Here it is, the culmination of two-thirds of the story thus far! By the end of this chapter a new champion will be crowned! Even if there's no school left to be champion of.

Hellraiserphoenix: Dakota is totally not in love with Akira. It's all fake news.

KedharS: …Huff. All that time I spent looking up songs and you don't even comment on it. Huffy face. No, Kanone was not an academy student. But he's a prominent trainer and so he got invited. There were other reasons, but… we won't cover those now.

Just a Bad Writer for Fun: Hopefully it will all be worth it.

Draisen: Well, the climax should go about as you expect then.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 90

Blake looked out worriedly over the battlefield. The arena was torn to shreds and Akira was on his last legs, with only two pokemon remaining. And Elaina… Elaina wasn't looking well. She was clearly exhausted and running on fumes, her harmonia overuse beginning to take its toll on her. If she kept up at this pace…

Blake shook his head. He could only hope that this match ended soon, one way or another, but considering Akira still had his Gyarados waiting in the wings…

Blake swallowed. This could be bad.

And there's also Kanone to consider… What on earth is he thinking, accepting Elaina's offer? And what is Elaina trying to do here? No… this has to be Gerard, all of it. All I can hope for is that Elaina can get through this without losing herself completely.

Elaina smiled behind her mask, high on the feeling of using her powers to their fullest effect. Her body was a mass of aches and pains, but that was nothing compared to the rush! It was exhilarating! All the power of Raiver surging through her, as if it was her own… The only problem was she couldn't control it. It was fluctuating like crazy. At times it was surging within her like a bonfire, but the next second it could be like a wispy flame… Fortunately, Elaina had more than enough harmonia to spare. When it began to wane, a single push of power from her would be enough to fan it back up. And when it was high… she could shake out the rest of the world.

"What's wrong, Akira?" She crowed. "Are you done already? Should we end things here? That's fine, if you want. If you don't want to get hurt, now's your time to surrender."

"Not happening," Akira growled. "I'm not about to run away just because things are looking dicey. I'm not leaving until I find some way to get through to you. You need help, Elaina."

"I don't really think so," Elaina laughed. "Why would I need help from someone like you? You're the one who needs help, with only two pokemon remaining! As for me?"

Elaina reached out toward Raiver and sent more power through to him, the intoxicating rush of his boost in power surging through her.

"With this strength… Even Kanone Harker wouldn't stand a chance against me!"

Kanone smiled, shaking his head. Poor thing. She's completely gone now.

"It seems you're just gonna keep going like this," Akira scowled. "Fine. I guess if I want to get through to you, we'll have to do it by force! Nami, come back out!"

Akira sent out his Vaporeon for a second try, the rain sticking to her smooth fur as she lowered her head and ran towards the coasting Braviary.

"Raiver! Blow it away!" Elaina commanded, swinging her arm. Raiver mimicked the gesture and sent a blade of wind to slice through the rain with a howl, slicing into Nami before she could realize it.

"Nami! Acid armor!" Shrugging off the wind, the rain began to coat Nami's body, increasing her defensive power with a layer of water.

"So that's his game! Raiver! Don't give him the chance! Take her down now!"

"Brav!" Raiver howled, shooting forward like a rocket, his speed boosted by both harmonia and the tailwind to the point where he was just a crimson blur flying toward Nami.

Raiver began glowing white, surging forward and slamming into Nami with a mighty brave bird, the recoil damage less than a pinch to Elaina in the face of the sheer pleasure harmonia was feeding her. Nami wailed, flying back, and crashing into the ground.

"That was a huge hit!" Darla gasped.

"Vaporeon was barely damaged coming out, but she already looks like she's almost done!" Lila said.

"That Braviary, its power has increased extraordinarily," Kanone commented. "Acid armor's buff is pointless in the face of its overwhelming strength."

"Nami, forget aqua ring! Focus on another acid armor to boost your defenses as much as possible!"

Nami nodded, drawing the rain closer to her as she began to raise her defenses even higher.

"Still not done? Well, one last one ought to do it! Raiver!" Raiver soared up and bombed down toward Nami, focusing his energy into a single claw. He spread his wings and swung, lunging at Nami, driving his talon into the poor pokemon's face. Even as he felt it slide off the watery surface, the force of the impact broke through anyway.

Raiver had compressed all of his strength into the superpower attack, and the force of the impact struck Nami, and shattered the ground she was standing on. A shockwave broke through the stadium as Akira's side of the field nearly exploded, sending stones and chunks of hardened lava flying across the area.

Akira raised his arms to block a chunk of debris that was a foot short of taking his head off, knocking him off of his feet and onto the wet ground. Dizzy, Akira sat up, not sure how much time had passed since he'd fallen. Everything was shaking and he couldn't really bring the world back into focus. He tried to push himself off the ground in order to stand up, but when he moved his right arm it was like reaching into fire. Something hot and wet slid across his brow, and his vision blurred red.

Wiping the blood from his eyes with his other hand and slowly standing up, Akira nearly fell again.

"Nami…" he muttered, staring numbly at his unconscious pokemon. He looked further across the battlefield… and saw Elaina looking even worse than him. Sprawled out on the ground with her Braviary lying in front of her, both human and pokemon slowly stirred, righting themselves slowly.

Elaina wanted to throw up. Her head was spinning and every part of her felt sore. Even standing upright was far more taxing on her body than she'd ever imagined, and she couldn't even summon the strength to raise her arms. That last attack had burned away a good chunk of her power and now only flickers of harmonia still remained between her and Raiver, leaving pain and fatigue to take its place.

"That… was a tough one…" Lila worried, peeking up over the announcer's box.

"You can say that again, Darla muttered, standing up and returning to her seat.

Both girls turned to Kanone with grateful smiles. Hovering in front of the announcer's box was Kiki, Kanone's Klefki, having blocked all the debris flung in their direction with powerful barriers.

"Not a problem," Kanone smiled.

"Thanks a bunch," Lila thanked him, cupping her hands around his as beamed up at him, much to Darla's irritation.

"Yeah, well, I could have done the same thing," Darla huffed, tilting her head away, her cheeks tinged red. "S-so I'm not gonna thank you! D-don't go thinking you're such hot stuff!"

"Says the girl who pinched his autographed apology note when she had the chance," Lila murmured under her breath.

Darla's blush grew.

"D-don't tell him that!"

"Well, ladies, I appreciate your gratitude all the same, but I do believe that we still have a battle to resolve?"

"O-o-o-oh yeah," they both said as they sheepishly remembered what they were supposed to be doing. The two girls swiftly whirled back to the stadium and got back into character, beginning the announcements again.

"After that furious exchange, both trainers and pokemon look down for the count! Clearly they're both trying their hardest to impress our skilled guest with their ferocity!" Darla passionately began, trying to appeal to Kanone with her dedication and skill, Lila frowning at her in response.

"You say that, Darla, but they're both on their feet, aren't they? That Vaporeon's the only one 'down' and that's because it's unable to battle." She sniffed, turning back to glance disapprovingly at her partner. "Maybe if you weren't so busy making googoo eyes you'd actually be able to see what's in front of your face."

Darla twitched in response to her partner's sniping, turning to glare at the no-longer-cutesy girl.

"I was getting to that, Lila, if you'd let me," Darla said. "If I could just do my job without you jumping in uninvited then maybe we could get somewhere. Though, I guess you're just so eager to draw a certain someone's attention to you any way that you can, even if you have to resort to stuffing your bra."

"Huuuu!" Lila gasped in shock, covering her chest with her hands and looking aghast at the brunette. "How dare you?! Even if I am padding at least I'm not slathered in two feet of makeup to hide how I'm breaking out!"

"I'm barely wearing a speck! I'm a natural beauty, unlike someone who has to go to a salon every month just because she can't live without her frosted tips and streaks! These curls are authentic and shiny all on their own, everything special about yours came out of a bottle!"

"How could you use Avengers against me?! That isn't even true! I'm a real blonde, you know that!" Lila wailed. "Don't take it out on me just because you can't grow yours out more than a foot without looking like a shag rug!"

"Floozy!"

"Skank!"

Kanone, stuck in the middle of them, rolled his eyes. All attempt at honest commenting was lost as the two girls viciously started tearing each other down, much to the frustration of the audience.

The pause did come as a relief to two people, though. Elaina and Akira stood, panting, regaining more of their energy as their break continued. Akira slowly recalled Nami, feeling out his injuries. His right arm was most certainly broken, that was for sure, and his left arm wasn't doing much better. His right leg was also burning, but at least he could stand on it. He probably had a concussion and his head was bleeding pretty bad, but he wasn't dead. In spite of his injuries, Elaina somehow looked worse. And he couldn't even see her face.

"You look like death," Akira croaked.

"I'm… not done…" Elaina coughed, clutching her side. She could already feel her harmonia starting to swell up. Just… a little more… "Send out… your last pokemon."

Fine then. If that's how she wants it…

Akira looked at his last pokeball, closing his eyes. Satsuki… I couldn't help you any… but please… I need your strength right now to help her.

Akira threw the pokeball into the air, and Satsuki emerged. She landed in front of Akira, turning to face him, her eyes widening as she saw the state he was in.

"Hey, girl," Akira said, a shaky smile on her face. "Don't worry… I'm alright…" Yeah, except my arm that is.

Anger burned in Satsuki's eyes. She whirled around and uttered a rage-filled howl that shook the stadium, glaring at Elaina with pure hatred.

There it is… Elaina narrowed her eyes. "Raiver…"

Raiver was standing, but barely had the strength to do much else. Elaina closed her eyes and reestablished the connection. He was injured, sure, but she could still help. Just take a bit.

Some of Raiver's strength returned as he spread his wings, taking into the sky.

Satsuki's howl shook Lila and Darla out of their feud, the two girls turning to the battlefield in stunned shock.

"Er… Akira's sent out his final pokemon!" Lila cried.

"Gyarados is his strongest pokemon, but Elaina still has four left! Will she be enough?" Darla asked.

Water swirled around Satsuki and she lunged upwards, soaring into the air, slamming into Raiver with a mighty waterfall attack. She swung her tail and slammed him into the ground, Elaina clutching her ribs as Raiver fell toward the ground. As quickly as it had come, the boost of harmonia was lost, Raiver crumpling in pain as he lost consciousness.

Elaina bit her lip, the pain keeping her conscious. She recalled Raiver, and reached to her waist for her next pokeball.

"Well, uh, normally, since both trainers have lost three pokemon, we'd switch to the next stage…" Darla sighed, glancing at Lila reluctantly.

"Unfortunately, the battlefield is completely destroyed, again, so I doubt the Battle Arena System is working," Lila huffed. "So let's just continue."

"Well, that should be a boon for Akira, at any rate," Darla muttered.

Satsuki's power soared as her moxie ability triggered, her rage and strength rising as energy surged around her. The sky darkened and the rain grew more intense, the weather responding to Satsuki's emotions even more than it was Elaina's, the whirling winds causing the tailwind to peter out.

"Doria, go," Elaina said, sending her Oricorio out. The dark purple pokemon raised her wings in front of her face, flicking her fans. Sorry, Doria. I don't have much energy to give you. I need to conserve what strength I have left…

"Ori," Doria replied, shaking her head, glancing back at her trainer. She faltered slightly when staring at the large draconic pokemon, but she was willing to try her hardest for Elaina's sake.

"Doria! Use hurricane!"

"Ori!" Doria spread her wings and danced forwards, her elegant moves calling the winds to follow her fans. With a twirl she guided them into the shape of a massive toward of wind and water that swirled around her. She flicked her fans and the hurricane howled toward Satsuki, the crimson pokemon roaring against the wind.

That's odd… when she used her Oricorio in her battle against Sylvia… she was far more defensive, more tactical… Akira thought, watching Elaina's trembling figure warily. But now… she's just attacking wildly.

She's like an injured pokemon lashing out at everything around her. She's not thinking at all.

"Gyaraaa!" Satsuki howled, the wind swirling around her as she shifted her body, taking to the sky and flying in a circle, the air whipping into a cyclone of equal ferocity to the one baring down on her. The two attacks collided in a roar of wind and rain, the sky above the stadium nearly splitting in half.

"So you want to fight me head on?! Well, fine!" Elaina shouted, summoning up as much energy as she could to give Doria. Doria's hurricane increased in power as Satsuki growled, her own strength boosting to match.

Impressive… Elaina's tapping into her reserves of harmonia to keep pushing past her body's natural limits. Even though this current power is only a shadow of what she had earlier, it's still harmonia. Kanone's eyes shifted to Satsuki. And yet that Gyarados… even without any prompting from her trainer, she's still somehow increasing in power to match. How is that even possible? Kanone closed his eyes and tapped into his harmonia, reaching out with just enough to touch the surface of Satsuki's heart and get a sense of where this passionate boost in power was coming from.

Satsuki's emotions washed over Kanone like a typhoon and he opened his eyes, smiling.

"How cute," Kanone chuckled.

"Eh? Cute?" Darla blushed. "Well, I mean…"

"He was talking to me!" Lila snapped.

So one is fighting to protect her beloved trainer… and as for the other…

Kanone turned to Elaina, feeling the waves of anger and sadness washing off of her. Her harmonia was practically screaming it out to him.

...Poor thing.

Satsuki's hurricane overcame Doria's, the wall of wind slamming into the winged pokemon and knocking her off of her feet, sending her flying through the air.

I lost… in a battle of wind? Elaina couldn't believe it, her strength depleted.

Doria was not beaten, however, and rose up swiftly, turning her rise into a slice of air that cut toward Satsuki. Satsuki shrugged off the air slash and surged forward, the rain parting to make way for her as she flew toward Doria, her eyes glowing furiously.

"Satsuki! Don't use your wind again!" Akira shouted. "Use hydro pump!"

Why? Elaina didn't understand what was happening, but Satsuki opened her mouth and fired a blast of compressed water at Doria. Doria skillfully dodged to the side and danced close to Satsuki, raising her fans.

"Revelation dance!" Elaina ordered, ghostly energy dancing around Doria's fans as she spun in a circle, cutting into Satsuki from below with blades of ghostly wind as Satsuki neared the ground.

"Gyaa!" Satsuki howled, turning her head to stare down at Doria, opening her mouth wide as she shrugged off the ghostly attack, which only served to enrage her even further. The storm increased in intensity, building up and wrapping around Satsuki's body in a veil of water as she plummeted toward the ground.

"That's waterfall!" Lila cried.

"Isn't that move supposed to be used to climb stuff?" Darla gaped.

Doria leapt back in an effort to dodge, but even when she got away from the apex of the attack, the shockwave of Satsuki's collision with the ground washed over her. Satsuki kicked dust and rain up into the air, obscuring Elaina and Akira's eyes. Doria flew backwards as water followed by rock struck her.

"Doria!" Elaina cried out, feeling her pokemon's pain. Doria shakily returned to her feet, but before she could regain her balance, Satsuki burst out of the dust with her water veil still up, moving at high speed and slamming into Doria, knocking her against the ground and pushing her forward, grinding her into the stadium floor as she charged at Elaina.

"Satsuki! Come back!"

Satsuki narrowed her eyes, but reluctantly pulled up, flying back over to Akira's side before she struck Elaina.

"What… is this?" Elaina demanded furiously, kneeling down to cradle her unconscious pokemon. "You're… holding back against me? Is that it?"

"No. I'm just not letting Satsuki tear you to pieces," Akira growled. "That waterfall just now… and if she had used hurricane earlier… you would have gotten caught up in them. I'm not trying to hurt you, Elaina. No matter how much you seem to insist on hurting yourself."

"Well," she said, her voice tinged in mockery as she recalled Doria to her pokeball. "What a hero you are, Akira. Excuse me for not thanking you. But since you're so insistent on not hurting people, then why don't you give up? Because I promise you, if you keep going like this, that Gyarados of yours is going to suffer for it. And we both know just how much she cares about you. Are you really fine with doing that to her?"

Akira smiled and placed his hand on Satsuki's side, gingerly touching one of the cuts on her scales.

"I don't want to hurt her. But if Satsuki saw me give up on you just for her sake, she'd get real mad. So sorry, not happening."

"Gyaa!" Satsuki nodded, nuzzling up against Akira lovingly.

"Yeah, that's right!" Dakota cheered. "Go Satsuki!"

"Rooting for him now, are you?" Serefina giggled.

"No!" Dakota huffed. "I'm rooting for Satsuki. Akira doesn't matter at all!"

"Of course he doesn't."

Elaina stared silently at Akira. Behind her mask, her face was twisted into a look of frustration.

"…Well, fine then."

She sent Mukuro back out, the owl pokemon taking to the sky as he stared down at Satsuki.

"Elaina's only got two pokemon left! Akira and Gyarados have really turned the tables!" Lila cheered.

"Not only that, but that moxie ability has made her get even stronger!" Darla added.

"Maybe physically," Kanone said, nodding, "but she's starting to weaken. There's only so much one pokemon can do on their own, after all. And Elaina…"

Elaina's harmonia had recovered a decent amount, enough to boost Mukuro and fight at the same level Elaina was used to. Against Satsuki, it would just have to do.

"Mukuro! We'll start with hemming in her movements! Use spirit shackle!" Elaina ordered. Mukuro drew back his bow and fired an arrow at Satsuki.

"Now you can use hurricane," Akira smiled. "Blow it away!"

"Gyaaaraa!" Satsuki howled, wind swirling up around her. Mukuro's arrow struck a curtain of air, curving to the side and embedding itself in the ground a good distance from Satsuki's shadow.

If we take to the sky, it will make her an easier target. Instead… we should focus on bringing that bird down.

"Satsuki, keep up the hurricane!"

Satsuki nodded, sending another tornado of wind and water surging across the battlefield. Mukuro flew backwards to avoid the attack, disappearing into a tear in the sky.

"Watch out, Satsuki! That's phantom force he's using," Akira warned. Satsuki turned her head left and right to try and track down where Mukuro might come from.

"Before, she came out of the ground," Akira said, Satsuki's eyes dropping down. As she did, Mukuro appeared behind her, hitting her in the back with a ghostly fist infused with all the strength Elaina could muster. Satsuki roared in pain and Mukuro struck her again, this time in the side of the face, right into her scars. Satsuki crashed down and skidded across the battlefield to the shock of the audience, disbelieving at the raw power needed to send a Gyarados flying.

Satsuki landed outside of the stadium, near the announcer's box, and slowly rose back up, panting.

"Don't lose your momentum, Mukuro!" Elaina shouted. "Leaf storm!"

With a flap of his wings, Mukuro conjured a massive tornado of sharpened leaves that rolled over the battlefield. A whirlwind of razor blades that drained Mukuro of his strength barreled toward Satsuki… and the announcers behind her.

"Lila! Watch out!" Darla cried, leaping from her seat and throwing her body over that of her partner desperately.

"Kiki! Full power!" Kanone urged, summoning up his own harmonia to fortify Kiki's shields. Much to their reflief, the powerful blast of leaves was easily warded off.

Lila opened her eyes, looking down at Darla clutching her desperately, eyes squeezed shut. She smiled gratefully at the senseless gesture.

"…Darla. I'm okay. You can let go now."

"…Oh. Uh…" Darla's arms dropped to her sides and she stood back up, returning to her seat. "D-don't get the wrong idea. Just… if you died, I couldn't do this on my own, you know?"

She looked away from Lila, blushing in embarrassment. Lila beamed at her.

While the three in the announcer's box were thankfully safe from the attack, Satsuki wasn't so lucky.

Her already red hide was even brighter as countless cuts crisscrossed her scaly flesh, portions of her fins torn to shreds. She couldn't move without blood bursting out in tight spurts.

Mukuro landed on the ground, wiped out from that power. Elaina's harmonia was waning and her fatigue was returning, just wanting this battle to be over…

"GYAAAARAAA!" Satsuki's roar was deafening, power surging around her as she readied a dragon dance, energy crackling in the air.

"Still not enough?! Stubborn piece of-" Elaina cursed, mustering as much of her harmonia as she could.

Satsuki took to the sky and flew toward Mukuro, mouth open. Dragonic energy crackled in front of her massive jaws.

"It's a dragon pulse!" Darla crowed. Satsuki fired a massive blast of energy at Mukuro. The bird pokemon sunk down into the ground as the attack approached, but Satsuki was too fast. Before he could sink down there was no more ground to sink into, the rubble exploding from the force of the explosive attack, Mukuro fading back into solid mass as he was slammed into the ground.

Shaking, the Decidueye tried to regain his balance, but once again Satsuki had him outpaced. She opened her mouth and crunched down on Mukuro, scooping him up in her mighty jaws and biting hard, Mukuro coughing out from the strength of the dark move. The pain from Satsuki's fangs digging into his feathered skin was agonizing for the both of them, Mukuro unable to summon the energy to turn incorporeal to escape it. He was trapped.

Satsuki bit down again, and again, smashing through the buffs to Mukuro's defenses that Elaina kept raising. Her harmonia was quickly running thin.

More… more… I need more… as much as I can get! Mukuro!

Elaina's harmonia flickered again, rising up to another high, Mukuro swinging his wing and forming a blade of leaves that cut Satsuki in the face. But the draconic pokemon didn't let go.

Suddenly, Elaina felt the air around her body begin to burn. She whirled her head around, but didn't see why it was suddenly getting so hot. Unless…

"Whoa, no way!" Darla gasped.

"Gyarados is generating a dragon pulse with Decidueye still in his mouth!" Lila exclaimed.

Satsuki fired the blast of explosive energy from her mouth with Mukuro at the center, aimed straight at the ground.

Mukuro slammed into the battlefield with the force of a dragon pulse, and Elaina could feel pain of her bones breaking. She hung limp, barely remaining upright, clenching her stomach in agony as she tried to fight off the urge to pass out.

"Mukuro…" she wailed, the bird pokemon's eyes snapping open. He sunk into the shadows a fraction of a second before the next dragon pulse hit, emerging at Elaina's side. He was injured, but still conscious.

"Decidueye…" Mukuro said worriedly, glancing at Elaina.

"I'm fine… I'm fine!" She snapped. "I'll… be fine… Just… win…"

"Dec…" Mukuro nodded reluctantly, flying into the sky.

"More… just… a little more… one more pokemon… and then… I'll win…" Elaina was repeating the phrase "just a little more" like a prayer, what little vision she had left aimed squarely at Satsuki.

Mukuro wasn't in much better shape than his trainer. Satsuki was firing blasts of water and energy at him, and injured as he was it was taking everything he could to dodge them. He waited patiently for something, any opening he could take, and soon enough, he found it. Moving to get into a better position, Satsuki had unknowingly rubbed a particularly deep and wide gash up against the sharp surface of a chunk of solid lava, causing her to wince in pain. Immediately Mukuro struck, summoning a blast of ghostly wind that hit Satsuki in the face, the spectral power causing her wounds to burn. Satsuki wailed and slumped back, Mukuro flying above her, panting.

"Just… a little… more…" Elaina's harmonia was nearly gone. The toll of its use was chipping away at her, and she could barely remain upright. She raised her trembling hands to mime a bow, Mukuro matching her movements as a spectral arrow was locked into place. She was seeing through his eyes now, glaring straight at the panting serpent. Her hands her shaking, but all she had to do… was let go…

It was too much. She fell to her knees and her hands slipped, her connection severed. The backlash caused Mukuro's shot to go wild, and instead of hitting Satsuki it flew past her… straight for Akira.

No… Elaina breathed, her face going white and her eyes widening. It all seemed to be in slow motion. She watched the arrow she'd launched fly straight towards him, ready to pierce his chest. Killing him. It…

"NOOOO!" Elaina cried, cradling her head in agony.

"AKIRA!" Dakota cried, leaping to her feet and clutching at her whitened face in shock and horror.

But the arrow never met its mark.

"Gyaaa!" Satsuki wailed. She had summoned what strength she could to push her damaged body in front of her trainer, the arrow digging deep into her back. Nearly all of the shaft had to buried in her side.

"Satsuki!" Akira cried, reaching out to her.

"Gya…" Satsuki smiled widely at him. As if giving him the same "don't worry… I'm alright" lie he'd given her before.

"Oh man…" Darla slumped back in her seat, exhausted.

"It's… it's okay…" Lila muttered, trying to catch her breath. Both girls had been terrified at the idea of a student dying in front of them, and now that the worst had passed they were slowly calming down.

Elaina stood back up, throwing up in her mouth a little. The world was still spinning, but all she knew was that the battle wasn't over yet. I still… haven't won…

"Mukuro!" She shouted, summoning what harmonia she had left and funneling it all toward her Decidueye. Mukuro soared up and wind swirled around him, the last of his strength gathering into a final tornado of ghostly energy and razor-sharp leaves that whirled toward Satsuki.

"Gyarados!" Satsuki cried, turning back and surging forward, slithering over the stones. Draconic energy swirled around her again as she used another dragon dance, her attack power reaching its maximum.

"Satsuki… even if we can't win… we need to use that," Akira's voice was barely a whisper, but it still reached Satsuki's ears. Violet and red flames began covering her, pouring out of her body and dancing around her like waves.

I guess this is it for us, Akira thought, closing his eyes. We weren't able to win. But please… we need just enough power to reach out to Elaina… to get through to her.

"Oh no…" Darla's face went white as a sheet. "Oh, no, no, no…"

"What? What is it, Darla?" Lila asked.

"We need to get out of here…" Darla grabbed her microphone. "Everyone! Get out of here! Right now! YOU HEAR ME?!"

Choruses of "What?!" and "Huh?!" rang out over the audience.

"That's outrage she's using!" Darla shouted. "A maximum strength outrage from a high level Gyarados! That thing could destroy an entire coastal town! If we don't escape, there might not be a stadium left to escape from!"

Indeed, the air was starting to burn around Satsuki's body as she charged at Mukuro, the sky crackling with lightning and booming with thunder. Satsuki was barely a shadow within the corona of a raging draconic inferno.

"Boss!" Ayame cried, grabbing Olivia by the arm. "Come on! We gotta go!" The other students in Olivia's private box were already starting to flee, but Olivia remained seated.

"I will not," Olivia said. "If I were to run here, it would be an affront to my dignity. I'll stay to watch the finale. She would no doubt due the same."

"But…" Ayame argued, a pained look on her face.

"If you want to leave, you can. Don't worry about me."

Ayame frowned, looking down at the woman she respected, dropping Olivia's arm in resignation.

"Well, you heard her, Ayame!" Celia said, taking the old girl's hand. "Let's book it!"

"…Ayame?"

"Nah," Ayame shrugged, sighing, smiling back at the shorter girl. "Think I'm gonna stay here too."

"What?! Why are you always so stubborn?!" Celia exclaimed.

"Ayame, I want you to go," Olivia said.

"Nah," Ayame said, plopping down in her seat and crossing her arms. "If you're staying, then I'm staying right here with you."

She turned to Olivia and grinned.

"If this place comes down on us, then you'll need someone strong enough to dig you out."

"Ah, my hero," Olivia sniggered. "But I do believe my pokemon would be better-suited to the task than you."

"Wh-whatever!" Ayame said, blushing in embarrassment. "Can't you just let me say something cool for once?"

"I'm grateful," Olivia smiled. "And it was indeed quite chivalrous, 'Prince'."

"Oh, don't you even start with-"

"You two are both mental!" Celia interrupted, sitting down no Olivia's other side.

"What?!" Ayame said, shocked.

"You're gonna dig her out of here, fine," Celia said. "I'm gonna stay behind to help dig you out!"

Olivia and Ayame glanced at each other, and promptly burst out laughing.

"I'm serious!" Celia said. "Besides… if I just ran away by myself… if anything happened to you two, I'd regret it forever…"

"Ah… you two are wonderful," Olivia smiled.

"Callie… where are you going?" Gerard asked, turning to the small blonde who had run for the door.

"I need to go find Nick!" Callie cried. "I need to make sure he gets out okay!"

"As members of the Eight Leaders, it is our job to stay here and keep things under control," Gerard replied evenly. "We have a duty to all the students. You can't just abandon your post to go save one of them."

"Forget you!" Callie shouted. "'Abandon my post' what the hell am I supposed to be doing here, huh?! There's not a damn thing to do!"

She glanced at the others in turn, before her eyes landed on the only other empty seat.

"Wait… where's Rafe?"

"Geez, why do you have to be so stupid about this?!" Cynthia exclaimed, tugging frantically at Blake. "Let's go already!" Julia had already grabbed Kitty and the two were making their way to the exits, same with Reiner, Nikita, Nick, and Ely. She, Blake, Sango, Dakota, Claire, and Serefina were the only ones still there, mainly because two certain stubborn idiots refused to listen.

"I'm not," Blake said simply. "Elaina isn't running. My brother isn't running. I'm not going to just leave them here."

"Forget it," Claire sighed. "When he gets like this, he's impossible."

"Dakota…"

"Seri, I'm telling you, as a reporter I need to capture every last bit of this!" Dakota was holding up her video recorder, but her expression was filled with anxiety. "Besides, with those airbags you'll be totally safe if this place collapses.

"Look you idiot, I'm not losing a friend just because you wanna bone some masked chick, you got it? Guy's help me pry him out, okay?"

"It's too late anyway, Claire said, sitting back down. She was right, Satsuki had just plunged into the center of the maelstrom, taking on the brunt of the attack as the hurricane turned into a tornado of draconic flame with a raging Gyarados at its center, flying right through it. Satsuki was moments away from unleashing the stored up energy. One way or another, it was about to be over.

"Blake… Sango grabbed his hand, Blake glancing at her. "Listen, I-"

Satsuki collided with Mukuro, unleashing the full force of the powerful outrage attack. The stadium exploded into a rain of fire, shaking with a deafening blast, and then suddenly… it didn't.

Everyone still in the stadium whirled around to see what had- or in this case, hadn't- happened.

Satsuki and Mukuro were both sprawled out on the ground, unconscious. But the actual effects of the attack, the massive explosion that had promised to decimate the stadium, possibly killing all of them… was gone.

"Are… are we alive?" Lila asked, letting go of Darla, who she had clung to right before the explosion happened.

"But how? That attack, even if we were protected, the damage should've been… what happened?"

Kanone looked around, confused.

"Whew," a voice called from up above. "That was a close one! What are you doing firing moves like that around?"

Darla and Lila's heads shot up to look for the owner of the voice. Floating above them, held aloft by a large Xatu clenching onto his shoulders, was Rafe the Seventh Leader, wearing the same placid smile as always.

"Luckily I decided to drop by," Rafe smiled, landing on the ground. "So Nostradamus here could teleport that attack away to safety."

"You teleported an attack?" Darla gasped.

"Is that even possible?" Lila asked.

"Well, just before things got too shaky, of course," Rafe smiled, glancing at the two unconscious pokemon. "Fortunately it didn't affect the results of the battle, or I might get criticized."

"Oh!"

"The battle!"

"I… did it… I… won…" Elaina muttered. She stood motionless, staring numbly out across the battlefield. Her harmonia had faded, and with it her tenuous grip on herself. Through blurred vision she raised a shaky hand and called back her unconscious Mukuro with what strength she had, and took a single step forward. That was as far as she got. She could barely make anything out, as though she were gazing at the world from far away, like she was somewhere dark and small watching everything playing around her on a tiny TV screen off in the distance. Further… further…

And then blackness.

Elaina slumped down fell forward, sprawled out over the battlefield.

"Oh no! Elaina's passed out!" Lila said, looking to Darla worriedly. "What do we do?"

"I already called the Safety Officers when I thought outrage was gonna happen," Darla reassured her. "They're on their way. Until then, I guess…"

Neither one really knew what to say. This was the first time a trainer had passed out under these circumstances, after all. All of Akira's pokemon had fainted, but he was still standing whole and relatively hale. Meanwhile, Elaina still technically had a single pokemon remaining, but was no longer able to continue.

"I mean, both of their pokemon are unable to battle, so… is it a draw?" Lila asked. "Have… have we had a draw in the finals before?"

Darla shrugged, giving her partner a "don't look at me" face.

"Well, now," Rafe said, taking the microphone from Lila and looking out over the mostly abandoned stadium. "I'd say this is a fine example of the old adage 'winning the battle but losing the war'."

"If any of you are still remaining, then in my position as a member of the Eight Leaders I shall determine the winner of this match! Regardless of her medical condition, Elaina was successful in defeating all of Akira's pokemon and has one pokemon left remaining. So with that being the case, I shall announce that the winner, and Grand Champion of the Fall Festival Tournament is Elaina Bishop!"

To an applause of zero and a stadium of ghosts, Elaina lay triumphant, unmoving, dead to the world in spite of her victory.

And with that, this tournament is done! Quite intense for the end, but hopefully it was worth it. But what will be the effects of the aftermath that is to come? Only time will tell!