Uh-oh! Marion was doing so well in her match against Willa, but then the pharmacist brought out a special drug that no one could see coming! Rage powder… a very rare move that enflames the foe with burning hatred, forcing them to target the user with all their attacks- and due to Marion's harmonia, she was caught up in it, too! Now the sweet and gentle Marion who cares about everybody has turned into a raging beast! "Miss Pemberton… don't make me not fish. You wouldn't like me when I don't fish."
KedharS: Not in the slightest.
Hyphenman: Two reasons. For one, most of the people getting harmonia from Samarra have never used it before, so they aren't as skilled with it as people like Elaina who've been dominated by it their whole lives. For another reason, also unlike, say, Elaina, Samarra has complete control over her harmonia, so she doesn't let it run wild and destroy everything in her path. Most importantly though, the people fighting in this arc are seniors and juniors. When harmonia was treated as a big deal, it was because the people fighting against it were folks like Blake and Cynthia, who, while talented trainers, aren't on the same level of power. It's been clear from the start that harmonia is an advantage, but one that can be overcome with careful consideration and skilled strategy, things that trainers like Alden and Alcea are exceptional at. Then there are powerful specialists like Darla, and people with their own harmonia like Marion. And Dokukage is just too skilled. Because he's a ninja. But it took Rafe and Callie eight pokemon between the two of them to defeat Mason's team of six. Harmonia's still a pretty good edge. It's just not unbeatable.
Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings
Chapter 1204
Marion was teaming with rage. It was a new feeling for her, one that she wasn't comfortable with.
In spite of what most people thought, Marion wasn't a stranger to getting angry. Everyone got angry, even a girl who seemed as calm and easy-going as a river. But even rivers can flood and seas can roil on occasion. She'd had her moments of frustration and anger before, but had always managed to keep those things under control. When it came to her pokemon, she would more often than not be the one to keep them calm and restrained.
Right now though, she was on the receiving end of a deluge of emotions that made a rainstorm look like a light sprinkle. Everything just made her MAD. The voices of the people cheering for her, Willa's sneer, the look of her opponent's pokemon… And the target of all that rage was the Parasect standing in front of her.
On some level, Marion knew this wasn't her. She could understand that this hatred she was feeling was a result of the Parasect's rage powder, and not real anger. But boy, did that not matter in her present state. All that she could think about was destroying what was in front of her. It was like a compulsion to her, and one that she was having a very difficult time fighting.
And the more time that passed, the less she wanted to fight it at all.
"AAAAAAAARRRGH!" She screamed, smacking her palm against the side of her head like she was trying to push the anger out her ear. "FUCK this! Harry! Use poison jab on that Parasect, NOW!"
"Overqwil!" Harry roared, just as enraged as his trainer. He inflated his body like a balloon, bouncing out of the river, and spun like a cannon ball towards the mushroom pokemon. His spikes were sharp and glistening with poison, threatening to infect the bug on contact.
Willa smirked. It was all going so well.
"Bradham, use x-scissor!" She ordered.
"Parasect!" Bradham raised his claws, sharpening the pincers until they were like blades. With two downward slashes he struck Harry's body, maneuvering perfectly between the sharp spikes to hit real meat.
"OVERQWIL!" Harry howled in pain and hit the ground, flopping about uselessly.
"Damn it!" Marion cursed, seeing red. The words felt so strange on her tongue but she couldn't control herself, they just came spurting out. She clenched her fist and sent power to her Basculegion, ordering him to pick up the slack where his partner failed. "Bass! Use last respects!" She shouted.
"Basculegion!" Like before, Bass came shooting at Bradham like a missile, charging head-on. And of course, that was precisely what the Parasect wanted. He opened his mouth and fired another energy ball at the incoming fish, hitting it directly with another super-effective move.
"…Kuh!" Marion clutched her face and stumbled back. It was like it was all for nothing! No matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't get her attacks to land!
Willa was enjoying herself quite a bit. While Marion was concentrating her pokemons' assault towards Bradham, Pelletier was left to patiently gather power.
And that's precisely what he was doing.
Using her harmonia, Willa conveyed instructions to her pokemon to use nasty plot. Boosting his defenses would certainly be nice, but it would be meaningless if Marion's Overqwil just nullified the boost again with haze when the rage powder finally wore off.
But if Pelletier could boost his power with nasty plot, he might be able to wipe out that fish in one hit. And when that happened, Marion would be doomed.
She just had to be subtle about it, and let Marion destroy herself with her own outrage.
This is quite useful data, Willa observed. When used against a pokemon, rage powder can be overwhelming. A lot of the time, trainers are forced to recall their pokemon to give them time to cool off, especially in double battles. But this is the first time I've ever used it against someone with harmonia! And to think it would be Marion Rivers of all people… I'm shocked that girl even knows what anger is, let alone even being capable of expressing it so directly. Maybe if she had been more willing to embrace her anger in the past, it wouldn't be so overwhelming right now… or, hmm… is that just my bias? I suppose so… I would have to observe the effects in other harmonia users before I can draw any conclusions. Perhaps Marion is an outlier, or maybe this is the natural effect of using rage powder on a harmonia user period? It's too early to say.
A wicked smile crossed the young researcher's face.
Discovery requires experimentation, after all.
"Bradham!" She shouted to her Parasect, causing Marion to flinch. The fishing enthusiast immediately zeroed in on the Parasect, preparing for him to do something. Which was exactly what Willa wanted, as it distracted her from the fact that Pelletier was using another nasty plot.
"Parasect!" Bradham understood her orders without even being given them, and scuttled forward with his pincers raised.
He began to glow, and Bass began to glow as well.
"That Parasect is sucking away his power with giga drain!" Chloe gasped.
"Oh, no you don't!" Marion snarled. "Bass! Use phantom force!"
"Basculegion!" Bass disappeared into the darkness, causing the green aura around Bradham to fade away.
"Curious," Willa said, raising her eyebrow. "I didn't expect you to try that again." She'd been expecting Marion to keep charging in headfirst like a raging Tauros; the fact that the fishing girl was using her brain again was definitely notable. The only question was, would it make a difference?
To everyone watching, they couldn't be sure. Marion's behavior was, in a word, shocking.
"I-I can't believe Marion's acting like that…" Giselle said, shivering. None of them were exactly close with the girl, save the exception of Ian, but Marion's reputation had touched the hearts and minds of people from many different factions on campus. They all knew the kind of girl she was, and they were all shocked that she could carry such malevolence inside her.
"It's honestly kind of frightening," Keya agreed. "She's just so… scary." As a fellow harmonia user, he could feel the energy coming off of Marion right now, and it certainly wasn't normal. The amount of hatred in her harmonia at the moment was overwhelming, and he felt a little sick to his stomach. He really hoped that whatever happened, Marion would be able to keep herself under control.
"It goes without saying, right?" Donoma shrugged. "It's because of whatever it was that Parasect did. What's the move again? Rage powder?"
"That's the one," Ian nodded. "I've never heard of it before, have you, Commander?"
Everyone turned to Alden. He had the most battle experience of everyone there, if anyone knew that move it would be him.
But the Commander just shook his head. "I've never heard of it before. It must be exceptionally rare, or limited to a very small number of pokemon."
"Well, whatever it is, it sure isn't helping!" Raizer groused. "Marion's not using her brain, she's just charging in like a lunatic! That's no way for her to win!"
Everyone stared dumbly at Raizer.
"…What?" Raizer scowled. "When I do it, it's because I know Zera can take it! But Marion's not even close to fighting on the same level as a pokemon like that!"
Well… that made sense.
Personally, Ange didn't understand why everyone was making such a big deal out of it. It seemed perfectly natural to get overwhelmingly enraged at Willa and her pokemon. She watched the whole thing with a blank expression on her face.
"Bradham, wipe out that Overqwil," Willa ordered. Her Parasect scuttled towards the flopping Harry, who was trying to bounce back to the water. He raised his pincers and prepared to strike with a powerful x-scissor.
"GET AWAY FROM HIM!" Marion roared, her harmonia surging like a tidal wave. Normally her powers were calm and tranquil, but this was a full-on ocean storm, and Willa was on the receiving end of its wrath.
"Basculegion!" Bass reappeared, slamming into Bradham and sending him flying backwards. The Parasect bounced through the grass, digging his pincer into the ground to right himself and turning back to the spectral fish.
"So easily baited," Willa said, smiling darkly.
"B-Bas!" Bass cried, feeling his body grow sluggish.
"Bass? What's wrong?" Marion demanded. That was when she felt her own body start to feel heavy and sluggish.
"It's Bradham's Effect Spore," Willa smirked. "It appears your Basculegion has been… paralyzed? Yes, that must be it. Bradham's spores contain so many different toxins it's hard to know what the effects will be… but he's certainly not a pokemon you can make contact with all willy-nilly. Your mistake, I suppose… now, Bradham! Hit him with energy ball again!"
"Parasect!" Bradham raised his pincers, forming an orb of nature energy to strike Bass with. Marion growled in response, not even giving the order to dodge. She was so clouded by rage all she could think to do was order her pokemon to fire off another attack.
Then there was an ebb in her energy for a second.
"Aqua jet!" She ordered. Bass covered his body with water and his speed shot up. He darted around the energy ball, skillfully evading it, and slammed into Bradham, knocking the Parasect backwards.
"What?!" Willa clutched her head as pain blossomed through her. That wasn't what she'd been expecting.
"Did Marion… just use her brain for a second there?" Giselle asked. It was such an uncommon occurrence she couldn't be sure.
"I-I think so?" Donoma shrugged.
"Maybe the rage powder has finally worn off?" Ian wondered.
"Keya, you have an affinity for her, right?" Alden asked, glancing at his friend. With Keya's harmonia, he was the most likely person to be able to comment on what was happening. "What do you sense from her?"
Keya squinted, unsure how to describe what he was feeling.
"I don't know… before, it was like her harmonia was a raging storm, a tsunami, trying to wash everything in its path away," Keya mumbled. "But now it's like… I don't even know how to describe it anymore, it's completely different!"
"So she's calmed down?" Chloe asked hopefully.
Keya blinked.
"Uh… no. Not even close." The feeling he got from Marion's harmonia was the furthest thing away from calm. If her previous state had been a tsunami, then the present Marion…
"AAAAARGH! I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!" Marion shouted, clutching at her hair beneath her hat. "I want to fish so baaaaaaadly!"
It took a moment for everyone to process that. Keya sighed and nursed his forehead with his palm.
"it's not fair!" Marion wailed, stamping her foot. "I haven't gotten to fish all day, because we've had to deal with this stupid attack! I'm getting goosebumps, I tell you! Goosebumps! And hives! I'm totally breaking out, look!" She unrolled her short sleeve to reveal what looked like a rash spreading up her arm.
Marion was trembling, clutching her body with one hand while gnawing on the fingernails of the other like a junkie desperate for a fish- err, fix.
Willa just stared at her in dumb shock, her mouth wide open.
What was she looking at right now?
That girl… until now she was completely under the influence of the rage powder… but now it's like it's not even there! And her pokemon aren't affected anymore, either! What the hell is going on?! It defied everything Willa knew about common sense. Rage powder should have turned Marion's pokemon into bloodthirsty psychopaths, and for a while, it had. Even Marion had been caught up in the torrent of emotion.
But now that rage had been overpowered by an even stronger emotion, and because of that, her pokemons' anger was abated as well.
My-my carefully cultivated rage powder… overcome by some dumb urge to fish!? Willa couldn't accept that. It defied all logic.
"Bradham!" Willa shouted, turning to her Parasect. "Use rage powder again!" It was a fluke, that was all it was.
"Parasect!" Bradham sent another cloud of rage powder towards Marion and her pokemon, ready to enrage them once more.
"Enough of that stuff, it's getting in the way!" Marion shouted, stamping her foot. She could feel those emotions bubbling up towards the surface again, but now wasn't the time for anger! It was making her sloppy! If she got all angry and violent then she'd get careless, and waste perfectly good fishing time! And they didn't have a minute to spare!
"Harry! We need to wrap this up fast, it's fishing time!" Marion shouted to her Overqwil. Harry bounced up into the air, recomposed. "Use your poison jab attack!"
"Overqwil!" From his position in the sky, Harry fell towards Bradham, sending sharp stabs from his spines. Because he and his trainer were thinking clearly now they could properly aim, directing their strikes at vital points of the Parasect's body.
"P-Paras…" Bradham raised his pincers to try and shield himself from Harry's assault, but his defenses weren't sharp enough and he wasn't quick enough, either. Marion was using the full force of her harmonia to support her pokemon, after all, so Harry's attacks were sharp and accurate.
The painful spears piercing Willa's flesh weren't half as devastating as the knowledge that her perfectly-cultivated drug was having no effect on its subject. But even as she was overwhelmed she still smiled, her eyes glowing with possibility.
I had no idea that rage powder could be suppressed in such a manner! It must be due to the strength of her will? Or could it be the power of harmonia? There's so much about this power I don't understand, I've only scratched the surface!
What other effects would her concoctions and medicines have on harmonia users and their pokemon? The possibilities were endless.
But first thing's first, she had to fight back. She had harmonia of her own, now, and she was willing to put it to work.
"Bradham!" She shouted. "Use leech life!"
"Parasect!" Bradham lunged forward, raising his pincers and opening his fangs wide. He dodged the long spikes jutting out of Harry and bit down hard, beginning the process of draining away his life force and healing himself.
Marion could feel her strength being sapped away, but she didn't give a damn. This was way more important. She gathered her harmonia and directed it into her pokemon to give them even more strength.
"Bass!" She shouted, giving her Basculegion all the strength she had. "Use head smash to bust that Parasect wide open!"
Her words weren't shouted with anger. There was a broad smile on her face and her eyes were sparkling with excitement. The minute this fight was settled, Marion was headed off to fish! That's what the light in her eyes was saying.
The audience on the sidelines didn't know what to think about this sudden change of heart. But hey, if it worked, it worked.
"Basculegion!" Bass lowered his head and fired himself like a missile at Bradham. Unfortunately for Bradham, he was still drinking energy from Harry, and even though Bass was paralyzed, he was still significantly faster than the slow-moving mushroom pokemon.
"Bradham, you've had your fill, now get away!" Willa ordered. But Marion wasn't letting him go that easily. She smirked.
"Not a chance! Harry, you know what to do!" She called.
"Overqwil!" Harry's body began to grow larger. The Parasect thrashed with surprise, finding it impossible to move.
"What's going on?" Donoma asked, confused. "Ian? What's she doing?"
"It's stockpile," Ian recognized. "Her Overqwil is gathering energy, and inflating his body up to increase his defensive stats. And because his body is expanding like that, it's compressing around the Parasect's fangs!"
"That means he can't pull himself free! She trapped him!" Chloe gasped, her eye widening with excitement.
"Prashaff!" Bradham mumbled into Harry, thrashing desperately to break out. But he would be freed soon enough. Bass slammed into the Bug type pokemon and immediately upon making contact, Harry took advantage of the three-way connection between him, his trainer, and his partner, and knew precisely when to deflate.
Bradham found himself completely free- to be punted across the field by a powerful blow from a super-effective Rock type move.
He hit the grass and rolled, smashing into a sharp rock. Then he smashed through the rock and out the other side, landing in the water.
The Parasect floated up to the surface, knocked unconscious by the powerful move.
"Yikes, look at all that power," Giselle winced. The recoil from that move was so bad Bass was writhing in pain. If he had hands, he'd probably be clutching his head like Marion was doing right now.
"Owiee… I forgot how much that hurts," she whined, crouching in the grass and nursing the sore spot on her forehead.
"He'll be fine," Ange smirked. "A Basculegion won't fall to something like that?"
"Really? Because you sure know a lot about a pokemon that you claim shouldn't exist," Ian said, narrowing his eyes at Ange. He knew that she worked closely with Professor Reinhart, who specialized in archaeology and ancient pokemon civilizations, but she was certainly acting suspicious.
"I do my research," Ange scoffed, crossing her arms defensively and cocking her body towards Ian with a scowl. "I know all there is to know about ancient pokemon from Hisui. Do you want to know why Basculegion are Ghost types? Because I can tell you. It's all due to how harsh the waters in Hisui are."
"You mean Sinnoh?" Donoma asked, raising her eyebrow. That earned her a glare from the blonde.
"NO, I mean Hisui," Ange hissed. The strong current of Hisui's rivers make it difficult for Basculin to swim upstream, to their spawning grounds. In fact, the majority of Basculin never make it back to their homes. The powerful current pushing against them, the sharp rocks, the hungry predators, all these things will challenge the Basculin in their journey. And the ones who make it through? They're supported by the souls of their departed comrades, granting them strength to keep going. THAT is how Basculin evolve into Basculegion. They were said to be unequal in the waters of Hisui… until people came and mucked it all up."
A dark shadow crossed Ange's face. "They dammed up the rivers for their aqueducts, diverting the flow towards their settlements. Driving the Basculin from their homes and ensuring that no schools would ever be able to reach their spawning beds again. And in doing so, an entire species of pokemon was wiped from earth."
No one had a response to that. Then Marion cleared her throat.
"Excuse me, professor, but I'm trying to have a pokemon battle here!" For a second, it seemed as if the effects of the rage powder had returned. "So if you don't mind, could you let me get back to my fight so I can go fishing, please?!"
Fortunately, some things were more important to Marion than her anger.
In the end, even with the effect of rage powder, it's difficult to keep Marion angry for very long. Anger has a way of no longer mattering when you feel the need to fish. And it's the turning point for Marion's battle! Now Willa just has her Slowbro left… will Marion's two fishy friends be able to take down such a powerful pokemon, now that he's had all this time to set up? We'll have to see!