Now that things between Dakota and Akira have been worked out, we can bring our attention to something a little more uplifting, like Cynthia's birthday! Yay! Remember to review!

KedharS: "All things considering" yeah, but those are some pretty significant things to consider.

Aquahaze675: First they're sour, then they're sweet. Dakota's (and Kate's) fundamental personality.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 472

Cynthia's birthday wasn't off to the best start. She had gone to sleep the night before with dreams of updates from the game company that released Pokemon Simulator Games, and was looking forward to the announcements that were sure to come. Several years ago, her absolute favorite region (Hoenn, obviously) was announced to be getting a remake. These were the games that had defined her childhood, and she remembered playing them with her friends fondly. And now, the internet was abuzz expecting the same treatment would be given for the Sinnoh games.

And, well… she wasn't wrong?

"You know, for the birthday girl you don't exactly seem to be in a celebratory mood," Blake noted. He and Cynthia were walking to the Snorlax Commons, where Cynthia was looking forward to her birthday breakfast buffet. It was Blake's birthday present to her, one of two. She had demanded that Blake go on a "date" with her for her birthday. Blake had made it clear under no uncertain terms that it wasn't a date. He had a girlfriend, and it wasn't Cynthia. She was just a friend.

So Cynthia had been forced to negotiate a romantic candlelit dinner and sensual sex into treating her to breakfast for two and styling her hair for her birthday party tonight. Small victories.

"You saw the same presentation that I did!" Cynthia fumed. "What were with those graphics, huh? I wanted to play a pokemon console game, not Pokemon Crossing!"

"I just think you're making too big of a deal out of this," Blake replied. Cynthia scowled. She rounded on him, jamming her finger into his puffy jacket indignantly.

"You're darn right I'm making a big deal out of this!" She replied. "We're talking about the character sprites here, Blake! They turned my cute little Dawn and her nice ass into a loli! You're an assman, Blake, how are you not outraged?!"

"…I guess, at the end of the day, it's because I don't care whether or not a video game character is hot enough to want to bang them or not," Blake replied.

"Ridiculous!" Cynthia snorted. "You don't understand how big of an outrage this is! We've been waiting for YEARS for this game! And now, this is what we get?!"

"It's just the overworld," Blake reminded her. "Shouldn't you just be happy that we're getting a remake at all?"

"Okay, you don't get it, the last time we had remakes? They were EPIC! Astounding upgrades to all the videos, the gameplay, everything! Best games of all time, and it's all been downhill since then!" Cynthia replied.

"…Aren't you just being generous towards it because you're FROM Hoenn?" Blake reminded her. "It really wasn't as good as you're making it out to be."

"It was amazing," Cynthia replied, scowling at him.

"Yeah, but they forgot the-"

"Don't say it," Cynthia interrupted him.

"But didn't Masuda say that because people wouldn't have appreciated it because they had short attention spans, he didn't think it-"

"Blake, if you say another word, we're going to have a huge fucking continuity issue, so you can shut your damn mouth," Cynthia snapped.

They continued walking in silence for a while. Blake was getting amused by her frustration.

"You know, it's not going to be in THIS one either-"

"SHUT UP!" Cynthia grumbled.

"Look, the important part is that you're finally getting remakes, right?" Blake asked.

"But what's the point if they aren't even good?" Cynthia grumbled.

"How do you know they won't be good? You haven't even played them," Blake reminded her.

"Because the graphics are crap! Can you believe that? We finally get remakes of the game with the smoking hot champion waifu Cynthia, and rather than giving us a good sprite of her she's gonna look like a Sims character, I can't please myself with that!"

"…Cynthia, that's my MOM," Blake exclaimed.

"Yeah, so the thing about MILFs-"

"Cynthia!"

"Ooh, shove it Mister 'In a Satisfying Relationship With a Girl He Loves' you don't understand the struggles of us single folks who only have hot video game waifus, Serefina's boobs, and you to keep us nice and moist when we go to sleep at night!" Cynthia scowled. "You go plow your girl's perfect bum, you bum!"

"…Gross," Blake said, shaking his head. "Please tell me you're just kidding and you don't actually… 'that' while thinking about me."

Cynthia's face slowly grew redder and redder.

"What's that? Breakfast time? Let's go, Blake!" She turned and began to walk robotically towards the large dining hall. Blake buried his face in his hands, flushing in embarrassment as he followed after her. Why? Just why did she have to say stuff like that?

"Come on Blake, it's not a big deal!" Cynthia exclaimed. "It's a natural physical action! Totally normal! You don't need to be so pissy and upset, I'm sure you fantasize about Ayame when you're-"

"NO!" Blake protested a little too quickly, his face turning as red as hers. Cynthia took is outburst as an acknowledgement that she was right on the money, smiling smugly as Blake averted his eyes from hers, embarrassed.

"I knew it!" She crowed, holding her sides. "I just knew it!"

"It-it's not-!"

"Come on, are you kidding me? I'm not into asses half as much as you are, and even I think that she-"

"Please, please stop talking about my girlfriend like that," Blake begged her.

"What? It's just compliments," Cynthia shrugged. "That's why I don't mind that you picked her over me that much. I'd have picked her over me, too, with a tight body like that?"

"Cynthia, stop."

"But-"

"No, stop." Blake's voice was serious. He put his hand on her shoulder and turned her to face him, Cynthia calming down when she saw the look on his face.

"…Hey, look, if you don't want me to talk about her-"

"It's not that," Blake said, shaking his head. "I didn't choose Ayame 'over you' and I CERTAINLY didn't want to be with her because she's hotter than you. I'm with her because I love her."

"…Yeah, I know," Cynthia smiled. She reached out and patted him on the shoulder. "I'm just playing around, Blake, it's not that serious."

"…I don't want you talking like that anymore," Blake asked of her.

"What, no dirty stuff? Well damn, might as well just cut my tongue out, then!" Cynthia laughed. "Come on Blake, I'm 16 now, I'm free to fantasize as much as I like! Sorry if you don't-"

"I don't want you belittling yourself and your appearance," Blake said, catching her off-guard. "You're a wonderful girl, Cynthia. And you're going to find someone who sees that."

Cynthia blushed, glancing down at the ground bashfully.

"W-wonderful, huh?" She murmured, glancing up at Blake, playing with the fringes of her hair sticking out from under her black snow hat. "Such a charmer, saying such things…"

"I just don't want you to feel insecure," Blake assured her. "I didn't pick Ayame 'over you', I chose Ayame because I love her. You're just kind of… something else."

"Ooooh, how sweet," Cynthia giggled, holding her hands behind her back and leaning forward in a coy pose that would have shown off some cleavage if she wasn't wearing such a puffy jacket. "I'm 'something else' huh? So tell me, Blake, does that mean that if Ayame wasn't in the picture, you could have chosen me?"

Blake paused for a second, surprised by her question.

"No," he answered automatically.

Cynthia fell to the ground, groaning in disappointment, making sure to position herself like Yamcha when he died.

"Right through the heart…" she moaned in mock pain.

"Sorry, I'm not going to lie to you."

"It's my birthday you know," she scowled, hopping to her feet and brushing the snow off of her clothes. "You could at least be a little nicer and tell me that if it wasn't for Ayame I might have at least a little bit of a chance at worming my way into your heart."

Blake shrugged his shoulders. "Since it's your birthday, I'm not going to lie, Cynthia. But I am going to cheer you on."

"Cheer me on… in seducing you?" Cynthia purred, batting her eyelashes. "That sounds like something I could get behind."

"No, cheer you on in moving on and finding someone else," Blake laughed. "If you're aiming at hooking up with me, I think that's gonna be one of those unreachable goals."

"Well, I've never been one to give up on something just because it seems difficult," Cynthia cooed, giving him a flirtatious smirk as she headed into the dining hall. They got their food, and Cynthia decided to get a little bit more than usual. And by "a little bit" she had a mountain of food that would have made Sango nod in admiration.

The two walked into the dining area, and found a two-person table, where they sat facing each other in a section that provided them with more privacy, just as she wanted. As Cynthia stripped off her mitens and coat and began to dig into her food, she glanced up at him, her eyes sparkling.

"Oh, I almost forgot, Blake, don't you have something for me?"

"A present? Isn't this my present?" Blake asked, raising his eyebrow. "Isn't paying for a breakfast buffet that you specifically fasted yesterday in order to make the most of my present?"

"Well, yeah," Cynthia said, shrugging her shoulders. "But I was thinking more in the sense of… a kiss for the birthday girl?"

Cynthia leaned forward over the table and raised her finger to her mouth, tracing it over her lips in a way that she probably thought would be alluring, but it just made Blake roll his eyes. She scowled, upset that he wasn't going to take the bait.

"No, Cynthia, I'm not going to give you a birthday kiss."

"Stingy. I bet you gave Ayame a birthday kiss," Cynthia pouted.

"Yeah, because she's my girlfriend," Blake reminded her for what felt like the millionth time that morning. "Of course I gave her a birthday kiss."

"I bet you did a whole lot of other stuff with her, too," Cynthia snickered. Blake rolled his eyes, not dignifying that with a response.

"My point is, I'm not going to kiss you, you're my friend. NOT my girlfriend," Blake explained. Cynthia's sour expression indicated that she wasn't exactly happy about this.

"What, you can't kiss your friends now?" Cynthia asked.

"For many reasons, no, I can't," Blake said, shaking his head. Cynthia sighed, shrugging her shoulders in defeat.

"Not even on the cheek, huh."

"Cynthia, you're one of my best friends," Blake confided in her, causing her to brighten. "But please, don't abuse our friendship for stuff like this. I know you're just joking, but pestering me for kisses like this is going to bother Aya, and it might make her feel less comfortable about our friendship. I care about you Cynthia, I do, but if you keep trying stuff like this, then it's only going to make things more complicated."

"So no more dirty jokes?" Cynthia pouted.

"No, just… no more moves on me, please," Blake begged. "I don't want to put Aya in an uncomfortable position."

"What about… not even jokes?" Cynthia asked. She felt sick inside. This was her birthday, why couldn't Blake just play along and let her enjoy the boyfriend experience even for a little. "You know me, Blake, I can't help myself sometimes, that doesn't mean I mean anything about it?"

"Were you joking when you asked for a birthday kiss just now?" Blake asked. Cynthia flinched, dropping her eyes. Blake sighed. Yeah, that was what he thought.

"Cynthia…"

"It's just not fair," Cynthia pouted, slumping back in her seat, biting into a cinnamon roll to take out her irritation on it. "You don't get how hard it is to be in my shoes."

"Be in your shoes how?" Blake asked.

"I… I just have all these feelings inside, you know?" Cynthia sighed, finishing off the wrapped-up ball of sugar before reaching for another one. "Like… sometimes I just feel like hugging you tightly and rubbing up against you and planting kisses all over your-"

"Cynthia!"

"Sorry, sorry, it's just… I have no filter," Cynthia said. "I know that isn't an excuse, but… joking around with you, teasing you like that… it's a way for me to work out my impulses, you know? I promise, Blake, I PROMISE I won't do anything, please."

She looked at him with teary eyes.

"You know me, Blake. Look into my eyes, and tell me if you think you can trust me or not," Cynthia pleaded. "I don't want to ruin your relationship. I love you, but I know you don't…" she sniffed, and then continued, "I know you don't feel the same way. But please, look me in the eye and tell me whether or not you can trust me."

Blake didn't have to. He already trusted her.

"Of course I trust you," Blake insisted, reaching out and placing his hand over hers. "It's not about trust. It's about my girlfriend potentially feeling uncomfortable around you, around us. I don't want that, and I don't think you want that, either."

Cynthia shook her head, of course she didn't.

"Look, if Aya was here, and she saw you making jokes like that, she'd feel miserable," Blake said. "And she wouldn't say anything, because she knows how much we mean to each other, but that still wouldn't make her feel much better about it."

Cynthia's face fell.

"Blake, I didn't mean-"

"I care about you both, and I don't want her to feel upset about us hanging out together," Blake said. "And I'm sure you don't want to make her feel bad or uncomfortable, right?"

"Of course not!" Cynthia said, shaking her head frantically. "Please, I promise, just let me talk to Ayame, let me explain that, well…"

"That you were trying to get a kiss from her boyfriend?"

Cynthia hung her head sheepishly. Yeah, that wasn't going to go very well.

"Look, okay, look, has Ayame said anything about the two of us?" She asked.

Blake shook his head, "no, that's why I'm bringing it up with you now."

"Okay, I invited you two to my birthday party tonight, right?" Cynthia asked. Blake nodded. "Good. Then you two come. And I'll show you that you can ABSOLUTELY trust me! I'll be on my best behavior! Blake, you're one of my best friends, I don't want things to be weird between us, okay? And in spite of my… attitude, I DO NOT want to come between you and Ayame, okay? I think she's the best thing that ever happened to you, even though I know that I would be even better."

"Cynthia…"

"Hey, it's not about me causing trouble, it's just my opinion," Cynthia said.

"Still. I don't want you to make Aya feel insecure," Blake asserted.

Cynthia frowned. She fell silent, staring at Blake with a contemplative look in her eye. It was unnerving, he wasn't used to her looking so suspicious.

"Blake… is everything okay between you and Ayame?" She asked. The way she said it sent a chill down his spine. It was a playful, flirty "hey, is there some way I can get between you two?" No, it was more serious than that, she seemed legitimately concerned.

"We're fine," Blake asserted.

"You're being overprotective of her, aren't you?" Cynthia asked. Blake flinched.

"Th-that's-"

"Don't try to lie to me Blake, how long do you think we've known each other?"

"…Not even half a year?" He replied.

"That's long enough," she scoffed, waving her hand. "Look, I can tell, okay? Blake, it's about your sister, isn't it? That's why you're being so protective of your relationship with Ayame. You're clinging to it, because you love her, and I get that. But… like you said, you haven't even talked with her about me, right?"

"That's… I mean, I haven't, but-"

"Then please talk with her," Cynthia said, her voice softening. "You're trying to pre-emptively solve the problem, Blake, without even taking the chance to talk with her about it and figure out how she feels, because you think you know what the right thing to do is. I know, because I recently made the same mistake."

Cynthia sighed, reaching up and rubbing her temples.

"Look, I made some… assumptions about Maddi, initially, and I didn't take the time to talk with her about it. That resulted in some animosity between us. So if you really want to resolve this, maybe just… talk with Ayame about it? See what she has to say?"

Blake couldn't deny what she was saying, not when she looked at him with those bright eyes of hers. She really did seem to know what she was talking about, and he couldn't say that he wasn't worried or being overprotective. He loved Ayame, and he didn't want to do anything that might lead to her having issues with him, or being hurt by his relationships with his friends.

But sitting down and thinking about it, Blake realized that Cynthia was probably right. This was something that he did need to talk with Ayame about, so they could get on the same page about what to do with Cynthia's feelings. She said that she trusted him not to do anything and he was grateful for that, but that didn't mean he didn't worry that she was just putting on a strong front for his sake. He didn't want to hurt her, even accidentally.

He'd done enough of that already, back before he had been aware of his feelings towards her.

"…Yeah, you're probably right, Cynthia," Blake said, nodding. Cynthia grinned, giving him a thumbs' up.

"Of course I'm right, silly!" She laughed. "And don't you worry, I promise, I'm going to be on my best behavior for the party tonight. It's my birthday, after all!"

Blake didn't know what the correlation was between it being Cynthia's birthday and her being on her best behavior. In fact, knowing Cynthia's personality, he was a little bit worried that it would have the OPPOSITE effect, and encourage her to be more selfish and demanding.

"You promise?" He asked.

"Of course," Cynthia grinned. "No begging for kisses or fondling boobs, no accidental grabbing your crotch-"

"If you have to say that then it wasn't going to be on accident," Blake reminded her. Cynthia stuck out her tongue in response.

"Of course, I can only promise that's the case normally," she reminded him. "When it comes to the Truth or Dare game, well… anything's possible."

She gave him a wry smirk, Blake rolling his eyes.

"WHY do you insist on us playing truth or dare for the afterparty?" He asked.

"…Not a party otherwise," she grinned, shrugging her shoulders. She followed up with a husky whisper, "tonight's gonna be all kinds of fun."

So, Cynthia's birthday party! How's she going to celebrate? What shenanigans will she get up to? And, most importantly… how will the truth or dare game play out?

So for the coming party, I'm going to give you guys a chance to weigh in a little and participate. Cynthia's going to be playing a game of Truth or Dare for her birthday, and that means that things might start getting a little hot and heavy. So I'm going to need some truths, and a WHOLE lot of dares, so this is where you guys come in. These are the guests at the party. I want you guys to give me some truths and some dares you want the characters to ask each other (I will be the final decider of what truths and what dares ultimately make it in, for… legal reasons) So, for example:

Cynthia truths Sango: "What's the name of the person you have a crush on?"

Or

Kitty dares Julia to: "pat Kitty on the head and tell her she's a good girl for five minutes."

So go nuts, this game should be a lot of fun, as fun as you want to make it! Please, come up with as many interesting and fun truths and dares as you can, there's no such thing as too many! (But please keep them rated T, nothing more than some light groping and comical nudity) Here's the guest list, aka the players that are temporarily yours to control:

Cynthia (Obviously)

Blake

Sango

Julia

Kitty

Reiner

Nikita

Nick

Callie

Maddi

Ayame

Giselle

Aidan

Serefina

Akira

Dakota

Kate (For some reason)

Caelia

And Sylvia (Because I'm a bad person)