Kanone managed to defeat Wes! It was hard going, but he managed to do it! With Wes freed, that means Samarra doesn't have any more friends who are capable of fighting on her behalf, right? Then does that mean that this fight is over? And we can finally put this to rest? Or does she have one last trick up her sleeve? I suppose we'll have to find out.

KedharS: She's definitely in a bad place, that's for sure. Lucky us.

Guest: Don't worry, we'll definitely explore Samarra's mental state and how it's affected by what she's done. And explore a little bit more about her power too.

Tambry96bj: Well, they'll have to use a chain or something maybe. Or get one of those full-coverage wetsuits to keep from skin contact.

Hyphenman: Yeah, hopefully this coming reunion will be just as intense as it needs to be. Things are certainly going to get complicated, that's for sure. And as for Ayame, don't worry, everything will be okay probably.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 1229

Kanone felt an immense release of pressure when Giraud finally fell. All the tension leaked out of him but he shook his head and refocused.

He couldn't drop his guard now. They may have defeated Wes, and with the way Samarra had been speaking, it didn't seem likely that she had other friends around. But that didn't mean he could take this easy.

Samarra was still Samarra. Even without any allies his sister was still dangerous.

"What… what happened?" Wes sat up, his head pounding. He saw Giraud collapsed in the grass, and then Kanone standing over him. He turned to see Samarra and immediately knew what had happened to him.

"So that's it," he snarled, leaping to his feet and recalling Giraud back to his pokeball. He had a surprising amount of energy still in reserve after what had just happened.

Wes eyed Samarra cautiously. Even though she was still on the ground, he couldn't afford to lose track of her. What if she attacked him again, or someone else this time? No, that couldn't be allowed. He needed to-

"WES!"

Before Wes could implement any of those ideas, he was tackled by his wife. She threw her arms around him and burst into tears, knocking him off his feet.

"R-Rui!" He gasped, struggling for air as she practically caved in his chest cavity. "What are you doing?! Let me go, this is important-"

"NO! NEVER!" Rui wasn't letting her husband out of her sight again. She sobbed into his shoulder and Vic slowly walked over to the two of them, joining in the family hug as well. It was sweet. The kind of moment that felt like the end of a long and grueling nightmare.

There was only one problem.

"No… NO!" Samarra rose to her feet, shaking. She clutched her head. "This… I won't accept this! So you managed to win… so what?!"

As she spoke, she stepped backwards, trying to put as much distance between herself and her older brother as possible. She held her hands out defensively, trying to shield herself, but it didn't matter really.

As strong as Samarra's gifts might have been, she was still human.

"Samurott," Sammy growled, reaching the woman in a flash. She raised her sword and held it at Samarra's throat, daring her to try something. Samarra's eyes widened with fear for a brief moment, one of the most human emotions she'd ever displayed, and then returned to her stoic composure as if nothing was wrong.

"Sammy… it's over," Kanone said gently, approaching his sister. "You lost. There's no one left for you now. And as long as I'm here, I won't let you hurt anyone else."

"So that's it then?" Samarra snarled, glaring at her brother. It looked like she was going to cry, but Kanone had to remind himself of who he was dealing with. His sister wasn't the type of woman to shed tears over people, not even herself.

He nodded solemnly. "That's it then."

Samarra shook her head. "I won't go back. Not to that place! I refuse to be bound any longer! This shell is a prison, and you'd have me go back to that… that… BOX? No. Never. I would die before I let you take me back to that place."

"We have to contain you," Kanone said, trying to keep the emotion out of his voice. He didn't like it any more than she did. This wasn't like when his father sent Gwen away to work on her abilities and help her mental state. This was permanent. Samarra couldn't be allowed out of her cell. It wasn't fair, but it was the only way to keep everyone safe.

Samarra's face returned to its impassive state. She stared blankly at Kanone, and the look in her eye unnerved him.

"I won't go back," she said calmly. "I don't have to."

Kanone scowled. "I'm sorry, but I'm not giving you a choice!" He turned to his Samurott. "Sammy, make sure not to hurt her too badly, alright?"

"Samurott," Sammy nodded, a complex look on her face. She didn't like this any better than her trainer did, but just like him, she knew it was necessary. She raised her sword and swung it down upon Samarra, with the blunt side. Just enough to incapacitate her, not to deal any real damage.

It didn't matter though. Because Sammy's sword bounced off another blade before it could hit.

Immediately Sammy tensed up and her eyes widened. She leapt backwards as a new interloper appeared on the battlefield.

"What the hell?!" Donoma exclaimed. "What's going on here?!"

"Wh-Who's pokemon is that?" Lila asked, looking around frantically.

Samarra smiled, and began humming to herself. Her eyes never left Kanone's. Oh, what a delight! Seeing her older brother's face, twisting with agony and shock as he realized… it was perfect!

After all, he recognized the pokemon who had thrown himself between Samarra and the blade. The scars he was covered in couldn't be mistaken.

"No…" Kanone whispered, staring in muted shock at the Gallade standing in front of him.

"Gal," the pokemon scoffed, lowering his bladed arm. He stood a little taller, glaring at Sammy with his good eye.

And just like that, a shambling figure broke out of the brush.

It was a girl. She walked like a zombie, her gait disjointed and unbalanced like she had a broken leg. But it was clear that wasn't the issue. Her lacy black dress looked perfect on her, even though she'd come out of the wilderness, flawlessly seamed and clinging to her like the clothes of a doll. The same went for her porcelain-perfect skin and her gorgeous blonde hair, but the most striking thing about her were her eyes. They were the color of steel but lacked the shine, staying dully out of her head like pits of grey sludge. The perfect doll's eyes, lacking any trace of emotion.

Eyes that Kanone knew well.

"H-How…" he muttered, shaking his head. "How are you here?!"

Gwen didn't respond. Because of course she didn't. Kanone could have been talking to anyone, after all, so why would she needed to answer?

"It-It's that girl…" Chloe began to shake. She remembered how terrifying Gwen and her pokemon were. "What's she doing here?"

"It can't be…" Alcea shook her head. She had a very bad feeling about this.

Samarra surged with joy.

"Oh, you're back," she cooed, practically throwing herself around the other girl. She stepped up behind Gwen and reached past her shoulders to cradle her cheeks, resting her chin on the shorter girl's head. "And look at you… you're so big now."

"Let her go!" Kanone roared. This was wrong. This was all wrong. What was Gwen doing here?! And why… how… how could she just be standing there tolerating Samarra touching her like that? He knew his little sister, and human contact of any sort would send her completely off the rails.

"Don't be like that…" Samarra pouted. "Guinevere is happy to see us, isn't that right, sweetheart?" She petted her sister's blonde hair and Gwen's mouth creaked open.

"Yes… happy…" Her voice sounded even more hollow than it usually did, not that Kanone would have any inkling.

It had been several years since he'd seen his sister after all.

"Gwen…" His voice cracked. "I've been looking for you, you know."

Gwen blinked. "Why?"

"Because I want to bring you home, of course!" He exclaimed.

She stared at him in confusion and he corrected himself.

"Gwen, the reason I'm looking for you is because I want to bring you back home. With Blake." He threw Blake's name in there as a carrot. Gwen's attachment to Blake was the strongest weapon in their arsenal for getting through to her.

Then she said something he didn't understand.

"I am home."

Samarra was smiling ear to ear.

"That's right, big brother. My sweet little Guinevere understands the importance of family. She won't be going back with you. She's MY sister too, and I'm staying with her."

She nodded Gwen's head for her.

Kanone growled. "Unacceptable!" He roared. "You think I would just LET you take her? Let her go immediately! You can't just get your claws in her, didn't you learn your lesson last time?!"

"You stopped me last time," Samarra said, narrowing her eyes. Her grip on Gwen tightened. "But that all changes now. I still had it, you know? Our connection? Even after all these years, the connection we made back then remained, deep inside of her. So when I called out… she was happy to come and find me."

Kanone didn't like the sound of that one bit. So that's why Gwen had come to Samarra's aid. That was the reason she'd stopped Sammy's slash.

He knew that Gwen was a problem. She was working with a terrorist organization after all. Blake had said himself just how dangerous she was. And now she was under Samarra's control. Under the thumb of her abuser. It was sick. Twisted. And he was completely out of his depth.

"That girl… is Kanone Harker's sister? Blake's sister?" Olivia didn't know what to say. She glanced at Alcea, looking for confirmation, but the shadow over her girlfriend's face made her reconsider it.

"She is," Maddi said grimly. "I know. I've met her before."

Marion winced.

"Big brother… Guinevere and I are sisters," Samarra said. "We share a bond that you can't understand. And I'm not going to let you ruin it. Don't you see? I'm the only one. The only one that can help her. You can't. Dad can't. Not even our dear Blake. Oh, you thought I didn't know about him?" She asked, noting the surprise on Kanone's face. "You can't keep me from my family."

"Blake isn't involved with this," Kanone growled.

"Is that why you never told me about him? In all the times you visited since you locked me up, you never thought to mention that I have little brother? That's very rude of you, you know," she scowled. "When I'm done here, I'm paying him a visit. We need to make up for lost time."

"Absolutely out of the question," Kanone said, shaking his head. He clenched his fist.

"You can't keep me from my family," she repeated, and Kanone felt real anger in her voice. Even though she seemed as stoic as she always did, it seemed that the fire in Ayame had lit something in Samarra as well.

"I can try, at least," Kanone said, glancing at his Samurott. She was weakened, but he could tell from the gleam in her eye as she stared at Gwen's Gallade that she would fight for him. "Even if it takes my life, I can try to stop you from doing anything to that boy."

"But why would you WANT to?" Samarra questioned. "Don't you understand what I have to offer? With me… Guinevere can be cured! She can be normal!"

"Normal?" Kanone snorted incredulously. "Don't make me laugh. What the HELL would YOU know about normal?!"

"I know that she still can't hear your voice," Samarra said, her words cutting into Kanone like a knife. "That's the issue, right? She can't understand you because her brain doesn't work correctly. She's not like you and me. She can't make a connection with anyone."

"She… she is different," Kanone admitted. "But that doesn't make her-"

"She doesn't have to be, though. I can fix her."

Samarra's words slammed into Kanone like a truck. It didn't sound like her usual way of asserting her intelligence. She wasn't talking down to him, or even acting like what she said was a matter of course, so he should listen.

No, the way she said that almost seemed… caring.

But that concept was foreign to Samarra.

"What are you talking about?" He growled.

"Guinevere can't understand other people. She can't make a connection with them," Samarra said, resting her hand on the side of Gwen's head. Kanone could see the strain on his sisters face as she tried to fight back against Samarra's physical contact. But it was clearly futile, Samarra's harmonia was more powerful than her sister's.

"Yes, of course, that's an issue for her," Kanone admitted, feeling no small amount of pity and sorrow for his sister's condition. "But that doesn't mean you need to cut open her brain."

"It would help," Samarra said. "But I don't need to do that. I can fix her right now. Right here."

Kanone stared at her in shock. He didn't know what to say to that.

"You and father never it saw it that way, not even mother did," Samarra said, her face clouding over as she stared at her brother. "But if you could just use your head, just THINK for one second then you would see how right I am!"

"…Fine then," Kanone said. "Explain it to me. Explain to me how the damage you left in Gwen's mind was for her own good!"

"Because I can understand her," Samarra said simply. "We share a connection. Don't you understand? With my harmonia, I can connect with anyone and become their friend. Even her."

"She's right, Kanone," Gwen said suddenly, startling him. What the hell was that? She NEVER spoke up on her own, she didn't even answer questions posed to her, unless they were spoken directly at her and using her name. What the hell?

Samarra smiled.

"My connection to little sister means that I can see her heart. And she can feel mine. We're connected. And that means I don't need to use those twisted and confusing words that get her brain all jumbled up and wrong. She can always, ALWAYS understand the core of what I want. I FIXED her, big brother, don't you see how wonderful she is now?"

Gwen smiled.

For the first time, Kanone saw his sister use her powers in a way that actually helped someone. Not any of this "I'll make you feel satisfied by being my friend and fulfill your wishes when we take over the planet so follow me" song and dance she used on her minions.

Samarra had raised a point that Kanone had never considered before.

Gwen's mental issues had held her back her entire life. They had crippled any chance she had of interacting with people normally. She'd never had human friends. Or even expressed a desire for them, given how difficult her interactions with people were. Even as her older brother, Gwen never showed him the same affection she did for Blake. Their ages were too different, his interactions with her were too strained.

But Samarra could change all that. Just as easily as he could connect with a pokemon and be certain that pokemon could know what he was feeling, Samarra could share everything with her sister. Gwen wouldn't have to worry about her confusion or frustration with Samarra in her mind, because her sister could convey things in a way no other person could hope to.

"It's perfect, isn't it?" Samarra asked.

It sure sounded that way. But none of that mattered.

"I'll admit… that power of yours… it could help Gwen," Kanone said slowly. "But don't you remember what happened before? The PAIN you put her through? You made her condition so much worse, and you're telling me that now it's going to be okay?"

"Guinevere is strong," Samarra said simply. "She can deal with a little discomfort."

One glance at his sister's face said it all. Gwen was in agony. He had no doubt that she was a prisoner of her own body like the others, forced into the role of the ideal little sister that Samarra wanted her to play.

Why? Why was Samarra like this? That power of hers could do so much good for Gwen and people like her.

Why did she have to be who she was?

The thought of it brought tears to Kanone's eyes, but he forced them back.

"I won't let you hurt my sister," he seethed. "I'll make you let her go. And when I do, then I'm going to put you back in your cell, and Gwen," he said, turning to his other sister, "I'm going to bring you back home." His voice was gentler now. "Blake is waiting for you to come home."

Gwen flinched. Her face wavered for a moment before turning serious again.

"That's the spirit!" Kanone whirled to see another girl stepping out of the brush that Gwen had emerged from. She had curly black hair and wore black leather, and had shiny gold eyes that made her look positively wicked.

Judging by the reactions of the others, that was a fair assessment.

"Who the hell are you?" Kanone asked, glaring at the stranger. "Another one of my sister's friends?"

"Which sister would that be?" The pale girl mused, tapping her chin. "Well, I suppose it doesn't matter, does it? Neither one of them are what you'd call 'good friend material'. But I'll say this much, I'm me. I don't like when others poke around in my head, after all."

She left the "I only like it when I do it" to hang in the air as an implication.

Kanone said nothing. He didn't have time to waste on this girl. She was probably one of the Children of the Oracles that worked with Gwen, that was his best guess. It would explain why the others were so tense.

"So you just let her fall under my sister's control, then?" Kanone asked, turning back to face Gwen and Samarra.

"Of course!" She chirped. "My name's Valerie, by the way, but you can just call me Val. And yes, I DID watch as Gwen started acting all strange. Why do you think I brought her all the way here?"

She sat back on a tree stump and crossed her long legs, smiling innocently. "I do so like sibling squabbles, don't you?"

Kanone was done with her. Whoever this girl was, she was definitely twisted, and he'd had enough of that for today.

"Wes, you and your family clear out of here," Kanone said, nodding to Wes. "I need to have one more battle."

The trio quickly complied, getting out of the way. Kanone turned to his sister.

He only had one pokemon left. Just Sammy. The others were resting back home.

Kanone glanced at his Samurott, and she nodded back at him. They didn't have a choice at this point, they'd have to use their secret weapon.

All that traveling. All those years of study. I suppose it's time to see if it all paid off, Kanone thought, hoping Sammy would be strong enough to endure the struggle ahead.

Once they did this, there was no going back.

Whoa, Kanone's fighting ANOTHER battle? And this time it's against Gwen and Lancelot! I don't know, Samarra made a very good point about helping Gwen. Perhaps with her power, she MIGHT be able to make a world where Gwen could make connections with other people through her, even if it came as a discomfort. What do you all think?