The finals continue! Some trainers got off to a strong start, others are a little more passive. But this battle is just getting started,
KedharS: Only going to get more interesting I hope.
Arcana of the North: We can only hope that she can stay in control.
Just a Bad Writer for Fun: Well she can take on Elaina's normal lead and had a good matchup against Blake's coincidentally, and unpredictability is her thing.
Kunoichi69: Maybe she'll learn the truth someday, but revealing it to her might make things even more complicated.
JoshGamerV: Long. Very long. We're not even close to the end.
Aurastar Warrior: Not yet.
Thunder Fire: She really doesn't, let's see if she's strong enough to win.
Aquahaze675: Poison helps get through a lot of things.
Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings
Chapter 395
Ruby appeared in the air behind Noctre and swung her long mouth down, hitting the dragon in the back of the head and sending her stumbling forward. Noctre shrugged off the hit easily though and turned, opening her mouth wide and firing a long stream of flames at the pokemon. But Ruby was quick and small easily able to duck out of the way. A single hit would be the end, and Ruby wasn't about to let that last hit land!
Meanwhile, Blake knew that to beat Caelia's Turtonator with its powerful attacks and significantly more powerful defenses with a pokemon as offensively weak as Maria, he would need to rely on attrition, Maria's specialty. But Mareanie were skilled at setting traps, not being proactive.
In the back of his mind, Blake knew that if he won, he would owe thanks to Kate and Marion. Between the two of them, their knowledge of water and poison pokemon had been irreplaceable in training Maria up into a powerful battler.
That Turtonator clearly isn't fast, certainly not moreso than Maria. The problem is, we can't exactly get close. Blake had only seen Caelia use her Turtonator once, in her fight against Sylvia. When Sylvia's Dusknoir had gotten too close, it had used a powerful fire move that dealt a severe chunk of damage. It had come out of the pokemon's shell. He didn't know what kind of move it was, but he knew that getting close to that pokemon was probably a bad idea. Maria might resist fire moves, but with that level of power he couldn't be sure if she would make it out okay.
So we need to keep our distance… but if we keep our distance, then we won't be able to hit… Maria's role in the battle was to wear down their opponents as much as possible early, so Elaina's team and his last two pokemon could sweep through. In that case… it would probably be best to rely on my initial tactic…
"Maria, use toxic spikes," Blake ordered.
"Marea!" Maria grinned. She opened her mouth and her tentacles spread out, the tiny barbs covering them growing larger. She shot the barbs out in all directions, quickly replacing them with more spikes, and continued to fire them until the entire field was covered in sharp objects oozing with poison.
"Because she couldn't hit that Turtonator with poison attacks from a distance, Mareanie decided to cut off the Turtonator's means of evading with a field of toxic spikes!" Lila gasped.
"It doesn't look like he'll be able to get away this time," Darla agreed.
Blake glanced at Caelia, but if she was bothered by this she didn't appear to be. Cynthia seemed more upset about it, and she wasn't even the target. Maria opened her mouth and spit a large burst of poison, hitting the immobilized Turtonator head-on, infecting her with painful poison.
"It's fine, Caelia, don't worry about it!" Cynthia replied. "Those things won't work on Ruby! Now, Ruby, hit that Noivern with your play rough attack!"
"Noi-!" Noctre glanced behind her, gritting her teeth. Blake froze, realizing his mistake. He had calculated Elaina's flying pokemon into the equation when he came up with the toxic spikes strategy, but right now Noctre was unable to fly! He had inadvertently hampered the maneuverability of his own teammate! And with her options of retreat blocked, Noctre could no longer effectively dodge Ruby's attacks! Ruby was already taking advantage of that fact, circling around the larger pokemon and charging at her from behind!
"Elaina, I'm sorry! I didn't-"
"Ridiculous," Elaina hissed, the wind around her whipping into a curtain that smacked Blake in the face, forcing him to wipe some dirt out of his eyes. "Did you really think something as meager as poison… would be enough to hamper our movements?!"
Noctre stepped forward and turned her body, her foot landing right on a pile of sharp spikes. She winced, but the repositioning allowed her to face Ruby's approach head-on, much to the charging steel pokemon's surprise.
"Ruby, pull back!" Cynthia shouted, but it was too late. Ruby was already in range of Noctre, the dragon pokemon opening her mouth wide and firing a powerful flamethrower that swallowed Ruby completely.
"Ruby!" Cynthia cried.
"MAAAAWW!" Ruby's wail could be heard from within the flames, growing fainter and fainter as the sounds of crackling fire intensified. Moments later, the flames died down and a badly burned Mawile was lying unconscious in front of the panting dragon pokemon.
"Elaina's Noivern was willing to take on the burden of poison in spite of her low health, just to get into a position where she could finish off her opponent!" Darla gasped.
"Mawile is unable to battle!" Lila declared.
"Return, Ruby," Cynthia glumly said, recalling her Mawile. So that's the kind of willpower that a harmonia user possesses…
Staring across the battlefield at Elaina and her Noivern, she could see that, while the bat pokemon was ragged, she didn't seem to be that effected by the drain of the poison coursing through her. At the same time, though, it was clear that Elaina wasn't doing so hot, even with her mask concealing her face. The way she was moving, it was clear that she was panting hard.
Cynthia squinted.
Indeed, panting very hard, if the bouncing of that large chest of hers was any-
Cynthia punched herself in the nose.
Head in the game, girl! She reminded herself, blood trickling down her face. A coy smile curled up her lips, and she reached for her next pokeball.
"Now, let's go, Elise!" Cynthia ordered, sending out her next pokemon, her Tailow.
"Tailow!" Elise crowed, flying up into the air, well out of reach of the spikes.
"Cynthia's second pokemon is her Tailow!" Lila gasped.
"The pokemon who won her victory in the semi-finals," Darla added.
"Darla, is that really such a good idea?" Lila asked. "Surely she must have expended most of her energy?"
"That's what I would think, too," Darla agreed. "Surprising she would use her again here."
Blake was just as surprised as they were. But indeed, Cynthia's Tailow didn't look particularly worn down. In fact, Elise seemed to be excited, even from here he could see a gleam in her eyes.
"They're wrong," Elaina said, drawing Blake's attention.
"Huh?"
"That Tailow is teeming with energy," Elaina said. "More than she can fit in that body of hers. I can see it quite well, in fact."
"Your eyes are pretty good," Cynthia chortled, her smile widening. "Is that another thing harmonia lets you do? Gotta say, I'm envious. The nurses were the ones who told me!"
Elaina's eye twitched behind her mask. What mockery-! Jokingly calling this accursed power something to envy? It disgusted her.
"You're absolutely right! Normally, I wouldn't consider sending Elise out after the rough battle she had earlier! But tonight, things are different! You didn't think I'd want to show off her moment of triumph for everyone to see? Elise!"
"Tailow!" Elise cried, her body beginning to glow with a bright white light, illuminating the night sky.
"Wha?!" Lila gasped.
"What the heck?" Darla more articulately expressed.
Within the light, Elise began to grow bigger, the small Tailow's wings extending longer and longer as her body stretched up, until she was large enough to even ride. With a flap of her wings, the light dispersed, revealing her new form.
"Swellow!" Elise crowed triumphantly, circling low around the stadium to show herself off.
"What do you think?" Cynthia asked. "Isn't she just the coolest?" A coy look crossed her face and she wiggled her eyebrows at Blake. "Say, Blake, is Elise giving you any nostalgia for the Fall Festival Tournament? I beat you last time because I managed to time Rose's evolution perfectly, and now it looks like I'll be taking the win this time, too, thanks to a repeat performance! Elise! Let's start by clearing things up, okay?"
"Swellow!" Elise nodded. She pulled back behind Cynthia and spread her wings out, flapping hard. With the power of her defog attack, she easily cleared the field of all the toxic spikes littering it, allowing any pokemon Cynthia and Caelia sent out afterwards to maneuver without having to worry about being poisoned.
"Now that that's all settled, let's get back to attacking, Elise!" Cynthia ordered. "We'll start with your agility, and then we'll switch to an air slash!"
"Swell!" Elise agreed. She flapped her wings and shot forward, her speed so fast her white and red underbelly was leaving a streak across the night sky.
"Whoa, look at that speed!" Lila gasped.
"Tailow was fast, but Swellow is on a whole different level!" Darla agreed.
"Ridiculous," Elaina growled, catching Cynthia's attention.
"Eh?"
The wind around Elaina began to kick up, swirling around her in a whirlwind that sent her hair flying and her dress fluttering.
"Who do you think you're fighting?" She snarled, Cynthia suddenly feeling a compelling urge to step back. "The sky is my domain, you foolish girl."
"Er… whatever! That Noivern of yours is grounded anyway!" Cynthia quickly recovered. "We have nothing to worry about from a flying pokemon that can't actually fly!"
Elise flapped her wings and sent a blade of air flying straight at Noctre. But the air slash was banished with a flick of her wing, much to Cynthia's shock.
"She just…" Cynthia didn't have much more to say, her jaw falling open.
Blake sighed. Now that he thought about it, Cynthia had never actually faced a harmonia user before. She was using normal battling tactics against someone who just wasn't playing fair.
Caelia had been watching that whole exchange as Tori began to slowly lose health from the poison. Defending was no longer an option.
"I suppose… attacking then," Caelia murmured. "Tori. Shell smash."
"Turt!" Tori nodded. Cracks began to form on the outer edge of her shell as she stepped forward.
Seeing that Caelia's pokemon was moving drew Blake's attention back to the battle. Maria had been waiting for orders, and he had been too caught up in Cynthia's evolution to give them.
"Maria! Use venoshock!" Blake ordered.
"Marea!" Maria cheered, puffing up her cheeks. Her tentacles extended and blades of poison shot out of them, flying at the badly poisoned Turtonator. But not a single one of them hit. Where before, a bulky, lumbering turtle pokemon had been standing was now nothing but air.
"Slow," Caelia whispered. Tori blurred into sight right behind Maria, and with a swat of her tail she sent the small poison pokemon flying through the air.
"Whoa!" Darla gasped.
"What kind of moves were those?!" Lila exclaimed.
"Shell smash," Caelia said. "By reducing Tori's defensive abilities, I've increased her attack, special attack, and speed by two stages each."
"Attack, special attack, AND speed?!" Lila sputtered. "By two stages each?!"
"That-that's even better than dragon dance!" Darla marveled.
"Now, dragon pulse," Caelia ordered. Cynthia glanced at her partner and smiled. She couldn't see Caelia's eye, but she hoped it was gleaming with excitement.
"Turtonator!" Tori rasped, creating a large orb of draconic energy. She fired it straight at Noctre, the powerful attack crackling in the air.
"You call that a dragon pulse?" Elaina roared, using the strength of her harmonia to match the boosts that Caelia had given her own pokemon. "Noctre!"
"Noivern!" Noctre roared, firing a dragon pulse from her mouth as well. The two attacks collided, Noctre's overpowering the one that Tori had fired. One dragon pulse absorbed the other and grew in strength, flying through the air and slamming into Tori, knocking the large pokemon onto her shell.
"Whoa!" Darla exclaimed. "Those were two of the strongest dragon pulses I've seen in a while!"
"Even with her attacking stats boosted it wasn't enough to beat Elaina's Noivern," Lila quivered.
Need to finish this up quickly, Elaina thought. Right now, her anger and frustration was fueling her harmonia, but that well of power was starting to run dry. Her head was throbbing and every breath stung as she felt Noctre's lungs filling with poison. The rush of harmonia was helping her suppress the pain, but it was like sticking a finger in a dike. The pressure was still building up under the surface, and Elaina knew it was only a matter of time before it broke through and overwhelmed her.
Before that happens… I need to do as much damage as I can! Elaina understood, giving herself into her harmonia as the breeze around her intensified into a roaring whirlwind that pushed Blake further away from her.
"Elaina!" Blake cried.
"Don't stop me!" Elaina snarled. "If you want to win, then we'll do it my way."
Elaina appreciated Blake's presence at her side, she really did. If she went too far, she could count on him to pull her back. Assuming, of course, that she went too far. But right now… her harmonia was telling her that there wasn't a "too far" yet. She wasn't even close.
"Noctre!" Elaina shouted. "Another dragon pulse!"
"Don't think so!" Cynthia shouted. "Elise, aerial ace!"
"Swellow!" Elise shot forward, slamming into Noctre and knocking her back, the powerful dragon pulse shooting harmlessly into the sky. Noctre slashed at Elise with her claws, but the pokemon was too fast for her.
One shell smash wasn't enough, time for a second, Caelia reasoned. "Tori. Again."
More of Tori's shell broke away and she shot forward, her speed increasing even more as her defenses fell. Low as they were now, another dragon pulse would certainly finish her. Turtonator were more physically defensive to begin with, anyway, and that last one took out a significant chunk of health. She wasn't even sure if Tori would be fast enough to avoid a move aimed her direction anyway.
Caelia was going to have to rely on Cynthia to keep that Noivern occupied. And relying on someone else was not something she was particularly open to.
"Turtonator!" Tori ran forward, far faster than her bulky frame should have allowed. Energy began to crackle in her snout as she prepared for another attack, while Elise turned and flew head-on at Noctre for another pass.
"Enough of this!" Elaina shouted. The wind around her grew even stronger, this time even managing to knock Blake over. Noctre's body began surging with power and she threw back her head and roared, her ears throbbing.
"Oh no!" Lila cried, holding her hands over her ears in preparation. She'd seen (or more accurately, heard) boomburst enough times today to know what the signals were.
"Gonna be a loud one," Darla agreed, covering her ears as well.
"NOIVERN!" Noctre released a shockwave of sound from her throat, amplified by the speakers on her ears. The shockwave was deafening and the echo so high that the windows of the Meloetta Ballroom behind them shattered as the students cried in pain.
"WAAAAAH!" Kitty cried, the small tank she was holding Pearl in shattering within her hands. Water drained into her lap as shards of glass flew in all directions. Several bounced off of Pearl's shell, but many dug deeply into her arms, quickly splattering blood into the water as it drenched her and her neighbors.
"Kitty!" Julia cried, ignoring the chunk of glass that had lodged itself in her shoulder.
"Ow…" Kitty groaned. "Pearl, is Pearl…"
"Fuck, fuck," Ayame cursed, leaping from her seat and running over to Kitty, Blake's Skorupi lying on the chair forgotten. Julia and Ayame helped Kitty out of her seat, moving Pearl out of the way. It was bad. Thankfully, none had hit her face or eyes, and neither Julia nor Callie had gotten hit by the glass, except the piece in Julia's arm, which was now starting to throb. But several shards were imbedded in Kitty's arms and legs, and judging by the growing splotches of darkening wetness on her black dress, more than a few had hit her chest and stomach.
"I'm… I'm fine," Kitty gasped. Her recent experiences with harmonia had taught her a great deal about what sorts of wounds were critical and which were not. "They're shallow, and- aarrgh!"
Kitty had tried to sit up but a piercing sting like a knife thrust in her ribs stopped her.
"I'll call the-" Ayame reached for her phone but Sango was two steps ahead, already explaining where they were.
All this went unnoticed on the battlefield, however, the deafening noise blocking out the cries. Tori had been knocked back by the shockwave and was unconscious, and Elise was just gone. The sound died down and Noctre panted, feeling fatigue from expending so much energy set in. Then, a sharp pain in her back caused her to cry out, "Noivern!"
"Boomburst turns sound into a weapon, eh?" Cynthia shouted, the only way she could hear her voice over the ringing in her ears. "Sorry to burst your bubble, but it didn't even hit! Elise's aerial ace? Looks like that goes even faster than sound!"
Noctre pitched over and Elaina nearly did as well. Elise flapped her wings, flying overhead. She might not have taken damage, but she'd clearly exhausted herself moving that fast.
"Damn…" Elaina cursed, the backlash from harmonia on her body nearly making her pass out from pain. The pain was starting to lessen now that Noctre was knocked unconscious and her harmonia was no longer burdening her. She glanced at Blake. He had been knocked over and wasn't moving. Her heart nearly stopped. "Blake…"
"Fine…" Blake muttered, picking himself off the ground. "I'm fine."
Elaina sighed with relief. She swallowed, shaking her head. What had she done? She'd let herself go again… and now she'd hurt Blake. What… what was wrong with her? She couldn't even look at him, afraid of what she would see on his face. Certainly he would hate her now. Gerard had been right. She was terrified of how Blake would respond to being on the receiving end of her power. Because she just knew the kindness he'd shown her… it wouldn't last long after that. Noctre had fainted, but she didn't want to send out her next pokemon. She just wanted to go home and cry.
"Jeez, look at the damage…" Lila moaned, her hearing slowly returning.
"I hate this so much," Darla groaned, shaking her head, clearing her ears out. "Thankfully it's over. Never thought I'd be happy to see a dragon faint."
"Both dragons fainted," Lila cheerily replied, clearly looking forward to her ears no longer being under attack.
"Well, what pokemon will they send out next?" Darla wondered.
Caelia silently recalled her Turtonator.
"Mera," Caelia whispered, throwing out her next pokemon. Her Volcarona emerged, flapping his wings, a loud buzz ringing out over the battlefield.
Darla gulped, her tan skin blanching as a scowl spread across her face. Lila began to cry.
RIP hearing I guess. Cynthia, Elaina, and Caelia have all lost a pokemon, and Cynthia's Taillow has evolved! How will the battle go from here? What else do our trainers have up their sleeves?