Valerie

  “Damn! They’re playing with us!” Nicholas cried out, “What do they even want from us?”

  With the sandstorm and smokescreen clearing, the fight had begun once again and everyone called out an attack for their Pokemon, but the Magmar had proven themselves worthy opponents.

  “We’re in this for the long run, Lairon! Iron Defense!”

  “Graveler, Earthq-!” Arin tried to instruct.

  “No! Don’t!” Maxie called out before the attack could even be released, “The caves are already so unstable, we don’t know what another earthquake could do!”

  “Tsk! Alright!” Arin pivoted, “Rollout! Keep ‘em on their toes!”

  Valerie gave the move list on her phone another glance, “Larvitar! Use Pursuit on the ones dodging Rollout!”

  Larvitar gave her back a nod and shot forward, Dark-TE melting off of it like ink floating in water. It raced forward, being overtaken by the rolling Graveler as they reached the Magmar. Larvitar punched or slapped the dodging Magmar as he followed after Graveler.

  Graveler continued rolling between the Magmar, throwing off their coordination as Larvitar returned to their side, “Great job! While they’re uncoordinated give them another Rock Slide! This time directly!”

  Her Pokemon nodded once again and proceeded to grow stones straight above its head until they were the size of watermelons. Two of the Magmar advanced with the returning Graveler and tried to attack directly instead of keeping at a distance. Larvitar swung its arms forward and the stones followed, shooting into the disordered group of Magmar as Graveler rolled back in front of its trainer.

  “Lairon, Protect again!” Nicholas exclaimed.

  Maxie followed, “Arcanine, the close ones, Fire Fang!”

  The boulders flew over the two Magmar's heads and towards their allies, Most unfortunately missed, but one of the Magmars was smashed in the side of the head by one of the rocks. It fell to the ground limply, having been completely knocked out by the attack. On the ground it slowly stirred back to wakefulness, helped by two of its allies.

  Up front, two Magmar violently smashed their fists into the translucent bubble of Lairons protect, flaming fists impacted the wall harshly and Valerie could see Lairons eye twitch in concentration trying to keep the shield up.

  Arcanine stepped up when the Protect disappeared, it ran circles around the two Fire-Types as it nipped and snapped at them with its Fire Fangs.

  “Maxie! Attacking them with Fire moves won’t do shit!” Arin criticized.

  “I know, but Arcanines is the strongest fighter on the field!” She contested.

  “Larvitar, get a-” Before Valerie could get another command out, she realized another shower of flames was heading straight toward them.

  “Shit! Graveler!” Another rain of rocks blocked the fire from hurting the trainers.

  “Thanks,” Valerie nodded her head towards Arin, “I don’t think we can win this…”

  “Yeah, they’re relentless!” Arcanine took another bite at the Magmar as they finally decided to retreat to their companions. “It's gotta have to do with that Moltres and Tyranitar fight that they’re so irritated, I’ve never heard about Magmar here being this hostile before that!” Maxie theorized.

  “We can come back some other time and check for Larvitar’s mother, can’t we?” Nicholas reasoned.

  “Yeah, but first we gotta be able to get away!” Maxie explained, “Magmar aren’t slow!”

  Finally reunited, the tallest Magmar announced something, “Mag-Mar-Mar! Ma-Mag-Mag Mar!” They lined up next to one another and slowly advanced.

  “Don’t know what they said, but it can’t be good…” Valerie spoke with concern clear in her voice.

  “Let's attack!” Maxie began, “Take Down! Right Side!”

  “Lairon, Take Down! Left Side!”

  “Defense, Graveler! We don’t know what they’re planning!”

  “Larvitar, Dig again!” Valerie pointed at the taller middle Magmar he’d hit before and her Pokemon shot underground at the command.

  The other two launched themselves forward similarly and slammed into their respective sides. Finally, Larvitar surfaced smashing into Magmar's stomach with a heavy thud. It immediately retaliated with a Low Kick, throwing Larvitar off his feet before he even had a chance to land.

  “Payback!” Valerie yelled and Larvitar immediately launched off the ground and onto Magmar's chest, smashing a small fist into its face defiantly. It reeled back once more, before catching its footing and launching a large spew of flame out of its snout.

  Valerie once again cried out, “Retreat! Underground!”

  Larvitar did as instructed and dug itself underground, dodging the attack just barely. The Magmar made the best out of the situation and turned its head to its sides, spraying both Arcanine and Lairon in the flames.

  Arcanine wasn’t very affected by the attack and simply returned to its trainer in a few quick hops. Lairon on the other hand cried out in pain, its Steel plates practically glowing in the heat of the flames. It slowly made its way out of the flames as it returned to its trainer.

  “You ok Lairon?!” Nicholas asked, it only gave a weak nod to its trainer's question.

  Larvitar also resurfaced back near the Rangers, Valerie noticed its arm looking slightly burned. It quickly shook its burned arm, breathing slightly heavier at the exertion of the long fight. Searching through her phone, Valerie found the reason for the burns on Larvitar, ‘They’ve got flame body!’

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  “You alright to keep going?” Valerie asked, Larvitar nodded back to her with a loud, “Lar-Tar!”

  “Guys! They’ve got the ability Flame Body! Don’t attack them physically!” She cried out, the others hollered back agreements in turn.

  …

  Valerie had already sweat through her shirt due to the life-threatening intensity of the fight and the sheer heat of their enemy's attacks, but she wouldn’t give up now! ‘This is a real, honest-to-arceus, wild Pokemon fight! We’ve gotta win this!’

  She bit her lip, nibbling at the chafed skin. ‘This was riveting!’ The Magmar kept pushing them back, forcing them to take a few steps back every exchange as they fought! Valerie felt that if this fight wasn’t over her entire life she might be laughing right about now, she hadn’t expected to be so caught by the experience of a Pokemon fight.

  Sure, she’d watched the league battles every time they’d come on TV. The wasn’t much more to do than to watch the broadcasted fights when she was stuck at home the whole day, but she’d never leaned forward in her seat in excitement during a fight or gotten enchanted by the dynamics of a six-on-six match.

  This right now was different though, her heart was pounding, and she could hear her heartbeat in her ears when another Protect went up and cut out the sound of the outside world. She felt alive!

  Another hit! Dodge! Pivot, Reposition, and then on the attack again. Slowly, that concerned frown of hers was quirking upwards, ‘Arceus, I’m lucky the others are standing in front of me!’ She slapped her cheeks, ‘Gotta keep a game face on!’

  Valerie had most definitely found her calling.

  …

  Larry

  ‘This…’ Larry was catching his breath, even in his mind, ‘...isn’t looking good…’

  Larry had taken four or so hits by now, with a few grazes and burns in between, and he was feeling it all over his body. The Magmar weren’t holding back, they were trying to kill him. At first, Larry had been happy to fight them seriously, but by now he was wishing for a time-out.

  Arcaninie and Graveler weren’t much less exhausted than him, but they were older and had far more training than him, so they didn’t let it show.

  Lairon on the other hand was on his last leg. Having taken a second Fire-Type attack from the gang of Magmar somewhere in between. Its steel typing was not the defensive boon it might’ve hoped for in this fight.

  The Magmar also weren’t much better off, but they seemed to be in it for the long run. At some point, they’d begun swapping out their attacking and defending members to keep them alive for longer. The problem with them wasn’t that they were stronger, no. It was that they had more members who could take hits on their side and they had more members who could dish out attacks. It was a four-on-five and they didn’t have any chances to attack.

  ‘It feels unfair…’ Larry fought selfishly before shaking his head, ‘What am I saying, this is a wild battle, Larry! There are no rules!’

  It didn’t help that with the reveal of the Magmar's abilities, he’d been forced to fall back to his meager amount of ranged attacks. Every time he attacked the Magmar, the parts of him that had come into contact with them burned until he managed to put it out. Due to his typing, it wasn’t the biggest issue, but it certainly wasn’t helping.

  Sandstorm also wasn’t a viable move, since the Magmar could simply smoke him out of it. It had become a staple move of his, so being unable to use it put him at a large disadvantage.

  The Magmar had repositioned and their attacks started again, Larry readied himself and waited for the commands of his trainer.

  “Rock Throw!” Valerie called, but as Larry was preparing the attack, all of the Magmar went into action at once.

  The Magmar all launched flamethrowers, cranking up the heat of the cave in an instant.

  “Protect, Lairon!” Nicholas cried out.

  Heaving itself forward, the Protect flickered to life, holding back the spew of flames. Thinking themselves safe, the rangers begin announcing various attacks, but before they can finish, another fire attack impacts the protective wall. A star of flames sears itself into the translucent bubble, looking similar to the Japanese Kanji for the word “Big”.

  The bubble bulges inwards and in a split second, cracks spiderweb across its entirety before suddenly, it cracks into millions of tiny pieces.

  KABOOM!!!

  The explosion of Fire-TE almost sears Larry's face off. The Magmar hadn’t played all of their cards until now, ‘That big Magmar knew Fire Blast!’

  Yet, this wasn’t the worst. The gouts of fire of the Flamethrowers, which had been so graciously blocked before now invade the inside of the bubble, crashing toward a disoriented Lairon, Gravler, Arcanine, and Larry.

  “No!” The weakened Lairon was recalled before the flames could even lick him.

  “Recall them!” Maxie cried out. In a flash of light, Larry was inside and back out of his Pokeball before he knew it. Now released just next to Valerie.

  “Get your Pokemon to hold them back!” Maxie cried out, “We’re retreat-” But the situation only worsened.

  In between the long sprays of Flamethrower, small balls of fire appeared, launching themselves straight towards them.

  It happened so fast, that Larry didn’t even have time to jump in between. The Lava Plume flew high above, heading straight toward Valerie, and landed on her right shoulder.

  “AAARGH!” She cried out in pain as she dropped to the ground, her outfit burned as the glob of Fire slowly rolled off and disintegrated onto the ground.

  “Valerie!”

  “Valerie!” Maxie and Larry were by her side immediately and put out her burning clothes, “It’ll be alright, Valerie!”

  “AAARGH! OHHHH!” Valerie moaned in pain turning quickly to position herself on her good shoulder, “OH ARCEUS! THAT FUCKING HURTS!”

  Immediately, Larry turned, absolutely incensed, “You fucking shitheads! Why hurt her?! She’s a human, this is a fight between us!” The flamethrowers had long stopped, only having been used as a cover to launch other attacks through.

  The Magmar sneered at him with its long snout, “This is a life or death fight, little Larvitar. Your mothers dead, your human trainer and her entourage will die as well and then finally, we’ll kill you, too! Just as your mother killed us!”

  “Yeah!”

  “Kill him!”

  “Revenge!”

  Different cries of agreement resounded, but Larry didn’t care anymore, he was seeing red. Normal-TE coursed through him and up into his face and throat as Ground-TE swirled up around him. He was tired, but if this was going to be the way things were going to go, then he’d just have to fight till the end.

  …

  Magmar Patriarch

  The Larvitar released an ear-splitting Screech before morphing his face into a horrifying visage using Scary Face. The Magmar took a step back at the noise and his visage, but before they could retaliate, a sandstorm roiled to life and obscured their view.

  The Sandstorm approached them quickly, but they had a countermeasure. As before, they started spitting a thick, black smokescreen into the storm as it approached, only this time, the storm didn’t stop. Instead, it kept advancing until they were all inside of it.

  “Where is that little runt?!” The patriarch called out to his compatriots as they looked around anxiously.

  “No id- OUGH!” From his right, he saw the Larvitar launch itself upward into one of the other Magmar with a dig before falling back into the hole and digging itself away.

  “It's underground!” The patriarch announced to its companions. The runt was conjuring up a Sandstorm while underground so it didn’t have to breathe the smoke!