Sylvia's gone off to parts unknown, and in the meantime, we have the tournament to get to! Let's start with the first match, Alcea vs. Gabrielle! These two have had some tension, will Gabrielle finally reach her goal of overcoming the Queen of Roses?
Pokemonking0924: Everything that happened in the chapter itself is canon, just not the fourth wall breaks.
KedharS: I'll bet it certainly was.
Aquahaze675: Thanks. But Sylvia will return in the main story soon enough.
Thunder Fire: No idea, I don't know what she means half the time in the first place.
JoshGamerV: I have a bad feeling every time Sylvia opens her mouth.
Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings
Chapter 501
The next day of the Phantom Cup had anticipation building. People were heading to the Eon Stadium, but none were walking with more purpose than Dakota. Her heart was pounding in her chest as she had to resist the urge to break into a run, not wanting to draw any attention to herself.
I can't believe it. I just can't believe it. What does it mean? Did Maddi know? Is that why she asked me? …No… I just CAN'T. BELIEVE. IT!
Dakota felt a shiver run down her back. She'd been on edge every since this morning. She'd called in sick to her classes for the day, needing time to process what exactly was going on.
It had all begun the night before, when Maddi had told her a strange secret about Misato Daisan. Dakota, of course, had heard about Team Rocket's attack on Silph Co. all those years ago. But what she hadn't known was that Maddi, of all people, had been involved in it. Or how she had gotten OUT of that mess. A robot girl? A few days back, Dakota would have laughed it off as some crazy rumor, a dumb bit of teasing stemming from the fact that Misato Daisan was a little odder than most, not something with any basis in fact.
…
…She still would have PUBLISHED the story, but that was beside the point.
But after what she'd seen yesterday, Dakota couldn't be so suspicious. So she'd dug around and searched for information, but to no avail. She'd stayed up the whole night, and nothing, bags still under her eyes and fatigue wearing her down.
And then, that morning, she'd had a guest.
Mirar, of all people, had come to her room to speak to her.
"Mirar?" Dakota asked, rubbing the crud out of her eyes as she yawned, the light from the hall like toxin to her. In under a night her room had turned into a den of iniquity, a slob's treasure trove. "What are you doing here?"
"You called me last night," the nondescript boy said, raising his eyebrow.
"Eh… I did?" Last night was sort of a blur to her. She must have called a thousand people in her search for answers.
"You were looking for information on Misato Daisan?" Mirar asked, holding up a flash drive. "Here it is. And not only her. Ever since I was kicked out of my role as a member of the Eight Leaders, I've found myself with a lot of free time on my hands. And I never forget a face. So I began doing research not just on her, but on the other people in the Phantom's organization. Here it is. I'm not publishing it, and you're not, either. Not officially, anyway. But if you want to do something else with it, well…"
A rueful smirk crossed Mirar's face, one of the rare traces of emotion from the boy.
"I don't know anything about it. Good luck, Dakota." With that, he turned and closed the door, leaving her in the dark room, with only the faintest slivers of light shining in through the slats in the blinds, illuminating the dreary look of confusion on her face.
And now, hours later, after pouring over all the details in the flash drive, her computer was burning a hole in her backpack as she rushed to the stadium. Before the match began, there was something she needed to show Maddi. The girl would NEVER believe it, Dakota could hardly believe it herself! But it was something she needed to see.
Meanwhile, up in the stands, Cynthia was getting antsy. She wanted to fight, damn it! But she couldn't, so watching was the next best thing. But Lila was busy going through a bunch of introductions and explanations, and she was getting bored.
"Come on!" She griped. "When's the first match going to start, huh?! We've been waiting for like an hour now!"
"Cynthia, it hasn't even been five minutes," Sango said, checking her phone.
Cynthia leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms in front of her chest, grumbling some things that were better left under her breath.
"Um, do you… do you think there are going to be any more of those Shadow Pokemon?" Kitty asked, swallowing. Her tummy was rumbling. She had made sure not to eat anything today, in order to avoid throwing up. So now she was hungry AND worried, and that wasn't the best combination.
"It'll be fine," Julia assured her, patting her friend on the back.
"Yeah, don't worry!" Nikita grinned. Kitty smiled a little, glad she was sitting between her two closest friends.
"Unfortunately there probably will be," Reiner said from the other side of Nikita. "The Phantom is fighting against Maddi, after all, and he was using a Shadow Pokemon in the battle royale, so I would expect to see them again."
Kitty gulped, going pale, and began to tremble.
"Reiner!" Julia hissed, glaring at him.
"What?!" Reiner said defensively. "I was just trying to be honest! I want her to be prepared for what's going to come!"
"Still, you don't have to SAY it! She's going to get all worried and anxious now, you jerk!"
"Julia, it's fine," Kitty assured her, placing her tiny hands on Julia's arms to keep her from jumping over the seats and strangling Reiner. "I'm worried but… it's going to be fine…"
The grumble of her stomach said otherwise.
"So Blake… is going to be fighting against Sylvia Driscoll, right?" Sango asked, feeling a pit in her stomach herself. "That's… that's going to be…"
"Yeah, well, you know…" Cynthia muttered, rubbing her temples. "Let's hope things go okay?"
Sango didn't like Sylvia, but Cynthia's feelings on the matter were a little more complicated. Yes, Sylvia was, objectively speaking, a bad person. Or at least not a good person. She had done bad things. But she had also helped Caelia… to some degree. Saved her life, at the very least, from the sound of things. And not only that… she had saved Cynthia from something that could have gone very poorly. That night at the Pokemon Day party… Cynthia didn't even want to think about what could have happened if Sylvia hadn't stepped in.
Maybe it was just a whim, and honestly, it probably was. But at the same time…
It made Cynthia's thoughts on the matter complicated.
"I'm more worried about Maddi," Cynthia admitted.
"She's fighting against the Phantom…" Sango agreed, nodding her head. She tried to swallow the dryness in her throat, but it didn't help. Both girls were afraid, especially with what Cynthia had told Sango about Shadow Pokemon. They had both tried to reach out to Maddi the night before…
But Maddi had been radio-silent. It wasn't an ODD occurrence, but… well, they were still worried about her! She could have at least called ONE of them back!
"Blake's probably going to be fine," Nick said. "But I'm a little more interested in Alcea and Gabrielle's match."
"Those two are really strong," Callie said. "Of the three of us girls in the Eight Leaders, they're both better than me. By a decent amount."
"Sylvia's ranked higher than you, too," Cynthia added.
"I can beat her!" Callie snapped, shooting Cynthia a glare. "Even if she does use all ghost type pokemon!"
"Shut up, all of you!" Kate barked. "Her highness's match is starting! This is important! She's going to defeat them all and win the whole thing!"
Everyone quickly went quiet, because Kate was right. Alcea and Gabrielle had both walked out into the stadium as Lila returned to the announcer's box, the match about to begin.
Lila sat down, and looked worriedly at Akira. Dakota was still gone.
"Akira, where's-"
"Sorry! Sorry!" Dakota ran up to the two, clinging to the far wall so as not to draw attention to herself and off of the girls about to fight. "I was, um, busy. With other stuff."
"At least you're here," Lila sighed.
"You look like a mess," Akira noted, staring at Dakota. She shot him a dirty look. She did look a mess, though. Her clothes were wrinkled, her eyes had bags under them, and her red hair looked messier and stringier than usual, and it wasn't exactly NEAT before. She looked like…
Well, it was a usual sight to see her like this after an all-nighter, so Akira let the matter drop. The upcoming match was more important, anyway.
"So now we fight, is it?" Alcea asked her opponent. "We've fought many times in the past, after all. We had finally come to an understanding, but…"
"Nothing's changed," Gabrielle agreed. "We both agree. He must be stopped. This… will just be a momentary thing. After all this time… I still want to settle things. My drive to defeat you… has not stopped, even now."
Alcea gave a tight smile to the cold-faced girl, and nodded slightly.
"Oui. Then if there are no hard feelings mon amie, we shall dance once more." Alcea took out her first pokeball, and threw it into the air. "Rosetta, bloom!"
In flurry of blue and red petals from the ball capsule, Alcea's Roserade emerged, raising the bouquets on her hands and preparing to fight.
"Alcea's first pokemon is her Roserade!" Lila announced. "A strong pokemon that she often leads with! What will Gabrielle bring out to confront her?"
"Same as always it seems," Gabrielle murmured. Alcea often began her matches the same way. "Froslass."
The white pokemon emerged in a flurry of snow, calling out in an eerie voice, "Froslass!"
"And Gabrielle's pokemon is her Froslass, one of her strongest!" Lila announced. "Ice vs. Grass! It seems who has the obvious advantage, but Akira, what do you think?"
"Gabrielle might have the edge in typing," Akira admitted, "but Alcea isn't ranked higher than her for no reason."
"So it's anyone's match," Lila confirmed.
"Froslass! Use hail!"
"Rosetta, sunny day!"
Both pokemon released their energies at the same time. Froslass, slightly faster, conjured a hailstorm, which was quickly melted away by the intensified sunlight conjured by Rosetta.
Gabrielle and Alcea glared at each other from across the battlefield.
"Both of their strategies rely on dominance over the weather," Akira noted. "So this might end up being a rather close back and forth."
"…No," Gabrielle said, stripping out of her hoodie to reveal her tank top, and the creamy skin of her elbows and midriff, much to the cheers of some of the boys in the audience and Cynthia. "You can have the sun for now. We'll take the initiative!"
"Froslass!" Froslass held her hands up, an orb of light forming in front of them. She fired it at Rosetta, the orb gathering energy from the sun and growing inside, turning a bright orange-red and becoming set ablaze.
"That's weather ball!" Dakota gasped.
"So that's why she didn't mind giving up the weather to Alcea," Akira realized. "Whether in sun or hail, weather ball is still super effective against Alcea's grass types."
"Aki that's a terrible pun," Dakota replied, snickering in spite of herself.
"Rosetta!" Alcea ordered. Rosetta raised the crimson bouquet of her right hand, and used a weather ball of her own, the two attacks colliding in the air in an explosion of fire. The resulting flash obscured Froslass from sight momentarily, and when everything cleared up for Rosetta, the ghost pokemon had vanished.
"We don't just need the hail to disappear," Gabrielle said.
"Rosetta! Behind!" Alcea shouted. Froslass rose up from the ground, holding her hands up. Chunks of ice fired out, hitting the Roserade in the face as she turned, knocking her back. The pokemon floated up into the air, and readied another ice shard as Rosetta balanced herself.
"Even with the sunlight, Alcea's Roserade is on the defensive!" Lila reported. "What's her next-"
"Toxic spikes," Alcea ordered.
Rosetta held her bouquets up and spun, flinging spikes oozing with poison into the air, littering the ground with them.
Gabrielle was nonplused.
"Froslass, ice shard."
Froslass fired more ice at Rosetta, hitting the grass pokemon once again.
"Roserade!" Rosetta grunted in pain, falling to one knee, but she wasn't nearly done, already preparing a counter.
A whirlwind of petals erupted from Rosetta, swirling across the battlefield and spinning right towards Froslass.
"Froslass, blizzard!" Gabrielle ordered, countering Alcea's petal blizzard with one of ice and snow. The two attacks collided, snow freezing over the petals as the petals sliced through the crystals and chunks of frozen water, cancelling each other out.
"With the heat of the sun weakening the blizzard, the two moves are equal," Lila reported. "And-"
"The time for games is over. Rosetta, solar beam!" Alcea ordered. Rosetta raised both bouquets and pressed them together, an orb of light appearing in front of them. She fired a large beam of light right at the ghostly maiden pokemon.
"Froslass!" Froslass wailed, the beam hitting her directly. It may not have been the case, but it seemed like the concentrated light was especially effective against the phantom, Froslass flying through the air and spinning towards ground.
"Strong," Gabrielle murmured, raising her pokeball and recalling her Froslass before she could hit the toxic spikes. "Faster than I remember."
"I am not a fan of resting on my laurels," Alcea replied. "I train my pokemon to be stronger at every opportunity."
"Admirable," Gabrielle nodded her cold face was odd, considering the slight tinges of warmth seeping into her voice. "I train myself. All to defeat you, my rival. We have not lost sight of our goal for a moment."
Gabrielle held up her next pokeball, giving Froslass the time for a good rest.
"Frosmoth, go."
From Gabrielle's next pokeball flew a large pokemon with beautiful wings of pristine white. The scales on her body was covered with a light fuzz, excess scales fluttering off like glittering diamond dust with every beat of her wings.
"Gabrielle's next pokemon is her Frosmoth!" Lila reported. "An ice/bug type! That's quite a good counter to Alcea's team of grass types!"
"But Alcea's pokemon know weather ball," Akira reminded her. "And in this sunlight, that's a fire move. It's a risky play."
"Oh! You're right!" Lila gasped "That's not good!"
"Plus, Alcea's Roserade set up toxic spikes," Dakota added. "And we're seeing the effects of that now."
Though she was floating over the caltrops, that did not grant the Frosmoth any immunity to them. Thin pinches of poison shot out like needles, piercing Frosmoth from below and infecting her with a painful poison.
"Rosetta!" Alcea ordered. "Venom drench!"
"Rose!" Rosetta nodded, raising the bouquets in her hands. Poisonous energy gathered around the flowers, and she launched it in a wave at the floating pokemon.
"Yeah! Way to go, milady!" Kate cheered, jumping from her seat and cupping her hands in front of her mouth, calling out to her.
"What move is that?" Cynthia asked.
"That's venom drench!" Kate explained, bubbling with energy. "I made a TM for it, specifically for her highness! If the enemy pokemon is poisoned, it reduces their attack, special attack, and speed! It's an excellent move to use in conjunction with toxic spikes!"
"…What if the pokemon isn't poisoned?" Cynthia asked.
Kate blinked, looking at Cynthia like she was an idiot.
"Well, then it won't have any effect, duh," Kate said, rolling her eyes.
Cynthia pointed at the battlefield, and Kate turned to look at what was happening.
The poison drained out of Frosmoth's body as she munched down on the pecha berry, curing her of the infection. The toxic wave washed over her, drenching her slightly but having no effect on the pokemon otherwise.
"With a quick use of the pecha berry, Gabrielle's Frosmoth was able to cure herself of the poison and inoculate herself against the venom drench!" Lila declared. "That was an excellent bit of planning from Gabrielle!"
"You set up toxic spikes when you can," Gabrielle said. "So of course I accounted for it. Frosmoth, use defog."
"Fros," Frosmoth nodded. She flapped her glittering wings and sent a powerful gust of air across the battlefield, blowing away the spikes and pushing Rosetta back slightly.
"Then deal with this," Alcea said. "Rosetta, weather ball!"
"Rose!" Rosetta raised her bouquet and fired a blazing orb at the Frosmoth.
Gabrielle glanced at her Frosmoth and nodded.
"Frosmoth, quiver dance."
"Frosmoth!" Frosmoth flapped her wings and spun, the wind swirling around her. Her speed and her special stats rose, the weather ball hitting her directly.
"Even with the buff from quiver dance, that one had to hurt!" Dakota winced.
"Not necessarily," Akira said, shaking his head. "Take a look."
Indeed, Frosmoth looked relatively fine after the attack, much to Dakota's confusion.
"But… but that was a fire type attack!" Lila sputtered. "It should have been, like, quadruple effective, right? So how?"
"Ice scales," Alcea stated, not fazed at all. She knew full well that Gabrielle's Frosmoth had her hidden ability, rather than shield dust. "The damage from special attacking moves is cut in half, even those that are four times effective. But that being said… it's not like the blow did nothing, is it?"
Indeed, even with the buffs, the attack wasn't completely ineffectual, taking out a decent chunk. But against a fighter like Gabrielle, a decent chunk wasn't decent enough.
"Tailwind, Frosmoth, increase out speed," Gabrielle ordered. With a flap of her wings, a powerful gust of hot wind caught Alcea in the face, boosting the speed of the pokemon in front of her. Frosmoth lowered her head and flew forwards, gathering ice around her wings.
If she continues to buff, we will have no chance, Alcea noted. "Rosetta! Toxic!"
"Yeah!" Kate cheered. "That pecha berry only works the once!"
Rosetta created an orb of poison in her bouquet, and flung it at the approaching ice pokemon.
"The toxic spikes didn't work, so Alcea's trying to infect her opponent normally!" Lila gasped. "Is it going to work?"
"No, it won't!" Gabrielle snapped, the sudden outburst of emotion surprising. "Frosmoth!"
A silvery-white aura rose up from the discarded scales on Frosmoth, creating a barrier around her. The toxic hit the barrier and slid off, leaving the pokemon uninfected.
"She used safeguard!" Dakota reported the obvious.
"Now, ice beam." Frosmoth opened her mouth, a beam of ice shooting out and hitting Rosetta, freezing the pokemon solid. Rosetta fell over, unconscious, as Frosmoth turned on her wing, flicking a spray of scales into Alcea's face. Alcea wasn't amused.
Frosmoth returned to Gabrielle's side of the field as Alcea recalled her Roserade, Gabrielle finally smiling, a smirk of triumph.
"How long do you think I've been waiting for this day?" Gabrielle asked. "Ever since we started school, I've been training, trying to surpass you! I've learned all your tactics and strategies, and I've been honing my party to defeat them! Use your Tsareena, your Dhelmise, even your Venusaur, I will be prepared to defeat any of them! This the moment when I supplant you, Alcea!"
Alcea didn't reply. She and Gabrielle had been working together very closely for the past few months, but that did not change the nature of their relationship. At its core, Gabrielle still yearned to defeat her, and Alcea had not forgot that even once.
"Quite a menacing opponent, is it?" Alcea murmured to herself.
Gabrielle's doing quite a bit of damage! Will Alcea be able to defeat her? Or has she prepared for everything? What about Dakota? What secrets did Mirar uncover, to put her in such a panic?