Alden's really turning things around! He's doing his best to win, and save Anabel from Samarra, but things are getting rough and difficult. Hopefully he can overcome his opponent's abilities and defeat Anabel. If he can't win, then Samarra will control him, as well. Will his "Sense" prevail? The battle is approaching the climax!

KedharS: Remember, this Anabel uses they/them pronouns.

Rowlets and Oshawotts: As often becomes the case in tough matches like this one.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 1107

All things considered, the strange disparity Anabel was feeling between their normal attitude towards pokemon battles and their current one only lasted momentarily. They shook off that sensation and focused on the battle they were in, not at all aware of the fact that their confusion was due to Samarra's influence.

"You talk a big game," they told Alden, "but in the end it doesn't matter. After all, that was your last sucker punch, wasn't it?"

"So what if it was?" Alden shrugged.

Anabel smiled. "Then that means we won't have to worry about it anymore! Kyth, use bullet punch on her, now!"

"Metagross!" Kyth shot forward, unleashing a barrage of blows from his spiked feet. Tracey raised her arms to guard, but didn't need to. A barrier of blue light appeared in front of her, and the attack was blocked.

"Wha-?" Anabel gasped.

"Nicely done, Corin!" Alden called to his Lucario, who nodded back to him. She was glowing blue and had stepped in front of Tracey, protecting her with a powerful barrier. Her taunt had worn off, and she was prepared to use her skills to protect her partner.

"That's quick guard," Alden explained to Anabel. "By using it, Corin can nullify all moves with increased priority! That means bullet punch and ice shard are both out of the question, and your sucker punch as well!"

"I see," Anabel said, smiling a little, though it was a menacing smile. "That's quite an interesting move. You were luring me with that, weren't you? When you countered Eava's ice shard with your Lucario's bullet punch, to make me drop my guard and not expect a move like that! Well I'm sorry, but we did expect it! After all, Victoria has seen you use that move before- and I know everything that she knows about you!"

"Weavile!" Eava dashed forward on instructions from Anabel, and delivered a swift strike with her claw that shattered the barrier. The feint opened an avenue for Kyth to attack, and they struck Corin in the stomach with a bullet punch.

"We're prepared, see?" Anabel boasted.

"That won't help you," Alden said. "Tracey, blaze kick!"

"Cinder!" Tracey darted out from behind Corin and leapt into the air, spinning towards Kyth with her foot extended and hitting the Metagross in the face, pushing the bulky pokemon back. But Kyth wasn't knocked out, not even close. In fact, their speed increased, and they countered with a brick break that grazed Tracey's jaw, knocking her off-balance.

Tracey regained her footing and hopped back, putting some distance between herself and the Metagross. At the same time, Corin prepared an agility for herself, to increase her speed in comparison to the Metagross, but found herself unable to do so.

"Weavile…" Eava cackled, beckoning Corin forward. Her speed still trumped the Lucario's, meaning that she could taunt the other pokemon as much as she wished and there wasn't anything that Corin could do about it.

"Nicely done," Alden begrudgingly complimented his opponent. "You're doing well, but be careful! Corin can still beat your Metagross, even if she can't outspeed them! And their speed can't compare to Tracey at all!"

"…Fair enough," Anabel admitted. A twisted smile crossed their face. "You're right, Alden. I completely believe that Corin could defeat Kyth. But the thing is… Kyth and Eava aren't the only pokemon I have left, and I think you know that."

Rui gasped, and Alden knew exactly what his possessed friend was getting at. He narrowed his eyes. "I see. So that's what you're after. Corin! Take Kyth down, now! Close combat!"

"Lucario!" Corin shouted, charging at Kyth. She raised her fists and prepared to unleash an incredible offensive, but she never got the chance, because Kyth began to glow. They returned to their pokeball in a flash, and Anabel smiled.

"Casey, it's your time to shine!" Anabel called, sending out their final pokemon.

Anabel was a talented trainer, with many powerful pokemon. Their Salamence and Metagross were monsters, and their Snorlax wasn't far behind, either. And even their weaker pokemon, their Weavile and Mismagius, had excellent niches they fulfilled. But of all their pokemon, there was only one that Alden considered the strongest.

"Alakazam," Casey said, emerging from his pokeball with his spoons raised.

Alden narrowed his eyes. Somehow, he doubted that Anabel's Alakazam would be using the metronome tactic he'd used in their previous battle.

"Ala!" Casey crossed his spoons, and a barrier of light appeared around Anabel's side of the field. Alden scowled.

"Wait, is that reflect?" Rui asked. "…Or did he use light screen?"

Anabel just snorted. In their last battle, Anabel had given orders verbally most of the time, even though the smart decision would be to conceal their orders using the power of their harmonia. But in this instance, they were clearly not pulling any punches. By giving their order in silence, Alden had no idea if they were using reflect or light screen, and a miscalculation could be fatal.

But that was fine, because they could break through either way.

"Corin, use brick break," he ordered. Corin charged at Casey with her fist raised, but Alden should have known it wouldn't be so simple. Due to the baton pass, Kyth had passed an agility onto the Alakazam, meaning their speed was far higher than normal. And as the Psychic type pokemon was naturally fast already, that made things difficult.

But Corin was still fast. She caught up to Casey and smashed through the golden barrier, hitting the Alakazam squarely in the chest. But to her surprise, he shrugged it off, knocking Corin back with a burst of psychic energy.

"It wasn't just agility we passed on," Anabel reminded him with a smirk. "You're looking at an Alakazam that's been fortified with iron defense as well!"

Alden scowled. That wasn't what he wanted to deal with right now. But it's not like he had a choice! He turned to Corin. "Corin, get back!" He called to her, "you need to wear him down with your bullet punches!"

A series of swift, small strikes was the perfect thing to battle the Alakazam's heightened defenses. Even with an iron defense, it wasn't like he was so tough. Alakazam were still physically fragile, and an adequate attack would still hurt.

Corin followed his orders perfectly, running forward and unleashing a barrage of bullet punches at the Alakazam. Casey withstood them as best as he could, but it was clear that the attacks were starting to wear him down bit by bit. Anabel winced, feeling every blow their Alakazam endured. Even with their harmonia strengthening Casey's defenses further, they couldn't fully negate the damage. But they could certainly try their hardest.

Concentrating, Anabel pushed their harmonia as far as it could go. This wasn't something that they normally did, even for challenging battles. They enjoyed becoming one with their pokemon and entering the fray themselves, but oftentimes they drew the line at compromising their own health for the sake of fighting.

Samarra, of course, had no compunction whatsoever about pushing Anabel's body to the limit, and thus they no longer did either. But of course, Anabel saw nothing strange about this, even though they were fighting in a way that they never had before. It might not have been usual, but that wasn't enough to cause them to question what Samarra was asking of them.

Anabel sent everything they had to Casey, and their Alakazam responded. With a roar, they raised their spoons, and sent a wave of psychic power at Corin, freezing them in place. Corin struggled against the psychic attack, as her usual blue aura was overpowered by a golden one from the Psychic type pokemon.

"Lucario!" Corin roared, struggling against the psychic bonds holding her down. Due to the calm minds she'd stacked she wasn't taking very much damage, but that didn't change the fact that her body wasn't hers to control.

"Tracey!" Alden called to his Cinderace. "Go after Casey! If you break his concentration, then Corin will be freed!"

"Cinderace!" Tracey nodded, charging for Casey. She began dribbling a pyro ball between her legs to strike the Alakazam with.

"Weav!" Eava shot towards Casey with her claws raised, ready to hit the Cinderace with yet another sucker punch. Sometimes, pokemon never learned.

Casey ducked under the strike, moving faster than Eava expected.

…But sometimes, they do.

"Cinderace!" Her pyro ball forgotten, Tracey circled around Eava with her quick attack, striking the Weavile from behind with a quick attack, catching the Dark type pokemon off-guard. Eava tumbled forward, injured, and hit the ground hard. She was already in pretty bad shape from the previous time she was in battle, and couldn't take much more.

Anabel winced as a throbbing pain shot through their shoulder. A grim expression crossed their face. They couldn't allow this. They needed Eava to fight, they were counting on her! So they took some of their harmonia from Casey and gave it to Eava instead, enough to nurse the Weavile's wounds and give her the strength to jump up and dodge Tracey's follow up blaze kick.

"Nicely done, Eava!" Anabel called to their Weavile. "Now, use dark pulse!"

Eava's special attacking stat wasn't very high. But even with her speed and attacking strength, she didn't want to risk getting close to Tracey right now. So she opened her mouth and fired a dark pulse at Tracey, forcing the Cinderace back. Tracey shielded her face from the attack and grimaced, but she withstood it easily.

Then Samarra stepped in.

She recognized that keeping her distance was the best thing for Eava. But at the same time, she was running the calculations, and decided that the best course of action for victory was for Eava to sacrifice herself if it meant taking down Tracey. The Cinderace was one of the Commander's strongest pokemon, and if he lost her, that would be devastating. Certainly Eava was useful for defeating Eifa, but she didn't have much health. This was the smarter play.

Which was why Alden was shocked to see Anabel order their Weavile to do it. Eava charged forward and raised her claws, slashing at Tracey with everything she had. Tracey was stunned, not expecting such a risky move. She was so caught off-guard that she just barely managed to dodge the reckless nigh slash, and wasn't able to strike back.

"Lucario!" Corin was struggling herself. She finally managed to break free from Casey's psychic, and with that she was back in action. She charged at the Alakazam and struck with a meteor mash, but Casey teleported away at the last second. There was no getting close. And when Casey reappeared across the battlefield, he was already healing.

Alden scowled. Corin couldn't use extremespeed anymore, so she couldn't catch up to the Alakazam in a flash. The best she had was bullet punch, and that probably wouldn't do much damage. But it was better than nothing.

"Corin, bullet punch!" He ordered. Corin raised her fist and shot across the battlefield, hitting Casey in the jaw with one punch, then followed the attack with dozens more. Casey withstood them all, focusing his psychic powers, and blasted Corin back.

Alden's brain was racing. Without being able to boost her stats further, Corin wouldn't do well against the Alakazam. He needed to come up with a new strategy. He glanced at Tracey. If only she'd been able to properly counter Eava's reckless attack! The Ciinderace had been so distracted she'd missed an easy win, and now she was on the defensive!

Eava wasn't in very good shape. The Weavile was almost dead, and yet for some reason Anabel was forcing her to keep attacking. It wasn't like them, to be this reckless. Which meant there was only one explanation.

"Anabel!" Alden shouted angrily across the battlefield. "Don't you see that Samarra is forcing you to fight like this?!"

Anabel blinked, caught off-guard. "What do you mean?" They snapped. "This is just any other battle, Alden!"

Alden shook his head. "No, it's not! You wouldn't normally use a reckless move like that! You would think with a lot more care and consideration, both for your pokemon, and for your own health as well, you know that!"

Anabel tried to make sense of what Alden was telling them, but it just didn't seem to be registering. They focused their thoughts, but it was like everything that had come before Samarra was trapped in a deep fog.

"Just… no, you're wrong!" They snapped, shaking their head. Alden was just playing tricks on them, trying to make them doubt their own abilities. But he wasn't the type of guy to do that, was he? Why couldn't they remember?"

"It's not important," Samarra urged them. "Remember, we need to focus on winning the battle. Everything else is just a distraction. That's what he's doing right now, don't you understand? He's distracting you, so you won't be able to beat him. Because he knows that if he were to fight you fairly then he'd lose."

That made sense to Anabel. They smirked. "I see now, so that's what this is! You're just afraid of losing, Alden! I've gotta say, I'm a little disappointed!"

Anabel's statement was so bizarre that for a second Alden didn't even know how to respond. That wasn't the kind of thing he'd ever have expected them to say.

"What?! That's not what this is about! I'm trying to fight you like I always do!" He shouted back. "You're the one who's not making sense, and not acting like yourself!"

Anabel shook their head. Nothing Alden said was registering in their ears. "That's just you trying to distract me," they said. "But I'm not going to let that happen. My pokemon will defeat yours, just you watch!"

They turned to Casey. "Casey! Use psychic on Corin, deal more damage! And Eava, you use night slash to keep her on edge! And don't worry about fainting, either!"

Rui frowned, glancing at Alden. He looked like he was feeling pressure. She wasn't sure what to say at the moment, but she could tell that this wasn't going well. She opened her mouth to urge Alden to calm down, but it was too late.

"Corin!" Alden called to his Lucario. This was one of the most reckless strategies he could use, but it might have been the only thing that would snap Anabel out of the bizarre descent into insanity they had begun.

Corin's aura sensors twitched, and she blinked in surprise. She could tell what her trainer was feeling, but she wasn't sure if she was sensing correctly. Was he really the type of person who would suggest that she…?

…

Yes, yes he was. And that made Corin proud. She smiled, and nodded her head as Alden shouted out his orders.

"Use final gambit!" Alden called. "On Casey!"

"What?!" Anabel exclaimed, unable to believe their ears.

Rui was confused. "What are you doing?!" She cried. "What sort of move is that?!"

"Lucario!" Corin's body began to glow blue and she focused her energy, drawing on every last ounce of strength inside of her. She took every speck of power and directed it towards her opponent in a brilliant burst of energy. The curtain of aura slammed into a stunned Casey, pushing through the light screen he tried to raise and hitting him directly.

There was no attack. No actual damage. Casey just felt his health slowly drain away as he felt the might of Corin hit him.

"Final gambit is a special move," Alden said quietly, addressing the shocked Rui. "By sacrificing the last of their health, a pokemon can use that sacrificed strength to reduce the opponent's health by the same amount."

Casey and Corin had about the same amount of health left. But with Casey having the speed and endurance to overcome Corin, she would be able to chip away a significant amount of Corin's health, if not defeating the Lucario outright.

So this was the method Alden chose for defeating the Alakazam. It required sacrificing his strongest pokemon, but in exchange, he'd deprived Anabel of theirs. And now the situation was pushed to the extreme.

Anabel didn't have a response. They hadn't even felt pain through their harmonia from the final gambit, it had just… happened. Both they and Samarra were trying to understand what had just happened, and neither one could.

Everything Samarra knew about Alden, from not only his allies but his enemies as well, told her that he valued his Lucario more than anything. She was his strongest pokemon, and had saved him more times than he could count. But even though Corin was his strongest pokemon, even though there were more trainers in the Battle Tower who would give him trouble, he had sacrificed her so easily, just to defeat a single Alakazam.

Samarra may have been willing to sacrifice pokemon for the sake of victory, but she never would have made that move, it seemed reckless and stupid. Anabel could just barely understand what the Commander was trying to do, but that part of them was suppressed by Samarra.

"You must be confused," Alden said solemnly, recalling Corin to her pokeball. "Are you wondering why I would sacrificed my pokemon like that? Even though I didn't have to?"

"Yes!" Anabel cried. "Why!? It doesn't make sense! After all, your Lucario could have still won, you didn't need to sacrifice her!"

"That's right," Alden nodded. "I didn't need to. But I did. Because I wanted to prove to you what I said before was true. I'm not going to lie and bullshit you to try and win. I made an inefficient play, so I could remind you that's the kind of person I am! I'm going to make moves like that sometimes, because I trust in my pokemon and they believe in me, even if the strategy is unpredictable!"

Anabel struggled to consolidate the Commander's words with their preconception that he was trying to manipulate them, but they couldn't. It just made no sense. And slowly, something in their head began clouding.

Well, Alden certainly pulled that one out of nowhere! Sacrificing his best pokemon, so that Anabel would realize they're being manipulated! But the question is, will that manage to get through to Anabel? Or will Samarra force that part of them down, in order to keep them under control? What will happen as a result of this?