PKMNation--NBT--Round 2--Blaze Versus Athena

For PKMNation

Story time!

They had made it past round one and were called back to the stadium for round two.  Blaze circled the waiting room, anxious and eager.  One down, an indeterminate number to go.

And a missing trainer.

This wasn’t good—he needed his trainer for this.  What was he supposed to do if she didn’t show and their name was called?  Fight alone?

No, focus—Tori was probably nipping at her heels and getting her over here as fast as her little Torchic legs would allow.  They had been looking forward to this for too long—they weren’t going to fail because she suddenly lost interest.

And then the worst happened—their name was called.

Oh boy.

Well…maybe they’d count it if it were just him.

Blaze carefully slithered through the air and out of the tunnel, antsy.  Come on, she should be here by now….

And he most definitely did not want to go up against what was in front of him without direction.

Huge, white, with sharp teeth—a Tyrantrum of some sort.  A poisonous Tyrantrum—he could smell the pungent odor of sickly-sweet poison wafting off of it.

And no trainer for him.

The Tyrantrum smirked at that and turned back to its trainer, listening to the rest of its instructions.  Blaze, meanwhile, glanced around and tried to control the feeling of panic working its way up his spine.  Come on, come on, show up—

“Hi!  Hold it!  Wait!  We’re here!”

Finally—here she came, with a lot less decorum and somberness than she had been approaching this with.  And Maxwell on her back.

“Good thing someone remembered,” Maxwell said, putting a paw on his chest and looking smug.  Blaze growled in response, and hoped the not-so-subtle know your place was evident.

“Ah, right,” the trainer said—not her usual cadence, and the way she was moving her hands was not how she usually did.  “Tournament, big deal, trainer orders…what are we fighting?”

Blaze half-turned his head to indicate the Tyrantrum across the way, an action seconded by Maxwell redirecting her attention and pointing.

“Oh,” the trainer said—well, squeaked would be more like.

“You’re not fighting it, idiot,” Maxwell said, rolling his eyes.  “That’s a job for bone-boy here, isn’t it?”

Blaze growled, and Maxwell ducked behind the trainer—conniving little…he knew Blaze wouldn’t risk hurting her.

Except she wasn’t acting like herself—the mannerisms, the motions, the eye movement, the way she said things was wrong, all wrong.  If he didn’t know any better, he’d say she was acting like….

No.  No, he knew better.

“Okay, Tyrantrum is Rock and Dragon,” she was muttering, rapid-fire.  “I’ve heard of this one—Athena, correct?”

“Correct,” Maxwell said drily.  “Poison too.”

“Right.  Poison takes damage from Ground and Psychic—Blaze doesn’t know those, um….”

Blaze was also downright confused—Kelsie did not understand Pokémon speak.

“Whhhat’s…gooiinggg…onnn?” he managed to hiss out.

Maxwell just gave him a little finger wave, knowing he wouldn’t go after the Zorua cross so long as he was on their trainer.

“Don’t you worry your empty little skull over it,” Maxwell chimed.  “Just focus on little miss tyrant over there.”

Blaze ground his teeth and filed that crack away for later.  Maxwell would not and could not stick to their trainer forever—eventually, Blaze would catch him alone.

Kelsie, meanwhile, had not ceased her rapid-fire calculations—which was odd, for her.  Usually she just went with the hardest hitting move and was done with it.

“Okay, so…Rock is weak to Ice, Dragon is weak to Dragon and Ice, and Poison takes neutral damage from both.  Offensive Dragon moves he knows is Twister and Dragon Tail, with Dragon Tail being the stronger—”

“Tell me about it,” Maxwell muttered, rubbing his face.  Ha!  So that still smarted.

“But Dragon Tail is a physical move, and getting near those teeth would be a bad idea—”

“So take out the legs.”

“Ice Beam would be better, since some distance could be had, but then there’s the STAB bonus to consider—”

“Try not to fry your brain.”

“STAB is a fifty percent bonus, Dragon Tail has a base power of sixty and an accuracy of ninety—factor in STAB and that’s a base power of ninety—”

“Felt stronger than that.” again, HA!

“Meanwhile, Ice Beam has a base power of ninety and an accuracy of one hundred—so even without the STAB bonus there’s the equal power and higher accuracy—”

“Take your positions!” the referee called.

“Out of time,” Maxwell pointed out.

“GAAH!  Ice Beam!  Use Ice Beam!” the trainer insisted, arms beside her face in a barely controlled flail.

That cemented it.  Not the choice of the move, because he was certain his real trainer would choose that move.

This was not his real trainer.

Blaze snorted, turned to snake out onto the field—he’d let it slide for now, because he needed to win for his real trainer.

But the moment this was over, lack of vocal chords or not, he’d be getting to the bottom of this.

“Oh,” the Tyrantrum noised—another female.  “Did your trainer finally decide to show up?”

Even if he could talk without effort, Blaze wouldn’t dignify that with a response, instead surging down as soon as the flags dropped with the intent of crippling the legs—even considering the source, it was a good idea.

“Look out!” he heard the fake trainer and Maxwell yell.  Surge straight up and away, zipping sideways towards the stands—

And just barely avoiding the sharp rocks erupting from the ground.

Ah.

Blaze shot up into the air, again cursing the fact that he’d once again have to use a move that was so far removed from his typing.  Think.  They had gone over this.  What happened at the very tops of storms?  Ice happened.  Snow happened.  Hail happened.  Tap into that part of the storm.

Think of snow, ice particles shooting at high speeds, fast enough to rip skin—aim for the Tyrantrum before once again dousing the flames in his eyes to better summon the ice needed to blast towards her as he dived.  Again, he was flying blind.

And if he had a heart, it would have been hammering.

Because this time, he didn’t have a trainer he trusted.

Summon the cold in his mouth, open wide, get ready to fire—

“Right!  Pull up!”

It wasn’t her.  This faker wasn’t her.

But it was still her voice, and instinct made him do so—

Which meant he was firing his Ice Beam straight at something that was getting mighty close according to his understanding of the air currents.

He reignited his flames in time to see a massive ice-coated maw aiming right at him.

Final Word Count: 1,124 words

Tournament time!  And it’s my Blaze versus Malla123’s Athena! Dragon versus Dino! Ghost Rider versus Indominus Rex!

…

To explain the story—I kind of wanted to tie in with this month’s event, so technically Wilson’s the one giving the orders here.  However, my initial idea for the event was kind of nixed, so I ended up not drawing it and leaving this storyline orphaned.  I might get back to it eventually….

Also, no more levels for me, alas, because my EXP Share ran out and I’d much rather spend my points elsewhere.  Maybe when I actually have a stack of levels that need sharing—but I doubt it.

Moving on!

Blaze

Full Body plus Shading and Background plus 1,000 words means I meet the minimum requirement.

Blaze used Ice Beam!

Why do the official images for Ice Beam look more like some sort of electrical attack?...

 

Athena OT Malla123

Don’t know if you have an EXP Share or not—if you do, then it’s 6 levels for you when she’s unlocked.

 

Honorable mention goes to:

Maxwell

Tori

 

Presenting how the dino-nerd’s dino-nerdness shows….Been a big fan of dinosaurs ever since I was little—I mean, you should see my room (no please don’t).  And I have the first three Jurassic Park movies pretty much memorized….And then we got to the fourth movie….

Big fan of the brush I used to do this, by the way—I get a painterly feel and don’t have to mess with as many layers, it’s quick, and the end result is always pretty fun.

In other news—I need to draw more dinos, I think….Now if only the paleontology people on this site weren’t…well, snippy….

 

Pokémon © Game Freak; Nintendo

Done in Adobe Photoshop (with a Cintiq! )

And once again, I must mention the Patreon~