The Pokeathlon Competition has moved into the second round, but we're going to be skipping past that. We don't need to spend too much time focusing on people shooting down targets over and over. Instead, we're going to move into the event that really matters, the all-important third round! This section of the preliminaries is sure to be exciting, since we'll finally get people to use moves against one another! It should be great! Remember to review!

KedharS: It worked last time. If you want to get to Ayame the best way to do that is to come in guns blazing and tear down her walls. She may get upset at you, but then, she still likes you so she'll come around eventually. Just don't try it with someone who isn't actually in love with you, that's just called harassment.

Hyphenman: That's definitely a well-thought-out theory, I'll say that much. Really looks at the nature of things that have been set into motion. Let me know if you have any other theories!

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 1297

As the final person to make it to the second round of the preliminaries, Will was the last one to finish the second round as well. And he scored pretty good. Thanks to Sol's ember attacks, he was able to get 39 points, which was a very good count. And it was just good enough to get him within the top 50 scores for the second round.

"Aargh! Come on!" Tommy groaned. He was one of the ones eliminated. Not the only one, though, of course. Half the students had been knocked out of the tournament in the second preliminary round, unfortunately.

Nikita sighed in relief. Pretty much everyone else she knew had made it through the second round and into the third. Unfortunately, this also applied to people she wasn't particularly fond of, like Naya. That woman just freaked her out.

"This is great!" Callie cheered. "Nick made it through!" She saw the complex expression on Nikita's face. "Hey, and Reiner made it too, right?" She tried to be encouraging. "We should be excited! Both our boys are going to be in the next round! They might even make it to the main competition!"

Nikita tried to smile, but she couldn't shake the doubt in her heart that this wasn't going to go the way she wanted.

"I'm worried about Ayame," she admitted. "This whole tournament… it was for the sake of restoring her memories, right?"

Callie gasped, her eyes widening. "Wh-What?" She looked to Alcea for confirmation. This was the first time she'd heard anything about this.

Alcea nodded solemnly.

"When the Empress learned what became of Ayame's memories, there was always the possibility of her recovering them," she explained. "So to that end, I agreed with her- it was vital to hold an event like this, for the possibility of recovering her memories, is it?"

Callie tensed, sinking down into her seat. This was really important. No wonder everyone seemed more serious about this than she had. She bit her lip anxiously.

"Alright, everyone!" Lila cheered. "We've finished tallying up all the different scores, and decided on our final competitors for the last round of the preliminaries!"

Darla nodded. "I think this is a good chance to refresh everyone's memories about what our competitors will be doing, don't you, Leanne?"

"I think you're right, Darla," Leanne nodded. "This last round of the tournament is very special because everyone will be using three of their pokemon! They'll have to make a formation with their last three pokemon to make a human-pokemon cavalry team!"

As the students filed back into the wide-open stadium, they were handed white headbands by the attendants.

"Each of our contestants will wear one of these headbands," Lila explained. "I know they're not the most stylish things in the world, but we need them for this round. You guys will be riding on your pokemon and trying to take the headbands away from other contestants! When your headband is removed, that means you're out! So be careful!"

"That's right, you've got to guard that thing well," Darla agreed. "And that's why it's okay to use pokemon moves! You can use whatever moves you like to protect yourself and your team- within reason, of course. We don't want to see any hyper beams below the belt. We have a bunch of volunteers from the Ranger Course here today to keep a close eye on everybody, and make sure that no one gets hurt!"

Naya scowled behind her sleeve.

"There's one other thing you girls forgot to mention," Leanne said. "Well actually, two things. First of all, you have to remain on your pokemon at all times. No sending one of your pokemon to attack another team or anything like that. You and your pokemon have to all be connected. This doesn't mean you have to be touching them, but they all have to be connected to you in one way or another."

"What does that mean?" Lila asked, scrunching her face up in confusion.

"What it means is let's say I was riding on a big pokemon, like a Mamoswine," Leanne explained. "I could be on the back of the Mamoswine. At the same time, one of my other pokemon could be sitting on the tusks because that gives them a better vantage point to attack. Now even though I'm not touching the other pokemon directly, I'm touching Mamoswine, who IS touching the other pokemon. See how that works?"

"Oh, yeah!" Lila nodded. She'd understood it from the beginning, of course.

"What about the other thing you were talking about?" Darla asked. "Would you like to go into more detail about that?"

"Oh, that's nothing too troubling," Leanne assured her with a smile. "It's just a little part about how we'll be resolving things. You see, there are 50 students still in this competition! And for the main competition, we're going to reduce that number down by more than two thirds! That's right, only 16 students will be making it into the main competition!"

Nikita winced. That number sounded really low.

"When the number of remaining competitors in our cavalry battle is reduced to 16, the preliminaries will be over," Leanne said. "It doesn't matter how many headbands you steal, as long as you can withstand the others from knocking you over or taking your headband long enough, then you'll make it into the main tournament! Understood?"

Everyone seemed to get the idea. There were a few people who were beginning to formulate strategies, but the vast majority of competitors had already decided what they were going to do. After all, their teams had been formed with these competitions in mind, and they'd chosen their pokemon for the previous two rounds understanding that the last three would be necessary here.

"We'll be taking a thirty minute break to give our competitors a chance to relax and recharge, as well as an opportunity to use the restroom," Leanne said. She gestured to a section of the stadium that was dedicated to comfort, with some soft sofas and even a bed for taking a nap, not that anyone could sleep given the fact that practically the rest of the student body was watching them.

Leanne got up from her chair, ostensibly to use the restroom herself. "Make use of your time wisely and recover from your fatigue; those thirty minutes will pass by before you know it," she warned, walking away from the announcer's box. Darla and Lila followed not long after, having their own business to deal with.

Blake slumped back and sighed, contemplating his next move. He'd already expended a lot of stamina. He had to hope that the pokemon he had left would be enough to handle it. As his mind searched for possible strategies with his assortment of pokemon, he was so caught-up in his thinking he didn't even imagine who could be coming to talk to him.

"Hiyahoo, Blake! Been a while! How are things?"

A familiar-sounding greeting caused Blake turned his head, and then did a double-take. He just barely recognized the girl standing in front of him, but it took him a second to realize where he'd seen her before.

Her curly locks of black hair tumbled past her chin, and her green eyes sparkled as she flashed a winning smile that showed off her teeth.

"Can you imagine? We both made it to the final round of the preliminaries! This is so cool! Whattya think? I bet we can all make it to the main tournament together! Just picture it- you, me, and Ayame of course!"

The pieces finally clicked together. Blake gasped. "Andrea!" He hadn't thought about her in so long, she'd completely slipped his mind, even though they shared a class together. In fairness, he had a lot of more important stuff to focus on, so he couldn't always spare a girl like her the time of day, even if she was nice.

"It's Andy," she corrected him with a huff, crossing her arms over her chest. "I thought I asked you to call me Andy! We're friends, after all."

'I… you're right," Blake admitted, offering her an apologetic smile. "Sorry, Andy."

"It's fine!" Andy's face immediately brightened. "So, how are things going between you and Ayame? I haven't seen you two around in a while!"

Blake didn't know how to answer her. What happened between him and Ayame was a bit of a secret, but the longer this went on, the more likely it was that the fact he'd been dumped would spread throughout the school.

He guessed the only reason Dakota hadn't leaked it already was because Mirar was holding her back from doing so.

"Ayame and I… well, it's complicated." That was the nicest way he could put it. While he had no intention of giving up on Ayame, he wasn't going to keep introducing her as his girlfriend when she wasn't sure what she wanted to be for him.

Thankfully, Andy accepted this statement easily.

"Well, let's un-complicate it then!" She winked. "We can work together and show off just how amazing you are, and that'll un-complicate her feelings for you in no time!"

Her smile was bright and without guile, and for the first time Blake felt grateful that he had someone shipping him with Ayame so hard.

Meanwhile, across the field, Ayame herself was seething with rage.

"Who the fuck is that?" She spat, glaring angrily at Andy. She'd thought that Blake was into her! But no, apparently he was fine with flirting about with a classmate!

…Wait, what am I getting so upset for?! She chastised herself. She didn't give a damn about Blake anymore. Sure, she liked him, but only in a platonic sense! That was just her being professional! Surely she didn't want to get back together with him!

That's right, there was really no way that was possible. So with that in mind, it was clear that the reason she was so upset with Blake was because the jerk was making a fool of himself and flirting with another girl instead of getting ready for the Pokeathlon.

It didn't help the nagging feeling in the back of her mind as she saw his smiling face, though. He wasn't just talking with her, he was enjoying the conversation he shared with her, as if he actually liked her and cared about what she had to say.

Of course, Ayame had no way of knowing that the reason Blake was so bright when he was talking with Andy was because the two of them were talking about her. She refused to wrap her brain around that possibility.

Because if she let it sink into her skull, then she might not be able to feign ignorance anymore, and confronting how she felt was absolutely 100% off the table right now.

"Well, if you'll excuse me," Alcea said, rising from her seat. "I must be going."

"Oh?" Raizer looked up at her, surprised. "I thought a proper lady like you wouldn't be announcing her restroom break."

Every girl there looked at Raizer with horror and disgust, and no one was more disgusted than Alcea, who was doing an excellent job of not killing him where he stood.

"What?" Raizer looked around, genuinely confused at what he had said wrong.

Alcea muttered something under her breath, turned, and stormed down the bleachers.

Callie thought that was way more mature than she would ever have been capable of, reminding herself again that Alcea was a respectable and classy lady. If it was Callie, she would have punched Raizer's teeth out if not for her wounds.

And to be clear, Alcea was not going to the bathroom. She had other business to attend to, business unrelated to taking a break.

She needed to check in with a certain sponsor of this tournament.

Fortunately, because the majority of the stadium was located outside, there weren't a lot of hallways or corridors to get lost in. Alcea headed exactly where she wanted to go, the video broadcast room, which was one of the few places in the stadium where one could expect privacy.

So of course, that's where she would find Olivia, leaning back in a comfy armchair and watching everything through the monitors as she took a sip of fancy coffee.

"I hope I'm not disturbing you," Alcea said, walking up to the chair and wrapping her arms around it, hugging Olivia from behind.

The Empress smiled and sat down her coffee. "No, not at all. In fact, in the future, please come disturb me whenever you like.

The two girls exchanged small smiles. Then the atmosphere in the room turned serious.

"Are you sure about doing this?" Alcea asked.

"Of course I'm sure," Olivia said twirling a fringe of hair between her fingers. "It's essential for helping Aya regain her memories."

Alcea shook her head. "That's not what I mean. I mean are you sure about giving something that priceless up for the prize?" She glanced down at the stone nestled carefully inside a container. It wasn't an Oracle as Ange had assumed, it was much smaller. But it was completely flawless, save for the streaks of color running through it.

The gem was clear as the sky, a perfect marble with a streak of green and red threaded through it that gave it color in the sunlight.

"Didn't you spend a fortune acquiring this thing?" She asked.

"It's a simple stone," Olivia assured her. "Indeed, it's pricey, but a stone is a stone. I bought it to suit my vanity because it was important to look good, and I wanted to see if it would accommodate my dress. But I changed that decision."

She shrugged. "After all, Aya's memories are far more important than some shiny stone, wouldn't you agree?"

Alcea smiled. That was the Olivia she knew.

"I'm glad to see you're really putting your thought into this, is it?" She said. "But there's still a matter of appearances.

Olivia frowned. "What do you mean by that?" She asked.

Alcea shook her head. "Nothing serious," she assured her lover. "I'm just worried about the optics, is it? If a Pokeathlon Competition is hosted by the Empress, and Ayame wins the whole thing, wouldn't people assume you might have rigged the competition to support your friend? It's just a theory of course, is it?"

Alcea immediately realized she'd said the wrong thing. While she'd seen Olivia get mad before, this was the first time she'd been mad at her in a very long time. She swallowed.

"I-I did not mean to imply-"

"No, you're right," Olivia admitted. "There will probably be whispers. Even if Ayame doesn't win the competition, it's quite clear that this challenge is stacked in her favor. Knowing her skill, I can think of maybe four of them who could manage to maybe defeat her in a Pokeathlon Competition, so unless all four of them make it to the final competition and knock her out, I doubt that I will be able to avoid the accusations of collusion.

She sighed. "The Phantom Cup was much easier than this, I assume."

"Even knowing that, you're still going to help Ayame out, is it? Throwing this competition for the sake of recovering her memories?" Alcea was astounded that Olivia could do something that drastic. Although she no longer believed that Olivia was defined by her selfish nature (she'd been doing much better since they started going out) there was a difference between simply not being selfish and actually going out of your way to put your reputation at risk.

And while Alcea always knew deep down that Olivia was capable of the first, the thought of her doing the second seemed so strange.

But it warmed her heart regardless.

Alcea smiled. "I'm glad to see you're thinking of others, is it?"

"It's the obvious thing to do," Olivia scoffed. "After all, it's Aya. I don't care about my reputation if she's in trouble."

Even hearing the words come out of her own lips sounded strange to Olivia. She'd spent so many years building up her reputation as the Empress, and she was now willing to smear her name slightly in order to help her best friend.

She would have thought it impossible, but here she was.

"What can I say, even I have a heart," Olivia smirked, leaning back in her chair with a smug smirk on her face.

Alcea smiled. "I have never doubted that, is it?" She leaned down and kissed Olivia on the cheek, causing the blonde to turn red.

"A-Alcea!" She hissed, clutching her face while being unable to suppress the giddy smile spreading across her lips.

Alcea just chuckled and slipped out of the room, leaving the flustered woman to her own devices.

"Okay, everyone!" Leanne said, sitting back down. Lila and Darla were also back from their breaks. "I hope you had enough time to use the restroom! We're going to be beginning the next round of the Pokeathlon preliminaries shortly, so make sure you've got your pokemon ready to go!"

An eager smile spread across her lips.

"Alcea! You're just in time!" Callie gasped. The redhead had arrived just in time for the teacher to finish up with the countdown.

"Begin!" Leanne declared, and all the trainers sent out their pokemon.

Well, things are starting now! A pretty short chapter for a warm-up, leading into the last round of the preliminaries! And it marks the return of Andy! The number one shipper of Blake and Ayame, if you can remember her! Luckily Blake was able to keep what had happened to Ayame a secret- if Andy knew then she would have burst into tears, the poor thing!