What is this strange pokemon that Sylvia has chosen for the sixth spot on her team? And how will she utilize it? Is that even in the rules? What pokemon will the other students use? We've got a lot of people participating in this tournament, I think it's only fair if we do a little walkthrough and show off everyone's teams and the formations they've all decided on!

KedharS: Yes, we finally see Hoopa!

Hyphenman: Yep. But unlike Zeraora, not a lot of people know much about Hoopa, which should be pretty interesting.

KINGDEEM: Not really adventuring, no, but they do leave the school on occasion.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 1299

The crowd was surprised to see a pokemon like that come from Sylvia. But there weren't gasps of shock and disbelief like when Willa had sent out Zera. Rather, their surprise was more a form of muted confusion at what they were seeing.

Nobody recognized the pokemon Sylvia was using. When they turned to the people sitting next to them and asked what it was, no one had a response. This spread like wildfire through the crowd, and in seconds the entire stadium was abuzz in confusion.

"What pokemon is that?" Lila asked, completely shocked. Her job was to provide commentary on what she was seeing, but she didn't know what that meant if she didn't have any clue what she was actually seeing.

She turned to Darla, hoping her partner would have some sort of answer. "Darla? Do you know what pokemon that is?"

But Darla was just as confused as her partner. She shook her head. "It's not like any pokemon I've ever seen," Darla noted, turning to Leanne. Both girls were looking at the professor, their last hope at getting an answer. "Leanne?"

But Leanne just shook her head.

"I've never seen a pokemon like that," Nikita gasped. She turned to Kanone. Out of everyone here, Kanone probably had the most experience with pokemon. If anyone would know what this strange pokemon of Sylvia's was, it was him.

Kanone was certainly fascinated by the pokemon. He leaned forward in his chair, staring contemplatively at it. But fascination wasn't the same as knowing. The truth of the matter was simply that, no, he didn't have any experience with this pokemon before. Which was a wonderful thing, in its own way.

Sylvia seemed rather pleased that no one knew the identity of her little partner. And she certainly had no intention of telling them. "His name is Hoopa!" She announced to the crowd. She made no mention of his status as a Mythical Pokemon.

But that was enough for Kanone.

"Hoopa…" He said thoughtfully, catching Alcea's attention.

"You've heard of it before, is it?"

"Just in rumors," Kanone said, nodding. "There are legends and stories of a pokemon named Hoopa, a pokemon capable of traveling through portals in space, like we just saw now. But I'd heard that it was exceptionally rare, and no one had seen one in living memory."

Well they were certainly seeing it now. The pokemon floated around Sylvia, cackling like crazy, drawing everyone's attention.

But the focus couldn't remain on her forever. Soon enough, other trainers began sending out their pokemon.

It was Akira who drew the attention away from Sylvia. He threw a pokeball into the air, and the pokemon inside emerged with a roar that shook the entire stadium.

"GYARADOS!" Satsuki howled furiously, practically making the ground shake as she soared into the sky, startling everyone.

"Holy shit!" Lila lost character again, nearly falling out of her seat in shock. She stared in amazement up at the mighty serpent.

Elaina tensed, clutching the armrest of her seat. She had bad memories associated with that monster of a pokemon.

"That's quite a fearsome one," Kanone noted. He could hear Satsuki's roars, but they were dwarved by the sound of her inner voice. "She's quite a loyal pokemon." He was almost reminded of his Samurott when he stared at the ferocious Gyarados.

"It's obvious Akira would rely on his Gyarados in this match," Darla said. The beast wasn't quite a dragon, but Darla still held a healthy respect for that line of pokemon. "But I wonder what other pokemon he'll use."

Satsuki descended to the battlefield and allowed Akira to climb on her back. He sent out two more pokemon, his Starmie and his Cradily. It was rather awkward to balance the both of them on his Gyarados, but he still managed it.

"Taking this seriously, huh, Akira?" Dakota chortled. "Well, that works for me! Tsubame! Faux! Chatter!" She shouted, sending out her three pokemon.

"Swellow!" Her Swellow squawked. Dakota climbed on the mighty bird pokemon's back and helped Faux up after her, while her Chatot, Chatter, perched on her shoulder. Like Sango and Akira, she was planning an arrangement where she would stay high in the sky.

Serefina rolled her eyes. Dakota had to make everything an issue, apparently. Well, it didn't matter. She was involved in this as well, and she had her own issues to worry about. And as powerful as Akira was, and as tricky as Dakota was, neither of them had the capacity for caring for pokemon that she possessed.

"Tortimer, we'll rely on you," she said, sending out her Torkoal. She climbed on the tortoise's back, and sent out her next two pokemon. The first was Trunks, her Phanpy. The second pokemon she chose was Leek, her Sirfetch'd. Both pokemon joined her on Tortimer's back. It was a simple formation, not nearly as eye-catching as Akira's, but she knew it would serve her well and that was all that mattered. She just had to play it smart.

With the attention split up pretty well, it was time for another star to take the stage. In this case, the star in question was one of the trainers that the crowd expected the most of, Ayame. Ayame was the current favorite to win the whole thing, given her reputation around school. So with her head held high, she sent out the three pokemon that she planned to use.

"Snows! Troops! Roll!" Ayame shouted, choosing three of her roundest pokemon. In a second, the field was filled with an assembly of Falinks around a single Voltorb, with her Glalie floating over them. Ayame climbed onto the back of her Glalie, and what happened next astounded everyone.

"Falinks!" The brass of her Falinks sounded the call, and the Troops assembled. They all gathered together in a formation, making a small circle on the ground. Snows floated over and rested down in the center of the circle as the Falinks practically carried him on their backs. Roll balanced themselves on the top of Snows' head with Ayame, forming a very bizarre balancing act.

But it was the order of Ayame Toujou, meaning it was definitely not something to be underestimated, even if it looked rather silly.

On the subject of silly formations, there was actually someone else who was dealing with that same issue, a surprisingly-unlikely someone.

Julia sighed, taking three pokeballs from her belt, and sending out the three pokemon that she basically had to go with.

"Okay, guys, let's do the best we can!" She encouraged her team. The three pokemon she sent out were Luna, her Umbreon, Wolfie, her Poochyena, and Blaze, her Growlithe.

Julia had used some of her best pokemon in the first rounds of the preliminaries, and there was one crucial issue with the pokemon she had remaining. They were all rather small. Roden was the only pokemon on her team that she could comfortably ride on top of- in spite of her love of canine pokemon, all the other ones she had were smaller than her. Even her Umbreon made for an awkward pokemon to ride.

That was why she'd used Roden in the first round of the preliminaries; she'd really had no other choice. And now she was a relatively tall girl, dealing with three relatively small pokemon.

The formation she went with looked rather laughable. Luna, her largest, was at the front, and she clung onto her while Blaze and Wolfie sat side by side behind her, forming a tiny triangle that she could just barely fit onto.

But that didn't mean she was going to give up. She'd been training with her pokemon for this specific round, so that she could balance on them. And even if it looked hilarious, that didn't mean she was going to lose.

It amused Reiner, though.

"Hah!" Reiner cackled as he stared at Julia, perched on the backs of her canine squad. "That's about the most ridiculous formation I've ever seen!"

"Your boyfriend's kind of a jerk, huh?" Callie glanced at Nikita, who sighed.

"…Yeah…"

Reiner's own formation looked a lot better. Taking a page from Will's book, he sent out his Metang, Invictus. Sitting on the back of his Metang meant that he could hover nicely over the battlefield. At the same time, his other two pokemon, Spector his Treecko and Orion his Electrike, could also just barely fit on the back of Invictus as well. It was a cramped formation like Julia's, but one that actually seemed feasible.

Kitty's formation was rather cramped as well. In fact, it could be argued that she had an even more awkward formation than Julia did. But she managed to make it work because, unlike Julia, she was actually small enough to ride on the back of her eeveelution.

"Come on, Marisa!" Kitty got on Marisa's back, being just the right size to do it.

"Awwwww!" Lila gushed. "That's the most adorable thing I've ever seen! Look at her, she's so cute and squeezable!" The image of the petite Kitty riding on her Sylveon like a Rapidash warmed Lila's heart and she couldn't help but smile.

Darla rolled her eyes.

"Kitty takes great care of her pokemon," Leanne said proudly. If she had the ambition, she would have made for an excellent member of the Caretaker Course. It was such a pity that she was aiming for the Battle Course instead.

Besides Marisa, Kitty had to find room for her other two pokemon. And luckily for her, they were as tiny as she was. Trixie, her Skitty, hopped up on Kitty's back and held onto her shoulder with her tail, while Pearl, he Calmperl, sat on Marisa's neck. The Sylveon's long feelers wrapped around the pokemon's shell, holding her in place.

"Well, at least they look like they can handle themselves," Callie nodded. There was only one person whose formation she was really interested though, and that was Nick's. Nick had just barely made it into the third round, so she really hoped he'd be able to pull off a win here.

Nick's formation was rather awkward, like Julia's. He was trying to do a formation similar to Blake, where one pokemon was in the front and the other held onto the back to brace it. But because of the pokemon left on his team, his formation was a little harder to pull off than with Blake. He sat on the back of his Nidorino while his Charmeleon held on from behind, and his Mankey sat in his lap. An okay formation, but not necessarily one that would have a lot of impact.

But Callie was cheering her heart out for it regardless, thrilled to see how well he was doing. In her mind, he'd already won the whole thing.

There were other trainers preparing their teams as well. Ian got on the back of Diamond, his Haxorus, which earned him a few cheers from Darla. Diamond held onto Fleuorite, his Trevenant, while Sapphire, his Crobat, clutched his back. There was no way the bat pokemon would be able to fly in this formation, but it made for a good perch to attack from, as well as shield Ian from anyone trying to take away his headband.

"Looking good there, Ian!" Donoma called out, winking at him. "Smart move with your Crobat! It's too bad I already used Galib in the second round, because that would have been smart!"

Of course, there was no way she'd allow her Crobat to perch on her shoulder like that. She'd mess up her hair!

Donoma's choice of pokemon made for an interesting three-pokemon formation.

"Condit, Hendrix, Pandora!" From within three pokeballs an array of Poison type pokemon emerged, each leaner and meaner than the last.

Kate frowned. Crow was just a Croagunk, but Donoma already had a Toxicroak! That feeling only last a moment, though. She was happy that someone else understood how great Poison type pokemon were, even if it was someone she didn't get along with very well, like Donoma.

Hendrix and Pandora each placed a claw on one of Condit's shoulders, and Donoma perched on their arms. They each held one of her feet to hold her steady, while she held onto Condit from behind. Out of all the strange and bizarre formations today, it was Donoma Marima, of all people, who had chosen to balance herself the way human cavalry battles actually were supposed to.

That didn't win her any points from a certain announcer, though.

"Ugh, I don't get it," Lila muttered, shaking her head in disgust. "Why are so many people using Poison types? That's weird, right?"

Darla rolled her eyes. While Lila's character role was supposed ot be someone who liked cute things and despised dirt and grime, those aspects were part of who she really was. She wasn't acting right now; the acting was supposed to be her pretending to like everyone regardless of who they were or what pokemon they used.

Right now, Darla wasn't seeing any of that.

"Cerelia, go," Lana said, flinging out her pokeball. Her Sawsbuck emerged, antlers blossoming with flowers. She got on Cerelia's back, and sent out her next two pokemon, two of her favorites who she used all the time.

"Sneasel!" Sari, her Sneasel, growled, hopping up on Cerelia's back.

"Raboot!" Dash, her Raboot, hopped on right beside her. The three were a bit of a tight fit on Cerelia, but it provided Lana with a good amount of mobility. Still, she regretted having to use Leilani in the second round of the preliminaries.

"That's curious," Darla noted. "She didn't use her Corviknight in any of the rounds, even though it would have been an excellent pick for any of them."

Lana winced. Of course she hadn't. That Corviknight… it was a Shadow Pokemon. She'd used him before, to win pokemon battles, and had seen firsthand how violent and dangerous he was. She didn't want to risk that, not again.

Not for something this casual.

Lana was just here to have fun with her pokemon. She had no intention of causing a riot by letting a Shadow Pokemon rampage through campus. She doubted that the Phantom would be all too pleased if she allowed that to happen, either.

That's right. This competition was just for fun. Lana didn't even care about winning, not really.

That may have been the case for Lana, but there was someone here who absolutely DID care about winning. Because that was pretty much the only thing she cared about.

Ange had come here for one reason, and one reason only: in order to win the competition, and take the strange stone that was being offered as a prize. She had no idea whether or not it was an Oracle. But it could have been, and that was good enough for her.

So long as the possibility of the prize being an Oracle existed, Ange would do whatever it took to emerge victorious.

And that started with sending out the perfect team for this match. Well, almost the perfect team. Really, only one pokemon was needed; the other two would be fine without her.

"Levi, you know what I want," Ange said, sending out her Ditto.

"Ditto!" Levi chirped, and his body began to shift and grow. He wasn't turning into another pokemon, however.

He turned into an armored shell; a miniature castle. A barrier that Ange could defend herself from easily, with the help of her two other pokemon, Luci and Asmo. Her Zoroark took the form of Bell, her Slaking, so as not to clue anyone into her strategy, and she had her rest next to her on the castle wall. Meanwhile, Asmo stood at the gate, ready to fight off any attackers. Both pokemon were, in effect, standing on the ground, far away from Ange.

But because the ground was part of Levi, it still technically counted in the rules.

"Is… is that even allowed?!" Lila exclaimed, staring incredulously at Anve's bold display. She turned to Darla for confirmation, but her partner was just as stunned and confused.

"You tell me," Darla shrugged. She turned to Leanne. "Can she really use her Ditto like that?"

"Ditto have the capability of turning into anything, not just other pokemon," Leanne said. "It would be unfair to tell her she couldn't take advantage of one of her pokemon's natural abilities."

Neither girl found that particularly fair anyway, but they didn't say anything.

"WHOA!" Cynthia was amazed. "Dude! That is so fucking badass, I love it!" She was getting all worked up now. "I can't contain it anymore! Come out, you guys!"

Cynthia threw three pokeballs into the air, sending out the rest of her team. The three pokemon she'd chosen were Tristan, her Breloom, Rose, her Kirlia, and finally Ruka, her Zorua. Unlike Ange, Cynthia didn't have the guile to pretend that Ruka was something she wasn't; the cute little fox clung to her trainer's shirt with a gleeful smile.

Tristan leaned forward, allowing Cynthia to climb onto his back. It was a bit of a tight fit, but nothing she couldn't handle. She left just enough room for Rose to climb on his back as well, making a formation designed for speed and power but with little ability to defend.

"What do you think, Vic?" Cynthia called to Vic, who didn't bother responding. She wasn't Cynthia's friend, and they weren't allies at the moment, either. Like Ange, Vic's focus was on winning this competition, to show just how powerful the Commander was.

Unlike Ange, Vic's formation was capable of moving.

Even though Vic emphasized defense with her sturdy group of pokemon, it still had a decent amount of mobility. Like Blake and Nick, she had the formation of one pokemon at the front and the other at the back. Valkyrie, her Kingambit, held onto Sunny, her Togekiss, while Vic sat on Sunny's back. She was one of the few people using a Flying type pokemon that wasn't having their pokemon fly; and the reason for that was obvious. Sunny may have been able to carry her third pokemon, her Whimsicott, Ellie, like she was demonstrating, but there was no way she would have been able to carry Vic AND Valkyrie. But that was fine.

Vic preferred storming forward into battle anyway.

Almost everyone had sent out their pokemon by this point. Jo and Joyce were two of the remaining students who hadn't yet.

"Bunny, let's go!" Jo chirped, sending out his Audino. "And that's not all! Come on out, Bough!"

The next pokemon he sent out was a Dachsbun, who he climbed onto the back of. Because of his slender, feminine build, he was able to do so with ease. Bunny, his Audino, hugged onto the doggy from behind, leaving just one pokemon left.

"Happiny!" The tiny little Happiny cheered, sitting down on Bunny's head with a smile. Happy was Jo's smallest pokemon, and the only one he had that could fit in this formation.

"Aw! They're all so adorable together!" Lila cooed. "I guess that's what you get when you have a trainer focusing on becoming a pokemon nurse!"

"You sure about that?" Darla asked, pointing at Jo's sister, Joyce.

The first pokemon Joyce sent out, her Chansey, Sunshine, seemed like the perfect fit. But that's where the comparisons stopped.

"Mabosstiff!" The canine pokemon Joyce sent out, kind face shifting into a ferocious, intimidating snarl. The two pokemon got into a formation almost identical to Jo's, with Joyce sitting on Boss, her Mabosstiff's back and Sunshine holding on behind him. But it looked a lot scarier than Jo's little formation of adorableness.

Which spoke a lot to the nature of those two.

Joyce's last pokemon, Janus, proved that point for sure.

"Morpeko!" The tiny little pokemon looked like an adorable hamster. But when he got mad… oh, boy. You didn't want to be there.

"Your team's as scary as always, sis," Jo smirked. "I think that says a lot about you."

Joyce smiled at her brother and the temperature on the battlefield dropped a couple hundred degrees.

"Alright! You guys look awesome!" Marion said, giving them a thumbs up. "But now, let me show you what we're capable of!"

Marion was another student everyone was looking forward to seeing the team of. As the only Daeva participating in the event, and the one who had the most influence over the Caretaker Course, her choices were somewhat significant, and she knew that.

Hence why she was happy to wait for near the end, to show everyone just what she and her fishy friends were capable of.

"Solo!" She called, sending out her Wishwashi. And the sky filled with dozens upon dozens of fish.

"WISHIIIII!" They bellowed as one, floating into the air. Marion grinned, leaping into the pokemon's "mouth" with a grin.

"What's she doing?! Is she crazy?!" Lila exclaimed. "That pokemon just ate her!"

"It's not like that," Darla said, shaking her head. "That isn't actually a mouth. It just looks like one."

Lila stared at her in confusion. "Huh?"

"Wishwashi are made up of many small fish," Leanne explained. "They gather together to create the appearance of a massive pokemon. So while it looks like Marion got eaten, I'd say she's right where she wants to be."

Leanne couldn't help the smile that crossed her lips. Marion never changed.

"Uwehehehe…" Marion cackled, feeling her fishy friends rub up against her on all sides. Because of their powers, they could float very well; this would be an excellent formation!

And best of all… no one would be able to see her other two pokemon until it was too late.

You heard that right! Marion's being MISCHIEVOUS! I didn't know she had it in her to be so sneaky! But I suppose anything's possible. What will come of this, I wonder? And even though we've seen most people's teams, there are a few we haven't seen just yet. But either way, the third round of the preliminaries will start for real next chapter!