The battle between Darla and Lana continues, and to everyone's surprise, Lana has actually done very well against the dragon master! Maybe it's because she's actually in the Battle Course and Darla isn't, but she's putting up an excellent fight and is actually doing a great job at breaking through Darla's strategies! But dragons are tough, and I wouldn't count on Lana's tricks to last forever. Darla will probably find some way around Lana's strategies!

KedharS: I think Lana's poor performance and early loss in the Phantom Cup might make people think that she's not a talented trainer, but the fact is, she's still pretty skilled. She is a senior in the Battle Course, after all.

Aakareo: At Wes' level, he might WIN the 10 v 1 though. That's the real problem.

Tambry96bj: We'll have to see. Lana's pretty smart, but then, Darla's not an idiot either. So far they've been pretty evenly matched.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 1177

Lila's heart surged at Darla's bold statement that she would turn everything around and come up with a strategy to defeat Lana's Sawsbuck. It sounded so cool, like something a hero from a movie would say! She resisted the urge to squeal.

She'd been worried before, since Darla seemed to be facing a serious disadvantage, but apparently she didn't need to be concerned. Darla and her dragons were tough, and all Lila had to do was watch from the sidelines and cheer her on!

"Come on, Darla! You can do it!" Lila shouted.

"Of course I can!" Just like Lila felt more confident seeing Darla's declaration, Darla felt more sure than ever now that she had Lila cheering her on. "Rex! Start with a stealth rock!"

"Tyrantrum!" Rex stomped on the ground and sharp stones ripped themselves up from the dirt, hovering in the air around Cerelia.

"So that's your plan?" Lana asked, glancing at the stones floating around her side of the battlefield. "I admit it's annoying, but it won't do anything to Cerelia!"

"We're just getting started," Darla promised.

"Well, so are we!" Lana snapped. "Cerelia, use bullet seed!"

"Sawsbuck!" Cerelia opened her mouth, firing a barrage of seeds at Rex with the speed of bullets leaving a machine gun.

"Rex, use iron defense!" Darla ordered.

"Tyrantrum!" Rex hardened his scales and buckled down, allowing the seeds to explode against him. Cerelia may have had a high attack stat, but Rex's defense was phenomenal as well.

"Nice!" Lila cheered. "With that iron defense, Rex can protect himself against all kinds of physical moves!"

"True, but it still won't affect the leech seed," Darla reminded her. "That's why we need to take care of that Sawsbuck, and fast!" They were slipping into their usual routine again, as if they were just watching the action rather than Darla being an active participant in it. But Darla would never imagine that she was just a spectator.

"Rex! Use rock polish!" She shouted.

The biggest problem right now was the fact that Cerelia's speed could easily outpace Rex, even with boosts from dragon dance and tailwind. But with rock polish as well, there was no way the Sawsbuck was outrunning her now.

"Tyrantrum!" Rex roared, his scales glistening like diamonds. He lowered his head and charged at Cerelia, moving incredibly fast.

"That speed!" Lana gasped. It was almost what she'd expect from Sari! There was no way Cerelia would be able to keep up.

"Take her back, Rex!" Darla ordered. Rex circled around Cerelia before she could react, striking at the Sawsbuck from behind. Cerelia moved to jump out of the way but she wasn't fast enough, taking a powerful hit from Rex's tail in the side.

"Sawsbuck!" Cerelia cried out in pain as she was batted to the side. She rolled through the grass and struggled to get back on her hooves.

"Urf," Lana coughed, clutching her side as well. Harmonia was painful and this was her first time dealing with it, so she was in pretty rough shape. But Samarra was there to help her mitigate the pain and work with her pokemon to defeat that fossil!

"Looking a little weak there, aren't you?" Darla smirked, narrowing her eyes. "What your Sawsbuck just had a taste of is Rex's breaking swipe. Someone as smart as you should know what a move like that does, isn't that right?"

A shadow crossed Lana's face.

"I don't know what it does!" Lila cried. Now that she thought about it, the number of times she'd gotten the privilege of seeing Darla fight was actually fairly low.

Thankfully, her partner was happy to describe the move. "Breaking swipe is a move that strikes the opponent with a dragon's tail or claws," Darla explained. "In this case, the use of the move is to break down the opponent's offensive power. By getting hit in such a damaging way, their attack stat seriously drops."

"Whoa, no way!" Lila gasped.

"That's right! Your Sawsbuck is a physical attacker, right?" Darla smirked. "Well, between iron defense and the drop from breaking swipe, don't count on her being able to do much more damage to Rex! If I were you, I'd switch out now."

"And then her new pokemon will be hit by stealth rocks," Lila said, smiling wickedly. She was a regular old devil when she wasn't putting on her public persona. "That's pretty awesome, Darla, I'm really impressed!"

"Of course it's awesome," Darla said, holding her head up high. "I've got to give you a good performance after all!"

"Can you two please stop flirting in front of me?" Lana pleaded. She really didn't like to see all this lovey-dovey stuff happening, especially when it was SO OBVIOUS how they felt for each other. It made her sick to her stomach.

"We-We're not flirting!" Darla exclaimed, scowling.

"Yeah, th-that's right!" Lila agreed, even though the admission stung.

"Come on, Lana, don't make such a big deal out of it," Kiana added in. "Just because you're completely hopeless in that area doesn't mean you should try to hinder the love of others. That's just sad, you know?"

"Nobody asked you!" Lana exclaimed, her face heating up. "…Whatever! It doesn't matter. Because Cerelia doesn't need her attack stat to take down your Tyrantrum! Don't forget, she's naturally faster than you! If you managed to catch up to us before, then we'll just have to increase our speed until you can't even try!"

And not only that, she silently added, covertly checking the wind speed by glancing at Darla's hair, the tailwind her Noivern set up is about to die down. When that expires, there's no way her Tyrantrum will be able to keep going.

It was a bold plan, and one she was confident in. She just had to hope Cerelia would be able to perform her role well.

"Cerelia, use agility!" Lana ordered. "We need to keep Rex from getting to us!"

"Sawsbuck," Cerelia nodded. She had shrugged off most of the pain from the breaking swipe, now only dealing with the attack loss, and dashed forward, picking up speed by running circles around the large Tyrantrum.

I was worried for a moment there, but that's because I'd almost forgot. We still don't have to actually attack to win this, Lana reminded herself. As long as we can keep draining his energy with the leech seed, then we're in the perfect position!

…But that didn't mean they couldn't devote some time to attacking, when the opportunity presented itself. And it just had.

"There, Cerelia!" She shouted, spotting an opening. "Use energy ball!"

"Saw!" Cerelia skidded behind Rex, raising her horns. A ball of green energy began to form between them, and with a flip of her head she flung it at the large pokemon's back.

"Rex!" Darla shouted. The energy ball hit him just under the collar, exploding and making him stumble forward.

"Nicely done!" Lana praised her Sawsbuck. "Just like that, Cerelia, get him with another-"

"TYRANTRUM!" Rex whirled around towards Cerelia, seeing red. The tailwind had finally died out, allowing him to charge against it with full speed. But it wasn't fast enough to catch the deer pokemon, who easily outmaneuvered his advances.

"Phew, that was close…" Lana wiped the sweat from her brow. "For a moment there, I thought we were in a bad position, but I'm glad you're so quick, Cerelia!"

"Sawsbuck!" Cerelia smiled, taking care with the placement of her hooves to keep moving at all times. If that angry dinosaur managed to hit her, it would be extremely painful.

But Rex wasn't the threat here. The threat was Darla. And it was Cerelia's inability to recognize that that would spell her doom.

"Rex!" Darla said sharply. "Use high horsepower."

"Tyrantrum!" Rex lowered his head and shot forward, putting all his strength into a single burst of power. Charging at Cerelia, he managed to catch up to her in a second, shoving her over with his shoulder. It did little damage because it was a Ground type move, but Darla didn't need it to. She just needed him to catch her.

Darla narrowed her eyes. "You know what to do," she hissed.

"Tyrant!" Rex nodded, opening his mouth wide. Noxious miasma leaked from his jaws and ominous purple steam wafted up from the inside.

Rex bit down hard on Cerelia's throat, causing the pokemon massive pain. Lana clutched her neck and started to cough, stumbling backwards. She couldn't breathe! She couldn't… wait…

Through her pain, Lana could feel that the Tyrantrum's bite had already lessened. He lifted the Sawsbuck in his jaws and flung her across the field, but Lana was still finding it impossible to breathe. And her body felt so heavy and slow, like lead was pumping through her veins.

What was happening to her?

"This is…"

"Darla, what is that?!" Lila asked frantically. She had a sinking feeling she knew the truth.

"The pokemon raised by the Draconid People have all been bred to be the best they can be," Darla said. She wasn't smiling at the thought. A serious glare was burning a hole in the struggling Lana's head. "I may not like it, but that's just the truth. We have no intention of forcing our noble dragons to have natures that would suit our own needs, because we respect their individuality and revere them too much, but when it comes to raising them, we make sure that they inherit the best moves possible, you see."

Lila didn't like the sound of that. Darla was using "we" to refer to the Draconid People, which was never a good sign.

"Darla… you're, um… you're saying 'we', do you really mean to…" She wasn't sure how to ask, because she didn't want to set her partner off. But she was worried.

Luckily, Darla came to her own realization, and gasped. "…Sorry," she apologized, glancing sheepishly at Lila. "I just got caught up for a moment there." She turned her attention back to Lana.

"There's a special method of rearing pokemon that perhaps you might like to know about," Darla said. "It's called the supportive parenting method. When you raise a newborn baby pokemon in close proximity with a pokemon capable of passing on an egg move, even if that pokemon isn't the baby's parent, they may still learn how to perform that move, given enough time."

Lila gasped. "Wait, seriously?! That's so cool!"

Giselle was stunned as well. She thought about Ayame for a second there, because the other girl was in the Caretaking Course. Did Ayame know about that technique? It might be something worth discussing with her in the future, if they ever got her back from Samarra.

"That's… surprising…" Lana managed to cough out. "Should you really… be telling me all that, though? I wonder…"

"There's no harm to it," Darla smirked. "I have no interest in hoarding their secrets. Besides, I thought it only fair for you to recognize what's going on with you right now. Why you're feeling the way you are, from Rex's attack."

She narrowed her eyes into a glare that suited her smirk well. "And besides… Lila knows all about my past. And once I defeat you… it's not like you'll be able to retain the memory, after all. So what's the harm?"

"Uh…" Gabrielle stared dumbly at Darla. She really had been completely forgotten by everyone, hadn't she?

"Here's something else you might find interesting," Darla continued. "Did you know that Tyrantrum were once ancient pokemon? To the greater world, they're extinct, in fact. You won't find one being raised in the wild."

Lila gasped. "Are… are you serious?"

Darla stared at her like she was an idiot. "How do you not know that?" She asked. "Do you just ignore what you hear about in class?"

Lila gave a sheepish smile, sticking her tongue out. Good grades were the enemy of her role, how could she expect anyone to take her seriously as a ditzy blonde if she actually paid attention to what the teachers were talking about?

Darla sighed.

"A long time ago, in a laboratory on Cinnabar Island, a researcher developed a method for restoring ancient pokemon from intact fossilized DNA," she explained. "That technique quickly spread to all parts of the globe. The Devon Corporation in the Hoenn Region, Oreburgh City's Pokemon Museum in the Sinnoh Region, you get the idea. Reviving pokemon from fossils is no longer just a story from movies where the giant pokemon park goes on a rampage and the dinosaurs eat everybody."

Lila shivered. She hated monster movies.

"So what's your point?" Lana was starting to feel a little better; the initial pain had worn off. But she was still feeling heavy and tired.

"My point is that my Rex isn't like those pokemon," Darla boasted. "He wasn't restored from a fossil. He was raised carefully and hatched from an egg, like all of his other siblings."

Lana gasped. "But wait, that's…"

"So you're saying that there's a line of Tyrantrum still alive today?!" Kiana gasped, her eyes widening in shock. "Lana did you hear that?!"

I'm hearing the same thing you are, sis… I'm right fucking here… Lana wanted to scream at her, but couldn't. It was too much of an inconvenience to talk with her throat in its current condition, unfortunately.

Lana had always theorized that these ancient fossilized pokemon might still be alive somewhere, in remote regions of the world. At the bottom of the ocean floor, perhaps, or high up in the mountains where people seldom ventured. Of course, given her usual theorizing, a lot of people considered it dumb conspiracy nonsense, but Lana had been a believer.

Looks like Darla was confirming it for her.

"The Draconid are the stewards of all Dragon type pokemon, and especially the endangered ones," Darla said. Given her relationship with her family it might have been a surprise to hear her sound so proud, but Lila was happy that her feelings for them weren't all negative.

"My people took good care of the last line of Tyrantrum, taking careful steps to ensure they would never go extinct. Since practically the dawn of man. They've worked hard to ensure that not only would pokemon poachers never find where they were hiding, but that their babies would have all the strength they needed to protect themselves. And Rex? Rex was a pokemon specifically raised for me, to take full advantage of his abilities."

Finally. Lana might have died in the time it took Darla to get to the fucking point. Maybe she should have given Cerelia the order to attack, but she was too intrigued by what Darla was saying to consider that. And when even Samarra's interest was piqued, that said a lot. Neither one of them wanted her to stop her explanation right now.

"Rex's ability is Strong Jaw. It boosts the power of biting moves like bite and crunch by 50%, right?" Darla reminded them. "But there are also the elemental fangs, fire fang, ice fang, and thunder fang. Those all get a boost, too. Then there's psychic fangs, which I taught him from a TM as well. Moves like hyper fang, jaw lock, those Rex can't learn, but there's one other move. A special move that must be bred onto him. And that move… is what you're feeling right now."

Lana's hand reached up to her throat and she began to tremble. The numbness was gone now, replaced by a sensation like pins and needles. Except more like hard nails jammed into her flesh than pins or needles.

"This is… you…" Lana was finally starting to realize what had happened.

"The name of that move?" Darla said, a triumphant smile spreading across her face, "is poison fang! How do you like it?"

"Poison fang?!" Lila gasped, going pale. "Ew! Yuck! Darla, why would you teach your pokemon a move like that?!"

Darla sighed, expecting this reaction from Lila when it came to gross stuff like poison. But there was a simple reason why, as a child, she'd gone to the trouble of raising her baby Tyrunt to learn poison fang. "Well… Fairy type pokemon are still a threat, so…"

"Then you should lose to them!" Lila said bluntly. "How dare you poison those poor, adorable little fairies?!"

Darla's eye twitched. As much as she cared about Lila, her bias was annoying.

"W-Wait…" Lana gasped, her body shaking. "So that means… Cerelia has been…"

She turned to her Sawsbuck for the first time. Because their senses had been shared, she knew that her pokemon was in bad shape, but it wasn't until now that she could see the extent of her condition. Cerelia was shaking, and she could barely stand. Her neck was covered in purple splotches as poison seaped through her, and the bite marks were filled with puss. The health gains from leech seed couldn't match the pain of the infection.

"Poison fang badly poisons, not just regular," Darla stated, a smug smirk on her lips. "And you've been feeling the effects for quite some time, now."

She shrugged. "I appreciate that you were willing to lend me an ear, but… don't you think it might have been better to try fighting, rather than just let the poison spread through your pokemon? I know everyone talks about how you're a curious girl who often gets so lost in their own thoughts she can't even see what's right in front of her, but come on, even that has its limits, right?

Lana's face turned red with embarrassment.

She just-! …That bitch tricked meeeeeeeee!

Oof. Darla just talk-no-jutsu'd Lana into letting the poison nearly take out Cerelia. Darn it, Lana, you may be a student in the Battle Course, but you're working with the Phantom! You're supposed to be smarter than this! It was certainly a nice strategy on Darla's part, though. Hopefully she'll be able to take a commanding lead with this little trick.