With Rafe off doing whatever it is he does, it's up to Callie to handle things in the battle! And she's doing the best she can, relying on both her pokemon and her brother's to defeat Mason, but this is really outside her skillset, as shown with how Mason's turned things around on her! Hopefully Rafe will step up and actually pitch in soon, otherwise things are going to get really bad! Remember to review!
KedharS: Yep. He's pretty darn annoying. It would help if he could try a little bit, at least that would make Callie's life easier.
Hyphenman: Yep, pretty good assessment of the situation. Rafe really needs to step in and pull his own weight in this fight, rather than make his sister do everything, and Mason should stop being so creep himself.
Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings
Chapter 1190
Shuka collapsed on the ground, having been knocked over with her own berry. That left her completely vulnerable to Mason's attacks.
"Nicely done," Mason said, pushing his glasses up his nose. "Now Rem, finish her with moonblast."
"Gardevoir!" Rem began to glow, concentrating her powers and creating an orb of fairy energy in her palms.
"Vyasa, use shadow ball!" Rafe shouted, startling Callie. Her brother had finally stepped into the fight! It was about damn time.
Rafe stepped forward and Vyasa roared, lumbering over to Shuka and raising his fan. He created a shadow ball that he batted at the Gardevoir, canceling out the moonblast headed their way and giving Shuka enough time to stand back up.
"Thanks for the save," Callie said to her brother, trying not to sound bitter. While she appreciated Rafe for stepping in and having her back, that was what he was supposed to do, so she couldn't exactly praise him for doing the bare-minimum as a tag team partner. She sighed. "Shuka, are you good?" She called to her Passimian.
"Pass," Shuka nodded, though she winced a little. Like Callie, she was out of practice for this sort of battle. Because of Callie's desire to keep her dark past hidden from her schoolmates, she didn't use Shuka in battles anymore. While she still visited her all the time and played with her (as well as the occasional sparring session) she hadn't fought in years. In Callie's defense, though, Shuka's skills were more suited to double battles, which was a style that she wasn't comfortable fighting with. So there was that.
Meanwhile, Rafe used his Oranguru like it was natural. Nothing to worry about there.
"Vyasa, we need to put pressure on those two," Rafe said. It was all business with him now, much to Mason's surprise. "Let's use a wide-range move, okay? Rock slide!"
"Oranguru!" Vyasa grunted. His eyes flashed blue and he used his psychic powers to rip out massive stones from the grass below, lifting them up with his fan. With a wave of the leafy appliance he sent the rocks tumbling down in a wave upon the two Psychic types.
"You'll need to try better than that," Mason snarled. "A good maid is always willing to defend their master and his property! Rem, use reflect!"
"Gardevoir!" Rem cried, raising her hands. The crest on her chest began to glow and a red barrier appeared around her and Lilith, protecting them from the falling rocks.
"Tch," Callie clicked her tongue in frustration. Even if Vyasa wasn't very good with physical attacks, that rock slide still would have done some damage if it had connected. But unfortunately, that wasn't the case. She was about to give a follow-up order when Rafe smiled at her.
"I think you know what to do from here, little sister," he said with a wink.
Callie's eye twitched. When he wasn't delegating his responsibilities and making her do all the work, he was condescending her like a child who needed her hand held through the battle.
"Yeah, I know!" She snapped. "I don't need you to tell me! Shuka, use brick break to knock that barrier down!"
"Passimian!" Shuka nodded, charging at the barrier. She raised her berry and flung it with all her might, smashing through the reflect like a baseball through a window.
"Nice work!" Rafe congratulated her. "Now, I bet you can handle that Gothitelle, right? Just leave the Gardevoir to us."
"Works for me!" Callie nodded. "Shuka, you hear that? Target the Gothtitelle and use fling!"
"Passimian!" Shuka flung the berry at Lilith, trying to hit her head-on. But like with Rem, it was a wasted gesture. Because Lilith's eyes began to glow blue and she raised her hand, freezing the berry in midair with her psychic powers right before it hit her.
"Don't you know anything else?" Mason smirked. "We've already figured out how to beat that move, seeing you use it so many times."
Callie smirked. "Well, we've got a few more tricks up our sleeve. Shuka, now!"
"Passimia!" Shuka hooted, clapping her hands together. The berry hovering in front of Lilith exploded, sending a barrage of seeds flying in all directions, most of them hitting the Gothitelle.
"Lilith!" Mason shouted.
"Have a taste of our seed bomb!" Callie crowed. "I figured you'd use the same trick to stop our fling attack a second time! Not so fun when the berry blows up, now is it? Sorry about the mess, by the way, but maybe your maid can clean it up nice and neat."
Mason growled at her as his Gothitelle tried to stand backc up, but she was in pretty bad shape from taking that hit.
"Great job, Callie!" Rafe grinned.
"But now her Passimian doesn't have a berry anymore," Donoma frowned. "That seems rather troublesome, don't you think?"
"Oh, it's no problem at all," Callie assured her. "Shuka always keeps plenty of spares around for when she needs practice."
Proving her point, Shuka retrieved a berry from somewhere, and nobody really wanted to know exactly where. She stood up and pounded the berry against her chest, charging at Lilith. Another good hit, and the Gothitelle would be finished.
"Don't let her get close!" Mason shouted to Rem. "Use teleport!"
"Gardevoir!" Rem warped across the field, standing in front of the charging Shuka. Callie was happy to take advantage of that bit of fortuitousness, though.
"Shuka, use iron head!" She ordered.
"Passimian!" Shuka lowered her head, her helmet shining silver as she prepared a headbutt to take the Gardevoir down. With her speed boosted she was there in seconds, and slammed into Rem with everything she had.
But the Gardevoir was gone, and in her place was a maid costume that Shuka found herself tangled up inside of.
"Passimian?!" Shuka gasped in disbelief, confused by what it was that obscured her vision.
Mason smirked proudly. "Rem's substitute is flawless as always," he praised his pokemon. "I thought that would be nice for a gift. Even a monkey might look nice if you put a maid outfit on her, wouldn't you agree?"
"Shuka's a lemur, not a monkey!" Callie snapped.
"…They're both primates though," Mason said. "So it's an acceptable label."
Callie turned red. She didn't know that.
"Wh-Whatever! It doesn't matter!" She snapped. "Shuka, get rid of that stupid thing, now!"
"Passimian!" Shuka ripped the maid costume to shreds with a roar, and Mason's heart was ripped in half with it.
"How could you do that?!" He screamed, falling to his knees in shock and horror. "Do you have no respect for the fine profession of maids?! How could you treat such a sacred garment with such flagrant disrespect?!"
"Sacred garme-?! You used it as a shield!" Callie snapped. "Enough of that! Shuka, take that Gardevoir down, now!"
"Passimian!" Shuka nodded. Rem had reappeared due to her substitute being broken, making her the perfect target for Shuka's assault. But before she could try anything, a red aura appeared around her body and lifted her up into the air.
"No! Shuka!" Callie gasped.
"That's right," Mason smirked. "Sorry, but no matter how powerful your Fighting type pokemon might be, she's still vulnerable to Psychic type moves like this one. Sorry to break it to you, Callie. Now Rem, finish her off!"
"Gardevor," Rem nodded, amplifying her psychic powers to cause more pain to the Passimian.
"Shuka!" Callie cried. She turned to her brother. "Rafe, you've gotta… Rafe?!"
Once again, Rafe had taken himself out of the battle, which explained why she hadn't heard a lot from him in the past few minutes. He was drinking tea.
"Would you like some?" He offered the cup to her with a smile.
She screamed.
"This is NOT the time for tea! We have a battle to fight! Shuka needs you!" Callie exclaimed.
"I know that," Rafe said, taking a sip. "That's why I left things in Vyasa's capable hands."
"Wha-?" Callie whipped her head around back to the battlefield. For once, Rafe was correct. Unlike his trainer who was sitting back and drinking tea, Vyasa was being actually proactive. The Oranguru created a shadow ball and flung it at Rem, hitting the Gardevoir in the back and breaking her concentration, freeing Shuka.
"Trust Vyasa," Rafe smiled. "He knows what he's doing."
Callie rolled her eyes. She knew her brother was just saying that as an excuse for doing his own fighting in the battle. But he was also correct, which was the infuriating part.
Mason scowled. "This has gone on long enough! Lilith! Use dark pulse! Take out that Oranguru, now, that's an order!"
"Gothitelle," Lilith bowed. She raised her hands and gathered dark energy, creating a shockwave that she fired at Vyasa.
"Shuka, defense!" Callie ordered.
"Passimian!" Shuka ran in front of Vyasa, holding up her berry as a shield. As she did, a brown barrier appeared around the both of them, deflecting the dark pulse.
"That's good for outside attacks," Mason smirked, "but what happens when a pokemon attacks from inside the barrier?"
Callie blinked. Inside?
She had about two seconds to figure out what that meant, and that wasn't nearly enough time.
"Gardevoir!" Rem teleported inside of the forcefield, her hands raised.
"No!" Callie gasped, turning pale. "Shuka! Vyasa! Get out of there, now!"
"They can't," Ian scowled. "That barrier will stay up for a little while longer, unfortunately."
There was nothing Callie could do. Rem fired a moonblast at point-blank range, hitting the already-injured Oranguru with everything she had. Vyasa flew backwards, smashing through the forcefield, which made him the perfect target for Lilith's follow-up dark pulse.
"Gothitelle!" Lilith poured everything she had into the blast of dark energy, and it knocked Vyasa out in one shot.
"No!" Callie wailed. With Vyasa knocked out, their combination would be muc weaker.
"Oran… guru…" Vyasa groaned, slumping over in defeat. He glanced one last time at Shuka, who was looking at her fallen comrade with a surprising amount of sympathy, given her prior animosity towards the monkey. But that just went to show how complicated the relationship between the four of them was.
Vyasa's eyes flashed blue for a fraction of a second, so sudden one might miss it if they weren't looking closely, and Shuka's eyes flashed as well.
Then he passed out.
"Ah, well, you did your best," Rafe shrugged, recalling Vyasa to his pokeball. He smiled at Callie. "And it was fun, right? Getting to fight just like old times?"
Callie rolled her eyes. "Sure. Whatever."
"Oh, come on Callie, don't be like that," Rafe laughed. "I know you enjoyed yourself a little."
Callie's eye twitched. "Just send out your next pokemon," she hissed. Rem was already turning her attention to Shuka, and the Passimian couldn't handle things on her own.
"Well, I suppose I might as well," Rafe nodded. He took out his next pokeball. "This guy's been itching for a fight, so I suppose I should give him what he wants. Lovecraft, if you would?"
Rafe threw out his next pokeball.
"Malamar," the squid pokemon emerged from his pokeball, narrowing his eyes at his foes. His tentacles wriggled in the air and he waddled forward, giving off an ominous aura.
"Now that should help for sure!" Donoma smiled. "A Malamar! Since it's a Psychic type that's also part Dark type, it's the perfect pokemon for handling Mason's team!"
So far Mason had only used Psychic type pokemon. Whether that was just a coincidence or he really didn't have any other type of pokemon she really didn't know, but given the current state of things it seemed like a good choice.
"Lovecraft, let's start out strong!" Rafe called. Callie's heart surged with glee. Rafe was getting into the fight again! She needed to make the most of this while she could.
"Malamar," Lovecraft grunted with a nod, raising his tentacle.
"Brutal swing!" Rafe ordered. With a roar, Lovecraft swung his tentacle across the battlefield, and it was covered in a dark aura. The aura extended out in a massive whip that threatened to strike every pokemon fighting.
"Passimian!" Shuka leapt into the air, just barely dodging the swing as the tentacle collided with Rem and kept going, smashing into Lilith as well.
"Whoa, what's with that?" Chloe gasped in surprise. She was so amazed by what she just saw that she wasn't even focused on the fact that she was calling attention to herself.
"Strange," Donoma mused. "A move like that hits every pokemon, even allies, and yet the Passimian was able to dodge it. It was almost like she could see it coming and knew when the perfect time to jump was…"
"That's exactly what happened, actually," Alden said. He glanced at Shuka. "Do you know what Passimian's ability is?"
Ian, Chloe, and Donoma all shook their heads.
"I can explain that!" Callie said, standing a little taller (well, relatively…) "Shuka's ability is Receiver! It's a special ability that only she has! When her ally faints in battle, her Receiver ability inherits the ability from her partner!"
"Oh! I see!" Ian said, his eyes widening. "Oranguru's Telepathy allowed him to dodge the attacks from his allies, making him a good tag team pokemon. And when he fainted just now, he passed that ability onto her Passimian, so when Rafe's next pokemon used moves that would strike his allies, she'd be able to dodge them!"
"Wow, that's pretty good teamwork," Donoma said, genuinely impressed.
Alden nodded in agreement. He really needed to tell Vic about these two when she got back, she'd be very interested in learning more. Maybe she'd even want to have a battle against Callie and Rafe later on.
"It's because we've been having tag battles since we were kids," Rafe explained, smiling proudly at his little sister. "We know exactly how the other fights. And we can anticipate what we need to do to stay on top!"
Callie scowled. She couldn't deny that he was correct, but she didn't like admitting it, either, not even to herself.
"Whatever!" She scoffed. "It still didn't do that much damage! Look!"
While a Dark type move should have been enough to finish off the Gothitelle, Lovecraft's brutal swing hadn't been up for the job. And that was due to one reason in particular.
Both Rem and Lilith were glowing blue, a clear film of water covering their bodies. It was healing their wounds and mitigating the damage.
"That's life dew," Alden said, recognizing an attack that his Lucario used all the time. "It's restoring their health."
"Well, that's a problem," Rafe frowned. He turned to his sister. "So, Callie, what do you think should be done about that?"
"I think you should stop putting all the problems on me, that's what!" Callie snapped, glaring at her older brother. "Why don't you figure out what to do, for once?"
Rafe considered that for a moment. Then he shrugged. "Alright, fair enough," he agreed. "Lovecraft, use dark pulse."
"Malamar," Lovecraft growled, raising his tentacles and forming a shockwave of dark energy. He gathered the darkness together and released it in a shockwave aimed at the injured Gothitelle, trying to finish what the brutal swing had started.
"Lilith, use light screen," Mason ordered. With Vyasa having fainted Lilith was no longer being goaded by the taunt, and was able to raise a barrier to protect herself from the attack. And that barrier was strengthened by Rem, who stepped in front of her and created one of her own, only this one was reflect.
The dark pulse bounced off the light screen/reflect combo, nullifying the effect of the attack. Mason smirked.
"You'll have to do better than that," he scoffed. "A good maid is always capable of defending her master's property, didn't I already tell you that?"
Rafe didn't really care though.
Mason was on a roll. "Now, Lilith, Rem, while we've got our shields up, use calm mind to boost your special stats!"
"Gothitelle!"
"Gardevoir!"
Both pokemon began concentrating their psychic powers, increasing their special attack and defense while safe behind the reflect and light screen.
Rafe turned to Callie and shrugged.
"Well, we tried our best, do you have any bright ideas of your own?"
Callie sighed. She could think of one. But she wasn't going to like it.
"Rafe, just… I know what you're getting at," she groaned. She didn't like this move, but at this point, there wasn't much she could do about it. "Just do the thing."
Rafe blinked and shrugged. "Well, if you insist. Lovecraft, you know what it's time for, right? Topsy-turvy!"
"Topsy…" Chloe started.
"…Turvy?" Donoma finished.
They both looked to Ian and Alden.
"What kind of move is that?" Both girls wondered aloud.
Callie just sighed and rubbed her temples. This was going to be frustrating.
Well now, since their opponents are buffing themselves, they'll certainly be in for a rude awakening when Lovecraft turns the tables on everybody! But it's nice to see that Rafe is finally stepping in and helping out with the battle! …Only problem though, the second he joined the fight, his pokemon fainted! What's up with that?! Vyasa was doing so well, too! Still, Rafe's definitely not down yet. Hopefully through winning he won't alienate Callie any further, though.