With the conclusion of the Smartness and/or Cleverness Competition, the next round of the Miss Pokemon Academy Contest is coming next! Won't that be exciting?
KedharS: It's definitely a close race, that's for sure.
Hellraiserphoenix: There are definitely a few wildcards here. Particularly Lila, with the Cuteness Contest still on the table, that's for sure.
Thunder Fire: Wonder who it could be?
Just a Bad Writer for Fun: Definitely nice.
Rus0804: I mean she's been bitching about Alcea since practically her introduction and you haven't been tired with it.
Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings
Chapter 741
Lukas wore a big smile on his face as he turned to address the audience.
"Ladies and gentlemen!" He declared. "With this, two of our five competitions in the Miss Pokemon Academy Contest have been completed! Let's give a round of applause to our young ladies who are up here trying their best!"
The audience applauded, and the girls looked rather pleased with themselves. Even the stoic Gabrielle looked slightly more cheerful than usual. Olivia, of course, waved to the crowd.
"Now, let's move on to the third round of the contest!" Lukas said, turning back to the screen. The scoreboard disappeared, and was replaced by the familiar wheel used to determine what the next competition was. This time, the green slice was blacked out too, leaving only the red, pink, and yellow ones.
The wheel began to spin.
Sango wasn't sure where she wanted it to land. From what she'd picked up about Pokemon Contests over the break, she knew they came in five categories. Coolness, Beauty, Cuteness, Toughness, and Cleverness. Or was it Smartness? Sango honestly had no idea, but Cleverness sounded cooler. The Beauty Competition had, of course, been a plain old Pokemon Contest, but the Cleverness Competition had been a quiz show. What would the other categories be?
Sango felt moderately confident that she could do well in the Toughness Competition, although Ayame was also here and that might be a challenge. She also might be able to score decently in the Coolness Competition, but again, Ayame was there as an obstacle to overcome, and she would have to face stiff competition in Darla, Alcea, and even Gabrielle.
What she was really dreading was the Cuteness Competition. If there was one thing Sango was not, it was cute.
And the other thing Sango was not was lucky.
The wheel pulled to a stop, and of course, the spinner landed right smack in the middle of the pink section of the wheel, indicating that the next competition was exactly the one Sango had been fearing the most.
"The third competition of the Miss Pokemon Academy Contest will be the Cuteness Competition!" Lukas announced, and Sango's heart sank in her chest. She wished she hadn't had to leave Silver in the dressing room, she could really use her encouragement right now. "Let me explain the rules of this competition, because it's going to be a little different than what one might expect. After all, different things are cute to different people, wouldn't you agree?"
Sango perked up at hearing that. That… made a decent amount of sense, she had to admit. Still, she wasn't sure if that would result in her, well, getting good results. But at least it didn't come down to just being as cute as possible, right?
She also noted, with no small amount of irritation, that there was none of this prefacing when it came to the Beauty Competition. Cuteness was subjective in Lukas's eyes, but apparently beauty was not. That was nice to know.
"And so, for this contest to work, we've decided to give the girls a chance to show what they consider to be the cutest feature of themselves," Lukas explained. "And our judges will rank them in terms of how cute they find them! That's right, this is another judging round, so let's give a round of applause to our judges!"
Lukas turned and gestured at the judge's panel. Akira was just glowering, while Kanone waved like the showman he was. Ian nodded in agreement.
"So what do I mean when I said that the girls can show off the cutest feature of themselves?" Lukas asked, turning to the audience. He grinned. "Well, what that means is that the Cuteness Competition will be… a talent show!"
Sango's eyes bugged out in shock. A talent show?!
Sango's reaction wasn't the only note of confusion.
"You see, what makes a girl cutest is that thing about her that's special, that makes her stand out from the pack," Lukas declared, pretty clearly mixing some of his own biases in there. "And that's what this competition is all about! Show me, show the judges, show our audience, what talent do you have that makes you special? Then, our judges will compare your performances and determine who among you displayed the best talent! And that's our Cuteness Competition!"
"I… I guess that makes a little sense?" Cynthia said, glancing at Blake in confusion. "A talent show? Those are part of beauty pageants, yeah, but… I don't know it seems pretty weird if you ask me."
"So the first competition was showing off the pokemon and this one is showing off the contestant," Blake mused. "That should be interesting…"
"Now, I'm sure after hearing how exciting this competition is going to be, a lot of you have got to be worked up pretty good," Lukas said, nodding to the audience. "And I don't blame you! I'm excited myself! But it's time to take a quick intermission, to give our young ladies a chance to prepare something that can really dazzle you! So please, take an hour, get some lunch, and come back to witness the grand and exciting performance our competitors will put on!"
The audience cheered and the curtain fell, and Sango pulled herself out of her chair and trudged towards the stage exit.
She never made it, because Ayame dropped down off the stands and draped her arm over Sango's shoulder, putting her in a friendly headlock.
"Sango, you dog!" She laughed. "You never told me you had such a big brain! Getting first in the Smartness Contest? That's amazing!"
"It-It's nothing special," Sango said, shaking her head. "I just got lucky is all. Because I landed on the daily double I got to double my score, which made me win. But you saw, I couldn't answer a single question after that."
"Nonsense, is it?"
Sango turned in surprise to see Alcea standing behind her. Her expression was stern, but her green eyes shimmered with gentleness. Her ruby red lips curled up into a smile.
"Even if that question were an ordinary one, you would still have earned 17 points for yourself, is it?" Alcea asked. "Which would have tied you with our scores, and Olivia as well. Do you still intend to look down on yourself?"
Sango baulked. "I… well, that's…"
"If you think 17 points is not satisfactory, then you think that Ayame, Olivia, and I performed poorly in that competition, is it?" Alcea asked.
Sango's eyes widened and her face went pale. "N-No! No, no I don't think that at all!" She protested, shaking her hands frantically. "I-I just meant…"
"You meant that you believe 17 points is a suitable score for those with standing such as us, but you held yourself to a higher standard, is it?" Alcea asked. "Perhaps because you think it natural that you would be better than us, is it?"
Sango felt sick to her stomach. How… how had this happened? She didn't think anything of the sort, how was Alcea misunderstanding her this badly? "No, I didn't, I just…"
"You're just being hard on yourself, is it?" Alcea said, and her smile turned warm, which eased the tension in Sango's heart. Alcea shook her head. "You can rest easy, is it?" She said, walking over to Sango and placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. "You belong on this stage with the rest of us. You can continue doing your best."
Sango felt her spirits lifted as she heard that.
"Yeah, what she said!" Ayame said, hugging her a little tighter.
"Now, if you will excuse me, I must prepare," Alcea said, turning away from Sango and heading off on her own, to the other stage exit. She had a lot of work to prepare for the talent portion, after all, and she was grateful that they had an hour for break.
"My, my, you say some nice things sometimes, don't you, miss queen of queens."
Alcea turned to see Olivia, leaning against the backstage wall with a cold expression on her face. "And here I thought you were so well-loved for your that tongue of yours that's as sharp as a thorn. What would your fans say?"
Alcea paused and turned to Olivia, keeping an even look on her face. "I dislike seeing a bud die before it can fully blossom. That's all. Nothing further."
Olivia narrowed her eyes. "That's all, is it?" She murmured. Her eyes were glassy, like she was looking through Alcea and not at her. "Indeed… you do have a penchant for that, don't you? Finding those poor wilting flowers and helping them bloom brightly."
Alcea said nothing.
"And that other girl, Nomia, the poison user… I guess your preference really is for the ones with short hair. I wish I had known. Perhaps next time I can get Blake to lend me some assistance, would you like that?" Olivia asked, a coy smile creeping up her face as she twirled a lock of golden hair around her finger.
"If there is nothing else, I must make my leave," Alcea said, moving to step around her. "Please excuse me."
"One last thing, before you go, I have something to tell you," Olivia said, reaching her hand out to stop Alcea. Alcea raised her eyebrow and turned to Olivia.
"Oh?" She asked.
"I promise you… I will take back what you stole from me," Olivia said. Her voice was cold, and brokered no argument. It was a menacing tone that she so seldom displayed, Alcea found it surprising at first, staring quizzically at her.
"Is there… anything else?" Alcea coldly asked.
Olivia lowered her arm and stepped aside, allowing Alcea to pass. She put a wide smile onto her lips, and tilted her head to the side. "Not at all," she said, her voice oozing with sweetly-veiled contempt. "Please, enjoy your time off."
"Oui. Oh, yes, before I forget," Alcea said, turning back to Olivia and brushing her hair back behind her ear, "I must apologize. But I do not remember… ever having stolen anything from you, is it?" She said, her heels clacking as she turned and walked towards her dressing room.
Olivia stood as still as a statue and waited for everyone to be gone.
"GOD FUCKING DAMN IT!" She shouted, smashing her fist against the fall, panting in anger. "She fucking got me, damn it!"
Her episode lasted a fraction of a second and then she quickly caught herself, taking a few deep breaths and then heading back to her dressing room to fix her makeup. She had a show to put on, after all, and she would need to look her best.
While Olivia had no qualms about something like a talent show, that was clearly not a sympathy shared by the other competitors. Sango at least was in NO WAY ready for something like this, and she trudge back to her dressing room, flopping down on the couch in resignation.
"Great… I know that it's not as bad as, say, an actual cuteness contest, but what am I going to do, Silver?" She groaned, turning over and looking at her Castform, the small pokemon looking worriedly towards her.
She sighed, and sat up on the couch, reaching out and taking Silver by the sides of his head, pulling him up to face level.
"Don't worry, Silver, we'll think of something," she grinned. "We just have to get creative! Come on, what are we good at?"
"…Castform?" Silver asked, blinking.
"Uh…" Sango felt the same. Blinking and giving a blank expression. What was she good at? Sports, mainly, running, biking, hiking, all sorts of things. Even fishing could be considered a talent if she thought about it. But she felt like assembling a pup tent in under five minutes probably wasn't what the judges would consider cute.
"…Maybe I can wheel in a rock climbing wall," she groaned, letting Silver go and burying her head in her hands.
A knock on the door caught her attention. She stood up and walked over to see who it was. Maybe it was Cynthia and the others? Or had Blake finally come to visit her? She had felt a little down before, hearing that he was going to meet up with Ayame instead of her, but maybe he had finally come here to…
She stopped her hand before it reached the doorknob.
What… what am I doing? She asked herself, knocking her head against the door. What am I hoping for? That Blake would choose me over Ayame? Ridiculous. She clutched her chest. Slow down, heart. I don't want to feel like this anymore.
Another knock. She gritted her teeth and straightened up, forcing a smile to her face. "Yes, who is it?" She asked, opening the door.
It was not who she had expected. It wasn't even the second, third, fourth, or fifth person she expected. There was a long, long list of people who she would have expected to come greet her at the door before the person standing there.
"Hello, Sango," Olivia said, giving her a sweet smile and a wave. "Can I come in?"
Sango's blood froze in her veins. The Empress… what did the Empress want with her? "Uh… well… um, I mean…"
Sango and Olivia did not have the best of relationships. She felt gratitude for the older girl for helping her out in several ways, as well as for keeping her mouth shut about her feelings for Blake, that meant quite a lot to her. But most of that was before Sango and Marion had become as close to one another as they were now. Now, she was allied with an enemy faction.
And to top it off, Olivia personally didn't like Marion very much.
But none of these concerns made it to her lips, because she wasn't sure where to start. After all, Olivia was still Ayame's closest friends, and Sango cared deeply for Ayame, so she didn't want to rock the boat too much.
And she was still grateful for the dress. It meant a lot to her. All those confusing feelings made her unable to oppose her, and she just nodded meekly.
Olivia's lips curled into a smile and she strolled into Sango's room, beckoning her to follow with her hand. Sango swallowed and closed the door, heading in after her.
"H-Hello," Sango said, a little nervous.
"Come, sit," Olivia said, sitting down on the couch and patting the seat next to her. "Let me touch up your makeup."
"Uh… okay," Sango said, not sure what Olivia wanted. She… she couldn't be here because Sango had done so well in the Cleverness Competition, right? And had gotten all those points? If Olivia was here to tear into Sango and make things miserable for her, Sango really was not going to take it well. She was feeling pretty exhausted as she was.
She sat down next to Olivia, her hands shaking. Olivia picked up on that immediately. She set down a rather large box that Sango had just noticed she'd brought in, and unfolded several drawers to reveal an extensive makeup kit.
She… She had really just come in to do Sango's makeup? Seriously?
Sango wasn't sure what to react to that. So she just sat there in stunned silence and let Olivia get to work.
"You're really doing well in the contest, you notice?" Olivia murmured casually, like that wasn't a big deal. Sango gulped. Here it came…
"I-I'm not doing so good… not compared, um, not compared t-to, y-you and Alcea…" She gasped as she saw the shadow cross Olivia's face. "Err, I mean, you! You're got so many more points than me, compared to that, I… I…"
"You shouldn't sell yourself short," Olivia said softly, shaking her head. "You really are doing well. You should hold your head up high."
Sango was surprised. Olivia didn't sound miffed, not in the slightest, even though Sango was seen as a threat to her.
"You're… not upset?" She asked, confused.
Olivia raised her eyebrow. "Is that what you think of me?" She asked. She almost sounded hurt by what Sango had said, and Sango felt rather miserable about that herself, thinking that she might have judged Olivia too harshly.
"S-Sorry," she said, flushing scarlet. She lowered her head in shame.
"It's okay," Olivia smiled, shaking her head. "I know how I must come off. But honestly, Sango, I'm proud of you."
Sango perked up in surprise. Proud? "You're proud of me?" She asked, surprised. Why would Olivia be proud of her?
"You remind me so much of Ayame when she was younger," Olivia chuckled. She pulled a forelock of Sango's hair from her face to check-up her forehead. "You don't have nearly enough faith in yourself. I hope this will help you feel a lot more positivity about yourself."
Sango felt her heart skip a beat. Hearing Olivia's pride in her made her feel a little swell of pride herself, and she hoped that maybe, just maybe, there might be something to it.
"How else are you feeling, then?" Olivia asked quietly. "Is there anything else you're feeling tense or nervous about? Any other anxieties, hmm?"
Sango shivered. "W-Well," she said, averting her eyes from the beautiful girl in front of her. There was something that made her feel a little nervous, but that was definitely not something she could reveal to anyone, least of all Olivia.
Olivia knew she'd had feelings for Blake, but there was no way she knew that she STILL had feelings for him.
"Do you still have feelings for Blake?" Olivia asked. Her eyes were no longer warm and tender; now they were serious, burning an accusation into Sango's heart.
Sango didn't even try to deny it; she knew that Olivia could see plainly how she felt on her face. She'd been able to tell before, and Sango had been much more composed back then.
"You don't have to deny it, and you don't have to be scared," Olivia said, and her voice took on a tender tone again. "I understand where you're coming from, and I understand it's hard to let go of those feelings, Sango. I'm not here to scorn you, or tell you that he belongs to Aya, or whatever it is that you might be worried about."
"Oh, good," Sango said, sighing in relief.
"But I still think you should give up on your feelings for Blake," Olivia said, her voice cold and harsh. "For your own sake."
Sango flinched. Olivia's words were harsh, but Sango couldn't bring herself to deny that what she said was right.
"I myself don't have much experience with love," Olivia admitted as she touched-up Sango's mascara. "But I know that love can be painful. And believe me… that pain… you want to move past it. While you still have it in your heart… if not, then it will turn sour. Memories… times shared… things that were once sweet and pleasant and sent you to sleep with a smile on your face… they'll bring you nothing but bitterness and pain."
Olivia was smiling, but Sango could see tears in the corners of her eyes. Sango had to applaud her acting talent. The gleam in her glassy eyes was the only sign that she was upset.
She didn't ask Olivia what she meant by her words. She just sat there and let Olivia put the finishing touches on her makeup.
A rather tender moment between two people you wouldn't expect. The arc continues, and what will come of it, I wonder? We'll have to find out.