The first event of the Power Course is set up to be a "smashing" success! That's right, these pokemon are going to go wild breaking down these blocks! As for who's going to win, well, they've all put in a lot of effort and done their best, and it looks like things are going well! It's too soon to tell who's going to win, but Nick certainly did a lot of training with Callie, considering how confident she is. We'll be seeing some of that soon. Remember to review!
In other news, it's time for the annual Pokemon Academy Best Girl Contest, where we get to vote on who the "Best Girl" of the Pokemon Academy is! For those who remember from last year, there was a Nomination Round, followed by three month-long rounds; an Elimination Round, which narrows the girls down to the five that will make it to the main competition, also known as the Semi-Final Round, where those five girls will be voted for to determine the top three that will move on to the Final Round, where each person votes for one girl of the three finalists. Our previous three winners were Ayame, Sylvia, and Chloe, who will win the fourth contest? There was a bit of a delay due to personal matters, but let's get this thing started!
So, we'll be starting the Nomination Round again. I want each person to nominate their top 3 choices for the role of Best Girl. Any girl who gets a nomination will be included in a poll on my profile for the Elimination Round! The Nomination Round will last until July 4th, when we move to the Elimination Round, so that leaves about a week to get those votes in! Choose your Best Girls wisely and show your support for your favorite!
KedharS: Yes, definitely very crazy.
Thunder Fire: As it should be, yes.
Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings
Chapter 1323
The night the preliminaries concluded, Nick and Callie had stayed up late in the Pokemon Fight Club's dojo training for the Power Course.
"Come on! Put more force into it!" Callie shouted as Nick's pokemon smashed through the blocks. All she was missing was a whip to crack.
"Callie… can't you slow down a little…" Nick groaned. "I'm the one who has to carry these tiles everywhere…"
"Um…" Callie winced. Maybe she was riding him a little too hard. "…Yeah, I guess you're right," she admitted. "You and your pokemon need to rest for tomorrow, after all, it won't do much good if you blow all your energy here."
She looked at the dojo floor all around them, which was littered with the dust and remains of smashed tiling. Then she winced.
"Crap. This is going to be a bitch to clean…"
"How many tiles do we have left, anyway?" Nick asked, wiping sweat off his forehead. "We're going to need some for club activities, right?"
Another good point. Callie may have been a bit overzealous in using club funds for her personal agenda. She'd probably have to support the loss with some money of her own. But if it helped out Nick, it was worth the cost.
"I guess we just have to finish up there," she shrugged. "Hey, what's your Mankey doing? He hasn't smashed those yet?"
Mankey was crouched in front of the stack of tiles, with his eyes closed. It was almost eerie. Usually, Mankey were so hyperactive that they couldn't keep still. But ever since Nick began training with Callie, the aggressive monkey pokemon had learned from the more calm, measured fighting styles of her team, and had a firmer grasp on his emotions than the average Mankey.
"He… you don't think he fell asleep, do you?" Nick asked, walking over to his pokemon. He made it about halfway before the Mankey's eyes snapped open and he raised his paw, dropping it with lightning-fast speed that neither trainer could follow. The blocks collapsed from the well-placed chop, crumbling into debris. Nick and Callie gasped.
"Whoa, that was amazing!" Nick exclaimed.
"Yeah, it really was…" Callie mused. He wasn't sleeping… no, it almost looked like he was meditating. But that's crazy. Mankey don't meditate… do they? No, I mean, I guess they could, but it's not really in their nature… look at the damage he did to those blocks, though…
"Hey Nick… what do you think about using Mankey tomorrow?" She suggested. "For the events in the Power Course."
Nick was surprised by that suggestion. They'd already determined that Abby, Nidorino, and Charmeleon were his pokemon with the most power. "Oh? You mean because he managed to smash through those blocks? But if you compare progress, aren't the others stronger?"
"Yeah, Abby's incomparable, and Nidorino and Charmeleon are both stronger… I don't know… maybe I'm just crazy…" Callie sighed. "But Mankey's giving me good vibes right now, you know? I just think if you use him, something good might happen."
Nick glanced at Mankey, who was staring back at him with a calm expression on his face, like he was waiting for his trainer to make a decision. He didn't seem to care much one way or the other whether or not he would be in the Pokeathlon.
Nick turned to Callie one more time, but she didn't say at him. She just looked him in the eye and remained silent. It was like she was also waiting for him to decide what to do.
I trust your judgment, Nick. Whichever one of your pokemon you think is best, that's who I think you should use.
Now it was the next day, and Nick had chosen to use Mankey after all. Callie was on the edge of her seat with excitement, watching his pokemon smash through the blocks. Abby had finished up and was taking a break, and Nidorino was up next.
"Come on, Nick!" Callie shouted. "You can do it!"
"I think he actually can," Cynthia said, genuinely surprised. "He's keeping up with Serefina's pokemon really well, and they've very strong!"
"But Dakota is right there too," Akira said, frowning. "She's not losing ground either, even though her pokemon should be weaker in strength than Serefina's."
The fact that Dakota could compete with Nick and Serefina while her pokemon seemed weaker was proof of how well they were trained. After reuniting with her party when she came out of her coma, Dakota had thrown everything she had into training them up so they'd be strong enough to compete with anyone.
The biggest surprise of all was Sylvia.
While everyone was giving it their best, Sylvia's pokemon were lagging behind. She was almost thirty blocks behind the other competitors, but she didn't seem worried at all.
"Good work, Runja!" She chirped. "One more strike!"
"Jellicent!" Runja raised her tentacle and brought it down on the block, but she only managed to smash through about half of them. But that was fine, because the jellyfish pokemon had more tentacles to spare, and the next one dropped immediately afterwards, smashing through the tiles in seconds.
Nick wasn't giving up pace, though. "Nidorino, come back!" He recalled his Nidorino and immediately sent Mankey out, timing it so his pokemon would switch just as he set down more blocks for him to break through.
"Mankey!" Mankey focused for a second and then brought down his paw in a chop, smashing through every block in one strike.
"Whoa! Look at that Mankey go!" Lila gasped in amazement.
"That's some ferocious power he's got," Darla couldn't help but agree.
"Mankey are known for their speed, but that one has a decent amount of power, you're right, Darla," Leanne nodded. "But what really impresses me is the concentration. He struck right at the weak point of that tile."
Mankey was actually the pokemon Leanne was paying the most attention to now. He used that Mankey to take down pokemon in the preliminaries as well… I remember thinking that the way it could direct its strikes were flawless… and that force palm… hmm. Perhaps that boy has something special on his hands after all.
"Mankey!" Mankey broke through more tiles and Nick just kept 'em coming. At this pace, it looked as though he might never run out of stamina, even as Nick was starting to tire.
He managed to break through one more stack just as the timer sounded.
"And that's time in the round!" Leanne announced. "Trainers, please have your pokemon step back from the podium!"
All the pokemon backed away, even though not everyone had smashed through their tiles yet.
"So who won?" Kitty asked. "I couldn't really keep track of how many tiles got broken…"
"Nick and Serefina were pretty evenly-matched, is it?" Alcea mused. "But Serefina managed to set down one last stack of tiles for her Sirfetch'd to break before the timer was called…"
Serefina's Sirfetch'd had swordwork that could break tiles effortlessly. It didn't really seem fair to let a pokemon use a weapon in a competition like this, but a Sirfetch'd's sword was a part of it, and it would be unfair to take it away from him.
"Let's take a look at how many blocks have been smashed by each trainer!" Lila cheered. "Thanks to our technology, we can see how many blocks were smashed, and use that to calculate how many points each team gets!"
"It's called 'instant replay', Lila, you don't have to say 'our technology' you know…" Darla sighed, laughing in exasperation and shaking her head.
Lila pouted and shrugged. "Well, whatever! Cut to camera, Leanne!" She called to the teacher with a wink.
Leanne nodded and the results of the Block Smash appeared on the screen.
Dakota – Red Team – 113 Points
Nick – Blue Team – 120 Points
Serefina – Green Team – 130 Points
Sylvia – Yellow Team – 94 Points
"That was a phenomenal showing from our competitors, don't you agree, Darla?" Lila smiled at her partner.
"Absolutely, Lila, we've got a lot of good scores here," Darla agreed. "I'm especially impressed with the top two, those are some really good points!"
"Whoa, look at how close they are!" Callie gasped in excitement. She was a little bummed that Nick wasn't in first, but he'd done great! "You were right, Alcea, it came down to just one stack of blocks, wow!"
"Oui," Alcea nodded. "Very well done, on both their parts."
"Serefina did good, as expected," Cynthia nodded. "She's not in the Caretaker Course for nothing, she's trained her pokemon up well."
"But Dakota's still hanging in there, too," Akira said, a bitter expression crossing her face. "And as for the last one…"
Everyone felt tense and confused as they looked at the last set of scores. Sylvia and the Yellow Team had gotten significantly less points than anyone else.
"Were her pokemon just lacking in power or something?" Reiner wondered. "Because I thought that her Dusknoir was doing pretty well at the beginning of the round."
"Did they get fatigued? It seems odd that would happen to Ghost type pokemon would get fatigued, though," Nikita frowned.
"I guess we'll have to keep an eye on things then, is it?" Alcea murmured. She narrowed her eyes, drilling a hole in the back of Sylvia's head as the trainers walked over to the rest area for the 15 minute break. She didn't trust the blonde in the slightest.
"You did very good, getting first like that," Sylvia whispered into Serefina's ear as the trainers sat down. Serefina flinched. "But I'm going to enjoy taking that away from you."
Serefina took a deep breath, and exhaled. She wasn't going to let Sylvia psych her out; she was going to do the best she could with the pokemon she had at her disposal, and that was that.
"We'll see," she said calmly, giving Sylvia an even smile.
Sylvia seemed irritated that she hadn't shaken Serefina's resolve, but before she could say anything, something else caught everyone's attention.
Nick had been taking care of Mankey's fur, brushing the chunks of debris out of it to get him prepared for the next round. He was excited to see how far his team could go.
And then, out of nowhere, Mankey started to glow.
"What the hell?" Sylvia shielded her eyes in surprise while the rest of the audience (those who hadn't left to use the bathroom or get food, anyway) gasped.
"No way!" Callie stood up in her seat and leaned over the edge, her eyes wide with amazement. "I knew it!"
"Holy fucking shit!" Lila had been lounging back in her seat, the only one at the announcer's table who hadn't gone to use the restroom during the break. She grabbed the microphone to report what was going on. "I-I don't believe this! But it looks like Nick's Mankey is evolving!"
There was no other explanation for what was happening. Mankey was getting larger as the light around him faded, and when it cleared away, a new pokemon was standing in his place.
"Primeape," Nick's newly-evolved pokemon grunted, steam spraying out of his nose.
"Whoa…" Nick gasped. "Mankey, you… err, I guess, Primeape! You evolved!"
"Primeape," Primeape grunted again, staring at Nick because he'd just stated the obvious.
"Oh my gosh! That's so amazing!" Dakota gushed, nearly pushing Nick over to get a closer look at his pokemon. "Aaargh, how come I don't have my camera?! This is such a great story! That makes two pokemon who have evolved in two rounds! I can't believe it! What a stroke of luck! And one of the rounds is one I'M competing in!"
If Dakota was upset that she would now have to be competing against a much stronger pokemon, it sure didn't show on her face.
Nick was about to say something when his phone started to ring. He grabbed it in a hurry, too flustered to check the caller ID. When, of course, the person on the other line screamed, he had to recoil from the pain.
"C-Callie…"
"NICK! I KNEW IT! DIDN'T I SAY I HAD A GOOD FEELING?!" Callie assaulted his ear with joy. "Your Mankey evolved! Congratulations! You're going to win this whole thing for sure, I just know you will! Way to go!"
"Okay, calm down." Nick could hear Julia in the background.
"Pass it to me!" That was Reiner. A few seconds later his voice was even closer as he'd snagged Callie's phone. "Hey. Who do you think you are, copying me like that, huh?" He sounded mad, but Nick could hear the levity in his voice, and just chuckled in response.
"What do you think?" He smirked. "You're not the only one who can get his pokemon to evolve, you know."
"Hah! Look at you bragging!" Reiner laughed. "If you're gonna evolve your pokemon, at least do it in the middle of the event so you can win! Waiting until the break like this is just a waste, don't you think?" He asked.
Nick rolled his eyes. "Of course you'd think that."
"Gotta focus on that win," Reiner replied. "Speaking of which, don't think just because your pokemon evolved that means you've got this in the bag. You guys have got some stiff competition there, you're going to have to give it your all."
"Gimme my phone back!" Callie shouted in the background. She snatched it back from Reiner. "Nick, don't listen to that guy. He's an idiot who doesn't know anything."
"Hey!" Reiner shouted from somewhere behind her.
"You know I'm right. Anyway, you should just be focused on kicking all their butts! Now that you've got a powerhouse like Primeape in your corner, these next two events should be a piece of cake!" Callie encouraged him excitedly.
Nick nodded, understanding her passion. But he wasn't quite sure. Callie could be excitable like this, and he absolutely trusted her judgment (which was why he'd used Mankey in the first place over Charmeleon) but that didn't mean he was necessarily going to win.
She had a tendency to overestimate what he was capable of.
"I'm going to do the best I can," he assured her. People were already returning to the stadium because the break was almost over. "I've got to go now. Wish me luck!"
"Okay, I will, but you won't need it," Callie promised. "You'll kick ass! Love you!"
Clever girl that she was, she hung up before he could say it back. That left him flustered as hell, while she just turned red and buried her phone deep in her bag.
"That was sweet."
Nick flinched, finally realizing that nothing about this phone conversation had been private. The other three competitors in Block C were there, and had seen and heard everything. Serefina was smiling encouragingly at him, and he just turned red.
He wasn't that good with girls. Especially considering that all three of them were older than he was, and were all wearing knowing smiles. He shrunk back a little, intimidated.
"I mean it," Serefina said, walking over to him and placing her hand on his shoulder. "I think your girlfriend's faith in you and your pokemon is something special."
"Um… thanks," he said, giving her an awkward smile. He tried very, very hard to address his gratitude towards her face, and not the bit of cleavage poking out from her tracksuit. As big as it might have been, there were very few zippers that could completely conceal Serefina's boobs.
"Of course… just because she thinks you'll win now, that doesn't make it so." Serefina's expression turned serious, even as the smile remained on her face. It was a good-natured sort of expression, one conveying a sense of rivalry.
Nick smiled back.
"Well, all we can do is the best we can," he replied. "But you're right. Just because Primeape evolved, that doesn't mean he's going to win the whole thing for me."
"Primeape!" Primeape grunted indignantly, and everyone but Sylvia flinched.
Serefina's eyes shot to the pokemon. Primeape were well-known for having incredibly short tempers. Even the most innocuous statement had the possibility of setting one off. And if that happened, he'd go on a rampage, and might not even listen to Nick's orders to stop, putting a quick end to Block C round if he did.
But Primeape didn't get mad. He looked mad, sure, but every Primeape did. It was practically their default expression. Every Primeape was angry. The only way to determine how angry was by seeing how much of their immediate vicinity remained intact.
This one's different… Serefina noted. I've never seen that expression before…
As a student in the Caretaker Course, Serefina had studied quite a lot of pokemon expressions. It was a necessary skill if you wanted to be a Pokemon Breeder, after all. You needed to know what pokemon were feeling and what emotions they were expressing through their facial cues and voice patterns, because that was one of the very few ways people and pokemon could communicate.
This was a new expression for a Primeape, though. His eyes weren't angled as sharply, and his pupils weren't dilated with rage.
If Serefina didn't know any better, she'd almost think that he was calm. Pensive, even. But was that even possible?
I'll have to be careful, she thought, walking out of the tent. It was time to get to the next event. If I misjudge what this pokemon is capable of, he could catch up to me in points.
Sylvia watched Serefina's perplexed expression while wearing a veil of complete detachment. Behind it, though, she was scheming up a storm.
Oh, Serefina… you think Nick is the threat? Silly girl. You're not prepared nearly enough for what's about to happen to you.
The four of them headed out to the next stage with their pokemon as Darla and Leanne sat back down at the announcer's table.
Darla stared at the procession in confusion.
"…Something seems different," she frowned, turning to Lila. "What did I miss?"
Lila smiled innocently back at her. "Oh? I don't know what you mean."
Well, that was surprising! Nick's Mankey evolved! Who could have seen that coming? Reiner's Grovyle helped him out a lot in the back half of the Jump Course, how will Primeape help Nick? Will he be able to win Block C with the help of his aggressive pokemon? Or will Sylvia's schemes throw the whole thing into disarray? We'll have to find out!