Maddi's been giving this battle everything she's got, but she's down to her final pokemon. At least now she has an audience who'll cheer her on, instead of just Hiromi. But will that be enough? Ayame's proven her power multiple times by now, and her Falinks has wiped out over half of Maddi's team! She's going to need a miracle to take her opponent down. Hopefully Vee and his powers will be enough to turn the tide.

KedharS: Yep, this chapter is all about Vee doing what Vee does!

RKS Legacy: One of my favorite tools in Legends: Arceus. Snuck up on a lot of Alpha Pokemon with those.

Hyphenman: Yeah, Wes is going to be a major problem. But we should probably focus on the battle at hand, first.

Tambry96bj: Raizer and Willa was an interesting interaction I hadn't expected, but I'm enjoying seeing where it goes.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 1216

Maddi didn't pay much mind to her newfound audience. She was focusing on her battle first and foremost.

"Vee! Psychic!" She ordered. Vee's psychic powers would allow him to get the edge over the Falinks, and she smirked when she saw the Espeon's gem flash red. Red light appeared around the Troops and the six of them were lifted up into the air.

"Protect!" Ayame ordered.

"Falinks!" A barrier of bronze appeared around the assembled Falinks and dispersed Vee's psychic powers, causing him to break his connection. When the Troops landed on the ground they raised their shields and lowered their horns, and charged at Vee en masse.

"Well, her Eevee evolved in an Espeon, huh?" Vic said, scratching her chin thoughtfully. "That's good. It should give her the edge over those Fighting types."

"But it adds a weakness, too," Alcea reminded her. "It may not be so simple, is it?"

That weakness was exactly what Ayame was planning to exploit. "Troops!" She shouted. "Hit him with megahorn!"

"Falinks!" Uno led the charge, turning his large horn towards Vee and thrusting at him like a spear, moving with incredible speed and power. Dokukage winced behind his mask, knowing how strong a move megahorn was. And with Espeon's low defenses it was definitely a problem.

What Vee did next shocked nearly everyone, and firmly established for them all to see that everything was different now.

"Vee!" Maddi shouted, and Vee began to glow. The Espeon's fur stood on end and sharpened into points as his tail shrunk, ending in a veil of spines along his back that stood up. His silky purple fur turned bright yellow and his ears narrowed, and he let out a growl that confirmed the shocking truth that everyone was seeing.

"Jolteon!" Vee cried.

"Is that…" Tommy's jaw dropped.

"Did that Espeon just…?" Giselle looked to everyone else for confirmation.

"No way, right?" Lana said, shaking her head in disbelief.

It was Ange of all people, as stunned as everyone here, that finally put their thoughts into something resembling a complete sentence.

"Her Espeon just turned into a Jolteon," she muttered.

"Non, such a thing cannot be possible, is it?" Alcea said, shaking her head. The idea that an Espeon could turn into a Jolteon was simply beyond the realm of possibility. But she couldn't deny the evidence of her own eyes. Vee, who she had last acknowledged as an Eevee, had turned into an Espeon since the last time she'd seen Maddi's pokemon. Fair enough, maybe the heat of the battle and Maddi's newfound, stronger bond with her pokemon with harmonia had caused it to evolve. Alcea hadn't questioned anything beyond that point, and neither had anyone else.

It was quite a leap to go from that to said Espeon turning into a Jolteon through what looked like evolution all over again. But it was happening.

"Jolteon!" Sparks crackled around the tips of Vee's spiny fur, and he began to blur. Several copies of him appeared all across the battlefield. Espeon was fast, but Jolteon was faster, and with double team he would be much harder to hit. Troops flew through a copy, and when they struck at other Jolteon they all turned out to be copies.

"Discharge!" Maddi shouted.

"Jolt!" Vee released an electric shockwave that pulsed across the battlefield, hitting all the Troops at once. This proved that the changes to Vee were more than just cosmetic; the Jolteon really was a Jolteon, with all the electrical powers that entailed.

Would it stop there? Or could Vee transform into any Eeveelution at will? That was the predominant thought in everyone who watched the match with curiosity.

"So she's really fighting with her Eevee, huh?" Ian stepped out of the Pokemon Center with a serious expression on his face. He'd left Callie in capable hands with the doctor who had attended her before, and in the meantime he'd returned to watch the match. Certainly he could have hidden out in the center, but if Maddi lost they were all probably screwed anyway. He at least wanted to be there to see it.

This battle might be the last thing they had a chance to watch as free agents.

"I don't understand," Mirar said, shaking his head. What he was witnessing defied everything he knew about Maddi and her capabilities. After all the times on record he'd seen her fight, to pull out a trump card like this…

"This makes no sense!" Tommy groused, tussling his hair in frustration. "What's up with her pokemon? Is it an Espeon? A Jolteon?!"

Alcea glanced at Donoma and Chloe. Neither girl seemed particularly surprised by what they were seeing. Chloe may have been tense and nervous, but from what little of her face Alcea could see (just her eye, really) she seemed at least aware of what was happening.

Donoma, on the other hand, looked almost eager. Like she was actually enjoying this fight.

Then Alcea's eyes slid to Ian, and from the serious expression he wore she confirmed that he, too, had not been taken aback by this display of Maddi's.

"You knew about her pokemon's capabilities, is it?" She asked him. Even though she'd been keeping her voice low, it still got the attention of a few people.

Ian sighed and nodded. "I had a chance to fight against him, actually. I wandered into the forest a few days back and saw her training."

"Ah. And that's where you two saw it as well, is it?" Alcea glanced at Donoma and Chloe. She hadn't spent much time around them, but she remembered clearly how the two girls practically clung to Ian wherever he went in their time in Agate Village.

But that was none of her business.

"Her Eevee… I don't really know how to describe it, but it's like he can turn into any one of his potential evolutions," Ian explained. It didn't seem worth it to keep secret at this point, Maddi was putting on a show for everyone after all.

"Is that even possible?" Kiana wondered. She knew very little about pokemon.

"I've… seen something like that before," Amarillo said quietly, catching everyone's attention. Like Ian, she'd left Gerard in the care of the Pokemon Center and returned. Her words intrigued everyone, but Donoma was especially curious. She'd thought that Maddi's Eevee was an anomaly; was this actually something that happened fairly often?

"It-It's not what you think," Amarillo muttered, shaking her head. "It was years ago, anyway, when I was a lot younger than you. A boy I knew… a friend… he had an Eevee that had been experimented on by Team Rocket. It responded to the different evolutionary stones that Eevee normally evolves with, the water stone, thunderstone, and fire stone, and could switch between Vaporeon, Jolteon, and Flareon at will."

"That's just like Madison's Eevee!" Chloe gasped.

"So what happened to that Eevee?" Anabel asked curiously.

Amarillo shook her head. "My friend, he… evolved his Eevee in an Espeon. He didn't want to leave him in that state. And when that Eevee evolved, well… it lost that ability forever." A small smile crossed her lips as she remembered that cute pokemon well. "How funny… he was also named Vee, in fact."

It was a nice little coincidence, but one that she didn't have time to ruminate on.

"I just don't get how it's possible," Raizer sighed. "Eevee only evolve once, right? That's like… true for all pokemon. So how did this even happen."

Someone cleared their throat next to him and Raizer glanced down to see Willa's butt poking out from under his arm. She awkwardly twisted her body to glare up at him past his shoulder.

"Are you ever going to put me down?" She grumbled. "Let go already."

It was a very poor choice of words for someone so smart. Without even thinking about it Raizer did just what she asked and let her go, causing Willa to faceplant into the grass.

Muttering under her breath, Willa sat back up and seethed.

"I can explain it," she muttered. "I know what happened."

"How do YOU know what happened?" Vic demanded. As far as she knew Willa and Maddi hadn't even MET before.

Willa tapped her head and then pointed at Samarra. Then her finger dragged away from Samarra towards Wes.

"Because he knows," she explained. "And I know everything he knows."

Marion gasped. "That's right! I totally forgot! Thanks to those pills you took, you remember everything from your time with Samarra!"

That was news to Vic. Her eyes widened in surprise. The others who'd broken off from the group before Willa and Marion's battle were also stunned by this revelation.

"It's not perfect, a lot of my thoughts are still a blur," Willa nodded. Even with her brilliance she was nothing compared to Samarra, she couldn't fully process three additional lifetimes' worth of memory. But Maddi's Eevee had been important to the other woman, so it stuck out to her.

"So it's like this," Willa began. "I think anyone who knows anything about Eevee know that it's a pokemon with extremely diverse genetics. Because of its unstable genetic code, it responds to different stimuli in different ways, causing it to evolve."

Raizer's brain hurt. "Uh… yeah," he said, nodding. "We totally know about that."

Willa gave him a vacant stare.

"Even I know that," Rui said. "What's your point?"

"Well, Madison's Eevee was treated with something called the… I think it's the µ Gene? Odd name, don't really get it. Anyway, whatever it was, it affected his genetic code, altering it so that it could unlock the dormant DNA inside of it," she explained. "What I mean is… well, she's showing it to us." Willa waved her hand absentmindedly towards the battle.

"So because of that µ Gene, her Eevee is capable of turning into any Eeveelution at will, and then back again?" Ross mused. "That's quite a power she's got at her disposal then."

Anyone who knew about Maddi's fighting style and her knowledge of type advantages knew how useful an Eevee like that was in her hands. Heck, if Maddi had been some moron on the street, having an Eevee that could turn into a Flareon or a Vaporeon at will would still make them a dangerous trainer to deal with.

It was honestly pretty badass.

"Vee! Use thunderbolt!" Maddi ordered, showing off just what her pokemon was capable of. Vee built up electricity in his fur and launched it in a bolt at the Falinks, but Ayame was starting to get wise to that by now.

"Scatter!" She ordered and her Troops split up, causing the thunderbolt to miss by a mile. But that's why Maddi had discharge, and she quickly prepared her Jolteon to try that, next.

Ayame wasn't about to give her the chance, though. She taken a lot of damage from that last attack. And even though her Troops had unleashed their close combat against Mist while still under the effects of the clear smog, meaning the drop to their defenses was mitigated, they were still vulnerable to further attacks. Falinks' lowest stat was their special defense, it presented a serious weakness against special attacking pokemon like Jolteon or Espeon.

And Troops' coverage wasn't exactly well-suited for dealing with an Electric type pokemon that only had one weakness; especially when that weakness could be changed at will.

Under normal circumstances, Ayame might consider calling Troops back and switching them for another pokemon, but these weren't normal circumstances. Troops could no longer be called back after they used no retreat; and even though the stat boost was gone, the condition that they couldn't be called back until they won or fainted still remained.

So if it was down to those two choices, Ayame decided she'd rather have her pokemon win.

"Troops!" She shouted. "Use rock slide!"

If the Jolteon wanted to play at dodging their attacks, that was fine. Troops would just bury him in rubble!

"Falinks!" Troops cried in unison, lifting up massive boulders and flinging them in a wave at the Jolteon. Even as fast as he was, Vee couldn't get away from the mound of rocks falling towards him.

So Maddi didn't plan on having him escape. She had something else in mind.

"Vee!" She shouted, and her Jolteon began to glow again. This time his tail returned, shooting out of his back and flapping loosely in the wind. His ears elongated and flattened as well while his spines settled back down into regular fur of a cream-color and smooth texture. Then, tiny green leaves began poking out of it.

Alcea gasped. Maddi's Jolteon had transformed into Leafeon!

"Vee! Use leaf blade!" Maddi ordered. She seamlessly guided her pokemon through his newest transformation like she'd been doing this for years. She ignored the throbbing pain in her skull and the massive drain using Vee in this state had on her; she had time to get tired later. For now, she needed to win this fight.

"Leafeon!" Vee cried, leaping into the wave of rock falling towards him. The leaves on his hair and tail extended, as did several leaves sticking out of his fur. They sharpened into blades that dwarfed his spines as a Jolteon and he spun in the air, turning into a buzzsaw of slicing nature that cleaved through the boulders before they could strike him properly.

Vee came out the other end unscathed, turning towards Troops. He spun his blades towards the Falinks, but the Troops were ready for that potentiality.

Ayame had just wanted Vee to change into something more vulnerable, that was the point of her last attack.

"Megahorn!" She shouted.

"Falinks!" Troops turned their horns on the approaching Leafeon, with Uno's horn at the front, as large as a sword. They leapt forward and took the full brunt of the leaf blade attack, trading it for a strike of their own.

"Leafeon!" Vee cried out in pain as he was pierced. Maddi clutched her shoulder and screamed, feeling the pain from the pokemon's horn breaking the flesh. But she stood her ground and glared, and her pokemon transformed once again, his fur getting brighter and bushier.

"Flareon!" Vee spat out a wall of fire that separated him from the Falinks, trapping them in a column of flames with fire spin. That gave him time to beat a hasty retreat, putting some distance between himself and the pokemon.

"That Eevee of yours is annoying," Ayame growled, feeling her skin burn. "Troops!"

"Falinks!" The Troops broke out of the fire spin and charged forward, only to pause. Ayame looked around in confusion.

Vee was nowhere to be seen.

"Where did he go?" Ayame demanded, scanning the battlefield. She'd been so focused on the pain from the fire spin she'd missed what had happened to her opponent.

Then all of a sudden she knew. She knew because Wes and Samarra had been watching the fight intensely, and THEY had seen it.

"The water," she growled, whipping her head towards the river.

"…Not bad," Maddi said, and Vee turned visible again. This time he was a Vaporeon, and had taken advantage of Vaporeon's natural abilities.

"Vaporeon can turn their body completely into a liquid and blend in with the water," Marion explained to the others. "A very useful trick for hiding!"

"That's right," Maddi nodded. "And that's not all he can do! Vee, use hydro pump!"

"Vaporeon!" Vee spat a massive spout of water at the Falinks, but the Troops were very fast, and evaded the compressed blast with ease. They gathered at the edge of the riverbank and prepared to strike.

"Brick break!" Ayame ordered.

"Falinks!" Troops raised their horns and Uno slammed theirs down into the water with enough force to slice through the river itself, disrupting the flow and striking Vee with the shockwave. But it would take more than that to hurt a bulky pokemon like Vaporeon, especially when Maddi was boosting him with her harmonia.

"Vee, aurora beam!" She ordered.

"Vaporeon!" Vee fired a beam of rainbow light at the Falinks and hit them directly. Due to aurora beam's bright lights, Troops found themselves weakened, unable to summon up as much power as before.

Ayame seethed, focusing her harmonia to boost her Falinks' capabilities. But there was only so much she could do. Troops had done well, fighting through three of Maddi's pokemon and taking them down, but her Eevee was a different story.

Being able to transition from one pokemon to the next so seamlessly made Vee a potent threat. His moveset was versatile and Ayame knew full well how much his condition was changing; if he wanted to be fast, he'd turn into Jolteon. If he wanted to hit hard with his psychic powers, he'd turn into Espeon. If he wanted to tank an attack? Vaporeon, or maybe Umbreon.

Eeveelutions' stats were all very similar. Ayame didn't have one, but she'd seen enough of them to know. Their best stat was 130, their weakest, 60. Throw in a couple 65s in there, a 95, and a 110 as their second-highest, and you had a pretty diverse selection to choose from when it came to deciding which Eeveelution served the needs of your team best.

And right now, Maddi could run the gamut of them. Ayame wasn't fighting one pokemon. She was fighting eight of them, each specializing in a different field. Functionally, she was trying to defeat a pokemon that 130 base power in every stat. Now that was already reaching the boundary of "impossible" and that didn't even begin to cover the fact that her pokemon had eight different types, nine if you included Eevee itself. And all the different moves and resistances those types provided, with eight or nine different abilities on top of that.

So yeah. Ayame was in a bit of a troubling situation, that could be charitably called an "understatement" to be sure.

"Troops!" She shouted to her Falinks. She needed to do as much damage as possible, to wear down Maddi and her pokemon. Troops didn't have much strength left, but they'd do what needed to be done, she could be proud of them for that.

"Falinks!" The Troops assembled, charging at Vee. They raised their shields and stormed the water, preparing to unleash their final close combat to do as much damage as possible to the monster of a pokemon in front of them.

But they didn't get the chance, because Vee leapt out of the water and began to glow, her finned tail flattening out as two long fringes of fur stuck down past her head.

"Vee, blizzard!" Maddi ordered her Glaceon.

"Glaceon!" Vee opened her mouth and unleashed a powerful blast of wind and ice, freezing the river solid and the Falinks with it. The round pokemon struggled, half-frozen in ice, trying to break it with their shields. It was just thick enough to hold them, but not so thick as to completely freeze the water beneath them, either.

Maddi would need that water in a second.

Vee landed in the grass, already changing forms. His fur sharpened into spikes again, and he was already building up electricity.

"Finish it with thunder!" Maddi ordered.

"JOLTEON!" Vee unleashed the electricity he'd built up into the sky, where it fell down upon the river in a bolt of lightning, smashing through the ice and electrocuting the river itself, and the Falinks along with it.

Ayame screamed as her body was shaken by the voltage of the electric attack.

Nice! Maddi's really turned this fight around! Ayame and Troops were sweeping through her team with ease, but not even she can stand up to the power of Maddi and Vee when they're using everything they have at their disposal! Maddi's a real monster with that Eevee of hers, maybe she's not down for the count after all!