In this chapter of the party, we get to see who the other characters in the group get to partner up with! It should be interesting, and maybe there will even be some surprises in the pairings!

The Pokemon Academy Best Girl Semi-Finals Round has ended! Here are the rankings for the final votes!

Sango: 11

Ayame: 9

Marion: 9

Kate: 8

Alcea: 8

Cynthia: 8

Now that was a surprise. Cynthia, who received the most votes by far in the Elimination Round, was knocked out in the Semi-Finals! I had been expecting her to go all the way to the finals, too! It seemed everyone had her in the Top 5, but not Top 3. Meanwhile, Marion, the dark horse, slips into the Top 3 as well! Now, we're in the real deal, the finals! The big cheese, where everything comes down to it! Who's your best girl? No hedging your bets, no ties, this time you only get one vote, so make it count! Will Sango, the Ranger unlucky in love win? Will it be Ayame, Blake's girlfriend, the running ace? Or will the dark horse Marion, the Fishing Girl, be able to continue her meteoric rise to the top? Cynthia, Kate, and Alcea did their best, and it was only by a single vote that one of them wasn't in the Top 3 instead. Maybe next time they'll be able to pull through, but in the meantime, these three are you finalists! Who's going to win, and be crowned the Pokemon Academy Best Girl? Get your votes in, this one is for all the marbles, and the poll is already up!

Finalists: Sango, Ayame, Marion

Aquahaze675: No, she definitely does not. And don't tell her, either.

Rosealine gold: Who Maddi will team up with may surprise you.

Badoobadoop: Cynthia's always so cheerful and positive, when she cries you know it really means something.

Mercury – Mercuraneous: It's almost like it was planned that Cynthia's partner would have the advantage over Blake's ace and Blake's partner would have the advantage over Cynthia's ace. Nah, couldn't be.

ConfusedCradily: And you thought Blake and Cynthia would be overpowering. There's a reason this tournament is meant to have less dramatic tension than the last one.

Thunder Fire: …Well, they're MY favorites.

Tambry96bj: Well, maybe she's learned something since then. …Okay, yeah, really doubt it. Her reaction should be interesting though. But maybe they can keep it a secret as long as Cynthia doesn't go blabbing about it. Shouldn't be a problem, she's a very thoughtful person who doesn't just say things without thinking.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 297

Caelia had only come to this party because attendance was mandatory. As a first year, she was required to make an appearance there. Of course, she normally would have disregarded that anyway, and stayed in her room, but she was here for another reason.

That reason was to see Blake Harker.

She had heard that he would be gone for two weeks. So she had locked herself in her room for two weeks, wanting to see him. But it had turned out that he had only been gone for one. That meant she had missed a full week of getting to see him, and she was making up for lost time. If attendance was mandatory, than that meant he was here, as well, and she would be able to speak with him.

So why instead was someone she didn't care about at all getting in her way right now?

"You're Caelia Auburne," Cynthia smirked, standing in front of the one-eyed girl. "I remember you. You use fire type pokemon!"

Caelia had nothing to say to the girl. But she could see Blake standing behind her, talking with his friends. She made a move to step around the redhead, but the girl corrected her path to block her once more. So Caelia stepped the other way, and the girl stepped in front of her again. It was clear that she was getting in the way of Caelia speaking with Blake. That was not an acceptable action. Caelia considered lashing out at the girl to force her way through. But she knew that this girl was Blake's friend. And if she hurt Blake's friend in front of him, he wouldn't like that. So she restrained herself. It seemed the only way to get this girl to move was…

"What do you want?" Caelia demanded, her voice blunt and cold, cutting through Cynthia's attempts at small talk. Cynthia blinked, a little surprised that the girl who had been blank to the point of seeming emotionless was finally opening her mouth and saying something, even if was just a demand to get her to shut up.

Cynthia cracked a smile. Now they were getting somewhere.

"Have you heard of the Tag Team Tournament?" Cynthia asked. She took Caelia's lack of a response to mean no. "Well, guess not. See, the way it works, we team up with a student and-"

"I don't care," Caelia cut her off. "Done?"

"…Well, you're just like I remember," Cynthia said. She glanced down. "Your leg looks better."

Caelia had been informed last week she no longer needed her brace. It didn't matter, she never felt her leg hurt in the first place.

"Can I go?"

"First, I want you to team up with me," Cynthia grinned, holding up her thumb and pointing at herself. "Come on! Let's join the tag tournament together! We can go register as a team right now, what do you say?"

"No."

Well, that response was within Cynthia's expectations, so she wasn't deterred in the least. She grinned good-heartedly and shrugged.

"Come on, why not? Don't you like pokemon battles? You joined the Fall Festival Tournament, didn't you? So why not join this one?"

"I'll team up with Blake," Caelia replied. "Don't need you. Just Blake. Blake and I will be a team, now get out of the way."

Cynthia sighed.

"Well, that's gonna be a little difficult for you."

Caelia's blue eye blinked. She didn't understand what this girl was talking about. She peered over Cynthia's shoulder. Blake was still talking to his friends. She was going to go talk to him. She and Blake would work perfectly together as tag team partners. She would get to show him how good her pokemon were, and he would be happy for her help.

"You see, Blake's already teamed up with someone else," Cynthia replied, her eyes shining with a conspiratorial glint. "So I don't think he's going to be able to team up with you at the same time, sorry about that."

Caelia blinked. She wanted the girl to be lying. But if she was telling the truth…

"See, I wanted to team up with him too, but apparently, he's teaming up with someone else," Cynthia sighed. "What a bummer, right? He didn't even think twice, he already knew who he wanted to team up with."

"Who?" Caelia demanded, Cynthia surprised by the sudden spark she saw in the girl's eye, like she'd risen from the dead.

So she is interested after all… perfect!

"Oh, a certain young lady named Elaina Bishop," Cynthia replied. "She's a rather tough trainer, I think you might have heard of her? She WAS the winner of the Fall Festival Tournament, after all, so even you must know who she is."

Caelia vaguely remembered her. But until now, she didn't really bother giving the girl any attention at all. She had no idea that Blake would choose to team up with her, and she didn't really care why. She decided that she would find that masked girl and make her pay.

"I'm sure you're thinking of going to battle her right now?" Cynthia asked. "You like Blake, don't you? It's pretty obvious, I figured it out when were together on Pokemon Day."

"I do," Caelia nodded. "Blake belongs with me."

Cynthia decided that mentioning Blake's girlfriend would probably not be the right step to make right now, so she tried focusing Caelia's attentions towards the tournament.

"Well, Elaina's a really powerful trainer, you know. She did win the whole Fall Festival Tournament. So if you want Blake to notice you… then it makes sense that you should defeat her, right? Then he'll realize what a fool he was for choosing her over you."

Caelia nodded slightly. That made sense. She'd just have to defeat the masked girl, and then Blake would understand that the two of them belonged together. It was really easy the way the girl was making it sound, it was just like when she'd fought Alcea. She'd lost that match, but she wasn't going to lose this time.

"So that's why I was thinking, that the two of us should team up," Cynthia explained. "You see, I feel the same way as you! Let's work together and take Blake and Elaina down, what do you say, Caelia? Wanna join up?"

Caelia's eye widened slightly in surprise and her face hardened. She narrowed her eye into a cold glare that made Cynthia flinch. The fierce aura coming off the girl was something she wasn't prepared for, considering Caelia so often carried a detached air of not really giving much of a damn about anything. Now it seemed she was mad… at CYNTHIA.

"You feel… the same? Same as me?" Caelia rasped, taking a step closer. "Same. Same about Blake… same as me…"

Oh, whoops. Crap.

"No, no, that's not what I meant!" Cynthia laughed frantically, holding her hands up quickly to dissuade Caelia's poor understanding. "No, no, I just meant that I also wanted to team up with him for the tournament! Because I wanted to win! I don't like him the way you do, we're just friends! I don't feel the same way like that!"

"…Oh," Caelia said, nodding. She paused for a second. "…Sorry."

Well, that was an improvement at least, Cynthia hadn't expected an apology from the girl. But it certainly worked to her advantage either way. Calming down, Cynthia smiled broadly and shook her head, dismissing the concerns.

"Don't even worry about it! Now then, let's get you and me signed up! We'll team up and show Blake what we're capable of!" Cynthia patted Caelia on the shoulder, smiling brightly. They had the passion and energy of a full person between the two of them, and Cynthia was certainly enthusiastic enough to sweep the uncaring girl up in her wake.

"…Yes. And then when we win… Blake will see my skills… want to be with me… perfect…" The smallest hints of a smile began to cross Caelia's face, but it was the kind of smile that Cynthia wasn't exactly at ease to see. It seemed… off.

…Wow, she's really on that whole "I want to be with Blake thing, huh…" Cynthia noted. She'd thought that Caelia was just a strange, awkward girl who was a powerful trainer and had a crush on Blake. But there was something about her that seemed a little… Like maybe she was more to this crush than she was aware of.

Well, I mean… it should be fine, right? We just won't mention Ayame, that's all. This girl's certainly an odd one, and she definitely is a little more into Blake than is probably healthy, but it's not a big deal! We'll put that jealousy of hers to work, and with her help, we'll definitely give Blake and Elaina a match worth fighting!

With that stupidly optimistic perception of the future, Cynthia was already envisioning the match against Elaina and Blake, not concerned in the slightest about the potential danger she'd be fighting beside, nor was she concerned about the potential danger that the concept of fighting against Elaina represented in the first place.

Meanwhile, more people were pairing up, mainly people pairing up into couples. It seemed that the party atmosphere was having the intended effect, and boy-girl pairings were popping up. It was like desperate folks on the eve of Valentine's Day, not wanting to end up alone. The Year-End Party where the winners were crowned was on the horizon, a dance for all the students to attend, and this was yet another method of getting people to join in on the romantic atmosphere.

But while Blake had already partnered up with someone that he was not intending as a romantic partner, things weren't going as smoothly for his friends, who were all still looking for partners of their own.

Julia was the one who first broached the topic, seeing as she was that kind of person. She was looking forward to teaming up with Kitty, since the short girl was a really close friend, and the idea of hanging out together and fighting their opponents together was something that made her feel happy. They'd both trained a decent amount, and Julia was looking forward to seeing how far her friend had come in comparison.

"Hey, Kitty!" Julia said, the shorter girl turning to look up at her.

"Hm?" Kitty asked, blinking her big red eyes.

"Let's team up! You and me, sound good?" Julia asked. Kitty flinched. She looked a little uneasy, which confused Julia.

"Um…" Kitty looked down, and shook her head. "…Sorry."

Julia blinked, her mouth twisting into an "O" shape in response.

"O-ooh, I… I see…" she said. Kitty had been getting distant from her in the past few months, since the truth about her harmonia had come to light. So it wasn't like Julia was THAT surprised by hearing Kitty didn't want to team up with her. But it didn't make her feel less lonely. She and Kitty didn't spend that much time together anymore, not like they had before, and she was hoping that this would be the chance for the two of them to come together as friends again.

Kitty raised her head to look up into Julia's eyes. The glum expression on her face told Julia that she wasn't entirely against the idea, and maybe part of her WAS sad that they wouldn't be fighting together. But there was something else, a spark in those big, expressive eyes of hers that was saying something else entirely.

"Julia… I… I want to fight you," Kitty said, her voice as soft as always but still sounding resolved to accomplish what she wanted. "I want to fight you in a real battle, and I mean… I can't do that if we're on the same team, so…"

"Sorry."

Julia nodded. She understood, and a soft smile crossed her face. Hearing that from Kitty? Well, she couldn't really say no to such an adorable look of resolve. She nodded her head, showing Kitty that she was okay with it.

"Then I'll see you there," Julia said, cracking a smile. "Let's both make an effort to do our best!"

"Nn!" Kitty grinned, nodding eagerly, clearly relieved that Julia wasn't upset about her decision. She didn't want their friendship to fall apart over something like this. And she already had a good idea of who she wanted to team up with, too.

"Nikita?" Kitty asked quietly, turning to the other shy girl of the group.

"Huh?" Nikita asked, a little surprised to be addressed. She was in the process of thinking about who she should pair up with, so lost in thought as she often was that she had completely zoned out on the entire conversation between the two girls. "Uh, what?"

"Wo-would… would you, um…" Kitty stammered her way through the words, her pale face flushing with color brighter than it normally did thanks to the contrast of the color of her dress. She took a deep breath, trying to look confident. "Would you like to team up with me? For the tag tournament, I mean. Be my partner?"

"Huh?!" Nikita gasped, surprised. "M-me?!"

"Nikita?" Reiner said, as shocked as his girlfriend.

"Whooo," Julia whistled. "Trying to steal the man's girl, huh? That's a bold move, Kitty, I wouldn't have expected it."

Kitty's confidence faltered as her embarrassment grew, her face turning an even deeper shade of crimson.

"N-n-no!" She wailed. "I just meant teaming up as friends, Julia! Not… like that, it's not what you think! I-I like! I like…"

Kitty realized she couldn't say it and her voice shut down into a quiet little "meep", lowering her head. She suddenly couldn't look the taller girl in the eye.

"But… but I suck at pokemon battles," Nikita said. "Why not Reiner or Nick or someone like that? Why do you want to team up with me?"

"…Be… because…" Kitty said, looking away, giving Blake a crimson gaze. "Because you're so shy… See, I… I wasn't… I'm not… I was weak, and shy, and… I was having a hard time getting better. And as you can see, well… I'm still not all the way there. But what you said before, about wanting to be a better trainer… I really felt that."

She turned back to Nikita, looking up at the girl with eyes glistening purely.

"So if you want… I want to help you, if I can…?" Kitty explained. "Is… is that okay?"

Nikita wasn't sure what to say. She glanced at Reiner, then back to Kitty.

"Reiner, is that?"

"What? Is it okay?" Reiner asked. "Yeah, I mean, I wanted you to team up with me for the tournament, Nikita, because I wanted us to fight together. But if you want to team up with Kitty instead, that's okay. I'm not going to say you can't, after all."

Nikita sighed in relief.

"Okay, good," she said. "I mean, I do want to team up with you, Reiner, of course I do! Because I mean, it's a little embarrassing, teaming up with my boyfriend, you know? In front of everyone? Plus, I know you really like battling and I don't want to drag you down and I don't want to be rambling right now but I still am so can you just, um, say it's okay that I can do it so I can stop explaining please because I really need to breathe and you're not saying anything and-"

"It's fine, it's fine, you can breathe," Reiner cut in, Nikita taking a deep breath and sighing.

"Sorry, I just kind of… ran away there," Nikita said. She turned to Kitty and smiled. "Yeah, I would like to team up, if that's okay?"

"Yeah!" Kitty smiled brightly, nodding her head. "Let's do it!"

The two shy girls smiled at each other, happy that they could come together on this.

"Well, those two are teaming up together, I guess that's that," Reiner sighed. "I guess that leaves you and me, huh Nick?"

"Hey!" Julia cut in. "Why is it that you get to be the one to team up with Nick, huh?"

Reiner scowled, turning to the girl.

"We're roommates, of course it's okay for us team up, what's the problem?"

"You're just running to Nick because your girlfriend dumped you," Julia smirked.

"Look who's talking, you're pretending that Nick was your first choice?" Reiner asked. "You wanted to team up with Kitty."

Nick looked between the two, and very quickly realized he was in the unenviable position of being the odd man out. He looked over at Sango and Aidan. This was the problem with the number of trainers in their group being an odd number. He sighed.

"Guys."

"Hmm?" Julia and Reiner both looked up at him.

"Someone already asked me to join, and I told them yes," Nick said. "Before the party even started. Sorry, I can't team up with either of you."

"…Just because Callie is short, that doesn't mean she can join the tournament," Reiner replied.

"Yeah, that isn't how this works," Julia agreed.

"It's not her!" Nick frowned. "Look, is it so hard to imagine that I have friends outside of you guys that want to do stuff with me?"

Reiner and Julia looked at each other, thinking it through. They turned their attention back to Nick.

"Yes," they said in unison, with no hesitation whatsoever.

"Seriously?!" Nick scowled.

"Because you're really shy," Julia explained.

"And you don't really have any hobbies where you'll meet people, since Callie is so possessive of you," Reiner added.

"Plus you don't have any story presence," Cynthia pitched in, having returned to the group just in time to overhear the discussion.

"You guys suck!" Nick exclaimed.

"Well, there goes plan B," Julia sighed.

"Well, I'll have to find someone else to team up with then," Reiner shrugged.

"…Why don't you two just team up?" Cynthia asked, confused.

"Eh?"

"What?"

Julia and Reiner glanced at each other, then back to Cynthia.

"Us?!"

"Yeah, why not?" Cynthia shrugged. "You two never do stuff together on your own, so this could be good for your friendship."

"Yeah, because he's always burying his head in his studies," Julia scoffed, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"And she's pretty rude herself, she's not a very social person," Reiner said, shaking his head, scowling back at her.

The two were in mutual agreement, this was not what they wanted to do.

"…Well, is there anyone else?" Cynthia asked.

Reiner and Julia took a moment to look across the ballroom. Nearly everyone was talking in tight groups of even numbers. There wasn't really anyone left who was hanging around by themselves, or even a group of odd-numbered people to chat with.

"Look, if you guys don't want to team up together, that's totally fine," Blake shrugged. "Still, Cynthia's got a point. This could be good for you."

"…Well, I'm sure Nikita doesn't want me teaming up with another girl," Reiner protested, glancing at his girlfriend.

"Oh, I think it's a wonderful idea! Don't worry, I trust you!" Nikita smiled, giving him a look that screamed "don't use me as your excuse asshole."

"I think it's great too, Julia!" Kitty nodded. "I really want to fight you and Reiner, don't you think it would be fun?"

Julia wilted, unable to resist that beaming smile. The two glanced at each other. It wasn't like they hated each other, it's just… they didn't have anything in common. They were both more loner types, and they often clung to the outside… and certainly not to each other! The idea of having to spend two awkward weeks hanging out with the other…

But the alternative was not joining, and not being able to compete with their friends, and for a competitive duo like Reiner and Julia, that seemed even worse.

"…Fine," Julia sighed.

"Could be worse," Reiner admitted.

"Yay! This is gonna be great!" Nikitia said, holding up her hands.

"You said it!" Kitty agreed, jumping up to give her a double high-five. It was like a double-date! Even if Julia wasn't really dating her, but that was just a technicality.

"I'm glad, you guys look like you're having fun," Blake laughed.

"You battlers always have fun, it seemed," Sango smiled. She'd spent the evening hanging on the outskirts, watching with Aidan. Seeing her friends getting so into battling… it made her feel like she was missing something.

Oh, well, no sense feeling sad about it. Sango let out a sigh, and yawned.

"Congrats, you guys," Sango said. "It sounds like this is gonna be a fun tournament for you."

"Where are you going?" Aidan asked.

"Ah, don't worry about it," Sango said, shaking her head. "Just feeling a little stuffed in this room is all, too much battling musk, you know?"

She laughed.

"Nah… just gonna get some fresh air is all," she explained, heading towards the balcony.

So it looks like everyone's got their partners now! How will the tournament go, I wonder? The party concludes tomorrow! Don't forget to vote, everyone!