After seeing Willa's type of battling, folks are suitably turned off, to say the least. Using her opponent's pokemon as test subjects for her experiments? That's pretty cold-blooded. Hopefully she doesn't try to do that with anybody else! Even if she has the best of intentions, her actions are definitely questionable, that's for sure.

KedharS: I think that's a safe assumption to make. Or a robot.

Just a Bad Writer for Fun: Willa is definitely cute, if you can get past the fact that she looks half-dead due to lack of sleep, and takes zero care of herself in just about every meaning of the word.

JoshGamerV: Willa's an unnerving kinda gal. Goes with the whole "mad scientist" thing.

Tambry96bj: She's not crazy, she's just dedicated to being a good pharmacist.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 873

When all was said and done, Willa made exceptional use of Riosha and her pokemon. Riosha had never stood a chance.

Riosha fell to her knees, white as a sheet. "Y-You… what… what are you?" She couldn't recall her pokemon fast enough. Even she, who saw them mainly as tools for victory, felt bad for what they had gone through as a result of Willa's experimentation.

"I'm a pharmacist," Willa said plainly. She yawned and recalled her pokemon to their pokeballs. "My goals… are to create potions for pokemon and people… to help them."

"Bullshit," Riosha spat. "What the hell was that?! You… You just…"

Willa shrugged her shoulders. "Discovery requires experimentation," she said simply, like that was an explanation for anything. "I need to test the effects of my potions on as many subjects as I can. But there's nothing to be concerned about. Your pokemon will be fine. All the side-effects are only temporary, after all. I'm not a monster."

She might have said that, but it seemed pretty clear that everybody was on a different page. She definitely SEEMED like a monster, at any rate. But nobody had the stones to call her out on it, of course, not after they'd seen her poisoning all of her opponents like she had.

Willa continued her speech, "did you know that coca-cola was developed as a substitute for morphine? John Stith Pemberton was a pharmacist from America who experimented with various painkillers and toxins in order to break his addiction to the drug, and in the process he developed the foundation of what would eventually become classic coke."

Riosha's jaw dropped, along with several others. Wait, really?

"He knew just as I do that discovery requires experimentation. The first concoction wasn't a success, nor was the second, or third, or fourth. But people kept refining the formula throughout the years, and eventually arrived at the successful recipe. I've done exactly the same." Willa seemed proud of the success of her namesake, for once her tiredness didn't hang in her voice, she held her head high and energized.

"That's… that's still wrong!" Riosha protested. "You… that wasn't…"

"That was a pokemon battle," Willa said, walking over to Riosha with an indignant scowl on her face. "I fought you fair and square, using my pokemon. And you lost."

She picked up her money from the ground and slid it into her lab coat. A wicked smile crossed her face. "Now then… I believe that the total we agreed upon was 10,000 dollars? Quite a tidy sum I made for myself, I'd say."

Her eyes were shining with excitement.

Riosha went pale, and began to shake. She hadn't thought that she would actually lose, so she'd agreed to a wager that she never could have made. She didn't have the 10,000 dollars to give, and even if she did, it would probably drive her right to poorhouse.

"I-I… I don't have it…" she stuttered out. She'd committed one of the gravest sins of Pyrite Town, being able to hold up her end of the wager. Battles in Pyrite Town were a sacred thing, and if you made a bet that you couldn't follow through on, you would end up paying for it with blood.

Riosha was trembling with fear as Willa stared quietly down at her. She couldn't read the other girl's face. Was she upset? Angry? Did she want to punish Riosha for lying? It was impossible to tell, Willa just looked incredibly tired.

Then she smiled, and the gleam in her eyes had Riosha wishing that she was angry instead.

"Well… if you can't pay me back on your own, that's fine," Willa smirked. "I'll have you pay me back another way."

"A… another way?" Riosha stuttered, trembling.

Willa nodded.

"You'll work your debts off," she declared with a wicked grin. "You and your pokemon… will help me test potions while I'm here in Pyrite Town. After all… I have so many potions to test, and so few test subjects. And discovery… requires experimentation."

Riosha felt like she was going to wet her skirt. She regretted ever having challenged these kids, and she was certain that she'd be regretting it even more soon enough.

"For now, I'll have your phone number," Willa said, handing her phone to the street performer. "When I call you, answer. Understood?"

Riosha gulped and nodded. She didn't want to run the risk of making Willa mad at her, not after what she'd seen in their pokemon battle.

She just had to hope that she'd make it through this girl's experiments intact.

The second she had the chance, Riosha took off in the other direction. Willa waved a halfhearted goodbye to her, and then returned to the group.

Everyone else was similarly uneasy after what they'd seen, keeping a distance from her. They all watched her warily.

"…What's up?" Willa asked, yawning as she looked at the others.

"N-Nothing," Kiana said, putting on a positive smile. She was one of the most unnerved by what they'd just seen, but she was still the chaperone. It was her job to make sure all of the students in her group had a happy and positive field trip experience, even the ones who would poison their opponent's pokemon with strange potions just to test what they'd do.

Plus, she didn't want to give Willa any reason to get mad at her.

"Okay, then let's head to the hotel," Willa said, turning in the direction of the Pyrite Super Grand Hotel. "I need to review the data I just took."

Nobody was really in the mood to object. It was already nightfall, and they'd spent the evening watching something they'd rather not.

Compared to the rest of the dilapidated Pyrite Town, the Pyrite Super Grand Hotel was nice. Like, inexplicably nice for a hotel located in such a rundown city. Crossing the threshold into the hotel lobby was like stepping into an entirely different world, where there weren't any thugs or gangsters or dusty red rust, just sparkling pristine white and gold décor, and well-dressed bellboys and attendants bustling around.

"I'm… surprised," Kiana said, shocked. She looked around in disbelief. "What, uh… what's a place like this doing in Pyrite Town?"

"I know, right?" Lana said, just as confused as her sister. "Like, is there enough tourism in the Orre Region to support a place like this? Who with the money to stay at a hotel this fancy would want to come to Pyrite Town?"

"Oh, you'd be surprised," Valon said, chuckling. "People come to stay in Pyrite Town to enjoy… 'certain sights' as it were, things that you can't see in more… 'reputable locales'. And those are the kinds of people that have the money for a place like this."

He didn't elaborate any further, but the way he described it sent a chill down Kiana's spine. She didn't want to meet any of the people who would want to enjoy what Pyrite Town had to offer, that was for sure.

Which brought her back to the question of why THEY were here in the first place, given that Pyrite Town wasn't exactly the best place to be.

But she felt that, after seeing what Willa had done, maybe these students weren't the nicest people around themselves. She'd come on this trip because she was concerned about Lana falling in with a bad crowd, and Willa seemed to suggest that her suspicions were right on the money.

Please be okay, Lana, I really hope you aren't involved in anything shady, Kiana silently pleaded with her sister. But now wasn't the time to be concerned solely for Liana. She had a job to do as a chaperone, and she was going to do it!

Kiana walked across the lobby to the front desk, and checked them in. She was relieved that the hotel hadn't closed up shop for the night, given how late it was. And another pleasant surprise was quick to follow, as she learned that Valon had somehow reserved rooms for all of them to stay in, private suites, and had apparently paid for it out of his own pocket.

There was a stipend that chaperones were permitted to use for their trips, to stay at hotels and eat out at restaurants and stuff. But it definitely wouldn't have been enough to pay for all this! Even one room for all of them would be out of their budget!

Kiana was relieved. She collected the room keys and returned to the group, passing them out and escorting everyone to their rooms.

"Now then, I'll be checking on you periodically," she warned them. "So I don't want anyone sneaking out tonight, understand? Pyrite Town is a dangerous place, especially at night, so I don't want you going out alone!"

"Don't worry, we all understand perfectly," Rafe assured her with a placid smile. He was one of the only people who had been completely unfazed by what he'd seen from Willa. Him, Valon, and Misato Daisan, of course, and Dokukage was, as always, impossible to read.

Kiana sighed. She was glad Rafe was in her group. It was like having a second chaperone's help, she could rest easy knowing he was there to pick up the slack.

Everyone turned in for the night, and Ange was particularly eager to get to her room. It must have been showing on her face, because the next thing she noticed Willa was grabbing her by the sleeve and pulling her aside.

"What is it?" Ange asked sourly, still upset about how Willa had tricked her earlier, and the rather harsh way she experimented on pokemon. She wasn't exactly in the mood for a friendly chat, even if Willa had taken an extra step to recycle some of the remains of her capsules.

"You seemed eager to get to bed," Willa said, yawning. "Still tired?"

Ange could see where this was going, and succinctly put a stop to it with a shake of her head. "That's not something you need to worry about," she scoffed. "I'm doing just fine, thank you very much. The only concern at the moment is that I need to work off some stress, not get any sleep."

That was technically the truth. Ange wasn't at all tired. But the stress she needed to work out… well, let's just say it didn't have anything to do with what would be in her room.

"Well, I can give you a relaxant if you're feeling stressed out, do you think that would-"

"No, thank you, I'm fine," Ange said, cutting off that line of thinking immediately. "I'm going to bed now. Good night."

Without another word, she turned and stomped off into her room, slamming the door loudly behind her so everybody could hear.

She wanted to make it clear that she was going to be staying in her room for the rest of the night, mainly because she planned to do exactly the opposite.

After waiting for a set amount of time, she set her suitcase down by the bed and unzipped it, taking out some clothes, and most importantly of all, a pokeball that she'd set aside from her normal team of six. Like the rest of Ange's pokeballs, this one was old. It wasn't something factory-produced, it had been crafted by hand using an apricorn and tumblestones.

She pressed the button and released the pokemon inside.

"Ditto!" The tiny pink blob chirped, slithering up to her and rubbing against her leg.

Ange smiled. Levi was happy to see her as always, it appeared. She loved her cute little Ditto, even though she'd had to keep her a secret in her suitcase.

"I'm sorry I had to keep you cooped up like that," Ange apologized. "I know how much you hate feeling left out. But it's the only way I could bring you along with me! I didn't want to do it, I promise, I know you just want to spend time with the others."

"Ditto!" Levi reassured her. Ange sighed in relief. She was in a good mood, that was great. Normally, her pokemon would get possessively jealous, which was never a good thing. She wished she COULD have brought Levi with the rest of her team, but…

Well, it just wasn't possible.

Students were only allowed to bring six pokemon with them on the trip. It wouldn't do if it was found out that Ange had a seventh, and especially not if they learned that this seventh pokemon was a Ditto. She needed to rely on Levi for something very important, and couldn't afford to be found out while she was doing it.

"Okay, Levi, I need you to do something really special for me, okay?" Ange asked.

"Ditto!" Levi bobbed up and down in something that could have been considered a nod, if she had a distinguishable head. The look on her face was cheery enough, at least.

"Good, thank you, you're the greatest," Ange grinned. "Okay, so I'm going to be sneaking out tonight, okay? And I need your help to make sure I don't get caught. Do you think you can transform into me for the night?"

"Ditto!" Levi agreed, and her body began shifting and growing until she turned into an exact replica of Ange.

Ange's face turned bright red.

"Um… the clothes, too," she pleaded. She really didn't want the other members of her group seeing her in the buff."

"Ditto," Levi nodded, shifting again and sliding a black dress over her body. Now there was no difference between the two of them. As long as Levi kept her mouth shut, everything would be fine.

"Thanks, Levi, you're the best," Ange said, leaning in and kissing her Ditto on the forehead. "Just keep quiet and pretend to be me, try sleeping for a little bit, and if anyone asks, you're too tired to talk, understand?"

"Ditto!" Levi nodded, saluting in agreement. Ange smiled. She could definitely leave everything to Levi, she was a lot savvier than the average Ditto.

With that problem solved, Ange could turn her attention to sneaking out. The first problem was the fact that, even though they were on the first floor, they were still all in Pyrite Town. That meant the windows had bars on them, so nobody could break in- or break out.

Which meant she'd have to go out through the door. Which could be a problem if someone caught her coming out of her room. If Kiana made her come back, and saw that there were two Anges, that would raise even more problematic questions.

She had to do a very good job of sneaking out. Luckily, she had learned to creep with the best of them due to the environment she'd trained in.

Sneaking past some hotel rooms was nothing compared to creeping through the tall grass to avoid being spotted by angry wild pokemon. A few minutes later and she was walking out the front door without a care in the world.

It was actually quite amazing. Ange hadn't made it more than three steps into the plaza before getting accosted by a group of thugs.

"Hey there, little lady," the meanest and ugliest-looking one out of the bunch said, sauntering over to her as his goons quickly flanked around them to the point where she was surrounded.

Ange didn't bother responding, fixing him with an icy glare instead.

"Now, now, don't be like that," the punk chuckled. "I'm here trying to do something nice for you, trying to keep you out of trouble. Pyrite Town's no place for a pretty lass like yourself to wander around in the dark."

The thug reached out to Ange and she pulled back from him, trying very hard not to lose her temper. She'd come to the plaza in order to find thugs like these, but now that she had she was finding it difficult to not deviate from the plan.

The thug clearly didn't seem to like that Ange was still playing hard to get. The affable look on his face slid away into a scowl and he puffed himself up slightly, looming over Ange. "Now look, I'm trying to be a nice guy about this since I find you so cute," he hissed. "But if you don't repay me with a little friendliness, you're going to see a whole other side of Pyrite Town that you wish you didn't, do I make myself clear?"

"Perfectly," Ange calmly replied, though she had no intention of going along with his threat.

"That's great," the bandana-wearing punk said, all smiles again. "I always had a hard-on for dainty blondes."

He reached out and brushed his fingers through her hair. Ange froze.

"Your hair's so lovely! It would be a shame to cut it, are you sure?"

Ange wasn't sure what happened next, she sort of checked out. The last thing she remembered was seeing red.

When she came back to her senses, the punk was crouched on the ground, clutching the family jewels and squealing out curses.

That's right. He'd grabbed her hair. She could piece together what had happened pretty quickly when she remembered that, and began to seethe all over again.

"DO NOT touch my hair," she hissed, jamming her heel into his knee.

"You bitch, who do you think-"

Ange kneed him in the face, knocking him over. She stood over him with an icy glare in her eye, grinding her foot into his neck.

"No, you listen to me. One, I have no interest in humans whatsoever. Two, even if I did have an interest in a human, it certainly wouldn't be a dirty, smelly man. And third, even if, by some miracle, there WAS a man, it wouldn't be a piece of human garbage like you. Do I make myself clear?" Ange demanded, increasing the pressure on the man's throat as he tried to nod.

"Good." She let him up, which was probably not a good idea. Because the second he jumped to his feet, he went straight for his pokeballs. And not the ones she'd kicked a few minutes ago.

"Boys!" He roared to the other thugs in his gang. "Let's show this bitch just how we do things in Pyrite Town!"

Ange felt a smile curl up her lips as she reached for her own pokeballs. Yeah. Forget the fancy hotel, this was a lot more her style.

So we got a taste of Willa's fighting style, now let's see how Ange can hold herself! What's she up to, sneaking out on her own and accosting thugs like these? What could she be after?