Now, I wonder what will be the fallout of Blake's battle with Akira?
BloodStarGeneral: Well, don't worry, we'll see more of him.
Sonofthetrigod: Don't worry, we'll see soon enough.
Duskzilla: Sounds good.
Daozang: Absolutely.
Mightymareep98: Who knows when it will come…
Martyn: …Why?
Dragon soul45: Probably likely.
Phantom-Jester: That was all lies by Cynthia to get Blake to headbutt the tree for her.
DeviouslyNormal: Okay, well, Weiss didn't take a flamethrower attack at all. Go back and reread. First, he took a Lava Plume, which was massively damaging, then got burned, and then got hit with ember. Neither of those attacks is as powerful as a flamethrower, and they were the only two hits Weiss took the entire battle, and they were enough to pretty much knock him out. I don't think that's unrealistic at all, given the fact that the Slugma is vastly underleveled compared to the Scizor. Also, I think "menace of the school" is a little much. Akira's an okay trainer, but he's not even the best sophomore at the school. The difference between the two is that while Blake has maybe one or two pokemon that are high leveled, Akira has a full team of six. As I stated before, in a six on six battle (which official tournaments are) Akira WOULD have wiped the floor with Blake. It's the difference between someone who plays the game by training their starter up to a high level while the rest of their team is weak vs. someone who trains up a full team. The full team would win in a legitimate match, but if it was a one on one fight then it wouldn't be as easy. Also, considering I've explained exactly zero of Blake's backstory, I think it's a little early to label him a novice.
My Wunderwaffle iz missin: He is pretty strong, but Maggy is also really low leveled.
Regiinator: No problem.
Yamato Hikari: Not accepting new characters right now.
ShaydeZyro: No, only Slugma, Beartic is weak to Scizor.
Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings
Chapter 10
"Okay, does the man of the honor have anything to say?" Cynthia asked, smiling. The sun set on the day as a few hours later, the group was seated in the girl's room, having picked up a few bags of chips and a few large jugs of soda.
"Um, I didn't really need a party…" Blake said, frowning. "I'm already a little uncomfortable about winning that battle…"
"What do you mean?" Nick asked, confused.
"Well, ever since the battle ended, I feel like I've been watched…" Blake said, frowning.
"Well, you are a freshman that defeated a sophomore," Reinar commented. "Pretty solidly, too. I would bet that there are a lot of students interested in you, now…"
"Who knows, maybe you'll get a few love letters pretty soon?" Sango purred, smirking.
"I didn't really want to attract this much attention…" Blake sighed.
All of a sudden, a knock came on the door. Sango hopped up and opened it, seeing Dakota standing in the hallway, smiling.
"Hello, I was wondering if your friend Blake would be interested in an interview?" Dakota asked. "We've got a lot of folks interested in what the victor has to say."
Sango slammed the door in her face.
"It's Dakota."
Dakota knocked on the door again.
The door opened a crack, Sango's hand sticking out holding a cross.
"Back, demon spawn!"
"It's just one interview, guys! That was the whole purpose of it!"
"Go away!" the group collectively shouted.
Sango slammed the door shut.
A little while later, a rattling sound came from the doorknob. Sango walked over and pulled the door open, looking down at Dakota, who was kneeling in front of the doorway, a hairpin in her hand.
"…Hello," Dakota said, flashing her a big smile.
"I'm calling campus security," Julia said, reaching over for the phone. Dakota turned and ran down the hallway, making the "call me" sign while staring at Blake.
"You know, if you don't take her up on the interview, she's probably going to be following you around until you agree," Julia said.
"I definitely will," Dakota said, sticking her head into the doorway.
"Leave," Sango said, slamming the door in her face.
"Come on, Blake, let's keep the party going!" Cynthia cheered, smiling.
"Is that…" Julia asked, staring at the bottle in Cynthia's hands.
"Fruit juice, of course," Cynthia said, winking.
"…Sure it is," Julia said, narrowing her eyes.
Cynthia stared back her, sighing, tucking it under her bed.
"This is my first party with girls," Nick admitted. "What exactly are we supposed to be doing?"
"I was always traveling with my dad, so this is my first party too," Sango said.
"Well, we can watch a movie," Cynthia said, reaching under her bed.
"We're not watching any of your movies," Reiner said, frowning.
"Oh, come on, this one has three brunettes and a-"
"Yeah, watching that stuff in a group like this is just weird," Sango said, frowning.
"And creepy," Blake added.
"Okay, okay, I get it."
"What about truth or dare?" Sango suggested.
"I don't want to play that with Cynthia," everyone else declared in unison, Cynthia fuming at them.
"Oh, hey, we can play Pokemon Battle Festival!" Reiner suggested.
"What's that?" Julia asked, confused.
"It's a video game," Reiner explained. "Basically, we can scan our pokemon into the game and use them to battle each other. That way we can have the fun of a pokemon battle without all the trouble."
"Huh. Sounds like fun."
"No way!" Sango objected, frowning. "If we do that, that means I won't be able to play! I don't have any pokemon that fight!"
"Oh, well, you're able to choose a preselected team," Reiner explained. "To make it more fun, we'll also use the level modifier so all of our pokemon are the same level."
"I'm in," Cynthia said.
"So who's going to battle who?" Blake asked.
"Well, we can have it be random, or we could do some sort of round robin thing," Nick suggested.
After scanning all of their teams into the game, Reiner helped Sango through the process of downloading a pre-loaded team of pokemon.
"Okay, since some of us don't have full parties, we'll do three on three battles," Reiner suggested. "So, first up will be Sango against Cynthia!"
"Sorry about this, Sango," Cynthia said, smiling. "But even if it is a videogame, my team won't go easy on you!"
"Seriously?" Sango sighed. "I don't even know all the moves my guys are capable of…"
After about an hour, everyone had finished playing each other.
"Undefeated!" Sango cheered, holding her fist up in victory.
"How the heck did you do that?" Cynthia demanded. "Hacks! I call hacks!"
"Please, you guys think that you're at my level?" Sango said, cackling in mock-evil laughter. "Come back in another ten years!"
"Wow, I can't believe she beat all of us with a bunch of rental pokemon…" Blake said, surprised.
"True, the simulator isn't a perfect representation of a battle, but Sango did surprisingly well…" Nick said.
"I refuse to accept this outcome! Battle me again!"
"Foolish girl, no matter how many times, it will make no difference!"
They played games throughout the night. The next morning, Blake woke up sore from sleeping on the floor of the girls' room. He sat up, yawning, and looked around the room. Sango was gone while Cynthia was sprawled on the floor drooling into a pillow. Julia, on the other hand, was asleep in her bed. Reiner and Nick were also asleep on the floor, Blake having to step over them to get back to his room. After changing into some normal clothes, he headed outside, maybe to go get some breakfast.
As he was walking down the path to Snorlax Commons, a familiar voice called out to him.
"Hey, Blake!"
Blake turned to see Sango jog up to him, smiling, her face flushed with sweat. Blake glanced at her clothes sticking to her body and made a mental fist pump.
"Hey, what's up?"
"Just going for a morning jog," Sango said, grinning. "Gotta stay in shape, cause people tend to overeat when they're in a new place."
Blake recalled several of Sango's previous "meals" and worried what was considered "overeating" to her.
"Speaking of eating, I was gonna head to Snorlax Commons to get some food, wanna come?"
"Let me check how much time I've got left…" Sango was still jogging in place while they were talking, and checked her watch. "Okay, yeah, I'll only miss a few minutes. It's better to eat right after a big workout anyway!"
The two headed into the lunch hall, and once again ate outside. While Blake got several items that could be considered typical of a normal breakfast, Sango got… well…
Sango's plate consisted of dual towering mountains of ham and eggs, as well as three cups of yogurt and a bagel.
"Are you seriously gonna eat all that?" Blake asked, his plate looking empty compared to Sango's plate, which could have probably sustained a third world country.
"Of course!" Sango said, smiling. "A balanced breakfast is the key to maintaining a good daily workout schedule, silly!"
"Well if by balanced you mean it's the same size as you are, I guess, but where do you put it all?"
"?"
"Well, I mean, you're so skinny, and yet you can eat so much."
"Well, you really know what a girl likes to hear, don't you?" Sango snarked. "This is nothing, I burn a ton of calories with my high energy training. I just finished off a two hour run, after all, and I'll probably go for a bike ride after I've let my food settle."
Blake almost coughed up his orange juice at "two hour run" much to Sango's amusement.
"I might do some running myself, but that's just insane," Blake said, shaking his head.
"Please, this is all necessary to become a Top Ranger," Sango said.
"Top Ranger?" Blake asked.
"Well, yeah. I don't like battles. Becoming a Ranger is what I want to do most of all, and then be a Top Ranger!"
"Wow, I'm impressed that you're so dedicated."
"Well, Rangers are so cool. They get to travel to all sorts of exotic places and meet new people and new species of pokemon. Not only that, but they're on the front line of the battle to preserve the environments that pokemon live in."
"That's pretty noble," Blake said, impressed.
"Yeah, but what's really great about it is the travel!" Sango said, her eyes brightening. "See, I love going to all sorts of new places, seeing the sights, you know, all that stuff."
"…That's less noble."
"Well, see, my dad…" Sango looked down at her food, frowning. "…Never mind."
Her face rose and her expression brightened.
"We should race."
"…What?"
"You and me, we should race! See which one of us is faster! You said you run, right?"
"Well, yeah, but…"
"Come on, do you really think that it's okay for you to train your pokemon but not yourself?" Sango demanded. "You've gotta stay in shape, Blake!"
"Well, of course…"
"Give me one good reason why we shouldn't race!" Sango said, leaning in to stare intensely at him, so much so that Blake could smell the sweat on her clothes.
"…We're eating. It's bad to run after eating."
"…Oh. Right…"
"So why don't you like battling? You seem really good at it, judging from last night."
"I don't want Silver to get hurt…" Sango said, patting her Castform on the head. "See, I like pokemon and like helping them, but I don't like seeing them get hurt…"
"I understand," Blake said, nodding.
"Still, I should be honest with you, I don't mind watching you battle," Sango said, smiling. "Your battle yesterday was pretty exciting."
A flash of light appeared from the side, Sango and Blake whirled around to see Dakota standing beside their table with her camera.
"Dakota!" Blake said, frowning.
"So, after an exciting victory, it seems that Blake is going on a romantic date with another young lady in the freshman class," Dakota said, writing something down on her pad.
"Date?" Blake asked, frowning.
"What about this is romantic?" Sango asked.
"Give me that camera!" Blake said, reaching for the camera, Dakota moving out of the way.
"Well, I need a major story for my article!" Dakota said, frowning. "I need you to give me an interview! Give me an interview or I'll keep following you, got it?"
"Seriously?" Blake asked, Dakota nodding eagerly.
"…Fine."
"Excellent!" Dakota said, sitting down next to them, her eyes gleaming. She held up a voice recorder to Blake, her other hand holding a pencil on a notepad.
Blake leaned back, opening his eyes a little in surprise.
"Okay, Blake, how did you feel immediately after winning your battle with Akira?"
"Um… I was really excited that I won, and I was kind of shocked after it."
"Cool! What about when you first began the fight? Did you expect to do as well as you did?"
"Um, actually, not really. I kind of thought I was going to lose at first."
"What sort of training did you do in preparation for your battle, as well as what kind of training will you be doing for your future battles?"
"Well, I tried to teach my Snivy how to use iron tail, but unfortunately she couldn't figure out how to use it successfully in time. In the future, I'll have to try and get her to master how to use it successfully."
"Hm, indeed, that iron tail would have been quite an impressive blow if it connected."
"Yes, but apparently my training wasn't enough," Blake said, glancing at Sango.
"Hey, that wasn't my fault. Tara must have had cold feet during the fight."
"I see," Dakota said, nodding. She turned back to Blake.
"How did your friends feel about your battle?" Dakota asked. Blake turned to Sango, who looked away nervously.
"They couldn't have been more supportive," Blake said sarcastically, Sango whistling innocently.
"Now, how did your girlfriend react to your victory?" Dakota asked, turning to Sango.
"No," Sango snorted, bursting out laughing. "Oh no, no way, no, no, ha-ha, no, no, no."
"Wow. That's awkward. She gave you eight nos. How does that feel?"
"Can't say it feels good," Blake said, smiling at Sango.
"On another note, if I recall, you had a cute young red-haired cheerleader rooting for you in the match, didn't you? Tell me some stuff about her."
"What does that have to do with the match?"
"Answer the question."
"This doesn't seem relevant."
"It's all part of the story," Dakota said, smiling. "When the girls read this story, they'll want to see some sort of romance, it's all to sell the issue."
"…Yeah, but there's no romance."
"…Really?" Dakota asked, disappointed.
She turned to Sango.
"Really?"
"Really. They are just friends."
"I've known her for a week," Blake continued.
"God, you're so BORING!" Dakota complained. "No one reads the school paper just to see some recapping of an event that they already saw! Where's the drama? Where's the scandal? Where's the fight between Blake and Akira over a cute girl? That's what sells papers!"
"I… don't think it should be that way," Sango said, frowning.
"What are you, TMZ?" Blake asked.
"Well, fine then. Tell me about your pokemon partners, especially the three you used."
"Well, Weiss, my Scizor, has been with me for a long time. He's really strong, and my best fighter."
"Yeah, he was really strong," Dakota said, nodding. "I had no idea that he would be able to defeat a fire type."
"I know, I was surprised, too," Blake said, nodding. "Unfortunately, even after being healed, he's not ready for battling."
"You already told me about your Snivy, what about your Corphish?" Dakota asked. "It seems like he's the star of the hour."
"Yeah, Cory is pretty tough," Blake said, laughing. "He likes fighting a lot, and it's kind of hard to keep him under control. Still, he's a lot of fun."
"Yeah, everyone was surprised he'd managed to defeat that Heracross," Dakota said, nodding. "What about your other pokemon, the ones you didn't use in your battle?"
"Well, two of my pokemon aren't really suited for fighting," Blake explained. "One of them is too weak right now, and the other doesn't really listen to me."
"And the last one?"
"Rogen, my Boldore," Blake said. "He was actually my first pokemon."
"Really? Not your Snivy?" Dakota asked.
"No, I got Tara later."
"Interesting," Dakota said, nodding. "And is it true that after winning you and Cynthia Fafnir were caught making out in stadium closet?"
"…No, we weren't," Blake said, narrowing his eyes.
"Blake confirms that the stadium closet was not where he was making out with Cynthia Fafnir."
"That's not what I said!" Blake said, frowning.
"Nevermind, he WAS in fact making out with her in the closet."
"Cynthia and I never kissed!"
"Apparently, Blake was caught making out with an unnamed party instead of the assumed individual."
"This is insane," Sango said, laughing.
"You can't just make stuff like this up!" Blake said, frowning.
"Hey, I resent that!" Dakota said, frowning. "I'm a respectable journalist, I don't make up anything! This came from a legitimate source!"
"Who?"
"…I'm not at liberty to reveal that."
"Who was it?" Blake demanded.
"Why don't we change the subject?" Dakota asked, smiling.
"Who was the source?" Blake asked.
"Blake, what do you have to say about this picture of you sneaking out of a girl's room this morning?" Dakota asked, holding up a small photo.
Blake's expression went pale.
"How did you develop that so fast?" Sango asked, confused.
"Well, if it's not Cynthia, it certainly looks like you're having a very… interesting relationship with another girl, doesn't it?" Dakota asked, smiling.
"Wait, Dakota…"
"I bet you can't WAIT for the story to come out," Dakota said, smiling cheerfully. "It's SURE to be an amazing seller."
Dakota skipped off, a smile on her face, leaving Blake sitting there as white as a sheet.
Poor Blake.