The battle between Blake and Kitty begins. Blake knows Kitty and her harmonia better that anyone else does, but will he be able to get through to her? No one else has been able to talk her down, she's only gotten worse. Will Blake be any different? Or is Kitty really too far gone to be saved?
Rosealine gold: Don't worry, that's coming soon.
Hellraisephoenix: Don't worry, she'll be explored in due time.
KedharS: Yeah, well, there's a reason Ayame wasn't invited, she probably wouldn't have let Blake go through with something this reckless.
Pokemonking0924: Marion wasn't invited because this is the Commander's secret base, and letting another daeva inside would kind of be a bad call. Same reason why Ayame wasn't allowed either.
Just a Bad Writer for Fun: Oh, you haven't even seen anything CLOSE to the amount of smack Blake's gonna be talking.
Thunder Fire: No.
JoshGamerV: Yeah, it's the same arc. I decided to go along with it after all, since Kitty's arc kind of had nowhere to go without it. So now there's just two crazies at Pokemon Academy with harmonia. Expect redundancy, and yet just enough uniqueness for both.
Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings
Chapter 381
"I'm not sure of this…" Nikita said worriedly. "Do you think that Blake will be able to get through to her?"
"I asked for his help because he was the only one I could turn to," Julia said. "If he can't get through to her… I don't know what will happen."
"Blake knows more about harmonia than any of us," Sango assured them. "I… I'm sure he'll be able to win."
That didn't stop her from squeezing Silver a little harder though.
Cynthia scowled. She didn't like just sitting around and not doing anything, so she stood up.
"Blake! Kitty!"
Blake and Kitty both glanced her way, surprised at the interruption.
"You two do your best, okay? I'll be rooting for you! I want to see you guys have a real match!"
Cynthia crossed her arms and plopped back down, picking Aud back up.
"Thanks, but I don't need your encouragement," Kitty smiled at Cynthia, her eyes flashing. "And Blake, well… it won't help him much."
"So that's your harmonia, huh?" Blake said. "It seems you've really become an expert at it since the last time we really spoke."
"Yeah, I have," Kitty said, turning back to him. "I've trained to get stronger and stronger, and I've mastered this power."
"Is that what you call mastery?" Blake scoffed. "You're just the same weak girl you used to be."
Kitty's eye twitched in irritation.
"You still think I'm weak, huh?" Kitty laughed, a wide smile spreading across her face. "Then just like with Julia, I'll have to prove to you how strong I am."
She walked into the trainer box opposite Blake, stripping off her jacket and flinging aside. She reached to her belt and removed a pokeball from it. "Unless of course you're just acting tough, to hide the fact that you feel insecure now about being weaker than the girl you were training?"
"If that's what you want to believe," Blake said. "But before we start, I'm going to tell you the truth. Julia asked me to come here today. She told me everything that happened with you. All you've been going through. Now that I have the whole picture, I've got a pretty good idea of how to get through to you. And it starts by me beating you here. Tara, go!"
Blake threw out his first pokemon, Tara emerging and landing on the battlefield.
"Ooh, Tara!" Sango clapped.
"That's his first pokemon?!" Cynthia exclaimed, Sango turning to her, startled.
"What is he thinking?!" Julia groaned. Sango turned to look at her, next.
"What? What's wrong with Tara?" Sango asked.
"What's wrong is that Kitty almost always leads with her Growlithe," Nikita said. "So why would Blake send a grass type out against her?"
"He could have used his Mareanie," Cynthia agreed. "Or his Crawdaunt."
But Kitty wasn't sending out her Growlithe.
"Did you think I'm a fool?" Kitty asked, her eyes shining red. She placed the pokeball in her hand back on her belt and took off another. "You're trying to bait me, aren't you, Blake? You want me to send out Larosa to beat Tara, just as she did in our last match. And then you'll take her out, maybe with Cory, or Rogen, like last time, so I lose my fire type. And when that's done, you'll send out Weiss to beat both my other pokemon. Is that about right?"
Blake narrowed his eyes into a glare and Kitty smirked.
"I'm not going to be fooled by something like that again! Marisa, go!" Kitty sent out her Sylveon, the pink pokemon landing on the ground and growling at Tara.
"So that was why he sent out Tara!" Cynthia cheered. "Nice plan, Blake!"
"Yeah, but Kitty saw right through it," Julia scowled.
"Oh, yeah," Cynthia sheepishly admitted. "Good thinking, Kitty!"
"Who are you rooting for?" Julia asked.
Cynthia looked at her like she was an idiot.
"Both of them, duh. They're both my friends."
Julia blinked, surprised. That… that hadn't even crossed her mind.
"…So was it your harmonia that told you to make that play?" Blake asked.
"Huh? What are you talking about?" Kitty scoffed.
"Never mind," Blake said. "Tara! Use leaf tornado!"
"Snivy!" Tara held her hands up, creating a tornado of wind and leaves in front of her. She sent the tornado swirling across the battlefield at Marisa.
Kitty smiled, her harmonia flaring.
"Elaina's your teammate, and yet you think wind of that level can hurt us?" She laughed. "Marisa!"
"Sylveon!" Marisa's eyes flashed pink, and she opened her mouth, fairy energy gathering into it. She fired an orb of light at the tornado, breaking right through it and hitting Tara head-on, knocking her backwards.
"Tara!" Blake shouted.
"How's that?" Kitty asked, licking blood from her lip. "Like a taste of my power?"
"Raw power, fine," Blake said. "That isn't enough. Tara!"
"Snivy!" Tara sprung to her feet and ran forward, straight at Marisa.
"Trying to outrun us?" Kitty asked. She focused her energy into Marisa's legs, upping her pokemon's speed. Marisa circled around Tara in a pink blur, opening her mouth and preparing another moonblast to hit Tara in the back.
"Tara, leaf tornado on the ground!"
"Sni!" Tara held her hand out, firing a blast of wind and leaves at the ground, launching her into the air. Tara flipped over the attack gliding over Marisa's head.
"Now, vine whip!" Tara extended her hand, a vine extending out from it. The vine snapped tight around Marisa's neck, squeezing down tightly. Marisa choked for air and Kitty felt her own breathing going short. Tara used the vine to pull herself closer to Marisa, shooting towards the fairy pokemon. Tara's tail began glowing with light.
"It's her iron tail!" Cynthia cheered.
"Snivy!" Tara slammed her tail into Marisa's back.
"SYLVEON!" Marisa cried, agonizing pain shooting up Kitty's back. But she wasn't about to give in here.
"Shake it off!" Kitty spat. "She her off, too!"
But Marisa couldn't. Tara had her vine wrapped around Marisa's throat and was sitting on her back, keeping the pokemon from firing off a moonblast to hit her.
"What now?" Blake asked. "Just because you're bonded to your pokemon, that won't help you out of this situation. So what do you do?"
"Don't you underestimate me!" Kitty choked out, her harmonia forcing her hair to stick up on end. Marisa's ribbons unfurled from her body and shot back behind her, grabbing onto Tara, slapping away at her.
"Iron tail," Blake ordered. Tara's tail began glowing with light and she slapped Marisa with her tail again, knocking the ribbons away and hitting her in the back of the head.
Kitty saw stars as the feeling of a shovel battering her skull went through her. If moonblast wasn't going to work, then she would use dazzling gleam. Marisa began glowing with fairy energy, and she released it in a powerful blast that struck out from all sides. She pumped as much power as she could into the attack, hoping to wipe out the small pokemon in a single hit.
Tara was knocked loose from Marisa, forced to retract her vine as she was flung off, crashing to the ground. Marisa panted, finally able to breathe again, whirling around to face the injured pokemon.
"Sni… vy…" Tara gasped, struggling to rise to her feet. She glared at Marisa. She had taken some serious hits, but she wasn't even close to being done.
"Your harmonia isn't enough to take us out," Blake said. "Tara!"
Tara held her arms out and Marisa prepared a moonblast to counter the attack, but no attack came. Instead, something more insidious began. Seeds began to poke out from her flesh, vines sprouting out of them and wrapping around her, digging into her body.
"Sylveon?!" Marisa gasped, surprised.
"Leech seed!" Kitty gasped. Marisa's energy began to drain out of her, Tara's health recovering. The feeling of having her strength sapped away was nothing new to Kitty, but she was still feeling the drain rather severely anyway.
"Tara, use your synthesis next," Blake ordered. Tara nodded her head and began glowing green, recovering more strength.
"Do you think that would really be enough?!" Kitty shouted. "Marisa!"
She linked her senses with Marisa, focusing her harmonia as much as possible. She needed to keep Tara from recovering her strength, and that would take as much strength as possible. Marisa was already preparing a moonblast, so she fed as much power as she could into it.
Marisa fired a massive moonblast at Tara as she was healing, the moonblast hitting her and releasing the energy in a massive explosion.
"Tara!" Blake cried, shielding his eyes.
"That was almost as much strength as the misty explosion she used on Will and I!" Nick gasped, stunned that Kitty had gotten so much more powerful in such a short period of time.
The light from the explosion cleared away, revealing a badly hurt Tara lying motionless on the ground.
"Ha… Ha…" Kitty panted, wiping the blood from her lip. "Got her."
"Sylveon…" Marisa also seemed rather drained, the damage from the previous iron tails taxing her.
"Sni…"
Kitty gasped in surprise. Tara… Tara hadn't fainted! She was injured, but she was still moving!
"Tara, are you okay?" Blake asked.
"Snivy…" Tara tried to pull herself back to her feet, glaring at Marisa as she did.
"Marisa, quick attack!" Kitty ordered. Marisa shot forward and slammed into Tara, knocking her off of her feet. Tara skidded across the ground, letting out a whimper.
"Return," Blake said, recalling Tara to her pokeball.
"There… now we got her," Kitty smiled victoriously.
"Boasting over one victory?" Blake asked. "Weiss!"
Weiss emerged from his pokeball in a flash of red, shooting across the battlefield on swift wings. He appeared in front of Marisa before she could even blink, hitting her with a barrage of bullet punches.
"Sylveon!" Marisa cried, Kitty grunting as she felt her body getting riddled with bullets. She didn't lose her balance, growling angrily at Weiss, as though she were Marisa herself.
"Now, flash cannon!" Blake ordered. Before Marisa could react, Weiss hit her with a point-blank blast of compressed light, the explosion knocking her backwards. Marisa and Kitty had spent more energy than they thought, and didn't have the strength to keep going. Marisa lost consciousness, Kitty unable to push her through the pain with her harmonia.
"Marisa…" Kitty winced, recalling her unconscious Sylveon.
"Do you see, Kitty?" Blake asked. "You used your harmonia to strengthen your pokemon. But without it, your pokemon are still under-trained."
"What do you know?" Kitty scoffed. "We just used a little too much energy that time, that's all!"
"You're using that power as a crutch," Blake snapped. "You're relying on your harmonia instead of actually training your pokemon to become stronger on their own! You've become so dependent on harmonia and the rush it gives you that you aren't even concerning yourself with actually being strong, all you care about is winning!"
"Winning is how I prove that I'm strong!" Kitty shot back. "It's the only way people will see that I've changed! And I'm going to show you right now! Larosa, go!"
Kitty sent out her next pokemon, her Larosa. The Growlithe glared angrily at Weiss, flames leaping up around her as she charged forward.
"Weiss, dodge it with your agility," Blake ordered. Weiss nodded his head and picked up speed, darting back from Larosa.
"Whoa, look at that speed!" Cynthia cheered.
"He's moving so fast I can barely see him," Sango said.
"You call that speed?" Kitty demanded. "Larosa, show them what real speed looks like with your agility!"
"Growl!" Larosa shot forward, her speed increasing until she was matching Weiss's pace. Wherever he moved, she was there moments later. The two pokemon shot across the battlefield from spot to spot, trying to outrace the other.
"Kitty!" Blake shouted, breaking her concentration. "When you used Larosa's flame wheel to ignite the grassy terrain that Nikita's Bellossom developed, was it your harmonia that came up with that idea?"
Kitty blinked in surprise. Blake knew about that?
"What? I don't… that's not important right now!"
"It is," Blake insisted. "That right there shows real growth as a trainer. Not relying on some cheat to force your pokemon to become stronger than they should be."
Kitty's eye twitched.
"A cheat?! This isn't a cheat! Harmonia is a part of me, Blake! In fact, why don't I show it to you, so you can get rid of these thoughts that I might be cheating?" Kitty's eyes flashed and Larosa grew even faster, until she was where Weiss was going to be just as he got there. Larosa slammed into Weiss with a powerful flame wheel, the bug pokemon flying backwards. The high speed the pokemon were moving at turned the momentum into a powerful hit, Weiss skidding across the ground roughly.
"Hah! You see?" Kitty boasted.
"I saw that you weren't willing to let Larosa grow on her own, that you used your harmonia to get the job done because you were too weak to do it yourself," Blake replied
"I'm not weak!" Kitty shouted.
"What's he doing? Is he an idiot?" Nikita groaned, holding the sides of her head in disbelief. "Every time he calls her weak, she just gets more and more angry!"
"It's not only that."
Everyone turned in surprise towards Vic, who was sitting next to Maddi. She hadn't said a word since the match began.
"What do you mean?" Cynthia asked.
"Every time he calls her weak, her harmonia flares up again, even stronger than before," Vic said.
Maddi gasped. "Vic, are you-?"
"I'm just reporting what I see," Vic muttered. "That's what my mom would have done, if she were here."
"Why would Blake want to make her harmonia stronger?" Julia wondered.
"That sounds like a horrible idea," Reiner agreed. "He's just making her mad! What's that idiot doing?"
Sango considered it. Blake seemed unnaturally determined. She felt uncomfortable. Sango was the only one who had actually met Blake's sister. Guinevere… Gwen… the way she had been acting around Blake in the brief time she'd spoken with her, she seemed so much like Kitty… and what Blake had told them about her only confirmed that even more. Was this… what he wanted to say to his sister, she wondered?
To everyone's surprise, it was Maddi who finally answered the question on all of their minds.
"Maybe he's telling her that she's weak because that's exactly what she needs to hear."
Everyone looked at her, confused.
"Maddi, what-"
"Just a thought," Maddi murmured. "Sango, remember our match with her? When she lost control for a moment, what happened then? Do you remember why she did it?"
"Because… because I wasn't giving her the proper respect as a trainer," Sango remembered. "I was treating her like she needed to be protected, not like an opponent to fight. And when I did that, it made her get even more enraged, she couldn't control her power anymore… But isn't that the same thing as what Blake is doing now?"
"I think so. It's clear whatever her problem is, questioning her strength or treating her like a weakling are ways to push her buttons," Maddi said.
"Yeah, Maddi, we know," Cynthia said, giving her an exaggerated eye-roll. "So why's Blake doing it, huh?"
Maddi opened her mouth, but before she could give her response, she was cut off by Blake's voice.
"Kitty," he shouted across the battlefield at her, "you're just running away!"
"…I'm running away?" She snarled. "I'm not running away! I'm fighting you right here!"
"No, you're using your harmonia to muscle your way through this fight," Blake replied. "You aren't actually fighting me at all."
"Harmonia is a part of me!" Kitty shouted at him, her hair standing on end. "You're trying to say that I'm cheating because I'm using one of my own abilities? Aren't you just jealous? That even though your brother and sister have this power, you don't?"
"I loathe that power," Blake growled. "Because it turns nice girls like you into people who can't see what's most important. You've become so lost in your lust for power and acknowledgment that you forgot why you started trying to get stronger in the first place!"
"Shut up, shut up!" Kitty screamed at him. "Send out your last pokemon already!"
"My last?" Blake raised his eyebrow. "I don't believe I recall seeing Weiss getting knocked out."
Kitty gasped, her head whipping around to where Weiss had been lying. But he was gone. He reappeared in front of Larosa and hit her in the jaw with a powerful slash from his claw, sending the dog skidding back.
"A cheap trick!" Kitty spat, wiping her cheek. "I know how hard we hit Weiss with that flame wheel! He can't take much more!"
"You aren't wrong," Blake agreed. "Weiss! Use double team!"
"Scizor!" Weiss nodded, holding his arms out and spreading his wings, countless copies of himself flooding the battlefield.
"Now who's the one running away?" Kitty demanded. "Larosa!"
Flames leapt up around Larosa and she charged at the closest Scizor, but it was just a copy.
"So tell me Kitty, how's your harmonia going to help you find the real one?" Blake asked.
"Shut up!"
"Relying on pumping raw power into your pokemon might feel good, and you'll probably win most of your matches that way," Blake admitted. "But it's just an illusion. The reason my brother is so strong has nothing to do with his harmonia. It's because he's an exceptional trainer without it. Don't you see? Harmonia is just a tool. The real strength comes from you, and your connection with your pokemon."
"Shut up!" Kitty shouted. Her harmonia burned even stronger, Larosa's flames increasing in size. She began to laugh at the rush of power flooding through her.
"Whoa!" Cynthia shielded her face.
"That's real hot!" Callie wailed.
"Kitty…" Julia ignored the heat, staring at her friend, her face twisted in horror.
"I don't need to find the real one like this," Kitty boasted. "All I have to do is burn all of them away! But don't worry Blake, I'm not like Elaina. I know how to control myself. So you won't get hurt. I'll just hurt Weiss enough to make you admit that I'm stronger than you."
Blake said nothing. He shrugged his shoulders. Sorry Weiss. It's the only way.
"Do what you have to do."
Kitty scowled. That wasn't what she'd wanted to hear. "Fine! But you better not regret it!"
She sent Larosa as much harmonia as she could, her flames increasing even hotter. The copies of Weiss were blasted away one after another, until finally the flames engulfed the real one. Weiss let out a cry of pain.
"There he is!" Kitty chortled. "Go!"
She could see Weiss through Larosa's eyes, charging through the inferno without even blinking. She was teaming with power, more than she ever could have hoped. The feeling of power running through her pokemon, it was the strength she had sought! What did Blake's words matter? He had no idea what this rush was like!
Weiss flapped his wings and flew out of the flames, badly burned but still kicking, even as Larosa pursued him.
"What was that you said about me being weak?!" Kitty demanded. "If I'm so weak, then how can I beat up Weiss so easily?! How was I able to defeat Julia and get into the semi-finals?! All those wins, they're all because I'm strong!"
"Your harmonia isn't making you stronger," Blake rejected her, "and it isn't getting you what you want, either. Is this really what you wanted, Kitty? To just defeat pokemon left, right, and center? Because that's not the kind of girl you used to be."
"What I wanted… why I wanted to be strong… was because I wanted to change myself!" Kitty screamed.
"Change yourself into what?!" Blake asked. "Someone who doesn't care about anyone but themselves? Who will lash out and hurt pokemon while boasting about their strength?"
"N-No, I… I didn't, but… but it's a fight! If you just acknowledge how strong I've become, then this can just stop!"
"That isn't going to happen," Blake replied. "Because you're still just as weak as you were when you first had your harmonia."
"Stop saying I'm weak!" Kitty shouted. Larosa's flames grew even larger, but Weiss was able to stay out of her range.
"When you wanted to become stronger, was this the person you saw yourself as at the end of it?" Blake asked. "When you fought against Julia, when you beat her, was that the way you wanted that battle to go? And when all was said and done, what did you actually want from that fight, Kitty? Huh?"
"That's… I!"
"Sure, as long as you try your hardest and keep training, you'll definitely be able to get as strong as me, Kitty!" Julia assured her. "And the day that happens, I'll be sure to congratulate your hard work with a big smile on my face!"
"I just… I just wanted her to acknowledge me! To see how strong I've become!" Kitty cried. Her eyes were blurry. Was… was she crying?
"But she didn't acknowledge you, did she? Because she saw that while you may have defeated her in battle, you lost so much of yourself to that power that it didn't even matter," Blake replied. "Harmonia is a part of you, but right now it's completely swallowed you up."
"She didn't acknowledge me because she's jealous!" Kitty shouted. "Just like you, she's jealous of how strong I am! I just… I just need to get stronger, and-"
"No matter how many victories you get with that power, it won't get you what you want!" Blake shouted. "You're still weak!"
"I'm not!" Kitty wailed, wiping her eyes frantically. She surged through her tears for Weiss. Was she the one crying? Or was it Larosa? She couldn't even tell anymore, maybe they both were. But a flash of red came out of the corner of her eye and she focused her power into her legs, and leapt.
Larosa collided with Weiss and knocked him out of the air, Weiss wailing in pain as he burned. He crashed to the ground, his wings in tatters, not able to move a muscle.
"Sorry, partner," Blake apologized, recalling Weiss to his pokeball. Larosa landed on the ground in front of him, panting, looking at Blake with a triumphant smirk.
"No, Weiss…" Sango gasped.
"Shit, I knew he shoulda switched!" Cynthia groaned.
Julia didn't say anything, she just looked worriedly out at the battlefield.
"Look at what happened to Weiss," Kitty sneered. "Don't you regret saying that I'm weak now, Blake?"
Blake didn't say a word, he simply stared at her.
Kitty growled angrily. Why wasn't he saying anything?!
"Say something, damn it! Don't you see?! I'm stronger than you, Blake! I'm not weak!" Kitty exclaimed.
"You want that so badly to be true, but it isn't," Blake snapped. "That's what made it so you could so easily fall to your harmonia, isn't it? 'I want to be strong'. That's what's driving you, right? But you'll never become strong this way, Kitty, don't you see that? All that power is just bringing you pain, and inflicting pain on the people who care about you. Like Julia! Like me! Like all your friends here!"
"What do you know, huh?!" Kitty demanded. "I've tried everything to get stronger, and now I finally have! Why? Why won't you see it? Why won't any of you see it?!"
"You're using your harmonia to avoid your weakness, that's not the same as being strong," Blake replied.
"What's wrong with that?!" Kitty cried. "This power, it's everything I wanted! If I… if I didn't have it, then I… then I wouldn't be anything! I'd be nothing without my harmonia! I'd still just be that scared little girl!"
"You ARE still that scared little girl," Blake replied.
"I'm not! I've changed!" Kitty insisted.
"Do you remember what being strong even means?" Blake asked. "You asked Julia if you could become as strong as her, didn't you?"
"And now I'm even stronger than-!"
"But that was before you awakened your harmonia!" Blake interrupted her. "You were just a weak girl who wanted to be strong, and back then, you actually WERE getting stronger!"
"I… I was getting stronger?"
"Yes! Because you knew you were weak, and were willing to train, to grow, to make up for that! To change who you were, and become someone better! But right now? You're not trying to grow or change. You're taking the easy way out! Harmonia makes your victories come easily, so you don't have to actually try! You haven't gotten stronger, you've just gotten better at winning!"
"I… I…" Blake's words stung. What he had said before… this wasn't what she wanted. She wanted to win, to be strong, but… but right now, it was like…
Why wasn't Julia happy for me?
When she pictured her victory over Julia in the past, she always envisioned her friend in tears with a big smile, giving her a hug of congratulations. That was nothing like what had happened today.
"Her harmonia is getting haphazard," Vic commented.
"Is… is that good?" Julia asked hopefully.
"Maybe Blake's getting through to her!" Cynthia suggested, pumping her fist in victory.
"Shut up!" Kitty exclaimed, reasserting herself with a stomp of her foot. "Everything you're saying… it's all meaningless! I'm strong enough to fight, so stop looking down on me!"
Julia's face fell. He hadn't gotten through to her.
"I don't recall looking down on you once," Blake said. "But I'm certainly willing to keep fighting. Because I remember who you used to be. Weak and scared, but trying to get stronger, so you could change. So you could become confident and brave. But you gone backwards. You're arrogant, not confident. You're reckless, not brave. You found a way to get easy wins, so you wouldn't have to feel insecure about how your friends treated you. And yeah, that's on us. Maybe if we hadn't have made you feel so weak and insecure, you wouldn't have relied so heavily on your power. But now it's time to stop. Right now, you're using that harmonia of yours to hide your fears, hide your weakness. But it's all an illusion. Deep down inside, you're still the same scared little girl you always were, you haven't changed at all. You're like someone who gets a superficial haircut that a celebrity has and thinks they've changed and become cool and popular, but really you're just acting! Pretending!"
Blake narrowed his eyes.
"And I'm going to rip that mask right off and show you who you really are."
"Go on and try!" Kitty snarled. "Or did you forget that I just defeated your strongest pokemon?!"
Blake took another ball off of his belt, and held it up.
"It looks like you're the one who's forgotten, Kitty. Hiding behind your false sense of strength. But don't worry. I'll be happy to remind you just what it's like to be weak and scared."
"Huh? What's he talking about?" Cynthia asked.
Sango gasped, her face going pale.
"He wouldn't!"
The battle between Blake and Kitty resolves next chapter! Blake's unloaded a lot of harsh truths on her, but will he be able to get through to her? Get her to change?