Fun fact: The title of this chapter is inspired by Sonic Frontier's "Find your Flame"! It's a great song if you're into heavy rock.
Chapter 22: Finding his Flame
Kai and Mela exchanged smiles as they walked toward and circled one another. They were like savage beasts eying their prey, waiting for their moment to strike. Every step Mela took, she left a burning footprint behind. Her burning aura was scorching the grass around her.
Kai and Mela then stood face to face.
Kai raised his blade and swung in an arc in front of him, and watched as his blade became water vapor in the face of Mela's blazing aura. It passed by Mela harmlessly, and the moment Kai's blade flew past Mela, the water of his blade restored itself back to its original sharp-water state.
Mela grinned as Kai leapt away, and her flames exploded with more power.
"Did you forget? My flames-"
"Burn up all Water type attacks," Kai interrupted Mela immediately. "And make your flames stronger, I know. I was just testing something."
"Yeah. I suggest changing your Pokémon if you want to stand a chance."
Kai paused for a bit as his mind pondered for the coolest thing to say at the moment. A smile came to his face when the line came his mind.
"Make me!" Kai said. "AIR SLASH!"
Kai swung his sword and a wave of flying type energy flew after the Team Star Boss. Mela sprinted to close the gap between her and her opponent, ducking and weaving over the waves of air flying her way. As Mela came close, she jumped and roundhouse kicked, and Kai lowered his upper body to dodge. Mela then started kicking wildly. Every attack she threw out, Kai managed to dodge cleanly and effectively.
All the while, Kai was thinking to himself, 'Oh my goodness, I'm actually dodging her..! Now that I think of it, she's not any faster than Nemona..!"
Mela leapt into the air with her leg held high, and she swung it down like a hammer only for Kai to backflip to dodge. As Kai landed on the ground from his backflip his hand dragged across the grass floor.
"Whoa..!" A team star member cried. "That kid's dodging so well!"
"What's his name again?" Another team star grunt said, "Kai, wasn't it? He's really good at dodging…."
The moment Kai heard this his eyebrows rose. He never really thought about how he was able to dodge things well- it was only because he spared with Nemona so much. If he could dodge Nemona's attacks, he could dodge Mela's, who wasn't as fast as Nemona.
"We're supposed to be rooting for our leader, remember?" A third team star grunt said.
"But you heard the boss, this isn't a fight between our leader and some guy, this is a normal, friendly fight!"
"I feel bad… but I wanna root for Kai! He's kinda like us!"
"Yeah! There's no harm, it's like watching a fight between two team members- we aren't betraying anyone!"
"You're right…! Go, Kai! Kick her butt!"
Kai grinned as he stood from his crouching position. His confidence was beginning to grow even more, more than he thought it was the moment more Team Star members started calling his name instead of Mela's. Of course, there were some team star members crying out Mela's name, but Kai wasn't worried about that.
"You're pretty good, but you can't dodge forever," Mela said.
She was right. There wasn't much Kai could do. Most of Quaxly's repertoire consisted of water-type attacks, and Air cutter wasn't going to cut it. (No pun intended)
What was he going to do? He had to think for a bit- how could he turn the tables on Mela?
That's when Kai suddenly smiled to himself. An idea came to his mind, a devious and audacious one. Kai came closer to Mela, raising his Katana, and Mela watched carefully yet curiously as the two went face to face.
Kai started swinging wildly at Mela with his water Katana, every swing of his blade did absolutely no damage, and only served to make Mela's flaming aura stronger and larger. As Mela watched this, the look on her face changed from a smug smile to a look of genuine astonishment.
"What- What are you doing? You realize you're only making me stronger, right?" Mela said.
Tinkatuff's POV:
"This is it..! You're cornered!" Nemona cried out and shot a finger at Tinkatuff and Pawmo, whose backs were against a plateau. "No where to run..!"
"Get behind me!" Tinkatuff cried, stepping in front of Pawmo protectively. Pawmo wasn't scared at all. In fact, Pawmo was extremely confused.
"What is happening? Pawmo said. "Why're you doing this? It's just a human!"
"Just shut up and stay behind me!" Tinkatuff raised her hammer in preparation to fight the battle-hungry trainer.
Nemona grinned.
"Heh. You're ready for a fight, huh?!" Nemona cried. "All right then… Let's do thi-"
A massive heat wave exploded toward the three of them from behind like a blast of wind. The wind was powerful enough to send the trees flying in one direction, like a raging storm would. Nemona turned her head around in complete shock.
"Wha…!?" Pawmo cried.
"Wh-What's going on..?!" Nemona shouted. "Wait- did Kai go off to fight the Team Star Boss…? WITHOUT ME?!" Nemona grit her teeth in anger. "Kai's so gonna get it for not telling me! I'll go give him a piece of my mind!"
The female trainer spun around and sprinted after the source of the heat wave.
"Oh jeez… Smoliv's going to have a wonderful time with that one, I can tell.." Pawmo said. "Anyway, what is that?"
Tinkatuff slowly smiled. "If it's what I think it is, I think my Trainer's about to kick someone's butt. C'mon- I wanna introduce him to you!"
Tinkatuff grabbed Pawmo by the hand and started running with such speed that the electric type's body was flying like a flag flying in the a dirt trail flew in the air.
Mela watched in confusion as Kai kept slashing at her wildly. With every swing, her flaming aura became bigger and more powerful, extruding several Firey gusts of wind, each more powerful than the last. Her flaming aura soon became large enough to nearly match the height of trees around the Team star base- and as soon as it became that large- it stopped. Kai noticed that Mela's power boost reached its limit, stopped attacking and jumped away. After landing on the ground and making some distance, Kai stabbed his katana into the dirt in front of him.
He took a deep breath. This plan didn't come without risk.
If Mela landed a clean hit even once, Kai would lose.
His adrenaline and heart was racing, his inner critic didn't have time to criticize him- he couldn't even think straight.
He had to just act.
"You've literally given me enough power to raze the entire base to the ground…" Mela said.
"Oh yeah?" Kai said, motioning with his hand for Mela to come at him, "Show me."
Mela's entire body shined red before she dashed with incredible speed. Kai jumped onto his katana and used it as a platform to flip right over Mela as she came in fist-first. The moment Mela's fist connected with Kai's sword, it turned into vapor- and a blast of incredible flame flew out of her fist like a raging flamethrower. The Team Star base walls broke apart as the flames Mela shot out ripped them apart.
Kai, who was still in the air and diving toward the ground head-first, looked down and watched the carnage, and the moment he blinked, Mela appeared in front of him. She swung her fist toward his gut.
"Protect!" Kai shoved his hands in front of him and a sphere-barrier appeared around him. Mela's punch was powerful enough to send him flying toward the forest below like a meteor.
The entire crowd watched in complete shock, including Clive, who watched with widened eyes.
Nemona came running in from behind Clive.
"Director- Did I miss anything?!"
Clive put a finger on his lips, and Nemona gasped, shaking her head. "Sorry!" She cried.
"You're fine," Clive said, putting his hands behind his back. "You just missed them- they're flying into the forest as we speak."
"Wh- We've gotta catch up to them!" Nemona cried as Tinkatuff and Pawmo caught up and stood behind the female trainer.
"Y-Yeah! What she said!" One team star member cried.
"I hope Mela wins-" Another team star member cried.
"I hope Kai wins, though!" A third cried.
The entire crowd started running into the forest.
The trees below fell apart like bowling pins as Kai, who was still in his barrier, flew past them and into the dirt ground. His barrier dragged across the dirt floor- the moment it shattered, Kai flipped- his feet dragged across the grassy floor as the momentum pulled him.
"Quaxly-!." Kai cried out as he remained balanced and tightened his grip on his blade. "I'm going to need you to undo the tera transformation and use Brave Bird on the count of three!"
Kai looked up and saw a spark of light in the sky, and instinctively sidestepped as Mela flew past him like a speeding rocket foot-first. Kai spun his head and saw the trees and grass explode into flames as Mela passed by them like a speeding arrow.
Everything around Kai, the trees, the grass, were in flames. His eyes widened in horror before he shook his head to snap himself out of his daze. "Ready, Quaxly?" Kai cried. "One..! Two..!"
Mela appeared again in front of him with incredible speed.
"You messed up," Mela said.
"No, I made it a fair fight! THREE!" Kai threw his Katana straight at Mela, and Mela rushed toward her enemy. Kai's sword turned into mist as it passed through Mela and transformed back into Quaxly. Mela lunged fist-first at Kai.
"Protect!" The boy cried out as a barrier formed around the boy as Mela's attack carried him across the forest yet again. Quaxly's entire body shined with flying type energy, as he surged and flew toward the two humans who were rapidly approaching a plateau- the same one Tinkatuff and Pawmo were cornered at.
Mela kept pounding her fists onto Kai's barrier again and again with enough force to cause cracks to show. Soon, Kai's back crashed into the massive wall that was the plateau. The Team Star Boss's punches were becoming more violent by the second, and Kai's barrier was about to break.
Over his opponent's shoulder, Kai could see Quaxly closing in with his Brave Bird attack, and he grinned. Quaxly's body slammed into his enemy's back, causing them to fly into and through the plateau like butter. As soon as the three flew out from the other side, Kai's barrier was broken- and the boy's arms were wrapped around his enemy's body in an embrace.
"Now it's time for me to use Brave Bird too..!" Kai cried. "Quaxly..! You're thinking what I'm thinking?!"
Mela was screaming loudly in absolute terror.
Kai's body shone with flying type energy as wings made of light sprouted from behind his back. Both Quaxly and Kai used their power to make a U turn toward the sky, holding Mela tightly together. Once they were high enough to be above clouds, the two dove toward the ground, spinning and twirling all the while and gathering momentum. Mela's raging flames began to twirl along with her body, merging with the Flying type energy. An aura sprouted around the three of them that took the shape of a flaming phoenix diving toward the ground.
"My flames-...!" Mela's eyes widened. "He's using my flames… to amplify this attack?! Was this your plan the entire time..!?"
Right when Kai, Quaxly and Mela were nearing the ground, Quaxly and Kai let go of Mela, and the momentum of the fall carried her toward the earth.
A massive explosion rang out the moment Mela touched ground, and Kai and Quaxly landed with their backs to the blast of fire and flying type energies surging into the sky in a mushroom-shape. The trees all around the boy and his Pokemon flew off into the distance.
Kai turned to Quaxly and grinned. The water type hopped to give Kai a high five.
"Hows that?!" Kai cried out, turning to the flying-type explosion that was slowly fading away.
"WHOA!" One team star member cried.
"Go Kai! GO KAI!" Another team star member shouted.
"Dang it, C'mon, Mela! Get up!" Yet another Team star member cried.
Kai grinned at the crowd of team star members cheering him on from a distance and waved at them.
Suddenly, a raging flame erupted from where Mela crashed, and Mela's roar echoed loudly with the explosion. Kai and Quaxly spun around and crossed their arms as an intense wind exploded outward, sending the trees around him flying into the sky.
As Kai lowered his arms, he saw Mela screaming at the top of her lungs with her head raised to the sky and both fists clenched. Afterwards, she lowered her head and glared at Kai with blazing red eyes.
"Quaxly," Kai said, "I'm gonna keep her busy, charge the biggest, most powerful non-water type attack you can do, okay?!"
Quaxly nodded.
"ERUPTION!" Mela raced after Kai with blinding speed and a burning fist. She slammed her fist down at Kai and Quaxly, who both leapt into the air to dodge an oncoming eruption of flame that flew where they previously stood.
Kai looked down, watching Mela rush in after him fist-first.
"Acrobatics!" Kai backflipped while in mid air, narrowly avoiding a punch that flew over his face. Kai's feet landed on a vertically falling burning tree that flew into the air earlier and used it as a platform to dodge Mela's next punch that flew into the burning bark.
Kai watched Mela's head slowly turn to him as he landed on another vertically-falling Tree. Pounding his weight onto the tree with his legs, Kai managed to flip the tree into a horizontal position before flipping and kicking it at Mela, who charged through it and cut it in half with her burning body.
"Acrobatics!" Kai backfliped while in mid air once again, narrowly dodging Mela's flying punch.
'One punch is all it takes, one punch is all it takes for her to beat me...! I can't afford to get hit!' That thought was the only one that raced in his mind- and in that moment, there wasn't any time to criticize himself, there was no time to talk about how cringe-worthy his lines might have been, or how badly he may have messed up with powering up Mela.
He just had to act- no time for thinking. Kai flipped onto another flying tree and managed to fly toward another flying tree before using it as a platform to avoid Mela's next attack.
All the while, the crowd of spectators, who managed to catch up watched in shock as Kai kept dodging Mela's attacks again and again.
"I can't believe it…" A team star member said. "Kai's dodging everything Mela's throwing at her- in her enhanced state..!"
"Wow…" Clive said.
"What'd I tell you?" Nemona said, grinning and putting her hands on her hips. "Kai was always this good, he just didn't believe in himself! When he puts his mind into it, he can do anything!"
Tinkatuff smiled proudly and nodded in agreement with Nemona.
Kai went onto another flying tree, grabbing it with his arms like they were monkey bars, and twirled his body onto his feet as Mela came flying his way. Kai leapt away before the tree he stood on was broken in half from Mela's attack.
"You're immune to water..!" Kai shouted as he landed on a horizontal tree as Mela darted after him. Kai jumped right at her. Both of them raised their fists, prepared to punch one another once they met. "BUT NOT MY FIST!" Kai cried.
Mela was fast, but Kai was faster, punching the girl directly in the face and sending her flying toward the ground.
"Disarming VOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOIIIIIIIICE!" Fairy-type sound waves exploded from Kai's voice and at Mela, who was sent further toward the ground.
Mela's began to explode with fire type energy as she landed on a burning tree and used it as a platform to fly toward Kai, enduring the sound waves and closing the gap alarmingly fast. Kai's eyes widened as her hand grabbed onto his face.
Kai started to scream in absolute terror, knowing full well that if this attack landed, the battle would be over.
"QUAXLY! HELP ME!" Kai shouted as Mela started diving toward the ground with Kai in her grasp.
Quaxly was coming in from behind, using Brave Bird and charging after Mela all over again. Quaxly was fast, but nowhere near as fast as Mela. Kai started pounding his fist against Mela's chest and face desperately.
"NO! KAI!" One team member cried.
"Get em, Mela!" Another team member shouted.
Mela endured Kai's desperate attacks, and managed to crash into the ground with enough force to cause a massive eruption of flame to explode into the air. That explosion was followed by a Flying type explosion that rang out, erupting and mixing with the fire type explosion.
The crowd watched in absolute shock, unable to make out what had happened. Soon, the explosion faded, and it revealed Mela's grip on Kai hadn't loosened. Quaxly, who had landed his attack successfully, fell to the ground, unconscious due to all of the damage Kai took transferring to the water type.
Mela, who was still standing despite being hit by Quaxly's brave bird, breathed heavily as steam emanated from her opponent's body, then fell to her knees. Her boots shined white before Torkol appeared beside her, and the flames around her boots disappeared. Torkol was an inch away from losing consciousness.
"Wh-What happened…?" One team star member said.
Nemona, whose trained eyes were able to keep up with everything up until the explosion, nodded in affirmation as she crossed her arms. "Mela won," She said.
"M-Mela won..!?" Team a team star member cried.
"I don't know whether to be sad, or happy…" A team star member who was rooting for Kai said.
"WOOO!" a third team star member shouted. "Let's go, Mela!"
"It's a friendly match and all, and I know Mela's title wasn't in danger… but I can't help but feel sad…" Another team star member rooting for Kai said.
Kai coughed, looking up at Mela who slowly stood up to look down at Kai.
"I… I lost," Kai said. "My gamble… was too much for me."
Mela shook her head. "You were fantastic even until the end. If you were using a Pokemon that wasn't a water-type… I would have lost."
"Aw.. Forget it! I'm still a Kai fan! KAI! KAI! KAI! KAI!" One team star member cried.
"KAI! KAI! KAI!" Another one cried.
"KAI!"
"KAI!"
"KAI!'
"KAI!"
More of the crowd started cheering Kai's name, and he began to blush.
"Hear that? They're calling your name. You've earned the respect of all of my members." Mela said. She extended a hand toward Kai. "And you've earned mine. My flames were incredible, but it was nothing compared to yours. "
With the amount of people cheering for him, No level of self-criticism could deny the fact that Kai did well. Saying that he didn't do that well would be disingenuous. This was a feat deserving of at least a little respect toward himself.
"I… I guess… I did a good job.." Kai said, reaching up and grabbing Mela's hand. Kai stood up with Mela's help.
"KAAAIII!" Nemona cried out before lunging to hug Kai, knocking him back onto the ground.
"AAGH- LET GO OF ME! YOU'RE HURTING ME!" Kai cried.
"You did so well! I'M so proud of you!" Tears of joy started falling from Nemona's eyes. "I'm so proud of you..!"
"LET ME GO ALREADY YOU FRIGGEN' MONSTER!"
"AAAAHHH I'M SO PROOOOOUDDD-" Nemona started sobbing loudly.
"Yeah!" One team star member shouted. "You did great, Kai!"
"One of us! One of us! One of us!" Another team star member shouted.
Clive watched this all happen and sighed.
"Well," Clive said. "This is an interesting circumstance."
Clive's phone flew out of his pocket as he crossed his arms.
"Ah-" The old man said. "Cassiopeia?"
"I wanted to see if there were any updates in regards to the operation."
"Well," Clive said, "Kai fought against Mela in a friendly match, and lost. However, now Team Star is looking at him as though he's one of their own."
"...Oh," Cassiopeia said. "If this continues, Kai may start to like them, or even Join them…. This isn't good."
"What would you do if Kai decided to join them?"
"Then he would become my enemy," Cassiopeia said. "And I'd have to do something about it. Are you still willing to go through with the operation?"
Clive looked at the excitement in the kids' eyes, and sighed.
"I need to learn more about this team," Clive said. "And as they are, Team Star is still missing school for whatever reason. If putting an end to this team means that they'll go back to school, then so be it."
"Huh," Cassiopiea said, "You're a weird one, worrying about the kids' education."
"I used to be a teacher," Clive said. "I found my true calling, however, in being a model. Don't you see my luscious hair?" Clive waved his hand across it like a trophy. "Besides, my personal life should be none of your concern. The operation is all that matters, yes?"
"...Fair enough," Cassiopeia said. "Anyway, make sure that Kai stays on the right track and doesn't forget his mission. Let me know if anything changes."
"Very well."
Clive's phone call turned off as his phone flew right into his pocket. He sighed to himself as he pushed his glasses in. As he watched the excitement of Team Star around Kai and Nemona, he sighed.
Team Star has to end, so that all of these kids can go back to school.