down to Iono's shoulder, who was now clad in Invoker armor and sparking with yellow electricity. The she still struck the same pose she did before the lightning stuck.

"And…!" Iono twirled before raising two fingers on one hand to make a V shape, and held it sideways to her eye before winking. Then, she pulled out a Tera orb from her pocket. "Time to see the impossible- thunder striking the same place...TWICE! I need Tera fusion power, NOW!"

Another lightning bolt flew into the sky and struck Iono and Kilowattrel. Kai gritted his teeth as he held his ground, trying hard to not let his body fly off and be carried by the violent winds. Once the wind stopped, Kai looked at his opponent, and let out a gasp.

Kilowattrel was nowhere to be found. There were wings behind a now floating Iono- the wings were made of several lightning bolts that spread out like branches on a tree. The Magnemite accessories on Iono's head were trembling with electric power- the eyes on them were spinning rapidly.

"My fans will be my power!" Iono cried. "I've got the entire stream on my side! With them, I can do anything!"

Kai grinned. He could feel his heart racing with excitement- so much so that he wanted to do something daring. Something...absolutely crazy.

"You know what would be funny? Hilarious, even?" Kai said, grinning. "If I beat you…using this Pokemon. Go…Quaquaval!"

Everyone in the entire gym gasped as Kai threw his Pokeball. Out of it came Quaquaval, who struck a pose before bowing.

"Whoaaaaaaaaa! What're you doing!?" Iono cried. "Quaquaval's a Water/Fighting type, no? My Kilowattrel's Electric/flying type! Wouldn't that mean that the fight would be next to impossible?"

"What is Kai thinking!?" Geeta cried.

"Hold on…" Nemona said, "Let him cook."

"I'm sorry, what? He's not cooking, Nemona. He's on a gym stage, not a kitchen."

"I-...Never mind." Nemona said.

A single bead of sweat fell from Geeta's brow as she frowned while staring at Kai. "Kai… what're you thinking..?" Geeta muttered. "There's a thin line between genius and insanity- I know that, but what's your plan here? Quaquaval's the absolute worst choice to make here. Not only that, but the excitement you're causing is going to make Iono stronger, because everyone's going to want to see what happens…"

"Kai's done something like this before," Nemona said. "This one time, he fought against this Team Star leader called Mela, and despite knowing full well that his water type moves would power Mela up...he powered her up on purpose. I think he wanted to get excited. Remember when I told you on the way here that I trained with Kai while going all out against him? Well during our fights- I sensed something from Kai. I sensed excitement every time he got up. I learned that he enjoyed fights the most when the odds were stacked against him. It's kind of like... "

Nemona crossed her arms and closed her eyes as she went deep into thought. She opened her eyes once she thought of something.

"Watching Kai at that point was like..." Nemona continued, "...watching a Charmander that enjoying using its Blaze ability. He enjoys putting himself into a pinch. I think that's why he wants to fight really strong opponents. I also think that's why he didn't ask you to turn down the heat when it comes to asking the Gym leaders to go all out. He loves it."

"But-...he can't do that in the final-..." Geeta stopped short.

"Huh? Final what?"

"...It's nothing. What I'm trying to say is that I hope that this decision doesn't come back to bite him," Geeta said.

"That's the thing though, I don't think Kai cares. I think the only thing on his mind is having fun, y'know?"

Geeta felt how tense her shoulders had gotten. She took a deep breath. Battling for fun is something that can happen- she had just forgotten about that due to the stakes. If Kai wasn't ready, this timeline would end. That thought weighed on her mind even as she watched everyone around her cheer.

Geeta sighed a bit to loosen her tense shoulders. That time for the final battle will come. This is Kai's second Gym badge. He should be allowed to have a little fun while fighting.

"So- What do you have to say about this to the chat, Kai!?" Iono cried. "People are going wild over your decision!"

"The thing about taunting your opponent…" Kai said. "Is that it's a double-edged sword, the stakes double. If I lose, then I look like a massive idiot. But if I win…Ohoho- if I win…"

Quaquaval's smile grew wide, just like his trainer's.

"Then Quaquaval and I would look absolutely spectacular." Kai continued. That's what you want too, right Quaquaval? To have everyone's eyes on you as you dazzle everyone with your fancy moves, against all odds?"

Quaquaval nodded.

"That's right." Kai said, pulling out his Tera orb. "It's what I want, and it's what Quaquaval wants. We've made up our minds. We're going to beat you together!"

Kai crushed the orb, and a radiant explosion rang out in the form of a geyser that shot below both of their feet. Only Kai remained, wielding a rapier, and closing his eyes.

"Heh," Iono said, "While this is technically pretty disrespectful, thinking that you can beat me when you're at a HUGE advantage… I still think this is super exciting and fun! Although if you lose, you'll make a fool of yourself in front of everyone!~ Some people in my chat's roasting you right now- saying that this match'll last ten seconds!"

Kai opened his eyes. "It'll take about ten seconds for me to beat you, yeah," Kai said with a grin.

Iono grinned as well, her shark-like jagged teeth showed.

"I got a question for you before we start!" Iono said. "What keeps you going? What makes you so confident? Got any famous one-liners for my fans? Or famous last words before being served a thunderous L?"

"I do have one thing to say," Kai said.

Kai crossed his arms in front of his face. The power of flow began to rise around him. A blue aura radiated around his body within an instant before exploding as he uncrossed his arms. Kai's hair turned white, and his eyes turned red as he raised his head and shouted at the top of his lungs.

The feathers that would appear behind Quaquaval bloomed outward from behind Kai. Water dancing shoes took shape and formed on his feet.

After finishing his battle cry, Kai lowered his head, then smiled. "It's not confidence I'm feeling right now; it's certainty. I'm going to win. And there is nothing you can do about it!"

"OHoohohoho!" Iono cried. "I'm loving it! Loving it, loving it, loving iiiiit! The fans are, too! The chat's going off the wall, and the views- oooh, the views!" Iono turned around and saw the views jump from 1000 to 4000. Iono's body began sparking with so much energy that her body began to shine yellow. "Everybody wants to see how this battle ends! Everyone wants to see who's going to be eating dirt! And who's going to be the winner of this sparklingly huge match! Let's make this battle an electrifying one!~"

"Yeah..! This is what I LIVE for!" Kai said, aiming his raipier at his opponent. "I'm super excited! Fight me with everything you've got- it won't be enough to beat me, though!"