Back to the battle between Gerard and Ian! Gerard has sent out his Diancie, will she be able to sweep this up neatly for him? We'll have to find out!

Just a Bad Writer for Fun: I'm not sure what you're asking. Are you asking for the most popular in-universe? Or among readers?

KedharS: Sylvia is just crazy enough to not, though.

Aquahaze675: Something else. VERY something else. DANGEROUSLY something else.

Rus0804: YAS MY QUEEN.

Guest: Sylvia is like a natural disaster. You can't logic away a tornado, because it knows what it wants to do and will tear your house down anyway. You're not supposed to "like" the tornado you're supposed to get out of the way.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 559

Gerard's Diancie was as beautiful as always, hovering over the battlefield and shining bright pink in the afternoon sun. The countless gemstones covering her body dazzled magnificently, and many girls stared enviously at the pretty pokemon, wishing they had one for themselves. Even Lila was stunned silent, staring lovingly at the mythical fairy pokemon. Dakota was equally occupied, snapping photos as fast as she could. Akira was assessing it from an objective standpoint.

Akira wasn't the only one who wasn't overwhelmed by Diana's beauty.

"Dia, use toxic!" Ian shouted. His goal was to get that Diancie as weakened as he could, and the best method he had for doing that was with a nice blast of toxic sludge. By badly poisoning the Diancie, he would be able to quickly drain away its health, which would be very useful for evening up the playing field between his pokemon, and the opposing pokemon.

"Toxic right out of the gate!" Lila gasped.

"He's really not pulling his punches," Dakota marveled.

"Not only that, look. He's taking advantage of his Haxorus's superior speed to the Diancie," Akira noted. "Even with the tailwind, she's not fast enough to dodge."

"Yeah, and who would have expected a big, bulky dragon like that to use toxic?" Dakota cackled.

Indeed, Diana didn't have an opportunity to dodge or throw up a defense, sprayed with the corrosive venom in an instant, letting out a wail of pain.

"Magnifique!" Alcea gasped, applauding.

"WOOHOO!" Kate cheered, leaping from her chair and pumping her hand in the air excitedly. "Now THAT'S what I'm talking about! Feel the power of poison, Gerard Alkwest! Stings, doesn't it? Way to go, um…"

Kate blanked on a name, she didn't really care who this guy was, so she hadn't been paying attention. "…Jason?"

"Ian," Sango replied, glancing over her shoulder.

Kate rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

"Diana, moonblast," Gerard ordered. Diana shrugged off the pain from the poison and gathered fairy energy into the gem on her chest, firing it in a massive beam that hit the already-weakened Diamond, knocking the massive dragon into the water with a huge splash.

"Diamond!" Ian cried. Dia scrambled up and grabbed onto the platform, pulling his armored body up. It was quite a feat, considering the weight that his scales must have. But his strength was enough to easily pull himself back up.

Unfortunately, Diana wasn't about to let that happen without a struggle. She fired another powerful moonblast, the fairy beam striking the platform and blasting it away, Diamond slipping back into the water.

Ian could tell this was quite quickly becoming a losing struggle. Even with Diamond's speed, that Diancie had all the advantages and the destructive power and range to take out his Haxorus before it could even attempt to fight back. Dia couldn't take another hit, Ian needed to switch things up.

"Diamond, return," Ian said, recalling the thrashing Haxorus before Diana could land another hit on him and knock him unconscious. He moved to his next pokeball. It wasn't the situation he wanted, but he would have to send her out eventually, even with the stealth rocks. "Sapphire, go!"

Like a child nostalgic for the days of the Gameboy Advanced, Ian switched out Diamond for Sapphire and sent out the Crobat, who flew out of the pokeball right into the floating field of sharp stones, much to Ian's regret.

"Cro!" Sapphire winced, the stealth rocks cutting into her wings and body, drawing small cuts and making bruises. But she kept flying, glaring at Diana.

"Oh no!" Lila cried. "That Crobat looks so hurt!"

"That's the risk of fighting against stealth rock," Akira said. "No matter when he sent out his Crobat, he would have to deal with that. So he's making the decision now."

"Just watch our speed," Ian said. "Saph! Go!"

"Crobat!" Sapphire nodded, flapping her four wings and flying at top speed towards the gorgeous floating pokemon.

"Yeah!" Kate cheered. "Take that, Diancie! Look at how awesome that Crobat is! Kick her in the ass, Crobat! Use venoshock!"

"You're a lot more excited when there are Poison types involved, huh?" Julia dryly asked, looking over Kitty's shoulder at Kate. Kate scoffed, ignoring Julia.

"Poison types are awesome! Just watch, that poison's gonna wear that Diancie down, no problem! Crobat are badass!" Kate boasted.

"Sapphire, use venoshock," Ian ordered.

"Crobat!" Sapphire opened her mouth, and spat a wave of poison at Diana, the poisons shifting into sharp, agonizing blades that promised to strike Diana down, taking advantage of the poison already coursing through her system.

"Hah! Just as I said!" Kate cackled triumphantly. "Venoshock is the perfect move to use in a situation like this! Nice move!"

"It's a good play," Akira noted. "Ian took advantage of his Haxorus setting up a toxic attack to have his Crobat immediately go in for a massive strike."

"Even if she's a mythical pokemon, this is certainly gonna sting," Dakota said, eagerly taking photos of the Diancie's weakened state, wondering if she'd get a shot of the pokemon drowning in poison and knocked unconscious.

Yeah, Dakota's fascination with the suffering of the Diancie was a little unnerving.

Lila was the only one worried for Diana. She didn't like Gerard very much, but she didn't want to see the cute fairy suffer!

And luckily, she wouldn't have to. Gerard wasn't a fool, he was more than prepared for a move like that, and was already issuing orders to Diana while Sapphire was attacking.

"Diana, use protect," Gerard sharply commanded.

"Diancie!" Diana nodded, holding up her hands and creating a large barrier of pink crystal around her body, the venoshock attack bouncing harmlessly off it and landing in the water, where it was quickly diluted.

"Our defenses won't fall to something like that," Gerard warned him. "Did you think I didn't expect that tactic from you, Ian? I knew full well that your Haxorus had access to toxic, and that you would try to use it to hinder Diana."

"Well, then maybe you should have thought twice about sending her out," Ian suggested, narrowing his eyes.

Gerard smirked.

"Quite the contrary. I sent her out, because Diana and I were fully prepared for that little strategy of yours, weren't we, Diana?"

"Diancie!" Diana chirped, nodding back to him with a smile, safe behind her protective barrier.

"In our battle against Ayame Toujou, Diana suffered quite a bit, having been inflicted with such horrible poison," Gerard explained, narrowing his eyes into a glare. "And I knew that you would attempt to do the same to the poor girl. But I won't allow that. And that's why I taught her a move the other day, to prevent people from taking advantage of her like that again!"

Gerard turned to Diana. "Diana, use heal bell!"

"Diancie!" Diana nodded, holding her hands out and opening her tiny mouth. The pink diamonds on her body began to glow with a warm, soft light as a peaceful, soothing sound came from within her throat, light and breezy like the ring of a bell. As she continued to chime, the light around her grew brighter and the poison was burned away, washing over Gerard and his side of the battlefield as well.

"Whoa, no way!" Dakota gasped.

"So it seems Gerard has taught his Diancie how to fight back against status moves," Gerard said, narrowing his eyes. "That will be troubling."

"Yay for Diancie!" Lila cheered internally, not wanting to seem to favorable towards Gerard, judging by the mood of the crowd right now. They were enamored with his Diancie, certainly, but he was certainly not the favorite to win. In spite of his absence the past semester, Ian still had a decent fan following, and Lila had to walk a thin line to avoid making one side upset with her.

"That's not fair!" Kate exclaimed. "You-you can't just… just heal your poison like that! He poisoned you fair and square!"

"It's a move that lets her heal…" Kitty quietly replied. "I don't like it either but… it's fair…"

Kate turned to Kitty with anger in her eyes and was about to go on a vitriolic rant when she caught Alcea's sharp gaze and swallowed her rage, sitting back down and hanging her head like an obedient Growlithe.

"Come on, Ian!" She cheered instead. "Don't let that dumb Diancie get the better of you! Poison the darn thing!"

The light around Diana faded and the chiming of a distant bell went away, revealing Diana's full restored status.

"Now that that's been settled, I believe it's time we switched things up," Gerard said, raising his sparkling pokeball and recalling his Diancie, causing a large portion of the audience to groan, as well as Lila and Dakota.

"Running away?" Ian glowered, not at all pleased that Gerard had managed to heal away his Diancie's poison. Observing his performance against Ayame had been what had made Ian particularly confident with this tactic, and now he would have to think of another way to weaken the mythical pokemon, since poison was off the table.

"Diana isn't suited for a battle against your Crobat," Gerard replied. "She is not much one for zipping around at high speeds in the sky. And besides, I have an old friend all fresh and ready to keep fighting in her place. Burei! Come back!"

Gerard sent out his next pokemon, his Kabutops making a return appearance, and surprisingly it was completely defrosted.

"He's using his Kabutops again?" Dakota asked, shocked. "But wait, that pokemon was completely frozen solid!"

"It was," Lila nodded. "But that doesn't matter."

"What do you mean?" Dakota asked, confused.

"Oh, you're knowledgeable of that?" Akira asked, surprised. It wasn't common for Lila to be the one lecturing on pokemon moves, that was for sure.

"I know a bit about heal bell," Lila assured them both with a smile. "After all, a few of my pokemon know it, too! So heal bell is a move that restores status conditions, healing poison, paralysis, burns, sleep, freezing, anything, really! And not just the user, either! Did you see how the light touched Gerard, too? It cures the status of all the pokemon in their trainer's party!"

"Oh!" Dakota gasped. "So he used heal bell not only to cure his Diancie's poison, but also to defrost his Kabutops! That's a smart play!"

"And now that same Kabutops has the edge on this field," Akira noted. "Especially since it can move freely under the water, and that Crobat might have some difficulty maneuvering around all those rocks in the air."

"That won't be an issue," Ian assured him, shaking his head. "Saph! Use defog!"

"Crobat!" Sapphire nodded, flapping her wings and sending a powerful gust of wind across the battlefield that blew all the rocks out of the air, sending them flying towards Burei.

"Kabutops," Burei snarled, leaping forward and landing in the water, swimming towards Sapphire at high speed.

"As fast as you might be, you won't outrun an aqua jet," Gerard declared.

"Kabutops!" Burei leapt out of the pool like a spout, water wrapped around him as he shot towards Sapphire, raising his claws.

"Quick guard," Ian ordered. A protective barrier appeared around Sapphire, Burei slamming right into it. Ian smiled back. "You aren't the only one who can protect your pokemon!"

"Kabu-!" Burei growled, falling back towards the water. But Sapphire wasn't about to end things there, not when her prey was right in sight.

"Saph, let's do this again," Ian called. "Use cross poison!"

"Crobat!" Sapphire spread her wings out wide in and "X" and slashed ahead, cutting two deep, overlapping cuts into Burei's chest. The cuts began to ooze a sickening purple liquid, and Burei let out a groan of pain as he hit the water.

"Nicely done, Sapphire!" Ian congratulated his Crobat, who flew around victoriously. "You poisoned him on the first try!"

"Crobat!" Sapphire nodded, smiling back at him.

Kate herself made a cheer as well, glad another pokemon got poisoned. And this time, there was no heal bell in sight!

Gerard wasn't amused. Luckily, there weren't many ways for that Crobat to target Burei while he was under the water. Which meant that the Crobat would have to wait for him resurface in order to land a hit.

But Ian wasn't about to wait for that moment. True, Sapphire was doing well, and would most certainly win against that Kabutops. But that wasn't his concern at the moment. His concern right now was keeping Sapphire in the battle, which ironically meant NOT keeping her in the battle. Sapphire could defeat the Kabutops, sure. But she almost certainly couldn't handle either of Gerard's other Rock types. He had a Bastiodon and a Rhyperior who still hadn't had the opportunity to fight, and both pokemon could probably do some real damage with their rock moves, especially the Bastiodon that would be immune to poison.

Ian had to switch Sapphire out before either of those pokemon were sent out. But if he waited until Gerard's Kabutops was on its last legs, then Gerard would most certainly have it use whirlpool again. And if it did that, well…

Ian would lose Sapphire, and she was one of his best options for fighting that Diancie due to her Poison type moves. He wasn't about to let that happen. So the time to switch out was now, when Gerard wouldn't suspect it, after Sapphire had just landed a powerful hit, and was basking in the glory of infecting her opponent.

"Sapphire, return," Ian said, recalling Sapphire to her pokeball, surprising everyone.

"What? Why?" Lila asked, confused.

"But she was doing really well!" Dakota said, also not sure.

Both girls looked to Akira.

"He probably wants to preserve his Crobat's strength," Akira replied. "For that Diancie. And I'll bet that a part of that involves not wanting her to get trapped in a whirlpool like with what happened to his Lumineon."

That was certainly at the front of Ian's mind, alright. Lazuli would have been a powerful pokemon for this matchup, benefitting from the terrain as well as having a type advantage against Gerard's entire team. Losing her the way he did was certainly a blow to Ian's firepower, and not a mistake he would like to repeat.

Some people were not convinced by Akira's reasoning.

"BOOOO!" Kate cupped her hands in front of her mouth and booed. "BOOOOOO! POISON HATER! That Crobat could have taken on his whole team!"

Blake glanced at Alcea, who watched the battlefield with an expression as flawless as a doll's, showing not one trace of discomfort. If she was embarrassed by her friend, she was doing an excellent job of hiding it.

"Diamond, come back out," Ian said, sending out his Haxorus for a second time. The dragon pokemon landed on one of the platforms and threw back his head, roaring. He may have taken some hits from that Diancie, but he was nowhere near ready to call it in just yet.

Ian expected that Gerard might switch out for his Diancie once again. Well, if he did, then he and Diamond were prepared for that. Ian had a significant advantage with his Haxorus, and that was that Diamond naturally outsped the Diancie. Gerard's tailwind had long-since petered out, and that meant that when Gerard sent out his Diancie again, Diamond would be able to get one good hit in with toxic, and maybe even follow it with something else. Diancie might have her heal bell, but to use it she would have to let her guard down and submit to Diamond's attacks. And Diamond had a poison jab ready to punch right into that pink fairy's diamond-studded face. It would cost him his Haxorus, but it would do some significant damage as well, even if he couldn't make the poison last. This was the best that he could do.

It seemed that Gerard saw that outcome as well, as he did not make any moves to recall his Kabutops, the ancient pokemon circling silently under the water.

"If you just remain like that doing nothing, then the poison will eat you away," Ian warned Gerard, but the bespectacled student didn't seem fazed.

Gerard shrugged his shoulders, "you don't need to worry about that."

"Why would Ian send out his Haxorus in that condition?" Lila asked, seeing that in spite of his tough exterior, that Haxorus was on his last legs. "Wouldn't it be better to use another pokemon?"

"He's probably got something planned, don't worry," Akira said, though he wasn't sure what exactly that was. "Although, it looks like Gerard might have something planned, himself."

In truth, Ian didn't have much in the way of a plan. Unless "let Diamond rampage across the field and do as much damage as possible before fainting" was a plan. He was sure that his Haxorus could take the Kabutops, it was just a matter of how much it would take to get there.

Gerard, at the same time, was watching carefully. That Haxorus was definitely about ready to faint. He just needed to get a good hit in. And luckily, Burei had the attack stat necessary for that good hit to be a painful one.

Stone edge wouldn't work, as the Haxorus would just smash through it. And water attacks would be ineffective as well, due to the pokemon's resistances. But that was fine. It was even fine that the poison was starting to drain away at Burei's health. Because he had a plan to get it all back in one big play, with Burei's leech life.

He just needed to wait for an opening. Ian, or his Haxorus, would certainly give it to them, and when they did, he and Burei would strike.

"Diamond!" Ian shouted. "Use dragon dance!"

"HAXORUS!" Dia roared, energy crackling around him as he began to strengthen his abilities.

Maximizing Diamond's speed and attack would allow him to strike that fragile Kabutops down in a single blow when the opportunity struck. Unfortunately, that was exactly the opportunity that Gerard was waiting to exploit.

"Burei!" Gerard shouted. "Use leech life now!"

Burei shot out of the water, claws raised, and extended his sharp mouth out towards Dia. He jammed his claws down into the gaps of Dia's armor. Dia roared in pain, thrashing around, as Burei bit down hard on an exposed piece of flesh to begin draining his strength.

"Oh, no!" Lila gasped. "That doesn't look good."

"That Haxorus won't be able to withstand much," Akira noted with a frown. Diamond had already fallen onto his knees, weakened by the assault, the last of his strength quickly fading.

"Diamond!" Ian shouted. "Dragon claw!"

"HAXORUS!" Dia turned, focusing all the strength he had into his claw, and brought it up into Burei's chest with a powerful strike, slamming the Kabutops down into the platform with as much power as he could muster left.

"Kabutops!" Burei choked out a pained gasp, not expecting that much power to still be left in the dragon. Gerard hadn't expected it either.

"He withstood that?!" Gerard gasped.

"Now, finish it!" Ian shouted.

Dia raised both claws, draconic energy surging through them, and brought them down on the stunned Kabutops, smashing Burei down through the platform, the entire structure cracking and breaking apart from the impact.

Dia groaned and leapt back, landing on another platform as the one he had been standing on crumbled away, Burei knocked unconscious.

"Kabutops is unable to battle!" Lila judged. "Haxorus is the winner!"

"Come on," Ian said, even though he could see that Dia had next to no strength left. "Send out… your next pokemon already."

Gerard said nothing, recalling his Kabutops. He was behind, but that was fine. He could still easily take care of this nuisance.

Gerard's really behind! Will Ian be able to pull this off?