Now that Alcea has finally prepared herself for battle, she's going to get down to the actual hard part and talk with Kanone about this whole mess! What will she have to say? Will she be able to keep herself from fawning all over him?

Just a Bad Writer for Fun: Alcea's internal dilemma was definitely amusing. She has a lot more in common with Kate than it might appear.

KedharS: Yep, it's definitely cute, but a little sad, too.

Rowlets and Oshawotts: She's definitely going through something, that's for sure.

Rus0804: Definitely.

Pokemonking0924: She certainly does, she's a lot like Kate in that regard, isn't she?

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 795

Alcea walked back into the clubroom with her head held high and her face perfectly made up, not a hint of her indecision in the bathroom showing.

She had no idea what had compelled her to think that way, to the point where she had actually seriously considered dressing revealingly for Kanone Harker, but she chalked it up to a momentary lapse of sanity brought on by her admiration of the trainer.

That's what it was, admiration.

To be anything else…

…No. Alcea couldn't let herself think that way.

She knew that admiration was the extent of her feelings. Admiration, and beyond that, a desire for his respect and approval. Kanone was someone she looked up to, a trainer that she saw as a goal to reach, even though she knew better than to measure her abilities using someone else as a goalpost. It wasn't that she felt she needed to be at his level of anything to have value, she just…

Since she was a little girl she'd admired him, and the part of her that was still that little girl desperately wanted to be seen as a worthwhile trainer in his eyes.

But in the end, it couldn't go beyond admiration.

She wouldn't let it go beyond admiration.

Because if she did, then she would have to acknowledge those feelings.

She was 17 years old. She would be 18 soon, but Kanone was what? 25? And would be turning 26 within the year?

Her heart may have wanted that, but her head knew that any attempt at romance would be seen with the amusement of a child trying to seduce a grown man.

So admiration it was.

She wouldn't let it be anything else.

"Hello there, Alcea. It seems you took some time to prepare?" Kanone asked, raising his eyebrow as she stepped into the room.

She had to keep her emotions in check. That would be vital if she wanted to remain in control of the situation.

"Oui, as your hostess it is expected of me to maintain a certain level of decorum, is it? It is only polite." She nodded evenly, going over to the kettle to check the progress of the tea. It would be done shortly. Once that was settled she finally turned to the table and joined her guest, sitting down with the controlled grace she had learned.

"Well, I think you look lovely," he complimented, his smile smashing through the walls she'd put up in her heart faster than a brick break attack. "I must say, I'm flattered that you would go to so much trouble just for little old me."

He was playing at modesty, acting out humility that wasn't there. Alcea picked up on this immediately of course but still had to bite down on her tongue's attempt to argue with him. She held her voice and nodded silently.

Silence. That was the right move, she could recognize that. Kanone was the sort of man who liked to talk. If she kept her composure and let him talk, that would be easier.

Of course, Kanone's "talk" was rather hard to turn from its playful nature without the proper mood. She doubted that he'd ever really open up for a serious conversation under these circumstances. And she was quickly proved right by his jocular tone.

"So, now that we're here waiting for our tea, I suppose you'd like to… what was it again? 'Debrief' me, was it? That was your excuse to keep me here?" He asked, his eyes flashing with playfulness as a smile curled up his lips.

Alcea didn't let herself get taunted.

"Oui," she nodded. "We had an intruder at the academy. Her arrival coincides with your presence here. Furthermore, you seem to be very… well-informed, is it? So you can understand how someone could become curious what your connection with this mysterious stranger is, oui?" She asked, giving him a polite smile out of courtesy.

Kanone chuckled, and nodded his head slowly. "I can understand where you're coming from," he admitted. "Wanting to keep me from meeting up with this intruder, assuming, of course, that we are connected. But you don't need to worry, Alcea. I was just curious, like you, nothing else."

"So you don't know anything about that woman, then?" Alcea asked. She suspected he was telling the truth. She hadn't actually believed that Kanone had any connection to her, of course, that had just been a pretext. What she was concerned about was his curiosity, and what might happen if he went to go see her.

"Oui," Kanone said, wiggling his eyebrows at her. His tone wasn't any more mocking than it had been, but Alcea still found herself put off by the fact he was mimicking her. Even though he came from Kalos himself.

"But you still intended to meet with her," she confirmed.

Kanone shrugged. "Can you blame me? Like I said, I was curious. Not a lot of people go around fighting members of the Eight Leaders to a standstill and then leaving behind dragons as gifts. She piqued my interest, that's all."

Alcea's response was cut off by the sharp whistle of the kettle. The tea was done. She rose from her seat and prepared two cups, setting one down in front of him and taking one for herself.

Kanone took a sip, and Alcea would be lying if she said that her heart hadn't been pounding with anticipation.

He smiled and set down the cup. "Delicious."

Alcea relaxed at that. She was relieved that he liked her favorite brand. Riding that high, she reengaged the conversation with a little more surety in her voice. "I suppose you don't need to be reminded that this woman you were planning to meet with is trespassing on school grounds, after having attacked one of our students with her pokemon."

Kanone blinked. "Really? The way I remember Callie explaining it, she was the one who attacked first, right?"

Alcea's eye twitched, and she hid her scowl behind her cup. "That… is beside the point. Callie was acting in her capacity as a member of the Eight Leaders, upholding her duty to suppress suspicious figures who might mean our students harm. The proper thing for that woman to do was to surrender to Callie and go with campus safety, is it?"

Kanone shrugged. "I won't argue that. And that's what's got me so curious. After all, she could be a serious threat to the student body, and I'd like to see that threat be neutralized just as well as you, isn't that right?"

"Be that as it may, it isn't your duty to do so," Alcea coldly replied. "Nor is it any of your concern. You are our guest here, Kanone. Please allow campus safety to do their business, and I would ask you to mind your own, is it?"

"Which brings me to another question," Kanone said. There it was. The serious look in his eyes. It was about time that she'd seen it. And now that she had, it was rather unnerving.

"Oui?" Alcea asked.

"There's an intruder on campus, one who attacked a member of the student body, as you said," Kanone said, nodding. "And yet, it doesn't seem like campus safety is doing anything about it. Everything here seems to be handled rather normally, I don't see people going around and asking questions, heck, I would think that with an intruder there would be measures taken to keep the students locked up in their rooms in case this person really was dangerous."

He narrowed his eyes.

"So tell me, what's going on there?"

Alcea felt a pit in her stomach. She took another sip of tea to calm her nerves, but all she could taste was ash.

"It is… complicated," she admitted. "But I assure you, campus security is looking into this matter, and giving it every bit of the serious attention it deserves."

"Just not overtly," Kanone added.

She flinched. It was only a second's hesitation, a tremble in her fingers as she set the cup down. But she saw by the way his eyes narrowed that he'd caught it.

She sighed in resignation. "No. There are… other circumstances to consider."

"Alcea, you know that my little brother attends this school," Kanone said. "I've had my issues with safety of certain students before, as certain events have played out. Particularly the Fall Festival Tournament, as I'm sure you remember."

A shadow crossed Alcea's scowl. She had her own issues with that tournament, and could guess what his issues involved. There was no arguing that the security of that event had not been at appropriate levels, considering the stadium had nearly collapsed.

"If the security here is really so lax, I think my father may have been right to want to take Blake away from here," he continued. "I want to make sure he's safe, after all. And if this woman is a threat to his safety…"

So that's what he would have her believe? That he was concerned with Blake's safety? Alcea resisted the urge to laugh out loud, instead channeling those feelings into outrage. She had been on the defensive a moment ago when he was rightly criticizing the school's safety measures, but he was as much a liar as she was.

"You expect me to believe you were going to see this woman out of concern for your brother, is it?" She asked.

Kanone's face darkened and for the first time, his smile had completely disappeared. "Do you think I don't love my little brother?"

Alcea gasped. "N-No, that wasn't what I meant at all!" She quickly clarified. "I'm sure you love Blake quite dearly!"

Her attempt to mollify him didn't seem to have an effect, as Kanone's expression was still harsh and stony.

"Let me clarify," she offered instead. "It relates to that… ability of yours, your harmonia."

Kanone's dark look was gone, now replaced with an even rarer expression, a mix of curiosity and confusion.

"You… I guess the term would be 'spoke' with that pokemon, the… Jangmo-o, is it? Using your harmonia."

Kanone nodded.

"And you seemed to have a great insight into the intruder's thought process," she continued. "I don't have your gifts myself, but the way you spoke, it was like you knew how the Jangmo-o felt not just about Callie, but also about its previous owner. So I would think that, if her reason for being here posed a threat to your little brother…"

Kanone relaxed as she spoke, and the smile returned. "Fair enough, Alcea, fair enough," he nodded. "I supposed you're right, my reaction wouldn't have been so… casual about going to see her." He was smiling and his voice was pleasant, but there was a sharpness in that last sentence that sent a chill down her back.

Alcea took it in stride, and looked to direct the conversation towards a more pleasant avenue, even if it was one that was just as dangerous.

"While I can't speak for the safety of your brother, I would like to think that we are taking every measure we can to ensure the safety and security of our student body," Alcea explained. She wished she could sound more confident, if only to reassure herself, but with her hesitation she didn't expect Kanone to buy what she was selling. "Unfortunately you're right. There have been… incidents. That's why we desired to keep things quiet, just for now. Conduct a silent investigation. We didn't want yet another reason to stress out our students and put them on guard, given that things have just now started to return to normal."

Kanone nodded. "You mean the police investigation. What happened to that girl."

"It was a tragedy… the poor girl, she's lucky to be alive…" Alcea didn't know a lot of the specifics of that event, but she could empathize with what Dakota's family must be going through. "When it happened, it sent the campus into an uproar. We're still trying to recover from the damage. The Miss Pokemon Academy Contest was our attempt to move forward, but…"

Why am I telling him all this?

So much of this information was supposed to be private; and yet she just couldn't help but tell him everything, even when she knew that she shouldn't.

She stabbed her heart, knowing it was responsible. Try as she might to keep her lips sealed, her admiration for Kanone won out over her better judgment.

"We've increased security since the event. But if we let the students know that there's another incident, so soon after the first, then it could be devastating. So…"

Alcea finally managed to shut herself up, after she had already given everything away. She kept her look of composure while mentally slapping herself, as Kanone sat in silent contemplation.

"…Should you really be telling me stuff like that?" He asked, smiling awkwardly.

NO! NO, I SHOULDN'T! She screamed at herself.

"Just consider it as a member of the student administration responding to a concerned family member," she diplomatically put. "Judging from the intruders actions, I can't say she poses an immediate threat to the student body, and I suppose that campus safety felt the same."

And it wouldn't be the first time we had an intruder on campus without any issues being raised, she silently added, remembering the Fall Festival Tournament again, where that woman Claire had snuck inside without penalty.

"Fair enough," Kanone smiled. "I can see that this is quite a stressful time for you. But you're right, that woman… whoever she was, I couldn't sense any animosity from that Jangmo-o, so I think she's not a danger. Just my two cents as a bystander."

He narrowed his eyes.

"With that in mind… I think we've spent enough time with this pretext, don't you agree?" He asked. "We both know that you didn't stop me from going just out of concern."

That… well, that wasn't wrong, as much as Alcea didn't like having to admit it. She was certainly concerned about Kanone's interest in the intruder, and she certainly didn't want him to communicate with her.

But there were other motives at play as well.

"I don't know what you mean," she said, trying to play things off. "I was only concerned about your interaction with the intruder. There's nothing you need to involve yourself in, and things can be left to campus safety, so-"

"Good," Kanone interrupted her. He pushed his tea cup forward and suddenly rose from his seat, smiling at her. "Then I suppose our business is complete. I promise, I won't look for the intruder, and leave things in your capable hands."

Alcea was so startled she had lost her composure. "W-Wait!" She cried.

Kanone turned back. "Oh?"

Fuck. Alcea didn't curse often, and she had almost done it that time. She had been so flustered that any mitigating reasons to keep Kanone here had all flown from her mind.

"You're… correct," she admitted, unable to admit anything but the truth. "I had other reasons to call you here."

Kanone raised his eyebrow, and returned to his seat with a cool smile on his face. He tilted the empty cup to her.

"More tea, then?"

Alcea nodded and rose to pour more tea, the sound of the steam liquid masking the pounding of her heart.

While Alcea and Kanone were… "enjoying" their tea, other events were happening at the Pokemon Academy.

The end of Darla's test had arrived considerably after the events of the little tea party, so things skipped ahead by a few hours.

Similarly to how Alcea had informed Kanone about the security measures of the school, Darla and Lila were getting the rundown from Reed about what she had been up to during her search for Darla, and things weren't sounding very pleasant.

"You got in a fight with a member of the Eight Leaders?!" Lila practically screamed. She looked around frantically, relieved that the storm had led most of the other students to stay inside. There was no one to overhear Reed's little confession.

"The blonde girl? Yes, I think she said something like that," Reed said, nodding innocently. She apparently had no idea just how much of an incident she had caused.

Darla and Lila shared a look. This was a pretty complicated matter, but at the same time they couldn't just let things go on like this. In particular Lila's responsibility as a student had taken hold, and even while she knew that Reed didn't mean any harm, she still had the obligation to report this whole incident to the school.

The fact that she personally didn't like Reed very much had nothing to do with that, certainly. Lila was definitely not that sort of petty person.

"Would you mind if we took you to campus safety and explained this whole mess?" Lila pleaded. "If you just explain things I'm sure it'll be fine, I don't want to get in trouble for harboring a fugitive or anything like that…"

Darla nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I think that's for the best. Reed?"

Reed blinked, and shrugged her shoulders. "Not a problem with me! I was supposed to be keeping a low profile so I didn't want to cause any trouble, but now that everything's been resolved, it's not that big of a deal."

The idols shared a sigh of relief.

"But Darla… I still can't talk about the Draconid, you realize," Reed said. Her smile didn't falter, but Darla still felt the warning.

"That's fine, we'll say that you're just a relative or something coming to look for me, and you got a little confused," Darla suggested. That should probably be enough to keep them from breathing down our necks too much…

"Yep, works for me!" Reed nodded cheerily. "Plus, it's basically true, right? Then we had a nice little battle on the beach, like family members do, nothing to get worked up about."

Lila was the one who put her finger on the obvious problem with that little explanation.

"Uh… just one thing," she said, the two dragon-users turning back to her. She glanced down.

"What's up, Lila?" Darla asked, confused by why her friend looked so anxious and worried. She thought that the explanation they came up with, while not perfect and likely to still land her in a bit of trouble, was a pretty good one all things considered.

"…What are we going to say happened to the pier?" She asked quietly.

Darla gulped. She thought about the state of the pier, having been completely decimated by Reed's draco meteor attack, and was now reduced to debris that littered the beach.

Oh.

Oh shit.

Yeah, Reed kind of destroyed school property. Big time. That's not exactly the easiest thing to just wave off, you know? Let's see what happens!