Now that we've had a good look at the events of the Jump Course, it's pretty clear that they're really complicated. Luckily, the students competing are very good at using their brains, such as Cynthia. She's very well-known for having a good head for math, right? …Right. Well, this should certainly be an interesting round, at least! Let's see what pokemon our students will be using to challenge the Jump Course! Remember to review!
KedharS: Well, the last round had local meathead Ayame and village idiot Kate in it. Not to mention Ange, who grew up in the wilderness of a bygone era and has a moral aversion to anything related to science. They had to get the dumb guy events. Wait until we see how brainiac Sylvia handles the Power Course.
Just a Bad Writer for Fun: Thankfully, you don't have to actually do any of the formulating if you're competing. Just do your best!
Hyphenman: Nikita is that one annoying know-it-all kid in class who will point out that the teacher forgot to assign them homework today, so that reaction absolutely tracks. Nerd.
Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings
Chapter 1316
Sensing that the complicated rules for the Pokeathlon was starting to short-circuit Lila's brain, Leanne decided to move on from that and shift to introducing the students and their pokemon.
"Well, now that we've explained the rules for the three events, let's meet the competitors in Block B!" Leanne declared. "The Hurdle Dash, of course, will be using the same rules as last time. So to start, the Red Team, Cynthia Fafnir!"
"Of course," Julia said, rolling her eyes.
"Would you expect anyone else?" Kitty giggled.
Cynthia skipped out onto the field with a big grin on her face, waving at the cheering crowd of her adoring fans.
"Thank you, everyone!" She called. "It's so great to be here today! Watch me kick all their butts! Muahahaha!"
"That girl really loves the spotlight, huh?" Callie sighed.
"For such a huge ham, it's a surprise that she's aiming for the Battle Course," Akira smirked. "She seems way better-suited for the Appeals Course if you ask me."
"Cynthia has brought three pokemon with her," Darla noted. "Her Breloom, her Swellow, and her Kirlia!"
Tristan, Elise, and Rose followed Cynthia to the red section of the field, where she continued to wave and appeal to her fans.
"I'm surprised she didn't use her Zorua," Callie said. "She caught that pokemon over spring break, right? If it can transform into anything, I would think a pokemon like that would be perfect for this tournament, don't you agree?"
"Yeah," Nikita nodded. "She could, like, turn into a really tall pokemon and catch all the discs and stuff, and put out the lights!"
"It doesn't work that way," Kitty said, shaking her head.
"Zorua don't actually transform like Ditto do," Julia nodded. "It's just an illusion. So even if she became a really tall pokemon all of a sudden, it wouldn't be for real. She'd just be pretending."
"Oh, I get it," Nikita said. "So she's probably not actually that good at jumping."
"I'm more curious as to how good at jumping that Kirlia can be with her skinny little legs," Callie said. "After all, they can't use things like psychic powers or moves in a Pokeathlon, right? A pokemon like that seems like she'd get pushed around pretty easily."
"You'd think so," Akira nodded. "But who can say?"
"Okay, time for our next contestant!" Lila declared. "The Blue Team! A trainer who focuses on battles, but hasn't shown up much for school activities, Ian Davidson!"
Ian stepped out onto the field with a calm look on his face, as opposed to Cynthia's big grin. And while the crowd cheered him on just as loudly as they had her, if not more so, he didn't get swept away like Cynthia did, and just waved.
"Well, he certainly seems more mature than Cynthia does," Elaina noted.
"Oh, like that's difficult," Callie said, rolling her eyes.
"Ian's brought three pokemon with him today," Darla noted. "For this course he chose his Crobat, his Haxorus, and his Miltank!"
"That's a really interesting selection," Lila said.
"I bet he might have wanted to use his Lumineon, but he couldn't due to the lack of water," Darla said, sighing. "It's a bit of a pity. Too bad not every fish pokemon can float out of the water, huh? It would sure be something if that was the case."
Lila wasn't wrong. Ian's selection of pokemon were interesting. His Crobat, Sapphire, looked like a good jumper, and Diamond, his Haxorus, seemed like he had powerful legs. But Opal, his Miltank, seemed exactly the opposite.
"Why'd he bring that Miltank?" Kitty wondered. "Can that pokemon really jump very high?"
"It doesn't look like it can, no," Nikita said, shaking her head. "There must be some reason why he chose that pokemon, though."
"It seems to have quite a lot of power and stamina," Alcea noted. "Perhaps that has something to do with it, is it?"
"Well, no use speculating," Akira said. "We'll have to see his strategy for ourselves."
"After Ian, our third contestant today is a student who's set to enter the Caretaker Course!" Darla continued.
"I'm excited to introduce her myself!" Lila chirped. "It's-"
"Lila, he's a guy."
Lila froze. "Wait, what?!"
"Yeah. Jo is a guy," Darla told her.
"But… no way!" Lila refused to admit it. "But he's almost as cute as I am! There's no way he's a boy!" She exclaimed.
"His student records identify him as male," Leanne said, putting an end to the discussion. "That's just how it is."
Lila stared at them in shock.
"Um… well then. Here's Jo Joy, for the Green Team!" Lila announced, still a little shaken by the revelation.
Akira raised his eyebrow. "That's quite a name."
Jo pranced out onto the field with a shit-eating grin on his adorable face, waving to the crowd. The tracksuit he was wearing was hot pink, and was the design type for girls, which only added to the confusion of the audience.
Callie seethed with frustration. She didn't like boys that were cuter than her. And she wasn't alone, either.
"I hope that guy loses," Nikita muttered. The way Jo flirted nonstop with her boyfriend had annoyed her at first, but now it actively pissed her off.
"The pokemon Jo chose for this event," Darla said, taking over for the stunned Lila, "are his Dachsbun, his Flamigo, and his Vespiquen!"
"That's right!" Jo winked at the audience, introducing his team of fabulous pokemon. "These folks here are just the best! Bough is just adorbs! And then there's Flance, whose dancing is just perfect, and finally, Honey! They're just the perfect trio for this combination!"
"Flamigo," Flance scoffed, patting himself with his wing and posing with what looked like a haughty smirk on his beak.
"…Well, he's certainly got… personality…" Elaina mumbled. She wasn't sure how else to describe someone as flamboyant as Jo.
"He's annoying is what he is," Julia scoffed, rolling his eyes.
"Oh, you just don't like him because he likes Reiner," Kitty scolded her.
"I know how she feels," Nikita grumbled, still giving Jo a death glare. But her mood quickly turned around because a certain someone was coming up next.
"And finally, our last contestant, from the Yellow Team!" Lila cheered, beckoning to the entrance. "Reiner Zollern!"
Reiner's entrance was much more like Akira's, unlike Jo and Cynthia's. He didn't make a big deal out of things, although he didn't get as loud of cheering as the others.
Nikita made up for that, though.
"WOOOOOO! Go, Reiner!" Nikita shouted louder than she ever did to cheer on her boyfriend. If you knew the quiet, attentive girl from the classroom you'd be shocked at how loud she could shout when she wanted to.
"Oh, sit down," Julia frowned. She didn't want to start something, but it was annoying seeing Nikita praise Reiner so heavily.
Nikita scowled, but agreed that it was probably for the best that she sit back down so as not to draw too much attention.
"Reiner's chosen a great selection of pokemon for this contest," Darla noted. "At least, that's what it looks like to me! He's got his Electrike, his Treecko, and his Metang!"
"That's the team he used in the last round of the preliminaries!" Lila gasped. "I guess they work together as a team pretty well!"
"That's what I'd have used if I was in his position, too," Akira nodded. "Treecko and Electrike are both known for their agility, which is good for jumping, and Metang can levitate itself even without the use of psychic powers."
"That sounds like cheating," Callie scowled. "Getting to levitate over the hurdles and stuff! Is that really fair?"
"I suppose we'll have to see what they do," Alcea mused. "But you're correct, it does seem like an unfair advantage, is it?"
"Reiner will do just fine!" Nikita frowned. "And he's not a cheater or anything like that, either! You shouldn't say that stuff!"
Reiner walked over to the yellow section of the field, and Orion, Spector, and Invictus all followed him over.
"Well those are our four competitors," Leanne declared. "Unlike last round, they're all relative amateurs when it comes to Pokeathlons, so we might be getting a really interesting set of matches from them today! Are you all excited?"
"I know I am!" Lila grinned. "You are too, right, Darla?"
"You bet!" Darla nodded. "Let's move on to the first event, shall we? The Lamp Jump! Leanne, would you do a quick recap for us?"
"I'd be happy to," Leanne nodded. "For this first event, the trainers will use all three of their pokemon, and give them orders to jump up and try and knock out as many lamps as possible! The lamps will go out easily from a single hit, so that won't be a concern, and will relight themselves after a few seconds! And the trainers will be trying to keep their balance on the trampoline in the meantime!"
"Sure sounds difficult," Lila winced. Then her wince turned into a smile. "…But a lot of fun! I can't wait to see what they do!"
"You said it, Lila!" Darla agreed. "Alright, contestants! Please make your way to the first event, the Lamp Jump!"
Cynthia and the others walked across the field with their pokemon to the massive trampoline that had been set up. Each section of the trampoline was color-coded for their team, with a red line separating the section for the trainers from the section with the pokemon. It should keep the trainers safe, but Kitty had a sinking feeling.
"They're going to be fine, right?" She asked, tugging on Julia's sleeve. "Cynthia and the others, they're far enough away from where the pokemon will be landing to be fine, right?"
"They'll be fine," Julia assured her. "You don't need to worry."
And yet, Kitty worried.
"One last thing before we start!" Leanne said. "As you can see, some of the trainers here are using pokemon that are capable of flying or levitating, and some of their pokemon don't even have legs at all!"
"Hey, yeah!" Lila gasped. "That's just not fair! How does that work?"
"I guess we'll have to come up with some rules for that on the spot?" Darla suggested. "I mean, it isn't fair to penalize them, but…"
"That's actually not necessary," Leanne said, shaking her head. She grinned at the girls. "There are already established rules about what to do when it comes to pokemon that can fly when competing on the Jump Course!"
"Whoa, really?" Lila gasped in amazement.
"Well shoot, what are they?" Darla asked.
"Pokemon that are capable of flying, such as bird pokemon or bugs," Leanne said, glancing at Elise, Sapphire, Flance, and Honey as she said that, "may flap their wings exactly one time to lift them into the air, but cannot use their wings to keep them airborne. They get one flap, and that's it."
"What about pokemon that just float normally?" Lila asked, glancing at Invictus. "They don't really have anything to flap."
"Good question, Lila," Darla nodded. "What should we do about that? Plus, that Metang won't really even be bouncing off the trampoline, will it?"
"Oh, you don't need to worry about that!" Reiner called over to the announcers. "Let me show you! Invictus, demonstrate how you plan to be jumping."
"Metang," Invictus said. Their body dropped down to the trampoline with a thud as they stopped using their mental powers to float. The shift in the trampoline due to the metal pokemon's weight nearly made the rest of the pokemon lose their balance.
Invictus raised their arms and flung them down, hitting the trampoline hard. The force of the blow launched them up into the air. Because the event hadn't started yet they didn't try to snuff out any of the lamps, but it was obvious from their performance that if they had wanted to, they easily could have done so.
"Yeah!" Nikita cheered, punching the air. "That was so cool! Way to go, Reiner!"
Julia felt like she was going to be sick. "Show off," she mumbled under her breath, not wanting to call attention and make an enemy out of Nikita. Kitty heard her though, and flashed her a disapproving look that made her wince.
"I think I've proved our point," Reiner said, flashing the ladies in the announcer's box a grin as Invictus landed back on the trampoline.
His cool façade didn't last long, though, because when Invictus landed back on the trampoline, no one was ready for it, and their weight caused things to shift. Reiner in particular wasn't prepared for the shockwave that would go through the stretchy material, and he ended up falling off, landing hard on his ass.
"Hey! Ow, darn it!" He grumbled, picking himself back up and rubbing his butt. "Darn it, didn't see that coming…"
"Nice work, Reiner!" Cynthia called from the other end of the trampoline. "But maybe try not falling next time!"
Reiner shot her a dirty look, and she returned a smirk.
Jo giggled. "Aw, I think it was pretty cute, you being such a dork!" She teased, which caused Nikita's eye to twitch.
Reiner wasn't exactly thrilled to hear that himself. He felt his face heat up and he climbed back onto the trampoline, keeping his head down.
Lila suppressed a snicker. "Well, with that display, I think we've made our point about how tricky this event can be, don't you agree, Darla?"
"You can say that again, Lila," Darla nodded. "But hopefully we'll get a better showing when the event actually starts! Leanne?"
"I think you're right," Leanne nodded. "It's time for the first event of the Jump Course, the Lamp Jump, to begin!"
A starting pistol sounded out, and the timer began counting down.
The trainers immediately gave out their orders.
"Elise!" Cynthia shouted. "Start us out strong! Jump! You too, Rose!"
"Swellow!" Elise nodded. She leapt off the trampoline with her wings spread, and flapped, soaring up into the air. Using her sharp beak she lightly poked multiple lights as she rose, hitting eight of them at once.
Rose leapt as well, not getting nearly as high, but still managing to touch five of the lights before falling back down. As she fell, though, she did a backflip, and extended her hand, getting more lights on the way back down as Elise did the same.
In total, Cynthia's team accrued a total of eighteen lights from one set of jumps, and Tristan hadn't even gone yet.
"Whoa!" Kitty marveled, her eyes wide. "Look at her go!"
"Cynthia's pokemon are amazing!" Julia marveled.
But Cynthia wasn't the only one making a good showing of it. Ian ordered all three of his pokemon to jump.
"Crobat!" Sapphire soared up high, almost as high as Elise, and touched seven lights. As he fell back down he spread his wings to break himself, but at the same time used them to hit even more lights on the way back down.
Diamond and Opal didn't jump nearly as high. They only got a couple lights apiece. But that was fine with Ian, it had nothing to do with why he'd wanted them for this matchup. He glanced at Opal with a smile on his face as the pokemon fell, and Opal grinned back at him.
She collided on the way down with Bough, knocking the Dachsbund back and causing them both to hit the trampoline, sending a shockwave through it. Luckily for Jo, their two Flying type pokemon had already jumped, getting quite a few lamps for his team.
The trainers themselves weren't too lucky.
"Whoa!" Reiner struggled to keep his balance. Jo fell over on his butt, but thankfully stayed on the trampoline, while Cynthia faceplanted herself. Only Ian really managed to stay standing, using his coordination from his years of rock climbing to keep from falling over.
Reiner's pokemon weren't as lucky as he was, though.
"Treecko!"
"Electrike!"
Spector and Orion were about to begin jumps of their own, but due to the instability of their footing they could only get a few lights. Invictus had gone a little higher since they'd managed to jump before Opal came crashing down, but it wasn't very much.
"So that's why he used Miltank," Akira said.
"Oui," Alcea nodded. "A heavy, bulky pokemon like that will cause some major disturbances when she lands."
"And look at the Daschbund," Kitty winced, staring at the dazed dog. "Because Ian's Miltank practically landed on top of him with all that bulk, he's stunned!"
"I bet that's why he chose it," Julia frowned. "That guy's playing dirty."
Callie sighed, and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Okay, yeah, you SAY that, but…"
"Come on, Tristan!" Cynthia cheered. Her Breloom had used the impact from Opal hitting the trampoline to launch himself high into the air, scoring another ten lamps for her side by the time he came back down.
He lift his tail, slamming it right into Sapphire and knocking the Crobat headfirst into Diamond, stunning both pokemon.
"…It's not like our side has any room to claim the moral high ground," Callie finished, gesturing to Cynthia and her aggressive playstyle.
Nikita wasn't worried about Cynthia, though. Her focus was solely on Reiner. He'd gotten off to a really shaky start (in a very literal meaning of the word) and she was worried that he wouldn't be able to recover compared to the others.
"Come on, guys!" Reiner shouted to his team. They managed to get back their footing, but he was still pretty behind in points. "You can do it!"
Well, is he right? CAN they do it? Or is this just going to be another Kate/Daryl moment, where Reiner tries his hardest to succeed but just finds himself outclassed? It doesn't help that the other trainers all have Flying type pokemon, which do really well in a game like this, and the best he has going for him is Invictus, who isn't even floating. Well, he'll certainly do the best he can, at least!