Akira and Sylvia have managed to rescue Mr. Fuji from the Pokemon Tower, and revealed that the ghosts weren't actually trying to hurt anybody! But now Mr. Fuji's in pretty bad condition. Will he be able to tell them what they want to know? And what will Misty's reaction be, when she finds out what these two have been up to? Probably pretty mad.

KedharS: He'll definitely need some help. The question is, will he have the courage to ask for it or not? Mr. Fuji's not in great shape after all.

Just a Bad Writer for Fun: Hmm. That's a tough question. Alcea trained at Erika's gym and Callie trained at Bea's gym, but those are the only ones I've really given any thought towards at the moment.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 846

After the incident at the Pokemon Tower, Akira and Sylvia both agreed that it would be for the best if they slipped away and didn't attract any attention. They needed to return to the Pokemon Center to make sure Misty was okay, for one.

While they walked back, both of them were focused on other things. Akira was worried about Mr. Fuji. The paramedics said that he was going to be okay, but Akira was worried anyway. He didn't want the old man to die. Sylvia felt similarly, although her motivation was less out of concern for a kindly old man and more because if they didn't get what they wanted out of him before they croaked, then she might not be able to expand her repertoire of knowledge in genetic research. Mr. Fuji could go off and die after that was settled.

That was a bit darker than her usual thoughts, but she was in a bit of a dark mental place at the moment.

Considering she hadn't gotten any sleep that night, after Akira had been able to see the nature of that Gengar, Sylvia was in a foul mood.

She already knew that there were aspects of her personality that were heretical. She lacked compassion and concern the way most people possessed. It wasn't like she was heartless, and in spite of what most people said about her, she'd already ruled out the possibility of being a sociopath through a thorough psychological evaluation.

She just cared more about the things that entertained her than the feeling of others. That didn't mean she couldn't empathize and even be considerate when she felt the whim. So for Akira to judge her so harshly and criticize her inability to read the good intentions of others stung. She didn't like being seen as lesser than others.

As bad a mood as she might have been in, though, she wasn't going to take it out on Akira. There was no sense in something as petty as that. Akira had been perfectly correct, there HAD been a blind spot in her thinking, she couldn't blame him for her own shortcomings.

No, Akira… I really must thank you for pointing out something that I missed. Yes, I'll have to think quite thoroughly about how I can thank you for that… A wicked smile spread across Sylvia's lips as the two walked to the Pokemon Center.

Misty was already running out to greet them, her face flushed with panic. "Akira! Sylvia! What the hell is going on?!" She shouted, forgetting that, as their chaperone, it wasn't exactly okay for her to be swearing in front of them. They'd been in danger and all bets were off.

"Oh?" Sylvia asked, blinking innocently. "Whatever do you mean?"

Misty wasn't about to settle for any bullshit though.

"Don't give me that!" She snarled, storming up to the two of them. "I woke up in the middle of the night after a horrid nightmare about the two of you going off to the Pokemon Tower against my express wishes! And when I woke up, what did I happen to see? Why, exactly that! You were missing! I told you not to wander off on your own! I expected this from you, Sylvia-"

"Hey!" Sylvia scowled, annoyed that anyone would expect anything from her, when she prided herself on being unpredictable.

"…But you, Akira?!" Misty looked to Akira for answers, and unfortunately he didn't have any he could give her.

He sighed, and hung his head.

"Misty… it's not like that, really," he said. "There's an explanation for this whole thing, I promise, we didn't just sneak out because we wanted to or anything." He glanced warily at Sylvia. "…At least, I didn't…"

Sylvia smirked.

"Akira's exactly right," she said, interrupting him before he could give her an explanation. "We had to sneak out to go necking, we couldn't just get up to that with you around, could we?" Her eyes flashed mischievously towards Misty and Akira, who both looked aghast at her vulgarity.

"Are you serious right now!?" Akira exclaimed. "After what just happened?!"

Sylvia shrugged. It wasn't a big deal to her.

Misty shook her head and pinched the bridge of her nose. She didn't really care about something like that, and she definitely didn't believe Sylvia's explanation. But there was something else she was concerned with, and that was the fact that the two of them had ignored her instructions. She couldn't have that, not if she was going to keep them safe. Unfortunately, it seemed like the two of them were intent on getting away from her in spite of her best efforts.

"I know that you're lying, Sylvia," she said, ignoring the girl. She turned to Akira. "But Akira, I trust you to tell me the truth. So please, tell me what happened. This is really serious, you know. I can't have you kids just wandering off!"

Lavender Town was dangerous, and she wasn't about to let the kids she was looking after get spirited away by ghosts.

Little did Misty realize, the explanation she was about to get described exactly the thing she'd been trying to prevent from happening.

"…Okay," Akira sighed, and began explaining what had happened, like he had planned to do before Sylvia had rudely interrupted him.

Misty listened in shock, unable to believe what Akira had just told her. But it sounded true, and it certainly explained the sirens she'd heard that had woke her up from her deep sleep. But seriously? All of that had happened?

"What the heck?" She muttered, pinching the bridge of her nose in frustration. "That's just insane, I can't believe it."

"That's just how it is," Akira said, shrugging his shoulders. "I went to go see what was happening at the Pokemon Tower because I thought that Sylvia was possessed, and I couldn't wake you up because you were under the Gengar's hypnosis. I swear, the first thing I did was go and get you, but you wouldn't wake up."

"I guess that explains how horrible my dream was," Misty sighed. "I just wish I could have been awake so that I could have helped… that's my job, you know. But it's good that you were able to get to Mr. Fuji and call the paramedics to help him. If anything had happened to him, that would have been a real tragedy."

"Right, because then we wouldn't have been able to help Dakota," Sylvia chipped in.

Akira and Misty both gave her dirty looks. She shrugged.

"I'm just glad I was able to help," Akira agreed with Misty, ignoring Sylvia's heartlessness. "You're right, that could have ended up being really bad if I wasn't there, but luckily Gengar managed to lead me to Mr. Fuji and I was able to help."

"That's what's so hard to believe," Misty said, shaking her head. "I mean, Gengar are always so mischievous and are usually thought of as malevolent pokemon, but this one went to all this trouble just to lure you to the Pokemon Tower so that you could help someone. It seems so unnatural, but I guess it just goes to show you that even spooky Ghost type pokemon aren't monsters. They can care about people and do good things, too, especially for someone like Mr. Fuji."

It brought a smile to Misty's face knowing that someone's altruism could even make a pokemon like that Gengar want to help.

"Well, this is all nice and good, but I need to get some sleep," Sylvia said, bringing an end to the touching moment with a loud yawn. "We've got a big day tomorrow, after all."

"I'm surprised you want to go to bed," Akira dryly noted. "I would have thought that you'd be interested in sneaking out to go check on Mr. Fuji in the hospital and get him to tell you what you want to know." That's what the Sylvia in his head would do.

"There wouldn't be any point," Sylvia shrugged. "He's out like a light, assuming he even makes it through the night. He wouldn't have anything to say."

"I think it might be best to listen to Sylvia," Misty agreed. She didn't want to think about Mr. Fuji dying, but she couldn't deny it was a possibility. "Hey, look, I mean… we don't have to do this tomorrow, you know?"

Akira was stunned to hear her say that. "Wait, what? What do you mean?" He asked, confused. Was Misty seriously saying that she thought they shouldn't go talk to Mr. Fuji tomorrow? He didn't want that, even if the old man might not be able to help.

"Well, think about it, Mr. Fuji is in the hospital," Misty said. "I was just thinking that he might not want to talk to us tomorrow even if we go see him. Maybe we should wait until he's feeling better and then come back."

Akira thought about what was best for Mr. Fuji, and as loathe as he was to admit it, he could see that Misty had a point. It was best for the old man if they went back to Cerulean City for now and left him with their contact information, and he got in touch with them when he was ready to talk and wasn't on his deathbed.

At the same time, though, he had come all this way, and he couldn't help but feel like this trip would have been for nothing if they went back to Cerulean City empty-handed.

He looked at Sylvia, expecting her to be the voice of selfishness once again, to say something like "no, screw that. We're going to see the old man first thing in the morning, and make him tell us everything he knows about those genetic projects of his. We didn't come all this way for nothing!" it was exactly the kind of reasoning she would use.

Which was why he was absolutely stunned when she said nothing of the sort.

"I think Misty's right," Sylvia agreed, and Misty looked at her in shock.

"R-Really?" Misty asked, unable to believe it. Sylvia had spent this entire trip, if not her entire time in the Kanto region, butting heads with Misty and deciding what she wanted to do for herself, even when the adult ruled otherwise. But now she was agreeing with Misty that they should go back to Cerulean City and wait for a later date?

Neither Akira nor Misty could believe that the ruthless Sylvia would suggest something like that, and both waited for the other shoe to drop.

But it never happened. Sylvia completely meant what she said.

Of course, she DID want to go see Mr. Fuji right now, and if she was being honest, she wanted to go see him tomorrow morning like she knew Akira did. But more than doing what she wanted, there was another code she held herself to. She knew that Akira and Misty would be expecting her to do the selfish thing, after all.

And Sylvia felt like she'd been too predictable too often recently. That just wasn't in her nature. She'd be damned if someone like Akira could see her next move coming. So no, she was going to swallow her ambitions and agree with Misty to head back to Cerulean, knowing that they would be able to come see him again later.

His condition wasn't critical enough where his life was in danger, after all. There shouldn't be a problem if they came back at a later time.

Plus, by suggesting this, it put a huge burden on Akira's shoulders. She could tell by the tension in his eyes and the pallor of his face that he didn't want to go back to Cerulean City. He was the one who wanted to talk to Mr. Fuji the most, after all. This issue had been weighing the heaviest on him, and he wanted to resolve it as soon as possible. He needed to help his girlfriend, it was the only thing he could think about.

So she was excited to see what decision he would finally make. Would he disagree with them and try to argue his case, even though he lacked the persuasiveness and even though he would be advocating for disturbing the rest of an old man who needed time to recover? Or would he swallow his pride and agree, and run the risk of sacrificing the last chance to help his girlfriend all for the sake of doing the right thing?

A dilemma like that was delicious, and Sylvia was eager to see what the outcome would be. Could Akira really do something so heartless? Normally, she would have expected him to pick Dakota over Mr. Fuji any time. And this was far from a normal situation!

Akira was in a high-stress state after the whole deal with the Pokemon Tower, and he'd been struggling with what to do about Dakota a long time before that. He knew that Misty and Sylvia were right about what the correct thing to do was, but even so he couldn't bring himself to actually go through with something so heartless.

But at the same time, what if they went back to Cerulean City, and something else happened to Mr. Fuji while they were there? He could have another health problem, and this time he might not recover. What if they would wait for a "next time" that might never come?

Akira couldn't make that choice. He couldn't risk Dakota's safety on such a narrow chance, it just wasn't right. So even though he knew he was doing something awful by advocating for what he was about to advocate, he knew that he had to.

He didn't have a choice.

He had to argue that they should stay and talk to Mr. Fuji in order to help Dakota, but he couldn't bring himself to work up the courage to do it.

The words just wouldn't come out. And finally, he managed to say "okay, um… what about… what about this?"

Sylvia leaned in, her eyes shining eagerly. This should be good, Akira was proposing a compromise! She couldn't WAIT to hear what THAT was going to be.

"Instead of… just making our decision now… let's just go to bed," Akira suggested, faking a yawn. "It's been a really stressful night, and I don't think I'm thinking that clearly… I'll be able to think better in the morning, okay?"

Misty looked sympathetically at Akira. She could understand that this was hard for him. He was put in a rather impossible situation, and she felt a little guilty for being one of the people who had put him in it in the first place. If she hadn't suggested that they leave in the morning, then maybe he would be able to salvage what was left of the night for a good night's sleep. But she doubted that would be the case right now.

At the same time, she knew that she had said the right thing. And she hoped that when he woke up in the morning with a clear head, he would be able to see that for himself. She nodded in agreement with his suggestion. "Yeah, that's a good idea. Let's turn in for the night, okay guys?" She asked, looking at Sylvia.

Sylvia yawned. "What are you looking at me for? That's what I said we should do to begin with," she scoffed, turning and heading back for the pokemon center already.

With her back turned to the other two, she could finally stretch her wicked smile across her lips in anticipation for the morning to come.

She'd definitely made the right decision by putting the onus of the choice on Akira's shoulders. She wasn't going to play the devil's advocate that he would "reluctantly" agree with, not this time. Akira wanted to play the big humanitarian? He was going to get his chance.

He'd been too comfortable expecting her to make the cold, selfish decision. Well, now it was his turn to see how that felt. Sylvia expected that a nice guy like Akira wouldn't have the stomach for it, though. Oh, well.

And plus, she was the only one who knew that whatever Akira wanted to get out of Mr. Fuji, it wouldn't be the answer to the thing he really wanted. After all, what he really wanted was to figure out how to wake Dakota up.

But Dakota was already awake. There wouldn't be any point in asking something like that, even if Mr. Fuji did know.

Akira was going to tear himself apart over his doubts about doing the right thing versus doing something that was completely unnecessary.

And for Sylvia, that was the perfect lullaby to ensure she got a good night's sleep.

Pleasant dreams, Akira, she cruelly wished him as she rested her head on her pillow and went to bed. I can't wait for tomorrow…

For Akira, he had thought that things would be a lot harder himself.

Misty had wished him a good night after asking if he needed to talk about anything with her privately, and he'd assured her that no, this was something he needed to think about for himself. So she'd turned in for the evening and left him to his own devices, and he found himself stuck on a lot of problematic thoughts.

Was he going to choose Mr. Fuji, or was he going to choose Dakota and Satsuki?

He knew what he WANTED to do. But the part of him that was a good person would never be able to bring himself to do it.

He realized as he was drifting off just how dependent he had become on Sylvia, much to his disgust. Sylvia had always been someone that he partially loathed because of her heartlessness and the ease with which she manipulated and took advantage of people.

But over the past few weeks, he'd gotten used to her making those decisions. Choosing to do things that he personally found repugnant but couldn't help secretly wishing would happen anyway.

And now the choice fell on his shoulders.

It was a difficult one, and he knew that. He expected that working out what to do in a situation like this would have taken the whole night.

But somehow, he wasn't tormented for hours about the moral dilemma, he wasn't even all that energized. It had been a long night, long and exhausting. He didn't have the strength to stay up for much longer, even if he wanted to.

There was an emotional dilemma at hand, and he wasn't able to figure out a solution to it.

So with his actions in the morning still undecided, Akira found himself slipping off into a deep sleep, the last thought to pass through his mind being a question about what Dakota would do in a situation like this.

What if Dakota was awake, and Akira was the one in a coma? Would she let Mr. Fuji rest? Or would she hound him for answers, regardless of his condition?

He didn't need to think about that answer. He knew exactly what she would do, whether he liked it or not.

Dakota's forcefulness and convictions were one of the things that Akira found attractive about her, after all.

But he couldn't do the same, could he?

He was asleep before he had the chance to make that decision.

And he saw Dakota in his dreams.

So Akira finds himself in a bit of a dilemma! Do they go to the hospital to see Mr. Fuji, even though he probably needs his rest and may not be in any condition to answer their questions? Do they make him talk anyway? Or do they go back to Cerulean City without learning anything? Let's find out what answer Akira arrives at!