With the Miss Pokemon Academy Contest officially over, I thought it would be nice to have a little short breather chapter where everyone can relax and have some fun, before we get into the really serious stuff. Let's get ready to party!

Tambry96bj: It should be a fun one.

Just a Bad Writer for Fun: Sylvia hasn't killed THAT many people.

KedharS: Yep. And maybe some of that darkness will be approaching now.

Thunder Fire: You never know.

JoshGamerV: Well, it already worked once.

Guest: Sorry you feel that way.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 779

Sango was very much enjoying being the center of attention at her little party. Cynthia and Claire had both insisted that it should be a huge event celebrating her coronation as Miss Pokemon Academy, but she had quickly put a stop to that.

Did she like being Miss Pokemon Academy? Sure!

Was she excited to celebrate the achievement? Absolutely!

But a big party with a lot of people wasn't anything she had the energy for right now. In fact, as high as she'd felt after the contest was over, that rush had quickly worn down and all she wanted to do was get some sleep. So she made her intentions explicitly clear to her friends.

Yes, she wanted a party, and yes, they were all invited. But what she DID NOT want was for this to be some "reservations at the restaurant" sort of thing. Not happening. A nice, casual celebration in the dorm, that was what she wanted right now.

After getting Cynthia to swear upwards and backwards that she wouldn't go overboard, Sango finally, thankfully, slogged back to her dorm and fell into a deep sleep.

And now, hours later, here she was rested and reinvigorated and enjoying life as everyone crowded together in the boys' room to celebrate.

"Wow, I can't believe it," Reiner said, shaking his head. "How the heck are you so good at this?! You barely battle at all!"

Reiner was pouting because Sango had just finished schooling him in the Pokemon game they were playing. Downloading parties to use against each other, Sango had easily crashed through everybody who faced her.

It was getting to the point where she would normally start thinking that, as the guest of honor, the others were letting her win. Reiner's saltiness suggested otherwise, though.

"I guess you just need to know a bit more," Sango said snootily, but altering her tone so Reiner could know she was joking. Apparently, he didn't find it very funny. She shrugged her shoulders. "I'm just following my instincts. I guess I'm cut out to be a pokemon trainer after all!"

"You're definitely kicking all their butts," Claire agreed approvingly from where she was perched on Blake's lap. "You boys need to step up your game."

"Hey, I don't see you stepping up and fighting," Reiner protested defensively. "Don't lay it all on us boys, either, Julia got her ass kicked just as badly!"

"Oh, is that right?!" Julia snapped, standing up and putting her hands on her hips. "Well, why don't we see just how badly I can kick your ass, since you seem to be so high and mighty?"

Sango shrunk down a little. This was her party? The snacks were nice and all and the games were fun, but now it looked like Reiner and Julia were going to ruin the whole thing with another one of their pointless squabbles.

"G-Guys, let's not fight, okay?" Kitty said, standing up and trying to step between the two of them. "It-it's a party, after all…"

"Hey, no big whoop," Claire chortled. "All the best parties I've ever been to have folks getting into fights, I think this is great!"

Hearing that, Reiner and Julia both glanced at Kitty's desperate face and took a step back, softening slightly but still carrying a hostile look on their faces. Sango sighed, looking at her friends. The room was still thick with tension.

As she was debating what to do, what Ayame had told her earlier came to mind. This was her party, in celebration of HER accomplishment. So it wasn't wrong to take charge a little.

"Hey, come on guys, Kitty's right," Sango said, standing up and turning to her friends. "This is my party, and I'm not really up for squabbling right now. So let's just drop it, okay?"

She crossed her arms in front of her chest and made a face that showed she meant business.

Julia and Reiner looked at each other, guilty expressions on their face. Neither one looked ready to apologize to the other, so Sango had to step in a second time.

"You guys are friends, so apologize and make up, got it?" Sango prodded, trying not to make it sound too much like an order.

"…Sorry for what I said," Reiner apologized. "I was lashing out because I was feeling a little insecure about my loss."

Julia accepted this with a nod. "I… probably shouldn't have lashed out at you myself, either," she admitted sheepishly. "Escalating things by trying to pick a fight wasn't the right response… I was a little defensive myself, since I lost as well."

Sango was relieved that this was all resolving itself peacefully! Just like friends should!

"So in summary, it was all Sango's fault for beating everybody!" Cynthia piped up.

Everyone in the room shot her a dirty look.

"Hey, come on, kidding!" Cynthia protested. "And besides, Sango hasn't had a chance to fight ME yet! I'll show her what's what!"

Cynthia hopped off the bed she was sitting on and puffed her chest out proudly, her eyes shooting Sango a challenge.

"Sure! Sounds like fun!" Sango agreed. Now that Reiner and Julia weren't at each other's throats, her positive mood had returned and she was happy to get the fun times rolling again.

"Hacks! Hacks I say!" Cynthia exclaimed, dropping her controller and rounding on Sango with a look of disbelief in her eyes. "How did this happen?!"

Everyone had a good laugh at Cynthia's expense, as Maddi told her to calm herself down.

"She's good," Maddi said, shrugging her shoulders. "I thought she proved that when she swept through everybody with Kanone's Samurott."

"W-Well, that wasn't really me," Sango said frantically. "Honestly, that was because Kanone's pokemon was so powerful!"

"Yeah, anybody could win with a Samurott like that," Claire agreed. "Listen, Maddi-"

"Madison," Maddi snapped, narrowing her eyes. Claire hadn't earned the right to speak to her that casually.

Claire didn't seem fazed. "Fine, Madison, I don't think you realize just how powerful that Samurott is. As someone who grew up with the Harker Family, I've been pretty close to Kanone, and seen just how much effort he's put into training his pokemon. That's no ordinary Samurott, she's a beast! Even I could win with her, and I'm no one special."

Claire may not have realized how much she was belittling Sango's accomplishments, or maybe she just didn't care. It didn't help that Sango herself held a pretty strong belief that her win was mostly just because of how strong Sammy was.

"It's not that simple."

Her aid came from an unlikely source.

"Claire, I know you know a lot about my family," Blake explained to the girl sitting on his lap, "but that's not the kind of person my brother is. He's not going to rig a contest in someone else's favor just for kicks you know. If Kanone had given Sammy to Sango just so she could plow through all of her challengers' pokemon, that would remove the whole point of the competition, right? Kanone wouldn't do something like that."

Claire processed those words for a moment, and nodded in agreement. "Yeah… that doesn't sound like him."

"Maybe he told Sammy to go easy or something, I don't know," he shrugged. "But that's a lot more his style."

"I think also… Sammy was holding back a lot," Sango agreed. Now that Blake had presented the idea, she felt more comfortable saying it. This party might have been in her honor, but she still felt like it was boasting to attribute her win in that field specifically to just her own ability.

"That's what I felt, too." Everyone's head turned to the owner of the new voice. Ayame walked into the boys' room, looking pretty relaxed. "When I fought against that Samurott, it felt like she was holding back a lot. But even if she was, she still fought amazingly well."

Ayame crossed the room, and glanced at Claire. With a raise of her eyebrow the brunette quickly scurried off of Blake's lap, and Ayame took her rightful place there.

"H-Hey!" Blake protested, his face flushing.

"Problem?" Ayame asked, smiling over her shoulder.

"W-Well…" Blake definitely didn't have a problem with it (Aya was a lot more fun on his lap than Claire was) but it was definitely embarrassing. And since she was taller, it was a lot harder for him to engage in conversation with anyone else.

"Well, too bad," Ayame said, crossing her arms in front of her chest and "humph"ing like a petulant child. "You're my consolation prize!"

"Consolation prize?" Blake asked.

"Yes! For coming in second place!" Ayame said, giving a look that showed she wasn't actually sad about what had happened. "I tried my hardest, but unfortunately I just couldn't win! So since I didn't get named Miss Pokemon Academy, I get to sit on your lap as my consolation prize, got it?"

Blake was fine with that logic. "Sounds good to me," he agreed.

"Damn, lucky dog," Cynthia said, snapping her fingers and smiling good-naturedly at Ayame.

"Speaking of 'didn't get named Miss Pokemon Academy', Aya, how is Olivia doing with all this?" Blake asked. "You went to visit her, right?"

Sango didn't want to say anything, but she'd had a similar concern. She looked hopefully at Ayame for answers.

"She's doing about how you'd expect," Ayame sighed, shrugging her shoulders. Olivia hadn't been in the most pleasant of moods, at least not until the painkillers had started kicking in. "Still, I didn't see her burning effigies of Sango so it could have been worse."

"I don't think they allow incendiaries in the infirmary," Kitty said.

"…That could be a reason, but I'd prefer to attribute it to an enlightened sense of respect and sportsmanship," Ayame said.

A shiver ran down Sango's spine and she gulped.

"So if I'm getting this right, I think we can all agree that Sango has the makings of an amazing pokemon trainer." Nikita hadn't enjoyed the tension any more than Sango had, and came to her rescue by changing the subject back to the original topic. She hadn't even attempted to challenge Sango herself, knowing exactly how that would have gone down.

"Exactly," Maddi said, nodding in agreement. "Sango's good."

"Yeah, you are," Cynthia admitted. "But there's still someone else you've got to test your mettle against!"

"I'm not using a preloaded team," Maddi replied automatically. She hadn't fought Sango either, mainly because she wasn't the biggest fan of those games. "But if she wants to have a real pokemon battle using one of my rental teams…"

Maddi let the question hang there and Sango turned a little green around the gills. "Maybe next time," she offered. "I don't exactly have the energy to go for a real pokemon battle right now, I think you can imagine why…"

She yawned again, a bit of drowsiness setting in. In spite of the fact that she'd been sleeping all day, she still didn't feel very rested.

"You tired too?" Ayame asked.

"I'm surprised you're not," Sango yawned again. "You went through the same challenges I did, how are you looking so well-rested? Take a nap?"

"Nope! I just needed to see Blake here and I was rejuvenated!" Ayame beamed. "It's like all my fatigue just washed away!

A stab of envy went through most of the room. Ayame just had to be the perfect girlfriend, didn't she?

Cynthia cleared her throat.

"Okay, that's all well and good, but my point wasn't about Maddi," she clarified. A mischievous look crossed her face. "Maddi's not the strongest trainer in this room, after all."

"Huh?" Sango asked, confused.

"Oh, really?" Maddi asked, narrowing her eyes.

"H-Hey! I mean… never mind! I was wrong! You're the strongest!" Cynthia quickly backtracked. "I meant to say I wasn't talking about you because I knew you'd say no!"

"Yeah, that sounds right." Maddi nodded in approval.

Cynthia wiped the sweat off her brow and turned to Blake. Or more specifically what part of Blake she could see from under his girlfriend.

"Well, Blake? Would you like to challenge the reigning champion and Miss Pokemon Academy?" She asked.

"Oh, that would be interesting," Nick said.

"That's right, Blake hasn't had a chance yet!" Callie said, nodding with excitement.

"Go on, Blake! You can do it!" Claire encouraged him. "And hey, if you win, I'll reward you with a kiss on the cheek!" She added with a coy wink.

"No, thanks," Blake dryly replied, while Ayame's only response was a cold glare.

"Sango! If you kick Blake's butt, I'll reward you with something!" Cynthia volunteered, revealing her true colors immediately. This wasn't about seeing an exciting battle, this was just about seeing Blake get his ass kicked.

After all, Sango had beaten her. And if she couldn't win against Sango, she could at least salvage her pride by dragging Blake down to her level.

That's what a good rival would do!

"Yeah, it's okay, I'll do it," Blake said, solving the problem completely. He was actually a little excited to face Sango. "Aya, could you get off so I can-"

"No."

"I can't play if I'm not over by the console," Blake protested.

"No."

"Oh, here! Wireless controller!" Cynthia passed it over to him. That solved one problem, but there was still another issue.

"Aya, I can't see the TV through your back, could you-"

"No, consolation prize."

Everyone had a good laugh at that, even Cynthia.

Thankfully, the party continued in good spirits after that, without any major issues. Sango was relieved, it felt like everything was going back to normal.

Of course, in the back of her mind, she knew that was just a fantasy. The crowd from earlier had shown her that.

Things weren't going back to normal any time soon, she'd cemented herself into a position of fame at the Pokemon Academy, the first year girl who'd won the Miss Pokemon Academy Contest, the first since Olivia.

She expected that she'd be signing autographs and fending off suitors for a long time to come. Maybe even right up until the next Miss Pokemon Academy Contest…

A shiver ran down Sango's spine.

She yawned, stood up, and stretched. The party was starting to wind down, and she imagined that people would be packing up shortly. Of course, she couldn't be the one to leave first, since she was the guest of honor. That would just look weird.

Thankfully, she had a pretty good out up her sleeve.

"Hey, I need to head out for a little," Sango said.

"Need to crap?" Cynthia asked, crass as always. Sango shot her a dirty look.

"No! I need to make a phone call!" She snapped, turning and walking into the hallway. She took a few deep breaths to calm herself down. She didn't want to be in a bad mood, today was way too good a day for that!

She took out her phone and called.

"Yo-who! Howsit girl?" Marion's cheery voice rang through the phone, and Sango felt herself start to relax. She walked down the hall towards the balcony, and leaned against the railing. It was warm out, winter was fading fast.

"Hey, Marion," Sango laughed. "I just called because I wanted to share the good news."

"Oh? Good news? Don't keep a girl waiting, there's fishing to be done! What's up, Magikarp?"

"So, you know the Miss Pokemon Academy Contest?" Sango asked.

"Yeah! That just happened! You won? Congrats!" Marion gushed.

"W-Wait… that's…" Sango felt like a sailboat with the wind dying down. She'd been so excited to share her good news, and Marion had just guessed it like it was nothing.

"What? You didn't win? Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"No, no, I did win!" Sango clarified. "I was just… surprised that you thought it was actually possible, that's all."

Marion snorted. "Come on! If I didn't think it was possible, I wouldn't have encouraged everyone to vote for you! You're a great girl, Sango, of course you can win something like that!"

Sango felt a great swell of pride, hearing Marion say that. Someone as amazing as Marion so easily saying that she thought Sango could have won was just one more thing that made Sango feel like her win really had been earned.

"Thanks, Marion, that really means a lot to me," Sango laughed. "I'm glad you believe in me so much."

"You're my friend, Sango, it's my job to get you to love fishing!" Marion laughed. "…Err… wait, I mean, whatever you said. Believe in you? Yeah, that."

Marion certainly did know how to make Sango feel better, that was for sure.

"Anyway! Sango! We definitely need to do something to celebrate!" Marion said. "Next time we're together, let's totally do some fishing! Sound like a plan?"

Sango would like that quite a lot. "I'm looking forward to it," she said.

"Great! See you then!" Marion agreed. Then, Sango heard a grunt and gasp, and a few bumps. "Ooh! Wait, sorry!"

"Marion, what's up?" Sango asked.

"Got a big one on the line! Gonna have to hang up, sorry girl!" Marion called. "But really, congratulations, you did great!"

Sango had to laugh again. Marion had been fishing the whole time? That was definitely something she would do.

"Bye, Marion, good luck!" She said, hanging up more energized than ever. She wondered if this was what Ayame had been getting at, when she'd talked about being reinvigorated just from sitting on Blake's lap.

…Wait, that would mean that Sango saw Marion as, like, a girlfriend?

She would literally rather die.

As great as Marion was, she was probably the absolute worst girl to be in a relationship with.

"Now then, back to the party!" Sango decided. She felt her second wind kicking in thanks to Marion's help, and she was happy to get back in the swing of things.

But because Sango went back inside, she missed something REALLY big.

Soaring over the Pokemon Academy was a shadow of a massive flying pokemon, circling the island and looking for a place to land. The pokemon dropped down on the same mountain peak where just that morning Sango had reached the goal, and the figure riding atop it dismounted.

"So, this is the Pokemon Academy," the figure hummed. "So this is where she's gotten off to!"

Who could this be? A new threat? An incoming challenge looms over the Pokemon Academy!