Everyone is doing the best they can to recover from what happened after the mess in Agate Village. But not everything is back to normal. It turns out that Ayame can't remember who Blake is! What could that mean?! Will she be alright? Is there any hope that she can recover her memories? What will Blake's reaction to this be, when he learns that his girlfriend has forgotten him completely?
Jjjdunk1: Yup, Blake's probably not going to take it well. Dude's already lost so much already, losing Ayame is going to crush him.
Just a Bad Writer for Fun: Ian's definitely in danger. But Ayame is the biggest tragedy out of everyone here I think.
KedharS: To be Blake is to suffer. Especially when it involves women, and double especially when it involves his sister. Add in another sister, and that's like double the double.
Hyphenman: Yeah, this is really bad and painful for their relationship. Hopefully things will get better, but I sorta doubt it'll be that easy.
Tambry96bj: Kiana and Lana have some pretty bad luck. I guess it's hereditary.
Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings
Chapter 1244
"So you really don't remember Blake at all?" Olivia asked suspiciously.
"Nope. Never heard of him before," Ayame said firmly, shaking her head.
It had been a few days since Ayame had woken up. She was practically fully recovered at this point, and was ready to be released into her mother's custody. Hiromi called Olivia when her daughter started talking crazy, and Olivia had used some of her own money to fly herself down to Phenac City to check in on her best friend.
What she found when she got there was surprising.
"The doctors are completely baffled," Hiromi said, her eyes turning downcast. She was sitting next to her daughter's bed. "As fall as they can tell, her brain is totally fine. She hasn't lost any other memories, either. She still remembers coming on the trip, she remembers the other friends she made at school this last year, heck, she remembers last winter when she came down to visit- but she can't remember Blake being there at all."
"Because he wasn't," Ayame said firmly, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "I would have remembered. It was just me."
Hiromi wasn't amused. "…Okay, fine. Then tell me, when you were camping outside that one night, you remember doing it by yourself?"
Ayame nodded.
"NO ONE was sleeping in the bag next to you?"
Ayame squinted, trying to remember that night. She remembered curling up in the sleeping back, with the wrap over her head so she could see the sky without being buried in falling snow. It was so warm and gentle. She remembered… she remembered…
Her head started to hurt. There was something blurring in her memory, but it was distorted, like watching something fuzzy on television. No matter how hard she focused, she just couldn't bring it into clarity.
"I-I don't… I don't remember anyone," she admitted, glancing down. All she could remember was the warmth in her chest.
Olivia groaned, slapping her forehead. "Okay Aya, let's make this simple. Who was the first person you had sex with?"
Hiromi coughed in shock. "Wh-What?! My-My daughter has NOT had sex!" She exclaimed.
"That-That's right!" Ayame exclaimed, her face turning red in shock. "I… I haven't…"
Images flashed in her mind. Ayame on her bed. Taking off her clothes, feeling excited, embarrassed, and full of love all at the same time. She could feel her body moving back, lying down, opening her heart up to… to…
"I didn't happen!" Ayame exclaimed, banishing those bizarre memories that couldn't belong to her. She… she could never do those things! Especially not with a boy she didn't even know!
So why did all that feel familiar?
Olivia sighed and buried her face in her hands. She resisted the urge to scream with frustration, why was this so difficult?
"Aya," Olivia said, placing her hand on her shoulder. "Look, I get it. I think I know what's going on, okay?"
"What?" Ayame asked.
"What do you remember about Samarra possessing you?" Olivia asked. "Do you remember anything at all?"
Ayame shook her head. "The last thing I remember… I found you in the forest, after you ran away from everyone. Everything after that… no, nothing, not until I woke up in here."
"Well, it turns out you and I were both possessed by a woman named Samarra Harker," Olivia began to explain. "We-"
"Harker? You mean like Kanone Harker?" Ayame asked, raising her eyebrow.
"…You remember Kanone Harker," Olivia said bluntly. It was shocking. She couldn't remember Blake, but she remembered Kanone?
…Whatever, not important.
She pushed on anyway. "So Samarra possessed us, and-"
"I know, my mom… she told me," Ayame said, glancing at Hiromi. "What does that have to do with this Blake person?"
"Well, you struggled to free yourself," Olivia explained. "That's the reason you passed out in the first place. And I think whatever happened… it made you forget about Blake. Does that make sense to you?" She asked.
Ayame sighed. It… it did make sense. "Okay, look. For sake of argument, let's say I believe you. I had a boyfriend-"
"Have a boyfriend," Olivia corrected.
"Fine. Whatever. I have a boyfriend. But I don't remember him at all! How the fuck am I supposed to feel about this, huh?" She asked, irritated.
"I don't know," Olivia admitted. "This is uncharted territory for me, too. But I just want you to know I'm here for you," she said, hugging Ayame as best as she could given the awkwardness of her friend sitting on her cot.
Ayame smiled. Her head might have been a jumble of confusing memories with some pieces missing, but she was glad her best friend was here for her.
"One last thing," Olivia said, pulling back from Ayame and taking out her phone. "Tell me what you think of this photo?"
She scrolled through her photo collection and found a picture she'd taken from Ayame's birthday party. It was a shot of her and Blake leaning against each other with big smiles on her faces. She showed it to Ayame, who took the phone.
"It's me… and a guy?" Ayame asked, shocked. That didn't seem like her. She kept guys at arms' length at best. She certainly didn't recognize him! Except…
While she stared at the picture, the memories in her head began to shift. An image flashed into her skull. This same picture, except from her point of view, staring at Olivia, feeling a smile on her face… and the arm around her waist, it was…
As soon as the image appeared, it vanished, like a slide changing on a projected report. It was gone again, but the feeling… that warmth remained lodged in her chest.
Who was that? She struggled to remember the smiling face looking back at her as she turned her head towards her companion. But no matter how hard she concentrated it just couldn't seem to crystallize for her.
"That 'guy' happens to be your boyfriend," Olivia informed her. "That's Blake right there. He doesn't look familiar to you?"
Ayame stared at the photo again. She didn't recognize the boy, she'd never seen him before in her life. And yet her stomach leapt, doing somersaults the more she stared at his picture. Somehow, just looking at him brought all sorts of strange emotions to her.
She quickly shook her head.
"No, I've never seen him before," she said, her voice sounding warmer than she'd meant it to. "He's not really my type."
Olivia raised her eyebrow and Hiromi rolled her eyes. Both women knew when Ayame was lying. Even with her memory erased, there was no way Ayame felt nothing for Blake. She'd have a better time convincing them that she wanted to give up running and become a pop idol.
Ayame frowned, not liking the looks of doubt her best friend and mother was wearing. That guy wasn't her type! He wasn't! He didn't even look cute! So what if he seemed really sweet? So what if his eyes seemed to shine in a way that made her feel all floaty for some reason?! Ayame didn't get all mushy over boys, she was cooler than that! She was the prince of the track team after all!
The moment that word "prince" popped into her head, the images in her brain began to shift again. She was standing in a clothing store, trying on a lovely dress and admiring herself in the mirror. It was beautiful, and went perfectly with her favorite ribbon.
But that couldn't be. She would never wear a dress! So why did she feel so giddy staring at her reflection?
She felt her head turning, asking the opinion of… of…
Who is that with me?
Ayame strained her brain trying to pick out a face from the cloud of static, but she couldn't see him. The flash was gone, and she was back in the hospital.
"…Yo, Aya, you there?" Olivia asked, waving her hand in front of the girl's face.
Ayame snapped back to reality, startled. "Y-Yeah," she mumbled. "Sorry my brain was just… somewhere else I guess."
"Are you sure you're okay?" Hiromi asked worriedly. "We don't have to go back today if you don't want to. I know most of the other students are heading back to the academy, but if you want to, we can take you right home!"
"Wh-What? Why?" Ayame asked, confused.
Hiromi scowled. "Because that stupid school can't keep you safe, that's why!" She snapped. "This is the second time my precious little girl has gotten attacked by terrorists on a school trip! That is unacceptable! The school is supposed to keep you safe, not send you somewhere dangerous and then try to cover it up when you get injured! Why if I have my way-"
"Hiromi, can we talk for a moment?" Olivia asked, taking the shorter woman by the hand.
"Talk? What about?" Hiromi asked. She didn't want to spend any more time away from her daughter than she had to.
"It's important. Just for a sec?" Olivia glanced at Ayame pointedly and then back at Hiromi, signaling with her eyes that she wanted to discuss something away from Ayame.
Hiromi got the message and nodded. "Okay, if you say so," she sighed.
"I'll be fine, mom," Ayame insisted. "Trust me, you don't need to baby me."
"That's my job, sweetheart," Hiromi said, reaching up to try and pat her daughter on the head. Ayame had to lean over to do it, there was such a height difference between mother and child.
"Oh, Aya, I almost forgot," Olivia said, digging through the duffel bags she'd brought with her. "I brought some of your stuff back from Agate Village, since you'll probably be leaving from here, alright? Like this little guy."
Hiromi suppressed a gasp when she saw what Olivia had taken out of the bag. It was a little stuffed Wooloo!
Ayame blinked, startled, not resisting at all as Olivia shoved the little guy into her hands.
"You remember Blaiwooloo, right?" Olivia asked, cringing inwardly at the awful naming sense of her best friend. "I thought it would help to have him around. You really liked him back when you got injured last time after all!"
"Y-Yeah," Ayame mumbled, squeezing the stuffed pokemon gently. She knew that she'd had him for less than a year, so why was he so worn out? How much love had she squeezed into the little guy?
Where did I get him again? She wondered, staring at the doll's sewn-on eyes as they stared blankly back at her. Another image flashed into her head. Someone coming to greet her on the quad, a bag in his hand… a stuffed present… who was that? Why couldn't she see him clearly?
The image disappeared, and with it, Ayame realized that she was now alone in her room. She looked around to make sure Hiromi and Olivia were really gone, and then she cuddled the stuffed Wooloo against her chest.
She had no idea why, but it just felt so right.
"Okay, what is it?" Hiromi asked, stepping outside of the room. She knew that Olivia wouldn't have dragged her out here to talk just on some whim.
"It's about Aya and her memories," Olivia said. "Look, Hiromi, I know you're really mad about what happened to Aya, and believe me, I am too."
"Oh, no, until you have a child of your own you don't get to tell me what it means to be mad," Hiromi said, crossing her arms in front of her chest and narrowing her eyes.
"…Okay, yeah, fair enough, I don't know what it's like to have a daughter and see her get possessed and mind raped in front of me, I'll give you that," Olivia said. "But I don't think that stirring up trouble for the Pokemon Academy is the right move here."
Hiromi stared at Olivia with her jaw dropped.
"Are you serious right now?" She asked incredulously. "You've seen what happened to her! You think that's alright? You want me to just drop it?! If I do that, who's going to stand up for my little girl, huh?!" She demanded.
"Look, I get it, trust me," Olivia said. "It's awful! What happened to Aya is horrible, and the fact that the school is trying to cover it up to save their own ass is even worse."
"Then why would you ask me to just let it go?" Hiromi asked suspiciously.
"Because I think the more important thing than getting justice for Aya is helping her heal, don't you?" Olivia asked.
Hiromi frowned, raising her eyebrow. "What do you mean by that?" She asked. "Help her how? You heard her, she doesn't even remember having a boyfriend!"
"Oh, but I think she does," Olivia said. She glanced through the door window to see Ayame hugging her stuffed Wooloo tightly to her chest, cuddling it with the most loving expression in the world. "Take a look."
Hiromi glanced at her daughter. It was like she was trying to recapture the feeling of something she couldn't remember.
"…So she's hugging a stuffed Wooloo," Hiromi shrugged. "Big deal. She has a lot of stuffed pokemon dolls at home."
Olivia shook her head. "But Blake gave her that one," she said. "He bought it for her as a present on their very first date. And ever since then, she's treasured it. Look at her now. She's holding it close, like it's the most wonderful thing she's ever seen, and she doesn't even remember him."
Hiromi took another look at her daughter. Olivia had a point. Aya seemed a lot more attached to that Wooloo than she had been to any of her other stuffed animals in years.
"So what are you saying, then?" She asked, turning back to the Empress. "That she needs some one on one time with her stuffed animal?"
"No, what I'm saying is that I don't think it's as simple as Aya having forgotten all of her memories," Olivia said. "Look, I read a lot about this, okay? And in the books I've read, they say that you remember things because all that data is stored in your brain, and you can call back to them due to pathways in your brain connecting them together. So that means your memories never really go away, you know? They're still trapped there inside your head, it's just that, as you get older, those pathways degrade and you can't call them back anymore. But they're still there, right?"
"You read that in a book?" Hiromi asked, raising her eyebrow incredulously. She doubted that Olivia ever read anything besides price tags on brand clothes.
"Y-Yeah, well, I-I knew this girl who couldn't remember something important, so I thought that maybe the book would help me jog her memory and- that doesn't matter!" Olivia exclaimed, turning red. "The point is, I think that those memories of Blake, they're still in her head! Whatever Samarra did to Aya, I think it jumbled up her brain really good, but all that stuff… it should still be in there, somewhere, and we just gotta jog her memory that's all."
"So that's why you showed her the picture," Hiromi realized. "And gave her back that stuffed pokemon!"
"That's right," Olivia nodded. "I was hoping that stuff would make her remember Blake, I don't know, make her flash back to then or something."
"Well… it almost worked?" Hiromi said, taking another glance at her daughter. "She certainly loves that little guy."
"Yeah, I think it is working," Olivia nodded. "And I think we need to try it again."
Hiromi raised her eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
"Think about it!" Olivia urged. "What's Aya having trouble remembering right now? Blake! She still remembers all the stuff she did with him, going on dates, running, having- err, having a good time together…"
Hiromi frowned, unamused. "You and I and my daughter need to have a very long discussion about this," she snarled. "If those two are doing things together I certainly hope they're using-"
"Don't worry, they're fine," Olivia hurriedly changed the topic out of embarrassment. "It was only a few times, I promise."
"NOT better."
"Whatever! Anyway, you want to know what's going to help Aya get her memories back?" Olivia asked. "Blake. Blake, Blake, Blake. She's head over heels for him whether she remembers it or not. She's got a ton of stuff back in her dorm room that's gonna remind her of him too-"
"Like soiled bedsheets, I'm guessing?"
Wow, she really wasn't letting this go. That was NOT the issue at hand.
"Like Blake himself!" Olivia said. "Just think. When those two meet up again, I swear, it's gonna be fireworks in her mind! She's going to remember all the good times they had together, and be swept off her feet all over again! I'd be shocked if her memories don't come back the second she lays eyes on the guy!"
"Well…" Hiromi had to admit, Olivia made a good point. "I guess…"
"I know I'm right," Olivia said confidently. "Trust me, I know Aya, and if there's one thing you can count on it's the fact that that girl has got it BAD."
"…And if we take her home, or alienate the school so badly they won't let her come back, then it's going to be a lot harder for them to meet," Hiromi sighed. She could see where Olivia was going with this and she didn't like it.
But she couldn't argue against it, either.
"Exactly," Olivia nodded. "Come on, just think about it. I know the school sucks, trying to keep this all hush-hush. And I know you're mad and want to make them pay. But is that really so important that you'd risk our best chance at Aya regaining her memories of the boy she loves?"
Hiromi thought hard. It was a difficult decision. As a mother, it was her duty to keep her daughter safe, and she no longer had faith that the school could accomplish that task.
On the other hand, she remembered what her daughter was like before Blake had come into her life. The sour expressions, the cold snapping, the way she seemed to act, as if everything was frustrating and difficult, as she destroyed her body trying to be the best.
How many years had she gone without seeing her daughter smile?
Now, Ayame was full of light and life. She was happier than Hiromi had ever seen her since her sister's accident. And she knew that the person she had to thank for that was Blake.
Without Blake in her life… would her darling daughter go back to being that sour girl who hated everything?
She didn't know. Maybe she was exaggerating. Maybe Blake's influence had changed Ayame for the better whether she remembered him or not, and taking her home wouldn't make a difference for her either way.
But then… could she really live with herself, knowing that she was putting her daughter's relationship and potential future happiness at risk?
As a mother, there was only one thing she could do.
"…You're right," Hiromi sighed, casting a wistful look at Ayame through the glass. "Going back to the academy is the best chance we have of Aya getting her memories back. I'll… stop going to war with the school, I guess."
"Oh, you're the best," Olivia sighed with relief. "And don't worry. I'll do everything I can to help Aya and keep her safe! You're not going to regret this, I swear!"
Hiromi hoped not. She could see the insistence in Olivia's eyes, and knew that the blonde was telling the truth.
She smiled, trying hard to banish the worries from her heart. She prayed that her daughter could recover, that going back to the academy was exactly what she needed to return to normal.
And most of all, she prayed for her daughter's safety.
Well, it certainly sucks that Ayame can't remember anything about Blake. But at the same time, it seems that there is still some hope left after all! She's still having flashes of memory, so maybe Olivia's onto something when she suggests bringing Ayame back to school, and hoping that'll help her recover her memories! Even if it means having to go along with the cover-up.