Oh, gosh, all these updates, it's so much! I can't help it, I'm super-engaged right now!
Jay Hayden: What would she be jealous of, though?
Wildlian: Huh, I wonder why...
Darkhammer: He certainly does seem that way.
Duskzilla: And I don't plan to stop any time soon.
Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings
Chapter 39
As Blake and Sango made their way back towards the dorm, Blake caught sight of a certain familiar person. It was Kate, hiding behind a tree, peeking out from behind it to stare at the door to the dorm building, almost like she was waiting for something, or someone. Because the two were coming from the opposite direction, she didn't notice them, letting them walk right up behind her.
"Kate, what are you doing back here?" Blake asked. She let out a shriek and turned around, her face bright red.
"Blake! Wh-what are you doing, sneaking around like that?!" Kate demanded angrily.
"Like you're one to talk," Blake snapped, you're the one who's sneaking around our dorm building even though sophomores live on the other side of campus!"
"I wasn't 'sneaking' I was waiting!"
"Oh, that's so much better."
"Guys, guys, break it up," Sango said, stepping between the two of them. "Now then, Kate, what are you doing here?"
Kate turned and glared at Sango, who narrowed her eyes in indignation. Kate shook her head, turning back to Blake, not giving Sango a second thought. She then looked down in embarrassment, holding out an envelope.
"Um, here…" she said, looking away as Blake took the letter. The minute it left her hand, she turned and ran from the two of them. She suddenly stopped, turned, and ran back.
"A-and you better show up, got it?!" She exclaimed, her face bright red. She ran away a second time.
"…Something very familiar about all this…" Blake sighed.
"So you aren't going to read it?"
"No, I'm not," Blake said, shaking his head.
"What if it's actually a love letter this time?"
"Oh, stop it," Blake sighed. "It's probably from Alcea, and I don't want to bother with her right now."
"Um, Blake…" Sango said, poking him on the shoulder. He looked at her and she raised her finger, pointing several yards down the field. Blake turned his head to where she was pointing, seeing Kate peeking out from behind a tree, glaring at the two of them. She quickly ducked back behind the tree.
"I get it, I'm reading it!" Blake exclaimed. He opened the letter.
"'Blake Harker, you are cordially invited to attend the tea party of Alcea Vermeil at 10:00 this morning in the Roselia Gardens. Festivities shall last until 12:00 this afternoon when the tournament shall resume. Your presence would be greatly appreciated. Attendance is invitation only, so you may bring no one else. Cordialement, Alcea Vermeil'."
"So, a tea party, huh?" Sango said. "Invite only… I guess that means I can't come?"
"10:00… that's in less than half an hour," Blake said. "I guess if I don't go then Kate will keep bugging us, huh?"
"Well, I guess this is where we separate," Sango said, waving to Blake. She turned and headed into the dormitory building, Blake walked back towards the central part of campus, heading for the Roselia Gardens.
"…Well, this is nice," Blake said. Even though he was smiling, he was feeling rather awkward. He, Kate, and Alcea were seated around a table in one of the gardens' gazebos. There was tea and cakes in the center, Alcea calmly sipping from her cup as though this was a normal day. Kate's tea was untouched, and she looked anxious and even slightly embarrassed.
"Is this everyone?" Blake asked, looking around the garden. "Where are your other club members?"
"They will not be joining us," Alcea commented. "We're only waiting for one more guest before we officially start."
"Okay then," Blake said, shrugging.
"In the meantime, there is some other business to deal with," Alcea said. She sat in silence.
"…Okay? What other business?" Blake asked. He looked at Alcea, who in turn looked at Kate. Kate was looking quite intently at her lap, her face bright red.
"Kate?" Alcea asked.
"Um, Blake, I… I asked her highness… if we could, um, you know, invite you here…" Kate stammered, not meeting Blake's eyes.
"Okay, why?" Blake asked.
"I… I…" She took a deep breath, looking up into Blake's eyes. "Next year, I'm going to be interning for a gym leader in the Kanto region. A poison type gym leader." She let out a breath, relaxing.
"Oh?" Blake asked.
"Yes…" Kate said, nodding. "I… I love poison type pokemon. But if it wasn't for you… I would have continued to deny my real self…"
A smile crept across her face as she looked at Alcea, who smiled encouragingly.
"But I don't want to keep denying myself anymore. I love poison types. And someday, I'm going to become a master of poison type pokemon. Thanks to all that… I can finally be at milady's side not as a just a follower, but as a friend. And… it's all thanks to you. So I wanted… to make it up to you in some way, you know? I know that saying thank you isn't enough, but I…"
"No, no, it's fine, honestly," Blake said, waving his hands defensively. "Look, it wasn't like I was trying to help you, really, you don't need to thank me."
"I… I was so mean to you though!" Kate said, shaking her head. "I've said so many awful things to you! I… I'm so sorry, okay?"
"I said it's fine," Blake said. "Really."
"Oh, good," Kate said, sighing in relief. "I'm glad we can start over, Blake, really."
"Yeah, same here," Blake said, nodding. "So, if that was all you guys wanted from me, I can go?"
"Please," Kate snorted, "like we really would have wasted the time to invite you here just to thank you?"
Well that lasted all of two seconds…
"There is other business to consider," Alcea said, placing her cup down and turning to Blake. "And now that our last guest is here, we can begin."
"Last guest?" Blake asked.
"Well now, what do we have here? A little tea party, huh?" Kanone walked up to the gazebo, holding a large box in his hands.
"Kanone Harker," Alcea said, smiling warmly up at him. "It's been some time. It's nice to see you again."
"I didn't know what was customary for tea parties, so I brought some souvenirs from the Alola region!" Kanone set the box down next to the tea cakes and sat down between Kate and Alcea. Alcea poured him a cup of tea and passed it to him, Kanone sipping it and smiling.
"Delicious, just delicious," Kanone said. "I must say, Alcea, you've grown up quite well. Last time I saw you, you were just a twig of a girl, and now, well, just look at you!"
"Oh, do you really think so?" Alcea asked, tucking some of her red hair behind her ear, blushing proudly. "Thank you, Kanone."
"And who are you?" Kanone asked, turning to Kate.
"Kate Nomia," Kate answered.
"I see, nice to meet you, Miss Kate," Kanone said, giving her a smile. Kate didn't return it.
"I think that's enough of the pleasantries, don't you, milady?" Kate asked.
"Indeed," Alcea said, nodding. "Shall we get to the matter at hand?"
"Oh?" Kanone asked, turning to Alcea. "And what matter is that?"
"Harmonia, is it?"
Blake's eyes widened and he shot a glance at Kanone, whose expression remained unchanged from its lazy smile.
"Oh? And what's that?" Kanone asked.
"Milady? What are you talking about?" Kate asked.
"I want you to tell me what you know about it," Alcea said, frowning. "That's why you're here."
"Kanone," Blake said, frowning. "Maybe we should tell her."
"Tell her what?" Kate asked. "Blake, what are you guys talking about? What is this Harmonia thing? Milady?"
"I understand that this wouldn't be something you'd like discussing with strangers," Alcea said, frowning, "but there are extraneous circumstances."
"Oh? And what circumstances are those?" Kanone asked.
"There is a young freshman here who has displayed… symptoms of Harmonia, is it? She is a threat to our student body. If we aren't able to curb her abilities, then I may be forced to call this tournament to a halt."
"Interesting, so this 'Harmonia' power you're talking about, you say you've seen it displayed in a young girl at this school?" Kanone pondered. "Then you should already know all about it, right? Why would you need to question someone like me, who has no idea whatsoever about any 'ability' like that?"
Alcea glowered at him, but remained silent.
"So instead, I wonder, who exactly has been whispering in that pretty little ear of yours?" Kanone asked. His expression turned serious, and for the first time a smile dropped from his face. "Harmonia is not something just anyone would know about. So who has told you about it, if I may ask? And why did they not tell you everything? Instead, they make you confront me. Again, I wonder… why? Could it be that they're interested… in drawing my attention?"
Kanone leaned back in his seat and stretched his arms, bringing them behind him as he nestled the back of his head in his hands. His smile returned with a conspiratorial glimmer.
"And not only that, I wonder if this person might also be the one responsible for my invitation to this lovely little island of yours," he continued. "It's just a little theory of mine, you see, that this is the machination of someone much more in the know than you are. Isn't that right… Miss Kate?"
Kate stared blankly at him, dumbfounded, Alcea and Blake looking at her in confusion.
"Just kidding," Kanone chuckled. "No, but it has piqued my interest. So, tell me Alcea… who could it be that's been pulling your strings?"
Alcea raised her cup to her lips and drained it of the last bit of tea, laying it down to rest, before raising her head to look Kanone in the eye.
"It seems we both have information that the other would find beneficial," she stated. "The course seems fairly clear to me."
"So you're proposing a trade?" Kanone asked, raising his eyebrow.
"You tell me what I want to know about Harmonia, how it works, how to fight it-"
"How to obtain it for yourself?" Kanone interrupted, Blake giving him another worried look. Alcea narrowed her eyes and continued.
"And in exchange, I tell you the name of the person who told me about it in the first place." She finished, "I'd like us to work on this together as a team, Kanone, so that we can help this girl. A fair deal, is it?"
"…No!" Kanone said after a pause, shaking his head. "No! You see, that just won't work for me. I am curious, yes, but you've already given me everything I need."
"What?" Alcea asked, her eyes widening in shock.
"You just confirmed what I already suspected," Kanone explained. "You just said someone told you about it. Which means you didn't know for yourself until they told you. That means this person, whoever it is, is still on this island. And if they are, then I'll find them, without your help, understand? I don't need you to tell me anything."
Alcea's face flushed with rage and she stood up from the table, glaring down at Kanone. Blake looked at her in surprise, he'd never seen the normally composed Alcea angry. A glance at Kate told him that she'd never seen her like this either.
"I can't believe you-"
"Now, now, let me finish," Kanone said, staring up at her. "I won't trade you the information. But I can give you something even better."
"And what would that be?" She demanded.
"Fight me."
The anger drained from her face and was replaced with surprise, Alcea's mouth falling open.
"Honestly, I have no real interest in hiding anything from you, not if you already know so much. But we're pokemon trainers, my dear Alcea. And pokemon trainers solve things with battles." Kanone explained. "Besides, that's the truth, isn't it? What you really want from me… isn't it that long-awaited rematch that I promised you, all those years ago?"
"…If I win, you'll tell me what I want to know, is it?" Alcea calmly asked.
"I'll do you one better," Kanone promised. "I'll show you."
"Then it looks like we have a match!" Alcea declared.
"Milady, are you sure this is a good idea?" Kate asked.
"This is what she wants, Miss Kate," Kanone said, standing up to match Alcea. "It's for the best, trust me."
The two exited the gazebo, standing across from each other on one of the garden's battlefields.
"Let's make this quick, shall we?" Kanone asked. "We do have to be at the stadium in about an hour and a half."
"That should be plenty of time," Alcea said. "Rosetta, bloom!" Alcea threw out a pokeball, and in a tornado of blue and red petals a Roserade emerged, taking a bow.
"We begin then, Queen of Roses," Kanone said, smiling. "Elle, let's go."
With a flash of lightning, a Jolteon emerged from a pokeball thrown from Kanone, snarling at the Roserade. The electric pokemon's quills stood on end, crackling with electricity, and she charged at the grass pokemon.
"Thunderbolt," Kanone ordered. Elle's body began glowing with light and opened her mouth, lightning shooting out from her body and striking Rosetta, electrocuting her.
"Quite a powerful attack. She's as fast as I remember," Alcea said, frowning. "But we expected that! Rosetta, trip her up with poison spikes!"
Just as Kate's Roselia had done in her match with Blake, Alcea's Roserade held up the bouquet of flowers that made up her right hand and spun in a circle, launching caltrops loaded with poison into the air, the spikes landing on the ground all around the pokemon.
"Excellent work," Kanone said, smiling. "Elle will have a hard time maneuvering in this battlefield. And any pokemon I send out will get poisoned as well… We can't have that, can we? Elle? What do you think? Think you can keep going?"
"Jolteon!" Elle called back, nodding.
"Oh, well if you insist, we'll do that one, then," Kanone said, shrugging his shoulders. "Go for it."
"Jolt!" Elle turned back to Rosetta and leapt into the air, darting among the caltrops with small, precise movements. The electric pokemon's skillful evasion came much to Alcea's frustration, but she didn't let herself get distracted.
"If she won't stay in one place, then attack the battlefield," Alcea ordered. "Petal blizzard."
Rosetta held her hands out, a tornado of petals swirling around her. With a flick of her wrist the barrage of petals shot towards Elle, spreading out in all directions.
Kanone nodded and Elle picked up speed with agility, skillfully evading the waves of petals as they crashed down around her. She dodged each of them within a hairs' breadth, managing to slip through Rosetta's skill grasp.
"Jolt!" Elle growled, her ruff of spiky fur sharpening and sticking out. She fired a barrage of pin missiles at Rosetta, piercing through the pink wall in front of her, carving through it like water as the perforated flower petals crumbled to the ground. Rosetta held her hands up and the petals retreated to form a barrier blocking the attack, preventing the damage.
Elle landed on the ground, her paws placed around the poison spikes, and electricity began coursing through her fur again.
"Time for a change of tactics, Rosetta. Use sunny day," Alcea ordered. Rosetta's hand began glowing with energy and she pointed it toward the sky, the sunlight growing strong and bright, making it difficult for Kate and Blake, who were observing the battle, to really make out what was happening.
"It seems the time has come, Elle, don't you think? Let's change it up as well, shall we?" Kanone asked.
"Jolteon," Elle said, nodding agreement. She disappeared in a flash of light, leaving a trail of sparks in her wake.
"You won't escape," Alcea said. "Rosetta, use magical leaf!" Rosetta fired a barrage of shimmering leaves, which changed directions and moved right toward the image of Elle that had appeared. Right before they struck, however, they scattered away and reformed into another surge of leaves flying in the opposite direction. As Elle reappeared the leaves were quick to follow, chasing her across the battlefield. Elle leapt from the ground and lunged at Rosetta in midair, the leaves leaping off of the ground to chase after her, wrapping around the quick pokemon in a rainbow curtain.
Now then, where are you going to go this time? Alcea asked, looking at the battlefield for where Elle would reappear. She noticed a second too late that, rather than the leaves repositioning themselves and chasing after Elle again, they remained hovering in the air around where the electric pokemon had been. Or, rather, where she still was.
Elle emerged from the sphere of leaves with a blast, her body covered in deep cuts, but glowing with electricity, appearing right in front of Rosetta.
"Volt switch," Kanone ordered. Lightning shot from Elle's body and struck the rose pokemon with a high powered blast, Rosetta crying out in pain and falling to her knees. Still covered in electricity, Elle shot back to Kanone, disappearing into his open pokeball.
"That was quite a first exchange," Kate said, smiling. "Even though Rosetta took some damage, she managed to score a good hit on that Jolteon."
"Maybe so," Blake said, frowning, "but if I know my brother he was using Elle to test the waters. He's about ready to get serious."
"Huh? Serious?" Kate asked.
"Just watch," Blake said.
"Now then!" Kanone said, smiling. "That was pretty good. You've certainly gotten stronger since our last battle. But now it's time to get serious."
He put Elle's ball back on his belt, and took out another one.
"Now then… you wanted me to tell you didn't you?" Kanone asked, his eyes shimmering with a silvery light. "Instead, I think I'll show it to you firsthand… my Harmonia."
So, it seems we'll finally be getting our first real look at Kanone getting serious in a fight! This should be good!