Gwen's breakdown attack has begun. Will everyone be able to keep her from going completely mental? What will happen?
KedharS: Yes, he does. And yes, she does still like him.
Rosealine gold: The question is, what's the right thing to do in this situation?
Thunder Fire: Sango isn't the brightest girl.
JoshGamerV: Something real dumb, clearly.
Aquahaze675: That's what happens when you deal with crazies.
Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings
Chapter 451
"I want to see Blake, and Blake wants to see me!" Gwen smiled, clasping her hands together like she was praying and spinning around in place, her golden eyes sparkling with happiness. "But I can't leave, so you'll have to bring him to me!"
The air around her had changed. Sango nearly leapt backwards, her face filling with terror. But Gwen didn't seem to notice. For once, Sango was grateful that Gwen didn't understand context or social cues; she probably didn't think that there was anything weird with Sango putting some distance away from her, or that she looked so scared.
"Your name is Sango?" Gwen asked, looking at Sango, narrowing her eyes and furrowing her brow. "You seem familiar. You are a friend of Blake's. You will bring him to me! And then we'll go back to the Children of the Oracles together!"
Then she frowned.
"But Flora said not to get into fights," Gwen reminded herself. "Can't fight. Don't hurt anybody. Have to be a good girl. Don't know what a good girl is. What is a fight?"
"Okay!" Gwen closed her eyes, and a flash of light came from inside of her bag. Her Gallade, Lancelot, emerged, kneeling in front of her, blade raised.
"W-wait, but Gwen, didn't you just say that you weren't going to fight?" Sango asked. If she had heard what Gwen had just said properly, then… "Flora told you not to get into fights, right?"
"Not fighting, Lancelot is fighting for me!" Gwen's voice was bubbly. She beamed at her Gallade with a bright look on her face, her cheeks flushing. "My dear Lancelot…"
Gwen squirmed joyfully. "Lancelot, please take that girl! Then she'll call Blake and bring him over to me."
"Gallade," Lancelot said, nodding. He rose to his feet and charged towards Sango, who screamed. But before he could strike her, his position shifted and he turned, raising his arm to block a punch coming in from the side.
"Breloom!" Tristan had intervened, firing a mach punch at the pokemon before he could hurt Sango. Cynthia was done playing around, she wasn't about to let this girl hurt her friend, even if she was Blake's sister.
Gwen was surprised by this intrusion. She narrowed her eyes into a glare and turned it on the interfering pokemon and her trainer.
"Go away!" Gwen demanded, stomping her foot. "She's helping me get back my brother!"
"Helping, huh?" Cynthia scowled. "Is that what this is?"
"Helping!" Gwen insisted. "You leave us alone!"
"You're Gwen, right?" Cynthia asked. "That's your name? Gwen?"
"Yes."
"Gwen, you're Blake's sister? Blake Harker," Cynthia confirmed.
"Yes."
"Then I'm happy to meet you, even if it happens to be under such circumstances," Cynthia greeted her with a smile. "My name's Cynthia Fafnir."
"I don't care."
"How rude," Cynthia pouted. Her expression twisted into a smirk. She had an idea. It was a risky, crazy idea, but it was probably the only way she could keep Gwen from turning her rage on Sango. "Sango, get behind me. And take Aud to be safe."
Cynthia passed Aud over to Sango, Tristan stepping up to confront Lancelot again, raising his fists, head lowered. Gwen seemed slightly miffed, but she was looking past Cynthia and at Sango, not giving the redhead the time of day.
Maddi and Violet were on edge. Maddi fingered the pokeballs on her belt, while Violet had her hand hovering over her purse, both ready to back Cynthia up should the need arise. The air was thick with tension, and it was Cynthia who broke it.
"I'd like to introduce myself again, Gwen," Cynthia smiled, placing her hand over her chest. "My name is Cynthia Fafnir. It's a pleasure to meet you, Gwen Harker. I go to school with your brother, Blake Harker, and I am also currently dating your brother Blake Harker."
Sango stared at the back of Cynthia's head, her jaw dropped. Gwen was giving her a vacant stare, her eyes empty, hollow holes through which one could see the gears turning in her mind as the contemplated what Cynthia had just said.
"What?" Gwen asked.
"Cynthia, what are you doing?!" Sango hissed. "Are you mental?!"
"She's going nuts," Cynthia said, narrowing her eyes. "That girl… she's like Caelia. But Caelia could be reasoned with. This one… she was already crazy."
"Cynthia!" Sango hissed. "Don't call her-"
"I'm not gonna sugarcoat things because of her brother," Cynthia snapped. "Sane people don't go crazy and attack innocents with their pokemon just to see their brothers. Right now, she's not controllable. You mentioned that the last time you met in Galar, she attacked you because she saw you were friends with him. So I'm directing her anger at me. Seems to be working."
Gwen was not ignorant of her social issues. She knew that there were things that she didn't fully pick up from how people talked to her. She had dealt with it all her life. So to make sure that this wasn't another instance of that, she went over everything that the girl who called herself Cynthia had said.
"I am also currently dating your brother, Blake Harker."
Hearing those words, Cynthia was telling her that she, Cynthia Fafnir, was dating her brother, Blake Harker. That was what she had said. But that was impossible. It was a lie. It had to be a lie. Blake would not date people. Blake and Gwen. Gwen and Blake. That was what it was supposed to be. So for her to say she was dating him, that must be a lie. Gwen could not believe it was anything other than a lie, because Blake would not date someone. Blake was Gwen's entire world, and Gwen was Blake's entire world. He would not pollute their bond.
To insinuate otherwise filled Gwen with a familiar sense of frustration. She hated when people lied to her, words from others were already hard enough for her to understand, and when they lied it just made her more confused. Why was she lying?
"You're lying, stop lying," Gwen demanded, glaring at the liar in front of her.
"I'm not lying," Cynthia lied, shaking her head. "Gwen, I am dating your brother, Blake Harker. I want to state this clearly so that you will understand. I. Am. Dating. Your. Brother. Blake. Harker. Blake and I have slept in the same bed together. Blake and I have held each other close, talked all night long and confided in one another!"
Cynthia licked her lips. "Blake and I know each other in every possible way you can know another human being's body!"
Gwen didn't understand.
"Blake and I had sex," Cynthia clarified.
THAT did it. Cynthia could SEE the rage welling up in the blonde's face as her golden eyes widened, narrowing into a glare. Her hair stood up on end and the atmosphere around her seemed to throb, her dress whipping around her knees as if lifted by an unseen force, pebbles and twigs floating up into the air around her.
"LIAR! LIAR! YOU'RE DEAD!" Gwen roared. Cynthia felt a wave of psychic energy slam into her, knocking her backwards into Sango, the two girls landing in the dirt. Aud yipped out a whine, scurrying free and running back to hide behind Maddi and Violet.
"Can't be, can't be!" Gwen shouted, shaking her head. She clutched at her hair desperately. That girl was just a liar! A stupid stupid liar and she would shut her up! Get her to stop telling those confusing lies and tell the truth! Make her bring Blake here! Then Blake would tell her the truth, and call out that other girl for the liar she was! Then they could be together!
"Lancelot!" Gwen shouted, her orders surging into her partner through her harmonia, sending him all the power he needed.
"Gallade!" Lancelot shot forward like a bullet, raising his bladed arm to slash at Tristan, intent to cut him out of the way and then tear into his trainer.
"Tristan!" Cynthia cried, scrambling to her feet. "Counter!"
Lancelot slashed Tristan across the chest, the blade on his elbow shining with a bright rainbow light. Tristan withstood the blow and swung his tail, knocking Lancelot down into the dirt, panting. He held his chest, blood seeping out.
"Calm him down, Tristan," Cynthia ordered. "Spore!"
"Breloom!" Tristan lowered his head, the mushroom cap flaring and releasing a cloud of green spores that swirled towards Lancelot.
"Gal." Lancelot rose to his feet, his body shining with a shimmering barrier of light. The spores landed on his scarred flesh, to no effect, the safeguard keeping Lancelot from getting even the slightest bit drowsy from the spores. He charged at Tristan and raised his blade, slashing at the Breloom.
Tristan dodged out of the way and opened his mouth, firing a barrage of seeds at Lancelot. But not one of them hit. Before they could, Lancelot disappeared completely, reappearing behind Tristan, slicing into him with an aerial ace that was blindingly fast, knocking him into the ground. Tristan hit hard and cried out in pain, lying in the dirt, unmoving.
"Tristan!" Cynthia cried.
"Finish it," Gwen ordered, her eyes filled with hatred. Lancelot raised his arm and slashed down at Tristan, but a shadow ball hit him in the side before he was able to land the blow, pushing him away from Tristan.
Lancelot and Gwen both turned, stunned, to see an Eevee standing next to the black haired girl, his mouth wide open.
"Vee," Maddi said, nodding her head. "Shadow ball."
"Eevee!" Vee fired another shadow ball, Lancelot easily dodging the attack and turning on his new target, Sango pulling Cynthia out of the way, Cynthia still staring desperately at her Breloom. Before Lancelot could hit Vee, however, he was stopped again, this time by a leg wreathed in flames kicking at him, forcing him back.
Lancelot raised his arm to counter the blow, turning his attention onto the attacking Blaziken that Violet had sent out.
"Razor, use flamethrower," Violet ordered. Lowering his leg, her Blaziken tilted his head back and spit a stream of flames at Lancelot, who flashed bright and disappeared, reappearing beside Gwen.
"Tristan, return," Cynthia cried, calling her Breloom back. Maddi and her sister were both helping take care of Gwen, but they couldn't do it alone, and Tristan was in no position to keep fighting. She swallowed, and sent out her next pokemon.
"Kirlia!" Rose emerged from her pokeball, staring in surprise at the Gallade. She glanced back at Cynthia, who nodded her head.
"Rose, we're in a bit of a bind," Cynthia said. "Need your help dealing with that Gallade. He's a tough one, so watch out."
"Is that Rose?" Violet gasped, her face lighting up. "Cynthia, you never mentioned she evolved!"
"Now isn't the time," Cynthia spat. "Rose, use psybeam!"
"Kirlia!" Rose began glowing, her eyes turning a myriad of colors. She raised her hands and a beam of rainbow-colored light fired from them, shooting straight at Lancelot. If Lancelot dodged it would hit Gwen, so he didn't dodge, or even consider dodging. He raised his arm, psychic energy gathering into the blade, and then slashed. The psycho cut struck the psybeam, and carved right through it, sending psychic energy scattering everywhere as the projected blade hit Rose in the chest, knocking her backwards.
"Rose!" Cynthia cried.
"Cynthia, Gallade are psychic/fighting types," Maddi reminded her. "Against that one, psychic moves aren't going to cut it! Does Rose know any fairy moves?"
"Yeah, but they're weak," Cynthia said. Maddi scowled at that, and ordered Vee to fire another shadow ball. He wouldn't be able to hit the Gallade directly, but he could still pressure the pokemon to keep him on his toes. Meanwhile, Razor was the one doing the damage.
The Blaziken was exchanging kicks with the Gallade, who was countering with his arm-blades. Lancelot was definitely the stronger and more skilled of the two, the harmonia flowing through him allowing him to overpower Razor and knock him off-balance at multiple opportunity. Every time he had an avenue for attack, though, he found himself unable to take it, forced to dodge or deflect a shadow ball or psybeam rather than push the attack on the Blaziken.
Gwen was getting frustrated. She could feel Lancelot's rage and anger mixing with her own, his frustration at not being able to overcome his opponents causing him to grow even more enraged. He didn't have any room to breathe, and a big part of that was the strength of the Blaziken. He was a lot like Weiss, pressing Lancelot in ways that made it hard for him to counterattack. Against the pokemon itself, there wouldn't be much of a problem; the issue came when he had to deal with the long-range attacks, as well.
Before Razor could land a powerful blaze kick, Lancelot disappeared in a flash of light, teleporting to safety beside Gwen, raising his arm. He swung, firing a long-rang psycho cut right at Razor, who jumped to the side and lowered his head, dashing towards Lancelot while flames wrapped around his legs, leaping forward to kick at Lancelot.
"Blaziken!" Razor roared, swinging his leg and hitting Lancelot in the jaw, knocking him over. Lancelot flew backwards and crashed into the dirt, skidding back. He raised his head to glare at Razor, leaping forward.
"Gallade!" Lancelot growled, raising his arms and spinning, using swords dance to increase his attacking power even more, Gwen's harmonia surging as she powered her partner up even stronger. Lancelot lunged, swinging at Razor, sending a blade of psychic energy at the Blaziken. Razor dodged once again, but before he could counter-attack, Lancelot vanished, teleporting behind Razor and catching him in the back with an aerial ace.
Razor fell to his knees, growling in pain. Lancelot jumped to the side, avoiding the shadow ball launched by Vee, putting distance between himself and the Blaziken and raised his arm, swinging it down to fire a blade of psychic energy at Razor. The sequence of attacks had been so fast that the Blaziken was still reeling from the super-effective aerial ace, barely able to pick himself up and nowhere near in condition to dodge.
But he didn't need to. Rose appeared in front of Razor, teleporting there in a flash of light and taking the hit, letting out a wail of pain. Blood cut itself across her chest, and she stumbled back, collapsing in a heap. It wasn't a super-effective hit, it wasn't even that very effective, being a psychic-type move. But it was a critical hit, and it had hurt, boosted by harmonia and swords dance. Rose lay on the ground, unable to stand back up.
"Rose!" Cynthia cried, seeing the second of her pokemon take a serious blow from Lancelot. She moved to run to her pokemon's side, but Sango grabbed her by the arm to stop her from going any further, worried that her friend might run into the line of fire to save her pokemon, especially considering Gwen's current mental state and attitude towards Cynthia. Lancelot might just take the opportunity to take care of her.
But no, Lancelot wasn't moving to strike, not even to follow-up on the attack and finish of Razor. He was standing still, eyes on the bleeding Kirlia, a reflection of his previous stage of evolution. The trembling white pokemon… bleeding out in the dirt…
"Lancelot!" Gwen connected to Lancelot again, urging him to snap out of his state. She remembered full-well what he had experienced, she had felt it herself. She sent an impulse of harmonia into him, and he snapped out just in time to take a shadow ball to the face, making him grunt. After he wiped his eyes, which were stinging with pain, he recovered just enough to glance up and see Razor swinging his leg, hitting him right in the face and knocking him into the dirt.
Gwen felt a surge of pain in her jaw, like she had bitten her tongue, but her rage was too much to let that get the best of her. The pain only made her angrier. She urged Lancelot to keep going, to withstand the brutal attacks. Lancelot endured, and grabbed Razor by the leg, flinging him down into the dirt. He raised his arm, and slashed at him, drawing red. Razor jumped back and fired more flame at Lancelot, the two pokemon separating.
Before they could continue attacking each other, a pink mist spread across the battlefield, distracting them. Even Gwen felt her anger begin to get soothed.
"What the hell is going on here?" Flora demanded. She and Marion had finally returned, and for once, Flora wasn't smiling. Her Audino was beside her, glowing pink, sending a soothing impulse from her body to both heal the pokemon and calm down the tensions. "Gwen! What are you doing?"
"Shutting up the liar!" Gwen growled. She pointed at Cynthia. "That one! She said that she was dating my brother! And that one!" She moved her finger to Sango. "She said that she knows where my brother is! Lancelot is helping me convince them to tell the truth and bring Blake over to me!"
"Gwen! I told you not to get into fights or to hurt anybody!" Flora exclaimed, storming over to her. Marion was surprised, she had no idea that Flora could get that angry. She didn't know what to say, watching from the sidelines.
"I'm not fighting! I haven't hurt anyone!" Gwen exclaimed.
Flora took a few deep breaths and calmed back down, shaking her head.
"Gwen. Using your pokemon to hurt others is not okay."
"I didn't hurt anyone," Gwen insisted. Flora could feel the emotions rolling off of her, Gwen was right on the edge. Flora's presence had helped to calm her down somewhat, but anything might result in her snapping and going on another rampage.
"You!" Sango sputtered, recognizing the blonde and her Audino. She turned to Marion, her eyes wide with confusion. "And Marion! What's-"
"It's a long story," Marion interrupted, shaking her head. "I'll… I don't know if I can explain it. But we've reached an accord… of sorts."
"They're terrorists," Cynthia said, returning Rose to her pokeball. She was crying, glaring angrily at the two women. Gwen was fuming at Cynthia, clearly a step away from lashing out in anger and attacking them all.
"Gwen, it's time to go home," Flora insisted.
"No!" Gwen snarled, stomping her foot. She pointed at Cynthia and Sango. "Brother! Need my brother! Blake! I want Blake, now! They said that they know where he is, and I want him! I want my brother, give him to me now!"
Flora glanced up warily at Marion, and then at the other girls. Marion was clearly as put-off by this as the other girls. Flora sighed, shaking her head. She raised her hand, and placed it on the side of Gwen's neck.
Gwen's eyes widened, and she turned on Flora, lashing out at her. Flora grabbed her shoulder with her other arm, holding her down as she thrashed against her grip.
"Let me go! DON'T TOUCH ME! DON'T TOUCH ME!" Gwen screamed, thrashing, before passing out in Flora's arms. Flora shifted her weight, catching Gwen before she fell to the ground, holding her unconscious form.
Flora turned to the other girls as she cradled Gwen. Lancelot glared at the girls, and turned back to Flora, stepping up closer to her.
Flora gave Lancelot a pitiable look, before turning her attention to the others, mainly focusing on Marion.
"We'll go," Flora promised.
"Not a chance!" Violet objected, startling everyone. Then again, she was the only other adult there. "I don't know a whole lot of what's going on, but I do know that that girl attacked my sister and her friends."
"She didn't mean to, she's just… she's difficult!" Flora insisted.
"She's a terrorist, and so are you!" Cynthia snapped. "That's right, isn't it? You're the Flora who signed in for her? You're one of the Children of the Oracles too, aren't you? Well, this may be the first time I met one of you guys, but I can't say I like you one bit! So if you even think that we'll let you go, not a chance!"
Flora bit her lip, glancing at Marion for help. But Marion wasn't sure what to do in this situation.
"Cynthia, she's Blake's sister," Sango reminded the redhead. "What would he want?"
"That is so not what's important right now," Cynthia said, shaking her head. "What's important is that yes, sure, she's Blake's sister, but she's also a criminal! And I don't want to hurt Blake any more than you do, but that doesn't mean we can just let those two be on their merry way! Maddi! Call the pokemon rangers, now!"
"R-Right," Maddi said, reaching into her pocket and fishing her phone out of her pants.
Marion could see the desperation on Flora's face. This was getting out of hand, majorly out of hand, and she wasn't sure what the right thing to do was. So she did the only thing that crossed her mind at the moment.
"Madison, stop," Marion snapped, Maddi's phone slipping out of her fingers in surprise. Every turned to Marion, not expecting her to get so upset.
"Stop? What are you talking about?" Violet demanded, storming towards the fishing girl and grabbing Marion by the collar. "I'll call them myself if she won't! Hell, you showed up with her, how do I know you aren't working together?! Huh?! You two seemed pretty buddy-buddy!"
"That's not how it is!" Marion protested, shaking free of Violet's grasp. She glared at Violet, her eyes filled with pain. "Just… just let them go. Please. It's… they're not bad people."
"That girl attacked us!"
"I know!" Marion shouted, beginning to cry. "I know, just…! Please…"
She looked to Sango, Maddi, and Cynthia in turn, sniveling. Trying to find a single look of sympathy from the others.
"We won't bother you again," Flora offered. "We won't come back. Look. We don't want to fight, I promise."
To show her sincerity, Flora recalled her Audino.
"Please, just let us go."
Cynthia bit her lip. She didn't know what she was doing, to be honest. She'd never met the Children of the Oracles before, only heard about them from her friends. Maddi was in the same position. Only one person knew what was going on, and that was Sango. All eyes turned to her.
Sango swallowed. She looked at everyone, Violet's furious eyes, Cynthia's questioning eyes, and of course, Maddi's unreadable ones as well. Flora, filled with desperation, and Marion's hopeful, wet eyes, were the last she saw.
"We… we can't," she said, shaking her head. "They're dangerous."
"Sango…" Marion sniffled. Flora hung her head in defeat.
"Then I guess the battle's resuming," Violet said, taking a step towards Flora and Gwen, Razor preparing to attack.
Flora tensed, reaching towards her purse to call out a pokemon for battle, but she clearly didn't want to fight. But she wasn't about to get captured.
"Stop." To everyone's stunned surprise, Marion walked forward. For a second, Sango thought that she was talking to Flora, trying to talk her into surrendering. But no. Marion turned in their direction, staring silently at the girls. She stood on Flora's side, Sango's jaw dropping, stunned at the betrayal.
Marion has changed sides? Has Flora finally managed to win her over? What will come from this? The final chapter of this arc coming soon!