Chloe's joined the battle against Val! But a few choice words from our local villainess have caused her to begin doubting herself, and questioning why she entered the battle in the first place! Can Chloe overcome her own self-doubts and help our heroes win the day? Or is she going to be completely trounced by Val?

Today is the last day of the Nomination Round! We've got some really great girls nominated for the third Pokemon Academy Best Girl Contest, but there's still room for more! Get in your last nominations before the time is up, and then tomorrow we have the Elimination Round, where we narrow our choices down to the top 8! Hope to see a lot of great girls nominated, we still have a lot of slots available!

Currently Nominated: Ange, Ayame, Caelia, Cynthia, Donoma, Elaina, Maddi, Marion, Misato, Sango, Satsuki, Sylvia, Vic

KedharS: Sounds like an understatement to me.

Just a Bad Writer for Fun: Congratulations on catching up! Yes, that was a very interesting amount of guesses you got correct, I was actually quite impressed. I can't wait to see what your next guesses are about the direction the story is going, given your track record so far. It should be pretty enjoyable to read, I reckon.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 961

"Chiyome!" Chloe cried in horror as her Greninja was struck by the Tyranitar's powerful stone edge attack, falling over in the grass.

"That was a dirty trick!" Tommy snarled, and Val burst out laughing.

"Of course it was!" She cackled. "That's what I do, silly boy! Now Tyrant, use your earthquake attack to hit them all!"

"Tyranitar!" Tyrant roared, sending a shockwave through the ground that hit all of the pokemon assembled. Even Harvel wasn't spared from the damage in spite of his Flying typing, due to the frost on his wing forcing him to the ground.

"That was a rather foolish move of yours," Ross said, narrowing his eyes. "Now Bounce, reflect with your counter!"

"Wobbuffet!" Bounce saluted, glowing red. The energy from the earthquake was reflected back at Tyrant… but it never got there.

"Smeargle?!" Knox cried as Tyrant grabbed him by the tail. Holding the small pokemon up like a shield, Tyrant made him the target of the counter's reflection, and he was forced to take on the full brunt of the earthquake for a second time… with twice the power.

Needless to say, it was enough to knock the poor thing out.

"Return, Knox," Ross glowered, his smile fading from his face again. But he quickly replaced it with another one.

"So now you see what you're dealing with," Val snorted. "I'm not going to give in as easily as the little students at your fancy school. Now then…"

She swept her eyes across the battlefield, surveying the injuries inflicted on the pokemon. She smiled. They were glorious.

While Val was having the time of her life, nobody else was all that excited about this fight, not even the Commander. But the person who was having the hardest time at the moment right now was definitely Chloe.

Was she right? Am I really that awful of a person? Chloe didn't want to believe that Val had correctly guessed her personality and uncovered secrets about herself that even she didn't know, but she didn't have a way to refute the other girl's claims.

Maybe if Chloe was strong-willed and more confident, she would have been able to hold her own against the bully and assert that she was wrong, that the reason Chloe had stepped in to fight hadn't been for selfish reasons, but because she wanted to help.

But everything she said made so much sense, that when Chloe looked at her own low self-esteem in the mirror, she could begin to see that maybe, just maybe, this Val girl was on to something. And she hated that.

"Hey! Chloe!" Maddi snapped, turning back and glaring at the other girl. Chloe gasped, shaken out of her pit of self-doubt.

"Wh-What?" She asked warily.

"Are you going to stand there all day doubting yourself, or are you going to help?!" Maddi demanded. "We need you to get your head in the game, or we aren't going to have a chance!"

That's right. Chloe had been so focused on doubting herself and her motivations that she'd completely forgotten the fact that they needed her help in the first place. Whatever the motivation she had for joining the fight wasn't important right now, what she needed to focus on was helping the others defeat that Tyranitar!

"Chiyome!" Chloe shouted, her Greninja jumping up at the sound of her voice. "Use your water shurikens again!"

"Gren," Chiyome nodded, sculpting blades of water in her hands. She charged forward at blinding speed, throwing the water shuriken in a swift barrage at the Tyranitar, forcing the pokemon to quickly step back to avoid the brunt of the damage.

Val wasn't amused. From a glance she had noticed that the brunette was the kind of girl with low self-esteem, the sort of weak-willed person that would be easy to cower. She'd been hoping that she could crush her confidence so she wouldn't have to worry about her being an issue in the battle, but it seemed like she wouldn't get that so easily.

For now, I need to focus on the others… but that Greninja is a problem. Val wanted to get rid of the other trainers' pokemon, specifically that Wobbuffet. But the best way to do that wasn't going to be easy, since if she used another earthquake Tyrant was out of useful shields.

"Tyrant!" She shouted. "Use high horsepower! On the Spheal!"

"Spheal?!" Violet cried in shock. Tyrant lowered his head and charged forward, barreling across the grass. She was already in such weak condition that another hit would be devastating.

"Not happening!" Ross shouted. "Bounce! Get in front of her and use your counter!"

"Wobbuffet!" Bounce quickly sprang up in front of Violet, preparing his body for the massive force of Tyranitar colliding with him.

Val smirked.

With a growl, Tyrant leapt over Bounce completely, startling everyone.

"How the hell can a pokemon like that jump so high?!" Tommy exclaimed in disbelief. A Tyranitar must have weighed as much as a tank!

"With high horsepower Tyrant's leg strength is drastically increased," Val explained. "Not just for the purpose of charging, but jumping, as well! Now, Tyrant!"

Tyrant landed on the ground, causing the whole village to shake. His claw shot out and grabbed Violet, lifting the round pokemon in the air.

"Wobbuffet's counter is annoying," Val said, nodding to Tyrant, "so here's one way to get around it! Use fling, Tyrant!"

"Tyranitar!" Tyrant wound his arm back, flinging Violet as hard as he could at the Tyranitar.

"Oh, no!" Ross gasped. "Bounce is already preparing to use counter!"

"That means the power of the attack is going to be reflected back onto the pokemon," Maddi said, her face going pale. "And that pokemon is…"

Counter repelled the damage to the pokemon who was the closest target. But Tyrant hadn't used a traditional attack, he'd used the round Violet as a weapon herself. That meant that the pokemon who was the closest target wasn't Tyrant, it was Violet!

And indeed, that's what happened. Because fling was a Dark type move, the damage it dealt to Bounce was significant. Bounce's torso pitched forward as the red glow around him increased in intensity, and he sprung back, flinging Violet into the air. Violet was headed right for Tyrant but the massive pokemon managed to step aside just in time.

That meant there was nothing standing between Violet and an injured Harvel!

Violet collided with the Tropius, letting out a cry of pain as all of Tyrant's strength was doubled back on her, and Harvel felt that same burden as well. It was more than either pokemon could bear in their present state, and they both fainted.

"No! Harvel!" Tommy cried. With no more pokemon, the only thing he could do was watch helplessly as the others continued to fight.

Maddi's reaction was a little more intense, however. When she saw that her poor Spheal had fainted, it didn't just hurt her confidence in her victory. A searing bolt of pain shot through her eye, and traveled down the left side of her body. Her eye hurt worse than it ever had before. With a wail of agony she fell to her knees, and lost consciousness.

"Maddi!" Alden gasped.

"Poor thing, I guess the shock was too much for her," Val sneered. "Now it's just the two of you, it seems. And that Wobbuffet isn't much good for anything other than being a shield, so right now, Tyrant, let's take out that Greninja! Use stone edge!"

"Tyranitar!" Tyrant roared, firing a barrage of stones at Chiyome.

"Chiyome, get over to Bounce!" Chloe shouted, thinking quickly on her feet. Taking advantage of her pokemon's high speed, she had Chiyome join up with Ross's Wobbuffet. Now Tyrant wouldn't be able to recklessly launch his attacks her way!

"Not bad," Val admitted. "But just using that Wobbuffet as a shield won't be enough to save you! Your Greninja might be fast, but Tyrant's still got the advantage! And besides… in this weather, how long do you think you two are really going to last?"

As if proving her point, the sandstorm intensified, and Chloe found herself smacked in the face by a wave of sand. The barriers that Ross had set prevented the sand from escaping, which meant that it was only growing more powerful as it struggled for a way out. With the amount of sand that was pouring from Tyrant's body, Chloe feared that they could all be buried.

Oh, why couldn't Chiyome have the Protean ability? With that, she could turn her partner into a Ground type, or a Rock type, or a Steel type, and have her put up a more even struggle against that Tyranitar instead of being forced back like this!

Well… that option isn't quite off the table… As she worked out a new strategy, Chloe was grateful when someone else took Val's attention.

"Why are you doing this?!" Wes demanded, stepping forward. He'd had more than enough at this point. "Having your Tyranitar rampage like this, attacking these children, tearing this town apart with your sandstorms, what's even the point?! What are you after?!"

Val rolled her eyes, wasn't this old man listening? "I already told you what I'm after!" She snapped. "I'm after the Oracle! There's an Oracle in this village, and you know where it is. So hand it over, and we'll get out of your hair!"

"That stone? That's what this is really about?" Wes asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Yep," Val nodded. "That's what this is really all about.

Wes scowled. It wasn't that he couldn't believe it, he'd seen people to much more for things that were significantly less guarded. But something about this stank. He didn't know why he and Rui were meant to guard the Oracle, nor did he know what Ryoko was thinking when she gave it to that redheaded girl, Alcea.

But he did know that there was NO WAY he was going to let anyone hurt these children, it wasn't going to happen.

"So you're tearing apart this whole village… bringing these sandstorms down on such a lovely place… all because you want that Oracle?" He asked through gritted teeth. Wes had spent the beginning of his life in the desert slums of Pyrite Town. He had seen the damage done to the Orre Region firsthand, and it was one of the reasons why he guarded Agate Village so preciously. He had raised Giraud carefully to control his power just so he wouldn't end up destroying this paradise by mistake!

This girl… she was stomping all over that. If she had her way, her Tyranitar would turn Agate Village into a wasteland, and Wes wasn't about to let that happen.

Val shrugged. "Well, yeah. And because it's very fun."

…Fun? She'd said it was fun?!

Alden scowled. "This is fun to you?"

The smile on Val's lips and the gleam of her eyes answered that question handily. "Yes, of course it's fun! Seeing such a beautiful, lush paradise, filled with people giving it their all every day, happily enjoying their retirement in peace…"

Val took a deep breath, and then let it out slowly. "…My. This place really is perfect, isn't it? Even with the sandstorm raging, it still smells just as fresh and nice as before the battle began. That's quality you can't get in very many other places."

She turned back to Wes and Alden. "I'm the kind of girl that loves destroying stuff like that, you see. If I walk past a nice little bed of flowers, I can't resist the urge to just stomp them into pieces, do you get what I'm saying?"

Nobody nodded. Nobody agreed. Everyone saw Val for the monster she was, and were too shocked to give any sort of response at all.

But her words did wonders for codifying Chloe's resolve.

"That won't happen!" She snapped. "Not on our watch! Chiyome, use water shuriken!"

"Greninja!" Chiyome raised both hands, forming a massive shuriken that was even larger than she was. Flexing her muscles, she sent the spinning blade straight at Tyrant.

"TYRANITAR!" Tyrant roared, stomping his foot. He opened his mouth wide, and fired a blast of rocks that smashed the shuriken to pieces before it could even get close.

That was when he and his trainer saw that the shuriken had just been a diversion. After Chiyome had thrown the blade, she had charged in right behind it, taking advantage of the blind spot her attack had created to get in close without Tyrant seeing her coming.

"Now go, Chiyome, use u-turn!" Chloe ordered.

"Gren!" Chiyome leapt into the air and raised her legs, kicking Tyrant in the chest. The pokemon staggered back but managed to stop the fall with his powerful tail. At the same time, Chiyome leapt off of him, flashing with light, and returned to Chloe's bright white Premier Ball.

"Excellent work!" Chloe said, reaching for an oddly-decorated pokeball on her waist, a Timer Ball. "Now, Dvalinn, you're up!"

"Excadrill!" Chloe's next pokemon, an Excadrill, emerged from the Timer Ball with a bellow, raising his massive claws and charging at the Tyranitar. He didn't even wait for her orders.

"An Excadrill, huh? That's quite an ace of a pokemon to hide up your sleeve," Val smirked, narrowing her eyes.

"You brought the sandstorm down on us, remember?" Chloe smirked. "So I thought it was the perfect time to use him to his fullest potential! Now, Dvalinn, use brick break!"

"Excadrill!" Dvalinn pulled back his claw, preparing a powerful strike.

With the power of our Sand Force, this one's going to hurt! Chloe thought triumphantly. She was right to be so confident. Brick break, a Fighting type move, would have a devastating effect on the already-weakened Tyranitar, no matter HOW much his defenses had been buffed before Ross's restrictions!

And indeed, that certainly appeared to be the case. The painful roar Tyrant let out when Dvalinn dug his metal claws into his stomach echoed across the village, and the pokemon nearly fell over.

The key word, however, was "nearly."

Tyrant didn't fall to more than one knee. And the savage look in his eye said that wouldn't be nearly enough.

"N-No way! He withstood that?!" Chloe asked in shock.

Val's eyes were shining with glee. "Tyrant is VERY resilient. Thank you for your hard work, Zoey! Now we're ready to really show what we've got!"

"Tyranitar!" Tyrant nodded, dark energy surging around his body.

"What's with that?" Tommy demanded, shielding his eyes. "That power's insane!"

"I needed a powerful move to inflict a lot of damage on us, or this just wouldn't work," Val explained. She glanced over at Bounce with a savage grin. "You, redhead… your name was… Moss, I think? You use a Wobbuffet, so you should know just how powerful a strong, reflected attack can be, right?"

Ross put together immediately what she was insinuating. "Chloe! Call your Excadrill back, right now!"

"D-Dvalinn! Quick, use dig get away from him!" She shouted. Dvalinn raised his claws and jammed them into the ground, quickly digging a hole and retreating to where Tyrant's attack couldn't hope to reach him.

But that wasn't at all what Val was focusing on at the moment. No, Dvalinn had just been a nuisance to her and Tyrant. Right now, she had bigger fish to fry, and a massively-pumped Dark type move that she was DYING to unleash on a certain little punching bag.

"Run all you like, I couldn't care less! Tyrant, unleash your payback on that Wobbuffet for all those counters he used on you!" Val shouted.

"TYRANITAR!" With a roar, Tyrant unleashed the damage he had stored up from Dvalinn's brick break in a powerful blast of dark energy. The force of the blow slammed into Bounce and sent him flying into the air. He hit the screen barrier and bounced off it like a balloon, careening into the grass where he bounced again. And again.

He bounced three more times after that before finally stopping, deflating like someone had let all the air out of him.

"…And that's that," Val said neatly, turning to Chloe. "Just you and me now, Zoey, is that Excadrill of yours going to come out to play? Or are Tyrant and I going to have to come down there and get him, hmm?"

"D-Dvalinn, dig!" Chloe shouted, terrified of the prospect of her Tyranitar using earthquake to take him out while he was underground.

"Excadrill!" Dvalinn emerged from the dirt with his claws raised, swinging at Tyrant.

And then Tyrant wasn't there.

Startled by the sudden disappearance of his foe, Dvalinn pitched forward in surprise, landing on his nose.

"Dvalinn?! But what…?" Chloe looked around frantically for the Tyranitar, but it was nowhere to be seen.

"Don't get your skirt in a twist, Zoey," Val chuckled. "I just called Tyrant back to his pokeball for a little rest, that's all."

Somehow, that didn't make her feel better.

"Tyrant had exerted himself quite a lot, you know, he took out three teams of pokemon! That sort of activity will get anyone tired," Val continued her explanation. Chloe wasn't amused by how easily she downplayed that her Tyranitar had taken out THREE WHOLE TEAMS OF POKEMON without even fainting himself.

"…So when you entered the fray with your Greninja and your Excadrill, I decided three was enough of a streak. But that pesky Shadow Tag ability of that Wobbuffet kept me from switching things up, so I took care of him. Now then…" Val looked over her selection of pokeballs like this was some fun little school event.

"…I wonder which pokemon I should use to deal with you…"

Uh-oh, things aren't looking good for Chloe! They managed to push back the Tyranitar, but Val's still got a whole mess of pokemon up her sleeve! Will Chloe be able to fight them all off? Or will she lose like the others did?