Here's another chapter, where we get more quality time between Blake and his dear little sister. This should go well. Let's really get to know Gwen, or Guinevere. Honestly, though, I'm a little disappointed that the reaction to Blake's sister was so… lackluster. I thought it was a pretty big twist, and yet everyone's just kind of… "okay" about it. Kinda bummed.

We've got a decent amount of votes in the Pokemon Academy Best Girl Semi-Finals! The current lead runners in the polls may surprise you! The shakeup really makes me realize how a girl may be in many people's top 5, but not necessarily in their top 3. So I'm certainly feeling more than a little surprised Looks like the girl I'm pulling for isn't going to win, but that's fine. They're all wonderful girls! If you want your best girls to make it to the final round and beyond, then make sure to get your votes in! You have 3 votes, make them count!

Semi-Finalists: Cynthia, Ayame, Sango, Kate, Marion, Alcea

ConfusedCradily: We've been building to Blake and his sister for a while. A lot will be made clear about why he treats others the way he does when we get to know more about his sister.

DJ Dib Dab: Don't count on that plot twist.

Aquahaze675: I was wondering if people would, but it seems they did not. Guinevere is the key.

Guest: Interesting, uncomfortably mad why, if I may ask?

Tambry96bj: More intense for sure.

Thunder Fire: Yes, it is, or at least, it can be. And "let" is a strong word.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 272

Sango shook her head as she looked at Blake and Guinevere staring into each other's eyes. She felt numb.

Brother.

She had called him "big brother."

Guinevere was Blake's little sister. In the time she'd gotten to know him, she'd learned bits and pieces about his family, and she knew that Blake's sister was possibly the most important person in the world to him. She knew that his sister had harmonia, and was a distant, awkward person.

But she never thought it would have been Guinevere. What were the odds? That she would happen upon a member of Blake' family like that, on a boat in the middle of the ocean.

"Gwen, you've gotten taller…" It wasn't the best opener Blake could choke out, but it was the first thing that crossed his mind. Everything felt like it was new now, seeing his sister in so long, even the pain in his throat and his trouble breathing seemed to have gone away pretty readily, as though just seeing that bright smile on the sweet girl's face had made all of his problems disappear in a poof.

"Changed," Gwen nodded. She reached a hand up and touched his face, caressing it like she was afraid that it might be an illusion. Blake reached his own hand up, and placed it over hers. Gwen smiled. It was him, she knew it. Blake wasn't like the others, his touch wasn't an intrusion. His hands told her how much he loved her. It was like the last three years they had been apart hadn't even happened. The boy she loved was back now. "Strong now. Better."

Gwen beamed up at him. It was an expression he was quite familiar with in his dealings with her. She always looked at him like he was the only one in the world.

"Your harmonia, is it-"

Her smile faltered.

"Strong now," she repeated. She lowered her hand from his cheek, trailed it down his neck, and placed it over his heart. "We can be together again. Gwen and Blake, right…?"

Her eyes were sad and searching, the look she would always give him when she was afraid he was going back to sleep in his own bed.

"Blake…" Sango's voice came out a lot shakier than she would have liked. This intimacy she was seeing, it wasn't something that she would generally associate with the relationship between a brother and sister. "What… what's going on here?"

Blake glanced away from his sister for a second, turning to Sango. In the heat of finally seeing Gwen again, he had forgotten all about his friend. Well, save the problems inherent with helping Gwen interact with people in any sort of legitimate capacity.

"Oh… Sango, um, this is… uh…"

Blake turned back to Gwen, flustered. Gwen's cheerful face had completely slipped off. She had been ignoring Sango entirely and focused solely on Blake, but now that Blake's attention had shifted away from her, her expression had turned into the empty glare that he was quite familiar to seeing on her. If Sango wasn't here, she would have-

"This is my sister, Gwen…" Blake was not comfortable right now. At all.

"We've met," Sango said, standing up. Now it was Blake's turn to look shocked.

"What?!" Blake sputtered, shocked. "You… you've met?! Where? When?! Why didn't you tell me?! Do you have any idea how long I've-"

"I didn't know!" Sango exclaimed. "I had no idea who she was! She was just some strange girl!"

"Don't call her that!" Blake snapped. Sango flinched, taking a step back. Blake's face was flushed with rage. He calmed down and took a breath. "Look, listen, it's… sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you, just… please don't call her strange. She's… just don't."

Sango nodded.

"I won't," she agreed, turning to look at the blonde. "Um… sorry."

Gwen didn't hear her, or she didn't care. She wasn't even looking at Sango, she was still all eyes for Blake, even though her expression was still hard and empty.

"Blake."

Gwen's voice was cold as ice.

"Y-yeah?" Blake asked, turning to look at her.

"Why are you talking with that girl?" Gwen asked.

Sango gulped. That wasn't something that she wanted to hear. In fact, it was downright terrifying, the cold, matter-of-fact way this girl addressed anything.

"Um, Gwen, this is Sango, she's my friend," Blake said, trying to smooth things over. But knowing the kind of girl that Gwen was…

"No."

Sango's mouth dropped open. No? What did she mean by "no"?

"I'm here. Stop talking with her," Gwen demanded. "I don't like that girl."

Blake swallowed. Well, Gwen didn't really like anyone, so that wasn't a big surprise.

"O-okay, I won't talk with her," Blake agreed. Sango's mouth fell open in shock.

"What?" She demanded, storming over to him. "Blake, we don't have time for…"

She turned to look at Gwen, incensed. The knowledge that this girl was, evidently, working with a terrorist organization like the Children of the Oracles had been pushed out of her mind with the revelation that she was Blake's sister. But seeing the rage crossing over the girl's hollow face brought that back to the forefront.

"Go away! We don't want you here!" Gwen shouted, her grey eyes flashing angrily. Sango felt her body being grasped by an invisible force, and she was lifted off the ground. The next thing she felt was the rush of air passing across her body, and the pain of her back hitting the stone wall of the chamber.

"Haaaghhgk!" Sango gagged, hitting the ground hard. Searing pain shot up her side, and she feared a few ribs had caved in. She was having trouble breathing.

"Sango!" Blake cried. He whirled around to look at Gwen, his face twisted with horror. "Gwen!"

"Hate her…" Gwen murmured, reaching her hand up and casually wiping drips of blood off of her upper lip.

"That's… your harmonia, it's…"

The look in Gwen's eye was strange. It was the same look she'd had that day… when she left. Blake felt a chill run down his spine. His hands were trembling.

"Gwen… why did you come here?" Blake asked. "What are you doing in these ruins?"

"I am opening the door," Gwen said, glancing over her shoulder and gesturing at the open door. "Door open."

Gwen grabbed Blake by the arm, and pulled him along with her.

"Let me show you!" She said.

"But… Sango," Blake followed after Gwen, but looked back at the prone girl.

"Forget about her," Gwen coldly replied, leading him into the next room as Sango pulled herself to her feet. She held her side and coughed, nearly falling over again.

Damn… crazy girl… Sango thought, before shaking her head. Blake didn't want her talking about his sister that way. But at the moment it was an apt comparison. She took a step forward, and pain shot up her side, causing her to double over. I'll go… stop her… just as soon as… my ribs… grow back…

Lying on her good side was a nice way to soothe her injuries, so she did that. This entire thing was getting way too out of control for her liking.

Gwen and Blake entered the hidden room, something that was becoming all too familiar to Blake. It was far, far larger than the chamber that was on the outside, larger than the chamber before it with the statue. Hell, it was at least a stadium in size, possibly bigger than the rest of the ruins combined. And at the very far wall was something that was very familiar to Blake. He'd seen it before. A large stone carving into the side of chamber, a sculpted dragon head, and in its mouth, he could see something shining.

"There it is." Another smile crossed Gwen's face, this one filled with anything but joy. In Blake's memories, her smile was such a rare thing, even when she was around him. But he remembered it perfectly. Her eyes flashed, and she walked across the room.

"Big brother, you can't hear it," Gwen said, not even turning to look back at him. "The songs… they're like singing."

Songs did tend to be like singing, she had him there.

"Gwen, you should stay away from that thing," Blake said, following after her. "It's dangerous, don't-"

Gwen reached the other side of the chamber and extended her hand, yanking the stone free from the dragon sculpture's jaws. The stone began glowing with a reddish-violet glow, the light engulfing her body completely.

"Amazing!" Gwen's soft laughter erupted from the corona of poisonous light. "Look, big brother! My power is so-! It's nothing like it was before, don't you see?"

The light died down and Gwen walked back to him, her eyes still glowing slightly. She looked up at him like a pokemon begging for a treat. She was clearly looking for approval from him, as she so often used to do in the past. After all, their father wasn't exactly one for encouragement.

"That… that harmonia, Gwen… you don't have to keep-"

"Amazing," Gwen repeated.

"Right, um…"

Blake held his hand out to her. She looked at it.

Right, Blake was a little rusty on dealing with his sister's approach to social interaction. Gwen wouldn't be able to pick up on some vague social cue like this without him explaining.

"Can you give that to me?" Blake asked.

"I don't understand, give what to you?" Gwen still wasn't getting it.

Right. He had to explain the full sentence, too.

"Can you give me that stone in your hand?" Blake clarified.

"This?" Gwen looked at it. "Here."

Gwen placed the stone in Blake's hand without even thinking about it. That was a good sign, right?

"Okay, good," Blake said, nodding, slipping the Oracle into his pocket.

"I don't understand."

"Uh… that was a very good thing you did by giving me the stone," Blake informed her. "Thank you, Gwen."

"Okay," Gwen nodded.

"Now, we should probably leave this place." Blake looked around the old ruins. There wasn't much to do here.

"Why would we leave?" Gwen asked. Her tone turned desperate. Her eyes flashed with worry. Blake gulped. He always took care to make sure Gwen didn't have one of her attacks. Back before her harmonia, she had just lashed out physically at people. The last one he saw had flung Sango around like a rag doll. He had to make sure to keep her stable, which was taxing enough back when the only thing affecting her behavior was a developmental disorder. Harmonia's effect on her mental state… he wasn't sure how she would react.

"I'm here, you're here, we're here. Let's stay, don't leave."

"Uh, no, we have to leave, both of us," Blake said. "We'll leave, and then you and I can go home together. We don't have to split up."

"Good," Gwen nodded in agreement. "Don't split up. You come back home. Go find Rui. Talk to Rui. Rui take us home."

Blake sighed. For a brief moment, he had hoped… but she didn't understand what he meant. Gwen had already determined that what she considered "home" was not the same place that Blake was talking about. So when Blake asked for them both to go home, she interpreted it exactly how she would: she would be taking him with her back to wherever the Children of the Oracles were.

"That's not what I meant."

"I don't understand. What's not what you meant?"

"I don't want to go back to where the Children of the Oracles are staying," Blake explained. Gwen looked at him with confusion, which was starting to become more and more common. Their communication abilities had clearly become strained in the three years since he'd last seen her. He was having a lot more difficulty getting through to her.

"I don't understand, you came here to be with me, so why don't you want to come home with me?" Gwen asked. "Is this one of those things that I don't understand because I'm not…"

Gwen's eyes began to tear up and she began trembling.

"…Normal?"

Blake pulled her into a big hug, cradling the trembling girl.

"Shh, shh," Blake reassured her. He kissed her forehead, running his fingers through her hair. "It's okay, you know I love you right? Even if you aren't the same as everybody else, you're still the world to me, I love you little sister."

"I know…" Gwen sniffled. She wiped her eyes. "Let's go with the others. You'll like it there, we'll be together."

She was giving him those hopeful Poochyena eyes again. Blake winced, and separated from her. He needed to be clear again.

"Gwen, I don't want to go back with you to the Children of the Oracles," Blake clarified.

Gwen's face tightened in disappointment and she shook her head.

"No, no, why did you come? Why would you come if you don't want to be with me?!" She came closer to him, desperately trying to get him to hug her again.

"Gwen, I want to take you back to the estate," Blake explained. "You don't belong with those… those people, you belong back home, back at father's house!"

Gwen's mouth dropped open and she looked at him with an expression he had never seen turned his way before. The closest he could describe it was horror.

"…No," Gwen said, shaking her head. "No, no, no! I won't, I won't go back! I can't! Not back to that place, no! Not again!"

Gwen fell to her knees and clenched her head, rocking back and forth.

"No, Gwen, it's not what you think-"

"Can't go back there, won't be imprisoned again, not back to that place!" Gwen screamed.

"Gwen, listen to me!" Blake knelt beside her and hugged her, but she wasn't paying any attention. "He… he's different now, I promise. He won't send you back there, he just wants you to come back!"

"Liar, liar, why are you lying to me?!" Gwen exclaimed. Blake suddenly felt something pulling on him, and Gwen was ripped from his arms as he was yanked away from her. "Why, can't be, my big brother wouldn't lie, can't be Blake…"

"Gwen, you know I would never lie to you!" Blake shouted. "He told me himself! The only future that he wants is for the five of us, together! He said that he wants all of his children back home, and that includes you, don't you see? You can come back! You don't have to keep running anymore, no one is going to lock you away in a facility like Anja Karzat ever again! You just… you can just come home…"

"Can't, won't," Gwen shook her head. "He wouldn't! He doesn't want me, he'll lock me away again! No one wants a daughter who tried to kill her mother! I can't go back, I won't go back to that place! Don't take me back there!"

"Gwen…" Blake's outstretched hand dropped to his side. Seeing her like this… he felt like he had gone numb. He had this grand plan. After Gwen had disappeared, he and Kanone had spent every waking moment searching for her, trying to find her and bring her back. But not once had he stopped to really consider what would happen if he found her… and she had refused to go back with him. He was at a loss.

"Why would Blake lie to me?" Gwen asked, unable to understand. "He's my big brother, my big brother never lied to me, what would make him do it? Don't understand, don't understand… I can't make sense of any of this, it isn't real, why won't it make sense? Help me, help me!"

"Gwen, I'm trying to help you, why-"

"I'm strong now, so why… want to be with Blake, got strong, control… Blake, want Blake, why won't…" Gwen rose to her feet, wiping blood off from below her nose. Her eyes were vacant. Blake couldn't see and trace of his sister in those eyes.

"Gwen… don't you want to be a family with us again?" Blake pleaded. But there was no hope to be found in those flashing eyes of hers.

"Don't need a family," Gwen's hollow voice sent a spike of pain through Blake's chest. Did she not… did she really not care about them anymore? Blake felt the strength go out in his legs, all his fatigue from earlier coming back. He fell to his knees as Gwen shambled over to him.

"Never cared… never. No one understands me, only Blake, only Blake. Big brother protects me from all the mean people in the world who try to hurt me. Don't need anyone but big brother."

"What about… what about Uni?" Blake whispered.

Gwen looked down at Blake. Her eyes were teaming with energy, but they were cold.

"I don't need that weak thing," she answered. Blake winced. How could she be so cold? She wasn't the girl who loved her pokemon like he remembered. She looked away from him again, staring into the distance as she thought through her issue.

"Blake wants to come back to me, that's why I got stronger. To be with him. Need to be stronger, can't… can't protect him without strength… can't be with him without controlling my harmonia." Gwen rambled. Blake's face darkened. She still believed that.

"So why won't he come back?" Gwen muttered to herself. "I don't understand, he said he wants to be with me, but he can't… why not?"

Gwen racked her mind for a reason, any reason. There was only one thing that she could recognize as different.

"That girl."

Gwen turned to Blake.

"What girl? Sango?"

"Who is the blonde girl in the other room? The one with the same face as the girl on the boat?"

"That's my friend, Sango."

"What is your friend Sango?"

"The girl that you're asking about, the girl who you used your harmonia on in the other chamber, she is my friend, Sango."

"It is her fault that you won't come back with me," Gwen decided, her face twisting in anger. Blake could feel the air teaming with energy.

"No, she's just a frien-"

"NO!" Gwen shouted, Blake feeling a blast of psychic energy smack him upside the face. "No friends, no one! Blake, my big brother is mine! With friends, friends turn him against me, make him lie, make him stay away! Without them, my big brother would want to be with me!"

Gwen slapped her head over and over, unable to deal with what was going on in her brain.

Blake, on the other hand, could see exactly where this was going.

Gwen walked past him without even looking at him.

"Gwen, stop," Blake stepped in front of her. She looked at him with confusion.

"Stop what?"

"Just stop."

"I don't understand." Gwen tried to step around him. "I need to go get rid of your friend. She's keeping you away from me."

Blake stepped in front of her again.

"Don't get rid of Sango. Don't hurt her," Blake begged.

"Have to. Blake and Gwen. Gwen and Blake. Gwen only needs Blake. Blake only needs Gwen."

Gwen placed her hand on Blake's chest.

"Blake and Gwen together…?" Gwen didn't understand the look on Blake's face. All of Blake's faces were the same. Why wasn't he saying anything? He needed to tell her why she couldn't get rid of his friend. He told her she couldn't. But why wasn't he saying why?! Big brother always told her why, she needed him to tell her why, she didn't understand!

"Not… no like this," Blake said, reaching out and placing his hands on her arms. It felt good like all the other times, but what was his "no"? What was he saying no to? She didn't understand.

"Why can't I get rid of her?" Gwen asked.

"Because… because you can't," Blake said. That wasn't an answer she would be able to understand, he was fully aware of this.

"I don't understand. She's getting in my way. I won't let her keep you from being with me, we need each other," Gwen insisted. Her eyes began glowing, and a flash of light appeared behind her.

"Gallade."

A scarred Gallade emerged from his pokeball and stormed forward, raising his arm defensively. Blake got the message and stepped back, startled. The Gallade stepped between the siblings.

"My Lancelot…" Gwen sighed, smiling. "Blake, you remember?"

Blake nodded. He knew that pokemon very well. It seemed that Gwen's Ralts had evolved.

Gwen looked at Lancelot, and her expression brightened. She turned back to him and flashed him a smile.

"Lancelot will help us be together, Blake!" Gwen informed him, with far more enthusiasm than he found comfortable. "Isn't that great?"

Well, Blake's little sister is certainly the bastion of rational thinking.