In this chapter, Akira and Satsuki have their long-awaited meeting.

Aakareo Kokokuhikari: Quick overview of the (relevant) teachers so far:

Aurore Reinhart: Teaches archaeology classes. Knows Lulu/Luna from way back. That is as much as I am willing to say at this time.

Aoshi Kashita: Teaches battling classes. Husband of Leaf Green.

Leaf Green: Teaches capturing classes. Wife of Aoshi Kashita and older sister of Petal Green.

Kellyn Lunark: Teaches several classes in the Ranger Course. Married to Petal Green, Leaf's younger sister. His relationship with Luna Lunark is unclear.

Luna Lunark/Lulu: Teaches potion making classes as well as classes on the occult and ghost types. Childhood friend/fiancé of Aurore Reinhart. Their current relationship is complicated. Her age is currently unknown. She has some relation to Kellyn Lunark's family, but due to her perpetual youth, that could be anything from mother to sister to aunt to great-grandmother. And she isn't talking.

Leanne Reese: Teaches several Caretaking classes. No relations with any of the above.

Just a Bad Writer for Fun: It may have been predictable, but so are most origin stories.

KedharS: She was being metaphorical. Her old self "died", and she was "reborn" as someone new. Nothing supernatural about it, she's just a drama queen.

TREBOR.E: Maybe, if I have time.

JoshGamerV: ...

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 159

"Akira…" Satsuki stepped into his room, her voice no louder than a whisper.

"Are you Sylvia?" Akira asked. "Or are you…"

Satsuki's eyes began to tear up, and she nodded, giving him a smile that was a mixture of joy and sadness that only a face filled with nostalgia and regret could display.

"I'm Satsuki…" Satsuki sobbed. "Your Satsuki…"

She ran to his side and hugged him tightly, her tears soaking through his shirt.

Akira's closer arm wasn't in good condition, so he had to reach across his chest to pat her on the head. But his hand hesitated. It just… it was so hard to believe. Seeing Satsuki… how was this possible? And yet… the way she talked to him… the way she smiled…

"You're still such a child, Satsuki," he said, rubbing his hand through her blonde hair. "Adults don't cry over something like this."

"I… I'b nod cwying!" Satsuki lied, raising her head to look him in the eyes. "My face is just wet from the lake!"

The two looked at each other for a few seconds, and giggled. Satsuki let go of Akira and stood up, sitting down in the chair on the other side of his bed. She reached out and took his hand in hers. Akira felt a familiar warmth run through his palm. How many years had it been since he'd last held Satsuki's hand?

"It's bigger than it was when we were kids…" Satsuki said, placing her other hand over it as well, absentmindedly tracing her fingers across his palm. "You've really grown… since we last met. But I knew that already… I've been right by your side, this entire time. Watching over you."

"Satsuki…"

"But of course… you haven't changed as much as I have…" Satsuki gestured to Sylvia's body, a sad look in her dark eyes.

"I was so happy being able to watch over you…" Satsuki smiled. "Seeing so many things that I never got to see, just by being at your side… if I had stayed there…"

Her voice broke off and she looked away from him, fighting the urge to burst into tears again.

"But it was so sad, too… being able to see you… but my voice never reaching yours…"

"Satsuki…" Akira said, his voice quiet and soft, but serious enough to make her wince. "There was something… I always wanted to ask you. When you were gone… I wanted to ask you something over and over… and I did. So many times in my heart, I asked you why you did it. Why you… went away. But of course, you couldn't answer me. But now…"

He looked at her with a pleading expression that made her heart sink in her chest. She looked down at her lap and began trembling, unused to the feeling of actual pain in her chest again.

"Why?"

"I told you why…" Satsuki said coldly, her brusque tone trying to end the topic. "I… wanted freedom. To cast aside the chains that bound me to that horrid house… to soar through the heavens and watch over you, protect you… I wanted to be your strength."

"But you didn't have to-!" Akira's voice was a mixture of sadness and anger that broke Satsuki's heart to hear. "If you had told me… then I would never have-! If I had known that you were going to… then I…"

"Then you would what?" Satsuki demanded, dropping his hand and making a pair of fists, glaring at him. "You would have stayed with me? Tried to keep me safe?"

"Of course I would have…" Akira said, placing his hand over her left hand. "I thought… that you were always so strong… if I had known you were going to… then I would have stayed and tried to give you strength, the same way you did for me."

"…I would have liked that…" Satsuki said, smiling. Her eyes were glassy and distant. "Last night… maybe because I was in this body… but I dreamed… for the first time in a long time, I had a dream… about our future. A future that could have been… a nonsensical lie that would never have come true… We would have gotten married in front of the lake… lived in your parents' house… had three kids… first a girl, who would grow up to be strong and tough, like me… it would be such a hassle, you know, since we'd both be really inexperienced, and so she'd end up being the independent tomboy sort, the kind that boys really like. But someone like that would be really lonely in such a small town, so we'd have a son next. He'd be a little wussy like you used to be, but playing with his sister would toughen him up, just like you are now… and then finally, once we'd grown older, and gotten more experienced… then our third child was a little girl… the sweetest little thing you'd ever see. Someone I could shower with hugs and kisses and would grow up to be polite and kind… unlike her big sister, of course, who could be a little rude at times… we'd have a nice, big household that was always filled with laughter and noise… the village is poor, of course, so we wouldn't have much money… but we were a loving, happy family."

Satsuki was really crying now, but she didn't even seem to be aware of it. Akira didn't say anything, but he could see the picture she'd painted clear as day.

"That sounds… like a nice dream…" Akira said quietly.

"It was a lovely dream," Satsuki sniffled, smiling. "But… that's all it was. Just a dream… I remember… one morning we went out for a walk together, while the kids were going to school… and we went to the lake… to our special spot, underneath that old tree…

"You still couldn't beat me at skipping stones, even all those years later!" She laughed, wiping her eyes. "But then I saw my reflection in the water… and my face was clean. My scars were gone… and I knew that all it could ever be was a pointless fantasy. A dream I could have attained if I had been born into a normal family. If my body hadn't been defiled the way it was by my father's hands. If I had been normal… and we had fallen in love like normal people do… that could have been our future. But my face turned into that of a Gyarados, and knew there was no future left in that dream."

Satsuki looked at Akira, the sadness on both their faces saying more than enough. But she had to ask him anyway. Even when she knew the answer.

"Have you ever dreamed of our love like that?"

Akira smiled and nodded his head, squeezing her hand tightly. And that was more than enough for her.

"I'm so glad…" Satsuki confessed to him, tears of joy streaming down her cheeks. "I'm so glad… you never forgot me…"

"Then why?"

"To keep you by my side… would have taken away your future. And I couldn't bear to trap you in that village for my sake. Better both of us be free, and apart, than for you to remain trapped in my cage."

Akira didn't agree, but at this point, it was too late to do anything about it. If only he had known… but no. Even if he'd tried to take her with him… it wouldn't have worked. There was no sense in crying over what might have been. Instead, they could only focus on the time they had now.

"Satsuki… can you go get something out of my bag?"

Satsuki nodded, wiping her eyes. She stood up and walked over to his backpack.

"It's in the front pocket. The small one." After a few tries (it was her first time doing something with her fingers, and they were far longer than the ones she'd used before) she managed to get the zipper open. She slipped her hand inside and she felt something smooth and round. She wrapped her fingers around it and her eyes widened, withdrawing her hand and slowly opening it. In her palm was a small stone, orange like sunset, with streaks of red and blue running through it. Tears began to well up in her eyes and she clutched the stone to her chest, running to Akira's bedside.

"You really remembered…" she sobbed.

"You told me to hold onto it," Akira said, smiling up at her. "You said it was your treasure."

"You kept it for all these years…" Satsuki cried, sitting down beside him and placing the stone in his hand. "Thank you… thank you for treasuring me all this time…"

Satsuki held Akira's hand tightly, wiping her eyes with her other arm. When she finished crying, much to Akira's surprise, the smile she turned his way seemed almost sad.

"Just this… just this is enough…" Satsuki smiled. "I've watched you… for so many years. I know you best… better than everybody else. Like this… with this body… you and I, we could finally… like we always wanted…"

Satsuki leaned over and pressed her lips against Akira's, much to his surprise. Their kiss lasted only a few seconds, and then she pulled away, blushing. She stood over him, a smile on her face. She reached over and stroked his cheek.

"I want nothing more… than for you to be happy, Akira," Satsuki said. "From the day I left you until now… I've always fought at your side, so that you could be happy. And no matter what form I take, I always will stay by your side. However you want me to. And that's why, I need to say…"

Satsuki winced, her voice dropping off. She let go of Akira's hand and touched her forehead.

"Satsuki?" Akira asked, confused, eager to hear the ending of her sentence. But something was wrong.

"No, I… wait!" Satsuki clenched her forehead and fell back, trembling. "No, you can't! Not yet! Why?! Why now? Just… just let me tell him, I have to-!"

"Satsuki?!" Akira cried. He leaned up out of bed and tried to climb out as she stumbled away from him, shaking her head.

"Akira, please! I love you, and you need to… Sylvia, she's planning to-! You have find… don't just… please, move-"

Satsuki's mouth stopped making sounds, and she fell to the ground.

"Satsuki!" Akira cried. Serefina, hearing the struggle, burst into the room.

"What's going on?" She cried, glancing around with a look of confusion on her face.

"Now, now, that was rude of you…" Sylvia's body picked itself up off the floor, and she brushed the dirt off of her dress. "Fighting me like that? For control of my body? You've mussed up one of my favorite dresses! How ungrateful can you be? And after all I did to help you, you were just going to go and spoil all the fun."

"Sylvia," Serefina said, frowning. Akira looked at her hopefully, but could tell that no trace of Satsuki could be seen in the face or movements of the blonde girl.

"Why?!" Satsuki screamed at her. "Why would you… I wasn't done! I needed to tell him that-!"

"Naughty, naughty," Sylvia said, shaking her head, raising her finger to her lips. To Akira and Serefina, it looked like she was talking to thin air, even though Satsuki was floating right in front of them. "You were about to cut to the ending! How boring would that be? I loaned you my body so you could make things more interesting, for my own amusement. But such a simple romantic resolution like that? It would be dreadfully boring and predictable, and I simply won't have any hand in it."

Sylvia turned to Akira, smiling.

"That's all for now, dear loverboy," she purred. "I suggest that you get your heart all sorted out. In the meantime… I'll be off. I need to see a man about a newspaper. Ta."

Sylvia strolled out of the room, Akira and Serefina helplessly watching after her.

"Akira!" Satsuki cried. "You need to stop her! She's planning to-! Akira?"

But of course, it was pointless. Without Sylvia's body, Satsuki was nothing more than a memory, a fantasy. She was only a ghost, after all, and no matter how she screamed and pleaded, her voice would only fall on deaf ears.

Sylvia walked out of the infirmary, stretching. It was only the afternoon, and she had the whole rest of the day to kill. Tomorrow was the big day, after all. Everything the Phantom had been planning for in having her take a position on the Eight Leaders would all be coming to fruition. She could do for a little relaxation, couldn't she? Tomorrow would be far too busy.

She took out her phone, and called a certain someone. Well, "call" wasn't exactly the right word, since the person in question did not have a phone. Rather, her calls would get transmitted directly into her processor, and she would then respond with a mental auditory response.

"Misato, it's me~" Sylvia purred.

"I am aware. Any phone that calls me goes through my filter, so I know the identity of every individual making a call. Identifying yourself beyond that is unnecessary."

"Nope, nope, what if I'm not me? What if I'm just someone pretending to be me?"

"Why would you pretend to be yourself?"

Sylvia rolled her eyes and resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of her nose. Sometimes Misato was the most frustrating piece of machinery in the world.

"Forget it," Sylvia sighed. "Anyway, we're a go for tomorrow. By morning, I want every email account going through the campus wi-fi to receive the notification that, in her position as a member of the Eight Leaders, one very lovely and talented Sylvia Driscoll will be holding an inspection of the Newspaper Club. To make sure that everything is going… by the book. After all, now that Mirar has dropped out of the Eight Leaders, we can't just rely on his good word that everything there is really on the up and up!"

Sylvia licked her lips in excitement.

"No, no, that would be unthinkable! We have to do a thorough search of everything… but especially the personal files he has stored on all the students. We need to make sure he isn't… violating anyone's privacy."

"Affirmative. Once the draft has been submitted I will access the server to transmit the message.

"Lovely. See you tomorrow, sweet thing!" Sylvia cooed, hanging up on the mechadoll.

Sylvia put her phone away in her bag, and stretched. She could hardly wait.

Mirar… for years, you've been collecting data on the lives and battling strategies of the entire student through your countless cameras and uploading it all to your own private computer. Since you aren't using a server Misato has access to, it's got to be all through landlines in the Newspaper Club. Sylvia cackled. All those secrets you've been keeping to yourself… I can't wait to get a little peek. You might be able to memorize things with exceptional speed, but not even your godly eyes are a match for the processing power of a living computer like Misato. Once she's downloaded the data, she'll be able to formulate effective countermeasures for every student on this campus. And when that happens? My, my…

Sylvia's heart was pounding in her chest. If everything went as she expected it to, tomorrow would be exciting indeed. It was a pity that it would all go down this way, because once Valon got his hands on Misato's calculations, the Commander's faction was as good as finished. A one-sided and predictable war like that would be a boring thing indeed. But what could she do? Orders were orders, the Phantom made it quite clear that they were to get their hands on that information by whatever means necessary. And boy, did Sylvia now have the means necessary.

With Dakota all frazzled up like she is, that should be good enough… now the only thing left to do…

Sylvia called the next student on her list. Rafe Crawford.

"Hello, Rafe, this is Sylvia!" Sylvia smiled. "I wanted to talk with you about your plans tomorrow. I was thinking of paying Mirar a visit at the Newspaper Club, and I was wondering if you might want to drop by? Oh, at about 8 in the morning. You see, I wanted to tip my hat to him for his phenomenal work at predicting my movements in our match, and preparing the countermeasure you so wonderfully implemented. Honestly, well done. Do try to make it, I'm certain it will be a meeting you wouldn't want to miss. Ciao for now!"

And with that, the last piece was set, as tight as the smirk on Sylvia's lips.

"Get one over on me", eh? Not likely. I'll use the two of you until I've wrung every drop of entertainment I can get." Sylvia tried to keep her face from seething. It would all be fine. She'd set things up flawlessly. She just had to make sure to play her part. No relaxation for today, it seemed. She walked back to her room, going over every aspect of the plan again and again in her head. If the pieces moved as she predicted they would, it would all go fine. And if the pieces wouldn't move on their own accord, then she'd have to make them move.

However it would shake out, it would certainly be enjoyable. She'd more than made sure of it.

The climax of this arc is coming soon! Will Sylvia's machinations pay off? Will the Phantom seize control of Mirar's data, allowing Misato to do Mirar's job better than he ever could?