This is a rather serious chapter. Blake and Ayame are dating, but there are obstacles that normal couples might not have to deal with this early on. Will they be able to work things out? Or, for all their feelings for each other, will they end up stuck and put an end to things this early? We'll have to find out. We can only hope they last.

The Finals have begun! The Pokemon Academy Best Girl Finals is heating up, I can't wait to see how it goes. The race is really close, and it's still anyone's game, showing just how great these girls really are. Any one of them deserves the title of Pokemon Academy Best Girl, but only one of them will be able to win! If you haven't voted for your best girl yet, better get those votes in quick! This contest is gonna be a close one it looks like, a single vote makes all the difference! Who will be the Pokemon Academy Best Girl?

Finalists: Sango, Ayame, Marion

KedharS: Well, she hasn't been scorned yet.

Aquahaze675: Hopefully things won't go that badly.

Aurastar Warrior: The template is found on the first chapter of this story, labeled prologue.

Thunder Fire: Really? Interesting. Can you explain a little more about that? I'm very curious.

Hellraiserphoenix: Definitely interesting. But hopefully a good one, right?

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 316

Ayame opened her mouth to say something, but the look on her face was clearly reluctant. Like there was something important she had to tell him, but she didn't have the strength to do it.

"Blake, I…" she managed to squeak out before Blake cut her off.

"Ayame, is this… a breakup talk?" Blake suddenly asked, the quiet and serious ton of his voice stunning Ayame.

Ayame's eyes widened in surprise, and then began to fill with tears as she started to tremble.

"You… you want to break up?" Ayame was about to start sobbing now.

"What?!" Blake exclaimed, startling her again. "No! No, of course not!"

"Huh?" Had she misunderstood? "Then why would you…?"

"I… I just thought that YOU did, so I… well, you know…"

"I don't want to break up with you!" Ayame cried, grabbing his arms. Her eyes were desperate. "I love you, Blake, I'd hate if something like that were to happen!"

"W-well… I… I don't want to break up with you, either," Blake replied, still confused, but it had been overshadowed by his relief.

"Oh… well, okay then."

"Yeah, good."

So neither one of them wanted to break up with the other. They felt like a couple of fools.

"So, um…"

"Well, I…"

Even though they'd cleared up the misunderstanding, conversation had not resumed. It appeared the things were still a little shaky.

"So, Ayame… what… what did you want to talk about?" Blake asked. "Does it have something to do with why you came to my room and did… that?"

"Don't remember that!" Ayame snarled.

"Sorry, that memory has been saved into my backup files," Blake replied with a snicker, dodging her gentle swat. "I'm going to remember that little performance for the rest of my life."

Ayame seethed at him. But she realized she was getting caught up in the flow of things, as she always did around Blake. But this wasn't the time for the normal flirting-fighting cuteness of their relationship that Ayame couldn't help herself from loving.

"Blake, seriously," Ayame said, regaining her usual serious tone. Blake understood this wasn't the time for joking. Ayame was normally a very stern, serious person. As he'd grown closer to her and they'd fallen in love, she'd allowed him to see the cuter, sweeter, more sensitive sides of her, but he knew that he still needed to take her seriously when she was serious. And that was right now.

Ayame sat down on his bed, looking up at him. She patted the side of the bed beside her. Blake took the invitation and sat down next to her.

"Blake… for the last few days, since I heard you were teaming up with Elaina Bishop… I've been feeling… well I'm sure you might be able to guess."

"Do you think that I would-"

"I don't," Ayame said, shaking her head. "I never once thought you would cheat on me. Not… not that way. That's not what I was afraid of."

"Then what?"

"Even if you would never cheat on me because you wouldn't hurt me, no matter how much I know I can trust you… that doesn't mean that part of you might be thinking that there could be someone else better suited for you than me," Ayame explained, finally voicing those fears that she had been bottling up inside of her. "I spoke with your friend, Claire."

Blake had kind of expected that when Claire had showed up for a visit back in November, that she might have spoken with Ayame. That would have been right around the time that Blake and Ayame had gotten together, after all.

"I know that I love you," Ayame told him. She placed her hand gently on his knee and turned her head, looking him in the eye. "And I know that you love me. And I told her that was enough. Just the two of us loving each other. I believe that… or at least, I WANT to believe that that is still true. But there are some things that can't be changed, no matter how hard we try."

Ayame let out a mournful sigh.

"Blake, I turn 19 in less than two weeks, you know."

"I know," Blake said, nodding. "You told me, remember? December 19th, right?"

"Oh, you sneaky boy," Ayame chuckled, feeling her eyes start to moisten. "We weren't even dating when I told you that, remembering from that far back isn't playing fair."

"All's fair in love and war," Blake joked, but Ayame wasn't laughing.

"You're only 16, Blake," Ayame continued. "You still have so much time ahead of you. When I graduate… you'll still be here. With your friends. With… girls. And I won't be. And so when I see you with that girl, trying your hardest for her… it makes me wonder if you would want to be with someone your own age? Someone who could be there for you when I can't, someone who could do things for you that I can't… and I…"

Ayame took a deep breath. This wasn't coming out right at all, and the look of worry on Blake's face was making it even worse! She could only…

Olivia had given her one last piece of advice. But could she really…? Was she ready to… it, it wasn't like they'd talked about it or anything, but of course he would want to, right? If Blake wanted to be with her, if he really did… then he would say yes, wouldn't he?

Ayame suddenly sprung up off the bed and turned to face Blake, standing over him. Her face flushed and her heart began to pound. She gently pressed her fingers against his chest and flattened her hand against him, pushing him back onto the bed as she climbed on top of him.

"I love you, Blake, and… and if you're really serious about this, about me… if you really want to be with me, then… then we can…"

Blake could Ayame's eyes were wide with desperation. She… she wasn't seriously suggesting that they…? No, she'd said it was a joke before, so she wasn't really going to…

The two students were in a rather uncomfortable position, as Ayame had chosen to begin this activity on the wide portion of the bed, meaning Blake's legs were still hanging off the end and his head was precariously close to the wall. But Ayame wasn't terribly concerned with that, she clearly had bigger priorities. She straddled him and held her legs tight against her hips. She leaned down so they were face to face, and braced one hand against the side of his head. Her other hand reached up to her shirt and slowly undid the button on her collar, reaching down and undoing the next.

"It's fine," she assured him. "This is… this way we can… If, if you don't want to, then we can… we can stop, but… I-I want to, so…"

"Then why are you crying?" Blake quietly asked.

…

"I… I'm not crying, I-!" Even as she protested, the tears continued to sting her eyes. Blake leaned forward and wiped her eyes with his finger.

"You… you don't… want me?" She whispered, her strong, limber body feeling so fragile and weak as it shook on top of him.

"Ayame, I… I want everything about you," Blake reassured her, sitting up completely and forcing her back a little, hugging her while she sat in his lap. Her head just barely avoided slamming against the frame.

"Then why-"

"This isn't… this isn't right," Blake murmured, burying his head in her neck. "I don't want to do something like this while you're being troubled with all these doubts."

"I don't have any doubts!" Ayame insisted, clutching his back desperately as she sobbed into his shoulder. "None! You're… you're who I want, I know that absolutely, so even my first time, I wouldn't… I wouldn't regret it if we…"

"I can see that you don't want to do this out of love," Blake said. "You're doing it out of fear, aren't you? You told me yourself. You're afraid that I might be having doubts about you, that I might want to be with someone else."

"Mmhm, that's why-"

"And if we… you know, then you think that will prove to you that I do want to be with you, moving forward, that I don't have any doubts. And if I say no, then that means I…"

Blake sighed.

"Something like this… we can't use it as some form of self-assurance. I don't… I don't want it to be like that. I want to be with you, but not like this."

Ayame nodded into his shoulder.

"But… you aren't wrong, Ayame," Blake said. "I do… have doubts. About you and I."

Ayame's froze in his arms.

"Not about my feelings for you," Blake reassured her. "I could never doubt something like that. But you're right, Ayame. There are… there are times when I worry what's going to happen to us going forward. We have the rest of the school year… but this semester is almost over. And after that… where do we go from there?"

"I don't know," Ayame admitted.

"That's my biggest concern about our relationship. I'm concerned about whether or not I'll enjoy school without you here. Not being able to see you when I want to, not being able to schedule weekend dates or lunchtime meet-ups… it's so strange. My school life was just fine before you stormed your way into my life with your sharp tongue and strong will, and now I don't know how I'm gonna go back to a time without you here."

That… that was what he was worried about? Ayame didn't want to believe that it was something so sweet. She released his back and pulled away so they were face to face. Normally when they were this close, they would be kissing. But this wasn't the time for that.

"I love you," she whispered. "I don't want you to think that I want to end things over something like this, okay? If it were up to me, we would be together for as long as we could, we would spend the rest of the year together, and then after that, well…"

She sighed, and her eyes began to water.

"But it's not up to me," she said. "And that's why, if you think… if you have doubts about whether or not we should… I was the one who pursued you. I don't want to end things, but if you do, if your doubts about all this mean you want to, then…"

She resisted the urge to cry until after she said what needed to be said.

"If you want the chance to find someone else you won't have any of these doubts with, then please don't concern yourself for my sake. If I can't give you what you want, then don't force yourself to want to be with me."

The words flowed out, and the tension lifted off of her. The tears followed shortly after. There was a strange lightness in her heart, a release. She had said what she needed and now could give up and let him be happy.

This must be what Sango felt, when she gave up on him, Ayame realized.

Blake didn't know what he should say in this situation. It was true that he had doubts. Most people entering any relationship probably had a few.

He sighed.

"I had a dream," Blake said. His words caught Ayame's attention and she turned her teary eyes back on him. "Not last night. But a while back. In Galar. I dreamed… I had a dream where I had to make a choice about what I wanted to do. There were five doors, leading me to five different paths for my future. And… one of those was to be with you."

"…And?"

"I didn't… choose that door," Blake admitted. Hearing that would hurt her, but what he said next would hopefully make it better. "Instead, I… I made the wrong choice, as I'm sure you know. But… but when the dust had cleared, and everything had settled, I knew… I knew what choice I wanted to make. So I made it."

Ayame swallowed her gulp, the seriousness in his eyes causing her heart to flutter.

"Alcea Vermeil… when I was engaged to her, we have a conversation. She had a philosophy about a crucible, a harsh trial that someone may go through, and through it you realize what matters most to you. Who do you want to see on the other side of it? Who are the ones closest to the heart?"

Rather than answering his own question, Blake leaned forward and pressed his lips against her, his eyes closed. It was just a simple kiss, neither one had the courage to take it any further. But it was more than a kiss at the same time, it was also an answer.

Blake pulled back from her, the two blushing teens staring into each other's eyes.

"You were who I wanted," he repeated his answer again, this time in words. He wanted no doubt to remain in the girl's heart about where his feelings were. "When I was at my lowest point, when I had given up… you were the one who I wanted to see. No one else. Just you. I wanted to hug you. I wanted to k-kiss you, tell you everything and have you say it would be okay. And when you found me that night, it was like a miracle. The one person I wanted to see, and there she was. And I know now, like I knew that night, that the reason it had to be you, the reason why you were the one I needed to see, it was because… because I love you. Only you. So maybe I have doubts about what we'll do in our future. Maybe you do, too, but that's fine. Because I know that the one thing that I don't have doubts on, that I'm certain about… it's you."

Ayame so desperately wanted to agree with him, to let these waves of happiness rolling over her be true, to accept them and let it be done, but…

"But what if it's a mistake?" She asked quietly. "You and I… even if we want to be together, we still… you can't promise that we won't end up in a bad situation. And as much as we promise that we won't give up and we'll try our hardest, in the end we still might… I don't want to be responsible for you slipping back into those painful times, Blake. And I'm afraid that Claire was right, and Olivia was right, that everyone was right and all we'll end up doing is hurting each other more."

Blake pulled her back into a hug again, and let her cry her worries out on his shoulder.

"That night… when you yelled at me about being scared of making mistakes… you were right. We're human. We make mistakes. So even if… even if the two of us being together is a mistake… so what?" Blake demanded. "I don't care if it's a mistake. Because I don't believe that it is. I want… I want us to do our best for us. I don't have any doubts about you, Ayame, and that's why I can believe in us. Do you have any doubts about me?"

Ayame shook her head, the tips of her hair tickling his cheek.

"That's enough for me, then," Blake concluded. "We can doubt about the future all we want. As the universe has kept trying to tell me over and over recently, we can't change things that are beyond our control. So all we can do is have faith in ourselves and our ability to make this work out. Even if there's a gap between us, even if the time we have like this is so short. I'm not giving up on us, Ayame, so are you going to?"

"Dummy," Ayame muttered into his collar, lightly punching him in the stomach. "I already told you, didn't I? If it were up to me…"

Blake smiled and held her a little tighter.

"…So what now?" Ayame asked. "If you keep holding me like this, my ribs-"

Blake's arms fell to his sides and Ayame leaned back, stepping off of him. She'd felt so weighed down with fear all day, and now she felt weightless, knowing how much of a fool she'd been to think that Blake would have been with her just because she was there. If he was that sort of person, things wouldn't have taken nearly as long as they had.

"I'm such a fucking fool," Ayame sighe, shaking her head. She reached up with one hand and began to massage her temples.

Blake had trouble averting his eyes.

"Uh, yeah, I would say so," he agreed. To Ayame's confusion, his face was red, and his eyes were focused on…

Ayame looked down and realized that her shirt was still unbuttoned.

"Black lace, really?"

Ayame whirled around and hastily buttoned up her shirt.

"FORGET THAT IMMEDIATELY!" She exclaimed.

"You really just followed every bit of advice Olivia gave you, didn't you?" Blake asked.

"I just, I thought… shut up!" Ayame sputtered. That jerk! He had completely destroyed the serious mood in a matter of seconds, and Ayame had one last thing to say!

Shirt fixed, Ayame whirled on her heel and pointed a finger down at the sitting Blake, trying to keep her face looking serious in spite of the embarrassment.

"One… one more thing!" She exclaimed, panting heavily.

"Y-yeah?" Blake asked.

"Um, so, like you said… my… my birthday's on the 19th, so…" Ayame was suddenly back to being a demure little maiden again. She reached up and steepled her fingers together, unable to look him in the eye. "I-I know that you're still going to be doing the tournament, but… see, the boss wants to hold this big party, since it's gonna be my last birthday here. Like, an all-night sort of thing, so…"

"So you want me to be your date to the party?"

"No! No, that's not… well, I mean, yes, that too, but…" Ayame stopped herself and let out a sigh. "See, I just… I don't mind big parties too much, but… I was really hoping that we could maybe… celebrate my birthday… together? No Olivia, no big party, no table-long cake, just… just you, and me. I-I was hoping we could… spend the day together? If that… if that's okay?"

"Ayame-"

"And I mean, like, I know, you're busy, so we probably can't, plus, that's the week of finals, and the tournament, so if you can't then-"

"You really think I wouldn't spend the day with my girlfriend if she asked me to?" Blake asked, flashing a reassuring smile at her. Ayame's heart skipped a beat.

"I told you that's cheating!" Ayame exclaimed, holding her hands over her face to try and shield the redness from his eyes. "Don't- don't you say stuff like that you fucker! It's not fair! Stop being so agreeable and sweet!"

"No."

Ayame crossed her arms over her chest and huffed at him in response.

"And… um… one more thing…" Ayame looked away from Blake, reaching up and playing with a fringe of hair that framed her flushed face.

"Anything."

"A… about your… walk with Elaina tomorrow… I-I don't mind, if you… if you want to go, you know?" Ayame said. In the heat of their intense conversation, Blake had completely forgotten he'd made a promise with Elaina for tomorrow morning.

"Oh, um, you don't have to-"

"No, it's okay," Ayame assured him. She smiled. "We don't have doubts about each other after all, so there's nothing for me to be concerned about."

Blake returned her smile and rose from his bed, hugging her again.

Thankfully, Blake and Ayame managed to resolve some of the issues and doubts that they were facing. They still have a long road ahead of them, and things are only going to get more difficult from here. But hopefully, they'll be able to face things together.