While Val and Gwen approach Agate Village, our heroes are still fighting against Samarra's forces! And the next battle on the menu is Alcea vs. Gabrielle! These two have been rivals practically their entire time in the Pokemon Academy, which trainer will emerge victorious? Will Gabrielle's planning and strategizing prove enough to defeat Alcea? Can Alcea's skill overcome Gabrielle's serious advantage? It's a crucial battle that could definitely go either way!
KedharS: Yeah, she's definitely struggling to deal with her opponents in this situation. Hopefully she can still win even in spite of Gabrielle's plans!
Hyphenman: Yeah, Gwen is a very divisive character, and I think a big part of that is because she's a villain. I hope you can stick with her and see where she goes from here! As for the reason Ryoko returned her memories, well, she really didn't want to do that. But it was basically the only way she could get Gwen to stop. Sometimes bad things need to be done for the greater good. Hopefully the effects won't be too bad for her.
Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings
Chapter 1163
A bead of sweat trailed down Alcea's forehead. She didn't expect Gabrielle to put so much pressure on her this fast.
She'd always known that Gabrielle was a capable and talented trainer, that thought had never been in doubt. But even though Alcea respected her rival's strength, she had to admit- a strategy like this was more than she expected from her.
So that ice spinner move is capable of nullifying the effects of grassy terrain, is it? And with that new snowstorm move, she controls the weather as well… From Alcea's point of view, things were not looking good.
However… that does not mean I am out of options, is it? She mused thoughtfully. It only took her a few seconds to rework her strategy.
"Rosetta, use toxic!" Alcea ordered.
"Roserade!" Rosetta was quick to respond to her trainer's orders, flinging an orb of toxic sludge at the Froslass.
"That won't hit us," Gabrielle snarled. "Froslass, double team."
"Froslass!" Froslass vanished into the snow, several mirage duplicates appearing around her. The toxic attack splattered through several of them, but none were the real thing.
"It's time I remind you just how terrifying the Ice type is," Gabrielle warned Alcea. "Froslass, use blizzard!"
"Froslass!" Froslass raised her hands, dispelling the duplicates, and sent a wave of freezing wind rolling across the battlefield. Amplified by the effects of the snowstorm, there was nowhere for Rosetta to escape to.
"Roserade!" Rosetta cried in pain as the freezing wind struck her. The attack was a powerful one, and she was knocked off of her feet.
"Rosetta!" Alcea cried. She had a healthy respect for the power of Gabrielle's blizzard attacks, so she knew how powerful of a move that was.
"Rose…" Roserade stood back up, shaking. The power of that blizzard was nothing to sneeze at. But she wasn't down for the count, either.
Alcea smiled. "Magnfique! Rosetta, use sweet scent!"
"Roserade!" Rosetta spun in the snow, waving her bouquets, and the air filled with a sweet aroma that purified the battlefield.
"Froslass…" Froslass swayed back and forth, entranced by the wonderful fragrance. Which was exactly what Alcea was hoping for.
"While your pokemon is enjoying the sweet fragrance of sweet scent, her evasion has lowered," Alcea said, narrowing her eyes. "She's vulnerable, Rosetta! Use shadow ball!"
"Roserade!" Rosetta raised her bouquet, and ghostly energy formed in front of the blue flowers. She fired the orb at the lounging Froslass.
"Froslass! Use aurora veil!" Gabrielle ordered.
"Fros!" Froslass snapped out of her trance and raised her hands. She conjured a veil of rainbow light around her, deflecting the shadow ball.
"That was a good trick, Alcea," Gabrielle said quietly. "That shadow ball would have stung. But we were prepared for it."
"Aurora veil… quite a good move, is it?" Alcea said, stroking her chin.
"It contains the effects of both light screen and reflect in a single move," Gabrielle revealed. "Of course, it only works while it's snowing out. But thanks to the icy stone I've given to my Froslass, that shouldn't be an issue."
Alcea's face soured slightly. Gabrielle really had thought of everything.
Well, almost everything.
"And what about attacks… from behind that veil?" Alcea asked coolly.
"Huh? What do you mean?" Gabrielle demanded. Then she saw it. Tiny shoots sprouted out from Froslass' kimono, growing into vines that wrapped around her. "No!"
"That's right," Alcea nodded. "Leech seed."
"When did you have time to use something like that?!" Gabrielle had been paying close attention to this battle, and she'd never seen Rosetta use a move like that.
"When you weren't looking, of course," Alcea said. "It was when you set up the snowstorm, you were so focused on changing the weather, you weren't noticing what Rosetta was doing. I had her plant her seeds in your Froslass, and now she'll drain your pokemon of all her health."
Gabrielle scowled. There was no way she would have missed that! But the fact remained that she had. There was no sense in getting upset about it now, she should just focus on taking down the Roserade before the leech seed made a difference. With the power of blizzard in this snowstorm, she could deal far more damage than Alcea's pokemon could dish out!
"Froslass, use blizzard!" Gabrielle ordered.
"Froslass!" Froslass unleashed another torrent of ice and snow on Rosetta, threatening to freeze the flower pokemon solid this time. But Alcea prepared for that.
"Rosetta, use protect!" She ordered. "Then, return!"
"Roserade!" Rosetta raised her bouquets, creating a green barrier of light that beat off the force of the blizzard. That gave her ample coverage for Alcea to recall her to her pokeball.
"Switching out so early?" Gabrielle asked, raising her eyebrow. "Don't tell me you're already feeling pressured."
A thin smile stretched across Gabrielle's lips.
"Although… that would certainly amuse me."
"Non," Alcea said, shaking her head. "I simply recognize your skill as a trainer, is it? And I know just which pokemon is perfect for the job."
She flung her next pokeball into the air. "Hollander!"
"Dhelmise!" The mass of seaweed hissed, their scrapped body creaking as they emerged from the pokeball.
"Yes, that's the pokemon you'd want to use," Gabrielle agreed. "Their Ghost type moves could break through our aurora veil. But… it's quite risky. Both your types are weak to mine, after all."
Alcea cracked an eyebrow. "Oui," she nodded. "If you only had to deal with Ghost and Grass type moves, is it?" She turned to her Dhelmise. "Gyro ball."
"Dhelmise!" Hollander's seaweed began to churn and the steering wheel began to spin, cranking their anchor and flinging it around them in a wide arch. They spun towards Froslass and slammed the end of the anchor at them, striking the barrier directly. Thin cracks appeared against its surface, much to Gabrielle's surprise.
"Your Froslass is quite fast, is it?" Alcea asked, narrowing her eyes. "Base 110 speed, and trained in that stat. Comparatively, my Hollander is at base 40 speed, and they are not focused on being fast whatsoever. That is not a negligible difference. Gyro ball is quite a powerful move, wouldn't you agree? And with the boost from my Hollander's Steelworker… can your barrier hold up?"
"Don't get cocky," Gabrielle warned. "Aurora veil once more, Froslass!"
"Froslass!" The Ice type pokemon strengthened the barrier with a second layer, overwriting the damaged first layer and protecting herself from the attack. But that was fine with Alcea. She had only meant that to be the opening act.
"Your opening salvo didn't have the impact you were hoping for," Gabrielle said. "And now you've made a critical mistake! As you said, Froslass is faster than your Dhelmise… so why don't you see what that speed looks like? Blizzard, Froslass!"
"Froslass!" Froslass sent another powerful blizzard surging across the battlefield, hitting Hollander directly. But the Dhelmise didn't freeze. Their body was soaked in seawater, after all, so even if they took a lot of damage from the attack, it wouldn't impair them.
"Curious…" Alcea mused. "You've become much more talkative today, Gabrielle."
Gabrielle flinched. That wasn't the sort of statement she'd expected in the middle of a pokemon battle. "Wh-What?"
"In our previous matches, you've had an air of detached coolness about you, as if you were always prepared for anything," Alcea explained. "Even when you were caught off-guard, or when you were winning… I do not recall you being the sort to taunt your opponent so openly like this, is it? I wonder… what lead to this?"
Gabrielle didn't have an answer to that, which to Alcea confirmed that it was the influence of Samarra. Or, more accurately, it was Samarra removing Gabrielle's inhibitions.
"I've heard that one of the things Samarra does is leave you open to being your true self," Alcea said quietly. "You aren't hampered by the doubts and insecurities that plagued you when you were free, as a result of her influence."
"Her friendship," Gabrielle corrected her.
"…Oui, call it as you like," Alcea said. "So does that mean the Gabrielle in front of me now is the person you always were?"
"…You could say that," Gabrielle quietly replied, and for a moment Alcea thought she saw a flash of the Gabrielle she knew. But that changed as her expression hardened and she scowled at the other trainer, her eyes glowing.
"I was always unwilling to speak my mind, because I didn't have anyone I really wanted to talk to," Gabrielle explained simply. "You know quite well what things are like for me at the Pokemon Academy, Alcea."
Alcea nodded. That was something she knew indeed. While Gabrielle was not an unpopular person, as her results from the Miss Pokemon Academy Contest showed, she was not truly beloved the way Alcea or Olivia were. She didn't have a fan club, or really any friends at all. The club she had joined she was now an outcast from, and when it came down to a choice between socializing with others or training her pokemon, there was no secret which one she would prefer to do.
"Let me ask you something, Alcea, how does it feel?" Gabrielle's question was so sudden and so vague that for a moment, Alcea was stumped.
"How does… what feel?" She asked cautiously.
"Having the admiration of everyone around you, having friends, how does that feel?" Gabrielle raised her and up to Alcea, holding her palm to the sky to catch the falling snow. "Does it feel good? Do you enjoy yourself?"
Alcea nodded cautiously. "…Oui," she said. "Why do you ask?"
"I suppose I'm curious," Gabrielle said. "I've never had anything like that, you see, so I've always wanted to know what it was like. A 'fulfilling school life' where you make friends with your classmates and enjoy club activities together."
That was surprising. "I never expected you to care about such things," Alcea said, wondering where Gabrielle was going with this. From her experience with Olivia it was better to let people under the influence of Samarra talk out their problems. Even if it wouldn't get them to break free of her control, it at least served to distract them and break their focus.
…And truthfully, Alcea was curious. This was a side of Gabrielle that she never knew.
Gabrielle let out a long, exhausted sigh. It was more animation from the girl than Alcea usually saw, most of the time Gabrielle was quite good at containing herself.
"I'm not the kind of person I appear to be," she revealed. "It isn't that I don't like the company of other people, it isn't. I just…"
"You just what?" Alcea gently asked.
"I don't know how to be like you…" Gabrielle's response was scarcely above a whisper. But before Alcea could reply, a louder, harsher statement followed it. "But that doesn't matter right now!" She snarled. "The only thing that matters is defeating you! Froslass, use blizzard once more!"
"We won't allow that!" Maybe if Alcea had been caught off-guard, Gabrielle's outburst would have startled her. But she wasn't the type to get swayed so easily by her opponent's statements. There was a part of Alcea that always had her head in the battle, and fortunately that was the trainer who was fighting right now.
"Hollander, use whirlpool," Alcea ordered.
"Dhelmise!" Hollander spun their wheel, releasing a spout of swirling water out around their body. Froslass fired the blizzard at them, but with the spectral pokemon in the center of a column of sea water, the attack had no effect. Then with a crack of their chain, Hollander flung the whirlpool towards Froslass.
The attack bounced off the aurora veil, of course, but that was fine with Alcea. She was already preparing a follow-up attack.
"You'd do well not to underestimate us," Alcea said. "Or grow complacent, hiding behind that veil of yours!"
"Don't worry, I respect your abilities too much for that," Gabrielle assured her. That brought a smile to Alcea's lips.
"Good. That's precisely what I wished to hear, is it?" Alcea said, her eyes flashing with exuberance. "Hollander, use phantom force!"
"Dhelmise!" Hollander disappeared into the shadows.
Gabrielle scowled. She knew that move. And she knew that it would take some time to execute properly. "If you think a slow move like that is enough to defeat us, you're in for a nasty surprise," she promised.
Alcea's smile widened and she shook her head. "Non. Your Froslass is finished, is it?"
In a flash, Hollander reappeared, right behind Gabrielle. Bellowing loudly, the Dhelmise swung their anchor, infused with ghostly energy, and smashed it right through the aurora veil, burying it in Froslass' back.
"FROSLASS!" The snow pokemon cried in pain, flopping forward into the frozen grass. Gabrielle screamed and crouched on the ground, clutching her shoulder. She could feel the anchor digging into her flesh.
Alcea winced, but forced herself to ignore her rival's pain. She needed to continue the attack and finish off the Froslass before she could recover.
"Hollander!" She shouted. "Finish her with anchor shot!"
"Dhelmise!" Hollander's anchor whipped back, dragging Froslass along with it like Marion reeling in a fish. They flung Froslass through the air, and smashed her down into the snow.
The Ice type pokemon didn't get up. And judging by the state Gabrielle was currently in, she wouldn't be.
"You tried to deflect our attacks wit aurora veil, but we were prepared for that," Alcea quietly stated. "You aren't the only one who's been practicing, Gabrielle. You study our moves, we study yours. And that's how I knew to anticipate aurora veil the moment you set up the snow."
That's right… Gabrielle remembered, panting through the pain. Thankfully, Samarra was quick to suppress the agony, letting her think clearly. Phantom force… is a unique move that allows the user to smash through barrier attacks to strike… even a shield as powerful as protect has no effect on it… but still, how…
"So fast… how…?" Gabrielle searched Alcea's eyes for the answer, but saw nothing. Then she arrived at the conclusion herself. "…Oh… that's right… the power herb…"
"Oui," Alcea nodded. "By giving Hollander a power herb, they were able to execute phantom force in a single turn, rather than having to wait and give your pokemon time to prepare herself. But I'm surprised you didn't see it coming…"
That made Alcea think. "Samarra should have access to all the knowledge of her friends, isn't that the case?"
"So what?" Gabrielle scowled, standing back up. She was still nursing her shoulder out of instinct, even if Samarra was keeping her from feeling pain.
"It's just that, when last I saw, Mirar is under Samarra's control as well," Alcea said. "And Mirar should know all about this strategy. I've used it against you as well, of course, but… well, forgive me for saying this, but when it comes to analyzing trainers and their tactics, well… Mirar is better than anyone. And there's the matter of Olivia as well… even more than you, she prepared for defeating me, and Samarra should have that information as well, is it? So I would have expected Samarra to be readily prepared for a power herb from any of my pokemon."
Why didn't Samarra see that move coming? It would be one thing for Gabrielle, who hadn't experienced the combo from her Dhelmise, but with Mirar and Olivia…
"Olivia… isn't our friend anymore," Gabrielle muttered. "Mirar isn't either."
That was all she said, but it was the last piece of the puzzle that Alcea needed to come to a conclusion. She gasped.
"I see! So when someone is freed from Samarra's control… then all the knowledge they've accumulated is taken from her as well!"
That was serious. No wonder Samarra had struggled to keep Ayame under her influence, and gone as far as to manipulate Gerard to free herself. If Samarra was curious about Blake, as Alcea suspected she must be, being his sister, there was no one here who knew him better than Ayame Toujou. A grim picture was being painted for the Grass type trainer, and she wasn't sure what to make of it at the moment.
Gabrielle's lack of a response confirmed Alcea's suspicions. Well, if that was the case, then this was important. It was a critical part of planning their assault, and it explained why Gabrielle was relying so heavily on the tactics she'd developed, rather than those borrowed from Olivia and Mirar. She didn't have access to their strategies anymore!
Alcea didn't have time to be relieved that the others back at the river seemed to be having the upper hand, if Mirar had been defeated. She'd learned a serious secret about Samarra, and Samarra knew that she knew now.
If she wanted to keep that secret, she'd have to defeat Gabrielle fast, and rob Samarra of that new piece of information. Victory was more important than ever, now, and Alcea was someone who could pull off a victory, even in the worst of conditions.
Nice! Gabrielle may have got off to an advantageous lead, but Alcea was able to turn it around with her trusty Dhelmise! And not only that, she's learned one of Samarra's crucial weaknesses! With this, it might be possible to make a counterattack! But that doesn't mean this match is decided just yet. I'm sure Gabrielle has some more tricks up her sleeve!
