Blake's first night back has been fun. But now it's time to bring it to an end. Let's see what the night brings with it, what will his first dream back in the real world be, after such a long time in the nightmare of a place?

Also, thank you to everyone who read my story "The Heir to the Dragon". I would appreciate if you continue to read and support it in the future! You can get there through my profile!

The votes for the Elimination Round have begun to pick up, that's pretty good! Hope we can start getting them to role in! I've been very surprised by the results of this poll so far, some people are leading that I never would have expected, and some people are trailing behind who I thought would be frontrunners. Just goes to show how much things have changed since last year!

Nominated: Alcea, Ayame, Carrie, Caelia, Cynthia, Dakota, Darla, Elaina, Elizabeth, Julia, Kate, Kitty, Lila, Maddi, Marion, Nikita, Olivia, Sango, Sylvia

Rowlets and Oshawotts: Romance is definitely difficult. Keep rooting for Elaina, she's doing the best that she can!

JoshGamerV: More of what? Sango's suffering? Well, congratulations, you're going to get your wish because that's just the story of her life.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 650

For Blake's late-night dinner, his first meal in over two years, he feasted like a king. Aya fed him her special barbecue sandwich, and it was even more delicious than he remembered. Nothing could have tasted better for his first meal back, but Cynthia sure put in some effort. Her pasta with cream sauce was delicious, and Blake was forced to remember that for all the weird ways Cynthia acted, there were, in fact, things that she was good at and could take seriously besides just pokemon battles. The meal was delicious, and Blake was overjoyed that his friends had gone out of their way to make him such a loving gesture.

Blake sighed, content.

But it still wasn't enough for him to let Cynthia sleep in the same bed with him. He was grateful, but he wasn't crazy.

So, they all drifted off to sleep together, Nick and Reiner in their beds, Julia snuggled up against Kitty like a body pillow, and Cynthia snoring away on the ground.

However, Ayame slept with Blake wrapped tightly in her arms. Blake had to accept that some things were just nonnegotiable.

Blake was surprised that he hadn't fallen asleep yet. He had spent so long in the other world, he must have been deathly tired. He FELT exhausted, and yet for some reason he just couldn't feel sleep come. He worried for a little if this was due to some side-effect of being in that world. Would he ever sleep again?

Or maybe it was an effect of taking that strange sleep medicine of Sylvia's. His sleep might have been permanently messed up with whatever it was that strange pill had done to him, that was another scary thought.

But he didn't let those fears get to him. He believed firmly that he would eventually fall asleep, once his body caught up to his tiredness. So he closed his eyes and let himself relax. Even though he wasn't sleepy, he still felt relaxed and at ease. He was home, after all. It was comforting for him. Listening to the shallow huffs of Aya's breath against his ear, feeling the warmth of her body pressed up against his, the soft and steady thump of her beating heart…

Those sounds and feelings were foreign. That other world had been so cold and lifeless. He didn't realize how much he had missed the ambient sounds of people existing around him until he made it back here and could take a moment to really lean back and listen to them. Not just Aya, but even the soft whistle of Kitty's nose as she purred in her sleep, the sound of Nick tossing and turning on his bed as usual, and the brand new snores of Cynthia joining the familiar ones of Reiner that he'd grown used to over the past months…

They were all memories of home. He was back. And he didn't even mind that Aya was hugging him so tightly that he was finding it a little hard to breathe. All that discomfort was somehow making him more comfortable, not less. He nestled in close to her with a smile on his face, hearing the familiar sounds of home as he drifted off to sleep.

That night, Blake dreamed.

In Blake's dream, he was home again. But not the Pokemon Academy. His home. It had been some time since he was last here. He didn't realize he was dreaming, though. To him, this was all perfectly normal. He walked into the large mansion, looking around, confused. No one had come to greet him; how odd, normally there would be staff.

"Hello?" Blake called. "Is anyone here? Sephiria? Big brother?" His voice caught in his throat. "Richard? Are you home?" He didn't even think to call out to his mother.

"Ah! Master Blake! You're here! The lady of the house is waiting for you!" Blake turned to see who it was, confused. Lady of the house? That was impossible. His mother wasn't in any condition to be taking visitors.

That thought disappeared in an instant when he saw who had come to greet him.

"Olivia?! What are you wearing?!" Blake sputtered, surprised. Olivia Himeko often wore outfits that he found questionable at best, but her current clothes were something he would never have expected from her. A black dress with a white fluffy apron and frills, and a little lace headdress to go along with it, matching the lace collar. She held a duster in her hands and curtsied, smiling sweetly.

"Whatever do you mean?" She asked. "Is there something wrong with my uniform, master?"

"Uh…" Yeah, there was, a lot of things. But Blake was simply astounded by the fact that, somehow, she still looked amazing even in a maid uniform, something he knew she'd never be caught dead in given her past.

Olivia gasped, seeing the look on his face. She lowered her head. "Oh, please, forgive me, young master! I'll do better, I promise!"

For a second, Blake wondered (correctly) if he was dreaming. If he was, this was certainly a very, very bizarre fantasy to be having about the best friend of his girlfriend. But as often is the case when dreaming, his brain somehow justified what he was seeing without letting him light onto the truth. No, this was just how it was. Olivia was his maid, she always was.

The sharp smack of riding crop caught his attention.

"Olivia! You worthless little mutt! Are you bothering the young master again with your incompetence?!" Blake whirled in the direction of the furious voice, his eyes nearly bugging out of his skull. Staring back at him with a stern look of disgust on her gorgeous face was Alcea Vermeil, dressed in the same maid outfit that Olivia was.

"Forgive me, head maid!" Olivia begged, throwing herself down at Alcea's feet and kissing her shoes slavishly. "I'll work harder, I promise!"

Alcea brought her riding crop down on Olivia's butt and she let out a cry of pain that was half-moan, arching her back.

"It seems you're in need of more discipline, you uncouth brat," Alcea growled, grabbing the dog collar that Blake just realized was around Olivia's neck, leading her away. "Showing such a disgraceful sight to the young master," Alcea clicked her tongue, shaking her head as Olivia fawned over her.

Blake was stunned. What the hell was going on?! He was going to have to have a long talk with his subconscious about what sort of dreams were appropriate once he woke up, not that he had any idea he was currently dreaming.

"Young master!" As Olivia was led away by Alcea, a new maid appeared to take her place. It was Claire! He stared at his childhood friend, her perky smile and perky… perkiness were a familiar sight in this house, but never in a maid outfit! And where Olivia and Alcea had had the decorum to cover their sizeable chests, Claire had altered her uniform slightly to put her cleavage on display, not that Blake was looking. Often.

"Come! The lady of the house wants to see you! She's out by the pool!" Claire said, taking him by the hand. She led him down the hall, and as she did something caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. It was a door, tall and black and ominous, not fitting at all with the bright décor of the house.

"Claire, what's…"

"Don't go near that door," Claire snapped.

And suddenly, he was outside, in the garden by the pool. Blake wasn't sure at all how he'd gotten there, but it didn't feel weird that he had teleported from the hallway to the garden. That was just how things were in dreams, and he didn't question it.

"Come!" Claire said, all smiles again. But she didn't take his hand. "She's right there, over by the water!"

He followed his finger to where she was pointing, but he didn't see anyone. Still, he walked through the garden path, only to find an obstacle in the road.

Callie and Nick were playing ping-pong. Why on earth were they playing ping-pong in the middle of the garden? Why was there a massive glass wall separating the two of them? How did the ping-pong ball somehow make it from one side to the other, even with that glass screen?

"Come on, Nick! What's the matter?" Callie called across the table to him. "You keep rallying forever, aren't you ever going to score?"

"I'm trying!" Nick protested. "I'm just getting used to the game, that's all!"

Callie scowled. "It's not a game!" She cried, giving him a particularly devastating shot. "Why aren't you taking this seriously?!"

"I am!" Nick protested, just barely returning her shot. "But why do you have to hit so hard? It's hard to keep up with you!"

"Well maybe if your hard was in it, you could keep up," Callie replied, giving him another powerful shot. Blake wasn't sure what was going on here, so he gave the two of them a wide berth, deciding to cut across the grass, instead.

"Kitty! Here, Kitty Kitty Kitty!" A voice called out. A young girl with long dark hair down her back that lightened at the tips ran past, her hands cupped in front of her mouth. She looked like Julia, only she was maybe 7 or 8 years old. "Kitty! Here, Kitty Kitty Kitty!" She called again. She turned to Blake.

"Hey, mister," she asked, "have you seen my Kitty? She's really pretty, with red eyes and white fur. I just saw her a moment ago, but I can't seem to find her!"

"…No, sorry, I haven't seen her," Blake said, shaking his head. The girl scowled and ran off, still calling for her Kitty.

"She won't find me," a soft voice said from near his feet. He gasped and looked down, seeing a small white cat with red eyes kneeling next to him. Not a cat pokemon, but a cat. Somehow, he didn't see anything odd about this. The little Kitty looked up at him with those big red eyes, and spoke again. "She keeps looking for me…" she glumly explained, tail flicking absentmindedly behind her as she watched the girl depart. "But she just can't see me…"

Blake turned to go call the girl back, but she was gone. And when he turned back to the little Kitty, she was gone, too.

"Hey, Blake, are you coming?" Claire called out to him. She was already standing in the distance, by the pool.

"Yeah, I'll be there in a second!" Blake called. But as he turned to walk towards the pool he found that it kept getting further and further away.

"Hey! It's XXX!" A young girl's voice called out, and Blake froze in his tracks, surprised. What had she said? XXX? But his name was Blake. What was that word they were saying, and why couldn't he hear it? He turned and saw two girls running up to him.

The one on the right was dressed in rags, her pale skin covered in welts, cuts, and bruises. She had curly black hair traveling down her back, and bright gold eyes. She looked dirty, in contrast to the girl running beside her. She had long blonde hair and bright blue eyes, and the black and white lace dress she wore was flawless. Both girls stopped right in front of Blake, staring up at him. They were probably about 6 or 7.

"He's MINE, Ayame, I saw him first!" The curly-haired one growled, glaring at the blonde.

"Nuh-uh!" The blonde sneered, running up to Blake and hugging one of his legs. She turned and stuck her tongue out at the brunette. "He's MINE now, Val, he doesn't even remember you! So there!"

Ayame? Val? What… those names… why do I remember them… Blake's head was starting to hurt, it was like something was knocking on the inside of his skull.

"No fair! XXX promised me!" The brunette, Val, wailed. "He said we would be together forever! Give me XXX back! Give him back, he's mine!" She cried, stomping her feet in a tantrum as she glared hatefully at the blonde who named herself Ayame.

Then a third girl came up. Her hair was odd, a strange mix of the two. Blonde fell over black in layers, and her body was covered in scars. Including a particularly hideous-looking burn on her neck. She stared at him with green eyes filled with emotion, and to Blake's horror he saw that behind her, standing alone in the garden, was the black door from earlier.

The green-eyed girl opened her mouth, but no sound came out. Blake's head began hurting.

He found himself suddenly at the poolside, with Claire again.

"What… what was I…" Blake's memories of the girls were gone completely. Claire stared up at him with an innocent smile on her face.

"OH! Look who it is! The high and mighty master of the mansion himself!" A sour voice called out to him. Blake recognized that bitchy tone anywhere. He turned to see three girls sitting on lawn chairs in a circle. They wore fancy period dresses from the 18th century that were simply billowing over the lawn chairs. One was red, one was purple, and one was grey. The three girls also wore large powdered wigs and pale makeup, and stared at him from behind fans they fluttered in front of their faces.

Nothing unusual at all.

"I hear that wife of his is just so done with his philandering, did you hear, Cynthia?" The girl in the red dress, one Kate Nomia, observed with her venomous tongue.

"My, I do say," Cynthia, sitting in the center of the three in the red, agreed. "Imagine him, walking around like he's some big shot, when he can't even make the woman he loves happy! Going around breaking hearts like he does, what an absolute cad! Don't you agree, Caelia?"

Cynthia turned to the last girl, Caelia, dressed in ash grey. Caelia said nothing, but she flapped her fan in front of her face and nodded.

"Ignore those jealous harpies," Claire said, leading Blake away from the pool. "Come, let's relax, the lady is waiting!"

"The lady, are you talking about-"

But Claire had disappeared. Instead, when he looked around the pool he saw something surprising. It was Dakota and Akira, and they were… getting along?

"Oh, my beloved Dakota, words cannot describe the depths of my love for you," Akira crooned. He held Dakota in his arms as they lay together on the towel in their swimsuits, Dakota leaned up against him with a content smile on her face.

"Oh, Aki, you're the earth, moon, sun, AND stars, baby," Dakota oozed lovingly, making Blake want to barf. "Without you there for me I'd just die, I know it!"

"Aren't they just so perfect together?" Blake turned to see Serefina where Claire had been standing, but she wasn't dressed as a maid. She was dressed in mom jeans and a blouse, and wore an apron. Her hair was pulled back behind a bandana giving her the perfect look of a young teacher. In her hands, she held a pokemon egg.

"Sere-"

"Hush!" Serefina hissed, holding her finger to her lips. She turned her attention to the egg. "It's hatching!"

The egg in her hands broke open, but it wasn't a pokemon inside. Rather, it was a human baby, cooing excitedly. She stared up at Blake with one blue eye and one red eye, and giggled.

"What a sweet little girl," Serefina smiled, rocking her back and forth. "I wonder what she's going to grow up into…"

Blake shook his head, dazed and confused by what was happening. Then, his eyes landed on something else. It was Marion Rivers, sitting at the edge of the swimming pool, kicking her feet absentmindedly in the water while she hummed to herself, doing what Marion did best.

Fishing.

In the swimming pool. Because where else would you be fishing? It only made sense, after all.

"Come on, Maddi!" Marion said, turning in Blake's direction. "Come on, this is gonna be cool!"

The little baby had now grown up into a young black-haired girl in a dress, and she waddled over to Marion, smiling innocently.

"Whoa-hoa! It's a biggun!" Marion cheered, fighting the pull of her rod. "A pokemon's on the hook!"

With a powerful tug, Marion drew back her line, and a massive pokemon emerged from the swimming pool with a roar, a red Gyarados.

"Is that a red Gyarados?!" Blake asked in surprise. "Those are so rare!"

He clearly wasn't the only one amazed by what he was seeing.

"I'm done with you," Akira sneered. He shoved Dakota off of him and jumped into the large pokemon's mouth while Marion fought with it, disappearing from sight.

Blake looked back at Dakota, who was standing numbly at the edge of the pool, staring at the large pokemon. A sad smile slowly spread across her lips. She held her hand to her stomach, and when she pulled it back, Blake gasped in horror. It was sticky with blood.

"Blood," she mumbled, turning to look at him. He could see the deep gash bleeding out of her gut. "So much blood…"

Dakota listlessly stepped forward and sunk into the water, the swimming pool filling with red. As the Gyarados roared, the crimson water began to churn and whirl and Blake thought that he could make something out deep at the bottom. A boxy, black shape, just like-

Blake snapped to attention. He felt something hard against his back, and realized he was sitting. He was in a theater of some sort. Standing up on the stage was Gerard, dressed in a tuxedo with a top hat and a handlebar mustache.

"And now! For your pleasure, we present to the lady of the house, a song by our very own songbird, the finest minstrel in the land!" As the curtains parted, Blake looked frantically around for this lady of the house. Everyone was there, in the audience, staring up at the stage. Olivia and Alcea, Claire, Callie and Nick, Julia and her pet Kitty, those little girls, Akira and Dakota all snuggled up together, Serefina rocking her baby Maddi, and Marion petting the scales of the Gyarados.

But he couldn't find a face he could identify as the lady of the house. And that's when he realized he was sitting alone. He could feel the presence of people on either side of him, but whenever he turned in their direction they were gone.

The lights dimmed and the curtain rose, presenting a large golden cage. In the center of the cage was the most beautiful white bird Blake had ever seen, as tall as a human. She looked up at him with sad eyes, and began to sing.

"I know a girl lost far, far away

Locked in her room, locked in her mind.

Help salvage her 'fore her dark heart grows,

Pain hid by pain, and nobody else knows.

Don't be afraid to come to her aid,

Love is her salve— please, try.

Her light – stained in heaven,

A lost little girl's pain is leavened.

Peer through her dark gaze into the sky,

Darkness your love, wishing nothing more.

Please don't abandon her, open up her door.

Her soul seeks a hand, warm and oh so kind,

Inside twisted heart

A lost little girl you'll find.

Before all is lost and her heart is still,

Brother can you save her?

Nobody else will.

Never did he come for me, dirty and unclean

Love lost forever, never to be seen."

Those words… that song… where had he heard them before? Blake knew that he knew them, he just couldn't remember where in his dream.

Blake scrambled from her seat, pushing through the crowd to make it up onto the stage. He ran around the bird's cage, only to see that where the door to free her should have been, a black door was there instead. His head throbbed in pain, and suddenly he found himself somewhere else again.

"Doctor! Doctor!" Blake turned to see Nikita, dressed in a doctor's scrubs, staring at him desperately from behind her mask.

"Nikita? What-"

"You're just in time!" Nikita said, grabbing his arm. "Come, it's time for surgery!"

"Surgery?! I'm getting surgery?!" Blake shivered, looking around frantically. Just being in a hospital was terrifying for him. It brought all sorts of unpleasant memories back.

"Nurse! I brought Doctor Harker! We're ready for the surgery now!" Nikita said, pushing Blake into the operating room, where Reiner awaited him in a nurse's outfit.

"Reiner?!" Blake said, and then suddenly he remembered, yes, yes, he was a doctor and he needed to perform surgery, that's right. "Sorry, forgive me. Tell me about the patient?"

"Yes, of course, doctor," Reiner nodded, leading him to the operating table. A blonde girl was lying on it, eyes closed, a peaceful smile on her face. "Her name is Sango Akana. You'll be removing her heart." He gestured to the crowd of faceless people that had somehow gathered around him in the operating room to watch him do the procedure.

"Yes, that's right, I remember now," Blake nodded. He looked down at the blonde girl. She blinked her eyes open, staring up at him with big brown eyes.

"I'm ready, doctor!" She said eagerly. "You can cut my heart out any time!"

"Do you think he'll be able to do it properly?" Blake glanced up to see two members of the audience whispering to each other. One of them was a large boy that he recognized as Aidan, and he was whispering to another boy, Ian.

"If he's very gentle, he should be able to perform the operation with minimal damage to the patient," Ian said, stroking his chin thoughtfully. "If we're lucky, she may be able to pull through."

Blake was going to show them. Who were they to doubt his skills? He took the scalpel from Reiner and began to cut into Sango, ripping her heart out of her chest and presenting it for all to see.

"Doctor!" Nikita cried, the machine beeping out a long, strangled line. "Doctor, she's dead!"

Murmurs and gasps of outrage rose up from the audience, who all began to curse at Blake, much to his confusion.

Blake was stunned. "But… but I did the operation perfectly," he mumbled, stumbling back. He felt Sango's heart beating in his hand and screamed, tossing it away. He turned and ran from the loud voices, back towards the exit of the operating room, but the white double doors were gone, replaced with a single black door.

The world around Blake began to spin.

Blake was back in the mansion, where it had all started. This time, though, he knew where to go.

"Blake, you're here. Just in time."

Staring back at him at the base of the stairs was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen. Ayame Toujou was radiant, dressed in the finest dress he'd ever seen, a brilliant sky blue that matched the ribbon she always wore in her hair. But the Ayame Toujou in front of him wasn't the sort of girl to wear a ribbon like a set of bunny ears, no, this Aya was different. She was a perfect princess of a lady. She seemed softer somehow, less strong, but no less lovely. Her long black hair trailed behind her, not a single ribbon to be seen. He stepped up to her and took her hand.

"I was looking for you," he smiled. She smiled back.

"Well, here I am," she giggled. "Shall we go?"

"Go?" Blake asked. "Go where?"

"Your family's waiting for you, silly!" She said, leading him up the stairs. He followed her to his bedroom, where Sephiria was standing guard.

"Thank you Sephiria," Aya thanked the older woman, curtsying like a lady. It was one of the most un-Ayame gestures he'd seen. She turned back to him and opened the door to his room, stepping inside. He followed after her and gasped in amazement.

Back home, his room was filled with all sorts of things, books, posters, games, hell, just furniture. But right now, the room was brand new, glowing pure white, the same way it did all those years ago when Blake first came here.

Like then, the only thing here was the bed, sheets as white as the walls and carpet. And standing at the four corners of the bed were his family. Richard, Cynthia, Kanone, and even Gwen, all giving him warm and welcoming smiles.

"Welcome home, Blake!" Richard greeted him.

"You're just in time!" Cynthia laughed, picking up one of the pillows and fluffing it.

"Just in time?" Blake asked, stepping into the room as Aya urged him closer.

"We're preparing the room, silly," Kanone said, laughing. "My little sister's coming home soon, after all!"

Little sister? Blake turned to Gwen, who was still smiling at him. Then he saw that she was different than the others. They were all moving, talking, but Gwen's smile didn't even twitch. It was like she was frozen there. Like a doll.

Then he heard it again. The soft song, just at the edge of his ear, tickling him at so low a volume he had to strain to hear it, causing him to…

Gwen's smile widened and her face slipped away to reveal-

Blake awoke in Ayame's arms, sweat pouring down his face. He shivered. For a second, he didn't know where he was, everything was still dark. That dream… his first dream back, and he could barely remember it. All he had left of it were vague flashes, and his heart beating a mile a minute.

He relaxed into Aya's grasp, and as though she could feel his apprehension in her sleep, she reached up and began to comfortingly stroke his hair. He smiled, feeling his heartbeat returning to normal, and relaxed into her embrace.

Let's start things off with some confusion. What does this weird dream mean for Blake? Does it mean anything at all? Or did I just want to do something fun for the 650th chapter? Who can say?