Who could our mysterious guest be? And what will they propose? We'll just have to see what they have in store! Remember to review!

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

Just a Bad Writer for Fun: There should be a few fun ones.

Pokemonking0924: "Least" favorite? How rude!

Hellraiserphoenix: Julia is really very sweet, even if she can be kind of abrasive. It's quite cute.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 188

"Well? What do you think? Would you like to take place in a fun and unique festival event?"

Cynthia blinked, staring closely at the girl standing in front of them. She looked kind of familiar, but Cynthia couldn't really place it. What she did notice, though, was that the girl was dressed as a pokemon, a Gothitelle. She wore a long black dress layered in tiers, with white lace bows up the front. Her hair was rather bizarre, a dark black styled into four disks on each side of her head. Cynthia wasn't sure how this girl got her hair styled like that, but it looked rather authentic. However, her face was not the same purple as an actual Gothitelle, although her lips were still a dark pink. Her sky-blue eyes were shining with excitement and ambition.

"Sylvia!" Callie gasped. "What are you doing here?"

"You…" Julia said, narrowing her eyes.

Sylvia answered with a smile well-suited for a businesswoman.

"Sylvia?" Cynthia blinked "O-o-o-h, yeah! I remember you now! Ghost girl!"

"That's me!" Sylvia purred, lifting the hem of her black dress in a curtsy.

"I heard about you," Julia said. "You're the girl who joined the Eight Leaders a while back!"

"Yep, that's me!" Sylvia repeated, nodding. "I beat Mirar and became the new Second Leader!"

"Excuse me!" Callie said, frowning. "But that is not the case! Just because you defeated the Second Leader does not automatically make you the next Second Leader! Your abilities have not been properly assessed, so your position is technically the First Leader until that happens!"

"Maybe so, but that means that after my assessment, I could become the Third, or even Fourth Leader, isn't that right?" Sylvia replied, Callie flinching.

"W-well…"

"She beat Mirar?" Cynthia said. "I heard that Mirar had lost and was no longer part of the Eight Leaders, but to lose to her…"

"Mirar seemed really strong," Blake agreed. "When he beat you, at the time I couldn't see anyone overcoming his copy strategy. I wonder how she was able to pull out a win."

"It was a trick."

"Oh?" Sylvia narrowed her eyes, glancing at Maddi.

"She didn't win," Maddi continued. "She forced a tie with a trick. To call that a 'battle' would be insulting."

"Such pride, as expected of someone working under the Commander," Sylvia laughed, her face affable but her tone issuing a warning. "I prefer to think of it as good tactics."

Maddi frowned.

"Whatever, it doesn't matter," Sylvia laughed, shrugging her shoulders.

"If you beat Mirar, then fight me!" Cynthia suddenly exclaimed. Sylvia blinked, and turned to face her, looking at Cynthia for the first time.

"…Oh?" A wicked smile crossed Sylvia's face as she strolled up to Cynthia. "If I recall, you were also there in the semi-finals, Cynthia Fafnir, if I'm correct?"

"That's right," Cynthia said, nodding.

"I heard you lost to Mirar yourself," Sylvia smiled. "So that's what this is about? You'd like to battle me instead?"

"Something like that," Cynthia smiled.

"Well, unfortunately, I can't oblige you," Sylvia said, leaning back and shrugging her shoulders. "I'm quite busy these days with my duties as a member of the Eight Leaders. …Unless, of course, you could see your way to doing a bit of a favor for me~? Just to make my workload a little lighter?"

Cynthia narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

"…What kind of favor?"

"Oh, nothing major, nothing… dangerous," Sylvia purred. "You see, a couple of friends of mine are interested in taking part of this little activity I proposed. But unfortunately, there's a head-count required. So they couldn't participate themselves. So all morning I've been trying to scare up some guests for the most fabulous attraction of the festival! What do you think? Care to join? I promise that it will be… entertaining, to say the least. And then, when it's done, we can have a little battle. Though, not today. How about we schedule it for next week? What do you say? Of course…"

Sylvia glanced over Cynthia's shoulder, and looked at the other students assembled behind her.

"…It won't be enough with just you. I don't suppose you could convince your friends to come along, as well?"

Cynthia blinked, turned, and glanced at the others with a smile on her face.

"What do you guys think? We came to this festival to try out a bunch of attractions, what do you think? She says it's going to be fun!"

"What kind of game are you talking about?" Reiner asked Sylvia.

Sylvia smirked.

"Ever heard of an 'Escape Room' before?"

Reiner and Nikita gasped, suddenly much more invested in the conversation.

"An escape room?" Nikita asked eagerly. "I've done those before, they're a lot of fun!"

"What's an escape room?" Blake asked.

"The basic idea behind it is that a group of people get locked up in a room, and have to work together to solve puzzles to get out of the room," Reiner explained.

"…So it's a sex thing?" Cynthia asked.

"NO, it's not a sex thing!" Nikita and Reiner cried in unison.

"Dudes, I'm not judging your relationship, if that's what does it for you, then-"

"IT'S NOT!" Reiner and Nikita's faces were bright red.

"Besides," Nikita continued, "we haven't-"

"Don't bother," Reiner interrupted her. "Telling her anything will just lead to further embarrassment."

"Sounds like we've got some volunteers," Sylvia said. "What about the rest of you?"

"I'm not sure," Kitty murmured. "It sounds kind of scary…"

"Nonsense!" Sylvia was smiling, but Kitty didn't believe that smile for an instant.

"If you don't want to, then we don't have to." Julia tried to reassure her.

"Indeed, it is somewhat scary," Sylvia admitted. "If you don't think you're as brave as your friend over here, I wouldn't bother. I'm quite jealous of you, having such a strong guardian to watch over you."

Kitty wasn't having any of that, either.

"No!" She said, shaking her head. "I'll do it, I'm not scared!"

Julia blinked, and nodded. "Well, if she's in, then I'm in." She didn't like Sylvia, and didn't trust her after what she'd tried to do to Kitty before. But if Kitty was going, then Julia was going too, just in case she tried something.

"Well, I'm out," Callie said, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "Right, Nick?"

"I actually think it sounds kind of fun…" Nick replied.

"But it's Sylvia!" Callie reminded him. "You can't trust her!"

Sylvia placed a hand on Callie's shoulder, the girl tilting her head back to look over her shoulder at her. Sylvia leaned down and whispered into Callie's ear.

"If you participate, then you'll get the chance to work with Nick in tight quarters, and show off your best side by helping him solve puzzles," Sylvia purred. "Come now, wouldn't you like to work side by side with him? As a teammate?"

Callie blinked. Her cheeks tinged pink.

"We-e-e-ell, I suppose I could give it a try," Callie shrugged, looking back at Nick. "We get to be together, Nick!"

"Sounds like a blast!" Nick agreed.

"And then there were two," Sylvia said, turning to Blake and Maddi. "What say you?"

"I'm fine with it," Blake shrugged.

"Pass," Maddi replied.

"Oh? Pass?" Sylvia huffed. "But that's no fun!"

"Maddi," Cynthia said, turning to Maddi, a smile on her face. "Come on! We're spending the day together, right? The Commander wants you to make some new experiences and have a good time, and there's nothing better for that than a game where we all work together! Don't you think?"

Maddi sighed in defeat.

"Fine."

"Excellent! Let's be off then!" Sylvia walked past them, leading them through the quad. Cynthia followed right behind her, continuing the conversation, while everyone else was less talkative, and some were even wary of where they were going.

"So you're a ghost type user, right?" Cynthia asked.

"Mhm," Sylvia nodded. "I just love 'em!"

"Then why are you dressed up like a Gothitelle?" Cynthia wondered. "I mean, a big part of Pokemon Day is the spooks of the ghost types, and they're your specialty, so shouldn't you-"

"'Shouldn't I' indeed," Sylvia smirked. "Yes, with my love of ghost types, one would expect me to dress as one… but that would be far too boring and predictable, don't you see?"

Cynthia didn't really get it.

Sylvia winked at her. "Besides… this is the style that suits me the best, wouldn't you agree?"

A few minutes later, they arrived at a rather large building, well off the trail from the normal festival grounds. Nikita recognized it as one of the labs they used for classes in the Research Course.

"Are you sure this is part of the festival?" Julia asked suspiciously.

"Yep," Sylvia nodded. "You see, though, we couldn't set it up just anywhere, since we need lots of space for an escape room. But I promise, it's all in good fun! Now, let's go meet the others!"

Sylvia nodded her head. Standing outside of the building were two students.

"It's Misato, and Will," Reiner noted.

"What are they doing here?" Nikita gasped.

"They're the friends I mentioned before," Sylvia explained, walking up to greet them. "Don't worry, guys! I found more people to join!"

"I still don't see why I need to be here," Will frowned.

"Come on now, you're the best at bringing the best out of Misato," Sylvia purred. "And besides, you want that special prize, don't you?"

"Oh, that's right!" Cynthia gasped. "You promised prizes! What's the prize we get if we win?!"

Sylvia smirked.

"Beating the escape room is not enough, you see. You must also… break the record!"

"The record?" Cynthia asked, confused.

"The time you're allotted to complete the escape room is an hour and a half," Sylvia explained. "For every minute left on the clock when you get through it, you get 100 Pokepoints!"

"One… one hundred?!" Cynthia gasped, imagining how much money that would be.

"If she's offering so much for winning, then this must incredibly difficult," Reiner said. Nikita nodded in agreement.

"She must be confident that not very many people would be able to win," Nikita reasoned.

"But if you can beat it in only an hour… then you qualify for our special prize! The winning team… gets a pokemon egg!"

"A pokemon egg?" Cynthia asked, her eyes shining.

"That's right," Sylvia said. "Quite a lucrative prize, wouldn't you agree? Now, normally, I would charge each around 2000 Pokepoints to enter, but since you lot are our first guests, this is fine! You can come in, free of charge! But since there aren't enough eggs to go around, it's only one per team. You lot can split it amongst yourselves."

"I can't wait!" Cynthia cheered. "I want to win that pokemon egg!"

"I don't know…" Kitty said, her voice muffled from behind her Nidoking. "I already have a pokemon egg to take care of…"

"Don't worry," Julia laughed. "You don't need to raise this one, leave it to someone else."

"Right," Kitty said, nodding.

While several of the less experienced members were excited about winning the egg, Blake was wary. He figured, rightly so, that there was very little chance of anyone actually winning the egg… that would include a win of at least 3,000 pokepoints for each student, costs like that would be very high. This escape room must be set so that it would be very difficult to accomplish. Blake glanced at Reiner. The two boys nodded. They were both thinking the same thing.

Forget the lofty ambitions, let's just settle for having fun. Their looks seemed to say. Reiner glanced at Nikita. Someone as smart as her would certainly reach the same conclusion.

"Pokemon egg…" Nikita seethed, her eyes glowing with passion as she envisioned herself winning that egg for herself. Reiner sighed, shaking his head. It seemed as smart as she might be, there was still an adorable side of her that wanted to win.

"So how are we doing this thing?" Cynthia asked. "I'm all fired up! I'm gonna win me that pokemon egg!"

"Well, it's very simple," Sylvia replied. "You see, we have two rooms here to try."

Sylvia held up her left hand. "The door to my left, is the Room of Knowledge."

The students took a look at the lobby inside (for some reason, Sylvia had not actually let them into the building yet, too occupied with her grandiose speeches) and saw that there were two doorways.

"And the door to my right… is the Room of Courage," Sylvia smirked, raising her right hand as well. "Knowledge or Courage? Take your pick. Each room is restricted to only 6 participants. No more, no less."

Everyone nodded, but it was Cynthia who noticed something was wrong first.

"Wait, wait, you aren't participating, are you?" Cynthia asked.

"Oh my, no, you see, I already know all the puzzles! I'll be serving as the game master, you see! Giving you all hints when necessary!"

"But then… we don't have enough people," Cynthia said, counting off the students assembled. "See? There's only 11 of us here."

"Oh, that's right," Blake said, frowning. "If only Sango were here, she could fill out the numbers."

"Oh, my!" Sylvia gasped, a look of mock panic on her face. "How could I have miscalculated?"

A smirk crossed her face.

"Unless you're the one who miscounted, of course."

"Eh?" Cynthia asked, confused.

"There's one more little one around here somewhere," Sylvia purred. "A shy little thing hiding away and watching us. Isn't that right, little fire girl?"

Everyone looked around in confusion.

"There's no sense in staying hidden," Sylvia said. "You've been following us since the fountain, isn't that right? I know you're there. Come on out, now."

From behind one of the trees next to the walkway, Caelia stepped out, staring at the students with her blank blue eye. In her hands, she was holding a stuffed Mimikyu doll.

"Caelia," Blake blinked.

"What's she doing here?" Reiner wondered.

"Caelia, what's up?" Blake asked, walking up to her. "I thought you said you weren't interested in coming to the festival?"

"I thought I might as well…" Caelia murmured, staring deeply into his eyes.

"Well, hello there," Sylvia purred, stepping up to Caelia. She looked down at the shorter girl, smiling. "Blake, give us a moment?"

Blake shrugged, stepping away from the two girls, out of hearing distance. Sylvia turned back to Caelia.

"Hello, little fire girl," Sylvia smiled. "It's been some time."

"…Some time," Caelia said, narrowing her eye.

"That battle we shared was a lot of fun," Sylvia replied. "I've been looking for you for a while, but you're such a loner. Nice to see you come out of the woodwork. Now then, would you like to participate in our little game?"

"No," Caelia coldly replied.

"Oh, I didn't expect a fire user to be so cold," Sylvia pouted. "You see, Caelia, I really am interested in you. You don't seem to act all that invested in everything."

Sylvia raised her hand to cup right side of Caelia's face.

"And yet, you're here, even though you don't seem like the festival type. I wonder why…"

Sylvia raised her hand to push back the hood of Caelia's hoodie and brush her hair out of her face, revealing Caelia's face-mask.

"I wonder… what's behind that mask of yours?" Sylvia asked. "I just love a good present. It's such a mystery! What your face looks like underneath… why you wear that mask, oh, it's like Christmas! I wanna open it so badly! Can I? Oh, can I?"

Sylvia tucked two fingers under the cloth, staring at Caelia's eye. She didn't see any reaction from the girl. She began to tug, preparing to pull the mask off of Caelia's face. Still, Caelia didn't respond.

How boring.

"…I've changed my mind," Sylvia sighed, removing her hand and letting Caelia go. "It's no fun if you won't stand up for yourself."

"I don't really care," Caelia replied, her tone devoid of emotion.

"You really are just no fun," Sylvia shrugged. I wonder… if she won't react to my prodding, is there any other way to get her to play?

Sylvia glanced at Caelia. The girl was practically empty. That look in her eye was so dead. It brought to mind certain memories that were best forgotten. And yet…

"What's this, now?" Sylvia asked, reaching for the Mimikyu doll Caelia was holding. Caelia's eye widened and she shot a glance at Blake. It was faster than a blink, but it didn't go unnoticed to Sylvia's perceptive gaze. Sylvia smirked in victory.

So that's what it is…

"I know why you came to the festival now, little miss," Sylvia smiled. "Blake is quite the cutie isn't he?"

Caelia narrowed her eye, and suddenly Sylvia felt a wave of bloodlust wash over her. She gulped, and decided this was a method of teasing that was best left by the wayside. Caelia was certainly no Dakota, that was for sure.

"You know, if you took part… I could arrange it so you and Blake were on the same team," Sylvia said, redirecting the flow of conversation. "Wouldn't that be fun? More fun than just watching him from the shadows, isn't that right?"

Caelia blinked her eye.

"…Alright then," she nodded.

"Well, let's go, then!" Sylvia said, placing a hand over Caelia's shoulder and guiding her over to the others. She leaned in and whispered to Caelia.

"By the way… you should be honest and give it to him, you know. No sense in being shy." She released Caelia from her grasp and stepped in front of the building, gesturing the others to enter.

"Now, then, we have 12 students! That means we can make two teams of six!" Sylvia smiled. "Sounds fun, right? Let's head inside."

Sylvia unlocked the door and entered the building, which had been completely redecorated for to suit the newly-formed Escape Rooms. The front entrance lobby was redesigned in a more horror-themed design, with black chairs to wait at and a dim darklight casting them in an eerie glow. Luckily, the sun from the outside kept the room well-bathed in regular light as well. The reception desk had been repurposed to suit the event, too.

"Blake," Caelia said, catching Blake's attention as they entered the building.

"Yeah?" Blake asked.

Caelia quietly raised the Mimikyu doll up and presented it to him.

"For me?" Blake asked, surprised.

Caelia nodded.

"You looked like you wanted it, so…" Caelia trailed off into silence. Blake smiled, and took the stuffed pokemon from her.

"Thanks, Caelia!" Blake smiled. Caelia gave him a small smile in return, walking past him.

Blake stared at the Mimikyu in his hands.

Wait… Caelia doesn't have any depth perception. And not only that… she can't even feel the rings, can she? How the hell did she…

Blake didn't really have time to think about it, putting the Mimikyu gently into his backpack and entering the building as well.

"Now then, let's get the process started!" Sylvia smiled. "To start with, you have to sign these waivers."

"Waivers?" Nick gulped.

"Yup! Things might go bad, after all," Sylvia giggled, handing each of them a paper to sign. "But don't worry, as long as you follow the rules, it should all be fine."

They were starting to feel less sure about things, but there's no way the school would sign off on something… too dangerous.

"Good. Now that we've got that signed and ready, empty your pockets."

"Eh?"

Sylvia gestured to a row of lockers set up.

"We can't have you bring phones or pokeballs or whatnot!" Sylvia said, shaking her head. "That could be like cheating! You could take pictures, and then give them to someone else! Nope, not a chance. Put all your stuff in here, please!"

The kids put their backpacks and phones, and especially their pokeballs, away in their lockers.

"Oh, and Misato? I need a little more compliance from you, sweetie," Sylvia said. "Institute temporary wipe protocols and isolation code 01."

"Affirmative," Misato said.

"What does that mean?" Will asked.

"I have set up a sealed folder in my storage," Misato explained. "I will not be able to extract any information I record from this point forward, to prevent image transference. Furthermore, I cannot access the campus wifi while here. Are these measures acceptable?"

"Lovely," Sylvia smiled, nodding. "Now then! Since we've got everything all set to go, I'll explain the rules to you! For starters, let's split into teams. Room of Knowledge to my left, Room of Courage to my right. Misato, we'll start with you. Where would you like to go?"

"With no information beside their names, I theorize that the Room of Knowledge will serve as the most apt use of my abilities."

"I agree," Sylvia said, nodding. "Room of Courage it is."

Is Misato was anything other than a robot, Will might have expected to see a surprised Pikachu face show up to that response.

"Misato, it's no fun if you just choose the easy path," Sylvia smirked. "I want to see what you can do in the Room of Courage."

"Affirmative."

"And you get to bring Will with you as a bonus!" Sylvia smiled. "Now then, let's see if we can divide the teams some more…"

"I want the Room of Courage!" Kitty declared.

"Sounds like a plan," Sylvia nodded.

"Yeah, me too, bring it on!" Callie cheered.

"Callie and Nick are in as well, so that leaves one person left," Sylvia said. "Anyone else want to try this course?"

Julia raised her hand.

"I'll-"

"Reiner, looks like it's you," Sylvia said, pointing at Reiner.

"Whaat? Wait, why?" Nikita asked. "I wanted us to do it together…"

"He can switch with me," Julia declared.

"Nope, no good," Sylvia said, shaking her head.

"Julia, do you want to join for my sake?" Kitty asked suspiciously. "You don't think I can do it?"

"No, it's not that!" Julia protested. "I just thought it would be fun to solve it with you."

"Oh…" A guilty expression crossed Kitty's face.

"I said what I said," Sylvia declared. "Reiner is going that way! I balanced the teams to account for each other's strengths and weaknesses. That's the best way to do things! Misato, Will, Kitty, Nick, Callie, and Reiner in the Room of Courage, while Blake, Caelia, Maddi, Cynthia, Julia, and Nikita are taking the Room of Knowledge."

"Yay! Maddi, we get to be on the same team!" Cynthia cheered. Maddi rolled her eyes, fully expecting Cynthia to lead them to failure in anything called the 'Room of Knowledge'."

"How about we make this interesting, as well?" Sylvia smiled. "Let's make this a competition! Let's see which team can solve theirs first!"

"A competition?!" Cynthia couldn't get more excited for this. "Awesome! That's a great idea!"

"Since it's a special event, we'll do it like this!" Sylvia said, walking over to a large crate. She opened the box, revealing an incubator filled with about a dozen pokemon eggs of various colors. "Whichever team wins, if they win in under the clock, then instead of getting just one egg… you get three to split up amongst your teammates! But don't worry, if the loser is under an hour as well, they still get the egg prize as well."

"More prizes?!" Cynthia cheered. "Wow, that's so nice of you!"

"Yes, I'm such a nice woman," Sylvia smiled.

She's got Cynthia moving like a trained puppy… Blake observed, a little embarrassed at his friend.

"Now, each team, take one of these," Sylvia said, giving Cynthia and Misato each a walkie-talkie. "You can use this to contact me whenever you'd like a hint. Sound good?"

"Affirmative," Misato agreed.

"Sounds good!" Cynthia chirped.

"Well, then what are we waiting for?" Sylvia purred, gesturing to the doors on either side of her. "Shall we begin the games?"

The teams filed into their respective rooms, Sylvia watching after them.

This way, I get to see what Misato is capable of, and put her through her paces, Sylvia noted. And as for the other group… I wonder what awaits Blake in a room, along with Caelia, and four other lovely young ladies?

Sylvia cackled, flipping through the waivers they had signed.

"This should be quite an entertaining festival, indeed."

Oh boy. This shouldn't go very well. We'll have to hope that things work out okay, I guess.