Now that the battle between Anabel and Alden is over, we can turn our attention elsewhere, to see what other characters are up to! Who will we meet up with next? Let's find out!

We've got a decent amount of girls nominated, but there's always room for more! If there are any other girls you think deserve a chance at the title of Pokemon Academy Best Girl, nominate them here! Alcea and Dakota have been added to the running, that should be interesting.

Currently Nominated: Alcea, Ayame, Carrie, Cynthia, Dakota, Elaina, Kate, Kitty, Maddi, Marion, Nikita, Olivia, Sango, Sylvia

Just a Bad Writer For Fun: Let's just say you may have bet on the right horse rooting for Sylvia.

KedharS: That's the idea.

Rowlets and Oshawotts: Let's see where we go next. But as you touched on, I won't be addressing what happened to Blake and Sylvia for some time.

Thunder Fire: Let's just say that probably won't happen and leave it at that.

JoshGamerV: Thank you!

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 613

How long had Sango been fishing? It was dark now, that's all she knew. She'd been so lost in catching up with Marion that time had completely slipped her mind. Everything was a blur, and all she knew as she let out a yawn and stretched, realizing it was time to go, was that she was exhausted. It felt like she'd been fishing for weeks!

She hadn't mentioned Blake to Marion. That was…

Sango's eyes widened and her fishing rod slipped from her fingers. She just barely managed to grab it before it fell into the water. Marion looked her way, raising an eyebrow.

"Everything okay, Sango?"

"N-NO," Sango said, shaking her head. "Everything is NOT okay! Darn it! I got completely caught up in fishing! I didn't even think about what was going on because I was so distracted! I don't have time for this!"

"So?" Marion shrugged, smiling at her in the flickering light of the torches. "I do it all the time, nothing more relaxing than getting caught up in fishing, don't you think? Besides, I was thrilled to catch up with you, Sango!"

"Yeah, but I already told you, I don't have the time for this!" Sango said. She couldn't believe that she had let Marion talk her into this. There had been something almost hypnotic about her suggestion that they go fishing! A distraction from a problem that Sango absolutely needed to solve! And I swallowed it, hook, line, and sinker!

…Okay, NOT what I meant.

"Sango, seriously, what's up?" Marion asked, her voice turning serious as she looked at the panic on Sango's face as she was hastily gathering her things and standing up. "What's so important that you would rather focus on it instead of fishing?"

A lot of things, if Sango was being honest, but right now the most pressing issue was the fact that Blake was gone. Blake was gone, and she'd wasted hours fishing because she had been more worried about her problems!

Marion was staring at her insistently. But Sango didn't have the time for explanations, she needed to get back to the others.

"Come along if you want to know," Sango said. "But if you'd rather keep fishing than go ahead and do that."

What was the matter with her? While Marion was gone, Sango had loved fishing. And now that she was back, Sango was being such a bitch to her. Her heart ached in regret, Marion didn't deserve to be treated like that, not when Sango was oh, so happy to see her friend again.

"…Sorry, that's not what I meant," Sango apologized, looking frantically back over her shoulder. "Look, I'll explain later, I just really gotta-"

"Let's go then!" Marion chirped, drawing her line in and hauling herself up, draping the fishing pole over shoulder and turning back to Sango with a cheery smile. "You can explain on the way, sound like a plan? Super-dupers! Let's go!"

Sango's jaw dropped at Marion's perkiness. Marion had just voluntarily stepped back from fishing to do something else?

Sango stared suspiciously at her. What had happened to her on her practicum? Was she even Marion at all, or had she been replaced with an evil duplicate?

As Sango and Silver headed back to the main campus, Marion followed after them, and they talked. Sango explained what was going on, and Marion listened quietly as she described what she had heard over the phone about Blake.

"…And I was so caught up in this whole Luvdisc Fishing Day that I completely blew Cynthia and Ayame off," Sango wailed, shaking her head. "For all I know Blake's gone and never coming back, and I didn't even care! I just sat there and fished when I could have been looking for him! I'm just the worst friend in the world!"

"Don't worry about it, Sango, sometimes you just gotta fish," Marion said, patting Sango on the shoulder. "It's nothing to be ashamed of. Besides, it's Blake. I'm sure he'll be fine. This is all just some big misunderstanding, I'll bet. I'm sure he'll be walking back into his room before the night is over, if he's not back already!"

Sango smiled a little, that sounded encouraging to her. Maybe… maybe Marion was right. Honestly, Sango really didn't know a lot about the situation, maybe this was all one big misunderstanding after all! Maybe they had found Blake, and Sango was too busy fishing to get the notification, yeah, that had to be it. Sango dug into her pocket and retrieved her phone, checking it for messages.

…Nope, nothing. She sighed. But she didn't give up hope! Marion was right, there was no reason to worry, Blake was definitely fine. He just had to be!

When they got back to the Bulbasaur House and went upstairs there was no one in her room, Cynthia and Julia were gone. But the door to the boy's room was wide open. She glanced at Marion, who gave her an encouraging smile and a thumbs up. Sango nodded, turned, and headed down the hall to see if Blake had come back after all.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. There were six people in the room, and none of them were Blake. Kitty was curled up on the bed, crying, while Nikita patted her gently on the shoulder. Julia and Reiner had been arguing with each other, but both had stopped when Sango walked in so she hadn't been able to pick up most of the conversation. Nick had been sitting awkwardly to the side while Callie was on the phone with someone, the only one still talking.

"…Yeah, that's what she said. You'll get here as soon as possible? Great. Thanks." Callie hung up the phone and turned to look at Sango, everyone's eyes widening as Marion followed her into the room as well.

"Sango? You're back?" Nick asked.

"Where have you been?" Reiner snapped. "We've been trying to find Blake all afternoon!"

Sango's heart sunk. She looked around, trying to see some sign of that hope Marion had been talking about, but no, there was nothing. Everyone in the room looked to be at some level of depression, resignation, or both. Kitty was trying very, very hard not to start crying again.

"So… so Blake isn't back?" Sango whispered.

"Of course he's not back," Reiner said, rolling his eyes. "It's not like he got sucked into some space portal to another dimension, you expect him to just pop back in like nothing happened? He's gone, Sango, he's dead!"

"YOU DON'T KNOW THAT!" Julia shouted. Reiner flinched.

"Hey, I wasn't the one who said it! It was Kitty who said that, so you argue with her!" Reiner snapped back. Julia baulked at that, glaring in response and grinding her teeth together.

"Hey, hey, what's going on, guys? Why all the negative Nancying?" Marion asked, walking into the room and looking around in confusion.

"Sorry, Marion," Julia grumbled, hanging her head sheepishly. "Look, I don't really have time to ask why you're back, because right now we're dealing with something a little more serious. Sorry for the cold welcome."

"I heard. Blake's missing," Marion said, her face shifting to a rare frown as she patted her cheek with her finger. "And what was that you were saying, Reiner? You think he's dead?"

"He's not dead!" Julia shouted again.

"He is!" Reiner insisted. "What other explanation do you have?!"

"That's… I don't-!" Julia stammered, glancing at Kitty, who averted her eyes.

"I… I think Reiner's right," Nikita admitted, hanging her head. "I don't like it, but I can't think of any other explanation myself."

"That's why I'm getting a second opinion," Callie said. "Until we talk to an expert, someone who actually knows about this whole Psychic type mess, we can't jump to conclusions!" But even as she said that, her voice was desperate. She clearly didn't have much hope, herself.

Nick reached over and placed his hand over Callie's, and she sat down beside him on the bed, trying not to cry.

While everyone was talking, Marion, still in the center of the room, let out a sigh and set her bag down on the ground, digging through it and taking out a dive ball. She let a Tympole out of the ball, the small pokemon looking up at her. She lifted him up, and the sacs on his cheeks wobbled as he opened his mouth.

A loud sonic shriek tore through the room, everyone but Marion clutching their ears in pain and doubling over.

Marion's Tympole closed his mouth and she recalled him.

"Okay? Do I have your attention now?" She asked sweetly, everyone staring at her a little uneasily. Sango herself was startled by the action.

Seeing that there were no objections, Marion continued.

"Now then. I'm picking up some parts of this conversation, but can someone PLEASE explain to me what's going on?"

"Me too," Sango said quietly. "I-I only have a little bit of an idea, so…"

Everyone began talking at once, and talking over each other. Marion reached for the dive ball again and they all quieted down.

"Nick? You're the only one I haven't heard from," Marion said, turning to the boy. "Can you please tell me what's happening?"

Nick sighed, looking around, and explained everything that had been going on with Blake that day, including the disappearance of Sylvia, and Ayame and Cynthia running off to parts unknown. Sango filled in a little bit of that, but didn't know any other details.

Marion listened to it all with an uncharacteristically serious expression on her face, nodding in agreement with everything Nick was saying.

Then he explained what Kitty had learned from her harmonia, that there was a psychic bond between Blake and Uni, and that bond had been suddenly severed for no reason. Marion raised an eyebrow at that, but didn't say anything.

Nick explained from there that, after Kitty told them what she had heard from Uni, Reiner had jumped to the conclusion that the only way that connection would be cut off like that was that Blake was dead, which was what Uni believed. Kitty glumly agreed with that assessment, while Julia vehemently protested, and now here they all were.

Sango felt tears welling up in her eyes by the time Nick finished explaining. She shook her head. No. No way. There was just no way. She wouldn't believe it, she couldn't. There was no way that Blake was dead. But she couldn't get her heart to believe that. Hearing that, hearing Blake was dead…

Sango turned and dashed out of the room, holding her chest.

"Sango!" Nikita gasped, jumping up and running after her. Marion watched them go, concerned for her friend but more concerned about what she'd just heard from Nick. She returned her attention to the conversation, turning to Kitty.

"So Kitty, you… connected with Uni, is that right?" Marion said.

"No, hold on," Callie interrupted before Kitty could respond. "We don't KNOW that he's dead! Just that the connection was broken! We need to talk to an expert on Psychic types, and that's why I called my brother! He'll be coming any moment! …Probably."

"Probably?" Nick asked, glancing at her. Callie blushed a little, averting her eyes. She looked pretty shifty.

"Well, Rafe isn't exactly… the most reliable person in the world…" Callie said. "I mean… he might show up? Maybe? Yeah. He said he would come, so…"

Callie was clearly trying to convince herself. Meanwhile, Julia was worrying, not sure how long she could keep holding onto the hope that Blake was still around. She glanced at Kitty, who looked specifically miserable, her red eyes puffy and watering. She sniffled a little, looking up at Julia like a little lost Growlithe.

Julia couldn't let it continue. She turned to Marion.

"Marion, listen. Kitty… Kitty connected with Uni using her harmonia, right?" Julia said. "But… Kitty's had some issues with harmonia before, don't forget. And these are Blake's pokemon, not hers, she had some difficulty connecting to them. It took a while. So maybe… maybe Kitty just… couldn't do it right? She misunderstood, or got her wires crossed, or something!"

Kitty stared up at Julia, stunned. She didn't think she'd gotten it wrong. Certainly she hoped that she did, but she knew what she felt.

She swallowed, shaking her head. "It… I know what I felt, Julia, honest."

Julia wasn't having it.

"Marion, you have harmonia too," Julia pleaded. "And your abilities are much more developed than Kitty's are! That means that if Kitty made a mistake, then maybe… maybe you can connect to Uni, and figure out the truth?"

Marion scowled. She sighed, reaching under her hat to scratch at her hair.

"Look, Julia, I get it, you don't want Blake to be dead, I don't either. I barely know the guy, but even so I want him to still be around. But that doesn't mean I can help. My specialty with harmonia is Water type pokemon. And even then, Kitty spent a long time looking after Uni when Blake and the others were in Galar, remember? I don't think I can make a stronger connection than she could, I'm sorry," Marion said, shaking her head regrettably.

Julia's shoulders slumped and she sank down into a chair, hanging her head.

"Um… can you? Please?" Kitty meekly asked, looking up at Marion with those big red eyes of hers. She didn't think that Marion connecting with Uni would change anything, but on the off chance that it would, she wanted to try. Like everyone else, there was no way she wanted Blake to be dead. So if there was the possibility that she had been wrong, then she needed to know.

Marion glanced at Uni and sighed, nodding her head.

"Yeah, sure thing," she said. No one could resist those big eyes of Kitty's. She walked over and sat down next to Kitty on the bed, reaching for Uni, when the door slammed open, startling everyone in the room. All heads turned to see who it was.

"Is this the right place?" Rafe asked, wearing a placid smile as he greeted everybody.

"Rafe!" Callie brightened, leaping off the bed and going to greet her brother. "You made it!"

"I said I was coming, didn't I?" Rafe laughed. Callie resisted the urge to scowl. He ALWAYS said that, and yet, whether he actually showed up or not was up to the roll of the dice.

"Enough about that, we need to talk to you about something," Callie said, urging him over to the bed. Marion got off to make room for him. "We've got an issue with a Psychic type pokmeon and we need to know more."

Rafe looked at his sister for a good long time before nodding. "Certainly. What do you want to know?"

While all this was happening, Sango had retreated to the safety of her room. Silver had followed her, but the tiny pokemon could only look at her with a worried expression. He didn't know what to do to make his partner feel better.

Nikita had come in after them, but right now she was feeling a lot like the pokemon was. She didn't know quite how to help Sango either. So right now she just sat next to Sango on her bed, patting her gently on the back as Sango cried. First Kitty, now Sango. Nikita wasn't exactly comfortable with stuff like this. She wasn't a comforting sort of person, which was probably why her pokemon egg was the only one that had still yet to hatch.

Sango sniveled and sobbed into the sheets, both in pain at the idea that Blake was dead, and hatred of herself for what she was feeling because of it.

Sango felt positively miserable. Because it wasn't just Blake she was crying for. She was such a selfish person she was actually concerned with her own feelings, and what Blake's absence meant for her. After she had so callously dismissed the idea of Blake being missing earlier that day to deal with her own fish-related problems. Said fishing pole was now discarded on the floor. Sango vowed that she'd never touch it again.

"Are you okay? Can I help?" Nikita's questions were rather half-baked, she wasn't good at taking care of others. Give her a rational problem with a clear answer and she was a wiz, but when it came to stuff like this she was coming up woefully short.

"It's Blake," Sango sobbed. "He's… he's gone…"

"I know, it stings," Nikita said. She figured that the correct thing to do in this situation might be to give Sango some platitude, like "everything will be alright" but that seemed like a dumb thing to do. Because everything was probably not going to be alright, and Nikita wasn't going to pretend that it was. Which made her response sound rather cold.

"You don't understand!" Sango exclaimed, sitting up in bed. Her eyes were red and her face was stained with tears and snot! "I thought… I thought I was over this! I thought I was done, that I'd moved on, I thought… I thought…"

Sango's voice broke, and Nikita winced. She'd been afraid of that, it was the reason she had chased after Sango. She had hoped that it wasn't what she thought it was, but the pain in Sango's eyes told her the whole story.

Sango still loved Blake. She'd been hiding it very well these past few months, so well that for a while, Nikita had actually believed that she had moved on. But seeing her fall apart like this, over hearing about the possibility of his death… Nikita was worried about him, and definitely down, but the way Sango was carrying on, well!

Nikita would never claim herself to be an expert on human emotions, but even she could tell that Sango had it bad. Real bad.

Which in and of itself was bad, because, you know, Ayame Toujou was a person.

"Look, Sango, about your feelings for Blake, I know that-"

"I never got to tell him that I loved him," Sango interrupted, the pain in her eyes causing Nikita to fall silent. What was she supposed to say to that?

Sango continued, "I missed… I missed my chance, and I… I was fine with that… *sniff* I told myself *hic* that it was okay that… that he never knew, that he didn't *sob* didn't ever know how I felt about him… I would *hic* go on, without telling him, and eventually… eventually I would move past it, and w-w-w-we would be fr-friends, just friends again…"

She couldn't get any more words to come out, faceplanting into a pillow and clutching it tightly, muffled sobs warbling out of her throat. Nikita sighed and rubbed Sango's back. Sango didn't have to say anything else for Nikita to get the message. She'd tried, she'd really tried, the poor thing. Tried to get over him, to pretend like everything was cool.

But she'd been lying to herself, she was still hung up on him. She still had regrets. And Nikita could understand that, just as she could understand the hell that Sango must be going through right now, having to put up with this burden after being so sure that she had moved past it.

Nikita sighed. This really was turning into one gigantic mess.

You can say that again. So Sango still likes Blake after all. She'd tried to move on, pretend otherwise, but in the end her feelings were simply too much. Poor thing.