Olivia's adventures in the Orre Region continue! What other secrets reside in this scalding place, and what else can Olivia do to pass the time? Let's find out how her little confrontation with Alcea goes!

KedharS: I think it's a little more complicated than that. But there's definitely something that's bothering her, that's for sure.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 865

Olivia wasted little time breaking from the crowd, strolling right into the center of the plaza while Alcea was still talking with the Commander. She didn't know what it was that was driving her. But seeing the two of them talking like that, seeing Alcea so cheery, it lit a fire in her that couldn't be ignored, and she was approaching them before she even knew it.

She couldn't even control the words that slipped past her lips.

"Well, that was quite an amusing battle! It seems our like rose queen here just didn't have what it takes in the end!"

Alcea twitched, turning to look at her. Olivia didn't care about the dark, muddy stare of her eyes, all that mattered was that Alcea was looking her way.

She smirked. "It seems in the end, even though you're touted as the strongest female trainer in school, you can't defeat the Commander… too bad, so sad!" Olivia crowed.

What's the matter with you? Why are you saying stuff like that? At this point, Olivia's mouth had a mind of its own. But it was better than being fucking ignored by her, that was for sure. So she leaned into it, saying whatever she could say to tear the other girl down.

When she was finally finished with her tirade, even the Commander looked uncomfortable. No one seemed like they had anything they wanted to say, the other members of the Commander's group were doing their best to ignore the situation.

Olivia didn't care what they thought. She wiped her forehead and panted slightly. She was actually out of breath! But it was worth it, to see that look on Alcea's face. That's right… not even you can ignore me after hearing all that!

But Alcea's expression… she wasn't angry, or even hurt or depressed, she looked…

Olivia was taken aback by the knowing smile that crossed her rival's lips.

"Olivia… are you… jealous?" She asked, narrowing her eyes into a coy smirk.

…What?

Olivia didn't even know how to respond to that. Did Alcea think… did she really think that Olivia was jealous over some nothing like this? She shook off the fluster of how the other girl's words had startled her, and tried to resist the urge to laugh!

"Oh, please!" She snorted, nearly doubling over. "Me? Jealous of you? Do you think someone like me cares one bit about how you battle your pokemon? Ridiculous!"

But Alcea's smile was undaunted. She walked past Olivia to rejoin the other members of her group, and as she passed she whispered, "Jealousy looks rather hideous on you, is it?"

Olivia turned as red as Alcea's hair, and it wasn't just the heat that was frazzling her. For once, she couldn't think of a good retort. And by the time she could, Alcea was long gone.

With no one to vent her ire on, Olivia did the only thing she could think to do at the moment, and stormed off. In the heat, she had completely forgotten that she was supposed to stay under the supervision of one of the other groups, and all pretense of not setting out on her own was left by the wayside.

Finally, she reached the piers. While Gateon City was a bustling harbor, there were still parts of the docks that were low in foot traffic. Which made this the perfect place for Olivia to finally vent off some of the steam she'd been building up.

"RAAAAAAAAAAH!" She screamed at the ocean. "WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH YOU, YOU STUCK-UP ROSE BITCH?! WHERE DO YOU GET OFF, ACTING LIKE YOU'RE SO MUCH BETTER THAN ME?! WHAT WAS WITH THAT SMILE, HUH?!"

Out of breath, Olivia slumped back and recomposed herself, shaking her head. She hated getting like this, but she just had to let it all out. At least there wasn't anyone around to see-

"Can you keep your voice down, please? You're scaring away all the fishies."

Olivia froze.

"What the hell?! Did you hear what I just-bwuh?!"

No. It couldn't be.

The last person in the world Olivia had ever expected to see was sitting not ten feet away from her.

"Marion Rivers?!" She spat in surprise. It was her alright. Her fellow senior was sitting there tan as could be, casting her fishing line out over the water without a care in the world.

"Yup, that's- oh! Olivia, hey, how're things?" Marion asked, brightening as she saw her fellow Daeva. Her face scrunched up in confusion. "Wait, what're you doing all the way out here in the Orre Region? Shouldn't you be back at school?"

Olivia sighed and rubbed her forehead in frustration. This was why she hated Marion. The girl was such a… well, she was a pain in the ass! There was no point in dressing it up!

Marion's face lit up with glee as another idea crossed her mind. "Wait! Didya come here to fish!? Oh, that's so totally wicked! Come on, I'll get you a spare poll, and we can-"

"What? No, god no, never!" Olivia sputtered in disbelief, how much of an airhead could this girl be, thinking that anyone in their right mind would come all the way to this cesspool just to get in some fishing?

"…Oh…" Marion drooped a little, clearly depressed that she wouldn't get the chance to rope Olivia into a fishing session.

"Besides, what the fuck are you doing here?" Olivia asked, still confused how Marion had gotten to the Orre Region of all places. She wasn't signed up to go on the field trip because she had that other thing, right? She remembered a report of some kind that Marion was working at a practicum for the Pokemon Conservation Society or something like that.

"Fishing, duh," Marion said, rolling her eyes.

Olivia's eye twitched. She'd had a very rough day, and this blistering heat was not making it better. Marion talking down to her like this was the sort of thing that made her want to scream at the ocean a second time.

"No, what I mean is why are you in the Orre Region at all? Aren't you supposed to be working at some pokemon conservation site or something? That's why you're not in school, right?" Olivia clarified, trying to calm herself down. Getting snippy with Marion was an exercise in futility, it was like the girl was incapable of getting upset with people.

"Yup, I am," Marion said. "I'm just on my break right now, that's all! Gotta get all the time for fishies that I can, y'know!"

Once again, Olivia was caught completely off-guard. It appeared to be that sort of day. "Wait, what the hell?! You've been working in the Orre Region?!"

"Uh, yeah," Marion said, nodding, turning back to the ocean. "Notice how sparse all the wild areas around here are? They don't even sell pokeballs here anymore because there are so few wild pokemon! What makes you think a place like this wouldn't be an absolute must for conservation efforts? Olivia you big dummy!"

Olivia was about to cuss Marion out for insulting her intelligence but she restrained herself. Marion did have a point, after all, if you asked anyone what they knew about the Orre Region one of the first things they would tell you was that it was a region with no native wild pokemon.

This wasn't entirely true, of course; there were pokemon found in the wild, they were just incredibly rare.

"I can't imagine anything would want to live in a place like this," Olivia groaned, tugging on the collar of her dress. She was wearing a light pink sundress and the heat was STILL too much for her; she was lucky her antiperspirant cream was doing its job or she would have sweated through to her underwear by this point.

"It's not the climate," Marion scoffed. "The weather's fine, Fire and Ground type pokemon would love it here, even if it is a little humid. Nah, the problem is that there's so much pollution around these parts, sadly."

Olivia looked around, surprised. The air didn't seem that polluted.

As if reading her thoughts, Marion clarified what she meant. "It's not air pollution," she explained. "It's ground pollution. A while back, Orre was a region filled with a bustling heavy mining industry. But unfortunately, the mining corporations got really aggressive in their hunt for natural minerals and the end result was that a lot of the groundland became unsustainable. Plants couldn't grow, waters ran toxic, heck, even the toxins were toxic, so not even Poison type pokemon want to make their home here, if you can believe that!"

Olivia was surprised to hear that, but she was even more surprised to hear it from Marion's lips. The blabbermouth wasn't exactly known for her deep and contemplative thoughts.

"And the biggest problem is that the runoff and all the oil spills in the ocean make things difficult for the Water type pokemon," Marion sighed, hanging her head in resignation. "Even fishing's not any fun when I can't reel in anything."

If Olivia was a nicer person she might have felt bad for Marion. But she really didn't. Marion was annoying and kind of stupid, and the fact that she was a Daeva just pissed Olivia right off. Who in their right mind would ever put Olivia in the same category as someone like that? Someone without eyes, clearly.

"…Well, you have fun with your fishing, then," Olivia muttered. She'd already wasted enough time on this water-headed girl. "I'll go…"

Olivia turned to leave and realized abruptly that she didn't really have anywhere to go. She was supposed to stay with one of those groups, but she'd completely flubbed that one, and now here she was, alone in a foreign city quite clearly having broken the rules.

And even though Gateon City wasn't as seedy as Pyrite Town or the Under, there wasn't really anywhere in the Orre Region where it was safe for a girl who looked like her to be caught all by her lonesome. She'd be asking for trouble going off again.

Olivia sighed and trudged back over to Marion, hanging her head in resignation. At least if kidnappers came she'd have someone to throw at them to get away. She fished her phone out of her purse and switched it on, noticing the storm of missed calls. She definitely had some explaining to do.

"Olivia?! Where the hell are you?! What are you doing?!" It wasn't Ayame who answered the phone, but her mom. Olivia groaned.

"Hi, Hiromi, it's me. I'm safe, don't worry," Olivia assured the panicking chaperone.

"Oh, thank god! I heard from one of the chaperones that you just ran off! I knew it! This is exactly why I didn't want to leave you there!" Hiromi shouted angrily. "Where are you?! We're coming to pick you up right away!"

"I'm down at the pier, right under the lighthouse," Olivia said. "And don't worry, I'm not alone. I'm with somebody."

"Oh, thank god," Hiromi said again, sighing in relief. "You found another group, then?"

Olivia glanced at Marion, fishing away with a big dopey smile on her face, completely ambivalent to Olivia's situation.

"Not… exactly?" Olivia winced. "Look, I'm safe, I'm fine, don't worry. If you want to come pick me up-"

"You're damn right I'm coming to pick you up! It was a mistake letting you go off on your own in the first place!" Hiromi exclaimed. "You just wait wherever the hell you are, while I find a place to park this stupid car!"

Olivia could hear a bunch of groans coming from the car, and she winced. They hadn't even gotten to the hotel yet. That wasn't good, everyone would be extra-upset when they arrived to pick her up. She could already feel problems.

She waited for Hiromi to come find her, and hoped it would be soon. There wasn't much she could do to pass the time, and she wasn't about to start another conversation. The less Marion opened her mouth, the better, as far as Olivia was concerned.

But god she was BORED. So she just watched Marion fish, and waited for the inevitability of Hiromi's chewing out.

It was another half-hour before Hiromi found her, and by that point Olivia didn't even care what she'd have to go through. She just wanted to LEAVE damn it.

And Marion was still fishing.

"Olivia!" Hiromi ran down the pier, her face flushed. Her eyes were red, like she'd been crying. She wasn't alone, either. Everyone in the group had come, since Hiromi wasn't about to leave someone else behind.

Even Olivia felt a little guilty, seeing the irritated looks on everybody's faces. She'd really screwed things up, hadn't she? When even Lila and Giselle looked irritated, that was definitely a wakeup call. Hell, Celia looked peeved, and she was a sweetheart!

…But there was one person there who didn't have a look of discomfort on her face, and that was Celia's cousin, Jessie. The plump brunette actually brightened, and it took a second for Olivia to wonder what was going on.

"Marion?! Is that you?!"

Oh. Well that answered that question.

Marion's head shot up from the ocean and she looked towards Jessie, and her face lit up with glee once again.

"Jessie! Hey there! It's so good to see you!" She gushed, pulling back her line and springing to her feet. She ran over to the other girl and pulled her into a tight hug. "What are you doing here?! How are things back at school?"

"We're… on the senior/junior field trip," Jessie explained, struggling not to laugh. Marion could be such an airhead sometimes!

"…O-o-o-oh, right! I totally forgot! Sorry!" Marion laughed sheepishly, rattling her fist against her head. "I wasn't even thinking about the trip since I was on my practicum!"

"I'm… I'm confused," Hiromi said, a little taken aback. She looked to Olivia and Ayame for clarification. "This girl, is she… a classmate of yours, or something?"

"Hiya there!" Marion said, popping into the middle of the group before either girl could answer Hiromi's question. "I'm Marion Rivers, the lovely fishing gal who dreams of the sea breeze! It's a pleasure to meet you!"

"Oh… um…" Hiromi didn't know what to make of that introduction. She'd come here ready to read Olivia the riot act for sneaking off on her own, and had spent the last half hour suppressing "cool mom" mode to get into "angry mom" mode, and there wasn't really an easy way back.

"…Hi there?" She managed to squeak out, looking to Olivia once again for clarification. Marion hadn't actually answered her question.

Olivia didn't have a very good answer for her, either. She shrugged her shoulders and sighed, giving her the best she could. "I guess? She's… kind of a student…"

"Oh, someone else who snuck away then?" Hiromi pouted, putting her hands on her hips. "So that's what this was! Donoma told me all about it! She said that you would probably go sneaking off somewhere to spend some time with a cute girl! I don't know what she meant by that, but it's pretty clear she was telling the truth!"

Olivia shot Donoma a warning glare as the other girl tried her best not to burst out laughing. Marion laughed innocently along with her, having no idea what was going on.

"Nah, I was just fishing!" Marion offered, like that would help anything at all.

Olivia groaned. She just wanted to get to the hotel already.

She turned to Hiromi and lowered her head. "I'm sorry I snuck off, Mrs. Toujou," she politely apologized. "I honestly wasn't thinking about that when I got out of the car. I really did plan to stay with one of the other groups until you got back. I just… got caught up in something and forgot myself for a little while, and that's why I stormed off. But that's not an excuse. I'm really very sorry."

Hiromi was grateful for the sincere apology from Olivia, even though it didn't really change anything. She was momentarily kicked out of "angry mom" mode, but she quickly rallied, putting on another pouting face.

"Well… that's still no excuse! The Orre Region is a dangerous place, you should know that! That's why we can't allow students like you to go off all on your own!" She turned to Marion. "And that goes double for you, missy!"

"Okay!" Marion innocently chirped, even though her circumstances were a whole different story.

"W-Wait, Romi, it's not what you're thinking," Olivia said, frantically trying to correct the woman's misunderstanding. She could see the writing on the wall, and she didn't like where Hiromi was going with this.

"What's not what I think?" Hiromi scowled, putting her hands on her hips. "Because what I think is that a student shouldn't be wandering around Gateon City all by herself!"

"Well, true, I agree with that," Olivia said. "But Marion's circumstances are a little more…"

"Marion, what group are you with?" Hiromi asked, already ignoring Olivia for Marion.

"Hmm? Group? I don't know, what group are we talking about?" Marion asked, scratching her head in confusion.

Oh no.

"You don't remember which group you're in? What about your chaperone?" Hiromi asked, growing more concerned.

"Chaperone? The wide open sea is the only chaperone I need!" Marion chirped. "As long as I've got the beautiful blue, I can fish where I like!"

Oh please, no, not her…

Hiromi sighed. So this girl didn't remember her group OR her chaperone? Just great, that was just perfect. More work for her.

"Well, I can't just leave you out here unsupervised. Until we can find what group you belong with, I'm going to have you tag along with ours, okay?"

"Sure! That sounds like a great plan!" Marion cheered in agreement. "Let me go get my stuff and then we can go!" She went to go retrieve her fishing pole.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGHHH! Olivia screamed internally. But there was nothing she could do, she had no one to blame but herself.

"Well, it was tough, but let's head to the hotel for real now," Hiromi sighed. "Maybe we can find what group Marion's supposed to be in… and Olivia, make sure you apologize to everyone for worrying them, okay?" She sternly added. She was NOT going to endorse that sort of behavior, no sirree!

"I'm so sorry for all the trouble…" Olivia apologized, more sorry than they could possibly imagine.

"Sorry it's going to be a tight fit," Hiromi apologized to Marion as she loaded her fishing pole into the van. "We only have so many seats, so you'll probably end up having to share."

And thus, as the rancid cherry atop the shit sundae that was Olivia's day, she found herself with Marion rivers sitting on her lap, perhaps the one girl in the entire school that she didn't want anything to do with.

Well, things are certainly off to a rough start for Olivia in the Orre Region, that's for sure. But where will they go from here? Can she turn the trip around?