Ange has pulled out her latest trump card! Using Agile Style and Strong Style, her Zoroark has renewed flexibility in fighting against Corin! Alden finds himself pressured again- will he be able to pull another trick out of his ass to defeat her? Or will Ange validate her worldview with her claim that weakness is a sin? Hopefully Alden can do something to discourage that line of thinking!

KedharS: That's a good way to look at it. Ange is certainly thinking about the battle that way.

Hyphenman: It's not exactly hypocrisy. The way Ange sees it, teaming up with others isn't weak, because pokemon hunt in packs. So as long as one of her pokemon is still standing, she'd be able to protect the rest, so it's not quite a loss yet.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 1129

"Lucario!" Corin raised her arms to protect herself against the shadow ball as it collided with her. The attack exploded in a blast of devastating spectral power, knocking her over. She picked herself up off the ground, injured, and glared at the Zoroark. It was a stronger shadow ball than she'd ever experienced before.

"That was… 'Strong Style'," Ange murmured. Her body felt tingly. "I've never used it with harmonia before. The effects are quite… well."

"Zoroark," Luci winced. Her body felt heavy and sluggish, which provided Corin with the perfect opportunity to strike.

"Corin!" Alden shouted. "Use dark pulse!" Ange's Zoroark was a Ghost/Normal type. The only moves that were super-effective against her were Dark type movs.

"Lucario!" Corin nodded, raising her palm and gathering dark energy in her paw. She fired the aura in a blast of energy, slamming into the stunned Zoroark for massive damage.

"Yes! That one had to hurt!" Rui cheered. "Who needs 'Strong Style' or 'Agile Style', Corin's got a style all her own!"

"Yes, but Ange knew that would probably happen," Anabel reminded her. "She knows everything Corin is capable of, and even so she still used that 'Strong Style' and gave Corin an opening. She must know it wouldn't be enough."

"Zoroark!" Luci roared, her snarl proving Anabel's thesis.

"That counts as a scratch," Ange said. "Now we'll show you one of the real benefits of Move Mastery! Luci, use confuse ray!"

"Zoroark!" Luci's eyes flashed red and an orb of ghostly energy floated ominously across the battlefield, zigzagging erratically and confounding Corin's eyes.

"Ah! I didn't even think of that!" Vic gasped. "With that 'Agile Style' she can use status moves at an increased speed! And it doesn't matter that they're weaker, because they don't rely on power to be devastating!"

"Lucario…" Corin's vision swam and when she tried to sense Luci's position with her aura, her senses were overwhelmed with confounding data.

Ange smirked. "That's just what we were counting on! She can't think of what to do!" It didn't matter that the confusion would wear off much faster, it was enough to slow the Lucario down. And now Luci could seize the advantage. "Now, taunt!"

"Zoroark!" The arrogant Luci cackled, beckoning to Corin. Confused, Corin was enraged by the gesture, forgoing strategy to charge at the Zoroark.

"Shadow sneak," Ange followed. As Corin swung with her bone staff, missing by a mile due to confusion, Luci sunk into the shadows and shot forward, catching Corin from behind. The Lucario tumbled forward, injured by the attack.

"Corin!" Alden cried, concerned for his Lucario. She pulled herself up, panting, and shook away the confusion. Which gave her just enough time to dodge the incoming shadow tendrils with her quick attack.

She wasn't about to risk an attack reduction.

"You can dodge all you like, but it won't matter," Ange promised. "Your Lucario is strong, Alden, I'll admit that. She's one of the strongest pokemon I've ever faced. But compared to Luci and I, she's still weak and soft. A pokemon raised in this world, not one who had to withstand the harshness of the past. That weakness is unforgivable, and it's why you'll lose! Luci, nasty plot!"

"Zoroark!" Luci hissed, her mind going wild with malevolent thoughts. She boosted her special attack and roared at the Lucario, charging at her in a rage.

"You keep talking about how weak we are," Alden growled. "But you don't know the first thing about Corin! She's not weak whatsoever! Corin, use bullet punch!"

"Lucario!" Corin shot forward like a bullet, unleashing a barrage of swift punches that hit Luci hard in the face. Luci cried in pain and stumbled back, but she refused to fall. Red and black aura twisted around her and she roared in pain.

"I see that you refuse to accept reality!" Ange snapped, narrowing her eyes. "Well it doesn't matter! Luci and I will defeat you by force, and make you see just how wrong you really are! Battling for 'fun'?! Don't make me laugh! Real fights, the ones that matter, are struggles for survival! It doesn't matter if you have 'fun' or 'did your best'! Victory is all that matters! Weakness is a sin!"

"ZOROARK!" Luci roared in agreement. A burst of flames erupted from her throat, billowing towards Corin.

"Lucario!" Corin raised her paws and formed a staff from her aura. With a flick of her wrist she spun the aura staff, creating a fan of air that pushed back the flames and created an air pocket for her to stand safely inside. When the attack ceased, Corin leapt into the air with her paws raised, dark energy pulsing between them.

"Dark pulse!" Alden shouted. Corin unleashed the shockwave in a compressed beam of malicious energy aimed straight at Luci. But the Zoroark was too fast to hit. She evaded with agility, turning into a blur that was hard to see against the white of the Battle Tower stadium. The only way to follow her were the streaks of red in the air.

Luci took Corin by the back and raised her claw, ghostly energy swirling through it. She swung her shadow claw at Luci from behind, but it wasn't that easy to catch the Lucario off guard. Her aura sensors twitched and she stepped forward, ducking under the swipe, and spun on her heel to send the tip of her long staff up into Luci's throat.

"Zor!" Luci hopped back, just barely avoiding the attack as she fired a shadow ball. It wasn't a 'Strong Style' or an 'Agile Style' but a normal shadow ball, and it hit Corin hard in the side, sending her tumbling to the ground.

"That's… for the bullet punch…" Ange gasped out, struggling to catch her breath. She narrowed her eyes into a cold glare. "You won't win, Commander. Because our will is stronger than yours! Luci… she's stronger than you. She's my pride and joy."

"Zoroark," Luci said, standing proudly ahead of Ange. Her mane billowed in the harsh winds of the tower.

Of all her pokemon, Ange had worked the hardest on Luci. Through their training and dedication she had mastered every style of every move she knew, something the Zoroark herself took immense pride in. And that was just the start of it. There were so many other things she was proud of her pokemon for, she couldn't even begin to count them.

But most of all was the fact that Luci was her strongest pokemon. And her first.

Eight years ago, Hisui Region

Ange was cold. She was so cold that she could hardly move. She crawled through the snow, because she was too cold to feel her legs. And as her fingers scraped against the icy ground, she feared that she would lose them.

A ten year old girl shouldn't experience something this horrible. She sniffled and cried. But silently. She was too injured for the words to come out.

The icy wasteland that she found herself in was called the Alabaster Icelands, and it was aptly named. Within this blizzard, all Ange could see was white. But she didn't know this, of course. Not an hour ago she was asleep and warm in her bed. Then a pokemon spoke to her in a dream, and she found herself here.

Was this a dream? No, it couldn't be. A dream couldn't hurt this badly. If it was a dream? Why did the Sneasel look so different, not at all like the ones she'd read about? Why had they attacked her when she got close? That never happened in her dreams, the pokemon were always kind and friendly. In her dreams, when wild pokemon attacked her, she would just wake up. Instead, she found herself bleeding into the snow, cut open by their savage claws. She was acutely aware that her life had reached its end, and she didn't even have the strength to go on.

Standing over her was the pokemon who had defeated the Sneasel. Torn them apart without hesitation. But it was no savior. It was just a Mamoswine, and it had attacked because the Sneasel had gotten in its way. It stared down at her with eyes that glowed red, and stomped forward.

Ange closed her eyes and feared the worst. Blood filled her mouth as she pathetically whimpered for the professor.

Then the ground began to shake, and the snow beneath her split open and the icelands swallowed her whole.

Once again Ange thought she was going to die as she plummeted through the icy cave. But no. She landed on a bed of soft snow that saved her life, but did nothing to help her further. She struggled to keep going but she couldn't.

"Rrrrr…"

A savage growl made Ange's eyes snap open. She could see only darkness, so she raised her head to squint at the icy walls. Red was reflected across them like blood splashed over a hall of mirrors. She swallowed, only to find that doing so hurt. Then she coughed up blood.

The red shadows shifted and a pokemon stepped into clarity, glaring down at her. Yet another pokemon. And while this one wasn't as large as the towering Mamoswine, it looked far more savage than the hulking beast. And this pokemon's red eyes stared at her with more than just irritation.

Ange was a sheltered girl. She knew very little about the evils of the modern world at this point in her life.

But she knew what hatred looked like. And this pokemon was staring at her with a hatred more pure than any she'd ever seen.

"Zoroark…" So that was the pokemon's name! The beast snarled it as it approached, its sharp claws glistening in the dim light.

"H-Hel…" What was she trying to say? "Hello"? "Help"? Years later, Ange would look back at that moment and admit that she wasn't sure even now. Whether a plea or a greeting, however, what she was sure of was the uselessness of her words.

The Zoroark wanted to kill her. That was plain to see. And she couldn't do anything to discourage it, either.

Ange didn't have harmonia. The power she was using now to fight the Commander was something she'd been loaned from Samarra. She couldn't hear the voices of pokemon, no matter how badly she wished she could.

But in that moment, her thoughts and the Zoroark's were one. As the pokemon glared hatefully down at her, she saw it all. The way humans had driven out her pack because they were thought of as evil, malicious spirits. They had once lived in warmer areas. But the humans had driven them out, further and further north, until their fur turned grey and white and their bodies began to grow emaciated from the climate.

One by one, they had all died. Died and been forgotten, due to the humans. And she had been the last to die, long after her own children, cursing this wretched place and dying with her thoughts filled with rage at the humans.

Ange could feel that rage. It surged through her, infusing every corner of her body as she thought about how horrid the humans treated pokemon like her. Tears rolled down her eyes and she began to sob, knowing that she deserved this.

"…Do it…" She gasped out, her throat raw with blood. "I… deserve it…"

She knew nothing of this Zoroark's suffering before now. In the history books she'd read with the professor, it mentioned how humans settled further north in the early days of the Sinnoh Region. But nothing had told her that this was a native pokemon. That humans had driven the species into harsher and harsher climates for their own selfish needs, until the entire race had died off.

Maybe this was why Arceus had brought her back. So she could die as penance for the horrid treatment humans had put pokemon through.

As the snow wet itself with tears and blood Ange drifted into unconsciousness, her last waking thought being about the approaching Zoroark, and hoping that at least her death would be swift and as painless as possible.

Needless to say, she didn't expect her eyes to ever open again. But they had.

"Wh-Wha…?" She asked, looking around. She wasn't in the wasteland anymore, she was in a big tent. A woman was crouched over her, tending to her wounds. She had red hair that ended in a spike atop her head, and her eyes were wide with shock.

"You're alive?!" She sputtered, falling backwards and dropping the healing salve she'd just been applying to Ange's wounds.

"Uh… whe-where am I? Was I…?" Her memories flooded back to her. So it had all been a dream after all, there hadn't been anything to worry about. She sighed in relief.

Then she realized that while she may have woken up in bed, it wasn't HER bed. And the injuries from her wounds still stung.

"Where am I?!" She demanded again, a little more forcefully now that she knew that she was definitely not back home. She frantically looked around. She tried to get out of bed but the stab of pain in her ribs nearly knocked her over.

"Careful! Don't get up yet!" The redhead had finally regained her composure and rushed over to the bed. Ange took a better look at her. She was pretty, a few years older than her, and wore a thick blue jacket and long orange leggings. Perfect for the cold weather.

She also wore a relieved smile.

"I'm so glad you're alright," the woman sighed. She introduced herself. "My name is Arezu. I'm from the Diamond Clan. This is our village."

"I was… the snow…" Ange struggled to remember what had happened to her.

"Yes, it's quite cold out there," Arezu said, glancing out the flap of her tent. "I can't believe you survived out in that blizzard! You had acute hypothermia, it's a miracle you're still alive!"

Then she scowled. "What were you thinking?" She demanded. "Going out there in this weather?! Do you have any idea what could have happened? You people from Jubilife don't know anything! We've warned you not to take nature so lightly!"

"Jubilife? What?" Ange knew about Jubilife City, she'd gone there with the professor once. But somehow she didn't think that was where the girl was thinking.

Arezu sighed, scratching her head. "I'm astounded myself. I thought for sure you would die."

"So you… rescued me?" Ange asked, still trying to put the pieces together.

Arezu blinked, surprised. She shook her head. "No, I just patched you up. It was your pokemon partner that brought you here."

"Pokemon… partner?" It was Ange's turn to be confused. She didn't have a pokemon partner. She might have been ten, but she hadn't gotten one from the professor yet.

"Isn't that her, over there?" Arezu asked, pointing over Ange's shoulder. Ange whirled around and her jaw dropped. It was the pokemon from before, curled up before the fire, slumbering gently away.

Arezu continued to explain. "I've gotta say, it caused quite a stir, an Alpha Pokemon walking into our village like that with a little girl in her arms. You must be something, befriending a pokemon like that at your age!"

Ange stared at the Zoroark, still numb, still confused, and wondering why she would ever do such a thing.

Ange's thoughts returned to the present. It had all been elementary from there. She and Luci had worked together to survive in the wilderness, and catch other pokemon. For whatever reason, the Zoroark had chosen to spare her that day. Maybe because she could sense the loathing sprouting up in Ange's chest, or maybe it was just an odd act of mercy. Now that she could feel Luci's thoughts, maybe she could know now. But she wouldn't impose on the pokemon.

It no longer mattered. The only thing that mattered was Ange's victory.

"Luci!" She shouted, concentrating her harmonia and directing it to her pokemon. "Tear her apart! Use bitter malice!"

"Zoroark!" Luci roared, crimson energy surging through her as she sent her aura into the shadows, causing them to dance around her. A chilling, bitter wind surged through the air, casting the entire battlefield in cold.

"The part of Hisui that Luci hails from… was a cold winter wasteland," Ange said thoughtfully. She mused on the day she first met her beloved Zoroark. "The winter chill has been infused in her very soul. Now she strikes with darkness. Like this!"

Luci swung her arms forward and sent slashing blades of ghostly energy towards Corin, and now the Lucario couldn't use detect to evade it. She lifted her staff and swung it at the shadows, trying to deflect the attack as best as she could. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't block them all, all she could do was hold on.

The shadows pierced her and chilled her to the very bone. She let out a pained cry and fell to her knees as the strength was drained out of her, and ice slowly began to crawl up her body.

"Corin!" Alden cried out in shock. What was that move?! Corin was frozen solid! But only Ice type moves should be able to freeze a pokemon!

"Bitter malice is a unique move," Ange said, a smug grin that mirrored her Zoroark's crossing her face. "It's a Ghost type move, but it carries with it the chill of winter that freezes the opponent to the bone, as you saw right here."

"A Ghost type move that can freeze pokemon?!" Rui was stunned. She couldn't imagine such a thing being possible. It just didn't seem real!

"Alden…" Vic was shocked, staring at the Commander. His Lucario was completely frozen solid, and she couldn't break free. This was like her worst nightmare.

Vic quickly shook her head. No, he would find a way out of this! They both would. They had to win, they just had to!

"Corin!" Alden shouted to his frozen Lucario, but his words fell on deaf ears.

Ange sighed as Luci approached the frozen Lucario.

"I suppose that like this, even if your Lucario happens to be frozen solid and can't fight anymore, that's not the same as actually winning, is it? We'll have to prepare an attack that will unquestionably be enough to defeat her. So let's go, Luci, prepare a shadow ball… the most powerful 'Strong Style' that you can!"

"Zoroark!" Luci roared, opening her mouth wide and creating a massive orb of ghostly power that dwarfed her in size. She fired it at the frozen Lucario; a single hit from an attack like that would be enough to defeat her.

So we got a bit of a peak into Ange's past, and saw how she befriended her first pokemon! It was from that Zoroark that Ange's loathing for humanity developed, and now here they are, centuries in the future, dealing with the problems of the modern day. Can Alden stand up to such raw hatred? Or will he find himself overwhelmed by the duo's brutal savagery?