With everyone's formations assembled, we can finally begin the third round of the preliminaries! Who will emerge victorious, I wonder? What sort of strategies will we see? Is anyone hiding any secret weapons? This is going to be an intense free-for-all, so expect a lot of team-ups and interesting uses of pokemon and their abilities! Remember to review!
KedharS: I am also curious as to what strategies will prove successful. It should be interesting.
Tambry96bj: Her Corviknight is definitely a great pokemon, but using it in a situation like this is not a good decision, that's for sure.
Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings
Chapter 1300
Will took a deep breath to calm himself down. He was starting to worry. Frankly, he hadn't actually expected to make it into the third round of the preliminaries- after all, he wasn't exactly the kind of person someone would label a "star athlete".
But he was here. And now that he was here, he had to find some way to pull it off. The only problem was that, like in the first round, he didn't have very good pokemon to ride.
"Luna, go," he said. Like Julia, his Umbreon's name was Luna. Also like Julia, he wasn't quite small enough to ride on her back like Kitty.
He had a solution to that, though. Sort of. And that solution was Pixie, his Togetic, who he sent out next. Pixie was able to hold him up partially with the help of her wings, keeping him from putting too much strain on Luna. And finally, his last pokemon would also be helpful in regards to that- Agni and Rudra, his Doublade, circled their tassels around him while they floated, keeping him upright even better. It was an awkward formation to say the least, and he doubted he had the physicality to pull it off. But it enabled him to stay active at least.
"Will's kinda struggling here, huh?" Nikita sighed.
"Well, what can you do?" Callie shrugged. "His pokemon just aren't suited for it. I'm more curious about that other girl, though."
Nikita turned to her, confused. "Other girl? What other girl?"
"That one, down there," Callie said, pointing to a certain curly-haired brunette with sparkling green eyes. "Her name is Andrea, but she goes by Andy."
"Oh, is she a friend of yours?" Nikita asked.
"No. I've never met her before. But I make a point of memorizing the names and faces of every girl in Nick's classes."
Nikita stared at Callie in shock, not sure what to say to that.
"I couldn't tell from her student ID, but looking at her down there, she's definitely familiar," Callie muttered, squinting. "Where have I seen her before…"
Andy wore a cheerful smile on her face as the clock counted down. She needed to make her move soon, and so she did. Stepping back, she elegantly flicked a pokeball perfectly up into the air. It burst open in a flash of light.
"Come out, Ace!" She called.
"Ambipom!" Andy's Ambipom landed in the dirt, flexing his tail muscles. The simian pokemon skipped around her as she fished out two more pokeballs.
"Oh, an Ambipom? That's an interesting choice," Nikita noted.
"Andrea… and an Ambipom…" Callie was lost in thought, trying to pull at some distant memory. Then she gasped. She sprung out of her seat and grabbed the railing, her eyes wide. "The Future Cup!"
Everyone looked at her like she was crazy.
"…What's the Future Cup?" Raizer asked.
"Some sort of pokemon tournament, is it?" Alcea guessed.
Callie shook her head, sitting back down. Her face was stark white.
"It's not a tournament," she said. "Okay, well, it IS a tournament, but not the kind you're thinking of. It's not about pokemon battles."
"…What kind of tournament is it, then?" Nikita asked.
"Tennis."
Again, everyone stared at Callie.
"Tennis?" Elaina raised her eyebrow.
"It's a special tournament they hold in the Paldea Region," Callie said. "It's doubles tennis, played between trainers and their pokemon. My mom made me watch videos of it back when my brother and I- err, never mind. But it requires a lot of teamwork and coordination to work with a pokemon. It's one of the events that served as a predecessor to the Pokeathlon."
"So what does that have to do with her?" Raizer asked, still confused.
Callie fished out her phone and searched up the information, confirming her suspicions. She groaned. "I knew it. Look. The winner of last year's Future Cup Women's League was a girl named Andrea Rollins and her Ambipom. She won the whole thing! In middle school! A middle school girl won the women's league of the Future Cup, which is open to even adults!"
Alcea frowned. "So she's rather talented, is it?"
"Talented doesn't even begin to cover it," Callie groaned. "After her victory, everyone assumed that she was going to enroll in Paldea's prestigious academy to continue training her abilities, but she didn't. Instead, she said she was going to school overseas, so she could learn from her idol."
"I've heard of Paldea's schools," Alcea murmured thoughtfully. "To think she'd give up a chance to go to school in her home region, in order to come to the Pokemon Academy…"
"I didn't see this coming at all," Callie said, shaking her head. "So far she's been flying totally under the radar and hasn't joined any of the school's sports teams, so I had no idea. But if she's capable of winning a massive tournament like the Future Cup… we might be looking at a genuine dark horse for this tournament."
"Heath, go!" Andy sent out her second pokemon, a massive Rhyperior. The hulking pokemon let out a roar, and his footsteps shook the stadium. Andy climbed up onto his back and Ace used the power of her tails to fling himself up as well, clutching onto Andy from behind.
"And finally… Silk!" Andy's third pokemon gave Lila the shivers.
"Oohgh, what is that?!" She winced, grossed out by the bug.
"Spidops," Silk hissed. The Bug type pokemon was a spider, though it looked slightly different than one would expect compared to an Ariados or a Galvantula. Her eight legs were held together in pairs, making it look like she only had four, and she stood upright, on the back four of them. She quickly scurried up the side of Andy's Rhyperior, hanging onto his arm.
"What do you think, Blake?" Andy called over to him. "You're not the only one who saw the brilliant combination of spiders and rocks!"
She laughed at her own joke, but Blake wasn't that amused. He liked Andy just fine, but right now his focus was on winning.
Leanne kept her attention on the clock. The last seconds had just finished counting down.
"BEGIN!" She announced, and everyone went wild.
The pokemon groups that could fly took into the air, looking for the best vantage points to strike from. At the same time, the trainers remaining on the ground tried to carve out whatever territory they could find.
"Ruru! Use sticky web!" Blake ordered.
"Galvantula!" Ruru spat thick webbing that covered the area around her, threatening to slow down any pokemon that set foot on it. But she wasn't hindered. She scurried forward with Blake on her back, moving at incredible speed considering she was basically dragging a huge boulder attached to her hind section.
"Whoa, your Galvantula's really something," Andy whistled. "How's she moving that fast with your Boldore?"
Blake smirked. "I have Cynthia to thank for that," he said, nodding to his friend. Cynthia had just avoided someone trying to grab her headband.
"Me? Really?" She asked curiously.
"She uses items in battle a lot," Blake explained. "So I looked to see if there were any items I could find that might help our performance in this match."
"Oh? And did you?" Cynthia asked. Tristan stood at the edge of Ruru's spider web trap, not daring to step foot in it. But she was still looking for an opportunity to knock Blake out early.
Blake nodded. "It's called a Float Stone. Because of its unique levitating field, it halves the weight of any pokemon carrying one. So I gave it to Rogen, dropping his weight to only 112.45 pounds!"
Andy whistled again. "That's pretty light," she agreed.
"Tara, grab her headband!" Blake ordered. "Use vine whip!"
"Snivy!" Tara whipped her vine forward, aiming for Andy's head. But Silk crawled up in front of her and held her legs open, weaving together a net from her threads that got Tara's vines all tangled up.
"Silk's threads are flexible, but they're as strong as steel wire," Andy bragged. She narrowed her eyes, and Blake felt a chill as her entire aura changed. "I'm glad you noticed how important the use of items is, Blake! I couldn't agree more. Lend us a hand, Silk!"
"Spidops," Silk nodded, and began weaving again. This time, though, the net she wove was much smaller. Her strings curved, bending together as she combined them with tree branches, and in a second she formed a familiar shape.
"Is that a tennis racket?" Cynthia asked, confused.
Andy's eyes sparkled dangerously. "Ace! It's on you, bud!" She tossed the racket into the air, where her Ambipom was quick to grab it in his tail. "Now Heath! Service!"
"Rhyperior!" The bulky Rhyperior held up his hand towards the sky and flexed his muscles. A large rock shot out of the cavity in his hand. Like lightning Ace swung his racket and struck the stone. The string of his racket hardly even bent as he rocketed the boulder straight at the ground.
"Gal!" Ruru just barely scurried out of the way as the stone shattered the ground beneath her feet, tearing through her webbing.
"Hiyahoo!" Andy cheered. "Nice shot, Ace! But that's only good for a warm-up. We'll bring the real heat with the next one!"
"Ambipom!" Ace nodded in agreement. Heath fired several more stones up into the air and Ace swung at each of them with his tail's lightning-fast movements, raining stones down upon Blake and his pokemon.
"Rogen, use protect!" Blake ordered. Rogen created a barrier of brown light around Blake and his team, giving them just enough protection from the brutal onslaught.
"That can't be allowed, right?!" Lila exclaimed. "She's gonna murder him!"
"Eh… it's within the boundaries, I guess…" Darla shrugged, not sure what else to say.
"Andrea Rollins and her pokemon are masters of dexterity," Leanne said calmly. "If she means to hit Blake, then she would. I'd say she's trying to scare him off. Or more likely, she's showing off."
"Wow, that's amazing…" Lila stared in admiration at the Ambipom's frightening volley. Andy had masterfully combined Silk's sturdy webs, Heath's strong rock attacks, and the power and precision of Ace's tail in a brutal assault.
"She might be overdoing it a little," Leanne admitted. "But coordination like that is expected from a Pokeathlete. That girl knows everything her pokemon are capable of and selected this team specifically for this preliminary round. Knowing the strengths and capabilities of your pokemon is essential in whatever field you choose to enter, so long as pokemon play a role. Andrea is demonstrating that right now."
Callie was just as awestruck. "No wonder she won the Future Cup with her Ambipom, that pokemon is a beast!"
"Blake can't do anything," Elaina said, amazed. Ace's attacks were coming too fast for him to even prepare a counter.
"This is my court now, Blake!" Andy cackled as Heath lined up more shots for Ace to smack down. "Best scurry away if you want to make it out of the preliminaries!"
She's right, Blake acknowledged. I don't have to stay here and fight it out with her. There are other people to challenge, and really, even if I don't take a single headband, as long as I can defend myself, then I'll make it to the next round.
But he didn't want to do that.
If I back down here, then it's like I'm running away. I came here to show my best, so I'm not going to run just because I'm feeling pressured!
"Not bad, he's standing is ground," Kanone noted. "That's good. Just as I expected from my reckless fool of a brother."
"Reckless fool doesn't begin to cover it!" Nikita groaned. "This is crazy! What is he doing!?"
"He's challenging himself in a new environment," Alcea answered. "Putting himself on the line with his pokemon."
"Yeah, that's the spirit!" Raizer cheered. "I'm getting super-charged watching this!"
"Until now, Blake's battles have been the type where he orders his pokemon to fight for him," Kanone said. "He rarely if ever stood on the front lines himself and put his own health at risk. …At least, I assume that's the case." He laughed sheepishly. "I'm not sure what kind of reckless things my little brother gets up to, honestly."
Elaina blushed. She could think of at least one time when Blake had put himself in harms' way.
"Even so… a competition like this where Blake is risking as much as his pokemon doesn't come around often," Kanone continued. "It's perfect to test his growth, and he's not going to give up."
Rogen's protective barrier dropped, and with it went Blake's last line of defense. The second it fell, though, a ball of electricity flew towards Andy.
"Shooting back at me from under cover like that? Talk about bold!" Andy was amazed at his brazenness. "But you played a bad hand!"
The electro ball shook erratically and then changed course, spinning towards Heath. It struck the Rhyperior's horn, and Heath let out a roar.
"Lightningrod draws in an nullifies Electric type attacks," Darla explained. "Something like that isn't going to work."
"Now, for our return fire!" Andy cheered. "Service-"
"Spidops!" Silk suddenly raised his arms in front of Ace, obstructing the Ambipom's shot. She wove together a thick curtain, and just in time, too, because a barrage of seeds aimed at Ace's face bounced off the curtain.
"What the-?!" Andy whirled around to see Cynthia's smirking face. She clung to Tristan with a grin.
"What's the matter? Didn't see that one coming?" The redhead cackled. "I'm not going to let you take shots at my boy all day you know!"
"Thanks, but I didn't need your help," Blake scowled.
"The holes in the ground around your pokemon say otherwise," Cynthia shrugged. "Now come on, little miss tennis pro! Let's see how you can match someone with real firepower! Tristan, send a seed bomb their way! Right at her Rhyperior's feet!"
"Breloom!" Tristan took a deep breath and spat a massive seed at Heath, trying to knock the Rhyperior off his balance. If Heath fell, then the formation would absolutely break.
"Silk! Use silk trap!" Andy ordered. Silk wrapped a thread around Heath's horn and lowered herself quickly to the ground, still technically connected to the Rhyperior within the boundaries of the rules. There, she was able to weave together a quick web that captured the seed, sewing it up tight before it could explode.
Then she flung the silk trap up into the air, and Ace smashed it right at Cynthia.
"Uh… crap." That was the last thing Cynthia could get out before the silk trap exploded. When the smoke cleared, she was nowhere to be seen.
"Cynthia!" Blake cried.
"Um, shit!" Andy hadn't expected that. "I-I didn't mean to-"
"Tristan! Mach punch!"
Andy whirled around to see Cynthia and her Breloom charging at her from the other direction.
"How the hell-?!"
Andy didn't have time to answer that because Tristan slammed his fist into Heath's stomach, hitting the Rhyperior with a powerful punch. Unfortunately not powerful enough, because the Rhyperior didn't fall over.
"Silk, use spider web! Trip her up!" Andy ordered.
"Spidops!" Silk spat webbing at Cynthia and her pokemon, but Cynthia smirked.
"Rose!"
Before the webs could hit, Rose's eyes flashed and she used teleport, disappearing along with the rest of Cynthia's formation.
"So that's how she avoided the explosion!" Lila gasped.
"Whoa, I didn't even think of that!" Darla's jaw dropped. "Using teleport to move your entire formation around the battlefield like that?!"
"A brilliant strategy if I do say so myself!" Cynthia cackled. "Well? Give up yet?"
Andy had to admit, Cynthia had her cornered.
"You win this round," she nodded. "Heath! Use stealth rock to cover our retreat!"
"Rhyperior!" Heath fired several sharp stones into the air, which floated around them in a wall that allowed Andy some room for her pokemon to storm away.
Cynthia could have chased after her if she wanted to, but that wasn't her goal. No, she'd only chased off Andy so she could have Blake all to herself.
"Right now, our record stands at 2-1, in your favor," she hissed, staring at Blake with pure desire. And not the kind of desire she usually stared at people with.
"You beat me in our first match, then I beat you in the Fall Festival Tournament, then you and Elaina beat me again in the Winter Tag Tournament," Cynthia recounted. "But now I will have my revenge by personally eliminating you from the Pokeathlon Competition!"
She cackled like a lunatic, enjoying the feeling of being a villain far too much, clearly.
"This isn't even a pokemon battle!" Blake protested. "It doesn't count!"
"It absolutely counts!" Cynthia snapped. "Whatever! Tristan, after them!"
"Shit!" Blake hadn't wanted to retreat against Andy, but this was an entirely separate matter. Getting in a ridiculous spat with Cynthia wasn't going to be a test for him, it would just be annoying.
Then he gasped, and his eyes went wide. "Whoa! Shit! That attack just tore Serefina's shirt off!"
"Wait, what?!" Cynthia tugged on Tristan to turn around and get a closer look.
Serefina was fending off another trainer, and doing it well thanks to her Sirfetch'ds shield and sword tactics.
And her shirt was very much intact.
When Cynthia turned around again, Blake was nowhere to be seen.
"OH COME ON!" She groaned. "You can't do that! It's not fair! Cheater!"
She was going to go after him again, but two trainers got in her way. They were fighting each other with everything they had, completely distracting her from where Blake had run off to.
Irritated, Cynthia spat in the dirt. She'd have to find someone else to hunt for now.
So she stared with the two trainers who had gotten in her way.
"This is really something, huh?" Callie fanned herself. Her focus was on Nick the entire time. He was managing to do pretty good.
"I didn't expect I'd be this drawn in when it came to sports stuff," Nikita admitted. "But it's really fun! I'm so excited!"
Elaina nodded thoughtfully. She wished that she could do something fun like this with her pokemon.
The third round of the preliminaries has gotten off to a great start! We've definitely got some powerhouses here! But how are the other trainers doing? Who will be the last 16 students to survive and make it to the next round? And will Blake manage to get through to Ayame? That was the whole point of this, after all, but it seems like everyone's distracting him from the main goal!