The final battle begins! Elaina and Blake vs. Caelia and Cynthia! Which team will be able to pull out ahead? How will they start? Blake and Cynthia know their tactics well, and Elaina's strategies are well-known, while Caelia is a little more ambiguous. Everyone will need to use every trick they have at their disposal to come out ahead of everyone else here! Remember to review!
KedharS: Time to get it started.
Aquahaze675: Hopefully I can live up to the hype.
Just a Bad Writer for Fun: I think this battle will certainly have a lot of twists and turns.
Rosealine gold: I'm not sure. I'm thinking it might only be one chapter, it depends how long it takes to get the important details out.
Arcana of the North: I don't know, Nikita was always a bit of a trickster. Cynthia might have just made her feel more comfortable to show her friends that side of her.
Pokemonking0924: It's definitely a fire type, beyond that, who knows?
JoshGamerV: That's nice to hear.
Thunder Fire: Cats eat fish, don't they? Just kidding. But no, it's to show that Kitty is getting out of her shell of relying on a specific kind of pokemon, growing to branch out to use pokemon she isn't entirely familiar with.
Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings
Chapter 394
"Remember, Elaina, no matter what that boy might say, not even he can know if he will truly accept you for who you are."
Gerard's words echoed in Elaina's mind as she and Blake walked out onto the battlefield amidst a chorus of boos from the audience. Elaina had to admit that it was impressive that Blake could put up with such hatred from people. She had endured it all her life, but Blake was accustomed to being cheered on by his fellow students. To have this animosity leveled at him, even if only by proxy as a result of being her teammate, it was… surprising. But she didn't forget what Gerard had warned her about.
"Blake hasn't been on the receiving end of your power, Elaina. He hasn't faced the fear and terror it can inspire, not directly. Men like to use flowery, powerful words about 'love' and 'acceptance' but when faced with the reality of the situation they get cold feet all too easily. You may not want to drive him away, and I know you certainly don't want to hurt him. But the doubt you're feeling in your heart right now, the unwillingness to fully trust that boy, I'm certain it's because you know my words are ringing true for you, aren't they?"
They were, as much as Elaina was loathe to admit it. So much of her wanted to believe Blake when he told her that he and his friends would accept her for who she was. But with all she'd been through, how could she?
Elaina shook her head, not even willing to spare the boy walking beside her a glance. Those thoughts, and the doubt they raised in her heart, they were thoughts for another time. There was a battle that she needed to win.
Elaina stared across the field at her opponent, Caelia Auburn, whose face was as much a cold mask as the one Elaina wore. Meanwhile, Blake and Cynthia exchanged smiles.
"This is the final battle of the Winter Tag Tournament," Darla announced. "And you know what that means, Lila?"
"No, what, Darla?" Lila asked, tilting her head to the side even though she knew full well what it meant.
"It means that this is the last official match of the year! Our two freshman teams have fought amazing battles all through the last two weeks, and both teams are undefeated! But only one of them will emerge the winner!" Darla explained.
"I'm so excited, Darla! This is certain to be an exciting match!" Lila tried to keep her upbeat tone, even as traces of anxiety weaved their way into her voice. She couldn't be blamed for that, everyone was feeling tense with the knowledge that this battle would include Elaina Bishop. But she needed to stay in character for the crowd!
"You already know the teams!" Darla said.
"And you know the pokemon they use," Lila added.
"Then without further ado…" Darla began.
"…Let the final match begin!" Lila finished.
Caelia was the first one to move, surprisingly.
"Tori," Caelia said, throwing out her first pokeball. Her Turtonator emerged, spitting fire from her snout, turning her shell back to her opponents.
"Caelia starts things off with her Turtonator!" Darla announced, her excitement at a dragon on the battlefield leaking through.
"How will Elaina and Blake respond?" Lila mused, even though most people knew what Elaina's first pokemon was going to be.
"Blow them away, Noctre!" Elaina shouted, sending out her Noivern to start, as usual. Blake put a little more thought into his selection, staring at Cynthia.
"Well?" He asked.
"Just gonna… whoops! Oh, clumsy me!" Cynthia fumbled on her belt for a pokeball, one of them slipping through her fingers and rolling across the ground. She chased after it, a sheepish look on her face. Blake narrowed his eyes. He knew the game Cynthia was playing. Her team selection might have been fixed, but what pokemon she was going to send out first wasn't. Which meant she was going to wait to see what he would do, and then make her choice. Classic Cynthia.
"Fine," Blake sighed. It wasn't like his choice was really going to be changed all that much. "Maria, go!"
"Blake's first pokemon is his Mareanie!" Darla gasped.
"Is that a good move?" Lila wondered. "He did just use that pokemon just an hour ago in his last match, has she had time to get fully rested?"
Blake seriously doubted it. But at the same time, Maria was probably the better lead he could have had against Cynthia and Caelia. In the first round, Cynthia had used both of her flying pokemon, and just like Maria, they probably hadn't had time to get their strength back. Same thing with most of Caelia's team, including her Charizard and that Salazzle. He probably wouldn't have to worry about Elise or Leon, either, which meant he could have Maria set up her toxic spikes. Even if the exhausted pokemon went down quickly after that, it would be a powerful blow to cripple his opponents. And if their pokemon were softened up from the poison, Elaina wouldn't need to use her full power against them. That was what he was counting on. Elaina had managed to keep her harmonia in check against their weaker opponents over the last few weeks. It was only when she was really pushed that she lost control. Hopefully, he could keep that from happening this time. The only wild card left would be Ruby, Cynthia's Mawile, but he knew Cynthia's team well. With Ruby's crippling hatred of fire types, he doubted she would use her while fighting on the same team as Caelia. Still…
"Maria, you sure you're up for this?" Blake asked, glancing at his Mareanie.
"Mareashishishi!" Maria cackled, nodding her head excitedly. Blake smiled, and nodded, turning back to the battlefield.
"Ooh, got it!" Cynthia picked her pokeball up and skipped back to the trainer box, smiling coyly at Blake and Elaina. "I'll choose you!"
Cynthia threw her pokeball out, Ruby emerging from it with a snarl, much to Blake's surprise.
"She's using her Mawile?" Sango gasped.
"Yay, a fairy!" Lila grinned.
"Plus it's a steel type," Darla reminded her, "which means that she's going to be immune to the poison attacks from that Mareanie!"
Blake scowled. He had counted on Cynthia not using Mawile, but it seemed that she had pulled another fast one. Ruby wasn't good around fire types, but apparently that didn't matter.
"What a coincidence," Cynthia smirked. "The perfect counter! Ruby, use fairy wind!"
Ruby opened her horn-mouth, a gust of sweet-smelling wind shooting out, curling across the field and approaching the dragon.
"Burn!" Elaina snarled. Noctre opened her mouth, a stream of flames erupting from deep within her throat, striking the cloud of smoke and burning it away immediately. Ruby jumped to the side, the flames shooting over her head, Cynthia ducking in cover as well.
"That thing has fire moves?!" Cynthia sputtered.
"Now, hurricane!" Elaina followed up the flamethrower attack with an order to take advantage of her pokemon's greatest strength. Her hair stood on end and Noctre spread her wings, creating a massive gale of wind as the sky swirled around her, forming into a maelstrom.
"Shit! A little help, Caelia!" Cynthia called to her teammate.
"Protect," Caelia ordered. Tori created a barrier of crimson light in front of her shell, protecting herself from the swirl of the wind, the hurricane raging across the battlefield and sweeping up Ruby.
"Waaaaah!" Cynthia held her arms up, bracing herself for the raging wind certain to sweep her away.
"Elaina!" Blake cried out. "Don't! You already got the pokemon, you don't need to let your power go wild like this!"
Elaina bit her lip, her head throbbing in pain. Blake's voice called out to her and she felt herself falling limp, the wind dissipating. Ruby plummeted out of the sky and hit the ground hard, groaning in pain. She picked herself up, glaring at the Noivern. Cynthia panted, her face pale. She had fallen back on her butt, certain to get swept away. She had gone in confident and cocky, but right now, she was more than a little happy that she hadn't faced Elaina in the Fall Festival Tournament all those months ago. She gulped, rising to her feet. She nearly tumbled over, still shaky.
It's okay, girl. This is your stage! Don't be so trembly and scared! You're in the finals! Let's give 'em a match the finals are waiting for!
"Ruby!" Cynthia called out. "Go!"
"Mawile!" Ruby nodded. She turned and ran towards Noctre, her long mouth-horn flapping behind her as she dashed forward on her tiny legs.
Cynthia glanced at Caelia. Her Turtonator was still standing there, shell raised, not doing anything. Could help a lot, but she still wasn't. That was working out quite nicely, since that meant that she could count on Ruby to not lose it, so long as the Turtonator kept from spitting flames out.
"A head-on charge?" Elaina snorted. "Fine! Burn her away again!"
"Noivern!" Noctre roared, opening her mouth and shooting a blast of flames straight at the approaching Mawile.
Ruby and Cynthia smirked. Mawile shot forward, ducking under the flames, and hit Noctre in the jaw with an uppercut.
Elaina grunted, her chin stinging.
"Mawile used sucker punch to close the distance!" Lila gasped.
"Cynthia must have been counting on Elaina's tendency to go all-out in terms of attacks!" Darla grinned.
"Now, time to play rough!" Cynthia ordered. Ruby landed on the ground and raised her hands, fairy energy infusing into her small hands as she prepared to land a barrage of punches on the larger dragon.
"Maria, water pulse!" Blake ordered. Maria shot a shockwave of water that hit Ruby in the face, knocking her backwards. Noctre raised her wing and slapped Ruby, knocking her backwards, firing a blast of fire at her.
"Dragon pulse," Caelia whispered. Tori's snout flexed and a shockwave of draconic energy built up in front of her. She compressed the energy into an orb of power that she fired at Noctre. It hit the flame, pushing through it and protecting her partner. The dragon pulse exploded in a shockwave of energy, striking both Ruby and Noctre. Ruby wasn't effected by the shockwave, but Noctre certainly was, groaning in pain.
Elaina felt the burns from the dragon pulse and her harmonia surged, Noctre shaking it off. She opened her mouth and fired another blast of flames at Ruby, who tumbled to the side and lunged forward, raising her fist.
"Now, strike!" Cynthia ordered.
"Mawile!" Ruby cried, hitting Noctre in the chest with her fairy-infused fist. The play rough attack hit true, sending Noctre flying backwards.
"NOI!" Noctre roared, tumbling through the dirt. She spread her wings to brake and flapped hard, taking to the sky. The fairy attack had dealt a significant chunk of damage, and Noctre was preparing for cover up above.
"Running away, huh?" Cynthia scowled. "Fine! Ruby, go after that Mareanie, instead!"
"Mawile!" Ruby ignored orders, turning her head up to the sky. She fired a blast of fairy wind at the dragon pokemon up above, even if that wasn't likely to be efficient.
"Uh-oh! Cynthia's Mawile is ignoring orders!" Lila gasped.
"Normally going after Elaina's pokemon isn't a bad move, but right now I don't think it's the right the decision," Darla said. "That fairy wind won't do a lot from this distance, if it even hits!"
"Damn, I was afraid of that!" Cynthia cursed. Because that Noivern was using fire moves, Ruby had gotten tunnel-vision, focusing her attention on taking out that Noivern and completely ignoring Maria.
"Noivern!" Noctre roared. She flapped her wings and sent a blade of wind down through the sky, carving through the fairy attack and hitting Mawile hard. Mawile resisted the move, but it still hurt. And that wasn't all, she had two opponents to deal with, even if she was only focusing on one.
"Maria, use water pulse again," Blake ordered. Maria inflated her cheeks and sent a blast of water at the distracted Mawile.
"Tori," Caelia ordered. She had listened to Cynthia and chosen not to use fire moves for now, but another dragon pulse was fine.
Ruby cried out in pain as the water pulse hit her, knocking her off her feet. The dragon pulse sailed over her head and collided with Maria, exploding in a shockwave of power, the small pokemon wailing in pain as the crackling energy electrocuted and singed her.
"Noctre!" Elaina cried. The wind around her swirled and her harmonia was sending waves of pain through her head. She was putting as much as she could into this. Blake couldn't blame her for it. There was almost no chance that a flamethrower aimed directly at the center of the battlefield would hurt any innocents! It would just hit that Mawile and take her out.
"Noivern!" Noctre roared, opening her mouth wide. A massive blast of flames erupted from her maw, a pillar of fire shooting towards the prone Mawile.
"Ruby! If you're going to take out that Noivern, do it right!" Cynthia shouted. "Use your feint attack!"
"Mawile!" Ruby nodded, finally hearing an order she was eager to follow. Before the flames struck her, she disappeared, reappearing in a burst of shadow above Noctre. She turned, and slammed her massive horn down on Noctre, biting down on the slender pokemon with as much force as she could put into her jaws.
"Whoa! Using feint attack, that Mawile was able to close the distance immediately!" Lila gasped.
"And now that she's on top, she can really get going!" Darla said.
"Noivern!" Noctre roared, flailing through the sky, desperately trying to shake off the Mawile. But Ruby held on tight, her eyes glimmering with determination.
"Now, Ruby, begin beating her down with play rough!" Cynthia shouted.
"Mawile!" Ruby filled her body with fairy energy, her clamping jaws dealing super-effective damage to the injured dragon. She turned as best she could and began pummeling the flying pokemon with a barrage of powerful blows, Elaina's body rocking with pain from the hits.
"Noctre!" Elaina shouted, her body surging with power. Noctre was taking a lot of damage and she wasn't going to last long against this barrage of fairy attacks. Already she was falling towards the ground. This attack wouldn't cause a lot of damage, even if she did put all of her power into it, but hopefully it would be enough to shake the pokemon free.
"NOOOOOOIIIVERN!" Noctre howled, a blast of sonic energy releasing from her ears. The boomburst shook the makeshift stadium with a shockwave of sound that was deafening, Lila and Darla holding their ears and crying in pain as the speakers began to crackle with feedback.
"Mawile!" Ruby's gasp of pain went unheard over the high-volume attack, and her jaws broke free, the small pokemon plummeting out of the sky as Noctre tried desperately to right herself. Noctre spread her wings to brake her fall, tumbling across the ground. Elaina braced herself against the pain, panting, a surge of agony shooting through her arm and up her shoulder.
Noctre picked herself up, panting. The pain of the fall dealt a lot of damage to her arm. While she could still keep fighting, flying was almost certainly off the table.
"It's fine, Noctre," Elaina assured her. Her Noivern probably couldn't hear her words over the deafening sound still ringing in the air, but she could certainly sense the feelings she was carrying. "While that Mawile is stunned… finish it!"
Elaina closed her eyes and felt her power increase. It felt so good to just… let go. She felt the tug of harmonia and Noctre begging her to use more of her power, and she was happy to comply, feeding her as much as she needed. Her pain was lessening, replaced with the sensation of pleasure that just giving in was feeding her. This was what it was like! Noctre had taken so much damage from the fairy pokemon's attacks, and now Elaina was happy to repay the favor!
"NOIVERN!" Noctre roared. She swung her good wing, and a large swirl of wind shot across the battlefield. The sky above began to darken and rain pelted the battlefield, Noctre creating another massive hurricane to strike Ruby. As Ruby struggled to her feet, she was swept up by the wind and carried into the sky, battered on all sides by the powerful gust. The massive hurricane turned and headed straight for Tori, but Caelia was more than prepared, Tori protecting herself once more.
"Elaina!" Blake shouted to his partner, but his words went unheard over the ringing in Elaina's ears. Realizing she wasn't listening to him, and the raging hurricane was only growing stronger, not weaker, as it approached Cynthia, Blake ran over to Elaina's side and grabbed her by the hand.
Elaina jumped, startled, her connection weakening as she was brought out of her haze by the feeling of a warm hand grabbing hers. The surge of power she had been riding had nearly swallowed her, but Blake had brought her back. She panted, another surge of pain throbbing in her head. The hurricane dissipated and Ruby landed at Cynthia's feet.
"Ruby… are you…" Cynthia kneeled down to reach for her pokemon, but her hand was swatted away.
"Mawile!" Ruby stood up, panting. She wasn't about to give in now. Her eyes were burning brightly, and Cynthia could see the small pokemon wasn't about to give in now.
Cynthia gulped, and nodded.
"If… if that's what you want, then let's do it!" Cynthia washed the rain and sweat off her brow and stood back up, smiling with renewed confidence. "Now, go and use feint attack!"
"Maw!" Ruby nodded, grinning. She disappeared into darkness, preparing to strike Noctre.
Blake stood at Elaina's side, his mind racing. Both Noctre and Ruby had taken serious damage, while Caelia's Turtonator was completely untouched. Ruby's one-track determination to take out Noctre was actually working, even though he was pretty sure she would be the one to give in first. He wasn't blind, though. The difficulty was that Turtonator, dealing damage from a distance and breaking Elaina's flow of battle.
"Maria!" He shouted, his Mareanie glancing back at him.
"Mar?"
"Use toxic on that Turtonator!"
"Mar!" Maria nodded. She scuttled forward and opened her mouth, firing a blob of poison at Tori.
"While Elaina and her Noivern are preparing to fight against Cynthia and her Mawile, it looks like Blake is having his Mareanie go after Caelia's Turtonator!" Lila announced.
"Interesting, that should definitely switch things up," Darla said. "Caelia's had her pokemon just kind of holding back, but now that she's been brought into the fray, things should get interesting."
"Protect," Caelia ordered. The poison bounced off the Turtonator's barrier.
"…Maybe not," Darla scowled.
"That's fine, Maria," Blake said. "Don't worry about getting attacked from the side by that Mawile! Just focus on getting the Turtonator."
"Mareanie!" Maria nodded. She fired another blast of poison at Tori, and this time she wouldn't be able to block with protect. That being said, Maria was not the fastest pokemon around, and at the distance she was attacking from, even the slow Turtonator was able to jump to the side, and fire off a dragon pulse to counter. Maria cried out in pain as she was knocked backwards, not fast enough to avoid the shockwave.
"Elaina, can I count on you to handle Ruby?" Blake asked, glancing at his partner and letting go of her hand. "I'll work on the Turtonator, but can I trust you to have my back?"
"Y-yes," Elaina said, nodding, though she was slightly disappointed by the fact that Blake had let go of her hand. "We'll handle it."
Blake grinned. It sounded like they had a plan.
The finals have started! Right now, it seems like two separate battles are taking place, but how will it evolve? There's going to be a lot of back and forth in this match, and we're just getting started!