Now the two groups have finally reunited! And that means it's time for Olivia and Alcea to finally have their reunion! I wonder what Olivia's reaction will be when she sees the changes that Alcea's undergone since her arrival in Agate Village, and the fights that she's had to endure. Hopefully she won't be too much of a bitch, but it IS Olivia.

The Elimination Round of the Pokemon Academy Best Girl Contest 3 is coming to a close! Tomorrow is the last day, so make sure to get those votes in! We've only got a couple of people who have voted so far, so try to vote if you can, if you want your girl to be the third year champion, and if you want this contest to happen for a fourth time! You can vote for up to 5 girls, so make sure your favorites have a chance to shine!

Nominated: Ange, Ayame, Caelia, Chloe, Cynthia, Donoma, Elaina, Kate, Maddi, Marion, Misato, Ryoko, Sango, Satsuki, Sylvia, Vic

KedharS: That's for sure. I don't think there's any interaction between Olivia and Alcea at this point that WOULDN'T be awkward.

Just a Bad Writer for Fun: It should be pretty amusing. But for someone like Yellow who grew up beside the Viridian Forest, a pokemon like Shaymin would be quite a precious thing indeed, so if they meet, I'm sure they'll get along pretty great.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 991

Yellow's jaw dropped.

"Fully healed?!" She gasped.

Rui nodded, a pleased look on her face. "Yeah, I'm surprised, too. But the pokemon in Agate Village has fully recovered her strength, and then some."

Yellow shook her head in disbelief. When Wes had come to the Aether Foundation a few weeks back, he'd made things out like the pokemon he wanted Yellow to heal was on death's door, talking about how they'd tried everything they could think of and still didn't know if she would be okay. That, in their desperation, they went to the last hope they had left.

It wasn't like Yellow was close to the Carvers or anything. She'd never even heard of them, or this pokemon in Agate Village, before Wes had gone to Lusamine for help. But being the woman she was, of course she was willing to drop everything and go see if she could help.

Now she was hearing that she needn't have bothered.

"I'm sorry for wasting your time like this," Rui apologized. "But to be honest, it really was a bit of a miracle that things turned out the way that they did. We couldn't have planned for, it but… I'm glad it happened."

Yellow just smiled. "Oh, you don't have to apologize for something like that," she assured her fellow mother. "As long as the pokemon is okay, I'm happy that my services weren't needed." The most important thing was the pokemon, after all.

Rui smiled back at her. Right now, the two women were having two conversations at the same time. The first they were exchanging with words like anyone else, but the second was a more subtle dialogue, an exchange of senses and feelings. Their harmonia were responding to each other, and showing the other woman that the person standing in front of them was a kind and compassionate person who truly loved pokemon.

For people as matured in harmonia as these two, words weren't necessary. A strong bond of friendship had already been formed, even if it was only in the sense of a subconscious feeling. They shook hands gladly.

Then Yellow spoke up again. "I know my services aren't needed, but if you'd like to make it up to me for coming all the way out here, would you mind if I introduced myself to this special pokemon? I've been quite curious this whole trip here, you see."

Out of reflex, Rui almost said no. But then she caught herself and considered things. Was it really that big of a deal? In the past, it was forbidden for outsiders to enter the Relic Cave. At first that was to protect the Relic Stone and the Oracle, and then after the disappearance of the Oracle it was to safeguard Shaymin as well.

But now Shaymin was fully healed, and had more than enough power to protect herself and the Relic Stone. So was it really necessary for Rui to stop her?

"Of course, I'd be happy to introduce you two!" Rui decided to trust in her instinct, and stepped outside. She turned back toward the house, where the other students were assembled.

"I'll be stepping out for a moment," she called. "If you'd like, some of your fellow students are outside, from another group. Why don't you go out and make introductions?"

There was some bustle from inside, and with that, Rui decided, everything was resolved. She turned to Hiromi and nodded, trusting the other woman enough to leave her students in her care while she went and brought Yellow to Relic Cave.

The walk was a short one, and they were at the clearing fairly quickly.

After Shaymin fought off the attackers and used her power to restore some of the greenery in Agate Village, she had returned to the clearing in order to rest. Although her life was no longer in danger and her strength had recovered, she was a pokemon like any other and still needed to recuperate just as Alcea and the others had.

That was the state Yellow found her in when she arrived at the clearing and laid eyes on the Relic Stone in the center.

"Oh, my," she breathed, her eyes widening.

Shaymin had since reverted to her original form, nestled up in a tiny little ball beside the gracidea flower. In the interim, Rui had removed the flower from its planter and planted it naturally beside the Relic Stone, where it could get plenty of sunlight and grow naturally. And it was certainly growing, thanks to influence from Shaymin's presence.

"It's so small," Yellow murmured, walking over to the tiny pokemon. "And it looks like part of the forest itself… what pokemon did you say this was?"

"Her name is Shaymin," Rui explained, coming over to join her. "And just be gentle, she's resting right now. She used a lot of strength the other day."

"Okay, I won't disturb her," Yellow agreed. But as if Shaymin was sensing her presence, the tiny pokemon let out a yawn, opening her eyes and sitting up. She blinked a little, staring at Yellow in confusion, and then smiled.

"Shaymin!" Shaymin greeted her. She nuzzled up to Yellow like they were old friends, and Yellow returned her smile.

"Hey there, cutie," she said, reaching out and running her fingers through Shaymin's fur. It had the same feel as warm grass. "So you're Shaymin, huh?"

Yellow connected with Shaymin and sensed the pokemon's thoughts and memories, seeing what she'd been through for herself. It was quite a story. By the time she finished and brought her hand away, she had a newfound appreciation for everything the pokemon was trying to accomplish here, and it made her smile.

"You're really an amazing pokemon, you know that?" She whispered. "Trying to help all these people here, and restore the land to its natural shape."

Yellow was sad that there weren't more pokemon with Shaymin's capabilities out there. With Shaymin's power to promote life and growth, then the Aether Foundation would have a much easier time with their efforts to protect the environment and the pokemon living in it.

But she also knew that she couldn't ask Shaymin to make that sacrifice. The pokemon was just one little thing, she couldn't be forced to carry all those burdens. She was choosing to help the Orre Region out of the goodness of her heart, and that was commendable. Yellow would never sully that by forcing her to give even more.

With her mind made up, she said goodbye to Shaymin and thanked her for everything, and then turned to Rui.

"Well, I certainly saw quite a lot from her," Yellow laughed. "It's certainly a story."

Rui had to agree. Smiling, she nodded, "yes, yes it certainly was."

With that, the two women headed back for Rui's house.

While they were gone, though, the others came out to see what was going on. Most of them were still stressed and exhausted from the previous day, and a few just weren't in the mood to socialize in general.

Chloe, in particular, needed to catch up on her sleep, so she curled up in a little bag in the corner of Rui's living room. Mason, on the other hand, didn't want anything to do with the others on principle, so he stayed behind too.

Tommy and Ross were okay with seeing the others, though. Tommy was a little curious to see who would come all the way up here, but when he saw that it was the Empress and her group again, he quickly lost interest. Until he noticed Andrea and the others from her group admiring his campsite, and he quickly got to talking with Andrea, Andre, and Erik about camping while Ross nodded along with the conversation.

Keya came out as well because he wanted to meet the pokemon that they had brought with them, but he was a little disappointed that nobody was really in the mood to introduce pokemon right now. Still, he got along okay with the others.

Olivia, on the other hand, was starting to get impatient. She'd come here for one reason and one reason alone, and that was to see Alcea. But Alcea was nowhere to be found. She had half a mind to just storm into the house and DEMAND to see her, but she refrained. After all, such a thing was certainly beneath her dignity.

She wasn't the only one looking for somebody though. Marion was also looking around, trying to spot someone, but in her case that person was Callie. Ayame was a little concerned about where Callie was herself, since she was also close to the girl.

"Where's Callie?" She finally asked, walking over to the Commander. "I don't see her around, is she okay?"

Alden smiled, but the way he smiled signaled that something was wrong, and Ayame tensed up when she saw it.

"Callie's doing okay now," he assured her. "She just had a little bit of a run-in with those terrorists, and got a little more injured than the rest of us did."

Marion gasped. "What?! No way! How much more?"

"She had to be hospitalized," he confessed, his expression turning serious. "Believe me, she's okay, but it was a pretty serious wound. The doctor here said she needed a lot of rest, so she's back in the house sleeping to recuperate."

Ayame sighed. She was relieved and not at the same time. It was a good thing that Callie was okay, obviously, but she was still concerned about the condition of her friend in the first place, and upset that she'd gotten hurt.

Marion was a little more optimistic. "Well, the good thing is, she's alive, isn't she? And her injuries aren't too serious, or else she'd be in the hospital, right?"

Ayame perked up at that. She was right, that was a good thing.

"Nice positive attitude!" Alden agreed, giving her a thumbs' up. "You two can go visit her as soon as she's up, sound good?"

That did sound good. And now that one issue was solved, Ayame could get to work and focus on the other one.

Namely, the increasing bad mood of her friend.

Olivia was standing away from the others, her hair blowing gently in the wind along with the edges of her skirt. From the way she was posed, Ayame almost suspected that it was intentional; she had maneuvered herself rather like she having a photo shoot. But she didn't say anything. She didn't even approach the other girl, knowing that Olivia wanted everyone to keep their distance.

But she did turn to the Commander and ask where Alcea was next.

"Oh, Allie? Yeah, she and Vic went out to go take a walk."

That answer was surprising to Ayame, and even moreso to her mother.

"A walk?!" Hiromi sputtered. "After what just happened? The village got attacked!"

Alden didn't know what to say, so he just shrugged.

"This is Vic's hometown, you know," he reminded her. "I'm sure she knows what she's doing. And besides the terrorist attack, the people here are pretty nice. It's a safe place, I feel, plus they have their pokemon with them."

Hiromi sighed. She would just have to accept that. Hopefully the girls would come back soon, if they didn't…

Luckily, Hiromi didn't have to think about that worst-case scenario, because her wish was granted before she could even finish her thought. Alcea and Vic appeared over a hill, heading towards the house from the far road.

Olivia brightened for a moment when she finally laid eyes on the redhead, and then her blood froze in her veins.

Alcea was smiling. She was talking to Vic, and she was smiling. And Vic was smiling. The two girls were smiling together while having a conversation.

"What's going on here?" She muttered under her breath. Vic was well-known to be a complete and total bitch, even more where the Commander was concerned. Olivia couldn't think of a single girl that she got along with.

And yet here she was giggling with Alcea like a couple of schoolgirls, what the hell was going on here? She couldn't even begin to understand.

Luckily, she didn't have to wait long to ask. Vic and Alcea reached her first, both girls a little surprised to see Olivia standing there, though of course not as surprised as she had been by their presence a few seconds earlier.

"Olivia, what are you doing here?" Alcea asked, raising her eyebrow curiously. This wasn't the sort of place she'd expect the Empress to go to.

On the hike up here, Olivia had come up with several excuses to justify her presence to Alcea when the two finally met. After all, it wouldn't do for the other girl to think that she was concerned, or for the others to think that she was being petty.

Yet for some reason, all of those cover stories seemed to vanish in the blink of an eye. She was at a loss for words, and all she could do was reply with "that doesn't matter right now. But I'm curious to see the two of you getting along so well. Why, it wasn't a week ago that you were both practically at each other's throats!"

She punctuated her sentence with a haughty laugh, hoping to play off her probing question as the musing of a girl who thought herself the superior of the three. It was only due to her phenomenal acting ability and the lack of suspicion on the part of the other two that she was able to get by without her true goal being known.

But she might have been better off if she hadn't asked in the first place.

Alcea smiled without guile, seeing no harm in answering the question.

"Oui, quite unexpected, is it?" She laughed. "The truth is, Victoria and I have indeed had our problems in the past, but we've put that behind us now, is it?"

Vic frowned. With Olivia's presence here, she couldn't quite behave the way she had been, because she still had her image to maintain as a ruthless badass.

Still, she couldn't exactly deny it outright, either. "Something like that," she muttered.

Alcea continued with her explanation. "Simply… back when we were younger, it turns out that we had met, once before. And became friends. But due to circumstances, neither one of us remembered until recently."

She smiled sheepishly.

"But we've since come to terms with things and become friends again, is it?" Alcea was being exceedingly polite to Olivia, even though she knew full well about the grudge that the other girl had towards her. Under normal circumstances, Olivia would take offense to that, because it would seem to her that the "polite" Alcea was really talking down to someone she found inferior.

But right now, Olivia didn't have the state of mind to make those sorts of assumptions, and the reason for that was because of the content of Alcea's speech.

"…I see. So you were friends… and then you forgot, is that right?" Olivia asked quietly. "And then you remembered that you were friends, and now you've become friends again. I see… that's quite something, isn't it?"

Alcea blinked innocently, not sure what Olivia meant.

But across from her, countless negative emotions were piling up in Olivia's chest as she stared at the two of them.

It wasn't fair.

Alcea and Vic had been friends. But Alcea had forgotten. And then, when she remembered, the two of them became friends again? Like nothing had changed? Like all the grudges between the two of them were a thing of the past?

I won't accept this. I refuse to accept this!

If Alcea remembered her friendship with Vic… then why was she the one who'd been forgotten?! Why did she have to be the one who lost everything? And Vic… Vic was able to smile and talk with Alcea like it was normal, like she hadn't nursed a grudge against her just the other day!

Vic got to be Alcea's friend.

And what did Olivia have? Even now, Alcea still looked at her with caution at best.

"Even though I was her friend first… even though you forgot about me first… why did it have to happen like this? Why couldn't I be the friend you remembered?!"

She wanted to shout those words until she was blue in the face. But she didn't. After all, such things were beneath her. Putting words to this tempest of emotions would give them power, and lower her standing in the eyes of the other girls.

And that was the one thing Olivia refused to do.

"Well, I'm very happy for you. It must be pleasant, to remember such an important friendship after all these years," Olivia said with a diplomatic smile even as she trembled with rage. "Especially considering your previous animosity. I'm glad you both could put that behind you."

"Thank you," Alcea said, smiling politely. She lowered her head in a small bow and walked past Olivia to rejoin the others, leaving Olivia alone with her feelings.

She clenched her jaw so hard she feared her teeth would crack. But she had to. If she let up even for a second, then she would scream and cry, and she would never allow such an affront to the dignity of an Empress.

All she could do was scream in her mind.

Oof. That must be pretty rough for Olivia, huh? Oh, well, she's still doing the best she can, so that's something to be happy about, right?