Time to see the follow-up to the battle between the teams! How is Caelia handling things? What about Cynthia? A brief interlude before the next round! Remember to review!

KedharS: Let's hope it doesn't go that badly.

Rosealine gold: Don't worry, the deal wasn't for real. Maddi doesn't have to go if she doesn't want to.

Just a Bad Writer for Fun: Caelia doesn't go great with hot springs, I think the trip there last time sort of showed that.

Hellraiserphoenix: The next battle will hopefully be a good one.

Thunder Fire: Don't worry, hopefully it won't go so badly.

JoshGamerV: They're a pretty powerful team.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 388

Caelia walked into the pokemon center near the Meloetta Ballroom with singular purpose, carrying the pokeballs of her fainted pokemon in her hands. She didn't know if Cynthia had won or lost the match after she had left, but either way she didn't think it really mattered that much. There was nothing she could do either way. She knew it was important to keep winning, but she had already lost. She handed over her pokeballs to the nurse, and stood silently in the corner, not removing her eye from the machines restoring their health.

Something flew in Caelia's face, obscuring her vision. She let out a sharp cry and stumbled back, unable to see anything but white.

"Sorry, sorry, slipped my mind," a familiar voice rang in her ear. The blocking object was removed from her sight, and she could see that it was a towel. And the girl holding the towel was Sylvia. "You just looked so pathetic standing there all sullen-faced and dripping wet."

Sylvia's saccharine words died off in Caelia's ears and she stared vacantly at the girl, not really concerning herself with Sylvia's so-called sympathy. She didn't even feel "wet" (not that she really remembered what being "wet" felt like) so it wasn't that big of a deal for her.

"What is it?" Caelia asked quietly. The only reason Sylvia would be here would be if she had something to do with the Phantom and his organization, the group that Caelia had joined. He had agreed to grant her wish, to receive the warmth of another, to get… to get Blake. A new body with which to love him, to fix what had been done to her.

For that, she was willing to do anything. The Phantom had told her to win, but… she had already lost. Oh well. She had done all she could but there was nothing left.

"I thought you would be interested in hearing the results of the tag battle, how things happened after you ended up leaving," Sylvia purred.

"Win? Lose?" Caelia asked.

Sylvia smirked.

"It's win! Cynthia came through and saved the day!"

So Caelia was moving onto the finals. That would be excellent.

"When someone gives you good news, the polite thing to do is say 'thank you'," Sylvia replied. "That being said, your lack of niceties is what makes you so interesting! Much better than those boring people and their common courtesies! Now then…"

Sylvia turned back to look at the three pokeballs on the healing machine.

"Are you preparing for your match later this afternoon? It's the finals, you know."

"Not particularly." Caelia didn't really prepare that much for her battles. She just went in and sent her pokemon out to do their best.

"Well, if I were you, I would prepare. Considering who it will be you're fighting," Sylvia giggled.

"Undecided."

"Is it really?" Sylvia asked, raising her eyebrow. She smirked. "I'm not so sure."

Sylvia paused to glance at Caelia's face. While she was normally quite adept at predicting the feelings and responses of others, Caelia was always such a difficulty to understand, considering how unexpressive she was.

How should I work with this…

"It seems pretty much set in stone that your opponents will be Blake and Elaina for the final match," Sylvia replied. She caught a twitch of Caelia's eye. Yes, that was it! Just what she'd been looking for, an actual emotional response, faint though it might have been.

"Really?" Caelia asked. Sylvia smirked, and nodded.

"Really. You see, it's not about which team has the better pokemon or more experience in the next round. It's about the intent. And right now, I don't think Kitty has the intent to win. Not that that's a bad thing, of course. I think that she's just going to be more focused on enjoying herself. She's overflowing with gratitude for Blake. Not that I think she'll throw the match for him, just… well, you'll see. I could be wrong, but that's not usually my thing." She glanced slyly over at Caelia. "People usually act in the way I expect them to. They're quite boring and predictable that way."

Caelia didn't really care.

"…Though I can see you don't really care," Sylvia shrugged. "Though even if they aren't going to be your opponents, things may still end up working out for us. The important thing to consider is that you're going to be in the final battle, Caelia, and you'll be fighting one of them. That's what the Phantom is so interested in, after all. And this round was the only potential wrench in the plans! If Sango and Maddi had won, well… that could have gotten dicey. I was right on the edge of my seat! But you girls pulled through just perfectly!"

Caelia blinked. Why was Sylvia telling her all this?

"So?" She asked.

"So, basically, I think it's reasonable to expect that you will be facing off against Blake and Elaina in the final round. They're rather tough trainers, and I wanted to make sure you were ready," Sylvia explained. "If you think you are, that's fine, but you aren't."

"My pokemon are healing," Caelia replied, glancing past Sylvia and taking another look at her resting pokemon. "Restored before battle."

"Well, maybe your Salazzle and your Volcarona will be," Sylvia said, running her finger playfully over her lips, which twisted into a smirk. "But I think you saw quite clearly what state that Charizard of yours was in."

Caelia didn't answer, but the non-answer was more than enough of an answer for Sylvia, who giggled at her.

"That blast burn took a lot out of her," Sylvia said. "That's what you get for using a move you aren't used to yet. The Phantom didn't have you taught in how to use that move just so you could go firing it off recklessly whenever you wanted, you know."

"Needed to win," Caelia said. "Kara weakened anyway. Close to the end."

"Maybe, but now she's drained of her energy," Sylvia reminded her. "And that wasn't the easiest battle on her to begin with, she took a lot of damage and wasted a lot of her stamina. Using that blast burn was just the icing on the cake. Do you see the state that your Charizard is in now? There's no way that she'll be able to keep fighting, she's done for the day."

Caelia didn't say a word. She turned and looked back at Kara's pokeball, knowing that what Sylvia said was correct. Kara had used a lot of energy in her battle against those two girls, and had taken a lot of damage in return. She was certainly not in any state to keep battling, she would need as much rest as she could get.

"So now we have a little bit of a conundrum," Sylvia continued, tapping her finger against her chin in contemplation. "Here we have you, Caelia Auburn, who loves fire types so deeply. And yet, your strongest fire pokemon isn't able to keep fighting. And your next match? That's almost certainly going to be against a skilled trainer like Blake, and a harmonia user in the form of Elaina. And even if, by some miracle, Blake and Elaina lose, well, then you'll still be facing a harmonia user in the form of dear little Kitty! You're going into a battle against a harmonia user with one arm tied behind your back! I'm really very worried, Caelia!"

The look on her face showed not a single trace of worry, but rather pure, unadulterated glee and amusement.

"I'll win," Caelia replied. "Because I have to win."

Sylvia blinked. Her smirk widened.

"Maybe you will win. But we both know you won't push that Charizard of yours. Not unless you want to lose that pokemon you value so much that you consider her your reason to keep living, of course. And we both know you aren't that cruel." Sylvia's eyes were shining. Caelia could see she was enjoying seeing the dilemma that she was going through. But she didn't reply. She wasn't going to use Kara. Could… could she still win without Kara? Was Mera strong enough to hold her through on her own? Maybe against someone else… but Caelia had been watching Blake and his pokemon, and she had heard the rumors of Elaina.

"But don't worry, Caelia!" Sylvia grinned, clapping her hands together, shaking the stoic girl from her thoughts. Caelia turned her eye on Sylvia, looking curiously at her. What did this odd girl want? Did Caelia care? She was probably just going to manipulate her again.

"What?"

Sylvia's smile widened. "I've got a special gift for you!"

Sylvia reached into her purse and withdrew a pokeball. It was colored black and purple, with silver trim. It was a type of pokeball Caelia had never seen before. Sylvia turned it over in her hands, letting the light catch it.

"Remember our discussion before? Where the Phantom told you that he would grant your deepest wish, so long as you joined up with us, and continued to do your best at winning?"

Caelia nodded.

"Well, consider this to be your signing bonus!" Sylvia chirped. With a flick of her wrist she sent the pokeball flying to Caelia. Caelia reached out to grab it, but it slipped right past her fingers and bopped her on the face.

Sylvia blinked, and resisted the urge to snicker.

"Sorry, sorry, I forgot, your depth perception is crap. And you don't exactly have dexterity." Still laughing to herself, Sylvia walked over to where the black pokeball had rolled away, picking it up and returning to Caelia. This time, she deposited the pokeball into the girl's hand directly so that there wouldn't be any clutzy mistakes. That had been an amusing distraction.

"This…"

"It's a pokemon," Sylvia explained. "A special pokemon. The Phantom was concerned that your pokemon might not be in proper condition to put up a good fight, since you would be coming off of another battle. So consider that little guy to be your reward for making it this far!"

Caelia looked at the pokeball.

"…No thanks," she replied, holding it out to Sylvia. Sylvia sighed, and rolled her eyes, shaking her head. Caelia clearly wasn't getting it.

"I suppose I didn't make myself clear," Sylvia said, her eyes shining. She took a step closer to Caelia and pushed the hand holding the pokeball into the girl's chest, even though she couldn't feel it. "It's very important to the Phantom that you use this pokemon. He's concerned that you'll need it. And what's the big deal? Kara can't fight, and she's your strongest pokemon, right? So use this little guy! He'll definitely pick up the slack in your team, I guarantee it!"

Caelia took another look at the pokeball. She still wasn't enthusiastic about using a pokemon that wasn't hers.

"…Fine."

"Oh, and one more thing," Sylvia said, as if she had suddenly remembered something and hadn't been intentionally hiding it from Caelia. "I know I called it a signing bonus and a gift, but it's not for keeps. You're just borrowing him from the Phantom, okay?"

Caelia nodded her head.

Sylvia smiled.

"Perfect! Then there won't be any problems! Use that guy, and I'm certain that the battle is going to be an interesting one!"

Sylvia winked at Caelia and patted her on the cheek. She turned towards the door.

"Take care of your pokemon, Caelia, hopefully they'll be fully healed before you know it!"

On her way towards the door, though, she was almost knocked over by Cynthia, who ran in, face flushed and eyes wide with excitement.

"Caelia! There you are!" She called, running over to her partner. She grabbed Caelia's hands, ignoring the pokeball she was holding, too focused on her own exciting news. "Did you hear?! We won! We won! We're going to the finals, and it's all thanks to your help!"

"Okay," Caelia replied.

"My such a contrast between you girls," Sylvia purred, walking back over to the two girls. "Caelia, you could learn to put a little more excitement in your life, just like your cute little partner, don't you think, Cynthia?"

"…Sylvia," Cynthia said, turning to Sylvia and seeing her for the first time. Her face was cold and serious, much to Sylvia's shiny-eyed amusement.

"My, you and your friends all have such hostile looks on your faces when you see me," Sylvia said. "Whatever did I do?"

"Actually… I wanted to thank you."

Sylvia blinked, momentarily taken aback. Gratitude was something that did not come her way all that often.

"Oh? Have I inadvertently done something deserving of thanks?" She giggled.

"For what you did at the Pokemon Day party," Cynthia said, lowering her head in a bow of gratitude. "I heard… that it was thanks to you that I… well, that things didn't go as badly as they could have. Apparently, you saved me from some really bad things, and I haven't gotten the opportunity to thank you for it until now, so… thank you!"

"…Yeah, don't do that, it's unnerving," Sylvia said, feeling a little iffy about being thanked for something that was really no big deal at all.

"Also, you really helped Caelia last week," Cynthia added. Caelia glanced at her, confused at what Cynthia meant.

"Helped? I think you're mistaken…" Sylvia wasn't sure how she had helped Caelia, really that had been more about her own amusement.

"Even… even if I'm not exactly thrilled by how you did it…" Cynthia glanced at Caelia, who looked slightly perturbed. She returned her focus back to Sylvia. "You still really helped my friend and she kept going because of it. So… thank you for that, too."

"What, um… but you haven't forgotten about all that stuff I said about Blake and Ayame, right?" Sylvia asked. She was of two minds on what was happening right now. On one hand, she had never once expected gratitude for anything she'd done, not REAL gratitude, so that made what was happening right now one of the most interesting things to happen to her in a good long while. But on the other hand, she wasn't all that comfortable with it, either. It felt… bizarre to be thanked like this, it sent a shiver down her spine.

"I didn't," Cynthia said, her soft face shifting into a scowl as she put her hands on her hips. "I'm still not all that happy that you're planning to mess with Blake and Ayame, or all the other stuff you're doing! It's not okay!"

Sylvia relaxed. Good, she wasn't going crazy. Well, not any more crazy.

"But I'm still thankful for what you did. Just… leave Blake and Ayame alone! Stop being such a bitch!" Cynthia insisted.

Sylvia gave her a cheeky smile and shook her head, roundly rejecting the concept of doing anything close to leaving Blake and Ayame alone.

Cynthia scowled.

"Have fun with the finals," Sylvia said, turning on her heel and making a second attempt for the door. "I'll be watching you girls, I hope it'll be a good match."

Cynthia sighed, turning back to Caelia. Her bubbly smile returned.

"Are you okay? How are your pokemon?" Cynthia asked.

"Healing."

Cynthia grinned.

"Sounds like a plan!" She replied, giving Caelia a thumbs' up. "You guys rest up and prepare for the next round! We're gonna win the whole thing, I just know it!"

Meanwhile, a short walk away, things were really heating up. The second round of the semi-finals was about to begin, and after the intense first match, folks were on edge for the second.

But unfortunately, it wasn't entirely excitement that had the crowd on the edge of their seats.

"She's fighting, right?" One student whispered. "Elaina Bishop…"

"I hope we'll be okay," a girl murmured, fidgeting in her seat. "She might hurt one of us this close…"

"Remember the Fall Festival Tournament? She nearly wrecked the entire stadium!" One particularly irate student grumbled. "Why the hell did they even let her into the tournament in the first place, huh?!"

Similar thoughts of safety and concern mixed with disdain for the student they all thought of as a monstrous freak in a cloud of apprehension that had the atmosphere in the stadium building with tension and uneasiness, as well as a little bit of excitement.

"So! Let's meet our first team! Elaina Bishop and Blake Harker!" Darla and Lila announced, even knowing that the audience reaction wouldn't be the warmest welcome for the duo.

"What are you doing here you freak?!" One student jeered.

"Just drop out of school already!" Another added.

"All you're doing is hurting people, you monster! We don't want someone with your powers at this school!"

Elaina walked out onto the battlefield in spite of the cruel words echoing in her ears. No matter how much they stung, she wasn't about to let them get the better of her.

Don't let them see your reaction, she reminded herself, grateful for her mask. She'd heard these words and many worse ones so often, surely they would have stopped hurting by now. But no, they continued to pierce her heart even now.

"Just ignore them," Blake whispered beside her. She turned his way, surprised. He was glancing at her out of the corner of his eye. "Just ignore them. Put them out of your mind. Just focus on me."

That stung in a different way. Elaina nodded slightly, turning her attention back towards the battlefield in front of her.

"And the other team! Katherine Kuroso and Nikita Willow!" Darla and Lila announced.

Nikita and Kitty walked up on the other side, both of them burning with nervousness. They were getting cheers, but even though everyone was cheering for them, this was a level of attention that they weren't very used to. The whole campus was watching them! Kitty gulped and stepped forward… and tripped over her own feet, falling flat in the dirt.

Elaina stared in shock at the white haired girl across from her, who was getting helped up by her dark-skinned friend. Was… was that the same Kitty? When Elaina had last seen Kitty, that girl's harmonia had begun taking on a sickly dark feeling, spreading insecurity and corruption that Elaina was certain would result in the girl have become poisoned and toxic.

But… she wasn't. The light shining off of her was so pure and warm Elaina couldn't believe it.

"Something the matter?" Blake coolly asked. Elaina flinched, unaware that she had stopped walking.

"N-nothing," she said, shaking her head, catching up to him and taking her spot across the battlefield from the two girls, staring into the other harmonia user's crimson eyes.

"She's not like you expected, is she?"

"That's not important right now!" Elaina snapped. "Stop concerning yourself with stuff that doesn't matter! We're about to fight!"

"Last night, Kitty was in a state that I couldn't even begin to understand," Blake quietly said. "But I managed to bring her back. I can bring you back, too, Elaina. You don't have to lose yourself to your power."

It was a lie. It had to be a lie. There was just no way… no way that Blake… that Blake could help her the way he'd helped that girl.

What if… what if I'm wrong? What if I… don't need to be so afraid? What if Blake… what if he really could… But no. He was with Ayame Toujou. She was a fool for hoping for something that could never be. Blake wouldn't accept her. She couldn't accept it. She couldn't believe it.

But maybe he would be able to show her that she was wrong. Maybe he could save her. But no matter what… that was something that she would concern herself with after she won the battle that was about to come.

"Elaina Bishop and Blake Harker vs. Katherine Kuroso and Nikita Willow!" Darla declared.

"Whoever wins this match will face off against Caelia Auburn and Cynthia Fafnir in the finals of the Winter Tag Team Tournament!" Lila reminded the audience.

Both girls took a deep breath and announced "let the match begin!"

The second round of the semi-finals begins!