Another chapter, and now we go back to Gwen and Blake! Will Blake manage to convince Gwen that her decision to kill his friends is bad? We can only hope, I'm certain that she will react to it with nothing but rational thoughts. Definitely.

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: Grass is also strong against rock, and her Vileplume is stronger than her Skrelp.

Rosealine gold: Don't worry, we're approaching the end.

Aquahaze675: Less a battle, but still, yes, he got to lend a hand.

Badoobadoop: Because that's her basic, fundamental nature.

Tambry96bj: She's certainly out of her element. Hopefully, though, she'll be able to learn from this and decide to either not battle anymore, or train to get better at it.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 274

"Lancelot, take me," Gwen said, her Gallade nodding in agreement. The scarred pokemon knelt down and scooped Gwen up into a princess carry, walking towards the exit of the chamber, when suddenly he found he could walk no further.

"We have stopped moving," Gwen noted. She turned her gaze up to Lancelot, her eyes questioning. Lancelot was not looking her way, however. He turned to gaze behind him, at the long cord wrapped around his leg, holding him in place, and the pokemon who had spat it out.

Blake and Ruru were standing in the center of the chamber. Ruru had prevented Lancelot's escape with her spider webs. Blake was staring not at the opposing pokemon, but at his little sister, his face stern with resolution. But it was only a mask. Inside, he felt nothing but pain. Reuniting with Gwen was supposed to be the culmination of all the hard work he had done, searching for her tirelessly for all these years.

It wasn't supposed to be like this.

"Big brother, I don't understand," Gwen said, glancing towards him as well. "Why are you trying to stop me? Where did you get that pokemon?"

"This is Ruru," Blake introduced her. "She's a new friend I made. Ruru? This is Gwen, my sister."

"Gal?" Ruru tilted her head to the side, looking up at her trainer. Why was Blake fighting with his little sister?

"You aren't the only one who's changed," Blake explained.

"Lies," Gwen said. She placed her hand on Lancelot's shoulder, and he gently set her down on the ground. Then, he sliced the thread attached to his leg off. "Blake is still Blake. My big brother has not changed. Ah! I understand! The only reason a pokemon would attack another pokemon is for the sake of fighting! You want your pokemon to fight against my Lancelot! And the only reason that big brother would want to fight me is because he wants to test my strength again! It will be a match just like when we were kids! I can't wait! Just you watch, big brother, I'm going to show you how much stronger I've gotten, and when you see, then you'll acknowledge I'm strong, and you won't have to worry about me anymore! Big brother and I can be together, forever!"

"That's not why," Blake said, scowling.

"What's not what?" Gwen asked.

Blake took a deep breath. He needed to make things absolutely clear to Gwen exactly what was going on here. She was holding onto this mental state that Blake would want to be by her side. And while that was true, he hated the idea that she would want him to come with her. He wanted to be with her, but not… not like this. He wanted his sister back, not completely lost in her madness the way the girl in front of him currently was.

"Gwen. I do not want to fight you like we did when we were kids. I don't want to fight you so you can show me how strong you've gotten thanks to that power of yours. That isn't why I want to fight you, Gwen, do you understand me?" Blake looked into her eyes, desperate to see any trace of understanding. He saw recognition, but he didn't see understanding.

"I don't understand," Gwen replied. "Please explain why you want to fight me then?"

"Gwen, the reason I want to fight you is because I want to stop you from hurting my friend," Blake replied. "I don't know what you are going to do to Sango, but I am not going to let you hurt her, do you understand that?"

Gwen didn't understand. It didn't make sense to her. What her big brother was telling her was wrong. Blake would not want to fight Gwen over something like a friend. Big brother always took Gwen's side. Always, always, always. She must have missed something, one of those things that always didn't make sense to her, like when people expected her to answer a question when they didn't tell her what the question actually was. Too many things people said didn't make sense, and while this time, she could understand what she was being asked, she was still not understanding. After all, this wasn't what big brother would do. Blake would take her side!

"I don't understand!" Gwen repeated, more insistently. Her tone was desperate. "I don't understand, I don't understand, I don't understand! Explain it to me! Why are you trying to stop me?! Why don't you want me to get rid of those people getting in the way of us being together?! I! Don't! Understand! Don't you want us to be happy?!"

"I want you to come back with me to the estate," Blake told her. "I don't want you to torment my friends, and I don't want you to keep working with the Children of the Oracles. I'm going to stop you if I have to, Gwen."

Gwen glared at him. She didn't understand at all, but right now Lancelot was angry, and that was making her start to get angry as well. Her harmonia was surging, and her hair was standing on end as her eyes flashed with energy.

"Fine! If you won't let me, then I'll have to show you!" Gwen shouted. "I'll make you see that I'm strong now! Stronger than you, even stronger than Kanone!"

A shaky smile twisted its way across Gwen's pale face.

"Come on big brother! Let me show you how strong I've become!"

Blake swallowed. There really wasn't another way at this point.

"Ruru, you need to be ready," Blake warned her.

"Galvantula!" Ruru nodded.

"Lancelot!" Gwen shouted. "Go!"

"Gallade!" Lancelot lowered his head and charged at Ruru, the blades on his elbows extending and sharpening.

"Let's deal with that speed first," Blake ordered. "Use thunder wave."

"Galvantula!" Ruru's fur began crackling with electricity, and she released it in a shockwave to paralyze the opposing pokemon.

"Gallade!" The electricity struck Lancelot, but it failed to really hit him. The moment the current ran over his body, his white skin began glowing. The attack wrapped around something similar to a veil, passing harmlessly past Lancelot as he continued his advance.

Safeguard! Blake realized, Lancelot coming to a stop in front of Ruru and swinging his arm in a slash. But Ruru was low to the ground, giving her time to react, and fast enough to duck out of the way, scurrying back away from the swift pokemon.

"She's fast!" Gwen shouted, her eyes flashing. "Lancelot! Don't let her get away so easily! You want to make her feel it, don't you?!"

"Gallade!" Lancelot nodded in agreement. Gwen's eyes flashed again, a veil of blue light surrounding both trainer and pokemon. A drop of blood trickled from her nose, going unnoticed to her. She was one with Lancelot in body and mind, ecstatic to finally show off exactly how strong she had become. For the last three years, she had been mastering her harmonia, training her abilities as a trainer, all to show Blake that he didn't need to think of her as his helpless little sister any longer.

I'll show you! I'm strong now, Blake! You don't need to worry about me, you can come back and we can be together! Gwen's mind was solely dedicated to that mental state. She would make him understand that they could be together, and then she'd take care of all those other people trying to keep the two of them apart.

Lancelot shot after Ruru, his body barely a blur. Ruru spat an electrified web at the pokemon, but it was shredded in moments, never even getting close to the pokemon's body. Electricity crackled around Ruru's fur, generating a current that she released in a discharge.

But the shockwave never reached Lancelot. He had just… disappeared. Ruru searched frantically for him, before one of her eyes caught something. She jerked her head up to see Lancelot teleporting into the air above her, his arm shimmering with slight. With a swing of his hand, a blade of psionic energy shot out, slicing into Ruru's back.

"Galvantula!" Ruru wailed in pain, Lancelot landing on the ground beside her. Another swing of his bladed arm hit Ruru in the leg, knocking her off-balance. Lancelot kicked her up, exposing her underside. Gwen's harmonia surged, and Lancelot's strength increased. He swung his hand and sliced into Ruru's belly with a powerful psycho cut, the force of the swing and the blade it released sending her flying across the room.

Ruru hit the wall hard and let out a wail of pain, Lancelot disappearing in a flash of light, reappearing above Ruru's head and swinging his blade down on her once again.

"GAAAAAAAAAL!" Ruru let out a loud chitter, a blast of sonic energy erupting from her jaws. The buzzing sound struck Lancelot in the ears, powerful enough to disorient him completely and stop his attack.

"Gaaaaaallade!" Lancelot cried in pain, stumbling backwards and holding his ears in pain.

"Aaaargh!" Gwen could hear the sounds just as much as Lancelot could, the pain magnifying for both of them due to the overlap of the sonic feedback. Blake could hear it too, and it hurt, but Gwen and Lancelot's shared senses meant that the attack was being heard by two sets of ears, for double the effectiveness.

Ruru panted, righting herself. She was injured, and blood was matting onto her yellow fur. She took the opportunity to put some distance between herself and Lancelot. She opened her mouth wide, an orb of electric energy gathering in her jaws. She fired the orb at the Gallade. Lancelot, on his knees, would find it difficult to escape from the orb. But he didn't need to escape.

With a swing of his arm, Lancelot sliced through the orb, shrugging off the blast of electricity zapping through him as a result of it. His arm twitched, and he rose to his feet, still a little dizzy.

"Focus," Gwen silently commanded him, Lancelot's mind clearing. He set his sights on Ruru and his anger flared back up. Psychic energy began glowing on his arms, his swords extending and sharpening. He ran forward, swinging both arms, projection blades shooting out and flying across the battlefield towards the spider.

"Ruru, agility!" Blake ordered. Ruru ran forwards, zigzagging around the blades of psychic energy that sliced harmlessly into the floor of the chamber. Lancelot was surprised, he had not expected that the pokemon would be coming for him. He gathered more energy into his arms, Gwen feeding him all that he would need.

Ruru predicted this, and with a glance at her trainer, she understood. The most essential thing right now was hampering the Gallade's maneuverability, as he had made clear from the beginning with his order for her to use thunder wave. And so, rather than go for a direct attack, Ruru turned on her legs and revealed her rear to Lancelot, preparing a different type of attack.

A blast of webbing shot out from Ruru, wide and heavy, designed to cover the pokemon and trap him against the ground.

"Gallade," Lancelot growled, narrowing his eyes. He could see the electricity coursing through the webbing, he had no interest in being trapped in it. His blades sharpened and he spun, slicing through the webs surrounding him with a swift and precise swords dance.

The webs were ripped apart before they ever got close to accomplishing their original goal of trapping the powerful pokemon up. Strands of silk fluttered harmlessly to the cave ground around him, and he charged forward, slashing into Ruru from behind, sending her forward.

"Yes, that's perfect!" Gwen said, holding her ear. She looked at Blake, her eyes wild and shining. "I want you to fight! More, big brother! Show me how much stronger you've become! I need to see it! I need you to put up a fight, to keep doing your best, that way I can show you! I've grown so much more powerful, so much stronger! My harmonia… this power is far more than you could hope for! I want to show you, big brother! Now… send him out!"

Blake winced. Ruru was in bad shape, he could tell that. She didn't look like she could keep fighting anymore. But Lancelot wasn't pushing any further, either. He was standing at attention, blade raised, ready to respond, but wasn't charging at Ruru or trying to slice at her. He was waiting. Waiting for the same thing that his trainer was.

Blake let out a sigh. He held up Ruru's pokeball and recalled her. Gwen wanted to show him that she was stronger now, that she wasn't the little girl he used to have to protect. That crazed look in her eye, that look of resolution on Lancelot's face… they both wanted the exact same thing. And it made him feel awful.

How did you come this far? He asked himself. Asking her aloud wouldn't help. She wouldn't be able to understand.

He clipped Ruru's pokeball onto his belt, and reached for the only pokemon he could rely on right now, the one that Gwen wanted to prove her strength against.

If that's what you want little sister. Blake would always give her what she wanted. It was time for a tragic, awful reunion, one that made his heart wrench in pain.

"Weiss, please help her," Blake begged, throwing the pokeball out. Weiss emerged from the ball and landed on the cavern floor. He raised his head and saw what he was facing off against, and he froze in place, startled.

"Scizor…"

Weiss glanced back at Blake in shock. Blake nodded his head grimly.

"She's here," Blake confirmed. Weiss turned his head back to Gwen and her Gallade, his eyes wide and his mind reeling. Those scars lined up and down the pokemon's body… they were familiar scars. The pokemon who wore them was so much smaller the last time he saw them. But that little Ralts had grown up, as had his trainer.

"We're all together again," Gwen smiled. "Big brother and I… Weiss, and my dear Lancelot. I've been waiting for this for so long, big brother! Every day when I was training, I dreamed of this moment! When I could finally fight you, and show you just how much I've grown, so that I could take care of you! So you wouldn't have to protect me anymore, you wouldn't have to worry anymore…"

Gwen looked down at her hands, blue light shimmering around her as her psychic abilities flared up, Lancelot growing in strength from her harmonia. She looked back up at her brother and his Scizor, smiling.

"It's unbelievable, the power…" Gwen licked her lips, her body trembling with excitement. "I'm strong now! Let me show you, big brother! Lancelot and I, we've trained for so very long, all so that you could accept me, not just as something to be protected, but as someone worth giving you all your love! You don't need anyone else, big brother! I only need you, and you only need me! This power has given me so much more than I ever could have asked for, the power to be the girl I was always supposed to be! Not some scared little freak who couldn't understand the world, but someone capable of creating a world with her own two hands, just for the two of us!"

Gwen held out her hand to Blake. He just stared at her in stunned silence. This was a side of his sister that he had never seen. There had been hints of it when he had last seen her, but this…

"What's happened to you…?" Blake whispered, his eyes wide. He felt… broken. Empty and hollow. The little sister in his memories had been torn apart, trampled into tiny little pieces, and glued back together all wrong. He had seen the signs of harmonia wearing down on her before. That was why he was desperate to stop it from destroying Elaina, destroying Kitty. But there was a difference between seeing someone who was breaking down like they were, like Gwen had been, a lifetime ago…

And looking at the sister you cherished more than anyone else and seeing a broken shell of a girl driven mad by her addiction to this horrid power.

"Gwen…" A single tear rolled down Blake's cheek as he looked at her. The parts of his little sister that he had recognized before… he couldn't see them anymore. He was staring at a twisted hint of what Elaina and Kitty could become without his help.

There was no use trying to bring her back. He'd convinced himself that he could bring her home, and they could all be a family again. Kanone had warned him about that possibility in his own way. And of course, Richard Harker… he had all but said how futile it was to hope for anything less. Blake understood what he meant when he told him that this was a path towards futility.

There wasn't a way to bring her back, not like this. Not how she was now. She was completely lost in this power. And Blake couldn't see a way to pull her back out of it.

"Weiss…" Blake said quietly, his Scizor awaiting his orders, equally apprehensive about the situation they were currently facing.

Gwen's smile widened and her breath hitched in anticipation. Lancelot narrowed his eyes hatefully towards his opponent.

"We have to fight. Let's go."

Things are not looking good right now. All of Blake's searching for his sister, and unfortunately it looks like he's too late for it to matter. Is there any hope in bringing her back? Or is she truly lost?