The battle continues, and this time it's getting really intense! Hopefully we can make it through without any serious injuries!

KedharS: Maybe it won't be that bad.

Rosealine gold: That's the plan, yeah.

Aquahaze675: Welcome back, you're right, things are starting to heat up!

Arcana of the North: I think Nikita can rise to the challenge, she should be able to back Kitty up when she needs it.

Just a Bad Writer for Fun: Yeah it is.

Thunder Fire: Probably not anytime soon, no.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 391

"Elaina's second pokemon is her Decidueye!" Darla announced.

"Why would she use a grass pokemon though, Darla?" Lila asked. "Isn't she going up against a fire type?"

"True, Lila, but Nikita's pokemon is a psychic type," Darla reminded her. "And with the effect of outrage having confused that Growlithe, plus the state she's in after all those attacks, maybe she's planning on taking her down right now!"

"Oh, no!" Lila emphatically gasped, playing up the danger for the crowd.

Kitty was well aware of the state her partner was in, due to the fact that their senses were currently linked. With that in mind, she knew that even against a grass type, the confused and fatigued Larosa couldn't last much longer. Shaking herself out of the fog of confusion she was in, she reached for Larosa's pokeball and raised it up to call her back.

"Think you can get away?" Elaina snarled. "Mukuro, spirit shackle!"

Mukuro silently raised his wing, drawing back the bowstring and manifesting a phantom arrow. He fired the arrow, but the target wasn't Larosa, rather, it was her shadow. The arrow dug into the ground, pinning her shadow in place. The red light from the pokeball struck Larosa, but she wasn't pulled back into it, much to Kitty's confusion.

"Wh-what?" Kitty gasped.

"Because of spirit shackle, Kitty's Growlithe has been immobilized," Darla explained. "She can't even call her pokemon back!"

"Oh, no!" Lila gasped again. "That means her Growlithe is a sitting duck!"

"Larosa!" Kitty's eyes flashed and she tried to move Larosa out of the way, but the dog pokemon was completely frozen. The sensation of trying to move made Kitty feel like her feet were glued to the ground; some unseen force was keeping her pinned down!

"Hammy! Help her out with your psybeam!" Nikita ordered. The black pearl on her Grumpig's belly began glowing with rainbow light, and she fired it at the owl pokemon. But before it could hit, the Decidueye sunk into the shadows, dodging the psychic attack completely.

"Decidueye is using shadow sneak!" Darla reported, the Decidueye's shadow shooting across the field. Mukuro emerged from the darkness at Larosa's feet and struck her with a punch from his wing, knocking the dog pokemon back. Larosa skidded across the ground, letting out a yip of pain. Much to Kitty's surprise, the arrow was still embedded in the ground, connected to her shadow; Larosa's shadow had stretched until it was barely a fine line!

"Finish it!" Elaina ordered. Mukuro nodded and drew his bow again, prepping three more arrows, these ones not aiming at Larosa's shadow but at the Growlithe herself.

"Larosa!" Kitty shouted, gathering up as much harmonia as she could. There was no chance in getting away to fight again later, Elaina had cut off her means of escape. That meant they were in last-stand time, and Kitty was not about to let Larosa faint without putting up a fight! Larosa's power surged and she snapped out of confusion, the air around her heating up as she prepared a powerful heatwave attack.

"Growlithe!" Larosa snarled, firing a blast of heat Mukuro just as the pokemon released his arrows. The arrows pierced through the rolling wave of hot air to bury themselves into Larosa, piercing her leg, belly, and even one grazing the side of her face and digging into her back. Kitty groaned in pain, feeling a stabbing feeling in three different places. But she kept her eyes aimed directly at the battle, eager to see the results of her attack even as her pokemon slipped into unconsciousness.

But much to Kitty's disappointment, the heatwave Larosa had released did not hit its target. Instead, it bounced off a wide barrier of light that had appeared in front of the Decidueye! Maria had once again foiled her heatwave with a wide guard, Larosa not being able to get her final attack in!

With surprising teamwork, Blake and Elaina's pokemon worked together to finish off Kitty's Growlithe!" Darla exclaimed.

"That heatwave looked like a scorcher, but thanks to wide guard it had no effect!" Lila cried. "What's Kitty going to do now?"

Kitty knew what she wasn't going to do, that's for sure. As she recalled Larosa, she knew there was no way Marisa would be next. Not with a poison type on the field, or that ghost pokemon locking down her movements. No, Meomo was the much better option!

"Go!" Kitty shouted, throwing out her next pokeball. Her Persian emerged with a snarl, glaring at the hooded pokemon on the other side.

"It seems that after losing her Growlithe, Kitty's decided to rely on the natural enemy of bird pokemon, cat pokemon!" Lila said.

"That's a bold strategy, Lila, let's see if it works out for her!" Darla agreed.

Spirit shackle won't work on a ghost type, Elaina understood. She wanted to take some more of her anger out on Kitty, but right now that could be dicey. Instead, her plan shifted to taking out that other girl, the tagalong. Mukuro, go!

Mukuro shifted priorities, drawing back his bow and turning so that the arrow was pointed at Hammy instead. And with the size of the psychic type, that meant his shadow was a pretty big target.

The arrow fired at the unaware psychic pokemon, cutting through the air right towards him. But it never met its mark.

"Hammy, use protect!" Nikita ordered. A barrier of light appeared around Hammy, and more importantly, his shadow, the arrow bouncing off of it and dispersing into nothingness, much to Elaina's irritation.

"Maria, use toxic when the protect is lifted," Blake decided. With the misty terrain long-since dispersed, the time was perfect for Maria to start doing what she did best, wearing down her opponents with her powerful toxins. The barrier of light disappeared and Maria opened her mouth to spit, but she never got that far. Meomo appeared in front of her in a blur, slapping her across the face, stunning her with a fake out attack. With Maria temporarily incapacitated, Meomo quickly rounded on her ally, running towards Mukuro on all fours.

A smile broke across Kitty's face and her eyes began to shine. With Meomo, she had a pokemon that was back to full strength, and she was prepared to make the most of it! Her harmonia was soaring with energy, and she was eager to turn all of it on Elaina.

"Ghost moves may not work, but let's see how you deal with this," Elaina said, her own harmonia surging to match Kitty's. She was preparing a leaf storm, but then she remembered what Blake had told her. Could she control a move of that power? Doubtful. Did… did she need to? Couldn't she try a weaker move against them? Pump as much power into it as possible, and maybe, just maybe, keep a better handle on things?

Did it hurt to try?

"Razor leaf," Elaina commanded. Mukuro spread his wings and flapped, flying back and creating a large cloud of razor-sharp leaves in front of him. He sent countless leafy blades flying straight at the approaching pokemon, filled with as much power as Elaina could give them.

Aerial ace! Kitty silently commanded, putting all of her power into Meomo's legs. Meomo leapt forward and disappeared before any of the leaves struck him. He reappeared behind Mukuro a second later, swinging his claw down in a powerful slash. Mukuro cried out in pain, falling forward.

Elaina felt the long, deep cut carve into her back as well, sending a bolt of agony echoing through her. The throbbing in her head cleared her initial doubts away nicely. Well, so much for taking things easy. It certainly did hurt to try! She swung her arm behind her and Mukuro did the same, whirling upon Meomo and slicing him in the side with his wing, striking the cat with a powerful leaf blade. Kitty clutched her stomach but kept her footing, Meomo leaping back. The cat pokemon panted, warm, sticky blood seeping into his fur. But he kept his eyes focused on the opponent ahead of him, and snarled a warning at Mukuro.

"Whoa, that was a powerful exchange of moves just now!" Lila gasped.

"You're right, Lila, neither trainer is backing down in the slightest!" Darla was really interested in this, and the audience was as well, much moreso than whatever Blake and Nikita might have been doing. Two harmonia users were fighting practically one on one, and while their pokemon weren't using any big, flashy moves just yet, gauging each other's abilities, it was clear that things weren't going to stay that way for long.

It was Blake who ultimately broke the stalemate, Maria having recovered from her flinching to get back in the game.

"Maria, use toxic on Meomo!" Blake ordered.

"Mareanie!" Maria nodded, spitting a blob of steaming purple poison at the cat pokemon's back. Meomo ducked, managing to avoid the attack, but that meant he had opened himself up to an attack from Mukuro. Mukuro spread his wings wide and with a powerful flap, a gust of wind and leaves swept Meomo up and launched him into the air.

"A brief gap in Kitty's judgment, and Decidueye struck her Persian with a powerful leaf storm!" Darla gasped.

"Oh, no, this could be the turning point!" Lila wailed.

Kitty wasn't worried. She could feel Meomo's pain, but she wasn't letting it get to her. She focused her harmonia on boosting Meomo's resistance, begging her partner to hang on. Meomo hit the ground and groaned, picking himself back up. Kitty's harmonia flared again and she boosted Meomo to push the pain away, letting him recover slightly so he could begin to attack. In the meantime…

"Grump!" Hammy fired a psybeam, hitting Maria in the head. She had been distracted, focused on Meomo, so she had forgotten her other opponent.

"MAR!" Maria groaned, stumbling back. The psybeam had confused her pretty badly.

"Now, Hammy, use confuse ray," Nikita ordered. Hammy turned and held his hand up, the pearl on his belly beginning to glow black. An orb of shimmering light emerged from it, zigzagging across the battlefield and stunning Mukuro, causing him to grow dazed.

"Uhg, confusion," Elaina grunted, her own head ringing in frustration. She felt waves of vertigo and nausea roll over her as she tried to get her bearings, but unlike Kitty, she had been swallowed by Mukuro's sensations, and right now her pokemon was completely confused.

"Now, Meomo, go," Kitty ordered. Meomo ran forward, keeping low to the ground, approaching Mukuro at high speed. But he and Kitty both had other plans.

Maria shook her head, recovering her senses. That was why she was Meomo's first target. Meomo skidded around Mukuro and opened his mouth, firing off a powerful seed bomb, to the surprise of Darla and Lila.

"Mar? Mareanie!" Maria cried in pain as exploding seeds barraged her. Kitty nodded to Nikita, who took the opportunity immediately as Meomo turned his attention back to Mukuro.

"Hammy, use psychic!" Nikita ordered.

"Meomo, use faint attack!" Kitty ordered.

Hammy held up his hands and began glowing blue as Meomo disappeared into the darkness. A blast of concussive energy struck Maria just as she recovered from the seed bomb, the chain of attacks taking out major chunks of her health. Meomo reappeared behind Mukuro, slashing him with his claws, darkness energy surging into the ghost pokemon as the Persian slammed him into the ground.

"Kitty and Nikita are working together really well!" Lila cheered.

"Yeah, they're taking advantage of each other's abilities to strike at their opponents in a synchronized team effort," Darla agreed.

Blake bit his lip, looking at his partner. Elaina wasn't doing well. She was shaking, and holding her head, clearly having trouble keeping her footing.

"Elaina," he said, placing his hand on her shoulder. She flinched, startled by the sensation. Blake's voice cut through the fog of confusion and her harmonia dimmed, bringing her back to her senses as she felt Mukuro's pain lessen.

"Blake, what-"

"We need to work together," Blake insisted. "Otherwise we're going to lose!"

Elaina turned her attention to the battlefield, where Mukuro was being pummeled by darkness-infused claws. A surge of anger shot through her breast and she snarled.

"Mukuro-!"

"Elaina! Together!" Blake insisted. She scowled, and nodded, focusing her harmonia and reconnecting with Mukuro.

Mukuro snapped out of confusion, and sunk into the shadows just before Meomo's claw struck him.

Kitty knew there was only one target if Elaina was using shadow sneak. Her head and Meomo's both shot up, and she shouted a warning to Nikita.

"Hammy! Protect yourself!" Nikita ordered. A barrier of light appeared around Hammy, protecting himself from Mukuro's potential attack.

Now where will he emerge? Kitty wondered, scanning the ground as Meomo did the same, their shared senses expanding their field of vision considerably. She focused her harmonia and prepared to lunge at Mukuro the moment he would attack. Right now, she was certain that Elaina was waiting, just like she was. Waiting for the protective shield to drop.

"No one's doing anything…" Lila said. She'd been a little spoiled by the fast-paced nature of the battle before.

"They're waiting, Lila," Darla reminded her.

"But I'm bored!"

"Maria, now!"

Kitty flinched. She had been spending too much time on Elaina and her Decidueye, she had forgotten about Maria! Maria opened her mouth and spat poison at Meomo, attempting to hit him with a toxic and wear him down. But Meomo was too fast to let that happen, his reflexes heightened by harmonia, which allowed him to dodge by the skin of his teeth.

"Meomo!" Kitty shouted. Meomo opened his mouth and prepared a seed bomb, firing the barrage of seeds at the small water pokemon.

"Decidueye!" To Kitty's surprise, Mukuro emerged from the shadows, spreading his wings wide to shield Maria from the attack. The seeds hit him, but he shrugged them off. Even with the boost of harmonia Kitty provided, he resisted grass moves just fine.

"Now, Mukuro!" Elaina cried. With a flap of his wings, Mukuro used another powerful leaf storm. The blast of wind and leaves hit Meomo in the face, the feline letting out a wail of pain as he was beaten back. With the full brunt of her harmonia behind it, the wind went far past the cat pokemon, hitting Kitty as well, knocking her off her feet.

"Kitty!" Nikita shouted as Kitty was flung through the air. Kitty hit the ground hard and coughed, the wind taken out of her.

"Mareanie!" Maria cried, seizing the opportunity to lurch forward.

"Wait, hold off, Maria!" Blake shouted. Now wasn't the time to keep fighting, Kitty looked like she'd gotten really hurt. But Maria was caught up in the heat of battle and wasn't concerned with things like harmonia. She opened her mouth wide and fired a blast of poison out at Meomo, smothering him with toxins that began to eat away at his health.

"Is she okay?" Lila cried.

"I'm not sure," Darla said, squinting. Kitty's landing had kicked up a dust cloud, and all she could see were shadows.

Elaina was frozen. She hadn't meant the attack to be that hard… but then, she never did, did she? She'd been trying to win the battle, and she hadn't even thought twice about using the attack, even when she knew how dangerous it was.

The dust cleared, and to everyone's relief it didn't reveal Kitty, beaten bloody and lying unconscious. She was bleeding, certainly, but she had made it back up to her feet. She held her left side with her right arm, her left arm and leg badly scraped up and her sleeve and skirt torn from where she'd landed. In spite of her obvious wounds, her face was resolute and she walked into the trainer's box, her footsteps not shaking in the slightest.

"Kitty, are you…" Nikita gulped.

"I'm fine," Kitty said, smiling to her partner. Her eyes flashed and she turned her focus back on Elaina. "Ready to keep going?"

Elaina relaxed, refocusing herself. Well, if the girl wanted to keep fighting, she wasn't going to say no.

"She's still willing to keep going?" Lila asked. "That woulda been it for me."

"Yeah, that's totally awesome!" Darla cheered.

"I'm a pokemon trainer," Kitty explained. The coughing strain in her voice made her words seem shaky, but they held conviction. "I'm not going to give up… because of something like this. I'm stronger than that… right Blake? So you can… give me your best."

She turned her smile on him. He nodded. She wanted to fight at her best, and she wanted him to fight at his best, too. Blake wasn't going to take it easily on her. Not when she was willing to stand after just being flung like that. She wanted to see this through, so she could grow. Completely different from the girl who had been standing across from him just the night before.

"Yeah, Kitty!" Julia cheered as loudly as she could so her friend could hear. "You give it your best! Take them both down!"

Julia's words were soon echoed by Kitty's other friends. Through the crowd, she somehow managed to hear their words touch her ears, and it lightened the weight on her heart. She smiled, even though she didn't know where they were cheering from. Yeah. This is so much better than before.

"Fine then," Elaina scowled. The fact that Kitty was getting so much support from the crowd was hurting her more than she thought it would. "Mukuro!"

Mukuro flapped his wings. This time, Elaina had him use razor leaf instead of leaf storm.

"Hammy, use your power gem!" Nikita shouted, the shield coming down from around her Grumpig. He held his hands up, large black pearls appearing around him.

"Use yours too," Kitty ordered, the ruby on Meomo's forehead illuminating with red light as large red gems appeared around him, as well. The barrage of black and red stones shot forward, crashing into the razor-sharp leaves, the attacks cancelling each other out handily.

"Maria, use your venoshock on Meomo," Blake ordered. Maria nodded, spitting a stream of poison at the infected pokemon. The poison shifted into blades, arcing straight at him.

"Not a chance!" Kitty grinned, ignoring the pain of the poison surging through her. "Meomo, aerial ace!"

Meomo disappeared in a blur before the poison attack hit. He lunged forward, appearing behind Mukuro, raising his claws to slice at the pokemon. Mukuro took the hit and rolled with it, swinging and striking at the Persian with a leaf blade. But while Elaina's harmonia was boosting Mukuro's speed and strength, Meomo's harmonia-boosted reflexes were more than enough to allow him to slip under the pokemon's wing. But it wasn't Mukuro he was attacking this time. He ran around the bird pokemon, charging straight at Maria.

"Head-on, huh?" Blake grinned. "Maria, use venoshock!"

"Mareanie!" Maria opened her mouth, and fired another blast of poison at Meomo.

"Dig," Kitty ordered. Before the poison could hit Meomo, his claws struck the ground, digging a hole large enough for him to slide under, avoiding the attack.

"Kitty's Persian hid underground to dodge the attack!" Lila cheered.

"Yeah, now it could come out anywhere," Darla said.

Kitty nodded silently to Nikita. Elaina and Blake had both been distracted by Meomo's dig attack, and now it was time to pay Blake back for exactly what he had done to her earlier!

"Hammy, psychic!"

Hammy held his hands up, and began glowing blue. A psychic aura appeared around Maria, and she cried out in pain, floating up into the air.

"Maria!" Blake cried.

Elaina whirled around, surprised, Mukuro turning to the pig pokemon as well.

"Let her go!" Elaina shouted, her head throbbing in pain as her harmonia flared up, the wind swirling around her as Mukuro flapped his wings, shooting forward.

Now! Kitty silently ordered Meomo. Meomo leapt from beneath the ground, emerging and striking Mukuro in the side, sending the pokemon skidding into the dirt. Elaina grunted, feeling Mukuro's pain, as Meomo sliced at her with another aerial ace.

Mukuro sunk into the shadows and returned to Elaina's side, panting.

"MAREEEEA!" Maria wailed, the concussive power of psychic finally overcoming her. She fell to the ground, losing consciousness.

"Sorry, Maria," Blake apologized, recalling his unconscious pokemon.

Kitty and Nikita turned to each other and grinned. Meomo might have been badly hurt by poison, but they were giving this fight the best they had. Elaina and Blake were strong, but with the soaring hope in Kitty's heart overcoming the ache in her left side, arm, and leg, she felt like she could just maybe pull out the win!

The battle is really heating up! Even I don't know when it's going to end, if the girls keep pulling off upsets like this! Elaina's quickly learning not to underestimate other harmonia users!