Now that Gerard is down a pokemon, but has also set up stealth rocks on both sides of the field, things are about to get really intense! The match is kicking into gear now!
KedharS: That he is, most definitely.
Alejandro Arturo Ferro Figueroa: A little of everything.
Aquahaze675: Of course it was, Sylvia's quite the troll, after all.
Rus0804: Well, we'll have to find out, won't we?
Just a Bad Writer for Fun: What other trainers have Mythical Pokemon we'll have to find out for ourselves.
Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings
Chapter 575
"Now that we've got your situation nice and dealt with, we can handle your problem quickly," Gerard smirked. "Diana! Diamond storm!"
"Diancie!" Diana held up her hands, creating a large cloud of diamonds around her that she flung at Tracey to strike the greatly slowed pokemon. But just because Tracey's ability to dodge was hampered by the trick room didn't mean she was out of tricks of her own.
"Tracey!" Alden shouted. "Sucker punch!"
"Cinderace!" Tracey lowered her head and charged at Diana, raising her fist and leaping into the air, hitting Diana in the face and knocking her backwards, Diana holding her mouth in frustration by the cheap shot. But the diamonds flew forward, meeting their mark and striking Tracey from multiple sides, Tracey groaning in pain. She landed on the ground, panting, her body bruised and cut up, but due to her Libero ability turning her into a Dark type the Rock type attack didn't have as much effect on her as it would have normally.
"Sucker punch huh?" Gerard smirked. "Not a bad method of striking back against a trick room, to rely on priority moves, but it won't be as much use as you might hope. After all, even with the added priority, your Cinderace is still unnaturally slow. And with that Libero ability, well…"
Gerard turned his attention to Diana.
"Diana! Use dazzling gleam!"
"Diancie!" Diana nodded, beginning to build up energy into her body to direct in a massive explosion of fairy light.
"Well? Not going to use sucker punch again?" Gerard called to the Commander. "Or maybe you don't want that Cinderace to become a Dark type?"
"Tracey, use quick attack!" Alden shouted. Tracey ran forward, her speed increasing and her type shifting to Normal as the rays of light pierced her, not doing as much damage as if she had stayed a Dark type but still hurting a decent amount.
"That's pretty crafty of Gerard, I'll give him that," Akira said. "Libero is a tricky ability. It's similar to another ability, Protean. Both abilities are at their most useful due to the speed of the pokemon that possess them. It lets them change their typing at will, meaning it can be used for defensive purposes as well as offensive purposes. But if the enemy is naturally faster… then the pokemon with the ability finds themselves in a difficult position."
"What do you mean?" Dakota asked, turning to Akira. "What's wrong with using it against a faster pokemon?"
"Libero can change typing," Akira explained. "But if the opponent is faster, then that means they can fire off moves that are super-effective against the pokemon's new type, and there's not a lot that they can do about it. So right now, Cinderace is forced to use either quick attack or sucker punch to maintain her control of her typing. Which severely limits the amount of damage that she can do to Diancie. It's a difficult situation that the Commander has found himself in."
As Alden was trying to work out what he should do next, Gerard said something that he completely didn't see coming.
"Return, Diana," Gerard said, raising her pokeball, a pink ray of light shooting out and hitting the Diancie, returning her to her pokeball.
"Why would you-?" Alden gaped. He was used to reckless and wild strategies in battle, but even he didn't think that Gerard would return his strongest pokemon while she was dominating the battle.
"I had a sense that you would recall that Cinderace for another pokemon, one that might be a threat to Diana," Gerard explained with a smile. "Besides, I wanted to show you that I don't mind stealth rock one bit, whereas you… can't quite say the same, now can you? Tank, come out!"
"Bastiodon!" Tank emerged from his pokeball with a roar, landing on the cloudy ground and sending a wave of puffs up into the air, his heavy body sinking so far down into the fluffy battlefield he looked half-buried. He was sinking lower than he had in the quicksand. The sharp diamond stones floating in the air pierced his armored body, causing him to grunt a little, but the damage was minimal due to his resistance.
"Gerard has switched out his Diancie for a Bastiodon?" Lila asked, confused. "I don't get it, seriously, I don't, why would he do something like that? Diancie is so powerful! And she's also beautiful! I would use her over that Bastiodon any day of the week!"
"Gerard might want to save his Diancie, conserving her power," Dakota said. Even though she was also disappointed by the fact that Diancie was no longer fighting, she could understand why Gerard had made the decision.
"Definitely," Akira agreed. "If I had to guess… when Gerard saw Zeraora's performance against the Commander, he took it to heart, and realized that even a Mythical Pokemon isn't enough to defeat an entire team on their own. So he's saving Diancie for when he needs her to do the heavy lifting, and using his other pokemon to wear down the Commander's team."
"Oh, that's smart," Dakota said, her eyes widening. She turned and muttered under her breath, "now if only a certain someone would do the same and use his other pokemon a little more, instead of relying on his ex-girlfriend of a Gyarados all the damn time…"
"Ex-girlfriend of a what?" Lila looked at the two of them in confusion.
"Never mind!" Dakota and Akira said at the same time.
"Tank!" Gerard shouted. "Use block!"
"Bastiodon!" Tank roared, lumbering forwards. In spite of his massive and heavy armored body, the trick room allowed him to move at a blinding speed.
"Bastiodon has a base speed of 30," Akira explained. "One of the lowest. Meaning under trick room, it's one of the fastest pokemon he could use."
Tank glared and Tracey found herself immobilized, Tank proactively preventing the Commander from calling her back to her pokeball.
"Tracey!" Alden shouted. "Use pyro ball!"
"Cinderace!" Tracey ran forwards, dribbling a ball of flames between her feet, pulling back and kicking the large ball directly at Tank, who turned and lowered his head, deflecting the fireball with his massive shield. It did a bit of damage, but it didn't hurt him all that much.
"You might try to take advantage of Tank's Steel typing, but that won't be enough," Gerard grinned. "Tank! Stone edge!"
"Bastiodon!" Tank ripped massive stones up out of the area around the battlefield, barraging the slow Cinderace with them.
"Cinderace!" Tracey cried in pain, falling to the ground as the stones pummeled her.
"Tracey!" Alden cried, unable to even recall her. "Quickly, use quick attack!"
"Cinderace!" Tracey dodged to the side with a boost in speed as Tank charged at her, but Tracey wasn't in very good shape. Her legs were shaking and blood was pumping out of her shoulder, trying desperately to staunch the bleeding with her other paw. The problem was, Tank wasn't letting up. While normally the bulky pokemon was too slow to pull off a sequence of attacks, this wasn't the same Bastiodon, not with the trick room.
"Next, iron head!"
Tank turned, and lunged forward like a missile, colliding with Tracey. Now that she was a Normal type, the attack was even more painful than it would have been as a Fire type. Tracey gasped out in pain and Tank continued to barrel forward, smashing Tracey into one of the stealth rocks hovering around her side of the field.
"Cinder… ace…" Tracey coughed out blood, her paws twitching. She lost consciousness, falling onto the cloudy ground.
"Cinderace is unable to battle!" Lila announced. "Bastiodon is the winner!"
"Return," Alden said, recalling Tracey to her pokeball. "Okay then! Finn, come back out!"
"Swampert!" Finn emerged from his pokeball and let out a grunt of pain as the stones dug into his skin, shaking it off and lumbering forward. He was faster than he normally was, but he wasn't nearly as fast as Tank.
"Not a bad play, but not the perfect situation," Akira frowned. "Swampert are pretty slow, but the problem is, Bastiodon is even slower."
"I know all about your Swampert's use of yawn!" Gerard said. "Tank, use taunt!"
"Bastiodon!" Tank narrowed his eyes and barked out a challenging roar, Finn glaring and charging straight at him, just as Tank and Gerard planned.
"Though I will admit, Tank isn't the perfect pokemon to deal with your Swampert," Gerard admitted. "But it won't be enough to scare us off! Tank, use earthquake!"
"Bastiodon!" Tank roared, sending a powerful tremor through the battlefield, shaking up Finn and dealing him a decent amount of damage. Not nearly enough to stop him, though.
"Keep going, Finn!" Alden ordered. "And use hammer arm!"
"Oh! Nicely done!" Akira said, realizing what the Commander had planned.
Finn pushed through the damage from the earthquake and raised his arm, hitting Tank as hard as he could with a downward swing. Although the Fighting attack was four times effective against the Bastiodon, Tank's speed let him raise his head and block the blow with his shield, his enormous physical defense allowing him to block the blow.
"Again, Finn!" Alden shouted. Finn was moving even faster now, this time ducking around Tank and lifting his other fist to hit the bulky pokemon in the side, knocking him over.
"Bastiodon!" Tank roared in pain. That hit had taken a lot of damage. Though he wasn't down for the count by a mile, jumping back and dashing away. But Finn was in hot pursuit. Not only was he moving faster than he had been before, now he was moving even faster than the Bastiodon!
"What's going on?" Dakota asked, confused. "It's like that Swampert just sped up somehow!"
"It's hammer arm," Akira explained. "The user deals a lot of damage with a Fighting type move, but in exchange their speed drastically lowers."
"Oh! So it's perfect for trick room!" Lila gasped, putting the pieces together.
"Now, have a taste of our earthquake," Alden grinned. "Finn!"
"Swampert!" Finn roared, sending a shockwave through the fluffy ground. In spite of the soft texture of the battlefield, it didn't do a lot to dampen the powerful tremors that struck Tank, who tried his best to withstand them with his massive defenses.
"Tank!" Gerard shouted. "Use curse!"
"Bastiodon!" Tank roared, his body starting to glow with energy. He charged forward and headbutted Finn, knocking the water pokemon backwards.
"You're not the only one that can 'boost' your defenses," Gerard smirked.
"Curse has two different applications," Akira explained, intercepting Lila's attempted questioning. "When used by a Ghost type pokemon, it lays a painful curse on them. But when used by a pokemon of another type, it boosts their attack and defense in exchange for drastically lowering their speed. Which means that in a trick room…"
"It's really good," Dakota mused, frowning.
"With this, it's like our attack, defense, AND speed have been boosted!" Gerard cackled. "Sorry, Commander! But your Swampert just can't keep up!"
Alden smiled, he wasn't concerned.
"Don't worry!" He laughed. "We'll be just fine! Finn, use sand tomb!"
"Swampert!" Finn stomped on the cloudy ground, and a tornado of sand from the various shattered rocks wrapping around Tank, scraping against his armored hide. Tank grunted, withstanding the attack, irritated.
"Now you're the one who can't switch out," the Commander grinned. He turned to Finn, and ordered him "muddy water!"
"Swamp!" Finn raised his arms, and created a massive tidal wave of bogged-down water that he sent crashing towards Tank, the wave approaching him. Tank might have been fast, but he couldn't dodge a wave that would flood the whole battlefield.
"Tank! Withstand it!" Gerard ordered. Tank braced himself and raised his shield, the water breaking against it and flooding around him, doing some damage as dirt and muck got in his eyes, and wearing him down as well.
"Bastio!" Tank grunted, bracing against the wave. He pushed forward, charging through the water right at Finn. But the problem was, his eyes were filled with grime and he wasn't seeing completely clearly, his accuracy lowered.
"Now, Finn!" Alden shouted. "Use low kick!"
"Swamper!" Finn ducked down, dodging Tank's charge, and swiped his leg, hitting Tank in the legs and flipping him over, using the Bastiodon's enormous weight against him as he sent the heavy pokemon rolling, slamming through diamonds floating around him.
"Bastiodon!" Tank roared in pain. Without hands he couldn't wipe his eyes well, and as he tried to right himself he found Finn slamming into him from the side again, using flip turn this time.
"Return, Finn," Alden said, recalling his Swampert. He was being careful; he couldn't continue to rely on his volt-turn combo all the time, but he would still use it when he needed to.
And right now, he definitely needed to.
"Eifa, come back out!" Alden ordered, sending out his Espeon again.
"Espeon!" Eifa growled, landing on the soft battlefield, the stones hovering around her scraping against her fur and causing her to let out a gasp of pain.
"Why did the Commander send his Espeon back out?!" Lila gasped. "She's so fast! If she fights against the super-slow Bastiodon, then she won't be able to do much, will she?!"
"He must be planning something," Akira said. But he still wasn't sure. The Swampert was doing an excellent job of bullying that Bastiodon, and in his current situation, with the stealth rocks, switching out wasn't exactly free. He was wearing his own pokemon down!
"Eifa! Use grass knot!" Alden ordered.
"Espeon!" Eifa sent energy down into the clouds, and large vines shot out from within them. No one was sure where they came from, they should have been just clouds. But there they were, and they were wrapping around Tank, holding him in place and squeezing him tightly.
"BASTIODON!" Tank roared. In spite of his defenses, grass knot was doing incredible amounts of damage due to the fact that grass knot's damage was dependent on Bastiodon's weight, and as Finn had proven, Bastiodon was quite a heavy pokemon.
"Like this, we can squeeze you nice and tightly!" Alden grinned. "That speed of yours isn't very useful if you can't move! Now, Eifa, telekinesis."
"Espeon!" Eifa's eyes began glowing as her ruby turned bright red, a crimson aura wrapping around Tank and lifting him up into the air. The vines stretched up after him, squeezing him tightly as he was suspended in the air.
"Tank!" Gerard shouted. But there wasn't a lot that his Bastiodon could do. He was struggling against his bonds, but he didn't exactly have the necessary moves to fight back. So even with all his speed, he couldn't break out of the bonds. Which meant that Gerard had to get tricky. "Tank, use metal burst!"
"Bastiodon!" Tank roared, storing up energy into his body. He took the damage from the grass knot that was stacking up on his body, and he released a shockwave of power back out, slicing through the vines and striking Eifa, the Espeon crying out in pain as she rolled through the clouds. But she didn't lose her concentration, keeping Tank aloft with her psychic power.
"Now, Eifa!" Alden shouted. "Zap cannon!"
"Espeon!" Eifa was slow, and badly injured by the metal burst. But due to her telekinesis, it didn't matter how slow she was. Tank couldn't use his great speed to dodge. Eifa opened her mouth, and a large black orb of concentrated electricity appeared in front of it, growing bigger and bigger as it gathered current from the air, sparking with power. She spat it at Tank, the large orb flying slowly towards the large Bastiodon.
"Amazing!" Akira cheered. "Zap cannon is an incredibly powerful move, but it's very inaccurate because of how slow it is. But Espeon was able to mitigate that downside because of her telekinesis lifting Bastiodon into the air!"
The zap cannon struck Tank, releasing a massive amount of electricity into him. Tank let out a roar of pain, Eifa's psychic energy petering out. He landed on a soft cushiony mattress, but it didn't matter, he had still taken more than enough damage to lose consciousness.
"Bastiodon is unable to battle!" Lila cheered. "Espeon is the winner!"
"Return, Tank," Gerard scowled, recalling his Bastiodon. He wasn't going to let that damn Espeon get the better of him! "Burei! Come back out! Hit her with your night slash!"
"Kabutops!" Burei leapt out, claws raised, the stones piercing into him not that big a deal. Burei charged forward and lunged at Eifa. He was slower than he normally was, but still faster than the very speedy Espeon, raising his claws and sending dark energy through them. He struck Eifa with a night slash before the psychic pokemon could defend herself, Eifa skidding backwards, badly injured.
"Eifa!" Alden cried.
"Espeon…" Eifa panted, her body starting to glow.
"Morning sun!" Lila realized. "She's restoring her health!"
Eifa recovered a significant chunk of health, but Burei wasn't about to let that happen, lunging at her again with another night slash.
"Return, Eifa," Alden said, recalling his Espeon before she could take another hit. "Jaune, go!"
Alden switched out Eifa for his Vikavolt, the large bug emerging, crying out in pain as the rocks tore into him. Being a But type, stealth rock was especially painful for him, the diamonds battering at his shell and threatening to shred his wings. But he kept himself going.
"Damn," Gerard cursed. He reached to recall Burei, but unfortunately for him, Alden had finally taken advantage of the trick room.
"Vikavolt!" Jaune buzzed, crackling with electricity. He shot forward, his speed blinding, moving as fast as Tank had earlier. He closed the distance between himself and Burei in a second, opening his jaws wide and creating a large black orb of lightning in front of his mouth. He fired the zap cannon down his mandibles like a railgun, the normally slow electric attack shooting like a bullet and hitting Burei in the stomach, the Water type pokemon flying backwards.
"KABUTOPS!" Burei roared in pain, rolling across the ground. The clouds were soft, but they weren't enough to save him from the impact. Zap cannon was a powerful move. And Burei didn't have nearly the special defense to withstand a direct hit, even as healthy as he was.
"No way!" Lila gaped, so stunned by the power of the Electric type move that she didn't even announce that Kabutops had fainted. "What… what was that?!"
"Vikavolt have a special attack stat of 145," Akira said. "It's blindingly high. We didn't get to see the full might of Vikavolt in the Commander's last battle due to fighting Zeraora. But it's quite powerful. Unfortunately, they don't have much speed. But thanks to Gerard's trick room, that weakness has been nicely mitigated."
Akira cracked a smile. "The counterattack begins now, it looks like the Commander is taking the lead of this match again!"
"Yeah!" Alden agreed, pumping his fist into the air. "Let's go, Gerard! My Sense is just getting revved up!"
The Commander is pulling ahead! Will he be able to win? Gerard's down to his last three pokemon! And while the Commander has only lost one, some his pokemon have taken some serious beatings. Will spamming zap cannon be enough to secure the win?