I think we've spent enough time on getting people acquainted to the new semester on campus. Time to get the plot off to a bit of a start! Remember to review!

KedharS: I don't think this is any lower than what we've seen of her before.

Aquahaze675: It's definitely an idea worth exploring if you ask me.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 469

A new year… a new semester… Elaina placed her hand against the pane of her window, staring out at the snow-covered world before her. A world she couldn't reach with her hands, no matter how much she tried.

And still locked away in this cage…

With her hand pressed against the glass, she could feel that it was a representation of her situation. She couldn't reach out and grasp the world, she was hidden behind this window, forced to look out at a world that would never be hers.

"You could go out, you know," Gerard said, Elaina turning back to glance at him. He stepped up to stand behind her, placing his hand on the window beside hers. "There's nothing that says you have to remain trapped in your room."

Elaina dropped her hand and turned away from him, happy that her mask was hiding the pain on her face as she lied, "there's nothing out there for me. I don't need to see that world."

Gerard nodded his head, glancing out the window one final time before turning back, bidding her goodbye and heading out the door. While he could have stayed and comforted her, eased her anxieties, what she was feeling at the moment wasn't what he was concerned with right now. He had more important things on his mind, and Elaina clearly wasn't going anywhere.

Gerard had an appointment with an important individual. He had been given an offer right before winter break, and it was an offer he had spent a lot of time considering. Break had been long, and he had not fancied the notion of returning home and visiting his… family. Not that "mother" wanted anything to do with him anyway. So instead, he and Elaina had retired to one of his family's vacation homes out in Undella Bay, as far away from chattering of the "high class" society of Kalos. It had given him the time to think about what he was aiming for, and keep Elaina under his watch, to make sure that she wasn't wandering off somewhere and hurting herself or someone else.

It was a tough decision for him to make, but one that, ultimately, he found himself needing to make considering the position he was in.

So Gerard entered the Sandbox, looking far more confident than he felt. For once, the Sandbox was active, lots of students working on their own activities. Some were too deep in their projects to pay him any mind, but some glanced up, eyes widening in surprise at the sight of Gerard from the Eight Leaders walking through the workshop.

Gerard headed out of the large workspace and walked down the side halls, arriving at the door of the Phantom's office. He took a deep breath and knocked on the door, not used to feeling this uneasy. It was a feeling that really pissed him off. He was used to being in control; being the strongest person there was, acknowledged by everyone…

So having to ask for help, from someone like the Phantom, it made him feel not only sick to his stomach, but burning with furry.

"Come in."

Gerard pushed the door open and stepped inside to see Richard Valon sitting at his desk, typing away on a computer, with Misato Daisan standing beside him. There was another girl in the room as well, much to Gerard's surprise. He had expected this meeting to be private.

"Gerard Alkwest?" The girl asked, glancing up at him with a surprised look on her face. Gerard glanced at her. The girl peered back at him with hazel eyes that stood out against her tan skin. She was older, a Senior, Gerard guessed, and her straight shoulder-length black hair gave her a dignified air to go along with the composed and mature look on her face. The only thing to contradict the adult appearance was her uniform, and the cap she wore on her head.

"I see you've heard of me," Gerard smiled.

"Indeed," she nodded. "I made a decent bit of money off your battle with Kanone Harker last semester, you took quite the loss."

The smile slipped off Gerard's face.

"This is Lana Canley," Valon informed Gerard, gesturing to the other girl. "We were just discussing the topic of pokemon training. Would you care to lend your expertise?"

Gerard glanced at the armband the girl was wearing. It was red, like his, putting her in the Battle Course along with him. He didn't open his mouth to help, though, that was nothing that concerned him. He turned his attention back to the Phantom.

"So, tell me, is she going to be here the whole time?" Gerard asked, nodding to Lana. "I was expecting some privacy here, not a meeting with an outside observer like this."

"It's okay, my business with her is almost concluded," Valon said, smiling. He turned to Lana, and placed a pokeball on the desk. "Here it is."

Lana glanced at him, and didn't say a word, her eyes shifting to Gerard.

"It's fine, take it," Valon urged her. Lana nodded, taking the pokeball, and rising from her seat. She turned and left the office without another word.

As Lana walked down the hall, she thought back on the conversation a few moments before Gerard had stepped into the room.

"So is that right?" The Phantom had asked. "You lost to a Corviknight in Galar, if I remember correctly, and you want to train your pokemon to be stronger, right?"

"Yes. That's why I'm here," Lana agreed. "It's about… what we discussed before."

"That Chandelure, right?" The Phantom smiled. "The one I gave Caelia."

"It was strong," Lana said. "Strong enough to win. I was intrigued that a pokemon she had just obtained could fight with such power and dedication."

"Due to certain… training methods, I've raised pokemon to be far stronger than ones raised normally," Valon explained, omitting certain details about what these 'training methods' actually entailed. "And you're no stranger to raising pokemon with a certain degree of harshness."

Lana shook her head. Her own tactics for training pokemon would be frowned by some, but they were good at getting results.

"I think I have the perfect solution," Valon comforted her. "A Corviknight of your very own, raised to my exact specifications. The perfect pokemon for balancing out your party and ensuring your victory later on, don't you think?"

Lana paused, considering the offer. The Chandelure was strong, and the Corviknight that the archaeologist she had fought was certainly strong as well. Just as she was contemplating what she would choose, a knock on the door had drawn their attention, and Gerard had been welcomed in.

So this is my new pokemon, Lana thought, staring at the pokeball in her hand. She was confident that she had made the right choice, but she was still a little curious about what Gerard Alkwest of all people was doing here, considering his role on campus and his previous antagonism towards the Phantom and the other Daevas.

"So, Gerard, I'm glad you wanted to come here to speak with me," Valon said, giving him a professional smile oozing with politeness but absent any legitimate emotion. "I do so like helping out those who need my help. Now, I believe that the last time we met, we were discussing the possibility of you lending your flag to my organization?"

Gerard nodded. He took a seat in front of Valon's desk, staring into his eyes. He sat his backdown on the ground in front of him, reaching into it and withdrawing a pokeball from inside it, rolling it over in his hands. It was Diana's pokeball, a sparkling pink.

"The last time we spoke, you mentioned that you were good at giving people what they want," Gerard said, not trying to look too eager. It was an easy task to do, considering he wasn't all that eager to join up with the Phantom to begin with. But his goals were essential, and as loathe as he was to admit it, he had reached the limits of what he could accomplish with his own abilities, and needed to see what Richard Valon could do to increase his power.

Gerard clutched Diana's pokeball tightly, it felt cold in his hand. He had raised a legendary pokemon and sealed it away, unwilling to rely on her strength before. But victory was important. Right now, though, he wasn't very certain that even Diana would be enough. He had beaten Gabrielle, which had gotten a bit of his reputation back, but still! He wasn't getting the praise he knew he deserved, and what was even worse was the fact that Elaina seemed to be drifting away from him.

So it disgusted him, but what Valon had told him stuck in his mind.

"Come back if you like when you're done playing gym leader and want to actually get some real strength and respect around here, you just come pay me a visit, okay?"

Gerard wanted strength. He wanted respect. To get that, what he needed was power. Power that was unquestionable.

If that meant bowing and scraping to Richard Valon, snake that he was, to get it, then he would do it lower his head and kiss the ring. Valon was, what? Around for another semester, at most? But the power… that power that had nearly destroyed Elaina in battle, that overwhelming power of that Chandelure, was real, and that was permanent.

So Gerard nodded his head.

"I want to become stronger," he agreed. "You said before, that you could help me. That you could give me the strength to be a better trainer, one that is respected by everyone around me! If you can do that, then I'll do it," he snarled, "whatever it takes."

"…That's what I like to hear," Valon said, his eyes shining a sickly green as his lips curled up into malevolent smirk. "A man who knows what he wants."

Valon slowly rose from his seat like an Arbok uncoiling, extending a hand out to Gerard. Gerard willed himself to take it, but he couldn't bring himself to release Diana's pokeball, his hand stinging and hot. It was like Diana was telling him not to take the man's hand.

But he couldn't not do it.

"With the power I can offer you, Gerard, everyone will see you for the man you really are. Everyone will know what you're capable of, see you as strong. No, not just strong, but the strongest. And that's what's important to you, isn't it? Being the strongest. Strong enough so that you can prove to them all that they were wrong. So that you can prove to your mother that she was wrong. So that-"

Diana's pokeball slipped from Gerard's fingers and landed in his bag, his hand shooting up to take Valon's, shaking it in agreement. Anything to shut the man up.

"Then let's go," Valon said, releasing Gerard's hand and turning, nodding to him. He walked around the desk and out into the hallway, Misato following after him obediently the way she always did, walking out behind him.

While both of them were clearly expecting him to follow, Gerard still rooted in his seat. His hand felt so cold. But he willed himself to do it, picking up the backpack and slinging it over his shoulder, focusing only on what was in front of him, and the power he would make his. He couldn't have harmonia like Elaina did. And without it, he was certain that he would lose her, and not just her, but the respect of everyone around him. That was the reason he convinced himself he had just taken Valon's hand earlier for.

And that was the reason he was following the man out into the hall, turning away from the main workspace of the Sandbox and walking after him towards the elevators.

"Where are we going?" Gerard asked as he stepped into the elevator with Valon.

"To a part of the Sandbox that is a little more… private," Valon explained. "You see, the Sandbox was designed for people to use the space as they wished to work on research projects. But certain needs have warranted a little bit more discretion from the student body. So there's another level, beneath the… public level. Where more… 'forward thinking' students are free to pursue their own research endeavors."

The elevator came to a stop with a "ding".

"My lab is this way," Valon said, exiting first. Misato stepped out next, Gerard hot on their heels. The hall was sterile white, like the inside of the hospital, and so well-lit one could be expected to forget that they were underground.

Gerard didn't know why he was following Valon. Or, more specifically, why Valon was guiding him, considering he had only just agreed to their deal.

"I'm sure you must be wondering why I would show you my special projects so early in our partnership," Valon noted, picking up on Gerard's suspicions.

Gerard scowled, the snake was as perceptive as he'd heard.

"I am curious," Gerard admitted. "From the way you've been talking, I'm surprised you would trust me. As you said, I just decided to join you."

"Because you saw how magnificent that Chandelure performed under Caelia's control, isn't that so?" Valon asked. "I'm curious how you connected it to me."

"You're aware of my relationship with Elaina Bishop," Gerard reminded him. "After that match, after seeing… that pokemon, she was very… fragile. It was nothing at first, but as the days went on over break, the nature of that pokemon, the nightmares began to plague her dreams."

"Nightmares, hmm?" Valon murmured, taking a mental note of the effect on the girl. His suspicions on the nature of harmonia and its relationship with the Shadow Pokemon were growing more and more valid.

"What she described to me was sickening," Gerard said. "I made me feel… uneasy. But that power… I began to consider what it could be. Then, I did some research of my own. About another incident similar to this, in the Orre Region."

Gerard studied Valon's back to see if he would react to that. If he was bothered by it, it didn't show in his attitude, and Misato, of course, gave away nothing, odd girl that she was.

"Oh? Curious," Valon responded. A neutral response, that gave nothing away. Gerard took it as an invitation to continue.

"The articles I read, and believe me, they were hard to find, described a certain type of odd pokemon. Pokemon that were aggressive and violent, that attacked trainer and pokemon indiscriminately, with powers that were unnaturally strong. And they were being spread by this evil organization known as 'Cipher'. But the important part? Eyewitness testimony from an anonymous source described them as 'Shadow Pokemon' due to a particularly malevolent, dark aura emanating off of them."

"You've done quite a lot of research, then," Valon said, nodding, a light chuckle in his voice that gave Gerard chills. "And so you're thinking…"

"I doubt you're connected with Cipher," Gerard replied. "This was more than 20 years ago, after all. But there might be something else going on here…"

"And what might that be, I wonder?" Valon asked.

"You've figured out the process, right? On how to turn pokemon into these 'Shadow Pokemon'," Gerard accused him.

"…And that's what made you decide to come to me for help?" Valon asked. He stopped in front of a wide set of double doors at the end of the hall and turned back to Gerard, his eyes piercing the other boy.

"Those pokemon, are they as powerful as they say? As powerful as that Chandelure was?"

"I believe Elaina defeated that Chandelure," Valon reminded him. He was studying Gerard's expression, to see what his reaction to that was.

"And I don't think that's the end of your little project, is it?" Gerard asked. Valon smirked. He was quite clever.

"Tell me, Gerard, just how much DO you know about the Shadow Pokemon and Team Cipher?" Valon asked.

"Not a lot," Gerard admitted. "The articles didn't have a lot of specifics."

"So, based on your assumptions, you came to me, thinking that I could, what, give you some Shadow Pokemon to make your team stronger?" Valon continued to probe Gerard. He had a good sense of Gerard's motivations, and knew that, if he had done research on his own, he wasn't likely to be outing Valon to the school or anyone else.

But that wasn't the same thing as having the resolve to see things through.

"I'm just interested in getting stronger," Gerard replied. "Is that something you can help me with or not?"

"It is," Valon said, nodding. "That's why I brought you here, after all, to show you just what I've managed to achieve. If this works out well, you'll become one of my finest weapons. Just like how that girl of yours, Elaina, is a weapon, right?"

Gerard didn't answer that. He had something else he was curious about.

"…That's another thing," he replied, narrowing his eyes as he considered what Valon was saying. "Why would you show me something like this? If I was in your position, I would be afraid that you would out me to the campus officials, maybe even get me kicked out. Which, I mean, is what my duty as a member of the Eight Leaders would be, after all."

"You're so suspicious," Valon said, shaking his head, a smirk crossing his face. "There would be no benefit in that, after all. I've thought about all of this already. Certainly, you could kick me out of school, but what would that amount to? You would be a hero of sorts, but… then you would lose out on the power that I'm offering."

Valon looked expectantly at Gerard, his shining eyes daring him to disagree. Gerard couldn't. He nodded his head, admitting there was some truth to what Valon was saying. Even if he wanted to reveal the truth, it wouldn't improve his station.

"Then let's not wait any longer," Valon decided, clapping his hands together. His mood seemed to pick up pretty quickly. He turned and pushed the double doors open, and they walked deep into the underground lab.

Gerard wasn't sure what he expected to find when he entered the place, but the lab in front of him wasn't what he expected. It seemed so… normal. There were computers and machines that he didn't understand the use for, certainly, but, well…

It wasn't what he expected.

What he did notice, though, was a large amount of cages in the room, filled with pokemon. They were cages made of bars, however, but rather cages of solid glass. Stacked on top of one another, there was a bizarre sort of "wall" of pokemon.

Intrigued, Gerard stepped closer to the cages. As he did, he noticed two things. The pokemon inside had almost no room to move around in; the cages were clearly not up to the levels of care of the ones that were used in the Caretaking Course, the pokemon inside uncomfortable bordering on abuse. And the other detail was perhaps a byproduct of that.

The pokemon inside all had a crazed look in their eyes, bristling as he approached. It made him feel uneasy.

"These are Shadow Pokemon?" Gerard asked, glancing back at Valon.

"In-progress," Valon nodded. "The process of making Shadow Pokemon is a rather lengthy one at the moment."

"Can you explain it to me?" Gerard asked, glancing back at the pokemon. "Why are they so… aggressive-looking?"

"There are certain… aspects to the procedure that I won't go into detail here," Valon replied. He gave a reptilian smile. "But I can explain a part of the process. Just not the more… significant aspects in creating a Shadow Pokemon."

Gerard glanced at the pokemon in the cages. He could see burn scars, signs of malnutrition, all sorts of signs of abuse covering their bodies. It was clear that the process in creating a Shadow Pokemon was an agonizing one.

"It looks like torture," he murmured.

"I prefer to think of it as incentive," Valon replied. "We need to do something to close the hearts of these pokemon and turn them into Shadow Pokemon, after all."

Gerard stared at the pokemon in the cages and thought. It was a difficult thing for him to think about, looking at these pokemon. He wanted his team to become more powerful, but looking at what he would put them through…

He'd thought of his pokemon as tools to advance himself, but even he was beginning to have second thoughts now, of subjecting them to this. Even Diana… was the power really worth it?

"Let me… think about it," Gerard muttered.

So, will Gerard choose to do the right thing? Or will he decide to pursue power at all costs?