In this chapter, we follow Nikita as she goes to her new, special class! What will she learn from her class on Pokemon Genetics? It should certainly be an interesting class, I'll tell you that much.

KedharS: That's an understatement, to be sure.

Aquahaze675: Yeah, definitely painful, that's for sure.

Hellraiserphoenix: Yeah, if only it was easy to get over your feelings and stop loving someone. But unfortunately it isn't that easy.

Tambry96bj: Yeah, that's the real tragic part.

MikySP: Yeah. There's definitely a lot of pain involved in love. However Blake and Ayame might make it look, love isn't always perfect.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 460

Nikita was bubbling with energy as she skipped through the snow, her heart pounding in her chest. Today was shaping up to be a great first day of class! She'd been waiting all break for Professor Decker's Genealogy class, and today was the day!

Nikita dug into her pocket and retrieved her phone, checking her messages. Reiner had sent her a text wishing her good luck and telling her to do her best.

"You're a genius after all, this class is going to be a breeze!" He wrote to her. Nikita beamed, her face growing hot as she looked at her screen.

"Hey, when I get out want to get an early lunch? Your morning class lets out at 11:30, right?" She asked him. He responded a few minutes later with a confirmation just as she entered the building. Her smile grew wider. Now, she had two things to look forward to!

Still, as excited as she was, that excitement was tempered with nervousness. This was the first class she'd be taking in the Porygon Hall, where the higher-level Research Course classes were held, and she was, of course, feeling a little bit of "new girl" syndrome. She was just a freshwoman, and she would be taking this class with third- and fourth-year students. Nikita had been taking steps to improve her self-confidence and trying to be more outgoing, but in situations like this, her natural instincts started to rear their heads.

She gulped. There was going to be at least one person she knew, Maddi, but she wasn't what Nikita would call a "friend". She wished that Reiner or Kitty was taking the class with her, that would help her relax a little.

Nikita was so flustered she didn't even notice herself picking up her pace until she bumped into another student heading in the same direction.

"Oof, oh, excuse me, sorry!" Nikita gasped, her eyes shooting up off the ground to see who she had just run into.

"Oh, not a problem at all," the male student replied, giving her a smile that made her uneasy. He had such starched, white hair and pale skin, that, when combined with his gaunt figure, made her think that he was an old man at first glance. But no, he was probably only a few years older than her, a junior, maybe a senior.

But what really stood out about him were the man's eyes. They were a bright, piercing green that seemed to be worming their way right into her, and it made her want to look away. It was like he was staring into her soul right through her eyes, and the way his gaze searched hers, like he was reading her mind, it made her feel a little shaky.

"Uhum, um…" Nikita looked down, and swallowed. She knew who he was. Richard Valon. THE Richard Valon. She'd seen him before. But here he was, looking right at her. If he wasn't memorable enough on his own with those eyes of his, the fact that Misato Daisan was standing next to him was enough of a clue to the man's identity as the Phantom. "Ex-excuse me, again," she finally managed to stutter out, rushing past him and ducking into the classroom.

Nikita had gone from nervous excitement to anxiety-induced worry. There was no way, right? Why would the Phantom take this course? She'd heard rumors about what he had done. Nothing truly substantial, but… her friends had stories, or had heard stories, and that made her wary. And she would have to spend the rest of the term in the same class as him?

She didn't think enrolling in this class was a mistake, but…

"Well, someone seems a little nervous. Aren't you going to take your seat, or are you just going to spend class today clutching the door?"

The voice in her ear nearly made Nikita jump out of her skin. She whirled around, staring with wide eyes at the girl standing behind her, giving her a coy smile and a wave.

"Well, you look like you've seen a ghost! …Which would, technically, be too far off the mark." The blonde hair, her smile, and that black dress with white frills in place of the standard uniform, there was no mistaking her.

"S-Sylvia Driscoll?!" Nikita sputtered, the small embers of anxiety in her chest being fanned into a full-on roaring bonfire of dread at the sight of the other girl's wicked smile, morphed into a facsimile of geniality.

"Ah! Nikita Willow, right?" Sylvia said, recognition dawning on her as she looked at the other girl, her eyes narrowing. "So you remember me?"

Nikita gulped. How could she forget? How could anyone? Sylvia had built up quite a reputation about herself.

Nikita began to shake. She wasn't just taking this class with the Phantom and her friend Will's kinda-sorta-not-really girlfriend/stalker Misato, but Sylvia Driscoll was in this class too? Her faculty advisor had warned her that she might not be ready for a class of this level, and Nikita had, of course, ignored him.

Now she started to think that maybe he was right. Not that she wasn't smart enough to handle the content, but…

Was she brave enough to handle her fellow students?

"I, um…" Nikita's throat was as dry as the desert as she struggled to address the blonde standing across from her. "Wh-what are you doing here?" She finally asked.

Sylvia tilted her head to the side, staring quizzically at the dark-skinned girl.

"Oh? Whatever do you mean by that? I am a student her, am I not?"

"But, I mean…" Nikita was a girl who worked on rationales. She didn't like letting emotion guide her reasoning. But right now, that brain of hers that she was so reliant on had finally taken a much-needed vacation, and the substitute it had tasked with picking up the slack was woefully underqualified, leaving her nearly at a loss for words.

Nikita stared dumbly at Sylvia as her voice trailed off, her frazzled mind trying to grasp some sort of justification for why Sylvia shouldn't be here other than "Nikita was about to soak her skirt out of raw panic". Something logical she could grasp onto, to restore some semblance of sanity to her thoughts so she could calm herself down.

Luckily, in the fog of anxiety, she managed to dig something out, a single, strong thread of logic to grab hold of in the swirl of overwhelming emotions.

"…Y-y-you're a sophomore!" Nikita proudly declared, pointing an accusatory finger at her, a confident smile on her face. "Aren't you a year behind to be taking this class?"

Sylvia blinked, a perplex look crossing her face as she stared at Nikita's haughty smirk. That made Nikita feel even more proud, it was the first time she'd seen the playful troll of a girl really be caught off-guard by something.

The confidence was quickly smashed as Sylvia held her sides and burst out laughing, practically doubling over in hysterics.

"Shouldn't you be asking that question of yourself?" Sylvia cackled, wiping her eyes. "I mean, yeah, I'm a sophomore, but aren't you a freshwoman? What are YOU doing here, huh? If I'm in too low a grade to take this class, you certainly are."

Oh.

Right.

Nikita's hand dropped limply to her side as she felt her cheeks flush, looking down sheepishly as Sylvia continued to laugh.

"I-I had to do a special paper," Nikita said, unable to look the other girl in the eye. "So my advisor granted me special permission to take the class…"

"Oh! Wow!" Sylvia gasped, sobering up in a flash. Apparently her "out-of-control hysterics" were just another façade. "I did the exact same thing! Of course, something like that wasn't terribly difficult, you know."

Nikita raised her head to look up at Sylvia, confused.

"Huh?"

"I mean, come on, a paper on pokemon genetics? Please, I banged that out over Christmas weekend, not a big deal. You're a bright one, right? I'm sure your research paper was amazing, too!" Sylvia laughed, patting Nikita on the shoulder and guiding her away from the door. Nikita was stunned, getting easily swept up by the more aggressive girl.

A weekend.

Sylvia Driscoll had written a fully researched and cited paper in a weekend.

Maddi was smart, and she already knew the material, and still it had taken her nearly two weeks before her paper was in any condition where she had the confidence to submit it for appraisal by her advisor, and she still wasn't sure that it was her best work.

And Sylvia had written hers in a couple of days?!

Nikita wanted to scream, it was so unfair. But she didn't have the confidence to do that, instead shutting down as Sylvia continued to talk. Whether she was aware of how condescending her discussion was to the younger girl Nikita wasn't sure, but either way she didn't feel very good about the situation she found herself in. Nikita was smart, and she tried really hard, studied her ass off, really. But right now she was feeling absolutely squashed.

"Um!" Nikita gasped out, Sylvia glancing at her.

"Yes?" Sylvia asked, raising her eyebrow.

"Class… class is going to start soon," Nikita said. "I-I should really go sit down and get prepared for the lesson, I need some time to unwind…"

"Oh, sure," Sylvia said, nodding. But her eyes still retained that gleam in them. "Let's go find some seats, sound good? I always like sitting in the front, did you know?"

Oh. Sylvia wanted to sit with her. So much for that plan. And what she had just said, that sounded odd, to say the least.

"The… front?" Nikita asked. That was where she always liked to sit, so that she could take the best notes.

"Of course, most people would expect me to sit in the back," Sylvia laughed, placing her hand over her chest as she puffed herself up, "but I would never do something so boring and predictable. The back, the front, the far left side of the middle, heck, turning my desk around and facing the wall? Whatever I feel like doing, that's all I do. I hear you like the front, too? That's great!"

"Well, uh, actually…" Nikita was terrible with confrontation, even more so from an older, forceful girl. Sylvia was like the antithesis of everything Nikita believed in. Forget using logic and reason, Nikita wasn't even sure that the other girl's brain operated on coherent thought. She had no idea what Sylvia wanted from her, and thus, she had no idea how to rebuff her advances.

Nikita bitterly noted that this was the first time someone was hitting on a mousy girl like her, and it wasn't even because they had romantic interests. She assumed. And hoped. This was a new situation she found herself in, and she was already an utter novice at maneuvering social situations to begin with. It was like trying to find a book in a library without using the card catalog, she was totally lost.

And then, to her overwhelming relief, a saving grace came shambling through the door, a tired look on her sour face and a backpack slung over her shoulder. Nikita brightened.

"Oh! Maddi!" Greeting her friend was the perfect excuse Nikita needed to part with Sylvia, running over to the other girl.

"…Huh?" Maddi glanced dimly at her. What was she doing, calling out like that? Nikita barely said a word to her before, and here she was, coming up to her like they were best friends? Maddi was tired, and barely had enough energy to get through class. She was about to tell Nikita to leave her alone and let her relax, when she saw where Nikita was coming from, and Sylvia Driscoll's smiling face. The desperation on Nikita's face said it all.

"…Hey," she said, giving Nikita a half-hearted wave. Nikita's eyes shot to the side as she glanced over her shoulder at Sylvia.

"Can I… sit next to you?" Nikita whispered quietly, as if Sylvia could overhear her from across the classroom. "For class?"

"…Free classroom," Maddi shrugged, heading towards the back of the classroom. Nikita would have preferred sitting in the front, but she could tell that wasn't Maddi's style, and it was better than sitting in the front with Sylvia, listening to the girl talk about those illogical things that she seemed to thrive off of.

Maddi and Nikita sat down in the back, Nikita squinting at the board. The classroom was large of course, but not so big that sitting in the back made it difficult to see. Nikita squirmed in her seat and glanced over at Maddi. This was a new experience, sitting in the back. Whenever she was given the option, she always sat in the front.

Right now, though, she felt like the bad girl. Maddi… Maddi was the bad girl. She was already slumped over in her seat, face in her arms.

Nikita mentally slapped herself in guilt for thinking that about the girl sitting next to her. No, don't think like that! Maddi's a good person! Don't think of her as a "bad girl" just because she's a little rough around the edges!

The rest of the class began to fill in, and the clock struck 9. Nikita was surprised, there were quite a lot of students. She loved pokemon genetics and she knew that Maddi had passion for it, too, but that so many other students would be interested in the topic? Apparently the professor's name drew a lot of students in.

The class grew silent as the door opened, and an old man walked in, with frazzled gray-white hair and a crumpled lab coat. He was very old, ancient, really, but he walked confidently forward, stroking his chin, carrying no signs of infirmity in his aged frame.

"Greetings, students," he said in his thick, accented voice. He looked out over the classroom, and even from where she was sitting far in the back, she could see the piercing gleam in the man's eyes, peeking out from behind the small glasses he wore. They were different from Richard Valon's eyes, there was a cleverness there, but not one devoid of emotion like the boy she'd run into in the hall. She felt herself drawn into those eyes of his.

"In this class, we shall be discussing Pokemon at the very base level of their existence," he began. "Their genes. I do not know how the professors who taught this class before me handled their lessons, I can assure you of this. I am no rank amateur. This is my life's work, children. A field that I believe in, and have devoted myself to, down to the base of my soul."

He cleared his throat in my class.

"I would think, that you would expect me to take attendance," the professor declared, walking over to his desk and setting down his briefcase, unhooking the clasp and digging a thick book out from within. "I shall not. Because, if I may be frank, your names are not important to me."

Nikita blinked. That was surprising to hear from a teacher.

"I shall tell you now. I will not be one of those professors who bonds with you. I am here to teach, you are here to learn. That is our relationship. I shall not adjust myself to accommodate you. I am here to lend my expertise in this field, not feed it to you with a silver spoon. If you can't keep up, then you will quickly find yourself with nowhere to belong in this class." His eyes turned cold, and he gazed out across the room. For a moment, it looked like he paused, staring at one of the students. The Phantom. But it was only for a brief instant, Nikita noted, and his eyes continued to scan across the room. "Do I make myself clear?" He asked.

Everyone nodded.

"Good. This will not be some easy grade where you can show up, scribble down a few notes, and then go about your day. This is a course designed for true intellectual pursuits, I will not accept anything less than your best," he continued. "I am, of course, available for consultation if you feel there is something you don't know. But that is your responsibility, not mine. I will not hold things up because you're having a bad day. If you are bright, motivated, and above all, intelligent, you will learn a lot from my classroom, and learn a lot about pokemon genetics. If you are not, then I fully expect that your time in this course will be a miserable one, and it is no concern of mine."

Without even missing a beat, he shifted from his introduction to immediately jumping into the lesson, startling Nikita. She hadn't expected it to be so… sudden!

As Nikita fumbled for her textbook and notebook in her bag, she caught Maddi, not only fully alert but quickly jotting down notes.

Fast recovery.

The class was only just starting, and already Nikita found herself a little bit overwhelmed. Today wasn't off to a very good start.

By the end of class, though, Nikita wasn't as worn down. Contrary to his statements, the class was not as hard to follow as she had feared. It was all right at her level, which was a relief. Maddi had left the minute class let out, but Nikita had something else she wanted to do.

She wanted to go introduce herself to the professor. He said he wasn't interested in making bonds with them, but that didn't mean she had to be a stranger, right? She at least wanted to thank him for taking the time to come teach their class.

But as she gathered her things and put them away, she noticed that she wasn't the only one hanging back. Richard Valon and Misato Daisan were both remaining seated, the Phantom wearing a particularly smug smirk on his face as he leaned back in his chair, his snake-like green eyes leering at the professor, who was staring back at him as he put away his teaching materials.

Nikita swallowed, feeling her blood run cold as she looked at the two men. There was something there, something that she wasn't sure about. She looked down, squirming in her seat. They weren't even talking, and she still felt like she was intruding on something.

"Excuse me," the professor said, clearing his throat. His piercing eyes were leveled at Nikita.

Nikita gasped, jumping up out of her seat and clutching her bag to her chest, trembling in nervousness at being called out.

"Y-Yes?" Nikita asked tentatively, her hands shaking.

"If you have any questions, you can come see me for office hours," Professor Decker stated plainly. "You may now be excused."

Nikita nodded warily, squeezing her bag tighter and rushing out of the classroom. The atmosphere was too thick, she felt like she was suffocating. Reiner was waiting for her, and that was what was more important.

"My, professor, don't frighten the poor girl," Valon murmured, his smirk widening as he watched Nikita's departing figure, the door swinging shut behind her. "You never were one for tact."

"I have nothing to say to you," Professor Decker declared, shutting his briefcase and standing up straight, glaring at the Phantom.

"Oh? Don't tell me you still hold a grudge," Valon laughed, hopping up out of her seat and strolling towards the front of the classroom, shrugging. "It's been some time since we've last seen each other, and this is how you want to start our reunion?"

"…I know what you've done," the professor muttered. "And I suspect I know what you're doing. It's the reason I came here, after all."

Valon's face hardened, his eyes narrowing.

"…I see. So you're trying to stop me?"

"You're so obsessed with those shadow pokemon, Valon. That's what you're calling yourself now, correct?" Decker sighed, stroking his chin. "You just can't seem to let it go. In spite of their proven failure. I taught you so much better than this, and yet you still devote that intellect of yours to such meaningless pursuits."

Valon snorted.

"And you? You created a brand new pokemon! And what do you have to show for it?" He asked. "Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Adam was a failure. Whatever you're working on now? That will be a failure. Because that's who you are, old man. A failure."

Valon stepped closer, his voice carrying a threatening tone.

"But my shadow pokemon? This is just the beginning. Because I don't fail. I'll succeed. And as I'm sure you know… I have a lot more time left than you do."

The professor said nothing. He shook his head, glancing at Misato briefly, lifting his briefcase from his desk and leaving the room, not giving the white-haired boy a second thought.

Well, it looks like there's some complicated issues going down! What's going to come from this, I wonder? This looks like an interesting class arrangement, to say the least!