Still a little bit left of our break time before the Phantom Cup continues. Gotta see more of that Blake x Ayame fluff, after all, we've been starving for it lately!

KedharS: Does anyone really?

Just a Bad Writer for Fun: Welcome back, take your time. I can't wait to hear from you.

Hellraiserphoenix: It's an interesting idea, not sure if I'll explore it, though.

Aquahaze675: Murasaki Kanou wouldn't. But Sylvia brought her back to life for the purpose of being a character to get close to Blake, and she's quite good at living up to expectations.

Thunder Fire: And a great problem.

JoshGamerV: Funny and worrying, definitely.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 534

It was late in the evening, but not that late. Certainly not late enough that it was weird for Ayame to invite Blake up to her room so they could hang out for a while.

And that was ALL. Get your mind out of the gutter!

Ayame just wanted to have a nice night relaxing with her boyfriend, so she could feel better. Today had been kind of hard, with her loss, and even though she hadn't wanted to win THAT badly, it still stung a little that she had lost. Today had been a day with a lot of bad luck, and she wanted to make up for it a little bit. Her spaghetti had been delicious and the chicken penne Blake had shared with her was amazing as well, and now she felt full of both food and love.

Of course, because Ayame's luck was godawful today, Olivia was walking the other way down the hall as she and Blake headed into her room. Olivia gave her a shy look and a wink, Ayame scowling in response at her as they shared a silent exchange.

"Sorry," Olivia mouthed, apologizing to Ayame for her loss. Ayame gave her a nod and a little half-smile, before retreating to the safety of her bedroom.

"Been a while since we hung out in hear," Blake said, walking in and looking around. It was just like he remembered it, right down to the stuffed Wooloo on the sky-blue sheets. He smiled and took a deep breath.

"Are you smelling my room?!" Ayame demanded, hiding her face with her hands.

"It reminds me of you," Blake teased. He turned, and his eye caught something sitting on the windowsill and he gasped, rushing over.

"Oh!" Ayame gasped. "Err, that's…"

Blake looked down at the temperature-controlled incubator he had gotten from Alcea Vermeil, the same one he had gifted to Ayame for her Christmas present. Inside, a mound of dirt was packed in, and tiny little seeds were buried beneath sight.

Months ago, Alcea have given him seeds to Kantonian irises, which were Ayame's favorite flower. He hadn't had any to give her, since it had been winter, but with this gift she was able to grow her own. He thought it was a touching present for her, and she had been overjoyed when he gave it to her. The fact that she was still treasuring it today and taking care of the seeds brought a smile to his face, knowing how much she cared for them.

Blake glanced back at her with a knowing smirk, Ayame smiling bashfully back at him.

"Glad to see you're taking care of them," he replied.

"Thank you, again," Ayame said, brushing her hair out of her face slightly. "Did you like the Goban I bought you?"

"Yup," Blake nodded. "Still, though, haven't gotten a chance to play it." He sighed.

"Let me guess, your roommates aren't the 'Go' type?" Ayame laughed.

"Nah, they're busy with video games," Blake said, shaking his head. "And really can you imagine Cynthia playing Go?"

"…I can imagine her playing Othello…" Ayame replied, resisting the urge to snicker, it was a mean thing to laugh at, as true as it might be. Cynthia was smart, but she had the patience of a hyperactive Primeape.

"So, um… want to have a game?" Blake suggested, trying not to sound too hopeful.

"Sure!" Ayame brightened, nodding eagerly. She rushed over to the corner by her dresser where her Goban was tucked away, pulling the board out into the center of the carpet. She sighed, it had gathered some dust. She needed to take better care of it.

Blake sat down across from her as she removed the containers and brushed the dust off, preparing the board for play.

"Set down your handicap stones," Blake asked, receiving a dirty look in response.

"Come on, don't you look down on me, too!" Ayame scowled.

"Don't you want an engaging game?" Blake asked.

"I want a fair game," Ayame huffed. "I can do it! I've been practicing!"

"The state of your board says otherwise," Blake replied, catching her in her lie. Ayame flinched, averting her eyes.

"F-Fine, is two stones enough?" Ayame asked.

Blake raised his eyebrow.

"Is it?"

"Fine! Three!" Ayame huffed, digging three black stones out of her container and setting them down, beginning the game.

They played in silence for a while, Ayame needing some time to think since she was a little rusty. But soon she got back in the swing of things, and they began playing casually.

"So… it was your dad who you used to play against?" Ayame asked quietly. "He taught you how to play? …Oh! Sorry, not your dad, I meant… never mind…"

"Yeah, my… Richard Harker is really skilled," Blake admitted. "He used to play against Cynthia all the time, and she taught me a little, too, but she wasn't around enough to play."

"I'm surprised," Ayame said. She glanced shyly at him. "I mean… with what you told me about him, what I saw… he doesn't seem to be the kind of person who would… teach you, I mean."

"He was a stern teacher," Blake sighed. He glanced up at Ayame and gave her a reassuring smile. "And don't worry, Aya. I don't mind talking about my family."

Ayame sighed in relief. She didn't like making him uncomfortable.

"I think… I think he enjoyed it," Blake said. "It was rare… but those times when we were playing, I saw him smile. It was only once or twice, though…"

Ayame glanced sadly at him. He seemed so happy about the fact that the man he considered his father would show him a smile even once or twice. Coming from a home so full of love like hers, she couldn't imagine what it would be like to be in his position.

"I'm… glad you found something to bond over," Ayame said. "You and your father."

"It was my mom… err, I mean, Cynthia, too," Blake reminded her. "We played Go a few times. But she never really played with my dad. My brother didn't play either, and my sister, well…"

It went without saying, there was no sense in digging up that painful part of his past, Blake and Ayame both agreed.

"I loved playing Go with him," Blake admitted. "Even though he would always beat me. It really made me feel like he considered me part of his family. And I know he appreciated that I would play with him. Once, he even mentioned how glad he was he had someone to play with again, since his old opponent wasn't around anymore."

"Hmm?"

Blake glanced up. Ayame had a perplexed look on her face.

"His old opponent, you said?" Ayame asked.

"Yeah?" Blake said.

"Who… who would that have been? I mean, your mom was still around, wasn't she? And if your brother and sister never got into it, then who did he play before he adopted you?" She wondered.

"…Huh," Blake said, surprised that it hadn't ever occurred to him. "I guess I never thought about it that way. Yeah, I wonder who…"

Meanwhile, across campus, another game of Go was being played.

"I do hope you are aware, Sylvia, that I have other things that I could be spending my time doing," Ryoko said, sitting across the Goban from her, Sylvia having taken the opportunity to purchase one since she had learned how to play from Richard Harker. They were currently alone in Sylvia's room, playing a game of Go. Sylvia had found it quite a fun hobby she'd picked up. And that Ryoko had happened to appear as an opponent was quite a lovely coincidence.

"You're a time traveler, aren't you time girl?" Sylvia asked, setting a stone as shiny and black as the polish on her nails onto the board with a clack. "So I think 'time' would be something you would have in abundance."

"I came to you today in order to speak with you, Sylvia," Ryoko replied. "Not to play a game of Go."

"Just think of it like the old times," Sylvia shrugged. "Weren't you the one who taught Richard Harker how to play? Well, he was my teacher. So that practically makes you my grandmother."

Ryoko responded with an icy look.

"Fair enough, you don't look old enough to be a mother, let alone a grandmother," Sylvia smirked. "Not that a woman who would constantly leap through time would be capable of being a mother of any sort. My, your husband must be a saint, putting up with someone like you, I imagine."

Ryoko felt a great urge to strike Sylvia across the face for her cruel, callous words. But as with so many other impulses she felt, she restrained herself, knowing fully what actions she was allowed to take over the course of time.

"We can talk as we play," Sylvia said, placing another stone, "after all, with your level of skill you should be more than capable."

"You are quite something, are you aware?" Ryoko asked. "Although you only learned some months ago by my estimation, to be able to so easily judge the skill of your opponent, one who has been playing as long as I, and challenge them with such skill yourself, truly I am in awe of your abilities."

"Aww, I inspire awe? That's such a nice thing to say," Sylvia cooed. "I just love getting compliments like that. It's nothing so complicated though. The game is fun. I quite like painting a picture with the white and black stones, seeing them dance across the board and make them take on a life of their own, and somehow it just ends up in my victory! Indeed, a truly fun game. Now, since I'm in such a good mood, I was wondering what I could do for you."

"I came to speak to you to thank you once again for your support," Ryoko said. "With… that incident."

Sylvia's expression darkened.

"So, you're from that time, then…"

"Indeed," Ryoko said, nodding. "I thought that you might like to know what happened to the pokemon you saved those years ago."

"…Is he alright?" Sylvia asked.

"Ask him yourself," Ryoko said, reaching into her shirt and retrieving her watch, checking it. As she did, the air in Sylvia's room began to twist and shift, much to her surprise. Sylvia's face brightened as she saw a dark hole open up in the center of a large golden ring that appeared, and a small pokemon peek out of it.

The pokemon had a small grey and fuchsia body and it floated in the air, not possessing any legs. Two dark horns stuck out of the sides of his head, golden rings like the one it was floating in the center of hanging off of them. A third golden ring was wrapped around his waist like a belt, and he looked at Sylvia with bright green eyes. On the center of his forehead was a pattern like a golden ring (apparently a common motif of the pokemon) and he couldn't resist the mischievous smile curling up his lips as he saw the blonde girl.

"…Hey," Sylvia smiled back, waving a little at the small pokemon. It was rare for her to smile out of pure joy. The game forgotten, she rose from her seat and walked open to the portal floating next to her bed, reaching out to the pokemon.

"Hoopa!" The Hoopa smiled at her, floating out of the ring and nestling down on the back of her hand for a moment before springing off it and floating in a circle around her, giggling.

"Are you doing well?" Sylvia asked. She smirked mischievously. "I sure hope you aren't pulling any pranks that I wouldn't pull, right?"

"Hoopa!" Hoopa laughed, nodding his head.

"That's my boy!" Sylvia cackled, patting him on the head.

"It continues to be a curiosity," Ryoko spoke up, drawing Sylvia's attention back to her. Sylvia turned to see Ryoko, still seated behind the Goban, staring up at her. "Indeed. A curiosity. How one capable of making such a pure smile can side with someone whose soul is shrouded in such darkness? No matter how you may act, I can see the light in your eyes."

Sylvia smirked.

"You misunderstand me completely, Ryoko," Sylvia replied. She stepped away from Hoopa and loomed over the sitting Ryoko, placing her hand over her chest. "I am the purest person that you have ever met, after all!"

"…Oh? Is that a fact?" Ryoko asked, narrowing her eyes as she looked up at Sylvia.

"The ones you champion are those who are impure, that's what I see with my eyes," Sylvia smirked, turning from Ryoko and looking out the window at the world outside. It was turning to February, and the harsh cold of winter was starting to abate. Spring would come soon. "They all have reasons and justifications and excuses. 'I did this because it was expected of me', 'I didn't do this because people would think badly of me', all just things they use to rationalize their decisions. And they're just like you, Ryoko. With your excuses. 'It is impossible for me to do this, because it would defy the laws of time'. That's just one more excuse, valid though it may be."

Sylvia turned back to her.

"But I'm different. I don't make excuses or justifications for my actions. I do what I want to do, because I want to do it. And in my opinion, that's truly what it means to be pure. Purity isn't a good thing, or a bad thing. It's just something that exists, after all. Pure white, and pure black. Both are pure. Same with pure evil. I'm not someone muddied by the world, Ryoko. I'm more of a… primeval force, as it were. In a way similar to you, were you to embrace what you could be."

"I understand the course of your thoughts, however… I do not feel the same. For my place in the world and the patterns of life, I will treasure it and do my duty. But I will not forsake that which I am, a human being, to do so," Ryoko replied.

Sylvia sighed, shaking her head. She turned back to the window, staring out at the dark sky as snow began to fall from above. Hoopa flew up beside her, staring at Sylvia cautiously. Sylvia glanced at him and smile. She didn't want to think these sorts of thoughts right now, but… she also did. Because she wanted to show herself off to Ryoko, after all.

"I knew a girl who viewed the world as a series of chains," Sylvia said quietly, watching what might well be the last snow of winter. "The world was a series of expectations placed upon her, ways that she had to act, things she had to do, goals she had to achieve. She lived as an extension of the world around her, furthering its goals as so many others do, but unlike them, she was aware of it…"

A weary sigh left Sylvia's lips as she remembered those times.

"She hated her aimless life, she couldn't bear to live in a world where she had no control over anything that really mattered. So she killed herself. And now, here I am. Pure and reborn, doing only what I wish to do, because I want to see a meaning in this world. You understand? This world, with everyone doing what is expected of them is so boring and predictable. So that's why I'm working with the Phantom, Ryoko."

She turned and walked back to the Goban, sitting across from her again.

"Do you think me a zealot, Ryoko? I'm just a girl who wants to do what I want to do, in order to entertain myself. And working with the Phantom will get me to that point, so I will continue to do as I wish, get it?"

"Quite extraordinary," Ryoko murmured. "I wonder just how we look to you, Sylvia Driscoll. Compared to how you see things, we humans must seem like Bug type pokemon to you."

Sylvia cracked a smirk.

"Well, how's that saying go, again? 'In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king'? Or queen, in this case, I suppose."

"And if the Phantom were to serve as a threat to those you care about, I wonder?" Ryoko mused, gesturing to the game. Sylvia resumed as offered. "Would you continue to serve him for your entertainment, if it were to come at the cost of something you did care for? Hoopa, for example? What then?"

"Interesting notion," Sylvia admitted. "I suppose it would matter how much I cared about the thing in question, and how much entertainment I expected to get otherwise. Though… it isn't a question I can't reply to right now. Ask me in the moment. That's why you gave me this, I can only imagine."

Sylvia reached into her purse and withdrew the time flute. Ryoko let out a soft gasp and her eyes widened.

"A time flute?" She asked, glancing up at Sylvia in surprise. "To think I would give you a relic such as that… it seems that my future self has much more faith in you than I."

Sylvia blinked, surprised. So this Ryoko was much younger than the one who had given her the flute. That was something worth filing away, if Sylvia were the type to plot out Ryoko's over the course of time. But she didn't care enough for the time traveler to bother.

"Tell me, then," Ryoko said, regaining her composure. "If the person at risk was Blake, if the Phantom was a threat to his life, would you act against him?"

Sylvia raised her eyebrow and smirked.

"You think Blake is something so precious to me?" She wondered. "…Or perhaps you are merely projecting, I imagine?"

Now it was Ryoko's turn to flinch.

Sylvia's smirk widened.

"After all… when the moment came down to it, you weren't able to choose Blake, were you?" She asked.

"I still am not aware… of how you came across that information," Ryoko said. "It should not be possible."

Sylvia shrugged.

"Don't worry about it. I told you before, remember?"

Ryoko didn't respond.

"Then shall we continue the game?" Sylvia asked, beckoning Hoopa over.

"…No," Ryoko said after a pause, rising from her seat. She turned to Hoopa. "Hoopa and I, we both must be going. This was only a courtesy visit, after all."

"I see," Sylvia said, a little disappointed that she would have to say goodbye to Hoopa.

Ryoko followed Hoopa to the portal, but she paused, turning back to Sylvia.

"I wonder, Sylvia… are you afraid that Murasaki Kanou may have been able to find happiness in this world of expectations? You cling so desperately to your conviction to dong what you like to be entertained… could it be a distraction to hide from the fact that, for however highly you place yourself above us ordinary humans who think differently from you, you wish to be one of us, deep down? And that is why you killed Murasaki Kanou and became someone else, to hide from that which you are too afraid to confront? It is simply a theory I believe has worth in considering. I shall leave you with that thought."

Sylvia glared daggers of hatred at Ryoko from across the Goban as Ryoko left through Hoopa's portal, leaving her alone with her impotent rage.

Sylvia had her moment of arrogance, but Ryoko certainly took her down a peg with that last one!