Things between Olivia and Alcea are getting tense! How will the two girls deal with their problems? Will Alcea be able to say something that will reassure Olivia and be able to find some common ground for them to work together on, or is the situation just untenable? Hopefully that's not the case!

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: Unfortunately the issues are a little more complicated than that.

Just a Bad Writer for Fun: I don't think the Phantom would go to them for help.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 1003

Chloe took a peek out the window and a shiver went down her spine. Even all the way inside, there was no masking the tension in the air.

"Chloe?"

"Yeep!" Chloe jumped a foot in the air when she heard her name being called. She whirled around to see who it was, and sighed in relief. It was just Giselle.

Giselle was one of Chloe's few friends. Because both girls were quiet and reserved, they had difficulty making many friends with others, and this had led to them being drawn to one another even though they were in different courses. It had gone as far back as their first year, when the two of them were roommates, and in spite of the shared awkwardness between them, they'd managed to hold onto that friendship all this time.

She was one of the few people that Chloe could relax around and not have to worry about offending. She sighed in relief.

"Hey, Giselle… sorry for responding like that," Chloe murmured, twisting a lock of her hair.

Giselle smiled and shook her head. "N-No, it's fine. I'm sorry I startled you. I just wanted to check, is everything okay? You seem a little… tense."

Truthfully Giselle was the one feeling tense, and suspected that Chloe was too, given how she was acting. Maybe they could relax together?

Chloe sighed and glanced back out the window. "Can you blame me?"

Giselle shook her head. No, she really couldn't blame Chloe, could she? After all, things with Olivia and Alcea were… awkward.

Both girls sighed.

"To be honest," Giselle said, coming up and sitting next to Chloe at the windowsill, "I didn't want to come on this trip. But we had to, after all."

Chloe nodded in agreement. While she hadn't wanted to either, she also understood how important it was. And due to her newfound responsibilities to the Commander's organization, she couldn't just say no.

"I wish I could have been in the same group as you, though," Chloe murmured, patting Giselle on the shoulder.

"Yeah… but I don't think it would have worked out," Giselle giggled. They had talked about it before, the two of them being part of the same group. But ultimately that was impossible. Chloe was working for the Commander now, and Giselle couldn't give up her chance to get in good with the Empress. So they'd really had no choice.

"How's that going, by the way?" Chloe asked. "You wanted to get closer to the Empress, right?"

The disappointed look on Giselle's face was all the answer she needed.

"It seems that no matter how hard I try, I just can't seem to bond with her," Giselle sighed, staring at her knees. "I've been laughing at her jokes, giving her compliments, trying to spend time with her… but it seems like she just doesn't care."

Chloe winced. That sounded really tough. Especially since Giselle would need the Empress's support going forward if she wanted a lucrative career.

"Ayame's been a blessing, though," Giselle said, swooning a little. "She's been so supportive, trying to arrange ways for me and the Empress to get closer, it's just not working. Still, I can't help but thank her for everything she's done."

"She sounds like a good friend," Chloe smiled. She turned and glanced out the window. "…But honestly, I don't know if anyone could get close to a woman that scary."

These were the sorts of thoughts that Chloe usually kept in the safety of her own head. But here, with no one but her closest friend, it felt okay to let her inner voice slip out just a little.

It's not like she was wrong, either. The atmosphere around Olivia right now was not one that was conducive to a positive interaction. She was staring coldly at Alcea, and half-tempted to make the other girl kneel before her and ask for assistance, if not for the fact that her rival was already sitting on the ground.

For Alcea's part of things, she was handling the situation remarkably well, not losing her cool in spite of how unreasonable Olivia was. She stared evenly up at the Empress and contemplated the other girl's accusations, and how to properly address them.

Finally she decided to forget it. She rose to her feet with such suddenness Olivia nearly fell out of her chair in surprise.

"Olivia, you said that what I'm doing is 'exploitation', is it?" Alcea asked.

Regaining her composure, Olivia swiftly turned her attention to the other girl and glared. "Yes, as a matter of fact, I do," she asserted. "You want me to lend you my power and influence without giving me anything in return, I consider that quite exploitative. Why don't you ask your friends in the Commander's organization to help you?"

Alcea's lips tightened into a scowl.

"I truly do wish you could help me… but I don't understand. What is it that you want me to say? Do you wish for an apology? Is it that you desire me to prostrate myself? Or do you simply get pleasure from my desperation?" She asked, glaring down at the Empress.

Olivia's expression turned colder than Alcea had ever seen. She slowly rose to her feet, looking the other girl in the eye.

"You think I want something from you?" She asked, radiating menace like never before. She grabbed Alcea by the chin and pulled her forward, an action so uncharacteristically aggressive that Alcea didn't know how to respond to it for a moment.

Olivia brought her face so close to Alcea's their lips were practically touching. With a soft hiss she whispered, "you could never understand what it is I want… and that is precisely why I want nothing to do with you."

With that she pushed Alcea back and spun away, storming off into town.

Alcea picked herself up, shaken. She didn't go after her, though, she just stood watching the Empress depart.

That afternoon, Vic finally returned back home only to see her mother had a serious expression on her face.

"What's up, mom?" She asked, looking around. The living room was looking more and more crowded every day, and she was starting to wonder if her mother wanted to kick everyone out. That would certainly be nice.

Instead, Rui had other ideas.

"Victoria, I wanted to talk with you about something important," Rui said. "It's about where the field trip will go from here."

"What do you mean?" Vic asked, glancing around uncomfortably. Anabel was smiling, which put her on guard, even though the Commander seemed happy as well.

"I've been talking with Anabel and Alden, and they both think that it's important that we go take a look at Realgam Tower," Rui explained. "But you see… we can't leave yet."

Callie was sitting on the couch next to Alcea, and her face turned downcast with shame.

"Callie's injuries still haven't fully recovered," Wes explained. "It would be bad if the stitches came loose."

Vic winced. That sucked. They really needed to check this place out, but because of Callie's wounds, Agate Village had become more of a prison than a vacation. They'd spent practically the entire field trip here! And while she certainly loved being home and spending time with Shaymin, they had business to attend to!

"So that's why I discussed things with Hiromi, and we both agreed that it would be for the best if we split the group up," Rui explained.

Vic blinked, surprised. "Eh?"

"Let me explain," Hiromi said, stepping in. "My group will be happy to stay in Agate Village for a little while and look after Callie, while you go to that… what did you call it? Realgam Tower?"

"What?! We will?!" Lila sputtered. She may not have hated Agate Village as much as she thought she would, but that sounded like it would take a while.

"It shouldn't take longer than a week, right?" Rui asked, glancing to her husband. He nodded.

"I'll be staying here, just in case," Wes added. "And if something comes up, we can send word to you. And worst comes to worst, I can look after Callie on my own while the rest of you go off, Hiromi, does that make sense?"

"Works for me," Hiromi nodded.

Vic definitely saw some merit in that. But Lila still wasn't a big fan.

"Do we really have to stay here?!" She groaned. "There's no way the Empress could be okay with that, right?!"

She looked around the room for Olivia, but the Empress was nowhere in sight.

"Wait, where is she?" Alcea asked, rising to her feet.

"Didn't she go for a walk into town?" Giselle thought.

"That was hours ago," Ayame said, starting to get worried. She'd left Olivia to her own devices, but now was starting to regret that. "Don't tell me she's still outside!"

"Oh! I know!" Marion raised her hand high. "I saw her! While I was fishing in the stream! She walked right into the forest!"

"Olivia? Entering the forest by herself?" Alden snorted.

"No way," Lukas said, shaking his head. "She'd never do something like that!"

"But I saw it!" Marion wailed.

Maddi slowly raised her hand.

"Um… I also… ran into the Empress. When I was coming back from my hike."

Coming from Maddi, the notion that Olivia had gone out for a walk sounded much more believable.

"She should be fine, right?" Rui laughed it off. "After all, it's not like there's anything dangerous here, and she has her pokemon."

But those words sounded rather hollow given the fact that the Children of the Oracles were still on the loose.

It was Andrea who spoke up.

"I don't think this is an emergency per se," she said, standing up, "but I do think we should be getting worried. Maybe we should arrange a search team to go find her. As a Pokemon Ranger, I'm more than qualified to go on a search and rescue."

Hiromi began to panic. Oh, no, this was just the worst! She'd left Olivia alone because she was afraid she'd just make things harder, but now the girl was missing. "I-I'll go too!" She said. "I've had some experience there as well. Rui, can I count on you to look after the others?"

"I'll go as well," Alcea agreed. "After all, it is my fault that she walked off."

"Absolutely not," Andrea snapped. Then her voice softened. "Sorry, I don't mean to be rude. But I think it's best if we don't have too many people, in case more of us get lost. I don't want to bring anyone out there who doesn't have suitable survival training. I'm sorry."

Alcea scowled. "I was… never mind." She was about to assert that her years of being stranded on a desert island should have qualified her to come, but now that she thought about it those skills weren't exactly translatable into mounting a rescue operation.

"Andre and I are in," Erik said, standing up. "We might not be official Pokemon Rangers, but our classes have taught us how to handle ourselves in situations like this."

Andrea nodded. That was suitable. "So just us four, then."

"M-Me too!" Ayame exclaimed.

Andrea shook her head. "No. Not a chance."

"But I've been trained!" Ayame said. "My mom taught me everything she knows! I can help! And not only that, if Olivia's in a bad mood, I'm practically the only person here who might be able to calm her down!"

"…That's a good point," Hiromi admitted, even though she didn't like it. "Okay, Aya, you can come with us. But you have to stick with me the whole time, alright?"

"Fine then," Andrea nodded. "Then let's head out."

"Wait, I can come too!" Marion raised her hand. "I'm in the Ranger Course too, after all!"

"NO WAY!"

Everyone collectively agreed that was a terrible idea.

"Hopefully, we'll be back before nightfall," Andrea told Rui as the others headed out. "This is my cell number. If she returns before we come back, give me a call. Understood?"

"Of course," Rui said, nodding.

"I don't think it's that big of a deal," Vic grumbled. "If they're gonna make such a case about this whole thing, we just shouldn't let anybody leave at all."

Once outside, Andrea confronted the group.

"Okay, so the path that Olivia supposedly went down branches off in two directions. Since we have two Pokemon Rangers, I think we should split up to cover more ground. Hiromi, you go with your daughter, and I'll take Andre and Erik, sound good?" She asked.

Nobody had any qualms with that plan. They headed out, calling for Olivia. While they were, Ayame was checking her phone over and over, trying to call. But Olivia refused to pick up the phone.

Eventually they reached the fork in the road, with no telling which way Olivia could have went.

"…I think she went down the right path," Ayame said after a pause. "It goes around the mountain, right? As opposed to the other one, which heads up the side."

The left path was a lot steeper than the right; Olivia, lazy as she was, probably would have taken the easier road if she was storming off in a bad mood.

"That's good thinking, but it never hurts to make sure," Andrea said. "We'll take the left path just in case, since we're more used to dangerous terrain. You ladies head down the right, and if you find her, make sure to call me. I'll use Chime's bell if our group manages to find her, okay?"

"Do you really think Olivia's in that much trouble?" Andre asked. "I mean, she's probably just on a walk and lost track of time, we've been going on walks nearly every day we've been here, right? So why the worry?"

"It's just a standard precaution," Andrea assured her brother with a smile.

"And besides, on those other walks, nobody's been gone nearly this long," Erik grimaced. "She could be in real trouble."

"…And it's Olivia," Ayame muttered under breath. "Knowing the boss… does she really seem like the kind of person who would spend hours hiking a trail?"

That was the deciding factor that made Andre shut up and head after his sister. Olivia Himeko would be fine with hiking right up until she tripped over a root in her designer heels and then she'd start whining, that was the image that had been built up in his mind.

With that settled, Ayame followed her mother down the right path, and as she did, she worried about Olivia and what she could be doing.

I don't get it. Why would you wander off like this? You're just going to worry us! Come on, boss, this isn't like you at all! Ayame felt a sinking feeling well up in her gut.

Olivia liked to cultivate an image of flawlessness. She liked pretending that she was above others, that there was nothing that bothered her, but those who knew her knew the truth. Olivia was filled with flaws, and not the least of them was her propensity to throw temper tantrums when things didn't go her way. But she had a remarkable capacity for restraining herself, and not losing her cool until she was alone.

Ayame suspected that was the reason Olivia had wandered off. Because she wanted to let out her frustration without anyone else around.

It's all my fault… I should have tried harder to make her feel better… if she ran off somewhere and got hurt because of me, then-

A flash of gold and black flickered in the corner of Ayame's eye and she whirled around to see Olivia a few meters away. She wasn't on the trail but standing in the brush, staring at her. Then she vanished like a ghost.

"Olivia!" Ayame shouted, running after her friend.

"Aya!" Hiromi shouted, pulling to a stop and turning towards her daughter. "Don't get off the trail, get back here!"

"But it's her, mom!" Ayame shouted over her shoulder, running as fast as she could. There was no way Olivia could keep up with her, if only she could-

Another flash! There she was!

But the second Ayame spotted her, Olivia had disappeared again. It was like trying to swing at fog, no matter where Ayame turned her friend just didn't seem to be there.

Pulling to a stop as she realized she didn't know where she was, and couldn't hear her mother's voice anymore, Ayame sucked in air and shouted at the top of her lungs, "OLIVIA! OLIVIA, WHERE ARE YOU?! CAN YOU HEAR ME!?"

No response. She sighed, wiping the sweat from her brow, and turned to go get her mother.

…And there Olivia was, standing right behind her.

Ayame was so relieved and startled that she nearly fell over.

"Boss!" She gasped, clutching her chest and trying to catch her breath. "Don't startle me like that!"

"Sorry!" Olivia smiled sweetly. "I didn't mean to!"

"I was looking for you," Ayame scowled. "Where have you been? Why did you run off like that?"

Olivia shrugged, her smile not fading. "I've just been here, you know? Wandering around the forest, enjoying the scenery. Why, is something wrong?"

Ayame's heart was still pounding in her chest. She could see there was something wrong with Olivia's smile, it was a little too forced, a little too fake. It was clear that her friend was trying hard to pretend like nothing was wrong.

"Everything's fine now," Ayame said, wrapping her arms around Olivia and squeezing her tightly. Olivia didn't hug her back. "Come on, let's get back to Agate Village."

"Okay!" Olivia chirped. Ayame took her hand so she wouldn't get lost, and tried to navigate her way back to the path. She just knew that her mother was going to chew her out something fierce for wandering off on her own, but it would probably be nothing compared to what Olivia was going to go through.

Well, at least they managed to find Olivia. Fortunately there aren't any dangerous pokemon in the woods, that would be bad.