Last chapter had a lot of tricks and scheming, but this one we get a whole bunch of honest truths instead.

KedharS: But unlike Obito, I would believe Sylvia would be competent enough to perform a world-scale manipulation.

Rosealine gold: Don't worry, Maddi's backstory will come out by the end of the arc. I've got the moment planned out perfectly in my head, barring the story doesn't go in another direction somehow.

Thunder Fire: She's done nothing but be supportive of the happy couple and concerned for their future, I fail to see the problem.

Aquahaze675: Nah, not a mistake, just Sylvia being a bitch and treating Ayame like a dude because she looks masculine.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 340

"This stuff is ridiculous," Maddi grumbled. "I can't believe all this is necessary to take care of a baby pokemon."

Maddi was carrying a big box of supplies in both hands, filled to the brim with all sorts of stuff. A special air quality controller for raising babies, special seals to keep the Duskull (any ghost type, really) from fading through walls and floors while out of his pokeball, various toys of different sorts for the pokemon to play with, special pills for fighting off sickness and supplementing growth, specially treated formula and bottles, and even a timer for monitoring sleep.

Sango didn't know what Maddi was complaining about, SHE was the one who had to lug the pokemon food back to Maddi's room.

"You're still buying it, though," Sango noted. Maddi's cheeks turned pink.

"W-well, taking care of pokemon is important, so I couldn't just, you know… not do it," she replied, avoiding Sango's eyes. Sango giggled.

"So what's the plan for today gonna be, Maddi?" Sango asked. "You think we might want to head out after we get back and go find some battles?"

"No, battling today, well…" Maddi glanced at Duskull. "That… it would be kind of irresponsible, and I mean… like, it's not… well, we've been doing really good lately and we don't have that bad a record, we only lost the one time, so if we wanted to spend a day taking it easy, that shouldn't be too much of a problem…"

"…You want to take the day off and play with Duskull, don't you?" Sango snickered. It was getting easier and easier to read Maddi's anti-social-cues.

"S-so what?" Maddi scowled at her. The two girls were approaching the Pikachu House, when they ran into someone who they hadn't expected to see, but shouldn't be too surprised to see, either. Elaina Bishop was walking up the path from the other direction, and the three met each other at the intersection.

"Elaina?" Sango asked, surprised. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be with Blake?"

Elaina's face soured from behind her mask. She didn't want to see more of Blake's friends right now. She didn't want to see anyone right now. She just wanted to curl up into a ball and disappear. Gerard had been completely right. There was nothing to be gained from interacting with others. No one would love someone like her.

"HEY!" A loud voice cried from the distance, all three girls whirling around to see a cloud of white billowing towards them, coming from the same direction that Elaina had just been walking from. At the head of the cloud was what looked to be… a person?

A few seconds later, that person was close enough to make out, and everyone recoiled in surprise. Ayame Toujou was barreling towards them like a rocket, kicking up a cloud of snow behind her as she ran at top speed. She pulled to a stop in front of the girls, Sango nearly tumbling back. At the speed she'd been going, Sango had expected the girl would crash right into them, but apparently Ayame was capable of stopping herself.

"You again," Elaina said, glaring at Ayame from behind her mask. "Aren't you done yet? Leave me alone already."

Ayame glared back at her, panting. She winced, feeling a sting of pain in her side.

"I came back to give you this!" Ayame said, grabbing Elaina's hand and slapping a pill down into it. "You're welcome, you ungrateful-!"

She shook her head and calmed herself down, her ribbon dancing in the wind.

"What's the matter with you, huh?" Ayame demanded, poking Elaina in her sizeable chest. "You just ran off! Look!"

Ayame held up a belt of pokeballs and shoved them into Elaina's arms as well.

"You left your pokemon there and just booked it! And when they were healed, I had to run to catch up with you! Do you know how inconvenient you're being right now, huh?!"

"Inconvenient?" Elaina snorted. It wasn't the first time she'd been called an inconvenience, but it had been quite a while since she was described as such. People tended to skip "inconvenience" and jump straight to "menace" or "monster". "You should be so lucky I'm only an 'inconvenience' to you, most people aren't so fortunate."

"Not me, to Blake! Do you have any idea how fucking much he's panicking right now? He's got this fucking horror picture in his mind right now that you're going to go have another attack and pass out in the snow and freeze to death! Right now he's curled up in the pokemon center, probably blaming himself for not being able to help you, and you don't even fucking care, do you?! If it wasn't for me, he'd have been running himself all over the fucking campus trying to find you right now, but luckily I talked him out of it!"

Ayame crossed her arms over her chest.

"I told him I'd find you, and lo and behold, here you fucking are, running back to your fucking room and hiding yourself away there."

"So what?" Elaina hissed. "It's none of your 'fucking' business what I do. Just leave me alone!"

Elaina shoved Ayame back, taking both Ayame and Sango by surprise. Neither girl had expected Elaina to get that physical that fast.

Maddi didn't know Elaina from Adam, so she didn't really care one way or the other.

"What the hell do you know, anyway? Coming and trying to pretend like you know what I've been through? Like you 'get it'? You don't understand a damn thing! No one does! You don't know what it's like to be a monster, a freak, to be hated by everyone around you just for being who you are! You don't know what it's like to be me!"

Ayame stood up, and brushed the snow off of her jacket, standing silently and seething with measured anger as she let Elaina continue.

"To be forced to wear a mask just to step outside, to be unable to be loved, or to love another, to know that anyone you try to get close to will only want to use you for your powers, or abandon you the minute you become problematic for them-! Someone like you, with your handsome looks and your talent, adored by everyone around you, loved and idolized?! To be able to so honestly receive the love of someone else and smile with happiness?! You think you can just walk up to me and tell me you understand?! What is it that you think you know about me exactly, huh?!"

A blast of cold wind struck Ayame in the face, ripping her ribbon clear. She managed to snatch it before it blew away, clenching it tightly in her hand as she stared evenly at Elaina.

"I know why you were heading to your room just now," Ayame coolly replied. "That's how I knew where I would find you. Because the only place you would go right now would be there."

Elaina… didn't quite know how to respond to that.

"…Huh?"

"In your room, people won't be able to see you. They won't laugh at you for being different, they won't be there to push you around, to point at you, you won't have to see the looks of rejection they always wear on their faces whenever they set eyes on you. You won't have to hear the whispers they speak behind your back, knowing that they probably don't even care whether you hear them or not, because your feelings don't mean a damn to them. Since all you are to them is just a weirdo that they don't want to talk to."

Ayame paused to take a breath, and continued.

"I know that you probably hate going into the bathroom, because you don't want to see your reflection in mirrors. Because you know that when you see yourself, you won't be able to say that they're just being mean, that they aren't right. Because you'll see that they are right, that the things they make fun of you for are true, whether you like it or not, and you don't want to accept that because you hate that side of yourself."

"Stop it! Stop pretending like you know what it's like to be me!"

"I don't know what it's like to be you," Ayame said. "I couldn't imagine what it would be like to hurt others, to not be able to control it. Sure our circumstances might be different. But to hate yourself? To know you're an outcast because you're different, and wish more than anything you could be 'normal' like all the other girls, so that you could have friends like they do? So you could smile like they do? To wish that just once, you didn't have to remind yourself that this thing you want so badly was something so far out of reach that you didn't deserve to even consider trying to have it? Those are things I know all too well."

Elaina ground her teeth together, glaring venomously at Ayame.

"…You're so quiet, Elaina," Ayame said, narrowing her eyes. "Is it because my words are making a lot of sense?"

"Shut up!" Elaina shouted, a curtain of wind spinning around her. Maddi had to step back to keep her box of supplies from being knocked into the snow. She and Sango both kept their distance from the girl, but Ayame didn't let herself be intimidated.

"You're scared, huh?" Ayame said, nodding sympathetically. "I was scared, too. So scared of taking the hand that reached out to me when she first came to me as a friend. Never mind love. The first time ended so sadly I couldn't bring myself to try again. I told myself I should be content with the happiness that I had, with my friends and my club, that I should put aside things like love and just focus on getting better, improving my time and living up to the reputation everyone expected of me. But… I couldn't do that on my own. That thing I had been running away from so passionately, ironically it was what allowed me to fix the problem I could never have solved on my own. Even when I pushed him away, put up walls around myself and told myself that what I was feeling was stupid, he still kept trying. I was scared that if I let myself slow down for even a second that I would not just lose what I had been trying so hard to keep a grasp on, but I would lose myself in infatuation for a second time and then I would soon enough lose that, too. I'd been running away for so long, I'd forgotten the joy that came with running towards something. But now…"

Ayame placed a hand over her heart and smiled warmly.

"Now there's something so very precious that I want to run towards, with all my heart. A precious thing that I never dreamed I could hold in my hands…" She raised her head and looked at Elaina, her eyes shining brightly. She reached up and parted her bangs, tying her ribbon back into place with a stern tug. "But it wasn't something I could have ever reached on my own. If Blake wasn't there with me, I couldn't have gotten to the starting line by myself. I was too insecure and afraid. But Blake didn't give up on that insecure girl, he showed her that she could be confident and believe in herself again, even when everything told her otherwise. Blake didn't give up on me for a second, Elaina. And he's not giving up on you, either."

A big, dopey grin crossed Ayame's face, totally out of place on her otherwise cool, handsome exterior.

"The man I love is way too stubborn to leave a girl alone when she's so scared and frightened, so don't worry. You can go back to your bird cage and wait if you want, because he'll come pull you out whether you want him to or not. Or you can stop being so fucking stubborn and take that silly mask off, stop hiding from people whose opinions shouldn't mean a damn thing, and come back with me. We can go see Blake together."

Sango didn't really know why, but she applauded. Maddi looked at her like she was an idiot.

Elaina had said nothing throughout Ayame's little feel-good, movie-of-the-week speech.

"…Are you done?" She growled. Not wanting to hear any more of this nonsense, she turned away from Ayame and began walking back to her room.

Ayame's smile soured.

"Not quite," she said, her tone taking on a more serious edge. "One last thing I wanted to ask."

"Oh?"

"Tell me, Elaina, when people tell you things that you don't want to hear, do you always resort to violence?"

"Wh-what? That's, I don't…"

"You run back to your room, or you lash out, or you hide behind your mask," Ayame coldly stated. "In the end, all you do is run away from the things around you that are an inconvenience. You're just a scared little girl, too much of a coward to stand up for yourself. Instead of accepting the reality that being different sucks, you'd rather run to your room and cry to your mommy about how the other kids are picking on you."

Elaina froze. She clenched her hand into a fist and whirled around, her vision red as she screamed at Ayame, a blast of wind roaring out and knocking the taller girl over.

"DON'T YOU TALK ABOUT MOMMA LIKE THAT!" Elaina roared.

Sango and Maddi put a lot of distance from the violent girl as fast as they could.

What the hell is Ayame doing?! Sango questioned, completely flummoxed by why she was trying to make Elaina mad like this.

"Exactly what I thought, there you go, lashing out with violence again the minute someone gets in your way," Ayame said, standing up for a second time, her face remaining a cold and impassive mask. "You talk such big talk about how you want to be normal, how you don't want people to see you as a freak. But is that all you can do in the end? Lash out with violence at anyone who says things you don't want to hear?"

"What does it matter?" Elaina spat, panting. "I'm a monster after all, isn't that how monsters are supposed to act?"

Ayame snorted.

"I already told you, you're not a monster," Ayame replied. "You're just a scared little girl. Getting angry and having a temper tantrum doesn't make you a monster, it just makes you weak."

"I'm not weak!" Elaina protested. "Shut your mouth!"

"Uh, yeah, you are. I haven't seen a monster before, but I'm pretty sure they're supposed to be scary, right? Well, truth is, I used to be scared of you, Elaina. After today? Not so much. It's hard to be scared of someone after listening to them vomit their guts out in a bathroom stall."

Elaina flushed in embarrassment.

"You're scared of others leaving you, so you try to drive them away. You're afraid of being abandoned. But if no one is around, then no one can abandon you. You think by embracing the hatred and scorn that others pile onto you, you can turn it into armor that can protect you, just like you think that mask on your face is protecting you. You want to put up a nice, safe little wall between you and the rest of the world, to keep out everything that might hurt you, but all you're doing is building your own tomb to be buried in."

"I said, shut up!" Elaina shouted.

"And if anyone tries to cross that wall, you fear it's because they mean to hurt you, even if they just want to help. You think everyone around you is an enemy, and you don't give them a chance to be a friend, because you're too afraid that they might hurt you! Well, guess what, they will! People hurt people! That's what people do! Even those with the best of intentions hurt others whether they want to or not! Just because you hurt people doesn't make you a monster, Elaina, it just makes you a human being!"

Elaina took a step back from Ayame, unable to find the words to reject her.

"I imagine a real monster is something terrifying, something inhuman, not a frightened child. You're just a pathetic kid. You push away everyone around you… and yet for some reason it seems like you couldn't push away Blake!"

Elaina flinched.

"Well? Spot-on, right?" Ayame scowled. "I'm not an idiot. I know you have feelings for my boyfriend. You pushed everyone else away from you, and yet you still clung to him so tightly, even when you pushed him away."

"I didn't! I-I tried to push him away, but he just kept coming! He wouldn't leave me alone!" Elaina said.

"Then why did you partner up with him? If you really wanted nothing to do with him, if he was really that much of a nuisance, then you wouldn't have considered it for a minute. But you agreed anyway. Because no matter how much you try to push him away, he managed to reach that small part of you that still wants to be accepted. He managed to find that gap in your walls to slip inside and speak to the scared girl who wants to be free, didn't he?"

"That's… how…"

"I was the same way. Like I said, you're just like I was. Only you're in a far worse state, I'll admit. I only rejected Blake and myself. You seem to reject everyone. Because you think that will protect you. And even though you think pushing everyone away will make you safe, you were willing to bear the risk of even more pain, all because you couldn't reject him the way you rejected everyone else. And yet you still won't try to change, even though deep down, you know that you're wrong, don't you? You're not trying to solve the real problem or find a way to get what you really want, you just hide your face with a mask and bury yourself in violence. How will that change anything? You don't get anywhere by running away. You can only take a step forward! All this running, all this rejection, you won't change anything, you'll just keep hurting everyone around you, and yourself most of all! Don't you fucking get that?!"

"What do you know?! Fine, maybe you know what it's like to reject someone you love out of fear, but you think that compares to me?!" Elaina lunged forward, throwing herself at Ayame in a blind rage. Her head was burning and a wall of wind knocked Ayame over for a third time, Elaina's hair roaring around her like a maelstrom. "You're just an outsider! What could you ever know about the harshness of having to endure a cursed life like mine?! What do you know about the pain of harmonia, the despair and hatred that I've had to stomach thanks to this horrid existence?! Do you think I wanted to put on this mask?! To run away from everything and curse the world?! I, too, wanted to live a life of happiness like everyone else!"

Tears rolled down Elaina's cheeks, but they were not seen by anyone there.

"Can you even imagine how much suffering I've had to endure before I came to this decision?! All you can do is preach down at me because everything turned out fine for you, but don't think you know what my suffering is like!"

"Yeah, fine, whatever, I might be an outsider, but I'm still fucking right," Ayame scowled, rising to her feet. "And I know at least that you don't believe the bullshit you're trying so desperately to convince yourself with."

Elaina growled in response. Ayame didn't really care.

"You didn't respond with any sort of argument or objection. You got angry and indignant, but in the end you couldn't refute a single word I said, could you?" Ayame asked. Elaina winced, her head throbbing in pain. Ayame's words stung in more ways than one.

"And more than that, you didn't ignore me, did you?" Ayame pointed out. "If you were so sure that I was talking nonsense and that you were the one who was right, you would have stopped listening to me a long time ago and headed to your room. But you didn't. You couldn't ignore me, because you're scared that I'm right. You know that I'm telling you the truth, and you're just too afraid to accept it. You refuse to consider those uncertainties and doubts that are telling you right now that shutting out everyone else and putting on a mask isn't the right thing to do. But you're so afraid of being wrong, of confronting what you actually need to do, that rather than let those doubts keep whispering in your ear you had to shut them up. You're so afraid of that world that exists beyond your mask that you need to find some way to escape from that truth pounding in your skull right now. But you can't escape from your thoughts, and so you turned your anger on the source of your doubts at the moment, and used your violence to put me on the ground."

Ayame plunged into the wind and stared down at Elaina, the girl taking another step back. She trembled, unable to understand the fear she felt of this girl.

"You couldn't bear to hear me tell you the truth any longer, so you had to use your violence to force me to shut my mouth. But sorry, little girl, I'm way too stubborn to let that slide."

"What… what the hell do you want from me?!" Elaina shouted.

Ayame paused.

"Honestly, I'm not fucking sure at this point," she admitted, shaking her head. "All I know is that right now, I'm not in the mood to let you hide yourself up in your room and avoid the truth. But I can't force you to accept the truth, either. If you're so adamant to escape, to lie to yourself, I can't stop you. In the first place, well… I'm not much different than you, in the end. I'm not much one for relying on words. I'm not Blake, who can change people's hearts through persistence and some kind understanding, I'm way too thick-headed for that."

Ayame narrowed her eyes.

"But violence? Sure, that one's a lot more my speed. If you're so desperate to silence me with your violence, then let's see you try it. Fight me."

Elaina's eyes widened in shock.

"…Ayame you can't just beat up another student!" Sango exclaimed, Silver nodding agreement. "That's against the rules!"

"I meant in a pokemon battle, wasn't that clear?!" Ayame exclaimed, turning to Sango in embarrassment. She was more than a little flustered by the fact that Sango had just spoiled her cool challenge.

"…But you're in the Caretaker Course, do you even know how to battle?!" Sango shouted back.

"I'm still a senior you know! I've been doing this a lot longer than you have, don't lump me in with you!" Ayame protested. "I fought on Mt. Chimney!"

"Didn't you get hospitalized?"

"Shut up!"

Ayame blocked out Sango and turned back to Elaina, giving her a glare that was much less intimidating after what Elaina had just seen.

"So, how about it? You willing to take a chance and fight for real? You're trying to use that violence of yours to shut me up, yeah? So bring it. Unless you're too scared that your perfect record at this school will come to an end by a trainer not even in the Battle Course."

Elaina scoffed.

"Fine then, if you're so eager for another trip to the hospital. I think I'll enjoy crushing you. It's the first time in a while I've had the opportunity to use my powers to put someone in her place."

Elaina vs. Ayame! Who saw THAT one coming?