After exploring some interesting details with Donoma, as well as Alcea and Callie's burgeoning friendship and Alcea's developing feelings for a certain blonde, let's take a second and go back to another girl we've been leaving alone for a little, to see how she's handling all this stuff? It's a Giselle chapter this time! Remember to review!

KedharS: I enjoy taking things in directions that people don't see coming, it's a rather fun experience for me, to say the least.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 921

Giselle was an idiot. How had she not seen what was happening before now? Donoma had played her like a fiddle.

The Empress had made that abundantly clear when Giselle had come to her room that night to talk with the two of them.

Giselle had come just to pay her respects to Ayame, and wish her a job well done on her battle. She had genuinely meant it, of course, she was thrilled that her friend had put up such a good fight against Vic, even if she wasn't used to pokemon battles. She had also come to talk to the Empress a little, because Donoma was right, she wanted to get closer to Olivia and maybe make friends with her, so she could be a little more noticed.

Well, Olivia noticed her now. She was looking at Giselle with a eyes filled to the brim with pity. Olivia let out a sigh.

"Oh, you poor girl," she said, shaking her head. Giselle had just finished explaining how Donoma had suggested that she come talk with them for a little bit, and Olivia had figured out what was going on immediately.

Ayame still hadn't caught on.

"What do you mean?" Giselle asked, also confused.

Olivia saw no point in sparing Giselle's feelings. She may have been shy, but she wasn't some delicate flower.

"Donoma was bullshitting you to get you out of the room," she said simply. "She sent you over here so you were out of the way, and she could have the room all to herself. And I'm pretty sure you can guess what she's going to do now."

Giselle's face burned scarlet as she thought about what was going on in her hotel room right now, while she was in here with the girls. And that's how she got here, with Olivia pitying her and Ayame still confused, while she had to confront what was happening.

She wanted to scream with shame, she had come here to get closer to Olivia and had just made herself look like an even bigger fool in front of her. Although at least Olivia knew who she was at this point, that had to count for something.

And to Giselle's credit, she might not have been the biggest fool in the room. Because Ayame still had a confused expression on her face, like she didn't know what was going on. Olivia's insinuation had gone completely over her head.

"I don't get it, what's the big problem?" Ayame asked. "Why would Donoma want to get Giselle out of the room?"

Olivia sighed, and cradled her forehead. "Oh, Aya, you poor, pure little snowflake… just think for a second about why someone like Donoma would want to get Giselle out of her room for the night. Or… think about it like this. What do YOU do when you and Blake are… 'alone in your room'?" She clarified for her.

Ayame thought about it for a second, and her face turned bright red. "W-Wait… are you talking about… wait!"

Olivia nodded. "Yup. Exactly. She's bringing someone into Giselle's room right now in order to-"

"Don't tell me that!" Giselle wailed, hiding her face with her hands. She didn't want to think about what Donoma was doing in her room right now. All she knew was that there was NO chance that she was going back there tonight.

Olivia sighed in pity. "Sorry, Giselle, that's just how it goes sometimes."

"Why don't you stay with us for tonight, then?" Ayame piped up cheerfully, and Olivia did a double take at that.

"Wait, what?" She said, shocked by the sudden offer. That wasn't what she was thinking would happen at all. "Aya, you want her to stay with us?"

"Well… yeah?" Ayame said. "I mean, it's not like she can fucking go back to her room, right? Not if Donoma's there… doing…"

Ayame was too embarrassed to finish her sentence. She cleared her throat and shook her head. "Well, as I was saying, Giselle going back to her room is a no-go. So I think that it's only fair to let her stay with us, boss. Don't you think?"

Olivia wasn't exactly onboard with the idea. But she didn't exactly have an alternative, either. She did feel bad for Giselle, and maybe a little guilty, too… she was thinking back to when she was in her early years at the Pokemon Academy, before she had her own private room.

She'd kicked Ayame out of their room more times than she could remember when she would bring girls back, so she understood why Ayame would be siding with Giselle on this matter.

With a sigh, she reluctantly gave in. "Okay, fine, you can stay," she relented. "But you have to sleep on the floor. The only way someone is sharing my bed is if they're sharing my bed, and I'm pretty sure that's not on the table tonight."

"That-That's fine!" Giselle said, nodding.

"Hey, come off it, no way I'm letting our guest stay on the floor! You can share my bed!" Ayame offered, being a good friend. But Giselle wasn't exactly enthusiastic about sleeping in the same bed as her, either.

The beds were small, and Ayame was pretty big. It looked like she would take up a lot more room than Giselle would be comfortable with. Plus, there was the whole thing about sleeping in the same bed with Ayame, someone she looked up to, which would be kind of awkward and uncomfortable. She didn't think she'd be able to get much sleep tonight if the two of them were sharing a bed together, that was for sure!

"I-I'm fine with the floor, it's okay!" Giselle said frantically. "I don't need to sleep in the same bed, it's fine!"

But Ayame wasn't having it. Giselle was stronger than she looked, but she was still too fragile for the chivalrous Ayame to let her sleep on the floor.

"Nope, absolutely not," Ayame insisted, crossing her arms over her chest and shaking her head. "You're our guest. So if you don't want to share the bed, then I'll just take the floor for myself, and you can have it, sound good?"

Giselle's jaw dropped. So Ayame was letting her have the bed all to herself?! That was even worse! "N-No! No way, this is your room, I would never think of kicking you out of the bed!" She protested in disbelief.

Olivia watched the two nice girls trying to out-nice each other and sighed in exasperation. "Whatever you're going to do, please do it soon. Because I would like to be getting some sleep tonight, if at all possible."

A look of shame crossed their faces and they chuckled.

Then Giselle sighed. She could tell that Ayame was just looking out for her and was being nice, and she could also tell that there was no way she'd be able to reason with her at this point. Ayame was an immovable wall when it came to matters like this, and everyone knew it, especially Giselle. There was no other choice.

Reluctantly, Giselle took the only option offered to her. There was no chance she was going to let Ayame sleep on the floor, that just wasn't fair. And Ayame wasn't going to let her do it, either. Which meant that the only course of action was to go with the other option.

And thus, Giselle and Ayame were sharing a bed.

Giselle was right, she wasn't getting much sleep that night. And it wasn't just because Ayame was taking up such a big part of the bed, or her anxieties about Donoma was no doubt doing in her room (in front of her pokemon!).

A big part of it was the fact that just being next to Ayame like this was… exciting. She couldn't keep her heart from pounding in her chest.

Giselle didn't like to admit it, but at times like this there was no denying it. She might have had the tiniest little girl-crush on Ayame Toujou.

She couldn't help it! Ayame was just so cool! She wasn't girly at all, she was tall, dark, and handsome, a real strong and silent type like the male leads in her romance books. Giselle hadn't dated anyone, and was terribly shy, but even she had a type.

And Ayame fit it to a T. If she was a boy, then Giselle would be crushing on her hard!

The only problem was Ayame was a girl. A girl with a boyfriend. And Giselle didn't like girls, she liked boys.

So why on earth was her heart beating so much just being around her?! It wasn't rational. She had to urge herself to calm down. That handsome, sleeping face didn't belong to a hot guy, she was a girl, and Giselle didn't like girls!

Plus Ayame had a boyfriend! She shouldn't be having those thoughts about someone in a relationship to begin with, let alone a girl!

Giselle had to calm down. She didn't want to draw attention to herself or make a big deal out of things, Olivia and Ayame were already doing her such a great favor by letting her stay here, she had to calm down and get some sleep.

If only her heart would calm down!

The next morning, Giselle "woke up" feeling very tired. "Waking up" wasn't the proper terminology however, because she didn't think that she'd actually gotten any sleep that could be considered restful, the last night was just one exhausting blur.

At some point, Ayame had wrapped her arms around Giselle in the middle of the night and begun hugging her like a body pillow, and once that had happened, any chance of sleep had gone out the window.

By the time morning came, Giselle felt like death. Meanwhile, Ayame rolled out of bed with a yawn and a bright smile on her face.

"How'd you sleep?" She asked Giselle cheerily.

Giselle forced a tired smile to her face and yawned. She didn't want to make Ayame feel bad about her lack of sleep, but she was too exhausted to pretend.

"I… I tried my best to get some sleep…" she sighed. "But I really would have preferred sleeping in my own bed after all…"

"Then you should have just let me take the floor like I suggested…" Ayame sighed, guilt washing over her. "I'm sorry I kept you up. I didn't hug you in my sleep, did I?"

Giselle glanced aside with a guilty expression on her face. Ayame was right on the money.

"Oh! Oh, oh, I'm so fucking sorry!" Ayame wailed. "I-I was dreaming about my Goomy, and just giving the most squishiest little hugs in the world, I had no idea! I'm so sorry, Giselle!"

Giselle felt bad for being exhausted now. "No, no, it's okay," she assured Ayame, trying to smile as best as she could. "It's just one night's sleep, it's not a big deal! Besides, it's not your fault I had to sleep here, it was Donoma who kicked me out of my room, after all."

Ayame's look of sympathy immediately took a sour turn, and a shadow crossed her face. "That's right, Donoma…" she scowled. "I swear, when I see her, I'm gonna give her a piece of my mind, that fucking bitch!"

Giselle began to think that she had done something wrong. The way Ayame was cracking her knuckles, it didn't seem like the talk she was planning to have with Donoma would be a very positive one, that was for sure.

Before she could tell Ayame that it wasn't THAT bad and she didn't need to rely on violence, the two girls' conversation was interrupted by Olivia waking up with a stretch and a well-rested yawn, a satisfied smile on her face.

"Ah, what a great night's sleep," she beamed, climbing out of bed. "How was your… oh, I see."

Olivia took one look at Giselle's baggy expression and instantly felt bad. It wasn't a sensation she was used to feeling.

Of course, she had expected something like that. Those beds weren't comfortable enough for two people to share, and as short as Giselle might have been it wasn't enough to compensate for how much space Ayame took up.

"Well, I had a great night's sleep anyway," Olivia said, changing lanes and ignoring Giselle again. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go put my makeup on."

She shot Giselle a disparaging look. "…And I would suggest that you do the same," she added. Giselle turned red, she knew she must have looked like a mess.

Ayame scowled. Olivia was a great girl once you got to know her (well, as long as you were her friend anyway) but if she didn't care about you then she could be pretty passive-aggressively rude, and sometimes not even on purpose. Ayame knew that her friend wasn't being catty when she told Giselle to put on some makeup, that was just Olivia's brusque way of giving advice.

Problem was, Giselle wasn't the most receptive to it. Her face went pale and she sighed, and brushed off Ayame's attempt to comfort her.

"Yeah, she's right," Giselle agreed, taking a glance at herself in the mirror. "I do need to fix my face, huh? Or at least get rid of these bags under my eyes…"

Olivia didn't know it, but her opinion actually meant a lot to Giselle. As someone who was trying to be a Pokemon Coordinator, and a very shy girl on top of that, Olivia was someone who Giselle greatly admired. And she felt like she could never live up to the high expectations that the Empress had for everyone around her, which is why right now Giselle felt pretty miserable.

Ayame picked up on this, and saw that Giselle needed some support. And since she didn't give a crap what she looked like, she might as well stick around her friend for a little longer.

"I think you look fine, but it's your call," Ayame agreed. "But… your makeup and stuff is back in your room, right? Are you sure you want to go back there right now?"

That was when Giselle remembered exactly why she'd spent the night in Ayame and Olivia's room in the first place. The exhausting night had made her forget momentarily, but now that it was back she felt even more uneasy.

After all, Donoma was definitely going to be in there, along with whoever she had dragged into her bedroom the night before. And Giselle didn't want to walk in on that. She didn't even want to think about that.

And even more worryingly, what if she walked in on them in the middle of it?!

She didn't know that much about sex, but was it possible that they would still be… going at it in the morning? That would be even worse! Everything was telling Giselle that going back to her room right now was a bad idea, but what else was she supposed to do? At the very least she needed a change of clothes and a shower…

Maybe, like, three or four showers, just to feel clean after what Donoma had gotten up to in their hotel room last night…

Once again, Ayame could see how conflicted Giselle was about all of this, and her heart went out to the girl. Luckily, this was a problem that she was able to help with, unlike the whole makeup thing which she wasn't really clear on.

"Let's just head back to your room," Ayame decided. "We can see what's going on, and if Donoma's still making you feel uncomfortable…"

Ayame buried her fist in her palm with a resounding "punch" sound that sent a shiver down Giselle's spine. Oh man. This was just getting more and more out of control, wasn't it?

"I-I don't think violence is going to be necessary!" Giselle said frantically. "It's fine, really it is, Ayame, you don't need to worry!"

But the more she said it, the more worried Ayame was getting for her. And the more she wanted to take her frustrations out on Donoma's smug little face.

"It's your room, too," Ayame said as she led Giselle down the hall. "It's not okay to just let her control you like that and kick you out. And I'm going to let her know that!"

Giselle sighed. "It's okay, really, I don't… I don't mind."

Ayame frowned. She didn't like that Giselle was acting like this. When they had first become friends, they had banded together under their mutual reserved natures. But there was being reserved, and then there was just plain not standing up for yourself, and right now Giselle was doing a lot more of the latter.

"Come on, Giselle, it's not fine," Ayame assured her. "Unless… is something else bothering you, maybe?"

Giselle nodded glumly. "It's… the Empress," she admitted. "I feel like whatever I do… it just isn't enough, you know?"

Ayame frowned. "What? Just because of that makeup comment this morning? Giselle, that was just her trying to help… I know she could have been more sensitive about it, but that doesn't mean that she doesn't-"

"It's not just about that," Giselle said, shaking her head frantically. "No, it's just… I feel like she just doesn't really seem to care about me one way or the other. She's so amazing, and meanwhile I'm… I'm just plain, you know?"

Ayame winced. She didn't like it, but she could see where Giselle was coming from. Ayame had her own issues about her appearance, and Giselle's were compounded by her silence. And since Ayame had been around Olivia enough to get used to her, she sometimes forgot about how much of an effect she could have on other people.

"Giselle, Olivia can be a bit… overwhelming, I'll admit," Ayame agreed. "But she's not a bad person. I'm sure if you keep trying, you can build a relationship with her."

Ayame cracked a grin. "It worked for me, after all."

Giselle smiled a little. Ayame had a way of making her feel a lot better and more confident in herself. In the meantime, there was something else that she needed to confront. And that was Donoma Marama, in her room.

The hotel room they were standing in front of now, to be honest.

"Go on, do it," Ayame assured her with a confident smile, giving her a thumbs' up. "I'm right here with you, girl!"

Giselle nodded back to her, took a deep breath, and knocked on the door to her hotel room. The door swung open.

So what will Giselle find on the other side of that door? What did Donoma get up to during the night? What are the aftereffects, will she be able to handle it?