Blake has just woken up from the mother of all confusing dreams, where he's confronted once again for his playboy ways and his indecision in regards to the girls. Will he be able to find a way to confront his own feelings? What about Ayame? Will he know what to do? How DOES he feel about the other girls, anyway? Not factoring in his love for Ayame? Questions like these are something he may have to confront eventually. Remember to review!

The Elimination Round of the Pokemon Academy Best Girl Contest 4 has started! Make sure to get those votes in, we've only got a few so far! You can vote for up to 5 girls, so make sure your favorites have a chance to shine!

Nominated: Alcea, Ange, Ayame, Caelia, Callie, Chloe, Cynthia, Dakota, Donoma, Elaina, Gabrielle, Joyce, Kate, Maddi, Misato, Nikita, Rui, Sango, Sylvia, Vic

KedharS: I guess we'll have to find out.

Hyphenman: Yeah, the dream was definitely supposed to be confusing. And while the way Blake rejected Cynthia was poignant, the fact remains he still used his feelings for Ayame as an excuse to not think about his feelings for her.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 1349


"Blake, what's up?" Sango rubbed her eyes, waking up with a yawn. Blake was already gone. She could hear movement outside of the tent and crept out, looking for him. He was standing at their campsite, and his pokemon were out of their pokeballs.

Sango blinked, rubbing her bleary eyes.

"Hey guys…" She waved to Blake's pokemon. Weiss, Ruru, Cory, Maria, Rogen, and Tara were all enjoying themselves, and they looked pretty well-rested, all things considered. Blake must have been letting them get some time out in the sun.

Blake, on the other hand, did not look well-rested. He looked exhausted, and he had trouble meeting her eyes.

"Everything okay?" Sango asked, walking over to him.

"Yeah, uh… I just wanted my pokemon to get some fresh air, that's all," Blake mumbled. He still wasn't looking at her.

Sango frowned. This wasn't right. But she didn't know what she should do about it. Blake probably just had a bad morning, that was it. She shrugged and headed off to go make breakfast. Marion had let them use her card yesterday to buy some canned food, so that's what they were living on at the moment.

Canned ravioli. Yum.

"Would it kill you to have a Fire type pokemon?" She called over her shoulder. "Silver could have started this whole thing easy…"

"Don't they teach you how to use matches in those Ranger Course classes of yours?" Blake called back, and she rolled her eyes.

"Very funny. I still need to gather some kindling…"

"We can handle that, right, Tara?" Blake nodded to his Snivy. Tara raised her tiny hands and created a swirl of leaves that flew towards the fire pit, landing in a pile.

"…That works!" Sango chirped, striking a match. In seconds they had a nice roaring blaze going, perfect for heating up her breakfast.

But one can of ravioli just wasn't going to be enough for Sango's appetites.

"So what are we going to do today?" Sango asked, turning to Blake.

Blake shrugged. "I guess we'll have to go around looking for stuff to do. We're here for a reason, after all, we need to find out what that reason is."

He walked over and joined Sango at the campfire. Rather than sitting beside her, though, he sat across from the flames, like he was trying to keep his distance from her. He dug into his pocket and pulled out a thin blue cloth, to Sango's surprise.

"That ribbon…" Her eyes widened in recognition.

"I bought this for Ayame," Blake murmured, turning the ribbon over in his hands. "For her birthday. She said a boy bought her the one she wears now, and I felt jealous. Like she'd been 'marked' by somebody else. So I thought if I got her another one just like it… never mind."

"No, come on, it's okay," Sango urged him. "You can tell me. I'm always here for you, Blake." She could tell he wanted to say something, and didn't want him to get cold feet for her sake. Blake glanced at her, and she could see his eyes watering. He swallowed, and nodded.

"Do you remember the night of Ayame's birthday party?" He asked. She nodded.

"Of course I do, the four of us met up and then she ran off without us." She twisted her face into a smirk that Cynthia would have been proud of. "You're the only guy in the world to show up with two dates to his girlfriend's birthday party!"

Blake winced. He knew Sango meant it as a joke, but given what he knew about her feelings for him, he had some trouble seeing the humor in it.

"Well that day… I bought this ribbon for her. And she turned it down. She said that her ribbon was too much a part of her to give it up. And instead… she wanted me to keep it." Sango had trouble understanding Blake's expression. It looked like a mixture of happiness and sadness; a poignant look that she couldn't read, but she wanted to understand.

"I was happy and sad," Blake murmured, putting words to the look on his face. Sango tensed, and nodded. "To think that she could treasure something so much, it showed me how deep her heart went. Even if it meant she wouldn't wear my ribbon, you know what she said?"

"What?" Sango asked. Her voice cracked, and she realized she was almost on the verge of tears. No matter how upset she was with Blake, she couldn't stop her feelings. They were threatening to overwhelm her, which was a problem since she didn't want to let on how she felt about him any time soon.

If only she could know he was already well-aware of her feelings for him.

"She said that I should keep this. That way, we could both have one… and it would be a bond to connect us together." Blake bit his lip, and she saw that he was about to cry himself. "So I kept it. But in the end… I don't know. She lost her memories. Our bond only meant that much, I guess."

Sango frowned. She got up and sat down beside him, much to Blake's surprise.

"Sango? What-"

"It doesn't matter," Sango sniffed, turning up her nose. "I just thought you needed some company. You've been weird all morning, Blake."

Blake turned away from her and gazed into the crackling fire. "Yeah, I suppose I have. I had a really weird dream last night."

"Oh, really? A weird dream when you got sent back in time?" Sango snorted. "Well I had a weird dream, too, I dreamt that Marion was a mermaid and she was trying to drag me into the ocean and bring me down to her underwater kingdom. Only I'm not a fish, so I drowned."

Blake raised his eyebrow. "THAT was your dream? Then why were you sleeping with such a peaceful smile on your face?"

Sango shrugged. "Maybe I like drowning."

Blake rolled his eyes. "Well, as someone who had to jump off his dad's burning boat, I'm gonna tell you now, drowning isn't a fun."

"I know. I remember Caelia?" Sango winced as she recalled what happened to the burned girl on Valentine's Day. But that was nothing compared to the twitch from Blake. A shadow crossed over his face.

"That's right… Caelia… I forgot about her," he murmured just over a whisper. Sango looked at him in confusion.

"What about her?" She asked.

"No, nothing, it's nothing," Blake shook his head. "Just a really weird dream, like I said."

"A dream about Caelia?"

"No, a dream about y-" Blake cut himself off before he went any further.

Sango's eyes widened. "Wait, me? You were dreaming about me?!"

"I didn't say that," Blake quickly tried to protest.

"Well, did you?" She looked at him insistently and he couldn't bring himself to deny it. He sighed and nodded.

"Yeah, you were in it," he admitted.

Sango didn't know if she should be happy about that or not. She studied his face curiously. He looked embarrassed.

Wait… he couldn't have been dreaming about…

Sango felt her face heat up. Blake hadn't been the only one bothered by the tight quarters of their sleeping arrangements. Sango may have been better at dealing with it, but the fact was, sleeping with Blake's back pressed up against hers had made her start feeling some strange things herself.

She swallowed nervously.

"So, um… look, Blake, about… that dream… could you tell me, what, um… what happened? You know, in the dream?"

Yeah, way to go Sango. Real nice and subtle. She would just die. But her curiosity compelled her to hear the truth.

Blake stared at her, not sure what to say.

"I, um… I threw a flashlight at your head," he said nodding at the flashlight hanging from the tent. "Hit you right smack in the face."

Sango's jaw dropped. "You brained me with a flashlight!? That was your 'big dream'?!" She exclaimed.

Blake shrugged. What did she want him to say?

Sango seethed, tightening her eyes into a glare. She wanted to choke him out, but held back. It was just a dream.

Luckily, Blake didn't tell her what the real content of his dream was. That was a conversation for a different day.

Blake realized he was still holding the ribbon. He slipped it back in his pocket, a gesture that didn't go unnoticed by Sango.

"You know, Blake, I don't think it's wrong to believe that you and Ayame are connected by something deeper than just your feelings for each other," Sango said quietly. She didn't know why she was doing this. Maybe out of consideration for his feelings, or maybe because she really treasured her friend, and wanted him to be happy.

Blake looked at her, confused by what she meant.

"Sango?"

"I mean, just think about it. Look at where we are right now." Sango waved her hand at the clearing. "We went back in time! Three years! And what's the first thing that happened when we went back in time?"

"Uh…"

"You ran into Ayame!" Sango was practically shouting now, trying to get him to understand the truth. "Or, well… she ran into you, I guess. Whatever! It still applies! You two ARE connected by a bond, don't you get it?"

"I-I guess…"

Blake could understand where she was going with this. But he still wasn't convinced.

Sango sighed, running her fingers through her hair. "Look, yesterday, being around Marion, it made me wonder if becoming her friend was really a coincidence, or if it was just fate. I mean, what are the odds, right? Me and Marion becoming friends again? But I guess some things are just meant to be. So maybe you and Ayame… maybe you're just one of those things."

Blake knew how much it must have hurt Sango to say something like that. It hurt him just to hear it from her. But he nodded.

"Yeah… yeah, maybe. Maybe… maybe that's what this is about." He rose to his feet, kicking some dirt over the fire. Sango had long-since finished up her breakfast anyway. She looked up at him with an intrigued expression.

"What do you mean?" She asked curiously.

"Maybe the reason we came back here… or the reason I came back here, anyway… maybe it's because of Ayame. Like you said, she was the first person we ran into here. Maybe that's the reason Ryoko brought us back, so we could help Ayame out somehow. That has to be what we were brought here to do, right?" He became more sure of himself with each word. Sango, on the other hand, wasn't quite as easy to convince.

"Are you sure?" She asked, frowning. "Couldn't it be possible that we came back here to throw Olivia in the river, maybe? Or beat her up?"

Blake rolled her eyes. Sango was a sweetheart most of the time, but when she wanted to hold a grudge, she held a fucking grudge.

"Sango…"

"Fine." Sango didn't have to like it, but she admitted that Blake had a point. "So what do we do, then? What's the plan as far as Ayame is concerned. Are you going to sleep with her or something?"

Blake nearly fell off the rock he was sitting on. He stared at Sango in shock.

"Sango?!"

"What? It's a legitimate question!" She protested.

"You know who you sound like right now?" Blake rolled his eyes. "Cynthia."

Sango winced. That was a low blow.

"Besides, it doesn't matter," he continued. "Ayame won't have sex with me. She's a virgin."

He didn't have to explain how he knew THAT. And Sango didn't want to hear it, either. Let's say it involved a certain amount of blood that came about the first time they… well, Sango could use her imagination. She just didn't want to.

"Eww, that's so gross." Sango shivered and stood up. "Look, let's just forget about this thing, okay? Maybe it has nothing to do with Ayame. It could be Marion. It could be anything."

But Blake had a feeling that it was Ayame. Judging by the state she was in the day before, she really needed a lot of help and support, and he wanted to give it to her.

At that very moment, on the other side of campus, Ayame, Olivia, and Marion were getting prepared for their day as well.

"What do you mean you don't have their contact information?!" Olivia demanded, incensed by Marion's flightiness.

"What can I say?" She laughed, shrugging her shoulders. "I'm not the kind of gal who keeps stuff like that, sorry!"

Olivia couldn't believe what she was hearing. She wanted to fucking scream.

"This is… this is ridiculous," she scowled, shaking her head. "We live in the age of technology, Marion! Everyone has a cell phone these days!"

"I don't," Marion chirped. "That stuff's a real pain in the ass."

Olivia stormed over to her desk and yanked a drawer open, grabbing one of several cell phones stowed away inside it. She flung one of them at Marion.

"There! It's one of my spares! Keep it!"

"Whoopie, thanks!" Marion cheered. "…Oh, but I still don't have Rei and Claire's contact information, so… sorry!"

"It's okay," Ayame murmured. "It doesn't matter."

It mattered to Olivia though. She glanced at her friend, who was still hiding behind her bangs. But that wasn't enough to conceal her sorrow from Olivia's vigilant eye. The contest star scowled, shaking her head.

"It DOES!" Olivia snapped. "You want to win over that boy, don't you?"

"Olivia!" Ayame exclaimed, turning red. She quickly glanced at Marion. "Wh-What are you saying?! I don't-!"

Olivia raised her eyebrow. "Oh, really?" She sneered. "You don't?"

Ayame blushed and averted her eyes. "W-Well…"

She did, she just didn't want to admit it in front of Marion.

"Oh, and remember what I told you to call me?" Olivia reminded her, causing her blush to get even brighter. Ayame bit her lip and nodded.

"Yes, boss…"

"There's a good girl."

Marion burst out laughing. "Boss? Wow, that's really something Olivia!"

"YOU can keep your mouth shut, miss 'I don't have any need for a cell phone'," Olivia glared at Marion. "I go to all this trouble to help Ayame get ready to seduce a boy-"

"BOSS?!" Ayame exclaimed, her jaw dropping. Olivia ignored her.

"…And look at you, pretending it's not a big deal."

She shook her head and sighed. "Disgraceful. Do I have to do everything myself?"

"Just the things you want to have done," Marion pointed out with a grin. "We're not your flunkies after all!"

Well, Ayame is… Olivia ignored that though, in favor of her righteous indignation. "That's not important. Do you want Ayame to go out with that Rei boy or not?"

Marion shrugged. She didn't really care one way or the other.

"Well, what if Claire likes him?" She asked. "They could be dating for all you know."

Ayame blanched. She didn't like the sound of that, but Marion raised a good point. Claire was Rei's friend. For all she knew they COULD be dating.

Well, that just made her feel worse.

"Don't say stuff like that," Olivia demanded, placing her hands on her hips. She stormed across the room and jammed her finger into Marion's chest. "If that Rei boy likes a tomboy like her, then our Ayame here is the perfect girl for him! She'll steal him in a heartbeat with her tomboy charms!"

"Boss!" Ayame sputtered. She didn't want to "steal" anyone from anybody! "It's not that serious, I just… well-!"

She didn't know what to say. She didn't know what to think. Her thoughts and feelings were all a jumble, and she didn't know what the right thing to do was.

"You can't be passive about this," Olivia snapped at her. "If you want to win over that boy's heart, then you need to go on the offensive, understand?"

Ayame meekly nodded.

"Nah, you don't need to think that way," Marion said, shaking her head. "You can just be yourself and if it's meant to be, it's meant to be!"

She took a deep breath and exhaled. "Imagine you're in a river, the water flowing around you-"

"Enough of the river talk!" Olivia groaned, rolling her eyes. "What are you a fucking mermaid or something? Geez!"

"Well, it's better than lording over your friend like you're some empress," Marion cackled. "I just let myself do as I please!"

Olivia glared at Marion, and the other girl let the glare roll off her like water.

Then they both turned to Ayame.

"So? What's it going to be?" Olivia demanded. "Do you want to win that boy over or not?"

"I'm not going to discourage you, by the way!" Marion clarified. "I just want you to make the decision that you'll be happiest with!"

She knew full well how the boy in question felt about her, just like how she knew Claire felt about Rei. But she couldn't tell Ayame.

This had to be her decision.

"I-I… I don't know," Ayame admitted, hanging her head. "I need to go practice my running! I'll think about this later!"

She made a hasty retreat, to Marion's amusement and Olivia's frustration.


Well, these two are certainly in a difficult spot in their budding relationship. Marion and Olivia, I mean, not Ayame and Blake. Though those two are certainly dealing with a struggle as well. Hopefully they can work out their relationship issues, and determine what they'll do next! As for Sango, how does she fit into all this? Will she help Blake? Or strike out on her own?