Well, Cynthia mustered up all of her courage to ask Serefina to join her on her trip to the Hoenn Region and Lavaridge, but unfortunately Serefina's going to be busy. But there are still a lot of other people that they can invite! Who else could come with them? What about Aidan? Will Cynthia invite him to come next? Or maybe have Blake do it? Unless… could there be someone who the invitation would be much more entertaining coming from? I guess we'll have to find out!

The Final Round of the Pokemon Academy Best Girl Contest 3 has begun! Get the votes going in soon! There are three girls in the finals! Who's going to win? Chloe? Cynthia? Or Vic? One of those girls will become the third best girl, so get those votes in as soon as possible! You've only got one vote this time, so make it count!

Finalists: Chloe, Cynthia, Vic

KedharS: Hopefully, she can convert that that active imagination into something tangible, like the Battle Frontier!

Hyphenman: Yup, we're going to take a quick arc for a break to let the stuff in the Orre Region simmer. The arc's going to be real intense and have a lot of battles, but before we get to it I want to provide some breathing room with a light break focusing on what our cast is doing for spring break! Which should hopefully be a lot of fun!

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 1027

Cynthia let out a long sigh as she and Blake trudged back from Kangaskhan Hall. She hadn't had high hopes for Serefina agreeing to come on their trip, but it was still a bit of a disappointment. Luckily, she'd saved them a trip by letting them know that Dakota wouldn't be able to come either. She was staying behind with Serefina, for reasons that the sophomore didn't want to get into at the moment. Apparently there were some medical issues, but Cynthia wasn't sure what that had to do with anything, and didn't ask.

"Hey, you know, it could have gone worse," Blake said. "I mean, she didn't get mad about your nosebleed, so that's progress anyway."

"Hey, yeah!" Cynthia brightened. "That was like one of the first times that Serefina and I have talked and we actually parted on good terms!"

"Congrats," Blake dryly responded. "So what now? Is there anyone else you want to invite on the trip? Your friend Danica, maybe?"

"Already asked her," Cynthia sad, shaking her head. "Danica said she couldn't come. I wonder if there's anyone else we could ask…"

"You guys thinking of ideas about who you can ask for your trip?"

Cynthia and Blake looked up to see Nikita approaching them.

"Oh, hey Nikita, what's up? You change your mind?" Cynthia asked hopefully. "If you want to come, there's still time to arrange a private room for you and your boyfriend."

Nikita's dark cheeks flushed and she shook her head. "Wh-Why would you even suggest something like that?" She demanded. "That's just… no! We're not ready for that yet! I-I was just saying that if you can't think of anyone else who you'd like to come, I know a guy."

Cynthia crossed her arms over her chest and raised her eyebrow. "Well… look, not to sound unwelcoming, but… this trip is kind of just for my friends, you know? Inviting a friend of a friend who I don't even know would just be… awkward."

"Jeesh you don't have to be rude about it," Blake winced.

Nikita was a little put off but she powered through. "Hey, I mean, you don't HAVE to invite him, it was just a suggestion," she said. "You're the one who said that the point of this trip was to show your grandparents you have friends, right?"

"…I do have friends!" Cynthia insisted. "Just… you know, not a lot."

"Which is strange considering how outgoing you are," Blake noted curiously. Cynthia shrugged.

"Well, like, there's 'class friends' and then there's 'trip friends' you know? If only Maddi was around, I'd have invited her, but it looks like she's having a blast in Orre," she replied. "In the meantime, sure, why the heck not. Who's the guy?"

"My friend Will," Nikita said. Cynthia's jaw dropped.

"Wait, is he the one dating the cyborg?!" She exclaimed. "Why didn't you say that in the first place then?!"

"Um, I think she's an android, actually, and I don't know if they're actually dating, but… I guess that's not important…" Nikita's voice began to trail off as she realized that Cynthia was no longer really listening to her, too busy obsessing about Will and Misato's relationship.

"This is gonna be so awesome! That guy was pretty cool if memory serves. I think he's in one of my classes? Anyway, totally hook us up!" Cynthia slapped Nikita on the shoulder and she stumbled back, sighing.

"…Yeah. Sure thing." She turned and led them back the way she came, mumbling under her breath, "it's not like I was going somewhere already to do something important…"

Still, Cynthia's cheerfulness and exuberance about the upcoming trip was enough to turn Nikita's mood around pretty quickly, and soon she was all smiles herself.

"So if Will does agree to come, that'll be eight people, right?" Nikita said. "Kitty's been talking about the trip all week, and with you six…"

"Nine, actually," Blake corrected her.

"Oh, nine? Wait, you were coming back from Kangaskhan Hall, does that mean you asked Serefina to come?" Nikita asked.

Cynthia sighed. "Well, we did ask… thing is though, she couldn't make it, since she has to stay back like you. Only she's looking after pokemon instead of… what are you doing again?"

"I'm working on extra credit by helping out Professor Reinhart," Nikita said. "So if Serefina's not coming, who's number nine?"

"That would be Aidan," Cynthia answered.

"Oh! Sango's friend, from your birthday party? Yeah, I remember him…"

"Still you should probably ask him first," Blake reminded Cynthia, remembering that Aidan was less than enthusiastic about going to Cynthia's celebration last week. He might refuse to go on the trip at all, which would probably make Cynthia even more irritated. But she didn't appear to be bothered by that fact at all.

"Oh, don't worry," she purred, a mischievous look crossing her face. "That issue's being settled, just you wait…"

Blake wasn't sure what that meant, and he didn't like the evil gleam in Cynthia's eye. She clearly had arranged something bad, and he guessed it had to do with what she'd spoken to Sango about right before they left. But he didn't say anything, and just followed after her. Something like this wasn't his problem.

Across campus, Cynthia's brilliant little plan was blossoming perfectly. Sango trudged through the dorms, an exhausted look on her face.

She didn't want to do this. It was going to be incredibly embarrassing. Asking Aidan to come with them on their trip? After what had gone down between them on Valentine's Day? It was going to be the most awkward conversation that she'd ever had. Heck, she wasn't even sure if she wanted him to come, given the history between the two of them. But Cynthia had insisted, and when it came down to it, even with the awkwardness of his confession, they were still friends. So she was at least willing to ask him if he wanted to come.

You know, as soon as she worked up the courage to knock on his door, that was.

"Come on, come on," she whispered to herself, taking a few deep breaths. "You don't need to be nervous. He's your friend. It's not like anything awkward's going to happen, it's literally just asking a friend for a favor. Not even a favor! Just checking to see if he'd like to hang out, that's it. It's not a big deal."

She said that, but her hand still wasn't knocking.

"Castform?" Silver looked questioningly at her, and she sighed.

Yeah. She needed to get this over with. So she sucked up her courage and rattled her fist against the door, and a few seconds later it cracked open and Aidan peeked out. When he saw it was Sango, he flinched, then forced a smile to his face.

"…Hey, Aidan," Sango said, waving awkwardly, an equally forced smile on her face. "How've you been? It's been a while."

"Hi Sango, yeah… you know how it is," he mumbled, shrugging his shoulders. "Just, you know, enjoying some time with Arion, just the two of us."

"Oh, that's great!" Sango said. "Yeah, um… yeah, that's… great. Haven't seen you around the Snorlax Commons you know? Not for a while anyway."

"Yeah, um… I get takeout a lot," he mumbled.

"Oh. Sounds nice, yeah," she mumbled back.

God. Shoot her. This was the most awkward conversation she'd ever been in, and given the fact that she'd had several conversations with the boy she liked that ended with her being too embarrassed to confess her feelings, that was really saying something.

Sango exhaled. With one notable and very cute exception, she was the kind of person who always said what she felt. "…This is awkward, isn't it?" She weakly asked, and Aidan nodded reluctantly. They both sighed.

"I guess we're really not dealing with this the best we could be," Sango groaned, slumping against his doorframe. "Look, Aidan-"

"No, no, it's my fault," Aidan said quickly. "Look, you're the one who wanted to stay friends, and I'm the one who bailed and stopped hanging out with you all the time."

"Which you were totally in the right to do!" Sango reminded him. "I mean, I did shoot you down kind of hard. On Valentine's Day. It would make sense that you'd need some time and space away from me, I don't blame you at all!"

Her cheeks turned a little pink. "And I mean… yeah, it's both flattering and awkward that you like me, but I don't mind. Really, I don't. So if you don't hold a grudge for me rejecting you-"

"What?! Of course I don't!" Aidan exclaimed. "That would be awful! I don't blame you at all for turning me down, especially since you have a guy you like!"

Sango let out a screech, pushing him back into his room and kicking the door shut behind her. She slapped her hands over his mouth.

"Hey! Don't say that!" She hissed, glancing over her shoulder. But with the door closed, the only person she saw was Silver, bobbing silently behind her with a smile. "What if someone heard you?! That's not cool dude!"

"Sorry, sorry," Aidan said, standing back up. His heart was racing from the fact that the girl he very much still had feelings for had practically tackled him. "I mean… I just thought…"

"NO ONE can find out that I… that I have a crush!" Sango pleaded, her face bright red. "I-I can't explain it now, but… it's a really big, complicated mess! So just… just keep it to yourself, please? Can you do that, Aidan?"

"…Yeah, not a problem," he assured her, flashing a shaky smile. He still felt a little awkward that she was here alone in his room. "So, um… now that that's settled… you're sure we're cool?"

Sango sighed, and nodded. "Yup. We're cool. Don't worry."

"Phew," Aidan sighed with relief. Truthfully, he wasn't handling things as well as he appeared to be. He did feel uncomfortable around Sango, especially now that he was aware of just how badly he'd misread her signals. It was embarrassing. But at the same time, he knew that she thought of him as a friend, and he felt the same, and knew how unfair it was to blame her for not liking him, when that was something completely natural.

So even if he was uncomfortable, he wasn't going to let that show any more than he had to. He'd just have to handle things normally and hope it went okay.

"So, uh, now that that's all settled, what's up?" He asked. "Why did you come by? To see if we're still good?"

"Well…" Sango couldn't say that wasn't one of the reasons she'd agreed to come, but unfortunately it wasn't the main one. "I was wondering if you were… you know, doing something over spring break? You and Arion?"

That. It was because of questions like that Aidan got the wrong idea about how Sango felt about him. He ignored the twinge in his heart and glanced over at Arion, who was watching curiously from his small bed.

"I mean… we don't have anything planned, why? What are you going to be doing?" Aidan asked, and immediately regretted it. He couldn't believe how creepy he sounded, asking a question like that to a girl he'd just been rejected by.

Luckily for Aidan's peace of mind, Sango didn't care about the implication. She just proceeded with her explanation.

"So do you remember my friend Cynthia?" She asked.

"The perky one, with the red hair?" It was hard to forget a girl like that, especially the way that she'd stare at him like he was a chunk of meat. Not that he wasn't flattered, it was just… well… he had someone else he liked. Although things with Sango were a nonstarter regardless.

"Yep, that's her. So the thing is, she's going back home to the Hoenn Region for spring break, and she's invited a bunch of us to come with her," Sango explained.

"Spring break on the beaches of Hoenn? Wow, that sounds like a blast," Aidan said, raising his eyebrow. "So what are you asking me about my plans?"

Sango stared at him like he was stupid. Sometimes it took a minute for Aidan to put the pieces together it seemed.

He gasped. "Oh! You mean… you mean you wanted to…"

"Yeah, so how about it?" Sango asked. "Wanna come? She's allowed to invite ten friends, so she thought you'd be fun to come, what do you think?"

"Me? Seriously? But we don't even know each other very well," Aidan said. "Are you sure she really wants me to come?"

"She says she does," Sango nodded. "Oh, and we're going to be staying at a hot spring, by the way. The one we stayed at during the field trip in fact."

"Seriously? That fancy place? Wow! How can she afford that?!" Aidan asked, remembering how great those hot springs were.

"Well, her grandparents own the place, so that makes it pretty easy," Sango explained. "And trust me, it's pretty great. I stayed there over winter break, and it was a lot of fun."

"Still, why is she inviting me?" Aidan asked. It was the only part of this that didn't make any sense. While Cynthia was a nice and friendly girl and he had no reason to doubt why she would want to invite people on trips under normal circumstances, he figured that she must have much better friends than him that she could ask.

Sango opened her mouth to say she wasn't quite sure herself, suspecting it was just to round out the numbers, but then she caught herself as she took note of something that had mostly slipped her mind in the time she'd gotten to know Aidan.

Namely, the fact that he was incredibly cut.

Even by the standard of a Pokemon Ranger, Aidan was in phenomenal shape. There was a reason that Cynthia was always drooling over him, even though she barely knew him. But somehow Sango suspected that Cynthia was after more than just a little eye candy.

The last time Cynthia had invited Sango and Maddi to her grandparents' hot spring, her folks had forced the girls to handle a bunch of chores. It had nearly slipped her mind, but now that the trip was almost upon them it had wormed its way back into her mind.

If Cynthia was going to be roped into doing housework, along with her friends, then it made sense to drag in a guy in as great of shape as Aidan.

Then she remembered that she'd told everyone in the group all the specifics about her trip with Maddi and Cynthia, including the part about all the strenuous chores. Now that she was thinking about it, maybe Nikita, who loathed physical labor, had decided to take up Professor Reinhart's extra credit work for reasons beyond the purely academic.

Yeah… she would do that, wouldn't she… Sango admitted, her expression souring.

Aidan just stared innocently at her, still waiting for an answer.

She just sighed and shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know," she lied, "maybe she's just hoping she can see you in a speedo?"

…Aaaaaand great. Now she had THAT image stuck in her head. It wasn't like she didn't find Aidan attractive or anything, it was just…

Well, she didn't like him that way right now.

Aidan, for his part, took Sango's explanation pretty well. His face turned red but he pushed past it and shrugged.

"Well, I mean… it's not like I'm THAT opposed to it," he admitted. "And besides, Arion and I didn't really have any plans for the break anyway, so who knows? It could be fun."

"Yeah, that's the spirit!" Sango nodded eagerly. "Just think of it as a fun vacation that's getting completely paid for by someone else!"

"Yeah, I'll call my folks to check in, and tell them I'm going to spending the break with a friend," Aidan said, grinning. When he saw Sango's smile in return, a stab of guilt pierced his chest. In spite of his smile, his intentions on this trip weren't exactly completely pure. At the moment, his attention was occupied by thoughts of Cynthia.

Sure, she was cute, and maybe she had a thing for him. It didn't matter though, because he wasn't interested.

But maybe, if she flirted with him… well, it felt awful to think this, but maybe that would make Sango jealous. And maybe if she was jealous, well…

He knew that Sango was still trying to get over the guy that she had a crush on. Was it so wrong to hope that this trip would be a way to maybe get her to do it? Not that he'd make a move or anything. He'd already decided to respect their friendship. If he and Sango were meant to be together, then it was up to her to make the first move.

But trying to inspire a little jealousy in his friend by letting Cynthia flirt with him for a little while wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to do, right? It was just basic human nature to be flattered at someone finding you attractive, and if that had the result of making the girl he liked want to be with him, well…

That could be considered a win-win.

"Well, I'm glad you're coming," Sango smiled, completely ignorant of her friend's ulterior motives. "This should be a lot of fun! I'm glad we're finally able to hang out as friends again!"

And with that innocent smile, all of Aidan's plans were purged. He couldn't bring himself to do something as shady as try and make Sango jealous, she was too sweet for that. Instead he just settled on enjoying the trip, and letting whatever would happen, happen.

So, Sango's invited the boy who has a crush on her to a trip at a fancy hot spring! Surely nothing will come out of this! In the meantime, the others are trying to find the remaining people to fill the ten slots, who else is going to come on the trip, I wonder?