The Empress's group has joined up with the smaller group containing Ian and the rest, and they're headed to Agate Village! But the road to Agate Village isn't an easy one, especially when you can't take a bus to get there! Will Olivia regret agreeing to go? Is Alcea really worth it? Or has she made a terrible mistake? Remember to review!

The Elimination Round of the Pokemon Academy Best Girl Contest 3 has started! Make sure to get those votes in, we've only got a couple of people who have voted so far! Please, make sure to get those votes in! You can vote for up to 5 girls, so make sure your favorites have a chance to shine!

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

KedharS: Yeah. It's easy to forget given she mainly interacts with people like Ayame who she cares about, but if you're not someone who matters to her or who she can benefit from, then she's not going to treat you very well.

Just a Bad Writer for Fun: Well, they won't get lost in the desert, that's for sure. They might get lost somewhere else, though.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 984

"This is the worst! The absolute worst!" Lila wailed. "I hate nature! I hate stupid trees! And I hate this stupid forest!"

Darla rolled her eyes. So much for all the lessons her partner had learned at the Pokemon HQ Laboratory it seemed.

It wasn't like she couldn't sympathize with Lila, though. Her friend was in a pretty rough position, all things considered. They all were.

Once Olivia had convinced everyone that they were going to Agate Village next (which hadn't taken that much work itself, surprisingly- even Lila was open to it once she heard it would be just like a fairy glade from an old story) Andrea sprung something on them.

They wouldn't be going by bus, no. The trip to Agate Village would be undertaken through a three day hike.

Up a mountain.

All things considered they were lucky Lila hadn't shot somebody.

"I changed my mind!" She groaned for like the hundredth time in the last two hours. "I don't want to go to Agate Village! It's gonna be dirty and smelly and filled with bugs!"

Agate Village was actually one of the loveliest examples of pristine nature in the world. A place of untouched beauty, much like Meteor Falls, where Darla came from. Of course, try convincing Lila of that.

Hiromi, for the most part, was trying to keep everyone's spirits up.

"Don't think about it that way!" She said cheerily. "Think of this as an opportunity! You'll appreciate Agate Village so much more, because of all the hard work you put in to get there! What's that old saying? 'A hard day's work makes supper that much sweeter?' It'll be amazing I bet!"

Of course, Hiromi walked up and down the largest mountain in the ToJoh area for fun, so she wasn't exactly looking at things from the perspective of a normal person.

"I'd be perfectly happy limiting my appreciation if it meant chartering a helicopter," Olivia muttered under her breath. She was already regretting her decision, and using that regret to stoke the fires of resentment burning for Alcea Vermeil, whose fault this was in the first place.

How dare she make Olivia want to come check up on her like this? Of all the selfish, ungrateful things she'd ever heard of!

Andrea's group, on the other hand, was taking it a lot better. Andre and Erik were both top students in the Ranger Course, and knew a thing or two about roughing it on multi-day hikes. And contrary to Ian's claims, it seemed that Sango and Marion had a point when they assumed he spent all his time climbing mountains. And with Raizer's athletic physique and Andrea's status as an active-duty Pokemon Ranger, Mirar was really the only member who one would think would have any trouble keeping up, and even HE could do it.

When an envious Lukas asked how the hell a scrawny guy like him could be doing so well, Mirar just scoffed and said he was emulating Erik, and left it at that. Apparently Mirar's penchant for mimicry extended to being able to copy physical skills like this as well. He was certainly walking like someone with ranger training, anyway.

On the other hand, Hiromi's group looked like a procession of the walking dead. The only people doing fine were Hiromi herself, of course, and Ayame. The two athletic women had no difficulties at all with a hike of this level. Even Darla was starting to get a little winded, and she'd grown up walking the steep slopes of Meteor Falls!

"Think about it like this, Lila," Allen called back to her. "It's almost nighttime, and then we can stop and get a rest at the campsite!"

Lila glared. That didn't make her feel better. Hiking was bad enough, but camping? Spending the night eating half-cooked food out of a can, huddled around a smoldering fire for warmth while being eaten alive by insects, and then turning in for the night, squeezed into a tiny tent with a bunch of girls, everyone's bodies pressing against one another, including Darla, who would no-doubt be squished up right against her…

…

Lila found her second wind, marching up the trail with a renewed sense of purpose. Darla raised her eyebrow and loped after her.

Surprisingly, Lila was actually in fairly good shape. Because of the prissy airhead persona she donned, it was easy to mistake her as some wuss, but in fact, their performances went on for a long time, with some very strenuous choreographed routines. And practices would take hours and hours. She had stamina to spare, she just wasn't good at the actual hiking part.

And complaining made her feel better, that was important too.

On the other hand, though, she was still basically at the back of the line. Because all her stamina didn't equate to actual competence when it came to hiking. So even if she could stave off the exhaustion, she was still, well… not an athletic person by nature.

Even Jessie was ahead of her, and due to her weight she looked even more out of shape than Lila did. Not that Lila judged people by those things, of course. It just pissed her off. The only person on her level at the moment was Darla, and that was because she was trying to match pace with her; under normal circumstances the dragon girl would be near the head of the pack.

And speaking of the head of the pack…

"Hiromi!" Lila gasped out. "Allen's cheating! He's riding on the back of a pokemon, make him walk like the rest of us!"

Allen had in fact chosen the smart move of riding on the back of his Flygon. While the trees made it impossible to fly, the rugged Dragon type was still able to carry his trainer while walking, making the hike a breeze.

The irony was that Allen was in fairly good shape himself, at least as good as Darla, so this hike would have been fine for him. He just wanted to rub it in anyway.

"Allen, you're kind of removing the fun of this," Hiromi said gently, not wanting to make too big a deal out of him riding on his pokemon, even if she personally felt that it ruined the spirit of a nature walk in the first place.

"It's not fair!" Lila kept whining. "I don't have ANY pokemon that I can ride on! Why does he get to, huh?!"

She turned hopefully to Darla. "Darla, can you please lend me one of your dragons? Pleeeaaasee?! I just know Melody would be happy to give me a lift!"

Darla was about to answer, but she felt a piercing gaze stab her and she bristled.

"Sorry, Lila, I can't," she coldly answered, shaking her head. "You're just going to have to get through this the old-fashioned way."

"What?! Why not?!" Lila wailed. Then she noticed her partner's mood and quickly turned serious. "Hey, what's up? Is everything okay?"

"Everything's fine," Darla tersely replied, her cold glare showing that everything was most certainly NOT fine.

Lila gulped. She followed the trail of Darla's eyes to see Erik, a ways ahead of the trail. The muscular boy had stopped and looked back at her, his crimson eyes as fierce as Darla's own.

"…Hey, Darla, if this is going to be a problem, you can talk to Hiromi about it…" Lila whispered. Darla didn't even give her a second glance.

"It won't be," she growled, her fingers tapping listlessly against her purse, and the pokeballs inside of it. "I'll make sure of that."

Lila gulped. Darla's grudge against Erik was a long and complicated one, and she was really hoping that she wouldn't have to put up with it for the rest of their trip.

I know he's an outcast, but you are too, right? Lila wanted to say. Can't the two of you get along, then? Why's it always gotta be a battle?!

For someone like Lila who treated everyone sweetly (even people she internally loathed) her partner's continual confrontational attitude was a frustrating issue for her. But she cared about Darla too much to keep digging up painful memories, so she wisely let the issue drop and focused her attention on getting through the remainder of this hike.

"At least we don't have to carry our luggage, right boss?" Ayame said, trying to cheer Olivia up. Their suitcases were still on the bus, and were being transported up the mountain to be left in the care of the Pokemon Center in Agate Village until the group arrived.

The way Ayame saw it, things could have been way worse if they had to carry all that stuff with them. That should at least put Olivia in a better mood, right? But no, apparently the Empress intended to be annoyed the whole hike.

"I can't wait to see what the sleeping situation will be like," Donoma purred, skipping up to Lukas and draping a hand down over his shoulder to stroke his chest. She leaned up to whisper in his ear, "I hear that tents can be a rather… tight fit…"

Flustered, Lukas pulled away from her. He scowled. "You know, there are five other guys you could be hitting on! So why can't you leave me alone?!" He hissed.

Donoma stepped back and licked her lips, a smirk on her face. Unlike most of the Empress's group, she wasn't that bothered by the hike. Mainly because she was conserving her energy for… "after-hike activities".

But she considered his suggestion regardless, and gave an appraising glance at the members of the other group.

And to twist the knife in, she decided to verbalize her thoughts to Lukas, just to watch him squirm a little.

"Well, Mirar is… how can I say this… he's a tricky sort to judge. After all, I can't imagine there's anything I can give to a guy who has a Ditto, if you know what I mean," she giggled.

Lukas felt like he was going to be sick. "You can't really be suggesting-"

"No, I'm not," she assured him. "But let's just say that given certain rumors I've heard… he's not as big of a fan of participating as he is watching."

"…And what rumors are those?" Lukas dryly asked.

"The ones I just made up of course~" She giggled innocently. "Come on, the man has cameras everywhere, you don't do something like that unless you're into some really freaky fetish shit, you know?"

No, Lukas didn't know, nor did he want to.

"Next is Raizer~ He's certainly got the body for it, but… he's a meathead, you know?" She licked her lips again. "And while that's certainly tantalizing… he's just like his brother, more focused on battles between pokemon than the kind between the sheets."

Lukas rolled his eyes.

"Erik on the other hand, he's definitely got a nice body, those muscles, mm, delicious. Nothing like your scrawny frame," Donoma purred. He shot her a dirty look.

She sighed. "…But that's a no-go, unfortunately."

"Oh, really?" Lukas said, raising his eyebrow. "So there are guys you'll accept a 'no' from then, I'm honestly shocked."

Donoma smirked. "Well, I know that your 'no' is more of a 'oh yes mommy please, more' type of no, you know?"

He wanted to punch her so badly right now. But the hike had drained him of his strength and he could barely even lift his arms.

"My point is, I asked him, actually, a while back. You think mama could resist a prime cut of dark meat like that? Not on your life." She made a sour face, as if just remembering the incident brought back bad memories. "But you know what he said to me?"

"Was it 'hit the bricks thot?' because that's what I would have said," Lukas replied.

"I believe you actually said 'wow, I didn't know it was possible to bend that way'," Donoma offhandedly mentioned, causing Lukas's face to turn scarlet. "But no, the fucker actually apologized to me! He said 'sorry, but I'm not interested. I'm more into the casual sort of girl, and you seem a little too high-maintenance.' Can you believe that?! Me! High-maintenance!"

"Yes, it boggles the mind," Lukas murmured, rolling his eyes.

"I think he just hates girls who put a little effort into themselves, that's all," Donoma sniffed, crossing her arms indignantly.

"…Yeah, I'm sure that's it. So go hit on one of the other two, then," Lukas sighed. And leave me alone, while you're at it.

"Well… Andre's also a no, sadly," Donoma sighed again. "Tried him, too. Ever been with a lithosexual before?"

Lukas didn't even know what that was. He shook his head.

"Right, no one has," Donoma groaned. "Because it means Andre has no desire to act on his sexual desires. It was like trying to seduce a brick wall. He was so bothered by it even I started to feel guilty about offering."

Knowing her, Lukas suspected she did a hell of a lot more than just offering, but he was also smart enough not to say anything.

Donoma tapped her lips thoughtfully. "Which just leaves…"

A wicked smile spread across her face, and she turned to Lukas. He recognized that gleam in her eye, and sighed.

"Well, I'm obviously not going to stop you, go nuts," he said, weakly waving ahead. Donoma skipped up the path with a spring in her step, and far too much energy for a girl who'd spent the last couple of hours walking uphill.

She zeroed in on her prey. But before she could pounce, Hiromi suddenly gasped. "Wait, where's Marion?!"

Everyone stopped, and began looking around. Marion had just been walking with them, right? But now that Hiromi mentioned it, there was no straw hat to be seen, and no fishing pole bobbing above their heads.

She was gone.

Hiromi groaned. "Oh, no…"

"Oh, poor Marion," Olivia said, too tired to keep the sarcasm out of her voice. "I guess we'll have to keep going without her, then…"

"Boss," Ayame scowled. Olivia wasn't fazed though.

"Celia, I thought you were supposed to be watching her?" Jessie panted, glancing up the trail towards her cousin. "You know how she is!"

"I just took my eyes off her for a second," Celia said, turning red with shame. "I-I didn't mean to let her slip away!"

"It's fine, it's fine!" Ian said, raising his hands to calm everyone down. "There's no need to worry about anything."

"I'd say there is," Andrea said, frowning. "Even if she's not a member of our group, she's still a student. And these mountains can be very dangerous."

Lila gulped. Dangerous? "B-But, there aren't any wild pokemon, so it's not like she could get attacked, right?" She asked, looking around warily as if the woods were suddenly filled with predators out to eat cute bottle blondes.

"She could have still tripped," Andrea warned. "Or fallen into a ravine, or broken her leg, there are all sorts of ways to hurt yourself in the wilderness you know!"

Lila gulped again. She hated hiking. She really did.

"It's fine, it's fine!" Ian repeated. "Right guys?" He turned to Erik and Andre for support. Like him, they didn't seem to worried.

"Marion is a Probationary Ranger," Andre admitted. "Plus, well… she's Marion."

"She knows how to handle herself," Erik agreed. "But even so, we should still probably look for her, just in case."

"She probably heard a creek or something and felt the itch to go fishing," Ian assured the others. "She does that all the time. But Erik's right, if we leave her to her own devices it could be days before we see her again, so we'll have to go hunt her down I guess."

"I'll go," Andrea said automatically. "Chime and I have experience on mountains like these."

"I probably have more," Hiromi argued. "Believe me, back in my ranger days, I was an expert at search and rescue when it came to mountainous terrain."

The two women exchanged a look, and for a second Olivia thought an argument would break out.

But then Hiromi sighed. "Well, I don't have my partner pokemon. So I'll leave this up to you, okay? Find her soon. I'll stay and watch the kids."

"Right," Andrea nodded. "We'll be back soon, right, Chime?"

"Chime! Chimecho!" Chime agreed, bobbing up and down in agreement.

"When we find her, I'll have Chime let you know with her bell," Andrea assured Hiromi. "In the meantime, you guys wait here, and-"

"I don't think that's necessary," Ian interrupted. He had a bit of a sheepish smile on his face. "No offense, but… I think I can find her pretty fast."

"Out of the question!" Both women snapped.

"You're in my care," Andrea reminded him. "I can't let you go wandering through the mountains all on your own!"

"Plus, it could be dangerous," Hiromi agreed. "You don't know what's out there. Sorry, but not going to happen."

Ian just smiled. "Oh, I know. That's not what I meant."

Now both women just looked confused.

"I can get her attention with this," he explained, taking a pokeball off of his belt. "Come out, Lazuli!"

Ian released his Lumineon from her pokeball. He caught the elegant pokemon in the air so she didn't fall, holding her gently.

"Lumineon?" Lazuli asked, confused. She looked around, but there was no water nearby, nor were there any battles. So why had her trainer called her out?

Hiromi and Andrea were similarly confused.

"Just wait," Ian assured them with a confident smile.

Not two minutes later, the echo of footsteps tromping through the forest caught everyone's ears, and Marion's head poked out of the brush.

"Fish pokemon?!" She asked, her eyes shining with glee.

Works every time.