I want to apologize to everyone for how long this took. If anyone is still here, I just want you to know that I did not abandon this story. I will keep it going, I promise. Thank you for sticking with it after so long. There's been some stuff that's kept me from writing for a while, but I am trying as hard as I can to get stuff done. If you're still here, thank you, sincerely.
Jay Hayden: Yeah, again, sorry it took so long.
Daozang: It probably is.
Umbruhon: No worries.
Duskzilla: Yeah, sorry again.
GrumpyDragon: Wish I was back a year ago instead of now.
SantaSocks: Not accepting submissions right now.
Kiirus: Not right now.
New Reader: I'm trying, I promise.
ZenoZen: Thanks, trying hard.
Fallen Skies: Not accepting submissions right now.
Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings
Chapter 25
Blake thought he was dreaming when the alarm went off in his ears at 4:30 in the morning. It felt like he'd been sleeping for a year, and he did not want to get out of bed; but he didn't really have much of a choice, either.
As Blake drearily slogged his way through preparation for the morning half asleep, stumbling out of the building and heading out to the fields where his service time would take place.
"Hey, Blake!" Sango ran up and placed her hand on his back, Blake crying out in shock.
"Geez, Sango, its pitch black, don't sneak up on me like that."
"Oh, sorry, I had no idea you were so afraid of the dark," Sango giggled.
The two arrived at the field, which was even darker than the rest of campus due to the lack of lamp posts.
"Hello there." Sango and Blake gasped out in shock, whirling around to see Serefina, cloaked in darkness, standing behind them.
"Don't DO that!" Sango exclaimed.
"Oh, what's wrong, Sango? Afraid of the dark?" Blake asked, Sango elbowing him playfully.
"Okay, guys, here's what you have to do. Out here, there are a lot of pokemon that are being taken care of by trainers that work here. However, a lot of them are still asleep right now, so you guys don't have to worry about that."
"Lucky them," Blake whispered to Sango, the two chuckling.
"Anyways, you guys don't have to take care of the pokemon yet. Instead, first I want you two to drive out wild pokemon until near dawn. Then, we can get you two started on preparing the pokemon for the day."
A blinding light flashed in front of them and Serefina turned the flashlight away from them, clicking it off.
"Use these to chase off the pokemon. I'll be back when the pokemon are ready to be let out of the stables for the day."
Sango and Blake stood alone in the dark, and sighed in unison, getting to work.
Blake slept through most of his classes that day, exhausted from the work that morning. Cynthia and Sango had to drag him to lunch.
"Geez, how early did you guys have to wake up?"
"5 in the morning. Wasn't a problem for me."
"Maybe, but Blake looks kinda… dead."
"I'm fine," Blake sighed. "I just want to rest my eyes for a little…"
"I guess it'll take a while for your sleep schedule to become acclimated to this," Sango said. "But I often wake up early to exercise, so I guess I'm used to it."
"Monster…"
"So Blake, have you filled out your entrance form yet?" Cynthia asked.
"Mm…" Blake grunted something in the affirmative, probably. Cynthia seemed to take it that way, at least, and nodded.
"So what's this who tournament gonna be like, anyway?" Sango asked.
"Well, from what I can understand, the tournament is gonna take a full week."
"A week?" Sango's eyes widened in surprise "I guess I wasn't expecting it to be that long."
"Yeah, it seems like the first two days are going to be randomly assigned battles in all the different battle fields on campus. They're gonna be 3 v. 3 battles to narrow down all the students into the final participants."
"There'll be a lot of participants, I'd guess," Sango said, nodding, "so it seems there will be a lot of people battling. It'll be a pretty tough gauntlet."
"Yeah, no kidding. Everyone's going to have 3 battles each day, and the trainers with the most wins go into the top 64. And if two trainers have the same number of wins but one won faster, or with more pokemon remaining, then they'll be scored like that. It's gonna be tough."
"So even if you win all of your battles, if you don't do it fast and efficiently, you might not make it?!" Sango asked, surprised.
"Yup. Thankfully it becomes a lot more straightforward the following days. Day 3, trainers in the top 64 will face an opponent in 3 v. 3 in the morning to narrow down the top 32, and then another match in the afternoon to narrow down to top 16. Day 4 will be a break to let the teams get rest, and Day 5 will narrow down the brackets to top 8 and top 4, then Day 6 will be the semi-finals in the afternoon, and then the night of Day 7 will be the final match."
"Man, that sounds rough," Sango sighed. "I'm glad I'm not a trainer. It sounds like you two have a pretty big struggle ahead."
"Yup," Cynthia said, nodding. "But I've been training super hard! I'm not gonna let anyone take the top spot from me!"
She turned to Blake, who was still laying his head on the table.
"Even if you're my opponent in the finals, Blake, I'm not gonna go easy on you! We'll take you on full force, got it?"
Blake raised his head and looked blearily at Cynthia, nodding.
"Man, just two days away…" Sango said, shaking her head. "I'm surprised you guys can handle the pressure. I'm not even competing and I'm already feeling stressed by proxy."
"Everything's gonna be fine, don't worry."
Sango and Cynthia turned their heads to see Julia and Kitty standing behind them.
"Oh, you guys…"
"So, Kitty, how're you doing? Everything okay?" Cynthia asked.
"Yup!" Kitty chirped. "I'm feeling great, don't worry!"
Blake looked down, unable to meet her eyes. Kitty walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"I'm fine, really. You don't have to worry about me."
"…Okay, I guess," Blake said, nodding.
"I'm serious!" Kitty said, frowning. "Don't go easy on me, okay? If we meet in the tournament, I'm going to fight with my full strength, got it?"
Slightly stunned by Kitty's surprising assertiveness, Blake found himself unable to say anything, simply staring at her with his mouth open.
"Well," Cynthia said, looking at Blake and Kitty in turn, "with that being said, don't go easy on me, either, any of you. I'm gonna be training hard to win this one, so you just watch your backs, got it?"
Blake, Kitty, and Julia all nodded.
Cynthia stood up from the table and said her goodbyes, taking her tray away and heading out to get a fresh start on her training. Kitty and Julia headed off too, leaving a half-asleep Blake and a rather uncomfortable Sango.
Wake up already, I want to go… Sango said to herself, poking Blake in the head a few times. Blake jerked his head up, yawning, and stood up as well, Sango following after him. The two walked back to the dorms in silence for a while, Sango finally giving in and asking the question that had been bothering her for the last few hours.
"So, you're gonna train, right?" she asked, frowning.
"Mm-hmm…" Blake nodded.
"Blake, you've been up training late all week, and you had to wake up at 5 this morning. You aren't me, you clearly aren't accustomed to maintaining a minimal sleep schedule. If you don't get some rest you're gonna pass out!"
"…You may be right…" Blake said after a while.
"Come on, I'll take you back to your room, okay? You need some rest for tomorrow…"
"…Not even gonna… buy me dinner first…?"
"You're so tired your jokes aren't even funny, go to sleep."
The next morning, it was the dawn of something entirely new to the astonished freshmen. Where the campus had looked the same as ever the previous day, now stalls and stands lined up the walkways. Exhibitions and shows splayed out across the grassy fields, with trainers engaging in mock battles and sparring matches in preparation for the days' events. The scent of food was in the air, and the grounds were alight with excitement and passion for battling.
"Whoa, this is amazing!" Cynthia exclaimed. "It's like club day, only better!"
"Yeah, there's so many stands," Sango said, looking around. "It's impressive."
"Okay, first I'm gonna do the Voltorb Toss, then Magikarp Fishing… or maybe the Shooting Gallery, I hear they've got it set up to give out potions and stuff." Cynthia rambled off a bunch of ideas at a rapid pace, her eyes shining in excitement.
"Okay, just remember that the tournament starts at 11, okay?" Blake warned her.
"Roger!" Cynthia said, saluting, dashing off into the crowd, leaving the two of them in the dust.
"…So, you got sleep like I advised you, right?" Sango asked.
"Yeah. I mean, I'm still a little burnt out, but…"
"Good. Just remember that taking care of yourself needs to come first, got it? I know what I'm talking about."
"Yes ma'am."
"Good. Now, um, anything you feel like doing? You know, before the tournament starts? I mean, if you want to, of course. I don't have much to do right now, y'know?"
"I'm hungry," Blake said after a second. "I didn't get much to eat yesterday."
Sango turned to him.
"Food? You got it!" she grabbed Blake and practically dragged him toward the food stands, a bright smile on her face. The two met up with Cynthia a little later having checked out most of the attractions. She'd found Julia as well, and the four met up together under the clocktower. While Blake was nearly exhausted, Cynthia maintained a huge amount of energy, as usual.
"Come on, guys! To the field! Gotta check out the stage!" Cynthia cheered, running towards the center of campus at top speed.
When 11 o'clock came, most of the school converged on the quad, where a stage had been set up for the opening proceedings. The majority of the student body stared up at it from the large field surrounding the homemade amphitheater, the crowd throbbing with anticipation. A massive screen usually reserved for battle statistics now was lit with the names and ID numbers of competing students, participants numbering well over 200.
The screen suddenly went dark, however, and two students stepped out onto the stage, to the cheers of the crowd.
"Hello, everyone!" the girl on the left declared, a bright smile on her face.
"It's good to see you all today!" the girl on the right sported a cool grin, giving a wink out to the audience.
The girl on the left wore a dress of white and pink, with bouncy, frosted blonde hair streaked with hot pink lines. She had wide blue eyes and a bubbly expression, waving out eagerly to the cheering crowd.
Her partner had short, wild black hair and piercing red eyes, her skin slightly tanned. She wore a dress of black and blue that matched that of her companion, staring out with a relaxed gait in contrast to the more joyful one of the pair. Both girls wore a blue armband.
"I'm so excited, Darla! Can't you feel the enthusiasm coming from all of our lovely guests?" the pink girl spoke into a microphone, broadcasting out across the outdoor stadium, drawing more cheers.
"You got that right, Lila! How about a round of applause for all of our contestants while we're at it?" her partner with the dark hair led the audience in applause and cheering, the two walking to different sides of the stage.
"Who are these fake girls?" Cynthia scoffed.
"Darla Drake and Lila Seelie," Julia said. "They're… I guess the only term that works are 'Pokemon Idols'. They're part of the Appeals Course."
"So they're… what? Pokemon MCs?"
"I'm sooo glad you're all here today, because we have an important announcement!" Darla declared.
"Oh? Darla, what announcement is that?" Lila asked, turning back to face her in mock surprise.
"Well, Lila, before we go over the rules, first we want to declare that we'll be serving the course of the tournament as your own personal MCs!" Darla gave a little wave and a wink out to the audience, resulting in more cheering.
"Whaaat? But Darla, there are so many people competing! We can't possibly get to all those battles!"
"That's right, Lila, which is why we won't get started until they hit the top 64!"
"Darla, there's so many people though! How many can we possibly narrow them down to only 64 contestants?" Lila asked, a look of fake distress crossing over her face.
"Simple, Lila! When you signed up, you should have received a special pager! That pager will send out information about the time and location of your next fight in the preliminaries, as well as the name of your opponent! And once the preliminaries are over, the 64 players with the most wins will advance to the real battle!"
"But Darla, what if a bunch of people have the same amount of wins? What then?"
"That's what the individual battles are for! They'll be 3 v. 3, and the less pokemon you lose in battle, and the faster you win, the better your score! And we'll use that to determine the winner!"
"But… what if like all the scores are averaged… and like, they all add up to around the same and we can't determine who wins?"
"…" Darla shot a dirty look at her partner, before the smile returned to her face.
"…We'll just figure that out when we get there!"
Lila and Darla waved to the students on their ends of the stage and rejoined in the center, looking out over the audience.
"So with this, opening ceremonies are now concluded! Participants, pay attention to your pager updates, since your upcoming matches will be starting shortly!"
"We look forward to all the exciting battles we get to see, and we hope you all do your best!"
"Good luck, everyone!" the two said in unison, waving out to the audience.
Sorry it's not much right now. But I promise to keep going as much as I can.