Gabrielle's revealed the truth about her feelings all this time, and Alcea's confronted with a difficult position. What's she supposed to do when her foes keep confessing to her?! But even though she's with Olivia now, it's not as if she needs to reject Gabrielle outright; the other girl does want to be her friend. But what does that entail…?

KedharS: Alcea was a bit more aware of Olivia's feelings when she started reciprocating them, before that she was completely in the dark.

Arbiter8991: But drama can be good, especially for this story.

Tambry96bj: Yup, Alcea's lesbian harem is growing nicely, apparently.

Hyphenman: Yeah, we're going to get a little bit more insight into Gabrielle's position and what Olivia's thoughts on the matter are in this chapter. It should be good.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 1172

"Oh, fuck you!"

It took a second to process what Olivia had just said. Gabrielle stared numbly at her for a second before a shadow crossed her face.

"What was that?" She growled.

"I said, fuck you," Olivia stated, completely unmoved by Gabrielle's little speech. "Who the hell do you think you are, blaming Alcea for your shortcomings?"

"Olivia, what are you doing?" Alcea asked. She wasn't sure she liked what the other girl was saying. She was trying to de-escalate the situation, and Olivia was making everything worse!

Olivia scowled. "I'm standing up for you, Alcea," she replied. "SOMEONE has to. I'm not about to let her make you feel guilty for something that's not even your fault!"

Alcea still didn't understand, so Olivia didn't bother explaining it to her. She turned and confronted Gabrielle directly.

"You're upset because you can't make friends? You're envious of Alcea, because people gather around her? So what?" Olivia asked. "What the hell have YOU ever done to make friends, huh?"

"Wh-What?" Gabrielle was caught off-guard by Olivia's question. She stared at the other girl, unsure of what to say.

"You spent this entire time off in your own little world, isn't that right?" Olivia asked, crossing her arms indignantly. "Well, sorry to break it to you little miss ice princess but that isn't how you make friends. You have to put in some actual effort. You can't just sit back and wait for someone to come along and be your friend, if you want to make connections with other people then you have to actually get out of your shell and reach out to them."

"That's… don't you think I don't know that?!" Gabrielle demanded. "You can't just tell someone to do something like it's so easy! For me, reaching out to others is-"

"I'm sorry, did I sound at all like I was done talking?" Olivia snapped. "Because I really don't care about your pitiful excuses. This problem? It's you. You're the problem. 'Waaah, making friends is too hard, waaah', well, sorry to break it to you, but if it's so hard then you can either suck it up and deal or admit defeat and stay away from others. But what you can't do is sit here and act like Alcea's doing something wrong just because YOU don't have the courage to actually reach out to her. What did YOU ever do to try to be friends with Alcea? Not a damn thing. And yet you kept resenting her for having everything you didn't, in spite of the fact that the only person you have to blame for that is you!"

Gabrielle was slapped in the face by Olivia's harsh words. They stung so much she couldn't even form a response. She could only stand there numbly and stare at the other girl.

Alcea cleared her throat. "…Weren't you, however, too afraid to take that step forward yourself, Olivia? I recall that when it came to getting what you wanted you waited until I was the one to reach out to you, is it?"

"…Rrrk," Olivia flinched, Alcea's words piercing her like a dagger. "W-Well…"

"She's right though," Vic said, coming to the Empress's defense to everyone's surprise. "Alcea, it isn't your fault that Gabrielle didn't become your friend. If you had no way of knowing what she wanted from you, then it was her responsibility to try and make a connection, not yours. You shouldn't be blamed for living your life, just because it makes her envious."

Again, Gabrielle couldn't deny what they were saying. Her whole life she'd spent seeing other people around her living it up and making friends, while she was always on the outside looking in because she didn't have what it took to take that risk and make a connection. She'd hidden herself within a tough shell of coldness to keep from being wounded, even when she really did want to become friends with other people.

I've been resenting Alcea all this time because she had what I'd always wanted… but they're right… I never even tried… to break out of my shell… I wanted to be accepted for who I was… but I refused to honestly approach other people and let them get to know me… instead I just went through my life expecting them to be the ones to reach out first…

A sad smile crossed Gabrielle's face.

How pitiful. All this time I've been frustrated with how other people seemed to have everything I wanted, when I never tried to make an honest effort in the first place. If I really want to become friends with others… then shouldn't I try harder myself?

"No, that's alright," Samarra said. "You've done more than enough already. Don't worry, Gabrielle, you're reaching out right now. As soon as you beat Alcea, she'll become your friend like you always wanted. You just have to push yourself a little bit more."

That… was also true. If she beat Alcea here, then the other girl would become her friend, so why… why wasn't Gabrielle certain she wanted that anymore?

Samarra asserted herself a little harder, directing Gabrielle's confused emotions to a more useful place. It wouldn't do to have her friend doubting their connection.

But Gabrielle was doubting something else now.

What if she lost? If she defeated Alcea, then the other girl would become her friend, but what if the impossible happened, and she was defeated herself? She would lose everything her connection to Samarra, and be right back to where she was before.

"So that's why you can't afford to lose!" Samarra urged her. "And with my support, you won't! There's nothing to worry about!"

But Gabrielle didn't hear her.

"…Alcea…" Gabrielle breathed, directing her attention to the girl standing in front of her. "I'm… sorry. I'm sorry I can't be better at making friends with other people."

Alcea blinked, not expecting that apology at all. "You do not need to express your apologies to me, is it?" She asked. "The only person you should apologize to is yourself."

Gabrielle actually laughed at that. She had such a soft, melodic laugh it was such a shame that so few people ever got to hear it.

"Yes… you're right I suppose, the one I should really say I'm sorry to is the me who spent all these years feeling alone because she was too scared to reach out," she admitted. "I wanted so badly for someone to come and take me out of my shell that I never even thought about trying to leave it myself and take that risk… or rather… I was too afraid to admit that's what I needed…"

She looked up from the ground, staring at Alcea directly. The redhead could see something different about her foe. Samarra was still there, but there was something else too, as if Gabrelle wasn't fully under the other woman's influence.

"I'm going to settle things now," Gabrielle said, clenching her fist. Her Baxcalibur began to stir, the side-effects of the glaive rush attack finally wearing off. "But… win or lose… I really want to become your friend, Alcea."

Alcea smiled a little, and nodded her head. "Oui. After I defeat you… I would like that myself."

Gabrielle's soft expression fell away, replace with a cold scowl. "…Don't get so presumptuous," she warned her. "I'm not about to let you win after all this!"

"We'll see," Alcea smirked, holding up her final pokeball. "Venus! Laissez-nous danser!"

She flung her pokeball into the air, and her Venusaur emerged with a roar, kicking up snow when she landed on the ground.

"Baxcalibur can defeat your Venusaur!" Gabrielle promised. "Baxcalibur! Use ice shard!"

"Bax!" Baxcalibur opened his mouth wide, firing swift chunks of ice at Venus. The attack may have been weak, but with Baxcalibur's high attack it would still be quite painful.

But Alcea wasn't worried. "Protect," she ordered. A barrier of green light formed around Venus' body, and the ice shattered against it immediately, much to Gabrielle's chagrin.

Alcea smirked. "It will take more than that to pierce our shield, is it?"

"Fine then! You can't keep using protect forever!" Gabrielle stated with a growl. "Baxcalibur, use icicle crash, now!"

"Baxcalibur!" Her pokemon conjured massive icicles out of the ground and sent them flying towards Venus. The tailwind might have long-since petered out, but with dragon dance he was still faster than she was.

But for an opponent like Alcea, speed mattered far less than grace.

"Venus, use power whip," she ordered. Long vines stretched out of the plant on Venus' back, and they whipped out to snatch away the icicles just as Anastacia did, effortlessly redirecting them before they got anywhere close to her body.

Gabrielle had expected that, of course. She knew that with a pokemon as well-trained as Alcea's Venusaur, simple long-range moves like those were unlikely to hit. The two of them had been keeping Alcea and Venus on their guard while slowly inching closer to them, and now they were prepared to strike.

"Dragon claw!" Gabrielle roared. It might not have been super-effective against a Grass type pokemon, but it was a devastating move that took full advantage of Baxcalibur's massive attack stat.

"Baxcalibur!" Baxcalibur roared, charging at Venus with his claw raised. Draconic energy crackled through his limb and he swung down in a devastating slash, aiming right for Venus' flower.

Alcea smiled. If Baxcalibur was going to throw away his guard for this attack, she would let him. Venus was strong. She could withstand the blow, and it would leave her opponent vulnerable. And all she would need was an opening.

"Sleep powder!" Alcea ordered.

Baxcalibur's dragon claw struck its target, but the effect was like smashing a balloon filled with pain. The moment his attack hit Venus, the Venusaur released a cloud of spores that swallowed him whole, covering him with the drowsy pollen and making him stumble back.

"Bax…caliber…" Baxcalibur groaned, already feeling sleepy from the effects of the spores. He was struggling to stay awake, and Gabrielle wasn't much better. She felt as if she could use a good long nap herself.

Meanwhile, Venus recoiled from the damage she'd just taken.

"Venus, how are you?" Alcea asked.

"Venusaur…" Venus gave her trainer a self-assured smile, but it was clear that the attack had taken a lot out of her. Alcea frowned. Well, she'd expected that to happen. They'd bought themselves a little time with the sleep powder, hopefully, and it was time to capitalize on it!

"Then use sunny day," she ordered. "We must change this weather to something far more pleasant, it's about time. Wouldn't you agree?"

"Venusaur!" Venus nodded in agreement. Her body began to glow orange and she released a burst of energy up through her flower, shooting a beam of light into the sky. It pushed aside the clouds of snow and illuminated the sunlight, bathing the field in warmth.

"Ah, this is much better," Olivia smiled. "Alcea, your beauty is shown even more brightly in the sunlight, after all…"

Alcea's face turned scarlet at her lover's compliment and she quickly shook her head. "N-Never mind that," she coughed. "Venus! While Baxcalibur is still sleeping, it's time to attack! Use leech seed next!" Because Baxcalibur resisted Venus' Grass type moves, she was planning on slowly draining away his energy while trying to keep their distance. It would be tricky, especially when he woke back up and tried setting up the snow again, but it was a gamble worth making.

"Venusaur!" Venus fired leech seeds at the large pokemon, but to her shock he was able to quickly jump out of the way.

"Awake already?!" Alcea gasped, surprised that their foe had already shaken off the effects of the sleep powder.

"Don't underestimate harmonia," Gabrielle warned, in spite of her yawn. "I forced… him awake… haaaahn…"

"Well, that may be so, but in the sunlight our speed trumps yours," Alcea warned. "Venus, use earth power!"

"Venusaur!" Venus stomped on the ground, causing the snow beneath Baxcalibur to begin melting from the intense heat rising up towards him.

"Dodge and prepare a snowscape," Gabrielle ordered. "I have no intention of relinquishing the weather to her, Baxcalibur!"

"Bax," Baxcalibur nodded, leaping to the side with remarkable speed, evading the erupting earth. Apparently the dragon dance made him a lot more nimble than Alcea gave him credit for. At the same time he was dodging, his body began to glow whitish-blue, and the snow clouds were already beginning to reform.

Alcea couldn't let that happen, not before she took advantage of the situation.

"Venus, use weather ball!" She ordered. It was frankly one of the best attacks for this situation.

"Venusaur!" Venus opened her mouth, forming a ball of energy. She fired the orb of light at her opponent and it began to glow brighter, taking in energy from the sunlight to burn a fiery orange as it approached the Baxcalibur.

"Nice strategy," Ross noted. "Regardless of the weather, weather ball will double in power to have a base power of 100. And in this situation, the type doesn't matter!"

"Really?" Tommy asked, surprised. "Why not?"

"In the sunlight, weather ball is a Fire type move," Ross explained. "Which is super-effective against Baxcalibur's Ice typing, but not very effective against its Dragon typing, so the two types cancel each other out for a neutral hit. But if it's snowing like it was before, then it would be an Ice type move! Which would be super-effective against Baxcalibur's Dragon typing, but he would still partially resist it due to being an Ice type as well. So whether weather… heh… weather ball is a Fire type or an Ice type move, it's still a neutral hit!"

"Wow, awesome!" Tommy cheered, pumping his fist into the air.

Gabrielle didn't give the order to dodge. It was more important to set up the snow. At least, that was the reasoning Alcea assumed, given the fact that she allowed her Baxcalibur to be hit by the move without saying a word.

"BAXCALIBUR!" Baxcalibur roared as the glowing orange ball struck him in the chest. He staggered back, enraged, and then Alcea saw something strange occur.

An orange aura wrapped itself around Baxcalibur and he seemed to be growing in power. Vic's next words confirmed her suspicion.

"What the hell?!" She exclaimed. "He just got a major power boost!" She could feel an increase in pressure from her own harmonia, which was how she knew that something was wrong.

"What's going on?!" Olivia demanded. "That attack hit, I know it did, but it just seemed to make that guy even angrier!"

Gabrielle smirked. "What you're looking at is the effect of Baxcalibur's ability, Thermal Exchange. I told you before, remember? Baxcalibur live in the deepest parts of the highest mountains of Paldea. Because of that, their bodies have adapted to deal with the cold. Their constitution allows them to store any excess heat they get from the air around them, absorbing it into their bodies to warm themselves up. But that comes with an interesting side-effect. You see, when they take in so much heat their body can't store it all, they need to direct it to something else. In this case, they use it to fuel their destructive power. Whenever they're hit by a Fire type move, not only are they incapable of being burned, but their attack stat will rise an entire stage!"

"No way!" Olivia gasped.

"Quite vexing, is it?" Alcea scowled. "So using weather ball was a miscalculation."

"And your Venusaur's hidden power is a Fire type as well, isn't that right?" Gabrielle asked, narrowing her eyes. "I wouldn't recommend using it. And of course, Baxcalibur resists all your beloved Grass type moves, so you'll have to think of something else."

She smiled. "But while you're spending your time thinking about that, we'll be more than happy to take you down! Baxcalibur, go! Avalanche!"

"BAXCALIBUR!" Baxcalibur roared. He took the energy he had stored up from being hit by weather ball, and directed it towards the ice beneath his feet. A massive wave of snow rolled over the battlefield, burying Venus alive.

"Venusaur!" Venus burst out of the snow pile, having shielded herself from the attack with protect. She growled at Baxcalibur, but Alcea held her back.

"Venus, it seems like we were thinking about this the wrong way," she said quickly. "Forget the sun. Time for a new strategy."

"Venusaur?" Venus glanced at her trainer in confusion.

Alcea directed her attention to Baxcalibur. "Your Baxcalibur is very powerful, with very strong Ice type moves. And even his Dragon type moves are quite fearsome, is it?"

Gabrielle smiled. "Why thank you."

"However," Alcea added, "I can't help noticing that you chose to rely on dragon claw when your Baxcalibur got in close to strike. That was a curious choice. With moves like ice shard, icicle crash, and avalanche, physical moves that can be used from a distance, we could dodge them or block them with protect. But when it came to attacking at close range, you didn't use your ice fang. I assumed it was because you didn't want Baxcalibur to get his head too close to Venus's flower and risk being put to sleep before he could use an attack, but then… there are other moves you could have used, oui? Such as ice punch, for example. Quite a powerful close-range Ice type move, if my friend Callie has anything to say about it."

Gabrielle's eye twitched.

"No?" Alcea smiled, narrowing her eyes. "Nothing to say? Because your Baxcalibur doesn't know ice punch, does it, Gabrielle? It can't learn it."

"Well… it doesn't really have hands," Tommy said. "It's kind of hard to punch with those claws."

"No one asked for your opinion," Vic shushed him.

"But ice punch isn't the only move you could have used, is it?" Alcea asked. "No, there's another physical Ice type move designed for close quarters, one you so gladly debuted in this very fight, isn't that so?"

Gabrielle's expression darkened.

"Rather than using ice spinner, which would have been super-effective against Venus, you had your Baxcalibur use dragon claw! Because he doesn't know ice spinner, isn't that right?" Alcea demanded, pointing an accusatory finger at Baxcalibur and Gabrielle. "Which means he won't be able to do anything about this! Venus, use grassy terrain!"

"Venusaur!" Venus bellowed, a green aura surrounding her body. Alcea was glowing too, the light seemed to spread out from her chest and cover her entire body. It flooded into the ground and melted the ice and snow, causing long blades of grass to rise up and take its place.

Alcea had reclaimed control of the territory once more.

Nice! Way to go, Alcea! The battle is rushing towards its climax! Will Gabrielle be able to defeat Alcea with her Baxcalibur, and all the boosts to his attack he's managed to get? Or will Alcea be able to overpower him with the power of her bond with Venus? And, win or lose, will Gabrielle be able to make friends? Things are reaching their peak, and this battle is almost over!