This isn't good! Gerard has actually taken the lead in his battle against the Commander! With that powerful earthquake and his knowledge of double battles, he's definitely taking the lead. But will he manage to win? Or is Alden capable enough of defeating him? It's going to be a very difficult battle, but hopefully the Commander can pull it off! Remember to review!
KedharS: Well, Samarra managed to turn OLIVIA into a trainer who could rival Alcea, imagine what would happen to a competent trainer like Gerard.
Hyphenman: Yep, it helps to catch up when you're reading to have the chapters.
Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings
Chapter 1075
Alden winced. He could tell that he was in a bad situation. Jaune had been knocked unconscious as a result of the earthquake. And Mimi's raggedy body was lying motionless in the plaza as well. He couldn't believe Gerard's Bastiodon could summon so much power.
"He… he's really in bad shape…" Chloe was hyperventilating. She wasn't able to watch this fight with a neutral eye like she was so used to doing. Right now, she was too invested in the Commander's side of things. She couldn't tell just what was wrong, but if there was something she knew, it was how people fought.
And Gerard didn't fight like this. It wasn't to say that he was a bad trainer before, it just seemed like right now he was tailoring his strategy perfectly to handling what the Commander could do. Plus there was the way he predicted that energy ball…
Most of all, though, the reason Chloe was feeling so tense was because Maddi and Rui were so tense. The two of them were some of the most composed, mature people that Chloe knew; and they had both freaked out over something Gerard was doing. She had no clue what it was, but she trusted their judgment, and was frightened as well.
So with the Commander having lost two pokemon, just like that… she didn't know what she was seeing right now.
"Return, Jaune," Alden said, recalling the Vikavolt to his pokeball just as the rain cleared up. "Finn, come on back."
He sent out his wounded Swampert again, the hulking pokemon standing back on his haunches and letting out a roar.
"Swampert, yes, that's what you'd use," Gerard agreed, nodding. "An excellent pokemon for handling Shocker's electricity and dealing with Tank through your Ground type moves. But he's in pretty bad shape… who else will you be sending, I wonder?"
Alden smirked. "Nobody!" He replied.
It took Gerard a moment to process that. His expression darkened. "Very funny," he growled. "This is a double battle. You can't just hold a pokemon back! You need to fight with two! Is this you mocking me?! Coming up for excuses, when I finally, finally win?! Don't give me that crap! Send out your pokemon, Commander!"
"You're rather touchy, huh?" Alden noted. Gerard had been off this whole fight, but now he seemed more familiar; the perceived wound to his pride had been enough to remind him of his priorities, forgetting Samarra for a moment. But just a moment.
"Enough of this. I'll defeat you, but not just because I want to prove to everyone that I'm the better trainer," Gerard ranted. "I'm not the same man I was the last time you defeated me, Commander- no, Alden. I believe we're close enough to speak on a first-name basis, don't you agree?"
Alden shrugged. He didn't really care either way.
Gerard just went with it. "Alden… when you defeated me, I was obsessed with winning, and proving that I was the best. But now, I have friends who understand just how great I am. Samarra has shown me that everything I was so concerned about… none of it mattered. I'm my own man now, a man who has the respect of those around me. And when you lose, I'll have your respect as well."
Alden let out a long sigh. "If you want my respect, Gerard, then you've got it. All you need to do is stop treating your pokemon like tools."
Gerard was stunned. "Tools? What? You have no idea-"
"People like you and Valon are the same," Alden cut him off. "For you, pokemon and battles are just a means to an end. Your pokemon aren't partners or friends, they're just tools for you to stroke your own egos. That's not what pokemon battles are about. And even if you defeat me, I could NEVER respect you for doing it through such horrid means."
Gerard's face darkened. His sister's face flashed through his mind, followed quickly by his partner's smile. And then he saw his mother.
"You don't know a damn thing!" He shouted, Samarra enhancing the negative emotions he was feeling. "Someone like you, who had everything… you could never understand what it's like, to know that the only value you have is in being the best! You treat it so casually… pretend it doesn't matter-! Someone as flippant as you could never reach the level I strive for!"
"Shit!" Maddi cursed. Whatever it was that was tormenting Gerard, it had just increased in power, severely. She glanced at Gabrielle, and gasped at what she saw.
Gabrielle was glaring at Gerard, and she was leaking a similarly ominous aura.
"Enough rambling," she coldly rebuked him. "Just win."
"I will," Gerard snarled. "Fine then! You don't want to send out your next pokemon? Shocker! Finish that Swampert off with your stone edge!"
"Golem!" Shocker roared, raising his hands. Massive chunks of brick ripped out of the plaza, and the Golem flung them at Finn.
"Protect," Alden ordered. Finn bunkered down, a blue barrier of light appearing around him. He withstood the attacks, glaring from behind the barrier.
That was when Rui noticed the Swampert's condition. He'd improved since the last time he'd been out in battle.
"Alden, your Swampert… why's he stronger now?" She asked, confused.
"Because of his held item," Alden answered. "I'm always expecting a battle, even just walking down the street. So I gave Finn some Leftovers, to make sure he was always in good health. While he was in the ball, and even now, he's eating to recover his strength.
Chloe could see it now. Behind the blue barrier, Finn was devouring some food, recovering his strength as he protected himself.
Gerard was frustrated. "You can only hide for so long! And if you won't send out another pokemon, then my team will tear your Swampert apart!"
Alden smiled. "I told you, I won't. I don't have to. My other pokemon is already out."
"…What?" Gerard blinked, taking a second look. "But… wait, what?"
Neither Chloe, nor Maddi and Rui, had any clue what he was talking about.
Then it appeared. Mimi! The Mimikyu appeared from the netherworld, appearing behind the hovering Golem.
"Mimikyu?!" Gerard sputtered in disbelief. "But she was-"
"You thought you wiped her out with earthquake?" Alden smirked. "No way. The second your attack hit, I gave her the order to hide herself behind a substitute! My Mimi makes countless replicas of her cloth disguise, she was more than happy to throw one aside as a decoy, while hiding away and building her strength with swords dance!"
Mimi's health was almost at zero. But she'd been conserving her strength, building power for this last exchange. And it was a big one. Shadows danced around her and she launched a powerful strike that hit Shocker in the back. The Golem roared in pain and fell out of the sky, crashing down to the ground. He struggled to stand, but he couldn't keep going. Mimi slashed and struck again.
"Shocker!" Gerard cursed in frustration, shaking his head. His Golem struggled to stand, but even with his strong defenses, he couldn't withstand the force of the Mimikyu's Ghost type attacks. They were overwhelming, and he was knocked unconscious quickly.
"Go… lem…" He grunted, passing out.
Gerard's expression turned dark. He couldn't believe he'd gotten played like that. All the knowledge he had access to due to Samarra, and he still hadn't seen the substitute attack coming, and he'd lost a pokemon for it. Alden had come closer to closing the distance between the two of them.
"That's… good, right?" Chloe asked hopefully. She was happy it looked like the Commander was picking up steam.
"He's still behind though," Maddi said, coldly taking the wind out of the other girl's sails.
She wasn't wrong. Gerard still had pokemon he could rely on.
"Temblor, come back out!" He growled, sending his Rhyperior back out to take on Finn a second time. The hulking pokemon slammed his fists against his chest and roared, charging forward.
"Finn, use muddy water," Alden ordered quickly. Finn stomped on the ground and summoned a massive tidal wave of bracken water, which rolled across the battlefield towards the approaching Rock type pokemon.
But the waves never hit. A brown barrier of light appeared over Gerard's side of the field, damming the tide as Temblor continued his charge.
"What the heck?" Rui gasped. "Was that protect?!"
"No, wide guard," Chloe noted with a wince.
"Nicely done, Tank," Gerard praised his Bastiodon. "With this technique, none of his widespread moves will have any effect."
"This guy really knows how to fight a double battle," Maddi muttered, shaking her head. She couldn't believe it.
"This is…" Rui winced. This seemed familiar. Way too familiar. Gerard was fighting with styles and strategies that she was used to seeing from her daughter. It felt so familiar, but she convinced herself that these were just tactics that one should expect from a double battle, and that there wasn't anything to be concerned about.
"Temblor, use high horsepower," Gerard ordered. Temblor lowered his head and charged forward, his drill spinning. The amount of power he summoned in his massive body turned him into more of a tank than the Bastiodon.
But the Rhyperior didn't get to Finn.
"Mimikyu!" Mimi darted in front of the Swampert, swinging a shadow from beneath her cloth, the sharp claws slashing into Temblor's armored chest. The Rhyperior roared with pain and slowed down, but Mimi didn't have the chance to capitalize on her success.
The ground beneath her began to shake, and tore itself open with a massive eruption. A pillar of earth and magma burst out, dealing massive damage to the tiny pokemon. She was unconscious before she hit the ground.
"Mimi!" Alden cried.
"Tank might not have a lot of attacking power, but even an earth power from him is enough to take out that Mimikyu, after everything she's gone through," Gerard smirked. "Now then, Commander, I believe that's the third pokemon you've lost! Would you like to switch to your next pokemon now, then?" He asked, smirking.
"Fine," Alden glared, recalling Mimi to her pokeball. "Tracey, come on back!"
"Cinderace!" Tracey emerged from her pokeball. Gerard smirked again, pushing up his glasses.
"Well, you tried using her before, didn't you? Do you really expect anything will go differently this time?" He asked. "Temblor, use earthquake! Tank, protect!"
"Finn, protect!" Alden ordered. "Tracey, use bounce!"
The ground began to shake. Tracey leapt into the sky, evading the tremors, while both Bastiodon and Swampert protected themselves with a powerful barrier. The shaking came to a stop as Tracey landed on the ground, fire bursting from her feet the second she touched down.
"Cinderace!" Tracey shot forward, charging right at the injured Rhyperior. Her eyes were focused on attacking.
"Finn, back her up," Alden ordered. "Use hyro pump!"
"Swampert!" Finn roared. He opened his mouth wide and fired a massive blast of water at the Rhyperior.
"Protect," Gerard ordered. A brown barrier of light appeared around Temblor, shielding him from the water blast.
"All you're doing is protecting, I see," Alden said. "But I thought you wanted to fight?"
"I won't let you bait me," Gerard said, but the expression of frustration he wore was betraying his real emotions.
Meanwhile, the girls who were watching the fight had other thoughts about what the Commander was doing.
"I'm stunned," Rui said, shaking her head. She didn't have much experience with Alden's fighting style, but she was familiar with her husband, and she had seen him fight against the boy. With how strong of a trainer Alden had proven himself to be, the fact that this Gerard seemed to be giving him such a close fight- and was actually winning- was frightening indeed.
Maddi, who knew what Gerard was capable of, felt similarly concerned. She believed in the Commander's strength, but seeing Gerard fight like this was a shock as well.
Nobody was more concerned than Chloe, though. She prided herself in studying the fighting styles of pokemon trainers, and had done a lot of studying of both Gerard and Alden. Right now, though, Gerard wasn't acting like usual, and that frightened her She didn't know what was unnerving her; this was just another pokemon battle, wasn't it? Everything logical said that there wasn't anything to worry about, but at the moment, she couldn't help but get the feeling that if the Commander lost, it would mean bad things for everyone.
"Cinder!" Tracey pulled to a stop, considering her options. The barrier around Temblor dropped and the Rhyperior swung a massive arm at her, a powerful rock wrecker attack. If it connected the backlash against him would have been severe, but the damage to Tracey even more so. She danced back, using her agility to dodge the attack.
"Stay light on your feet," Alden advised his Cinderace. "He's trying to sacrifice his own pokemon to take us down."
It was a tactic he could understand, and even respect, if it came from a trainer with respect for his pokemon. But that wasn't who Gerard was. He saw his pokemon as tools to suit his own ends, and right now he was going to sacrifice them for victory.
It took a few seconds, but Alden came up with a new plan. And it was a wild one. He'd need the help of both his pokemon to pull this off.
"I can see you've learned a thing or two about double battles," Alden admitted. "But I'm no slouch myself. Vic's taught me quite a lot, you see, just by watching how she fights."
Gerard raised his eyebrow, amused. "Oh? Is that right?" He knew full well that whatever Alden might have learned from Vic, it was nothing compared to what he had gained from her. "Well, let's see it then. Temblor, use rock blast!"
"Rhyperior!" Temblor raised his arms, firing a barrage of boulders at the two pokemon. Finn jumped back, putting himself out of range of the pokemon's attack, while Tracey used her speed to evade. She also had to dance around the erupting earth powers launched by Tank, but those were even easier due to how slow the Bastiodon was.
"Cinderace!" Tracey nodded to Finn, who nodded back. It was time for their combo!
"Finn, now!" Alden called, setting it off. The Swampert lurched forward, rising up on his hind legs and raising his arms.
"SWAMPERT!" Finn bellowed, and summoned the greatest wave of muddy water he'd created yet. Body glowing blue, he put everything he had into this attack, boosting the Water type move with his Torrent ability.
"Haven't you learned anything?" Gerard scoffed. "That won't help you! Tank, use wide guard to block it!"
"Bastiodon!" Tank braced himself, summoning a massive barrier of light that formed a wall between Gerard's side of the field and Alden's. The wide guard would nullify the effect of the tidal wave. Or at least, that would be what happened if Tracey didn't do anything.
"Now, Tracey!" Alden shouted.
"Cinderace!" Tracey charged forward, leaping ahead of the tidal wave as she used the bricks and stones flung by Gerard's pokemon as foot paths. She leapt into the air and pulled her fist back, smashing through the barrier.
"What?!" Gerard gasped in disbelief.
"You're not used to those moves so you didn't know," Alden said. "But feint is a move that exists, and it has the power to bring down barriers like protect and wide guard! It's a move Tracey knows well, and thanks to it, your pokemon are wide open!
The wall came tumbling down and Tracey ran past the two pokemon she was fighting, getting out of the way of the attack.
Like their trainer, Temblor and Tank had both thought they were safe behind the wall. Because of that, neither pokemon knew how to react to the incoming attack, and neither were fast enough to dodge even if they'd thought to.
The tidal wave crashed down on Tank and Temblor, hitting them both with a powerful muddy water that drowned the battlefield.
"YES!" Chloe cheered, a shockingly emphatic display from the usually-shy girl. She pumped her fist into the air, overjoyed about the fact that Alden had just hit both pokemon with a strong move.
"He's turning this around," Rui said hopefully.
In spite of their hopes, the muddy water hadn't been the game-ender that they wanted it to be. Both pokemon were still standing, weakened as they were.
"Rhyperior…" Temblor panted. He'd sustained major damages, including a massive water move the was four times effective. Comparatively, Tank was in better shape, but not much better.
"Tracey! Finish him off!" Alden ordered.
"Cinderace!" Tracey nodded.
Temblor had endured the muddy water. But he wasn't fast enough to respond to Tracey, who had turned on her heel and come running back to hit from behind.
"Low kick!" Alden shouted. Tracey ducked down, going in for a skid kick that hit Temblor in the side of his knee. The attack did massive damage and knocked Temblor's footing out from under him. Unable to remain standing, the massive pokemon tumbled forward, hitting the ground and causing the entire plaza to shake, almost like he'd used an earthquake attack.
Tracey stood up, panting, wiping the sweat from her brow. She turned to Finn and gave him a thumbs' up and a grin.
Rui sighed in relief. They were down to three pokemon apiece. That was good, at least.
Alden's quick thinking has turned it around! Gerard may be tough, but Alden isn't someone to be underestimated! Hopefully, now that they're both down to three pokemon, he can take the lead; but it's definitely a tricky situation. Neither he nor Gerard have used their trump cards; this battle is just getting started!
