With the last chapter resolving the remaining plot threads, we can now jump ahead to the last days of the tournament! No sense in another week of filler, everything just went as it was supposed to, battles went on as they always did, and the finals are all completed. All that's left, is the final matches of the tournament itself… and the parties that accompany it.

Rosealine gold: It may take some doing, but I'll consider it.

KedharS: It's hereditary actually, passed down from mother to child. As for why, well… we'll get to that.

Aurastar Warrior: Not yet.

Thunder Fire: I live in the United States.

Aquahaze675: Well she's worried, scared, and not exactly getting a lot of sleep. Plus, she's really lonely because her best friend abandoned her and her roommates are occupied with other things at the moment.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 368

It had been a long tournament. Between studying for finals, weather conditions, and the stress of preparing for the battles themselves, the month of December had flown by really fast. At this point, the rankings were pretty much set in stone. Two teams had gone completely undefeated through the tournament, Elaina Bishop and Blake Harker, and Cynthia Fafnir and Caelia Auburn. They were all but guaranteed to make the Final 4 when the finals were decided.

As for the other teams, there was once again a large gap. Only three teams had the blessing of possessing a single loss apiece. Kitty and Nikita's team had only lost one match, same with Julia and Reiner's team. Sango and Maddi's team had also only had one loss. Everyone else had already dropped out. The issue was, there were five teams in competition for four slots, and people were questioning which of them would make it to the finals.

But that wasn't what was on Blake's mind today as he waited in the center of campus at the Blastoise Fountain, looking at his phone to pass time. No, there was something important he had to take care of for the end of final's week. Something even more important than the Winter Formal on Sunday, and the tournament finals that would precede it.

That something was the fact that today was December 19th, and he had a promise to keep.

"Blake!"

Blake looked up from his phone to see Ayame running up to him, a bright smile on her face. She was waving her hand eagerly.

"Aya! Happy birthday, you look wonderful!" Blake greeted her with a smile and she froze in place ten steps away from him, her face turning bright red.

"Errgh!" Ayame dropped her hand and stormed over to him, her face a fluster of joy and frustration. She grabbed him by the collar. "Darn it! I wanted to get you flustered first, you jerk!"

Blake laughed, holding his hands up in defeat.

"It's not funny! I had the boss pick this dress out specifically for today!" Ayame wailed. Blake glanced at the casual winter dress Ayame was wearing, a deep black that matched her hair and complimented with a snow-white top with long sleeves. The frilly skirt danced around her ankles, and unlike usual she wasn't wearing running shoes, but regular flats.

Ayame crossed her arms and turned away from Blake, pushing her chest out slightly in a "I'm-pretending-I-don't-wan't-you-to-check-me-out-but-please-check-me-out" pose.

"So, uh… what do you think?"

Blake reached into his pocket and took out a thin white box tied with red string and handed it to her.

"Huh? What's this?" Ayame asked, taking the box in confusion. It wasn't what she had been expecting.

"Oh! Crap!" Blake gasped. "Sorry, that's your birthday present."

"Already?!" Ayame scowled, slapping him on the chest with the box and letting out a huff. "There's a proper order to these things you know!"

"Sorry, but you were so pretty my hand kind of moved by itself, I felt like I needed to give it to you out of gratitude for the sight."

Ayame's blush spread to her ears and neck, and it looked like it had even begun to dye the white top she was wearing.

"Don't say that stuff so easily you fucking jerkface! Are you trying to make me embarrassed on my birthday?! Is that it?!"

Ayame was swatting at him repeatedly with the gift, unable to keep the joy off of her face.

"Sorry, sorry, I can't help it!" Blake laughed, shielding himself from her attacks. "You just look so cute when you get embarrassed, I can't help myself! Is it wrong for me to want my girlfriend to look as cute as possible on her birthday?"

Ayame's onslaught ceased and she dropped her arm, looking down.

"W-well, okay then," she muttered, twisting a lock of hair in her finger. "B-because you said I was cute, I'll let it go this time."

"If you let it go next time too that would be nice."

"Are you seriously already planning to embarrass me again!?"

"Absolutely."

"…Rrrgh!" Ayame didn't have a response to that, so she just growled in embarrassment instead. She calmed down, and let out a sigh, handing the box back to Blake.

"…Still, though, there is a proper order to this, you know!" She reminded him, turning her nose up. "Make sure the mood is right when you give me my present!"

"Right, right," Blake laughed, taking the box back and slipping it into his pocket.

"W-well, then," Ayame said, brushing her hair aside the way she always did when she got embarrassed, even though her ribbon already kept it out of her face to begin with. "Should we go? You said you had a wonderful day planned, so…"

"I suppose this is a bad time to bring up that I blew all my best ideas on our first date, huh?" Blake laughed. "When we do all your favorite things, it kinda makes the expectations pretty high."

"You can surprise me, it's fine," Ayame laughed, leaning down slightly so she was looking up at him, holding her arms behind her back. "Whatever our date entails, I'm sure I'll love it because I'm spending it with you."

Now it was Blake's turn to go red.

"That's, uh… okay…" Blake looked away from her, suddenly finding it very, very difficult to look her in the eye.

"You aren't the only one who can go on the offensive," Ayame teased, reaching over and drilling her finger into her boyfriend's cheek. "It's my birthday, but I still can't let you be the only one taking the lead."

She skipped off, looking back at him as she headed in the direction of the campus mall, looking back at him with a smile, flipping him off for good measure.

Blake's heart skipped a beat, and he headed off after Ayame, flustered. He caught up with her quickly (she wasn't actually trying to get away) and the two were soon walking next to each other.

"That was rather sneaky of you, getting a step on me like that," Blake smirked. Ayame stuck her tongue out at him in response.

"I start running as soon as the race starts, that's why I'm the fastest," Ayame boasted. "Maybe you should be keeping up."

Blake smiled, reached down, and wrapped his hand around hers. Neither one of them were wearing mittens, so their hands were as cold as ice, Ayame letting out a yelp in surprise.

"Hey!" She sputtered.

"Just a little payback," Blake replied. "But why aren't you wearing mittens, Aya? Your hands are going to get cold like this."

"S-same to you," Ayame said, too embarrassed to look him in the eye.

"Well, I was using my phone before this, so I took them off," Blake replied. He let go of her hand, and Ayame let out a tiny whine of disapproval. He glanced at her with a smirk, and she turned red again, holding her hand over her mouth.

Blake laughed, reaching into his jacket pocket and taking out some fuzzy black mittens. "What's your excuse?"

"Well, uh… th-that's none of your business!" Ayame replied. There was no way she could tell him that Olivia had instructed her to not wear any mittens so that he would have to warm up her hands himself. She'd die of embarrassment first. "B-besides, you, um… you should put yours on so your hands don't freeze. I grew up in the mountains, so I'm perfectly fine, but you…"

"That's not fair," Blake said, stroking his chin in contemplation. "Oh! I know! Here!"

Blake handed her one of his mittens, much to her confusion.

"What… uh, what do I do with this?" Ayame asked, looking at him in confusion.

"Put it on your hand, of course," Blake said, sliding the mitten over his right hand. "Don't you know how mittens work?"

"Of course I do, dummy!" Ayame snapped, putting the other mitten over her left hand. "But what good is one mitten? It doesn't do anything if one of our hands is warm but the other one is-"

Blake reached down and took her other hand in his.

"The other one is… what?" Blake asked, smiling up at her. "This way, all of our hands can be warmed up, see?"

"Eh… eh… eh… err…" Ayame fumbled for words, so embarrassed that steam was rising out of her head. "J-jerk!"

She was too embarrassed to look him in the eye.

"Was… was that just a ploy to force me to keep holding your hand?" Ayame asked quietly, unwilling to admit that her hands had started warming up considerably.

"I'll admit to that if you admit that not bringing mittens in the first place was a ploy to get me to hold your hand," Blake replied.

"Sh-shut up!" Ayame sputtered.

"But seriously, aren't you cold?" Blake asked, glancing down at Ayame's fluttery skirt. "Wearing a dress in this weather-"

"Pft, I'm fine," Ayame said, waving her unoccupied hand dismissively. She knelt down and lifted her skirt slightly, revealing a pair of thermal leggings underneath. "See? Totally taken care of."

"Oh."

Ayame stood back up, a little irritated.

"Sounds to me like you didn't want me wearing a dress today," she scoffed, the couple continuing to walk in the direction of the mall. "What, were you hoping I'd just be wearing some tight jeans or something?"

"If I said no would you believe me?"

"No."

"Well, I wasn't."

"I don't believe you."

"Smart, I was lying."

"Well, sorry that my choice of clothes doesn't suit your preferences."

"Well if you were following my preferences completely, I'd like you to ditch the dress and stick with just the thermal tights," Blake admitted.

Ayame turned red again.

"Never!"

"But it's fine, because I think you look just lovely like this," Blake replied. He clutched her hand a little tighter. "It wasn't just that ass of yours I fell in love with, you know."

"Quieter!" Ayame hissed, glancing at a pair of students passing by, who gave the couple a funny look. "Don't fucking say stuff like that!"

"One thing I am curious of, though, is why did you decide to head to the mall right away?" Blake asked, raising an eyebrow curiously. "That was where I'd intended for our date to begin, but the fact that you took the lead and headed there immediately was quite a surprise."

"Well… because I know you so well, obviously," Ayame smirked. "So I just knew that you were going to do something involving some clothes shopping!"

"Oh?" Blake raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah… normally, Olivia picks out my clothes, so I don't often get a chance to buy stuff for myself," Ayame admitted. "So I thought… maybe Blake would take me out to buy some clothes. Is that… is it weird to want something like that?"

"No, I'm just… sorry, I thought it would seem a little insensitive to suggest when you came here in a dress like that, so I didn't want to say anything," Blake admitted. "I wanted it to be a surprise, but… well, I guess not."

"It's fine, it's fine," Ayame laughed. "Besides, I already told you, she picked this dress out for me too, you know."

Ayame sighed.

"I know it seems like I don't care a lot about fashion, but you know… even I don't mind clothes shopping all that much. Especially with… erm…" She whispered the last part, "someone I love…"

"Didn't catch that, what did you say?" Blake asked.

"Nothing, nothing!"

"Still, the fact that you were able to guess my plans has me a little embarrassed," Blake admitted. "But I'm glad you want to go."

"I'm quite clever actually," Ayame winked. "Just call it women's intuition!"

No way in hell was she going to admit that Olivia had told her ahead of time.

"So shall we go already?" Ayame asked. "We should go shopping before breakfast, so I look my best, after all."

Blake felt a compulsion to tell Ayame that he didn't think she could actually GET fat, but there were some things you just don't say.

The two walked towards the mall hand in hand, unaware that they were being observed by a particularly intrusive pair of eyes. And for once, those eyes didn't belong to a certain redheaded reporter with a penchant for truth-bending.

"Ufufu, how adorable," Sylvia giggled, watching the two of them stroll off from the bench she was sitting on. She'd been waiting for today for quite some time. In their lovestruck haze, they hadn't even noticed that she'd followed them from the fountain, or that she was having Specter keeping tabs on the two of them right at this very moment. She hadn't received an invite to the party tonight in the technical sense, but she would still be planning on making an appearance, as she always tried to. It never hurts to be noticed, after all.

"My, you do seem to be enjoying yourself quite a bit, is that right?"

Sylvia smiled, a familiar voice ringing in her ear.

"Unlike you, I prefer to take a more… personal stake in things," Sylvia replied. "We can't all be so obsessed with our duties."

"I wonder, have you ever considered that some responsibility may be what someone like you needs? No matter what you may tell yourself, you do not live a life devoid of purpose, Sylvia. Not a person alive does. I know that better than anyone."

Sylvia smirked.

"I know I live a life of purpose," she replied to the girl standing behind her. "My purpose just happens to be satisfying my own desire for amusement, is that so wrong?"

The girl walked around the bench and sat down beside Sylvia, the crisp scent of lavender, lilac, and mint blowing through the chill winter air.

"I've been meaning to ask, how do you get your hair such a lovely color?" Sylvia asked, turning to the young-looking woman, who for all she knew could be countless years old. She reached up and ran her fingers through Ryoko's lavender hair, the girl not paying the intrusion any mind at all.

"It is of no concern," she said, smiling sweetly at Sylvia.

"It can't be natural."

"No? Indeed, for one to use the power of pokemon to travel through time, we must consider that all things need to make sense, do we not?"

Sylvia smirked. Fair enough.

"And what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?" Sylvia asked. "I don't suppose you've finally decided to grant my request?"

Ryoko held her hand up to her mouth to suppress a laugh.

"…That is never going to happen."

"I figured not," Sylvia sighed.

"Were I to grant you the power to travel through time, you would tear the fabric of reality to shreds in a day."

"A full day? Give me a little bit of credit," Sylvia cackled. "And besides, what would be so bad about that? You so insist on 'following the rules' and maintaining the order of the universe, but why not just let chaos rule? People suffer either way, at least my way things will get to be a little exciting."

"I see no merit in discussing things beyond the comprehension of those who merely experience time as a progression of days," Ryoko said.

"I bet you say that to all the girls who come up with arguments you can't refute."

"It will not happen."

"What a pity. So what are you here for, then? Surely not because you enjoy the pleasure of my company."

"Surely not," Ryoko agreed.

"Then if you have nothing left to say, I might as well get back to my entertainment then, don't you think?" Sylvia asked, rising to her feet. "According to Specter those two have just entered the boutique, and I simply must see what they're doing."

"Why do you interfere with them?" Ryoko asked. "Is it not enough for Blake to be happy?"

Sylvia blinked, looking down at the girl. She held her sides, and laughed.

"Of all the-! You? You're saying this?" Sylvia cackled. She leaned over Ryoko, a twisted grin on her face as she laughed at the girl some more. Ryoko stared impassively at her.

Sylvia studied the girl's face for a moment before standing up straight again.

"I'm the heroine here, you know," she said. "You think I'm hurting Blake? You think that I could? You know far better than I how much pain you've caused him. Will cause him? Are causing him. I might not be able to travel to the future, Ryoko, but I can see it quite well as it is. And as for you, well… you see, I'm someone who DOES things. I shape the future I want to see with my own hands, and watch it fall into place just as I picture it. Whereas you, you know everything that will happen, and what do you do with it? You stand by and watch, even when those most precious to you are suffering."

"I only do what I ought to," Ryoko stated.

"And that's how you live with yourself, isn't it? After what you've done, what you've not done… you simply tell yourself that those things are your responsibility, that they 'had' to happen."

"You do not know a thing."

"Fair play, fair play," Sylvia admitted. "But that's why I'd never be you. Because I always have a choice. If the laws of reality tell me to go left, well, maybe I'll go right. If time is something fixed and unchanging, you can bet that I'll twist and turn it until any future I desire becomes possible. Because that's who I am. I'm not someone who gives in to the flow of time and just lets tragedy play out before my eyes."

"No, you spur it forward with your own hand to watch that which is most precious to others crumble before you," Ryoko replied.

Sylvia grinned, her eyes shining brightly.

"Exactly."

The two shared a silent exchange, looking into one another's eyes.

"Ayame Toujou," Sylvia said.

"Ayame Toujou," Ryoko echoed.

"So is she really the one for him?"

"That is up to him."

"Oh? Can't you see it with your magical future powers?" Sylvia asked. "Or… is there something the great Celebi can't do?"

"This is not the time to determine that," Ryoko replied, smiling sweetly. "Events will play out as they must. As they always do."

"And you'll just accept the consequences as always, then," Sylvia said, her eyes shining even brighter. She broke out into a big grin. "But you like that girl for him? Even knowing how it will end?"

"If it does in fact end," Ryoko replied. "Either way, Ayame Toujou treasures him very much. She loves him, and that is good enough."

"…Loves him more than you, certainly," Sylvia smirked. Ryoko's eye twitched at that remark.

"You think I don't know?" Sylvia asked. "What you stand to gain from all this? What you're looking for, in the end? You might think you're quite clever, playing the good Samaritan. But you and I both know different. I can see it in your eyes."

"You know nothing."

Sylvia smirked.

"Is that right?"

She leaned in close, and whispered something in Ryoko's ear. The girl's golden eyes widened and her face went pale, a squeaky gasp escaping her lips.

"As I thought," Sylvia said, pulling back from her and smiling victoriously.

"And? What will you do?" Ryoko asked.

Sylvia shrugged her shoulders, holding her hands up.

"Not a thing. Where would the fun be in that? I would much rather see things play out as they already are."

"'Plays out as they already are', is that right?"

"Mhm!" Sylvia chirped.

"And you think you know how things will play out?"

"…A decently good idea about it."

"Then you know what it is that man is planning. What he intends to accomplish at this school."

Sylvia's smirk slipped off of her face, replaced with a look that was inscrutable. She was very good at those when it was called for.

"I do."

"And yet you still help him."

"And yet I still help him."

Ryoko sighed, rising to her feet, and withdrawing her watch from her pocket.

"I that is true, then perhaps it is acceptable for me to trust you, after all."

Sylvia blinked in surprise.

"Oh? I wouldn't have expected that."

"Nor would I," Ryoko admitted. "But in the end it is what path we must walk. You said you would create your own future, even when I deny that. So show me the future you create with your own hand."

Ryoko held something out to Sylvia. The girl took the slender, wooden object. It was a flute. A very, very old flute.

Sylvia's smile widened, and her eyes began to shine with excitement.

"Is this what I think it is?"

"I told you I would trust you, did I not?"

"Foolishly, yes. How do you know I won't just chuck this thing in the fireplace?"

"Use it. Do not use it. Keep it. Destroy it. Perhaps so. But if not, then things would be… what is it again? Ah, yes, 'boring and predictable' I believe the words are."

Ryoko turned and strolled away, searching for a secluded spot to make her next jump through time. Sylvia, meanwhile, her voyeuristic plans forgotten, clutched her price to her chest in excitement. With this, she could control her own future, everyone's future. The question is… when would she be using it? When would Ryoko be expecting her to use it? She would have to use it at any other point in time but then. She wouldn't allow things to go the way destiny had planned.

That would just be boring and predictable.

What a surprise, the incarnation of chaos doesn't get along with the time traveler bent on keeping the flow of time stable. Sylvia seems to have acquired quite a dangerous item, and it seems that Ryoko is not as benevolent as she appears to be… what repercussions will this have on the Pokemon Academy, and more importantly, Blake and Ayame's date?