Here's a fast update to show you guys that I'm still keeping on track and that everything is moving forward. Last chapter wasn't just a fluke!
Jay Hayden: Well, lots of stuff can happen. Many disagreements, both parties are a little at fault. Or Dakota's fault. One of the two.
ZenoZen: I'm currently only accepting OCs for Seniors. If you submit a non-Senior, I can't say when I'll use them. It depends on what the story needs.
Superblal: Thanks, I'm trying to get back into the swing of things.
Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings
Chapter 51
One Year Ago
"Awesome! We won!" Dakota cheered, raising her hand, Akira high-fiving her. The two were standing on an arena in the center of a large stadium.
"And the winners of this year's Winter Festival Tag Tournament are Dakota Evans and Akira Saroyan!" Darla announced.
"What a spectacular display of teamwork! I'm so envious, Darla!" Lila cheered.
"Now, to greet my adoring public!" Dakota boasted, separating from Akira, a bright smile on her face. "Sorry, Akira, I gotta go and interview myself. With this huge scoop, I'll be able to cement my name in the Pokemon Newspaper Club! Another huge story like this, and I might even be the president next year!"
"…Sure, good luck," Akira said, chuckling. "Oh, hey, wait, can we meet up later tonight?"
Dakota turned back and nodded, giving him a thumbs up. "Sure! Let's get dinner, sound good?" Akira nodding in response, Dakota humming and turning back to leave the stadium.
That night, at dinner, Dakota was as full of energy as ever, she and Akira sitting out on the balcony of the Snorlax Commons.
"So, get this! I sent in my personal recounting to the president, right? And he said that he's gonna run it! It might even make the front page!"
"Really? That's awesome!" Akira said, smiling.
"I know, right? Still, though, it's not enough," Dakota said, shaking her head, sighing, the energy seeming to deflate from her body. "Here, there are tournaments every day. If I could get something major, you know? A real, juicy story to sell a ton of copies? That would be amazing!" She sighed again, looking wistfully out over the balcony.
"If only there was some love scandal or something tawdry like that… it'd be perfect…"
Akira swallowed and glanced away, his cheeks flushing.
"Hey, so what'd you want to talk to me about?" Dakota asked, turning to look at him. Akira gulped, looking over his shoulder to see if anyone was in hearing distance.
"So, um… we've been hanging out for a while, yeah?" Akira asked.
"Well, 'course, right?" Dakota grinned, playfully punching him in the shoulder. "That's 'cause you're such a fun guy to hang around."
She tented her fingers, looking at her lap.
"Actually, I really appreciate hanging out with you, Akira." Dakota said, smiling.
"Really?" Akira asked, his face brightening.
"Yeah, I mean, as I'm sure you noticed, I'm not exactly the easiest person to get along with," Dakota sighed. "I'm weird, you know? And I spend all my time gushing over the weirdest things… and chasing after hot scoops, reading tabloids, interviewing people, hiding in the bushes outside of people's windows, you know, reporter stuff."
"Wait, what was that last one?"
"Interviewing people?"
"Um, I guess."
"Yeah, so since I was a kid, a lot of people thought I was weird. All my friends wanted to be pokemon masters, or top coordinators, or professors, but I never really had anything like that, you know? I don't have any goals, not in the long-term. But getting to hear people talk about their dreams… seeing them light up in excitement, and their drive to succeed… they're the things that make me smile. But when you tell your friends that, you just seem like an aimless weirdo, you know? So… I really appreciate the fact that you're my friend, Akira."
"Really?" Akira asked, surprised. "I mean, I know you've always been supporting me, and all… but I didn't realize you felt that way. You always act like nothing bothers you."
"Oh, but don't think I'm still like that, or anything!" Dakota said, waving her hands. "I've got dreams now, big ones! Have you ever heard about the legendary pokemon, Mew?"
"Of course," Akira said, nodding.
"Well, someday I'm going to find it," Dakota said, smiling. "And when I do, I'm going to write this amazing article that everyone will read, and prove that it really exists! So when I do, you better buy a copy, you got it?"
"Sure, sure," Akira said, the two sharing a laugh.
"Oh, sorry!" Dakota said, putting her hands over her mouth in surprise. "I totally interrupted you and dragged the conversation in a different direction! What were you saying?"
"Well, it's just… I…" Akira gulped, his face turning red as he looked into Dakota's expectant eyes. "I think I… no, not think, it's just… I, I like you, okay?"
Dakota blinked, smiling.
"Well, duh!" She giggled. "I like you too, obviously! Didn't you just hear my whole speech, dummy?"
"No, I mean, not like that," Akira stumbled, shaking his head. "I don't mean 'like friends' like, I mean, like, as in 'I want to go out with you' kind of like!"
Dakota's eyes widened and her mouth dropped open in astonishment, staring at Akira.
"Wait, wait, wait," Dakota said, shaking her head and holding her hand up as though she could block him out of her sight while she processed what he was saying. "What do you mean 'I want to go out with you' kind of like?! That's… that's just… I mean…"
Dakota kept stuttering, her face growing redder and redder, until her eyes widened in realization.
"Oh, wait, I get it. Very funny, Akira. I'm not going to fall for a joke like that." Dakota said, laughing.
"I'm not joking, Dakota!" Akira said, shaking his head. "I'm serious!"
"S-seriously?" Dakota stuttered, her face flushing again. "Um… I… d-do you need an answer right now?"
"Of course not!" Akira said, relaxing.
"O-okay, then!" Dakota said, jerking up onto her feet and picking up her tray, unable to meet his eyes. "Tomorrow night! I'll give you my answer tomorrow night! 11'o-clock, at the Blastoise Fountain! O-okay? You promise you'll be there?!"
"Yeah, of course!" Akira said, nodding eagerly. Dakota rushed back inside, holding a hand over her chest, smiling warmly.
The next day, Akira woke up to an unsavory surprise.
"Hey, way to go, stud," Eli said, walking behind him on his way to class, slapping him on the shoulder. Akira looked back at her in confusion.
"What do you mean?"
"Oh, don't be so modest," Eli chuckled. "Everyone's heard about it by now!"
Akira looked at her in confusion, Eli's expression turning to look equally confused as she realized he didn't know what she was talking about.
"What are you talking about?" Akira asked.
"Haven't you read this morning's paper?" Eli asked.
"Oh, you mean about the tag tournament?"
"Oh! Yeah, that too. No, I meant this." Eli reached into her bag, and pulled out the folded paper, handing it to Akira, who read the headline on the front page, his face turning pale and his heart sinking.
Shocking Discovery! Akira Saroyan's Confession to his Tag Teammate! Reporter Dakota Evans Reveals All!
"Ouch, that's harsh," Eli sighed. "If she was going to let you down, she didn't have to do it like that."
Present Day
"How could you do something like that?!" Akira exclaimed. "Do you have any idea how embarrassing that was?! How heart-crushing it was, to read about my rejected love confession in the morning paper?!"
"Heart-crushing?! Like you're one to talk!" Dakota shouted back. "You knew how much that meant to me! To get a story like that, of course I would have written about it! But I didn't think you'd be so cruel that you'd lie to me about something so important!"
"What the hell are you even talking about?!"
"Oh my god…" Eli sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Are those two still not over that whole thing?"
"Well, it's Akira's fault, anyway," Serefina huffed. "I can't believe he'd do something so cruel."
"Wait, what?" Eli asked, turning to her friend. "Dakota was the cruel one! She spread his entire confession out over the paper!"
"I mean, yeah, that wasn't the best move, but it didn't mean Akira had to treat her like that!"
"I thought you really cared about me…" Dakota sniffed, wiping her eyes, "but it was all a lie, wasn't it?! You were never serious in the first place, were you?!"
"Oh man, this is ridiculous…" Lila sighed.
"Keep battling, you two!" Darla exclaimed.
"Of course I was serious!" Akira said. "And you manipulated my feelings to sell papers! This is why you don't have any friends, because you'd stab them in the back if it made for a good story!"
"Shut up! You don't have any right to say anything!" Dakota exclaimed. "You had your chance, but you never showed up! I don't want to hear anything from you anymore!"
"…What?" Akira asked, confused. Then, his eyes widened. "Wait, you mean you were actually…"
"I waited!" Dakota cried. "From 11'o-clock until 3 in the morning I waited to give you my answer, but you never showed up!"
"Of course I didn't show up!" Akira exclaimed. "You already gave me your answer, remember? You wrote it out for everyone to see!"
"…Huh?" Dakota said, tilting her head to the side. "You mean the article? That was just reporting! What did you expect? You were a hot commodity! The amount of copies we sold, when it came out that you had a crush, and that you asked me out? It sold like hot-cakes!"
"Wait, so Dakota humiliated him by printing his confession in the newspaper and didn't realize that was like rejecting his love confession?" Eli sighed, pressing face into the palm of her hand.
"Ahem. SO, in summary…" Lila interrupted their shouting match.
"You two are both idiots!" Darla exclaimed, interrupting Lila. "Get on with the fight!"
"Argh, I don't care anymore!" Dakota exclaimed, glaring at Akira. "It's not like we can just go back to before! Besides, I don't even have one iota of feelings for you anymore, anyway!"
"Now that I know what a callous, petty bitch you are, there's no way I'd still have feelings for you either!" Akira shouted back.
"Chatter! Go!" Dakota shouted, tossing out a pokeball, which her Chatot emerged from.
"Chatter! Use hyper voice to take out that stupid Akira!" She ordered.
"Stupid Akira!" Chatter repeated, opening his beak, amplifying the words to deafening levels, the stadium clenching their ears.
"Figures you'd be using Chatter to hurl insults at me," Akira growled. "Nami! Use hydro pump!"
Nami opened her mouth, shooting a high-powered blast of water at Chatter.
"Not fast enough," Dakota chuckled, Chatter easily dodging the powerful water attack. "Okay, Chatter! Use boomburst!"
"Akira is a virgin!" Chatter exclaimed, sending a sonic shockwave out across the battlefield, Akira's face turning bright red. The sonic attack slammed into Nami, who winced in pain, falling to the ground.
"This is…" Darla said, looking uneasy.
"…Pretty embarrassing." Lila concluded.
"Nami, use-" Akira opened his mouth to give Nami her next orders, but he realized he couldn't hear his voice. Chatter's sound blasts were drowning out the sound of his voice this close to the Chatot.
Nami glanced back at Akira in confusion, Akira shouting at her, but it was all drowned out by the sounds.
Nami is one of Akira's most loyal pokemon, Dakota thought, smiling. No way she would attack without his orders. And now that she can't hear him…
Dakota gestured with her hand and Chatter nodded, flying toward Nami, raising his wing.
"Nami, dodged!" Akira desperately shouted, but Nami couldn't hear. She wasn't foolish, however, and jumped out of the way, but Chatter shot past, releasing another sonic shockwave up close to Nami's fin ear, Nami crying out in pain. Chatter landed atop Nami and opened her beak, using one final boomburst attack. Nami yowled, falling to the ground, her brain stunned, making her unable to stand up as she lost consciousness.
Chatter flew back to Dakota, the sound dying down, the stadium removing their hands from their ears.
"Darn it, my head is ringing," Darla growled, holding her head.
"Darla, my ears hurt…" Lila cried.
A few seconds later, after Akira returned Nami to her pokeball, Darla's hearing had returned enough to return to announcing.
"Okay, so with Nami's defeat, they're both down to two pokemon each. What's Akira got left up his sleeve? Can he turn things around?"
"Hopefully so, for my eardrums' sake," Lila whimpered.
Kumari isn't in any shape to keep going. I could use Maggy, but she's probably expecting that. So my last option is… Akira reached into his pocket, throwing out a pokeball. "Lilia, go!"
From the pokeball, a large green plant-like pokemon emerged, pink protrusions flowering from around her large green head.
"A Cradily?" Darla exclaimed.
"That pokemon is incredibly rare!" Lila gasped. "Where did he get something like that?"
"No idea, I heard that they'd all gone extinct," Darla said, frowning.
"I just recently restored her," Akira explained. "You don't know this one as well as my others, do you?"
He got Lilia after our falling-out, so I haven't had a lot of experience in her battles, Dakota silently agreed. I knew she'd be trouble, but nothing we can't handle. If we can beat that Cradily, then Bolt can take down Maggy, and Kumari can't even really keep fighting, anyway. I can do this. I can win!
"Chatter, use boomburst again!" Dakota ordered.
"Lilia, fight how you want!" Akira exclaimed. "You don't need to listen to my orders, got it?"
"Cra!" Lilia nodded, glancing back at him. A shockwave of sonic energy echoed across the battlefield, Lilia wincing in pain as the soundwaves struck her. In response, the grass type tilted her head back, glowing rocks of energy appearing around her, Lilia flinging them at Chatter with the force of her mind.
As expected, he's letting Lilia fight on her own, without any assistance. But that's fine. Akira's battle experience is risky, but without it, this should be an even matchup. Dakota smiled. Chatter easily evaded the glowing rocks, flying up close toward Lilia.
"Now, use another boomburst!" Dakota shouted.
"Lilia, smack down!" Akira ordered.
"What?!" Dakota exclaimed. Lilia raised her head back and slammed it down into Chatter, slamming him into the ground.
"Next, use ancientpower!" More glowing stones appeared around Lilia, slamming down onto Chatter, the bird pokemon letting out a squawk of pain as it lost consciousness.
"But… but you said…" Dakota stumbled over her words, shocked.
"Dakota, did you think you were the only one who was prepared for this match?"
"Huh?" Dakota asked, confused.
"I know how Chatter fights, remember?" Akira said, smiling. "So I told my pokemon that, if they ever fought against your Chatot, and I told them to ignore my orders, they were to fight on their own but immediately follow any attack commands I give. Just so I could catch you off guard."
"Unbelievable!" Dakota exclaimed, frustrated beyond belief, returning Chatter to his pokeball. That guy… he let Nami faint to sucker me out? Me? I can't believe he out-prepared me… I was expecting to have Chatter make it to his last pokemon… Now that it's come to this, I don't know… Bolt… will Bolt be…
"Looks like that's it for Dakota then," Serefina sighed.
"We won't give up just yet!" Dakota cried. "Bolt! Do your best!"
Bolt emerged from his pokeball with a thunderclap, electricity running over his fur.
"Okay, Bolt! This will be it!" Dakota said, Bolt nodding in agreement. "Now, take him down!"
"Lilia, use ancientpower again," Akira ordered, stones of energy floating up into the air and circling around Lilia's body. The fossil pokemon flung the stones at Bolt, who ran forward, dodging them with his fast movements.
A message pinged on Alcea's phone, and she glanced down at it, her eyes widening.
"Excuse me," Alcea said, rising to her feet, looking at her fellow leaders, "but something has come up. I need to take my leave for a moment."
She turned and walked out of the viewing box, down into the coliseum itself, walking through the hallways until she arrived at the location mentioned in the meetup, outside of one of the entrances out into the stadium.
"Hey there, Lady Alcea," Kanone said, waving to her, Alcea's cheeks flushing. She reached up and absentmindedly twirled a lock of red hair, smiling.
"Oh, um, lady is nice, but I…" She coughed into her hand and regained her dignified air, smiling at Kanone. "Anyways, there was something you wanted to say to me, is it?"
"Exactly," Kanone said, nodding. "But before I do, I had something I wanted to follow up with you on. What you learned about Harmonia, you learned it from that guy earlier, isn't that right? The one who fought against Blake?"
"Oui," Alcea said, nodding. "He was the one who first informed me, and then your brother told me the rest. Or, well, not your brother, I mean-"
Kanone dismissed her rambling with a wave of his hand, shrugging, before changing the topic.
"Then let me ask you, you haven't heard about it from anyone else, then?"
Alcea paused for a moment, Gerard and Elaina flashing into her mind, before biting her lip. Part of her duty was to protect the students, even ones she disagreed with. It was her responsibility as one of the Eight Leaders. But at the same time, she didn't want to lie to Kanone, her idol.
"I can't answer that question," Alcea finally answered. Kanone narrowed his eyes at this, the smile fading from his face.
"Not answering my question is a definite answer," Kanone said calmly, Alcea's guilty expression speaking for itself. "But that's fine. I understand that people have secrets they need to keep. That's why I only have one other thing to ask you."
"If I can answer, I would like to," Alcea said. "As long as it doesn't have anything to do with the students at this school."
"It shouldn't," Kanone reassured her. He reached into his pocket, and withdrew two photos. "But please, tell me if you've ever met either of these people."
Alcea looked at the first photograph, a picture of young girl Alcea had never seen depicted on it. She glanced at the other, which depicted a man, several years older than her. She shook her head. She had never seen either of them before.
"I see," Kanone said, nodding. His face didn't let on to Alcea whether or not he was disappointed in her answer, but she hoped that she hadn't let him down.
"Then may I ask… the reason you called me here, is it?" Alcea asked.
"It's probably nothing," Kanone said, shrugging, "but I thought I should warn you."
"Warn me?" Alcea asked, her eyes widening.
"I have it on good authority that this little tournament of yours might not be such an innocent school event."
"What do you mean by that?" Alcea asked, narrowing her eyes.
"One of the people out there… isn't who they appear to be," Kanone said, frowning. "In fact, she isn't even a student here. You have an imposter among your competitors."
Alcea's eyes widened in shock, the image of Elaina's mask flashing into her mind. No… it couldn't be.
"That's all I wanted to tell you," Kanone said, turning away from her. "Good luck with everything, yeah?"
"Wait, Kanone!" Alcea called after him. "The impostor, is it-"
"I'm not sure which of them it is," Kanone sharply interrupted, glancing back at her. "And like I said, it probably isn't that big of an issue. I just thought you might want to know."
Without another word, he left Alcea alone in the hallway with her racing thoughts. She turned and began her walk back to the viewing box, her brow furrowing in worry. Gerard… what the hell are you planning with that girl?!
So, it seems there's an impostor among the competitors! But who could it be? And what could they want? Who's to say? Let's find out!