In this chapter, we continue where we left off! Cynthia's battle has ended, but the results will be sticking with her for sure! What will that entail? Let's find out!

As for the Best Girl nominations, still going strong. Anyone else left to add?

Currently Nominated: Sango, Cynthia, Elaina, Kate, Dakota, Ayame, Marion, Kitty

Jay Hayden: It's been a long journey.

Just a Bad Writer for Fun: No idea yet when I'm gonna

Hellraiserphoenix: Thanks, I'm doing my best.

KedharS: That's by design, I'm trying to write it like a manga or anime.

Pokemonking0924: No idea what the next plan is. I'll have to think of something good, though, I'm really setting a high bar with that last one.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 185


"Agh, that guy really pisses me off!" Cynthia fumed. "That entire battle, he just played around with me and Ruby until he had his fill, and then knocked us out in a single hit!"

Cynthia was moping about in the miniature nurse's station installed in the Commander's hideout, griping about her frustration with the last battle while her pokemon were being healed.

And because the nurse was busy taking care of the pokemon, the only person there to take out her frustration on was Maddison Witmore, who was also getting her Fire team healed up. And she was having absolutely none of it.

She's still talking… Maddi was trying to tune out Cynthia's rambling as best she could, instead trying to focus on what she was reading. A loud and obnoxious person like Cynthia was the absolute worst sort of person for her to deal with. If she stopped yapping, then Maddi could get back to her book.

"Yo, how's it going, girls?" Maddi didn't glance up from her book to look at the Commander as he entered the nursing station, though thankfully Alden managed to draw Cynthia's attention away from her, so she was grateful for that.

Cynthia, meanwhile, greeted the Commander with a smile, in spite of her previous frustrations.

"That was a real intense fight!" Alden laughed. "Don't you think so, Vic?" The brunette at his side fumed in silent rage, glaring at Cynthia. But she bottled it up, and gave the briefest of nods.

"…It was passable."

"My, not even 'adequate'?" Cynthia smirked, Vic narrowing her eyes icily.

"Glad your team is being taken care of, Cyn!" Alden said, ignoring the animosity in the room. "You had quite a great Battle Sense!"

"Oh, thanks!" Cynthia said, smiling. "But mainly I felt like Ruby was just being used as a punching bag…"

"Nonsense," Alden laughed. "There's nothing that helps a pokemon grow more than struggling against a powerful foe! That's what I believe, anyway! And that's where the joy of battling comes in! Fighting with everything you've got against the best of the best! Wouldn't you agree?"

Cynthia shrugged. She didn't necessarily care about fighting "the best of the best" she just wanted to have a fun fight. But what he was saying made sense, or at least it seemed to make sense to him.

Alden left his Lucario with the nurse to get healed up, and then turned to leave. As he was exiting the room, though, he paused in place, his body bristling like he had just realized something.

"Oh! I nearly forgot!" Alden whirled around to face Cynthia, a smile on his face. "I heard from your sister! What's this about your liking to dress up as pokemon?"

"Oh, that?" Cynthia laughed. "No, it's just a hobby of mine, I like cosplaying as pokemon sometimes, you know? For funsies."

"I see! So on that subject, you know about Pokemon Day, right?"

Cynthia's eyes widened. Pokemon Day, also known as Halloween, was a day to celebrate pokemon. Children across the world would go out on the night of October 31st dressed as their favorite pokemon, and knock on their neighbors' doors and ask for candy. Cynthia did it all the time as a kid, it was where her love of making pokemon costumes had come from. She had heard that Pokemon Academy celebrated it too, so she'd been preparing a costume in secret, but was surprised to hear that something like that had caught the Commander's attention.

"Well, our school does something special for it every year," Alden explained. "We have a big festival across campus, like the Fall Festival! Sadly, there's no battling, it's mainly just for students to hang out, walk around in their favorite costumes, eat food and play games. You know, standard stuff."

"Yeah, I've really been looking forward to it," Cynthia said, nodding. "I've seen the flyers going around campus! It looks just awesome! I can't believe it's less than a week away! I've got my costume all ready to go, too!"

"Awesome, that's what I like to hear! Then, I'd like you to do me a favor, if you don't mind!"

Cynthia tilted her head to the side, confused by what he was saying. "A favor? What kind of favor?"

"I'd like you to take Maddi out to the Pokemon Festival and show her a good time," Alden explained, smiling.

Maddi's eyes widened and her head shot up, staring at him. She took a few seconds to process what he was saying. Wait. Going out for the festival? Why would I ever want to do that?! I was planning to just stay at home that day because there was no class! Going to a festival? With her?! Absolutely not!

None of these thoughts were spoken, however, Maddi staring at Alden slack-jawed as he laughed.

"With Maddi?" Cynthia asked, glancing at the girl.

"Yeah, see, Maddi's a real good trainer, but because she skipped a few grades, and she just transferred in a little bit ago, she doesn't really connect with any of the students in her classes. I don't think she really has any friends," Alden explained.

That was intentional! Maddi wanted to shout. I'm keeping everyone at a distance so they don't bother me! I didn't come here to make friends! I'd rather be reading, don't you understand that?!

"Oh, that sucks," Cynthia sighed. "I guess it must be hard, skipping grades and not having any classes with people your own age…"

No, it's great!

Cynthia turned to Maddi, her eyes glimmering with pity in a way that made Maddi suddenly feel very uncomfortable. If this redhead hugged her, it was not going to go well.

"Don't worry, Maddi!" Cynthia said, giving her a thumbs up. "My friends and I are great to hang out with! You'll have a blast, I'm sure!"

"That's not the point!" Maddi snapped, finally reaching the end of her rope. "I don't wanna pal around with you and your friends, that sounds like a pain in the ass! Just leave me alone!"

Cynthia and Alden stared at her in shock, Maddi turning pale and looking down, embarrassed at her outburst.

"Look, I don't want to, so leave me alone," Maddi muttered.

"Fine, if that's what you want…" Cynthia sighed.

"…Nope!" Alden chirped, shaking his head. Even Cynthia was startled by this.

"Why not?!" Cynthia exclaimed. "I mean, even she said she didn't want to go to the festival, right?"

"Maddi, it is essential that you get a campus experience," Alden said, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "I don't want an ally that just hides away in her room all the time. Give it a shot, maybe you'll have a good time."

Maddi muttered something, looking away from the Commander. She really, really didn't want to go to the festival, even less so with this first-year who she didn't like. But if she said anything… Alden would wear her down, and it might have a negative effect on her working relationship with him. She didn't want to be on the outs with the other members of the Commander's faction, although she didn't think he would take things that far. Whatever. It was just one day. She'd survive.

"…Fine," Maddi muttered.

"Oh, and that's not all," Alden said, smiling joyfully at her acquiescence. He reached into his shirt pocket, withdrawing two black slips of paper.

"Huh? What're those?" Cynthia asked, curious.

"This is the first time you've heard of it, Cyn, and you too, Maddi, but the Empress enjoys taking the time during events like these to throw some fabulous parties. She's got her dorm building perfectly set up for it by this point, I'd imagine."

Maddi's face went pale. This was a really, really bad sign. She could already tell exactly where this conversation was going. Going to a festival was bad enough, but…

"These are tickets! The Empress sent 'em to me as an act of courtesy, but big parties like that aren't really my thing. So why don't the two of you take these, and go to the party, huh?"

"A party?!" Cynthia's eyes were shining ecstatically. She took the tickets, looking over them. A Pumpkaboo and a Trevenant were on the tickets, along with little stars and sparkles and a cartoon face of Olivia smiling a sneaky smile. It was somewhat adorable. Written on the ticket were the words "costumes mandatory."

Maddi looked like death. She did NOT want to go to a party. But saying that would be too much work. She sighed, and resigned herself to, when the night came, finding a corner somewhere and hiding away for the entire evening.

"Fine, are we done?" Maddi muttered.

"Yup, that's all!" Alden said, smiling. He turned to leave for real this time. "I hope you guys have fun at the party! Tell Olivia 'hey' from me."

Maddi didn't respond to that, and turned away from Cynthia as the girl waved goodbye to the departing seniors. Instead, she glanced at the nurse's station. Her pokeballs were sitting on the counter. She walked over and picked them up, not noticing that Cynthia had gone to do the same. Walking over to the PC to transfer the pokemon to their training area, she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Ooh, this leather is nice!" Cynthia's grating voice piped up. Maddi sighed in frustration.

"Need to use the PC?" She asked, glancing up at Cynthia, peering at her through her bangs.

"No, not at all," Cynthia said, shaking her head.

"Cool. Well, I'm going to head out then," Maddi muttered, shaking loose of Cynthia and walking toward the door. Cynthia grabbed her arm next, much to the girl's irritation.

"Wait, don't go just yet, I still have some stuff to talk with you about!" Cynthia requested.

"I'd rather not…" Maddi sighed. It had been a long day of practice, and she wanted to go curl up with a book in her big armchair back in her room. Not have to put up with Miss Smiley Sunshine fire-head over here and her annoying million-watt smile.

"I just wanted to ask, what are you planning to wear for your costume? I'll tell you mine, so don't wear the same thing, got it? I'm going as a Kirlia, just like my Rose's new form!"

Maddi raised her eyebrow.

"…Costume?"

"Yeah! Didn't you check the tickets?" Cynthia asked, showing Maddi the ticket, pointing out the part where it read "costumes mandatory".

Oh no. No way. Maddi might be going to hang out around the festival out of obligation. She might reluctantly attend a party she didn't want to go to out of a sense of resignation. But there was absolutely no WAY that she was going to be dressing up in some dinky pokemon costume. Absolutely NO way.

"I wasn't going to…" Maddi muttered. Cynthia tightened her grip on Maddi's arm as she tried to pull free. Oh. Great.

"That's no good!" Cynthia objected, shaking her head. "You need to wear a costume if you want to go to the party!"

"Oh my…" Maddi said. "I guess I'll have to miss it then."

Cynthia was not one to be discouraged. She ignored Maddi's sarcasm and stared adamantly at her, shaking her head. She released Maddi's wrist, her eyes scanning over Maddi's body. "No, don't worry! I've got a whole mess of costumes to try on! What are your sizes, huh? You're real slim… not much chest… Unfortunately, you're a head taller than me, that's going to make the alterations difficult… you're almost as tall as Sango, though, so I can probably work with that…"

Cynthia looked at Maddi from all angles, moving around to glance at her body up and down with an appraising gaze. Maddi's cheeks flushed with embarrassment, and she felt herself getting mad. This girl…

"Ah, no need to worry! We're off!" Cynthia chortled, grabbing Maddi's wrist once again and tugging forcefully on her arm, dragging her out of the room. Maddi wanted to fight, she really did. She didn't want to spend any more time around this annoying freshman than she had to… but at the same time, Cynthia was the same kind of annoying as Alden, and she didn't see the girl backing down and leaving her alone any time soon. So she resigned herself to letting Cynthia drag her to wherever it was that the shorter girl wanted to take her.

What the hell… why won't these people just leave me alone? I just want to go home and read…

Maddi sighed in annoyance, not really caring at this point. She'd just tolerate whatever craziness Cynthia had in store for her.


Maybe she was getting in over her head.

That was what went through Maddi's mind as she looked at the eagerness at Cynthia's face. Cynthia had dragged her into her dorm room and sat her down in a chair, rushing over to her closet. Maddi really regretted not putting up more of a fight as she saw Cynthia pull outfit after outfit out of her closet, Maddi growing more and more pale as she saw the costumes pile up, each more skimpy than the last.

"…Cynthia? What's going on?" The other girl in the room, presumably Cynthia's roommate, asked. She was about Maddi's height, Maddi guessed, though it was hard to tell from how she was lounging on her bed in front of her computer, and had a light tan in contrast to Maddi's pale skin. Her long black hair was also slightly better maintained, the tips a lighter shade of black. The girl's complicated, confused expression made it quite clear that she was wondering why her roommate had dragged Maddi, some random punk-dressed girl into their room, and sat her down without a word, and was now was digging out a ton of bizarre costumes of pokemon.

"Hey, Julia! This is Maddi! She's a new friend of mine, working with the Commander and his folks!"

"…I see." The girl, Julia, dryly commented, narrowing her eyes as she gave Maddi the once-over. Maddi didn't really feel anything either way about this girl's feelings towards her, so she didn't really give her a second glance.

"See, she and I got some special tickets to a party being hosted by Olivia! It's on Pokemon Festival Day, and we need to find a bunch of costumes! Sadly, I don't think Sango's gonna be there to hang out with us, but Blake just got back, so it's like the whole gang is all together! And she's gonna join us, too! What do you think? Sound good?"

Julia shrugged, not exactly holding a large opinion about the girl either way. Maddi appreciated that. Julia seemed to be a woman of few words, someone that Maddi could definitely be around. Clearly she was a lot different from her roommate. Hanging out with someone that laid-back, maybe the festival wouldn't be as bad as she expected.

"Now, what costume do you think will look best, Julia?!" Cynthia demanded, holding up a yellow dress that seemed vaguely to resemble a Mawile in one hand, and a fluffy Lopunny bunny suit in the other. "I think she would look real nice as a cool Lopunny, but the Mawile…"

Julia blinked.

"I completely do not care," she replied. Maddi nodded in agreement. This was definitely her kind of girl.

"Oh, come on! This is important! I don't know if I'll be able to come up with a brand new costume out of scratch, so we need to look at what I have on hand!"

Maddi raised her hand.

"Yeah? What?" Cynthia asked, noticing her.

"Can I go? I feel like I don't need to be here for this."

"Are you saying I can dress you up in whatever I want?" Cynthia asked, her eyes shining. Maddi paused. That probably wasn't much better.

"…Actually, no, nevermind," Maddi sighed. She reached into her bag and took out her book, flipping it open, and found her spot again. She ignored Cynthia's rantings going on around her, relaxing as best she could as she tuned out the obnoxious girl.

"…Maddi! Maddi!" Maddi glanced up reluctantly from her book to see Cynthia standing in front of her, holding a white dress and green wig.

"What about going as Ralts? That way it's almost like a theme costume!"

Maddi looked at the pristine white dress, feeling a little more than just disgusted.

"I don't want to go as your little sister," Maddi dryly responded. Cynthia puffed up her cheeks in response.

"Well, what do you want to go as, then? I've been doing all the work here myself, and you've just been sitting here reading! How about telling me what your favorite pokemon is, huh? I have a lot of humanoid costumes, is it one of them?"

Maddi gave the costumes littering the floor and bedspaces a cursory glance. She wasn't entirely thrilled with the selection. Several of them were based on pokemon from Cynthia's team, and she didn't like many of Cynthia's pokemon.

"…Not really," Maddi said, shaking her head. Cynthia sighed.

"Well, fine then. Can you at least took a look?" Maddi glanced at Cynthia. Her eyes were hopeful. She sighed. Well, a look-over wouldn't hurt. She didn't want to wear a costume at all, but it seemed like Cynthia wouldn't let her leave until she picked one out. Furthermore, she knew she WOULD need to dress up as a pokemon to go to the party, and she didn't think that saying "sorry, didn't have one, couldn't go" would be an acceptable excuse to Alden. At the end of the day, he wanted her to go there and mingle. Make connections. It was part of her duty that she had been dreading ever since she joined up with him, but… it wasn't like she had much of a choice, now did she?

Maddi got out of her chair and walked into the center of the maelstrom of outfits, searching for one that, at the very least, would be an acceptable match for her natural sense of style. As she ran her eyes over the various colored fabrics, her breath caught in her throat. She hadn't been expecting someone like Cynthia to have an outfit based on that pokemon, it really didn't seem like the kind of thing she'd be suited towards.

But, well… it was still the only thing that was halfway passable.

"This one is good, I guess," Maddi muttered, holding up the costume to Cynthia's inspection. When the redhead saw what it was, her face brightened and she nodded eagerly.

"Oh, dude, that's an awesome choice! You'll look great! Now, I just need to get your measurements and it'll be all ready for me to make the adjustments!"

Maddi gulped. She didn't like the predatory gleam she saw in Cynthia's eyes, and she certainly didn't like the way the girl was licking her lips in anticipation. It made her feel like a piece of meat. A shiver went down Maddi's back.

It was not the first time that day that Maddi felt like she had made a grave mistake.


Aw, don't worry. I'm sure it'll be fine.