Now that Akira and Sylvia have both been handily defeated by Misty, it's time for them to settle in and get used to life in the gym! But first, a welcome dinner! Remember to review!

The Harmonium: Quite an interesting thought.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 828

"…And it's not fair! The cape is a perfect dating locale, but no one ever asks me out!" Misty wailed, slamming her glass down.

Sylvia was repressing her laughter and Akira just nodded numbly.

For their celebratory welcome dinner, Misty had taken them, fittingly, to a sushi bar. Akira was surprised. It seemed that there was a tradition for Water type users to not just love training Water type pokemon, but also eating them.

Misty was definitely getting more into the "bar" part of the restaurant than the "sushi" part, though. Akira was shocked that she would be allowed to look after students when she had no problem taking them to sushi bars and drinking in front of them.

He didn't mention anything about how the supposedly 20 year old Misty was apparently a regular at this bar.

"Hey, come on now, Misty, you're very pretty," Sylvia assured her, taking a bite of sushi. The smile on her face was a warning sign to Akira who knew that Sylvia would never be nice to someone without ulterior motives.

"Really?" Misty asked, looking hopefully towards Sylvia. A mix of not knowing enough about Sylvia's character and her inebriation was keeping her from understanding how questionable Sylvia's support really was.

"Of course! Just ask Akira!" Sylvia chirped, turning to Akira. Her eyes were shining mischievously and Akira knew that this was going to be a long night. "When he was a kid, he thought you were totally hot, and definitely had a major crush on you. Probably even does now!"

Akira felt his face heat up. He didn't know how Sylvia learned about his prior feelings for Misty, but she was definitely making great use of it. Although, since it was Sylvia he was talking about, there was a possibility she had either just guessed, or was flat-out making stuff up.

Either way, he just kept his mouth shut. Until Misty turned her eyes on him.

"Is that true?" She asked, blushing. Her eyes were a little unfocused from the alcohol, but they looked rather hopeful.

This put Akira in a very uncomfortable position. He was still just a kid. He was only 17 years old, and here was a woman who, despite her assertions to the contrary, was WELL over 20, asking if he found her attractive.

…And yes, he did, but that wasn't the point.

If Misty could get in trouble for taking two underage students into a bar (albeit one that doubled as a traditional restaurant, so it wasn't THAT big of a problem) then she would be in some SERIOUS trouble for asking a question like that to one of them.

Sylvia, of course was loving this. Misty, on the other hand, just sighed and hung her head. She hadn't even waited for Akira to answer her question, because frankly, whatever answer he gave would have been twisted to suit her narrative regardless.

"I knew it…" she sighed, shaking her head in dejection. "I'm not pretty or attractive… I'm just a tomboy… no man wants to date someone like me… I wasted my youth training my pokemon, and now the only people who find me attractive are little kids… what a waste…"

At least Sylvia was enjoying herself, because this was one of the most miserable dinner experiences Akira had ever had. And he had some dates with Dakota that were real doozies.

"Okay, I think that's enough for you," Diana said, coming back from the bathroom and noticing Misty's condition. She looked apologetically at the students. "Sorry you two. I know that this probably isn't what you'd expected when you signed up to work at the Cerulean City Gym, but Misty is a bit of a… personality, as I'm sure you've noticed."

"Oh, no, that's totally fine!" Sylvia laughed. "I'm having a blast! Right, Akira? We aren't bothered at all, are we?"

Akira definitely wasn't having a blast, but he also wasn't bothered by the fact that Misty was a little bit of an oddball. She was definitely doing things wrong by taking them to a bar, and he did feel a little uncomfortable with how she acted, sure.

But that didn't mean he regretted anything. His vision of Misty as some perfect gym leader may have been tarnished, but the woman behind the televised smile was actually rather interesting, and felt a lot more real.

That being said, he was fine with leaving. He was feeling uncomfortable and exhausted, and just wanted to get some sleep. So he was relieved when Diana paid the tab for them all and took Misty back to the gym. Today had been long, and he was finally free to go relax. Leaving Sylvia to her own devices, he got up to leave himself.

Unfortunately Sylvia stopped him with a hand grabbing his wrist.

"Great. What now?" Akira sighed. Hadn't Sylvia had enough of this for one day? He turned to give her a piece of his mind, only to see that Sylvia's face had lost that playful smirk. She was staring at him with a serious grimace, and he froze up.

"We're not done yet," she said quietly, getting up and looking him coldly in the eye.

Akira shivered. The restaurant was crowded, but with the way she was staring at him he felt like they were the only ones there.

"We need to talk." The tone of her voice wasn't a request.

Akira let Sylvia lead him out the door and into the street. They definitely weren't headed for the gym, though.

"Where are we going?" He asked, confused about where Sylvia was leading him. They walked past the gym and continued down the river.

Sylvia didn't reply. She marched onwards in silence, not removing her hand from his wrist. Her fingers were ice cold.

It felt like they were walking for hours. Akira was feeling more and more uncomfortable as she led him through town, down the river, across the Nugget Bridge, and then finally to the coast. It was a long trip, it felt like they'd been walking for hours.

By the time they arrived at Cerulean Cape, Akira felt completely drained. It was practically Sylvia keeping him upright, he wanted to go to sleep.

"We're here," Sylvia said, staring out at the ocean. It was the first thing she'd said since they'd left the restaurant. The two of them were standing on a viewing platform on the rocky overhang, above the beaches of Cerulean City.

"Okay, why are we here?" Akira asked, scowling. He turned to a house nearby, set up on the cape. He gasped. "Wait, is that… does the person you were talking about live there? Is that why we came here, to figure out what happened to Dakota?"

His previous tiredness was forgotten and he lit up with energy. If it was about helping Dakota then he had all the strength in the world, forget about sleep.

Sylvia looked at him like he was crazy.

"…No, we're not here for the house," Sylvia said. "I came here because we can talk in private. Because strange houses aside," she glanced at the weird house and rolled her eyes, "there's nobody around who can overhear."

"So if that's what we're doing here, what, we're going to meet your contact or something?" Akira asked, looking around. In the night's darkness, the shadows cast by the trees and rock ledges were scurrying around, and he wondered if there was some sort of secret informant hiding among them, waiting to come out.

Sylvia gave him another "are you an idiot?" stare.

"Akira, I'm just here to talk to you," she said. "We don't have any contacts here. That's not what this is about."

Oh. So it was just Sylvia. That caused Akira's mood to plummet considerably. He was hoping that he could talk to someone who would clue them in about Dakota, but no, it seemed like Sylvia had dragged him here for nothing.

"…I'm going back to the gym," he muttered, shaking his hand free and turning to head back down the river.

"Hey! Come on Akira, this is important! We need to talk!" Sylvia insisted, yanking him back by the collar of his shirt.

Akira didn't want to give Sylvia even the faintest benefit of the doubt. But he couldn't deny that this was an important issue, and she was kind of the one calling the shots. He sighed, and turned around to see what she wanted.

"…Fine. What's so important?"

Sylvia flashed him a smirk that was barely visible in the sparkling lights strung up on the pier. Akira's heart sank.

"This is a pretty nice place, huh?" She asked, stretching in a way the emphasized her figure. "Very romantic… nice place for a hot date, wouldn't you agree? I'm so glad you agreed to join me out here." She gave him a flirty wink.

Akira turned and headed back to the gym without saying a word.

"Hey hey hey come on!" Sylvia groaned. "Akira, you're no fun!"

Akira didn't engage. After putting up with Sylvia all day, after she ruined his sleep on the plane, he had absolutely ZERO patience left with the girl. He just wanted to go to bed at this point, he hadn't even had the chance to check out his room yet.

"Akira, if you leave now then you're going to be in for a lot more work when we got to figure out how to help Dakota!" Sylvia called after him.

Akira stopped, but he refused to reengage. Every part of him knew that Sylvia was baiting him. It was obvious, maybe even a little too obvious for the kind of person she was. But he wasn't going to talk with her over something as vague as that.

Sylvia could tell she had him on the hook though, because he had stopped. And that was enough for her. A smirk crossed her lips and she continued, "or don't you want to know more about the person we're going to meet and talk with?"

Akira twitched, and Sylvia knew she had him.

"…Fine," he muttered, turning back to look at her. He reluctantly trudged back, knowing she was playing him but unable to do anything about it.

Because as much as he hated to admit it, he needed Sylvia's intel. She'd been intentionally keeping the truth from him and dangling little nuggets in front of him like a carrot in front of a Ponyta, and he was sick of it.

So if Sylvia was going to give him full disclosure, then he was going to listen. It was better than her keeping him on a leash for the rest of the trip.

He walked back to the cliffs and looked out over the dark ocean, sighing. "What do you want to talk about then?" He asked.

Sylvia was silent for a while, and Akira was almost tempted to just give up and leave for good. Then she began to speak.

"I mentioned Project ADAM before, do you remember that? When I first proposed going to see Professor Decker. There's a reason he's the top in his field in genetic research. He has a lot of work under his belt, and even some of it took place here, in the Kanto Region," Sylvia said, turning to Akira. He could see by the look in her eye that things were serious now.

"And Project ADAM was part of that?" Akira asked.

"From what I know of it, yes," Sylvia said, nodding. "It was a project primarily funded by the Silph Corporation, intending to research the genetics of pokemon. The µ Gene was a product of that research project."

Akira was surprised that she was so forthcoming. But he supposed that now that she'd actually managed to drag him here, there wasn't a point in keeping everything a secret now.

"So the point of Project ADAM was to create the µ Gene?" Akira asked, confused. "I can understand the value of something like that, given what it did to Dakota… assuming it actually managed to heal her, of course."

He wasn't actually sure what the µ Gene was. That was part of the reason why he was so nervous about this whole thing, and wanted to figure out more.

Sylvia shook her head. "It wasn't the main intention, no. At least, I don't think it was. Judging by what I learned about the µ Gene, and about Project ADAM, they were intending to USE the µ Gene to create something else. Project ADAM was the intention, and the µ Gene was just, like… a side-effect, I guess, you could call it that."

Akira could kind of see where she was going with this, but stuff like science wasn't exactly his strong suit.

"So Silph Co. was researching pokemon genetics and developed the µ Gene in order to… what, exactly? Is it like what the professor was talking about? Augmenting pokemon's DNA, making them stronger? Or was it something else?" From what little Akira knew of the Silph Corporation, he had thought that they were primarily researchers in pokemon technology, not pokemon genetics.

"What part of 'I don't know the specifics' is not clear?" Sylvia said, rolling her eyes. "There's only so much information you can get out of a brilliant mind, a charming smile, and an illegal server download, you know."

Akira blinked. What was that last one?

"Apparently, the Silph Corporation was keeping all the stuff about Project ADAM very hush-hush," Sylvia said, rubbing her temples in frustration. "And after they shut it down, all that just went poof. Although, I guess 'shutting it down' isn't the correct terminology…"

"Huh? Then what is?" Akira asked.

"I suppose it would be better to say that the project blew up in their faces," Sylvia explained. "…Literally."

Akira took a second to process that. "Wait, Sylvia, are you saying-"

"A while back, Silph Co. was attacked by Team Rocket," Sylvia said, her tone turning somber. "I'm not sure if you would remember that since it happened a long time ago, but it was all over the news. We were just kids back then."

Seeing Sylvia so serious, almost pensive, it was something that felt unusual for Akira. It was just WRONG for her to be like this.

Then Sylvia reached into her purse and removed something, handing it to Akira to look at. It was a photograph.

Akira squinted at it. He thought he could see the figures of people, but…

"Sylvia, you know there's barely any light around here, right?" Akira sighed. He couldn't make out a single face. And one of them was especially shadowed.

There was just enough light to see her smirk, though.

"That photograph is something I dug up," she explained. "It's just a copy, so feel free to keep it. But it's the only record I could find of the research team for Project ADAM. Just six people, can you believe that?"

"Is that normal?" Akira asked, confused.

Sylvia shrugged. "Well, I would expect that for a project as large as this one, there would probably be at least a few more people. But since they were trying to keep it a secret, apparently not. Either way, I didn't give you that photo because I wanted to show you how few people there were working on this project."

Sylvia fished a flashlight out of her purse and shined it on the photograph, making everything a little clearer. Akira could see a face he recognized, it looked like a younger Professor Decker. He was still an old man, but not as old. There were other people in the photo as well, and one of them was looking to the side, making it impossible for him to see their face clearly.

"So the interesting thing about these six, Akira?" Sylvia smiled. "Only a handful of them are still alive and kicking."

That got Akira's attention. He turned to Sylvia. "Wait, what?"

"For one reason or another, these three have all passed away," Sylvia said, pointing to some faces. Two of them were a man and a woman, who were smiling and standing next to each other, looking like a married couple. The third was a smart man with dark skin. "As for him, the guy with the white hair, he's just… missing. Since I can't see his face, I don't know how to track him down."

She pointed to the man looking away from the camera next.

"So that just leaves these two," Sylvia continued, pointing at Professor Decker and the last man. "And Professor Decker isn't talking. So that means this last person, the sixth member, is the only other person who knows anything about Project ADAM and what it was originally trying to accomplish."

Akira took a closer look at the person she was indicating. He was an older man, like Professor Decker, maybe even older than him. It was interesting that all the young, fresh-faced scientists had passed away, while the older ones had survived.

The man was slightly balding, and had a thin beard. What stood out most about him to Akira, though, were his eyes. They were soft and kind.

"So this is the guy we're going to talk to?" Akira confirmed, looking up at Sylvia. It made sense. It was the only reason he could think of that she would have brought up the photo in the first place. Not that Sylvia had ever needed a reason to do anything before.

Sylvia nodded. "Exactly. Like I said, he's the only person who knows anything about Project ADAM. And that means he's the only person who can tell us more about the µ Gene and what it can do. So if you want to save your little girlfriend, he's the person you need to talk to."

Akira narrowed his eyes. "And what are you going to get out of this, Sylvia? I can't imagine that you're interested in helping me and healing Dakota just out of the kindness of your heart. So what do you want, Sylvia? Why are you so interested in this project?"

Sylvia smirked at him.

"Who can say?" She shrugged, her eyes twinkling in the glow of the flashlight. "Maybe it's because I'd like to learn a little bit more about certain research projects? Does someone with an inquisitive mind like me really need a reason to learn more?" She asked, batting her eyelashes.

Akira rolled his eyes. He had a pretty good idea what she was after. While it was true that Sylvia was the kind of person who would do things for any reason or no reason whatsoever, it was way more likely that she was going to replicate Project ADAM for herself.

Maybe if Akira was a better person, he would have been more concerned about that. But right now, he was only concerned about helping Dakota. Whatever Sylvia did with that information, that was fine with him.

Sylvia could see that Akira was on-board, even if he didn't want to. "Well, then it looks like you agree, then we'll go see him soon," she said, smiling sweetly at him. "Because I know where he lives."

Akira was confused. "Wait, doesn't he live in Cerulean City?"

Sylvia glanced away, and smirked.

Great. So she'd lied to him.

"He does live in Kanto," she assured him. "Just not in Cerulean City."

"Then where does he live?" Akira grumbled.

"Oh, you know, Lavender Town," Sylvia said, like it wasn't a big deal. "Not too far away, just a quick jump through the Rock Tunnel, you know how it is."

Akira couldn't believe what he was hearing. Sylvia wanted him to go to Rock Tunnel? Was she mental?

"This guy lives in Lavender Town?!" He sputtered.

"How do you think I found him?" Sylvia asked, narrowing her eyes. Akira felt an unearthly chill run through his veins. He shivered.

"Sylvia…"

"I asked the ghosts that dwell in Pokemon Tower, of course," she explained. "And they told me this guy, Mr. Fuji, makes regular trips there from his house in Lavender Town."

She reached up and stroked Akira's cheek. "So what do you say? When we get some free time, will you join me in Lavender Town, Akira?"

Sylvia's smile was filled with nothing but menace. Akira didn't see any way this wasn't going to end poorly.

But it was for Dakota. He sighed, and nodded in resignation.

So Akira and Sylvia will be going to the Pokemon Tower! But before they can do that, they have to complete their work in the gym!