Construction on the Battle Frontier is about to begin, but our characters still have to work hard on designing it! Everyone has a lot of ideas, but we still haven't heard all of them! We know Chloe wants to make something called the Battle Maze, but what will that entail? And what about the other future Frontier Brains, what ideas are they going to come up with? This is an exciting time for them to let their creativity out, hopefully we'll get to see some fun concepts!

The Semi-Final Round of the Pokemon Academy Best Girl Contest 3 has begun! There are only a few days left before the finals and we've only gotten a few votes so far, so make sure to get those votes in as soon as possible! These are our semi-finalists! Make sure to get those votes in, and choose which of these girls you think should make it to the finals! You can only vote for 3, so make sure to pick your favorites!

Semi-Finalists: Ayame, Chloe, Cynthia, Elaina, Kate, Marion, Sango, Vic

KedharS: For one thing, there aren't any Frontier Brains yet. Remember, the Battle Frontier is getting built by the Commander's organization; they'll be the Frontier Brains, and it won't be ready for some time yet. Meanwhile, Realgam Tower itself is quite a distance away, so of course the Commander and his group isn't there to help against Samarra! Not yet, anyway.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 1020

Everyone was surprised that Chloe had actually spoken up. The girl had been silent as a statue for most of the trip, and unlike Mason, who they'd known for a long time, was pretty much a stranger; so a few people had outright forgotten she was there.

But she'd spoken her mind, and everyone's attention was given to her now. She was in the spotlight for one of the first times!

…And immediately she wished she wasn't.

What am I doing?! She shouted at herself. Why am I drawing attention to myself like this?! Clearly these guys have it all figured out, I should just keep my mouth shut!

She was hired on to be an organizational coordinator, and she should count herself lucky that the Commander had even agreed to let her have a facility in the first place when she wasn't part of the Battle Course. Everyone else was way more notable than she was, and she knew that all too well, having reviewed their battle styles.

But…

But this was something she was really passionate about. And she couldn't just let her voice go unheard, not after she'd come this far.

If I'm really going to be working on the Battle Frontier with the rest of them, then I need to be comfortable with speaking up for myself, she finally decided. And if I'm gonna, then there's no time like the present!

Resolved to stand up for herself, Chloe took a deep breath and began to explain what she was thinking of doing.

"So my idea… it's, um, a maze," she began. Stupid! Stupid, stupid, stupid, you already said it was the "Battle Maze" what else would it be?!

She shook her head and tried again.

"To start, um, you don't use your own pokemon," she explained. That made a few people become curious.

"You don't?" Maddi asked, raising her eyebrow. That was certainly interesting…

"No, for the battles, you'll be using a rented team of pokemon. Oh! I should probably explain that part first before I get to the pokemon. See, the facility I was thinking of, it's broken into two parts. There's the maze part, at the beginning, and the battle part afterwards."

"Oh, I think I get it," Ross said, nodding. "So if you do well in the maze part, then you'll be at an advantage in the battle part, then?"

Chloe blinked in surprise. She hadn't even gotten to that yet, and already people were figuring out what she planned to do.

"Um… yes, basically," she nodded. "So the way I imagined it, trainers would travel through a maze. There are a lot of different paths through the maze, and each one leads to different puzzles. These will be really difficult pokemon puzzles, because the idea of my facility is to test a trainer's knowledge. Also, if you pay attention, you might find hints to the puzzles along the way, as well as items you can use to support your pokemon."

"So what's this about rented pokemon, then?" Alden asked. "Because it sounds like an interesting game, sure, but where does the battling come in?"

Chloe took a deep breath. This was the most important part.

"At the beginning of the maze, you choose a starting pokemon to rent," she explained. "This is important, because that will be your only pokemon at first. And you might run into other trainers in the maze, and have to battle them."

"Sticking with only one pokemon sounds pretty intense," Alden said, smiling. "I like the sound of that! Nice!"

Chloe's heart skipped a beat. He approved! That was excellent! With renewed confidence, she continued her explanation. "It's not just the one pokemon, though. You'll actually have a lot of pokemon to choose from! After every puzzle, the next room contains three pokeballs. You can choose one of them, and take that pokemon with you through the rest of the maze. So you slowly have to build a team of pokemon to challenge the trainers there."

"I see, and the strength of the pokemon you get will depend on whether or not you managed to get the puzzle right, huh?" Ross nodded thoughtfully.

"Yes! Exactly!" Chloe nodded vigorously. She couldn't believe it! Everyone really, really liked her idea it seemed! "The strength of the pokemon you can choose from will vary depending on your answer. And each maze has three sections, with a puzzle at the end of each section. After you pass the first puzzle, you get your second pokemon, and after you pass the second puzzle, you'll get your third. Then, after the third puzzle… is the battle challenge. One of the workers at the facility will have a rental team of their own. And that's why the third puzzle is the most important one of all. If you get it right, then the team you'll be facing against will be weaker. But if you get it wrong, they'll be strong! So it's really, really important to know a lot!"

Anabel nodded in agreement. "I see. Not bad, so… assuming you get all the questions right, then you'll be with a team of really strong pokemon, facing off against a team of really weak pokemon. But if you get them all wrong, you'd have a really weak team against a really strong one. That could make for a really fun facility, don't you think, Alden?"

"I think it's pretty good," Alden nodded. "But still, just one battle?"

Chloe shook her head. "No, when two people run into each other in the maze, they have to battle. The winner gets their pokemon fully healed, and the loser has to start over at the beginning of the floor. And then after you win the battle challenge, you move onto the next level of the maze, and have to trade out your team for a brand new starting pokemon. So you're always using new pokemon to test your knowledge, and solving new puzzles. And only when you clear all five levels of the maze will you win the facility, see?"

She paused to catch her breath, looking hopefully around the tent.

"…That's perfect!" Alden clapped. "I love it! The Battle Maze, that sounds like a really fun idea! And totally different from your standard facility, too! That's just the kind of clever thinking I expected from you, Chloe!"

Chloe turned red with delight, suddenly feeling the pressure of everyone's attention on her again. But it wasn't as bad as it was before.

But not everyone was on board.

"I've gotta say, I don't like your idea," Tommy groaned. He quickly clarified, "oh, but it's not because I think it clashes with mine, or anything! We've both got different ideas! I just think yours sounds really complicated is all."

"You just don't like anything that requires you to use your brain," Ross joked, and Tommy shot him a dirty look.

"Oh, you shut up mister 'Battle Roulette'!" He growled. "Your facility is just random chance, don't go and pretend you're some big thinker!"

"I also don't think it's a perfect fit," Vic said, frowning. Chloe's heart sank a little.

"I-I see…" She mumbled.

"Come on, Vic, it sounds like fun!" Alden defended Chloe's idea.

"Yeah, it sounds fun on paper," she griped, "but think about it. It's a maze, right? Half the difficulty is finding your way through the maze. But once you do it the first time, there goes all the challenge. You'll just take the easiest path every time, right? The Battle Frontier is supposed to be the kind of place you want people to keep coming back to, and there's not much to keep someone interested the second time through, not if they're paying attention."

Alden's smile vanished. "Oh, yeah, you raise a good point," he admitted. "I hadn't thought about that… not everyone's as stupid as Tommy, after all."

"Hey!" Tommy exclaimed.

"Oh, that's… um, actually… I thought of that myself," Chloe mumbled, glancing down. "So I thought, well… maybe if we change how the maze is set up every day… that might make it a little more challenging."

Alden blinked, caught off-guard by that suggestion. "Can you really do that?"

"I mean, it would be difficult, but depending on how we built it… maybe?" That was the best Chloe could do. She really liked her idea, but knew that it suffered from exactly the problem that Vic had pointed out. She couldn't really argue with her.

"Well, fine, I won't have a problem then," Vic shrugged, though it was clear she was just saying that to stay on the Commander's good side because she didn't look any happier than she had been before. But that was nothing new.

Chloe was just relieved that her idea was being heard.

"Your idea sounds like it would take a lot of space," Anabel said, turning to Chloe. "If you don't mind, I think it would be for the best if we put it on one of the outskirt sections, like Tommy's. Would that be okay?"

"Y-Yes, I don't mind at all," Chloe nodded. They were really okay with doing it! She couldn't be any happier!

"So that means we'll have Tommy's Battle Tent and Chloe's Battle Maze on the outer sections," Alden decided, marking stuff down on the model.

"Hey, I wanted to call mine the Battle Pyramid!" Tommy objected.

"Tommy, that's a dumb name. Battle Tent fits better because it's about camping," Alden replied without looking up.

Tommy grumbled, but couldn't exactly say he was wrong.

"…Okay, fine…"

"What about the other outside areas?" Alden asked, turning to the others. "Does anyone else's idea call for a lot of space like these two?"

"Ooh, mine!" Keya said, raising his hand eagerly.

Alden nodded. "Right, the Battle Safari will probably need to take a lot of space, too."

Chloe wasn't sure what they were talking about. "Sorry, Battle Safari? What's that?" She asked, turning to Keya.

Keya had a big grin on his face.

"It's a great idea! Like yours, trainers won't be able to bring in their own pokemon! But we won't give them rentals, either."

"Huh? Then what will you use?" Chloe was even more confused than before.

"Wild pokemon, of course!" Keya chirped. "See, there are going to be seven different 'zones' of wild pokemon, and you can go to whichever zone you want. There'll be a Lake Zone filled with Water and Ice types, the Desert Zone filled with Steel, Ground, and Rock types, a Field Zone filled with Normal and Grass types, the Forest Zone filled with Bug, Fairy, and Ghost types, the Lab Zone filled with Poison and Electric types, the Mountain Zone filled with Fire, Flying, and Dragon types, and the Cave Zone, filled with Dark, Fighting, and Psychic types!"

"So wait, people just… walk through the zones and catch pokemon?" Chloe couldn't believe it. Whereas her idea had pokemon that were perfectly trained to be rentable, what Keya was suggesting was relying on wild pokemon completely.

"Yep," Keya nodded. "Also, you can't use your pokemon to fight wild pokemon! Instead, each trainer is given 10 Safari Balls to use. They're specially designed balls that don't register the pokemon you catch as your own. And they only have one use! So if a pokemon breaks out of one, you can't use it again. The idea is that you walk through the zones, trying to catch wild pokemon using bait, and throw Safari Balls to capture them for your team. Once you've caught all the ones you want or have just run out of balls, then you go to the far exit and fight against one of the workers. Like the competitors, the workers are all using the same rules, so all the pokemon they caught are from the zones as well. If you lose, well, you have to start all over, but if you win, you can release your pokemon and then move onto another zone with new types!"

"It's a pretty interesting idea, you have to admit," Alden grinned.

"Even if it is pretty unfair," Vic muttered under her breath. Of course Keya would come up with a facility that would perfectly suit his harmonia. He could get whatever pokemon he wanted to join his team using his powers, it was incredibly unfair for the challenger.

Chloe had an entirely different concern.

"That… but that's…" She was sputtering her words, not even able to come up with a good way to say her piece properly. Keya's idea sounded cool, and it was certainly ambitious, but…

"That's almost impossible!" She finally burst out.

"…R-Really…?" Keya looked like he was about to cry. Chloe immediately felt bad.

"W-Well… not impossible, but… look, you have to think about where we are right now, okay?" Chloe said, waving her hands around the tent.

"…In a tent?"

She wanted to scream, but that would be too rude.

"I think what she's trying to say is that we're in the Orre Region," Anabel said, coming to Chloe's aid. "And the Battle Safari, well…"

"I wasn't going to say anything because I didn't think it was my place, but I also thought it might be problematic," Rui admitted. "After all, Orre isn't exactly known for its diverse climate. The desert idea, sure, no problem there, but a forest? A lake? Here?"

"…Yeah, why not?" Keya shrugged. "It's not like they need to be completely real. We'll just build them ourselves, cart in the right soil, use artificial planters…"

Chloe's jaw dropped. She could see the budget rising higher and higher. "Do you know how much that's going to cost?" She wailed. "And there aren't even wild pokemon in the Orre Region! You'll have to import them, as well as import all the food for them… it's insane!"

"It'll be fine!" Keya smiled innocently. Again, Chloe wanted to scream.

"Well, we can solve all the technical issues later," Anabel laughed, stepping in before Chloe blew a blood vessel. "I think it's an exciting idea, and that's really the important part, right? Getting people excited for the pokemon battles? Using a team of wild pokemon to battle sounds like a really engaging and exciting idea, right?"

Chloe couldn't argue with that part of it, at least. But as part of the team that would be forced to figure out how all this worked, she really wished they would be more cost-effective with their ideas.

"So that one will also be on the outside," Anabel said, marking it down. "That just leaves one more space out there…"

"I don't think we should make anything final before Cynthia gets a chance to weigh in," Alden said. "After all, she might want to do one outside, too. So is anyone else really burning to have a facility on the outer edge?"

It was kind of a surprise that they'd gotten three volunteers already. After all, the facilities on the outskirts would probably get less traffic than those right next to the Battle Tower, so Anabel thought there would be much more of a scramble for those spots.

"Well, I'm putting my Battle Colosseum right next to the Battle Tower," Vic said, crossing her arms assertively. She pointed at one of the buildings on the model that was a quick walk away. "Here, right here."

"And the Battle Colosseum, that's…" Anabel looked to Vic for clarification.

"It's your standard double battle tournament," Vic shrugged.

"Oh, like the tournaments in Orre's colosseums!" Anabel nodded.

"What?! No, nothing like that!" She sputtered. "There won't be any gambling! No cash prizes! Everyone will just battle for the sake of battling! Tournaments will consist of groups of 16 participants, with the winners getting rewarded in… um… battle points, I guess."

She whispered the last part, averting her eyes from Anabel.

Anabel grinned. "Aww! You liked my battle points idea!" They giggled.

"That's… it's not what you think!" Vic exclaimed. "It's just that we believe that battle points should be the reward for any battle facility! After all, there needs to be something to motivate trainers to battle, and then if they choose to spend their battle points at the Battle Salon's services, well, that's just what they'll do!"

She was loathe to admit it, but Anabel's idea really was a good one. It would lead to a different climate than normally could be found in the Orre Region, since people would only be able to use their winnings to purchase more advantages in their battles, or care for their pokemon.

But that didn't mean she had to like it!

"The Battle Roulette will go in one of the inner plazas as well," Ross nodded. "It doesn't need that much space, so it would be better if someone who needed more room got the outside areas instead. Plus, the luck factor should be a good draw, I imagine a lot of people would come to see what kind of zany battles there are. We shouldn't make them walk too far for that."

"…Battle Roulette… got it!" Anabel nodded. "Things are really coming together! What about you two? What sort of facilities were you thinking of?"

They turned to the two people who'd been rather silent this whole discussion, Maddi and Mason. Neither one looked all that interested in explaining their ideas.

Even so, Chloe couldn't help but feel excitement welling up inside of her. The more they talked about this, the more real the Battle Frontier sounded. Soon, they would have everything perfect, and construction could begin! Maybe even before they left to go back to the Pokemon Academy, even! It was amazing to think about.

So everyone's coming up with ideas about how they want the Battle Frontier to go! But there's still a lot of time before opening day, and anything could happen in the meantime.