Break time is over! Now, back to the main event! We've finished Block A and Block B, so now we're going to see what's going on in Block C! The Power Course! With Serefina, Dakota, Sylvia, and Nick! That's a pretty unique group. Will Nick be able to win? Or will he find himself torn apart in the power struggle between those three sophomores? That's the REAL Power Course right there, surviving a match with Sylvia out for blood! Remember to review!
KedharS: That certainly seems like her nature alright. The question is whether or not her pokemon have the power to do so.
Arbiter8991: I don't know, Dakota may surprise you. Her team is surprisingly strong.
Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings
Chapter 1321
"I can't wait!" Cynthia chortled. "This is going to be so exciting!" Now that she didn't have to compete anymore, Cynthia could watch the remaining rounds with the other students. Reiner was freed from his obligation as well, and was sitting with Nikita. Everyone else was watching the match in anticipation as well, but no one was more anxious than Akira.
"Hey, uh… is he okay?" Reiner asked, staring at Akira, who was sitting in the row ahead of them. His vision was focused on the stadium and he had a cold expression frozen on his face.
"Ah, you know how it is," Cynthia sighed. "Relationship troubles and stuff." She turned to Alcea. "Hey, speaking of relationship troubles, why isn't Kate here? I would have thought that since her block was finished, she'd come up and watch with you."
Alcea shook her head, a thin smile on her lips. "Kate's nature is a little more complicated than that," she laughed. "After a loss, she's the type of person to hide herself away out of frustration, is it? Don't worry, though. She'll be fine."
Right now, Kate was probably sulking in the bathroom. Alcea had gone to check up on her over the lunch break, and made sure that her friend had at least gotten something to eat. Now, though, the focus shifted to the upcoming events.
"Hello everyone!" Lila greeted the students with a wave. "I hope you all had a great lunch break! You're really going to need the energy!"
"You can say that again, Lila!" Darla nodded. "Because these matches are just getting to the good part! We've finished the first two blocks, but the next two are no less engaging! Isn't that right, Leanne?" She turned to the teacher, who nodded.
"That's right, girls," Leanne smiled, getting into the spirit of being an idol, even if she was a little old for the job. "Block C will be taking on the Power Course! It's a series of three events where trainers rely on the brute strength of their pokemon! Oh, but don't worry, unlike other events, the strength of the trainers isn't going to be tested."
"Awe! Then all that strength training Nick did was pointless!" Callie groaned.
"That's a relief," Akira said, relaxing slightly. "If Dakota had to rely on her own strength she probably would have been squashed like a grape."
"So what are these events, then?" Lila asked curiously. "Because pardon me for saying so, but I'm not exactly excited about brute strength, you know. I much preferred the more elegant contests, like the Speed Course and even the Jump Course."
"Shocker," Darla rolled her eyes, earning her a dirty look from her partner.
Leanne cleared her throat. "There are going to be three events in the Power Course," she informed them. "The Block Smash, the Circle Push, and the Goal Roll. Now then, allow me to demonstrate for you!"
She gestured out at the field, which had gone through some serious redevelopments over the hour that they had for lunch. Most of the activities for the Speed and Jump courses had been taken down; the only thing that remained was the sandbox for the Pennant Capture, but that wasn't going to be used for this round.
The first of the three stages was a large platform, with four small pedestals. Next to it was a giant ring, like for a wrestling match, with spotlights shining over it. And the final stage, for the third event, looked mostly normal, like a soccer field. But four goals had been set up in the four corners of the field, one red, one blue, one green, and one yellow.
"The first event is the Block Smash," Leanne said, gesturing to the first platform. "Each trainer will send out their pokemon one at a time to break through a series of tough tiles. They're made of solid cement! And there will be ten stacked in total. The pokemon must use their brute force to break through as many of those cement blocks as possible!"
"So the trainers will only be relying on one pokemon, then?" Lila asked.
"Not quite," Leanne said, shaking her head. "These blocks are pretty tough. While most pokemon are capable of smashing through a tile with the help of a move, these pokemon will only be using raw power. And that can be exhausting! It's very easy for a pokemon to get worn down after smashing through multiple blocks. Because of that, the trainers have to be very vigilant of their pokemon's condition. Like in the Relay Run, if it looks like a pokemon is getting tired, then their best bet is to swap that pokemon out for a break, while relying on another pokemon, understand?"
"Okay, yeah, that makes sense," Lila nodded. "So trainers will be swapping through their pokemon to help them get back their fatigue!"
"It seems pretty straightforward," Darla nodded. "Is there anything else that we need to be aware of, then?"
"This event lasts for about two minutes," Leanne explained. "It's a contest to see how many blocks your team of pokemon can smash in that period of time. But the real kicker is this. While trainers have an unlimited amount of tiles…" She gestured towards a large stack of tiles beside the raised platform. There were more than even Nikita could count. "…They have to put the tiles in place for themselves, in groups of ten. Only when there are ten tiles stacked up can the pokemon resume smashing them."
Lila turned pale. "Are… are you kidding?" She asked, shaking. "So they have to carry those tiles back to the podium?"
It was only a couple feet. But as far as Lila was concerned, it might as well have been a mile away. She wasn't even sure if she could carry one of those tiles.
"That's right," Leanne said. "The tiles themselves aren't all that heavy. Anyone with a decent amount of strength should be able to carry ten of them to the podium, no problem. But doing that multiple times in quick succession will definitely wear you out. This is a test of strength and endurance not just for the pokemon, but for the trainer as well."
"Nick shouldn't have a problem!" Callie said confidently. "We do stuff similar to this all the time! He can carry tiles, easy!"
"Well, that's good at least," Cynthia said. "I don't think I could do this one myself."
"Uh… you might have to," Reiner said.
Cynthia gulped. "H-Huh?"
"Reiner's right," Julia said. It sounded like those words were physically painful to say. "The Block Smash is one of the events in the Stamina Course. Weren't you paying attention yesterday? Since you made it to the finals, you'll be doing this event tomorrow."
Cynthia suddenly had a queasy feeling in her stomach. She glanced down at the heavy-looking tiles, and sank down into her seat.
"I knew I shouldn't have won…" She grumbled. Reiner rolled his eyes.
"Scoring for this event is fairly simple," Leanne continued. "The score directly translates to the number of blocks your team manages to smash through. So if you can break 100 blocks, you'll get 100 Athlete Points."
"Yeah, simple in theory," Lila winced. Like Cynthia, the idea behind this event didn't sit well with her. She glanced at Darla, but her partner didn't seem as bothered by how tricky this event seemed to be. Darla seemed fairly content.
"What's the second event, Leanne?" Darla asked, turning to the professor.
"The second event is also one that relies on brute strength," Leanne said, moving on to the next activity. "The Circle Push!"
All attention shifted to the wrestling arena in the center of the field. Cynthia sat upright in excitement and rubbed her hands together.
"Oooh! This should be good!"
"The pokemon in each team will be wrestling against each other, that's the best way to describe it," Leanne explained. "And unlike the previous event, there will be no swapping out of pokemon. No, each team will be using all three of their pokemon at the same time. Because of that, they'll be directing their pokemon from the sidelines, they won't actually be physically engaged in the activity."
"Oh, come on," Callie groaned. "So Nick won't be able to rely on his strength here? That's no fair, he can handle wrestling a few pokemon!"
"On the bright side," Julia noted, "you won't have to worry about Nick wrestling against Serefina, for example."
Callie paused.
"…Okay, yeah! Great event!" She said, wiping the sweat off her forehead. That had almost been really bad. The idea of Nick wrestling with Serefina and her big boobs, shoving himself up against her and pressing her chest into his? Nope. She wanted nothing to do with that.
Cynthia just laughed, along with Reiner and a few others at Callie's predicament.
"As you can see, we have spotlights up there, on top of the stage," Leanne said, gesturing to the large spotlights. "That's because it's not as simple as a wrestling match, you don't win by taking the enemy pokemon down."
"Then what do you do?" Lila asked curiously. "How do you score?"
"This is how," Leanne said, pressing a button on a remote. Some of the spotlights turned on, and projected colored circles onto the wrestling stage. In the center of each circle was a number; upon closer inspection, the circles were all different sizes. The smaller the circle, the larger the number inside it.
"I'm guessing these are the circles for the Circle Push?" Darla asked.
Leanne nodded. "Exactly. This event will take place over the course of six timed rounds, each shorter than the first. Every round, a couple of these colored circles will be projected onto the arena. All the pokemon are going to try to remain inside these circles for as long as they can. There are multiple circles, of course, so they need to be careful about it. At the end of each round, the pokemon standing in a circle get a number of points equal to the value of that circle."
"I think I get it," Lila said, even though she wasn't a very big fan of math. "So those numbers in the middle of the circle, is that why they're different?"
"Yes, that's correct," Leanne confirmed. "The smaller the circle, the harder it is to stay inside it, after all. So the more points a pokemon will win. And of course, the point of this event is to dominate the circles. You want to use your pokemon's brute strength to push their enemies out of the circle, and get as many points as possible. And that's not all. It's also possible for a ring out!"
"What's a 'ring out'?" Lila asked.
"Well, as you can see, there aren't any ropes or anything on this mat," Leanne explained, gesturing to the wrestling stage. "So it's very possible that a pokemon can be pushed not just out of the circle, but off the mat entirely."
"Whoa," Darla said, surprised. "What happens if you do that?"
"If a pokemon gets pushed out of bounds, then they won't be able to return until the next round," Leanne said. "It's another method of getting ahead. Instead of just forcing pokemon out of the circles, force them off the field entirely."
"This sounds really rough," Lila winced.
"I think you're right, Lila," Darla nodded. Unlike her partner, though, she didn't have much of a problem with that. "The pokemon will be trying to use force to push each other away. This could be pretty dangerous; no wonder the trainers aren't involved."
Lila imagined being in the center of the fray, trying to remain standing in a circle while a massive pokemon like a Salamence or an Aggron came at her, trying to knock her off.
She flinched, and shivered. No, no thank you.
"As I said before, there will be six rounds," Leanne reminded everyone. "With each round, there's a chance for greater points, with smaller circles. As for scoring, well, it's as simple as taking all the points accrued by your team in total, and then multiplying it by three."
"Yeah, that sounds fairly simple," Darla nodded.
"It seems that an event like this will really benefit heavier pokemon," Reiner noted. "Does Nick have any pokemon that are that heavy?"
"No, he doesn't," Callie admitted. "But trust me, his pokemon have got the power to make things work out, just you watch!"
Nikita couldn't believe how much confidence Callie had in her boyfriend. Not even she had been that confident that Reiner could win.
Maybe that's why he didn't, she silently thought for a moment. But she quickly dismissed that possibility. Reiner hadn't won, fine, but it wasn't because she didn't cheer for him enough. She had wanted nothing more than for her boyfriend to be successful, and even though he wasn't, that didn't mean anything.
She had never cheered that hard for anything before; it had actually felt pretty nice. Next time Reiner took part in a tournament or something, she'd make sure to give it her all in supporting him, that would be nice.
"Aah, I'm so excited!" Cynthia was squirming in her seat. "Come on, stop talking already! We want to get to the action!"
"You're so impatient," Nikita sighed. "Come on, can't you just-"
"BRING! OUT! NICK!" Callie was even more impatient, and even louder than Cynthia, which was something surprising.
"They've still got one more event to get to," Akira said, rolling his eyes.
Elaina didn't say anything, but she noticed Akira's hands shaking. As someone who was used to being vigilant of her surroundings (due to dodging the eyes of others) she could pick up on tension in the air; and while Cynthia and Callie were impatient, the person who was the most impatient out of everyone here was definitely Akira.
"Okay, with that explanation out of the way, it's time for the final event!" Lila said. "This one looks really fun, don't you think, Darla?"
"You bet I do, Lila!" Darla nodded in agreement. "It's called the 'Goal Roll'! Leanne, why don't you explain a little about this one? Why is this different from soccer?"
"I believe you mean 'football'," Leanne corrected her.
"No, pretty sure it's called soccer," Lila agreed.
"Olivia Himeko is sponsoring this event, and she would prefer it to be referred to as 'football'," Leanne said, and that was the final word on the matter. "But to answer your question, it's not that different. Pokemon will be trying to roll balls into their opponent's goals. But the main difference is that there are four goals, instead of just two. One for each team."
"That sounds really fun!" Lila said, nodding her head eagerly.
"I know, it does!" Cynthia groaned. "Why couldn't I do this event?"
"Well, you would have to do the Block Smash if you want to do this one," Julia answered.
"But I have to do that one aaaannywaaaaay!" She whined.
"The trainers will be participating in this match, unlike in the previous two," Leanne explained. "While the pokemon will be the ones scoring the points, the trainers must remain in the box in front of the goal."
The camera zoomed in on the goals, showing that there was a small goalie box in front of each one, big enough for the trainer to move comfortably inside.
"They aren't allowed to leave that square, for their own safety. Of course, their pokemon can enter it as well, but not pokemon on the other teams."
"So the trainer plays the role of the goalie," Lila winced. "But isn't that dangerous?"
"It can be, but that balls don't hurt that much," Leanne said. "Getting trampled by a pokemon is a much bigger safety concern."
That didn't make Lila feel better.
"I guess that's why the trainers are standing in the boxes, and pokemon on the other teams can't come in, then," Darla said. "No charging the goal, every point has to be scored with a shot."
"That's exactly right," Leanne nodded. "Now, let me explain how scoring works. The pokemon who touched the ball last when it goes into a goal, earns their team a point. So if, say, a pokemon on the Red Team shoots the ball at the Blue Team's goal, and it bounces off a pokemon on the Green Team to get in, then the Green Team will be the one to score the points, even though the Red Team did most of the work. It's not exactly fair, but it encourages the pokemon to have a lot of control over the ball, does that make sense?"
"Okay, but what if a pokemon scores in their own goal?" Lila asked. She giggled and rapped her knuckles against her head, sticking her tongue out. "I'm kinda clumsy that way, hence why I never did any sports before!"
"I'm glad you asked that question, Lila," Leanne said. "Because it's time I explained what's different between this game and a regular game of football. You see, for each ball that goes in a team's goal, that team loses one point. It doesn't matter who kicked the ball in; even an accidental fumble with their own ball!"
Lila and Darla both gasped.
"So you really have to be careful with how you aim," Nikita murmured.
"Oh, that's just dirty," Cynthia scowled, shaking her head.
"Why? That seems fair…" Kitty mumbled, not sure what she was getting at.
"It makes sense to me," Elaina agreed.
Everyone else stared at Cynthia, wondering what she meant by dirty. Only Reiner figured it out. And the reason he could figure it out was because, like Cynthia, he had already participated in one of the events before.
"It's because you can team up on someone," he explained. "Let's say that Nick was really high up in the points, ahead of everyone else. The other three competitors could all decide to team up against him and send all their pokemon to score goals on him. That would keep him from scoring any points, dragging him down, while they get ahead."
Callie got it from that explanation. Her jaw dropped in shock. "BUT THAT'S NOT FAIR!"
"It might be possible that we see some collusion and teaming up, but that's just one of the things that can happen in a free-for-all," Leanne said. "But it's a risky play. There's not just one ball, after all, so it's not as simple as that."
"There's not?" Lila gasped.
"No," Leanne said, shaking her head. "In fact, there can be as many as two or even three balls in play at once, as time goes on. And that's not to mention the golden ball. If a pokemon manages to sink the golden ball…"
"They win the game?!" Lila exclaimed.
Leanne stared at her incredulously. "…No. A game where you immediately win as long as you can get the golden ball? That sounds like a game loaded with balance issues and only serves to make a specific person's role on the team incredibly dramatic for the purpose of pushing cheap children's fiction. Who would even care about the rest of the game? No, you just get double points, that's all."
"I see…" Lila sighed in relief.
"So how does scoring work?" Darla asked curiously. "I can't imagine the teams will get many points with only a 15 minute timer. How do they calculate Athlete Points."
Leanne stared at Darla, already knowing what she was going to say.
"Well, to start, every team will get 60 points just for participating," she began.
Darla replied immediately, "that sounds pretty-"
"Yes, arbitrary, we get it," Leanne grumbled. "Next, they get 5 points for each individual point their team has by the end of the match. Then, if they have a higher score than exactly one other team, they get 10 points. Two opposing teams? 20 points. And if they have a higher score than any other team, they get 40 points. Make sense?"
"Yeah, that makes sense to me," Lila said. She clapped her hand over her mouth, remembering she was supposed to be bad at math. "I mean… I don't get it."
"It's very simple," Darla said. "Basically, you just want to do better than everybody else. The higher you rank above your competitors in points, the more points you get. Simple."
"Oh. Yeah, makes sense," Lila said.
Leanne nodded. "It's a very engaging game, much like football." She turned to the audience. "But I think we've left you waiting long enough! Now then, let's get things started, and meet the teams who will be competing in the Power Course!"
These upcoming events sound pretty fun! But will the trainers and their pokemon be able to handle all that power? Does Nick's team have the brute strength to compete? What will the tricky Sylvia rely on? And what about Dakota? Do any of her pokemon have any strength? Can she even carry those tiles? Serefina's been carrying a massive weight on her chest for years, so when it comes to power, I'm confident she at least can handle herself.