I'd just like to inform everyone that an earlier draft of last chapter depicted Dina evolving from Deino to Zweilous. This was an error in the story, as Dina had already evolved into a Zweilous in Chapter 802/809. I have made the appropriate corrections, so please disregard that and reread the new version of that chapter if you have any questions. As for Dina herself, well, it seems that whether she's newly-evolved or not, she's still in a tight spot thanks to Lana's Raboot!
Arbiter8991: Thank you for pointing that out so quickly, I've made the appropriate changes.
KedharS: Well, we don't know a lot about her team, so it's easy to keep people guessing.
Leppyvstheworld: Well, there's not a lot they can really do in this fight, unfortunately.
Tambry96bj: Nah there are a decent amount of people who are finished with their own battles but don't have the pokemon to help other people, so they're just watching for moral support.
Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings
Chapter 1181
Dina was taking a beating. Lila stared anxiously at the injured Zweilous being assaulted by Dash, and glanced at Darla.
Her friend was… surprisingly not bothered by what she was seeing. Darla had a calm expression on her face, which gave Lila pause. She knew that Darla wasn't the kind of person who would panic, but still, to not be reacting at all…
Then Darla narrowed her eyes.
"Dina!" She shouted. "Use hyper voice!"
"ZWEILOUS!" Dina opened her mouths, and two blasts of sonic energy erupted in harmony, slamming into Dash and knocking him backwards.
"Ow!" Lana grabbed her ears, wincing. The backlash from that hyper voice was severe. She felt a little disoriented for a moment. "Dash!" She shouted.
"Raboot!" Dash rolled back, hopping to his feet. He glared at Dina, but was wary about getting too close. That hyper voice had hurt.
"Your Raboot only has physical moves to rely on," Darla said, narrowing her eyes. "The only way he can attack at a range is with Fire type moves, and Dina can just shrug those off. We can win this match as log as we keep you from getting close!"
"Just try and stop us then!" Lana snapped. "Dash, use flame charge!"
"Raboot!" Dash turned back into a Fire type and charged at Dina, focusing on the space between her two heads. She was planning to use another double kick to finish her off, or maybe switch to an acrobatics instead. But Darla was prepared for a move like that.
"Dina, use dark pulse!" She ordered. This time though, the attack wasn't fired from Dina's mouths. Instead, the Zweilous gathered dark energy around her body and began to glow with a black light. The energy she stored was released outwards in a sweeping arc that shot in every direction, like a shockwave.
Of course, the shockwave still clung rather close to the ground, which gave Dash more than enough time to respond.
"Double kick!" Lana ordered. Dash leapt off the ground, jumping over the dark pulse, and spun in a wheel towards Dina with his legs extended.
"That's just what we were waiting for!" Darla crowed. "Use crunch!"
"Zweilous!" Dina opened both mouths wide and they shot out like the tongue of a Kecleon. Her mouths bit down hard, one on each of Dash's legs, and pulled in opposite directions to force him into an impromptu splits.
"H-Hey! Cut that out!" Lana shouted, feeling Dina's fangs dig into her ankles. She tried to pull herself free, but couldn't even lift her feet. Dash, the one actually trapped, was struggling just as hard as his trainer to free himself from the pokemon's bites.
"That's not good," Kiana winced. Even if her Raboot had become a Fighting type, that was still a difficult position to be in; she couldn't really form a counter-attack.
"I can't believe you were able to grab her so precisely!" Lila gasped. "You're just the best, Darla! And you, too, Dina!"
"Zweilous!" Dina mumbled through mouthfuls of rabbit foot.
Darla held her head with pride. "Dina may have only evolved very recently, and it's true, we haven't gotten much training in with her new form. But that doesn't mean you should underestimate what she's capable of! My sweet Zweilous really knows how to use her head- or in this case, her heads! She sensed exactly where that Raboot's feet would strike, and made sure to bite down hard; and now he's trapped, unable to break free!"
"We'll see about that," Lana snarled. "Dash! Use flame charge!"
"Raboot!" Dash winced through the pain, knowing that by turning into a Fire type again he would be getting rid of his resistance to Dark type moves. But it was a choice that had to be done. He focused his power into his feet and set them on fire, hoping the pain would compel the Zweilous to drop him and be done with it.
But Dina didn't let go. She couldn't, not when she'd finally snagged her prey.
"You won't get away that easily!" Darla shouted. "Dina! Use thunder fang!"
"Zwei!" Dina tightened her grip on Dash's legs, and countered the flames burning at the insides of her mouth with a charge of electricity. The lightning shot through her fangs and into Dash's legs, traveling up his body and electrocuting him.
"Aaaaaaaaah!" Lana screamed as she was zapped as well. The force of the lightning nearly knocked her over. But she wasn't about to yield. She needed to free Dash before something happened to him, and she was going to do whatever it took to accomplish that.
"Dash!" She shouted to her Raboot. "Flame charge won't work! So use counter!"
"Counter?!" Darla gasped, realizing what was about to happen.
"Raboot!" Dash shouted, focusing his strength into his legs. He could feel the pain of the electricity coursing through his system, and used that pain and the power of Dina's fangs to his advantage. Clenching his muscles he forced his legs to snap back together, and with them, Dina's two heads. Her heads hit each other hard and they rattled, forcing her to let go of her prize from the pain.
"ZWEILOUS!" Both of Dina's heads shouted in unison, dropping Dash as they struggled to regain their focus together. With twice the amount of heads it was twice as difficult to orient herself, especially without sight, which made it easy for Dash to slip away and prepare another attack.
Which wasn't good. With all the hits Dina had taken, it was unlikely she could withstand another attack from that Raboot.
"We've got her on the ropes!" Lana said encouragingly. "Use acrobatics!"
With Dash's incredible speed, he could more than match up against the Zweilous. He charged at her so fast he was practically a blur, leaping into the air above Dina's heads. She raised her heads to sense his presence with her hearing, but before she could do anything about it, Dash had already descended on her.
The first blow struck Dina in the back, with Dash's foot. That one made her cry in pain. Then came the second blow, with his elbow, right into one of her necks. That made her left head snap forward while her right thrashed about, trying to strike at the pokemon who was attacking her. But she was too disoriented to get off a good hit. Dash easily avoided the clumsy attacks, and continued his own assault, pummeling her with everything she had.
"Now, finish her off with double kick!" Lana shouted.
"Raboot!" Dash placed his palms on Dina's back and raised his feet, delivering two powerful kicks right in the Zweilous' faces.
There was really nothing Darla could do.
"No! Dina!" Lila wailed as the Zweilous slumped over, her two heads resting in the grass as she lost consciousness.
Darla sighed and recalled Dina to her pokeball. "You did the best you could," she said softly. "But it's alright now. I promise, we're going to win this."
She turned to Lana, her expression as cold as ice. "Midnight. I believe your speed will be more than enough to take him down."
"Noivern!" Midnight howled, emerging from her pokeball. She'd already taken a serious beating from Sari, so it was clear that she wasn't in peak performance. But without Dina's vulnerability to the Fighting type, she would be able to resist Dash's attacks much better.
Plus, there was the little matter of Dash being a Fighting type pokemon right now.
"Midnight, aerial ace!" Darla ordered. It wasn't her strongest move, but of all the Flying type moves Midnight knew, it was definitely the one she could unleash on her opponent the fastest. Midnight flapped her wings and shot across the battlefield, raising her arm and slashing down into Dash's chest, knocking him backwards.
"Rab-!" Dash cried in pain, rolling backwards before hopping to his feet and glaring at Midnight. He didn't like being caught, and he especially didn't like fighting a pokemon that was so fast.
Luckily for Lana, he was even faster.
"Fighting type moves won't work anymore," she informed her Raboot. "We need to take her down with acrobatics!"
"Raboot!" Dash nodded, tucking in his ears as he ran towards Midnight at top speed. He leapt up towards her and raised his paws and legs to deliver a flurry of blows to the flying pokemon.
"Double team," Darla ordered. Midnight moved from side to side, creating multiple copies of herself. The flock of bats filled the sky, darkening out the sun. Lana scowled.
"You're not the only one who can use this move," Darla said, smiling up at the flock of Noivern. "Your Raboot is going to have quite a bit of trouble getting through all these copies. And while he's struggling with that… we'll be ready to heal ourselves, right Midnight? Use moonlight!"
"Noivern!" Midnight nodded, raising her head high. As it was still the middle of the day, what little of the moon could be seen was very faint, and not very recharging. But that wasn't the important part. What mattered was the light itself, and whether it came from the moon or the sun or martians from outer space, it was enough to restore a good chunk of the damage Midnight had sustained from Sari's brutal attacks. The sky was glowing as all the copies restored their strength.
Lana was less than pleased. "Dash!" She shouted, lifting her pokeball. "There's no sense in you staying out here against a pokemon like that. Come back for now, you've done more than enough!"
Dash had already finished off Darla's Raboot. He could take a rest while her other pokemon cleaned things up for her.
"You didn't think we'd actually let you get away, did you?" Darla asked, narrowing her eyes. "Midnight! Now that you're healed up, use wild charge!"
"Noivern!" Midnight flapped her wings, dispersing the duplicates. To Lana's shock, electricity began to surge through the Noivern. She flew like a bullet towards Dash, moving so fast Lana couldn't follow her at first.
And she certainly couldn't recall Dash to his pokeball in time.
The lightning-charged Noivern slammed into Dash, knocking him backwards. The light from the pokeball never made it to him as he was swatted across the battlefield, crackling with electricity.
"Thanks to your Libero ability, you had your Raboot turn into a Flying type pokemon," Darla said. "So I had Midnight take him down with an Electric type attack. I'm sorry to say, but I don't think he'll be getting up after this, not with all the damage he's taken. But just in case he will… Midnight, make extra sure with a boomburst!"
"NOIVERN!" Midnight howled, releasing a blast of sonic energy from her ears. The shockwaves were deafening and Lana clenched her ears, falling to her knees as she was overwhelmed by the sounds assaulting her.
"She did it!" Lila cheered triumphantly once her hearing returned. Even she could tell that Raboot had been defeated.
"…Oh, poo," Donoma murmured under her breath. She'd been hoping that a pokemon with Protean or Libero would be a little harder to defeat than that.
"Nicely done!" Alden applauded Darla's performance. "I've gotta say, I certainly wasn't expecting a wild charge from a special attacker like your Noivern!"
"Well, what can I say?" Darla shrugged, brushing a lock of her hair back and beaming with pride at her Noivern. "Midnight knows what she's doing. I'm just here for support."
"Lana are you alright?" Kiana asked worriedly. Her sister had just lost her fourth pokemon. She was really far behind now, and Kiana wasn't sure if she'd be able to pull this off.
Then she was soothed by Samarra.
"Don't worry," the woman assured her. "Lana knows what she's doing. And she has the pokemon she needs to win. Just trust us."
Well, of course Kiana trusted Samarra. After all, Samarra was her friend. And if her friend said that she could count on her little sister to win, well, that was exactly what she was going to do.
"Good luck, Lana!" Kiana called to her sister. "I know you've got this!"
Lana knew she'd "got this" as well. She still hadn't played her trump card. She'd been saving the best pokemon she had for beating Darla all for this moment, and was happy to show the idol just what she was dealing with.
"Leilani, go!" Lana shouted, sending out her fifth pokemon. It was a small pokemon, with a very odd shape. Her body looked like it was made entirely out of flowers, wrapped in a circle like a floating wreath of color.
But it definitely wasn't a Grass type.
"…Ah, shit," Darla cursed, shaking her head.
"Oh!" Lila squealed, a little thrilled in spite of herself. "It's a-!"
"Comfey!" The small pokemon cheered, answering Lila's question for her. She circled around in the sky, like… well, like a wreath of flowers in the wind.
"This is Leilani, my Comfey," Lana introduced Darla to her future nightmare. "I normally use her in battles a lot… not that you would know, of course. It's not like you pay attention to someone like me. But that's alright. I know all about your dragons… and I know how to defeat them. What's the matter, Darla, aren't a big fan of Fairy types?"
Darla made a face like she was going to be sick.
"Come on, Darla may have her type preferences, but it's not like she hates Fairy type pokemon!" Lila objected, turning to her partner. "…Right?"
Darla glanced away, pointedly refusing to answer the question.
Lila's eye ticked in frustration. "Darla?!"
"Well, you're afraid of Dragon types!" Darla lamely responded.
"Yeah, because Dragon types ARE terrifying!" Lila exclaimed. "I don't believe this! Are you saying you actually hate the pokemon I raise?!"
"N-No, it's not like I hate them!" Darla replied. "It's just… well… they're a little bit…"
"You are NOT scared of Fairy type pokemon," Lila said, shaking her head in disbelief.
"Of course I'm not SCARED of them!" Darla exclaimed. "I just don't… like them very much."
"I don't believe this…" Lila shook her head in disbelief.
"Fairy type pokemon MURDER Dragon types!" Darla stated, like that was some excuse for her bias. "So excuse me for not wanting much to do with them!"
"…Look, I don't want to interrupt your little lover's quarrel here, but can we get on with the pokemon battle please?" Lana asked.
"Shut it!" The two girls shouted in unison. "This is important!"
They turned to each other, leaving the battle forgotten.
"Listen, Darla, I get that you don't like the fact that Fairy type pokemon can stomp any lame dragon into the dirt," Lila stated, crossing her arms over her chest. She didn't seem to care very much about maintaining her image right now, it seemed. "But even YOU can acknowledge that Fairy type pokemon are CUTE, right?"
Darla stared at her. "…The ones that are part-Dragon type are."
"NONE of them are part-Dragon type!" Lila sputtered.
"Yeah, that kind of proves my point, doesn't it?" Darla dryly remarked, causing Lila to scream in frustration.
"I don't believe this! Fairies are… they're adorable! And so are Fairy type pokemon!" Lila protested. "How can you just dismiss them like that!?"
"Well, you're rudely stating that Dragon type pokemon are scary, when their intimidating coolness is what makes them so awesome!" Darla snapped. "Maybe you should be the one acting a little bit more considerate, huh?!"
"When a Dragon type pokemon goes on a rampage it can level a city block!" Lila replied. "What sort of mass destruction events do you hear about involving Fairy type pokemon, huh?! Yeah, that's what I thought!"
"Are you kidding me?! Tinkaton swing giant hammers that smash pokemon like Corviknight out of the sky! They're incredibly destructive!" Darla exclaimed. "Their very presence in the Paldea Region has caused commerce from Galar to Paldea to completely shut down because the flying taxis can't function! Do you know what kind of damage that can cause to supply lines!?"
"Oh come on that doesn't count! Corviknight aren't even a Dragon type!" Lila exclaimed. "Besides, that's just part of the natural ecosystem! But when dragons behave naturally they leave carnage in their wake!"
"Yeah, well, what about that one time when a Jigglypuff put an entire town asleep for a whole two days?" Darla demanded. "Is that just a 'light prank' in your book?"
"W-Well…"
"And not only that, but you're acting like ALL Dragon-type pokemon are dangerous, when it's only, like, almost all of them!" Darla continued, as if that was any type of argument whatsoever. "In Paldea, Cyclizar are used for public transportation by a lot of people! They're constructive members of the community!"
"Paldea, Paldea, Paldea, it's always about Paldea!" Lila whined, stomping her foot. "Well if you like Paldea so much, why don't you just marry it, huh?!"
"Maybe I will!"
Lana and Leilani glanced at each other, neither sure what to do about the odd direction this fight had just taken.
I don't know, maybe attack? Darla seems pretty distracted right now. Just a thought. And girls, is this REALLY the right time to have this argument? There's kind of a bigger picture here to think about, you know? Well, they are idols, so I suppose being self-centered is kind of their thing. Could this be the end of their partnership!? I suppose we'll have to find out.