Akira's begun the match with a powerful thunderbolt straight from his Starmie! Meanwhile, Misty seems like she has some plans of her own! Will Akira be able to fight against one of the trainers that he idolizes? Will his skills be able to prove a match for her, or, like Sylvia, will he find himself unable to get there?

KedharS: Maybe slightly. She wasn't using her entire team, either, there's only so much her strategies can do with just her Jellicent.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 825

"Starmie!" Starla railed, releasing a blast of lightning from their body, sending it through the water towards the swimming Seaking.

"You didn't think I'd let you hit me with your Electric type attacks, did I?" Misty grinned, pointing at her Seaking. "Seaking, use bounce!"

"Seaking!" Seaking cried, bouncing up out of the water, avoiding the current of electricity charging through the pool. She hovered in the air, turning towards Starla and aiming her horn right at them, preparing to strike.

As the electricity dispersed, Seaking descended upon Starla, hitting them right in the center of their core.

"Staaaaaaar!" Starla cried, the star on their back spinning in pain. They swung their pointed horns at Seaking, but the pokemon had evaded the strike.

"Seaking, dodge with your agility," Misty ordered, Seaking picking up speed and evading any strikes coming her way, quickly pushing back to the other side of the pool.

"Starla, are you okay?" Akira called. Lacking a face, it was sometimes hard to know if Starla was okay or not. But they bobbed the top spike of their body and looked back at Akira, assuring him that they were alright.

"Starmie!" Starla turned back to Seaking, preparing a blast of lightning.

"Wait, Starla," Akira warned. "No sense in using an Electric type move again. It'll channel through the whole pool, but she'll still be able to avoid it by bouncing above."

"Star?" Starla glanced back at Akira as if asking him what they should do instead.

"Nice to see you thinking for once!" Sylvia heckled from the side. She wasn't making this easy.

Akira ignored Sylvia's taunts.

"Starla, use psychic!" Akira ordered. If he could stop that Seaking from moving, then he could hurt her quite a bit.

Starla's core flashed and they began glowing red, and a red aura appeared around Seaking. Starla lifted them up out of the water and held them aloft with their psychic powers, trapping her and causing her real damage at the same time.

"Seaking!" Misty cried.

"Now that you're out of the water, we can do some real damage!" Akira shouted, cracking a smile. "Keep it up with the psychic attack, Starla!"

"Good thinking, taking Seaking out of the water," Misty complimented him, nodding in approval. "Separating a water expert from the water is a good way to fight! But that won't be enough! Seaking doesn't need water to fight, she can fight excellently in the sky, as well!"

"Sea…" Seaking groaned. The psychic attacks were doing serious damage, but she was more than capable of fighting through it. She grinned.

"Exactly right!" Misty nodded in approval. "Now, Seaking! Use signal beam!"

"Seaking!" Seaking narrowed her eyes and turned her horn towards Starla. It began to glow with bright light, and she fired a colored beam of light that moved erratically, throbbing with ominous and disconcerting energies, the myriad of colors disorienting to the eye.

Starla might not have had eyes, but they still found themselves disoriented by the glimmering ray, and they were so focused on maintaining their psychic hold they couldn't do anything in response. They couldn't even dodge.

The signal beam scored a direct hit, and Starla let out a wail of pain, thrashing in the water. They splashed back, stumbling through the waves. Their psychic hold was broken, and they dropped Seaking back into the water.

"Starla! Are you okay?" Akira cried. But Starla was disoriented. They'd been confused by the signal beam, and wasn't able to respond properly to Akira's orders. Which also meant they couldn't respond properly to the approaching Seaking.

"They're stunned from the attack, Seaking!" Misty shouted. "Now's your chance! Take them out right now with your megahorn!"

Seaking leaned forward and swam as fast as she could, pointing her horn directly at Starla and preparing to perforate their core.

"Starla, you've gotta dodge!" Akira shouted, but Starla still couldn't hear him.

"Seaking!" Energy ran through Seaking's horn, and she lunged up into Starla, driving her horn into the starfish pokemon's core with incredible force.

"STARMIE!" Starla wailed. Their core cracked and broke from the power of the megahorn attack, the effects were devastating. It was enough to snap Starla out of her confusion, but the damage she'd inflicted definitely wasn't worth it.

"Ooh, that's gotta hurt," Sylvia winced in sympathy, staring at the floundering Starmie in the water, dropping chunks of gemstone from their core.

"Starla!" Akira shouted, already noticing Seaking preparing for another approach. "Quick, use recover to heal the damage!"

"Star!" Starmie was quick to respond, their body glowing with light as they repaired the damage done to them. Their core thankfully reconstructed itself, allowing them to keep fighting, even if they couldn't fully heal themselves.

"Recover's a tricky move," Misty agreed. "But you can't heal yourself up fully! Seaking, they won't withstand another one, hit them with megahorn again!"

"Seaking!" Seaking called in agreement, lowering their head and turning their horn towards Starla, picking up speed. Her horn began to spin like a drill, preparing a Bug type attack strong enough to finish the Starmie off.

"She's taking great advantage of your Starmie's weaknesses, Akira," Sylvia called after him. "Imagine your bad luck, fighting against a Water type pokemon perfectly situated to take advantage of Starmie's Psychic typing!"

Akira was really trying to ignore the nagging voice of Sylvia ringing in his ear. What he had planned next would be difficult, and he needed to time it perfectly. He couldn't let her distract him, or Starla would be doomed.

Misty was also aiming for perfect timing. Akira's Starmie was almost finished recovering, and the pokemon was naturally fast. If Seaking didn't get there in time to finish them off, they might be able to slip away, and take advantage of the attack to knock her.

She still had her trump card to play, but she didn't want to rely on it just yet.

"Megahorn!" Misty shouted.

"Seaking!" Seaking's megahorn was seconds away from piercing Starla's core again. Akira kept his focus, waiting for just the right moment…

"Starla, now!" He shouted.

Seaking's horn hit nothing. Starla had disappeared.

"Whoa, what?" Sylvia had to do a double-take to make sure she wasn't seeing things. "Dude, nice, your Starmie vanished!"

Akira ignored her. His focus was on Misty. She was looking back at him, her expression locked into a serious frown.

The look in her eyes said it all. He hadn't fooled her one bit. She was famous for how she trained her Starmie, she would know what tricks the pokemon had available. She knew exactly what he'd done to evade the attack.

He just had to hope that she didn't notice the real surprise.

"Minimize, huh?" Misty said, raising her eyebrow. She grinned and nodded. "Yeah, that's exactly what I figured."

Akira didn't react. "Yeah, that's right. Minimize to enhance Starla's evasion, so they could easily dodge your megahorn attack! And that's not all!"

He turned his attention to the pool of water. "I'm sure you're thinking that it's going to be difficult to find such a small pokemon in such a big pool of water, right?"

"The thought had crossed my mind," Misty agreed.

"Well, you don't need to worry about that!" Akira laughed. "Because Starla's a lot closer than you'd think! Isn't that right?"

No one could hear Starla's chirp in agreement, and barely anyone could see them. That was because Starla hadn't escaped into the water. They had hitched a ride instead, latching themselves onto Seaking herself! Clinging onto Seaking's scales with all ten of their spikes, they had remained under the fish's notice while they prepared an attack.

"Now, Starla!" Akira shouted. "Use thunderbolt! At close range!"

"Seaking!" Misty shouted. "Bounce out of the water, now!"

Seaking leapt up out of the water, hovering in the air, safely away from the electrical discharge. But that wasn't quite the case. Because Starla wasn't releasing their electricity into the water this time; instead, they were latched onto Seaking!

"That won't work! Because we're right there!" Akira grinned. "Take a look!"

Misty saw the sparks crackling on the side of her Seaking. And the electricity was spreading, fast, surging across the Water type's soaked scales.

"Wooooooooooooo," Sylvia whistled. "Not a bad plan, Akira! Nice job!"

Akira thought it was a pretty good counterattack himself. But in spite of his clever technique, there was something he didn't calculate.

And that was the fact that the Seaking was apparently not taking any damage from the attack. She was hovering perfectly fine in the air, even as the lightning surged across her entire body. It didn't make sense. She should be getting fried, she should be crying in pain. But she was reacting like everything was normal.

"Starla! What's going on?" Akira shouted.

Misty smirked.

Sylvia figured it out immediately. "Oh, my, that is devious. Well done."

"What?" Akira demanded, turning to her. "What did she do?"

"It's not what she did, it's what that Seaking is doing," Sylvia said, pointing at the floating pokemon. "Take a close look. At the horn."

Akira squinted. He saw Seaking's horn, the electricity was charging through her, but not electrocuting her. The way it throbbed around the horn, it was almost like…

He gasped in realization. "No way. It's… the electricity is being absorbed somehow!"

"Lightning Rod," Misty grinned. "It's an ability that takes advantage of Seaking's nice horn, completely absorbing and nullifying the effects of the electricity! Electrical attacks won't have any effect on her at all!"

Akira couldn't believe that. He was certain that Misty's Seaking would have an ability like Swift Swim or something, but Lightning Rod? That didn't make any sense! "But then why did you have your Seaking dodge that first attack?" He asked in disbelief. "You could have just had her absorb the lightning from the very beginning!"

Sylvia shook her head and sighed. "Oh, Akira, you don't get it, do you? You just don't have a devious enough mind."

Akira looked at her in confusion.

"It was a trick," Sylvia explained. "A way to lull you into a false sense of security. By having her Seaking dodge your first attempt at an Electric type attack the way she did, it made you focus your attention on putting her in a position where you could hit her with electricity for real this time. Knowing full well that it wouldn't have any effect. By leading you on like that, she could attack your Starmie and chip away at their strength while you pursued other methods that would ultimately be fruitless." She couldn't help but smile.

"Yeah… that about sum it up?" She asked, turning to Misty for confirmation.

"Just about," Misty said, nodding. "So what's your plan now, Akira? Because I have one myself! Now drop, Seaking!"

Seaking finished absorbing the electricity, the discharge fizzling out as she dropped into the water, and began to spin.

"Drill run!" Seaking spun even faster, shaking Starla off her back. Starla returned to their original size, landing in the water, but they weren't fazed. Akira was glad that they were ready to mount a counterattack.

"Starla!" Akira ordered. "Quick! Use psybeam!"

Starla began to shimmer with rainbow light, their core drawing in the psionics. They released it in a beam of compressed energy at Seaking, hitting her before she could stop spinning.

"Seaking!" The fish pokemon cried in pain, turning towards Starla. The attack had hurt, but it wasn't critical.

"Not bad, Akira! But there's one other thing you need to be aware of," Misty continued. "Lightning Rod doesn't just negate the effects of Electric type moves. That energy has to go somewhere! And where it goes is right into Seaking's body!"

"What?" Akira gasped in surprise.

"That's right! When hit with an Electric type attack, Seaking's special attack gets a serious boost!" Misty cheered. "Now, Seaking, use signal beam!"

Seaking's horn began to glow again, and she built up another charge of eerie light. But this time, it wasn't a beam. Sure, it could technically be considered a beam attack, but with the size of it, it was a lot more like a miniature explosion.

Starla, still shaken by the fall, didn't have much room to run. The signal beam hit them directly, crying out as their core fractured from the force of the attack.

"Starla!" Akira cried out. He could tell that attack had been devastating.

"Akira, gotta focus!" Sylvia called. "If you don't, your Starmie is gonna faaaaiiinnt!"

Akira wanted to punch Sylvia. But he had other things to focus on. Seaking was preparing to use another signal beam attack.

"Starla!" He shouted again. If they were confused again, then this would be the end of it. He needed them to move, fast! "Protect!"

Luckily, Starla could hear him. Their body began to glow red, and a red barrier of light appeared around them, shielding them from the force of the attack. It was exactly what Akira would need to bring them back into this!

"Yes!" Akira cheered. Starla wasn't done just yet!

The signal beam struck the barrier, and the light bent around Starla's shield, keeping them from getting hurt.

"Good speed!" Misty nodded. "Looks like you're still in this! But not for long. Seaking, they can't keep that protect up forever! Keep barraging them with signal beams until they can't withstand it any longer!"

"Starla, dive under the water," Akira ordered. "And use camouflage!"

Misty blinked, surprised by that choice of attack. Camouflage was a natural move for Staryu and Starmie to learn, but it wasn't the kind of move that she would expect to be used often in battle. But when it was used like this, the effects couldn't be denied.

Starla sunk into the water and began to shimmer, their skin turning the same shade of blue as the swimming pool as they shed their Psychic typing and became a pure Water type, while at the same time obscuring themselves from view again.

"…Akira, you're really good at running and hiding, huh?" Sylvia noted.

"Shove it, Sylvia," Akira said, glaring at her. This was a complicated situation. He wanted Starla to heal themselves with recover, but the light would certainly give them away, letting the Seaking find them and finish them off completely before they could finish healing.

"This is quite a tricky situation indeed," Misty nodded in agreement. "Hiding away from us like that? Well, I'm fine with a slow game like this, too! Because we're going to seize the victory in the end, right, Seaking?"

"Seaking!" Her pokemon chirped in agreement.

"Great! Now use aqua ring to show them what we mean!" Misty grinned.

Seaking rose up out of the pool and turned her horn towards the ceiling, ascending on a spout of water as waves danced around her, forming a glowing veil of healing water that surrounded her scales and began to restore her health.

"Hide all you like, we'll only be improving our circumstances," Misty said, turning to Akira and daring him to make a move. They both knew that if Akira gave away Starla's cover, then that meant Seaking would be able to finish them off.

Akira had to be smart about this, then.

"Starla, psywave," he ordered. Starla began to glow with rainbow light, and released the attack. But they didn't aim it at Seaking. Instead, they sent the wave out through the waver, causing the entire pool to shine brightly, lighting up the entire stadium.

"Oh! Nicely done!" Misty complimented him. "Now I can't see where your Starmie is, since they lit up the entire pool! It's practically blinding!"

Misty and Akira had to shield their eyes from the glowing rainbow-colored water. Akira grinned. There was no way she'd be able to spot Starla now.

"Now, light it up even more!" He called. "Dazzling gleam!"

The lights glowing through the water grew even brighter. Rays of fairy energy shot out of the pool, arcing towards Seaking and striking her from the sides.

Seaking tried to avoid the attacks, but there was no way to do it when they were coming from below her and she couldn't see them coming.

"Seaking!" She cried in pain as her belly was struck by beams, but she kept on swimming. Faster and faster, moving in a wide circle.

Akira realized that she wasn't trying to dodge a second too late.

"Whirlpool, Seaking!" Misty ordered. Seaking increased her speed and summoned a massive whirlpool in the center of the field, drawing in the water and the pokemon hiding in it.

"So that's your plan!" Akira realized. "You're disrupting the water to keep Starla from maintaining their camouflage!"

Misty cracked a grin. "Not a bad plan, huh? Camouflage is amazing, but it has a hard time working when the terrain begins changing rapidly like that!"

Akira knew she was right on the money. The swirling water was a lot more intense, and it wouldn't be long before they were discovered.

He knew that they would have to cut their losses.

"Starla!" He cried. "Use psychic!"

Starla dropped their camouflage and began to glow bright red, their core shining with psychic energy as Seaking began to glow as well.

Seaking was lifted out of the water, forcing her to struggle.

Misty was surprised by that choice of tactics. The last time Akira had tried that, his Starmie had received a signal beam to the face. And at this point, it would be a hell of a lot more powerful.

So that's it… he knows that it's only a matter of time before Starla gets knocked out, so they're going to be aiming for doing as much damage as possible!

"Not bad, Akira, but that's not going to be enough! Seaking, use signal beam and finish them off!" Misty shouted. Seaking turned her horn towards Starla and released a powerful blast of light that slammed into Starla, doing serious damage to them.

But it wasn't immediately lethal.

Starla had dropped their Psychic type when they used camouflage, which meant that signal beam was no longer a super-effective move. Starla could withstand a lot of damage, and while they did, they put all their power into the psychic attack, until they finally succumbed to the Seaking's attack, losing consciousness.

The psychic aura died down, and Seaking landed back in the water. At the same time, Starla floated back to the surface.

"You did your best, Starla," Akira said, returning them to their pokeball. They had put up a great fight against Misty's pokemon, and even if they couldn't win, he was proud of them.

"That was awesome, Akira!" Misty applauded him. "Now, what's your next pokemon?"

Akira put away Starla's pokeball, and moved on. This battle was just getting started!

So Akira's taken the first loss against Misty, but he's not out of the fight just yet, even though he lost one of his best pokemon. What else does he have up his sleeve?