Out of Control - Pokemon:The Dragon of Another World

[Name]: Bewear

[Species]: Strong-Arm Pokémon

[Type]: Fighting / Normal

[Rarity]: ★4

[Level]: 41 (4829 / 5000)

[Ability]: Fluffy — Halves damage from contact moves but doubles damage taken from Fire-type moves.

[Moves]:

Ice Punch — Mastery (★4)

Thunder Punch — Mastery (★4)

Zen Headbutt — Proficient (★5)

Make It Rain — Beginner (★6)

Frenzied Swipes — Proficient (★3)

Bind — Mastery (★3)

Fluffy Force — Mastery (★4)

Forty-one and sitting on mastery-level moves in three slots—this was no ordinary match. The numbers alone carried weight; the presence, even more.

James stood at the judge's corner, official and composed. When both sides were ready, he announced with a crisp voice, "Begin the match!"

Lusamine's hand flicked like a conductor's baton.

"Bewear—Ice Punch, now!"

Nergigante was Dragon/Fighting. Against a Fighting-type of Bewear's caliber, a hit would rip through her like a blade through cloth.

"Not on my watch!" Bai Chen stepped forward, the great katana arcing down toward Bewear's midsection.

The blade sank deep—but there was no satisfying thunk of impact. Bewear's Fluffy ability absorbed the shock, the katana disappearing as it pressed into the bear's plush belly. Bai Chen shoved with everything he had and, like a batter cracking a homer, sent Bewear flying. The blade left nothing more than a shallow nick.

"Nergigante—do as you like."

Nergigante spread her wings and dove, a dark silhouette against the stadium lights. Her palm expanded, a brutal pocket of force, and she brought it down—Extinction Palm.

BOOM.

Bewear's head smashed into the turf with thunder. Lusamine murmured, breath held. "Remarkable strength."

"Bewear—Zen Headbutt!"

A pink aura flared from Bewear's crown. She drove forward, limbs braced like pistons, and slammed into Nergigante's chest.

Psychic was a sacrifice against Dragon/Fighting—an odd pairing that made the blow sting twice as hard. Nergigante, only Level 14, was thrown back. Pain stung in her skull; something in her mind flickered, a lock unfastening.

"Follow up—Ice Punch!" Lusamine commanded.

Bai Chen slid in front of Nergigante, sheath swallowing the katana at his hip. "Hunter Skill — Special Sheath Draw!"

He flashed the blade free in a single, brutal motion. The strike glanced—only one cut connected. Bewear had sucked in breath, tightened her core, and diminished the hit. The bear's intent was clear: bait Bai Chen's guard, then strike Nergigante while his back was turned.

The moment the opening appeared, Bewear surged. Bai Chen's body moved by reflex.

"Move — Flash Step!"

A streak of white, and he was at Bewear's side. He hooked an arm and, like a wrestler, locked his forearm under Bewear's chin—Titan Arm!

Steel would bend under such force. Bewear crashed to earth, pinned. Bai Chen's right hand darted, the iron blade aiming for Bewear's skull.

But Bewear did something no one expected. With a furious, practiced motion, her fluffy paws caught the blade—bare-handed—and in the same breath she delivered a crushing kick to Bai Chen's abdomen.

The world launched him. He sailed some ten meters, slamming into the ground with a metallic crash. Pain exploded through his gut; bile rose hot. "Christ—she's strong."

Lusamine and company stared, mouths open.

"Did he—did that human just use a Pokémon move? Flash Step?!" they gasped.

Bai Chen shook the world from his teeth, forced himself up through the pain, and charged. But Nergigante was quicker. She lunged at Bewear's throat, jaws snapping with murder in their gleam.

Bai Chen saw the halo of crimson that now clung to her scales—an ugly, burning light. For a moment, she'd been rational; now something savage crawled out from the marrow. Bewear's Zen Headbutt had done more than bruise; it had carved open something in her blood.

"Nergigante—stop!" Bai Chen cried, trying to reach his partner.

A cold wave of killing intent washed over him. It wasn't his—yet it streamed through the bond stone at his hip and invaded his skull with the force of a knife. Nergigante's hatred threaded into his mind and hummed there like a tuning fork. His legs buckled; he dropped to his knees.

Damn it.

His rational thought frayed. The edge of anger and lust for violence wrapped his senses.

Lusamine's jaw tightened. She ordered, voice steely, "Bewear—Ice Punch, counter!"

Bewear answered with a guttural, "Kuma!" and launched a frosted fist. The blow struck Nergigante and sent her flying in a spray of golden dust.

They separated.

Nergigante's red light flared—brighter, hungrier. It was not a mere battle aura; it felt ancient and corrosive, as if a deeper current had been tugged loose. Lusamine's eyes narrowed. "What is that power? How is it amplifying so fast?"

Nergigante rose on trembling limbs; the red glow thickened like oil. She used Extinction Palm again, intent pure: to break Bewear.

"Bewear—Frenzied Swipes, finish this!" Lusamine snapped.

Bewear's arms rippled with dark power, and she struck in a flurry. The disparity in level and mastery bit deep; under the hail of decisive blows, Nergigante finally fell, inert and defeated.

At the very same instant, Bai Chen blacked out.

When consciousness crawled back to him, he was somewhere that was not the arena.

He found himself in a landscape of barbed teeth—huge, obsidian spikes thrusting from raw ground in rigid ranks. Each spike was identical to the barbs he'd seen along Nergigante's hide: cruel, hooked, and hungry. They leaned, ever so slightly, as if being coaxed to a center point. The entire field inclined toward one singular place.

At the center, the spikes rose into a jagged peak. Atop that spire glowed a blood-red orb—a gem like a heart of polished garnet, pulsing with a slow, seductive light that seemed to breathe.

Something in his chest tightened. The light tugged like a lodestone.

Bai Chen climbed. He moved on instinct and a stubborn, animal will. The thorns pierced him again and again; his body bled in thin, hot streams. Time blurred as he pushed upward, each step a rasp against his skin.

When he finally grasped the summit, every inch of him a lattice of cuts, he stared at the orb up close. The crystal shell wrapped around a curled form—Nergigante—ensnared like a sacrificial relic. Red veins of light crawled across the gem like lightning, pulsing in rhythm with an unseen lung.

The flame in the crystal flickered in diaphragms, then steadied. The ancient dragon's eyes—bloodshot, lacquered—opened and met him. The gaze was not merely wakeful; it seared. It recognized him.

Bai Chen inhaled sharply and, in that instant, woke up fully—mind cleared as if surfacing from deep water.

Chapter 14 - Out of Control