Back to the main story. It's been a bit of a haul, but we're getting back on track with Sango and the Children of the Oracles. This arc has already gone on longer than I expected, but I'm not trying to rush or drag things out. I'll just handle it one chapter at a time until then!

As for the Best Girl nominations, again, we want more!

Currently Nominated: Sango, Cynthia, Elaina, Kate, Dakota, Ayame

Seamitar X: Ah. But who is best girl then?

TREBOR.E: It isn't intended to be that climactic. Marion doesn't know much. It's to set the stage for future developments. I do agree though it was a tad bit long, just because I was enjoying writing out the character dynamics.

Draisen: All interesting ideas. I like where your mind is at.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 176

"So that's it," Marion said. "That's the stuff I went through."

Marion's story had taken some time. The restaurant had closed to the public (but Marion and Sango were allowed to stay) and the sun had already dipped down below the horizon, the two girls staring at each other on the candlelit deck.

Sango stared at Marion with a look of sympathy. The girl had been through far more than Sango could have imagined… having to endure the nightmare of Anja Karzat like she'd described, and losing her friends… along with the revelation that her friends were now associated with a terrorist organization… Marion was smiling like always, but there was a sadness in that smile that Sango had not noticed until now.

"Marion…" Sango said, reaching out and placing her hand over the girl's tanned fingers, comforting her as best as she could. "I'm sorry you went through something like that."

"…" Marion smiled back at Sango.

"I don't know what happened to Doctor K… or where the others are… Preya said they were with him, but…"

"I saw them," Sango interrupted her. "The two you mentioned. Rast and Alk."

Marion's eyes widened, and she leapt from her seat.

"Rast?! Alk?! Are you serious?!"

Sango nodded.

"On Mt. Chimney. They attacked us."

"Oh…" Marion deflated, sinking back into her seat.

"Marion… there's a lot I don't know about what you told me…" Sango said, shaking her head. "A lot that doesn't make sense. But I want to ask for your help."

"My help?" Marion asked, confused. "What do you mean?"

"Like I told you, right now… we're trying to track down members of the Children of the Oracles," Sango said. "And you know a lot about harmonia… and about Anja Karzat. The Ranger Union knows some stuff, but you have first-hand experience with all of it. Anything you have to tell them… you don't have to tell them the whole thing, I mean. Just the small pieces. Whatever you're comfortable with. But it could really… it could help."

Marion considered this, her expression troubled.

"Even now… I don't know if Doctor K was a good person, or a bad person. I want to believe that she was good. I do believe that. Because she always treated me with kindness. But I know that kindness… can be a lie, too." Marion closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She let out a nice, long sigh, staring at Sango. Her eyes were glistening in the candles' light.

"Doctor K wanted to create peace in our world," Marion replied. "That was her dream. A world where everyone could live together, and be happy. I don't believe someone who would have a dream like that… would build it on the pain of children. So I choose to believe in Doctor K, just like how you believed in me."

Marion smiled, and Sango nodded. The two girls stood up and headed back into the closed down restaurant. Marion looked over her shoulder at the dark waters of the ocean behind her, smelling the scent of salt in the air.

"Well now, it's about time you showed up."

Sango and Marion entered the hotel Petal had booked, and the woman in question had been waiting in ambush for them. She was quite clearly not in a good mood. Sango, Marion, and Silver flinched under the ranger's piercing eyes, unable to meet her glare.

"Uh, um, Petal-"

"No, you don't talk right now," Petal coldly shut her down, wagging her finger. "We have things to discuss."

Sango gulped.

"Both of you, come with me," she snarled, whirling on her heel. Sango and Marion glanced at each other, and winced. This was not going to be a good night for them, clearly. They quickly followed Petal into the elevator, making sure to keep their heads down in case she got snappy again.

It was the most uncomfortable elevator experience they had, three girls standing in awkward silence with two of them deathly terrified of the other. Petal's sword was still wrapped up and over her shoulder, but Sango still felt intimidated by her.

I knew I should have called her and told her what was taking so long, Sango regretted.

Petal said nothing else until the three girls and the Castform were gathered in her hotel room. Ritsu was napping quietly in one of the beds, so Petal sat down on the other, crossing one leg over the other and crossing her arms in front of her chest. She glared at the two.

"Do you have any idea what time it is?" Petal demanded.

Sango looked down, her face red with guilt. She nodded.

"Sorry, it was my fault, I-"

Petal glared at Marion and raised a finger up to point at her, narrowing her eyes. Marion gulped, and took the warning, falling quiet.

"S-sorry," Sango apologized. "I was talking with Marion about something very important… it's about Anja Karzat, and the Children of the Oracles. I thought that if I could learn more about what was happening… then maybe I could do something to… help?"

Petal's eye twitched.

"I did tell you to handle Marion… but at the very least you could have checked your messages. I've been trying to get ahold of you for hours now."

She sighed, and the two girls visibly relaxed now that it no longer seemed like Petal was planning on berating them further.

Petal's eyes turned to Marion.

"As for you, tell me everything. What are you doing here? I want the whole story now, little missy. If it's interesting enough to keep Sango engaged for such a long period of time, then I'm sure you've got quite a lot to say, now don't you?"

Marion gulped and glanced to Sango, who shrugged. She sighed, and began explaining things to the older ranger.

"…A coincidence."

Petal stared at Marion with a look that made the fishing girl fear for her life.

"First the incident in the Nature Preserve, and now this. You have got to have the worst luck I have ever seen," Petal sighed, massaging her temples in frustration. "Unbelievable. Un-fucking-believable… Okay, with everything you've told me, I'm more lost than ever. The Ranger Union held Doctor Anja Karzat responsible for everything that went down in Anja Karzat. She went missing in the attack, and we couldn't find any traces of her whereabouts, or any remains, so we know she probably didn't die. The assumption until now was that she was continuing her experiments on children with harmonia somewhere in secret…"

"Doctor K wouldn't do that!" Marion objected, shaking her head. "She wouldn't keep hurting people! She'd try and take care of anyone she could, but she'd never do what they did back there!"

"But you just said that you didn't know for sure, you're just hoping," Petal pointed out. She glanced at Sango.

"You two really are made for each other," she sighed. "At any rate, this is clearly enough to reopen our assessment. We'll look into her circumstances more, and increase our efforts to search for her. If we could get any testimony from any of the doctors, that would be nice, but everyone involved with that facility is either missing or confirmed deceased."

Marion sighed, nodding her head reluctantly.

"About… about the others… Preya… or, Rey… he said that the other children are working with him. Rast and Alk for sure, but also Katrina, and Flora, and Kyrese."

Petal frowned.

"I see, that is problematic. All of them?"

Marion nodded.

"I'm sorry I didn't say anything before… but I was scared. I didn't know how much you guys knew… so I was afraid that if it became known that I was associated with Anja Karzat…"

"That we'd act the exact way that I did," Petal sighed, shaking her head.

"Anyway, moving ahead to what we'll do about this… Marion, you're just a student, and you haven't signed your internship application forms… but you're still a Probationary Ranger. I can deputize you if you'd like. Would you lend your assistance for this operation we're doing, to try and track down Rui's contact in the Children of the Oracles?"

"That's why I came here," Marion replied, smiling broadly. "I want help however I can. Especially if the people involved… if they're my friends, I want to be there. Maybe I could, I don't know, talk them out of it or something."

Petal considered this with a serious frown.

"…If you're willing to keep an objective mind, then your insight would be welcomed. We'll have to go through an official process, though. We can't let a random student assist in ranger activities, even a Probationary Ranger, without someone taking responsibility for your actions."

Marion nodded her head automatically.

"In the meantime, I've been looking into the harbor logs, and it turns out there are three boats that were intended to arrive today, that have been delayed for one reason or another. The first of them is expected to arrive two days from now, so I assume that's when Rui will attempt another meet-up."

Sango nodded her head.

"So we get to stay here until then?!" Marion asked, her eyes shining with excitement. "Oh, I can't wait! Sango, let's go get you a fishing pole, and we can head out to the beach tomorrow morning! Heck, why wait that long?! Let's go now!"

"We aren't staying here," Petal replied, cutting Marion off. "We'll spend the night, and then tomorrow we'll head back to Turffield."

Sango's eyes widened, and she smiled. That meant that she'd be able to go visit Lucy on the farm tomorrow!

Marion's response was less positive.

"Wha? But I wanna fish!"

Petal narrowed her eyes and Marion shut her mouth, waving her hands.

"Nah, nah, it's good," Marion smiled.

"Good. Then we'll leave on the train first thing in the morning," Petal decided. "Until then, you two need to get what little sleep you still can."

"Roger!" Marion saluted. She glanced around the room, a look of confusion on her face. That's when Sango realized something that she hadn't considered. In her absence, Petal had checked them into a double, because there were only two of them at the time. But now Marion was tagging along.

"Sango, forget sleep!" Marion whispered. "You and me, night fishing! Let's get it going!"

Sango opened her mouth, about to encourage Marion to go night fishing by herself, but Petal shut that shit right down.

"I believe I told you to sleep."

Marion and Sango flinched, and smiled, turning to her and nodding.

"W-we will!" Sango agreed. "Just… there's only one bed!"

"Right, so we've gotta be all packed in tighty-tight," Marion agreed. "Like Wishiwashis in a can!"

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know you were aiming to become a pokemon ranger for the luxury," Petal snidely commented. "You're both girls, you can share the bed. As for me, I'll take this one."

Petal sat up and got off the bed, placing her sword gingerly down beside the other one. She took a change of clothes out of her duffel, and headed off into the adjoining bathroom. The shower began running.

"Marion, you have any clothes?" Sango asked.

"Nah, I came here with just this!" Marion chuckled, gesturing down at her outfit, which consisted of black short-shorts and a white camisole that stuck out on her tanned skin. "See, I had to bring a bunch of fishing gear, so I couldn't-"

Sango rolled her eyes. Of course Marion would prioritize fishing poles over clothes.

Marion kicked her sandals off and flopped back onto the bed, throwing her hat to the side. It landed on her fishing pole in the corner, Marion making a fist of victory.

Sango yawned. Already sleep-deprived, she could feel the exhaustion setting in, so she decided to forego taking a shower, instead just changing into pajamas and climbing into bed next to Marion. Silver drifted down and settled beside her on the pillor.

"Ah, I love it! A real sleepover with Sango!" Marion cheered, sidling up to Sango under the covers and hugging her. Sango rolled her eyes and shook herself free.

"Thanks for the nice thoughts, but it's kind of hard to sleep while holding onto another person," Sango replied. "Not to mention being held. This bed's real small, so let's try to make the best of it, okay? Sorry about this."

"Nah, nothing's about a thing!" Marion laughed, waving her hand dismissively. "I'm so sleep-deprived all the time, I'll sleep like a baby! Promise!"

This wasn't the first time they'd slept together, having camped out on the island a few times, but sleeping in the same bed would be a new experience, alright. If she was lucky, she could get a decent night's sleep tonight, to make up for the problems she'd gone through the night before.

Sango was not amused. Unlike the night before, where she'd gotten a mediocre amount of sleep due to her stressing out over her situation with Blake, the amount of sleep she'd gotten last night was a big whopping zero.

Marion had been a nightmare. She slept like a baby, sure. And like any other baby, she woke Sango up every other minute with something or another. Marion was the opposite of a calm sleeper. She rolled around in bed and flailed her limbs in various directions, smacking Sango every which way. At one point, she flopped her hand into Sango's face and kept it there for a good three minutes before shifting her position. Sango felt herself being pushed further and further towards the edge of the bed as Marion had claimed more space with her whirlwind thrashing. Silver had wisely decided to leave, but Sango was trapped. Every time she tried to slip out of bed, Marion would grab her in a vice-grip and keep her there. After a few attempts, she simply gave up. It was astounding.

And she had the biggest, most content shit-eating grin on her face while she was doing it, too, that Sango just wanted to smack her. That made two nights in a row that Sango had utterly failed to get a good rest. She was welcoming the sunlight at this point, because it meant she could finally get up and start her day.

Sango slid out of bed, and the minute she did, Marion's eyes snapped open and she yawned, looking up at Sango.

"Yo, what's up? How'd you sleep?" Marion grinned. Sango was fuming. She'd tried everything she could to wake the snoring girl up, to no avail. And the minute she got out of bed, Marion just wakes up like that?

"Marion… let me smack you a bit," Sango growled.

"…Sounds painful so no."

"Oi, you two." Petal peeked her head into the room from out in the hallway. "Good, you're up. Now then, why don't you two get dressed? Ritsu and I are headed to the station, but first, I need to pay another visit to the harbor. In the meantime, why don't you two go out and get something to eat? We'll meet up at the station at 8."

Petal glared at them.

"And don't be late this time."

Sango glanced at the clock. It was 6:30. That should hopefully be enough time.

"Sango, Sango, Sango!" Marion shook her, keeping Sango from changing her clothes. "Forget breakfast! Let's go fishing! Sound good?"

Not in any way did that sound good. If Marion went fishing, there was absolutely no chance of them getting to the station on time. And Sango was in NO mood to be yelled at by Petal again.

"I'm hungry," Sango said. "Please, I just want to get food." No sleep, there was no way she was going without foot, too. Not on Marion's life.

"Alright then! To the Captain's Table!" Marion cheered, grabbing Sango by the hand, dragging her out in her pajamas. Sango broke free of Marion's grasp and explained that before they ate, they needed to get prepared to leave. Marion calmed down, nodding. Sango got changed and they packed up all their stuff, waking up Silver and heading out the door. Sango could do worse than more seafood. The food at the Captain's Table was delicious, and with Marion it would all be free. And then she'd be heading back to Turffield. She could put up with a bit of Marion's zaniness for a few more hours, right?

Well, maybe not on zero sleep. Hopefully the food would distract her enough from the crazy girl to tolerate her behavior.

Yes, I know it's a little short, but don't worry! We will hopefully get back into the swing of things soon enough! Some big stuff is coming! What awaits Sango and Marion in Turffield? Will they be able to stop the Children of the Oracle's plans?