Now, for the climactic conclusion of the battle between Cynthia and Austin! Who will move on to the next round? And don't forget to review! Reviews make the chapters come out sooner!
Darkhammer: But psychic is weak against ghost.
ReallyRaichu: Cynthia does have other pokemon. She might not need Gligar. And yes, it is Rose.
Duskzilla: Time to find out!
Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings
Chapter 34
"Faced with Austin's powerful fire moves, Cynthia is forced down to her final pokemon!" Darla said.
"What could she have to pull out a victory in this position?" Lila asked worriedly.
Good question, Cynthia thought, frowning. That Chandelure is a ghost and fire type… Rose won't be any help, neither will James… and Ruby is an even worse choice…
A smile crossed her face.
I don't even know if it's gonna work… but we'll have to go with that plan, I guess…
"Chris, I need your help!" Cynthia shouted, throwing out a pokeball, sending out her Spheal. The small round blue and cream colored pokemon clapped his flippers together, smiling cheerfully.
"Oh!" Lila said excitedly, "it seems that Cynthia had a water type pokemon in reserve after all!"
"True, but her Spheal is also part ice-type," Darla reminded her. "Which means that he isn't as resistant to fire type moves as a normal water type would be."
"I knew you had a water type in your party," Austin said. "If you think you can defeat Whisper with some half-efforted attempt to make use of type advantages, then you're even more of a fool than I thought."
"Well, we won't know until we try, right?" Cynthia asked, smiling. "Chris, use water gun!"
"Spheal!" Chris opened up his mouth a fired a strong spurt of water at the Chandelure, who moved behind sections of the burning house for cover.
"Whisper, use shadow ball," Austin ordered. Whisper conjured a sphere of ghostly flames in front of him and fired it at Chris.
"Dodge it, Chris!" Cynthia said. Chris rolled out of the way, the shadow ball attack striking the ground and exploding.
"He might look round and cuddly, but Chris is surprisingly fast on his flippers," Cynthia bragged. "If you want to score a hit on him, you'll have to try a lot harder than that."
"If that's what you want," Austin shrugged. "Heat wave."
"Chande!" Whisper shouted, his body glowing orange and releasing a wave of hot energy towards Chris.
"Sphe!" Chris cried, clenching his eyes shut as the fire attack struck him head on. "…Sphe?" As the waves of heat rolled over his body, Chris's mouth shifting into a smile.
"Huh, it seems that heat wave isn't too hot after all!" Cynthia chortled. "Now, Chris, use brine attack!"
"Spheal!" Chris nodded, puffing up his cheeks as his body began to inflate. His mouth opened and a blast of seawater erupted, striking the hot air and evaporating, a cloud of steam falling over the battlefield.
"Cover, huh?" Austin asked. "Not a bad plan, but not good enough. Another heat wave should burn this steam away, and your Spheal along with it."
Whisper's silhouette could be seen floating up in the air through the steam and he began spinning around, blowing the steam away with a blast of hot air.
"Maybe you'll get rid of the steam" Cynthia said, smiling, "but Chris isn't so weak to lose to fire type moves! Water gun!"
A blast of water hit Whisper from below, the fire type crying out in pain as the heat died down.
"If the heat spreads out from your Chandelure, then that means that the place where Chris will take the least damage is directly below him!" Cynthia said, the steam clearing to reveal Chris underneath the fire pokemon. "And not only that, but fire moves won't do much against his layer of thick fat! It provides super-insulation against fire and ice type moves, so try again!"
"I see," Austin said, nodding. "So you weren't just trying to take advantage of typing. I applaud the effort. But it won't be enough to defeat Whisper!"
Whisper floated higher up into the air, looking down on Chris. He began glowing, charging energy into his body from the sunlight.
"Solarbeam," Austin ordered.
"Chan!" Whisper exclaimed, firing a powerful beam of sunlight straight at Chris.
"Aurora beam!" Cynthia shouted. Chris opened his mouth, firing a rainbow beam of energy to counter the powerful grass attack. The two moves collided, but Whisper's solarbeam overpowered the aurora beam and hitting Chris, sending him flying through the air. Chris smashed through one of the walls of the burning house and fell to the ground, groaning.
"Did you think I didn't have a contingency to deal with water types?" Austin asked.
"I figured you'd have something like that," Cynthia said, frowning. "Then let me show you our counter! Chris, it's time for some evasion!"
Chris rolled up into a ball and began moving around the field, trying to stay a moving target to keep from getting hit by Whisper's attacks.
"Flame burst," Austin said, Whisper moving down lower, flames erupting from his head and raining down on the battlefield, exploding on impact.
"Cynthia has taken up some evasive maneuvers, realizing that solarbeam is an attack that takes a long time to charge!" Darla commented.
"Yes, but she's been forced onto the defensive, how can she win?" Lila asked.
"She raises a point," Austin said. "Like this, all you can do is dodge. How can you fight while running away?"
"Then I just have to turn my dodge into an attack!" Cynthia declared. "Chris, use ice ball!"
"Spheal!" Chris nodded, pulling to a stop. He rolled up again, exhaling a blast of cold air, ice swirling around his body. He rolled across the ground as the ice thickened, and he headed towards the center of the burning building.
"It seems scattering won't work then," Austin commented as his Chandelure rained flames down on Chris, who avoided the brunt of the explosions and only letting the flames lick his body. "Switch to heat wave."
"That won't have any major effect!" Cynthia smiled. "Charge him down, Chris!"
Whisper fired another heat wave, this time concentrated right at Chris, who plowed through it and hit Whisper head on with a powerful ice ball, the ice shattering on impact, Chris landing on the ground.
"Chan!" Whisper cried out in pain, falling backwards.
"Oh!" Cynthia said, her eyes widening in realization. Yes, it worked exactly as I thought… looks like we found a way to win after all, Chris!
"What a powerful strike!" Darla gasped.
"Wow!" Lila said, her eyes widening.
"Whisper, are you okay?" Austin asked.
"Chan…" Whisper said, bobbing up and down, though clearly injured.
"That attack did more than I expected," Austin said, frowning. "Though it doesn't seem to make sense. Whisper, keep him back with more flame burst attacks. We don't want a repeat of that."
"What's wrong, scared of me now?" Cynthia asked, grinning. "But seeing how much damage you just took… don't think I'll just move back."
Chris rolled toward Whisper again with a fresh, larger coat of ice wrapping over his body. Whisper floated backward, barraging the ice type with bursts of flames.
"Chris, don't bother dodging! Just push on forward!" Cynthia ordered.
"Spheal!" Chris cried, allowing the flames to strike against his iced body directly. He leapt up and slammed into Whisper again, knocking him back.
An ice type move shouldn't be doing this much damage… Austin thought, frowning. But I can't avoid the fact that it is…
"Whisper, you've got to move outside of his range," Austin ordered. "Float up into the air."
"Chandelure," Whisper said, bobbing and floating up into the air, well outside of where Chris could reach.
"So, who exactly is on the defensive, huh?" Cynthia asked, smiling. "Seems like you're avoiding my attacks now!"
"Perhaps, but you're not the only one who can attack while dodging," Austin said, frowning. "Whisper, continue your flame burst attacks. If you have to burn the field down, take that seal down."
"Chan!" Whisper launched a rain of fire down on the battlefield. At the height it was at, however, Chris easily could dodge the attacks. The flames struck the remnants of the building, turning the cinders into a burning inferno.
"Not good!" Lila said. "While staying outside of Spheal's reach, Chandelure has used a combination of powerful fire moves and the battlefield itself to create a wall of fire keeping the water pokemon well out of the way!"
"Just like we should expect from someone of his caliber," Darla nodded. "He figured out the optimal way to put pressure on his opponent while remaining safe. Even with that thick fat, it's only a matter of time before Spheal succumbs to the flames."
"Man, this battle is really heating up…" Cynthia said, fanning herself. "I'm getting pumped now!"
Cynthia unbuttoned her uniform and threw off her blazer and shirt, her top covered in just a thin undershirt over her sports bra.
"What's that pervert doing…" Sango sighed, cradling her face in her hands.
"Oh yeah, that's much better," Cynthia said, wiping the sweat from her brow, unfazed by her revealing state of dress. "Now that I can think a little clearer… Chris! Go into the burning building!"
"What?!" Darla exclaimed.
"Cynthia… Cynthia has given a crazy order to her Spheal, ordering him INTO that inferno!" Lila asked. "Has she given up?"
Chris did not even hesitate to roll straight for the burning building protected only by a massive ball of ice. He slammed the ice against the ground and launched himself against one of the walls, bouncing off of it and up into the air.
"Oh, very clever!" Darla gasped.
"Huh? What do you mean, Darla?" Lila asked, confused.
"Spheal can't reach his opponent from the ground," Darla explained. "But by using the burning pieces of the house as impact points…"
"She can close the distance!" Lila exclaimed.
"Exactly!"
"Chris! That one, next!" Cynthia pointed at a large piece of wall that was mostly intact. Chris bounced off it at a sharp angle and flew into the air, clearing the flames of the house.
"Whisper, dodge away," Austin ordered. "You might be able to use the arena to your advantage, but if the attack doesn't hit, it's meaningless."
"Yeah, I know that!" Cynthia said. "But this one… this one's hitting! Chris, powder snow!"
Chris opened his mouth and released a blast of cold snow from within his stomach. Due to his rotation, the snow began flying in a ring out from his body, spraying onto Whisper but also propelling him forward, sending him flying right towards the fire type. Chris struck Whisper with a powerful ice ball, knocking him out of the air as the ice flew all over.
Not good… Austin frowned. Whisper is taking far more damage than he should… it shouldn't be possible, how…
Something splashed on his face, breaking Austin out of his thoughts. He rubbed his cheek and looked at his fingers. They were wet.
"Water?" Austin wondered, his eyes widening as her turned to Cynthia. She was smirking.
"So that's it…" He said, his eyes narrowing.
"Oh, finally figured it out, huh?" Cynthia chuckled. "And you said I was an idiot?"
Chris landed on the ground, shaking his body. Chris was covered in water as well.
"I've got to thank you, Austin," Cynthia said, smiling. "If it wasn't for your powerful fire moves, Chris would never have been able to deal so much damage to your Chandelure."
"What's she talking about, Darla?" Lila asked, confused.
"Oh, I see!" Darla said, nodding. "Cynthia's Spheal was covering himself in ice to attack the Chandelure, but ice type moves aren't very effective against fire types! But water type moves, on the other hand…"
"Water types?" Lila asked, tilting her head to the side. "You mean-!"
"Exactly," Darla nodded.
"Spheal don't have very powerful water type moves," Austin said. "But you used the powerful heat from my fire type attacks to melt your ice ball…"
"Turning it into a water type move!" Cynthia finished, smiling triumphantly. "How's that for thinking, huh?"
"You realized that just from seeing the amount of damage dealt to my Whisper from that first ice ball, huh?" Austin said. "While you might be lacking in foresight… you seem to possess an abundance of intuition."
"Cynthia thought through all of that?" Sango asked, surprised.
"Nope," Cynthia said, shaking her head. "I didn't just figure it out after that first attack. Ever since the battlefield was chosen, I thought up this little gambit! Though I have to thank you, I couldn't have done nearly as much damage with all your fire type moves.
"The words I spoke about you being an idiot… I suppose I'll have to retract them," Austin said.
"You don't need to go that far!" Cynthia heard Sango's voice echo from the stands, causing her to growl in irritation.
"My carelessness gave you an opportunity. I won't repeat it." Austin concluded. "No more fire moves for you. And not only that, but the building you used to get up to Whisper before has burned down to rubble. What will you do now?"
Whisper floated back up into the air, looking down at Chris.
"Since it seems you do have a brain rattling around in that head of yours… I wonder how you'll put it to use dragging me down. Whisper and I, staring down at you, and you, helpless to stand against us… I wonder how you'll overcome it."
"Oh, it seems you're taking me seriously, huh?" Cynthia asked, smiling. "Perfect. See, I've been making a little plan of my own, and I'm just about ready to beat you with it. And believe me, you won't see it coming."
"Whisper, end this. Use solarbeam."
Whisper began drawing in energy, and fired another beam at Chris. Chris rolled out of the way, and instead of following after him, the beam moved in random directions, carving up the ground, plowing through the remains of the house and kicking up debris. When the beam finally died down and Chris pulled to a stop, the rubble had him entirely surrounded.
"Oh no! Chris!" Cynthia cried.
"I've cut off your avenue of escape. Now how will you dodge the next one?" Austin asked. "If you have a plan, it's time to use it."
"Chris, powder snow!" Cynthia ordered, Chris firing another blast of snowy wind at the Chandelure. Whisper easily avoided the attack, drawing in sunlight.
"Again, solarbeam," Austin ordered.
"Keep going! Powder snow!" Cynthia repeated, Chris firing more blasts of snow. The snow pelted against Whisper, but without the high temperatures the ice attacks did minimal damage. Yes… almost… just a little more…
"Cast…" Sango turned her head to Silver, who was shivering.
"What's wrong?" Sango asked, guiding Silver into her lap, rubbing his head. Silver's shivering intensified, and he began to transform.
"Aurora beam!" Cynthia shouted, Chris firing out a beam of rainbow light to counter the beam of sunlight shooting toward him. The two attacks collided head on, pushing against each other.
"How is that move tying with Whisper's solarbeam?" Austin wondered. "He defeated that aurora beam last time… so how?"
Cynthia smiled, raising a finger towards the sky. Hail began raining down onto the battlefield, Austin's eyes widening.
"Hail?" Austin asked, shocked. "But how-?"
"I come from the Hoenn Region," Cynthia said. "The temperature there is really hot at all times of the year. But we still get hail. Do you know why? As a fire type user, you should know what thermals are."
"Thermals?" Kitty asked Sango, confused.
"Hot air," Sango explained, looking at Silver, who had transformed into a small tornado form, glistening like a snowflake.
"It's hailing in the battlefield!" Darla gasped, shielding her head from the chunks of ice.
"But how?" Lila asked, confused.
"Hot air rises," Cynthia explained. "And a strong updraft traps the cold air in the sky, and hail forms. Your intense fire attacks didn't just melt my ice, it warmed up the air all around us. But now that the flames have died down, they're no longer keeping all those ice attacks I launched into the air from falling. The fragments of the ice balls, the powder snow attacks, they've all caused ice to form in the clouds above our heads. And now it's falling down on us."
Whisper's solarbeam began to give up power, as Chris's aurora beam began to push through.
"Solarbeam draws energy from the sunlight to boost its power," Cynthia nodded. "And I learned that watching Alcea's fight with Blake, that if the sun is obstructed then the power decreases. So by making it hail… Your power grows weaker, doesn't it?"
"You…" Austin growled, the solarbeam shattering. The aurora beam hit Whisper head on, pushing him into the center of the hail clouds. He fell out of the sky as Chris pulled himself over the debris he was trapped in and rolled towards him, the hail coating over his body for a massive ice ball attack.
"You called me an idiot, remember?" Cynthia asked, smiling triumphantly. "It was rushed, and had a bunch of chances at failing… but this was the plan I came up with! And we pushed it through with our drive to win!"
"It seems I miscalculated," Austin frowned, shaking his head.
Chris slammed into Whisper and pushed forward, plowing him against the ground, rolling for several feet across the battlefield before pulling to a stop.
"Chan…" Whisper sputtered, flames dying down as he passed out. Austin, in stunned silence, returned Whisper to his pokeball, and walked off the battlefield without a word.
"Whew…" Cynthia sighed, wiping her forehead, putting a triumphant grin on her face. "Ha ha! I did it! I won! I made it to the next round!"
"It was by the skin of her teeth," Sango sighed, shaking her head, "but she still came up with a really impressive strategy."
"Are we sure that's really Cynthia?" Kitty asked incredulously.
"See that?" Cynthia bragged, waving at the audience. "I won! Ya'll were booing me, but I still managed to win! So suck on it!"
"Oh yeah, that's definitely her."
"Now then…" Cynthia said, wrapping around her exposed arms, "Chris, I don't have thick fat myself, when's the hail gonna stop? It's like snow at this point…"
So Blake and Cynthia have both moved on to the next round! Who would have guessed? And that's just the first of many surprises this tournament has in store!