This chapter, we'll be focusing on Blake and Ayame a little bit more! Let's see what awaits Blake in his Pokemon Fitness Fundamentals class! Remember to review!

KedharS: Sadly, Kanone isn't a student.

Tambry96bj: They are pretty cute, that's for sure.

Aquahaze675: Definitely cute.

Hellraiserphoenix: The trip should be pretty good, I hope.

Thunder Fire: I can only fit in so many characters. We are meeting a new one, though.

MikySP: Don't worry, this chapter will definitely have some chaos being sown, in the form of a live grenade being tossed.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 463

Blake was excited for class today. Yesterday, he'd had his Pokemon Battle Class and Pokemon Capturing Class, but today was a day where he would be taking the class he was really looking forward to. He had already taken his Pokemon Caretaking Class that morning, and the class he would be taking in the afternoon…

He was trying to look composed as he walked into the Charizard Hall, but inside his heart was pounding in his chest.

The class he was heading to was Pokemon Fitness Fundamentals.

The class that Ayame Toujou was a TA in.

Blake was a freshman and she was a senior. Which meant this was his one and only opportunity to attend a class with his girlfriend.

Blake clenched his hand into a fist and smiled, excited for what was going to happen.

"Hey, Blake." Nick's voice snapped Blake out of his fantasy of a sexy teacher Ayame making him stay after class for some special "one-on-one fitness lessons".

"Uh… yeah?" Blake turned and glanced at his roommate who was walking up to him, feeling his face flush in embarrassment at getting caught.

"…Your nose is bleeding," Nick said, resisting the urge to smirk.

"Uh-uh, oh," Blake said, wiping his nose on his sleeve, turning even more red.

"Looking forward to it, huh?" Nick smiled.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about," Blake said, shaking his head.

Nick patted him on the back.

"Take it from someone who exercises with his girlfriend all the time, I think you're going to enjoy the experience," Nick replied.

The two boys entered the classroom. Blake sat right at the front so Ayame would know that he was paying attention to what was being said (and also they would see more of each other). It was clearly not a classroom that they were going to be using much, as it was connected to changing rooms which were also connected to a large gym in the other room, where they would probably be doing much of the physical activities for the course.

Blake and Nick sat next to each other, but there was an empty seat to the other side of Blake. Apparently, not a lot of people bothered sitting in the front. The class filled up more and more, and then, much to Blake's delight, Ayame came in next.

Ayame walked in, fully dressed in her uniform, looking perfectly composed and dignified, the model student, the Track Team's Prince. That handsome exterior faltered a little as she saw Blake in the front row, taking on the appearance of a maiden in love for a brief instant, which Blake caught, much to his joy.

Ayame quickly recovered, standing at the side of the room as the professor walked in shortly after, Professor Bridges.

Darren Bridges was a mountain of a man. He practically squeezed through the doorframe, his body bulging with muscles as he towered over the sitting students. He had a shiny bald head that was glistening like the muscles bulging under his short sleeves, squeezed into a shirt and pants that he looked like was just desperate to burst out from. He had a thick, bushy black beard, and looked down at the students with dark eyes.

"Greetings, class!" His voice was a deep rumble that seemed to make the entire building shake. "You're here today because you want to train the physical conditions of your pokemon! This is a class essential for any students seeking to enter the Caretaking Course or becoming a pokeathlete, and even those hoping to enter the Battle Course! A strong foundation in a pokemon's core leads to a strong pokemon with the proper training!"

He turned to Ayame.

"This is my Teaching Assistant, Ayame Toujou. You may know her from her exceptional performance at our school's track meets!" Professor Bridges said, gesturing towards her. There were a bunch of murmurs and cheers, especially among the small handful of girls taking the course (there were six of them to the thirteen boys). Apparently, Ayame's popularity and people coming to take a class with her didn't just extend to her boyfriend.

"When I first met Ayame as a freshman taking this course," Bridges continued, laughing, "she was a scrawny thing! Now look at her, her and her pokemon are set to take the Pokeathlons by storm! That's the kind of gains you can obtain as a result of sticking with a strong training regimen, let me tell you! I hope to see the same dedication from all of you!"

Blake could certainly understand the benefits of physical fitness, especially observing Ayame's body up close.

"Now, because of the weather conditions, we won't be using the fields outside to train our pokemon," the professor explained. "We'll be working in the gym today, and for the foreseeable future until conditions improve."

He stroked his beard.

"…I'm not much one for long explanations or classwork," he admitted. "Have you all brought the uniforms you ordered for this course? We'll be heading into the gym, and we'll change into them. Before that, though, we need to assign you into groups."

"Groups?" Nick asked, confused.

"Yes, we'll be doing some partner stretches today," the professor explained. He glanced at Ayame. "So Ayame, will you assign students together to their partners?"

"I already have, in fact," Ayame said, smiling. "Please, raise your hand as I call out your name so you'll be able to find who your partner is."

She began listing off pairs of names. As the students raised their hands, this also served as a form of roll-call, as the professor went over his own list of students and checked them off.

"Oh, it seems we have one absence," Professor Bridges noted as Ayame read off the last of the pairs. "So we have an odd number of students."

"Yes," Ayame said, nodding, putting the class roster down. "There is one student left over, professor. So I figured it would be in everyone's best interest if that student paired off with me for the stretches?" She coughed, averting her eyes from the students, not trying to look too guilty.

Nick snickered as Blake looked down, blushing. He was the only student whose name hadn't been called yet. He caught her glancing his way, averting her eyes as she met his gaze. Blake had to resist pumping his fist and cheering "yes".

"If you're alright with it then I think that will be fine," Professor Bridges nodded. "Blake Harker, correct? Then you'll be working with-"

"Hiyahoo! Excuse me! Sorry, I'm late!" Another student rushed into the classroom, her face flushed. She had short curly black hair dancing around her chin, and wide green eyes. Judging by how short her breathing was, she looked like she had run all the way there. She caught her breath after a few seconds of standing in the doorway, panting, with all eyes turned her way. She turned to the professor and lowered her head in an apologetic bow. "I-I got lost, I thought it was being held in Kangaskhan Hall, I completely messed up!"

"It-it's fine," the professor said, nodding. "It's the first day of class. Andrea Rollins, right?"

"Yes, sir!" the girl, Andrea, nodded.

"Well, you may be late, but you still arrived at the perfect time," Professor Bridges nodded. "We were just assigning the class to groups for warm-up stretches. You'll be doing your warm-ups with Blake Harker, okay? Blake?"

Blake tentatively raised his hand. Ayame's eye twitched.

"Oh! Hiyahoo!" Andrea skipped over to him and took his raised hand in hers, shaking it, much to his confusion. She plopped down in the empty seat next to him and deposited her bag. "So you're Blake, right? Nice to meet you! I'm-"

"Miss Rollins, we weren't done talking," the professor said, clearing his throat. She gasped.

"Oh, no! I'm so sorry, sir!" Andrea gasped. "I just go totally carried away, I'm so sorry!"

"Well, at any rate, we'll all be going to the gym. Leave your bags at your desks and take your uniforms with you into the changing rooms, then meet up with your partner in the gym on the other side," the professor explained.

The students all agreed, rising from their seats. Blake moved to stand, too, but Andrea caught his arm as he moved to leave.

"Hiyahoo! Blake, right?" Andrea asked, grinning. "Introduction Part 2! I'm Andrea Rollins! But my friends call me Andy! You can, too! Since we're buds now!"

"Uh, sure," Blake said, smiling. He couldn't hide the fact that he was a little bummed out. He was actually excited about getting to do stretches with Ayame, and this girl, Andrea, had thrown a wrench into those plans.

He shook his head, and forced himself to look at her in a kinder light. It wasn't nice to blame her for something that wasn't her fault. Besides, she seemed like a nice girl. She reminded him a lot of Cynthia and Sango, actually.

"Well, we better get going then!" Andrea said, grabbing her bag of clothes out of her backpack and jumping up out of her seat, the momentum of her energized movements nearly knocking him off of his feet.

She dashed into the changing rooms, and Blake sighed, pulling out his own gym uniform and heading into the men's changing room.

Ayame was trying not to be irritated by what she'd seen in the classroom. That Andrea girl was acting super-nice, almost flirting, with her boyfriend! The nerve of that girl, stopping her from spending time with her boyfriend…

She sighed, and calmed down, as she unbuttoned her shirt, hanging it up in her locker, pulling the white shirt of the gym uniform over her head.

"Ayame Toujou! Hiyahoo!"

She'd only heard that bizarre greeting a few times and it was already getting on her nerves. She pulled her shirt the rest of the way down and turned her head to see the perky girl having taken the locker beside her, smiling at her with those shimmering green eyes.

"I'm Andrea!" She said. "I'm so glad to take this class with you! I saw you were the TA, and I knew I just had to take it!"

"Uh, really?" Ayame asked, surprised. She put on her normal stern appearance, even though she was rather flattered by praise, as she so often was. "Thank you. That is very kind of you to say."

"I, uh… I actually have been following you quite a bit," Andrea admitted, smiling sheepishly. "I saw one of your track meets? You were amazing, so I just kinda fangirled. Sorry, I mean… I can get a little ahead of myself sometimes."

"It's fine," Ayame nodded. She kicked off her shoes and unzipped her skirt, stepping into her bloomers and pulling them up. "I hope you'll give this class everything you've got."

"Yes, ma'am! Absolutely!" Andrea saluted her. Ayame blinked, the girl had finished getting changed even faster than Ayame had, even when she had entered the room after her. Andrea hung up her clothes and dashed out, a perky smile on her face.

Ayame sighed. The girl wasn't a bad person, she could see that. But she wasn't exactly enthused about her spending time with Blake, either.

No, no, don't fucking think like that, you dunce, Ayame scolded herself. She trusted Blake, there was no way Blake would do anything with her, and she had no reason to believe that this girl would try anything with Blake, either.

I guess my self-esteem is still a little more fragile than I'd like, Ayame admitted to herself. No matter how much Blake asserted he loved her, and even though she could fully trust girls like Sango and Cynthia who she knew liked him, she still was feeling uncomfortable about him being around a girl like Andrea Rollins for some reason.

…And no, it was NOT because she had a really nice ass that could give Ayame's a run for her money, and to assert otherwise was ridiculous!

Ayame maintained her composure as she walked out into the gym. The students were lined up in uniform, split into groups of two.

For once, Ayame was upset that the boys' uniforms were shorts and the girls wore bloomers, because they really highlighted Andrea's butt. And speaking of Andrea, she was all over Blake, talking his ear off as she leaned in close to him practically humping him from the side.

Blake met Ayame's gaze as she walked in, and the smile that crossed his face made her feel relieved. He wasn't paying attention to Andrea "that way", he only had eyes for her. She resisted the urge to beam at him, maintaining her composure as a teacher's aide.

"Okay, so we'll be going over some stretches, as pictured here," the professor had wheeled in a projector and a screen, broadcasting example videos of how to perform the motions. As he walked the students through it, he gestured Ayame over.

Two female students were working on an assisted leg stretch. The two girls were a little star-struck as Ayame helped them through the stretches, but her focus wasn't on it. No, her attention was aimed squarely on Blake and his… (it made her feel sick to call her this) partner.

Andrea was laying on the floor, and Blake was right behind her. Her right leg was raised and he held her knee up, tilting her foot back towards her glutes as he leaned over her, placing his left hand on her waist to keep her hips pressed to the floor as he pushed her foot forward, holding the position for the most agonizing 30 seconds of her life.

It was a perfectly acceptable stretch.

And it made Ayame want to burst a blood vessel. It almost looked like…

She shook her head. Perfectly normal, perfectly normal…

Meanwhile, Blake was feeling something similar.

"Wow!" Andrea giggled, squirming. "Your hands are so great! You do this a lot? I feel so good, Blake! You should give massages!"

"Yeah, uh, thanks," Blake said, averting his eyes. Her butt was right in front of his eyes, and it was really well-toned. If he was being honest, it was even better than-

Don't think that way you jackass. Blake lifted his hand from her waist and punched himself in the face.

"Something wrong?" Andrea asked, glancing back at him.

"No, nothing," he said, shaking his head. He hated the fact that he was feeling this way about someone who wasn't Ayame. He loved Ayame, and not just because of her nice ass (though that had played more than a small factor in his initial attraction to her, if he was being perfectly honest with himself). The fact that this girl was speaking to his… urges, the same urges that he also felt around Ayame, really made him hate himself.

It didn't help that she was so friendly, either.

"Okay, my turn!" Andrea hopped up, gesturing for him to get on his chest now. As she helped Blake get into position, he could feel her hands run against the small of his back. They were surprisingly hot, even though the room was only slightly heated. It didn't help that he had gotten permission from the school to wear the track suit instead of the usual sports clothes, either, to hide the various scars that covered his arms and legs.

"Wow, you've got some real good tone in your legs," Andrea complimented him. "Do you do a lot of running?

"Yeah, I do," Blake said, resisting the urge to glance back at her. "How did you know?"

"If there's something I know, it's muscles," Andrea explained. "And these really feel like the legs of someone who runs. Your quads are pretty tight, you know?"

"Thanks, I guess," Blake said, nodding.

"You're not much of a talker, are you?" Andrea laughed.

"Just, you know…" Blake said, feeling more than a little awkward about the situation he was in. "I'm not used to being so… handsy. You know, with a girl."

"Oh! Ha, so that's what it was!" Andrea was laughing even more. "Don't worry about that my dude, I'm a pro. I'm taking classes to all about stuff like this! It's going to be my major someday. Trust me. And it's Andy, not 'you'."

"…Okay, Andy," Blake said, not wanting to put up a fight on the topic.

"So, you're not used to stretching out girls?" Andy asked, causing Blake to cough in surprise. But it was difficult to look back at her with her arm on his waist. "Sorry, sorry, I meant stretching 'with' girls. I find that hard to believe, you know!"

"Uh, really?" Blake asked. "Why would you think that?"

"Well you're dating Ayame Toujou, right? I would have thought you'd be helping her stretch all the time, you know?" Andy replied.

"You… you know about that?"

"Uh, yeah, it's only the talk of the school," Andy laughed. "You two are a well-known power couple, you know? So I just figured you'd be helping her stretch. And maybe helping her in other ways, if you get my drift?"

Blake rolled his eyes. He put up with the girl helping him, hoping that Ayame wouldn't get the wrong idea about what was happening.

After class was over, Andy made sure to get Blake's number. He was the only student she knew in the class, after all, so if she needed help going over lessons he would be a great place to start! With a smile on her face and a skip in her step, she headed off to dinner.

"Hiyahoo!" She greeted her dining partner with a wave. She was excited. She didn't get to eat in fancy places like this as a first-year, they were rather pricy. So the fact that she was dining on someone else's dime was quite the treat!

And not only a fancy restaurant, but a private booth? It was just the best!

"Hello, Andrea," the man seated at the table said, greeting her with a wave. "Oh, wait, you like to be called Andy, right?"

"Yep! That's right!" Andy chirped, sitting down across from him. "I can't believe it, though! I'm sitting with, having dinner with, THE Phantom! Awesome!"

Richard Valon gave her a polite smile, completely devoid of emotion.

"How were your classes today?" He asked.

"Oh, just the best! But you mean my Pokemon Fitness Fundamentals one, right?" Andy clarified. "The one with Blake and Ayame?"

"You understand well," Valon said, nodding.

"Blake was great! I think he'll be a great friend!" Andy laughed, taking a sip from the complimentary water. "And Ayame? She was just the best! I knew it was a great idea to take this class!"

"Just a friend? That's it?" Valon asked.

"Well, yeah, what else?" Andy asked, tilting her head to the side, confused.

"Any… other feelings? Romantic feelings towards him?" Valon pressed.

Andy burst out laughing.

"Come on, of course not! He's got a girlfriend! I wouldn't try to get between my top ship, don't even joke about that!"

Valon paused in consideration, his smile widening.

One step at a time, then…

"…Well, that's good," Valon said. "Now, eat your fill, the food here really is lovely."

So, a new player in the game! Will Andy spell bad news for Blake and Ayame's relationship? We'll have to find out as time goes on…