The Goal Roll has been a really intense match, and Blake and Sango are facing off against each other! Thanks to some quick thinking from Ruru (again) Blake managed to score enough points to tie up with Sango! But will that be enough to bring him success in the Pokeathlon? Just a tied? I don't think that's going to cut it! No, we need to focus on the third and final event, and prepare our competitors for what comes next! The Pokeathlon's only going to get more intense from here! How will the competition between these friends go?

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: Hopefully it will be, but you never know.

Thunder Fire: Yeah, she's really done great in these events!

Hyphenman: True, I definitely want more opportunities to let the pokemon's individual personalities shine through, they don't get enough.

Aakareo Kokokuhikari: Well, I can't take all the credit. I owe a lot to whoever decided to give Hisuian Samurott the Dark type.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 1336

"And that's the end to the Goal Roll!" Lila declared.

"Let's take a look at the points for our teams," Darla suggested, glancing to the scoreboard, which displayed the point totals.

Red Team – 3 Points

Blue Team – 4 Points

Green Team – 3 Points

Yellow Team – 4 Points

"Because the Blue Team sunk the golden ball into the Yellow Team's goal, they got two points," Leanne explained. "And the Yellow Team lost one point. So now the scores are evened out pretty close, which is an exciting rarity for the Goal Roll! And it should make it easier to tally up the scores, as well," she added.

Lila sighed in relief.

"That's good. So how many Athlete Points does every team get?" She asked.

Darla rolled her eyes. "Come on, Lila, weren't you paying attention to the last time Leanne tallied up the scores for the Goal Roll?"

"No!" Lila protested obnoxiously. "So come on, Leanne, how is this going to work?" Of course, Lila did remember, and Darla knew she did. This song and dance was just for the benefit of the audience, who might not remember.

"The way points are tallied up for the Goal Roll is a little complicated," Leanne admitted. "So I don't blame you girls for not remembering. To start, each team will get 60 Athlete Points. Then, for each point they managed to score in the event, they'll get 5 Athlete Points. So for the Red Team, that got 3 points, they'll receive a total of 75 Athlete Points."

"That doesn't seem like very many," Lila said, frowning.

"Well, it's not," Leanne said, shaking her head. "But then there are the bonus points. A competitor gets 10 Athlete Points if they have a higher score than exactly one opponent, 20 Athlete Points if they have a higher score than two opponents, and 40 Athlete Points if they have a higher score than all three of their opponents."

"Ooh, right!" Lila squirmed in her seat. "I forgot about that! So how many bonus Athlete Points does the Red Team get?"

Leanne shook her head. "They don't get any," she replied. "Because the Red Team tied with the Green Team in terms of the number of points, they're in the exact same position. So the Red Team doesn't have a higher placement than anybody, so they don't get any extra points."

"Oh, darn," Darla frowned. "That's too bad!"

"You're telling me!" Andy groaned. "Ah, well! It is what it is!" She said with a shrug, winking at Blake with a catlike grin. She didn't seem too broken up about it; Blake suspected she would try and make up those points in the next event.

"So that means the Blue Team is next, right?" Lila asked excitedly.

"That's right," Leanne said, nodding. "Of course, they start out with 60 Athlete Points, then they get an additional 20 for having scored 4 points."

"Ooh, they have 80 Athlete Points?" Lila asked. Then she frowned. "Uh, that's still not very many, though, is it?"

"But you're forgetting the bonus points again," Darla reminded her. "The Blue Team has a higher score than two other teams; that means they get an additional 20 Athlete Points, right, Leanne?" She asked the professor.

"That's exactly right, Darla," Leanne nodded. "The Blue Team gets a total of 100 Athlete Points. Which is pretty good, and puts them above the Red Team's score. And the Green Team's score, as well, now that I think about it."

"Awwww!" Marion wailed. "Darn it! And here I was, doing my best and everything!" She didn't seem that bummed out though.

"Wait, I'm confused again," Lila said, shaking her head. "How come you know what the Green Team's score is? You didn't even calculate it!"

"She doesn't have to, Lila," Darla pointed out. "After all, the Green Team got the same number of points as the Red Team did. That means the math for them is the same, so they got a total score of 75 Athlete Points."

"That's right, Darla," Leanne nodded. "And that's not all. The Yellow Team got the same number of points as the Blue Team, which means that the Yellow Team also gets 100 Athlete Points for this event, you see?"

Sango shrugged. She felt the urge to smile at her good fortune, but refrained. After all, she was dealing with some issues of her own right now. She glanced over her shoulder at Blake, who was lined up on the Blue Team section.

We received the same number of Athlete Points… but I'm still in the lead, she thought, narrowing her eyes. And it's going to stay that way if you don't get serious.

"Is it just me, or are they getting a lot less Athlete Points for this round?" Nick asked.

"It's because of that rule, that when you score a goal on somebody, they lose points," Nikita explained. "It kept everyone from getting really high numbers like what they did in your match. If not for that, then the 60 starting points wouldn't have made up the majority of everyone's points."

"It's still pretty good for a start, though," Cynthia said, glancing at the scoreboard as the scores were calculated. "In terms of what their scores are after two events, I mean."

Red Team – Andy – 249 Points

Blue Team – Blake – 271 Points

Green Team – Marion – 243 Points

Yellow Team – Sango – 286 Points

"There's a decent difference now," Reiner said. "It looks like things aren't going so well for Marion and Andy. Those 25 points were a pretty big gap, especially since Sango was already in the lead. This could come down to being a two-person event."

"I'm actually surprised Marion is in last place," Olivia said. "Though, I'm not disappointed by that outcome."

Alcea glanced her way and the Empres remembered to keep her composure. She shouldn't be openly rooting against Marion, even if the other girl WAS her enemy.

"I wonder how this is going to go," Callie said, frowning. "After all, Sango's got a decent lead over the other teams thanks to her performance in the first event. Do you think Blake or one of the others has a chance of getting ahead of her?"

"There's always a chance," Ayame assured her.

"I think that's going to be problematic," Julia mentioned with a scowl. "After all, the third event is the Pennant Capture, isn't it?"

"Oh no…" Kitty sank into her seat. She remembered what the Pennant Capture was about, and suspected she knew how it would go for them.

"That's a problem, certainly," Ayame nodded. "After all, running around an obstacle course and collecting flags seems like something that Sango would be excellent at, given her fucking chosen profession."

"Ah, you'd think so," Cynthia said, shaking her head. "But no, there's no one better at crushing flags than Sango, she's absolutely rubbish at collecting them."

"You can say that again," Elaina nodded in agreement. Everyone else just looked around, confused about what the two girls were implying.

"Okay everyone!" Leanne said, calling the attention of the crowd. "We're now going to begin our final break before the next event!"

"The next event? Don't you mean the last event?" Lila asked.

"That's true, Lila," Darla nodded. "The next event will be the final one! Leanne, can you tell us a little bit about the event, before we move onto the break? I'm sure our competitors won't mind!"

Honestly, they didn't. It would give them more time to focus on their break, and come up with a winning strategy.

"Sure, I'd be happy to!" Leanne chirped, caving into the pressure from the two idols. "We'll moving onto the final event for the Block D Skill Course, and the final event for the Pokeathlon Competition today! Are you all ready?"

The audience broke out into cheers and raucous applause, and no one was shouting with more energy than Cynthia.

"The next event is the Pennant Capture!" Lila cheered.

"That's an oldie but a goodie," Darla nodded. "Leanne, would you mind a quick refresher on the rules for our audience?"

"Absolutely," Leanne nodded. "The Pennant Capture is a very simple event that tests the speed and strategic ability of pokemon." The camera shifted its view to a large sandbox filled with obstacles. Flags stuck out of the ground.

"The way the Pennant Capture works," Leanne explained, "is that there are countless flags strewn across the field. And the pokemon run with their trainers to grab as many flags as they can! There's no limit to the number of flags a trainer can hold, but be careful, you don't want to drop any of them if you can help it!"

"That would be no good," Lila said, shaking her head. She wasn't exactly contributing to the discussion but she liked to feel that she was.

"…Yes, well, you're right, it wouldn't be," Darla groaned, shaking her head.

"Once a competitor has gathered together a respectable amount of flags with their pokemon, they'll want to take those flags back to their special base," Leanne said, gesturing to the four starting zones for the four teams. "The flags will be stored there, and no one else can take them after that point. And that's also when the pokemon will switch out!"

"So unlike the last two events, this one is just done with one pokemon at a time," Lila mused. "I see, that's interesting!"

"You can say that again, Lila," Darla nodded. "The trainers will have to determine which pokemon they want to use first!"

"It's important to keep in mind that pokemon can be worn out pretty easily in this event," Leanne reminded everyone. "Especially because, in this event, tackling other pokemon and even trainers is allowed."

"No way!" Lila gasped. "But that sounds so dangerous!"

"Of course, there are limits," Leanne assured them. "We don't want anyone to get hurt, after all. But a light tackle to make someone drop their flag is okay."

"I suppose even trainers can tackle other trainers then?" Darla asked.

"It's certainly possible, but it might result in some problems," Leanne said, shrugging. "I'll leave that up to the competitors to decide for themselves. But remember, the goal isn't to steal flags from each other, even though that's within the rules. What you want to be doing is gathering as many flags as possible and taking them back to your base."

"Stealing flags is a perfectly adequate strategy, however," Ayame pointed out, narrowing her eyes. "And I'd bet a few people there might consider it."

"That's right, you did the Pennant Capture this morning," Olivia remembered. Then she smiled, having come up with a wonderfully mischievous idea. "Hey, why don't you go down and give Blake some advice when the break starts? I'm sure he'd really appreciate it!"

Ayame gave her a sour look in response.

"…Or not," Olivia shrugged, giving up on that idea. "But you're right, I expect that a few people might try to steal some flags."

"So what about scoring?" Darla asked, moving the conversation forward. "How do the competitors get points in this event? I assume it has something to do with how many flags they get? At least, that's how I remember it going."

"Absolutely," Leanne nodded. "For the Pennant Capture, the rules of scoring are fairly simple, at least when compared to an event like the Goal Roll. The way it works is that each competitor gets three Athlete Points for each flag they manage to capture. Fairly simple, no?"

"Definitely simple," Lila nodded, sighing in relief. "I'm so glad it's something easy like that!"

"I'm sure you are, Lila," Darla said, rolling her eyes. "So that's all the rules, right, professor?" She asked, ready for her break.

"Yes," Leanne said, nodding. "Those are all the rules for the Pennant Capture. Now, without further ado, I'll let you kids get on your break!" She smiled apologetically to the students who had been waiting patiently this whole time. "Remember, 15 minutes!"

Blake and the others headed back to the rest area to begin their break. As they crossed the field, Andy skipped over and clapped Blake on the shoulder.

"Hiyahoo!" She laughed. "Good hustle out there, Blake!"

"Um, th-thanks," Blake said, forcing a smile to his face. He was honestly feeling pretty worn down. Not physically; the last events hadn't been that strenuous. But emotionally, he was starting to reach his limit here.

"You did really well managing to pull ahead of me," Andy continued, and to Blake's amazement she only seemed more animated.

How does she manage to draw that energy out of nowhere? He wondered.

"Still, don't think it's over yet," Andy said, shaking her head. "I'm going to give it my all this round! You might think it's not my specialty, but you can't be good at tennis without knowing how to run around at high speeds!"

"Yeah, I'm not giving up, either!" Marion said, stepping in front of Sango and placing her hands on her hips. The glare she gave to the other girl seemed completely devoid of rage, and it looked like she was struggling not to smile. "Don't forget, the next event takes place in sand! And you know what else has sand?"

"What else has sand?" Sango asked in exasperation, trying not to crack a smile herself.

"The beach of course!" Marion crowed, throwing back her head and laughing. "Also known as my home turf! You guys might as well pack it in right now, because none of ya are going to be able to do anything to take ME down! Mwahaha!"

Blake and Sango glanced at each other, feeling an odd sense of camaraderie in being among these two crazy girls.

"It's almost like Cynthia is down here with us," Sango mumbled, shaking her head. "Can you imagine that?"

"Oh, god, that would be the worst," Blake snickered. He didn't really mean that. Cynthia being here would have been lovely; but the problem was, she'd be a little too much to handle.

"Well, I'll be going up against her in the next round," Sango said, planting some seeds to see what Blake's response would be. "So I expect it will be a bit of a challenge…"

She wondered if Blake would get upset. But to her surprise, he handled it fairly well, simply giving her a rueful smile.

"We'll see," he said calmly, narrowing his eyes. "I don't have any intention of losing against you in this next event, Sango."

Now that's what I want to see! Sango couldn't help but smile. She didn't think it was possible, but somehow, even after spending all that time training to beat his brother, Blake still had inner strength to draw from himself.

"Well, bring it on then!" She said, narrowing her eyes. "Because with the pokemon I borrowed from Elaina, my team is going to take you down! Not only are we going to KEEP our lead over the rest of you, but we're going to widen it, and show who's the definitive athlete here!"

Blake was surprised. Not at Sango's bold declaration, that was something he had come to expect from his friend. No, what surprised him was the fact that she was actually smiling again. For a moment, it felt like they were ribbing each other like old times.

That thought brought a smile to his lips.

"Well, bring it on, then," he Chatoted back at her, narrowing his eyes just like she did as well to goad her again.

"You're the challenger," she pointed out. "You know, since I'm the one ahead right now? So I'm the one who gets to say bring it on. Not you."

"Oh yeah? Well, bring it on then." He teased.

The two glared at each other from across the preparation tent, then they both burst out laughing at the absurdity of the situation.

"I can't believe it," Sango said, shaking her head. "You're kinda nuts, you know that? Acting like everything's normal?"

"You're one to talk!" Blake exclaimed. "You actually borrowed Elaina's pokemon for this? Why did you do that?"

Sango's expression turned serious again, and she frowned. "Elaina and I are both on the same page when it comes to this," she replied. "Neither one of us wants to let you just win easily. If you want to go up against Ayame and Cynthia, then you've gotta win against us first. It's as simple as that."

"Castform!" Silver said, bobbing up and down in agreement.

Blake smirked. "Well-"

"I swear if you finish that with 'bring it on, then' I'm going to chuck my water bottle at you," Sango said, cutting him off.

Blake stared at her in silence.

Sango stared back, crossing her arms over her chest to show she meant business.

"…Well, bring it on then."

"You-!" Sango flung her water bottle at Blake, but of course she was courteous enough to leave the cap screwed on. He ducked under it, laughing his ass off, and she couldn't help but snicker too. "You big jerk!"

While those two played around, someone else was watching from the stands with a big smile on her face. Cynthia.

I'm glad, she thought, nodding in approval. With how tense things had been up until this point, it was nice to see Blake and Sango playing around like friends again.

Cynthia sat back in her chair and glanced over her shoulder, seeing that Elaina had the same grin on her face.

It looks like I'm not the only one who's glad those two have returned to some semblance of normalcy, she thought, looking forward to the final event.

Well, Sango and Blake still have some definite shakiness between the two of them, but at least they managed to return to being friends with one another. It's good that they were able to progress like this, because their happiness really is that important. If there's something that the Pokeathlon is good for, it's strengthening the bonds of friendship. I'm glad to see they're realizing that!