Lana's trump card Leilani has been defeated through a combination of Darla's contest skills and her Goodra's training! Now she's down to her final pokemon! But will this last pokemon be able to finish off the last of Darla's dragons? Or does our idol have what it takes to put a decisive end to this match once and for all? We'll have to see!

Arbiter8991: Yep, Puff really gave it her all taking down that fairy.

KedharS: She is a pretty ruthless person after all.

Tambry96bj: I guess we'll have to see. Hopefully her last pokemon can hold her own.

Hyphenman: Yeah, Pokemon Contests really lend themselves to battling in creative ways, and setting up good combos, that's for sure.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 1185

Lana could feel the poison eating away at Leilani's body. There was nothing she could do. She couldn't even call her pokemon back because the giant wall of rock was in the way.

Even with Samarra suppressing the pain, she could feel that her Comfey was finished. She closed her eyes and waited for her pokemon to succumb.

When Leilani fainted, Darla recognized that there was no longer any point in continuing with the attack. So she nodded to Puff and Puff let the maze collapse in on itself, flooding the field with poison and freeing the defeated fairy. Lana recalled her immediately. As Darla had predicted, they would be paying a visit to the Pokemon Center soon; painfully even Flower Veil couldn't protect her against that much poison.

"That was… really rough…" Lila winced. She knew that Darla needed to do whatever it took to win, but any time she had to see a Fairy type pokemon succumb to poison like that was brutal. But she couldn't let her feelings get in the way.

It is what it is, she said to herself, clenching her fist. I just hope that Darla will make it through this in one piece.

"Lana…" Kiana said quietly, not sure what to say to comfort her sister. And it wasn't like Samarra was much help, either.

When Samarra had become friends with Kiana and Lana at Mt. Battle, she was pleasantly surprised to learn that the two women were sisters. Her own relationship with her sister was difficult to grasp, but she'd always made an effort to get to know Guinevere. It just hadn't gone the way she'd anticipated it going.

She'd hoped that, by studying the relationship between these two, she'd have the chance to improve her friendship with Gwen when they met. But their relationship was quite odd. They cared for each other, and yet the antagonized each other on occasion. She didn't know how to explain it. For now, though, she had more pressing matters, such as focusing on this battle. Samarra would be able to learn more about the relationship between sisters when the match was over.

Assuming Lana remained her friend, of course. That was something she needed to ensure would happen, which meant using the trump card that Lana would have refrained from using otherwise. Even now she was cautious about it.

"You have to use that pokemon," Samarra urged her. "Or else we're going to lose. And you don't want to lose, right?"

"That's right," Lana admitted. Even if she didn't like the position she was forced into, she had no one else to blame but herself. She swallowed her concerns and stared defiantly at Darla.

"This battle isn't over yet!" She shouted. "I still have one pokemon left! Ryder!"

"Corviknight!" Lana's Corviknight emerged from the pokeball with a squawk, summoning a squall with the flap of his wings. Darla braced herself against the wind pressure.

So there it is… she winced.

"That pokemon!" Keya gasped. He could sense the malevolent aura coming off of it, it made him feel like throwing up.

"We know, it's a Shadow Pokemon," Ian said, scowling. A few people remembered Lana's ace from the Phantom Cup, but none moreso than him. He had actually fought against it, after all. "Be careful, Darla, it's tough!"

"You don't need to tell me," Darla spat. "I can tell that perfectly fine."

She narrowed her eyes. "I'm curious though. Didn't your Corviknight used to not have a name? What changed?"

"I-I named him," Lana said. "I called him Ryder. So what? If you nickname a pokemon, then you can form a stronger bond with them!"

"…You actually believe that?" Darla snorted, shaking her head. "You actually think you can form a bond with that pokemon?"

Lana winced. "I… I can!" She asserted. "He may not be opening up to me now, but… if I work hard and try to get to know him better, then…"

If Wes were here, he would tell Lana how ridiculous that thought was. If Samarra cared, she would share that knowledge from Wes' brain herself. But she didn't really care about Lana's bond, or lack thereof, with her pokemon.

So what if her Corviknight was a Shadow Pokemon? She might not be able to boost it with harmonia, but the Shadow Moves it offered more than made up for that. It was a rather perfect little destructive weapon in Samarra's eyes.

"Ryder!" Lana shouted. "Use retaliate!"

"Corviknight!" Ryder shrieked, flapping his wings and flying straight at the Goodra. He focused his power and slammed his steel body into the dragon, knocking Puff backwards.

"Goodra!" Puff coughed out. His acid armor could only protect him so much against the force of Ryder's attack.

"Puff!" Darla shouted.

"Retaliate is a powerful move when it's used right after a pokemon faints," Lana said.

"I know that," Darla spat. "But in those cases it's a move for avenging a fallen comrade, isn't that right?" She narrowed her eyes. "I don't think that Corviknight of yours knows what the word 'comrade' even means."

Lana flinched. Darla's words hit a very sore spot for her. But she didn't let herself get distracted.

"It doesn't matter!" She snapped. "Ryder and I will beat you together!"

Even though Lana was trying to maintain her confidence, she was shaking. After all, even though Ryder was her pokemon now… she couldn't easily forget the trauma from when she'd first used him. In her match against Ian, Ryder had lost control. He'd entered Hyper Mode and went on a rampage, and she couldn't control him. She couldn't even call him back to his pokeball. She couldn't do anything besides watch helplessly on the sidelines as her pokemon was stopped by Ian's Aggron.

Ever since then, she'd refrained from using Ryder in battle. She'd tried training him, and he always listened to her orders perfectly, but she didn't need harmonia to sense that there was a wall between the two of them.

Ryder wouldn't bond with her. As a Shadow Pokemon, his heart was too closed off to even try. And that fact hurt Lana fiercely. She'd used the Shadow Pokemon because the Phantom had given it to her, but that didn't mean she didn't want to form a real connection.

…Maybe, in time, that would be possible. But right now, she just had to hope that her pokemon didn't lose control again.

"You don't need to worry," Samarra assured her. "If your pokemon loses control and enters Hyper Mode, then I'll be able to connect with it and return it back to normal. You'll be safe."

That fact did soothe her concerns quite a bit. She didn't have to worry now.

"Alright then," she said to Samarra. "We can do this."

Lana turned her focus back towards the battle. She still had to give Ryder an order.

"Ryder!" She shouted. "Use shadow storm!"

"Corviknight!" Ryder cried, raising his wings and summoning a massive tornado filled with dark energy. The sky seemed to tear in place as it raged across the battlefield towards the injured Puff.

"I figured you'd come at us with Shadow Moves," Darla scowled. Dragon type pokemon had few weaknesses; Lana would be a fool not to take advantage of her Shadow Pokemon. "Puff! Use protect to shield yourself!"

"Goodra!" Puff nodded, raising her arms and creating a barrier of purplish-blue light. The tornado swept up the barrier, battering it on all sides with shadowy winds, but Puff remained safe and sealed inside of her bubble. When the winds died down and the protect was flung away, she landed harmlessly on the ground and dispersed it.

"You'll need more than that," Darla warned.

"Happy to show you," Lana scowled, narrowing her eyes. "Ryder, use metal sound!"

"CORVIKNIGHT!" Ryder screeched, flapping his wings. The sound of his metal feathers scraping against each other rang across the battlefield, and Puff felt her body begin to vibrate. The sonic shockwaves were moving at a high enough frequency where the defensive qualities of her slime were beginning to diminish.

"You're trying to reduce our special defense? That seems like a good play, but it won't be good enough," Darla said. "We can still take you down! Puff, use thunderbolt!"

"Goodra!" Puff shouted, raising her antenna. An electrical current charged between them and she fired it in a bolt of lightning at the Corviknight.

"Coooooor!" Ryder cried, taking the electric attack head-on. Lana braced herself, expecting a repeat of what had happened before, when Leilani was struck by the thunder. But nothing happened. No massive current of electricity frying her nerves and making her body twitch, no agonizing pain from the brutal shocks.

That's right… he's a Shadow Pokemon, she remembered. That means I can't connect to him with harmonia, either…

Lana had been trying to form a bond with Ryder ever since she got him from the Phantom. She knew he was a Shadow Pokemon, but she still had to believe that it was possible to connect in some way with even a Shadow Pokemon, right? There was no such thing as a pokemon that wouldn't bond with a human.

Well, if there was such a thing, then it was definitely in front of her. No matter how hard she tried, Ryder just didn't seem to regard her with anything. He followed her orders just fine, but not because he cared about her.

And that might have been fine for the Phantom or Keahi. But for a trainer who cared about their pokemon like Lana did, even if she might occasionally resort to more draconian methods of training (and besides, 4 A.M. training sessions weren't THAT bad!) such a pokemon was painful to use.

Not being able to feel any connection with him like she did with her other pokemon only served as another brutal reminder of the wall between her and her Corviknight.

As for the thunderbolt itself, the move barely scratched him. Ryder shrugged it off like it was nothing thanks to his own high defenses. It did make him mad, though.

"Shadow storm," Lana ordered.

"Corviknight!" Ryder flapped his wings, summoning another powerful tornado. The raging whirlwind of darkness surged towards Puff again, but this time she didn't have the time to protect herself. She could only brace against the fierce blades as they cut into her, lifting her from the ground.

"Puff!" Darla and Lila shouted at the same time as the Goodra was lifted into the sky.

"That's the way to do it!" Kiana cheered. "Show that dragon girl you mean business, Lana!"

Lana winced. Her sister's cheering was good-natured, of course, because she had no way of knowing just what kind of pokemon her Corviknight really was. Though, even if she told her, would it matter? Samarra didn't care, so why would she allow her sister to care? And for that matter, why did Lana care, either?

Briefly, she wondered if she should as Samarra to keep her from feeling the pain in her heart at seeing Ryder fight, the same way Samarra could stop her from feeling the painful effects of harmonia. But she decided against it.

This pain was the proof that she was still a good person and still cared about her pokemon, and she wasn't going to just throw it away.

"Goo-!" Puff hit the ground hard, badly injured by the shadow storm. The wounds from her previous struggle against Leilani were starting to add up, and combined with the reduction in special defense from the metal sound it was clear that she was nearing the end of her rope.

We need to do as much damage as we can before she faints, Darla recognized. She only had one chance to really make an impact, and she had to hope it would do something before Puff fainted. Unfortunately, that Corviknight was a Steel type pokemon, so acid spray wouldn't do anything. That was a pity. Sending out Melody against a pokemon with a major special defense drop would have been perfect.

As it was, though, they'd have to make do with what they had.

"Puff!" She shouted. "Use fire blast!"

"Goodra!" Puff puffed up her cheeks and fired a massive blast of flame at the Corviknight as the bird pokemon flew towards her. Now, Puff was by no means a fast pokemon, but she was still faster than the heavy steel bird, so Ryder couldn't pull out of the way in time. He plunged right into the flames, letting out a painful squawk.

"Yes! That fire should roast him!" Lila cheered. That wasn't the sort of thing a "nice" girl was supposed to say, but at this point she could give a damn.

Unfortunately, her joy was premature. Ryder emerged from the star of fire with singed wings and burning eyes, but other than that, was little the worse for wear.

"You burned us," Lana scowled. She wasn't pleased by the fact that Ryder had sustained such a bad burn; it meant his attacking strength would be reduced considerably.

"Sounds perfect to me," Darla grinned. "That's exactly what we were hoping for! Now, Puff-"

"But it won't matter!" Lana roared. "Ryder! Use façade!"

"Façade is a powerful move," Ange said quietly. She'd been observing the match as well in silent contemplation. "This is the end."

"Corviknight!" Ryder shot towards Puff, his feathers turning red as a veil of orange light surrounded his body. He released the energy into Puff as he slammed into her, knocking her backwards. Puff let out a cry of pain when she hit the grass, and didn't get back up.

"Thank you for the burn," Lana said. "If not for that, façade wouldn't have been enough to knock out your Goodra. But when Ryder is inflicted with a status condition, the move doubles in power. And now your pokemon is finished."

"That's true," Darla scowled, recalling Puff to her pokeball. "But it doesn't change the fact that your Corviknight is still burned!

Lana scowled. "Enough grandstanding and send out your last pokemon already," she snarled. She was in a bad mood because she had to rely on her Corviknight. "I already know what it is, anyway."

"Then you should know she's my trump card," Darla grinned. Lila felt her chest swell with excitement. This was what she'd been waiting for, her absolute favorite of all of Darla's pokemon.

"Melody! Take the stage!" Darla shouted, sending out her Altaria.

"Altaria!" Melody cried, joining Ryder up in the air. Darla might have been a Dragon type trainer, but right now, it was time for a showdown of bird pokemon.

"Your Altaria is deceptively powerful, I'll admit that," Lana said. "But you can't use her strongest move. It's a misplay, sending her out last."

Darla raised her eyebrow. "…Oh, really? I'm not quite sure what you mean," she said.

"Altaria are one of a very select group of pokemon that can learn the move perish song," Lana explained. "A powerful move that makes all pokemon who hear it faint within a matter of minutes. If you use that move, you can guarantee a switch, or even ensure victory… but using it in this position is just a waste. Since neither one of us have any pokemon left, if we both faint, then it's just a draw. Not a great plan."

"…I'll keep that in mind for next time," Darla said. She absolutely was aware of perish song and what it could do. But that wasn't the way she wanted Melody to use her voice.

"…Lana, what, um… what happens if it is a draw, though?" Lila asked cautiously. "Like… does that mean nothing changes? So like, you wouldn't be freed, but… then Darla wouldn't be controlled by Samarra, either?"

Lana blinked. She hadn't actually considered that. Samara was also curious about what would happen. It was an interesting thought, but not one she was keen on experimenting with at the moment. She had no intention of forcing a draw when it was easier just to win.

"…Honestly? I don't know," Lana admitted. "But that might be right. I wouldn't lose my connection with my friend because you haven't defeated me, but then, since I haven't defeated you, either, you wouldn't become friends with us."

"That makes sense," Alden nodded. "It would be consistent with how this has gone so far."

"…Phew," Lila sighed in relief. She turned to Darla. "Darla, you need to have Melody use perish song, now!"

"Huh?! Why would I do something like that?!" Darla asked.

"Because neither one of you have any pokemon left!" Lila explained. "So if you have Melody use perish song and then keep her safe through all of that Corviknight's attacks, then you'll both faint! And if you do that, then… then there won't be any risk of you being possessed by Samarra…"

Darla couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Are you crazy?" She scowled. "Lila, do you really think I'm going to lose?"

"No!" Lila exclaimed. "No, of course not! You're a great trainer, Darla!"

"Then why do you want me to force a draw?" Darla pressed.

"Be… because you could lose. Even if the chance is low… there's still… there's still a chance, Darla, and as long as that's the case… I don't want that to happen," she mumbled, hanging her head.

"You realize that if I do that, then I won't be able to save her, though, right?" Darla asked.

Lila glanced at Lana. "…I don't care about that," she muttered. So what if Lana was going to remain controlled by Samarra? As far as she was concerned, Darla's safety was the only thing that mattered right now. If Darla could guarantee that she wouldn't become Samarra's friend, then Lila didn't care if that meant Lana would say possessed.

Lana didn't matter to her. Only Darla did.

"Ahem, we don't know for sure that forcing a draw will have that outcome," Donoma pointed out, which Lila had to admit was true. But before she could say anything, Darla cut her off.

"It doesn't matter anyway," she said, turning her attention back to Lana. "I don't need to force a draw to keep from falling under Samarra's control."

She smirked with confidence.

"I'm just going to win."

Darla's being awesome as always. Meanwhile, Lila is offering some very not-awesome suggestions. I understand why Lila made the request she did, because it's the surest way to keep her partner safe, and it's not like Lana is her friend. But still, it's kind of a crummy thing to do. The only question is whether or not Darla will regret not choosing the safer option…