The battle between Gerard and Ian continues! Will Ian be able to keep in the lead? Will he be able to defeat Gerard's Diancie? This is far from a sure thing, even if Ian has taken a bit of a lead.
Aquahaze675: No idea, honestly.
Just a Bad Writer for Fun: If Kanone was his teenage self, he would be the best trainer in the school. He was well above that level even when he was a kid.
Guest: Interesting, not a lot of people root for the villain lol.
KedharS: Well, Gerard was using one of his weaker pokemon. Don't worry, he's still got a few tricks up his sleeve.
Hellraiserphoenix: We'll have to see what happens, hopefully it's a close match, and not a one-sided defeat. It's more exciting that way.
Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings
Chapter 557
"Lazuli, water pulse!" Ian ordered. Lazuli flapped her fins, and released a shockwave through the water, pushing towards the approaching Kabutops. But Burei was quick. He tilted his body and dove down deep into the depths of the pool, the pulse passing harmlessly over him, and with a quick angling of his body he shot up towards Lazuli and struck her with his claws, slashing her with a powerful blow.
"Lu-!" Lazuli gasped out into the water, wincing in pain as blood began to fill the pool.
"…How exciting…" Dakota muttered, staring at the pool, not being able to see anything going on underneath the water. "We've really gotta stop with the water fields, underwater battles aren't, shall we say… interesting."
Akira didn't want to admit it, but Dakota kinda had a point.
"Oh, no, is that blood?" Lila asked, pointing at the growing dark redness spreading in the water. "That's not good!"
Ian was a lot closer than they were, so he could see what was going on better. Lazuli had been injured by that attack, but she wasn't even close to being finished! "Lazuli!" He shouted. "Use aqua ring to heal yourself!"
Lazuli began to glow bright, and water began to wrap around her, a shimmering veil covering her body and lighting up the pool. Her wounds began to heal themselves as the soothing effects of the water recovered her strength.
"Oh, nice move," Akira noted. He couldn't see the attack directly, but he knew what was happening. "With that aqua ring, that Lumineon should be able to recover a decent amount of her health each turn, which means Gerard is going to have to really start doing some damage if he wants to get through and take her out."
"I still can't see anything, it's just glowing," Dakota grumbled, her fingers twitching on her camera impatiently. In spite of what she had said earlier about not being all that excited about this match, she hadn't forgotten that Gerard had a Diancie as his ace pokemon, and that Diancie was a mythical pokemon like Zeraora. And that was something she was looking forward to getting a scoop on, even if the rest of the match was just cursory.
"Yeah, but… you know, something must be happening, right?" Lila asked hopefully. She'd been excited for this match earlier, but now she felt that Dakota was right, seeing- or rather, not seeing- the pokemon fighting underwater wasn't very interesting.
"Alright, Burei, if she's going to heal herself, we might as well get started with that, too," Gerard said. "But first, use whirlpool."
Burei raised his claws and the water around Lazuli began to swirl into a water spout, immobilizing the poor fish as she tried to free herself, even though she couldn't resist the pull of the water. She needed to get free, fast!
"But nothing as weak as an aqua ring. Burei, use leech life!"
"Oh, that's a powerful move," Akira said. "As long as he can get in close."
Burei swam forward quickly, opening his round mouth lined with sharp teeth, which shot out to latch down on Lazuli, ready to start sucking away some of her health and drain away her strength. Lazuli struggled, finally managing to break free of the whirlpool, swimming as quickly as she could. She was fast, not letting him get close. She swam away as fast as she could, but Burei was moving swifter and swifter, about to catch up.
Ian squinted, he could make out the vague, approaching shadow of the Kabutops drawing closer to Lazuli, and that meant that it was time to strike back. Just a little closer…
"Lazuli!" He shouted, seeing that the Kabutops was almost on top of her, "use ice beam!"
Lazuli opened her mouth, and released a freezing beam of energy that flash-froze the water in front of her, a trail of ice freezing forward and wrapping around the submerged Kabutops, freezing the attacking pokemon solid by freezing the water surrounding him. Burei remained frozen in place for all of a minute before physics took their course, the chunk of ice floating up to the surface and bobbing up above the water with a Kabutops sealed inside.
"Nicely done!" Akira cheered. "Lumineon took advantage of the fact that her opponent was attacking her underwater to freeze him solid with an ice beam! And now that Kabutops can't do anything until he can break free of the ice!"
"And even if he does break free, then she can just freeze him again," Dakota noted with a smile. "This is a pretty good situation for Ian!"
Lila wasn't sure what to say, but she trusted the judgment of her fellow announcers and nodded in agreement, "yeah, it looks like Ian is pulling ahead really quickly!"
Gerard was quick to respond. He held up his pokeball and recalled Burei before the pokemon could get hit by any more attacks from the Lumineon. He wasn't happy about the current state of things, but at least Burei had done an adequate job. That Lumineon was now unable to be recalled thanks to the torrent of the whirlpool, which meant Gerard could really get to work.
"Go, Shocker," Gerard said, tossing out his next pokeball. His oddly-developed Golem emerged, landing on one of the battlefield with such a loud thud that it disturbed the water around the platform, and for a second everyone was worried that it would break right through and the pokemon would immediately fall into the water. But there was no need to worry. Shocker held his ground and leaned over, the magnetic protrusion on his back crackling with electricity.
Ian frowned. This wasn't good. With the whirlpool raging, he wouldn't be able to recall his Lumineon. And that meant the poor fish would be subjected to the full might of the electric pokemon's assault, which, for a pokemon in the water, would be a death sentence.
"That's not good!" Akira noted. "In this situation, Lumineon is a sitting duck! She's going to be hit directly by that Golem's Electric type moves!"
"That's really not good," Lila agreed, her voice taking on a tone of worry. "Right? I mean, when she's in the water like that…"
"It's like shooting fish in a barrel," Dakota said, snickering at her own bad joke while Akira and Lila gave her sharp looks.
"Shocker, use discharge!" Gerard ordered.
"GOLEM!" Shocker roared, electricity charging through the magnet on his back. He built up a charge of energy and released it in a massive shockwave, the bolts of lightning heading right for the water, ready to fry the poor fish.
"Oh, no!" Lila wailed.
Ian was quick, though. "Lazuli! Use bounce!"
"Lumineon!" Lazuli cried, leaping up out of the water, the discharge electrocuting the entire battlefield, but Lazuli remaining safe in the air, away from the shocks. It was only a temporary measure, though. She couldn't keep this up forever!
"Not bad," Gerard smirked. "But that won't be enough. Want to try hiding in the sky? Then let's take care of things. We'll hem in all your attempts to escape! Shocker, use stealth rock!"
"Golem!" Shocker stomped his feet and braced himself, tearing stones up out of the area around the battlefield, the rocks floating up around Lazuli in a ring of sharp stones, filling the sky with obstacles to impede Lazuli's attempts to escape.
Ian scowled. This was really not good. Lazuli probably wouldn't be able to do much more, she would have to make some final stands right now.
"Lazuli, water pulse," Ian ordered. Lazuli opened her mouth and fired a pulsing sphere of water that hit Shocker directly, the Golem letting out a roar of pain as he recoiled from the blow. Lazuli tumbled towards the water, scraping her fins against the rocks. She hit the water hard, and knew that she didn't have long. She glanced back at her trainer, confirming what she feared by the look on her face.
"Not a bad bit of defiance, but not enough," Gerard said. "Shocker, use discharge! And if that fish tries to bounce out of the water again, she'll bash herself to pieces on those sharp stones! There's no escape now!"
"Golem!" Shocker nodded, beginning to build up even more electricity through his body, ready to finish of the Lumineon once and for all.
"Lazuli! Use whirlpool!" Ian shouted. Trapped by a whirlpool of her own, Lazuli would never be able to escape. So all she could do was hurt the Golem as much as she could. As Shocker released the electricity he had stored up, the water around the platform he was standing on rose up into a powerful spout, slamming into him in all directions as he became the center of the storm.
What this meant, though, was that the whirlpool quickly became electrocuted, and the discharge's power was released out into the pool again.
"LUMINEON!" Lazuli wailed, feeling herself getting electrocuted by the powerful bolts. Even though she had prepared for it, the electricity was still incredibly painful. And a few moments later, the last of her health had been sapped away by the water-empowered discharge. Lazuli floated up to the surface, lying unconscious on her side.
"Sorry, Lazuli," Ian sighed, recalling Lazuli to her dive ball. "You did the best you could, but I'm sorry it wasn't enough."
"Lumineon is unable to battle!" Lila declared. "Golem is the winner!"
The water around Shocker died down, the Golem growling angrily as he glared at Ian, dripping wet and not pleased in the least. But unfortunately, Lazuli's attacks hadn't done all that much to damage him, they were too weak.
"Did that Golem train to swim through water too?" Blake joked, nudging Ayame in the side. She rolled her eyes.
"Ian's putting up a pretty good fight," Sango said, nodding, her eyes bright. "Maybe he can really win, what do you guys think?"
"I think so, maybe," Cynthia agreed, wiggling in her seat. "He's pretty good!"
"I've fought Ian before," Callie said. "He beat me. But as for whether or not he can beat Gerard… well, I'm not sure. Maybe. He's strong, Gerard's strong, as for which one is stronger…"
Nick could see that Callie had a troubled look on her face. He placed his hand over hers and was rewarded with a smile, Callie visibly relaxing.
"Honestly, I'm not sure who I'm supposed to root for," Callie admitted. "I don't want Ian to win, because he beat me, but I definitely don't want Gerard to win, either."
"Unbecoming to root against one of your colleagues, is it?" Alcea chastised Callie in a calm tone. She paused for a second before continuing, "with that in mind, I quite hope that Ian will be able to smash Gerard's pompous face into the dirt."
"Milady!" Kate gasped in shock.
Cynthia held her sides and began to cackle. "You're something else alright, Alcea! I'm really starting to like you!"
Blake had to smile at how uncharacteristic the comment was, it was just that amusing.
"How are you doing, Kitty?" Julia asked, glancing at her friend. "You aren't feeling any headaches, any nausea?"
Kitty gave Julia a side-eyed glance, her lack of amusement plain on her face.
"Julia, neither one of them are using Shadow Pokemon," Kitty reminded her. "Are you going to ask me that for every pokemon battle now?"
"…Sorry," Julia sheepishly replied, blushing a little.
"What's taking Ian so long to send out his next pokemon?" Lila asked impatiently. She wanted this battle to be over with so she could get onto the next one, and then go to her dinner date.
"Think he might be shaking in fear?" Dakota asked.
"It's a problem of the terrain, I'd wager," Akira answered. "A battlefield like this requires a lot of thought. Not every pokemon is capable of battling on a water field. There's limited mobility when the only way to approach your opponent is jumping from platform to platform."
"Yeah, of course you would know that," Dakota groaned, rolling her eyes again and shooting Akira a coy smirk.
Akira was right on the money, at the moment Ian was considering his options. Against that Golem, there were a few pokemon he could use, and the most powerful one for this situation was no-doubt Iron. But he wasn't about to use his trump card now, not when he had to save it for Gerard's Diancie. The real problem was the terrain. He couldn't use his pokemon to their fullest against Gerard's on a battlefield full of water. Lazuli and Fluorite were both useful because they could float and swim, giving them the mobility to engage with Gerard's pokemon. But the only pokemon he had left whose ability to fight wouldn't be that hampered was Sapphire, and he wasn't about to send out his Crobat against a Rock/Electric type pokemon while stealth rocks were in the air.
That left only one real option at the moment.
"Diamond, go!" Ian said, throwing out his next pokeball. His black Haxorus emerged, sparkling with a sheen, and landed on one of the platforms. The stones floating around it dug into his scales and he threw back his head, letting out a deafening roar of anger.
"So you're sending out a powerful pokemon like that, huh?" Gerard said, narrowing his eyes. Ian smiled back.
"I'd expect you to switch out for your Diancie, to try and take my Diamond down," Ian explained. "Although with that whirlpool, I'm afraid that's not really possible, sorry."
"Don't worry," Gerard smirked, adjusting his glasses. "Shocker is more than capable of handling that dragon all on his own! Shocker, use rock blast!"
"Golem!" Shocker roared, stomping on the ground. He lowered his head and pointed the magnet forward, firing a barrage of rocks at the Haxorus.
"If you think those rocks will be enough, you're in for a sorry surprise," Ian replied. "Dia! Use your dual chop!"
Dia raised his head, his large axe blade tusks sharpening. He swung his head and began slicing through the stones, carving them into pebbles before they could even get close to hitting him, much to Gerard's irritation.
"A direct attack won't be enough, then," Gerard scowled. "Fine then! Shocker, use stone edge!"
Shocker sent out another pulse of electricity from his magnets, lifting some more stones up into the air, even larger than the ones floating around Ian's side of the battlefield. The stones turned towards Diamond and prepared to slam into him from all sides.
"So, since you can't get us straight-on you're going to try and surround us, huh?" Ian laughed. "That won't work either! Dragon dance"
The stones shot straight for Diamond, and he raised his claws, his axe-tusks sharpening and his tail flopping around menacingly as the air around him began to crackle and burn with draconic flames and lightning.
"Dragon claw!"
DIa's claws and tusks began to burn with even more energy, and he struck the stones as they shot towards him, smashing them to pebbles before they could break upon his scaly hide. He let out a loud roar, destroying the attack completely.
"Darla would love this!" Lila cheered. "That dragon is so awesome!"
"Yeah, that Haxorus is smashing through those stones like they're nothing," Dakota agreed. "Pretty awesome!"
"It's a difference in power," Akira said. "That Golem has some strong rock moves, but against that Haxorus they can't do a lot. It's just a bad match-up."
"Dia, dragon pulse!" Ian ordered.
Regaining his menacing stance, Dia threw his head back and opened his jaws wide, firing a blast of destructive draconic energy at Shocker, burning through the air and heading right for the bulky pokemon, who didn't have very much room to dodge.
"Shocker, use rock polish," Gerard ordered. "Then jump right through!"
Shocker's body began to shine, his speed increasing. He ran forward, as far across the platform he could, and braced himself with a jump, the dragon pulse hitting him directly and breaking against his hardened body. He plowed forward and landed on the next platform, and then jumped to the next, quickly approaching the Haxorus with each jump, shaking the battlefield.
"Trying to engage us up-close, huh?" Ian asked. "We aren't going to fall for that. Dia, get back!"
Dia nodded, leaping to a platform in the other direction, putting as much distance between himself and the approaching Golem as he could. And with the speed boost from his dragon dance he was moving much quicker than Shocker could.
"Why's he running away?" Dakota asked. "With all that power, he should be able to carve that Golem up no problem!"
"Yeah, I don't get it," Lila said, shaking her head. "What's he doing?"
"Because he suspects what Gerard's plan is," Akira said, narrowing his eyes. "Gerard saw full-well that his rock attacks weren't very effective against that Haxorus's brute strength. And yet his Golem's trying to get closer? That means he's planning something."
"Planning what?" Dakota asked, confused.
"Knowing Gerard? Knowing what Golem are capable of?" Akira scowled. "Probably, he's planning to blow up. Use an explosion to do as much damage to that Haxorus as he can, since he can't switch out for a better matchup."
Gerard narrowed his eyes. So the jig was up, huh?
"Okay, Shocker! Since he knows what's up, there's no need to hide it anymore!" He shouted. "Use explosion!"
"GOLEM!" Shocker howled, building up an electrical current around him, and gathering it into a massive charge on his magnet, the energy surging through Shocker's body, the pokemon glowing white-hot with the energy build-up as Dia tried to scramble away as fast as he could, dodging the floating rocks he could while carving through some others.
Shocker finally released the energy in a massive explosion, a blinding blast of light covering the entire battlefield in a curtain of white that forced everyone to shut their eyes with how intense it was.
Lila lowered her arm and squinted. She could see that the Golem had used up all his strength in that last blow, and was lying unconscious on one of the platforms. The Haxorus was in much better shape, though still pretty badly injured.
"Hax… orus…" Dia panted, lowering his arms. He had tried to brace against the explosion as much as possible, and it had taken its toll on him. He had some burns and scrapes, but he was still standing, growling angrily at the unconscious pokemon.
"Yikes, that Haxorus really is tough," Dakota marveled.
"It helps that he had managed to get to the edge of the blast," Akira explained. "If Ian hadn't caught onto what Gerard was planning, there would be two pokemon lying unconscious right now.
"Golem is unable to battle!" Lila declared. "Haxorus is the winner!"
Gerard didn't say a word. He simply recalled his Golem, and took out his next pokeball, which was sparkly and pink.
"Diana," he said, calling out his Diancie. "Let's finish this. Show that pathetic dragon what a real diamond is capable of."
"Diancie!" Diana chirped, smiling brightly, letting Dia's glare wash off her like it was nothing.
So, Gerard has sent his ace out! Time to seize a controlling lead of this battle!