Elaina vs. Blake! Blake keeps battling Elaina on two fronts, trying to knock her down in battle while trying to get through to her with his words! Will it work? Does he have what it takes to get through to her? Or will he find himself the victim of her overwhelming urge to destroy?

Rowlets and Oshawotts: Hopefully that's something I'll be able to write.

Guest: Let's hope so.

Aakareo Kokokuhikari: Seeing your opinions on old chapters is great.

KedharS: The only other person was her mother.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 722

Blake softened. He could see that Elaina was having a rough time accepting the possibility of what he was saying. And he couldn't blame her, either. If his theory was right, then he was confronting her with hidden truths that she had tried so hard to repress, not wanting to face the reality of the situation. It wasn't something that he would be all that receptive of in her place, but that didn't mean he wasn't supposed to try.

"I know it must be hard to accept," he quietly told her when the winds died down a little and he saw that she was approaching some degree of sanity. "But that's the truth, Elaina. You have to accept that it's possible, at least. You see, I…"

"I don't want to hear it!" Elaina snapped. "I already said, I don't want to hear a single word coming out of your mouth!"

Blake was getting irritated now. "Well, that's too damn bad!" He snapped back, startling her. "I'm sorry, Elaina, but you can't keep being selfish and hazardous like this, do you understand?"

"Selfish?! Hazardous?!" Elaina gasped indignantly. "How dare you? I know that I've hurt people, but like I've been saying, it's not my fault!"

"Then why won't you take help when I'm offering it?" Blake demanded. He had more to shout at her, more frustrations to unleash, but he held his tongue. Right now, there were more important things to deal with. "Elaina… look. I know it's hard to accept. But… I was there too, once."

Elaina blinked, her harmonia breaking for a second in surprise. She didn't know how to respond to Blake's admission that he had been guilty of the same thing he was accusing her of. "Wh-What? What are you talking about?"

"I also… know what it's like to shut everyone out because of my fear," Blake said quietly. "I was afraid of getting close to other people. Not because I was afraid of them hurting me, but because I couldn't trust myself around them. I was afraid that I would get close, and that would get them caught up in my problems, so I kept them at a distance."

Blake turned to the crowd, and smiled. "But things changed. I got past my worries and reached out to people that I could trust, and started to make friends. People like Sango and Cynthia, they dragged me out of my shell. And most of all…"

Ayame felt his eyes land on her, and she swelled up with pride a little bit standing taller. Blake smiled at that. "I was afraid to accept that there was someone I loved," Blake continued, turning back to Elaina. "I held her away without even knowing it, because I couldn't accept my feelings for her, I couldn't try to find that happiness I wanted before I helped my sister. But they all taught me I was wrong for doing that. See, I wasn't hiding from my feelings because I didn't want to be with her. Deep down, I was just afraid. And I realized that I didn't need to be afraid of being happy. And neither do you."

"Who do you think you are?!" Elaina demanded, tears welling up in her eyes. Don't tell me that! Don't tell me that I don't need to be afraid of being happy!

"I'm someone who knows that you're not happy like this!" Blake countered. "Someone who wants to make you happy, because I can't stand to see you sad like this! So come on already, just try and take that step forward! If you're afraid that people are still going to treat you awfully without your mask, then don't pay them any mind! Just focus on me, and I'll try my best to help you, okay?"

Elaina's heart ached. She wanted to listen to his words, she wanted him to be right. But he couldn't be right, she wouldn't accept that. She shook her head. "No! No more of this stupid conversation! Send out your next pokemon, Blake! And I'll tear that one down, too!"

"Fine then!" Blake said. He kept trying to reach her with words, and while he was having some effect, he wasn't getting through to her. But that was fine right now. Because every time he spoke, it seemed to push her a little further over the edge, draw her a little bit more into the battle, and put in more of her strength.

It made him feel awful, manipulating her like this and goading her into fighting. It made him feel like he was no better than Gerard. But he quickly banished those thoughts with a shake of his head. He was nothing like Gerard. He cared about Elaina and wanted to help her, and that's why he was saying the things that she needed to hear, so he could reach her.

It was entirely different from Gerard, who just wanted her to fight so he could use her as a tool.

"Elaina…" Blake held his pokeball in his hand, and turned it over, a feeling of nostalgia blossoming through his chest. He turned to the other girl. "Do you want to know why I'm going to win, and you're not?"

"I don't want to hear it!" Elaina snapped. Blake ignored her and pressed on.

"It's because your harmonia is guided by your will," Blake said. "Your passions and convictions are what drive it forward, like stoking a fire. But right now, your heart is split and confused, you have no idea what you want. You don't have the strength. But I'm different, Elaina. I know exactly what my goal is, and I'm not going to shake on it. My pokemon and I are fighting for the exact thing, and we're not going to waver, Elaina!"

Blake threw out his next pokeball. "Uni! Show her the strength that's going to guide us forward!"

"Solosis!" Uni shouted, emerging from her pokeball. She she floated in the sky, the stones around her turned and bashed against her, striking at her green, filmy body.

"Take that!" Elaina snapped. "Those sharp rocks will gouge your pokemon and weaken it!"

"That won't work!" Blake snapped back, smiling proudly at Uni. "Uni's Magic Guard ability will protect it from any damage not caused by your attacks! Your stealth rock is useless against her!"

Elaina muttered something like a guttural growl. "Fine then! Ayer, if stealth rock won't work, then hit her with your rock slide attack!"

"That's not going to work, either!" Blake shouted. "Didn't you forget where we are right now? Go, Uni! Reflect!"

Uni shot forward, a green ball of speed that zigzagged through the stony minefield, approaching Ayer. Before the fossil pokemon could even blink, a green protective barrier wrapped itself around Uni, insulating her from the attacks. And then, as if to add insult to injury, she used her astounding speed to maneuver around the tumbling rocks, dodging every strike.

"Uni's base speed is only 20," Ayame said. "Comparatively, that Aerodactyl has a base speed stat of 130."

"Wow!" Cynthia gasped in disbelief. "That's…"

"Absurd," Ayame said, nodding. A bright smile stretched across her face. "With a speed differential like that, inside that trick room, her Aerodactyl will be lucky to even land a scratch on Uni!"

"As if I would let you do that!" Elaina roared. "Ayer! Forget the speed! Withstand everything! Destroy her with your earthquake attack!"

"AEEEEERO!" Ayer howled, ignoring the pain of the poison coursing through his veins. He gathered his energy and sent it down into the ground, preparing to release powerful shockwaves to batter Uni's defenses.

"No fair!" Cynthia shouted. "You can't hit Uni with earthquake! She's floating!"

"That doesn't matter," Akira said.

"It's pointless! You won't lay a finger on her!" Blake said. "Now that we've got to this point, we've got everything set up perfectly! Uni, hit her with your psyshock!"

"Oho!" Sylvia said, her eyes widening. "Now, that's what I love to see!"

Ayer was taking quite some time to build up his strength in preparation for the earthquake, the trick room limiting his ability to attack. That meant Uni had more than enough time to unleash a devastating attack, and that's definitely what it was going to be.

"Solosis have very limited stats," Ayame said. "All of their base stats are incredibly low, with the major exception of their special attack. It's at 105, which means that they have an incredibly powerful special attacking ability."

"And that's not all!" Cynthia cheered. "Psyshock is a move that deals damage with the user's special attack, and the foes physical defenses! And that means that Uni is going to be striking that Aerodactyl's physical defense, which has been really weakened by Ruru's screeches!"

"Indeed. Blake had this planned from the start," Dokukage agreed. "He set a trap with Ruru, to sacrificing her so that he could weaken one of Elaina's strongest pokemon enough to destroy her with this next attack."

"He really did plan this out," Sango said, sighing in relief. That was good.

"We were planning for this," Blake said to Elaina. "Now, Uni! Go!"

Uni released the psychic energy she'd stored up, unleashing a bolt of green lightning that crackled through the air, striking Ayer with everything she had.

Ayer roared so loudly it shook the trees and nearly shattered the trick room. His body was bombared with power beyond anything, and Elaina was feeling it all the same. Every cell in her body felt like it was on fire, and wave after wave of agony pulsed through her skull, each more devastating than the last. As she tried to endure the attacks, she could feel her body screaming at her, telling her to pass out, to just die, but she refused.

She couldn't allow her connection to Ayer to break. If she ran from her harmonia now, then her Aerodactyl was certainly finished. She couldn't do that to Ayer, she wouldn't. He was doing his best to hold on, and she would do the same. If they could withstand this attack, then that Solosis would take the full brunt of their harmonia-boosted earthquake, and be eradicated. She was certain of it. They just had to endure!

She only had one pokemon left, after all. And she was afraid to rely on her last one. Ayer would need to do this, he had to! And to give him that chance, Elaina would withstand all manner of abuse. Screams of pain were pounding in her ears, and Elaina realized they were her own. But as much as she wanted to lay over and die, she couldn't. She wouldn't. She would endure all of this pain, and emerge the victor in the end!

And finally, the pain faded away. The lightning died down, and… Ayer was still standing. His body was charred, and poison ran through him, eating away even more at his health. He was barely standing, pinned in place by sticky webs, but he WAS standing, that couldn't be denied. Even if his vision was blurry and his body was shaking, he still refused to fall.

Blake was astounded, and gazed at the pokemon with a look of admiration in his eyes.

"Amazing," he said, shaking his head in disbelief.

"That's no fair!" Cynthia exclaimed. "Are you seriously telling me that even with an amazing attack like that, Uni still wasn't strong enough to win?!"

"That's how pokemon battles are sometimes," Sylvia said, shrugging her shoulders. "Nothing you can do about it. In spite of Blake's arrogant assumptions, Elaina's will to win was just a little stronger than Blake's will to defeat her, that's all."

"Now… it's over…" Elaina panted. Every cell in her body ached, but she was still standing. "Now, Ayer! Finish her off!"

Ayer's roar said nothing about the state of his body. He flapped his wings, and prepared to unleash a powerful earthquake.

But while everyone was shouting in disbelief and outrage at what Elaina had just pulled, Blake didn't join in. He already knew how this was going to go, after all.

"It is amazing you were able to withstand Uni's attack," Blake complimented her. "But that doesn't mean this is over. I already told you that I knew how this was going to go down. And now is the time, right, Uni?"

"Solosis!" Uni bobbed up and down in a nod.

Elaina didn't know what he was talking about, and too blinded by pain and rage to care. She focused her rage into Ayer and ordered him to attack, but before he could unleash the energy, he was struck by something else.

A wave of psychic energy pounded Ayer's skull, striking him from all sides. What… what is this?! Elaina cried internally, clutching her arms and nearly falling over. A psychic attack? But that Solosis hasn't had the chance to do anything! So where…?

"Do you remember?" Blake asked quietly. "It was a long time ago, so maybe you don't. But before… I had Uni use future sight, to send an attack into the future."

Elaina gasped. In the heat of the battle, it had slipped her mind completely. But there was no mistaking it now, not when her mind was bombarded with these psychic attacks from the future, not when she could feel Ayer's strength slowly slipping away.

"I told Uni that if she was going to use future sight, to send the attack to the time we would need it the most. When it could do the most damage. And with as far as she could see, this was where she must have decided."

"How?!" Elaina exclaimed. She didn't understand how he could have planned this out so perfectly. "How did you know?! You don't have harmonia, you would have no way of hearing your pokemon's thoughts, so how did she tell you when her attack would come, she couldn't tell you how to win!"

"She didn't tell me anything," Blake said. "But I've been with her since I was a child. Even without harmonia, I know a lot about her. Uni… she hates fighting. But her beloved trainer, my little sister… she couldn't help herself. She lost herself in that power, just like you, and became obsessed with winning. And when that happened, Uni had no place on her team anymore."

In spite of the pain Claire could see on Blake's face, she couldn't help but smile a little. The reason for that was obvious. It had taken so many years, but finally, Blake was finally talking about his little sister with others.

She had never imagined she would see this day ever come.

"I took care of her," Blake said. "I knew that it would be hard, with what she'd gone through. And that's why I know her so well, and know that as much as she might not like fighting, for the sake of reuniting with her trainer, she knows that it's something that she has to do. And that's why I trust her, to do her best and take care of herself, to try her hardest to win just like any of my other pokemon. And that's why I knew she would use her future sight to win however she could. Right, Uni?"

"Solosis," Uni said, bobbing up and down in agreement.

But Elaina couldn't hear his words anymore. Pain and darkness blossomed past her eyes and she could barely stand. Because she could feel her connection with Ayer slipping away, and then…

Snap.

Ayer slumped forward. The overwhelming force of the future sight attack had finished him off, and he lost consciousness, the earthquake never having come. Exhausted and on the brink of defeat, Elaina slumped over and hung her head, recalling Ayer to his pokeball.

Gerard stared on in disbelief. He had been confident that both Elaina's Braviary and her Aerodactyl would have been able to easily sweep up the rest of Blake's party, as injured as they were. But now that it had come to this…

She was down to her final pokemon? He couldn't believe it! It just didn't seem real! Elaina was a harmonia user! His perfect weapon, trained to perfection! And he was actually supposed to believe that she would be so pressed like this? No, it was impossible! He couldn't believe it!

But the cheers of Blake's friends in the audience were impossible to argue with.

"Yeah! Way to go, Blake! Just a little bit more!" Sango called.

"You can do it, we believe in you!" Cynthia cheered as well.

Even Julia was getting in on things, in spite of the pessimism that had been filling her recently. "You can do this, you got this!"

Kitty felt her heart light up with joy. She held her hand over her chest, and hoped that everything would be okay. Blake was trying as hard as he could to get through to Elaina, and his will to win, his strategies, they were overcoming Elaina's pokemon, driving her closer and closer to the edge. Now, she only had one pokemon left.

"Just one pokemon left…" Ayame breathed. One pokemon left to defeat, and then this match would be over. She didn't want to jinx it, but she had to believe in Blake, she just had to. Come on, Blake. You can do this. I'm sure you can.

Ayame sucked in a big lungful of air and shouted at the top of her lungs. "Come on, Blake! You can get through to her, I know you can! You just have to do a little bit more!"

Ayame slapped her hand against her chest. "I know you can do it! You're stronger than anyone I've ever met! You won't lose to her! I promise, you're going to win!" She was jinxing it, she was absolutely jinxing it, but she didn't care. She would say whatever she had to if it would give him the strength to win. "So show her that she doesn't have to keep being afraid of everyone all the time!"

Elaina could hear the voices of Blake's friends, cheering him on and encouraging him. Her heart ached with pain and jealousy.

Friends cheering you on. That was something that she would never experience for herself. No one would ever care for her enough to cheer. That was the truth of her life.

She bit her lip. She couldn't believe she had come this far. She couldn't believe that she could actually lose like this.

No! She shouted to herself. You can't lose now, you won't! Not now, not to him, not ever!

"You don't understand anything!" Elaina roared, the wind dancing around her. "You think you know me, you think you know my pain, but you're wrong! You don't know anything, Blake! This power of mine, I loathe it! And that's why… that's why I've fought so hard against it! Because that was the promise I made that day!"

Blake was surprised by her outburst. Even pressed into a corner like this, down to her last pokemon, he couldn't feel her conviction waver even a little.

"Elaina…" he whispered. He didn't know what she meant by "that day", but he felt like he was getting close to the heart of the matter, the reason why Elaina was so hurt and defensive, putting up walls around her heart.

"I'm going to win!" She continued. "I have to win! And I'm going to show you! The power of the promise that I made that day!"

Elaina flung her pokeball into the air. "Come out, Hope! Show him the power of my wish, and the future that my heart desires!"

So Elaina is on her final pokemon. Will this be enough for her to turn things around? Or will Blake manage to emerge the victor and get through to her? The climax fast approaches!