Now, let's see what pokemon Julia managed to snag! It should be an interesting experience to say the least, what about Nick? Will he be able to catch something?

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! It's almost done! Only 8 days remaining! Who will be the Pokemon Academy Best Girl?

Finalists: Sango, Ayame, Marion

KedharS: And naturally dense.

Hellraiserphoenix: Well she's definitely good at it. Fish pokemon anyway.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 319

Why was Julia even fighting this hard? It wasn't like she cared about reeling in the pokemon on the other end of the line. And yet, for some reason, the idea of not being able to do it was a non-starter for her.

It's because of that girl! Julia snarled internally as she fought the fish pokemon fighting against her attempts to pull in the line. I don't want to look like I can't even handle something simple as this, that would be like proving that I can't do it!

Marion had implied that Julia was the one at fault for her relationship with Kitty becoming as strained as it had. It wasn't her fault. Kitty was the one acting weird and distant, how was Julia supposed to make her feel better?

This wasn't what she was focused on at the moment, though. Right now, she was focusing on not being pulled into the water. Marion had her arms wrapped around Julia's waist, and Julia gripped the fishing pole so hard her knuckles were turning white. Everyone else was watching with eager eyes to see what was going on; what on earth was she fighting against, that the fishing pole was being jerked so roughly, and it looked like the two girls were going to be pulled in?

"Do you need some help?" Callie asked, rolling up her sleeves and running over. "Let's haul that thing in with brute force!"

"No, no," Marion said, dismissing her with a smile. "Julia can handle it. Just listen. Listen to the struggle, and coax him in."

Julia didn't know what the hell Marion was telling her. She focused on reeling in the pokemon the normal way, coaxing her fishing pole back and slowly rolling back the line.

"Just a little… more…" Julia grunted, pulling the rod up. The water broke, and the pokemon on the other end of the hook emerged, thrashing violently.

"Wha…" Julia was so stunned the fishing rod nearly slipped from her grasp. She had pulled in a pokemon like that?

Rather than a long, wriggly fish, the pokemon's body was rather short and angular. It was shaped like a torpedo, with a sharp nose and a sleek body for traveling at high speed through the water. Long fins stuck out on its sides, as well as above and below. Its scales were a dark blue like the water, and the underside of its body was a crisp white, making a staunch contrast. A striking yellow "X" was etched on the pokemon's head like a scar, and its eyes were a piercing red that were glowing with anger as it struggled free, its sharp fangs gnawing at the line.

"It's a Sharpedo?!" Callie sputtered, falling backwards. She frantically scurried away from the edge of the pier, shivering in the center. "There are Sharpedo in these waters?! That's crazy! How can you go fishing here?!"

"It's fine," Marion giggled. "He's a friend! Besides, Sharpedo normally stay far from the shores, they prefer the deep sea. If one gets too close, it's my duty to lead 'em back to the sea! But I guess one of them came a little too close. Oh, well! Congrats, Julia! Nice catch!"

"What do I do now?!" Julia demanded. The pole was only getting harder and harder to keep ahold of, and it was clear that the Sharpedo had more than enough brute strength to either rip it from her grasp, or pull her in with him. And then… she might get eaten. Not the best course of action either way. The Sharpedo was HEAVY, too.

"Don't worry, it's fine," Marion giggled. "Just pull like… this!"

Marion grabbed Julia's hands and pulled back, and suddenly the Sharpedo was no longer dangling from the line, but rather being guided by it, flying through the air. The Sharpedo landed on the pier hard, roaring, and thrashed around as it struggled to get back to the water.

"Sharpedo!" The Sharpedo kept growling, his rough scales scraping the wood of the pier away as it struggled.

"What the hell?!" Julia exclaimed. Callie booked it down the pier, as far away from the killer shark as she could get. Nick and Reiner weren't far behind. Julia was the only one who stayed, still stunned by what she had fished up, along with Marion, of course, who was good friends with fish pokemon everywhere and had nothing to fear.

"Come on now, let's get going!" Marion chirped, placing a hand on the Sharpedo's side, rubbing him gently. The Sharpedo turned his eye on Marion and calmed down. Marion gave him a smile. "Here… we… go…!"

To Julia's disbelief, Marion hoisted up the Sharpedo like it was nothing, holding the bulky pokemon to her chest and waddling down the pier. Julia had just been fighting that thing on the other end of a fishing line, she knew how heavy that pokemon was.

Geez that girl must have some monster strength, for real…

Julia begrudgingly followed Marion down the pier, not sure of what was going on, or what this had to do with everyone. But apparently fishing was over for the evening. She didn't know if that meant it was okay to go, but Marion glanced back at her expectantly. Apparently, Julia wasn't getting off that easily after all.

Julia and the others followed Marion around the side of the large aquarium, to an enclosure where much larger tanks than could be found inside were located. Apparently, this was where the big pokemon were being kept.

"Can someone get the gate?" Marion called over her shoulder, stroking the belly of the Sharpedo soothingly. "Don't worry, we'll get you into water soon enough~"

Nick pushed the gate to the enclosure open and Marion stepped through, finding a particularly large tank of seawater halfway buried in the ground. She dropped the big Sharpedo into the water and the pokemon immediately shot forward, sending a big splash over the edge of the tank that soaked Marion, eliciting a giggled from her.

"This should keep him for now," Marion said, turning back to the others. She placed her hand in the water as she walked along the side of the tank, her fingers drawing small trails in their wake as she did. The tank only came up to her stomach, but it was clearly much deeper than that. "Well? You guys coming?"

They all followed after her, realizing that they had been drawn into Marion's pace, but still a little curious.

"Julia, over here," Marion beckoned her a little closer. "Don't you want to see the pokemon you just reeled in?"

"I… I guess?" Julia didn't particularly care, but Marion seemed pretty insistent. It was better than fishing, anyway.

"She must be crazy," Callie said, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "You couldn't get ME to be that close to a Sharpedo tank!"

"Come on, be nice," Nick said.

"Oh! Nick! That's right!" Marion gasped. "I totally forgot! We came here to help you catch a new fishy friend! I got so caught up in Julia's stuff! Sorry, sorry! Anyway, you guys can go back and keep fishing, Julia and I will stay here!"

Nick and Callie looked at each other.

"Are you sure it's safe?" Callie asked anxiously. She was imagining fishing up a Sharpedo of her own and the pokemon landing on her and Nick and eating them alive. She gulped. It wasn't a picture she wanted to see.

"Yeah, totally safe! Don't worry about it, I fish all the time, they pokemon are more scared of you than you're scared of them. Or was it more ready to eat you than you are to eat them? Can't remember. Anyways, you've got pokemon of your own so you should be fine! Don't you want to catch a new pokemon, Nick?"

"Yeah, she makes a good point," Nick agreed. "Let's go, Callie."

Callie was still not sure, but she knew Nick wanted to catch another pokemon now, and that was something she needed to help him with. So she followed after him.

"Uh…" Reiner watched the couple leave, and turned back to Marion, pointing a finger at himself. "What should I do, then?"

Marion shrugged.

"Go fishing? You aren't really needed…"

Julia snickered at that.

"Hey!"

"I suggest fishing!" Marion said, giving him a thumbs up and a big smile. "But if ya don't wanna then you can go, I guess? We only care for fishing here!"

Well, Reiner didn't really care about that. He'd rather be studying for his finals.

"…K, well, I don't really care about fishing, so I'm gonna go, if that's okay…" Reiner awkwardly glanced at Julia, who shrugged. He turned and shambled off, still not sure why he had come here in the first place. Hopefully Julia wouldn't be too irritated tomorrow.

"I don't care about fishing, so can I go too?" Julia asked.

"No, we still have some stuff to talk about," Marion replied. "You stay put. I'm trying to help you and Kitty make up, remember?"

Julia grumbled something, walking over to Marion and crossing her arms in front of her chest, indignantly posturing towards the senior.

Marion didn't really care.

"So, how much experience do you have with getting to know your pokemon?" Marion asked. "You might not have harmonia, but I'm sure you guys still get along great, right?"

"Of course," Julia scoffed. "I mean, a while back, I was having trouble connecting with my Seedot, but after we got to know each other better-"

"Oh?" Marion was intrigued. "Can you explain?"

"I was about to, before you interrupted me," Julia grumbled. "Anyway, I realized that Percy wasn't like my other pokemon. He had his own way of doing things, and the way I was trying to teach him wasn't working. So I trained with him at his pace, and let him get to know me gradually, so we could get along and become good partners."

"That's wonderful," Marion smiled. "It looks like you should be able to see Kitty's side of things pretty clearly then."

"She wants to get stronger," Julia said, already having heard what Kitty told her. "And that's good. I want to get stronger, too. That way, if someone tries to hurt her, I can stop them before they get close. And yet she keeps pushing me away. It's like she doesn't need me anymore, and that… that's just a bunch of shit!"

Actually, she needs you quite a bit, Marion glumly commented. But unfortunately, the way she needs you is rather incompatible with the way you see her.

"Julia, come," Marion beckoned her closer. "Come see this Sharpedo, okay?"

Julia stepped closer, the shadowy body of the Sharpedo coming closer to the surface. He emerged from the water and stared at Julia with his piercing red eyes.

"This guy is rather cool, just like you," Marion said. She reached out and placed a hand on his wet head, tracing her fingers across the yellow "X" between the pokemon's eyes. "Still, he can be a little mean. It's hard to get along with him, but it's worth it. Would you like to try? If you can get along with a Sharpedo, Kitty won't be a problem."

Julia looked at Marion's bright smile. Her eyes were shining in the glow of the fish tanks, and they were sparkling a beautiful sea blue. Something in those eyes made Julia want to believe in the odd fishing enthusiast.

Julia nodded her head and reached cautiously out towards the Sharpedo the same way Marion was, to try and pet it like she did.

"Gentle now," Marion urged her.

Julia nodded obediently, and placed her hand on the wet pokemon's side.

It felt like sticking her hand in a jar of razor blades.

"AAAAAAAAH!" Julia shrieked, pulling her hand back, blood spurting out and falling in the water as she stumbled and fell. She looked down at her shaking hand, trembling. The scales on the Sharpedo had torn the flesh of her palm and fingers wide open, jagged cuts lining their way across the surface and bleeding profusely.

"What the… argh, god! OWWW! What the damn hell?!" Julia sputtered, her hand warm and sticky as blood ran through her fingers, stinging from the traces of saltwater left in the wounds.

"I'll get the first aid," Marion said, dropping her bag on the ground and digging out a first-aid kit. She took out some gauze and disinfectant.

"What the hell was that?" Julia hissed through the pain, her hand stinging with every beat of her heart, and her heart was beating real fast right now. She resisted the urge to burst into tears. "That Sharpedo tore my hand to ribbons!"

"Well yeah, what did you expect?" Marion asked. "Sharpedo's rough skin means that you shouldn't just go around touching them. Look at these cuts!"

"But you just did!" Julia protested, the sting of disinfectant causing her to wince as the burning on her hand intensified. Fortunately, the cuts were not as deep as they looked. "You petted the thing, so why was only my hand torn apart?!"

"Because Sharpedo trusts me, of course!" Marion chirped, wiping the blood off of Julia's hand with a piece of cloth. "We're best buds! He'd never do something like that to me! But since he doesn't trust you very much, well…"

"If you knew that would happen, then why did you let my hand get cut open?!" Julia seethed, glaring angrily at the girl kneeling front of her.

"It was important to teach you something," Marion replied, wiping Julia's hand dry, only a few trickles of blood seeping out of the jagged cuts. She began wrapping the bandages around Julia's hand, getting them nice and tight to stop the bleeding. "We're just lucky that Sharpedo scales are that sharp. Your hand was cut, sure, but you won't even need any stitches. These wounds are painful, but shallow. You'll be perfectly fine in a day or two."

"And what, exactly, was I supposed to learn from that little stunt?" Julia growled. Marion finished wrapping the bandages on her hand, but even flexing her fingers stung a little. "Not to trust people that tell me to pet pokemon?"

"Pokemon and people are prickly on the surface," Marion shrugged, rising to her feet. "If you want to get to know them better, you've got to get them to trust you. Otherwise, they might stay prickly forever. Sharpedo are like that. Some trainers, they never build up enough of a bond of trust with a Sharpedo so that their pokemon won't scrape them with their rough skin. But you tried to get to trust your Seedot, and that worked out for you, right? Maybe you should try your hand with this guy."

And then maybe you can open up your heart more to Kitty, and feel what she's worried about. You can't get close to someone if you won't listen to what they're actually trying to say, Julia. Let down your defenses a little, if you want to be a better friend to your friend.

Marion didn't say any of that, unfortunately. Julia had to learn that lesson for herself. Marion couldn't tell her what to do. But hopefully, if Julia was able to connect to that Sharpedo, then maybe she would be able to connect better with Kitty, as well.

"Spend some time getting to know that Sharpedo for the next few weeks," Marion advised her, putting the first-aid kit away. "If you can get him to trust you, then I'm certain you'll be able to fix things with your friend Kitty. It's worth a try, anyway, don't you think?"

Julia glanced up at the Sharpedo, who was glaring down at her from behind the glass. She didn't really believe what Marion was saying about this helping her get close to Kitty, and she certainly didn't TRUST the girl after the stunt she'd just pulled. Still… what else was she going to do? Julia let out a sigh and stood up.

"How am I supposed to do something like that?" Julia demanded.

"I used my harmonia," Marion replied, walking past Julia and heading back to the ocean. She smiled coyly over her shoulder. "As for you, well… figure that out for yourself, I guess? Not sure what else I can say to help."

Well, she was right, she certainly wasn't being helpful. Julia grumbled something and turned back to look down at the Sharpedo. His eyes were shining, glaring at her in a challenge. Julia scowled back at him.

I ain't losing to you, shark… She narrowed her eyes.

Marion glanced back at the two of them, and smiled. She had brought the freshmen here to help Nick capture a new pokemon, but it seemed like Julia was experiencing some interesting circumstances herself.

Good luck, Julia. Hope you and Kitty will be able to patch things up. Just remember that when the time comes… listen to what she has to say.

Marion headed down the hill towards the water, and the pier where Nick and Callie were seated side by side, fishing together.

I called Sharpedo here to help teach Julia a lesson… but as for Nick… I think it should be exciting to see what he fishes up for himself, Marion giggled, excited at the prospect of seeing what was in store for the two. There were a lot of fun fish pokemon swimming around in the ocean before them, any one of which would make a great new friend for the boy.

"How's it going?" Marion asked, coming up beside the couple, a cheery smile on her face that flickered in the torchlight. "Fish up anything good yet?"

"Nah, they aren't biting," Nick glumly replied. "Still, I can't imagine fishing up something better than a Sharpedo."

"You don't want one of those anyway," Callie griped. "Besides, we need to get you a tough pokemon that you can spar with, don't you think?"

"We have different criteria when it comes to our pokemon I guess," Nick dryly replied. "See, I don't particularly care that much about whether or not mine want to fight with me."

"You've been helping the Pokemon Fight Club for how long, and you still don't understand the glory of exchanging blows with your pokemon? Hmph!" Callie snorted, mockishly tilting her head to the side in faux-disdain, barely suppressing her giggles.

"I think it's fine," Marion agreed with him. "You just fish up whatever you want, and hopefully you'll make a new friend that's just perfect for you. Julia and that Sharpedo are getting along, heh, 'swimmingly' right now, so I'm sure you'll be able to do the same."

"Maybe if I could get a bite," Nick agreed.

"Well, when you do, here's a nice, shiny dive ball for you," Marion replied. "You do have a pokemon to battle against it, right?"

"Uh…"

Apparently, Nick had forgotten a very crucial step in capturing pokemon.

"…Well, don't worry about it!" Marion said. "I'm sure we can work something out! You just do your best, and things will be fine!"

What kind of half-assed solution is that? Nick silently asked, feeling a pole on the line. Finally! Between now and before, he'd been fishing for what, an hour? But apparently he finally managed to snag something! And that something was putting up quite a fight!"

"You got a bite?" Marion cheered.

"Awesome, Nicky! Let me help!" Callie dropped her own line and grabbed onto Nick's, the two overlapping their hands as they struggled with the rod, trying to reel in the pokemon that was on the other end of the line.

"Perfect, you two!" Marion encouraged them. "Just a little more!"

A few seconds later, and they managed to draw the line in, a pokemon breaking out from beneath the surface, hoisted up by the strong thread.

"Poli!" The pokemon floundered on the line, trying to break free. Its skin was smooth and shiny in the light, a dark blue, but its chest was a bright white. A long spiral pattern wormed its way around the pokemon's chest, and its large black eyes were blinking. The line was hooked on lips so thin they were nearly invisible, and the pokemon slapped its arms and legs around, trying to pull itself free from the insistent tugging.

"It's a Poliwhirl!" Callie stated the obvious.

"Whoa!" Nick gasped.

"Well, that's an interesting choice!" Marion agreed with the couple's outburst of surprise, clapping her hands together. "What a great pokemon! Now, do your best and catch it!"

The Poliwhirl fired a stream of water that hit Nick in the face, causing him to struggle, nearly dropping the line if not for Callie's equally firm grip on it.

"…I guess that might be easier said than done," Marion admitted.

So Nick's fished up a Poliwhirl, while Julia's struggling with a Sharpedo! Will they be the next initiates into Marion's growing cult of fish enthusiasts?