Now then, here's another chapter, with some more slice of life stuff! And don't worry, we'll be getting to the next arcs soon enough! Until then, keep those votes and those reviews coming!

Just a Bad Writer for Fun: Don't lose yourself to the VR, or you won't be able to keep reading my story!

Hellraiserphoenix: Well, what truth would need clearing up, I wonder?

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 98

Akira blinked, staring up at an unfamiliar ceiling.

What… I was… battling… in the stadium… Satsuki fell, and I…

An ache throbbed through his head, and he winced. He couldn't move his right arm up to comfort himself, so he moved his left.

There was a weight pressing down on his stomach. It didn't hurt, but it certainly wasn't comfortable. He glanced down, and sat up, his body still rather sore.

What the hell… Why was Dakota of all people at his bedside? With her head resting on his stomach, snoring away?

"Huh… wha…?" Dakota yawned, blinking. With a flicker of her eyes, she spotted a sight she'd feared she'd never see again.

"Akira…" Dakota's eyes began watering as she saw Akira, wide awake, staring down at her in disbelief. "Akira!"

Dakota lunged up and wrapped her arms around him in a big hug, his shoulder wetting with her tears.

"Dakota, what-"

"I'm so glad you're okay…" Dakota sniffed. "Welcome back…"

"Dakota, I'm here to check up on-" Serefina stepped into the room, her face brightening when she saw Akira's condition.

"Seri! It's Akira, he's awake!" Dakota gushed, turning back to her.

"I know, that's great," Serefina said, smiling. "Now then, Dakota, didn't you have something to say?"

"…Eh?" Dakota asked, tilting her head to the side. "No… no, I don't think I did?"

Serefina frowned. She stomped over to Dakota and latched onto her ear, pulling her off of Akira and dragging her across the room.

"Hey, Seri, ow! What-?"

"I thought you said you were going to ask him on a date?" Serefina demanded in a sharp whisper. "And don't give me that 'later' crap, I know you. If you don't do it now, you'll just keep putting it off, and then pretend like you didn't say a damn thing!"

"Seri, all I said was that I was going to ask him to buy a camera with me, I don't remember saying anything about a date, or a love confession, nothing at all." Dakota whistled, unable to meet Serefina's eyes.

"Hey, Seri-"

"You shut up for now!" Serefina snapped, silencing Akira, turning her attention back to Dakota. "Now, listen here you little…" she quietly hissed, glaring at the meek Dakota.

A nice Dakota and a mean Serefina… what the hell kind of warped isekai did I wake up into… Akira thought, utterly confused and dumbfounded. The only rational thought was that maybe he still had a concussion.

Ayame skipped down the stairs to get breakfast, humming to herself.

"Well, you're in a good mood," Olivia noted, a smirk on her face. "How did your date go?"

"Just great," Ayame said, smiling.

"Wait… Ayame… you didn't really…" Olivia's face went pale and she held her hand in front of her mouth. "My god… he's 15! You can't have-!"

"Of course not!" Ayame exclaimed, going red in the face. "Besides, you were the one who gave me those… those-!"

"That was a joke," Olivia said, shaking her head. "I didn't really expect you to…"

"I didn't!"

"Oh." Olivia frowned. "Well that's a shame."

"Are you serious, boss?!"

"Well, either way, I'm glad you're in such a good mood," Olivia smiled. "Your date was so content, you've even decided to sleep in!"

"…Eh?" Ayame paused, her toast inches from her mouth.

Olivia smiled and pointed at the clock hanging from the wall behind her.

"Crap!" Ayame exclaimed, her face going pale. "I'm late for club!" She bolted out of her seat and out the door, Olivia sighing after her.

Ayame was out of breath by the time she made it to the track, where her clubmates were already drilling.

"Hey, Jamie… sorry I'm late…" Ayame panted, greeting the tall blonde vice-president who was presiding over the warm-ups at the time.

"Yeah, fine," Jamie said disinterestedly, turning to the track. "You ladies too busy hoisting up your skirts to run?! Let's see some hustle!"

"Uh…" Not used to being blown off so readily, Ayame was a little unsure what to do. Dumbstruck, she walked to the changing room and got dressed in her running clothes (that Olivia had so kindly returned to her, thank god) and exited to what she hoped would be a more friendly greeting, like she was accustomed. She was surprised to find that was not the case. Every time she tried to speak with someone about what the day's schedule was gonna be, she was blown off or given some noncommittal answer. It was beginning to grind on her. Everyone was giving her the cold shoulder.

"Oi. Amy. What's going on?" Ayame asked, giving one of the first year recruits as kind a smile as she could. The pigtailed girl blushed, and glanced at Jamie for a moment, before shaking her head.

"Sorry, captain!" She said, sprinting off. Ayame growled. She'd had enough.

"Jamie, what's going on here?" She shouted at her fellow senior and vice-president. "You lot have been giving me the brush-off all morning!"

Jamie glanced at her, and shrugged.

"Hey, vice-captain, are you sure-" The blonde silenced the dissenting voice with a glare, before coolly turning back to Ayame.

"Why don't you go on another date or something, 'captain'?" She asked dryly.

"So that's what this is about? I take one day off and all of a sudden it's hostile takeover time?"

"That's about right," Jamie said, nodding. "So why not get going? We don't need you here. Come back sometime next week if you're still interested in practice, maybe we can find a spot for you."

"Oh, is that right?" Ayame growled. "You lot really think you can stand a chance at the meet next month without me as your anchor? Don't make me laugh."

"W-we can!" One of the girls from a lower year declared. "You… you always treat us like we can't do anything without you, but you're wrong! We don't need you… so, um, you don't need to live up to our expectations or- eep!"

Jamie clamped her hand over the girl's mouth, glaring at Ayame.

"Vice-captain, I think the cat's gonna get out of the bag sooner or later, so it's probably best if we come clean." Another senior, Chele, walked up to her, her brown ponytail swaying behind her.

"…No," Jamie muttered, shaking her head. She turned to Ayame and crossed her arms over her chest. "Sorry, captain, but that's just how it is. Starting today, the track team is going to move forward without you. You're just too slow for us."

"Bullshit, I'm still the fastest short-distance sprinter in this club!" Ayame exclaimed.

"Maybe, but you're still not setting one foot on that track," Jamie declared.

Chele rolled her eyes. She stepped up to Ayame, and held her phone up.

"Before club today… a boy came and played this for us. It was the same boy from a few days ago."

The ponytailed girl fumbled with her phone and pressed a button, Ayame's husky voice playing through the speaker.

"…ryone's looking up to me, everyone's counting on me! I need to do better than I've been doing, because if I don't, then I'll never be able to live up to the Ayame Toujou that everyone knows as a genius!"

Ayame's mouth dropped open. That guy! He was recording me?!

"We heard the whole thing," Jamie said, frowning. "I… we had no idea that all this time… we'd been putting such a burden on you. That because we weren't good enough… you kept taking more and more responsibility onto yourself. We never meant for any of that to happen…"

Her softened expression hardened immediately as her voice grew stronger. "So starting now, you have no place here! You're way too stubborn to share responsibility with the rest of us, so we're taking it all by force! We're going to do our best all by ourselves and show you that we don't need some fake genius like you to win!"

"Oh, is that right?" Ayame smirked. "You little Rookidees think you're ready to leave the nest already, eh?! If that's so, then let's see it!"

"We'll prove it to you," Jamie insisted. "…But, uh…"

She glanced away from Ayame, embarrassed.

"I-I mean, if you still want to come run with us, I suppose that's fine… b-but, we aren't going to time you, or give you any tips, so don't even think about it! We aren't helping you at all! Only come if you want to enjoy a good run, you got it?!"

"Vice-captain is such a tsundere~" Chele giggled.

"Uwwaaah!" Amy burst into tears. "I wandded to wace wid you, cabtainnn! Dats why I cabe to dis cwub! *sniff* I didn mean to bwe a buwdennn, wahh…"

"Now then!" Jamie growled. "Who said you girls could take a break, huh?! If you don't want to be a burden on our captain anymore, then why not try actually getting some good times, huh?! Get moving!"

"Hah…" Ayame chuckled, shaking her head, falling on her butt in defeat. Suddenly she felt both incredibly tired and relieved, as though a massive weight had been lifted off her shoulders.

"Something funny?" Chele asked, glancing down at her.

"Yeah… just… laughing at myself, is all," Ayame said, shaking her head. I'm a big stinking fool, I guess. Here I was thinking that everyone was expecting so much from me, when really I should have just said how I was feeling in the first place. That fucking guy played me for a fool right until the end…

The Track Team wasn't the only club on campus aiming for future goals, though. The Pokemon Survival Club was also in the midst of an important meeting out in the forest behind Pichu House. It was smaller than the normal gettogether though. Erik and Andre were running the meeting, but most of the other members were gone. There were only 8 of them in total, Sango included. Aidan was not present.

"Now then, I've called the 8 of you here for something very simple!" Erik declared, glancing over them. "You lot have all been accepted to take the Pokemon Ranger Probationary Test in 10 days."

Murmurs and nods echoed across the small crowd. Sango swallowed. Just 10 more days…

"Now, it's important to understand that this test has hundreds of applicants each year, and only 15 students will end up passing. If you're lucky, one of you might be able to get your license, like Andre and I. Or, you may fail… like a certain someone does every single time."

He glared at a girl sitting a few heads down from Sango. The girl had tanned skin and messy mint colored hair, held down by a wide straw hat. She had an orange armband showing she was at least a junior, and she cradled a fishing poll in her arms.

"Eheh…" the girl giggled, smiling sheepishly. Erik rolled his eyes.

"Marion, if you don't end up taking this seriously, you're going to fail again," he sighed. "Anyway… as for the rest of you, I hope you'll be keeping up with your studies. The test is very difficult, and you should go in expecting the hardest two days of your lives. Just make sure you do your best! Pass or fail, make our school proud! That's all!"

"I'll be sending out emails on all the stuff you need to pack before the test, so be sure you're fully prepared," Andre added.

"What about our pokemon?" Sango asked.

"You'll be flying out from the mainland to the testing facility in Unova," Erik explained. "Your pokemon will be taken on a shipping freighter a few days before you leave. And remember, you can only bring one partner pokemon with you!" He glanced at Marion again, and she giggled sheepishly once more.

Sango frowned. Separated from Silver for a few days… she hoped he'd be okay. As the students began to disperse, she decided to do some investigating on the test. It seemed weird to ask Andre or the Sarge in these circumstances, so she considered who else she could ask… before spotting the straw-hat girl getting up to leave.

"Um, excuse me," she called out, "Marion… was it?"

"Yuhuh!" The girl said, glancing at Sango, her bright blue eyes sparkling excitedly. "And you're…?"

"Sango," Sango introduced herself. "I'm a first year, and-"

"Oh, a first year and you're taking the test?" Marion asked. "Wow! That's amazing!"

"Yeah, from what I hear, it's pretty uncommon," Sango said, blushing.

"I'll say! In the time I've been here, I'm the only first year to ever get accepted! Wow!"

"You took the test as a first year?" Sango asked, surprised.

"Yup! Four times!" She declared, smiling proudly as though she should wear her failures as a badge of honor. "In fact, I've been accepted to take the test every time it's been available! This makes my 13th attempt!"

"W-wow," Sango said. Somehow, failing every test every time seemed like an impressive accomplishment when this girl said it.

"Yeah, I'm a senior now, so these will be my last chances," Marion sighed, her peppy attitude deflating. "Still, I'm not going to lose heart! I'm going to try my best!"

"So you've taken the test a lot, then, it must be pretty hard."

Marion shivered, nodding. Her eyes turned dark and she held her fishing pole close to her chest.

"The written portion of the test in particular is horrifyingly difficult… just remembering it… I can't help but get the shakes…" A look of pure terror washed across her face, causing Sango to get worried.

"R-Really?"

"Yes… can you believe that they wouldn't let me take the test while fishing?!" Marion exclaimed.

"…Yes." Sango said dryly. Okay, so the girl was just an idiot then.

"What sort of monster would come up with a rule like that?! It's inhuman!" She continued, shaking her head. "They might as well have told me to take the whole thing without breathing!"

"Couldn't you just… fish later?" Sango asked, shaking her head.

"Whaaat?!" Marion gasped. "You can't just put off something like that! You need to be fishing at all times, otherwise life isn't worth living!"

She shivered, scratching her arms. She began making sideways glances towards the nearby forest and then back to Sango.

"Speaking of which, it's been, like, forever, so do you mind if I…"

"Whatever…" Sango sighed, shaking her head.

"Woohoo!" Marion crowed, running to the riverbank. Sango shook her head in disbelief.

I guess I better start packing…

Packing wasn't so bad. It took her mind off of the whole Ayame situation, at the very least. She'd heard Blake come back the night before (not that she'd been listening or anything! She just so happened to hear it!) so at the very least he hadn't… that. But still… it was making her unbelievably anxious. Maybe she should…

"Yo, Sango, what's up?" Cynthia asked, startling her. "You packing? What?! You aren't moving out, right?!"

"No, no, it's nothing like that," Sango said, shaking her head. "No, I'm packing some stuff for the Pokemon Ranger Probationary Test, and…"

After giving Cynthia a short summary of what was going on, the redhead nodded.

"Oh, so that's what was going on!"

"Eh?"

"No, I just thought you'd been acting weird for the last few days, you know, shifty. And then when you wanted to go follow Blake on his date, I thought 'hey, maybe Sango likes Blake! Maybe that's what's going on!' but I guess not, huh?"

"Uh, yeah, imagine that, hah!" Sango laughed, unable to meet Cynthia's eyes.

"So you were just anxious about this super-hard test," Cynthia laughed. "Don't worry! You'll do fine! Though, I guess this test does sound pretty hard… oh, whatever! You'll be great!"

"Yeah, thanks," Sango nodded, Cynthia's attempt to cheer her up not exactly working out as intended.

"Anyways, I-" Cynthia's phone went off, distracting her. "Hold on, lemme get this. Yo, it's Cynthia, what's up?"

"…"

"Yeah, of course I have one. Why?" Cynthia asked. Hearing the answer, her eyes widened and blood spurted out of her nose, a fire lit up in her eyes. "ABSO-FUCKING-LUTELY! I'm on my way!"

She slammed her phone closed and ran to her closet, digging around in it until she found what she was looking for.

"Sorry, Sango, gotta run! Catch up later! This is a matter of life and death!"

She shot out of the room, leaving a trail of blood behind her and a very confused Sango in her wake.

"Dakota… what are you doing?" Akira demanded, glaring suspiciously at her.

"What? I can't feed you your lunch?" Dakota asked. "I'm just trying to be nice, sheesh! Like you can eat with your left hand!"

"Yeah… but why?" He asked. "You never do nice stuff like this. What are you after?"

"Nothing, honest!" Dakota huffed. "You always gotta be so rude, huh? I'm just trying to-"

"Ahem!"

Akira and Dakota turned to the doorway. Dakota's eyes practically popped out of her skull, and Akira nearly choked on his brick of macaroni.

Standing in front of them was Serefina, her face a brighter red than anything they'd seen before. But her face wasn't what they were paying attention to. Instead, it was her body, squeezed into the tightest imitation of a nurse's outfit they could imagine, clearly designed for someone with far more modest measurements than the curvaceous sophomore. It was so tight it looked painted on, and made zipping sounds whenever she walked.

She looked like she'd walked out of a movie not designed for people under the age of 18.

"Wh-buh-why-" Dakota sputtered. Akira didn't say a damn thing.

"Oh, nothing to worry about," Serefina smiled, brushing a lock of her hair behind her ear, walking over to the bed and giving Akira the best impression of a seductive smile she could.

"Seri!" Dakota said, grabbing her by the wrist and pulling her to the far corner of the room. "What are you doing?"

"I don't know, Dakota, what am I doing?" Serefina asked, smiling innocently. "I'm just doing my best to give Akira all the tender, loving care he deserves. You don't… have a problem with that, do you?"

"Uh… well…"

"Good!" Serefina smiled, reaching up and popping the top button. "Now then, Akira," she cooed, strolling up to him. "Is there anything I could do to make you feel better?"

Serefina was so embarrassed she wanted to kill herself. But it was all for the greater good.

"Seri!" Dakota grabbed her and pulled her back a second time. "Why are you doing this?!"

"Why not? I went to all the trouble of borrowing this outfit from Cynthia, she said it's the best thing for curing injured patients." She looked at Dakota with a smirk. "Unless there's a reason I shouldn't?"

"L-like what?" Dakota asked, looking away.

"Like actually telling Akira how you feel? All you have to do is stop playing this game, and I'll stop myself. Deal?"

"…" Dakota made a face like she was chewing ground glass. "I don't know what you're talking about," she denied, crossing her arms stubbornly.

Serefina gave her an indignant scowl, and popped the next two buttons.

"Well, fine then," she snapped, turning on her stiletto heels. "I guess you don't have any right to complain. Okay, Akira, it's time for the full-body sponge bat-"

"FINE!" Dakota exclaimed, grabbing Serefina and shoving her out of the room, her face bright red.

"No more games," Serefina snarled. "Get it over with! Or you never will!"

"I… I know…" Dakota said, shaking her head in defeat. "I know."

She took a deep breath, and turned to the very flustered and confused Akira, her agony apparent on her face.

"Akira… can we talk?"

Fucking finally, Dakota, geez. Don't forget to review, everyone!