Sylvia's certainly performing well against Misty and her Golduck! She's making use of her brilliant mind to come up with some clever strategies to defeat her, but will it be enough? What does she have up her sleeve in preparation? Will Misty be able to overcome the woman's devious tricks and maintain her pride as a gym leader and master of Water type pokemon?

KedharS: Yep. She's definitely an excellent strategist, it helps when she can read her opponents pretty much perfectly.

TheBigMax: Thank you!

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 824

Akira was stunned. He might have been more shocked than Misty's Golduck just was. He hadn't been expecting Sylvia to pull something like that out of her sleeve. Which was why he had to remind himself once again not to underestimate her.

Right now, the waters were still. That was a powerful Electric type move that Misty's Golduck had just been hit with. It had smashed right through the light screen and hit the Golduck hard. The surface of the pool was glowing a bright pink from the light of the trick room, and Akira couldn't see where the pokemon was beneath it.

That… couldn't have been enough to knock it out, right? Akira assured himself. Misty was a powerful gym leader. Even if her Golduck had taken an electric attack, the light screen must have cut the damage considerably. And even if it had been boosted by the water…

Akira shook the doubts away. Even if it was Sylvia he was talking about, he wouldn't accept the idea that she could knock out one of Misty's pokemon in one hit.

"What's taking so long?" Sylvia asked, absentmindedly twirling a lock of her hair. "I know that your Golduck wasn't hit hard enough to knock him out, and shock wave doesn't paralyze. He must have recovered by now."

She narrowed her eyes and pulled her lips back into a smile. "So what are we waiting on, hmm? Shall I try another shock wave?"

Runja took the cue, raising her tentacles and sending an electrical current surging through them, preparing to strike.

Misty smiled back. It was a mischievous grin that Sylvia would have been proud of. "Sure, go ahead… if you think you can."

As if on cue, a red orb of light broke up from the water, zigzagging erratically around the Jellicent. Runja looked around, confused, the blinking lights disorienting her and preventing her from releasing the charge. The shock wave attack dispersed and the electricity reared back and surged through her body, causing her to cry out in pain.

"Jellicent!" Runja wailed, hurting herself in confusion.

"I see, a confuse ray attack," Sylvia mused. "Because we're each only using one pokemon, I can't switch her out, either."

"That trick room of yours has slowed Golduck down quite a bit," Misty explained, her Golduck surfacing and crawling onto the beach, safe from any future electric shocks. "This should help even things out a little bit. And that's not the only trick we've got up our sleeve! Golduck, use hypnosis!"

"Golduck!" Golduck nodded, lowering his head. His ruby began to glow and his eyes flashed red, disorienting psionics dancing in front of his face as he stared into Runja's blurry eyes and released a hypnotizing command.

"Jell…" Runja muttered, growing dreary as the relaxing waves of the attack put her to sleep. She sunk into the water, barely bobbing on the surface.

"Following confusion with sleep, huh?" Sylvia cracked a grin, unfazed by the situation she found herself in. "You've completely nullified my advantage, and turned this into quite a one-sided battle. Are you that afraid of Runja's electricity?"

"Like you said, Golduck isn't part Psychic type," Misty said, throwing Sylvia's own words back at her, "but he can certainly fight like one. And that's not the only way we can fight against your Jellicent, either! Golduck, use shadow claw!"

"Gol!" Golduck raised a webbed hand, and ghostly energy sparked to life around his arm, forming into a ghastly claw.

"…Well. That's certainly trouble." There wasn't anything else Sylvia could say. Runja might have been fast enough to dodge it thanks to the trick room, but right now the only "fast" she was was fast asleep. Sylvia had no idea when she'd wake up, either, and crying desperately for her pokemon just wasn't her style.

"Golduck!" Golduck ran across the beach and dove into the water, raising his claw. He was swimming very slowly due to the trick room, but Runja was asleep so it wasn't like she could really do anything in response. When Golduck got to the Jellicent, he pulled back his hand and struck Runja in the face as hard as he could.

The Jellicent flew back through the water, roiling in pain. The shadow claw had been a critical hit, and had taken a significant chunk out of Runja's health. A very significant chunk, Sylvia noted. That Golduck must have been at quite a high level indeed.

"Jell…" Runja blinked, blearily waking up just as another shadow claw struck her, this one pushing her right down into the water. She cried in pain, tentacles thrashing around as she knocked Golduck off of her, surfacing.

"Welcome back, Runja, good to see you're awake!" Sylvia called. "Now, use recover! We need to get some of that health back!"

"Jell?" Runja blinked, not sure what her trainer had just said. Her head was still spinning from the confuse ray so she couldn't make out any orders.

"…Oh, you're still confused, are you? Well, alright then," Sylvia shrugged. She turned to Misty. "Have at it, then!"

Misty was confused. "Wait, what?"

"Runja won't respond to my commands, so there's nothing for me to do," Sylvia shrugged. "So go ahead and attack her if you like."

Akira winced. That was heartless even by Sylvia's standards.

Misty herself was far from impressed. "Are you serious right now?" She snarled. "You're not going to fight back? You're just going to let me beat on your Jellicent? That's not the kind of trainer we accept in this gym, missy!"

Sylvia scoffed. "What would you have me do? Tell her to lash out randomly and hurt herself? This isn't about letting her get hit, this is about trust, Misty. I trust Runja absolutely, and know that there's no way you'll be able to take her out like this."

Misty didn't like it, but a battle was a battle. "…Well, fine then! Have it your way! But I pity a pokemon with such a heartless trainer! Golduck, use another shadow claw!"

Sylvia raised her eyebrow. Me? Heartless? Didn't she hear a word I said? …Oh, well. I can't expect someone as feebleminded as her to understand, she's got far too much of a caring heart. So I guess we'll have to make her understand.

Sylvia hadn't said it, because she didn't want to give away her advantage. All it would take was a good hit to snap Runja out of confusion, she wasn't that disoriented. It would hurt, certainly, but it was better for her than just letting her get injured pointlessly trying to use moves. Sylvia knew that Runja was made out of tough stuff. She could take a couple shadow claws.

"Golduck!" Golduck swam towards Runja and raised his claw, striking the pokemon directly. Runja let out a wail so pained that Misty and Akira had to wince in sympathy.

There it is. Sylvia noted Runja's condition through narrowed eyes. "Now, Runja! Use pain split!"

"Jellicent!" Sylvia's voice finally reached Runja, and she was able to accept the order perfectly. Outspeeding the Golduck due to her trick room, Runja began to glow pink, and Misty's Golduck was glowing, too.

"Gol?!" Golduck sputtered in disbelief.

"What the heck is this?!" Misty gasped.

"You called me 'heartless' isn't that right?" Sylvia asked quietly. "Well, I'll have you know that I do have a heart." In a physical sense, anyway. "And what I also have," she continued, "is absolute faith in Runja's ability to succeed. So even though she's taken a few blows… she can recoup those losses by draining away some of your Golduck's health!"

Runja was on her last legs from those shadow claws. And even though Golduck had taken a shock wave attack, he was in much better shape. But that was all changing now. Golduck's health was quickly worsening as Runja's health improved, and soon enough they had the same amount of HP.

"So you let Golduck hit you in order to drain our HP?!" Misty gasped in disbelief.

"You're a very emotional woman, Misty," Sylvia narrowed her eyes, smiling wickedly at the gym leader. "I knew if I could goad you into getting upset with me that you'd let your guard down and try to end this as soon as possible. But with this trick room, Runja always had the upper hand."

"Golduck, are you okay?" Misty cried.

"Gol…" Golduck winced. He was in really bad shape, but he had more than enough HP to keep going. Sylvia certainly wasn't pleased about that.

"Well, that simply won't do. Runja, use a shock wave. You don't want to be hit with confusion again, or put back to sleep. So we won't give him a chance to do either!" Sylvia ordered.

"No! Golduck, swim for shore!" Misty shouted. Golduck turned and swam towards the bank, but it was no use. With the effects of trick room acting on the battlefield there was no way he would be able to outrun her.

"Shock wave is inescapable," Sylvia smirked. "Now finish him off!"

"Jellicent!" Runja wailed, her tentacles surging with electricity. She brought them down into the water, releasing a massive discharge of lightning that electrocuted the entire swimming pool, and Golduck along with it.

"GOLDDDDUUUUUUUUUUCCCKKK!" Golduck roared in pain, his entire body shaking and shivering as he sank beneath the waves.

Akira was shocked. That attack… it had been devastating. Even if Golduck had managed to withstand the electricity long enough to stay conscious, he would only have a few slivers of health left. Sylvia was amazing, she'd even managed to defeat a gym leader! With a pokemon of the gym leader's own type specialty, in fact!

"Now that's what I call a shocking finish," Sylvia smiled. "Duck, roasted extra-crispy! Excellent work, Runja!"

"Jellicent!" Runja said, puffing herself up with pride.

Misty smiled.

"Oh, you think it's done, do you?" She shouted. "Now, Golduck!"

"Golduck!" Golduck emerged from beneath the water, ghostly energy surging through his hand. He struck up into Runja's body from below with a wicked shadow claw, knocking the water pokemon into the air. Golduck landed back in the water, panting from exhaustion. He barely had the strength to stay above the surface.

Runja crashed down into the pool, barely moving.

"Runja!" Sylvia cried. That attack was so much stronger than the previous ones, Runja had nearly been knocked out in a single hit! And it wasn't even critical! "How the hell did you manage to do that!? Getting so much power after taking such a powerful hit?!"

Misty smirked. "Before our battle I gave Golduck a liechi berry!"

Sylvia gasped. A liechi berry. "My, how tricky of you, Misty, I must say, I'm impressed! Aren't liechi berries exceptionally rare?"

Akira was the only one who didn't know what was going on. "A liechi berry? What the heck is that? What's going on?"

"It's a special berry," Sylvia explained. "When a pokemon is brought to the very brink, about to faint, it boosts its attack stat immensely. Consider it the perfect berry for a come-back-from-behind win, if that makes sense."

Misty smiled. "Exactly. When I knew you would be using Jellicent, I knew it would come down to Golduck's shadow claw! Since it's the only move that's super effective against your Jellicent. Then I just had to wait until his health was dropped low enough where the berry could boost his strength, and then finish it off!"

Sylvia smiled back. "My, that was quite a ruthless strategy. I pity a pokemon with a trainer as heartless as you!"

So that's why she was testing with water gun at the beginning. She'd have to be a lot more cautious with that shadow claw if there was the risk it could get disabled. I must say, Misty, you've definitely earned my respect as a trainer. For someone touting an "all-out offensive" you've definitely got some tricks up your sleeve… Sylvia smiled as she stared at Runja slowly picking herself up in the water. She wasn't out of this yet.

"It was definitely a good plan. Let me guess, you used endure, to make sure that that last shock wave wouldn't finish him off?" She guessed.

"Something like that," Misty said, nodding.

"Well, then I'm sorry to disappoint you, but it just wasn't enough!" Sylvia said, gesturing to her Jellicent. "Runja's not quite done just yet!"

"No way!" Akira gasped. After a shadow claw that powerful?!

"Both our pokemon can't take another hit," Sylvia reminded her. "Runja, use shock wave!"

"Jellicent!" Runja growled, raising her injured tentacles. Electricity began to charge through them, ready to strike.

"Your Golduck might be able to counter, but unfortunately for you, my trick room is still active!" Sylvia crowed. "And that means you won't be fast enough to strike back!"

But she didn't have to. Runja prepared to discharge the electricity into the water, and then it dispersed. She began to shake, her body jerking around uncontrollably, barraged from all sides by an invisible presence.

"What?" Sylvia had been caught off-guard quite a lot today. It wasn't something she appreciated. What the hell was going on? "Runja?"

"You're a clever girl, Sylvia, and a very tactical fighter," Misty complimented her. "But even you can't prepare for an attack that you didn't see coming! I didn't need to outrun your Jellicent, because I already had the attack ready to go!"

Sylvia narrowed her eyes. "Future sight."

"That's right," Misty nodded. "Back when Golduck was under the water, back after your first shock wave, I had him prepare a future sight attack for just this moment! I knew there was no way that we would outrun her normally. So here was our solution, what do you think?"

It was rare when Sylvia was outsmarted. But Misty had headed her off at every turn. "Well, well, well," she sighed in resignation, lifting her pokeball. "I must say, that wasn't the outcome I was expecting. And it's not every day that I get outsmarted. Congratulations, Misty!"

"You did a really good job," Misty agreed, recalling her Golduck. "I was really sweating there! I'm happy I was able to teach you something!"

Guile and talent really aren't substitutes for experience. I guess I have a long way to go. Thank you for the lesson, Misty. Sylvia's pride kept her from thanking the other girl directly, but she was grateful for the lesson. It would be a lot of help to guide her in the correct way in the future. Now that she knew what to expect, she was sure she could win the next time.

Don't worry about previous defeats. Focus on seizing victory in the future.

Misty handed Golduck's pokeball off to Diana. "Make sure to heal him up good, okay? He put in a lot of hard work today."

She turned to Akira. "Well, what did you think? Are you excited for your turn?" She asked, winking at him.

Akira was a little less than enthused. Certainly he had been excited to battle Misty, but it seemed pretty clear that he wouldn't stand a chance against her. Not if Sylvia had been defeated so masterfully, in spite of her plans and her advantages.

But at the same time, there was no way Akira was going to turn down the chance to fight against Misty! There was no way that was going to happen!

"Sure thing," he said, smiling excitedly. He couldn't help it, he was pumped for the chance to show her what he could do. "One thing, though. I can't use my Gyarados!"

"…Oh, really?" Misty asked, failing to hide her disappointment. She was hoping that she'd get the chance to face off against a Gyarados as powerful-looking as the one Akira had. "Well, that's too bad, I was looking forward to it."

"Sorry," Akira apologized, shrugging awkwardly. "But Satsuki really exhausted herself not too long ago, and she's not ready to start fighting again until she's had a little bit more time to rest."

It wasn't a total lie. Akira didn't want Satsuki fighting because of what had happened when he'd attacked the Phantom. Whatever had happened to her DNA, whatever had drawn the professor's eye to Satsuki, until he learned everything there was to know about Professor Decker and his research, he wasn't taking any chances with Satsuki's health.

Luckily, Misty was an understanding sort. She could feel Akira's love for his Gyarados from here, and nodded in sympathetic agreement. "Alright then," she agreed. "Then just your Starmie and your Vaporeon, then."

"Actually," Akira added, "I was wondering if Sparky could get a chance to battle, too. Just a little bit of a warm-up."

Misty brightened. Now that was the sort of thing she liked to hear. "Yeah, totally! That sounds like a blast! So, you ready?"

"You bet," Akira agreed.

Sylvia stepped to the side, allowing Akira to take his position in the challenger's box. He reached for his first pokeball. "Starla, go!"

Akira led with his Starmie. The water pokemon spun through the air and landed in the water, staring at Misty through the gem at their core.

"Ah, you've chosen Starmie! One of my favorites!" Misty applauded. "Well alright then! I'll see your Starmie, and match you with this! Seaking, come out!"

Misty tossed out her first pokemon, a beautiful-looking red and white fish whose fins shimmered as she danced through the air.

Seaking landed in the water with a splash, and immediately swam for Starla.

"Well, that's certainly not what I expected," Sylvia said, raising her eyebrow curiously. She'd thought that Misty would lead with a Water/Ground type, knowing she was facing off against a Starmie. She did know what Starmie were capable of, right?

"Starla, use thunderbolt!" Akira ordered. He didn't want to risk Misty pulling out any tricks. Starla was fast, and their electric attacks were powerful, and he was going to take full advantage of them right now.

"Starmie!" Starla beeped, charging electricity through all ten of their protrusions. They released the lightning in a powerful bolt aimed right for Seaking, electrifying the water as well.

But Misty approached the electric attack with a confident grin on her face.

So Misty managed to defeat Sylvia! Perhaps that's why she's so confident in the face of another Water type pokemon using Electric type attacks! We saw what her Golduck was capable of, but what about her other pokemon?