The battle between two champion-class trainers, Wes and Kanone, has begun! Finally we get to see Kanone face off against a trainer who can really give him a run for his money! We all know just how strong Wes is, will Kanone be strong enough to take him down? This is a really dangerous situation to be in, and the fact that Wes has harmonia is only going to make things worse! Kanone's done well so far, but he has to give it even more than this if he wants to defeat Wes and stop his sister.
KedharS: That's true, this is definitely a good way to start the match, but it's far from a sure thing. Wes is really powerful after all, Kanone's going to have quite a challenge ahead for him.
Hyphenman: Yep, I really wanted to touch on just how twisted Samarra is, and why that's the case. It's really difficult for her situation, given how she sees the world. She seems very similar to Sylvia in a way, both trapped in ways they can't fully describe, but still feel trapped by the world they live in all the same.
Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings
Chapter 1221
"ESPEON!" Solaris cried in pain, knocked back by the force of the night slash. Wes winced, his stoic façade cracking in the face of such a painful attack. Harmonia wasn't a toy, and feeling an attack like that directly through your pokemon was a painful experience.
"Solaris, use baton pass!" He snapped. If Kanone was going to use two Steel type pokemon and Solaris wasn't effective against either of them, he'd change to a pokemon who would be.
"Es," Solaris nodded, and the ruby on her head flashed. She began to glow red and returned to her pokeball.
"Bagun, go," Wes said, sending his Typhlosion out next.
"Typhlosion!" Bagun roared, his mane of fire bursting out. He crouched down and dashed across the grass, not even waiting for Wes's orders before lighting himself on fire. He dodged around the Skarmory and curled up into a flame wheel, aiming right for Kiki.
"Kiki, dodge," Kanone ordered. He hadn't expected a maneuver like that from the Typhlosion. When Wes had recalled his Espeon and passed on her boost from calm mind to a Typhlosion, he'd expected that the Fire type would open up with a move like flamethrower to pressure his Steel type pokemon, not charge in headfirst with a flame wheel. Luckily Kiki was in the air and more maneuverable due to her small size, and she was able to pull her keys away from the smoldering flames.
The second she avoided the flame wheel, however, the ground beneath her broke open and Lunet emerged, claws raised.
"Umbreon!" Lunet snarled, slamming into Kiki and grabbing her keyring in his paws. He slammed the small pokemon down into the ground, causing her keys to jangle. She let out a cry of pain.
"So you used your Typhlosion's flashy entrance to conceal the fact that your Umbreon was tunneling under the ground with dig, hmm? Not bad!" Kanone nodded in approval. "But Kiki's tougher than that! And that's not all! Skylar, use aerial ace!"
"Skarmory!" Skylar spread her wings and shot across the sky in a silver streak, disappearing and then reappearing above Lunet. Having broke through the reflect already with her night slash the Umbreon was a vulnerable target now, and the sharp blades of Skylar's feathers sliced deeply into his back as he broke away from Kiki.
Wes ignored the sensation of a sword stabbing between his shoulder blades and focused his harmonia. Even without Samarra suppressing his pain he could have taken a blow like that; he'd grown up in the Orre underworld with thugs like Gansley, and a little bit of pain wasn't going to shake his confidence in the slightest.
"Lunet, use dark pulse," he ordered. "And Bagun, use smokescreen."
"Typhlosion!" Bagun's mane lit up and he took a deep breath, exhaling a cloud of smoke that covered the battlefield, obscuring Lunet from sight. Due to his sharp eyes the Umbreon could see perfectly in the night, but his opponents weren't so lucky.
"Unfortunately I'd put money on that Skarmory having Sturdy for her ability instead of Keen Eye," Lana frowned. "It's one of the better abilities."
Alcea smirked. "Oh, is it?"
At that moment a blast of dark energy erupted from within the cloud of smoke, the dark pulse from earlier. It flew straight towards Skylar, like Lunet could see exactly where the bird pokemon was hovering above the battlefield.
Then the Skarmory tucked her wing in to the side, rolling out of the way of the dark pulse.
"Well Alcea, it seems you've still got my team perfectly memorized," Kanone noted with a smile. "Exactly right. Skylar's tough enough on her own, don't worry. Nobody's taking out my Skarmory in one shot. That's why she's the perfect fit for my team and I; her eyes see everything clearly, even though smokescreens."
And thanks to harmonia, Kanone shared that powerful eyesight. He couldn't begin to count how many hours he'd spent flying on the back of his Skarmory while Skylar scanned the ground underneath them, looking for clues to rare pokemon they could train against.
"W-Well, of course I did," Alcea smiled, brushing a lock of her red hair behind her ear without even thinking about it. "I've studied your matches quite fervently after all, is it?"
"…Oh, is that right?" Olivia sniffed, crossing her arms indignantly under her chest and raising her eyebrow.
"W-Well, you know how it is," Alcea said quickly, realizing the mistake she'd stepped in.
"Yeah, I know just fine." Olivia was still sulking. Alcea sighed. She'd just been having a conversation! Admittedly, yes, it was with the man she'd had a crush on for the better part of two years, but that didn't mean Olivia had to get all huffy!
…And yes it was adorable, but there was a time and place. Alcea couldn't just wrap her arms around the other girl and squeeze her to death.
"As I just said," Kanone continued, "Skylar will have no trouble seeing through the smokesceen. But if you ask me, we should still clear things up a little. Use defog!"
"Skarmory!" Skylar flapped her wings, sending a powerful gust across the battlefield that blew all the smoke away. And with the path clear, Kiki could launch a follow-up attack.
"Klefki!" The small key pokemon cried, gathering up fairy energy. She released the energy she'd stored up in a powerful moonblast aimed right at Lunet.
"Hah! That Umbreon might be the moon pokemon, but a Fairy attack will still hurt like a motherfucker!" Lila cheered. Everyone stared at her.
"Err… I mean… something cutesy. Whatever, who fucking cares?! This day has been a huge pain in my ass!"
Lila had completely run out of fucks to give at this point. After all the shit she'd gone through, getting attacked by Lana (twice!) and stressing out over Darla fighting so intensely, she really couldn't be bothered to give a damn about keeping up appearances.
Donoma sighed internally. And here she was without a camera! If Dakota Evans wasn't vegetating in a hospital that spunky firebrand would pay through the nose to get an expose on the so-called "lovely maiden who dreams of fairy tales".
In spite of Lila's proclamations, the moonblast never hit its target. The attack smashed into a red barrier, which shimmered slightly and shook under the impact, but nevertheless it still held.
"Your Skarmory's night slash might have broken through Solaris's reflect, but you're going to have to try harder than that," Wes smirked. "Her light screen is still up, and that means an attack like that from such a weak pokemon won't do a damn thing!"
"Fair enough," Kanone admitted. "But then, there's a bigger problem for you to worry about, I'd wager. Don't you think, Skylar?" He glanced up at his Skarmory and flashed a smile. Skylar nodded, a ferocious look in her eye.
"Skarmory!" Skylar flapped her wings, and stones tore up from the ground, hovering in the air over Wes' side of the field.
"This is…" Wes looked around, a sour expression on his face.
"You wanted to switch your Espeon out? Well, I hope you're prepared to deal with the consequences," Kanone smirked. "With the stealth rock hanging over your side of the field, your pokemon are going to take damage any time they switch in."
Wes looked unfazed. "Do you have a point?"
The nonchalant way he asked that question put Kanone on guard and made Vic shiver. Her father didn't seem bothered in the slightest that his pokemon had been hemmed in so effortlessly.
"Lunet!" Wes snapped, and he snapped his fingers as well for emphasis.
"Umbreon!" Lunet dashed forward, dodging around the stones hovering all over the field. Then he leapt into the air, landing on one of them.
"Yikes," Giselle winced. Those rocks looked as sharp as knives, she couldn't imagine how much it must hurt to touch one.
"Umbreon are quite special," Wes revealed. "Their fur secrets a special toxic substance. And because of the toxin leeching out of their fur at every opportunity, it actually makes their hide rather slick, meaning any damage from touching the stealth rocks will be minimized. Instead, we can use them like this! Quick attack!"
Before Kiki could readjust her aim, or Skylar could try a diving run, the small black pokemon disappeared. Although, it would be more accurate to say he jumped. Lunet leapt from one rock to the next, using his speed from quick attack to maintain momentum as he circled around the Skarmory with ease.
He's trying to keep me on my toes by maneuvering his Umbreon, Kanone recognized. It was a pretty good strategy, he had to admit. Skarmory were used to hunting from the air, using their hard feathers to protect themselves from most would-be predators. Because they tended to inhabit areas with few Fire type pokemon, they had very few natural enemies in the wild.
But this wasn't a territory skirmish between some wild pokemon. Wes knew exactly what he was doing, and even if Umbreon lacked the power to strike at Skylar, he certainly seemed like he was hunting her right now.
And the reason for that wasn't immediately apparent to Kanone, and that gave him serious pause. He glanced at his pokemon and wondered what his next move should be. As long as that Umbreon was around, giving Kiki the stink-eye, he wouldn't be able to swap her back out. And since she was still under the effects of taunt, that was a problem. Kiki was good for setting up on opponents. It was that playful, trickster nature of hers that had resounded so strongly with Kanone and made him decide to take her onto his team. But with her best qualities checked like this, it would be very difficult to use her to the best advantage he could. And not only that, Wes had a Fire type out as well, one that had received a buff! Kiki and Skylar were definitely at a disadvantage to be fighting in this situation.
So the Umbreon definitely had to go.
"Kiki, use dazzling gleam!" He ordered. Even if the light attack wouldn't be able to break through the light screen, it should still have some effect. After all, Umbreon were nocturnal pokemon who hunted in the darkness, they weren't used to bright lights like this. He could use that to his advantage and maybe try to blind the Dark type pokemon, if he couldn't harm him directly.
"Klefki!" Kiki cried, jangling her keys. Her body began to glow bright with fairy energy and she released a blinding burst of light across the battlefield. The rays of the attack smashed into the light screen and failed to crack it, but Kanone still had the edge. Thanks to harmonia he could see what Skylar saw, so he knew that her Keen Eye ability was letting her peak through the light and locking on perfectly to the Umbreon, whose eyes were shut tight to avoid going blind.
"Go, Skylar!" Kanone shouted his orders through his mind, not wanting to tip his hand. Luckily Skylar followed his command without hesitation, tucking in her wings and streaking towards the Umbreon, and began to spin. They were aiming for a drill peck to do some serious damage to the Umbreon's tough defenses.
Skylar was about a second away from colliding with the Umbreon when the black pokemon's eyes snapped open, flashing red. He smirked.
Before Skylar could strike, Lunet disappeared completely, sinking into the shadows. Skylar collided with the stealth rock he'd been standing on and plowed right through it, barely even slowing down. His metallic beak and the speed of his rotations made it look like a drill going through a sponge. She turned in the air and came back around, looking for her prey, but she needn't have bothered.
After all, Lunet appeared right above her, paw raised.
"Feint attack," Wes ordered, narrowing his eyes.
Lunet's paw smacked down and hit Skylar in the throat, sending her spiraling back. The attack itself didn't do much damage even for a neutral hit, as Skylar's massive defenses were more than enough to tank the blow. But it had startled her.
"Lunet, use helping hand!" Wes ordered. He needed to make sure this went off perfectly.
"Umbreon!" Lunet began to glow, using his strength to boost Bagun's flames. The Typhlosion rose up onto his hind legs and the mane of flame dancing around his collar grew even more intense.
"Eruption!" Wes snarled.
What happened next was a massive explosion of power. Bagun began to glow red, taking energy from Wes' harmonia, and the air began to cook around them. It felt like Mt. Battle itself was about to erupt from this one.
"Skylar!" Kanone shouted. "Kiki! Get out of there!"
"This is really bad," Marion winced. "Eruption is just like water spout… it hits all of the enemy pokemon, and the more healthy the user is, the more damage the move deals!"
And Bagun hadn't even been hit once so far.
"TYPHLOSION!" Bagun's power erupted, boosted by both calm mind and helping hand. Lave erupted from the ground, raining fire on the two Steel type pokemon as they struggled to get away from the brutal onslaught.
Rui watched in horror as the beautiful greenery of Agate Village turned into hell right before her eyes. Vic fell to her knees and clasped her hands over her mouth.
The lovely town that her father treasured, the peaceful place that he spent his whole life protecting, he was singlehandedly destroying it, all on the orders of a madwoman.
Neither of the Carver women wanted such a monstrous thing to be true.
The lava cooled not long after, but the damage had been done. There wasn't a speck of green on the battlefield, most of the area had been reduced to smoking rock. Wes hadn't quite destroyed the entire town, of course, not even Bagun had the brute force to do that much.
But the patch of green they'd been standing on had been eradicated, and that was still a horrifying thing to witness.
Kanone surveyed the damage. Both Kiki and Skylar had been wiped out from that attack, because of course they had. He'd be surprised if his pokemon HADN'T fainted after such a brutal eruption. The attack was so fierce it had even broken the stealth rock, melting the floating stones into nothing with the heat from the magma.
Kanone had been pressured quite thoroughly with that one.
"No way…" Alcea gasped in disbelief. "This is… impossible, is it?"
"Wes really is strong…" Alden said, a dark expression crossing his face at the sight of how easily Wes had wiped out two pokemon belonging to a trainer as strong as Kanone Harker. Had he just been going easy on Alden in their earlier match? Or was this just how much power harmonia could give to a trainer who knew how to use it?
"Alcea?!" Olivia cried as her partner collapsed. The redhead was shaking. "Alcea, are you okay?! Come on!"
Olivia was panicking. What was wrong with Alcea?! This wasn't the time to give in! Kanone still had more pokemon left, and… and… he was a really strong trainer, so…
"Come on!" Olivia shook her. "Kanone needs your support!"
"I-I know," Alcea mumbled. But she couldn't resist the overwhelming sensation in her breast at the sight of the attack.
It was her connection with Shaymin, it had to be.
Shaymin worked hard to keep Agate Village green; her nurturing powers made the small town a lush field of paradise in an otherwise harsh and brutal region.
And Wes had just spat in her face.
Alcea didn't even want to THINK about how much effort it would take for Shaymin to restore the village now. This wasn't something easy like "make sure the grass doesn't catch on fire when our pokemon use flame wheel" this was some serious fucking damage.
It was almost enough to make her forget that if Kanone lost this fight, then they were all going to lose. In a very bad way.
"Come on…" She whispered, clutching her hand against her heart as she wished for Kanone's victory. Olivia was calling out to her, comforting her, and part of Alcea was happy for that. But right now, she could only focus on the fight.
Kanone sighed and recalled his pokemon to their pokeballs. "Wow, you really are strong, huh? I suppose that's why you're champion-class…"
"I have something to fight for," Wes said simply. "My family."
Samarra wore a smug grin on her face. It was one of her best performances yet. Right now, Wes had completely deluded himself into thinking that everything he was doing, following Samarra's orders, was for the good of Rui and Victoria.
And he wasn't wrong. Soon enough, all three of them would be under her influence, and they would all be a nice, happy little family together. The sort of family Samarra never really had. She supported his goal with the utmost fervor she could muster.
Kanone raised his eyebrow at that. "…Family, huh? I suppose that's something we have in common then, you and I. I'm fighting to get my family back."
"…I see," Wes nodded back respectfully. "I suppose it will come down to whose resolve is stronger then, won't it?"
"You'll find that my resolve is stronger," Kanone assured him with a smile. He recalled both Steel type pokemon back to their pokeballs. "I won't be losing."
"Then send out your next pokemon." Wes was starting to tire of the small talk. He'd faced trainers like Kanone before, and they liked to run their mouths a lot. He didn't have the patience for it, even with harmonia. It felt like the man was stalling.
"Well, Megan you already know," Kanone said, sending out his Yanmega. The bug pokemon buzzed and flapped her wings, circling above the smoldering ground.
"That fool…" Maddi spat, wincing at the throbbing headache that resulted from trying to talk. "He's seriously… using ANOTHER pokemon weak to fire…? After what that Typhlosion just did to his Skarmory and Klefki?"
"He's simply that sort of person," Rin said, calmly nodding her head in confirmation. "You don't need to worry. Kanone Harker is not going to lose in this situation."
Everyone wished that they could be as confident as the professional-looking woman was, but quite a few of them had first-hand experience with how frightening Wes could be.
Perhaps sensing their apprehension, Rin followed up with, "relax and watch. He'll show you what he's capable of."
"…Phoenix. How about you?" Kanone decided, sending out his next pokemon. "After all, Wes is using a Fire type too, right?"
He smiled. "Rise and burn brighter, to the summit of the strongest! Phoenix!" With a flourish, he tossed his pokeball into the air, releasing the Fire type pokemon stored within.
"BLAZIKEN!" Phoenix roared, lunging into the air and landing on the hot rocks that covered the battlefield. Like Bagun, flames burst up from his body as well, though they came from his wrists and not his neck.
Alcea swallowed her doubt. She had to believe in Kanone. He was going to win, she just knew it!
Yikes, what a brutal attack from Wes! He was waiting for the perfect opportunity for his Typhlosion to absolutely DECIMATE Kanone's team, and he certainly managed that, knocking out two Steel type pokemon in a single hit! Now Kanone's at a 4-6 disadvantage, which really isn't where you want to be against a trainer of Wes's caliber. What's he going to do now?! How's he going to beat Wes? Do the rest of his pokemon have enough strength to manage it?!