The semi-finals continue, and we're approaching the climax! Who will win? The Commander, or Gerard? Tensions rise, and it's promising to be an amazing match, for sure!
KedharS: Well, you haven't seen anything.
Just a Bad Writer for Fun: There is definitely more to Gerard than you guys know. As for this match? It's certainly going to be a tough one. He's definitely not a hero. As for what will eventually come out of him, where he ends up going, and his outcome? We'll have to find out over the course of the story. Things are just getting started for him.
Bencharmanderb: Those pokemon, or at least their evolutionary lines, already get use.
Aquahaze675: We'll have to find out. It's shaping up to be an excellent match, that's for sure!
Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings
Chapter 577
"Well fine," Gerard smirked. "If she's who you want, then she's who you'll get! Diana, go!"
Gerard flung his sparkling pokeball into the air, and in a burst of glimmering pink light, Diana emerged, the night sky shining brilliantly with her radiance.
"Diancie!" Diana cried in pain, the diamonds hovering around her piercing her flesh, but she kept herself going on sheer willpower, recovering her strength and flying towards Corin quickly, her glow not dimming for an instant.
"Lucario…" Corin growled, raising her head and taking a slow step towards Diana, raising her paw and trying to attack. But she couldn't. She was too slow. She had been able to use bullet punch earlier, but without the priority move, she could barely… well, move.
"Corin, bullet punch!" Alden shouted. Corin leapt forward, raising her paw and her speed picking up. She charged at Diana, but before she could catch up to her, Diana dodged the attack, holding her hands up and creating shimmering pink flames all around her. With a spin, Diana sent the flames at Corin, engulfing the canine pokemon.
"Lucario!" Corin howled in pain, the flames burning around her.
Corin's too slow, Alden realized. Even with bullet punch… I expected the trick room to make this difficult, but like this, there's no way she'll be able to keep up. "Corin! Return!"
Alden raised his hand and recalled Corin to her pokeball, much to Gerard's surprise. He hadn't expected that maneuver from the Commander.
"Diancie?" Diana tilted her head to the side and turned to glance back at Gerard, just as confused as her trainer.
Akira had a pretty good thought about why the Commander would recall Lucario. After all, she wasn't strong enough to put up a decent fight against the Diancie with her speed reduced the way it is. It wasn't just that trick room, the lagging tail wrapped around her throat like a collar was weighing her down, preventing her from moving at her fastest.
"Eifa, go," Alden said, sending out his Espeon.
"Ess!" Espeon cried, the diamonds slicing into her fur, causing her to get a little weak in the legs. She kept standing though, glaring at Diana.
"What a waste," Gerard snorted. "Sending out your Espeon won't change anything, Commander! Once Diana defeats her, you'll just have to send out your Lucario again, only she'll take even more damage from the stealth rocks. Don't fight the inevitable, Commander. Just accept that your team won't be able to defeat her."
Alden shook his head.
"We'll be enough," he said, nodding Eifa. She smiled back at him and nodded in turn. Alden turned back to Gerard. "Eifa, she's the toughest! Just you watch! Eifa, use wish!"
"You think that's going to be enough?" Gerard smirked. "Toughness? Strong words? A fighting spirit? This 'Sense' of yours? Ridiculous! Diana, use diamond storm!"
Eifa's eyes began to glow red, and she prepared a wish for the future, a star shooting overhead in the night sky. But it wouldn't be much of a wish. Diamonds appeared around Diana and she sent them swirling at Eifa, barraging her with a storm of painful blades and shards.
"Espeon!" Eifa wailed, bracing herself against the deluge, keeping herself strong as she held on in spite of the pain.
"Oh no!" Lila wailed. "Poor Eifa!"
"This isn't the end of things, either," Gerard cackled. "What a waste of a pokemon like Espeon! What next, future sight? Going for that old trick?"
Alden smirked, and shook his head. "No. Eifa, do you have enough strength in you for one more?"
"Espeon…" Eifa nodded. She closed her eyes and the ruby on her forehead began to glow with a bright light, a wave of red shining out from her fur and growing wider and wider, until it expanded out past the glittering battlefield and covered the walls of the trick room in a crimson glow.
"Hey, what's going on?!" Lila asked, confused.
"No way!" Dakota wailed, nearly throwing her camera in frustration. "Now I can't make out anything! It's all covered in this red filter! This is horrible!"
For a moment, Akira wondered if the Commander had tried to overwrite trick room with another trick room to give his team the edge, as using trick room while another was active would cancel out both. But no, he could still make out the diamond barrier nice and clearly. Whatever move it was that Espeon was using, it wasn't another trick room.
"What the hell?!" Gerard asked, stunned.
"You aren't the only one who can make use of rooms," Alden grinned. "Thanks to one of my close associates who happens to be an expert on the subject, I know all about moves like trick room, or wonder room, or… magic room."
"Is that supposed to mean something to me?" Gerard asked, raising an eyebrow. "Diana, finish of that Espeon with diamond storm once more!"
"Diancie!" Diana said, creating another cloud of shimmering pink crystals. She flung them towards the badly injured Eifa, the diamonds flying at high speed through the air and smashing into Eifa, who was too slow to dodge.
Gerard saw the speed of the attack, and grew more perplexed. Whatever this weird room magic was, the move hadn't had any effect on Diana's speed, so he wasn't sure what the purpose of it was. But right now, what was more important was knocking out that Espeon. That would leave them with one pokemon each.
"Espeon…!" Eifa let out one last, faint cry before succumbing to her wounds, collapsing onto the rocky floor in pain. She lost consciousness quickly after.
"Espeon is unable to battle!" Lila declared. In spite of the diamond barrier and the red filter throbbing just past it, they could still see the pokemon that were fighting inside of it. "Diancie is the winner! That means both trainers have only a single pokemon remaining! We're moving into the climax of the semi-finals!"
"This is going to be amazing!" Dakota said, trembling with excitement. "I can't wait to see this battle! This is going to be amazing!"
"You already said that," Akira laughed. But she wasn't wrong. This had all the makings of an intense match, that was for sure. Thankfully, they could watch it in higher detail through the filters on the arena cameras, which allowed them to see through the trick rooms, so they didn't have to focus on the blurry images.
Not that that helped Dakota's camera, much to her chagrin.
"Corin, go," Alden said, sending his Lucario back out. Corin landed on the ground and winced in pain as the diamonds sliced into her. She stumbled forward, but stood tall, and raised her head glaring at Diana angrily.
"I told you," Gerard said, shaking his head. "All you did was weaken yourself senselessly. There's no point in using that Lucario of yours, not when it can't do anything to prevent herself from withstanding Diana! Your pokemon is moving far too damn slowly. Diana! Use earth power to destroy that Lucario of his!"
"Diancie!" Diana nodded, glowing bright pink and focusing energy into her body, directing it down into the ground.
The ground below Corin began heating up, preparing to erupt in a massive explosion, and Gerard smirked. No way that she could dodge that!
But she did. It was by the skin of her teeth, but Corin managed to jump to the side.
"How-?!" Gerard gasped.
"Bullet punch!" Alden ordered. Corin shot forward like a bullet and raised her fist, slamming it right into the diamond on the center of Diana's chest, sending the small pokemon flying backwards, Diana crashing into the diamond floating in the air.
"Diancie!" Diana cried.
"What was with that speed?" Lila gasped in surprise. "I don't believe it! Before, that Lucario was moving like she was molasses!"
"I think the only reason she was able to take out that Golem was because he was still recovering from the backlash of all those moves," Dakota agreed. "But it's still a mystery to me why she could move like that now."
"It's Espeon's magic room," Akira explained.
"Huh? What do you mean?" Dakota asked, looking at Akira in confusion.
"Magic room is a special move," Akira said. "Just like how trick room creates a field that reverses the speed of all pokemon fighting in the battle, magic room has its own effect. It creates a field that nullifies the effects of all items that pokemon are carrying."
"Oh!" Lila gasped. "Then that lagging tail, the one that Gerard had his Archen put on the Lucario, that means its effects slowing down Lucario and making it move even slower than it would be under trick room are completely gone, right? Isn't that what that means?"
"Normally, Eifa and I don't use this move very often," Alden explained with a grin as realization sunk in for Gerard, whose face was darkening as he realized what Lila had just lighted on. "After all, her light clay is a really useful item for prolonging and strengthening her shields. But I taught it to her, because sometimes I'm in the mood for a real fight, without having to be concerned about the pokemon involved interfering with items and whatnot. Now, we've got it! It might be a little odd with this trick room, but Corin and I are always ready for a good fight, right partner?"
"Lucario!" Corin barked, shooting her partner a wink in agreement. She turned back to Diana and growled a warning at the pokemon, raising her paws and sculpting her aura into a sphere that she fired at Diana.
"Diancie!" Diana raised her arms and shielded herself from the attack, the aura sphere exploding as it hit her but not doing a lot of damage.
"If your speed would let you dodge, then we'll just have to barrage you with attacks that won't miss," Alden grinned. "Again, Corin!"
"Like we'd let that happen! Diana, use light screen!" Gerard countered. Corin fired off another aura sphere at Diana, who raised her hands and created a solid pink diamond barrier, the aura sphere bouncing off of it.
Diana shot forward and raised her hands, pink flames spiraling around her hands. She flung the mystical fire at Corin, preparing to burn her away.
"Extremespeed!" Alden ordered. Corin lowered her head and shot forward, a blue blur in spite of the slowing aura of the trick room. She dodged the flames, and began running up one of the rocky outcroppings extending from the valley, her paws taking her up the wall so she could approach the floating Diancie. "Now, brick break!"
Corin raised her hand, preparing to lower it in a massive chop, but Diana was ready. She turned, much faster than the Lucario, and created a wall of pink flames that engulfed Corin, the Lucario crying out in pain as she brought her paw down on the barrier, smashing it to pieces.
Corin landed on the rocky ground hard and began rolling, smothering the flames as she leapt to her feet, panting. She was clearly flagging, and that wasn't good for her. Diana was a lot faster thanks to the trick room, and Corin had taken a lot of damage already.
Then, Eifa's wish came true. Another star shot overhead in the night sky, and Corin began glowing with a bright red aura, lighting her up and restoring a large chunk of her health, reinvigorating her. Corin cracked a smile and charged forward, raising her fist and moving at the speed of a bullet as she punched Diana in the stomach, knocking her backwards.
"Diancie!" Diana growled angrily, sending energy down into the ground and preparing earth powers that began to erupt around Corin, who was trying desperately to evade them. But in spite of all her experience as a fighter, she couldn't keep up with the fact that she was moving slower than her body was used to, and the ground beneath her exploded before she could respond in time, sending her flying into the air.
"Corin!" Alden cried.
"Lucario is taking quite a beating!" Lila gasped, not sure who she was supposed to be rooting for, for once.
"Yeah, but she's the Commander's most experienced pokemon," Dakota said. She was positively giddy at the prospect. "So I don't think it's the worst thing! But Diancie's tough, too! Ooooh! This is just great! Don't you think, Aki? This is going to make for a great story!"
While Lila was actually being impartial in which side she was supporting for once, Dakota was honestly rooting for the Commander to win this one. The story of the Commander and his Lucario, defeating two Mythical Pokemon in back to back matches? It would have made for an AMAZING story! First, defeating his little brother, Raizer, and his Zeraora, then the First Leader and his Diancie? Building up how much of a beast Corin would be, defeating those amazing pokemon and the going into the finals to fight against the Phantom and his Shadow Pokemon? It was the perfect way to build up a hero, Dakota could just see it.
It would sell a million copies, easily! If she was published in an actual magazine, of course, but you know, whatever.
"Corin!" Alden called. Corin shaped an aura sphere in her paws as she flew through the air, flinging it at Diana, who tried dodging to the side with her speed, but the ball turned and hit her in the stomach, letting out a wince as she clutched her side, weakened by the attack but not incredibly injured. Her defenses were still good, though.
"Diana! Mystical fire!" Gerard ordered. Diana raised her hands and created more diamonds, which burst into flames. She flung them at Corin as the Lucario landed on the ground, ready to burn her away. Corin shot her head up, prepared, even though the effect of the trick room was still wearing her down. Corin wasn't worried, though.
"Calm mind," Alden ordered. Corin closed her eyes and her bright blue aura flared up around her, concentrating her powers to heighten her special attributes. She didn't have the speed to dodge the fire attack, so all she could do was mitigate the damage by boosting her special defense. It also had the added benefit of repairing the damage that the mystical fires did to her special attack, pumping her stats back up.
"All the defenses in the world won't be enough to save you," Gerard scoffed. "Keep going, Diana. Mystical fire again!"
"Diancie!" Diana created more sparkling pink flames to barrage Corin with, but Corin wasn't ready to give in to something simple like a Fire type attack being used by a Rock/Fairy type pokemon.
"Life dew!" Alden ordered.
Corin raised her paws, and an orb of glowing water appeared in her hands, even as pink flames burned around her. Spreading her hands wide, the orb stretched and grew into a long screen of water that Corin wrapped around herself, covering her body in a bright dew that began to restore her health, while at the same time buffering the effects of the flames.
Gerard was starting to get annoyed.
The Commander was a strong opponent, so he knew, of course, that he wouldn't be easy to defeat. And his Lucario, in particular, was going to be a challenge, that much was obvious.
But this was past the level of difficult; things had gotten into straight-up frustrating! This Lucario of the Commander's, it was an annoyance that was proving nearly impossible to take care of. If there was one silver lining to this whole thing, it was the fact that Diana was still doing her best, and victory was within sight; she had only suffered some light injuries thanks to her defenses!
Gerard had planned for how to deal with the Lucario. That was why he had used Diana so sparingly, so that she would be in the best state when she fought against her. Why he had Archer use switcheroo, to plant that lagging tail on her. Why he had used the trick room strategy, so that Diana wouldn't only have to rely on her high defenses, but could also move fast, and outrun her opponent as well! He had set out a lot of plans, and they were paying off. He should be winning this!
But the Commander had used a trick of his own, to overcome the lagging tail. That was a setback, but Gerard was still winning handily.
So why wouldn't the damn dog just go down?
"Diana!" He shouted. "Add some earth powers, as well!"
"Diancie!" Diana nodded, creating more explosive bursts out of the ground to barrage Corin with, as the flames weren't enough.
"Extremespeed!" Alden ordered. Corin evaded the explosions and dodged the flames, jumping from large gem-covered rock to large gem-covered rock, keeping her eyes on the Diancie, preparing for a counter. "Then, bullet punch!"
Leaping from the wall, Corin raised her fist and his Diana in the cheek with the speed and power of a bullet, sending her spinning through the air.
Corin landed on the ground, panting, and Alden took the initiative to prepare for some more.
"Calm mind again," Alden ordered. Corin closed her eyes and began to focus, gathering up her energy and strengthening her special attack and special defense. It wasn't likely for her to break through Diana's special defense because of the mystical fires she could spread, but it was still worthwhile for Corin to build up her defenses. As long as she could keep her health up, this was a winning fight. There was one problem, though.
One of the things that made Corin so lethal was her ability to use sleep talk and her honed fighters' reflexes to battle in her sleep.
But that wasn't something that she could pull off in her current condition. Part of it came from Corin's familiarity with her body's capabilities. She could move and dodge and attack while under the trick room, but it was difficult for her.
There was no way that she could pull off that feat of maneuverability with her present condition while she was asleep. So that meant rest wasn't an option. Fortunately, Corin wouldn't have to restore her status, since Diancie didn't use those sorts of moves, and she had life dew as a backup for health restoration.
But it was going to be risky for Corin to fight, so the two of them, Alden and Corin both, would have to be fighting at their best.
In other words, it was an amazing battle!
Alden's eyes were shining with excitement, he couldn't contain it. Often, he would have to contain Corin's abilities, and not use her at her full strength, just so he could get an enjoyable battle! But this? A pokemon of the caliber of Diancie?! It was exactly what he was hoping to face! An opponent that the two of them could fight with their fullest strength!
"Let's go, Corin!" Alden shouted. "Swords dance!"
"Lucario!" Corin ignored the ground exploding around her, the flames burning around her, and she ran towards the Diancie, Diana hovering overhead, glaring down at her, enraged by the fact that her opponent wasn't going down. She was a sweet pokemon, but…
"Diana!" Gerard growled, his anger was only growing. "Wipe that pest out already!"
"Di-Diancie!" Diana nodded, but her heart was aching. The more that her opponent was fighting back, the more turmoil she saw on her trainer's face, and it was just killing her! She needed this, she needed to win!
She needed to win for his sake.
A massive ball of hot pink flames appeared in front of her, and she flung it at Corin, ready to engulf her in a burning firestorm.
"Withstand it, Corin!" Alden shouted. He trusted his partner, and he knew that she could endure the flames. He didn't know why Diancie was so impatient, but he was going to make full use of it for his own plans! After all, his Sense was just getting warmed up! This was the kind of exciting match that he had been waiting for! "Then, use meteor mash!"
"Lucario!" Corin emerged from the flames, singed and injured, but not giving in. She raised her fist and hit Diana with a powerful punch carrying the strength of a shooting star, actually causing the pink diamond on Diana's chest to crack.
"DIANCIE!" Diana cried in pain, flying backwards with the force of the attack as Gerard went pale, seeing the state of his partner. Diana clutched her chest, panting, and he could tell at a glance how injured she was. Suddenly, his chances of victory seemed dim.
No… he shook his head, his head going empty. No… I can't… this can't happen. I can't lose… I can't! Not… not after Elly… if I lose then it all meant nothing! I need to win!
The battle is really heating up now! It's either pokemon's game, who will emerge the victor? We're entering the climax now!