Hiatus over for now. Time for the continuation of the matches!
Darkhammer: What direction is that?
Guest: Hi.
Ketchum world: Thanks, but I'm not accepting OCs right now.
Duskzilla: Yeah, that's what I really want to capture in this story.
Really Raichu: What about her?
Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings
Chapter 36
"Revis!" Richard shouted. "If water pulse won't work, then use psychic!" The Gorebyss fired another blast of psychic energy at the Mankey, who leapt from the rock he was standing on to avoid the attack.
"Mankey!" Nick said. "As long as that Gorebyss is under the water, direct attacks won't work. So finish it off with another strike!"
"Man!" Mankey said, nodding as he fell towards the water. He pulled back his arm and spread open his fingers, placing his palm on the surface of the water. The water shook for a second, Mankey not falling through. Instead, it began trembling, an erupted into the air. Mankey flipped back and landed on one of the rocks, huffing. The water rained back down onto the battlefield, the unconscious Gorebyss slowly floating back to the surface.
"Return, Revis," Richard said, frowning. "It's not over yet, Nick! I'll finish you off with my next pokemon! Rast, go!" Richard tossed out a pokeball, which a large Poliwrath emerged from, landing in the water, leering angrily at Mankey. The Poliwrath shot forward and pulled his fist back, punching the rock that Mankey was standing on with enough force to shatter it. Mankey tumbled through the air and hit the water with a splash, Poliwrath swimming towards him at high speed, propelled with his powerful arms. The battle wasn't over yet.
"Awesome!" Sango cheered. "Nick won! That means he'll be in the final rounds with Blake and Cynthia!"
"Phew…" Kitty sighed, sinking back into her seat. "So the only ones left… are Julia and Reiner." She stood up, looking at the battlefield, before turning to Sango.
"Hey, Sango, I'm going to go wish Julia good luck, okay?" Kitty explained. "I'll be back soon."
"Okay, cool," Sango said, nodding. "Don't get lost, okay?"
"I won't," Kitty said, smiling. She turned and moved across the aisles towards the steps back into the stadium halls.
A few minutes later, Kitty was hopelessly lost.
"Uuu…" Her eyes began to well up with tears as she looked around the large hallways, but there weren't any maps or signs telling her where to go. And there wasn't anyone around to give her directions, because they were all back inside the stadium. She wanted to give up and just go back to her seat to join them, but she couldn't remember how she'd gotten here. How many turns had she taken? Two? Or was it three?
She slumped against the wall and sunk to the ground, her head throbbing in pain. It had been doing that a lot, recently… She hoped she wasn't sick. Was it another migraine coming on? Kitty hadn't told any of her friends yet, but they were getting more painful and more frequent. That would be just her luck, to pass out in some corner of the stadium and miss the whole event…
A harsh clacking of heels broke through the pain of her migraine, and Kitty turned her head. Walking towards her was a woman dressed rather strangely, Kitty thought, strange and intimidating. She was dressed in black from head to toe, a sleek and shiny high collared dress wrapped over her curvaceous body, held in place by a dark leather corset. She wore long black fingerless gloves that reached the pale skin of her upper arms, and long black socks. Over her shoulders was a black hooded shawl, her silky brown hair falling down her back and framing her face. What was most intimidating about her, however, wasn't her clothes, or her imposing figure that put Kitty's to shame, but it was her face.
She didn't have one. Standing out against the dark clothes was a cold mask of pale white depicting smooth, gorgeous features. It didn't leave a hint of her face showing, not even her eyes. Her bangs fell over it and covered the edges, causing Kitty to not even realize it was a mask first.
Kitty gulped and averted her eyes, this woman was almost terrifying. But even so, she was lost, and this was the first person she'd seen since she left the stadium, so as the woman walked past her she stood up and let out a choked gasp.
"U-uh, excuse me…" The woman continued walking without a pause, so she tried again. "Excuse me!"
The woman stopped this time and slowly turned back to Kitty, and she could feel the woman's cold stare on her.
"What is it?" The woman's voice was harsh and cold, causing Kitty to flinch.
"I… I'm lost… and I was wondering…" she stuttered, gulping. Confident. Be confident. Julia would be confident! "I was wondering if you could help me find someone?"
The woman raised her hand to her forehead, shaking her head, sighing in irritation.
"…Fine then," she relented after a pause. "Where are you going?"
"Oh! Um…" Kitty wasn't expecting a positive answer so fast. Even though this woman looked scary, could it be that she was actually very nice? "My friend is competing in Block H, and I wanted to wish her good luck."
"I see," the woman said, nodding. "You're quite fortunate. I am also in Block H. I was heading to the waiting room myself."
She continued walking down the hall, Kitty following after her.
"Kitty?" Julia said, standing up from the couch in surprise when Kitty entered the room. "What are you doing here?"
"Hey, Julia," Kitty said, waving to her friend as Julia walked over to her. "Sorry, I came here to wish you good luck in your match, and I got lost… Luckily, this woman was nice enough to help me find my way over here."
Julia turned to the masked woman, her face a stern frown. "Thank you," she said evenly.
"I was coming here anyway," the woman said, her tone implying impatience to Kitty's ears. She stepped past the two and sat down on one of the couches. So this woman was also in Block H?
Julia said nothing in reply, turning back to Kitty. "Thanks, Kitty, I'm happy you came all the way here. I'll do my best to win!"
"Great!" Kitty said, her face brightening.
"Do you think you can find your way back to your seat?" Julia asked. "Or do you want me to walk you back?"
"Oh, no, you don't have to do that for me…" Kitty said, shaking her head. "You just need to take care of yourself and prepare to win, okay? I can find my way back!"
"Really?" Julia asked, raising her eyebrow skeptically.
"…Well, I mean, a few instructions wouldn't hurt…" Kitty said, looking down sheepishly.
Following the map Julia drew out for her, Kitty found her way back to her seat.
"That took a while," Sango said, turning to Kitty as she sat down.
"…I got lost…" Kitty admitted.
"Well you got back just in time," Sango said. "Julia and Reiner are up in the next round!"
"Oh, good," Kitty said, smiling. "I didn't want to miss it."
"We've seen some exciting battles from our competitors today!" Darla announced to the crowd.
"That's right, Darla!" Lila agreed. "And it's almost over! Just one more set of matches to go before we've got our 16 finalists! Can you hardly wait? Because I can hardly wait!"
"Same," Darla said, nodding. "So, without further ado, let's meet the competitors of Block H!"
"On Field 1, we have Reiner Zollern, the one who got the highest score in the preliminaries out of all our competitors!" Darla said.
"And he'll be fighting Derek Orris!" Lila nodded. "Now, what stage will these two be fighting on?"
The wheel began spinning at a high speed, slowing to a stop on a large snowflake.
"Ice Stage 2! Snowy Tundra Field!" Darla announced. The battlefield began shifting and turned into a large field of snow-covered hills and grass. Reiner stepped up to the battlefield and faced his opponent, a rather large sophomore with dark brown hair and an angry glare.
"Now, for our second matchup!" Lila continued. "Julia Keruz vs. Elaina Bishop on Field 2!"
"Whoa, that's Julia's opponent?" Sango asked, shocked, taking in the dark woman Kitty had encountered earlier as she walked onto the field.
Kitty nodded worriedly.
Blake and Cynthia were watching the match on the television with interest. Well, Blake was watching the match with interest. Cynthia's interests were… elsewhere.
"Whoa, can you believe that outfit?" Cynthia asked, her mouth hanging open. "That thing looks like it came right out of some fetish magazine! And look at the body! Damn, I've never seen anything that hot! How did she squeeze it into an outfit that tight?!"
"You're drooling," Blake commented dryly, Cynthia sticking her tongue out in response.
"I wonder what she looks like under that mask," Cynthia mused. "I bet she's hot."
"Julia and Elaina will be fighting on Steel Stage 4, Rusted Scrapyard Field!" The battlefield began shaking and was quickly replaced with a large rocky field, rusted scrap metal and machine parts stacked into several high piles upon it.
"So that's her?" Alcea asked, frowning, turning to Gerard. "Your secret weapon? She didn't seem to do much of anything in the first round."
"She's quite a capricious little witch," Gerard replied, smiling. "If her opponent doesn't excite her, she won't show her real strength. Hopefully this one will be a bit more of a challenge."
"Are you ready?" The woman, Elaina, asked. "I hope you don't bore me."
"First thing's first, take off that mask," Julia said, frowning. "I want to look my opponent in the eyes before we fight."
"I think not," Elaina replied. "I will not remove this mask in the presence of others."
"Well, I guess I better rip that mask of your face when I win then!" Julia replied.
"As you like."
"Blaze, go!" Julia shouted, tossing out her pokeball, her Growlithe coming out.
"Take to the sky, Noctre!" Elaina said, tossing out a pokeball. In a flash of darkness, a large bat pokemon emerged with a loud howl. The large Noivern flapped its mighty wings and a blast of wind shook the battlefield, sending several chunks of scrap metal tumbling down.
"Not bad," Julia said, smiling. "Blaze, use ember!" Blaze opened his mouth and a blast of flames shot out at the flying pokemon.
Noctre flapped her wings and released a powerful gust of wind, striking the flames and extinguishing them. It hit Blaze in the face and sent him flying backwards, crashing into a pile of scrap metal.
"Whoa!" Darla exclaimed. "With a powerful wind attack, Elaina's Noivern not only snuffed out the Growlithe's attack, but even counterattacked at the same time!"
"Blaze, are you okay?" Julia cried.
"Growl!" Blaze said, bursting out of the pile of scrap metal covered in flames. He leapt at the large bat dragon, curling into a flame wheel attack.
"Quite brave," Elaina said. "Gust."
"Noi!" Noctre howled, flapping her wings, generating a large tornado of wind that hit Blaze and knocked him out of the air. The powerful winds captured stray chunks of metal and debris, turning into a full-on tornado ravaging the battlefield.
"Oh man!" Lila shouted, ducking back as the winds kicked up and began blasting towards the table. "How can that be a gust attack?!"
"I don't know, Lila, but it's super powerful!" Darla commented, Julia definitely agreeing with her. The wind was so intense that it nearly pushed her off the battlefield. A chunk of metal flung wild, crashing into the ground in front of her. The tornado spun towards her, flinging Blaze into another pile of metal, sending the scrap metal collapsing to the ground.
"Growl…" Blaze muttered, fainting.
"Return, Blaze," Julia said, returning her Growlithe. "Amazing… that's quite some power you've got there."
"I'm not like any trainer you've fought before," Elaina declared. "You would be wise to give up."
"Not a chance!" Julia shouted. "Luna, let's go!"
"To fight against this powerful Noivern, Julia has chosen an Umbreon!" Darla said.
"And not just any Umbreon, this one's a shiny!" Lila added.
"Luna! Let's ground this bat!" Julia shouted over the wind. "Faint attack!"
"Umbreon!" Luna said, nodding, fading into darkness.
"Trying to hide from me? How pathetic. We'll attack the whole battlefield then! Noctre, increase your power!"
"Noi!" Noctre shouted, spreading his wings. With a mighty flap, the wind grew even fiercer, swirling around the battlefield in a massive blast of air. Metal flew in all directions, crashing against the ground, Julia ducking in cover.
As strong as the wind was, however, it didn't capture the agile Luna. She materialized behind Noctre, hitting her in the back of the head with a claw infused with dark energy. As powerful as the attack was, however, the strike didn't even cause the wind to die down. She spun around and with a swipe of her wing, she slammed Luna into the ground.
"Julia managed to land an attack, but Elaina's Noivern looks almost uninjured!" Darla cried out. "I've seen some powerful dragons in my time, but this Noivern is awesome!"
"Julia is getting more and more pressured!" Lila said worriedly. "Elaina's last match was onesided as well, but this one might be a blowout!"
"Not happening!" Julia shouted. "Luna! We can do this, right?"
"Umbreon!" Luna cried, rising to her feet.
"Moonlight!" Julia called out, dark light beginning to shine on her Umbreon. Luna began shimmering, regaining her health.
"That won't be enough to save you," Elaina scoffed. "But you've shown your mettle. You're worth using my full strength. Noctre, we're finishing this off!"
"Noi!" Noctre cried out, another tornado forming around her, more massive than any other. The entire battlefield was howling, and the audience clenched their hands over their ears. The sky began to darken and rain began to pour over the battlefield, caught in the wind and forming a massive hurricane of wind and water.
"Oh no…" Julia gasped, the wind flying forward and striking Luna, barreling through the battlefield and flinging the metal and rubble into the air.
"Julia!" Kitty cried out, pain shooting through her skull as the massive wind attack slammed into her friend, sending her tumbling from the battlefield and skidding across the ground. The wind blasted the announcer's table and knocked it into the wall, the audience scrambling for cover. In seconds the front rows that faced Noctre, fleeing from the awe-inspiring power facing them.
"What the hell…" Darla stuttered, standing up, helping Lila to her feet. "This is supposed to be a battle, but this is going a little too far, don't you think?!"
"Damn it…" Julia growled, spitting blood onto the ground as she stood up, holding her arm. "Luna…" Luna fell to the ground in front of her, unconscious.
"You've seen the difference in our strength," Elaina said calmly. "Surrender. Now. There is no shame giving up against an unbeatable opponent."
"Like hell I will…" Julia growled.
"Why keep struggling?" Elaina asked. "If this keeps going, your pokemon will be seriously injured. I can't hold my power back. Just surrender. Spare your pokemon… spare yourself from any further pain. I won't lose to someone like you."
"I'm not giving up!" Julia shouted, climbing back onto the battlefield. "And I'm not going to lose!"
"Because you made a promise?" Elaina asked. "To that friend of yours? Something as worthless as that…"
"No," Julia said, shaking her head, smiling. "I'm not going to lose because I'm not letting myself come to a stop here!"
"Very well then," Elaina sighed.
"Julia…" Kitty gasped, another migraine shooting through her. Damn it, not now! She tried to stand up but the pain was too intense and she stumbled over, clutching her head.
"Kitty? Kitty?!" Sango cried out, catching her friend. "Kitty, what's wrong?!"
"Julia…" Kitty cried, cradling her head as she passed out. "No… don't…"
Oh no! What's happening to Kitty?! Will Julia manage to win?! And what possible consequences could Elaina face for all this destruction of campus property and putting other students at risk?! Two of these questions will be answered in the following chapter, so stay tuned!