The groups have split up, and now we're going to follow the Empress's group. They haven't gotten a lot of focus yet, but we can definitely see that there are some interesting dynamics going on there… so what's next for them today, I wonder?

KedharS: I guess we'll have to see, won't we?

Just a Bad Writer for Fun: Who knows when Ian will reappear, I'll have to remember he exists before that happens.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 918

By the time they made it to the pokemon center, Donoma's mood had improved significantly since they were at the beach. While the group was waiting in the pokemon center for Ayame's pokemon to be healed with varying levels of patience, Donoma was wearing a smile on her face and holding her fingers up in the shape of a camera, aiming it squarely at Ayame.

"You know, Ayame, that fight really was something," Donoma said. "Even though you lost, I definitely felt a rush of excitement watching you and your pokemon! You really know them well, and you know what they're capable of!"

Ayame wasn't used to hearing so many unprompted compliments from Donoma, so she felt a little happy about what she was saying. At the same time, though, she was also suspicious about the motivation of Donoma's sudden change.

Donoma wasn't this friendly unless she wanted something, after all. So Ayame was waiting for the other shoe to drop.

And she didn't disappoint.

"So, with that in mind," she continued, "I was thinking that maybe there should be a pokemon battle arc in your tv show! It won't just be about you competing in Pokeathlons, we could also have a storyline where you get into a pokemon battle or two, to really show some different appeals! It'll definitely have starmaking power, a girl who doesn't just raise her pokemon to compete, but also trains them in how to fight?"

Clearly Donoma thought that her idea was excellent. Ayame disagreed.

"How many times do I have to tell you that I have no intention of going along with your crazy reality show ideas?" Ayame snarled. "I'm not interested! At all! I just want to compete!"

Donoma sighed and shook her head. "Oh, Ayame, don't you understand how the world works? No matter how much talent you have, it doesn't matter if you don't get your name out there. The best competitors always have corporate sponsors, but who's backing you? Now, if you were to take a year off and join my reality show, that would be a different story, we could pitch to the network, and-"

"Not. Interested."

Ayame could only shut down the idea so many times.

"Aya doesn't need something like that," Olivia asserted, coming to her friend's defense. "After all, that's the reason why she's in my organization."

Olivia gave her friend a wink. "Don't worry Aya, I'm definitely going to find you people willing to sponsor your performance!" Olivia assured her. "With my network of contacts, you'll have more funding than you would believe! I take care of my friends after all!"

Ayame was flattered and grateful for Olivia's offer, even though she wasn't really sure how she was supposed to respond to it.

Donoma was less enthusiastic.

"Oh, really?" She scoffed. "And yet it seems like you don't even lift a finger to help me land any interviews with studio executives so that I can propose my new show ideas to them, I wonder why that could be…"

Olivia gave Donoma a diplomatic smile. "Well, I would be happy to set up as many meetings as you want, so long as the show ideas you generate are properly thought-out with the full consent of all parties involved. Assuming, of course, that they are good ideas as well."

Donoma didn't really have a good reply to that very reasonable ask, so she let the topic drop with a shrug and a cocky grin.

"Don't worry, I'll get Ayame to see the light eventually," she assured Olivia.

Olivia smiled politely and Ayame groaned.

Marion, who had been listening in on the conversation the whole time, took the opportunity to bounce her way over to Donoma with an eager smile on her face.

"Excuse me, Donoma, right?" She asked.

"Yup, that's me!" Donoma grinned.

"Did I hear that right, that you're coming up with ideas for reality television shows?" Marion asked curiously.

"Yep," Donoma winked, holding up her fingers into the shape of a camera. "That's me! Donoma Marama! I'm gonna be famous one day, pitching my show ideas to studio executives across the world! I've got a million of 'em, and they're all absolute hits!"

"Wow, that's so cool!" Marion gushed, her blue eyes sparkling. "Because I had a great idea for a show you could do!"

"…Oh. Well, I'm not exactly in the market for ideas at the moment," Donoma said dryly, cooling off. She wasn't the kind of girl to get excited about the ideas of other people.

Marion didn't care about that, though. "Okay, so it's like, a discovery show, kinda!" She began. "Starring me! I travel the world with my fishing pole, going to, like, different regions and stuff, and I show off all the different species of pokemon that can be fished up in the area! Whaddya think? 'Marion Rivers – Fishing 'Round the World!' Wouldn't that be awesome?!"

Donoma stared blankly at her. She didn't exactly share in Marion's enthusiasm.

"…Yeah, sorry, I can't think of anyone that would buy that idea so no thanks," Donoma said matter-of-factly.

Marion's jaw hit the floor in disbelief.

"What?! But it's so interesting! Think of all the great different kinds of fish pokemon in the oceans and lakes across the world, and people will get the chance to see them up-close and personal!" She explained, unable to figure out why Donoma didn't think this was the most epic thing in the whole wide world.

"Yeah, but people don't care," Donoma replied. "Fishing is boring. Watching people fishing is even more boring."

It was like an affront to everything Marion believed in. Olivia tensed, wondering how the girl would react to a statement like that. She didn't like Marion at all, and she made no secret about that. But even if Donoma didn't mean anything offensive by what she'd just said, saying that fishing was boring and nobody cared about it was cruel.

If this wasn't handled very, very carefully, Marion might have a meltdown. And honestly, Olivia wasn't sure what would happen if she did. Marion was always smiles, always cheerful, always just so… Marion. And while it was annoying, it was safe. That was why Olivia feared her the least among the Daevas, because she seemed so passive.

It made Olivia wonder if there was something else lurking under there, just ready to snap. And of course, Donoma with her big mouth would have to be the one to draw it out, because today hadn't been stressful enough already.

But to everyone's surprise, Marion didn't get angry. She just smiled the same placid smile she always wore, and shrugged her shoulders.

"Well, I'm sorry you feel that way," she sighed. "Fishing's just the best! Trust me, you're totally missing out on how much fun it can be!"

Donoma, not at all aware that she had dodged a bullet of any kind, didn't do the smart thing and take the olive branch that she'd been given.

"Please," she scoffed. "I went fishing with you yesterday, or don't you remember? We didn't catch a damn thing."

"Well, you win some, you lose some!" Marion chirped. "No helping that, right? I'm sure it's the same for you and your television show thingies, right? Not every idea you pitch is going to be a smash hit, sometimes the studios are gonna turn it down, right?"

Donoma's face soured. The fact of the matter was, no studio ANYWHERE had taken up one of her ideas, and that was a particularly sore spot for her.

Olivia wasn't sure if Marion was completely innocent with her statement or if he had intentionally pushed on Donoma's anger button, but if it was the latter, she was doing a damn good job of hiding that fact.

"Now listen here you little…"

Problem was, Donoma didn't have nearly as good of a control on her temper as the fishing enthusiast, which was why Olivia chose now to step in before Donoma started a mess that they would all end up having to clean.

"Okay, that's enough," Olivia said, breaking the two of them apart. "Donoma, Marion didn't mean it, she's just trying to be friendly. The last thing we need right now is ANOTHER fight breaking out, we just handled the last one."

"That's right," Hiromi agreed. "And that was a very rude thing you said to her, for that matter! Saying that fishing is boring and nobody wants to watch it! That's not true at all, I think that would be a very interesting television show idea!"

"I know, right?!" Marion gushed with excitement.

Donoma held her tongue, knowing that anything else she said would just cause more problems. Her bad mood from before had returned with a vengeance. She could have been hooking up with some hunk on the beach if it wasn't for the stupid rules that everyone had to stay together.

While Donoma sulked, Lukas watched off to the side and let out a sigh. "Oh, great, this is probably going to be an issue, isn't it?"

"Oh? What do you mean?" Celia asked, confused.

"Don't worry about it, just give her a wide berth for now," Lukas warned her. If he said anything further than that he might not enjoy the rest of his trip. Or survive it.

Lukas and Donoma had quite a… tumultuous relationship. They first met in freshman year, both angling for the Appeals Course, leading to a very similar class schedule that had led to them getting fairly close rather quickly.

Back then, he was so naïve and innocent. Donoma Marama was a very charming and charismatic girl, the sort of person who could easily become the life of the party just by her presence. She had a way of talking to you that made it seem like you were the only person whose opinion mattered to her, like she was hanging off your every word.

She was always happy. She was very kind. Passionate and excited about everything, while quickly turning casual conversations into more intimate ones with her shameless nature and unabashed flirting making everything she said come across as very personal and genuine.

In simpler terms, Donoma was the kind of person that was very easy to get addicted to. The way she interacted casually with someone was intoxicating when combined with her beauty and charm, and she had no trouble at all attracting people of all sorts. Lukas had been one of those people.

They had never been "exclusive", because for Donoma, "date" was a four letter word, just like "love" or "bond" or "real". But she was the first person that Lukas had ever been serious about, because she was his first in a whole mess of things.

Because they interacted together so regularly due to their schedules, Lukas was allowed to get closer to Donoma than her average fling. That didn't mean he was any less under her spell, of course, or that she would be any more genuine with him than the others, just the opposite, in fact. The more time he spent with her the more addicted he got. With people so superficially shallow and charming, it was more likely than not that you would see the cracks eventually, or peek beyond the curtain to see the "real" person behind it.

It wasn't that way with Donoma, though. For the months and months they were "together", Donoma was just as charming and flirtatious as she always was. And Lukas, like an idiot, had deluded himself into thinking that their time together wasn't just casual hookups, that they were actually friends, and eventually, maybe even something more.

Yes, he was an idiot. He could realize that now, but back then he was just a horny teenager with a beautiful girl acting like he was the most amazing person in the world.

Then one day she just threw him away like garbage.

At the time he didn't know what to make of it. They had been getting along great the day before, then like a switch inside her had gotten flipped she said that she was done with him, that he was the most dull and uninteresting person she'd ever met, and had practically tossed him out of bed and slammed the door in his face.

Then the next day, she was all smiles again. While his heart was crushed into a thousand pieces, she was acting like nothing had changed, just as friendly and flirtatious with him as she always was, even though she had never taken him to bed since.

It was then that he had gotten a firmer grasp on the kind of girl Donoma Marama was. None of it had been real. The smiles, the flirting, the way she acted like the people she talked to were one of a kind, those were all manipulations. Superficial charm to worm her way into their hearts and enjoy herself with them until she got bored, and then they would be tossed aside the same way he was.

The more time passed, the more this reputation had begun to spread. It became fairly common knowledge that Donoma was, for lack of a better word, a pickup artist. She would charm her way into the lives of people she was interested in, and then leave. Lukas may have been around longer than most, but he wasn't any different.

As that reputation settled, people had begun to treat Donoma differently. For one, a lot more guys began to reciprocate once they realized that she was down for flings on the regular, rather than looking for anything serious. People who were interested in dating her for real slowly drifted away, and Donoma wouldn't have wished otherwise.

But through it all, Lukas was in a rather ambiguous position. Most of her "conquests" would drift out of her life when she was done with them, but considering their proximity that wasn't exactly an option for him. So in spite of his better judgment, he remained her "friend".

And as time went on, more dark sides of her began to surface. People like Olivia who got to know the "real" her, the "scary and ruthless" Donoma Marama were rare, but Lukas had gradually become one of them. He'd seen the face of the girl behind the smile, and it chilled him.

For Celia's sake, she should stay away. Lukas knew that he was going to stay far away from her if he had the choice.

After they finished their business in the pokemon center, Hiromi suggested going out to eat for dinner, so they headed to one of the restaurants back in the city, rather than the pier.

Donoma's mood had improved once more, and she approached Allen.

"Hey there big guy," she said, flashing him a flirty smile. "How are you doing? Heard quite a lot out of you today, more than usual. What, the swimsuit contest get to you or something?" She laughed, slapping him lightly on the arm.

Allen gave her a calm stare, smiling politely, and pushed her hand aside.

"Sorry, but I'm not interested," he replied, practically smirking at the look of shock on her face. Turning her implied proposition down so suddenly was worth it just to see that expression.

"…Eh?" Donoma was surprised. She had been certain that he would go for it. She stomped after him, letting her mask slip slightly. She hopped in front of him and leaned forward. Just because she had changed out of her swimsuit, that didn't mean her body couldn't work its magic anymore.

"Hey, come on! You can't tell me that after today you're really not the least bit… interested!" She cooed, batting her eyelashes at him. "It wouldn't be the first time…"

That was Donoma alright. Unabashedly propositioning a classmate while walking through a foreign city to a restaurant in the middle of a crowd of her peers.

Everyone pretended like they weren't seeing or hearing anything. Even Hiromi, who felt the need to speak up, but wasn't exactly sure what she was supposed to say. "No flirting with the members of your group"?

Allen didn't say a word. Like Ayame, he rebuffed her with silence.

Donoma's smile didn't lose its brightness, though. She had all dinner to work on him, and she knew that an arrogant and assertive guy like Allen was more than interested, he was just pretending that he was better than that.

Dinner had finished, and Donoma had still gotten no closer to seducing him than she was before. It defied belief. Was he tired of her? Unbelievable. Nobody got tired of her! She was a master at getting people interested, it was something she took pride in!

She figured that he was just being a jerk. Because he could. Because Hiromi had said that she didn't want Donoma to pick up some rando on the beach for a fling, Allen had decided that she wasn't going to be getting any comfort from him, either.

And what was she supposed to do now, just go to sleep by herself? Her eyes slid over to the girl whose room she was sharing, Giselle. Besides being a skilled charmer and seductress, Donoma also prided herself on her analytical ability. Whether analyzing pokemon battles or determining who had talent on the screen and who didn't, Donoma was a master at figuring out what was going on with people.

Giselle Kaiser. A year older than her, but shorter by about a head. Reserved. Shy. Has difficulty standing up for herself and putting herself out there, but a genuinely nice person who cares about others. It was clear that Giselle wasn't the kind of person who could easily open up to other people, especially not ones she didn't trust much.

Yeah, that was about what Donoma expected. The sort of kind, sensitive person who puts the needs of others first, while trying to bottle up her feelings so as not to let other people see her cry. Donoma had been with a few people like that, and the problem was… they would get clingy. Really clingy. Donoma hated clingy.

Clingy people were like… ugh, just get over it! It was fun, we had a good time, now it's over. Sorry if you wanted more, but there are other people out there so go find one and stop trying to act like this was something more than what we both knew it was.

…Oh, also, she was straight. Probably. She seemed like the kind of girl who said she was straight and only dated boys, but deep down she probably harbored a crush or two on other girls that she didn't want to confront. Donoma would put money on the idea that if Ayame was gay and hit on Giselle the other girl would fall over herself to say yes.

But that wasn't helpful to her needs, because, well… Donoma was desperate, but she wasn't that desperate. There would be… complications.

Hell. Most of the people here would result in complications, and that was the last thing Donoma wanted to deal with. Did people just not have casual hookups anymore?

…Well, there was one other option… a "break glass in case of emergency" type of option. And at least he wouldn't be clingy.

What the hell, might as well give it a try, for old times' sake, she decided, skipping up to Lukas as they walked back to the hotel.

Well, didn't expect to get a chapter focused on Donoma, huh? I'm sure what she wants from Lukas will be nice and wholesome and not a problem whatsoever.