Time for the climax of the quarter-finals! The Commander vs. Raizer comes to a conclusion, who will emerge the victor? Will Alden and his team overcome the powerhouse that is Zeraora? Or will Raizer be able to take out the Commander's last few pokemon? Remember to review!

KedharS: Maybe.

Just a Bad Writer for Fun: I'll have to take a little while to find it, but I'll get it up tomorrow.

Rowlets and Oshawotts: I liked it too, very touching.

Aquahaze675: Would you still have to fight with only one pokemon? Yeah, it's called "job security".

Hellraiserphoenix: Well, this is certainly an exciting climax. Hope it satisfies.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 567

Vic's heart was pounding in her chest. She was thrilled at watching the match in front of her! Every time the Commander fought, it just made her swoon!

"The Commander is doing pretty good!" Tommy grinned. "This match is awesome!"

"Quite a match indeed," Ross said, nodding. "But Raizer is no slouch, either. That Zeraora of his is quite an amazing pokemon, being able to take out four of the Commander's team without falling. This is a tough battle indeed."

"It doesn't matter," Vic said snootily. "Like the boss could ever lose against his little brother! Just you watch, he's going to wipe the floor with the Zeraora!"

"I don't know Vic, mythical pokemon like that are really tough," Tommy scoffed, shaking his head. "And with the rate that Zeraora has been plowing through the Commander's pokemon, this match might end in his defeat. We have to be ready for-"

"Silence!" Vic hissed, shooting Tommy a cold glare. "How DARE you suggest that the Commander could lose?! He's your superior, and he's the best trainer at this school! He's the one who's going to win this entire tournament, just you watch!"

Maddi also had some comments to make, but in light of what Vic had been saying, as well as the senior's general obsession over the Commander in general, she wisely decided that her concerns for the Commander's chances at winning were better left unspoken. Instead, she would just sit quietly and hope that he could pull this off with his last two pokemon.

If he lost, Vic would be in a bad mood, to put it mildly.

"Tracey, come back out," Alden said, sending Tracey out again. Tracey landed on her feet and the fire in her eyes was still burning, but the harshness of her breathing was what made it clear that she wasn't in perfect condition. She would have to put up quite a fight against Zera. "Use agility!"

"Cinderace!" Tracey dashed forward, her speed picking up as she charged at Zera, ready to strike. But Zera was keeping their cool, preparing to fight back.

"Zera, taunt," Raizer ordered. He didn't want a repeat of what had happened with Eifa. Tracey wouldn't be stacking up any more speed boosts on herself, and she wouldn't be passing them onto Corin with baton pass, either. Now, it would be the exhilaration of a real fight.

Tracey, incensed, charged at Zera, but that didn't mean she couldn't get a little faster. Flames leapt up around her feet and she lowered her head, running straight for Zera, boosting her speed with a flame charge.

"Not a bad move on Raizer's part," Akira observed. "He figured that the Commander would use his weakened Cinderace to boost up her stats and then baton pass them back to his Lucario, so he stepped in and used taunt in order to prevent that from happening."

"It's quite an annoyance," Alden said. "But don't worry! Tracey, go!"

"Cinderace!" Tracey kicked at Zera, but she was still too slow. Zera easily dodged her kick, bringing their fist back and hitting the bunny in the stomach.

"Cinder-!" Tracey coughed out, holding her gut as the air was knocked out of her. But she wasn't going to let that get the best of her.

"Tracey, counter!" Alden ordered. Tracey took all the pain inflicted on her from the thunderpunch, and put it into a kick up into Zera's solar plexus.

"ZERA?!" Zera coughed in pain, knocked back from the force of Tracey's blow. Tracey hopped to her feet, panting, preparing for Zera's next volley with a sucker punch ready to go. But Zera wasn't going to fall for that one.

Zera picked themselves back up, panting, glaring at the motionless, waiting Cinderace. Electricity began to crackle around their body, but they weren't going to release it as an attacking move. Zera got hit with a sucker punch once, and they weren't about to let it happen again.

"Thunder wave," Raizer ordered.

"Zeraora!" Zera placed their palm on the ground and sent a wave of electricity up through the rocky floor, the current traveling across the oddly conductive rocks and charging Tracey, electrocuting her and filling her with a painful shock, paralyzing her.

"Cinderace!" Tracey called, feeling her body becoming heavy, making it difficult for her to move. That was, of course, exactly what Zera was waiting for. They charged at Tracey, fist raised.

"Remember, Zera, conserve your plasma fists," Raizer ordered. "We need to save them for fighting against Corin. For now, use thunder punch!"

"Zeraora," Zera nodded. They clenched their paw and electricity surged through it, preparing to strike Tracey when suddenly they backed off. Tracey and Zera's eyes both dropped to ground, where they realized that the electricity that Zera had shot through the floor earlier had yet to disperse. Or more accurately, it had been replaced by another electrical current, generated from the battlefield itself, which was starting to gather up in the cliffs and outcroppings.

"Cinder?" Tracey glanced up, and, to her misfortune, she realized that it was coming up behind her. She was too slow to dodge Zera's attack, or run out of the way of the coming lightning, only able to raise her arms just in time to stop Zera's thunder punch from hitting her in the face. But even as she blocked the attack and countered with a powerful kick, Zera still sent her flying backwards, where she crashed into the cliff wall just as the electricity began to condense even more.

"Tracey!" Alden shouted as the lightning began to discharge in a powerful bolt aimed right at his Cinderace. "Use court change!"

Raizer gasped in surprise. "Zera!"

"Ora?!" Zera was equally surprised by the light flashing around Tracey's body, as well as their own, the two pokemon suddenly trading places across the battlefield through the use of Tracey's court change. The force of the blow from before had knocked some sense into Tracey, and she had snapped out of the taunts that Zera had laid on her, now fighting with status moves again.

Zera was now standing where Tracey had been, and the lightning bolt struck them. It didn't do a lot of damage because Zera was an Electric type, but it still stung.

"Whoa, nice!" Lila gasped, her face brightening. "That was really quick thinking!"

"I think that's the shortest time I've ever seen a taunt wear off," Dakota added.

"Taunt can range in terms of duration," Akira reminded them. "Maybe this battle's dragged on so long that Zeraora's running out of insults."

"Cin… der…" Tracey laughed, falling forward onto the ground. The weight of the damage from Zera's barrage of attacks had worn her down, and now she wasn't able to keep standing. Drained of her strength, she closed her eyes and lost consciousness.

"Cinderace is unable to battle!" Lila announced. "Zeraora wins! That means that the Commander is down to his final pokemon!"

"Amazing," Dakota breathed, shaking her head in amazement. "I know that mythical pokemon are strong, but… to be able to defeat five pokemon on their own… that Zeraora is something else, seriously…"

"It's definitely a tough competitor," Akira agreed. "It seems that no matter what the Commander and his pokemon do, Zeraora just will not go down."

He narrowed his eyes and looked at the golden feline pokemon, who had managed to make it back to their feet, clearly drained of strength in spite of the ferocious look in their eye.

"But they're certainly not invincible," he judged. "In fact, it looks like Zeraora might be on their last legs themselves, don't you think?"

"ZERAORA!" Incensed by what Akira had just said about them being almost done, Zera howled, electricity surging through them. They leapt into the air and landed on the ground in front of Raizer, glaring at Alden with fury in their eyes. Any of the signs that Akira had picked up suggesting weakness were nowhere to be seen.

"…Or maybe not," Akira corrected himself.

"Return, Tracey," Alden said, returning Tracey to her pokeball. He took a deep breath and turned to his brother and his partner pokemon, the Commander unable to keep the massive grin off of his face. "Brother! That Zeraora of yours has really grown! You two have gotten stronger, a lot stronger, than the last time we met!"

"Thanks!" Raizer grinned. "This match has been electrifying! I'm feeling tingly all over, I can't wait to see how shocking the climax is!"

"Your sense is electric," Alden agreed. "Let's finish this with our final pokemon! Corin, it's all up to you! Take out Zera with everything you've got, and make this match one to remember!"

Alden threw his pokeball into the air, and his Lucario emerged from it, landing on the ground with a growl.

"The Commander's final pokemon is his Lucario!" Lila declared. "Now, we have our final match! Lucario vs. Zeraora! Which pokemon will come out of this ahead? Who will win? We'll have to find out!"

"Zera, use taunt!" Raizer ordered.

"Zeraora!" Zera cackled, cracking their knuckles and staring intently at Corin. No insults or ploys. Just a calm, simple request for the two pokemon to battle.

Corin raised her eyebrow.

"…Lucario," she agreed with a nod. And immediately charged at Zera, hitting the Electric type pokemon with a bullet punch that caught them off-guard.

"Not bad with that one," Raizer laughed. "But a move like that won't get the better of us! Zera, use hone claws!"

"Zera!" Zera howled, electricity crackling around their paws as their claws extended out into sharp points, boosting their attack and their accuracy. And in a flash of lightning, Zera was off, charging right at Corin, ready to beat them with all the speed they could muster.

"Lucario is at a serious disadvantage here, even if her opponent is weakened," Akira observed. "Because she can't use any status moves, that means she has to fight with only attacking moves. And that means she can't raise any of her stats."

"That is bad," Dakota agreed. "With only attacking moves and no buffs, it's going to be really hard for her to be able to keep up with Zera's speed."

"Hard? Try impossible!" Lila scoffed. "You saw how fast that Zeraora was moving earlier, against his Espeon? And then against Cinderace?"

"Corin!" Raizer shouted. "Bone rush!"

"Lucario!" Corin held out her paw, and began to glow bright blue. Her aura swirled around and formed a blue staff in the shape of a bone, which she swung out in front of her. Zera dodged to the side of the swing from the bone and raised their paw, electricity crackling around it.

But Corin had expected the swing to not hit. Hence, why she shifted her stance, turning one leg and shifting the other, tilting her bone towards the ground so she could thrust the other end up, hitting Zera square in the face and knocking them back.

"Zera-!" Zera gasped, holding their nose as they stumbled back. Corin wasn't going to let up, though. She charged forward, brandishing her bone, and swung it at the retreating feline pokemon, ready to get in another good hit. But Zera wasn't going to allow that to happen twice.

Taking advantage of their blinding speed, Zera disappeared in a flash of lightning, reappearing well out of Corin's range, giving them a moment to catch their breath as they stared at the skilled pokemon in front of them, wielding their bone like a master.

"Zera's strong, and fast," Alden said. "Really, you've trained them well. But I've trained Corin even better. She's not just a Fighting type pokemon. She's a pokemon that knows how to fight. I've worked with her in perfecting her fighting style using martial arts, as I'm sure you can appreciate, considering you used to be in the Pokemon Fight Club."

"That makes sense," Callie murmured from the stands, watching the battle between the Commander and Raizer intently. "Raizer's good, and his Zeraora definitely knows how to fight. But it looks like the Commander's Lucario has also been trained pretty well in that area, too. That's real martial arts she deflected that Zeraora with."

"Oui, the Commander is very strong," Alcea agreed. She had fought Raizer to a standstill, and had barely one. It was beginning to look like things were turning around for the Commander, considering that, even with their great speed and powerful attacks, Zeraora was starting to weaken. "If it was a fully healthy Zeraora then things would be different, is it? But after having fought through five pokemon, it looks like it's going to be tough going."

"Since you're going to be coming at us like that, I suppose we have no choice," Raizer grinned. This was great! It was just the match he had been hoping for! While it wasn't the thrilling, shocking confrontation that facing Rayquaza in the previous round was, it was still something that Raizer just couldn't help but love, his heart was pounding so fast he could barely feel the beats! And he could tell by the way Zera's fur was bristling that they felt the same. "Yeah! This is just what we wanted, right, Zera? For a real thrill! Now, aura sphere!"

"Ora!" Zera growled, raising their paws and gathering together their aura into a large ball. With a fling of their wrist they sent the golden orb of energy flying towards Corin, who had expected such a move to come from them. That was the thing with Lucario, they could sense aura, even when an opponent was going to use an aura move.

And that's why, in spite of how fast the aura sphere was traveling towards her, Corin was already preparing to strike back. She raised her paws and the bone she was clutching began to shift and melt, turning into energy. Pressing it and molding it together she formed an aura sphere of her own, which she sent out to counter the one from Zera.

The two aura attacks collided in the center of the battlefield with an explosion of bright light that caused cracks to spread across the rocky cliffs, to the shock of the announcers. Everyone had to shield their eyes for a moment due to the brightness of the attacks.

"Whoa! Look at the size of that one!" Lila marveled.

"Aura sphere is Lucario's specialty, but it looks like Zeraora is no slouch in that field, either," Dakota noted with a shiver.

"It's quite the exchange," Akira nodded in agreement. He still wasn't sure which pokemon would emerge the victor.

As the light from the explosion faded, visibility returned, and with it, it was clear that Zera had seized the opportunity to charge headfirst at Corin, fists raised and crackling with plasma.

"Lucario!" Corin growled, jumping back. If Zera had been counting on her to be distracted from the blinding light, they had another think coming. Corin's eyes were having difficulty adjusting, fine, but she didn't NEED her eyes to fight back! No, she could sense Zera's position simply by reading their aura, and with it that gave her all the foresight she needed to dodge the pokemon's punches.

Well, she could dodge them for a decent while, at least. There was still the issue that Corin's speed was significantly lower than that of Zera, which meant that she was having difficulty staying out of their attacking range.

"ORA!" Zera roared, speeding up and hitting Corin in the stomach with a fist of pure plasma, and then following it up with a punch from the other hand that caught the Lucario across the snout. The force of the two blows sent her flying backwards.

"Corin!" Alden cried.

"Lucario-!" Corin gasped, clutching her stomach as she hit the ground hard, struggling to rise to her feet. As she did, electricity began to rise across the battlefield again, charging around the cliffs and focusing on a cliffside and an outcropping that was uncomfortably close to where Corin was standing.

And by "uncomfortably close" it meant "right behind her".

"Corin! Watch out!" Alden shouted as the electrical buildup discharged in a powerful lightning bolt, dropping down upon the injured Lucario.

"Lucario!" Corin gasped. And then… she vanished. The lightning shifted course as Corin disappeared, arcing away from where the Lucario had been standing and turning towards the next closest target, the surprised Zera.

"Ora?!" Zera gasped, raising their arms and getting hit by the lightning. They withstood the electrocution, stunned not only by the bolt but by the fact that somehow, the Lucario had escaped with them noticing.

"Lucario!"

A painful strike to Zera's backside told them everything they needed to know about Corin's location, Zera turning back and staring at them in disbelief. Corin had practically teleported across the battlefield to avoid the electricity!

"Zera is fast," Alden grinned. "But Corin is even faster, thanks to her extremespeed! With this, keeping up with your Zeraora is no problem at all!"

"Hah! Now that's what we like to see!" Raizer chortled. "But don't think that's going to be enough! After all, extremespeed is a Normal type move, and thanks to Zera's plasma fists, it was turned into an Electric type! And that means that move didn't do nearly as much damage as it should have! If you're trying to finish us off, then you better try a lot harder than that!"

"ORA!" Zera howled, electricity crackling through their body as they turned towards Corin, dashing towards them as fast as they could.

"Fine then," Alden grinned. "Corin, extremespeed!"

Corin used her extremespeed to close the distance between herself and Zera in a flash, catching the swift pokemon in the face with a powerful punch. But at the same time, Zera hit her in the face as well with a punch of their own, both pokemon taking some damage but neither one willing to give in.

Corin and Zera stood their ground, panting, glaring at each other. They wiped their noses, blood trickling from their snouts, and spat blood on the ground in unison.

"Yikes, there's some intensity going on there," Lila noted.

"They're fighting like Meowth and Growlithe," Dakota grimaced. "And it looks like they're just getting started."

"Zeraora is pretty worn down, but they managed to get some good hits in on Lucario," Akira observed. "The question now becomes which one of them is going to fall first."

"There's only one way to decide this, big brother!" Raizer shouted. "Let's see which one of our pokemon gives in first! Right, Zera?"

"ORA!" Zera howled, cracking their knuckles.

"That's the spirit!" Alden nodded in agreement. "You hear that, Corin?! Give it as much strength as you can, got it?"

"Lucario," Corin nodded, raising her fists.

"Close combat!" Both trainers ordered at once.

The moment the attacks were declared, the two pokemon became a blur. Zera's punches were delivered with a speed so blinding they were practically golden flashes of light, while all trace of Corin's prior grace and skill had been eradicated, the Lucario choosing instead to match brute savagery with brute savagery.

"What-what are they doing?!" Callie exclaimed, her jaw falling open. "That's not how close combat is supposed to work! You don't just… trade close combats with each other, they'll both just be beaten bloody! They're losing defensive ability as we speak!"

"That's just how the Commander is," Cynthia laughed. "He's ignoring the whole strategy thing, right now, it looks like him and Raizer have arrived at the same conclusion: the only way to settle this is with brute force, to see which pokemon is the toughest!"

And indeed, that looked like the name of the game. Corin and Zera were trading blows with such force and intensity that even the announcers weren't sure what they were supposed to say about it. Blood was spraying all over the place and yet neither pokemon was giving an inch. Both were shouting at the top of their lungs, striking each other's weakest points, all to the cheering of the crowd and the coaching of their trainers.

And then, as if by a miracle, both pokemon saw that final chink in the other pokemon's defense, that one spot where landing a hit there would be perfect.

"ZERAORA!" Zera howled, hitting Corin in the side, just beneath her left armpit.

"LUCARIO!" Corin howled, striking Zera with the spike on the back of her paw across the throat.

The blows between the two pokemon ceased and they stared at each other for a moment, panting, both beaten bloody and neither ready to give an inch. Not even their trainers knew what to say, Raizer and Alden staring at each other for a moment.

As silence hung in the air over the stadium like a cloud, everyone sat on the edge of their seats, eager to see which pokemon would be standing at the end.

"Zer-!" Trying to take a deep breath to regain their bearings, Zera found that they couldn't and coughed up blood, tumbling forward. They had fought through five pokemon and battled the Commander's last to a standstill, but in the end, they had used every last spark of energy they had left. They lay on the ground, unconscious.

Corin trembled, and for a second, it looked like she would fall as well, but she braced herself, held up her hands, and howled "LUCARIO!" in victory.

"Zeraora is unable to battle!" Lila cheered. "Lucario is the winner! That means that Alden Volt will advance to the semi-finals!"

The match was over, and the Commander had won.

That was an intense battle! Raizer and Zera gave it their all, and managed to defeat almost all of Alden's party! But in the end, the Commander was able to emerge the stronger trainer, and will advance to the next round! But if anything has been proven here, it's that Raizer and Zera are quite a monstrous pair of trainers.