After those cheerful reunions on the dock, it's time the story shifted in a different direction! With this chapter, we're going to take a look at a different sort of homecoming- and probe a little deeper into the conspiracy that seems to have seized the school! The Phantom will be having a little sit-down with the headmaster! What will come from that? Well, let's find out!

KedharS: He's dealt with enough crap in his life, he's learned how to bounce back from it I guess. Good for him.

Hyphenman: Yeah. It's going to be a long road getting there, but hey. Blake won over Ayame pretty darn fast prior to the memory loss, and he did it without even trying. You've gotta wonder if Ayame can even put up a defense.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 1251

Most people who were called down to the headmaster's office reacted with fear or worry. The thought that they might have done something wrong, or that the school thought they'd done something wrong, or that they'd been caught doing something wrong, was enough to make them nervous out of concern for their future at the Pokemon Academy.

Richard Valon hummed a jaunty tune as he sat in the waiting room, tapping his fingers against the armrest.

"You can go in now," the secretary told him. She looked a little miffed. After all, she'd been called back in to work when she should have been on her own type of spring break earlier that week.

Something about "students sneaking into private meetings" and the like. So she was in a rather foul mood.

The Phantom strolled in the headmaster's office like he owned the place. Considering all the shit he'd been able to get away with over the years, it's possible that he did.

Headmaster Lori Albrecht sat at his desk with his fingers steepled, glaring coldly at the student in front of him. Both men had white hair, but where Lori's eyes were a deep red like rubies, Valon's were cold and piercing like the sickening green of toxic waste.

"You wanted to see me, headmaster?" Valon asked with a smile, taking a seat in front of the desk. "Is this about what happened in the Orre Region? Because I assure you-"

"That's been handled," Lori coldly replied. "Richard Harker folded to your bluff."

Valon smirked. "I figured he would."

The existence of Samarra was something that the Harker family could not allow to be released into the world. Valon had correctly guessed that if he threatened to reveal what he knew, he could pressure the Harkers for a fairly large gain. In this case, he'd used it to force their hand and keep the school quiet about the Shadow Pokemon.

Now, there was nothing the school could do to stop him.

"If you're thinking that you've won, I'm going to warn you it's not that easy," the headmaster said, narrowing his eyes.

Valon sighed. "Headmaster… no, why should we stand on ceremony here? Lori, I have won. From the moment you allowed me to begin the process of creating Shadow Pokemon in the Sandbox, there was no other outcome."

"…I had no choice in that," Lori scowled.

"Of course you didn't," the Phantom chuckled. "This is what I do. I find people like you, with something to lose or something to gain, and I use it to get leverage. For Richard Harker, that leverage is the existence of his eldest daughter. For Kanone Harker, it's his family and their safety, as well as the chance of reuniting them. And as for you-"

"I know full well what you have over me," Lori snarled. "But don't think that you're the only person here who knows the benefit of leverage."

For the first time in the meeting, the smile slid off of the Phantom's face. He narrowed his eyes suspiciously as his expression turned cold. "And what could you possibly be talking about?" He demanded.

Now it was the headmaster's turn to smile. His lips curled up in a victorious smirk and he leaned forward, his eyes shining with glee.

"I know the secret Dakota Evans nearly died for."

Valon froze. His eye twitched.

"…I don't know what you're talking about," he hissed.

Lori raised his eyebrow, the smirk never leaving his face. "Oh, don't you?"

Quickly, the Phantom forced himself to smile. "I don't know what you think you know, or what you've been told," he said, "but Dakota Evans is a known liar. And while it's fortunate that she survived her accident, in her present state-"

"…Well, as I'm sure you know, she's awake now," Lori said. The lack of reaction confirmed for him that the Phantom had been aware of that.

"From what I hear, she had some memory troubles, though," Valon murmured, tapping his lip. "Seems to be a lot of that going around these days. Whatever crazy story she told you, I doubt she can even remember it properly, let alone the parts of it that were true."

"Oh, certainly," Lori nodded. "That girl has only been here a couple of years, and already I know better than to trust a word out of her mouth."

"…So what am I doing here, then?" Valon asked. He didn't like the way the headmaster was acting, like he had the upper hand.

"Well, because I just said, I know what you've done, and what you've been doing," the headmaster explained. "And certainly, if Miss Evans had told me about it herself, I would have found it hard to believe."

He paused.

"…But then I got this email."

Valon's already cold blood chilled even more.

"…An email, you say?" He murmured.

"It was sent to me on the night of February 14th, right around the time of Miss Evans' attack," the headmaster confirmed. "I found to be very illuminating. But I'm sure I don't need to tell you the contents."

The Phantom glared at him.

"So what do you want then?" He growled.

Lori narrowed his eyes. "I want a lot of things. But to start, I think we should amend our little arrangement, wouldn't you agree?"

"It doesn't sound like I have much of a choice," Valon said, his hand twitching. As much as he might have wanted to tear the old man in front of him to pieces, he couldn't. Not without knowing what he'd do with the information he had. He'd already tried to use violence once to shut down the story, and apparently that had now backfired.

"That's right. You don't. So here's what I'm going to tell you. I am sick and tired of my students coming into harm's way as a result of your machinations. It ends here. From now on? If your little twisted experiments and games result in even so much as a scraped knee for one of the students under my charge? You're done. I'll release those files for everyone to see. I'm fairly certain that would make continuing your work rather difficult, no?"

Valon glared at him. But there was nothing he could do.

"It would… complicate matters, certainly. But what do you expect from me? I wasn't the one who attacked the others on the field trip. If anything, I was a victim here!" He protested. "How would that benefit me? Why on earth do you think I would want such a thing?"

The headmaster scowled. "Because I'm not that gullible."

The two men fell silent.

"…Well, is there anything else, then?" Valon asked.

"Yes, I'm not done. I can't stop you from creating more Shadow Pokemon. But this whole scheme of yours, with the Renegade System? That's a different matter," the headmaster continued. "I won't have you using my campus to further your dark goals. It ends now."

"What?!" For the first time, Valon lost his cool. He stared in shock at the old man, seething with anger. That confirmed it. Whatever slim chance there was that this was all some carefully planned bluff had ended with those two words.

"You heard me. I know why you came to this school, and I allowed you leeway given your hold over me. But now that's changed. So I'm putting you on a leash. Whatever you and your associates are scheming, trying to unbind reality and plunge it into darkness, it ends here. Agree to this, and make sure that no more students are harmed, and I'll permit you to continue your research into the Shadow Pokemon. Do we have an accord?"

Valon's hands were shaking. He clenched the armrests of his chair, and then burst out into a manic fit of laughter.

"Greedy… you're far too greedy, Lori!" He cackled, leaning forward in his seat. Lori flinched, sliding backwards as he saw the crazed gleam in the man's eye.

"You've overplayed your hand… if I say no, and you release that information, then my research stops regardless! Without the Renegade System, your leverage on me means nothing. If I can't continue my work, then what would be the point? I'll just tear it all down! All the leverage I have on you, the Harkers, it will all come out!"

He narrowed his eyes. A shadow crossed his face.

"And without that… then there's no reason to keep from harming any of the students here, either," he whispered, a thick tension hanging over the room at the threat. He rose from his seat and leaned forward, staring Lori dead in the eye. "I don't think you want to see what will happen then, do you, you child?"

To his credit, Lori didn't flinch as the monster in front of him made his threats.

"…I see. Thank you for that information, you've been very helpful. You may leave now," he said, waving towards the door.

Valon needed a moment to process that. "What… do you think I'm bluffing?!" He snarled.

"You? Bluffing? No, I think there's nothing you're more serious about," Lori said, shaking his head. "And while I doubt you'd be able to destroy my school like you're threatening, I certainly don't want your Shadow Pokemon running rampage across the campus. So you're right. You may continue your research into the Renegade System."

"Wh-What?" Valon couldn't believe what he was hearing. The headmaster wasn't the type of man to fold so quickly and easily. "I don't know what you think you've got, but-"

"I already said you're excused," the headmaster said, waving to the door. "As for our contract… well, since you won't stop your work with the Renegade System, let's say that for now, I'll keep this information quiet so long as you do nothing to harm the students and faculty. …Myself included, of course," he added with a cool smile. "And that's from you, or any of your associates. Do I make myself clear?"

Valon stepped back, still trying to get a grasp of the situation. The old man was inscrutable. He ground his teeth together and nodded.

"I need to hear you say it," Lori pushed, narrowing his eyes.

"…Fine," Valon spat, forcing a snake-like smile to his lips. "I promise. None of my schemes or plans will harm another student on this campus, or any member of the faculty, yourself included. Do we have a deal?"

"No no no, that's not what I asked you." Lori shook his head. "You or any of your associates. No more of that."

"…Fine," Valon snarled. "Neither me, nor any of my associates will hurt anyone else here. Now, will you keep this quiet or not?"

The headmaster was silent for a moment, as if he was mulling it over. But they both knew it was just to torment the Phantom a little longer. "…Yes, I think that will be satisfactory. You are free to leave now, Richard."

Valon whirled around and stormed out the door. A smile was still plastered to his face, but the cloud of impotent rage hovering over him made it clear that his mood wasn't a pleasant one.

After he left, the headmaster sank back into his chair and contemplated the result of the meeting.

So it's just as I suspected. His goals with the Shadow Pokemon are linked to the Renegade System. That fool. He has no idea the power that he's playing with.

When Valon accused Lori of overplaying his hand, he hadn't been wrong. The headmaster had purposefully pressed the conditions the way he did. But it wasn't because he expected the Phantom to agree to them.

If Valon were simply a man of power and ambition, he might have been tempted to agree to back off from the Renegade System and be secure with just the wealth and power he could accumulate from the Shadow Pokemon. But he wasn't satisfied with just that. That told Lori that the Shadow Pokemon were just a means to another end- without the Renegade System, the Phantom's research into Shadow Pokemon was completely pointless. That was what he'd gathered from this meeting today. And it was information that was well worth showing his cards for.

Valon returned to the Sandbox, still with that smile fixed to his face. It wasn't until he reached the privacy of his office that he finally let it slip, roaring with fury as he slammed his fist against the wall in rage.

"THAT FUCKING OLD MAAAAAN!" He howled.

While this was happening, Dakota was picking up her things from the Newspaper Club. She'd taken back her laptop from Mirar and decrypted the code, accessing the information stored on the flashdrive. She sighed in relief.

She'd never planned for any of this to fall into Serefina and Akira's hands. Thank god she'd encrypted it. If they knew what was on here…

"Is everything alright?" Mirar asked as she left the Newspaper Club room. "That's quite an interesting hair color."

"I know, I'm trying out a new style," Dakota lied through her teeth.

"And what about the matter we discussed before?" Mirar asked, raising his eyebrow. "You seemed rather excited to investigate what happened in the Orre Region."

Dakota turned and gave him a smile full of lies.

"Well, you could always tell me what happened, couldn't you?" She asked sweetly, tilting her head to the side. "After all, you were there."

Mirar said nothing.

Dakota's smile slid off her face.

"Yeah, I thought so," she said bitterly, shaking her head.

"…I agreed to keep it quiet," Mirar replied. "But there's nothing stopping you from-"

"This whole thing is a lot more complicated than you think it is," Dakota cut him off. Mirar was surprised by the depth he saw in her eyes. She looked nothing like the Dakota he'd studied so exhaustively; and it wasn't just that those eyes of hers were now blue.

"…I don't know what happened when I was gone, but it appears you've finally grown up a little," he murmured. "Of course, with my luck, it just happened to be when we needed your inability to consider the repercussions the most."

Dakota smirked. "Don't worry, Mirar. I'm not dropping this story. I'm just gonna be smart about it, that's all."

Plus, I can't let Seri or Aki get involved. If something happened to them…

Her hand shook. The Phantom had tried to kill her over this whole mess. He might try again. And if that happened, she didn't want the people she loved anywhere near it.

I need to keep practicing. I don't know what these powers of mine mean, but they're valuable. I can use them to keep the upper hand.

Mirar sighed, slumping back in his seat.

"Well, just be careful, please," he said. "I'm graduating soon, I won't be able to keep you safe for very much longer."

Dakota ruefully laughed. "Since when have you been able to keep me safe?"

She was glad her tone sounded like a joke, rather than her voice being filled with bitterness. She didn't want him to think that she blamed him over what had happened. It was because of her own carelessness.

"Fair enough," he nodded. "Still, it's a pity. By the time you blow the lid off this whole thing, I won't be able to read the article. It's not like I'll be able to access the school paper after all."

"OH, don't worry about that!" Dakota cackled. "Trust me, when this all comes to light, it'll be national news for sure!"

Mirar was glad that even after all the crap Dakota had gone through these past few months, her spirit wasn't broken. She turned and skipped out of the room, heading off to go return Serefina's laptop. It was about damn time.

When she stepped outside, though, the skip in her step disappeared. She felt a chill down her spine and she stared up at the sky. It was almost night time.

The campus wasn't empty anymore. There were people here now, lots of her fellow students, all coming back from dinner or going to their rooms, or the lounge, or cafes, or any of a dozen other places on campus.

Like the library.

She glanced at the tall building as she passed it by and shivered, stopping in place.

Even after her return to school, when the campus was all but deserted for spring break, she hadn't been able to bring herself to go inside.

That was her blood that had stained the carpet. Splattered across the bookshelves. And even if it was all cleaned up, that didn't change things for her. She'd seen the crime scene photos. She knew what it looked like.

She was shaking.

Come on! Stop being afraid! There's nothing to worry about! She urged herself.

Then the sound of footsteps caught her ear and she flinched.

Dakota didn't know why she'd reacted the way she did to that particular set of footsteps. There were footsteps all around, after all, as crowded as the quad was tonight.

But something about those footsteps set something off in her, and her heart began to pound with anxiety. Suddenly it was like she was back there again on that night, running through the library with death drawing closer.

And suddenly she was doing it again.

"Hey! No running in the library!" The librarian's cries landed on deaf ears, all Dakota could do was feel the moment rushing through her.

She wasn't being chased. Part of her knew that on some level. This was just a panic attack. But she could still hear those footsteps echoing in her ear. She tore through the maze of shelves, eyes flashing about wildly until she turned the corner and froze.

There it was. The tiny little enclave of bookshelves where she'd nearly bled out.

As expected, it looked nothing like the photos. The blood had all been cleaned out, and the books had been replaced. Most of them had been changed out for different books as well, the titles didn't even look that similar.

But this was where she'd almost died.

She took a deep breath, listening to the sound of footsteps drawing closer, and… let it go.

As she exhaled, the sound faded away until she could hear nothing but the quiet of the library. The click-clack of keyboards from students studying, the careful turning of pages from people reading, it all rushed into her.

She smiled.

I'm not the same, she reassured herself. I don't have to be afraid anymore. I'm never getting trapped like this ever again.

And with that, Dakota closed her eyes, concentrated, and in a flash of light she was gone.

Well, things are getting even more complicated now! There's a conspiracy afoot, and all manner of individuals are involved. What leverage could the Phantom have over the headmaster? And what could he be planning with the Renegade System, whatever that is? And as for Dakota… well, she seems to be doing better, but can she really afford to get caught up in this mess?