Time to see who our mysterious guest is, and what they want from Sango and Blake. 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, Madison

KedharS: We'll have to see.

Just a Bad Writer for Fun: It should be interesting at least.

Tambry96bj: Sadly not.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 208

Sango and Blake weren't exactly certain what they were looking at. Standing in front of them, legs spread wide and arms crossed defiantly was a young girl, all of 4 foot nothing, staring up at the two with a furious expression on her face. Her eyes were the color of grass, clouded by fury and frustration. Her hair was a bright crimson and curled into ringlets, which, combined with her fancy red dress and white lace, and her haughty glare, made the girl look like a spoiled little princess. She stomped towards the two, jabbing her finger at them.

"Commoners!" The girl's voice was as bitchy as the scowl she was wearing. "Which of you owns that pokemon there?"

"Tara?" Blake said, glancing at his Snivy, who looked back at him in confusion. "She's my pokemon, why?"

"Excellent!" The girl smiled, an arrogant, prideful look, like Blake was a piece of trash on the bottom of her shoe. "Then I, the magnificent Holly, request you to hand that pokemon over to me, commoner! I thank you for you generosity!"

Blake narrowed his eyes.

"No," he replied to the girl. Holly blinked, surprised.

"Impudent commoner!" Holly sneered. "How dare you refuse my request?! Do you know who I am? One word to my father, and I could have you run out of this school!"

Blake rolled his eyes. That wasn't much of a threat.

"Give me that Snivy!" Holly repeated, a little more adamant. Blake looked down into her eyes, seeing her smoldering impetuousness. He glanced at Sango and shrugged.

"Sorry, absolutely not," Blake said, kneeling down and picking Tara up off the ground, holding her to his chest protectively, much to Maria's chagrin. "Tara is my precious partner, I'm not just going to give her away."

"Sni!" Tara tuned her nose up, her scales flushing crimson in embarrassment.

"No, no, NO!" Holly shouted, stomping her stylish red shoes on the ground. "Give it! I've been looking for a strong grass pokemon all day, and yours looks really strong! Now hand it over, you dumb commoner!"

"Holly, right?" Sango asked, squatting down to look her in the eye. "Aren't you a little young to be here? Are you visiting? Is there anyone I can call? Your parents? A sibling or a teacher? I work with campus safety, so-"

"Silence, you commoner!" Holly snarled, glaring at Sango with enough ferocity to make the taller girl recoil back.

"Uh…"

"I have no need to explain myself to commoners like you!" Holly said, holding out her hand. "I insist that you hand that pokemon over to me, right now!"

"Why?" Blake asked, frowning. "Do you honestly expect me to just give one of my pokemon to a little girl without you even telling me why?"

Holly glared at him.

"I… I just need it! I need a strong grass pokemon! That's why I came out into this wasteland, but there aren't any grass types here!"

"…Have you checked the forest?" Sango asked dryly.

"I did!" Holly cried. "But then I got lost, and I just kept walking, and now…"

Tears began to well up in the small girl's eyes. "I-I don't know how to get back… and then I saw you two, and I saw you had a grass pokemon, so I… I mean, I…"

Holly blinked, shaking her head.

"I-I just need one! I need a good grass pokemon, so gimme!"

"Why do you need a good grass pokemon?" Blake asked again.

"Because!" Holly exclaimed, wiping her eyes with her hands, because her dress was too fancy. "There's… there's someone I need to beat! No matter what! But I don't have any pokemon of my own, so I need a really strong one! So just… just gimme!"

Blake pinched the bridge of his nose, and set Tara down on the ground.

"So you don't have any pokemon of your own, so you're just trying to take one from someone else?" Blake asked.

"What am I supposed to do, huh?!" Holly demanded. "I'm… I'm running out of time. I can't wait for my parents to give me a pokemon of my own, I need one right now!"

"Have you even had a pokemon battle before?" Blake asked.

"Hah! I've watched commoners battle all the time," Holly scoffed. "To the magnificent moi, something like that is child's play!"

Sango wanted to point out that this girl was a child herself, but held her tongue.

"How about this," Blake sighed. "Why don't I have a pokemon battle with you, right now?"

"What?" Holly asked, surprised.

"I'll let you use Tara, okay? And I'll use Maria."

"And if I win, then I get to take your Snivy for myself!" Holly insisted. Blake rolled his eyes. Tara looked alarmingly at him.

"If you can win, then we'll talk about it," Blake sighed. Tara's mouth fell open in shock. Blake winked at her.

"Blake, what are you doing?!" Sango hissed. "I can't believe you would just let Tara go like that!"

"Don't worry, we'll win."

"Have you even used Maria in a battle yet?" Sango asked.

"Well, no, but…" Blake glanced at Maria, who was leering at Tara, a mischievous smile on her face, partially concealed by her tentacles.

"…She certainly seems driven."

"I hope you know what you're doing," Sango groaned, staking a few steps back to let Blake work this out for himself.

"Okay, Tara, I want you to do your best, okay?" Blake asked. "Don't throw the fight, fight like you want to win, okay?"

Tara glanced over her shoulder at Holly, who was smiling with an arrogance that showed she clearly already thought she'd won.

"Sni…" Tara sighed, walking over to Holly and looking reluctantly up at her.

"Your name is Tara, correct?" Holly smirked. "Be grateful, Tara! I shall take much better care of you than that commoner could ever hope to do!"

Tara rolled her eyes.

"We'll start with sunny day!"

Tara couldn't really do anything like that, though. She didn't know the move.

"Tara doesn't know sunny day," Blake informed her.

"Rrrgh, how useless!" Holly scoffed, a frown crossing Blake's face. "Fine! Forget it, then!"

"Mareashishi!" Maria cackled, a wicked smile crossing her face as she scuttled across the valley floor.

"Hah! That weak thing! Tara take it down with a powerful solarbeam!" Holly ordered. Tara blinked, looking back at Holly in confusion.

"Maria, poison sting," Blake ordered.

"Marea!" Maria cackled, opening her mouth and firing a barrage of poisonous needles from her mouth and tentacles, raining poison down on the grass pokemon.

"Sniiii!" Tara wailed, thrashing on the ground as the needles sunk into her scaled skin, infecting her with venomous poison.

"Oh no! Why didn't you use solarbeam?!" Holly demanded. Tara shot her a venomous glare in return.

"Snivy don't learn solarbeam, and Tara wasn't taught it," Sango explained.

"What?!" Holly exclaimed. "But she's a grass type! Why… fine, whatever! Then what about… razor leaf!"

Tara shrugged her shoulders and flung her hands forward, but nothing happened. In the meantime, Maria opened her mouth and sent a wave of poisonous blades that struck her head-on, the venoshock causing the grass type massive damage due to her prior infection.

"Snivy…" Tara winced, coughing, the poison wearing her down as Maria rolled on the ground, laughing maniacally.

"No, no, no!" Holly screamed, stomping her feet in frustration. "How come you can't do anything?! You're useless! This is all your fault!"

Blake narrowed his eyes. He reached for his belt and retrieved Maria and Tara's pokeballs, calling both pokemon back.

"What are you doing?!" Holly exclaimed. "This isn't over yet!"

Blake stormed towards her and towered over the defiant girl, glaring down at her.

Blake raised his hand slapped her across the face with a smack that echoed across the valley. Sango gasped in shock, but not nearly as shocked as Holly was.

Holly's face was knocked to the side, and she blinked, not knowing what just happed. Her face stung with heat. She raised a trembling hand to her cheek and touched it, tears welling up in her eyes.

"You…" Holly stuttered, her entire body shaking. "Y-you… you hit me… a commoner… a commoner hit me!"

"Uwwaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" Holly wailed, bursting into tears. "Not even my daddy ever hit me! Stupid commoner! Waaaaaaah!"

"Of course I hit you," Blake exclaimed. "You're being a brat! What's the matter with you, blaming your own incompetence on the pokemon? After making such a big deal in the first place?! I'd never give Tara to someone like you, you aren't ready to be a pokemon trainer! You don't have the responsibility to look after any pokemon!"

Blake continued to chew out Holly, not bothered in the slightest by her wails, outlining the problems she had towards other people and pokemon.

Even Sango was starting to feel a little bad for the crying girl.

"…Pokemon aren't tools, they're creatures with their own feelings, you know. Calling them useless is too far. Do you understand? Now, please, give up on this insistence that you take Tara away from me, okay? You need to find a pokemon for you to value, when you're ready. But you aren't ready yet."

"But…" Holly blubbered, looking up at Blake with her glassy green eyes. "I need a grass pokemon! And your pokemon were all really strong… so even though you were a commoner, I thought… if I could get your pokemon, then I… UWAAAAH!"

Holly wrapped her hands around Blake's waist and sobbed into his shirt, hugging him tightly. Blake looked at Sango, sighing.

"I need to beat her… Please, just…" Holly whimpered. Blake had been intending to scold the girl, but apparently he had gone too far, even if he really didn't think he had.

"I'm not letting you have Tara," Blake repeated. "…But… I guess I can help you find a pokemon of your own."

Holly blinked

"W-what?" Holly asked, confused. "Whadyou mean?" She pulled back and looked up at him in confusion, blinking.

"Blake, what do you mean?" Sango asked, confused. "Help her?"

"If you want to become a good trainer, then wouldn't it be good to catch your own pokemon and raise it up to be strong by yourself? Getting to know each other better and growing together, so you can win for your own?" Blake asked Holly. "I'll help you with that, maybe even give you a few pointers, okay?"

"O-okay," Holly said, nodding. "Th-thank you, commoner…"

"Another thing, don't call us commoners," Blake chastised her, Holly wincing. "I'm Blake, and she's Sango. Okay?"

"Yes, common- er, I mean, Blake," Holly said, nodding her head.

"Okay, let's go find you a pokemon, okay?" Sango asked, walking over to Holly wearing a smile on her face. Holly returned the smile with a sharp glare, practically gnashing her teeth.

Blake and Sango led Holly out of the valley and back towards the forest below, where there would be many more grass pokemon to find.

"Look at that," Sango said, pointing at a flock of Pidgey flying above the trees. "Those are Pidgey! They can be raised really well, you know? Why not catch one?"

"NO!" Holly said, crossing her arms in front of her chest and shaking her head, her ringlets flying around. "I want a grass type!"

"Why do you want a grass type?" Blake asked. "They're very hard to raise, you know."

"If I can't beat my sister with a grass pokemon, then there isn't a point to it!" Holly insisted. "Find me a grass pokemon! Common- Blake!"

Blake rolled his eyes and Sango scowled, having run out of patience with this brat a long time ago. She wanted to scream, that Holly girl was so annoying.

"Cast," Silver floated over to her, nuzzling her cheek. Sango sighed, cooling down thanks to her partner helping her remain calm.

"Blake, do you really have to do this?" Sango sighed, walking up to Blake and placing a hand on his shoulder. "I mean, it's not like you need to-"

"I feel bad for her," Blake whispered. "Besides, I don't think she's a bad person. She's a little bit of a brat, but I've met a lot of rich girls like her, raised spoiled. They need a firm hand to keep them grounded."

"Oho, you spent a lot of time with these rich girls?" Sango snootily replied, looking down her nose at him. Blake rolled his eyes. He turned away from Sango's judgmental stare and began looking around the forest, when his eyes landed on something.

"Wait, look," Blake said, pointing at a small pokemon chewing on the tall grass. The pokemon was hard to see due to its small size. Green leaves like a dress made up the bottom of her body, separated by a dark green collar, and her large head was like an onion covered in leaves, the green framing a pale white face like hair. Sticking out of the tip of her head were three long leaves, like a fan or a crown, bobbing with the movements of her head.

"It's a pokemon!" Holly gasped quietly. "Such a cute grass type! Excellent, now go catch it!"

Blake glanced at her.

"What?" Holly looked up at him in confusion, pointing an insistent finger at the pokemon playing in the grass. "Go catch her! Now! Before she gets away!"

Blake set his bag on the ground and began rooting around through it, withdrawing an empty pokeball from within it. He tossed it at Holly.

"Huh?" Holly blinked, looking at the pokeball in her hands, confused. "What do you mean?"

"You want your own pokemon, right?" Blake asked. "Then go catch it."

"You… you expect me to catch a pokemon for myself?!" Holly exclaimed, stunned. "You impertinent commoner! Demanding I lower myself down to one of you, and do such a demeaning task!?"

Blake glared at her, Holly's eyes widening.

"O-okay, I'll do it!" Holly said, shivering.

"You're not even giving her a pokemon to use to help?" Sango asked, surprised. "That's pretty cold of you."

"It's better that she learns how to do it for herself," Blake said, smiling. "Like when we had to catch pokemon with our bare hands in Professor Green's class."

Sango raised her eyebrow quizzically. "…If you say so."

"Go, pokeball!" Holly shouted, standing proud and holding up her pokeball. She flung it at the Petilil, and missed the pokemon by a mile, the ball rolling harmlessly into the grass.

"How dare you dodge, you impertinent pokemon?!" Holly demanded, running over and retrieving the pokeball. The Petilil blinked, turning her head and flinging a rainbow-coloed leaf at the girl as a warning. The sharp leaf didn't hit her directly, but it tore into the skirt of the girl's dress, slicing a huge gash in it. Holly stared down at her ruined dress, her eyes wide.

"My dress!" Holly exclaimed, glaring angrily at the Petilil. "You tore my dress! How could you?!"

She ran towards the Petilil and threw the pokeball again, this time hitting the Petilil head on and capturing it.

Holly smiled triumphantly as the ball fell into the grass, shaking. The Petilil burst free a few moments later, wiping the smug look off of the bratty girl's face.

"You-!" Holly gasped. "Merde! You dare escape from the pokeball? How rude! Settle down and let me capture you!"

The Petilil had other ideas, bouncing away from Holly as fast as she could. But Holly wasn't going to give in that easily. She stormed after the small pokemon, pokeball clenched tightly in her hands.

Petilil did a lot to shake the girl, including paralyzing her stun spore, causing her to fall into the river, as well as flinging more leaves that sliced into her clothes, leaving few cuts on her arms and legs, and pushed her into the mud with a tackle, completely ruining her hair. Holly was exhausted, itchy, sweaty, soaked completely through, and caked in mud.

Needless to say, the spoiled little princess wasn't exactly pleased with how the capture attempt was doing.

"You grass pokemon…" Holly seethed, having finally backed the pokemon up against a large tree. She grabbed the Petilil and pressed the pokeball against her forehead, holding the ball tight in her small little hands. Finally, the pokeball dinged, settling down. Holly had succeeded.

Holly looked at the pokeball in her hands, panting. The adrenaline had worn off, and now her exhaustion was settling in. She fell to her knees and laid back in the grass, clutching the pokeball to her chest.

"Ha… ha… haha! I… I did it!" Holly giggled. "I caught… I caught a pokemon! My… my very first pokemon!"

Tears fell from Holly's eyes, cutting tracks through the mud as she cradled it lovingly.

"Ha…"

Holly stood up on shaky legs, taking a few deep breaths to calm down. She held the pokeball tightly and ran back to where Blake and Sango were.

"Blake! Blake!" Holly called out, waving the pokeball around. "I did it! I caught her! I caught her!"

"That's great," Blake said, smiling. "You really tried hard, huh?"

Holly looked down and saw her dress, soaked, torn, and covered in mud. Small cuts were all over her arms, and her hair was an absolute mess. But even with her mud-caked face, a big smile could be seen beaming through.

"I… I didn't know catching a pokemon could be so much fun…" Holly said. "I mean, I was super-angry at her… 'cause she was resisting me capturing her, but when it was done… there's this feeling in my chest that just makes me smile, you know?"

Blake smiled at her.

"Feel that sense of accomplishment?" Blake asked. "Doesn't that feel great? Nothing like if you had just used someone else's pokemon. Now, if you can use that pokemon to beat who you want to beat, then you'll be a lot more happy than if you had used Tara, don't you think?"

"Well…" Holly looked down at the pokeball in her hands.

"I'm sure you want to become stronger with that Petilil all on your own, right?" Blake explained. "Take care of it and treat it nicely, and you can become real friends?"

"…Yeah, maybe…" Holly muttered, looking down and blushing. "She's okay I guess…"

"That's your new friend, understand?" Blake asked. "She's gonna try to do the best she can, okay? So don't call her useless or anything like that, okay? You're both just starting out. You've got a lot to learn about each other, okay?"

"Yeah…" Holly agreed, rolling the pokeball between her hands. "I'll try and get to know her a little."

"That's good," Blake said, patting her on the head. "Let's get going back to the main campus, okay?"

"Right," Holly said, nodding. "I need to go show daddy my new pokemon! He'll be so surprised!"

Holly nuzzled her newly-caught pokemon against her cheek, as Blake and Sango led her out of the forest and back towards campus.

Sometimes spoiled little girls can be the most annoying sorts of people. Hopefully, Holly will find what she's looking for.