Olivia's trip to the Orre Region is quite problematic so far! Not only has Alcea given her the cold shoulder, but she's gotten off on the wrong foot with Hiromi, too! And to make matters worse, now Marion Rivers of all people is here to annoy her, can things get any worse for her?

KedharS: Yup, a hug would definitely be good.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 866

"You know… the sun's not all that bad," Olivia stated, gazing up at the hot Orre sun through her thick sunglasses. She was lounged out on a deck chair beside the pool, basking in the rays and enjoying the slow day.

Her attitude from this morning had taken a remarkable turn since arriving at the hotel. Not only was she no longer forced to interact with Marion Rivers in close proximity, but she also got to relax in some cool air conditioning as well.

So, maybe the hotel wasn't as nice as she was used to. In her trek across the Sinnoh Region she'd certainly stayed in worse! It was perfectly passable, and she even got to share a room with Ayame to boot! (And thankfully not Donoma) She also had to stay with Giselle, but at least Giselle was quiet company.

Of course, the first order of business was to hit the swimming pool. The Orre Region's heat was a lot more tolerable in a bathing suit, and Olivia had brought only her very finest. Her bikini was sleek and skimpy, but only just so. It wasn't like she was a slut or anything, she just knew how to flaunt her best assets to any lovely ladies appreciating the view.

She worked hard for this body, and wanted to show it off.

"Aren't you even gonna swim?" Ayame asked, poking her head out from the water and wiping her bangs off her face.

"Oh, Aya, you're such a child," Olivia said, rolling her eyes behind her sunglasses and stretching back on her chair. "No one goes to the water to swim, they go to sunbathe."

Olivia was going to tan into a warm golden-brown one way or another on this trip, so she might as well get started on the foundation.

Ayame rolled her eyes. It sounded stupid to her. "If you say so," she muttered, hoisting herself up onto the edge of the pool to keep talking. Olivia had to admit, the sporty two-piece she wore did wonders for that toned figure of hers, especially the way her ass…

"Boss, are you checking me out?" Ayame asked, glaring at her friend and raising her hands in front of her boobs instinctively, even though those hadn't been the parts Olivia had been ogling.

Damn, good intuition, I was certain she couldn't see my eyes past these sunglasses, Olivia thought testily. She smiled coyly at Ayame, "oh, you know, just imagining how Blake would react when he sees you coming back with a nice Orre tan."

It wasn't tan Ayame's pale skin was turning, but scarlet. "I-I thought we agreed not to talk about him," she mumbled, averting her eyes. "And-And besides, I'm from the mountains, my skin doesn't tan that easily anyway!"

"Well, you can always try!" Olivia chirped cheerfully. "Just think, sweeping him off his feet with a new look, all fresh and bronzed up from your time in the sun…"

"Boss, you're starting to drool," Ayame scowled.

"Well, hey now, what are you lovely ladies doing here?"

Olivia cringed, turning her head to see two of the smarmiest looking guys ever standing over her, wearing shit-eating grins as their eyes slid greedily over her body. It made her want to throw up. Their intentions were so obvious it was sickening.

Even though she wanted to grab her towel and throw it over herself to keep these scumbags from looking at for another second, she tamped down on the impulse and tilted her sunglasses down her nose slightly. She wasn't going to run away from a confrontation or admit that their lecherous eyes made her uncomfortable.

"Can we help you?" She asked, rolling her tongue so that it sounded as though she'd rather be caught dead than talk with them a minute longer. From her cold aura, anyone with a bit of self-awareness would be able to tell that she wanted nothing to do with them, and would politely back off when they saw she wasn't interested.

But these were pickup artists, not people with common sense, so they proceeded as though Olivia was just "playing hard to get" as part of some "game" and that they would be able to "win her over" and get her to spread her legs.

"Hey there, I'm Ricky, and this is Tad. And we couldn't help but notice that the two of you aren't from around here," the guy who'd spoken before said, sitting down on Olivia's lawn chair. She pulled her legs away from him and sat up, trying to keep from screaming.

"Well gee, Ricky, how could you have guessed?" Olivia asked, her jaw dropping in mock surprise as her eyes widened. "Could it be the fact that we're the only girls for miles around without a good tan? Or maybe that we're staying in a hotel? It must have taken you all day to figure that one out, I'm quite impressed!"

Usually if one levied enough "subtle-but-not-really-subtle" insults at a guy he would take the hint and get lost. But Ricky and Tad were clearly at a special level of dumbass where even THAT wasn't enough to get the message across.

"It'd be for the best if the two of you have a couple locals like us show you around," the other guy, Tad, said, draping his arm over Ayame's shoulder and causing her to flinch. Ayame froze and curled her hand into a fist, ready to feed the guy his own teeth. How dare he touch her so brazenly?! Blake was the only man she'd permit to lay his hands on her.

Enraged, Ayame nearly shouted, "Actually, I have a-"

But Olivia cut her off with a glare that said "let me handle this".

"I'm sorry, but frankly, we're not interested," she said with cold politeness. She took special care to glance at Ricky's swim trunks and make a bemused expression, as if she wasn't impressed by what she saw. Not that any size would be particularly appealing, but she could guess he was probably pretty small.

"Hey, come on, Orre can be a dangerous place to visit without some friendly company," Ricky said, and it almost sounded like a threat. But Olivia couldn't see him as anything other than a horny dumbass of an exceptional degree.

"Maybe, but see… she and I aren't interested in you at all, believe me," Olivia said, narrowing her eyes. She let her smile take on a threatening gleam to it. The time for playing nice with these scumbags had passed, now the claws were going to come out.

"Hey now, I think she can speak for herself," Tad said, tightening his grip on Ayame's shoulder and turning to her. "What's your name, honey?"

"Oh, you can take my word for it, she's definitely just as uninterested as I am," Olivia assured them with a smirk. "And she proves it to me every. Night. If you… catch my drift."

It took them a second, but an elbow into Tad's gut from Ayame as she shook herself free, finally done with letting him paw at her, was enough to get the message across.

And that should have been the end of it. But Olivia could tell by the gleam in Ricky's eye that he was one of those. One the especially disgusting scumbags who when he heard "lesbian" didn't back off, he leaned in closer.

"So you're telling me… that you and her…" He was practically licking his chops at the idea, the sicko, and Olivia had had enough. She fished her phone out of her purse and snapped a quick picture of the two of them, surprising the boys.

"That's right, we're together," Olivia sharply interjected. "And since you didn't ask, my name is Olivia Himeko. And… there we go."

She turned her phone to show the boys what she had done.

"Yup, you got that right. My follower count IS that high. And I just let all of them know that two creeps are trying to make trouble for me and my lady friend," she said, giving them a sweet smile. "So if you don't want me to destroy your lives forever by following that post with one saying you tried to force yourselves on us, I'd suggest you leave. NOW."

And suddenly, as though they were finally listening to what she was saying, Ricky and Tad beat it for parts unknown, fleeing back into the hotel as fast as their chicken legs could carry them. It was a miracle. Like a holy saint Olivia blessed by god had cured the deaf today, and gave them the ability to hear again.

Hallelujah.

Ayame was still seething with rage. "The nerve of those scumbags!" She roared, still shaking, "touching me like… like! Graaagh, disgusting!" Her shoulder where that guy "Tad" had touched her was burning like his hand was dipped in acid, and she wanted to throw up.

"I know how you feel," Olivia griped, lounging out on the deck chair again and sliding her sunglasses back up her nose. I hate when guys try to pick me up…"

It was the curse of being beautiful, she supposed. On the one hand, the cute honeys fell for her bewitching looks, and the cameras adored her. On the other, human fecal matter like those guys were always sniffing around, thinking she was a safe and that they could get inside if they managed to find the right combination of words to pry her legs open.

She didn't want to put up with crap like that for the entire Orre trip. Maybe her idea of hanging around the hotel hadn't been the best one.

At the moment, Olivia's concerns were shared with an unlikely party. Hiromi was sitting in the lobby of the hotel, reading a magazine with a glum look on her face.

It was just so frustrating! She'd come up with all sorts of fun places they could go see in Gateon City, but NOOOO, her group had decided that THEY wanted to spend their trip cooped up in the hotel and slacking off!

Sure, maybe it was over a hundred degrees outside, and the van was cramped with bad AC, but come on! They didn't HAVE to use the van, they could walk places! …In the sweltering heat. And scorching sunlight.

But still!

Who the heck comes all the way to a brand-new region and just wants to spend the whole day lounging about by the pool?! Or hanging out in their room?! What was up with kids these days?! Even her daughter was more active than this! Olivia may have been a good friend, but as far as Hiromi was concerned she was a bad influence!

The problem was, the Appeals Course students just didn't have that sort of drive. They were the kind of prima donnas that would just lounge around not actually trying all that hard to do much of anything if they didn't have to.

Exactly the sort of teenagers that Hiromi couldn't stand!

Hiromi set down the magazine and hopped to her feet, putting her hands on her hips. An adamant scowl crossed her face.

She was just going to have to put her foot down! They wouldn't be wasting one more minute in this hotel, not if she had anything to say about it!

It had taken a lot of doing and a solid hour of whining, but Hiromi had managed to round everybody up and get them out into the lobby.

"Do we really have to go?" Lukas whined, not at all excited to go exploring the Orre Region. As much energy as he usually had, he didn't find hot places that particularly cool.

"It is what it is," Olivia coldly replied, siding with Hiromi on this one. While she'd have loved to continue sunbathing for another couple of hours to really get a good foundation going, she wasn't in the mood to make their chaperone any more upset with her than she already was.

She could put up with a little discomfort in the name of a harmonious field trip, right? Sure she could! There was no need to cause a huge fuss about any of this, after all!

Hiromi was just relieved that Olivia and Ayame agreed with her that they should go out. Ayame had talked quite a bit about Olivia, and had made her out to be quite the Vespiquen of the hive, but the real thing was something else. It was clear that with this particular group, whatever Olivia wanted to do, that's what they would be doing. Even the more rebellious ones like that Donoma girl would fall into line if Olivia put her foot down.

She was glad that the blonde was on her side.

"So, shall we go? It's a little late for lunch, but I saw a great place for fish and chips down by the harbor, what do you think?" Hiromi asked. "We can see some of the sights, maybe get some taffy, there's a place that sells scented candles, all sorts of fun activities along the boardwalk!"

"Ooh, scented candles?" Lila asked, lighting up at the idea. Darla rolled her eyes and shook her head, a bemused smirk crossing her face. Her partner just loved stuff like that.

"Yup! And a special glassware store, too," Hiromi said, holding up her handy-dandy teacher's guidebook. "There are all sorts of cool shops we can check out! Who's with me?"

"I am! Picture it!" Donoma said, holding up her fingers like a camera, with Ayame square in her sights. "Ayame Toujou, away from home in a foreign land, exploring the wild and rough west of the Orre Region with her friends. I call it: 'Run Away Home'!"

"That sounds awful," Ayame muttered, ducking out of Donoma's "lens". But Donoma refocused immediately, much to the other girl's chagrin.

"I want to go clothes shopping, too!" Lila added, excited for more than just the scented candles. "I'd just love to check out the Orre styles!"

"Oh, I want to do that, too!" Celia agreed, nodding eagerly. "You too, right Jessie?" She asked, looking hopefully at her cousin.

Jessie wasn't as excited about clothes as her cousin was, but she was still onboard as the only real "outsider" of the group.

"I suppose something like that could be enjoyable," Allen was forced to admit, seeing the way the current was changing in favor of going out for the day. "Come on, Lukas, even you have to admit it could be fun."

Lukas sighed. He knew when he was beat. He would just have to put up with the heat for a little bit. "Okay then," he agreed. "Yeah, you're right, it might be fun!"

"Then it's decided!" Marion cheered, pumping her fist into the air. "Let's go find some fun places to fish, everyone!"

Everyone took a moment to remember that Marion was still there.

"What are you doing here?" Olivia asked, barely able to keep the growl out of her voice. She'd been so happy earlier, knowing that Marion hated pools. But now, like a bad penny, the tan girl had turned up once again.

"I'm here to fish, silly!" Marion chirped.

"I'm having her come with us," Hiromi explained. "After all, until I find what group she's supposed to be in, it's important we keep an eye on her, don't you think?"

Olivia hung her head in frustration, lacking the energy to explain that Marion technically didn't have a group, since she wasn't supposed to be on this field trip in the first place. But even if she said that she doubted it would do any good; Hiromi would have still insisted she come with them anyway, because she was one of their classmates and shouldn't be left on her own.

Which reminded her of something…

"Marion," she hissed, taking the fishing enthusiast aside, "didn't you say you were on your break? Shouldn't you be, like, getting back to work soon?"

At first she'd tried not to sound so hopeful, but as the words left her lips she realized that it didn't really matter. Who the fuck cared if she wanted Marion to get lost as soon as possible?

Marion certainly didn't, she was as cheery as she always was.

"Oh, don't worry about that," Marion assured her with a grin. "I've already completed my assignments and all my mandatory work hours after all, everything else is just volunteer work! So I can come and go as I please!"

Olivia's heart sank in her chest. So much for that tiny hope. Marion could keep pestering them as long as she wanted. Or as long as Hiromi let her.

Her only hope was that Marion got herself caught up with fishing and just left. …Which, to be honest, wasn't that unfeasible of a hope.

Then Hiromi said something that crushed the idea.

"Marion, why did you bring your fishing pole?" She asked, raising her eyebrow in confusion. "We aren't going to be going to the water to fish, we're going to be visiting the shops."

Marion blinked, confused.

"That's okay! I need it for fishing," she assured the older woman.

Olivia had to suppress a smirk at Hiromi's confusion. Hiromi blinked, not sure what wasn't getting through.

"No, um, you're not listening," Hiromi said sweetly. "We aren't going to be doing any fishing, so can you please put your fishing pole back in your room? We won't need it, so it'll just end up getting in the way, sorry."

Marion stared at her, not sure what she was saying. It couldn't process through her thick, fish-obsessed brain.

"Wait, are you saying… I can't go fishing?" Marion asked, looking a little green around the gills. "B-But… but I…"

"That's right," Hiromi said. "Maybe when we go down to the water next time, but we can't have you off fishing all by yourself. You need to stick with the group, at least until we find you other group, okay sweetheart?"

Hiromi gave her a reassuring smile, while Olivia tried not to break out laughing.

…So, never. You won't be able to go off and fish anymore, Marion Rivers! She crowed with triumph, relishing in the other girl's look of despair.

"But… But… Jessie!" Marion looked to her friend for support, but Jessie couldn't do anything either. She gave a halfhearted shrug.

"Sorry, Marion," she apologized. "I guess you'll have to go without fishing for a little bit, maybe we can get some fishing in tomorrow."

Secretly, Jessie was kind of enjoying Marion's predicament. She had a bit of a grudge against her boss for being such an annoyance to work with, it was nice to see her take a hit every now and then, it wasn't like she was going to die.

Well, it certainly LOOKED like she would, but that was just Marion being melodramatic.

"Okay then!" Hiromi cheered, clapping her hands together, "with that settled, let's get going! Our first stop is the candle shop!"

She was completely ambivalent to the horror she'd just inflicted. Marion had gone from being their guest to being their hostage.

Poor Marion. Hope she doesn't go through any withdrawals, not being able to fish anymore. That can't be good for her. Remember to review!