The battle between Blake and Elaina has come to its conclusion. But what will be the fallout of this battle? Is Elaina "fixed" now? Did Blake manage to save her? What lies in store for her, now that the dust has settled and she's forced to confront the world with her face bared? Will she have the strength to withstand it?

Venoms Cross 2: I am also happy that Blake won. And I wouldn't say Hope is necessarily her Ace, that would probably be Mukuro, but Hope is definitely a contender.

Guest: She does deserve a lot of love. Hopefully, she can move forward into a happier future.

Rowlets and Oshawotts: We'll have to see. Hopefully it will be enough.

KedharS: The question remains, what kind of life will it be?

Hellraiserphoenix: I hope those things happen too.

Just a Bad Writer for Fun: Quite an explosive conclusion.

Aakareo Kokokuhikari: Solo is a Wishiwashi and Luna and Kellyn are cousins.

JoshGamerV: I'm glad the battle was good for you, it was meant to be very intense.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 726

It didn't take long for Elaina to realize she was crying in the arms of the boy she had nearly killed, after hurling vitriol and hate at him for hours. A boy who had a girlfriend, a girlfriend who would probably not take too kindly to the fact that she was somewhat making a move on her lover. And without her mask, Elaina wasn't at all ready to make enemies of anyone.

With a gasp, she pulled away from Blake, and tried to stand. But she had put everything she had into that battle, and right now, she didn't have any strength in her legs. She fell to her knees, but she didn't even mind. She felt strange right now. Her harmonia didn't respond to her at all. It was like she was clean. Purified.

Elaina knew, of course, that it wasn't going to last. She wasn't so naively optimistic as to think that because she had lost a battle against Blake and now couldn't feel her harmonia any longer that her harmonia had just magically gone away. It would return, sooner, rather than later, and when it did, things would probably go back to how they were before.

Before she could say another word, she gasped again. Even though he was injured, Blake's Scizor dropped down in front of her. In his arms, he held Hope, unconscious and shell decimated, the blue of their core reduced down to a dull, polluted color.

"Hope…" Elaina whispered, taking her pokemon and cradling them gently in her arms. She recalled Hope to their pokeball and swallowed, raising her head. Now was the time. She couldn't keep hiding from reality right now.

Everyone was still staring at her, after all, not sure what to do.

"Blake…" She whispered. She wasn't able to meet his eyes, but she could feel them turned on her. "Thank you."

She wasn't sure what it was she was thanking him for, her heart was too mixed up at the moment. For saving her from the explosion? For telling her the truth she'd needed to hear? For ripping the mask off of her and forcing her to confront reality? For proving that he really did care about her, even with harmonia, even without her mask?

She wasn't sure. She didn't know what the future held, and that frightened her. But her mask was gone, and with it went the shield that protected her from the eyes of others. She looked past Blake, at all the people who had gathered to his side to see him defeat her. If they had looked at her with scorn and hatred, or even fear, she might have felt differently. Maybe she would have curled back up into her shell and turned away, retreating once more.

But that wasn't what she saw. Their faces were twisted with worry and concern, and most of all, surprise. There was caution there, certainly, but no malice. It… was not something that she was used to seeing.

"…Dang. She's hot. No one told me she was hot!"

Elaina didn't know which girl had said that, but… it certainly caught her off-guard. She looked around, confused, and then shook her head in disbelief. She tried to stand once more, but she only fell again. When she did, though, someone caught her.

"Elly…?"

Elaina looked up at her savior. Sango had grabbed her arm to keep her from landing on the ground, and was staring at her with big brown eyes filled with confusion.

"Uh… uh…" Elaina was floundering for words. She wasn't sure how to respond.

"You're Elly, right?" Sango pressed. "Blake… Blake said it before, right? And your face… you're the same girl? We… we met in the forest, way back at the beginning of the school year, and you said you were transferring schools… I never heard from you again, but I didn't…"

Elaina lowered her eyes. She remembered Sango. She remembered what it had felt like to fool herself into thinking she had a friend. "I'm sorry to disappoint you," she muttered, shaking her arm free and placing it against the ground to balance herself.

"No! No, I'm not disappointed, I'm just… I'm surprised!" Sango said. "I didn't expect that you would be, well…"

"You didn't expect that your 'friend' Elly would be the kind of girl who would turn her anger on others and hurt them with harmonia?" Elaina muttered, feeling that familiar frustration start to well up in her gut.

"Err… n-no, that's not what I…" Truthfully, that had been what Sango was thinking. But… it wasn't her fault! Elly had been a sweet, shy girl, and the knowledge that she was actually Elaina Bishop, a girl who hurt others so easily, it was a hard thing to accept. But that didn't mean she had a problem with it or anything, she didn't…

Why was this so complicated?!

"Elaina, stop it," Blake said. "Sango didn't mean anything by that, she's just surprised." He placed his hand on her shoulder. Elaina gasped and her head shot up. The touch of his hand on her was enough to banish those dark thoughts momentarily.

"I… that's… I know," Elaina said. She wanted Blake to keep touching her, but she also knew that she couldn't keep this up. She shook him off and nodded her head, still not willing to tear her eyes away from the grass. Right now, it just felt easier to not have to see anyone.

"I know you're probably scared," Blake said, replacing his hand on her back. She wanted him to stop, but at the same time, she didn't! It just wasn't fair! Why did his voice have to be so warm and soothing now?! Not ten minutes ago she'd been decrying everything he said as lies, fully ready to believe he didn't care about her at all, and was just trying to use her. So why was she feeling this stupid fluttery feeling of trust now?! It disgusted her!

And yes, she was scared. Incredibly scared. Blake had taken off her mask, but that wasn't nearly enough of a push to make her start confronting the world with her head held high. There was too much she wasn't ready for.

She parted her lips to respond, but the only thing that escaped her mouth was the faintest of whispers. Talking without her mask, with everyone here… it was so much harder than anything she'd ever done before.

"You don't have to be scared," Blake assured her. "You can just go at your own pace. Now that you aren't hiding behind that mask, you can try to open up to people and make friends. I know it won't be easy, and that there's a lot you'll probably have to atone for-"

And a lot of people who won't even want to look at me, Elaina silently added to Blake's optimistic speech.

"-But if you take it one step at a time and work hard at getting to understand others, then I'm sure you'll be able to make real friends who care about you, whether you have those powers or not," Blake said. He probably thought he sounded very reassuring, and to his credit, Elaina could see the truth in his words, and feel the care in his voice.

She couldn't deny he was right, and that was the painful part, because she was too scared to follow what he said.

Her mask had shielded her from this, and now she was going to confront the world without it. She knew she had to, and yet…

Part of her still wanted to put that mask back on, even if she could understand Blake's words. He had forced her to confront her real self, and he had looked upon her face without despising her. With her thoughts cleared of the pollution of harmonia, she could see the truth in his words, the truth she'd never been strong enough to accept, that she didn't need to wear her mask.

But she still wasn't strong enough to accept it, sadly.

The road ahead, the road Blake was encouraging her to walk down, it was dangerous and frightening. She didn't want to face that uncertainty, she didn't want to go down that road. But Blake had pushed her down it, and now there was no going back.

Before, she would have despised him for it. But she couldn't summon the anger anymore, not now that she knew he was right to do it.

Now, she just needed the strength to move forward. She wasn't ready yet, but… what else awaited her? She had wished for Hope to bring her a new future, but what her wish had brought her wasn't the future she had dreamed of.

So she needed the strength to make the best of the future that awaited her.

But it wouldn't be now.

She wasn't strong enough to continue down that road, not just yet. But she had the strength to stand, at least, and that's what she did. Rising to her feet, she turned to Blake, peering down at him through her bangs, feeling a wave of uncertainty pass through her again. She grit her teeth and turned away, her hair flicking through the wind as she parted.

"Elaina Bishop."

Elaina was face to face with one of the most beautiful women she had ever seen. She knew of Alcea Vermeil, of course, but she hadn't expected to confront her like this. Shaking slightly, she glanced away from the redhead's piercing gaze, but Alcea wasn't so charitable.

"So this is you, is it?" She asked softly, raising her hand and brushing Elaina's hair from her face. She tilted Elaina's face back to meet her eyes, and to Elaina's surprise the stern and cold queen of roses wasn't looking scornfully at her.

Her eyes were so kind.

But… didn't the other girl fear and despise her? Didn't they all?

"You've been through a rough time," Alcea said softly. "Right now, you must be feeling very confused. I know that if I were in your situation, I would certainly be. If you need help from me, any help at all, please, do not hesitate to ask. You are a student here, after all, and I would-"

Elaina brushed the older girl's hand away, her face flushing. She pushed past her, storming through the grass.

Her heart was pounding in her chest. Why? Why were they all being so nice to her? Acting so concerned? Just because she had lost? Because they thought she was weak? Elaina… Elaina was weak. She couldn't deny that.

But she didn't need their help! She didn't need their pity! What she needed… no, what she wanted, was for people to treat her normally, to maybe even be her friend. To not see her any differently from anyone else when they looked at her.

But she knew that was probably never going to happen. Even Blake, as kind and accepting of her condition as he was, still looked at her like she was different. And maybe that was okay. Maybe it didn't matter that she was different, not really. People always said that the differences of others were what made them special, and that they should accept those differences.

Maybe they were right, maybe her differences were things to be celebrated, maybe she could even come to control her power, and be celebrated for having it. If she was an optimistic sort of girl, she might hope for that future.

But it would be a long, long time before she was ever willing to believe that. It just didn't make sense. She couldn't imagine ever being okay with this power, she couldn't imagine very many people would ever accept her for who she was.

Least of all, herself.

Right now, she was overflowing with gratitude for Blake, with no idea how to express it. What she did know, though, was that Blake wasn't who she needed right now. She knew he cared for her, and that made her feel better than it had before.

But the person who she wanted to accept her right now wasn't Blake.

Elaina stopped in front of Gerard, looking hopefully into his eyes. She had lost. She had given it everything she had, trying to become the perfect tool for his goals, and she had failed. He had held out his hand to her when no one else would, and had given her a place to belong, a reason to keep going, and a hope, as false as it was.

She didn't want him to throw her away.

"Gerard…" Her voice was shaky, but she held her ground. Even though her body felt numb and she was afraid she might fall, she wouldn't. Even though her voice broke as she spoke, she would get the words out somehow. "Gerard, I… I fought… I fought as hard as I could… I gave it everything I had, but I still… I still wasn't…"

She wasn't going to cry. Even if Gerard told her that he never wanted to see her again, that they were done forever, she promised herself that she wasn't going to cry.

"Don't worry about that right now," Gerard said. His voice wasn't gentle or soft, not like Blake's had been. But it wasn't the cold and harsh rebuke she had feared. Elaina blinked, her eyes widening in surprise.

"But…"

"You lost. It might be bad, but it happens," Gerard said. "Next time, you'll learn from this loss, and grow even stronger. That's all it means."

To the ears of anyone else, his words were incredibly cruel, dismissing her struggle as just a loss, and her awakening to her new path as something that didn't matter, a concern that she didn't have to worry about. But to Elaina, who had feared the worst, the nonchalance of his words struck her heart like a light from above, easing her fears.

A small smile spread across her lips. She nodded, wiping the tears from her eyes. "Yes, I promise," she assured him. "I'm… I'm going to get even stronger from here. I'll show you. I'm not going to hide anymore."

Gerard nodded, and smiled, just a little. At least, Elaina thought she did. That made her feel a little better. "Then let's go," he said, offering his hand to her the way he had all those years ago. Elaina sighed in relief, and reached out to take it. He was still willing to extend his hand.

"Wait, Elaina."

Warmth blossomed across Elaina's shoulder and she turned back to see Blake standing behind her, holding her shoulder. She felt her cheeks heat up.

"Blake… what…"

"You don't have to go back," Blake said. His eyes were pleading with her to make another choice. She could tell that he wanted her to come back with him, instead, to not continue working with Gerard or helping him.

For a moment, she was tempted. To be with Blake and his friends, to maybe be able to laugh and enjoy herself with them, and smile the way they smiled.

For only a moment, though.

Blake had promised her so much in their battle. He promised he would save her, he promised he would show her a future where she could smile. And she believed he intended to keep those promises. But she wasn't ready to live in that future.

That future frightened her. Sango's reaction had told her all she needed to know; Blake was ready to accept her, but his friends…

None of them were ready for this, and she wasn't, either. She didn't want to have the dream of that future if it would be taken away. So even if it was something she wanted, she knew it was impossible, just as she'd known it before.

"I'm sorry, Blake," she apologized, turning away from him to avoid seeing the disappointment and rejection in his eyes. "I'm not ready for that."

She turned back to Gerard. "I'm ready to go now," she said, following after him with a heavy heart in her chest. As she departed, she heard Blake call out to her.

"Elaina!" His voice was filled with worry and desperation, and for a brief instant she felt she'd made a terrible mistake. That feeling was enough to get her to pause, and give him one final look back over her shoulder.

"I'm… not ready for that," she repeated. "But… maybe… someday, I could…"

She didn't know what to say after that. She turned back to Gerard and hurried after him, not ready to confront a response Blake would give her.

Blake sighed in resignation. He had tried so hard to get through to Elaina, and it looked like he'd succeeded. He'd managed to defeat her, smash through her mask, and for just a brief moment it had felt like they'd had a real conversation. He had seen the real her, and confirmed what he'd suspected, that she had been Elly all along.

But it had only been for those short few seconds. And even though the mask was gone, she had returned to Gerard's side, instead of coming back with him.

That feeling of rejection hit him hard, and the fatigue from that match was finally coming due. It slammed into him like a truck and his knees buckled, causing him to pitch forward. But like Elaina before him, there was someone to catch him, too.

The strong arm that caught him was familiar. He didn't have to look to see who it was, he smiled all the same.

"Aya…" He whispered.

"Shh," Ayame whispered, gently easing him down to the ground. "It's okay, Blake. It's over now. You can take a nice long rest, okay?"

"I… I tried my best," Blake murmured. "I tried to help her…"

"You did help her," Ayame said, sitting down and resting his head in her lap. Her fingers tickled through his hair and that made him smile. "I think you've done more for her than anyone else ever has. So don't worry. You did great. She'll probably find her way. It just won't be as easy as defeating her in a pokemon battle."

Hearing her words eased Blake's anxieties. Aya always seemed to know what was what. He was grateful that she had been there to support him.

"Thank you, Aya," Blake smiled. "I'm glad you were here."

Ayame blushed. She swatted him on the forehead. "Sh-Shut up! I didn't… I didn't do anything that special! You were definitely the star!"

"…Okay yeah, I was pretty cool, wasn't I?" Blake smirked. He didn't really feel that way, of course, he hadn't been saying those things to sound "cool". He'd said them because they were what he believed, and what he thought Elaina needed to hear. But he was happy to boast about it after the fact, if only to see Aya's reaction.

Ayame scowled, and swatted him on the forehead again.

"And another thing! What the heck were you thinking, doing something so dangerous, taunting her like that?! There were like three different times you might have died there, you jerk! Throwing yourself into an explosion attack?! Do you know how I felt when I saw that?! I thought you were done for! Don't you ever do something that fucking reckless ever again, you got that?!"

Aya's angry demands and shouts of frustration were music to Blake's ears. He gave her a cheeky smile, which only made her fume more.

It had been an exhausting battle. But it was done, and Blake was happy to see what future awaited Elaina, and himself.

So, Elaina hasn't quite been brought out of the darkness. But she's found the road forward, and the chains she put on herself that were holding her back have fallen away. Now, it's all up to her.