Time to continue the fille- I mean, the fourth round, Sylvia vs. Caelia!
Superblal: Oh, Sylvia has a good many tricks up her sleeve.
ZenoZen: Always happy to oblige.
Darkhammer: Uh oh is right.
Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings
Chapter 53
"Return, Racer," Caelia returned the unconscious horse pokemon to her pokeball. She stood on the battlefield silently staring at the pokeball, thinking deeply. She placed it on the belt of her uniform and pulled out another one, turning back to the battlefield with a look of determination in her eye.
"Tori." Caelia tossed the pokeball into the air, and from it emerged a grey and crimson tortoise pokemon with a spikey shell decorated in an intricate pattern of yellow, brown, and red.
"Whoa! What pokemon is that?" Lila asked, widening her eyes. "I've never seen one of those before!"
"That's a Turtonator, Lila," Darla answered, smiling proudly. "It's a pokemon that's part dragon and part fire! It can only be found in the Alola Region!"
"Wow, leave it to you, Darla, to know your dragon types," Lila said, nodding. "But will it be enough to take down Dusknoir?"
Darla's smile grew wider. "It certainly might," she said, nodding.
"Dusk, use shadow punch," Sylvia ordered.
"Tori. Flamethrower." Tori's eyes narrowed and she tilted her head back, fire bursting from her long snout.
She released the blast in a stream of flames that shot toward Dusk at high speed, engulfing him in flames. Dusk floated out of the way, slapping the flames off his body as he pulled away from the attack, Sylvia's eyes widening in surprise.
"Whoa! This time, Turtonator attacked first!" Lila said.
"Yeah. I don't know how they've trained their pokemon, but I do know that Turtonator is naturally slower than most pokemon out there," Darla explained. "Even slower than Dusknoir."
"So it seems you aren't entirely ignorant in what it takes to fight in this world of mine." Sylvia grinned, staring expectantly at Caelia. "Oh? Nothing to say? No witty comeback?"
"This is a battle," Caelia said. "Such words are pointless."
"Well, in that case… that's something I'm okay with, too!" Sylvia threw her hand out, Dusk nodding his head. The ghost pokemon sunk into the ground, disappearing from sight.
"Dusknoir has used his shadow sneak attack," Darla said.
"Then that means he can outspeed Caelia even in the trick room!" Lila gasped.
"But where will the attack come from?" Darla said, narrowing her eyes. "I guess we just have to wait."
Tori stood silently, leering straight ahead in anticipation of the Dusknoir's attack, Caelia folding her arms and staring calmly at Sylvia.
This girl… she's unbelievably patient… Sylvia thought, frowning. Normally, Dusk will wait until his opponent tries to prepare a setup move, to strike while their guard is down, but this girl is just waiting… She bit her lip.
"Okay! Go, Dusk! Shadow sneak!" Dusk burst from the shadows at Tori's feet and lunged at the pokemon from the side, when suddenly Tori dropped to the ground and her shell exploded with blazing power, engulfing the battlefield in a barrage of flames.
"What?!" Sylvia gasped, her eyes widening. "Dusk!"
The dust cleared and Dusknoir floated back to Sylvia's side, the ghost trainer sighing in relief and then staring across the battlefield at the Turtonator and her trainer, both standing serenely like statues.
So she wasn't just being patient… she was setting a trap of her own. Sylvia gritted her teeth, narrowing her eyes into a glare. Clever girl…
"Whoa! What was that?!" Lila exclaimed.
"Apparently a trapping move of some kind," Darla said, frowning. "I've never seen it before, either."
"Dusk, how are you doing?" Sylvia asked, glancing at her Dusknoir.
"Dusknoir…" Dusk wheezed, Sylvia biting her lip.
"That bad, huh?" Sylvia shook her head, glaring at Caelia. "Okay, time for the next plan."
"Dusk." Dusk nodded, lunging at Tori.
"A head-on assault?!" Lila gasped.
"She must be getting desperate!" Darla said, frowning.
"Too slow." Caelia raised her hand, Tori sending another blast of flames at the ghost pokemon. The flames engulfed Dusk's body, but he plowed through them, pushing the flames out to the sides.
"You're not the only one who can use fire moves," Sylvia grinned. "Dusk's fire punch can counter even your flames."
"But a fire move won't do a thing," Caelia responded.
"It will do one thing," Sylvia said, Dusk hitting Tori in the face, the tortoise growling at the glancing blow struck by the ghost pokemon.
"Dragon pulse," Caelia ordered, draconic energy swirling in Tori's snout, firing it in a shockwave that engulfed Dusk, knocking him backwards.
"Just like I thought, you don't want me to get close to you," Sylvia said. "But don't worry, I don't need to anymore!"
Caelia's eye widened as Dusk opened his hand as he flew back, venomous energy leaping from his fingers and engulfing the fire pokemon.
Dusk skidded across the ground and floated up in front of Sylvia, Tori growling in pain as the toxins began burning through her body.
"Toxic!" Lila gasped.
"Well, that might do it," Darla said, nodding. "If you can't get through offensively…"
"Let's put you on the aggressive with this," Sylvia said.
"Tori," Caelia said pointedly. "Does it hurt?"
"Tur," Tori nodded.
"Can you fight?"
"Tur." Tori nodded again.
"Then go."
Tori released a blast of flames at Dusk, who moved to the side, but unable to avoid all the flames that singed him.
"Dusk, heal up for now," Sylvia ordered. "Use rest."
Dusk nodded, and his body began to glow as he drifted off to sleep.
"Using rest now, huh?" Lila said.
"Sylvia's playing this pretty conservatively," Darla nodded. "But Turtonator is much better on the defensive than the offensive. Caelia won't be able to be patient while the toxins are burning through her."
"Increase your flames," Caelia ordered. "Overheat."
Tori's flamethrower attack died down, and she quickly replaced it with a concentrated blast of flames so intense they were burning white.
Dusk was bathed in flames for a few heart-pounding minutes before he emerged flying toward Tori, darkness infusing his fist. He hit Tori in the face, knocking the Turtonator backwards, Tori responding with another blast of white flames.
"Your fire is growing weaker, it seems," Sylvia said. "Between the loss of power from using overheat and the intensity of the poison flowing through her body, it looks like that Turtonator of yours is on her last legs."
Caelia narrowed her eye at this.
"Press on," she ordered. Tori nodded her head, firing another blast of white flames at Dusk.
"We'll burn you right back, then," Sylvia said. "Dusk, burn her out with hex."
Dusk's body began glowing with shadowy energy, which spiraled out from around him. Tori's body began burning with ghostly flames as an ominous shadow loomed behind her, Tori crying out in pain as her flames became extinguished.
"Sorry, but it seems like that won't be enough," Sylvia said, smiling. "The poison is eating through you now. Dusk, finish her off. One more hex."
"Dusknoir!" Dusk roared, releasing another blast of ghostly flames that engulfed the Turtonator, the fire pokemon crying out and succumbing to the ghostly attack, falling unconscious.
"Now both Sylvia and Caelia have lost two pokemon each," Lila observed.
"Now the question is whether or not Caelia has any other pokemon to fight in the trick room," Darla said.
"Mera, again." Caelia sent out her Larvesta again.
"Him again, huh?" Sylvia asked. "Well, he's small and slow, but Dusk isn't gonna fall to him so easily. Dusk, use shadow punch!"
Dusk shot forward, infusing his fist with dark energy. He twisted his arm back and swung down at the small bug pokemon, who covered his body with flames in response.
"Flame wheel," Caelia ordered. Mera jumped and collided with Dusk's fist, the ghost pokemon reeling back as the flames leapt up his hand. Mera skidded across the battlefield, righting himself and coating his body with flames, leaping toward Dusk again.
"Dusk, stay out of his range," Sylvia ordered. "Use toxic." Dusk held his hand up and flung waves of toxic energy at Mera, who jumped around the spheres of poison as he closed the distance toward the ghost type. But Dusk was far faster than the little bug, easily able to stay out of his reach as the ghost pokemon continued his assault.
"Mera," Caelia said sharply. "Go."
Mera nodded, and jumped forward.
"What?" Sylvia gasped, confused. "But that's…"
The toxic attack struck Mera head-on, some of the poison burning away but the rest seeping into Mera's fur, badly poisoning her. She emerged from the wave of poison wreathed in flames, tackling Dusk, who had failed to calculate that Mera would leap straight into the attack, and therefore couldn't get out of the way in time. The flames engulfed Dusk, who roared in pain, tumbling back through the air.
"You let your Larvesta get poisoned?" Sylvia exclaimed incredulously.
"You aren't the only one… capable of inflicting status…" Caelia said, a rueful smile curling up onto her lips. Sylvia's eyes jumped to Dusk, flames reigniting from his body.
"Larvesta has been poisoned like Caelia's Turtonator was, but at the same time he managed to inflict Dusknoir with a rather harsh burn!" Lila gasped.
"Whoa, nice!" Darla said, grinning. "Way to go, Larvesta!"
"Dusk, that's a bad burn," Sylvia said, frowning. "We'll use rest again to heal up, got it?"
Dusk nodded, and prepared to drift off to sleep, when a piercing noise rang through the battlefield like a shockwave, blasting him out of his attempted rest. Dusk clutched his head and fell to the ground, Sylvia clenching her ears as well.
"It may not be effective, but this bug buzz technique sure is annoying…" Darla muttered, rubbing her ears in frustration.
"Owww…" Lila moaned.
"We won't let you sleep," Caelia said. "Mera!"
Flames leapt from Mera's fur, and he opened his mouth, releasing a blast of hot fire that scorched Dusk, the flames burning from a deep red-orange to a bright white-hot radiance, as Mera began using his overheat attack.
"Dusk!" Sylvia cried out. When the flames finally died down, the ghost pokemon was lying in a massive scorch-mark, unconscious. As the flames faded away, the starry spatial field around the stadium began to crack, shattering into fragments of glistening light as the trick room burst apart, the remains fluttering down onto the battlefield.
"Well, it looks like Dusknoir is unable to battle," Darla said. "So I guess-"
"Wait, Darla, look!" Lila interrupted, pointing at Mera, who collapsed, drained of energy. The poison finished working its way through his system, as the Larvesta lost consciousness.
"Well then, it looks like both of them are unable to battle," Darla declared.
The two trainers returned their pokemon to their pokeballs, preparing for their next pokemon to send out.
"Sally, go," Caelia took out her pokeball first, tossing it into the air, a sleek black pokemon emerging from it. The lizard pokemon had a slender, feminine figure with hot pink markings, and when she opened her mouth, poisonous gas emerged.
"What pokemon is that?" Lila asked, curious.
"That's a Salazzle," Darla explained. "It's another pokemon that's found in the Alola Region, like Turtonator."
"This one's a good one under trick room, but I think it should be enough with this matchup," Sylvia said, smiling. "Letty! Go!"
Sylvia threw out a great ball, which a small blue and purple golem pokemon emerged from, a Golett.
"A ground type, huh? That should be tough," Julia said, frowning.
"You don't think that Caelia can win?" Sango asked.
"It's definitely a tough matchup," Kate added, "poison types really have it rough against ground types, and the fire type doesn't help matters any."
"Letty, use earthquake," Sylvia ordered. Letty raised their arm and punched the ground, sending a shockwave of power through the ground.
"Jump," Caelia ordered. Sally leapt off the ground and opened her mouth, firing a stream of flames at Letty. The flames hit the golem's clay body but they shrugged the attack off, plowing through it and charging at Sally as she landed on the ground.
"Sally, use sludge bomb," Caelia said. Sally launched a sphere of toxic energy from her mouth at Letty, who raised their arm to block it. The poison struck the golem's hand, dyeing it a venomous purple. The poison began to slowly creep up the pokemon's arm, towards their body.
"Letty!" Sylvia called, Letty raising their hand and severing their infected arm, the clay limb falling uselessly to the ground. The golem pokemon held up their stump of an arm, which slowly began to grow outward, and in a matter of seconds, their entire arm had been regrown.
"You poison won't have any effect on Letty," Sylvia said, smiling. "Their body is made of clay, so any part of it that's damaged they can easily regrow."
Caelia said nothing, she simply raised her hand and pointed. Sally nodded, dropping down to all fours and scurrying toward the golem pokemon.
"Well, if that's what you want, then Letty, hit 'em with earthquake," Sylvia ordered. Letty raised their hands and slammed them onto the ground, sending a shockwave through the stadium as fissures opened up in the stadium, ripping toward Sally.
"Dodge," Caelia ordered. "Then use flame burst."
Sally leapt over the fissures and tilted her head back, flames erupting from her mouth and arcing into the air. The flames rained down on Letty, who shielded their face with their arms, but the flames didn't seem to aiming directly at them.
"It's a trap!" Sylvia exclaimed. "Letty, jump back!"
Letty moved to avoid the attack, but their bulky body was too slow and before they could really get going the ground erupted around them in a chain of explosions, knocking them off their feet. Letty skidded across the ground, and tried to pick themselves up, but Sally's swiftness let her quickly overcome the golem's movements, closing the distance between them in seconds as she let out a point blank sludge bomb that engulfed the ground pokemon in a wave of toxic sludge.
Sally jumped back and landed a safe distance away from the golem to avoid Letty's counterattack, watching carefully as her opponent rose to their feet, the poison seeping through their body.
"Unlike other ghost pokemon, Golett's body is fully physical," Darla said. "And it looks like Caelia is taking advantage of that by having her Salazzle press the pokemon back into a corner."
"True, and Golett has yet to land a real blow on Salazzle either due to the pokemon's speed," Lila said, nodding. "It's unfortunate for Sylvia that trick room is gone now, she could really use the inverted speed."
It's true I might be at a disadvantage, Sylvia thought to herself. I was hoping the type advantage would be enough, but it looks like Letty is too low-leveled to deal with that Salazzle of hers…
A playful smile emerged on Sylvia's face as she considered her options. But ghost pokemon, even ones like Letty, have more than one trick up their sleeve. I was hoping to save this to take care of that Charizard of hers, but I guess I can show my hand a little sooner.
"Letty, our next move is that one, understand?" Sylvia called. Letty nodded, seemingly unencumbered by the poison, and began lumbering toward Sally.
It seems like having a clay body means that thing isn't hurt by poison… thought Caelia. So we'll take it down directly.
"Venoshock," she ordered, poisonous energy coursing around Sally's body.
"Ooh, good move," Kate said. "That should do it!"
"Venoshock?" Kitty asked, tilting her head in confusion.
"Yup!" Kate cackled, smiling proudly. "It's one of the more deadly poison attacks. If the defending pokemon is already poisoned, the move increases in power by intensifying the toxins already coursing through their body. It ups the lethality and the pain!"
Kitty's face turned pale and she began shaking, tears of fear welling up in her eyes. Julia wrapped a comforting arm over her shoulder and shot Kate a dirty look, causing the poison enthusiast look down in shame.
The venomous attack struck Letty head-on and knocked them backwards, the golem pokemon lying unmoving on the ground. Sylvia sighed and took out her great ball, returning Letty to their pokeball.
"What, was that it?" Lila asked, confused.
"After that Dusknoir I was hoping Sylvia's next pokemon would put on a better performance than that," Darla sighed. "That's kind of disappointing."
"Oh, please, don't worry," Sylvia said, glancing at the announcers, and then back at the Salazzle, her smile widening. "This performance is just getting started. I can't wait to show you what I've got coming next."
She reached into the black bag at her waist and withdrew a ball that was a mixture of dark green and black, a dusk ball, and held it up for inspection.
"Now, come out and join us, Magia!" Sylvia crowed, tossing the dusk ball into the air, and emerging with a flourish from its shadowy depths emerged a violet-colored specter. The ghost pokemon's head was in the shape of a witch's hat and around its neck were a row of crimson stones like a necklace. Golden eyes peered out from below the brim of her hat, and she hovered above the battlefield emitting ominous energy.
"Let me introduce you to my Mismagius, Caelia," Sylvia said, smiling. "Between her power and the contributions of Letty, you'll find your Salazzle to be running a little short on time."
"We'll see," Caelia said. "Flame burst."
Sally shot another blast of fire into the air, but that was where it remained. Glowing stones of energy appeared around Magia's body, shooting up into the sky to strike the flames head-on, creating a chain of harmless explosions above the pokemon's heads. Sally used the opportunity to fire a sludge bomb at the ghost pokemon, but unlike Letty, Magia was quite incorporeal. With a twist of her body, she disappeared into a veil of darkness, the poison attack splashing harmlessly onto the ground as the ghost pokemon disappeared from the battlefield.
"Just like her Dusknoir, Sylvia's Mismagius has disappeared from the battlefield," Lila said.
"Yeah, ghost pokemon are really elusive, and that makes them tricky foes to defeat. But where Dusknoir sunk into the shadows, Mismagius has used phantom force to completely disappear!"
"Patience," Caelia said. "She'll emerge to attack. Be ready…"
"That's where you're wrong, Caelia, I don't need to attack," Sylvia said, shaking her head. "My attack has already happened, or haven't you noticed yet?"
"…" Caelia stared at Sylvia.
"Her attack's already happened? What does that mean, Darla?"
"I'm not sure," Darla said, frowning.
"Why don't you ask your Salazzle?" Sylvia suggested, pointing at Sally. "I think you'll find that she's feeling a little under the weather."
As if on cue, Sally began shaking, holding her chest, and stumbled, wincing in pain.
"Sally, what's going on?" Caelia demanded.
"Whoa! Salazzle just collapsed!" Lila gasped. "But Mismagius didn't do anything, did she?"
"I don't know, Lila, it doesn't make any sense! Unless…" Darla gasped.
"Ding ding, that's it exactly, Darla," Sylvia said, smiling. "Magia didn't do a thing. By the time she came out, it was already too late for your little Sally."
"What do you mean?" Caelia asked, narrowing her eye.
"Don't you think Letty went down a little too easily?" Sylvia asked. "Sure, your Salazzle is strong, but strong enough to take out such a bulky pokemon in a few short hits? No, no, we did something else entirely. You see, ghost pokemon are known to carry a grudge. And now your Salazzle is on the receiving end of one!"
"Oh!" Julia gasped, her eyes widening in realization.
"What?" Kitty asked, confused.
"It's curse." Kate answered. "It's a rather tricky ghost move. For most pokemon, curse merely reduces the pokemon's speed in exchange for a buff to their physique. But when used by a ghost pokemon it does something much different. It becomes a literal curse, a powerful hex laid on the enemy pokemon."
"So that Salazzle… is cursed?" Kitty asked.
"Exactly," Kate said. "Curse cuts the user's health in half as a cost. But in exchange, the enemy pokemon's health is slowly drained away, until they eventually lose consciousness. Faster than poison, faster than being burned, the pokemon will feel the curse take their strength away until they succumb, sooner rather than later.
"I was hoping to save this move to catch that scary Charizard of yours by surprise, but I figured that if Letty couldn't take your Salazzle on in a fair fight, they might as well turn it into an unfair one," Sylvia explained. "And then when your Salazzle faints, Magia will be nice and well-rested to take down Charizard, and whatever other pokemon you've got left. Sorry Caelia. This is the end of the line."
So, Sylvia's use of ghost pokemon's tricky moves has let her catch the upper hand! Will that be enough to defeat Caelia? Or does Caelia still have the firepower necessary to overcome her phantoms? We'll have to find out!