While Chloe is fighting against Val, it's important to turn our attention to another fight, the match between Gwen and Callie! Will Callie be able to overcome the monstrous strength of Gwen's harmonia, or will she be left at the other girl's mercy? We'll have to find out!

The Nomination Round of the Third Pokemon Academy Best Girl Contest has officially ended! Now, the contest can begin in full! This time, we've got a pretty interesting arrangement with an even 16 contestants to choose from! It almost makes me want to turn this into an actual seeded poll! Perhaps I can do that as a discord event… But for now, let's move onto the three-step process of the next rounds. First, each person can vote for five girls on the poll I'll post on my profile. Then, starting in August, the five girls who receive the most votes will make it from the Elimination Round to the main competition Semi-Finals. From there, you'll vote on your top three choices of the five listed. That will bring us into our Final Round, which will take place throughout all of September. Only 1 month. 1 vote. Which girl will win out of the three finalists? We'll have to find out! In the meantime, here are our current competitors!

Nominated: Ange, Ayame, Caelia, Chloe, Cynthia, Donoma, Elaina, Kate, Maddi, Marion, Misato, Ryoko, Sango, Satsuki, Sylvia, Vic

KedharS: Hopefully she'll be able to win.

Just a Bad Writer for Fun: Chloe does have a pretty good team, the question is, are they good enough to stand up to Val and HER team? I guess we'll have to find out.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 962

"Riolu!" Rio hit the grass and rolled, whimpering in pain as she came to a stop.

"No! Rio!" Callie cried.

"Gallade." Lancelot loomed over Rio, raising his sword arm. It began to glow with rainbow light as he prepared a psycho cut.

"Detect!" Callie ordered quickly. Rio's eyes snapped open and she reflexively evaded the attack by rolling to the side, then jumping up and stepping around Lancelot's slashes.

Gwen didn't seem to care that her Gallade hadn't finished off the Riolu yet. At the moment she was lost in her harmonia, focusing only on the battle.

"Tear," she whispered, her thoughts hardly separated from Lancelot's at this point. "Tear, rip, slash, destroy…"

She muttered and muttered as the air around her crackled with energy, her harmonia forming itself in a psychic aura that lifted the debris off the ground, and raised her skirt and hair, both billowing in the wind.

"Come on, Rio!" Callie shouted. "Keep going! You can do it, use bullet punch!"

"Riolu!" Rio raised her tiny fists and unleashed a barrage of swift punches at Lancelot, but he didn't even flinch as they hit. He just raised his arm and swung, cutting a deep gash down Rio's chest and causing her to fall.

"No!" Callie cried.

"Riolu…" Rio winced, struggling to stand. But she was too weak. Lancelot raised his leg and drove his foot into her gut, kicking her across the grass.

"Useless, useless, useless!" Gwen shouted, shaking her head frantically. "It's all useless! More, I need more… need to… need to win… find the Oracle…"

Her harmonia was only getting stronger. And so was Lancelot. He felt his strength blossoming as his muscles flexed, and he charged at Rio again, this time slashing down her chest in the opposite direction to form a bloody "X" in the pokemon's fur.

Callie was horrified. Her poor pokemon wasn't even moving.

"Finish it!" Callie shouted, practically tearing her hair out as her headache throbbed.

No, she couldn't! She wouldn't!

Scared beyond belief, Callie found her legs moving involuntarily. She jumped forward, throwing herself between Rio and the attacking Gallade. She was so terrified that she didn't think to take up a fighting stance or use any of her martial arts to even stand a chance at defending herself against the attacking pokemon, even though she fought pokemon with her body all the time.

Right now, the only thing that mattered to her was keeping Rio safe.

"Stop it, please!" She cried, holding out her arms to protect her pokemon. She squeezed her eyes shut as she prepared for the end to come.

But Lancelot's blade stopped short.

"What… are you doing?" Gwen rasped, her vision blurring from her harmonia. "Don't understand… why would you…? For such a weak pokemon…"

Confused, Callie took a peek, surprised at what she saw. She swallowed and nearly collapsed from the fear. "I-I… I won't… I won't let you hurt my partner…"

Gwen didn't reply, she didn't even know Callie's words were meant for her. She just continued to rant. "I don't understand, I don't understand! Why would you protect your pokemon like that?! Why, why, why?!"

Callie didn't even know how to answer that. She just stared numbly at the other girl, trying to find the right words. But she could tell it was futile. This Gwen girl… she didn't understand, and she might never understand.

"Your name is… Gwen, right?" Callie asked, looking Lancelot in the eye. To Gwen, it was like Callie was staring right at her.

"Yes…" Gwen whispered as both she and Lancelot nodded their heads.

"Gwen, don't you have anything you want to protect?" Callie asked quietly.

"My brother," she whispered back. "Need to… need to keep him safe, need him to see… he protected me, he cared for me, so I have to… have to help him, can't… can't ignore, won't… I'm strong now, big brother, don't you see? You don't have to protect me anymore!"

Well, this wasn't good. Callie was trying to get through to the other girl, but it was clear that Gwen was a full-time resident of crazy town.

"I want to protect my pokemon!" Callie declared. "Rio and the others… they're willing to fight for me… so I'm willing to fight for them!"

Her fear hadn't subsided, she was still terrified. But she didn't let it control her. She took a fighting stance, preparing to fight the Gallade to protect her pokemon, even if he killed her.

Gwen didn't understand that Callie was talking to her, but she didn't need to. Right now, her senses were linked completely to Lancelot, and his warrior's instincts responded to Callie's stance, as he prepared to fight.

"Don't understand… don't care. Finish you, get the Oracle," Gwen muttered, rubbing her throbbing head in pain. "Lancelot!"

"Gallade!" Lancelot raised his sword and swung, and Callie tried to dodge it, she really did. She thought that her years of sparring with pokemon would allow her to be a little more agile when it came to evading attacks. But even the greatest martial artists couldn't compete with the speed of a Gallade's sword honed to perfection through agility.

It was a testament to her skill that she was able to dodge enough of the stroke to not kill her instantaneously.

Her shirt tore open and her chest exploded with pain, blood spurting out in a line before her eyes. Coughing, she felt her body light on fire and she fell to the ground, clutching her heart. Something sticky and warm was oozing out of her, pouring from the open wound like someone had blown a hole in a dam. It hurt so much!

Callie collapsed, her blood soaking the grass. Breathing hurt. Every beat of her heart made her body feel colder, and she had lost the strength to move.

She began to cry. She didn't want to, but she couldn't help it.

"Waaah…" She wailed, her tears mixing with the bloodstains on her face as she began to shake, curling up into a ball out of a primal instinct to make herself a smaller target, even when she knew that it was a futile gesture.

"I don't… I don't wanna die…" she blubbered, burying her face in the grass. She couldn't bear to face her opponent, she was too frightened. "I wanna… I wanna go home…"

She'd put up a brave, defiant front. But Lancelot had carved that out of her. Strong Callie had been felled in a single slash, and all the remained was the scared little girl who didn't want to die. It's not… it's not fair… I don't want to die… I want… I want to go home… I want to be with everyone again…

Callie squeezed her eyes shut and waited for the end. She pictured Nick in her final moments. Dear Nick, her sweet-as-candy boyfriend, the first guy who treated her like a grown-up and not like a child. She was never going to see him again, she realized. She was going to die here, without ever getting to tell him all the things that she wanted to tell him.

I won't be able to tell him I love him… I won't be able to hold him close again… I'll be gone, dead, and we never even got to…

Sadness and terror seized her heart in equal measure, but it was pointless. She had truly given up and resigned herself to her fate, and as she felt the shadow of the Gallade block out the sunlight, she knew she only had seconds left. So she tried to spend them thinking about happier times with the boy she loved.

"Riolu!" Callie's eyes jumped open and she raised her head as she heard the familiar sound of fist hitting flesh. She snapped her head around to see Rio, just as injured as she was, having leapt up and come to her aid, hitting the Gallade as hard as she could.

"Ri… Rio…" Callie whimpered, her heart overflowing with joy.

"Riolu!" Rio landed on the ground in front of her, panting, holding her chest. Lancelot had done serious damage to them both, and neither girl had been able to lay a scratch on him in return.

"Enough of this… end it…" Gwen rasped. She was so lost in her harmonia that she couldn't even comprehend the fact that their mission there wasn't to kill Callie, it was to get information about the Oracle from her. At this point, though, she didn't really care. The only thing that mattered was getting rid of what was in front of her.

"Rio…" Callie murmured, joyful tears filling her eyes. "You… You saved me…"

"Riolu," Rio nodded, glancing back at her for a fraction of a second. That brief moment, when their eyes made contact, told Callie all she needed to know. She had stood up to Lancelot, to a Gallade that could have killed her easily, in order to protect her pokemon.

And now her pokemon was going to do the same for her.

Callie couldn't express the gratitude she was feeling right now, all she could do is nod to her friend as the tears fell from her cheeks.

"Thank you…" She whispered, wishing she had stronger words than those.

But those words were enough for Rio, and her body began to glow.

The light coming off her was so bright it forced Gwen and Lancelot to shield their eyes.

"What?!" Gwen spat in disbelief. Her overflowing harmonia caught the edges of the glowing pokemon's aura, and it nearly knocked her over. Lancelot stepped back and raised his arms, preparing for what was to come next.

The light around Rio faded, and she stood proudly in her new form, fists raised.

"Lucario!" Rio declared.

Callie couldn't believe it. Rio… she had finally evolved. Seeing Callie stand up to protect her like that must have been enough for her partner to finally reach the point where she was capable of evolving. It was like a validation of the strength of their relationship, that both trainer and pokemon were willing to put their lives on the line for each other.

Callie had never been more proud to be a pokemon trainer than she was at that moment.

Rio turned back to the Lancelot. While her evolution had not restored her health, her wounds had begun to close, forming an x-shaped scar with the spike on her chest dead in the center. She'd been granted a second chance as Lucario, and she was ready to use it.

"Lucario!" She bellowed, charging forward. She evaded Lancelot's slash with ease and raised her fist, striking the Gallade in the stomach with a series of bullet punches.

The effect couldn't be compared with a bullet punch from Rio. Where the little Riolu could barely even make Lancelot flinch, the force of Rio's punch now made Lancelot double over in pain. Coughing, Lancelot and Gwen both clutched their stomachs, feeling the wind knocked out of them.

"H-How…" Gwen staggered, overwhelmed by the sensations coming from Rio. "Not… not possible, it's not!"

"Sorry Gwen, but this power is possible!" Callie snapped, making a rather bold speech given that she was sprawled on the ground without the strength to stand. "It is! Rio and I are friends, and with our power, we can even take down you and your Gallade!"

"I won't… accept it…" Gwen hissed, straightening up. "I won't accept that kind of power! It's not fair, it isn't! Getting stronger like that is cheating! Cheater!"

Unaware of the hypocrisy of her own words, Gwen tapped into the power of her harmonia, strengthening her Gallade even more through the bond that they shared. Lancelot stood tall and swung at Rio, forcing the Lucario to call off her assault or risk getting carved open. Then in a flash of light Lancelot disappeared, reappearing at Gwen's side.

Gwen was done with this, she was so fucking done. She was going to make that girl pay! How DARE she hurt her Lancelot? How DARE she keep shouting in the middle of their match, saying things that Gwen couldn't begin to understand?!

"We'll stop her… we need… to win…" Gwen ranted. "Win… take the Oracle… be with big brother, we have to, we have to!"

Val glanced over at Gwen and a smile touched her lips. That's right, Guinevere, keep on fighting. You need to beat that girl, don't you? If you don't, you'll never have a chance to be with your precious big brother again, after all. So keep on going, show her what you're made of…

She turned back to Chloe and reached for her pokeball.

And in the meantime, I'll keep myself occupied with these kiddies…

"Rio, watch out!" Callie warned. Rio dodged another slash from Lancelot, still getting used to her new body as she tried to think about how to fight back.

While she was doing that, her trainer was trying to stand back up, but was finding she couldn't. She'd have to give orders from the grass. Fortunately, her pokemon's evolution hadn't just given Rio a surge of strength, but it had given her one as well. Even as the life trickled from her and she felt her body going into shock, she held onto consciousness through sheer force of will.

I can't give in here… I can't pass out… not as long as Rio is still fighting for me! She shouted at herself. Rio wanted to protect me so badly… that she evolved. I can't… I can't abandon her, not after she did something like that, I won't! I'm going… I'm going to help her win!

Right now, though, Callie's condition was doing more harm than it was good. Rio was so worried about her trainer that she was having difficulty keeping all of her attention focused on the fight, concerned that if she wasn't careful then Lancelot could target Callie instead, and she couldn't let that happen, not on her watch!

Callie picked up on this quickly. "Don't worry about me, Rio!" She shouted. "You can do this! I know you can! As long as you take those two down, they won't be able to hurt me, I promise! I'll be alright, so you can fight without worries!"

…Hah. What a load of BS… she thought as another stab of pain surged through her open chest wound. What kind of crap was she spewing? "I'll be alright"? "They won't be able to hurt me"? Forget that, Lancelot had already killed her. Now her body was just waiting to get the memo. Trembling in shock, Callie's arms were wrapped tightly around her just to put pressure on the cut, in fear that she could bleed out.

"Lucario!" Rio lowered her head, ducking under Lancelot's swing and delivering a powerful punch to the Gallade's stomach. Lancelot staggered back and Rio pressed her advantage with punch after punch, pushing the pokemon away from her trainer.

As a Riolu, Rio had relied on her small body and her agility to keep from getting taken out by bigger pokemon like Lancelot. Well, that wasn't as viable of a strategy now that she was just as tall as he was. So that mean she'd have to handle things in a different way.

Luckily, she'd seen how tall pokemon had fought as well. And her new body had the strength to capitalize on that.

"Lucario!" Rio jumped back, putting some distance between herself and the Gallade, and raised her paw. Dark energy began to pulse through it.

Yes! Callie thought, smiling. A shadow claw! Perfect, Rio!

The shadows condensed into a long claw of energy and Rio ran forward, swinging it at Lancelot. But the Gallade was no fool, he could feel the energy coming off that attack, and he raised his blade to block it easily.

But Rio wasn't going to be discouraged that easily. If her attack couldn't hit the Gallade, then she would just strike with her other hand! Switching seamlessly from a shadow claw to a bullet punch, she delivered a strike to Lancelot's nose that made him cry out with pain, as blood spurted from Gwen's nose as well.

"Aargh!" Gwen clutched her head and nearly collapsed, her harmonia overwhelming her. But she wouldn't give into it. She couldn't, not until she won! Instead, she threw herself headfirst into that power, giving Lancelot everything she had.

The two blonde girls were very different people. Users of the Fighting type and Psychic type respectively, the way they handled themselves, interacted with others, and thought about their own strengths couldn't be compared.

But the one thing they had in common was that neither girl could afford to give up.

That's why Gwen kept pushing herself to her limits. And that's why, when Callie saw that Lancelot had somehow become even faster, fast enough to land a devastating punch to Rio's stomach that sent her flying backwards, she didn't let herself get discouraged.

Because she couldn't afford to lose. And neither could her pokemon.

"Come on, Rio!" Callie shouted. "You can do this, you got this! Take her down!"

"Lucario!" Rio nodded, jumping back to her feet and raising her fists.

Callie knew that she really was just buying time in the hopes that whoever was fighting Val could come over and bail her out once they beat her. She couldn't know, of course, that Val had nearly defeated all of them, and right now Chloe was the only thing keeping the rest of the group alive.

But even if she had known that, it wouldn't make a difference. Right now, Callie was only thinking about victory. Victory for her and Rio. Even if she didn't think she could defeat Gwen's entire team, that didn't matter. At the very least… she and Rio needed to take out this Gallade. It was something that they could do.

"I believe in you," she whispered, watching her newly-evolved Lucario charge into the fight with pride.

So Callie's Riolu has finally evolved at a pivotal moment, to protect her trainer from being killed by Gwen and Lancelot! But will Rio's new form be enough to secure their victory? Or will she fall like the rest of Callie's pokemon? Things aren't looking good for the Commander's group, will they be able to defeat the Children of the Oracles?