Alcea's taken the lead! With Anastacia being able to tank Frosmoth's blizzard and take her down with some awesome acrobatics, Gabrielle is down to only two pokemon left! Will she be able to stage a counterattack and regain the momentum in the fight, or will this be where Alcea takes a commanding position and wins the whole thing? It's a tricky moment, and Gabrielle will have to really work hard if she wants to win!

KedharS: Yeah, this battle has really reached an intense moment, that's for sure.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 1169

For a long time, Gabrielle stood in silent contemplation as the snow whipped around her. She was so quiet it was like she was back to her normal self.

Alcea thought that now was her best chance to try to get through to the other girl.

"Gabrielle…" She started.

"Cetitan, come out." Gabrielle's voice was harsh and cold, cutting Alcea off before she could say anything else. She sent out her Cetitan, and the hulking whale emerged with a deep bellow, shaking up the grass when he landed.

Alcea scowled. So she was in no mood talk, hmm?

"Fine then. We'll-"

"Cetitan, get rid of this pesky grassy terrain!" Gabrielle ordered. "Use ice spinner!"

While Alcea knew that there was no way she could stop the attack from getting through, she wasn't going to let him use it so easily. "Anastacia, grassy glide!" She ordered, taking advantage of the terrain one last time.

"Tsareena!" Anastacia nodded, kicking off the grass and shooting across it at high speed. She crossed the distance between herself and Cetitan in the time it took the pokemon to make his first spin, leaping over the wave of ice and kicking the large pokemon in the face, knocking him backwards.

Anastacia flipped through the air, landing on the ice just as it finished covering the battlefield. The loss of her advantage was a problem, but not a critical one. She still had more than enough power to deal with an opponent like Cetitan.

Gabrielle, seeing that she'd reclaimed the advantage, was quick to make use of it. Cetitan was already a hair faster than the Tsareena under normal circumstances, and with Slush Rush active he would be able to take down the other pokemon quickly.

That was the plan, anyway.

"Icicle crash," she ordered.

"Cetitan!" Cetitan stomped on the ground, forming massive icicles from the snow beneath his feet. He fired them up into the air, where they arced overhead and crashed down on Anastacia. Gabrielle expected this attack to do a significant amount of damage due to how much health the Tsareena had already lost from the blizzard.

But she wasn't dealing with any ordinary pokemon, she was dealing with one of the ace pokemon of Alcea Vermeil.

"Anastacia, use power whip," Alcea ordered, unfazed by the incoming barrage of icicles. In a repeat of her previous display, Anastacia summoned a whip of vines from her whip, snapping it through the air and smashing through the incoming icicles. When her pokemon was fully protected Alcea gave her next order. "Now, sweet scent."

"This again?" Gabrielle moved instinctively to block her nose, trying to keep out the captivating aroma, but her pokemon wasn't so fortunate. Cetitan's massive flippers couldn't reach far enough to shield his face, and he found himself entranced by the sweet smells wafting towards him. Even with all his speed, the thought of avoiding Anastacia's next attack was unthinkable.

"Now Anastacia, use high jump kick," Alcea ordered.

"Tsareena!" Seeing that her target temporarily immobilized, Anastacia leapt into action. She charged forward and jumped into the air, flipping through the sky and extending her leg. She smashed into Cetitan with a powerful kick, knocking the large pokemon backwards.

"Cetitan!" Cetitan bellowed, falling back into the snow with a loud thud as Anastacia landed elegantly beside him. But Alcea wasn't done.

"Use trop kick next," she ordered, eager to reduce Cetitan's attacking power like she did the last time. Cetitan had already taken some damage from Anastacia's previous attacks and had been forced back to his pokeball, and Alcea was willing to try it again.

Gabrielle was a little more prepared this time, though.

"Cetitan, jump back and use ice spinner," she ordered.

Cetitan was no longer captivated by the sweet scent, so he was able to take advantage of his heightened speed, leaping out of the way of Anastacia's kick. Once he'd put a suitable distance between himself and the Grass type, he began to spin, sending another wave of ice and snow surging across the battlefield towards her.

"Anastacia, get back!" Alcea shouted. Anastacia took advantage of her powerful legs to leap backwards, putting herself just out of range of the ice spinner. Alcea could tell that this would be a tricky battle. Because of the snow, Cetitan's speed was a lot higher than she was comfortable dealing with. It would be difficult for Anastacia to recklessly get close. She considered switching her out for another pokemon, but that came with its own share of risks.

The only pokemon Alcea had left that could fight were Kana and Venus. Her Tropius was always a risky call against Gabrielle's Ice types due to her quadruple weakness, and Venus she was saving for dealing with Gabrielle's trump card. After all, the girl had said she'd raised two new pokemon to defeat Alcea's team, and Alcea had only seen one of them. It stood to reason that the other would be her sixth and final pokemon, rather than her Empoleon or Dewgong.

I don't know what kind of pokemon it could be… but knowing her skill and how confident she appears, even given the fact that she's behind in pokemon, I'm certain I'll need at least two pokemon to deal with it, maybe even three. Anastacia needs to defeat this Cetitan without taking much more damage. But that was easier said than done. Anastacia was tough, but taking that blizzard from Frosmoth had taken a lot out of her. Under normal circumstances she'd be able to heal from synthesis, but given the harsh snowfall that strategy was out of her reach. Synthesis would restore barely a fourth of Anastacia's health, which was worthless given the time it would take to use. She might as well give Cetitan free range to defeat her pokemon.

We've hit him with our best attacks, and yet he seems to just shrug everything off, Alcea noted. Gabrielle said the snow provides a 50% boost to Ice type pokemon's defensive capabilities and it seems like she wasn't exaggerating. But even without such things, that Cetitan's defensive power is certainly awesome…

It felt like Alcea was going up against a great wall. Having never faced a Cetitan before she couldn't be certain what its stats precisely were, but judging by the fact that it was enduring so much damage she was pretty sure that it's base health was at least over 150.

Not exactly something easy to wear down.

A pity Rayne and Rosetta aren't still here, Alcea thought. If we could have set leech seed on that Cetitan, we'd have significantly more breathing room.

She could always switch to Venus, of course, but she didn't want to do that unless she absolutely had to. And right now, she was still confident that Anastacia could come out of this successful.

"…You're very quiet right now, Alcea."

Alcea flinched at Gabrielle's voice, raising her head to look across the field at her opponent. She hadn't expected the other girl to be the one to initiate conversation.

A polite smile crept up Alcea's lips as a sign of goodwill. "You've put me in a serious bind, is it?" She said, heaping some generous praise on her opponent. "Your Cetitan is magnifique, a very good counter to my Anastacia."

"Of course he is," Gabrielle said. "That's why I trained him. To be the perfect counter to your team, most importantly, that Tsareena of yours."

I figured as much… Anastacia had been able to drive back Cetitan before, through an attack reduction, but even then Alcea thought that Gabrielle had recalled her trump card much to easily. She supposed it was because the other girl had more pokemon to rely on. Now that she was down to her aces, she was showing just how dedicated she was to defeating the other trainer.

"I'm actually quite flattered," Alcea admitted. "Whenever you show me how much effort and care you put into defeating me, I feel invigorated."

Her words were intended as praise, but they cast a shadow over Gabrielle's face.

"…I see…" The ice trainer murmured. "So my efforts… 'flatter' you, is it?"

Alcea felt the atmosphere change, and realized that she'd said something wrong, though she wasn't quite sure why. She quickly tried to set things right by clarifying her meaning. "Of course I'm flattered," she said. "After all, it shows how much you wish to defeat me! What trainer wouldn't be flattered by her rival seeking to better herself?"

The anger in Gabrielle's glare showed how ineffective Alcea's words truly were.

"You have no idea, do you?" Gabrielle asked, shaking her head. "Why I've always fought so hard to beat you and take the spot of the number one female trainer in this school?"

Vic rolled her eyes. "Oh, please," she mumbled under her breath.

Alcea had to admit that no, she hadn't given much thought to the forces that motivated Gabrielle's decision. She shook her head.

"What is it?" She asked cautiously.

Gabrielle stared quietly at her hand, as if she was studying the intricate patterns laced across the surface of her palm. "When you look at me, what do you see?" She asked.

Alcea wasn't sure what she meant by that. "…A worthy trainer, someone who I can count on to push me to my limits," she replied.

That actually got the smallest of smiles out of Gabrielle.

"…But we aren't friends, of course," the dark-haired girl mumbled. "Even after what happened before, even though we became closer after my battle with Gerard, we never quite became friends, did we, Alcea?"

Alcea shook her head. No, they hadn't. The two girls were on the same page about stopping Gerard's plans (something Gabrielle had done quite masterfully not too long ago, in fact) but beyond that they had never "hung out" as the kids say.

Gabrielle had made it very clear that she wasn't that sort of person.

"You were curious before, about why I became so talkative after becoming friends with Samarra, isn't that right?" Gabrielle asked, glancing back at Alcea.

"Oui," Alcea nodded cautiously, not sure if she was going to like Gabrielle's response.

"Becoming Samarra's friend… it's a more freeing experience than you can possibly know," Gabrielle said, a wistful sigh escaping her lips. She looked past Alcea, towards Vic and Olivia and Tommy and Ross, then past them to where Amarillo was still treating Gerard. "That's what made rejoining us such a tempting offer to him," she added, nodding his way. "Unlike other people, Samarra accepts us for who we are without question. She gives us something that we couldn't get anywhere else."

"And what would that be?" Alcea asked.

"It will vary from person to person, depending on what they want most." Gabrielle's eyes never left Gerard. "For example, the acknowledgment of someone's self-worth."

She turned to Olivia next. "Or perhaps… the courage to express emotions that don't come easily, due to fear."

Of course, Samarra no longer had access to her knowledge of the others' desires. Everything Gabrielle was saying came from her own lips, her own observations of the others and what she guessed they would want most.

"Samarra can give you the confidence to assert your true feelings," she said, staring directly at Vic. Her eyes slipped to Tommy next. "Or free us from our responsibilities so that we can fully enjoy ourselves in ways that we couldn't when having to consider others." Ross was the last one. "She can even provide us with more ideas than we could ever think of ourselves, so that we can truly experience the things we want to… so much is possible when you have someone who cares for you and what you want the most…"

A pained expression crossed Gabrielle's face and she lifted her hand to hold over her chest.

"So what about you?" Alcea murmured. "What did she give you, Gabrielle?"

The tender look Gabrielle wore froze like the grass beneath her feet. She dropped her hand. "That doesn't matter right now…" She hissed. Her eyes turned sharp. "If you want to know, then you'll find out through this battle! Cetitan, use icicle spear!"

"Cetitan!" Cetitan stomped on the snow, sending more icicles crashing down towards Anastacia. But if she was hoping to catch the two of them off-guard then she didn't know Alcea as well as she thought she did.

"Anastacia, trailblaze!" Alcea ordered. She considered having Anastacia block the attack with power whip again, but that was risky. Anastacia only had so many uses of that attack, and she couldn't keep doing the same thing over and over again.

Fortunately, she didn't need to. With her powerful legs, Anatascia broke through the ice covering the ground, carving a trail in the grass that allowed her to move faster than normal, giving her the speed to evade the crashing icicles.

It was a strange position the two trainers found themselves in. Cetitan had the speed to fire off attacks and a lot of raw power that ensured that the attacks would hurt if they hit, but his attacks were so large that they were easy enough for an agile pokemon like Anastacia to dodge. At the same time though, Anastacia couldn't land the hits she needed to finish the huge pokemon off.

The two were at an odd stalemate.

"Anastacia, use seed bomb," Alcea ordered. She was still cautious about getting within range of Cetitan's ice spinner.

"Tsareena!" Anastacia nodded, firing a barrage of seeds up into the air. They rained down on Cetitan with a mass of explosions.

"Cetitan!" The bulky pokemon bellowed, feeling the assault of the explosions shake him. Gabrielle winced, her own body rocketed by the blasts as well, but she didn't let them overcome her. She focused her harmonia and directed it into Cetitan's speed and power.

"We'll have to get close," she decided. Fortunately, Cetitan's Slush Rush provided them with exactly what they needed. "Use body slam!"

"Cetitan!" Cetitan charged through the snow, moving far faster than such a bulky pokemon had any right to. He lowered his head, aiming his horns at Anastacia, and leapt.

Even with her speed, Anastacia couldn't compete with the charging mountain in front of her. Until now, Cetitan had been relying on his speed to evade attacks, but now he was using it offensively, and Anastacia found that she couldn't avoid it. She raised her arms to shield herself but was knocked back by the force of the collision, flying through the air and crashing into a snow bank.

"Anastacia!" Alcea cried.

"Tsar…" Anastacia picked herself up off the ground, but it was clear that attack had hurt quite a lot. Alcea didn't know how much health her pokemon had left, but it was pretty clear she couldn't handle another one of those.

What Alcea wanted didn't really factor into it, though.

"Again," Gabrielle coldly ordered her pokemon, set on finishing things off with this attack. With another roar, Cetitan charged at Anastacia again.

"Anastacia, block it with reflect," Alcea ordered. There was just enough time to get the attack off, thank god.

"Tsareena!" Anastacia raised her hands, creating a barrier of green light in front of her. But if she thought that would be adequate she was sorely mistaken. Cetitan slammed into the shield and the whole thing shook, massive cracks forming across its surface.

"That much damage from one attack?!" Olivia exclaimed, her eyes bulging in shock.

"And it's not even buffed either, geez," Tommy said, shaking his head in disbelief. "How massive is that thing's attack stat?!"

"That barrier won't take another hit," Gabrielle declared. She was sure of it, and Alcea was too. "Use ice spinner to finish her off alone with that shield."

"Cetitan," Cetitan bellowed, stepping back to give himself room to spin.

Alcea's mind was racing fast. She had to think of a way to overcome that huge pokemon and its massive defense, but what?

Then an idea flashed through her brain, a move that she seldom used with Anastacia but would be perfect for this situation.

"Anastacia!" She shouted to her Tsareena as the pokemon jumped back, desperate to put some distance between herself and the incoming attack. "Use grass knot!"

"Grass knot?!" Gabrielle gaspd in surprise. Her Tsareena was using a special move, even with her pitiful special attack stat?!

She certainly was. Anastacia raised her hands, and a green aura appeared around her body. That light seeped into the ground, beneath the snow, to where the grass of Agate Village still grew as firmly as ever thanks to Shaymin's gentle blessing.

Blades of grass shot out from the snow, wrapping around Cetitan's legs and interfering with his spinning. Unable to get the attack off thanks to the tangled shoots binding him up, Cetitan was thrown off his balance and crashed into the ground with a roar.

"Your pokemon is massive, and has considerable bulk," Alcea said. "It must weigh over 700 kilograms at least. For a pokemon that heavy, it doesn't matter that grass knot is a special move, it will still be at its maximum power!"

"Cetitan!" Cetitan wailed, futilely thrashing against the grass that squeezed down on him, pulling him deeper into the snow. It was like the more he tried to pull, the harder it bound him. Gabrielle found herself struggling against that same feeling, as if massive weights were tied to her body and trying to force her to kneel.

"Since it's a special move, that means it isn't affected by the snow as well," Alcea continued. She didn't like seeing Gabrielle in so much pain but she didn't really have a choice.

"You-!" Gabrielle growled, but she couldn't get much else out. She couldn't believe that she'd been so close, and now was stuck.

"Even if you struggle, it won't make a difference," Alcea promised. The grass shifted, forcing Cetitan to his feet while binding his legs, fins, and tail down, keeping him from moving. More grass rose up to wrap around his mouth so he couldn't fire off anymore attacks. "Anastacia knows a move that's far more effective for dealing with heavy pokemon than that."

"Tsareena," Anastacia nodded. The wrecked barrier fell away as she stepped forward, maintaining her queenly visage even with how much damage she'd taken.

"Low kick," Alcea ordered. It was a move Callie would have been proud of.

Using her powerful legs, Anastacia kicked up at Cetitan from below, striking at his feet. The vines fell away as she hit, allowing the weight of the bulky pokemon to work against itself. Without a leg to stand on Cetitan fell, hitting the ground in a massive thud that shook the snow.

He didn't get up.

Wow! Alcea's on a roll! Her Tsareena didn't just manage to defeat Gabrielle's Frosmoth, she even managed to overcome her Cetitan as well! That just leaves one last pokemon left for her to deal with, to Alcea's three! But what could she have left? What's her final pokemon, the trump card she prepared, and is Alcea's team equipped to deal with it? Hopefully she'll be able to pull something off, but at the moment, it looks like she's ahead!