Chapter 93: Vs. Lance Wataru (1)

Chapter 93: Vs. Lance Wataru (1)

~Third POV~

[Kanto Region, Later, Cerise Island]

The salt-laced wind whipped Azure's hair across his face as he surveyed the scene. Cerise Island, an artificial island made to be used like the Badge Amplification Device on a grander scale.

The air thrummed with the energy of clashing Pokémon, the ground scarred by powerful attacks. Around him were the defeated bodies of the Pokémon Army that the Elite Four had around all fainted from Azure's own Pokémon.

He had to get to Lance. The fight was for more than just the island. It was for the future. News had reached them, whispers first, then solid reports, of Lance's twisted vision, his plan to cleanse the world of humanity, to usher in an era where Pokémon reigned supreme, guided by trainers who were, in Lance's warped mind, worthy.

He aimed to use a device, powered by the island's unique energy field, to amplify Pokémon powers on a global scale, to summon Lugia to realize his goals. A final, desperate gambit had brought them here.

Azure, the Ninth Pokémon League Champion, and his team. His team, within their Poke Balls, all eyed the situation with their Partner Pikachu crackling with electricity on his shoulder, its red cheeks sparking.

Eevee, perched atop his head, its fur a soft brown against the harsh landscape, emitted a nervous whimper, sensing the impending confrontation. He took a step forward, leaving the chaos of the surrounding battles behind.

The air grew heavy, the silence punctuated only by the distant roars and cries of battling Pokémon within Cerise Island as Red and his group began fighting the Elite Four members, who consist of Lorelei, Agatha, and Bruno. He walked towards the center of the island, towards the dormant volcano, reaching towards the sky like supplicating hands.

*RMBL*

*FWP*

And there he stood in his way, came their leader. Lance Wataru, Elite Four Leader, Dragon Master, his coat billowing in the wind like wings as he rode his Aerodactyl.

He stood in his way, arms crossed, looking down on Azure, expressing arrogance. Lance greeted, his voice devoid of warmth, "Azure Sky… I expected you. You always were an obstacle to progress."

Azure chuckled at Lance having Aerodactyl out, seemingly waiting as he replied humorlessly staring at Lance, "Heh. That makes both of us, then Lance Wataru. Can't have a nice day with some crazy jerk ruining it. But from my perspective, your actions pretty much make you evil to me, buddy."

Lance laughed, a harsh, grating sound. He shook his head as he said confidently, "I see you've done your research. Evil? Well, well… is that what I'm doing? I had no idea Mahahaha!!!"

His face was etched with a fanaticism that chilled Azure to the bone. Lance continued looking down on him in a determined tone, "But look at it from a Pokémon's perspective. Human good and Pokémon good are opposed! All humans on Earth, except for Elite Trainers, must be destroyed! That is the mission of the Elite Four!"

Azure snorted, hearing Lance's claims as he countered harshly, adjusting his cap, "Tch. A Trainer who loves Pokémon… dreaming of destroying mankind for their sake… This isn't progress, Lance."

Azure countered, his voice firm, masking the tremor of apprehension he felt. He continues speaking in a defiant tone, "This is madness. You can't wipe out humanity. We're not the enemy."

Lance merely looked down on Azure as he spoke to him in a neutral tone, "You're blind, Azure. Blind to the potential of Pokémon, to the corruption of humanity. They exploit us, they pollute the world, they wage war. This is the only way to save Pokémon, to create a true utopia."

Azure challenged his words as he gestured to Pikachu, who stood tall and defiant on his shoulder, along with Eevee on top of his head, "A utopia ruled by fear? A utopia built on genocide? That's not the world Pokémon want. They want to live alongside us, to work with us, to be our friends."

Lance's eyes narrowed. An image of Yellow flash by his head as he muttered disdainfully, "Sentimentality. It's your weakness, Azure. Just the same as Yellow… And it's what will lead to your downfall."

"LANCE!"

Just in time, Yellow and Blaine arrived, standing behind Azure. Blaine, adjusting his glasses, spoke to Azure in a surprised tone, "Didn't expect to see you around. Although I'm glad to see the Elite Four didn't do something to you."

Azure smirked as Yellow introduced herself as she said to him in a determined tone, "If you've come to help, thanks, but Lance can only be defeated by a Trainer from Viridian, and that's me."

Hearing her words, he simply smiled as he turned to Lance. But he moved his hand forward, stopping the two as he said calmly, "Sorry, but I'm taking this. I don't want you or Blaine to interfere. Besides… the way he looks down on me. I don't like it."

Lance smirked as he said in a confident tone as his Aerodactyl prepared for battle, "Oh? You're coming at me alone? It doesn't matter to me if there are two of you… Or a hundred! Aerodactyl! Hyper Beam now!!"

*KRAK*

Shooting a condensed laser at them, Yellow and Blaine were startled. Azure however made a cocky grin ordering, "Gengar! Protect!"

*Swooosh*

*CLANG*

Reappearing from Azure's shadow was his Gengar. Having cast a transparent energy shield, it blocked the Hyper Beam with ease, laughing mockingly, "Gen! Gengar! (Ha! You call that tough, my mama would smack you silly! Get good bug!)"

Aerodactyl growled, being mocked. Lance and Yellow both blinked, having touched their Pokémon, reading their memories to understand their language, looking at Gengar's bold words.

However, Azure smirked as Aerodactyl recharged, ordered, "Agile Style. Icy Wind."

*Wooosh*

Gengar attacks with a gust of chilled air as Aerodactyl recoils from the chilling ice. Lance, returning his attention to Azure, commanded, "Fly then, Supersonic!"

*Fwp*

With great speed, Aerodactyl has taken Lance into the air, looking down on Azure's group. And then Aerodactyl roared, unleashing its Supersonic. Emitting bizarre sound waves at them, Azure countered, "Phantom Force."

*Swooosh*

Gengar creates a thin purple portal beneath itself and sinks into it. Thanks to that, it avoided Lance's Aerodactyl Supersonic, alarming him.

His eyes narrowed, seeing this move as he maneuvered through the air in a cautious tone, 'I never saw this move before… this Phantom Force allowed it to escape my Aerodactyl's Supersonic. But if that's the case – '

*Swf*

Lance didn't get the chance to finish his thoughts. Seconds later, another portal appears behind Aerodactyl, and Gengar comes out of it before attacking Aerodactyl with a Strong Style Lick attack.

*SLURP*

Lance's eyes widened in alarm as his Aerodactyl had been paralyzed. Reappearing through the portal, Lance ordered, "Now! Wing Attack!"

*Zzzz*

Unfortunately, Aerodactyl was stunned by Gengar's Lick move. Lance gritted his teeth as Azure continued the pressure, "Consecutive Agile Style Shadow Balls!"

*PEW*

*PEW*

Firing off purple spheres of ghost energy, each producing small electricity, was sent at Aerodactly in a volley. Noticing the danger, he placed his hand over Aerodactyl's back, using his own Viridian Force to heal his Pokémon, curing it from the Paralysis.

*Swooosh*

Regaining its strength, Aerodactyl easily avoided the incoming Shadow Balls, surprising Gengar. It soon appeared before Gengar as Lance ordered, "Wing Attack, don't hesitate, Aerodactyl!"

*Fwp*

Aiming to attack Gengar again, Azure countered, "Phantom Force!"

*Swf*

Gengar becomes surrounded in a swirl of purple energy and disappears. Slipping away, Gengar grinned, giving the two a middle finger as it vanished.

Managing to avoid the Wing Attack again, Lance's eyes narrowed as he commanded, "Be on the lookout out Aerodactly! That Gengar will reappear again!"

From below, Yellow and Blaine's eyes widened seeing this. Blaine muttered, seeing an unknown move chuckling, "Hahaha… just as expected from the 'Move Tutor'. Using new moves on the fly without anyone noticing."

Yellow eyes widened, hearing that name. She was taught by Blue learning to become stronger for a week, learning about the titles each Trainer gained, showing their skills like him.

Red was given the title of the 'Fighter' due to precisely make quick decisions during a battle, turning the movements of opponents against themselves

Blue was given the title of the 'Trainer' due to tough training. Blue increases the level of his Pokémon, making them apt to dispute in battles against the best Trainers, even using the ones he raised from scratch.

Green was given the title of the 'Evolver' due to during the time she was kidnapped. Green was taught to develop her knowledge on Pokémon evolution, having won important battles with the appropriate use of Evolution stones.

Azure was given the title of the 'Move Tutor' due to training new moves that Pokémon couldn't learn normally. But what earned him that title was his introduction of new, powerful moves, known as Battle Styles. The Strong and Agile Style he invented brought a new kind of battling.

While Lance was busy in the air searching for Gengar, Azure finally spoke up, alerting the two of the news as he said calmly, having control of the flow of the battle, "Blaine. Yellow. Cerise Island is a gigantic badge energy amplifier by Lance as with seven of the Badges located around the perimeter of the island under its rock spires and the Earth Badge in the center of the island over the volcano, it performs the same function as the device used by Team Rocket, but on a much grander scale. If you two take out the Badges, you disrupt their plans."

Blaine's eyes widened, hearing this, as he asked in a stunned tone, "Nani?! You mean this whole island – "

*RMBL*

The ground beneath them rumbled as Lance's other Pokémon emerged from the ground, visibly alarmed. Lance's Dragonite and Gyarados emerged visibly enraged and shocked, justifying Azure's words.

They both intended to wait as the enemy was tired down. But hearing Azure's words made them react to stop them. Azure spoke calmly, hurling two Poke Balls at them, "Arcanine. Dragonite. Deal with them."

*Pop*

Both attempted to attack Azure immediately. Hurling two Poke Balls at them, they popped open, revealing his Dragonite and Arcanine at the ready, blocking their attacks with Iron Tail in their tracks.

*CLANG*

Blocking their attacks effectively, Blaine and Yellow distanced themselves as the scientist says in a determined tone, "If this is truly a giant Badge Amplifier, then getting rid of those Badges is the easiest way to thwart them! Azure, can you hold out long enough for us to return!"

Azure smiled at them briefly before turning his attention was on the battle as Gyarados and Lance's Dragonite backed off from his own and Arcanine's attacks. Getting the chance to flee, Blaine took out his Rotom Phone, informing the others of the news.

However, Blaine and Yellow frowned, seeing that their messages were being intercepted. In this predicament, they had no choice but to locate the Badges themselves; however, locating them would be difficult as they are hidden.

This didn't go unnoticed by Lance as his eyes narrowed, and his Pokémon quickly went to his side. Using his Viridian Force on them, his eyes widened, glaring hatefully at Azure, yelling disdainfully, "You!!! How did you know!!!"

Azure, with his Dragonite by his right, along with Arcanine on his left, simply smirked. He replied, casually adjusting his cap, "It was a wild guess. This place just reminded me of that damn device and it made me think how would the Elite Four manage to control their Pokémon Armies? Then it hit me that the Badge Amplification Device would've worked if it could control Legendaries, why not lesser Pokémon to the controllers will… tell me am I wrong, Lancy boy?"

*Pop*

Hurling two Poke Balls into the air, Lance brought out his 2 Dragonairs as he yelled, "Blast you!! Dragonair!"

Azure simply chuckled, keeping his attention fully on Lance as he said, "Switch, huh?"

*Tmp*

Lance lands on the ground, releases his two Dragonair, and orders, "Call upon the winds! Call upon the thunderclouds!! Agility!"

*HWOOOO*

*RMBL*

Both Dragonairs summoned a thunderstorm against Azure and his Pokémon. The Dragonair spins the turbulent currents around with Agility.

Witnessing Lance command the force of nature, Azure grinned as he muttered, "Ha! Finally, someone we can go all out against isn't that right, everyone!"

All of them grinned at the eager challenge ahead. While Lance scowls, glaring hatefully at Azure as he thinks, 'I must defeat him quickly! Or else those intruders might have a chance to stop us. I need to draw the last badge here…'

Azure meanwhile kept his cool head on as he thought, grinning excitedly, 'Still, since this guy isn't using his Pupitar, I won't use Scizor. At least not till the situation calls for it. It'll be a mad flex on this guy's pride.'

With the true battle between Lance and Azure having begun. In the shadows, Giovanni has just arrived, observing their battle. Giovanni watches with a curious gaze on how the battle will unfold as he thought calmly, 'Oh? So, they've started. I suppose I could lend a hand… But I'm curious to see how Mr. Champion handles this by himself.'

/////

A/N: Reach 100PS to get that extra chapter! I hope you all have a good day!