With the second semester comes the reuniting of our characters, and celebrating their reunion! Hopefully things will get off to a good start!
Rosealine gold: Maybe Ayame will have some steep competition…
Tambry96bj: Here it is!
KedharS: Civil war?
Thunder Fire: Because that was the name of the character submitted lol.
Aquahaze675: They aren't second-years, this is only the second semester lol, not the second year. Otherwise Ayame and the rest would have graduated by now.
Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings
Chapter 454
"Reiner! Nick! I feel like it's been forever since I saw you guys!" Cynthia's face brightened as she skipped over to her friends. They had all agreed in the group chat to meet up for dinner, since their group of friends were all at the Pokemon Academy now. Blake and Ayame were going to meet them at the Snorlax Commons, being the last ones to arrive on a late flight from Johto. The four girls met up with the two boys outside of the Bulbasaur House, with Nikita being the only one besides Blake to not show up yet.
"Hey, Cynthia," Reiner said, waving to Cynthia. He waved to the other girls too. "You're not wrong, it feels like it's been forever for me, too."
"So, Nick, how's Callie?" Cynthia smirked, wiggling her eyebrows. Nick blushed and glanced away from her to try and hide his embarrassment. "She coming along?"
"She, uh… she can't," Nick said, shaking his head. "She's not here yet. Apparently she's coming in tonight."
"Gonna stay up late to meet her? Maybe get some of the reunion nookie?" Cynthia teased, elbowing him in the side.
"We haven't, uh… done that," Nick coughed, shaking his head.
"Blake, though, what do you wanna bet that Blake got some over the break?" Reiner mused, stroking his chin. "He did go on vacation with that girlfriend of his, after all. Three weeks is a lot of time to get down and dirty in all kinds of ways."
Cynthia's face darkened and she leveled a cold glare at Reiner.
"Shut up, Reiner," she muttered. "On the note of girlfriends, how's Nikita doing? Any news? Her egg hatch yet?"
Now it was Reiner's turn to look a little green around the gills.
"Uhum, um… let's not talk about that stuff," Reiner said, shaking his head. "A-Anyway, Nikita says she might be a little late, she's busy unpacking."
"So Blake and Ayame are gonna meet us there, and Nikita's still unpacking," Cynthia said, glancing at her phone. She turned to Sango, "hey, Sango, you hear from Maddi? She coming?"
Sango checked her phone.
"Hey, did you know they made a middle finger emoji?" Sango replied. "Apparently, she's too exhausted for the drain of socializing."
Cynthia sighed. She thought that Maddi had made some decent progress in terms of opening up, but apparently old environments meant a return to old habits. Although, in fairness, their flight had been quite a long one yesterday, and Maddi didn't have the boundless energy that Cynthia and Sango both had.
A chorus of dings caused everyone to look at their phones.
"Ooh, update from Blake!" Cynthia spoke up, even though everyone else could already see it anyway. A look of confusion spread over her furrowed brow as she looked at her phone. "Huh, it says change of plans. Blake's still coming, but an emergency popped up for Ayame, so she's not going to be able to join us."
"Weird," Sango said, confused. "I wonder what's going on with that?"
"Bummer," Cynthia groaned. "I was hoping to tease Blake and Ayame to see their reactions, but I guess I'll just have to settle with Blake."
Sango put her phone away and turned to the others, smiling. "Now then! You guys ready to head out? I'm starving, even more than usual!"
"Castform!" Silver agreed. The kids headed to the Snorlax Commons.
Meanwhile, across campus, Blake, Ayame, and Olivia were getting off the boat, the sun low on the horizon.
"So what's up?" Blake asked as he and Ayame walked off the boat. "Why are you calling it off?"
Ayame sighed and stared at Olivia, who was still in a rather irritable mood, typing away on her phone as she walked off the boat.
"The boss is kinda… she's in a pretty bad mood," Ayame said. Her phone dinged again. She fished it out of her jeans and checked out the message, glancing up at Olivia, who was looking at her with a pointed expression.
Ayame growled.
"She says, 'it's none of Blake's business, don't tell him'," Ayame said as loudly as her deep voice would allow so that Olivia would hear what she was saying. "Olivia, if you have an issue, you don't have to text me, you can just tell me to not tell my boyfriend next time, okay?"
Olivia muttered something neither one of them could hear and walked over, dropping her phone into her purse. She crossed her arms in front of her chest, cocking her hip to the side and tapping her toe impatiently.
"Look, Blake, it's not like I have a problem," Olivia sighed, shaking her head. Her face softened and she glanced sadly at Ayame. "It's just that… this is something private. And… personal. And having Aya there, well…"
"Don't worry, boss," Ayame said, nodding. "I'm happy to help." She turned to Blake and mouthed "I'm sorry" to him.
"Thank you, Aya, that's why you're my best girl," Olivia smiled coyly, reaching up and patting Ayame on the cheek. She turned to Blake. "Sorry, Blake, but I'm gonna have to borrow your girlfriend for the night."
She gave Blake a flirty wink. Ayame rolled her eyes and Blake scowled.
"I'm sure you don't mind, right? I promise I'll give her back chastity intact." Her eyes narrowed suspiciously and she licked her lips, glancing at Ayame and then at Blake, stroking her chin. "Unless, of course, we're a little late for that, you can always tell m-"
"We're going," Ayame said, grabbing Olivia by the shoulders and steering her away from Blake, her face flushed with embarrassment as she pushed her friend as far away from her boyfriend as possible. She glanced back, "I'll call you tonight, Blake!"
Blake waved, and picked up his luggage, dragging his suitcase behind him as he headed towards the Snorlax Commons. He walked into the dining area, and his eyes landed on his friends, sitting around a bunch of tables pushed together. It was a nostalgic sight, seeing his friends after three weeks. It was the longest he'd gone without seeing them, and seeing them with his own eyes sent a wave of nostalgia through him.
Blake blinked, taken aback. He had missed his friends, sure. But he had no idea how much he'd missed them until he saw them, and realized something shocking. He had friends who were so much a part of his life now, that not seeing them and then seeing them again had had an actual impact on his mood, and he was now overflowing with joy.
The fact that he felt that way made him brighten, and he took a few steps forward, waving at his friends as he called out a greeting.
"Blake!" Cynthia and Sango were the first ones to notice. Sango's mouth was busy eating the food she was shoving into it, so she didn't move or get up, just waving at him. Cynthia, on the other hand, called out to her friend. She hopped up out of her seat and ran over to him, throwing her arms around him.
"H-Hey," Blake sputtered, hugging his friend back, his suitcase falling to the floor. "Been a while, Cynthia, how are things?"
"Great, just great! But I'm doing even better now that you're here!" Cynthia murmured, rubbing her cheek against his chest.
Blake picked up his suitcase and tried to maneuver his way to the table while still in the tight grasp of the redhead, giving sheepish looks to the others who were smirking at him. She set his backpack and suitcase down beside an open chair that Cynthia had clearly been saving for him since it was right beside hers, and straightened back up.
"Cynthia, I need to go get food," Blake said, glancing down at her. "Can you let go and let me get something to eat?"
"Nope," Cynthia replied, shaking her head. Blake glanced at Sango, who wiped her lips with her napkin, smirking.
"Hey, I had to put up with her for three weeks, if you didn't want her glomping you than you should have brought that girlfriend of yours with you," she replied. "…By the way, good to see you, Blake. How was your break? Did you, um… did you and Ayame…"
"Did you and Ayame bang over break?" Reiner asked. "That's what Sango is being way too much of a shy girl to ask."
Sango's face turned bright red and she glanced down bashfully, burying her face in her hands in shame. She turned away from Blake and back to her food, suddenly very occupied with finishing off the remaining five slices of pizza on her plate.
"Where is Ayame, anyway?" Julia asked. "She's not coming? Something come up?"
"Unfortunately," Blake said, nodding. "It's a private issue, something to do with Olivia."
Cynthia mumbled something into his chest and laughed.
"What?" Blake asked, glancing down at her. She turned her head up to look him in the eye, a coy smile on her face.
"I said 'you got NTR'd'," Cynthia repeated.
Blake bopped her on the head in response. Everyone else shared a few chuckles with each other at both of their expense.
"Now let me go so I can go get something to eat," Blake asked.
No answer. At least, not a verbal one, anyway. Cynthia continuing to hold onto him was about as clear of an answer as one could get. In fact, she might have even tightened her grip a little bit more. Blake sighed and rolled his eyes, turning and staggering toward the welcome-back buffet, dragging 100 pounds of clingy redhead along with him.
Blake wasn't the only one on campus preparing for dinner. Olivia and Ayame were walking towards Olivia's private dorm, discussing the plans for the evening.
"You're having dinner with Alcea Vermeil," Ayame said, the words sounding foreign in her mouth. "You. Dinner. With Alcea Vermeil."
"That I am, Aya, glad to know you can read my texts," Olivia said as they entered the building, heading towards Olivia's penthouse suite. "And not only is it a dinner, but it's a dinner that we're going to be pulling out all the stops for. In my private dining room, of course."
Olivia's "private dining room" was a cozy little compartment attached to her massive room. Cozy in the relative sense, anyway. It was probably about the size of a freshman dorm room, with a nice electronic fireplace, an elegant, hand-carved (by Olivia's Garchomp) table and set of chairs, the perfect place for two people to share an intimate meal with one another.
Ayame could no longer remember the number of women that Olivia had seduced over a candlelit dinner in that room, it had grown too high.
Not that seduction was on the menu tonight, of course. Well, not seduction in THAT sense, Ayame was pretty sure. There was a little bit of seduction in every element of Olivia's relationship with Alcea Vermeil, although that "seduction" was usually reserved for making the other girl admit Olivia's superiority over her.
Not that the boss had an inferiority complex or anything.
"Tonight has got to be perfect," Olivia continued, stripping out of her dress as she entered into her enormous room of a walk-in closet. "Absolutely perfect, do I make myself clear, Aya? I won't have anything go wrong here. Now, help me pick out a dress. Since it's Alcea Vermeil we're talking about, I'm thinking something in scarlet, what do you think?"
"You know me, boss, I'm not the one to talk to for fashion," Ayame said noncommittally, shrugging her shoulders. "I think you look good in anything, personally."
Olivia frowned, tapping her finger against her lips. Ayame wasn't going to be much help on the fashion front, but then, Olivia didn't want the girl with her tonight for her fashion sense. No, she need Ayame for… other reasons.
"Look, boss… I know that things with Alcea are tense," Ayame said softly, walking over to her friend and placing a hand on Olivia's bared shoulder, giving her a relaxing shoulder rub to calm her down. She could see that Olivia was tense, and wanted to help.
"…Yeah," Olivia muttered. "I'm glad you're here, Aya."
"Of course," Ayame giggled.
"I know you wanted to spend your night with Blake and his friends," Olivia said, her voice apologetic. She did feel bad that she had taken Ayame away from her boyfriend, but she really was going through a rough time. Olivia's… relationship with Alcea was a commonly-known aspect about her to everyone who knew her.
Olivia needed Ayame at her side tonight, for moral support. Otherwise, she didn't know how she would be feeling tonight. Ayame was her rock, as long as she had Olivia's back, there was nothing that the Empress couldn't get through.
And tonight, the Empress had quite a performance to get through.
Olivia found what she considered to be the perfect dress. It was red satin with a neckline that plunged all the way to her navel, and yet the way it was positioned still made it elegantly tasteful instead of trashy. It went down to her knees, another sign of class, while extra tight around her hips to hug every curve.
"I told Alcea to dress up in something nice tonight," Olivia said as she changed into her dress. "I wonder what she's going to wear?"
Ayame shrugged, not that Olivia saw. She was too busy talking to herself.
"Think it'll be something fancy?" Olivia murmured. "I know that with Alcea Vermeil I won't have to worry about her slutting it up."
"No, that would be your job," Ayame chuckled. Olivia silenced her with a withering glare. On any other night, she would laugh off Ayame's teases, or maybe respond with a shot fired right back at her in response.
But tonight was no ordinary night.
Tonight, everything would have to go perfectly. She could NOT have Alcea Vermeil think she was a bad hostess.
So no. No joking from Ayame. And she better not see Ayame sending flirty text messages back and forth with her boyfriend and lighting up like a schoolgirl.
"Sorry, boss," Ayame said, hanging her head bashfully. Olivia sighed, trying to force herself to relax. It didn't work.
"No, I'm the one who's sorry," Olivia apologized. "I'm feeling stressed out right now, but I shouldn't be taking that out on you."
"Please, not even close to the first time I've been in this situation, you know that," Ayame assured her with a good-natured smile on her otherwise stern face. "Just say the word, boss. Like you said, this is your night, after all."
"Well, for starters, you can save the 'boss' talk for when the lady of the hour actually gets here," Olivia said. "For now, just call me Olivia."
"Really?"
"Indulge me," Olivia shrugged, pulling one of the straps over her shoulder and then the other going over the other one. "I like talking to you as a friend, Aya, you know that. Besides, I need a friend tonight, not just another kiss-ass."
"You got it, Olivia," Ayame nodded.
Olivia turned to the mirror, letting out the breath she had been holding as she admired her reflection from every angle imaginable, and a few that were still in the conceptual stages. Then, she turned back to Ayame and stood in presentation.
"Well?" She asked, placing a hand on her hip and extending her other leg to the side, cocking her hip as she preened for Ayame's perusal. "What do you think? Am I going to blow her away?"
Ayame didn't know if Alcea would be blown away or not. But she did know that Olivia looked amazing, and SHE was certainly feeling blown away.
"O-Olivia, you look…"
"Go on, be honest," Olivia said, spinning around slightly to present herself better, flashing Ayame a seductive smile. "Aren't I just gorgeous?"
"Yeah, you look… wow," Ayame said, nodding. She couldn't describe exactly what about Olivia looked so spectacular, because she wasn't good with fashion. But Olivia had used a good word. Gorgeous. Gorgeous, elegant, and, as much as Ayame was loathe to admit it, she pulled off such a pretty dress in a way that made Ayame feel like less of a woman in comparison.
Olivia just had that effect on women.
"You fell for me a little, didn't you?" Olivia purred, leaning in to show off her cleavage and tilting her head to the side, batting her eyelashes at Ayame. "If you weren't with Blake, you'd be up for giving me a toss in the bed, huh?"
"Not a chance," Ayame coldly replied, Olivia scowling at her in response. She straightened up and placed her hands on her hips, puffing up her cheeks and exhaling her frustrations in the most adorable way possible.
"You didn't have to be THAT honest," Olivia muttered, turning away from Ayame and walking out into the main room of her dorm, heading over to her makeup table. "Well, I'll show you, just watch, once I finish with my makeup, it'll be enough to turn even a straight woman gay."
Ayame raised her eyebrow.
"Olivia, I don't think that's how it works," Ayame called after her friend as she headed into the common area, plopping down on the couch.
"Aya, please, just let me dream," Olivia snarked back, gently applying lipstick an even brighter shade of red than her dress over her lips. "Can you do that, please? Just let me have my dream that I may someday be hot enough to get you into bed with me?"
"…Yeah, no, I can reserve the right to NOT do that," Ayame fired back at her. "For reasons that you can understand."
Olivia gave out a bitter chuckle, continuing to apply her makeup. Once again, Ayame felt out of place, as she so often did.
"You know, Aya, if you want Blake to sleep with you…"
Ayame coughed, her head spinning to stare in Olivia's direction, her mouth wide open. Olivia looked back at her, cracking a crimson smile.
"…If you want Blake to sleep with you, then I'll be happy to help you out," Olivia purred. "The right makeup, the right dress, a candle-lit dinner… I'll lend you my dining room, if you'd like! As thanks for tonight."
Ayame's face turned bright red. She averted her gaze from Olivia, as though the girl's coy gaze was an accusation, a condemnation of Ayame's stated desire weeks earlier to finally cross that final line with Blake and share one of her most precious gifts with him.
"Well!" Olivia said, rising from her seat and checking her phone. "Time is almost up! We must be going, after all, we need to get everything set up!"
Olivia turned and headed out the door to go prepare the room for her guest. Ayame sighed, getting up off the couch and heading out after her friend.
A little short, but it's important setup. What will come out of these dinners between the two groups? This should be an interesting night!