The fight between Ayame and Vic got off to a great start! Vic took an early lead making use of her Whimsicott's Prankster ability to launch multiple status moves at high speed, but Ayame was able to hold her own! And now she's cut off Vic from anymore status attacks through the use of her Glalie's taunt! This match is just getting started, we've got more exciting surprises in store!

KedharS: She's definitely going to try her best, that's for sure!

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 912

Vic was caught up in Ayame's taunt, so she didn't think to change tactics until her Whimsicott had already fired off a solarbeam. It bounced off Snows' defensive protect, which clued her in quick that she needed to try something else.

Without status moves, winning with Ellie is nearly impossible… Vic could understand that, from an intellectual perspective. But it wasn't like she could just back down, either. She needed to win this battle, she needed to prove that she wasn't a coward!

It was her pride talking. And Ayame was going to make full use of it.

The next drop for Snows was his special defense. This gave a boost to his speed, which was perfect for Ayame. Judging by her Glalie's condition, he could compete perfectly with that Whimsicott's speed now, since her status moves were cut off.

But the anger and frustration brought about by taunt wouldn't last forever. If Ayame was going to do this, then she needed to do it now.

"Snows, use hail!" She ordered.

"Glalie!" Snows bellowed, glowing icy blue and releasing energy from his horns up into the sky. Suddenly clouds began to form overhead, blocking out the sunlight. The clouds split open and released a torrent of hail down upon the beach, pelting the pokemon and their trainers, but also the rest of the audience as well.

"Aaah!"

"What the heck?!"

"Why would you use a move like that here?!"

The casual beachgoers had just come to watch a pokemon battle. They hadn't expected to find themselves caught up in something so drastic, being barraged by ice. Especially when they had so much skin exposed.

The other members of Ayame's and Vic's groups were considering retreating themselves. Fortunately, the girls had decided to hold their pokemon battle right out in front of the section of the beach where they'd set up their stuff, which meant that there were parasols aplenty to take shelter under while waiting for the hail to stop.

Alden grinned. "Now this is what I'm talking about. Take a look at this situation! Ayame's got her on the ropes!"

Olivia was surprised to see the Commander looking so gleeful about the fact that his subordinate was actually at a disadvantage in the pokemon battle. But really, she shouldn't have been surprised. For the Commander, pokemon battles were something to enjoy, and it didn't matter who won or lost- he was just watching for the excitement.

And he was right. Vic was definitely in a bad situation. With the hail in place and taunt used on Ellie, she couldn't call the sun back out. That weakened Ellie's strongest offensive move, while also allowing Snows to fight to his full potential.

But Vic, stubborn as she was, wasn't about to back down. Instead of calling Ellie back and switching to a pokemon that was better-suited for a matchup like this, she decided that the best course of action would be to push through regardless.

So she gathered her harmonia and directed it into her Whimsicott, boosting Ellie's strength considerably.

"Ellie!" She shouted. "Use moonblast!"

"Whimsicott!" Ellie cried, gathering moonlight into her body, fortifying herself with fairy energy. She gathered it into an orb of light and flung it at Snows.

"Snows, counter with weather ball!" Ayame ordered. With the boost to his special attack and increase in power weather ball got from the hail, the attack should have been more than enough to break through the moonblast.

But it wasn't.

Snows conjured the energy orb between his horns, and fired it at the incoming move. It gathered strength from the hailstorm, turning a bright shimmering blue, and collided with the moonblast in a massive explosion.

The only problem was that harmonia gave Ellie a far greater boost than Ayame could account for. So even though Snows' weather ball blew apart the attack, it wasn't enough to shield him from the shockwave, and he still took some damage.

Vic was quick to capitalize on that.

"Ellie, don't back down!" She shouted, sending her Whimsicott more energy. "Finish him off with another moonblast!"

"Aren't you getting a little ahead of yourself?" Ayame shouted. She couldn't believe Vic was so arrogant she actually thought that she would "finish Snows off" with a moonblast, like her pokemon wasn't almost at full health.

She could see Ellie's condition, and not only was the pokemon being worn down by the hail, but her special attack stat wasn't very high, either. It was clear to Ayame that the pokemon wouldn't be able to knock Snows out.

But she still felt an ominous chill run down her spine, and it wasn't because of the hail. Vic's harmonia was mucking things up. Even though it didn't look like Ellie would have enough power, there was still the chance that the harmonia could boost it severely.

And with the reduction to Snows' special defense, any blow would be devastating.

No, Ayame wasn't about to take that risk. So she decided to try her hand at a different strategy, and hope that would work.

"Ice shard!" She ordered. With the boost to Snows' speed and the fact that it was a priority move, Snows was able to launch the ice shard before Ellie could even begin to unleash her moonblast. And the effect was instantaneous. Snows might not have been in the best condition to make a physical attack, but Ayame didn't need the attack to do very much damage- she just needed an interruption of some kind.

And that was exactly what she got. The chunks of ice broke against Ellie, stinging Vic's face a little bit, and the Whimsicott's attack fired off randomly into the air.

That gave Snows exactly the opportunity he needed to blend in with the hail, which was only falling faster and more fiercely.

Vic squinted into the squall, unable to make out the snow-white pokemon any longer. But she knew that was just the beginning of the problem.

"Snows!" Ayame called over the mounting snowstorm. "Use blizzard!"

"And there it is," Alcea said coldly. From her matches with Gabrielle, she knew the strength of a hail-powered blizzard against a Grass type pokemon.

And this had all the makings of a severe one, alright. Snows howled and the sky howled with him, the hail getting even more ferocious as it blended together with the tailwind into a massive impulse of wind and ice, billowing forward and engulfing Ellie.

The Whimsicott didn't even have a chance to dodge. Snow and ice were everywhere, cutting off every avenue of escape. She found herself seeing nothing but white, all other sensations blocked out by the raging winds and chilling cold.

And Vic was right along with her. She may have changed out of her bathing suit, but she still wasn't dressed for this weather; she was used to the heat of the Orre Region, not the chilling freeze of Mt. Silver that Ayame had grown up in.

So when her Whimsicott was struck by the blizzard, Vic found herself similarly frozen, trying to keep the strength of her harmonia burning brightly even in the face of such overwhelmingly powerful weather like this.

She did an admirable job of it, too. When the blizzard died down, Ellie had not fainted like everyone expected her to. She burst out of the mound of snow, panting and shivering, badly chilled but still conscious.

Ayame had nothing but respect for the pokemon's endurance. She could tell by Ellie's condition that her defensive stats were meager, and her health was sputtering out. Under all rights, that attack should have knocked her out completely. The only reason she was still in the fight was due to the power of harmonia pumping through her veins, giving her the strength to keep going.

Ayame needed to crush that strength before it got out of hand.

"Snows! Finish her with an ice beam!" Ayame sharply ordered.

"Whimsi?!" Ellie cried in surprise. The chill had done more than just weaken her, it had slowed her down considerably, as well. So even though she could see the attack coming, she just didn't have the strength to go on.

Her trainer was giving her so much power with her harmonia, but it was like Ellie's legs just refused to listen. Then she glanced down and saw why. The entire bottom half of her body was frozen solid, encased in ice.

Vic, her own legs feeling as heavy as lead, understood that there was no way for Ellie to escape from this. So she gathered as much of her strength as she could and sent it to the Whimsicott, ordering her to use one final attack.

"Whimsicott1" Ellie wailed, gathering up the strength for another moonblast.

But Snows was too fast for her. She had just barely managed to start glowing before the ice beam slammed into her like a semi-truck, sending her flying into a mound of sand and snow, shaving off the rest of her health.

Vic winced and nearly doubled over in pain. That… that had stung. But it was nothing compared to the wounds to her pride at having one of her pokemon being defeated by this… this girl! And not only that, she had been the first one to lose a pokemon! Ayame hadn't lost any yet! The indignity was too much to bear.

Her eyes glanced to the Commander, dreading what they would find.

But Alden wasn't even looking at her. His attention was focused on Ayame and Snows, and he was clapping.

"Nicely done!" He called. "That was quite a fast barrage attacks! And shutting down her Prankster ability with taunt was an excellent move, too!"

Why?

Why was he looking at her?

Anabel. Alcea. And now Ayame. It was like no matter what she tried, she could never get him to turn his eyes her way. Was it just because her name didn't start with an "A"? Was that it?

…No, of course not. That was ridiculous. But in Vic's present mental state, everything seemed ridiculous to her.

But most ridiculous of all was the thought that she had actually lost a pokemon.

This wouldn't stand. She wouldn't allow someone like Ayame Toujou to be the center of the Commander's eye.

Look at me! Don't look at her! I'm the one who deserves to stand by your side! I'm the one who you should admire! I'm the one who's always doing my best, so why is it you never end up looking at me?! The pain in her heart demanded.

She clenched her teeth, clutching her pokeball so tightly her shivering red fingers turned white. She called Ellie back. Her resolve to win had reignited, and her harmonia was roaring like a bonfire. She was going to win this, no matter what.

Rui looked worriedly at her daughter. She'd seen that look before, so many times. It was the same look her husband had so often worn, when he was Vic's age. A look full of rage and hatred, a look that frightened her.

But where Wes had turned those hateful looks towards the criminals who deserved it, right now her daughter was turning her rage towards an innocent girl.

Rui honestly didn't know what to do. What would her husband have done, if he was here? Would he be able to do anything?

Well, he would probably be able to do better than her, at least, that was something she could bitterly accept.

At the moment, Vic was unleashing her anger on Ayame. She may have taken after her father in that regard, but what was giving that anger real power was her harmonia.

The harmonia she had inherited from Rui.

It was taking those negative emotions and turning them into blades to lash out at her enemies, and even her friends.

Rui had never felt guilty about her daughter having inherited this power, because for her, it had never been a problem. She wasn't a pokemon trainer, after all, so she had been immune to the more serious effects that a heated battle could bring out.

It wasn't… it wasn't like Vic was losing it though, right? Rui could still feel from her daughter that she wasn't REALLY giving into her anger, or losing her control. She was just mad.

But what she was seeing now… it really made her fear what could happen if Vic really did lose her temper one day, and that was a terrifying thought for a loving mother to have about her dear beloved daughter.

All Rui could do was hope that a day like that would never come.

"Dash," Vic spat. "You're up next."

Vic sent out her next pokemon, a replacement for her Whimsicott.

"Arcanine!" Dash howled, emerging from his ball with his fiery mane flaring, his fur a bright orange in the darkened hail-covered beach.

Normally, Vic used Ellie and Dash in conjunction with each other. Ellie's supporting moves would weaken opponents for Dash to finish off, while also protecting the Arcanine; Dash would rely on his awesome speed to rip apart his foes, while Ellie would keep up with him with her Prankster ability as well. Not to mention the power of being able to automatically conjure intense sunlight and follow it up on the heels of a devastating Fire type move was nothing to scoff at, either.

But right now, Dash didn't have any support. Ellie hadn't left anything for him to take advantage of. So right now, he was down to just his raw strength.

For an Arcanine, though, that wasn't exactly devastating.

Ayame knitted her brow. She'd been expecting something like this to come the second she saw that Vic's Whimsicott had set up a sunny day. Vic was a double battles trainer, after all, so it made sense she would use pokemon that played off each other well.

So Ayame had known that there was a powerful Fire type hiding somewhere on Vic's team. And now that she'd sniffed him out, it was time to beat a hasty retreat.

Vic wasn't about to let her escape, though.

"Dash!" She growled, giving her Arcanine every ounce of strength she had in her. "Melt that fucking snowball with a blast from your flare blitz!"

"Arcanine!" Dash roared, charging forward.

With her harmonia, Vic had boosted Dash's speed as far as it could go, allowing him to close the distance between himself and Snows in a heartbeat. And if anyone was under the illusion that moving so quickly would prevent him from building up the appropriate amount of power to unleash a devastating flare blitz, the roaring inferno burning across the pokemon's fur was quick to dismiss those doubts from their minds.

But again, Ayame had been prepared for something like this, so she was already well-aware of how to approach the problem of an approaching Arcanine.

"Snows," she shouted. "Use your protect again!"

"Glalie!" Snows bellowed, forming a protective sphere around his body. Dash slammed headfirst into the protective barrier and sent it flying backwards with the force of his tackle, but that was all he managed to do. Snows was shaken a little from the blow, but Dash had failed to inflict any damage with his attack.

But it was more than enough of a reminder to Ayame that this wasn't a foe she was capable of defeating with Snows.

"Snows, come back for now," she said, recalling her Glalie to his pokeball. He needed a chance to rest and recover so that he could get his condition back up, right now his stats were a little too unevenly distributed. And even at his best, the chances of defeating a foe like that Arcanine were rather slim as well.

Besides, she had other pokemon to rely on.

"Ayame's found herself in quite a predicament, huh," Alden whistled thoughtfully as he studied Ayame's complicated expression. Clearly she was thinking up her next strategy as she imagined what to do to defeat that Arcanine.

"Aya will be fine," Olivia said snippily. "She's got a good head on her shoulders, just watch."

"Still, without her Glalie, the hail will now be working against her," Alden reminded Olivia. He chuckled. "Oh, well. Let's just see what she plans to do, how about that?"

Truth was, Ayame did have a trump card she could use against that Arcanine. Rhox was an offensive juggernaut perfect for taking down Fire type pokemon with his mix of powerful Rock and Ground type moves.

But he was also her strongest pokemon, and she wasn't sure if she was ready to risk him this early on in the fight.

Even if Rhox had the power, he lacked the speed. Judging by that Arcanine's condition, he was a fast one. Probably a Timid nature, if she had to guess, meaning his speed was his best stat, and his physical attack wasn't too far behind.

And that wasn't even taking into account the power of harmonia giving him an extra boost, either. Ayame needed to play this really carefully or she risked losing her pokemon early. And against an opponent like Vic, that wasn't a risk she could afford to take.

If it's speed… then I can still compete, Ayame reminded herself. She had a pokemon whose condition was perfect for a matchup like this!

"Roll!" Ayame called, tossing her pokeball into the air. "You're up!"

The pokeball burst open, revealing… another pokeball.

No, wait, it was her Voltorb!

"Voltorb!" Roll buzzed, landing in the sand and glaring at the Arcanine.

"Is that gonna be enough?" Callie asked worriedly. "That Arcanine looks really tough!"

"Don't worry about it," Alden said with a laugh. "That girl's not an idiot. Clearly she's got a plan in mind for that Voltorb, otherwise she wouldn't have sent them out!"

Vic's eye twitched with frustration.

Again.

Fucking again.

She had her Arcanine out, bristling with power, and she was giving him even more with the power of her harmonia.

But the Commander didn't care about that. He was still just looking at Ayame. Wondering what she was going to do next.

Why?! She shouted internally. Why won't you look at me?!

Yikes, that's rough. Vic might be a bitch, but she's still got some burdens of her own. And the Commander isn't helping things either, by refusing to take her seriously and pay attention to her efforts. I gotta say, I feel really bad for the girl.