[attr="class","textbox"]Was Mt. Chimney always this deep?[break][break]
Isaac had no idea. All he knew was that, as the sweltering heat forced him awake and the noxious vapors threatened to put him back asleep, it felt like he had fallen for hours. Somewhere far below, bubbling in eager anticipation, Mt. Chimney's lava flows threatened to swallow him whole. Somewhere far above, peering over the side of the volcano to admire his handiwork, Terry Jr. sneered.[break][break]
He fired off a mocking salute, then twisted his fingers skyward. The volcano churned in eager anticipation, a rush of smoke belching upwards and swallowing Isaac whole. This wasn't going to be some quick, passive death. Terry Jr. had come to make a statement, and it would be written in Isaac's ashes.[break][break]
Fucking showoff. He'd only won because he'd rigged the deck. If Suicune wasn't stranded in another universe, far, far away from here, Isaac would've had him handled.[break][break]
A spot of brightness pushed through the haze. Since when was Suicune the only Pokemon he'd had to rely on?[break][break]
Mt. Chimney churned, a grumble that escalated into a roar as loud as Entei's itself. Terry Jr. smirked, folding his arms as he watched a column of lava shoot up from Mt. Chimney's tip. So content was he with a job well done that he didn't even notice the silhouette wreathed within the pyroclasm.[break][break]
Out from the ashes shot Isaac Merlo, Flying through the air atop a dragon's wings.[break][break]
"Wha-?" Isaac didn't even give him the chance to answer. Instead, swiveling in midair, he smashed a gilded boot straight into Terry Jr.'s chin. He rode the momentum of his dive kick, lancing back into the air and looping around for another fly-by pass. Again and again he repeated the process, leaving Terry Jr. punch-drunk and stumbling from his vicious airborne assault. Finally seeing his opportunity, he slipped behind Terry Jr., locking him tight into an airborne sleeper hold. He wrenched up with all his might, leaving his opposite number staggering around on his tiptoes and desperately pawing for mercy.[break][break]
Entei wasn't about to let this happen. They surged forward with
Extreme Speed, fangs blared and claws tearing gouges into Mt. Chimney's stone. However, they weren't the only one on the attack. Zephyrus the Dragonite surged out from behind Isaac, flying over his shoulder to smash Entei down into the stone with a powerful
Aqua Tail.[break][break]
As Terry Jr. shook Isaac off, he flew back to Zephyrus' side. The Liberator had lost this fight, but that was simply one facet of Isaac's potential. Now, clad in a Sygna Suit that matched his Dragonite's majesty, he was hellbent on leveraging that potential. With one hand raised each, they called down a
Rain Dance to quench Mt. Pyre's heat.[break][break]
"Damnit, Entei!" Terry Jr. snarled, the legend shaking off their brief daze. They didn't even need the order from their trainer to continue. Instead, they surged forward, their entire body wreathed in
Sacred Fire. Isaac didn't even blink. Instead, with his hands at his sides like a gunslinger, he lobbed Pokeball after Pokeball in the legend's path.[break][break]
Shockmaster and Neo were the first to emerge, the Electivire and Aggron standing shoulder to shoulder. Even as sparks flew from the source of impact, they pushed back against Entei, shoulders dipped and heads buried into their neck. Once they'd gotten enough leverage, they stopped pushing back. Instead, they turned the legend's own extreme speed against them, flipping them clean into the air.[break][break]
That was where Toto, Zephyrus' last companion, had been waiting. The Blastoise's cannons folded out to their full size, his
Water Spout knocking Entei clean out of the air. As they tumbled, Shockmaster excitedly barked out orders, the fearsome foursome wasting no time in surrounding Entei. After all, they were already shuddering back to their feet, snarling in the face of such group tactics.[break][break]
The fifth of Isaac's Pokemon, ever-faithful Luck & Pluck, remained by Isaac's side. With the great Aegislash in one hand, and his King's Shield in the other, Isaac dove right back into the fray.
"C'mon, where's all that fight?" he asked as he flew down, walloping Terry Jr. in the gut with the flat of Luck & Pluck's blade. A gout of fire breath answered him, Isaac holding up the King's Shield to repel it.
"Don't tell me Lavaridge Gym's being held up by some big cat."[break][break]
Unfortunately, it didn't stop at fire breath. The flame around the King's Shield quickly hardened to stone, pinning both it and Isaac to the ground. Terry Jr. scrambled up the new foothold, gauntlets of volcanic rock encasing his fists.
"As if I need any Pokemon to beat you down," he spat as he slugged Isaac first in the face, then in the gut. As he pulled back for another volley of shots, he found himself interrupted by a sharp pain in his back. With a
Shadow Sneak, Luck & Pluck had broken his flow.[break][break]
It was a clash of styles on the unyielding slopes of Mt. Chimney. Isaac floated like a Butterfree and stung like a Beedrill, dancing around reckless explosions and weaving in and out of Terry Jr.'s stand your ground style. To his side, the Stormbringers and Neo used their numbers game to make up for Entei's massive strength advantage. When one was sent flying by Extrasensory or wrestled to the ground in a hateful Crunch, another two mobbed the legendary dog to beat him back. Water and flame, air and earth, two halves of one whole.[break][break]
Yet in the face of Isaac's relentless pressure, even flame could snuff and stone could crack.[break][break]
As Terry Jr. caught Luck & Pluck's blade in his stone gauntlets, Isaac had him right where he wanted him. Two hands on a blade, no hands free to protect himself; a very familiar predicament. This time it was Isaac who took advantage, slipping around his Aegislash and snaring Terry Jr. in a midair armbar. Between Zev's training and his borrowed power of flight, he was less like an Avatar and more like a luchador. Any time Terry Jr. could break free from a grab, Isaac practically floated around him, snaring him in lock after lock. The ankle lock. The octopus hold. The kimura. Finally, once he was well and truly wore down, Isaac locked him into as tight a sleeper as he could manage.[break][break]
Terry Jr. refused to go quietly. His quips and barbs had given way to primal roars, his powers of combustion turning each one into a larger gout of flame than the last. He thrashed like a fish on a line, hellbent on tossing Isaac off of him. At times, he even full-on punched and clawed at himself in his desperate attempt to get Isaac off of him. Eventually, his fight fading, Terry Jr. fell on his palms.[break][break]
Even then, he refused to let himself sink to his knees. It seemed there was still some Isaac left in him.[break][break]
Soaring up into the sky, Isaac prepared to end things. As Isaac held his hand high, draconic energy gathered in the curve of his palm.
"We don't gotta do this, buddy," he said, exhausted pants slipping between his words.
"We can just-"[break][break]
"Fuck you!"[break][break]
So be it. With a sorrowful sigh, the energy in Isaac's hand continued to grow. Once it was at his apex, he flung his
Draco Meteor down to the sky below. To his credit, Terry Jr. did not go gently. Instead, he spewed his furious, sputtering flame, completely engulfing himself in fire and smoke as he tried to push back against the Draco Meteor. It wasn't enough. Dust and shrapnel kicked into the air as the Draco Meteor found its home.[break][break]
Or had it? As Isaac looked down, Terry Jr. was gone. In his place was a web of criss-crossing spires, wrapped around a heart of obsidian.[break][break]
"Heh. Not bad." Isaac couldn't help but smile at his other self's tenacity. Damnit, why'd it have to be this way? In another world, a better world, they'd be going on a two-man power trip to tear down whatever the heck his alternate timeline dad was up to around here. Instead, all that potential was wasted on licking boot.[break][break]
Maybe he'd have to reach him in the one language he understood.[break][break]
Isaac took one last page out of Zephyrus' book, rocketing down towards the mass of stone with
Extreme Speed. As he descended, he whipped off the bike-like visor of his Sygna Suit. In its place was a far more familiar horned helmet. His Sygna Suit changed to match; its aerodynamic orange contours pushed out into a bulkier, spikier configuration as the armor cooled into a dark, stony grey.[break][break]
Naomi Sato had once told him force was mass and acceleration. Zephyrus had given him the acceleration. Now Neo was here to share that mass. His gauntlet glowed a blight white as he cocked his fist back. Second by second, Terry Jr.'s stone bunker grew closer and closer. He counted under his breath. Five . . . four . . . three . . . two . . .[break][break]
"HEAVY SLAM!"[break][break]
Isaac's fist crashed straight through the bunker. Fissures spread where Isaac's fist landed, only a rush of adrenaline and a spike of Infinity Energy preventing him from shattering it outright. Volcanic rock exploded from the site of impact with such force that Isaac's Pokemon had to run for cover. Even Entei, a legend in their own right, was left stunned by what had just happened.[break][break]
The dust finally settled. Terry Jr. lay prone at Isaac's feet. Had he wanted, Isaac could have killed him in an instant. Perhaps Terry Jr. even sensed the possibility, flinching as Isaac's hand poked out through the smoke and rubble. However, instead of a closed fist, Isaac offered an open palm.
"Bet you didn't know we could do that, huh?" he asked, a mischievous smirk on his face.[break][break]
Terry Jr. smacked his hand away. It was limp, feeble, the last defiance of a dead man walking. However, such weak defiance was defiance nonetheless. In a show of respect, Isaac pulled his hand back, taking a few steps away from his opposite number.
"Just think about it. You don't gotta be me. But you don't gotta be Terry Jr. , either."[break][break]
"Just be the best you that you can be, alright?"[break][break]
Terry Jr. slurred out a growl that Isaac could barely understand. An agreement? A last insult? The onset of a concussion? He couldn't tell, and he wouldn't have the chance to ask, either. As Terry Jr. tried to push himself up, his body finally forced a surrender. His arms gave way, leaving him slumped against Mt. Chimney's rubble.[break][break]
Entei limped over to their trainer, stumbling over Shockmaster and Toto's fainted bodies in the process. As they did, they turned to Isaac, their eyes locked onto his. Silence passed between them, underlined by a a
Pressure not as nightmarish as Lugia's yet not as comforting as Suicune's.[break][break]
It hung for an uncomfortably long time. Then, with a nod, Entei turned and walked away.
Extrasensory carried Terry Jr. after him, the two slowly disappearing along Mt. Chimney's smoky horizon.[break][break]
Letting out a sigh of relief, Isaac staggered over to Neo and Zephyrus. The Aggron braced him on one side, while the Dragonite braced him on the other. They looked down at him, Neo's grin ecstatic and Zephyrus' smile shy.
"Hell of a fight, huh, guys?" he asked, his eyes starting to grow heavy and his knees starting to grow weak.
"Alright, alright. You made your point, Father Winter. Think it's . . . time you took me home . . . yeah . . ."[break][break]
Isaac would wake in his bed at Dewford Gym the next morning, just in time for Wintermas. For a moment, he wondered if he'd dreamed the whole thing up. He had been tapping hard into the Navidson eggnog reserves, after all. Soon as he stumbled out of bed, he was pretty sure he'd forget the whole thing. That is, of course, until he noticed what sad beneath the very unseasonal-for-Dewford Christmas Tree.[break][break]
It was Terry Jr.'s motorcycle, just as Isaac remembered. The only differences were a bow clumsily plopped atop the seat and a tag tied around the handlebars.[break][break]
Because every boy should have the chance to get a bike on their birthday. [attr="class","oocbox"]
TAG — @ [break]
NOTES — notes go here
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