Reviews are back in action, awesome. Let's see those reviews, people! It's also time to see Alcea's side of things, and also handle some family drama.

As for the Best Girl nominations, still going strong. Anyone else left to add?

Currently Nominated: Sango, Cynthia, Elaina, Kate, Dakota, Ayame, Marion, Kitty, Serefina, Madison

Number13teen: Kanone is intentionally a contentious character. He does care about his family, but at the same time, he's arrogant and haughty, because he IS better than most trainers and knows it. Good trainer, less skilled at being a people person.

Just a Bad Writer for Fun: Indeed. With all this build up, no telling how it's gonna go.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 234

"Well this is quite a surprise," Louis said, raising his eyebrow.

Alcea had asked her parents to eat at the fanciest restaurant in the shopping district, which was fortunate as it was authentic Kalosian cuisine, meaning it provided her family with a taste of home. The four of them were eating together, when Alcea explained her intentions to her parents.

"But sweetie, I thought you and Blake were getting along so well," Julianna crooned. "And now you're saying you don't want to marry him after all?"

"Oui, Blake and I are no more than friends," Alcea confirmed. "We were willing to go along with this marriage for the sake of our families, but I apologize. Love… there is none, is it?"

"I see…" Julianna said, her face falling.

"So that's why you wanted to propose something like this," Louis said, scratching his beard in contemplation. "If Holly can defeat you, then she'll become the boy's fiancé instead?"

"Oh, sis!" Holly gushed, her face bright with excitement. "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"But Holly is just a child," Julianna protested. "She can't get married yet!"

"We were willing to hold off my marriage to Blake until my graduation," Alcea reminded them. "Blake would be 17 at that point. Blake will not graduate for another 4 years, at which point Holly will be 16. In Kalos, a girl of 16 is already capable of being wed, is it? His father has agreed to postpone the marriage until Blake has graduated as well. There is only a 3 year difference between the two of them; I believe that it is reasonable to let the two of them get married around that time. Perhaps even wait longer, until Holly is 17 or 18."

"You've really put some deep thought into this, huh?" Louis said, staring at his daughter with a critical eye. "It seems that this engagement has been nothing but a headache to you."

"Your concern for my future… touching, is it?" Alcea replied, smiling warmly at her father. "But even if I held feelings for Blake… I could not pursue them with the knowledge that it would be hurting my sister."

"Come now, Holly, you don't really want to get married to that boy, do you?" Julianna asked, turning to her daughter.

"I-I do!" Holly said, nodding her head eagerly. "Blake, he's like, the sweetest most kind person ever! He totally understands me, and… haaaa…"

She swooned, stars in her eyes.

"He's just the coolest…"

Julianna and Louis glanced at each other.

"If that boy did anything to my daughter, I swear I-"

"That is unnecessary," Alcea interjected. "I can assure you, father, that Blake and Holly's relationship is chaste as can be. In truth, he is unaware of this idea entirely."

"Oh?" Louis said, raising his eyebrow.

"While Blake is against the idea of marriage in general, he is even more opposed to marrying Holly," Alcea explained. "After all, as you said, she is a child. He has absolutely zero interest in her."

"Then even moreso, how can I ask my little girl to marry a man who doesn't want her in the least?" Julianna protested, Alcea's eye twitching slightly at the unconscious hypocrisy in her mother's words. Apparently a loveless marriage was unacceptable for some daughters and not others.

"That is why I suggest postponing," Alcea reminded them. "In four years' time… I am certain that Holly here will become far greater of a beauty than she is now. I'm certain that Blake will be unable to resist her charms. Even now… if I wanted him, I could have him."

Holly beamed at her sister's kind words, causing Alcea to feel a twinge of guilt, since she was aware that it was probably BS. Still, she might as well let her feel happy about herself. She was confident that not getting to see him for the next four years would cause her to move on from this childish crush she had on a boy she'd known less than a week.

"I suppose…" Julianna sighed, choosing to agree with Alcea that Holly would be able to make Blake fall for her when she got older. It wasn't ideal, but she supposed that Blake was a sweet enough boy, and he was only worried about the age difference. A Holly as old as Alcea was now would surely make him fall for her. She turned to her husband.

"But will it really be okay, waiting this long for the wedding?"

"It should," Alcea said, choosing to answer in her father's stead. "This engagement is, of course, a formality. To combine the Harker Conglomerate's holdings with the world-renowned Malva Corporation, and the prestigious Vermeil name. a pretext for a business transaction. As such, so long as the engagement is agreed upon by all parties, then there is no need to further it at this time, correct? Holly and Blake are both quite young, as am I. A marriage need not be so premature."

"I suppose that is true," Louis admitted. "But it isn't just for that reason, Allie. We also wanted… for your sake, we wanted to…"

"I am aware," Alcea interrupted him, a bit of rudeness that took Louis and Julianna aback, so out of character it was for their daughter to do such a thing. "You want me to marry, to settle down. That is why… I did not want to simply suggest replacing myself with Holly outright. I wish to respect your wishes on the matter, just as I wish to respect my sister's. That is why… we shall have a match, this Thursday. As we were planning to have tomorrow. I shall fight my hardest, as will Holly. And we will let the pokemon decide. If Holly's desire to marry Blake is strong enough to defeat me, then even you would not be opposed to their marriage, oui?"

Louis considered her statement, and then glanced at his wife. Holly looked at the both of them with pleading eyes.

Julianna frowned, clearly not entirely comfortable with the arrangement. But it seemed to be what both of her daughters wanted. If only Alcea wouldn't run off!

"Very well," Louis said, nodding. "I will agree to your request, Alcea." He was using her full name now, which, along with the look in his eye, showed he was taking this quite seriously. She wasn't "Allie, his daughter" now, she was Alcea Vermeil, coming to him with a business proposition, and he would respond to it with the respect it was warranted.

He held two of his fingers up.

"However, I have two conditions."

Alcea nodded her head. She figured he would not agree with this outright; there was nothing to truly be gained from it, from their side of things.

"The first condition, is that you must take this fight with your sister seriously. I don't want you using this match as an excuse to run away. If it looks like you've thrown the match to pawn Blake off onto your sister, then the deal is off, understood? You promised you would fight your hardest, and I expect you to honor that."

Made sense. Part of the plan she'd cooked up with Blake was to throw the match, but that had never been her intention. Alcea did not lose on purpose. She would not disrespect any trainer, especially not her sister, with anything other than her best.

"Agreed," Alcea nodded. "I have no intention of throwing the match for my sister's sake. I will give her the match she deserves."

"It wouldn't be worth it if I didn't defeat you at your best," Holly boasted. "You're no match for Petilil and I! I've even thought of just the perfect name for her!"

Alcea smiled, it was nice to see Holly so confident.

"The second condition is that, if Holly does win, and goes on to get engaged to Blake Harker, then, upon your graduation, you will move back to Kalos. I can arrange a position for you to become a grass type gym leader there. If Holly will marry Blake, then it is to be expected that she will also inherit the business end of the Malva Corporation. She will need support from all of us to raise a family and run a company. It won't do, having her worry about her sister gallivanting around the world."

There it was. At the end of the day, this was all about keeping Alcea on a tight leash, so she couldn't get in trouble like she had before. Of course he would make a request like that. But something like that was within expectations, as well.

Alcea sighed, forcing herself to look troubled. She nodded her head.

"Very well. If that is what you wish."

Julianna let out a heavy sigh of relief, and Louis remained stoic for a moment, a broad smile breaking out across his face.

"Then it sounds like we've got a deal! Waiter! Bring wine! Your finest vintage, we've got something to celebrate tonight!"

Alcea smiled, as her family continued with their meal. She would have to contact a certain someone to ensure that this match with her sister would go as she intended.

Dakota flopped down on her bed, a big frown on her face. It had not been a very good day.

Normally, hearing that one of her fellow students had been in an accident, along with his father, one of the more wealthy men in the Kalos Region, and both were hospitalized, would have put a smile on her lips. She should have been skipping all day long, going back and forth getting interviews and coming up with potential exciting ways to lure in students. This event was sensational enough, it didn't need for her to lend a personal touch!

But unfortunately, she had received a notice from the President, Mirar, that by no means was she allowed to cover any sort of sensational story on it. Due to the status of the figures in question, and the accident (if it really was one) involved two individuals who were not associated with the school, campus security was taking the incident VERY seriously. The authorities were involved, and the wreckage was already being salvaged for examining any evidence of arson, whether by the owner of the boat (insurance?) or by an unrelated third party.

The idea of it being arson, in particular, was tantalizing. Someone had tried to kill Blake and his father? Burning their boat with them inside of it? Sure, Richard Harker had seemed like an ass in the short time she'd met him, but murder? What a great story!

But once again, unfortunately, Dakota was not the one to tell it. Mirar had let her know in no uncertain terms that she was grounded. She was, under no circumstances, to have any involvement with the case, including writing an article on it. And for someone who spent her life using her toes to tiptoe on thin ice rather than toe the line, for once, going against his orders was NOT an option. This wasn't some scandal about students using illegal rare candies or black market stat buffers being sold well under the school price of 9800 poke. It wasn't some torrid sex scandal between students. This was a criminal investigation. And even though Dakota had every intention of doing her job seriously, she wasn't allowed near it. Well, she always did her job seriously. This time, though, it would've been without any unnecessary flourishes.

Sure, she would have leaned a little heavier on the conspiracy side of things than others might, but that was still perfectly valid.

Instead, Mirar would be handling the story, as nothing more than a detail of what had happened, and to let the students know that everything was fine, and the incident would not affect their daily life in the slightest.

So basically he wasn't doing shit.

It didn't help that this was the second massive scoop that had been yanked out from under her this week. She'd been over the moon at getting those pictures of Alcea and Blake's engagement. She couldn't wait to paint the front page red with insinuations about their tawdry affair. But that had all gone up in smoke, too.

Alcea had cheated. After the party had ended, she had gone to Akira and explained the importance of keeping this matter private. Akira, knowing Dakota as well as he did, knew that Dakota wouldn't be one to stick to the facts. She'd drag their names through the mud (well, only the dirt, Dakota had SOME trace of a heart) and cause damage to their company. Alcea made it very clear that if that happened, she would do everything within her power as a member of the Eight Leaders to torpedo Akira's prospects of getting into the group next semester. Even if it meant Elaina would be taking his place. It was very likely a bluff, but if Gerard and Alcea would put their differences aside and both stand against him then his chances of being accepted were slim.

Akira, who already didn't approve of very many of Dakota's actions to get a story, was fully onboard with going to Dakota and telling her that she needed to drop this whole engagement thing.

The funny thing was, Dakota wasn't even mad.

Normally, I'd be seething at Akira for telling me to do something like that… Dakota mused, staring up at the ceiling. But as upset as I am, I'm just happy that I didn't go through with it and put his future here in jeopardy.

Dakota's cheeks turned pink as she remembered Akira's smile and the look of relief on his face when she told him that she was killing the story and he didn't have to worry about it.

I'm actually happy for his sake over mine… She turned in bed and squealed gleefully into her pillow, kicking her feet up and down. Putting that smile on his face had made her go all warm and fuzzy. No wonder people liked this dating thing so much, she'd kill a million stories if it made him look at her like that again.

The ringing of her cell shook her out of her lovestruck haze, and she raised her head up from the pillow.

What the hell was I just thinking? She demanded of herself, coming down to earth. Did I really just think that it would be okay to stop doing sensational journalism for Akira's sake?!

She slapped herself across the cheek.

Calm down girl, you aren't letting him change you that fast. You're just in rut.

It wasn't just her keyboard that wasn't getting any action. She and Akira were taking things agonizingly slow. They'd been dating for nearly a month and hadn't gone any farther than kissing. She was experiencing both a media and relationship dry spell, and she couldn't put up with both simultaneously. Either a story was going to break, or her self-restraint would. And she didn't really think Akira would take that kindly to her being as forward as her body was demanding of her.

"I guess we're stuck with the normal candid shots tonight…" Dakota sighed, rolling over to grab her computer so she could access her secret file where she stored all her pictures of Akira. The kind that he knew probably existed, but didn't want to think about for the sake of having a healthy relationship with her.

Oh, right. The phone.

Dakota had been ignoring the incessant ringing, but now the person was calling for a second time. The growled in irritation, she was being stymied in every aspect of her life, it seemed. She grabbed her phone and sighed, checking the caller ID. It was someone she didn't recognize. She considered sending them to voicemail again and then silencing her phone, but…

What if it was someone with a story? What if this was Deep Throat, calling to tell her the TRUTH about this bizarre boating fire? She couldn't just ignore it, not if she wanted to be the master reporter that she knew she was.

…Great. Now with THAT name in her head, she was feeling pent up again. Of fucking course, nothing was ever easy.

"Yeah, what?" Dakota answered the phone with a snappish tone. "You better have a damn good reason for clamjamming me."

"Clam-? What?" The gasp of surprise tinged with confusion sounded familiar, but Dakota couldn't place the voice.

"Who is this?" Dakota demanded.

"Alcea Vermeil," Alcea replied, her melodious voice unmistakable now. Dakota sat upright, her eyes wide. She paying full attention now.

"Alcea? What are you calling about?" Dakota snootily asked, still peeved at Alcea for what she'd done to kill the story about Blake. How dare she threaten her boyfriend like that? Akira hadn't done anything wrong! "Killing my story and harassing my boyfriend wasn't enough? Had to gloat, too?"

…Of course, Dakota had been the one issuing threats first, but that was just how reporting worked.

"Nonsense," Alcea replied. "In fact, I was feeling a smidgeon… guilty about the steps I took in addressing your talents, and I was thinking about how I could make it up to you."

Ooh. Now this was interesting. Alcea was rich. Maybe she was going to offer to write Dakota a big, fat check for her troubles. With that kind of money, she could treat Akira to a wonderful date, a fancy restaurant, dancing in the park, getting him nice and plastered with wine and then back to his place for a good-

"Hello? Are you still there?"

"Uh… what? Yes! Absolutely!" Dakota said, her mind shaking free from all the things she planned to do to Akira, snapping back to reality. "What were you talking about? Something about making things up to me?"

"Oui. Since I deprived you of a good story, I was wondering if you'd like another? It is conditional, however. It must be out before Thursday's paper."

A story!? Alcea Vermeil was giving her something juicy to sink her teeth into?! This was even better than a check! It was Monday night. Mirar's headline about the accident would certainly be on the front page tomorrow. So if Dakota wanted to get it in by Wednesday's paper, that meant she'd have to submit it for review tomorrow morning. That was going to be difficult. There wouldn't be a lot of time to interview related parties for the facts, or double-check her sources, or get any sort of photographical evidence of whatever it was Alcea wanted her to report on.

So, business as usual for Dakota Evans, Master Reporter.

"Done, I can promise it'll be out for Wednesday's issue. Assuming, of course, this is tantalizing enough to hit the front pages," Dakota smirked, leaning back against her wall and switching her phone to her other ear, reaching for her laptop with her good hand. She had a feeling that this would be quite a sensational story, if Alcea was coming to her directly.

"I do believe you'll be pleasantly surprised," Alcea said. "About the engagement, is it? I have… reconsidered my position on the matter."

"Oh? So you don't mind me talking all about your little romantic tryst?" Dakota laughed.

"Conditionally," Alcea said. "I'd like for you to write exactly what I am going to tell you. You're well-known for taking creative liberties, but if you can promise to publish exactly what I am asking for, nothing more or less, then I believe we can come to an agreement on a piece of journalism that will make all of us happy."

Dakota scowled. Ceding full creative control was among her least favorite options. But she supposed that it was better than no story at all, so she reluctantly agreed to Alcea's demands.

Alcea began explaining what she wanted Dakota to write, and as she did, Dakota's eyes grew wider and wider, and a smile broke out across her face.

Screw creative control. This was front page news for sure, Dakota wouldn't need to embellish a damn thing.

Through the night she consulted with Alcea over the phone, sending her drafts of what she had through email and applying the corrections Alcea suggested. Serefina was spending the night working with the juniors and seniors in Chansey House taking care of the pokemon, so there wouldn't be any interruptions, or nagging "Dakota, that's an evil face. If you were writing a nice story you wouldn't have that face. Do I have to tell Akira?" She loved Seri, but the girl could be annoying.

And in surprisingly few hours, she had in her lap a story that, while it would probably not have been as tantalizing as the original engagement story would have been, (well, Dakota's… "interpretation" of it anyway) was certain to draw the attention of the student body. Dakota was cackling as she emailed it to Mirar for his approval, forwarding her email chain with Alcea as well to show she'd done her due diligence for once. Not even HE would kill the story if it was published with the full intent of the party at hand, after all.

Her work finally complete, Dakota had worked up quite an… appetite.

Folder time.

With Dakota's help, this little family feud should turn into quite the event. Next chapter we finally get to the battle itself! Will Holly be able to stand up to Alcea's best?