Darla managed to defeat Lana, and with Giselle's help she even managed to save Kiana in the process! That's a relief! But it's far from the only battle taking place in this clearing! There are other trainers who are struggling too! Let's take a look at another important battle, this one is Mason vs. Callie and Rafe! With two members of the Eight Leaders teaming up, it shouldn't be a problem at all! And yet nothing is ever easy when Rafe gets involved…
Arbiter8991: Well, she certainly feels like she lost something, that's for sure. She's down bad.
KedharS: That's definitely a relief. It would be really bad if Samarra succeeded in trying to hurt Lila, Darla would go on the warpath.
Tambry96bj: That would certainly be interesting. But I don't think Lila really wants to battle, I think she just wants the attention from Darla that comes with having her back. For better or worse, anyway, though I can't say that's exactly admirable.
Hyphenman: Nah, it's fine, no need to overthink things. You're right, though, Lila's going to sting a bit from this. As for Lana and Kiana, it should be fine. After all, they aren't the only ones who've been possessed by Samarra. I don't expect any grudges. And yes, Giselle finally got a win!
Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings
Chapter 1188
Lana awoke to see two of her pokemon unconscious on the ground in front of her. And not only that, her sister had collapsed as well. Her brain was a giant jumble. How had she gotten here? The last thing she remembered, she was inside some strange facility… and there was a woman…
And now she was in the middle of a town that looked like it hadn't changed since the middle ages. It was all kinds of weird.
She recalled her pokemon and rushed to shake her sister awake, hoping that she'd have some answers. While she did that, Darla came over to interrogate her.
The idol wasn't smiling.
But while this was going on, other people were still fighting their battles. And to see the full scope of what was happening in each of them, it was imperative to go back in time just slightly to see how the matches had started.
Callie and Rafe were facing down Mason in a two-on-one. One of them was happy about it, and the other was not.
Three guesses which one wasn't happy, and the first two don't count.
"This should be fun, Callie!" Rafe smiled. "Two team-ups in a week? It's just like old times!"
Callie scowled. She really didn't like remembering her dark past.
It didn't help either that she had far more pressing matters to consider. For starters, Mason had chosen to lead with two Psychic type pokemon. And of course, her brother was also using a Psychic type pokemon.
For a Fighting type trainer like Callie, things were feeling a little packed.
"Lilith, use hypnosis on that Medicham," Mason ordered. Callie winced. "Misaki, use psychic on the Mienshao!"
"Jania! Watch out!" Callie shouted. "Dodge it with your agility!" Normally, she would have used fake out to get the initiative. But Callie knew psychic terrain well, and she knew it put a stop to all priority moves. She'd been dealing with it since she was a kid, after all.
"Charon… just enjoy yourself, my dude," Rafe called to his Medicham, lounging back without a care in the world.
Callie's head throbbed with frustration.
Of course. Every time.
"You're going to let your Medicham get put to sleep?!" She shouted. While she was getting pissed off at her brother, her Mienshao was already springing into action. Jania relied on her superb speed to evade the Indeedee's psychic attacks, quickly closing the gap between the two of them. If she could land a hit, then things would be perfect.
Except for the fact that Charon was quickly put right to sleep by Lilith's hypnotizing gaze.
"What do you think?" Mason asked, smiling smugly. "A maid always makes sure her master is taken care of, and is happy to soothe him to sleep every night! I can see your Medicham is enjoying her services quite a bit."
Callie shivered. This guy was really creepy.
"I remember now…" Chloe mumbled. Ian and Donoma glanced at her. Her face was red behind her mask.
"What, you remember something about your battle with Mason? Something they could use to win?" Ian asked.
"Not anything concrete," Chloe sighed, shaking her head. "I just remember… I was really, really embarrassed and uncomfortable during the battle due to all his talk about maids, and I had difficulty focusing. That's probably why I lost."
Donoma was trying very, very hard not to burst out laughing. She hadn't had a chance to hook up with Ian yet, and rolling in the grass in hysterics at something as ridiculous as that wouldn't win her any points.
"Lilith, Misaki, now that the Medicham is asleep, team up on the Mienshao with a double psybeam!" Mason ordered.
"Gothitelle!"
"Indeedee!"
Both Psychic types turned their attention to Jaina, aiming psybeams at her. The beams of rainbow light flew at the Mienshao, and it took every bit of acrobatic ability Jaina had to evade their attacks. But it was clear that she was on the defensive.
"Rafe, call him back!" Callie snapped. "I need some help over here!"
"Fine, fine," Rafe sighed. "But it's not my fault Charon was feeling exhausted and decided he needed a nap!"
"It's literally your fault! You could have ordered him to get out of the way!" She snapped. GOD her brother was so insufferable. This is why she always hated teaming up with him. "Send out someone stronger, like-"
"Oh, wait, Callie, I just had a brilliant idea! Let's do this!" Rafe skipped over to Callie, his eyes shining with excitement.
"I'm in the MIDDLE of something here!" Callie really didn't have time to humor or big brother, she was too busy barking out orders to Jaina and trying to keep her pokemon alive. So she couldn't really stop her brother from leaning down and whispering in her ear.
What he said next made her blood run cold.
"…No way. I won't."
"Come on! It'll be perfect!" Rafe laughed. "It'll be just like old times!"
"Never again! Didn't you hear me say that?! Never! Again!" She exclaimed.
"But you know as well as I do that if we use those two, then we'll be practically unstoppable! Come on!" Rafe was pleading with her, which was something he so rarely did. But it didn't matter. Callie had no interest in revisiting that dark time of her life.
"It won't matter! I don't even have her pokeball on me, I left it back at the Pokemon Academy you know," Callie replied.
"Oh, don't worry about that. I have it right here!" Rafe reached into his bag and presented a shiny pokeball to Callie, whose jaw dropped.
"Where did you get that!?"
"Oh, when I explained that you really wanted to bring all your pokemon on the trip, the girl who was looking after it… what was her name again? Sarah or Seren or something? She was all too happy to hand it over!"
"But… but…" Callie's eyes shot over to the battlefield. Jaina was doing fine. She could hold out, right? She didn't need to listen to her brothe's insane request.
"Callie, it going to be so fun though!" Rafe said. "…Well, fine, I can't make you."
"That's right," Callie nodded. "You can't. So send out someone else."
Rafe paused. He scratched his head sheepishly. "…Well, the thing is, none of my other pokemon want to fight right now, so…"
Callie could strangle him. The only thing stopping her was their height difference.
"MIENSHAO!" Jaina tumbled back, clutching her head. One of the psybeams had finally connected, and more were coming.
"FINE! I'll do it!" She snapped, grabbing the pokeball from her brother's hand. "Jaina! Baton pass!" If she was going to do something she didn't want to do, she might as well make the most of the speed buff she'd already gained.
This was really going to suck though. She'd spent practically her entire career as a pokemon trainer since the dark times trying to live down her embarrassing history, and now she had to go back to that point in her life just to make her brother participate in the battle.
"Vyasa, go," Rafe said, sending out his next pokemon.
"Sorry about this, Shuka," Callie apologized. She did feel a little guilty that she so rarely used her other pokemon, but, well, how could she?! It was too embarrassing!"
The two pokemon emerged from their pokeballs.
"Oranguru," Rafe's pokemon of choice, Vyasa, said. The monkey pokemon sat in the psychic field covering the grass and waved a fan of leaves, staring thoughtfully at the two maid pokemon in front of him.
At the same time, Jaina returned to her pokeball in place of another pokemon from Callie. "Passimian!" Callie's pokemon, Shuka, cried, emerging from her pokeball. The lemur pokemon carried a large, thick berry in her hand, and the hollowed-out shell of another berry sat on her head, as a helmet.
"And Oranguru and a Passimian?" Ian said, surprised. "That's… a good combination, actually. Not a bad choice for a tag battle."
Calm down, Callie said, taking a deep breath and exhaling. It's fine. Nobody here would remember that far back anyway, even if they did know. And it's not like there's any way they would actually know, right? It wasn't that big of a-
"Oh, that's right! I remember now!" Donoma gasped, and Callie's blood ran cold.
"Hmm? Remember what?" Ian asked curiously.
"I remember, back when I was a little kid, there were those tournaments on tv!" Donoma said, her eyes sparkling with excitement. "Didn't you guys ever watch them?"
No. Oh, lord, please, no.
"No, not really," Chloe mumbled, shaking her head. She didn't really watch battles and stuff on tv much, she preferred watching fights in person.
Callie let out a sigh of relief. But she should have known that it wouldn't be that easy.
"What was it called again…" Donoma mused, tapping her chin. "Oh! Right! The Little Cut Tag Team Pageants!"
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Callie clutched her head and fell to her knees as memories of her past shame flooded her mind.
"That sounds… really dumb. And weird," Ian admitted.
"Oh! I remember that!" Alden said, walking up to them. "That was the one where little kids fought against each other in tag battles! I think it was open to anyone ten or younger, right? Wasn't that less about pokemon battles and more just a kind of gimmick marketing ploy to sell sponsorships and ad revenue?"
"That's right. It was really kind of hokey. A lot of people said that the matches were staged, but I think that was just a joke," Donoma nodded. "But I remember there was one team of siblings who used an Oranguru and a Passimian, they were really stars! It was like the most popular pair out of all the competitors each season."
"So, wait… that's Callie?" Ian said, his jaw dropping. "Wow, that's… I really can't imagine seeing her take part in something like that, to be honest."
Callie wanted to die. She wanted to curl up into a little ball and die. Compared to her old shame being broadcast for the world to see, losing and getting possessed by Samarra almost seemed like the preferable option at this point.
"Come on, sis!" Rafe said, giving her a thumbs' up. "With the two of us working together, there's no way we can lose!"
A hard berry smacked him in the face, knocking him over.
"Passimian!" Shuka snapped, glaring at Rafe. She went to go retrieve her weapon of choice.
"Thank you, Shuka," Callie gratefully accepted her pokemon's help. "I love you, you're the best!"
The bad blood Callie felt for her brother extended to her pokemon as well. Or at least Shuka, who knew first-hand just how annoying he could be from their years of working together on the same team.
"…I don't know what this circus is," Mason scowled, "but if you two are quite done, then can we get to it already?"
Callie's eye twitched. She'd had about enough of this. The fight had just started, and already her patience was completely shot.
That was it. No more nice girl.
"Shuka!" She growled. "Use fling!"
Normally, fling was a move that required the use of a held item to execute. In that respect, it was slightly different for Shuka and other Passimian. Because they carried around hard berries and passed them around like sports balls, they integrated those tools in their fighting style.
In simple terms, Lilith got a flying berry in the face. The Gothitelle was knocked over, clutching her head and wailing as Shuka dashed to retrieve the ball.
"Nice work, Shuka!" Callie cheered. "Now-"
"Oranguru." Vyasa narrowed his eyes and they began to glow blue. He waved his fan at Shuka and Shuka's eyes began to glow blue as well. She picked up her berry again and flung it for a second time, this time hitting the Indeedee in the chest and knocking her over as well.
"Rafe!" Callie snapped, turning to her brother.
"Passimian!" Shuka dashed over to Vyasa and glared at him.
Both trainer and pokemon wore brazen smiles on their faces, as though they'd done nothing wrong whatsoever.
And this was the reason that Callie had stopped doing those tag matches with her brother all those years ago. It wasn't because of the humiliating fact of being plastered across television as a marketing ploy, or the fact that she always played second fiddle to her much more talented older brother, or even the way her parents exploited her childhood for money and success.
Sure, those things had sucked.
But the straw that broke the camel's back was the fact that Rafe always made her do all the fucking work!
"What move was that?" Chloe asked, confused. She didn't get what she'd just seen.
"What, the move fling?" Ian asked. "Well, sure, most pokemon need to have a held item to fling, but Passimian-"
"No, not that," Chloe said, shaking her head. "What that Oranguru did. His eyes just started glowing, and well…"
"Oh, that! It was a move called instruct," Ian explained. "It's a signature move that only Oranguru can learn. Using the move, the pokemon can use their psychic powers to make another pokemon immediately use the same move again. Essentially, in a double battle, it lets the allied pokemon use their moves twice as quickly!"
"Whoa, that's pretty good," Alden said, surprised. He wondered if Vic was aware such a move existed. She was a big fan of double battles, so it might be a good idea for her to get an Oranguru of her own to use.
Everyone was quite impressed with Rafe's Oranguru and how he could make Callie's Passimian attack with twice the speed using instruct.
Of course, "everyone" did not include Callie and Shuka themselves, who were frankly sick and tired of their tag battle career being "Rafe and Oranguru sit back and do nothing while we have to do all the fucking work ourselves."
"Simian! Passimian!" Shuka swung her berry at Vyasa with everything she had, trying to bean the Oranguru's brains in. But the monkey pokemon easily evaded every strike his lemur counterpart tried to throw.
"Come on now Shuka, you know that won't work!" Rafe laughed, completely unfazed by the fact that his tag partner was attacking his own pokemon instead of their enemies. "Vyasa has Telepathy, so he knows when all your attacks are going to come! There's no way you'll be able to hit him, you should know that by now!"
"Don't listen to him, Shuka! Beat that monkey into a bloody pulp!" Callie sneered, cheering Shuka on with all her might.
Mason just stared at the brother-sister duo in confusion, wondering what he was even doing here. His pokemon had recovered from their injuries and were looking just as confused.
"…Well… we can just attack, right?" He mumbled, adjusting his glasses. "Misaki, use helping hand to assist Lilith. And Lilith, use your psychic attack on the lemur."
"Indeedee," Misaki nodded obediently. She began to glow, sending energy to Lilith to increase her attacking power.
"Gothitelle!" Lilith focused her powers of concentration, using the boost from her stats. She directed her psychic energies at Shuka, focusing on lifting her up into the air.
"Passimian?!" Shuka gasped as she was lifted into the air, crying out in pain as the psychic damage began to assault her.
"Shuka!" Callie cried. She turned to Rafe and Vyasa. "A little help here?!"
Rafe was staring up at the clouds. Vyasa was lounging back in the grass, fanning himself.
Callie could just scream.
"Fine! We'll do it ourselves!" She snapped. "Shuka! Use earthquake!"
"Passimian!" Shuka raised her arm as best as she could with the psychic field wrapped around her, and flung her berry straight at the ground. When it hit, it hit with such force that the ground began to shake, and powerful tremors struck the entire battlefield.
"Gothitelle?!" Lilith gasped, her concentration broken. She stumbled back and released Shuka from her psychic hold, as Misaki fell over as well. The power of the earthquake was really something. Callie's pokemon weren't to be underestimated.
And of course, Vyasa, who had seen it coming, had chosen to lie down in the one part of the battlefield that wasn't affected by the tremors.
Callie glared at him. God I want to hurt that monkey so badly! She growled to herself, nearly tearing her hair out in frustration.
Well, the tag battle between Callie, Rafe, and Mason is off to a rocky start! Who would have guessed that Callie had such a dark secret in her past? It makes sense now why she has so many issues with her family, and her big brother in particular. And it also makes sense why she and Rafe were able to do so well against Shima and Shinobu… and why she absolutely didn't want to team up with him under any circumstances. This should be rather hilarious.