Back to the battle for real! Things are getting more tough, and everyone is giving it their all! Will Cynthia be able to pull it off? Or will Blake and Elaina crush her? What will Caelia do? She still has an unplayed trump card, how will that shake things up? This battle is only going to get fiercer this chapter, and it may be the case that not every trainer is still be in the running by the end of it, either!

KedharS: Maybe. Maybe not.

Aquahaze675: Well it should. Time travel is not something you want falling into the wrong hands.

Just a Bad Writer for Fun: The intensity will be ratcheting up from here, that's for sure. Still a good skirmish to be had for the finals!

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 397

"Misato, you're back," Will said, looking up at his… friend? Is that what they were? She had insisted that they come to watch the match together. Will had agreed, not seeing it as that big of a deal. He wouldn't be seeing her for a while since he was going home the next day, so it was alright to go watch the matches with her, even if a part of him wished that he was the one fighting in the finals.

She wasn't a very fun date. (Not that this was a date) Misato was normally a terrible conversation partner anyway, but today she had barely said a word. She had sat there in the bleachers with him, totally silent for the entire first two rounds, and through the hour-long intermission, without moving an inch. Then, after that girl Ryoko and the Celebi had run off, she had told him that she had to leave and walked away without a word. It didn't take a genius to know what was up. Just when he expected that he wouldn't need to see her again, she had returned, like nothing had happened.

"I still have to watch the finals," Misato replied, taking her seat next to him. She was a little closer than he remembered, her body pressing against his. He coughed, sliding over a little to put a bigger gap between the two of them. She didn't move to fill it.

"So that girl-"

"It is not of your concern," Misato replied with her usual hollow voice. "My business with her is concluded. I returned to watch the match."

Will glanced at her. He had his suspicions. Misato's initiative…

"We're watching this match, all these matches, because you're under orders, right? Or can't you tell me…?"

He looked around. Everyone was cheering the trainers on. No one was paying attention to their conversation. He still kept his voice low, knowing Misato would be able to pick up his voice along with the others and parse it out. She had informed him of that when she invited him to go watch a movie the other day, explaining her curiosity with experiencing a movie, and if it was different from reading a book. From what he could tell she didn't like it.

"It does not matter," Misato replied. "I am streaming the match to the Sandbox for the Phantom to observe. He did not wish to be present. I am here in his place."

"Huh, that's… kind of convenient," Will had to admit.

"I also wanted to come myself," Misato replied. That was more intriguing. Due to her… due to the type of person she was, he hadn't really known her to want that many things for herself.

"Really? Why?"

"I wanted to watch it with you," Misato replied. If she were anyone else, that might have actually made his heart flutter, hearing a pretty girl tell him something like that. She said it with the same flat tone as someone might use to say they were picking up groceries. He sighed, and turned his attention back to the battle, the announcers were saying something.

"With the guts ability of Cynthia's Swellow activated by the poison, her attacking power has increased exponentially!" Darla exclaimed.

"Whoa, that's amazing, Darla!" Lila gasped. "Will she be able to defeat Elaina's Aerodactyl with that power boost, you think?"

Blake didn't think so, but he wasn't interested in testing that out.

"Rogen, go!" Blake shouted, tossing out another pokeball. His Boldore game out, raising his claws and scraping them together.

"Blake's second pokemon is his Boldore!" Lila reported.

"That means that Caelia and Cynthia have two rock types they have to fight against!" Darla said.

"What?! But they're a pair of fire/bug and normal/flying type pokemon!" Lila gasped. "Can they really beat two rock types?"

"It looks like it's going to be tough," Darla agreed.

"So, sending out Rogen since I've got Elise?" Cynthia laughed. She could see it a mile away. Blake was trying to take advantage of Elise's lack of coverage. It WAS worrying, but… Cynthia was going to be fine. No way was she switching out and losing all her speed buffs! "I think you might be forgetting something though, Blake!"

Blake wasn't sure what she meant by that.

"Without Maria's shields, you're wide-open!" Cynthia said. "Right, Caelia?"

"Bug buzz," Caelia murmured.

Mera flapped his wings, and a deep hum resounded from within his belly. "VOLLLLLL!" The sonic wave buzzed across the battlefield, stunning Rogen and Ayer with the loud noise. Ayer shook slightly, his flying temporarily disrupted by the pain in his ears. Elaina winced, her ears stinging from sounds attacking Ayer's ears, and the buzzing itself ringing in her own.

"Now, go Elise! Your first target is that Aerodactyl!" Cynthia shouted over the buzzing. "Hit her with façade!"

"Swellow!" Elise shot like a bullet towards the approaching Aerodactyl. She built up energy in her body, glowing bright purple as she used the power from her poison to strike Ayer. The two pokemon collided in the air, and Ayer was knocked backwards, much to his surprise and the surprise of his trainer.

"How-?!" Elaina sputtered, clutching her stomach in pain. Ayer quickly righted himself, shaking off the blow. It hurt, but the hint wasn't critical. Due to his resistance and the boost from his harmonia, it wasn't as damaging as it could have been. Cynthia took note of that, too.

Even with the boost from guts, façade doesn't do as much as I would like, Cynthia thought, frowning. But that hit wasn't nothing, either. That Aerodactyl is still faster than Elise, but with guts our aerial ace will hurt, too. Still, with her health what it is, and losing strength from the poison, one good rock move and we're finished.

"Elise!" Cynthia called. "Focus on evasion! Use your double team!"

"Swellow!" Elise nodded. She flapped her wings, multiple copies of herself appearing in the sky around her.

As far as I know, that Aerodactyl doesn't have any moves for hitting multiple opponents in the air, so this way we can get in some more hits while he's dealing with the copies.

"Rogen!" Blake shouted over the buzzing, breaking Cynthia's concentration. "Use stealth rock!"

"Bold!" Rogen nodded, raising his claws up. Rocks tore free from the stadium and floated up into the air, filling the sky with debris that were like land mines to a fragile flying type pokemon like Swellow.

"So that's your game, huh?" Cynthia called to Blake, the bug buzz fading away and letting them talk again. "Think you can clip our wings like that? First toxic spikes, now stealth rock. How afraid of Tristan are you, to want to sabotage him this badly? Though, can't say I blame you."

Cynthia narrowed her eyes.

"Weiss is your best bet for beating him, after all, and I doubt you've chosen to use him in this fight, not with Caelia's fire types."

Blake flinched, and the flinch was enough to confirm her suspicions.

"Whoa! So Blake's hemmed in movements on the ground and in the sky!" Lila marveled.

"Even with her speed and her duplicates, Swellow is going to have a tough time maneuvering now," Darla said. "Especially if she doesn't want to give away which one is the real one."

"Sorry to break it to you, but that won't be enough!" Cynthia boasted. "Because all those traps you just set? Well, they're all going away, just like this! Elise, use defog!"

"Swellow!" Elise cried. The Swellow filling the sky spread their wings, and began flapping hard to blow away the obstacles littering the battlefield. The poison spikes were swept up and the rocks were pushed aside, clearing things up nicely.

"I'm trusting you here," Blake whispered to Elaina.

"I can feel it just fine," Elaina replied. "I know where she is."

"Sorry your plans didn't work, Blake!" Cynthia said.

"It worked perfectly, actually," Blake replied. Cynthia blinked, confused.

"Oh? Are we at the 'explain your evil plans to the heroine' stage of the battle?" Cynthia teased.

"I wanted you to use defog," Blake explained. "Or did you forget Elaina's specialty?"

"I told you already, the sky is my domain," Elaina coolly replied. "I can feel the wind so easily. And those copies of yours… they're just images, illusions. They don't move the wind at all!"

"So when you used defog, only Elise was blowing away the rocks and spikes," Blake clarified. "The others were just copying her."

"And now I know where you are!" Elaina finished. "Ayer!"

"AERO!" Ayer roared, flying straight towards one of the Swellow.

"Shit!" Cynthia cursed. "Elise, get away with aerial ace!"

Elise blurred out of sight, Ayer passing through the air where she was.

"But you'll appear somewhere!" Elaina reminded her. She and Ayer were both keeping their eyes out for movement, Elise reappearing nearby. Ayer shot towards her immediately, Elise barely having the speed to dodge again.

"Caelia! You need to get her!" Cynthia said. "Use your hurricane!"

"Right," Caelia murmured. "Mera."

Mera flapped his wings, a storm of fire and wind swirling around him. The hurricane of fire roared across the battlefield, straight towards Ayer. But if Cynthia thought that would discourage him, she had vastly underestimated Elaina's determination. Ayer plowed straight through the fire and wind, his speed and strength letting him overpower the attack even as it singed his rocky hide. He broke through and charged straight at Elise, the bird pokemon startled, not expecting that.

"Rogen, iron defense," Blake quickly called, Rogen heightening his defenses as the hurricane struck him. Due to his weight, the attack didn't even lift him off the ground, just raging until it dispersed.

"Blake, let's finish this!" Elaina snarled. "Ayer! Smack down!"

"Aero!" Ayer nodded, raising his wings. Large stones dropped down onto Elise's wings as she tried to flee, knocking her down to the ground.

"SWELL!" Elise cried in pain, hitting the ground hard. She was grounded, and her speed was rendered useless. Blake was quick to follow.

"Rogen! Use rock slide!" He ordered.

"Bold!" Rogen raised his claws, jamming them into the ground. Rocks tore out from the ground and rolled towards the two pokemon, crashing down on Mera and Elise in a tidal wave of stone and rubble, burying them both.

"Swell…" Elise whimpered, losing consciousness.

"Swellow is unable to battle!" Darla announced.

"What about Volcarona?" Lila wondered. "I think he might have taken way more damage from that…"

"Vol!" Mera howled, bursting from the pile of rocks with a powerful flap of his wings, the air around him heating up. He released a heatwave that struck Ayer and Rogen, Ayer pulling back to regain his bearings.

Elaina reached up to wipe the sweat from her brow, before realizing that her mask was covering her face. Ayer was doing fine. He still had decent health left, and his energy was fine. With his agility buffs, Elaina was certain to sweep through the rest of their pokemon. The only problem was the searing pain in her head.

It's okay, she told herself. It's almost over…

Blake was less certain. Cynthia didn't seem worried in the slightest. She had a glum expression on her face as she recalled Elise, but other than that, she still carried herself confidently.

Cynthia's smile took on a menacing glint, widening up to show her eyeteeth.

"You were real scared of him, huh?" Cynthia asked. "My ace! Tristan, let's do it!"

Cynthia tossed her pokeball out, and her Breloom landed on the ground, tail swishing side to side as he dashed forward.

"Cynthia's final pokemon is her Breloom!" Darla announced.

"That's a strong pokemon, but against Elaina's flying team…" Lila sounded less sure.

"Won't be a problem!" Cynthia boasted. "Go, Tristan!"

"Take it down," Elaina snarled, her harmonia flaring up. Ayer flew straight towards Tristan, so fast he could barely be seen. Tristan didn't have the heightened speed Elise did, so he had no chance of even seeing Ayer's movements, let alone catching them. That was what Elaina assumed as Ayer skirted around the grass pokemon, looking for an avenue to attack.

With that grass pokemon, that fire girl won't be able to use moves like heatwave so readily, Elaina theorized. That meant it would be okay to focus on the Breloom. Blake's Boldore didn't have the power that Ayer did. While Ayer didn't know any flying moves for super-effective damage, he still had his fire fang, and Elaina told him to use it.

Flames leapt up in Ayer's massive jaws and he opened wide, preparing to bite down on Tristan from behind.

"Mach punch!" Cynthia ordered. Tristan whirled around and hit Ayer in the face with a powerful punch, knocking him out of the air and sending him skidding across the ground.

Elaina winced in pain, feeling the sensation of the flesh on the left side of her body tearing open. What was with that speed?!

"Even if your speed is maxed, we can still beat that with mach punch!" Cynthia boasted. "Go, Tristan!"

"Bre!" Tristan nodded, shooting forward and bunching Ayer again, mounting him.

"Rogen! Knock Tristan off with a rock blast!" Blake ordered.

"Boldore!" Rogen held his claws up, a massive rock forming between them. He fired it at Tristan, but as far as he was the pokemon had more than enough time to react. And Cynthia already knew what she wanted to do.

"Let's even up the odds a bit!" Cynthia said. "In our favor, of course! Tristan, use your spore!"

"Breloom!" Tristan's mushroom cap flared, green spores swirling out and landing on Ayer, the pokemon quickly growing drowsy. Tristan got off him, turned, and shattered the approaching rock with a powerful punch.

"And now that it's two against one, this should be easy work, right, Caelia?" Cynthia grinned. "Tristan! Use seed bomb!"

"Breloom!" Tristan opened his mouth, firing a barrage of massive seeds that rained down on the rock pokemon from across the battlefield, barraging Rogen with a chain of explosions.

"Rogen, use iron defense!" Blake ordered. Rogen's hard body grew even harder, withstanding the explosions as best as he could, in spite of the super-effective damage.

"Cynthia's Breloom just came out, and he's already dominating!" Lila gasped.

"He put Elaina's Aerodactyl to sleep, and now he's barraging that Boldore from a distance," Darla agreed. "Her partner doesn't even have time to react at this point!"

"Think so?" Elaina asked. "Ayer!"

Ayer's eyes snapped open and he leapt from the ground, opening his mouth wide and biting down on Tristan's throat with his massive fangs, flames leaping up from them.

"I put him to sleep!" Cynthia gasped.

"We knew you were using Breloom," Blake reminded her. "So I had Elaina feed her pokemon chesto berries beforehand, so they could withstand your spores!"

Cynthia scowled.

"But that's something that only works once! Tristan, use counter!"

"Bre…" Tristan gasped out through the crushing strength on his throat. He turned, and slammed into the ground, knocking the wind out of Ayer as he landed on top of the pokemon, Ayer coughing out in pain and releasing the grass pokemon from the bite.

"Now, let's try that again!" Cynthia ordered. Tristan released his spores once more, this time putting Ayer to sleep for real.

"Ugh…" Elaina held her head, shaking. She could feel through Ayer's eyes the sensation of her pokemon falling asleep. It was all she could do to keep from losing herself to the sleep.

"Caelia, any time?" Cynthia called to her partner.

"Mera. Hurricane."

"Volcarona!" Mera flapped his wings, a tornado of flames whirling forward. Tristan dodged to the side, the raging tornado sweeping up the sleeping Aerodactyl and pelting him from all sides with wind and fire.

"Elaina, can you recall your Aerodactyl?" Blake asked, shaking her to keep her awake.

"Ugh… *yawn* n-no… no, I can't, I… trapped in the maelstrom… can't… can't bring him back…" Elaina was clearly struggling to stay conscious herself with her senses linked to her Aerodactyl. Blake frowned. He didn't want to do this, but at this point it was his best course of action. He just had to hope that it would work, that Tristan would be fragile enough. And the Volcarona… if it worked, they would be in a winning position. If not, well…

If not, Blake was probably about to do something insanely stupid. But Elaina clearly couldn't awaken Ayer on her own, and she couldn't call him back, either.

"Sorry, Elaina," he whispered. He glanced at Rogen. Sorry too, buddy.

"Seed bomb, Tristan," Cynthia ordered. Tristan spat large seeds up into the air to rain down on Rogen.

"Mera, bug buzz." A loud, vibrating hum shook the battlefield, much to the irritation of the announcers.

The bug buzz was annoying, but it wasn't the problem, the problem was the range moves.

"Rogen, stealth rock," Blake ordered. Rogen launched stones up into the air, the seeds bombarding them and blasting them into powder.

"Clever move, Blake! But those shields won't help you!" Cynthia boasted. "Tristan! If Rogen's going to hide like that, we'll just have to get in close! Use mach punch!"

Good, come closer, Cynthia, Blake silently hoped. But he had to make it look like that wasn't what we wanted. "Rogen, rock slide!"

Rogen slammed his claws into the ground and sent a wave of rocks at Tristan, but Tristan easily avoided them, closing the distance in a flash and hitting Rogen in the face with a powerful mach punch.

The hurricane died down and Ayer hit the ground hard, still fast asleep.

"I'll recall… Ayer…" Elaina murmured, reaching for his pokeball.

"Don't," Blake said, shaking his head.

"Huh? But…"

"Due to the tournament rules, Cynthia can only put one of our pokemon to sleep at a time. With Ayer asleep, she's got to take Rogen out the normal way."

"But Ayer…"

"How much strength can you give him?" Blake asked. Their voices were drowned out by the Volcarona's bug buzz, so he was pretty sure they weren't being heard.

"Not… not enough, my harmonia…" As if to prove her point, a splitting headache roared through her skull and she recoiled in pain.

"Then I'm sorry but he's going to faint," Blake apologized, taking another look at Rogen, who was strengthening his defenses as Tristan pummeled him with mach punches.

"Will we win?" Elaina whispered.

Blake didn't know for sure. But he said yes anyway.

"Rogen, use magnitude!" He shouted. Rogen waited for a lull in Tristan's attacks, digging into the ground and sending a tremor through the battlefield. It knocked Tristan off balance and even hurt the flying Volcarona, Cynthia laughing.

"Think that'll be enough?" She asked. "Even with your defenses, Tristan will break through you eventually! And with Mera softening you up from a distance, there's nothing you can do!"

"I think she might be right," Lila said quietly.

"Yeah, Rogen doesn't seem like he can fight back," Darla agreed. "It looks like this is just going to be a one-sided pummeling. A slow, defensive pokemon like that doesn't have a very good matchup with Breloom…"

"There is one thing we can do," Blake replied, nodding to Rogen. Rogen could see the look in his eyes. Blake didn't want to use this tactic, Rogen knew that. But if he wanted to win, he would have to. So he was fine with it.

"Elaina…" Blake said, weakly giving her a final apology as Rogen began to glow.

"Wha?!" Cynthia managed to gasp out before Rogen released the last of his strength in a powerful explosion that engulfed the entire battlefield in a massive boom.

"WHAAAA?!" Lila exclaimed, shielding her eyes from the flash of light.

"WHOA!" Darla shouted over the roar.

Elaina could feel the explosion's heat bombard her with immense destructive power. She held on as best she could, but… she couldn't. It was far, far too much. She could feel Ayer's energy slipping away as the energy engulfed him. When… when was the last time she had felt pain like this? Already low on energy, the force of the explosion nearly knocked her unconscious along with her Ayer. If the connection had remained for even a second longer, she surely would have passed out. She might not have woken up this time, either.

The explosion lasted almost a minute, trainers and spectators waiting for the dust to clear. When the light died down, the damage was revealed. Every pokemon on the battlefield was lying on the ground. Not a single one was moving.

"Ev… every pokemon…" Lila gasped, blinking to make sure she was seeing things right. There were still spots in front of her eyes.

"What an explosion," Darla said, shaking her head. She still felt a little numb with shock. "All the pokemon are unable to battle, so…"

"Cynthia who lost all three is out, right?" Lila looked to her partner for clarification.

"Yeah, everyone else just has one left," Darla swallowed, nodding her head tentatively as if she wasn't sure if that was the right call.

"N-no…" Cynthia stuttered, falling to her knees. Her mouth dropped open. Not… not like this. She… she had just sent out Tristan, and he… he!

"You-!" Cynthia scowled at Blake. She fumed, a mixture of annoyance and rage running through her. She took a moment to calm herself down. The point-blank explosion had been just what Blake had wanted. He'd lured her, she could see that now. She didn't have any right to chastise him for "dirty tricks". She sighed, regaining her composure, and rose to her feet.

"Sorry, Tristan…" she glumly said, recalling her pokemon first. "I wanted… I wanted you to have your moment, but… guess not. Still, you did a good job. I just wish we could've gone a little bit more."

She turned to Caelia, who recalled her Volcarona as well.

"I guess it's up to you," Cynthia sighed. She didn't envy Caelia's chances.

"Yes," Caelia nodded. "Win." I need to win, in order to have… my wish… granted…

"Elaina, are you okay?" Blake asked, kneeling down beside her. The damage from the explosion had knocked her over, as well.

"I am… fine…" Elaina rasped out, rising to her feet. Judging by the shakiness of her legs, that didn't seem to be the case. She recalled Ayer, panting. "One… last… pokemon… and then… victory…"

Elaina gathered as much harmonia as she had left, pouring it all into her final pokeball. I believe in you, Hope. With this, we will win…

Elaina sent out her last pokemon, her Minior.

"Elaina's chosen her Minior, and Blake…" Lila turned to look at Blake, who had just recalled Rogen. He switched to his last pokemon, sending out Cory, his ace in the hole against Caelia's fire types.

"Blake's chosen to go with Crawdaunt," Darla continued. "A rock type and a water type! And with Cynthia down and out, that makes this a two on one!"

"Kinda anticlimactic," Lila murmured. "I mean, she only has fire types, right? Even her Charizard I don't think can beat two pokemon with type advantages."

"I would agree, Lila, but if Caelia's sweating right now she sure doesn't look it," Darla said, glancing at Caelia. Indeed, the fire trainer didn't seem fazed in the least.

Caelia glanced down at the shiny black pokeball on her belt and unclipped it, holding it up. She stared at it in contemplation.

"He'll definitely pick up the slack on your team, I guarantee it!" Sylvia's voice rang in her ears. This final pokemon… she had registered it, because she had been told to, but… would it really win?

Yes, she decided. Yes it will.

"I'll win," she said, throwing the ball into the air. "Because I have to win."

In a flash of dark light, the final pokemon of the match was sent out.

The battle reaches the climax! Blake's trick managed to wipe out Cynthia, but now we're down to a two on one! What pokemon dwells within Caelia's final pokeball? And how will it hope to stand up against such powerful pokemon like Hope and Corey? The conclusion of the battle is upon us, let's see what Caelia has to offer!