Elaina has given into her powers, plunging this situation into one of the worst circumstances possible. Things aren't going to go well for Blake, Sango, or Maddi, and certainly not for Elaina herself. Will they be able to keep her in control? Or will she completely lose it and send them to the hospital, or worse? Elaina can't keep herself from letting go and giving into her harmonia, is there some way she can manage to fight this horrible impulse? We'll have to find out.
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 4 days remaining! Who will be the Pokemon Academy Best Girl?
Finalists: Sango, Ayame, Marion
Pokemonking0924: Addicts say they want to get clean, but that still doesn't stop them for reaching for another needle.
KedharS: They really need to give her an intervention.
Rosealine gold: The eggs will be coming into play soon enough. As for your other idea about a trip, well, I can't say for sure, but I have a few ideas I'm tossing around.
Hellraiserphoenix: Don't worry, some people will be making some moves fairly soon. Blake and Elaina's relationship has probably turned a few heads, that's for sure.
Tambry96bj: The other factions will be stepping in soon, don't worry.
Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings
Chapter 323
Elaina took a deep breath, feeling her harmonia flow through her. When was the last time she'd felt this exhilaration? It must have been months ago. The Fall Festival Tournament, yes, the battle with Akira Saroyan. When she had unleashed her power to its fullest, and had knocked herself unconscious in the process. The rush she was feeling now couldn't compare to that time, but it was still a high that she couldn't resist embracing. The feeling of harmonia was just so… Her body was on fire, bursting with power. She felt lighter than air, the chains holding her down as easy to discard as string. The pain she should be feeling, was feeling moments ago, it had all washed away, replaced by glowing, self-satisfying sensation of bliss.
As Noctre charged forward, the sensations of power she was feeling flowed back into Elaina, bringing a smile to her face. She put the thoughts about what would come next out of her mind. The two opponents in front of them, they had hurt her and Noctre. And she had the power to make them pay for it. Like all the other people who had hurt her in her life, bullied her, treated her like a monster, and now these two had attacked her directly.
And Elaina had the power to strike back at them.
So what if everyone saw her as a monster? They did anyway. She didn't give a mind to the opinions of those girls. If they wanted to continue resisting, she wasn't going to bother concerning herself with their safety. If they didn't like it? Then they could just stop. But Elaina wasn't about to stop.
Elaina let out a roar, a stream of fire erupting from Noctre's throat, engulfing Snowcone in a wreath of crimson flame. Snowcone's mirror coat reflected the flames back upon the dragon pokemon, but neither she nor Elaina cared about the flames that burned her flesh. Snowcone was doing twice the damage, but only one of the pokemon was feeling the force of the attacks.
"Ruru, stay back!" Blake barked at his Galvantula, the spider pokemon trembling. She was injured, but not critically so. But if she interfered with the rampaging Noivern, then she very likely would have gotten engulfed in the flames. She listened to her trainer and held back, as Blake turned his worried look upon Elaina. He was having terrifying flashbacks to his sister. Elaina was falling, just as Gwen had fallen. And Blake didn't have the strength to pull her back.
"Elaina!" He shouted. "Calm down! You don't have to act like this! You need to focus on keeping your harmonia under control, otherwise-"
Elaina wasn't even listening to his pleas. His voice was far in the distance, drowned out by the wind roaring around her and Noctre's howls ringing in her ears. More flames burst forth, swirling towards the ice pokemon in a powerful blast.
This isn't good, Maddi realized. She's running on pure adrenaline, ignoring the damage her pokemon is going through. Sango's moves hurt her, but she's pushing through it. This isn't like with Kitty, this girl clearly doesn't know when enough is enough!
"Vee!" Maddi shouted. "You need to stop the Noivern's movements! Go for her legs!"
"Snowcone, you too!" Sango shouted. "Use ice beam!"
Vee opened his mouth and fired off another shadow ball, hitting Noctre in the leg. While the dragon might have been able to ignore the pain of the attack, she was still hobbled by the blow blasting her leg out of the way, falling to her knee. And that was enough. Snowcone dodged the blast of flames and opened their mouths, firing twin ice beams that hit Noctre's legs, freezing them to ground.
"Urrgh!" Elaina grunted, struggling to free herself from the ice.
"Now, finish her with weather ball!" Sango ordered.
"Vanilluxe!" Snowcone shouted, creating a massive orb of white light in front of him. The sphere shot forward, ice and hail gathering around it, engulfing it in blue as it increased in size. The massive ice attack hit Noctre in the chest, blasting her with enough power to rip her free of the ice freezing her to the ground. Noctre flew backwards and crashed into the ground, roaring in pain. Elaina felt the agony of her bones snapping and her skin cracking, pain shooting through her body as she stumbled back, the connection severing as Noctre lost consciousness, the backlash of harmonia striking her directly. The rush was gone, and now she was just left with the pain.
"Noctre… Noctre…" Elaina gasped out, her harmonia waning. She weakened, her head throbbing in pain as she nearly collapsed.
"Elaina!" Blake cried, running over to her before she fell over.
"Maddi, hold off," Sango pleaded, turning to her partner, asking that she not attack Ruru while Blake went to go tend to Elaina. Maddi nodded her head numbly, stunned at what she had witnessed. It was one thing to see Elaina at full force from the stands, but to be across from her, to see the agony she was in and the power she could muster, it was nothing like the girl she'd fought the day before. Elaina… this harmonia of hers was terrifying.
"Elaina, are you okay?" Blake asked, wrapping his arm around her back and clutching her shoulder tightly as he helped her to her feet. "Listen, you have to stop, just take a break right now, leave the fighting to me, even if we lose, it's better than-"
"Get off me," Elaina coughed, shaking him off and storming forward, wind twisting her hair into knots as her powers surged up again. She dimly realized in the back of her mind that Blake was trying to help her, but right now she was too focused on what was in front of her. Her body felt like it had been torn apart and then jammed back together, every move she made sent more flashes of pain through her, and her head hurt the most of all. But at the same time, the energy pumping through her veins was intoxicating, the feel of her pokemon letting loose on those who had hurt her, those who mocked her, looked down on her, it was exhilarating!
"Ayer! Tear them apart!" Elaina snarled, releasing her Aerodactyl from his pokeball. The large pokemon flapped his wings and let out a roar, soaring into the sky, ignoring the hailstorm that was pounding down on him. Compared to the power burgeoning within him, a few chunks of ice felt like nothing.
Blake realized immediately what she was about to do, whirling around to shout at Ruru.
"Ruru! Get out of-"
"AAEEEEEEROO!" Ayer roared, his body glowing with energy. The ground began to shake, tremors from the flying pokemon's earthquake attack shaking the arena, the ground cracking and chunks of stone and dirt launching into the air.
"Snowcone!" Sango cried.
"Vee! Try to-"
But the girls' shouts were drowned out by the growing ruckus the earthquake was causing, the ground roaring beneath them. Sango and Maddi were both knocked off their feet by the shockwaves, but that was fortunately the worst of what happened. Their pokemon were far less lucky, the brunt of the attack hitting them at full force. Neither pokemon was in great shape, and Ayer's destructive earthquakes were enough to completely demolish them. Snowcone tried to float up, but when he did, rocks and stone beat him back down. Vee couldn't get stable footing on the shaking ground, pummeled by chunks of dirt as he tried to get away from the center of the quake.
When the ground finished shaking and everything had settled, Ayer soared overhead, letting out a triumphant roar, the pokemon on the ground beneath him knocked unconscious.
"Ruru…" Blake walked over to his fallen Galvantula, trembling cautiously. He reached out a hand and placed it on the pokemon's furry hide, rubbing her comfortingly. "I'm sorry, girl. Please rest up."
Blake turned to Elaina and tempered down the angry impulse he felt at her having hurt his pokemon as collateral damage. It wasn't her fault, not any more than hurting anyone else was. He could see how lost she was. She was out of control, completely lost to the harmonia at the moment. It pained him to see, knowing that he couldn't do anything about it.
"Don't suppose giving up is in the cards," Sango said, recalling Snowcone.
"Think she'd let us?" Maddi dryly replied.
Either way, Sango wasn't serious about giving up. She remembered the resolve in Kitty's eyes when she'd fought her the past day. That girl… she was fighting her harmonia, keeping it under control. And Marion? Marion, who had kept her harmonia in total focus? Marion, who she had never once seen lose it like this?
Elaina wasn't like them. She was wild and uncontrolled. Briefly, Sango wondered if this was what Guinevere had gone through. Snapping like this. And if it was… Sango needed to fight her, beat her, if only to get her to calm down so that some sense could be talked into her. It was damn clear that Blake was trying to bring her back down to the ground, help her like he'd helped Kitty, but Elaina was clearly not in the mood for something like that. Well, Sango wasn't in the mood for seeing the girl go completely mental.
"Looks like we have to keep fighting," Sango grimaced, not liking the situation in the slightest. They were all only one pokemon down, but Elaina already looked like she'd been flattened by a truck in the state she was in.
"Sorry you don't have any pokemon that can fly," Maddi apologized. "Those earthquakes are gonna be bad."
"Don't," Sango said, shaking her head. "I guess all we can do is rely on our pokemon's defenses, sound right? Shell!"
Sango tossed out her pokeball, which her Cloyster emerged from, the pokemon's shell clamping tightly shut in defense.
"Smart play," Maddi agreed. "Here's a smarter one. Mist!"
Maddi threw out her pokeball as well, but not onto the battlefield. Instead, she released her Seadra into the rushing river, where he would be safe from the Aerodactyl's earthquakes.
"Oh! That's genius!" Sango gasped. The tremors would cause the water to shake, but the actual damage would be negligible. "Shell! You go to the water, too!"
"Don't think you can get away!" Elaina snarled, flinging her arm out. "Ayer!"
"Aeroooo!" Ayer roared, the ground shaking once again. A large fissure tore itself through the battlefield, rocks and dirt surging towards Shell.
"Shell, protect yourself with iron defense!" Sango ordered. Shell clamped his shell tight and his body began glowing brightly, hardening to become as strong as steel. The ground rose up to hit him, knocking him into the air, helping his surge forward towards the water, Shell landing in the river with a large splash, taking only a sliver of damage.
"That won't be enough to break our defenses!" Sango boasted. "Shell, continue with iron defense!"
"Elaina-"
"No matter how strong your defenses, it won't make any difference!" Elaina growled, turning to the water. "Ayer! I'll give you all the power you need, defeat them!"
"Aerodactyl!" Ayer roared, flying lower towards the battlefield, his long tail swishing behind him. He opened his mouth, giant stones ripping free from the ground. He flung large stones up into the air, the rocks sliding down upon the two water pokemon like a tidal wave.
"Keep protecting, Shell!" Sango cried.
"Mist, you need to dodge!" Maddi ordered.
"Seadra!" Mist nodded, using his agility to boost his speed, evading the falling debris with his swift swimming, darting back and forth and around the rocks. At the same time, Shell's solution was to keep his shell clenched nice and tight, protecting his body with an iron-hard shell that made the rocks crumble as they struck it.
"We won't be able to win by just protecting ourselves, though," Maddi said. "Mist, we're going to have to switch to the offensive! Use bubblebeam!"
"Sea!" Mist ignored Maddi's orders, and used an entirely different attack, boiling water swirling up around his body. He flung the scalding water at Ayer to try and burn the Aerodactyl. But Ayer was too fast, using an agility attack of his own to quickly dodge over the waves.
"Mist, against that speed, slower moves won't be able to make much of a difference!" Maddi exclaimed. "We'll have to go with faster moves like bubblebeam to try and hit him in the air!"
"Seadra," Mist agreed. His snout flexed, and a beam of ice shot forth, hitting Ayer in the wing. Ayer cried in pain, but bashed the ice off of his wing with a single flap, turning his attention back to the smaller water pokemon.
"Us too, Shell!" Sango shouted in agreement. "Hydro pump!"
Shell's shell cracked open to reveal his inner core, and he opened his mouth, firing a blast of condensed water at Ayer in a powerful hydro pump. This one, though, Ayer was able to easily spin out of the way, flying in low and letting out a powerful screech that weakened Mist and Shell's defenses, the two pokemon wincing at the sonic waves that barraged them.
"Rip them to pieces…" Elaina's body was teaming with energy, as she felt the rush going through Ayer, demanding he use the full force of their connection with harmonia to destroy the pokemon in front of her. With the human trainers out of the way, she didn't even need to worry about any small trace feelings of guilt that would be plaguing her. She felt her powers growing even stronger, suppressing the throbbing pain and allowing her to ignore the blood trickling from her nose. She had no idea that her brain was burning from this power of hers, ignoring all thoughts of the aftermath, what her body would go through, instead focusing on the relief that she was feeling at this very moment. She would take the pills when all was said and done, that would be enough to keep her under control.
As Blake watched on, Elaina's Aerodactyl exchanged blows with Sango's Cloyster and Maddi's Seadra. Ayer did his hardest to evade the two pokemon's attacks, taking a few blows that stung Elaina, while at the same time raining down stones and earth upon them, wearing down the health of both the pokemon, doing massive chunks of damage the few times he was able to hit Mist, while barraging Shell with blow after blow that was slowly start to wear down his shell's hardened defenses.
What do I do here? Blake asked himself, not sure what his course of action was in this case. He looked at Ruru's pokeball, still in his hand, the badly injured pokemon having been damaged the least and yet still badly hurt. He still needed to send out a pokemon, but… would it even make a difference? All that it would do would be putting his pokemon in danger, after all. But if he didn't, and Elaina got hurt… he needed to stop her from going wild like this, losing herself even further, tearing everything apart with her pokemon. But he couldn't reach her in her current state of mind, it would be like trying to stop a tornado with sharp sticks and strong language.
He opened his mouth, but his voice caught in his throat, stopped by his own doubts, his fears. His feeling of weakness. He wanted to shout to her, reach out to her, but… his voice couldn't reach her now. He closed his eyes, trembling in uneasiness, not sure what he should be doing right now. Elaina… was there anything someone like him could do to help her in her current condition? No, of course there wasn't. He was completely worthless right now.
"Blake? What's going? You fighting?" Calling from behind him was a husky voice whose tone he was intimately familiar with, and just hearing the sound of it suddenly made every single thought in his brain sharpen to be as clear as crystal.
Blake's eyes snapped open and he whirled around. Ayame jogged up to him, in a tracksuit, continuing her physical therapy. She had almost made a full recovery, her ribs on the mend, so of course, of course she would be out jogging.
But why did she have to be here?!
"Aya! What are you doing here?!" Blake exclaimed.
"Eh?" Ayame gasped, her cheeks flushing in surprise as she stopped. Did-did he just call me…?
"What?!" Stunned, Elaina whirled around in surprise, staring in shock at Blake and Ayame from behind her mask. Ayame Toujou was here? What? Why-
Her concentration shattered from the surprising revelation of Ayame appearing so suddenly, and her harmonia dimmed, the strength draining from Ayer's body. He began to slow down, just in time to get hit dead-on by a hydro pump from Shell, knocking him out of the air.
"Now, Mist!" Maddi shouted, recognizing the weakness immediately. Mist snorted in agreement, water whirling up from the river into a massive waterspout that engulfed Ayer, bashing into him from multiple sides before finally bashing him down into the ground.
"No! Ayer!" Elaina shouted, regaining focus and reactivating her harmonia. She wasn't going to fall behind like this! Absolutely not! Wind whipped around Elaina in a tornado, the ground under their feet trembling as Ayer regained strength, summoning a massive earthquake that shook the entire battlefield, threatening to knock the other trainers over, at best.
"Wha-what's going on?!" Ayame cried, nearly falling over as she tried to regain her balance. "Blake, is this-"
Just seeing Ayame's face was enough for Blake to realize what he should do. He was worried about not being able to help Elaina. About being worthless like he had been with Gwen, but really the answer was obvious. Whether he could help her or not, he NEEDED to help her.
Mist and Shell both prepared ice beam attacks that they fired at Ayer as he picked himself up, but the attacks never hit.
Weiss jumped in front of the ice beams, his crimson scales shining with light as he hardened his body like a suit of armor, enduring the attacks. At the same moment, Blake grabbed Elaina by the hand and shook her, breaking her concentration once again. The wind died down and Ayer weakened, still protected by Weiss. The ground stopped shaking and Elaina felt the energy seep out of her, replaced by searing pain.
"Elaina, stop it," Blake pleaded with her, the girl turning to face him. He couldn't see it, but her face was streaked in tears and blood, her eyes bloodshot with desperation. "Please, just stop."
"I can't…" She gritted her teeth, her harmonia flaring back up and then drawing back, fluctuating madly as she tried to retain her control. "It's still there, pounding through me, I can't stop it, the rush, it's just… if you could feel it, then you would understand, Blake, I just… I can't…"
"It's okay," Blake comforted her, placing his other hand over hers as well, gently stroking her palm reassuringly. "Just breathe. I'm here. I want to help. You don't have to keep doing this. You don't have to bury yourself in it. You can win without losing yourself to harmonia. I know you can. I've seen you control it before. That's all you need to do, Elaina."
"I can't…" she choked out, her vision blurred by her tears. "I can control it… every time I try, I just…"
She pulled her hand loose and wrapped her arms around herself, falling to her knees. While the pokemon battled behind her, Elaina knelt on the ground and sobbed like a frightened child.
Why? Why was he doing this for her? Always doing this, reaching out to her. She didn't have to look to see the carnage she had caused, the damage she had wrought, all because she lost herself to that power again. This had all been a mistake. Fighting in this tournament? She had known better, but somehow she had managed to convince herself that this time things would be different. But no, the first real battle and she was riding that high all over again, destroying everything in her path without being able to keep control. That's all she was, a witch of destruction, a monster who hurt people.
How could he still be telling her that wasn't the case?
How could he keep looking at her and see the truth, that she hated this? This horrid power of hers, it wasn't a part of her. She was good, she was kind, but her harmonia had ruined that, twisted her into someone she couldn't recognize.
"It's part of you," Blake told her. She stared at him, stunned. How could he say something like that? She shook her head numbly.
"No," she muttered. He was exactly like the rest now. He no longer saw the real her. Now he just saw the monster who hurt people. Her eyes dimmed. "No, you're wrong, it isn't, it…"
"It is!" Blake said, kneeling down and grabbing her by the shoulders, shaking her roughly. "It's part of you! And because it's part of you… that means you can control it! The more you run away, the more you'll lose control! You have to… you have to accept who you are!"
"It's not me, it's not!" Elaina wailed, trashing at him.
"It is! Just accept it! I don't care if you have harmonia or not! It's just a part of you, don't let it get the better of you! The only one who can stop it is you, understand?!"
Elaina trembled, staring up at him. She didn't… she couldn't… But that look in his eyes…
Why did it make her feel so warm and safe? Why… why did everything seem so bright and clear around him?
Why couldn't he love her with those eyes?
She could feel the joy in her heart burgeoning with every beat, these feelings of comfort reminding her of the last time she had felt so safe with her harmonia. In her battle against Sylvia Driscoll, all it had taken was Blake cheering for her, and for the first time ever, she had felt relief; relief from the pain and anguish that had plagued her as long as she could remember. She could feel her power begin to slip from her grasp, but just feeling him here, with her…
It was like she could finally control it. That was the truth, now wasn't it? She needed Blake by her side, without him… without his support and caring, she couldn't control these powers of hers. But right now…
Elaina looked over her shoulder at the stunned face of Ayame Toujou, and a sick, twisted knot of triumph rose up in her gut. Blake may not love her… but right now, he was hers. He was the one she was comforting, not his girlfriend.
But while it should have made her feel happy, it sickened her in a way that she didn't understand.
So with the help of Blake, and strangely Ayame, Elaina has once again seized control of her powers! Is this situation permanent? Will she be able to keep that control? Or is this only the illusion of security, to only come tumbling down later? The road to recovery is a difficult one, will Elaina be able to stay the course?