When things look their darkest and even Kanone wasn't enough to stop Samarra and her wicked plans, a new hero comes in to save the day! And it's… Valerie Chiester. Yikes. Things are REALLY desperate if we have to rely on an evil woman like her. What the hell could she be after, anyway? Why is she going against Gwen and Samarra? Is she actually fighting for the heroes this time? Or is this all part of something else? …I think we all know the answer to THAT question.

KedharS: Not quite. Val is still here to serve as the symbol of hope for our heroes! Because that's what she's good at. Inspiring hope. And certainly not crushing it to dust beneath her feet.

Jjjdunk1: I don't think anyone wants to root for Valerie. But we have to, if we want to stop Samarra and Gwen.

Venoms Cross 2: I think "both" is giving her too much credit.

Guest: Unfortunately, things are never so simple. Kanone wasn't able to do it, so now the fate of Agate Village falls to Val.

Gyvarius: Gwen IS pretty powerful! But you're right, the strength of a trainer like Val, and her desire to crush things completely is probably no small part of why she's doing this. If only she could be an actual hero for once.

Hyphenman: That's the thing, Val's pretty strong. And she certainly has an advantage with her Dark type pokemon. The only thing we should be concerned about is what exactly she's hoping to GAIN from this fight. Why would she go along with this?

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 1232

"You… what are you doing?" Samarra demanded. The others were also confused. This girl Valerie… they hadn't expected her to stand up against Gwen. She seemed like the kind of person who would be relishing in Gwen's possession and Samarra trashing the town, but it seemed like she had her own agenda after all.

Val blinked, tapping her chin thoughtfully. She smirked. "Whatever do you mean?" She asked innocently. "All I'm doing is helping my friend!"

The saccharine tone of her voice didn't convince a soul there.

"This was always the plan," Val clarified. "Once I knew what you were capable of… and understood what the relationship between you and your little sister had to be… I knew that the best course of action was to bring her here. Let you take control of her."

"Why would you do such a thing?" Samarra asked. It was rare that someone behaved in a way that she didn't anticipate. She searched Gwen's mind for any clues as to the nature of Val, but all she could see was a jumbled mess of misery. Clearly her little sister did not think very highly of her compatriot, when she thought of her at all.

"Because it would finally give me an excuse, of course!" Val chirped. "You see, Gwenny here… she's a bit hard to keep on a leash. Even our boss is aware of how hard she is to rein in, you know? So that's why I'm her partner, because my team of Dark type pokemon have the best chance of keeping her under control. But you see… if she doesn't lose control and strike out against me, I can't exactly justify using force, now can I?" She asked.

"I don't believe this…" Kanone muttered, shaking his head in disbelief. "You… you let my sister get captured, all for what? So you could defeat her in battle? Make her suffer even more?! I can't believe you could do something so-"

"Losers should back off and get out of the way," Val glared at him, dropping the affable attitude. "This is MY fight, Mr. Loser. So. Back. Off. And let me have fun in my own way."

The aura of menace surrounding her sent a chill down Kanone's spine.

"What… what should we do?" Rui asked worriedly. This girl, Val, was their enemy, she'd invaded Agate Village! And yet… now she was going to be fighting on THEIR side? It defied logic. She wasn't sure if she should be rooting for the brunette or not.

"I see. So in the end… you're irrational," Samarra judged.

"That's a good way to put it!" Val nodded. "Absolutely irrational… or more accurately… the kind of girl who puts her own pleasure above the needs of other people, you see."

Samarra shook her head. Fine. If this girl was going to get in their way, then she would have Gwen defeat her. She could feel the other girl's nature, and recognized Val's lack of harmonia. There was no way she'd be able to beat Gwen, not when her natural abilities were being supplemented by Samarra's own.

"Send out your pokemon then," Samarra snarled, mentally giving Gwen a command. Gwen nodded and Lancelot charged at Val, swords raised. This wasn't a friendly pokemon battle. If Val wanted to mess with them, then she was going to be putting her life on the line!

Val grinned. "Crow, come out," she ordered, sending out her Honchkrow. The large bird squawked with pride and spread his wings, sending a blast of wind at the approaching Gallade.

Lancelot leapt back, dodging the air slash, and raised his sword. But before he had the chance to strike, another blast of wind hit him, forcing him backwards.

"You've already pumped up that Gallade quite a bit with your swords dances," Val mused. "I think we've had enough of him. Please send out your next pokemon, if you would be so kind?"

The whirlwind blew Lancelot back to his pokeball and Gwen glared at Val, reaching for another one. Her standard strategy was an all-out offensive with her Gallade, but Val had quickly put a stop to that. As expected of someone who knew exactly how Gwen fought.

"Tesla!" Gwen shouted, tossing her next pokeball out.

"Beheeyem," the eerie pokemon that emerged from the pokeball called, hovering ominously over the battlefield.

"What is that pokemon?" Giselle gasped.

"It looks like an alien!" Raizer noted.

"It's a Beheeyem," Rafe explained. "A Psychic type pokemon that's known for using their powers to entrance people and control their minds. Quite a dangerous pokemon, I must say. Especially in the hands of someone like that."

An eerie shiver went through the crowd. Gwen was completely unstable- and she had a pokemon capable of mind control?

That wasn't something anybody wanted to face.

But Val didn't seem to care. She just laughed.

"I'm not surprised," she chuckled. "Well, that's just how it goes with you, right? From one eerie pokemon to another."

Gwen blinked. Thanks to Samarra's influence, she could understand the full context of what Val was saying. She tilted her head to the side. "…Eerie?" Certainly Beheeyem was an eerie pokemon, but how was Lancelot eerie? He was her noble knight and protector.

"Why of course!" Val grinned. "That sick and twisted obsessive relationship you have with your Gallade? It's the creepiest thing I've ever seen! You know, just because it's in the Human-Like egg group, that doesn't mean you can actually have sex with it!"

An ominous silence fell over the battlefield. Even Samarra was stunned by Val's words. She tried to get a grasp on her sister's mental state, but failed. Gwen's mind had gone completely blank as she used the totality of her brainpower to understand what Samarra had just said.

"You… what the hell are you saying?!" Kanone exclaimed, enraged on his sister's behalf. "That's just sick!"

"I know, that's what I'm saying, her relationship with that pokemon is sick," Val said, apparently "agreeing" with Kanone's moral outrage. It was clear that she had no real qualm about the situation, of course. She was just trying to upset Gwen.

"SHUT UP!" Gwen roared, her harmonia going wild. Samarra was pushed back by the force of her sister's psychic energy, falling over on her ass. She stared in shock at Gwen as the girl went wild, practically tearing the grass out of the ground.

"DON'T TALK ABOUT LANCELOT THAT WAY!" She screamed, stomping on the ground. "Lancelot is BRAVE! He's LOYAL! He ALWAYS protects me, no matter what! Stop insulting him!"

Val's eyes lit up with glee at Gwen's outrage. Good, very good. Keep losing control, it'll make this SO much more fun!

It had taken quite a lot of planning and good fortune for the situation to become exactly what it was. The chances of Gwen being the only person left under Samarra's control and Val being the only person available who could fight her were astronomically small.

Which is how Val knew that this battle was simply meant to be.

"Beheeyem!" Tesla cried, raising his hands. The red, green, and yellow lights that made up his fingers began to twinkle and an electrical current built up between them.

"Thunderbolt!" Gwen shouted, her Beheeyem launching a bolt of lightning at Crow. Val feigned a yawn, completely unfazed. She didn't even order her Honchkrow to dodge.

"HONCHKROW!" Crow wailed in pain as the lightning bolt struck him directly. He thrashed about as the current ran through him.

"Oops, well, sucks for him," Val shrugged. "That's the good thing about not having harmonia! When my pokemon takes a beating, it doesn't even make a dent on cute ol' me."

Kanone snarled in disgust at how nonchalant Val was about her pokemon's injuries. Who the hell did she think she was?

He wasn't the only one disgusted. Nobody was happy that Val was fighting on their side. Which may have been just what she wanted.

"Now then, Crow, that must have hurt, right?" Val asked, strolling over to her injured Honchkrow. The avian pokemon had collapsed from the force of the attack, and was struggling to rise. As he attempted to get back up, the enraged Gwen was already giving her Beheeyem orders for another thunderbolt attack.

"Honch… krow…" Crow nodded. It looked like the action was killing him.

Val smirked. "Excellent. Then let's give little Gwenny some comeuppance, shall we?"

"Honchkrow!" Crow was suddenly reinvigorated, spreading his wings and soaring towards the Beheeyem. A dark aura surrounded him as he got closer, and he slammed into the Psychic type pokemon, knocking him back.

"BEEEEEEEHEEEEEEEE!" Tesla wailed in pain and Gwen screamed, feeling the pain from the move blossom through her body.

"What kind of move was that?!" Chloe asked in disbelief.

"It's called comeuppance," Val said. "I'm a very big fan of the phrase 'do unto others as you would have them do unto you'," she explained. "Comeuppance is a move similar to counter or mirror coat, reflecting back damage after a pokemon has been hit by a move. But unlike those moves, the damage doesn't have to be specifically physical or special. Any damage at all will do, and Crow is happy to turn it back on whoever dealt it!"

She paused.

"Oh, just to be clear, when I said I'm a fan of the 'do unto others' I mean excluding myself, of course," she clarified. "I'll just do as I like. But if you do something to me, I'll be happy to return the favor at 1.5 times the damage!"

"Beh… Beheeyem…" Tesla panted, recovering from the brutal hit. His thunderbolt had gone wildly off track but he was already preparing another one to take the Honchkrow down.

"That Beheeyem has a pretty high special attack stat," Rafe noted. "I doubt that girl's going to just sit by and let her Honchkrow get hit again."

Val had been happy to let Crow take a massive hit at the beginning of the fight to inflict serious damage back on the Beheeyem. And it made sense why she would, Samarra thought. After all, she knew as well as they did that Gwen only had five pokemon on her. That gave Val a numbers advantage. Even though Gwen had no idea what Val's sixth pokemon was, she knew the other girl had one- Gwen might be using her harmonia, but it couldn't be denied that Val still had a significant advantage.

"Gwen, be careful of that Valerie," Samarra warned her sister. "She's scheming something."

"Really?" Val rolled her eyes. "That's all your genius intellect can you? I'm ALWAYS scheming something, you know? Like this! Crow, use sucker punch!"

"Honchkrow!" Crow flapped his wings and shot across the battlefield, raising his talons and raking into Tesla with his claws before the pokemon could fire off another thunderbolt. But this time Gwen was ready. She wasn't about to let the attack sneak past her a second time!

She screamed, using her harmonia to force her will onto her pokemon. Tesla WOULD use his attack, she would make sure of it!

"BEHEEYEM!" Tesla endured the sucker punch and fired a bolt of lightning at Crow, hitting the avian pokemon directly with another thunderbolt.

"Honchkrow!" Crow squawked in pain, plummeting to the ground. Val wasn't fazed in the slightest by her pokemon's injuries though.

"Get back up, now," she ordered, her tone of voice brooking no compromise. "We still have much to accomplish before you can rest."

That was intriguing to Samarra. So Val was willing to sacrifice her pokemon so easily? It made sense, Samarra would gladly do the same if it ensured victory. The only question was, what was Val looking to accomplish from that?

I'll have to be careful with this one… Samarra thought. "Gwen!"

"Thunderbolt!" Gwen shouted again, and Tesla launched another bolt of lightning.

"Dodge it," Val yawned, completely uninterested by the move. "Come on Gwenny, don't you have anything new? Even WE can dodge a move if you use it that many times in quick succession, right Crow?"

"Honchkrow," Crow nodded, easily evading the thunderbolt with a flap of his wings.

"That girl's goading her…" Rui shivered. She didn't know how she felt about that. Gwen was frightening, and it seemed like Val was trying to make her completely lose control.

"My concern is that she's planning something," Kanone scowled. "What the hell is with this half-assed battling style? It's like she doesn't care if she wins or loses!"

Indeed, Val was playing pretty fast and loose with this fight, which was surprising given the fact that if she lost then she would be possessed by Samarra. Kanone couldn't understand how she could be so easygoing about this mess.

"Well, your little sister definitely has powerful pokemon," Alden noted. "But honestly… in terms of skill as a trainer…"

Everyone got a sense of what he meant by that. Gwen had been fighting with brute strength this entire time. She'd used the same move over and over, and not once had she even given an order to dodge. As far as trainers went, her actions were downright amateurish.

"She's too used to fighting with Lancelot, that's why," Val answered for them with a smirk. "Oh, certainly, she has other pokemon capable of fighting. But she relies on Lancelot the most. He's become a crutch for her… and that's a habit I simply have to break."

It was an eerie thing to hear the woman say. No one had any idea what the response to that statement was.

"Is that why you're taking this so easily?" Kanone demanded.

"Who's taking it easy?" Val asked, raising an eyebrow. She smirked. "All this is just part of my strategy, you know."

Somehow hearing that from her didn't reassure him.

"It's because she has a trump card," Wes said, narrowing his eyes. "Isn't that right?"

Val frowned. "No spoilers, please," she hissed, shooting a glare towards the audience. "Everything will come out in due time."

"Th-That's right…" Chloe shivered, going pale behind her mask. "I-I almost forgot… that pokemon of hers…"

"What pokemon is that?" Kanone demanded.

"It's like nothing I've ever seen before," Wes replied. He had a strained look on his face. "But that pokemon… I don't think ANYONE could defeat it."

That was it. Val's face hardened into a glare and she turned on the others.

"ENOUGH." She said. "One more word… from ANY of you… and I'll be happy to show you just HOW MUCH damage my 'trump card' is capable of doing."

That shut them up. Even Wes. The sight of the expert trainer falling silent was all the clue everyone else needed to keep their mouths shut.

Samarra, on the other hand, was brimming with curiosity. A trump card? A special pokemon? What sort of pokemon could it be?

She knew Val's team thanks to Gwen's knowledge. Besides her Honchkrow, Val had a Muk from the Alola Region, a Grimmsnarl, an Incineroar, and a Tyranitar.

But a trump card…

For the first time, Samarra felt uneasy. But she couldn't allow her doubts to take over. She had to guide her little sister to victory.

"Gwen!" She shouted, and Gwen responded immediately with another command to her Beheeyem. Tesla generated another electric current.

"No, none of that," Val said, shaking her head. "Use brave bird, Crow."

"Honchkrow!" Crow nodded, lowering his head and soaring towards Tesla. He picked up speed as he broke through the wind current and slammed into the Beheeyem, knocking the Psychic type pokemon backwards.

"Urgh!" Gwen winced in pain. Samarra felt the same backlash. Apparently, even though she was no longer fighting against Kanone, whatever it was that he'd done to her was still having an effect, what a pain in the ass.

"Honch!" Tesla wasn't the only pokemon who'd gotten injured from that attack. Crow took damage from the recoil, tumbling back in the sky.

"Why'd she use THAT move?" Maddi wondered.

"What do you mean?" Rui asked.

"Well… Beheeyem is a Psychic type," Maddi explained. "And Honchkrow is a Dark/Flying type. Which means that Dark type moves and Flying type moves both get boosted when he uses them. But… shouldn't he just be using Dark type moves, since Beheeyem is weak to them? I don't know why she'd have her pokemon use a move like brave bird that would do less damage than a night slash and also comes with recoil."

It was an odd choice to be sure. No one had any clue what was going through Val's head, even if a few could guess why she'd accepted this battle in the first place (because she was a bitch).

That was exactly how Val wanted it.

Go on, she thought with a smile. Keep guessing. Keep struggling. You have no idea what my pokemon and I have up our sleeves…

She was looking forward to defeating Gwen, and then breaking her. Totally and absolutely. She just needed to make sure the conditions were right.

"BEHEEYEM!" Tesla fired another thunderbolt, and this time it was a direct hit.

"HONCHKROW!" Crow wailed in pain as the lightning struck him. He plummeted out of the sky and landed in the grass, electricity sparking across his feathered body.

The thunderbolt had taken out the last of his health, he couldn't get back into the air.

"Oh, no!" Val feigned concern for her pokemon's wellbeing, returning him to his pokeball. "You took out Crow! What am I going to do now!?"

Samarra scowled. Gwen might have taken out one of Val's pokemon. But Samarra had a feeling like that was exactly what the brunette WANTED her to do.

Val and Gwen's battle is off to an interesting start! Val might have taken the first loss, but she DID start with an advantage in terms of number of pokemon. The only question is whether or not she can defeat Gwen's harmonia. What exactly is she planning? She's definitely got something in the works, if she's willing to sacrifice one of her pokemon so easily. I guess we'll have to see what it is.