Alden is in a tough position. His back is up against the wall, and he only has a handful of pokemon he can fight with. Hopefully he'll be able to overcome the odds and defeat Vic, but being on the receiving end of two Water type pokemon and their sweeping moves hasn't made for a very good outcome so far. Will he be able to pull it off?
KedharS: I wouldn't want a battle to appear as though that wasn't a possibility.
Hyphenman: Anything is possible. That would certainly be bad, I'll say.
Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings
Chapter 1117
The muddy water settled down, leaving both of Alden's pokemon injured. But to Rui's relief, neither one seemed to be in critical condition. They both looked more than capable of continuing the battle, even through tier weakened states.
Mimi was angry. Her costume was stained with mud splotches, and she thumped her stick-tail on he ground angrily in frustration.
Corin's reaction was a little more subdued. She rose her to her feet, shaking, her face covered with mud to keep her from seeing clearly. Not that it mattered, of course. She was still confused from Shimmer's attack, and unable to focus on anything around her.
Which worked just fine for Vic.
"Shimmer, use hydro pump!" She ordered.
Shimmer opened her mouth wide and fired a hydro pump at Corin. But to Vic's surprise, Corin ducked out of the way of the attack.
"No!" She spat angrily.
"Lucario!" Corin was still confused, but even in her haze, she was able to continue fighting. She stumbled forward and formed a staff of aura, spinning it over her head. She leapt forward and swung it at Shimmer, hitting the Lanturn head-on.
"Lanturn!" Shimmer cried in pain.
"Theo!" Vic shouted to her Gastrodon, who was already preparing an earth power. Again, Corin jumped back and dodged it. She didn't need to see to fight, she knew exactly where her opponents were, and what moves they were using.
"Nice work, Corin!" Alden applauded his Lucario. "Now, aura sphere!"
Corin had snapped out of confusion by this point. Not even bothering to wipe the mud from her eyes, she raised her hands and sculpted an aura sphere which she fired at the Gastrodon. Neither one of them expected the attack to do much damage, but it was a way of keeping the Water type pokemon in check for now.
"Corin, are you feeling better?" Alden asked his Lucario.
"Lucario," Corin nodded back.
"Great, then let's use that move," Alden ordered. "Earthquake! And Mimi, you know what to do," he called over to his other pokemon.
"Mimikyu!" Mimi chirped in agreement.
Corin raised her paws and slammed them onto the ground. The stadium began to shake. At the same time, Mimi disappeared into the shadows. Wihout her partner present, Corin didn't have anyone she needed to worry about. She could put all of her focus into the earthquake and aim for taking both pokemon out of the fight.
"Theo, use protect," Vic ordered. "Shimmer, use bounce!"
"Lanturn!" Shimmer bounced up into the air, protecting her from the effects of the earthquake. At the same time, Theo created a blue barrier around himself to protect him from the attack, as well. It was a stunning combo that displayed Vic's knowledge of double battles, and how to use them to her advantage.
Alden wasn't at all bothered by this turn of events. "Not a bad plan… but you realize Mimi has already prepared her next attack, don't you?"
"Mimikyu!" Mimi appeared from the shadows, hovering over Shimmer. She swung her stick down, the tip coated in ghostly energy, and smashed the bulky Water type pokemon down into the ground.
Shimmer hit hard, and she barely managed to get back up.
"Nicely done," Alden applauded. But he was still impressed. "That goes for your Lanturn as well," he added for Vic. "I'm surprised she can still keep going after an attack like that."
"Lanturn…" Shimmer panted. She slammed her flippers against the ground and auled herself back up, her eyes flashing with Vic's harmonia as Vic sent everything she had to the injured pokemon. Shimmer wasn't falling here.
"I'm not surprised you underestimate me," Vic said, her eyes glowing furiously. "You've always looked down on my abilities, Alden. And you're doing it right here."
"Looked down on your abilities?" Alden was genuinely surprised that she thought like that. "What do you mean?"
"Haven't you been paying attention?!" She demanded angrily. "Everything I do, every time I fight, it's always for you! But you don't see it, do you? You don't even care! For you, battling is everything that matters, but for me…"
She clutched her chest. "For me…"
She caught her breath and regained her composure. "The way you praise trainers like Anabel and Alcea with your favor… I know you respect them more than me. You're always looking their way, while I have to claw every bit of attention I can get from you. I was such a fool, to think that you would ever come to notice me, respect me, care about me, when I couldn't even give you the challenging battles that you sought."
It stung, admitting her own weakness like this. But she couldn't deny the truth.
"Even if I became the star of your Battle Frontier, you wouldn't even look at me!" She cried. Then the sadness left her face. In its place was only the hardened resolve of a woman who knew what she needed to do. "But now everything is different. Now I can get your attention. I've finally managed to make you care about me, thanks to Samarra's help. And that's not all…"
A green aura began to glow around Vic's body, and her harmonia slowly became visible to everyone. It was just like with Anabel.
"Yes… with this power from Samarra… I can finally defeat you, and then you'll have no choice but to stay by my side forever!" She crowed. "Shimmer, use surf once again! Theo, combo it with your muddy water!"
"Lanturn!"
"Gastrodon!"
Both her Water type pokemon took advantage of the intense downpour, strengthening their Water type moves, unleashing two tidal waves, one of clear water and one of dirty. The two attacks merged together in a massive tsunami that flooded the battlefield, sweeping Alden off of his feet.
"Oh, no!" Rui cried, scrambling back away from the waves. She and Anabel took cover in the bleachers, above the rising water level. Alden wasn't so lucky. He slammed against the wall hard, and so did both of his pokemon. Vic, standing safely above the battlefield, wasn't fazed that she'd just injured the boy she loved.
She was too focused on winning for that.
"How was it?" She purred, reaching out over the balcony and curling her finger towards him, a cruel smirk on her face. "I suppose you must be regretting taking me for granted now, since I'm so much stronger than you at this point. But I guess hindsight is 20/20, isn't that right, Alden?"
"Tell me something…" Alden spat, rising to his feet. His face was serious, and to Vic's frustration, his pure eyes hadn't lost their shine.
"What do you want to know? What we're going to do once you're finally mine?" Vic laughed. "Well, I'll leave that to your imagine for now, but I'll say-"
"What gave you the impression that I haven't been looking at you?" Alden asked.
The question caused a curtain of silence to fall over the room. Vic stared at him in confusion, not sure she'd heard him correctly.
"…Wh-What?"
"You've spent our entire battle talking about how I never notice you, and how I use you without any appreciation for your talents," Alden said. Both his pokemon got back up as well. They were injured, but still ready to continue the fight. "Do you honestly believe that's the case?"
"Of… of course I do!" Vic exclaimed. "All this time, you've never-"
"Every one of your matches," Alden cut her off with a sharp rebuke. "I've watched them closer than anyone. I've seen how you fight, studied your techniques, and I have immense respect for your skill as a trainer. Do you really think that's not the case? There's a reason that you're my right hand, Victoria. Because I know better than anyone just how passionate you are towards our cause, and how you have the skill to back it up."
If it was anyone else, Vic would have thought they were telling her what she wanted to hear. But Alden didn't lie, he was honest to a fault. But… but that couldn't be. This wasn't the truth that she knew. "But that's…"
"Does it matter?" Samarra asked her. "Even if you have his acknowledgment as a trainer, does that change the fact that he isn't yours? I may not be familiar with things like romance, but respect and affection aren't the same thing."
Maybe the old Vic would have been ecstatic to hear those words. Maybe she would have believed them. But Vic wasn't going to back down because of some sweet speech. She was so close to what she'd always wanted, and she wasn't going to give it up now.
"Stop… stop looking at me like that!" She shouted. "Stop staring at me with those eyes!"
Her harmonia surged, and her pokemon's strength increased again.
"Theo, use muddy water again!" She didn't know if she'd lowered any of Alden's pokemon's accuracy, but she would keep using the attack until they weren't able to keep fighting. It was one of her best weapons.
The waves crashed towards the two pokemon, but they were fast. Mimi disappeared using phantom force again, while Corin used her detect to jump over the attack. Landing in the soaked dirt, she winced, the pain from her previous injuries getting to her. She rubbed the mud from her eyes, even though she didn't need to see.
Alden knew that he needed to take care of his partner. "Corin!" He shouted. "Use life dew to recover your health!"
"Lucario," Corin nodded. She began to glow blue, sculpting the water around her body with her aura, making it shine. She started to restore her health with the life dew, but that just made Vic smirk with triumph.
"You won't be able to use that!" She shouted. "Shimmer! Thunder!"
"Lanturn!" Shimmer began to crackle with electricity and her lure started shining. She released the energy up into the sky, charging up the rainclouds, which opened up to reveal a powerful bolt of lightning that crashed down on Corin.
"Luc-!" Corin gasped in pain as the lightning bolt struck her head-on. It was incredibly strong. She fell forward, electricity crackling across her body, her attempt to heal completely nullified. And now she was paralyzed.
"No! Corin!" Rui wailed. This wasn't good. Corin was in bad shape, and Vic had two pokemon. Could she even fight back under these circumstances?
The answer was yes. Corin's head snapped up and she disappeared in a flash, dodging Theo's follow-up hydro pump. She reappeared behind the bulky pokemon and struck her in the back with a powerful punch. Her speed might have been reduced, but with extremespeed it didn't matter. Her fist hit Theo's head and knocked him forward, doing quite a bit of damage. But before the Gastrodon could fight back, Mimi reappeared to pick up some of the slack.
"Mimikyu!" Mimi called, appearing from the shadows. She smashed into Theo with a powerful phantom force that sent the heavy pokemon flying into the air.
"Nice work, Mimi!" Alden cheered.
"Shimmer, don't let them get away with that! Use another thunder!" Vic ordered quickly.
"Lanturn!" Shimmer shouted, beginning to build up electricity in her body again.
"Not another one!" Rui cried. She didn't know if Corin would be able to withstand it. But fortunately, she wouldn't have to find out.
"Lucario!" Corin disappeared again, using her extremespeed once more to close the distance between herself and Shimmer, striking with a powerful punch to knock the pokemon off her balance and disrupt her attempt to use the move.
"Mimikyu!" Mimi followed it up with her shadow sneak, sinking down into the darkness and charging towards the already-injured Lanturn. She emerged from the darkness and swung with her stick, but to Rui's horror, the attack missed completely.
"Why didn't that hit?!" Rui asked Anabel frantically. Given Alden's situation, he couldn't afford anything to go wrong like this.
Anabel had a fairly decent idea. "It's the muddy water," they said, narrowing their eyes. "It can reduce the accuracy of pokemon hit by it, making it harder for them to land their attacks. Corin wiped the mud from her eyes, but I guess Mimi's still a little blind."
That was exactly the case, and Vic was more than prepared to make use of it. Mimi might have had her sight reduced, but that didn't mean everything was set. Shimmer couldn't use thunder, it would take too much buildup, but Theo could make up the slack.
"Theo, use hydro pump again," she ordered. The speed of hydro pump was more useful to her than the powerful waves.
"Gastrodon!" Theo opened his mouth and fired a blast of compressed water that hit Mimi from behind, knocking her forward.
Alden turned to Corin. "Jump back, Corin, use aura sphere!"
He could afford Corin getting into the center of the fight here, not with her current low health. The best tactic was for her to strike from long range using her aura sphere. The move couldn't miss, which meant even if her accuracy was reduced, it wouldn't matter.
"Lucario," Corin nodded. She began to sculpt her aura, forming a powerful orb that she fired at Theo, hitting the Gastrodon. Again, it didn't do as much damage as Alden would have liked, but it was important to chip away at the bulky pokemon's health in case he tried to recover again.
It helped his main strategy, as well. Because with Theo's current health, what he could guess of it, anyway, Mimi should be able to finish him off. It was all about getting close to him before he could stop her.
"Shadow sneak," he ordered. Mimi sank into the shadows before either pokemon could follow up Theo's attack, streaking across the soaked battlefield to attack her opponent. She emerged from the shadow and swung her stick, but it smashed against a blue barrier instead.
"That won't work, not when we can use reflect," Vic replied. The barrier blocked the physical move completely.
There was only one other choice, and Alden didn't like it. But he needed to keep pressing Corin. He smiled, and nodded to his Lucario.
Corin might have been in rough shape. But she was strong. He had absolute faith in her abilities.
With a howl, Corin charged towards Theo, ignoring the paralysis as best as she could. She raised her fist, unleashing a powerful punch that smashed through the barrier and hit Theo's chest, doing significant damage, but not enough to finish him off.
"Hydro pump!" Vic crowed. It was a point-blank attack, and not one Corin had the speed to dodge anymore. Alas, the Lucario took the blast of water head-on, and was knocked across the battlefield. She hit the ground hard, and stayed there.
Alden took quick stock of the situation. Corin was injured, but she wasn't unconscious. That was important. It meant she'd be able to keep fighting.
"Corin!" He shouted to his Lucario. "Stay there for now!" He turned back to Mimi. He would need to count on her while Corin rested.
Luckily, Mimi was more than happy to pick up the slack. With a cry she scurried across the battlefield, raising her stick and swinging it at Theo.
"Wood hammer!" Alden shouted. He needed this attack to collide. He couldn't let the accuracy reduction stop things here, or else it would all be for nothing.
"Mimikyu!" Mimi shouted, and the wood hammer attack landed true. Doing massive damage to the Gastrodon, she smashed into Theo as he tried to get away, knocking him across the battlefield like a home run. Theo bounced off the mud and crashed to the ground, unconscious.
"Theo!" Vic gasped. But Alden wasn't done. All he'd managed to accomplish was taking down one of Vic's pokemon, after all, and she still had one left. And Valkyrie plus Shimmer was an incredibly potent duo.
Here was his opportunity to take a commanding lead. After all, Shimmer was already pretty injured. Could he do it? Could Mimi make it in time?
"Mimi, the Lanturn next!" He shouted, taking advantage of Mimi's high speed. Mimi sank into the shadows and shot across the battlefield, taking her shadow sneak to the max. She emerged from the shadows and struck Shimmer, knocking her off-balance.
That was exactly what Corin needed. She didn't even heed Alden's orders. He was plotting to defeat Shimmer with Mimi before Vic could send out her last pokemon. It was possible. Vic's harmonia was floundering, and she was still suffering from the damage that had been dealt to Theo, and she could only strengthen the already-injured Shimmer so much.
That was what made Corin's actions so amazing. She charged forward with her fist raised and unleashed a bullet punch on Shimmer with everything she had, which wasn't much due to the pokemon's resistance. It was enough to close the distance between the two of them, though, and with her aura glowing bright she moved immediately into her next move, ignoring the paralysis.
"Lucario!" Corin roared, unleashing a devastating close combat. Along with the damage that Mimi had already inflicted, it was enough to knock out Shimmer in a single hit, and Shimmer hit the ground, falling unconscious with Theo.
Rui was stunned. Alden had been pressed into such a bad position before, but he had managed to push past it and knock out two of Vic's pokemon back to back! Corin and Mimi were in very bad shape and might go down at any minute, and Tracey wasn't in great shape either, but it was still now three pokemon against Vic's one.
And Vic specialized in double battles. It wasn't adding up to a winning strategy.
Vic stared numbly at her two Water type pokemon, recalling them to their pokeballs without another word.
"What do you think?" Alden asked quietly. Vic glanced down at him. His eyes were burning as purely as always.
"You fight as impressively as always," Vic admitted. "I thought my harmonia would be enough to overpower you, but your pokemon just won't go down."
"Of course we won't," Alden said. "You can't defeat me, Vic. Haven't you been listening? No matter what you do, I won't lose. Not right now."
Vic scowled. "You keep looking down on me, but I still-!"
"That's not it!" Alden cried, taking a step forward. "It has nothing to do with your strength, Vic!"
Vic blinked. "Wh-what?"
"The reason you can't defeat me, is because if I lose to you, then it's over. I won't be able to bring you back from Samarra," Alden said. "And I refuse to let that happen. So no matter how strong you are, no matter what you try, I. Will. Not. Lose."
"But that's…" Vic felt like her entire world was coming down. She stared down at Alden in stunned shock.
"Meaningless," Samarra hissed at her. "It's meaningless! You're almost done! You just have to defeat three more weakened pokemon, and then he'll be all yours!"
That was enough for Vic. She grabbed her pokeball and flung it into the air. "Valkyrie! Finish them off!" She roared, sending out her pokemon.
What an amazing performance from Alden! By pushing both of his pokemon to the limit, he was able to knock out both of Vic's pokemon! Now this battle is really heating up! There's only one pokemon left to defeat, and then he'll be able to win! Can he defeat Vic's trump card? Now that there are two pokemon against one, it should be easier, right?