Anabel has given the Commander a shocking offer. But there's no way he would take them up on something like that! He's the kind of person who believes in himself and his pokemon, and lives by his own code. Which means after he rejects Anabel's offer, the battle will continue, and hopefully he'll be able to defeat them! We'll see!

KedharS: Yeah, I don't think Alden would take up their offer.

Hyphenman: It's very easy to win people over with Samarra's offer, especially when you're already under her influence.

Just a Bad Writer for Fun: Yes, this battle isn't over yet, and there are a lot of other complicating factors ahead as well.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 1103

Rui was taken aback by Anabel's statements. From what she knew about this power of Samarra's, it seemed exactly like harmonia, only with connecting with a person and not a pokemon. She could think of all the good things one could do with that power, and from the way Anabel was describing it, she could see some of that positivity leaking through.

The problem was, Samarra wasn't using her power for noble purposes. She was brainwashing people, and that was wrong!

…Right?

Her daughter's face flashed through her mind. What Samarra was offering was the opportunity to be completely yourself. To not have to deal with the pressures of society, because she would be there to give all the validation someone could need. And she knew that Vic was the kind of person who needed something like that. Vic always put up walls over her heart, to protect herself. And Rui blamed herself for that. It had kept her up at night, making her wonder if she was a good enough mother, if she was the reason her daughter was so antagonistic to everyone around her.

If Samarra could help with that…

No! She quickly banished those thoughts with a shake of her head. Vic's problems couldn't be solved with some magic spell! She was a little rough around the edges, but she was still a lovely, wonderful girl, and even with the walls placed over her heart, Rui was certain that she would find people to care about her and accept her for who she was. She was about to speak up, but Alden beat her to it.

"I see the value in what you're saying," he admitted. "While I'm the kind of guy who lives by my own code, not letting what other people think dictate how I act, I'm not so dumb as to think that other people aren't guided by the perception of others."

"So you agree!" Anabel brightened.

"Yeah… not really," Alden said, shaking his head. "See, I don't like the way that Samarra does things, so I'm afraid I can't agree."

Anabel narrowed their eyes. "What do you mean?" They asked.

"What I mean is that Samarra is forcing her will on people," Alden said. "She's trading a dependency on the perception of society with a dependency on herself."

Anabel blinked. "A… dependency? No, you're wrong," they said, shaking their head indignantly. "Samarra doesn't demand dependency, she doesn't judge people! She accepts everyone for who they are."

"Yeah, but only if they become her friend, right?" Alden asked, narrowing his eyes. Anabel flinched at that remark. "Yeah, that's what I thought," he continued. "Samarra won't give people the option of being themselves and being on their own. She wants everyone to be her friend, even if that's not what they want. So how is that better?"

"She's just trying to do what's best for everyone," Anabel replied. "To give them that feeling of freedom. You just don't understand! But once I beat you, you'll become her friend, and then you'll see that she's looking out for you, just like everyone else."

"Thanks, but I'm good," Alden replied. "I'd rather be myself. Like you said, I'm not bothered by the perception of society, so I don't really care what Samarra would have to do for me. That's the difference between you and I, Anabel. Even though we both live our lives doing what we want, you're willing to give into Samarra, and I'm not."

Anabel scowled.

Alden continued, "that's the problem, see? Samarra might make it so that people don't care what society thinks of them, and she might not judge them for who they are, either. But she makes herself into everyone's only priority. It's a cult. She's the one everyone becomes obsessed with, and people do whatever she asks to please her, and THAT is the catch. That's why you're here, fighting me, isn't that right?"

Anabel didn't have a reply to that. They connected with Samarra, who assured them it didn't matter. That caused Anabel to relax slightly. They nodded. Exactly. Alden just doesn't understand, because he can't see things the way I can. But once I defeat him, he'll become our friend, and then he'll understand everything.

It was really simple, when they stopped to think about it.

"No more talking!" Anabel barked, lowering their hand. "Come on, Alden! Bring it on already, let's get this match settled!"

"Fine then!" Alden didn't really expect to get through to Anabel with his words. He thought, for a little, that maybe they would be different since, like they'd said, they weren't like Olivia or Gerard. But that wasn't something he'd really expected.

The reason he'd been waiting was to give Mimi the chance to strike back!

"Mimikyu!" Mimi emerged from the void, raising her club. She swung at Bolas with everything she had, desperate to knock the Salamence out.

"SALAMENCE!" Bolas roared in pain as the club collided with his skull, sending a burst of ghostly power through him. At the same time, Anabel's head blossomed with pain and they nearly fell over, but Samarra kept them from falling. With the overwhelming power of harmonia, they forced their way forward, and infused Bolas with everything they had.

"Salamence!" Bolas spread his wings and raised his claw, swinging at Mimi with everything he had. Mimi cried out in pain as the shadow claw tore through her cloth, smashing her into the floor. Bolas hovered triumphant over the Mimikyu, letting out one final roar, before collapsing to the ground as well. Both pokemon were unable to battle.

"A draw," Anabel said, smiling as they recalled their Salamence. "Exactly as I expected."

"I'm sure you did," Alden said, a little upset that Mimi hadn't been able to defeat the Salamence. But it was fine. He was still in the lead. "Finn, go!"

"Swampert!" Alden followed the fast Mimikyu up with the devastating power of Swampert. The bulky pokemon roared and smashed his fists against his chest to work himself up, eager to see who his opponent would be.

Anabel didn't disappoint. "Margie, you're up!" They said, sending out their Mismagius next. The spectral pokemon hovered over the battlefield, feeling safe now that Alden's Mimikyu was gone.

Alden scowled. It didn't take a genius to know what was coming next.

"Norton, use earthquake!" Anabel ordered. Again, they were using double battle tactics. With Margie's Levitate, she was unaffected by Ground type attacks, while both of Alden's pokemon were vulnerable to it. And he wasn't about to send out Jaune, not in the Vikavolt's present condition.

"Swampert!" Finn roared as the floor began to shake. He was hit hard with the tremors but refused to fall, knowing that he could withstand them. At the same time, Tracey leapt into the air, using the same strategy she'd used against Kyth and Bolas to avoid the earthquakes.

"That won't work on us a second time," Anabel smirked. "Margie, use power gem!"

"Mismagus!" Margie's eyes flashed red and red crystals floated in the air around her. She sent them flying at the airborne Cinderace, bombarding the rabbit with a blast of rocks. It was a dangerous attack due to Tracey's current typing being the Flying type, courtesy of her Libero ability.

Tracey raised her arms to shield herself against the rocks, but there was only so much she could do. She cried out in pain as they broke against her fur, and she fell out of the sky, bruised.

Anabel was quick to follow the power gem up with another attack. They turned to Norton, barking out orders.

"Norton! Use body slam!" They ordered.

"Snorlax!" Norton bellowed angrily. He leapt into the air and spread his arms wide, about to unleash a powerful body slam that had the potential to create even harsher tremors than the earthquake attack had done.

Tracey wasn't a fool, though. She might have been injured by the power gem attack, but she wasn't going to just lie back and let herself get squashed. She hopped to her feet and dashed out of the way, easily avoiding the body slam with agility.

But that was what Anabel had been waiting for. They'd silently commanded Margie to wait for Tracey to move, knowing that she would use agility. And that agility just turned her into the Psychic type! "Now," they shouted.

"Mismagius!" Margie created an orb of ghostly energy and she fired it at the Cinderace, hitting Tracey in the back and knocking her over.

"Cinder…" Tracey gasped in pain, stumbling forward. But an attack of that level wasn't enough to take her down. She whirled upon Margie and raised her foot, pulling it back and kicking a pyro ball at the floating ghost.

"Margie, block with reflect," Anabel ordered. Margie's eyes flashed red and a barrier of red light appeared in front of her. The pyro ball smashed into the wall of light and bounced right off, not even making a dent.

Anabel smirked, their eyes flashing. "It'll take more than that to break through our defenses."

Alden frowned. With her Ghost typing, the Mismagius would be immune to brick break as well. But the Snorlax… yes, Norton was a different story.

"Finn!" He shouted to his Swampert. "Go after that Snorlax with brick break!"

"Swampert!" Finn lowered his head and charged on all fours. As he ran, he reared up onto his hind legs, using the speed he picked up to ready a devastating punch aimed right at the barrier. Norton stood up slowly as the red barrier appeared around him, and he wasn't nearly fast enough to evade the Swampert's punch.

Finn's fist struck the reflect and tore through it like a bullet through tissue paper, delivering a devastating blow to the Snorlax's gut. Norton bellowed with pain and stumbled back, but even with his immense bulk he didn't fall.

Instead, his eyes sharpened. He leaned into the blow and raised his hand, hitting Finn back with everything he had. The effect was instantaneous. Finn was knocked across the room, smashing through tables and chairs and crashing into the far wall.

"Finn!" Alden shouted.

"You should know better than to try something as reckless as that," Anabel smirked. "What you just faced was our amazing counter! How's it feel?"

It didn't feel very good to Rui. She looked at Alden worriedly. He should have known better than to try something so reckless. Was he really that out of sorts due to the situation? She turned to Finn, relieved that the Swampert wasn't injured. Finn rose to his feet, panting, and beat his chest to work himself back up. His eyes were narrowed at his opponents.

"Still not down, huh?" Anabel said. "Well, that's just fine! Margie, hit him with your magical leaves next!"

"Mismagius!" Margie created a tornado of rainbow-colored leaves imbued with magical energy, that would chase Finn to the ends of the earth. But before she could let them loose on the Water type pokemon, Tracey leapt into action.

"Cinderace!" Tracey shouted, hitting Margie in the back with a powerful sucker punch. She nodded to Alden, who nodded back. It was exactly as they'd planned. After that hit to Finn, he expected that Margie would try to finish him off with a Grass type attack, and it had played out perfectly. There was just one problem…

Just because Margie had gotten hit, that didn't mean the leaves were gone. They flew towards Finn, threatening to cut him to pieces.

"Finn, protect," Alden ordered. Finn raised his arms and created a dome of blue light around him. The magical leaves bounced off of it, leaving him unharmed. But he also wouldn't be of much help in the fight at the moment, much to Alden's chagrin.

"Good enough, Margie." That suited Anabel's purposes nicely. They nodded to their Mismagius, who had recovered from the painful sucker punch. Then they turned to their Snorlax. "Norton, use your hammer arm!"

"Snorlax!" Norton bellowed, charging at Tracey. He raised his fist, preparing to slam it down upon the Cinderace, but Tracey was still too quick for him. Using her quick attack, Tracey was able to dark around the Snorlax, and she hopped up his back, raising her leg.

"Double kick!" Alden ordered. Tracey swung with both her legs, one after the other, and hit him in the head. Norton toppled over with a thud, smashing through the table he landed on.

"Margie!" Anabel shouted, but their command was silent. The Mismagius began to glow, and Tracey leapt back in preparation for another attack to come. She readied her sucker punch, but it failed because the move Margie was using wasn't a damage-dealing move.

It was a status move, and the perfect one for the situation.

"Mismagius!" Margie bellowed, and the energy running through her body began to expand, until it formed into a box that filled the entire lobby, swallowing Alden's pokemon and Alden and Rui themselves.

"Oh no!" Rui gasped, looking around. She recognized this move, and the strange energy she felt, from the previous battle. "This is…"

"Trick room," Alden said, narrowing his eyes.

"One of the benefits of Samarra's knowledge," Anabel called over to him. "She told me all about your vulnerability to trick room!"

Alden was getting annoyed. "Really?" He frowned. "Are you telling me that you really needed someone else to tell you that, Anabel? That wasn't something that you could figure out on your own?"

Anabel blinked, not sure what the Commander was saying. But they quickly dismissed the thoughts in their head. "Just watch! Norton, it's all on you!"

"Snorlax!" Norton rose to his feet, a brand-new pokemon in this current situation.

"You… you have a plan, right?" Rui asked, turning to Alden. From where she was standing, that Snorlax looked like a monster in this current situation.

"I've got something resembling a plan," Alden nodded. "Tracey! Use quick attack!"

"Cinder!" Tracey nodded. They both knew that of all the pokemon in the battle, Tracey would be hit by the trick room the hardest. Because she already had been, that was the case every time someone used trick room on her.

"Swampert!" The barrier around Finn dropped and he lumbered forward. The trick room might have handicapped Tracey and given a great boon to Norton's speed, but Finn was pretty fast at the moment, himself.

"Finn, use high horsepower," Alden ordered.

"Swampert!" Finn lowered his head and shot forward like a bullet, tackling the Snorlax with everything he had. Norton was caught off-guard, knocked off his feet by the attack.

"Didn't you learn anything?" Anabel smirked. "Norton, use counter!"

"Snorlax!" Norton braced himself against the charging Swampert, and raised his hand to strike with everything he had.

But Finn was gone. Tracey had taken his place with ally switch, and took the full brunt of the counter attack to the face.

She smiled, rolling backwards and hopping to her feet.

"By changing to the Psychic type, we can reduce the power of your counter!" Alden said. "Nice work, Tracey!"

"It was a good play," Anabel agreed. "But it doesn't change the fact that your Cinderace is still moving slowly due to the trick room! Now Margie, hit her with shadow ball!"

"Mismagius!" Margie opened her mouth, firing a shadow ball at the Cinderace. She was a rather fast pokemon herself, but she was still slower than the boosted Cinderace. So her shadow ball was fired at a greater speed than normal, a speed Tracey wouldn't be able to dodge through regular means.

But Tracey still knew what she was doing. She shot forward faster than she should have, tanking through the shadow ball with barely a scratch, and hit Margie in the chest with a sucker punch, right on her ruby necklace.

Margie wailed in pain and fell back, but she quickly recovered. She turned towards Finn and sent a wave of magical leaves flying his way, which the Swampert scowled at.

Alden was scowling too, because he knew what Anabel was trying to do. They hadn't said anything, but the tactic was obvious. Finn had protected himself last time, but right now he couldn't afford to take himself out of the battle. If he did, then that would leave Tracey to fend off two pokemon that were faster than her. And with her greatest asset being her speed, that didn't seem like a good plan to the Commander.

He had another idea, though.

"Tracey, quick attack!" He ordered, nodding to his Cinderace. She nodded back, knowing how risky of a move it was, but not seeing any other choice. She turned and ran in front of the charging Finn, taking the full brunt of the Grass type attack as Finn ran past her, water surging around his body.

"Liquidation!" Alden ordered. Finn slammed into Margie like a tidal wave, knocking her across the room. Alden smiled. Just like that, they would pressure her as much as possible!

There was only one problem.

"SNORLAX!" Norton was even faster than Finn. And with all his bulk, he hit like a moving van slamming into Finn, sending him flying backwards with a high horsepower of his own. Finn was sent flying backwards, crashing through one of the counters in the lobby.

"Finn, you good?" Alden called over to his Swampert.

"SWAMPERT!" Roared his pokemon in the affirmative, rising to his feet. His eyes were blazing furiously, he was ready to keep going.

Alden smiled. He felt exactly the same way!

The match is really heating up! Alden and Anabel are both using their strongest pokemon and powerful strategies, and they were already pretty matched as trainers before this. But will Alden be able to win, now that Anabel is being controlled by Samarra? With everything she can offer, it seems pretty difficult for him to overcome that.