Things aren't going so well within the Phantom's group. There's some internal strife! Will they even be able to keep from falling apart and function as a group, or will they tear each other to shreds? How will their chaperone handle things? Let's find out!

KedharS: It's definitely difficult, that's for sure. Teenagers can be a pain.

Tambry96bj: That's a good word. Hopefully.

KentcasLoL: Well, sorry to say it's going to be a while, but I'm glad you're invested in their relationship, it's a complicated one. But Elaina's still doing her best.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 871

Kiana was quick to regain her cheerful demeanor, even given the situation in front of her. It didn't matter that half the students in her group seemed to have problems with the other half, she was their chaperone, and that meant it was her job to keep the students under control. She was the adult here, and she was going to do her job as best she could, to make sure that her little sister had a fun and safe field trip!

"Okay guys!" Kiana said, turning to the group of feuding students with a smile on her face. "Right now, we're here in Gateon City, which happens to be the Orre Region's foremost port city! Now, who wants to see the sights?"

To her surprise, there was no response. Kiana scrunched up her nose in confusion. "…What's the matter?"

Valon sighed and stepped forward, pushing his glasses up his nose. "I'm sorry to say this, Kiana, but the fact of the matter is…"

He glanced back at the other members of the group and then turned to her again with an apologetic smile that didn't reach his eyes. "…We aren't really that interested in sightseeing around Gateon City, I'm afraid."

Kiana was taken aback. She'd expected that the kids would want to go explore the port and all the sights to see there. It would be a fun bonding activity that she'd hoped would smooth things over and maybe help them all get along.

But they weren't biting.

"Th-Then… what do you guys want to do?" Kiana asked, forcing a smile back onto her face without pushing the issue. It wouldn't do to force her opinions as the chaperone onto the students, she'd let them come up with their own ideas. The goal was to let them have fun, after all, and doing what they wanted to do was essential.

Without even blinking, or checking with anyone else, Valon boldly declared "we'd like to take the bus to Pyrite Town, if you don't mind."

Kiana froze in shock. "P-Pyrite Town?" She stuttered, not sure if she was hearing properly. They wanted… to go to Pyrite Town?!

Pyrite Town was a bit of a legend, even for people who didn't live in the Orre Region. It was once one of the twin jewels of Orre along with the oasis of Phenac City, a prosperous mining town with a booming economy. However, the mining activities in the Orre Region were too ambitious; the miners drilled too deep, and badly damaged the ecosystem from the resulting runoff. Because of this, Pyrite Town's mining industry was shut down, and many people lost their jobs.

Now, Pyrite City was just a shadow of its former self; a city of slums, where decent folk dared not stick their heads. Populated with thugs, bums, and ruffians, why on EARTH would they want to visit a place like that?!

"Lana, you… you can't be serious," Kiana said, turning to her little sister. She couldn't imagine that Lana would want to visit a place like this!

And at a glance, it was pretty clear that she didn't. Lana was definitely reluctant; Kiana could see it clearly on her face! But at the same time, she didn't say anything against the idea, either, and just meekly nodded her head.

Kiana could tell that this Richard Valon was the one in charge of things. Her attempts to clear the issue were quickly smothered, and no one seemed to be arguing against him.

Loathe to take the children somewhere as dangerous as Pyrite Town, Kiana decided that it was best to set her foot down. But before she could, Rafe spoke up.

"You know, I think a visit to Pyrite Town would be lovely!" He agreed, giving everyone a placid smile. "The way I hear it, the crime rate is a bit of an exaggeration anyway; things have really picked up since the destruction of Cipher!

So that was it. Even Kiana knew about Rafe's reputation. She had actually been informed by the head of the faculty, Lori, that due to Rafe's status as a member of the Eight Leaders, it was okay to defer to his suggestions about the trip; and by "okay" the insinuation was definitely made that she should absolutely do that.

So Rafe wanted to go to Pyrite Town too. With nothing left to do, Kiana could just hang her head and nod glumly, and go to the faculty coordinator to arrange a bus.

It wasn't like this was out of the question. Not every group of students wanted to start sightseeing in Gateon Port. Some wanted to check out Phenac City, some wanted to visit Agate Village, or the Pokemon HQ Lab, heck, hers wasn't even the only group that wanted to go to Pyrite Town! Maybe she was overreacting…

Kiana wanted to keep her sister safe, but if this was what the group wanted to do, then that's what she would do.

Contrary to her belief, however, she wasn't the only person in the group that had misgivings about this situation.

FUCK! FUCK! SHIT! FUCK! WHY THE FUCK IS THIS HAPPENING?! Dokukage screamed internally. He'd been hoping that this field trip could be something relaxing, but no, he ended up being put in the same group with the Phantom and his associates, including that guy Keahi! FUCK! This was the worst thing that could have ever happened!

Dokukage knew that his defeat of the senior had led to some sore feelings. Especially due to how thoroughly and seemingly-effortlessly he'd won. Because of that, he was careful to give Keahi a wide berth, because he knew the student probably had a temper.

And now they were in the same group?! Shit, the guy had totally threatened him, too, and Dokukage was forbidden to use any of his ninja arts against a regular person! His sensei would absolutely ream his ass out if he did, and he couldn't stand another punishment of being forced to sit through all the Naruto filler arcs!

Maybe… maybe it would be okay. Maybe he wouldn't have to worry about anything. Keahi seemed like the kind of guy who was all talk, no action… so maybe things would be fine? Dokukage could hope for that, at least.

Please just let me get through this trip without screwing everything up… I really don't want to cause any problems, he silently pleaded, begging the gods for what he was unable to ask for from Keahi himself. But of course, he got no response.

All he could do was hope that when they got to Pyrite Town, things wouldn't be as bad as they had been made out to be. Maybe Keahi could get distracted, and he wouldn't have to worry about "accidentally" being shoved down a mine shaft.

"Okay, guys, we're going to Pyrite Town," Kiana said, returning to the group. "But it's a long bus trip, so be prepared. We probably won't get there until late tonight."

"That should be just fine," Valon smiled. "In fact, I've already made reservations for us to stay at the Pyrite Super Grand Hotel."

Kiana's jaw dropped once more. "That… I thought I was…"

"I took the liberty myself," Valon explained. "Since you seemed so busy."

Kiana didn't even know what to say to that. She just massaged her temples in frustration and trudged towards the bus leaving for Pyrite Town. The rest of the group followed after her.

Ange was the only exception.

She stood at the back, feeling the muggy wind of the Orre Region wash across her, and tried to contain her fury.

She had to go. She knew she had to go. But she didn't want to.

It wasn't up to her. Kiana called from the bus and she stormed through the sand, climbing aboard and slumping down in the closest seat available, banging her forehead against the window as she stared through the dirt at the horizon in the distance.

The bus lurched to life and they began to cross the desert.

Ange closed her eyes, still not used to the uncomfortable rumble of the bus beneath her. As she tried to relax, she couldn't help but picture their destination, and her disgust only ballooned from there, much to her irritation.

Pyrite Town. If there was a place more despised in all of the Orre Region, she didn't know it. That place… it was horrid! A testament to the nature of humanity, a city that had torn itself, nay, the entire region apart in a quest for human greed, terrorizing the native pokemon and driving them from their homes, poisoning the environment and killing god knows how many.

Ange held nothing but contempt for that miserable city, and all the wretched people who dwelled within it.

But she'd held her tongue and agreed with the Phantom like a good little soldier. She needed to keep playing the part, keep maintaining her loyalty. If she didn't, who knows what would happen? If she cooperated with him, she'd have the chance to obtain the Oracle. There was one in the Orre Region somewhere, and she knew she had to find it.

If only she had harmonia! It was far from the first time she'd coveted the ability; the power to communicate with pokemon, to get to know them on a deeper level than was possible for a human, it was something she'd wanted ever since she was a little girl and had first heard of the strange and wonderful ability.

But it wasn't something that you could just get. You had to be born with it, and she wasn't. Which meant that any hope of real communication on a deeper level with the only people she considered her friends, her pokemon, was out of her reach.

And what was particularly galling was the fact that harmonia was a necessary tool in connecting to the Oracles. Someone with harmonia, apparently, could sense the Oracles, and even unlock some of their powers. If she had the ability, then it would make finding the Oracle in the Orre Region a cakewalk, but she didn't.

She would have to scour the desert in search of it, going only off of the clues from her father's research notes.

And because of that, she would need to go to Pyrite Town.

The bus ride would be a long one, far longer than the one to Gateon City. And Ange would need all the rest she could get to survive it.

A jostle on her shoulder snapped her out of her thoughts. She turned and saw that Willa had taken the seat next to her, and was staring blankly at her with her cold, hollow eyes.

Wordlessly, the scientist offered a small bottle to Ange. The contents were suspicious, a muddy brownish-green with the consistency of sludge. Ange didn't want it.

"What do you want?" She scowled.

"Sleeping?" Willa asked.

"Trying to, stop bothering me." Maybe she could have Slaking use yawn on her.

"Sylvia said my last batch of pills worked well," Willa said, yawning."I refined the recipe. You can drink it now. Try."

"So what, this is some kind of sleeping drug?" Ange didn't like the sound of that. At the same time, she was feeling pretty exhausted and needed to conserve her energy, but couldn't go to sleep with the rocking of the bus.

She hated vehicles. They just felt so unnatural! Nothing like the gentle feeling of riding on the back of a wild pokemon, that just couldn't be beat.

Willa yawned, and nodded. It was the closest thing she gave to an answer.

Ange sighed and took the bottle. Might as well. Willa might be a bit of a weirdo, but if she said her potions worked, then it could be trusted that they worked.

"…Fine," she grumbled, snatching the potion from Willa's tiny fingers and unscrewing the crap, swallowing it in one gulp.

It tasted worse than it looked, and it looked like sewer sludge. Blegh. Ange had only a few seconds to process that fact before immediately passing out, slumping against the window.

Willa pulled her notebook out of her backpack and watched Ange carefully, studying her for any potential side effects.

She knew that she probably should have mentioned that the sleeping potion was still in the testing phase, but if she had Ange wouldn't have taken it. And then she wouldn't be able to get any data from her observations.

Besides, she'd wake up by the time they got to Pyrite Town anyway, no harm, no foul.

…

Probably.

Ange startled awake as the bus pulled to a stop. It had been about as far the opposite of a restful sleep as possible, and Ange would definitely be having words with that little potion brat. She'd never mentioned the murky feelings.

But right now, that didn't matter. They'd finally arrived in Pyrite Town.

Like most of the Orre Region, Pyrite Town was dusty. That was abundantly clear the second the students got off the bus. But unlike the bus stop in front of Gateon City, Pyrite Town's dust wasn't just due to the sandy climate. And unlike the harbor town, Pyrite Town's dust stretched far inside the city limits, covering the dingy streets.

Pyrite City was carved into a canyon made of crimson-colored stone, giving the entire town a rusty-looking feel. There was also the actual rust. Lack of maintenance and exposure to the elements had caused the metallic structures of the mining city to rust away, making the city look like one big ghost town.

But it wasn't a ghost town. Dim lights and the faded glow of flickering signboards signaled signs of life throughout the town, an indication that in spite of Pyrite Town having abandoned its citizens, they still hadn't abandoned the town itself.

"Man, this place is so depressing," Kiana sighed, looking around the dingy streets as the group walked into town. "It's like a ghost town around here."

"Pyrite Town's been in ill repair for some time," Gerard said, wiping the dust off of his glasses. "Mainly since the mining problems. But there are still people living here, somehow…"

"If you want a real ghost town, we can go see the Under," Valon suggested. "That's a place where there haven't been signs of life in a long time."

Kiana'd heard stories about the Under. And she was NOT in the mood to go see it, thank you very much! "Uh… why don't we just go to the hotel first, and check-"

"You there! Large group!"

Everyone turned to see who was talking to them. It was a woman in an oddly-styled dress, almost fashioned like a suit. She wore a top hat over her short blondish-brown hair and twirled a cane, and sauntered up to them with a saucy wink.

"And who are you?" Kiana asked.

"I'm a street performer," the blonde lady greeted them with a jaunty bow. "My name is Riosha. Are you kids newcomers around these parts?"

"Uh, yeah, something like that," Kiana said, nodding. "We're here on a sightseeing trip, from the Pokemon Academy."

A wicked smile crossed the lady's lips. "I see… the Pokemon Academy… then I was right, you lot are pokemon trainers, aren't you?"

"We certainly are," Valon said, smiling coolly. "What's it to you?"

"Well," Riosha explained, "in Pyrite Town, we have a bit of a tradition. Whenever we meet a new pokemon trainer, it's only polite to greet them with a pokemon battle!"

She flicked her hat off her head and reached inside, pulling out two pokeballs with a puff of smoke. She twirled the hat back into place and dexterously flipped one ball to the other hand, holding her cane under the crutch of her shoulder. Her eyes sparkled excitedly at the group of trainers. "So what say you? Ready for a pokemon battle?"

Kiana sighed. "Listen, lady, it's getting dark out," she groaned, staring up at the sun that was just starting to set over the mouth of the canyon, bathing the town in an even deeper shade of red. The flicker of the street lamps did little to make up for the darkening plaza. "Can we please just go to our hotel? We aren't in the mood for a battle…"

"I'm sorry," Riosha said, her voice taking on a more threatening tone. She narrowed her eyes and raised one of her pokeballs right up into Kiana's face. "I think you may have had a misunderstanding here… you see, I wasn't asking anyone's permission. A battle is a battle. Do you think I'm just going to let my prey escape?"

"Prey?!" Kiana sputtered.

Ange narrowed her eyes. In the Orre Region, battles weren't fought for the fun of it. Trainers put money on the line, sometimes wagering even more than money. The battles were savage and brutal, and they weren't playing for peanuts.

It was clear that this woman was seeing dollar signs when she looked at them, which was rather amusing, in a dark way. To outsiders, they probably looked like a bunch of gullible little kids, easy prey for an experienced trainer. But the truth of the matter was, most of them were probably capable of taking out this street performer, no sweat.

"Weeeeellll?" Riosha asked, tapping her foot impatiently. All traces of her prior affability were gone now. "I'm waaaaaaiiiittinnnngg…!"

"Ugh, this lady's such an annoyance," Keahi grumbled, reaching for his belt. "I'll take her on!"

Valon raised his hand and shook his head. He glared back at Keahi.

"Hey, what's-"

"Orre had some bad experiences with Shadow Pokemon," Valon whispered faintly. "We don't want to let anyone see them. If we get found out for having them, the results won't be pretty. Better to keep a low profile for now."

"…Fine," Keahi grumbled.

Ange was about to volunteer herself, ready to stomp this greedy bitch, but she was beaten to the punch by an unlikely source.

"I'll do it…" Willa yawned, stepping forward.

"Hey, listen, Willa, we can't just battle like this!" Kiana exclaimed. "It's not okay to battle for money! It's against the rules of your school!"

"Ah, forget the rules, lady!" Riosha snapped. "If the shrimp wants to battle, then she's gonna battle! If not her, somebody definitely is!"

"B-But…" Kiana was taken aback. She didn't have any pokemon of her own to argue with, so she turned to Lana, about to ask to borrow hers. But before she could, Riosha interrupted them a second time.

"Now then, I assume, if you're battling, you've got enough to put up the stakes?" She sneered. "Here in Pyrite Town we aren't a bunch of penny-ante operators. I'm expecting nothing short of a hundred!"

Willa had a lazy look on her face. She yawned, and dug around in her oversized labcoat before withdrawing a large stack of bills neatly tied together. She tossed it on the ground in front of her.

"That's 10,000," she said. "You can cover that, I assume?"

Riosha's eyes lit up with glee. "10,000 dollars?! Are you shitting me?!"

Willa kicked it across the plaza. "Count it if you want."

"Where the hell did you get that kind of money?!" Kiana asked in disbelief.

"Research funds," Willa said, rubbing her tired eyes. "Was gonna fund my next project, but… now I'm thinking of doubling it."

Ange was impressed. At least the girl could talk a good game.

"Well, the little missy's definitely got her end ready to go," Riosha said, and it was notable that she didn't bother to confirm that SHE could match the bet. That was just how certain she was that she was going to win. "But don't run home crying to mommy when I take your allowance away!"

A wicked smile spread across Willa's lips and she took two pokeballs out of her sleeves. There was a shine in her eyes that Ange hadn't noticed before.

"Oh, don't worry about that," Willa said. "Even if I lose… I'll more than make up the cost with the data from this fight."

Riosha blinked, confused. "Data? Wha?"

"You heard me," Willa said, throwing her pokeballs into the air, "I'm going to be using you and your pokemon… to perform a little experiment."

Oooh, new girl's throwing down! What's she got up her sleeve? This street performer seemed pretty confident, but will the potion master be able to take her down?