Here it comes, finally, the match between Blake and Elaina, and Sanga and Maddi. Will the girls be able to stand up to Elaina's overwhelming power? Will Elaina be able to remain in control? Hopefully, everyone can resolve this with no one getting hurt.
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 5 days remaining! Who will be the Pokemon Academy Best Girl?
Finalists: Sango, Ayame, Marion
KedharS: Surprised Pikachu face.
Aquahaze675: Yeah. Maybe he'll find out the truth. And maybe Elaina will be able to return to that sweet girl. But certainly not any time soon.
Aurastar Warrior: Well it might take a while, so be prepared for that. Enjoy the story in the meantime, though!
Hellraiserphoenix: Elaina and Blake's relationship is definitely something that I've planned out the broad strokes over. Where they'll go will take time, but we'll get there.
Thunder Fire: I could see it going either way honestly.
Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings
Chapter 322
Maddi and Sango ate lunch in relative silence. Sango had wanted to eat outside, but Maddi didn't prefer the Snorlax Commons patio, and wanted to sit in an isolated corner inside the building, so Sango accommodated her. Silver was relaxing on the table eating some food, while Sango and Maddi discussed what they would do next.
"Are you sure you're up for this?" Maddi asked. "Blake's one thing, not a problem there, but are you sure about… Elaina Bishop?"
Sango stared silently at her.
"…I fought Kitty, didn't I?" She finally replied.
Maddi nodded contemplatively.
"Eventually," Maddi reminded her. "And that was about not hurting your friend."
"And this isn't," Sango admitted.
"This is about keeping yourself safe," Maddi admitted. "I won't say that you're wrong for thinking this way. I would be lying if I said that I had no doubts about the match today either. So if you're anxious about putting yourself in harms' way, let me know now."
Sango frowned.
"I don't have any doubts about that," she replied. "I've been in dangerous situations before, don't worry. My life's been at risk more times than you could imagine, I'd bet."
Maddi narrowed her eyes and scowled.
"So you think you're the only one who's been in life-threatening situations?"
Sango gulped. The atmosphere around Maddi had suddenly grown cold.
"N-no, sorry, that wasn't what I meant," Sango clarified, shaking her head. "I-I just meant that you would think I haven't put myself at risk before, but I have. So if you're doubting my willingness, then don't. I can do this."
Maddi glanced down at Sango's hands. They were trembling. Sango caught her gaze and quickly shot her hands under the table, averting her eyes.
"You're scared," Maddi said. "I can see that. It's obvious, and it's understandable. You don't have to pretend you aren't."
Sango nodded her head glumly.
"Yeah, I'm scared," she admitted. "But even if I'm scared, I'm not going to run from this fight. I'm going to give it my all."
"Are you sure?" Maddi asked again. "There are other people that we can fight against, you know. People less likely to put us in the hospital."
"We chose my team taking Elaina's flying pokemon into account, remember?" Sango asked, raising her eyebrow. "Shouldn't these questions have come then?"
"Planning is one thing, doing is another," Maddi replied. "I want to see if you have the resolve to really go for it."
"I do."
"That's good, that you can say it," Maddi said. "No freezing up like last time, no having second thoughts. You're going to have your head in the game, clear?"
Sango nodded.
"Blake… Blake is one of the people I want to fight against the most," Sango said. "He was one of the people who inspired me to try fighting in the first place. I want… I want to give him a worthwhile fight, you can believe that, right?"
Maddi looked into Sango's eyes. There was a resolve there that she clearly didn't have before the match with Kitty and Nikita. But there was something else there. A tension, a reluctance. Part of Sango… it seemed she was unsure about something. But it didn't look like fear. It almost looked like…
Sorrow?
"I don't want to pry," Maddi said, "but if there's anything else that you're keeping from me that might affect your resolve in this match…"
"There isn't," Sango said, shaking her head. "My personal feelings on the matter are just that… personal. When it comes to my willingness to fight, on the other hand, I'm ready."
Sango pushed her tray forward, and rose from her seat. Maddi set her fork down.
"Ready to go?" Maddi asked.
Sango nodded her head. The two girls took their trays to the cleaning counter, Silver following behind them as they exited the cafeteria.
The walk to the arena that Sango and Maddi picked out was a long one for Blake and Elaina. They had gotten in two battles before this, without speaking a single word to one another since that morning's events. To make matters worse, Elaina had clearly changed back to her usual outfit of dark leather and black silk. Whatever softness she had shown him that morning, it was clear that had ceased to be her intention when they reunited.
And this walk of silence wasn't helping matters, either. The stadium wasn't what Blake had expected. It was a nice arena outside, with minimal covering and only some bleachers. The battlefield sat right beside the river that rushed through campus, while being isolated enough from the main section that there was unlikely to be any foot traffic, and there didn't seem like there would be any collateral damage. In other words, it was the perfect arena to fight Elaina Bishop on.
As Elaina and Blake approached the stadium, their figures appeared in view of Maddi and Sango, both of whom swallowed. Just being in Elaina's presence was intimidating.
"You ready?" Maddi asked.
Sango nodded.
"Your pokemon."
Blake blinked, surprised. It was the first words Elaina had spoken to him since their rendezvous in the garden, even if she was not facing him as she said them.
"Y-yeah?"
"Are they prepared for this fight?"
Blake resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Elaina had taken out most of the pokemon on the other side in the last two battles, his pokemon had barely gotten a good workout.
"They'll be fine," Blake replied.
"Good," Elaina said brusquely, stepping onto the stadium and staring across the field at Maddi. "Then we can start."
"That's it?" Sango called. "No hello?"
"Sorry," Blake apologized, taking his spot across from her. "Elaina's not much one for small talk, Sango. But I'm personally kind of looking forward to this, if it means anything."
Sango cracked a smile.
"Good! Then let's do our best! Win or lose, I want to give you a good fight, Blake! And you, Elaina!" Sango held up her first pokeball, which made her identity as a trainer seem that much more real to Blake.
Elaina didn't respond.
"Let's begin," she coldly declared. "Noctre!"
Elaina didn't waste any time in sending out her first pokemon, her primary lead, Noctre. The Noivern emerged with a roar, flapping her wings and sending a gust of air across the battlefield that shook Sango and Maddi and nearly blew Silver away.
"Ruru, go," Blake said, sending Ruru out.
"Gal!" Ruru landed on the battlefield, her fur crackling with electricity.
"I still can't get over how big she is now!" Sango laughed. "Wasn't she just that small little thing when you and Cynthia caught her?"
"Socialize later," Maddi chastised her. "Fight now. Vee!"
Maddi threw her pokeball into the air, sending out her Eevee.
"Vee!" Vee purred, before narrowing his eyes into a glare at the large pokemon across the battlefield from him, not intimidated in the slightest by the big spider or threatening bat.
"Right, um…" Sango wasn't sure who she should start with first. In her previous battles, she led with Shell, her Cloyster, to set up spikes. But against Elaina's team of flying types, spikes probably wasn't the most important thing. Then maybe she should-
"Sango, we're waiting," Maddi said, glancing pointedly at her partner. The look in her eye was surprisingly reassuring. "It's okay. Just make the best choice you can. We need to stick to the plan, remember."
Sango nodded her head. Shell's no good. We need to set up the hail fast. Stick to the plan. Take advantage of the weakness of Elaina's harmonia. We need to start strong. So that means we'll need to use Snowcone!
"R-right. Anyway! Snowcone, go!"
Sango sent out her Vanilluxe, the ice cream pokemon emerging with a smile on his face, hail clouds gathering overhead as the temperature dropped, the beginnings of a hailstorm beginning to rain down upon the battlefield.
Elaina reached a hand up to shield herself from the hail, wincing. Blake's attention was focused on other matters, however.
"…Sango, your first pokemon is food, why am I not surprised?"
"Sh-shut up!" Sango exclaimed, her face turning bright red. Of course he just HAD to point that out! She didn't even eat that much, not really! It's not like she was fat or anything, gosh!
"Noctre! Let's take care of this quickly. Hurricane!" Elaina shouted over the pelting hail. Clearly she wasn't one for pleasantries.
"Noii!" Noctre roared, spreading her wings. She sent a tornado of destructive wind and water raging across the battlefield, tearing towards the two pokemon on the other side of the field.
Looks like we bit off more than we could chew, huh? Maddi asked herself, while still finding enjoyment in the situation. "Vee!"
"Vee!" Vee lowered his head and ran forward, bracing against the strong gust of wind. The boost of his quick attack let him avoid the hurricane with seconds to spare, dodging around it and charging towards Noctre.
Sango had a slightly different plan.
"Blizzard!" She ordered. Snowcone opened both of their mouths, and a blast of cold wind and ice swept towards the hurricane, the two moves colliding in the center of the stadium. The freezing snow and ice hit the winds and water in an explosion of cold and wet, sending chunks of ice flying across the stadium. Normally, Noctre and Elaina's harmonia would have been enough to bowl over most other moves. But blizzard was powerful, Snowcone was a strong pokemon, and the deciding factor was, ultimately, the hailstorm blowing around them that led the blizzard to eventually overpower the hurricane and blow back in Elaina's face, hitting Noctre and Ruru directly.
"Arrgh!" Elaina cried in pain, the waves of cold sending a chill through her body as she felt Noctre's pain, the dragon pokemon letting out a roar of her own. Her connection was light, as her harmonia had not fully flared up just yet, but it still stung.
"Elaina, are you good?" Blake asked worriedly.
"We're fine!" Elaina snapped. "Noctre!"
Noctre opened her mouth, a blast of flames erupting from it. The flamethrower attack billowed right towards Snowcone, but it never managed to get there. While Elaina's attentions were focused on Snowcone, Vee had come up from below, and hit Noctre in the jaw with a quick attack, snapping her mouth closed and jerking her head up for good measure, the small pokemon slapping her in the face with his tail.
"Noi!" Noctre growled, stumbling back and turning her attention on Vee, but Vee had already separated from the pokemon.
"Annoying!" Elaina growled.
"Galvantula!"
As Vee raced away with his quick attack, he quickly found his pursuits stopped by a blast of webs, pinning him to the ground.
"Vee!" Maddi cried out.
Elaina's head whipped around to see Ruru facing the Eevee, having stopped his attempt to flee with a spider web attack.
"Now, electrocute it," Blake ordered.
"Gal!" Ruru nodded, sending a current of electricity through the webs, zapping the small Eevee.
"Elaina, we're a team," Blake reminded her, glancing at his partner. "You don't need to always keep trying to fight both of them by yourself."
"I don't need your help," Elaina spat. "Noctre and I, we can-"
A blast of explosive pain ricocheted through Elaina's shoulder, and her outburst was interrupted by a wail of agony as she clutched her arm.
"Van…" Snowcone panted. He had fired a powerful weather ball attack at the Noivern while the dragon had been distracted, causing the pokemon serious damage.
"Elaina!" Blake cried. "Ruru! Take down the Vanilluxe with your electroweb!"
"Galvantula!" Ruru nodded, firing electrified webbing at the ice cream pokemon.
"Snowcone! Use mirror coat!" Sango ordered.
"Van!" Snowcone bobbed up and down, coating his body in a sheen of rainbow light. The webs struck him, electrocuting him, causing Snowcone to cry out in pain. But he wasn't about to let that get to him. The glow grew out from his body, and blew the netting off, releasing the energy back upon Ruru in a shockwave, hitting the bug pokemon directly, knocking her backwards. Ruru flipped backwards and skidded across the ground.
"Gaaalll!" Ruru cried, righting herself, panting.
But the mirror coat attack could only reflect one move at a time, and there were two coming Snowcone's way. On the heels of the electroweb, Noctre had fired another flamethrower at Snowcone, and this time Vee was too occupied to knock it divert it. Snowcone tried to fly out of the way but the flames still managed to singe him, the ice pokemon crying out in pain as he felt parts of his body began to melt from the heat.
"Vee! Shadow ball!" Maddi ordered.
"Eevee!" Vee opened his mouth, a large sphere of dark energy appearing in front of him. He fired the shadow ball at Noctre, hitting her in the stomach, the pokemon letting out another roar of pain as the flames died down. But even the repeated barrage of attacks had seemed to only injure the dragon pokemon, rather than cause her any real damage. Her shoulder was clearly in bad shape, but that seemed to only make the already irate pokemon even angrier.
To say nothing about her trainer, who had already begun to start losing the tenuous hold over her abilities that she managed through her willpower. Elaina held her head and resisted the compulsion to let out a growl like her pokemon, the pain throbbing in her temple.
"Elaina, take your medication," Blake reminded her.
"Shove it, not now!" Elaina spat. "Noctre!"
"NOOOOIII!" Noctre howled, flapping her wings. Due to the damage to her shoulder, she couldn't maintain flight, but she still had control over the winds themselves, sending another tornado at Vee and Snowcone.
"Elaina, wait!" Blake shouted. But it was too late. Elaina had already given the order, and the hurricane was already let loose. She'd lashed out without thinking, and only after she'd attacked did she realize the critical mistake she just made.
"Sango!" Maddi shouted, reminding her partner what to do.
"Right!" Sango nodded. "Snowcone, mirror coat again!"
"Vanilluxe!" Snowcone cried, flying in front of Vee to shield him from the blow, coating himself with another veil of rainbow light.
"Ruru, stop him!" Blake ordered. Ruru opened her mouth and fired a blast of webbing at Snowcone, trying to break the mirror coat first.
"Vee! Shadow ball!"
Vee ripped himself free from the threads tying him down leapt up, firing a quick shadow ball that intercepted the electroweb, tearing it to shreds and hitting Ruru in the face, causing her to let out a slight wince.
The hurricane struck its target.
"Vanilluxe!" Snowcone cried out, the powerful chilling winds blasting snow off of his body and chipping away chunks of ice from him. But he braced himself against the pain, even as it threatened to knock him out completely, and waited for the mirror coat to kick in. He just had to endure for a little bit longer and everything would be fine.
The rainbow light around Snowcone grew brighter and the winds weakened, pushed back by the mirror force and doubled in power, tearing across the battlefield and striking Ruru and Noctre head-on, battering the two pokemon with wind and water that tore at the two pokemon. Noctre resisted the force a little more, but the lighter Ruru was knocked through the air, as the wind hit Blake in the face as well, knocking him off of his feet.
"Blake!" Sango exclaimed, her face going white with fear.
"Graaargh!" Elaina howled, the wind pummeling her as well, feeling the overwhelming force of her harmonia brought to bear on herself for a change. And she could feel the pain that Noctre was in, too, like her body was being cut into by swords that couldn't be seen. Noctre lowered her head, trying to remain standing against the heavy winds that were battering into her. But no matter how hard she pushed, she only seemed to be skidding backwards.
"Not yet…" Elaina shook her head, flashes of pain arcing through her skull as her harmonia flared back up in full force, energy surging through Noctre's body as she pushed back against the wind, taking her first step forward.
"Noi… vern…" Noctre growled, lowering her head and pushing forward some more, trying to force her way through the wind battering her in the face. Elaina and Noctre were not going to let something like this get the better of them. With each step, both trainer and pokemon felt the strength burgeoning like a fire freshly stoked, the wind beginning to weaken.
"Vee! Go low!" Maddi ordered. Vee opened his mouth and fired off another shadow ball, this one hitting Noctre in the leg just as she stepped forward. The blast hit her directly in the ankle and caused her slender leg to fall out from under her, and suddenly the energy Elaina had been directing towards pushing through the hurricane was displaced with it, the wind striking into Noctre again, the pain causing both of them to lose focus. The wind knocked Noctre backwards, the Noivern flying through the air and crashing into Elaina, bowling both of them over.
Sango was shivering as the wind died down. This was not what she had been expecting. Snowcone had redirected the hurricane back at Elaina with the mirror coat. That had been the plan. To take advantage of Elaina's monster strength and turn it back on her, defeating her pokemon with her own overwhelming firepower.
But she had hurt Blake and Elaina in the crossfire.
Sango swallowed and clenched her fists, biting down on her lip.
You were prepared for this, she reminded herself. You weren't the one who took that chance. Elaina used her harmonia knowing the risks fully well. So don't back down now. And don't get all pissy if you're the one who ends up in the dirt next. We just have to give it our best! We just have to win!
"Blake!" Sango shouted. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," Blake muttered, standing up. He shook the dirt out of his hair. He had been smart to leave the headphones his sister had given him back in his room, they probably would have broken. "Don't worry about it, Sango. Ruru and I are fine."
At least, he was pretty sure they were. He could still move his arms and legs in all the right ways without pain, and he didn't feel any particular soreness anywhere, just some cuts and scrapes here and there. He stood up, demonstrating for Sango's piece of mind that everything still worked.
"Elaina, though…"
Blake turned to Elaina, who was struggling to try and push the injured Noctre off of her, the pokemon weak but still conscious. Elaina was clearly in worse shape than Blake was, having had a big bat dragon land on top of her and everything.
"Elaina, take your pill," Blake reminded her again.
"Not now!" Elaina snapped. "After. After… after we win."
"But your harmonia-"
"Shove it!" Elaina interrupted. "If I take it, then my powers won't be as strong! Don't you get that?! That's how it works, or did you forget?"
"But… but isn't that what you wanted?" Blake asked.
"Well, right now we need to win," she spat out. "I can get this under control later. It's… not… important!"
Elaina managed to jerk her leg free with grunt, wincing in pain. She rose to her feet, panting.
"Winning the match isn't as important as-"
"They hurt us!" Elaina ignored Blake's words. She was only focusing on the agony she was feeling and the pain Noctre was in. "We won't let them get away with that!"
Behind her mask, Elaina's eyes flashed and more pain blasted through her head, eliciting another cry of pain as her harmonia surged, Noctre pushing through her pain as well and rising to her feet, panting, letting out a howl of anger. Wind struck Sango and Maddi in the face, both girls gulping. Elaina was on the warpath now.
Blake stared at her, horrified. She'd been able to keep it under control before, but clearly, the pain triggered her responses, and had caused her to snap.
"Elaina…" he whispered. "Please don't lose control…"
"Fight or get out of the way," Elaina snarled at him. "I have work to do."
Elaina stepped back onto the battlefield and Noctre lumbered past her, howling with rage at the two pokemon in front of her, the hail shattering in the air as the sonic waves shot across the stadium.
Elaina means business now, it seems. Hopefully, the girls will be able to get through this okay. And hopefully, Elaina will be able to claw her way back from the edge.