Things are really going bad for Kanone. While he started out with an incredible show of force against Wes, the double battle master definitely showed what he was capable of. By using eruption, a third of Kanone's team was taken out, just like that! And now he's at a serious disadvantage, having to take on six of Wes's pokemon with only four of his own! Will that be enough? Kanone's an excellent trainer to be sure, but will he really be able to defeat a trainer like Wes with such a large disadvantage? Things are really looking bad for him! Remember to review!

KedharS: Wes's team is incredibly strong. After all, they've been through a lot together, and most of them were once Shadow Pokemon. Kanone's in for a rough fight.

Hyphenman: That's the horrible thing about Samarra. When you're under her influence, she can convince you to do the most horrible, sickening things that you would never do, and get you to think that you're doing them for all the right reasons. It's why she's so dangerous.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 1222

Rui clenched her fists, trying to keep her hands from trembling.

This was bad. This was a nightmare. Right now, her husband was fighting against Kanone Harker, a Pokemon Champion, for the sake of the evil Samarra.

And he was winning.

Rui had stood by Wes's side for more battles than she could count, going all the way back to when they were a couple of teenagers. Her, on the run from the evil organization known as Cipher due to her harmonia, and him, a rebel without a cause, looking to atone for the bad things he'd done. The two had been an odd match, but they'd managed to make it work, and together they tore down the evil organization.

Those days were so long ago. 25 years…

And now, her husband was on the side of the villains. What a sick joke.

She clasped her hands together and prayed. Kanone Harker was two pokemon down. Against Wes that might as well be a death sentence. A tense silence hung over the crowd as everyone waited to see what the champion would do.

No one was more anxious than Rui.

"Phoenix!" Kanone shouted, his eyes flashing. "Go after the Typhlosion! Use brick break!"

"Blaziken!" Phoenix nodded. He charged at Bagun, raising his fist.

"As expected," Wes scowled. "Trying to take down the light screen, huh? Well, that move will only work if you get close enough! Bagun!"

"Typhlosion!" Bagun roared. The flames around his collar burned and his eyes started to glow. Phoenix stopped in his tracks, feeling his mind assaulted by psychic power. His vision swam and he felt dizzy, nearly tumbling over.

"Ow, that's quite something," Kanone winced, clutching his head. His skull was throbbing. "Extrasensory, huh?"

"Your Blaziken is vulnerable to Psychic type moves, after all," Wes replied. "Making this the perfect method for slowing him down. Lunet! Use quick attack!"

"Umbreon!" Lunet dashed towards Phoenix, moving so fast he was a streak of black over the cooled lava.

"You'll need to try better than that, then," Kanone replied with a smile. "Megan! Counter with your quick attack!"

"Yanmega!" Megan flapped her wings and flew even faster than Lunet could run, reaching the Umbreon before he had a chance to react. She lowered her head into a headbutt and slammed into the black pokemon, knocking him away.

"Quick attack on a Yanmega? You're just full of surprises," Wes snarled.

Dokukage had to agree. He'd fought against Shima's Yanmega before, and teaching it quick attack? That was definitely a surprising play.

"But it managed to work," Kanone replied. "And now Phoenix has recovered." With the help of Kanone's harmonia, Phoenix shook off the effects of the extrasensory, and was ready to keep fighting. And now he was mad.

"BLAZIKEN!" Phoenix lunged for Lunet, moving far faster than the Umbreon expect.

"Umbreon?!" Lunet gasped in surprise, leaping back to avoid the Blaziken's strike. But he couldn't move fast enough. Somehow Phoenix had picked up speed since his last attack, and was now moving faster than Lunet could.

"Brick break," Kanone ordered. With a cry of fury Phoenix raised his fist and slammed it into Lunet's stomach, smashing through the light screen.

"Hack!" Wes let out a pained cough, doubling over and clutching his stomach. The force of that blow made him think that his ribs were caving in.

"Typhlosion!" Bagun dashed towards Phoenix, his eyes flashing as he attempted an extrasensory attack once again.

"Yanmega!" Megan, sensing danger for her partner, appeared in front of Phoenix in a flash, throwing herself ahead of the attack. With a cry she spread her wings and started to glow, and stones of energy appeared in the sky around her.

"Should have seen that one coming," Alden grinned. "It's ancientpower!"

"Of course! A Rock type move is the perfect thing for Yanmega to use against that Typhlosion!" Chloe agreed, nodding her head vigorously.

Gabrielle silently nodded. Yanmega evolved from Yanma by taking in the primal energy that came with learning the move ancientpower and making it their own. That energy invigorated them, causing the pokemon to evolve into shadows of their ancient selves. The same thing had happened when her Piloswine evolved in Mamoswine.

The stones filled with ancient energy rained down on Bagun and the Typhlosion had to cut off his attack to try and dodge them. But Megan's attacks were too swift for that to be doable, and he found himself on the receiving end of a painful barrage.

"Unfortunately he couldn't get the boost," Dokukage mused thoughtfully. The stat boost from ancientpower would have been an excellent way to turn this fight around. But apparently not everyone could be as luck- …well-prepared as a ninja like him.

"Nice work, Megan!" Kanone applauded his Yanmega. "Now Phoenix! The Umbreon is good for now, but we need to deal with that Typhlosion! And I've got just the thing for it! Use earthquake!"

"Blaziken!" Phoenix roared. He charged towards Bagun, faster than ever before, and raised his fist. But rather than striking the Typhlosion, he brought his fist down upon the scalding rock, punching with everything he had.

"It's shaking!" Hiromi gasped, trying to steady herself as the whole village began to shake from the tremors. This was almost as bad as the eruption attack!

But unlike the last natural disaster that Agate Village had withstood, this one brought a smile to Vic's face.

"So that's what he was planning," she said, grinning with an uncharacteristic amount of glee (which was any) "he sent out that Yanmega even though it was weak to Bagun's Fire type attacks because he was planning on having his Blaziken use earthquake to aim at both of dad's pokemon at once! Nicely played!"

It was a strategy that she could appreciate. She'd done similar with her Togekiss and Gastrodon. Earthquake was a powerful move, and the fact that it hit all pokemon in battle was a positive and a negative when it came to double battles. It wasn't always worth it, damaging your partner to strike back at your opponent's pokemon, but when it was used in a situation like this, where the partner pokemon was a Flying type?

It was quite powerful indeed.

"Typhlosion!" Bagun howled in pain as the force of the tremors rolled through his body. Lunet was the same way, digging his claws into the rock to maintain his balance.

But the cooled magma began to crack, facing far too much stress under the force of the earthquake. Both pokemon were thrown off as it buckled and crumbled into rubble.

And then, to Alcea's joy, bits of green began to poke out through the cracks.

Shaymin! Her heart surged with excitement as she saw the grass sprouting up beneath the magma. Bagun's attack hadn't destroyed the field, it had merely smothered it. Shaymin's protective aura was still keeping the greenery of Agate Village safe even now.

Knowing that made the turmoil in Alcea's chest settle. She sighed in relief.

"Um… Umbreon…" In spite of the shaking, Lunet hadn't fallen. The Umbreon glared contemptuously at the Blaziken and let out a cry, opening his mouth. Dark energy gathered in front of him in a shadow ball and he fired it at Phoenix.

Phoenix took the shadow ball head-on and the ground stopped shaking, but the Blaziken was able to shrug off the damage. He turned and glared at the Umbreon, and Lunet's red eyes flashed like he was daring his opponent to do something about it.

Then Phoenix disappeared.

"Umbreon-?!" Lunet gasped in surprise. Wes's eyes widened. How was his Blaziken capable of moving so fast!?

"Blaziken!" Phoenix reappeared behind Lunet, swinging his leg with everything he had. He struck Lunet's feet, sweeping them out from under him with a low sweep attack that sent the Umbreon rolling across the ground.

"Nice work, Phoenix," Kanone applauded his Blaziken. "Megan, finish him off with your bug buzz attack, now!"

"YANMEGA!" Megan buzzed, opening her fangs and releasing a screeching noise that shook the entire battlefield, assaulting Lunet with sonic energy.

Wes grimaced, clutching his ears on instinct. But he didn't need to bother because Samarra was already hard at work suppressing his pain. She was far more invested in this fight than Wes could ever be, no matter how brainwashed he was.

This was about stopping her brother once and for all. Kanone was going to be a problem, he always was. He had locked her away (even if that was because of her father) and if he won here, then he was going to do it again.

Samarra couldn't allow that. She would never go back to that cage for as long as she lived.

"Typhlosion!" The flames on Bagun's back roared and the Fire type pokemon howled furiously. He'd been on the receiving end of a brutal earthquake and there was no way he could use an eruption of that caliber again. But that didn't mean he was out of options. He still had the boosts he'd inherited from Solaris after all, and there was a lot he could do with that.

His Blaziken is too fast to hit with a direct attack now, for whatever reason, Wes decided, narrowing his eyes. Which means our best bet is to use…

"Swift!" He ordered.

"Typhlosion!" Bagun raised his arms and a veil of stars appeared in front of him, glowing with energy. They spun like blades towards the Blaziken, racing across the battlefield to pierce Phoenix's feathered hide.

"So that's your plan, trying to get us with a move we can't dodge, huh?" Kanone frowned. "I should have expected as much. Fine, then! Phoenix, use focus energy!"

"Blaziken!" Phoenix nodded. He didn't even attempt to dodge the swift, because he knew it was impossible. The stars would follow him all across the battlefield. Instead he closed his eyes and focused his energy, concentrating on finding the weak points in his opponents' defenses.

The spinning stars cut into Phoenix and the Blaziken winced, but he didn't fall back. Kanone clenched his teeth and withstood the pain, doing quite well at not giving anything away. You didn't get to be a trainer of Kanone's caliber by showing weakness in the face of your opponent's attacks, no matter how much they might have stung.

"Megan!" Kanone shouted. "You know what to do!"

"Yanmega!" Megan continued the sonic assault with her bug buzz, trying to wear down Lunet's remaining health. The Umbreon might have had amazing special defenses but he wasn't invincible. Sooner or later his weakness to Bug type moves would overwhelm him, and this battle would be decided.

Wes would make sure Lunet could do as much damage as he could before that happened though.

"Lunet," he snarled, his eyes flashing with power as he directed his harmonia towards his Umbreon. "Use thunder wave."

Kanone was surprised. "Thunder wave?" He blinked. "Megan, watch out."

Electricity crackled across Lunet's fur, and the rings on his body began to glow. He dashed forward, moving swiftly across the rubble and grass to close the distance between himself and the Yanmega, but it was fruitless. Megan had just received too much of a boon from her Speed Boost, and with her ability to fly there was no way the thunder wave was getting to her.

But that was fine. Lunet had another target in mind anyway.

"Umbreon!" Lunet roared, releasing the stored-up electricity in a shockwave. The electrified pulse rolled across the battlefield towards Phoenix, who was still focusing his energy. Phoenix might have been fast as well, but he was standing still at the moment, which meant he couldn't evade the paralyzing power of the thunder wave.

"Blaziken!" Phoenix winced, feeling his muscles start to seize up. Kanone felt himself begin to twitch as well, like his body had just grown much heavier.

"That was a pretty good plan, I have to admit," he said, flashing a smile towards Wes. Wes didn't return it.

"Your Blaziken was moving unnaturally fast," Wes replied. "We needed to slow him down."

"Well of course he was," Kanone said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "That was Phoenix's Speed Boost. Most Blaziken have the Blaze ability, but not Phoenix. He's quite fast, you see, and with the same Speed Boost ability as Megan he can even keep pace with her."

Kanone flashed a bright smile. "Just one of the many ways my pokemon can give it their all. Don't worry, this paralysis is only a mild inconvenience."

Wes scowled. Coming from a trainer of Kanone's caliber that almost sounded like the truth. But it didn't matter. Now that he knew he was dealing with Speed Boost, he knew how to handle it. Soon enough Phoenix would get another speed increase, maybe even negating the benefits of paralysis.

Wes would have to take care of him before he could do that.

"Bagun!" He snarled, focusing his harmonia. His orders were clear.

"Typhlosion!" Bagun growled, his eyes flashing with psychic power. Phoenix's vulnerability hadn't changed in the slightest. And now that he was slowed from the paralysis, there was no way he'd be able to dodge this attack.

Not alone, anyway.

"Megan, use psychic!" Kanone shouted.

"Yanmega!" Megan nodded. Her eyes began to glow blue.

Then to everyone's shock, Phoenix started glowing as well.

"What?!" Wes sputtered in disbelief.

"Did Kanone just have his Yanmega… use psychic on her partner?!" Chloe was so stunned by that she actually shouted, forgetting all about trying to keep a low profile.

"Wow," Rafe laughed. "That's quite a bolt strategy! I like it!"

Using her psychic powers, Megan was able to pull Phoenix out of the path of the extrasensory. But it almost begged the question whether or not such a maneuver was even worth it.

"Why would you do something like that?" Wes snarled. "It's not like your Yanmega can just keep that attack from hurting your pokemon! Either way your Blaziken is taking damage!"

If there was one thing Wes couldn't stand it was trainers abusing their pokemon and using them like tools. He didn't get that feeling from Kanone Harker, but at the same time he couldn't deny the evidence of his own eyes.

"Phoenix knows that sometimes you've gotta take a hit if it means delivering an even more powerful counter in return," Kanone calmly explained. "And sure, maybe he's in pain, being hit by that psychic attack. I know I am."

Kanone's bond with Phoenix meant he was feeling all the damage the Fighting type pokemon was accumulating being under the effects of psychic.

But that was fine. That meant his plan was working perfectly. Phoenix was tough, the Blaziken would be able to withstand a little bit of pain of this magnitude.

Kanone's eyes flashed with harmonia, and just a little bit of excitement.

"This is a sacrifice Phoenix is more than happy to make, if it means getting to land a blow on your Umbreon! Isn't that right, Phoenix?

"Blaziken!" Phoenix roared in agreement as he was lifted off the ground once again with Megan's psychic powers.

"Oh, that's rather clever," Rafe mused, tapping his chin thoughtfully. "Since the paralysis has lowered Blaziken's speed, he's having his Yanmega use her psychic abilities to control his movements, since her speed is still as high as ever! It's quite a bold strategy to get around paralysis, I've gotta give him credit for that!"

He continued pondering.

"Hm. I wonder if I should bring up this possible combination with Callie, once she's recovered?" He wondered aloud.

Nobody said a word, collectively recognizing how poorly that "suggestion" would go over with Rafe's sister.

"Now go, Phoenix!" Kanone shouted, though really it was Megan he was giving the orders to. "Use your brick break attack!"

Like a puppeteer controlling their marionette, Megan used her psychic abilities to raise Phoenix's arm, while the pokemon himself closed a fist. Then she flung him forward like a rocket, carrying him across the field as fast her powers would allow.

"Umbreon?!" Lunet was stunned, not expecting his foe to be coming at him with this much speed. He'd thought he was safe from the Blaziken for a little while longer at least, thanks to the paralysis.

He was wrong.

"Blaziken!" Phoenix swung his fist with everything he had, even if it was Megan moving his body so the speed would match up to what he thought the attack should be striking with. He buried his claw into Lunet's snout and sent the Umbreon flying through the air.

"Urgh!" Wes clutched his nose as blood rolled down it. Strain from harmonia? Or was his nose as broken as his Umbreon's? He didn't have time to think about questions like that.

"Lunet!" He cried as pain blossomed through his skull. His Umbreon had just been on the receiving end of a devastating attack.

Lunet crashed to the ground, skidding to a stop at Wes's feet. He looked down at his wounded pokemon and didn't need his harmonia to tell him what he already knew.

He was out of the battle.

"…You did well," Wes said quietly, recalling Lunet to his pokeball. It was a pity to lose his Umbreon this early. But on the plus side, Kanone was still down one more pokemon, and his Blaziken had taken a decent chunk of damage from that little circus act with psychic.

Wes still had the advantage.

"Both of your Steel type pokemon are gone now," Wes growled. "Which means now is the perfect time for Solaris to make her comeback! Solaris! Go!"

"Espeon!" Solaris reemerged from her pokeball, eyes glowing with rage at the fate of her lifelong mate. The ruby on her forehead flashed with psychic power.

"Solaris is angry now," Wes warned. "This battle is just getting started."

Kanone agreed that was only too true.

Nice! Kanone managed to claw back some ground, but he's still in a precarious position! Just because he defeated Wes' Umbreon, that doesn't mean this battle is over just yet! He's still a pokemon short, after all. Will he be able to defeat the rest of Wes's team? It's definitely going to be an uphill battle if he keeps using reckless tactics like that psychic strategy, that's for sure. Let's see where things go from here!