So now that we know the guests, the next few chapters will focus on the atmosphere leading up to the tournament. This could be a significant moment for them, what could result from it, I wonder?

KedharS: Well, maybe.

Aquahaze675: There's only one slot left. Who it could be, well, who can say?

Hellraiserphoenix: There's only one position left to fill, and as for the teams, well, we'll certainly get to see what they're made of, that's for sure!

Tambry96bj: Hopefully she can make up for it here.

JoshGamerV: Really? Interesting. Who do you think it is?

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 489

"It's not fair!" Cynthia complained, biting into her hamburger like an angry Sharpedo. The gang was eating dinner in the Snorlax Commons, and discussing the events of the day- particularly, the different letters that seemed to be getting spread around campus.

Blake sighed, rolling his eyes. He expected something like this. He wasn't surprised that he was the only one out of his friends to get a letter; because Ayame had gotten one, that meant that this tournament was open to competitors all grades. So the freshmen weren't likely to be competing with the seniors and juniors, they wouldn't be on the same level.

But he didn't know why HE had received an invitation. It was troubling. So yeah, he understood Cynthia's bitching, but that didn't mean he couldn't have a little bit of fun with her in the meantime, upset as she was.

"Well, Cynthia, I guess whoever was making the decisions saw me beat you again in the Winter Tag Team Tournament, and decided that I was the better trainer for the job," Blake replied, wiggling his eyebrows at her with a smirk on his face.

Cynthia's eyes flashed and she scowled, taking another bite out of her hamburger.

"Don't get ahead of yourself!" Cynthia stated, pointing at him. "Don't forget, Rose and I kicked your butt in the Fall Festival Tournament!"

"And I beat you in our very first match here," Blake finished. "Remember, our record is 2-1 in my favor, Cynthia."

Cynthia fumed at him but didn't have a response, finishing off her burger.

"I'm surprised that Ayame, you got one," Kitty said, taking advantage of the lull in conversation to direct her attention to her friend. "I-I mean, you aren't even in the Battle Course, right? I wouldn't have expected that."

"Not just me," Ayame said, shaking her head. "Darla Drake got an invitation as well."

"…So I got passed over for a pop idol, too?" Cynthia asked, puffing up her cheeks in irritation.

"Hey, Darla is a great trainer!" Ayame snapped.

"Really?" Julia asked, intrigued. "She hadn't thought that the girl was a powerful trainer, she didn't really give off that vibe."

"…Well, I mean, that's what I hear, anyway, from the boss," Ayame admitted sheepishly. "I, uh… I haven't actually seen her battle myself."

Blake nodded silently, thinking about the times he had spoken with Darla. She'd given off a strange atmosphere that he couldn't quite put a finger on. Maybe she was a skilled battler after all, he couldn't necessarily say.

"Where's Maddi?" Sango asked, looking around. "I thought she was coming."

"Guess she doesn't do crowds," Cynthia said, shrugging her shoulders. She assumed that Maddi might need a bit of a social break to unwind after the stress that the meeting that afternoon had put on her, but wasn't about to say it. That was some intense stuff that the Commander had told them, and while Cynthia received energy from being around other people, Maddi was definitely not that sort of girl. She probably needed some time to herself to-

"Just late," Maddi said, coming up behind her, holding her tray.

"…Or she's just late," Cynthia corrected herself, shrugged. "Hey Maddi. We're just talking about the tournament coming up, the one we talked about earlier. Can you believe it? Blake got an invitation of all people, but I didn't?! I'm his rival, I absolutely should have gotten one!"

Maddi resisted the urge to smirk as she set her tray down in an empty seat across from Cynthia, reaching into her coat pocket and revealing her letter to Cynthia and the rest of the group, everyone staring in surprise.

"You got one, too?!" Cynthia gasped, her jaw dropping to the ground.

"Yeah," Maddi said.

"Awesome! That's so cool! So you're going to be joining the tournament with the Commander? Maddi, that's great!" Cynthia gushed, her eyes shining with excitement.

Maddi opened her mouth, but no sound escaped. From the way Cynthia had just been complaining about Blake, she hadn't expected that response coming from her.

"Uh… what?" She finally managed to mumble out. "You're not jealous?"

"Oh, I'm seething with jealousy, don't get me wrong," Cynthia admitted, nodding her head. "But come on, you're a great trainer, you totally deserve this! It's great you got recognized!" Her expression darkened and she turned to Blake, scowling. "Blake, on the other hand…"

Blake stuck his tongue out at her and she hissed at him in response.

"Well, whatever," Cynthia scowled, leaning back in her seat and crossing her arms in front of her chest. "I'm getting special training from the Commander, just so you know! So before you know it, I'm going to be so far ahead of you, you'll never be able to get another win off of me! I'll have you kissing my shoes, so hah!"

Blake was about to respond, when a loud ping from Ayame's cell phone stopped him. Followed by a bunch more pings.

"Aya, what's up?" Blake asked, turning to her. She reached into her pocket and took out her phone, checking it. More pings were blowing up on the phone.

"It's Lila," Ayame said, her face darkening. "She's asking me to call. I think she's overreacting, but I probably should take this."

Ayame rose from her seat and headed out onto the patio, ignoring the storm of texts expressing worry about Darla. She dialed in to Lila, calling her.

"Hey, I can talk now, what's up with Darla?" Ayame asked.

"I-I don't know!" Lila cried, her high-pitched voice so loud Ayame needed to pull the phone away from her ear to avoid hearing damage.

"Lila, Lila, just calm down," Ayame said. "You mentioned in your text that she was missing? Take deep breaths, okay? Deep breaths. Don't get hysterical, just calm down."

"Don't tell me to calm down!" Lila snapped. But she followed Ayame's directions anyway, taking some deep breaths to calm herself back down and regain control. "…Sorry, sorry."

"So what's up?" Ayame asked, keeping her voice cool and even so as not to startle the girl.

"Darla and I made dinner plans," Lila explained. "I wanted to talk to her about this thing, this tournament tonight… and then she texts me, saying that she can't come?! And that she can't see me for a few days? Not until the tournament?! Aya, I… did I do something wrong? I just want to help her, but she doesn't even want to talk to me and I-"

Ayame frowned, that did sound like something pretty serious but she wasn't sure what she should do about it. What was Darla up to?

"Look, Lila, I don't think you need to worry," Ayame said, knowing that her words would probably be cold comfort to the girl, but feeling the need to say them anyway. "I'm sure Darla is just busy training or something, and she doesn't want to bother you."

"…She wouldn't bother me…" Lila whispered. Ayame could hear the crying in her voice. "I just… I just want to help…"

Ayame winced.

"It's okay, Lila. I'm sure she's thinking of you right now."

Unfortunately, Ayame couldn't be more wrong. At the moment, Lila was the furthest thing from Darla's mind.

Darla was in the Dragon Valley. She had found a nicely sized rock, nearly twice her height and flat at the top, a plateau twice as large as her bead. After brushing the snow off of it, she sat down at the edge and began to meditate. Crossing her legs in front of her, she placed her left hand in her lap, holding her fingers together and turning them up like a cup, to carry the heart of the dragon, and placed her right hand over her own heart, to beat in time with his. It was the traditional meditation of the Draconid, and it was where her focus was directed.

For once, she was dressed down. No fancy designer labels or intentionally-ripped clothes to emphasize her roguish, punk look. She was wearing a heavy jacket and snow pants, covered from head to toe in an outfit designed for function, not fashion.

The reason for this was very simple. She didn't know how long she would be out here. Until she had gotten back her skills, at least. She'd spent so much of her life focusing on her goals of being an idol, training her pokemon up to show off, without putting much emphasis on combat, that she couldn't be sure how good her pokemon would do in that front.

And the first step of her training was to clear herself. Completely. Totally.

She thought back to Meteor Falls. Year-round, tradition dictated that the tribe spend each morning meditating beneath the downpour of water from the day they could first sit upright. It build strength and fortitude, and heightened their focus and senses. What waterfalls existed on the island had slowed to a mere trickle due to the cold temperatures, and this made for a bad alternative. But it was the best she had.

To get back into that mindset, she had to forget about her goals for the time being. Forget about being an idol, forget about her partner Lila.

I am an extension of the Great Dragon Emperor of the Sky. My body is but one of his many scales, my mind is a vessel for his word. All that I am exists for his purpose, until this body of mine shall turn to ash and join him in the sky… the words came to her lips without even thinking, so often she had recited them as a child, for hours that could no longer be counted.

But she couldn't bring herself to utter them. No matter how much they bounced around in her brain, no matter how she emptied her mind and cleared all other thoughts, she could not bring herself to speak those words that would reduce her to no more than a scale on the hide of the great Sky Dragon Emperor.

But she could still feel it, that same flow of energy. Even without the waterfall, even without the words being spoken, even years after leaving her sacred home, she could still feel that same connection, as strong as it had always been.

"I didn't expect so see you of all people here."

The sound of that voice brought a note of distaste to her tongue. Darla's eyes snapped open and her connection severed, turning her head to look down at the man standing under her.

"You shouldn't be here," Darla scowled. "The rituals of the Draconid are a private affair. If you had any of the respect for our people that you claim to have, then you would not interrupt me."

"I know why you despise me," Erik said, glaring back at her. "But do you know why it is that I can't stand the sight of you?"

"The inferior often look on in envy at those standing above them," Darla responded. "That is what we are. I, sitting here, looking down on you, half-breed, and you, standing there, loathing those of us at a peak you can never attain."

"I loathe you," Erik continued, ignoring her words, "because when I look at your face, I see every one of them who spat at me for being a half-blood. Not 'pure' enough to be considered one of their own. And you, the pinnacle of the Draconid, the heir to the Seat of the Sky, beloved by all? For someone like me, who has always aspired for that acceptance, to see someone like you, who views it as so beneath her that she would run away, it turns my stomach."

Darla narrowed her eyes.

"You may be content being no more than a scale of the dragon, Erik, but I have far greater ambitions than that."

The two glared at each other in silence, letting the tension stew between them for a short time. Then, Darla straightened and stood up from her meditation, hopping from the rock into the snow.

"I'll go elsewhere to train," she muttered, pushing past him. "This area has become distasteful, thanks to you."

"Stuck up bitch," Erik muttered under his breath, walking the other direction.

While Darla was directing her focus to her training, Lila was feeling stressed out in a different way. She wanted to call Darla, it was all she wanted to do. But she also knew that she shouldn't. Aya had said that Darla wanted some space, so that she could train without being a bother to Lila, and that's what Lila believed. But that didn't mean she had to be happy about the fact that her best friend and partner was giving her the cold shoulder!

It didn't help either, the email she had gotten, that she wanted to talk to Darla about it.

Apparently, Lila had been hired on to serve as the MC commentator for the Phantom Cup tournament. This wasn't unusual, she and Darla had often been paid for commentary because they were good at what they did.

But it was always the two of them. Lila didn't know if she was able to do things herself! And it didn't help, either, that the email had said she would be working opposite someone else. That was going to be difficult, too. Lila was talented, but things like this required a good dialogue between the people doing it, and she couldn't replicate that chemistry with a stranger.

Lila let out the sigh that had been building up in her chest as she flopped down into her bright pink bed, staring up at the ceiling. She really wished Darla was here, Darla always knew what to do.

A knock on the door caught her attention and she sat up, her eyes widening. Darla?! Maybe she had come back!

Lila hopped out of bed and ran over to the door, but when she opened it her face fell.

"…Well, don't look too happy to see me," Celia said, frowning. "Rare shot of Lila Seelie not being perky and smiling."

"Sorry Celia," Lila sighed, walking back over to her bed and sitting back down, unable to keep up the positive vibes that were inherent to the persona that she put on.

"Everything okay?" Celia asked, following Lila into her room. "I just came by to check up on you, to see how you were doing with the whole 'Darla being invited to the tournament' thing. I thought you'd be a little frustrated, but… wow."

"Is this what getting dumped feels like?" Lila groaned, her voice muffled by her pillow.

"I feel a little rejected myself," Celia admitted, walking over to Lila and sitting down on her bed, placing a comforting hand on her back and giving her a gentle rub. "I mean, I'm supposed to be one of the top battlers in the Empress's faction, and yet I didn't receive an invitation when Darla and Aya both did? Kind of makes me feel… bleh."

Lila turned and peeked out from the pillow, and Celia could see there were tears in her eyes.

"Sorry," Lila said, shaking Celia's hand off as she sat up. "My make-up's starting to run, let me go fix it real quick."

Celia glanced down at the lightly dirtied pillow as Lila hopped off the bed and ran over to her mirror. She wasn't very high up in the Empress's hierarchy, but she was concerned for everyone involved, Lila, Darla, Ayame, even the Empress herself. This whole thing was one big mess. She wondered how her cousin Jessie was doing, in the Mermaid's faction. She hadn't heard anything from her, not since Marion Rivers decided to go off-campus for her internship.

She let out another sigh. This was all so frustrating!

Marion Rivers might have been gone, but her spirit was still being carried out. That night, once all her other concerns had been taken care of, Sango was doing what she had recently been doing on most nights recently. She sat on the pier, bundled up nice and toasty in a thick jacket with a heavy blanket draped over her shoulders as she cast her line out over the sea. Silver wasn't floating beside her, he was bundled up under the layers of blankets somewhere in her lap.

…She wasn't catching anything. While she was enjoying the "act" of fishing and the calmness that came with it, that didn't mean she was actually any good at it.

"Catch anything?"

Sango nearly dropped her fishing pole in surprise, not expecting anyone to come up to her while she was fishing. It was dark out, and the only thing that was lighting the pier were the torches Marion had installed and Sango had lit. No one came out here.

"Uh…" Sango turned to see who it was. It was someone she didn't recognize. He was wearing the school uniform, the winter version with the long sleeves, and a sleeveless black jacket on top of that. His armband was pinned to the sleeve of his shirt, bright red. So he was at least a Junior, and in the Battle Course.

"Ah, for a moment I thought you were Marion Rivers. Apologies for being mistaken." The other student walked closer, and the light of the flame let Sango get a better look at his face. He had curly, unkempt black hair, and the bangs were tipped white, falling over his eyes, sparkling emeralds in the glow of the fire. He wore a smile on his face and carried himself with a relaxed air that reminded Sango a lot of Marion herself.

"No, I'm Sango, Sango Akana," Sango said. "And you are?"

"Normally when I come by this way on my walks, it's Marion who greets me, fishing away as she always does," the stranger laughed, walking over to the edge of the pier and sitting down, hanging his legs out over the water. "It's been a while since I've seen her, since I had to take last semester off due to injuries. She still around?"

Sango was a little irritated that he was ignoring her question and not introducing herself, but she figured that at least one of them should be the polite one.

"Marion's not here. She's going off working as a probationary ranger for a conservationist group," Sango explained. "Sorry you missed her."

The boy's smile faded, his eyes taking on a glassy look as he stared out over the water. "Is that so… that's a pity."

"You guys were friends?"

"She was one of my favorite people at this school," he explained. "No judgments, no concerns, just cool with letting me be me, you know? Hanging out with her… it was freeing."

Sango nodded, a smile crossing her lips. He got it, he totally got it.

"Marion's like the sea, you know?" Sango said wistfully, matching his gaze out over the dimly lit water. "She's unbelievably accepting and tolerant. Just like the ocean, she's so big and open, accepting everyone into her embrace without second thoughts, that's what I've always felt."

"Truly a wonderful person," he nodded. He turned to her, his green eyes twinkling. "We're acquainted by a mutual respect for Marion Rivers, and a coincidental meeting on a distant winter's night. Something poetic about that, I imagine. Though I never had much of a mind for poetry. You said your name was Sango?"

"Yeah," Sango said, nodding. Silver dug his way out of the mound of blankets, chirping out a "Castform" as well. "And this is Silver, my partner."

"Nice to meet you, Sango and Silver," he laughed, holding out a mitten-covered hand to Sango, who didn't take it, her hands too busy clutching the fishing pole. He didn't seem to mind, though. "My name is Ian Davidson."

"Nice to meet you," Sango said back, laughing with him.

A new character appears! Could it be that Sango has a new romance building, perhaps? Or could something else be going on?