Ian and Maddi's pokemon battle comes to an end with this chapter! They've been fighting well, and their pokemon used all manner of skills to gain an advantage. Will Ian be able to overcome the oddity that is Maddi and her Eevee? Or will she take advantage of Vee's type changes to seize a victory? Hopefully the match's conclusion will be satisfactory! Remember to review!
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: Yep. They're both pretty good trainers, though Maddi's Eevee does give her a certain edge.
Just a Bad Writer for Fun: Yeah I feel that most normal trainers would have a bit of an aversion to pummeling the shit out of their opponent as a side-effect of a pokemon battle, especially a nice guy like Ian.
Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings
Chapter 999
Ian's heart pounded in his chest with excitement. A shaky smile spread across his face. This was really something.
Her Eevee is hiding underground… but I have no way of knowing what form he's turned into. He could be a Leafeon again, to avoid major damage from an earthquake, or a Jolteon, letting him leap out at quick speed, or maybe even the two of them are playing a dangerous game by not transforming at all, and staying as a Flareon to try and attack from below with a lava plume… or even Vaporeon with a water attack…
Ian was pressed with countless possibilities, and because of that, he wasn't sure what he should do. But in that brief pause he realized that Maddi wasn't capitalizing on her advantage, either; she'd set up the perfect avenue for a sneak attack, so why wasn't she doing anything?
She has harmonia, which means she can meld with her pokemon. If she and her Eevee are sharing their thoughts, then that means they'll be able to arrange a sneak attack perfectly, without her having to give a verbal command. So why aren't they? No, there's gotta be something more here… Ian wracked his head for ideas, and then gasped in realization.
She's waiting for me to move… that's what it is, Ian frowned. Whatever Maddi was planning, she needed him to make the first move. But why? She must have known that he would have Iron use earthquake, and Eevee didn't have a Flying type form to negate the damage. So what would be the purpose of baiting out the attack like this, unless she thought she could evade it?
For a moment, he considered that she was bluffing. That she didn't have a plan along those lines, and her primary goal was to keep him from attempting to use earthquake at all in this scenario by fooling him into thinking that's what she wanted him to do.
Is she really that crafty? Could she really think that far ahead? Ian narrowed his eyes and stared at Maddi's impassive face. If that's what she wanted, it certainly didn't show.
Ian began to realize that maybe he was getting a little paranoid. When he'd been training his pokemon, he'd done so with fighting against Sylvia Driscoll in mind, and thus expected that his opponent would be able to see through everything he did and have plans ten steps ahead of his. But because of Sylvia's competence he was beginning to distract and fool himself, which was definitely a problem.
…No, I'm overthinking things. That's not what she's planning. And even if it is… so what? At the end of the day, we won't get anywhere just standing around like this, I'm just giving her more time to regain her stamina from using harmonia. If I'm going to make that move anyway, then I have to make it now! There was really only one option.
"Iron, use earthquake!" Ian ordered.
"Aggron!" Iron roared, rearing back and stomping the ground hard, releasing tremors through the ground to attack Vee.
"Oh, man, here it comes!" Donoma said, her eyes wide with excitement as the ground began to shake under their feet.
"Now!" Maddi shouted. From under the ground, a pokemon emerged, right behind Iron. Ian was surprised it had come at him so slowly, but then he saw why.
Vee hadn't transformed at all! He was still a Flareon!
Why didn't he transform?! Ian gasped in disbelief. Then he saw Vee's body was glowing.
"Vee, copycat!" Maddi shouted. "Fight his earthquake with yours!"
"Flareon!" Vee raised his paw and slammed it down on Iron's back, striking right at the seam between two of his armor plates. The powerful shockwave burst through Iron and the ground began to shake even harder.
"AGGRON!" Iron roared with pain, stumbling forward and collapsing.
"Iron!" Ian cried.
Vee landed on the ground, panting. The tremors had done some serious damage but he had withstood them. And he was already turning into a Leafeon, trying to recover some of his strength by using synthesis.
"That was… pretty amazing," Ian had to admit, shaking his head in awe. "Instead of switching to Leafeon to guard against the attack, you stayed as a Flareon. I never would have seen that one coming."
"Copycat is a move that lets Vee use the last move that has been used in battle," Maddi explained. "The reason we hid underground wasn't just to conceal which form Vee would emerge as, but also to bait you into fighting back with earthquake. That way, Vee could come out swinging, and use Flareon's massive attack stat, the strongest physical attack stat of all Eeveelutions, to do massive damage to your Aggron with his own earthquake. Even with Aggron's defense, it's still a Steel/Rock type pokemon, and a four times weakness to Ground type moves is still devastating."
"But you didn't escape unscathed either," Ian pointed out. "For that move to work, your Flareon had to take some of that earthquake damage before coming out of hiding."
Maddi grinned. "We knew that, of course. But we also knew that we could both withstand something like that, no problem! It was a necessary hit to keep up the pressure, right Vee?"
"Leafeon," Vee nodded.
Ian laughed. "I guess you got me on that one. By the way, just a suggestion, but have you considered teaching your pokemon sunny day? Because he can turn into Leafeon, Espeon, and Umbreon, you'd get a significant buff in your recovery abilities through synthesis, morning sun, and moonlight, not to mention a massive boost in firepower for your Flareon."
Maddi shrugged. "It's definitely an idea," she agreed. "But see, this is a rather new situation, we haven't had time to properly strategize."
"Yeah, I figured it was something like that," he nodded. "Still, it'll definitely be helpful. That synthesis is annoying enough as it is, even though you couldn't restore all the damage you've taken this time, it seems."
Maddi's eye twitched. "Well, still good enough to get ahead," she murmured.
Now it was Ian's turn to smirk.
"Oh, you think so?" He asked. "Because Iron and I… we won't be beaten that easily! Iron, use metal burst!"
"AGGRON!" Iron roared, rumbling to his feet. His body was glowing brightly, and he released a massive shockwave from his armor. The force of the blast slammed into Vee, sending him flying backwards and Maddi along with him.
Maddi coughed, clutching her stomach. She could feel her face burning, a painful reminder of how much she'd been caught off-guard. She couldn't believe Ian's pokemon was still capable of mustering this much power, that earthquake should have settled things!
Iron stood tall in the center of the field, the light having faded from his body. He let out another roar. Maddi wasn't far from the truth, it was clear that her opponent had been ravaged by the effects of that earthquake. It just hadn't been enough to settle things.
"Metal burst is Aggron's strongest move," Ian said. "Like counter and mirror coat, it's more potent the stronger my opponent is. It takes all the damage from their last attack, and releases it with 1.5 times the power in a devastating shockwave!"
"Vee…" Maddi could sense that Vee wasn't beaten yet. The strength he recovered from synthesis and Leafeon's naturally high defenses had been enough to save him, and he was holding on desperately and trying to recover with another move.
No. Don't use synthesis right now. Maddi knew synthesis was too slow. They were in too critical of a position to risk it all trying to get back their health; one more wrong move and Iron would finish them off for good.
Vee nodded, and followed Maddi's instructions. The green light around him faded and he transformed instead, his fur turning blue and his leafy tail bisecting into a fish fin as the leaves around his collar ballooned out into larger fins.
"So instead of recovering your health you're switching to Vaporeon, hmm? I've been waiting for that one," Ian smiled. "What took you so long?"
Maddi narrowed her eyes. "Trump cards are saved for the end." With Vaporeon's Water type moves, Maddi could start doing some super-effective damage, it was just what the doctor ordered. Time to settle this!
Vee carefully circled Iron, waiting for his opening to strike. Both pokemon were in fairly bad shape, and it wouldn't take much to end things. Maddi was feeling pretty fatigued as well, the strain of harmonia was a lot heavier than she imagined.
As Donoma cheered Ian on, Chloe watched from the sidelines with caution. She was surprised by this entire match, but she was particularly impressed with Ian. While she'd always been a fan of his after looking up his record and watching some of his fights, she'd thought that he wouldn't be able to defeat a pokemon that could transform into various other types, reshuffling its stats and weaknesses so completely.
But no, Ian was actually holding up quite well. Him and his Aggron were putting up an amazing fight, and she was really impressed.
She wasn't going to cheer him on, though, that would be too embarrassing. But the fact that he was still in this, and had pushed such a strange and powerful pokemon so far, was definitely something worth acknowledging.
Ian didn't see it that way, or at least, that's not what he was focused on. His attention was directed completely towards the battle ahead, and winning, not patting himself on the back for doing an okay job so far.
He could feel good about himself when the match was over!
Her Vaporeon is faster than me, which mean I can't make any reckless moves. I've got to wait to see what she tries to do before I try anything myself. Unfortunately, I can't rely on thunderbolt, she'll just have him transform into Jolteon. This is actually a pretty risky situation, huh? Ian couldn't help but smile. He wondered if Maddi had been taking it easy on him, not using Vaporeon until now.
No… that's not her style. Maddi had more respect for him than that, right? She had to. More like, she didn't want to risk using it. She needed to make sure Iron was weak enough that he wouldn't be able to put up a decent fight before using her ace in the hole.
Just like Maddi said, she was saving her trump card for the end. And that thought was certainly an exciting one.
"We've reached the climax already," he sighed. "And what a shame, I was hoping to see more of what your pokemon could do!"
"Vee isn't some circus trick," Maddi replied, narrowing her eyes. "We're here to win, not show off for your amusement."
But she didn't take the bait and attack. She was a lot more composed than that.
She's prepared for high horsepower's speed boost, so she'll probably counter it with a hydro pump or something along those lines. Iron's too injured to maneuver properly, so he wouldn't be able to do anything but ram right into it. That's probably what she's counting on, huh? Well in that case, we'll need to rely on speed… Ian thought about what to do, and he could only come to one conclusion, and it was a risky one.
Too bad Iron can't learn bullet punch, or this would be easier. Oh, well, it's worth a shot, anyway! He decided. "Iron! Use autotomize again!"
"Aggron!" Iron nodded, sharpening his armor to increase his speed. He needed to outrun that Vaporeon and get the initiative over her, or Ian was certain that the match was lost. The problem was, autotomizing took time, time that they didn't have.
And Maddi wasn't about to let such an opportunity slip through her fingers.
"That's just what we've been waiting for!" She shouted. "Vee, go!"
"Vaporeon!" Vee opened his mouth wide, and fired a blast of pressurized water right at Iron, who was still in the process of boosting his speed. Because he didn't have enough time to evade the attack, the hydro pump hit him square on.
"Oof, that's not good," Donoma winced at the sight of Iron taking a super-effective hit like that.
"Oh, no!" Chloe gasped.
Maddi wiped the sweat from her brow. "That had to have done it…" she panted.
But she was quickly proven wrong.
"Aggron!" Iron roared. He darted out from the water burst, surging with energy. It was already beginning to release off of him.
"He withstood that?!" Donoma gasped in disbelief. Maybe Ian was a stronger trainer than she'd given him credit for.
"Yeah, go!" Chloe cheered.
"Thanks for withstanding that, Iron," Ian smiled, relief washing over him. He'd actually feared that his Aggron wouldn't be able to endure the attack, because of how strong harmonia was. He was saved by the fact that Maddi didn't have enough experience with her powers to give Vee a greater boost to his strength.
"Now, metal burst."
"AGGRO!" Iron released another shockwave of blinding light that engulfed the battlefield, swallowing Vee whole.
When the light died down, Ian's first reaction was to see if Maddi was okay. The explosion was powerful, and since Vee had taken it head-on, she must have done the same.
But to his surprise, she wasn't hurt, or even that tired.
She was smiling.
"Phew… close one…" Maddi said, wiping her forehead. "Almost lost."
A blue barrier had risen up around Vee, protecting him from the attack. At the last second he'd managed to throw up a protect, safeguarding him from the force of the explosion. But he was still clearly exhausted from the mental strain of such a sudden move.
"…Wow, you're really something," Ian said, shaking his head. "I thought for sure that one would have gotten you."
"Well, you're one to talk," Maddi spat back. "Withstanding a hydro pump like that. What's that Aggron of yours made of?!"
"Sadly, not as tough of stuff as what your pokemon is," he sighed. Iron had put all of his strength into that metal burst, he barely had enough to stand. It would just take one water move from Vee to call the match to a close.
"Let's finish this, then," Maddi said. "Now, Vee, one more-"
Before she could finish her order, her legs buckled and she fell to her knees. She was suddenly far more exhausted than she'd thought.
"Vee? What's- Vee!"
As the blue screen fell away, Vee's body began to shrink. He reverted back to an Eevee and collapsed in the grass, shivering.
We used too much power, she immediately realized. Firing off all those transformations, and using attack after attack like that… Vee's stamina is totally shot, so he's back to an Eevee now.
And as an Eevee, Vee didn't have nearly the strength to settle things.
"Well, that's too bad," Donoma sighed. "And here I thought we had something. But I guess it just wasn't enough to finish things, huh?"
Chloe nodded. Maddi had pulled a lot of tricks with her strange mystery Eevee, but right now it didn't look like either one of them had anything left.
"Your Eevee's exhausted," Ian noted. "But then, so's my Aggron. Iron doesn't even have the strength to keep standing, let alone use an attack."
Then he smiled.
"…On the other hand, though… falling should be perfectly fine."
Maddi scowled.
Iron loomed over Vee, glaring down at the helpless pokemon. Then he fell forward.
"Heavy slam."
With a loud thud, the trees circling the clearing shook.
"Vee!" Maddi cried, feeling her harmonia snap like a twig just as the massive pressure of Iron's heavy body slammed down onto her. She ran over to her pokemon.
"Oh, damn, that's not good!" Donoma gasped.
"He… He crushed that poor Eevee!" Chloe wailed, terrified of what they'd see. Poor little Vee as a smear of blood in the grass?!
Surprisingly, no. Iron was lying flat on top of Vee, but Vee wasn't smashed into paste. He was hurt, sure, and unconscious, but that was to be expected from an attack like that. Maddi sighed in relief, recalling him to his pokeball.
"I was so scared…" Chloe was just as relieved as she was, collapsing herself. That had been some battle.
"Strange, I would have thought that a pokemon like Aggron would have surely done more damage than that," Donoma mused. She almost sounded disappointed.
"Autotomize," Ian explained, recalling his exhausted Aggron. "It doesn't just boost a pokemon's speed. It also reduces its weight by 220 pounds. Aggron are heavy, sure, but Iron cut off more than half his body weight before that last attack, so Vee's going to be just fine."
"…I lost…" Maddi mumbled. She hadn't expected to lose, honestly. And because she lost, there was nothing to stop either of them from telling the whole world about what her Eevee was capable of. She sighed.
"…Yeah, but I think I'm good. We're not going to tell anybody about your Eevee," Ian assured her, flashing Maddi a good-natured smile.
Maddi's jaw dropped. "…You're not?"
Donoma was just as shocked. "We're not?! But…"
"It wouldn't feel right," Ian said, shrugging. "I just wanted a chance to fight against a pokemon like that myself. But it's pretty obvious you don't want to turn your little buddy into some spectacle, and it would be wrong to force you to do it. I don't want that. So yeah, don't worry! Your secret's safe with us, right, Donoma?"
Donoma fumed. She wasn't okay with that at all! An Eevee like that would make major headlines, she'd be able to sell that idea to any network on the planet!
…But Maddi would never go for it. And if she kept pushing, then she'd ruin all the good will she'd accumulated with Ian. So even though it killed her to do it, she forced a smile onto her face and nodded in acquiescence.
"Yes, Ian, you're exactly right! It would be wrong to commercialize something so private!"
Maddi shot her a dry stare, not buying it for a moment. Not that she cared, the gloomy girl didn't need to.
The tension broken, the question Chloe had been dying to ask finally slipped out.
"What the HECK is going on?!"
Good question, Chloe. What is going on? Well, that's quite a long story...
