With Ayame and Gerard's fight now done, we move onto the seventh match of the first round, Raizer Volt vs. Darla Drake! Will Raizer and Zera smash through Darla's party of dragons the way they always decimate enemy trainers? Or will Darla have a trick or two up her sleeve?

Thank you for all those who checked out Crystal Blue Heart!

Aquahaze675: I don't think Ayame was being smug or cocky, just confident. Gerard is miles more cocky than Ayame.

KedharS: She definitely did.

Hellraiserphoenix: Oh, Darla's battle should be something, alright.

Rus4408: Oak isn't in the story because he's living in an assisted care facility. Something about early dementia, he keeps rambling about how kids aren't supposed to ride their bikes indoors.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 524

Raizer was the first one onto the battlefield, pumping his arms up as he ran, like he was already making a victory lap.

Darla still wasn't out, though, and Lila was starting to get anxious. Maybe… maybe she had decided not to? Or more concerning… maybe something had happened to her. She wasn't sure what she should be hoping for right now.

When Darla finally stepped out into the stadium, Lila's heart sunk in her chest. She realized then and there that she should have hoped that Darla wasn't going to come out.

For the battle royale, Darla had been dressed down. Now, she was just the opposite of dressed down, and the clothes she wore were clothes that Lila had hoped she would never see her friend wearing ever again.

Darla's outfit was something akin to a martial arts outfit. It was made of tan-brown cloth that Lila knew from memory was rough and scratchy, tucked over her shoulders and tied tightly with a thick black belt. Rather than any form of pants, however, she wore bottoms that were a short skirt in the front, with a long attachment in the back and sides, almost like Darla was wearing a long coat. It put her tanned skin on display, as did the fact that her top had no sleeves. A thick bandage that Darla had always kept hidden wrapped up over her right shoulder, and she wore no gloves to hide it, either. Only the thin cloth kept her secret from being revealed. Her hair, naturally dark and shaggy, was tied back in a small ponytail, and over her head she wore a wrapped cloth headdress that covered the sides and back of her hair, and a translucent veil over her face. They were the traditional clothes of a member of the Draconic Clan, and more specifically, clothes of a Dragon Priestess. The Lorekeeper.

Darla hated those clothes. Why she hadn't destroyed them, Lila couldn't guess. But she hadn't, she'd only hid them away in a box in the back of the closet. So why was she wearing them right now? It was like broadcasting the thing about herself she hated the most to everyone on campus, and Lila didn't understand why she would do that.

Lila narrowed her eyes and looked closely, trying to see Darla's face beneath her veil. She could barely make it out, but she could see that the light in Darla's eyes… they weren't there. Her eyes were completely empty. Seeing that just broke Lila's heart.

What was going on in Darla's head? She was feeling numb, that's what. The Phantom's instructions had been very clear. She was supposed to…

But how could she? That was why she had worn these sacred garments, but she still couldn't bring herself to go through with it. Not just yet. But she knew that she would have to. There was no other way to save her future together with Lila. So even if it meant she would sacrifice everything that she was, she would accomplish what she must.

I'm sorry, Lila. But in the end… this is still who I am.

"Oh, um…" Lila had been so stunned by seeing Darla's appearance that she had completely missed the fact that both trainers were standing in their boxes, waiting for the match to begin. Raizer was staring impatiently at her, while Darla just stared vacantly out into space.

"The seventh match!" Lila announced. "Raizer Volt vs. Darla Drake! Begin!"

"Aww, yeah!" Raizer cheered, holding up a golden pokeball and throwing it into the air. "Let's do this, Darla! Let's have a shocking match!"

From the pokeball, his Zeraora, the only pokemon he owned, emerged. They tilted their head back and howled, electricity crackling over their fur.

"Crescent. Go." Darla's voice was as hollow as the look in her eye. She called out for her Salamence, the massive dragon emerging from his pokeball and letting out a roar that shook the stadium, glaring angrily at Zera.

"Trying to intimidate us, huh?" Raizer laughed. "No worries! Zera, go! Fake out!"

"Ora!" Zera shot forward and leapt into the air, hitting Crescent in the face before the pokemon could respond. They jumped back before Crescent could swipe at them with his claws, and raised their own claws in response, sharpening them.

"Now that you've raised your attacking strength and accuracy by honing your claws, Zera, use agility!" Raizer ordered.

"Zera!" Zera nodded, running at high speed straight for the dragon pokemon.

"Earthquake," Darla murmured. The ground tore apart, tremors slamming into Zera as they tried to close the distance again.

"Ora!" Zera shouted, injured from the attacks but not nearly injured enough for their attacks to stop. They could take far more punishment than this!

"Darla's Salamence is really holding his own!" Dakota said, glancing at Lila. She could read the apprehension coming off of the fairy girl in waves, knowing full-well how nervous Lila was about her partner fighting and trying to make her think positively.

"Yeah, Zeraora is clearly a powerful pokemon, but so are Salamence," Akira said, reading Dakota's intentions.

"…Hopefully it's an even fight," Lila murmured, not even putting up the façade of excitement. She couldn't play her role. Not while Darla was looking like that.

"Now that's what we're talking about, right, Zera?!" Raizer shouted. "Those shakes from that earthquake, just what we're looking for! Now, hit him with the good old plasma fists!"

"Ora!" Zera shouted, leaping from the ground and raising their fists, electricity crackling around them with such intensity that they turned into coils of plasma. Zera began unleashing a barrage of punches on Crescent. "ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA!"

"Crescent, iron defense," Darla ordered. Crescent curled up into a ball against the onslaught, his scales hardening to be as strong as steel, giving him the strength to withstand the attack. "Then, use dragon pulse."

"Salamence!" Crescent roared, opening his mouth and firing a compressed blast of electricity and flame, hitting Zera in the face at point-blank range, knocking the feline pokemon backwards.

"Ora!" Zera growled, landing on the ground and rolling to minimize the damage, quickly leaping to their feet and raising their fists, charging straight at Crescent before the pokemon could be given time to breathe.

"Scary face," Darla quickly ordered, Lila's face brightening at the hint of urgency that made it into her otherwise empty voice. Maybe Darla wasn't completely detached right now after all!

"Salamence," Crescent growled, glaring at Zera. The piercing look in his eye was so paralyzing that Zera froze in place momentarily, their speed lowering as they realized that Crescent was an opponent that would need slightly more caution to approach.

"Now, tear with earthquake," Darla ordered.

"SALAMENCE!" Crescent roared, the ground beginning to shake once again.

"Zera!" Raizer shouted. "Use bounce!"

"Zera!" Zera nodded, leaping high into the air, propelled by their powerful legs. Their claws began crackling with plasma and they used the propulsion from the energy to keep them aloft in the air as they prepared to strike Crescent.

"Zeraora is practically flying!" Dakota gasped.

"With that, earthquake attacks won't be nearly as effective," Akira noted.

"Oh, no!" Lila gasped.

"Fighting us in the air?" Darla asked, shaking her head. "Crescent, fly."

"Salamence!" Crescent beat his wings hard, flying even higher into the sky, hovering over Zera's head as the mythical pokemon touched down harmlessly on the ground, their target having eluded them completely.

"Now, dragon pulse!" Darla shouted. Lila smiled, Darla seemed to finally be getting invested!

"Salamence!" Crescent opened his mouth and rained dragon pulses down on the electric pokemon, but to no effect.

"Zera! Use your agility to dodge!" Raizer ordered. Zera ducked their head and dashed forward, their speed rising even higher as they dodged the falling orbs of energy that exploded harmlessly around them. When Crescent paused to build up some energy again, Zera seized the moment.

"ORA!" Zera roared, the electricity building up in their fur getting released down into the ground, covering the entire field in a current of electricity.

"That's electric terrain!" Akira gasped.

"Electric terrain? What's that?" Dakota asked.

"Is that bad?!" Lila demanded, her voice frantic.

"It won't affect Darla's Salamence," Akira assured Lila, shaking his head. "But it greatly increases the electrical output of pokemon on the ground, heightening the strength of their electric moves. It also prevents them from falling asleep, but right now the important part is almost certainly the boost to that Zeraora's electricity."

"Whether it's covered in electricity or not, ground is ground," Darla said, her voice no longer hollow, but now carrying some menace. "Earthquake, Crescent!"

Crescent flapped his wings, getting a little closer to the ground, but not so close as to be within the Zeraora's range. He released energy into the electric-covered ground, the battlefield beginning to shake again as Zera was attacked by the devastating ground attack.

"Zera!" Raizer shouted. "Use rising voltage!"

"ORAAAAAAAAAA!" Raizer howled, building up electricity in their fur and releasing it out into the ground, the electric terrain beginning to shake and crackle, the electricity building up in it growing even more intense and violent, like a raging storm, until the entire battlefield was covered in bright gold and blue electricity so bright it was hard to look at. The electricity leapt from the battlefield, rising up towards the sky and engulfing Crescent in a powerful shockwave, the dragon pokemon crying out in pain as the electricity on the ground swallowed him.

"Crescent!" Lila cried, since Darla seemed to have no reaction to her pokemon's pain.

"The electricity is too bright, I can't see anything!" Dakota exclaimed, raising her arms to shield her eyes from the current.

"Forget electricity, that's basically pure plasma at this point," Akira winced.

When the electricity died down, the electric terrain parted as Crescent fell from the sky, landing hard on the battlefield, completely fried.

"Crescent…" Lila wailed. "Crescent… Crescent is unable to battle… Zeraora wins…" It killed her to say it, but she couldn't deny the truth.

"Whoa…" Dakota gasped, unable to believe what she had just seen. Salamence were incredibly powerful, and that Zeraora had just vanquished one like it was nothing. Even after taking those earthquake attacks, they barely looked injured at all.

"Return," Darla said, recalling her Salamence. There's no escaping it. There's really no escaping it after all…

"Melody, go," Darla said, sending out her next pokemon, her trusty Altaria.

"Melody!" Lila gasped. Usually, she was happy to see Darla's Altaria. After all, she was Lila's most favorite of Darla's pokemon, raised up from the young Swablu that they had cared for, the cornerstone of their relationship.

Right now, though, she didn't want to see her having to struggle against this absolute beast of a mythical pokemon.

Darla should have been happy right now. She had an ace up her sleeve, that would have been perfect for defeating Raizer.

Melody could use perish song.

Raizer had no other pokemon. If Melody used perish song, she would faint soon enough. But so would that Zeraora. And no matter how strong that pokemon was, there was no way it would be able to endure the perish song. All pokemon, regardless of strength, fell to it.

But Darla wasn't fighting to win. That wasn't what the Phantom had requested of her. He wanted her to use THAT. The one thing that she never wanted to do, and he was going to make her do it. Why? Wasn't it enough to win? Why couldn't she seize the win she could achieve, rather than throw everything away for the sake of using that… that power?

She didn't understand his thinking, but she was in no position to question it, either. She would do as she was told. And what she was told to do was use her other pokemon to wear down Zeraora as much as they could, rather than try to win outright.

"Melody, use dragon pulse," Darla ordered.

"Altaria!" Melody nodded, opening her beak and firing a blast of dragonic energy at Zera. She made sure that while she was flying, she stayed as far away from the electric terrain as possible. It had been Crescent's carelessness that led him to be defeated by Zera, and Darla wasn't about to let that happen to her Altaria as well. The electric terrain had died down significantly since then, returning to its normal state, but Darla and Melody knew better.

"Ora!" Zera dodged the dragon pulse easily, charging across the electrified ground towards Melody, fists raised.

"Cotton guard," Darla ordered. Melody flapped her wings, flying back from Zera, and sprayed some of the cotton down out of her wings, forming a cloudy barrier between herself and Zera. Zera punched through the cloud and kept advancing, however, leaping up and preparing to strike, their fist crackling with electricity.

"Moonblast!" Darla shouted.

"Altaria!" Melody opened her beak and fired a blast of fairy energy at Zera. Zera punched it with all their might, the fairy attack exploding in a massive shockwave that knocked both pokemon out of the sky, Lila crying out.

"No! Melody!" Lila wailed.

"Whoa, look at the force of that explosion!" Dakota gasped.

"Zeraora's attack was powerful, of course, but that Altaria was pretty tough, too," Akira agreed, nodding his head. "But maybe not tough enough…"

"Don't say that!" Lila shouted. "Melody is amazingly strong!"

"Altaria…" Melody picked herself up off the ground, the electric current running through her. But before she could take to the sky again, Zera was on her. They raised their paw, white-hot plasma crackling in it, and hit Melody in the face with it. Melody cried in pain as Zera continued to pummel her, Darla wincing in sympathy for her beloved Altaria.

"Melody!" Darla shouted. "You need to fight back! Dragon dance!"

Melody's eyes sharpened as she endured the relentless assault, the air around her crackling with energy as flames and lightning swirled around her, blending in with the electricity on the ground. Melody slammed into Zera and knocked them back, taking to the sky once more. She turned and cried out, the air around her burning even hotter with draconic power as she began her descent, cloaking herself in a veil of violet flames as she headed straight for Zera.

"Use your outrage, Melody!" Darla ordered.

"Melody…" Lila knew that Melody's outrage was a powerful move, especially backed by a dragon dance. But she didn't like how much it harmed the poor pokemon, she always hated when Melody used it. Hopefully, she could end this fast.

"Now that's what we love to see!" Raizer cheered. "Right, Zera?"

"Zera!" Zera smiled, their teeth spreading wide as they raised their fists, plasma crackling in their claws, preparing to strike. They didn't care about the approaching pokemon, whose attack was like a meteor falling, it was just what they were looking for.

"A real foe!" Raizer agreed. "Let's see if we can withstand it, Zera! Plasma fists!"

"ORA!" Zera howled, their fists crackling as they unleashed a massive double-fisted punch on the descending Altaria. Their fists collided with the falling dragon bird, plasma and electricity surging through the dragon as their energy struck Zera, burning the ground and air around them, the two moves exploding once again.

"Altara…" Melody was blown back by the force of the blow as Zera stood their ground, panting, their fists slightly scorched, but otherwise they had withstood the attack.

"Melody…" Lila whimpered, seeing the poor bird crumple as she hit the ground. "Melody is unable to battle… Zeraora is the winner."

"That's two of Darla's pokemon that Zeraora has defeated," Akira said, shaking his head in disbelief. "And they don't even look bothered."

"I mean… they're panting a little?" Dakota said, her jaw dropping in shock.

Lila didn't know what to do. As she watched Darla recall Melody to her pokeball, all she could hope was that Darla got the message that she couldn't win, and called an end to this horrible battle.

Darla wasn't in a position where she could surrender, though. She stood, waiting quietly and thinking hard on what she was going to do.

"Is that all you've got?" Raizer demanded. "Come on, Darla! You've got one more pokemon ready to fight us, don't you?! Zera and I are just getting charged up! Tell us you've got something to make this a real shocking battle, don't you?"

Darla took a deep breath and sighed it out, resigned to her fate. There was nothing more she could do, the Phantom had been clear what her final pokemon would be. She shut her eyes, and a corona of dragon fire began to burn around her as she began to use dragon force.

"Darla!" Lila exclaimed. "Stop it! Please! Don't do this! Can't you see that you can't win?!"

Darla turned to Lila. There were tears in the eyes of both girls.

"An announcer is supposed to remain impartial, Lila," Darla replied. The red and violet flames began to pulse and throb around her. Darla cracked a smile behind her veil. "This is all that is left for me, anyway."

She closed her eyes, and raised her right hand to her veil. With her teeth she unwrapped the bandage around her thumb and bit down on it, her sharp teeth breaking the skin and blood oozing out. She reached up and pushed her headdress up to bare her forehead, keeping her eyes closed as she drew a circle in the center. At the bottom, she drew a line down which branched off in two places to frame her nose, near her eyes. She then, keeping her eyes closed, lowered her hand and began to unwrap the rest of her bandage.

"Please, Darla…" Lila whispered, shaking her head. "Please don't…"

"What? What's she doing?" Dakota asked, her inner reporter burning with excitement even as the rest of her was worried by the horror she could see in Lila's eyes.

From the stands, only one person knew what was going on. Erik stared at the battlefield in a mixture of horror, awe, and disbelief as Darla performed a ritual he would have never thought to see in his lifetime, right before his very eyes.

"Unreal…" he marveled, shaking his head as he watched her. "She really is… I don't believe it."

As the bandage was unwoven, the distinctive tattoo emblazoned on Darla's right arm was revealed. A serpentine dragon dyed emerald wove its way around her forearm, past her elbow, with the tail coming to a point on her shoulder, which bore a golden symbol identical to the one Darla had just drawn on her forehead. The head of the dragon rested on the back of her hand, a smaller symbol resting on the center of it. Four green lines like an "X" spread out from the head across the back of Darla's hand, and a golden line threaded through the center of the green dragon was the final embellishment to the intricate tattoo.

As the bandage was removed, the red and violet flames burning around Darla made way for a third color to join, a deep emerald green that grew bigger and brighter, eclipsing the other colors as they burned in an emerald halo around her. The bandage dropped to the ground and Darla stood back, her arms at her sides, as she began to pray in an ancient language no one but her could understand.

"Oh, dragon lord who rules the sky,

I bid of you, please head my cry!

With myself as the vessel of your ancient might,

Please grant me your power in this fight!"

Her chanting finished, nothing notable happened. The sun continued to dip on the horizon, as everyone in the audience looked around, confused. The eerie green fire continued to burn around Darla, but at this point, it was just another of many strange sights this tournament had elicited. Ninjas, Mythical Pokemon, Shadow Pokemon, a Mechadoll, Sylvia? A burning green girl was just another miscellaneous oddity.

"Ow!" Sango reached up and grabbed her ears.

"What's wrong?" Ayame asked, looking at her.

"Nothing, just… my ears are acting up, is all," Sango said. "A weird sort of ringing."

As Sango pointed it out, Blake could hear something ringing in his ear, too.

"Hey, ow! That's loud!" Cynthia said. "What is-"

"RYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRGH!"

A massive howl shook the stadium, everyone crying out in pain from the sound of it.

"What was that?!" Dakota exclaimed. "It sounded like the sky howling!"

"Whatever it was, you were right, it came from the sky," Akira said, glancing up in the direction of the roaring, which was only growing louder.

A flash of emerald could be seen burning among the oranges, reds, and violets, of the sunset. Like a star falling to earth, the green streak grew brighter and more intense, until it began to take on a distinct shape. Long, like a snake, crawling its way through the darkening dusk.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY" The howling grew louder and louder as the shape drew closer.

"It's… a pokemon!" Dakota gasped, staring up in shock.

"No way, it's too big to be a pokemon," Akira said, knowing that was a dumb statement at best.

The green shape WAS big… and it was only getting bigger as it drew closer. Soon, everyone could see it, a massive figure flying over the skies of the Eon Stadium. A long, green dragon burning with the same verdant aura as Darla, circling around the large stadium and howling.

"No way!" Cynthia marveled. She'd heard the legends, rare as they might have been, even in Hoenn, of a great dragon that lived in the sky, worshipped by a hidden clan of people, but she had always dismissed it as a dumb myth. But this…

This was no myth.

The mighty beast descended down into the stadium, its body twisting like a tornado as it circled around Darla, the large coils barely fitting on the battlefield. It tilted back its head and roared as Darla's eyes finally opened, a pure emerald green lighting them up and revealing no trace of the girl behind them.

"RAYQUAZA!" Darla's roar was drowned out by that of the great pokemon, Raizer and Zera staring across the battlefield at their newest foe with matching grins of excitement.

Well, it seems like Darla did, in fact, have a final trick quite literally up her sleeve. What will this mean for the match, I wonder?