What awaits Blake and Sylvia in this tent? What is this "Feeding" ritual all about? Are they going to get fed to someone? Or are they going to have a feast? We'll have to see for ourselves! Hopefully, they'll make it out of this alright!

Also, thank you to everyone who read my story "The Heir to the Dragon". I would appreciate if you continue to read and support it in the future! You can get there through my profile!

The votes for the Elimination Round have begun to pick up, that's pretty good! Hope we can start getting them to role in! I've been very surprised by the results of this poll so far, some people are leading that I never would have expected, and some people are trailing behind who I thought would be frontrunners. Just goes to show how much things have changed since last year!

Nominated: Alcea, Ayame, Carrie, Caelia, Cynthia, Dakota, Darla, Elaina, Elizabeth, Julia, Kate, Kitty, Lila, Maddi, Marion, Nikita, Olivia, Sango, Sylvia

KedharS: I don't know if anyone will take that bet.

Superduderr: Well, I think we're going to find a little bit more about them with this chapter, too.

JoshGamerV: Those are certainly some very interesting theories. I wonder how many of them will turn out to be true?

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 634

"So what do we do?" Sylvia asked, staring at Blake. Neither one of them were all that pleased to be staring at this large rock in the ground, with a deep hole leading down into who the hell knew where. No one was coming in, either, which made the two of them uneasy. They'd been here for several minutes already. The only thing that had changed was the fact that as soon as the flap to the large tent had closed, chanting had begun to rise up from the crowd gathered around the tent.

Blake was surprised by her question.

"Uh, excuse me, what?" Blake asked. "You're asking me what we should do? Don't you have any bright ideas? You're the genius aren't you?"

"Genius isn't that useful for a situation like this," Sylvia reminded him.

Blake rolled his eyes. She'd been crowing about how superior she was, and that was her response? "Are you kidding me? Aren't you some sort of super-brain who finds chess to be 'boring and predictable' because you've already calculated every possible move made? So come on, put that brain to use and come up with our next move!"

Sylvia rolled her eyes. "Are you really that stupid, Blake? Based on an average branching factor of 35 and an average game length of 80, the number of different possible chess games played is at least 10^123. To take into consideration, the number of atoms in the known universe is approximately 10^80. Now, if each one of those atoms had my level of brainpower and had been calculating the number of possible game configurations since the beginning of time itself, they still wouldn't even come close to figuring it out. Got it?"

Blake gave her a look.

"…Yeah, there's no way you could come up with a plan, what was I thinking?" He muttered under his breath.

"So what? Are we just going to wait here for an eternity?" Sylvia sighed. "Because I promise you, I'm not going into that hole. So unless whatever's down there is coming up to eat us, we're going to be sitting in here for quite some time."

Blake was concerned. What was the point of leaving them like this? Defenseless, but without them doing anything about it? It didn't make sense.

"You hear that chanting?" Sylvia asked, tilting her head to the side and listening to the sounds of the creatures chanting just outside the tent. "I wonder what that's about."

As if to answer her question, the chanting stopped. Sylvia glanced at Blake.

"I guess we're about to find out," Blake wryly replied.

The tent flap opened, and the Valdette woman from before stepped inside, but she looked much different. She had black markings inked across her pale face, and her black clothes were replaced by a diaphanous white dress.

It was a little too translucent for Blake's tastes. Not only could he tell that the black markings covered her entire body, not just her face, but… Blake could see… well, all sorts of things about the Valdette's body that confirmed their anatomy was a lot closer to humans than one would have expected from an alien species.

She wasn't alone, either. She stepped up to the two of them, and more Valdette walked into the tent behind her. There were males and females, all wearing the same gossamer dresses and painted with the same black ink.

Or maybe it was blood. Blake wasn't exactly interested in taking a closer look. Aya would never forgive him.

The Valdette each stepped up to one of the rocks ringed around the large stone, leaving Blake and Sylvia off to the side, with the woman.

Then, the Valdette began to strip off their dresses, bearing their markings and… other things. Sylvia nearly burst out laughing.

"Wow, maybe 'Feed' isn't as bad as we thought it was going to be," she said, elbowing Blake in the side. "It looks like this could end up being something more enjoyable!"

Blake had other thoughts, shielding his eyes from shame. Not only was he in a relationship with Aya, but even if he wasn't, seeing this much nudity was just not okay.

Sylvia rolled her eyes. "Oh, please, Blake, stop acting like this is your first orgy."

"You haven't had sex either you know," Blake snapped. "And I promise you, I am NOT getting naked, do you understand me?!"

The Valdette didn't seem to mind the outburst. "The Givers must remain pure for the Feeding. The Offerings may stay clothed."

Well, that made Blake feel better. Oh, wait. No, it didn't, because Blake didn't like the idea of being considered an "offering". He doubted this was an orgy as Sylvia had suggested. No, it sounded a lot more like his initial assumption that this would be some sort of ritual sacrifice was right on the money. This had all the makings of some creepy sex cult.

"Altar," the woman calmly stated. "Feed."

"Uh, yeah, no, we're good," Sylvia said. "We're fine just watching, if you don't mind."

The Valdette's eyes narrowed and her voice deepened into a threat. "Altar. Now."

Sylvia and Blake stared at each other. All the Valdette at the ring were looking to them, and it was making them feel a little pressured.

"…Y-Yeah, okay," Sylvia said, nodding. "We'll get to the altar, right, Blake?"

Blake gulped, and nodded in agreement.

"Human sacrifice," the circle rumbled, their eyes shining with excitement. "Feed!"

"Well, Blake, you win that bet," Sylvia sighed as the Valdette guided the both of them to stand on opposite sides of the altar, above two more stones. The ring surrounded them, the Valdette continuing to chant. "They're gonna use us for human sacrifices."

The Valdette woman took Sylvia and Blake's left hands, and guided them to two stone protrusions pointing up from the altar's surface. They clasped them tightly as they were implied to do, and then she instructed them to rest their right arm on a small indent that would leave their palms facing upwards and their hands hanging over the rim of the basin.

"Hold," she instructed. "Keep strong."

Sylvia and Blake glanced at each other. They already were holding.

"Your face looks rather red, Blake," Sylvia smirked, staring him in the eye. "I've never seen you looking at me this passionately before. Gets my special places all nice and juicy."

"Looking anywhere else is going to make things complicated," Blake snapped. "Do you have any idea how uncomfortable this makes me?!"

The Valdette woman walked to the last stone in the circle, the one closest to the altar, and stripped off her dress as well. Whatever ritual they were preparing, it was clear that it was going to start now. She held her hands wide.

"The time for Feeding has arrived," she declared, her voice strong but also soft. "By our oath to the Traveler, we shall give all we are to our kin. To guide her to her new evolution. With the aid of our Offerings, the pain of a Human shall be offered alongside our pain." She lowered her hands. "We begin with the Giving."

"We begin with the Giving," the other Valdette echoed. The one to her left stepped forward, hands extended forward, and walked to the altar.

"I Give my pain to the Chosen, so that she may embrace it as her own," he declared. He raised his wrist to his mouth and bit down hard, tearing the pale flesh away and causing blood to spurt out. Then he knelt beside the altar took Sylvia's arm with the other, and bit down on her wrist.

"Rrrrgh!" Sylvia winced in pain, her blood seeping into the altar.

"Sylvia!" Blake gasped, nearly springing from the altar. But he found that he could no longer move. He couldn't do anything but talk. His entire body from his neck down was frozen. The eyes of the ring of Valdettes were all shining brightly, and he felt himself rooted in place by their stare. While he was unable to interfere with the pale Valdette's ritual, he pulled away from Sylvia and raised his wrist, black blood rolling down and mixing with Sylvia's red, a steady flow draining into the basin until their wounds closed up.

"That… was something," Sylvia muttered, her face quickly returning to normal. "Gotta say, I would have preferred the orgy. …Or, actually, no, not if my body would heal. The thought of certain things being lost multiple times is a big nope from me."

"Sylvia, take this seriously," Blake growled. He tried to sound angry, but actually he was worried. Because the Valdette had come up to him, next. The same process was repeated with him, and he cried out in pain, blood draining into the basin as well. Then the Valdette returned and took his place in the circle.

The next Valdette in the circle stepped up. "I Give my pain to the Chosen, so that she may embrace it as her own," she said softly.

The progression continued like this for many more hours. To the point where it almost became cursory, the pain just a slight inconvenience. By this point, the basin had been filled with blood from Sylvia and Blake, and each Valdette in the tent save one. It throbbed a dark red, nearly pitch black, and the odor emanating from it made them both want to hurl.

The Valdette woman Sylvia had nicknamed "Dommy-Mommy" was the last of the Valdette to step up to the altar.

"I Give my pain to the Chosen, so that she may embrace it as her own," she declared, biting into her own wrist.

"So what now, do you think?" Sylvia whispered. "Because I've got a feeling this isn't about some blood brother ritual."

Blake agreed with Sylvia, but personally he didn't want to know what was going to come next. That had been agonizing. Luckily, there had been no lasting damage. In hindsight, considering how much damage he and Sylvia had done to the Valdette and Valetty when trying to resist, this pain was rather insignificant in comparison.

Didn't make it hurt any less, though, or make him feel any less worried.

Then, a new sound touched the corner of his ear, so faint he wasn't sure he'd heard it properly.

"So, I was think-"

"Sylvia, shut it," Blake snapped. Sylvia shot him a dirty look that he ignored. He was too busy straining his ears to try and hear that sound again.

There it was again. A splashing sound. He'd been hearing the drip of blood enough in the past few hours that there was no way he'd mistake it. But it wasn't blood or anything like that. There was another sound… something weird about it…

When he heard the splash again, he was certain. It was the sound of an echo. And not only that, the splashes were growing louder, like whatever was causing the splash was coming closer, from a cave, or from deep underground.

Or both.

"I think that's the 'Chosen' that they're referring to," Sylvia said, catching the sound of splashing herself now that it was getting closer. "That splash… it's like someone's walking through a puddle. Or dripping wet themselves…"

The splash was getting louder and louder and now they were clearly footsteps. About a minute later, the source of the sounds was apparent.

From the small mouth of the cave, a the thin, trembling figure of a Valetty slipped out, dripping wet and clothed in a gossamer dress that clung to her soaked figure. She was the same Valetty who had been speaking to them earlier that day.

Blake really hoped that she wouldn't be taking her dress off like the others. That would definitely make him throw up.

"Chosen. Chosen. Chosen." The ring of Valdette chanted, the Valetty walking calmly to the altar. She knelt down before it, next to Sylvia.

"The Chosen will Feed," the circle chanted next.

"Thank you for the pain you have Offered," the Valetty said, her eyes shining. She reached out and took Sylvia by the head, and pressed her lips against Sylvia's in a kiss!

Sylvia was stunned, not sure what to do. The kiss was, well…

Not good. In fact, it was the opposite of not good. It hurt, and Sylvia didn't know why. It wasn't like the creature was biting her. It wasn't ever her mouth that hurt, it was her heart and her head, pain spreading out through her body, like the mere act of kissing the Valetty was causing searing pain in and of itself.

Then, the pain stopped. And it got REALLY pleasurable! Like the pain surging through her was being drawn out of her, healing her. When the Valetty pulled away from her and their lips parted, Sylvia moaned in disappointment.

Blake's jaw dropped open in shock at what he'd just seen. That Valetty had been kissing Sylvia for what felt like at least five minutes! The fact that she looked like a child was even more disturbing. Then he realized she was coming his way, and unfortunately for Blake, his open mouth was going to make her job quite easily.

"W-Wait, stop," Blake said, shaking his head. He was still frozen at the altar, or else he would have broken away from her. "Please, I'm in love with someone else, I can't-"

"Feed," the Valetty insisted. She raised her hand and grabbed his mouth, and he realized he wasn't able to close it, which meant he couldn't even beg her not to. "Thank you for the pain you have Offered." And then the child pressed her lips against his, and pain shot through his body, like none he could remember.

It was agony. And unbelievable burning like every injury he'd ever sustained was surging through him at once, and he'd had quite a few injuries during his life. He struggled against her as best he could, trying to break free from the pain. But it was so much, too much, he felt like he was going to die. Why did he have to go through all this pain?

Then it disappeared, the pain being sucked from him and leaving him nothing but the comfort of pleasure. It was so soothing, so warm, a sensation of bliss like nothing he'd experienced. And yet... it was nostalgic, too, though he didn't know why or how that could be. He just knew it made him wish that the kiss would never stop.

Blake couldn't realize it, occupied as he was by this numbing feeling of pleasure, but the kiss was lasting much longer than the one with Sylvia. And when the Valetty finally pulled away from him, the feeling of emptiness in his chest was unbearable.

Then, a wave of self-loathing rolled across him as he realized he was feeling upset about the fact that he was no longer kissing a child.

"Thank you both for the Offerings," the Valetty said, stepping away from Blake and standing at the front of the altar. She gazed down into the pool of blood, reached down, and wrapped her hands around the edges of the basin. That was when Blake and Sylvia both realized that the basin was removable. The Valetty lifted it up with strength that didn't seem possible for her small frame; the basin itself was wide, and filled to the brim with blood.

"Feed. Feed. Feed. Feed. Feed." The Valdette continued to chant "Feed". And boy did the Valetty feed. She tilted the brim of the basin, lifting it to her lips, and tilted her head back, the blood flowing down her throat.

Sylvia and Blake looked at each other in shock and disgust as the girl drained the basin, drinking louder and louder gulps as the blood poured down the sides of her cheeks and began to stain her dress. She was guzzling it now.

"So much for no need to drink anything," Sylvia said, stunned.

Blake didn't bother quipping. He just wanted to barf.

"Evolve," the Valdette woman who started this all whispered. "Awaken." More Valdette joined in the chant. "Evolve. Awaken. Evolve. Awaken. Evolve. Awaken." Their voices grew louder and louder, drowning out the Valetty's gulps.

"Aaaaaah!" After who knows how many minutes of drinking from the bowl, the Valetty set the basin down into place, letting out a content sigh. She wiped the blood from her lips, drinking all the residuals that she could.

Then she doubled over and cried.

"Aaargh! Aaah!" The Valetty wailed, clearly in pain. She clutched her head and writhed around in the sand, flinging her arms and legs around wildly as she slammed herself against the altar. It was a sickening sight to see, and Blake averted his eyes. As he did, he realized that he was no longer frozen in place. He leapt to his feet and ran to the girl's side, trying to hold her down.

"Hey! What the hell is this?!" Blake roared angrily, grabbing her arms as she thrashed, trying to soothe her and make her more comfortable. The way she was losing it was way too similar to one of his sister's fits, and he was trying to help her as best as he could. Blake held her close, glaring accusingly at the Valdette. "What's with this ritual of yours?! Look at what's happening to her!"

The chanting didn't stop. They just kept repeating. "Evolve. Awaken." Over and over and over, drowning out Blake's objections.

Then, something new happened.

The Valetty stopped thrashing. Her body went very still. For a second, she was so cold that Blake thought she was dead.

Then her body began to shimmer. A white light wrapped around her, mixing together with strange shadows in a bizarre black-white glow that engulfed her entire body, to the point where Blake had to squeeze his eyes shut.

But even though he couldn't see what was happening, he definitely felt it. More specifically, he felt the small girl… growing. She was getting heavier and heavier, and Blake actually lost his grip on her, falling back as she pushed him away, curling up into a ball.

Then, the light around the girl faded and she rose to her feet. She was still clad in the thin dress, but it no longer fit her properly. Where once had been the small, childlike body of a Valetty now was tall, as tall as Blake was, with the curves and proportions of an adult. Her hair was still the same curly black, her skin just as pale, her eyes just as gold, and her teeth, of course, still just as sharp. Besides her new height and figure and the sharp point of her ears, she looked almost identical to how she had before she'd started glowing.

Only now, she looked exactly like the Valdette.

Well, what an odd ritual. I wonder what this could possibly mean?