Winter has finally come to the Pokemon Academy! With a blanket of pure, white snow covering campus, it's time to take a break, relax, and get some good, old-fashioned snow-day fun.

If only.

KedharS: What happened to Maka and Soul?

Hellraiserphoenix: They really are couple goals.

Seamitar X: I'm sort of playing it by ear. There are going to be several canon characters recurring. Cynthia, Blake's adopted mother, is Cynthia from Sinnoh, for example.

Aquahaze675: Happy couples can be painful when you're single.

Thunder Fire: Unfortunately, her hair is already perfect for her.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 328

Elaina got out of bed and stretched. Her night had been somewhat… unrestful. She swung her legs over the side of the bed and reached for her mask, stopping when a surge of pain throbbing to her forehead. She winced, the world spinning around her. Elaina fumbled for the pill bottle beside her mask and popped out a pill, swallowing it. Immediately, the pressure on her head dissipated and she began breathing easier, calming down and wiping the sweat off of her brow.

"Feeling better?"

Oh great…

Elaina glanced up to see her double standing over her, a smile on her face that was anything but sweet. This girl calling herself Harmonia, this specter of hers that had appeared in her dreams the night before, was somehow right in front of her.

"I'm still dreaming, aren't I?" Elaina sighed, shaking her head and flopping back on the bed.

"Not exactly," Harmonia purred, shaking her head. She flopped down beside Elaina, and looked back at her, a perfect reflection if not for her pure white dress opposite Elaina's pajamas. "Let's just say I'm… a friend of sorts! You and me, together… should be fun, don't you think? Better than be alone, after all. I'm sure you'll grow to liiiike~ me~"

"I don't need any hallucinations or illusions," Elaina muttered, sitting up in bed and looking away from Harmonia, reaching over to her night stand and sliding the mask over her face. "Just go away you ghost, I don't want you to bother me."

Harmonia said nothing, fading away completely.

"Finally," Elaina sighed, shaking her head. Her phone beeped, and she checked it. It was almost 9, later than she'd thought.

She had two messages. The first was from Blake, asking her if she wanted to meet up with him. He told her it was snowing, and that they could have fun before they got started fighting in the tournament. It had been sent more than two hours ago, so she assumed that offer was off the table.

Still… she would have gone through with it and met up with him anyway, if not for the second message on her phone.

It was from Gerard. He had just sent it, asking to be let into her room. He had access, so it was more of a courtesy than anything. Elaina swallowed and replied that she was getting changed, and would need about ten minutes. She stripped out of her pajamas and walked over to the shower, getting it started. She removed her mask again and set it down beside the sink, stepping into the shower and letting the hot water run over her curvaceous body.

Elaina changed into one of her normal, more casual outfits, a sleek black dress. The perfect thing for lounging around the room in; she hadn't checked in with Gerard in a while, so she figured that this was going to be a long conversation. Running a brush through her hair a few times to smooth it out, she reached over to the sink and fit her mask back into place, turning and heading to the door. She opened it and allowed Gerard to enter.

"Hello there, Elaina," Gerard smiled at her. "How are things going?"

"…Fine," Elaina tersely replied, stepping back and letting Gerard come in from the hall. He sat down on one of the armchairs in her room, glancing up at her expectantly. She sat across from him on the bed, linking her fingers together in her lap as she stared quietly at him, her heart pounding in her chest as she waited for him to say something.

"So how is your harmonia doing?" Gerard asked. "Are your headaches coming back? I've heard a few reports that your powers are flaring back up, are you doing okay?"

"Yes, recently, my powers have been acting up again," Elaina admitted. "I've… I nearly lost control again yesterday."

"I see," Gerard mused, his expression complicated. Elaina didn't know what to make of the quizzical raise of his eyebrow, or the tight pinch of his lips.

"How is your health fairing, then?" Gerard asked. "It won't do if you're incapacitated again, you understand."

Thank you for your concern.

"My health has actually improved recently," Elaina replied. She got off the bed and walked over to her dresser, holding up the pill bottle and presenting it to him. "Blake gave me these pills. They help to suppress the side effects of my harmonia."

"You got them from Blake?" Gerard asked. Elaina could see he was trying to keep his dissatisfaction off of his face.

"It helps," Elaina succinctly replied. "When I take them, the fevers and headaches dwindle down until they've almost completely disappeared."

"I see, so you're saying you've managed to abate the worst of the symptoms of harmonia. And these pills, they haven't affected your performance at all? Your abilities are still as powerful as they were before?"

"Well, that's…" Elaina flinched. Honestly, when she took the medication, it did cause her powers to weaken slightly, her edge was dulled, like a blanket had been thrown over her senses and she couldn't connect as well with her pokemon. But Gerard wouldn't have liked her to say that. Unfortunately, her silence was as much an answer as her confession.

"I see… so you don't mind your powers weakening, then," Gerard said, clearly in a bad mood. It made sense, of course. Their agreement was that he would help her get control of her powers, and in exchange, when she did, she would use them to help him. But with these pills, her powers were weakening, even if the strain that they put on her was lessened. He might be concerned for her health and safety, but without her powers…

Elaina clutched the pill bottle tightly, as though it might disappear the moment she forgot about it. These drugs, they made her feel almost normal. She couldn't give them up, she just couldn't! Not after she had gotten so used to them over the last few days!

"All you have to do is keep letting your powers out," a voice whispered in her ear. Harmonia's voice. The phantom had disappeared, but it was clear a part of her still lingered, still whispered conspiratorially to her, tempting her to accept her powers for what they were. But Elaina wouldn't. Not ever. This… thing, this curse of hers, she despised it.

"I actually… even though my… my powers are weakening, it's only… only temporary," she insisted. "For a brief time after I take the pills, the headaches and pain go away and my powers aren't as clear, but… but after a while, I go back to normal. And… and when I do, I can still fight to my fullest ability afterwards."

She was frantically trying to get him to see the benefits of this drug, in the hopes that she could convince him to allow her to keep taking it. She didn't want to go without, but she was also afraid of opposing him on this. These pills were just another step closer to curing her, the feelings they gave her, she needed them!

"They're just, like… a remedy, after a fight," Elaina said. "So my side effects won't be as harsh. That way, I can fight to my fullest, and when I'm done, I can take a pill. That way, I can keep my health consistent, and prevent slipping into another coma."

She looked anxiously at him for approval, but he simply stared at her in silence. She swallowed.

"That's why Blake gave these to me in the first place. He knew that I would continue to use harmonia, but he didn't want my abilities to put me back in the hospital. So he gave me these, so that I could keep them under control!"

She finished off with that, smiling at him hopefully behind her mask. A part of her wanted to remove it. If he could her face, and how desperate she was, well, maybe…

It turned out that she didn't need to hope so hard. Gerard was nodding his head.

"So it won't have an effect on your performance, but it will keep your vitals in check by regulating your backlash and side effects? That's very good, Elaina, we don't want you going into a coma again, that could be very bad. You might not even wake up next time…"

"So then I can…?"

"Elaina, I was never going to say that you couldn't take them," Gerard assured her, with a note of certainty in his voice that made Elaina suspect he was lying. But she swallowed the lie and sighed with relief.

"Oh, thank you," she said, relaxing her grip.

"I am still concerned, however, I won't say I'm not," Gerard admitted. "They might be helping you with the side effects that you're aware of, but we can't say for certain what else they might be doing to your body that we aren't aware of. But either way, if you feel like they're helping, and they aren't impacting you negatively, then I think you should continue to use them."

"Thank you," Elaina said again, sitting back down on her bed. After getting Gerard's permission, she felt like a weight had been removed from her shoulders.

"Now, what was this about you almost losing control yesterday?" Gerard asked, redirecting the conversation to her previous outburst. "Are things not going well between you and Blake? I came here today to see how the two of you were working together, but if you're at risk of losing control and hurting others, then we can-"

"Actually," Elaina interrupted him, the joy in her voice surprising him when he heard it, "that's something else I wanted to talk to you about."

Gerard narrowed his eyes and leaned forward, much more interested now. Did something happen between her and Blake?

"Really?" He asked. "What happened?"

"Do you remember during the Fall Festival Tournament, in my match with Sylvia Driscoll?" Elaina asked. Gerard nodded his head.

"Certainly, what about it?"

"Well, remember when I had almost lost complete control, and then Blake shouted out to me, and told me not to give up, that I could overcome my powers?" Elaina asked, her voice getting more and more excited with each word. "And then, I… I did? I managed, somehow, to control my harmonia, and use it to defeat Sylvia without losing control?"

Gerard nodded, his expression cloudy. He remembered quite well.

"I thought back then, that Blake could help me get under control, help me figure out how to use my powers without hurting people," Elaina reminded him. "You told me that I had the chance at injuring him, and you're right, I certainly could have. But this time, when I lost control of my powers… Blake helped me control them again! That's twice now! So doesn't that mean that, you know, spending more time with him will help me? This seems like a pretty viable solution now, don't you think? And then, maybe someday…"

Her heart was pounding in her chest. She knew this was the right path. She just knew it!

"You may be right," Gerard agreed with her, causing her heart to feel a swell of hope.

"…But you still need to be careful with him."

She froze.

What did he mean by that…?

"What are you saying?" Elaina whispered. "Isn't… isn't this… isn't this my hope? Isn't this what I've been working for? That's twice now! If it happened two times, then it will happen three! And four! And more! Blake will be there to help me! He'll want to, I know it! I just know he will!"

"And you're certain?" Gerard asked, the tone in his voice harsh and reprimanding. "You're absolutely certain that Blake will accept you for who you are? That he will not only be able to keep you from ever slipping up again, but that even if you did, if you hurt someone, if you hurt him, that he would accept you? Are you so sure? Elaina, you still aren't cured. You haven't been able to REALLY control your abilities. I'm afraid that you're using Blake as a temporary fix for your real problems, instead of actually trying to fix things."

"What?! No, I-"

"Do you think Blake will remain by your side forever?" Gerard asked her, the words sinking into her heart like a dagger. "He has friends, a girlfriend, people in his life that he cares for. Even if he does try to help you, do you think that he'll stay bound to you forever? Because what you're telling me is that the only control you can get over your abilities is when Blake is around. Now, that doesn't sound like a permanent solution. That sounds like a band aid."

Elaina gulped. She didn't want to admit it… but Gerard was right. Blake could help her control her powers in the short-term, but in the long-term? What was her plan? How would she keep herself regulated? Even these pills, they weren't a permanent solution.

"I think you should accept Blake's help for now," Gerard advised her, "as long as you two are working together. But you really need to focus on gaining control of your powers on your own, without relying on anyone else. Can you do that, Elaina?"

A chill ran down Elaina's spine.

"Yes… can you do that, Elaina?" Harmonia's disembodied voice whispered into her ear.

Elaina swallowed, and nodded her head, rising to her feet. "I'll try."

"Excellent. In the meantime, I'm glad you're feeling better. And even if it isn't a permanent solution, I'm glad that things are looking up for you," Gerard said, returning to his usual affability now that Elaina was agreeing to do things his way. "Take care, and do your best. In the meantime, you still have a tournament to win, so I'll get out of your hair, okay?"

Elaina nodded again. Gerard rose from his chair and said goodbye, heading out the door. Alone once again, Elaina deflated.

"So what now?"

That damn, haunting voice was back.

Meanwhile, across campus, Blake and Ayame had been having the time of their lives. They had been for hours, at this point. Blake had spent the night, and with the sun low on the horizon the duo had broken out into the field in front of Olivia's dormitory, and the deep piles of snow that covered it.

"Hey!" Blake cried, Ayame hitting him in the back with a snowball. "That actually kind of stung!"

"Mmmnnng!" Ayame stuck her tongue out at him and flipped him off, kneeling down to pack some more snow together. She raised her head and stood up, only to get a snowball in the kisser as she turned her attentions on him. Spitting snow, she burst out laughing, running in the opposite direction, wiping her eyes.

Blake gathered up some more snow off of the ground and chased after her, packing the snow together into a ball as he ran. But she quickly outpaced him, ducking behind a tree just as the snowball burst against it, snickering.

"Close call~" Ayame sung out, her ribbon-covered head peeking out from behind the tree. "You throw like a girl~"

Blake laughed as he called back to her, "with an arm like yours, that's a compliment!"

Ayame used the tree for cover and knelt down to gather more snow, as Blake began making snowballs of his own to throw back.

Ayame jumped out from behind the tree and threw a snowball fast as a bullet, Blake just barely ducking out of the way. He returned fire and nailed her in the shoulder, the two exchanging snowballs back and forth for what felt like hours.

Ayame held her stomach and laughed, Blake hitting her in the face with another snowball as she did. Seeing that she was no longer on the attack, Blake tossed his next snowball aside and walked over to meet her. Exhausted, the two collapsed in the snow, laughing their heads off.

"I haven't had a snowball fight that fun in years!" Ayame laughed.

"I haven't had a snowball fight before period," Blake volunteered, Ayame sitting up and looking at him with an expression of shock and pity.

"What?! You've never had a snowball fight before?"

"I didn't snow where we lived in Kalos," Blake explained. "So I guess I just… never had the opportunity, you know? So yeah, this was my first time."

"Aww, I was your first? That's so sweet," Ayame laughed, leaning over him and giving him a peck on the lips. "For your first time, you did pretty good, I must say."

"Nothing like you, though," Blake groaned, sitting up and sliding next to each other. The chill of snow down the back of his coat was bracing. "Damn, you got a great arm on you, you know that? I think I'm gonna bruise…"

"Weeeeeell, I've been doing a liiiitttle bit of practicing," Ayame admitted, snickering. Blake looked at her in confusion.

"Practice? What do you mean?" He asked.

Ayame smirked.

"Well, see, one of the events in the Pokeathlon is a snowball fight with pokemon and humans," Ayame informed him. "So you might say that I practice doing this every winter with my pokemon, and I've gotten good."

"You hustled me!" Blake laughed, lightly slapping Ayame on the shoulder with the back of his hand as she giggled. "You hustled me! You little Shinx!"

Ayame's only response was a smirk followed by another mocking chuckle, and she threw in a middle finger for good measure.

"Besides, my sister and I had snowball fights back home, when we were kids," Ayame explained. "Or did you forget we used to live right next door to Mt. Silver and the TohJoh Falls?"

"Sister?" Blake asked, raising his eyebrow. "You have a sister?"

"Mhmm," Ayame nodded. "Older."

"I can't believe you never told me about her," Blake said.

"You never told me about your sister, either," Ayame reminded him. "And which one of us do you think was keeping the bigger secret in that instance?"

"Fair enough."

"Do you know why they call it Mt. Silver?" Ayame asked.

Blake shook his head.

"The mountain is the tallest place in either Johto or Kanto," Ayame explained. "And it's covered by snow year-round. But in the winter, when the snowfall is at its heaviest and the skies are dark, the sunrise in the morning casts the entire mountainside in a glistening silver light as the sun catches the diamond dust at just the perfect angle to make the natural coloring of the metal ore shine. It's truly a majestic sight."

Ayame sighed whimsically as she thought back to the beautiful mountain of her home region. It brought so many warm and pleasant memories to her. She placed her hand on Blake's knee and turned to him, a hopeful look on her face.

"You should come see it sometime!" She suggested. "It's truly a breathtaking sight! What do you say?"

"Well, I've never been to Johto before-"

"Kanto," she corrected him.

"I thought it was in Johto?" Blake questioned her.

"Well… kinda both?" She chuckled.

"Well, I haven't exactly traveled to either region," Blake compromised. "But I suppose it wouldn't be the worst place to spend on a vacation?"

"Yeah, maybe, um…" Ayame swallowed, unsure how to say the next words. "You know, maybe we could go…"

"What's this? Travel plans?"

Ayame flinched, turning her head to see a cocky-smiling Cynthia walking up to them, with Sango and a hail-form Silver in tow. Cynthia looked pleased, in an obnoxious sort of way, while Sango was wearing a stoic look to try and conceal her growing anxiety.

"Just talking," Blake said, standing up. Ayame stood up as well. "We were enjoying the snow, that's all. Want to join? We just had a snowball fight and were taking a bit of a breather."

Cynthia smiled.

"Tempting offer," she admitted. "It doesn't really snow in the Hoenn Region, so this is my first time seeing it like this! Gotta say, it's really driving me to go play around! But actually, Sango and I were about to catch breakfast. What about you guys, wanna come?"

Blake and Ayame glanced at each other and shrugged.

"Sounds like a plan," Ayame agreed, secretly more than a little happy that she had been invited alongside Blake, and not just as his +1.

The four walked off, Sango in the rear, Silver following behind her. There was a pressing question that she wanted to ask, but was too polite to do so.

Much to her good fortune, Cynthia was absolutely NOT too polite to ask.

"So Blake, I heard from Nick and Reiner that you didn't come home last night," Cynthia asked, in a tone of voice that implied she suspected a certain "something" being the reason why. "And now, Sango and I find you out here, at 8 in the morning, having a snowball fight with your girlfriend outside of her dorm room? Now, what am I supposed to gather from that little bit of information?"

Ayame and Blake glanced at each other.

"I'll tell you what I'm suspecting," Cynthia said, a cat-like grin spreading across her face. "You two did it, didn't you?"

Sango gulped, afraid of hearing the answer.

Ayame and Blake looked at each other again… and promptly burst out laughing.

Well, THAT certainly wasn't the answer Sango had been expecting.

"What's so funny?" Cynthia demanded, closing the distance until she was practically standing between the two.

"Nothing, nothing, don't worry about it," Blake smirked. Cynthia's eyes widened.

"Oh my god! You did, you did, you totally did!" Cynthia gasped, her face shifting into a scowl. "How could you just do that and not tell me."

"Well, maybe we did, maybe we didn't," Ayame shrugged, nodding to Blake. "Does that really matter?"

"Well, did you?!" Cynthia demanded, turning to Ayame. She was desperate to hear the gossip, her red hair making her out to be a mini Dakota Evans at this point. She turned to Sango. "What do you think? Did they…?"

Sango didn't particularly want to know if they did or not. She was, in fact, very invested in NOT knowing at this point.

"Cynthia, you can think whatever you'd like," Blake assured her. That didn't make her feel better. She scowled.

"You didn't, did you?" Cynthia decided. "If you had, you would be bragging about it!"

"That's right, we didn't," Blake agreed.

…

"Liar! You totally did! Didn't you?!"

Blake and Ayame continued laughing to themselves, increasing their pace as Cynthia followed after the couple.

"You did, I know you did, right? No, wait, maybe you didn't! Did you?!"

"We did," Blake replied.

"He's lying, we didn't," Ayame countered.

"She's the one lying here."

"No, he is."

"Argh, I just know you did! Tell me already!"

"If you think we did, then we did," Ayame flipped around, giving Blake a coy smile.

"Liar, you totally didn't!"

"That's right, we didn't," Blake confirmed.

"Okay, you totally did!" Cynthia changed her mind again. At this point, her brain was starting hurt. Sango rolled her eyes, and shrugged her shoulders. She doubted that she'd ever really know. All she could tell was that the two of them were having a delightful time making fun of Cynthia and teasing her with her suspicions.

That was good enough for her right now.

The world may never know. The important thing, though, is that they're a happy couple. And for legal reasons, that's the best we can really hope for them.