Marion and Flora are reunited! What will their meeting entail? Are they… will they still be friends? What will come from their meeting? Hopefully, things won't be too bad, even if Flora is a member of a terrorist group? Will that be a problem for them?

KedharS: You thought she was perfect, but in the end, that was just

Aquahaze675: It's really rough. She sets such horribly high standards for herself, and tears herself apart when she's unable to meet them. Poor girl.

Hellraiserphoenix: Unfortunately not. The Empress isn't about to let herself be seen or overheard as having moments of weakness. She might act perfect and amazing, but in the end, Olivia is still just a human, like anyone else.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 449

"Marion…!" Flora took a step towards Marion, Gwen forgotten behind her as she approached the young girl she thought of as a little sister.

Marion opened her mouth to say something and lurched forward, stopping herself before she could take a step as her initial urge was overpowered by her rational thoughts, reminding her of the truth she didn't want to believe. She stepped back, Flora freezing, confused.

"What's wrong, Marion?" Flora asked. "Don't you recognize me? It's me, Flora! Remember? I knew you back when you were this small!"

Flora held her hand out at her waist to indicate the height that Marion had been last time she'd seen her, staring at Marion with a hopeful look in her eye.

"…I remember," Marion muttered, lowering her head and tilting the brim of her hat down to shield her face from Flora.

Flora's face fell and she lowered her hand, slumping over. "Is… is something wrong, Marion? Are you okay?"

"Flora… I… ran into Rey… a few months ago…" Marion said, peeking out from behind the brim of her straw hat, her eyes watering. "He… was calling himself Preya. He… he attacked me and my friend, and tried to steal something important. He said… he said that he was part of this group, called the Children of the Oracles."

Flora flinched, Marion wincing as she saw her suspicions confirmed on her old friend's face, lowering her head again.

"…And he said that you and Rast and the others… that you were all a part of it too," Marion mumbled. "But… but that's not true, is it, Flora? You… you wouldn't do something like that, right? You're the kindest, sweetest girl I know, you wouldn't… you wouldn't hurt anybody, right, Flora? Because… because you just want to put smiles on everybody's faces, right?!"

Marion glanced up, her face filled with desperation as tears streamed down her cheeks. She forced a pitiable smile onto her face, her eyes pleading with Flora. "Please Flora… say it's not true… Rey was just lying, right? You aren't really…"

As much as she tried to beg Flora to say it wasn't so, not even Marion believed the hollow pleas coming from her mouth. She knew it was true. The guilt on Flora's face said it all, the way her eyes had dimmed when Marion brought up the Children of the Oracles, that told Marion that her pleas would fall on deaf ears.

"It… is," Flora admitted, lowering her head, unable to meet Marion's accusatory gaze any longer. "But… but it's not what you think!"

"They're hurting people, Flora! People and pokemon! Why would you… why would you want to work with them?!" Marion demanded, her throat raw.

Flora grit her teeth, looking back at Marion with tears in her eyes.

"Peace in our world!" She cried. Her voice fell into a soft whisper as she shook, her shoulders slumping. "That's why…"

The words stung Marion. She had heard them far too often.

"Doctor K, is she…" Marion asked, her voice cracking so much she had to pause before continuing the question, "is she… working with you guys, too? Is she one of those 'Children of the Oracles' or whatever?"

Marion didn't know how she would feel if Flora had told her yes. She idolized Doctor K, just like she loved all of her old friends from Anja Karzat. Facing what had happened to Flora and Rey was bad enough, but if Doctor K was involved as well…

Marion knew it would feel like her heart would be ripped out. Doctor K had been like a second mother to her. If she looked at Marion with that same loving smile she always did and patted her on the head and told her she'd done a good job… would Marion really be able to turn down the doctor's request to join with them? Even knowing everything that had happened? All the bad things they had done, to not just her friends, but people everywhere?

Marion wanted to believe she was strong enough, but deep down inside she knew she was still that little girl who idolized the woman who was like an angel to her.

"She… she isn't," Flora admitted, Marion's heart surging with vindication. She sighed with relief as her body relaxed, before realizing that she shouldn't be happy about something like that, and tensed back up as she glanced back at Flora.

"She isn't?" Marion asked, hoping that she'd heard right. Flora nodded with a glum look on her face, clearly not as happy.

"We haven't seen her," Flora said, shaking her head. "She disappeared when Anja Karzat collapsed. After that, well… we've been looking for her, but…"

"She's gone," Marion murmured.

The two girls stood in silence. Gwen was off to the side, with nothing to say. Flora was so happy to see Marion. And Marion, in spite of the pain that came with it, was happy to see Flora, even knowing she was a criminal. The reunion wasn't touching, it wasn't the joyous event that it should have been, not with where they both were now.

Marion was the first to speak.

"Peace in our world… that was what Doctor K always said, wasn't it?" Marion asked. "In her dream for the future. So I thought…"

"We've taken her dream and we're going to make it a reality," Flora replied. "That's all we want. I know, that in your eyes, it might not be right, but… Marion, we just… we still…"

Flora shook her head. Her eyes were kind, but they were brimming with conviction.

"I won't make excuses for what we're doing," Flora said. "I am a criminal. And no matter how good I try to be, that won't change. But right now, I'm trying to do the best I can to create a world where all of us can be happy. It might be wrong… but I promise that in the end, our people will be happy for what we've accomplished."

"Our people?" Marion asked. "Terrorists?"

"People like us," Flora said, placing her hand over her chest. "Children of the Oracles. Harmonia users. People like us, who are seen as freaks and monsters because of our abilities, ostracized by everyone and forced to hide who we are!"

"…So that's what it means," Marion said. "And you're all like that? All you Children of the Oracles, you're all harmonia users? Because that girl…"

Marion turned her attention to Gwen for the first time, and reached out with her harmonia to establish a connection with her. And the moment she did, she wished she hadn't.

"Urgh!" Marion began to gag at the sensations rolling off of the girl. She fell to her knees, her poll rolling through the dirt as she shook, coughing painfully as she resisted the urge to vomit at the noxious energy that the other blonde girl was emanating.

"Marion!" Flora cried, running to her side and kneeling next to the fishing girl, placing her hand on the girl's trembling shoulder.

Marion couldn't withstand it as she reached out to the girl. Elaina's harmonia was a roaring tornado of pain, and when Kitty was slipping into darkness, it was like a curtain of soft light slowly being blacked out by a horrid shadow, and she couldn't stand that, either.

There had been others, of course. Rey… no, Preya's harmonia, which was like a cloud of toxic sludge oozing off of him, filled with his bile and pain from the years of torment in Anja Karzat, and the kind warmth of Doctor K herself. And Flora, of course, whose harmonia gave Marion the sensation of the aroma of flowers, soothing and healing her in so many ways that Marion just felt like giving her a hug like she had before.

But this girl…

Marion wasn't sure how she had missed it before. This girl's harmonia was the most horrific feeling she had ever felt. It was like her thoughts were forcing their way into Marion, like her harmonia was… corrupting her, polluting her, trying to fill her with pain and malevolence that even Preya's harmonia didn't feel this corrosive.

It wasn't… it wasn't something she could fully wrap her head around. Every second she reached out towards her, trying to peer a little deeper, it was like hearing a blaring voice screaming in her head, shouting and thrashing and filling Marion with terror she could scarcely begin to wrap her brain around, driving her to an unbearable feeling of sickness. Bombarding all of her senses, overpowering her, a single, concentrated thought put into every form of communication possible, but not one word of it uttered from the girl's lips.

"HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME! HELP ME!"

It overwhelmed Marion, she couldn't withstand so much agony anymore. She severed her connection and she found herself able to breathe again, coughing, hurling up her dinner in the mud as she trembled, trying to pull herself back into sanity. Her eyes widened as she spotted her hat lying in the dirt. Apparently, in her thrashing, she had knocked it free. She grabbed it and held it close to her chest, to try and comfort herself.

"Marion, are you okay?" Flora asked.

"That girl, she…" Marion's eyes were wide with fear as she stared at Gwen, unable to even look at her face without feeling another wave of revulsion. She had pulled back her harmonia, and was focusing everything she could on keeping it contained inside of her, under control.

"You felt it, huh?" Flora asked, frowning sympathetically. "That girl… her harmonia…"

"It's awful…" Marion whispered, shaking her head, just to make sure she could do it without feeling the urge to throw up again. "What… she…"

"Her harmonia is only one of her problems," Flora said. "It plays with… other issues in a bad way. But that isn't anything you need to concern yourself with."

"Help her!" Marion croaked out. That girl was pleading for someone, anyone, to help her, hear her, SOMETHING, so hard it was overpowering everything else around her. How could Flora just look at her like that without feeling sick from her harmonia?

"I tried," Flora said, biting her lip. "I tried to help her. But I can't. I can't get through to her. Even with my harmonia, trying to soothe that girl's pain…"

Flora shook her head.

"She was there, you know. Anja Karzat."

Marion blinked.

"What? But I thought-"

"It was after you had already left," Flora replied. "She was a newcomer. Even back then, she was already… damaged. Hollow. And since then, it's only gotten worse."

Flora helped Marion to her feet.

"It's kids like her that I'm doing this for, Marion. Can you help her? Can anyone? Left to her own devices, that girl will be taken advantage of by the worst people possible."

"You people are terrorists!" Marion exclaimed. "YOU are the worst people possible!"

"We're trying to create a perfect world!" Flora cried. "A world where everybody can live in happiness! Peace in our world! And I know, it's bad what we're doing, but…"

"But the ends justify the means, huh?" Marion said quietly. "That was what they said to us too, don't you remember?"

Flora flinched.

"That's… Marion…"

"I was a little kid but I still remember their voices, those cold, harsh words about us. They said that they were performing all those tests on us for our own good, and for the good of everybody. Doctor K might have believed that, because they fooled her. But the rest of them, those doctors, they were all… I don't think I have to remind you."

"That's…" Flora shook her head. "That's not true! We aren't like them!"

"Then prove it to me," Marion said. She gave Flora a hard look, clenching her hands together. "I can at least… take an old friend to dinner."

Marion glanced at Gwen again, and resisted the urge to throw up.

"But her…"

Flora glanced at Gwen.

"You don't… want her to come with us, I imagine," Flora said.

"I can't even stomach the sight of her," Marion said quietly. Even restraining her harmonia as she was, looking at her and Marion could still feel it, those tendrils of pain sticking out, weaving their way through the air in a choking cry that pleaded for help, and the sensations she felt made her nauseous even now. "I know that's not fair, but…"

"I understand, believe me." Flora sighed, and glanced over to Gwen.

"Guinevere!" Flora shouted. Gwen turned robotically towards the other girl. "Please stay here until I get back, okay? Then we can leave."

"Understood."

"Guinevere, what did I ask you to do?" Flora asked, wanting to hear her say it back. That was a good method to test if the girl was actually paying attention or not, and whether or not she understood the orders she was being given.

"I am to stay here until you get back."

"That's right, good," Flora said, sighing in relief. She turned back to Marion, her expression apologetic. "Look, Marion, it's like I said. She's… different. Even for one of us."

"…Yeah," Marion said, nodding. She still wasn't entirely sure she was okay with it. "Will she be alright, though?"

"She's more of a threat to others than herself," Flora said, as if that would make Marion feel better. She looked at Flora with a concerned, shocked look on her face. "No, don't worry. I wouldn't let her do anything."

She turned to Guinevere again.

"Guinevere, you can't hurt anyone, okay?" Flora asked. "Guinevere, you can't get in any fights with anybody. Just stay here and be a good girl, okay?"

"Understood."

"Say it back."

"Say what back?"

Flora sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose.

"Guinevere, what did I just ask you to do?" Flora asked, keeping her voice sweet and soothing in a way that only Flora could. Flora didn't mind the girl being a little hard to deal with. That was why she often chose to work with her, since other members of their organization always got irritated and frustrated with her, and weren't very good at dealing with her… difficulties. But Flora loved and tolerated everyone, she didn't mind in the slightest.

"I can't hurt anyone," Guinevere repeated back to her. "I can't get in any fights with anyone. I have to stay here and be a good girl."

Flora nodded. She turned to Marion.

"Should we go?"

Marion nodded. She wanted to hear what Flora had to say. She didn't know what her old friend could say, but…

Marion shook her head. She would hear Flora's words. Flora was her friend, for everything else she might have been. And because of that, she needed to learn everything there was to know about these people that she was getting involved with; if, for no other reason, then a chance to bring Flora back over to her side, for which she would get a bigger picture of what was going on.

Marion picked up her fishing pole with one hand and grabbed the handle of her cooler with the other, turning on her heel and walking back down the road, Flora following after her as they headed into Lavaridge Town.

Gwen stood in front of the inn, her face a blank slate as she did what she was told, waiting in the cold night for Flora to return.

Gwen had been waiting for an hour or so, but Flora and Marion weren't the ones to come up the path towards the inn. When she saw that it wasn't Flora she continued to stare off into the night, not really caring about anything other than what she was ordered.

So Gwen didn't care that Cynthia, Violet, Sango, and Maddi were coming back after a long day's adventures in Slateport.

"Oh, hey!" Cynthia's eyes widened as she saw the blonde from a few days ago zoning out, suitcase next to her. "You checking out?"

The girl didn't respond, or even acknowledge that Cynthia was talking to her.

"Rude," Violet sniffed. She walked over, stepping into the shorter girl's line of sight. "Hey, missy, my sister was talking to you, don't ignore her."

Gwen still didn't say anything. She was no longer staring into the dark, but rather into Violet's chest, but again, she didn't seem to indicate that she cared one way or another, much to Violet's growing irritation. Maddi just stared curiously, not sure what was going on.

Only Sango recognized the blonde, because she was the only one who had met her before. And the horror dawning on her face and the shiver going down her spine, not to mention the phantom pain surging through her side and her arm, reminded her all too much of the terror inflicted on her when last she'd met the girl.

Blake might have loved his sister. But all Sango could see when she looked at the girl was something terrifying, something that made her want to run, run as far away from Guinevere Harker as she could get herself.

A confrontation? Gwen and Sango are finally reunited. What will come from this? The end of Cynthia, Sango, and Maddi's vacation in Hoenn is upon us!