The battle continues. In the heat of winter, will Blake be able to thaw Elaina's cold heart? Or will she remain isolated and alone? Hopefully the heat of battle will help her warm herself up.
Thunder Fire: We can only hope it goes better than that.
JoshGamerV: That was the plan.
KedharS: It should hopefully be worthwhile.
Aquahaze675: I know who I'm hoping for.
Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings
Chapter 406
"Rogen!" Blake shouted, sending out his Boldore. The rock pokemon was freshly recovered from his explosion, ready to keep fighting.
"Rock type, huh?" Elaina said. "Noctre!"
"Noivern!" Noctre roared. In spite of her paralysis, the boost from harmonia was enough for Noctre to seize the initiative and attack the slower pokemon with a powerful blast of draconic energy. The dragon pulse hit Rogen directly, sending him stumbling backwards. Rogen rolled across the ground, his body already hardening with iron defense. When he righted himself, he created a large rock in between his claws, firing the rock blast at Noctre.
Noctre winced from the paralysis, flapping her wings to pull her numb body up into the air as best she could, the rock just barely brushing her tail. As she struggled to stay aloft in spite of the tingling running through her body, the vines wrapped around her began to drain energy out of her.
"Rogen, use rock polish," Blake said. "Tara's leech seed will let you recover some of your health. We'll drain Noctre of her energy while keeping out of her reach."
"Bold!" Rogen said, brushing the dirt off his rocky hide with his claws, sharpening himself up and increasing his speed.
"There is no 'out of our reach'!" Elaina declared. "Noctre! Use your hurricane!"
"Noivern!" Noctre roared, flapping her wings and creating a massive tornado that swept the battlefield, rampaging towards Rogen.
"Rogen, brace yourself!" Blake shouted, Rogen bobbing up in a nod and strengthening his defenses as best as he could, the wind battering him roughly. But he was too heavy to be lifted with the strength that Noctre was able to muster at the moment. "Now! Rogen, use smack down!"
"Boldore!" Rogen scuttled forward, raising his claws and ripping a chunk of rock out of the ground, slamming it down onto Noctre and knocking her out of the air. Elaina gasped in pain, feeling the agony shooting through her head and shoulders, the pressure smashing down on her nearly forcing her to her knees.
"Now, use magnitude and follow with stone edge," Blake ordered. Rogen sent a shockwave through the ground, the tremors smashing into Noctre and shattering the slab on top of her. But the shaking made it difficult for the dragon pokemon to gain her balance. By the time she was able to right herself through the shaking, spikes of stone were already raining down on her.
Elaina clutched her chest as she felt the pain of Noctre's ribs shattering from the impact of the attacks. She wheezed out a cry of "no!"
Noctre collapsed to the ground, the last of her health drained away by the leech seeds. Rogen lowered his claws, slightly exhausted, but successful. Blake didn't feel confident though, even if he'd managed to defeat Elaina's Noivern. It was only the first pokemon, after all, and it had taken the combined efforts of three of his pokemon, already having lost one of them.
"Return, Noctre," Elaina said.
"You don't have to worry." Blake took the opportunity of the lull in the fight to address Elaina. "Elaina, I'm going to fight back as best as I can. No matter what, I'm not going to give up, on this battle, or on you. So use as much of your power as you want, and we'll withstand it no matter what."
Blake's words made Elaina's chest weep. Her harmonia burned her mind, and her remorse was gouging out her heart. She didn't want to do this. If only she could have been born normal. If she could have been there for him, as a normal girl… would he have chosen her? Would he have chosen her, instead of Ayame Toujou?
Would I even have chosen him? She asked herself. What had drawn her to Blake was the kindness he showed her, the acceptance of her when she had given him every reason to reject her. It was a bitter irony. The harmonia that made her incapable of being loved was exactly what had led her to connect to the boy she loved in the first time. She would laugh if it wasn't so painful. Elaina clutched Noctre's pokeball, and placed it back on her belt, switching to her next pokemon.
"If you'll use a rock type to ground my flyers, then I'll respond with this! Mukuro, go!" Elaina shouted, throwing her pokeball into the air. From within the pokeball, her Decidueye emerged with a silent flutter, soaring through the night sky.
"Rogen, we can't handle him," Blake said, holding up Rogen's pokeball. "Return!"
"We won't let you escape a second time!" Elaina snarled, pulling her arm back. Mukuro drew his bow and fired a spectral arrow right at Rogen, digging into the ground below his shadow. The light from the pokeball hit Rogen, but he would not return to inside the ball, much to Blake's frustration.
"Boldore!" Rogen struggled, trying to free himself.
"With our spirit shackle, you can't return your Boldore back to his pokeball," Elaina declared. "And that leaves him helpless against my attacks! You may have heightened your defenses, but how will you handle this? Mukuro!"
"Decidueye!" Mukuro screeched, spreading his wings. Wind swirled around him, as countless leaves as sharp as razors appeared in the tornado. With a flap, Mukuro sent the leaf storm attack raging straight towards Rogen, swallowing him whole.
"Rogen!" Blake exclaimed, jumping out of the way as a swirl of razor-sharp leaves blasted past where his head had been a second ago. He could see within the storm that Rogen was not being pushed by the wind, his body was too heavy for that, but the leaves were slicing deep into his rocky skin, and Blake could see he was starting to weaken.
What should I do? He wondered.
"Bold…!" Rogen weakly cried from within the tornado.
"You're lucky you don't share your senses with your pokemon," Elaina replied. "Otherwise, you would be feeling the agony of your Boldore being sliced to ribbons."
"Rogen's tough," Blake fired back. "He can handle it! Rogen, use sandstorm!"
"Boldore!" Rogen jammed his claws in the ground to balance himself, and released blasts of sand from the grooves of his body. The sand spun in a tornado, striking the leaves cutting into him and dulling their cutting edge. The sandstorm grew in size and power until it completely engulfed the entire battlefield, reducing visibility of both Elaina and Mukuro.
Elaina didn't bother shielding her eyes, the mask she wore more than enough to block the sand from buffeting her face.
"Blinding, now?" She spat. "That won't work on Mukuro any more than it worked on Noctre! Mukuro hunt in pitch darkness, using their ears! And besides… you're still immobilized!"
"But right now, the wind isn't under your command," Blake shouted over the sandstorm. "So your leaf storm attack won't be any use!"
"We'll see," Elaina said. Mukuro, do you hear him?
Mukuro felt Elaina's question, and she sensed that, yes, he could. Mukuro could hear the sand smashing against Rogen's hard body.
Then attack at close range. The sandstorm will make it hard to get in with your arrows. Use your leaf blade!
Mukuro nodded, flying directly towards the heavy figure he spotted. Then… disoriented. He paused, braking his wings. He raised his wings up, and squinted through the sand. That… wasn't Rogen. It was a large rock sticking out of the sand.
"It's a trick!" Elaina gasped.
"Maybe you can hear the sand smashing against something rocky… sure it's him?" Blake asked. "I think there are a lot of rocks around here, don't you?"
"That's… that's just a trick!" Elaina sputtered. "Mukuro, don't let him fool you!"
"Decidueye," Mukuro nodded. But as he strained his ears, he couldn't find the rock pokemon. He had gotten turned around and no longer knew where the immobilized pokemon had been, and right now he could sense all sorts of rocky figures all around him. There were even some in the air, meaning that at some point Rogen had used a stealth rock attack.
Not bad for something thought up off the cuff, Elaina noted. But your tricks aren't that tricky in comparison to what we've got up our sleeve.
"Mukuro!" Elaina shouted. Mukuro nodded, and disappeared into the darkness completely.
Rogen remained silent and immobilized, waiting for Mukuro to make a move. He had been planning to use the cover of the sandstorm to attack, but the Decidueye had completely disappeared. Now, if he moved, or made a single sound, he was afraid he would give away his position, and the pokemon would attack him from the darkness.
Little did he know, Mukuro already knew exactly where he was. Removing himself from the sandstorm and slipping into the shadows, Mukuro could now make out Rogen perfectly from the pokemon's shadow; he was merely buying time to attack.
Patience, Mukuro, Elaina urged her partner, focusing her harmonia and increasing her pokemon's power as best as she could. Just a little more…
Seconds later, Elaina's harmonia was at the peak.
"Now!" She shouted. Mukuro emerged from Rogen's shadow, raising his wing, and slicing into the rock pokemon with a blade made of sharp leaves.
"BOLDORE!" Rogen groaned in pain, flying forward. The attack had struck the last remaining points of his health.
"Rogen!" Blake shouted. The sandstorm had eased off, and now the battlefield was clearer to observers, though it was still wearing down Mukuro's health. Not that he felt it, of course, an inconvenience like rough sand was nothing to the rush of harmonia.
Blake sighed, and recalled Rogen to his pokeball. He knew Mukuro was going to be a tough opponent. There was only one pokemon he could think of to use against him, his most trusted partner. He took the pokeball off of his belt and threw it into the air.
"Weiss, let's go!"
"Scizor!" Weiss emerged from the pokeball and plunged into the sandstorm, the grains bouncing off his sleek steel-like scales without issue.
"I was expecting that one," Elaina said. "Mukuro! Spirit shackle!"
"Decidueye!" Mukuro drew back his bow and fired an arrow right at Weiss, but Weiss wasn't playing around. He shot forward and used to his bullet punch attack to quickly close the distance with Mukuro, hitting him in the beak with a sharp punch. Mukuro skidded backwards, screeching at Weiss, and began to fade into shadow. But Weiss was too quick for him. With a bullet punch, Weiss hit Mukuro again, knocking him out of the shadow. Elaina felt the ache in her cheek sting her. Even with harmonia, Mukuro couldn't keep up with Weiss's speed.
"Weiss, use your agility," Blake ordered.
"Scizor," Weiss nodded, picking up speed. With a flap of his wings, he shot towards Mukuro, a red blur among the grains of sand.
"Mukuro, return," Elaina said, raising her pokeball to recall her Decidueye.
"Now you're the one who can't escape! Weiss, use pursuit!"
Before the light engulfed him, Weiss hit Mukuro in the gut one last time with his claw, filled with dark energy. Elaina coughed in pain, the wind knocked out of her, but recalled her pokemon nonetheless, scowling behind her mask.
"Another cheap trick," she spat, reaching for her switched pokemon. "If that's who you'll rely on, then… Ayer! Rip that Scizor to ribbons!"
Elaina sent her Aerodactyl out to replace her Decidueye, the rock pokemon perfectly fine in the sandstorm. The stealth rocks, on the other hand…
Ayer howled in pain as sharp stones stabbed into him, concealed by the whirling tempest. But with harmonia coursing through him the wounds only served to enrage the savage pokemon, Ayer opening his long mouth and letting out a shrieking roar.
"For starters, boost your speed, Ayer!" Elaina declared. Ayer increased his speed with agility and flew straight at Weiss, flapping his wings.
"Fast as you are, you still can't beat our priority move!" Blake reminded her. "Weiss, use bullet punch!"
"Scizor!" Weiss shot forward and dodged Ayer's fangs, hitting him in the wing and stomach with a barrage of punches. The attacks were fast, but against Ayer's hard body the attacks did little damage. They stung, but Ayer wasn't giving into the pain, and neither was Elaina.
"Ayer! Use ancientpower!" Elaina ordered. Ayer created stones of energy and flung them at Weiss, Weiss easily striking them to powder with a barrage of bullet punches. But the approaching Aerodactyl was another story.
"Flash cannon," Blake ordered. Weiss raised his pincer, gathering energy into the center of it, and released it in a compressed beam of light.
"AEEEROO!" Ayer groaned in pain, the laser burning into his shoulder, but he didn't let that slow him down.
"Push through, Ayer! Strike him down!" Elaina shouted. "Fire fang!"
Blake had almost forgotten. He hurriedly urged Weiss to cut off his attack. "Weiss! Stop using flash cannon and get out of there!"
Weiss shut down the flash cannon, but with Ayer's heightened speed from the agility and the harmonia, he wasn't quick enough to escape. Ayer opened his mouth wide, flames burning within his fangs, and he bit down hard on Weiss's shoulder, lighting him ablaze with powerful flames.
"SCIZOR!" Weiss roared in pain, striking at Ayer with his claws. Ayer's fangs bit down even harder on Weiss in response, taking out more chunks of his health.
I can't afford to let Weiss take too much damage, Blake worried. He raised his pokeball. "Weiss! Return!"
Blake called Weiss back to the safety of his pokeball, and he knew which pokemon he needed to use next. Weiss did pretty well and had gotten some good hits in, but he didn't want to exhaust one of his strongest pokemon. Besides, he had another pokemon with some brute strength that could give Ayer a fight. As the sandstorm died down, he sent out his next pokemon.
"Cory! You're up!" Blake said, sending out his Crawdaunt next.
"Craw!" Cory raised his pincers and gnashed them together, dashing towards the flying pokemon.
"Switching out a pokemon that can fly for one stuck on the ground?" Elaina scoffed. "I already know that your Crawdaunt can't withstand us at our full power! Ayer! Rip the stadium apart with you earthquake attack!"
"AERO!" Ayer roared, flapping his wings. He landed on the ground and sent tremors through the stadium, the ground cracking. Chunks of earth and rock tore out of the ground and slammed into Cory, dealing him some serious hits. But the water pokemon wasn't going to let that get the better of his charge.
"Cory! Use aqua jet!" Blake ordered. The earthquake knocked him off his feet and into the snow as he did, thankfully not hurting him as much as it could have. Following Blake's orders, Cory gathered waster out of the air and swirled it around his body in a torrent as he rushed over the shaking ground, picking up speed and tackling Ayer head-on, knocking the rock pokemon back. Ayer growled and braced against the ground, lashing his tail out at Cory. Cory opened his pincer and clamped down on it, Ayer stomping the ground again and hitting his opponent, and the entire stadium, with another earthquake attack to try and knock him out.
"Crawdaunt!" Cory shouted, raising his pincer and gathering water around it, hitting Ayer in the face with a crabhammer. Ayer cried in pain, but quickly, those screams turned to agony. Not from Ayer, but from Cory. "CRAAWW!" Cory writhed with pain, flailing against Ayer and releasing his tail.
"Cory! What's wrong?!" Blake exclaimed.
"It's not only fire fang at our disposal," Elaina replied. Blake could hear the crackling of electricity over Cory's cries. "Now! Ayer! Take him to the sky!"
His tail now freed, Ayer flapped his wings and flew into the air, tightening his bite on Cory's pincer, the electricity draining more strength from the water pokemon. Ayer flew higher and higher, and Blake realized that Elaina must have been planning to slam him into the ground, which was still shaking from the earthquake. No way was that going to happen.
"Cory!" Blake shouted up to his Crawdaunt. "Use bubblebeam into his mouth!"
"Craw!" Cory opened his pincer as best as he could, and fired a barrage of bubbles into Ayer's mouth, the bubbles exploding in a violent chain of blasts that forced his jaw wide open, releasing Cory from his grip.
Elaina felt like her mouth was on fire. She coughed painfully as Ayer struggled to stay airborne. Meanwhile, Cory was falling fast towards the ground himself, about to hit hard.
"Cory, protect," Blake ordered. Cory crossed his pincers in front of himself, a blue barrier appearing around his body as he hit the ground, breaking through the stadium. The barrier dispersed and he landed safe and sound.
"Protect?!" Elaina gasped.
"After you knocked Cory out with earthquake a while back, I bought a TM for Protect from the campus store," Blake said, cracking a smile. "In case the circumstances were similar, I wanted to be a better teammate for your Aerodactyl, so you wouldn't have to worry about hurting him. Didn't expect it to come in handy like this."
"Not bad, Blake, but not good enough! Ayer, use rock slide!" Ayer flapped his wings and flew towards Cory, rocks ripping out of the ground and rolling towards him in a tidal wave.
Elaina smiled. "You can't use protect multiple times, after all!"
"That's true," Blake admitted. "We'll have to meet it head-on, then! Cory, use aqua jet!"
"Crawdaunt!" Cory charged forward, pushing through the wave of stone, smashing into it. The attack hurt, more than Cory wanted to admit. He could feel himself being pushed back, threatening to be buried by the rocks. But he burst out the other end, charging straight at Ayer at maximum speed. But there was one final rock he hadn't managed to break. Ayer had used stone edge on the heels of the rock slide, and a sharp rock pierced into Cory's carapace, knocking him backwards.
"Cory!" Blake cried. Blood leaked onto the ground, Cory stumbled back, holding his side, wincing in pain. Blake could see that his pokemon was in serious pain, and was probably only a single hit away from fainting. Blake silently thanked Marion. Her training had improved Cory's condition and strength by leaps and bounds, and he had learned every move he was capable of learning naturally. That was what was going to turn things around.
Cynthia's face flashed through Blake's mind and he smirked. She'd have a field day if she knew what he was planning.
"Ayer! Finish this with earthquake!" Elaina declared.
"Cory!" Blake shouted. "Use endeavor!" Cory charged forward, the ground shaking beneath him as his body was encompassed with light. He tackled Ayer head-on, releasing the energy from his body into his opponent, before finally succumbing to the earthquake.
"What?!" Elaina gasped, Ayer hitting the ground hard. The force of that blow was unbelievable, it managed to knock her off her feet. She could feel Ayer's energy, he had been drained to barely a few slivers of health, he was barely conscious.
"That right there was a gift from a friend of mine," Blake smirked, recalling Cory to his pokeball. "A little borrowed move known as endeavor."
Elaina stumbled to her feet, panting. She glared at Blake from behind the mask. Ayer struggled to his feet as well, glaring alongside his trainer. Ayer was barely conscious; no matter how much energy Elaina could give him, it wasn't enough to restore his health. Which meant that the tide was starting to turn, Ayer couldn't put up as good of a fight anymore.
Blake smiled. This was where he was going to make his counterattack.
The battle is starting to heat up! Blake's lost half his team and has only taken out one of Elaina's pokemon, but he might just be able to pull this out!