The battle has reached the climax! …But you're not getting it now. Before the battle reaches its conclusion, we have to learn a little bit more about Gerard and Diana's history. Sorry, but it should set the stage admirably for the conclusion, so that we see exactly where he's coming from and why winning is so important to him!

KedharS: Yeah, it certainly should.

Aquahaze675: Well luckily for you, we're getting more of Gerard's backstory right now!

Rus0804: Oh, your pity for Gerard will only get larger.

JoshGamerV: I'm hoping it will be an exciting conclusion either way.

Just a Bad Writer for Fun: We'll have to find out just who wins. Take care of yourself and rest up.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 578

Gerard had been home for a while, but nothing had changed. Of course, knowing that no one really cared whether he was there or not was how he knew that he was home.

It was his tenth birthday, and his mom wasn't even celebrating it. Not that he minded. Apparently, there was some planning she needed to be doing for Elly's career. Whenever she was involved, everything about Gerard was an annoyance to her.

But he was grateful that Elly herself was there to celebrate with him. She had blown off her mother's plans for the day, and was helping him do something that he had been waiting to do for so damn long he could barely keep himself contained.

His older sister, the expert pokemon trainer, was going to bring him to the Glittering Cave and help him catch his very first pokemon!

Gerard had been to the Glittering Cave multiple times, but only the tourist section. Part of the cave had been sectioned off and the wild pokemon had been relocated so that guests could come and tour the sights, for a nominal fee, of course. But deeper into the cave, where the pokemon lived? That was where the real adventure was. He had always wanted to see what was inside, but of course, he hadn't been allowed. It was too dangerous, after all, sections of the cave were unstable and might even collapse if the wild pokemon got too wild.

It wasn't that his parents cared about keeping him from getting hurt, but a serious injury in the cave would have an adverse effect on tourism so anyone that wasn't a pokemon trainer wasn't allowed inside.

"So, little brother, do you have any ideas about what pokemon you want?" Elly asked with a grin.

"Something amazing," Gerard said, his eyes shining eagerly. He needed to catch the strongest pokemon he could. With a strong pokemon, he could show off just how good of a trainer he was! And maybe then he could finally catch his mother's eye. He wasn't sure what pokemon he wanted to catch. Something strong like an Aggron, or maybe a terrifying Salamence. Those would be great first pokemon! A pokemon like Garchomp would be nice and savage, too. Something that would really show just how amazing of a trainer he was!

Gerard held his pokeball up and examined it. It was basically the only thing he wasn't happy about with this arrangement. The ball was a sparkling bright pink that was glistening in the light of the Glittering Cave.

"Sis… do I really have to…" He looked up at his sister. Pink wasn't exactly his favorite color, this ball looked all sparkly and girly.

"Sorry, sorry," Elly chuckled apologetically, patting him on the head. "But those are the only pokeballs I have. You know how mom is, she's always gotta make everything so… dramatic. So of course she makes me use those pokeballs."

Genevieve Alkwest had custom-made pokeballs designed for her daughter on her tenth birthday. They shined as brightly as the gemstones the Alkwest family had built their fortune off of, yet another advertisement to turn Elly into the family's billboard. She was the star of the Alkwests, after all. The one that everyone was looking at.

Maybe if he used it, caught something amazing with it… Maybe then his mother would finally acknowledge all his hard work and see that he was just as great as his sister. He would work his fingers to the bone if that was what it would take to become a great trainer!

"Come on, Gerard!" Elly called, walking ahead of him into the deeper parts of the cave. The glittering gems cast shadows in a myriad of directions, making them dance over her in an alluring pattern as she beckoned for her brother to follow. Gerard swallowed. He was always chasing after her, but not anymore.

Gerard ran past Elly, much to her surprise.

"Gerard!" She shouted, chasing after him. "Hold up, it's dangerous!"

Gerard wasn't interested in listening, though. He loved his sister, but if he just followed in her footsteps, he was afraid that his mother would never see him trapped in his sister's shadow. Glittering Cave was bright, and the shining stones lining the walls seemed to be calling to him.

A flash of pink caught his eye and he paused. He thought he could see something, a beckoning light barely in the corner. He removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes, glancing in that direction. But the lights were everywhere. It wasn't called "Glittering Cave" for no reason. It must have been a trick of the eyes.

A giggle rang in his ear and he whirled around.

"Elly?" He called. "Is that you?"

"Gerard! Wait up!" Elly shouted. She was coming closer to him. He turned again, following her voice, when suddenly the ground under his feet gave in. He let out a cry and slid down a dirty, rocky hill, shielding his head and rolling. Thankfully, the ground was softer than he would have expected, so he didn't get hurt.

"GERARD!" Elly's scream rang in his ears as he came to a sudden stop, though thankfully not hard enough to break anything.

"Elly…" Gerard gasped out, blinking his eyes. He couldn't see anything, wherever he was, it was bright pink and blurry, and he realized he had lost his glasses in the fall. Because of that, he couldn't see the beautiful cavern he had landed in. It was bright, the walls of the room covered in bright pink diamonds that were shining so much that it was blinding.

In the center of the room was a massive diamond that dwarfed all the others, a bright pink stone as clear as the ocean, with a single shadowy figure trapped in the center. A small pokemon, covering in glittering diamonds herself, eyes closed and resting peacefully within the crystal prison, a beauty even greater than any gem in the entire cave.

"Elly! I'm down here!" Gerard called, fumbling for his glasses on the bright pink floor. "I can't see anything! It's just… it's pink!"

Gerard crawled along the floor, scrambling around blindly, when his hand landed on the massive pink diamond.

The diamond began to shine as his fingers brushed against it, growing brighter and brighter, so bright he had to shut his eyes because it was blinding. Then, with a burst of energy, the diamond burst into pieces, the small pokemon taking a deep breath and opening her red-pink eyes with a flushed sigh, fluttering her eyelashes as she looked around, bathing in the light of her sealed chamber.

"Diancie…" she breathed, floating down to the boy beneath her.

"Huh? Who is that?" Gerard asked, rubbing his eyes in confusion as he looked around. The pokemon circled him, keeping at just the edge of his sight as she studied him curiously.

"Diancie?" Diancie asked, tilting her head to the side.

"Hello? Elly? Is that you?" Gerard called.

"Gerard!" Elly's voice echoed from somewhere up above him. "I'm up here! Are you okay?! What's going on? It's so bright!"

"Yeah!" Gerard shouted back, turning in the direction of her voice. "I'm fine! I-I think! I can't really see though, it's so bright down here!"

"Di?" Diancie chirped, looking around. It was indeed pretty bright.

"Um…" Gerard turned in the direction of the voice, and he could barely make out a blurry figure slipping away from the edge of his vision. "And I don't think I'm alone…"

"Hold on!" Elly called down. She had forgotten her pokeballs and was probably cursing herself. "I'll go get help!"

"No!" Gerard shouted sharply, stunning her. "Don't get help!"

"What?! Are you nuts?!" Elly cried. "What are you going to do, climb up?! You're smarter than that! It's dangerous here! The floor JUST collapsed, you don't know if there could be another cave-in! We need to get you out of there as fast as possible!"

Gerard knew, of course, that Elly was right. He needed to get out of here as soon as possible. But if she went and got help… then that would be just another case of Elly needing to step in and show off that Gerard couldn't do anything on his own. Gerard couldn't keep living in her shadow. He'd been doing it for ten years now. If he could never do anything to stand out on his own, then no one would ever see him as anything more than a waste of space. No matter how hard he tried.

Gerard opened his mouth to call out again, but he could already hear the echo of Elly's footsteps headed away. He let out a defeated sigh and hung his head. Not only had he failed to catch a pokemon, but he would have to bear the humiliation that he wasn't even capable of walking through a cave by himself without her stepping in to save him.

Gerard was so focused on cursing his horrible luck that the thought that he wasn't alone in this sparkling cavern had completely slipped his mind for the moment. It wasn't until he heard a soft coo and felt a light tough on his shoulder that he remembered, turning to look behind him.

The figure he saw was a little too bright to make out clearly, and his eyes weren't very good to begin with. He squinted, trying to make out the radiant form, but all he could make out was a dark shape held out to him. He reached for it, his fingers brushing against a familiar thin, metallic object that he felt every morning when he woke up. His glasses!

Gerard took the glasses that the strange thing offered him, and slipped them onto his face, looking up and getting a good look at his savior for the first time.

"Diancie!" The pokemon bubbled, giving him a bright smile.

She was the most beautiful pokemon that Gerard had ever seen.

Her skin was the deep black of obsidian, shining with a bright sheen that showed how healthy she was. Something resembling a white silk dress was wrapped over her body, the hem of the dress wrapped around a bright chunk of stone that seemed to glisten in the light. But the most gorgeous part wasn't her soft, delicate features or her sparkling red-pink eyes that looked at him with bright admiration, but the beautiful pink diamonds covering her body. A crown of diamonds rested on her head, with a flawless round cut diamond in the center of her forehead, two large diamonds handing down behind her head like twintails. But an even more flawless one rested upon her chest, held by a golden necklace wrapped around her throat. She shined beautifully, and Gerard gasped at the sight of her, unable to find any words to say.

"Diancie!" She repeated, floating closer to him. She circled around him, giggling.

"H-Hello," Gerard said, suddenly feeling very shy at the sight of this beautiful pokemon. He could feel energy radiating off of her, but he was too inexperienced to know that it was the power of a Mythical Pokemon. As far as he could tell, she was just a gorgeous pokemon.

"Hello there," Gerard said, a little more strongly. "You're Diancie?"

"Diancie!" Diancie nodded.

"I'm Gerard," Gerard said, holding out his hand to her. She tilted her head to the side, confused. Gerard blinked, and dropped his hand. "Um, look, Diancie, I'm kind of lost here… I need to get out. Can you help me, please?"

He looked hopefully at her.

Diancie stared at him for a second, blinking. Then, her face lit up as bright as the diamonds radiating off of her. "Diancie!" She nodded, smiling. She raised her hands up, and a large diamond rose up off of the ground beneath Gerard's feet, lifting him up into the air.

"What the heck?!" Gerard asked, stunned. He held onto the jewel as it flew up through the tunnel towards the surface, Diancie floating with him as she laughed, and he stepped off onto solid ground, surprised.

"I-I…" He fumbled for words, staring gratefully at the gorgeous pokemon. "Thank you, Diancie!"

"Diancie!" Diancie smiled. She kept looking around. It had been so long since she had been on the surface, there were so many new things to see!

While she scanned the floor of the cave as Gerard sat back, catching his breath, still stunned by the events that had happened, her eyes landed on something interesting. It was the sparkling pink pokeball that Gerard had brought with him, lost in the confusion of his fall. She picked it up and turned back to Gerard, handing it over to him.

"Thank you," Gerard said, sighing in relief as he stood up and took the pokeball from her. "I thought I had lost it, thank you so much!"

"Diancie!" Diancie chirped. She floated closer to him and nuzzled her cheek against his, surprising him. It wasn't a gesture he was used to.

"Uh, hey, what?" Gerard asked, backing away from her, his cheeks flushed. "What are you doing?"

"Diancie?" Diancie tilted her head to the side, confused. She floated up to him again, reaching out her hand, mimicking the gesture he had done earlier.

Gerard looked at her tiny black hand and took it, shaking it lightly. Diancie brightened up and smiled, the light from her diamond shining even brighter.

Gerard's eyes widened, and he felt something he had so seldom felt.

Warmth.

Seeing Diancie's smile and the bright light radiating off of her, it warmed his heart and lifted his spirits, he felt the love bursting from her. It was something so hard for him to understand, he didn't realize what this feeling was at first.

Tears began to well up in his eyes. He tried to approach her for a hug but he stumbled back, startled, and fell onto his ass.

"Damn it," he cursed, taking off his glasses and rubbing his eyes. He couldn't even show his gratitude properly. Maybe his mom was right. Maybe he really was a failure.

"Diancie…" Diancie floated over to him and laid a hand on his cheek, and he turned up to look at her, eyes wide. She didn't care. She just smiled.

The light in her eyes, it was like his sister. Looking at him with care and affection, without needing him to do anything. Without wanting anything from him.

Gerard broke out crying and hugged Diancie tightly, the warm light coming off her soothing the pain from the scars that his family's neglect had left on his heart.

"Diancie…" Diancie wasn't sure what to do at first, but she knew that Gerard's hug felt good. She hugged him back and sighed, smiling.

After a bit of hugging, the two parted, Gerard staring up at the shining pokemon in admiration.

"Diancie… can… can I ask you something?" He begged, holding the sparkling pokeball tightly in his hand. This wasn't how catching a pokemon was supposed to go, he knew that much. And this wasn't the scary, intimidating powerhouse of a pokemon that he had wanted to catch.

But this was the pokemon he wanted to be with, he knew that much. So this was who he wanted for his first pokemon.

"Diancie?" Diancie asked, staring patiently at him and waiting for him to ask his question. She gave him a bright smile, her eyes beaming at him. The look of patient expectation on her face made him feel a little bit better about what he was going to ask.

"I wanted to ask you… would you like to come with me?" He asked, holding up the pokeball to her. "I… I want to spend more time with you, Diancie. I… I'm not a good pokemon trainer yet, but I'm going to be the best one in the world, I promise. And I can't imagine any pokemon other than you being right at my side when I do it. So… could you come with me?"

"Diancie!" Diancie nodded with a bright smile. Gerard had no way of knowing this, but from the moment he had set his hand on the diamond, no, maybe from when he first set foot in the Glittering Cave, she had felt him. She had known that he was the one, the one she had been waiting patiently for as she slumbered in that cavern, and when he had freed her, she could now show him all the warmth and gratitude she had.

As her smile widened, she sent waves of light out to soothe him, and nodded again. She wanted to come with him, she wanted nothing more.

Seeing that, Gerard's face lit up brighter than any gem in the cave, even brighter than Diancie herself. She had said yes! He couldn't believe his fortune!

Gerard raised the pokeball and held it out to her, and she lowered her head obediently, giving him an encouraging nod.

Gerard pressed the pokeball against the large diamond crown, and the ball popped open with a bright pink, sparkling light, engulfing Diancie and welcoming her into her new home. The ball continued to glow, and then the light died down as Diancie.

Gerard stared at the pokeball, unable to believe it. She had said yes. She had agreed. She was his pokemon now.

Gerard wasted no time in letting her out of her pokeball, Diancie emerging in a flash of pink light with a big bright smile on her face, beaming down at him.

"Diancie!" Diancie chirped, floating close to him and rubbing her head into Gerard's chest. Gerard laughed and hugged her, smiling.

"Gerard?!" Gerard turned to see Elly standing at the entrance to the tunnel, her face flushed with worry and she was short of breath, some members of the house security staff standing behind her. "Gerard, what… what's happening?"

She rushed over to him, and he stood up, running to her side, Diancie floating beside him. Elly glanced at the beautiful pokemon and blushed in spite of herself.

"And… who, what… is this a pokemon?"

"Diancie!" Diancie beamed up at Elly, nodding.

"This is Diancie," Gerard said, gesturing to his new best friend. "She's… she's my new pokemon." He held her pokeball tightly and blushed, glancing down bashfully at the gem-encrusted floor of the cave. "My first…"

Elly smiled, and hugged him. "Congratulations, little brother, she's beautiful."

"She saved me," Gerard said. "She brought me up out of that cavern."

"Well, we need to get out of here," Elly said, looking around at the cave. "You know, before the cave collapses again."

She smiled at her brother, then at Diancie.

"You can tell me all about her on the way home, sound good?"

Gerard looked at Diancie and smiled, taking her tiny hand in his. She smiled encouragingly at him, and he could feel the warmth coming out of her small grip.

"Yeah. That sounds amazing," he agreed.

Aww! Gerard and Diancie are so cute! …For now, anyway. Wonder how it all goes bad…