In the midst of the battle, Gerard has been holding on well with his Archops and Diancie. But Alden has been giving him a run for his money, and now has come out swinging… by comparing Gerard to his Archeops? What's going on here? Well, ignoring what he has to say, the battle is only heating up more and more, and we'll see what the outcome will be! Remember to review!

KedharS: We're getting pretty close to it, now. But we're not there just yet.

Jjjdunk1: Pretty much exactly like he is now, just not as jaded about it. His desperation to be the best was always there, but he probably treated his pokemon a lot better.

Gyvarius: Glad to hear it! Always nice to meet a fan!

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 1078

"I'm… like my Archeops?" Gerard stared blankly at Alden. The statement had come so far out of left field that he didn't even know how to process it. Even with the combined brainpower and knowledge of everyone Samarra had connected with, he was still completely flummoxed by what the Commander was trying to say.

"I was always curious about that Archen of yours," Alden admitted. "After all, it's not a pokemon that should be capable of flight."

"And yet it does!" Gerard exclaimed. "By nature, Archer was simply superior to all those other Archen, and that's because he's my pokemon!"

"Ridiculous," Alden snorted. "Oh, certainly, it's possible that your pokemon was restored with superior musculature and physiology that enables it to fly. But that has nothing to do with you, Gerard. And honestly… I find the idea rather insulting."

"Why's that?" Gerard growled, a shadow passing over his face.

"Because it discounts all the hard work that your pokemon put into attaining the ability to fly," Alden said simply. "No pokemon is born knowing how to fly. Not even bird pokemon, or bugs with wings. All pokemon must learn to fly, through hard work, persistence, and struggle. No doubt, your Archen was the same as all of them. However, unlike those pokemon, his species was never meant to fly. And yet, he did. Because he fought and struggled and worked his hardest to attain that power."

"And you're saying that's me?" Gerard said. He laughed, shaking his head. "Save your dimestore psychology for someone who cares, I already knew that full well, Commander! My talent, my abilities, they're my own, because I struggled for them. That's what you're trying to say, right? That I shouldn't be acting entitled to respect, that I didn't start out a talented trainer, I had to work for it? Well, I already knew all of that!" He narrowed his eyes, a furious light burning within them. "So you can understand how vexing it is… to put in all that hard work, all that effort… and still be denied the respect that I've earned!"

"I already told you, respect isn't something you win by putting enough points in the 'hard work' category," Alden said. "It's something the people around you bestow, because you're worthy of it. And no matter how hard you try, Gerard, as long as you deny the efforts of your pokemon, you will never be worthy of my respect."

"I'll force you to respect me then," Gerard scoffed. "I don't care about your comparisons, talking about how I'm like Archer. If that's really true, then just like him, I'll reach my new state here and now, when I defeat you! Archer!"

"Archeops!" Archer roared, flapping his wings and flying towards Corin. He might have been slowed by the power of trick room, but Corin was even slower.

"I don't get it," Chloe mumbled. She was totally lost. "What did the Commander mean when he said Gerard was like his Archen?"

"Gerard just explained it, didn't he?" Maddi snapped, causing Chloe to flinch. Her reaction caused Maddi to soften a little and she sighed. "…Sorry. I'm tense right now. Don't worry about it."

"…I think he meant something else, actually," Rui said suddenly, startling both Maddi and Chloe. Of the three of them, Rui was certainly the one who knew Gerard the least, so what sort of insight had she gotten into his personality?

But Rui didn't bother elaborating. She just narrowed her eyes and stared thoughtfully at the ancient pokemon flying towards Corin.

"You might be faster now, but we can still match you," Alden shouted. "Corin, use bullet punch!"

"Lucario!" Corin shot forward at a speed even faster than she reached normally, pulling her fist back to punch Archer, who at this point was practically standing still.

But before her fist could connect, Archer disappeared from sight.

"What?!" Alden gasped in shock.

Archer had used a move of his own, quick attack. By taking advantage of the priority move he was able to maneuver around Corin, and strike Finn in the face with his claws, knocking him backwards.

"Swampert!" Finn roared in pain, batting at the aerial pokemon, but again Archer was fast enough to evade, keeping his distance.

"Excellent work, Archer! Now, Diana, use moonblast!" Gerard ordered, feeling Samarra's power flowing through him. Diana started to glow, and she fired a blast of fairy energy at Finn.

"Finn, block it with your hydro pump!" Alden ordered. Finn took a deep breath and fired his final hydro pump, the strength of his Water type move countering the Fairy type move perfectly, the two attacks colliding for a massive explosion.

"Corin, flash cannon!" Alden ordered, and Corin gathered her energy, firing a beam of light at Diana's back. But again it was helpless against the light screen. Alden ground his teeth together in frustration. "Fine! Bullet punch!"

Corin charged forward, regaining her usual speed, and swung her fist at Diana before the glowing pokemon could react.

But again, her attack was stopped. Not by Diana's pink screens, but by a brown barrier of light, and the Archeops behind it, who had flown between the two of them.

"Quick guard, know that one?" Gerard smirked. "Your priority moves are useless, Commander! Now, Diana, burn her with your mystical fire!"

"Diancie!" Diana raised her hands and summoned sparkling pink flames, which spun towards Corin and engulfed her. But only for an instant.

"Finn, whirlpool!" Alden shouted. Finn charged forward and raised his hands, summoning a tornado of water that wrapped around Corin, doing her a little damage but with the benefit of smothering the flames to protect her.

"Nice!" Rui cheered. It was an excellent display of teamwork.

"I knew that Swampert would be a problem," Gerard grumbled to himself. It was too fast, he wasn't getting as much benefit from trick room as he should have been. "Archer! That life dew from before was only a band-aid, dedicate your focus on that Swampert and wear him down!"

"Arch!" Archer nodded, turning and flying towards Finn. Finn braced himself, covering his body with water to try for a liquidation attack, but again Archer dodged with his quick attack. Unlike Finn, who was still getting used to the benefit of trick room, Archer knew what it was like to be faster than the average pokemon.

Gerard saw his opportunity and seized on it.

"Diana!" He shouted. "Dazzling gleam!"

"Diancie!" Diana gathered energy into her diamond and released it in a blinding flash of light. Corin and Finn both shielded their eyes as rays of energy emanated out from her, striking them like daggers. Corin could withstand them well, but Finn took a serious hit.

"Now! Acrobatics!" Gerard ordered. As Finn tried to regain vision in his eyes, he was suddenly assaulted on all sides by the brute strength of Archer and his onslaught of attacks. He held on, trying his best to endure the attacks, and even used protect to buy himself some time. But the blue barrier was just delaying the inevitable, and everyone could see it.

"While he's hiding in there, take down the Lucario, both of you," Gerard ordered next. Diana and Archer both nodded, turning their attention on Corin. She was almost blind and slowed by the trick room, and in moments she found herself assaulted from the earth and sky.

It was a testament to her ability as a pokemon that she could evade her opponents. As the ground beneath her feet erupted she skillfully dodged, remaining nimble on her feet. She kept her eyes clenched shut and her aura sensors were flared out, allowing her to sense the incoming attacks, including those from Archer. Her extremespeed did the rest.

Gerard was quickly getting frustrated. He knew that defeating Alden's Lucario would be no easy feat. She'd been worn down slightly, and handicapped by trick room, but in their last fight, he'd pushed her even further, and that still hadn't been enough.

Now it was two against one. But she still! Wouldn't! Fall!

What does it take?! He demanded to himself. He couldn't see a path to victory, no matter how hard he tried. No matter what strategies and methods he used, there just didn't seem to be any way for Diana to defeat Corin.

He refused to accept the possibility that the reason he couldn't see victory was due to the fact that he just wasn't a strong enough trainer. Samarra refused to let him see that. She kept reminding him of how great he was, how deserving of respect and admiration he was, and how he needed to defeat the Commander to prove that to everyone.

The barrier around Finn dropped, and he charged into the fray. He could feel his strength leaving him, and knew he was almost finished. He could tell because he was glowing; his Torrent ability had kicked in, and he was going to use whatever he could with the power he had left to defeat his opponents.

"Finn!" Alden shouted. "Muddy water! It doesn't matter if you might hit Corin, she can handle it! Just do it!"

"SWAMPERT!" Finn bellowed, raising his arms high. A wave of dirty water rolled over the battlefield, far larger than any he'd used before, big enough to swallow the entire battlefield and flood the trick room completely.

Corin thought fast. She leapt into the air and extended her paws, creating a large bone from her aura. She dug it deep into the plaza and with perfect balance she perched herself on top of it, staying safely above the waves.

Gerard's pokemon were less fortunate. Diana tried to stem the incoming tide with her light screen, and threw up a protect as well to stay safe. But Archer was in for trouble when the dam broke, and the water flooded over him.

He didn't care, though. He flapped his wings desperately, fighting against the tides and bursting out of water, throwing his body right at Finn, much to the Swampert's surprise.

"ARCHEOPS!" Archer roared, draconic energy burning through his talons. He struck Finn with a devastating dragon claw, knocking the Swampert unconscious with the powerful blow. Finn collapsed with a splash and Archer landed on the ground, panting.

"Excellent work," Gerard said. "Perhaps you're right, Commander. Maybe I'm like Archer after all. Because like me, he will do anything it takes to win."

Alden raised his eyebrow, recalling Finn to his pokeball. "Is that right?" He mused, sending Tracey out to fight next.

Then Gerard saw the state of his Archeops, in the wake of the attack, and knew immediately what it meant. Archer was battered and beaten, and even though he was still standing, he looked completely defeated. The fight had gone out of his eyes.

"Like their previous form, Archeops have the ability Defeatist," Alden reminded Gerard, even though the other trainer knew that all too well. "When they sense the end is near, they lose the will to keep going and give up the fight. Just like you, Gerard."

What?

Gerard needed a second to process that. What was the Commander saying? Gerard… gave up? Was that really how he saw him?

"Ridiculous!" Gerard roared. "I don't give up! I fight until the very end, trying my hardest, and that's why I'm going to win!"

"When things are going your way, sure," Alden agreed, shrugging. "But when you lose? Or when you're losing? You break down, completely. And I can see that right now. You start off all haughty and arrogant, but when the chips are down, and you're forced to confront your own weakness, you just can't do it. Because you're afraid. Afraid of losing."

"SHUT UP!" Gerard roared. Samarra's energy surged through him. He focused his will towards Archer, demanding the pokemon fly into the air. But Archer was too weakened to bother.

"I am… not like that!" Gerard shouted, lying to himself as much as he was lying to them. Samarra had peeled away the layers of his ego and made him part of the group, exposing his deepest insecurities, and used them to fuel his power. But now the Torchicks were coming home to roost, and he had to confront the fact that he WAS losing. That maybe he WOULDN'T beat the Commander. Maybe he wouldn't get his revenge, but would just be humiliated a second time.

He did not handle it well.

"I won't lose! I can't lose!" He ranted. "I'm stronger! The strongest! I'm going to defeat you, and everyone, everyone will see that I'm a worthy trainer! I'll force you to accept me, and then… and then everyone else, and finally, even mother and Elly will…"

He fell to his knees, clutching his soaked shirt as he struggled to breathe. What was this feeling? This overwhelming pain? It was like he was dying.

"Don't worry. It doesn't matter if you're weak. You have me on your side. And we're going to defeat him together." Samarra's sickening voice echoed through his skull, and he was so lost in his fugue that he couldn't even hear it, it just mixed with the rest of his thoughts.

This was the time. The time for him to win.

"Diancie…" Diana was really worried. She'd seen her trainer break down before, but never like this. This was worse than his previous loss against the Commander, worse than his first loss against Kanone Harker, worse than the fight where he'd decided all those years ago that he never wanted to rely on her again.

There were shadows filling her trainer's heart, and nothing she could do to stop them. Diana felt like she was going to cry, seeing him in this state.

But she couldn't cry. She needed to win. She had to win, for her trainer! And then the energy began to flood through her.

Using Gerard as a conduit, Samarra flooded Diana with harmonia, and her strength increased even higher, until the field was filled with blinding light. Corin and Tracey both shielded their eyes, and suddenly, even Archer took to the sky.

"Archeops!" Archer had regained his strength. Samarra's will was strong enough not just to suppress and manipulate Gerard, it was strong enough to even suppress his pokemon's internal worries. Defeatist ignored, Archer was prepared to continue the battle. And he'd already spotted the perfect target in the shocked Tracey.

Archer flew towards Tracey and flung boulders at the Cinderace, who was trying her hardest to adapt to the trick room. She couldn't adapt fast enough though, and was quickly bombarded with rubble. She leapt up, shrugging it off as best as she could, but the damage had been done.

"Diancie!" Diana followed Archer's rock slide up with an even more devastating move. As her hands were raised she gathered together countless diamonds in the sky, sending them swirling towards Tracey in a massive tornado of glittering light.

"Lucario!" Corin leapt forward, jumping between Tracey and the diamond storm. She braced herself against the onslaught, crying out in pain, as she protected her partner. When the dust settled, she was barely standing.

"Perfect," Gerard smirked. Finally he could see it. He couldn't believe in his own ability to pull this off, but with Samarra, he could see a way to win. It was a testimony to how far he had been corrupted by her influence. Under normal circumstances, Gerard would have never accepted being subservient to someone else to win. He wanted to win with his own power, to be acknowledged as the strongest trainer.

But he let Samarra fight for him, and use his pokemon as she pleased. Their attention was turned to Corin once more, and he knew that this time, things would be different.

"Tracey!" Alden shouted, seeing the boost in power but not knowing where it was coming from. All he knew was that he needed to think fast. "Quick, use coaching!"

"Cinderace!" Tracey nodded, shouting to Corin. The Lucario could sense the aura of her partner, and felt Tracey supporting her, boosting her own skill. That was enough for her to regain her second wind, and charge at Archer with her fist raised.

The Archeops had begun to unleash his acrobatics, but Corin didn't care. She evaded the pokemon's strikes and lifted her fist, silvery energy glowing through her paw. She raised her other paw and grabbed Archer by the leg, turning and flinging him down into the ground. The already-injured pokemon let out a squawk of pain and tried to stand, but Corin placed her foot down on the pokemon's throat. There was no escape from the incoming attack, not even from Diana.

"Meteor mash!" Alden shouted. With her silver fist, Corin pulled back and unleashed a devastating punch that hit Archer in the stomach, a punch so strong that the ground beneath him shattered from the blow.

"Arch-!" Archer couldn't even finish his squawk. He glanced helplessly at his trainer, the person who he had trained so hard to fly for in order to impress. But Gerard's eyes held nothing but spite and contempt for the pokemon.

That look broke Archer's heart and snapped him out of the boost from Samarra, all in a single moment. His Defeatist ability returned and he surrendered internally, losing consciousness.

Corin panted, stepping off of Archer and turning towards the incoming Diana. She didn't want to lose, but she was prepared to.

Tracey had other plans. She dashed forward, pulling Corin to safety.

The two pokemon stared down Diana, and then glanced at each other as Gerard angrily recalled his Archeops, cursing the pokemon under his breath.

There was only one pokemon left to defeat. Just Diana. And Corin and Tracey both knew that the only chance they would have to win would be if they worked together.

Gerard's on the ropes! He's down to his last pokemon, his Diancie! But she's still his trump card. And even though Alden outnumbers his team two to one, that doesn't mean that Gerard is out of the fight just yet. It's going to be quite a struggle, but the outcome could still go either way! Will Corin and Tracey be able to pull this one out?