The battle continues. Who will emerge the victor? Will Blake be able to get through to Elaina? And is Elaina even capable of being saved? Things are really heating up, and we'll have to see how it all shakes out in the end!

The Pokemon Academy Best Girl 2 Finals are up and running! Who do you think is deserving of the title of Best Girl in the second year of the contest? Cast your votes! We've only gotten a few votes so far, and I know that a lot of people are reading, so come on guys! The poll's in the profile, who do you think deserves to take the crown?

Finalists: Sylvia, Marion, Sango

Rowlets and Oshawotts: Claire vs. Sylvia is something I've been looking forward to for quite some time.

Guest: Probably not.

KedharS: Oh, are there similarities between this event and certain other series? I had no idea.

Thunder Fire: Who knows lol.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 716

If Blake was worried about having inadvertently boosted Elaina's pokemon with Cory's swords dance, he was doing an excellent job of hiding it. He looked calmly on as Doria finished boosting her attack stat, preparing to strike back.

Sylvia had to applaud him. Perhaps this was part of a large strategy that she couldn't figure out yet, in which case that was definitely something worthy of her awe. Or maybe his training with Dokukage had caused him to learn how to put up quite the mean poker face, and really he was shaking in his boots. Again, something worthy of her congratulations.

For now, though, she would content herself with seeing what Blake had planned next.

"This isn't good…" Kitty said, already beginning to get anxious. She knew how powerful harmonia was. She probably knew better than anyone else in the audience just how strong Elaina was at the moment, because she could sense her harmonia.

Right now, power was raging around Elaina like a tornado, it actually gave Kitty a headache just to see her. Worried and scared, she silently prayed that Blake would be able to overcome the immense foe in front of him.

"It isn't great," Cynthia agreed. "But I don't think it's the worst. Remember, Blake still has that trick room up, and Cory has a type advantage."

"Cory won't be as fast under the trick room as Uni is, though." It was a statement from a surprising source. Not Sylvia, the master of the trick room, but Serefina. When people gave her confusing looks, she shrugged her shoulders. "I've spent a lot of time looking after Blake's pokemon, I know what they're capable of. Right, Ayame?"

Ayame nodded her head silently, still not taking her eyes off the match. She knew that Blake was in one of the fights of his life, and she was going to be there for him.

"Doria! Blow the both of them away with your hurricane!" Elaina ordered. She had considered having Doria attempt a teeter dance again, but that had been an act of desperation to overpower the speed and strength of the Solosis. The Crawdaunt was a different sort of beast, one that would probably keep raging even through its confusion.

No, it was important to overcome it with power, that was the most sure way.

Doria agreed with her trainer and raised her fans, preparing to conjure up a tornado. But Blake wasn't about to let that one pass.

"Cory!" He shouted. "Night slash!"

"Crawdaunt!" Cory shot forward, raising his claw. He opened it wide, dark power surging through it. Swinging his claw down in a wicked slash, he struck Doria directly.

"Urgh!" Elaina clutched her chest, but refused to let herself fall. With a surge of her harmonia she forced Doria to remain strong, and had her release the massive hurricane, swallowing Cory whole and throwing him around the battlefield as it tore across the field. Cory was slammed against the floating stones, green light from the barriers flashing as he collided with them, casting the hurricane in an eerie glow as he endured.

Blake winced, raising his arms to shield himself from the hurricane. It swept him up and flung him back, but thankfully the other reason he had Uni set up trick room came into play. He bounced off the gelatinous surface and landed on his feet, panting.

Cory was not so fortunate. The hurricane flung him into the ground, the green barriers set up by Uni flashing. Thanks to their defensive buffs, Cory was able to quickly rise to his feet, gnashing his claws together in excitement.

"Yes!" Cynthia cheered. "Way to go! With Uni's light screen and reflect, not even a powerful hurricane can do that much to Cory! This is where Blake makes his counterattack!"

Elaina considered this briefly, already knowing her next move. Indeed, there was too much of a difference between Doria's speed and that of Blake's Crawdaunt; she would need to change tactics if she wanted a chance to come out on top.

"Cory, aqua jet!" Blake ordered. With the boost to Cory's speed combined with the speed of aqua jet's priority, Cory was able to shoot across the battlefield in a red flash, water raising up around him as he raised his claws.

Elaina knew Doria wouldn't be fast enough to dodge in this trick room, or even counterattack, so all she could do was direct her harmonia into a defensive boost. Cory smashed into her, striking Doria in the face with his claw and knocking her backwards.

The bird pokemon rolled across the ground and leapt to her feet, it was time for Elaina's next tactic, and it was going to be a good one. "Doria! Baton pass!"

She can use baton pass?! Dokukage was blown away. He shook his head in disbelief, letting his façade fall for a brief second in disbelief.

"No!" Blake gasped, seeing exactly what was happening. "Cory, get her with night slash, now!"

"Craw!" Cory raised his pincer and struck Doria with a surge of dark energy, causing Elaina to double over in pain. But she withstood, and recalled the glowing Oricorio, switching to her trump card for Crawdaunt.

"Mukuro! Come to me!" Elaina shouted, sending out her first pokemon, her Decidueye.

"Decidueye!" Mukuro appeared in a flurry of feathers, preparing to strike. Receiving the power he inherited from Doria, he felt his strength surge, even slow as he was.

"Naturally, Decidueye only has a base speed of 70," Ayame said, squinting her eyes. She was making full use of her natural gifts at seeing through a pokemon's condition. "Meanwhile, Cory is naturally at base speed 55. That means Cory will be faster under the trick room, but not by much."

Kitty could hear the tension in Ayame's voice, and it was making her feel rather tense herself. She glanced worriedly back at the battlefield, where Cory was preparing to strike.

"Night slash!" Blake ordered. He knew it was a risky endeavor, and that this was a situation where Cory was in quite a bit of danger, due to the boost to Mukuro's stats and the type disadvantage. But this wasn't a situation where he could afford to take things cautiously! He needed to keep pressing her, doing as much damage as he could.

Cory was in total agreement, always itching for a good fight. He raised his pincer and clashed it, charging at Mukuro and preparing another night slash. He swung his claw, but Elaina wasn't going to let it go through. She directed her harmonia and Mukuro leapt to the side, the night slash scraping against his wing.

"Mukuro, enough of this trick room," she growled. "Seal its movements with spirit shackle!"

"Decidueye!" Mukuro leapt back, increasing the gap between him and Cory, and raised his wing, forming a bow. He conjured a spectral arrow that he knocked, launching the shaft at the Water type pokemon before Cory could respond, digging into the pokemon's shadow and sealing him in place.

"Cory!" Blake cried. His Crawdaunt struggled desperately, trying to move, but it wasn't possible, Mukuro's arrow had completely frozen him in place by his shadow. And that meant he was incredibly vulnerable to Elaina and her Decidueye.

"Now, finish him," Elaina growled. She sent a burst of harmonia into Mukuro, increasing his power. Mukuro flapped his wings and flew towards Cory. He was moving slower than normal, but because his prey was standing still, there wasn't much that could be done.

Mukuro raised his wing, and his feathers began to glow green, sharpening into a powerful blade. He brought it down in a deadly slash upon Cory's back. He smashed through the reflective barrier, and struck.

"CRAW!" Cory howled in pain, Mukuro's leaf blade cutting deep into his carapace.

"Cory!" Blake shouted. "Iron defense!"

Cory increased his defenses considerably, his shell shining a bright silver. But it was too little, too late. Mukuro had already done his damage to the Crawdaunt.

"Oh no, Cory…" Sango said worriedly. She didn't need to be Marion to see when a fish pokemon was in really bad shape.

"Another strike ought to do it," Elaina assessed. She narrowed her eyes. But that won't be nearly enough. "Mukuro, back!"

Mukuro flapped his wings, pulling back from Cory, spreading his wings. Blake was surprised, not sure what she was about to do.

"It isn't enough to just defeat your pokemon," Elaina snarled. "I need to show you you're wrong! I'm going to smash you so badly that you won't ever stand up against me again! And to that, I'm going to give you pain! Mukuro, use leaf storm!"

"Elaina!" Blake cried. He hadn't expected that. It was one thing to strike down his pokemon, but now she was acting like she seriously wanted to hurt him, and the thought of that stung. But surely, not as much as these leaves were going to sting.

Mukuro flapped his wings, and conjured a massive tornado of razor-sharp leaves ready to sweep across the battlefield, a wave of destruction to finish Cory off.

You don't understand Elaina at all, Blake, not the way I do, Gerard thought, shaking his head and smirking as he watched Elaina's destructive rampage. She's scared and frightened, she isn't even thinking about you saving her. She's given in and accepted that you can't do anything to help her. Right now, all she wants is to put up her barriers and hide. If you try and trespass into her heart, she'll destroy you just like any other opponent.

"This will keep you from thinking that you can mess up my life!" Elaina shouted. "Mukuro, even more power! I'll give you everything I have!"

"Why is the acting like this?" Sango wondered in disbelief. "I know Elaina is violent, but this is the first time I've seen her seriously want to hurt someone… and Blake, of all people?"

Kitty could guess at the answer. She could see the harmonia swirling around Elaina, a violent tornado of negative emotion. And within it, she was sad and crying. That was what stung her the most. Kitty bit her lip. She could see that deep down inside, Elaina wanted to be saved. But if she wanted it, why was she fighting so hard against it?

When I was lost in harmonia… I wanted nothing more to be strong. I was afraid, afraid of my own weakness and insecurity, afraid that people wouldn't accept me if I wasn't strong and confident like Julia, Kitty remembered sadly. And it was Blake who first taught me that I was wrong, and let me see that I could be weak. But Elaina's heart… it's so much more twisted and dark than mine, I don't know how he can get through…

"Come on, Blake!" She found her lips shouting. "You can defeat her! I know you can save her!" She still didn't know the how.

But right now, she wanted to believe more than anything that Blake could get through to Elaina and heal the wounds on her heart.

"Your friends have a lot of faith in you," Elaina scoffed. "Too bad that faith will be misplaced. Mukuro, rip him apart!"

"Decidueye!" Mukuro sent the tornado flying, the blades cutting the air as they approached Cory, ready to slice him to ribbons.

"Cory, use protect!" Blake shouted. Cory raised his claws, and a blue barrier of light sprang up around him, protecting him from the approaching tornado. As the shadowy arrow pinned him to the ground, the leaves raged around him, protecting both himself and Blake from harm.

"No way!" Elaina gasped. "It can't be! What the hell?!"

"You won't get through our defenses that easily!" Blake shouted.

"How pathetic! I thought this was a fight," Elaina spat. "But look at you, hiding behind your shield like a coward!"

Blake narrowed his eyes. "Sorry, but isn't that you?"

Elaina gasped in disbelief. "Wh-What?" She asked, not sure what Blake was talking about

"Look at you. You hide yourself behind a mask, and whenever someone tries to get close to you, you lash out at them and push them away," Blake snarled. "And you have the audacity to call ME a coward? The only coward on this battlefield right now is you, Elaina!"

A coward, that's what he had called her. She couldn't believe it. "Shut up!" Elaina roared, a wave of wind bursting around her. "You don't know anything! You have no idea how much I've suffered! Who are you to call me a coward?!"

"You are a coward!" Blake shouted back. "You're right, I don't know what you've gone through. As much as I might know about harmonia, I've never experienced it myself. But what I do know is that you can't get help from others if you keep pushing them away."

"SHUT UP!" Elaina shouted. "Mukuro, use leaf storm again!"

Even though Mukuro's special attack had been reduced, he still prepared another.

Blake's scowl deepened. "Look at yourself, Elaina. Do you see what you're doing? You're just doing the same thing all over again! You're lashing out with violence because you're too afraid to confront the possibility that what I'm saying is true! Don't you remember how you used to be? You used to hate hurting people, remember?! You hated fighting because of what you did to your opponents, and don't you dare tell me you didn't!"

"Th-That's… I don't…" Elaina felt a stab of pain shoot through her heart. "But… But even if I did, it wouldn't matter! If I hurt people either way, then who cares what I feel?!"

"That's another wall!" Blake fired back. "You're telling yourself you don't care because you think it makes it easier on you! And you hide behind that mask, because you're too afraid of people seeing your face, and seeing you for what you are! Someone who hurts others! But behind that mask, it doesn't matter, does it? Because they aren't looking at you when they call you a monster, are they?"

Elaina felt her conviction waver, and the leaves that had been conjured fell helplessly to the ground as her harmonia weakened.

"But… even if that's true, I don't… I still… it isn't like it would make any difference anyway!" Elaina cried. "It's not like removing this mask would make any difference! It's not like anyone would help me anyway, even if I reached out to them!"

"I am," Blake said, suddenly calm. He held his hand out to her. "So come on. I want to help you, any way that I can. You can accept that, can't you? Can't you come back and just… accept that help? I don't know if I can save you, but I want to."

Elaina felt herself weakening. She really… she really didn't like having to hurt Blake like this. He was right, she hated it. She had tried to push him away, afraid that if she let him in, then he might hurt her and betray her. All the convictions that she had going into this fight had sputtered out, her harmonia dying down to barely a whisper.

"What… What would I have to do?" Elaina whispered.

Gerard's eyes widened in disbelief. Elaina… she couldn't be listening to him, could she?! "Elaina! What are you doing?! You can't trust his words! He's just trying to fool you again! Don't you remember what happened the last time you tried to put faith in him? He just betrayed you, do you really want to go through that pain again?!"

"SHUT UP!" Elaina shouted, turning her head towards Gerard, and for a second he thought he could feel her gaze pierce a hole in his chest. Stunned, he stumbled back in disbelief.

Elaina turned back to Blake. She wanted to be free, she so desperately wanted Blake to save her. She just didn't know how.

"Take off your mask."

The words turned her blood into ice.

"Elaina," Blake urged her, his voice calm and gentle, "you're still hiding behind that mask. Not letting anyone else get close to you, separating yourself off from the world so you don't have to face the consequences of what you're doing. But that can all change. I finally figured out how I can help you, Elaina. I can knock down those barriers and free you, so we can finally face each other as equals, don't you see?"

"N-No…" Elaina said, shaking her head in disbelief. "No, I can't."

That was what he wanted from her? No, that was impossible. She couldn't, she wouldn't! Taking off her mask, showing everyone her face…

"I won't take off my mask!" Elaina shouted. "Never, never again!"

The wind sprung to life, her harmonia igniting like never before. Blake was saying so many sweet words, talking about wanting to save her, but in the end all he wanted to do was hurt her even more! Without this mask… if everyone saw me for who I was…

"Elaina, you don't need to hide yourself away from the world!" Blake exclaimed.

Blake couldn't understand. He would never understand, and Elaina had been such a fool for thinking it was possible that he might.

He was just like the others.

His words had been kinder than most, and maybe it was true that he didn't mean to hurt her, not the way everyone else did.

But he wanted her to take her mask off. He wanted her to surrender the shield that kept her safe, that kept people from hurting her, and for what reason?

Because he wanted to save her? How was taking her mask anything close to salvation?!

"I won't remove it," she promised, every word from her mouth filled with venom. "Not so long as I'm forced to live with this accursed power! You talk about wanting to 'save' me, but if that's true, then change my fate! This accursed fate pressed upon me by harmonia, save me from it right this second if you want to talk so tough!"

Elaina was practically in tears. Kitty saw the pain oozing out of her harmonia, filling the sky with a storm of sorrow. She wanted to cry for the poor girl, because she could understand the situation she was dealing with.

"Elaina, I'm trying to save you, but if you keep hiding behind your walls then there's nothing I can do!" Blake cried. "So if that's the case…"

He didn't like that it had come to this, but he didn't see any choice. If I can't get through to you with words, Elaina, then the only way I can see reaching you is if I fight you with everything that I have. I'm going to break down those walls of yours by force if I have to!

"…That look in your eye, it seems you're finally ready to take things seriously?" Elaina asked, her head throbbing with pain. Her hair stood on end, lifted by the wind swirling around her. "Excellent."

"Yeah," Blake said, narrowing his eyes and nodding his head. "Yeah, I'm ready. Don't worry."

So, Blake tried to reach out to her but he couldn't get through. So it looks like the only thing left to do is fight.