Ayame and Vic's battle has ended, but it clearly cost both of them a lot. The girls tried their best, and now they're left with the results of what has happened. How will everyone react to the amazing match we just saw? Will Vic be happy about her victory, or will she still be the same hostile bitch that she's always been?

KedharS: Yeah, she definitely fought as hard as she could, that's for sure She should be proud of how good she did.

Just a Bad Writer for Fun: Yes, it was a pretty good one.

JoshGamerV: It's complicated. Harmonia can have all kinds of side-effects and problems.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 917

After the intensity of the battle, it took a few seconds for everyone to process what had just happened, and realize that the fight was over.

Vic had already returned her Togekiss to her pokeball by the time Callie let out the breath she was holding in a gasp of surprise.

"Whoa, no way! It's over already? Wow!" Callie exclaimed.

"Truly an excellent match, is it?" Alcea agreed, nodding.

Ayame sighed and recalled Snows. She was exhausted. That battle had fucking wrecked her, and she didn't even care that she'd lost at this point. The pokemon battle hadn't really meant anything to her, she'd just wanted to shut Vic up.

She might have lost, but that was just how it went sometimes.

On the other hand, Vic looked like she'd been hit with a truck. Her face was caked with sand and blood, and her clothes were sopping wet from the rain. She was shaking like she could barely remain standing, and her eyes were a little blurry.

Ayame actually felt sympathetic for the poor girl.

Rui rushed to her daughter's side before Vic fell over completely.

"Victoria, are you okay? Let's get you to sit down," Rui urged her daughter over to one of the beach chairs, and Vic took the opportunity to lie down and let the effects of her harmonia run their course. Now that her bond with her pokemon had been severed, the soreness of their wounds was starting to fade, but she still felt the dull throbbing headache and fatigue that came with overusing her harmonia like she had.

She'd pretty much forgotten what the fight had been about in the first place. Somewhere along the way it had just become about showing off how much better of a trainer she was to the Commander, and with her victory she'd accomplished that.

At least, that's what she believed. But she was in for a rude awakening.

Because Alden didn't care about winners and losers. It didn't matter either way whether or not Vic was able to defeat Ayame, he was only interested in a good battle.

And right now, he was interested in Ayame. More than he was in Vic.

Alden had seen Vic fight many times. He knew what she was capable of, and while he'd certainly enjoyed himself watching her struggle to adapt to a new style of pokemon battle and still come out ahead, to him the person who had really stolen the show today was Ayame.

Vic overusing her harmonia was something to be concerned about, sure, but he knew she would be fine, because she always was.

That was why he ignored his friend, and went to go speak to Ayame instead.

"Well, that was some match, Aya," Alden complimented her with a winning smile.

Tired, Ayame shot a glare at him. "Don't call me that," she muttered. That nickname was for a very specific few.

Alden shrugged, not bothered in the slightest. "Sure, as you like. But I'm serious. That was an excellent match! Even though you lost, the way you and your pokemon fought… it really pains me that you're letting your talents go to waste in the Caretaker Course."

Ayame's scowl deepened. "My talents aren't 'going to waste'," she snarled. "I'm doing what I love to do, what I'm passionate about. And to be honest, I don't really care about pokemon battles in the slightest, I was just doing it because you suggested it."

"Ah, that's a pity," Alden sighed, holding his hand over his chest in mock disappointment. "With your abilities, you could have gone far as a pokemon trainer… heck, I might even offer you a spot in my own organization if-"

"That's enough about that," Olivia snapped, stepping in between Ayame and her fellow blonde. "Can you please not proposition my associates right under my nose?"

The Commander and the Empress shared a look of mutual understanding masking restrained hostility. Alden then nodded and turned to go back to his own group.

Then he paused.

"Oh, one more thing, Aya," he called back to her.

"Ayame!" Ayame snapped.

"If you'd like, it might be fun if you gave your boyfriend a pokemon battle? Just a suggestion. It might be a way that the two of you could bond!" He laughed. Of course that was his suggestion, to the Commander pokemon battles were something that brought everyone together, even people who hated each other.

Ayame's jaw dropped. A pokemon battle with Blake? She'd considered it a few times, mostly just for fun, but the idea was intriguing…

…No, she didn't have the strength to consider that right now. She needed to get her pokemon healed up first.

Olivia turned to Ayame, and gave her a supportive smile. She was sad that her friend hadn't been able to win; she had wanted to see that arrogant Victoria get put in her place! But she would have to be okay with it. At least Ayame wasn't upset… if she was, then that might have broken Olivia's heart, considering she'd basically pushed her friend into this position.

But no, Ayame seemed fine.

"I think you did a great job," Olivia said. "You really gave it your all out there, I'm so proud that I'm your friend, Aya."

If Ayame had been feeling bad about losing before, those feelings would be gone after hearing that. She smiled bashfully at her friend. "…Thanks, Olivia. That really means a lot to me."

The Empress smiled, and patted her on the back. It had been a silly fight in hindsight, one that didn't matter in the slightest. But Ayame had stood up for herself and fought, even though she'd lost, and that was the only thing that mattered.

Hiromi had similar thoughts to Olivia. She ran over to greet her daughter, hugging Ayame tightly.

"Oh! Way to go, sweetie! You did great!" She cheered.

"Mom!" Ayame gasped joyfully. "I-I did okay, I guess…"

"It doesn't matter that you lost," Olivia agreed with Hiromi. "Heck. I lose all my pokemon battles! What matters is you had the courage to fight, right?"

"Exactly!" Hiromi nodded in agreement.

Ayame just laughed. She wondered what Blake would say, if he had been there to see her battle. Heck, maybe he would even be jealous about how good she had done!

But while Olivia, Ayame and Hiromi took the fight with a grain of salt, there was someone who wasn't reacting as positively to what had just happened.

That person was the victor of the fight itself, Victoria.

Vic may have been exhausted and wanted to rest, but she was still conscious. Which meant she had seen the entire exchange that had gone down between the Commander and Ayame.

The Commander hadn't said a word to her. He hadn't even turned her way. He had gone right to Ayame to compliment her, talking about how great her battle was, when she hadn't even won! And he thought that she could be a member of their organization!?

Vic was desperate for the Commander's approval. She craved it. Everything she did, she did because it she thought it would further the dreams of the person who showed her that battling could be about more than just winning and losing, the boy who had taught her that it was okay to love her pokemon again.

But he never looked at her.

Why? What was she doing wrong?

Why was Ayame, a girl who he barely knew, getting all the praise and acceptance that Vic was starving for?

What did she have to do for him to look at her that way?

It was no longer just the strain of her harmonia that was taking a toll on Vic. Her heart was heavy from the pain he had burdened it with, and right now she just wanted to cry.

But she couldn't. Vic wasn't the kind of girl who got sad over something like this. But she didn't have the strength left to get mad at Ayame, either. She was just… drained. And as drained as she was, she couldn't put up with the emotions that were overwhelming her. She needed to control herself. So she restrained her feelings.

Then, to her surprise, Alden approached her.

She wasn't sure if she was seeing things clearly at first. Maybe this was a hallucination brought on from overusing her harmonia?

…No, that was ridiculous. She couldn't deny the truth right in front of her.

"…Hey," she managed to get out. She didn't have the energy left to say anything else.

Rui warily watched from the side as the boy her daughter obviously had a crush on approached her. Normally she'd be happy that things were developing in this direction, but after what had just happened she wasn't so sure.

Vic liked Alden, but as the fight had proven, she wasn't in the best place emotionally at the moment. And Rui knew as well as anyone how much developing feelings for someone ambivalent to them could take a toll, especially on someone with harmonia.

But she wasn't going to interfere. She believed that her daughter could sort out the mess that was her social life all on her own.

So after the awkward "hey", Vic and Rui watched Alden warily, wondering what he was going to say in response.

They were a little taken aback.

"So how was it?" Alden asked innocently.

Vic didn't even know what he was asking at first.

"How was… what?" She tilted her head to the side in confusion.

"Battling with only one pokemon," Alden clarified, sitting down on the chair next to her. Vic propped herself up so they were on a more equal ground, as much as it made her head hurt.

"I just… well, it wasn't so bad," Vic lied.

Rui wanted to groan in shame. That was possibly the worst lie she'd ever heard coming from her daughter's lips.

Alden raised his eyebrow. "Did you have fun?" He asked. "Because it looked like things got a little intense there, for a moment…"

Vic turned scarlet.

"I just… well, you're not wrong," she admitted. "I wasn't used to fighting that way, so it was something new… I tried to make up for that with my harmonia, and I guess the end result was that I ended up straining myself a little too much…"

She kept the part about her feelings for him where they belonged, in her head. There was no reason to tell him about that.

Not that it would have made any difference.

Alden took her response with the same measured smile that he always wore. "Well, I think that you had a good start," he said. "I know how much you like double battles, and that's exactly why I suggested you trying something different."

Vic perked up. So it was on purpose? "What, you weren't just trying to handicap me, then?" She asked warily, not sure why he would have done something like that.

Alden shook his head. "Of course not," he laughed. "True, if you had fought Ayame in a double battle, I doubt she would have stood a chance, so it was a way to even the playing field. But the truth is, I also wanted to see how you would respond when placed in a situation that you weren't prepared for, like that battle."

If Vic wasn't so good at hiding her emotions, she would have turned bright red. If that was what he wanted, then she'd certainly failed to meet his expectations, hadn't she?

"I got ahead of myself," she grumbled shamefully. "But it was necessary! I needed to show her what I was capable of, I needed-"

"To show you!" She'd almost shouted, before catching herself. She didn't know how the Commander would respond to learning that Vic had gone to such extreme lengths all because she was in love with him.

And of course, the Commander was as dense as he always was. Alden just laughed her exclamation off and shrugged his shoulders. "Well, you certainly made a show of it," he said. "Next time, though, you might want to ease off. I don't want you to hurt yourself with that power of yours."

Vic brightened. Even if she hadn't managed to impress him very much, she was glad, at least, that he was worried about her.

"You should try it again sometime," Alden added. "That match was exciting! You didn't disappoint, Vic, you always live up to my expectations."

That was it. That was what she'd been hoping to hear.

The Commander had expectations for her! She hadn't disappointed him!

Vic sprung to her feet, feeling like all the exhaustion and fatigue from her harmonia was washing away harmlessly.

Thinking didn't make it so, and she face-planted into the sand, much to her embarrassment.

"Victoria!" Rui cried, reaching over and helping her daughter back to her seat. She sighed in a mixture of disappointment and worry. "You shouldn't move around so suddenly after exerting yourself like that, sweetheart."

"Your mom's right, Vic," Alden agreed. "In fact, your condition is only looking worse. I think it might be best to take you back to the hotel where you can rest."

Rui seconded that idea. She got up and walked over to Hiromi, who was busy fawning over Ayame as usual, and explained what was going on.

"…So I'm going to take my group back to the hotel," she finished.

Hiromi nodded in contemplation. She was a little disappointed that they wouldn't be able to spend any more time with the two groups getting along, but she also couldn't deny that the way things had gone since lunchtime…

Hiromi and Rui shared a sigh of exasperation.

As mothers, they had really hoped that their groups would be able to have some fun together. Especially Rui, whose group seemed a little more focused on catering to the Commander's wants given how passionate her daughter was. She'd hoped that spending some time with the other girls in Hiromi's group might have mellowed her out.

As Vic had so courteously proved, though, the two groups didn't exactly get along great. Sure, there had been some nice moments, and they had gotten along well enough for the swimsuit contest, at least, but on the whole it seemed like nobody was really that close.

"Well, I need to take Aya's pokemon to the pokemon center," Hiromi said. "So I think you're right, we should probably split up for now, take the rest of the day off. We don't want any more blowouts after all, right?"

Both women tried to laugh it off, but they were thinking the same thing.

Of course, not everyone was happy to hear that they were leaving the beach early. Rui's group didn't put up much of a fight, the students in the Commander's organization were more than happy to leave if that's what their chaperone wanted. They'd had their fill of the beach the day before, after all, and there weren't a lot of people in that group who enjoyed the beach activities in the first place.

The biggest surprise, though, was that Mason didn't want to leave. The guy was the definition of antisocial, and had barely even made an impression on anyone before now.

But he was adamant about wanting to stay. He had been working on building a sandcastle all morning, and to everyone's shock, it was looking pretty amazing. Ornately decorated, carved perfectly down to the finest details, it was the sort of thing that belonged in a museum, or maybe a scale model store or something.

He wasn't pleased when he was forced away from it to head back to the hotel, but he also wasn't the kind of guy to put up much of a fight when it came to authority.

Donoma, on the other hand, very much was.

"What?!" She protested. "What do you mean we have to leave?! It's like we just got here! We're finally not forced to do any of those stupid sports or fish or watch a dumb pokemon battle! I want to actually enjoy the beach!"

Hiromi frowned. "Ayame's pokemon are in bad shape," she calmly replied. "We need to take them to the pokemon center to get them checked out."

"Then you go!" Donoma said. "Don't punish the rest of us just because she wanted to get into a pokemon battle!"

"And leave you here alone?" Hiromi asked, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "I don't think so. I don't want to know what you would get up to, if I left you here to your own devices. And it wouldn't be safe, either."

"Come on, Donoma, stop being a bitch," Olivia said, rolling her eyes and confronting the other girl with a frown. "If you're so upset about us having to go early, we can always go back to the beach tomorrow, or some other day, okay?"

Donoma scowled. But she couldn't really say anything back.

Everyone was kind of exhausted, honestly. Even though Ayame had been the one battling, watching that fight had taken a lot of energy as well, and now everyone could use a rest. It was only a few hours into the afternoon, and already people were tired.

Donoma, who thrived on drama, wasn't on the same level. But she could see that this was an argument she wasn't going to win, so with a resigned sigh, she nodded reluctantly.

"…Fine," she muttered. "Let's go to the pokemon center, then…"

Relieved that the situation had been resolved without ANOTHER major blowup, Hiromi led the group off the beach with a skip in her step. Marion mingled in with the others, but while she was doing so, the smile she wore was a little more fake than normal.

She was anxious, after what she'd felt from Vic during that battle. And anxiety wasn't something that came naturally to her.

She couldn't put her finger on what it was that felt wrong about the other girl's harmonia, but she knew that it was something. And it was going to keep gnawing away at her if she didn't distract herself with some fishing soon.

The battle has ended, and everyone's leaving the beach to go relax and nurse their wounds. What will come next for our groups? Whose story will we follow after this little exchange of emotions, I wonder? It should be interesting.