The tag battle continues, and now, Caelia has brought out her trump card! Will Kara be able to turn things around for her? Which side will come out ahead?
KedharS: Well, maybe.
JoshGamerV: It's definitely going to be interesting, that's for sure.
Rosealine gold: Yeah, and the battle is just getting started.
Hellraiserphoenix: Well it's certainly going to be a finish to watch for.
Just a Bad Writer for Fun: That's quite a question. They're going to have quite a match.
Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings
Chapter 386
A bead of sweat dripped down Sango's forehead, but maybe it was just the rain. Certainly, the Charizard in front of her was intimidating. But they had gone into this match fully anticipating what it was able to do. Sango wasn't about to let things get clinched now. She bit her lip.
When Sango first came to the pokemon academy, there were two students who she had bonded with almost immediately, and become her best friends. Those two were Cynthia and Blake. It might have been rude to say it, but she liked to think that the friendship between the three of them was a little bit more special than the friendships they shared with their other friends. They did everything together, their personalities just seemed to be great together.
But when Sango fell for Blake during the Fall Festival Tournament, she had begun to realize there was a divide between the three of them. Seeing Blake and Cynthia battling each other, sharing something between the two of them that she wasn't a part of, it made her heart ache. She understood now, that was her jealousy. The excitement they both had, the bond between the two of them, it was a world that Sango couldn't enter. But now here she was. She was sharing the world of pokemon battles that Cynthia and Blake, all of her other friends, she felt like she was fighting on the same stage as them. Sango closed her eyes and pictured the smiles on Cynthia and Blake's faces. The joy she saw in their eyes when they were battling one another.
Sango's eyes snapped open, and a smile crossed her face. She was sweating, but with excitement! This was exactly the experience she was searching for. Standing opposite Cynthia and Caelia's Charizard, she wasn't about to let herself be intimidated. As a pokemon ranger, it's going to be my duty to stand against dangerous pokemon every day and help them. Am I really going to lose my cool when I'm not even the one fighting?
"Sting!" She cried. "Use your bubblebeam!"
"Tentacruel!" Sting growled, tilting himself back and firing a barrage of bubbles at the approaching Charizard.
"Hah! Not a chance!" Cynthia grinned. "Rose, use your magical leaf!"
"Kirlia!" Rose raised her hands and sent a barrage of leaves out to slice through the bubbles, resulting in a chain of explosions when they popped. Kara flew through the explosions without even flinching, letting out a roar.
"Yes. Now, dance!" Caelia ordered. Kara spun through the air as she approached the two water pokemon, dark flames and black lightning crackling around her body as her power soared, draconic energy infused into her body.
"That's dragon dance!" Darla gasped.
"Whoa, that's not good!" Lila cried.
"Rip, tear, slash them to ribbons," Caelia snarled. The draconic energy from Kara's dragon dance pulsed, gathering around the Charizard's claws. She lunged at the Tentacruel, claws raised.
"Sting, use your acid armor!" Sango quickly ordered. The rain falling on Sting's body mixed with the ooze he exuded from his watery skin, creating a slippery surface that easily deflected the dragon claw, though it didn't prevent the brutal move from doing some serious damage. Kara flung the water pokemon aside with a slashing push, aiming her claws for the Spheal next.
"Brine," Maddi ordered. Violet opened her mouth and fired a blast of water at the large Charizard, but Kara wasn't so easy to pin down. With a flap of her wings she easily evaded the salty water, circling around the small pokemon and swinging at her from behind.
"Sting!" Sango shouted. Tentacles shot out and wrapped around Kara's claws and tail, holding her back from attacking the Spheal as the tiny pokemon rolled away to safety. "Great! Now, hit her with your poison jab!"
Kara thrashed and roared, hating the tight grip that Sting had locked her in. Her one eye was blazing with fury as she tried to break free, but the Tentacruel's wrap was tightening.
"Caelia's Charizard did some damage with that dragon claw, but Sango's quick thinking let her deflect most of the damage," Lila noted.
"That may be true, Lila, but don't underestimate the power of a dragon," Darla smirked.
"…It's not a dragon though, it's a fire type," Lila quietly replied.
"It looks like a dragon, it dances like a dragon, it uses dragon-type moves like a dragon, it's a dragon!" Darla exclaimed, her cheeks flustering.
"Maybe, but even dragons can get poisoned," Lila pointed out.
Darla shot her a dirty look in response. "Shut up, Lila!"
"CHAAAR!" Kara roared, Sting drawing some of his tentacles back and filling them with venom, preparing to pelt the not-dragon and infect it. But when the poisonous tentacles struck Kara's body, a glimmering light burst out from her scales, repelling the poison even as Kara winced in pain. A look of surprise crossed the Charizard's face, whatever that light barrier surrounding her was, she wasn't the one responsible for it.
"Cynthia!" Sango realized, spinning around to look at her friend on the other side of the battlefield. Cynthia wore a smirk on her face, and Rose stood in front of her, eyes closed and arms raised as a veil of light wrapped around her.
"Kirlia's safeguard protected Caelia's Charizard!" Darla crowed triumphantly.
"That's the kind of heartwarming teamwork we're hoping to see in these tag team battles!" Lila agreed, smiling happily.
"You and Kara go as wild as you want!" Cynthia said, turning to Caelia and giving her a thumbs up and a wink. "Rose and I have got your back!"
Silently she added well, as wild as you want as long as you don't hurt my friends, of course, but it's not like you're Elaina, right?
Caelia glanced at Cynthia and blinked, and that was the most acknowledgment she gave to Cynthia's offer of support.
"Charizard!" Kara growled, turning as best she could and grabbing onto Sting's tentacles, no longer needing to worry about being poisoned. She broke through of the wrap and squeezed tightly, using her monstrous strength to hoist Sting up into the air. The water pokemon thrashed around helplessly, suspended in midair.
"Sting! Use your bubble beam again!" Sango cried. Sting pelted Kara with a water-boosted bubblebeam, but Kara shrugged off the bubbles bursting against her scales.
"Violet, you too!" Maddi shouted. "Use brine!"
Violet opened her mouth and fired a wave of sea water at Kara, trying to take advantage of both the rain and the damage that the Charizard had taken so far, but Kara had seen it coming. She turned and swung Sting, flinging him into the path of the brine. The water hit him without doing much damage, but when he hit the ground, he let out a groan of pain and his tentacles retracted.
Kara stormed towards Sting, claws raised, draconic energy surging around her. The rain was getting even stronger, but it didn't seem to be doing Sting much good.
"Violet! Go help him!" Maddi shouted.
"Spheal!" Violet nodded, rolling towards the grounded Tentacruel. But her attempt to help was stopped by a blue aura glowing around her. "Spheal?!"
"Sorry, Maddi!" Cynthia grinned. "But Rose and I aren't gonna let you interfere with this one! Rose, psychic!"
Rose opened her blue eyes and swung her hand, flinging Violet through the air. The small pokemon tumbled helplessly, letting out a wail.
"Oh man! This isn't good!" Lila cried as Kara flapped her wings and took to the sky, using another dragon dance to increase her speed and power even more. She flew towards Sting and prepared to hit him with a powerfully boosted dragon claw.
"Yeah, that dragon move is really going to do some damage!" Darla chortled.
"If only she had a fairy type to switch to," Lila sighed.
Sango's eyes widened in realization and her hand shot to her belt.
"Maddi, do you think I should switch to-"
"No!" Maddi snapped. "We're going to need Azumarill at full power to fight against Cynthia's Breloom!"
"But Sting-"
"There's another way," Maddi assured her. Though I never thought this move would come in handy like this, of all ways.
"What should I-"
"I'll handle it," Maddi said. "Tentacruel!"
Sting's eyes twitched and he glanced towards Maddi. Even though she had trained him, he was currently fighting for Sango, and wasn't sure what she was doing giving him orders.
"Use your reflect type move on that Kirlia!" Maddi ordered.
Reflect type? Sango tilted her head to the side in confusion.
"She's having her partner's pokemon attacking the Kirlia, not the Charizard?!" Darla gasped. "Why would she do something like that?!"
"I don't even know what 'reflect type' does," Lila said, just as confused as Sango was.
"Tentacruel!" Sting's body began glowing and a light shot out from him, hitting Rose. Then, a light shot out of Rose and hit Sting.
"Pointless!" Caelia snarled. "Kara! Tear him apart!"
"Charizard!" Kara crashed down onto Sting, raising her claw and slamming it into Sting's head, right at the shining ruby embedded in the center.
"Sting!" Sango cried out. Maddi wasn't worried.
Kara stepped back from Sting. The look of confusion on her face was plain to see. Sting hoisted himself back up on his tentacles, glaring at Kara.
"It didn't work?" Lila asked. "Darla, what just happened?"
"Hell if I know!" Darla scowled.
"Again!" Caelia ordered, as confused as her Charizard about how the Tentacruel seemed completely unfazed by the move.
"Try as many times as you want," Maddi cackled. "It won't work. Right now, my- er, Sango's Tentacruel is completely immune to your dragon moves!"
Maddi shot a look of apology to her Spheal for having forgot which pokemon she was supposed to be fighting with.
"Impossible," Caelia snarled.
"Just because you don't understand doesn't mean it's impossible," Maddi scoffed.
"Maddi, what did you do?" Sango asked.
"The move reflect type," Maddi explained. "It's a special move that not a lot of pokemon can learn. It's so obscure, most people don't even know it exists. But as someone who prides herself on her knowledge of pokemon typings and how to take advantage of them, it's a move I've been experimenting with in private."
"What does it do?" Sango asked.
"Do you know the abilities color change and protean?" Maddi asked. "They change the typing of the pokemon who have them."
Sango had heard of them, they were mostly associated with Kecleon. She nodded.
"Well, there are all moves like camouflage, conversion, and conversion 2 that change the user's typing," Maddi explained. "As well as moves like soak, magic powder, forest's curse, and trick-or-treat that change the target's type to a certain type. Reflect type is like those."
She smirked, and turned to Cynthia, pointing directly at Rose.
"The move reflect type," Maddi triumphantly proclaimed, flipping her hair out of her face and putting her hands on her hips, smiling proudly, "turns the typing of the user and changes it to the typing of the target! And Sting just targeted your Kirlia with it!"
Cynthia gasped in surprise, and she wasn't the only one. Sango was stunned, and even the announcers were blown away.
"Wait, then that means Tentacruel changed its water/poison typing…" Darla gasped in realization.
"…Into a psychic/fairy typing, just like Kirlia!" Lila crowed, clapping. "Which means he became immune to Charizard's dragon type moves!"
She turned to Darla and rose from her seat, a triumphant smirk on her face. "Ha! Fairies beat dragons every time! Ha! Take that, Darla! Face!"
"Shut up, Lila!" Darla snarled up at her partner. "That wasn't fair! That was basically cheating!"
"Cheating?! Please! Didn't you just hear what she said?! It was completely fair!"
"Changing pokemon into fairies to nullify dragon moves is a dirty trick and you damn well know it!"
"You're just bitter because you don't want to accept that fairy type pokemon are cute and adorable! They're way better than your dragons!"
"Better?! Dragons are totally awesome! How many kaiju movies have we watched together?" Darla demanded. "It ain't a Dedenne rampaging through the Kanto region!"
"Tyranitar isn't even a dragon!" Lila snorted. "That doesn't count, either!"
"Not all dragons fly!"
"We're not talking about wings, we're talking basic pokemon typing!"
Maddi's finger began shaking in embarrassment, her moment of triumph having been co-opted by the catty announcers and their inane argument.
"…Maddi, did you call Tentacruel 'Sting'?" Sango asked, Maddi turning a slight pink and glowering angrily at Sango.
"Wow! That's great, Maddi!" Cynthia laughed, clapping her hands. "Props to you! I gotta say, I never woulda seen that coming! That's the kind of trickiness I would do!" Cynthia grinned, giving Maddi a thumbs' up.
Cynthia turned to Caelia.
"That Tentacruel is a psychic/fairy type. Which means my psychic and fairy moves won't be any help, and your dragon claw won't be effective. And with this rain being what it is-"
"I don't care," Caelia interrupted Cynthia, her voice harsh and cold. "Kara. Metal claw."
"Metal claw?!" Cynthia gaped, stunned that Caelia had another trick up her sleeve. But indeed, it was a metal claw she was preparing. The dragon's claws began glowing with silvery light, and she swung it down at Sting, hitting him head-on.
"Tentacruel!" Sting wailed, his tentacles thrashing in pain.
"Violet!" Maddi shouted, whirling around to her Spheal, who had managed to make it back into the battle. The Spheal held her flippers up, and fired a strong blizzard at Kara, trying to knock her back. The ice and wind beat at the Charizard, but Kara wasn't about to go down so easily. She turned and flapped her wings, the temperature of the stadium heating up intensely, the blizzard starting to lose its edge as the snow began to melt.
But that moment of distraction that Maddi and Violet bought Sting was exactly what allowed Sango and Sting to fight back.
"Sting!" Sango shouted. "Use screech!"
"TENTACRUEL!" Sting let out a high-pitched shriek that hit Kara at close-range with a blast of sonic power, the fire pokemon temporarily deafened. She stumbled back, shaking her head to clear the pain away, giving Sting just the room he needed to attack.
"Poison jab!" Sango ordered. Sting didn't even need the command, already barraging Kara with his tentacles, poison surging through him. Even if he couldn't infect the Charizard, Kara's weakened defenses meant she was taking some serious blows.
Kara flapped her wings and blew herself backwards, desperate to put some distance between herself and the aggressive pokemon. Sting wasn't about to let her escape, though, his tentacles shooting after her.
Kara roared, swinging her claws, trying to beat the tentacles away with a series of metal claws.
"Violet, you get in there, too!" Maddi cried. Violet rolled towards the Charizard. She opened her mouth, firing a blast of saltwater at Kara. She had to have been below half her health now, Maddi figured, perfect target for Brine.
"No!" Cynthia cried. "Rose! Teleport!"
Rose flashed, disappearing, reappearing between Kara and the brine attack. The saltwater hit her, soaking her through. The water pummeled her and she cried in pain, stumbling back.
"Now, use psybeam!" Cynthia ordered. Rose shook back to her senses and fired a rainbow-colored beam of psychic energy at Violet, hitting the round pokemon and knocking her backwards. Violet wailed in pain, rolling across the ground.
Where Rose had hit Violet and stunned her, her partner was in worse condition, still taking a beating from Sting's tentacles. Kara cried and slumped over, falling to her knees.
"Uh-oh! It looks like Caelia's Charizard might be down for the count!" Darla gasped.
"That's not good, it looks like Caelia might be out of this match!" Lila cried.
"Not a chance!" Cynthia said, shaking her head. "Rose! Use heal pulse!"
"Kirlia!" Rose nodded, turning to Kara and holding her hands up, psychic energy gathering in her hands as she created a healing orb that flew at Kara, wrapping around her and beginning the process of restoring her health.
"No!" Sango shouted. "Sting! Use sludge wave and take them both out!"
"Tentacruel!" Sting spread his tentacles, and fired a wave of toxic sludge that rolled towards the Kirlia and the Charizard, preparing to swallow them.
"Rose!" Cynthia shouted. "Use psychic to get Kara to safety!"
"Huh?" Caelia blinked, glancing at Cynthia. She was confused by the move. Rather than teleport to safety, Cynthia had had her Kirlia use her psychic powers to lift Kara out of the way of the poison, Kara still too injured to fly herself.
"Amazing!" Lila gasped. "Cynthia had her Kirlia save her partner's pokemon!"
"That's beautiful!" Darla said, the two making up their fight after seeing the touching act of friendship between the two trainers.
The sludge struck Rose and she cried out in pain, the poison eating away at her. The move was super-effective, and she was in agony. But she wasn't about to give in yet. She was focused on keeping Kara safe, even as the sludge drained away the last of her health. She fell to her knees and then tipped forward, losing consciousness. The psychic aura around her died down, and Kara plummeted towards the poison.
"Sorry, Rose," Cynthia said, hoping that Kara would be okay.
"Cynthia's Kirlia is no longer able to keep fighting," Lila noted.
"And what about Caelia's-"
Before Darla could finish her thought, Kara's eye snapped open and she spread her wings, braking her fall. With a powerful flap, she pulled herself up and flew over the sea of poison, regaining her balance.
"Yes!" Cynthia cheered.
"Kara! Heat wave!" Caelia ordered. Reinvigorated, the air around Kara heated up. She sent a blast of heat that struck Sting, the former-water pokemon groaning in pain, losing consciousness. One pokemon down, Kara turned her attention to the other.
"Violet!" Maddi cried, her Spheal still confused from Rose's psybeam. She didn't even know which way was forward, nor up and down, and she couldn't even make sense of her trainer's desperate cries. Needless to say, the small pokemon could not react to Kara touching down in front of her, raising her claw, and swinging with a powerful dragon claw that knocked her unconscious in one hit.
"Wh-whoa," Lila gasped.
"Th-that…" Darla was equally flabbergasted.
"What… what happened, Darla?" Lila asked.
"That… that Charizard just knocked out two enemy pokemon in a single hit, I think," Darla replied.
As the rainclouds cleared overhead, Sango, Maddi, and Cynthia all recalled their unconscious pokemon, leaving all four trainers down to their last pokemon each.
Next chapter, the stunning conclusion! Which team will manage to advance to the finals? Both sides have put up a great fight!