This chapter came late- I'm sorry! I had studying to do for a test that's coming up. Wish me luck!
Chapter 60: Face your Fear
-20 minutes before Geeta and her alternate self clash-
Kai and Aeon remained in their battle stances as Slaking raised his fist.
"Listen," Aeon said. "Because I'm in combat level 1... Whenever I use one of my limbs to strike, I won't be able to use it again."
"So, you can only hit him four times?"
"Three times, actually. I already used my left hand to punch him once. If I use my right, that'll leave my legs. And then if I use a leg…"
"You won't be able to walk."
"Right."
"Then follow my lead."
Aeon nodded.
The two boys watched as the Slaking's massive white-glowing Mega Fist attack flew straight after them.
Aeon moved so quickly that it looked as though he teleported away, and Kai jumped to dodge, landing on the slaking's wrist before sprinting up his arm. Slaking raised his arm and watched Kai sprinting across it. Using its other hand, Slaking prepared to flick Kai away with its fingers, but Aeon appeared in front of his finger- blocking it with his good hand and remaining afloat thanks to his feet turning into jet boots. Kai leapt high toward Slaking's face, aiming his open hand at the Titan.
"Take this!" He cried.
He waited for a flamethrower to burst out of his palm…but nothing came out of it.
"What?!" Kai cried. "C-Charcadet!? Why aren't you giving me your power..!?"
Slaking opened its mouth and let out a Hyper Voice attack- the shockwaves of its voice were so powerful that it sent Kai flying toward the ground.
Aeon glared, shooting toward the Titan fist-first. After flying under Slaking's jaw, Aeon punched the Slaking's mouth shut and sent it reeling.
Aeon darted toward the ground to reach his boyfriend, and gasped as he saw Kai groaning in pain while lying on the earth that cracked after catching him.
"Why… isn't Charcadet taking the damage for me..? My body…aches.." Kai groaned.
Aeon's eyes widened. He'd never heard something like that before. Invokers were supposed to transfer the damage taken to the Pokémon, not the user. So why was it that Kai was taking the damage instead of Charcadet?!
"Now that I think of it…" Kai groaned as he stood up. "I can't feel Charcadet's power. At all. I think he's too scared to fight.."
"Too scared to fight..!?" Aeon roared. "I get it now... Because Charcadet's too scared to fight, it isn't truly with you in that Tera Fusion... Darn it… Do you have any potions to heal your other Pokémon that are willing to fight!?"
"I don't have any potions… we didn't buy any."
Aeon clenched his fists as Slaking began to yawn and scratch the back of its head. It wouldn't be long until it was done slacking off.
"We need to run." Aeon said. He spun over to Kai. "Grab your Pokeballs, find your Pokémon, and use Miraidon to drive away. I'll enter Combat level 2 for two minutes and distract him!"
"Right!" Kai cried.
Kai spun and ran away.
"I didn't want to do this... I was too scared to go past level 1... I don't want to risk going berserk. But- I have to protect Kai. No matter what it takes."
Aeon went on all fours, as though he were an Olympic racer preparing to sprint. The moment Kai began running was the moment Slaking began to stand up in alarm. It was clear that he didn't want them to run away.
"I have two minutes…but if I were able to enter combat level 4… I'd only have to use one. Too bad."
The earth below Aeon began to crack, as though the android's weight had doubled.
"Now entering Combat level 2..!"
Slaking began to rush over to Aeon- and that's when he darted with incredible speed and landed a devastating knee onto the Slaking's nose. Slaking reeled from the attack and stumbled back as Aeon used his face as a platform to flip away. Using his rocket boots, Aeon shot back toward the Slaking again like an arrow with his fist extended, as though he were a superhero. Slacking recovered from the attack and thrust its massive fist at Aeon back.
Their fists connected, and a huge shockwave emanated from their fists.
Meanwhile, as the shockwave came, the earth trembled under Kai's feet as he kept running.
"Charcadet..!" Kai cried. "I really don't want to run away..! Because I know you can crush that Slaking!" Kai ran over to where he and his boyfriend stood before their fight with slacking began, and saw a massive creator from where its previous Mega Punch attack landed. Kai looked around, trying to find his other three Pokémon, and beamed with joy when he found the three of them lying on the ground together and groaning in pain.
After returning his Pokémon into his Pokeballs, Kai heard another shockwave and looked up.
Aeon had landed another punch onto the Slaking's face. After reeling back- Slaking's skin began to turn red as it bellowed an enraged roar. Slaking moved fast, clapping his hands together in an attempt to crush Aeon. Aeon was caught by the attack- pushing Slaking's hands apart to stop himself from getting crushed.
Kai glared furiously, his instinct to protect his boyfriend entered his mind.
"We have to do something..!" Kai roared. "Charcadet..!"
He couldn't feel Charcadet's power, even now. Appearing in front of the trainer like an illusion was Kai's Charcadet himself, shivering in fear and crying.
"Ugh..!" Kai groaned. The moment Kai turned his back to Charcadet's afterimage, the fire type faded away. The trainer pulled out his Pokeball containing Miraidon and threw it. Miraidon came out with a roar. Kai hopped onto the Pokémon that resembled a motorcycle, and stared at the battle going on between Aeon and Kai.
Aeon was roaring in agony trying to keep himself from getting crushed.
Kai gritted his teeth and leaned onto his motorcycle, and then drove away. Meanwhile, Aeon glared furiously at his opponent.
"I need to enter level 3… for a fraction of a second..!"
His red and blue eyes began to shine for an instant as he managed to push away Slaking's hands. Breathing a sigh of relief, Aeon had only seconds to dodge the oncoming reaching hand of Slaking...and was unable to do so.
Slaking grabbed the android and threw him onto the ground with incredible force- the trees around the crash site flew about as though a tornado had crash-landed onto them.
Once the dust from the impact settled, Aeon groaned as he could do nothing but watch as Slaking slammed its foot onto his body.
Aeon yelled out in pain.
"LET HIM GOOOOOOO!" Kai roared. Slaking looked up and saw Kai riding Miraidon through the air. Kai leapt from his motorcycle-Pokemon and Miraidon yelped in terror.
A blue and yellow explosion rang out the moment Miraidon's body crashed onto Slaking's face, and Slaking fell onto his back.
Kai landed with a crouch, seeing Miraidon's body falling beside him. "I'm sorry..!" Kai said, returning the Miraidon into his ball. Turning his head about, he tried finding Aeon- and spotted him groaning in the middle of a tiny crator. The trainer ran over to the android. "Are you okay..!?" Kai cried, crouching to his side.
"I told you to run..!" Aeon moaned. "Do I have to use reverse psychology just so you can do what I say..?!"
"Don't be like that- I saved your life!"
"I had it under control!"
"I hAd IT UnDeR ConTRoL-" Kai repeated Aeon's words in a childishly mocking tone. "Blah, blah, blah- Shut up! For someone as smart as you, you should have known already that I would never leave you when you're in trouble like that!"
"You don't understand. That Slaking is strong. Far stronger than Titan Bombirdier. I might have to risk getting into Combat Level four to compete… and if I do that… I risk going berserk… Please- Kai, just this once, once in your life, I want you to listen to me..!"
Kai gritted his teeth. "...You really expect me to leave you when you're this beat up?!"
The afterimage of Kai's Charcadet appeared beside Aeon, watching with fear in its eyes. Both of its hands were covering its mouth.
"Don't worry about me…I can still…!" Aeon groaned as he tried to stand up. His entire body began sparking. "I can still fight..!"
A shadow loomed over Kai's eyes as he began to clench his fists in anger.
"Ugh..!" Aeon moaned. He was struggling immensely with standing back up. For a while, no matter how hard the android tried, he couldn't stand.
"Charcadet…" Kai said. "If things go on like this… Aeon's not going to make it. He's gonna have to go berserk…"
Tears began falling down the Kai's cheeks. "Please..! I'm begging you!" The shadow looming over Kai's teary eyes disappeared. "We have to do something! I know you're just a baby… and that you're not ready to fight… but if we don't do something…!"
Charcadet shook his head frantically.
"Darn it..! You- You're reminding me of my old self..! The me that didn't believe in himself, the me that thought that no matter how hard he tried, he'd never get anything done. But inside of you, there's potential! There's a Pokémon that's able to beat a Titan in one blow..! Charcadet, if you harness your potential, you can truly become unbeatabl-.!"
The sound of a Hyper beam being charged blared like an alarm. Immense terror washed over Kai's body as he felt an incredible wind blowing past him. The trees around them began being pushed by the awesome might of the winds erupting from the orb of light coming from the Titan Slaking's mouth.
Slaking fired the Hyper Beam at his targets.
Charcadet's eyes widened in absolute terror, along with his trainer and his trainer's boyfriend. There was nothing they could do- nowhere to run- nowhere to hide…
Fate had made its decision, and mercilessly decided to rule against the three of them. They could do nothing but watch as the beam that would threaten to take their lives close in on them.
And then…
A shockwave came. Almost seemingly out of nowhere- a dark type shockwave came- it was powerful enough to misdirect the hyper beam and have it whiz by them. A harrowing mushroom cloud erupted, and the sound of the explosion rang out from behind the three boys, the wind that came from it was horribly strong.
Turo and Sada watched Kai, Charcadet and Aeon's battle with Slaking and sighed a breath of relief once the hyper beam missed.
"It's exactly as we calculated. This timeline's Geeta was provoked enough to emit a shock wave powerful enough to misdirect the hyper beam." Sada said.
"Right…but now we've reached another problem," The camera on the monitor they watched switched over to Charcadet, who was shivering still. "Will Charcadet rise to the challenge? Their survival hinges on him."
Kai fell to his knees.
"I-... I could have been.…" He said. "Charcadet isn't taking the damage for me… so if I got hit by that… I would have...Oh…my…" Kai put his trembling arms on the ground. "Aeon… I'm…I'm so sorry…! I should have ran… I really should have ran…!"
"Kai...please don't say that.. you're scaring me," Aeon said. "You're...supposed to be...the one saying we can still fight."
The afterimage of Charcadet just stared with his eyes wide. The horrible shock of being in a near-death experience was causing it to cry all over again.
His body was shivering as though it were in the cold, his tear-filled eyes glistened in the sun. Charcadet felt its face muscles become raw with fatigue from frowning for too long. It was sniffling so much at this point that it was as though he had a cold.
He looked up at the Titan Slaking that towered over them, breathing hard to recharge could hear the words his trainer said to him moments before the Hyper beam came for them.
'Charcadet, if you harness your potential, you can truly become unbeatable-..'
Those words echoed in his mind as the fire type pondered about what Kai was trying to say. Was he trying to say that he could become…Un…beatable? Charcadet thought to himself.
Could he really, truly be undefeatable...?
The earth trembled under Slaking's weight once he took a step.
What was going to happen if he just stood there and watched? It was obvious.
Kai was going to die.
Aeon was going to die.
Tinkatuff, Pawmo and Quaxwell were going to die.
If he didn't do anything…
He was going to die.
Charcadet clenched his fists and the afterimage of him faded away. Kai's body began to shine white- the color of red drained away from his invoker's armor like a liquid, and a tiny red orb extracted itself out of the trainer's armor. Kai's Charcadet appeared in front of his trainer to defend him and Aeon from Slaking. Fire type energy began radiating from the Pokémon's body as a dazzling flame emanated from his eyes.
It was time for him to face his fear.
Charcadet at the very top of his lungs, roared and leapt toward Slaking and landed a devastating kick onto his opponent's stomach with absolutely everything it had. The ferocity of the strike was one that mirrored the strength of a Pokémon triple his size. Slaking opened its mouth in pain, and spit flew out of it's mouth.
And in that spit was the Herba mystica. The moment the plant flew out of Slaking's body, the normal type's massive body fell to the ground once again- and began to shrink.
Kai and Aeon snapped out of their dazes.
"What?!" Kai cried.
"He's shrinking..!" Aeon cried. "He's still conscious, but he's shrinking..!"
Charcadet fell onto the ground with a crouch. He kept walking toward the dust cloud that rose.
"Charcadet!" Kai cried.
Charcadet turned his head.
"That was awesome..!" Kai roared. "But don't think you're fighting him alone.. I'm coming with you..!" Kai spun to Aeon, who was still lying on the ground.
"Charcadet's just like you..." Aeon said. "His courage…motivates the people around him…and drawed us to his side."
"Yup… now I kinda get how you feel when I do the impossible…the odds stacked against me…the chances of winning being next to zero..and yet somehow, someway…"
"You make it," Aeon said. "I believe in you. Both of you. Go on ahead. I'll catch up."
The boys shared a nod. Then, Kai turned to Charcadet. Both Pokémon and Trainer began to walk side by side to the dust cloud that was beginning to fade away.
Slaking began to roar loudly, and the massive Pokémon's voice was powerful enough to disperse the cloud of dust around him. Slaking was now back to its original size.
"Are you ready..?" Kai asked as he pulled out a Tera orb. It began shining brilliantly. "To face your fear?"
Charcadet nodded.
"You know what happens after we win, right? This win will become a part of us. I was just like you. I used to never know if I could beat anyone. But now…" Kai tossed his Tera orb into the air and caught it.
"It's all clear to me." Kai's eyes began to shine blue with the power of Flow. "Crystal clear, like it's been for a while."
Instead of crushing it…Kai tossed his Tera orb at Charcadet.
The moment the ball made contact with Charcadet- pillars of crystal-like rocks rose from below its feet and seemingly consumed it. Then- it shattered all at once, revealing Charcadet with crystal-like skin, and a hat that resembled a candle stand holding flaming candles. It roared- and an explosion of sparkles shot from its body like a firework.
Kai took a step forward, standing side by side with his Charcad et.
Slaking glared furiously at his opponents.
For a moment, they just stared…
"GO!" Kai cried.
Both Charcadet and Kai ran toward their opponent. Kai closed in first, dodging the oncoming punch from Slaking and striking his chin with an uppercut. As Slaking stumbled back from the blow, Charcadet jumped onto Kai's raised fist and leapt into the air before firing blasts of ember at the ground around the Slaking.
Slaking was surrounded by dust and could only turn his head back and forth to find his opponents coordinating a team attack on him.
Kai would smash his fist against Slaking and sent him staggering over to Charcadet, who would deliver a blow strong enough to 'pass' Slaking back to Kai. This would repeat for a while- It was like watching a tennis match, except Slaking was the ball.
"Fire spin, now!" Kai cried after slamming his fist onto Slaking's face. As Slaking's body was sent spiraling to the ground, he stumbled to stand up as his two opponents began running circles around him with trails of fire behind them.
A circle of fire began to surround the Slaking by the time he was back on his feet, and he glared furiously. He opened his mouth, prepared to use Hyper voice to clear the flames, but just then Charcadet fell like a rock feet-first from above. He slammed his feet onto the Slaking's head with enough force to shut his mouth.
Slaking raised his hands and clapped them over his head to try to catch the Charcadet- but he vanished before he could touch him. Charcadet re-appeared in front of the Slaking, and drove his Fire Punch attack onto his gut. Slaking cried out in pain as its feet slid across the floor.
Charcadet watched as Slaking roared and charged after the fire type. All of his attempts to grab the tiny fire type was futile- every grab attempt Charcadet was able to slip by and through his fingers every time. Every time it came close, Charcadet would vanish.
After slipping from Slaking's grabbing hands by vanishing once again, Charcadet re-appeared behind Slaking with his back turned to his enemy.
As Slaking charged once again- Charcadet spun around and shot a flamethrower powerful enough to force Slaking to defend himself by crossing his arms.
"Take THIS!" Kai's voice caused the Slaking to turn his head and see that Kai was aiming his invoker armored hands and firing a Flamethrower from them.
Slaking began roaring in pain as he was being attacked from both sides- and then eventually, both flamethrowers consumed him before exploding.
The smoke cloud that came shot into the air after the explosion rang. Inside of the smoke cloud, Slaking's shadow could still be seen- and he was still standing.
Slaking bellowed a loud roar, one powerful enough to push away the dust cloud- his body was shining red again with sheer anger.
"Why won't you just go down!?" Kai roared. Slaking turned over to Kai. Standing still, he would wait for Kai to come running in from behind him. Slaking moved and clotheslined him.
Kai cried out in pain- the force of Slaking's attack was enough to send his body spiraling uncontrollably before falling to the ground.. Slaking picked Kai up by his neck, and spun around, striking the oncoming Charcadet who shot after Slaking like a rocket with his trainer's body.
Both Charcadet and Kai fell. And as Slaking looked down at them, ready to punch them...
Aeon's rocket-powered flying fist flew and slammed onto Slaking's face, causing the lazy Pokémon to cover its face and cry outin pain. The fist flew back toward Aeon like a boomerang, and the android caught it while walking toward his downed allies.
"You can thank me later," Aeon said, offering his hand to help KAi up.
"Yeah.. I will." Kai said, taking Aeon's hand and standing up. He brushed the side of his face with the back of his fist.
Slaking roared as he stomped his foot furiously.
"This thing won't give up…" Kai said. "We keep hitting it and hitting it..But he just won't go down."
"...Even with Charcadet finally helping us, we still are having trouble…" Aeon said. "Did you get your other Pokémon?"
"Yeah… but they're spent."
"Are they still conscious? Check."
"Okay."
Kai pulled his three pokeballs out from both pockets, and tossed them. Tinkatuff, Pawmo and Quaxwell all came out, bruised and beaten, but still standing.
"Wait- Why doesn't Tinkatuff have her hammer..!? Ugh…" Aeon said, shaking his head. "That doesn't matter right now. What needs to happen is that all of us need to work together. Slaking won't let us escape. It's him or us at this point- so we need to knock him out. Are you all ready?"
"We're not going to back down, right guys!?" Kai roared.
Each Pokémon including Charcadet, yelled their name in affirmation.
Kai punched his open palm and grinned. "That's what I'm talking about. This is my favorite part about battling…when the odds are stacked against us..! My heart's pounding in my ears and I love it! Don't you, Aeon!?"
"No."
Kai chuckled. "Way to ruin the moment."
"Shut up, I'm being honest. The faster we get this done, the faster you can be safe. So, let's kick his butt already. For real this time."
Aeon and Kai glanced at each other, shared smiles, and bumped the sides of their fists together before maintaining their battle stances. Slaking finally rose up and roared at the top of his lungs, ready to start Round 2.
Kai's Bombirdier was taking flight, watching the battle between his trainer and Slaking from afar. He then started flying over to where the Slaking spat the Herba Mystica.