The climax has reached its head. What will happen at the mural? Will the Children of the Oracles be brought to justice? Or will they get away? What will happen to Blake and Sango? What about Gwen? The others? Here, we've reached the climax of the mural battle, everything ends with this chapter! It's been a long road to here, hopefully things will turn out well! Remember to review!

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

KedharS: But is that enough for him?

Mercury – mercuraneous: I can say for certain, that was not the last battle between Blake and Gwen. They'll meet again, just wait.

Aquahaze675: Indeed, who knows? We'll just have to find out.

Tambry96bj: Plus, he still has the Oracle itself, thanks Gwen.

Thunder Fire:

1. Well, we already kind of knew that.

2. It's a little more complicated than that.

Badoobadoop: Yeah, it's pretty painful. Blake's tragedies are pretty hard to bear.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 276

Sango held her hand against her side and let out a gasp of pain. A few of her ribs were probably fractured, though she didn't think any were fully broken. She'd needed some time to regain her strength, the wind having been knocked out of her from that girl… Blake's sister's harmonia had taken a real load out of her. She pulled herself to her feet and winced, walking towards the large door. She had heard shouting and the sounds of a pokemon battle in the other room. Blake and Guinevere had been fighting. She didn't know how it had gone, but she knew that the room was silent now. She stepped through the doorway, her eyes searching the large chamber quickly. She didn't have time to be impressed by it… certainly not when she saw Blake, collapsed on the ground.

"Blake!" Sango cried, running to his side. The minute she started, her chest felt like it was on fire; bad move. She ignored that, and knelt by his side, shaking him. Guinevere was gone; where, she did not know, but that wasn't important. "Blake, are you-"

"Sango…" Blake glanced up at her. She gulped. His eyes… they were so dull and lifeless. He wasn't even really looking at her, just staring off into nothing with that glassy look in his eyes. She shook him frantically, as though she could shake him back into clarity.

"Blake, what happened? What's going on?" Sango asked. She looked to see Weiss lying on the ground a short distance away, still conscious but also lying prone like his trainer. "Are you okay?"

"She's gone…" he muttered, shaking his head. "Can't bring her back…"

"Forget that," Sango said. "We need to get out of here! Come on!"

Sango helped a coughing Blake to his feet. It was clear that he was in worse shape than she was. His body was trembling and his hands were bloody. His breathing was irregular; could he even make it out of here on his own?

"Weiss… can you help?" Sango turned to Blake's Scizor, pleading with him.

"Scizor!" Weiss pushed himself up onto his feet, coughing. It was clear that he wasn't in much better shape than Sango or Blake. But pokemon take damage easily. Compared to fighting, carrying his trainer was nothing. He stepped forward on shaky legs, and scooped Blake up in his arms. He headed towards the exit, seething with anger at his loss. Sango followed after the two of them.

Outside the mural, the battle was going strong. The sunlight dispersing the sandstorm had helped to turn the tide against the Children of the Oracles. Kate was taking advantage of the intense sunlight to have Lumia's chlorophyll and solar beams fight back against Val's Tyranitar. The type advantage was really giving her the edge! Similarly, now that Reiner could have Scipio use rock polish to increase his speed, he was proving a good match for Rui's Mamoswine.

"Crush claw!" Reiner ordered. Scipio swiftly dodged the chunks of ice flying towards him, slicing through some of them with his claws. He closed the distance between him and Mami, swinging around to the bulky pokemon's side, driving his claw into a powerful strike in Mami's side.

"MAAMoooo!" Mami bellowed, stomping on the ground, icicles shooting out around her. But because of the intense sunlight, the ice began to melt before it even came close to Scipio, allowing the pokemon to slice through the ice like butter.

Nikita was having less good fortune.

"Lava plume," Alk ordered. Moomin fired an explosive blast of magma, the strength of the fire move bolstered by the sun.

"Hammy!" Nikita shouted, Hammy creating a protective barrier around him to block the projectiles of magma and rock, shielding him from the attack.

"Why am I the only one doing worse?!" Nikita wailed, Hammy's barrier beginning to fault under the ongoing assault of fire-type moves.

"Are you ready to give in yet?" Kate demanded of Val as Lumia successfully hit Tyrant with another powerful solarbeam. The Tyranitar was high-leveled, and a powerful pokemon in his own right. But the type disadvantage mixed with the sheer power of the move meant that he was on his last legs, much to Val's chagrin.

"Don't think it's over," Val snarled. "I won't lose to trash like you! Tyrant! Use-"

A loud blast of sound rang out, causing everyone to clutch their ears in pain. A bolt of lightning cracked down in the center of the plaza to punctuate the chord. Everyone's attention was drawn.

"That's enough of this."

Standing on the edge of the plaza was the top ranger Petal Green, her Pichu standing beside her and holding up her guitar. Petal had her styler ready to fire. And she wasn't alone, either. Standing in a half-ring along the edge of the makeshift battlefield that Alk had created were dozens of rangers and their partner pokemon, surrounding the Children of the Oracles.

"Pokemon Rangers!" Rui gasped. Val clicked her tongue in frustration.

"Well, if it isn't the Children of the Oracles," Petal scowled. "And what do we have here, then?"

"Just a friendly match between buds, Miss Ranger," Val replied, her momentary displeasure having drained from her face. "Nothing to concern yourself with~ This is a public area, after all."

"Don't think so," Petal said, walking up behind Kate and stepping past her. "We're taking you folks in for questioning. Recall your pokemon. Unless you want to add 'resisting arrest' to your charges, that is."

Val glanced at Rui, then at Alk. All three girls looked uneasy. There were a lot of rangers, and even if they weren't battling experts, they would probably be able to overwhelm the three in terms of sheer numerical advantage.

Val shrugged.

"Unfortunately we'll have to end things here, Sludge Girl," she scoffed, recalling her Tyranitar. "Girls?"

Rui winked at Reiner and called back her Mamoswine as well, holding her hands up in surrender. Alk was less enthusiastic. She grumbled, and then reached into her jacket, withdrawing the pokeball, and returning Moomin.

The Children of the Oracles had stood down. Kate let out a sigh of relief, collapsing to her knees.

"Took your time, huh?" Reiner said, glancing at the ranger. "Just as timely a rescue as the last time you saved us, eh?"

"Thank the Castform," Petal said, smiling at Silver. "His sunny day was our signal that something was going on over here. I'm not sure how they were able to sneak past our ambush outside Stow-on-Side…"

As if on cue, Lancelot and Gwen teleported into the center of the plaza, Lancelot falling to one knee. He was still rather exhausted, but he clutched Gwen tightly to his chest.

"…But I think I have an idea now," Petal finished, remembering that scarred Gallade from Mt. Chimney. She narrowed her eyes. So that girl was the trainer.

"Move in!" Petal shouted. "We cannot allow them to escape again with that teleport! Arrest all of them."

That turned out to not be such a problem. Lancelot didn't have the strength to use a single move. He barely had the strength to hold Gwen up.

"Hey, little sister," Val called over her shoulder. Not getting a response, she corrected herself. "Guinevere."

Gwen's eyes opened. Someone was calling to her. She turned to look at Val. That was the voice she had heard.

"These guys are going to take us to prison," Val informed her. "Sorry Guinevere, you're going to be locked up again."

Gwen's eyes widened and her face turned pale. No. Not again. Never again!

A flash of light shot out from her bag, and another pokemon emerged. Her Bronzor. Gwen's body began glowing with light as her harmonia surged back up, strengthening her newly called pokemon's abilities as the rangers closed in on them.

Petal took the front of the group and ran towards the girls, releasing her styler. The disk shot forward… and collided against a barrier of light.

"What the hell?!" Petal gasped, pulling to a stop. A massive wall had appeared, a curtain wrapping out from the mural, sealing the Children of the Oracles in a cell of their own. The reflect attack went from wall to wall, and stretched up into the sky, a shield protecting the children from all the rangers who were surrounding them. They had the girls hemmed in… but there was nothing they could do to actually get to them.

Val strolled up to the barrier, eyeing Petal with a rueful grin.

"So it looks like Blake went back on his word," she tittered, her eyes shining. "Not bad, Blake. Not bad at all. Sorry about this, rangers, but it looks like we'll be going now."

Val tilted her head over her shoulder.

"Guinevere! Did you take the Oracle?"

"Take the Oracle where?"

Val rolled her eyes.

"Did you take the Oracle off of the shrine it was held in?" Val clarified. "The shrine should look like a stone dragon."

"…Oh." Gwen distinctly remembered removing the stone from the fangs of the stone dragon. "Yes. I took the Oracle out of the dragon's mouth."

She had also handed it over to Blake immediately afterwards, but that hadn't been what Val had asked, and Gwen didn't understand why that should be something to mention to her unprompted.

"Then I guess our business is done," Val said. She strolled over to her chair, and took a phone out of the bag lying beside it. "We're done here. Ready for pickup."

Moments later, a loud whirring sound could be heard from the sky. All heads turned up to see a large military-grade helicopter flying over the tip of the mountain, the two rotors spinning high as it descended down towards the clearing.

"They're getting away!" Petal cried in frustration. But there wasn't anything they could do. She struck her sword against the barrier, but it didn't make a scratch. Pokemon attacks from the rangers were also attacking the barrier, but they weren't getting through. That girl… her pokemon's reflect attack was something else, to create a barrier this large and this strong. It didn't help that she looked half-dead, either, blood trickling from her nose.

A cable ladder dropped from the helicopter, Rui and Alk moving to climb it. Lancelot was less capable of doing so, but had enough energy left to teleport a short distance. He began glowing white, and warped himself, Gwen, and her Bronzor into the helicopter. Val was the last one left, glancing at the crowd of impotent rangers with a smirk. Lawn chair tucked under her arm, she grabbed the ladder with her other hand and placed her feet on the bottom rung, the ladder slowly retracting as the helicopter simultaneously rose higher in the sky.

Petal swore, striking at the barrier again. But it wasn't going anywhere.

"Oh, look! Big brother's come!" Val glanced down to see Blake, in the arms of his Scizor, emerge from within the ruins. Sango was being carried as well.

Blake saw the barrier of light, and recognized it from before. He realized that no, Gwen hadn't disappeared after all. She was here. She was still here.

He could still bring her back.

He thought it was over, that she was gone for good. And she very likely would not want to return. But now, staring up at that helicopter, where she most certainly was…

He could bring her back. She would fight him, and she might end up hating him. But if he used force, he could bring her back home by force. It wasn't right. It wasn't what he wanted. But rational Blake had left the building, and the Blake who had been consumed with despair, and now given hope, was running things now. He needed to bring her back. He couldn't let her go back there, not like this. So with desperation fueling his actions, he pushed Weiss back and landed on the ground, reaching to his belt and removing another pokeball.

Please, just this once, I need your help! Blake silently prayed, throwing Sarah's pokeball into the air.

The Salamence emerged with a ferocious roar, landing on the ground. The beat of her wings pushed Weiss back, the pokemon no longer able to remain standing. The roar sent a chill down his spine, and struck another pokemon, as well.

Lancelot recognized the roar. It made his scars burn. He seethed with anger, holding his trainer closer to his body. Gwen was trembling in fear, tears falling from her eyes as she looked frantically up at her Lancelot. He shook his head. As strong as she had become, there was part of her that was still that terrified girl. And Lancelot would not let that Salamence hurt them again. Gwen nodded back and lost consciousness, the barrier finally dispersing. Sadly, it was too little, too late. The helicopter and the ladder were out of reach of anyone who didn't have wings.

"Sarah…" Blake looked her in the eye. "I need to get to them."

Sarah looked at him for a moment, her eyes shining I consideration. She lowered her head, allowing Blake to climb onto the dragon's back.

Sarah beat her wings and flew into the air, soaring towards the helicopter.

"Blake!" Sango cried after him. Why was he doing this?

"Well, well, big brother coming to play," Val purred, climbing into the helicopter and looking over her shoulder, the large Salamence barreling towards the helicopter, roaring in fury. The artificial sunlight was fading, and the darkness was starting to creep in around her, the dragon a glimmer of blue in the dimming sky.

"Little sister's napping now, come back later when she wakes up," Val tittered, pressing a button on a pokeball. "Tyrant, dragon tail."

Her Tyranitar emerged from his pokeball falling towards the approaching Salamence, much to the surprise of Sarah and Blake. As Tyrant plummeted, he swung his tail, hitting Sarah in the chest, the pokemon glowing with light.

Val looked down and recalled her falling pokemon with a beam of red, humming to herself.

"Bye-bye~" she tittered, waving at Blake.

Sarah returned to her pokeball, and another pokemon emerged in her place. Tara looked desperately at her trainer, Blake hugging her close to his chest. The two fell through the sky, Blake frantically reaching out towards the helicopter, that was rapidly drawing further and further away.

Blake tumbled through the air, clutching Tara tightly to his chest as he descended. This was it. He'd failed, and now he was going to die. And part of him was fine with that. He'd lost his last chance. And now there was nothing left. As the sky flashed around him, faces and memories passed through his mind, people he wouldn't get to see again. Things he would have done differently, people he would have done more for. Mistakes he had made that he would never get to unmake.

"Blake!" Reiner cried, staring helplessly up at his friend falling from the sky.

"Oh please, no…" Kate's face was white as a sheet as she fell to her knees.

Nikita couldn't even bear to look, it was too horrible. She held her hands over her eyes and screamed.

"Blake!" Sango wailed, running towards the edge in some vain, desperate attempt to do… something. "Nooo!"

Weiss spread his wings and tried to fly up to catch his trainer, but he was too injured to even take to the sky and go after him.

None of this was heard by Blake. He'd reached a measure of resignation, a peaceful nothingness. Which was then shattered by the rustle of metallic feathers ringing in his ears, and the feeling of an updraft of wind that began to slow his descent. Strong hands grabbed him by the shoulders and held him tightly, Blake's descent stopped. The feeling hurt and his head jerked like he had gotten whiplash, but he wasn't dead. The pain snapped his eyes open, and he realized he was no longer falling.

"What the hell are you doing, kid?" A harsh voice chastised him. He looked up into the darkness to see the dim face of Uboss Akana, Sango's father, holding him up.

"Wha…?" He asked.

"Lucky you, looks like this ain't where you're biting it," Uboss snapped. "Elizabeth, Crest, take us down, now."

"Skarmory!" Crest crowed, circling back towards the mural at Elizabeth's guidance.

The large bird pokemon landed on the edge of the platform, Uboss leaping off of his back and landing on the rocks, holding Blake in his arms.

"Blake! Dad!" Sango cried, running over to them. Kate and Reiner weren't far behind her, but Nikita didn't have the strength to even move. By the time Sango got there, the rangers had already taken Blake off of Uboss's hands, and were checking to see if he was okay.

"We need some light here, now," Petal's voice called in the darkness.

"Castform!" Silver's voice could be heard in response, and suddenly the dimming sky was reignited with another sunny day, flooding the plaza with light.

"Blake, is he…" Sango couldn't see him very well, but she could tell he was in pretty bad shape. She stepped back and let the rangers get a good look at him.

"He's breathing, though it's irregular," one of the rangers informed Petal. "There are lacerations on his hands and I think some muscle damage on his back from the fall, but other than that, we can't detect any injuries. We need to get a doctor here immediately."

"Is… is he…" Sango wasn't listening, the ranger's words passing right through her ears. She was staring helplessly at her friend, who looked like he was at the edge of death.

"Castform."

Sango blinked, seeing the face of her partner pokemon pop up in front of her. Her lip began to tremble and her eyes started watering. She reached out and grabbed Silver, hugging him close to her chest as she began crying. A strong hand clapped on her shoulder, and she recognized her father's warmth. A hug followed it. Elizabeth was there, as well.

"Sango!" Reiner cried, reaching her. "Is Blake…?"

"Is he going to be okay?!" Kate demanded. The rangers were already loading him onto a stretcher.

"I-I don't know, I don't-" Sango mumbled.

"He's going to be fine," Elizabeth reassured the two. "You can relax."

Kate let out a sigh of relief. Reiner nodded, still keeping a level head about all this. He returned to Nikita to inform her of the good news.

"Really?" Sango asked, looking hopefully up at Elizabeth. Elizabeth nodded, and gave her a smile. Sango felt her body relax. She sighed, relieved that Blake didn't seem to be in any real danger.

Now that her panic had faded, the pain returned. She held her cracked ribs and grimaced, Elizabeth and Uboss's eyes widening in surprise.

"Sango?" Uboss exclaimed.

"Are you okay?" Elizabeth demanded.

"What's wrong?" Kate asked.

"No, it's… nothing," Sango said, shaking her head. She didn't want to worry them, but she was feeling like she was in pretty bad shape. "Though I think… think I need some help too, heh…"

Uboss nodded and ran to call over another one of the rangers over to take care of his daughter. Kate and Elizabeth helped Sango sit down, laying her head on Elizabeth's lap as she tended to the injured girl with a gentle smile.

Sango smiled back and closed her eyes. She was tired, so, so, tired. It had been such a long night, and she wanted to rest.

Her last waking thoughts went to Blake, hoping he would be okay. Not just his injuries, but his emotional state. He had fought his sister, his sister had gotten away, and he had almost died trying to get to her. What must he be feeling right now? She wondered. She hoped that he would be okay. At least… at least it's finally over…

Well, the climax is over, anyway. We still have the resolution to get through before we head back to the Pokemon Academy! What will Blake be feeling when he wakes up?