With Blake's strategy to deal with Dokukage's baton pass, the match is quickly approaching the end! Will Blake emerge the victor? Or does Dokukage have another surprise planned to defeat him? Ninjas are very tricky, after all!
Aquahaze675: It will become apparent, don't worry. There's a reason Dokukage is saving his final pokemon for last.
Rus0804: The original Sherlock Holmes solved his cases out of interest, not out of altruism, Sylvia is exactly the same. She could do a great amount of good if she could be convinced it would be an interesting choice.
Just a Bad Writer for Fun: He definitely has his own trump card. As for what it will be, we'll have to see, won't we?
KedharS: Yes, he actually could. Whether or not he WILL win this is another matter altogether, the battle isn't won yet after all.
Thunder Fire: He was given the name Dokukage from his village as a code name, because all ninjas need to have cool-sounding names if they want to be ninjas. His real name is Ted.
Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings
Chapter 547
"Allow me to correct you on one point," Dokukage said. Blake stared at him curiously. He hadn't expected the ninja to address him to directly.
"Huh?"
"Indeed, you have rendered my baton pass strategy ineffective," Dokukage admitted. "I will congratulate you on that achievement. However, do not be so foolish as to mistake that as having defeated me. A shinobi trains to handle any situation, overcome any adversity, for the sake of accomplishing his mission. If defeating baton pass was enough to defeat me, then I never would have attained a position in the Eight Leaders. So to prove that point, I shall show you what we are capable of entirely on our own."
Blake's eyes widened and he smiled a little. He would be lying if he said he hadn't been hopeful that Dokukage would be an easy opponent to beat after overcoming his baton pass strategy, but at the same time he was a little excited to be able to fight him.
FUCK he stopped baton pass! Dokukage screamed. Fuck! Now what the fuck are we supposed to do, huh?!
"Kagerou, agility!" Dokukage ordered. Kagerou leaned forward, the strips of skin wrapped around him shedding off, and shot forward. With his heightened agility the pokemon actually began to make use of the floating stones, leaping from rock to rock with his great speed and taking the high ground against Rogen. "Now, water shuriken!"
"Accelgor," Kagerou said, coming to a halt perched upon one of the large stones floating above the battlefield. He extended his membranes out in a spider web of tendrils, and at the end of each one water began to swirl around into a powerful blade. Flinging his membranes forward he sent the spinning disks of water flying at Rogen, the sharp shuriken moving faster than the Rock type could respond.
"Rogen!" Blake cried.
"BOOOLLL!" Rogen groaned in pain as the water shuriken sliced into him, cutting deep chunks into his hardened body.
"This was what I was afraid of," Akira said, frowning. "Blake might have taken a strong lead against Dokukage by shutting off his baton pass strategy, but he's still put himself in a vulnerable position. Rogen is a pokemon with great physical defenses, but his special defense is downright abysmal. And that Accelgor is using water shuriken, a special attack. Even without STAB, there's no way that Rogen can withstand for very long. It's a bad matchup on all fronts, even if the trick he managed to pull off with the stealth rock was a winning strategy."
"True, he still has to actually defeat the pokemon in front of him," Dakota agreed.
"Rogen, return," Blake said, reaching for his pokeball. But again, his attempts to return his pokemon were stymied by a swarm of small black bugs.
"Did you think we would let you escape?" Dokukage asked. "We have used our infestation to seal that rock's movements. Now, we'll finish it off."
"Crap! Isn't there anything he can do?!" Andy demanded.
"It's not good," Ayame said, frowning. "But Blake can get through this, I know it! Come on, Blake! Don't let yourself get caught up in his flow! You can do something, I'm sure!"
Kanou watched the match in silence. As I expected. He's not at this level yet. He's improving, but there's no way he can match Dokukage in battle. Which is rather sad, since defeating a foe of his caliber isn't even a difficult task. It appears that I thought too much of him. If Sylvia was fighting Dokukage, it would be a matter as simple as using trick room. Not that Blake would consider that. Oh, well, this match was a nice distraction for a little while, but in the end it turned out to be something just so boring and predictable.
"Rogen, use sandstorm!" Blake ordered.
"Boldore!" Rogen raised his claws, sending a blast of sand out of the cracks on his body, wind swirling around the battlefield and summoning up a massive dust devil.
"Attempting to wear us down? Clever. But not nearly enough," Dokukage said, shaking his head. "Even if our vision is obstructed, we can easily take care of things. Kagerou! Use water shuriken!"
"Accelgor!" Kagerou raised his membranes and created more blades of water, the spinning shuriken picking up sand as they flew towards Rogen, slicing into him from all directions.
Blake could see that Rogen couldn't withstand much more. He bit his lip. He didn't like doing this, he really didn't. He hated that he had to treat Rogen so painfully. It made him feel awful, like he was just like the Phantom. Sacrificing his own pokemon for victory. But there was no other way. He just had to hope that Rogen would forgive him.
"Rogen! Use explosion!" Blake shouted.
"Shit!" Dokukage gasped, losing his cool for one brief moment.
"Explosion?!" Lila exclaimed.
"If he can't win, might as well go out with a bang, huh?" Dakota said, raising her eyebrows, a big smile spreading across her face.
"But it's a futile move," Akira said, frowning. Blake should know that. If he used explosion now, that just meant that Dokukage's Accelgor would just use substitute to retreat from the blast. He was sacrificing Rogen… for what?
But still, Rogen began to glow with light, and unleashed a massive explosion that shook the entire battlefield. Of course, Kagerou escaped with the substitution. When he reappeared, weakened, landing on the ground, Rogen was unconscious and Blake was already returning him.
"Now, go!" Blake shouted, sending out Maria to quickly take his Boldore's place. Not even the announcers had any time to say anything.
Blake was relying on three things. The first was Kagerou having exhausted some of his health and stamina escaping that substitution. The second was the low visibility brought on by the sandstorm, which he hoped would give Maria the edge to get in a sneak attack. And the third, well… that would be kicking in soon, he hoped.
"Maria, toxic!" Blake said. Maria squinted through the raging sandstorm, seeing the shadowy figure of Kagerou through the tumbling dust.
"Mar!" Maria nodded, opening her mouth and spitting out a massive blast of poison at the opposing pokemon.
"Kagerou, dodge," Dokukage ordered. Kagerou moved to leap out of the way, but… he tripped, a ripping sound catching Dokukage's ear. Kagerou's membrane was starting to weaken! Before Dokukage could say anything else, the poison from Maria's toxic landed on the Accelgor in a wave that swallowed the small pokemon, Kagerou jumping out of the muck in a panic. But it was too late, he was infected.
"That was…" Dokukage frowned.
"I saw it for a second," Blake said, the sandstorm beginning to die down. "When your Accelgor used water shuriken the first time. He stuck out those membranes of his, and drew moisture out of them to power up the attack, isn't that right?"
"…You see well," Dokukage admitted, nodding his head. How the FUCK did he figure that out?! That's fucking nuts, what the hell?! "Yeah. The membrane wrapped around Accelgor is kept moist to maintain their body's functions. It helps given them speed. If the membrane dries out it becomes brittle and fragile, prone to tearing, and the Accelgor has to be careful about how they move. Normally it isn't an issue since the membrane can remoisten itself with ease, but…"
"But in a sandstorm, it dries out really quickly and is hard to keep damp, right?" Blake asked. "That's what I guessed, anyway."
"So you were thinking about that, huh? And using explosion, making Kagerou expend some of his health and dodge with high speed, drying him out even further… trying to set up for your Mareanie to infect him with her toxins. Quite good at thinking on your feet, and really ruthless. I must say, Blake, you would make an excellent shinobi."
Yeah, no fucking shit. This is just insane! Who the fuck would think up a move like that?! It defies rationality! Dokukage calmed himself down. But it isn't going to be enough to defeat us. I can already see how this is going to go.
"…Thank you?" Blake said, not sure it was something to be happy about.
"This is getting really tense!" Lila said, holding her hand over her chest. Her heart was pounding a mile a minute. "I can't wait to see who's going to win!"
"It's got me on the edge of my seat, too," Dakota agreed. "Aki, what do you think?"
Akira wasn't sure what to think just yet. Knowing Blake, he was almost certain that he would use Weiss, his Scizor, as his final pokemon. As for Dokukage's trump card, there had been no hint about it yet. Which meant it was a situation he couldn't fully judge.
"It was a good strategy," Dokukage nodded. "But the sandstorm has died down. It won't work a second time. Our speed will be enough now."
Blake smiled a little. They'd see about that!
"Maria, use venoshock!"
"Mareanie!" Maria opened her mouth and fired a blast of poisonous blades at Kagerou.
"Accelgor!" Kagerou easily dodged the attack with agility, extending his membranes.
"Swift," Dokukage ordered. Kagerou unleashed a barrage of light stars, spinning through the air like shuriken and heading right towards Maria, slicing into her.
"Marea!" Maria cried, wincing in pain. But it was only a small amount of pain. She wasn't going to let it get to her!"
"Maria, let's deal with that speed," Blake said. "Toxic spikes!"
"Mareanie!" Maria fired more toxic spikes over Dokukage's side of the battlefield. Now, the entry hazards were twofold. Kagerou was pinned in even more, no longer able to run. He wouldn't get any more poisoned, but it would still hurt to have the spines dig into him, and in his current condition he couldn't afford to lose any more health if he could help it. He leapt up instead, leaping from stone to stone in the air, turning down to look towards the Mareanie, who was staring angrily up at her. Maria puffed her cheeks up and opened her mouth, releasing a cloud of black smoke that billowed over Dokukage's side of the field as well.
"Nice! She's using her haze attack to slow down Dokukage's Accelgor! Now, Dokukage will have to start all over again! Again!" Dakota cheered.
"Kagerou, bug buzz," Dokukage ordered. Kagerou opened his mouth and released a loud shrieking sound, Maria wincing in pain as she tried to withstand the attack.
"This is tricky," Akira mused, stroking his chin. "Maria doesn't have the speed to land a serious hit on that Accelgor, but at the same time, Accelgor doesn't really have any good moves for dealing with her, either. Maria resists Bug type moves and his water shuriken, so as painful as that attack might be, she's withstanding it thanks to her resistance."
"Maria, use recover," Blake ordered.
"Kagerou, use recover," Dokukage ordered.
Both pokemon paused to restore their health as they stared at each other defiantly through the haze. Blake and Dokukage stared at each other as well. Both trainers were aware that this was going to become a long, drawn out battle.
So Dokukage decided to not fight it.
The poison will wear him away, slowly. A longer fight will not be in our favor. So we'll finish this now. As a true shinobi should.
"Kagerou! Final gambit!"
Kagerou shot forward, appearing in front of Maria with a flash. He gathered up all the energy inside of his body, much to Maria's surprise, and released it with a devastating blast that struck Maria, sending her flying backwards.
Both pokemon collapsed, Kagerou having recovered just enough health to finish off the lower-leveled Maria with the move.
"What… what was that?!" Lila gasped.
"He used final gambit," Akira said. "Forcing them both to faint. Now they're both down to one usable pokemon each, since Dokukage can't use his Ninjask."
"…O-Oh," Lila said. "But… why would he do that?"
"Pretty stupid if you ask me," Dakota agreed. "Considering that Dokukage's got stealth rocks and toxic spikes layered up against him."
"But he doesn't seem bothered by it," Akira noted. "Perhaps he really does have a plan."
For once, the announcers were right. It wasn't just Dokukage hiding his true feelings of panic behind a mask of composure, he was actually prepared for what was going to come.
"Well, uh… both pokemon are unable to battle…" Lila judged.
Dokukage recalled Kagerou to his pokeball while Blake called back Maria.
"So they both only have one pokemon left?!" Andy asked excitedly. "I'm on the edge of my seat! This is great!"
"I know!" Cynthia said, her eyes shining eagerly. "I was just joking when I said there was no way Blake could defeat a ninja, but the thought that he actually could-!"
Cynthia could feel envy rising up in her chest. Why couldn't she be the one fighting against the Third Leader? It wasn't fair!
"Yes," Ayame breathed, clenching her fist in victory. He was doing it! "Come on, Blake! You can do this! I believe in you!"
Kanou was the only one not buying into the whole feel-good "Blake's gonna win!" atmosphere. This had been going exactly as she expected. When they see his last pokemon… this optimism will fade rather quickly, it seems.
"It won't be that simple. Blake won't win," Kanou said simply. Everyone looked at her in surprise. She had been really quiet the whole time, and now she was saying this?
"What do you mean by that?!" Ayame demanded.
"I meant what I said. Blake won't win," Kanou repeated, turning to look at her, her eyes empty from behind her thick lenses.
Ayame bit her lip, ready to shout, before Cynthia came to her defense.
"You call yourself Blake's number one fan? Some fan."
"I'm a fan, not a fool," Kanou replied, narrowing her eyes. "You're the one blinded by your absolute faith in him."
"Didn't you just see that? Dokukage was so scared of losing he sacrificed his pokemon just to take out Maria!" Cynthia snorted. "He's running scared."
Kanou smirked, turning back to the battlefield. "We'll see."
"'We'll see'?! Why you-"
"Cynthia!"
A sharp voice made Cynthia flinch. She turned to see Callie, staring at the battlefield, a tense look on her face.
"What?" Cynthia scowled, suddenly feeling uncomfortable. The look of resignation in Callie's eye… she knew something Cynthia didn't. All of a sudden, Cynthia wasn't feeling so confident in Blake's chances of winning anymore.
"Kanou… isn't wrong," Callie said quietly. "Dokukage's last pokemon… it will be difficult for Blake to win in his current situation."
"But he's got stealth rock AND toxic spikes!" Julia protested. "You don't think-"
"It won't matter," Callie said, shaking her head.
"Well, that's nice and helpful of you," Kate testily said.
"You at least warned him, right?" Sango asked. "You know, about what to prepare for?"
"I told him the strategies he could use, and what details I had on the pokemon he already knew about," Callie said. "I didn't tell him Dokukage's entire party, you know."
"Why not?!" Cynthia demanded. "That's not going to be very helpful!"
"Because that wouldn't be fair," Callie said, turning on the redhead and the blonde with anger in her eyes. "Yeah, Blake's my friend, but I also respect Dokukage you know! I won't just tell Blake all the secrets for winning! I shared everything that I felt comfortable with, that I thought wouldn't give him an unfair advantage, and that's all! Or do you want Blake to win without earning it?"
Cynthia and Sango both opened their mouths to rebuke her, but then they glanced at each other and both girls realized that Callie was right. Sango sighed and sat back down, rubbing her temples in frustration. Cynthia just grumbled, crossing her arms in front of her chest indignantly.
"Just believe in Blake," Ayame said confidently. "I believe he's going to win, even if he isn't fully prepared to face his opponent."
Cynthia sighed, and nodded her head glumly. Sango was less annoyed, but still agreed with Ayame, knowing that she was right. Both girls silently wondered if that confidence in his ability was the reason that he chose her and not either of them.
Ayame rose and cupped her hands over her mouth. "Come on, Blake! You can do it! Just one more pokemon to go!"
A part of Blake wished he shared Aya's confidence in him. He clenched Weiss's pokeball tightly, and took a deep breath, calming himself down. He looked across the battlefield at Dokukage, standing patiently with his eyes closed as he waited for Blake to make the first move.
He seems so calm… Blake frowned, feeling sweat trickle down his brow. It was getting late and he was feeling the fatigue set in. He wanted to win, he wanted to defeat Dokukage, after all this planning he wanted it to pay off! And it was almost in sight… But seeing Dokukage seem so unfazed by this, not letting the pressure get to him at all… it only made him feel more anxious.
In truth, Dokukage was barely standing. He was resisting the urge to yawn, his eyes closed because he could scarcely keep them open. Come on, send out your last pokemon so we can finish this already! He grumbled. I want to go to sleep!
"…Come on guys, send out your pokemon already!" Dakota shouted.
That was enough for Blake. The longer this took, the more the pressure was going to get to him, and that wasn't going to happen! He was going to end things, now!
"Weiss! Go!" Blake said, sending out his Scizor. Weiss flapped his wings and landed on the ground, glaring at Dokukage, who slowly opened his eyes.
"Blake's final pokemon is his Scizor! Will it be enough to defeat Dokukage?" Lila asked hopefully. "What's Dokukage's last pokemon?"
As I expected, he used his Scizor… Dokukage thought.
So this is it, then, Kanou sighed. How boring and predictable…
"Muramasa, go," Dokukage said, tossing his last pokeball into the air. It opened with a burst, and a pokemon emerged in a flash of red.
Blake gasped in surprise, not expecting that.
"What?" Lila gasped. "What the hell? Seriously?"
"Whoa, what a shocker!" Dakota noted, her eyes widening.
"Interesting," Akira said, looking at the matchup, just as surprised as the others.
"Scizor," Muramasa growled, the opposing Scizor raising his pincer at Weiss and glaring at him, immune to the poisonous spikes at his feet and ignoring the sharp stones digging into his scales.
Dokukage and Blake have both sent out their last pokemon! Both trainers are relying on Scizor, which means this battle will come down to a battle of skill!