Darla and Lana's fight continues! Lana has finally revealed her trump card, and wouldn't you know it, it's a Fairy type pokemon! Which is the type of pokemon that Darla has the most trouble with. This is a pretty rough spot for her to be in, hopefully she'll be able to find a way to overcome the Comfey… if she can stop arguing with her partner first! Remember to review!
KedharS: Nah this is something that needs to be settled now.
Tambry96bj: Sorry, I was working with old data. Don't worry, I made sure to change it.
Hyphenman: Indeed, some things are more important than others. This simply can't wait.
Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings
Chapter 1182
Lana glanced at Leilani and shrugged. Well, if Darla was going to be distracted with her little discussion, then they might as well capitalize it and attack, right?
"Leilani, use dazzling gleam," Lana whispered, hoping to catch Darla and her Noivern off-guard.
"Comfey!" Leilani spun in a circle and began to glow, releasing a blast of blinding light that send long rays piercing towards Midnight.
"Midnight, dodge," Darla ordered, ending her debate with Lila without even turning towards them.
"Noivern!" Midnight howled. She closed her eyes and flapped her wings, soaring up into the sky. She easily rose above the wide attack.
"What?!" Lana gasped. She hadn't been expecting that at all. Neither had Lila, who also gasped in shock, realizing that she'd let herself get caught up in something that didn't matter and was jeopardizing her partner's battle.
"Let's call a stop to this for now, we'll pick the discussion up later," Darla said, returning her attention to the battle.
"R-Right…" Lila muttered, her cheeks flushing. "S-Sorry I got carried away…"
"Forget it."
"I can't believe your Noivern was able to dodge that," Lana scowled.
"While not blind like Deino and Zweilous, Noivern see mostly through echolocation as well," Darla explained. "Their eyes aren't very sensitive to light. Because of that, it was an easy matter for Midnight to dodge your dazzling gleam. I may not like Fairy type pokemon very much, but my team and I aren't afraid of them. Now Midnight, use air slash!"
"Noivern!" Midnight flapped her wing, sending a blade of sharp air flying towards Leilani.
"That won't be a problem," Lana said, nodding to Leilani. To Darla's surprise, the Comfey was easily able to dodge the air slash.
"…Fast little thing, isn't she?" Darla scowled. She didn't expect a pokemon that looked like a glorified lei to be so quick.
Lana smirked. "You have no idea. Leilani isn't just fast, either! She can also pack a punch when she wants to! Use growth!"
"Com!" Leilani chirped, and began to glow. She started gathering light from the sky to increase her strength.
"That's going to be annoying," Darla said, narrowing her eyes. "Midnight! Forget the long-range attacks, get in close with your aerial ace!"
"Noivern!" Midnight tucked her head in and shot like a bullet towards Leilani, lifting her wings like blades. She appeared behind the small pokemon and raised her claw, slashing into the Comfey from behind.
"Comfey!" Leilani wailed, and Lana winced in pain. But it was just a scratch. Darla would need to pull out more than that if she wanted to take Leilani down!
"We won't fall so easily!" Lana boasted. "Leilani, dazzling gleam!"
"Comfey," Leilani nodded, spinning around and uncoiling her body like a whip. The flowers growing off her started to glow, and they released a blinding light that struck Midnight head-on, knocking her backwards.
"Rrgh," Darla growled, clenching her fist. This was why she hated Fairy types!
It was a good thing Midnight had recovered earlier with moonlight, because that attack was a serious one. Leilani wasn't built for offense, but she certainly had her own capabilities, that was for sure. Which was a bother for Darla.
"That attack stung… and she's got fairly high defensive stats as well… not to mention speed… she's not the strongest pokemon in the world, but she's certainly a bother," Darla muttered. "Well… I guess I'll have to respond as best as I can…"
She turned to her Noivern.
"Midnight, change of plans. We're going to stop that thing's speed. Use scary face!"
"Noivern!" Midnight nodded, turning to glare at Leilani.
"Wait, Darla, don't do that!" Lila cried. But the move was already used. Midnight glared at Leilani, trying to intimidate her and lower her speed.
Lana just smiled and Leilani chirped, completely unfazed by the attack.
"Play rough!" She ordered. Leilani flung herself forward and slammed into Midnight, knocking her backwards with a tackle infused with fairy energy. Midnight stumbled and cried out in pain, flapping her wings to get back into the sky and put some distance between herself and the Comfey.
"What was that?!" Darla cried. "Your speed didn't decrease in the slightest!"
"It was probably Flower Veil," Lila replied. "It's an ability that Fairy type pokemon possess, and it's one of Comfey's abilities. As long as they're in battle, their flowers prevent their stats from being lowered by the opponent."
"Oh, perfectly right!" Lana said, her eyes widening in surprise. "Very good. I suppose I can't fool the Fairy type expert, can I?"
"I was a little surprised," Lila admitted. "Usually when I think of Comfey, I think about its ability Triage, since it's such a unique ability that only they possess. But that doesn't mean it's the only ability they can have, right?"
"Right," Lana nodded. "I'm not much one for double battles, so Triage doesn't really have as much use for me. But I definitely know how good Flower Veil is, which is why I'm glad Leilani has that ability instead."
"Well, that's a pain in the ass," Darla scowled. "So I can't lower her stats, huh? I guess we'll have to try something else."
"That's not all," Lila interrupted. "Flower Veil also protects the pokemon from being inflicted with things like burns, paralysis, poison, even sleep. And being frozen, for some reason. It's a fairly powerful ability, honestly."
"No stat reductions, no status conditions, I was right, Fairy types suck," Darla groaned. "Whatever. That just means we'll be doing what I wanted to do in the first place!"
A wicked smile spread across her lips.
"We'll tear her down with pure power! Let's go, Midnight!"
"Noivern!" Midnight howled, flapping her wings and sending a powerful gust of wind towards Leilani. The hurricane roared across the battlefield towards the flowering pokemon, threatening to blow her away.
But not if Lana had anything to say about it.
"That won't work!" She snapped. "Petal blizzard!"
"Comfey!" Leilani spun in a circle and her flowers began to spray out petals, forming a tornado of her own. The petal blizzard spun towards the incoming hurricane and the two attacks cancelled each other out in a mighty blast of wind.
"A perfect match?!" Darla exclaimed, shielding her eyes from the gusts. "Damn!"
"We may not be a match for your Noivern when it comes to speed, but we can still hold our own with what we have," Lana said. "And all you've got to rely on is your Flying type moves, since all those Dragon type moves you're so proud of will have no effect on Leilani!"
It wasn't in Lana's nature to boast. That was part of Samarra's influence, spurring her confidence in her abilities. But Lana was still a lot closer to her usual self than most of the people Samarra was controlling, and it wasn't like Darla knew her at all, so there was no way she'd be able to guess that something was off about her.
And even if she could guess, so what? That didn't matter to her in the slightest. She was still determined to take this bitch down. Darla wasn't as nice as the others, she didn't want to "save" Lana or try to help her. That would just come as a natural result of defeating the trainer standing in her way, which was the only thing important right now.
Lana tried to hurt Lila. She would pay for that choice. And that's as far as Darla went on the matter.
"Lila!" Darla shouted, snapping Lila out of her tense fog.
"Y-Yes?" The idol asked shakily. "What is it?"
"You said that status conditions won't work through the Flower Veil, does that account for all of them?" Darla asked. Her voice was serious. "Don't play around here, does that mean volatile status conditions like confusion are off the table too?"
Lila's persona would have no idea what the difference between volatile and non-volatile status conditions was, and would have acted like an idiot so Darla could explain things to her. If this were just a battle where they were spectators performing for a crowd, of course. But with everything on the line, it was fine- no, necessary, to let the mask slip just a little.
"You should be able to confuse her," Lila said, a serious expression on her face. "It's only non-volatile status conditions that are affected."
Darla smirked.
"That's just what I wanted to hear! Go Midnight, use supersonic!"
"Noivern!" Midnight shouted, tilting her head forward. The amplifiers on her ears began to flare, and a hypersonic piercing sound echoed across the battlefield, disorienting everyone with its eerie waves. Leilani was struck, and for a moment, she couldn't focus.
But just for a moment.
"That won't work on us," Lana said, shaking her head. But her voice went unheard over the sounds of the supersonic.
It was a decent strategy, and under normal circumstances, certainly a viable one. But these circumstances were far from normal.
Because Lana was friends with Samarra. And that meant she had access to harmonia. Because Samarra's control over her harmonia was so precise, unlike with, say, Elaina or Gwen or even Kitty, she could easily help Lana overcome the feelings of confusion induced by her connection to Leilani and snap her pokemon out of it herself.
And now that Leilani was no longer confused, it was time to press the attack.
"Dazzling gleam," Lana ordered. Leilani's flowers began to glow and they released a devastating blast of light that pierced through the sky, striking the stunned Noivern.
"Midnight!" Darla cried.
"Did you forget about our harmonia?" Lana asked as the pokemon plummeted from the sky. "Things like confusion won't work on us, either."
Darla ground her teeth together. She had forgotten. She wasn't used to fighting pokemon battles, and even though she'd witnessed several matches against a harmonia user, this was the first time she'd ever found herself going toe to toe with one.
The capabilities of that power had completely slipped her mind, and her Noivern had just paid the price for her arrogance.
"Midnight!" She shouted, hoping her pokemon would be able to get back up. Thankfully, she was. She was badly injured from taking that dazzling gleam head-on, but she was still hanging on somehow, and shakily rose to her feet.
"Noi… vern…" Midnight rasped out, her ears twitching.
Darla could see right away that things were looking bad.
I don't know if Midnight will be able to hang on… another attack like that, and she'll fall, I'm certain of it. With that in mind, it was time for Darla to take other steps. Midnight was faster than Leilani, though only just barely. And with how injured she was, she doubted that her Noivern would be able to dodge another attack coming her way.
She didn't like doing this, but it was time to make the decision that would lead to the most likely chance of success.
"Midnight!" Darla shouted. "Use tailwind!"
"Noivern!" Midnight nodded, understanding immediately what her trainer wanted from her. She raised her wings and flung them forward, summoning a powerful tailwind behind her to raise her speed.
But doing that took time. And time wasn't something Lana was motivated to give her.
"Leilani, use dazzling gleam!" She ordered her Comfey. Once more, Leilani spun in a circle, sending bursts of blinding light flying in all directions.
Midnight was too injured to try and fly out of the way this time; she ended up taking the full force of the attack, collapsing to the ground in pain.
Darla closed her eyes in apology. Midnight had lost because she'd miscalculated, and because she'd let herself get carried away due to her opponent being a Fairy type.
"I'm sorry, Midnight," she apologized, recalling her Noivern. "I was a little too reckless that time. But don't worry. I won't let her get away with this."
She took out her next pokeball, glaring across the battlefield at the Fairy type pokemon she despised. It would feel good to give her some hurt.
"Puff!" She shouted, sending out her next pokemon. "Take care of this thing!"
"Goodra!" Her Goodra cried, emerging from her pokeball. The big, slimy dragon usually wore a big smile on her face, but this time, she wasn't messing around. She glared across the battlefield at the Comfey, and raised her arms aggressively.
"That's our opponent alright," Darla nodded. "A Fairy type. Come on, let's take her down."
"Goodra," Puff nodded in agreement.
"Use sludge wave!" Darla ordered. Immediately, Puff came out swinging, firing a blast of toxic sludge at the Comfey.
"That's… good!" Lila said, cheering for Puff as best she could, even though her anxiety flared up at seeing a Fairy type pokemon on the receiving end of a powerful Poison type move. But she reminded herself that it was for the sake of Darla winning her battle, and that made it okay.
"I expected you'd bring out something that could dish out the poison," Lana scowled. "Leilani, dodge it now!"
"Comfey!" Leilani took a page out of Midnight's book and bounced up into the sky, floating over the wave of sludge that came crashing down. That left her in a prime position to launch a counterattack of her own.
"Now, use dazzling gleam!" Lana ordered.
"Com!" Leilani spun, sending a wave of light towards Puff.
Darla rolled her eyes. "Oh please, don't you have any other moves?" She scoffed. "Come on, Puff! You can take it!"
"Goo!" Puff braced herself, taking the blast of light head-on. She didn't really have much other choice, given how she couldn't see through the blinding light like Midnight could.
"It seems you didn't have much luck trying to dodge that, huh?" Lana smirked. "Sorry to say. But my gamble's paid off! Your pokemon are no match for Leilani!"
Darla said nothing. She waited for the light to fade and for vision to return to her eyes.
"You don't understand anything," she said quietly. "Did you know… Sliggoo… when they evolve from Goomy, their eyes devolve, so they can't see anything?"
Lana was surprised. She'd never heard about that.
"N-No, I didn't," she admitted, shaking her head.
"It's a very rough position for them to be in," Darla continued. "Imagine, living in a dense, dark marsh, not being able to see at all, after having spent your whole life as a Goomy with perfect sight. Instead, they have to rely on their sensitive antenna to help guide them out of the darkness. That was the state I found Puff in. She couldn't see anything, because she was a newly-evolved Sliggoo. In spite of that, she was willing to trust me, and open up to me. It took a long time, but eventually… eventually I was able to bring light back to her world."
"…What's your point?" Lana asked, not sure where Darla was going with this.
"Have you sensed a theme yet?" Darla asked. "Midnight, Dina, even Puff, all of them have difficulty seeing. But they've all overcome those difficulties and kept fighting, regardless, using whatever they can in order to succeed."
"…I'm also totally lost," Lila admitted sheepishly. Darla glanced her way with a gentle smile, before returning her attention to the battlefield.
Ah… so you missed it… oh well. It's fine, even if you don't understand, she thought with a sigh. What mattered more was the fight in front of her.
"It doesn't matter if you don't get it," Darla said, glaring at Lana from across the battlefield. "But my pokemon have adapted to be strong. Just look!"
"Goodra!"
Puff barely looked injured from the dazzling gleam attack, much to Lana's shock.
"What?!" She sputtered.
"Because Sliggoo were so sensitive to predators due to their antenna, they developed defensive measures to stay alive," Darla replied. "They cover their body in their sticky secretions to ward off predators and give them cover to escape. And then, when those secretions have gotten dense enough, the rain in their natural habitat mixes with it and coaxes a new evolution. That's where Goodra come from."
She turned to Puff and smiled.
"Their eyes regrow, and they can see again. And not only that, their antenna still remain sensitive, so they get the best of both worlds. You could say that Sliggoo is the trial that every Goomy must go through in order to become a powerful Goodra."
"Goodra!" Puff fired a wave of sludge at Leilani, who just barely managed to avoid it.
"Because of the slimy secretions that their bodies are covered with," Darla continued, "Goodra have incredibly high special defense. And because Puff had such a hard time trusting me at first, hers grew to be very thick and resilient. Even a Fairy will have a hard time getting through!"
"So a Dragon type pokemon that isn't vulnerable to Fairy type attacks?" Lana asked, shaking her head incredulously. That was ridiculous. It wasn't like Darla's Goodra was part Poison type or part Steel type, there should be no conceivable reason that she was able to withstand an attack like that.
I guess she's just really tough then… Lana was forced to accept. What a complete pain in the ass…
That's for sure. I've always liked Goodra, so I'm glad that Darla's is getting a chance to shine! Who knows, maybe she'll even be able to defeat Leilani! This battle is getting closer and closer to the conclusion, and I'm glad it's such a passive, tranquil break from the super-intense emotional fights previously. Not every battle in this arc needs to be a massive challenging of ideals and friendship.