Sylvia's past with Dokukage is reaching its end, but are there any other issues that the last rounds have raised that need addressing? I think a few, and they're pretty serious. Let's see just what's going on with a certain hot track star.

KedharS: Nah, Sylvia doesn't really have friends.

Just a Bad Writer for Fun: Sylvia certainly has a reputation. And she does have a charisma about her. Because of that, I think reactions would be… interesting.

Aquahaze675: You never know. Anything's possible. Satsuki's in a rather nebulous position, maybe she would know.

Thunder Fire: No idea.

JoshGamerV: Friendship is my fetish.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 553

Sylvia turned her Shedinja's pokeball over in her hands and thought whimsically back to the day where she met them, the day where she had helped Dokukage with his Nincada, cured the strange illness that had stricken the bug, and given it the boost it needed to hatch. The Nincada had emerged from his shell shortly after as a freshly-evolved Ninjask, but to the surprise of Dokukage, it wasn't alone.

The shell itself was animated, a conscious pokemon known as Shedinja. And after Professor Lunark had given Sylvia a thorough chewing-out about what she had done, going up to the mountain by herself (which Sylvia had ignored) she explained to the teens what the Shedinja was, and why it was so special of a pokemon.

Dokukage hadn't care that much, though, he was just grateful that his Ninjask was okay. And in his gratitude to Sylvia for helping him cure his pokemon's illness, he told her that she could take the Shedinja for herself.

And so, Sylvia got her first pokemon. And of course, she had named them Higurashi as well, just to confuse Dokukage.

It was a good memory. Sylvia set the pokeball down and turned to the mirror, staring at her face. Her hair freshly dyed, her contacts reinserted, her dowdy clothes replaced by her gorgeous gothic silks, and all traces of Murasaki Kanou had been removed completely.

She wouldn't be going to see Blake, not like that, not for some time. Sylvia was Sylvia now, and that was who she was going to stay.

In Sylvia's eyes, today had gone great, and she was burgeoning with excitement. Tomorrow promised to be quite a show, and she leaned back on her pillow and drifted off to sleep with a smile on her lips and pleasant nightmares dancing in her head.

But where Sylvia was perky and cheery, there was another girl who was feeling down in the dumps at about the same time. And sitting across from her, a girl who was trying to have a good time, in spite of her friend's downturned attitude.

Olivia's eye twitched as she read her magazine, the sound of Ayame crying for the billionth time that night starting to grate on her. She didn't want to be upset, she really didn't. This was her common room, and she was supposed to be relaxing, and while Ayame might have been her best friend she was still more than capable of getting on Olivia's nerves.

Another sigh. This was starting to get bothersome.

Tonight was supposed to be a happy night! Olivia was far too classy to say it, but internally she was celebrating Alcea Vermeil's humiliating defeat at the hands of the Phantom. She may have hated Richard Valon, but Alcea's sins against her were far greater. Olivia held a special kind of absolute loathing for the self-proclaimed "queen of queens".

She relished in seeing the girl who thought herself as such hot stuff be shown up for the pathetic little wannabe brat that she was. It gave the Empress a moist little tingle in all the right places seeing her stumble and fall in front of everyone. That was the thing about the Daevas. The Commander might be strong, the Phantom might be ruthless… but Olivia was petty.

Olivia's eyes glazed over as she looked at her magazine, the words blending together in her mind as Alcea's face took their place. To everyone else, she had looked the picture of composure and grace in her battle against the Phantom, even in losing, perfectly elegant.

Olivia knew better.

Olivia had studied Alcea's face for hours. She knew every twitch and flinch of those gorgeous features, and what had escaped the eyes of the others hadn't escaped hers.

Alcea had been crushed! She was devastated by her loss, no matter how adept she was at hiding it! And in spite of all that hard work, in spite of how arrogantly she'd held herself, she'd lost in front of everyone! That look of irritation, her embarrassment, it made her feel absolutely…

Mmmm…

Olivia rubbed her thighs together and her fingers crept closer to the hem of her miniskirt. She had to stop herself before she tucked them inside and really tried to- She was in public, after all, she couldn't just do that in front of anyone.

Ayame sighed again, drawing Olivia out of her especially pleasant fantasy. Her expression soured, there was no way she could enjoy herself right now. Not with Ayame being all sighing and mopey.

She'd wait until she retired to the privacy of her room before continuing. She turned to Ayame, and saw that, as melodramatic as Ayame might have been with her exaggerated sighs, the girl really was feeling down.

Olivia let out a sigh of her own and got up off of her chair, walking over to Ayame and sliding down onto the couch next to her.

"Hey, Aya, what's up?" Olivia asked.

Ayame sighed. Again.

"I'm just feeling down," she said. Yeah, no kidding. Olivia was picking up on that one, she was blaring out signals like crazy.

"Is it about Blake?" Olivia guessed. These days, if something was up with Ayame and her emotions were involved, it had something to do with Blake.

"Yeah," Ayame nodded glumly.

"He didn't, like… do anything bad or make you upset, did he?" Olivia asked. She didn't believe that Blake would do anything to hurt her friend, and was almost positive that the reason Ayame was so down was because she was feeling sad FOR him, not because he did anything, but wouldn't consider herself to be a good friend if she didn't ask.

"No, no!" Ayame said frantically, shaking her head and dispelling Olivia's concerns. "No, it's just… I felt bad that he lost today."

"Well, you win some, you lose some, right? It's not like you could have done anything about it," Olivia tried to reassure her friend. It clearly wasn't working, since Ayame still had the same hard expression on her face, so she tried to ask again with a little more force this time. "Hey, come on Aya, think about it! You were cheering for him as hard as you could, right? And you know more than anyone that you can try your hardest, but still end up losing. So you don't need to be feeling so down!"

Ayame understood what she was saying, but she still felt a little depressed.

"It's just… Blake really tried his best," Ayame admitted. "And even though he tried to win, he still couldn't. He lost. And he tried to hide it from me, from all of us, he tried to pretend like he was okay with what had happened, and we all had a nice and happy little dinner together, to cheer him up, but in the end…"

Ayame shook her head.

"I could tell. He wasn't happy. We didn't make him feel that much better, he was still down. And… and I wasn't able to do anything about it. I wasn't able to cheer him up, not really. I'm… Olivia, I'm his girlfriend! I'm supposed to make him feel better in situations like that, isn't that right? But… but I couldn't. I couldn't do anything."

Olivia looked sympathetically at her friend. She could think of a dozen platitudes she could give Ayame, after all, one of her specialties was making girls who felt a little down feel special and loved. She prided herself on her ability to do that, actually.

And unfortunately, those same tendencies made it very difficult for her to comment on Ayame's situation, or make her feel all that much better. Ayame was in a real, serious relationship, and Olivia's advice for that was… spotty.

"Have you tried… I don't know, there are a lot of ways that a girl can… 'cheer up' a boy, Aya," Olivia smiled, trying to laugh it off. Ayame shot her a look. That clearly wasn't the kind of advice that she was looking for.

"It's not… it's not just that," Ayame said, shaking her head. "It's… the fact that Blake didn't even think of me, that he wasn't confiding me or seeking me out for comfort. That's what's really got me down, Olivia. I'm… I'm supposed to be the one he relies on, right? The one that makes him feel better! But when he was feeling down, he didn't turn to me, he didn't come seek me out, he just… he just pretended like everything was okay. And that really makes me feel down."

Olivia considered this. Ayame was really down about it. She stroked her chin and reached out her other hand, placing it on Ayame's shoulder and rubbing her gently.

"It's okay, Aya. Is that… do you really feel so down?" Olivia asked. "Is that what you meant when you said that you couldn't do anything?"

It had been a while since Olivia had seen Ayame look this down. She began to take this really seriously now. She had a pretty clear suspicion what it was that Ayame was really worried about, and she knew she had to nip that little bud of self-doubt and insecurity right now, before it had the chance to bloom into something that would really begin draining away her self-esteem.

"Do you feel like he doesn't trust you?" Olivia asked. "That he doesn't feel like he can confide in you? Is that what you're worried about?"

Ayame didn't like thinking about that, but recently, yeah. She and Blake were getting closer, certainly, but at the same time, she felt… well, she felt like as much as he might like her, love her, he was starting to drift away, and she really, really hoped that wasn't the case.

But how could she be sure.

"Yeah," she admitted. "I mean, we still get along great, trust me, and every time I think about him, I feel all warm and fuzzy inside. But honestly? Yes, all those happy moments, the way he makes me feel, it makes me wish that I could do more for him, that I could really make him happy. I don't feel like I'm able to do anything for him in situations like this, and I wish that I could, I so, SO wish that I could, that he could confide in me, like… like he used to."

She glanced pitifully up at Olivia.

"I haven't really talked about it, but… do you think we're in a rut?" Ayame asked, giving her the saddest eyes Olivia had ever seen from the girl. "Blake and I… I've heard about stuff like this, when couples get into a rut and then things get tense, and they break up! So what do I do, Olivia?! I don't want to break up with him, I want him to be happy! I want us to be happy! How do I get out of this rut? I don't know what I'm supposed to do!"

The major emotional outburst make Olivia recoil a little, and she sighed, pinching the bridge between her nose.

Olivia shook her head and placed her hand back on Ayame, rubbing her back in a comforting way and turning her head. Luckily, Ayame wasn't crying. Olivia gave her a bit of a hug, before pulling back and staring seriously into Ayame's eyes.

"Look, Blake… he doesn't exactly seem like the type to open up that easily. I mean, there was his whole deal with that sister of his, right?" Olivia reminded him. "Remember how long it took for him to open up about that to people?"

"Yeah, of course I do," Ayame said.

"That was how you two got together, right?" Olivia continued. "Because he opened up to you, because he trusts you. And I don't think that's ever going to change."

"Are… are you sure?" Ayame asked.

"Why would you think it would?" Olivia protested, rolling her eyes. "Is your boyfriend really the kind of jerk who would lose his faith in you just because he's starting to get a little comfortable in your relationship?"

"Err… but! But the rut!" Ayame protested. "We're in a rut, so-"

"Or you're in a routine," Olivia replied. "Just because you guys are fine without growing, it doesn't mean you're in a rut."

Ayame opened her mouth, but no sound came out. She flopped it around a little, not quite sure what to say.

"R-Really?" Ayame asked desperately. Her voice had a tinge of hope to it. She really, really hoped that Olivia was right. That they were okay.

"When you say you're in a rut, what do you mean by that?" Olivia asked. She had her suspicions, but there was something that wasn't quite adding up for her. She didn't understand what Ayame was worried about, but…

A small smile crossed Olivia's lips. No, it couldn't be…

"W-Well…" Ayame shrunk away from Olivia a little, averting her eyes. Her face turned bright red, and it was only getting redder, Olivia feeling her suspicions start to get confirmed. She licked her lips, her eyes shining with excitement.

Oh, it so was. EXACTLY what she thought!

"W-well, I mean… if… if we were really, you know… not in a rut… then… wouldn't he want to, well… you know?" Ayame asked, Olivia resisting the urge to snicker at how much Ayame was trying to dance around the issue at hand. It was the most adorable thing in the world, the fact that she wouldn't just come right out and say it.

And it would just be the cherry on the chocolate sundae that had been her day for Olivia to be the one to say it.

"So you think you're in a rut because Blake doesn't seem to show any interest in throwing you down onto your bed, ripping your shirt open and just climb right on top of you and-"

"OLIVIA!" Ayame exclaimed. She buried her face in her hands out of sheer embarrassment, unable to look her friend in the eye.

"Look, Aya, I love you," Olivia said. "But you have to admit, it's a little bit weird that you still get so embarrassed by talking about sex."

"W-Well, I mean… it's not like I have that much experience," Ayame said. "And by 'much' I mean I have ZERO experience, you know that!"

"So you can barely even talk about it, but at the same time you really want to do it?" Olivia asked, raising her eyebrow. "Aya, even I think that's a little-"

"W-Well, I mean… isn't that what it means to be in a relationship?" Ayame asked quietly, finally able to look Olivia in the eye again.

Olivia frowned. She didn't like the sound of that.

"What do you mean?" She asked, her tone turning serious. "Aya… do you think that you can't be in a relationship if you don't have sex?"

Ayame blinked. "Wh-what? N-No, that's not what I meant, honest!" Ayame shook her head frantically, confused about why Olivia had gone down that route.

Olivia sighed in relief. That was better.

"So what do you mean?" She asked.

"Well I mean… when you're in love with someone… when you're in a relationship with someone that you love… it's natural, isn't it? To want to… you know… do that sort of stuff with them? I'm not… I mean, I know that boys want to do it, but… it's not weird for girls to want to… right?" Ayame asked, fidgeting a little. "L-Like… if I had… you know, dreams sometimes, about, well, you know…"

Olivia looked at Ayame like she had just slapped the blonde across the face. Who did she think she was talking to?!

"Uh… excuse me?" Olivia asked. "Are you seriously asking me about whether or not it's okay for girls to want to have sex?"

Ayame shook her head frantically, beginning to wish that she hadn't begun this conversation in the common room. Olivia agreed, and the two retreated to Ayame's room before someone could come to join them. This was probably for the best as it was, since Ayame would be more comfortable in her bedroom. The two sat down on Ayame's bed, Ayame staring numbly out the window as Olivia thought about how she would continue the conversation.

"Okay, Aya…"

"It's weird, isn't it?" Ayame demanded before Olivia could get a word in edgewise.

"No, Aya, I already told you, it's not weird to want to have sex," Olivia said, shaking her head. "Trust me, I know."

"No, that's not what I meant," Ayame said, shaking her head. She glanced at her reflection in the window before turning away and studying the carpet. "It's weird… that Blake doesn't want to have sex with me, isn't it?"

Her voice was as soft as a whisper, but the weight of it spoke volumes.

For as long as Olivia had known her, Ayame had had self-esteem problems, especially when it came to her perception of her femininity and desirability. She had kept it restrained for a long time, buried her insecurity behind her athleticism and tough exterior, but she never truly got rid of it. And now it had started coming out a lot more thanks to Blake.

And now, there was this whole issue. Olivia felt bad for the poor girl.

"I mean, what is it? I've offered, but he's not willing to… you know, make the move," Ayame sighed. She glanced at Olivia. "I mean… he tells me I'm beautiful, and I've seen the way he looks at me, I know he's not just saying it. But still… to not want to, you know… fool around… I feel like… well, like I'm not good enough for him."

Olivia frowned, and reached out to pat Ayame on the cheek. This was a really complicated issue, and she wasn't sure how to approach it.

"Aya… please tell me you aren't trying to get Blake to have sex with you when you're not ready just so that you can feel desired," Olivia said. Ayame was her best friend, and the thought that her insecurity would make her think it was a good idea for her to…

Well, Olivia wasn't going to have any of that!

Ayame looked at her with shocked confusion.

"N-No, it's nothing like that!" She insisted. "Trust me, Blake and I, we've had that conversation, honest, I'm not trying to get him to have sex with me so I feel better about myself or anything! It's just… I'm not so confident about 'us'."

"Why not?" Olivia asked.

"So yeah, Blake's not ready," Ayame said. "I get that, I really do, and I'm totally okay with waiting for him to be ready, honest!"

Olivia could smell a "but" coming.

"But… is the fact that he's not ready… is that saying something?" Ayame asked. "You know… about us? Blake… Blake is a lovely guy. He wouldn't do anything to hurt me. So… I'm afraid that the reason he doesn't want to have sex with me is because he knows that it would be important to me, as my first time… and he doesn't want to be with me that way because he thinks he might break my heart at some point and he doesn't want to do that."

Ayame glanced at Olivia. Olivia could see that she was trying very hard not to cry.

"I don't want him to break up with me, Olivia," she sniffled. "I love him and I want to be with him… forever…"

"I know," Olivia said, wrapping her arm around Ayame's shoulders and hugging her close. "Trust me, I know. But hey, maybe he just has size issues and he's insecure, it doesn't have to be about you! …Although now that I say that out loud, I'm thinking that's probably not going to make you feel any better, huh?"

Ayame chuckled, wiping the flecks of water from her eyes, shaking her head.

"I just… I just wish I was like you sometimes, you know?" Ayame murmured. "If you were in my position, you wouldn't hesitate. You'd just throw yourself at him, tempt him into your bed, I mean… you're good at stuff like that. Me… sometimes I feel more like a best friend than a girlfriend."

"Aya… I admit, I don't know a lot about relationships," Olivia began. "But I do know, relationships are about making the other person happy. And the thing you have to ask yourself, is are you doing this because you want your relationship to actually be stronger? Or so that you can convince yourself that it's stronger so you don't have to worry?"

Ayame considered this.

"If you're really concerned about making your relationship with him stronger, then all you have to do is make sure you two are rock-solid, with no one to question your love. But it sounds to me what you want is some grand romantic gesture to prove that you guys are a real couple. And believe me, those big romantic gestures don't mean squat, I've faked more than a couple of them to get the slightly more prudish girls to open their thighs. So… do you want to fool yourself into thinking that you'll have a stronger relationship after you do it? Or do you honestly believe that your relationship will be stronger that way?"

Ayame paused. She wasn't sure what answer to give Olivia, but she did know that the feeling of the other girl's arm wrapped around her was certainly making her feel warm and loved, and assured that she didn't have to worry about her decision.

So, Ayame is dealing with some insecurity problems. Part of me wishes we could end things right here and move onto the happy ending already, but no. We have story, conflict, and drama to get through, it's not time for that yet.