Callie is fighting her hardest with one of her weakest pokemon! With Rafe's Malamar injured, it's up to her and Champie to pick up the slack! But what's going on with her Pancham? Why is he glowing like that? What sort of strength has he found, to help him defeat his opponents? The battle is really getting intense, and everyone's taking it seriously now!

KedharS: It really is. And here I thought it would be shorter since it's a tag battle!

Hyphenman: Fortunately Callie's in the Pokemon Fight club, so she has more experience than most with taking pokemon attacks with her body. If anyone can survive hits like that, it's her.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 1194

"Champie?!" Callie gasped in amazement. The light shining off of her Pancham was blinding, but she couldn't take her eyes off him. And then when it finally died down, she stared in amazement at her pokemon, who was no longer a small little panda bear.

"Pangoro!" Champie roared. His tiny frame had grown to a towering bear of brute strength, comparable with the rest of Callie's team of Fighting type pokemon. Another thing Callie noted was that he was no longer glowing from the psychic aura.

"He… he evolved!" Ian said, surprised.

"So that's Pancham's evolution, huh?" Rafe said, stroking his chin. "How curious. I wonder why it took until now for Champie to finally evolve…"

"…A Fighting type is a Fighting type!" Mason said, regaining his composure. He hadn't expected Callie's pokemon to evolve out of nowhere like that, and certainly not into a pokemon as menacing as the one in front of him. Champie was no longer cute and huggable, he looked like a brutish thug!

…Well, Callie still found him adorable. But that was because she loved her pokemon regardless of what they looked like.

"Tohru, use psychic!" Mason ordered. Like he'd said, a Fighting type was still a Fighting type. And that meant he was vulnerable to Psychic type moves!"

"Hatterene!" Tohru's eyes began to glow pink as she tried to use her psychic powers to attack the Pangoro.

Champie blinked, unaffected by the aura covering his body. It quickly sputtered and faded out to no effect.

Mason gasped, realizing what that meant.

"He nullified the psychic attack completely," Rafe said, raising his eyebrow. "That means Champie's new form must be-"

"He's a Fighting/Dark type!" Callie exclaimed, her face lighting up. "Wow! This is so cool!" She had never raised Dark type pokemon before. So much of her team was vulnerable to Psychic type moves; having a Dark type to switch to was the perfect pivot!

Reinvigorated, Callie hopped to her feet. She didn't care about her injuries, she was just excited for her new pokemon! "Go, Champie!" She shouted. "Use… um…"

Callie realized she had no idea what moves her new pokemon specialized in. Champie primarily used Fighting type moves; and while he certainly still had those, they wouldn't be much use against the Psychic/Fairy type pokemon he was facing.

"Pangoro!" Champie growled, charging at Tohru. He wasn't going to wait for Callie to come up with a move. He held out his paw and a black aura swirled around it, forming long blades of darkness across his claws.

"Malamar?" Lovecraft gasped, surprised.

"You're right Lovecraft, that looks like…" Rafe had begun to realize where Champie was getting his inspiration from.

"Night slash!" Callie shouted.

"Pangoro!" Champie swung his paw and slashed at Tohru, hitting the Hatterene directly with a dark strike. He'd been inspired by the Malamar. Seeing the malevolent pokemon fight with such sneaky and yet effective tricks had awoken something inside of him and triggered his evolution, and now he was going to put what he'd learned into practice.

"Hatterene!" Tohru wailed, tumbling backwards.

"Back off!" Mason snapped. "Rem, use moonblast!"

"Gardevoir!"

"Champie, dodge it!" Callie shouted. As a Fighting/Dark type, Champie was especially vulnerable to Fairy type moves.

"Pangoro!" Champie leapt back, dodging the fairy blast, and jammed his claws into the ground. He swiftly dug into the earth, tunneling over the Gardevoir.

"Oh, I see, you think you can get us from below, do you?" Mason asked, narrowing his eyes. "Well I hate to break it to you, but you won't be able to fool us with strategies like that again! Rem, use your psychic powers to float into the air!"

"Gardevoir!" Rem began to glow red and she floated up into the sky, dodging Champie's slash from below.

"Pangoro!" Champie snarled in frustration, glaring up at the Gardevoir.

"It's telekinesis," Alden said, narrowing his eyes. "Eifa does the same thing. Using psychic powers, she can lift herself into the air to dodge Ground type attacks."

"Champie, don't let it get you down!" Callie scowled. Her eyes shot to Tohru for a second but the Hatterene was also levitating. Mason had thought of everything. "Let's go with a good ol' fire punch, okay?"

"Pangoro," Champie nodded, smirking. Callie flinched. There was an evil gleam in his eye that wasn't there before. What had happened to her cute little Pancham?

She quickly shook her head. Champie was Champie, who cared about that? They needed to focus on the fight!

"Pan!" Champie raised his paw, and flames lit up across it. As a Pancham, Champie's fire punch was a cute little array of sparks, covering his tiny paw in a mini fireball. That wasn't the case with his attack now, though. Champie's entire arm was engulfed in flames, and Callie could feel the heat from way back.

Champie leapt at Rem, swinging his fist at her. She teleported at the last second, but it was clear that the move strained her; when she reappeared, she was trying to catch her breath.

"Malamar!"

A blast of dark energy struck Rem from behind, and she cried out in pain. She whirled around to see Lovecraft standing on his fins, blurry-eyed but ready to continue the fight.

"Don't forget this is a two-on-one," Rafe said, narrowing his eyes. "Lovecraft won't let you get one over on Champie that easily."

"Oh, you think so?" Mason smirked. "Tohru! Use dazzling gleam to strike them both down, now!"

"Hatterene!" Tohru began to glow, building up an aura of fairy energy around her body. Her eyes flashed and she sent piercing beams of light out across the battlefield, raining down on her foes from where she hovered.

"Champie!" Callie cried.

"Lovecraft, block it!" Rafe shouted, startling his sister. His voice was far more determined than she'd ever heard from him.

"Malamar!" Lovecraft leapt into the path of the rays of light, protecting Champie from the attack. Even though the dazzling gleam was wide enough to hit all the pokemon on that side of the battlefield, Lovecraft shielded his ally from all of it. When the attack finally ceased, the Malamar coughed and stumbled forward, losing consciousness.

"Pangoro…" Champie was stunned by the sacrifice. The blade of grass he'd been chewing fell out of his mouth.

"I suppose he must have been surprised that such a powerful pokemon would sacrifice himself to protect him," Alden guessed.

"You did well, Lovecraft," Rafe said, recalling his Malamar. "And not only that, you were up against two Fairy types. I'm quite impressed."

He couldn't help but smile. "Now then. I suppose we should start bringing out the real big guns, don't you agree, little sister?"

"Rafe?" Callie said, her jaw dropping in surprise.

"I've got just the pokemon," Rafe said, taking out another pokeball. "Nostradamus, it's finally time for you to join the fight."

Ian shivered. Everyone knew about Rafe's ace pokemon, his Xatu. He rarely used the Psychic/Flying type in battle, and given the fact that he so rarely fought to begin with, that was really saying something. But when he did send out Nostradamus… it almost always meant he was taking things seriously. Ian had been preparing to fight the bird for a long time, so he knew how threatening it was.

Or at least, he thought he did. Given how sparse the pokemon's appearances had been, there was a very good chance that what knowledge Ian had was merely scratching the surface.

"Xatu!" Nostradamus cried, spreading his wings as he emerged from the pokeball. He took to the sky immediately.

"Well, this should be something," Callie mumbled, shaking her head. Even better than Ian, she knew how strong Rafe's Xatu was.

That guy… when he gets serious… sometimes it's even more annoying than when he's just taking things easy! She thought, her eye twitching.

Ever since she threw away her "career" with her brother (as her parents put it) and set out to train pokemon on her own, she'd done so to prove her skill. Rafe was the older one, and as much as she loathed admitting it, he was more talented than she was.

"You two are the tag champions! Callie, how do you feel about your brother's daring strategy to use his Oranguru's instruct move to guide your Passimian to victory? It must be nice, knowing you can battle when Rafe's at your side to fall back on!"

Questions like those were always what Callie was asked. Because at the end of the day, she was the dumb muscle. When they won, it was because Rafe's instincts guided their team to victory; his pokemon's tactics aided her team to defeating their opponents.

Callie did all the work. Her pokemon fought with the strength of two, more often than not. And yet, somehow her brother kept getting all the credit, when it felt like he was doing nothing at all. That feeling had driven her to prove that she could stand on her own, that if they actually fought, she could beat him.

How could she not? She trained every day, she worked with her pokemon to grow stronger, while Rafe just lazed about and let his team do whatever they wanted to.

And yet when they battled for real, he destroyed her. And he made it look easy.

His strongest pokemon was a Psychic/Flying type. Callie never stood a chance.

I totally get you, Blake, she thought, letting out a sigh as she watched Nostradamus soar over the battlefield. She still remembered way back during the Fall Festival Tournament, when Blake had chewed out Kate, the way he talked about the pain of constantly being compared to someone else. Her heart sang out in agreement hearing those words coming from him. I hate living in my brother's shadow, too, you know?

"Champie!" She shouted to her Panch-Pangoro. "Use work up!"

"Pangoro!" Champie roared, beating his paws against his chest. He increased his power as his rage increased, and he ran towards the two pokemon hovering in the air. Nostradamus soared overhead, flying right towards them as well.

Callie looked on. The ache in her chest wasn't from her open wounds.

My big brother has always soared so high above me in the sky, looking down on everyone like he doesn't have a care in the world… and I've always been stuck chasing after him on the ground. It felt like no matter how hard she tried to claw her way back up, she'd never reach that sky.

But now she didn't have a choice. She'd always resented her brother for dragging them down with his shenanigans. Like hell she was going to let him show her up after all this!

"Nostradamus, use tailwind," Rafe ordered.

"Xatu!" Nostradamus flapped his wings, sending a powerful gust blowing across their side of the battlefield.

Callie grinned. That was just what she needed!

"Well, who could have guessed?" She coughed, clutching her ribs. "You can actually be a team player after all! Champie, use night slash!"

"Pangoro!" Champie leapt into the air, using the tailwind to carry him right towards his target, the Hatterene. Dark energy swirled through his claws as he aimed his body like a bullet right at the floating pokemon.

"Tohru, moonblast!" Mason ordered.

"Hatterene!" Tohru's eyes began to glow and she opened her mouth, forming an orb of fairy energy that she fired point-blank at the incoming Pangoro. But Champie didn't baulk. And it's not like he could dodge the attack in midair. He couldn't do anything but barrel right in and hope for the best. And Callie was right there with him.

"Wooooo!" She cheered. "Don't even flinch, show that hat-wearing maid what you're made of, Champie!"

"Nice play," Rafe nodded to his sister. "Nostradamus, use ally switch!"

"Xatu!" Nostradamus' eyes glowed blue and he used his psychic powers to take Champie's place, getting hit by the moonblast head-on.

"What?!" Mason gasped.

"Thanks, big brother!" Callie grinned. "That's the perfect opening, right, Champie?"

"Pangoro!" Champie's roar echoed from above. Tohru whipped her head up to see the Pangoro crashing down like a meteor towards her. By switching places with Champie, Nostradamus had done more than just tank the moonblast for his partner. He'd sent Champie to his location as well, opening up the perfect avenue for an attack.

Champie's claw dropped down on Tohru with a powerful slash, scoring a critical hit. The force of the move was enough to smack her out of the air and send her crashing to ground.

"Hatterene!" Tohru coughed out in pain, bouncing off the grass. She could barely stand.

"That's not a good position to be in," Rafe said. "Nostradamus, use shadow ball next," he ordered.

"Xatu," Nostradamus nodded, raising his wings and conjuring an orb of ghostly energy. He fired the attack at Tohru, and if it hit, everyone knew that she would be wiped out instantly. The Hatterene could barely stand.

"Rem!" Mason shouted.

"Gardevoir!" Suddenly, Rem's horn began to glow red. A red aura appeared around both her and Tohru, and just like with Nostradamus and Champie, the two pokemon swapped places, putting the equally-injured Gardevoir in the path of the incoming shadow ball.

"A truly devoted maid helps her coworkers under any circumstances," Mason said, narrowing his eyes. "Even if that means taking responsibility for their shortcomings."

Then he smiled. "But… she'll make sure to make perfect use of the opportunity. Rem! Use destiny bond!"

Callie gasped. "No! Rafe, call off the attack, now!" But it was way too late for that. Rem linked eyes with Nostradamus, and sent a burst of light into him just as the shadow ball connected. As predicted, that attack spelled the end for the Gardevoir… but Nostradamus plummeted from the sky as well.

"Ha! Ha! Ahahahahaha!" Mason cackled, clutching his sides. "Perfect! It worked just perfectly! I've been waiting, biding my time, just so you could finally send out that Xatu, and now… now it's done! Perfect work, Rem! Sacrificing yourself for the sake of your master, you're truly an exceptional maid to the very end!"

"No way…" All the strength Callie had regained drained from her body like the blood from her wounds, and she fell to the ground. Nostradamus was Rafe's strongest pokemon, his ace that she'd never been able to defeat… and he'd fallen to such a cheap trick like that?

She didn't believe it could be true. She stared at the Xatu's unconscious body, willing him to get back up and start flying again. Champie was stunned as well, looking at his partner in shock.

"What… what just happened?" Ian asked, shaking his head.

"Destiny bond, it's destiny bond," Alden said. "I think it goes without saying, don't you?"

Everyone nodded. Anyone with even a little bit of experience with pokemon battles knew what a fearsome move destiny bond was. When used, if a pokemon knocked out the user, then even if that pokemon was the strongest monster in the world, they would have their strength taken from them as a cost of their victim's ghostly grudge, and faint alongside them.

Rafe had used his Xatu, his strongest pokemon, and Mason had been waiting for it. He'd allowed his Gardevoir to weaken and then used her teleports to keep out of the range of any attacks that might finish her off. Then, when Rafe finally sent out his Xatu and fired a move at Rem's partner, Mason had her take the hit just to take that pokemon down.

Nostradamus hadn't even been on the battlefield for ten minutes yet, and already Rafe had to call him back.

"…Well… what are you going to do?" Rafe shrugged, smiling sheepishly. "I guess we should have seen that one coming."

Everyone stared at him for a moment, stunned at his nonchalant reaction. Even Mason was shocked that he'd taken that so well.

It was finally Callie who called him out.

"How are you so fine with this?!" She screamed, regaining the strength she'd lost out of sheer frustration with her older brother. "Your strongest pokemon just fainted! And he was barely able to contribute anything! Don't you care?!"

Rafe shrugged. "Nostradamus is a lot like me, what can I say? He isn't a particularly big fan of fighting either, so I'm sure he's cool with it."

"That is NOT the point! NOT the point!" Callie screamed, stomping her foot. "For a moment, I thought you were actually taking this seriously! That you really meant it when you said you were going to fight all-out! But your best pokemon faints and you're just 'oh, well, I suppose it can't be helped', who does that?!"

She knew full well who did things like that. Her annoying-ass brother that she wanted to punch, that was who.

"…Hey, he still managed to take out one of Mason's pokemon before he went," Rafe shrugged. "That's pretty good, wouldn't you agree?"

Callie glared at him. She didn't even have the words, so all she did was growl menacingly at her older brother.

But as angry as she was with him, she knew at least some of that rage was misplaced. The real source of her anger was standing right across from her on the battlefield.

Mason. Callie had been training since childhood to beat Rafe in a fair fight. And this jerk, he just… he just beat Rafe's strongest pokemon with a trick! And Rafe didn't even care!

Of course he didn't care. Why would he? He's that sort of person, after all…

And that was what Callie hated about Rafe the most.

He didn't care. He never cared.

Callie could work harder than anyone. She could push through the pain of training her pokemon to be the best, endure all the hits she took from them in their sparring sessions, bonding with her Fighting types as she grew alongside them. And when she finally did it, when she finally overcame her big brother with her own two hands…

He wouldn't even care.

He'd just say "nice job, sis! You really did great!" and act like all her struggles were no big deal. For a guy like that, who never put effort into anything, whose accomplishments came as a matter of course, it was fundamentally impossible for him to understand just how much she'd struggled to get even close to the same level as him.

His words of praise for her efforts tasted like ashes in her mouth.

Oof. Callie's really got some hang-ups about her older brother, huh? But I can't say I blame her. She's going through all this trouble and working so hard, and he doesn't even give a damn when his strongest pokemon faints so easily. It's like none of this matters to him, while she's out there giving it her all. Even when Rafe's seriously contributing to the battle, that still doesn't mean he's taking it seriously, at least not in Callie's eyes.