The first competition of the Miss Pokemon Academy Contest will come to an end this chapter! Let's see the appeals of Serefina, Gabrielle, and Sango! Who will be the winner? We'll have to find out!

KedharS: Who knows?

Hellraiserphoenix: They were definitely interesting performances, that's for sure.

JoshGamerV: Yes, they certainly have different views on the performances, the different judge perspectives are part of what makes it work.

Just a Bad Writer for Fun: Darla was definitely magnificent. Let's see how good she ranks!

Aakareo Kokokuhikari: Pokemon can be confused while also suffering from another status condition.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 736

The next competitor to take the stage, to Lukas's praises, was Serefina. She tried to look confident, but she was a little uneasy. She really, really wasn't used to competitions like this, and often tried to de-emphasize her beauty.

The wolf whistles that came out as she walked onstage didn't make her feel much better. She resisted the urge to grumble and sigh. She had only herself to blame. When she saw that everyone was voting for her, even though she had NOT signed up for this and didn't want anything to do with the competition, she had felt nothing but irritation.

But at the end of the day, something had made her decide to get up on that stage and show off, even if it was the last thing she wanted to do. And like most things she did nowadays, it was, in part, because of her fallen friend.

She knew that if Dakota had been awake, she would have absolutely been the one to nominate Serefina, and would have begged and pleaded her to take part in the contest.

Because that's what she had done last year. And Serefina had resisted her all the way to the end, and refused to participate.

And now that Dakota was in a coma, she was, oddly, starting to feel regrets. Would it really be that bad if she participated? Dakota had wanted it so badly, she had begged and pleaded Serefina to at least consider it.

Well, Serefina was considering it. And honestly, the only reason she was was because she still felt a little guilty about what had happened, and she thought that if she participated this year, then maybe, karma would kick in and Dakota would wake up.

Stupid? Absolutely. But as slim a chance as it might have been, she was willing to humiliate herself on the slimmest of possibilities that Dakota might come out of her coma.

She was willing to endure the cheers and wolf whistles for the sake of her friend, even as embarrassed as she was.

As for why Akira was judging, she couldn't begin to guess. Maybe it was for the same reasons? Serefina wasn't sure. But she didn't have time to worry about that, she had a Pokemon Contest to participate in, and she was going to do her best.

She needed to try hard in order to win, because she had never done this before. Of course, the idea of not trying at all and just throwing the competition entirely had never crossed Serefina's mind. She was a little too honest.

Serefina stood in the spotlight, and took a pokeball off of her waist. "Tortimer!" She cried, sending out her pokemon. Unlike the others, she hadn't thought to include ball capsules as part of her performance, since this was her first time taking part in something like this. The pokeball opened up, and her Torkoal emerged, landing on the ground. Steam billowed out of his nose and shell, the thick smoke wrapping around her.

Serefina wasn't a Coordinator. She was far more used to taking care of pokemon and nurturing them, not showing off their abilities for an audience. But she was going to make the best of this situation, at least she had a decent idea of what she could do to show off how beautiful her and her Torkoal were to everyone.

"Sunny day!" Serefina called, raising her hand. Tortimer's shell began to glow, and the orange tortoise released a burst of energy up into the air, illuminating the battlefield in a warm glow that resembled the light and heat of the sun. She ignored the sweltering heat, and cracked a grin. "Now, use fire spin, Tortimer!"

"Torkoal!" Tortimer bellowed. He lumbered ahead of her, turned, and sent a stream of flames at Serefina. The flames danced in a twist, curling towards Serefina as she proudly strode forward, holding her hands up as they danced around her.

Serefina spun, her dress flaring up as the flames swirled around, and now it was time for the next stage of the performance. She nodded to Tortimer, who nodded back, and used his clear smog attack next. He blew a breath of steam out of his nostrils, and the clear smog wafted across the battlefield towards her, practically invisible.

When it struck the fire spin dancing around Serefina, thought, everything went wild. The poisonous gas mixed in with the flames, and caused them to flash and glow a multitude of colors, lighting up the stage in a bright shining light.

A swirl of rainbow-colored flames danced around Serefina, a pillar of fire formed out of toxic gas. It was a bizarrely beautiful combination, and Serefina's figure was outlined in the flames' light, and she stood out against the attack, relishing her performance as people cheered.

It didn't have the same impact as the performances that came before hers, she knew that, of course. But she was going to do the best she could to show herself and her pokemon off, and that was enough for her, honestly. It made her heart skip a beat, performing like this. She'd always dismissed things like battles and Pokemon Contests, but now that she was participating in one, she had to admit, there was something that felt good about showing off the best qualities of all the pokemon she had raised so dearly, and Tortimer was no exception.

The flames exploded in a dance of rainbow as Serefina bowed, countless colors raining down in ember around her, thankfully not setting any of her clothes on fire.

The crowd cheered her on, reassuring her that her first performance had gone great, much to her relief. She held her heart high in her chest, and smiled. Cynthia's cheers were among the loudest, whistling and shouting her support.

"It was an okay performance," Akira said, startling Serefina. She hadn't expected to be judged so suddenly. "But I think she could have done a little better to emphasize her best qualities, and her pokemon."

Serefina shot him a dirty look. She knew he was teasing her, saying that she should have emphasized her boobs more. He knew how much that stuff bothered her, but he was still teasing her anyway. He had been in a gripey mood ever since what had happened with Dakota. She understood, of course, but that didn't necessarily make her feel better.

"I think it was nice," Ian grinned, nodding. "I disagree, Akira, I think she showed off her best features quite nicely."

Impulsively, Serefina felt the urge to hold her arms over her chest to block male stares. But Ian wasn't looking lecherously at her, so she wondered if maybe she was overthinking things. She shook her head and forced a smile, knowing that Ian probably wasn't that kind of guy, and waited for Kanone's judgment as well.

"Not bad," he said, nodding and stroking his chin. "No, not bad at all."

That… was good? Serefina thought that was a pretty good appraisal, all things considered. She turned and walked off the stage, the next competitor replacing her. And it was a girl that Serefina would have thought even less likely to participate in a contest like this.

But Gabrielle walked with surety that made the audience wonder if maybe this was something that she was excited about, even if her face said otherwise.

"Frosmoth," she said, sending out her pokemon. She hadn't forgotten to put on a ball capsule. With an explosion of ice crystals, her large white moth took to the sky, her wings shining with the glittering light of her icy scales.

In the heat of the warm sun, Frosmoth was shimmering, like her body was covered in a wet sheen. She flapped her wings, sending a wave of cold air over the battlefield, and Gabrielle nodded. "Hail," she ordered, and clouds formed overhead, blotting out the hot sun, replacing it with a snowstorm. It was snowing indoors, much to the surprise of the students.

"Now, aurora veil," she ordered next.

"Frosmoth!" Frosmoth spread her wings and began to glow, sending a wave of light up into the clouds, and a beautiful aurora bloomed across the battlefield. Serefina had created a pillar of rainbow fire, but Gabrielle had taken that a step further and filled the whole building with a veil of rainbow light that glistened in the snow. A beautiful aura.

As the skies danced with color, Frosmoth danced with it, the light gathering around her as she skipped and turned through the clouds.

"Quiver dance." Gabrielle's orders were sharp and clear, guiding Frosmoth through the clouds as the pokemon danced and spun, gathering energy around her and increasing her stats as she moved elegantly, showing off how the various colors danced over her white scales and caused them to shine in turn.

"Now… aurora beam!"

Frosmoth tucked, spinning through the air as she shot towards the ground like a meteor. As she did, she opened her mouth, and fired a beam of rainbow light, that struck the stage floor, exploding in a blast of colors that shot up around her as she turned, strafing over the ground as a turn of color danced in her wake, skipping forward and pulling up until she was right behind Gabrielle, spreading her wings wide as color swirled around them in a hail cloud.

The crowd went wild for the colorful display of speed and agility, and the judges seemed to like it pretty decently as well.

"I think it was a good performance," Akira admitted. "She took the rainbow motif that the previous competitor used, and pushed it a step farther if you ask me."

Ian nodded in agreement. "She certainly made good use of her ice types. As expected from someone of her caliber."

"You can see in how she sequenced her moves that she's an experienced battler," Kanone nodded, smiling. "First starting with hail to clear the sun, then setting up an aurora veil, and followed it up with a quiver dance. Setup moves to begin, and then finishing things off with a powerful enough attack, exactly like how a trainer would fight."

If Gabrielle was pleased by the praise she had received, she didn't show it. She simply nodded silently, recalled her Frosmoth, turned, and walked off the stage as the sky cleared overhead and the hail dispersed behind her.

"Well, that was certainly a 'cool' performance from Gabrielle Breaux!" Lukas said, laughing at his lame joke. "But don't go away, we've got one more lovely lady here to give you a performance of a lifetime! Let's give a round of applause for our last competitor, Sango Akana!"

"WOOOOOOO!" Cynthia cheered, cupping her hands in front of her mouth, cheering her friend on before she even walked onstage. She wasn't the only one. All of Sango's friends were cheering her on, even Blake, who had only wanted to cheer on Aya, but found that now in the moment, he wanted to support his friend as well.

"…Yay… wooo…" Kate said half-heartedly, rolling her eyes. She liked Sango decently enough; in terms of the first years she interacted with on a regular basis, Sango was definitely one who treated her like a normal person, which was nice, but her loyalty to her highness trumped everything, so she wasn't exactly in the mood to cheer.

Sango tried to look confident as she walked onstage, and she did it decently well. She thought about things in the mindset of being on review for her Pokemon Ranger abilities, and that made it somewhat better. Instead of trying to show off how beautiful she was, she was just trying to demonstrate her pokemon's skill.

Another notable thing was that unlike the other girls who had come before her, Sango hadn't put her Castform in a pokeball, which meant no ball capsules. Silver floated behind her with a smile on his face just as confident as his partner.

If Sango minded, then she didn't let it show. It was time to begin!

"Silver!" She called. "Let's start with a rain dance!"

"Castform!" Silver cheered, spinning through the sky. He released energy into the air, filling the stadium with rainclouds again. Unlike Gabrielle and her Frosmoth, Silver had enough control so that the rainclouds only appeared over the stage. They wrapped over the whole stage, and circled around Sango that she was standing in a clear patch. The rain fell down, missing Sango completely, falling around her instead. Silver began to shine, transforming into his rain for as the audience cheered.

"Now, weather ball!" Sango ordered. Silver opened his mouth and fired a blue orb up into the sky, the shining orb gathering the energy of the rain together. It spun around Silver, as he hadn't released the attack yet.

The first step was finished. "It's time for hail next!" She said. Silver sent energy up into the clouds, and the rain gave way to hail, the stage turning cold. Silver began to shine again, turning into his next form, the weather ball still swirling around him, as blue as the sea.

"Castform!" Silver cheered, showing off his new hail form. He smiled, spinning through the hail for the audience, and opened his mouth. He fired a second weather ball, this one gathering up the energy of the hail, shining a light icy blue.

"What's she doing?" Cynthia asked, confused. "It looks really impressive, but I'm not sure what the performance is trying to be."

"I think it's cool," Kitty smiled. "She's showing off what Silver can do!"

"Nicely done, Silver!" Sango cheered, applauding her Castform. "Now, it's time to show off one more sky! Use your sunny day attack now!"

"Castform!" Silver said, nodding with a smile. He gathered up more energy and released it into the sky, parting the clouds to make room for a bright shining light radiating down on the stage, causing Silver to go through his final transformation. The swirling color around him gave way to a large orange-red head and white gown, shining like the sun as the two weather balls orbited around him.

"And our last weather ball, too!" Sango added, snapping her fingers. Silver opened his mouth and fired an orb of light up into the sky. It absorbed the intense sunlight and began to shine a blazing reddish-orange, like another sun entirely. The three orbs circled around Silver as he danced through the sky, a big smile on his face. The sun soon faded, and Silver returned to his normal form, the weather balls still dancing around him.

"Castform!" Silver chirped, nodding to Sango, who nodded back to him, flashing a smile.

"That's right, Silver! For our last trick, the grand finale!" She cheered. "Let's show them all! Rain, hail, and sun! Go, Silver!"

"Castform!" Silver launched the three elemental weather balls into the air, the orbs dancing around each other. They spun through the air, and it was time for one last trick.

"And now," Sango shouted, "hit with weather ball one last time!"

As the weather balls gathered together, Silver fired a smaller weather ball, shining bright white, which collided with all three right in the center, the weather balls exploding in a burst of light. Water, ice, and fire energies erupted, filling the sky with elemental fireworks that showed off just how many varieties of moves Silver was capable of.

Sango held her arms out and wore a crooked smile, presenting herself the best that she could and trying to look confident.

"Wow, that was incredible!" Cynthia cheered, her eyes shining with excitement. "Way to go, Silver! Sango! You guys were amazing!"

"Definitely a nice performance to end things on," Blake agreed. "Though I wonder if the judges will feel the same."

"I thought it was very nicely done," Akira said, giving Sango a rare compliment. "A good use of your pokemon's abilities and natural talents, as well as demonstrating a great understanding of what your pokemon is capable of."

"I think it really shows off Castform's wide variety of abilities," Ian said, nodding. "You're right, Akira, she's an impressive sort."

"I think it was an exceptional performance, like all the ones we've seen today," Kanone said, nodding in agreement with the other two.

Sango was surprised, she hadn't expected results like that. She smiled a little, and moved to step off the stage, but Lukas stopped her.

"Hold on there, missy! It's not time to leave just yet!" He smiled. "Now we have to call out to our other competitors to retake the stage! Come on out, ladies, the judges are ready to deliberate!"

Sango turned, surprised, seeing the other girls come out to join her. They all wore smiles, with the exception of Gabrielle, and took their spots on the stage.

"Now, let's see which performances our judges liked the best!" Lukas said, turning to the large screen that descended down, presenting the results.

Sango didn't hold much confidence.

"Come on, Aya…" Blake quietly prayed.

"Please, milady," Kate begged.

"Boobs, boobs, boobs," Cynthia said, closing her eyes and crossing her fingers as she rooted for Serefina.

The results were displayed for all to see.

Alcea – First

Olivia – Second

Darla – Third

Sango – Fourth

Ayame – Fifth

Lila – Sixth

Gabrielle – Seventh

Serefina – Eighth

"Eighth?!" Cynthia exclaimed, outraged. "This is an outrage! How dare you put those boobs in last, huh?!" She demanded.

"YEAH!" Kate roared. "THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT! WAY TO GO, MILADY! I KNEW YOU COULD DO IT!"

Blake was a little miffed that they'd put Aya in fifth, but he was remarkably surprised by Sango making it to fourth place. But no one was more surprised than Sango, whose jaw dropped in shock. Somehow that performance ranked fourth? More than Ayame? She couldn't believe it.

But Olivia was the most shaken of all by the results.

Her appeal… had come in second to Alcea Vermeil? Olivia glanced at Alcea, and fumed behind the polite smile she wore.

The girls applauded each other politely as the screen shifted to show the results.

Olivia: 18

Alcea: 18

Ayame: 10

Darla: 10

Lila: 7

Sango: 5

Serefina: 2

Gabrielle: 2

There were a lot of ties on the board.

"Well done, Alcea," Olivia said, smiling politely to her fellow student, her jaw locking. "It is quite a pleasure to be tied with you," she lied through her teeth."

"Oui," Alcea nodded, giving Olivia an equally polite smile. "A pleasure, is it?"

Tensions continued to rise. Meanwhile, Sango just stared in amazement at her five points, and wondered how she could have risen above Serefina and Gabrielle, of all people.

"Now that we've seen what our ladies are capable of," Lukas declared, "let's move onto the next competition!"

Things were just getting started it seemed.

So Sango is already rising in the ranks! Could she pull it off? And how must Olivia be feeling, to lose in her own specialty to Alcea?! I can't imagine that feels very nice. What other surprises will the tournament have in store? We'll have to find out!