Sango's resolved to give Kitty the fight she deserves! How will things go? With Kitty using harmonia to its fullest, will Maddi and Sango even be able to put up a fight? And will Nikita manage to contribute anything, or will she be relegated to just support?
The Finals have begun! The Pokemon Academy Best Girl Finals is heating up, I can't wait to see how it goes. The race is really close, and it's still anyone's game, showing just how great these girls really are. Any one of them deserves the title of Pokemon Academy Best Girl, but only one of them will be able to win! If you haven't voted for your best girl yet, better get those votes in quick! This contest is gonna be a close one it looks like, a single vote makes all the difference! Who will be the Pokemon Academy Best Girl?
Finalists: Sango, Ayame, Marion
Rosealine gold: Not caring much about the thoughts of other people lets you say harsh truths that people need to hear. Maddi's not "one of the gang" which means she could see Kitty for who she was, and not treat her like something to be protected. I don't know if you mentioned that thing about Mist before, but now that I know, I have an idea where to go with it, thanks.
Hellraiserphoenix: It's definitely sad, but this is her chance to show everyone that she isn't the same weakling she used to be.
Thunder Fire: It was supposed to be. Kitty's had enough of being treated like a kid.
Aquahaze675: What happens if the trainer also gets hit with a super-powerful move like draco meteor or blast burn? Same thing that happens when the pokemon does, of course.
Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings
Chapter 311
"Okay! Let's keep going!" Kitty said, taking out her next pokeball, her eyes flashing. Nikita looked worriedly at her, but if Kitty wasn't going to give in, she wasn't going to, either. Hammy was sitting around waiting for his next orders, and she was ready to give them.
"Marisa, go," Kitty said, sending out her Sylveon. The elegant pokemon's ribbons fluttered through the air as she landed daintily on the stadium.
"Hope you won't regret it," Sango said, cracking a smile. Kitty's eyes flashed in response, smiling back, her harmonia surging.
"Whiskers, use earthquake from underwater again," Sango ordered, Vee preparing to jump.
If Sango continued to use earthquake from the water, where other pokemon couldn't get her, there was no way she'd lose. Kitty didn't have any flying pokemon, after all.
"Of course you'd do that," Kitty replied. "Marisa! Secret power!"
"Secret power?" Marion gasped. "That's so smart! Secret power changes depending on the environment, so on the water…"
"Sylveeeoooon!" Marisa purred, Kitty's harmonia surging around her. A blue aura filled her body as the stadium began shaking, and she sent a pulse of energy through the battlefield, and out through the water itself. It was a technique reminiscent of water pulse, and the shockwave hit Whiskers directly, counteracting the earthquake with Marisa's higher power.
"Whis!" Whiskers surfaced from one of the pools on the battlefield, clearly stunned from the shockwave. Being in the water, the pulse had dealt him more damage than he had expected and nullified the earthquake.
"Whiskers, use mud shot then," Sango ordered.
"Whiscash!" Whiskers opened his mouth and fired a blast of mud at Marisa, the pokemon dodging to the side.
"Vee, shadow ball!"
Marisa's eyes shot up to see Vee, still in the air, falling towards her and gathering energy in front of his mouth to fire off. The shadow ball hit Marisa in the side, causing both her and Kitty to wince in pain. Vee turned his body to land easily on the ground, but he never made it there.
"Hammy, psychic," Nikita said, back in the game. Hammy was glowing blue, and Vee was glowing blue as well, frozen in the air.
"Eevee!" Vee cried, struggling helplessly and kicking his legs in the air.
"Slam him into the Whiscash," Nikita ordered. With a swipe of his hands, Hammy sent Vee flying straight at Whiskers.
Maddi had to think quick. Vee was taking damage from the psychic attack, and by the time he hit, he might be knocked out.
"Vee! Helping hand!" Maddi called out.
Vee nodded and raised his paws, which began glowing with energy. He sent that energy into Whiskers, boosting his power. Vee hit Whiskers and bounced off his wide head, hitting the ground hard.
"Return, Vee," Maddi said, recalling her Eevee and immediately sending out Cynder to replace him. "Cynder, use ember!"
Cynder emerged and was already spitting fire, embers raining down on Marisa. But the heat didn't faze the trainer or her pokemon.
"Hidden power," Kitty ordered. Orbs of water, Marisa's hidden power, circled around her, extinguishing the flames either. She sent a silent urge to Marisa, telling her that she needed to increase her special abilities. Marisa nodded and began to calm her mind, boosting her special attack and defense powers with aid from her trainer's harmonia.
"Boosting huh," Maddi scowled. "Cynder! Flame wheel."
Cynder rolled forward and wreathed her body in flames, charging straight at the Sylveon. But like with Vee, she didn't get there. Hammy had stopped a second of Maddi's pokemon, the small rolling fireball spinning helplessly, held down by a psychic force. Hammy lifted her in the air, Cynder spinning as fast as she could in an effort to break free.
"Whiskers, hit that Grumpig with your aqua tail!" Sango ordered. Her words made Kitty and Nikita suddenly realize that they had ignored Sango's Whiscash, and the pokemon had taken the opportunity to slip back down underwater.
"Nikita!" Kitty cried, whipping her head around. "Watch out!"
"Hammy, dodge!" Nikita shouted. Instead of dodging, her Grumpig just stood there, keeping Cynder in the air. He didn't pay attention to the shadow appearing in the pool of water beside him, or even the large blue pokemon that emerged. He didn't give any mind to anything, before he was suddenly slammed into with a water-infused tail slap that hit him with enough force to break his concentration and sending him flying into Marisa, crashing into her. The two pokemon skidded to the edge of the battlefield, nearly falling into the water.
Kitty groaned, but didn't let that get to her. She urged Marisa to get up, but felt an immense pressure on her back. The hefty Grumpig was on top of Marisa, pressing down on her with his girth and keeping her from moving due to his weight.
Cynder landed on the ground, and shot forward immediately. Hammy had stopped her momentum, but she had continued to spin, and now that the force was released she spun right towards the two.
"Grumpig!" Hammy cried in pain as the flame wheel hit him in the side, a blast of flames erupting from Cynder as she pushed forward with enough power to knock Hammy, and Marisa as well, into the water. Hammy had been knocked out immediately from the 1-2 combo of a boosted aqua tail and a flame wheel (the side damage from earthquake didn't hurt either) so Nikita called him back. Marisa, though, was a little more crafty.
Kitty had judged the situation for what it was, and sent a silent command to her Sylveon, urging Marisa to extend one of her long ribbon-tendrils, and grab Cynder with it.
"Nikita, hold off on sending out your next pokemon," Kitty urged. Nikita wasn't sure why, that would just disadvantage Kitty. But she nodded. Kitty seemed to know what she was doing, and she had more battling experience than Nikita did.
Marisa sank into the water, holding her breath. Cynder was still on fire when she'd grabbed her, and she could feel her ribbon burning, resisting the urge to let out a cry as she tried to drag the fire pokemon into the sea.
"Cynder! You've got to fight back!" Maddi cried. If Cynder was pulled into the water, the damage would be really serious. "Use flame wheel again!"
Cynder cloaked her body in another veil of flames and began to spin, trying to pull away from the edge of the arena.
This isn't going to work, Maddi realized. She could tell that Cynder didn't have the strength to break free from the Sylveon's grasp. She shot a look to Sango, who nodded, already aware of what she had to do to save her partner's Cyndaquil from a watery fate.
"Whiskers, go around under water and take out the Sylveon," Sango ordered.
"Whis," Whiskers said, ducking under the water and swimming directly towards Marisa.
Hold on, Marisa, I know it hurts, just a little longer, Kitty urged her pokemon. She could feel the burns just as badly as Marisa could, but she just had to hold on a little longer…
Whiskers was approaching even faster.
Now! Marisa shot more ribbons out and grabbed the side of the stadium. She released the one holding onto Cynder and retracted it, at the same time that she pulled herself up with her other ribbons, dodging the Whiscash's charge with mere seconds to spare. Marisa vaulted herself out of the water and up into the air.
Cynder, meanwhile, had been struggling against Marisa as hard as she could, and the sudden release threw her off, the smaller pokemon spinning off her balance and tumbling forward, unable to get her bearings.
"Take her down!" Kitty shouted.
"Sylveon!" Marisa opened her mouth, creating orbs of water with her hidden power. Her special attacking strength was boosted by her calm mind and Kitty's harmonia, and the orbs of water flew towards Cynder, hitting her from above and extinguishing her flames.
"Cynder, you good?" Maddi asked. Cynder picked herself up, still a little dizzy, but ready to go. Marisa landed on the ground, and shook herself, spraying water out as she dried her fur.
"Nikita," Kitty urged.
"R-right," Nikita nodded. "Chomper, come on back and use water gun on the Cyndaquil!"
"Totodile!" Chomper cheered, emerging from his pokeball and firing a burst of water at Cynder, hitting the fire pokemon in the back and knocking her closer towards one of the pools of water. Cynder stumbled, teetering on the edge, nearly falling in. But to her good fortune, Whiskers quickly emerged, nudging the fire pokemon gently to regain his balance.
Cynder's at a disadvantage, but sending out Mist under these circumstances won't be much better, Maddi frowned. "Cynder, smokescreen!"
Cynder opened her mouth, a large cloud of smoke billowing out of her mouth and covering the battlefield, and the pokemon.
Maddi glanced at Sango to see if the girl understood. Sango nodded. She knew what it meant when Maddi set up a smokescreen.
"Marisa!" Kitty coughed, feeling like smoke was filling her lungs as well. Marisa wrapped her ribbons around her nose and mouth, blocking out the smoke. Chomper's coughing could be heard somewhere to her left. She looked around, trying to find her partner, as well as her enemies, but she was having difficulty making out anything through the darkness.
Kitty used her connection with Marisa to try to look through her eyes, but all she could see was darkness all around her.
We're going to blow this smoke away with a fairy wind! Kitty ordered, her eyes flashing and her harmonia surging. Marisa's body began glowing with a pink light, a sweet-smelling wind blowing from behind her. The smoke was cleared away after a few moments, leaving…
An empty battlefield in front of them.
"Where'd they go?" Nikita asked.
The water! Kitty realized. "Marisa, dodge!"
Marisa jumped out of the way as a blast of water erupted beside her, Whiskers emerging and firing a powerful water gun at her.
As Marisa dodged to the side, Kitty noted with a start that the Whiscash would have escaped into the water, but the Cyndaquil? No way. That meant-
"Mist, use flash cannon on that Sylveon!" Maddi ordered. From another pool of water, a Seadra stuck her head out, her long snout flexing. A beam of ice shot out of it, hitting Marisa in her hind leg and causing it to ice over, Marisa letting out a yelp in pain and falling over.
"…" Maddi's face turned red.
"…I know it still worked, but that wasn't a-"
"I KNOW IT WASN'T A FLASH CANNON," Maddi snapped, refusing to look in Sango's direction. "I've been trying to teach Mist flash cannon but she refuses to use it until she's gotten better at it!"
Maddi grumbled, her Seadra ignoring her orders once again and sending a wave of scalding water at Marisa.
"You have a Seadra?!" Marion exclaimed, her blue eyes turning into hearts. "Oh, she's a darling! Can I pet her after the fight?!"
Maddi ignored the girl, and gave Mist another order.
"Mist, I know scald is good, but following it after ice beam-"
"Seadra!" Mist conjured a whirlpool from the hot water that slammed into Marisa, sending her flying into the air.
"Why do you pick now to fight with the moves you want?" Maddi muttered under her breath.
While Maddi got her best battler under control, Sango turned her attention to the field, looking for the other pokemon. She'd last seen Nikita's Totodile still coughing as the smoke cleared. It looked like Mist could handle Marisa, so Sango would have Whiskers take the other-
…
It was gone. Chomper was nowhere to be seen.
Nikita cracked a smile.
"Crunch!"
Chomper burst out of the same pool of water that Whiskers was in, landing on the fish pokemon's back. He opened jaws wide, and bit down on the pokemon's back with his big, sharp teeth.
"Whiskers!" Sango cried.
"You're not the only one who can hide in the water!" Nikita grinned. "That was a great strategy, you wouldn't mind if I borrowed it, right?"
"Rrrgh! Whiskers, shake him off!" Sango was less than pleased that Nikita had taken their terrain advantage away. Whiskers dove under the water and thrashed around, trying to shake Chomper free, but the small crocodile pokemon kept his jaws locked firmly on the pokemon's scaly hide, with the occasional clench to send a wave of pain up through the pokemon's body. Whiskers continued to thrash, but Chomper only bit down harder. Eventually, he rose to the surface and let out a cry of pain, showing Sango that he couldn't get the small pokemon off, no matter how hard he tried.
"Whiscash!" Whiskers bellowed.
"Marisa, now!" Kitty shouted. Marisa landed on the ground, avoiding another ice beam from the swift Seadra, her eyes shooting over to see the floundering Whiscash.
"Sylveon!" Marisa cried, opening her mouth wide. Her body began glowing pink, and an orb of pink light appeared in front of her mouth. She fired the moonblast at the Whiscash, hitting him directly in the face. The Whiscash let out another cry of pain, flopping onto his back. Whisker had been knocked out from the power of the attack.
What an attack, Maddi noted, a bead of sweat rolling down her forehead. Whisker wasn't that damaged by the crunch attack, that moonblast took out a huge amount of health…
"Be careful, Mist!" Maddi called. "That moonblast is powerful!"
Put a lot of energy into that one, Kitty said, wiping her brow. Her eyes were starting to get a little blurry. My stamina is really running low… makes sense, this is my first time intentionally using harmonia in a real battle… it's nothing like connecting to Marisa or Larosa for training…
She clenched her tiny hands into fists.
Let's go!
"Bubbles, go," Sango said, having recalled her Whiscash and replacing him with her Azumarill.
Chomper pulled himself out of the water, turning back to face the approaching Azumarill.
"Chomper, back in the water," Nikita quickly shouted. "Don't fight on land!"
"Toto!" Chomper nodded, turning and jumping back into the hole in the arena floor.
"Slam!" Sango shouted.
"Azu!" Bubbles jumped into the air and did a belly flop on that same location, hitting the water just after Chomper did.
The force of the slam sent a small tidal wave over the battlefield, shaking the water beneath the arena and catapulted Chomper out of the water. He hit the floor hard, his head spinning, and shakily stood up, struggling to regain his balance. Bubbles climbed out of the water and onto the battlefield, and ran towards where he had landed.
"Oh, no you don't!" Kitty shouted. "Marisa!"
"Sylveon!" Marisa opened her mouth, another moonblast building up in front of her.
"Bubbles, use dive to dodge it!" Sango ordered.
Bubbles jumped into the water and submerged herself, the only sign of her being the blue orb of her tail float bobbing on the surface. The orb of fairy energy flew harmlessly over her, and off into the distance. Bubbles hopped back up, but Marisa had already put herself between Chomper and the Azumarill, preparing another attack.
"Swift should keep her down!" Kitty shouted, Marisa sending a wave of stars made out of light at the water pokemon. Bubbles's fairy typing made it so that she would resist Marisa's other fairy attacks, and this way she wouldn't be able to escape into the water. With the boost from Kitty's harmonia, the attack was pretty powerful.
"Bubblebeam!" Sango countered. Bubbles fired a stream of bubbles that collided with the stars, the attacks exploding on impact, spraying the field with rays of light and sprays of water, Marisa and Bubbles dodging around to get a better angle.
"Now, Mist!" Maddi shouted. "Use…"
She sighed.
"Whatever, I guess."
"Seadra!" Mist surfaced again, her snout flexing, draconic energy crackling in the center.
"That's dragon pulse!" Nikita gasped, seeing that the attack was headed Chomper's way. "Chomper, that looks powerful! Dodge it!"
Mist released the dragon pulse, the compressed sphere of draconic energy crackling through the air as it flew towards Chomper.
"Marisa!" Kitty shouted, her pokemon immediately realizing what she was asking for. As a fairy type, she would nullify the dragon pulse completely, and so she skidded to a stop and repositioned herself, charging directly towards the line of fire. Kitty's eyes flashed and her harmonia surged, sending energy into Marisa's legs, at the same time using quick attack to try to get there faster.
"Aqua jet!" Sango ordered. "Don't let them get away!"
"Azumarill!" Bubbles lowered her head and shot forward, water wrapping around her into a bullet of destructive force aimed squarely at Marisa. Faster than the dragon pulse and faster than Marisa's quick attack, Bubbles hit Marisa in the side and sent her flying, knocking her into the water.
"Marisa!" Kitty wailed, clenching her hip in pain as she fell onto one knee, panting. Marisa hit the water hard and flailed wildly, trying to keep afloat in spite of the major pain.
At the same time, the dragon pulse hit the already injured Chomper as he was limping towards the water, striking him in the back with draconic power that burned and electrocuted him simultaneously, the smoking pokemon falling forward and losing consciousness.
A twinge of pain throbbed in Maddi's heart at seeing the injured Totodile, silently apologizing to Nikita for her actions. Nikita recalled Chomper, rubbing his pokeball gently.
"Rest up, you did your best…"
"Wooo, this battle is something!" Marion said, fanning herself even though it was cold outside. "It's really coming down to the wire!"
"Sylveon!" Marisa growled, making it back to the edge of the arena and climbing back up, shaking herself moderately dry. She narrowed her eyes and let out another yip at her opponents, clearly still able to keep fighting.
"Darn right, Marisa!" Kitty smiled, standing back up. "We're nowhere near finished, so bring it on, you two!"
"Y-yeah," Nikita agreed. "I've still got another pokemon left! Magnolia! It's your time to shine!"
Nikita threw out her last pokemon. Her Bellossom emerged, landing on the ground with a flutter of her skirt, flower petals gently shaking loose. The small grass pokemon was clearly as timid as her trainer, but still put a brave look up on her face.
"Looks like we're almost done," Maddi said, glancing at Sango. Sango nodded in agreement.
"…Your friend looks like she's in rough shape," Maddi warned, keeping a watchful eye on Sango to see what her reaction would be.
Sango did not disappoint.
"She'll push through it then," she replied. "Does that look like a girl ready to give up?"
Maddi didn't even have to look at Kitty's resolved face, tired as it may have been, to shake her head.
"No it does not."
The conclusion to this battle is coming next chapter! Will Sango and Maddi be able to defeat Kitty and her harmonia, giving her the fight she wants? Or will Kitty's fighting power work well enough with Nikita to beat the both of them, and prove once again that she's a good trainer? We'll have to find out!