Time for the semi-final round of the tournament to begin! The first match is Elaina vs. Sylvia!
Jay Hayden: It definitely was.
Just a Bad Writer for Fun: The order was to take orders as though they were from Valon, so he couldn't give orders counter to himself. It was also only temporary. Will doesn't have full administrative control over Misato. Also, you know, free will.
KedharS: Blake vs. Elaina, Blake x Elaina, I'm definitely teasing one of those two things.
Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings
Chapter 79
"Blaaaake, where were you?" Claire whined as Blake returned to his seat. "Sango was so boring! She wouldn't respond to any of my teasing!" Blake glanced aside from Claire, who was seated to his right, to Sango, who sat on his other side. She looked like she had been through some tough times, her face stoic but still showing signs of fatigue. She glared back at him.
Sorry… he mentally apologized. He turned and looked out over the stadium. This was his first time actually in the stands, and it was quite an experience. He had joined Julia, Kitty, Sango, and Nick on their way to root for Cynthia, and Claire, of course, had decided to tag along.
"Why are you still here?" Sango demanded. "Don't you have anywhere to go?"
"Ah~ A maiden in love must always follow her heart~" Claire sighed, wrapping her arms around Blake's torso. She glanced at Sango, smiling.
"But then, I'm sure you have no idea about that, isn't that right?"
"Er, of course I don't!" Sango said. "But that still doesn't answer anything! What, are you just sleeping out in the forest? If you're going to be a bother, then we can at least put you up in our room, right Julia?" Sango glanced to Julia, who was seated next to her. She didn't receive much support from the girl's cold look, though.
"No thanks," Claire immediately dismissed her olive branch with a wave of her hand. "I'm not interested in sleeping on the floor, thank you very much. And I'm not interested in sharing a bed with you or little miss redhead. But if that one were to offer…"
"Not a chance," Julia said dryly.
Sharing a bed with Julia… Kitty thought dreamily, imagining cuddling up to the taller girl. She pictured Julia as a big fluffy dog she could hug, and the thought brought a smile to her face.
"Besides, I already have a place to stay, isn't that right, Blake?" Claire purred, rubbing her cheek against his shoulder.
"Heh…?" Sango asked, confused.
"She's been staying in our room for the last few nights," Nick admitted. "It… hasn't been easy."
"Oh please," Claire laughed. "Every guy's seen a naked girl or two by the time they get to high school, what's the big deal?"
"Blake." Sango said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation for all this, yes?"
"Well-"
"And when I say 'reasonable explanation' I don't mean that I want to hear why she's staying in the same room with you. I want a reasonable explanation for why Nick would think to make up such a terrible lie."
She turned to Nick.
"Nick, it's not nice to joke about these things, understand?"
Nick swallowed, scooting back in his chair as he looked at the aura emanating from Sango.
"What? Jealous?" Claire asked. "My, my, I didn't expect you to want to go with a room full of guys. You're far kinkier than I gave you credit for, little miss lewd ranger."
"I will get you thrown off this island on a garbage barge if you say another-" Sango snarled, but she was suddenly interrupted.
"What's this I'm hearing?" An even more terrifying voice than Sango's rang out from behind them. Blake, Sango, and Claire turned their heads to glance back, seeing Eli and Serefina sitting in the row behind them, alongside Dakota, whose eyes were shining with excitement. She was practically drooling. "An illicit sexual relationship on campus? Between Blake and this mysterious trespasser?"
"You heard nothing!" Sango and Blake shouted at the same time.
"Wait, that's not true, I-" Claire began to explain things, but Sango and Blake quickly clamped their hands over her mouth while smiling innocently, shaking their heads.
Dakota didn't really believe there was nothing going on, but she also couldn't exactly go snooping around right now, either. So she filed that knowledge away in the back of her mind and reminded herself to buy a few more spy cameras before quietly dropping the subject.
"So you guys are here to cheer on Akira, then?" Nick asked.
"Akira and Cynthia," Eli corrected. "Cynthia's our friend too, after all."
"Yup!" Serefina nodded. "Whichever one of them wins, we'll be happy for them!"
"I want Cynthia to beat Akira so badly that he cries." Dakota calmly dismissed her friends' words of cheerful support.
God she said that so matter-of-factly… Blake thought.
"The first match… is gonna be that girl, huh…" Serefina said quietly, looking out over the battlefield. She seemed bothered by something. But whatever it was, she didn't show any desire to expand upon it.
"…What happened to you?" Callie asked, her mouth falling open as Gerard walked into the viewer's box for the Eight Leaders. "Did you get in a brawl?"
"Just a little disagreement, that's all," Gerard dismissed with a smile, rubbing his cheek. "One of our students got a little… heated in one of our discussions."
Callie looked confused, and Alcea glared suspiciously at him, but remained silent. She turned and focused on the stadium as Gerard took his seat.
"Ladies and gentlemen! Fellow students and honored faculty!" All heads turned to where Darla and Lila were standing in the center of the battlefield, each facing out in opposite directions to look at the audience.
"Today marks the semi-final matches of our school tournament!" Lila announced.
"There may only be two fights today, but we assure you they won't be ones to miss!" Darla added.
"Our first two competitors will be Elaina Bishop and Sylvia Driscoll! Take the stage, ladies!" Darla and Lila stepped back and walked to their commenting box, as Elaina and Sylvia stepped out of the chambers of the stadium.
"I must say, I've been looking forward to this," Sylvia said, glancing at Elaina as they walked down toward the battlefield. "What about you?"
Elaina remained silent, keeping a consistent pace.
"I love that outfit of yours, by the way," Sylvia added. "Dark leather and black accessories, quite an edgy style you got there. I'm a big fan of similar outfits myself. …But I must say, mine is far cuter than yours, wouldn't you agree?"
Again, Elaina refused to respond.
"…No friendly banter then, I got it," Sylvia said, shrugging. The two took their opposing positions on the battlefield, ready to begin the match.
"Now, let's see where our competitors will be fighting!" Darla said, the screen above her head beginning to spin. It stopped on a picture of a small cartoon ghost.
"Ghost Stage 1! Haunted Cemetery Field!" Lila announced. The stadium began to rumble as the battlefield was replaced with dried grass and gothic headstones, a rotted fence surrounding the perimeter. Dead trees loomed over the field and ghastly lights shimmered in haze, giving an eerie element to it.
"Ah, the perfect stage!" Sylvia smiled. She inhaled, the damp air tickling her lungs as she relished in the aroma of death. "I love it, oh so much!"
I've studied her matches intently, Sylvia thought, staring at Elaina with a cheeky smile. She always leads with that Noivern to take advantage of its speed and special attacking strength to tear through as many opposing pokemon as possible. I can't exactly account for that harmonia of hers… but when it comes to a strategy, she won't overcome this!
"Dusk! Let's start this off strong!" Sylvia said, tossing a green and black dusk ball into the air. From its depths emerged her Dusknoir with his arms raised, his violet aura blending with the eerie mist to submerge the field in a glowing purple light.
"Sylvia starts with her trusty Dusknoir!" Lila noted.
"That's a tough one, I wonder what Elaina will choose to fight with?" Darla asked.
"Well?" Sylvia asked. "We're all waiting."
"Did you think… that you were the only one who came prepared for this fight?" Elaina asked, removing a pokeball from her waist. "Did you think… that I did not have my own strategy to implement?"
"Oh?" Sylvia commented. "This sounds good!"
"Doria! Come!" Elaina shouted, throwing the pokeball into the air and releasing the pokemon within. The bird pokemon's body was covered in sleek, elegant feathers and she landed gracefully on her slender legs, holding up her wings like arms. The feathers of her wings flared out like the sleeves of a kimono, and their tips bulged out in a curved shape to take on the appearance like the pokemon was holding two fans.
"Whoa!" Lila gasped. "For the first time in this tournament, Elaina has led with a pokemon other than Noivern!"
"And it's a pokemon I've never seen before, too," Darla noted.
"Well that's quite a surprise," Sylvia scoffed. Calm down, this is still well within our calculations. She's only used four of her pokemon in total in all of her matches, and sparingly, at that. So of course she'd have a few tricks up her sleeve. I've never seen that pokemon before, but if I was going to be the kind of girl to get thrown by this, I wouldn't have made it this far.
"I've got to say, that pokemon's a little too elegant for you," Sylvia said. "Very unfitting for such a rough-and-tumble girl."
"In my home region of Alola…" Elaina replied, "there grow a great many kinds of flower, and the nectar of each change my dear Doria. Along with the crimson flowers of my home island… the pinks and yellows of the others are unsuited to my tastes. For us… the dark violet flowers that do not absorb other colors, but stain others in their light are the only ones the fit!"
"I see, so you're quite the little rebel. So your pokemon can change, eh? Well let's see if it works. Dusk! Start things off nice and easy with a shadow sneak attack!"
Dusk sunk into the ground, his shadow shooting toward Doria.
"Doria." Doria flapped her wings and flew up into the air, avoiding the shadows lining the ground. Dusk, unable to strike the flying pokemon, emerged from the shadows and lunged upwards towards Doria, his fist glowing with shadowy energy.
"Ori!" Doria crowed, swiping her wing and sending a blade of wind at Dusk, the ghost pokemon shrugging off the attack and catching Doria in the face with a shadow punch, sending her tumbling toward the ground. Doria spread her wings open to break her fall, landing on the dark grass, turning her head skyward. She tried to draw a bead on Dusk's location, but the mist was too thick to make anything out. Appearing from the fog right behind her, Dusk struck Doria in the back with another shadow punch, Elaina clutching her shoulder and wincing in pain. Doria moved to strike back at him, but Dusk faded back into the mist, concealing his presence entirely.
"What's going on?" Lila asked.
"I'm not sure," Darla sighed. "Why do we even let people fight on this battlefield when we can't see anything?"
This fog is making it difficult to see… Elaina thought, glancing into the haze.
"Doria! Blow this wind away!" Doria raised her wings, spinning in an elegant dance that created a gale of wind from her fans, blowing the fog away from the battlefield and revealing Dusk's presence, the ghost pokemon looming over a large tomb stone. The wind blew through him as he slowly moved toward Doria, holding his hands up, glowing orbs of spiritual fire dancing around him.
"Dusk, use will-o-wisp to burn her," Sylvia ordered, Dusk sending fireballs spinning towards her.
"Defog," Elaina ordered. Doria swung her fanned wing again, releasing a wide blast of wind that rustled the grass and blew out the flames before they got close to her.
"Strange," Lila said. "This battle… it isn't Elaina's usual fair, is it?"
"That's true, her strategies are usually far more aggressive than this…" Darla said.
I see… she's not making any aggressive moves… Sylvia mused. This pokemon is far more defensively-oriented. If I keep forcing like this, she'll use my strength against me…
"Dusk, let's do that," Sylvia suggested. Dusk glanced back at her, and nodded.
"Dusknoir…" Dusk growled, his body surrounding with spooky light. A large cube of energy grew out from around him, growing until it encompassed the entire battlefield.
"What's going on?!" Lila gasped.
"We've seen that before," Darla said. "In Sylvia's match with Caelia. It's trick room. But this is much smaller than the one back then."
"So we can't see anything going on?!" Lila gasped. "Then what are we supposed to do, huh? How do we do our job?"
"Don't worry about it," Darla said, shaking her head.
"So, what do you think?" Sylvia asked, glancing at the shimmering nebulas lining the walls of the cube.
"What is this?" Elaina asked.
"I just thought it would be nice to have a conversation before our match continued," Sylvia said, Dusk floating back to her.
"…I have no interest in that," Elaina said. "Are you done?"
"There's no need to be so angry," Sylvia shrugged. "I've been waiting for this, you know. My original plan was to use Dusk's trick room attack to hamper your Noivern's speed, and let Dusk burn him away with his toxic and will-o-wisp attacks, then do the same with your other feather friends when they came out. I didn't expect you to use such a graceful pokemon like that, so I'm a little bit at a loss. Now, though, I've decided to use trick room for a different purpose."
Sylvia glanced at the announcers' box, which could just barely be seen beyond the threshold of the trick room.
"Right now, the two of us are completely cut off from the outside world. We can't hear anything that those kids out there are saying, and they can't hear anything from us. Which makes it the perfect place to have our conversation."
"We have nothing to discuss," Elaina said sharply. "Doria, air slash."
Doria slowly raised her wing and sent a blade of wind slicing at Dusk, but the ghostly pokemon leapt to the side, effortlessly dodging the blade, and shot forwards. He raised his hand and struck Doria in the face with a barrage of swift shadow punches, Doria crying out in pain.
"You're far too slow to take down my Dusk now that we're under trick room," Sylvia explained. "You must know how it works, yes? My Dusk, slow as he is, is now far faster than your… what species is that, by the way?"
"She's an Oricorio," Elaina answered after a brief pause.
"Yes, Oricorio. Quite a speedy one, with how slow her reaction times are. If you want to spare your pokemon some more beatings, you'll listen to what I have to say. All I'm asking for… is to be your friend."
This was not something that Elaina was expecting. She was more than a little taken aback by Sylvia's words.
"Friend?" The word came out as a venomous hiss.
"Oh, yes. You see, my boss is quite curious about your abilities, and why Gerard of the Eight Leaders is so enamored with you. He'd like you to join our campaign, that's all! You must be lonely, right? Well with us, you'll never have to feel lonely again! There's me, and our boss, the Phantom, of course, and Misato, she's a real hoot, and a whole bunch of other people who are just dying to meet you!"
Sylvia extended her hand out to Elaina.
"It must be so lonely on your own. But I promise, as long as you're with us, you won't feel lonely or unappreciated ever again. All of us… we'll accept you just as you are." Sylvia's face twisted into a wicked smile. "You don't need Gerard… you can forget him and come with us."
Elaina said nothing. All she heard from Sylvia were words. Sweet little lies that meant nothing. She held no illusions as to how Gerard saw her. She was a tool, something that he valued and cared for, but a tool nonetheless. Without her powers, she would likely be thrown aside… but how would they be any different?
"Do you really think that I would be swayed so easily by your sweet words?" Elaina growled. "You don't have any care about me at all, you just want to use me for my powers. Gerard may be the same, but he needs me! And as long as he needs me, then I will always have a place to belong! If I joined with you… then you would give me the illusion of friendship… and then when you were done you would just throw me aside!"
The wind flared up and Doria raised her fans, sending a blade of wind at Sylvia. Sylvia's eyes widened and she jumped to the side, smirking.
"So negotiations have fallen through," she laughed. "Dusk! Take care of that bird!"
"Dusknoir!" Dusk growled, shooting toward Doria, raising his hand, toxic energy pulsing in his palm.
Dusk dodged around Doria's swing and struck her in the back, the bird pokemon letting out a squawk of pain as poison coursed through her body.
With this trick room, Doria is far too slow to fight back effectively, Elaina noted. That Dusknoir is twice as fast as she is…
"Doria!" Elaina called out. Ghostly energy swirled around Doria's body. She held her fans out and spun around, creating waves of current that danced around her in a tornado. Dusk leapt back to avoid the full brunt of the attack, only getting caught by the edges of the wind.
"Dusk!" Dusk moaned, clutching his side, the attack damaging him far more than he expected.
"What's wrong?" Sylvia gasped. "You shouldn't have taken that serious of a blow, Dusk!"
"Dusk…" Dusk gasped, rising back up to full height, enraged.
"I see… that attack…" Sylvia frowned. "That's a ghost pokemon, isn't it?"
Elaina didn't answer her, but Sylvia was fairly certain of her deduction.
"Dusk's defensive stats are quite good," Sylvia reasoned. "To do that much damage with a glancing blow, even if you boosted it with harmonia, that must have been a ghost type attack. Probably boosted by being the same type, no?"
Sylvia cackled, "so this is what you meant by being prepared! Well, sorry to tell you little missy, but for you to come at me with a ghost type… how brazen!"
This still doesn't solve the initial issue, Sylvia thought, in spite of her boasting. That defensive pokemon of hers, in spite of her reduced speed, can still strike back rather effectively. In a one-on-one confrontation, Dusk would normally emerge the victor thanks to trick room… but I'm not quite certain how harmonia will factor into this… But she still won't be able to outspeed us.
"Dusk, we'll tread carefully on this one," Sylvia urged. "Don't let her set the pace. We'll take it slow, and let the poison wear her down!"
"So you aren't attacking?" Elaina asked, nodding to Doria. "That's fine, then. Let's see how your speed can handle this."
Doria raised her fans and spun, dancing in a circle, wind whipping up around her and forming a tornado with the bird pokemon at the center. She conjured a massive hurricane, the destructive power shaking the battlefield.
"You might be fast, but if I attack the entire field, then there isn't much you'll be able to do to dodge, is there?" Elaina asked.
"One would think," Sylvia said, smiling. "Go, Dusk!" Dusk sunk into the shadows, darting across the grass and aiming straight for Doria.
"Doria!" Elaina gasped. Dusk harmlessly passed beneath the winds, emerging beneath Doria's feet and catching her in the jaw with a shadowy uppercut, knocking her into the sky, the wind dispersing harmlessly.
"You might be able to attack the entire field at once, Elaina, but ghost pokemon like Dusk have the ability to completely fade through the field entirely! They can attack from anywhere and nowhere, from any angle you can imagine, and several beyond even your perceptions."
Sylvia held her hand in front of her lips and laughed.
"But I know mere tricks like these won't be enough against a foe of your caliber, Elaina," Sylvia said. "I'm not going to make the mistake of underestimating you. So why don't we start fighting for real?"
I was hoping to save that little surprise for later, but I need to take the initiative now. If I let her gain too strong a lead over me, I won't recover. I've still got the odds pretty firmly against me. It's not a sure thing, but the only way I can get past that overwhelming power of hers is to subvert it through deception and trickery…
She smirked.
And that just happens to be our specialty.
Elaina vs. Sylvia begins in earnest. Raw power vs. calculating strategy! Which one will come out the victor?