Everyone's gone and taken a nice lunch break, and it looks like they're all getting along. But where will they go after this? Cynthia seems to have her heart set on the water slides, but what about the rest of the group? Will they all want to join in? Hopefully now that the gang's together we can finally get some wholesome fun in the sun with them all!

KedharS: Yep. When you're as far behind as Elaina is, even tiny steps forward can seem like massive ones.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 1065

Kitty stared warily at Julia. Everyone was talking about what they were planning to do after lunch, and the consensus was definitely "water slides". Even the normally-taciturn Caelia had agreed (more or less- she didn't SAY one way or another) to give them a chance.

But Kitty was less sure. Before, she had been willing to risk it, but for some reason, when she'd brought up the idea to Julia, her friend had shut down and got rather upset. Kitty hadn't had a chance to ask why that was due to everything that happened with Trixie, and now it felt like the time was off. Which left her uncomfortable with agreeing to go, but still-

"Kitty, what about you, is your stomach feeling better?"

Damn, it Sango!

Kitty wasn't the cursing sort, she was far too sweet and polite to say such mean words out loud. But that was definitely what she was feeling when Sango put her into the center of attention. She was innocent enough, of course, just including Kitty in the conversation. But it wasn't that simple!

"I-I guess…" Actually it wasn't. Kitty was starting to feel queasy again. But unlike before, the cause was primarily the concerned shadow she saw cross over Julia's face.

Kitty sighed. Julia was trying to protect her again. It was what she loved and hated about her best friend the most. Julia was always worried, concerned, the perfect friend. But at times (all too frequently to count) that concern would spill over into overprotectiveness.

"I don't think you should push yourself if you're not feeling up to it," Julia said. She looked… scared? Kitty couldn't believe it; Julia wasn't afraid of anything.

But seeing that her friend was so concerned about her that she was actually frightened, that solidified Kitty's resolve. She took a deep breath, and exhaled. "Actually… I'm up for it," she said. She kept her eyes focused on Sango, too scared to see Julia's reaction. "If you guys are going on water slides, then I want in!"

"Yeah, that's what I'm talking about!" Cynthia cheereed, slapping Kitty on the back. "I love this new adventurous Kitty! You go, girl!"

"Haha… yeah… thanks," Kitty mumbled. She glanced at Julia, and winced. The other girl wasn't even angry. She was white as a sheet.

"Julia, what about you?" Cynthia asked, turning to her roommate. "You feeling good? You look a little green around the gills."

"It's… I'm fine," Julia snapped. "I'm just not good around water, that's all."

That got a few gasps of surprise. No one had seen that coming.

"But you were fine in the baths," Cynthia said, confused.

"But then, you don't really us the pool much at school," Sango mused. She remembered that when Julia was helping out Marion, she didn't spend much time on the pier.

"What, you're afraid of drowning or something? I wouldn't have expected that from you," Reiner laughed.

"SHUT UP!" Julia screamed, standing and slapping her hands on the table so hard it shook. She turned murderous eyes Reiner's way. "SHUT you fucking MOUTH, Reiner!"

Reiner was taken aback. He'd been just teasing her like usual. He glanced at the others, but they were as confused as he was. He didn't know what line he'd crossed, but he'd clearly screwed up, bad.

"H-Hey, Julia, I didn't mean to-"

But she wasn't having any of it. "Just. Shut. Up. Got it?" She hissed through gritted teeth. Reiner knew that Julia didn't like him on her best day, so he took her advice and shut up.

Tension hung over the room now, and nobody felt like saying anything. They finished their lunches in awkward silence.

After cleaning up after themselves, Kitty walked over to Julia. She was really concerned. It wasn't just her issue now, Julia was clearly going through something. But Kitty had no idea what. She was perfectly normal all the way to Slateport, and had enjoyed the water slide a lot. But for some reason, she was now practically catatonic.

Julia sat on a bench with her face buried in her knees and her legs clutched tightly to her chest. Her defenses were fully raised, and she didn't look like she was moving any time soon. Everyone was standing on the side, wondering what to do. They all knew that Kitty was the only one who had a chance at getting her to talk.

Kitty wished she was as confident in her abilities as they were.

"H-Hey, Julia…" she walked over to her friend, reaching out to her. But Julia was too cold to touch right now.

Julia stirred a little, but didn't look up.

Kitty took a deep breath and exhaled. "Listen… if you're not feeling well… if you don't want to go on the water slides… then you don't have to. I'll stay here and keep you company, okay?" Sure, it would suck to miss out on the fun water slides. But would Kitty really have fun if she knew her best friend was sitting here feeling miserable? That was an easy question to answer.

Julia looked up, and she looked miserable. "You don't have to do that…" she muttered. "Go. Have fun. I'll be fine."

Oh yeah, because you look like you're going to be fine. Julia "looked" like she was going to be starring in a feature about serial killers.

Kitty shook her head adamantly. "I want to go on the slides with you. But if you don't want to, then I'll stay here."

Julia's face returned to being buried in her knees. "Why would you do that?" She mumbled.

"Because you're my friend, stupid," Kitty said, rolling her eyes. "And because when I wasn't feeling well, you stayed with me. You went shopping with me, went on the Lazy Lotad Lagoon ride, and even helped me catch Trixie. And you didn't complain about it at all, you just wanted me to have fun." She ran her fingers against the Deep Sea Tooth.

"And you gave me a really nice present, too," she added.

Julia laughed bitterly, sitting up a little. She fingered her own necklace. "I meant to give you this one, you know."

Kitty's jaw dropped. That… okay, yeah, that made sense. It was really pretty. "I don't wear jewelry like that though, you know?" She reminded Julia. "It's flashy. But something like this is a cool accessory, you know? So that's why I…"

"I know you don't," Julia groaned. "But I thought it would look good on you. Sorry."

"Don't apologize!" Kitty swatted her lightly on the head. For once, someone was low enough to the ground where she could rebuke them. "I'm happy! I'm so happy you were thinking about me when you bought it! In fact…"

Kitty reached up and took off her necklace, holding it out to Julia. "If you want to trade back… that's fine, too."

Julia fully looked up at her, amazed. "But… I thought you really liked it."

"Unn," Kitty nodded. "It's really cool. But believe me, it's fine. If that's what you want me to have, then I'll accept it gladly. Because it's a gift from you. Even if it doesn't suit me, I'd still wear it every day, you know."

Her face was hot. She was glad that Julia wasn't paying that much attention to her right now. Could she really say these cringe lines with a straight face?!

Elaina tugged on Blake's sleeve.

"Are… are they dating?" She asked, confused.

"You'd think so, right?" Blake muttered under his breath, rolling his eyes. "But no."

"Huh." Elaina didn't know what to say to that.

"I appreciate the offer," Julia said, kicking her legs down and grabbing her own necklace. "But I think we should stick with what we have. That one really suits you, too."

She couldn't believe she was so blind. Kitty didn't even have earrings. She wasn't the kind of girl who flaunted shiny baubles; her accessories were specially-designed for the fancy dresses she wore. And while a sharp tooth wasn't exactly the "Gothic Lolita" vibe, it was still pretty cool.

It fit the other girl a lot more than the scale did.

I wasn't really paying attention to what she wanted, Julia recognized, mentally slapping herself upside the skull. I was only thinking about what I wanted for her.

"I was only thinking about what I wanted for her" could have been the title to Julia's memoir as far as it involved Kitty.

"I'm glad," Kitty smiled at her friend, taking her necklace back. "I didn't really want to give it up, you know."

She turned to the others. "Julia and I are going to stay here," she called back. "You guys can go off to the water slides."

"…Are you sure?" Sango asked. She felt bad about the two of them not being able to go on any rides while they were here. But Kitty seemed resigned.

"It's fine," Kitty nodded. "Julia and I-"

"…Are going," Julia interrupted, rising to her feet. Kitty was startled, staring at her in amazement. Julia flashed an awkward smile. "…I mean, if you still want to go, of course. Those rides can be pretty intense."

Kitty was overjoyed. "Yes! Yes, absolutely! I'd love to go!" She gushed, nearly knocking Julia over with how hard she hugged the other girl. She practically dragged Julia back over to the others. Julia followed with a shaky smile on her face.

She wasn't sure this was a good idea. But that was fine. It was what Kitty wanted, and if that was the case, then she'd go along with it. She decided to rust a little more in her friend.

"I'm glad," Cynthia sighed in relief. "It just wouldn't feel right, not having everyone around to go on the slides."

"I agree," Sango nodded. And with that, the group of 12 headed off to the more intense sections of the water park. Stomach full, Sango had all sorts of slides she wanted to show the others. The brochures at this place were very thorough.

The first ride they tried was the Whiscash Wobbler. It was one of the water slides where you went with an inner tube. You could either go by yourself, or with a partner.

"Okay, me and Ruka are definitely going on it together," Cynthia decided. "And I'm guessing Kitty and Julia-"

A sharp nod from Julia answered that question easily enough.

"…Right. Great. As for you guys…" Everyone else decided the order they were going on. If they all went in pairs, they would be done faster. But still, some people wanted to go by themselves, like Reiner and Will.

"Um, I'll go with…" Elaina turned to Blake, but Caelia was unexpectedly fast, and had already grabbed his arm.

"…Sango?" Elaina sighed, turning to the other girl. Things were still a little awkward between the two of them. They'd been almost friends after spending a day together, but Elaina had kept a lot back from the other girl. And even if bygones were bygones on Sango's end, Elaina still felt a little uncertain about things.

Sango was happy as could be, though. "Absolutely!" She gushed. "I'd be happy to!" She practically hugged the other girl. Elaina sighed in relief. In her eyes, being her partner might be dangerous. Sango would have been well within her rights to tell the other girl where to stick it, and she was just being… sweet.

"So I guess that leaves you and me, huh?" Aidan laughed, slapping Nick on the back. He was carrying the inner tube for both boys with one hand, making Nick feel a little insecure. He may have been in good shape himself, but the other boy was just built differently.

For once, there was peace. Everyone was gathered together in line, just gossiping and talking about all the fun stuff they'd done so far. Even Elaina was dipping her toe in small talk.

"Um… pretty nice weather we're having, right?" She loudly said to Julia, who stared at her like she was an idiot.

"I mean… it's good that it's sunny. It would really suck if it rained. …Oh! But, um… I can't make it rain or anything with my powers, so don't worry. And even if it was raining, we're already in our bathing suits, so it's not like we have to worry about getting wet, right? Plus, Sango has her Castform here, so he could just make it sunny again, and, well…"

"…Right," Julia said with a slight nod, turning to go talk to Kitty.

So yeah. Just dipping her toe in. A small toe, like the pinkie toe. Elaina sighed and hung her head, vexed by her horrible social skills.

"Elaina, it's really impressive that you play video games."

Elaina was so surprised that someone was actually speaking to her, she nearly fell off the platform. Sango was actually making small talk!

"Uh… wh-what? Oh, um, yes?" She mumbled. Idiot! Idiot! It had been such a hectic day that she wasn't even thinking about games.

"I suppose it makes sense," Sango admitted, turning and staring out over the railing. "I played a lot when I was a kid, too. Since, you know… I didn't really have anything else to do with my time. I didn't have any kids my age to play with, so it was just me against the computer."

At heart, Sango was an extrovert. She loved dragging her friends along to do things. And no, it absolutely wasn't because she was compensating for her years of isolation, not at all. This was a perfectly healthy thing to do, and not a cry for help at all!

…Anyway, yes, she knew exactly what Elaina must have bee going through.

Elaina didn't see it that way, though. She was just surprised that Sango had grown up without any friends. The other girl seemed like the a social butterfly. Unlike Cynthia, who seemed to excel at bothering her friends as much as delighting them, she hadn't heard anyone say one bad word about Sango this entire trip.

"I, um… I spend most of my time in my room," she admitted shamefully, her cheeks reddening. "I guess I just… needed something to pass the time."

"I feel that," Sango nodded. "After my mom died, my dad was never around, so it was just Silver and me. And Silver doesn't have hands to use the controller."

Elaina winced. So Sango had lost her mom… she knew that feeling. She thought of her own mother, what little of her she could remember.

…Wait a minute!

"But what about that woman?" She asked, confused. "I remember, when Blake went missing, you brought that woman with you to the professor's office, I thought sheyou're your mother? Did something happen to her?"

A sour expression crossed Sango's face without her meaning it to. "That's… Elizabeth."

Elaina wasn't very good at social cues, but even she could tell that the way Sango emphasized that woman's name was her way of saying "it's complicated."

Sango quickly removed any doubt. "She's… my step-mom, I guess. Technically not yet, since they haven't gotten married yet, but you know how it is…"

Elaina stared at Sango. Right now, her face and voice were filled with the most bizarre set of emotions Elaina had ever seen.

"That's… I see. Well, she seems… very nice?" Elaina couldn't be sure if Sango liked her step-mother or loathed her, and was too much of a novice about friendship to know what to say in either case. So she said something awkward and non-committal instead, not wanting to set the other girl off on a massive rant on accident.

Luckily, Sango wasn't the type.

"She's very nice," Sango sighed. "And honestly, I do kind of lov… lik… err… think fondly of her. I guess. Can we not make a big deal out of it, please?"

Elaina was more than happy to do that.

"She did seem very… nice," Elaina echoed. She didn't know what else she should say in a situation like this.

Luckily, Sango didn't know much more. Her relationship with Elizabeth was complicated at best, and while she was no longer hostile towards the woman who'd intruded on her life, that didn't make them family.

Okay, so Elizabeth was nice. So what? And maybe it felt good to have her call every once and a while, but that didn't mean anything! Sango's dad never called, so she was just pleased to hear from someone who actually cared! And, like, it wasn't as if she thought of Elizabeth as a mother and called her "mom" or anything, of course she didn't! It was just nice to have an adult who cared about her and was happy to show she cared about her. And maybe she wasn't so lonely anymore, but that was all, really, Elizabeth was just… she was…

Sango wanted to scream.

Elaina didn't need her harmonia to tell that she needed to give the confused girl some space, so she wisely shut up and stepped aside, waitig quietly for the line to move forward. Meanwhile, Sango was left to stew in her own juices.

Sango couldn't help but think about Skye. It was the thing to do, after all, now that the woman had been placed in her head.

It's not like I feel bad because I wanted to spend time with my friends instead of staying over at her place or anything, she reminded herself. And it's definitely not because I miss her. I mean, she's not even my real mom. But it would be rude not to call her at least once, right? Just to check up on her? I mean, she calls me all the time to check in so it's just returning the favor. I don't need to make a big deal about it or anything.

Once she had suitably convinced herself that it was totally normal to call Elizabeth when they got back to the inn (or even on the bus, just in case) she finally let herself relax and get back into the water park spirit. After all, it really wasn't that big of a deal.

Nope, not that big of a deal at all. Sango's feelings involving Elizabeth are 100% normal and she definitely doesn't see her step-mother as anything but the woman that her father is engaged to. Certainly nothing else of significance whatsoever. But hey, at least she's happy, that's a good thing, right?