Here it is! The secret we've all been waiting for! What lies within the depths of Relic Cave? What awaits Vic as she confronts her past? What could be so important that it required Ryoko to put her through a test like this, and even necessitated that she erase Vic's memories so she wouldn't even know she'd been here before? Remember to review!

So far, we've got some great girls running in the Nomination Round! Any others we want so far? We've got a little over a week left! If there are any other girls you think should be added, make sure to add them in the reviews! Let's see who the third Best Girl will be!

Currently Nominated: Ange, Ayame, Caelia, Cynthia, Donoma, Elaina, Maddi, Marion, Misato, Sango, Satsuki, Sylvia, Vic

KedharS: Maybe. I guess we'll have to find out.

Character Idea: That is certainly an interesting idea. But I'm not sure I can use it.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 951

Callie glanced over at Alcea. She had a perplexed look on her face, and Caelia didn't really know what was wrong.

"Alcea, are you okay?" She asked.

Startled, Alcea turned to look at her friend. She hadn't been paying attention to Callie at all, her focus had been on the strange atmosphere around Agate Village.

"S-Sorry, oui, I am alright, is it?" Alcea said, wiping the sweat from her brow. It was only spring, and yet it was already so hot outside. Had it been this hot yesterday? No, the weather around Agate Village had been lush and peaceful with a sweet breeze. Was it because of the Orre Region's temperate climate? Or because they were on top of a volcano?

Just as she was starting to take note of that, the atmosphere changed once again and that feeling of spring returned. That only increased Alcea's suspicions.

So I was right, is it? This isn't normal… rather, it's as if this village has been sculpted by the hand of someone else…

But who could that someone else be? There was certainly something at work keeping Agate Village the lush paradise that it was, the state of the battlefield reflected that. But what sort of magic could be capable of something like this?

Whatever it was, it made an uncomfortable feeling stir up in Alcea's chest, and that nostalgic sensation of natural beauty that she'd felt the day before now made her feel wary and nervous. And that wasn't something she was used to feeling.

There's something strange about Agate Village… what could it be?

There was something strange about Agate Village, alright. Vic was confirming it with her own eyes right now.

Ever since she was little, she had been curious about the dense forest surrounding Agate Village. Her parents had always warned her not to wander too far away from town, but of course she hadn't listened and had explored it anyway.

She was still in that forest right now. But she'd never seen this part of it before. It was a tight clearing, cut off from the rest of the forest by particularly dense ring of tall trees. They were so tightly pressed together that they were practically growing into one another, and it didn't look possible to slip between them.

But then there were the trees growing inside the clearing, spaced apart with room to spare. A type of tree that Vic had been forced to visit a different region to see.

Berry trees! The clearing was filled with them! It was practically a feast for pokemon! Vic's eyes swept across the clearing in shock, unable to believe what she was looking at.

"H-How?" Vic asked, confused. "I thought… these can't be growing here! They just can't be! The soil, the pollution is…"

While parts of the Orre Region were still capable of sustaining plantlife, as Agate Village was a testament to, every scientist who knew anything knew that the soil contaminants rendered the berry trees vital to the sustainability of pokemon life impossible to cultivate. But she couldn't argue with the evidence before her eyes.

And not only that, she couldn't argue with her heart, either. Even though Vic could say with absolute certainty that she had no memory of standing in this clearing, she just knew that she had, a long time ago. It just felt so natural, like she was finally coming home.

"It is complicated," Ryoko said quietly, walking past her towards the center of the clearing. Vic's eyes landed on her and she let out another gasp. She had been so focused on what was around her that she hadn't taken a moment to appreciate what was right ahead.

In the center of the clearing, down a neat little stone path, was a large flat ring of pressed rock. And in the center of that ring was a large white, surrounded by bright green bushes. Behind that stone pillar loomed a strange statue, designed in the image of a creature that looked like part horse, or man, or dragon, perhaps in depiction of some pokemon that she had never seen before.

Its mouth was open, fitted in such a way as though something was to be inserted within it. But nothing of the sort was there now.

"What is that?" Vic asked, confused.

"It's the Relic Stone," Wes said quietly. "It's the sacred treasure that we guard in Agate Village."

Rui glanced down. One of them, anyway…

"This is a sacred place," Ryoko said, stopping before the stone pillar and placing her hand on the notch in the surface. "It is one of the Cradles of Time."

"Cradles… of Time?" Vic asked. She followed Ryoko down the path, standing beside her in the clearing as the small girl gazed down at the Relic Stone.

"Ilex Forest. Relic Cave. Spear Pillar. Places that have been touched by the pokemon of time, Dialga," Ryoko said, turning back to Vic. "Do you know… what pokemon that is?"

Vic glanced at the statue behind the large stone. "Is it… that pokemon? Is that what I've been sensing all this time?"

Ryoko smiled and shook her head. "No. Dialga does not reside in our world. They are the Guardian of Time, after all, they exist in a dimension beyond the barriers of time. As such, they do not see fit to interact with humans like us directly. Thus, in order to do so, an emissary is needed. A pokemon was born from that need, and that pokemon was Celebi."

"Celebi!" Celebi chirped, appearing in a flash of green light. She settled down onto the Relic Stone and smiled up at Ryoko, who smiled back at her and patted her on the forehead.

"I am the one who inherits the responsibility as the Guardian of Time," Ryoko said, holding her hand over her heart. "To guard the timestream, I sacrificed my own time, for all eternity. That is my duty, to safeguard the passage of the future."

"So why are you telling me all this?" Vic asked, still not sure what this meant for her. "Is that why you erased my memories? Something to do with this Cradle of Time or whatever?"

Ryoko paused, and shook her head. "You could say that it is indeed something like that… but that would also not be technically true."

Okay, the awe was starting to fade, and the frustration was returning. Why couldn't the girl just give her a straight answer already?!

Rui picked up on that immediately. "Um, Ryoko, Victoria isn't exactly one for vague speeches, do you think you could maybe be a little bit more direct about all this?"

Ryoko blinked. "Well then, I will try to explain as best as I can. The short answer to your question is no. The reason that I erased your memories has nothing to do with the flow of time directly. But there was… a secret that you learned. Something that, should you report to the world beyond this clearing, would have caused a disruption in the flow of time."

Vic frowned. "What do you mean by that?" She knew it. She had been here before. Ever since she set foot in this clearing, nostalgia had been washing over her in waves. This wasn't her first time here, but those memories were still sealed away.

"It will all be explained when I return your memories to you," Ryoko assured her. "But before that happens, I need to tell you about the duty you have now, as the Protector of Agate Village and the Relic Stone."

"My… duties?" Vic asked, turning to look at her parents. Their expressions were both incredibly serious, which made her get worried.

"In the past, the Protector of the Relic Stone simply held the duty of safeguarding this sacred place from intruders," Ryoko said, turning to look at the large statue. "Once, a great treasure resided here. But now, that treasure is gone, replaced by something far more precious."

"What do you mean?" Vic asked.

"Life," Ryoko answered. "The power of life."

Well that answered nothing.

"I think I can explain a little better," Wes said, walking up to the two of them and putting a hand on his daughter's shoulder. "Victoria, when you look around this clearing, what do you see? Something that is missing throughout the rest of the Orre Region?"

"…The berry trees?" Vic asked.

Wes cracked a small smile and nodded slightly. "…Yes, that is part of it. But something more simple, more raw. Life. Agate Village is filled with life and nature. All the way down the side of the mountain, you can find greenery, but that can't compare to the abundance of life that is thriving in this part of the region. A power so strong that not even the corruption of the soil could have any hope of overcoming it."

That was true. Even when she was a little girl, the atmosphere of Agate Village had always felt different from the rest of the Orre Region, even the other parts that had still retained their greenery. Vic had always attributed that to empty nostalgia and the peacefulness of the residents, but now that she'd grown older she realized that there was something else going on.

Rui's lips began to tremble, and she walked up to join her husband and child. "I think it's time, Wes, don't you?"

"Indeed," Ryoko nodded in agreement.

Taking a deep breath, Rui turned to Vic, her face serious.

"When Wes and I were about your age, there was a great threat looming against the Orre Region, do you remember?" She asked.

"Yeah, you guys told me, Team Cipher was creating Shadow Pokemon, and you two stopped them," Vic said, nodding.

"But what we never told you was how," Wes said. He glanced at Ryoko. "Just as Rui and I tested you to see if you were ready… it seems that Ryoko had a test for she and I, as well. I didn't realize it before now, though. Isn't that right?"

An expression that was half melancholy and half cryptic smile crossed Ryoko's face, and she nodded solemnly.

"Indeed. Victoria, your parents captured Shadow Pokemon from the trainers who had them, and then they brought them here, to this clearing, to purify the corruption in their hearts. This place is filled with the power of time, so it was the only place that the door to their hearts could fully open, you understand."

"And that was my parents' test? To see if they would help the Shadow Pokemon?" Vic asked, shocked. Compared to that, her test sounded like nothing.

"Your father had a very… dubious past," Ryoko said. "Of course, with some slight interventions on my part at certain points, I was able to lead him down the proper road, but there were still doubts. …Doubts of his, I mean." She turned to Wes, and smiled. "I always knew for certain that you would do as destiny intended, of course."

Wes grimaced. It wasn't the first time that she'd condescended to him like that. "…Yeah. Of course."

"It was important that your mother trust your father completely, just as it was important that your father trust himself completely," Ryoko explained. "That is why I tasked them with saving the Shadow Pokemon, helping in what ways I could."

Vic couldn't help but smile with pride. Her parents were really amazing after all.

"And the reason that I gave them this test… is because they needed to know for certain that they would be able to take care of the pokemon who calls this sanctuary her home," Ryoko explained, startling Vic out of her pleasant thoughts.

That was right! The pokemon! It had almost slipped her mind hearing the story about her parents' past, but that was the reason she'd come here in the first place, to learn more about her own past and about the pokemon she'd sensed!

Reinvigorated, Vic looked around for the pokemon, but couldn't find it anywhere. The clearing was empty except for Celebi, and she knew that wasn't the voice she had been sensing.

But the pokemon was still here. She could feel it.

"The pokemon here… is precious to us," Rui said quietly, glancing down. "It is the Orre Region's salvation."

The Orre Region's… salvation? What did she mean by that?

"I don't understand, mom," Vic said, shaking her head. "What's so special about this pokemon? Why did you have to keep it a secret from me?"

"Victoria, you're aware of the state of the ecosystem in the Orre Region, of course," Wes said, taking over from his wife.

"Yeah, duh," Vic said, rolling her eyes. "After what happened, that mining accident, the ground of the Orre Region was completely contaminated. Now hardly anything can survive here, not even pokemon used to living in the harsh desert."

Vic glanced at the berry trees. Clearly, though, there was an exception.

"In almost the entirety of the Orre Region, that is precisely the case," Ryoko said, nodding. "But with aid from Celebi and myself, that is not true for this holy place."

"There's a pokemon," Rui explained, " a pokemon that is capable of bringing life to even the most withered-away wastelands. She can draw contamination into her own body, and in turn, the ecosystem will flourish again."

Rui waved her hands out across the clearing. "That's what you're seeing right here. That's why Agate Village is the sanctuary of life that it is today."

"And that's our role as protectors," Wes explained. "It was before my time, even. Right after the horrible incident, when even the greenery of Agate Village had begun to rot away, Ryoko appeared with that pokemon and gave the protectors a new purpose. It became their duty not just to watch over the Relic Stone, but to keep that pokemon safe here, while she tried to fix the damage that had been done to this region."

Vic couldn't believe what she was hearing. A pokemon that was capable of restoring the damage that had been done to the Orre Region? Absorbing contaminants? That was insane, she couldn't believe a pokemon could possess that much power.

But at the same time, she didn't have an explanation for how this clearing remained so abundant, either. Maybe a special pokemon's power really WAS the only way that miracle could have happened after all.

"Where is this pokemon?" Vic asked frantically, looking around for it once again. "Can I meet it? That's why you brought me here, right?" She could sense it, but she still couldn't see it. She wanted to know just what kind of pokemon could do something like that.

A small smile crossed Ryoko's lips. "You already have, in fact," she chuckled. "But if you would like to see it again, perhaps you should look at your feet?"

Vic glanced down at her feet, but the only thing she could see were the tiny cluster of bushes surrounding the Relic Stone.

No, wait…

She gasped. It wasn't a cluster of bushes at all! No, nestled in the center of the greenery was a pokemon!

"Shaymin…" The small pokemon peered up at her through the brush with the brightest green eyes she'd ever seen.

She was so small. Scarcely larger than a basketball, and her white body was covered in a dense cluster of grassy fur that looked so natural Vic wondered if it really was grass. On either side of her head were pink flowers that filled the air with a sweet scent, and her snout was curled into what appeared to be a kind and gentle smile.

"This is Shaymin," Ryoko said. "She has the power to purify contamination and bring life. When the Orre Region became uninhabitable, I brought her here, to use her powers to heal the wounds dealt to the land as best she could."

A shadow crossed Ryoko's face.

"Alas, even with her best efforts, there is only so much she can do on her own. It is taking all she has just to keep Agate Village pure," she said solemnly.

"Shaymin…" Shaymin looked down sadly.

Vic reached out to her instinctively. She knew this pokemon. She'd met her before. When she was very young.

"This… was what you've been hiding?" She said quietly.

"The power of Shaymin has been coveted over the years," Ryoko said. "The ability to remove contamination from the land is indeed a power that can be used wholly for good intentions, but when those intentions are muddied by the desires of man, then the situation becomes complicated indeed, as I am sure you can imagine."

"If people knew of her existence here, then they might come to take her," Wes explained. "Force her to use her powers to fix the planet, without caring about the damage that might be inflicted to herself. Her power isn't a miracle, after all, it costs her so much to keep the world clean."

"My harmonia can help with that," Rui said, holding her hand up, a green light glowing softly out of it. "When Shaymin gets too exhausted, I can restore her energy with my gift."

"And that's why you needed me, wasn't it?" Vic asked, glancing at Ryoko. "Because Shaymin needed help."

"Indeed. It was important to restore the lifeforce of Shaymin, so I asked for your assistance. But it was vital that you not tell anyone about that day, not before you were ready. So I was forced to then erase your memories as well."

She lowered her head in contrition. "I am truly very sorry for what I have done, Victoria Carver. I did not wish to cause you pain, but I had no choice."

"No, it… it's fine," Vic said, glancing down at Shaymin. "After everything you guys told me, I mean… I can't exactly keep being mad at you, now can I?"

She gave Ryoko a genuine smile, then she looked back to her parents. They were smiling as well.

Then Rui realized something.

"Wait! But I was in Agate Village at the time!" She gasped, narrowing her eyes suspiciously. "If you needed help with Shaymin, then why did you ask Victoria? Why didn't you just come to me as usual, huh?"

Vic gasped. "Hey, that's right!"

Both Carver women looked at Ryoko suspiciously.

Another complex expression crossed Ryoko's face.

"That… is something you will understand, once you've learned the story of what happened that day," she answered, reaching up and touching two fingers to Vic's forehead.

And just like that Vic remembered everything she had forgotten.

So what happened that day, in Relic Cave with Shaymin? What was so important that Ryoko needed Vic's help, and so vital to keep secret that she had to erase her memory?