Now that we've dealt with Olivia and she's finally free from Samarra's influence, we can turn our attention towards other issues. Some new, familiar faces are coming to Agate Village, but first they need to introduce themselves to Darla and Lila. I wonder what will happen next… how will the story advance from here, with all these threats circling?

The Semi-Final Round of the Pokemon Academy Best Girl Contest 3 has begun! These are our semi-finalists! Make sure to get those votes in, and choose which of these girls you think should make it to the finals! So far, only three people have voted, we need more votes for the finals! You can only vote for 3, so make sure to pick your favorites!

Semi-Finalists: Ayame, Chloe, Cynthia, Elaina, Kate, Marion, Sango, Vic

Rowlets and Oshawotts: Tolerate is a strong word.

KedharS: It's definitely an option, for sure.

Tambry96bj: I wonder if they even can free everyone…

Hyphenman: I guess we'll have to find out. Hopefully, whoever it is, they aren't a threat. The group could use a breather for once, it would suck to have them get into ANOTHER dangerous situation after just dealing with Olivia's mess.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 1017

"I was wondering if you could help us?"

Neither Lila nor Darla knew quite what to make of the two people in front of them.

The one on the left was a tall woman with black hair tied back in a short ponytail, with obsidian eyes that glittered coldly from the sunlight streaming down. Her face was pinched in an emotionless frown. Standing beside her was a shorter boy whose expression was much more relaxed, peering at the two of them from behind dark bangs. He had been the one to call out to the girls.

Oh yeah, and they were both dressed as ninjas.

"Uh…" Lila stared dumbly at the two of them. They weren't even subtle about it, both were wearing tight outfits that were clearly designed for camouflage and infiltration, and even carried weapons with them. The boy had a long scarf (which must have been roasting) but otherwise, they were the perfect image of a ninja couple.

Darla cleared her throat and grabbed Lila by the hand.

"Let's go," she said sternly.

"B-But…"

"Lila, remember what I told you to do if you find a stranger in the alps?" She reminded her partner.

Lila gave her a blank look.

"Excuse me, this is really important!" The boy said, quickly approaching them. He had a disarming smile on his face, but Darla just picked up speed.

The girl scowled. She stepped forward and then disappeared, reappearing in front of the girls to cut them off.

Lila let out a shocked gasp and fell backwards.

"Uwaaa! Real… that was real ninjutsu just now?!" She exclaimed.

Darla was put on her guard immediately, her hand shooting to her waist. "What do you two want?! Let us go already!"

"He asked you for help!" The girl snapped.

"Whoa, whoa, Shinobu, calm down!" The boy said, stepping between the two girls before either could escalate the situation further.

Darla flinched. Like his companion, Shinobu, this guy had just stepped into her space out of nowhere, when he'd been several feet away just a couple seconds ago. She hadn't even noticed him until he was right in front of her.

Yeah. These two weren't just weird cosplayers. It seemed they were really ninjas.

"Sorry about that," he apologized, giving a rueful smile. "Shinobu's just really high-strung, you know? Family issues and such. I keep telling her to relax, but at some point…"

"I'm very relaxed," Shinobu objected. The boy glanced at her and she fell silent. He turned back to Darla and Lila.

"I'm Shima," he introduced himself. "And as you can see, we're a little lost at the moment. Would you be so kind as to tell us how to get to Agate Village?"

"You guys are lost?" Lila asked, standing up and brushing the gunk off of her skirt. "But aren't you, like, ninjas? Can't you guys find your way just with the position of the sun, or by checking what direction moss is growing and whatnot?"

Shima reached into a small bag on his belt and Darla tensed. But the metallic object he withdrew wasn't a weapon, but a compass.

One that was completely broken.

"We were using this, but, uh… yeah." He gave another sheepish laugh. "Are you two from Agate Village? Would you mind showing us the way?"

Darla still wasn't buying it. Whoever these people were, it was clear that they had some skills. She might not have been Miss Hoenn Ultimate Pokemon Fighters, but she wasn't some sheltered girl who could be caught off-guard.

She hadn't sensed their presence at all, or heard any trace of their footsteps until now. Before they stepped out of the brush and accosted the two of them, she was absolutely certain that there were no other people around.

Someone like that wouldn't need to come to a pair of girls for help, especially when it was obvious from how they were dressed that they were city folk. "Are you two from Agate Village?" What, was he making a bad joke? If Lila's designer bag wasn't enough of an indicator, surely her silk skirt and floral-print blouse was a sign that she had absolutely no business up on this mountain. And while Darla's wardrobe might have been more conservative, it wasn't like she was dressed for a hike either.

Clearly, these two wanted something else from them. The question was, what did they want?

"Lila, do you mind if I talk to these two in private?" Darla said, glancing at her friend. Lila blinked, surprised, but nodded, walking obediently down the trail while Darla talked to the ninjas.

Darla returned a few minutes later looking exhausted. The ninja duo was behind her.

"Hey, so what's up?" Lila asked.

"…So yeah, it looks like they really are lost," Darla groaned, rubbing her temples. Lila recognized that face. It was Darla's "I can't believe people can really be this stupid" face. And not the one she wore for the cameras when Lila pretended to be an idiot, no, this was 100% genuine "god someone bash my skull in with a brick" frustration.

She mentioned none of this, and just nodded and said "okay".

As the four of them headed back to Agate Village, the silence hanging over their heads was filled with awkwardness. Apparently, Dokukage was a good indicator of the taciturn nature of ninjas, Lila decided, because these two had no interest in holding a conversation. Shinobu just followed Shima like an obedient Growlithe, while Shima hummed to himself as he admired the forest.

Darla wasn't much better; she was clearly sulking about something, which meant 100% of the awkwardness was being felt by Lila.

So it was up to her to brighten the mood!

She thought about asking the two of them if they were really ninjas, but she thought that might be too intrusive. So she went over to Darla instead.

"So, do you think they're really ninjas?" She whispered to her friend. "Are ninjas even, like, really real? I know Dokukage dresses up like one, but he's not, like, really a ninja, right?"

Dokukage was pretty famous around campus, and not just because he was a member of the Eight Leaders. There were a lot of rumors that surrounded him due to the strange way that he dressed and the way he acted around others, mostly concerning the fact that he seemed like he really was a ninja, not just pretending to be one. Lila played it up for the audience whenever he had a match, of course, but she didn't really believe it.

Darla just gave her a dry look and didn't both answering her question.

"Excuse me."

Lila jumped, her eyes shooting behind her to see that the ninja girl, Shinobu, was staring at her with a scowl on her face.

"Y-Yes?" Lila whimpered.

"Our hearing is exceptional," Shinobu said, touching her finger to her earlobe. "I heard what you said just now."

Lila went pale.

"Uhum, um… th-that was… I was just saying…"

"So you think we're really ninjas?" Shinobu approached Lila, not at all amused by what the other girl said. "I see."

"That, that was just a joke!" Lila sputtered. "I'm just a jokester, you know!"

"I see." Shinobu said quietly. "Understood."

She went back to minding her own business and Lila let out a sigh of relief. That girl was scary.

Shinobu didn't like being considered a ninja. Of course, it was understandable due to the way that she'd dressed. But what was she supposed to do? They were walking through the forest, and trying to avoid being spotted; dressing up in ninja clothes was necessary for blending into the environment, it was as simple as that!

She didn't realize it, of course, but her bad habit was starting to work against her. Even though she'd left her village and didn't like being considered a ninja, her exemplary skill at meeting expectations and adapting to the wishes of others meant that, due to the presence of Lila who was at this point 100% convinced that she was a ninja, her behavior and mannerisms were subtly changing to reflect those expectations.

Shinobu didn't want to be a ninja.

But Lila and Darla thought she was a ninja.

Thus, Shinobu became a ninja, all in order to meet that expectation.

And she didn't even realize it.

At the same time, Lila was feeling a little uncomfortable. There was something about Shinobu that she couldn't quite understand, but felt familiar. It wasn't just because she looked like Dokukage, no, what she felt was more… internal.

She hung back a little and let Darla take the lead, watching Shinobu and Shima out of the corner of her eye. It may have been stupid to spy on a ninja, but then, Lila wasn't really spying, right? She was just… observing.

Yeah, that worked.

And the more she observed, the more she began to realize what exactly it was she was seeing. Whenever Shima said something, Shinobu nodded along with him. Whenever he thought that it would be nice if they could relax for a little while, Shinobu relaxed and slowed down. Or when he mentioned that it would be better if they talked while they walked, all of a sudden the taciturn Shinobu became filled with energy, and didn't let even a second go by without saying something.

It was definitely strange behavior, and would have caused a normal person to be very confused. But Lila wasn't normal; she could see exactly what Shinobu was doing.

She was acting.

Whatever Shima wanted from her, Shinobu did. It was like she was made of clay, letting her companion sculpt her however he wanted. In subtle ways, gradual ways. Lila wasn't even sure if she fully understood she was doing it.

But the fact was, Shinobu was tailoring herself to Shima's needs perfectly. Becoming exactly what he wanted her to be.

And that was something Lila knew very well.

She's like me… Lila realized. Shinobu… she's putting on a performance. A perfect one.

Just like how the audience expected Lila to be a flighty airhead with a cutesy charm to her, it seemed that Shima expected something from Shinobu. And just like Lila altered her persona to meet those expectations, Shinobu was doing the same, although Lila couldn't be sure exactly what she was trying to become.

That's so creepy, Lila thought with a shiver. It was one thing to play a role for an audience. But this felt so much more ominous somehow; was Shinobu even aware of what she was doing? She couldn't be sure.

Lila picked up the pace, catching up with Darla. She didn't want to think about those two right now. She wanted to get back to the village and never have anything to do with them ever again, because they were really, really creepy.

Luckily, Agate Village was only a few minutes away.

But there was quite a surprise waiting for them when they got back.

The entrance to the nature trail they'd walked wasn't that close to Rui's house, so the girls didn't notice anything was amiss. Naturally, they parted ways with Shima and Shinobu pretty quickly.

"Thanks for showing us the way," Shima said with a smile.

"Not a problem at all!" Lila said, giving the boy one of her brightest smiles in return. Like Shinobu, she had no trouble at all playing the role that he expected from her. Anything to get him out of here just a little faster.

Darla said nothing, staring at the two ninjas until they got the hint. The duo headed off towards the Pokemon Center, and when they were gone, Lila finally let out the sigh that she'd been holding in all this time.

"That was stressful," she groaned, turning to her partner. "I don't want to deal with any more ninjas, Darla…"

"We should head back to the house," Darla said, staring up at the sky. It was pretty high in the air. "That walk took longer than I expected."

"It's your fault for making us go on a walk in the first place," Lila mumbled under her breath, trudging after her. "We have the perfect, peaceful town right here, and you want to go on a hike? A hike with ninjas?"

Darla rolled her eyes. Like she could have predicted those two.

When they got back to Rui's house, there was a pretty big commotion. Everyone was gathered outside, and they were talking. The tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife.

"What, uh… what's going on here?" Lila asked, forcing another pleasant smile to her face. Everyone turned towards them, and a collective sigh of relief rose.

"Oh, thank goodness!" Hiromi cried, running over to the two girls. She was soaking wet, so Lila avoided her hug, and Darla dodged her on principle as well.

"No, seriously, what's going on?" Darla asked, looking around suspiciously. She realized that not everybody was here. "Wait, where's Olivia? And Alcea?"

Her question caused the tension floating around the lawn to return with a vengeance.

Hiromi sighed. "Alcea went to Relic Cave, a special place for the village. As for Olivia, well…" She glanced back at Rui's house.

"…It's complicated."

"You're kidding!" Lila's eyes were practically bulging out of her skull. She was glad that she'd brought a lawn chair to listen to Hiromia's story, because what the woman was saying just didn't make any sense at all.

"That can't be real," Darla said, shaking her head. "You're playing a prank, right? And not a very good one, either."

"It's completely real," Andrea said, nodding sharply. "Olivia was possessed by… I don't even know how to describe it. A person? A ghost? I don't know, but it's no laughing matter. She got into a battle with Alcea and nearly defeated her."

Lila's jaw dropped.

"Olivia. The Empress. Nearly beat Alcea Vermeil in a pokemon battle? No way." Lila shook her head adamantly. "That's just not possible."

"I know it might be hard to believe, but that's what happened," Callie insisted.

"Trust me, if I hadn't seen it for myself, I would have thought it was made up," Donoma said. "But there's no denying it."

"Jessie and I got here a little late, so we didn't see everything," Celia admitted. "But from what everyone was saying, and what we saw, her battling skills were really something, she was pushing Alcea to the limit, and she was acting really weird the whole time, too."

"Super weird," Jessie echoed with a nod.

"Definitely," Raizer agreed. "I have no idea how the Empress could fight that well, but it was a shocking display, I was surging with excitement!"

Darla and Lila shared a glance. Neither one could bring themselves to believe it, but at the same time, they couldn't really think of any reason why anyone here would lie to them, either.

"…So she was really possessed… but we don't know how, or by who?" Darla asked, scowling. She looked up at Ayame, who'd been rather quiet this whole time. "Ayame, what about you? Did you see what happened?"

Ayame blinked.

"Look, if you say that she was really possessed, then I'll believe you," Darla pressed. Even among the grownups, Darla put the most stock in what Ayame had to say.

Ayame nodded. "I don't know if it was possession, but something was definitely weird with Olivia," she said. "She wasn't acting like herself."

Darla narrowed her eyes. So Olivia wasn't acting like herself, huh? Interesting…

"C-Come on, guys, this is a really bad joke," Lila tried to laugh it off; or more specifically, she was desperately trying to pretend like this wasn't real. Because if someone she knew had been possessed by a ghost or a person with harmonia or whatever the fuck was going on…

Well, that wasn't a truth she was going to accept. Ever.

"I think they're telling the truth, Lila," Darla quietly crushed her dreams, causing Lila to bury her face in her hands and scream. That was the absolute LAST thing that she'd wanted to hear, damn it!

"We need to think about what to do next," Hiromi said. "We were thinking about going to the authorities and trying to find the two of you, but now that you're back, we're all here. So I'm thinking it might be good to leave Agate Village as soon as possible."

Callie flinched. "Um… a-are you sure that's such a good idea?" She asked quietly, a stab of pain hitting her chest. "I-I mean… what if the people who did that… what if they're waiting for us outside, huh? Maybe it would be better if we stayed…"

It was a pretty weak excuse, and everybody knew it. But at the same time, they could all understand where Callie was coming from.

If she traveled, there was a chance that her stitches could come undone, and there wasn't a doctor around to help. She wanted to stay here, where it was safe.

Hiromi sighed and scratched her head. "I guess… I guess we'll have to keep thinking about it, then…"

Everyone was just worried what was going to happen. But no one more so than Callie. This trip had been one nightmare after another, and it was starting to get overwhelming.

Things are getting really difficult. And meanwhile, Shinobu and Shima have come to Agate Village… what could those two want? Where will things go from here?