After the lightheartedness of the past few chapters, back to the drama! Elaina and Blake have a secret romantic rendezvous… what will happen between the two of them, without Ayame here to keep Blake in line?

The Finals have begun! The Pokemon Academy Best Girl Finals is heating up, I can't wait to see how it goes. The race is really close, and it's still anyone's game, showing just how great these girls really are. Any one of them deserves the title of Pokemon Academy Best Girl, but only one of them will be able to win! If you haven't voted for your best girl yet, better get those votes in quick! This contest is gonna be a close one it looks like, a single vote makes all the difference! It's almost done! Only 6 days remaining! Who will be the Pokemon Academy Best Girl?

Finalists: Sango, Ayame, Marion

Aurastar Warrior: I don't know when I'll use them.

Rosealine gold: Well the fight will happen soon, but we gotta do the drama first.

Thunder Fire: Ah, yes, Politoed. I had almost forgotten.

Hellraiserphoenix: Yeah, especially with what happens in this chapter.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 321

The morning sun was starting to rise as Blake made it to the campus mall. It was odd, coming in like this. The building itself was open to students 24/7. But it was so early in the day that there were next to no shops open currently. Walking through the wide, spacious structure that was normally so bright and packed with people but was now empty and dark made Blake feel like he was in the middle of a horror movie.

I should bring Ayame here next time, Blake thought. She'd probably get so scared she'd cling to me while shaking.

Blake made a mental note to capture Ayame's adorable appearance when she was frightened for posterity.

So why was Blake walking through the mall at the break of dawn, when there didn't seem to be another soul around?

He was asking that question himself.

Late last night, after having gone to sleep, he had received several messages from his friends, but one message in particular had surprised him. It was from Elaina Bishop. It was the first time she had messaged him; in fact, it was the first time she had been the one to initiate contact with him, period, since the day she had come to see him before his last match of the Fall Festival Tournament. The message itself was rather simple:

"This is Elaina. For our walk tomorrow, can you meet me at 5:30 at the rooftop gardens in the campus mall?"

As simple of a request it was, Blake was still surprised. Normally, if people were going on a walk, wouldn't you want to meet up at the Blastoise Fountain, the number one meeting place for students on campus? And for that matter, Elaina new about the rooftop garden? Certainly it would be common knowledge to most students on the campus, but Elaina wasn't like most students. He'd never seen her casually strolling through the mall; as far as he knew, she never even left her room, so what would she be doing calling him to such a public place.

Well, we did agree to meet at a time when there would be no one around, Blake had to admit, so maybe it isn't the craziest thing ever…

Blake entered the elevator and took it to the top floor, the roof access. He stepped out to quite a marvelous sight. Atop the mall, the tallest building on campus, he could see out past land and over the ocean, gazing upon the horizon. The elevator opened up facing the east, and so Blake could make out the slowly rising sun in the distance, bathing the sea and sky in a crimson glow as the first touches of day began to break upon the world. It bathed the dark gardens in a low light that allowed Blake to make out the colors of the various flowers around him, and cast a corona around a girl standing on her own, facing away from him, stoically admiring an arrangement of colored roses ahead of her.

"Elaina?" Blake asked, walking towards her. She turned back to face him, and Blake paused. This was not the girl he remembered.

She still wore her mask, so her face was impossible to discern. And the long brown hair that framed it hid her identity further, trailing down her back and dancing in the wind. That air of mystique with a trace of menace had not changed at all. What was different about her, however, were the clothes that she wore. The harsh blacks and dark reds of leather that he had grown to associate with the intimidating girl were nowhere to be found, replaced by a much lighter and softer dress. The color of snow, the outfit was clearly too light to wear in this morning temperature. Even Blake was shivering, and he always wore long clothes! But if the cold bothered the girl, he couldn't see it. The dress she wore was thin, a dress for summer, with gossamer sleeves and a low neckline to reveal her cleavage. Along with the porcelain coolness of her mask and the paleness of her skin she gave off the atmosphere of a specter from a horror film, bared on a canvas of shadows lightly tinged by the morning light. Yet as he drew closer to her, he could see hints of color begin to make their presence known on the surface of the dress, bright flowers of yellow and pink lining the edges of the frilly skirt, clear and vibrant and the only signal that she was really there at all, and not the image of a phantom of some sort. The dress seemed familiar, but he was not sure of where he'd seen it before.

"Hello, Blake," Elaina said, brushing a lock of hair off her mask, blown out of place by the morning breeze. "You're early."

"…Had time to kill," Blake replied. "So, uh, why did you want to meet here? And this early? I thought you wanted to meet after breakfast?"

"I had thought," Elaina nodded. "But my mind was changed. Something in my heart… made it change, I suppose. Are you dissatisfied?"

She walked closer, and Blake felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up. It wasn't the cold, of that he was rather certain, but there was something about her that unnerved him today. She seemed almost predatorial in her approach. But he didn't feel afraid… no, the way she came towards him it was almost… seductive?

Elaina stopped about a step closer than was appropriate for polite conversation. She lifted a hand and pressed it against his chest, leaning closer to him.

"Last night," she replied, her voice low and husky, "I struggled with sleep. For the first time I could remember, the usual agonies of harmonia did not plague my dreams. And yet with such peace of mind, I could not help but stay awake. Thank you for your help… but it seems that I need more help than just that."

"Sorry, but those were the last pills I had," Blake replied. His instincts were telling him to pull away from her, to separate the contact she was making that was perfectly acceptable in and of itself, but in the atmosphere of this dusky dawn-lit garden for two brought hints of a romanticized eroticism that had no place in their relationship. But his rational thoughts pushed those instincts down. Elaina… he didn't know what the purpose behind her actions this morning was, but he knew that rejecting her like that, shying away from her in such a visceral way, it would destroy the poor girl. She had already been rejected by everyone, he couldn't be just another person who pulled away, who refused to accept her. And yet… Ayame.

He had to reject her. But he couldn't.

As Elaina's masked face stared into his flushed one, his brain was racing faster than it had in a long time. How could he do it? There had to be some way to reject her actions that would not seem as though he was rejecting her as a person. He had no idea if the feelings Elaina held for him were an over-affectionate projection of her insecurity and fear of rejection, or something purer and more honest, genuinely romantic in nature, but he was starting to get a pretty good idea of which, and it wasn't something he could just allow. He didn't feel that way about Elaina. And if Elaina felt that way about him, well…

Rejecting the feelings without rejecting the girl. Was there even a way that was possible? If he were a worse person then he might have given consideration to manipulating those feelings of hers, to get her to fall for him and let him inside, convincing her to open up so she could help him. But that would make him no better than Gerard. The fact that such a thought had actually crossed his mind made him sick to his stomach.

To some degree of fortuitousness, he was not forced to make that decision right now. Instead, it was Elaina who removed her hand from his chest, turning away from him and walking down one of the pathways in the garden, peaking over her shoulder to signal him to follow. Blake caught up with her quickly and walked beside her, the two strolling through the slowly brightening garden in a comfortable silence.

"…I didn't know when you said a walk that you meant coming here," Blake finally said.

"I quite like it here," Elaina replied softly. "Though I do not come here often. I do not like to venture out in public, after all. Feeling the gazes of those people upon me… But in the mornings, I come here… and I feel relief.

Elaina reached out and ran her fingers along the side of a flower.

"These flowers are holding their bloom for now. A beautiful display of vibrant colors that fills me with such awe… and yet…"

The head of the flower gently snapped off at her touch, drifting down and landing in a pile of petals at her feet.

"Winter is upon us. And this beautiful garden of color will soon wilt away into an empty and monochrome husk of nothingness."

Indeed, the green leaves on the trees had all been shed, and as the light grew stronger it was clear that this flowerbed, like all the others, lacked the same vibrant feeling of life that it had once held, the last time Blake had been there to see it.

"So I suppose I wanted to see it one last time, before it was gone," Elaina mused, smiling sadly behind her mask.

"It won't be gone for good," Blake replied, stepping up beside her. "Spring will come again, and the flowers will grow once more."

"I can't understand," Elaina replied, shaking her head. "They struggle so hard, and for what? They bloom and die, bloom and die, an endless cycle of suffering. Would it not be better to preserve that beauty for an eternity? And if such a thing were impossible… then why continue to grow? If you know that all that awaits you is death and suffering, that your brief moments of happiness and life were just that, brief moments in time… wouldn't you feel better if you just let it all end? If you could simply choose to no longer grow, then… if you never raised your head out of the dirt and showed yourself to the world, then there would be no chance of you wilting away."

"But you wouldn't be living, either," Blake said. He didn't want to hear something like that coming from someone as broken as her. "I think… I think the fact that flowers are so fleeting, that they have to struggle so hard, every year, to show themselves off… I think that's better than if they never had the chance to bloom at all. Even if wilting is sad… there were still people that would appreciate the beauty while it was there, don't you think?"

Elaine said nothing. She simply stared out over the patch of rose bushes ahead of her, thinking things through.

"…And what of the flowers whose beauty is never appreciated?" She finally asked, turning away from the bush to stare at him from behind her mask. "Of the countless flowers in this garden, there are most certainly those who were never looked upon kindly, never given even a passing glance. They bloom and die, live and suffer, with no one to appreciate their beauty at all. Would you say it is the right thing for them to continue to struggle?"

Blake shrugged his shoulders.

"How would they know? Certainly, maybe there are flowers who go their entire cycle without a single person to see them blooming. And from their point of view, perhaps that is a painful existence for them. But even so… don't you think it would be worth it for them, to still try and show themselves anyway? On the chance that maybe, someday, there could be someone who looks at them and appreciates them for who they are? I can't see how it would be right to want to deny the opportunity for that happiness, when there is a chance that-"

"And if you know that chance would never come?" Elaina coldly interrupted him. "If you knew it was your destiny to go unappreciated and unseen, to be a flower that does nothing but bloom into emptiness and then wilt away, would it not be better to remain in the cold, hard ground, than go out and suffer?"

The pleading in her voice stung, but Blake wouldn't let it shake him.

"Someone will come," he assured her. "Someone will see you for you are. Appreciate you, want to see your flower. And when that happens, wouldn't you hate it? Wouldn't you regret that you had never taken that chance, risked that pain, because that person passed you by without noticing you were there? Do you really want such a meaningless existence, Elaina?"

Elaina grit her teeth, clenching her hands into fists. Blake could feel the breeze begin to get stronger, a gust of wind causing the naked branches of the trees to rattle against each other.

"I know because I almost missed it," Blake said. "I almost missed that special person, because I was too caught up in things that were more important, too afraid to confront my feelings and risk taking a chance, that I ended up almost losing something so incredibly wonderful in my life. I don't want you to bury yourself in the dirt and hide away from the world, Elaina."

Elaina slumped over, her hands opening at her sides. She let out the breath she was holding and the wind died down.

"If I showed myself… would you be the one to appreciate me?" She softly asked, stepping closer to him and cradling his chin with her hand. "If I did as you said… if I let myself out, to be shown to everyone, to be accepted or rejected… can you say you would accept me?"

"That's… I…" Blake was fumbling for words. He needed to reject her, but how could he?

"I'm not as fragile as you might think," Elaina whispered, drawing her porcelain face closer to his. "You don't need to treat me like some sweet little flower."

"Elaina… I…"

She searched his eyes for the truth, and saw what she expected to see. Her heart hardened and her voice turned cold.

"You love that girl," she stated, the harsh tone in her voice stunning him momentarily. Once more, she parted from him and turned away, pain rolling off of her in waves.

He didn't even notice my dress… Elaina wanted to cry. She wasn't sure why she had worn this today. This dress that he had complimented on Elly, at a time that felt like years in the past. Perhaps a part of her had wanted, even subconsciously, for him to recognize her. To cherish her as a normal girl, even if she couldn't bring herself to show her face to him a second time. But all she felt from him was the cold sting of rejection.

"Elaina, wait!" Blake followed after her, and grabbed her by the wrist. She whirled to face him and felt her heart swelling in her breast, telling her to lash out at him, to hurt him like she felt hurt. It was all she could do to temper those impulses and force herself to remain in control. As much as she was hurting, she couldn't bear to hurt him. Not when he was the one who kept reaching out to her, trying to be there for her. Even if he didn't…

"What?" She demanded.

"I'm sorry," Blake apologized. "I should have said that before, but I need to apologize. I don't… I don't know if what you're doing, all this… I don't know if you have feelings for me like… like that, but… I love Ayame. Right now, I can't go a day without thinking about her. So I… I can't accept you like that, Elaina, I just can't. But I know you're still a person. I know you're real. And even if I can't see your face, I know that you hurt like anyone else. I'm willing to accept you as a person, Elaina, can't… can't that be enough? Do you really need anything more to be satisfied with me?"

Elaina shook her hand free and stepped back, separating from him.

"If not…"

Little more than a whisper on the wind, Blake could barely hear the sorrowful words coming from the girl.

"If you were not already with her… with Ayame… if you had not already found that person… if I had asked you before, asked you to accept me the way my heart wishes you could… tell me, would that have made a difference?" Elaina asked. Her voice broke with desperation and sadness as she pleaded with him. "Could I… if I had been me, if I had told you the truth, shown you who I was that day, then could you and I have been…? Please, tell me!"

She was crying. He didn't need to see the tears to know it was true. There was only one answer he could give her. But it wasn't the answer she wanted to hear. It probably wasn't even the answer that she needed to hear. But it was the only answer he could give her that was true.

"I don't know what 'that day' was," Blake slowly told her, keeping his voice even and comforting, to soothe the pained girl. "But… no. I'm sorry. Even without that mask, even if you let me get to know you… you've been hurt too much for me to bear doing you any more harm. If I… if someone like me… if I had tried to love you, then I would have only hurt you even more. I don't know what kind of person you think I am, Elaina, but I… I'm not a good one. If you think I'm a good person, then it's only because my friends changed me. Because Ayame helped me realize how it felt to love someone. I couldn't have loved you, Elaina. It wouldn't have been fair."

Elaina was quiet for a long time after that. The tears had stopped, and she stared at the pained look on his face.

Elaina shook her head.

"I told you before," she said. "You are so sweet… so please, don't think that you would have hurt me, Blake. I'm broken far more than you could know. Whatever scars you have… you at least are capable of accepting the kindness of others. Rather than running from the world and hiding things behind a mask because you can't face yourself."

Elaina reached out to him. Her heart was still hurting. He had tried to comfort her, to reassure her. And yet she felt that he was the one hurting.

"You don't have to feel guilty over someone like me," she reassured him. She began to hum. An old song, one she always played on her flute. A song to soothe her, the last gift her mother had given her, a gift she was sharing with Blake one final time. It was an old, old song, one that she hoped would brighten that pained expression she couldn't bear to see. And slowly… it did. She could see it in his eyes, realized it at almost the same moment he did.

"…Elly?" He whispered. No, it couldn't be. She had left. But that dress, that was the dress she had bought. Her hair, her height, and this place, this garden, it had been where he had taken her. She knew things, spoke about things that he had never discussed with Elaina, and this song…

But it couldn't be.

"I don't know who that is," Elaina coldly replied, letting her hand fall from his cheek. "I am Elaina Bishop. That is all."

Blake fumbled in his pocket for his phone. He still had Elly's number saved in his contact list, right under Elaina's, how had he missed it. He clicked the call button and turned to Elaina hopefully, pushing his headphones aside to hold the phone to his ear.

"The number you are trying to call is not in service. If you feel you have reached this recording in error, please-"

Blake hung up the phone and looked at her, like he had been struck across the face.

"I don't know this 'Elly' you speak of," Elaina said, shaking her head. She turned on her heel, her hair flipping in the wind. "I told you, I'm Elaina Bishop. If you chase after phantoms and spirits you see in my back, then you should know better now. Whatever you might think of me… the only person left is the one standing in front of you right now."

Blake thought it was her. Elaina was Elly. And yet… she wasn't. She may have been wearing Elly's dress, but the girl walking away from him wasn't the girl he had met in that mall, the girl he and Sango had befriended in a day. Try as he could to imagine Elly's face behind that mask, he couldn't. He couldn't picture it. Whoever that girl was, Blake knew that she wasn't the girl in front of him. The only girl who he spoke to in the garden this morning was Elaina Bishop. As the last traces of night were driven out of the sky, desperately fighting a losing battle against the rising sun, so too did Elaina depart, and as day finally broke in the garden, Blake stood there completely alone.

I had initially planned for this "reveal" to come much later in the story. Much, much later actually. Blake was to remain blissfully ignorant for a long while still. And yet… something compelled me otherwise. So now Blake has a suspicion. Even further, he's probably certain. And yet, he can see that Elaina isn't Elly. So he still can't accept that. Will he eventually learn the truth? At some point. But not today.