Having seen Sylvia's reaction to what happened, let's turn our focus to the man of the hour, Blake! How is he dealing with his new victory over Elaina? What will the aftermath of his victory look like? We'll have to find out!

Guest: It would definitely appear that way, yes.

Thunder Fire: Things are definitely tense now, that's for sure.

JoshGamerV: She can understand that decently well, I would say. She does care for her pokemon, after all.

KedharS: Sylvia isn't a big fan of peacetime.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 728

The battle with Elaina had been exhausting. The day wasn't nearly over, but for Blake it definitely was. His brain was shot, his body ached, he felt more tired than he had felt when he'd come back from that nightmare world.

Needless to say, he was just done. Completely exhausted, and was willing to spend the rest of the day fast asleep.

But his stomach had other ideas. He hadn't had anything to eat today due to his anxiety, so even though he was completely burnt out, he couldn't just go to bed (not to mention that it would severely wreck his sleep schedule, which was already pretty messed up).

So that was how he found himself as the center of an impromptu party thrown in his honor, all of his friends gathering in his room to celebrate his successful return.

He smiled politely, but honestly, he would have much preferred to go to bed, maybe with only the company of Aya, because he felt more comfortable with her than with all his other friends. But he couldn't just say that.

After all, it was a pretty natural reaction what they were doing, considering what they had been through these last few days. From the turnout for the match, he didn't doubt that when he'd announced his intentions to fight Elaina in front of Aya, Cynthia, and Sango, that in less than a day they (well, Cynthia) had blabbed to all of his friends.

They had been worried about him, and this was a way for them to let out their anxieties and celebrate now that there wasn't anything to worry about.

Blake wasn't going to be a party pooper, so he just smiled good-naturedly, and tried to hide how exhausted he really was.

Thankfully, it wasn't everyone. Serefina and Eli had broken from the group, Serefina offering to take his pokemon to the pokemon center and heal them up. Akira had excused himself as well, which left just his usual friend group gathered, minus Callie, who was working, as well as Kitty, Julia, and Nikita, who had gone to pick up food.

…Well, his usual friend group with a few unusual additions.

"Blake, I've decided," Claire said, putting her arms on her hips and turning her nose up. She pulled Ayame into a tight hug, much to the taller girl's surprise. "Ayame is too good for someone like you! I want her!"

"Uh… what?" Ayame asked, confused.

"The dashing way you ran to him, desperate to get him to safety when you thought he was going to get hurt… it made my heart sing," Claire said, letting Ayame go and holding her hand over her sizeable chest. She wiped a false tear from her eye. "I'm sorry I ever doubted you, Ayame, you have my full blessing to date Blake, you're simply the best."

"…Um, thank you for giving me permission to date my boyfriend?" Ayame replied sarcastically. Claire might have fallen head over heels for Ayame's cool princely exterior, but it was clear that the feeling wasn't mutual.

"You're welcome!" Claire chirped, and no one could be quite sure that she was just kidding, so they awkwardly sort-of laughed it off.

Blake wasn't laughing, because he knew Claire, and Claire was pretty much serious if he had to guess. She usually was about stuff like this.

"Well, with that in mind…" Claire said, her voice trailing off. She stroked her chin in contemplation and scanned the room, her eyes landing on the other semi-uninvited party guest. "Tell me, who, exactly are you supposed to be?"

Kate had been awkwardly sitting against the wall sucking down a soda, surprised by Claire's declaration. She blinked, her startled face shifting into her usual toxic scowl. "What's it to you, huh?"

"What it is to me is that Blake's my best friend, that's what," Claire said, crossing her arms in front of her chest, "and it's my job to make sure there aren't any suspicious girls sniffing around him, trying to get their slimy little hooks into him! Especially girls like you!"

"I'm not trying to get my hooks into him!" Kate exclaimed, her face flushing in a mixture of embarrassment and shame, Claire's words hitting a little too close to home. "I'm just here because her highness was handling business and I wanted to hang out with my f-friends…" Her voice trailed off into an awkward stutter at the last part and she hid in the comfort of her soda, hoping that the other girl would just let it go.

Claire was not the kind of girl who let things go. Whether it was grudges, curiosity about rumors, or those photos she'd taken of Blake in a dress, she never let ANYTHING go.

"Oh, please," she snorted. "You've been eye-fucking him since the battle, you don't think I can feel the thirst in your gaze? You're so in heat you're practically humping the furniture!"

Kate turned pale for a second, and then color flooded her cheeks as she flushed as red as a tamato berry. "I am not in-!" She looked helplessly at Blake, her eyes wide. She frantically shook her head to assure him, so he wouldn't get the wrong idea that she still liked him. Because she absolutely did not. At all. "I-I already moved on from-!" She sputtered out a lie, before realizing that the lie itself was an omission to things she didn't want known. She clasped her hand over her mouth.

But that was more than enough for Claire. She put her hands on her hips and strutted over to Kate, looming down over her. "Hah! See?! I knew it, you DO have feelings for him!" She crowed triumphantly, jamming a finger into Kate's face. "Well, don't think you'll get away with it! Blake and Ayame are perfect together, and I'm not about to let you try and Sneasel your way into this like the Ekans you are.

"That's a compliment!" Kate snapped instinctually. Then she realized what Claire was suggesting, and turned bright red. "B-But… I mean… No, I don't! I didn't! I-I-I-…" Kate looked like she was about to explode in embarrassment. Everyone stared at her with varying levels of sympathy, but no one was coming to her defense. It was Kate, after all, and even though Claire wasn't the best, Kate was usually pretty rude herself, so it felt like it just wasn't their business.

"Claire," Blake spoke up, coming to Kate defense. Claire looked back at him, with her eyebrow raised quizzically.

"What?" Claire asked.

"You don't need to do the whole overprotective Mean Girls routine with her," he assured her. He gave Kate a calm smile. "I trust Kate more than enough."

Kate's jaw dropped open, her eyes bugging out. She felt like she'd just been confessed to, that's how touched she was by Blake's words. Everyone else had a similar reaction, themselves, stunned that Blake would say something so nice about Kate, of all people.

Blake caught himself. "I can trust her to be rude and annoying, absolutely," he added on. Kate's expression immediately soured.

"…But that's what I like about her," he finished. He got an empty can of soda flung into his face as a reward for his compliment.

Almost empty, anyway, according to the stickiness soaking his hair.

"Jerk," Kate huffed, crossing her arms.

While Blake might have been in a teasing mood, Claire had a much different perspective now. Hearing that Kate was nothing to worry about, her demeanor immediately changed. She stood up straight and sat down next to Kate, flashing her a smile.

"Sorry about that," she apologized. "But I'm really protective of my boy. Still, I probably shouldn't have said all those things."

"Whatever," Kate said, letting out something that was similar to a grunt. Clearly, she wasn't in the most forgiving of moods.

Of course, Claire had no way to know about Kate's history with bullying, so she had no idea how harsh the things she had said really were. All she knew was that Kate was a rude girl with a scowl and a really bad attitude. If she had known, then she probably wouldn't have said the things that she had said to her at all.

But it was too late for regrets. In the meantime, there was something else she wanted to do, instead, and once she had an idea in her head, well, there was no stopping her.

"Okay, I've decided!" Claire said, cackling to herself. She glanced at Kate and smiled, and suddenly Kate felt like something was very, very wrong.

Claire didn't do anything yet, of course, but if Kate knew what she was planning, she probably would have excused herself from the party early.

In the meantime, Claire changed the subject. She was used to being the life of the party and having all eyes on her, so the energy with which she carried her vapid self was something that was difficult to match for others. Cynthia and Sango were the only ones who were at comparable levels.

"Man it's so good to be back!" Claire said, stretching her arms over her head. "I love being back here! I can't wait until next year, when I can officially transfer…" She let out a wistful sigh. Jumping up from her seat, she flouced over to Blake, plopping down on the bed beside him and shooting him a flirty smile, batting her eyelashes.

"Blake, wouldn't that just be the best?" She asked excitedly. "You and me, going to the same school together?"

Blake gave her a polite smile, which was about as polite as he could be. His energy was shot, so he didn't have the strength to maintain a cool exterior. Honestly, he was dreading Claire coming to the Pokemon Academy just a little.

Claire sensed his frustration and smirked, jumping up off the bed and stretching her arms a second time, turning towards Blake and practically shoving her boobs in his face.

Ayame's eye twitched, she wasn't amused. In spite of Claire's proclamations of having Blake's best interests at heart, or how Ayame was the perfect girlfriend for him, the other girl was still practically throwing herself all over Ayame's boyfriend, and that was starting to piss her off.

As if Claire could sense the tension emanating off the other girl, she took a step back and crouched down next to Ayame, stroking her chin.

"Oh! That's right! I almost forgot!" Claire said, clapping her hands together in realization. "I wanted to pay a visit to that other girl! The cool one, who works on the newspaper! She was one of the people I was most looking forward to see again! Dakota, right? Do you guys know where I can find her? I just wanna say hey."

A tense silence fell over the room. Claire had been told about Blake's disappearance, of course, but no one had mentioned what happened to Dakota to her yet. She could feel the awkwardness in the air and was about to ask what was wrong, when she was suddenly cut off by the door swinging open and three people strolling in.

"Hey!" Julia called, walking into the room with two large plastic bags filled with takeout boxes. "We picked up the stuff. You know, I'm used to parties at dinner, but next time I have to pick up food, don't have me do it during the lunch rush."

"It wasn't that bad," Kitty giggled, following after her. She was holding a plastic bag of her own, and Nikita trailed behind the two of them with a bag of her own.

The girls placed the bags in the center of the room. Luckily, everyone's container had their name scrawled on it, so it was a simple matter of grabbing their food. Blake returned to his seat with his burger, plopping down on the bed and ready to devour it. Aya had insisted he get some spaghetti, but with his current state he needed to sink his teeth in some meat.

A few seconds later, the thing he had nearly forgotten about returned.

Julia sat down next to Blake and sidled up to him, pressing herself against his side. She wrapped her arm around his shoulder and plulled him in close, keeping him from really being able to eat his meal, much to his irritation.

It also inflamed some of Ayame and Kitty's concealed jealousy.

"…Julia," Blake politely told her, "can you please let go of me?"

"No," Julia said, shaking her head. She hugged him tighter. "You almost got really hurt. If I let you go, then who know what could happen? So no, not a chance."

Everyone was feeling a little awkward about what was going on. It was Julia, nobody expected their friend to be acting like that. Julia was known to be a cool, tough girl, so to see her hugging Blake tightly like a security blanket was rather unnerving.

Especially for Kitty, who was trying very hard to not give Blake the stink-eye. She didn't say anything because she knew that Julia had been acting strange for a while now, and even though she wouldn't tell her why, it was clear that Blake getting hurt was a factor. She didn't want to bring that up in front of their friends, though, so she politely kept her mouth shut.

And politely stared daggers at the two of them.

Blake sighed. Julia had been incredibly clingy, every since the match had ended. It had been like pulling teeth to get her to go pick up food, and the only reason she'd agreed was because Kitty had told her that she didn't feel safe going out without the other girl's protection.

Blake turned to Aya and gave her a wary look, begging her to understand.

Ayame nodded her head. She understood. She didn't like it, but she understood. Today had been a very rough and emotionally-charged day, and this was clearly Julia's method of letting off steam and coming to terms with what had happened, or what had almost happened.

So Ayame would grit her teeth and bear it, she could lend Blake out as a comfort pillow for her friend for a little while.

So long as Julia didn't press her luck.

"Well, look at Mr. Harem over here," Sango snidely remarked, digging into the first of her three lunches. She bit down on a piece of teriyaki chicken to emphasize her disdain for what she was seeing, when really no small part of her emotions were tangled up with some unfortunate jealousy. It wasn't fair that Julia got to hug him like it was nobody's business.

"Hey!" Blake exclaimed, his face going red.

"She makes a point," Reiner smirked. He began counting on his fingers. "Well, let's see. You've got your girlfriend, Ayame, of course, but then there's also Cynthia, maybe Elaina Bishop, too, from what I saw, and now Julia as well, and don't forget Kate…"

"Hey!" Kate exclaimed, her face turning red. "I do NOT like Blake!"

Of course, not a person in the room believed her. Even Blake himself could tell that she wasn't nearly as "over" him as she claimed to be.

Julia's reaction to Reiner's accusation was no less defensive than Kate's, but it was a hell of a lot more visceral.

To Blake's relief, Reiner's words were enough to cause Julia to let him go. But there would be no relief for Reiner. Julia hopped off the bed and stalked over to him, staring down at the boy with murder in her eyes.

Reiner quickly considered the possibility that maybe he had pushed Julia too far. She gulped, raising his hands defensively.

"H-Hey, Julia, I was just messing around," Reiner said, laughing awkwardly. "I was just a little joke, right?"

Julia raised her eyebrow and crossed her arms in front of her chest. Clearly, she didn't find his "little joke" very funny. "A joke, huh?" She asked.

Reiner winced. "Yes?" He weakly replied.

"Funny joke," she murmured, the menace in her voice telling the room she didn't find it the least bit funny.

Reiner looked helplessly towards his girlfriend. "H-Hey, Nikita, back me up here, I was just kidding around!" He pleaded. He didn't think Julia would actually hurt him, but his instincts were telling him that his life was in danger anyway.

Nikita smirked. "You're on your own with this one," she teased, laughing in a sing-song voice.

"Come on!" Reiner groaned.

Blake couldn't help but laugh at how uncomfortable his friend was. Maybe that was shitty of him, but it had been a long day and it was barely lunch time. He deserved to be able to take a little joy in the suffering of others to make up for all the shit he'd been through today, right?

He bit into his burger and groaned in joy. He was so enraptured with it he didn't even notice Sango had climbed up onto the bed to join him.

"Hey, Blake," she whispered, glancing at him. "You want to get out of here?" She asked, glancing around the room. Everyone was busy laughing at Reiner's expense as Julia was going off on a tirade about him being a shit, so nobody was paying attention to either of them.

Blake swallowed down a bit of his hamburger and set it down, wiping his lips. "Sango… you know I have a girlfriend. I'm sorry, but-"

"That is NOT what I meant, you jerk!" Sango hissed, swatting him in the shoulder. "I wanted to talk to you about something serious!"

"…Okay, sure," Blake said, nodding. He had a pretty good idea he knew what Sango wanted to talk about anyway.

He and Sango got off the bed and headed out into the hall so that they could talk.

"Hey, watch out!" Reiner called after them. "Blake's adding another girl to the harem! …Ow!" Blake heard the dull thump of someone hitting Reiner on the head. Whether it was Aya or Julia he wasn't quite sure.

Another thump. "Ow!" Reiner cried again. Ah. So it was both of them. With a smile on his lips, Blake stepped out into the hallway.

"So, what's up, Sango?" Blake asked. "What did you want to talk about?"

Sango let out a sigh, and rubbed her temples.

"I wanted to talk to you about Elaina," she said quietly. "Or, well… Elly."

Blake sighed. That was something he had expected. The two of them had a rather complex relationship now with the girl they knew as both Elaina and Elly.

"Yeah, you're right," he agreed. "I think we do need to talk about her."

So, Blake is going on a recruitment drive for the harem! No, just kidding. But he does have some stuff he really has to think about now! What will he and Sango have to discuss, I wonder?