The second day of the Phantom Cup begins! Our first match will be Ian vs. Lana! Now I'm not going to say this will be the most interesting match of the first round, in fact, it will probably be the least interesting of the day. But getting to follow two minor characters' thoughts in their battle should be a nice change of pace from all the doom and gloom "the fate of the Pokemon Academy is depending on this!" battles.
KedharS: She's not even done yet. But I will say that she may or may not have an agenda of her own beyond just entertainment.
Hellraiserphoenix: Sylvia is always plotting something, it's sort of her thing. That's just the way she is, after all. Darla's battle is definitely going to be an exciting one, that's for sure. Time for some dragon domination.
Aquahaze675: It's metaphorical. Sort of. Maybe. It'll make sense. I think. Or maybe not. Hard to say. It's Sylvia. She's not the Joker in the deck, she's the UNO Reverse card that got mixed in by mistake and yet is somehow still being played in the game anyway.
Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings
Chapter 517
Lana took a deep breath to prepare herself before she stepped out onto the battlefield. This battle was going to be a difficult one. She knew how skilled Ian was, she'd done a lot of research on him, even before she knew that she would be fighting him in the first round. No, this was research that she had done long before, the previous year, in fact, because a big part of her training style was researching potential rivals. So she had looked up a lot about him, both for the sake of making bets during the previous year's Fall Festival Tournament, (she'd won those bets quite handily) and also in case she'd ended up facing against him.
But that had been nearly a year ago.
That right there was the problem. Lana's data was out of date. Ian had been away from school for all of last semester. That was a whole semester away, nearly a full year since the last time she'd really gotten a good look at his fighting style. She had no idea how much he had switched things up in that time, did he even use the same pokemon? Would he lead with his Crobat, like he usually did? Or start with something else? Did his pokemon have the same fighting styles, the same moves? Stuff like this was almost impossible to speculate.
So she'd have to do her best to make the most of the information she already had, and trust in her pokemon to handle the rest.
Lana walked out into the stadium, adjusting her cap and her ponytail the way she did when she was uncomfortable with something. But she carried herself with a look of stoic confidence, not letting her mind wander. If she let her thoughts get away from her she might end up going off on some bizarre fantasy, and now wasn't the time for that.
Lana was well aware that she had a slightly overactive imagination.
She stopped in the trainer box and stared across the battlefield at Ian, who looked like he was currently feeling the opposite. Where Lana was the picture of stoicism, Ian seemed cheery and upbeat, smiling like he didn't have a care in the world. Normally, that would be a projection of confidence, and while Lana agreed that he had every reason to BE confident, she also knew he was the kind of relaxed person who didn't make as big a deal about this.
Which wasn't to say he wasn't going to take things seriously like Sylvia Driscoll might. No, he was going to throw everything he had at her, he would just be smiling while he did it.
"Okay!" Lila announced. She was acting perfect as usual, but Lana's ear could catch a shortness in her breath. She had just run here, apparently, even though she looked like she was in 100% great condition, just a testament to her acting ability. "Let's start the second half… of the first round of the Phantom Cup!"
Lila turned to Ian, and then to Lana.
"Ian Davidson vs. Lana Canley!" She declared. "Let the first match today begin!"
"I'll start," Ian said. "Sapphire, go."
Ian threw out his first pokeball, sending out his Crobat. The bat pokemon flapped her wings and let out a screech, flying through the sky.
Lana's face brightened. It was just as she'd thought! At the very least, Ian's leading pokemon remained the same, which was good. "Sari, looks like it's just like we thought!"
Lana sent out her own pokemon, a small Sneasel that stood in a relaxed, calm pose, claws lowered, but watching the Crobat with a keen eye.
"Ian's first pokemon is his Crobat, and to fight it, Lana's chosen to rely on her Sneasel!" Lila announced for everyone. "Lana might have the type advantage, but Ian's a skilled battler himself!"
"Are you just getting this much into the match to make up for the fact that you kept us all waiting?" Dakota asked. Lila flinched at the accurate statement.
"Uh… anyway! Begin!" Lila desperately changed the subject, telling the match that had already begun to begin a second time.
"Saph, use air slash," Ian ordered. With a flap of her wings, Sapphire shot forward and sent a blade of wind cutting right for the dark pokemon, but Sari and Lana had both been ready for that.
"Sari, dodge with agility!" Lana called out. Sari ducked down and ran forward, dodging to the side as her speed increased, avoiding the blade of wind and running under the Crobat, turning and taking the flying pokemon's back.
Usually he starts with trying to use toxic to infect his opponent, Lana remembered. I suppose he figures that as fragile as Sari is, there won't be a point to a long, drawn out battle with poison so he's going for brute force. But that's fine!
"Now, ice shard!" Lana ordered. His Crobat specializes in speed. So if Sari can stay ahead of him with moves like this, we'll have no issues!
"Sneasel!" Sari growled, holding up her claws and creating several large chunks of ice that shot towards Sapphire at a high speed.
"Saph, quick guard," Ian shouted. Sapphire turned, a barrier of light appearing around her. The chunks of ice shattered as the struck it, the pokemon completely immune.
"Seems like you're trying to match my girl in a battle of speed," Ian grinned. "But we've already prepared for that!"
"The first round of the fight seems to be a struggle over speed," Dakota observed.
"A smart play. Both pokemon are strong leads with good speed, and whoever can take an early advantage in this skirmish will be able to take a strong move forward in the tempo," Akira added. "For a technical battle like this between two skilled people, it's something important."
"…Well it's certainly cool!" Lila chirped, giving the audience a wink and rattling her knuckles against her highlighted hair, sticking her tongue out like a dope.
"Saph, let's show her some real speed!" Ian called. "Use your agility!"
"Crobat!" Sapphire nodded. She flapped her wings and flew towards Sari, her speed rising even more, to Lana's irritation.
Not a bad play, she had to begrudgingly admit. So using quick guard to nullify advanced priority moves, then increasing your own speed with agility. Sari might be fast, but her speed isn't the same level as a Crobat, so we'll lose on that front…
"Sari, change of tactics!" Lana called. "Use icy wind!"
"Sneasel!" Sari puckered her lips and blew a cold gust of wind at the approaching Crobat, the freezing winds causing Sapphire's wings to begin icing over, reducing her speed.
"So since increasing your own speed won't work, you're compensating by slowing me down?" Ian smiled, his eyes shining with excitement. "Nice move! But let's see you catch up to this! Sapphire, hit her with an aerial ace!"
"Crobat!" Her speed had been reduced, but Sapphire kicked it up a notch, disappearing in a flash. She reappeared behind Sari, slashing the small pokemon from behind with a sharpened wing, Sari crying out in pain and stumbling forward.
"Sneasel!" Sari growled, turning on her heel and firing a blast of ice that caught Sapphire in the face, the Crobat flapping her wings and flying back, dodging the brunt of the attack and putting some distance between herself and the Sneasel.
"Don't let her get away, Sari!" Lana called. "Use agility again!"
"Sneasel!" Sari tucked her body in and increased her speed even more, closing the distance between herself and Sapphire in a few seconds.
"Now, hit her with slash!" Lana ordered.
"Sapphire, time for your haze attack!" Ian shouted. As Sari leapt into the air, claws raised in preparation to attack, Sapphire turned and opened her mouth wide, a black mist billowing out and swallowing both pokemon.
Lila sighed, relaxing a little, relieved that this was just the normal kind of haze or smoke and not the bad, shadowy kind that hurt.
Sari tumbled out of the smoke, coughing, her speed drastically reduced. Sapphire flew out moving slower as well, but had taken it a little better since it was her move.
"That was a smart play," Akira said, giving the move a nod of admiration.
"Why? What just happened? Is it like smokescreen?" Dakota asked. Akira shook his head.
"No, what Ian's Crobat just did was use the move haze," Akira explained. "Haze is a move that nullifies all changes to all pokemon's stats. So you remember how in the battle yesterday, where Dokukage set a bunch of moves stacked up on his pokemon, like agility and quiver dance? Well, if one of Keahi's pokemon, or even one of his pokemon, had used the move haze, then all of his stat boosts would have been reset back down to zero. He would have to start all over again. It's a very niche move, but in a situation like this it's a very good one."
"Sapphire, use cross poison!" Ian shouted. Sapphire turned and flew straight for Sari, wings spread wide and coursing with poison. With a powerful swipe she cut into Sari in an "X" shape, knocking the Sneasel back as the swift Crobat flew past her.
"Sneasel!" Sari cried in pain, clutching her stinging wounds. The cross poison had, true to its name, poisoned her.
So since your Crobat is naturally faster than Sari, you reset our stat boosts so that she would fall behind, Lana thought, stroking her chin in contemplation as she considered what to do next. That was outside my calculations. "Sari! Are you okay?"
"Sneasel!" Sari hopped to her feet, nodding. Her breathing was short and the pain from the poison was wearing her down, but she was still ready to keep fighting.
Lana had other opinions. She wasn't sure if Sari could keep up with Ian's Crobat in her current condition, especially since she knew that the pokemon had venoshock.
"I like your attitude, but return for now," Lana said, raising her pokeball and recalling her Sneasel back. "Don't worry, we'll use you later!"
"Giving her a rest? Smart move, that's some bad poison she's been infected with," Ian said, nodding in agreement.
"So Lana called back her Sneasel, and she's preparing to use another pokemon! What's she going to do next?" Lila asked, leaning forward.
For a second, Lana considered the Corviknight she had received from the Phantom. But no, while that might be a Steel type and immune to the poison, it was also her trump card, and she wasn't sure if she should use it just yet. So she would rely on her old faithful companion.
"Drakon, go!" Lana shouted, sending out her next pokemon, her Vibrava.
"Vibrava!" Drakon hummed, flapping his wings and flying after Sapphire.
"So Lana switched out the faster Sneasel for her Vibrava?" Lila asked, confused. "I'm not sure if that's the best play… Akira, what do you think?"
"It's definitely an odd choice," Akira admitted. "But I can't say for sure if it's a bad one or not. We saw in the battle royale that her Vibrava was pretty strong, but the question is whether or not that will be enough to keep up with his Crobat's speed."
"Saph, that's a good target for your toxic attack," Ian said. "We'll wear her down with poison, too!"
"Cro!" Sapphire nodded, flying forward and opening her mouth to spit a blast of poison at the approaching Vibrava.
"We won't fall for that," Lana snorted. "Drakon, use sandstorm!"
"Vibrava!" Drakon buzzed, flapping his wings. A massive dusty tornado spun around him, deflecting the toxins with a curtain of sand and wind. In a few moments, a sandstorm was raging in the coliseum, hindering both sight and flight for Sapphire, not to mention making it difficult for the audience to see, as well.
"So that was her game!" Lila gasped. "In a sandstorm like that, it doesn't matter that Ian's Crobat is faster! Visibility is too low to see anything!"
"You're telling me!" Dakota groaned, setting down her camera. "I can't get a good shot through this sand!"
The sandstorm is too powerful to blow away with wind, Ian noted, wiping his eyes. "Saph! Keep ready, Lana's going to attack any moment! Use tailwind to increase your speed!"
"Cro!" Sapphire nodded, flapping her wings, creating a powerful gust of wind behind her that increased the speed of all the pokemon on her side of the field. Unfortunately, the tailwind had the unintended side effect of increasing the speed of the sandstorm as well, which meant the grains of sand slamming into Sapphire were cutting her like razors.
"Now, Drakon, hit with your rock slide!" Lana ordered.
"Vibrava!" Drakon's cry could be heard buzzing from within the sandstorm, large chunks of the battlefield tearing themselves free and flying into the air, falling down upon Sapphire.
"Dodge with agility, Sapphire!" Ian cried.
"Crobat!" Sapphire coughed, sputtering through the sand as she flapped her wings, evading the falling rubble. Unfortunately, the sand was working exactly as Lana had intended. Sapphire's movements hampered, she couldn't increase her speed and agility enough to avoid the falling rocks, one of them hitting her right in the wing and dragging her down to the ground and pinning her, more rocks pelting her from above.
"Sapphire, return!" Ian quickly recalled his pokemon before she got completely buried. Sapphire had taken some serious damage from that rock slide attack, but she wasn't down for the count. Just like with Lana's Sneasel, he was going to give her time to relax and heal up a little while a pokemon better-suited to this sort of thing would handle the fighting.
"Quick thinking on Ian's part," Akira explained to the less battle-hardened Lila and Dakota. "He recalled his Crobat before she could be knocked unconscious."
"So they still have all their pokemon left, but they both have a pretty badly injured one," Lila noted. "The question is, what pokemon is he going to use next?"
There were two decent choices among Ian's remaining pokemon. Iron would be immune to the buffeting effects of the sandstorm, but he wasn't going to make that play. He might have, had he not seen what Lana's Vibrava was capable of in the earlier battle royale, but he had seen the strength of the dragon's earth power attack, and it wasn't something he was willing to expose his Aggron to. His other option, of course, was Diamond. A powerful Dragon type himself, Diamond would be a useful pokemon to fight dragon to dragon with. But it was also risky, because he wasn't sure if Diamond would come out ahead in that exchange. He would be just as vulnerable to the Vibrava's moves as the Ground type would be to his. And even if Diamond won, he would probably be knocked out in retaliation by Lana's Sneasel when she sent her back out.
…Heck, that was probably WHY Lana had wanted to save her Sneasel, just in case he did decide to use Diamond. So, no, he wasn't going to make that choice. Not yet, anyway. He had another pokemon who could put up a good fight.
"Opal, go!" Ian said, sending out his second pokemon.
A large pink pokemon landed in the center of the sandstorm, tilting her head back and giving out a loud "mooooo!" The cow pokemon was round and bulky, and she stomped her hooves in anticipation.
"Ian's next pokemon is a Miltank!" Lila announced. "That's quite an odd choice, if you ask me!"
"Miltank?" Dakota asked, confused. "That's not a pokemon I would have expected."
"Don't underestimate it," Akira said. "Miltank can be tough."
"Not tough enough," Lana said, shaking her head. "Drakon, use earthquake!"
"Vibrava!" Drakon sent a shockwave out of his body and into the ground, the battlefield beginning to shake and tremble and Opal along with it.
"Opal, use charm," Ian quickly ordered. Opal looked up at Drakon, her eyes wide and watery. She batted her eyelashes and put on an innocent look, her cuteness making Drakon reluctant to attack any further. The Vibrava's attack strength weakened, which was enough to lessen the force of the earthquake attack and keep Opal looking healthy.
"That Miltank's charm attack reduced Vibrava's attacking strength!" Lila cooed. "Cuteness so overwhelming your opponents just can't attack, she's just like me!"
"…So you're saying you're a cow?" Dakota snickered.
Lila's eye twitched and it took every last drop of professionalism in her body to not lunge at the reporter and start strangling her. That just wasn't who Lila Seelie was.
Lila Seelie was the kind of girl who would kick someone in the shin under a table, though, and she did that with glee.
"Reducing our attack strength, huh? Well unfortunately for you, Drakon is a mixed attacker!" Lana replied. "Drakon, use dragon pulse!"
"VIBRAVA!" Drakon opened his mouth, draconic energy building up in it. He fired the shockwave in a compressed blast that burst through the sandstorm, heading right for the Miltank.
"Opal, double team!" Ian quickly ordered. Opal held her arms out to the sides and created a series of duplicates of herself, the dragon pulse hitting one of the copies and causing it to shimmer away into the sand.
Lana wasn't concerned, though.
"If target practice isn't going to work, then use bug buzz, Drakon!" Lana ordered.
"VIBRAVA!" Drakon nodded his head and his wings began to flap at high speed. He opened his mouth an a powerful buzz shrieked out from within his throat, the audience groaning in pain.
"Damn," Ian said, holding his hands over his ears as Opal did the same with her hooves, her other copies disappearing.
"That's what we're looking for, Drakon!" Lana proudly stated. "Now, keep it going!"
"You're forgetting something important, though," Ian called out to her over the hum. "Miltank have a lot of health to work with! Opal! Use play rough!"
Opal pushed through the pain in her ears and got down on all fours, running through the sand towards where the Vibrava was floating over the battlefield. Energy began building around her and she leapt into the air, curling into a ball as she did.
"Vibrava!" Drakon had been focusing on building up his sonic attack that he hadn't had time to adapt to the surprisingly speedy cow bursting out of the sandstorm, Opal slamming right into him with a powerful fairy move and sending him spiraling towards the ground.
Opal landed on the ground, her ears still ringing, but standing proudly.
"Drakon!" Lana cried.
"Fairy beats dragon, every time," Lila smugly declared. Akira laughed, and Dakota rolled her eyes in response.
"Vi… brava…" Drakon slowly rose to his feet, panting, when a bright light began emanating from his body.
Oh? What's this? It seems like something might be happening! Could this turn the whole thing around in Lana's favor, I wonder?