Sango and Elaina teamed up together to take Blake down. Or teach him a lesson. Or maybe for a threesome. It's definitely one of those things. But the point is, Sango's taking a pretty good lead over Blake, and he's in a pretty rough spot given how hard things are going for him. But will he be able to rise to the occasion and prove to Sango that Ayame is a huge priority in his life? Or will he be forced to admit that his sister matters more to him, even at the risk of jeopardizing his relationship and his chance to help her? Remember to review!
The Elimination Round of the Pokemon Academy Best Girl Contest 4 has started! Make sure to get those votes in, we've only got a few so far! You can vote for up to 5 girls, so make sure your favorites have a chance to shine!
Nominated: Alcea, Ange, Ayame, Caelia, Callie, Chloe, Cynthia, Dakota, Donoma, Elaina, Gabrielle, Joyce, Kate, Maddi, Misato, Nikita, Rui, Sango, Sylvia, Vic
KedharS: Bonding is always nice to see, that's for sure.
Aakareo Kokokuhikari: Yeah Blake was definitely on a self-destruction binge. Hopefully he'll be able to pull himself out of it, if not, things are about to get really problematic for him.
Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings
Chapter 1335
"This match just keeps getting more and more exciting, don't you think so, Darla?" Lila asked, turning to her partner.
"You can say that again, Lila," Darla nodded. "Take a look at those scores! Ever since the gold ball became part of the game, things have gotten really exciting!"
Red Team – 3 Points
Blue Team – 2 Points
Green Team – 3 Points
Yellow Team – 5 Points
"They're all getting a decent amount of points, but it seems like once again the Yellow Team is considerably ahead of the others," Leanne pointed out. "And what's remarkable is that two of the pokemon on that team don't even belong to the trainer."
"That's a good point!" Lila nodded. "Yeah, Sango is training to be a Pokemon Ranger! And yet she's doing so great, working with someone else's pokemon like this! That's really impressive, don't you think, Darla?"
"Oh, absolutely, Lila," Darla nodded. "It shows how good she is at working with other people's pokemon. In fact, I'd say that the reason she's doing so well is because of her training as a ranger; she knows how to make other pokemon work for her!"
Lila nodded again. That made a lot of sense.
"We've only got a little bit of time left," Leanne noted, glancing at the clock. "This might be the last ball to roll."
"Come on, Mukuro!" Sango ordered. The last ball on the court right now was the shiny golden ball. If anyone sunk it, they'd get two points. Sango couldn't let that happen. "Keep that ball away from our side of the field!"
She was in the lead right now. As long as she could keep the others back, then she was certain to come out of this the winner.
"Decidueye!" Mukuro crowed, flapping his wings and flying towards the golden ball. Right now, Pewpa was rolling it towards the Yellow Team's court.
"Oh, no you don't!" Andy scowled. "Pewpa! Pass it to Ace!"
"Rellor!" Pewpa pushed the ball, and the heavy orb rolled slowly across the grass. The biggest problem with the golden ball, while it was worth twice as many points, moved a lot slower than the normal-sized balls.
So when Pewpa tried to pass it to the Ambipom, Mukuro easily intercepted it, pushing the ball towards Andy's goal in an effort to sink it in.
"That's not good," Cynthia winced. "If Sango sinks that shot, then she'll take a commanding lead in this round!"
"She's already got a commanding lead," Callie pointed out. "A few more points won't make much of a difference in that regard."
"It doesn't seem fair that Ghost type pokemon can pass through their opponents," Kitty said, frowning. "It makes things uneasy."
"Come on, this is stupid! It's just a dumb soccer match!" Julia scowled. "Why do they get to do something like that?"
"Hey!" Olivia snapped, shooting Julia a glare. "Back off!"
"Huh?" Julia flinched, not sure why the older girl was chewing her out with such a ferocious look in her eye. "Um, I mean…"
"It's not soccer, it's football," Olivia clarified harshly. "Get it right!"
Julia rolled her eyes. "Right. Sorry. Football. But either way, it's complete bullshit if you ask me! Getting an advantage like that!"
None of the pokemon could get the ball away from Mukuro. The moment they tried, the bird flew right through them and grabbed it back.
"I agree," Nikita nodded. She turned to Ayame. "How is this fair?" She asked. "A situation like this one isn't fair, don't you get that?"
Ayame shrugged. She didn't like it any better than they did. "It's part of the rules," she said lamely. "They just can."
Sylvia had shown how unfair being a Ghost type pokemon was for a Pokeathlon, and Sango was making a good case herself. Part of the reason she'd gotten such a big lead in the points was due to Mukuro's ability to phase through other pokemon.
With one exception.
"Basculegion!" Bass roared, slamming headfirst into Mukuro. The bird pokemon was knocked backwards and the ball went spinning wildly, rolling across the grass.
It reached the Blue Team's section of the field, and Blake realized this was his perfect opportunity. The other pokemon had all been tired out from trying to catch up to Mukuro; now he needed to take this chance and get as many points as he possibly could!
And there was only one person he could aim for.
"Ruru! Tara! Go!" He shouted to his pokemon. He paused and took another thought. "Maria, you go, too!" He added.
"Galvantula!" Ruru nodded.
"Snivy!" Tara leapt onto Ruru's back.
Maria got on as well. "Mareanie!"
"That's an interesting decision from the Blue Team!" Darla gasped. "Blake is using the fact that his pokemon are so small to have them ride on his Galvantula's back!"
"I agree, Darla, that's a great way to do it!" Lila nodded. "If the three of them work together, they should be able to do great!"
Leanne smiled. "That's the sort of thing we want to see in a Pokeathlon," she agreed. "Trainers and pokemon doing their best together to get ahead!"
"Galvantula!" Ruru dashed across the grass and picked up the golden ball with her feelers. Due to her size, she was actually able to push it decently well. She charged for the Yellow Team's goal, ready to sink her shot.
Sango clicked her tongue in frustration.
"Mukuro! Doria!" She shouted.
"Oricorio!" Doria raised her pom-poms and leapt into the air, cheering Mukuro on as the Decidueye righted himself, turned, and flew towards Ruru.
"Ruru, watch out!" Blake shouted. He wasn't going to let Sango get this far in front of him. She had a massive lead in the points, but if they could sink this shot, he would tie it up. She'd still be ahead in the points, but at least the gap wouldn't grow any wider.
But Sango wasn't about to let that happen. Doria was standing at the edge of the boundary, ready to guard with her wings extended. And Silver was floating off to the side, prepared to headbutt the ball to keep it from going into the net.
"Hey, I have a question," Cynthia said, completely breaking the tension. Everyone turned to her, shocked. "So what happens when you have a floating pokemon like Silver? You know. Since it's against the rules for pokemon to touch the ground inside the boundary, could a floating pokemon just, well… you know?"
She waved her hand up and down to simulate something floating in the air.
Ayame rolled her eyes. She'd been paying vivid attention to what was happening, and she didn't appreciate the way Cynthia was interrupting.
"It doesn't work that way. If a floating pokemon spends more than five seconds within the boundary, it's a point penalty," she explained. "Same with a pokemon jumping like Blake's Galvantula did. But I don't see that being relevant here. Blake isn't the kind of person who would do a dirty trick like tackle one of Sango's pokemon with his own into the out-of-bounds line just to drag her points down with the other competitors."
It was a valid play though, Cynthia could see the merit in it. By kneecapping Sango like that, she'd be down to two points, which would be lower than Andy and Marion. Blake would go to zero, but he might be willing to take the last place if it meant shortening the gap between Sango and the rest of the competitors.
And maybe if Blake was the kind of person to take the easy way out, he'd go through with it. But there was a reason Olivia smiled when she heard Ayame defending Blake's character. Because in spite of the tomboy's claims to having forgotten everything about Blake, she was right on the money. He wasn't the kind of person who would do something like that.
Olivia glanced at Alcea and they shared a knowing grin. The plan was working. They just had to keep going for a little longer, and get the two of them facing off against each other. If that happened, then everything was certain.
"Come on, Aya," Olivia said, nudging Ayame in the arm. "You should cheer for Blake too. He'll do way better if he thinks you're rooting for him, I promise!"
Ayame rolled her eyes. There was absolutely no way that was going to happen.
"Yeah, no, not a chance," she scoffed. "Anyway, Blake doesn't need me to cheer for him. If he's going to win, then he'll do it on the merits of his pokemon the bonds they share together, nothing more. That's just how it fucking is."
Olivia glanced back at Alcea and sighed. One step forward, two steps back.
"Come on, Ruru!" Blake shouted. He didn't know what else he could do at this point. He felt completely helpless, all the way over here. Ruru was getting closer and closer to Sango's goal, but it wouldn't make a difference.
Mukuro had reached her first.
"Decidueye!" Mukuro came in screeching from the side, charging for Ruru to knock the ball out of her hands. Then, Ruru had a flash of brilliance.
"Galvantula!" She dug the legs on the right side of her body into the ground to brake, skidding around as she pulled to a stop. This caused Mukuro's aim to be thrown off. Rather than charging for the ball in her feelers, he was headed right for her, instead.
He spread his wings to brake, but there was no value in doing that. Because Maria had taken matters into her own hands.
"Mareanie!" The aquatic pokemon hissed, leaping from Ruru's backside with her tentacles extended. She turned her head towards Mukuro and all her points were on full display. Mukuro had kept his body tangible in order to grab the ball; but the ball wasn't what was coming for him, an angry Poison type was, and he didn't have the speed to turn ghostly fast enough when Maria slammed right into him, jabbing him with her spikes.
"That can't be legal!" Lila gasped.
"Well, she technically didn't use an attack there," Darla snickered. "If a Ghost type pokemon can defend itself by turning intangible, I say a Poison type pokemon can do something like that. What do you think, Leanne?"
"Well, it's not like Mareanie can control how sharp their spines are," Leanne said, shrugging. "So as far as I'm concerned, it's a valid strategy."
Sango didn't have to like it, though. She scowled as Ruru approached. But at the same time, she couldn't help the feeling of pride welling up inside her.
Blake was meeting her challenge. His pokemon were doing whatever they could to get the upper hand and win the Pokeathlon for him. Maria had let Sango and Mukuro score on her, costing Blake his first point. That anger had clearly revved her up, and she had gotten some rather easy revenge at Mukuro's expense.
Now, the only thing stopping Ruru from getting a goal were the two pokemon Sango had left, Silver and Doria.
"Come on you two! It's up to you!" Sango shouted.
"Oricorio!" Doria flapped her wings and leapt forward, gliding across the air to attack Ruru. But that was exactly the situation Ruru was hoping for.
"Galvantula!" Ruru lowered her head, and then headbutted the golden ball high up into the air, well over the defending pokemon and Sango… but also well over the goal, as well.
"What the heck?!" Lila gasped, confused. "What's with that shot? The ball's not anywhere close to the goal, it's just going to touch down on the Yellow Team's part of the court!"
"I don't get it either," Darla said, shaking her head in confusion. "I suppose it's good for getting the ball over the goalie, but that doesn't mean it will actually get into the goal. A bad shot? At such a critical time, too…"
"There are only seconds on the clock," Leanne said solemnly. "I suppose that's the end of the match, then."
A second round of the Goal Roll where one of the pokemon tried to sink a shot in the final seconds and completely whiffed. A bizarre coincidence.
Or was it?
"Wait, look!" Reiner was the one who spotted it first. A splotch of green on the big golden ball spinning through the air.
"It's Tara!" Cynthia gasped in recognition.
"That's my girl!" Blake said, grinning lopsidedly as he realized what she was aiming for. "Come on, Tara! Give it to her!"
"Snivy!" Tara nodded eagerly. She let go of the ball as it reached the top of its arc, and hopped up, swinging her tail. She put everything she had into the shot, hitting the golden ball at full force and sending it rocketing towards the goal.
"Shit!" Sango cursed, whipping her head around. She hadn't seen that coming at all. If she'd been able to predict such a bold maneuver, she would have absolutely been able to get there in time to stop the ball from getting into the goal; but she hadn't, so she didn't.
And that was what made all the difference.
The golden ball sank into the goal just as time ran out, scoring the Blue Team two points and costing the Yellow Team one.
"He tied it up!" Callie cheered.
"Nice!" Nick grinned.
"That was very close," Nikita said, adjusting her glasses. "Things could have been very bad for his score if he hadn't made that shot."
"That's true, but he did make it," Reiner reminded her.
"I always knew he'd do it," Cynthia boasted.
"Yeah, he had this one in the bag," Julia agreed.
Kitty's cheer was a much more subdued "yes!" as she made a tiny fist of victory.
"Well done," Alcea said, nodding approvingly.
"Way to go, Blake!" Even Olivia was getting in on the positive vibes. But that didn't compare to a certain someone's reaction.
"Alright!" Ayame cheered, smiling widely. She leapt from her seat and punched the air, her face filled with unrestrained joy.
Everyone looked at her in shock and she quickly sat back down, embarrassed. "I-I don't know what that fucking was," she mumbled, turning bright red. It just felt so right to cheer for Blake in that moment, she couldn't explain it.
Olivia knew though. Ayame's muscle memory had kicked in, and she'd cheered on Blake because supporting him was simply natural to her.
There was someone else whose positive reaction went unnoticed by the roaring crowd. Elaina glanced at Sango, and then at Blake. A small smile spread across her lips.
"Well done," she whispered, proud that Blake and his pokemon had overcome the obstacle that was Sango and her pokemon.
But things weren't settled just yet.
"The crowd's going wild for sure, and with good reason," Darla said. "But I think this cheering might be a little premature!"
"What do you mean, Darla?" Lila asked, turning to her partner in confusion. "Blake made that shot, didn't he?"
"He sure did," Leanne confirmed. "But Darla's right. Take a look up there." She pointed up into the sky, where Tara was falling.
Everyone gasped.
"At that height, she won't get too badly injured," Leanne assured everyone. "But if she lands in the Yellow Team's zone… well, that will cost the Blue Team 3 points. They'll be even worse off than they were before they made the shot."
In essence, the Blue Team had taken a very risky move. They had put their chances for victory at risk by relying on a strategy like this, and it was threatening to backfire on them.
But Blake wasn't worried. He cracked a smile as he watched Tara plummet to the ground, because he knew that his team wouldn't have done something like that if they didn't have a plan for exactly this problem.
"Galvantula!" Ruru fired a blast of web out from her rear, and snagged Tara in midair. With a tug, she yanked the green pokemon back through the air, catching her gently in a prepared net. Tara landed in the net, and rolled off it into the grass without a scratch.
She was firmly outside the Yellow Team's territory, there was absolutely no chance for a foul of any kind.
The crowd exploded again. Sango glanced at Blake and nodded in approval. She even smiled a little, in fact!
That's exactly what we were hoping to see, she thought as she recalled her pokemon together on her side of the field and headed off. Your pokemon worked together perfectly, Blake. You should be proud they were able to tie everything up!
"Nice work guys!" Blake cheered, running from his section of the field. Finally free, he was able to go hug his pokemon for helping him get such a high score in the second event.
"Mar."
Maria stabbed him in the thigh with one of her pincers. "Mareashishishi!" She cackled with glee, and Tara charged at her, enraged.
Some things never change.
Well, Blake was able to save the day thanks to some quick thinking and teamwork from his pokemon! This is exactly the sort of thing we want to see in a Pokeathlon! They really did their best, and it's great that they were able to get to this point! But things aren't over yet. Because they only tied with Sango, we'll see how the point totals sort out. Blake may not be in as great a spot as he'd like to be. We'll have to find out!