The battle between Kitty and Julia reaches an end here. Who will win? Kitty or Julia? And whoever wins… will Kitty be satisfied? We can only hope it will go well.

KedharS: Getting there…

Hellraiserphoenix: That's a nice, positive thought to have. Sorry.

Pokemonking0924: Yes, people with addictions and degenerated mental states are quite skilled at seeing the error of their ways.

Just a Bad Writer for Fun: Well, I'll address your questions in order:

I'm curious where you got a sense of "having a chance" in the first place between the two, what made you think romance?

I didn't forget them, but it's hard to work them into such a tight plot. Maybe next semester.

Well, Kitty's arc is far from over, I'll say that much. Personally I believe she's not too far gone, but then again I believe that about Guinevere, too, and everyone seems to disagree with me on THAT.

Rosealine gold: Well, uh… no she is not.

Thunder Fire: That would be funny, but Kitty would probably stab someone.

JoshGamerV: No, Kitty's not like Elaina, she can control her powers. Problem is, she just can't control her own sanity.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 379

"Houndoom!" Roden emerged from his pokeball with a snarl on his face, sparks of flame shooting out of his nostrils as he growled at the exhausted Sylveon.

Kitty could feel Marisa's fatigue creeping in on the edges of her senses, but she wasn't about to let that get the better of her. She was too high on harmonia to put up with something as silly as that.

"Marisa! Use your moonblast!"

"Sylveon!" Marisa focused fairy energy into her body, and fired off another blast of fairy energy in a compressed orb of light that flew straight for Roden.

"Burn it away!" Julia shouted.

"Houndoom!" Roden opened his mouth, a flamethrower of massive size spitting out from between his jaws, engulfing the sphere of light and snuffing it out, pulsing with blazing energy as it shot towards Marisa.

"Marisa!" Kitty shouted. Marise opened her mouth and began glowing blue, orbs of water floating up from the pool and dancing around her. She used her hidden power attack and flung it at the flames. The water did manage to extinguish a good portion of the flames, but the fire was far too massive, even with harmonia to boost the move. Marisa just didn't have enough strength left. Kitty summoned her harmonia to give her as much power as she could, but the flames were too intense, and they engulfed the fairy pokemon.

"Sylveon!" Marisa wailed, flames scorching her fur. She lunged forward and jumped into the water, the cool relief washing over her.

"Those were some powerful flames from that Houndoom!" Sylvia said. "But thanks to the misty terrain, Kitty's Sylveon was able to avoid serious burns! But unfortunately, the mist is starting to clear."

Indeed, the pink mist was drifting away. Marisa's head emerged from the water, gasping for air, and she paddled quickly towards the closest bridge as the flames died down.

"Roden, the mist has cleared, now."

"Hound." Roden nodded, opening his mouth again.

Marisa's ribbons unwrapped and she placed them on the bridge, Marisa using the push from her ribbons and her paws to lift her out of the water. She turned to face Roden again, and began coughing, the strength leaving her legs.

"Syl… Sylveon?" Marisa gasped.

Kitty felt a wave of nausea rise up in her gut, and when she tried to swallow it down she found it hard to breathe. She began coughing frantically, a choking sensation grabbing her by the throat.

"W-what…" Kitty gagged, glancing at the dark purplish-black smoke drifting across the battlefield.

"Ooh! Good move!" Sylvia cheered. "Julia's Houndoom has used his smog attack! The poisonous cloud of smoke is doing a lot of damage to the fairy-type Sylveon!"

"Maris-hack!" Kitty coughed, holding her hands over her mouth, even though she was nowhere near the poison gas cloud. She was too tied into Marisa at this point, she had no idea that she wasn't the one choking on poison. With no misty terrain to protect her, the poison was beginning to eat away at Marisa, and her vision grew blurry as she struggled to remain standing. The boost of harmonia wasn't helping her, the poison was still wearing her down.

"Roden, use your nasty plot," Julia ordered.

Roden narrowed his eyes and began glowing with a black aura, much to Sylvia's delight.

"Nasty plot! One of the strongest buffing moves for special pokemon! Will Kitty be able to turn this around?"

"Moonblast…" Kitty managed to choke out, unable to think of anything else to use. Marisa narrowed her eyes, spotting a dark figure through the smoke, and put the last of her strength into a sphere of fairy energy that flew out of the cloud of smog straight at Roden.

"Flamethrower," Julia said again. Roden fired an even more massive blast of flames from his mouth, destroying the fairy move and hitting the cloud of smoke, lighting Marisa ablaze again. Marisa stumbled back into the water, poisoned and drained of strength, her consciousness fading as Kitty began to grow woozy.

Kitty couldn't breathe. The smoke and heat was too much for her to take… and then suddenly it wasn't. Her connection with Marisa had been violently severed as the pokemon lost consciousness, the searing pain in Kitty's head disorienting her. She rose to her feet, coughing, her throat beginning to clear along with the smog.

"Marisa, return," she coughed, recalling the unconscious, floating pokemon. "Not… not bad, Julia… I expected as much from you…"

"I'm not going to go easy on you," Julia replied. "That's what you wanted, right? For me to fight me at my best?"

"Yes, exactly," Kitty smiled, her eyes flashing. "I want you to fight me at your best! Show me that you're willing to do your hardest, so that I can defeat you! I'm going to show you just how strong I've become! Meomo! Go!"

Kitty sent out her last pokemon, her Persian, the cat leaping onto a bridge and hissing at Roden.

"This is the final battle of the match!" Sylvia announced. "Cat vs. Dog! Which one is going to win?!"

"Roden!" Julia shouted, Roden opening his mouth and immediately firing off a blast of flames at Meomo.

The flames licked towards the Persian in a raging blaze, but the feline pokemon leaned into the ground, and leapt, vanishing into a blur.

"Wha?" Julia gasped.

Kitty's eyes flashed. Meomo appeared in front of Roden and slapping him across the face with his paw, drawing lines of red with his claw. Roden yelped, flinching from the fake-out attack, stumbling back.

"Houndoom may have a lot of firepower, but Persian has managed to close the distance!" Sylvia cheered. "At close quarters, will Persian be able to get the upper hand?"

"Yes!" Kitty shouted, her eyes flashing with energy as her harmonia surged back to life. With a refreshed pokemon on her side, her power was growing even higher. She linked to Meomo, her eyes focused directly on Roden. Her thoughts were completely focused on Roden and Julia. She needed to win, she was so close! Roden was Julia's strongest pokemon, and she would defeat them both! With harmonia, she couldn't possibly lose. The rush of power flowing through her made her feel invincible.

"Houndoom!" Roden gained his bearings, but Meomo was already on him, claws raised. He slashed at the hound with a powerful slash attack, drawing a deep gash of blood, Roden's eyes burning with pain and rage. He opened his mouth, and a blast of flames erupted, engulfing Meomo at a close range.

"Persian!" Meomo cried, Kitty feeling her skin ablaze. But the pain was nothing, not compared to the rush of harmonia.

"Meomo!" Kitty shouted, tensing her muscles. Meomo leapt out of the inferno. Julia had been expecting that, counting on the aggressive pokemon to try to close the distance again. Roden had another flamethrower in his mouth ready to catch Meomo in mid-pounce, but Meomo didn't approach. Instead, he leapt back, separating from Roden, much to the fire pokemon's surprise and the surprise of his trainer.

"Keep attacking," Julia ordered. Hopefully the pain of Roden's flames wouldn't hurt Kitty too badly. She looked like she was doing okay so far, that was a relief. Roden opened his mouth and fired another stream of flames down the bridge towards Meomo.

"Persian!" Meomo snarled, his eyes flashing in unison with his trainer as harmonia boosted his speed. He ran towards the flames, dodging around them quickly. The gem on his forehead began glowing red, and large round gems the color of blood appeared in the air around him, floating with energy.

"Power gem," Kitty shouted. Meomo sent the gems at Roden. Boosted with harmonia, the gems plowed through the flames unhindered, flying towards the Houndoom. They smashed into Roden's face, legs, chest, and sides, barraging him from all angles as Roden was knocked back.

"Roden!" Julia cried, seeing the pain her strongest pokemon was in from the powerful rock move.

"Yes! Keep going, Meomo!" Kitty shouted, lunging at Roden with Meomo's body. She opened her mouth and Meomo bit down on Roden's shoulder, the dog letting out a howl of pain. Meomo raised his claw, and slashed down, cutting a deep gash in the side of Roden's belly, red blood spurting out onto the bridge.

Marion gasped in shock, Sylvia's eyes shining excitedly.

"Now that's the kind of violence I was looking for!" Sylvia cheered.

"Roden!" Julia cried. Thoughts of Kitty's safety were pushed from her mind as she saw the pain her pokemon was in. "Use foul play!"

Roden narrowed his eyes and turned his head to glare down at Meomo, who was still latched onto his leg. He raised his other paw, dark energy surging through his claw, and slammed it into Meomo's side. Meomo's harmonia worked against him, Roden taking his power and turning it on the pokemon. Meomo released Roden and flew through the air, crashing into the water.

"Aargh!" Kitty cried in pain and clutched her side, falling to her knee. The agony she felt had completely blown away the rush of harmonia. She struggled to connect to Meomo and send him more strength, to heal him and get him back into the fight. She couldn't let this happen! She was so close, there was no way that she still was behind Julia in terms of strength!

Kitty seized control of Meomo's body and swam to the surface, pulling them both out of the water.

"It's okay, Meomo, I've got this," Kitty told her pokemon with her harmonia. She heard Meomo's voice, and gave him a little bit of control, Meomo creating more gems of power to fire at the flagging Houndoom.

"Roden, look out!" Julia shouted as the gems flew towards him. Roden was strong, but he had taken some serious blows and was starting to run out of strength. With the deep wound in his side, she didn't think he would be able to dodge very well. "Use your feint attack!"

Roden narrowed his eyes and disappeared into the shadows, the gems flying harmlessly through the air where he had been standing.

Roden emerged from Meomo's shadow and rammed him in the side with his horned head, knocking the cat off the bridge. He tilted his head back and opened his mouth wide, and a thick stream of flames erupted from within, hitting the water just as the cat pokemon surfaced.

"PEEERR!" Meomo's screeches of pain could be heard echoing from within the blaze, and Julia winced in sympathy. She looked desperately to Kitty and saw the girl's red eyes completely glazed over, her face red and sweaty. She looked like she was in so much pain. Julia nearly shouted at Roden to stop, but then Kitty shouted first.

"NOW!"

Blazing gems erupted from the flames and slammed into Roden, one bashing right into his muzzle with a sickening crack. The dog whimpered in pain, the flames dying down. Another slammed him in the paw, knocking him off balance, as two more hit him in the throat.

"Roden!" Julia cried, her poor Houndoom beaten bloody by the powerful rock move, amplified by Kitty's overwhelming drive to win.

"You see, Julia?!" Kitty exclaimed, Meomo pulling himself out of the water and onto the platform, stalking towards the injured pokemon with a predatory gleam in his eye. "This is what I can do now. I'm not weak!"

"Kitty…" Julia weakly replied, but Kitty wasn't having it. She silently ordered Meomo to finish Roden off with a slash.

"I've waited so long for this moment," Kitty said. Her voice carried a malice in it that Julia hadn't heard before. She sounded every part the predator her Persian was, a no sign of the sweet little Kitty that Julia adored. "The moment when I could finally defeat you!"

"Roden!" Julia cried, her Houndoom struggling to get to his feet.

Yes! Kitty felt her harmonia thrumming with excitement. She's moments away from losing! Don't you see, Julia?! I'm strong now! Stronger than you are!

"Meomo, finish him off!" Kitty ordered. She laughed, her eyes glowing with energy as she saw Meomo move to strike the fallen pokemon. "You can't hide from it anymore, Julia! I'm stronger now! All this power! I got it all for you! All for right now, to fight and defeat you, don't you see? But it isn't just winning, I want to hear you say it! Say that I'm stronger than you, Julia!"

Julia winced, Kitty's words cutting her deeply.

"Persian!" Meomo hissed, dropping his claw in a powerful slash onto Roden's previous wound, the pokemon letting out one last whimper of pain before losing consciousness.

"And that's it!" Sylvia declared. "Houndoom is unable to battle, Kitty and Persian are the winners! And with the special rules, that means that the team of Kitty and Nikita will advance to the semi-final round tomorrow evening!"

Julia fell to her knees, the energy drained out of her. It had barely been a fight. Roden had put up an amazing struggle, landed moves that would have knocked out any Persian, but it hadn't been enough to overcome Kitty's harmonia. She had tried to give her friend the best fight she could, and she had lost against that power.

But hopefully, Kitty would be…

Julia raised her head to look first at her unconscious Houndoom, and then she turned her attention to Kitty. Kitty recalled Meomo, tilted her head back… and laughed.

"I did it!" She cackled. "I did it, I did it, I actually did it! I won, I beat her!"

She turned her attention to Julia, and with great pain Julia saw that the madness in her friend's eyes hadn't waned in the slightest.

"I won! I beat you!" Kitty declared. "Do you see, Julia? All this time, you were worrying about 'protecting me', treating me like some weakling who couldn't do anything! But now the truth's come out, hasn't it? You're the one who's weak! You couldn't defeat me, no matter how strong you are!"

She tilted her head to the side and smiled. It was the kind of sweet smile that Julia had seen on her friend's face a hundred times. But on the girl standing in front of her it looked completely wrong. There wasn't a sign of Kitty in that smile, it was like a shadow wearing her face. It made Julia fill sick to her stomach.

"Kitty…" Julia whimpered, feeling herself start to cry. She recalled her Houndoom and struggled to her feet, taking a step forward. She nearly forgot that in front of her was a pool of water, and stopped at the edge.

"It's okay, Julia," Kitty said, keeping that fake-looking smile on her face. "Even if you're weak, I don't care. You're still my most important person, after all, even if you are weaker than me, I would never turn you away. I'll protect you, now. Because we're friends."

Friends. Was that what they were? Kitty was her friend. But was the girl in front of her really Kitty? Julia didn't want to accept it. But hadn't that been how all this had started in the first place? Julia hadn't accepted Kitty's changes, she'd treated Kitty like a weak child, just as she'd said.

Julia grit her teeth together, the strength returning to her legs. She ran around the pool and took Kitty by the shoulders, turning the girl back to her.

"Kitty… are you…"

"I'm fine, Julia," Kitty assured her, still smiling that vacant, placid smile. Her eyes were shining, but there was no warmth there.

"I'm sorry," Julia admitted. It was the only thing she could still do. "I'm so sorry. I… if I hadn't been so insensitive… if I had seen that you were struggling, rather than trying to do everything myself… I thought… I thought that because you were my friend, it was my responsibility to protect you. But I didn't realize how much I was hurting you. I didn't see that you were feeling so small and insignificant because of that… and I selfishly pushed my own ideals onto you without even thinking about how it would make you feel. I should have… I should have gone to you in the first place and talked with you about all this, but I just got so caught up in my own selfishness… please, forgive me…"

Tears fell from her eyes and struck the dirt. She didn't care that she had just lost the battle, or that she was crying in front of Kitty, or her friends, or the entire school. She just… she just wanted her friend to not be upset with her anymore. She wanted that smile on Kitty's face to be the loving smile she remembered, and not… not this.

Kitty reached up and touched Julia on the cheek. It was a gesture that would normally be gentle, but from the girl in front of her it sent a shiver down Julia's spine.

"It's okay, Julia," Kitty reassured her, in a voice that was almost kind. "You didn't know any better. But now you do. Now you can see how strong I am. That's good."

"Kitty…"

"You don't have to worry about anything anymore," Kitty murmured, her eyes narrowing. "I won't let anything happen to you."

"What… huh?"

"Harmonia… it's more powerful than I could have imagined. I need to thank you, Julia, you and Marion and Blake. Without all of you, I wouldn't have been able to develop my power this far. Now, I'm stronger than you are, Julia, and I won't stop there. Blake, Elaina, Cynthia, Caelia, Sango, Maddi? The Commander, the Empress, the Phantom, even Marion herself, anyone who fights me, I'm going to defeat them. Because with this power… I'm going to be stronger than anyone. So I'll defeat them all! All for you!"

Julia shook her head in shock, going pale. She had clung to some small hope that after all this was over, after the battle, after her apology, it would all go back to normal. But now she could see with her own eyes that for Kitty, this was normal.

As Kitty explained her plans, Julia could only stare at her numbly.

"Now this is interesting," Sylvia applauded. "Don't you think, Marion? I'm grateful. You were absolutely right, this really did make for an interesting match."

Marion felt like she was going to throw up. Staring at Kitty, she could see there were only a few traces of the girl that she had helped. Kitty had embraced her training, but had gone entirely in the other direction with it. She accepted who she was, she accepted her harmonia… and she had allowed her desire to be stronger consume her anyway. It was a different madness than Elaina, more insidious as it wasn't a loss of control. Kitty was in full control of her powers. The problem was, to her, harmonia was a tool she could use to become stronger, not something to develop and hone like an adult.

In the end… everything I did was futile.

Marion rose from her seat and ran from the announcer's box. She wanted to cry, but she wouldn't. Fishing was the only thing that would make her feel better right now.

Sylvia watched Marion go with a wicked smile on her face, turning her gaze back to Kitty. She didn't have harmonia, but she supposed that whatever sight Marion had seen with it wasn't a pleasant one. But that suited her wants perfectly fine.

So that means the semi-finals will be Kitty vs. Elaina Bishop. Just like you wanted, right, Phantom? Those two will push themselves to the very limit of their abilities… they'll fall even further.

Although…

Sylvia glanced into the stands, her eyes twinkling as she spotted Blake Harker, who rose from his seat. She was too far away to get a look at his face, but she imagined how troubled he must have been. The expression she pictured on his face made the special parts of her all moist and tingly.

I'm not so sure it's going to go how you envisioned, Valon.

So Kitty (and Nikita I guess, but let's be real here) has made it to the semi-finals! Julia tried her hardest and lost and she even apologized, understanding what she had done was wrong. But even with all that, it wasn't enough to get through to her and make her smile like she used to. Will anyone be able to get through to Kitty? Will she ever go back to the sweet girl she used to be?