Alcea's managed to put Gabrielle in a very tough spot! By relying on Anastacia's strength, she was able to defeat Gabrielle's Cetitan and take her down to her last pokemon! But… what is that last pokemon? What else does Gabrielle have up her sleeve? She still hasn't used her last trump card. All we can do is hope that Alcea's last three pokemon have the strength to overcome it!

KedharS: She's been in a pretty tough spot, that's for sure. And it's not just Alcea, either.

Gyvarius: We'll find out this chapter.

Arbiter8991: Yeah, she's really giving it her best.

Rowlets and Oshawotts: Who knows what Gabrielle's really feeling.

Hyphenman: Yeah, it's been really tough for Gabrielle given all the stuff she's been through. She's just not good at making friends it seems.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 1170

A bit of snow fell onto one of Alcea's eyelashes and she brushed it out of her face. Her heart rate was starting to return to normal.

Gabrielle only had one pokemon left. Alcea had defeated five so far, leaving her with just one. Her final trump card. And even with three pokemon left, Alcea couldn't help but feel a little tense. What did Gabrielle have in store for her? What sort of beast would her final pokemon be?

"Return," Gabrielle said, recalling Cetitan to her pokeball. She wasn't even looking at Alcea right now, her mind was focused on something else.

Then she raised her head, and Alcea could see the cold look in her eyes. A shiver went down her spine, and it wasn't because of the snow.

When Alcea had fought Olivia while the blonde was under the influence of Samarra, the more she pushed her, the more the other girl lost her temper, getting upset and frustrated about her position. That had been intense. Gabrielle was a different kind of intensity right now, though. Instead of getting more and more passionate, she seemed to be getting colder and colder, as if the Gabrielle she knew was reasserting herself.

Some people might think that was a good thing, but Alcea wasn't one of those people. There was nothing good about their present situation.

"You've pushed me to my last pokemon," Gabrielle said quietly. "I should have expected this. But now that we've come this far… it's time to finish things. Once and for all… I'll assert myself as the strongest female… no, the strongest trainer period in the Pokemon Academy!"

She flung her last pokemon into the air.

"Baxcalibur, go!" She roared.

As the pokeball burst open it was as if a blizzard itself was contained inside. The wind and snow increased in power and intensity as the pokemon emerged with a roar. It was a monster Alcea had never seen before.

The giant pokemon towered over the battlefield, as fierce and imposing as a Tyranitar. Alcea took a step back in spite of herself, shielding her face from the storm.

"BAXCALIBUR!" The great pokemon roared, throwing back its head. Its body was covered in icy scales, and a giant protrusion like the blade of an axe jutted out of its back. Long claws extended from above its hands, and the temperature seemed to drop just from its presence.

"This is Baxcalibur," Gabrielle introduced her pokemon. "My final trump card against you, Alcea. An Ice type pokemon capable of destroying everything in his path. Baxcalibur! Use icicle crash!"

"Baxcalibur!" Baxcalibur roared, creating gigantic icicles in the air around it. Trying to compare the attack with Cetitan's from earlier would be like trying to compare an avalanche to a snowball fight. Alcea and Anastacia could both tell immediately that any attempt at deflecting the attack with power whip would be fruitless. Alcea wasn't even sure if reflect would provide an adequate defense against a move of that level.

So if they couldn't block it, the only option was to dodge.

"Anastacia, use bounce!" Alcea ordered. Their only hope was leaping above the crashing icicles as they fell down upon her.

"Tsar!" Anastacia nodded, kicking off the icy ground. As injured as she was, she still had great power in her legs, power enough to carry her body into the air and above the falling ice. It gave her a moments' respite as she hovered over the battlefield, angling towards the giant pokemon. She spun with a flip and dropped down, pointing her leg towards his face.

Bad move.

Baxcalibur turned towards Anastacia as she fell and opened his jaw wide. He accepted the kick gladly without even flinching, even as Gabrielle felt the sting of the blow. She knew that this would sting a lot more in a second. With his mouth wide open Baxcalibur bit down on Anastacia's leg, causing her to roar in pain. Ice began to creep up her body, and soon she was frozen solid.

"Anastacia!" Alcea gasped.

"Baxclibur's breath can freeze liquid-hot lava," Gabrielle revealed. "I caught him when he was just a Frigibax, deep in the coldest parts of Paldea, in the heart of Glaseado Mountain. By carefully training and nurturing his natural abilities, I was able to raise him to be a pokemon that can take full advantage of his natural gifts like this! His ice fang is a killer, as your Tsareena has just found out."

With a turn of his head Baxcalibur flung Anastacia to the ground, and the ice that covered her body smashed open to reveal her defeated form. A single ice fang was all it took to finish her off. Alcea had to admit that she couldn't expect any less. With all the damage Anastacia had withstood from Gabrielle's last two pokemon, it was a minor miracle she'd made it this far.

"It… it's going to be alright!" Olivia shouted, though it sounded like she was trying to convince herself more than Alcea. "You still have two pokemon left, Alcea, and they're both really tough! You can do this no problem!"

"But that Baxcalibur is very powerful," Vic coldly stated. "It reminds me of my dad's Tyranitar. So much brute strength… I'm surprised we have a trainer who could raise a pokemon like that at our school. It's impressive."

Vic was loathe to give compliments to any other girl, which is how Tommy and Ross knew that this was a really serious matter. Both boys shivered. They could completely understand where she was coming from, though. With that much power, Gabrielle was making a serious case that the rankings of the Eight Leaders deserve a shakeup.

For starters, the thing was obviously a Dragon type in addition to an Ice type. It couldn't be more clear if Darla Drake had confirmed it herself. And likely a three-stage pokemon species at that. Raising a Dragon type pokemon was not an easy task. Out of all the trainers on campus only one could proudly claim that they possessed a team of Dragon type pokemon, and that was because she was one of the Draconid people.

Sure, there were trainers with the odd Flygon or Blake with his Salamence. Even the Empress had a Garchomp. But that was her first pokemon that she'd taken care of her entire life. But to raise a Dragon type from such a low stage to its final form in the span of only a few months took incredible talent and determination. Everyone could see that Baxcalibur was a walking testament to how badly Gabrielle wanted to defeat Alcea, and none could see it better than Alcea herself.

To raise a pokemon like that… it must be because she's an Ice type trainer, is it? Alcea wondered. It made sense in her head that Gabrielle would be able to stop such a pokemon's rampages. While not weak to Ice type moves due to being part Ice type himself, that Baxcalibur was still vulnerable to them, so with her team it should have been possible to keep him under control.

But that didn't make the action any less awesome. Alcea congratulated Gabrielle from the bottom of her heart.

Now the only matter was defeating it.

Alcea had two pokemon remaining, and both of them were at full health. And yet, she found herself wondering if either would be able to do any real damage to the foe in front of them. It was then that she realized that in spite of the frigid air, a cold sweat traced down her brow.

I'm really sweating here… I see… Alcea's body was already coming to terms with how bad of a situation she found herself in. She took a deep breath and exhaled. For a moment, the thought crossed her mind to call for Shaymin again, like she'd done the last time Agate Village was under attack. But she quickly dismissed that possibility from her mind.

Shaymin's role is to guard the forest. If I bring her into this personal conflict again, then she'll use up more of the precious strength she needs to take care of the village. I can't be selfish. What if she were to get hurt for my personal affairs?! Alcea was far too responsible to do something like that. So even though Gabrielle had a trump card to play, Alcea refused to use hers. She would have to rely on the pokemon she brought with her.

With that being said… it wasn't as if her pokemon were weak or anything like that.

"Kanna, go!" Alcea declared, sending out her Tropius. Kanna hadn't had a lot of opportunities to fight in the Orre Region recently, and she was looking forward to getting her fill in this battle. Without the sun it would be rather difficult to reach her full power, but she was still going to do her best against the pokemon in front of her.

"Kanna, this is a very dangerous pokemon," Alcea warned. "I don't know how high his attack stat is, but we must be careful."

"Tropius," Kanna nodded.

"She's using Tropius in a situation like this?!" Tommy gasped in disbelief. As a trainer of a Tropius himself he knew what they were capable of, and that was why he was so shocked by Alcea's decision. "Is she crazy?! One hit from an Ice type move and that thing's toast!"

"Hey!" Olivia snapped, shooting Tommy a deadly glare. She had little patience for boys on her best days, and she especially loathed stupid ones that looked down on her Alcea. "Just you watch! Alcea's planning something! She wouldn't just send out her Tropius for no reason!"

I'm quite touched you hold me in such high esteem, Olivia, Alcea thought, feeling a swell of joy take root in her chest. But he's right. This isn't part of some grand strategy. It's the best of a very bad situation, is it?

"I should have known you'd save your precious Venusaur for last," Gabrielle smirked. "Well, it doesn't matter. Something like that will be taken care of quickly! Baxcalibur, use ice shard!"

"Baxcalibur!" Baxcalibur threw back his head and fired chunks of ice at Kanna, the shards flying at high speed towards the Tropius. The tailwind Frosmoth had set up which had given Cetitan such a boost was still in effect, even though it was petering out, meaning the ice shard was even faster.

The ice struck Kanna and broke against her, causing the Tropius to let out a roar of pain.

"That much damage from one ice shard?" Vic winced. As much as she hated agreeing with Tommy on anything, it looked like Alcea was in pretty bad shape. She didn't see much chance of the other girl making it through this.

Which was a very bad thing. They could find themselves facing two enemies instead of one in a matter of minutes.

But Alcea was trying very hard to make sure that didn't happen.

"Not bad, Gabrielle," she said, impressed beyond measure at the strength of her rival's trump card. "But that won't be enough to take us down, right Kanna?"

"Tropius!" Kanna roared in agreement.

"Excellent! Now, use air slash!"

"Tropius!" Kanna flapped her leafy wings, sending a blade of air through the sky. It carved through the snow and slammed into Baxcalibur, doing little damage to the pokemon's icy scales. But the effect on Gabrielle was clear. She winced, even though she powered through the attack, but she didn't let it knock her over.

She growled and Alcea smiled.

So that Baxcalibur puts on a good face, but it's still vulnerable. That's good. With its ferocious strength, it must specialize in attacking, but I'd wager that on the defense it's not much better than the average pokemon, she reasoned.

Alcea had several cards she could play with Kanna, even if she wasn't sure that the Tropius could defeat her opponent alone. That was fine though. What mattered was that Kanna could do enough damage to Baxcalibur so that Venus could finish him off.

And so to that end… Alcea was planning on having Kanna use every advantage she had available.

"Your Baxcalibur is quite a fearsome opponent… but rather slow, is it?" Alcea mused as the tailwind blowing behind him finally gave out. The boost to speed along with Slush Rush had made Cetitan a problematic opponent, but now that it was gone she was dealing with a far slower pokemon. Kanna was not so fast herself, but Alcea counted on the hope that she would be faster than such a beast.

"Tailwind!" Alcea ordered, and Kanna summoned a powerful backdraft of her own.

…Especially with a tailwind on their side of the field.

Gabrielle shielded her face against the sudden gust, but didn't back down. "A little breeze won't get the better of us," she promised. "Baxcalibur, use icicle crash!"

"Baxcalibur!" Baxcalibur roared, sending a wave of icicles crashing down towards Kanna. A single hit would spell serious trouble for the Tropius.

"Don't think we're so easily captured," Alcea said, narrowing her eyes. "Now, Kanna! Use dragon dance!"

"Dragon dance?!" Tommy exclaimed in shock.

"Tropius!" Kanna roared, flapping her wings. Draconic energy crackled around her as she tumbled through the sky, evading the falling icicles with power, grace and speed that rivaled any menacing dragon.

"You're not the only one capable of taking advantage of dragons, is it?" Alcea mused, which earned her a narrow-eyed look from Gabrielle.

"You think that's enough to get the better of us?" She snarled. "Your Tropius might be able to imitate the Dragon type, but she's also going to freeze like one! Baxcalibur, use blizzard!"

"Bax!" Baxcalibur opened his mouth wide, letting loose a breath of cryogenic air that froze the sky. Ice and snow tumbled forward towards Tropius.

Gabrielle smiled. Baxcalibur might not have been a special attacker, but against a pokemon with a quadruple weakness like Kanna it didn't really matter one way or the other.

"That's not good!" Vic winced.

"There's nowhere for her to run!" Olivia wailed. No matter how fast Kanna could fly, there was no way to escape a blizzard in the snow.

"Who said anything about running?" Alcea asked. "Kanna, use wide guard!"

A wide barrier of green light stretched around Kanna's body, shielding her from the blizzard. She emerged out the other side, her body still surging with flames and lightning. She was looking like a real dragon now.

"That was an excellent move," Alcea congratulated her opponent. "But with wide guard your blizzard attack is ineffective. Now, let me show you one of our moves! Kanna, use dragon pulse!"

"First dragon dance, now dragon pulse?" Vic asked, amazed. She couldn't help but smile a little. "Not bad."

"Tropius!" Kanna opened her mouth wide, gathering energy in a massive blast that she fired at the Baxcalibur.

He couldn't shrug off that attack like it was no big deal.

"BAXCALIBUR!" Baxcalbiur roared as he was burned by the draconic flames. He wasn't the only one stunned by the attack, either. Gabrielle clutched her chest and fell to her knees, nearly collapsing in the snow.

The pain… it seared into her like she was on the receiving end of the attack. She hadn't seen that coming at all! Alcea's Tropius knew Dragon type moves?!

What a miscalculation… she thought as her mind went haywire. Samarra was doing all she could to suppress the pain she was in, which was the only reason she was able to stand back up. I have to… come up with a counter… and quickly…

Because dragons were so rare in the Pokemon Academy, Alcea had seldom had the chance to go up against them with her Tropius. Because of that, Gabrielle's research into her pokemon's capabilities had missed that part. If Samarra still had her connecting with Mirar then she could have known, but there was nothing she could do about it now.

She didn't let herself get discouraged as she rose to her feet. She was an Ice type trainer. She wouldn't lose against a dragon, and certainly not a fake one like this. She clenched her fist and used her harmonia to strengthen Baxcalibur even more.

"Tricks like that won't work on us," she snarled. "Baxcalibur won't lose to a pitiful pretend dragon like yours!"

Alcea said nothing, secretly pleased to see Gabrielle getting so worked up. If she was prepared like this, then that meant she would be well ready to face off against her Tropius, and Kanna would be more than ready to take her down.

"Kanna, prepare another dragon pulse," Alcea ordered.

"I said it's not going to happen!" Gabrielle shouted with a level of passion that caught Alcea off-guard. Apparently she was truly angered at the fact that her trump card had been countered so quickly. The other girl was seething with rage. "Baxcalibur… use YOUR dragon dance!"

"BAXCALIBUR!" Baxcalibur roared, and the air around him began to crackle and burn. He summoned up a great deal of power around his body, and Kanna flew back, ignoring Alcea's orders.

Alcea didn't mind. She trusted Kanna in that instant. With the power in front of her, a reckless attack would be foolhardy.

So this is the strength of Gabrielle's trump card… she thought, bracing herself against the melting snow that struck her.

Yikes! So Gabrielle's last pokemon is the pseudo-legendary of the Paldea Region, Baxcalibur! That's a pretty ferocious pokemon, and it's got a lot of power stored up inside it! Will Alcea be able to hold on and take it down? Or will such a dangerous pokemon be able to destroy her and her remaining pokemon? Gabrielle's clearly in it to win, and Alcea's definitely getting pressured!