We're approaching the end of the obstacle course! Who will come out ahead? But even as we near the end, the Toughness Competition is just getting started, this thing isn't over yet!

KedharS: I'm rather relieved that I don't, not one bit.

Pokemonking0924: There are all sorts of traps still waiting in the wings, don't worry.

Just a Bad Writer for Fun: Research Course is more than just the Phantom and his schemes.

FRIITA: Claire and Cynthia are basically the same. Claire is just Cynthia with big boobs.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 764

Alcea was not enjoying this first leg of the competition. As a pokemon trainer she was used to relying on her instincts, but those instincts weren't particularly helpful for a situation like this, where she had to figure out where to step without triggering another explosion of cream.

If Alcea was a lower sort of girl, she would have made a dry comment about how this was an explosive and creamy climax to the Miss Pokemon Academy Contest, but she wasn't that sort of girl. She had no interest in lowering herself like that.

Of course, Lukas was more than willing to add in those horrible jokes.

"Alcea Vermeil is taking quite a few sticky white loads," Lukas chortled. "I'm sure this is just a drop in the bucket compared to what her fans among the student body produce!"

With every word, Kate was adding another two milligrams of poison to Lukas's next meal in her mind, seething with outrage.

Even Cynthia was starting to get a little pissed off by these jokes. Sure, she was making them in her head, and slipped the occasional one to her friends with a wink and an elbow jab herself, but that was different from announcing them for all to hear! That was… that was just wrong, she couldn't believe that someone would make those jokes in front of the student body!

And yeah, she laughed at all of them, but the point remained.

While Alcea was frustrated by the loads of cream sprayed into her face, Olivia was irritated herself. She'd pulled herself out of the hole and kept going, not letting her anger get the better of her, she had to look smiling and sweet. She channeled her inner Lila, and walked forward without a care in the world, at least none showing on her face.

As for the real Lila, she took one look at Alcea's creamy complexion and noped the fuck out. She turned and prepared to run, her previous courage just a distant memory, when she was stopped by a glare from Darla and a quick shake of the head.

Lila sighed, and nodded her head, turning and trudging back into the minefield. She was already covered in mud, what was the worst that could happen?

She took another step and promptly fell over, buried beneath the ground was a long strip of glue, gluing her foot to the ground.

"What the heck?!" Lila exclaimed, tugging on her shoe. "Glue paper?! Seriously? What the fuck?!" She cried, not even giving a damn about her image to the fans. She was sick and tired of playing the nice and sweet girl, right now she was cursing her ass off, idol career be damned, and-

"Okay, okay, let's go," Darla said, walking over and pulling Lila free of the trap. Lila was stunned, skipping forward and nearly tumbling into Darla's arms.

"Darla?!" She stammered in disbelief. "What… what's going on?" She asked, confused.

"I'm helping you, dummy," Darla said, rolling her eyes. She flashed a grin. "Can't have my partner falling down on the job! We're getting through this together, I've just decided! Even if it means I don't win, the important part is that we both make it through. Together."

Lila gasped, tears welling up in her eyes. Darla… Darla had a real chance of winning, unlike Lila. And she was willing to throw it away, just to help Lila make it through the tournament. That… That was the sweetest thing that Darla had ever done for her that didn't involve breaking all ties with her family and fleeing her home region.

So top 5, easy.

"Thank you…" She sniveled, wiping her eyes and smiling up at her friend. And this wasn't any old fake smile, no, this was a Lila Seelie true-blue smile of joy, staring up at her beloved friend as she appreciated what the girl was doing for her.

The crowd thought the same. A chorus of cheers and awe roared across the Milotic Dome as they rooted for the two girls.

"What a heartwarming moment!" Lukas exclaimed, his face filling with joy. "Darla and Lila, partners on stage, have decided to work together to make it through the obstacle course and the Toughness Competition! What a heartwarming scene of camaraderie, our wholesome friends are making us all feel those warm and fuzzies, don't you agree?"

The crowd roared in agreement, and Cynthia let out a wistful sigh. "Why can't I get a girl like that?" She asked, glancing down solemnly at her lap.

"Maybe if you were a little more genuine and a little less perverse, you could find someone," Maddi dryly replied, not even glancing Cynthia's way. The disregard in her voice was a powerful message for Cynthia, who seethed back at her.

"Yes, thank you Maddi," she grumbled. It wasn't her fault that she didn't have a wholesome bond with another girl, she just… got distracted sometimes. By boobs. Because boobs were great. Was that so wrong?

Well, doing things perverted about it was wrong, sure, but she just got a little lost sometimes. And besides, her feelings for Blake were real and genuine, so it was definitely possible for her to fall in real love with someone!

Even if that person would never love her back…

…And great, now Cynthia was depressed. She didn't want to be depressed, she wanted to enjoy herself in the tournament! This was just the kind of contest she had always wanted, and now she was feeling sad about it!

Speaking of unrequited love and envy of Ayame Toujou, Sango was getting worried. Alcea's lack of caution and willingness to get blasted in the face by the booby traps meant she was quickly gaining ground on the two tomboys, coming up fast. And that wasn't good at all. She needed to take a move to get ahead, because it wasn't enough that she beat Alcea.

Alcea had 33 points, and Sango had 28. Which meant that if Sango wanted to win, she would need to get in first place, and get 10 points to bring her total up to 38, and Alcea couldn't get second, because then she'd be at 41. Or third, because then she'd be at 39. And if she got fourth, then they'd be tied at 38.

Which meant that if Sango or Ayame wanted to win the overall contest, then they needed to get first, and had to have Alcea get fifth place or lower, so that she wouldn't get enough points to pull ahead of them.

It wasn't a great plan, but it was the best they had.

Sango and Ayame glanced at each other, both doing that math in their heads. Incorrectly, of course, since they both really sucked at math, but the intention was clear, they both needed to beat Alcea if either one of them wanted to have a chance to win.

And that meant that there was no time to spend on caution! They had to run forward as fast as they could, and shrug off the obstacles whatever they were!

So that was what Sango decided to do. She tucked her head down and ran forward, Ayame beside her as the two girls through caution to the wind and charged into the fray of the minefield.

Beneath their feet, two beeps sounded.

With an oof, Ayame doubled over as a boxing glove sprung out of the ground on a spring, hitting her in the gut and nearly knocking her over.

As for Sango, she landed on a pad that triggered a shower of chestnuts shooting up from the ground, and she cried out in pain, shielding her face from the sharp little barbs of the nuts. She stumbled forward, panting, and glanced back at Ayame, who had had the wind knocked out of her.

Ayame panted, shaking her head, and stumbled forward. Luckily, her rock-solid abs had let her keep most of her endurance. She picked up the pace and the girls kept running, wary of the booby traps as they came.

Olivia picked up the pace herself. She wasn't about to let Alcea get ahead of her. The next thing that she triggered, to her discomfort, was a sprinkler of something red and dangerous-looking. She ducked out of the way just as the substance hit her in the eyes, and she let out an agonizing scream.

"…Oof. That's a shame," Lukas said, shaking his head and clicking his tongue. "I knew that the hot-sauce sprinklers were a bad idea. Poor thing…"

Blake was beside himself with disbelief. Sure, it wasn't as bad as if they were rigged with dynamite or gunpowder, but he still couldn't believe that the school had signed onto something like that. It was just… well, it was a really, really dangerous situation and he couldn't believe it at all.

But the top of it all was Serefina, who Cynthia watched with a mix of eagerness and reluctance. She wanted to see Serefina go through some… enjoyable situations, but she didn't want to deal with the guilt that she would feel about being happy about it.

Luckily, the first booby trap that Serefina dealt with was the kind that had the audience pause for a moment, and then be beside themselves with laughter.

The ground beneath Serefina's feat gave out, and she tumbled down into a thin, narrow hole about the size of her body. But by the time it hit her chest, she suddenly stopped falling. She looked down and turned bright red in disbelief.

Her boobs were large and firm enough to stop her from falling all the way down the hole, acting as a brake. She slammed her hands on the ground and tried to pull herself up, which unfortunately drew even more attention to her large breasts.

Cynthia tried not to laugh, she would feel really bad about it.

But as hard as she might have tried, some things were just impossible to achieve. That's why it was important to set reasonable expectations for yourself, and not be too disappointed that you couldn't accomplish greater things.

Of course, if Serefina had heard that explanation, she wouldn't be the most receptive of it. With a grimace on her face, she pulled herself out of the whole.

Normally, Serefina was all smiles. She was the kind of girl who let whatever would happen, happen, without worrying about problems or losing her temper. Even when she got upset, she took care to measure it. It was a skill she learned in her years of dealing with rambunctious pokemon who were more than a little uncontrollable. It was the sort of skill that was necessary for Pokemon Breeders to cultivate.

But everyone had a breaking point. For Serefina, it was situations like this, being forced into increasingly sexual situations without being able to do anything about it. That, and providing relationship counseling for toxic couples who couldn't decide whether they loved or hated each other. Either of those things were liable to leave to an emotional breakdown that would require her to take strategic mindfulness breaks.

And since Dakota was currently in a coma right now and not bugging Serefina to death with problems she didn't care about, the only target of her ire at the moment were the cameras recording her performance.

Serefina stormed forward, not giving a damn about the booby traps she was setting off. A loud noise like a shell blast thrummed in her ears, and she ignored it. Another hole opened up beneath her, even wider this time, and she jumped out of the way. A blast of cream hit her in the face and she scraped it away like it was nothing, even as blood poured out of Cynthia's nose and she attempted to excuse herself for some private time.

Maddi wasn't having any of it, though, grabbing Cynthia tightly by the wrist and squeezing until the other girl winced in pain, sinking back down into her seat.

"Come on, Cynthia," she said sternly. "You have to spend your time here, loyal to Sango."

Cynthia wanted to argue, but she knew she didn't have a leg to stand on. With a sigh and shrug, she nodded her head, and turned back to the screen.

Sango herself, just like Ayame, was nearing the end of the minefield. She was ahead of Ayame by a hair, thanks to the stumbling blocks that the other girl kept facing; it seemed that her booby traps were a whole lot more inhibiting than Sango's were. But Sango wasn't about to tread lightly; she knew that her luck could only take her so-

A beep made Sango's blood freeze in her veins, and she nearly tripped in shock. She didn't know how she knew, but a feeling ran through her, telling her that she had reached the end of the line, and her luck had just run out.

A massive net shot up from beneath her feet, catching her like a trap set by an Ariados. It tied her up and held her down, keeping her trapped and struggling as she tumbled into the dirt, struggling to get free of the trap.

She let out a curse of frustration as she stared at the entrance of the labyrinth, mere feet away, but completely out of reach. She thrashed against the ground and tried to scoot forward a few inches, but after two seconds of that she realized how futile it was and let out a groan of resignation, spitting in the dirt.

Ayame raced past her, shooting a look of sympathy her way. But Sango hardened her stare and glared at her until the other girl picked up the pace and headed forward, running into the maze without taking a second look back.

"Look at that!" Lukas announced. "The first girl in the Miss Pokemon Academy Contest to complete the first leg of the Toughness Competition and enter the labyrinth is the track club's Ayame Toujou! Gotta say, I'm not surprised that an athlete like her would seize an early lead, especially with the performance she's put on this whole time!"

"Yeah!" Blake exclaimed. "Way to go, Aya! You can do it!" Claire and Cynthia both smiled at how boldly Blake was cheering for Ayame. It was the sort of love that warmed the heart, even if Cynthia's envy stung a little.

"Now the only question is, will she have the brains to make it through the labyrinth?" Lukas asked, the tone of his voice making a clear insinuation that his thoughts were firmly in the "negative", much to Blake's irritation. But he held his tongue and didn't curse out the other student, choosing instead to have faith in Aya's abilities.

"Aya, you'll get through that maze no problem!" Blake called out in encouragement, even though she absolutely couldn't hear him.

While that exchange was taking place, Sango was still squirming against the net holding her in place, keeping her from charging off after the other girl.

She didn't regret her decision. Sure, she could have called out to Ayame, begged her for help, maybe thrown in a few tears, and the kind of girl Ayame was, she almost certainly would have gone for it, too, and helped her out, because she was a lovely, sweet person like that.

But Sango didn't do that, for the same reason that Ayame had held her tongue and not said a word when she'd been knocked down by the boxing glove booby trap earlier, or any of the other, rougher ones before that.

Because that's who they were, rivals. And they may have been rooting for each other to do their best, but that stopped after a certain point, and that point was upon them. So they parted ways without hard feelings, Ayame going on ahead to keep competing and leaving Sango where she was. Even though it would have been better for their overall strategy to help Sango, and for both to keep going together, to make sure Alcea couldn't pass either (and thus ensuring she'd place another slot lower than them) it wasn't the kind of cheap move either girl was going to play.

They were rivals. And before that, they were competitors. They were going to fight their hardest in order to come out the victor. And while both girls would have loved to work side by side with one another and complete this as a team, their pride knew that this was something they would have to achieve on their own.

They weren't going to help in the best of times, and certainly not now, when one seriously needed help. Help that would have really just been pity.

Sango didn't want pity. Ayame was her rival, and was doing the best that she could, and Sango couldn't demean that by hoping that her rival would come and save her. She was a good sport about this, and would get free on her own power, somehow.

"Castform!" Silver chirped, floating down in front of her, his eyes shining eagerly. Sango's expression brightened.

Well, or with Silver's power.

"Thanks, Silver, you're the best!" She beamed at her partner. Unfortunately, Silver didn't have any hands to untie the knots. He puffed up his lips, and began blowing flames out, tiny embers to try and burn through the net.

"Don't go easy, Silver," Sango added. "I'm a big girl, I can deal with a few annoying little burns, understand?"

"Cast," Silver nodded in agreement, increasing the intensity of the embers. Sango winced at the heat but didn't let it stop her, straining against her bonds until they snapped from the fire damage, allowing her to break free.

"Whoa!" Lukas exclaimed. "

All things considered, her outfit was barely singed. Sango considered that an absolute win. She stood up and wiped the sweat from her brow, taking a second to take stock of her situation. It was a fatal mistake, sadly. By taking those precious few moments to get her bearings, Sango ceded her slight lead to Alcea, who swiftly passed through the entrance of the labyrinth with her Roserade, followed closely by Gabrielle and her Glaceon seconds later.

Sango gasped in shock. She hadn't even seen those two! But she wasn't about to let her shock get the better of her; she shook her head and pushed that shock aside. Time for wondering later, right now she needed to move forward, and make sure she didn't lose pace to the other girls still coming through the minefield!

Sango ran through the last few steps of the minefield, hoping that she wouldn't spring anymore booby traps. To her relief, she didn't, but her nerves didn't start settling until the passed under the archway of the maze, Silver at her side.

That was when Sango slowed down, looking up and scanning the labyrinth. She was in a wide hallway, and to her surprise, it was so… empty.

She had only entered a few seconds behind Gabrielle and Alcea, but she couldn't see a single trace of them, or their pokemon. She looked warily at the side tunnels leading out of the wide entrance hallway. She had no idea where she should go, and that was starting to make her feel worried. Such a big, empty maze…

A shiver went down Sango's spine. This was going to be tough.

Good luck, Sango! I know you can do it! The next leg of the Toughness Competition begins!