Val has returned! What does she have in store for Blake and the Toujou family? Will Blake be able to protect his girlfriend and her family from this wicked girl? We'll have to find out.

Rosealine gold: True, it is sort of an arc in itself. But it's important.

KedharS: That it does.

Thunder Fire: Oh, what bitch were you talking about, then? There are so many.

JoshGamerV: If only it were that easy. Valerie is a monster, but she certainly has skills. Can Blake really stand up to her, I wonder?

Aquahaze675: Carrie is fun, and Val is certainly going to cause some problems.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 416

Blake was so stunned at seeing her, Valerie Chiester, standing in the living room of the Toujou family's cabin, that he could do nothing but stare at her, dumbstruck. Out of everyone he had ever met, Valerie Chiester was quite possibly the person that he hated the most. More than Sylvia, more than Gerard, even more than the other members of the Children of the Oracles, Valerie represented something truly irredeemable. She had torn Kate down for years on a whim, and then delighted in torturing her again when they were reunited. And she clearly relished in the suffering of both Blake and his sister, enjoying the situation that to him was horrid torture.

For all that she'd done, Blake wanted to beat her bloody, and see how she liked being on the receiving end of the suffering for a change. But he didn't do that, he was too petrified by the fact that, somehow, she had found her way into the home of the girl he loved. This immoral terrorist who thrived off of the despair she brought upon those around her had managed to find him, and that fact alone sent a million thoughts through Blake's mind, the least of which being confirmation that, if she was here, then it meant that his earlier suspicion of there being an Orica on Mt. Silver was correct.

But what was Blake supposed to do? The way her eyes had lit up at seeing him, she clearly hadn't expected him to be there. Which meant that there was a chance he could still out her for what she was, before she tried anything.

Unfortunately, those moments of hesitation brought on by his earlier shock spelled the end for that plan. Because by the time he had composed himself enough to open his mouth and decry her as a monster, she had stepped past Ayame and reached him, grabbing his hand in hers. Her hands were as cold as ice, just like the dull golden orbs embedded in her skull, smiling with cruel certainty as she tightened her grip around his hand.

"Hello there, what's your name?" Her voice made him want to retch. He opened his mouth to condemn her, when he felt something even colder than her fingers touch against his wrist.

Val had taken Blake's hand in both of hers, and right now he could feel the freezing kiss of metal running across his wrist. Blake spotted a glint of light in the gap between her fingers and his blood went cold. He glanced at her face and she nodded slowly, her smile widening as she pressed the concealed blade deeper into his flesh. Blake was petrified. The implication was quite clear, he could see it in her eyes. If he said one word, revealed who she was, then she would slice into his wrist with enough force to tear all the way up his arm. The threat was so crystal clear pressed into his flesh that he could see himself bleeding out on the floor, and then she might turn on Ayame.

"Blake," he managed to choke out. He glared at her, but her grip tightened and the blade pressed deeper, and he forced a placid smile to his face. "Blake Harker."

"Hello there, Blake Harker," Val smiled at him. It was amazing. He knew what an evil, horrid witch she was, and yet he couldn't see any trace of wickedness or malice on her face. Her smile looked as kind and sweet as any smile that Kitty would have given him, and yet it hid a complete monster behind it. No wonder Kate had fallen for her act so totally.

Val dropped her hands, but the ghost of the icy touch of her fingers and the sharp sting of her blade remained on his skin, making him hesitate. As she walked past him to greet Carrie, he caught her voice, no louder than a whisper.

"Say one word," she warned him, "and I will kill every. Last. One of them."

She greeted Carrie, leaving Blake to contemplate her words. It sounded like a bluff, and if it were anyone else, Blake might call her on it. But the nonchalant way she had threatened him made him doubt himself. Even… even if he said something… would that stop her? He didn't know what she was capable of, she was a total unknown. Would she make that threat if she didn't have every intention of following through with it?

Blake didn't want to believe that it was possible for Val to actually carry out her threat. But… she would probably see her threat through as best she could, and if someone did get hurt, then…

Blake couldn't let that happen. As Val walked past him a second time, returning to the living room. She patted him on the shoulder, Blake flinching at her cold touch.

"You two came back just in time," Hiromi called. "We'll be eating dinner! I bought the biggest bird I could find!" It'll just be another 20 minutes or so, in the meantime, you kids can get to know each other in the living room. You brought a guest, Aya? That's so great!"

"Sounds great, mom! I've really worked up an appetite!" Ayame called out.

"Didn't we just have a picnic?" Blake asked. He certainly had lost his appetite, seeing Val's horrid face. He wanted to go throw up, but he couldn't let on that anything was wrong. Right now, he regretted not mentioning her to Ayame. He hadn't brought it up for Kate's sake, not to anyone, even though he knew that he should have mentioned the terrorist. But because he hadn't, Ayame had no reason to be suspicious of the black-haired demon in front of her, and that meant Val could infiltrate her house as a guest, and Blake was the only one who knew it.

"I'm still a little hungry," Ayame said. She glanced over her shoulder, leering warily at Carrie as the pink-haired girl stood awkwardly in the foyer, stripping off her coat. "…You can come in, you know," she sighed, beckoning Carrie into the room. Carrie nodded, and followed the others into the large room, the heat of the fireplace refreshing in comparison to the freezing winds outside. By the time they had arrived at the cabin, the sun had already been setting, and she was enjoying the warm air of the insulated home.

Blake frowned as he saw Ayame's wariness. She was suspicious of the wrong person! Carrie wasn't the threat, Val was far, far more dangerous than Carrie was, and Ayame didn't have a clue.

"Actually, I'm going to go find Megumi," Blake said. "She's painting Skorupi, so I'm gonna go see what's up with them!"

"Huh? Well, okay…" Ayame said, not exactly thrilled about playing host to the two strangers. Valerie, or Val, as she had wanted to be called, seemed like a perfectly lovely girl, but she wanted nothing to do with Carrie. That girl didn't belong in her home, and she was only there because Blake felt bad and it was Christmas. But Ayame wasn't about to play buddy-buddy with a Team Rocket grunt, even if she was a "former" member. For all of five minutes. She had absolutely no faith that Blake's faith in Carrie would be rewarded. She was sitting there in an armchair, and Ayame could tell that she didn't belong. She was sitting there in an armchair, and Ayame could tell that she didn't belong, the uncomfortable look on her face said more than enough. But Ayame could "play nice."

"Can I come?" Val chirped, Blake flinching at the sickly-sweet sound of her voice. He froze at the door, and glanced over his shoulder at her. She was standing a few feet behind him, her hands behind her back. She leaned forward, her body standing out from her tight black sweater. I might have been a coquettish pose on a normal girl, but on Val it looked like a Seviper preparing to strike.

"You can show me around!" She added, her eyes shining at the distress on Blake's face.

"Uh… sure," Blake said, seeing the dangerous look in her eyes. He didn't want to make her mad, and besides, he needed to get her alone so that they could talk. Or maybe something other than talk. He glared at her with a white-hot rage, and nodded his head.

"Ooh, you guys are going?" Ayame perked up. "Can I come, too?" Anything to not have to stuck alone with that Team Rocket thug.

Blake opened her mouth, glancing at Val. Her eyes flared in a look of warning, and her sleeve shifted, something shiny peeking out from under it. The threat was clear, and Blake was absolutely not going to let anything happen to Ayame.

"Actually, Aya, don't you think you should keep our other guest company?" Blake asked. Ayame's jaw dropped in shock. Blake should know how she felt about that.

"Uh…" The doubt in Ayame's voice made it clear that she didn't want to spend time with Carrie, so Blake had to follow up with a way to get her to want to.

"Look, if you leave her alone, she might get into trouble," Blake whispered to her, playing on Ayame's fears and doubts about Carrie. He kept his voice low in the hope that Carrie wouldn't catch onto how he was throwing her under the bus.

The slack-jawed look of shock and betrayal on the pink-haired girl's face told him that he probably should have whispered even softer.

Ayame turned and glanced suspiciously at Carrie.

"Yeah, you make a good point," she nodded, narrowing her eyes at the (former) Team Rocket grunt. She walked back and plopped down on the couch across from Carrie, folding her arms in front of her chest and puffing herself out disapprovingly as the girl just gave her a vacant look in response.

"I'm not going to let you steal anything from us," Ayame warned her. Carrie was getting real sick of the condescension from the taller girl.

…At the same time, though, she had been a member of Team Rocket only a couple of hours ago, so she couldn't exactly blame the girl from being suspicious. And she WAS doing her a big favor by letting Carrie stay in her family's home. So even though it was a pain in the ass to put up with, Carrie would endure a little bit of cold, scrutinizing suspicion from the other girl.

"Shall we go then?" Val asked, stepping closer to Blake. "I haven't met… what was her name again? Megumi? So she's a painter? Fascinating, a professional painter? Does she have her own studio? Would you mind showing me around? Thank you so much! This place is so large and cool, and so… rustic, I just love it!"

Val continued with similar vapid gushing until they were out of earshot, her valley-girl smile shifting into a more menacing grin. Blake stopped, turned, and grabbed her by the collar, slamming her against the wall.

"What are you doing here?" Blake snarled.

"Happy to see me?" Val's voice was slick as oil. Blake wanted to wring her neck, but before he could breathe she had pressed the tip of her knife against his throat, her eyes flaring with a daring gleam. But Blake wasn't taking the bait.

"How did you find me?" Blake demanded, ignoring the knife. He didn't let her go, but he didn't tighten his grip, either.

"Find you? Please. It's not all about you, Blake, the universe doesn't revolve around your problems," Val snorted. "This is just a…" She rubbed her knee against Blake's inner leg, grinding her thigh against his crotch, "…pleasant surprise."

Blake pulled away from the girl, repulsed by her advances. Val licked her lips, closing the distance between the two of them.

"I don't mind if you want to know why I'm here, Blake," Val said, running her fingers down his cheek. Her nails were the color of midnight and were long, expertly filed into points like claws. She dragged them across his skin, drawing pale lines in the flesh that threatened to ooze red if she dug in just a little deeper. Her voice turned husky as she leaned in closer to him. "Shall we… quid pro quo?"

Blake recoiled back, turning away from her. He wanted to shove her off of him but he didn't know how she might react to that.

"That tall girl," Val called over his shoulder. "Ayame Toujou. You're dating her?"

"What?" Blake flinched, "n-no, I-"

"Oh, please, I'm not one of your little schoolmates," Val snorted, running her fingers across his collar as she slid around him, batting her dark eyelashes at him. "I could tell at a glance that you two had something special going on. Why else would you be spending Christmas over at her place? I've gotta say, Blake, I'm impressed."

Blake scowled. Anything that would be impressive to someone like her was clearly something he should be ashamed of, but Ayame was absolutely not.

"I guess Kate was kicked to the curb, huh?" Val giggled, licking her lips with excitement. She shook, her cheeks flushing at the thought of it. "Ooh, you heartbreaker! Can't say I blame you, though, that girl is tall, dark, and oooooh, that voice? It got ME moist in ALL the right places!"

"You don't talk about her," Blake snarled.

"Did the sludge girl cry? I bet she cried. How was it? Did it give you the warm and tinglies? God, if only I was a boy, it would have been the best! I'd have seduced that ugly sludge girl and used her in so many ways, before finally throwing her away?! There are ways you can hurt a girl as her boyfriend that you just can't as a girl!" Val wobbled, the sickening look on her face practically orgasmic. "Oh, I wish I could have been there when you defiled her down to her very soul!"

Val brought her arms up and deflected Blake's punch effortlessly, her cocky smile not shaken even for a second. She tsk-tsk'd him, shaking her head, chastising Blake like he was a child. "Naughty boy, but I understand."

To make her point clear, Val slipped her knife into her palm, the sharp blade shining in the light. She tossed it from hand to hand, twirling it around her fingers, her eyes widening with excitement. She pointed it at his throat.

"No more violence, though," Val said. "I don't want you… 'acting out' like that. No more incidents, little puppy. You just be a good little boy, and we won't have any problems."

"There's no way you'll be able to kill them," Blake snarled.

"Maybe not," Val shrugged. "…But I could kill you. Get that girlfriend of yours, maybe her mom, that pink-haired girl… I don't know, I think I could. Want to put it to the test? Think I can take care of you before you can reach that pokeball of yours?"

She took a step closer to Blake.

"Just so we're clear, it's not just the violence. I have… things planned, on that mountain, and that's why I'm here. Hiromi Toujou is quite a well-known person, even if she is a former pokemon ranger. And her husband, well, between the two of them, there's quite a lot about the mountain that the two of them know. So I'm going to play the nice little dinner guest and stay the night, and get ALL sorts of info out of them, and then, well, we'll see what happens. So you just play the good host, and let me have my fun, okay?"

Blake glowered at her, his eyes brimming with hatred. But he didn't say anything.

"Good boy," she purred, running her fingernails down his cheek. "You just keep your little mouth shut, and I won't have to get… violent."

"Or maybe I send out my Salamence, and have her eat you," Blake replied. Val didn't seem intimidated by the threat at all. Her smile was actually widening.

"You sure about that one? Because natural disasters happen all the time, you know."

Blake didn't understand what she meant. Val sighed, placing her hand on his shoulder.

"This is the time when I have to be very clear," Val said, her jovial tone fading away to be replaced with a serious, harsher sounding voice. "I have an acquaintance out there, I believe you've met her? Her name is Rui. And if anything happens to me, or if I give the word, there might be a little avalanche. Or maybe an earthquake. The point is, well…"

She let the obvious threat hang.

"There's a good boy," she cooed, patting him on the cheek.

"Why are you doing this?" Blake demanded.

"You must have guessed," Val smirked. "An Orica."

"On Mt. Silver."

"I'm going to find it," Val shrugged. "Not a big deal. Just stay out of my way, and we won't have any problems, sound good?"

Blake wanted to smack her across the face. But not only would he fail, he would bring down her wrath upon the Toujou family. He couldn't let that happen. So he stood there, glaring impotently at her, as she smiled cheerily.

"Take me to meet Megumi?" Val asked, her eyes twinkling as she relished in the rage and despair filling Blake's face. "I'm just dying to meet her."

Blake grumbled something and turned, heading towards Megumi's studio. Then, he froze when she said something else.

"You haven't asked me about her yet," Val's singsong voice rang in his ear, making his blood boil. He felt her breath hot on the back of his neck, her nails tracing his chin. "Guin. Nev. Vere."

Blake didn't reply. He began to shake with rage.

"She's thinking about you, you know," Val whispered. "Every day she wants to see you, you're all she can think about. If you wanted… I could pass you a message. Maybe tell her you're doing just fine? Thinking about her?"

"Just leave it," Blake sighed. If she kept talking, he WAS going to try to punch her again, and he knew that she knew that. She was just playing with him, like a Meowth playing with a Rattata. Trying to goad him.

Blake sighed, letting out a long, heavy breath. For maybe the first time, he was grateful for Sylvia Driscoll of all people. She goaded him just the way Val did. He knew what she was playing at, and Sylvia's games had built up his tolerance for words like this enough to keep his anger in check.

"I wonder if I should talk to cute little Guinevere about Ayame Toujou?" Val mused, pretending like she was just talking to herself, but her eyes slid over to Blake, staring at him pointedly to let him know that, yes, she was talking to him. She stroked her chin in contemplation. "I wonder how such a sweet little girl would respond to the knowledge that her dearly beloved older brother, the one she idolizes so much, had gotten himself a tall and sexy girlfriend? Why, that might just break her poor little heart! I can't imagine what her reaction would be…"

She put a look of faux horror on her pretty face.

"I hope she wouldn't do anything… violent!" Val gasped.

Blake ground his teeth together.

"What… do you want…?" He demanded.

"Now, I know you wouldn't want to do anything to endanger your sweet girlfriend's family," Val murmured. "But I don't think you're quite onboard just yet. So I want service with a smile, you understanding where we are in this conversation. Say. NOTHING. Or else, not only will I have to break poor sweet Guinevere's heart, but your girlfriend and her family, well…"

Val knew she didn't need to say anything. She patted Blake on the cheek, walking around him, and heading down the hall. She stopped in front of the door to Megumi's studio, glancing back at Blake, her eyes shining.

"This door, right?"

Blake glowered at her, feeling completely helpless and impotent against Val's prodding.

One chapter back, and already Val is tearing it all down. What will be left in her wake? Will Blake be able to protect the Toujou's from Val's threat?