The semi-finals comes to an end with this chapter. Gerard vs. the Commander. Will Gerard's will to win be enough to overcome the Commander's Sense? Will the Commander be able to overcome the strength of a Mythical Pokemon with the loyalty and power of Diana, and the overpowering desire to be the best from Gerard? The climax is upon us, which pokemon will be the last one standing?
KedharS: At the end of the day, the only thing Gerard's really done wrong is treat Elaina like a tool (yes, bad) and been a bit of a prick. But it's not like he's the Phantom.
Aquahaze675: I would disagree with the "good intentions" part. It's not like he wants to be the best trainer to end world hunger or stop wars anything. Definitely relatable intentions though. Everyone wants to feel acceptance.
Rowlets and Oshawotts: Blake's backstory took a while to get to, but I'm glad it was worth it.
Thunder Fire: I continue to surpass my limits in terms of writing shitty parents. But Gerard's family is thankfully the worst of them, as far as I have planned out. In terms of parents, anyway. Elaina and Blake had some nightmares of their own in terms of legal guardians in their past.
JoshGamerV: You'd think so but I don't think we're headed that route.
Just a Bad Writer for Fun: Gerard and Blake being foils to each other was something in place since I came up with Elaina and her internal struggle as the center of their conflict. It's no coincidence that Elaina or "Elly" has the same name as Gerard's sister. The critical difference was ultimately the fact that for all their shortcomings as parents, Blake's family still cared for him and he knew that. Gerard never had that, and I'd wager that's what caused him to go down this path. But if Gwen had died instead of just ran away, I could imagine Blake starting the story in much the same place as Gerard currently is.
Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings
Chapter 580
"This isn't good!" Lila said. "Things were really looking up for Gerard, but Lucario's last few attacks seem to have dealt quite a lot of damage to Diancie! If she keeps getting pressed like this, then he may not be able to win!"
"Do you think Lucario will pull it off, Aki?" Dakota asked her boyfriend, her voice brimming with excitement. She turned to him.
"It's certainly possible," Akira agreed. "Lucario has the type advantage and she's certainly got the stamina to keep this up, even if the trick room has shut down her ability to fight at her full speed. And while Diancie is a Mythical Pokemon with incredible defensive abilities, she's still a Rock/Fairy type. And with that combination she's especially vulnerable to Lucario's Steel type moves, which puts her in a tough spot. You saw for yourself how effective those moves were. One bullet punch did a chunk of damage."
"So there's nothing Diancie can do?" Lila asked.
"I didn't say that," Akira said. "Lucario has to fight this perfectly. Diancie is still faster, and can still take quite a bit of abuse. Meanwhile, she's been firing off super-effective moves as well. If she can land one that does enough damage that Lucario can't heal herself enough before the next one, then that will be that, the battle will be over. It's just a matter of hanging on until that time occurs."
He cleared his throat.
"The problem is, the Commander is having his Lucario use calm mind, to boost her special stats. Which means that Diancie's moves are slowly getting less effective as time goes on. If that continues, well… things won't go well for Diancie. So it looks like she's on the losing side, if this match drags on," he finished.
Gerard had already arrived at that conclusion himself, and he wasn't a fan.
Like hell I'll ever let that happen!
"Diana!" He shouted. "Use diamond storm!"
"Diancie!" Diana nodded, holding her hands up and glowing bright pink, creating large glittering diamonds in the air around her. They shot forward in a blizzard of shining blades that flew towards Corin, battering her from all sides with their painfully sharp tips.
"Lucario!" Corin raised her arms to endure the attack. Fortunately, it wasn't that painful, Corin's type combination giving her the perfect resistance to Rock type moves, even ones as strong as diamond storm.
"Why use that?" Lila asked, confused. "After all, it's not like it's going to do all that much damage. It's just giving him another chance!"
"Just the opposite actually," Akira said. "I don't think she's using diamond storm to attack, but rather to defend."
"Defend?" Dakota asked.
"Look at Lucario. Even if she can resist the attack, she's still too slow to charge headfirst into it and get anywhere, not with the force of the move battering away at her. So she's forced to remain where she is until it dies down," Akira said. He moved his finger from Corin to Diana. "Now look at Diancie. See what's happening?"
"She's glowing!" Lila gasped.
"Diamond storm has a 50% chance of boosting the physical defense of the pokemon that uses it by 2 stages," Akira explained. "So Diancie might not be doing much damage with that attack, but she's keeping Lucario hemmed in while she boosts her defenses. It's more reliable than iron defense, since Lucario can strike with a bullet punch while she's preparing that, whereas Lucario can't move through the blizzard."
"Oh yeah!" Dakota said. "That's really smart thinking! If the Commander can boost his Lucario's defenses, then Gerard can do the same thing!"
"Then the question becomes what will the Commander do in response," Akira agreed.
"Corin!" Alden shouted, having seen that one coming. "Use flash cannon!"
"Lucario!" Withstanding the diamonds smashing against her fur, Corin held her hands at her side, forming a ball of light between them. Turned and thrust her paw out, releasing the light in a concentrated beam of energy that flew straight for Diana, attempting to pierce the glowing diamond pokemon.
"Diancie!" Diana dodged to the side, her speed due to the trick room allowing her to easily dodge the beam. With a wave of her hands, the ground beneath Corin's feet opened up and a blast of earth slammed into her, knocking her into the air.
"Corin!" Alden cried. "Use calm mind!"
"Lucario!" As she flew through the air, Corin shut off everything around her, closing her eyes and beginning to focus her power, a blue aura glowing around her fur as she concentrated, boosting her special stats.
"Don't let her," Gerard said. "Use mystical fire."
"Diancie!" Diana nodded, the storm of diamonds turning into a pillar of fire that engulfed Corin, setting her ablaze and burning away at her aura, inflicting her with spiritual damage that offset some of Corin's boosts. But with her raised special defense, it only did a little bit of damage, in spite of how powerful the flames were burning.
Panting, Corin erupted from the flames and landed on the ground, her eyes opening. She raised her head to look towards Diana, only to see more flames headed her way.
"Corin, life dew!" Alden thought quickly, a veil of water surrounding Corin as the flames struck her, mitigating their effects and restoring her health. She quickly shook off the flames and rolled to the side, forming another flash cannon as she did. Leaping to her feet, Corin fired the concentrated light burst at Diana, this time scoring a direct hit.
"DIANCIE!" Diana cried out in pain. She stumbled back through the air, giving Corin a chance to strike again with another flash cannon. Instead, though, Alden had a different idea.
"Life dew again, Corin," Alden ordered. "Then, use your calm mind."
While Diana caught her breath, Corin shrouded herself in a veil of glowing water that began to restore her wounds, the water beginning to shine an even deeper blue as her aura lit up, strengthening her special attack and special defense.
"Lucario is boosting her stats even more!" Lila marveled.
"Indeed," Akira agreed. "It's going to be very difficult for Diancie to get through a special defense that's been buffed four times, especially with moves that aren't receiving STAB. This might be tricky for her, getting hit by that flash cannon cost her a lot of initiative, even if it didn't end up doing that much damage."
"Diana!" Gerard shouted, Diana recovering herself and turning to him. Gerard narrowed his eyes. "We can't let it end like this."
"Di… Diancie," Diana nodded glumly, turning her attention back to Corin. She began to glow bright pink once again.
"What's she using this time?!" Dakota wondered, staring eagerly at the battlefield. She couldn't see well through the barriers but she was taking pictures all the same, trying to get as good a shot of whatever it was Diancie was doing that she could.
The pink glow around Diana grew brighter, and she began to shimmer as energy ran through the diamonds covering her body, pulsing with… electricity?
"Diancie!" Diana held out her hand and released a burst of pink lightning, the energy traveling from her body and into the diamonds floating in the air around Corin, building up an electrical field around her, surprising the Lucario. That crackling power was an electric move? She moved out of the way but the current pursued her, traveling from diamond to diamond until it hemmed her in, trapping her in a ring of electricity.
"Psyshock!" Gerard ordered, and the electricity discharged, electrocuting Corin from all directions.
"LUCARIOOOOOOO!" Corin howled in pain, the psychic electricity shocking her.
"What's going on?!" Dakota demanded.
"That's an Electric type move, right?" Lila asked, confused.
"Not exactly," Akira said, shaking his head. "It's psyshock, a Psychic type move. Taking advantage of Lucario's Fighting type to score neutral damage."
"But why's it doing so much, huh?!" Dakota demanded angrily. "I mean, it's totally a special move, so shouldn't Lucario, like, be able to endure it?!"
Akira looked at Dakota like she was an idiot.
"Dakota, it's psyshock," he reminded her. "Your Braixen knows this move."
Dakota blinked, and then gasped.
"Oh! Right! I totally forgot, since I haven't fought a battle in like forever!" She said, laughing sheepishly. "Okay, yeah, that totally makes sense."
"It doesn't make sense to me," Lila pouted. "What's going on? Why is Lucario taking all that damage with those buffs?"
"Because Diancie isn't attacking her special defense," Dakota explained. "Psyshock is a move that targets the pokemon's physical defense, even if it relies on the user's special attack! It's a very strange move!"
"Oh!" Lila gasped in realization.
"That's right. Lucario has boosted her special defense quite a lot with calm mind, but she hasn't increased her physical defense at all," Akira added. "Which means that she's vulnerable to attacks like that."
"Then Diancie's still in this!" Lila said.
"Yes, but there is something to keep in mind," Akira said, pointing to the electricity, and the Lucario in the center of it. "That even if it's an attack that does normal damage and is relying on her regular defenses… a move of that caliber isn't even close to being enough to take Lucario down."
"Lucario!" Corin leapt from the electricity, barely fazed.
"We told you before!" Alden laughed, his eyes burning intensely as his smile widened. "Compared to Zera, electricity of that level is nothing for the two of us! Even that girl Misato's attacks did more damage!"
"Lucario," Corin nodded, charging at Diana. But the floating pokemon was more than prepared for that approach.
"Diamond storm!" Gerard ordered. Diana raised her hands and created a flurry of gemstones that flew towards Corin, countless shards of diamond approaching her.
"Bullet punch, Corin!" Alden ordered.
"Lucario!" Corin nodded, raising her fists. She unleashed a barrage of punches that began smashing through the diamonds before they could hit, smashing them into dust. But everyone could see that that was a losing battle. There were too many of them, and they were surrounding her. She could only hit so many of them at a time.
"She's being buried!" Lila gasped.
"But even if she is, it won't matter," Akira said. "Those attacks won't do a lot to her."
They did bury Corin in diamond, but it as Akira said, it wasn't enough to keep her down long. With a growl, Corin emerged from the diamonds, firing off another flash cannon at Diana, but Diana was starting to be able to anticipate her opponent's moves. Corin was still slowed, after all, and Diana was able to dodge, even as she prepared more psychic attacks. They weren't much, but use enough of them and they would be effective. And unlike the super-effective mystical fire, Corin couldn't nullify them with life dew.
"Psyshock!" Gerard ordered. Diana prepared another bolt of psychic energy, but Corin was having none of it.
"Bullet punch!" Alden said. Corin tucked in and shot forward like bullet, raising her fist and hitting Diana as hard as she could. But unfortunately for her, where once her bullet punches had cracked the pokemon's diamond, now they didn't even scratch the surface. Diana wasn't even knocked back by the blow.
"No way!" Lila gasped.
"It's diamond storm," Akira said stonily. "She must have gotten another boost to her defense. With her naturally high stats in that area, no way will Lucario be able to break through with physical moves like that, even if they are quadruple effective."
"Diancie!" Diana released the psychic energy she'd been building up, zapping Corin. Corin didn't let the electricity slow her down, though, pulling back her fist and striking as hard as she could with a meteor mash attack. Diana winced… but only slightly. That wasn't much better.
"Corin, get back!" Alden shouted.
"Lucario!" Corin jumped out of the lightning current with the aid of extremespeed, returning to the Commander's side. She was panting, still injured, but not about to give up the fight. Even though her energy should have been flagging, it was being replaced by something else.
The exhilaration of such an amazing fight! No matter how hard she tried to strike down her opponent, Diana just would not fall! She'd dealt some devastating blows, but nothing had been enough to truly cripple the other pokemon! Where weaker fighters might have given into despair, it simply made Corin want to try harder!
Corin ignored the pain she was feeling. She was already using life dew to salve her wounds, restoring herself to full health. She would go as hard as she could, continue fighting until she ran out of PP, and then she would start using struggle until she fell! No matter what, she was going to make the most out of this battle until it ended in her victory or defeat!
The Commander felt the same way. He couldn't stand the excitement! His Sense was going wild, and he could tell that they were starting to get close to the end. And yet, it didn't feel that way at all! It felt like he and Corin could go all night with this Diancie, fighting her until one of them fell. These were the kinds of battles he lived for! But he couldn't understand, why were Gerard and Diancie so impatient? Couldn't they just sit back and enjoy this battle for what it was, a test of strength and skill between two trainers and their pokemon?
I wonder what's eating at him, Alden mused.
No, Gerard and Diancie could not just sit back and enjoy this battle. It wasn't a battle fought for enjoyment.
Gerard would win.
Because he had to win.
Winning was everything. The more successes he accrued, the higher his status rose in the eyes of his peers, the greater a chance that his family would finally acknowledge him.
He was strong. An amazing and talented trainer, the greatest at the Pokemon Academy!
Elly's death hadn't been for nothing. She had saved him that day so that he could achieve great things, he just knew it!
The Commander was just one more in a long line of obstacles to overcome. One more hurdle to get over, before he could reach the next.
You, he silently promised the Commander, will be just another stepping stone to lift me up towards greatness.
Meanwhile, in the Phantom's box, Richard Valon was watching the match between the two of them with great interest.
"So what do you think of my trick room strategy?" Sylvia snickered, her eyes shining. "It worked like a charm, didn't it? It gave good ol' Gerard the real boost he needed to fight the Commander on his own terms.
"Indeed, the Commander's team fares quite poorly against such a move," the Phantom agreed. "But this is far from a guaranteed victory for Gerard."
"I wonder which one you'll fight in the finals," Keahi mused.
"I don't!" Sylvia grinned. "I already know who's going to win!"
K shot her a foul look that she ignored.
"Now now, Sylvia, just because you're more perceptive than most of us doesn't mean you need to ruin things," the Phantom said, studying the wild grin on the Commander's face from the screen he was watching on. "In fact, I'm quite enjoying the suspense. On one hand, we have a trainer with no cares in the world, nothing to lose at all, a man who fights for the sheer thrill of it. A man who fights for nothing, really."
Valon turned to look at Gerard's face on the monitor next.
"On the other hand… we have a trainer who fights to win no matter what. Someone for whom the only purpose of battle is victory, with losing not being an option. That need to be the best, to win, that determination and value, fighting for something so precious… that can be a powerful motivator as well," he mused.
"So who's going to win?" K asked. "The guy who's fighting because he has something to fight for, or the guy who doesn't?"
"Shall I tell him?" Sylvia asked, relishing the idea of being the one to spoil the climax of the match.
"We could ask Misato who she thinks would win," Valon said, turning to the Mechadoll seated beside him, "but as I said. I would like it to be a surprise."
"Makes sense to me," Sylvia said with a shrug, propping her feet up on the stool she'd placed in front of her. "I myself hate when things are this boring and predictable. I would certainly love the refreshment of ignorance for matches such as this, one of the benefits of having a brain that works on such a… 'traditional' level like yours."
"Sylvia-!" K had had about enough, Sylvia's only response being scornful laughter.
On the battlefield, Gerard had had enough as well. There was still a move he'd been saving up his sleeve, a way he had to finish off that Lucario for good. But first, they would have to soften her up a little bit.
"Diana!" Gerard ordered. "Use sand tomb!"
"Diancie!" Diana waved her hand, debris swirling up from the ground and wrapping around Corin, cutting into her sharply.
"Lucario!" Corin growled, struggling against the sand as it sliced against her skin, wearing away the life dew that was healing her.
"What's the point of that?" Dakota asked. "I mean, it's not like the Commander's going to switch her out or anything."
"It's still a way to immobilize her for a little bit," Akira said. "Which might be enough."
"Now, Diana, let's finish this!" Gerard ordered.
"We're going to finish this?!" Alden asked, his eyes widening and his grin spreading ear to ear. "But we're just getting started and having a blast! Fine then! Show us your best, and then we'll smash it down! Do you think you can match our Sense, Gerard? Come on, Corin! Let's show them all our steely resolve to win!"
"LUCARIO!" Corin howled. Even though she was trapped by the sand, the pressure she exuded was unreal, as though she was not intimidated by the Mythical Pokemon in the slightest. As a pokemon who had gone toe to toe with Zeraora, that was something to be expected. Her fur began to shine a bright silver as she hardened herself with iron defense.
Diana flew up into the air, hovering over the stadium at the very center of the dome of her trick room, staring down at Corin.
"Gravity!" Gerard ordered.
A powerful pulse from Diana's hands intensified the gravity on the battlefield, forcing Corin down to her knees. She didn't have the speed to move fast, and the weight pressing down on her was making her start to buckle. But she wasn't the only pokemon it was acting on.
"With the maximized gravity, Diancie can't stay in the air!" Dakota marveled, staring at the falling silhouette behind the trick room. "She's plummeting."
"So that's what he's planning," Akira realized. "Using the force of gravity to turn Diancie into a giant meteor."
"You're not the only one with the resolve to win! Diana, use iron defense!" Gerard shouted, Diana's body shining brightly as the diamonds covering her hardened even more. "Now, finish this with body press!"
Gerard had commanded Diana to use body press, but really it was more like a diamond press. Large diamonds from the stealth rock surrounded Diana, and they began to wrap around her until she was engulfed in a giant crystal cocoon, like the one that Gerard had freed her from all those years ago. Falling down upon the trapped Corin was a diamond the size of a truck, harder than anything she had fired previously.
"Holy shit!" Callie exclaimed, leaping out of her seat, her eyes bugging out of her skull. As the only one who knew what was going on, she looked quite a sight to her confused friends. "Body press?! After an iron defense?!"
"No way!" Akira gasped. "He's right that might really be enough to do it!"
"Why, what's body press do?" Dakota asked, confused.
"You know how psyshock is a move that attacks the defending pokemon's physical defense instead of their special defense?" Akira asked.
"Yeah, why?"
"It's similar to that," Akira explained. "A move of the same kind. It's a powerful physical Fighting type move. But because the user is dropping the full weight of their body down on their opponent, rather than calculate the damage it will deal to the opponent with the user's attack stat… it uses their defense stat instead."
Lila gasped.
"But… but Diancie's defense has been boosted so many times!" She protested.
"With iron defense, that makes six defense boosts," Akira counted out. "And Diancie's natural base defense is 150."
"One hundred and…" Dakota had to do a double-take at hearing that number. "With six boosts?! So maximized?!"
A single iron defense wasn't ABOUT to be enough, even if Corin was practically at full health. Not with her weakness to Fighting type moves. Dakota could see her dream of an article of Corin's back-to-back wins over Mythical Pokemon going up in smoke.
But the one person who didn't seem fazed was the Commander himself. He was laughing in excitement even as the blast of pressure from the rapidly-descending pokemon kicked up dirt and debris all over the place. He was lost in the heat of the battle.
"What a finishing move, Gerard!" He called. "CORIN!"
"Lucario!" Corin raised her paws, bracing herself against the ground. It was like trying to stop a missile with tissue paper. The massive diamond-encased Diancie slammed into her with enough force to send a shockwave down into the ground, the gem-encrusted floor of the battlefield cracking from the impact. Corin did not fall however, pushing against the large diamond even as it bore down upon her with more power than she could ever hope to withstand. It really was like trying to hold onto a meteor.
"It's over!" Gerard roared over the sounds of the air being shredded. "Not even you can overcome this!"
This is it! He cheered, his heart soaring with joy. This is the end! Finally, all that hard work will payoff, here and now!
So why…
Why the hell is that bastard still SMILING?!
Gerard couldn't understand the excited look on the Commander's face, the wild gleam of joy in his eye. Certainly his Lucario was making a valiant last stand, but it wouldn't make a difference! Everyone could see Corin's strength fading, the battlefield giving out! This would be over in a matter of moments, and the Commander would be done for! Forget losing to the Phantom, losing to Gerard would show just how pathetic and unnecessary the Daevas really are! So why?! Why?!
Why are you still smiling like that?!
So lost in his outrage at the Commander for not just giving up and accepting defeat already, Gerard missed the glow at first. But now he could see it. The only light should be the pink shine from Diana, reflected on the gemstones of the battlefield that so painfully reminded him of his sister's tragic death. But no, there was a blue glow mixed in with them, and it was only getting brighter.
Corin's eyes were shining bright blue, the aura around her growing brighter and brighter. She was building up her aura, but how?! What was this?!
"What's going on?!" Gerard shouted over the roar of the wind and the shattering thunder of the battlefield cracking. "What are you doing?!"
"I told you! We're showing you are Sense at its finest!" Alden called out to him. His voice was loud and booming, carrying out over the roar of the pokemon's collision. "Face it, Gerard! This is what that partner of yours is lacking, a true will to do the best you both can do! This is our steely resolve! Corin! USE STEEL BEAM!"
"Lucario!" Corin began to glow even brighter, pushing up off the ground. It should have been impossible with the weight pressing down on her, and yet it wasn't. The light gathering into her body, strengthening her aura, was carrying her up, and she was releasing that out towards the pokemon pressing down on her.
Diana's diamond began to crack. Pushed back from Corin by the force of the pokemon's aura, the pokemon's paws left her hard surface. Pure aura was pressing against her now, breaking her fall.
"Diana!" Gerard shouted. "You can't! I forbid it! Keep going!"
"Di-Diancie…" Diana heard her trainer's words dimly muffled by the shining rock she was encased in, putting all of her strength into the attack as she could.
"LUCARIO!" Corin roared, and released all of her aura in a massive beam that pierced through the diamond and erupted up in grand, radiant pillar, shattering the magic room, the trick room, and going past them, illuminating the entire night sky over the Pokemon Academy Island, bathing the stadium in a hot blue glow so bright that no one could see anything but light.
And with that, the semi-final match comes to a close! The only question is, after that exchange, what, if anything, will be left standing?