Anabel vs. Vic! A harmonia battle between two people who know how to fight with it, and being fought in Vic's specialty as well… a double battle! Should be exciting...

Just a Bad Writer for Fun: I'd like to see Ayame vs. Gwen, but I don't think the story will ever have them intersect in that way. I would also like to see Olivia vs. Alcea and Sylvia vs. Alden.

KedharS: It makes sense, they seem like the type.

Guest: Because that would be a little long, I'll just list the ones that are not heterosexual (as far as we know, at this point in the story). If I forgot anybody, cut me some slack. There are a LOT of characters and this was a deep dive.

Homosexual: Kitty, Olivia, Lila, Eli

Bisexual: Cynthia, Gabrielle, Aidan, Claire, Keahi, Giselle, Celia, Jessie, Violet, Daryl

Pansexual: Julia, Caelia

Asexual: Misato, Marion (maybe), Mirar, Anabel

?: Sylvia

Lithosexual: Andre

Ambiguous: Alcea, Darla (their sexuality has significant narrative relevance and will be confirmed at a later time)

Notably, there are no gay male characters at this point in the story, every non-hetero male character is bisexual.

JoshGamerV: I'm glad I could use them. If you don't mind, can you share any thoughts on Anabel? I'd like to know if I wrote them okay.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 583

"Since it's late," Vic called out to Anabel, "this is going to be a short match, okay? Just to test the waters. I need to make sure the Commander is well-rested for his battle tomorrow. So we'll each only use two pokemon, okay?"

Vic narrowed her eyes, her harmonia flashing.

"And we'll fight using my specialty. A double battle."

Cynthia gasped. She'd fought against Vic before in a double battle, so she knew that was the trainer's preferred choice. But now that she was thinking about it, that had all happened before she had learned Vic could use harmonia. And knowing how harmonia worked…

Cynthia turned to the Commander.

"Commander…"

"Hmm?" Alden turned to her.

"Vic has harmonia… right? But she still fights double battles?" Cynthia asked. "Isn't… how does that even work? Doesn't harmonia synchronize you with your pokemon? So how can you fight with it when you have two pokemon out at the same time?"

Alden chuckled, clapping his hand on her shoulder.

"Don't you worry about that!" He replied. "Just watch her show off!"

"…I'm fine with that," Anabel said, smiling coolly. "I'm a native Hoennian, after all. Double battles are second-nature to me. Now then. Are you ready to get started?"

"Absolutely!" Vic shouted. "Valkyrie! Shimmer! Come out!"

Vic threw two pokeballs in the air, and from them came her Bisharp and her Lanturn, her favorite combination. Valkyrie landed on the stadium and raised her bladed hands, while Shimmer curled up on the ground behind her and stared cautiously past her partner.

"No hesitation to send out your pokemon at all, even though there aren't any alternates," Anabel commended her. "That's quite a bold play! I like it a lot, in fact! Now then, let me meet it with a move of my own! Eava, Kyth, go!"

Anabel tossed two ultra balls into the air. The balls popped open, and two pokemon emerged from them. The first pokemon was small with dark fur and a magenta crown on her head, holding up sharp claws and snickering excitedly as her red eyes leapt from Valkyrie to Shimmer. The other pokemon was massive, a hulking figure with a rough metallic blue exterior, its disk-like body held up by four thick legs like a spider. A large "X" shaped plate stood out on the front of its face, and its red eyes were also staring intensely at Vic's pokemon.

"Weavile!" The small pokemon hissed.

"Metagross!" The large pokemon boomed.

"A Weavile and a Metagross, huh?" Vic smiled. "Not bad! But not enough to stand up against our synergy! Valkyrie, swords dance!"

"Bisharp!" Valkyrie raised her hands, sharpening her blades as she charged headfirst at the two pokemon.

"Heading right in, are we?" Anabel grinned. "Not bad, but! Eava, go! Fake out!"

"Weavile!" Eava dashed forward, leaping up and swiping at Valkyrie's eyes, causing her to flinch. Valkyrie stumbled back, startled, which was exactly what Anabel was capitalizing on.

"Flinching really leaves you open in a double battle!" They said, their eyes flashing as their harmonia surged. They directed their energy into their Metagross. "Kyth!"

"Metagross!" Kyth rumbled, lifting their legs off of the ground, hovering in the air for a moment. Boosted by Anabel's harmonia, they shot right for Valkyrie, raising two of their legs up and preparing to swing them down upon the stunned pokemon with a powerful hammer arm.

But Vic saw that one coming, and had already prepared a counter. Directing her energy into Shimmer, she sent her a command.

"Lanturn!" Shimmer nodded, and her lure began to glow brightly, raising her fin up to blind the two pokemon. But it wasn't just a blinding attack. The alluring light caught Kyth's attention, and they turned away from Valkyrie, flying towards Shimmer instead. Eava, also drawn in by the light, raised her claws and dashed towards the Lanturn as well.

"How do you like our spotlight?" Vic grinned. "But you two should be careful. Don't turn your backs on a pokemon like Valkyrie!"

"Bisharp!" Recovering from being stunned, Valkyrie turned on the two pokemon and charged, blades raised. Vic focused her energy into Valkyrie and ordered her to use iron head on the Weavile. Valkyrie nodded, lowering her helmeted head and increasing her speed, preparing to strike the Ice type pokemon with a painful headbutt.

"That won't work!" Anabel said, their eyes flashing. They focused their energy into Eava, overwriting her drive to attack Shimmer by giving her a new target to focus on.

"Weav!" Eava whirled around and leapt out of the way, dodging Valkyrie's attack, much to Vic's surprised.

"Metagross!" In the meantime, Kyth had reached Shimmer and raised their arms, slamming them down on the fish pokemon's scaled body.

"Lanturn!" Shimmer cried out in pain. Kyth raised their arms to strike again, but due to the backlash of hammer arm they were too slow, allowing Valkyrie to lunge in and strike with her claws, knocking the Metagross back with a painful night slash.

"Metagross!" Kyth roared out in pain, tumbling back through the air. But before Valkyrie could pursue them, Eava was attacking next.

"Go, Eava!" Anabel shouted, focusing their harmonia. The directed all the strength they had into Eava's claw, which she raised and struck Valkyrie in the chest with.

"Bishaa-!" Valkyrie gasped in pain, clutching the large dent that Eava had just punched into her armor. Vic held her chest, the ache in her breast carrying over, but she withstood it and shifted focus from Valkyrie back to Shimmer.

"Lanturn!" Shimmer opened her mouth and fired a blast of compressed water at Eava, the swift pokemon dodging the attack easily.

Vic took the opportunity to connect with Shimmer and Valkyrie at the same time, letting them know her plans.

That Weavile is fast. We need to take her out with Valkyrie's full concentration. To do that, we'll need to take care of that Metagross, it's capable of a lot of powerful attacks. Luckily, Valkyrie, you can nullify the Psychic type moves and you both can resist the Steel type moves, but the concern is when they use Fighting type moves, like that hammer arm and that brick break. Valkyrie, let's keep our eyes on Metagross. Prepare to hit whichever pokemon moves first with sucker punch. In the meantime, Shimmer, use thunder wave to paralyze that Weavile!

"Bisharp," Valkyrie nodded.

"Lanturn!" Shimmer burbled, focusing electricity into her lure. Leaning forward, Shimmer released the electricity in a thunder wave that arced towards Eava. But the swift pokemon and Anabel were prepared for it. Anabel focused their harmonia into Eava's legs and the Weavile leapt up into the air, leaping over the thunder wave, focusing their claw into another brick break.

"Valkyrie!" Bisharp shot up and hit Eava in the face with her blade, catching her with the sucker punch and knocking her down into the field of electricity, paralyzing her.

"Weavile!" Eava cried in pain.

Sorry Eava, that Bisharp moved faster than I anticipated, Anabel apologized. They turned their attention to Kyth, who was still moving slowly due to their use of hammer arm. Kyth! Hit that Lanturn with your psycho cut while she's distracted!

"Metagross!" Kyth's faceplate began to glow bright blue and they sent an x-shaped blade of psychic energy out at Shimmer, startling her. The blade hit her in the face and she cried out in pain, Valkyrie growling angrily. She moved to attack Kyth, but was intercepted by Eava.

"Weavile!" Eava growled, raising her claws and lunging at Valkyrie, trading blows with the other Dark type.

"We might be paralyzed, but that won't affect anything," Anabel grinned, their eyes flashing. "Eava! Take as much of my energy as you need to keep speeding up!" They turned their attention to Kyth as well, holding their hand up. "And as for you… you can get a little something special as well, Kyth! Keep pressuring that Lanturn!"

"Weavile!" Eava sped up again, as Kyth rumbled in agreement, lifting up off the ground and flying towards Lanturn.

"I'm surprised you're holding on so well," Vic called, wiping her brow. "Handling two pokemon at the same time."

Anabel's only answer was to raise their eyebrows challengingly and flash a smile.

"It's amazing," Cynthia breathed. She'd seen fights using harmonia before, and even fought against harmonia users when she battled against Kitty and Elaina. But what she was watching made those matches seem like nothing.

"Vic really is something, huh?" Alden grinned.

"I'm amazed she can split her energy between two pokemon at the same time," Keya said. "Not even I can do that. The strain it must place…"

"Is it really that hard?" Cynthia asked, turning to the short boy. She didn't have much frame of reference, and he was the closest to an expert on harmonia she had available for an explanation right now.

"With harmonia, the trainer feels the same things as the pokemon. They bond together, meaning that they not only see and hear everything their partner does, but any damage inflicted to them becomes reflected onto their partner as well," Keya explained, glancing at Ayame. "Now imagine, splitting that between two pokemon. Every time either of them gets injured, it backlashes on you. You have to direct energy between two of them. For many harmonia users, just connecting with a single pokemon is enough to cause a massive drain on them. But two?"

Cynthia took a moment to consider that. She'd seen the backlash harmonia had caused on Elaina. And of course, she'd seen how stressed and fatigued Kitty became whenever she used it, sometimes even having to go to the infirmary. And that was when they were each using one pokemon.

And Vic was using two?

Cynthia, of course, had zero personal experience with using harmonia, she didn't have it, of course, so she couldn't imagine what it was like. But even then, Vic was painting a rather terrifying picture in her mind.

And an incredibly impressive one.

"That is amazing," Cynthia breathed, watching how on one hand Valkyrie was countering Eava's strikes with her blades, while at the same time directing Shimmer to use her long-range special attacks to force away the Metagross, keeping Kyth at a distance with moves like thunder wave that threatened to paralyze them.

"Vic's mother may have harmonia, but she isn't a pokemon trainer," Alden cut in. He had a little bit more insight into Vic's life, more than anyone else did, anyway. "Her dad though? He was an amazing trainer. A master of double battles, and in his youth he battled against all sorts of rough characters in the Orre Region. But that's not my story to tell. What I can tell you, though, is that since she was a little kid, she's been getting trained by him, and that's how she's become the expert in double battles that she is."

A smile crossed his face.

"She's quite an amazing woman, being able to handle all that on her own. That's why she's one of the trainers I respect most."

Cynthia was flabbergasted. To think that she had actually fought against such a skilled trainer on her own? She glanced at Vic and snickered a little, then reached over and poked the Commander on the shoulder.

"Hmm?" Alden glanced at her.

"I think you're doing more damage to Vic than Anabel's pokemon are," she said, pointing at brunette, who was doubled over in a mixture of joy, pride, and embarrassment, holding her hands over her crimson face.

"…Ah," Alden said.

"The real surprise," Alden continued, turning his attention from Vic to Anabel, "is the fact that Anabel is able to use their harmonia the same way Vic is, even if they haven't been trained the same way she has. Something like that… they really must be a genius."

"That's one way to think about it," Scott coolly replied with a nod, surprising everyone. He'd been sitting silently listening to the whole conversation. "Now, I'm not quite sure what this whole 'harmonia' thing is, and as someone who doesn't train pokemon myself I don't quite understand what you all are talking about when it comes to 'bonds' and energy, but I can tell you that that kid over there is a genius like you said, Alden."

"You can just tell," Alden agreed. He didn't have harmonia or any sort of supernatural powers, but anyone with eyes could see that Anabel was a good trainer. And beyond that, his Sense was telling him all he needed to know about Anabel just by watching how they fought.

"You and that kid, I've never seen anyone love pokemon battles more than you two," Scott continued. "This is sure going to be something alright, when you two fight."

While Scott and Alden conversed, Cynthia glanced over her shoulder at Maddi.

"Maddi, are you doing okay? With all this harmonia stuff…?" Cynthia remembered that Maddi had been weird the last few days, and had finally put together with some insights from people who were in the know (but mostly a late-night conversation with Maddi herself after the party the night before) that whatever it was, Maddi was reacting weirdly with harmonia.

"Yeah," Maddi mumbled, yawning. "I'm just a little tired…" Noticing the concerned look on Cynthia's face, Maddi quickly added "because it's late, I guess…"

Maddi was also a little surprised herself that she was fine. Ever since those first few attacks after her battle with the Phantom, this… whatever it was that was going on with her that made her see weird things and her head start to hurt hadn't acted up again. But part of her worried that it might, so she hadn't actually got into any pokemon battles since the attack. Like not picking at a scab, she wondered if the whole thing would eventually get kicked out of her system if she didn't pay it any thoughts, and apparently, that had worked.

But she wasn't comfortable enough dismissing it as some passing thing, either. Even if she felt normal, she also felt… not normal. She didn't know how to explain it to people so she didn't bother, especially not to Cynthia, considering how overprotective she had been when she'd learned about the nature of the attacks and what Blake had suspected they were.

But basically, Maddi had this weird feeling that her "normal" feeling was somehow "not normal" and that made her feel…

…

Maddi really needed to get some sleep, she hoped that this battle would be wrapping up soon.

"Feeling worn down yet?" Anabel asked. "Because for me, this battle has been amazing! I hope you're not flagging."

Anabel could see that Vic's harmonia was starting to weaken, she was getting tired. But Vic gave them a cold smile in return.

"We're just getting started actually!" She replied. "Shimmer! Eerie impulse!"

Shimmer's body began glowing with electricity, directing the ominous glow up into her lure, releasing it in a pulse towards Kyth.

Reducing our special attack won't do much. Kyth, press on with a zen headbutt, Anabel ordered, focusing their harmonia to boost their Metagross's physical attacking power.

"Metagross!" Kyth lowered their body and shot towards Shimmer, completely ignoring the eerie impulse. They were a physical attacker, after all, and that was what was important.

"Valkyrie, now!" Vic shouted, directing her harmonia towards Valkyrie and boosting her speed. Valkyrie shot forward, leaping in front of the Metagross, surprising the pokemon as she caught them in the bottom of the body with a sucker punch, sending Kyth spinning. The eerie impulse struck Valkyrie in the back, the Bisharp cracking a smile.

"Attacking your own pokemon? Reckless!" Anabel chided. "Especially since attacking Kyth left you so vulnerable!"

"Weavile!" Having received her silent orders from Anabel, Eava dashed forward as fast as she could go, raising her claw. She smashed Valkyrie in the side of the head with a devastating brick break that nearly broke Vic's neck as her head shot to the side, Vic cursing and clutching her chin.

"Bisharp!" Valkyrie shouted, enraged. With harmonia pumping through her system, her defenses were heightened enough that she could withstand the brick break attack, painful as it might have been. She raised her arms, blades sharper than ever, and brought them down in a powerful slash on Eava's chest before the pokemon could react. Vic had directed what harmonia she had into Valkyrie's speed, allowing her to catch even the swift Weavile off-guard.

"Urgh," Anabel groaned, clutching their chest as they stumbled a little, nursing their sore jaw from the previous attack on Kyth with their other hand. "That was… a painful one…"

"Weav…" Eava stood up, panting, holding her chest. It was way more damaging of a blow than either had expected.

"Finish it off fast, before Metagross recovers!" Vic ordered, urging Valkyrie to follow it up with an iron head. But while Weavile may have been injured, she wasn't that injured.

Shards of ice broke against Valkyrie's face. Not enough to hurt or even sting, but enough to stop her for a few moments while Kyth flew towards her like a bullet, arms raised to unleash a powerful hammer arm attack.

But Vic had a second pokemon as well. Shimmer! She silently urged her other pokemon, her harmonia flaring up.

Lanturn, Shimmer replied, both trainer and pokemon knowing exactly what to do. Her lure beginning to glow brightly, Kyth found themselves drawn in by the entrancing glow, changing course before striking Valkyrie and charging right at the Lanturn.

"Perfect," Vic grinned. "Now, Valkyrie, finish it with-"

Before Vic could give the order, though, Anabel clutched their head and began to cough.

"Weavile!" Eava turned and gasped, ignoring the battle and running over to her trainer.

"Metagross?!" Kyth reared back before striking Shimmer, turning in shock as they saw Anabel's state, flying over to them as well.

"Hey, what's going on?!" Vic scowled. Then, she began picking up on the waves that Anabel was letting out, and put it together.

"Sorry… sorry," Anabel panted, shaking their head. "This… this double battle thing… it took a lot more out of me than I thought… I'm not as used to it as I played up… I think… I think we should call it here, I'll yield."

They wiped their nose, relieved to see it wasn't breathing.

"You're quite something, you know that?" Anabel complimented Vic, recalling their pokemon to their ultra balls. "Just keeping that connection up, jumping between my pokemon like that, feeling their backlash… I've been fighting with harmonia as long as I can remember and that was a challenge even for me."

Anabel smiled good-naturedly at Vic, who wore a sour expression because she wasn't sure what sort of face she was supposed to be making when getting complimented like that.

"I guess we'll have to make a rain check…" Anabel sighed, suddenly finding it very difficult to stand. They were a little light-headed but not such a big deal, sitting down on the battlefield and trying to catch their breath. "Do you mind?"

"…Whatever," Vic muttered. She might be a little winded, but at least she was still standing. Vic recalled her pokemon.

"If that's the caliber of trainer working for the Commander, then I'm much looking forward to facing him myself," Anabel mused. "Next time though, it won't be such an anticlimax…"

Anabel looked down at their hands and sighed.

"I've got so much energy inside telling me I want to fight, but unfortunately the body just won't always follow what the heart wants… and the battle was just starting to get good, too. …Next time, though. Next time."

Even though the match ended with no conclusion, everyone still applauded, Cynthia most of all. It astounded her that the two of them could fight a double battle with harmonia, considering matches she'd seen with harmonia before.

Even more amazing was the fact that both came out of it still conscious.

Well, Anabel and Vic had their light sparring session and we got to learn a few minor details here and there, but I think it's time to turn in for the night. Where will the morning take us, I wonder? The finals of the Phantom Cup still loom overhead in the future!