The festival begins! What awaits our heroes? Games? Prizes? We'll just have to find out! It should certainly be fun, I bet!
As for the Best Girl nominations, still going strong. Anyone else left to add?
Currently Nominated: Sango, Cynthia, Elaina, Kate, Dakota, Ayame, Marion, Kitty, Serefina
KedharS: We'll just have to see.
Sunhat Leafeon: If you've made it this far, thanks for sticking with it until now!
Just a Bad Writer for Fun: Maybe something like that.
Hellraiserphoenix: Sadly, not everyone wants to get into the festival spirit. But will Cynthia be able to win them over?
Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings
Chapter 187
The quad was bustling with students as the group of seven arrived, Cynthia already scanning the crowds. It wasn't as packed as it was on Club Day, or during the Fall Festival, but the atmosphere made things seem festive enough on its own. Orange and black streamers were hung from the roofs of the buildings, and large tents were set up on either side of the walkways with various pokemon and ghost-type themed attractions. And best of all (to Cynthia) the patrons at the booths were all dressed as pokemon of all different kinds.
"Okay, what do we want to do first?" Cynthia asked, already buzzing with energy. "I haven't eaten yet, and I don't think anyone else has, right?"
A cluster of heads shook.
"Great! Then why don't we all get some food at the food stalls?"
"Actually, Nikita just texted me," Reiner replied. "She's waiting for us at the Blastoise Fountain."
"Hm… well, that works!" Cynthia nodded. "How about this? Let's all split up and go get food where we want, and then we meet at the Blastoise Fountain, sound good?"
She checked her phone.
"Meet up at 8:30! Let's go!"
Cynthia turned to Maddi.
"Come on, let's go get food! And then if we have time to spare, we can check out some of the games! 8:30's a long way off!" She looked to Blake next. "And Blake, you're carrying my bag, so you come, too!"
Maddi grunted an acknowledgment and Blake shrugged his shoulders, nodding.
"Um, according to the map, the food stalls are way over there," Kitty said, pointing off towards the Snorlax Commons, which would be about a 10-15 minute walk through the crowd as it was. Cynthia rolled her eyes.
"Of course they'd put them as far away from the dorms as possible, that way they get you to check out the games first, and blow all your money! No ducking in just for the food. Clever, clever…" Cynthia cackled mischievously. "Okay, change of plans! Let's hook up with Nikita first, and take things together at our own pace, sound good?"
"Yeah!" The group said in agreement, with the exception of Maddi, who was less enthused about the whole thing. It didn't help either that Cynthia was dragging her around by the wrist the whole time.
The Blastoise Fountain was in the center of the main plaza, which meant that to get there they'd have to go through a decent bit of the stalls already. And since Cynthia wasn't exactly one with a large attention span, that meant she was stopping them every few feet to point out the next tent.
"Ooh, look! It's a ring toss!" Cynthia chortled. She pointed to the spooky, ghost-themed ring toss game to the left. Gengar statues were gathered in a cluster, their pointy ears sticking up straight. Students were throwing rings around the ears to try and win prizes. "Maddi, come on, let's try a few!"
Maddi glanced at the others as Cynthia dragged her over to the stand, but all she saw was a sea of sympathetic faces, and no one lending a hand to help. Blake followed after the two girls, but that was a cold comfort.
"Hey, guys," Blake said, turning back to the group of four. "How about we split up? You guys go hook up with Nikita, I'll stick with Cynthia. At this rate, it'll take us all day to get to there."
"Sounds like a plan," Reiner agreed. He and Nick headed off toward the fountain, while Julia and Kitty glanced at each other.
"Um, I actually wanted to try out some of the games myself…" Kitty shyly admitted. "So, would you like to join?"
"Sure, why not?" Julia shrugged, glancing at the two departing boys and then turning to look at Cynthia and her company. "The idea of hanging out at the festival together has basically been forgotten at this point."
Kitty chuckled in agreement.
"So, what do you want to do first, then?" Julia asked. "Wanna go show up Cynthia?"
Julia jutted her thumb to point at Cynthia, who was epically failing at ring toss. Kitty shook her head, giggling.
"No, I'd feel bad. How about… oh! How about that one?"
Julia looked over her shoulder and saw a large pool of water in front of a stand, various pokemon dolls hanging off the roof of the tent as prizes to be advertised. Kitty had already run past her to go check it out.
Julia walked up behind her, and looked at the water in confusion. It was colored a strange pinkish-purple color, and purplish smoke was coming off of it.
Weird… Julia thought, a little put-off by the appearance. Even Kitty was confused.
"Curious?" Julia and Kitty both jumped up, to see Kate standing behind them, a wicked smile on her face.
"Kate?" Julia asked, not entirely sure at first glance that it really was her.
"Wow!" Kitty's eyes were shining as she looked at Kate's clothes. "What are you supposed to be?"
"Can't you tell?" Kate smiled. She was wearing a long and bulky dress a slightly darker purple than the water in the kiddie pool in front of them. It was patterned in weird, curved layers, and long ruffles covered her chest and arms, along with a shawl. Her hair was not its usual mess of twigs and brush, but instead she wore a wig of the same color, falling down her back in waves and covering the right side of her face.
"…No idea," Julia said, shaking her head.
"I'm a Muk!" Kate said, giving them a twirl. "Isn't it cute?"
Kitty and Julia both blinked.
"I think it suits you!" Kitty said, smiling.
"Yup, yup," Kate agreed, nodding smugly. Julia mentally applauded Kitty for her tact.
"So what's this about the pool?" Julia asked, redirecting the conversation back to the actual attraction. "You're running this stall, right?"
"Yup, this one was set up by my sophomore battling class," Kate explained. "I really wanted to do something in keeping with the spooky themes of Pokemon Day, while also focusing on the poisonous nature of the Gengar family! …Or, in particular…"
Kate waved her hand, dispersing the smoke slightly. Kitty and Julia could see now that there were several large black things bobbing in the purple water.
"…Balloons?" Julia asked, glancing up at Kate. Kate nodded.
"Gastly balloons, in particular!" Kate explained. "It's a balloon catching stall!"
Kate held up some hooks.
"Catch the Gastly with these and get them out of the water, win prizes! You get 5 tries! If you only grab 1 or 2, you just get to keep the balloons you pull out. But if you manage to get out 3 of them, you get a small prize, 4, a medium prize, and if you reel in 5 for 5, you get a large prize! What do you think? Sound like fun?"
"These are the prizes?" Julia clarified, pointing at the large assortment of poison type pokemon plushies. Kate nodded.
"For small prizes, you get a choice of a first stage, like Grimer or Gulpin or Koffing! Medium prize? Second stage! Muk? Weezing? Swalot? Maybe a big, scary Drapion? And if you get all 5…"
Kate ducked behind the stall shell, and hoisted up a massive Nidoking doll.
"Large prize!" Julia's eyes widened. The Nidoking was nearly three feet tall. Julia wasn't much interested in poison types, and even less so in stuffed animals, so she figured she'd sit this one out.
"So, Kitty, you want-"
Julia glanced at Kitty, and saw the glowing light in her eyes.
"…Never mind then, have a blast," Julia shrugged, stepping back.
Scan your card here, please," Kate said, holding out a card reader. Kitty scanned her card and was given five hooks, kneeling down over the pool of water, wiping away the vapors.
"How'd you get it to steam like that?" Julia asked.
"There's dry ice in the water, held down by the grates at the bottom," Kate explained. "We really wanted to make it feel like you were pulling the cores of the Gastly out of the… well, the gas."
Julia nodded. Made sense, she supposed.
"I got one!" Kitty said, lifting the balloon delicately out of the water and setting it down beside her. She tried again, but this time, it snapped and the balloon plopped back into the water, sinking along with Kitty's hopes of winning the Nidoking. She started to tear up. She blinked the tears away, slapping her cheeks, and worked to try again. She broke another string, and then hooked the last two balloons, winning herself a small prize.
"Congratulations!" Kate cheered. "You won a small prize! That means you're entitled to one of our small prizes! So which one would you like, Kitty?"
Kate gestured to the assortment of small stuffed animals, various first stages of Pokemon.
Kitty looked on in disappointment, clearly having her heart set on that Nidoking.
"Hey, Kitty," Julia said, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"Yeah?" Kitty asked, glancing up at her.
"You can always try again, right?"
"Yeah, I guess," Kitty said, nodding. "But it was a fluke I managed to get three of them… I don't know if I could do it again."
"Well, if you're stuck on what you should get for your prize, how about this one?" Julia asked, reaching over Kitty and picking up a light blue female Nidoran. "Out of all the ones here, this one's the cutest."
"Yeah, but…" Kitty didn't want the little Nidoran, she wanted the big Nidoking.
"So you give this one to me… and I'll go win you that fella over there."
Kitty's eyes widened with hope, and she nodded her head, a smile crossing Julia's face.
Julia handed Kate her ID card, cracking her knuckles.
"I've been waiting to get a chance to give my arm some exercise," Julia smiled, Kate's face going pale.
I thought that as long as Marion didn't show up, this would be fine… the gas and the slippery balloons making it nearly impossible to snag 5… Kate felt herself tremble. Something about Julia's smile was telling her she was gonna be in for a bad time.
Meanwhile, in the stall across from them, there was someone who was also having a bad time.
"Darn it, why can't I get these?" Cynthia huffed. She'd made 5 attempts so far, and hadn't even gotten one ring.
Blake and Maddi glanced at each other. They both knew it was because Cynthia lacked any sort of proper control, and was just throwing them haphazardly, but neither one felt like saying it.
"Hey, Cynthia, we can just move on, you know," Blake suggested. Cynthia sighed, and nodded her head glumly. She was stubborn, but also knew when she was beaten. This wasn't her game.
"My shot, then," Blake said.
"Oh, you want to play?" Cynthia asked. Blake nodded, and pointed at a cute stuffed Mimikyu.
"Well, good luck," Cynthia snickered.
"Please, it's not about luck," Blake boasted. It's all about skill!
5 games later, and Blake had to accept the fact that his skills were not up to snuff. Cynthia laughed triumphantly, staring at him as he continued to fail.
"There you were, making so much fun of me in your head, when you're just as bad as I am!" Cynthia crowed.
"Shut up!" Blake said, his cheeks flushing with embarrassment. "Besides, it's almost time to go meet up at the fountain, right? Shouldn't we go?"
"Makes sense," Cynthia agreed, loving the fact that Blake was completely failing and was trying to change the subject. "Hey, Maddi. Want to give it a shot before we go?"
Maddi glanced at the ring toss. She shrugged.
"Might as well," she replied.
Maddi handed her card over to the Gengar-dressed attendant, who handed her four rings. She stepped back, and lined up her shot.
Maddi, Cynthia, and Blake walked through the stalls, Maddi holding a stuffed Gengar the size of her head in her arms, a small triumphant smile on her face. Cynthia was less than pleased, even though a big part of today was showing Maddi a good time. But the mission goal was beaten out by Cynthia's competitive spirit.
"Cynthia, stop being grumpy," Blake told her.
"I'm not grumpy," Cynthia said. A few minutes later, they arrived at the fountain, where Nick, Reiner, and Nikita were gathered. As Cynthia expected, Nikita was not dressed in a costume, instead just wearing a black sweater and gray knee-length skirt. Cynthia sighed. Nikita frowned, feeling a little upset that Cynthia's reaction to seeing her was so down. She glanced shyly at Reiner, who rolled his eyes.
"She's just in a mood," he explained, Nikita's expression brightening slightly.
"Where are Kitty and Julia?" Blake asked, curious.
"Over here," Julia called, walking through the crowd and waving at them, a small stuffed female Nidoran in her hands. Walking up beside her was a big stuffed Nidoking, much to the confusion of everyone else. As the two figures got closer, they saw that it was actually Kitty, holding a stuffed animal in her arms that was almost as big as she was.
"Where'd you get that?!" Cynthia gasped, her mouth falling open in shock.
"Julia won it for me," Kitty blushed, looking up at her friend and smiling in gratitude.
"It wasn't so hard," Julia smirked.
"It took her three tries," Kitty clarified, Julia shooting her a glance.
"I had to get back in the swing of things," Julia protested. "Besides, it wasn't like I was completely hosed, I won a few more stuffed animals, remember? I just gave 'em back, is all. I won what we wanted, anyway."
"Aw, that was so sweet of you!" Cynthia smiled. "Maddi won something too, didn't you?"
Maddi nodded silently. Cynthia smiled.
"Let's get our spirits up, guys! There's still a ton of fun to be had!" She turned to Nikita. "Have you eaten yet?"
Nikita shook her head.
"Sweet, then let's go eat! I'm dying for some of those candy Pumpkaboos!"
"Well, the food's that way," Reiner said, checking the map. He turned to Nikita. "Want to go?"
Nikita smiled and nodded her head, her cheeks flushing. The students followed off after.
"Nick!" Hearing his name called, Nick turned his head just in time to see a flash of blue, a small girl running up and hugging him.
"Callie!" Nick said, smiling.
"I found you! I've been looking for you all morning!" Callie said, smiling, letting him go and stepping back.
"Whoa, Callie!" Cynthia gasped. Callie turned to see her.
"Yeah?" Callie asked. Cynthia was overjoyed to look at Callie. She was wearing a bright blue unitard, with white shorts and shoes, as well as white wristbands. She wore a white wig over her blonde hair, spiked up in the center with two curls on either side.
"You dressed up!" Cynthia cried gratefully, hugging the girl tightly.
"It-it's just a Meditite…" Callie said, her cheeks pink in embarrassment. "I-it's not as detailed as yours, I just kinda threw it together…"
"Still, thank you," Cynthia smiled. She let the girl go. "I really appreciated it."
"…Yeah, no problem," Callie said, nodding.
"We were just talking about going to get food," Nick said. "Want to come with us?"
"Can I?!" Callie asked, looking at the others hopefully.
"Sure! Of course! Absolutely!" Cynthia gushed, nodding her head vigorously. "In fact, what are we still doing here? Let's go already!"
"I actually kind of wanted to look around first," Nikita said. Reiner nodded in agreement.
"We're not that hungry, either," Julia said.
"Well, then you want to go check out some more attractions, then?" Cynthia asked. "We can get some more prizes! I'm definitely going to win something this time! I'm not gonna let you get ahead of me that easily, Maddi!"
Maddi blinked.
"…Whatever."
"Oh, come on! This is the point where you say 'there's no way you'll be able to catch up'!" Cynthia exclaimed.
"But I don't care," Maddi informed her. Cynthia rolled her eyes and sighed.
"Well, what do you want to do then?" Cynthia asked. It wasn't sarcastic, she was genuinely asking her. Maddi paused.
"…I don't really have anything in particular that I want to do," she lied. What she really wanted to do was go home and read, but she already knew that wasn't an option.
"In that case…" a new voice spoke up, loud and commanding over the rush of the fountain, "then I have an idea for an event you might find to be a truly enjoyable experience."
Everyone's attention turned to the owner of this new voice, intrigued by the mysterious festival game they suggested.
So who could this mysterious visitor be? What could they have in mind for an activity to take part in? We'll have to find out!