=IMPORTANT, PLEASE READ!=

Author's Letter:

The State of and me

Hey guys. I've talked about this plenty of times but the whole thing about not showing notifications, and not replying to responses for over 60 days has been very…frustrating. So much so that I believe that people are going to be moving away from and move on to other sites like Ao3. I'm going to move on as well for two reasons. First one being that the people running this site clearly don't want to communicate with us about what's going on- and that's bad for the long run. Second reason… is that if things continue as is, this site may be shut down in the future. If it does get shut down, then all of the stories here on this site will go away.

That being said, I will still continue until I finish this story on this site. I made a promise that I would keep going- so that still stands. However, because of the state of this site and how the moderators handled this situation, I do not see myself posting more stories on this site. I probably will be posting more stories on the Colossal Showdown series on Ao3 (Archive of our own) instead. I posted a link to my profile on Ao3 in my account profile description.

Thank you guys for reading. Now enjoy!

Chapter 45: The Hazy Venomous Star

Atticus raised his weapon above his head, and the flaming aura on his blade started burning brighter. The flames erupted from the sword and took the shape of a flaming snake which bore its fangs and hissed as it grew larger in size. Kai looked up as the sun got blotted out by the massive snake's body, which quickly rivaled the size of a skyscraper.

"Uh-..." Penny looked up in horror. "We- We should leave."

Clive nodded. "Let's get out of here."

Both spectators left as howling winds blew past Kai and sent his hair flying.

Kai grinned.

"That's more like it!" He cried.

The flaming aura that had taken the shape of a snake detached itself from Atticus's katana as though it took a life of its own. Atticus aimed his sword at Kai to wordlessly command it to strike, and the snake lunged after Kai.

Kai threw his Rapier into the sky before leaping to dodge the lunging snake. The ground where he last stood was burrowed into as Kai flew toward his rapier and caught it. Kai's weapon shined bright due to how stylish he was.

Kai looked down and saw the massive snake fly toward him with its jaw unhinged. Kai threw his rapier and it flew like an arrow right into the snake's mouth- and the snake exploded into poison gas.

Kai's eyes widened, sensing Atticus who had rocketed above him and had his Katana above his head. Kai spun around and clapped his hands together to stop Atticus's blade from striking him.

Both boys started falling toward the ground at rapid speeds. Kai dodged two swings, and then blocked another swing with his arm. Kai gritted his teeth in pain, and then saw a shimmer of blue light over his opponent's shoulder. Before he lost feeling in the arm he used to block, he grabbed Atticus's blade and pulled him into a kick he aimed at his stomach.

Atticus was sent flying- and he spun around, seeing the blade that was flying back toward Kai aimed at him blade-first. The team star boss member managed to dodge the oncoming blade flying for its trainer.

Kai landed on his feet with a crouch. He stood up and stared at the arm he used to block Atticus's attack, his left arm, and saw it turn purple.

He couldn't feel it anymore.

Quickly pulling out an antidote from his pocket, Kai ripped off the spray part of it with his teeth and downed the entire thing in one gulp. Kai still couldn't feel his arm despite the antidote… This wasn't good.

Kai saw his rapier flying back to him like a boomerang, and he caught it with the arm he could use. Putting his useless arm behind his back, Kai entered a battle stance as though he were a traditional fencer.

Atticus landed in front of Kai, sheathed his katana and started weaving hand signs.

Suddenly, several clones of Atticus appeared beside the original.

"Poison style!" They all shouted at the same time as they weaved ninja hand signs. Suddenly, poison shurikens were in every clone's hand. "Poison shuriken jutsu!"

Each clone threw a flurry of shurikens that flew Kai's way- and without missing a beat, Kai began to deflect every single one. Because of the added difficulty of keeping one hand behind his back, Kai had to use every bit of focus to deflect every projectile, he even began to yell in effort.

Meanwhile, the original Atticus weaved extra hand signs as his clones disappeared- and put his hands on the ground.

Suddenly, Kai heard the sound of snake hissing. The ground below him ripped apart as the massive poison-snake that Kai destroyed earlier erupted from the ground. Kai screamed as it carried him into the sky- he barely managed to not get eaten by holding onto the bottom part of its jaw like he was hanging from a cliff. Kai looked down and saw it's bottomless-pit-like throat.

Meanwhile, Atticus clutched his chest, feeling incredible recoil from using powerful ninjutsu. He steadied his breathing as much as possible.

The snake made of poisonous aura began to slowly make a U turn toward the ground, and dove toward the trees with Kai still hanging on for dear life. Using his only arm- Kai flung himself off the snake and aimed his weapon at its open jaw.

"Swift!"

Several stars flew out of the tip of Kai's rapier and into the Snake's throat. It swallowed each star and became fatter and fatter until it exploded. Kai's eyes widened in pain as he breathed in some of the poison gas it turned into. He landed on the ground on his back, his body bounced and slid on the ground for a bit. Kai coughed loudly as he stood back up, stabbing his rapier into the ground for support.

In front of Kai were a host of trees. Behind him was a large and thankfully empty grass field. All of the weaker Pokémon had to have run away.

"Quaxwell, we gotta unfuse..!" Kai groaned. His body shined blue as a tiny blue orb flew out of Kai's body- his rapier disappeared, and Quaxwell appeared in front of his trainer. The Pokémon's left wing was purple- just like Kai's was. But Kai's arm was back to normal.

"The way he's fighting me is insane- he's planning to overwhelm me with relentless attacks until you succumb to the poison..." Kai said. "We've got to jump him. You ready?!"

Quaxwell nodded as Atticus emerged from the forest trees. He aimed his weapon at the two of them, then sprinted after him.

Kai and Quaxwell charged at him as well. Quaxwell was fast, but Kai was faster, coming in and swinging his fists. Atticus dodged both punches and swung his sword upwards- and Kai backflipped, narrowly avoiding the blade that could have sliced him vertically. Just then- Quaxwell came flying in foot-first at Atticus, and Atticus caught the bird Pokemon by the leg with his hand, spun and threw him aside before Kai came back, jumping over Quaxwell's flying body and throwing a dive kick at Atticus, who blocked with his sword. Swinging his sword to send Kai's body flying, Atticus sheathed his blade behind his back tried to weave more Ninja hand signs. Quaxwell came back, flip kicked the ninja's hands apart and kicked Atticus in the face. Atticus's feet dragged across the floor as he was sent back.

Atticus lowered his arms in weakness as Kai dashed in and landed a punch to his gut that was so devastating the boss member's weapon flew off of his back. Kai grabbed Atticus by the head and kneed him in the face, and as Atticus stumbled back and clutched his face, he felt a kick from Quaxwell that sent him down to his hands and knees.

While breathing heavily, Kai looked down at Atticus as Quaxwell walked to stand next to his trainer.

"Well… you fought well…but it's over…" Kai said. "I wi-"

The sound of a heart beat rang in Quaxwell's ears as he felt the poison worsen. Suddenly, the Water type fell to his hands and knees, and Kai could feel an indescribable weight fall onto him.

Atticus smirked.

"...This battle's been going on for a while…" Atticus said. "Quaxwell has to be…pretty worn out by now… look at him. He can barely stay conscious."

Atticus fought to stay up as Kai felt the weight of his invoker become even heavier. Soon, Atticus was able to rise to his feet. He was drenched in sweat.

"Soon… the poison…will set in…and your Quaxwell will faint…leaving me the victor.." Atticus said.

Kai began to grin. He fought against the weight of his invoker as hard as he possibly could and managed to stand up.

"I don't think you get it… as long as my Pokémon's still conscious.. I can still fight..!"

"He won't be conscious for long…"

Both fighters stared at each other, breathing heavily. Both of them fought hard to remain standing despite everything they've gone through. Their breathing was nearly synced, their sweat pooled below their feet.

Both boys slowly walked toward each other, every step was a fight of its own. Soon, the two were face to face.

"You've lost." Both boys spoke at the same time.

Atticus swung his fist weakly,, but Kai moved faster, punching Atticus in the face and sending him to the ground. Atticus groaned as he slowly stood back up and raised his fists again.

"I've still… got the raging beast that's screaming within me..!" Kai groaned, lunging forward. He swung his fist and punched Atticus in the face again. Atticus nearly tripped once again as he stumbled back.

"What's a beast… to a Beast Slayer!?" Atticus lunged and landed a devastating uppercut. Quaxwell shrieked in pain, feeling the poison worsen even more. Kai fell on his back, and weakly stood back up.

"What's… a beast slayer… To an undefeatable…" Kai groaned as he stepped forward. "MONSTER!?" Kai headbutted Atticus in the face, and Atticus fell on his butt. Atticus groaned as he stood up.

"What's an undefeatble monster…to a slayer that knows its weakness!?"

Atticus threw a punch at Kai- and Kai caught it. Atticus gasped.

"Unfortunately for you…" I…don't… have…!" Kai folded his fingers slowly as he made his hand into a fist and gritted his teeth. "A WEAKNEEEEEEEEEESS!"

Kai punched Atticus in the face with all of his might- the punch was mighty enough to send Atticus flying like a spinning dart. His body fell to the ground face-first. Slowly, the Poison type team star member lifted his head up, but then groaned out of weakness and stayed down.

"You...Got...me.." Atticus groaned, turning his cheek to the ground so that he could speak. "You've...won..."

Kai looked down at his fallen enemy… then fell to his arms and knees. Then- like a warrior who had fallen a mighty opponent, Kai yelled in triumph with all of his might.

Then- Kai fell to the ground as Quaxly became unconscious. He couldn't move anymore.

The two boys just lied there.

"You... still managed to beat me despite my immense skill... You're no villian in my eyes any longer... you are...a warrior.." Atticus groaned.

"Don't...call me that..." Kai groaned. "I-..I'd much rather you... call me..a...villian."

"So... be it.." Atticus groaned. "As...you..wish.."

"Heh.." Kai grinned as he was beginning to slide into unconsciousness.

"Kai..!" Kai could hear Penny's voice as he slowly began to close his eyes.

"Kai- are you..!?" Clive's voice came to him as his vision began to become hazy.

"Gotta...take...a...picture..." Kai groaned.

The boy became unconscious.