The battle between Blake and Sylvia has ended, in a way that left no one satisfied. But what will be the reaction to this? And what will come next in the tournament? We'll have to find out! Remember to review!
KedharS: Sylvia always gets the last laugh in the end.
Aquahaze675: What do you mean by that question?
Rus4408: Sadly, no.
Aurastar Warrior: I can't confirm when I will put in any character.
Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings
Chapter 512
The trick room came tumbling down, the audience looking eagerly at what had been hidden within for so long, and the announcers were no exception.
Blake stood at one end of the field and Sylvia stood at the other, just about where they had last seen the two. But as for the pokemon…
Weiss was standing on the battlefield, looking completely uninjured, and Sylvia's Dusknoir was nowhere to be seen.
"What?" Lila asked, rubbing her eyes, taking a second look for clarity. "What's going on? What happened to Sylvia's Dusknoir?"
"Do you think Blake won?" Dakota asked.
"I'm not sure," Akira admitted, scratching his chin.
"What a pity," Sylvia sighed, shrugging her shoulders. "I gave it my best, but Dusk and I just couldn't beat Blake, in spite of our tricks. I hate to say it, but you managed to win."
"Wait, seriously?!" Lila sputtered, surprised. "I… I guess…"
"Yep," Sylvia nodded, her face taking on a bitter look as she acted up her supposed frustration at being defeated. "Not even my trick room strategy was enough to get in."
"Well, I guess so," Lila said, still a little not sure about this. She hadn't actually seen the conclusion. Still, though, it wasn't like Sylvia would have any reason to pretend. "Sylvia Driscoll's last pokemon was defeated, so that's the end of the match!"
"Don't give us that crap!" Cynthia shouted angrily. "We want to see the battle! Come on, show us the fight! Don't say 'oh I guess it's over' what a gyp!"
"Come on, Cynthia," Sango said, rolling her eyes and tugging Cynthia back down into her seat. "Just be happy that Blake got the win, right Ayame?"
Sango turned to Ayame, but the other girl was standing as well.
"BOOOO!" Ayame jeered, her deep voice carrying through the stands. "I want to see Blake's gallant victory! Boooo!"
Sango buried her face in her hands as Cynthia snickered. On the battlefield, Blake felt his face heat up as he smiled awkwardly, recalling Weiss, the Scizor still very confused.
Lila sighed, reaching up and rubbing her temples in annoyance.
"Will the butch tomboy in the stands please settle down?" She asked, putting on a diplomatic smile. "I understand that you, a 19 year old, want to watch your underage boyfriend fight, but we have a tournament to run, thank you very much!"
Ayame scowled and plopped back into her seat, grumbling something.
Blake looked up at the sky. In the time he had been in the trick room, the sun had gone from high in the sky to beginning to set, dying the sky a deep orange. The lights of the stadium had turned on so he hadn't noticed until now, but as he looked up he found himself troubled by what was going on. He had a lot to think about…
Not just about what Ryoko had told him, but about Sylvia's involvement in all this.
Sylvia, meanwhile, flounced down the hall, only to stop when she saw Keahi coming by, a cold look on his face as usual.
"Why hello there, K, did you see my battle?" Sylvia coyly asked. K spared her the briefest of glances, his distaste obvious. Sylvia smirked.
"You lost to that kid," K said, shaking her head. "Disgraceful. That never would have happened if you had taken the Phantom's offer and turned your pokemon into Shadow Pokemon."
Sylvia shrugged her shoulders.
"It's not my style," she replied. "I much prefer my pokemon's own unique… specialties. Besides, obedient tools aren't a lot of fun, if you ask me."
"And that's why you lost," K said. The apathy in his look had withered away by this point, now he was just looking at her with anger. "What's even the point of you? You don't help with research, you can't even beat a first-year, you're worthless. I fail to see what purpose the Phantom is keeping you in the inner circle in order to accomplish is. I have no idea who the hell you even are."
Sylvia wasn't fazed by K's rebuke in the slightest, taking his words with a placid smile on her face the entire time. When he was done chewing her out, she simply stepped closer to him and narrowed her eyes, her smile taking on a menacing look.
"If you're not sure who the hell I am… then I'd suggest you use some caution when referring to me, Keahi," Sylvia whispered. "You never know what you might encounter when it comes to a girl with her own surprises."
K glared back at her, and her face turned cheery again.
"…Well! In the meantime, I'll make great use of my own talents, K, so you go take part in your battle, sound good?" Sylvia purred, stepping back. K shoved past her as she waved good bye, rolling his eyes in disgust.
Sylvia watched K leave, and smirked, turning and heading off in the other direction, Specter floating after her.
"You and Richard can keep your Shadow Pokemon," Sylvia purred. "Meanwhile, I'll just be making use of my own… special talents."
Sylvia kricked her neck from side to side.
"Bringing the dead back to life sounds like a nice place to start, don't you think, Specter?" She asked her partner.
"Shuppet!" Specter nodded, cackling.
Blake returned to the waiting room, where Maddi and Kitty were, naturally, waiting.
"Hey, guys, how are you feeling, Maddi?" Blake asked, concerned.
"Fine," Maddi yawned. "How was your battle?"
"It went fine," Blake said cagily. He didn't really consider it a win, but he was moving onto the next round, at any rate. Still, it wasn't something he was sure if he wanted to be boasting about.
"Lucky you," Maddi sighed. She didn't know if "fine" meant he'd won or lost, but either way it was still better than her results had been. No one would describe HER battle as "fine".
"How's your head?" Blake asked.
"Totally fine," Maddi said. "No headaches or nosebleeds or weird voices or sights or anything like that, it's all passed by now."
"I see," Blake said. He glanced at Kitty. "Kitty, what about you?"
"What do I think?" Kitty asked shyly. "I… I'm not sure, honestly…" Kitty glanced at Maddi. "I… I tried reaching out to her, you know, to see if I could feel anything, and, well, it wasn't that she doesn't have harmonia, but it's not like she does, either, I couldn't really tell…"
"No, no, I meant how are you feeling?" Blake asked. "You had a pretty bad reaction to seeing those Shadow Pokemon, right, Kitty? Are you still feeling bad about it?"
"Oh!" Kitty gasped, smiling sheepishly. Her cheeks flushed and she shook her head. "N-no, it's okay, I'm fine. Don't worry about me! I'm all better!"
"…That's good," Blake sighed in relief. He turned back to Maddi.
"Maddi-"
"Don't say it," Maddi cut him off with sharp glare. "I know you're going to say I should go to the infirmary or something, but that's just not going to happen. So save it."
Blake shut his mouth. He didn't know Maddi nearly enough to talk back to her. The only ones out of their friends who were really that close to her were Sango and Cynthia; Maddi was just not a person who was easy to open up. But he really didn't want to have to-
"And you better not tell Cynthia or Sango anything about this," Maddi snapped. "Or anyone else! Keep this whole 'harmonia' garbage to yourself if you two know what's good for you, got it?"
Well, there went that plan. It wasn't like Blake was actually thinking about revealing Maddi's secret to the girls, because he knew how problematic harmonia could make relationships, especially in the current climate. No one was judging Kitty, but that was because she had gotten her abilities under control. Last semester, there were definitely things to be worried about. But if Maddi didn't want to tell anyone, then he wouldn't, either.
Unfortunately, Maddi seemed to be in denial about having harmonia in the first place, which meant that nothing was going to go anywhere.
Blake sighed, sinking down into his seat, reaching up and rubbing his temples as he thought about what the next move was going to be. For once, he wished that his brother was here. It wasn't often, but in this case, Kanone was probably one of the only people who could help work this whole mess out. He didn't know how to describe what was going on with Maddi.
Blake fished his phone out of his pocket, and checked his messages. Still nothing. He had been messaging his brother for months, at this point. Practically since Kitty began having her problems, he'd been trying to get hold of him in order to figure out what to do. But his brother wasn't replying to any of his messages. He hadn't shown up for any tournaments, either. It was like Kanone Harker had dropped off the face of the Earth.
A knock on the door shook Blake free of his thoughts. He got up and walked over, curious. He had barely opened the door before Ayame burst in, her face bright.
"Blake!" Ayame gushed. "You did it! You won!"
"Yeah, I guess I did," Blake smiled a little, even though it didn't feel like something he should be proud of.
"I didn't get to see your win, but I'm sure you totally kicked Sylvia's ass!" Ayame boasted, beaming proudly at her boyfriend.
"So you actually won?" Kitty asked, surprised. "You beat Sylvia? Wow! She's one of the Eight Leaders, that's amazing!"
"On a technicality," Maddi reminded her. "But still. Impressive."
Blake just forced a smile on his face, trying to bear with the weight of their false praise.
Meanwhile, the last battle of the day was about to begin. Blake, Ayame, Maddi, and Kitty weren't watching for Kitty's sake, and no one was really that invested in Keahi vs. Dokukage's match, anyway. Ayame certainly wasn't, she loathed the guy. But it was an important match all the same.
"So you're Dokukage, the Third Leader," K murmured, glancing at Dokukage. "Nice outfit."
Dokukage said nothing. He sensed on sincerity from the other student. With his eyes being the only thing visible on his face behind the mask he wore over his mouth and nose, it was very hard to get a read on him, not that K cared much for that. His own face was concealed by the ratty hair he wore, anyway.
"From what I hear, you're a member of an ancient ninja family, isn't that right?" K inquired, stroking his chin. "How quaint. You value your family traditions so much that you wear those clothes. I understand, I'm a student of history myself. Unfortunately, those traditions of yours won't be able to stand against the power of science."
"I don't care," Dokukage coldly interrupted him. K raised his eyebrow.
"Oh?"
"If you're trying to goad me then it won't work. I will battle you as I battle everyone else," Dokukage said. "So you can save your time."
"Well, then you'll lose like everyone else, then," K declared.
"Alright!" Lila called. "The fourth and final match of the day! Dokukage vs. Keahi Revanche! Begin!"
"Kaho'ali'I, go," K said, sending out his first pokemon. A Doublade emerged from the pokeball, the two swords floating up and circling around him.
"Keahi's first pokemon is a Doublade!" Lila said.
"Is it a Shadow Pokemon, though?" Dakota wondered.
"You ninja are a fan of shadows, isn't that right?" K asked. "Kaho, use shadow sky!"
"Doublade," the pokemon emotionlessly stated. They whipped the long fringes coming out of their handles, inky clouds of shadow oozing out from the violet cloth and filling the sky with a noxious haze of darkness.
"…Yeah, it's a Shadow Pokemon," Akira replied.
Lila sighed and glanced at her Aromatisse, the sweet-smelling pokemon clearing the air once again, keeping them from being affected by the toxic smoke.
Dokukage didn't respond to the smoke. He simply took the first pokeball from his belt.
"Kagemusha."
Dokukage sent out his first pokemon. It was a large, hulking creature, only faintly bug-like in appearance. His body was covered in scales like armor and his large arms flexed in an intimidating manner, while smaller arms twitched closer to his skull, his pincers twitching as he leered into the shadows.
"Dokukage's first pokemon is his Golisopod!" Lila announced.
"Well it certainly looks strong, and creepy, too," Dakota said, shivering. "Is… is that a strong pokemon, Aki?"
"I don't know," Akira admitted.
"Dokukage doesn't do much fighting," Lila said, shaking her head. "I don't know why, but he doesn't really join in on tournaments. I guess he prefers to train in private."
"Well, it certainly looks frightening, but we'll show you some real fear," K scoffed. "Kaho, use-"
Before the swords could react, however, Kagemusha disappeared into the shadows, much to their surprise. Seconds later, he appeared behind the floating pokemon, swiping his claw. He smashed the two swords into the battlefield, both pokemon letting out matching groans.
"Whoa!" Lila gasped. "That move hit before I can even blink! What the heck?!"
"How can a pokemon that heavily armored move so fast?" Akira mused.
"Duh, Aki, because he's a ninja?" Dakota said, rolling her eyes. "What, are you stupid or something?"
"Dang, that was so cool!" Cynthia's prior animosity at being denied the chance to see Blake's victory was forgotten, now she was just getting hyped up over Dokukage's Golisopod.
"I'm with Akira, how did that pokemon move so fast?" Nick wondered.
"First impression," Callie answered.
"First impression? What's that?" Julia asked, confused.
"It's the special move of Golisopod like Kagemusha," Callie replied, trying to remember Dokukage's description. "Normally they aren't that fast, but they're so desperate to begin the battle that they release all their speed at the beginning, disappearing in a flash and landing a powerful blow. But they can only do it once."
"That's an interesting tactic," Reiner mused.
"Totally what someone would expect from a ninja!" Cynthia cheered, nodding her head.
"That's a trick you can only use once," K scoffed. "It won't be enough to help you against a Shadow Pokemon. Kaho, use shadow storm."
Showing off the resilience of Shadow Pokemon, the two swords floated up into the air looking practically uninjured and began to circle each other, building up speed as they whipped up a massive tornado between them.
"Kagemusha," Dokukage nodded. Once more, Kagemusha disappeared in a flash, reappearing in the air, claws raised. He smashed his claws down on one of the swords, throwing a sucker punch that shook the pokemon, but did nothing to stop the whirlwind they were building up. Kagemusha landed on the ground, just as the two pokemon fired their tornado at him, the dark winds tearing through the sky towards the armored bug.
"Dokukage's Golisopod was able to land some strong-looking blows on the Doublade due to the boosts in speed from his priority moves, but it seems like they weren't enough to defeat the Shadow Pokemon!" Lila cried.
"This is the problem with your cheap hit and run tactics, Mr. Ninja," K said. "Small moves like that won't be enough to defeat a Shadow Pokemon. Big moves, though? A big move like this is just what's needed to win!"
The tornado drew closer to the bug, Kagemusha doing nothing to dodge it.
"Now, Kagemusha!" Dokukage ordered. Kagemusha brought his claws together, and in a puff of smoke he disappeared just before the wind could take him, a single log appearing in his place. The tornado swept up the piece of lumber, flinging it through the shadowy smoke across the battlefield, but completely missing the original target.
"A substitute!" Lila gasped.
"Nice move," Akira agreed.
"Told you, he's awesome because he's a ninja," Dakota said, nodding her head in confirmation of her own theory. Akira rolled his eyes.
"Spikes," Dokukage ordered next. Kagemusha emerged out of the shadows and raised his claws, flinging a large amount of spikes into the air, littering K's side of the field with sharp entry hazards that threatened to deal serious damage to any pokemon he sent out.
K wasn't fazed.
"More ninja tricks? That won't help you. Look, your Golisopod can barely even stand," K replied. "Look. The sky itself has turned against him. There's no point, the shadows will consume him, no matter how many of your weak blows you try to land."
"I'm aware," Dokukage nodded. "Return, Kagemusha."
"Dokukage has recalled his Golisopod!" Lila gasped.
"That will allow him to use first impression again, that could be useful," Akira noted. "But what pokemon will he send out next?"
"Ame," Dokukage said, sending out his next pokemon, his Masquerain.
"Dokukage has chosen Masquerain as his second pokemon!" Lila announced. "That was the pokemon he used in the battle royale, in case you all forgot!"
"Another bug, this one looks even more fragile. The shadows will devour it," K scoffed.
"Masq!" Ame fluttered through the air, glaring at the swords, lowering their attacking power.
"Ame, let's start by clearing away this fog," Dokukage said. "Use tailwind."
With a flap of his wings, Ame sent a blast of wind across the battlefield that blew the gathering shadows further away from him, quickly defusing them entirely.
"Those shadows of yours are easily dispatched," Dokukage stated calmly. "What else would you like to try?"
"Think you're clever?" K asked. "Kaho, use shadow bolt and shadow fire."
One of the swords began crackling with shadowy electricity while massive dark flames burst up around the other. The twin pokemon send blasts of electricity and fire at the hovering bug pokemon, but it wasn't even close to being enough.
"Ame, double team," Dokukage ordered. Ame began moving from side to side, and suddenly more copies of him appeared, filling the skies with a swarm of Masquerain that buzzed around the stadium. The flames and electricity harmlessly passed through a pair of the duplicates, doing no damage at all to Ame himself, who had concealed himself among his copies.
"You wanted to talk shadows?" Dokukage asked, taking K's attention away from the bugs filling the sky. "Use them as you like. The shadows are where we shinobi thrive, after all. Do you think we would honestly lose to them?"
Dokukage vs. Keahi! This is somewhat of a filler battle… but at the same time, it is something worth watching, I hope. Will Dokukage be able to overcome the Shadow Pokemon? Or will he lose to them like Maddi did?