Time to look at another person going through some difficult struggles after the blizzard. What's Julia up to since the infirmary? Hopefully, she'll be fine. But she certainly has a lot to think about, and she needs to keep her cool and not panic. And hopefully she'll be able to connect better to Kitty, and learn what she can do to help.

KedharS: Well she hasn't attacked anyone yet, so that's a good sign, right?

Aquahaze675: I like Sylvia quite a lot, she's very fun.

Rosealine gold: A lot of what you told me, with some interpretation.

Thunder Fire: Yeah, they're a little short because I've been slightly pressed for time thanks to NaNoWriMo. But it's not like I'm intentionally crimping, I just don't want to add unnecessary filler to important chapters like this one.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 367

Julia wore a scowl on her face as she stomped through the freshly driven snow. She was in a piss-poor mood right now. When Kitty had woken up in the morning, she hadn't even spared Julia a glance. She simply told Nikita that she would like to be alone right now, and that had been that. Julia hadn't wanted to leave, but the look in Nikita's eye told her that it was for the best.

"'Wants her space', she can have her goddamn space," Julia muttered, but she didn't really mean it. She knew Kitty needed her space, but she still wanted to be there. Julia was dragging a track through the snow as she walked across campus. She wasn't heading back to her dormitory the way the other students were. She had received a text that morning, and was heading to somewhere else. For something urgent.

She didn't even know why she was so worried. What was the big deal? It was just a dumb Sharpedo. Sure she might have been taking care of it all week, but that didn't matter. So why was she going as fast as she could when Marion texted her?

Julia flung the aquarium door open and stormed inside.

"Marion!" Julia shouted. "Where are you?"

"Out back!" Marion's voice echoed distantly from the back of the aquarium. Julia grumbled, walking through the maze of fish tanks, arriving at the rear exit. She stepped outside, surprised by what she saw. Mountains of snow were piled above the tanks, and Marion was shoveling the snow off with both hands, helped by another girl, a plump girl with brown hair arranged into two plaits. Both girls were working hard at clearing the snow.

"Wow, you weren't kidding," Julia said.

"Hey, Julia!" Marion said, waving to her. "Can you help out? Much appreciated!"

"Uh, yeah, sure thing," Julia said, nodding.

"Sweetness! Just start working on Sharpedo's tank, over there," Marion said. "Luckily I secured the covers before the blizzard struck, otherwise these guys would have been in for a really rough time, you know?"

Julia noticed that the cover on the Sharpedo's tank, which had been a wrapping of canvas last time she was here, had been replaced by a hard metal covering clamped on top, shielding the water from snowfall.

"We secured the covers," the brunette mentioned, finishing with scraping the snow away and turning back to Marion, wiping her forehead. Her breath turned to vapor as she spoke, her brown eyes shining at Julia.

"Right, right," Marion laughed. "Julia, this is Jessie, she helps around here some."

"I know, I've seen you around before," Julia said, nodding at the girl.

"Seen you a lot, too," Jessie smiled.

"Are the pokemon okay?" Julia asked, taking a shovel that was leaning against the wall and hoisting it up, jamming it into the snow.

"Ask 'em yourself," Marion chirped, finishing up with the tank she was on and walking over to join Julia, both girls scraping away at the mountain of snow.

Julia glanced down at the dark water, seeing a flash of red signaling the Sharpedo's presence. She sighed in relief and stood back up, going back at the snow again, attacking it with her shovel to clear away more of it.

"I'm glad you could come," Marion continued their discussion. "It's really early, you must have come here pretty fast."

"I was kicked out of the infirmary," Julia grumbled, jabbing at the snow to work off her frustration. "I was looking after Kitty all night, and then when she finally wakes up she just tells us all to leave, that she wants to be alone. This is the perfect way to blow off some steam. Plus, I mean, the way you said it… I guess I was a little worried."

Marion was happy that Julia had been so concerned for the Sharpedo, but there was something else she'd said that made her suspicious.

"Kitty… is in the infirmary?" Marion asked.

"Yeah," Julia scowled. "All thanks to that damn harmonia of hers."

A loud slushing sound of the shovel striking snow drew her attention. She glanced at Marion, and saw her dragging away at the snow with a frustrated look on her face.

"Marion?"

"Kitty… what happened?" Marion demanded. She turned to Julia with a serious look on her face that sent a shiver down Julia's spine. Marion didn't look serious, not like that.

"She… she was in a match," Julia said. "And she just sort of… lost control. Her power got stronger and stronger and she was taking more and more damage, and then she just sort of… unleashed it. And then after the battle, she passed out."

"How was she acting?" Marion asked. "Was she scared? Angry? Confused? Enjoying herself? Or was this something else? Did it… did it feel like Kitty?"

"What? Um… she was angry," Julia said, shaking her head. "It was like the more she was fighting, the angrier she got until it just sort of… you know, came out."

"Was she fighting against you?" Marion asked.

"No, um, it was Nick and Will who fought her," Julia said.

"Nick and Will…" Marion nodded. "Then what about you? You were there, too?"

"Yeah, I was watching," Julia said. "See, the thing was…"

Julia paused, taking another look at Marion. Marion, who wasn't acting the way she usually did. She narrowed her eyes suspiciously. There wasn't a whole lot she knew about Marion. She knew that she liked fishing, a lot, and that she had harmonia. She was a loose, carefree girl who loved the sea and let everything flow like a river.

She was also one of the daevas. Like the Commander, the Phantom, and the Empress, she had her own stake in events. Julia had thought, based on the way Kitty praised her and Sango and Blake talked about her, that she was a good-hearted person who only had Kitty's best interests at heart. But she saw that Marion wasn't just that friendly, happy girl. There was a seriousness to her now, standing here, digging through the snow. And it wasn't just wisdom.

It was determination, the determination and grit that came with someone who was thinking serious thoughts.

Marion was different. She was hiding things, she had hidden her serious side well, and now Julia could see it.

So what else was she hiding?

Julia watched Marion shoveling at the snow, and only grew more tense and worried. Whatever else she was, Marion was one of the daevas. And Kitty… Kitty had been complaining that she didn't want to be just another tool in their power struggle. Julia didn't want that for her, either. But what did Marion want? Was she really just a good Samaritan trying to keep Kitty from slipping off the deep end? Or… was she trying to turn Kitty into a weapon, too? Use her to fight the war against the other daevas for her? Mold another harmonia user into a tool, the way Gerard had turned Elaina into a tool?

Julia wasn't sure. She wanted to trust Marion. Marion had been nothing but kind and helpful. And at the same time…

She couldn't trust her. She just couldn't. Not if she was plotting something and using Kitty for it. Julia was going to protect that girl, and right now Marion could be something that she would need to protect her against.

So she didn't finish her sentence. She just watched Marion in silence.

"You were saying?" Marion asked, glancing back at her.

"Saying what?" Julia played it cool, as though she didn't know what Marion was talking about.

"You said 'the thing was…' and then you just stopped talking," Marion said. "So what was 'the thing', was there something special about the match? I thought you were trying to keep away from Kitty, isn't that what you wanted?"

Keeping away from Kitty because that's what you told me to do, Julia silently noted, keeping her suspicions off her face as best as she could. Maybe that was Marion's game. Right now, Kitty needed a support structure to keep from turning full weapon, and Marion was gaslighting Julia into thinking that she should stay away from her. To isolate her? Like how Elaina was isolated? Turning Marion into the only person that Kitty could rely on, feeding her powers even more and taking advantage of her loneliness? It was starting to make sense the more she thought about it. And meanwhile, Marion was here, keeping her busy with some dumb Sharpedo.

"Julia, I'm just trying to help Kitty," Marion said. "If there's anything you can tell me about what happened, something that could let me know why Kitty acted the way she did, I'd like to know, so I can help her. Please?"

There was no way that Kitty could tell Marion that the Phantom had been monitoring Kitty and was trying to make use of her. She wasn't sure how Marion would respond to that information. And if she didn't know, she wasn't about to start a war. If Marion knew… then she might get more aggressive, more possessive, drive Kitty away from everyone around her and destroy the poor girl in the process, and Julia wasn't okay with that.

Unless…

"What? What is it?" Marion asked, looking curiously at Julia.

Maybe she should tell Marion. To see how she would react. If Marion was already planning on using Kitty as a weapon… telling her the truth might tip her hand, make her slip up. It would be risky, and it could backfire, but if Marion really was that kind of two-faced person, then Julia needed to know. And if she found out, then that would mean she'd be able to tell Kitty the truth, and tell her to watch out, that Marion was using her like everyone else.

Julia needed to keep Kitty safe. No matter what. There was no way that she would let Kitty end up in the infirmary again. If Marion could be trusted, then this information would only help. If she couldn't, then Julia would keep an eye on her.

"Yeah, um, see, the thing is…" Julia needed to find the right way to present the information to her. The way that would be the most shocking, and therefore the most likely to get Marion to slip up when she heard, and let her mask slip.

"Misato Daisan is a robot, and she was recording the match with her tape-recorder eyes for the Phantom," Julia said. Something as fantastical as that would elicit a reaction of some sort, there was no way it wouldn't.

"Well of course she's a robot," Marion said. "And you said she was there, recording the match? For the Phantom? So he's targeting Kitty? That's not very good… yeah, you're right to be worried, Julia, if he's got his eyes on her again-"

"Wait, wait, are you just ignoring the whole 'Misato is a robot' thing?!" Julia sputtered. Was Marion an idiot or something? She didn't really just believe that Misato was a robot, did she?

"No, of course she's a robot, so what?" Marion asked.

Yup. She was an idiot. Or she was playing Julia. Either way, that wasn't the issue. The issue was that she didn't seem to be reacting the way Julia had expected.

"Sylvia Driscoll told me that Misato was recording the match," Julia tried to start again. "And she insinuated that the Phantom might want something with Kitty. When I heard that, I got worried and I rushed to go stop her."

"…Stop her," Marion echoed. What was with that look she wore? She was staring at Julia… confusion? Annoyance?

Worry?

"Yeah, because I didn't want the Phantom to try and use her!" Julia exclaimed. "Just like I don't want you to use her, either!"

Fuck. There went the whole "playing it cool" thing.

"…You think… you think I'm using Kitty?"

"Well, aren't you?" Julia demanded, flinging her shovel into the snow and turning to face Marion directly, glaring angrily at her. "Just admit it! That's what this is all about, isn't it? You're trying to use Kitty as a weapon against the other daevas!"

"I would never!" Marion exclaimed, her face flushed with rage, much to Julia's surprise. "That girl… I'm trying to help her!"

"Gerard says he's trying to help Elaina," Julia snapped. "That doesn't mean what he's doing is right. And it doesn't mean what you're doing is right, either. Your 'teaching' clearly isn't helping her! She's acting just like Elaina now! If you do anything to hurt her, then I swear I'll-"

"You think I don't know what this is?" Marion interrupted her. Julia paused her tirade to look at Marion in confusion.

"What? What are you-"

"You're looking for someone to blame, aren't you?" Marion asked quietly. Her eyes were wet. "Because you know what happened. So you're trying to blame me, make this out to be my fault. I get it. I understand why you're thinking that way. But Julia… this isn't my fault. And we both know it isn't. We both know that I'm just trying to help."

Julia scowled angrily. It was her fault, she was sure of it! It wasn't… Julia wasn't the one at fault, why would Marion even think that?! Why would… she was just trying to confuse her, that was the only thing that made sense.

"You're trying to trick me, to lie to me, I don't know why, but-"

"Julia!" Marion snapped. "If what I think happened is how it happened, I have a pretty good idea what you're thinking right now, and I know what happened to Kitty."

She sighed, turning back to the snow pile, and jammed her shovel in again, scraping more of it off. "Kitty… she reacted that way because of you."

"No, it's because you-"

"No, it isn't!" Marion snapped, punctuating her statements with angry thrusts into the mound of snow. "I'm trying to help Kitty! *slush* And you know that as well as I do! *slush* So let me guess. Kitty was going to fight. And then you came running in *slush* yelling at her to stop, that she was in danger *slush* and that she needed to stop the fight *slush* or else she would be seen. How's that? Am I right so far?"

Julia didn't want to give her the satisfaction of being correct, so she said nothing, grabbing her shovel and jamming it into the snow as well to finish the job.

"And Kitty, she didn't like that, did she? She didn't want to listen to you, she wanted to fight. So she ignored you, and fought, and her powers went out of control. And she ended up in the infirmary, isn't that right?" Marion stopped shoveling, turning back to Julia. "And right now, you're beating yourself up, wondering if this is somehow because of you, that you pushed her into this, and if you had just stayed away, she would have been fine."

"That's… I…"

No, that was wrong, it just had to be wrong. It wasn't Julia's fault, it couldn't be. Julia… Julia was just trying to help. The thought that she had made things worse… that it could be because of her recklessness that Kitty was in the infirmary right now…

Julia wouldn't accept that.

"Well, it isn't," Marion said, resuming her shoveling.

"It… what?"

"You aren't the cause of Kitty's problems," Marion said. "You aren't the reason she did that, why she let her harmonia go like that. That was her. Not you. It was her. And no amount of beating yourself up over it and laying the blame on others is going to change that."

"It's… no, Kitty was just…"

"Kitty used her ability. Even knowing that it came at a risk, she wanted to do it, so she could prove herself to you, to all of you, that she was strong. And that isn't your fault. That's hers. She has to learn not to let her powers go like that, not to give in to that darkness in her heart."

Marion remembered the last time she had seen Kitty fight. She had nearly given into her insecurities. It seemed that this time she really had gone the whole way. That wasn't good. That was really not good. And yes, Julia was a little bit at fault for how she treated the girl. But blaming Julia for it? That wouldn't help anyone. That would just hurt her.

What Marion needed to do was get Julia to understand that she could help Kitty.

"We're done," Julia said, brushing the last of the snow off the lid. She dropped the shovel and let out a sigh of exhaustion, falling on her butt as she sat in the snow. She stared at the dark figure in the water. "Good thing, too, I was getting pooped."

"Can I ask you something?" Marion asked.

Julia glanced up at her. She was still suspicious of the older girl.

"What? If you want to know more about Kitty, I've told you everything I-"

"No, no, it's about you. I just wanted to ask you something about why you're here today," Marion clarified with a shake of her head, crouching down next to Julia and staring at her with those big, innocent-looking blue eyes.

"Fine, what?"

"Did you come here to ask me about Kitty?" Marion asked. "To shoo me away from her?"

"No, that wasn't why," Julia said, shaking her head. "That just… well, it just kinda happened, you know? I put some pieces together that weren't there, one thing led to another, and, well…"

"So why did you come?" Marion asked curiously.

"You needed my help, of course I'd come," Julia shrugged.

"But you don't know me," Marion replied. "We've spent some time together for the last week, but even though I think you're just the tops, I'm not dumb enough to think you consider me a friend, especially not after that outburst just now. So why? Why spend your morning free from lockdown helping me shovel snow off a fish tank in the freezing cold?"

Julia shrugged, and glanced at the water.

"Well, I mean… the way you said it, I just got worried. You know, that something would happen to the pokemon. So I came to help. Anyone would."

Marion smiled, and rose to her feet.

"Hey, Julia, help me get this cover off."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Julia asked worriedly. Marion smiled and nodded her head.

"Don't worry about it. It's important. Just help, okay?"

Julia shrugged, and nodded. She didn't know what it was, but clearly Marion knew something she didn't. She stood up and helped Marion undo the latches, lifting the cover off and sliding it back. As the metal lid slid away, a blast of warmth hit Julia in the face.

"Heated water, huh?" Marion laughed. "Pretty boss. Come on, Sharpedo!"

Marion clapped her hands, and the dark fin of the Sharpedo emerged out of the water, approaching the two girls. It rose higher and higher until the upper half of the pokemon's body was completely out of the water, his red eyes looking at them.

"Hey there, glad you're doing okay," Marion cooed, reaching out and petting the Sharpedo with a smile. In spite of the Sharpedo's rough skin and scales, it didn't hurt her at all. "You know, our friend Julia was also really worried about you, Sharpedo. Weren't you, Julia?"

"Well, yeah, of course," Julia said. "I thought that the snow might've… so what?"

"Julia, would you pet Sharpedo again?" Marion asked.

"I'd rather not have my hand sliced to ribbons again, thanks," Julia replied.

"Just do it. And no glove, either."

Julia looked at the Sharpedo, who stared back at her with an unreadable glint in her eye. She sighed, and stripped her glove off.

"Just trust him," Marion encouraged. "You don't need to be worried about him hurting you. Just pet him, and it'll be fine. He'll know if you're afraid, and that's never a good thing."

At this point, Julia wasn't afraid. She didn't mind the Sharpedo that much. Compared to everything else she was worried about? A shark pokemon with some pointy scales wasn't even a blip on her radar. She reached out her hand, and looked the pokemon in the eye.

"You don't need to cut me you know," she told him. "I'm not gonna hurt you… I just want to pet you, okay?"

"Why do you want to pet him?" Marion asked.

"Because you told me to."

"If you don't want to pet him, then don't," Marion said. "If you don't want to, he'll know. And then he WILL cut your hand."

"So what do you want?" Julia asked.

"It's not what I want, it's what you want," Marion said. "Do you want to get to know him better? If you do, then all you have to do is reach out. But if this is just because I'm telling you to, all because you want to get to know Kitty better, then don't bother."

Julia looked at the Sharpedo she'd taken care of for the last week. She had been a little worried about the pokemon on the walk over here, and had certainly been relieved that he was okay. She didn't mind petting him at all.

"Sure thing, pal," she said, smiling softly. She reached out and petted the Sharpedo. He didn't scratch her at all.

"He trusts you," Marion grinned. "You were worried about him. And you wanted to pet him, to try and get closer to him. He knows he can trust you, so he won't cut your hand. Get it now?"

Julia wasn't sure what that meant for Kitty, but she did know that she was happy to feel the pokemon's warm scales. It was soothing.

"Thanks, Sharpedo. You're a pretty cool pokemon," she grinned.

She opened her heart to the pokemon, and was willing to put her trust in it not scratching her. Marion smiled at Julia. Now if only she had the same faith and trust in Kitty, it would be so much better.

Marion sighed, looking up at the cloudy sky. Hopefully, Kitty would be fine. She'd pay her a visit later to make sure, but this problem… this wasn't something Marion was sure she could stop anymore.

It's up to her friends, I guess.

So hopefully, things are going to be okay with Kitty. Julia, luckily, is making a lot of progress in getting to understand people a little more. Will she be able to get through to Kitty? Will Kitty be willing to listen? We'll have to find out.