Alcea and Gabrielle are evenly matched so far! They've both lost two pokemon, but they refuse to give up with just that! Gabrielle's sent out her Mamoswine, which is a pretty bulky and tough pokemon, and Alcea had to call back her Tsareena due to Glaceon's charms! But what pokemon will she send out to replace her?
Hyphenman: I'm glad, I always like when people read the new chapters, it makes me feel like I'm going good work!
KedharS: Eh, Alcea is always preparing for Gabrielle. That's what a good rival is for, right? Making sure you're prepared and tough. And if there's one thing Alcea is ready for, it's a good fight with one of her rivals.
Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings
Chapter 1167
When it came down to it, Alcea's choice for her next pokemon wasn't an odd one.
"Rayne, go," she declared, sending out her Ludicolo.
"Ah, yes, Ludicolo," Gabrielle nodded, the expression on her face showing her disinterest. "Of course that's the pokemon you would choose in this instance."
"Against an Ice/Ground type pokemon like Mamoswine, a Water/Grass type pokemon like Ludicolo is an obvious choice," Vic nodded. "But will it be enough?"
"Rayne, use fake out," Alcea ordered immediately. Her Ludicolo shot forward with his large hands raised, and smacked Mamoswine in the face.
"Mamo!" Mamoswine bellowed as he flinched, not expecting that attack to catch him off-guard so readily.
"Are moves like that the only thing your pokemon are capable of?" Gabrielle asked, narrowing her eyes. "Enough playing around. Mamoswine, use ice fang!"
"Mamoswine!" Mamoswine bellowed, charging at Rayne. Ice covered his tusks and he swung them at the Ludicolo with sharp strikes.
"Rayne, teeter dance," Alcea ordered.
"Ludicolo!" Rayne began to zigzag back and forth, evading Mamoswine's strikes with his erratic movements. But that wasn't the only effect of his dancing. Mamoswine was entranced, finding it difficult to land a hit on the oddly-moving pokemon.
The confusion lasted only for an instant, however.
"You should already know that won't work on us," Gabrielle snapped. She used her connection with Mamoswine to overpower the confusion and bring him back to a sense of sanity, keeping him from getting lost in his foe. Mamoswine let out a roar and stomped forward, enraged at being manipulated by such a move.
"Ice shard," Gabrielle ordered. Mamoswine opened his mouth and fired several chunks of ice at Rayne, which broke against him. Due to Rayne's Water typing, however, the move didn't do that much damage, allowing him to counter with an attack of his own.
"Energy ball," Alcea ordered. She wanted to start off small, wary of bringing out the big water guns at the moment. She was intrigued about how Gabrielle would react. Her Ludicolo opened his beak and fired a blast of green energy at the Mamoswine.
Gabrielle… did not take it well.
"Underestimating us?" She growled, her eyes turning cold. "We'll see about that! Mamoswine, use ancientpower!"
"Mamoswine!" Mamoswine roared, creating a massive stone of energy between his tusks. He fired it at the energy ball and the two attacks collided in a massive explosion that overturned the snow, but left both pokemon uninjured.
"So it looks like we'll need a little bit more power, is it?" Alcea mused with the slightest hint of a smile on her lips. "Very well then! Rayne, use surf!"
"Ludicolo!" Rayne hopped up into the air and bounced back down, summoning a massive tidal wave from the snow. The giant wave rolled up over the battlefield, cresting down towards Mamoswine to wash him away.
"That won't work either!" Gabrielle shouted. "You know what we're capable of! Mamoswine, use ice spinner!"
"Mamoswine!" Mamoswine spun in a circle, releasing a chilling blast of ice through the ground. The shockwave rose up and smashed into the tidal wave, flash-freezing it and creating a massive wall of ice in the center of the field.
"…Whoa," Vic said, impressed in spite of herself.
"No way!" Olivia gasped in shock. It was actually quite a beautiful move, as much as she loathed to acknowledge that.
Alcea wasn't fazed, however.
"I expected no less from you!" She declared with pride. "Your strength will only make our victory taste that much sweeter, Gabrielle! Rayne, use hydro pump!"
That was when Gabrielle finally saw Rayne. He wasn't hiding behind the massive wave like she'd expected, he was riding right on top of it! It was only by a miracle that the Ludicolo hadn't been frozen solid along with his attack!
Well, now he was coming down, and as he fell, his beak was wide open and building up a surge of water that he fired at the Mamoswine, hitting him directly.
"Mamoswine!" The large pokemon roared in pain, stumbling backwards. But even if the attack had scored a direct hit, he wasn't done, and neither was Gabrielle.
"Freeze-dry," she ordered.
"Mamo!" Mamoswine charged at Rayne, who had just landed on the ground, and the air around him began to drastically fall in temperature. Rayne began to shiver as Mamoswine plowed into him, knocking him backwards with a frozen tackle.
Alcea winced. Rayne was used to fighting in… well, rain, where his Swift Swim ability could work to the fullest. He wasn't adept at fighting at his regular speed.
But that wasn't the only problem.
"Ludicolo!" Rayne wailed, as ice covered his body. He thrashed frantically, not sure why that attack had hurt so much.
"Rayne?!" Alcea gasped, worried for her pokemon. That was a move she hadn't expected. Freeze-dry? What sort of move was that?
"I don't get it!" Olivia shouted. "Ludicolo is a Water type pokemon, right? So he should have some resistance to Ice type attacks! Why did that move hurt so much?!" She turned to Vic for confirmation but Vic's only response was the sour expression on her face.
"You must be confused," Gabrielle said, narrowing her eyes towards Alcea. "Do you want to know why that move hurt your pokemon so badly? Well, I'm happy to tell you. Freeze-dry is a move that drastically lowers the temperature around the pokemon who uses it, making it drop to below the freezing point of water. That's why Glaceon was able to use it to counter your Roserade's magical leaf, remember? But that power also grants a special effect when used against a Water type pokemon."
From Gabrielle's explanation, Alcea already had a pretty good idea what that effect would be. And she didn't like the sound of it.
"…Effective against water, is it?" She asked, scowling.
"Yes, exactly," Gabrielle said, her eyes glistening with glee. An uncharacteristically large smile spread across her face. "That's exactly right! Normally, Water type pokemon have a natural resistance to Ice type moves! But freeze-dry is the exception. It's an Ice type move that is super-effective against Water type pokemon!"
"Oh, no!" Olivia gasped, her face going pale. "But Ludicolo is a Water type AND a Grass type! Then doesn't that mean-?!"
"That's exactly what it means," Gabrielle smirked, delighting in Olivia's shock and horror. "As a Water/Grass type pokemon, freeze-dry is a move that has quadruple effectiveness against your Ludicolo!"
"Ludicolo!" Rayne's pained wails were the perfect cap on that explanation.
Alcea scowled. "What you say may be true…" she admitted. "But that isn't necessarily the end for us either, is it?"
The joy slipped off Gabrielle's face and was replaced with a grim expression. "…Fair enough," she admitted. "You're right. Your Ludicolo didn't take as much damage as he could have with that move, I'll give you that."
"Freeze-dry… from what I observed, it's a move that freezes the air around the pokemon, is it?" Alcea mused. "Your Glaceon used it defensively, and your Mamoswine used it offensively… but it isn't a physical move, is it?"
Gabrielle shook her head. "No, you're right. At its core, freeze-dry is a special move."
"Exactement," Alcea nodded. "As a special move, it uses your Mamoswine's much lower special attack, not physical attack. Meaning it will not be as powerful as it could be, no?"
She turned to Rayne. Already her Ludicolo was recovering from the damage. "Rayne, shall we continue?" She asked.
"Ludicolo!" Rayne squawked, nodding eagerly.
"Excellent!" Alcea nodded back. "Now, use bubblebeam!"
"Ludicolo!" Rayne opened his beak, and fired a stream of bubbles at Mamoswine.
"Weren't you listening to what I said?" Gabrielle asked. Her expression turned dark at the thought of Alcea ignoring her. "Water type moves aren't going to help you! Mamoswine, use freeze-dry to freeze those bubbles in their place!"
"Mamoswine!" Mamoswine released another blast of freezing wind, flash-freezing the bubbles in place while cutting off their momentum. The frozen orbs of ice hung in the air for just a second, before dropping to the ground.
Then they burst at Mamoswine's feet, startling the massive pokemon.
"It's not so simple!" Alcea smirked, having anticipated such a response. The explosions provided a good cover for Rayne to attack. "Rayne, use energy ball!"
"Ludicolo!" Rayne fired a blast of energy at the startled Mamoswine, hitting him directly. Mamoswine roared and stumbled back, but he had the strength to withstand an attack of that caliber and continue fighting. With a glare he charged at Rayne, raising up a curtain of ice and snow behind him as he plowed forward with his heavy-duty boots.
"Mamoswine, avalanche!" Gabrielle ordered.
"Quite a lot of power you've got there, is it?" Alcea mused. "Very well, we'll match that power with a show of force ourselves! Rayne, use hydro pump!"
"Ludicolo!" Rayne opened hsi beak and fired a blast of water at the charging Mamoswine. Already engaged in an attack, Mamoswine couldn't try to freeze it with freeze-dry or another Ice type move, and was forced to take the hydro pump directly.
It didn't do much to slow him down, however, and he lunged right through.
Alcea was stunned at how powerful that Mamoswine must have been, to carry on through such a powerful attack. For a moment she didn't have a response.
"Dodge, Rayne!" She shouted, but her orders came too late. Even though Rayne had already been moving to dodge before she gave the command, Mamoswine was too close. Like his trainer, Rayne had been expecting the hydro pump to be far more effective at stopping Mamoswine's charge, but the attack had done nothing. So he wasn't prepared to get out of the way when the wall of ice and snow came crashing down on him.
"LUDICOLO!" Rayne cried as he was buried alive in the avalanche, and for a second it looked like Gabrielle had taken out another one of Alcea's pokemon. She was sure of it, after all, with the damage Mamoswine had taken from that hydro pump, avalanche's power should have been doubled, it was an easy victory!
But she knew it wasn't that simple. This was Alcea she was dealing with, and Alcea's pokemon were tough. So when her Ludicolo emerged from the mound of ice he was buried under, she wasn't that surprised.
In fact, something like that should have been expected!
"Of course that wouldn't be enough to finish you," she grinned. "Mamoswine, use freeze-dry once again!"
"Mamoswine!" The air around Mamoswine grew cold as ice and he charged at Rayne, ready to freeze him solid.
But Alcea had a new plan of attack.
"Rayne!" She called to her Ludicolo, "you know what to do!"
"Ludicolo!" Rayne nodded, spitting another blast of water at the charging pokemon.
"Another Water type attack?!" Olivia wailed. "But Alcea! She's using freeze-dry, she'll just freeze it solid again! That won't work!"
Alcea smirked. "It won't work, is it?" She asked mysteriously, giving Olivia a wink that made her heart skip a beat.
Gabrielle scowled, certain that this attack would do nothing. When the water got close to the freezing air around Mamoswine, she knew that her pokemon would just shrug it off like nothing, and freeze it solid again.
But the water didn't freeze. It kept on going, colliding with Mamoswine, and this time he stopped, crashing into the snow.
"MAMOSWINE!" Mamoswine bellowed in pain. Gabrielle knew why the second the attack hit, and nearly collapsed herself.
"Eeeayaagh!" She screamed, feeling like her face was on fire. She scraped snow off the ground and packed it against her cheeks in a futile effort to keep the pain down, while Mamoswine did practically the same thing, rolling in the freezing snow to soothe his agonizing burns.
"That's the effect of scald," Alcea said proudly. "It's an attack used with boiling water. If you want to use an Ice type attack that's super-effective against Water type pokemon… then we have no problem at all using a Water type move that acts like a Fire type move, Gabrielle!"
"Yes! You're amazing, Alcea, I never doubted you for a second!" Olivia cheered, lying through her teeth. Vic groaned and rolled her eyes.
"Don't think that just because you burned us that we're done!" Gabrielle spat, scraping the snow off her face and standing back up. Just because she felt like she was on fire, that was no reason to give up so easily! Mamoswine could take the pain, and so could she. "Mamoswine and I have a lot more power! Just you watch! Mamoswine, use blizzard!"
"Mamoswine!" Mamoswine opened his mouth and fired a blast of ice and snow that whipped across the battlefield towards Rayne.
"Since her pokemon's burned, she has no choice but to rely on special moves," Vic noted with a cruel smirk. "She should know better. There's no way her Mamoswine can defeat a pokemon belonging to a trainer of Alcea's caliber with just special moves."
"Rayne, use surf!" Alcea ordered. She countered the blast of cold air with a wall of powerful water, and the attacks slammed into each other. But it wasn't as simple a matter as it was before, not even close. Alcea knew that Mamoswine liked to freeze her moves solid, and she wasn't about to let that happen again.
So that's why she had Rayne at a little something special to his surf attack, a healthy dose of scalding water!
The boiling wave overpowered the blizzard, melting it into a pitiable gust. Then it continued to roll forward, thawing the snow on the ground and covering Mamoswine completely, washing the fur-covered pokemon away.
Gabrielle screamed. She felt like she was being boiled alive, the pain was incomparable! And then… it was gone. Suffocated by Samarra. But only briefly. Samarra's help only lasted a couple of seconds, before disappearing.
After all, Gabrielle didn't need Samarra to stop the backlash of harmonia when the pokemon she was connected to had already fainted.
Mamoswine was a powerful member of Gabrielle's team, and had given Rayne a good run for his money. But at the end of the day, he hadn't been strong enough to take down the Ludicolo, and had fainted in the face of the scalding water.
Gabrielle scowled and recalled him to his pokeball.
"I'll admit, I didn't expect you to overwhelm us so completely with your scald attacks," Gabrielle admitted.
"Of course not. I never used this technique against you before," Alcea said simply. She flashed Gabrielle a smile. "Whenever we fight… I always try to keep something back. Because if you figured out all my tricks, well… defeating you would be very difficult indeed."
And yet, Gabrielle always seemed to be able to wring something new out of Alcea. It's what made her such a refreshing foe.
Alcea had to admit, such a tough trainer, her skills were admirable. She was thrilled that Gabrielle, her rival, could display such growth.
Every time they fought, Gabrielle got a little closer to Alcea's level. Maybe this time it was due to Samarra and her harmonia, or maybe it was all thanks to Gabrielle's own abilities. But whatever the answer was, it couldn't be denied that Gabrielle was strong, and it was that strength that made their matches enjoyable.
She always pushes me the hardest, Alcea thought, her smile colored with admiration for her rival. That drive to never lose to me… no matter how much Samarra has warped Gabrielle's nature, that part of her still remains.
"Gabrielle, I know you're not willing to settle for this!" Alcea called. "Come now, send out your next pokemon!"
"I don't need you to tell me that," Gabrielle glowered. "Frosmoth, come out!"
"Frosmoth!" Gabrielle's elegant Frosmoth was the next pokemon she sent out, and she send a small cloud of glittering scales over the battlefield with a flap of her wings.
Alcea smiled. Another worthy opponent for her and Rayne to face!
"Rayne, use scald!" She ordered.
"Ludicolo!" Rayne spat a blast of scalding water at the Frosmoth.
"Aurora veil," Gabrielle ordered. Frosmoth's scales began to glow with the colors of the rainbow, forming a veil around her body that deflected the boiling water.
She smiled.
"You'll need more than that if you want to defeat us, Alcea," she promised. "You broke through our barrier before. But this time, you'll find it quite harder, now that your pokemon lacks Hollander's phantom force."
Alcea didn't mind. She enjoyed a good challenge. "Well enough," she agreed. "Rayne, you'll have to return!"
She moved to recall Rayne to his pokeball, but there was no way in hell that Gabrielle was going to allow that to happen.
"I don't think so!" She snapped. "Frosmoth, use infestation!"
"Frosmoth!" Frosmoth cried, flapping her wings. The scales she shed turned into tiny gnats sculpted from ice, and they fluttered across the battlefield towards Rayne. They swallowed the Water type pokemon in a cloud of insects, which kept Alcea from calling him back to his pokeball.
"Rayne!" Alcea cried as her pokemon was swallowed alive.
"What's going on?!" Olivia cried frantically. She had little knowledge of pokemon battles or this move infestation, so she didn't know why Alcea was panicking.
Vic was willing to clue her in, though.
"Infestation is a move that traps the target pokemon in a cloud of bugs," she explained, a shadow crossing her face. "What that means is Alcea won't be able to recall her Ludicolo, meaning she can't send out a pokemon who can immediately clear away that aurora veil."
"Oh, no!" Olivia gasped, going pale in horror. If Alcea couldn't get rid of that aurora veil, then how could she land a hit on that Frosmoth?!
This isn't looking good for Alcea! Her Ludicolo was able to overpower Gabrielle's freezing moves with the effects of scald, but it looks like that won't work on Gabrielle's next pokemon! Will Alcea have another way of getting through the aurora veil and taking down Frosmoth, or is she going to lose her Ludicolo? We'll have to see!