Dokukage and Keahi are fighting a battle similar to the one with Chloe and Ian, where one opponent has prepared considerably for how to beat the other. But neither trainer seems to have the upper hand just yet. This battle is definitely getting exciting, though. Will Keahi's strategy for overcoming Dokukage's baton pass manage to turn the tables? Or will Dokukage manage to overwhelm him with his village's signature fighting style?

Hyphenman: Yeah, that's definitely something you can count on Dokukage for, his battles are pretty entertaining.

KedharS: If you haven't noticed from their last few exchanges, Dokukage and his sister don't exactly get along very well.

Just a Bad Writer for Fun: Yeah, I was irritated because those "Torque" moves have infinite PP, and I couldn't inflict status conditions either. Which meant I couldn't poison them, and with a team revolving around setting poison and then using venoshock, well… it wasn't a lot of fun.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 1154

The battle between Dokukage and Keahi had been quite a back and forth, and neither trainer had been able to seize a decisive victory. Dokukage wasn't worried at the moment, but that wasn't to say that he was feeling confident either. This could still turn out bad.

The accuracy drop from Haikili's flash attack was a problem, in particular. A really big problem. Because Dokukage couldn't pick and choose what stat adjustments he passed onto his pokemon with baton pass, any loss of accuracy would be passed on as well.

There was no way he was going to let that happen.

And luckily, of all his pokemon, Ame was uniquely equipped to handle exactly this scenario.

"Ame, use mist," Dokukage ordered.

"Masquerain!" Ame nodded, flapping her wings. A dense white fog spread across the battlefield, surrounding both pokemon.

"What kind of trick is this?!" Keahi demanded, spinning his head around to look at the thick fog. In all his years as a pokemon trainer and researcher he'd never seen a move like this used before. He didn't even know what it was! "Whatever, it doesn't matter! Haikili, use flash again!"

"Magnezone!" Haikili buzzed, releasing a flash of light. But the flash barely went anywhere in the watery mist, which acted as a protective shield for Ame.

"The thick mist my Masquerain creates has a very special property," Dokukage explained. "It protects the stats of my pokemon from being lowered. That means no more accuracy drops from flash, or if you tried to decrease our attacking power with an Intimidate ability, or even the effects of paralysis. You can't drop them."

"That's…" Keahi was stunned. He had to rethink his entire strategy now!

"I've said it multiple times, you just refuse to listen," Dokukage said, shaking his head. "I've faced many opponents who've tried to overcome my strategy. These are the techniques I learned to combat those tactics."

For once, he wasn't bullshitting. He'd allowed Ame to learn mist and haze as a Surskit explicitly for this purpose, and he was proud that she was making full of use of the attacks now. There was still the problem of the accuracy drop from the previous flash, since mist didn't reset the stats like haze did, but that was something he could take care of no problem.

"Sweet scent, Ame," he ordered, and a sweet aroma began wafting through the battlefield. Even though Haikili lacked a nose, they were still affected by the aroma, and their evasion fell. After all, mist only affected Dokukage's side of the field, Keahi's pokemon were still susceptible.

Keahi was beginning to get angry. "You think my preparations are all useless, huh? Well, let's see what you think after this! Haikili, shock wave!"

"Magnezone!" Haikili built up a current of electricity in their magnets and released it in a shockwave at Ame. Ame couldn't avoid the attack due to the shock wave's speed and Haikili's targeting, and she ended up taking a direct hit.

"Masquerain!" Ame wailed.

"It's okay, Ame, you're fine," Dokukage urged his pokemon. "Now use quiver dance again!"

"Masqu!" Ame nodded, fluttering through the sky and increasing her stats even more. It was a necessary strategy on Dokukage's part. That Magnezone was a special attacker, so if he could keep pumping up Ame's special defense with quiver dance, eventually she would get strong enough where she could withstand even the super-effective Shadow Moves decently.

Keahi could see where this was going himself, and he wanted no part in it. "Haikili, use light screen," he ordered. Dokukage wasn't the only one who could buff his special defense.

When the Magnezone finished setting up the golden barrier of light around Keahi's side of the field, he called them back to their pokeball. It was essential that he take down this Masquerain as fast as possible and disrupt Dokukage's baton pass strategy. As long as he could do that, Dokukage's team should crumble easily enough to his Shadow Pokemon.

And fortunately, he had a few pokemon capable of making a difference on that front.

"Ku, go," Keahi shouted, sending out a replacement for Haikili. And what a replacement it was, too, Dokukage was actually shocked.

"Duraludon!" The massive pokemon roared. His body was tall and sleek, and the dense mist soaked into it, making it shine even more. It was undoubtedly a Steel type pokemon even if it was one Dokukage had never seen before, and judging by the savage gleam in his eyes and the wild shape of his claws, it was a Dragon type as well. The pokemon let out another roar of pain as he stepped forward, feeling the sharp spikes dig into his feet.

Dokukage grimaced behind his mask. This… could be troublesome.

"Ame, use ice beam," he ordered immediately. Against a Steel/Dragon type it would only be a neutral hit, but it was the best he had at the moment.

"Masquerain!" Ame fired a beam of ice at the Duraludon, but the light screen surrounding him reflected the attack. The dragon let out a roar and stomped forward, dark energy surging around him.

"Shadow sky," Keahi ordered. Black mist poured out of Ku's mouth, covering the field and blanketing Ame's mist. The sky turned black as even the sunlight was blotted out, creating a swirling vortex of black miasma.

That was the sight that Amarillo and the others came upon when they finally got to the clearing, and it nearly made the mother sick to her stomach.

"What… ugh… what is that?" Amarillo choked out. She'd never SEEN a pokemon in a condition like this before! "That… it's…"

Through the cloud of darkness she could hardly even make Ku out. All she could feel was a choking black void, and at its center was a pokemon in more pain and anguish than she'd ever seen. She fell to her knees and nearly threw up.

Ever since Yellow was a little girl, pokemon were important to her. All the way back to her first pokemon, her Ratatta, she'd loved them, even if sometimes they were a little scary. But this was the first time she'd seen a pokemon that frightened her so much.

It's like that thing isn't even a pokemon anymore… it's pure evil… She knew that was wrong, and that you shouldn't think about pokemon that way. But the shadows covering that pokemon's heart… she doubted she'd be able to reach it even with her powers. Just trying made her nauseous.

"What's going on here?!" Vic demanded. Her shouts got Dokukage's attention and he glanced over his shoulder to see the others.

"That pokemon's voice is something else entirely…" Anabel didn't know how to describe it either. Like Amarillo, they didn't have real experience with Shadow Pokemon.

"That's Dokukage, isn't it?" Ross asked, squinting through the fog. "What's he fighting against?"

"Dokukage!" Olivia shouted. "Where's Alcea?! What happened to her?!" She didn't give a damn about Shadow Pokemon or the match in front of her, the only thing she cared about was Alcea. If Dokukage couldn't help her with that, then fuck him.

"She went ahead," Dokukage said. "To the Carvers." That was the most he knew. And that was enough for them.

"Let's go," Vic said, helping Amarillo up. "There's nothing we can do here."

Amarillo couldn't believe that. "But… but that pokemon…"

"Dokukage will be fine," Tommy assured her. "He's taken on these Shadow Pokemon things before, no sweat!"

Dokukage wished he could be have as certain in his victory as the others were. He held his tongue and focused on the battle ahead. The others took the long way around the cloud of black shadows, and thankfully Keahi let them pass without incident.

With them gone, Dokukage could give his full attention back to his pokemon. And it was pretty clear Ame was in rough shape.

"Ame, are you alright?" He asked. His Masquerain was having trouble flying in the dark clouds, just being in contact with the shadows was weakening her.

"Masquerain…" Ame panted, trying her best to stay in the air. She fired another beam of ice at Ku, but again, it bounced off the light screen.

She doesn't have the power to get through that barrier yet, Dokukage judged. But that's fine. There are other ways we can fight.

"Ame, use stun spore!" He ordered. If they couldn't break down the barrier, then the least they could do was hinder the pokemon behind it.

"Masquerain!" Ame flapped her wings, sending a cloud of golden dust over the battlefield.

"Shadow storm!" Keahi ordered.

"Duraludon!" The sky began to twist and a tornado of darkness formed in front of Ku, tearing across the battlefield and scattering the stun spore before it could do any damage. It roared towards Ame, who swiftly avoided the attack.

Shit, that was close! Dokukage winced. So it looks like we'll have to break down that light screen after all, since status moves won't work!

"Ame, use defog!" He ordered. It was a move of last resort and both pokemon knew it.

"Masquerain!" Ame flapped her wings, sending a powerful gust of wind across the battlefield. In a flash, everything was dispersed. The mist, the shadow sky, the light screen, even the spikes Kagerou had spread were all cleared off the battlefield.

"Now, use ice beam again!" Dokukage followed the gust with a powerful ice beam rammed right through the cleared battlefield. And this time, the attack scored a direct hit.

"DURALUDON!" Ku roared in pain as he was hit by the boosted special attack. But just as Dokukage felt a surge of triumph, it all came tumbling down because the dragon began to glow.

A thin barrier of silver light appeared around his body, rippling out from where the ice beam had struck. And then the beam turned, arcing back towards Ame.

"Mirror coat!" Keahi shouted.

That ice beam had all the power Ame had stored up behind it. So when it turned back around with double the strength and struck her head-on, the results were pretty.

"Ame!" Dokukage shouted, his veneer of calm broken. Ame plummeted from the sky, badly injured, and hit the ground hard.

But to his relief, she wasn't finished. Not just yet. Weakened, the Masquerain fluttered back up into the air. Thanks to quiver dance boosting her special defense as well as her special attack, she was able to hold on.

Dokukage recognized that it was time to call her back. "Baton pass," he ordered, not at all excited to see what Keahi would try to do to prevent it. But Ku remained motionless, as if he was waiting for something. Dokukage didn't want to know what.

Judging by that pokemon's physique, I'd say it's pretty slow, Dokukage assessed. And it definitely looks like he's got some physical bulk to him as well. He also seems to be a special attacker… but special defense? …No, probably not. One glance could tell that Ku had been pretty severely injured by Ame's ice beam, which told Dokukage that his special defense was fairly low. Which made Dokukage's decision an easy one.

"Kagerou, come back out," he ordered, sending out his Accelgor. Now that the foe wasn't airborne, Kagerou could use his mud shot to do some serious damage to it. And with the boosts he'd inherited from Ame, those attacks would be powerful.

But Kagerou wouldn't have the chance to use them. The second he emerged from his pokeball, Keahi seized on the opportunity to attack.

"Dragon tail!" He shouted.

"Duraludon!" Ku charged at Kagerou, who had just come out, and swung his tail. The bug pokemon might have been incredibly fast, but Ku had been preparing for this attack since Ame was out, and had unleashed it at the perfect time.

Ku's tail slammed into Kagerou, and sent him flying back into his pokeball. Dokukage was stunned at the exchange.

Keahi just smirked.

"Surprised?" He asked, the tone of his voice mocking the ninja. "When you used whirlwind against Papa, I figured that you would have seen a move like this coming. But I guess it pays to be more prepared than a ninja, hmm?"

Dokukage seethed. Because that attack had been a successful hit, the chain had been broken. All those boosts Ame had spent her strength preparing for her allies were gone now, and he had to start over from scratch.

Problem was, both of his special attackers were in pretty bad shape. And with that mirror coat, he couldn't risk it.

We'll have to fight with brute force then, he decided. "Kagemusha, come back out!"

"Gooool!" Kagemusha roared, gnashing his claws together.

"First impression!" Dokukage ordered.

"Golisopod!" Kagemusha shot towards Ku like a bullet, claw raised. He smashed it straight at the dragon's iron chest, but it never hit.

"Protect," Keahi ordered, and Ku deflected Kagemusha's claws with a barrier of light. The Duraludon laughed.

"Hiding behind your shield? Fitting," Dokukage scoffed, not that he was one to talk. "Get back, Kagemusha, and use swords dance!"

"Gol," Kagemusha nodded, jumping back and sharpening his claws to boost his attacking strength. He'd need all the help he could get to smash through that Duraludon's tough defense, especially since there were so few moves available that could score a neutral hit on a Steel/Dragon type.

There was one that would absolutely work, though, Dokukage just had to wait for the barrier to come down.

After a few seconds, Ku's protective screen dropped, and Kagemusha seized the opportunity to go in for the kill.

"Brick break!" Dokukage ordered.

"Golisopod!" Kagemusha roared, swinging his claw at Ku with everything he had, trying to smash through the metal pokemon's hard scales. But Keahi had already been preparing for that, since he'd seen Kagemusha's brick break before.

"Iron defense," he ordered. With a roar, Ku hardened his scales to be tougher than steel. But it wasn't a perfect defense. Kagemusha's strength was still awesome, and with Ku's weakness to Fighting type moves, the attack did a lot of damage.

"DURALUDON!" But to Dokukage, it seemed like the only thing he'd been able to accomplish was pissing the other pokemon off.

"Ku, use shadow bolt," Keahi ordered. Ku's body charged with black lightning as he built up strength, and he released the electricity in a powerful bolt that struck Kagemusha head-on.

"GOOOOOOLLL!" Kagemusha roared in pain, stumbling backwards. Keahi seized the opportunity and ordered Ku to go in for the kill.

"Now, shadow fire!" He shouted. Ku followed the lightning up by preparing a blast of black flames to decimate the Golisopod.

Dokukage smiled.

"Now!" He shouted.

Kagemusha lowered his head and regained his balance, because he'd never lost it in the first place. He shot forward, faster than Keahi had expected, and caught the Duraludon in the jaw with a sucker punch that knocked the flame blast away.

Ku stomped back, injured, and let out another roar, forgoing the shadow fire for another bolt of lightning. But this one Kagemusha was able to dodge.

"That thing's rather fast for such a bulky pest," Keahi snarled. "Ku, use shadow mist!"

"Duraludon," Ku nodded, and leaked more black fog from his mouth. But unlike before, the mist didn't swirl through the sky, instead it wrapped around Kagemusha, making it incredibly difficult to move. The smoke seemed to cling to his carapace.

"With this, there'll be no way for your Golisopod to escape our attacks," Keahi calmly stated. "Now we can take our time. And I think I know just what to do," he added with a smirk.

"Thunder wave!"

"Duraludon!" Ku began to build up more black lightning, and released it in a shockwave towards the trapped Golisopod. With thunder wave set, Kagemusha wouldn't be able to move nearly as fast, and Ku could take his time to build up strength before sweeping the rest of Dokukage's team.

But as the electricity wrapped over Kagemusha's hardened carapace, the Bug type pokemon disappeared, and a log appeared in his place.

Dokukage shook his head. "You just never learn," he sighed. "With substitute, your mist is worthless against us."

"Damn it!" Keahi cursed. "Burn that log to ashes, Ku!" He roared, and his Duraludon complied, releasing a blast of black flames that engulfed the log, burning it away.

But Kagemusha was nowhere to be seen.

"Golisopod!" Ku whirled around because the bug had taken his back. He was able to move just fast enough to see Kagemusha's claw coming right towards him.

"Brick break," Dokukage ordered, and his Golisopod punched the mighty dragon in the face with all of his strength.

The painful roar Ku let out shook all of Agate Village.

Well, this battle is getting brutal! Both trainers are attacking with everything they've got, and what's most surprising is the fact that neither one of them have lost any pokemon yet! Because of Dokukage's baton pass strategy, he's been able to maintain an edge and switch his pokemon out for better matchups, and Keahi has been doing the same. Both trainers are scrambling for whatever advantage they can get! Who's going to be successful?