The new arc begins! Let's bring back some characters who didn't have nearly enough time to shine in the last arcs!

We've got a decent amount of votes in the Pokemon Academy Best Girl Semi-Finals! We're reaching the end, so get in your votes! The frontrunners right now may surprise you, there's a dark horse in the top 3! Make sure to get those votes in, so we can see who makes it to the final round! All the girls are trying their best, let's see who will pull out the win!

Semi-Finalists: Cynthia, Ayame, Sango, Kate, Marion, Alcea

Rosealine gold: Hope you like it!

Just a Bad Writer for Fun: Welcome back! Must've been a heck of a ride considering where you dropped off.

Mercury – Mercuraneous: They'll still bicker, it'll probably just be a little more lighthearted. Claire doesn't really have any relationships that don't involve teasing or bickering, she's exactly like Cynthia in that regard.

Tambry96bj: Well, we'll certainly be catching up with some old characters in this arc, that's for sure.

Aquahaze675: No need to guess, I've explicitly said it before.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 293

Maddi sat up in bed with a yawn, preparing for her day. She changed into a t-shirt with floating Duskull and torn jean shorts for the day, her usual lounging-around outfit. It was finally Saturday, so she could take some time off and relax. She finished brushing her teeth, and combed her black hair over her red left eye, leaving her blue eye to peek out through her bangs. She yawned again and stretched out on her bed, preparing for a short nap. She hooked her earbuds into her ears and reached towards her phone. But just before she pressed the play button and drowned the world out in music, a loud knocking on the door snapping her out of her reverie.

A scowl passed across Maddi's face. Couldn't she just relax in peace?! She stormed over to the door, taking a deep breath to calm herself down before opening it.

"What?" She asked, glancing through the crack in the door.

"Yo, Maddi! What's up?" Cynthia Fafnir was standing at the door, along with some of her friends. There was a short girl, with skin as pale as snow and hair just as white, and a girl with skin the color of chocolate who shrank back at Maddi's irritated glare. And finally there was Blake, the only other one of Cynthia's little friend group that Maddi could remember the name of, giving the goth girl an apologetic look that she ignored. If he was really sorry he wouldn't be here in the first place.

Maddi chose not to answer Cynthia's question and slowly closed the door on her, looking pointedly at her with her one revealed eye.

"Oh, come on Maddi, don't be like that!" Cynthia protested, pounding her fists against the door. "We're meeting to take care of our eggs again! Come on, open up!"

Maddi didn't respond. She walked over to the basket sitting by her bedside, where her brownish colored egg was nestled in with a warm blanket in a pseudo-nursery. She lifted the egg out and cradled it in her arms, climbing into bed and pulling the blanket up to her shoulders. She cranked the volume on her phone up louder to drown out the pounding.

This unfortunately meant that she didn't hear the click of Cynthia picking the lock on her door. Maddi was dozing off, when suddenly she was shaken awake by two self-assured hands. Maddi's eyes snapped open in shock and she leapt up in the bed, startled, her eyes wide.

"What are you doing here?!" Maddi exclaimed.

"Come on, don't be antisocial," Cynthia laughed, slapping the girl on the shoulder. "We're here to hang out, chat, talk about our eggs, come on, we do this all the time!"

Maddi grumbled something incomprehensible at her, shooting Cynthia a death glare.

"This is my relaxing time," she scowled. "And why are you doing this here? If we have to meet, can't we do it in your room like we always do?"

She turned her head to look at Kitty and Nikita.

"Or in their room?"

Cynthia blinked.

"Yeah but you've got a private room so there's way more space."

This girl…! Maddi bit her lip to prevent from losing her temper. She sighed, shaking her head.

"Come on, Blake and Nikita came back early! Now we can all meet up again!" Cynthia laughed. Maddi scowled. She'd enjoyed her free time this past week, not hanging out with the other girls. She didn't mind it TOO much, but she wasn't much one for socializing, and the week off had been a welcome comfort.

One she wasn't ready to give up just yet.

Unfortunately for Maddi, her room had already been invaded. Blake, Kitty, and Nikita were sitting on the floor, pokemon eggs in hand and making half a circle, looking expectantly at Maddi to fill in the rest of it. Cynthia was staring at her hopefully at well.

Maddi sighed and gave up, rolling out of bed and trudging over to the group, plopping down with emphasis so they were clear that she didn't want to be participating right now. Cynthia hummed cheerfully and followed after her, sitting between Maddi and Blake.

"Thanks for having us!" Cynthia said.

Maddi slowly turned her head to face the shorter girl, narrowing her eyes into a heartless, malice-fueled glare.

Cynthia ignored her, taking her egg out of her backpack and cradling it lovingly. She rubbed the snow-blue egg against her cheek and cooed, "oh, you're such a sweetheart, I can't wait for you to hatch, cutie!"

Kitty laughed and rubbed her hands gently over the surface of the sea-blue egg.

"Blake, you must be happy to be looking after your egg again finally," Kitty glanced at him. Blake nodded, looking down at the purple and lavender striped egg in his lap.

"I'm just surprised Nikita brought hers with her on the trip," Blake said, surprised. Nikita puffed up her cheeks.

"Well, I only have five pokemon, so it's okay," Nikita shrugged. She held the coal-black egg to her cheek like Cynthia did, and smiled. "Besides, I just couldn't bear to be parted from my precious little darling! A child needs their mother!"

"Exactly, you totally get it!" Cynthia said, nodding agreement.

"I'm just glad I didn't end up taking care of three eggs," Kitty said. She laughed, but it was a laugh that concealed pain.

"Sorry about that, I had you look after Uni, too," Blake said apologetically.

Kitty smiled, and shook her head.

"I was happy to," she replied. "Uni… she's a very sweet pokemon, and she's been through a lot of hard times. So I was happy to look after her, considering what you told me about her."

"Thanks, Kitty," Blake smiled, reaching up and patting her gently on the head. "You're a really sweet girl."

Kitty giggled, flashing him a cute grin.

A piercing whistle broke the tranquil mood.

"Foul!" Cynthia proclaimed, removing her fingers from her mouth. "That's adultery! No headpatting other girls while you're dating Ayame!"

Blake rolled his eyes.

"Cynthia, headpats aren't cheating."

"Then do me!" Cynthia brazenly requested, lowering her head.

Blake flicked her on the forehead instead, much to her irritation, Kitty giggling again at that.

Maddi wanted to leave, but this was her room.

God, this is irritating…

Sometimes when they all got together to "play" with their eggs, it was tolerable. They had civilized discussions about events going on at school. Other times, the more annoying ones (Blake and Cynthia, the ones that talked) would make a nuisance out of themselves.

"Come on, guys, we're bothering Maddi I think, save that stuff for later," Nikita said, but her voice was a little too quiet to catch anyone's attention. Cynthia and Blake were still bickering in that "half-upset, half-flirting" style they always did. Nikita gave Maddi a look of apology, she wasn't forceful enough to try and step in any more than what she'd done.

Maddi sighed.

"Oh! Right! I almost forgot!" Cynthia said. "Maddi, are you going to the End of Semester Party? The one for first years, not the one on the 21st."

Maddi shook her head.

"I'm not a first year, so-"

"But this is your first year here, right?"

"Still-"

"Wait, what's this about a party?" Blake asked, confused.

"You didn't hear?" Cynthia asked, turning to him. "Yeah, so, there's this thing that the school does every year, in December, specifically for the first years. It's sort of like a 'you've made it through the first semester, congratulations!' party. Basically, it's like a meet-and-greet! It's taking place next week, December 7th!"

That meant next Friday. This was the first Blake and Nikita had heard of it.

"See, normally it's just for freshmen, but since Maddi's a transfer and it's her first year here, I think she should go too, yeah?"

"But I don't want to," Maddi replied. She wasn't really a party sort. And Cynthia wasn't really a listening sort.

"It's a fancy party, too, not like the one Olivia had. It's practically a… what's the word? A soiree! Like prom!" Cynthia explained, excited. "But that's not the only thing. There's also the Winter Tag Tournament to consider, as well!"

That got Blake's attention.

"What do you mean by a tag tournament?" Blake asked.

"Didn't you hear from Akira and Dakota?" Cynthia gave Blake a questioning look. "They won it last time. Basically, all the freshmen pair off with a 'special someone' at the party, and sign up for the tag tournament. Then, over the next two weeks, they go around campus and battle with other couples in order to score the most wins! Then, the team that wins gets to be the tag team of the year! Isn't that so romantic?"

"So this whole party is like one big group date?" Blake clarified.

"Well, yeah, I guess, but it's a group date where you get to dress up in fancy clothes and look nice, you know?" Cynthia shrugged. "I think it's worth going to, yeah? …Also, for freshmen, attendance is mandatory, even though participating in the tournament isn't."

Blake didn't like the sound of THAT.

"Great, so I have to go," Blake sighed. "To this party that's basically an excuse to hook up the freshmen. Oh, yeah, that's gonna go GREAT."

"What, afraid Ayame is gonna get jealous?" Cynthia sniggered. She raised her hand and made a sound like the cracking of a whip. Blake shot her a dirty look in response.

"Come on, it's not that bad," Kitty said. "You… you don't have to make it be a romantic thing. You can go with another guy, you know? It's just about friends…"

"Yeah, Blake! You could even team up with me!" Cynthia said, pointing to herself eagerly. "Doesn't it make sense to team up with the girl who completely trounced your ass in the last tournament?"

Blake scowled.

"Or, you could team up with, like, Nick, or Reiner?" Kitty suggested. Then she gasped, turning to Nikita. "Oh! Umm, I didn't mean to… I mean… you'd want to pair up with Reiner, right? So I guess Blake can pair up with Nick. Er, I mean, if you're even going to participate in the first place, I know you aren't a pokemon battler, so if you don't want to, I didn't mean to presume, I just…"

Flustered Kitty made less frequent appearances, but she was still cute to see when she did rear her little head. Nikita chuckled. She could see where the shy girl was coming from, a little shy herself. She nodded her head.

"It's okay, I am going to participate, now that I know about it," Nikita replied. "See… while we were in Galar, I realized that I don't have a knack for pokemon battles. But… if I'm ever in a situation where I need to battle… I should be prepared. So… I want to try getting a little stronger, I guess? Even though I'm not really used to battling…"

Nikita blushed, glancing down.

"Aww, I think that's lovely," Kitty smiled. "I hope you do good, then."

"Oh, so does that mean you'll be teaming up with Reiner after all?" Cynthia cackled, wiggling her eyebrows. "My, how sweet, I wish I already had a boyfriend in my first semester who I could get all lovey-dovey with and pretend like I was taking the tournament seriously. Win or lose you're sure to make some good memories. And hey, if you do somehow manage to win, then you'll be given the title of cutest couple! Isn't that just the best thing ever? Hah!"

Nikita turned bright red and frantically shook her head in protest.

"Er… actually… I wasn't going to team up with him."

"What, you guys break up in Galar or something?" Cynthia asked.

"No! Nothing like that!" Nikita said, shaking her head even more vigorously. "It's just, well… you know how it is, right?"

She fidgeted in place, hoping Cynthia would understand what she was implying, since saying it was even more embarrassing. No such luck.

"No, I don't know 'how it is'," Cynthia scowled, the bitter tone in her voice a prickly reminder of the fact that she had never had a boyfriend or girlfriend before. Her icy voice drew a gulp from Nikita. "Why don't you explain to me just 'how it is' little miss 'I got a boyfriend in my first semester while Cynthia is still painfully alone'?"

Kitty and Blake glanced at each other, scooting back a little and holding their eggs protectively. Cynthia wasn't in a very good mood right now, that was clear.

"Well, I mean… I'm not a very good trainer," Nikita admitted. "And Reiner… Reiner's really good, and he's really serious about stuff like this, you know? So… I know I'm just going to drag him down. I'd rather he do the best he can, than… be a burden on him."

Cynthia's face softened, that hadn't been the response she'd been expecting.

"…Also, it's embarrassing, you know? Teaming up with my boyfriend in front of everybody?!" Nikita added, glancing away from them and raising her hands to shield her hot face. "Fighting in front of others is bad enough, but with my boyfriend? People talking about us? I'd just die!"

Cynthia scowled. She suspected that was the real reason. Kitty and Blake looked at each other and giggled.

Just go already, Maddi mentally growled at sitcom cast currently occupying her private room. Why are you even still here?!

As if her mental directive had summoned Cynthia's attention, the redhead redirected her eyes towards Maddi and smiled wide.

"Come on, Maddi! Just join us! It's gonna be a lot of fun! Don't you want to join the tournament, too? It'll be a blast, and you'll get to meet a whole bunch of new people!"

Maddi didn't want to meet new people. Maddi wanted to coop herself up in her room whenever she could, or train her pokemon in private, or fight against strong trainers on her own terms. This tournament would be two weeks of going around campus battling random trainers. The two things that Maddi hated the most were disruptions to her status quo, and meeting new people. And this was going to be a whole lot of both.

Even Cynthia wasn't dense enough to miss the prickly aura emanating from the annoyed girl. She squirmed a little, and glanced at the others. It seems her welcome had finally been worn out, and they'd already spent a decent enough chunk of their day caring for their eggs as a group.

"Well, anyway, this was a really good day!" Cynthia said, rising to her feet, rocking her egg back and forth in the crook of her arm. "Still, we should probably get going, right guys?"

The others nodded in agreement, all of them far more skilled at reading the mood of the room than the perpetually optimistic and stupid redhead.

Cynthia tucked her bag out from under Maddi's bed where she'd kicked it, and unzipped it, slipping her egg gingerly inside. She zipped it up and put it on her back with great care, as the others began to pack up as well. Maddi didn't even bother trying to seem polite by hiding her sigh of relief.

"By, Maddi! Have a good rest of your-"

Maddi slammed the door shut behind them, cutting off Cynthia's farewell.

"…Day. Geez, what's she so mad about?" Cynthia questioned, turning back to the other three. No one was willing to answer, considering the lack of self-awareness Cynthia had about how invasive and pushy she could be.

They headed down the hallway of the small private dormitory building, Cynthia leading the way as usual. Blake was taking up the back of the group, which was why he was the only one who heard the click of a door shutting as he walked past it. He turned and glanced over his shoulder, but he didn't see anything unusual. Shrugging, he continued walking down the hallway.

Later that day, Maddi was getting some private training done, making use of the Commander's private facilities.

"Madison."

Maddi raised her head to see the stern Vic standing at the door of the training room, her expression cold as always and her sharp bowl cut of black hair as immaculately perfect as her uniform.

"…Yeah?" Maddi asked.

"The Commander wants to speak with you in his office," Vic replied. She seemed even more pissy than she usually did.

Maddi raised her eyebrow, that was unusual. She was often left to her own devices. But she nodded her head regardless, and recalled her pokemon to their pokeballs, exiting the training room and heading for his office.

"Commander." Maddi entered the room and stood at attention, saluting. She didn't like doing it, but if she didn't, Vic would get mad at her, and that would be even more annoying. Looking up from the papers on his desk, the Commander turned his golden eyes at her, and nodded.

"At ease."

Maddi relaxed, and walked over to him, sitting down in one of the arm chairs in front of his desk.

"You wanted to see me?"

"Yes, Maddi, I wanted to talk about your position in our community," Alden explained, tenting his fingers in front of his face.

"My… position?"

"You're a junior thanks to your special circumstances, but you're still the same age as the other first years," Alden reminded her. "And since this is technically your first year here, I was concerned that you haven't really had the opportunity to build connections with the student body in your time here so far. It's something I'm concerned about."

Maddi was growing concerned too. Not about her lack of connections, but about what it sounded like he was suggesting.

Oh god. He wouldn't. He isn't.

"Right now, we're in a very tumultuous time," Alden explained. "We need to spread our influence in order to fight against the Phantom. That means that we need to be making more connections than ever, especially among the first years who haven't joined any groups yet."

Oh no. He is.

"Have you heard about the Freshman Winter Tag Tournament?" Alden asked. Maddi glumly nodded her head.

"Even though you aren't technically a freshman, I explained your circumstances to the faculty, and they agreed to let you attend the party," Alden said. "You and Cynthia can use this opportunity to meet people and find more strong trainers who would be willing to join us. This is something that only the two of you can do."

"But I don't want to go."

Alden sighed, shaking his head.

"Look, Maddi, I know you aren't much one for parties, but this is important. As one of my future Frontier trainers, you're in a position to really help our efforts. I could really use your help on this, okay? Besides, you might even have fun."

Maddi sighed. There was no way she was getting out of this, was there?

"I'm not wearing a dress."

So the Winter Tag Tournament arc is officially starting! This one's gonna be a little less official than the Fall Festival Tournament, and won't take nearly as long. (I hope…) I wonder who everyone's going to pair up with?