Those of you who are fans of my realistic pokemon battles, you aren't going to like this one, I'm gonna let you all know from the jump. But this story has harmonia in it, so more BS isn't gonna kill it or anything.

Just a Bad Writer for Fun: Well, there's definitely a chance. But Mirar's really gonna want a look at how Cynthia works, or more specifically, how she thinks on her feet.

Pokemonking0924: Yup, the conflict is coming to a head. This is another look at the next of the Eight Leaders we'll be focusing on.

Duskzilla: It could happen, she can definitely catch new pokemon at some point. Anything in particular?

KedharS: That's a bit more emotive than Mirar tends to be. He's much more of a blank, emotionless slate.

Superblal: Thanks for your kind words! I look forward to this chapter destroying all the good will I just built with a nice, fresh truckload of bullcrap.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 85

There was a small stadium on the first floor of the building where the various clubrooms were located, presumably for the purpose training or matches. That was where Cynthia was preparing for her coming battle, the others waiting on the sidelines.

"Akira, do you know anything about Mirar?" Blake asked. "I mean, the Eight Leaders are pretty famous, is there anything she can expect?"

Akira was silent, and answered with a brief shake of the head.

"I know about most of the Eight Leaders, but Mirar… all I know about him is that he hasn't even once fought in any official tournament."

"Seriously?" Julia asked. "I thought the Eight Leaders are, like, the eight best trainers in school! He's a member even though he doesn't like competing in school tournaments?"

"It's not that he doesn't want to… it's that he can't." Everyone turned to see Dakota eavesdropping on them.

"Spying as usual, eh?" Akira asked.

"How rude," Dakota huffed. "And here I was, being nice and planning to give you guys some advice."

"If you wanted to be nice you'd just tell us what we want to know in the first place," Akira said, frowning.

Dakota scowled.

"What do you mean 'he can't'?" Blake asked, narrowing his eyes in suspicion.

"Mirar… he only has one-"

"That's enough, Dakota," Mirar entered the stadium just as Dakota began to speak, cutting her off with a sharp interjection.

"Oh… sorry, boss," Dakota said, looking down.

"You spill things too easily, you know," Mirar said. "A good reporter should know when to sit on something for the good of everyone around them."

"Hmmph," Dakota huffed, sitting down on one of the benches beside the arena. "I think you should just tell everybody everything. Freedom of information, you know! Secrets are no good!"

"…That right…" Mirar said. He leaned in close and whispered into her ear, "then I can go ahead and tell Akira about your little secret, then?"

Dakota's eyes widened and her face turned bright red.

"Sh-shush! Th-there's nothing, I- I'm over that already! I don't like… shut up!" Dakota panted, glaring angrily at Mirar, who stepped back, his point made.

Mirar stepped past the others and confronted Cynthia, who was already standing on the fighters' box, tapping her foot impatiently.

"As I said before, we'll each use one pokemon," Mirar said, Cynthia nodding in agreement.

"You bet! Tristan and I can take on whatever you can throw at us!"

"Cynthia, you're still relying on your Breloom?" Akira asked. "Are you sure he's had enough time to rest?"

"He'll be fine! He had a super-good night's sleep, besides, he's my strongest fighter after all!"

"…And what about that stuff I said about training up your other pokemon and building together a balanced team?"

Cynthia shrugged, smiling widely, shaking her head. Akira pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration.

"Fine…" Akira sat down next to Dakota, who scooted away from him in protest, the others sitting down on the bench to watch the fight.

"Okay, Tristan! Go!" Cynthia said, sending out her Breloom. "Bring it on, Mirar!"

Mirar stepped into place across from her and inhaled, closing his eyes. His body relaxed and he opened his eyes, and became an entirely new person.

"Yeah! You got it, Cynthia! Let's do this!" He called out, smiling.

"Wha-" Cynthia said, confused.

"The dude's totally different," Julia said. "He's got, like… a different air."

"Even his movements seem more energized," Reiner noted, "almost like…"

"Go! Mimi!" Mirar said, throwing out a pokeball. From the pokeball emerged a small, pink blob of a pokemon, its translucent body and dim expression shining in the stadium light. It only remained in place for a moment, before its body began to shift and grow, radiating pink light as it turned into a precise copy of Tristan.

"What the heck?! You have a Breloom too?" Cynthia asked. "Wait, no, that's not…"

"Ditto," Akira said. "Ditto is a special pokemon, one that can turn into any pokemon."

"You got that right, Akira!" Mirar said, nodding. "Mimi's quite special! They can turn into anyone! Now, show 'em what you can do, Mimi!"

"Bre!" Mimi said, nodding.

"Tristan, take down that phony! Use mach punch!" Cynthia said.

"Mimi, take him down! Use mach punch!" Mirar said at the same time.

Both Brelooms charged at one another, raising their fists. Each attack struck the other pokemon's face, knocking them both backwards.

"Tristan, bullet seed!"

"Mimi, bullet seed!"

Both trainers shouted their attacks simultaneously again. Both Breloom opened their mouths and fired a barrage of seeds, the seeds striking each other in the air and detonating in a chain of small explosions.

"Now, charge in with headbutt!" Cynthia ordered. Tristan ran in through the smoke and lowered his head, crashing into Mimi, who had also lowered his head in a headbutt, perfectly mimicking Tristan's. The two pokemon butted heads with each other, trying to force the other back, but neither one gave an inch as they struggled with the same attacking power.

"Don't give in, Mimi! Push through!" Mirar shouted.

"That's my line! Give it all you got, Tristan!" Cynthia shouted.

"They're evenly matched…" Blake said, frowning. "But this whole fight… it's strange."

"Isn't that how it's supposed to work, though?" Nick asked. "I mean, that Ditto is copying that Breloom, so they should both be the same, right?"

"No, Blake's right," Akira said. "It is strange. When it comes to a fight where both trainers are using identical pokemon, then it comes down to which one is the better trainer. Cynthia has been training that Breloom from the start, but Mirar… he's matching her, even though his Breloom is just a copy. It's still like he's fought with one for years."

"…Well, yeah," Dakota said, the others looking her way in confusion. Dakota looked back at him, equally confused.

"…What?"

"What do you mean 'yeah'?" Akira asked.

"I tried to say before… Mirar, he only has one pokemon, that Ditto of his…" Dakota explained. "But it's just… he's… well, just watch. And you'll see it yourself."

"Take him down!" Both trainers shouted. Their Brelooms swung their tails at each other to break the headbutt lock, the two tails striking each other. They both jumped back.

"Look at his body language, the way he's talking," Dakota continued.

"Seed bomb!" Cynthia shouted.

"Seed bomb!" Mirar shouted.

The two pokemon fired a large cluster of seeds into the air, exploding in a barrage that rained down over the battlefield. Both Breloom evaded the falling seeds with speed and charged at each other, both using mach punch attacks that collided with one another in a shockwave.

"Yeah! Way to go, Mimi!" Mirar cheered. "Take him down!"

"Go for it, Tristan!" Cynthia cheered. "Take him down!"

"Bre!" Both Breloom nodded, swinging their tails again and hitting each other in the face with powerful counter attacks, knocking each other backwards.

"They're exactly the same," Reiner gasped.

"Huh?" Julia asked.

"Look," Reiner said. "He's copying Cynthia exactly. Not just her orders, but he's copying the way she acts. Her confrontational, direct attitude and her passion and fun spirit in battle, can't you guys tell?"

"I picked up on that too," Blake nodded.

"But if he's just copying her, then how can he-" Kitty's confusion was cut off by Akira's estimation of what they were seeing.

"He's not copying her. He can't be," Akira said, frowning. "He's doing the same thing she is, at the exact same time. That's not just copying, it can't be. It's not like she's doing something and then he does it too, after all."

"But how is that possible?" Kitty asked. "Is he… reading her mind or something? Or seeing the future?"

"I don't know," Akira said, shaking his head. "But whatever it is… it's working."

He nodded to the battlefield, where Tristan and Mimi were attacking each other in perfect symmetry, firing their own moves back on one another. Both pokemon were dealing damage with their prolonged attacks, but neither appeared to be decisively ahead of the other.

"'Reading her mind' sums it up pretty well," Dakota murmured. "…Or something."

"What do you mean?" Akira asked. "Spill it, red."

"Right now… Mirar, well… he is Cynthia," Dakota's "explanation" wasn't making a whole lot of sense.

"Look, it's like this," Dakota said, rubbing her temples. "Remember the applications everyone had to fill out to come to this school?"

Blake vaguely remembered something like that, and nodded.

"It had everything, essays, a taped interview, a whole ton of stuff, and, well…"

"Mirar… has access to the stuff?" Akira asked, slowly putting the pieces together.

Dakota nodded.

"Yeah. And that's not all." She pointed up to where a camera was recording the battle. "Every match fought on campus is taped. Whether it's on official stadiums or just some battle in the fields, everywhere on campus is taped. For security purposes, you know? He also has access to the footage. Apparently, he serves as a consultant with campus safety."

"I remember hearing something about campus safety having a student consultant," Sango nodded, frowning.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Nick asked, still totally lost.

"Normally it doesn't matter that so much stuff is taped. It all just kind of gets shelved, or deleted. But Mirar… he watches all of that."

"Impossible," Akira said, shaking his head. "This campus is enormous. That would be countless hours of footage. No way can anyone watch all of it."

"I would agree with you," Dakota said, nodding. "But that guy… he can. He's… he's not normal. It's his eyes."

"What, does he have a sharingan or something?" Reiner snorted. Dakota rolled her eyes, but her expression remained troubled.

"That guy… I saw him once watching a video sped up to the point it was a blur. And it didn't even seem to faze him. His eyes… he can pick up an unbelievable amount of information when he's focusing. And he can remember all of it. Or at least… store it, I guess? Watching all of our battles, how we interact with one another, picking up mannerisms and personality ticks… and just holding it until he needs to use it. I said it already. That guy… he's incredibly shady and creepy."

Kitty felt a shiver run up her spine.

"So you're saying…" Blake said slowly, understanding what Dakota was saying, "that he's basically formed a complete profile of Cynthia based on her interviews, essays, and battling history, and used that to… what? Become her?"

Dakota nodded.

"Normally Mirar is just… not even there. But when he… 'gets into character' it's practically the only time I've ever seen him have an emotion. But it's not real. It's… like a performance."

Dakota was shivering too.

"Like I said. Unbelievably shady."

"Then… how does Cynthia win?" Kitty asked quietly.

"She doesn't," Reiner said, frowning.

"Hey, have a little faith, geez!" Sango said, frowning.

"It's not about that," Julia stepped in on Reiner's behalf, shaking her head. "I hate to admit it… but he's right. If Dakota's right, Reiner really isn't copying her. He's simply 'being' Cynthia in the moment, thinking the way she would think, acting the way she would act. We aren't looking at one of the Eight Leaders right now, this battle is essentially Cynthia vs. Cynthia. Both pokemon are identical, and both trainers fight in the exact same way. You CAN'T win a match like this, neither one of them."

"You're really annoying!" Cynthia shouted. "Stop copying me!"

"You're the one copying me!" Mirar lied. "I'm just fighting all out! If you don't like it, then why don't you give it your best, huh?"

"I am giving it my best! But you're just… rrrgh! Fine! I don't care! Tristan! Take him down with a sky uppercut!"

Tristan ran forward as Mimi did the same, both pokemon swinging powerful blows up into each other's jaw. The two pokemon fell backward, sprawled on the ground, injured from their attacks.

"Do you understand yet?" Suddenly, Mirar's entire attitude changed, his body slackening and his smile disappearing. "You can't win. Give up."

"That's the difference between a copy and the real thing!" Cynthia said, frowning. "The real me would never give up, not in a million years! She's gonna do her best and keep fighting until she wins! I mean, until I win! Whatever!"

"To beat me you have to be better than yourself," Mirar said calmly. "Can you actually win against yourself?"

"I'll show you I can!" Cynthia said, frowning.

"That's the spirit!" Mirar grinned, becoming "Cynthia" once more. "Let's not hear any talk about giving up! Let's do our best, Cynthia! We're going to give it our all! Mimi!"

"Tristan!"

Both Breloom stood up, panting.

"Cynthia talks a good game, but there's no way she can win," Dakota said, shaking her head.

"But he can't win either," Akira reminded her. "They're both totally equal."

Dakota shook her head.

"I thought you knew better than that, Akira. They're both thinking the same way, their pokemon are identical in power… but Mirar has years of battling experience that Cynthia doesn't. You know full well what combat experience means."

Akira frowned, getting her point.

"In nearly every fight I've seen under these conditions… Mirar has won with only a sliver of health remaining." Dakota continued, "the only reason he isn't higher in the rankings among the Eight Leaders is probably because he only has one pokemon. He can't actually fight any of them on even ground. But if they're each only using one pokemon… I think, only one of them might be able to win. In fact, I've only seen one of them win."

"I think… we should believe in Cynthia," Kitty said, shaking her head. "She hasn't given up yet, either."

"That's the spirit," Sango said, smiling, patting Kitty on the head. "That stubborn girl won't give up unless Mirar drags a victory out of her kicking and screaming. He might have fought a lot more battles than her, but when it comes to guts, Cynthia's got the edge for sure."

This guy's the most annoying person I've ever fought, Cynthia thought, biting her lip. He's not really doing anything, he's just copying me! This isn't like a real fight at all! Every time I try something, he's thought of it first! He must have really studied up on me…

"Should I be flattered?" Cynthia asked. "You must have been studying me pretty damn closely!"

"Nah, not that much," Mirar laughed. "I just like knowing a lot about folks, you know? You know you, Cynthia, you're the sort who doesn't go into a fight without a solid game plan!"

"So you copy all the cute girls then?" Cynthia laughed. "Wow, you're an even bigger stalker than your flunky."

"I'm not a flunky!" Dakota exclaimed.

"No objection to the 'stalker' bit, though," Akira dryly retorted.

"My records are pretty darn thorough, that's for sure," Mirar agreed. "Cynthia Fafnir. Age: 15. Gender: Female. Sexual Orientation: Bisexual. Year: Freshman. Home Region: Hoenn. Height:-"

"I GOT IT!" Cynthia exclaimed, cutting him off. "What, you gonna go through my three sizes next?"

"Well, starting with chest-"

"ENOUGH!"

Tristan charged at Mimi, raising his fist, which was met with a mach punch attack of his own.

"So why the copying, then? Don't have any self-respect as a trainer?" Cynthia asked. "And to think you're one of the Eight Leaders, I'm honestly kind of sickened."

"Well, that's rich, coming from you," Mirar huffed. "It's strategy! Sure, I could use different moves than yours to win, but that's no fun! A real trainer fights all out! So the same way that you're fighting all out, I'm gonna fight all out! Because if I do something different, well, that's no fun! Then we don't get to see which one of us is better! Think of it… like a test! Although, you really do hate tests, so maybe it's not the best idea? Oh, well, no use thinking about it! Let's just do it!"

So he's really gonna keep up this copying shtick until the end, eh? Cynthia thought. Well, if his whole thing is using exactly the move he thinks I would use in this situation, then all I have to do is use something other than what I would normally use! He won't be able to see that coming, and I'll get him by surprise!

A smile crept up Cynthia's face and she leered victoriously at Mirar.

"Go, Tristan! Mega drain!"

"Mimi! Mega drain!"

Both Tristan and Mimi began glowing green, sapping away energy from their opponent. This resulted in neither one's health changing in any significant way whatsoever.

"Hey, what's the big idea?!" Cytnhia exclaimed.

"Well, I mean, what were you expecting," Mirar laughed. "We both knew that the smartest move in this situation was to use seed bomb to lower the maneuverability of our opponent so we could get in close, but since you're just going to do the most optimal strategy, the only way I could get ahead was if I mixed things up a bit and went with a move that no one would see coming!"

Mirar laughed and Cynthia fumed.

"He predicted what she was going to do completely," Julia scowled.

"I told you, it's not about just copying her, he's thinking exactly how she would think," Dakota said. "Whenever Cynthia decides to think outside of the box and act in a way that Mirar won't be able to predict, Mirar's already arrived at that conclusion himself. As long as Mirar can keep thinking like Cynthia, he'll keep mirroring her until they both run out of stamina. It would be one thing if Cynthia was a scheme-y, secretive person, then she might be able to plausibly obscure his performance. But someone who wears their emotions on their sleeve like her…"

"I guess it would be pretty easy to think like her," Akira agreed. "She might be clever, but she's still fairly straightforward. But still, to think that he could mimic not only her… but as many people as you say… and copy them so flawlessly that he can just win like that? It's nuts."

"Cynthia will fight like Cynthia until the end," Dakota said, frowning. "And Mirar will fight like Cynthia too. And when it comes right down to the wire, when they're both at the very end of their ropes, Mirar will go back to being himself and perfectly counter the final move he knows Cynthia will make. That's how this ends. That's how it always ends."

"We're running out of energy, Cynthia," Mirar said, frowning. "We've only got a little more left in us. From what I gather… your Breloom is pretty weakened. And Mimi is just as bad. It seems that we've only got enough in us for one more, eh?"

"…" Cynthia glared at Mirar. There's only one shot. One way to win. It's a gamble… but nothing else has worked, either. He knows we're both weak. I can't drag this out much longer. If I try to outthink him, he's already there. But still… if I use what I would normally use… mach punch… to try and finish him off, he'll definitely do the same. And if he does, we both faint. A draw? Is that how this is going to end?

Cynthia closed her eyes to think.

"He's not attacking?" Akira said, frowning. "Why not go in when she's not even paying attention?"

"He probably wants to see what she's gonna do," Dakota said. "He's probably thinking things through, same as her, and wants to see what conclusion she's come up with."

It's like I can feel him probing in my head. He's thinking the exact same thing, probably. The safest move is to force the draw. Even if he uses mach punch back, then we both faint. But if he doesn't, then Tristan's speed will give me the upper hand. But I know he will. But if he's worried about me using something else… if he tries to copy this, instead, then we both could still lose… but it's the only shot I have at winning. Just a sliver… a real gamble… or I could take the safe route, and draw with mach punch…

"You ready yet?" Mirar smiled. "I'm super-excited! I just came up with something great, and I want to see what your answer is! So, what do you say, Cynthia? Ready to do this thing?"

No, no draw! I'm gonna win!

"Tristan!" Cynthia shouted, opening her eyes. "We're doing 'that', got it?"

"Bre!" Tristan nodded.

"Go, Mimi!" Mirar ordered.

Tristan and Mimi charged at each other, fists raised.

"Dynamicpunch!" Cynthia ordered. Tristan focused all of his energy into his fist and charged forward, preparing a massive wallop of punching power in his shoulder.

"Oh! Good thought!" Akira said, his eyes widening. "So even if they both use the same move, if one of them misses…"

"Yeah, but…" Dakota frowned, already assured of the conclusion Mirar had arrived at.

"Mach punch, Mimi," Mirar ordered, Mimi increasing speed and hitting Tristan in the face with a swift punch, striking him to the ground.

Tristan lay on the ground, unmoving, his attack never having the chance to strike.

"And that's that," Mirar said, back to normal, returning his exhausted copy pokemon to its pokeball. "You lose."

"Damn," Cynthia said, frowning. "That… wasn't even satisfying…"

"Oh?"

"Yeah, you call that a battle?" Cynthia said, shaking her head. "Sure, I might have lost, but I don't even feel like it!"

"Fair enough," Mirar said, nodding. "But you made some good thoughts in that battle. I'm moderately impressed."

"Eh?"

"That last thought at the end… when I was wondering what you were going to do… you could have forced a draw with mach punch, and yet you still gambled on the riskiest of gambles, the idea that, rather than using mach punch to just knock you out, I would use dynamicpunch as well, and that mine would miss and yours would hit. The odds of that happening… I'm not even sure."

"But you didn't risk it," Cynthia said, a smirk crossing her face. "You decided to go the easy route. But 'Cynthia'… I would have gone for it, if the best I could hope for otherwise was a draw. You don't have the guts to pretend to me, you faker!"

"Maybe not," Mirar nodded. "But you could have used dynamicpunch from the beginning when you saw that I was copying you, and you chose not to until it was a matter of winning or losing. 'Cynthia' might take gambles, but it appears she doesn't have the guts to risk it all unless it's really all at risk. Just a little insight into what I noticed."

Cynthia turned red, biting her lip to keep from yelling at the rude senior.

"The match is over. We're going, Dakota."

"Right, boss," Dakota sighed, standing up and turning to Akira, a triumphant smirk on her face.

"See? That's what happens when you mess with the newspaper club, Akira! Sorry to break it to you, but if you want the big scoop on Elaina, you can read it in the paper tomorrow, just like everyone else!"

Akira glared at her. Dakota smirked again, and walked over to Cynthia.

"You did a good job, you know," she said, patting Cynthia on the shoulder. "Don't worry, that happens to pretty much everyone."

Cynthia responded with fumes.

"Hey, hey, I'm trying to make nice here," Dakota grinned, holding out her hand. "Seriously, nice fight."

Cynthia sighed, begrudgingly shaking the girl's hand. Something thin and hard slipped into her palm.

"Dakota."

"Coming~" Dakota flounced away, winking back at Akira with a wave.

Cynthia glanced down at the flashdrive in her hand, smiling.

Dang, that's some OP BS on Mirar's part. Maybe he really does have a sharingan. Or maybe he's reading the character profiles. I dunno.