Ian has challenged Maddi to a pokemon battle in order to test what her Eevee is capable of! And Maddi's agreed to it, interested in seeing what Vee can do for herself! (And also to keep them from revealing what he's capable of) What tricks will she pull out to defeat Ian's strongest pokemon? And can Ian even stand a chance against an Eevee that can switch between its evolutions at will? That's a really powerful pokemon ability.

The Semi-Final Round of the Pokemon Academy Best Girl Contest 3 has begun! These are our semi-finalists! Make sure to get those votes in, and choose which of these girls you think should make it to the finals! You can only vote for 3, so make sure to pick your favorites!

Semi-Finalists: Ayame, Chloe, Cynthia, Elaina, Kate, Marion, Sango, Vic

KedharS: Not the kind of fight you'd have expected to happen, no. That's the fun part.

Just a Bad Writer for Fun: I think that Maddi and Ian have a fairly even match in this instance, considering how much Ian's been training his pokemon and the versatility of moves up Iron's sleeve. Plus, Ian's a pretty skilled trainer already with a decent record. But then, Maddi is using harmonia…

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 998


"Go, Vee!" Maddi shouted. The light around her pokemon faded, revealing the crimson fur and golden mane of a Flareon running towards Iron.

"That… That's impossible!" Chloe sputtered in disbelief. "That Eevee just evolved into a Flareon, but without a fire stone!"

"Yes, he did," Donoma said, a wicked smirk spreading across her face.

"Flareon!" To prove his point, Vee opened his mouth wide and fired a blast of flames at Iron, licking against his armor. The grass failed to ignite, protected by Shaymin's blessing, but Iron himself was engulfed by the inferno.

"So that's how it is," Ian grinned. "Trying to start out with a burn, huh? Well, that won't be enough! Iron, use earthquake!"

"Aggron!" Iron emerged from the flames with a roar, stomping on the ground. He sent a shockwave of energy for Vee, but Maddi was ready for that.

"Now, Vee!" She shouted, and Vee began to transform. To Chloe's shock, the Flareon's red fur lightened to tan, and his mane shrank back into his collar to be replaced by sharp leaves, as more leaves erupted from his tail and ears. In seconds Vee had gone from Flareon to Leafeon, just in time for the earthquake to hit.

"So that's your play! You turned into a Grass type Leafeon in order to minimize the damage, because Leafeon has high defenses and Grass types resist Ground type moves!" Ian applauded.

Maddi's answer was a smirk.

"I could have tried changing to Espeon and using telekinesis, but with the speed of the earthquake, this was my best shot. And not only that… Vee!"

Vee began glowing green as he absorbed the energy from the sunlight.

Ian nodded in approval. "I see. So it's not just that your Eevee can turn into different pokemon, he can also use their different moves, even ones like synthesis. That's quite a versatile pokemon you've got there, Madison."

Maddi didn't know how she knew what moves Vee was capable of, but she did. It must have been her harmonia; every time Vee transformed, she knew exactly what he was capable of in his new form, and with her knowledge of moves and types she knew how to take perfect advantage of it in order to win the match.

"Now Vee, use grass knot!" Maddi ordered. Vee nodded, sending a shockwave through the ground. The grass at Iron's feet sprung up around him and coiled tightly, squeezing hard and dragging him towards the ground.

Maddi grinned. "Grass knot maximizes its damage depending on how heavy the pokemon it's used against is! So against a bulky pokemon like Aggron that one's gotta hurt!"

"Fair enough," Ian nodded. His smile didn't waver. "But don't expect that we'll just give in like this, this match isn't over yet! Iron, use flamethrower to burn the grass away!"

"Aggron!" Iron opened his mouth released a burst of flames that burned away the strangling grass, rising to his feet.

"Now, ice beam!" He followed the fire attack with a powerful burst of ice that hit the Leafeon directly, causing him to start icing over.

"Not bad! You switched from flamethrower to ice beam even though they're equally strong against Grass types because you knew that Vee could turn into Flareon and nullify it with flash fire," Maddi nodded in approval.

"Some Eeveelutions may resist ice, but none of them can negate it," Ian shrugged. "It's the logical move, don't you think?"

"Maybe, but resisting is fine with us, right Vee?"

"Leafeon!" Vee nodded, and began to transform again. The leaves shrank back into his body as the color of his fur turned a deep blue, and two long protrusions dropped down from his head as a makeshift second set of ears.

"Glaceon!" Vee punctuated her new form by shrugging off the chilling effects of the ice beam, and firing off one of her own. Iron shrugged off the attack as it chilled a part of his armor, but left him otherwise uninjured. He let out a defiant roar.

That was about the point that Chloe decided enough was enough.

"OKAY! WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON HERE?!" She shouted so loudly it actually got the attention of the two battling trainers, who turned to look at her in surprise as Donoma resisted the urge to burst out laughing.

Chloe realized that she'd let her true feelings slip, and her face turned bright red at the fact that she'd become the center of attention. She pulled her mask a little further up and began to shake. "I-I just meant… well, you see, because I don't get it, how…"

She didn't know how to describe the confusion she was feeling, but it was overwhelming her. She was used to pokemon battles making sense, and this…

…This was insanity!

No. Not today. Chloe hated being in the spotlight, but now was the time she needed to stand up for herself. None of this made sense! Maddi was using a pokemon that could apparently turn into different pokemon, and that just didn't happen.

"I don't get it!" She cried. "You were using an Eevee before! But now you have a Glaceon! And before that, he was a Leafeon, and a Flareon, too! What pokemon is that?! How can it transform like that?! This makes no sense, I've never heard of a pokemon that could do that, never!"

Donoma was practically rolling in the grass with glee, loving the fact that this shy girl who was hiding most of her face had finally been startled and confused enough where even she was shouting about how crazy this was.

Maddi didn't have an answer for her, at least not one that wouldn't invite a mountain of questions she didn't know how to respond to. So she just shrugged.

"Vee is my Eevee," she replied. "He's a little special, sure, but he's still just my Eevee."

"Glaceon!" Vee nodded in agreement, and Chloe resisted the urge to scream again.

She began twisting her finger through one of her pigtails as she wracked her brain for explanations. She'd predicted that Ian would win this fight, because an Aggron against an Eevee? Iron could have just stepped on him and that would be that.

But no, now she was staring at a pokemon capable of doing the impossible. It was an Eevee, but an Eevee that could evolve into any one of its evolutions. But more importantly, it could transform back, presumably, and transform between each of them at will.

Chloe had written several papers on battle strategies and tactics and done extensive research on people's records. She'd even done some digging on Maddi, after seeing her perform in the Phantom Cup, which was how she knew what the other girl was capable of. Or at least, what she should have been capable of.

Maddi's Eevee was a strong pokemon by the standards of an Eevee, but nothing special. She'd used him in the battle royale, and he hadn't done all that much, being taken out pretty quickly by Misato Daisan's attack.

He CERTAINLY didn't have a power like THAT.

She wracked her brain thinking of explanations for what she just saw, but couldn't come up with anything. All she could do was let out an exhausted sigh and resist the urge to pull her hair out. Chloe was a girl who valued science, and right now it was like she was watching everything she believed in be torn apart before her eyes.

"Turning into a Glaceon was a good defensive play in the moment, but when it comes to offense and defense in general against Iron, I'd say that's your worst option," Ian frowned.

Maddi smirked. "And yet you're holding back."

That drew a laugh out of him.

"What can I say?" Ian shrugged. "I'm not as… bold as you, Madison. I don't just charge in when I know my opponent's setting me up for a trap. The minute I commit to a move, you'll use whichever pokemon has the best chance of stopping that move, and counterattack in a way I won't be able to see coming, how vexing."

Ian clutched his chest, feeling his pounding heart. He was shaking with excitement.

"A battle like this… it's not like anything I've experienced," he admitted, a shaking smile crossing his face as he contemplated his next move. "It's like I'm fighting against an army of different pokemon at once, with just Iron… even though they're all one pokemon."

In a regular battle, to get a type advantage against a diverse team, you would have to switch out your pokemon a lot, and that took time. But Maddi could change her Eevee to one of any eight forms at will to give her the perfect coverage, without even distorting the tempo. Not only that, but she could use five more pokemon to fight on top of that. This was a one on one battle, but to Ian it was more like an eight on one, and he wasn't sure he and Iron would have the firepower.

Ian could just imagine how powerful Maddi would really become once she'd mastered this power of her Eevee. He couldn't say for sure how much experience she had with it, but judging by how cautiously she was behaving he suspected that she wasn't fully sure what it was capable of.

He was quite proud to be one of the first trainers she tested it out on.

This power… it's one thing to fight against all the Eeveelutions… but what about a pokemon that could change its typing into whatever it wanted? Or even worse, change into whatever pokemon it wanted? How dangerous could a pokemon like that be? Or would it even be considered a pokemon at that point? I don't know how I would beat it, to be honest…

Ian wasn't even sure how he was going to beat this pokemon. Vee was certainly a powerful foe. But that didn't mean he was just going to tuck tail and run! He'd been training with Iron and his other pokemon to help them get stronger, and he was happy to show off the fruit of his training!

"Iron, use autotomize!" Ian ordered.

"Aggron!" Iron's body began to shine and his speed increased, charging at Vee. He raised his claw, and violet flames burst up around it alongside the crackling of electricity.

Maddi gasped. "That's…"

"Dragon claw!" Ian ordered.

"Vee, turn into-!" Maddi cut herself off. She almost smiled. So that's game…

"Turn into Jolteon and dodge with agility!" She ordered.

"Glaceon!" Vee nodded, his fur sticking up into points and turning bright gold. He shot forward like a rocket, dodging around the charging Aggron with his enhanced speed.

"What? Why would she do something like that?" Chloe asked, confused by Maddi's decision. "Her Eevee can turn into any form, right? So why not just turn into Sylveon then, and negate the dragon claw attack completely?"

Donoma had her own hunch, but she didn't feel like sharing. She just shrugged. "I suppose she has her reasons."

Maddi didn't pay Chloe any mind, but she still answered her question, beaming with pride as she explained to Ian.

"I'm not going to just let you bait me," she grinned. "That was an obvious play, sending your Aggron out with a dragon claw. You wanted me to turn Vee into Sylveon, right? Because then, that would leave him vulnerable to your Steel type moves! And after closing the distance, then you could unleash a devastating blow, isn't that right?"

Ian smiled back. "Clever thinking! I'm glad to see you're not the kind of person who would fall for it! But that was only part of it! You see, I wanted you to dodge, so you would show me what you're made of! Everyone says you're the kind of trainer to rely on pokemon types. That's your specialty, right? Type advantage? She showed it off quite nicely in the Winter Tag Tournament and the Phantom Cup, you have a wide arsenal of teams crafted for each type. But would you fall back on it in a major battle like you've been doing? Or would you ignore typing for a different tactical advantage, and rely on your pokemon to handle themselves?"

Maddi narrowed her eyes. "I see. I'm glad I could help you answer that question, then."

"By switching to Jolteon, the fasted of Eevee's evolutions, and using agility on top of it, you were guaranteed to get away. But on the other hand…"

Ian smirked. "Iron! High horsepower!"

"Aggron!" Iron spun on his heel and lowered his head, barreling right for Vee. The startled Jolteon hadn't expected his opponent to still have that much speed and power.

Maddi's mind raced. She linked with Vee and focused her harmonia to boost his speed even more, hoping that would be enough to get away. But even as she concentrated she knew that it wouldn't be. Time slowed down until each second felt like an infinity as she, through Vee's eyes, locked gazes with the charging Aggron. Iron would hit her in seconds.

They didn't even have time to transform. Silently, she tipped her hat to Ian for his play. She didn't expected his Aggron would have this much speed in him.

"JOLTEON!" Vee cried out in pain as Iron crashed into him, sending the poor pokemon flying through the air.

And that was when Maddi got a taste of what harmonia was really capable of.

Immediately her ribcage exploded and she felt like her chest was caving in. Suddenly it wasn't Vee who was getting hit by a pokemon with the physical qualities of a steam engine, but her, and she began gasping for breath as she fell to her knees.

This is… nothing like that time with the Phantom… is this harmonia? This feeling… this agony… Maddi had been high on the rush of her abilities, and had closely linked with Vee in order to help him use his powers at will. Because of Vee's power and her own skill as a trainer, her pokemon hadn't taken a serious hit until that moment.

She nearly passed out from the pain.

Vee wailed, unable to maintain his form, and returned back to being an Eevee. He laid on the grass, badly battered.

"Vee…" Maddi choked out, fireworks of pain going off in her head as she reached out for her injured pokemon.

Ian immediately snapped to attention. "Madison! Are you okay?! What happened?!" He shouted. He had a bad feeling about this.

That reaction… it was like she'd taken the full beating of the attack herself… Donoma thought, stroking her chin. There was only one thing she knew of that could get a reaction like that. So Madison Whitmore has harmonia, hmm? That's certainly a surprise. Though she's not used to fighting with it, clearly, the poor thing.

"That's not good! Madison, are you hurt?!" Chloe wailed.

"Shut it…" Maddi panted, standing up. She just needed a second to catch her breath, and get the percussionist doing a jam session on her skull to lay off for a bit. "I'm fine… we're fine… Vee and I… we've got this."

The stream of blood leaking from her nose suggested differently.

Ian was less confident. He'd agreed to this fight when it was just between him and Maddi, to see what her pokemon was capable of. That was the whole reason he'd wanted to fight her. But if he knew that she'd be using harmonia in the battle he never would have offered. He didn't want Iron to actually hurt her. And unlike pokemon, you couldn't just recover from a real beating at a center.

"I said we're fine!" Maddi snapped, catching the hesitation in his eyes. First he'd dragged her into this, and now he was trying to sneak out? Not on her watch. "What, you don't think we can win?"

"Eevee…!" Vee growled, rising to his feet. He began to glow, transforming into Leafeon. Absorbing the energy from the sun, Vee's condition began to improve, and with it, Maddi began to recover her strength a well.

That was enough for Ian to realize that they were going to be fine, and get his head back into the game. He still wasn't a hundred percent on fighting against harmonia, but if that's what Maddi wanted then he'd give her his best.

"Alright then," he nodded. "Iron, use ice beam!"

Maddi snorted. "That old trick again? We already fell for it once!"

This time though, Vee didn't turn into Glaceon. Instead he shifted right to Flareon, letting the ice beam freeze him solid. For a moment, anyway. Vee began to glow orange from within the prison of ice and it began to melt, flames bursting out of his fur as he covered himself in a corona of fire.

"Flare blitz!" Maddi ordered, and Vee charged right at Iron ready to hit him with all he had.

"That's quite a move," Ian nodded. "I can't charge into that with high horsepower, that's for sure… but on the other hand…"

While Vee was executing a flare blitz attack, Ian guessed that he wouldn't be able to turn into another pokemon. After all, he would need to finish executing the move first, right? Which meant this was the perfect opportunity.

"Iron, use hydro pump!" Ian ordered.

"Aggron!" Iron opened wide and fired a massive spout of water at the charging Flareon, dousing his flames immediately. The water engulfed him completely and Maddi nearly fell over from the force of the pressurized blast as her pokemon was swallowed up by the torrent.

"Vee!" She shouted, feeling the pain he was in. The heated water covered the field in steam, and after a few moments it dispersed.

To Ian's shock there was nothing at all, just a hole dug into the ground where Vee had escaped.

Maddi smirked, wiping her brow, only to realize that she wasn't actually dripping wet.

"So you had him use dig to get under the ground, then," Ian noted. "That's an interesting play. You know I can just smash the ground with an earthquake, right?"

Maddi shrugged. "Sure you could. But you're not that fast. Whichever form Vee might be in, I guarantee he'll be faster."

That's when Ian realized the insidiousness of Maddi's play.

"…Oh, that's wicked," Donoma said, a wide smile spreading across her face. She had to applaud that.

"Wait, I don't get it, what did she turn her pokemon into?" Chloe mumbled, confused. The pokemon that had escaped into the ground was Flareon, right?

"…Who knows?" Donoma asked. "That's exactly the point!"

"I like to call it 'Whack-a-Diglett'," Maddi smirked. "Now, which form of Vee do you think is the one preparing to attack you right now, Ian? Pick carefully!"

Ian couldn't even begin to imagine. He could only smile at the flash of genius Maddi had stumbled upon.


Well, that's certainly a good trick. Hide underground with dig and then transform into a different form, and your enemy won't know what to prepare for. Just the kind of move a subdued master of pokemon types like Maddi would come up with! So what will it be?