With this intruder on the loose causing chaos, what awaits our characters now that they're faced with a dragon threat? What could this mysterious woman want with Zinnia?

KedharS: Not exactly a battle anymore.

Just a Bad Writer for Fun: Well, we'll learn a little bit more about her this chapter. Or maybe just her name. Which might be enough! Who can say?

Thunder Fire: Maybe. Looks that way.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 781

After the mysterious intruder with a fondness for Dragon types disappeared into the night, Callie immediately rushed to greet the campus safety officers Nick had called. She explained the entire situation to them, culminating in how the woman had escaped using her pokemon's move and left a pokeball in her place.

Callie didn't hand over the pokeball, though. She explained that, as a member of the Eight Leaders, she would be holding onto it for evidence. And while that was certainly true, she also was curious about what pokemon was inside it, as well as why the woman had left it there. If Callie saw her again, she would be sure to ask.

After inflicting a very well-deserved beat-down, of course.

Nick had been particularly quiet since that confrontation. At first, Callie had thought that he was just tired after such a long night. But after sorting out the mess with campus safety, Callie turned back to her boyfriend and saw that there might have been something else that was the matter.

"Nicky? Is everything okay?" Callie asked, walking over to her boyfriend. She took his hands in hers and gave what she hoped was a reassuring smile. "It's okay, it's over now. We can head back to the dorms and you can get some rest, okay?"

Nick shook his head frantically. "No, it's not okay! Callie, you just charged in and fought that woman without even thinking!"

"Huh?! What do you mean?! I thought about it!" Callie protested, dropping his hands and crossing her arms in indignation.

"Callie, that woman, you have no idea what she could have been up to!" Nick protested. He didn't like fighting with Callie, but when it came to her safety, all bets were off. "She might have had some really powerful pokemon and you could have gotten hurt!"

"I know that! You don't think I don't know that?!" Callie exclaimed. "But that's not important, Nick! This is my job! I have to help keep campus safe from intruders, that's my responsibility as a member of the Eight Leaders! So yes, even though it was dangerous, it was something I needed to do!"

Nick flinched, unable to meet her resolute gaze. He hadn't been thinking about that, he'd only been concerned for her safety. But when she said it, he realized he couldn't say anything against it. Callie was completely right, as hard as it felt to say it.

"But… I know that, but… I still…" He wanted to explain how even though he knew that was true, he was still worried about her and didn't want to see her put herself needlessly in danger. But Callie clearly wasn't up for hearing something like that.

"Nicky… let's not fight, okay? Not tonight." Callie gently asked, her face softening. She reached up and placed her hand against his chest, leaning into him.

Nick opened his mouth, but no sound came out. He was still upset with her, even though he could see where she was coming from. He wished she would value her own safety more, but because he knew that it wasn't his place to ask that, he couldn't say anything.

"Yeah, okay," he whispered, and Callie hugged him again. They parted, and Callie took him by the hand, leading him back to her dorm.

"A Dragon type pokemon?" Alcea asked, raising her eyebrow in surprise. She had been let out of the infirmary immediately and returned to work, preparing the rose gardens again for the approaching spring. That was where Callie had found her, kneeling over a rose bush.

"Yeah, look," Callie said, pressing a button on the pokeball. The pokemon inside emerged.

"Jang!" The small gray pokemon chirped. He walked on four legs and his body was covered in shiny silver scales, and stretching up over his head was a large golden scale in the shape of a heart, raised up like a shielding crest.

"What pokemon is this?" Alcea asked. "It looks very familiar…"

"Well, judging by its name, it's a Jangmo-o," Callie said, nodding to the small pokemon.

"Jangmo-o!" The pokemon confirmed with a nod in return.

"And you're saying that this intruder just… left this pokemon here, is it?" Alcea clarified.

"Yeah, basically," Callie said, nodding. "I would bring it to a Dragon type expert to see if they knew anything more about it, but because it belongs to the intruder, under the circumstances I thought that it would be better to bring him to you, first, and see if you knew anything."

Alcea sighed, and turned back to her rose bush. "I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I can't help you, is it? If it were a Grass type that would be one thing, but dragons…"

"Jang!" Jangmo-o chirped.

Alcea took a second look at the small pokemon, then at the small girl who brought it. That pokemon did look familiar to her, she wasn't sure where she'd seen it before, but-

"Wait, that's it!" Alcea gasped. She turned to get a better look, setting down her caretaking tools and leaning in closely to the pokemon. "I see… these scales…"

"What? You know what it is?!" Callie asked hopefully.

"No, but I have an idea. You said it was a Dragon type?" Alcea confirmed.

"W-Well, I didn't, like, bring it to an expert, but given the woman who dropped it off, yeah?" Callie said, nodding hopefully.

Alcea's suspicions were looking more and more likely by the moment. While she'd never seen this pokemon before, she'd seen a pokemon much like it. In fact, she'd fought against one, using nearly all of her pokemon in an attempt to take it down. The pokemon was larger and armored better, perhaps an evolution.

"I believe I may have fought against its evolution before," Alcea explained. "But its name… what was that pokemon called…"

"Kommo-o, that's what species he was." From across the garden, Alcea heard a voice that made Alcea's heart skip a beat and her body freeze. "The final form of Jangmo-o."

The voice's owner approached, and Alcea sprung to her feet. "K-Kanone Harker!" She sputtered, her cheeks flushing in surprise. She realized that she was wearing her gardening clothes, overalls and a t-shirt. How could she have been such a fool, presenting such an appearance?!

"Hello there, Alcea," Kanone greeted her with a wave. He turned to Callie and smiled. "As for you, you would be…?"

"Callie Crawford, First Leader!" Callie was flustered herself, albeit for a slightly different reason. She held her sweaty hand out to Kanone, starstruck that such a strong trainer was standing in front of her. "It-It's an honor to meet you, sir!"

"No, not at all," Kanone laughed, giving her hand a brief shake before turning his attention to his real target of interest, the small pokemon staring up at him. He crouched down next to the Jangmo-o. "Now, what can you tell me about this little guy? You said something about how he was left behind by an intruder, I believe?"

"Th-That's… excuse me, that is none of your business, is it?" Alcea had been busy fussing with her hair to make sure there weren't any leaves stuck in it. But when Kanone had brought up the topic of the intruder, she had to step in. "This is a Pokemon Academy matter, not something that we should be discussing with outsiders."

Kanone looked up at her with his soulful brown eyes. "Oh, I see… I'm sorry, Alcea, I had no idea that you considered me an outsider. After how close our families are, I thought… no, no, it's my fault, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have expected-"

"W-Wait!" Alcea blurted out, her face flushing redder than her hair. K-Kanone… he actually thought that they… could she be so lucky? "Err… Kanone, that isn't… I just meant…"

Callie could see what was going on here. Alcea couldn't see when someone was playing with her, but Callie, starstruck as she might have been, was a little more perceptive about stuff like that. But rather than follow her initial instinct to burst out laughing, she decided to take mercy on her colleague, and stepped in to clarify things.

"Kanone, it's not that we don't want to tell you, it's just that-"

"Oh, don't worry," he laughed, patting the dragon pokemon on the head and standing up, turning to Callie with a smile. "I'm just kidding around. But as I was saying before, you were right. This is Jangmo-o, and it's the pre-evolution of one of my pokemon, Kommo-o. And it is a Dragon type."

"I knew it!" Callie said.

"And not only that, its evolution is a Dragon/Fighting type, as well," Kanone continued. "Which is your specialty, isn't that right?"

Callie blinked. She hadn't expected that, she would have guessed that with the pokemon's hard scales it would be like a Dragon/Steel type if anything.

"You're a rather lucky girl," Kanone laughed, patting her on the shoulder. "Kommo-o are very powerful pokemon; getting the opportunity to raise one must be quite an exciting experience, especially for a Fighting type trainer like yourself. I'm sure you have a lot to teach that little guy."

Wait, what? Kanone thought that this was her pokemon? "Wait, no, that's not right," Callie quickly denied, shaking her head. "This- This isn't my pokemon!"

Kanone blinked in surprise. "Oh, really?"

"Oui, of course it isn't," Alcea coughed, cutting into the conversation. It was a rather rude thing to do, but she needed to set the matter straight in Kanone's eyes.

And it certainly wasn't that she was jealous of the fact that Kanone was chatting with another girl. After all, Callie had a girlfriend!

…Also, Alcea didn't think about him that way in the slightest!

"It was left behind by that… intruder," Callie clarified. The fact that they weren't supposed to talk about it had completely slipped from the minds of both girls. "It's not mine."

"…Well, I beg to disagree," Kanone said. He glanced down at the Jangmo-o. "And so does this little guy, as well."

"Huh?" Both girls looked at him in confusion.

"He and I had a nice little chat just now," Kanone explained. "And he told me quite a nice little story about last night."

"Wait, what?" Callie asked, not following at all.

"I see, harmonia, is it?" Alcea asked, knowing slightly more about the matter than Callie.

"O-o-h! That's right!" Callie gasped.

"According to this little guy, that woman left him there for you on purpose," Kanone explained. "As a gift."

"A gift?" Callie looked at the tiny pokemon with renewed interest. She had thought that the lady had dropped the pokeball, or that it was supposed to be some sort of lead, but the notion that someone would just give a pokemon to a total stranger hadn't crossed her mind at all.

"Apparently, you passed some sort of test, and Jangmo-o here is your prize," Kanone said, shrugging his shoulders. "Maybe that's what your little intruder is here for," he suggested. "Giving Dragon type pokemon to people in need."

Callie didn't buy that for a minute. But now that Kanone mentioned it… "I don't know about THAT," she said, crouching down and reaching a tentative hand out to the Jangmo-o. "But now that you mention it, she did ask me a bunch of questions, and she said that was like a test, so maybe…"

"Jang!" The Jangmo-o nodded his head vigorously the second Callie mentioned the questions the woman had asked.

"He says that's it," Kanone said, turning to Callie. "So yeah, she did give it to you. So, it's yours now, I guess."

Callie glanced at the Jangmo-o. While she was happy to have a new pokemon, especially one that would turn into a Dragon/Fighting type, she didn't know if it was okay for her to accept it, given what was going on.

"Are… are you sure?" She asked, turning to Kanone.

He shrugged. "It's not up to me, I don't see anything wrong with it."

Callie knew he was right, it was stupid of her to seek advice from someone who wasn't even a student here. She still wasn't sure if it was okay or not, so she turned to Alcea. "Alcea… do you think it would be okay if I kept this little guy?"

Alcea calmly looked Callie in the eye. "That is up to you, is it?" She answered. "It isn't my place to tell you what you should do, is it?"

So it was on her shoulders now, then? Well…

Fine! Callie was a big girl, she could make decisions for herself.

"I'm going to take him, then," Callie said, kneeling down and picking up the dragon pokemon, hugging his scaly body close to her. "And if the school has a problem with it, well, that's too bad! There's no rule saying I can't accept pokemon gifts from strangers!"

Alcea smiled at that. "I think that's a good choice," she agreed.

"Excellent! And whoever that lady was, it's clear that she's got a good eye. You two make a very good match," Kanone complimented.

"Really?" Callie asked excitedly.

"Of course, he's already very attached to you," Kanone said. "That shows that she knew which of her pokemon would be a good complement to your personality, and chose one that would get attached to you quickly. That shows someone with quite a proficiency at Pokemon Breeding."

"Strange, she said she was looking for someone in the Appeals Course…" Callie mused, and then gasped. "W-Wait, you didn't hear that from me!" She cried, hoping that she wouldn't get in trouble for leaking important information to someone who wasn't part of the faculty. She stumbled over her words, cleared her throat, and shouted "excuse me!" before running off in a hurry.

"It's okay, you don't need to worry about something like that," Kanone called after her. "I didn't hear a thing." He turned to Alcea. "Well, this was nice. But if you'll excuse me, I must be off."

Alcea stepped in front of him to block his effort. She held her hand up, standing imposingly. "Hold on. You can't leave just yet, is it?"

"Oh? Why not?" Kanone asked.

"Because… it is my suspicion that you will go looking for the intruder," Alcea replied. "And I cannot allow that."

It was as good an excuse as any.

Alcea cleared her throat. "Apologies, but I must detain you for a short time in order to properly debrief you."

She gestured towards the clubroom. "We can… meet in the clubroom, for tea."

Kanone raised his eyebrow. A smirk crossed his face. "Certainly, Alcea, I'd be happy to," he agreed. "You can debrief me any time."

Alcea's face flushed red and she cleared her throat, quickly walking towards the clubroom.

Kanone followed after her, his thoughts turning to the strange woman who had apparently snuck onto the island. I wonder… what could she be after? Raising dragons that well, she isn't an ordinary intruder, that's for sure.

While Kanone was thinking that, his brother was about to have an encounter with this strange woman himself, little did he know.

Blake and Ayame were walking back from breakfast, and Blake was, of course, lavishing compliments on an increasingly-flustered Ayame.

"I think you were just amazing!" Blake gushed. "I know I told you last night, but your performance in the contest, it was just-"

"Yes, yes, I know!" Ayame said, shielding her face. "You don't have to keep saying it, not in front of everybody!"

"But we're alone now," Blake said, looking around the path to the dorms, seeing that there weren't any other students around.

"That's… that's not the point!" Ayame protested. "You can't just-"

"Excuse me!" A woman called out to them. She was a beautiful blonde in long robes, and her voice carried the ring of a bell with it. She strolled down the path with a smile on her face, her eyes twinkling in the morning sun.

"Yeah? What do you want?" Ayame asked, raising her eyebrow.

"Oh, nothing much," the woman laughed. "Actually, I'm looking for… for…"

Her eyes landed on Blake, and her nose twitched. She quickly closed the distance between the two of them, her eyes shining with excitement.

"H-Hey!" Ayame said, nearly shoved out of the way by the woman.

The woman leaned in close to Blake, getting so far into his personal space he was starting to feel a little uncomfortable.

Then she sniffed him, and he got even more uncomfortable.

"Hey! What are you doing?!" Blake cried, the woman sniffing him again.

"Oh, it is, it is! Just perfect!" She swooned. "I can smell the scent of a dragon all over you!"

"D-Dragon?" Blake asked, confused.

She took another sniff, and nodded. "Yes, in fact, a Salamence!"

"Hey! Stop sniffing my boyfriend!" Ayame growled, grabbing the blonde by the shoulder and prying her off of Blake. "What do you want, weirdo?"

The woman turned to Ayame and sniffed the air. She sighed, and smiled apologetically at her. "I'm sorry, I just got a little carried away when I smelled the scent of a Dragon type pokemon, they're my absolute favorites, you see!"

"Yeah, sure, whatever," Ayame groused. "You like dragons, big deal. Now, who the heck are you? Because I've been here for four years, and I've never seen a student or a teacher like you around before."

The woman laughed. "Well, normally I don't go around talking about myself to others," she said. She turned to Blake, her eyes twinkling in a way that made him feel equal parts uncomfortable and intrigued. "Buuuuuuut, seeing as how you're a fellow dragon lover, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to tell you."

She stepped back and lowered her head into a bow. "Greetings, my name is Reed. Reed Blackthorn. It is a privilege to make your acquaintance," she chirped, flashing them both a winning smile. "Now, if you wouldn't mind, may I have your name?"

She was looking solely at Blake as she said this, like Ayame didn't matter to her at all.

"I'm… Blake," Blake said. "Blake Harker."

"Well, hello there, Blake Harker," Reed smiled, holding out her hand and taking his. "It's an honor to meet a fellow dragon lover."

"Excuse me," Ayame said, stepping between the two of them and forcing Reed to let go of Blake's hand. She really had a bad feeling about this girl. She didn't like the way she was (literally) sniffing around her boyfriend. "I'm Ayame Toujou. Blake's girlfriend."

"Hello there," Reed greeted her politely, glancing at her for all of two seconds before turning her attention back to Blake. "As I was saying, it's really great to meet someone who takes care of Dragon type pokemon themselves. Dragon types are amazing, aren't they?"

"W-Well, I guess so?" Blake said, shooting a wary look at Aya, who was fuming. "Sarah is pretty nice and all, but… I mean…"

"Sarah! Is that the name of your Salamence?" Reed asked, her excitement ratcheting up another couple of levels. She grabbed both of Blake's hands this time. "I would just love to meet her! Normally I exchange greetings with dragon trainers by showing each other our dragons, but I suppose there isn't the time, I'm in a bit of a hurry…"

"Well, guess not, guess you better get going," Ayame sulked.

"Aya, don't be rude," Blake said, shaking his hands free and turning to his girlfriend. Even as he said that, though, he understood where Aya was coming from and agreed with her a little.

"No, no, it's fine," Reed laughed, waving her hand dismissively. "She's right, I do need to get going soon. In fact! Maybe you could help me with that? See… I happen to be looking for someone…"

So our mysterious woman has a name, Reed! And she's made the acquaintance of Blake and Ayame! But what will her motivations be? What does she have planned? We'll have to find out!