Alden and Wes are giving it everything they've got! Between the two of them three starter pokemon are already in play, and the battle is only going to get more intense from here! Will Alden be able to win and pass the test for Vic, or is Wes going to prove too strong for him to beat? Remember to review!

KedharS: It's practically what the man lives for, that's for sure.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 943

Alden was having the time of his life. He was facing off against a powerful opponent using two strong pokemon, and he couldn't have asked for a better challenge. He couldn't deny he was presently at a disadvantage with all the boosts to Wes's side of the field, dealing with stat increases from helping hand as well as the intense sunlight, but that didn't matter to him.

Win or lose, he was going to make the most of this battle!

Even though the outcome wasn't important to Alden, there was someone here who the outcome of this match was very important to, however, and that was Vic. She watched anxiously as the Commander fought, knowing better than anyone how strong of a trainer her father was.

It felt a little twisted, given how much she respected and admired the Commander's policy that victory didn't matter, that the only thing important about pokemon battles was the fight itself, but right now she was feeling that those old Orrenian words of "weakness is a sin" were a little more correct than she'd care to admit.

Please just win, Vic pleaded silently, staring at Alden hard enough to burn a hole in his head. But of course he wasn't even looking her way. As far as he was concerned, this was just another battle for his own sake.

He'd never think of me in such a way, she bitterly thought.

"Jaune!" Alden shouted, turning to his Vikavolt. "Hit that Meganium with a bug buzz attack! And Finn, while he's at it, use earthquake to weaken the both of them!"

"Vika!" Jaune buzzed, flapping his wings hard, generating an ultrasonic shockwave that he fired right at the Meganium.

At the same time, Finn nodded with a roar of "Swampert!" And began to stomp on the ground, generating tremors to throw Wes's two pokemon off-balance.

Both Bagun and Megan withstood the earthquakes, and Megan braced herself for the bug buzz as the sonic waves struck her.

"Withstand it," Wes ordered his Meganium, then turned to his Typhlosion. Due to the reflect that had been set up, Bagun was taking considerably less damage between the two of them, even if he did have a weakness to Ground type moves. "Bagun. Interfere with that Vikavolt's plans by using your flamethrower, see if that will distract him."

"Ty," Bagun nodded, the mane on his back flaring up as he tilted his head, firing a massive blast of flames from his mouth, boosted by the intense sunlight.

Alden saw a play like that coming, though, and was already preparing to match it. "Finn!" He shouted to his Swampert, "block that flamethrower with a hydro pump!"

"Swampert!" Finn nodded, opening his mouth wide and firing a massive spout of water to intercept the flames. The flamethrower struck the light screen, which managed to reflect most of it, and what little of the attack remained was quickly snuffed by the crashing water.

"Not bad," Wes nodded in approval. "Even though your hydro pump is reduced in effectiveness due to the intense sunlight, with the power of light screen to weaken my attack it still had enough strength to nullify the flames. Smart play, but is that going to be enough? Megan! Use solarbeam!"

"Meganium!" Megan bellowed, the flower collar around her neck glowing white in the sun. She opened her mouth wide and fired a massive beam of solar energy right at Finn.

"Protect," Alden quickly responded, Finn summoning up a blue barrier of light to completely deflect the Grass type attack.

Alden smirked. "You didn't really think I'd let a pokemon with such a major weakness like Finn's go into battle without the proper defenses, did you?"

"Not at all, but protect can only work for so long," Wes reminded him.

"Protect is a good move to have in double battles, because if you plan it right, then one pokemon can nullify the attack of both of his opponents," Vic murmured. "But my dad knows all about that, and he knows a thing or two about playing around tricks like those."

"What do you mean?" Tommy asked, completely lost. He enjoyed the purity of a one on one match, so he had no clue about the tactics used in double battles.

"While a pokemon is using protect, its defenses are perfect, of course, I'm sure even you know something that basic," Vic said, glancing at him.

The dumb look on his face said otherwise.

"…Or maybe not…"

"Hey! Only cowards hide behind their defenses!" Tommy exclaimed. "My pokemon and I, we prefer to go all-in on whoever we're fighting!"

Ross patted Tommy on the shoulder to get him to calm down. "What Vic's trying to say, Tommy, is that protect can grant someone strong defenses, but while they're behind the shield, then they can't do anything else."

"Exactly, it's a strong move for single battles," Vic said, nodding in agreement. "But in a double battle it can come with a serious downside. While Finn's behind that barrier… he's useless in the fight. And that means my dad's pokemon can now team up against Jaune, two to one."

"What?! That's so cowardly!" Tommy exclaimed. He turned his frustration onto Wes, shaking his fist. "Fight fair, old man!"

"That's a good point," Callie nodded, a look of concern crossing her face. "I remember my first double battle, my opponent put one of my pokemon to sleep immediately, and then both of her pokemon teamed up on the other one."

"That's another common tactic," Vic said, nodding in agreement. And one that she had a sinking suspicion they were about to see play out.

Her suspicions were quickly proven right.

"Megan, use grasswhistle!" Wes ordered.

"What?!" Alcea gasped in disbelief. "Grasswhistle? That move… is very uncommon, is it?" She was surprised that a Meganium would know such a rare attack. She looked to Vic and Rui in confusion, and saw the dark looks on their faces.

"My husband's pokemon… were all experimented on by Cipher," Rui said softly, her voice haunted. "They were genetically modified to teach them certain moves that would normally only be capable to learn through breeding."

Alcea was amazed. What other tricks did Wes have up his sleeve? She turned her attention back to the fight to see if this was for real, and indeed it was.

"Meganium!" Megan sang, raising the antenna on her head. The wind began to blow stronger, sending an enchanting lullaby through the air, the sound traveling towards Jaune. If the attack worked, he'd be put right to sleep.

Luckily for the Vikavolt, though, his trainer was no slouch on the battling front either, and knew the perfect way to counter a move like that. "Jaune, use bug buzz!" He ordered, planning to fight song with song. The hypersonic frequencies that Jaune's wings released when he flew, combined with the buzzing of his voice, perfectly counteracted the numbing effects of the grasswhistle.

But unfortunately, with all his attention placed on staying awake and in the air, he didn't have the freedom to account for anything else. That meant Bagun could take advantage of the distraction to launch an attack of his own, which was exactly what Wes was counting on.

"Bagun!" He shouted over the buzzing. "Use flare blitz!"

"Typhlosion!" Bagun roared, dropping down on all fours and charging right at Jaune. Flames leapt up around his body as he picked up speed, covering his fur in an inferno of devastating fire. He jumped up, passing through the light screen without issue, and slammed headfirst into the hovering Vikavolt, sending him spiraling towards the ground.

"Jaune!" Alden cried, knowing how much damage that attack had to have inflicted. And indeed, when Jaune struggled to get back into the air, it was only for a few seconds before ultimately succumbing to his injuries, losing consciousness.

Vic winced. That was bad. Her father had already taken out one of the Commander's pokemon! And not only that, it was a pokemon with a type combination that granted him a serious advantage against her father's team, as well as having powerful synergy with volt switch and u-turn. Losing Jaune was definitely a blow to the Commander's chances of winning.

Not that the Commander was bothered by that, of course. Alden was grinning like a fool, overjoyed by the fact that his opponent was putting up such a good fight!

But from where Vic was standing, the only positive from that last exchange was the fact that Bagun had taken some serious damage as well. Having received serious backlash from unleashing such a devastating flare blitz, the Typhlosion was going to need a moment to recover his strength before getting back into the fray.

Alden recalled Jaune to his pokeball just as the protective barrier around Finn dropped. Seizing on this moment, he nodded to Finn, ordering the Swampert to unleash another devastating earthquake attack on his opponents.

Not burdened with a teammate, Finn put everything he had into the earthquake attack, sending devastating shockwaves through the ground that slammed into Megan and Bagun, seriously hurting the Typhlosion. The reflective barrier had already taken a serious beating, and it wouldn't be able to withstand much more of this.

"Typhlosion…" Bagun panted, rising to his feet even as the grass shook. He glanced at Wes, and Wes nodded.

"Bagun, use rest," he ordered. "Recover your health for now."

"Typhlosion," Bagun nodded gratefully, nestling down and falling into a deep, restful sleep that restored his health back up to full.

"Not bad, taking advantage of the chaos to recover your pokemon's strength," Alden said, nodding approval. "But it's not going to remain a one on one for very long, you know! Tracey, time to take the field!"

Alden threw out his next pokeball, sending out his Cinderace. The speedy rabbit pokemon landed on the ground and immediately dashed forward, eager to put a stop to that barrier once and for all. She began to dribble a pebble back and forth, which quickly formed into a massive ball of flame. Once again, surprisingly, the flames did nothing to the grass of Agate Village. Alcea was particularly curious about that.

"Use pyro ball!" Alden ordered. He could see from the state of that reflect that this would be the end of it if the attack hit.

With a nod, Tracey ran towards Megan, pulling back her foot and kicking the fire ball as hard as she could at the Meganium.

"Megan, use protect," Wes ordered.

As Alden had expected, the pyro ball smashed through the reflect, shattering the crimson barrier into shards of light. But it didn't get much further than that. Another barrier, this one as green as the grass, flared up around Megan. As strong as the pyro ball was, even with the boost from the intense sunlight, it still bounced harmlessly off of the protect.

Wes smirked. "You aren't the only one prepared to use protect attacks," he replied.

Alden shrugged. "Well, maybe not," he admitted. "But now the situation's flipped around, hasn't it? Because now it's your Typhlosion that's on the receiving end of a two-on-one, and he won't be able to defend himself!"

He nodded to his pokemon. "Finn! Don't risk another earthquake, hit him with a rock slide instead. And Tracey, use your acrobatics!"

"Swampert!" Finn nodded.

"Cinder!" Tracey agreed.

Finn rose back up on his hind legs and spread his arms wide, creating massive boulders to rain down on the slumbering Typhlosion. At the same time, Tracey ran forward, zigzagging back and forth, and leapt into the air to unleash an acrobatic assault.

Vic's chest soared with glee as she watched the combination, hoping that this would be a serious blow against her father's team. But even as excited as she was, there was a corner of her heart that knew that it wouldn't be so simple.

She was well aware of how powerful of a trainer her father was, after all.

And indeed, Wes had a plan in place. He hadn't just sent Bagun to a restful sleep without an idea of how he would protect the Typhlosion. He nodded to Megan, who closed her eyes and flared up the flower around her neck.

A sweet scent began to waft through the village.

Bagun's eyes snapped open, roused from his sleep by the aromatherapy. He jumped up, startling the approaching Cinderace.

"Bagun, use your smokescreen, and then evade with quick attack!" Wes ordered.

"Typhlosion!" Bagun's mane flared up and he spit out a cloud of ash, obscuring the field in dark smoke. The stones dropped down on him, but with no idea of where he was in the cloud, Finn was just flinging them randomly. With Bagun's increased speed, it was easy to evade the falling rubble, and he emerged from the cloud, headbutting Tracey in the stomach and knocking her backwards.

Tracey had some very good reflexes, though. When Bagun collided with her, she shifted her body to minimize the damage, while at the same time bringing one of her powerful legs up to kick the Typhlosion in the face. The result of this was that she managed to land on her feet, while Bagun rolled through the grass.

It was enough of an advantage for Alden to capitalize on, and capitalize on it he did.

"Finn, now's the time! Use earthquake!" He shouted.

"Swampert!" Finn bellowed, unleashing another devastating shockwave. This one wouldn't be stopped by any reflects.

Megan was still behind her barrier, protected from the effects of the earthquake, but Bagun wasn't so lucky. He took the full brunt of the tremors, shaking with pain as he tried to stand back up.

Wes was less concerned about Bagun, knowing that his Typhlosion had withstood much worse in the past. He was more surprised by the fact that Alden's Cinderace seemed to be completely unaffected by the earthquake, even though it was also a Fire type pokemon.

"I don't understand," Rui said, just as confused as her husband. "That pokemon, Cinderace, was it? That's a Fire type pokemon, right? So why isn't she affected by the Swampert's earthquake attack, like Bagun is?"

She turned to Vic for answers.

"The Commander's Cinderace has an ability called Libero," Vic proclaimed proudly. "It turns her into the same type as the last move that she used. And the last move that she used was acrobatics, remember? That means she turned into the Flying type. And Flying type pokemon are immune to Ground type moves, even if they happen to be standing on the ground!"

Rui gasped. "So he had already planned that, then! He knew that he was going to follow up his Cinderace's acrobatics with an earthquake attack!"

"That's the Commander for you," Vic said, smiling. "He's always thinking one step ahead, just like dad is! Even if he's not used to double battles, you can't underestimate him as just some ordinary trainer, he's one of the strongest!"

"That was quite a smart play, using your Meganium's aromatherapy to wake up your Typhlosion whenever you want," Alden said, smiling in admiration at Wes's tactics. "It's moves like that, that really get my 'Sense' sparking! But I've got a few tricks of my own, as you can see."

Wes nodded. "Indeed, that was a brilliant combination, your pokemon did quite a number on Bagun," he was forced to admit, noting the condition of his Typhlosion. Bagun was pretty severely injured by that earthquake. It wasn't as bad as before he had gone to sleep, but it was still a pretty sizeable amount of damage. "As I thought, even without Water type attacks, that Swampert of yours is quite the problem."

"I appreciate the compliment!" Alden grinned. "Finn's got the power to handle anything you've got, right buddy?"

"Swampert!" Finn nodded in agreement.

"Then let's see how he handles this," Wes said, turning to his Meganium just as the protect dropped, and the battle became a two on two again. "Megan, hit him with your solarbeam attack!"

"Finn!" Alden called. "Counter that solarbeam with a hydro pump!" It was a risky strategy, but Finn didn't have the speed to dodge, and he didn't want to risk taking him out of the fight again with another protect.

"Swampert!" Finn opened his mouth and fired off a hydro pump. The two attacks collided right at the edge of the light screen barrier, weakening the solarbeam enough to be perfectly matched by the water attack.

But Wes had expected that as well.

"Bagun!" He snapped, turning to his Typhlosion. "Use your solarbeam!"

"What?!" Alden gasped, shocked.

"Typhlosion!" Bagun howled, opening his mouth wide. Solar energy glowed between his jaws and he spit a massive beam of sunlight right at Finn.

"You can stop one, but can you stop the other?" Wes asked, narrowing his eyes. "There's a reason I didn't back down against your Swampert when I had Bagun."

Bagun's solarbeam wasn't as powerful as Megan's, but it didn't have to be. It smashed through the light screen, shattering it as the reflect had been shattered before, seconds away from slamming into Finn with all the power of a Grass type move against a Water/Ground type pokemon.

But it didn't get the chance, because someone got in the way.

"Cinderace!" Tracey cried, lunging in front of the solarbeam. She had used her agility to take her to Finn in the blink of an eye, and raised her arms to protect her partner. The solarbeam hit her directly in the chest, sending her head over heels through the grass.

It had been a serious blow. Not a lethal one, but definitely serious.

Megan and Bagun let off their attacks, but only briefly. They quickly prepared two more solarbeams, this time firing their attacks in unison at the Swampert.

Alden's eyes were wide with excitement. The pressure was unreal! "Finn!" He shouted. "Use protect!" He didn't have a choice at this point, with Tracey down for the count and no light screen to protect him, Finn's only option was to nullify all the damage with protect.

Finn stepped in front of Tracey and raised his arms, a blue sphere of light rising up around his body to protect himself from the double assault from the solarbeams. The two Grass type attacks hit the barrier and dissipated, unable to break through Finn's defenses. But they'd certainly forced the pokemon backwards, the Commander was in quite a bind.

But the smile never left his face.

He was having a blast! Why couldn't every pokemon battle be this fun?!

As excited as the Commander was, however, there was someone who wasn't pleased by this turn of events, and that was Vic. She didn't want to let her anxiety show, she always prided herself on her ability to maintain her composure. But right now, she couldn't help but bite her lip warily as she watched Finn protect himself against her father's pokemon. There was too much on the line to be as cavalier as Alden was.

So Alden's at a bit of a disadvantage! He's already lost one of his pokemon, and is under some serious pressure from Wes's attacks. Will he be able to turn things around, or is Wes just too strong of an opponent to be beaten?