Here it is, Sango's first battle against Maddi! How will this ranger, who's never fought a real battle before, manage to stand up to a trainer who specializes in battles for a living? Hopefully Maddi will be helpful enough to give Sango a few tips, rather than just trying to crush her outright. But let's have faith in her, Sango's shown some affinity for battling in the past, maybe she can use what she's learned from watching others and playing video games and put it into practice in the real world!
The Finals have begun! The Pokemon Academy Best Girl Finals have only gotten a few votes in, I can't wait to see how it goes. All the girls there are pretty good, but as you may have guessed I'm personally polling for Ayame in light of the story direction. How will it go? We'll have to see! Be sure to get your votes in! Only one girl can win, who will that one girl be? Who will be the Pokemon Academy Best Girl?
Finalists: Sango, Ayame, Marion
Rosealine gold: Well, I hope this will be satisfying for you, then! I really put some effort into this one.
Badoobadoop: Well, not completely dedicated. She definitely wants to learn how to do it, but I don't know if she's really that dedicated to it just yet.
Aquahaze675: They can use any three pokemon they have on hand. They don't even have to select a team before the match begins. The preliminaries aren't sanctioned pokemon matches, you just go around campus and challenge anyone you come across, Hunger Games-style. So no mandatory registration or anything like that.
Thunder Fire: You should be. Hopefully it will be an exciting match.
Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings
Chapter 302
Sango's heart was pounding in her chest as she stood opposite to Maddi. Silver was floating behind her, and in her state of heightened awareness she could feel his anxious gaze boring a hole in the back of her head.
Across the battlefield, her opponent looked as cool and composed as always. That made her feel even more on edge. This was her first pokemon battle. She'd fought against pokemon before, her duties as a ranger made it essential. But that was always about calming down pokemon that were angry or hurt and going out of control. This was the first time she would be fighting against someone for the express purpose of defeating them in battle.
I'm so tense… Sango realized. I'm really… not ready for this at all.
Sango swallowed her nerves. Maddi had given her a summary of her pokemon, their abilities, their strengths and weaknesses, and most importantly, their moves. It was up to Sango to put all of it to use, and see what she could make of it.
Sango wasn't that confident. She watched lots of battles, and had beaten Cynthia and the boys at fighting simulation games before. But those games were like rock paper scissors, with turn order and pokemon just wailing on each other like some slugfest. It wasn't a real battle, where you could order your pokemon to dodge, or take advantage of the terrain, or exploit your opponents' flaws. From what she could tell, real pokemon battles weren't about type advantages and special/physical splits, or who had the best tactical strategy to implement. Pokemon trainers had to adapt to things in the heat of the moment, and work with what was in front of them. There wasn't some wiki you could use to calculate damage outputs, or a gauge to measure how much HP your pokemon had left. It was an entirely different monster.
But Sango was good at thinking on her feet and adapting to the situation. She took a deep breath, and closed her eyes. She pictured Cynthia and Blake, the two trainers she knew best. If she was going to win, she'd have to think like they did, and add a little of herself to the mix.
Sango took out her phone and checked the data file that Maddi had sent her. She was grateful the other girl was being so patient with her.
Judging by what's written here… my first choice should be…
"Snowcone!" Sango said, throwing out the first pokeball. The Vanilluxe emerged from it, a confused look on both of his faces.
"…Snowcone?" Maddi asked, raising her eyebrow in confusion.
"W-well, I mean, he doesn't have a nickname, so I thought I might as well give him one while we're teaming up together, y'know? Just so we can bond a little faster." Sango laughed, scratching the back of her head sheepishly.
"…If you're going to name my pokemon without asking, I'd appreciate if you picked better names," Maddi replied.
"…" Sango sulked at her. "Now then! Let's start things off, Snowcone!"
Asserting herself over Maddi's objections, Sango commanded her rental pokemon to start the battle. On cue, Snowcone took a deep breath with both of his mouths, his body puffing up. A cloud of cold air released from the straw sticking out of him, covering the battlefield in a deep chill.
"…Oh?" Maddi asked. "I haven't even sent out my pokemon yet, isn't that a bit early?"
"Maybe for attacking," Sango grinned. "But this is Snowcone's special ability, Snow Warning! I noticed it when I first checked his data! When a pokemon with Snow Warning is sent out into battle, they kick off a hail storm, just like this!"
With a snap of her fingers, the dark clouds coalescing above the battlefield opened up and dropped a torrent of hail and snow on the students below, the cold raining down on them in semi-solid form. Soon, the Vanilluxe was surrounded by a curtain of white.
"I thought it would be smart to start things off from a more advantageous position!" Sango boasted. "And if there's one thing I know well, it's how to use the weather to my advantage! Isn't that right, partner?"
Sango glanced over her shoulder and flashed Silver a smile, the Castform transforming into his hail form as she did.
"Castform!" Silver cheered, bobbing up and down in agreement.
"So what do you think of my opener, Maddi?" Sango asked, turning back to her with a grin on her face. "A good start?"
"…Not bad," Maddi admitted, holding her hand to her chin, her red eye narrowing contemplatively. "But not what you should have done."
"Huh?" Sango said, frowning.
"If I were in your position I would have sent out Cloyster," Maddi replied, "since you know I have a fire type on my team. Cloyster's water typing would have limited the number of available moves at my disposal, having a type advantage over my Cyndaquil while also resisting my Seadra's water attacks rather well."
"…Urk." Sango grunted. That thought hadn't even occurred to her.
"Furthermore, Cloyster's spike attack would have let you shift the terrain in a far more favorable position by limiting my pokemon's movements and dealing them damage when they're sent in, while his strong defenses wore my pokemon down."
"…Urk!" Sango grunted again. Another point she couldn't really argue with.
"It's important to start off with a strategy that aids your team," Maddi informed her. "But you can't just think of what you're doing. You need to take your opponent's pokemon into consideration as well, especially when you know exactly what you're getting into. Like this!"
Maddi tossed out a pokeball of her own.
"Cyndaquil!" Cynder purred, emerging from the pokeball with a smile on her face, the flames on her back shooting up and melting the hail falling towards her.
"Also, keep in mind that this is a tag battle," Maddi reminded her. "We're going to be fighting on the same team. Hail and sandstorm are good weather conditions for wearing down your opponents, but they can be a double-edged sword if your teammates don't have any pokemon that can take advantage of them. You'll be softening up my pokemon before the battle can even get going, which can pose a rather large problem. And finally, sending out a pokemon to set up a hailstorm like this can be good… but if you do it immediately, your opponents may lead with ice pokemon of their own, turning your advantage into a non-advantage. Understand?"
Sango hung her head in shame, her face flushed with embarrassment. She hadn't even ordered an attack yet, and already she'd screwed up. But that last one wasn't even her fault! In games, what pokemon went out first was pre-selected! Your opponent didn't have a chance to see what pokemon you used first and then respond, switching out would get you a free hit! It wasn't fair to do something so sly!
…Come on, Sango. Pokemon battles aren't video games, the word fair isn't in the dictionary. Sango's inner Cynthia chided her.
"All that being said… it isn't the worst thing you could have done," Maddi admitted. "But you should think about things a little more carefully next time, got it?"
"G-Got it!" Sango said, nodding.
"Now then, Cynder, use ember attack."
"Cyndaquil!" Cynder nodded, the flames on her back shooting up as she opened her mouth, firing a small stream of fire towards the ice pokemon.
"Err…" Sango checked her phone, quickly scrolling down to find a defensive move to protect her pokemon. Vanilluxe's moves were-
"Screw it, just dodge!" Sango quickly shouted, Snowcone flying to the side just in time to avoid the flames.
"What, are you going to check your phone for every move in the real battles?" Maddi snapped. "This isn't a game where your options come pre-loaded on a screen, commit it to memory, got it? You won't have the time in a real fight!"
Maddi didn't let up at all, Cynder already preparing another ember attack.
There was one move that Sango remembered, a move she was very familiar with.
"Snowcone, weather ball!" Sango ordered. Both of Snowcone's mouths opened, twin orbs of light glowing in front of them, merging together into one big, glowing sphere. The pokemon fired the sphere towards Cynder, the attack gathering energy from the hail falling around them, growing bigger and taking on a light blue sheen.
"Good move, Vanilluxe is the only pokemon with a weather changing ability capable of learning weather ball by leveling up," Maddi applauded her. "It makes for a very strong opener! But you've gotta hit! Cynder, dodge it with quick attack!"
"Cyndaquil!" Cynder nodded, getting onto all fours and running forward, swiftly evading the ball of energy, which collided with the ground behind her, exploding harmlessly.
"Crap, he's coming!" Sango shouted. "Snowcone, use icy wind!"
"Vanilluxe!" Snowcone nodded, opening his mouths and pursing his lips, sending a cold blast of wind rolling across the battlefield, buffeting Cynder in the face with a wave of ice and snow.
"Better, better!" Maddi nodded, cracking a smile this time. "If your opponent is fast, cut off their movements with a sweeping field attack! And with icy wind, when a pokemon is hit, their speed will be lowered! Now that weather ball's got a better chance of hitting!"
"That's right!" Sango nodded, smiling back. "Snowcone, keep up the icy wind and slow down that Cyndaquil!"
"Vanilluxe!" Snowcone agreed, increasing the intensity of the ice move.
"But we aren't just going to stand by and let it go like that," Maddi reminded her. "Cynder, use flame wheel!"
"Cyndaquil!" Cynder's flames shot up even higher as she curled into a ball, shrouding herself in a wreathe of flames as she rolled towards Snowcone, the icy wind melting away into little more than a cool winter breeze. The reduced speed of the small pokemon wasn't nearly enough to fully hamper her movements, and she broke through the attack with surprising ease and swiftness, charging at the ice type.
"Snowcone, fly up and pull back, and hit her with a weather ball!" Sango ordered. Snowcone moved back, preparing another weather ball, but Cynder was still too fast. She leapt off the ground and collided with Snowcone, her flaming body hitting the pokemon's icy one.
"Vanilluxe!" Snowcone wailed, feeling parts of himself begin to melt as he was knocked away by the force of the move.
Those fire moves are too strong, I don't know if we can take another! Sango worried. "Snowcone, return and rest up!"
Sango swiftly returned Snowcone to his pokeball, sighing in relief. Cynder landed on the ground and her flames died down, quickly scurrying back to Maddi.
"Good move," Maddi said, nodding. "You realized from just that hit that your Vanilluxe wasn't able to match Cynder's fire power, and called it back before it lost the strength to keep fighting. You've got good instincts, a lot of people would keep going and try to push through, considering that your previous strategy was working right up until that point."
"…I've only seen a little of what your Cyndaquil can do," Sango replied. "And I'm already at a disadvantage. Who knows what other fire moves you've got to counter me?"
Maddi smiled.
"Like I said. Good instincts. So what's next?"
"Shell!" Sango said, sending out her next pokemon, the Cloyster, who snapped his shell open and closed eagerly, smiling wickedly at his opponent.
"First 'Snowcone', now 'Shell'," Maddi said, resisting the urge to laugh. "…You aren't very good with names, are you Sango?"
"Sh-shut up!" Sango sputtered.
"Did you name your Castform 'Silver' because of his gray body?" Maddi asked, sniggering at her opponent. "Oh, that's just too much."
"So what?! Can we just get back to the battle already?!"
"Sure thing. Cynder, ember."
"W-wait, I wasn't-"
"No time for 'ready' in a pokemon battle!" Maddi chastised her, Cynder already puffing up her flames and spitting a few balls of fire at the Cloyster.
"Shell, protect yourself with iron defense!" Sango ordered, the first thing coming to her mind being a defensive move that Blake used frequently. Shell clamped his body shut and his shell began glowing with a silver light, his defensive abilities rising up. Unfortunately, they did little to protect against the special move ember, the flames scorching the outside of Shell's shell like he'd done nothing at all, heating up the surface and beginning to roast the black core inside.
"Rookie mistake," Maddi said, shaking her head. "You got flustered and panicked. Otherwise you would have remembered that iron defense only protects against physical moves, and not against special ones like ember. You should have ordered him to use protect."
"I know!" Sango snapped.
"Cynder, turn up the heat," Maddi ordered. "He can't move while he's defending himself like that, so we'll roast him from the inside."
"Cyndaquil!" Cynder nodded, her flames increasing in power. The small spurts of fire lengthened and grew into a full-on, constant stream of flame that threatened to cook the immobile person.
"There's gotta be something!" Sango cried, frantically checking out Cloyster's moves on her phone. "There it is! Shell! Use whirlpool!"
"Hoo," Maddi whistled, raising her eyebrows.
"Cloyster!" Shell's shell cracked open slightly, water flooding out from inside of it. The water began to swirl around him, dousing the flames, and covering him in a barrier to guard against any further fire attacks. While Shell wasn't the mose maneuverable pokemon, the whirlpool writhing around him did a fine job of holding off against the faster Cyndaquil.
"Well, that's quite the problem," Maddi said, frowning. The hail was starting to strike Cynder, wearing her down ever-so-slowly.
"Next, it's time for the move you told me about!" Sango said. "Shell! Use spikes!"
The water around Shell dispersed and he fired spikes from the hardened surface of his shell, littering Maddi's side of the field with sharp debris that would make maneuvering over the ice-slicked floor even harder.
"Shell might not be able to move well, but now you're stuck, too!" Sango boasted. "Now, use water gun!"
"Cloyster!" Shell shouted, opening his mouth and firing a compressed blast of water at Cynder, hitting her directly. Cynder wailed and rolled backwards, cutting herself on the spikes.
"You're fine, Cynder," Maddi said. "Now, use quick attack!"
"Cyndaquil!" Cynder nodded, shrugging off the sharp spines and running forward. She winced in pain, her paws scraping against the caltrops and drawing more blood.
"What?!" Sango gasped. "That's so cruel! How can she run on spikes like that?! How could you do that to your pokemon, Maddi?!"
"The cruel thing would be to just have her sit there and let you wail on her with more water moves," Maddi replied. "At least this way, the pain will help us win."
…She had a point.
"And speaking of water moves, why did you use water gun? Why not hydro pump? Hydro pump is much stronger, and I'm sure my Cloyster knows it, I taught it to him myself, after all."
Sango took a quick look at her phone, which displayed the long list of Shell's moves. She slid her finger up slightly, the words "hydro pump" rising up slowly from the bottom of the screen. Sango glanced sheepishly back up at Maddi.
"Shell, hydro pump!" Sango ordered, Shell taking a deep breath and opening his mouth wide, firing a massive blast of compressed water at Cynder just as the small pokemon made her way out of the barricade of spikes and onto Sango's side of the field.
"Cynder."
Cynder tucked her head in, and swiftly jumped to the side with her quick attack, evading Shell's slow-moving water cannon with ease, much to Sango's shock, and quickly covering the distance between herself and the Cloyster.
"Water gun is weaker, sure, but it's much faster and therefore far more accurate. Big moves like hydro pump are strong, but against fast pokemon with the speed to dodge they aren't very useful. We can keep out of your way simply, like this."
That was true, Sango remembered that even in the games, where dodging wasn't a feature, water gun had an accuracy of 100%, so it would always hit in normal conditions, while the more powerful hydro pump's accuracy was significantly lower at 80%, giving it a one in five chance of missing. And that was in the games. This was real life, where small, fast pokemon could use moves like quick attack to dodge. But…
"But you just said-"
"I asked you why you used water gun instead of hydro pump," Maddi replied. "I never said that you made the wrong choice."
Sango wanted to scream.
"Cynder, use will-o-wisp!" Maddi ordered. Cynder came to a stop in front of Shell and opened her mouth, ghostly purple flames hitting the Cloyster directly, striking not only his shell, but his main body, as well.
"Cloyster!" Shell wailed in discomfort, clamping his shell together tightly as Cynder dodged out of the way.
"Shell!" Sango cried. She'd seen will-o-wisp before, it was a fire move that burned upon contact. Shell's health would be slowly whittled away, just like the hail was doing to Cynder.
"Cynder's starting to weaken and your pokemon has incredibly good defenses," Maddi explained. "So I thought I'd put him in a position where he'd succumb on his own, in case I couldn't break through them. Though, that shouldn't be a problem for you if you know what to do. Not that we'll give you a chance! Cynder, time for another ember attack!"
Cynder sent another stream of fire at the defending Cloyster, heating up the outside of Shell's body again.
"Knock it back with whirlpool just like last time!" Sango quickly ordered, not having to think about it this time, thus saving her pokemon a lot of pain. Shell complied immediately, conjuring up another whirlpool to separate him from the fire pokemon, Cynder quickly moving out of the way to avoid the strong waves lashing around her.
"Just defending won't be enough you know," Maddi reminded her. "This hail is starting to lighten up, and when it does, there goes your stalling strategy. Better think of something."
"Already have," Sango replied. "Life dew!"
Shell opened up his shell and the water swirling around him began to glow, some of it filtering onto his burned core and restoring his health.
"Ah! So if you're losing health, just recover it, huh? Not a bad play," Maddi agreed. "Though even that won't go on forever. You've got to attack, after all."
"I know that full well," Sango replied.
"Well, that's good," Maddi said. "In the meantime though… Cynder! Use smokescreen!"
"Cynda!" Cynder nodded, opening her mouth. A curtain of black smoke billowed out around the battlefield, causing Sango to cough. Shell was completely obscured from sight!
"Shell!" Sango called. "Are you okay?"
"Cloy!" Shell' voice echoed from inside the smoke.
In the games, smokescreen is an attack that just lowers my pokemon's accuracy slightly, Sango scowled. But like this, my vision is completely cut off! I can't even see what's happening to my pokemon to give it orders! This move is way more treacherous in real life battling!
Sango couldn't even make out what her opponent was doing on the other side of the field.
Maddi knows I haven't battled before. She's taking advantage of the fact that I don't have the experience with fighting or the bond of trust with my pokemon to be able to help him fight without being able to see anything. What an insidious strategy… and she's completely right! What the hell am I supposed to do now?!
"Shell! Use iron defense to protect yourself!" Sango called into the smoke.
"Cloyster!" Shell replied from somewhere in front of her, and Sango could vaguely make out the image of a metallic shine somewhere to her left. That must be where he was!
I've got to be prepared to immediately order a whirlpool or a protect attack, Sango understood. She was watching the battlefield carefully. Cynder would be attacking with fire moves, which means that even in the smoke she should be able to make out a flash of some kind, even if Maddi gave the order silently somehow. And when she did, Sango would give the order for Shell to protect himself, at least until the smokescreen faded away.
It's fine, she's just trying to rattle you because you're inexperienced, Sango reminded herself. But even if this is your first battle, you've been in tough jams before, and you've gotten out of them. This is just more of the same.
She kept a watchful eye on the darkened battlefield, desperate to make out something, anything, to react to. From what Sango knew of her, Maddi was a patient person. Far more patient than Sango, anyway. She would be able to sit like this for who knows how long, before finally-
"CLOYSTER!" Shell's wail of pain startled Sango, who's eyes widened with shock as she flinched. But how?! She hadn't seen an attack!
"Shell, use-!"
But Shell wasn't in a condition to use anything. He was knocked out of the smokescreen and hit the ground in front of her. An orb of darkness flew past Sango's head, sending strands of hair flying up from the wind pressure, the force of the blast having enough power to blow the smoke away. The attack had been a direct hit on Shell's core, striking him with enough power to knock him unconscious. Sango's first pokemon was down.
The smoke began to fade, and as it cleared away Sango could make out the opponent in front of her, the one who had used the move. Maddi's Cyndaquil was nowhere to be found. Instead, standing where Sango had last seen her, was a small brown pokemon with cut up paws, panting, having put the full force of his power into that shadow ball attack.
"Excellent work, Vee, just as we planned," Maddi congratulated her Eevee.
"Vee!" Vee cooed, nodding his head. He wanted to run back to his trainer, but the ground around her was far too hazardous, as the pain of his paws reminded him.
"…You used the smokescreen as a cover for swapping in your Eevee," Sango said, starting to put the pieces together. "And you must have whispered to him to use a shadow ball attack at point-blank range to knock out my pokemon. And since it's a shadow ball, I never could have seen it coming."
"I figured you'd try to get a bead on where and when my pokemon was attacking thanks to Cynder's fire moves," Maddi admitted. "So I had Vee go in instead. He's got a rather good ear for stuff like this, you know, and could hear exactly where your Cloyster was from the sounds of his voice and attack. …Even I wasn't expecting the critical hit, though."
"Sorry, Shell," Sango apologized, recalling the unconscious pokemon. "I wasn't experienced enough to see something like that coming."
She slapped her cheeks and regained her composure, shooting a fierce glare of resolve Maddi's way.
"But that's only one pokemon! I still have my other two!" Sango reminded her. "Snowcone, time for round 2!"
Sango tossed the pokeball into the air and released her Vanilluxe, the pokemon glaring at the Eevee with two sets of eyes. A blast of cold air erupted from his body, and the hailstorm increased in power, battering Eevee with chunks of ice the size of golf balls.
"Good, if you were to be discouraged by something like that, there's no way you could make it in a real tournament battle," Maddi agreed, cracking a smile. "Vee! Let's show her our best!"
"Eevee!" Vee chirped in agreement, running forward.
So Sango might have made a few mistakes here and there, but for her first battle she's doing pretty well, I'd say. Will she be able to win?