Gerard is down to his final pokemon! Will he be able to win with just his Diancie? As for the Commander, will he be able to defeat a Mythical Pokemon with just his Lucario and Cinderace? Diana is pretty powerful. Things are getting tough, and the battle is quickly headed for a conclusion. Who will win? Remember to review!

KedharS: Well, he may only have one pokemon left, but that pokemon IS Diancie. This battle is far from a certainty.

Guest: It's a difficult position to be in. While Alden definitely has a lot of advantages, Gerard has a powerful pokemon and the power of Samarra on his side.

Just a Bad Writer for Fun: Chloe can exist without Ian, I don't need to give him more screentime.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 1079

Gerard only had one pokemon left. And yet, he had never felt more confident about his chances of winning.

We can do this… Diana and I, we can do this! He repeated that to himself over and over, drowning himself in Samarra's influence until he couldn't be sure that they had ever been two separate individuals.

"Diana! Diamond storm!" He ordered.

"DIANCIE!" If Diana was concerned about the mental state of her beloved trainer, it didn't show in the fury of her attacks. She was so lost in Samarra that she couldn't control her power, unleashing a devastating tornado of diamonds at the two pokemon in front of her. Under the trick room neither was fast enough to avoid the attack, but they both had alternate means.

"Lucario!" Corin closed her eyes and her aura sensors flared up, a thin blue aura appearing around her body. Using detect she evaded every diamond that came her way, relying on her reflexes and sharp instincts to do the job that her speed normally did.

Tracey relied on a more explicit method of protecting herself. Raising her paws, she created a barrier of orange energy around her body, protecting herself from the attack.

"Tch," Gerard clicked his tongue. Knowing that Tracey would be out of the fight behind that barrier for a while, he ordered Diana to switch her focus to the Lucario, not even realizing he was giving his orders through his connection with Samarra and not with his voice.

"Diancie!" Diana obeyed them regardless. She raised her hands and conjured sparkling pink flames, sending them towards Corin. But Corin was ready. With her aura flaring she created a veil of water around her body, healing herself with life dew at the same time that she was weakening the burning effects of mystical fire.

"You may be able to nullify the power of the move, but mystical fire burns more than just the body," Gerard smirked. "It will burn away your very spirit, reducing the power of that aura and all those special attacks of yours!"

"That's just fine with us," Alden replied. "Corin! Calm mind!"

"Lucario!" Corin nodded, closing her eyes again and focusing her aura. She could increase her special attack and special defense this way, but it would make it easy to land hits on her.

…And if Gerard believed that, it would prove that he'd learned nothing from his previous encounters with the Commander.

Calm mind focused the pokemon's concentration to boost their special stats, but at the cost of making them a sitting duck. But Corin was no ordinary pokemon. The Lucario had reached the pinnacle of training, she was one of the strongest pokemon in the academy. So well-trained was she that she could fight even while focusing her aura, even when she was asleep! There was no instance when Corin had her guard down, and Gerard knew that as well as anyone.

But that didn't mean he couldn't use Diana's attacks to keep pressuring her opponent, wearing her down with a constant barrage.

"Diana! Use earth power!" He ordered. Diana sent energy down into the ground, causing the earth beneath Corin's feet to erupt. Corin leapt out of the way, still focusing her aura, but she lacked the evasiveness she usually possessed due to trick room's nullification of her speed, and so she was hit by a few explosions.

"Not good," Chloe mumbled under her breath.

"I know, that Lucario is trying her hardest, but that pokemon's attacks are powerful," Rui agreed. Chloe blinked, surprised anyone could hear her, and turned red.

"W-Well, I mean…"

"That's not what she was talking about," Maddi said, coming to Chloe's aid, much to the other girl's surprise.

"Oh?" Rui asked, interested.

"The Commander's Lucario is a pokemon that's capable of putting up a fight through the sheer strength of her aura," Maddi explained. "Even when she's asleep, she's been able to fight a decent exchange with strong pokemon."

"Even when asleep?" Rui asked, amazed. She'd never heard of anything like that. Even back in the good old days when her husband was a trainer, he would call out to his pokemon to wake them up before they continued fighting.

Maddi nodded. She was dead serious. "Yes. But we aren't seeing that now. Because of that trick room, Corin has to rely on moves like extremespeed and bullet punch to maintain her previous speed. But she can't use those moves and calm mind at the same time. It's the same reason he hasn't used his rest strategy. It's a difficult situation to be in."

A small smile tugged at the corner of her lips regardless. "But even so… it's not necessarily over, not yet."

The orange barrier keeping Tracey out of the fight dropped and she immediately leapt into battle, ignoring the erupting plaza. She sculpted an orb of fire and dropped it to the ground, kicking it at Diana with everything she had.

"Yeah, you're right!" Rui cheered. "He's still got two pokemon, after all, and that Gerard guy only has one!"

But Maddi wasn't as confident.

Diana turned towards the pyro ball and raised her hand, creating a pink diamond barrier around her that reflected the attack.

"It's not so simple," Maddi shook her head. "Diancie is a Rock/Fairy type pokemon. Which means it only has a handful of weaknesses. Ground type, Grass type, Water type, and most of all, the Steel type, but Tracey doesn't have any moves of that kind. And with Diancie's incredible defenses, the most Tracey can be in this fight is an annoyance, even with the Libero ability."

"That… that's not good!" Rui gasped. "Then his best hope is that Lucario, with her Steel type moves, right?"

But Corin wasn't in the best of shape. That caused Rui some serious anxiety. But even so, she remembered the battle between Corin and her husband's Tyranitar. That was the strongest pokemon Wes had, and Corin had fought him to a dead heat, nearly winning the match. Even if she was injured like this… Rui still wanted to believe that she could win.

"Corin, use bullet punch," Alden ordered. Corin's eyes snapped open and she charged at Diana, unleashing a barrage of punches with the speed of a machine gun.

Diana smirked, her trainer's arrogance leeching off into her. She raised her hands and the reflective barrier blocked the attacks, rendering Corin's struggle meaningless. With how high her own defenses were, it would take a stronger move than that to smash through the barrier, even if it was a quadruple effective one.

Of course, Gerard knew that both Corin and Tracey knew brick break. And they probably both knew feint, as well. So he wasn't about to gamble on Diana's defenses holding out. She would need to switch to the offensive, and he knew just what to do.

"Diana, keep pushing them! Use diamond storm!" He ordered. It wouldn't do much damage to Corin due to her resistance, but with that last Fire type move, Tracey would take a severe beating. Hopefully, she wouldn't be able to withstand much more.

Tracey smirked, and Alden grinned.

"Just what we were waiting for!" He crowed. "Now, Tracey!"

"Cinderace!" Tracey shouted, her body glowing orange. She raised her hands and released a burst of energy across the field, Gerard feeling a psychic tug on himself. It didn't look like anything had changed, the trick room was still in place, but a few seconds later he saw just what she'd done.

The diamond storm Diana had unleashed slammed into a massive barrier of pink diamonds, shattering them upon its hard exterior. It was like seeing hail strike sheet metal, there wasn't enough force to break through and hit either pokemon.

"Court change," he growled.

"Yes!" Chloe punched the air, a surprising show of emotion from her. Court change was Tracey's signature move. It allowed her to flip the benefits on the field. The Commander often used it to deflect or outright discourage the use of entry hazards, but it could also be used to steal the effects of defensive moves like reflect and light screen!

That opening was exactly what Corin was waiting for. Having been given the chance to catch her breath thanks to her partner's trick, she was able to build up her power and get an attack in. Rather than risk getting close at her reduced speed, she focused her aura and directed it into a concentrated beam of light, hitting Diana head-on with a powerful flash cannon.

"DIANCIE!" Diana wailed in pain, plummeting from the sky. She quickly righted herself and floated back up, but only just in time to see Corin charging right at her with her fists raised.

The bullet punch was certain to do a lot of damage now that she didn't have reflect to fall back on. But before Corin could begin the attack, Diana had already been focusing her energy and hardening her body. So even when the bullet punch hit, what it hit was diamond that had been hardened even more, boosted with an iron defense attack.

"Diancie!" Diana crowed, summoning pink flames to burn away Corin, who was too close to dodge at her present speed. But she didn't have to, because her body flashed, and she immediately switched places with Tracey, who had used ally switch.

Because Tracey had turned into a Psychic type with that move, she didn't have her natural resistance to Fire type moves. But what she did have was more health than Corin at the moment, and the luxury of not having to worry about a drop in special attack since she was a primary physical attacker. She withstood the flames with a smile and pulled back her fist, hitting Diana in the cheek with a revenge attack that was basically performative for all the damage it did.

Tracey landed on the ground, panting, and nodded to Corin, who nodded back. Corin's aura was shining and she created a veil of water that she draped around the both of them, restoring their health with life dew to keep up the assault on the Diancie.

Alden smiled. This battle was actually starting to get exciting. Even though he didn't respect Gerard as a trainer, he did respect the man's Diancie, and could see just how powerful of a pokemon it was. Even with Tracey and Corin working together, two of his best pokemon, he couldn't be certain that he was going to win.

But at the rate things were going, they would win this match through attrition. Diana just wasn't powerful enough. And that was a conclusion that Gerard arrived at as well.

So his solution was to increase his pokemon's power through harmonia, and the light surrounding Diana grew even more intense.

"Diancie!" She roared, and fired a blinding dazzling gleam that both pokemon shielded their eyes against. Like many of Diana's attacks it did very little against Corin, but Tracey took the brunt of it, and as a Fighting type, that meant she was going to take some serious damage.

"Tracey!" Alden shouted. She'd just restored her health, and already she was back into a critical zone, and that wasn't good. His Cinderace still stood strong, however, refusing to fall.

"Cinder…" Tracey panted, rubbing her eyes. She could barely see. Corin hadn't taken as much damage as her comrade, but she was equally impaired.

Diana seized the opportunity to strike. She gathered all her strength and sent it into the ground, causing the plaza to start to boil. Corin could sense the seismic energy building beneath her feet, but she was too weakened from trick room to dodge it. Diana had filled the field with those explosions, and even with extremespeed she might not be able to get away in time.

But as Corin prepared herself to run in the seconds before the ground exploded, she suddenly sensed that she didn't have to. Even with her weakened vision she could sense a distortion in her position, and that the energy building up underneath her was gone, like it had suddenly shifted. But it wasn't the ground that had move, it was Corin herself.

"Lucario!?" Corin swung her head around, unable to believe what she was sensing. But she couldn't doubt it.

Tracey wasn't as slowed as Corin was. She may have had naturally good speed, but with all of Corin's boosts she was by far more hampered by the trick room. And that had given her the time to react ahead of the other pokemon, using ally switch one last time. She didn't know where Corin was, and couldn't sense aura like she could, of course.

But somehow, Tracey knew. She knew that, with both pokemon blinded, Diana would seize the opportunity to focus everyone on the pokemon that could hurt her. And that pokemon wasn't Tracey, not in her present condition.

So without even thinking, without even knowing where she was going or what she was stepping into, she switched places with Corin, opening herself up to the full onslaught of Diana's wrath. She barely managed to get out a smile before the ground beneath her exploded, the entire plaza nearly being destroyed.

"Tracey!" Alden shouted. The explosion was so powerful the trick room shattered with it, and when the dust settled only two pokemon remained. Tracey had taken the hit so Corin could keep going, and everyone could see the result of that decision.

Alden couldn't find it in himself to thank her. He wouldn't endorse a decision like that. He held up her pokeball and recalled her. With Tracey's sacrifice, he was more invigorated than ever to defeat Gerard and his Diancie.

"Gerard…" He snarled.

"Now we're both down to one pokemon," Gerard said coolly. "Who will emerge the victor? Your trump card, or mine?"

Alden calmed down and took a deep breath.

"You just don't get it," he said, shaking his head. "You have no idea what it's like, for one of your pokemon to sacrifice themselves for the other."

"Are you kidding me?" Gerard snorted. "Of course I know what that's like. Haven't you been paying attention? Archer did the very same thing, he sacrificed himself to defeat your Swampert, thus protecting Diana. Because he knew, like all of my pokemon do, that victory is the only thing that matters! Any of my pokemon would gladly sacrifice themselves for the benefit of the whole team! Even you've made decisions like that!"

Rui winced. She knew that rhetoric well. It had been spread all across Orre, driving her home to Agate Village. "Weakness is a sin."

"…I won't deny that," Alden admitted. "There have been times where I had to make the tough choice, and encourage one of my pokemon to take the hit, for the sake of the overall battle."

"So you see!" Gerard crowed with triumph.

"BUT!" Alden cut him off. "Those sacrifices, I've always respected the pokemon who made them. I've appreciated their decisions, and treated them with love and care. I'm not like you, who only sees pokemon as disposable tools for your own glory."

Gerard narrowed his eyes. There was just no talking to the Commander. He sighed and shook his head. "You'll never understand," he muttered. "With this… we've reached the climax. Diana! It's time to end things once and for all!"

"Diancie!" Diana cried, echoing her trainer's sentiments.

Maddi stumbled back, clutching her eye. The disgusting feeling welling up around Gerard and his Diancie was getting more and more intense, like a mass of faces and voices churning and roiling with frustration. She couldn't stand it!

It was like looking at a Shadow Pokemon. She felt like she was going to be sick.

Suddenly, Rui reached out and took her by the hand. Feeling the other woman's warmth calmed her down. She turned and looked to Rui, surprised. The woman's face was pale and her expression was equally troubled, but she held on.

"Rui…"

"I know," Rui murmured. "I don't know what that is… but I can see it now, too."

Maddi was shocked. Before, Rui hadn't noticed anything was amiss. But clearly something had changed, now that she could see something was off about Gerard.

Curious, Maddi turned to look at Gabrielle. Like Gerard, there seemed to be something clinging to her, though not nearly as intensely.

"What about her?" Maddi asked, pointing at the other girl. "What about Gabrielle, do you see anything wrong with her?"

Rui squinted at the other girl and furrowed her brow. She shook her head. "No, I'm sorry, but I don't. She just seems normal. Do you see anything?"

How odd. Maddi and Rui could both tell that something was off with Gerard, but Gabrielle, who was also distorted somehow, was completely clear? It made her even more curious. But her curiosity was tempered by her fear. She didn't know what was happening, and that was frightening her. Whatever was going on with Gerard…

Stop it! She chastised herself, clutching her fist. You're not scared! You're not! She had to push past this, for the good of everything, and especially for the good of her mental health. She took a deep breath to calm her nerves, and turned her attention to the battle.

Gerard and Alden both had one pokemon left. Both pokemon were in pretty rough shape. But there was something that gave Maddi and the other girls hope.

The trick room had been lifted, meaning that Corin had her speed back. She could give Diana the fight she needed now!

Corin slowly opened her eyes and raised her fists. Her aura was burning blue around her. She charged forward and let out a howl that shook the entire plaza.

Gerard and Alden's battle has reached the climax! Both trainers are down to their last pokemon! Which one will emerge the victor? Will Alden and Corin be able to overcome Diana? Or will Gerard defeat them both, and in doing so turn Alden over to Samarra, putting him under her control? This is the critical moment, who will win?