The battle between Ayame and Vic had been an intense one. The girls have given it their all, pushing each other to their limits. But now it's come to an end. There's only so much fight left for them to give, and which one of them will be the victor? This match will come to an end in this chapter! Remember to review!

KedharS: We know that she'll do the best that she can. Hopefully that will end up being enough.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 916

Ayame only had two pokemon capable of continuing two fight. And Snows didn't have the strength to defeat that Bisharp, so that only left one option.

At the end of the day, Ayame was a competitive person. She enjoyed winning, and pushing herself to her limits. But she didn't care about winning this pokemon battle. Not really. She wasn't even that bothered by what had happened earlier at lunch, not at this point.

Seeing how Vic was acting, though, her determination was overwhelming. She was intimidated, even at her most competitive she hoped she was never like this. It was like Vic couldn't accept the possibility of losing.

She wasn't far from the truth. For all Vic said about her dedication to the Commander's cause, about how much she agreed with his ideals of battles being for fun, at the end of the day, she'd still been raised in the Orre Region.

Vic would never acknowledge it. But the mantra "weakness is a sin" had become ingrained in her, no matter how much she hated it. She still saw losing as wrong, even when she knew that made no sense; the Commander wouldn't think any less of her for losing, or being "weak".

She knew that, of course. But she was still afraid.

Ayame didn't know any of this, of course. Not consciously, anyway. But she could feel a connection to the other girl somehow, like she understood her. Because Ayame had used to think that way herself, she could see those same feelings in Vic, even if she wasn't aware of them.

Right now, though, none of that mattered. Ayame might not have cared as much as Vic about the outcome of this fight, but she was still going to fight it. She was going to do whatever she could in order to win.

"Troops!" Ayame shouted, sending out her Falinks. "You're my only hope now, so let's show her what we've got!"

"Falinks!" Her Troops cheered in unison as they emerged from their pokeball, shields raised. They got in formation across from Valkyrie, preparing to fight.

"So that's your last resort, eh?" Vic scoffed. "Fine then. Valkyrie and I… we can take down a couple of soccer balls like that."

"Bisharp!" Valkyrie bellowed in agreement. She raised her claws and sharpened them into powerful blades, charging at the cluster of Falinks.

Vic knew what the best strategy to fight against these Falinks were. Like with the Golem, it was clear that Valkyrie's greatest weakness was Fighting type pokemon. And that was why Vic had made sure to train Valkyrie not just to battle with her moves, but also to be a competent fighter without them, so that she would stand a chance of going toe to toe with Fighting types.

But Ayame was prepared herself.

"First impression!" She ordered immediately. It was a strong opening attack.

"Falinks!" Troops lowered their horns and charged in a crowd, stabbing Valkyrie repeatedly. Valkyrie was forced back in surprise.

"First impression, huh? That's a rather interesting attack. It reminds me of fake out," Alden noted.

Valkyrie was forced back, but as powerful as Troops might have been, the first impression wasn't enough to knock her out. Vic wasn't going to let her pokemon fall to something like that, not when she had so much strength from her harmonia!

Ayame wanted her pokemon to press the attack, but she ordered them to fall back. Because in spite of the strength of the move, Valkyrie's guard hadn't lowered even a fraction. She had to be careful dealing with a pokemon that strong, she couldn't take the risk.

But Vic was more than ready to take the fight to her.

"Aerial ace!" She snarled, giving a command to Valkyrie that came with a boost to her speed and power. In spite of the paralysis, Valkyrie was still capable of moving surprisingly quickly. She raised her blades and disappeared.

"Protect!" Ayame ordered.

"Falinks!" Troops cheered in unison, raising their shields. A golden barrier of light appeared around the cluster of pokemon. Valkyrie swung her blades and struck the barrier, unable to put a scratch on the shield.

"Now, use no retreat!" Ayame followed up her protect with Falinks' signature move. The barrier around her Troops faded, and they raised their shields and turned their horns towards Valkyrie, the gold light from the shield beginning to surround them, increasing their strength.

"What's she doing?" Callie asked, confused. "I've never heard of an attack like that before."

"Oh? And here I thought you were an expert on Fighting type pokemon?" Alden said, flashing a smirk Callie's way.

Callie's face turned bright red with embarrassment and she muttered something under her breath, annoyed. "I-I don't have a Falinks," she said. "So how am I supposed to know what they're capable of, huh?"

"No retreat is Falink's signature move," Alden explained. "It boosts all the stats of a pokemon by one stage, a powerful boost."

"Wow, seriously?" Olivia asked in shock, her attempt to seem calm and composed forgotten from the surprise. She didn't have to be a pokemon battler to know how powerful of a move that must have been. She'd seen Ayame use it a few times, but hadn't realized what it could do.

"But it only works once," Alden added. "And when the pokemon uses it, they become incapable of being switched out. It's a move that's perfect for a situation like this, when your back is against the wall and you can't retreat, you can only go forward."

That was exactly where Ayame found herself. "Alright, Troops!" She shouted. "Go forward! Use brick break!"

"Falinks!" Troops cheered, turning their glowing horns and shields upon Valkyrie, preparing to strike. They charged in a group, brandishing their weapons at the armored juggernaut.

Vic still had some tricks up her sleeve, however. She gathered her focus and charged her harmonia, directing strength into Valkyrie's blades. They began to glow red.

"Psycho cut!" Vic barked. Valkyrie began to spin, swinging her arms, sending out powerful psychic blades into the crowd of Falinks, striking them.

"Fal!" Troops wailed, doing their best to stand strong against the powerful assault by lifting their shields, resisting the damage. But Valkyrie was strong, in spite of all the damage that she'd taken. They were starting to get overwhelmed.

"Iron defense!" Ayame ordered. Troops hunkered down and lifted their shields, the light around their body growing stronger as they boosted their defenses, strengthening the power of their shields to resist Valkyrie's attacks.

"A few boosts to your defenses won't help you," Vic promised, gathering her strength and sending it into Valkyrie. Valkyrie charged forward in preparation for another aerial ace, when her body seized up and stopped moving. Vic began to twitch, her body starting to seize as well.

"Victoria?!" Rui gasped in horror at the state of her daughter.

"It's the paralysis," Callie realized. "It's finally starting to settle in!"

Ayame didn't know what to make of that, but she was going to do her best to take advantage of the opportunity that was provided.

"Troops!" She shouted. "Use close combat!"

"Falinks!" Troops gathered all their strength, forgetting all about defense. This was their final stand, and they needed to do everything they could in order to win. Sacrificing their defenses, Troops charged at Valkyrie, their shields and horns bearing down upon her.

Valkyrie's body was paralyzed, so she couldn't put up any form of guard. All she could do was be battered and barraged by a series of strikes from all sides. The Troops were unrelenting; they fought and fought and fought, beating their opponent with everything they had, and refusing to let up until they could win.

Vic withstood the assault as best as she could. But she could feel her strength starting to buckle. It wasn't fair! Even with all her harmonia, even gathering her strength the best that she could, no matter how much power she put into her pokemon, it just didn't feel like it was enough.

Valkyrie had been put through so much in this fight. She had been paralyzed and shocked by Roll, hit by an explosion to boot, and had the tar beaten out of her by Rhox. And now, she was withstanding a barrage of one of the most powerful Fighting type moves there was, from a pokemon whose stats were enhanced by their resolve to never retreat or surrender.

It was all too much to take. No matter how much trainer and pokemon wanted to keep standing, there was nothing they could do.

"Harmonia is powerful," Rui murmured. "It gives the user incredible strength, and the ability to endure severe abuse. But as powerful as it is… it isn't undefeatable. Given enough damage, even a pokemon enhanced with harmonia can fall…"

As she spoke, Valkyrie collapsed forward into the sand, beaten and broken. Her connection with Vic was violently severed and Vic nearly collapsed herself, but she managed to remain standing.

"Valkyrie… I can't… you beat her…" Vic couldn't believe it. Valkyrie was one of her strongest pokemon. And she was beaten… by some girl who didn't even fight pokemon battles regularly?! Vic had never felt so humiliated.

"Wow! That was an amazing stand!" Alden cheered. "I gotta say, Ayame, your 'Sense' is really something!"

Vic swallowed the roar of primal fury that was building up inside of her and reached for her next pokeball. They were both down to two pokemon. They were… even.

And it sickened her.

Vic wasn't going to lose another pokemon. She wasn't going to let this girl push her that far. Her next pokemon would finish things.

Rui knew what was coming. She could see it in her daughter's eyes.

Vic's first pokemon.

In the Orre Region, wild pokemon were exceptionally rare. There were a few, but next to none. Which means for starting trainers, they had one of two options. They could either import pokemon from foreign regions, or they could raise their pokemon from eggs.

Vic's first pokemon had been the latter.

Wes had found a pokemon egg through his connections, and given it to Vic for her birthday. And Vic had adored that egg. As cold as she seemed, Rui knew that wasn't the case. Because she had seen the tender looks Vic had given to the egg. It wasn't even a pokemon yet, and her daughter had loved it more than anything.

She would cradle it in her arms like a baby, wipe its surface every night, she would even take baths with it and go to sleep with the egg in her arms, because she wanted to spend as much time with her future pokemon as possible.

And when the egg hatched, Rui had never seen her daughter filled with so much joy. That pokemon had been the first step. Where Vic had learned what loving pokemon really meant. And from there, her harmonia had blossomed in ways that Rui had never seen, not even in herself.

Right now, though, Vic's harmonia was like a poison. She was letting her anger and frustration cloud her pure love for her pokemon, and her desire to win was taking control of her in spite of how much she hated the mantra of "weakness is a sin" that spread throughout the Orre Region. And seeing that broke Rui's heart.

If any pokemon could help her daughter and bring her back from this point, Rui wanted to believe it was this one.

"Sunny!" Vic shouted, sending out her trump card.

"Togekiss!" Sunny emerged from the pokeball in a blossoming glimmer of light, her face filled with exuberance as she linked her emotions with Vic.

Instantaneously, Vic felt a surge of endorphins from the connection to her Togekiss; happiness flooded into her, and a true smile spread across her face. It didn't matter that the stealth rocks were slicing into her pokemon, the pain was nothing to her.

"…Hey there," Vic smiled. "Ready to crush this girl with me?"

"Togekiss!" Sunny nodded in agreement, light flowing through her body.

"Just what I want to hear!" Vic grinned. "Moonblast!"

Sunny opened her mouth and released the energy she'd gathered in a powerful blast of fairy light direct at Troops.

"Troops, protect!" Ayame ordered. Troops raised their shields, creating a golden barrier to protect themselves from the attack. The moonblast bounced harmlessly off of it and scattered, leaving the Falinks unharmed.

"This isn't good," Callie mumbled. "Falinks are a Fighting type pokemon, so against a Togekiss, the response would be…"

Ayame knew she was in a tough position. Togekiss were a Fairy/Flying type pokemon. Both types that were perfect for defeating the Fighting type. Troops didn't have a lot of options available for combating their new foe, especially considering how much energy Vic seemed to have recovered after sending out her new pokemon.

But the problem was, she couldn't call Troops back to their pokeball. She'd needed the strength of no retreat in order to defeat Valkyrie, but now she was facing the backlash from using it, she couldn't switch to Snows, a pokemon with a better type advantage over her opponent.

All she could do now was fight, and have Troops do their best in order to win.

"Troops!" She shouted. "Use iron head!"

"You've gotta admire that dedication," Alden said with a smile. "Even knowing that she probably doesn't have any chance, she's not going to give up. She's going to send her pokemon right in and keep fighting until the last."

"That's my daughter," Hiromi said, smiling proudly at Ayame's decision. "She's never going to give up, not a chance!"

"Aya's amazing," Olivia nodded in agreement.

The Troops charged in, horns lowered and blossoming with silver light. They leapt up to strike at the Togekiss, but Sunny wasn't about to let them get close.

There was a very clear advantage to have a pokemon that could fly.

With a flap of her wings, Sunny took to the sky, and Vic could feel the air washing over her. Whenever she fought with Sunny, she had always split her focus with another pokemon, but now it was like she could feel Sunny's entire being completely. It was a different sensation when compared to the battle-obsessed Valkyrie.

All her past grudges seemed to just flow away with the winds.

"Dazzling gleam!" Vic heard her voice rise up over the currents of the air, hearing her voice with Sunny's ears. Sunny began to glow, and released a blinding ray of light that rained down on Troops, striking them with powerful blasts, knocking the small pokemon over.

"Troops!" Ayame cried, squinting into the blinding light. Their defenses had lowered in the wake of using close combat, and now they were vulnerable to the power of the Fairy type pokemon.

Vic's harmonia was roaring, but it was nothing like it was before. It was warm and bright, while still filled with strength. She directed that power into Sunny, and ordered her to win.

"Togekiss!" Sunny flew down, skimming over the sand, light surging through her body. She directed the power towards the Falinks, releasing it in a burst of light. The powerful moonblast hit the cluster of Troops, sending them scattering like bowling pins.

Ayame knew, now was time for their final stand. She shouted to her Troops, marshalling them to command.

They turned their horns on the approaching Togekiss, and lunged forward with as much speed and power as they could muster.

"Toge-!" Sunny was struck repeatedly by the iron heads, and Vic could feel her own bones being battered. But she didn't give into the pain, and neither would Sunny.

A surge of light erupted from Sunny, scattering the Falinks again. Ayame winced as she watched her Troops fall, knowing they were doing the best they could.

They just didn't have the strength necessary to finish this battle.

"Tailwind," Vic ordered, and Sunny summoned a massive backdraft that increased the speed of Vic's entire team.

But Sunny was the only one who would need it. She fired more blasts of fairy light, striking the weakened Troops.

"Falinks…" Troops groaned, struggling to stand. They raised their shields, unwilling to surrender. Ayame's heart went out to them, and even Vic had to respect their resolve.

"Finish them off, Sunny," she ordered, gathering her harmonia and focusing it into one final attack to take down the Troops.

"Togekiss!" Sunny cheered, opening her mouth and firing a final moonblast, striking the lead conductor of Troops. The force of the explosion sent the rest of the Troops flying through the air, where they rained down into the sand, unconscious.

Ayame sighed. She had seen this coming. She knew that Troops wouldn't be able to stand up against a pokemon like that Togekiss, no matter how hard they tried. But she respected the effort they put into the battle.

Now there was only one pokemon left to fight.

"Snows!" She shouted, sending out her last pokemon. Her Glalie reemerged, for the final time.

"Glalie!" Snows bellowed, opening his mouth and firing a barrage of ice at Sunny in a powerful ice shard attack.

Sunny withstood the blasts of the ice, and flew straight towards Snows, her body glowing with bright white light.

"Snows, hit her with blizzard!" Ayame ordered. She needed to clip that Togekiss's wings as fast as possible, especially the way she was moving with that tailwind.

"Glalie!" Snows opened his mouth and sent a storm of freezing wind and ice surging across the battlefield, threatening to freeze Sunny solid.

"Aura sphere!" Vic ordered. Sunny dove headfirst into the blizzard, the protection of her harmonia saving her from the force of the blizzard. No matter how much damage she was inflicted with, it wasn't enough to make her drop.

Sunny released the energy built up inside of her, firing an orb of aura that plowed a hole through the blizzard and hit Snows directly, knocking the Glalie out of the air.

"Snows!" Ayame cried. She knew that Snows didn't have that much more health to keep going. Her Glalie had already suffered so much in this fight, and now here he was, about to fall again.

But like Troops before, like the rest of her pokemon, Snows wasn't about to fall without putting up a damn good fight. He opened his mouth and fired a barrage of ice shards that broke against Sunny's body, as the Togekiss gathered enough strength for another aura sphere.

"It was an exciting battle," Alden said. "But it looks like, in the end, Ayame's 'Sense' wasn't enough to defeat Vic. What a pity…"

"Togekiss!" Sunny released the aura sphere, finishing Snows off. She circled around and landed at Vic's side, smiling up at her.

Vic knelt down and petted her Togekiss, a warm smile blossoming across her face once again. The sort of smile that she never showed under normal circumstances. A combination of joy from her Togekiss, and relief at Alden's words of praise.

The battle had come to an end.

Well, Vic managed to defeat Ayame. Thankfully, it wasn't a total destruction. Vic managed to brighten up a little at the end, in spite of how dark she got during the middle. The power of her Togekiss is really something! Hopefully this positive wave can keep being ridden.