This chapter we get to catch up with Marion and see what she's been up to. Has she taken good care of Cory? Remember to vote!

We've got a decent amount of votes in the Pokemon Academy Best Girl Semi-Finals! We're reaching the end, so get in your votes! The frontrunners right now may surprise you, there's a dark horse in the top 3! Make sure to get those votes in, so we can see who makes it to the final round! All the girls are trying their best, let's see who will pull out the win!

Semi-Finalists: Cynthia, Ayame, Sango, Kate, Marion, Alcea

Pokemonking0924: Well, we'll have to see, Marion takes good care of her fishy friends.

Mercury – Mercuraneous: I tend to like the "pretend to be bad in order to bring out the best in someone else" character action. The parallel between Claire and Olivia i intentional, and Blake didn't fight back because he was startled and still had a bit of a guilty conscience.

Thunder Fire: We'll have to see.

Tambry96bj: Good question

Badoobadoop: Yeah, it was pretty tragic. But she tried her best, and she doesn't have any regrets.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 288

"A fishing contest?" Blake asked. He and Ayame were walking along the beach, in the direction of where Marion's aquarium was stationed.

In theory, a fishing contest was normal for someone like Marion. But this was the first he had heard of it being a full-fledged school activity.

"Of course, where have you been?" Ayame laughed. Then she realized.

"Galar," Blake dryly replied.

"Come on, you know what I mean," Ayame laughed. "The fishing contest, it's in only a few days. It's a yearly event."

"First I'm hearing of it," Blake said, shaking his head.

"Well, it's a little odd compared to normal school events," Ayame said. "We've only had it three times before, this year will be the fourth."

Four years, that means…

"So Marion started it," Blake said, putting the pieces together. "I wonder how that happened."

"Apparently, she complained. A lot. Until it happened."

Blake rolled his eyes, laughing. He didn't know Marion well, but that sounded like her.

"Normally, it's on the 9th. But apparently the faculty pushed it back to the 30th, switching places with the Cooking Contest," Ayame explained. "Did you just miss the whole cooking contest earlier in the month?" Ayame asked.

"I was a little busy," Blake replied. "You know, with the whole birthday thing. So the Fishing Contest is coming up? Why'd they change it?"

"Apparently, Marion insisted again," Ayame rolled her eyes. "She had business of some sort on the 9th, and she didn't want it being held when she wasn't there. She whined hard enough to make them have to agree to postpone it."

Blake nodded. Again, sounded like Marion.

"So that's why she's been so busy with all this?" Blake asked. They could see the aquarium getting closer, and the pier. And who was standing on the pier? She wasn't exactly easy to miss.

"I am the bone of my pole. Fiberglass is my body and water is my blood. I have caught over a thousand fish. Unaware of loss, nor aware of gain. Withstood pain to catch pokemon, waiting for one's arrivals. I have no regrets. This is my only path. My whole life was Unlimited Rod Works."

Marion stood in front of ten fishing poles mounted on the edge of the pier, skillfully manipulating them. She reeled in three pokemon at the same time with her technique, and then moved to go after two more.

Blake was a little impressed, but it was just fishing. What was the big deal? He and Ayame headed down the pier.

"Marion!" Blake called.

"I'm fishing, go away!" Marion shouted, not even turning her head. She continued reeling in pokemon.

Ayame and Blake glanced at each other. What should they do now? In the end, they had no other choice but to let Marion continue fishing like a madwoman for another half hour.

"Blake! And Ayame Toujou! What are you two doing here?" Marion gasped, turning to see them for the first time. She was in the process of releasing all the fish pokemon she had caught back into the sea. When she was done, she skipped down the pier and greeted the two with a wave and a cheery smile.

"Marion, how're the fish biting?" Blake asked. "Catch a lot?"

"It went awesome-tastic as always!" Marion chirped. "How's that fishing pole I got you? Catch a lot of fishies with it yourself?"

Blake hadn't used it once. But he didn't bother saying that. He cracked a grin.

"Actually, I caught me a big one," Blake said, nodding over his shoulder at Ayame. "She's quite a catch, don't you think?"

"Hey!" Ayame scowled at him. Marion didn't really understand.

"Uh… yes?" She asked, tilting her head to the side.

"…Never mind," Blake rolled his eyes. "Anyway, I heard you were planning to do this fishing thing, right?"

"Oh, yeah! Totally!" Marion's face brightened. "Super-awesome! You get to catch all the fishies you want! Oh, but you can't keep them, otherwise we'd totally wreck the ecosystem! It's all about fishing for the sport of it! Oh, and there are some great prizes! You could win all sorts of stuff, are you excited? Wanna sign up?! It'll be a blast, Blake! Come on! What about you, Ayame? You want to catch some pokemon, right?"

"Uh, maybe later," Blake said.

"Ooh! Want to get some practice in?" Marion wasn't listening. "I can set you up with one of rods, we can fish! I haven't gotten any fishing done in, like, forever!"

Blake and Ayame glanced at each other. She'd been fishing not five minutes ago, and here she was, ready to go again.

"Maybe later," Blake repeated, sighing exasperatedly. Sango had said that Marion was an exhausting person, and she was pretty much right, it seemed. "I'm actually here about Cory? You still have him, right?"

He was more than a little worried she might have released his pokemon into the wild without even realizing it. In hindsight, she didn't seem the most reliable sort, even if Sango had vouched for her abilities.

"Oh, yeah! Totally! Don't even worry about it!" Marion dismissed his concerns with a lazy wave, but Blake was certainly worried. He raised his eyebrow, giving Marion a look. But she just continued laughing, packing up her fishing goods. She bundled up all the rods together and closed her tackle box, stretching. "Yeah, don't worry, I'm totes taking the best care of him possible, he's the most super-duper energized Corphish I've ever played with!"

Her gear all packed, she turned to Blake with a smile on her face. "Let's get a move on then, Blake! You want to go see him, right?"

Marion walked past the couple and headed down the pier, Blake and Ayame following after her. Marion was humming to herself, twirling her straw hat on her finger. She had her fishing poles gathered under one arm like they weighed nothing, strolling her way back towards the aquarium, not really noticing whether or not the two were accompanying her.

Marion stepped up to the large glass doors of the aquarium and they parted for her, taking a deep breath. Somehow, the inside of the aquarium smelled more like the ocean than the outside, even though they were right next to the actual ocean. She stepped inside, and Blake and Ayame followed after her. It was as amazing as Blake remembered, a temple devoted to fishing and fish pokemon, emphasizing Marion's love and passion for her fishy friends. Blake was used to it, but Ayame was stunned.

"Wow, I've never been here before," Ayame said, looking around at the glass tanks holding lots of fish pokemon. "This place is pretty cool."

Ayame turned her head back to glance at Blake.

"Hey, Blake! Maybe we could go fishing for a date sometime, huh? Doesn't that sound kind of fun?" She asked. Marion perked up at this, her eyes shining with excitement. She ran back over to Ayame and grabbed her by the shoulder, spinning her around, grabbing Ayame by the hands and shaking her vigorously.

"Uh, what?" Ayame glanced at Blake and searched her for answers about what she should be doing in reference to the weird girl. Blake replied with a shrug, so Ayame decided to pitch the first thing that came to her mind, which was a clarification of what the girl wanted. "Do you… need something from me, Marion?"

"Are you interested in fishing?" Marion asked excitedly, her passion for fishing bubbling up again and causing her to nearly hug the much taller girl. "I love fishing! It's a lot of fun, right? Hey, do you want to go fishing?"

"Uh, no, I'm not really that into fishing, if I'm being perfectly honest," Ayame said, shaking her head quickly. "I'm more of a runner myself."

"…Oh…" Marion said, her face falling in despair. "I… I see… I'm sorry, I didn't mean to just… you know… I just wanted to spread my love of fishing around a little bit more, you know?"

Ayame winced. The girl looked like she was about to cry, and that wasn't something that made her feel very happy. She tried to mollify the sad girl.

"Look, um, it's not like I'm against fishing, you know?" Ayame said quickly. "Hey, um, I'm willing to take part in the fishing contest, okay?"

"Okay!" Marion chirped, her smile returning immediately. She turned back to Blake and gave him a thumbs up. Blake rolled his eyes, shaking his head. Ayame had just gotten smoothly conned into taking part in the fishing contest, even though she'd had absolutely no interest in anything like that prior to coming here. Marion was quite a shrewd saleswoman it seemed, and like a Sharpedo she could smell blood in the water.

"So, since you're gonna be in the fishing contest, first we need to get you nice and used to fishing!" Marion said, steering the taller girl in the direction of the fishing poles in order to get her fitted with one to help build up her fishing ability. Ayame glanced over her shoulder, looking desperately towards Blake. He sighed and gave a shrug in response. Her face fell.

"Marion," Blake called over to her. "Where's Cory?"

"Oh, right!" Marion giggled. "I almost forgot! Yeah, he's around the corner, in the large freshwater enclosure! You can't miss him!"

Blake nodded, following Marion's instructions. He turned the corner and walked through a long hallway of fish tanks, before arriving at a large pond-like feature installed in one of the rooms, matching the habitat a lot of water-type pokemon would be found in.

What he found was something quite shocking indeed.

"C-Cory?" Blake asked, his mouth falling open. He had left Cory with Marion as a usual rambunctious Corphish, and that was what he had expected to see when he came to pick him up a week later. However, what he saw was a much different pokemon entirely. He didn't think it was Cory at first, but the way the pokemon scuttled through the water and swam over to him, gnashing his pincers excitedly, it was no doubt that the two were one and the same.

Cory had evolved from a Corphish to a Crawdaunt.

"Cory? Is that you?" Blake asked.

"Crawdaunt!" Cory said, nodding his head. The pokemon's previously orange carapace had turned a deep crimson, and two long, blue, patterned lines were drawn over his mouth. The most distinguishing feature of the newly evolved pokemon, besides the large pincers he was waving and flexing for Blake's approval, was the large golden star on the Crawdaunt's head. And that sharp look in his eye, that was what really signaled that Cory wasn't one for playing around. He looked ready to tussle, which was fortunate, to say the least, even if Blake wasn't in the battling mood right now. With a body like that and a need to train like Blake's, Cory was going to be having a lot of opportunities to get into fights in the foreseeable future.

"Wow, just look at you!" Blake said, his awe wearing off. He stepped forward and reached out a hand, running his palm over Cory's smooth carapace. The Crawdaunt flexed proudly, displaying his strength and demonstrating his eagerness to his trainer.

"Yeah, he's a really eager one, huh?" Marion chirped, Blake whirling around in surprise. Marion had snuck up on him.

"Whoa, is that your Corphish?" Ayame gasped, stepping up beside him and reaching out towards the Crawdaunt. "He got really big, huh?"

"He evolved into a Crawdaunt!" Marion explained. "He's really tough now, and really fast at swimming! Plus, his dark moves are something else!"

Marion winked at Blake.

"Don't worry, Blake! I've got a lot of experience in training fish pokemon and teaching them how to use their abilities to the fullest! I'm responsible for his evolution, so don't you worry about a thing, Blake! I'll teach you all about how to be a super splendorific fish raiser! Come with me, I'll get you all sorts of stuff you'll need to raise Cory up to be a super-dope Crawdaunt! Trust me, Blake, when it comes to fish there's no one who knows better!"

Ayame watched Blake get dragged off, a look of sympathy on her face. She glanced at Cory, and the two shared a sigh.

"Crawdaunt…" Cory shook his head. He had been looking forward to showing his trainer his new evolution and boast about how strong he was, but compared to Marion it was hard to catch a lot of attention.

"You said it, buddy, sucks to be him," Ayame nodded sympathetically.

"So, is this the first pokemon you've had to take care of that's gone through a sudden evolution?" Marion asked. She was suddenly very serious, an interesting contrast to the kind of girl that she normally was.

"Uh, what?"

"Well, you have some evolved pokemon, right?" Marion asked, glancing over her shoulder as she rummaged through the fish food. "But have you ever had a pokemon evolve on you before, and thus require you to take care of it a different way than you did before? Because pokemon can get hard to take care of after they evolve."

Blake shrugged.

"Well, I mean, I have a pokemon that just evolved, actually. My Jolt- er, my Galvantula, Ruru, just evolved last week."

"Oh! That isn't a lot of time at all," Marion said. "Sorry for evolving Cory then, I thought it would make for a nice surprise."

"Oh, I was definitely surprised," Blake dryly replied. "I'm just glad that Crawdaunt look so much like Corphish, otherwise I might have gotten completely lost while I was looking for him, and walked right past him."

"You got that right," Marion laughed. "But seriously, taking care of a pokemon after it's evolved is no easy matter, I should know. You need to make sure that their diet is perfectly maintained, and get them on a good training schedule in order to get them fully used to their new bodies. Luckily, there weren't any missing limbs or anything else that would drastically change when a pokemon evolves, so he should be getting used to his body relatively easily. Still, the size is something you'll have to accommodate… taking care of multiple freshly-evolved pokemon can be really difficult, so you're going to have to prepare for that. I'd suggest leaving them out of their pokeballs a lot over the next month so that they can move on their own… Blake? Are you listening?"

Blake was, in fact, not listening in the slightest. He was still trying to wrap his head around the way that Marion had just done a complete 180 and gone from a strange fishing enthusiast to… well… someone with something that resembled a brain rattling around in her skull. It wasn't something that seemed to fit her very well.

"If you want, I can keep raising Cory for a little while," Marion suggested. "I'm quite used to it, in fact! I guarantee that I'm better than Serefina, at least when it comes to fish pokemon! I'm the leading effort after all!"

Marion giggled sheepishly, scratching her head under her hat.

"Of course, she's better than me when it comes to everything else, so I can't really brag in terms of being an upperclassman, you know."

She smacked her hand against her chest.

"Still! I'm definitely the gal to go to if you want me to turn that fishy friend into a super-swimming champion!"

Blake glanced back at his Crawdaunt in the other room and shook his head.

"Nah. Actually, I think I'm going to raise him and Ruru myself."

"Oh? Are you sure? You know that Crawdaunt can be quite rambunctious and violent, right?" Marion asked in a warning tone. "It's called the rogue pokemon for a reason, you know. So you better be careful, or else things could get… dicey."

"Yeah… I need to work better on bonding with my pokemon in general, so it's fine," Blake admitted. He sighed, and headed back to where Cory was swimming. "Besides, you know… I feel like I missed something important, not being there for when he evolved. So I don't want to miss anything more, you know?"

Marion paused, and nodded her head.

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense," Marion agreed, following after him. "In the meantime, want to sign up for the fishing contest?"

She was still going.

Blake let out a sigh, shaking his head.

"Not right now, maybe later," Blake replied, trying to dismiss the fishing enthusiast as best as he could.

"Oh… okay, then," Marion sighed. A coy smile crossed her face and she picked up the pace, until she was walking right next to him. She elbowed him in the side to get his attention, her lips coiling upwards as her blue eyes sparkled mischievously.

"But you know, it might make a fun date between you and Ayame."

Blake paused, glancing at her in confusion.

"Uh… what?" Blake asked. "What do you mean?"

"What do you think I mean?" Marion giggled. "You two are dating, right?"

Blake stopped walking, watching after Marion as she headed towards the enclosure area.

He began seriously reconsidering what he assumed he knew about Marion's level of intelligence. It seemed that he wasn't giving her nearly enough credit.

"Blake, you coming?" Ayame called. Blake put the concern of Marion teasing him for his relationship out of his mind, following after the mint-haired girl.

Blake stopped in front of the enclosure, staring down at Cory. The Crawdaunt looked back at him, his eyes glistening with excitement and purpose. Blake smiled. Evolving didn't seem to change all that much about him, at least not on the inside. Cory was still aching for a good fight like he always was, he was just the kind of pokemon. Even evolving wouldn't curb him of his joy of battling, and that put a smile on his face.

Just like Ruru, Cory was still the same old Cory. And raising them both might be a challenge, but they were both his precious pokemon that he needed to look after through this chaotic time. That didn't sound all that great, though.

Blake gulped.

Between Cory ripping apart his furniture and attacking his friends and their pokemon, and Ruru laying a bunch of thread traps on the ground to electrocuty and/or trap those who walked across it, Blake wasn't sure which one he should be putting the more priority towards.

And with Ayame, that meant there were three more unstable, potentially violent friends (and a lover) to take care of, so Sarah would hopefully have a lot of company. Ayame noticed the way he was looking at her, and blushed. But if she could read his mind, then he may have been smacked upside the head hard enough to see stars.

So luckily, he just kept his mouth shut and thanked Marion for all her hard work. She went to go retrieve the pokemon's pokeball, and in the meantime Blake took another look at Cory, running a hand over the pokemon's carapace.

Cory had changed quite a bit, even if he acted the same on the surface. Blake felt that it was the case, at any rate, though he couldn't place it. Even so, he wanted to be there for Cory, him and Ruru, however he could, even just as a friend and trainer.

So Blake has another evolved pokemon! What a blessing! There might be a few more filler chapters, but after that, it will be December. And that means… a very special winter event will be conducted! Make sure to stay tuned so you can see how things end up going for the school! Hopefully it will be quite a fun activity!