Dokukage has managed to take a quick lead in his match with Keahi using the power of bullshitting, but that probably won't be enough to get him to the finish line. In the meantime, Keahi has been preparing for a rematch with Dokukage, and he's definitely learned a thing or two since their last battle. Will Dokukage have what it takes to overcome Keahi and his Steel types? Even if they weren't Shadow Pokemon, it's still not a good matchup for him.

KedharS: It's a pretty big part of his character.

Arbiter8991: We're going to go into a little more depth with that in this chapter. Harmonia isn't working the way it's supposed to, after all, or else Keahi WOULD have been able to keep his Doublade from falling asleep.

Just a Bad Writer for Fun: Yep, he's a lot of fun. Especially writing him. There's something about a guy who's a complete bullshitter trying to seem like he knows what he's doing that I just find hilarious to write about.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 1153

Samarra was having a bit more trouble with Keahi than she would have liked. One of the best parts of working with her friends was the fact that she could connect to them with her harmonia and increase the performance of their pokemon. But she was having trouble doing that with Keahi's pokemon, and with Lana's Corviknight, for that matter.

I can still connect with them… but it doesn't seem to be doing anything, Samarra noted. Previously, she'd tried to keep Keahi's Doublade awake by bonding with it, something that should have been possible. But not only was she unable to wake the pokemon up, she didn't even feel sleepy the way she should have due to the connection.

It was like there was a wall there. A barrier of some kind between she and Keahi, and his pokemon. Looking back through his thoughts, she realized that this must have been because his Pokemon were Shadow Pokemon. What had been done to them had closed their hearts off from him and made them incapable of forming the type of bond needed for harmonia to work correctly.

I see… what an intriguing idea. This "bond" necessary for harmonia… is that what it is? Samarra had never considered that possibility before, because with her powers she'd never needed to truly connect to anyone. With just a touch she could become someone's friend, so the need for anything more seemed unusual to her. But it couldn't be denied that even her power had limits, and apparently that limit was connecting with Shadow Pokemon.

She wasn't bothered by it, though. Creating pokemon that could be perfectly controlled and used as weapons was definitely an interesting field of exploration, and she could see the merits. Keahi didn't have harmonia before she came along, after all.

So it wasn't like those bonds were necessary before now.

Well. I suppose I must credit whoever came up with such an ingenious idea. Samarra lacked the capacity for understanding what real connection was, so she failed to see anything wrong with what Valon and Keahi were doing. Either way, it had nothing to do with her own goals. She wasn't looking to make friends with pokemon. All of her friends were humans.

But more importantly than that, battles were happening, and she needed to focus on them.

"Go, Papa," Keahi said, sending out a pokemon that was basically just a car. At least, that's what Dokukage saw, anyway. Four wheels, a metal chassis, the only thing telling him it was a pokemon was the single eyeball on the front and the large tongue flopping out of the engine block.

"Reeev!" The car pokemon roared, making a sound like an engine motor firing up.

"This is Papa, my Revavroom," Keahi said, introducing his pokemon. "You didn't get a chance to meet her before, but when it comes to speed, she's more than a match for your pokemon!"

Dokukage needed a second to process that. "That car… is a female?" Could cars even have genders? "…Wait, if it's female, why would you name it 'Papa'?" Dokukage didn't know a lot about the world beyond his village, but even he knew that didn't sound quite right.

Keahi made a sour expression. "It's short for Papahanaumoka, the name of a goddess, you philistine!" He growled.

Dokukage didn't really have a reply to that.

It's certainly a Steel type, judging by that metal body… and considering all those exhaust fumes spewing out of that engine, it's probably a Poison type as well… that's a rather frustrating combination to have to deal with.

"Kagerou, use spikes!" Dokukage ordered. If Keahi was going to bring a car out into this fight, then he was going to regret it.

"Accelgor!" Kagerou opened the folds on his skin and a wave of sharp barbs flew out, covering Keahi's side of the field in caltrops.

"A true shinobi takes advantage of their environment," Dokukage stated. "Enjoy."

Keahi smirked. "How pathetic. Taking advantage of your environment? The only thing that matters is overwhelming your obstacles with careful planning and overwhelming power. Who cares about the 'environment'?"

"…Certainly not you, judging by the fact you'd bring a pokemon like that to a place like this," Dokukage dryly noted.

Keahi's eye twitched. "That's not what I meant!" He snapped. "I mean… the terrain! Just watch, Papa won't care one bit about your 'spikes'! Magnet rise!"

"Revavroom!" Magnetic energy surged through Papa's frame, and she slowly levitated over the field of spikes.

"Flying cars now?" Dokukage was completely taken aback. But he couldn't let his shock appear on the surface so he kept the emotion from leaking into his voice. "Fine then. Kagerou, use water shuriken," he ordered.

"Accel!" Kagerou prepared several blades of water and sent them spinning for the car, which was somehow driving towards him on thin air.

Keahi smirked. He didn't care one bit that his pokemon was being barraged by shuriken, even though the water damage would absolutely TRASH the resale value at any dealership. He had more important things to worry about.

"Papa, use acid spray!"

"Revavroom!" The engine opened up and Papa sent a wave of acid flying towards Kagerou. Dokukage gasped, immediately understanding what that meant.

"Kagerou, use agility to dodge!" He ordered. His Accelgor was already absurdly fast, but he wasn't about to let that acid touch him. Kagerou was practically a blur as he evaded the poison, which sunk into the grass instead.

"Ah, it seems you're not so blind as to the benefit of a move like that," Keahi smirked.

"…Of course not," Dokukage said, narrowing his eyes. Acid spray was a risky move for any of his pokemon to be on the receiving end of. When it hit, the special qualities of the acid would drastically reduce the special defense of his pokemon. And Dokukage's baton pass strategy would pass those reductions onto the next pokemon as well!

It was an insidious move that was an excellent counter for Dokukage's strategy. Keahi wasn't lying when he said he'd been prepared.

"That's not all we've got up our sleeve either," Keahi promised. "Papa! Use taunt!"

…SHIT! Dokukage had to bite his tongue to keep from screaming that out loud.

Of all the moves that had the potential to completely destroy Dokukage's strategy, the most potent of them all was taunt. By using taunt, Keahi made it so that Dokukage would have to use attacking moves, so no more status moves. Which meant that Dokukage's pokemon couldn't buff themselves anymore, and even more problematically, it meant that baton pass was off the table.

All the work Dokukage had put into boosting Kagerou's stats was worthless now, as he wouldn't be able to pass them onto any pokemon more suited for combat.

"Vroom! Revavroom!" Papa cackled, goading Kagerou to fight. And as much as Dokukage wished he wouldn't, the Accelgor had no choice but to take up the challenge.

"Accelgor!" Kagerou shouted, preparing more water shuriken to besiege his hovering foe. It was one of the only things he COULD do.

"Nicely done, Papa!" Keahi praised his Revavroom. He didn't even care that the pokemon was being hit by water shuriken, as far as he was concerned, this game was already over. It helped that Papa seemed completely undaunted by the shuriken as well. Dokukage wasn't surprised, either. Kagerou might have a good special attack stat, but Dokukage had trained him to provide support, not finish off opponents himself.

"Now Dokukage, here's a move that I think you especially should be able to appreciate," Keahi said. "Shift gear!"

"Reeeeeeev!" Papa let out a roar as her engines revved up with a pop and a crackle, boosting her stats considerably.

"What you're looking at is my pokemon shifting to a higher gear," Keahi explained. "Papa's speed has risen by two stages and her attack has increased as well."

Are you fucking kidding me?! There's a move like that?! That's even better than dragon dance! Dokukage was completely taken aback. Is shit like this normal with cars?! Damn it, I knew our village should have more experience with the more mechanically-inclined pokemon!

He didn't have much choice, he had to hamper that Revavroom somehow. But that was easier said than done. He couldn't use Kagerou's mud shot attack due to the magnet rise, even though Ground type moves would be super-effective against that type combination. By Dokukage's estimate, that left the Fire type as Papa's only weakness.

And that wasn't exactly a type he was familiar with using, for obvious reasons.

"Now, Papa, let's make him hurt!" Keahi shouted. The preparations were complete and he was ready to really start tearing Dokukage apart now. "Use shadow break!"

"Revavroom!" Black smoke joined the exhaust leaking out of Papa, covering her in an aura of shadows as she drove at top speed towards Kagerou.

"And this time, you won't be getting away with a substitute," Keahi promised.

"Wasn't planning on it," Dokukage assured his foe as he cursed and screamed internally. There was one move he could consider, but there was a low chance of success. "Kagerou, dodge and use u-turn to come back!"

"Accelgor!" Thankfully, Kagerou was nothing if not fast. The Accelgor still had the speed to outpace the charging vehicle, and he darted swiftly around the Revavroom as she crashed towards the ground. Leaping up, he slammed into Papa's side, but bounced off of the reflect barrier that was still up. It didn't matter though, Dokukage knew an attack like that would do almost nothing. A Steel/Poison type pokemon was the perfect combination for resisting Bug type moves.

More importantly, he'd given Kagerou an avenue for escaping back to his pokeball, which was what he'd been planning in the first place.

"Running away already, huh?" Keahi smirked. "Looks like all that time you spent building up your pokemon has gone to waste! I'm so sorry to hear that," he said, his expression showing that he was anything but sorry.

"You don't need to worry," Dokukage assured him. "Kagemusha, come back out."

"Golisopod," Kagemusha hissed, emerging from his pokeball. He raised his claws and clashed them against each other in preparation for the attack.

"First impression!" Dokukage ordered Kagemusha to start like always. The hulking bug shot across the field and slashed down at Papa with his claws, only to have it go the same way as it had with Kagerou before. His strike bounced harmlessly off the reflect as Papa cackled.

"What a waste," Keahi laughed along with his Revavroom. "You had the initiative, and you used it on a move like that? Even without reflect that would have done shit!"

The reason Dokukage had Kagemusha use first impression was so that his pokemon could get in close to the Revavroom, but he saw no need to reveal that fact. Knowing Keahi, the arrogant trainer would probably use…

"Taunt!" Keahi ordered.

…Exactly as planned. Dokukage was glad that Keahi was so predictable. He thought he had a winning strategy so he was going to hammer it until Dokukage broke. Never mind the fact that Kagemusha couldn't even learn baton pass in the first place.

As Papa laughed and jeered, Kagemusha grew more irate. It didn't help that Keahi was throwing some taunts of his own in there as well.

"With this, now you can only attack!" Keahi laughed.

"Good, we were planning on it," Dokukage said. "Brick break!"

"Gooooool!" Kagemusha wound back his arm and jammed his claw forward, smashing through the reflect and striking the hovering Revavroom directly.

"Revavroom!" Papa cried in pain. Kagemusha's claws had punched large dents into her body, and she quickly rolled back to put some distance between the two of them.

"Don't let her get away," Dokukage ordered. "Use rock tomb!"

"Gol!" Kagemusha jammed his claws into the ground, and a large rock shot up, entombing the fleeing car in rock.

"With that, her speed's been reduced," Dokukage said. "It's a start at least."

"But your attack didn't even hurt!" Keahi said. "Take a look!"

"Revavroom!" Papa plowed through the rock tomb, practically uninjured. Her body was shining brightly like she'd just been detailed.

"Using iron defense, we've increased Papa's defenses considerably," Keahi laughed. "I'm sure you're familiar with that!"

"…Indeed," Dokukage said, narrowing his eyes. So that's his game, huh? He's going to keep showing off how he can pile stat buffs on his pokemon? Well, I can't say I blame him for the tactic, but the way he keeps rubbing it in… asshole.

Indeed, Keahi was a very unpleasant person.

Fortunately, Dokukage had plans of his own. He wasn't dependent on physical attacks because he had a diverse party. And he was fairly certain that, at least, a pokemon like that couldn't learn baton pass. At least he hoped so.

"Kagemusha, use muddy water," Dokukage ordered.

"Golisopod!" Kagemusha raised his claws, sending a wave of bracken water rolling towards Papa. The tidal wave hit the charging car, covering her new shiny coat in mud and dirt, much to the Revavroom's irritation.

"REVAVROOM!" Papa roared in frustration, picking up speed.

"Shadow break!" Keahi ordered.

The shadow-covered car missed Kagemusha by mile, though, due to the mud clinging to her single eye. She rolled right past him and skidded to a stop in the air, turning back to make a second pass.

But Kagemusha was already gone.

Just because he didn't know baton pass, that didn't mean Dokukage was foolish enough to leave his pokemon in a battle that he had a disadvantage in. He swiftly recalled Kagemusha back through conventional means, and switched to his next pokemon.

"Ame, take care of this," Dokukage ordered, sending his Masquerain back out. The intimidating look of her wings reduced Papa's attack back down to its normal level.

"No matter how many of these pesky bugs you send out, it won't make a difference," Keahi growled. "Papa, use taunt!"

"Revavroom!" Papa tried taunting the Masquerain the same way she'd taunted Kagerou and Kagemusha. But staring at the mud-covered car thrashing about as she tried to goad a foe she couldn't even see didn't make Ame particularly upset. It made her want to laugh.

"With your accuracy reduced, your taunt failed," Dokukage said. "Now, Ame, use whirlwind!"

"Masquerain!" Ame flapped her wings and created a powerful gust. The blast of wind was so powerful it could actually push the hovering car back, all the way back to her pokeball!

"Seriously?!" With a growl, Keahi was forced to recall his Revavroom and send out someone else to take her place.

"You were stacking buffs like crazy," Dokukage said plainly. "It would only get more difficult to deal with your Revavroom in the long run. Or did you think I was the sort of fool who had no idea how to combat my own tactics?"

But as confident as Dokukage appeared on the surface, inside he was sweating. It was really fucking lucky that Ame hadn't fallen for the taunt, there was a WAY better chance of the move working, forcing Dokukage to recall her and try all over again.

Keahi had more than enough pokemon to keep up the offensive, though.

"Haikili, go," he said, sending out his Magnezone. The magnet pokemon hovered over the battlefield with the benefit of magnetic force the same way as Papa had.

Yet for some reason, the spikes still hurt them. Dokukage wasn't sure how that worked, but he wasn't about to complain.

"Haikili, use thunder wave," Keahi ordered his Magnezone.

"Magnezone!" Haikili buzzed, building up an electrical current in their magnets. They released it in a shockwave that tried to paralyze the hovering bug.

"Ame, dodge it with your quiver dance," Dokukage swiftly ordered.

"Masquerain!" Ame nodded. She tumbled through the sky, easily turning out of the way of the shockwave as she made swift and precise movements, increasing her speed and special stats. The attack had no chance of hitting such a fast pokemon.

"Nicely done," Dokukage congratulated his pokemon. He was relieved. There had been a bit of trouble before, but now it looked like things could go right back to how they were before.

Keahi smirked. "Of course you could dodge that. But it won't be as simple as you're thinking!" He promised Dokukage. "Haikili, use flash!"

"Magnezone!" Haikili buzzed, releasing a flash of light so bright it blinded Ame and Dokukage, greatly reducing the bug pokemon's accuracy.

Shit… Dokukage cursed internally. He knew that was going to be really bad.

Well, Dokukage's certainly putting up a good fight against Keahi's Steel types! Even though Keahi's prepared countermeasures to deal with the baton pass strategy, Dokukage has some techniques of his own to mitigate them! It seems he wasn't just bluffing back when he told Keahi he'd been getting prepared! The question is, can his preparations hold a candle to Keahi's or not?