After that climactic exchange, there's certainly going to be a serious aftermath. Who won? We'll have to find out! But rest assured, this battle will have some serious repercussions, I promise. Remember to review!

KedharS: I'd like to think that at the end of the day we're all winners.

Just a Bad Writer for Fun: Happy birthday, hope this chapter lives up to your expectations! Some interesting events occur, as you'll see.

Aquahaze675: Yes, a decent amount of Gwen was inspired by Caitlin, but a lot has been altered since her character was conceived of way back at the beginning of this story. And yes, all other things being equal (move strength, stat power, physical qualities of the move), typing would be the deciding factor.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 581

It took some time for everyone's sight to come back after the blinding finish that was Corin's steel beam colliding with Diana's body press. Lila squinted and rubbed her eyes, noticing first-off the rubble of the battlefield. It had been decimated by the explosive burst of power, hunks of rubble and gemstones littering not only the cracked and ruined battlefield itself, but most of the ground surrounding it. In the center was a massive crater that broke through the floor of the battlefield, revealing the mechanisms underneath, which were sparking and crackling with electricity; the system was completely wrecked.

But what drew everyone's attention was the massive diamond in the center of the crater, shattered into several hunks of glittering crystal, and in their center, standing atop the tallest fragment was Corin, body covered in wounds, holding above her head the unmoving body of Diana, even more devastated, the small pokemon so beaten she was barely breathing.

Corin panted, tilted back her head, and howled in victory, "LUCARIOOOOOOO!"

Lila gasped, grabbing her microphone.

"Uh-um! Diancie is unable to battle!" She announced. "Lucario is the winner! Alden Volt has won the semi-final match, and will advance to the finals to fight against Richard Valon!"

"WOO-HOOOO!" Dakota cheered, taking pictures of the triumphant Lucario as fast as her finger could squeeze the button. The Commander's Lucario had now taken out two Mythical Pokemon! And not only that, but he was going to be fighting against the Phantom in the finals! That meant two of the four Daevas would be facing off against each other in the last round! She couldn't get a better story than this if she made it up herself!

"That Lucario is really quite the beast," Akira mused.

Gerard had nothing to say. Once again, his entire world had come crashing down around him. Diana's pokeball slipped from his fingers and rolled across the rocks, forgotten. He fell to his knees in shock.

He had lost. He had spent all that time. All that work. Tried as hard as he could, and in the end, it still wasn't enough. He hadn't even made it to the finals.

"How?!" He screamed, scraping at the ruined field as his vision blurred. "How could I lose?! Diana is the strongest-! We planned out everything perfectly to defeat you! This shouldn't have happened! It can't be that someone as great as me could lose to someone like you! Someone like you who doesn't have anything to fight for! While I-! I!"

Gerard continued to curse, beating his hands bloody against the ground in frustration. The Commander said nothing, walking around the battlefield silently. Corin watched him out of the corner of her eye, still holding the injured Diancie. She reached up and tore her stone collar off, walking to Gerard and setting Diana down in front of him. Gerard didn't even notice.

Alden placed his hand on Corin's shoulder and she turned back to him, giving him a triumphant, but weak, smile.

"That was an amazing battle, Corin, but get some rest now," Alden said, recalling her to her pokeball. Corin nodded as she disappeared, giving one final look of respect to the pokemon who had given her such a great fight.

Alden knelt down in front of Gerard and picked up Diana's discarded pokeball, recalling the pokemon. He then addressed Gerard directly.

"You fought well. It was a battle that pushed both of us to our limits. You don't need to be so hard on yourself just because you lost," he said solemnly. "I could feel it. That Sense of yours, it was that of someone truly strong. But even so-"

"What do you know?!" Gerard exploded, shooting his head up and ripping Diana's pokeball from Alden's hand. "You don't know a damn thing about me, or what I'm fighting for! So how could I lose to someone like you, who only fights for your filthy enjoyment?! You can't possibly begin to understand the thoughts of someone who has something to fight for!"

"You lost because my Sense was stronger than yours," Alden coldly replied. "That's all. Heighten your Sense and grow as a trainer, then when you're ready come face me again."

He stood up and his expression softened into a beaming smile.

"Hopefully, our next battle will be just as amazing as this one was!"

And with that, the Commander turned and left the battlefield, the stadium beginning to clear out. But two particular individuals were watching him intently, even now. They sat in the stands, one of them young and thin and the other rather heavyset and aging. The thin one had a contemplative look on his face as he studied the Commander.

"So what do you think?" The heavy one asked with a laugh, slapping his partner on the back. "Didn't I tell you? He's an amazing trainer, that one!"

"You were right," the thin one mused, stroking his chin. His lips pulled into a thin smile. "It was worth coming here after all."

"I knew it!" The heavy one continued to laugh. "Alden's just that kind of guy, you have to see him for yourself to know if he's worth the bet!"

"Indeed, very intriguing," the thin one nodded in agreement. "Yes, I think I shall face him in a match to test his capabilities for myself, if I'm going to serve as his partner."

He rose from his seat and turned towards the aisle, surprising his fellow.

"Going so fast? You know that he needs to give his pokemon time to rest, right?" He called after his departing partner.

"I know," the thin one called over his shoulder. "But I can still spare him a greeting, can't I? There's no need to be discourteous about these things."

"…We're meeting up with him and his associates in half an hour, though," the heavy one said. His thin partner flinched.

"…Yes, but I need to use the restroom," he mumbled, his face turning a little pink. He had been trying to make an excuse. He picked up his pace, the laughter of his associate ringing in his ears.

Meanwhile, Blake and his friends were all entering the hall of the stadium themselves, bursting with energy. Blake in particular felt like a weight had been lifted off of his shoulders, seeing Gerard defeated like that. He knew that there would have been no chance he could have fought Gerard and won himself, so it was a relief to see him be dealt with by someone else.

Cynthia, of course, was all smiles.

"That was the most amazing match in the world!" Cynthia exclaimed. "It was like something out of an anime! The way Corin just blasted away that Diancie with that steel beam?! Blockbusters are made out of stuff like that!"

"It was certainly impressive," Reiner agreed. "Gerard is the First Leader… he's an incredibly strong trainer, so to be able to beat him, the Commander really is strong."

"See, I told you guys," Cynthia boasted. "And I'm the one working with him!"

Kitty let out a loud yawn that caught everyone's attention.

"I'm tired," she stretched. "That was… *yawn* a really intense match… do you guys mind if I turn in for the night?"

"No, not a problem," Cynthia grinned. "I think we're all gonna be splitting up pretty soon anyway. I gotta go say hey to the Commander and congratulate him on his victory, and meanwhile Sango and Ian have to cross third bas-"

Sango punched Cynthia in the nose. Not hard, but hard enough to make her point.

"…Right, sorry," Cynthia said, rubbing the tender spot sheepishly.

"I'll walk you home," Julia said. Kitty smiled and blushed a little, the two girls breaking off from the group.

"I should probably turn in too," Callie sighed. "After Gerard loses he goes on this sort of… downward spiral and stops doing his work, meaning there's going to be more work for all of us members of the Eight Leaders…"

Callie was maybe the only one here not happy about the Commander's victory.

"Do… do you want me to walk you home?" Nick offered.

"Ooooh, what a little gentleman~" Cynthia teased, poking him in the side.

"Trying to catch some of the waves of Julia's chad energy huh?" Reiner smirked, Nick turning red at his friends' teasing.

"…You never offer to walk me home," Nikita snidely noted, Reiner flinching.

"Err… that's…"

Nick laughed and that was that, Callie skipping off after giving him a loving sock in the arm, since they were in public. Not that she didn't want to kiss him on the cheek, of course!

"So anyway, like, Diancie was strong and all, right?" Cynthia said, her eyes brimming with excitement as the praises of the Commander resumed. Cynthia herself was walking backwards so she could really get a good look of everyone as she praised him. "But Corin, damn, she was just! She was amazing! Yeah, the Commander is definitely the top trainer of the school, of all the Four Holy Swords, he's the absolute best!"

"Hey!" Ayame snarled, narrowing her eyes. Blake sighed. He had a feeling that in the coming months, things were going to get testy. Ayame and Cynthia's relationship was already not in the best of places considering Cynthia's unrequited feelings for him. Ayame's unyielding loyalty to the Empress only made that worse, because it would no-doubt lead to clashes with Cynthia's loyalty to the Commander before long.

Blake really wished they could all just get along.

"This is why I threw in my money behind Marion," Ian said, speaking up for the first time. "She doesn't care about stuff like that, she just likes fishing."

"Exactly," Sango nodded in agreement. "Marion is really the best of the Daevas for this school if you ask me."

Cynthia turned to the two of them and smirked. "Aw, look, the happy couple is in perfect-whoa, hey! What the heck?!"

Not looking where she was going, Cynthia tripped and fell backwards into someone else who had just rounded the corner, the two of them falling down in a pile in middle of the hallway.

"Ow! Hey, watch where you're going!" Cynthia growled, hopping to her feet.

"Like you're one to talk," Reiner snapped. "Weren't you the one walking backwards?"

"…Oh, yeah, sorry about that," Cynthia said sheepishly, turning to the person she had run into. When she saw their face her attitude did an immediate change and she licked her lips unconsciously. "Well, hello there…"

The boy she ran into was about Blake's height, thin and lanky, and surprisingly he wasn't wearing the academy's uniform. Instead, he wore a white shirt and bell-bottom trousers that matched his curly lilac hair, which brought to Blake thoughts of Ryoko for a moment. But what was surprising was that he was very pretty. A feminine, handsome type, he smiled up at Cynthia with the charm of a host, his violet eyes gleaming. Cynthia giggled and reflexively brushed aside her bangs, her cheeks blushing.

"I thought you were mainly into muscle guys?" Reiner noted.

"I can be into whoever I want!" Cynthia hissed at him, her face bright red. She regained her composure and turned back to the cute boy, offering him her hand. But he declined with a polite smile and stood up on his own, brushing off his clothes.

"Sorry for running into you like that," the boy said, his voice having the chime of a bell. "I wasn't looking where I was going and these halls are so confusing."

"No, no, please, it was ALL my fault," Cynthia said. "I never should have been walking backwards. I hope I didn't… hurt you or anything…"

There were parts of his body that Cynthia was very grateful she didn't hurt, and his cute face was one of them. Reiner was right, when it came to boys (and girls) their body was the key thing she looked for, but even if this guy was as slender as a girl, she couldn't help but be drawn to it. She sucked some drool back into her throat as she pictured dressing the cute trap up in all sorts of outfits.

"Um… are you sure you're okay?" The boy asked. "You have kind of a glassy look in your eyes, maybe you have a concussion or something?"

"Don't worry about it," Sango interjected before Cynthia could respond. "Any brain damage she has is a preexisting condition. Let's go, lover girl."

Sango grabbed Cynthia by the wrist and dragged her off, Cynthia thrashing against her.

"Come on, he didn't even tell me his name!" She wailed.

"How are you going to explain to Maddi that the reason you skipped out on the Commander's victory celebration and ditched her was because you were perving over some stranger?" Sango asked. "You two are finally in a good place and I refuse to play Mommy Mediator between you again."

Sango… made a very good point. Cynthia sighed and admitted defeat.

"…The Commander?" The boy blinked, watching the two of them go.

"It's a long story," Blake laughed, following after them, the others following suit. "She works with him, you know, stuff like that. See you around, um…"

"Don't worry," the boy laughed, waving goodbye. "I'm not a student here. Just a visitor. Don't worry about it."

Blake probably should have been concerned, but there were other things on his mind. Besides, he was wearing a visitor's pass, so it was fine, right?

One would think that entering the finals would merit a much larger party than the one the night before, but they would be wrong. Instead, the Commander had called everyone together in their base, while his pokemon were being healed. To Vic (and Maddi's) relief, there would be no party tonight. They were going to be discussing the next steps, instead.

"So there's no party? Lame," Cynthia groaned, slumping down so her chin was resting on the table. "And here I could have been scoring with a femboi…"

Maddi didn't know what that term meant, nor did she want to. Whenever Cynthia used words she didn't recognize they were always the worst kind.

"This is important," the Commander explained. "As you guys know, I'll be facing off with the Phantom tomorrow evening, hence why my pokemon are getting a nice rest. They really exhausted themselves today. Normally, I would want to party myself, to take our minds off the whole thing, but we have business to discuss."

"Yes, sir!" Vic, yeswoman that she was, said with a salute. Cynthia rolled her eyes.

"So what's this business and why's it gotta keep us up?" Tommy grumbled. If he wasn't going to be getting a party he'd prefer to be getting some sleep.

"One of the key investors of the Battle Frontier contacted me this evening, right after the match ended," Alden reported. "He saw my battle and he has some things he'd like to discuss going forward. Remember, this guy's a very important person for our goals, so treat him with respect, okay?"

Alden turned to the door.

"You can come in now!" He called.

The door opened, and in stepped a rather interesting fellow. He was short and plump, which somewhat gave him the appearance of a Snorlax, and the sunglasses he wore made the comparison even more apparent, as his eyes were hidden. He had a big smile on his face and curly brown hair that was starting to bald, giving off the look of an aging businessman. But it was a look he was fighting not just with his sunglasses, but with his Alolan styled blue shirt and his white shorts and slippers, looking more like a tourist on vacation than anybody handling a business deal.

"Hehe! Hey there Alden!" He said, greeting the Commander with a wave. "Or I suppose I should call you 'the Commander' huh?"

Vic bit her lip and didn't say anything. She wanted to shout "yes, of course you should!" but that would be rude and the Commander had said to treat him respectfully.

"Hey, Scott," Alden said, reaching out and shaking the older man's hand. He turned to the others. "Hey, everybody. This is Scott. He's the one who's funding most of the costs for the construction of the Battle Frontier."

"Hehe, well, what can I say?" Scott laughed, slapping his stomach. "We're two of a kind, two people who share the same dream, Alden and I! See, I've always been a fan of fighting, even if I don't have any pokemon myself. So I've traveled the world, watching battles, so I could see the most intense matches there were. And Alden? He's the one who caught my eye."

Scott clapped Alden on the shoulder. "When I first saw this guy fight, I thought 'yeah, this is it!' He was a trainer who got my Sense going more than anybody else! And when I heard his plans, to create a theme park, a frontier for trainers to battle on, it sang right to my soul! The toughest trainers around, gathered together for the sheer love of battling! I gave him my full support! Funding, contacts, construction, zoning, anything he'd need to make our dream a reality!"

"We can't thank you enough for all you've done," Alden agreed, smiling back at him.

"So why have you come here?" Vic asked as politely as she could. She would have preferred this silent partner remain silent. The Battle Frontier was Alden's masterpiece, after all.

"Well, see, now that's the thing," Scott laughed. "You know how I told Alden I was funding him? Well, I'm also going a step beyond. I think I've found the perfect place to set up shop!"

"Oh?" Alden asked, raising his eyebrow.

"What do you guys know about the Orre Region?" Scott asked. Vic let out a stunned gasp in spite of herself.

Scott didn't give anyone time to answer. "See, one of the biggest problems with designing the Battle Frontier is factoring in potential interference with pokemon wildlife. The Aether Foundation has stymied our attempts to break ground in other places, but the Orre Region had miles of unused wilderness up for sale, and best of all, there are very few wild pokemon that are native to the region. So we could begin construction without having to worry about harming any natural habitats. Sounds great, right? Is the perfect spot!"

"But from what I hear, Team Cipher has returned to the Orre Region," Alden said, frowning. "I don't want to build the Battle Frontier there if it's going to be involved in something like that."

"Team Cipher?" Scott tilted his head to the side and scratched his chin. "I didn't hear anything about that… well, anyway, keep it in mind! I've got more scouting to do, but I don't think we'll find a better place."

Vic felt a little hopeful. If the Battle Frontier was created in the Orre Region, then that meant she would be able to visit her family whenever she wanted! And not only that, she could bring the Commander home to introduce him to them as well! Heck, they might as well move in together in a nice little cottage in Agate Village, commute to work together…

Lost in her fantasies of future wedded bliss, Vic ignored the rest of what Scott was saying.

"But this all could have been sorted out with a phone call," Scott continued. "No, the reason I came here was something much more exciting. And no, it wasn't just to watch the matches, though I've been enjoying those immensely."

"Oh?" Alden asked, a conspiratorial grin crossing his face. He sat down in his chair crossed his legs, staring up at Scott. If Scott had something exciting to share, battles were certainly involved. "Something exciting? What is it?"

Scott grinned. "So like I said, I've been traveling the world in my retirement, searching for powerful trainers and keeping a watch out, so I can recommend the Battle Frontier to them when you guys finally get it open, yeah?" Scott said.

"And?" Alden asked.

"And I found a doozy of one. A trainer so talented that they're the best I met since I scouted you all those years ago. A real master."

Alden was definitely intrigued. He leaned forward in his seat. Everyone else was interested, too.

"Oh, really?" Alden mused.

"When I mentioned the Battle Frontier to them, they told me they wanted to know more, that they wanted to meet you for themselves. So I thought it would do to arrange a little meet-up, so you can feel each other out." His eyes were twinkling behind his sunglasses. "And then, after this whole deal with the Phantom is resolved, you two can have a battle of your own."

THAT got Alden excited.

"So where are they? A trainer like that, if you're right, I'd love to meet them!"

Scott grinned. He called over his shoulder, "it's going well, Anabel! He said he's up for it! You can come in!"

"Coming!" A bell-like voice called, a slender figure walking into the room. Cynthia's eyes widened and she nearly jumped out of her seat in surprise. It was the lilac-haired boy from earlier!

It… it was a boy, right? Were there boys named Anabel? There had to be, right?

"Hello there," the boy(?) said, greeting everyone with a wave. Their violet eyes flashed and Vic gasped in realization, sensing an all-too-familiar energy coming off of them. "I'm Anabel. And you're the Commander, Alden? Nice to meet you," they said, holding out their hand to Alden with a mysterious smile on their pretty face.

A challenger appears! What will our mysterious visitor mean for the future of the Battle Frontier? We'll have to find out!