While everyone else is relaxing in Agate Village, Maddi still needs some time to decompress after everything she's been through over the past week. It's really been a lot for her to handle. And now she's finally got some time to herself, so let's see what's on her mind. Maddi's definitely earned it, that's for sure!

The Semi-Final Round of the Pokemon Academy Best Girl Contest 3 has begun! These are our semi-finalists! Make sure to get those votes in, and choose which of these girls you think should make it to the finals! You can only vote for 3, so make sure to pick your favorites!

Semi-Finalists: Ayame, Chloe, Cynthia, Elaina, Kate, Marion, Sango, Vic

KedharS: Yep. Need to get that relaxation time in while we can.

Just a Bad Writer for Fun: Well, sadly, we won't get to see the battle, because we'll be focusing on Maddi and what she's going through right now.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 996

Maddi took a stroll through one of the forest trails around Agate Village. That was one of the nice things about this place; there were so few people and pokemon that you could always find somewhere to be alone if you just looked around for a little.

She wasn't that big of a fan of the outdoors if she was being frank. But being out in nature like this, with just the peaceful forest around her, it really was something.

Maybe she should give this place more of a chance, it might surprise her.

Maddi reached down to her belt and took off a pokeball, sending out her Eevee. Vee looked up at her, curious.

"Hey there Vee," she smiled, kneeling down to pet her pokemon. "You must be surprised that I'm calling you out like this, but I just wanted to check. How are you feeling?"

"Eevee!" Vee chirped happily, flashing a big smile to Maddi. She sighed in relief, that made her feel better.

One of the things that had been worrying her for the last few days was the fear that the µ Gene she had injected into her pokemon would have some negative effects on his health. It was dangerous to risk playing around with something like that, she knew that from experience. And even if it was a "perfected" version like the professor had claimed, there was still a chance that something could have gone wrong.

She'd needed it, at the time, to fight against that crazed artificial pokemon Eve. But when the dust settled, what did she have now? Just an Eevee, mutated by a strange genetic augmentation that allowed him to transform into any one of his potential evolutions by unlocking his dormant DNA coding, but just for a little while.

Maddi could only hope that there weren't any side effects.

"So you're sure you feel okay?" She asked.

"Vee! Eevee!" Vee nodded again, even more adamant. She sighed in relief. That was good.

"I'm glad you're doing good, then," she grinned, patting his fur. "In that case, do you mind testing something out for me?"

"Vee?" Vee tilted his head to the side in confusion.

"I want to test those powers of yours," Maddi said. "You know, if you think you can. You can turn into any Eeveelution, right? So if you're up to it, do you wanna try?"

She was resisting the urge to connect to Vee with her harmonia. She didn't know if it was a necessary trigger to convince him, but she really hoped that wasn't the case. Harmonia was a burden on her, and if Vee could master this ability without causing too much stress to either of them, it would be a very potent tool in her arsenal.

Vee, for his part, was willing to try, that's what his eyes were telling her. Which was just the kind of attitude she wanted to see.

"Okay, Vee, let's do this!" She said, standing up straight. "Since we're in such a peaceful place, I want you to-"

She didn't even have to finish her sentence because Vee was already on it. His body began glowing and he grew bitter, his fur lightening as his ears turned green and leaves sprouted out of them, as well as starting to grow out of other parts of him.

"Leafeon!" He finished, standing proudly in his new form.

"That's great!" Maddi brightened, hugging her pokemon. "How do you feel, Vee? It doesn't hurt, does it?"

"Leaf!" Vee said, shaking his head. He began bounding around the trail to show her how healthy he felt post-transformation. What a relief.

"Great. Let's try out another one!" She suggested. "Go for an Espeon next!"

The leaves shrank back into Vee's body as his ears stretched out, his tail twisting and splitting at the tip as a large gem popped out of his forehead.

"Espeon!" Vee finished, completing another transformation.

Maddi nodded in agreement, it was just what she was hoping to see.

"Okay, great, now we'll try Sylveon!"

Vee continued his transformations, first releasing the fleshing ribbons of a Sylveon, and following that transformation with the freezing fur of a Glaceon. They went through form after form as Maddi judged his health and condition after each one, to see if the act of transforming itself was something stressful for him.

"And how about now? You still feeling okay? Nothing hurts, you aren't too tired?" She asked as Vee reverted back to his normal appearance.

"Ee…" Unfortunately, this time Vee really was starting to look a little tired. He stared up at her with big brown eyes and tried to look confident, but it was clear that the rapid-fire transformations were starting to take their toll on the little guy.

Maddi didn't mind though.

"That's okay," she grinned, sitting down beside him and running her fingers through his fur. "You don't have to keep putting up a tough front. You're a little winded, aren't you?"

"Eevee…" Vee admitted, nodding sheepishly.

"It makes sense," she nodded in agreement. "After all, you ARE still transforming yourself. That must take some energy, I'd assume. But it's okay, you can rest for as long as you want, let's take a break. This place is nice, huh?"

Maddi leaned back against the trunk of a large tree and stared out at the forest stretching out before her. It really was nice here, and so peaceful. As she absentmindedly petted her Eevee as he recovered his strength, she recognized that, if there was any place worth training this ability, it was right here. Vee seemed to be getting stronger just from feeling the calming and invigorating effects of nature flowing through Agate Village.

I suppose this is all thanks to that pokemon, Shaymin, Maddi realized. A pokemon with that much power had made its home here… Maddi had been so caught up in everything that had happened recently, she hadn't even had a chance to consider that.

She glanced down at Vee, and thought about the other important things she had endured these past few days.

It seems to take a bit of energy from Vee every time he uses his transformation abilities. I suppose that the process is taxing him… but then, we used so many in such a short period of time… I wonder if that's why he's exhausted now? Maddi had to consider every possibility if she wanted to get a better sense of what her partner could do.

"Vee, are you feeling okay? Other than being tired, I mean. Your abilities aren't hurting you, are they?" Maddi asked. Tiredness was one thing, but if Vee was also trying to hide the fact that his transformation powers were hurting him, then she would never use it again. She tried to remember the feeling she had when she connected with him during their fight. Did it hurt back then? Did she feel that pain? It was hard to recall because there was so much happening at once, but she was pretty sure that Vee didn't really feel that hurt.

"Vee… Eevee!" Vee shook his head again. Maddi frowned.

"You're sure? Don't hide it from me," she warned.

Vee shook his head adamantly this time, then nodded. He was really certain about that, and she didn't need harmonia to tell her that much.

"Good, I'm glad," she said, relief flooding over her as she leaned back against the tree again. Now she was free to think about what that meant.

So it doesn't hurt, but it is exhausting… I wonder… Maddi thought about the µ Gene inside of Vee, inside of her, and what it did for that artificial pokemon, the girl called Eve.

That girl… she looked just like Dakota Evans, from school, didn't she? And didn't the professor mention something about finally stabilizing the µ Gene using someone's DNA? That must have been Dakota after she got shot… so does that mean he went and used Dakota's DNA to create that girl? That's what it has to mean, right? Maddi wasn't there for the professor's big speech about the artificial pokemon, she only knew what Wes had informed her about after the fact, about how Eve was a clone of Mew and had augmented DNA that let her transform into any pokemon, and of course, the fact that she looked exactly like Dakota. But she was a clever girl, and knew a little bit about genetics thanks to the professor's very own class, and some of the research she'd done on the things that her parents had been working on.

Dakota had come to her a while back with information about the Phantom, and about Professor Decker as well. Secretly, Maddi feared that all her digging around was part of the reason why she'd gotten shot. And the presence of Valon at the professor's lab just confirmed her suspicions.

She didn't know what to do with that information, though. Should she tell somebody? The police? The teachers? As far as she knew, Wes hadn't connected the same dots that she had; did he know that Valon was a student at her school? If he didn't…

Maddi sighed. This was way more than someone like her should have to deal with. She shouldn't be here worrying about students from her school going around killing people, and being involved in dubious genetic research. She should just be focusing on studying and getting good grades, and training her pokemon.

The µ Gene… is that girl really stable? She certainly seemed stable, but near the end, there, she was breaking down… and losing control of herself. It was like she could barely keep her forms under control, if I hadn't distracted her so badly, if she'd had better control over her emotions…

Maddi was definitely starting to get worried now. Vee was fine for now, but what if he lost control like Eve had? Would he go through a bunch of bizarre transformations like she had as well? What about the way he was getting tired? Was that a sign that…

She resisted the urge to smack herself across the face. No, what are you thinking? She chastised herself angrily. She didn't want to go there, definitely not.

But that did make her curious. Vee was exhausted right now, due to a series of repeated transformations turning him into a bunch of different forms. And Eve… the number of forms she must have had were limitless. Could it be possible that if she were to do repeated transformations, then she would be in that state herself?

If Eve used her transformation power over and over, would she eventually lose her energy and get exhausted just like Vee did? Maddi wondered. If so, that might be the only way to beat someone like that…

Maddi didn't get scared of a lot. But that Eve… that pokemon had terrified her. She could transform into anything; any pokemon, or even just part of a pokemon, and use those powers to attack whenever she wanted to, while looking just like a normal girl. And not to mention being able to take advantage of all those type combinations…

We only managed to defeat her because she was exhausted and enraged, and not thinking clearly. Maddi had no illusions about that. If we fought her for real, and she had a clear head… she could do a lot of damage.

Honestly, the idea wasn't a pleasant one. And even if they had won, it wasn't like a REAL victory. It felt more like a draw than anything. She'd managed to stop Eve from going on a rampage and killing everyone there, but in the end, all that had happened was that the girl in question had left without doing anything.

If she came back…

Maddi rose to her feet. She wasn't going to take this sitting down!

"Vee!" She said, turning to her partner. "We're not finished yet."

"Eevee?" Vee blinked, confused.

"Listen, do you remember how we fought against that girl, Eve? That's the reason why you told me to use the µ Gene on you, right?" Maddi asked.

"Eevee," Vee nodded cautiously, not sure where his trainer was going with that.

"Well, remember how Eve could transform parts of her body into stuff?" Maddi reminded him. "She could transform her arm into a Bastiodon's shield, or a Scyther's sword, but she didn't have to transform into a full Bastiodon or Scyther, right?

Vee shook his head in agreement.

"And she went through a lot of transformations in such a short period of time, too. I wonder if that's the reason why she didn't get tired?" Maddi mused. "Maybe it's because she was able to transform only a part of herself, so she used less energy than she would have if she was trying to go for a full body transformation."

"Eevee," Vee nodded again, finally getting what his trainer was getting at.

"I'm glad we're on the same page," Maddi grinned. "If we want to get a better handle on this ability, it might be a good idea to test it out, and see if you can transform only part of your body. But only if you're up for it, what do you say?"

Vee wasn't sure, honestly. Normally, he would immediately agree to the idea, but unbeknownst to Maddi, her newly-acquired harmonia wasn't fully under her control. Because of that, her emotions were leaking out of her without her knowing, and Vee was receiving them perfectly.

And right now, the emotion that Maddi was feeling the most was worry.

She honestly wasn't sure if this was something that they should be testing right now. She didn't know what potential repercussions it could have for Vee; would he be able to handle the transformation? Would it hurt him? None of that she was sure of. And all those concerns were rolling over him, causing him to become unsure himself.

But he decided to try it anyway, because he also felt how much his trainer cared about him, and wanted to do something to help support those feelings of care he felt from her.

"Eevee," he decided, nodding. He began to focus, flexing the strange new "muscle" he could feel inside of him, using his powers to try and evolve. It was a strange sensation he couldn't quite describe, but he focused on trying to transform. Just his tail. He wanted to see if he could turn his tale into a Glaceon's tail.

Unfortunately, he just ended up transforming into a full Glaceon instead.

"Oh, I see," Maddi said, stroking her chin thoughtfully. "How do you feel, Vee? You aren't tired again, are you?"

Vee shook his head, he felt perfectly fine. He just wanted to try transforming again, to see if he could do it this time.

"Maybe if we focus on something smaller," Maddi suggested. "Try returning to your normal form, okay?"

"Glaceon," Vee nodded, returning to an Eevee. He waited obediently for Maddi's next request.

"Vee, try just manifesting an Espeon's ruby, can you do that?" She asked.

Vee nodded, scrunching his eyes closed and focusing. He focused on Espeon, and more importantly, an Espeon's ruby. Just the ruby though, he didn't want to transform into an entire Espeon.

There was no light of evolution this time. A ruby popped out of Vee's forehead, shining bright red in the sun.

But before Maddi and Vee could celebrate this fact, the rest of Vee's body began to follow it an instant later, and within seconds a full Espeon was standing in front of her.

Maddi sighed, shrugging her shoulders. "Guess that didn't work, either."

"Espeon…" Vee looked down sadly, returning to his regular appearance. He had one last idea of his own to try. If he couldn't make things like rubies or tails transform, then what about something even smaller and less invasive? Maybe he could just transform a part of himself that was simple, like his fur color or pattern.

With that idea in mind, Vee focused his energy again and tried to make the ringed pattern of an Umbreon appear across his fur while he maintained the form of an Eevee.

Like last time, after a few moments of concentration the rings appeared all across Vee's fur. But again, like last time, the partial transformation was quickly followed by a complete one, and he turned into an Umbreon.

Maddi and Vee shared a sigh. Apparently this wasn't a workable idea.

"Well, it's okay," Maddi assured her pokemon, petting him. "You definitely tried hard. It doesn't matter if you can't do everything she can do, right?"

"Umbreon?" Vee wanted to agree with Maddi, but he couldn't help but feel disappointed. At the same time, though, the feelings of compassion and pride coming off of his trainer were helping his confidence in himself as well.

"I mean, think about it," Maddi continued. "You can turn into any one of your potential evolutions, right? But it's not like you can turn into other pokemon. You can't turn into a Pidgeot and fly into the sky, or turn into a Sandslash and burrow into the ground. You've awakened a very unique and amazing ability, but that doesn't mean you're exactly like Eve. So maybe being able to turn part of your body into another pokemon is just not in the cards for you! That's nothing to be ashamed of."

Vee smiled, feeling a little better when she put it that way. Maddi smiled back. She was happy that Vee was happy.

"And I guess that means no practicing transforming into a hybrid of two Eeveelutions either, huh?" Maddi joked, laughing a little to lighten the mood.

Vee quickly reverted back to an Eevee and gasped in shock, frantically shaking her head. Maddi just kept on laughing.

"No, no, it's okay!" She assured her partner, petting the pokemon gently. "I'd never ask you to do something like that, don't worry."

"…Eevee…" Vee sighed in relief. Just the thought of trying to be two pokemon at once was tiring.

Maddi and Vee shared another peaceful giggle, when suddenly footsteps from behind them spoiled the mood. Gasping, she turned around to see who had just uncovered their secret.

"Whoa, what was that!?"

Who could it be? Maddi and Vee's transformations were supposed to be a secret, but it seems that someone has found them out! Hopefully it won't be too much of a problem, maybe just someone from one of the groups at worst?