The battle continues! Elfuria was hit by an explosion as her power backed up on her, but how could something like that happen!? What are they going to do, now that they're in a position for the other team to take an advantage? Shinobu and Shima are definitely going to capitalize on this, it could be the turning point for the battle! Remember to review!
KedharS: That's good, things are only going to get more intense from this point on, I hope!
Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings
Chapter 1093
"Elfuria?!" Callie cried in disbelief. She had no idea how Elfuria's attack could backfire so severely like that.
Coughing in pain, Elfuria fell to one knee, the light screen crumbling around her.
"Odd," Rafe said, only slightly bothered by what had happened to his pokemon. "What sort of move could result in an effect like that?"
"THAT'S your reaction?!" Callie exclaimed in shock. "That's YOUR pokemon, Rafe! How can you be so nonchalant about this?! This isn't tea time at the Pokemon Friends Club, this is a serious problem and it happened to YOUR Delphox!"
"Callie, panicking won't change things," Rafe said. "You don't need to get so frantic, don't worry. Everything is fine."
He was smiling, but there was a faint gleam of worry in his eye. Callie picked up on his and settled down, but only slightly. She frowned.
"If… if you say so," she mumbled.
"But I AM curious, what sort of move was that?" Rafe asked, turning to Shima. He had a suspicion that the dark-haired boy was responsible for that.
Shima smirked, but didn't answer.
"It's powder," Dokukage said. "A very special Bug type move."
"Powder?" Callie asked. "What, you mean like sleep powder, or poison powder?"
Dokukage shook his head. "More like gunpowder. The move's name is powder, and it works quite well in certain scenarios. But it's a very tricky move to use properly."
"Oh, Dokukage, is that you I see, spilling the secrets of our village so cavalierly?" Shima asked, raising an eyebrow in surprise.
Dokukage glared at his old friend. "Anything to take you down, old friend. I hope that doesn't upset you too much."
Shima grinned. "Oh, my, no! Not at all!" He laughed. "The truth of the matter is, I'm quite happy about it! Seeing you going against those stuffy old traditions like that, it brings a tear to my eye!" Then his expression turned serious.
"But there is a line, you know."
Dokukage ignored him. "Powder is considered very risky to use, and only a handful of Bug type pokemon can learn it, Vivillon among them," he continued. "When used, it surrounds the opponents in a very thin cloud of special powder that, when ignited, results in a devastating explosion, as you just saw there. But there are downsides-"
"I see," Rafe interrupted, not letting Dokukage finish. He'd already put the pieces together from that. "So it's a counter to Fire type moves. But it's rather useless against a pokemon that isn't a Fire type, I'd say. Just a waste of time. Indeed, a risky endeavor."
"…Right," Dokukage muttered, a little miffed that he'd been interrupted. First these two showed up to steal his moment of glory, now Rafe was cutting off his explanation too? But he didn't let it bother him too much. After all, it wasn't like I had a chance of taking them down on my own… I'm not at that level yet.
"It's pretty useful for a Bug type team," Callie judged. "I guess we'll have to be careful about using Fire type moves against those two, as long as that Vivillon is around."
"You summed up my thoughts perfectly," Rafe agreed, flashing a smile. She glared at him.
"You aren't careful about anything, you're the most reckless, careless person I know," she snapped back at her brother.
Rafe shrugged. "Elfuria, are you okay?"
"Del… Delphox…" Elfuria panted, rising to her feet. Her body was battered by the explosion, but there was still a fire in her eyes that refused to yield.
Rafe smiled. That was what he liked to see!
"Great! Then use psychic terrain!" He ordered.
"Delphox!" Elfuria began to glow pink, and she raised her wand. She brought it down to the ground, sending a pulse into the battlefield that caused the battlefield to catch fire immediately. Pinkish-purple flames licked up around the battlefield, but to everyone's surprise, the grass itself was unharmed. The pokemon were cast in a mystical glow.
"In psychic terrain, any pokemon on the ground is rendered immune to the effects of priority moves," Rafe explained. "And not only that, the power of Psychic type moves is amplified."
"Thanks big bro," Callie said sarcastically. Not one of her pokemon knew a Psychic type move. "You're a real big help."
"Why, you're welcome little sis, I do try," Rafe said, brazenly indifferent to the sarcasm in his sister's voice.
Callie rolled her eyes. "Back to the battle! Harriet, use acrobatics!"
With Elfuria temporarily incapacitated by her injuries, and with Fire type moves off the table, it was up to Harriet to take down the Vivillon. She leapt into the air and began her assault, but a long silk thread wrapped around her foot and froze her in place.
"Haw?!" Harriet looked back to see Kisara, having bound her with string shot.
"Nice work, Kisara!" Shinobu praised her Araquanid. "Smash that Hawlucha into the ground immediately!"
"Araquanid!" Kisara hissed. With a flick of her head she flung Harriet down into the ground, smashing her hard into the ethereal flames. Harriet quickly climbed back up, only to see a blast of wind headed her way from the Vivillon.
"Vivi!" Elegia buzzed, her tornado rolling across the battlefield.
"Quick, detect!" Callie ordered. Harriet sharpened her senses and evaded the tornado roaring across the battlefield towards her. Her sharp turns through the air allowed her to move past the column of wind, giving her the opportunity to approach Elegia.
But the Vivillon anticipated that. Elegia gathered her energy, and to everyone's surprise, electricity crackled through her wings.
"Electroweb," Shima ordered. Elegia spat a blast of webbing at Harriet, and electricity surged through the threads. The web struck the Hawlucha and tied her up. A current of electricity shot through her and she cried out in pain, plummeting from the sky.
"Harriet!" Callie cried.
"We'll be happy to get in on that," Shinobu said, smirking behind her mask. "Kisara, hit with your ice beam!"
"Araquanid!" Kisara opened her jaws wide, and fired a beam of ice at Harriet. The ice engulfed the Hawlucha, freezing her solid. The chunk of ice hit the ground, smashing to pieces, revealing a trembling pokemon who could barely breathe encased within.
Harriet's feathers were iced over, there was no chance she could fly again. But Shima wasn't going to give her the opportunity to try. Elegia flapped her wings to summon a hurricane, only to find her body covered in a glowing aura.
"Delphox!" Elfuria snarled, her eyes glowing with fury. She didn't appreciate how powder had exploded all over her like that, and was prepared to make the pokemon responsible hurt. Even with her buffs from quiver dance, Elegia still took serious damage from the psychic attack, and her wings began to cave in.
"That won't be enough!" Shinobu shouted. "Kisara, save her!"
"Araquanid!" Kisara hissed, scuttling forward. Water rose up around her body, encasing her in a powerful bubble. She slammed into Elfuria, breaking the Delphox's concentration and freeing the Vivillon.
Elegia was quick to return the favor, sending a gust of wind towards Harriet that sucked the Hawlucha up, cutting into her with the wind and dealing serious damage.
"Haw…" Harriet whimpered, collapsing to the ground, unconscious.
"Harriet…" Callie winced, recalling her Hawlucha. She was in a bit of a bind. When it came to Bug type pokemon, her best bet was Ferno, her Infernape. But Rafe had showed just how dangerous it was to do battle with these Bug types in particular. Devastating Water type moves from one, and the chance for any Fire type moves to blow up in their face from the other.
It wasn't the sort of situation that Callie liked to find herself in.
I've got to take out that Araquanid and Vivillon before relying on Ferno, Callie recognized. And my best method of doing that would be…
"Ken, come on back out!" She shouted, sending out her Crabominable. The bulky pokemon was in better shape than before, having gotten some time to rest in the pokeball, but he was still injured and winded, and Callie knew that full well.
Right now, though, it didn't matter. The two of them had work to do!
"Using that one again?" Shinobu asked, curious. "Do you only have two pokemon?"
"You'll find out!" Callie stubbornly snapped back. "Ken! Use ice hammer!"
"Crabominable!" Ken dashed for the Vivillon, raising his claw. A massive chunk of ice formed around it, taking the shape of a massive pincer. Wielding such a weapon greatly cut into Ken's speed, but the move promised to do serious damage to whatever it hit.
Which was why, as far as Shima was concerned, it wasn't going to hit a damn thing.
"Elegia, time to dodge that and use hurricane!" He ordered.
"Viv-" Elegia nodded, preparing to comply, when Elfuria began to glow bright pink, startling everyone and getting their attention.
Callie closed her eyes and thanked Rafe for paying attention to what she'd been planning. That could have gone really poorly.
"Delphox!" Elfuria cried, and the light around her expanded until it formed a barrier, but this one was even bigger than light screen. It extended and expanded, engulfing all the trainers and pokemon in a cage of eerie light that reflected the psychic terrain, forming a churning box of ominous energy that surrounded the battlefield.
The effects of the trick room were immediate. Elegia, who had boosted her speed with quiver dance, nearly fell out of the sky as a result of slowing down. At the same time, Kisara was now too slow to step in and stop what was coming. Ken picked up speed, his decreased agility becoming a boon as he quickly closed the distance between himself and Elegia, and he swung his claw with all his might.
"Crabominable!" Ken roared, smashing Elegia into the ground. The small pokemon bounced off the grass and hit the far wall, thrashing about in pain. But in a moment she had succumbed to her injuries.
"No!" Shinobu gasped. But Elegia's trainer himself wasn't particularly fazed. Shima recalled Elegia to her pokeball without a word, clapping in applause for Callie's performance.
"So this is trick room," he mused, looking around. "Not bad. So the slow pokemon move quicker, and the fast pokemon are slowed down. It's quite interesting, I'd say."
"It's a strategy I like to use," Rafe explained. "The pretty colors give such good atmosphere, wouldn't you agree?"
"…And it's useful," Callie snapped.
"…Right, and that, too," Rafe agreed.
Callie sighed and shook her head. She was grateful that her brother was actually bothering to take this more seriously than his usual battles. She had sent out Ken and had him use ice hammer, because she expected Rafe would get the message. By dropping her pokemon's speed, he would only get faster while in the trick room. And Rafe had executed his part perfectly.
Now there was just one thing left to do, capitalize on-
"Liquidation," Shinobu hissed.
Then, nearly as quickly as Ken, Kisara shot across the battlefield, her body covered in water. She slammed into the injured Elfuria with the force of a tidal wave, sending the Delphox flying through the air.
Elfuria hit the ground hard, her body engulfed by the psychic terrain. She didn't stand back up. The attack had finished her off for good.
Rafe sighed, recalling his Delphox. "Well, I hope you had fun, Elfuria."
"The next pokemon you send out will face the same fate," Shinobu warned. "With this trick room… Kisara can move faster than ever before."
"She's right," Dokukage admitted. "Araquanid's speed is very low, even lower than Crabominable's is naturally. Without that ice hammer, Kisara would have been able to get the drop on him, and that would have been bad."
"Hmm. So what I'm hearing is that I should use a slower pokemon, then," Shima said thoughtfully. "Well unfortunately, my pokemon are quite fast. I suppose that my best bet, then, would be… Kalito."
Shima sent out his next pokemon, and to Callie and Rafe's surprise, it wasn't the sort of pokemon one would expect from a ninja.
"Pinsir," Kalito hissed, his large horns cracking against one another as he stomped through the purple flames.
"That's a bulky one," Callie said, surprised. "I thought ninja preferred fast and sneaky pokemon? Pinsir is a little… unsubtle."
"Don't paint us all with the same broad brush," Shima replied, nodding to Dokukage. "Just because he prefers to fight with his pokemon like that, that doesn't mean that I would choose that style. Kalito and I… we are quite powerful."
"That's what I like to hear!" Rafe chirped. "Callie always likes facing powerful opponents, don't you, little sister?"
Callie blinked, confused. "Well, yeah, I- HEY! Don't you DARE do what I think you're going to do you bastard!"
"What?" Rafe shrugged. "I just thought that if you're so excited to face challenging foes, then maybe you should handle things yourself."
"Nuh-uh! No way! You send out your pokemon right now, you hear me?!" She demanded furiously. Startled, Rafe just nodded, surprised that his sister would make such an aggressive declaration like that. She must be pretty angry.
"Okay, sure," Rafe agreed. "Formalin, come on back out!"
"Woobat!" Formalin cheered, bobbing happily up and down.
"That thing," Shinobu scowled under her mask. She had a new target to aim at, and she was going to make it hurt. "Kisara, use lunge!"
"Araquanid!" Kisara growled. She charged forward and opened her fangs wide, preparing to bite down on the tiny little bat. But Callie had Rafe's back.
"Ken!" She called. "Use thunder punch!"
"Crabominable!" Ken charged forward, now much faster than Kisara, and raised his pincer. Electricity surged through it and the crustacean delivered a powerful punch that hit Kisara in the side, electrocuting her.
"ARAAAAA!" Kisara wailed in pain.
"Thanks for the assist, sis," Rafe grinned at Callie, who rolled her eyes at the terrible pun. "Now then! Formalin, target that Pinsir with your aerial ace!"
Formalin flapped his wings and disappeared. He was too fast to dodge Kisara's attacks or match Ken in the trick room, but his natural speed was still lower than a Pinsir. And that meant his speed was more than enough to close the distance between the two of them. He took Kalito's back, raising his wing, and cutting down hard.
"Pinsir," Kalito rasped as he braced himself for the attack. Formalin's wing bounced off, hardly making a scratch, much to the Woobat's surprise.
"Iron defense," Shima explained. "The standard defensive buff. It's not as good as reflect, but it should be more than good enough in the current climate, I'd say."
Shima smirked. "And there's one other thing that we can do, as well. Kalito, if you would? Please use quick attack."
"Pinsir!" Kalito growled, gnashing his horns in agreement.
"Quick attack?!" Callie sputtered. "But that move shouldn't be able to work in psychic terrain, you can't do that!"
"We can and we will!" Shima declared. "Go, Kalito!"
"Pinsir!" Kalito shot forward at blinding speed, easily outrunning the Woobat, Araquanid, and even Ken, circling through the psychic terrain.
Rafe frowned slightly. He knew what was coming next. He sighed. "Well, sorry Formalin. This is going to be tough. I'll be rooting for you, though!"
On cue, Kalito appeared behind Formalin and lunged forward, his horns spreading wide. He clamped down hard on the small Woobad, unleashing a blow of devastating crushing force on his small furry body.
"WOOOOOOO!" Formalin wailed as he tried to break free from Kalito's crushing attack.
"Nice work," Shima praised his pokemon. "Go from quick attack straight into bind."
Kalito squeezed even tighter, there was no escape for the little Woobat.
Callie was a little slow to react. She still didn't understand how Kalito could have moved like that, desperately shouting how unfair it was.
"But… psychic terrain prevents priority moves!" She wailed.
"Not always," Shima said. "Your brother… Rafe, was it? He said so himself. Psychic terrain affects only the pokemon on the ground. Pokemon in the air, like that Woobat… they're unaffected by the power of the psychic terrain, including the part that nullifies priority moves. So while I may not be able to use moves like that on your Crabominable… the Woobat is fair game."
"But… but that's…" Callie looked to Rafe for clarification and he just shrugged.
"That's the way it is," he admitted.
"Then why would you use it?!" She sputtered. "Your Woobat flies! Why would you send him out if he can't take advantage of the psychic terrain?! Are you trying to throw this match or something? Why didn't you use your Medicham?"
Rafe stared at her for a long, hard while. Then he shrugged his shoulders.
"What can I say?" He asked. "Formalin really wanted to get back into the battle. Would you expect me to ignore that and use a different pokemon? Come on, Callie, that's not how battles work! At least not for me, anyway."
Callie could die. She could just die.
But first she was going to kill her brother.
"Why are you always like this?!" She demanded. When she got no response but a chuckle and a shrug, she shook her head. "Fine. BE like that. Ken and I will handle this!"
She turned to her Crabominable. "Go, Ken! Save Formalin! Use ice hammer again!"
"Crabominable!" Ken bellowed, charging across the field. He raised his claw high, forming a hammer of ice to smash into the Pinsir's face. He struck the Bug type pokemon so hard he nearly launched Kalito across the battlefield, breaking Formalin free.
But that was exactly what Kalito wanted.
"Now, revenge!" Shima ordered.
Kalito bore down on the grass and lunged forward, turning his pincers on the bulky Crabominable. With the power of a devastating revenge attack, he slammed into the hulking crab, and DID send Ken flying across the battlefield.
"PINSIR!" Kalito bellowed, standing triumphantly and gnashing his horns together. Ken lay defeated on the ground in front of him.
This isn't good! Callie is putting up the best fight she can, but unfortunately, her Crabominable was defeated by Shima's powerful Pinsir! What pokemon will she rely on next to defeat these two ninja? And what about Rafe? What will he do? Things aren't looking so good now that we're dealing with an Araquanid that can move incredibly fast in the trick room!