Phoenix King Blaziken!

by Uncle Iroh

Trial By Combat.

"My name's Jack, ma'am, Jack the Phoenix."

I gazed up at the large wolf of timber, ‘Timber?’ I thought to myself, ‘More like log because Jesus Christ!’ I gawked at her form, what I thought of previously appeared to be an understatement as she lay down in front of me. Her paw was the size of me and her head was like, three of me! Not only did the size difference affect my mood, but it was the air and the presence of everyone else. My eyes drifted from hers and traced over the area around me, I found holes and small caves that each held a pair of green eyes that stared back at me. I swallowed my fear before forcing my eyes back at the alpha.

The alpha gave a long glance down at me, her eyes half open as if she was sleeping prior to this encounter. I struggled to fight for my voice so that I could speak again but to my surprise, she spoke before me, “Jack the Phoenix,” she hummed. “What is your purpose here?”

“Y–You see, ma’am, er, alpha–” I slapped myself across the face and shook my head to find my bearings, “I, uh, I… I don’t know where civilization is, I’m lost, so, I ask you, could I please stay here? I have nowhere else to go.”

“Civilization is fifty three miles away,” The Guardian spoke as her fiery green eyes dug deeper into my own, “You have powerful legs it would seem, why not merely walk there?”

“Because, I–”

Before I could finish, Autumn came from behind me and decided to speak up, “Dearest mother of mine,” She began sarcastically, to which the alpha didn’t seem to pay any mind to, “This is a phoenix, and as you can see, it’s the last of its kind. It’s a rare phoenix with two legs,” She prodded at my legs with her thorny paws and made me wince as I was pricked, “It called itself a Blaziken once, maybe that is what kind of Phoenix it’s called? A Blaziken.”

The Guardian raised a prickly brow, “And you mean to tell me that a creature of fire should live among us, creatures of timber?”

“Yup.”

The Guardian’s gaze focused on Autumn and then back at me, “It would appear you have gotten the interest of my daughter,” The Guardian stood up and towered tall above me, “Very well, I will give you a chance at becoming one of us.”

I shot my fist – or claw (claw?) – into the air, “YES!”

“But,” My joy quickly fell as my gaze fell to hers, “You must prove yourself worthy to live in our den.”

“Wait, live in your–”

“You must face a warrior that we have to offer of our choosing…”

“Hear me out–”

“...And defeat them in one-on-one combat…”

“What?!”

“...In order to be accepted as part of the pack.” She finished, all the while my mouth is agape. I looked at her with the most YouTube thumbnail face I’ve ever made in my life. I jump up and exclaim at the top of my lungs.

“I DON’T WANNA BE IN THE PACK! I JUST WANNA LIVE!” Throughout the two sentences, I hopped up and didn't like a kitten trying to get out of its cage. All the while Autumn chuckled out a laugh and the alpha raised a brow in intrigue.

“Is that so?” The Guardian hummed, “Are you so sure about staying out in the wilderness alone and not living among us? I assure you, you’d be safer here than out there.”

Autumn took my side and gazed up at me, “Trust me, you’d be better off here than out there. It’s like I said, there’s a lot of creatures out there, and you don’t look like you can take them on.”

In response I merely scoffed and crossed my arms, “Pfft, I do Muay-Thai, one leg kick and it’s over for them.”

Autumn rolled her eyes, “Listen, if you stay with us you’ll have a way more easier time than taking your chances out there, trust me.” I turned to her with a groan, clutching my beak with my claw.

I kneeled down to whisper into her ear, “Can you give me, like, a pep talk or something? Because I don’t really wanna do this. Especially fight a warrior from your pack.”

“I think I should save the pep-talk when the warrior is revealed.”

“I grow impatient, Phoenix,” I snapped my head towards the giant wooden wolf who narrowed her eyes at me, “Choose to fight or choose to leave.”

“I choose to fight!” I declare, gaining a semblance of confidence for a split second. The Guardian of the Forest nodded and turned her head to whisper in a nearby wooden wolf. Quickly, the wolf raced off to deliver the message, and the guardian turned back to face me. Her eyes alone being the size of my head. I swallowed my fear as I stared into her twin emerald fireballs, “Uh… So, uh… Who’s my opponent…?”

Then something happened, something unexpected, the Guardian of the Forest twisted her lips into a smile. As she did so, I heard the timber that made her creak and snap, almost as if they weren’t supposed to do that. But she did. Why did she smile? Why is she smiling?! “You will find out soon enough.”

Seeing the obvious fear in my eyes, Autumn gently bumped her body into my leg, bringing my attention down to her. “I know who they’re bringing out, they’re bringing out Birch. He used to be the old Guardian’s pup, but when they were overthrown, my mother raised him as her own.”

“Wait, overthrown?” I look at her with a raised eyebrow.

“I’ll get into that later,” Autumn promised, “Just promise me one thing, do not be intimidated.”

I winced mentally but nodded, “I promise.” My gaze was torn from hers when I heard the Guardian bark out.

“Birch, come on out, we have a new chew toy for you!” I almost instinctively backed away but Autumn placed her paw behind my talon, almost causing me to trip. She shot me a glare and I just sucked the air through my clenched beak. I looked around trying to spot where the wolf would be coming from, but that was when I heard the howl pierce through the air and into my ears. My head snapped towards the direction I heard it come from, and my beak nearly dropped as I saw a wolf larger than others but not as big as the Guardian walk out from further into the depths of the dragon’s skull. The wolf’s paws were twice the size of my talons and it had scars all over its body and a large one over its left eye.

The wolf stood next to the Guardian and sat down next to her, and that’s when I noticed its bushy tail made out of thorns. I took a quick glance down at Autumn and she gave me a little push forwards – what I assume to be “encouragement” before backing away. I now look around and take up my surroundings, there was an incline around me that provided both a way to get in and out of the dragon skull. The ground beneath us had no grass, it was instead pure dirt and a few sediments formed. The jaws still had teeth and I saw brief rays of sunlight shine through the vines and teeth of the skull. My eyes glazed over all the holes and I saw the wooden dogs crawl out as if they were people taking a seat in an arena. Which… With the incline, it kind of looked like an arena.

I swallowed my fear and took a few steps forward and took a quick glance back at Autumn who nodded towards me. “A–Alright!” I cracked, making me sound like I squawked. I quickly cleared my throat, “Alright,” my voice became comically deeper, “Let’s do this, Birch. That is your name, right?”

The wooden wolf nodded, “It is,” his voice was low and scratchy as if even his vocal chords were damaged.

“Well it’s time I make you, Birch, my bitch. Bitch Birch, Birch Bitch!” I point a claw over at him. Autumn was struggling to hold back her laughter behind me, it almost made me laugh too but my laughter died in my throat when I saw the glare Birch gave me.

“I’ll make you bleed for that.”

My eyes widened.

“Oh no…”

---

I narrowly rolled away out of the way of his lunge and to my feet as he once again smashed into the dirt, burying his large paw into the ground. The impact of him hitting the ground didn’t seem to phase him – or his paw – and he turned to me with a growl. I yelped and took on a shaky Muay Thai stance. Birch lunged towards me with his maw open, I ducked down and avoided his attack. This time, Birch rolled across the ground and to his paws and booked towards me as I was still on my claws and knees.

Birch ran close and I narrowed my eyes, ‘I gotta fight back somehow,’ with a grunt, I outstretched my right leg and slammed my talon into his snout. The blow rocked the wolf and forced him to stumble back, I went to my feet and sprinted towards him to keep up the advantage. I leaped towards him and put my right knee back to connect a flying knee to his dome, but he barely managed to avoid the attack. Having stepped aside, he used the momentum from his step to spin around and slam his thorny and bushy tail into my back, knocking me into the ground. The blow slid me all the way back to Autumn, I closed my eyes and prevented rocks from getting into my eyes before I stopped.

I put my claws in front of me and pushed myself to all fours, coughing up some dirt as some gon in my beak. Autumn tilted her head at me, “Are you okay?”

I raised one of my claws which acted like a thumbs up, “Yeah,” I said with teary eyes and hacked up some more dirt.

“Look, you’re doing great out there just…” Before she could finish, thorny teeth seeped into my shoulder and held me in a fine grip. I squawked in pain and that was when Birch threw me across the dirt floor and made me roll across the ground like a tumbleweed. I lied on my back but I got to my feet in record time to get back in my stance.

“Alright then you son of a bitch, is that all you got?” There was a little bit of a wheeze in my voice and I subtly swayed side to side. Birch said nothing but growled in response. He rushed towards me to deal some damage and when he got in range, I went for a side kick to his chin with my right leg. I followed up the attack with a kick from my left and smashed my talons across his face. The combo of kicks forced his head to move and stop his charge, but it didn’t for long as he leaped to slash my head. I ducked under the slash, but I couldn’t duck under his body.

He tackled me to the ground and pancaked me between his body and the earth. Birch rose to his paws and bit a claw I held out in front of me to protect my face. I yelled in pain and punched him in his face to make him let me go; unfortunately, he didn’t and he spun me around as if I was a beyblade before he smashed me into the ground.

Birch put his paw on my face and started to crush my head underneath his weight. He didn’t bother to look at me anymore and instead, focused his attention on his mother. “This fight is over,” he turned his head to look at his sister, “I’ve won.”

Autumn huffed and stomped her paw down, “Won? Ha! You haven’t won, he’s still fighting.” And I was, I grabbed hold of a claw full of dirt and glared up at Birch in between his claws. When he looked down, I threw the ball of dirt directly at his eyes.

“Sand attack!” I cried out. Birch howled in pain and tried to claw the sand out of his eyes but to no avail. I went to my feet sluggishly and landed a hook kick to his head. I twirled around to land consecutive kicks to his head before I went low to deal a fearsome kick to Birch’s sternum. The blow connected and knocked him off the ground and a couple feet in the air where he eventually crashed down from on his back. I let out a heavy exhale and went to one knee, but I didn’t take my eyes off of Birch. I watched him growl and snarl like a wild animal before he found his bearings and rolled to his paws.

He had blinked away the dirt in his eyes and bore his teeth at me. Sap spilled from his maw and his green fireballs for eyes glowed dangerously, “You’ve seriously pissed me off.”

“Well, that makes two of us,” I said with narrowed eyes. I wasn’t really angry, I just wanted to sound cool. I went to my feet and took upon a fighting stance. I watched Birch take a stance as well and dig his claws into the dirt almost as if he was going to lunge again, but this time instead of running, I’m gonna meet him head on.

I took a deep breath and got in a running position. My eyes were locked on Birch, my claws were clenched into fists and my talons held the earth beneath me in a firm grip. ‘This is it, the deciding blow, I had to pour everything into this attack or else I’ll be on my own in the forest.’ As I spoke within my mind, I only heard my breath and only saw Birch in front of me. The background was all gone, in my eyes we were in a void.

A cold, dead void.

That I would soon alight.

“SET YOUR HEART ABLAZE!” I cried out and sprinted towards Birch, in response, the wolf sprinted back. His sappy maw was ready to take a piece off me, but I wouldn’t let him come close. With a fearsome cry, sparks flew from my body before I was set aflame. I only caught a glimpse of Birch’s look of surprise before I shoulder checked him across the ground.

The dirt put out any flames knocked onto him. He rolled across the earth and skidded to a halt at the base of an incline in front of some of his packmates. I glanced down at my claw to check if I was still aflame, but I wasn’t, it appeared as if the flames around me left as it came. ‘And just in the right moment too. I don’t think I would have won that clash if it hadn’t.’ I thought to myself.

“You did it!” Autumn ran over towards me and bumped my leg with her body, bringing me down to a knee, “You beat him!” Before I could say anything back, I heard the large wood wolf growl.

“You didn’t beat molch!” I heard him spat, I snapped my head over towards him and saw him get back up. He had a few scorch marks on his body and the attack appeared to have hurt him badly, but he didn’t show it. “Take your stance, job’s not finished.”

“That’s enough, Birch,” The Guardian of the Forest said, and halted our fight from continuing any longer, “He’s already proved his worth.”

“It was a lucky shot!” Birch protested, which gave him a glare from the Guardian.

“Birch.” With a tone that demanded respect, Birch’s tail tucked between his legs and bowed his head.

“...Yes, Mother…” He shot me a glare and Autumn stuck out her leafy tongue at him. We watched him walk past the Guardian and crawl into a hole that seemingly led to their den. With his exit, my attention was brought up to the Guardian.

“You did well, Jack the Phoenix,” The Guardian spoke regally. I puffed out my chest a little with pride and a small smile on his face, “You are welcome to live among us.” Among us? “But be warned, Phoenix,” her eyes narrowed and my body froze with fear out of instinct. “You kill my packmates, I kill you. Understood?”

“Understood,” I said with a quiet chirp, but with her large ears, she picked the sound up and gave me a nod.

“Enjoy your stay.” And with that, she sunk back into a hole that was behind her, and also delved deeper into her den. One by one, all of the wooden wolves followed except Autumn.

“I told you you had it,” Autumn gave me a playful shove, I just smiled at her.

“...I think I peed a little.

Comments

[RuneGuy116]

Okay, where did the desire to continue the story come from and where can you get more?

[ThrowingPotato]

3 years…. Welcome back