After a fierce and tense discussion, that nearly led to the entire group collapsing, Olivia retreated to her room, refusing to speak with anybody else. She had decided that she didn't want anyone in her organization to fight against Samarra, out of petty spite because of her grudge against Alcea. Well, then Alcea showed up, and did the unexpected- she kissed Olivia! What on earth could that mean?! We'll have to see what the fallout of that unexpected event is!

KedharS: Oh, I think it's going to help with quite a lot. We'll have to see what the result of this little kiss is going to be.

Jjjdunk1: Oh yeah, these two girls are definitely wild. And Alcea is remarkably forward given that she's the less experienced of the two. I wonder how things are going to go from here.

Guest: Worked pretty well, I'd say.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 1099

The sun streamed in through the window and kissed Olivia's face. She smiled and turned over in bed, feeling the warmth of the morning greeting her.

Then she rubbed up against something even warmer, the bare skin of her bed partner and her eyes snapped open.

She was staring straight into Alcea's eyes. The redhead's hair was messy and her face was gentle. She had a warm smile.

"Good morning," Alcea said, and Olivia nearly fell out of bed in shock. She looked around frantically, wondering what the hell was going on. Olivia was naked, Alcea was naked, and… and…

She clutched the bedsheet to her chest and turned red. "Y-You're… you're uh… you're…"

Alcea sat up and stretched, exposing more of herself to Olivia. The blonde turned even redder. Her mouth wasn't working right.

Last night had been a blur. Alcea had pushed her against the wall, kissed her, and then…

"Y-Y-You…" Olivia pointed a shaking finger at her rival, the words refusing to leave her lips.

"Oui," Alcea nodded, smiling coyly.

"A-And… and I…"

"That too," she nodded again.

"So we-?!"

"Three times, is it?"

Olivia's mouth flopped open and closed. Her brain was short circuiting as memories of that night flooded into her. She was so overwhelmed. There were an uncountable number of questions filling her mind, all put aside in the heated passion of the night before. But now they were coming back, with a vengeance.

She only managed to spit out one.

"WHY!?"

Alcea blinked, her brow furrowing in confusion.

"Because… I wanted to, is it?"

Olivia shook her head. She got out of bed, the sheets wrapped tightly around her like a shield. She paced back and forth.

"No. No, no, no, you didn't… you… you don't want to do that sort of stuff with me!" She sputtered in disbelief.

Alcea smirked and raised her eyebrow. "Did last night feel like I didn't want to do 'that sort of stuff' with you?"

Olivia's jaw dropped in shock. Which provided the perfect opportunity for Alcea to hop up out of bed, stroll over to her, and kiss her again.

"Hah…" Alcea gasped, breaking the kiss. Her cheeks were flushed and she leaned forward, burying her face in Olivia's nape. "Believe me," she whispered, "I was surprised too. I didn't mean to go nearly that far last night, but… there was something about you, I just couldn't resist."

Olivia was still about 3 hours behind. "B-Buh… since when? We always fight, you NEVER look at me, certainly not like… THAT!"

Alcea pulled back, her lips turned in a coy smile. "The beach."

Olivia blinked. "The beach? What?"

"That swimsuit you were wearing, the deep blue and gold color, I thought it was amazing," Alcea murmured. "Gorgeous, is it? Your beauty stood out, and I felt… strange. With the kindness you showed me, offering that swimsuit to me, the way you acted… I began to think that maybe, just maybe, your feelings for me… that they were…"

"DON'T SAY IT!" Olivia exclaimed, hiding her shame-filled face with her hands.

"…I think we're past the point of saying it, don't you?" Alcea smirked, reaching out and running her finger along Olivia's collarbone.

Olivia couldn't take it anymore.

"So you… so you really do…" Her voice was tiny and small, like back when they were kids. "…You like me?" She squeaked out.

"…No," Alcea shook her head, and Olivia turned white in shock.

"B-But you-!"

"I didn't know what I felt at the time," Alcea said. "It took me several conversations with my friend to realize that what I felt for you, well… I used to like boys, as I'm sure you know. So acknowledging that I had an attraction to a girl, feelings for one… it was hard to do. But I couldn't keep denying it. Then, when I finally did acknowledge my feelings, well… it wasn't like I could just come clean. After all, you still hated me."

"I didn't, I don't!" Olivia blurted out, her face red. "I-I don't hate you, I promise!"

Alcea laughed. "I am aware, is it," she giggled, shaking her head. "You don't do those sorts of things with someone you hate."

Olivia wanted to die of embarrassment. She was still talking about it!

"It was when you were controlled by Samarra," Alcea murmured, her face darkening. "Those things you said… the way you accused me of forgetting you, of never seeing you… I realized then, how much pain you were in, how you hid your pain behind a smile, and that… that there was the smallest possibility that you still felt that way towards me."

"I-I…" Olivia… she wasn't sure what to think. She wasn't planning or scheming, she was responding purely on instinct.

"I'm sorry!" She wailed, tears welling up in her eyes. "I'm sorry I'm always such a bitch! I just… I was too uncomfortable, confronting those feelings so I… I just turned them into anger, and that…" Olivia had a great many things to feel guilty over, but Alcea didn't care.

"It's fine, is it?" Alcea smiled. "That was the past. The previous us. Let's forget about then, shall we? Don't focus on the past, focus on the future."

Olivia perked up at that. The future? Then that meant…

"W-Wait, so… do you mean… last night wasn't just, a, um… one-time thing?" She asked. She was certain that Alcea had slept with her in order to convince her to help out. "You would… want to do this again, sometime?"

She tried not to sound too hopeful, but it was basically impossible given what the other girl had just dangled in front of her.

Alcea smiled slightly. "Well, I certainly enjoyed myself, is it? Of course, if you didn't, then we could always-"

"NO!" She blurted out, shaking her head frantically. "I just… that was…" Olivia didn't even have words to describe what had happened last night. She'd been with a good deal of women before, but none of them compared to what being with Alcea was like. Was that really her first time? It didn't seem possible, and yet…

Alcea smiled. "So… you would like to do this again, is it?" She asked, finding it rather enjoyable to play with Olivia like this, given how haughty the Empress was under normal circumstances. Olivia just turned redder and redder as she nodded like an idiot.

"S-So…" Olivia gulped, too afraid to put the question out there, but desperate to hear the answer. "So are we, um…"

"Are we…?" Alcea coaxed, knowing what she was getting out.

"Are you my girlfriend or not!?" Olivia demanded, stomping her foot. She didn't even know if she wanted Alcea to say "yes" or not, her feelings were too confused.

Alcea blinked, and smiled. "Let's… wait and see, shall we?" She suggested. "It's a conversation for when you're a little more composed. And, ideally, when we're both dressed, is it?"

Olivia gulped, and nodded. That wasn't a "no".

"Well," Alcea cleared her throat, pulling on her dress, "I'll leave you by yourself for now, to clear your thoughts."

She leaned in at the last second and kissed Olivia on the cheek before slipping out the door, leaving a stunned Empress behind to cradle the warm mark on her face.

The second Alcea stepped out of the bedroom she dashed for the bathroom, locking the door behind her. All the composure she'd been feigning back there was gone now, and her face was filled his a humiliated blush.

"Th-That was…" Alcea touched her fingers to her lips, her face turning even redder. She remembered last night just as vividly as Olivia had, after all, she'd been the one to push it through. It hadn't been a lie, either, that they'd gone far more than Alcea had ever expected. When she'd kissed the other girl, she'd done so expecting that Olivia would react as she did, and back off, and they could have a discussion about their feelings.

But someone had escalated it past that. One kiss had turned into a mountain of kisses, and then that had turned into…

Steam started to rise off Alcea's face. She clutched her legs to her chest. Who had spurned them on? Was it Olivia? Or Alcea herself? That had been her first time with anyone, male or female, and she never would have expected to push things that far. But those had been her hands, right?

Any further thought on the matter was only going to serve to make her even more embarrassed. Alcea shook her head, trying to snap out of confusion.

Then a knock came on the door.

The knock brought Alcea crashing back down to earth, and she realized what the hell had just happened. It wasn't JUST that she and the Empress had sex. They'd had sex in a bedroom less than twenty feet away from the rest of their group, including Wes, who actually owned the house. There was rude, and then there was RUDE, and this was the rudest Alcea had ever been.

She opened the door and prepared to face the piper. But it was Callie.

"Hey, Alcea, I saw you duck in here, everything okay?" Callie asked, curious. "You, uh… did you spend the whole night in Olivia's room?"

Callie took note of Alcea's appearance. She didn't look as composed as she normally did. Not only was she still wearing the same dress she'd worn the day before (unthinkable!) but it was wrinkled and tangled, like it hadn't been put on properly. Her hair was a unkempt and she wasn't wearing makeup, and with her flushed cheeks, altogether she looked like a bit of a hot mess.

The composed look on her face was the only armor Alcea wore. Even her voice gave her away. "Y-Yes," she croaked out, ready to face whatever repercussions Callie had for her.

Callie sighed, shaking her head. "Wow, a whole night fighting with Olivia. That must have been exhausting."

"…Hah?" Alcea blinked.

"You two, going at it all night, that must have been rough," Callie said. "This place is soundproofed so we couldn't hear anything, but it must have been-"

"Yes!" Alcea said loudly. "Fighting! Yes! That's what we were doing, arguing, is it? Over whether or not Olivia would support the rest of us."

So nobody knew anything. Once Alcea took a shower and got rid of all the evidence, there wouldn't be anything to worry about! It was like a miracle!

"Yeah, I figured that would be tough," Callie sighed. "But hey, at least you resolved things, right? She's not still angry at you or anything."

"…Oui," Alcea nodded slowly. "We are… definitely getting along better, is it?"

Callie's expression brightened. "I knew it! No way someone could stay mad at you, you're just irresistible!"

Alcea just kept nodding numbly.

"So, is she coming?" Callie asked.

"WHAT?!" Alcea exclaimed.

"What?" Callie was confused. "I'm just asking if Olivia's coming down to join the rest of us."

"O-Oh… that… um… I-I suppose you could ask her, is it?" Alcea glanced at the bathtub. She wanted to turn into water and escape down the drain, this conversation was so awkward for her. But she resisted her impulses and cleared her throat.

"Ahem, um… I need to take a shower, so… I will see you in the living room for breakfast, is it?" She asked, begging her friend to just let her leave.

"Right, well, okay," Callie said. She could tell there was something up with Alcea, but she had no idea what it was. She turned and ducked out the door, before stopping and glancing back. "Hey, um, did you think anymore about what we were talking about before?"

"What we were talking about…?" Alcea asked, confused. After last night, the prior day was a bit of a blur.

Callie blinked. "You know, about your feelings," she prodded Alcea to remember. "For the Commander? Confessing your feelings to him."

"The Commander?!" Alcea asked, her eyes widening in shock. "I-I don't… I don't like him! What are you talking about!?"

Now it was Callie's turn to be confused. "B-But… we talked about it!" She reminded her. "Remember? Back in Gateon Port, we were talking about how you were developing feelings for the Commander, you were calling him the blonde Daeva."

"O-Oh, that, um…" Alcea felt like an idiot. Those feelings were distinct in her memory. She had talked about her feelings, but had never actually used Olivia's name! A Daeva? A blonde? That applied to two people!

"So wait, you don't like the Commander?" Callie asked, surprised. She thought for sure, with the way they seemed to get along, bonding over their love of pokemon battles, that the two of them were a perfect fit. Alcea's words had only confirmed her suspicions, but now the redhead was telling her she was wrong?

"I don't like him!" Alcea said, shaking her head frantically. She was so determined to correct that misunderstanding that she didn't realize what she was inadvertently admitting to until it was too late to take it back.

"So… you don't like the Commander, then that means…" Callie's eyes widened in shock. The only other blonde Daeva was…

With that new piece of information, Callie looked at Alcea in a brand new light. The shameful embarrassment burning crimson on her face, the mussed hair, smeared makeup, crumpled dress, the fact that she'd been gone all night…

Callie slowly turned red as the pieces fell into place.

"W-WELL!" She exclaimed a little too loudly, backing away, "I'll, uh… leave you to your shower! Bye now!"

Callie backed out of the bathroom and slammed the door, leaving Alcea to simmer in her own juices. The redhead wanted to die.

After her shower, Alcea stepped out of the bathroom reinvigorated. After what had happened with Callie, she felt that there was no point in trying to hide the truth. Certainly, she wouldn't say anything, because that would be disrespectful to Olivia. But if the Empress wanted to reveal the truth, well, there was no reason that she couldn't-

"Alcea!"

Alcea did a double-take. Olivia had beaten her down to the living room somehow, and she looked amazing, no shower required. Her heart skipped a beat.

But what was most shocking was the sunny smile on the blonde's face.

"Ah, Olivia, good morning," Alcea said, clearing her throat. She was playing it cool, because everyone else was here.

Olivia wasn't one for cool, though.

"Alcea!" She greeted the redhead with a wave. "Come over here and sit next to me! I saved a seat for you!"

A wave of awkwardness smashed into Alcea as every head in the room turned to look at her in shock. Olivia wasn't just in a good mood, she was being friendly to Alcea, which was something that had never happened in the history of ever.

Alcea felt like she was going to die of embarrassment. Couldn't Olivia read the room?! The Empress was acting about as un-Empress-like as was possible! Holding her tongue, she rushed over to Olivia and squeezed in beside her, trying not to react to the fact that Olivia was practically hugging her from the side.

"W-Well, this is… certainly a good sign," Hiromi said, clearing her throat. "Olivia was just telling us that she'd changed her mind overnight, and is ready to do whatever it takes to support us in our fight against Samarra, and is going to encourage all her allies to do the same."

"…Is that right?" Alcea asked, glancing at the eager-eyed blonde.

Olivia nodded like a baby Growlithe. "Yes! That's what you want, right? You want us to help! Well, just count on me! I'm not a talented trainer, but if it's help you want, I'll do whatever I can to make sure that we win against Samarra!"

"Well… thank you, Olivia, that means a lot," Alcea said. She scooted over on the couch a little. It wasn't that she didn't like the fact that Olivia was being so clingy, it was just… well, it was such a different behavior from the other girl that she didn't know what to make of it.

Olivia, of course, scooted over right next to her, still making baby-doll eyes at the redhead and ignoring every other person in the room.

"…Did you guys have sex?" Darla asked the question everyone there was thinking. Alcea turned bright red and buried her face in her hands, while Olivia wrapped her arms around her waist with glee.

Well, Olivia has certainly turned over a new leaf, that's for sure. She's practically a different person, at least as far as Alcea is concerned. I can't say I mind, either, in fact, I like the new Olivia quite a bit! But I can see how Alcea might be bothered by how clingy her new paramour is. What will this mean for their relationship moving forward? Will they actually become something serious?