Ayame and Vic have some tension building up between them, tension that needs to be let out in the best way possible- with a pokemon battle! But Vic's an expert on the subject, and Ayame is decidedly not… will she be able to hold her own anyway? By the way, today is our 7 year anniversary! Sorry I don't have anything special planned, so this battle will have to do. Remember to review!

KedharS: We'll have to see.

Just a Bad Writer for Fun: Vic also has harmonia. Don't forget about that. Just because it doesn't come into play much doesn't mean it's not there.

JoshGamerV: But it's a good way to let off steam.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 911

Vic and Ayame stood facing apart from each other on the beach, preparing for the pokemon battle. A large cluster of people had gathered together to see what was going on. The other members of the group were at the head of the crowd, watching the two students face off. Hiromi and Rui were particularly anxious; these were their children who were about to have a fight, and their responsibility as chaperones was making it complicated.

"If you're not feeling up to this, no one says you have to go through with it," Vic mockingly said, spreading her lips into a triumphant sneer. She knew that Ayame was a decent enough trainer, but as far as Vic was concerned, with her harmonia the other girl didn't have a prayer.

Ayame honestly felt kind of the same way, she didn't think she had much of a chance to win, either. But that didn't mean she was going to back down. She had NEVER been the kind of person to back down from a challenge, whether that was trying to reach her own personal best time again, or trying to get the boy she liked to fall for her.

Besides. Blake wouldn't have backed down from this challenge either. Even if Ayame didn't care that much about pokemon battles, or even really the fact that Vic had beef with her, she was still issued a challenge and she was going to give it her all.

Vic took Ayame's silence as surrender, and shrugged. "Oh well," she sighed. "Don't say I didn't warn you!"

She reached towards her belt when Alden whistled, freezing her in place.

"Wait!" He called, grinning like an idiot. "I just had a great idea!"

Vic's eye twitched, but she didn't let her irritation show. She didn't want the Commander to think she was upset with him, after all. "Yeah? What is it?"

"I was thinking, instead of a double battle, why not make it a single battle?" Alden suggested. "I think that'll make things a little more balanced."

At the Commander's suggestion, Vic's smirk of triumph slid off her face, and she stared at him in subdued horror as she processed what he'd just said.

"What?!" She roared in disbelief. "You… you want me to fight with only one pokemon?! But we're in the Orre Region, and I…!"

Vic had grown up in the Orre Region, where double battles were the lay of the land. They were her specialy, and her pokemon were raised to be the perfect double battlers. She had seldom even attempted a single battle, and now the Commander was asking her to…?!

Ayame could sense Vic's frustration with the situation, and she had to resist the urge to grin. It may have been petty, but in Ayame's eyes this was Vic getting her just desserts.

Alden shrugged. "I just thought that it would make for an interesting battle, Vic. That's all. But if you don't want to do it, then-"

With how disappointed he sounded, for a moment Olivia wondered if this was a deliberate manipulation on his part to get Vic to go along with it. The Commander was known for being a rather dense person, but he would have to be an idiot to not see that Vic, at the very least, didn't want to disappoint him, even if he had no idea of the depth of her feelings for him.

But no, he wasn't a manipulative person, right?

Vic found herself in an incredibly difficult position. She didn't want to fight a single battle. She wasn't used to them, and didn't like them. But expressing that position would go directly against the Commander's wishes.

And that was something she couldn't bring herself to do. So while rage came off her body in waves, she kept it under control, turning to Ayame with renewed fervor.

"…Fine," she spat. "One pokemon, then."

She ripped a pokeball from her belt and flung it into the air. "Ellie! Go!"

From the pokeball emerged the last pokemon anyone would have expected to see from a trainer like Vic, a Whimsicott.

"Whimsi!" The adorable pokemon chirped, drifting down to the ground on her cottony hair, a big smile on her face.

"Oh!" Ayame's face softened immediately as she gushed over the adorably round pokemon. "It's the most adorable thing ever!"

Vic glared contemptuously at her. "Send out your pokemon already and let's get this over with!" She spat out.

Ayame scowled. "Fine then. Way to kill the mood. Foof! Let's go, girl!"

Her smile quickly returning, Ayame sent out her first person, her Wooloo. It was a battle of two adorable cotton-covered pokemon.

Vic wasn't impressed.

"Ellie! Use tailwind!" She shouted. "Dash, use- nevermind!"

She had to catch herself, remembering that she wasn't fighting a double battle. Whatever! She was going to make this work! She connected to Ellie and had her use her tailwind attack, sending a powerful gust of wind across the battlefield, increasing the speed of all her pokemon- but for the moment, she was just boosting Ellie.

"I'm surprised that Vic would have a pokemon like that," Olivia mused. "It's the perfect pokemon for Cuteness Contests… I would have expected her team to be filled with aggressive rampagers, if I'm being perfectly honest."

"Oh? Are you taking an interest in double battles?" Alden was so eager that it was off-putting. Olivia took a step back she was so disturbed.

"What? No! Never!" It would be more accurate to say that Olivia was concerned. She knew what it was like to face off against seasoned trainers when you yourself were not a skilled battler, that had been the tune of her childhood, after all. But unlike with her in the Miss Pokemon Academy Contest, Ayame didn't have the countless hours of preparation to train to overcome her opponent.

Alden wasn't daunted by Olivia's rejection. He continued anyway, smiling proudly as he looked at the battle beginning.

"Vic's Whimsicott is a useful pokemon in double battles," he explained. "Because not only can she set up a tailwind, an incredibly powerful move in a double battle, she can do it almost instantly due to her Prankster ability."

Callie blinked in surprise, she'd been eavesdropping on the conversation. "Prankster? What kind of ability is that?"

"Prankster is an ability that grants a pokemon an increased priority when they use a status move," Alden explained. "Any status move. So it's basically like her Whimsicott is using quick attack or bullet punch every time she uses a status move. And in a double battle, that can be more than enough to turn the tide; reducing the capabilities of your opponent's pokemon with debuffs while a powerful partner unleashes brutal attacks- but unfortunately, that's not an option for her right now," he said, shrugging his shoulders.

Olivia was now 100% certain that he had suggested this style of battle for ulterior reasons. "What, are you testing her or something?"

Alden shook his head and laughed. "No, no, nothing like that…" He glanced out at the crowd of beachgoers who were watching the battle along with them. "I just thought… in the Orre Region, people are exposed to double battles every day. It might bring something out of them to watch a new style of battle, you know what I'm saying?"

Olivia had no idea. As far as she was concerned, pokemon battles were pokemon battles, and the distinction stopped there. But she didn't want to bother arguing with the guy, she was much more concerned with rooting for Ayame.

"Come on, Aya!" She called. "You can do it!"

"Foof!" Ayame called. "Use copycat!"

"Wooloo!" Foof bleared cheerily, her body glowing white. She absorbed energy from Ellie, and conjured a gust of wind of her own. The two tailwinds pressed up against one another, trying to overcome the other. The end result was a curtain of air pressure that made everyone in the audience and both the trainers clutch their ears in pain for a second.

"What kind of cheap trick is that?" Vic spat.

Ayame smirked. "I just thought it looked fun when you did it! And I gotta say, it's a nice breeze! Our speed's looking better than ever, Foof, let's take her down!"

"Wooloo!" Foof nodded, curling up into a ball and rolling straight for Ellie.

"Don't get ahead of yourself," Vic growled. "You may have nullified our tailwind, but Ellie is still much faster than your Wooloo- and don't forget her special ability! That stupid sheep is never going to catch her!"

"Whimsicott!" Ellie nodded in agreement. She bounced off the sand and drifted up into the air, and fired a burst of seeds from her cottony hair.

"Have a taste of our leech seed!" Vic grinned. "We'll start draining away your pokemon's health bit by bit! And while we're at it, Ellie, use charm! Let's drain her strength, too!"

"Whimsicott!" Ellie agreed, smiling cutely at the Wooloo and reducing Foof's attacking ability.

Ayame scowled. She was already getting pressed. The power of Vic's Whimsicott to be able to fire off status moves one after the other was really gunking up Ayame's ability to analyze the conditions of her opponent's pokemon. As fast as Whimsicott were naturally, and even with the boost of tailwind, it still shouldn't be possible for her to use these moves so readily.

But her ability let her cheat, and there was nothing Ayame could do about it.

"Foof, come back," she said, recalling her Wooloo. She would need to re-judge the situation, and switch to a pokemon a little better-suited for a fight like this. "Snows! You're up!"

"Glalie!" Snows roared, emerging from his pokeball with an angry glare.

"Oh, good move," Alden said, smiling brightly. "She could tell it was a bad matchup, so she responded by switching to a pokemon with a better one."

"Of course, did you think she was an idiot or something?" Olivia snorted. "Even I could see that in a situation like this you want to make sure you have the best advantage you can get."

Vic was not as generous. She snorted, shaking her head. "Already switching out your pokemon, after talking so big… what, are you afraid of a real challenge, then?"

Ayame glared silently at her. She wasn't going to let the girl's mockery get the better of her.

"You might think your pokemon looks tough, but so what?" Vic continued. "Ellie, do the exact same thing as before, seed him up!"

"Whimsicott!" Ellie nodded, preparing more leech seeds. The speed at which she could fire those off was nothing to scoff at, Prankster was frightening.

But Ayame wasn't worried. When it came to speed, Snows was in TOP condition today. And not only that, thanks to his Moody ability, for a quick cut in his physical defense, he'd received a major speed boost that was more than enough.

"Quick Snows!" Ayame called. "Use ice shard!"

Ayame was battling initiative with initiative. If Ellie's Prankster let her use status moves immediately, then the best counter to a play like that was a priority move of her own. And this one just happened to be super-effective!

Snows evaded the leech seed and opened his mouth, firing a wave of ice chunks that crashed into Ellie, smashing against her tiny body and knocking her out of the sky.

Vic winced as she felt the chill of the ice cut into her skin. But that was nothing. It may have done a chunk of damage, but Vic was fighting with harmonia, it would take more than a few lucky hits to get the better of her!

"Ellie, quick! Use charm and drop her attack!" Vic ordered.

"Snows, another ice shard!" Ayame quickly shouted.

The two pokemon fired off their attacks instantaneously. Before the attack drop could set in and weaken Snows, the chunks of ice were already firing. But this time, Ellie was prepared for them, and so was Vic.

Using her harmonia, Vic focused her power into her legs and told Ellie to jump. It was a distorting feeling, devoting all of her harmonia to a single pokemon. She was so used to splitting it among two that she was feeling a little dizzy. But she quickly overcame that sensation and refocused her attentions on victory.

Ellie responded immediately. She soared into the air, above and away from the ice shards as she floated above the beach, looking down at Snows.

"Snows, you good?" Ayame checked. His condition was worsening due to the charm, which was a pity. Today had been a great day for his physical attack! But that was something they could worry about later, for now, they needed to deal with this Whimsicott.

"Ellie, use sunny day next," Vic ordered.

"Whimsicott," Ellie nodded, and her body began to glow orange. She released the light building up in her into the air, intensifying the sun's rays and heating up the blazing Orre Region even more.

"Sunny day strats now?" Callie asked in disbelief.

"It's because she's a double battler, is it?" Alcea cut into the conversation.

Alden blinked in pleasured surprise. "Yes, that's exactly right, Allie. Good eye!"

"Do not call me that, please," Alcea corrected him, clearing her throat as her cheeks tinged in embarrassment. "Oui, as I was saying, in a double battle, sunny day can be quite powerful. Especially with a pokemon such as Whimsicott, with the natural ability to set it up immediately due to her Prankster, is it?"

Alden nodded in agreement. "Right on the money, I should have known you'd be a master of Grass types as usual."

Alcea smiled with pride. "Oui. It goes without saying, is it?"

This exchange was not missed by Vic. As much as she was focusing her attention on the battle, part of her was always watching the Commander out of the corner of her eye, hoping for a look of approval, a hint of recognition, some sign that he was impressed by how she was doing.

And instead of that, he was using this time to flirt with another girl.

For a second Vic wanted to send the solarbeam Ellie was about to launch at Alcea instead of the Glalie. But she held back. She'd summoned the sunny day for two reasons. For one, it would allow Ellie to start using moves that would do some real damage. Status moves were Ellie's specialty, but they wouldn't be enough to win the day.

The other reason was because she was facing an Ice type. The intense heat would have a powerful impact on the Ice type pokemon's moves, and that was exactly what she was hoping for. Vic had to resist from grinning like an idiot, she was prepared to take that Glalie down!

"Ellie, use solarbeam!" Vic shouted.

"Whimsicott!" Ellie absorbed nourishment from the intense sun, and released that energy in massive pillar of light that shot straight at Snows.

But Ayame was no fool. She'd been studying Ellie's condition all the while, and could see that the pokemon had been building up to something big before the attack had even been prepared. So she wasn't caught off-guard.

"Snows!" She shouted. "Protect yourself!"

"Glalie!" Snows growled in agreement, summoning an icy blue barrier of light around his round body, deflecting the solarbeam attack completely.

"Whimsicott!" Ellie pouted, landing on the ground, frustrated by the Glalie's ability to completely block the solarbeam.

"It's fine, Ellie," Vic said, shaking her head. "We should have expected something like that. It's not a problem. We just have to build up more power, so when the barrier eventually comes down, we can smash through it with ease!"

"Whimsicott," Ellie nodded in agreement. But she didn't have a chance, because the barrier dropped immediately, and with it came Snow's counterattack.

And it was a doozy.

"Snows!" Ayame shouted. "Use weather ball!"

Alcea's eyes widened and a grin of delight touched her lips. "Oh! Magnifique!"

"Glalie!" Snows roared, forming a ball of light between his horns. The orb gathered energy from the sunlight and burned bright orange. With another reduction to his physical attack, Snows boosted his special attacking power up a couple of levels, and fired the massive weather ball at the opposing pokemon.

"Thanks for the sunlight," Ayame smirked. "Normally we save this attack for after we've conjured some hail, but you've given us the perfect opportunity!"

Vic hadn't seen that move coming. Usually she used sunny day in conjunction with one of her other pokemon, to massively boost Dash's fire attacks. But the thought of it being turned against her like this was unthinkable.

The weather ball collided with its target, exploding in a massive burst of flame that sent the sand scattering. But when the dust settled, Ayame didn't see a charred Whimsicott. Ellie wasn't even slightly singed.

She wasn't even there.

The weather ball had collided with a bundle of cotton, burning it away.

Vic smirked. "Substitute," she explained with a sneer. Ellie returned to battlefield, panting.

"Another useful move," Alden commented. "With Prankster, her Whimsicott can set up a substitute instantaneously, even just seconds before an attack will hit. It's a method even more effective than what Dokukage uses."

Callie shivered. She knew how effective Dokukage's substitute and baton pass combination was, the ability of a pokemon to set up a substitute even faster than him… it was a scary thought.

"Close, but close won't cut it," Vic scoffed. "Now, Ellie! Let's show her what we're really made of! Time to use growth!"

Alcea's eyes widened. "Oh! That move… quite terrifying, is it?"

Callie was confused. "Huh? It's just growth, isn't it?"

Alcea nodded. "Oui. Under normal circumstances, growth is a move that boosts a pokemon attack and special attack by one stage each. Nothing unusual, is it? But under the bright sun like this…" Alcea's eyes raised up to the glowing sun.

"…The boost to their stats is double to two stages, is it?" She finished.

Callie's jaw dropped. No way. That… that was nuts! That was like a swords dance and a nasty plot used at the same time! No way that was fair! "But that's crazy!"

"And thanks to Prankster, she can do it at the speed of a quick attack," Olivia added darkly, biting her lip. Things weren't looking good for Ayame.

Vic, on the other hand, just looked confused. She'd ordered Ellie to use growth… but she wasn't doing it. She wasn't doing anything. She was just bobbing up and down in front of her, glaring at the Glalie.

Confused, Vic connected to her Whimsicott, trying to see what was wrong. Why wasn't Ellie following her orders?

The moment the two joined, an overwhelming feeling of irritation and rage rushed over Vic, startling her. Ellie was blinded by anger, and was already preparing another solarbeam, instead of the growth attack Vic had ordered.

"Whimsicott!" Ellie shouted, firing the solarbeam at Snows, who blocked the attack with another protect.

"What the heck? Where's the growth?" Callie asked, confused. She was no expert at judging a pokemon's condition like Ayame was, but that solarbeam had seemed just as powerful as the previous one, no boost at all.

"Ellie, what's wrong?!" Vic demanded. "Why didn't you follow my orders?!"

"Because she's upset," Ayame said, smirking. "Right now, she's not thinking clearly enough to use any status moves, she just wants to attack!"

Vic went pale as she understood the implication of Ayame's words. "You… you used taunt, didn't you?!"

Ayame grinned, nodding, her eyes shining eagerly.

"Evil girl-!" Vic growled in frustration. That was going to be a major hiccup in her plans.

"Whoa!" Alden said, impressed. "Taunt! Wow, that's the perfect strategy for taking down Vic's Whimsicott!"

"With taunt, she can't use any status moves now!" Callie said in amazement. "Ayame totally nullified Whimsicott's greatest advantage!"

"Exactly," Alden nodded. "Without the ability to set up status, Whimsicott is dreadfully weak… and with the type disadvantage, Vic's in a bit of a bind."

Vic didn't need the Commander to tell her that. She could see it just fine herself. She was already reaching for her pokeball to call her Whimsicott back.

The smirk in Ayame's voice stopped her.

"Oh?" Ayame crooned. "What's this now? You're switching your pokemon out? Just because you can't use any status moves? Oh, poor baby! What, are you afraid of a real challenge, then?"

Vic's hand shook with rage, and she dropped the pokeball.

"Ellie!" She shouted. "Use another solarbeam!"

Just like her Whimsicott, Vic had fallen for the taunt completely.

The battle is already off to a good start! Vic started out pretty tricky, but Ayame had some tricks of her own! And since Vic's fighting at a disadvantage, could Ayame pull off a win even WITH her harmonia? We'll have to see!