The battle is really getting good! Misato is going to use all of her strategies to beat the Commander, who is relying on his instincts to win! Which will prove superior, I wonder?

KedharS: Well… let's say "kind of"?

Aquahaze675: It's going to be quite a battle, that's for sure.

Thunder Fire: It's coincidental. The Phantom's pokemon are Ghost types for his own reasons, Sylvia is a Ghost type because of her teacher, Lulu's, specialization, and Misato doesn't specialize in any type, it just happens that two of the pokemon that are perfect for what I want to do with her happen to be Ghost types. That doesn't mean all of them are.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 530

"Sparky," Misato sent her Rotom out a second time.

"So, sending your Rotom back out, huh?" Alden smirked. "I must say, I'm not surprised. Tracey, use agility."

"Cinderace!" Tracey nodded, dashing forward, her speed increasing.

"Shadow ball," Misato ordered. Sparky created an orb of shadowy energy in front of them, and fired it at the approaching Cinderace. But Tracey was able to dodge the attack quite easily with her speed, avoiding the attack.

"Not using hydro pump?" Alden asked, raising his eyebrow.

"Affirmative. Hydro pump as a move is no reliable in this situation," Misato replied. "It is not advisable to rely on super-effective moves for defeating your Cinderace."

Alden smirked. "As expected from a girl who's done her research."

"I'm confused, why isn't Misato using Rotom's hydro pump?" Blake asked, confused.

"It might be that she doesn't want to waste the PP?" Reiner suggested. "She might be holding it for when she's sure she can hit. She is, like, a robot, right? So maybe it's the logical strategy."

"I don't know either, probably because Tracey is too speedy, and she'd be able to dodge it?" Cynthia thought.

"Oh? You're a member of the Commander's inner circle and you're training with him, but you don't know about his Cinderace's ability?" Callie asked, surprised.

"What?" Nick asked, blinking in confusion. "Cinderace is a starting pokemon, right? One of the pokemon for Galar trainers to start with? Doesn't it have the ability Blaze like the other Fire type starter pokemon? Like my Charmeleon?"

Callie shook her head.

"No, that Cinderace is special. It has a special ability, which is why the Commander decided to train her. Her ability is known as Libero."

"Libero?" Cynthia asked.

"It's a soccer term," Sango explained.

"You mean football," Blake corrected her. "Freaking Unovians."

Sango and Blake exchanged glares for a moment as Ayame resisted the urge to laugh at both of them.

"Okay, but what does it do?" Cynthia demanded.

"A pokemon with Libero changes its type to reflect the type of the move they just used," Callie explained. "So if they use a Grass type move, they become the Grass type. If they use a Ground type move, they become the Ground type, you see?"

"Oh, wow!" Cynthia gasped. "Seriously? That's… wow! So does that mean that it would get a STAB bonus from any move?"

Callie nodded her head. "And not only that, it means that the pokemon can gain resistances of the typing. So that's probably why Misato isn't using her Rotom's hydro pump. Because right now, that Cinderace isn't even a Fire type. She's a Psychic type, thanks to using agility. It's one of the Commander's well-known tactics in battle, taking advantage of his Cinderace's speed to turn her typing into whatever will be the most advantageous."

"That's really frightening…" Blake said, stunned that such a powerful pokemon ability could exist. With knowledge and experience like the Commander had, it was no wonder that paired with a pokemon that could change its typing to fit its opponent's specialties he was a very powerful trainer. So this must be what he meant about "Sense" with those instincts of his?

With the speed of that Cinderace it will be able to transition to any type, Misato noted. Unlike with Arms, Sparky is susceptible to Normal type moves, so further use of shadow ball will not be advisable. However, it does not possess any Ground type moves. Furthermore, any attempt at using a Ground move would fail due to the levitate ability of Sparky. Proceed with Electric type attacks.

These thoughts occurred in about a second, and Misato immediately ordered her Sparky to use shock wave.

"Rotom!" Sparky buzzed, electricity building up in their body. They unleashed a discharge so fast that not even Tracey could escape it, the pokemon getting zapped.

"Cinder!" Tracey cried in pain.

"That's okay, Tracey! Don't worry!" Alden called. He could tell that Tracey was injured, having taken some damage to defeat that Aegislash, but he also knew that she was tough enough to take the hits and keep going.

"Not bad! Misato knew from watching the Commander's years of fighting that even though his Cinderace has the Libero ability, she doesn't possess any Ground type moves!" Sylvia cheered. "And that means that even if her Rotom can't reliably use Water type moves to take her down, they can definitely use Electric type moves to weaken her!"

"Shock wave," Misato said again, Sparky beginning to build up electricity once more.

"Tracey, sucker punch!" Alden ordered. Changing her typing to Dark type, Tracey charged forward, raising her fist and hitting Sparky before the pokemon could unleash the shockwave of electricity, knocking the pokemon backwards. But she wasn't able to stop the shockwave, the current of electricity shocking her, as well.

"They're both wearing each other down," Akira noted. "And Cinderace's health is a lot lower than that Rotom's, which is naturally more bulky."

"Oh, no!" Dakota gasped. "That's not good!"

"It isn't," Akira agreed. "But the Commander still has two pokemon remaining even if he loses his Cinderace. If he can adequately weaken her Rotom, then even if Cinderace faints he'll still have a very good opening for victory due to her badly injured Aegislash."

Dakota sighed in relief.

Misato assessed the situation, immediately coming to the conclusion that the biggest risk to her victory was the heightened speed of the Cinderace, boosted with double agility. It was necessary to cripple the speed of the pokemon by any means necessary.

Cinderace is preparing to use sucker punch. Switch to thunder wave to counter. "Sparky, use thunder wave," Misato ordered.

"Rotom!" Sparky buzzed, releasing a current of electricity that swept across the battlefield, preparing to electrocute and paralyze Tracey.

"Tracey! Baton pass!" Alden ordered.

"Cin!" Tracey nodded, her body glowing. She leapt back and returned to her pokeball, switching off to the next pokemon.

"Here's another example of our teamwork," Alden grinned. "Go, Eifa!"

Eifa was the pokemon to come out next, appearing right in the path of the thunder wave. As it approached her, however, the ruby on her forehead began glowing red and a bright red aura spread over her fur. The electric current touched her, and began to get pushed back, warping around and heading straight for Sparky instead.

"Amazing!" Akira gasped, actually in awe of the masterful display. "When Misato used thunder wave, the Commander had his Cinderace use baton pass to switch places with his Espeon! That let him keep up momentum and take advantage of her magic bounce ability to reflect thunder wave back on Rotom!"

"Admittedly, that was pretty good," Sylvia agreed, ceding to the roaring of the crowd. "Still, Sparky is an Electric type, so they won't get paralyzed, either."

"Espeon again," Misato said. She took note of the choice band still wrapped around it. "Speed boosted by agility passed on from Cinderace. However, it can only use one move."

"I know that fully well," Alden said. "But with the speed she's been given, that one move can be quite a killer. But you don't need to worry about that. Eifa! For your one move, let's use baton pass a second time!"

"Espeon!" Eifa nodded, her eyes flashing red. She jumped back, her body blowing, and returned to her pokeball as well.

"Understood. Switching between Cinderace and Espeon with baton pass to dodge status moves attempting to hinder the performance of your Cinderace," Misato stated. "Effective tactic. Further use of hindering status moves inadvisable."

Alden smiled.

"Yes, that would be quite an effective strategy," he admitted. "But you're forgetting something, Misadoll. Tracey needs some time for recuperation. So instead, I think I'll have Carin come back out to pick up some slack!"

The Commander threw his pokeball into the air, his Lucario coming back out. She landed on the ground, her eyes shining with excitement. She shoulder was still injured, but she was more than prepared to keep fighting.

Misato took a moment to reassess the situation. Her data informed her that the decision to use Lucario over Cinderace in this instance was a significant tactical blunder. The strategy she had outlined had the greatest probability of success, leading to a 43% chance that the Commander would be able to win if he had attempted it. Lucario was not capable of learning the move baton pass. Therefore, the Lucario used by the Commander would not be able to continue passing on the agility boost with Espeon, opening her up to vulnerability to status moves and a loss of momentum. To use Lucario instead would reduce his chances of winning to 6%. She could not determine what strategy he was using.

This was a decision that Misato could only attribute to human error. She could not find any situation where Lucario was the favorable matchup in comparison to the tactic of switching between Cinderace and Espeon. Even factoring in stamina of Cinderace. Finally, Misato arrived at a logical conclusion she could understand. The Commander had seen her switch Sparky out against his Lucario the last time and thus had drawn the conclusion that her Rotom would be unable to defeat it.

Misato would disabuse him of that notion. He had taken a chance of success that was statistically low but still significant, and transformed it into a situation where the chance of success was not statistically significant.

"Sparky, thunder wave," Misato ordered.

"Rotom!" Sparky sent out a shockwave that struck Carin, paralyzing her. Electricity began crackling over her fur, and she couldn't move without twitching.

"No way!" Dakota cried. "His Lucario is paralyzed now! Why didn't she try to deflect it like before, with her bone rush attack?"

"That might only work for direct electric attacks," Akira assumed. "Maybe there wasn't anything she could do."

"Then why on earth would the Commander even send her out?!" Dakota demanded.

Sylvia also wanted to know the answer to that question. Certainly, Lucario had fought well against the Rotom earlier, but that was because Misato hadn't been attempting to use thunder wave to paralyze her until now. Sylvia wasn't sure why (certainly it was the most optimal strategy to wait until now, or Misato wouldn't have done it) but why would he use her again knowing that Misato would try to use thunder wave?

It was the kind of tactic that Sylvia would use, to throw her opponent off. But Misato didn't get thrown off. While she might be susceptible to being tricked, bluffs and mind games would have no effect on the Mechadoll, since she was, well, a Mechadoll, who always made what her processors told her was the best decision to make.

And, well, now she had paralyzed the Commander's pokemon. What was the point?

"Carin," Alden ordered. "Extremespeed."

"Lucario!" Carin shot forward at an amazing speed, even though she was paralyzed. She leapt off the ground and raised her legs, hitting Sparky in the center of the washing machine with two powerful kicks, startling the electric pokemon.

"Rotom!" Sparky cried, spinning back, their washing machine sputtering out suds.

Misato had expected the Commander would use priority moves like extremespeed, and she was not worried about it. Not just because she was incapable of worry, but because she had already calculated the odds of victory even with extremespeed, quick attack, and bullet punch, and the speed of the Lucario with the agility boosts.

The result was not very high in favor of the Commander. Misato ordered Sparky to use thunderbolt next, shocking the Lucario.

Carin could attack fast with her extremespeed, but her agility was so low in other instances thanks to the paralysis that she couldn't move well enough to dodge. She grunted out in pain as the electricity zapped her, and she stumbled back, wincing.

"Carin, your health is getting low," Alden warned. "We'll have to recover it. Use rest!"

"Lucario," Carin nodded. Still standing, she closed her eyes and went to sleep, the paralysis wearing off and her wounds healing up.

"Now she's going to sleep?!" Dakota protested.

"Maybe she has a chesto berry," Akira suggested.

But no, Carin was just sleeping away, unbothered by anything.

"Hex," Misato ordered. She did not know why the Commander would have his pokemon fall asleep. Even if it restored the health of his Lucario and cured her paralysis, it still left her vulnerable. And against a pokemon with the level of Sparky it was not an advisable move. Comparing how much damage Sparky could do and how much damage she had calculated that his Lucario could withstand based on her prior performance, Sparky would be able to defeat the pokemon before she could wake up.

Carin was stricken with ghostly flames, and she groaned in pain, twisting around in her sleep as she struggled against the powerful move.

"Hex doubles in strength against a pokemon afflicted with a status condition," Sylvia noted grimly. "This isn't looking good for the Commander's Lucario!"

But Alden didn't seem fazed. He had a wild smile on his face and his eyes were shining even as Carin was injured by the attack.

"Hydro pump," Misato ordered next. The hex attack was draining away the health from the Lucario, and now a powerful blast of water would injure her even further.

"Rotom!" Sparky buzzed, their washing machine running at high power. They aimed the hose right at Carin, and released a compressed blast of water right at her.

"Yikes, that one looks powerful!" Dakota winced in sympathy for the Lucario as the hydro pump burbled towards her.

"Carin! Dodge with double team!" Alden shouted. Carin's ears twitched and the long aura-sensing bundles on the back of her head began to glow, standing up. Still sleeping, she swayed from side to side, multiple copies of her sleeping form appearing around her, the hydro pump blasting through several of them but missing the original completely.

Misato took a moment to process what had just happened. That attack was not something that she had factored into her calculations.

"What the hell?!" Sylvia exclaimed, shocked.

"But she's sleeping! She can't use attack moves!" Dakota shouted. Both girls turned to Akira.

"There's only one thing I can think of," Akira replied. "She's using sleep talk. It's a move that allows pokemon to use one of their moves while they're asleep. But usually, sleep talk chooses a move at random, so how did she know to use double team?"

Alden smirked. "It's her 'Sense', obviously! Now, Corin, use aura sphere!"

Corin nodded, raising her paws, sculpting a sphere of aura in the palm, which she fired at Sparky, hitting the stunned pokemon head-on and knocking them back, breaking through the door of their washing machine.

"Rotom!" Sparky cried in pain, dropping to the ground, their electrical current distorting.

"Carin is a Lucario," Alden replied with a grin. "She has the ability to read auras! She can read my 'Sense' and respond to it with her own! Even though she's asleep, she knows exactly what move I want her to use, and she can do it in her sleep! And that's not all! Go, Carin!"

Carin ran forward, still fast asleep, but already preparing another aura sphere to attack with.

"Carin has trained to be able to respond to attacks and fight back in her sleep," Alden explained. "Aura sphere, Carin!"

Carin blasted Sparky before the Rotom could respond, her enhanced speed from the agilities allowing her to strike quickly.

Sparky's washing machine began to shake and crackle, small explosions shaking the machinery as Sparky felt the force of the attack, steam coming out as the appliance gave out, the electrical field crackling around it dying down. Sparky slid out of the orange machine, twitching on the ground as it lost consciousness.

Misato had no response. She recalled her Rotom and began recalculating the odds of victory with this revelation. She had not expected that the Lucario would be able to fight in her sleep. This was not something that she could explain with logic. She could understand what the Commander meant when he said the Lucario could sense the aura in his intentions.

But for that to translate to being able to fight in her sleep completely… it was not something that she could understand.

"Unknown data observed," Misato stated. "Further calculations of success are hindered. Next pokemon. Arms."

Misato's next pokemon was her second, her Aegislash, coming out for a second time. That would reduce the chances of losing to the aura sphere of the Lucario.

"Misato has set her Aegislash back out!" Sylvia announced.

"Will that Aegislash even be able to do that much, though?" Dakota wondered. "I mean, he looks really roughed up… I don't know if he can take another attack, even in that defensive form…"

"It's definitely in rough shape," Akira agreed. He wasn't sure she would be entirely useless, however.

"Cautious against fighting moves, huh?" Alden laughed. "Well, can't say I blame you that much, even though you're using such a weakened pokemon. Unless you're maybe hoping she'll use a contact move, and you'll be able to reduce our attack? Sorry, but that's not going to happen. Carin, use dark pulse!"

Carin nodded, her aura readers twitching as she gathered darkness together into her paws, placing them on the ground and sending out a shockwave of dark energy through the battlefield.

"Light screen," Misato ordered. A barrier of silver light appeared around the Aegislash. In his defensive stance, the dark pulse wrapped around the barrier, not ever striking Arms.

"We are also capable of erecting barriers," Misato calmly explained.

"And as a Ghost type, Carin won't be able to use brick break to smash through them!" Sylvia cackled. "Not bad, Misato! Still, if all you're doing is hiding behind your shields, you'll eventually be worn away by those burns!"

"Next, reflect," Misato followed. Carin wasn't responding even as another barrier appeared. She might be capable of attacking and responding to attacks while she was asleep, but that wasn't even close to being the same thing as being awake. She had no idea that her opponent had even switched from the Rotom to the Aegislash, or that the Aegislash was currently protecting himself. She was still asleep, after all. She could only follow her orders.

Alden wasn't sure he was in a good position right now. As long as that Aegislash remained in that defensive mode, he wouldn't be able to land a blow. Thankfully the burn would get him, but that wasn't before he would be able to strengthen his side. It would be better if Carin was awake and responsive, but right now that wasn't an option.

"Carin!" He called. "Gonna need you to wake up!" But Carin continued to sleep.

"Next, metal sound," Misato ordered.

"Aegislash," Arms nodded, knowing this would probably be one of the last moves. He began grinding his sword against his shield, unleashing painfully scratchy soundwaves like metal clanging together that struck Carin's ears, weakening her special defenses but, thankfully, finally waking her up.

"Lucario…" Carin groaned, her eyes slowly opening as she felt her ears ache. She reached up to soothe them with her paws, trying to block out the sound. Not even she could sleep through that.

"Carin!" Alden shouted.

"Finish with shadow sneak," Misato ordered. Arms shifted to his attacking stance and sunk down into the ground, shooting across the ground as a shadow and erupting from Carin's shadow, driving the blade of his sword into the pokemon's stomach.

"Luc-!" Carin gasped in pain, holding her stomach. She raised her paw, shadows dancing around her claw, and she drove it down in a slash that smashed Arms into the ground, the defensive power of his barriers not enough to protect him.

"Aegis…" Arms was lying on the ground, beaten up, and lost consciousness. Misato recalled him, once more showing no interest in the fact that she had lost another pokemon.

"That's two pokemon down!" Dakota cheered.

"True, but this isn't over yet," Akira warned her. "The Commander's team has been very weakened from her other pokemon. Depending on her next pokemon, this could go poorly for him. Remember Ayame's match earlier? He could still get swept."

"Wise thoughts, Akira," Sylvia purred, leaning back in her seat and stretching, patting her Shuppet on the head. "This next one is going to be where the real show begins."

A smirk crossed her face.

"I'm quite looking forward to it, it should be rather entertaining."

Misato reached for her third pokeball, which was colored blue and reddish-pink. She pushed the button and the ball opened up… but no pokemon emerged from it.

Alden looked at her in confusion.

"So… uh… where's the pokemon, then?" He asked.

Misato's eyes twitched. Then, her body began to shake, like an electrical current had just run through her. She raised her head, her golden eyes no longer blank and empty, but rather sparking with light.

A large, broken smile spread across her face in a look that was so unnatural for her it was unnerving.

Well, this should be quite an interesting move… Misato is down to her last pokemon. As for the pokemon in question, well… Let's just say Sylvia is right to be looking forward to how interesting it's going to be.