We continue our time in the Pokemon Academy, and this time, we're going to move to a character who doesn't get a lot of focus, Julia! That's right, this is a chapter dedicated to her! Not her and Kitty, but an honest-to-goodness Julia chapter where we learn a little more about her past and her pokemon and see how she started out!

The Final Round of the Pokemon Academy Best Girl Contest 3 has begun! Get the votes going in soon! There are three girls in the finals! Who's going to win? Chloe? Cynthia? Or Vic? One of those girls will become the third best girl, so get those votes in as soon as possible! You've only got one vote this time, so make it count!

Finalists: Chloe, Cynthia, Vic

KedharS: Oh, definitely not. What could be awkward about this?

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 1028

Julia watched Cynthia and Blake head off to talk to Serefina. She was so natural about it, wearing a big smile on her face, like all the stress she had been feeling that morning had completely washed away and she was happy as could be.

It was unnerving.

She was so worked up about what she wanted to do in the future… but now that's all gone. It's so strange… Julia walked back to her dorm in silence, thinking about that morning. Worrying about the future…

She unclipped a pokeball from her belt and stared at it. Roden slumbered inside, conserving his strength.

As for me…

"Gym leader? Pokemon master? I haven't given it a lot of thought."

That's right… gym leader or pokemon master, that isn't what matters. That's what I decided back then… Julia clutched Roden's pokeball tightly. As long as I can show how strong and beautiful you are, what I do with my future isn't important.

She paused outside Bulbasaur House, then turned down the trail and walked past the building towards the open fields.

"Okay, everyone!" Julia flung Roden's pokeball into the air, then followed it with several more. "It's been a while since I groomed you guys, so let's take a little break!"

Julia didn't release all of her pokemon. Percy only needed sunlight to gather energy, and Fang would be no good on land. The five she called were the original party that she'd come to school with, Wolfie, Luna, Blaze, Nuri, and of course, Roden.

Most of her pokemon ran right up to her. It was one of the joys of canid pokemon, they were very friendly and affectionate with their trainers.

With one notable exception, of course.

"Houndoom," Roden snarled. He bounded up upon a large rock by the hills leading towards the forest, and glared down at her.

Julia just gave him a rueful smile. "So even now, you still won't let me brush you," she murmured, shaking her head. She turned to her other pokemon and her smile perked back up. "Now then! As for the rest of you, line up and let's get those coats ready!"

She started with Wolfie, as she always did. Her cute little Poochyena. She'd been taking care of the little puppy since she was a child, ever since her mom had given her to Julia for her seventh birthday. Over half her life. It would have been expected for the little thing to have evolved into Mightyena by this point, but Julia wasn't going to pressure her.

She was one of her best friends, she could take all the time she wanted. Just like Julia took all the time she needed brushing Wolfie's fur until the dark grey hairs shined. After all these years it was as easy as breathing for her.

The school Julia had gone to in Rustboro hadn't been a fancy one. But it was the only school in the area, so everyone, from rich to poor, had gone there. Secretly, she wondered if Cynthia had been in her classes as well, given her parents worked at the Devon Corporation in town. Maybe if she had lived with them instead of with her grandparents, they would have become friends all the way back then instead, she wondered.

That thought brought a smile to her lips. And tears to her eyes. Brushing her pokemon made her feel a sense of nostalgia. After all, one of the biggest perks of trainer school had been that they were able to bring their pokemon. And of course, in their first years, they were too young for battles or even learning about moves and types, so most of the lessons involving their pokemon involved grooming and taking care of them.

"Ugh, what a mangy mutt! This is why they shouldn't let poor kids into school with us!"

"Poooo!" Wolfie yelped. Julia gasped. A bad memory had resurfaced, and she'd accidentally pulled too hard on a knot.

"Oh, I'm sorry girl," she apologized. "I was just thinking about the past, that's all."

Wolfie turned and stared up at her trainer, and then licked Julia's arm. Julia giggled, and then finished brushing out all the knots and clumps. A few minutes later and the brush moved through her fur like it was made of water.

"Okay, you go off and play now," Julia smiled, moving onto her next pokemon. Luna, her shiny Umbreon.

"Umbreon," Luna whispered, her golden eyes staring up into Julia's. She was so well-behaved, she barely needed any care at all. Her fur was an even darker black than Wolfie's, and in the daylight, without the light of her rings, it was hard to tell if there was anything wrong.

But to Julia, just being with Luna was enough. She brushed her fur, humming to herself to keep the bad memories at bay. But they sank in regardless.

That's right… Julia mused, staring silently at the tranquil figure resting in her lap. Katarina used to brush you like this too, didn't she?

"Look at that mutt Julianna's brushing! Why waste time with that thing's mangy fur? It's just some stray from Petalburg Woods!"

Julia withstood the scornful words of her classmates, dutifully brushing Wolfie. She didn't care what they thought. Wolfie was beautiful just the way she was.

Katarina didn't think so, of course. The blonde girl pranced through the schoolyard like the belle of the ball, throwing mocking words at all the kids' pokemon. Because she was the daughter of a high-ranking executive in the Devon Corporation, she was one of the wealthiest people in town. And because of that, she thought she was better than the rest of the kids, especially the girls. Nobody was safe from her sharp tongue, unless they were a part of her little flock of bitches-to-be.

Zigzagoons? "Ugly rats that dig through garbage!"

Tailow? "Pesky birds! Always causing a mess!"

And heaven help you if you brought a Bug type, she had the worst insults for those.

Around Rustboro, it was to be expected. There wasn't a very wide variety of pokemon available to catch. And while Julia's family wasn't poor, they weren't rich, either, meaning she couldn't just buy all the pokeballs she needed to catch the rarer pokemon that WERE deemed "acceptable" to own.

Katarina's friends were known as the "Skitty girls" because those were the pokemon they brought in every day to take care of. They went around showing off their cute pokemon to everyone, even the people who didn't want to listen. Not out of any particular love for their pokemon, of course, but just to prove how much "better" the girls were than their classmates.

And no one showed off more than Katarina. Her prized pokemon was even better than a Skitty.

"It's too bad your family's so poor," Katarina sneered, leering down at Julia. "If you could afford better clothes and cuter pokemon, you could actually hang out with us."

"…So what?" Julia stared up at the bitchy blonde, genuinely confused. Even back then she'd been something of a lone wolf; Wolfie was the only friend she'd had, and she didn't understand why she would WANT to hang out with Katarina and her friends, even though everyone else wanted to.

Katarina scowled. "Hmph! You're just jealous, that's all! Because you're stuck with a wild mutt like that, and your pokemon can't compare to a purebred like mine!"

"Hey!" Julia exclaimed, standing up. "You take that back! Wolfie isn't a mutt!"

"Poochyena!" Wolfie growled angrily. The girls shrieked and hid behind Katarina.

"Ugh, look at that thing!"

"It's so… wild!"

"It's gonna bite us, mangy mutt!"

Katarina wasn't scared. She just sneered at the pokemon she found so repugnant. "All that mutt can do is growl and bark," she laughed. "Just some ugly thing you caught in the wild! It can't compare to my beautiful Eevee!"

She pressed the button on her pokeball and released her own pokemon. The Eevee emerged in a flurry of sparkles.

"That's… wow…" Even Julia was in awe of the cute pokemon. Eevee's fur was a grayish white, like snowy silk, giving her an ephemeral air of mystique. She stood with perfect poise, a look of refined majesty on her adorable face.

"What do you think? My daddy had it imported from a breeder all the way Kanto!" Katarina bragged. "It's an incredibly rare pokemon! You could look all through Hoenn and never find another one! And it's a white Eevee, the rarest of all! Its fur even shines! It cost daddy a lot of money, but my first pokemon should be special!"

Julia wished she wasn't jealous of the cute Eevee, but she was.

"Eevee!" She purred happily. Katarina picked her up and brushed off the dirt, taking a studded hairbrush and running it through Eevee's fur. It was silky soft.

"You see? This is the difference between girls like you and ones like me," Katarina boasted. "No matter how much you brush that filthy thing, you can't brush away its ugliness. It'll always be an ugly, hideous little Poochyena! But Eevee? I take excellent care of it, because it deserves to be pampered! I brush its fur every morning, every day at school, and every night before I go to bed, isn't that right, Eevee?" She cooed.

"Ueei!" Eevee chirped, nodding happily as her owner brushed her. She had a brilliant smile on her face. Julia wondered if Wolfie ever looked like that when she was taking care of her?

"Too bad you're stuck with such a pathetic pokemon," Katarina sneered, taking her posse and walking away. "Bye bye, Julianna!"

Julia picked Wolfie back up and returned to brushing her, but it didn't feel the same. She wished she could make her Poochyena look as beautiful as that Eevee.

"Why the long face, sweetheart?" Julia's mom asked when she got home, her disappointment plain to see.

"…The girls at school… they made fun of me and Wolfie again…" Julia mumbled.

"Oh, honey…" Her mom got off the couch and rushed over to her, pulling her into a hug. Julia squeezed her mom tightly to keep from crying her heart out.

"They said that Wolfie was ugly… and I… I couldn't say anything back…" Julia cried. It just wasn't fair. The other girls got cute pokemon, and she-

"Why did you have to get me a Poochyena!?" Julia cried. "Why not something cuter, like-"

SLAP!

The smack across her cheek was so sudden she didn't even feel it at first. She stumbled back, staring up at her mother in shock. Then the pain came, and she burst into tears.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart," Julia's mother whispered, hugging her again. "But you can't say things like that, okay?"

Julia wasn't listening, she was too busy crying. All the pain she'd put up with today was mixing with the shock of her mother slapping her.

"But… but…"

"No buts!" Julia's mom pulled away, staring straight into her teary eyes. "Julia, Wolfie is your precious pokemon. That was the promise you made when I got her for you, isn't that right?"

"B-But…"

"No! Buts!" She repeated. "You promised! You said that you would love her forever, isn't that right? No matter what?"

"Y-Yeah…" Julia nodded glumly.

"Then why would you say such horrible things?" Her mother demanded. "Saying you wished I'd gotten you a cuter pokemon. How do you think that would make her feel?"

Julia gasped. Her eyes immediately shot to the pokeball on her belt. She couldn't see Wolfie inside, but she knew how she must have felt, hearing that.

"I-I didn't… I didn't mean to…"

"I know," her mother whispered, running her fingers through Julia's hair. "You're just upset. But that's no reason to blame little Wolfie, okay? She loves you. She's your partner. Even if you don't think she's as cute as other pokemon, she's still yours. That's part of owning a pokemon, do you understand? Wishing you had a different pokemon, or getting rid of it just because it's not what you wanted… those aren't things someone can do. That's a life in your hands, Julia, a life entrusted to you. Something you have to protect and cherish. That's your responsibility as a pokemon trainer, alright?"

"Al-Alright," she sniffled, nodding.

Her mother finally smiled. "That's my girl." She kissed Julia on the forehead. "I'm sorry for that just now. Come on, let's go take care of you, okay?"

That night, Julia took a bath with Wolfie. And sure, maybe her fur was a little batted and rough, but she didn't care. Wolfie was cute. It didn't matter that she wasn't as cute as that white Eevee, as far as Julia was concerned, she was the most adorable pokemon in the world.

She decided then and there that when she went back to school on Monday, if Katarina was going to brag about her Eevee and bully them, she was going to stand up for Wolfie, even if she had to punch her.

But when Monday came, Katarina wasn't going around showing off her Eevee. She didn't even bring her pokeball. Julia was confused, and so were a lot of other girls. After school when everyone was packing up, one of the Skitty girls asked her about it.

Katarina scowled. "What, that thing? I got rid of it."

"What?!" Julia exclaimed, jumping out of her seat. The girls stared at her in confusion.

"What's up with you?" Katarina muttered.

"D-Did you just say… you got rid of your Eevee?" Julia couldn't believe what she was hearing. The way Eevee smiled at Katarina when she brushed it and the way the blonde girl smiled back, she couldn't imagine just throwing her away. She'd adored that little thing!

"Well, it's none of your business," Katarina sneered, "but yes."

"You… you can't do that! She was your pokemon! You can't just throw her away!"

"Someone like you wouldn't understand," the other girl huffed. She turned back to her friends. "See, the other night, when I was brushing Eevee, it started glowing. And then, can you believe this? It turned all… dark and weird! It had this creepy, smelly black fur and ugly blue rings marked all over it! I can't believe that something as cute as Eevee could turn into something so gross! I couldn't stand to be around it for another second so I had daddy throw it out. But it's okay, he promised to buy me another one."

Another girl laughed. "Yeah, I understand, if my Skitty turned into something like that, I'd probably do the same thing!"

Julia burst out of the classroom with the girls' mocking laughter ringing in her ears. She felt sick to her stomach.

"That's a life in your hands, Julia, a life entrusted to you. Something you have to protect and cherish. That's your responsibility as a pokemon trainer, alright?"

This must have been what her mother was talking about. It made her feel all gross and disgusting. She couldn't imagine that someone would just throw away their pokemon. And why? Because she had turned into something ugly?

That night, she barely touched her food. She was too busy thinking about Katarina and what she'd done.

"What's wrong sweetheart?" Her mother asked. "Did something happen at school?"

"Those girls aren't still picking on you, are they?" Her father asked.

Julia looked at her parents' faces, then at her little brother.

"No, um… I'm just not hungry," she mumbled. "Can I go to bed early?"

She went back to her room and laid down in bed, staring up at the ceiling. She still felt all queasy.

So she snuck out of her house. She didn't really know why. But she walked down the streets of Rustboro, towards Katarina's house. It was easy to find, since it was up on a hill, overlooking the rest of the neighborhood. One of the biggest houses in the suburbs.

And there she was.

Julia couldn't recognize her at first, she barely even saw her. The pokemon's dark fur blended in perfectly with the shadows. But the full moon overhead caused the blue rings covering her to shine, illuminating the slender pokemon in a veil of moonlight.

Julia gasped. She was even more beautiful than before.

The pokemon paced around outside the gate to Katarina's house, howling mournfully up into the night. The sadness of her howl brought Julia to tears. She approached her, and the pokemon turned, a wild look in her golden eyes.

"H-Hi…" Julia whispered, approaching her a little more cautiously. The pokemon stared silently back at her with those piercing golden eyes.

Those same golden eyes were now closed, and Julia's brush ran gently through her fur.

"I still remember that night," Julia murmured whimsically, scratching Luna's ear. "You were so beautiful in that moonlight. Luna, that's what I called you. You sure gave my parents quite a fright when I brought you back, but…"

It had been a long road, getting Luna to open up to her, and helping her with her scars. But it had all been worth it. Katarina rarely entered either of their thoughts anymore.

"Umbreon," Luna murmured, drifting off to sleep. Julia let her. There were more pokemon in need of care, but that was fine. Luna needed to rest.

So, a nice little chapter about Julia, explaining a bit of her backstory. Poor Luna. Abandoned by her trainer just because she loved her so much she evolved into something Katarina didn't want. But fortunately, Julia could see her beauty for what it was.