Ryuuske looked down at Green, who was clinging to him like a koala. He tried pushing her off, but her grip was so tight it actually hurt.
"P-Please... just let me hold on like this for a bit..."
Green's voice was barely a whisper, drowned out by the roaring flames in the sky. If Ryuuske hadn't pressed his ear close, he wouldn't have caught it at all.
She looked like a patient suffering from hypoglycemia—pale, weak, and entirely reliant on Ryuuske to keep her upright. Beads of sweat dotted her forehead, her breathing rapid and shallow. Just forming a coherent sentence seemed to drain all her energy.
Her delicate body pressed against his, a faint orchid fragrance drifting into his nose—but Ryuuske had no time to dwell on that. He shook her gently.
"...Snap out of it! This is when your Blastoise should be stepping up!"
"N-No... I can't... I really can't."
Green buried her face in his chest, trembling. She covered her ears and shook her head, as if the mere cry of Moltres was enough to drive her to madness.
Ryuuske sighed. He had guessed her fear of bird Pokémon stemmed from childhood trauma, but he never imagined it was this severe. Moltres hadn't even attacked yet—just its cry had reduced her to this state.
Even Freud himself would struggle to cure this level of childhood trauma.
"I'll let you command Squirt... Please... I'm begging you... I can't do anything right now."
Lifting her tear-streaked face, Green's eyes were pleading. Fear had reduced her to sobs, her voice cracking with desperation.
"What are you talking about? I'm not forcing you to fight... This battle was never yours to begin with."
Ryuuske took Green's Poké Ball, eyeing the Blastoise inside. While it was strong and had a type advantage, it wasn't his Pokémon. Commanding it perfectly would be impossible.
What moves did it know? Which was its strongest? Which had the highest accuracy? How well could it control its power? What was its preferred fighting style?
Ryuuske had no idea. At best, he could bring out 50% of its potential.
If this were Erika's Grass-types, he'd have no issue—two months of training together had given him deep familiarity with her team.
"We'll handle this ourselves. Eevee, evolve into Vaporeon!"
Ryuuske had hoped Green could overcome her fear, but clearly, that was wishful thinking. Still, he never intended to rely on others in the first place. The only one he trusted—the only one he could rely on—was himself.
"Eevee!"
With a flash of light, Eevee transformed into a mermaid-like Vaporeon. However, the intense heat near Cinnabar's volcanic crater made even the Water-type uncomfortable.
"Dragonair, use Rain Dance!"
Noticing that Sabrina and Blaine weren't paying attention to him, Ryuuske acted swiftly, ordering Dragonair to alter the battlefield's climate.
Dark clouds gathered amidst the fiery sky, moisture condensing high above. Thunder rumbled as rain began to fall—only to evaporate instantly upon nearing the scorched earth and bubbling magma. The entire mountaintop was soon shrouded in scalding steam, the volcanoes now hazy and indistinct.
"No good. This volcanic region is practically a natural Desolate Land. A normal Rain Dance won't cut it. I was hoping to increase humidity first, then manipulate the weather to shift the environment entirely... Looks like unless we have Primordial Sea, changing Cinnabar's volcanic terrain is impossible."
Ryuuske frowned. From his studies at Professor Oak's lab, he knew only a Primal Reversion Kyogre's Primordial Sea could extinguish Cinnabar's volcanoes and strip Moltres of its environmental advantage. Dragonair simply couldn't replicate that.
"Vaporeon, change into Flareon! In this environment, Water-type moves are weakened. Better to let us benefit from the terrain boost instead!"
Ryuuske issued another command, shifting Eevee from Vaporeon to Flareon.
Cinnabar's environment was that extreme—perhaps the only place in Kanto where the usual Water-Fire dynamic could be reversed.
Honestly, even Green's Blastoise would be near useless here.
Ryuuske's attempt to alter the battlefield drew Sabrina and Blaine's attention. Moltres and Charizard broke apart mid-air, their trainers scanning the area for the intruder.
Soon, their gazes locked onto Ryuuske, standing near a ridge overlooking a river of magma. Only a powerful trainer, shielded by their Pokémon's energy, could move freely in such conditions.
"Ryuuske!"
Blaine's face lit up. To him, Ryuuske was the ultimate reinforcement. Even with Moltres empowered by Desolate Land, it stood no chance against Mewtwo—especially with Blaine, Kanto's foremost Fire-type expert, backing him up. His own Fire-types would thrive in this environment.
As for Sabrina? Aside from Moltres, her Psychic-types were useless here. Once Moltres was dealt with, she'd be trapped by her own battlefield choice. Blaine could defeat her alone.
Sabrina, upon spotting Ryuuske, initially showed a flicker of surprise—and something resembling delight. But it vanished instantly, replaced by fury as she folded her arms, glaring down at the girl slumped against him.
A surge of malice twisted her chest, stealing her breath.
"...Moltres, Inferno Overdrive!!!"
Her icy voice dripped with venom. Sensing her rage, Moltres—already the embodiment of fiery wrath—let out an ear-splitting shriek. The flames around it surged, its body doubling in size until it became a 15-meter-long inferno in the shape of a bird.
This was Inferno Overdrive—a move that expelled all of a Fire-type's energy at once, temporarily stripping it of its Fire attributes.
Blaine's heart nearly stopped. He assumed Sabrina, seeing backup arrive, was making a desperate all-or-nothing strike to eliminate him before the battle became two-on-one.
"Charizard, dodge!!"
As a Fire-type specialist, Blaine knew Inferno Overdrive's destructive potential. In this environment, Moltres' version was nothing short of divine retribution.
But then—Sabrina ignored him, the attack instead barreling toward Ryuuske, hundreds of meters away!
Blaine's jaw dropped. Was she insane? At this range, Inferno Overdrive would annihilate most trainers instantly—but Ryuuske had Mewtwo. Even Arceus might struggle to one-shot it.
The flames roared. The divine bird screeched. All heat condensed into a colossal avian shape, so vast it blotted out the sky. As the fiery behemoth descended, the surrounding temperature plummeted—every scrap of warmth sucked into the attack's core.
"AAAAAHHHHH—!!!"
Green screamed as her vision filled with fire. The sheer radiance alone could reduce a person to ashes. The ground trembled, magma geysers erupting like fountains, spewing molten rock skyward.
KABOOOOOOOM—!!!
The explosion shook the island.
The earth split apart.
Black smoke geysered upward.
Magma pillars erupted 100 meters high.
Flames painted the sky and land in searing light.
Even the volcanoes rumbled, as if preparing to drown the entire island in lava.
Yet Blaine felt no joy. Sabrina herself stood frozen, staring in horror at the cataclysm she'd unleashed.
Ryuuske hadn't sent out Mewtwo to block it.
He'd used Gabite instead.
It was suicide!
Sabrina had only dared this attack because she knew Mewtwo could survive it. But this outcome—
"How?! How could you make such a mistake?!"
Her scream was shriller than Moltres' cry.
Then—
Silence.
From the inferno consuming the land emerged not Gabite, but—
Garchomp!!!
To be continued…
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