The battle continues. Both trainers are fighting their hardest to get a strong foothold over the other, who will emerge on top?
Aquahaze675: Hope it lives up to the expectations, the battle is just getting started.
KedharS: Didn't say it did.
Just a Bad Writer for Fun: I think that's a very reasonable interpretation. I still want to punch him too, it doesn't make up for what he's done since his hard times. But then again, those aren't all the hard times, either.
Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings
Chapter 573
"Corin, use bone rush," Alden ordered.
"Lucario!" Corin growled, raising her paws, a staff of energy appearing in the shape of a long bone. She spun it over her head and skillfully ran across the cloudy ground, swinging the bone at Burei.
"Burei, aqua jet," Gerard ordered. Burei lowered his head and coated his body in water, shooting forward and head-butting Corin, knocking her backwards. Carin flipped back and landed on one of the clouds floating in the air, glaring down at Burei. Her paws began to glow and the bone compressed into a ball of bright blue energy.
"Aura sphere!" Alden shouted. Corin flung the large orb of energy at Burei, following the ancient pokemon as he scuttled away.
"Protect," Gerard said next. Burei raised his claws, a barrier of blue light wrapping around his body and protecting him from the attack. "Now, metal sound!"
"Kabutops!" Burei nodded. He raised his claws and began scraping them against each other, a grinding metallic clang ringing out across the battlefield. Corin winced and raised her paws to her ears, trying to withstand the debilitating sounds.
"Owiee!" Lila wailed, holding her ears herself. She hated the noisy attacks.
"I agree, this sucks!" Dakota groaned. She had to hold her ears to try and block out the sounds, and that meant she couldn't be holding her camera and taking pictures. It was the worst thing that could have happened.
"Actually… this is a pretty smart move on Gerard's part!" Akira shouted over the screeches. "Because Espeon only set up reflect instead of light screen, that means that his pokemon are still vulnerable to special attacks! So by weakening Lucario with metal sound, that gives Kabutops the opportunity to hit her where it hurts!"
"But isn't Kabutops a physical attacker?" Dakota shouted back. "What's the point of-"
"Mud shot," Gerard shouted.
Pulling his claws apart, Burei opened his mouth and fired a blast of mud at Corin, who was still flinching from the painful noise. But Corin was at a level where that wasn't a huge hindrance. She formed a bone of energy and spun her paws, the staff spinning in a defensive circle as she deflected the mud away from her.
"Not bad," Gerard complimented. "Burei! Stealth rock!"
"Kabutops!" Burei raised his claws and flexed, jamming them into the clouds. Large stones ripped out from the ground outside of the fluffy battlefield, drifting over to where Corin was standing and hovering in the air around her, hemming in the entirety of the Commander's side of the field, ready to pierce any pokemon that the Commander would send out in Corin's place.
"Return, Burei," Gerard said, recalling Burei to his pokeball.
"So Gerard managed to get out a stealth rock attack before switching out his Kabutops," Lila noted with a pout. "That's not good for the Commander! All those dumb sharp rocks are floating in the air, when there should only be floofy clouds!"
"Lucario is a difficult opponent, since she's the Commander's strongest fighter," Akira noted. "But in this situation, Gerard is matching pace pretty well. I wonder what pokemon he'll send out instead?"
"Come on, Diancie!" Dakota prayed, crossing her fingers and then holding up her camera, eager to snap some photos of the beautiful pokemon.
"Shocker, go," Gerard said, replacing his Kabutops with his Golem, the alolan pokemon landing on the ground with a shake. His body was so heavy, he was sinking deep into the clouds. But that didn't seem to faze him, the bulky pokemon building up a current of electricity in the large magnet on his back, ready to strike the Lucario with a powerful electric move.
"Now, Shocker, use discharge!" Gerard ordered.
"Golem!" Shocker built up more electricity into his body, and prepared to release it in a shockwave.
"Oh, smart," Akira noted. "We've seen the Commander's Lucario disperse electricity before with her bone staff. But because this battlefield is made of clouds, there's not really anywhere that she can direct the energy!"
"So that means she's vulnerable to electricity!" Dakota gasped.
Alden understood that, too. And with a metal sound inflicted on her, Corin wasn't in the best state to take on this Golem, even if she could probably win. He'd need to save her for fighting against Gerard's Diancie.
"Corin, return," Alden said, holding up Corin's pokeball to recall her.
But when the light engulfed Corin and tried to pull her back, she found herself unable to move. She was being pulled by something!
"Lucario?!" Corin cried, struggling against the incredible power that was acting on her, tugging her closer to the Golem.
"What's going on?" Lila asked, confused. "I thought the Commander was recalling his Lucario to her pokeball, why isn't it working?"
"It must be magnet pull," Akira realized, glancing at the large magnet on Shocker's back, pulsing with energy. "That must be his Golem's ability! It prevents Steel type pokemon from being switched in, and forces them to keep fighting!"
"Eww!" Lila gapsed. "Ick! Who would want to keep a Steel type pokemon in the fight? That's just scary, geez!"
"And not a bad play," Dakota mused. "Although, Lucario is still a Fighting/Steel type, and Golem is a Rock type, which means that Gerard is kind of keeping in a dangerous threat. That might end up being a disadvantage."
Gerard didn't seem to think so, though.
"This is what I was hoping for," Gerard smirked. "That Lucario of yours is a nuisance, Commander, and I have no intention of having Diana fight against her! Shocker!"
The discharge was released, spreading out in a shockwave that pulsed across the battlefield, hitting Corin and knocking her off of her cloud. Corin fell back and landed on the soft battlefield, but she still let out a yelp of pain.
"Lucario…" Corin rose to her feet, panting. That one had stung. She glared at Shocker, and moved forward in preparation, but paused, shaking.
"Corin? What's up?" Alden asked.
"Lucario!" Corin grimaced, sparks of electricity still crackling around her.
"That discharge must have paralyzed her!" Dakota realized. "Oh, no! That's not good!"
"And there's still a tailwind blowing," Akira reminded them. "Which means that Corin's speed has been greatly hindered."
"That's what we want to see!" Gerard grinned. "Now, Shocker, since it's become significantly more difficult for that Lucario to dodge, use thunder!"
"Golem!" Shocker roared, building up electricity into his large magnet. He curled into a ball and fired a massive bolt of lightning directly at Corin, who was still paralyzed.
"Corin, use bullet punch," Alden ordered.
"Lucario!" Corin nodded. Shrugging off her paralysis, she dodged the bolt of lightning and flew forward like a bullet, hitting Shocker's rough hide with a strong punch.
"Golem!" Shocker growled, curling out and glaring at Corin.
"Since an Alolan Golem is part Electric type, it cancels out the Rock type's natural weakness to Steel type pokemon," Akira explained. "So it's not the perfect matchup for the Commander and Lucario, especially if she's paralyzed."
"Shocker, use brick break!" Gerard shouted.
"Golem!" Shocker clenched his fist and threw a punch, smashing right through the barrier. He brought it up into Corin's stomach, the Fighting type pokemon too slowed by paralysis to dodge the way she normally would. With the force of his blow he sent Corin flying into the air, the Lucario crying out in pain as she curled up, tucking and rolling as she landed on the soft cloudy battlefield.
"Corin, are you okay?!" Alden cried.
"Lucario!" Corin turned back to face him and smiled, nodding. Alden grinned back.
"That's what I like to hear!" Alden agreed with a good-natured laugh. "You just need a little bit of a rest, don't you think?"
"Lucario," Corin nodded, closing her eyes and rising to her feet, falling to sleep.
"Damn," Gerard cursed. That was an annoyance that he would have to deal with. Not only did Corin heal her paralysis, but she had fully restored her health. That meant she would be able to keep up the fight against Shocker, which would be a problem. "Shocker! Discharge!"
"Golem!" Shocker built up more electricity into his magnet, and released it in a powerful shockwave that targeted Corin. Keeping her eyes closed, she leapt into the air, the current of electricity passing harmlessly below her feet.
Then, she let out a gasp of pain as she felt a sharp stone dig into her back. She fell back down onto the battlefield, still snoring, the blow painful but not nearly enough to wake her up from her long sleep. That would take some time.
Time Gerard wasn't keen on giving her, knowing that the Lucario could still fight perfectly well even in her sleep, thanks to her ability to read the aura of her opponent. Luckily for him, this battlefield was quite well-outfitted for taking advantage of Lucario's vulnerabilities.
"Lucario can sense auras," Gerard acknowledged, "which help them avoid attacks and discern the location of enemy pokemon. But even your aura reading can't help you see the difference between a rock and a cloud!"
"Ooh! Wow!" Lila gasped. "Yeah, the sky is full of clouds, but there are also a bunch of sharp stones there as well! That's really not good!"
Corin could sense the presence of objects around her due to reading passive aura waves in her sleep, but she lacked the cognizance to tell them apart. She could only fight with a fraction of her strength when using sleep talk, even if it was quite useful and more than most pokemon could hope to do in such a situation.
Meanwhile, Gerard was taking full advantage of this.
"Shocker!" He ordered. "Use earthquake!"
"Golem!" Shocker growled, stomping on the cloudy ground and sending a surge of tremors through it that made the whole stadium shake. Bits of cloud sprayed up off of the cushiony surface and Corin cried out in pain, feeling the shockwave from earthquake shake through her. She leapt up into the air and landed on one of the floating objects she sensed, but it was another sharp rock and not a soft, fluffy cloud.
But Corin was tough. She wasn't going to let something like that get the better of her! She withstood the painful feeling of rock jutting into her foot, and her eyes snapped open. She was finally awake!
…Just in time to catch a charge beam in the face. The problem with relying on her rest and sleep talk combination is that it made her susceptible to a counterattack when she woke up, still woozy and not sure where she was.
Rubbing her snout, Corin tumbled back through the sky and thankfully landed on soft surface, having fallen back to the ground without getting hit by any rocks. In a second she sprung to her feet and ran forward, taking full advantage of her newly-invigorated speed to close as much distance between herself and Shocker as she could.
"Lucario!" Corin growled, holding up her paw and conjuring another aura bone, preparing to strike at the Golem with a bone rush attack.
"Nice!" Dakota cheered. "Lucario might have sliced her foot up pretty bad on the rock, but now she's fully awake and ready to do some real damage!"
"Bone rush is definitely going to hurt," Akira agreed. "It's quadruple effective against an Alolan Golem, since they're Rock/Electric types."
Gerard had seen that coming, of course. "Shocker! Use magnet rise!"
As Corin closed the distance between the two of them, Shocker let out a current of magnetic energy from the massive device on his back, lifting himself up into the air with the power of magnetism, Corin's bone passing harmlessly beneath him.
"With that, your Ground type moves will have no effect!" Gerard declared. "But don't worry, we'll put that magnetic current to good use! Now Shocker's nice and charged up, and ready to let everything loose, right Shocker?"
"Golem!" Shocker rumbled, curling up into a ball and aiming his magnet down at Corin.
"Uh-oh! If that Golem just used charge, this is gonna be bad!" Dakota gasped.
"Why?" Lila asked, turning to Dakota.
"Because charge is a powerful move that doubles the power of the next Electric type attack!"
"With your speed, you'd just dodge, but you can't dodge this! Shocker, use shock wave!" Gerard ordered.
"Golem!" Shocker roared, releasing a massive surge of electricity from his giant magnet that traveled in an arc towards Corin.
"Corin!" Alden shouted. Corin nodded, closing her eyes and holding her hands together as the massive burst of electricity struck her.
"Oh no!" Lila cried. "With that metal sound from earlier and the charge, that one had to hurt!"
"Lucario!" Corin's eyes snapped open as electricity surged through her, and raised her paws.
"Focus blast!" Alden ordered.
A sphere of blue light many times the size of the one Corin created when using aura sphere appeared between her paws, and she fired it off right at Shocker. The focused blast of aura barreled through the lightning and hit the floating pokemon, exploding in a massive blast of energy that sent the Rock type pokemon spiraling through the air.
"GOLEM!" Shocker cried, landing hard on the ground and bouncing, the force of the magnetic current preventing him from getting solid footing as he bounced again off of the impulse.
"We knew that shock wave couldn't be dodged, so she withstood it to hit you with her best Fighting type special move," Alden said, giving Gerard a shaky grin that was almost maniacal. "That's a real fight, right Corin?"
"Lucario!" Corin barked in agreement, wincing at the electric scorches that singed her fur but otherwise not so badly hurt.
"Compared to Zera, those little sparks of yours are nothing!" Alden cackled. "Corin, use aura sphere next."
Corin nodded, holding up her hands and forming another aura sphere. She fired it at the spiraling Golem, who had finally managed to right himself.
"Rock blast!" Gerard ordered. Shocker opened his mouth and fired a massive stone out from his rocky shell, the large rock hitting the aura sphere and exploding into a cloud of dust. It was close, but not nearly enough. "Now, charge beam!"
Shocker built up another current of electricity in his magnet and fired it at Corin, who was fast enough to easily dodge the blow, forming another aura sphere. She fired it at Shocker, this time hitting him diretly, the Golem crying out in pain.
"Golem!" Shocker roared, and Gerard could see that the worm was starting to turn. Chances of Shocker winning were growing very faint. The problem was, he needed to find some way to defeat that Lucario. Being able to use rest and fully recover her health was a difficult problem, and not one that Shocker was fully equipped to handle at the moment.
But that could be changed.
"Rock polish," Gerard ordered. Shocker boosted his maneuverability by shaving away the rough edges of his large rocky body, and hurtled towards Corin with increased speed.
"Corin, use agility," Alden shouted. If Gerard was going to try and play this game of speed, then he was going to see that his Golem would lose, especially with the tailwind beginning to peter out. Corin charged forward, her paws moving quickly against the ground, and she charged right for the approaching Golem.
"Volt switch!" Gerard ordered.
"Golem!" Shocker roared. Electricity built up around his body and he released in a shockwave from the large magnet on his back, hitting Corin, the force of the attack pushing both pokemon backwards, Shocker returning to his pokeball.
"Archer, it's your turn again!" Gerard said, sending his Archen back out. "Use agility!"
"Archen!" Archer squawked, flapping his wings and flying towards the stunned Lucario. With a quick tuck of his wings his speed rose and he circled Corin, preparing to attack her. Just not in a way that she would see coming.
"Now, switcheroo," Gerard ordered.
Archer narrowed his eyes and with a flap of his wings and a turn of his tail, he flung something at Corin that wrapped around her throat. Corin had no held item to switch.
"Lucario?!" Corin gasped, clutching her throat and falling to her knees. Wrapped around her neck was a rocky collar, and it was weighing Corin down severely.
"Before the match began, I had Archer hold onto a lagging tail," Gerard explained to Alden. "It's an item that drastically reduces the speed of the pokemon holding it. You didn't really think that Archer was naturally so slow, did you?"
Free of the heavy weight of the lagging tail, Archer flapped his wings and shot through the sky like a bullet, using agility again to pick up his speed and fly through the air, zigzagging back and forth and circling around Corin, who had now been drastically slowed.
"Even agility won't be able to do much," Gerard said. "If it wasn't for Archer's unnaturally high speed, he would never be able to move like he did while holding onto it. Let's see just how good your Lucario can fight, weighed down as she is! Archer, use acrobatics!"
Freed of the burden of an item, Archer danced through the sky and struck Corin from multiple directions, the Lucario too encumbered to respond.
"Whoa! Look at that speed!" Lila gasped.
"So that Archen's previous speed was what, with weights on?" Dakota marveled. "How fast did Gerard train that little bird to fly? Archen aren't supposed to be able to fly normally in the first place, it doesn't make sense!"
"This is pretty bad for the Commander," Akira said, his expression taking on a dark turn. "The amount that a lagging tail reduces the speed of the holder isn't something to be underestimated. And that's his best pokemon. In this situation, the Commander's chances of victory have been drastically reduced I'd say."
"Return, Corin," Alden said, recalling Corin to her pokeball. He had been prevented from doing so before due to Shocker's magnet pull, but now he could call her back.
He took a moment for consideration, staring at Corin's pokeball and then at the Archen swirling around in the sky. No one had lost any pokemon yet, but they were already feeling pressured by their opponents. A smile crossed his face. This was exactly what he wanted to see! A real fight, one that was getting his Sense crackling intensely.
The battle continues! Gerard vs. the Commander is still going strong, clearly.