Now, the conclusion of the finals that you've all been waiting for! Will the team of Elaina and Blake be able to defeat the Phantom's ploy with his Chandelure? Or will they be defeated by the Shadow Pokemon instead? It all comes to an end here! Remember to review!

KedharS: Did you think that I wouldn't? I included the Ranger games.

Rosealine gold: Shadow Pokemon are pretty important.

Pokemonking0924: Valon does have a reason for being how he is. Whether or not it's a satisfying reason, well…

Just a Bad Writer for Fun: Masterfully put. All the pieces were there, and yet no one put them together. Truly some of my finest work imo, right up there with Guinevere's identity and Marion being a daeva.

Aquahaze675: I think I've given more than enough clues about the identity of Vic's parents.

Tambry96bj: Darla doesn't have harmonia so it won't affect her that way.

Thunder Fire: I do not recall ever stating once that Valon was 16. Or even a teenager. Or, if we're being honest here, even human.

JoshGamerV: It definitely strains belief.

MikySP: Made it through 404 chapters and you're just now starting to like it? Oof.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 399

"This is really tense…" Lila was the one who put words to the feelings of the audience. Elaina's collapse seemed to have signaled a pause in the battle, even if she was still conscious. Caelia did nothing, and the Chandelure she sent out floated obediently in front of her. Similarly, Blake gave no orders to Cory, too preoccupied with Elaina. And Elaina, of course, was in no condition to be giving orders of any sort, so overwhelmed by the disgusting miasma leaking off that pokemon. She had never seen a pokemon in such a wretched state, even pokemon at their worst still had some measure of brightness inside, an animalistic purity that was innate.

But in the heart of the pokemon before her, Elaina could see only blackness.

It was Caelia who broke the stalemate first. She did not know what moves this Chandelure possessed. Thus, she had no idea what orders to give it. So there was only one thing she could command.

"Fight."

Chandelure moved into battle immediately, the flames on its body leaping up and burning with intensity.

"It-it seems Caelia's Chandelure is preparing to attack!" Darla gasped.

"Chandelure!" Flames the color of darkness erupted from the ghost pokemon's body, curving into a ball of fire that shot straight at Cory.

"Cory!" Blake shouted, snapping his head up. Cory was likewise caught off-guard by the fast attack, the flames hitting him directly. But if the pokemon had been expecting to withstand them like normal flames, he was in for quite a surprise.

"CRAAAAW!" Cory wailed, thrashing around and snapping his claws wildly.

"The flames are hurting Blake's Crawdaunt, even though it's a water type," Lila gasped. "How is that possible, Darla?"

"Maybe… maybe it's a ghost move, not a fire one?" Darla guessed. "No, that wouldn't make sense, because Crawdaunt is also a dark type, and yet to still be taking that much damage…"

"Cory!" Blake shouted again.

Elaina watched Blake's Crawdaunt flail helplessly against the flames. It made her sick to her stomach. And yet… how could such a pokemon…

No, wait… I… I can help… too… She swallowed her urge to throw up and rose her head to stare at the disgusting pokemon, another wave of nausea washing over her. But she pushed that one away as well. Floating in front of her was her hope.

"Ancientpower!" Elaina shouted. Stones shining with light floated around her floating Minior, and flew forward, at the fire pokemon in front of them.

"Are you sure this battle will prove what you want it to prove?" Sylvia asked Valon. "That girl doesn't know what moves that Chandelure is capable of using. Can she really put up a good fight without knowing what that… what did you call it? 'Shadow Pokemon'? What that Shadow Pokemon is capable of?"

Valon smirked.

"It doesn't matter," he replied. "That Chandelure is following my orders. Caelia has served her purpose. All she was needed for was to send out that pokemon under the guise of an official match. That Chandelure… will fight to its fullest without needing orders to follow. So that girl can just stand there like a motionless doll."

He glanced back at the screen.

"Those moves, the shadow moves, they are far better than I could have hoped. Super-effective against any pokemon, regardless of type, the perfect weapon for defeating my foes. Even a water pokemon will be smothered by flames if they are shadow flames."

"…So in the end, you don't really need her at all, do you?" Sylvia asked. "You were never planning on helping her with her condition, even if she did win."

"Oh, I'll keep my word and fix her body," Valon assured her. "Not that it is necessarily possible, even with the current abilities of technology. But I'll give it the best try I can. As long as, of course, she remains a useful tool for my plans."

Sylvia smiled at him. Of course. You are that sort of person, after all.

"Whoa, normally Chandelure are fragile, but this one just shrugged off an ancientpower like it was nothing," Lila commented.

"And from Elaina Bishop, no less. How strong could it be?" Darla wondered.

Elaina was scowling behind her mask. Due to that horrid miasma, her harmonia was fluctuating. It was all she could do to keep breathing, let alone use it as a weapon. She felt like the shadows were curling off of the pokemon before her, reaching out and smothering her.

Is this… because I… still can't control it? Elaina coughed, her lungs feeling like they were ablaze.

"Elaina!" Blake cried out. Elaina flinched, and her breathing became clearer. She shook her head, rising to her feet. Blake had helped her out of her fugue. Just hearing his voice was making it easier to withstand the sickening presence of that pokemon. She forced her scattered harmonia into as clear of an image as she could, and directed it into Hope.

Let's see you deal with this one!

Hope spun through the air, tearing chunks of rock out of the ground as they flew high above the stadium, raining stone edge attacks down on the Chandelure.

Caelia opened her mouth to order, but before she could say anything the Chandelure was already dodging, avoiding the stones with surprising speed and precision as shadows leapt around his body. Caelia shut her mouth. She wasn't sure what she was supposed to be doing.

"Caelia, where did you get that pokemon?" Cynthia asked, skipping over to her partner. She was curious why it had been able to hurt Cory so much with a fire attack.

"…A gift," Caelia replied.

"Although those stone edge attacks clearly have a lot of power behind them, it seems that Chandelure is capable of evading them easily," Lila said.

"But at that distance, it's not like the Chandelure can launch a decent attack, either. Plus, there's the Crawdaunt to consider," Darla reminded her.

Indeed, Cory had recovered from the flames, and was already charging at the Chandelure, water washing around him.

Chandelure turned to the oncoming pokemon, and a wave of shadow erupted from his body, buffeting Cory's attack. A cloud of dark blackish-violet smoke began swirling through the night sky, making the battlefield almost completely inscrutable.

"What is this miasma?" Blake coughed, the shadowy smoke filling his lungs. He hadn't missed that familiar burning sensation.

"Ugh, this attack… *hack* a weather move?!" Darla coughed.

"Our singing voices!" Lila wailed, coughing roughly.

"Aargh!" Elaina clutched her chest and fell back to her knees, feeling the agony of shadowy smoke washing over Hope, causing them severe damage. She could feel the fragments of stone covering her pokemon begin to rot away in the scathing winds.

"This is worse than a sandstorm," Cynthia groaned. "Caelia, what kind of attack is this?"

"Don't know," Caelia replied. She couldn't feel the pain of the attack, it didn't affect her at all. But both the opposing pokemon were suffering, and that was good enough.

"Cory!" Blake coughed out. "Use swords dance!"

"Craw," Cory nodded, wincing as the burning sky hurt him. He raised his claws and clashed them against each other, gnashing them open and closed to raise his attack power.

"Whatever this attack is, it seems to be hurting the pokemon far worse… than it's hurting us," Darla reported. She turned and glanced at the stands. No one was writhing in pain or making moves to flee, so that was something, at least. Whatever this bizarre weather was, it wasn't getting as far as the audience.

There was one spectator who was having problems with it though.

"Silver? What's wrong?!" Sango demanded, shaking her Castform. When the sky was filled with that dark aura, her Castform had fallen into her lap, and now had taken on a severe fever.

"It must be the effects of that fog," Olivia reasoned. "Castform react to the weather, after all. Whatever's going on right now… I'm willing to be that it isn't what a normal Chandelure would be capable of."

Olivia raised her hand to her chin. And that's as much as I'll burden those kids with for now. I don't know what's up with that pokemon, but those reactions from Kitty and Elaina… it's clear that harmonia is involved somehow. And that pokemon… I don't know where that fire girl got it, but I'm willing to bet she didn't just decide to bring it out of her back pocket. Someone must have given it to her, and I can only think of one person. I'd say it's pretty damn clear that Caelia Auburn is a tool of the Phantom… which means this is probably a plan of his…

Darla continued coughing, but suddenly the air around her became a lot more tolerable.

"Wha… huh?"

Darla glanced up to see a sweet-smelling mist had covered the announcer's box, overpowering the smothering atmosphere.

"Sorry, but I can't let my precious Darla get caught like that," a cheery voice piped up from beside her. Darla turned to look incredulously at Lila and her Aromatisse. Lila gave her a wink.

"Lila… you…"

"Can you imagine the scandal? 'Idol announcers caught hacking their guts out? Ugly photos of their true selves contained within'? Dakota Evans is just waiting for a slip-up like that!" Lila's smile widened. "As idols, we must preserve our image of pristine decorum, isn't that right, my beloved Darla?"

Darla laughed, the pain in her throat clearing away. She reached up and brushed the tears from her eyes.

"So, that's how it was… I see… you were always way more focused on image than me, Lila."

"Still, how dare they bring us into this mess?" Lila huffed. "I have half a mind to disqualify that girl on the spot for attacking us!"

"But that would go against our duties, Lila," Darla reminded her.

Lila smirked, an uncharacteristic act of haughtiness from the usually sweet girl. "True, we must report on this match impartially. With that being said…"

Lila glanced up at the sky, where Elaina's Minior had been practically smothered in the choking black fog.

"…It seems like this smoke, whatever it is, is rising," Lila said.

"Which means that things are going really bad for that Minior up there," Darla noted.

"Elaina, are you doing okay?"

"I'm just fine," Elaina said, though Blake could hear her coughs of pain from behind her mask. "Compared to the pain I've gone though in my childhood, this is no more painful than a summer breeze-" Her boasting was interrupted by a flurry of coughs. She nearly lost her balance.

"Elaina!" Blake cried.

"That pokemon… is suffering…" Elaina coughed out. "I will… conserve… my strength. Hope… right now… is far stronger than me. I should collapse long before they will, I would think…"

"It's okay, Cory and I'll take her on," Blake said.

"No… it won't be enough," Elaina said, shaking her head. "I doubt… your Crawdaunt has the strength needed to land a finishing blow."

Elaina tried to stay standing, but lowered herself down to the ground in a crouch. The black fog wasn't as thick on the ground, and it was easier for her to focus her powers, as well as her breathing.

"There's gotta be something we can do," Blake replied.

"Hope right now… is conserving their power, focusing on defense. I think… I can prepare an attack that may be able to wipe that Chandelure out in a single blow," Elaina said. "But it will take some time. Both to gather my powers… my harmonia… and also to use the attack itself."

"So what I'm hearing is that you want Cory to be used as bait," Blake replied.

Elaina smiled ruefully behind her mask.

"Bait is a cold word."

"But it's an accurate one, isn't it?"

"…I would not call it an unfair assessment," Elaina replied.

Blake sighed in response, waving his hand to blow some of the black fog away.

"That's rather cold of you."

"Haven't you heard our spectators? I am, of course, a monster and a witch. Such cruel tricks are merely suiting for one such as myself, don't you think?" She glanced up at him. "Unless you don't think that Crawdaunt of yours is capable of going the distance with that pokemon?"

Blake turned his eyes to Cory, who was dodging the Chandelure's black flames with the speed of his aqua jet. But as fast as he could move, the choking fog was still wearing him down.

"Cory will be fine. You can count on him," Blake assured her.

"I'm glad," Elaina said, nodding.

"And on your end?" Blake asked, glancing at her.

"Hmm?" Elaina tilted her head to the side, confused. "What are you talking about?"

"Cory can handle that Chandelure and its flames," Blake said. "For a little, anyway. But can I count on you to take that thing out in one hit?"

Elaina smirked, though Blake didn't see it. Her eyes flashed and she focused more of her harmonia into Hope, amplifying their attacking power as much as possible. This was a move still in the testing phase, something Gerard had personally showed her. It wasn't something that she should have been holding as a trump card, but she was still holding it nonetheless.

"Who do you think I am?" She asked, her voice filled with laughter and sorrow in equal measure. "I'm Elaina Bishop. After all our battles up until this point, are you still doubting my capacity for relentless destruction?"

"Just wanted to make sure," Blake said. "You keep preparing your attack. Cory and I will chip away at that Chandelure as much as possible."

"Try to keep him penned in one place, as well," Elaina suggested. "It will make it easier for the attack to hit."

"So now I'm counting on you for power AND accuracy?" Blake coughed. "That's a lot of faith I'm putting in you, you know."

"…Indeed," Elaina admitted. "I would think that such a reason for supporting me… would be unlikely to occur. And yet it seems like, in this instance, I can trust you. As it stands, our goals of achieving victory are *cough* united in this… after all…"

"You can trust me in other ways, you know," Blake said.

A pang went through Elaina's heart at his words, and she winced. Maybe… but she still couldn't bring herself to do it.

"That discussion… we shall save it for another time," she replied, trying to keep the uneasiness out of her voice. "For now… we have to win, right?"

Blake called out to Cory, "Cory, that's enough dodging! Let's go on the offensive!"

"Craw!" Cory planted his left legs and turned, charging straight at the Chandelure as the flames hit the ground beside him. The water raging around him roared even more intensely as he picked up speed, and he slammed into the Chandelure, knocking it backwards.

"Whoa, boosted with swords dance that aqua jet did some major damage!" Lila cheered.

"Yes, but it doesn't look like it was enough to do a serious blow to that Chandelure, it still doesn't look that injured," Darla reminded her.

"Cory, use crabhammer!" Blake shouted.

"Craaaaw!" Cory shouted, scuttling after the Chandelure. He raised his pincer, water swirling around it in a torrent.

"Chandelure," the ghost pokemon rasped. It released a blast of black flames from its mouth, engulfing Cory as he swung at it.

"Those shadowy flames again!" Lila gasped.

"That was another direct hit!" Darla shouted.

"Crawdaunt!" Cory could feel the flames burning him badly. It was the first time that flames had ever hurt this much. But he pushed through them, drilling his claw straight into the center of the pokemon's round body, slamming it into the ground. The Chandelure's flames sputtered as it took the full brunt of Cory's strongest attack, but looking through the curtain of darkness it didn't seem that damaged. At the same time, Cory was taking severe damage from the dark flames.

"How are you doing, Elaina?" Blake asked.

"Just a little longer," Elaina assured him. "Just a little bit more and we'll be at full strength."

Blake nodded. That was good to hear. Hopefully, Cory could hold on for just a little longer.

"This was… fun," Elaina said. Her voice was so quiet, Blake first thought it was just more whirring from the shadows. But no, it was real.

"…Fun?"

"I've never… had a teammate before," Elaina said. "Someone who I could fight beside. I can't imagine these past few weeks I was… a very good teammate in any sense of the word. Until the very end, I must have been quite a nuisance."

Blake didn't say anything to her.

"Still, for this last time… trusting someone else and fighting with them… I suppose I got to feel a sense of happiness in battling with my pokemo that I haven't felt in so very long."

"This doesn't have to be the last time, you know," Blake said.

"I felt you would say that," Elaina said. "Still accepting me, even now."

Yes, perhaps you really would accept me for who I am, for all my faults… perhaps I really can trust you… Elaina smiled behind her mask, but it wasn't a smile filled with joy. It was a sad smile of resignation. Blake… you are simply… far too kind… time and time again, you reach out to me and defend me, no matter how I try to push you away. And if I did get closer to you… live in your world, with your friends… I'm certain, in time, that I would break them. Even break you. And would you forgive me then? Laugh it off with that kind smile of yours? At this point, I'm not so sure I could say no. Because you are simply that kind of a fool… and that may be what drew me to you, without even realizing it. Why I couldn't really push you away, not even in my heart. Why I even fell in love with you… because you were a kind-hearted fool like that…

…

…And it's for that very reason… that I will end things with my own hand. Tonight, nothing more than a fairy tale. And this battle… to be able to fight by your side, it was… nice. Troubling as it was. But it won't go on like this.

The warmth flowing down her cheeks were tears, but Elaina felt that she was crying blood. Summoning her strength, she rose to her feet and shouted to Hope, "now, meteor beam!"

"Minior!" Hope cried. From within the cloud of darkness above the battlefield a piercing light began to shine through. That energy was released in a downward fall, the power of space compressed into a single point and dropping down upon the battlefield. The blast was so powerful it tore the sky open, dispersing the shadows as it burned through them. The massive attack caught both Cory and the Chandelure in its glow, the battlefield bursting open in the explosive release of power.

"Whoa!" Lila cried.

"What a move!" Darla gasped.

"That was… everything I had…" Elaina panted. Her head felt all blurry and she felt woozy, like she was going to collapse. "Was… was it…"

The dust cleared, and revealed that both Cory and the Chandelure were knocked unconscious. Hope floated down from the sky, exhausted but otherwise able to keep fighting.

"A-ahem," Lila cleared her throat, still a little shaky. "It looks like all the pokemon but Elaina's Minior have been taken out."

Darla added, "and since Cynthia is already out of the battle and Caelia just lost her last pokemon…"

"The team of Elaina Bishop and Blake Harker have won the match! They have obtained the title of Best Tag Team Pair of the first years! Let's give them a round of applause!" Both girls announced, clapping for the two trainers.

They were among the only ones. Certainly, Blake's friends were applauding and cheering, but other than that, the crowd remained silent.

Elaina slumped over, feeling Blake's arm catch her.

Of course… they would not cheer my victory… she thought, feeling her consciousness slipping away from her. But unlike when she fought against Akira, this sensation… was almost pleasant.

The finals are over! Elaina and Blake didn't just defeat Caelia and Cynthia, they also defeated the Shadow Pokemon! What will this mean going forward? What other plots are in store? We'll have to find out!