Alcea and Gabrielle have been dishing it out, but the battle is just getting started! Certainly this isn't all Gabrielle has planned! Alcea's doing well for herself, but she also knows better than to underestimate her rival. If only she didn't have to go through this alone… Right now, though, she has to focus on winning, and that means finding a way to defeat the Ice type trainer!

Arbiter8991: Yep, Alcea's definitely thinking big-picture here.

KedharS: You know, for someone who's an Ice type trainer, there has been a surprising lack of ice puns coming from her. That's not very cool.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 1165

The two pokemon thrashed against their chains. Anchor shot was Hollander's move, but as a Ghost/Grass type he didn't resist the attack. It was much more effective against Glaceon, however, due to her weakness to Steel type moves.

That only lasted momentarily.

"Protect," Gabrielle ordered. An icy blue barrier appeared around Glaceon, expanding and pushing the chains away from her body. They fell harmlessly into the snow, giving her ample room to free herself when the barrier dropped.

"Use avalanche," Gabrielle shouted. Glaceon began to glow and she released a burst of energy into the ground. Ice and snow rolled towards Hollander, threatening to bury the seaweed.

"Hollander, phantom force," Alcea ordered. The Dhelmise disappeared into a veil of darkness and the chains binding them fell to the ground. They were no longer there for the avalanche to strike, having avoided the attack completely even though they wouldn't have had much to worry about given Glaceon's low attacking strength.

It was still better to not be hit, though.

Seeing the Dhelmise disappear, Gabrielle was quick to capitalize on her opportunity. There was no way for Alcea to give her pokemon a second power herb, which meant that she didn't have to worry about any surprise attacks suddenly coming. Glaceon had the time to prepare herself.

"Glaceon, use calm mind to boost your stats again," she ordered. Glaceon closed her eyes and began to concentrate, raising her special attack and special defense as she waited for Hollander to strike from the shadows.

Then her eyes snapped open and she leapt back, just as an anchor shot out of the ground where she'd been standing. Thanks to having calmed herself down and focused her powers of concentration, Glaceon had heightened her sixth sense and allowed her to respond to an attack from beyond before it even landed.

"Glaceon, use blizzard," Gabrielle ordered as the Dhelmise emerged from the shadows. She had a feeling that this time would be different.

A blast of freezing air rolled across the battlefield and slammed into the Dhelmise, blocked by the barrier of green light surrounding him.

The barrier only remained intact momentarily, however. It was clear that Hollander was struggling to keep it up, and cracks began to form across the surface as the power of the blizzard grew.

Then it shattered. Cold wind smacked into the seaweed-covered debris, chilling them to what would have been bone on another pokemon. It was fortunate that they were doused in seawater, because the force of that attack would have frozen another pokemon solid.

As it was, they still took considerable damage from it.

Alcea recognized that Hollander wouldn't be able to put up much more of a fight. So before her Dhelmise fell to the assault, she wanted them to help set the stage for her next pokemon as best as they could.

"Hollander, metal sound!" Alcea ordered.

A good chunk of Alcea's team were special attackers, including the pokemon she was planning to send out to replace Hollander. Glaceon had already boosted her special defense by two stages, and she didn't want the pokemon to be incapable of being hit.

"Delmise!" Hollander cried, and they began to scrape their chains together, releasing a sound like metal creaking.

"Glaceon…" Glaceon resisted the sickening squeak, but her special defense dropped regardless. She ignore that loss and opened her mouth, focusing on speed over power. Both she and her trainer knew that victory would rely on being conservative with her blizzard attacks.

It wasn't like she needed to use a third one just to finish off a pokemon as injured as Hollander. Not when she had other moves to use.

"Shadow ball!" Gabrielle shouted. An orb of ghostly energy formed in Glaceon's mouth, and she fired the shadow ball at the Dhelmise. The spectral attack exploded against the wreckage, sending it, and the seaweed, scattering across the snow.

Hollander didn't even have the strength to reform themselves. Alcea recalled them to her pokeball with a wistful sigh.

"Now we're evened up, is it?" She mused thoughtfully. She glanced at the Glaceon, even though she didn't need to think about her next move. She simply wanted to retain the flow of the battle.

It was a good thing she did, because that bit of pause was all the time she needed for an unexpected arrival.

"Alcea!" Olivia cried, shielding her face (and more importantly, her outfit) from the snow. Alcea's heart leapt in her chest at the sound of her voice, turning to greet the new arrival with barely-contained feelings of joy.

"Olivia?! What are you doing here?" She gasped.

"I was worried about you, you idiot!" Olivia wailed. She barely resisted the urge to throw herself into Alcea's arms in relief. The fact that Alcea was fighting against Gabrielle meant that she hadn't been taken by Samarra yet. Not that Olivia could imagine someone as amazing and special as Alcea ever losing a pokemon battle (in spite of the fact that she'd lost several, which Olivia had once upon a time taken personal pleasure in).

But still, it was nice to have her darkest worries abated.

Olivia wasn't the only one to come, either. Vic had come to show her concern for Alcea as well, which was also a relief. Alcea was glad one of her closest friends had come to support her in her fight against Gabrielle as well. "Amarillo" (who Alcea knew was Yellow because she wasn't a complete fool) had also come, which was a comfort.

…Then there was that Anabel person she barely knew, and those two guys from the Commander's group.

She didn't really care about them.

"Ah!" Amarillo gasped. She ran through the snow over to Gerard, who was still unconscious and half-buried.

Oh yeah. Alcea had forgotten all about him.

"Is he alright?" Anabel asked, pretty much the only other person here with any degree of concern for the jerk. They walked over to the frozen Diancie, a concerned frown pinching across their lips. That ice was staying for some time.

"He's breathing, at least," Amarillo said, digging him out of the snow. "But it looks like he got attacked by a pokemon." Her hands began to glow and Gerard's condition improved, but he still wasn't waking up. "What happened here?"

"It's a long story," Alcea replied with a tired sigh. It was clear that was all she had to say on the matter at the moment.

"Where are my mom and dad?" Vic asked tensely, glancing around the battlefield. Wes and Rui were nowhere to be seen.

"And Celia?" Olivia asked, more out of obligation. She was far more worried about Alcea than she ever could be about some tagalong.

"They went after Ayame Toujou," Alcea revealed. "She has taken Madison Whitmore."

"Shit, seriously?!" Tommy groaned, smacking his forehead.

"That's not good," Ross scowled.

"Shit! Then we need to go, now!" Vic roared. No one there had a pokemon capable of battling between them, but she needed to make sure her parents were okay! If they weren't, then she didn't know what she'd do!

…Right, and Maddi. Maddi was the one they were supposed to be worried about.

"There's no need to concern yourselves," Gabrielle's stern voice cut through the icy air, drawing everyone's attention. "Madison Whitmore isn't with us anymore."

"What's that mean?" Amarillo asked, scowling.

"The Carvers made off with her before Samarra could take care of the problem," Gabrielle replied. "That's all."

Vic wasn't sure she could trust the cold trainer, but she didn't really have any reason to lie to them, either. So she tensely nodded.

"I still want to go," she said. "I want to make sure they're okay."

"Not happening," Amarillo said, shaking her head. "I'm not leaving until Gerard's condition stabilizes, and there's no chance I'm letting you or any other students break off on your own. It's too dangerous out here, and you don't have any pokemon to protect yourselves."

Vic flinched, but she couldn't deny the older woman's words. She nodded bitterly.

"I'm not going anywhere," Olivia asserted. "Celia's fine, she can take care of herself. I'm staying right here until Alcea wins."

"Fine!" Vic spat. She was secretly glad, as she was worried about Alcea nearly as much as her parents. She would have been panicking at the thought of how the battle might go if she left in the middle of it, so this was a good thing.

"If you're done," Gabrielle said, the harsh tone in her voice showing just how frustrated she was with all this, "can we continue?"

"One sec," Olivia said, tromping through the snow until she was right beside Alcea.

She kissed her on the cheek.

"Good luck," Olivia said with a smile warm enough to melt the snow. "I know you're gonna win."

Alcea's hand touched her cheek and her face turned scarlet with embarrassment.

"Y-Yes," she cleared her throat, English slipping past her lips without even realizing it. "There is a time and place of course, but your faith is appreciated, is it?"

Inside she was squealing in Kalosian.

Gabrielle's expression darkened and for a moment Olivia felt a murderous gaze on her. But she shrugged it off. That was just a regular thing when it came to her interactions with women.

Feeling like she couldn't lose in a million years, Alcea returned her focus to the battle.

"Apologies for the interruption," she said as she noticed Gabrielle's irritated expression. "Allow me to continue."

With a flourish, she flung her pokeball into the air. And it wasn't at all because she was trying to show off for Olivia, this was how she always sent out her pokemon.

"Rosetta, appear once more!" She declared, calling on her Roserade a second time.

"Rose!" Rosetta cried, landing in the snow.

A thin smile with a hint of menace crossed Gabrielle's lips. "I already forced that pokemon back once, or have you forgotten? It seems that spending time with your girlfriend has completely dulled your instincts, Alcea!"

"G-Girlfriend?!" Olivia squealed, her face heating up with joy.

"Th-That is… not something I knew you were aware of," Alcea coughed, her cheeks turning pink. As if the kiss hadn't been a dead giveaway.

"We learned everything from Ayame Toujou," Gabrielle said, her voice carrying more than a hint of bitter venom. "She heard quite a lot when she was tied up to that chair."

Olivia turned pale at the thought of her best friend having heard what went on between her and her girlfriend that night. Then her heart lightened at the fact that "girlfriend" was now a word that she could use!

…It was, right? Alcea felt that was too, right?! She wasn't just getting ahead of herself?! Sure, they'd never had "the talk" about what their relationship was, but… that was just because things were busy! Certainly Alcea felt the same way as she did?!

God, why did she have to spend so much time disparaging the idea of getting in a relationship?! Now she had no idea what she was supposed to do!

If Alcea was as bothered as Olivia was by those statements, it didn't show on her cool expression. After all, she had more important things to focus on, like the battle.

"The status of my relationship-"

KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! Olivia squealed internally, going all floaty inside. She actually said "relationship"!

"…Is of no concern to this fight," she declared. "Rosetta, use energy ball!"

"Roserade!" Rosetta fired an orb of green energy from her bouquet, which Glaceon easily managed to dodge.

"Wrong," Gabrielle snarled, narrowing her eyes. "It's everything! Glaceon, use ice beam!"

"Glaceon!" Glaceon opened her mouth, firing a beam of icy energy at Rosetta.

"Protect!"

Rosetta blocked the ice beam with a barrier of green light, keeping herself safe for the moment. Alcea didn't have time to think about what Gabrielle meant with her last outburst, she was too focused on keeping her Grass type pokemon from being overwhelmed by the powerful Ice type moves. Luckily, Rosetta had quite a bit of speed and power on her side as well.

"Rosetta, use toxic spikes," Alcea ordered, relying on one of Kate's old favorites. The Roserade spun, sending a wave of poisonous spikes across the battlefield. They covered the field and sank into the snow, seeping into the white canvas and dyeing it violet with their toxins.

Gabrielle glanced around the poisonos snowfield, unfazed. "Did you think that was something we would be concerned with?" She asked. "Glaceon, why don't we show her how little we care about a bit of poison like that? Use ice beam again!"

Rosetta rolled to the side, quickly evading the powerful beam of ice that was certain to turn her into a rosesicle.

Alcea knew that Gabrielle was still taking it easy on her, because she was relying on her pokemon's ice beam attacks. The more powerful blizzard would be a strong weapon in defeating Alcea's pokemon, but she'd refrained from using it ever since Hollander fainted. It was clear that Gabrielle was taking her lightly.

She's not the type to go easy, Alcea knew her rival better than that. It's clear that she's conserving her most powerful moves for later.

There were two ways to combat someone who was taking care not to waste a move's power points. You could either play the same game as them, trading moves back and forth and waiting for them to pull out their trump card, or you could use your own stronger moves and force them to play it.

Alcea was someone firmly in the latter camp.

"Rosetta!" She shouted. "Use stun spore!"

"Roserade!" Rosetta flung out her bouquet, sending a gust of golden pollen across the battlefield, where it danced with the falling snow.

"Yes!" Olivia cheered. "Paralyzed, that Glaceon will be no trouble at all!"

This was Alcea's first battle since they got together (they were together, right? That wasn't just in her head?) so she wanted to do her best at cheering for the girl she liked. It was so against her usual nature, but it felt so right!

Unfortunately, her cheers were premature.

"You can't really expect that to hit with our Snow Cloak, can you?" Gabrielle snarled. "Glaceon, dodge with quick attack!"

"Glaceon!" Glaceon's speed allowed her to easily dash through the snow, evading the poisonous spikes and turning nearly invisible in the storm, keeping far out of range of the stun spore.

But Alcea was fine with that. As long as she was running, she wasn't attacking. And now that she had them on the run…

"Have you forgotten Rosetta's role on my team already?" Alcea asked, narrowing her eyes. "Rosetta, use sunny day!"

Glaceon trying to evade the stun spore made for the perfect opportunity to turn the tide of the fight back in Alcea's favor, and she was going to capitalize on it for as long as she could.

"Roserade!" Rosetta raised her bouquet, sending a blast of light up into the sky. The sunlight broke through the storm clouds and the snow came to a halt, as bright light illuminated the battlefield and got set on melting the winter wonderland beneath.

"So that's your game," Gabrielle scowled, biting her lip.

"You may call a snowstorm anytime you wish," Alcea said, her red lips curling up into a smile. "But for now, your Glaceon is open."

If Gabrielle wanted to create a snowstorm, then she'd need to stop running so she could focus her power. Which would make her a target. And without her Snow Cloak active to lower Rosetta's visibility, that was a very big problem. Of the two pokemon, Rosetta was much faster.

But Gabrielle didn't have much choice, either.

"Glaceon, use snowscape," she ordered.

"Gl, Glaceon!" Glaceon nodded, a little surprised by the order. She listened regardless and came to a stop, gathering up icy energy and directing it up to the sky, in an attempt to block out the sun once again.

But for now, the sun was out. Which meant Alcea could take full advantage of it.

"Solarbeam!" She ordered.

"Roserade!" Rosetta gathered energy from the sun, focusing it into a green aura around her. She raised her bouquet, and concentrated the sunlight into a single point.

It no longer mattered the dark clouds gathered overhead or snow was beginning to fall. The sun only needed to be strong enough for a brief moment, before the attack could fire. Rosetta had gathered more than enough power in that short window of time.

And all of it she sent at Glaceon in a concentrated beam of light.

"Yes!" Olivia cried with glee as the solarbeam howled across the battlefield, slamming into Glaceon just as she finished calling the snow out.

With a yelp, Glaceon flew back, tumbling through the snow and rolling across the toxic spikes. The effect of Rosetta's attack had been brutal; not only had she taken serious damage, but the infection was beginning to spread as well.

And yet, even as Gabrielle felt the pain of the solarbeam burn into her chest, and the stinging numbness of the poison spread through her body, those weren't the things that concerned her.

Seeing Olivia fawning over Alcea like that hurt far more than any attack the Grass type trainer could hope to inflict on her.

Yikes. Someone's pretty upset. Gabrielle managed to tie up the number of pokemon they have remaining thanks to her Glaceon, but Alcea managed to score a pretty powerful hit on the other trainer herself! Apparently, having someone who cares about you in your corner and cheering for you is a good boost to morale! Will Olivia's presence help spur Alcea to victory? Or will she unfortunately have to witness her maybe-kinda-not-technically-defined-in-so-many-words girlfriend lose against her rival?