Maddi's at a pretty big disadvantage fighting against such a monster of a Golem, and she only has four pokemon remaining! But Grim isn't the only pokemon on Maddi's team with a low speed stat, she's gotta have some other slow pokemon at her disposal! Hopefully they'll be able to take down the Golem, because if not, Rhox is gonna cause some serious damage!

KedharS: Nope. She's in a pretty tough position. And it's only going to get worse.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 1211

Maddi took a deep breath to regain her focus. She needed to calm down. Things weren't as bad as they seemed… right?

She only had four pokemon left. She could make do with that. And she also had Grim's little surprise ready to go. She could make it work.

She didn't really have a choice.

Without a word she recalled Grim to his pokeball and waited for her head to stop throbbing. This was going to be an ordeal.

"Violet!" She shouted, sending out her next pokemon.

"Spheal!" The shiny pinkish-purple Spheal chirped, emerging from her pokeball and clapping her flippers, doing her best to ignore the damage she sustained from the sharp stones digging into her blubbery body.

Ayame's reaction was instantaneous.

"Oh my gosh!" She exclaimed, her eyes shining with glee. The cold glare on her face had evaporated. "She's just the most cutest thing in the world!"

"…Uh… thanks?" Maddi didn't know what to say to that. She knew that Ayame had a fondness for round pokemon, but was this really the time for that? It looked like the other girl was going to rush across the battlefield and scoop Violet right up into a big hug.

The tall girl quickly regained her composure. "Listen up!" Ayame snapped. "Just because you're using an adorable pokemon like that, don't think that means I'll go easy on you! Rhox will defeat your Spheal, just watch!"

"Golem!" Rhox roared, stomping on the ground. He spawned more rocks out of his hide and flung them at Violet.

"Violet, dodge them," Maddi ordered. Fortunately, like Grim, Violet's base speed was 25. That gave her a good boost to her speed in the trick room, allowing her to evade the falling stones.

At about this time, Ayame was realizing something. With her phenomenal vision she could see that the stones weren't embedding themselves as deeply into the ground as they had before. And not only that, she could tell from one glance that Rhox's attacking strength had taken a severe hit, his condition was quite poor.

…Oh yeah, and there was the fact that her entire body felt like it was on fire.

"What did you do?" Ayame growled, clutching her chest. It felt like her clothes were suffocating her, like she'd suffered from severe burns.

"It's will-o-wisp," Maddi said simply. "It's a parting gift from Grim. He used it right before you knocked him out with that rock slide. Take a look at your Golem. He's not doing so hot, is he?"

One glance confirmed Maddi was right. Rhox's stony hide was covered in burns from ghostly fire, and even though he was doing his best to power through it, it was clear that the pain was making him woozy.

And Ayame was right there with him.

"That's not a problem," she spat. "We can still take you down!"

"You better hope so," Maddi growled. "Because we're not letting you get away, right Violet? Use whirlpool!"

"Spheal!" Violet nodded in agreement. She opened her mouth wide and spat out a torrent of water. The water spun in a spiral towards Rhox, catching him in a water spout that kept Ayame from recalling him to his pokeball.

If she thought Rhox could defeat Violet, she would have her chance. And for what it was worth, Ayame didn't seem too bothered by the fact that her pokemon was trapped, either, which to Maddi didn't bode well.

She's quite confident… and even though her Golem should be taking damage from the whirlpool, he seems fine… This whole situation was frustrating.

"Golem!" Rhox ignored the water swirling around him and charged into the sandstorm, letting out a fierce roar. In hindsight, Maddi wondered if the whirlpool was actually soothing the pain from his burns instead. Well, even if it was, this was her best chance to take the Golem down, so she'd just have to suck it up.

"Violet, time for a change of scenery," Maddi ordered.

"Spheal!" Violet knew exactly what her trainer wanted, and released a burst of energy up towards the roof of the trick room. The energy coalesced into dark clouds that filled the ceiling, which opened up to drop a torrent of hail down onto the battlefield.

"Hail now?!" Ayame shielded her head from the thick chunks of ice raining down on them. The hail smothered the sandstorm and visibility returned to the battlefield, changing the tide for Maddi in the process.

"You can try sandstorm all you want, but we have more hail at our disposal," Maddi warned. She didn't want to turn this into a competition of who could fling weather moves at their opponent the longer, and it appeared that Ayame was in agreement to that. It probably helped that the other girl didn't have any other pokemon that benefitted from a sandstorm.

Ayame scowled. "So that's how you want to play it, huh?"

"Thanks to the hail, your Golem will be slowly whittled away," Maddi said simply. "Meanwhile Violet has Ice Body for her ability, which means she'll be healed quite nicely!"

"But Ice Body won't matter if she faints," Ayame warned. "Rhox, let's see what we can do about that! Use rock slide!"

"Golem!" This time, rather than a pinpoint strike with sharp stones, Rhox settled for what worked against Grim, sending a large wave of boulders rolling over the small round Spheal in order to bury him alive.

Maddi was prepared for a move like that, though, and responded without missing a beat.

"Surf!" She ordered.

"Spheal!" Violet met the wave of rock with a tidal wave of her own. Water rose up from the river behind her, rolling into a wave that slammed into the opposing attack. The two moves cancelled each other out, but the field still got soaked, and Rhox along with it. He shrugged the splashes off, though; the whirlpool was doing more damage at this point.

Maddi wasn't about to lose her momentum, though.

"Violet, use aurora beam!"

"Spheal!" Violet fired a beam of rainbow energy at the approaching Golem, who dodged to the side. Ayame was intrigued by that maneuver.

"Aurora beam? Trying to reduce Rhox's attacking strength even more, eh? Well that won't work for a second!" Ayame snapped.

"Golem!" Rhox darted out of the way, displaying incredible speed for such a bulky pokemon. That was the thing about trick room. In it, such slow pokemon like Golem and Spheal became as fast as Ninjasks, making them hard to hit.

But that was just Maddi's warm-up. She held back her smirk, already prepared for what was going to happen next.

"Okay, Violet, you ready?" She'd been using the aurora beams to keep Rhox at a distance and force him back, so he would have no recourse when she used her finishing move.

"Spheal!" Violet chirped, smiling eagerly. Of course she was ready.

"Great! Then use blizzard!" Maddi ordered.

"Spheal!" Violet unleashed a powerful blast of cold air that pushed the hail forward. The chilling wind swirled through the sky and intensified, turning into a full-blown snowstorm that threatened to swallow Rhox whole.

Ayame braced herself against the wind. "So that's your big plan?!" She shouted over the blizzard. "Trying to freeze us out!? Well it's not going to happen! Rhox has trained on Mt. Silver, you know! Compared to that, this might as well be a summer heat wave!"

"Golem!" True to her word, Rhox wasn't giving in to the cold air pushing against him. In fact, he was making headway! With his heavy body he tromped forward, even as snow started piling up over his feet. He continued to advance, fighting the blizzard every step of the way.

Maddi was genuinely impressed.

Then came the boulders. Violet was so focused on keeping the blizzard going, she couldn't dodge the rock blast when it hit. The boulders smashed into her one after another, barraging her and forcing her back.

"Spheal!" Violet wailed in pain as she rolled backwards, letting up on her snowy attack for just a moment to regain her balance.

That moment was all Rhox needed to break through.

"Go!" Ayame shouted triumphantly, her harmonia surging. The burn she felt was less than a mild inconvenience. "Brick break!"

"Golem!" Rhox stood over Violet, raising up his hand in preparation for a karate chop. There were several Pokeathlon events that Rhox specialized in, and one of those was the Block Smash event. Rhox could break through 150 stone tiles in under 30 seconds, smashing one little round Spheal would be a cakewalk.

He brought down his hand and cracked the ground with it.

"SPHEAL!" Violet wailed in pain as she was nearly ground into paste. She could feel the ground beneath her flippers start to give way. But she held on.

Maddi felt like her skull was about to split in two. She felt the force of that attack the same as Violet, it was like getting hit by a truck! So that was how much power Ayame's Golem possessed.

But it wouldn't be enough. In spite of the destructive power behind the attack, and Violet's vulnerability to Fighting type moves, it wasn't as critical as it could have been. And the reason for that was thanks to the burn. Grim had saved Violet, because otherwise Maddi wasn't sure if even her harmonia would have been enough.

But the important thing was that Violet was still capable of fighting. And now Rhox was right where Maddi wanted him.

"Your Golem's good against water, right? So how's he feel about this?!" She growled. She surprised herself at the aggression in her voice. She wasn't usually this forceful when it came to pokemon battles, but right now she felt like she could take on anything. "Brine!"

"Spheal!" Violet recovered quickly from the brick break, and she wasn't about to let Rhox get away. She opened her mouth and unleashed a blast of salt water that struck the Golem directly, stinging his eyes and wearing down his hardened body.

"GOLEM!" Rhox roared, scratching at the stinging sensation he felt. The water was irritating his burn, and badly, too.

"Aaaaargh!" Ayame screamed, scratching at her own injuries, even though they were all in her head. She squeezed her eyes shut as she felt them sting.

"Brine's quite a good Water type move," Maddi said, narrowing her eyes. "The stinging of the saltwater irritates the pokemon's wounds, causing it to be even more effective against a pokemon who's already taken serious damage. It looks like your Golem's in pretty rough shape."

But Maddi wasn't a sadist. She was more than prepared to put Rhox out of his misery.

"Now Violet, finish him off with another brine!" She ordered.

"Spheal!" Violet fired more saltwater at the Golem and Rhox screamed in pain again, stumbling back and thrashing violently as he was besieged on all sides. The stinging saltwater, the hail, the raging whirlpool, and of course, the burns. They were all tiny pieces in the puzzle that chinked away at Rhox's armor, until eventually, he succumbed to the overwhelming force stacked against him.

Rhox slumped over and stopped moving.

Ayame was stunned. As the sensation returned to her, she dodged a chunk of hail the size of a pokeball and recalled her Golem. "…Not bad," she mumbled. "Not bad…" She hadn't expected such a challenge to come from a tiny little Spheal. But then, he was an adorable round friend, wasn't he? Maybe she should have been more careful.

…Well, he was cute. It wasn't her fault she'd let her guard down!

But she couldn't make that mistake a second time. It was time to bring out the big guns!

"You've taken out two of my pokemon, but don't think I don't have more!" Ayame growled. "Snows! Maddi set up this hail, so let's make great use of it!"

"Glalie!" Snows roared, emerging from his pokeball. In the blanket of hail, his icy body seemed to almost disappear.

"You mentioned that your Spheal has Ice Body, which can restore her health a little bit over time, in a hailstorm like this," Ayame said. "Well, I don't know much about that, honestly. After all, even though a lot of Glalie have that ability, my Snows is special."

"I know," Maddi said. Ayame might not fight a lot in pokemon battles, but anyone who'd seen her fight before (like she had, on a few occasions) knew that the tomboy's Glalie was a beast in her hands, thanks to his Moody ability.

His stats may have been totally balanced right now, but the longer the fight went on, the more unbalanced they'd become as they slowly increased. And even if Moody was supposed to trigger at random, it had a way of working out for her; Ayame knew her pokemon well, after all, she could improvise and make the best out of any changes in her pokemon's condition.

It was a skill that she'd developed out of necessity as a Pokeathlete, and Maddi didn't doubt for a second that she'd be getting a taste of it.

We've got to settle this now, while he have the advantage, Maddi decided. She couldn't let that Glalie get going. "Violet! Use surf!"

"Spheal!" Violet summoned a tidal wave, and the wall of water rolled across the field towards the floating snowball. It was in a situation like this that trick room truly shined. Against a slow pokemon like Golem, it may not have been apparent how much Violet's speed had been increased. But against Snows and his base 80 speed stat, it was clear. The Ice type might as well have been standing (well, floating) still.

Not that Ayame would let that stop her, of course.

"Snows! Use protect!" She ordered immediately. She wasn't going to let Maddi get an edge out of nowhere.

"Glalie!" A barrier of light blue appeared around Snows, forming a perfect bubble of protection that deflected the water, causing it to wash harmlessly around him. He was completely unharmed, which was just how Ayame liked him.

"You're using protect to buy time, to trigger Moody, huh?" Maddi scowled. "That's a pretty good strategy."

"We know how to make the best of our situation," Ayame said proudly. "And would you look at that? Snows is ready to go, too!"

"Glalie!" Snows roared. Thanks to his Moody ability, his stats received a drastic shift. Moody always boosted one stat by two levels, while reducing another by one. So given enough time, it was possible for all of Snows' stats to be maxed, in theory.

Maddi wasn't going to let the fight go that long. She wasn't sure what the changes would be, but he definitely looked more menacing. He tilted forward and charged at Violet, moving faster than he had before.

A speed boost? …No, wait. Trick room is still active! That means that the stat that was lowered was his speed! She realized.

Luckily, a single reduction in the stat wasn't nearly enough to put him on part with Violet and her base 25 speed, and the Spheal quickly rolled away. Violet had the speed to keep out of Snows' range, but Ayame had a few moves of her own.

"It doesn't matter how fast your Spheal is, she can't outrun this!" Ayame snapped. "Snows, use ice shard!"

"Glalie!" Snows opened his mouth and fired several chunks of ice at the retreating seal. The ice shards flew across the battlefield unhindered by the trick room and smashed into Violet, sending her rolling again.

"Violet!" Maddi cried. Her body shook as she felt the ice chunks break against her skin. No way! Violet was four times resistant to the effect of Ice type moves due to being an Ice/Water type, that shouldn't have done that much damage!

Unless…

"So that's what got boosted, then?" Maddi scowled.

"…Very perceptive," Ayame nodded with a smirk. "I'm guessing you felt that one, huh? That's right! This time around, Moody boosted Snows' attack stat by two stages, while reducing his speed! A pretty potent combination in this trick room, wouldn't you say?"

Maddi responded by wiping the blood off from under her nose.

"Violet, we've still got the upper hand!" She shouted. "Hit him with water pulse!"

"Spheal!" Violet righted herself and fired a shockwave of water at the Glalie. The pulse was too fast for Snows to dodge, so he didn't. He took the attack head-on and barely flinched. Maddi winced when she saw that. Even if the attack had confused him, it wouldn't have done much.

"…As I figured, that Glalie's pretty tough," she scowled. Fortunately, even with the attack buff, Violet hadn't taken THAT much damage from the ice shard. She could fight pretty well as she was. She nodded to her Spheal, who smiled.

Yeah, they could do this.

"Violet, time to use surf again!" She shouted.

"Spheal!" Violet sent another tidal wave roaring towards Snows. This time, the Glalie didn't protect himself, he just let the water wash over him as he practically dove head-first into it.

…Like most things he did, as he was little more than a floating head himself.

"That surf may sting, but this is really gonna crush you!" Ayame promised. "Snows, use crunch and bite down hard!"

"Glalie!" Snows charged through the water, but Maddi knew they had more than enough time to get away. Violet was still much faster.

"Violet, dodge him! And then counter with another water pulse!" She ordered. It was a command Violet was happy to carry out, and the Spheal rolled away, trying to put some distance between herself and the Glalie, with her phenomenal speed doing most of the heavy lifting.

Then to Maddi's shock the Glalie sped up, his mouth opening wide. He quickly gained on Violet, biting down with all his might.

Maddi felt the sharp fangs bite into her back and she screamed.

"SPHEAL!" Violet wailed, thrashing about in Snows' tight grip. The Glalie bit down even harder, and Maddi started to see spots.

"Defense curl!" She spat out, hoping to do whatever she could to boost her Spheal's defenses. She used all of her harmonia to strength Violet, and thankfully it was just enough to keep the pokemon from fainting. The round ball of blubber broke free, landing painfully on the snow-covered ground. She started wailing.

"What was with that speed boost?" Maddi snarled. "And that attack! That move was incredibly powerful!"

Ayame blinked, then she smirked. "Haven't you been paying attention? I just TOLD you, Snows has Moody for his ability, so he's very temperamental. His condition change with his mood, you should know that."

"Oh please," Maddi spat. "Are you telling me that your Glalie got an attack buff AND a speed debuff twice in a row?! That's insanity!" The odds of such a thing happening were ridiculously low.

Ayame just smirked, and touched her finger to the side of her mouth. Her eyes were shining with glee at Maddi's question.

"Hmm… I wonder… it is quite fortuitous, isn't it?"

That mischievous look in her eye was all it took for Maddi to put the pieces together. She felt sick to her stomach.

"…Your harmonia…" She mumbled.

Ayame nodded, her smile widening along with her eyes. "Exactly."

"Using harmonia, you can link with your pokemon completely…" Maddi said, continuing to think out loud. "Moody triggers different stat changes with the pokemon's mood… but you two are linked… you share thoughts, and feelings too, so…"

"So," Ayame took over, "that means that Snows' ability will change his stats in whatever way I wish!"

She burst out laughing. The husky howl stung Maddi's ears as she felt the overwhelming power from the Glalie in front of her. She had no idea harmonia could have been used in such a way.

Yikes, that's really bad for Maddi. It looks like Ayame's done playing nice! Since her Glalie has Moody, she can use her harmonia to change his temperament and make him gain and lose whatever stats will best advantage her! That's really bad, it means she can do whatever the hell she wants! And in trick room, dumping all the stat drops to her speed is just another advantage! Maddi really messed up setting up that trick room, is there any way she can dig herself out of this mess?!