Lana's Comfey just took a big hit from that brutal thunder attack! But will that be enough for Darla to win? Or will Leilani be able to withstand it? She is Lana's trump card, after all. Either way, this is certainly a battle that's pushing both trainers to their limits. I wonder which one will make it through, Darla's brawn or Lana's brains?

Hyphenman: Yup, I like giving small bits of detail in battles like this, especially with trainers like Darla who don't get to fight much.

KedharS: Darla IS a master of Dragon types after all. You've gotta wonder if even a Fairy type specialist like Lila would be able to beat her.

Arbiter8991: Well, hopefully Samarra can help with that a little.

Tambry96bj: It'll definitely sting a little, that's for sure.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 1184

"LANA!" A surge of panic shot through Kiana's body as she saw her sister break down in front of her. She wasn't linked to Lana the same way Samarra was so she couldn't feel her pain, but she knew that taking a hit like that wasn't good.

Her cry lasted only for a moment as Samarra took hold of her.

"You don't need to worry. Lana will be fine. I am already nullifying the pain from that attack," Samarra assured Kiana.

Hearing that made Kiana relax immediately. After all, Samarra wouldn't lie to her. If she said that Lana would be fine, then it stood to reason that Lana would be fine. That's all there was to it. So she just needed to wait for her sister to recover.

"Ha… agh…" Lana coughed, rising to her feet. Her body was shaking. Even if Samarra was suppressing the pain from harmonia in her mind, her body was still feeling the side-effects. But she was still breathing at least.

And to Darla's shock, Leilani was still breathing too.

"Comfey…" Leilani was badly injured from taking the thunder attack, but she still floated up into the air. The attack hadn't been strong enough to knock her out, and she was still holding on through sheer stubbornness.

Lana's harmonia didn't hurt, either.

"Come on, Leilani," Lana panted, narrowing her eyes. "We can do this."

"Comfey!" Leilani began to glow bright green.

"She's healing again!" Lila shouted. "Darla, you need to stop her!"

"I know!" Darla exclaimed. She could see it with her own eyes, she didn't need Lila to wreck her eardrums.

The force of Puff's thunder attack was so strong that it blew away the rainclouds that had been gathering overhead. Because of that, the sky was clear now and Leilani could begin healing herself with synthesis.

Darla needed to put a stop to that. The only problem was, Puff was still confused from the sweet kiss from earlier. She'd managed to land a lucky thunder but she couldn't reliably count on that to happen a second time. All she could do was shout out her orders and hope that Puff responded.

"Sludge bomb!"

"Goodra?" Puff looked around in confusion, not sure where she was. Darla clenched her fists in frustration. This was the perfect opportunity to land a hit, and she needed to stop Leilani from healing herself. But Puff was still confused. She spat a blast of poison that missed Leilani by a mile, and by the time her head finished spinning it was all over.

Leilani had healed herself, mitigating most of the damage from thunder.

"Well, fine then," Darla growled. Now that Puff had come back to her senses the only thing they could do was press the attack. "If that's how it's going to be, then let's do it! Puff, use rain dance again!"

"Goodra!" Puff nodded, raising her hands.

"You don't think we'd let you do that, do you?" Lana scowled. "Leilani, use sunny day!"

"Comfey!" Leilani nodded.

Rain and sun fought it out, the two weather moves cancelling each other. It was clear to Darla that this wasn't a fight she could win from that exchange alone. Puff had already used rain dance before, and if they just kept firing off their moves, she would be the one who would run out of PP first.

Better to dodge the subject altogether then, she decided. "Puff! Now that you can see things a little more clearly, it's time to go on the offensive! Aqua tail!"

"Goodra!" Puff lowered her head and charged at Leilani, extending her gooey tail. Water swirled around it and she swung it at Leilani, who dodged out of the way.

"Switching to physical moves now, to try to get in close?" Lana asked with a smile. "Well, we've got the speed to dodge those, too! And we'll meet you easily! Leilani, confuse her again! Another sweet kiss oughta do it!"

"Comfey!" Leilani nodded, flinging herself towards Puff, ready to kiss the dragon and confuse her once again.

"No, we're not falling for that again," Darla said, shaking her head. "Dodge it, Puff!"

"Goo!" Puff ducked out of the way of the incoming Comfey, rolling across the wet grass. She hopped to her feet and turned back to the Comfey, firing a blast of water at her.

The water pulse hit Leilani in the back, soaking her flowers, but didn't do a lot of damage.

"You'll have to try better than that," Lana warned.

"How's this, then?" Darla asked, narrowing her eyes. Puff opened her mouth and a beam of ice fired out, hitting Leilani in the face.

Lana felt a blast of cold air roll against her skin and she shivered. An ice beam, huh? It was a lot faster than a sludge bomb, and more difficult to dodge. That was a pain in the ass. But nothing she and Leilani couldn't withstand.

Getting off that synthesis earlier was like a miracle. It gave Leilani the health she needed to withstand Puff's attacks. At the same time though, she wasn't about to act like Leilani was at 100% now. The damage she'd taken from that thunder was still there, beneath the surface. She still felt the exhaustion and fatigue and pain from having endured that hit. She'd just restored her pokemon's health, not her condition.

So Leilani had some disadvantages here. She couldn't dodge Puff's attacks nearly as well as she had back when she was in good health. So Lana had to play things a little more cautiously, which was fine. She was sure that as long as she thought things through, she would be able to defeat a trainer who relied on pure brute force like Darla.

She just had to keep in mind that when it came to pokemon battles and tactics, Darla was still an amateur, no matter how strong her pokemon were.

You won't be able to defeat us relying on the brute force of your Dragon types, that I can promise you, Lana thought, narrowing her eyes. Leilani and I will wear down your Goodra and then it will all be over, you'll only have one pokemon left!

Lana really wanted to finish this battle off with Leilani. She had one pokemon left besides her Comfey, and, well…

Relying on that one wasn't something she wanted to do. So she really hoped that Leilani would be able to take down Darla's last two dragons.

"Leilani!" She shouted. "Use play rough!"

"Comfey!" Leilani nodded, flying towards Puff.

So, Darla, you want to play the close combat game? Well, we can do that, too, Lana thought, smirking. And that Goodra's a much bigger target to hit!

Leilani slammed into Puff, her body covered in fairy energy. Puff let out a roar of pain and stumbled backwards, extending her tail behind her to keep from falling over. Even with the gooeyness of her skin increased with her acid armor, Leilani's tiny attacks still packed a major punch since they were going around Puff's high special defense and attacking her physical defenses, where she was lacking considerably.

Darla scowled. That wasn't good.

"Puff, use poison tail," she ordered. Puff dug her feet into the grass and whipped her tail around, the goo covering it turning purple with deadly toxins. Leilani just barely managed to dodge the attack, only getting caught by a little of the spray. But it served Darla's purpose in getting her to back off, which was the point.

"Now Puff, use muddy water!" She ordered. What mattered here was getting some distance between the two pokemon and putting Leilani on the defensive. And muddy water was the best way to go about doing that.

"Goodra!" Puff cried, summoning a tidal wave of dark water that rolled towards Leilani. But without the boost from the rain to increase its size, it was easy for Leilani to dodge, and the Comfey floated comfortably above the waves while she prepared a counterattack.

"Dazzling gleam!" Lana shouted.

"Comfey!" Leilani fired a wave of light at Puff, who braced herself against the beams. The attack stung, special attacks weren't going to finish Puff off.

Even if she was starting to get weaker.

"You're on the defensive, Darla," Lana stated. "Sorry, but none of your attacks are going to work the way you want them to. I'll admit, your dragons are amazing, but it takes more than just brute force to win a pokemon battle! Pokemon battles are a matter of skill! And without skill, even a pokemon as tough as your Goodra is going to go down eventually!"

Darla's eye twitched. Oh, so that's how you want to play it, then?

"We'll see about that…" She muttered under her breath. Lana hadn't even seen Darla using brute force yet.

Puff's special defense is phenomenal, but she's not invincible, Darla recognized, biting her lip. She needs more than this…

If only she could use Dragon Force.

Lana had relied on harmonia to boost her Comfey's special defenses high enough to where she could endure the thunder from Puff. Would it be so wrong to use Dragon Force to even the playing field? She was fighting against a Fairy type pokemon, after all, she needed all the help she could get.

Darla took a cautious glance in Lila's direction. Only for a second, to see if her partner would approve of it.

She didn't need longer than that to decide. She saw everything in that one glance. She could see the worry and anxiety making themselves plain on Lila's face, and how wide her eyes were as she watched the battle, not even focused on Darla for once. But then she realized Darla was looking at her and their eyes met, and that was all it took.

Lila's gaze was brimming with confidence. She was absolutely certain that Darla would be able to win, and even if she wasn't aware of it, she was conveying exactly that with her eyes.

Darla sighed. Well, that's how it was. Lila believed in her. She believed that Darla could beat that Comfey even without having to rely on Dragon Force.

And Darla couldn't exactly let her down, now could she?

That girl's going to be the death of me one day, Darla thought, shaking her head. She couldn't believe that she was going against her better judgment and risking her future as Samarra's meat puppet all to placate her best friend's worries.

…Well, if Darla thought she had no chance, she might have disregarded Lila's pleas. But like Lila, Darla was also pretty sure that she could do this.

It was just a matter of preparation and a little bit of courage.

"Puff!" She shouted to her Goodra, who had already shaken off the effects of the dazzling gleam in that short moment. Time for a change of strategy. "Use rock slide!"

"Goodra!" Puff raised her hands and summoned massive boulders out of the ground, which she rained down upon Leilani.

"What sort of trick is that?" Lana scoffed, connecting with Leilani and helping her navigate the falling rocks, easily avoiding them. Being small and mobile helped the little Comfey easily avoid the attack without getting hurt in the slightest.

"The best kind," Darla said, a wicked smile crossing her face. "The kind of trick that's going to pull off our victory!"

Lana didn't like the sound of that.

"You really think that Goodra of yours can beat us? Haven't we already proven to you that we can dodge anything you have to throw at us?"

"Oh, sure, if it was a normal move," Darla shrugged. "But see, we in the business don't prefer 'traditional' battling strategies like you pokemon trainers do."

"Uh… what?" Lana wasn't quite sure what she was saying.

"I know what you must think of me, judging from the few fights I've had," Darla said. "I'm just a girl who relies on the brute force of her Dragon types, isn't that right? Go on, say it, I won't mind."

"That's… well, you're not wrong," Lana admitted.

"Oh, but you certainly are, if you think that's all we've got," Darla said. There was something different about her now, and it made Lana shiver. Like she was fighting against a completely different person. Someone she didn't have a good read on.

"What, uh… what do you mean?" She asked cautiously.

"What I mean is this. Have you forgotten what course I'm in at school?" Darla asked. "Somehow I doubt someone as studious as you could, I am sort of famous after all."

"…The Appeals Course," Lana said, still having no idea where Darla was going with this.

"Oh! Very good!" Darla nodded. Her patronizing tone was starting to get on Lana's nerves. "Now, question number 2, what is the main form of competition among students in the Appeals Course? Because I'll tell you this, you're right in assuming it isn't pokemon battles."

"Pokemon Contests, obviously," Lana muttered, rolling her eyes. "What's your point?"

"Ding ding ding, that's two right answers!" Darla said, giving Lana a mocking clap. "Let's make it a third, shall we? This one's for the grand prize! Now, can you tell me how exactly a Pokemon Contest works? Think carefully now!"

"You… use moves in conjunction with one another in order to-"

"And there it is!" Darla cut her off with a sneer. "And the lady wins a prize! What have we got for her, Puff?"

"Goodra!" Puff roared, raising her arms to send another wave of rocks towards Leilani.

"Well, it looks like for answering our special questions correctly, our lovely competitor wins a ton of boulders dropped on her pokemon!" Darla was being excessively theatric and Lila was eating it up with a big spoon. "…But that's not all! For being such a great sport, her Comfey has also received an all-expenses-paid trip to the Pokemon Center!"

"Oh, shove it!" Lana scowled. "You won't get us that easily! We've already dodge your boulders before! Come on, Leilani!"

"Comfey!" Leilani kept dodging the falling rocks. But as she did, both she and her trainer were starting to realize something.

They were running out of places to flee. Darla hadn't just been having her Goodra fire rocks randomly all over the place trying to hit the Comfey. Puff had been dropping them in a very specific pattern, and now she'd trapped the tiny pokemon in a maze of boulders.

"Oh, that's pretty good!" Alden said, impressed. "Normally, you can't make such precise movements with a move like rock slide! That's amazing!"

"Darla practices stuff like this with her pokemon all the time," Lila boasted, sticking her chest out with pride. "That's the thing about Pokemon Contests, after all! They aren't just about firing powerful moves off all over the place, you need skill and precision to make the best combos, even when dealing with dragons!"

"You see, the thing about Dragon type pokemon, is that they've got a very extensive moveset," Darla explained. "They can learn a wide variety of moves, which makes them great picks for contests. Coolness, Beauty, Cuteness, Smartness, Toughness, they can do quite a bit! But Puff here, I like to use her in Toughness Contests, and here's a great combo for you. Bulldoze!"

"Goodra!" Puff roared, jumping up into the air. She landed atop the maze and stomped down hard on it. She sent a shockwave of energy through the earth that pushed the rocks further into the ground, knocking Leilani down with them.

"Urgh… you-! What is this?!" Lana demanded, feeling immense pressure bearing down on her.

"Didn't you hear me?" Darla rolled her eyes. "It's bulldoze. It uses powerful pressure to force the ground to flatten, like a bulldozer. But see, the little maze I made is so sturdy that it won't crumble even with this. But just try and float out of it. As long as you're in that maze, we can smack you back down into it without hesitation."

Lana broke out into a cold sweat. This wasn't good. Leilani was completely trapped.

We need to heal ourselves, now. It's the only way. If we can endure these attacks… Lana gave Leilani a silent order to start using synthesis. A green glow began to emanate from the center of the maze. But Darla just shook her head.

"It won't be enough," she coldly declared. "If you want to try healing… then I'll cut you off from the sun for good. You avoided our muddy water earlier by floating above it. You won't be avoiding this attack. Sludge wave."

"Goodra!" Puff raised her arms and sent a wave of poison into the maze. The rocks held firm against the wave of sludge, turning it into sickening pit of noxious toxins. There was no exit for the sludge to drain out, either.

It was a bath of miasma, and Leilani was submerged inside of it.

"…Whoa." Donoma was shocked by the savage display. Darla had displayed some ruthless tactics earlier on in the battle, but forcing a Fairy type to drown in a pool of poison was a whole new level of ruthlessness.

"Argh… hack… hergh!" Lana was coughing up a storm. She clutched her throat as she felt Leilani struggle towards the surface. But every chance she tried, she was cruelly smacked back down by Puff's bulldoze attack.

"…I don't like the way you kept insinuating that I was just some fool with a stick who only knows how to attack," Darla growled, narrowing her eyes. "I'm not Lila you know, I can actually use my brain."

"Hey!" Lila scowled.

"You…" Lana couldn't get another word out. She was too busy coughing up her lungs.

Yikes. Darla really pulled out the ruthlessness with that one. But it was pretty deserved. True, Darla might rely on brute force a lot in her pokemon battles, but at the same time, she's a star of the Appeals Course. Of course she knows how to arrange her moves in synergistic ways to take full advantage of them, that's what a Pokemon Contest is. And Lana's getting a painful reminder of that right now.