Chapter 47.3- Oak

Her dance was much slower and more elaborate than Lucian’s. Drawing out every movement and twist to make sure she got everything perfectly. That was who Bertha was as a person, and I could see Camerupt tracking her with his eyes as he began to glow. His evolution was slow. Slower than Medi’s and much more gradual. When the light died down, our breath was taken away once more. The two humps at his back had merged into one huge volcano, and its fur had grown tremendously. Pokemon were such bullshit, because how could you even account for these changes and their reversion from a biological standpoint. It made no sense, and Flint wasn’t shy about pointing it out.

“This some bullshit” He said with a broad smile as the moisture all around us began to swiftly disappear. Camerupt wasn’t best pleased with his comment though, as it hmphed and the volcano at his back belched out steam. Infernape wasn’t having the threat and stepped in front of his trainer, snarling something at the volcano pokemon. Of course, this is where things had to go to hell in a handbasket.

The flamethrower Camerupt fired at Flint was a bright blue, a sign of the heat he was now capable of producing. Infernape took the heat under the cover of protect, and Flint was teleported out of the way by Mr. Mime before he could be damaged. Cynthia’s eyes sharpened as Octillery burst from his pokeball. “No, stop” Bertha shouted, but her shouts were ineffective as Mega Camerupt was uninterested in calming down, not even at his trainer's command.

At least it had the presence of mind to rush past her and not through her. That would have been a tragedy. Infernape had left the protection of his shield seconds ago, and was making his own mad rush at the enhanced volcanic pokemon.

Octillery interfered with a hydro pump that landed in the space where both pokemon would have collided. Infernape ended his run to avoid the attack, but Mega Camerupt just kept on going, the water evaporating as it touched his fur, but angerring him even further. His hump belched out terrifying amounts of steam as he chased after the mobile fire monkey. Flint had taken control of his starter and was now commanding him to avoid instead of engage. A good idea in theory, but not so easy to put into practice. Mega Camerupt wasn’t much faster than regular Camerupt, but its flames were much hotter, and Infernapes were never the most fire resistant of fire-types. They just didn’t compare to pokemon like Charizards and the Magby-line. I didn’t think anyone could compare to pokemon that swim in lava when it comes to fire resistance, but the point still stood.

Mr. Mime intervened by boxing the enraged mega evolved pokemon in a series of reflects. It wasn’t to last though, as the hump on its back exploded for the first time in this fight, and it was marvellous. The very ground I stood on was ravaged by the attack, and it took me leaning on Drapion to keep my balance. I scowled as I sent out Volcarona. The fighters all turned to behold the new addition, and I smiled in satisfaction. When it came to raw firepower, Volcarona was the most powerful fire-type pokemon in Sinnoh. There was no doubt about it, and as they regarded her, I could see them accepting the realisation. That didn’t stop the enraged Camerupt from continuing its madness though. He rushed at Infernape again, but this time, Volcarona sent multiple explosive fireballs slamming into his side to dissuade him from that course. He saw the attack coming, and released a shockwave from his hump that detonated all the fireballs before they hit. Spectacular. Infernape tried charging up a fire punch, and hit him square in the skull. His hopes of ending the battle with that one hit died quickly, as all it did was enrage Camerupt even more. This time, he didn’t bother with a flamethrower and just sent a ball of pure magma at his opponent. Infernape got out of the way of the attack, but was left wide open for Camerupts rush. It would have been truly disastrous if Volcarona hadn’t appeared between them and sent him flying with her most powerful whirlwind. Good. I took the few seconds of respite to take stock of our surroundings. Lucian was directing his team to suppress the fires that Camerupt was causing with every failed attack, Bertha still lay on the floor where she’d fallen in the wake of Camerupt’s rush, watching everything with wide eyes. Cynthia was relaxed on the trunk she’d claimed as a chair, watching with assessing eyes. Garchomp stood behind her like a silent spectre and I knew if it intervened, this would be over in seconds. From the look she gave me though, it wasn’t going to intervene. This was a test, but I had no idea what she was looking for.

Camerupts return ended that train of thought, and this time, Bertha was ready. She’d stood up in the few seconds where I hadn't paid her any attention. And already had a hand on one of her pokeballs. When Rhyperior took to the field, Camerupt’s charge stopped. Not from recognising his teammate or anything so sappy, but from the fact that he probably realised the magnitude of what was coming his way. Rhyperior was the most powerful of Bertha’s team by a fair margin. It wasn’t surprising, considering it had been in her family for close to two centuries. She’d started her journey with a pokemon well in the elite level, and while it had caused some furor at the time, everyone now just took the rock type as part of her team, forgetting that she’d done very little to actually train it. In case you can’t tell, I didn’t support her having Rhyperior at all. It was a display of everything wrong with the world we live in. A family guaranteed to produce strong trainers, not because of innate talent or anything like that, but from the fact that they just cheated by giving their kids a headstart no one could match.

Camerupt wasn’t given a second to think as Rhyperior dug into the ground and appeared in front of him in a blink. His rush stopped, and I felt him submit to the rock type in front of him. “Good. Very good, boy.” Bertha said as she walked forwards. Camerupt growled at her, but Rhyperior merely took a step forward, making him calm down and accept her approach.

Things were finally beginning to calm down, and then Infernape had to show that abrasive personality both he and his trainer were known for. He said something in native pokespeak that I couldn’t decipher, but was clearly enough to piss off the volcanic pokemon. What the fuck? Before Bertha could lay a hand on him, Camerupt was off with the horses. This time, Rhyperior’s growl did nothing to dissuade him, so gone in the haze of his rage. The ground type monster just triggered an earthquake with a step, messing with Camerupts footing and slowing him down before thrusting a drill-hand into the ground.

Lucian’s eyes widened as Mr. Mime suddenly appeared behind me and teleported me next to him. I could see the same thing happen to Flint and Bertha. The Champion was content to remain on her throne, Garchomp using his own tectonic control to prevent the move from affecting them. I watched in awestruck shock as Rhyperior used the most dangerous ground-type move in existence. Fissure. The ground ripped apart, separating the clearing we were in into two distinct parts like the hand of god himself had reshaped the surrounding land. Fuck.

Camerupt was stuck on one end of the newly created canyon, and Infernape was on the other. Rhyperior just calmly walked up to the stationary mega pokemon and unleashed a single punch to its skull. It hadn’t even bothered trying to defend and was instantly knocked out. Rhyperior was just something else. If only Bertha was a more competent trainer and had a team of other elites to back him up, we wouldn’t be stuck with Shirona as a champion.

“Well, that was something” Flint proclaimed with a nervous laugh and Lucian just gave him a deadpan look.

“Something indeed. That Rhyperior of yours is quite a specimen. I didn’t get the chance to properly appreciate him when he fought against Garchomp” Cynthia said with a smile that didn’t seem sincere to my eyes. Her statement was also a very veiled insult to Rhyperior’s strength, reminding us that even with all the power we’d just witnessed, he hadn’t even been able to last longer than ten minutes against her monster.

“So, are we continuing?” She asked, turning away from Bertha to look at me. I just smiled in reply. As if I was going to delay this for any longer. It was time for me to meet Mega Heracross.