Kate and Blake's date continues! Where will we be going next? Also, it seems as usual, reviews are going weird. Still, keep up the reviews and the votes for the best girl!

Pokemon Academy Best Girl Elimination Round is still going strong! Keep those votes coming, a few girls are pulling ahead, but it's still anyone's game for making it into the top 5!

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

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 244

Kate began explaining her history to Blake while he worked on her hair.

"When I was really young, my family didn't have very much money. My mom would work, while my dad experimented in our garage with his pokemon, to try and follow his passion. He had a theory that he could use the scents of his Skuntank and his Koffing and Weezing, along with the sludge of his Grimer to try and create an odor that would be actually pleasant. He went through a lot of failures, and our house was always smelling of one fowl stench or another. But then, one day… he succeeded. He distilled a perfume that would not only overpower foul stenches of the highest degree, but would serve to soothe and be very unintrusive. It was an amazing breakthrough, that catapulted us up to the top of the ladder in terms of social status. My father got consistent work in the perfume business and his line took off, and then he branched off into cosmetics and other industries. My class of life majorly shifted, and I was only 5. We joined… well, not 'high' society, but moderately high society. Enough to send me to a high class girl's school, at any rate."

Kate sighed. That part of her life had been fairly nice and ordinary, if a little odd due to her wealth. She'd gone through life living well, even though she'd been born in poverty. But she had always felt like an outsider, she explained. Like she didn't belong with the other rich girls.

"I felt like I didn't belong. Like I wasn't one of them. And then, one day… they felt the same way." Kate's voice quivered. "I was an outcast to begin with, but then… my classmates figured out that I liked poison type pokemon. And they… they thought that I was a freak. I mean, come on. Poison types? They liked cute pokemon, and I… I was the only one who ever thought poison types were cute. I was an outcast, I was nouveau riche, so I was already an outsider, and then to like pokemon that other people thought were gross and ugly… they used to bully me. I became unable to be honest with myself. It was wrong for me to like poison types. So I kept my head down and my mouth shut, because if I said anything, then the bullying would just get worse. I didn't have anything. I was all alone, and treated like garbage because I was a freak. They would throw sewer water on me, and tell me it was only fitting, because I was a dirty, smelly girl who deserved to wallow in filth."

Blake could see the corners of Kate's eyes were glistening. Even though they were closed, he could see tears beginning to form. He remembered his fight with Kate, and how hard she had tried to insist that she was a grass trainer, not a poison trainer. She had been so defensive, and it was clear to see why. Because saying she liked poison types… it must have been awful, what she'd had to go through.

"But as bad as it was… I still had one friend," Kate said. "Her name was Val. Valerie Chiester. She… she was my only friend. When everyone else was picking on me, or ignoring me, or throwing mud on my clothes and books… Val was always there, to comfort me and give me a smile. I'd have sleepovers with her, and we'd talk about our favorite pokemon. I would pretend that I didn't like poison types, so I wouldn't lose her, as well… but she said it didn't matter. So for a brief instant… it was fine for me to be myself. And then… then it ended."

A tear rolled down Kate's cheek as she whimpered.

"The girls who were picking on me… apparently it wasn't enough to harass me. They began harassing Val, as well, ruining her textbooks and her uniform. Val wasn't the star of the class, but she wasn't an outcast like me. She had other friends, but her friendship with me was costing her them. She… she didn't want to lose her place, like I had. And then one day… she was given an ultimatum. She could either pick on me like the other girls… or become a victim like me. If you could see it… the look in her eye, the pain… she didn't want to, but in the end she took my favorite book and threw it in the mud. Our friendship was ended, and she regained her place in the class. I was tossed by the wayside, and all alone. For real that time. I stopped going to class, I stopped talking to others. I was a freak, I didn't deserve friends, I didn't deserve happiness. All because I was… because I liked poison pokemon. I hardened my heart and hated the world. I cut myself off from others, and resolved to never let myself be vulnerable like that again. To never make friends ever again."

A small smile tugged up on her lips.

"And then… then I saw her highness on television. There… there she was. A girl only a year older than me, and yet she was everything I wasn't. She was beautiful where I was plain. She was stylish where I was frumpy. Strong where I was weak, and… loved, where I was an outcast. I… I wanted to be like her. I fell in love with everything about her. If I could become an elegant grass trainer like her, then everyone would love me. So when I heard that she was a student at the Pokemon Academy, I convinced my parents to send me there rather than continue my education at the girls' school that I already barely attended. And then… I met my idol. And proceeded to lose myself."

Blake knew the rest of that story. He had seen it with his own eyes. Kate had tried to emulate Alcea however she could, to the point where she had completely lost what made her an individual. She had tried, and failed, to reject herself, but her identity had bled out. And he had helped her come to terms with that.

"Then I met a guy… who showed me how big a fool I was for trying to be like her highness. As much as idolized her… as much as I tried to be like her… I couldn't stop being myself. Alcea is Alcea. And I am myself. And now… now I'm trying to be like myself, and be honest. But I was so against all of it before… that now, now I'm not sure, you know? But even so… that… that's where I am now. A poisonous, hateful girl who rejected the idea of friends and tried to shut her true self off from the world, now trying to go back to find her place in the world after all this time. Do you think, Blake… someone like me… could I be… loved by others?"

By you?

Kate swallowed. Those final words didn't slip out of her mouth. But they continued to echo in her head. Normally, whenever that notion came up… she'd push it down. Because of course she didn't… like Blake. Not… not that way, right?

Then why did she feel this way? Like she wanted… wanted him to hold her, and tell her that he loved her? That as toxic as she was… she could have friends? A lover? A place to exist? Why did she want Blake to do all those things that her highness had been so kind to do for her?

Do I… like Blake? No, no, of course I don't, I just…

"Why don't you ask yourself?" Blake asked. "Because I can't answer that question for you."

"…Huh?" Kate blinked, opening her eyes. Blake was staring at her. He pointed forward, and she raised her head to look at herself in the mirror.

Kate wasn't sure what she was supposed to say. But the girl in front of her, she…

Who?

She turned to look at Blake, confused. Blake raised his eyebrow, and she looked back at the mirror. She raised her hand to her head, to try and test out the feel of her new hairstyle.

At the end of the day, her hair was still a mess.

Well, kind of. By "mess", she meant that it wasn't straightened. Well, it was, just… not down. Her hair stuck out in multiple directions just like it had before. But with how it had been styled and brushed, Kate could tell that there was a control there that there hadn't been. Where before, her hair would go wherever it wanted to go, regardless of how she felt about it, now it seemed like it had been guided into precisely the right placed by a gentle hand, shaped into a whirl of curls that was not only natural, but pleasing to look at. Blake had cut away some of the more uneven jaggedness, but otherwise left her hair at its previous length. But he had styled it. One touch, and she could feel the coolness of hair gel curling her normally messy locks into precisely shaped points, like an anime character. "Controlled chaos" was the best way to describe it. Her bangs no longer hung over her eyes, they'd been trimmed, and held back with a purple flower clip to show off her forehead. Combined with her impeccable makeup, she looked like both a completely different person, and yet also so much like herself.

In a word, she was "perfect". The perfect Kate.

"What… what is this? I don't…"

"Well, I figured that you'd already cut away so much of yourself, I didn't want to cut any more," Blake explained. "Short hair… it just sort of fits, you know? You shouldn't grow it out. Because the normal you is a person who plays things in close to herself, both in who she lets in and how she interacts with others. Long hair… it doesn't suit an aggressive nature like yours. And at the same time, it's the perfect style, as well."

"What do you mean?" Kate asked, confused. "You didn't want to straighten it?"

"Well, I could have, once I got rid of all those knots and tangles," Blake admitted. "But I saw it like this. The mess your hair was in before, it showed how confused you were about your path forward. So I've untangled everything, and then started looking at what would best suit you. And Kate, the real you… she's a bitch."

"Hey!"

"That's how it is," Blake shrugged. "You're sharp and prickly, and drive away people all the time. And that's fine. That's who you are. So I thought that for a girl filled with rough edges, the perfect style would be hair filled with rough edges, don't you think?"

"Uh…" Kate looked at her sharp hair. It looked a lot like it had, but where her previous hair had just been a mess, this was clearly an intentional messiness.

"I… I mean, it does suit me pretty well," Kate admitted. Even when she was a child, she had never imagined herself with long hair.

"Then I added the hair clip, once I styled the sides and the back," Blake explained.

"What do you mean?" Kate asked, reaching up and running her fingers over the hair clip. "What, were you just carrying it around? Wow, you really have a hard-on for chicks with flowers in their hair, don't you?"

"Nah, I bought it at the counter," Blake said. Kate turned to see that there were a wide array of hair clips and bands for sale.

"So why?" Kate asked.

"Because it's a flower, and I think it suits you," Blake explained. "See, it's okay for you idolize Alcea. But you've learned not to get yourself lost in your admiration for her. To symbolize that part of your life, I thought that it would be best to give you a flower that would make sense, the flower that would symbolize who you are as a person."

"Oh?" Kate blushed slightly, wondering what flower Blake thought best symbolized her. It looked familiar. Alcea had grown some. But she didn't remember anything about it…

"It's a larkspur flower," Blake explained. "One of the most deadly poisonous flowers. If ingested it could very likely lead to death, and the treatment is shoddy at best. Almost certainly lethal."

Kate's smile froze on her face. It then morphed into a scowl.

"Come on, you know it's perfect."

"Can't you do one nice thing?!" Kate hissed, glaring angrily at him.

"What, you don't think it suits you?" Blake asked. "You were the one who wanted to know if you could be loved for who you are, right? So take a look. That's who you are."

Kate turned and took another look at herself in the mirror.

"If you don't love yourself first, you can't expect other people to love you," Blake assured her.

Kate turned her head, looking at her hair from all angles. There was something she was still a little uncomfortable with.

"Um, you said… you needed my whole history to give me the perfect haircut, right?" Kate asked.

"Yeah, I wanted to work in all aspects of who you are."

"Then what about… what I said? About how… I would get bullied all the time?"

Blake blinked.

"Oh, I thought that was obvious."

"Huh? Uh, no, it wasn't."

"That all got solved back when I untangled that mess your hair was in before," Blake laughed, dismissing her concern with a wave of his hand.

"What?"

"When I got rid of those knots and tangles, it was because you're taking steps to put all of that behind you," Blake explained. "So now, you don't even need to worry about your past. You can move forward and be accepted for who you are. I brushed all that gunk out already."

Kate could feel her eyes start to water, but she swallowed her urge to cry and shook her head.

"I… I love it," Kate admitted. "You were so right, this is perfect. I… I look…"

She turned to look at him, her eyes wet. She smiled. It wasn't one of those forced smiles, or an awkward smile that didn't come naturally to her. This was a big, broad, cheek-to-cheek smile that took Blake aback for a moment. He wasn't used to such genuine emotion from Kate. At least, not positive emotions.

"Thank you, Blake," Kate told him. She removed the smock and got down out of her chair, checking herself out in the mirror again. She really felt like a whole new person. Blake hadn't really cut that much of her hair, only evened out the unbalanced sections, but… she felt like her head was a whole lot lighter now.

"Uh, yeah, no problem," Blake shrugged. "When we get back, come see me any time if you want me to do it again."

"Yeah, I will," Kate nodded. "I totally, totally will."

Kate headed off to the waiting area, passing by the stylist who Blake had spoken to before. She raised an eyebrow, and turned to Blake, beckoning him over with her finger.

"Seems you weren't just boasting," the woman smiled. Blake shrugged, pretty satisfied with himself.

"I do my best," Blake admitted.

"You really have done this before," the woman agreed. "And yet you aren't a professional. Just a kid? How odd. Well, ready to keep up your end of the bargain? Your little friend got to cut in line, so it's only fair, don't you think?"

Honestly, Blake could have gotten a similar effect in a bathroom with a pair of scissors, but a deal was a deal. He'd used their equipment, so at the very least he could help her get through her waitlist. It would only take about a half-hour, if he turned his brain off and just did what they asked, rather than style it the way he would normally. Kate sat down in a chair and began taking pictures of herself with her phone to send to Alcea, while Blake got to work.

In about 40 minutes, the waiting room had thinned out considerably, and Blake was let off. Just in time, too, as both he and Kate were starting to get very hungry.

"Here's my card," the woman said, handing him a business card. "We could use a stylist like you. Call me up if you want to get some more work experience after you graduate."

Her eyes flicked up his body and she bit her lip, smiling.

"Or, if you're interested in… other things."

Blake gave her a polite smile and took her card, thanking her for her time. But he knew he sure wasn't going to take her up on her offer. He and Kate left, Kate unable to contain her smile as she slid her parka back on.

"A brand new region, and what does it give to me, on my first day?" Kate asked, holding out her arms and twirling through the snowy street. "New clothes, perfect makeup, and even a new haircut."

Kate sighed, inhaling the crisp scent of the snow-covered town. "What a wonderful day."

She turned to Blake, her eyes twinkling with excitement.

"Thank you for talking me into this, Blake," Kate laughed. She threw her arms out and did a twirl, a light drizzle of snow dancing around her. "I mean, I'm not queen, not like her highness… but today, I really feel just like a princess."

"Want to get something to eat?" Blake asked. Kate nodded, smiling.

"I heard about this perfect place," Kate said, flipping through the pamphlet she had taken from the hotel lobby. "It sells just the perfect gelato!"

Blake looked up at the snow-filled sky. Then he glanced back at Kate, looking at her like she was an idiot.

"You want ice cream."

"It's famous!" Kate insisted. "Besides, it isn't ice cream, it's gelato."

"Yeah, that's basically just fancy ice cream."

"Come on, it's the full Italian experience! You like that kind of food, right?" Kate asked. "That's… that's what I hear, anyway."

Blake narrowed his eyes, looking at Kate suspiciously.

"Hear from who?"

"You know. People." Kate averted her eyes. Blake's frown deepened.

"Dakota has a profile about me, doesn't she?" Blake asked. Kate flinched, her face sweating.

"Well, it, uh… I've heard that you went on a bunch of dates to an Italian Restaurant back at school, so I figured…"

"Well, I do like it," Blake admitted, even though he'd gone there more because Ayame was the Italian food fan than because he was. But delicious food was delicious.

"Then shall we go?" Kate asked. The two followed the map directions, and headed back towards the center plaza, where the restaurant was located. It was a large brick building (like all the buildings in Circhester) and the dining area was an outdoor patio with a cloth roof overhead to catch the snow. It was practically like eating right out on the street, allowing them to observe the pedestrians walking by and the hot spring in the center of town.

"Wow, this place is amazing," Kate smiled, staring out across the blanket of white covering the city. The air smelled of snow, and the city was perfectly suspended in time at the point where fall was turning to winter. Kate took a deep breath, inhaling that crisp Galarian air.

"This city is so nice and clean," Blake agreed. "And I gotta say, you were right to pick this restaurant, good choice, Kate."

"I know, right?" Kate laughed. "A patio where we get to eat and look out over the bay? Awesome!"

One thing that was different from Giorno's, Blake noted, was that this place didn't have paper tablecloths and crayons. Which was a pity, he felt. Sure, it was probably because this place was a little more upscale than Giorno's, but even so, Blake still had his preferences. And fun was fun, regardless of class.

About twenty minutes later, their food arrived. Blake had ordered spaghetti and meatballs, because when he ate with Ayame, that was always what she got. And since feeding each other was less fun when they both got the same thing, it meant that he'd never get to order it himself when he was with her, so this was his opportunity.

Kate, on the other hand.

"Dude, this ravioli is as big as my hand!"

Truthfully, the ravioli wasn't THAT big, but it was certainly huge. The largest either one had ever seen. She'd have to bite into them, she couldn't fit them into her mouth.

"Oh, man, they taste delicious, too!" Kate cooed, the flavor filling her mouth. Blake was enjoying the spaghetti as well, it was just the best. The two were enjoying their meal, but Kate was making sure to save room for gelato.

"Today was good, I'm glad I was able to help," Blake said. "It sure beats staying around in the room all day."

"You said it," Kate laughed. "It really was-"

"OMG! Is that Kate Nomia?" An obnoxious-sounding voice came from behind Kate. Blake saw her entire body flinch up.

"Who?"

"You know, Sludge Girl!" The obnoxious girl continued. "From back at St. Beatrice's!"

"Like, OMG, it totally is! What's she doing here?"

Kate's face went deathly pale, and a look of anxiety slowly spread across it. Her eyes were wide and her hands were shaking, sweat falling down her brow. The voices drew closer, and she swallowed.

No. No, no, no. Not… not now, please, not… now…

Oof. You can run from your past, but it always finds you. Even if it's from across the plaza in a whole other region, for the sake of dramatic conflict. Sorry, Kate. Some people just aren't allowed to be happy.