Marion has the edge in her match against the pharmacy of Willa Pemberton, but this battle isn't over yet. Who knows what secret concoctions this little gremlin has up her sleeve, ready to turn her pokemon into powerful monsters? We'll have to see just what she has planned. Her Shuckle drank a strange potion earlier- what could the effects of THAT be? On another note, here's another milestone! 1200 chapters and counting! Let's celebrate with some reviews, people! Wooooo!

KedharS: Yep. There's a reason she's considered on the same level as the Commander and the Phantom. If she dedicates herself to fighting, she's a monster in her own right.

Hyphenman: Yep. It's not always apparent by the way she carries herself, but Marion when she's serious is a foe to be reckoned with- and her harmonia is no joke.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 1200

"Your Dondozo is a very threatening pokemon," Willa mused, stroking her chin thoughtfully. "To have that much power at your disposal is frankly terrifying… but I'll show you, you're not the only one capable of making your pokemon monstrous."

She narrowed her eyes and smirked. "What do you think was IN that little drug I had sweet Serturner drink, hm?"

Marion mulled that over for a second.

"SHUCKLE!" Serturner bellowed, catching Marion's attention. Her eyes bulged when she saw what had become of the Shuckle.

The slimy pokemon had practically doubled- no, tripled in size! His long tendrils snake out of the blue shell that made up his body, writhing and twisting and grasping for Donnie and Maree- and Marion as well.

What was most unnerving was the fact that the tendrils were throbbing, with thick veins stretched across their surface. It was a rather disgusting sight, even for a trainer like Marion who'd seen her fair share of gross things.

She shivered.

"Ew, gross!" Chloe couldn't help but react.

"What happened to that thing?" Comparatively, Donoma leaned in, curious.

"Did she use that berserker drug again?" Alden wondered. He quickly shook his head. "No, that drug was red, and this one was green…"

"Very perceptive," Willa nodded to the Commander. "You're right. The berserker potion would have very little effect on Serturner, after all, it maximizes the attack and special attack stats as though one had used a buffing move six times. But even if a Shuckle were to buff its attack stats that high, there would be no point. Their base attack and special attack are each 10, after all."

That was incredibly low. So what had she done, Marion wondered?

Willa smirked. "The drug I just had my pokemon consume… is known as the equalizer."

Marion didn't like the sound of that.

"The equalizer…?" She asked cautiously. "What does that do?"

"I'm so glad you asked!" Willa gushed. Like Marion, she couldn't be stopped when she got on a roll. "The equalizer is one of the finest drugs I've ever created. I first considered the recipe for it when I took note of just how difficult it is for certain pokemon to develop in certain ways. After all, all pokemon have unique stat distributions depending on what species they are, you know? Some are more balanced, while others, like my Shuckle, are very heavily weighted towards one extreme."

"And I suppose your 'equalizer' drug can help with that?" Marion asked.

Willa nodded. "It can. It's the perfect drug for Serturner to use, or any pokemon with a crippling overspecialization. Because the equalizer… it has the effect of temporarily raising a pokemon's stats beyond what should be possible."

Marion's eyes widened.

"Beyond what should be possible…?" Raizer asked, scratching his head. "What's that mean?" He wasn't the brightest bulb on the shelf.

Alden had an inkling of what Willa was getting at, and if he was right, Marion was about to be in for a world of hurt.

The name "the equalizer" was a dead giveaway.

"The equalizer… takes all of a pokemon's stats, and for a brief period of time, it raises them to parity with their strongest stat," Willa calmly explained. "It's a type of experimental steroid designed for pokemon like Serturner."

Alden winced. That was exactly what he'd expected. As for Marion…

…She seemed to be taking it rather well, actually, she hadn't even flinched in the face of Willa's proclamation.

"Shuckle have a base defense and special defense stat of 230, the highest of all pokemon known to man," Willa said proudly. "And thanks to my special drug treatments, I've ensured that Serturner has received the maximum of 252 effort values distributed to those stats, as well as perfect internal values of 31 each as well. With his Relaxed nature boosting his defense at the expense of his speed, his highest stat value at his current level is 540."

She'd just thrown out a lot of numbers, and Marion wasn't really good at math. But the most important value was that last one. 540. That was a really big number. Even Marion, who didn't care much about pokemon battles, knew that much.

If all of her Shuckle's stats had been raised to meet that cap…

…Well, this had all the makings of an unmitigated disaster.

"Serturner's attack, special attack, special defense, and speed have all received massive boosts to raise them to 540 as well, to match his defense," Willa boasted. "Sadly I can't raise his health the same way, but no drug is perfect. Discovery requires experimentation, after all, and I'll be monitoring these results carefully."

She licked her lips, excited to see her equalizer drug in action against such a powerful foe. Marion's Dondozo had been imposing, but against the power of modern medicine even a ferocious pokemon like that was little more than a plaything to Willa's whims.

She didn't even need to send out her next pokemon at the moment.

"Serturner! Use stone edge!" She shouted.

"SHUCKLE!" Serturner bellowed, flexing his tentacles. He thrust them down deep into the ground, tearing massive boulders out of the rubble and hoisting them up into the air. They were far larger than the ones Donnie had dropped on the two of them, and he carried them like they were nothing. Marion braced herself for some pain.

"The problem with her pokemon is that Dondozo is such a big target," Ange said, narrowing her eyes. "in that environment, there's nothing he can do to evade her opponent's attacks, he's a sitting duck." And with harmonia, the effects of that attack would have brutal consequences for Marion, as well.

"Shuckle!" Serturner flung the boulders down upon the massive Dondozo, the sharp stones like massive missiles aimed at the hulking catfish.

"Maree, use protect!" Marion shouted.

"Tatsugiri!" From inside Maree's mouth, she created a barrier of yellow light that quickly spread out to cover all of Donnie's huge body, managing to stop the falling stone edge before it could hit. The barrier baulked under the force of the rock strikes, but didn't break, thankfully.

"Nice barrier," Willa begrudgingly admitted. "But it will take a lot more than that to withstand our assault.

Marion bit her lip. She wasn't sure if she had more, frankly speaking. "That pokemon of yours is a real fright," she said, scratching her hair with a sheepish smile. "That drug of yours is no joke, giving a Shuckle power like that."

"Certainly," Willa boasted, standing a little prouder. "It's one of my greatest works. But you haven't seen anything yet. My magnum opus is still waiting in the wings. Oh, but now that I think about it, I suppose I need to prepare, don't I?" She mused. "I still only have one pokemon on the battlefield, after all, and we can't have that."

She flung a pokeball into the air.

"Pelletier, go!" She declared, and her next pokemon emerged from the pokeball.

"Slowbro," the pink pokemon said as he landed on the ground. He had a dopey smile on his face, and the shell that was biting down on his tail had a sharp glare. But there was something off about him from the start, Marion could tell.

"That's quite… an interesting choice," she admitted. She couldn't help but squee a little. While Slowbro and their pre-evolution Slowpoke weren't exactly fishy pokemon, they still inhabited lakes and rivers and could be fished up with ease, so they were still a pokemon that Marion encountered quite a lot. But she'd never seen one that looked quite like that.

"I chose Pelletier because he's the perfect pokemon to fight you with at the moment," Willa explained, leaving that ominous statement hanging in the air. "You see… he's got a certain capability that's perfect for this. Iron defense!"

"Slowbro," Pelletier said, and his body began to harden until it was as strong as steel.

"Going on the defensive?" Marion asked, cracking her eyebrow. Willa just smirked.

"Of course we are. We're preparing ourselves," she said. "After all, Serturner is more than capable of fighting that Dondozo all on his own; meanwhile, Pelletier will focus on raising his stats!"

"Slowbro," Pelletier nodded.

Slowbro's stats were much more evenly distributed than Shuckle's, that was something even Marion knew. So she could understand why Willa wasn't giving her other pokemon the equalizer drug. But that still didn't answer a burning question she had- what was with that look in the Slowbro's eyes?

"Shuckle!" Serturner lifted up more boulders and flung them at Donnie just as the protective barrier disappeared. Marion winced. Now wasn't the time to think about stuff like that, she needed to focus on her pokemon, and the enemy in front of her.

"Donnie! Use hydro pump!" She ordered. Donnie was far from a special attacker, and even with the massive boost to all his stats from Maree's Commander ability he still wasn't capable of doing all that much damage.

But on the other hand, he was huge. And his hydro pump sprayed out like a howitzer, blasting the incoming boulders into gravel. He turned his head best he could, cutting through them like a flamethrower through a garden. The stones didn't really have a chance. Of course, when the water blast turned itself on Serturner, it barely made a dent in the pokemon's massive defenses. Donnie would have to do much better to hurt the monstrous thing.

"Whoa, I'm impressed," Willa said, surprised. "I didn't expect your Dondozo to be capable of that much raw power with its special attack so low."

"Donnie will surprise you," Marion smirked. "Now Donnie! Use order up!"

"Dondozo!" Donnie bellowed, surging forward in the water. He slammed into the Shuckle, increasing his speed in the process, but to his surprise the pokemon didn't even baulk at the attack.

Willa smirked. "Do you have any idea how high 540 is for a pokemon's stats?" She asked, rolling her tired eyes. "Serturner's defenses are massive! You won't knock him back with something as standard as that. Now Serturner, I think that Dondozo is getting a little too comfortable with its freedom in this river, don't you?"

"Shuckle," Serturner nodded, coiling his tentacles.

"Good. Use wrap!"

"Shuck!" Serturner's tentacles stretched out, wrapping around Donnie and holding him tightly. It was a shocking sight, seeing a pokemon that had looked so small extend tentacles long enough to bind up a massive pokemon like that. It was as though they were stretching out of a hole in space!

The tentacles wrapped around Donnie and began to squeeze, and the Dondozo bellowed in pain, thrashing angrily in the water.

"This isn't good," Ian winced. "That Shuckle is a monster."

"I can't believe a pokemon could have that much power," Chloe mumbled, shaking her head. With all the boosts the equalizer gave the Shuckle's stats, it was stronger than any pokemon she'd ever seen; maybe even stronger than any pokemon that had ever existed.

It wasn't fair to fight Marion with a pokemon like that, it just wasn't.

But Marion wasn't backing down. Even when she felt the constricting force of Serturner's tentacles squeezing down on her she held her ground, pushing on through the pain. She clenched her jaw and focused her harmonia, giving Donnie everything she could.

We just have to focus on defense, she reminded herself. If I boost Donnie's defenses enough to keep him in this fight, then that drug's gotta wear off eventually, right? That was what Marion was counting on. She didn't know much about chemistry or pharmacology or whatever it was that Willa did in her lab, but she knew that the sloppy girl had said that the effects of her drug were temporary. She'd have to count on it wearing off sooner, rather than later.

Only one problem with that logic though- the way Willa was acting, it wasn't pressured, like the drug was running out of juice. She was treating this fight like she had all the time in the world.

That was a rather scary thought for Marion. What if "temporary" meant an hour? Or a day? A week? None of those things would be good for her.

"Donnie!" She shouted, focusing her harmonia again. "Let's ignore defense for now! I'm going to need you to ATTACK!"

"Don-Dondozo!" Donnie winced. He wasn't in a very good position for launching attacks, but he understood what his trainer wanted, and wasn't about to go against it.

"Great!" Marion's troubled face broke out into a beaming smile. "Then we'll start with Maree leading the charge!"

"Tatsugiri!" Maree chirped. From where she was nestled in Donnie's mouth, she had a surprising amount of freedom- she wasn't even feeling constricted by the wrap attack, even with her symbiotic relationship.

It put her in the perfect position to launch a counter-offensive.

Maree began to spin. The tiny Tatsugiri would have looked adorable spinning around on Donnie's tongue, if anyone could see her inside of his mouth. But the reason for her move wasn't just to look cute; she had something else in mind.

The thing was the move rapid spin.

Even though Donnie was the one who was wrapped up in Serturner's tentacles, Maree was the one spinning. And because she was connected to Donnie through her Commander ability, she gave him the order to spin, as well.

What came next was rather impressive. Because Serturner had dragged Donnie out of the water, he had very limited mobility. But the way he was moving due to the speed boosts from Maree, you couldn't tell that. He whipped his body around at high speed, dragging the powerful Shuckle along for the ride, to Willa's shock.

"How can your pokemon be capable of that much power?!" She gasped in disbelief. The effect was rather like getting spaghetti caught in an egg beater. Serturner was dragged along and flung around, even with his massive strength. After all, for everything that the equalizer did, it didn't increase her Shuckle's weight in the slightest. Serturner was still a measly 45.2 pounds, common for a Shuckle. And even if the size boost had given him an increase in that area, it wasn't nearly enough to compete with Donnie's own incredible strength.

Serturner was whipped around until he was forced to let Donnie go, tumbling through the air like a rock from a sling the second he released the Dondozo.

"Don…" Donnie was a little dizzy, wobbling back towards the river. But he'd managed to free himself from the Shuckle's imprisonment.

Marion's eyes immediately shot to the Slowbro, wondering if he would do anything. But he was waiting patiently, still boosting his defenses. That would be a problem… but one she could solve later. For now, she needed to focus on the much bigger threat in Serturner, who had landed on the ground and was scuttling towards Donnie at high speed.

The water is far, FAR too shallow to try diving, Marion thought with a scowl. We'll need to think about trying something else.

"Donnie!" She shouted. "Use scary face!"

"Dondozo!" Donnie narrowed his eyes into a glare, the piercing gleam causing Serturner to shudder. He slowed down and took a more cautious approach, even though he knew that the Dondozo shouldn't be a threat to his massive stats.

"I think that might be the first time I've EVER seen a pokemon use scary face against a Shuckle," Alden laughed. It was honestly pretty funny, minus the part where the pokemon was a monster of legendary proportions.

"Serturner, don't back down!" Willa growled. "Use sludge bomb!"

"Shuckle!" Serturner withdrew his tentacles into his shell and began to spin. Massive blasts of poison fired out of the holes in his shell like cannonballs, and they were all aimed at Donnie. There was no way he'd be able to dodge all of them.

Marion winced, apologizing to her Dondozo for the massive beating he was about to take.

"DONDOZO!" Donnie roared. His special defenses were already one of his weakest stats. And being on the receiving end of such a powerful Poison type move… it wasn't good for him. The poison ate into his scales like acid and he thrashed in the river trying to wash it off. The rain was helpful to that end, but it was clear that the catfish was suffering. That attack had just taken out a massive chunk of his health and Serturner had barely been trying.

Marion screamed. It was like the acid was eating her skin as well. But she couldn't give into the pain. She'd been through far, far worse than this since she was a little girl, she could put up with a little burning sensation.

"Maree!" She shouted. "Use hydro pump!"

While Donnie was thrashing around in pain, it was time for Maree to step in and help. She opened her tiny mouth and waited for when Donnie let out another wail, using that opportunity to fire a massive blast of water at the spinning Shuckle.

Because of the rain, the attack was far larger than it would have been under normal circumstances. The thick pillar of water crossed the distance in seconds.

It may have been downplayed due to Donnie's incredible power, but in spite of Marion's claims of Tatsugiri's weakness, they weren't ACTUALLY that weak of a pokemon. They had a rather respectable special attack stat, in fact- you could say it was downright good. At 120 base power, Maree could do some damage if she wanted to.

Even against Serturner's incredible defense, that attack wasn't nothing. It was even stronger than the one Donnie had used earlier!

Serturner was knocked backwards, finally coming out of his shell. And he was pissed. The Shuckle scurried across the grass, tentacles flailing like whips as he charged at the duo of Donnie and Maree with fury in his eyes.

Then he started to shrink.

"Shuckle?!" Serturner gasped in shock. His tentacles were getting shorter and his shell was shrinking down as well. By the time he slammed into Donnie, it was more like he bounced off of him.

"What? Already?" Willa gasped, her face going pale.

"The drug finally wore off!" Chloe cheered.

"Oh!" Marion looked like she didn't have a care in the world, but inside she'd been panicking a little. But now that Serturner's equalizer drug had worn off, the playing field was level again- her pokemon could go back on the offensive!

"Donnie!" She ordered. "Use aqua tail!"

"DONDOZO!" Donnie whipped his tail around, water swirling across it, and smacked Serturner with it. The Shuckle was launched through the air.

Whoa! That was really scary. Willa was able to do some serious damage to Marion and her Dondozo with the power of her equalizer drug. But fortunately, the drug only lasted for a little while- imagine how horrifying it would be if she could boost her Shuckle's stats to that level regularly?! No one would stand a chance against her.