What will be the fallout of all this hostility going around? Will anyone tell Cynthia just what it was she missed out on? Remember to review!

KedharS: Sadly true, she certainly did.

Hellraiserphoenix: She's just that kind of person. But Serefina's not traumatized, hopefully. Unless this is the beginning of her bad-girl phase… Which might be very interesting, to see a vampy, slutty Serefina. Mmm…

Rosealine gold: Well, it won't be TOO bad… she'll just loathe it.

Pokemonking0924: Don't worry. Sylvia's mischievousness will come back to bite her in the ass someday. And yes, Kitty will certainly be getting some attention this chapter.

Aquahaze675: They certainly are.

Thunder Fire: Not as common as you might think, actually. There are a lot of restrictions on stuff in place.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 479

"Okay, what's going on?" Cynthia pouted. No one was looking her in the eye. "What did I miss, other than Kitty and Callie switching outfits?"

Serefina turned an even deeper shade of red, burying her face in her hands, which only got Cynthia more curious. But no one was saying anything.

"Well, fine," Cynthia scowled. She turned to Nick. "Anyway! Nick, drumroll, please!"

Nick paused for a second, a little startled by what she had just asked, but quickly began slapping his hands against his thighs.

Cynthia smiled, stepping out from in front of the staircase and holding out her arms in a presenting manner. "Presenting, fresh from the showers, from my wardrobe to your hearts! The lovely Madison Whitmore!"

Maddi trudged down the stairs, the most irritating-looking cheerleader that any of them had seen. Maddi wore a white shirt with red lining, and a pleated skirt alternating in strips of red and white. She was still wearing her long boots, but they were the only trace of black on her outfit. She clenched two red and white pompoms in her hands so hard they were oozing out through her fingers, like she was trying to smash them in her grip.

Her visible eye was narrowed in a deadly glare, her drying hair laying over her snarling face like the ghost of a drowning victim returned for vengeance.

For a cheerleader there wasn't much cheer to be seen.

Sango's sympathy at having once been forced into the same outfit was all the kept her from bursting out laughing at the girl in front of her.

But Sango wasn't the rest of the room. Dakota immediately grabbed her camera and began snapping pictures, drawing Maddi's ire. Cynthia herself was trying to keep a straight face, and Akira, the one responsible for this mess in the first place, was laughing himself.

Reiner and Julia were both amused, while Kitty, Nick, and Nikita all gave her looks of sympathy. Giselle was probably the kindest of them, getting up and walking over to place a hand on Maddi's shoulder to comfort her.

"Maid," Maddi growled, turning to Cynthia with a furious look in her eye.

"Y-yes, Mistress?" Cynthia said, putting the kindest smile she could muster onto her face, hoping that Maddi would be merciful.

"Come," Maddi said. She walked back to her seat, leaning back, staring up at Cynthia. "I'm feeling hungry. Go make me a sandwich. Ham, sliced thin, with lettuce and tomato. And shredded cheese, as well."

"I don't have any shredded cheese in the fridge," Cynthia said. "Only normal slices."

Maddi smirked, raising her eyebrow. "Then it seems you have some work to do."

Maddi was making her shred the cheese herself? Cynthia sighed, and nodded her head. "Yes, Mistress," she replied, trudging off into the kitchen. Maddi leaned back, finally relaxing a little. She turned her eyes on Dakota, the menace clear. She really hoped that Dakota wouldn't publish those photos. And Dakota should be hoping so, too.

"Whose turn is it?" Maddi asked.

"Well, Serefina just went," Sylvia purred, Serefina flinched and glanced down, shame reddening her face.

"Wait, wait, I just did a dare," Callie said, confused. She gestured down to the frilly dress that Kitty had loaned to her. "And I didn't ask anyone, so isn't it my turn?"

"Well, we thought that since you were taking so long, we'd play without you," Sylvia purred. Callie scowled in response to that, that wasn't fair at all!

"What?! Nick, you let them skip me?!" Callie protested.

"No, I-"

"I'll let you take my turn," Serefina interjected, not wanting to cause any animosity between the two. Nick had been through enough tonight, what, with Sylvia trying to put the moves on him. No sense in causing more problems.

"Oh, thanks!" Callie chirped, brightening right up. "Now, who do I want to ask…"

Callie could have spent the time she was changing coming up with someone to Truth or Dare, and what they would be, but she was more of a "live-in-the-moment" sort of girl and the thought hadn't occurred to her. But that didn't matter, she already knew what she wanted to ask!

"Blake! Truth or Dare?" Callie asked.

"Truth," Blake answered, surprised it was on him again, but not minding too much. It was Callie, of course, so it wouldn't be such a bad-

"Who's the most attractive girl here, other than Ayame?" Callie asked.

Blake felt a chill run down his spine, his face going pale.

"Uh… wh-what?"

"That's quite an interesting question, Blake," Sylvia smiled, interrupting him before he could respond. "But it's a pretty easy one, too. Can't you ask something a little harder, Callie? Because we all know he's just going to say it's me."

Suddenly, multiple pairs of eyes, as well as a single eye, were turned in his direction. And one pair was particularly intense.

"I'll, uh pas-"

"That's quite an interesting question, Blake," Ayame said, smiling at him in a way that reminded him of the past, back when she acted like she loathed him. It made him wilt. She continued, "personally, I would love to hear your answer. I trust you, after all, so there's no harm in being honest. So don't feel bashful! You certainly don't need to pass on the question, unless, of course, there was something you were feeling guilty about? Maybe you're too embarrassed to share with us how you really feel? But why would that be?"

Well, that was a nice little corner that Ayame had just backed him into. He felt like she was leaning over him with her hand pressed against the wall in a kabedon, only he was feeling intimidated instead of attracted.

Normally, your girlfriend wasn't supposed to want to hear about how hot you thought other girls were, right? That was supposed to be normal, right? But Aya clearly wanted to know what he was thinking, and he didn't know if he was actually supposed to answer, or refuse to answer, or what.

Ayame had made it clear that she wanted to hear is answer, but, well…

Blake vowed that after this, he wouldn't be taking anymore Truths. Nothing but Dares from here on, he wasn't going to put himself in this position again.

And Callie, the girl responsible for it all, just sat joyfully on the couch rubbing up against her boyfriend, kicking her legs out like she didn't have a care in the world. Blake wondered if Cynthia's shit-stirring had become infectious. Everyone here was making trouble.

"What was that?" Cynthia called from the kitchen. "I didn't hear very well, who's doing what?"

Sylvia, of course, never one to let things rest, said "Blake's going to tell us who's the most attractive girl here besides Ayame!"

The clatter of dishes could be heard from the kitchen and Cynthia was in the room seconds later, sandwich forgotten, her face shining eagerly as she practically jumped in place.

Sango squirmed in her seat, trying not to look too eager. There was no way he would choose her anyway, right? Not with Serefina of all people here. But, well… maybe? Maybe she had a chance? …No, no, absolutely not. It wasn't possible. Besides, even if he did pick her, well… what would she even say? How would she feel about it? It's not like it would mean anything special.

And yet, she couldn't help but feel eager and hopeful, nonetheless. Aidan watched her, seeing how she acted, and could tell that she was still hoping. That stung, to see the eager look in her eye. He sighed, and tried not to let it bother him.

Serefina hung her head. If she hadn't given Callie the position back, this wouldn't have happened. She shot Blake a sympathetic look and whispered "I'm sorry".

Well, there was nothing Blake could do. He had to say who he thought was the most attractive girl here, that was just something he had to do. But who was that? If he lied, Sylvia would sus it out immediately, so THAT was no good.

"Okay, fine, I'll answer," Blake sighed, resigning himself to what was coming. Part of him wanted to say Serefina, because, well, if one was looking at things objectively, 9 out of 10 people would say she was the most attractive, with her cute, bright face and pouting, plump lips, as well as other areas of plumpness. But Blake wasn't most people. He had his own standards for judging beauty. And if he was going off of what he had experienced already, without any further analysis on the topic…

"I think, well… after Ayame… the most attractive girl is probably… Kate…" Blake admitted.

"…Huh?" Kate glanced up from her phone, having checked out of the conversation completely. Her eyes met Blake's and he looked away, his cheeks reddening. "…What? What happened? I wasn't paying attention."

Kate's confusion popped the bubble of silence hanging over the students' heads, and everyone immediately burst out into conversation, stunned by the revelation.

"Kate?!" Sylvia exclaimed, real anger stretching across her face for the first time. "You think Kate is more attractive than ME?!"

"Wow, that's not the answer I would have expected," Callie said, genuinely surprised.

"Really? Kate?" Sango asked, trying to sound more surprised than disappointed. She didn't want to come off like she was upset that Blake had found Kate more attractive then her.

"I think that's nice," Serefina said, giving Blake a kind smile. At the same time, though, it would be a lie to say that she wasn't the TINIEST bit miffed at the fact that she had actually lost out to Kate Nomia in terms of attractiveness. A small pinprick of bitterness.

Cynthia said nothing. She just turned and stared out at the snowy landscape behind the frosted window, contemplating her life-choices.

Caelia, in spite of her feelings for Blake, could not bring herself to condemn his decision. She had not believed for an instant that he would choose her. With a body like hers? No one would consider her the most attractive anything.

Maddi found the entire thing hilarious. She burst out laughing, the most positive emotion she'd shown that entire night. Giselle smiled as well, a little amused.

"That's great, Kate," Julia said, holding her hand over her mouth to resist the urge to snicker.

"I think it's okay," Nikita said, a little more genuinely happy for Kate than Julia was. "Blake finds her attractive, is that so weird?"

"I agree," Kitty agreed, her face brightening. "We shouldn't be making fun of either of them! Julia, it's not funny…"

"Sorry, Kitty, sorry," Julia said, trying to restrain herself. But it was too hard. Akira felt that pain himself, and Dakota, well, she was just concentrating on writing down as much as she could, certain that this would make for a great story.

"…Wait, what?!" Kate finally, finally got it, her face turning bright red. "Y-y-y-y-you mean… You mean Blake, you actually think I'm the most attractive girl besides Ayame?!"

Blake nodded, glancing at Ayame, hoping his answer would be okay. At the very least, she didn't seem ANGRY, which he took as a good sign.

"That's… I see," Ayame said, nodding. "And you're not lying to make me feel better, right?"

"I'm not lying," Blake asserted, shaking his head. "It's absolutely how I feel."

"I don't accept it!" Sylvia said, glaring at him. There were a few girls here she could imagine losing out in attractiveness to, but Kate Nomia? KATE FUCKING NOMIA? That was completely unacceptable! And the thing that pissed her off the most was the fact that, no matter how hard she tried to look for something, anything, Blake wasn't giving away any tells. He wasn't lying or coming up with a convenient excuse, or if he was, he was a far greater liar than she ever imagined, and she could imagine quite a lot.

No, Blake seemed to genuinely find Kate the most attractive girl here, other than Ayame of course. How was this possible?!

Kate, in the meantime, completely blocked out the vitriol, disbelief, and mockery from her peers, focusing solely on the fact that Blake had just stated that, after his girlfriend, she was the second most attractive girl there.

It was one of the only times she had ever felt really attractive. And that made her chest feel so warm she couldn't help but break out into a giddy little smile.

"To clarify," Blake added, not wanting to give anyone the wrong idea, "this assessment was made purely from the perspective of admiring asses."

Kate's bright smile crumbled as everyone else looked on in confusion.

"That, that wasn't the point of the question!" Sylvia scowled. "You can't just judge girls by their butts! That's not fair!"

"Can't I?" Blake smirked.

"I mean, he's allowed to use whatever he wants to determine attractiveness," Callie said, shrugging her shoulders. "I don't know what the big deal is."

Callie had come up with the dare, and she was okay with it. So that was that.

"What do you mean you're grading me only on my ass?!" Kate protested, not any happier about it than Sylvia was. So much for the heartwarming feel-goods that made her think for a fraction of a second that if Ayame broke up with him she might be his next choice. The smile was long-gone, replaced by her usual sourness.

One positive, though, was that Cynthia had made a full recovery, and was currently rolling on the ground in hysterics, finding the entire situation hilarious now that she knew that she didn't ACTUALLY lose in attractiveness to Kate.

"I was thinking back to last fall on our expedition to Galar," Blake explained. "I remembered how you looked in that super-micro miniskirt when we went clothes shopping, and the way it made your ass look, and, well-"

"I told you to FORGET THA-A-A-A-A-A-AT!" Kate exclaimed, hiding her face in her hands to shield from the judging eyes. "NEVER AGAIN!"

"I burned it in my memory," Blake said, giving her a thumbs' up. He found the torment she was going through to be more than a little amusing. Then, he felt the dangerous aura coming from his left. He gulped and turned to see Ayame smiling his way.

"Anything we need to talk about?" Ayame asked.

"Look, Aya…"

"Miniskirts, huh?" She cut him off, the tone in her voice cold. "Well, better not be sniffing around her miniskirted butt any longer, got it?"

"I SAID, NEVER AGAIN!" Kate exclaimed.

"Can we please move on?" Blake begged. He looked desperately for salvation, his eyes landing on someone that was always good for cheering him up, his usual confidant. "Kitty! Truth or Dare?"

Blake's voice was so sudden and frantic that Kitty jumped, startled, not sure how to respond. The stuffed Breloom dropped from her hands.

"Um, Dare?" Kitty wasn't sure what to say, a little frazzled. As she regathered herself, Maddi seized the lull in the air to turn her attentions back to Cynthia.

"Cynthia, where's my sandwich?" She demanded.

"Oh, um… right," Cynthia sighed, trudging back into the kitchen in disappointment.

"Okay, Kitty, I dare you…" Blake could tell that Kitty was a little tense, and might not have even wanted to say "Dare" in the first place. So he was going to give her something easy. "For the rest of the night, you've got to act like a cat pokemon."

"Eh?" Kitty gasped, not sure what he meant. "Wh-what do you mean?"

"End all your sentences with 'nya~' and, well, you know, act cat-like," Blake explained. Kitty considered it, and nodded.

"Nya~" Kitty agreed, smiling, raising her hand up and curling it cutely into a paw that she held beside her head.

A collective "adorable!" rose in the hearts of everyone who saw the performance.

"Okay, my turn, nya~" Kitty said. She turned to Julia. "Julia! Truth or Dare, nya~?"

Julia held her hand up, clutching her stomach, feeling a surge of "adorable, need to hug right now" burst in her gut. But she was too cool to let that take over.

Callie had similar thoughts, and wasn't going to restrain them. She jumped up and ran over to Kitty, currently alone on the seat, hugging her tightly and petting her like a cat.

"Nya~ Nya~" Kitty purred, rubbing up against Callie's hand. Callie sat down on the couch and Kitty curled up against her, her face red with embarrassment but she was fully committing to the role.

"Nick, can we keep her? Pleeeeeeaase?!" Callie begged.

"She's our friend, Callie, not a pokemon," Nick replied.

"Dare," Julia decided, finally calming down.

"Nya~!" Kitty brightened. She dug into her bag, and pulled out a headband with cat ears on it. "I dare you to dress up like an animal pokemon just like me, nya~!"

Julia didn't want to.

"Uh, sorry, Kitty, I'd rather not," Julia said, shaking her head. "I'll be a maid if you want me to be, though."

"…Nya~?" Kitty whimpered, her lip trembling as she stared up at Julia with her big red eyes, which began to water.

"…Urgh…" Julia baulked, unable to meet Kitty's pleading gaze. Why did Kitty acting like… well, a kitty, have to be so damn adorable? Julia couldn't bring herself to resist. "…Okay, fine."

"Nya~!" Kitty brightened, jumping off the couch, her face filled with excitement and joy. She rushed over to Julia and handed her the headband.

"She seems like a natural at this," Reiner said, more than a little weirded out at how easily his friend was pretending to be a cat.

"I think this is just the real her and Blake gave her an excuse," Nikita replied.

Julia slid the headband on, her face flushing with a mixture of embarrassment and excitement at seeing Kitty's beaming smile staring at her. Why'd the girl have to be so darn… well, adorable?!

"So, Julia, are you going to go 'nya~' too?" Reiner joked, causing Nikita and Nick to chuckle, along with some of the others. Julia turned towards him and gave him a glare that could have beaten out her Houndoom's leer.

"Reiner, Truth or Dare?" She snarled.

Reiner didn't feel like going "Dare" right now would end well for him.

"Truth," Reiner said, a lot meeker than he wanted to.

"Have you ever fantasizes about girls other than Nikita since you started dating her?" Julia demanded, Reiner going a little green.

"Err…" Reiner swallowed.

"Well?" Nikita asked, turning her big eyes onto him. His lack of an immediate answer was enough of an answer.

"…Yes," Reiner admitted, hanging his head shamefully.

"What?!" Nikita gasped. "Who?!"

Reiner began looking desperately for a way out of this. "Sango! Truth or Dare?"

"Um, Truth," Sango said, not really wanting to get involved with this whole mess.

"What do you hate the most about Julia?" Reiner asked.

"HEY!" Julia exclaimed.

"What?!" Sango sputtered. "You can't ask that!"

"Sure he can," Sylvia laughed, absolutely loving this.

Julia turned her stony gaze on Sango, who withered away in her seat.

"I-I guess… if I had to say something… it's that she's not as open to trying new things as I would like?" Sango meekly replied, just wanting to get out of the middle of this war that had just broken out.

"Sango call on me next," Julia growled, turning to Reiner and glaring daggers at him. "I've got just the perfect question to really get him good."

"You can't do that!" Reiner protested. "It's in the rules, you can't call on me until someone else does, Julia!"

"Who said anything about calling on you?" Julia smirked, turning her attention on Nikita, who froze, swallowing.

"Um, that's…"

Kitty hissed, startled by the tension between her friends, and quickly scurried behind one of the couches, peaking up over it with a worried look on her face.

"Man, you guys are great!" Sylvia cackled, leaning back in her chair and holding her stomach, enjoying the chaos. "I didn't expect things to get this hostile!"

Suddenly, Sango knew what she wanted to do. Sylvia had been making fun of them and tormenting them this whole time, and she wasn't going to put up with her mockery anymore! She scowled, turning to Sylvia.

"Sylvia, Truth or Dare?" Sango demanded.

"Who, me?" Sylvia blinked, a wicked smile crossing her face, surprised at being called on again after the shenanigans she'd already pulled. "Why, Dare, of course."

Sango smirked. Sylvia being Sylvia, she had expected that she wouldn't do a Truth.

"Sylvia, I dare you to call Marion Rivers, and promise to go with her on a fishing trip for an entire weekend, and you have to actually do it," Sango declared.

Sylvia blanched, Caught off-guard for the first time. Her mouth flapped open and shut, and for once, she had nothing to say.

Finally, Sylvia getting some much-needed comeuppance.