In this chapter, we get the conclusion to Blake's battle with Val! Will Blake manage to win? I wonder, will we learn anything more about what Val knows?
Pokemon Academy Best Girl Elimination Round is still going strong! Keep those votes coming, a few girls are pulling ahead, but things aren't done just yet! We've still got a good chance of girls getting into the final 5! The poll is on my profile, so go cast your votes there!
Nominated: Sango, Cynthia, Elaina, Kate, Dakota, Ayame, Marion, Kitty, Serefina, Madison, Alcea
ConfusedCradily: Well, Kate's good moral support, at least? Maybe she can be more helpful.
KedharS: Yup, she's pretty much just trash.
DJ Dib Dab: Yeah, I'll be going into detail about most of them when we get more of Blake's backstory.
Aquahaze675: Well, hopefully he can make some good use out of her.
Just a Bad Writer for Fun: Well, it's not like he's trying to win them over or something, he's just being a nice guy.
Retsuna: It's not battle bond. Harmonia just operates very much like battle bond. So in essence, all of Kanone's pokemon have battle bond.
Guest: Harmonia's pretty useful, too bad it makes you crazy sometimes.
Tambry96bj: That's a pretty good idea.
Badoobadoop: Yeah, she's just human scum.
Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings
Chapter 260
"Grim!" Ruru opened her mouth to use bug buzz, but before she could react, the Grimmsnarl's roar drowned her out. He shot through the webbing faster than Ruru or Blake expected, stepping on only the clean cobblestones. Beel raised a large hand, stopping in front of Ruru, and smacked her on the face, causing the bug pokemon to flinch and sending her six eyes spinning.
Blinking frantically, Ruru scurried back across the webs, over to her trainer's side, the fake-out attack having thrown off her rhythm.
"Ruru! That pokemon looks tough, we need to start by weakening it. Paralyze it with thunder wave!" Blake shouted.
"Gal!" Ruru chittered, electricity building up in her body. Her fur stood on end from the static, preparing to release it.
"Griiiimmm!" Beel growled, a smirk crossing his lips. He held his hand up, taunting Ruru to come after him.
"Gal!" Ruru hissed, the electricity focusing into her mouth. She fired an orb of electricity at Beel, rather than releasing a thunder wave. Beel easily sidestepped the electric attack, lifting his hand, dark energy gathering in his palm.
"Ruru, what-"
"Like a bit of that taunt?" Val called. "Thanks to Beel's prankster ability, any move that doesn't inflict damage is performed before you even have a chance to react. And now that that spider of yours has grown incensed, she'll be attacking just as reckless and haphazardly as you, Blake! Now, Beel, go!"
Beel lumbered forward, dark fists raised.
That's not good! Kate worried for Blake. Without paralysis, that Grimmsnarl was fast and powerful. From what she'd seen of Blake's Joltik, and now Galvantula, it relied on supporting moves over pure power. Now that she had evolved, maybe she could still power through, but…
If only the thunder wave had hit! Kate groaned in sympathy.
"Ruru, use discharge to send your electricity over the webs," Blake ordered. It would limit Beel's movements.
"Gal!" Ruru growled, electricity running through her fur.
"Beel!"
Beel shot forward, once again faster than his bulk would suggest, and hit Ruru in the jaw, knocking the spider upwards.
"Ruru!" Blake cried as Ruru spun through the air, the electricity harmlessly discharging out of her body.
"Blake, that's-" Kate shouted.
"Sucker punch, I know," Blake grumbled, interrupting her. A prankster-boosted taunt to shut off Ruru's non-attacking moves, and then spamming sucker punches while we're going in for the attack… clever girl.
"You like?" Val smirked, her eyes shining with delight.
"Ruru, use electro web," Blake shouted. Ruru fired a strong cable of thread from her rear, right towards Beel. The thread broke out into a wide web, but Beel managed to avoid it, the web sticking harmlessly to the ground. But the electricity moved to the other webbing, and the entire battlefield conducted the current.
"Grimmmm!" Beel growled in pain, but barely flinched from the electricity.
"That's all you've got?" Val scoffed. "Sorry to break it to you, but Beel's compact hair makes him quite good at resisting your electric attacks! You won't get us that way!"
"Then what about this?" Blake asked. "Bug buzz!"
"Gaaaaal!" Ruru landed on the web, releasing a sonic shriek from her mouth.
"Beel, light screen!" Beel raised his hands faster than Blake could follow, a box of light appearing around his body, blocking out the sound waves.
"…And it makes a pretty convenient defense, as well," Val smirked, her boast going unheard over the bug buzz.
Ruru glared at the protected Grimmsnarl, chittering angrily, the sonic waves dying down.
"Ruru!" Blake cried, his hearing slowly coming back. "We need to keep beating through that barrier!"
"Gal!" Ruru opened her mouth, building up another bug buzz.
"NOT THAT WAY PLEASE!" Kate wailed. Her ears felt like they were bleeding, and the pain felt like her head was splitting open.
"Focus on discharges," Blake suggested. "That way more damage is spread over a wide area."
"Galvantula," Ruru nodded, electricity generating through her body.
"Think we'll let you?" Val asked. "Beel! Sucker punch!"
The light screen dropped and Beel shot forward like a black blur, fist raised. He moved in low, to go for another uppercut. But Ruru was ready this time and stepped back, only catching a glancing blow that sent her tumbling, but kept her grounded. Which meant now she could discharge the electricity she had stored up.
The field was electrocuted once again, the light screen manifesting itself to protect Beel. But it wasn't infallible. The high voltage was causing it to shake and crack, and a few more blows would destroy it for sure. Ruru made sure to keep her distance, scuttling over to Blake as the discharge died down.
"Ruru," Blake whispered, his new Galvantula looking up at him.
"Gal?" Ruru tilted her head to the side questioningly.
"I have an idea," he suggested. "Do you think you can…"
Blake whispered his idea so neither Val nor Kate could hear.
"Gal!" Ruru chirped happily. She turned her head back to the Grimmsnarl, as the electricity began to die down.
"Again," Blake ordered. Ruru nodded, glaring at Beel, electricity building up.
"It'll go the same," Val snorted, crossing her arms. "How many more hits can that Galvantula of yours take?"
Indeed, Ruru had been subjected to some strong blows, and her body, even though it was bigger, was still fragile like when she was a Joltik. Her defenses had not increased by much. She was panting, exhausted. But she still had plenty of fight in her. That Grimmsnarl's taunts and her trainer's anger were spurring her on.
"Galvantula!" Ruru chittered, Beel racing towards her, darkness filling in his fists. He swung another punch at Ruru… and received one in the face from her large foreleg.
The two pokemon hit each other in the face, knocking each other backwards.
"What?!" Val gasped. She hadn't seen that one coming.
"Gal!" Ruru cackled, landing on her feet. She'd been expecting it, after all, having prepared a sucker punch of her own. So she was able to right herself first, firing off a powerful discharge that shattered the light screen and electrocuted the prone Grimmsnarl.
"Grimm!" Beel growled, rising to his feet, shrugging off the static. His light screen had still absorbed the brunt of the hit, and his hair was still defending him nicely. As for the sucker punch…
"Sorry, but dark moves don't work so well," Val laughed. "That was barely a scratch. As for your Galvantula…"
Ruru had indeed taken a few more blows than she'd prefer. But she wasn't about to-
"Now, Beel! Time to break her!" Val declared. Pink light began building up through Beel's body. He shot forward, raising his hand, and released a compressed blast of fairy energy from his fist, slamming into Ruru with a powerful punch.
"Gal!" Ruru winced in pain, her speed allowing her to dodge most of the force of the attack, but was caught in the back strike.
Ruru quickly rose to her feet, panting. She felt like her body was drained of power somehow…
"Gal…" Ruru built up more electricity and released it in a discharge across the webbing, but Beel shrugged it off, charging right towards her.
"Grimmsnarl!" Beel roared, hitting Ruru again. This time, the move was a direct hit. As the move connected, the electricity being discharged began to die down, weakening in power. Blake noticed it, much to his shock.
"Ruru! What's wrong?!" Blake cried.
"Gal… Gal!" Ruru shook her head frantically, putting as much distance between herself and the hulking Grimmsnarl as possible. She panted, feeling weaker and weaker.
"I've broken her spirit," Val smirked. "That's what's wrong. My Beel's attack has enough strength… the special attack of your pokemon has been sapped from it!"
"Unbelievable," Blake growled. It was like Val delighted in weakening his pokemon's stats one at a time. This time, though, there was no mean look to keep Ruru hampered down. He lifted up his pokeball. "Ruru, return!"
But Beel was having none of that. He ran forward, and suddenly… the hair that covered his body shifted, and grew… and extended towards Ruru. It was a move that caught both trainer and pokemon off-guard, not expecting this kind of attack. The hair tangled around Ruru's body, wrapping across her legs, and pulled her forward, out of the way of the pokeball's beam.
"Now slam her down!" Val shouted. Beel hoisted Ruru overhead, holding her aloft with hair as strong as steel cables, and slammed her down into the ground as hard as he could.
"Gaaaaaaaaal!" Ruru wailed in pain.
"Ruru!" Blake cried. He wasn't able to return her. So how could he-
Only one thing to do.
"Ruru, use electro web!"
Gal!" Ruru winced, nodding her head, and sprayed a blast of webbing from her mouth, tangling the threads up in the Grimmsnarl's hair.
"Grimm!" Beel growled, irritated by the gunk messing him up. Val knew what it meant, though.
"Galvantula!" Ruru sent a current of electricity through the webbing, and thus through the hair, zapping Beel directly. But her attacking strength had been weakened far too much, she was even weaker than when she was a Joltik.
"Enough of this," Val said. "Finish her off now!"
"Grimm!" Beel nodded, smashing Ruru into the brick ground, Ruru letting out a final wail of pain.
"Ruru…" Blake winced in sympathy for his pokemon.
Beel ripped his hair free from the Galvantula and retracted it. He tried scraping off the sticky webbing, but it was tighter than glue, holding his hair bunched up together in clumps. He let out a grunt of frustration.
"Return," Blake said, calling back his unconscious Galvantula. He was happy that Ruru had evolved, but now wasn't the time for celebrating. He was backed up into a bad position. Ruru had lost, and Weiss was down as well. Even if she had the power to win, Sarah was uncontrollable, and had a type disadvantage. Rogen and Tara were both good options, Tara's iron tail in particular would be of much help in beating a fairy type.
But Val knew his team. She knew about Rogen, she knew about Tara, she'd… she'd countered Weiss perfectly. For all he knew, she had countermeasures prepared for both of them.
That only left one option. But… could he win? This would… this would be Maria's first battle. And she had the type advantage, but… could he really count on surprise and typing to beat a pokemon like Grimmsnarl? Ruru had done some damage, but the pokemon was still in great form. And while he'd been training with Maria… she hadn't been in a real battle before, while his other pokemon had. Was he just being paranoid? Val couldn't have contingencies for Tara and Rogen… right?
Blake glanced at Val's smug smirk. His frown deepened. Fine then.
"Maria!"
Blake sent out his last pokemon, his Mareanie.
"Marea! Mareashishi" Maria popped out, a big smile on her face. She turned to Blake, cackling, her tentacles sticking out, their poisonous needles glinting.
"Not me," Blake hissed. "That way! It's a pokemon battle!"
Maria blinked. A battle? She hadn't really battled before, she'd just enjoyed herself teasing Blake and his pokemon. She turned around, setting eyes on the large, menacing pokemon in front of her.
"Mare!" Maria let out a yeep, frantically scurrying behind Blake.
"That's your big trump card?!" Val cackled, holding her stomach. "I may not have seen her before, but I think that you should have made a different choice!"
"Maria!" Kate gasped in surprise. "Are you…"
"Mar!" Maria scowled, glaring at Val. She didn't like being made fun of.
"Maria, if you don't want to battle, you don't have to," Blake reassured her. "Tara can-"
"Marea…" Maria looked up at Blake in shock, her eyes widening. She growled, shaking her head, and slid forward. She stood in front of Blake, staring at Beel. She was still shaking slightly, scared of the hulking pokemon, but she was going to fight.
"That's the way, Maria!" Kate cheered. "Take him down!"
"Mareanie!" Maria nodded.
"Well, fine, little ugly poison pokemon wants to stand up for herself," Val smirked. "It's like looking at a mini version of Kate. Though… a tad bit cuter, I have to admit. Beel!"
"Grimm…" Beel cackled, holding his hands up and cracking his knuckles, stomping forward. He raised a hand, gesturing for Maria to attack first.
"Crap, he used taunt again!" Blake gasped.
"Shit," Kate cursed.
"You keep falling for the same tricks," Val smirked, twirling a lock of hair in her fingers. "Beel, if you would?"
Maria ran forward, inflating her cheeks. But Beel outsped her, hitting her in the gut with a powerful sucker punch, Maria helplessly spitting poisonous needles from her mouth. Beel sent her flying, Maria landing in the hot spring.
"Could have been worse," Blake admitted, Maria floating up out of the boiling water.
"Well, come on now, little one," Val smirked, Beel cracking his knuckles again.
This isn't good… Kate winced. Maria couldn't use any status moves now. That meant that she couldn't use toxic. Without a reliable way to inflict poison, was there any way that she could wear down the bulky and powerful Grimmsnarl? Maria, she… she was too fragile.
"Blake, you've got to be careful!" Kate shouted. "Mareanie aren't very fast or bulky! You've got to make sure she doesn't take too many more hits!"
"Yeah, I get it," Blake said. "Maria, use poison sting!"
"Mar!" Maria nodded, opening her mouth, firing a barrage of needles at the large pokemon.
"Reflect," Val snapped her fingers. A barrier of light appeared in front of Beel, blocking all of the poisonous needles. They fell to the ground, harmlessly piercing the webbing.
"Blake! With those defenses, there's no way you'll be able to win this through attacking power!"
"Yeah, well, that's kind of all I got right now," Blake reminded her.
"You've gotta poison him somehow, doesn't your Mareanie know toxic?"
"She does, yeah, you gave me the TM, remember?" Blake reminded her. "Doesn't matter, taunt, remember?"
Kate knew that, but she just wanted it to not be true.
"Then… I don't know, find some other way to poison him then!"
"Well, thank you, poison master, like I didn't think of that!" Blake shot back. "You're the expert here, tell me what to do!"
"I don't know!" Kate repeated.
Val smirked at the two of them, this was great.
"Take her down, Beel," Val yawned. She only had one sucker punch left, it was time to go for the real hits.
Beel stormed forward, raising his fist. His hair shot out, flying towards the small pokemon.
"Blake! Try sludge bomb!" Kate shouted. She'd given him TMs for both sludge bomb and toxic, and he'd taught both to the small pokemon. Hopefully they'd be enough to help him win.
"You heard her, sludge bomb," Blake shouted. Maria opened her mouth and belched out a blast of toxic sludge, jumping out of the water and scurrying away. The toxins landed on the hair and began rotting it away, but since it wasn't the pokemon's main body, it didn't poison him. Meanwhile, the hair continued to grow back anyway, and followed the fleeing pokemon.
"Mareaa!" Maria wailed, the hair wrapping around her and lifting her into the air. She struggled against the constricting pain of the squeezing cords of hair, finding it difficult to breathe.
"Good, now smash her, please," Val suggested.
"Maria! Sludge bomb again!"
Maria belched more poison onto the hair, melting through it, landing safely on the ground.
Beel shredded the hair away, the poison falling uselessly onto the webbed ground, and his hair grew back to replace the parts he'd lost.
"Maria, you have to keep up the sludge bombs, it's the only way," Blake shouted. It was her strongest attacking move. Maria continued spitting sludge bombs at Beel, but the pokemon held the attacks back with light screens.
This could go on a while, Val noted. We'll have to try something… sneakier.
"Beel!" She shouted. "No need to make this a show of power, don't you agree?"
Beel glanced back at his trainer, and saw the mischievous look in her eyes. A wicked smile curled up around his lips, and he nodded his head.
"Grimm…"
"Keep going!" Blake said. Maria had managed to break through the light screen, but Beel was too vigilant to allow any poison to touch him, the venom landing on the webs around them, instead.
Maria followed the sludge bomb with a barrage of poison stings, trying to get in before Beel could raise another barrier. But her reflect was still fast enough to block it.
"Damn…" Blake cursed. He wanted Maria to hurt that Grimmsnarl somehow, but… she couldn't get through!
"This is getting annoying," Val smiled. Suddenly, from below the webs, black cords of hair erupted and grabbed Maria, tilting her head away from Beel.
"Maria!" Blake cried. "What the-"
"Just had to go around, that's all," Val smiled. A lock of Beel's hair had separated from his body and slid under the concealing webs, allowing him to trap Maria. The hair wrapped around her throat, and wove through her tentacles as well, making sure to keep far away from her sharp stingers, holding her tentacles out and away from him. He lifted Maria up into the air, suspended by hair and splayed out, unable to do anything but squirm.
"Well, we can slam her into the ground, but then she might be able to twist her way free…" Val mused. "Beel, how about we just give her a few good punches to wipe her out?"
"Grimm," Beel nodded, stomping closer to Maria, ripping the hair up out of the webbing and pulling her closer, making sure to pull on her tentacles to hoist her head back, keeping her mouth far away from him.
There's gotta be something, Kate thought, her mind racing. Some move Maria could use to weasel her way out of this. Her eyes desperately searched… and widened.
Beel pulled his arm back, darkness burning in his fist.
"Maria!" Kate shouted. "Use venoshock!"
Maria's eyes widened in realization. She couldn't spit poison at the pokemon… but she could use the poison already there. The poison burning a hole in the plaza's bricks bubbled, bursting to life, and slammed into Beel in a wave of power just before the pokemon's fist connected.
"Grimm!" Beel roared in pain, stumbling backwards and scraping the burning substance off of his hair. His grip on Maria loosened and the squishy pokemon slipped free, landing on the ground.
"Awesome, Maria! Now, use sludge bomb!"
"Marea!" Maria opened her mouth, and spat another sludge bomb at Beel. Beel dodged to the side, the poison just grazing his hair, splattering on the webbed ground. But as he dodged to the side, the sticky webs gummed up Beel's hair, causing him to stumble and trip.
"Stand up!" Val shouted, Maria seizing the opportunity to advance, spitting a blast of sludge at Beel.
Beel raised his head and smirked, his eyes glinting with triumph. The fall had been a feint! His hair shot out, striking Maria in the chest, sending her flying backwards.
"Maria!" Blake cried. The had been a serious blow.
"Mare…" Maria sat up shakily, her body hurt pretty badly. She was still ready and willing to fight, but… she'd taken some damage.
"They always fall for it," Val smirked. "Like we'd give you an opening so obvious!"
Beel stomped forward, shredding through the webs as he advanced.
"Damn, there's no…" Kate couldn't find a way for Blake to win, it just looked… she looked down, and saw something notable. "Blake! The webs!"
"Huh?" Blake had been wracking his brain for what he could try next, when his eyes landed on where she was pointing. The webs set down by Ruru, her webs that conducted electricity… they were absorbing something else entirely. Maria's venom was sinking into the threads, corrupting them, filling them with her toxic venom.
"Maria!" Blake put it together immediately. "Venoshock!"
Maria's eyes jumped to the webs, and she saw it too. The webs ripped up and wrapped themselves around Beel's legs, holding him in place.
"The hell?!" Val growled.
"Grimm!" Beel swatted at the webs with his hands, trying to rip them free. As he did, he felt his hands start to burn.
"Not so fun being tied up, huh?" Blake asked. "Maria, sludge bomb!"
Maria spat more orbs of venom at the webs, causing the suffusion of poison to pick up even faster. She scurried forward, the stingers on her tentacles filling with poisonous energy, and she jabbed them into the webbing as well. Using the sticky threads as a conduit, Maria was pumping poison directly into Beel's body.
"Fuck!" Val cursed, Beel finally ripping free of the webs and storming towards Maria, swatting the small pokemon away. Maria skidded over the webbed-up ground, a smirk on her face.
"Grimm…" Beel growled at Maria, his vision starting to blur. In spite of their best efforts, that pesky pokemon had somehow managed to infect him. And now the poison was eating away at him.
"Beel!" Val shouted. "You have to finish this off, now!"
She couldn't hide her Grimmsnarl behind barriers anymore, that wouldn't help her win. She had to switch to an all-out offensive.
"Maria, sludge bomb!" Blake ordered. Maria puffed up her cheeks, building up poison.
"Grimm!" Beel shot forward, raising his fist, hitting Maria in the stomach with his last sucker punch. Maria coughed, and spat the sludge bomb out onto Beel, getting knocked back from the blow. Maria tumbled across the ground, badly injured, as the sludge landed on Beel's body, eating through his hair and causing him serious damage.
"GRIIIIMM!" Beel wailed, frantically scraping poison off of his body. It burned! How did it hurt this badly?!
"Yes! Just like I thought!" Kate cheered in triumph.
"What are you talking about?" Blake asked, turning to Kate in confusion.
"Her ability," Kate explained. "That Mareanie's ability must be merciless!"
"Merciless?" Blake asked.
"When the target pokemon is poisoned, like that Grimmsnarl, every move that Maria uses will be a critical hit!" Kate explained, her exuberance speaking for itself.
Val wasn't nearly as pleased. She liked inflicting the suffering, seeing other people get one up on her pokemon wasn't a part of that.
"Beel! You don't have any sucker punches left, so we've got to rely on other means of taking that pokemon down!"
"Grimm," Beel nodded, growling angrily at Maria.
With the amount of poison eating away at him… Beel won't last much longer. But that Mareanie won't go much longer, either. Val scowled. I suppose this is as far as we can go…
"Grimm!" Beel groaned in pain, clenching his side, falling to his knee and lowering his head.
"Mareanie!" Maria prepared to advance.
"Maria, don't!" Blake shouted. "It's a trick!"
Maria blinked, remembering the last time that Beel had stumbled over. She opened her mouth, just as Beel raised his head, sending thick cords of hair at Maria. Maria belched out a blast of venomous energy, having seen the attack coming, melting the hair away, much to Val's consternation.
"We're learning," Blake smirked. "Maria! Venoshock!"
The venom she'd spat out began to surge with life, flying towards Beel, barraging the prone pokemon from all sides. The Grimmsnarl roared out in pain as the poison burned through his veins, his hair melting away faster than he could grow it pack, eating him up from the inside and the out.
"…I suppose that's enough," Val shrugged, recalling her Grimmsnarl to the pokeball.
"Wh-what?" Blake blinked. Maria was equally confused. The tension had drained away and she slumped down, the weight of her wounds finally getting the best of her.
"No sense in fighting a losing battle," Val said, clipping the pokeball onto her belt. "You won. We couldn't have pulled it out."
Blake felt a little cheated, like he'd been denied the satisfaction. But he caught himself. He was already winning, to want to cause more pain would just be mindless sadism. He nodded, recalling Maria to her pokeball for a good night's rest. He also felt like he could use some rest. His rage wasn't abated in the slightest, but right now… he was feeling worn down.
"We had a deal…" Blake growled, glaring angrily at Val. She smirked, stepping closer to him.
"As. You. Wish." Val smirked, stepping over to Kate. In a voice devoid of remorse or sympathy, she mockingly proclaimed "ooooh, Kate, I am so, sooo sorry for everything I did to you back in school."
She turned her head to Blake, smirking.
"There. Satisfied?"
He wasn't. Not even a little bit. He wanted to punch this bitch as hard as he-
Kate slammed the palm of her hand into Val's cheek, knocking her off of her feet and sending her sprawling over the brick. Val clenched her red cheek, blood trickling down from the side of her mouth. She looked up at Kate with golden eyes shining with rage.
"I'm satisfied," Kate shrugged.
"Well, well, well," Val said, spitting, a bloody smile spreading across her face. "Seems like you've got a little more fight in you than I remember."
"Go fuck yourself," Kate spat, glaring at the girl with hatred in her eyes.
Val picked herself off the ground, wiping her lip off on her palm.
Blake stared at the two. The shock of Kate slapping Val had made the anger inside of him dissipate for the moment, and now he was just tired. He… if Kate hadn't stepped in just then, he would have laid Val out on the ground. That…
Blake's hands were shaking. He… he wasn't a violent person. But for some reason, he…
"It's been a long day," Blake growled. "Get lost."
"I will," Val smiled. "But I think we'll see each other real soon. After all, two evil, dark folks like us can never be apart for long."
Blake's only response was a glare.
Val shrugged, rolling her eyes. Her coy smile twisted into a smirk.
"The mural at Stow-On-Side. Three nights from tonight."
Blake blinked.
"What?"
"Come by around… 10:00. She'll be there then," Val continued. Blake narrowed his eyes suspiciously. What she was saying…
"Do you honestly expect me to-"
"Oh, come now, so suspicious," Val chuckled. "I'm telling the truth, believe me or don't. But come alone. Bring too many people, say, Pokemon Rangers, or the police… and we'll have to duck out. And you won't want that, I'm sure."
Blake still didn't believe her.
"Why would you go out of your way to help me?" Blake scoffed. "I can't imagine it's out of the goodness of your heart. So you can forgive me for not being all that trusting of your 'good will'."
"Not a bit," Val said, shaking her head. Her smile widened. "I told you, didn't I? What I live for… the look of someone's face, twisted into despair at the cusp of hope… I want to see the look on your face when you meet her, and see just. How. Pointless all of your hard work and searching really was."
Val punctuated her explanation with an evil cackle.
"Good luck," she purred, turning and stalking off into the night, leaving the plaza utterly ruined in her wake.
So Blake managed to win. But in the end… was any of it really worth it?