The battle between Misato and the Commander has reached its climax! Will the Commander be able to defeat Misato, or will her strategy for defeating him prove successful in the end? We'll have to find out! The battle, and the first round, ends now!

KedharS: That was certainly the intention.

Aquahaze675: Misato does indeed have a Porygon-Z. The Porygon line was the first pokemon I planned to give her when I came up with the character. (Rotom was the second)

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 532

The smoke cleared, and to everyone's surprise, Tracey was still standing, uninjured from the zap cannon with a victorious grin on her face.

Misato's broken grin wasn't shaken in the slightest. Apparently whatever the Porygon-Z running her systems had done to make her wild and smiling like this, it hadn't actually affected her ability to not display surprise.

Or maybe Discord was so crazed it didn't even care.

"How did that just happen?! What just happened?!" Sylvia asked, confused. She looked to Akira, her eyes demanding an answer.

Akira didn't give one. He didn't have an answer to give, but even if he did he was enjoying Sylvia's confusion and irritation way too much to put an end to it. It wasn't often that Sylvia was flustered like this, and it was a moment worth treasuring.

"Hey, look!" Dakota said, pointing at the Cinderace. Akira and Sylvia both turned her way, squinting, and they could see a barrier of light shining around the Fire type.

"Wait, is that…"

"Those are reflect and light screen barriers," Akira realized. "So she managed to set them up just in time to protect herself from the zap cannon!"

"Now, Tracey!" Alden shouted.

"Cinder!" Tracey nodded, running forward. She dribbled a pyro ball between her legs and kicked as hard as she could, the massive fireball shooting at Misato at high speed. Misato didn't move, thinking the barrier would reflect it again.

When the pyro ball struck where the barrier would have been and the force field didn't appear, the advanced speed of her systems processed that she had nothing to protect her in the brief few milliseconds before the fireball hit her in the stomach with a blast of explosive power, knocking her backwards and setting her clothes ablaze.

"Wait, what happened to the reflect and light screen around Misato?" Dakota asked, confused.

"It's court change," Akira realized.

"The hell is that?" Dakota turned to Akira.

"It's a move like pyro ball that's unique to the Cinderace line," Akira explained. "Cinderace traded fields with her opponent."

"So Misato and Discord created a reflect and a light screen, and that Cinderace took them?" Sylvia realized. "I see, so when the zap cannon was about to hit, she used that court change move to steal the protective fields and protect herself, and open Misato up to the final pyro ball counterattack at the same time. Not a bad plan."

Sylvia's confident smirk was back.

"But that won't be enough to defeat Misato."

Indeed, Misato was injured by the attack, but she wasn't defeated.

"Zizizizi!" Misato laughed, rising to her feet, fire falling around her. Her clothes were burned, nearly burned away, but she had smothered the flames. She was still wearing a singed shirt and most of her tank top was burned away, but there was still enough to cover her chest. Most of the exposed skin on her stomach, though, was burned, revealing the electronics beneath. Then… the skin began to repair itself.

"What?" Alden gasped, surprised.

"Recover," Misato said, placing her hand over her stomach, more skin being generated.

"She's a pokemon right now," Sylvia reminded everyone. "So she can repair the damage done to her physically with the move recover, after all."

"Oh, no you don't!" Alden growled. "Tracey! Flame charge!"

"Cinderace!" Flames leapt up around Tracey and she ran towards Misato, her speed increasing as she approached the recovering Mechadoll "pokemon".

"Reflect," Misato said, holding her hand up. But she was much slower than Tracey, the barrier just starting to appear. Tracey skidded under it at the last moment, closing Misato in with her. Misato could follow Tracey with her eyes because her brain processed at an incredibly high speed, but the physical capabilities of her body were not nearly advanced enough to keep up, even with the agility buff of her Porygon-Z. She turned, but as she turned, Tracey was already striking.

Not having to worry about the reflect stopping her, Tracey began to unleash a barrage of punches and powerful kicks coating in flame, Misato trying to withstand them but unable to do so. She could only block a few of them with her arms, the skin on her forearms quickly getting seared away. She continued to try, however, even with her speed not enough to keep up. That was how the side of Misato that was still rational did things.

Her health was another resource. So while she tried to protect herself as best she could, it was not where she was putting her processing power. She was already working on coming up with contingencies, and arrived at the conclusion that her protective barrier was no longer serving its function and she needed to dispel it. She jumped back, smashing through the reflect, putting some distance between herself and the Cinderace by glowing brightly, teleporting away from her.

Tracey, realizing that she no longer had a target to unleash her aggression on, changed tactics and began running towards Misato again. She used her agility again, maximizing her speed to be able to close the distance with her.

"You were hiding behind that barrier of yours, but once it's gone, your speed isn't enough to keep up with Tracey!" Alden shouted. "Give up, Misato! Are you really crazy now, with whatever that thing in your head is? Because if you're still operating on logic and reason, then you should be able to draw the conclusion that your chances of victory are next to none!"

"Negative," Misato replied, her smile unshaken. She held her hand up and began to glow, Tracey beginning to glow as well as she got closer. "Speed swap."

Light shot out from Misato's hand and hit Tracey in the stomach at the same time light shot out of Tracey's chest and into Misato's. As the light left Tracey she began to slow down, much to her surprise, as Misato's smile widened. Misato dashed forward at a speed as fast as Tracey's had been, raising her hand. She fired a bolt of electricity that hit the Cinderace, Tracey crying out in pain.

"Speed swap!" Sylvia chuckled. "The perfect move to deal with that speedy Cinderace!"

"So Misato took away Tracey's speed, and stole it for herself?" Dakota gasped. "That's not fair!"

"Even if that's the case, it's not like Cinderace are slow," Akira assured her. "The Commander is probably already coming up with countermeasures."

Tracey dashed back, taking a defensive stance, but Misato didn't pursue.

"Preparing to use sucker punch again?" Misato asked. "I will not fall for the same trick twice."

Misato waited, keeping a watchful eye on Tracey as the rabbit pokemon panted, staring back at her. The two were still for quite some time.

The minute Tracey attempts to make a move of any kind, Misato will pick up on it immediately and respond with a high speed attack first, Alden understood. So he couldn't have Tracey do anything reckless. This was going to be a drawn-out fight.

"So this is your trump card for defeating that Zeraora, huh?" K sighed, watching the match from the Commander's box.

"I'm not quite certain how Shadow Pokemon will interact with Misato's programming," the Phantom explained. "She couldn't provide me with any conclusive answers herself, only possibilities. And nothing she suggested sounded feasible. She's quite a useful tool, after all, I would hate for her to break."

"So sending her out to battle won't break her?" K asked, raising his eyebrow. That seemed… kind of backwards.

"Not any of the important parts," the Phantom said, shaking his head. "When she merges with a pokemon, the defensive measures around her CPU are maximized. Everything else is mechanics, the essential part of her is that artificial brain of hers. The rest is expendable."

"And you're sure she can win?"

"She was designed to win," the Phantom replied. "I have no use for a tool that can't do its job. I fully expect her to be able to defeat the Commander, and then the Zeraora of that little brother of his. Her programming will not allow her to lose, she will adapt to anything."

The Phantom was quite assured of her performance.

"…I guess this is popcorn-refill time," Sylvia yawned, staring up at the night sky. "Come on guys, we want to go home. Just give up already, you won't win this way."

While taking the time to think, Alden could see the corner he was backed into. Misato knew that Cinderace could use sucker punch, so he couldn't bait her into an attack. At the same time, he couldn't use moves recklessly, or else she would counterattack.

There was a clear method he had to use. He would need to find some way to boost Tracey's speed.

"Tracey, use agility!" Alden ordered. Tracey already had two speed boosts due to Misato's prior agility, so another agility was going to kick her speed up even more.

"Thunderbolt," Misato said, firing a bolt of lightning at Tracey as she ran. The electricity struck the light screen around Tracey and dispersed in several directions as Misato prepared another one, willing to pound through this with brute force. She prepared another thunderbolt, and Tracey knew it was time.

Tracey shot forward, closing the distance between herself and Misato before the Mechadoll could unleash her thunderbolt, hitting her in the jaw with a punch. The blow struck, but it didn't knock Misato over. She had been prepared for it, after all, and hit Tracey in the gut with a close-range thunderbolt, too close for the light screen to protect her. Tracey cried out in pain as she rolled backwards, putting some more distance between the two.

Sucker punch wasn't enough to finish her… and she's already recovering, Alden noted. It seems that if we want to win, then we'll need to rely on a move that can take her out in one hit. And in her current condition, Tracey doesn't have the strength to pull that off…

"Tracey, agility again!" Alden ordered. Tracey's speed increased as Misato fired another powerful thunderbolt, this one strong enough to break through the already-pressured light screen, smashing through it and zapping the running bunny.

"Cinderace has reached her previous speed, but was it really worth it?" Sylvia mused. "Look at her condition, she's barely standing!"

Indeed, Tracey was badly injured from the attacks, but she still had the energy to keep going. The problem was, she didn't have the ability to finish off Misato.

She's too fast to pressure with light hits… so we have to build it up. The problem is, we're out of pyro ball attacks. That was our strongest move and did a ton of damage, but she already recovered most of it. With her speed and that teleport, she'll keep her distance while recovering. This is really like fighting an uphill battle… that speed swap was the perfect counter. I emphasized Speed when training Tracey, thanks to her Jolly nature, if she had an Adamant nature it might be enough to break through, but…

There was one move he could think of that would have the strength to defeat her before she could adapt to it, but it would be a risk. He glanced at Tracey, who nodded to him. This was the rush he was expecting, his "Sense" was finally surging! They were going to do it, and she'd take it.

"Tracey! We've got to build up our strength!" Alden called. "Use work up!"

"Cinderace!" Tracey nodded, building up her strength as she worked herself up, her attack and special attack stats rising as Misato tried to hit with thunderbolt again. Tracey just barely managed to dodge her blow, now that she was faster. But as she used work up a second time she wasn't able to dodge, Misato hitting her head-on this time.

Tracey rolled through the dirt, coughing in pain, as Misato approached her, building up more electricity through her body.

"Thunder," Misato declared, laughing madly as lightning built up over Tracey, falling towards her in a powerful bolt.

"Tracey!" Alden shouted. Tracey leapt off the ground and shot forward, turning to a Dark type as dark energy began surging through her hand. She hit Misato in the stomach, this time managing to knock her back. Misato's sense of balance was perfect, unfortunately, and she managed to roll to her feet and jump back before Tracey could continue her attack, the massive bolt striking the ground harmlessly behind the bunny.

"Not enough," Misato smiled. She was already working on repairing the damage.

"While she's recovering, use work up again!" Alden ordered. Tracey nodded her head and her attacking stats rose even higher. Alden had expected that, even being super-effective against Misato's Ghost typing, sucker punch wasn't going to do much damage.

"Adapting," Misato replied. "Ghost type unnecessary. Conversion 2 to Fighting type."

Without having to be wary of brick break, Misato finally changed her type. She knew there were no moves that Cinderace possessed that she needed the Ghost type to invalidate, and now she only had to worry about Flying and Psychic type moves, and the only one that Cinderace knew was bounce. Which was too slow to take advantage of her vulnerability. She would be able to change her typing again before the Cinderace could hit her.

Just a little more… Alden noted. "Tracey, one more time. Use work up!"

"Cinderace!" Tracey cried, panting, coughing a little as she boosted her attack and special attack for a fourth time.

"He keeps building up his Cinderace's strength, but why?" Dakota asked, confused. "It's not like he's attacking. And his Cinderace doesn't have much health left…"

"He's trying to find some way to win," Akira understood. "But I'm not sure what it's going to be." Even he was stumped with this one.

"Understood," Misato said. She began to laugh. "Zizizizizi! Strategy determined! Raising stats, baton pass. Increasing speed and special attack. Switch to Espeon."

Alden's eye twitched. She'd figured it out.

"Threat extermination. Thunder." Misato raised her hand, lightning crackling over Tracey's head, falling upon her in an incredibly fast bolt that engulfed her as she was boosting her stats.

"Tracey!" Alden shouted.

"Current speed, unable to dodge. Current health, chances of survival calculated at 0.002%. Statistically insignificant, zizizizi!" Misato cackled as Tracey cried out in pain from the massive discharge of lightning that was electrocuting her.

"I guess this is it!" Sylvia exclaimed, shielding her eyes from the flashes.

"Oh no!" Dakota cried.

But the Commander believed in Tracey. Misato might have said there was no chance of her withstanding the attack, but he knew his Cinderace. Tracey was a fighter, she wasn't the kind of pokemon who would meekly roll over and faint when things were tough, she was the kind of pokemon that would hang onto every last shred of health she had, if it meant victory! And that's why Alden knew that she was going to make it through the attack.

The lightning finally died down, Tracey standing still, her body covered with burns and crackling with electricity.

"Cinder…ace…" Tracey wheezed out, falling forward.

"Threat exterminated," Misato said, sounding unnaturally joyful about it.

Before Tracey hit the ground, though, she held her hands out to stop her fall, her head shooting up to glare at Misato.

"No way!" Sylvia exclaimed, her heart pounding with excitement. As much as she wanted Misato win, things not going as the Phantom had planned was giving her all kinds of wonderful shivers, she had no idea how this was going to go now!

Misato realized that the attack had not, in fact, succeeded. She had calculated that the Cinderace only had a 0.002% chance of remaining conscious, the odds of withstanding the attack were almost zero. But they were not zero.

"A statistically insignificant occurrence such as this is improbable," Misato assessed, giggling madly in spite of herself.

"Probable enough where I'm sitting," Alden replied. "Because I know Tracey's got guts! Tracey, baton pass, then you can rest!"

Before Misato's counterattack of charge beam could hit, the faster Cinderace began to glow, returning to her pokeball, which the Commander switched for Eifa in an excellent feat of dexterity.

"Espeon!" Eifa cried, emerging from her pokeball.

"Eifa, use stored power!" Alden ordered.

Misato moved to protect herself with light screen, but even with six boosts to her speed, the six boosts that Tracey had passed on to Eifa made her even faster. Her ruby began to shine and her eyes glowed red as the power that Tracey had stored up and then passed to her was released in a single devastating blast of psychic power.

Misato had already done the calculations even as the wave of psionic energy slammed into her. Stored Power base power equals 20. Increase by 20 with each successive stat boost. Six boosts to speed from agility for a power of 140. Four boosts to attack and four boosts to special attack from work up for a total power of 300. Factor in base special attacking power of Espeon and the four boosts to her special attack stat, compared to current typing weakness to Psychic type moves, current special defense, and current remaining health.

Chances of survival…

Under normal circumstances Misato would have had no response but the alterations to her current programming due to Discord made her assess if this was an appropriate time to use one of those words that she had often observed Will use when he was expressing anger or frustration.

"…Fuck."

The stored power sent her flying, Misato crashing hard into the ground where she lay unmoving. Physically, her body had little injury, but the psychic damage inflicted on Discord, her Porygon-Z, had knocked the artificial pokemon unconscious.

"Misato!" Sylvia cried, leaping from her chair in shock.

Misato did a quick system check to assess the damage done, and nothing was beyond repair, or even hindered in terms of capability. She rose to her feet slowly, staring at the Espeon across the battlefield from her.

"She's still standing?!" Alden exclaimed. "Eifa, again-"

"Negative," Misato interrupted. "Discord is unable to battle. I have no pokemon remaining capable of continuing the fight. I have lost."

She reached to her belt and took the blue and fuchsia pokeball, opening it to purge her system of the corrupting data belonging to her Porygon-Z. The pokemon leaving her and retreating to the confines of the pokeball, she returned to her baseline state of function.

Alden sighed in relief, recalling Eifa to her pokeball.

"Damn, that… that was something alright," he admitted. "You might not have any Sense but you're definitely a hard obstacle to overcome, Misadoll."

"Affirmative. There were many points in this match that were not within the expected parameters I calculated. I am not capable of determining an explanation that accounts for those anomalies at this time," was Misato's only response. "I will overview the data for further analysis to determine an explanation."

"You won't find one in that data," Alden called to her as she walked off the battlefield. She stopped and turned back to face him. Any further information would help her future assessment. Alden stuck out his thumb and jammed it into his chest. "The reason is right here, our guts and instinct, our 'Sense' of battle!"

"Elaborate. The human heart is an organ the circulates blood through the body and maintains the natural rhythm of the body. It has no function that would account for an anomaly in battle that is not related to health or existing condition, which would have no notable impact on the trainer, who is not participating in the battle," Misato replied, unable to determine what role the heart he indicated to would play in winning. She determined that he had no information that would be of use to her, turned, and resumed her walk off the battlefield.

"As long as you keep thinking like that you'll never be able to account for any real anomalies in pokemon performance, Misadoll!" The Commander called after her.

"Understood," was the only reply Misato gave him. She did not even turn back to give it. But she did store the information he had given her in a slowly-growing folder in her mind containing her collected data on human anomalies.

So the Commander managed to win! Misato might be the perfect machine, but she can't overcome the guts to win!