Time for the final battle to begin! Lisia vs. Olivia, fought on-stage between to coordinators doing their best to show off the coolness of her pokemon. Will the Empress's secret weapon be able to defeat Lisia's Altaria? We'll have to find out! Remember to review!

KedharS: Believe me, those are far from a secret.

JoshGamerV: Hopefully it will be impressive enough to meet your expectations.

Rosealine gold: It should be good.

MikySP: That just goes to show how good her performance was.

Aquahaze675: Sango's not buying it, but it was certainly adorable, even as forced as it may have been. It was still amazing though, even if it was a lie.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 447

Cynthia was squirming in her seat, staring up at the stage. This was just killing her! This was the last contest of the day, with Olivia taking on the starring role. And playing opposite her was the contest sensation Lisia! This was a match for the ages, and the stands were PACKED! Their party of seven had been joined by Danica, Allen, and Eli, the ten of them adding to the growing tide of anticipation rolling over the spectators.

"Lisia's going first, and Olivia is going last," Sango said, checking the playbook. "Is that good? Olivia's won the previous contests doing her introduction last."

"It's not that simple," Lukas said, shaking his head. He pressed his hands together in front of his face and sighed. "If you're going last, that means you have the chance to make a big impact, a climax that you can capitalize on. But at the same time, if you're going first… you have the chance to seize the initiative and capture the flow of the audience. There have been many instances of the person going first making such a big impact on the spectators that the following appeals and introductions don't sway the audience at all, and they just run away with the whole thing. And by the time you go as the last person, the audience may just be like 'whatever' when they see your performance. When the Empress goes first on appeals, she often has that impact. Lisia too. So I guess…"

"It's going to be a competition to see which of them will have a greater impact on the audience, from first and last place," Eli said, taking up the slack as Lukas tried to figure out how to say it. "In other words, the Introduction Round is the beginning of the battle. Whoever wins here will go on to make their Appeal first, and the other will probably be second."

The notion that someone could beat either Olivia OR Lisia besides each other didn't even cross Eli's mind.

"So what are her chances?" Cynthia asked.

"We can't say," Allen shrugged. "In the end, it all comes down to the pokemon. Which pokemon will make the best appeal? That's what we'll have to see. But I believe in the Empress. Her skill is the real thing."

However, Olivia didn't share her subordinate's confidence, at least not entirely. There was a pounding in her chest as she waited in her changing room for the contest to start. He did a double-check. Long, straightened hair? Perfect. Sharp makeup? Perfect. Outfit? A sleek black cleavage-revealing coat long in the back and short in the front, with tight black jeans and stylish shoes? Better than perfect. Even her nails were perfectly manicured, she was the coolest version of herself that she could be, everything would come down to the performance now.

She stared down at the pokeball sitting on her makeup table. She picked it up and pressed it to her chest, sighing. "It's just the two of us now, from the very beginning again. Let's go out there and win, partner."

She rose from her seat and put on a perfect smile, strutting out into the waiting area for the other competitors.

"Hey, Olivia!" Lisia's face brightened up as she saw Olivia. "Ready to give it our best, Liv?"

Lisia was putting the last touches on Ali, her Altaria, running her brush through his cotton down to fluff it out just as perfectly as she could. Olivia smiled at Lisia and nodded her head.

"I'm looking forward to it. Your performances have been amazing, to act on the same stage as you, my heart…" Olivia held her hand over her chest, feeling the pounding of her heart, her cheeks flushing with excitement. She sighed. "It just can't be stopped."

"I'm looking forward to it, too," Lisia grinned. "Your performances are always so… interesting! See you out there!"

Lisia turned back to Ali, leaving Olivia to take a quick look. The other two competitors were there as well, putting the finishing touches on their pokemon. A girl in a stylish black dress was brushing the fur of an Absol, and a man in a tuxedo was assessing his Lucario as the pokemon made fluid movements. Olivia let out a breath. The pokemon were certainly cool, but they wouldn't hold a candle to either her or Lisia.

Hearing the crowd go silent behind the curtain, Olivia felt herself relax. The announcements were beginning. Listening to the MC, Miki, a tall girl in red with blue hair cropped into short spikes, Olivia prepared herself. The participants had a special window onto the stage to observe their competitors, and Olivia planned to make full use of it. Lisia burst out of the curtain and pranced onto the stage, Ali flying through the air behind her and landing down in the center. Lisia waved to the audience and blew kisses, spinning around as the crowd cheered her on.

Of course, it was an amazing introduction. Olivia wouldn't have expected any less from the girl she looked up to.

The second competitor made his introduction, and Olivia's heart began racing even faster. Her time was coming up. She took a few breaths to calm her nerves as she watched the Lucario and his trainer walk out onstage. A minute later, and it was her name being called next.

Putting on an elegant smile, she strutted through the curtain and carried herself confidently out onto the stage, her fingers wrapped tightly around her partner's pokeball. She let out a silent, imperceptible sigh, raised her hand, and threw the pokeball into the air.

"Now, come come, my dear!" Olivia declared. "Cynthia!"

Cynthia sat upright in her seat at Olivia's declaration.

A flash from the pokeball engulfed the stage, and from within it a dark blue shape emerged. The large pokemon landed on the ground. Her slender and muscled body was covered in dark blue scales, her clawed arms ending in long, sharp fins like those of a shark. Her heavy tail thudded against the stage, flicking behind her. She tilted her long, angular head back, and let out a deep roar, "GARCHOMP!" from within her sharp-toothed mouth and deep gullet. The force of the pokemon's strength, the pokemon who carried the name of the woman that Olivia so idolized, the woman who had saved her life all those years ago.

The crowd went wild at the sight of the awesome pokemon standing beside the beautiful woman, cheers as loud as those Lisia and Ali had received, easing the tension in Olivia's chest. This was what she wanted, to stand on the same stage as her idol, to present herself as the best that she could be and compete head to head.

This is only the Hyper Rank… but I'm sweating like I'm already at the Master Rank, competing on the finish line… those were the worrying thoughts hidden behind Olivia's perfect mask of a smile as she bowed, turning and walking to the side of the stage where the other coordinators were watching. The introductions were complete, and now the real battle was beginning.

The order was decided. That would be the first shot fired in the match. Whoever placed first here would have an edge up in the next round, demonstrating their coolness was in the lead. Olivia watched the rankings as the judges tabulated their scores.

There it was. Lisia and Ali were ahead of her and Cynthia by just the fragment of an inch. Olivia didn't let her frustration reach her face, remaining as composed as ever. She would be going right after Lisia, which, in a lot of ways, would be a good position to be in. If she wanted to compete against her rival, the best way to do it would be to go second. Lisia's performance would be fresh in the minds of the judges and the audience, which meant they would be comparing the two to see if Olivia beat Lisia's performance.

I wanted to fight her head-on, well, it looks like I'm about to get my wish, Olivia noted, her competitive spirit flaring up. In other words, I won't be able to win this competition, unless the judges look at Cynthia and I and decide that I deserve to win over Lisia. The gap between them was shorter than a single point. Which meant Olivia just needed to get a point over Lisia, and she and Cynthia would be the victors.

Easy to say that, anyway. If Lisia got a perfect score as she so often did, well… that would be it for Olivia, she and Cynthia would lose by that slim margin.

This is exactly the situation I want to face! Olivia crowed, walking backstage as the announcer proclaimed Lisia and Ali's names to the cheering crowd, Lisia stepping out onto the stage.

Lisia took a bow, and behind her, Ali spread his wings and took off into the air. He shot through the sky like a bullet, performing loops and spins over the heads of the audience. Cotton rained down upon them as he did, people gasping out in amazement and excitement as they reached out to grab the gossamer down.

That was fine though. Olivia had expected as much. Lisia often began with agility when competing in coolness contests, nothing to worry about there.

"You're gorgeous, Ali! Just magnificent!" Lisia called. "Now, it's showtime! Let's put some smiles on those faces and really rock this house!"

"Altaria!" Ali chirped, turning as he reached the end of the hall, and as he did, his wings burst into flame, the audience gasping in surprise. Flames of red, blue, and violet roared around Ali as he hovered in place, energy rising around him in a powerful dragon dance. Lisia raised her hand and snapped her fingers, and from the stage ceiling, large rings dropped down, suspended over Lisia like a series of gallows that marked Olivia's fate. She swallowed, and clenched her hand, willing herself not to be nervous. But she could feel it, the anticipation welling up in her chest. Lisia was sure to have something amazing planned, she always did.

As the rings swayed, Ali tilted his head back, and fired a stream of flames shining a myriad of colors across the hall. People gasped in fear and some shielded their faces as they stared up at the fire roaring above them, but there was no need. Lisia and Ali would not be so careless as to allow their beloved fans to be burned! Indeed, Ali's control was so precise that not even a spark fluttered out of the dragonbreath attack to unwittingly land on an onlooker; no, the flames moved streamline, like a river of color, burning only what it needed to. The flames struck one of the rings and it was lit ablaze. With a tilt of his neck, Ali move his beak like nozzle of a firehose, but in this case it was spreading a fire in a single concentrated burn, until a rainbow of flames crackled over Lisia's head. The stream petered off, to the audience's amazement, tumbling down like glitter and dispersing long before it ever landed on them.

Lisia snapped her fingers again, and Ali was off. He shot forward like a bullet, at a speed that could only be explained by an aerial ace boosted by a dragon dance and enough agilities to max out the stat entirely. So fast, Ali would have been moving beyond sight if not for the streaks of color he made from the dragon dance.

It was clear what the plan was. At this blinding speed, Ali would maneuver through the sequence of burning rings. Simple, but effective.

…And completely impossible. Ali was moving so fast, he should barely be able to see what he was aiming at. Not only would those rings be a tight squeeze normally, but they were on fire. And the path itself was nearly impossible to thread as it were. With turns on the point of a needle, hoops angled just right, and more than a few elevations and backtrackings, to maneuver through the airborne labyrinth at such a speed would be unthinkable.

But it was Lisia, and Lisia never messed up a performance. That was something Olivia could be certain of.

Ali shot through the first ring, a trail of color behind him to mark his path. His speed was so fast the vacuum in his wake extinguished the blaze immediately. He moved through the next ring and the next in the blink of an eye. He moved through the sharp turns, the loops, even the hoop that required him to go through and make a 180 degree overhead u-turn into a 90 degree turn, all without a single dip in his speed. It was unreal. And when he passed through the last hoop and extinguished the remaining flames, it was so matter-of-fact that Olivia couldn't help but be awed. Ali pulled to a stop over Lisia's head, so sudden the flames gathered around him burst out in a small explosion of fireworks.

Ali tilted his head back and called "Altaria!" and his body began to glow with a blinding light. He prepared a sky attack, shooting across the stadium wreathed in light as his finale, the hall burning with a multitude of colors as the audience applauded. Ali slowed and returned to Lisia's side, without even a single bit of cotton singed.

The audience roared with applause, Lisia and Ali both taking a bow. Olivia's shoulders dropped as she let out the breath she was holding. The results were tallied, but Olivia knew what they would tell her. Amazing as always. Nearly as amazing as her uncle. It had been those performances of Wallace that had inspired Olivia all those years ago, assuring her that yes, she could become an Pokemon Coordinator, and not a battler like her father expected from her.

When Olivia had read that the niece of the person who she idolized second only to Cynthia was a girl her age competing in contests at a professional level, that had been when the fires of rivalry first began to flare. She had met Lisia in person not long after that. It had been a party to celebrate her debut a cover model, over a year ago. Lisia had introduced herself, as if she wasn't so magnificent that OF COURSE Olivia knew all about her. A marvelous idol, beloved by an entire region, and yet she was fawning over Olivia?

…

Well, of course, that was to be expected. But it still stunned Olivia that someone like her could be so modest, so sincere.

She'd fallen head over heels for the girl, hard.

They'd become friends, exchanging correspondence, and Lisia had seen a few of her contests back in Sinnoh. But now, Olivia was finally, FINALLY competing on the same stage with her. It was both exhilarating and terrifying, and she wouldn't have it any other way!

28, that had been Lisia's score. Just shy of perfect. Olivia felt confidence burgeoning in her chest. It was a small window for her to seize, but a window of opportunity nonetheless. Two points? She could get two points above the girl with a perfect score, or at least score one higher. Let the match begin.

Olivia let out the breath she was holding as her name was called. She emerged from behind the curtain with a flourish, Cynthia following her with a sleekness that belied her ferocious frame, the walk of a predator.

We won't lose, Cynthia! Olivia proclaimed silently, cocking her hip to the side. First, the props. From the ceiling, large rocks fell, tumbling down towards Olivia and Cynthia as the audience gasped in shock and horror.

Cynthia glanced up at the ceiling and roared, holding out her claws and pushing out her chest. The stones froze in midair, moving around to encircle the battlefield as the Garchomp set the stage with her stealth rock attack.

"Now, let's show them some real speed!" Olivia grinned. It must have been providence. Lisia's performance displayed the qualities of Ali, her Altaria's high speeds and hyper control. And Olivia was about to do the same with Cynthia.

Cynthia began with a double team. As she swayed, a multitude of copies encircled Olivia, the dragon pokemon and her duplicates encroaching on her, ten bodies in total. Cynthia stomped on the ground, tilted her head back, and roared, and the air around her began to burn. Flames and lightning began to swirl around her and her copies, forming a tornado of energy as she used dragon dance. The Garchomps raised their claws, and took to the sky, shooting away from Olivia in a blur of color, flying up into the air as Olivia closed her eyes.

Each Garcomp pulled to a stop as they touched down on one of the hovering boulders, turning their bodies to face Olivia, bracing themselves. One of the copies shot forward, fin raised to strike at Olivia as she kept her eyes closed, the audience gasping again.

Olivia stepped back, dodging Cynthia's slash by a hairs' breadth, the flames not even singing her cheek, her smile remaining perfectly intact. As the Garchomp passed her, she leapt up again, another Garchomp taking the initiative to attack. As this one lunged at Olivia, she dodged again. It was all so easy. How many times had they gone over this routine? The next would come from the right, an overhead slash, right at her head. She'd dodge with two quick steps forward, the swing passing past her back.

It was a dance. Fluid as water, Olivia would dodge each of her pokemon's attacks, the sequence of moves becoming tighter and tighter as the pokemon increased the speed of their combination attacks, and yet not one of them managing to land a hit.

Olivia had Ayame to thank for her advanced kinetic sense. Her best friend's athletic abilities had improved her reflexes and strength, which had come in handy in toning her figure for modeling, and would enable her to do her own stunts later on as she became a professional actress. But right now, she was putting it to the best use she could: demonstrating how amazing and cool she and her partner were.

Now, the finale, and the hardest action of the trick. Olivia would have to time this movement perfectly, or else she would be in bad shape. Cynthia had been instructed to make it look real. She wouldn't pull her slash. If Olivia messed up, well…

She wouldn't.

They'd done this trick a thousand times. She could do it with her eyes closed. The cheers and applause and gasps of awe were like music to her ears, filling her legs with strength as she felt the approach of Cynthia and her duplicates.

All ten Garchomp raised their fins in a slash, lunging right at Olivia. She knew, of course, which one the original was. But that didn't matter. She tightened her stance and hunkered down, and a fraction of a second before Cynthia landed her strike, Olivia leapt directly up into the air, dodging the blow as the duplicates dispersed.

Cynthia adjusted her position, the form of the attack resulting in her standing in the center of the stage with her back to the audience, as Olivia landed again, the two standing back to back. Cynthia roared and Olivia raised her arms up in triumph, her eyes snapping open as the crowd went wild. Cynthia leaned in and bowed to the audience, then bowing to the judges.

Olivia basked in the cheers and applause lauded towards her, her heart soaring. This was what she had been waiting for. She'd competed against Lisia, and had not come up short in the slightest! She was the star, and all eyes were on her!

While maintaining her perfect pose, she turned her head to the judge's table to watch their deliberations. Her heart was pounding in her chest.

This was it. The moment of truth. Would she be able to come out on top? She could only hope. She tensed, and awaited her judgment.

So, what do you think? Who won this battle of the Coolness Contest? Lisia? Or Olivia? Who had the cooler performance?