Chapter 25: Anna Vs Duke Part 2.

She runs towards the red bandana Shiftry, flames surrounding her mouth as she growls ferociously. Anna releases her Flamethrower attack, the stream of flames aiming straight at Duke. Duke dodges to the side, sliding his feet across the sands. He then dashes to the Ninetales and roundhouse kicks her to the right. Anna slides slightly from the kick, grunting afterwards. She remains standing and looks to the side, noticing an incoming Leaf Storm from Duke.

Anna counters the attack with Flamethrower, the two moves causing smoke to form due to the collision. After the smoke fades away, Anna's face gets punched by Duke, his leaf-like fist ramming into her face with all of his might. Unfortunately, that might wasn't enough as Anna seems unfazed by the punch. "Hmm?" Duke says, raising his brow. Anna immediately sinks her teeth into Duke's fist, causing him to scream. "YOW, MATE!" He yells, feeling the pressure of Anna's teeth drilling in his hand.

Anna then spins around rapidly, tossing the Shiftry across the shores. "CAPTAIN!" The Ravage Shiftleafs shout, all gasping at their leader being harmed. Duke soon lands into a wooden house, causing it to collapse as other Pokemon scurry away from the location. The Shiftleafs rush to their leader's aid with worry spreading across their faces. Anna sighs in relief, turning towards the group before smirking.

"Looks like we're about done here." She says, sticking her tongue out at the Shiftleafs to mock them.

"Woohoo! You go, Anna!" Lucas shouts, the crew all cheering for her afterwards. Natalie and Mark high five each other as Claire and Jimmy smile at the Ninetales. Lucas fistpumps his brother as Iris folds her arms, revealing a tiny nail from the tip of her paw to resemble a thumbs-up.

"Yaaay! The Shiftleafs can leave, now!" Udep exclaims, jumping up and down in excitement.

"Yeah...Although, who's going to repair the house over there?" Draven asks, seeing bits of wood falling onto the sand. Anna looks at the nonexistent building for a moment before staring at the Clawitzer.

"I suppose me and my friends will get it fixed." She then looks at the crew. "Right?" All, except for Claire, receive an amount of uncomfort from the Ninetales due to her voice. "What?"

"Your tone is starting to terrify me and my cousin, dear." Draven says, petting the Clauncher on the head.

"Yeah. I didn't realize how scary your voice was in your Mythical Power until now, Anna." Ashen admits, shrugging while putting one paw onto his arm.

"Oh...Sorry, guys." Anna replies, looking off to the side. Claire shakes her head at the group.

"Fools. Her tone was nothing compared to mine during my injured phase." Claire says, licking her paw casually.

"It's true! I...still can't get that voice of hers out of my head." Mark says, staring off into outer space as if he's seen the abyss. Draven and Udep look at each other for a moment before looking at the Shinx, raising their brows at her.

"I...see." Draven says in a unsure manner.

"HEY!" A voice shouts in the distance, grabbing everyone's attention. The group look at the voice's location to see Duke standing in front of the Ravage Shiftleafs, the Shiftry panting heavily. His hand oozes a ton of liquid from it, which paints the sand green. Duke then raises his arms up, using Sunny Day to summon the harsh sunlight once again. "I'm not playing any more games with you now, lass." He says with rage spreading across his face. Multiple rocks are beginning to form besides him, swirling around the Shiftry as he takes off running. "THIS IS THE REAL FIGHT, MATEY!"

Duke fires Rock Slide at Anna, dashing as quickly as he can. Anna grits her teeth and looks at the group behind him. "Move out of the way!" She tells them, leading the others to move quickly. She then runs towards Duke, jumping and dodging each and every rocks being thrown at her. Soon the two collide their heads into each other, staring in pure fury for a brief moment. They back away and use their moves onto each other: Anna fires multiple Flamethrower attacks while Duke flings more Rock Slide at her.

The two are dodging each other moves from left to right, the crowd of Shiftleafs cheering in joy for Duke while the gang hopes for the best on Anna. Cerise watches the fight from the crew's home, anxiety beginning to swirl throughout his body. Please be careful, Anna... He thinks to himself, becoming tensed by the action.

Anna runs towards Duke and jumps on him, kicking the Shiftry away as she does a backflip. Duke slides across the ground, struggling to find his balance before falling on his back. As Duke climbs to his feet, Anna closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, acting as though she doesn't hear anything around her. She inhales the natural air given to her, her body glowing brightly for a moment. She then exhales, opening her eyes while her body no longer glows: Calm Mind.

After using Calm Mind, Anna notices a huge rock aiming at her and dodges the attack, clawing at the ground. She then blows a large stream of flames out of her mouth, hitting the Shiftry with Flamethrower. Duke tries to use Protect but gets caught in the flames, screaming in drastic pain. He tries to remain standing but Anna increases the Flamethrower's strength, blowing the Shiftry off the ground.

"AAAH!" The Shiftry screams, flying in the air for a moment before crashing into the ground, sliding across it.

"CAPTAIN!" The Ravage Shiftleafs yell, rushing towards their captain's aid. The group surrounds the red bandana Shiftry, Duke remaining on the ground and grunting in pain. His body is covered in burn marks and bruises because of the Flamethrower attack.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Come on, Cap! Don't gev up just yet!" The first Nuzleaf says, moving the Shiftry's arm.

"Yeah! Show that there Ninetales who's boss, Cap!" The second Nuzleaf adds on.

Anna looks at the group and shakes her head, laughing to herself. "Your leader is down. Give up and scram." She says with a grin.

The Shiftleafs look at her, all staring sternly at her. "SHUT UP, YE SCALLYWAG! YE ALMOST KILLED OUR CAP WITH YER FLAMETHROWER ATTACK!" The first Nuzleaf yells, gripping his fist.

Anna snickers once more. "Oh please. You all are mad because I beat your boss fair and square. He'll be fine."

"Actually, not to defend this guy or anything but you did go a bit overboard with your Flamethrower attack." Ashen points out.

Anna glances at the Linoone immediately, her face reverting to seriousness. "Oh I didn't put too much power into my Flamethrower."

"You honestly did if he received burn marks in the first place." Ashen shrugs.

Anna smacks her lips and looks away. "Hmph! Like I've said: He'll be fine."

Iris looks at the Ninetales, feeling something off about her. "Um, Anna." She pauses for a moment. "Don't you think you're being a bit overconfident about this?"

The Ninetales stares back at Iris, tilting her head. "How come?" She asks. "Is it because you have a lack of faith in me? Or is it that you're jealous of me being this confident in a battle?"

Iris and her crew raise their brows at Anna, perplexed by her conclusion. "What? No. None of those you mentioned are right."

"Then what is it, Iris? Huh? Tell me why I'm being overconfident."

"Um..."

Soon, everyone hears a groan coming from Duke. They look at him, seeing him slowly get up on his feet as he chuckles. The Shiftleafs cheer for their leader gaining the courage to stand, rooting for him to continue battling.

Anna glares at the Shiftry and growls, her orange aura further surrounding her. "How the HELL is he still standing after being hit by a plus one STAB Flamethrower..." She pauses for a moment to point at the brightly lit sky with her tails. "IN THE SUN!"

Duke looks at the Ninetales and smirks, his eyes beginning to glow the color green and black. "Ye know..." His red bandana glows white as he continues to speak. "I don't give up so easily, yargh..." He spreads his arms out, staring grimly at Anna. "Despite your facts, me energy is still left intact. A small bit of them, no less."

Anna blinks for a moment before grinning deviously. "Oh? Isn't that so?" She giggles in her eerie voice, her eyes glowing orange as her earrings glow white. "Then let me eradicate that last bit of energy for you!" Flames and dark energy begin to form from her mouth as she slowly opens it.

Udep notices the glowing bandana and earrings from the two Pokemon, gasping in awe. "Cousin, isn't that-"

"Yes, Udep. Those are their Marvel Mischiefs." Draven says to the Clauncher, staring in surprise himself. "Never thought there'll be a day where I can finally see a Mixturing Move in action. Let alone two of them!"

Duke begins to charge towards the Ninetales, his hands forming aquatic orbs with red auras swirling around them. Anna snarls deeply, preparing her ultimate move on Duke.

"Fire Dark Pulse!" Anna yells before firing her Mixturing Move at Duke.

"Water Hyper Beam!" Duke shouts, moving his arms forward to release his Mixturing Move.

The two moves collide against each other, causing the Shiftry to stop in his path. Intense wind forms from the powerful moves, everyone backing away from the two and flinching from the impact. The townsfolk yelp from the impact, covering their eyes to protect themselves from the sand being tossed at them.

"HOLY SMOKES, MATE! THIS IS TOO POWERFUL!" Lucas shouts, shielding his eyes from the wind.

"Yeah! The Mixturing Move collision Tybalt and I did wasn't like this at all!" Iris agrees, grunting from the wind pushing her slightly.

The two Mixturing Moves push each other back and forth, attempting to overcome one another. Anna's corrupted dark flames howl at the Shiftry's raging aquatic beam, the two increasing their strength more and more.

Soon, Anna's flames begin to weaken and wither, leading her to become shock. "Hmm!?" She tries to increase its strength once more, seeing Duke's MM inching ever closer to her. Come on stupid flame! Go back to being strong! She thinks to herself, blowing as much flames as possible, using all the strength she could muster. Unfortunately, Duke's MM becomes stronger and stronger as it almost reaches her. COME ON! Eventually, Anna gets engulfed by the MM, screaming in pure agony before being launched across the shores.

Iris and the gang notice the Ninetales and gasp. "ANNA!" All except for Claire shout, seeing the Ninetales crashing towards the ground and sliding across it. Duke's MM soon fades away, the Shiftry panting heavily as he lowers his arms down. The crew, Draven and Udep rush towards Anna's aid, Anna twitching her body in a sensitive manner due to the powerful attack.

Duke's eyes and bandana stop glowing, the Shiftry sighing heavily afterwards. "Well then...That was something..." Duke says to himself, him and the rest of the Shiftleafs walking towards the gang. Anna slowly lifts her head and stares at Duke along with the others, her glow disappearing as well. "I have to say, this here battle was intense. I haven't experienced anything like that in a long while." Duke sighs and squats in front of the Ninetales. "Ye put up a good fight, lass. But I suggest that ye start getting better at battling. The way ye fight was not by the head."

"And what's that s-supposed to m-mean?" Anna says weakly, stuttering in some of her words. Her voice is no longer in the corrupted tone.

"Yer overconfidence had led ye to lose, matey. Ye tried so hard to prove yer point that ye didn't think throughout the battle. All ye did was," He uses his fist to punch his other hand. "Mindless fighting."

"...Well, you did some mindless fighting, too!"

"Yeah? And I think, lass. I think about every decision I make in the battle and try me best to survive in it. So that I can remain alive to protect me crew." The Shiftleafs cheer ecstatically, agreeing with their captain.

"Thanks, Cap!" One of the Shiftrys shouts, feeling proud about his captain caring for him and the others.

"..." Anna remains speechless, thinking about the word 'protect' and staring off to the side.

Duke looks at Draven as he stands up, stretching afterwards. "Welp, I'll be taking me leave. Will be thrashing yer port next time, Draven lad." Duke says, turning towards the forest beside the bay. "Off we go, lads!"

Soon, he and the rest of the Ravage Shiftleafs exit the bay, dashing off into the forest and getting further away the crew. Draven sighs heavily, shaking his head. "Well great, guess I'll have to continue dealing with him in the future..." He says to himself, the law enforcers finally beginning to wake up from their unconscious state.

"Ugh...Is that Ravage Shift-something group still here?" The Bisharp cop from earlier asks, rubbing his head softly. He looks around to not see a single Shiftry nor Nuzleaf anywhere, shrugging afterwards. "I guess not."

The Bisharp and the rest of the officers help each other up as the civilians in the bay begin to come out of hiding. While this happens, Lucas starts to pout and folds his arms.

"Well jeez! I was hoping Anna could win that fight but I guess type advantage really doesn't benefit her favors, huh?" The Furret says in disappointment.

Anna stares off at the forest, not saying a single word for awhile. She stares and stares, remembering the things the Shiftry told her before letting out a huge sigh.

"I suppose so..."

End of Chapter 25.