Sylvia's proposed that Akira accompany her to Kanto! What specifically is she after? What does it have to do with Dakota? Will they be able to help her finally wake up? I hope so.

Pokemonking0924: Who knows what Sylvia's motivations are? As for Kanto, we'll have to find out, won't we?

KedharS: Just another day in the life.

The Harmonium: Yes, yes she is.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 804

"What are you talking about?" Akira asked, narrowing his eyes suspiciously. Nothing Sylvia said had any weight in his eyes. "The Kanto Region?"

Sylvia relished in the look of reluctant intrigue on Akira's face. He didn't like it, but he was definitely interested. She had him right where she wanted him. She had to work hard to keep her smirk from being too eager.

"You're a Water type trainer… nominally, isn't that right?" Sylvia mused. "Let me tell you what's going to happen. I would like you to register your practicum application with Misty, the gym leader of Cerulean City. Understood?"

Akira shook his head in disbelief. "You can't be serious."

"As the grave," Sylvia replied. "Look, you don't have to do anything. All I'm saying is that if you want to find out more about what's happening to Dakota right now, then Kanto is the region which has all the answers. Besides, the Cerulean City Gym is among the gyms you already applied to for your practicum, right? You were already thinking about going there anyway!"

Akira had considered the Cerulean City Gym. In fact, it was currently his first choice. But the fact that it was what Sylvia wanted him to do made that option suddenly seem a hell of a lot less appealing in his eyes.

Sylvia sighed. Akira should be behaving how she wanted considering his devotion to Dakota, but she could see that his opinion of her was affecting his better judgment. She would have to explain a little more to reduce his apprehension.

"Look. I found some evidence that Professor Decker was involved in some… other interesting research projects," she lied. She'd known from that he was involved before she even introduced Akira to the man, she just hadn't mentioned it at the time. "And there are a few other people involved in that project who can tell us a little bit more about…" she looked around, pretending to be worried that other people were listening in, "…the µ Gene."

Akira flinched. That was the look she wanted.

She kept the smile off her face and continued. "Look. We're heading out at the end of the week. And today's the last day for making our final decisions. So you're running out of time. If you don't want to go to the gym, of course-"

"Look, this thing about the µ Gene…" Akira interrupted her. She could see how anxious he was, and she loved it. Akira was so easy to manipulate! By changing lanes and making it look like the conversation was coming to an end without him learning everything, his desperation would naturally lead him to engage! And once he did that, she had him.

"Oh?" She asked innocently.

"You said there were… people who would know things about it," he said, trying his best to sound casual, the poor thing. It was adorable.

Sylvia nodded. "Yes, there are." Well, person, anyway…

"And those people are in Kanto? In Cerulean City?" He asked.

"They're in Kanto, yes," Sylvia replied. Her contact was a fair distance away from Cerulean City, in fact, but Akira didn't need to know that right now.

"And if I… go there, you'll help me find out more about this whole thing?" Akira asked. He didn't want to feel this hopeful. He knew Sylvia was manipulating him, and that the doubts creeping into the edges of his heart were a result of her silver tongue. But even when he knew that he couldn't trust her, he couldn't deny the temptation welling up inside of him.

It was a testament to her skill as a manipulator that he could know she was playing him and still completely agree with her.

"Of course!" She said, smiling cheerfully. But Akira still wasn't buying it.

"But… there aren't any Ghost type gyms in the Kanto Region," he said. "So where would you apply for your practicum?"

Sylvia rolled her eyes. "Uh, the Cerulean City Gym, the same as you?" She said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"What?! But you're a Ghost type trainer!" He sputtered.

"I have a Jellicent, and that's enough," she smirked. "I don't mind using one Water type my entire time there. After all, I'm a girl who can deal with… adversity."

Akira groaned, sinking back into his seat in resignation. She had clearly put a lot of thought into this, that was obvious. She was just that kind of person. "Fine, you've made your case," he growled, glaring at her. "I'll come with you to Cerulean City. For Dakota. Now can you please just shut your fucking mouth and leave me alone?"

Sylvia smirked, and nodded. That was perfectly fine.

She already had everything she wanted.

While Sylvia was living things up in her mind, Akira was having second thoughts. He had been having second thoughts from the second Sylvia sat down next to him, so that wasn't much of a surprise. All he could do now is sit and think about his problems.

There was someone he needed to see after class.

After classes, Akira practically ran out of the room to keep Sylvia from hovering around him, drawing him into her clutches. Whenever she talked to him he felt the urge to take a shower afterwards. He felt unclean.

But he didn't need a shower right now. He needed something else to cleanse himself, or more specifically, someone else.

"Akira? What's up?" For once, Serefina wasn't working. She was in her room, taking some time for herself.

Last year, her boobs had landed her in the Miss Pokemon Academy Contest too. But she had gone to work and classes the next day like normal, and been swamped with a lot of… unwanted advances that had been a pain in the ass to deal with.

She wasn't going to make that mistake again. She was hiding out until the heat blew over. Sango might have been the winner, but there were more than enough desperate, pathetic losers at school to go around.

"H-Hey," Akira said. He felt shaky just being here. Serefina had stepped aside to let him into her room, but he didn't feel comfortable with that.

"Hey! Aki! What are you doing here?! Stop bugging me, I have a story to work on, you louse! Get the fuck out!"

This was her room after all. And the thought of being here, without her, made him feel sick to his stomach.

Serefina picked up on that. "…Oh. Sorry." She stepped out instead and closed the door behind her, and Akira felt his heart start beating again. A sigh of relief escaped his lips and he stepped back, sinking down against the wall.

"Hey, are you okay?" Serefina asked, walking over to her and crouching down beside him. She didn't like the defeated look in his eyes. "What's going on? Did something happen? You seemed like you were in such good spirits this weekend…"

The Miss Pokemon Academy Contest had been a good experience for Serefina. It wasn't because of the competition itself, she didn't give a damn about that. But she had seen Akira actually open up and even smile a little during that, and that made her feel so much better about everything that had happened.

But he wasn't smiling now. It was like he'd gone back to that downcast state he'd been when Dakota had been attacked. It wasn't as bad as then, of course, because he wasn't catatonic, but it seemed like that wasn't too far away.

"No, it's… it's nothing," Akira muttered, shaking his head. What was he doing? He had come here for advice because he knew Serefina was the one person he could trust, and now that she was here asking him what was wrong, he didn't have it in him to talk to her? What was the matter with him, was he just that pathetic?

He didn't like admitting it, but yeah. Yeah, he was.

"I… I got my practicum application all filled out," he said, forcing a smile to his face. "I'm going to be studying at the Cerulean City Gym."

"Oh! That's great!" Serefina tried to sound excited. Normally, this would be good news, and Akira SHOULD be happy. But he clearly wasn't. So there was something that he wasn't telling her, something else eating at him.

"…Yeah," Akira nodded. His forced smile was the only word he gave further on the subject, slumping forward with his head hung.

Serefina sighed. Okay, time for bad cop. "Akira, you didn't come here on a Monday afternoon to tell me nothing about being accepted for your practicum application. So why don't you tell me what you're really here for, unless you'd like to just sit here in silence for a while? Because I can do that too, as you'd like."

Akira raised his head and glared at her, his lips locked in a tight grimace. "Serefina, I didn't come here to be pestered by you," he scowled.

Serefina gave him a stony look. "Dakota wouldn't take that crap from you, Akira, and neither will I. So cut it out!"

Akira flinched, turning away from her. Serefina wasn't going to let it pass so easily. She jumped up and grabbed his arm, pulling him onto his feet. He was stunned. "H-Hey, Sere-"

"Fuck this mess," she growled, dragging him back to her room. She had been sympathetic at first, but now she didn't care. Akira was clearly messed up about something, and the only thing that would have him in this sort of shape was Dakota. And if he was already messed up, then there was nothing more she could do.

Except one thing that she really, really didn't feel comfortable with. But it might be the only way she could get him to open up.

If it didn't make him shut down completely, of course.

Serefina grabbed the door and flung it open, and Akira realized what she was planning to do. He sprung to life pretty quickly after that.

"H-Hey! Serefina, what are you doing?! Stop it, this is ridiculous, let go of me!" He protested, struggling against her. But her grip was like an iron vice.

She shoved him into her room. He stumbled forward, looking around frantically.

It was her room. Exactly as he remembered it. For an instant, he could see her there, sitting at the desk, typing away on one of her tabloids.

But Dakota was asleep in the hospital. And her computer was smashed into pieces.

"Her parents wanted to leave her stuff here," Serefina said quietly, hanging her head in remembrance. She closed the door behind her, stifling a sob. "They wanted… they wanted her room to be exactly the same… so when she woke up, she could come back like nothing had ever happened."

She was trying unbelievably hard not to cry. She'd kept it bottled up for so long, but she needed just a little bit more strength. Her hand felt warm, like someone was holding it. She felt a comforting touch on her shoulder.

"Come on, Seri." Dakota's voice rang in her ear.

She bit her lip and straightened up. "It's hard, isn't it?" She asked. "Being in here. Without her, it's like… it's haunted."

"Yeah, no kidding!" Akira exclaimed, storming for the door. But Serefina grabbed him by the collar, filled with strength she had no idea she had. She shoved him down and pushed him onto Dakota's bed, crossing the distance.

"You don't understand!" She spat at him, clutching his shirt and burying her head in his chest. "You don't have any idea what it's like, Akira!"

"The hell I don't!" He shouted back. "You think I want to be here, like this? Standing here, in her room, when she's not here?! When I know… that she might not ever come back?! Without Dakota, being here is just-"

"AND HOW DO YOU THINK I FEEL?!" She screamed, letting out everything she'd been holding back. "HOW DO YOU THINK IT FEELS, SEEING IT EVERY DAY?!"

Akira was at a loss for words. Serefina buried her face in his chest and cried. "Ebery… every morning… I wage ub, and loog across the roob, eggspegding… dat she's sleebing dere… bud she neber is, she's always gone…"

Akira realized how selfish he had been. He hadn't wanted to come in here, because of Dakota? What a cowardly thing to do.

Serefina had been living here for weeks. Dealing every day with the fact that one of her closest friends was in the hospital, brain dead, with the only chance of recovery some crazy experimental treatment that had so far turned out no results.

Tears rolled down his cheeks and he hugged Serefina tightly. "I'm sorry," he cried, patting her on the back. He didn't know how to make her feel better, because he was in the same state that she was, they were both broken by their loss. All he could do was pathetically mutter "I'm sorry" over and over and over again.

It took a long time, but they were finally all cried out. They had cuddled up on Dakota's bed, comforting each other. It was the strangest thing that had brought them out of their sorrow, too.

Serefina's stomach rumbled.

"Wow," she giggled, wiping her tears. "I guess I'm a lot hungrier than I thought."

Akira checked his phone. "Well, yeah, it's almost dinner time." He got off the bed and headed for the door. "Do you want to go to the Snorlax Commons, or-"

Serefina grabbed his sleeve. She pulled him away from the door and shook her head. "No, let's… not. Let's stay here."

Akira didn't need her to explain to understand what she was talking about. They had spent so much time in this room, dealing, that it just felt right to stay here. "…Yeah," he agreed. "Let's get something to order in."

Serefina smiled. "And while we're at it, you can tell me all about what it was that you came here looking for me earlier."

Akira sighed, rubbing his temples. "Ah. So you remember that, huh?"

"You bet I do," she smirked, clapping him on the shoulder.

"I was hoping you'd forget in the heat of things," he groaned, sinking into a chair. "Fine, I guess compared to what we were just talking about, this isn't a big deal."

After she finished ordering the large pizza, Serefina pulled up the other chair and sat across from him. "So talk then. Is there anything I can do to help?"

"It… isn't completely unrelated to the Cerulean City thing," he admitted. "That's just the beginning of it, though."

"It's about Dakota, isn't it?" She suspected, and rightly so. Akira nodded.

"It's about Dakota… and Sylvia."

Serefina tensed. "Of course. Sylvia fucking Driscoll, I should have known. What did she do this time? Akira, you've gotta stop listening to her! Everything that woman spews is poison, just keep your distance. She wants to hurt you for her own amusement, you've got to realize that."

Akira nodded. Yeah, he didn't need Serefina explaining that to him.

"It's about that… experimental procedure," Akira said. "The one with the µ Gene."

"That's that… thing that the professor said could help her, right?" Serefina asked. "Fix her brain damage?"

"Well, I've been in contact with her family, and it hasn't seemed to be working so well," Akira replied. "…Although according to the doctors, they're sensing brain activity now, so she has taken a turn for the better."

Serefina brightened. She hadn't heard about that. "But… But that's great! That means she's recovering, right?"

"According to the doctors, all of her faculties have been restored," Akira confirmed. But he didn't seem very happy about that. "There's no reason she should still be in that coma, she could wake up at any time."

To Serefina's ears, that sounded like nothing but good news. And yet Akira looked like someone had told him that his Gyarados Satsuki had died. Again.

"So why isn't she waking up?" Akira asked, raising his head to look her in the eye. In spite of all the crying he had done, it looked like there were still a lot more tears left to come. Serefina winced, reaching out to him. She put her hand over his to help him feel better.

"I understand why that's hard," she agreed. "Knowing that Dakota should be waking up, but isn't. Especially considering the nature of her… treatment. But Akira, what does that have to do with Cerulean City?"

Akira sighed. "Sylvia said…"

Serefina already felt the scowl crossing her face. Of course Sylvia had said something. She braced for impact.

"She said that she found something out," he explained. "About Professor Decker, and the µ Gene. But she doesn't know the full story, she needs to do research on the topic. And not just computer stuff, either, she has to talk to people."

Serefina began to put the pieces together. So that's what this was about. "And those people are in Cerulean City, I'm guessing."

Akira nodded. "Mhm."

"So Sylvia wants you to go to Cerulean City, what, with her? So you two can go around asking people about this µ Gene?" Serefina confirmed. Akira nodded again. "And that's what's getting you all worked up, huh?"

"I care about Dakota, I want to help her any way I can," Akira said. "If I can take care of her, figure out something that could improve her condition, wake her up, then I need to, right? This should be a no-brainer, but…"

"…But something feels wrong," Serefina finished for him. "Because Sylvia's involved with it."

"Exactly," Akira muttered. "She's just that kind of person. I can't trust her at all. And the way she was talking, it was like she was hiding something. Something dangerous, or problematic, and was leading me away from it."

"It's Sylvia, she's always doing that," Serefina sighed. "So you think this whole story about the µ Gene is just a setup?"

"Not exactly," Akira said, shaking his head. "But I think this is about more than making Dakota better. I think there's some sort of secret there, something about Professor Decker and the µ Gene that's actually dangerous. Something she hid from me the first time."

That turned Serefina's mood from worried to upset. If there was something wrong with the µ Gene that was currently implanted in Dakota, that was bad. Maybe she wouldn't wake up after all.

"And she kept that from us?!" She exclaimed. "From Dakota's family?"

"Or she didn't know," Akira said, even though he didn't believe it for a second. "But whatever the reason might be, I think… Sylvia is a problem. Kanto is a problem. And I came because… I don't know what I should do."

Serefina reached up and cradled his cheek. There was only one thing she could say. "Go."

Akira was stunned. That wasn't the advice he'd been expecting. "Really?"

"If you don't go, then you'll always be wondering," Serefina explained. "You need to know that you did everything you could. Even… Even if Dakota never…"

She couldn't finish her thought. Akira didn't finish it for her. The unspoken words hung in the air around them.

Akira's having a rough time of things. So is Serefina. Luckily, they both have each other for support. But Serefina won't be there in Kanto. What will Akira face there?