Olivia only has one pokemon left, her Garchomp. The battle has reached the climax! And that's not all. Tensions have been boiling over, and Olivia has been trying her hardest to keep a lid on her feelings (believe it or not) but it's all going to come bursting out here! How will Alcea respond to Olivia when she learns the truth? Remember to review!
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! So far, only three people have voted, we need more votes for 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: It's possible, she certainly has the advantage right now. The question is, can she hold onto it or not?
Hyphenman: Unfortunately, we've got to deal with the emotional stuff first.
Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings
Chapter 1014
Callie sat up in bed and stretched. She was feeling much better. It had been around a week or so since her injury, and she was feeling healthier every day. She owed Vic for letting her use her bedroom to recuperate; that must have been difficult for someone so strict and private.
And she's Alcea's friend, too… I really should thank her when she and the others get back, Callie decided. She felt a little bad too that she and Alcea had to stay behind due to her injury, but she supposed it couldn't be helped.
Her stomach started to rumble. While Callie's appetite couldn't compare with the likes of Sango, she was still a growing girl (hopefully) who lived a very active life, and needed a lot of calories to fuel her body. She'd been eating like a Snorlax since her injury to recover, and once again she was famished! Checking the clock, she realized she'd slept straight through breakfast and into lunch.
Why didn't anyone wake her up?!
She took her painkillers and got out of bed, still a little woozy. But when she walked into the hall, nobody was around. The Carvers had a really small house, with the main living area being a family room/kitchen hybrid. The house was empty.
Callie stepped outside and immediately saw why.
Everyone was watching Alcea and Olivia fight each other! A pokemon battle?! How could she have missed this?! Instantly, food became the last thing on Callie's mind.
"Alcea!" She cried. She started to run towards the field, but a sting in her chest made her think twice. What an idiot, she'd nearly torn her stitches clean out!
Alcea heard her name being called and looked over her shoulder, shocked. What was Callie doing here? She was still sleeping!
"Callie, get back!" She shouted. "This is a serious battle, you might get hurt!"
Yellow was on it. She ran over to Callie, guiding her to safety. But the damage was already done.
"What are you doing focusing on her?!" Olivia roared. "I'm the only person you should be paying attention to right now!"
Olivia flung her pokeball into the air.
"GARCHOMP!" Cynthia roared, draconic energy swirling around her. She landed on the ground and the entire battlefield shook, nearly throwing Venus off her balance.
Alcea snapped forward, back on the match. First things first, she needed to set up grassy terrain. "Venus!" She shouted. "Use grassy terrain, now!"
"Venusaur," Venus bellowed, stomping on the ground. Her body began to glow green, and that energy flowed down into the grass, once more causing it to sprout up tall around both pokemon, boosting her pokemon's power.
"That's the technique you beat us with last time," Olivia said. "Using grassy terrain to enhance your Venusaur's moves. I didn't see it coming before since I was expecting you to stick with sunny day, but this time, we're prepared. And even if our Ground type moves are weakened, it's going to take more than that to get the better of us! Cynthia!"
"Garchomp!" Cynthia growled, raising her sharp fins. A massive tornado of sand roared up around her, covering the field in a dust storm that blotted out the sun, cutting into Venus's speed and causing her to wince.
"As expected," Alcea scoffed, shielding her face with her arm. "You tried this before! But it will serve you no better now! Venus, use sunny day!"
"Venusaur!" Venus began to glow again, releasing an orb of light into the sky. The intense sunlight overpowered the sandstorm, lighting up the field again. But in that brief moment of zero visibility, Cynthia had completely disappeared.
Alcea recognized immediately what that meant. "Venus! Like last time, she escaped below the ground, is it?"
"Venusaur!" Venus glanced down at the tall grass, waiting for Cynthia to pop up. The last time Olivia and Cynthia had fought Alcea, she'd used dig at a crucial moment to land a powerful hit. And now, the tall grass shielded her from sight.
But Alcea played a bad hand. Because Cynthia hadn't escaped underground.
"Aerial ace!" Olivia ordered. Cynthia reappeared behind Venus, her claw raised high. Instead of using dig, Olivia had ordered her to prepare an aerial ace using the cover of the sandstorm; Cynthia had disappeared, moving faster than the eye could see, and now had taken up a spot behind Venus, ready for a strike.
"VENUSAUR!" Venus was struck with a strong enough aerial ace to knock her into the air.
"Venus!" Alcea cried.
"Whoa, that was powerful!" Donoma winced.
"I know Garchomp are strong, but that was something else!" Ian marveled.
"Yeah, that's the way to do it!" Raizer cheered. "Take her out!"
Everyone looked at him.
"What? I'm a sucker for intense fights," he shrugged unapologetically.
"This won't be like last time!" Olivia roared. "Use your dragon claw!"
"Garchomp!" Cynthia leapt into the air, draconic energy surging through her claw. She slashed at Venus, smacking her down into the ground.
Alcea grimaced. Olivia was right, this was nothing at all like their previous fight. Her Garchomp was brimming with power. Was having harmonia really that much of a difference?
"Venus!" She shouted. "Use grassy glide to put some distance between yourself and that Garchomp immediately!"
"Venusaur!" Venus nodded, scrambling to her feet. She shot across the grass, a mixture of grassy glide and her natural speed boost from Chlorophyll letting her cross the length of the field in seconds, where she took cover behind a rock.
"Now, synthesis!" At her order, Venus began to restore the health that she had lost, but Olivia was having none of that.
"Oh, no you don't!" She shouted. "Dragonbreath!"
"Garchomp!" Cynthia opened her mouth, and a stream of violet-blue flames shot out. They struck the stone Venus was hiding behind, exploding it into chunks of dirt and rock and knocking Venus backwards with the blast.
"That was a dragonbreath?!" Giselle gasped in disbelief.
"How tough is that thing?!" Lukas exclaimed.
"Very."
Everyone turned to see Andre and Erik approach, freshly back from their hike. They both had tense expressions on their faces.
"Garchomp are incredibly powerful pokemon," Erik continued. "Even if that one hasn't been trained for battles… it doesn't change the devastating power contained within its body. I don't know what's going on here, but this doesn't look good for Alcea."
"I'll explain," Andrea said, frowning, taking the time to explain to Erik, Andre, and Callie what was going on; at least, as much as she knew was going on, while Hiromi tried to fill in the remaining gaps. But there was still a lot that wasn't clear.
"Come on, Alcea! Is that all you've got!?" Olivia demanded. Cynthia charged at Venus with her fins raised, ready to carve her up. "I know you've got more!"
"Indeed!" Alcea replied. "Solarbeam!"
"Venusaur!" Venus tilted her flower forward, firing a compressed beam of sunlight at the approaching Garchomp.
"Gar!" Cynthia jumped out of the way, the solarbeam sailing harmlessly through the sky.
"With our speed, you'll have to do better than that," Olivia smirked. "Come on, where are all those techniques you've spent so much time honing? You must be stronger than this, I know you are! That time spent on that island wasn't just a waste, was it?"
Alcea glared at her. Olivia kept pushing that point, and it was starting to piss her off. "You don't know what you're talking about!" She growled. "You have no idea what I went through! What I lost, what I dreaded! You talk about me being some sheltered, spoiled rich girl, but you could never have gone through what I did!"
She gasped, realizing what she'd just let slip out.
"…You think so, huh?" Olivia scowled, her Garchomp slowing to a stop. "You think I'm that fragile? That weak? That if I had been there, I would have been useless, is that it?"
"N-No, Olivia, that's not what I'm trying to say!" Alcea said, shaking her head frantically. "I-I didn't mean it like that, it just slipped out!"
"It's because I'm not a strong pokemon trainer. I'm just a Coordinator who does fashion shoots and magazine pics, so there's no way I would have the strength to endure something that horrible, right?" Olivia continued. Alcea's words weren't even reaching her at this point, she was too caught-up in her anger.
"You don't know anything!" She shouted. "You think I wanted to grow up with the life I did? Trapped in that house, trying to become stronger? Trying to do anything in order to please my family?! Show my father that I wasn't some worthless piece of garbage?!"
"…Olivia…" Alcea had no idea how hard the other girl had it. Of course she must have felt pressured, she'd understood as much, but the way Olivia said it…
"Your parents spent three years praying for your safe return," Olivia continued. "They never gave up, I'm sure. But my dad? I doubt he would have even cared if I was shipwrecked, let alone look for me. He never gave a damn about me! Not one call, one visit, the entire time I was in Sinnoh! He was happy that his bastard of a disappointment was out of his life! Imagine knowing that! Imagine living that! You think your time on a cushy desert island picking berries with your pokemon was hard, Alcea, try living my life for once!"
"…I have no intention of pretending that my life was easier than yours," Alcea said quietly. "The difficulties that people go through… they can't be compared, is it? Everyone is different. The water and sunlight it takes for one flower to flourish could make another flower wither and die. But what I do know… using your pain as an excuse to resent those around you and take it out on them… that, that is wrong, is it?"
"You think that's why I'm upset?" Olivia snorted. "Because I think you had an easier life than I did? Oh, don't get me wrong, you definitely did. But no… my anger… my frustration… it's because, even now, you still think that I'm nothing to you, don't you?! After all these years, nothing's changed since back then, has it?!"
"You're not nothing to me!" Alcea cried, her voice cracking. She nearly burst into tears. "You're not! I don't… I don't know what you mean, when you say back then, but-"
"Tell me, Alcea. Are you… happy that you spent all that time on that island?" Olivia cut her off. Alcea flinched at the look in her eyes. There wasn't anger or frustration, but cold impartiality. It was like a totally different person was talking now, and yet Alcea was sure that this was still Olivia.
"I… I don't know," she admitted, hanging her head. "My time there was precious to me, yes, even if it was hard. I met new friends… and I became the person I am today…"
She thought of the pokemon who'd taken care of her; the friends that she'd brought home. Then she thought about Vic, and about Shaymin.
"…Oui. I'm happy that it happened," she said, standing up tall. There was no doubt left in her. "As I said. I became the person I am today, is it?"
Olivia said nothing. Then she nodded briefly. "…I see. Because your pokemon took care of you, is it? Because you made so many new friends, is it? Because you were able to be reborn into someone new, forgetting about those you left behind, is it?!"
Alcea stepped back, stunned. "Th-That's… I don't…"
"You don't remember," Olivia seethed. "Because of course you don't. After all… even if we were friends… we weren't really friends, were we? Not really. I was just someone you forgot about in the end."
Alcea mouthed the word. "Friends?"
What was she saying? She and Olivia… they had been friends? But that… that was…
Hazy memories flickered through her skull. They were different from the ones that had flooded her mind thanks to Ryoko. Memories of years past, like staring at blurry photographs. A blonde girl. A sweet thing, about her age, sitting alone in the garden of a fancy estate. They had talked. Alcea taught her how to dance. She had called her a friend.
Alcea had almost forgotten, but why were those memories coming back now of all times? No, it… it couldn't be… that girl…
That girl… what was her name?
Alcea had introduced herself. But had her dance partner done the same? Had she even asked?
"We were friends." Olivia's cold words were a stinging accusation that forced Alcea out of the haze of her memories. She stared across the field at the other girl, and paled at the pain she saw painted across Olivia's face.
Even from this far away, Alcea could see the tears.
"My first… my first friend," Olivia whispered. "I thought… I thought you really cared about me. But in the end, you never even knew my name, did you? Because you didn't care about me at all."
"That… that's not true!" Alcea sputtered. "I-I remember you now! You were that girl… in the rose garden, at the party! We danced together, and-"
"TOO LATE!" Olivia shouted, punctuating her rage with a roar from her Garchomp. "You only remember me now, because I forced you to!"
More memories were flooding into Alcea's mind. She remembered now, asking her parents about the girl she met. Feeling like a fool for never getting her name. But her parents didn't know who she was talking about. Not even an address for her to write letters to.
"We agreed to… meet again, at Lord Evergreen's party," Alcea remembered, looking down at the grass. "And then I…"
"And then you disappeared," Olivia coldly declared. "You disappeared, and you forgot all about me, you remember that?!"
"I-I… that… that wasn't my fault!" She sputtered. "It was an accident! A shipwreck! How could I have known that-"
"That's not the problem!" Olivia shouted. The tears were flowing down her face, and her Garchomp was crying as well. "Tell me… you said we were friends… but… then you disappeared. Why didn't you invite me?"
"…Huh?" Alcea stared at her, feeling numb. She couldn't begin to understand what Olivia was getting at.
"That day… when you were shipwrecked… that was your birthday, wasn't it?"
"Y-Yes…"
"But I wasn't invited, was I? I was your friend, but you didn't even invite me to your tenth birthday party. Because I wasn't good enough for your family, was I? I was just some bastard, there's no way I could have gotten an invitation! And because of that, you… you-! YOU WERE TAKEN AWAY FROM ME! YOU FORGOT ME!"
She fell to her knees and started sobbing, cradling her face with her hands.
"I wanted to go… I wanted to go so bad… I thought… if I… if I had been there, then maybe… I could have saved you… but you didn't want me there, and then… and then you were gone… and when you came back, I thought… but then…"
She kept sobbing, unable to contain her feelings anymore. Olivia Himeko, the Empress, who'd spent her entire life showing everyone the face that they expected of her, was finally breaking down her walls due to Samarra's influence.
And Samarra was being influenced in turn.
On the other side of the mountain, she reached up and wiped the tears from her eyes.
"How strange…" she murmured, staring at the wetness in her hand. "This feeling… is this sadness? Odd…"
Olivia's emotional breakdown was so powerful that it was starting to overpower Samarra, and because of that, her other friends were starting to feel Olivia's pain. Ayame's eyes began to water, and for a brief instant, part of her broke free and wanted to comfort Olivia badly. But she didn't.
Finally, Olivia raised her head.
"Why didn't you take me with you?" She whispered. She was a pathetic wreck, and she knew it. But she still had to ask.
But no answer Alcea had to give would have satisfied her.
"My parents wanted a private family event, is it?" Alcea murmured. "Even if I had an address to invite you… a name to place on that letter… it wouldn't have mattered. I'm sorry, Olivia. If I had known back then…"
"Then what? You would have insisted?" Olivia snorted, rising to her feet. She was shaking. "Don't make me laugh. You would never have stood up to them. For someone like me? Like you said… you didn't even know my name."
"Do you need to know someone's name to be their friend?" Alcea demanded. "That night… did you care nothing about me, until I gave you my name?!"
"Th-That's… no, I'm not saying that, I just-"
"We were still friends, Olivia! Please believe that!"
Olivia ground her teeth together.
"Don't lie to me! You're saying that now… but back then… back then, when I came to see you, you'd forgotten all about me! I remember as if it was yesterday! And you kept forgetting, right up until right now!"
"That… that is true, oui," Alcea nodded, her face flushing with guilt. "Perhaps… I should have remembered. But after everything that happened… what I went through… is it really my fault, that I couldn't remember a girl I shared one dance with, after all that time I spent on that island? A girl whose name I never knew?!"
From the bottom of her heart, Olivia wanted to shout "yes!" But she didn't. All she did was scream. And Cynthia screamed with her.
There was no time for memories or tears. Only the battle would end things.
Wow, Olivia really laid it out there, huh? Well at least Alcea finally remembers her. Maybe next time, give her your name.
