We got to watch everyone have a lot of fun on the beach today! But the Orre Region isn't just fun and games in the sun! There are other, more important things to take care of as well, and that's why we'll be leaving Olivia and the others for a little bit and returning our attention to another group of students who are experiencing what Orre has to offer.

Saad: Thank you for all your reviews, you've made some great points!

KedharS: Well, Wes and Rui managed to make it work, so maybe the chances of success aren't quite zero after all? I guess we'll have to find out.

The Harmonium: Welcome back, I can see that it's definitely a struggle. But thank you for taking the time to read anyway!

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 902

While the Empress's and the Commander's groups were getting up to some fun in the sun, in another part of the Orre Region the day was just getting started.

Ange slipped back into her room just as Kiana began knocking on her door, looking for her. Ange was relieved to see that her plan had worked perfectly; Levi was fast asleep in her bed, pretending like she was dead to the world. No one even suspected that Ange had replaced herself in order to slip out that night and explore Pyrite Town.

Kiana's knocking grew more insistent, but Ange ignored her. She slipped into bed next to Levi and patted the Ditto on the shoulder, the shapeshifting pokemon immediately opening her eyes and turning to her trainer with a bright smile on her face.

Ange returned the smile. "Hey there, Levi. Thanks a ton. You really saved me there. You take a good, long rest."

Ange held up Levi's pokeball and recalled her pokemon, then leaned over and slipped the pokeball into her suitcase among the rest of her clothes and things. She didn't want anyone to get the wrong idea that she had it.

"Ange? Ange, are you awake?" Kiana called out from the hall as she continued to knock on the door. But Ange continued to ignore her, nestling down into the sheets and pretending that she was still fast asleep.

A yawn slipped past her lips and she gasped a little. She couldn't help herself, she had stayed up all last night! She really was tired.

Of course, she had to fight off the urge to fall asleep as she waited for the right time to wake up. Her act had to be perfect so as not to draw any suspicion. When it reached the point where she expected that Kiana was about ready to bust the door down, she finally got out of bed and trudged across the room to let her inside.

"What is it…?" She mumbled blearily, rubbing her weary eyes. She felt fortunate that she really did feel sleepy, because it made her performance that much more convincing.

Seeing that Ange was just tired and wasn't, like, lying dead in her room made Kiana relax a little bit. She still frowned, though, asking Ange "what took you so long?"

Ange's answer was a long and dreary yawn. "I'm tired," she said after she finally finished. "I slept all last night, I'm trying to catch up."

Kiana sighed. She could tell how tired Ange looked just by glancing at her. It was like Ange had stayed up the entire night, rather than try to catch up on her sleep. Jet lag was a real killer, and she was feeling a little bit of it herself.

If possible, she would have liked to let Ange sleep in even more, but they had sights to see, and they needed to go pick up breakfast. So like it or not, the girl would have to wake up.

"Sorry for waking you up, I can tell you're tired," Kiana apologized. "And sorry for knocking on your door so loudly, too."

Ange yawned again. "Whatever," she mumbled. "It's whatever."

"We're going to get some breakfast in the hotel lobby, you want to join?" Kiana asked hopefully. She sighed. "Well, I mean… you do have to come with us, because after breakfast we're going to do some sightseeing, and I don't think I can leave you alone for that long… so it would be really great if you come, okay?"

Ange rubbed her eyes and nodded. She wasn't exactly in the mood for a meal with the rest of the Phantom's group, but after all the hard work she'd done last night trying to find that Oracle, she was really hungry.

So tired as she was, Ange followed Kiana to the lobby, where everyone else had already gathered and was waiting for her. They headed into the dining room, and on the way there, Willa pulled Ange aside with a curious expression on her face.

"You look pretty tired, eh?" Willa asked, her eyes shining. "Tell me, if you need something to wake you up…"

She was already reaching into her lab coat for some medicine. Ange was happy to cut her off.

"Uh, yeah, no thanks," she muttered, shaking her head. "Last time those drugs of yours knocked me right the fuck out, I don't even want to guess what side-effects another one is going to have on me, so you can save it."

Willa sighed in disappointment and shrugged, popping the cap of the bottle and downing the contents herself.

"Ah, that hits the spot," she grinned, wide awake. Upon closer inspection, Ange could see that the bags under her eyes looked even darker, and she wondered if the scientist had also stayed up all night, brewing her potions.

She decided not to bother asking, she didn't want anything to do with Willa if she could help it. She just had to get through this awkward breakfast.

Ange was right on the money when she'd predicted that the breakfast was going to be awkward. The food itself was delicious, but there was still the problem that no one in their group was really that interested in socializing with a anyone else in their group.

Valon was polite and courteous, but even Kiana was starting to pick up on the fact that his behavior was just an act, making it uncomfortable for her to talk with him. Misato, of course, was a Mechadoll, which meant that nobody even tried to speak with her. After all, there was nothing to be gained by a conversation with a robot.

Keahi was as antisocial as always and after her fight last night, Willa had unnerved just about everyone in their group as well. Gerard was busy, occupied with his own thoughts, and Gabrielle wasn't a very social person herself. And it was impossible to tell what Dokukage was thinking behind that mask, but he wasn't in the mood for talking either.

And of course, Ange had nothing she wanted to say to anyone here. So the end result was that Lana and Kiana were talking with each other, trying to keep things feeling at least a little active, while at the same time Rafe was inserting himself into the conversation ever so slightly, trying to make it seem as though the group wasn't one big bundle of awkward silence.

He was giving it his best, but it was really clear that nobody was happy to be there.

"So you two are from the Alola Region?" Rafe asked, smiling politely. It was hard to tell if he seriously cared, or if he was just making small talk. He had that air about him like nothing mattered, but he was at least relaxed enough where Kiana didn't feel that on guard.

"Yep, it's a nice place," Kiana grinned. "Still don't know why you kids couldn't have gone on a field trip there, and enjoyed a tropical paradise."

"That would have been nice," Lana sighed. "The Orre Region is so arid, and there aren't even any wild pokemon to catch. Plus, the people aren't very nice, either…"

"Oh, I'm sure they're fine," Rafe laughed. "They're just busy with their own things, no need to hold that against them."

Kiana looked at Rafe like he was an idiot. He couldn't really be that clueless, could he? The Orre Region was filled with criminals and scumbags, it was part of the reason why she was constantly on edge being a chaperone.

For the life of her, Kiana would never understand what the Pokemon Academy was thinking sending their students to a place like this.

"Pyrite Town is like a slum," Lana said, putting to words what Kiana was feeling. "I don't like this place at all!"

Then, a surprising voice jumped into the conversation himself.

"Speaking of Pyrite Town," Gerard said, capturing the attention of everyone else at the table, "what's the plan for today? Where are we going?"

Ange knew what she would have liked to do if she had the option. She wanted to go back to the Under and keep digging around for that Oracle. But she had the feeling that Kiana probably wouldn't be open to that suggestion.

Plus, if she did go to the Under, that would mean there would be a chance of someone else finding it, and she couldn't let that happen.

Right now, she was split in two. On the one hand, she needed to find the Oracle and bring it back home to the professor. She wanted to help him with his research so badly! But on the other hand, the Under was a giant maze. She might never be able to find the Oracle she was looking for without the help of the rest of the group.

Oh, well. Ange could go a few more nights on no sleep. She would have all the time in the world to dig up her treasure tonight.

"Well," Kiana began, addressing Gerard's question, "I was thinking that since there aren't a lot of shops we could check out in Pyrite Town, we could go do something that everyone might enjoy. We could go see some matches in the Pyrite Colosseum! Doesn't that sound exciting?"

Kiana knew that watching pokemon battles in the colosseum was practically the only thing worth coming to this rundown place for.

Ange scowled, but she held her tongue. The pokemon colosseums. They were one of the most despicable things about the Orre Region. Trainers pitting their pokemon against each other in celebration of violence, trying to get their filthy rewards. Rather than letting pokemon be pokemon, they wanted to exploit their pokemon for their own personal gain.

It made her sick.

In spite of Alden's claims that there weren't any events in the Orre Region where pokemon battles were celebrated, the truth was, there were lots of those locations. Colosseums were built all across the Orre Region for people to battle with their pokemon, or watch other people battle with their pokemon. The truth was, there wasn't any NEED for the Battle Frontier, not if the only purpose for it was to celebrate pokemon battles.

The problem was, the pokemon battles that were held in Orre's colosseums weren't the kind of battles that Alden was interested in promoting.

People didn't compete in the contests for the joy of battling. The reason they paid the massive costs to sign up were due to the incredibly valuable prizes that were offered to competitors. As with everything else in Orre, the colosseums were about money.

And they weren't just there for trainers to win it big and collect the prizes off their fellow trainers, either. The people in the stands were getting in on the action as well. Money flowed in the colosseum almost as readily as the blood of the pokemon in the stadium, with people placing exorbitant bets on the trainers and their pokemon.

Money, money, money.

It always came down to money.

This was part of that disgusting, seedy underbelly that Ange just couldn't stand. The sort of people she'd decimated last night out of her disgust, those were the people who gathered in places like Pyrite Town to make money off the suffering of pokemon.

In a way, Ange could at least see eye to eye with the Commander on this issue. While she despised pokemon battles for sport, she despised this method of sport even more. The trainers just saw their pokemon, or the pokemon of others, as a way of making success for themselves. Treating them like tools, betting on the outcomes, it was the sort of thing that made her disgusted with humanity as a whole; pokemon deserved better!

Of course, she never put voice to those objections. As much as she loathed the idea of going to Pyrite Colosseum and diving headfirst into that toxicity and hostility, she knew that this was something that a lot of people in her group were probably going to be up for. Hell, this was probably the reason that the Phantom had come to Pyrite in the first place!

And indeed, everyone else seemed to be onboard with the idea. So she just numbly nodded her head, and tried not to think about what she was going to experience in that sick place.

When they arrived at the Pyrite Colosseum a few hours later, the place was already packed. Ange was surprised, she didn't even know Pyrite Town HAD this many people!

There were two lines. One line was to get in and buy tickets, and the other line was for people at the betting window to place their money on the outcome.

Three guesses which line was longer, and the first two guesses don't count.

As the group waited in line for their tickets, Ange observed the dingy entrance room. Folks were just loitering around, waiting for the match to begin while clutching their betting slips greedily. The air was rank with the scent of cheap concessions and human odor, and Ange had to resist the urge to hold her nose in disgust.

While the rest of the colosseum was worn-down and looked like it was falling apart, there was one part of it that was still in functioning order. The television screens hanging from the ceiling and on practically every wall looked state of the art, brand new.

Ange wasn't surprised. The way people were gathered around them, it was clear what the draw was. She squinted at one of the screens and saw that it was displaying a profile of one of the trainers that was going to be competing in the contest. It was showing his pokemon, his win/loss record, everything that a gambler would need to know to be informed.

So yeah, of course this was where all the money in the colosseum was going. They needed to make sure people kept betting properly, after all.

Ange felt like she was about to throw up. The longer she stayed in this temple to human corruption and vice, the more she felt like she was dying inside. She was counting each person ahead of them in line, willing them to hurry up and get on with it.

By the time they got their tickets, Ange was about ready to explode. But she tapped down on her feelings of impatience, channeling her exhaustion to keep from losing her cool. The group followed Kiana as she led them to the stands, which seemed surprisingly empty.

"So wait, everyone is really outside?" Lana asked, surprised. The stadium looked as abandoned as Pyrite Town itself.

"You saw them, they're still in the lobby," Gerard explained calmly. "Folks like that, they'll be in at the last possible moment. They still need to get their bets in on time, after all."

The disgust in his voice was palpable. It seemed like everyone was on the same page that the gambling that was going on here was wrong.

Ange could agree with them on that, at least.

But that was just the kind of place the Orre Region was. Without the criminal underworld sponsoring these matches and setting up the prizes, the colosseums would probably go the way of the Under, boarded up.

People didn't care about pokemon battles, after all. They wanted money. They wanted their victories to mean something. It was a way to put food on their table for a little bit longer.

And of course, the money flowing in for the bets was what people like Gansly used to fund the prize pools. It was all one big, twisted system designed to bring out the worst.

Ange just wanted the match to start already. The more she thought about this, the more depressed she was going to get.

At least she could sit down. With a yawn, she sunk into her seat and closed her eyes, catching up on some much-needed rest.

Ange didn't know what time it was when she'd finally woken up. All she knew was that the scenery had changed quite a bit since she'd rested her eyes.

The stadium, which had previously been almost empty, was now packed with people, and it was their roars which had shaken her from her sleep.

The battles had begun!

Ange had no way of knowing what round this was, and frankly, she didn't care. Even if she was a little more alert, she felt nothing but on edge.

The two trainers in the ring were having their pokemon duke it out in a double battle, and the crowd was whipped up into a fury. It was easy to sense the desire oozing out of them, they were practically swimming in greed!

"COME ON! YOU GOT THIS RICKY!" One man in the seat ahead of Ange's shouted, waving his arms like a maniac and practically jumping out of his chair.

"DARSEN, I've got THOUSANDS riding on you!" Another voice shouted. "You better not lose, you son of a bitch!"

Those were just the voices Ange could pick out of the frantic crowd. She shook her head in disgust and clutched her knees, curling up into a ball to make herself feel as small as possible.

Stuff that was this intense… she wasn't used to dealing with it. At the rate things were going, she was liable to send out Luci and just cause havoc throughout the colosseum.

But she needed to tamp down on those impulses. This trash wasn't worth it.

She glanced past the roaring crowd, and spied on the match. Two trainers, at least semi-competent, were fighting with their pokemon, and things were getting intense. As they barked orders as fast as they could, they never took their eyes off their opponents.

The competitors were filled with fury, and it was clear to see that for the two of them, this was a matter of life and death. They were just as intense as the "fans" in the crowd, maybe even moreso. This was the sort of environment that Orre bred.

People going wild over the suffering of pokemon, encouraging their "partners" to fight each other, practically to the death, all for the cash prize, while scum in the stands bet everything they had on which savage performance would emerge the victor.

The Commander wanted to fix a place like this? To Ange's eyes, there was no fixing the Orre Region. It needed to be torn down completely.

But now wasn't the time to do something as drastic as that.

Instead, she shut her eyes, unwilling to look at the carnage for another second. She just wanted to bring this to an end.

She wished they wouldn't shout so much. She wanted to go back to sleep.

So while the Commander's group and the Empress's group are enjoying themselves on the beach, it looks like the Phantom's group is enjoying themselves in a different way. Will Ange be able to make it through this colosseum match without going psycho? Who can say?