Battle Royale pt.3

"Woah! Did you see that?!" Peter Parker exclaimed to his best friend from their position, floating high above the arena in his ghostly form.

To work around underage children and players unable to purchase a seat in the stands, James had enacted what he called 'Ghosting', allowing those from single player to watch events from other game modes via the form of a translucent 'ghost'. Only those from their instance can see and interact with them, while the system filters any content deemed unsuitable for their age in real time.

"Yeah! Mister Stark and that Shuri girl are so strong!" Ned Leeds said, equally excited. "Oh look, Steve Rogers is sending out his starter! It should be the strongest Blastoise in the world!"

"Eh? I'd say the strongest Blastoise amongst the players if anything," Peter said while sending a strange look towards the boy. "But doesn't that guy look just like how Captain America did? He even has the same name…"

Ned returned his friends look with one that screamed, 'are you an idiot,' and replied, "Dude, Captain America died over 70 years ago, everyone knows that. Even if he survived he'd be an old man by now, which you'd be able to tell even when he's animated. It's probably just some guy who looks similar enough and signed up using that name."

"Yeah.. you're probably right," Peter said, feeling stupid. "Oh hey, look! That other guy is sending out his next Pokémon!"

•••••••••••

From within a plume of shadows, a majestic green serpent slithered out and glared at its three opponents with glowing red eyes. Its form oozed both contempt and a royal pride, as if it disdained being sent against such lowly beings.

"Looks like Rumlow's next Pokémon is Serperior!" The emcee shouted as both its, and Blastoise's information showed up in the floating hologram.

[… Serperior: Lvl.65 … Blastoise: Lvl.63 …]

Steve's face contorted into a grimace but swiftly shifted into one of determination after sharing a glance with his trusty starter.

Shuri however, snorted in disdain before sending out an order, "Reuniclus, Calm Mind."

Tony, feeling that his Pokémon was more than capable of handling this on its own, met the snake's gaze lazily while issuing his own command, "Scizor, use Bug Bite."

"Blastoise, hit it with Ice Beam!"

"Serperior, Leaf Storm that turtle."

Multiple Pokémon cries resounded through the arena as they carried out their master's wishes. Shortly after, a red blur streaked across the field and collided into a green flurry right after it was struck with a chilling blue light.

Somehow, Serperior still barely stood and though battered, its aura seemed much more threatening than before.

Rumlow smirked and turned his head towards the red menace that took down over half his Pokémon's HP easily. A vicious light flashed through his eyes as he gave another order, "Serperior, Hidden Power that insect."

"Scizor, Bullet Punch quickly!" Tony shouted in distress after noticing Brock's gaze.

Alas, it was too late as a bolt of extremely dense crimson energy shot out from the serpent's maw and blasted the steel bug across the arena.

"OOH! SERPERIOR STRIKES FIRST AND IT'S A ONE-HIT-K-O!" the announcer bellowed as the crowd erupted into cheers. "Looks like that little snake's Hidden Power was of the Fire type, leading to a boosted four times super effective strike! Stark's Scizor never stood a chance!"

Another flash of blue light streaked across the arena and slammed into Serperior, followed by a dense Psychic wave that flew over its collapsing form, slamming into the stadium barrier.

"And down goes Rumlow's second Pokémon but not without taking yet another one with it!" announced the emcee. "This trainer has once again shown his determination to leave his mark and go down fighting!"

Steve sighed in relief at seeing his biggest threat being sent out quickly. One look up at the info hologram would show that that Leaf Storm had managed to chip away almost half of his Blastoise's health, he couldn't afford to take another one and end up on his last Pokémon so early into the match.

Across from him, Tony was incensed that his newest partner was dealt with so easily. Seeing the taunting smirk on his opponent's face despite being on his last 'Mon, he gripped a Luxury Ball tightly as a sneer slowly crept up on his own. He knew what laid within his opponent's last Ball, and he would ensure it's demise.

"It looks like Rumlow has sent out his final Pokémon and it is indeed the dreaded, the infamous, Zygarde~" the announcer said in a low and suspenseful tone which was followed by boo's all around. Soon enough, a streak of light came out from the Red Corner and he regained his usual cheer while proclaiming with gusto, "Tony Stark has also released a fan favorite, his very own starter, EMMM-POLEON!"

[… Empoleon: Lvl.69 … Zygarde: Lvl.76 …]

Shocked gasps could be heard all around the arena, mostly from those who hadn't paid much attention to the black, blue, red, and emerald, behemoth that stood before them. While its size had always been noticed, the staunch level gap was only known to those who truly focused on its prior matches.

Down below, a wave of pressure exuded from the massive legendary Pokémon that made the six other occupants within the arena instantly adopt a solemn expression.

"Seeing it up close is totally different than watching from afar," Shuri muttered in slight trepidation.

"This thing is just too different from all other Pokémon I've seen," Steve said grimly. "It doesn't look like it even belongs in this world…"

Even Tony forwent his usual quips as he looked upon the titan with seriousness.

"Well now," Rumlow chuckled as he delighted in his opponent's expressions, "that's more like it. I supposed I'll give you all the honor of experiencing why even the Gods had to come down just to stop us."

His lip twitched upon hearing more boo's rain down following his statement, before ordering with more vehemence than he'd displayed the entire match so far, "Zygarde! Earthquake."