Dread filled Eric's heart.
This was the most powerless he had felt since he got here.
Maverick's words echoed in his mind. "No matter what happens, do not underestimate the power of a Pokémon with the word king in it."
It was only now that he understood the gravity of those words.
The Druddigon roared and released its pressure. Just this action alone sent a shockwave that knocked Eric and Misako back, crashing into a tree.
*Koff*
They spewed out blood as they slowly got up.
Eric didn't think he was looking at a Pokémon, but a walking catastrophe.
Just its mere existence changed the climate around them, feeling up with dragon-type energy that burned against their skin.
Haunter dashed towards Eric. He was feeling quite powerful over his new strength, but now he felt like he was worse than an ant.
"You see? That is the reaction. The dread on your faces. Even this bitch right here..."
The cloaked man climbed on top of Haruko's Pokemon to reach and smack her with a stick he was carrying.
"Kuh!" Haruko winced in pain.
"She also looked wonderful with that scared expression the moment I sent out Druddigon. All the bravado and pride left her eyes."
He then jumped off them.
"This… is real strength. Druddigon has just reached the Pseudo King level, but that single level is the difference between heaven and earth. Show them, Druddigon!"
"Drudd!"
The ground up to 5 miles trembled as Druddigon roared. It then looked up, and fired a fiery ball of energy into the air.
Draco Meteor!
His aim wasn't Eric or Misako. But to show off its power.
The attack burst in the sky like fireworks, splitting into multiple comets that fell down on the forest.
Boom!
The forest up to a 3 mile radius around Druddigon was covered in flames. Trees fell. Some burnt to a crisp.
The forest turned into a barren wasteland. Many Pokemon lost their lives, as Druddigon stood menacingly in front of Eric and Misako.
They stared at him as if they were looking at a monster. Truly a walking catastrophe. Eric had difficulty believing a Pokemon could have so much power.
This was just the Pseudo King level, the beginning stage of it at that. What about an actual King level Pokemon?
Eric couldn't imagine. He suddenly felt so small. So weak, so powerless.
His eyes slowly losing hope. Misako was doing much worse. She had almost given up.
'haunt!'
Haunter tried to act brave, but anyone could tell he took felt powerless.
"Now then. It's time you tell me kid. What were you doing here, and how did you know about the fragment?"
"Fragment? I don't know what you're talking about." He lied. Partially.
"Are you still seriously bluffing? In this situation? Kuha…kuahaha… damn kid. You're even better than this bitch."
Thean laughed maniacally, a crazed look in his eyes.
"Well, let's see how you react to this then. Druddigon, let's start the show for our guests."
He pointed towards the pile of Haruko's Pokemon.
"Let's see, we'll start with this yellow dog first."
Jolteon.
Druddigon slowly walked towards him.
"N-no! Jolteon, get up and run!"
Haruko spoke with difficulty, worry filling her eyes. But Jolteon didn't move. He couldn't, in the state he was in.
"Haunter" Eric whispered.
"We may die here, but I don't want to go without a fight. While he is distracted, fire your strongest Ghost Ball at that man."
"Haunter!"
Haunter responded as he started creating the Ghost Ball.
This attack, which looked so imposing in the cave, now looked lack luster. The energy in the area didn't even shift a little bit, still dominated by Druddigon's dragon energy.
He fired it, but the man just laughed.
"You can't be serious.'
Druddigon came in front of him, and swatted the attack with his tail.
" Look at this Druddigon. Looks like the guests want audience participance in our show."
Druddigon stepped towards Haunter now, slowly. Haunter kept firing Ghost Balls one after the other, but Druddigon didn't even bother to dodge them, shrouding his body with draconian energy.
'So this is it.' Eric thought as he closed his eyes. 'Sorry, Haunter. I couldn't take you to the top.'
But just as Eric was about to give up, he heard a laughter. So did everyone else.
"Kekeke"
It wasn't Haunter. It was coming from somewhere else.
The Druddigon, who was arrogantly moving towards Eric, stopped.
" Why did you stop? Just kill that Haunter already."
Druddigon didn't move, as a dark shadow appeared on the ground in front of him.
From it, emerged a Purple Pokemon.
It was a Gengar.
This Gengar had no intimidating presence. It didn't release any pressure. It looked like a weakling compared to the Druddigon on first glance.
Yet, if you look into Druddigon's eyes, t was telling a different story.
"Now where this that thing pop out of? Druddigon, just end it."
"Drud!"
"What? Don't tell me you're scared of this thing?"
The cloaked man looked stupified.
It was then that Eric checked this Gengar's status.
Pokémon: Gengar ???
Gender: Male ???
Level: ???
Type: Ghost/Poison ???
Ability: ???
Held Item: None
Potential: ???
His system glitched for the first time.
Eric gulped.
This could mean only 2 things. Either the Gengar was using a special way to block the system's scan, or, it was just too powerful to scan. Eric believed it was the latter.
The Gengar then vanished, and appeared in front of Druddigon in a flash. His small arm radiated with Ghost type energy, as he punched Druddigon with it, who couldn't react in time.
It wasn't any pokemon move. Just a normal punch covered in Ghost type energy.
Yet, after taking that one punch, Druddigon, who looked like a calamity till now, got sent flying, knocking multiple trees behind it.
Then, it fell to the ground, unconscious.
"What the–"
This was the first time the cloaked man lost his composure. He was just bragging about true strength and what not, and his Druddigon was one shotted!
And the Gengar didn't even use a move! What kind of power is this?
The Gengar then flashed and appeared in front of the man, smiling wickedly.
"S-Shit!"
The man started running as he threw out a Pokeball. A Pidgeot came out, which he climbed and flew away with.
"This isn't over brat! I'll found you later and get that fragment from your corpse if I have to."
With that, he was gone. Gengar didn't chase after him. He didn't even turn back to look at Eric and the rest.
"Kekeke"
He just laughed and slowly sunk into the shadows like he was never there to begin with.
Eric just blanked out and stared at the empty space in front of him. So did Misako and Haunter.
Then they snapped out of it when Misako shouted and ran towards her sister.
It was only then that Eric came back to reality.
'What the hell did I just see?'
His mind was disoriented from the mental ordeal. He couldn't even comprehend the level of power that Gengar had.
He didn't understand what happened.
But he survived.
He then collapsed on his knees, all the strength leaving his body.
Only one thought remained in his mind.
'I am still too weak.'
------------------------------------
If you want early access (10 chapters) to the upcoming chapters or just want to support me, you can do that at:
www.patreon.com/GhostQuill407