The Coolness Competition comes to an end with this chapter! Who will win? Will Sango be able to overwhelm Alcea with Sammy's amazing power? Or will Alcea and Venus's strategies and mastery of the Grass type be enough to seize the victory? The conclusion arrives now!

KedharS: She's really doing her best, that's for sure.

Epifanio Therion: Sango has long been established to be a fan of the pokemon battling video games, so she does have a little bit of knowledge, just not as much practical experience until recently. She does certainly have a knack for pokemon battles, though.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 756

Alcea considered her options carefully. The ticking clock was quite a factor in this match. Venus had sustained a lot more damage than the Samurott had over the course of the battle, and Sammy was a lot stronger, too. So she was fighting at a disadvantage. Venus didn't have the speed and time to recover with synthesis, and if she tried then Sammy would take her down with more powerful attacks. If she tried to put the pokemon to sleep, then she would prevent it with her protect attack. Venus had a significant type advantage over Sammy, but why did it feel like she was still on the defensive here? It really spoke to the strength of Kanone's Samurott.

This was a rather tough situation.

I'm not fighting against Kanone… but this pressure I feel from his Samurott… Alcea bit her lip. She could feel Kanone's eyes on her, watching her. It was like this was a test for her, to see if Alcea could handle herself against his best pokemon. Could he have planned this out so perfectly? Given Sango that Samurott knowing she would take it all the way to the finals, where she would fight against Alcea as a test?

…No, that's ridiculous, she dismissed the thought, shaking her head. It's all just a coincidence. He would never have staged things, that would be unfair to the other girls if the match was rigged. But now that it's shaken out this way…

She couldn't help but smile. This pressure, like she was fighting against Kanone, it was driving her to be even better, to try even harder.

"Venus, use petal blizzard," she ordered.

"Venusaur!" Venus fired a massive blizzard of petals against Sammy, the razor-sharp blades crossing the battlefield in a flurry of destructive power. But Alcea knew it was meaningless. She wasn't counting on that to even slow the Samurott down, because she knew that when a pokemon could stop a stun spore with her swords, something like flower petals wouldn't even be a strain.

And indeed, it wasn't. Sammy drew her swords, and at Sango's command of swords dance she began swinging her blades, snatching the petals out of the air and slapping them down as they spun around her, not a single one even getting close.

But that was fine with Alcea. Because petal blizzard was just a distraction. The real goal was to prepare for a different attack.

"Terrain pulse!" She ordered.

"Venusaur!" Venus absorbed energy from the grass sprouting up from the battlefield, boosting up her energy and increasing her power as she took it in directly from the terrain, transforming a normal move into a Grass type move.

"Whoa!" Kate gasped. "I've never seen that move before!" Kate knew that her idol had been planning some new strategies, which was why she had been so hard to find and so distant recently, but she didn't expect it would be completed so soon. She was still enraptured, of course, cheering on Alcea with everything she had.

Alcea had been changing her tactics slightly. She'd been learning new strategies ever since she fought against Gabrielle in the Phantom Cup, and ever since she lost to the Phantom. Before then, she had been relying on the sunlight from her sunny day to boost her pokemon's power. She wasn't dependent on it, of course, but it had been a major part of all her strategies, and the battles against the two of them had shown her the flaws in her own style.

She had had to rely on trickery to get the sun up against Gabrielle, and against the Phantom she was drastically overwhelmed by the shadow sky move. It was hard to control the weather when so many people knew it was her main strategy. Gabrielle had proved it earlier in the competition, fighting against her with taunt to keep her from setting up sunny day.

She needed to switch things up, and that's why for the past month she had been mastering a new strategy, relying on her grassy terrain and the benefits from that.

She was still susceptible to taunt, of course, but one step at a time.

It was why she had been so surprised that Olivia had managed to fight back so well; Alcea hadn't gotten into any public matches with the new terrain strategy, but somehow Olivia had still knew about it, even down to the grassy seed. It brought a smile to Alcea's face, Olivia always worked so hard. She admired her willpower quite a lot, and wished that she could be just as brave herself. Although she wished that the other girl would be less rude and abrasive.

But for now, she wasn't going to focus on that. She was going to turn her attention to battling Sango, and overwhelming her with her new strategy. She had never been able to defeat Kanone's Samurott; very few people could boast that they had. But even if Kanone wasn't fighting at Sammy's side, facing off against her was a challenge in and of itself. So with that in mind, Alcea took a deep breath, focused her thoughts, and called out to Venus, "now!"

Venus released the energy she had gathered up into a massive shockwave, the pulse surging across the grass and rustling it, slamming into Sammy with everything she had just as the Samurott finished cutting down the last of the petals.

"Sam-!" Sammy grit her teeth, withstanding the shockwave from terrain pulse, keeping her balance and pushing forward. She charged at Venus with her sword raised, and then paused, coming to a stop. She regathered her focus, remembering what her duty was. Her trainer had not ordered her to win. He had told her to respond to Sango. Sammy may have been used to fighting for herself, taking down enemy pokemon without even needing orders, but that wasn't what was being asked of her. So she stepped back and glanced at Sango, waiting for her to give an order.

"Sammy, use aqua jet!" Sango ordered. With two swords dances, it didn't matter that Sammy was using a move that wasn't very effective against the Venusaur, it would still take out a significant chunk of her health, and Venus only had a few chunks left.

"Samurott," Sammy nodded. It wasn't the move she would have used, and may have been the first mistake Sango made, but Sammy was a loyal pokemon who would follow her orders, even if she disagreed with it. She raised her swords, water swirling around her body into a torrent. She jetted forward at top speed.

That wasn't what Alcea had expected, but she was certainly fine with it. "Venus!" She called. "Use grassy glide!"

"Venusaur!" Venus nodded. She shot across the grass, dodging to the side as Sammy surged past her. One priority move was a match for another, and because of the massive boost of speed from Venus's Chlorophyll, she wasn't about to be outsped by a simple aqua jet.

Venus took care to give Sammy a wide berth, not even using her grassy glide to inflict damage; if she got too close, then she could take a serious hit. It was a dangerous tightrope to walk, but Alcea was absolutely certain to walk it. She had complete faith in Venus, and knew Venus could keep on her toes and avoid the Samurott's strikes. As skilled as Sammy might have been, Venus was used to moving fast, and used to moving on grass.

Now what she needed to do was find a gap that she could take advantage of, and she was pretty sure she could see it.

"Venus, grass knot," Alcea ordered. Venus nodded, she could see exactly what her trainer was planning to do. Long vines of interwoven grass shot up from the field, wrapping not around Sammy's legs as she normally would do, but around her arms, particularly her wrist.

"Samurott!" Sammy cried in pain, the grass wrapping tightly around her wrists, clutching down hard. The tight grasp forced her to drop the shell blades, which would have helped to cut her free. It was why Alcea had Venus target the wrists, so that the Samurott couldn't cut herself free, even if she kept a tight grip on her blades. Sammy struggled against the grass, water washing up around her. There was a lot Sammy could have done to break free, but that decision wasn't up to her. She looked desperately to Sango, who was quickly trying to think of what to do. What move should she use to free Sammy?!

Sango was quickly starting to lose control of things. She was doing good when she was in the lead, and Sammy was really helpful for that. But right now, she was quickly running out of ideas since she didn't know what moves to use.

"Um, um, Sammy, use-" Sango was quickly about to order, but Alcea beat her to the punch.

"Not a chance," she hissed. "Venus, use sleep powder."

"Venusaur!" Venus flexed her flower and sent a spray of pollen over the battlefield. Sammy struggled angrily, trying to pull herself free, but she couldn't do it. She was trapped, unable to escape. Without her shell blades, there was nothing she could do.

She was still struggling to free herself as the pollen settled down over her, causing her to weaken and grow drowsy. She stopped fighting, and slowly drifted off to sleep, snoring away in the cradle of grasp seizing her.

"No!" Sango cried. She didn't have another lum berry to use on Sammy to wake her up again. She now had to fight with Sammy fast asleep.

And that wasn't likely to go anywhere.

'Oh, no," Cynthia groaned, slumping back down in her seat and hanging her head. "She fell asleep, there's nothing we can do…"

Blake wasn't so convinced. He didn't want to give up on Sango. "Come on, Sango!" He shouted. "Don't give up! You can do it!"

Blake's words touched Sango's ears and her heart soared, standing up a little straighter as a smile crossed her face.

"Come on, Sammy!" Sango shouted. "You can do it!" She mimicked Blake's encouraging words, feeling a little nicer inside, even though she was likely to lose. She wasn't going to let likelihood overcome her; she was going to keep fighting, keeping her head up high even if she lost.

Alcea smiled. She admired that about her. Sango may be in a situation that she couldn't win, but she still wasn't going to win. "Magnificent," she breathed, nodding in acknowledgement. "Venus, use solarbeam," she ordered.

"Venusaur!" Venus lowered herself down to the ground, tilting her flower forward. She gathered up light from the sun and focused it into a single beam of light, firing it at Sammy and hitting her square in the chest. Sammy roared in pain, falling to the grass just as the timer ran out.

As the match ended, Alcea felt all the strength leave her body. She recalled Venus to her pokeball for a nice rest, and turned her attention to the judges, waiting to see what they thought. Unfortunately, even though Sammy was asleep and she had been blasted intensely, badly injured, it wasn't a decisive victory.

She was still capable of fighting in spite of Alcea's best efforts, so now she had to wait for the decision of the judges. Her heart was pounding as she waited for their assessment.

Alcea was so caught up in the decision of the judges, she didn't even notice that Sango had recalled the pokemon laying right beside Alcea, and had walked over to her.

"Alcea," Sango said quietly. Alcea flinched, taking care to keep her expression composed as she turned to Sango.

"Oui?" Alcea asked curiously.

"That was a great match," Sango said, flashing a smile at the other girl. "We both did our best. Win or lose, I don't have any regrets."

Sango felt like a weight had been lifted off of her herself. She had tried so hard, and reached such a level of triumph that she felt like it didn't matter if she won or not. As those feelings flooded through her, Cynthia's face flashed before her mind. This must be what it felt like to be Cynthia, not caring if she won or lost.

Alcea smiled back at Sango. "Oui," she nodded. "I quite enjoyed it myself, is it? We both put up an excellent fight. Tres magnifique."

She definitely had enjoyed the fight. But right now, she turned her attention back to the judges, to see what they had to say. She liked battling for the sake of battling, but right now she was more concerned with what Kanone thought of her. It was what she wanted most. For him to see how strong she was. She had fought her hardest and overwhelmed Sammy, nearly defeating her right before Kanone's eyes, and she couldn't wait to see what he thought about her.

Oh, please let him acknowledge her!

The judges began to make their decisions.

"I think that was a great match well-suited to being the final round," Ian said. "Alcea really fought well, making full use of her pokemon's abilities, and even with her type advantage over Sango's Samurott, she still worked with her strategies to overcome her issues."

"I think you're right," Akira agreed. "Sango's Samurott was definitely powerful, and Sango made good use of her abilities. You could definitely feel a sense of pressure throughout the entire match, and Alcea overcame that pressure and did her best, coming up with methods to defeat a disadvantageous matchup against a powerful pokemon. Alcea performed well."

Alcea ignored their words. They were kind, certainly, and she did feel nice about the praise they were bestowing upon her. But she didn't care that much; right now, there was only one person's judgment she cared about, and she looked right at him as she waited for his decision.

Kanone smiled back at her.

"I think that Alcea did an excellent job," Kanone declared, and Alcea's heart skipped a beat, her face lighting up with joy and anticipation. He really thought that? He thought that she had done an excellent job? Her heart raced, and she waited for Kanone to continue, telling her about how he thought of her fighting style against Sammy, and how she had overcome the powerful pokemon, and won the match successfully.

That was what he was going to say, right? The opinions of Akira and Ian were nothing, it was Kanone's judgment that mattered the most to her. Even if those other two had decided that she was worthy of being the winner, did it mean anything if Kanone didn't agree?

"I know how powerful Sammy is," Kanone continued. "And I could see just how much Alcea struggled in her match, coming up with new ways to seize the advantage over my Samurott, overcoming the powerful pokemon and inflicting her with a powerful status condition, tripping her up, outspeeding her at several turns… yes, she certainly did an amazing job. Alcea, you've grown quite a lot as a trainer since we last met," he confided.

A bright, beaming smile spread across Alcea's face as she stood up taller, feeling like she was floating on air. He praised her. He had told her how much he approved of her strength, everything that she had wanted to hear. Now, he just had to say…

"That's why I think, with all her hard work and her wonderful performance, it's only fitting that she be the winner of the Coolness Competition," Kanone judged.

There it was. Those were the words that Alcea had been praying to hear. She had wanted to hear them so badly, and now that she was, she couldn't believe it. He really thought that she deserved to win. And as applause roared across the Milotic Dome, her heartbeat drowned out by the loud cheers and clapping, she felt like she was the center of the world.

More clapping from beside her. Alcea turned to see Sango, applauding with a bright smile on her face. A shy smile spread across Alcea's lips. She loved seeing how much Sango appreciated her hard work, it made her feel like she had fought well, if even her opponent was applauding her so cheerfully. Alcea nodded to her opponent.

"You heard it yourselves!" Lukas announced, walking out onto the stage, microphone in hand. "Alcea is the winner of the match! And that means she's the overall winner of the Coolness Competition! Now, let's go over how many points our girls earned in this round!"

Lukas turned to the screen as it lowered back down onto the stage. As it did, the stage shifted and the battlefield returned into the stage, replaced by the normal staging. Neither Alcea nor Sango took note of that, though, their attention focused on the screen.

On the screen, the brackets were split up as Alcea rose above Sango.

"Our winner, of course, the lovely Alcea Vermeil, gains 10 points!" Lukas explained. "And then, our runner-up in second place will get 8 points! The girls who reached the semi-finals will get 6 points, and the ones who fell in the first round will earn 4 points. This way, our girls will get points to represent their performance! Let's see what our ladies won!"

Gesturing to the screen, the girls' names popped up.

Alcea: 10 points

Sango: 8 points

Lila: 6 points

Olivia: 6 points

Ayame: 4 points

Darla: 4 points

Gabrielle: 4 points

Serefina: 4 points

"Looking at all the points our ladies earned, let's see what their final scores are!" Lukas said, and the screen shifted again. Adding the points to their totals revealed some serious changes in the leaderboard now.

Alcea: 33 points

Olivia: 30 points

Ayame: 28 points

Darla: 28 points

Sango: 28 points

Lila: 21 points

Serefina: 19 points

Gabrielle: 19 points

"With this, it looks like some clear leaders have been established!" Lukas declared. "Alcea has seized the lead, with Olivia hot on her heels! With a three-way tie for third place, who will emerge the winner? These girls are doing their best, and we only have one more round to go! The Toughness Competition will be coming up next, and that will be the final competition to determine who is Miss Pokemon Academy!"

The Miss Pokemon Academy Contest is reaching its climax! Who will win?! We'll have to find out!