Vic and Alden are still fighting it out, and Vic seems to have a slight advantage now, even if she has less pokemon. But Alden's still technically in the lead. He's taken out two of her strongest pokemon with Corin, and has kept up the momentum with Eifa and Jaune as well. But this match is still anyone's game, and we can't be sure who's going to come out ahead! Remember to review!

KedharS: Yup. It's really important they stop her now, before she gets out of control.

Hyphenman: Vic would be jealous of Alden's chair because he chooses to sit on it. That may be an exaggeration, but also…

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 1113

Alden didn't react to the fact that Theo received a boost from ancientpower. It was a problem, certainly, but compared to the boosts her pokemon were receiving from harmonia it almost seemed laughable to be concerned about something like that.

"Jaune, are you alright?" He called to his Vikavolt. Jaune had taken a bit of damage from that attack, but only just a bit. He was more than prepared to keep fighting, and he let his trainer know that by fluttering his wings with a buzz and taking back to the sky.

"Should have known that wouldn't be enough to keep you down," Vic scowled. "Sunny! Target Eifa with your air slash."

"Togekiss!" Sunny nodded, flapping her wings and sending a blast of wind in Eifa's direction. The wind sharpened into powerful blades and Eifa winced as they cut into her fur, but she wasn't going to be beaten that easily.

"It'll take more than that to take us down," Alden snapped. "Eifa, use psychic on that Togekiss!"

"Espeon!" Eifa's ruby glowed and her eyes flashed red. She used her immense special attack to try and cause major damage to the flying pokemon, but unfortunately she couldn't land it. Because just as she focused her concentration, Sunny disappeared.

"Your psychic powers are strong, but they won't be enough to catch Sunny!" Vic proudly declared. "Have a taste of our extremespeed!"

"Togekiss!" Sunny reappeared behind Eifa, slamming into her back with a powerful wing, knocking Eifa forward. Eifa rolled through the dirt and leapt to her feet, her eyes flashing angrily as she tried to lock onto Sunny; but the Togekiss was just too fast for her.

"Eifa, forget Sunny for now," Alden ordered. "Jaune can handle her! I want you to focus on that Gastrodon, before he-"

Alden couldn't even finish his sentence before the ground beneath Eifa's feet erupted, and she was struck with an earth power attack that was boosted by Theo's ancientpower buff. It was a powerful move, but not one that Eifa wasn't prepared for.

"It's a good thing the sunlight is still so harsh," Rui murmured. "Theo won't be able to use his water attacks like this."

Anabel nodded in agreement, but they weren't so sure. Vic was a powerful opponent either way, and the sun was growing dimmer with every second.

"Jaune, if we want to take out Sunny, we'll need to rely on speed," Alden told his Vikavolt. "I want you to use agility to pick up the pace!"

"Vika," Jaune nodded. He flapped his wings and sped through the air, zigzagging from side to side as he closed in on Sunny.

Vic thought for just a moment. She wasn't about to burn her extremespeeds just to prove a point, and besides, there were better moves to use against the pokemon! A wicked smile spread across her lips and she turned to Sunny.

"It's your turn to use ancientpower, Sunny!" She ordered.

"Tooooo!" Sunny cried, her body glowing white. Large shiny crystals appeared around her body, and she flung them at Jaune at high speed.

"Jaune, watch out!" Alden shouted. "Double team!"

"Vikavolt!" Jaune began to move from side to side, creating multiple copies of himself. The ancient power attacks smashed through the copies, but none of them hit the real thing.

"I should have expected that," Vic smirked. "But you won't be able to dodge this! Dazzling gleam!"

"Togekiss!" The white aura around Sunny grew even brighter, until it was blinding. Beams of light shot out from her body and pierced Jaune and Eifa, knocking them backwards with the powerful rays of energy.

"Eifa! Jaune!" Alden cried. He knew that an attack like that wasn't enough to take down his pokemon, but that still didn't stop him from worrying. Luckily, when the light faded, both of them were relatively uninjured. At least for the most part. Jaune still looked healthy, but Eifa… Eifa was in pretty bad condition.

"You'll have to try better than that," he called over to Vic, whose scowl deepened.

"What a surprise," she snapped. "You're still looking down on me! Oh well! It doesn't matter, because I'm going to prove to you that my team and my skills are good enough to defeat you! Let's go, Theo, use earthquake!"

Even though there was only one target, Theo focused his energy and directed it into the ground, causing the battlefield to begin shaking. Tremors shot through the field, and Eifa was their main focus. She'd taken a lot of abuse and used two substitutes in the fight already; both Vic and Alden knew that she was holding on by just a thread.

It was sheer willpower that was driving Eifa to keep fighting, and that's why she wasn't about to give in here. She concentrated her powers and lifted herself up with her psychic powers, landing on a screen of light she was using as a platform, hovering above the battlefield.

"Nicely done, Eifa!" Alden applauded. From up there, she'd be able to avoid Theo's attacks entirely. Now she just needed to rely on her strength to defeat her opponents, and hope she could take a few more pokemon out before fainting herself.

"You're not safe!" Vic snapped. "Theo, use ice beam! Don't give her time to recover energy with morning sun!"

"Gastrodon!" Theo opened his mouth wide, and fired a beam of ice at Eifa before she could catch her breath. Luckily, Eifa had the speed to react.

"Espeon!" Eifa's ruby began glowing, and she fired a beam of rainbow-colored light from her forehead, the two energy attacks colliding.

Eifa's psychic powers had received a massive boost due to the stats she'd copied from Ellie. Because of that, her psybeam plowed right through the ice beam while barely losing any strength, hitting the pokemon behind it for massive damage. Theo let out a pained roar and slumped back, seriously injured from the attack.

"Theo, stay back for now," Vic instructed, directing her harmonia towards him. She couldn't afford to have another pokemon fall here. Eifa was a monster with that special stat, and if she didn't do something fast the Espeon would plow through her entire team. So she may not have liked it, but she didn't have any choice other than to give Theo the order to use recover.

Theo began glowing as he started to restore his health, recovering the damage from the psybeam. At the same time, Vic gave the order to Sunny to pick up the slack.

"Togekiss!" Sunny flew towards Eifa at top speed. The Espeon was starting to use morning sun in order to recover, and that would absolutely not be allowed. But Jaune flew in and got in the way, his entire body surging with electricity.

"Vikavolt!" Jaune bellowed, releasing a discharge of electricity that threw off Sunny's flight plan, the pokemon resorting to evasive maneuvers in order to dodge the shockwave. She turned past Jaune, realizing to her frustration that she was too late. As the last rays of sunlight disappeared, Eifa had nearly restored her health to full.

"Excellent work, Eifa!" Alden cheered his Espeon. Now that she was healthier, they could take some more risks. "Now, use psybeam on Theo again!"

"Espeon!" Eifa called, building up another charge of psychic energy, which she fired at the Gastodon immediately. But Vic wasn't about to let that happen.

"Not a chance!" She snapped. "Light screen!"

Theo raised his head, and a blue barrier appeared around their side of the battlefield. Eifa's psybeam slammed into the screen, which sent the psychic waves flying in every direction. There was a tiny marking on the screen, but other than that, the attack had been completely blocked.

Alden frowned. If Eifa couldn't break down the barrier with her raw power, than none of his pokemon could. That wasn't a good sign. Theo's special defense must have been immense.

Vic, feeling a renewed sense of safety, decided that this was the perfect opportunity to capitalize on her indestructibility.

"Sunny, use sky attack!" She ordered. Protected by light screen, Sunny would be safe to build up her power and prepare to unleash a strong attack with all of her strength.

At the same time, though, she wasn't blind to the fact that this would slow down her offense considerably. Sunny was the offensive pivot in this duo while Theo handled the defense, so this would open up an opportunity for Alden to set up on her, even if Theo began to attack himself.

Does it matter, though? She questioned. After all, his Espeon is already as strong as she can be. And it's not like I need to worry about her recovering even MORE health…

Still, she figured it would be for the best if she took on an offensive position. "Theo!" She ordered. "Use your muddy water!"

"Gastrodon!" Theo rose up and summoned a tidal wave of muddy water, drawing the bracken tide from the atmosphere. It was unknown how he could generate so much liquid in such an arid desert, but the attack wasn't exactly up for debate.

The tidal wave crashed down upon Eifa and Jaune. Eifa summoned a light screen to dam it off, but that would just be a stopgap against the current. And indeed, it was buckling. It soon cracked and broke under the force of the waves, even though the attack didn't end up hurting any of the pokemon involved. Alden was fine with that, though, because it gave Jaune the opportunity to make a counterattack.

"Jaune, use volt switch!" Alden ordered. Neither of his pokemon had the brute strength to break through the light screen, so he would trade places for one who did.

"Vikavolt!" Jaune shot towards Sunny, coating his body with electricity. He released it in a blast that the Togekiss shrugged off due to the light screen, and returned to his pokeball. Alden immediately switched him for Tracey.

"Cinderace!" Tracey emerged from her pokeball and took a second to get a view of the situation. She was honestly surprised that she'd been sent out under these circumstances, giving the types of the pokemon involved. She glanced at Alden, not to question his decision but just to get a feel of what was going on. Alden nodded back to her in confirmation.

"Tracey, Vic's Togekiss is building up a powerful attack," Alden warned. "Before she has a chance to use it, we need to get rid of that light screen."

"Cinder," Tracey nodded. She turned to the closer target, Theo, and used her speed to charge right towards him.

"Theo, use hydro pump!" Vic shouted.

"Gastrodon!" Theo puffed up his cheeks and fired a compressed water burst at the approaching Cinderace.

Tracey dodged to the side with her agility, avoiding the blast of water. She began to glow.

"Court change!" Alden ordered.

"Cinderace!" Tracey shouted, slapping her palm against the ground. The light that covered her shifted into the battlefield, and the stadium began to glow as well. Then, like the field was shifting itself, everything above it flipped around. The light screen that protected Vic's side of the field shifted over to Alden's side, leaving Vic's pokemon vulnerable to an attack.

Vic had seen that coming, but it's not like she could have done anything to prevent it. She clicked her tongue in frustration.

"So they stole our light screen!" She spat. "So what?! Sunny, time to show them the power you've been building up all this time!"

"Togekiss!" Sunny cried, tilting her body forward. She was glowing so brightly she was practically burning. She fell like a meteor down towards Eifa, who began to build up energy in the gem on her forehead.

"Psybeam!" Alden ordered.

"Espeon!" Eifa fired a beam of psychic energy at Sunny. The psybeam arced through the sky and struck the approaching Togekiss directly. The surge of energy building up around her was a good buffer for the psychic attack, and the barreled right through it, ignoring the damage that was inflicted to her body thanks to Vic's harmonia. She refused to let her pokemon register the pain that she was in, forcing through it with her desperation to win and show Alden what she was capable of.

"Togekiss!" Sunny crashed down upon Eifa in a massive collision, sending her flying through the air. Eifa crashed into the ground and lay there, unmoving.

"Eifa!" Alden shouted. He ignored the fact that Sunny was wide open; after taking the psybeam head-on, she'd taken some serious damage.

Alden wasn't the only one ignoring that. Vic turned her attention to Eifa as well, ignoring the state that her Togekiss was in.

"Theo, use hydro pump," she ordered. Her Gastrodon fired another massive blast of water at the prone Espeon, which slammed into the light screen. Alden was grateful that Tracey had swapped the fields, because Eifa needed all the protection she could get.

Vic knew that it would take too long for Theo to break through the barrier. Luckily, there was a way to get to her immediately with Sunny. "Extremespeed!" She ordered. Sunny shot towards Eifa, ready to strike, but Tracey threw herself in front of her.

"Cinderace!" Tracey struck Sunny with a sucker punch, but the Togekiss ignored it. She shrugged off the attack and slammed into Tracey with her wing, knocking the rabbit pokemon backwards. It was only a modest delay on her attack, and she quickly closed the gap between herself and the weakened Espeon, ready to finish her off.

But just as she was about to tackle Eifa, the Espeon's eyes snapped open and she leapt out of the way, dodging with quick attack.

"Are you serious?!" Vic spat in disbelief.

"Alright!" Anabel cheered.

"Way to go, Eifa!" Rui clapped her hands. She couldn't believe Eifa could still move like that. For a second, it was like she was watching Solaris. Eifa moved just like her husband's Espeon- or rather, just like her own mother.

"Espeon…" Eifa panted. She'd taken some serious damage from that sky attack, but was able to use her own speed to evade. A dark expression crossed Vic's face.

"You still refuse to go down, huh?" She scowled at the Espeon. "Well, fine then. We'll have to find a way to take you down once and for all! Sunny, I've had enough of that light screen, use brick break and smash through it!"

"Togekiss!" Sunny accelerated, leaning forward and smashing through the light screen as she approached Eifa. Of course, without her extremespeed, Eifa was able to easily evade the move with her own quick attack, but that was fine with Vic.

"Keep pushing yourself like that," Vic scoffed. "It won't help you win! Theo! Earth power!"

"Gastrodon!" Theo roared. As Eifa ran across the battlefield, she had to be careful to avoid the ground beneath her feet heating up and erupting. It was tricky, and she had to watch where she stepped. But that was no problem for her, even if she was starting to tire.

"…She's slowing down," Rui murmured. It was hard to tell if you didn't know what signs to look for, and to be frank, Rui didn't. But what she could feel waves of fatigue coming off that Espeon with her harmonia.

It wasn't like Eifa was some machine designed for pokemon battles. Not counting the battle with Anabel that she'd just barely escaped intact, she'd fought against two of Vic's strongest pokemon and was pushed to the brink of defeat several times, only managing to survive through quick thinking and the boost of morning sun. Now she was facing two more strong pokemon, and being targeted once again. It was no wonder that she was exhausted; any normal pokemon would have probably passed out by this point.

Vic could tell that too, and it was starting to frustrate her. She'd always admired the Commander for how loyal his pokemon were, willing to push themselves further than any normal pokemon would for the sake of their trainer. Alden didn't have harmonia, but sometimes it felt like he had a stronger bond with his pokemon than even Vic!

It was annoying to be on the receiving end of it, though.

"Eifa," Vic shouted, startling the Espeon. Eifa swung her head around to stare at Vic, wondering why the other girl was bothering to address her directly during the battle.

"Espeon?" She asked. She wasn't about to risk connecting to Vic's harmonia, but she was still curious about what Vic wanted from her.

"Tell me… why is it you keep trying so hard for him?" She asked quietly. "You know as well as I do the type of person he is. He might appreciate your efforts in battle, but for people like me… have you forgotten me already?"

For Vic, the way Alden had treated her over the years was proof that he was taking her for granted. She wanted to finally overcome him, prove she was better than him, and then, ultimately, make him hers forever.

But Eifa had been with them through all of that. After all, she had originally been Vic's pokemon. Even though she belonged to someone else now, Vic had always felt like the two of them still had a bond that went beyond their current state.

So it confused her why Eifa was fighting so hard for Alden now. The only way she could make it make sense was assuming that Eifa now cared more about Alden's desire to ignore her than she did about Vic herself. And that thought hurt her.

Alden raised his eyebrow, surprised. "Are you really asking that?"

Vic's tender expression soured and she clenched her fist. "So what if I am?! You've always taken me for granted and treated me like I was just some tool, a loyal puppet on a string, and now that I'm finally fighting back, you expect me to just not question why my old pokemon is helping you?"

"If you thought about it, then you'd know that the answer is fairly obvious," Alden said, shrugging. "Don't you think, Eifa?"

"Espeon," Eifa nodded. Her eyes were gleaming with passion.

"The reason Eifa refuses to fall is because she wants to help until the end, until you're safely brought back to us," Alden replied. "Right now, the two of us are on the same page. We're going to break whatever hold Samarra has over you, Vic, and bring you back."

Nicely said, Alden. Hopefully, he and Eifa can snap her out of this and help her! But Samarra's hold is really strong, it might not be easy for them to get Vic free. But if Alden can't get through to Vic with his words, I'm sure he'll be able to get through to her with a pokemon battle! In the end, it makes sense that the Commander would rely on fighting to help his friend!