Sango and Aidan are gone! Oh no! What could have happened to them? Were they spirited away by the ghost? Or maybe they snuck off to go make out. Hopefully they'll be alright, and no one else will get lost or spirited away. Those two are capable Ranger Course students, so maybe they'll be okay after all, and not have any other issues. Let's hope that's the case.

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: That would be helpful. More eyes on the situation, after all. We just have to hope that it'll go down that way.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 1046


"SANGO!" Cynthia shouted up Jagged Pass. "SANGO! AIDAN! IF YOU CAN HERE ME, WE'RE HEADING BACK TO THE INN! HURRY UP AND GET BACK HERE!"

She paused to catch her breath, listening closely for the two rangers in training. She scanned the mountainside with her flashlight, but she couldn't see anyone.

"…Nope, nothing," she sighed glumly, shaking her head. "I guess the ghost must have gotten them. We'll just have to head back and hope they'll be okay."

"Or we could go back UP the mountain," Blake replied, not very amused. In spite of his earlier fear, he wasn't about to just abandon Sango here. Or Aidan either, he supposed.

Cynthia glared at him. "I'm not going back up there! I love Sango like a sister! Heck, I love her more than my actual sister sometimes! But I'm not going to risk more of us to the ghost's curse! She'll have to get out of there on her own!"

Blake wasn't sure how serious she was, but he didn't want anything happening to his friend. And if Cynthia wasn't going to help her, then he'd go himself.

"Well, I'm going," he decided. "You guys can just stay here, I guess."

He walked towards Jagged Pass, when Caelia grabbed him. She stared at him silently.

"What? You want to come? No way, it's too dangerous, you should stay here," Blake said, shaking his head. He remembered when Caelia had gotten lost on Mt. Chimney, and tonight's expedition had just confirmed his fears that she hadn't improved her hiking abilities. He didn't want a repeat of what had happened before.

Caelia stared silently at him for a while longer.

Nick cleared his throat. "Um… I have Charmeleon here," he said, releasing his pokemon again. Charmeleon's tail lit up the surrounding area, bathing Jagged Pass in a soft orange glow. Caelia turned towards him and walked over, standing in the light.

Blake gave Nick a silent thank you and turned, heading up the mountain.

"Wait! Blake! Wait for me!"

Blake whirled around to see a flashlight skipping back and forth as its holder jogged up the pass towards him.

It was Cynthia.

"You?" He raised his eyebrow. "I thought you weren't coming."

"I know," she panted, shaking. "You can make all the jokes you want about me being a coward when we get back. But right now, the important thing is finding those two. They might have their pokemon with them, but they're no match for a ghost."

Blake cracked a smile.

"Nah. You're definitely not a coward. Now let's go. We need to find where they went." He turned and continued to walk up the mountain, when they both froze.

Standing above them, illuminated by the beam of their flashlights, was Sango.

And she was smiling.


Meanwhile, Sango and Aidan were walking up the Jagged Pass. They'd elected not to take the standard, more passable route.

"Are you sure you're cool to go this way?" Sango called over her shoulder. She wrapped her hand around one of the sharp boulders, grateful she'd brought her climbing gloves. She hauled herself up and reached for another handhold, scaling the rough terrain gracefully.

"Yeah, no problem," Aidan assured her. He may have been behind Sango, but he was matching her pace. "It's good practice. I'm just surprised you thought now was a good time."

"Oh, really?" Sango asked, laughing good-naturedly as she pulled herself onto a rock ledge for a quick break, dangling her legs over the side. "Don't tell me you're afraid of ghosts, Aidan? I wouldn't have expected that from you."

"Shinx!" Arion called up to her, frowning.

"See?" Sango laughed. "Even Arion says that you shouldn't be afraid!"

"Castform!" Silver nodded in agreement.

"That's not what he said," Aidan grumbled, pulling himself up next to Sango. Arion hopped off of his shoulder and into his lap.

"Yeah, whatever. I can't believe a tough guy like you would be afraid of ghosts," Sango said, shaking her head.

"Ghosts are scary," Aidan shrugged. "Assuming they're real, of course. If they are real, then they're something that my muscles can't fight off. But you know, I'm not REALLY scared of them. Just, you know, the idea of them. Since Ghost type pokemon are so powerful, if real ghosts are a thing too, then they must be dangerous."

"Well, think about it this way," Sango shrugged. "If Ghost type pokemon exist, then do you really think normal ghosts are a thing? Wouldn't it be more likely to believe that Ghost types are just those very same spirits? There are a bunch of legends like that, right? Stuff like Yamask and Phantump, who are rumored to be roaming spirits of people? So maybe ghosts don't exist at all."

"I see it the other way," Aidan shrugged. "The fact that Ghost type pokemon exist as a recognizable phenomenon makes it more likely that things like real ghosts exist. There are just so many things that are unexplained, you know?"

Sango frowned. Then she shrugged her shoulders and turned to look over the darkened countryside. She saw the lights of Lavaridge in the distance.

"I guess I've just never seen it as that big of a deal," she replied. "To me, ghosts aren't much of an issue, whether they're real or just pokemon."

"That's really impressive," Aidan said, his voice carrying admiration. "I'm surprised that you're not frightened of ghosts. Even someone as strong as Elaina Bishop is afraid of ghosts, you know? It's pretty cool."

Sango barked out a laugh. "Well, she certainly doesn't SAY she's afraid of ghosts. But I get your point," she nodded. "I guess I'm just different."

"Different and cool," Aidan added. She laughed again, then a wistful smile crossed her face.

"The truth is… I've never been frightened of ghosts," she said. "I think I told you about my mom, right Aidan?"

Aidan nodded. "Yeah. Didn't she pass away when you were really little?"

"Yeah, I was just a kid," Sango said solemnly. "After she died… she wasn't there anymore to make me feel safe. But I've still never been scared of ghosts. Because my dad explained the whole thing to me. I mean, if ghosts are real… then wouldn't any ghosts hanging around me be my mom? I'm sure… she wouldn't let anything happen to me. So any ghosts that try to get me, they'll have her to deal with!"

Aidan was amazed that she could be so mature about it. He sighed. No matter how hard he tried, it appeared that he just couldn't get over Sango yet. She was just too cool.

I've got a long road ahead of me, I guess, he decided. "So what do you want to do then?" He asked, turning to her. "Do you want to keep going to the mansion? Or do you want to head back?" Honestly, he didn't get why they'd even come out here. It wasn't like Sango would get anything from a test of courage, she didn't seem to care one way or the other.

Sango looked him in the eye and shrugged, her face illuminated by the flashlight in her hands. "Well… when else am I going to get a chance to bask in nature like this? All we've done since we got here is hang around the inn. I saw this place on my run this morning, and I thought it would be a perfect place to get some fresh air."

She sighed.

"I love her, but Cynthia's really exhausting sometimes…"

Aidan nodded. He wasn't particularly close with the redhead, but Sango was, and she sure complained about her a lot. It was how he knew what good friends they were. Sango had nice things to say about everyone, but if she talked about how much you pissed her off, that was how you knew she cared. Especially Cynthia and Blake, it seemed that the people closest to her were the ones who frustrated her the most.

"So what now? Want to head back? Unless you really want to climb all the way up to that mansion with a flashlight in your mouth," he joked.

"Fair enough," Sango agreed, hopping to her feet. She stretched her arms, and yawned. "Anyway, I'm ready to head back." She cupped her hands. "Hey, ghosts! If you're gonna haunt us, now's the time! Let's get this show on the road!"

There was silence. Simply the chilling wind of the night rustling through the trees, giving a low, mournful howl.

"…Whelp, there's nothing there," Sango grinned, turning back to Aidan. "Are you ready to go back, Aidan?" She asked.

Aidan nodded, standing up, and they headed down the Jagged Pass again. When they finally got back to the bottom and reunited with the others, they were in for a big surprise.

"Sango? And Aidan? You made it back?" Julia gasped in disbelief.

"The ghost didn't get you!" Kitty cried out in joy, her eyes watering. "Oh, thank god! I was so worried that something bad might have happened to you!"

"Yeah, no, we're fine, no ghosts at all," Sango said, looking around. "But where are Blake and Cynthia? Shouldn't they be here?"

"They… went to go find you," Julia muttered, hanging her head.

Reiner sighed, slapping his forehead. "This is just ridiculous," he grumbled, shaking his head. "It's a regular comedy of errors here."

"Okay, well, those two couldn't have gotten far," Sango said, turning around to face the pass again. "Don't worry. I'll go up and bring 'em back. You guys all stay here."

"What?! No way!" Kitty exclaimed. "We can't have anyone else go up the mountain! It's not safe! What if the ghost gets you?!"

"The ghosts won't get me. I have mom on my side," Sango winked, as if that was in any way reassuring to the terrified kitten.

"B-But…" Kitty stuttered, shaking her head.

"Kitty's right," Julia snapped. "We're not letting anyone go back up there. I guarantee if you climb up that pass, two minutes from now Blake and Cynthia will come down and then YOU'LL be the one who's missing."

"So what should we do? Just leave them there?" Sango asked. "What if they wander off the path and fall down a ravine? No, it's too dangerous for amateurs to traverse that terrain, we shouldn't have even come in the first place."

"Um…" Nick raised his hand tentatively. Everyone turned to look at him.

"What?" Sango snapped.

He held up his cell phone. "Why doesn't one of us just call them?"

Everyone stared at Nick for a second.

"…Cell phone," Sango remarked dryly. "Blake and Cynthia thought of climbing up the crumbling trail of the ghost-filled mountain looking for us in the dead of night before they thought 'cell phone'."

"Well, no one ever accused them of being smart," Julia grumbled. "I'll do it. I have their numbers." She pulled her phone out of her pocket and dialed Cynthia's cell, and she picked up right away. Her voice was rather cheery, given the situation.

"Hey, Julia, great timing!" Cynthia chirped. She and Blake were following a smiling Sango deeper up the Jagged Pass. "We found Sango! And she's taking us back to Aidan!"

A perplexed look crossed her face.

"Huh? Yeah, it's definitely her. …Because I know what Sango looks like, that's how. …No, I'm not going crazy, it's really her." She was starting to get annoyed at this point. "Look, how can you be so sure that I'm wrong, huh!?"

Cynthia's face went pale.

"…Oh. And she's right there? And you're sure of it?" She whispered nervously, glancing up at the smiling Sango. Suddenly, the blonde didn't look as real as she did before.

"C-Can you… put her on? Just to be sure?" Cynthia squeaked out.

Julia rolled her eyes and handed Sango her phone.

"Hey, Cynthia, it's me. What's up? What's this about following me?" Sango asked, confused.

"S-Sango… that… that's really you?" Cynthia gulped.

"…Uh, yeah, pretty sure, why?" Sango asked.

"And… you're sure you're not standing seven feet in front of me right now?" Cynthia stared at the plastered-on smile of the Sango lookalike, and took a shaky step back.

"…Nope. I'm down here, at the foot of the mountain. So what's the deal here? You coming down? Or do I have to go up and get you?"

Cynthia didn't answer. She just hung up the phone.

"Cynthia? What's going on? Who was that?" Blake asked, frowning. He had only caught snippets of the conversation, but it was enough to worry him.

"Oh, uh… no… no big deal," Cynthia said, shaking her head. "Just, uh… we, uh, need to go. Like, now. Right now."

"Go? What, go back? We can't, Aidan, Silver, and Arion are still missing," Blake reminded her.

"Uh… that was Julia right now," Cynthia gulped. "She said those guys… all came back. Like… about five minutes ago."

Blake took a second to process that.

"So… you're saying that Sango and her group… made it down from Jagged Pass," he reasoned out carefully.

Cynthia nodded.

"Which means Sango, right now, is at the foot of Mt. Chimney."

She nodded again.

"Which means the person standing behind us isn't Sango."

Cynthia nodded for a third time.

Blake slowly turned around to see "Sango" face to face with him. She was smiling. Her eyes flashed and she pounced. Blake just barely managed to leap out of the way.

"Run!" He shouted. "RUN! NOW!"

"No, screw running!" Cynthia said, grabbing a pokeball from her waist. "Elise! I know you're still exhausted from this morning, but we really need you, girl!"

"Swellow!" Elise squawked, emerging from her pokeball. She was tired, but still capable of flying. She spread her wings and Cynthia hopped on her back. Blake climbed on behind her.

Now, Elise was a capable flyer. And she could even fly with Cynthia's weight, if needs be. But Blake added a considerable burden to that, and it wasn't weight she was used to flying with. It was a miracle she wasn't rolling down the hill.

It was Kitty who spotted them first. Even though Elise was more falling out of the sky than flying towards the group, Kitty could see them just as Elaina sensed them.

"They're coming right for us!" Aidan exclaimed.

"Oh, no they're not," Elaina said, narrowing her eyes. She stepped forward and raised her hand, and the wind around her leapt up. Her eyes flashed silver and suddenly Elise felt immense power surge through her body. She braked her fall, carrying herself with surety as she slowly stabilized. At the same time, the wind Elaina called served as an updraft, lifting the bird pokemon up on a cloud of air, causing her to gently drift to the ground.

Elise landed in front of them, panting. Cynthia and Blake practically rolled off.

"Are you two okay?" Kitty asked. Her eyes shifted left and right. "You guys, um… you didn't see the ghost again, did you?"

Cynthia and Blake made eye contact, and both turned pale. They leapt to their feet, brushing dirt and debris off their clothes.

"Let's forget about that!" Cynthia practically shouted. "It's getting really late! And if I want my post-hike soak in the hot springs, I need to get it now!"

"That sounds like a good idea!" Blake said, nearly as loudly. "In fact, that sounds like such a good idea, I think I'll join you! …But in my own bath, of course," he hastily clarified. "Absolutely nothing suspicious about that, nope!"

"…They totally saw the ghost again, didn't they?" Julia sighed.

Sango smiled. She walked over to her friends to thank them. Even though she didn't need the help, it made her feel all floaty inside to know that her best friends had climbed the mountain and risked being attacked by a ghost to come find her.

"Hey, Cynthia, Blake, I just wanted to say-"

Sango didn't get a chance to finish her sentence, because Blake and Cynthia took one look at her and screamed, stumbling over themselves to get away from her.

"Hey! Come on! Don't be rude!" Sango scowled. "I'm trying to thank you, you jerks!"

"I-I just wanna go home," Kitty whimpered. She hadn't seen the ghost herself, but the sooner she was curled up in her futon, the better.

"You said it, Kitty, let's go home," Reiner agreed. The group of kids said their farewells to the Jagged Pass, and headed back towards Lavaridge City and the inn.

But what they didn't realize was that they weren't alone. Something had followed them back from the Jagged Pass, and the smile on its face was certainly not a benevolent one. The being giggled to itself as it stalked them from the shadows.


Well, that's… almost good, I guess. Thankfully, nobody was injured or killed or spirited away by the ghosts or whatnot. That's something to be happy about. But at the same time, it seems like the problems our characters are facing haven't quite ended just yet. Something's following them back to the inn… but what could it be? And what does it want? Nothing good, I'd wager.