Alright, time to continue the sixth round with Claire vs. Daryl! What will our mysterious interloper have up her sleeve to show us next? Hopefully it will be just as surprising as the leaks this morning! Or maybe more surprising, if you saw all that stuff coming, unlike me.
Superblal: The fourth wall breaking was mainly to make it clear that, yes, I realize people may be starting to get tired of this arc. It's been going on for a while, I know. And we aren't close to done yet. Like, not even halfway. Battles take up a lot of writing… And I understand that a lot of people might not find Claire to be funny, but a lot of people do, and she isn't purely a comedic character, not at all. The general take from this wasn't supposed to be that she's funny, but that she's over the top and over-dramatic. If you're actually laughing at her jokes (and not out of pity) or not, then that's okay. It's meant to be cringe in its most pure form: cringe and unfunny. And don't worry, she won't be a recurring character for a long while yet, so if you don't like her, you won't have to put up with her for long.
Darkhammer: That's a good way to look at it.
Duskzilla: Sadly not the near future, but yes, she'll definitely be a reoccurring character that I look forward to making use of for purposes both comedic and dramatic.
Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings
Chapter 58
"Rokosa, go," Daryl said, throwing out a pokeball, which an adorable pink coral pokemon emerged from. The Corsola glared at Aurora, who countered with a glare of her own.
"Aurora, use icy wind!" Claire ordered. Aurora held her hands up and conjured a swirl of icy wind, sending it in a gust toward Rokosa.
"Mirror coat to send it back." Following her trainers' orders, Rokosa generated a barrier of shimmering light around her body, reflecting the icy wind back toward Aurora, who held her hands up defensively to block her own attacks.
"Now, follow it up with rock blast!" Daryl ordered. Rokosa began focusing the energy in her body, lifting up several massive rocks into the air with the power of her mind, firing them in a barrage at Aurora.
"Aurora!" Claire cried out, Aurora gathering energy into her hands, shaping it into a sphere of water that she fired at the incoming rocks. The sphere smashed through the rocks and headed straight toward Rokosa, who leapt backwards, dodging the attack.
"Cor!" Rokosa growled, her glare intensifying. She launched more boulders at Aurora, who dodged most of the stones, smashing through the rest with water pulse attacks. Rokosa's inability to land a blow further incensed her, and she lowered herself down closer to the ground, charging head-on at the ice type pokemon.
"It seems that Daryl's Corsola has decided to throw off the idea of using long range attacks, and has instead resorted to getting closer to Claire's Froslass, and fight her at close range!" Darla announced.
"Yes," Lila said, nodding, "which seems like a good strategy against a special attacking specialist like Froslass. But still, there's something off about that Corsola, don't you think?"
"Oh, you noticed that too, huh?" Darla said. "Yeah, I thought that Corsola looks a little too angry, y'know?"
"Aurora, use ominous wind," Claire said. Tendrils of ghostly energy began hovering in wisps around Aurora's body, and she released them at the charging Corsola.
"You've forgotten so soon, huh?" Daryl said, smiling, Rokosa glowing with light as she conjured another mirror coat, bouncing the ghostly winds back at Aurora. It gave Rokosa enough time to get close enough to the ice pokemon, leaping up toward her.
"Now, use toxic," Daryl ordered. Aurora's coral horns began glowing with poisonous energy. She struck Aurora in the throat, the ice pokemon slumping backwards, collapsing to the ground as the poison began coursing through her spectral form.
"Corsola…" Rokosa cackled, lifting up several boulders that she prepared to drop onto Aurora.
"Aurora, escape!" Claire cried out. Aurora's body turned intangible and she slipped down through the battlefield, escaping from Rokosa's reach.
"Rokosa, come back over here," Daryl called out, his Corsola running back over to his side. "It's okay, we've poisoned her, and that's good enough."
"Why's he calling his Corsola off the attack?" Lily asked, confused.
"Well, he's not calling her back to her pokeball altogether," Darla noted, "so I think he's just having her switch to more defensive tactics."
"What do you mean?" Lila asked.
"Well, Froslass is primarily a special attacker," Darla explained, "and his Corsola has mirror coat, letting her counter any special move if she can see it coming. And not only that, she's been badly poisoned. Pokemon like Froslass that specialize in speed and power tend to suffer when forced into long, drawn-out battles of attrition, and I think Daryl is capitalizing on that. He's trying to turn this into a contest of endurance!"
"Oh, I get it!" Lila said, nodding.
"Like we'll let you get away with something like that!" Claire said, smiling. "Aurora! Use will-o-wisp!" Aurora emerged from the ground behind Rokosa, creating spheres of ghostly energy that she fired at the coral pokemon. Rokosa jumped away, avoiding the burning orbs, Aurora quickly floating out of the reach of her counterattack.
"So you're wary of my mirror coat, huh?" Daryl asked. "Seems smart to switch to status moves, then. Good choice."
"Well, you know how it is," Claire said, shrugging. "I can't let you keep setting the pace! Aurora, use hail!"
Aurora held out her arms, clouds of snow and ice gathering around her and floating up into the sky over the stadium. An intense rain of hail began pelting the battlefield, passing harmlessly through Aurora's ghostly body but striking Rokosa roughly.
"Now, ice shard," Claire ordered. Aurora waved her hands, several chunks of hail coalescing into sharpened icicles that flew toward the small pink pokemon, shattering against her body.
"Wow, what an intense hailstorm!" Darla exclaimed.
"Thanks to her snow cloak ability, Froslass seems to have disappeared into the hail completely," Lila agreed, squinting at the battlefield to try and make out the white pokemon from among the chunks of ice.
"Rokosa, do you see her?" Daryl asked. Rokosa tried to look into the storm of white, but she couldn't see the Froslass at all.
"Now, psychic!" Claire shouted. Like a shadow, Aurora emerged from the hailstorm looming over Rokosa, her eyes glowing blue. She sent a blast of psychic energy into Rokosa's head, the pink pokemon crying out in pain as she was knocked backwards.
"Cor! Cor!" Rokosa shouted angrily as she leapt to her feet, Aurora disappearing back into the hail.
"Calm down, Rokosa. Don't get mad," Daryl soothed her, patting her on the head.
"That's one angry pokemon you got there," Claire shouted at Daryl over the hail.
"She's not usually this bad," Daryl admitted. "Rokosa hates other pokemon. She won't even work with the other pokemon on my team. But she's my main battler, so I'm still going to use her, even with her… other issues."
"Yeah, I get that," Claire chuckled. "Aurora doesn't like me hanging around my other pokemon either. She's kinda obsessed with me, you know? It's so sweet!"
"That sounds terrifying to me," Sango said, shivering. "A yandere ghost pokemon…"
"Agreed, that's just unnerving," Julia said, nodding in agreement.
"What's a 'yandere'?" Kitty asked, looking up at Sango in confusion, the two girls looking away sheepishly.
"Well, let's see how your 'main battler' handles herself against my Aurora!" Claire said, smiling. "If you can't see my attacks coming in this hail, there's no way you can reflect them with mirror coat! And in the meantime, we can attack you whenever you want, and you won't be able to strike back if you can't find her in all this hail, don't you know?" She began laughing. "So, what are you going to do now, huh?"
"Is she just forgetting her Froslass is poisoned?" Lila asked.
"Yeah, I don't think Claire's the one who has the luxury of time here."
Because she'd fought with Froslass the most, Claire knew exactly how her ghostly partner fought, and could see her concealed within the hail. A smile slowly spread across her face. Yeah, they're probably all thinking that I'm crazy, boasting and goading like this… but just a little more… Aurora doesn't have much strength left from the poison, in spite of her aggressive posturing… we'll have to take this defensive Corsola down with our special move, and we're almost there…
"We might not be able to see your Froslass," Daryl said, glancing down at Rokosa, who nodded her body, looking up at him. "Even so… that doesn't mean we're completely out of ways to fight back. You might be hiding within this hail… but we can clear the hail, and your Froslass, all in one blow! Surf!"
Water began to gather around Rokosa's body, and she quickly whipped it up into a massive wave. Rokosa rolled over the tsunami as it surged toward Aurora, Claire watching the waves closely as they moved closer and closer to the poisoned pokemon.
"Aurora, now!" Claire shouted, Aurora dismissing the hail with a wave and reappearing in a shimmer of ghostly energy.
"We won't give you a chance," Daryl shouted. "Take her down, Rokosa!" The mighty wave crashed down on Aurora, engulfing her with a mighty slam of water, flooding the battlefield in a single surge as Aurora was flung through the air. She landed at Claire's feet, unconscious, but Claire's attention was focused elsewhere.
"Eeek! You pervert!" Claire wailed, holding her arms over her soaked clothes to cover her chest and her skirt. "I can't believe you would do something so dirty as use a water attack to get make my clothes transparent and try to see my underwear!"
"Wh-what?!" Daryl exclaimed. "I-I wouldn't do something like that! What's the matter with you?"
"Geez, if you wanted to see, you could have asked," Claire huffed. "You didn't have to go to such drastic measures." She reached down to her shirt's hem, the crowd gasping in surprise.
"Whoa, whoa, let's keep it clean," Lila interrupted.
"Geez, what does that girl think she's doing, trying to strip in the middle of a battle?!" Darla growled. "Is she trying to draw the attention away from us or something?!"
"Darla, you're breaking character," Lila chastised her harshly, Darla blushing in embarrassment.
"Anyway, fine, whatever," Darla said, shaking her head. "Froslass is unable to keep battling!"
"That's not all, Darla, didn't you notice?" Lila asked.
"Hm?" Darla asked. "Notice what?"
"Corsola is also unable to battle!" Lila announced.
"No way!" Daryl said, surprised. "How did that happen?!"
"You didn't notice because you were so focused on your own pokemon's moves," Claire said, smiling, "but just before Rokosa was going to hit Aurora with her surf attack, my Aurora used a move of her own. Destiny bond!"
"Oh!" Sylvia said, her eyes widening.
"My Aurora is a spiteful girl," Claire explained. "She can't bear the thought of being defeated without making her foe suffer too! So, thanks to destiny bond, when my Aurora is knocked unconscious, she takes whatever pokemon it was that knocked her out, and she knocks them out in revenge! Have a taste of that, as you bid your main battling pokemon farewell!"
"Well, I'll admit I didn't see that coming," Daryl said, returning Rokosa to her pokeball as Claire returned Aurora as well. "But this battle is far from over!"
"I disagree," Claire said, smirking, holding up a pokeball. "I think that the end of this match is fast approaching!"
"Wow, that's quite the declaration," Darla said, surprised.
"Hasn't she only managed to take out two of his pokemon so far?" Lila asked. "That's pretty bold."
"Now, let's finish it up, Yuu!" Claire tossed out a pokeball, her Luxray reemerging. "Come on, just keep it going a little bit longer, okay? Then you can take a nice, long break!"
"Lux," Yuu sighed, nodding.
"Great, that's what I like to hear!" Claire giggled, hugging her electric pokemon. "Now, what's you next pokemon gonna be, Daryl?"
"I'll show you," Daryl said. "If you're going to keep relying on your Luxray, then I'll match you, speed with speed. Ezio, go!" Daryl threw out a pokeball, and from it emerged a gray pokemon with a bright pink head resembling a face mask. Its gray body was thin and resembled wrapped bandages with a long gray scarf, the wispy pokemon looking like a mixture between a ghost and a ninja.
"So Claire has sent her Luxray back out into battle," Darla declared.
"And Daryl has countered with an Accelgor!" Lila said.
"So, a speed battle, huh?" Claire said. "Sorry to say, but most girls don't like it when a guy tries to end things too fast. But you're in luck, because you're dealing with one who doesn't mind keeping up! Yuu, use discharge!"
Yuu built up electricity in his fur, and charged at Ezio, releasing electricity out from around him.
"Ezio, use bug buzz!" Daryl ordered. With a display of blinding speed, Ezio disappeared, appearing in front of Yuu in a flash, while dodging the electricity the lynx pokemon was releasing. He got as close to the Luxray as he could, before releasing a blast of supersonic shockwaves, Yuu howling in pain before crumpling to the ground from the force of the shockwaves, losing consciousness.
"Wh-what?" Daryl said, confused.
"Yeah, Yuu was on his last legs," Claire said, smiling sheepishly, returning the fainted electric pokemon to his pokeball. "Still it was a valiant effort," she said, petting the pokeball gently. "Now, you can rest for a good long time, sweetie."
"…Okay, well, in spite of her boasts, Claire's third pokemon is down," Darla said, pausing.
"So, I guess we'll see her next one, then?" Lila asked.
"…Yeah, about that…" Claire said, scratching the back of her head, glancing around. "See, since I wasn't technically a trainer here, I never rented any pokemon… and, well…"
She smiled, sticking her tongue out and rattling the side of her head.
"I only brought three. So… I guess I'm out?"
"…"
"…"
"Are you kidding me?!" Darla exclaimed.
"Wait, so you only had three pokemon?!" Lila exclaimed.
"Thanks, sweeties!" Claire cheered, waving to the crowd of booing people frustrated at the fact that their match had been cut prematurely short.
"…Is… is this okay?" Daryl sighed, returning Ezio to his pokeball.
"Now then, since I'm out of contention, I shall gracefully… run away!" Claire turned and booked it, running off the battlefield.
"…" Andre stared at Claire for a few seconds before snapping out of his daze and remembering what his job was. "Damn it! After her!" The campus security members ran off of the battlefield after the fleeing girl.
"…Now that this nonsense is done," Darla sighed, "(at least that match was fast so we can get this over with…) it's time for to find out the matchups for the next match!"
"And with this, we'll find out who's fighting in the eighth round, as well!" Lila reminded her partner. "So this is gonna be quite a dramatic revelation!"
"That it will be, Lila!" Darla agreed. "So let's spin that wheel!"
The wheel began spinning, Cynthia crossing her fingers hopefully.
"This is gonna be it," Cynthia said, smiling. "I'm sure it's finally going to be my turn to battle!"
"And now, the seventh round has been revealed!" Darla announced.
"The fighters are Will Harmond vs. Lua Lansing!" Lila declared.
"OH YOU HAVE GOT TO BE SHITTING ME!" Cynthia exclaimed, Blake holding his hand over his mouth to stifle his laughter.
"Hey, quit yelling, you!" Darla shouted at Cynthia. "These matchups are random! R-a-n-d-o-m! Don't throw a hissy fit just because you're going last!"
"Oh, you want to see a hissy fit?" Cynthia shouted, struggling against Blake's attempts to hold her down. "Why don'tcha step in the ring, and I'll show you a hissy fit!"
"Come on, it's not worth it," Blake sighed, trying to calm her down, Sango, Julia and Kitty sighing in sympathy from the stands.
"Well, fine then," Cynthia huffed, folding her arms over her chest and slumping down into her seat. "If I'm going to be the last round, then that just means everybody's attention will be on me, and I'll give them a show they'll never forget!"
"There, that's the spirit," Blake said, smiling.
Cynthia glanced to the end of the seats, where Reiner was sitting.
And that means that he's gonna be my opponent, huh? Cynthia thought, frowning. He beat me in the preliminary matches because he was prepared for all of my pokemon's moves… I don't really know if I've gotten better than the last time, but I'm going to have to try my hardest to make sure I don't lose. I still have to make it to the finals and beat Blake, after all. So I'll have to find some way to win that Reiner won't see coming. He prepared for me, last time, but maybe I can prepare for him, the same way.
A conspiratorial grin crossed over Cynthia's face.
And he'll never see it coming!
"Well, this is turning out to be just perfect," Gerard said, smiling. "In the first match, Elaina was there to demonstrate just how powerful I can train my pupil to be. And now, the two freshmen joining from the Gym Leader Training Club will be set up to leave a lasting impression on the audience with their victories. It couldn't be going better if I wrote the matchups myself."
Alcea ignored Gerard's stroking of his own ego, her attention focused on the battlefield below.
That girl… Claire… I wonder why she came here… was it just to scout out the school? Or was there something else she was doing here…
While everyone was forming their own opinions about the upcoming match, Will, one of the people fighting in it, had his attention focused on one thing… or more specifically, one person, only.
Elaina Bishop… Will thought, frowning. Who is she? And why did Gerard enter her into this tournament? He and Gabrielle were talking up both Reiner and I about how we would be the hopes of the Gym Leader Training Club… and then he just enters her out of nowhere. What's the deal? Does he not have faith in our ability to win? Or is he trying to test us by having us fight against such a powerful opponent?
Will glanced up at the viewing box for the Eight Leaders, and swallowed his thoughts.
"Either way, I just have to win," he said to himself, walking out onto the battlefield.
Wow, Elaina seems to have a lot of fans. It must be nice to be so popular. So, what did everyone think of the new information for Pokemon Sword and Shield? Kaiju pokemon? Looks awesome. Sonia is an overrated subpar waifu. Yes, I said it. Come at me.