Now that the quarter-finals have ended, we need to take a little bit of a break. I think we all need a breather after an intense match like that.

Pokemonking0924: It just wouldn't feel right. He wants to be the strongest with just Zeraora.

KedharS: Well that's his gimmick. Zera's so powerful because he devoted so much training into them. Otherwise they'd probably be closer to Diana's level of power.

Just a Bad Writer for Fun: I'll just do some. As for your questions, yes, I'll take OCs if I have a use for them, and yes, the same rentals are technically available. They just aren't mentioned because pokemon battles are part of the general education course.

Blake: 5'7"

Ayame: 6'1"

Cynthia: 4'8"

Sango: 5'6"

Nick: 4'10"

Reiner: 5'9"

Julia: 5'4"

Kitty: 3'9"

Nikita: 5'5"

Callie: 4'4"

Maddi: 5'4"

Elaina: 5'6"

Alcea: 5'7"

Kate: 5'5"

Akira: 5'10"

Dakota: 5'3"

Serefina: 5'11"

Sylvia: 5'5"

Caelia: 5'3"

Olivia: 5'9"

Marion: 5'7"

Gwen: 4'10"

Aquahaze675: Yeah, it was quite a match.

Guest: We'll have to see.

JoshGamerV: Thanks, I thought it was a pretty good one.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 568

The crowd was going wild cheering for the Commander, and Cynthia was no exception. She was cheering louder than anyone, standing on top of her seat for extra emphasis.

"WOOOOOOOOO! WAY TO GO!" Cynthia howled, Sango holding her hands over her ears out of annoyance at her loud neighbor.

"That was quite a match," Callie said, slumping back in her seat. She had been sitting so close to the edge out of excitement that now that the fighting was over she felt like a weight had been lifted off of her and she could just relax again. "The Commander and Raizer had quite a match, those two are really good trainers. Especially the ending, with Lucario fighting against Zeraora…"

Callie sighed.

"I wish I could reach that level someday…"

"You'll get there," Nick assured her with a smile.

Tinges of pink dusted Callie's cheeks and she smiled sheepishly, glancing away from him and fidgeting in her seat.

"W-well, if you really think so…" She murmured.

Nikita, who was sitting on Callie's other side elbowed Reiner in the arm and glanced at him with a raised eyebrow. "Why don't you ever say stuff like that to me?" She asked, her tone suggesting that she was half-joking, but only half.

"…Because I don't think you'll get to that level as a pokemon trainer?" Reiner replied. Which, to be fair, was an accurate statement, but that wasn't exactly something that Nikita wanted to be hearing right now.

While Nikita gave him crazy eyes, Callie turned her attention back to Nick, favoring him with a cute smile as she glanced at her own pokeballs.

"Hopefully… the bond between Rio and I will grow strong enough where she'll evolve soon," Callie murmured. "I'd like her to become a Lucario like that someday…"

"Yeah, Lucario are definitely cool," Nick agreed.

"I know, right?!" Callie exclaimed, her face brightening up. "Yeah, like what the Commander just did, showing how cool his Lucario was, it was just-!"

Callie swooned, continuing to gush over the Commander's pokemon, as everyone began discussing the matches in detail.

While everyone was talking, Ayame noticed that Blake alone remained silent. The more she looked at his face the more worried she got, because Blake clearly wasn't feeling the same wave of excitement that was buzzing through the rest of the stadium. His eyes were serious, and he was staring down at his lap, the way he often did when he was thinking. The only thing missing was his headphones over his ears, and he would really be fully isolated.

Ayame was about to open her mouth to ask what was wrong, when Blake suddenly rose from his seat. It was such a surprise that her mouth fell open and she paused for a moment, not sure what to say to him about how he felt in the first place, and this made it even more confusing.

Then, she saw why he had gotten up so suddenly. Alcea and Kate had said their goodbyes and were leaving with some of the other members of the crowd, and he had gone over to them.

"Yikes, rejected," Reiner joked, Ayame shooting him a dirty look. She turned back and squinted in the darkness, trying to make out what was going on.

Blake had gone up to Alcea and Kate. Both girls had turned to him, Kate's face brightening slightly in a way that made Ayame scowl. Then Blake said something and her face darkened, while Alcea seemed to lean in slightly, as if her attention had been refocused. But Ayame had no idea what they were talking about!

She strained her ears and leaned as close as she could, but she couldn't overhear what was happening over the noise of the crowd. Just as she was thinking that it wouldn't be weird for her to get up and go over to him, the three of them left.

It's okay, it's okay, she reminded herself. She'd been working on her anxiety issues. Now, every time that Blake said or did something that made her think that maybe his feelings for her were starting to fade, she would just picture the way his eyes lit up when he saw her, and that would tend to calm her down.

Now, if only she knew why he had gone to talk to Alcea instead of her… it wasn't like Alcea would make him feel better, right?

That night, the issue was still bothering Ayame. Blake had declined her request for a dinner date, explaining he needed to catch up on his work from skipping classes yesterday, and that he needed some time to think about things. Ayame understood, begrudgingly.

But she still wanted to check up on him, to see if he was okay. She was lying on her bed, kicking her legs up and down impatiently behind her as she stared at her phone, wondering whether or not she should call him.

That was okay, right? It was fine for her to call him, just to see if he was feeling okay, right? She didn't want to be the clingy girlfriend.

"Aya, stop dicking around and just call him already!" Ayame's inner Olivia chastised her. Ayame meekly surrendered, and began dialing. Hopefully he'd-

He picked up! Score!

"Blake!" Ayame said, hoping the joyful tone in her voice would help liven his spirits.

"Hey Aya," Blake said, and she could hear the grin in his voice. That made her feel a little better. "So, what are you wearing?"

That made her feel a little better too, though not exactly in a way that she wanted to feel.

"Come on," she said, rolling her eyes.

"Hey, don't blame me. You call me at 11:30 on a Friday night with that bedroom voice of yours, and you don't expect me to take you up on the implication?"

He clicked his tongue. "For shame…"

"I didn't call you to-! …DO THAT!" Ayame exclaimed, though part of her kinda wondered if maybe… no, no, he was just messing with her. "Stop teasing me, Blake!"

"Sorry, sorry," he laughed, and Ayame felt a lot more cozy inside, knowing that Blake was still able to laugh and joke around like that. Maybe she had just been overthinking things when she had seen his troubled expression earlier. "So, if you're not here to show me a good time, then what's up? Why'd you want to call me? It wasn't just to hear the sound of my melodious voice, was it? We both know that between the two of us you're the one with a promising field in ASMR."

As Ayame's face turned scarlet, she cursed Blake's ability to tease her into embarrassment in order to prevent her from digging deeper into the conversation. Even when she knew what he was doing, the things he said were so flustering that she just couldn't help herself from getting all floaty! It just wasn't fair!

But this was important.

This is for Blake's sake, that's why you're doing this, Ayame reminded herself, regaining her cool. She sat up in her seat and took a deep breath, trying to get her seriousness back on.

"Aya? You there? What's up?" Blake followed.

"…Huh? Oh, nothing, just… just got a little… flushed," Ayame replied.

"…Would you like to hear what I'm wearing?" Blake teased.

"BLAKE! I'm trying to be serious here!" Ayame wailed.

"Okay, okay," he laughed. His tone turned solemn. "So, what's up?"

Ayame let out a sigh, and got to the matter at hand.

"How, um… how are you feeling?" She asked.

"…I'm feeling like I've been blue-balled-"

"Seriously!" Ayame scowled. "Blake, I… I saw your face earlier… it was dark, so maybe… maybe I didn't see perfectly, but… you seemed kind of down. Are you doing okay?"

When Blake didn't respond, she began to get worried.

"Like, I mean… I saw you looked kinda down, and I was just thinking that if you wanted to talk, well, I was here, you know, and I wanted to cheer you up, so… and I mean…" Her voice got fainter and more mumbly as she went on, trailing off into almost a whisper as she finished with "…you were talking with Alcea, so…"

Blake sighed.

"Don't worry, Aya," he assured her. "I was just feeling kind of overwhelmed from the match. Remember how Callie was saying that she wanted to be a strong pokemon trainer like those two?"

"Yeah, why?" Ayame asked. It was a little too late and she was a little too frazzled to make connections right now.

"I was thinking the same," he explained. "I… I want to be a strong trainer, like the Commander and Raizer. Seeing that match today, and after my loss yesterday, I'm really becoming aware of how much more I have to do, and how much stronger I can get. It isn't enough to be comfortable with where I am, I need to be better."

"So that's why you were down?" Ayame asked.

"I don't think I can fight like that, not like those two," Blake said. "But… I want to. I want to become strong enough… for Gwen's sake. So I can show her that I'm not weak. So I can protect you… protect all of my friends from her, if she… loses control. I just… I just want to bring her home, and to do that I need to be stronger."

"And that's why you talked with Alcea?" Ayame asked, trying to not sound too disappointed. She knew full well that she couldn't make Blake a better trainer, no matter how much admitting that might have stung.

"I asked her for a favor," Blake said. "She's going to lend me a hand."

"I hope it works," Ayame said. "I hope you're going to get strong enough. Because… if being a strong trainer will take some of that weight off of you, and make you brighten up a bit more, then that's the best thing for you."

"…Thank you, Aya," Blake laughed, and Ayame felt her heart brighten. "Yeah. Hey, listen, um… so I was thinking… tomorrow's the weekend… and, well…"

"Yeah?" Ayame asked, hoping that she wasn't getting her hopes up for hoping that he was going to say what she was hoping he would.

"I-I mean… do you want to, like, go for a walk? I have some training that I'll need to do after, but we could still go for a walk or something, and maybe do like a picnic lunch?" Blake asked. Hearing how hopeful he sounded made Ayame roll around in her bed and kick her legs with excitement she was looking forward to it so much!

"Yes! Yes, definitely!" Ayame said, trying not to sound TOO eager. She failed miserably of course, but she and Blake were both too excited to care as they made their plans.

While Blake and Ayame were having their own celebration, the Commander was celebrating his advancement to the semi-finals, along with the members of his inner circle. Even his little brother had joined in the celebration, everyone having a good time.

Well, most people were having a good time.

…

Everybody but Maddi was having a good time, to tell the truth.

As usual, Maddi didn't like parties. She'd grown to tolerate and even occasionally like Cynthia's presence, but she still didn't like parties.

But according to Vic, attendance was mandatory. So she sat in a chair on the edge of reserved room they were celebrating in, sipping a soda and trying to block out the sound of cavorting with loud music throbbing in her ears. She was so caught-up in her own stuff that she didn't notice Cynthia coming up to her until the other girl placed a hand on her shoulder, and that caused Maddi to jump in surprise.

"Maddi!" Cynthia chirped, Maddi taking out her earbuds and giving Cynthia a wary look.

"…What is it?" She asked with a sigh, that morphed into a yawn as she realized how late it was getting. Not that Maddi minded staying up late, but that was for stuff that she liked. A party draining her of her energy was not her idea of a good time.

"You doing okay?" Cynthia asked. She pulled up a seat and sat down next to Maddi. Her face was as bright as always, but the look in her eye, she was almost… concerned?

"I know you don't really do well with this kind of stuff," Cynthia continued. "So I wanted to make sure you were doing okay."

Maddi really must have been tired. Cynthia was actually being considerate of her? No, wait. Maybe she had already dozed off, and this was all just a dream. Yeah, that made sense.

"…I feel like the way you're looking at me is a little insulting…" Cynthia pouted, raising her eyebrow.

"Sorry, sorry," Maddi said. "Was just a little surprised. Not used to you talking like that."

"I'm in my growth period," Cynthia boasted, slapping herself on the chest. "Besides, you're like my only friend here, you know?"

Cynthia glanced at the others and sighed wistfully.

"I mean, I know we're comrades and all, working under the Commander… but it doesn't really feel like we have that connection, not like I have with my friends," she mused. "And don't get me wrong, this doesn't include you, of course!"

Cynthia flashed Maddi a smile. "You're still my bud!"

Maddi smiled a little and nodded. It was odd, Cynthia making her smile. It still felt kind of off.

"…Are you just hanging out with me because I look lonely?" Maddi asked for clarification. "Because believe me, I'm not. I can do just fine on my own. I appreciate it, but-"

"It's okay, don't worry," Cynthia assured her. Then she gasped. "Wait, wait, is this you telling me that you don't want me around? Should I leave? Sorry, I know-"

Maddi interrupted her with a loud sigh and a sharp look.

"You're fine," she assured Cynthia. "Don't worry about it, honestly."

Cynthia sighed in relief. "Good. I'm glad. I'm still not used to this whole 'being sensitive' thing, so I'm still messing up sometimes. You'll let me know when I cross the line, right? Promise?"

Maddi nodded and gave her a smallish smile. "Yeah, I will. Don't worry. And you're doing fine, just… don't push it."

Cynthia let out another sigh of relief.

"Good," she smiled. "Now, let's enjoy the party as best as we can, 'kay? Even if that's just talking about stuff in private."

Maddi was fine with that.

Ian walked out of the pokemon center, having recovered his pokemon's health. He was feeling a little down at having been beaten by Gerard, especially with the way that he HAD been beaten, but fortunately he had no doubt in his abilities. Gerard had tried really hard to shake him, make him feel worthless, but he wasn't going to let the man's words get the better of him. He knew what he was capable of.

That didn't mean he was happy about losing, though.

As Ian headed back to his dorm, he had some time to think about what his goal would be, moving forward. He had put his all into his battle against Gerard, and he had lost. The only member of the Eight Leaders he had managed to defeat was Callie.

Callie had been a tough opponent, but he had expected that going in. He wanted to defeat the Eight Leaders to prove his strength. It was a good challenge for him, at least that's how he thought of it. He was a pretty good trainer, if he spoke for himself. But he hadn't been able to defeat Gerard. He had been close, at least, he thought he was, but he hadn't been able to defeat that Mythical Pokemon, that Diancie.

Diancie… Mythical Pokemon were really powerful. And not only that, but Diancie wasn't the only Mythical Pokemon he would have to contend with in his quest to defeat the Eight Leaders. Today had been eye-opening for him in several ways.

Raizer Volt's fight against the Commander, seeing his Zeraora tear through five incredibly powerful pokemon and fight a sixth to a standstill before finally succumbing to their injuries and losing consciousness, it had been a sobering match. Could any of his pokemon really do better? Could his team defeat that Zeraora? He'd like to think so, but he couldn't confidently say "yes". The only reason he'd gotten as far as he had against Diancie was due to a significant type advantage over her.

Between Diancie and Zeraora, the idea of conquering all of the Eight Leaders was certainly going to be a challenge. With that in mind, he was beginning to question whether or not he should continue pursuing that goal. Defeating all the members of the Eight Leaders? He'd only beaten one.

But Ian wasn't the kind of guy who would give up.

Mythical Pokemon are powerful. But I almost defeated Gerard, and he's the strongest one. If I train a little harder, if my pokemon and I can push ourselves a little more… I'm certain we'll be able to win! We just have to try our hardest! He reassured himself.

Just as he had regained his confidence, he saw that he had arrived back at the individual, personal dorms, at Pikachu House. He let out a yawn in spite of himself. He'd been up for a while, waiting for his pokemon to be healed up. He walked up to the door, when someone he hadn't expected to see stepped out.

"Oh. Well, hello there," the blonde girl said, her eyes twinkling.

Ian did a double-take. He was surprised to see Sylvia Driscoll. He knew a little about her. He'd fought against her the year before in the Fall Festival Tournament, and she'd given him quite a run for his money for a first year. He'd heard that she was picked up by the Phantom, which had come as a surprise, but in hindsight it had made sense. She had been a challenging opponent.

Which was why he hadn't been that surprised to hear that she had been accepted into the Eight Leaders, even if the circumstances behind it had been rather… questionable.

But the fact remained, that she was technically the Second Leader. Which meant that if he wanted to continue with his streak after defeating Callie, and beat them all in order, Sylvia would be the next opponent he would have to beat.

"Are you just going to stand there? Some of us have places to be," Sylvia smirked. Ian gasped, realizing that he had been standing in her way while he was thinking about whether or not to challenge her. He stepped aside and apologized, but Sylvia dismissed it with a wave of her hand.

"Don't worry," she murmured absentmindedly, walking down the steps. "Oh, Ian, I almost forgot. Apologies for your loss earlier, I was really rooting for you."

"Oh, um, thanks," Ian said, not sure what to say to that. He might have heard rumors about her, but he still didn't have a very good grasp on who she was as a person, other than that she was a rather sneaky sort of girl.

Sylvia strolled down the walk before turning back sharply, her Shuppet cackling. She narrowed her eyes and smiled back at him, her face illuminated by the street lights.

"Say… you're trying to challenge all the Eight Leaders, right? And in order, I hear," she mused. "So tell me, Ian, would you care for a battle?"

Ian wasn't sure how to respond to that. He stood there, debating whether or not he should, but before he could respond she sighed and shrugged her shoulders.

"Ah, well," she said, turning away from him. "When you're ready, come find me. I'll be looking forward to your challenge."

A little bit of slowness before the semi-finals! Time to unwind again.