Chapter 65.1- Oak

There was a visible change in Mewtwo, almost as if he had become resigned to something, and from there, the fight changed. He tossed Gai away like a ragdoll, flew straight into the air to meet Igneel’s charge, and ignored Kenpachi’s attempts to blast him with long-range attacks. His power was through the roof. The subtle psychic pressure I had been forced to adapt to suddenly tripled, as it felt like I had to force my body to take each breath it managed to.

Igneel was no match for this suped-up version, mega evolved or not. Igneel struck with all the explosive force and firepower of a nuclear weapon, and Mewtwo didn’t care. Igneel’s first punch was caught in a lax grip, and when my Pokémon tried to pull that same hand away, Mewtwo showed no restraint in using the distraction to send haymaker after haymaker right to Igneel’s head. Each punch left a shockwave that could actually be felt all the way down here. It wasn’t surprising when Igneel began to lose altitude and fall towards the ground. From there, Mewtwo accepted the lack of enemies and flew right for Dragapult. Broly and Ino’s attempt to get in his way was smashed aside.

The pseudo-legendary was given more than enough time to prepare for Mewtwo’s arrival, but that did little beyond delaying the unleashed legendary for a second. Dragapult tried to phase out of this realm of reality to retreat, but Mewtwo did nothing but stretch out a hand, a hand practically glowing with psychic power, and grab the dragon-ghost by the tail. It could do little as Mewtwo pulled it closer and began to work. Punch after punch was sent to the Dragon’s head. Lance noticed this, and mega-Dragonite was in their midst with the aura of extreme speed around it.

Two dragons on one, and Mewtwo was still winning. They brought their best to bear, but to Mewtwo, even that was insufficient. When Igneel got his bearings, he was back with them. Broly and Kenpachi teamed up to fire off a platform of stone with enough power to get to them at speeds close to that of sound. Gai, on the platform, had his fists stretched out and ready. We were quickly reaching the limits of the sixth gate. We still had the seventh, but even with me filling him with all the energy I had, he’d only be able to keep it up for two minutes. I had to let everyone soften Mewtwo up a bit more before that even became an option.

When Igneel arrived, he brought the heat that the fight had been lacking, moving with the force of a sun. I could see Mewtwo’s skin crack just from prolonged exposure to Igneel’s aura of blue flames, and he was doing his best to maneuver the two dragons in between him and the predator. For some reason, he was more willing to face Lance’s Pokémon than mine. When Gai got to the right altitude, he was quick to shoot off the platform and engage Mewtwo. This time, the psychic kept up with each of Gai’s attacks, regardless of the intensity my fighting dragon fought with. Punch after punch was waved away, and this was all while being hounded by three powerful dragons. All that firepower, and they still hadn’t been able to put Mewtwo on the back foot.

I allowed the situation to evolve and turned to Cynthia’s fight against the Hoenn champions, and I was somewhat unsurprised to find her still in the game. She had returned Lucario for some reason, and now it was Garchomp against twelve champion-class Pokémon. It wasn’t losing. Yes, you heard that right. Twelve champion-level Pokémon, and Mega Garchomp was not losing.

As it took advantage of Walrien’s crippled state to dig into it with powerful arm blades enhanced with the vibrations of a localized earthquake that turned its arms into a buzzsaw, I amended my previous assessment. Garchomp was winning. Wallace had little choice but to return his Pokémon, quite possibly his second heaviest hitter behind Milotic. When Gyarados tried to crash on it, the ground-type dragon actually caught the massive sea serpent’s fangs in its grip and refused to let go.

Two seconds later, another one of Wallace’s Pokémon was returned as Garchomp lit up with all the power of a lightning bolt, shocking the atrocious Pokémon to the next dimension. Aggron and Claydol were nothing more than playthings to Garchomp as it moved between them, overpowering Aggron and practically ignoring Claydol’s attempts to influence its mind. Whatever the two Pokémon had to bring to the table was extinguished as Aggron overextended a single attack, too used to being untouchable beneath its steel armor, and Garchomp’s buzzsaw put that to the test. The attack produced a hideous grinding sound as it met the immovable object that was Aggron, but still something had to give, and when that thing proved to be Aggron’s armor, the Pokémon panicked. That was one thing I was beginning to notice about champion-class Pokémon. They were too used to being at the top. That made them complacent.

The panicked Aggron jerked away from Garchomp’s attack, and that was all the mega-evolved Pokémon needed. It shot away from Aggron with the power of a jet engine and crashed right into Claydol. Lacking any steel armor for defense, the powerful psychic was returned as Garchomp’s blade dug halfway into its neck in the space between seconds.

Steelix tore the ground apart with an earthquake as it approached the mega-evolved Pokémon, but that availed it little as Garchomp disappeared from its previous position and made its way straight for Aggron as the massive steel behemoth was still trying to get its bearings. There was little it could do beyond trying to delay the inevitable as much as possible. Milotic’s attempts to aid from a distance were practically ignored, and Metagross had bigger problems to deal with, stuck in what looked like a gravity well. I had no idea how Lucario had pulled that one off, but I resolved never to piss off that fighting type in my life.

I was forced to turn my attention back to the battle of the dragons as I heard Dragonite roar in pain. It was a sight to see the Mega evolved Pokémon cradle a clearly broken arm to its chest. Fuck. It was brutal, with the bone visibly sticking out. It kept fighting, but the spark was gone. Mewtwo had been beating them four on one. Three and a half on one was guaranteed to not end well for all involved.

Dragonite was more hesitant moving forward. Another example of the thing I had been noticing. Champion-class Pokémon did not understand weakness. They weren’t used to it. Virtually all champion-class Pokémon were monsters from the beginning. Of course, they weren’t suited to being the weaker party. They fought like they were unused to being on the backfoot, and I could see it. Cynthia was the youngest champion, and apart from her, the second youngest, Lance, had been champion for over a decade. All four of the people with me were too used to being at the top of the food chain, and the same applied to their Pokémon. More like three people with me, as I watched Oak and Dragonite blend into the background seamlessly, not interfering in any of the battles. The old man was allowing us all to spend our strength on either Mewtwo or each other.

I wondered who he’d go after if given the opportunity. Mewtwo or the other champions?

The other champions were the less risky option. I honestly gave him good odds against Lance or Cynthia, even with their mega-evolved Pokémon. Each member of Oak’s team was a monster, and they were fresh. Not a single one, beyond Dragonite, had put a single claw into the battle that raged around us. I rubbed Kisame’s scales to keep myself calm as Igneel was sent flying to the ground. I gave the area he landed a considering look as much of the stone around him began to heat up and turn cherry red. He was getting hotter every second. Clearly building up to our shared magnum opus. I had two moves I had placed in reserve for a situation just like this one. Facing an opponent strong enough to take everything we have up our sleeves and still keep standing.

Broly and Kenpachi were clearly displeased with being stuck out of the battle for so long and decided to do something about it. Kenpachi focused his strength into the ground, lifting up massive stone pillars, and Broly took control of them one by one as they appeared. As a single swipe of Kenpachi’s tail smashed one to rubble, and Broly took control of that rubble, sending the small stones flying at Mewtwo with the force of bullets, I admired their teamwork. Broly’s control was something else as he ensured each rock missed the dragons in the sky and went straight for the aggressive psychic.

A/N; And we keep up the good fight. I hope this isn’t dragging on too long?