With the Phantom Cup over, it's time to turn our sights to a new arc, with new surprises! What awaits our main characters now that the politics on campus have been thrown into chaos? I guarantee this chapter will have some surprises for everyone! And not to mention a little bit of bonding time between a certain boy and girl…

Just a Bad Writer for Fun: Interesting order. I did roll the dice, and guess which one is first? The one I planned to cover first, of course! Mwahaha…

Rowlets and Oshawotts: I agree, a break from all the plot-heavy stuff is important. In fact, I think we need a break from the main characters in general, maybe focus a little more on the side characters, and less on Blake.

Tambry96bj: Maybe…

KedharS: A rather apt description, as this chapter will show.

Rus0804: The Phantom's not really the crying type, he's more of the breakdown "this cannot be!" psychotic villain type.

JoshGamerV: Definitely.

Aquahaze675: I think it's definitely time to relax. Maybe have everyone take a few weeks off for a vacation, or maybe even do some traveling abroad.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 597

"You're going?" Ayame asked, unable to hide the disappointment on her face. She'd been hoping for… well, she didn't know what she was hoping for when Blake had walked her back to her dorm, but she didn't want him to leave. "Really?"

"Sorry Aya," Blake apologized. He wasn't any happier about it than she was. "But this is something important. Is that… okay?"

Ayame frowned. Blake seemed pretty troubled. She could tell how tired he was, and it made sense. The last few days had been stressful. She wanted him to sit back and relax, take it easy, but at the same time…

If he really was this troubled over it, that wasn't something he could really do. Blake was too serious of a guy. Someone probably needed help with something, and he was the only one who could help. And there was no way she could tell him to think for himself in a situation like that. He wouldn't be the boy she loved if he made that choice.

Ayame reached out and stroked his cheek.

"On Valentine's Day… let's go spend the Luvdisc Fishing Day together?" Ayame asked quietly, her eyes watering with hope. "I mean, we won't keep anything we fish up, of course, and Sango might not even get it ready… but if we do… I want to go fishing with you. So we can… you know…"

"Is this about that jinx that Callie mentioned?" Blake asked, cracking a smile. "About how a couple that fish up a pair of Luvdisc will have good luck?"

Ayame's face turned bright red and her eyes widened. She quickly pulled her hand from her cheek and clenched it with the other, holding her hands over her chest. Her eyes danced all over the place as it became difficult to meet her boyfriend's eyes.

"It's, um…" Ayame stuttered, looking down. "It's more than just… good luck," she murmured. "It's because, well… if you catch a pair of Luvdisc… then it's… ablessingforeternalhappinesstogether!" She managed to scream out in a jumble of words. Blake paused for a moment to put together what she had just said, and then his face turned red.

Ayame fidgeted, lowering her head even more. She reached up out of reflex to brush her bangs out of the way, even though they were already held back by her ribbon. "Is… is that okay?"

"That… that sounds great," Blake said, resisting the urge to beam like a fool. That sounded more than great, that was one of the most adorable things he'd ever heard. Aya wanted to be with him forever, and that made him feel like whatever it was Sylvia wanted from him didn't matter in the least. He was reinvigorated. Before he could say anything else, he leaned in and kissed Ayame on the cheek, causing her to let out a yelp of surprise.

"Wh-wh-wha?!" Ayame gasped.

"Yes, absolutely," Blake grinned, pulling back from her, both of their faces red from more than the cold. "It's a promise."

Ayame beamed, nearly swooning.

"Good… good luck with what you have to do tonight," she whispered, flipping him off and then dashing into the dormitory, hiding her flustered face with her hands. Blake watched her run, and smiled. He always loved to watch her run.

Turning and heading back to his dorm, Blake let the energy that Aya gave him fill his chest with warmth, not trying to worry about whatever it was that Sylvia wanted from him. He already knew he was going to regret meeting with her. And part of him wanted to just blow her off. But considering everything that had been happening around the school, could he really afford to ignore someone who might know what was going on?

No. He couldn't. So even though it pissed him off, even though he really, really knew better than to keep getting involved with Sylvia, there was one thought that brought him back.

Sylvia's connection with the Phantom.

The Phantom had Shadow Pokemon. And those Shadow Pokemon, whatever their connection was with harmonia, with Maddi and Kitty… it was something that he needed to know more about. It was strange, Blake didn't expect to be this invested in the war between the Daevas. It wasn't even like he was really on anybody's side, either. He was almost allied with the Empress, but not out of any loyalty to her, only through his loyalty to Aya.

But what he was loyal to were his friends. Kitty in particular, and to an extent, Maddi, as well. They were both suffering from these Shadow Pokemon. And Sylvia knew something. She probably knew a lot of somethings. And then there were those flutes that they got from Ryoko. Those weird wooden flutes that could purify Shadow Pokemon.

The issue was, Sylvia had gotten one too, and she was working WITH the Phantom. The same guy who was making Shadow Pokemon in the first place. What was the thinking behind that? Then again, it was Sylvia. She was a wild card. So why did Ryoko give her a flute? So maybe she was playing both sides? Or a double-agent or something? Maybe she was trying to fool him, and just enjoying watching everybody squirm. He still wasn't sure where Sylvia's loyalties lied, or even if she had any sense of loyalty to begin with. She was just that kind of lunatic that he couldn't bring himself to be comfortable around her, not when she seemed to enjoy messing with people so much.

But Ryoko seemed to trust her.

That was a mistake he wasn't foolish enough to make. Sylvia couldn't be trusted. And even if she could be, he didn't WANT to trust her. Whatever it was she had to say, he couldn't imagine it being good for him. So even if he tried to keep a positive attitude as he returned to his room, setting down his backpack and changing his clothes, it was getting harder and harder to remember the warmth he'd felt from Aya earlier that evening.

No, no, calm down, he reminded himself. It's just Sylvia. You've been letting your temper get the better of you recently when it comes to her, and you need to stop. She's just not worth it, Blake, and she loves baiting you like this.

He took a few deep breaths to calm himself down, and slumped down on his bed. He took his pokeballs off and set them down on his bed, along with the other pokeballs of his besides the six he was carrying. Everyone needed a good rest. Blake was included in "everyone", but he couldn't afford to rest just yet. He looked down at his pokeballs and smiled.

Blake walked out of the Bulbasaur House, the cold chill of winter striking him in the face. They were moving into February and it was starting to warm up, but at night it was no mistaking what season they were in. He checked his message chain with Sylvia again. She'd requested he meet up with her outside of Victini Hall, of all places. It wasn't exactly where he would have thought.

She'd also told him to leave his flute behind. That had made him suspicious. He hadn't been planning to take it with him anyway, but the fact that she had said to leave it made him wonder what she was planning. Had she picked a side after all? Was this all some trap, to lure him out while one of her associates took the flute?

He wouldn't put it past her.

But then, he wasn't sure he wanted to bring the flute with him, either. Maybe that was bait, to get him to think that it wasn't safe in his room, so she could ENSURE he would have it on his person, and then she and the Phantom's goons would grab him and steal the flute so that he wouldn't be able to use it to cure the Shadow Pokemon!

…

Or maybe Sylvia didn't care either way and had told him that specifically to enjoy him squirming for an hour figuring out whether or not to bring the flute with him.

In the end, though, he had left it in his room. Not because he trusted Sylvia, but because he trusted his roommates, who had returned by that point themselves, to not let his stuff get burglarized while he was out.

…

Wait, I'm still letting her get to me! Fuck! Blake nearly slapped himself across the face. He had already been planning to interact with Sylvia with a clear mind and not let her mess with his head, but she had just done it again!

As he saw the large shadow of Victini Hall looming off in the horizon, dimly lit by the courtyard lamps, Blake decided, here and now, that this was it. He was done. No more falling for Sylvia's teases and taunts, no late-night rendezvous, after this, if she wanted anything from him, it would be on his terms. He would have her be honest with him, tell him what, specifically, she wanted, with no tricks, no ambiguity, if she ever wanted his help again.

And even then, he probably wouldn't agree with it. Sylvia was just not someone he wanted to interact with, and it enraged him to no end that he found himself repeatedly forced to speak with her due to circumstances out of his control.

He had to calm himself down again, he was just getting worked up for nothing. He finally reached his destination, staring up at the large building, the night sky so dark he couldn't even see the top. He let out a frustrated sigh.

Sylvia wasn't even here.

"Why so sad, Blake?"

Blake whirled around to see Sylvia standing behind him, her face lit up by the dull glow of the streetlights. He was surprised by what she wore, since it wasn't what he would have expected to see from her. Instead of her usual Gothic Lolita outfits, her current clothes were a lot sleeker. She was dressed in a tight leather catsuit, her curvy figure sculped by the shining material. It wasn't a usual outfit for going around in the snow, which meant, of course, it was perfect for her. Another odd thing about her outfit was that she had a backpack on her shoulders. He didn't think she was the kind of girl to carry backpacks. Her blue eyes sparkled mischievously in the light, and her golden hair flicked back and forth behind her as she strutted up to him.

"Were you disappointed that I wasn't here?" She crooned, reaching out to him. He swatted her hand away. As he did, he noticed that she was wearing dark gloves. Another unusual feature. He narrowed his eyes. Whatever she was up to, it probably wasn't going to be something he was pleased with.

Sylvia sighed, stepping back and shrugging her shoulders.

"Pity, you're always so defensive, Blake, it's just a little light playing around," she murmured, fluttering her eyelashes.

"What do you WANT, Sylvia?" Blake growled at her. He had zero patience for the girl, not when she came out the gate trying to flirt with him. "What exactly is SO urgent that it couldn't wait until tomorrow, that you needed to come talk to me tonight? If this is just another one of your games, I swear that I'll-"

"Oh, no game," Sylvia interrupted him, narrowing her eyes. Blake flinched, caught a little off-guard by that. "This is serious."

Blake nodded, shutting his mouth and letting her speak. If Sylvia did have something serious to talk about, then that meant he would listen.

"And sorry for the inconvenient timing, but we had to come tonight," Sylvia said. "In fact, we could only come tonight." Sylvia turned her head and looked up at Victini Hall, her face set in an unusually serious scowl.

"Why, what's up tonight?" Blake asked.

"Tonight, it's certain that Professor Reinhart isn't in his office, that's what's up," Sylvia said, frowning. "He's in the infirmary right now, getting looked after. Things are rather crowded after that whole debacle with the Phantom."

"Yeah, what was up with that, anyway?" Blake demanded. "The Phantom and his Shadow Pokemon, what the hell's going on with… wait, what? Professor Reinhart?"

"Paying attention? Good," Sylvia said. "I've been contemplating how to break in for some time now, but the professor doesn't exactly operate on a fixed schedule. And since he lives in the building I couldn't be sure that he wouldn't come walking in in the middle of the night to find me. But luckily, the Phantom's carelessness has given me a great opportunity."

"Wait, I still don't understand," Blake said, looking at her in confusion. "An opportunity for what? What are you talking about, Sylvia?"

Sylvia finally turned back to him, giving him a look like he was an idiot.

"We're breaking into the professor's office, obviously, where have you been?" She asked, nodding to the backpack she'd brought with her, which Blake suddenly realized was probably filled with burglary tools. His heart sank. He'd had the right idea about her plans, somehow, but the wrong target. She wasn't breaking into his place, but the professor?

"Oh, no, absolutely not," Blake said, shaking his head. "I'm not going to help you break in!"

"Pfft, like I need your help," Sylvia said, rolling her eyes. "Please. You couldn't break into a car. No, you're not here to help me, I'm just having you come with me."

"What?! Why do you…" Blake began to shout, and then realized that they were discussing breaking and entering on a school campus, and his voice dropped to a whisper. "Why do you think even for a minute that I would go along with something like this?!"

"…Because it's a nice bonding activity?" Sylvia replied after a moment's pause, staring innocently at him and blinking those big eyes of hers sweetly.

Blake glared in response, and crossed his arms over his chest. This was him setting his foot down. "Talk now, or I'm leaving."

Sylvia sighed.

"Look, Blake, it's not that I want you to come," she finally explained. "I just thought that you might want to come. To see what I find."

"Huh?" That hadn't been what he'd expected to here. "What… what are you talking about?"

"First, did you bring your flute?" Sylvia asked.

"No, I-"

"Good boy, you listened," Sylvia said. "If we get caught I don't want to have to explain those. We can just say we're two rambunctious teens who broke into the professor's office for some late-night making out."

"Sylvia…" Blake growled a warning. Sylvia rolled her eyes and smirked.

"Sorry, but it's a plausible excuse. Don't worry, I don't plan to get caught in the first place," she assured him with a laugh. "The thing is… those flutes. The ones that Ryoko gave us…"

"Yeah, what about them?" Blake asked.

"What do you think they are?" Sylvia asked, narrowing her eyes.

"Huh?" Blake wasn't sure what she meant. "They're… they're flutes, aren't they?"

Sylvia rolled her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. The look of derision in her eyes was starting to piss Blake off. SHE was getting annoyed by HIM? She thought that she had the RIGHT to be annoyed by ANYTHING that he said? But Blake clamped down on his impulse to smash her face into the lamppost and took a few deep breaths instead.

"Yes, they're flutes, but they're flutes that can cure Shadow Pokemon," Sylvia explained, with a tone like she was walking a child through a math problem. Blake loathed the patronizing tone she was using with him, but held his tongue. "You don't think, maybe, that there's more to them than that? Something that we should think about? Maybe look into?"

"That's…" Blake wasn't sure what to say. This was not the way he had expected this discussion with Sylvia to go tonight. But… she had a point. That flute… he trusted Ryoko, but it definitely would be good to learn more about them. "That's a good point… but why are we breaking into the professor's room, then?"

Sylvia was already ignoring him, and had turned to walk over to the door.

"I already searched the library," she called over her shoulder. "I couldn't find anything. But you were in the professor's class last term, right? You know that he's a pretty big expert on Pokemon History and Archaeology. He knows about all sorts of pokemon relics and legends, I'd wager a lot more than are in the textbooks we have access to."

Blake started to get where she was going with this, following after her.

"So you want to break into his office… to check out his library?"

"And the penny drops," Sylvia laughed. "Right on the money, I'd bet there are a bunch of books there, in his 'private collection' that the school won't let us look at. For example, do you think if there was a book that suggested where a legendary pokemon was hiding out, that we'd get to see it? Of course not, because then we might go off and get injured. His office probably has loads of stuff like that, maybe even information on these flutes. And it's not like I can just go up to him and ask 'hey, professor, I'm looking for a book and the library didn't have it. What kind of book? Oh, you know, one on ancient relics. Do you have anything specifically on old, wooden flutes associated with Celebi? No particular reason, I'm just curious. A picture would be nice, just so I can make sure it's the right ancient wooden flute. …What am I comparing the picture to? Well… my imagination of course!'"

Sylvia turned to look back at him, her face set in a "do I sound that dumb?" dull stare that actually made Blake snicker a little.

"Okay, yeah, I guess we can't exactly ask him about it if we're trying to keep it hidden, but… should we be trying to keep it hidden?" Blake asked. "I mean, like you said, the professor probably knows a lot more about this stuff than we do, and if he and the other teachers are worried about the Shadow Pokemon, then-"

"Two things," Sylvia interrupted, holding up two fingers. "One, I'm not so sure I'm against the Shadow Pokemon at this time, Blake, don't forget that. I am part of the Phantom's organization, after all, and if I drag the teachers into this mess against him, that's going to make things really troublesome, so no, that's not happening."

Blake figured that Sylvia was the kind of person who would do that just to stir shit up, but he kept his mouth shut.

"And two…" Sylvia's lips curled up into a ruby red smile, fluttering her eyes coyly. "Do I really look like an 'ask permission' sort of gal?"

…Yeah that made more sense than the first explanation.

"What are you doing?" Blake asked, changing the subject. He leaned over Sylvia's shoulder to see what she was up to.

"Well, we don't have access to the halls off-hours," Sylvia reminded him. "So I had Misato set up, um… let's just call it a master key."

"You had your robot friend give you a tool to hack into the doors and open them?" Blake asked.

"She's a Mechadoll you bigot," Sylvia corrected him. "I could have had her assign me administrative privileges, of course, but that would only work on-campus. This little baby…" Sylvia tossed the small key-card in her hand up, catching it between her fingers. She door clicked open. "Give it enough time and it'll open any door with a scanner."

Blake didn't even want to guess what Sylvia would do with something like that. He just followed her. He was getting more and more suspicious about the backpack now, it didn't seem like Sylvia needed any burglary tools at all.

"What's in the backpack?" Blake asked suspiciously. "You better not be planning to steal anything. I'll go along with this because I'm as curious as you are, but this is just about reading. If you're planning to commit an actual crime…"

"Snacks," Sylvia replied. "We're going to be there for a while, I'd wager. And I might be a fast reader with a perfect memory but even I'll take some time to get through everything."

Blake didn't like the sound of that. Thinking back to the last time he was in the professor's office, he remembered seeing a LOT of books.

"And what if we get caught because we take too long? What if he comes back after being check out by the infirmary and he finds us?!" He hissed, his eyes darting around the dark hallways. Technically, they were already breaking the rules just by being here.

Sylvia rolled her eyes.

"Like I said, the make-out plan," she replied. They stopped at the door to the professor's office and headed inside. There was no key-card access this time, so Sylvia broke in the normal way: a lockpicking kit.

Blake looked around. It was unnerving. They couldn't exactly turn on the lights or they'd risk alerting people to their presence, which means that they were now in the professor's office at night. And he was probably one of the worst professors' whose room to be stuck in. There were all sorts of artifacts and bones and the like sitting in glass cases, lit up at the base to cast the relics in an ominous glow. The skull of an Aerodactyl stared eerily at him through empty, vacant holes, the light making the sockets look like a pair of pitch black voids.

Blake swallowed and stepped back, bumping into Sylvia inadvertently.

"Hey, watch it," Sylvia hissed. She had set her backpack down and was pulling out some flashlights. "Anyway, you take the books on the left side of the room, I'll take the ones on… oh, hello, what's this now?"

Something fascinating caught Sylvia's eye. It was a tablet of stone, just a little bigger than a person's head, balanced on a stand within a glass case, lights lit up across the surface. The stone was black, and shined in the light, like obsidian. And scrawled into its surface were several glyphs in an ancient language that Sylvia didn't recognize. She held her flashlight up to take a closer look, but no. Nothing. The light swept over the stone and revealed nothing.

"What are you doing? I thought we were looking for books?" Blake hissed, walking over to her. He didn't want to spend any more time here than he needed to.

"Sorry, just got distracted. So, like I was saying, you handle the ones over here, and I'll check out the other side of the room, okay?" Sylvia asked, patting him on the shoulder and walking past him.

"Yeah, whatever," Blake sighed, turning his eyes towards the shelves. He reached for the first book he saw, and then paused.

Like Sylvia, his eye was drawn to the strange stone tablet. It seemed… off, somehow. Like it was calling him to look at it, and yet at the same time, like he couldn't see it. He rubbed his eyes and squinted. It… it was blurry. Like trying to get a camera to refocus, the words scrawled on its surface and the edges of the stone tablet itself were all a blur, even though everything else in the beam of his flashlight was clear. He rubbed his eyes again, and suddenly it became clear.

He could read it perfectly.

How-? Blake asked himself, confused. He blinked, and rubbed his eyes again, wondering if his fatigue had finally caught up to him. But when he opened his eyes and looked again, he could see that it was no mistake. He'd never seen those symbols, that language, before. But right now, he could read it as easily as he could read English or Kalosian.

"Blake, I'm not hearing pages turning," Sylvia said, walking over to him. "And you were giving me crap for looking at that scribbled rock before."

"They're not scribbles, Sylvia, they're words," Blake corrected her. Blake couldn't see Sylvia's face in the darkness and he wasn't even looking her way, but he felt she had rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, obviously, sorry, but if you can't read them then they're just-"

"Behold the Realm of the Ravenous," Blake said. He wasn't quite sure why. But that first line seemed to call to him, asking him to read it.

"…Your poetry sucks," Sylvia cheerily replied. "…Wait, is that?"

"In the world of unending darkness, dwells those who hunger constantly. The denizens of the dark, like thousands of hungry shadows. Fearful they would devour all worlds whole, the ruler of the gluttonous dwells in the land of the ever-starved, where his hunger lives forever unsated…" Blake continued to read. "The never-ending shadow, the darkness that devours everything, even light and life itself, sealed in the darkness."

"Hey, are you serious now?" Sylvia asked, her eyes wide. "Dude, you can read that?! How?! I don't get it!"

But Blake was too lost in the tablet to respond.

"To those who continue to hunger, whose thirst can never be quenched, the Realm of the Ravenous awaits them, to hunger for an eternity," Blake finished. As though coming out of a daze he stumbled back from the tablet, blinking a few times, his eyes readjusting. Sylvia was in shock.

Blake turned to Sylvia, confusion on his face, and had enough time to consult with her "what the heck was that about?" before a black portal ripped open from in front of the tablet, sucking the both of them inside. Their flashlights rolled across the floor and one came to a stop against the book Sylvia had been reading, the only sign that anyone had been in the room at all.

Well, that was quite a surprise. I don't think ANYONE saw that coming. What exactly awaits Blake and Sylvia? Where on earth… or not, could they have gone?!