We're all heading for the water slides! And as we saw, things are going pretty good with everyone else. Cynthia and the others are excited, and even Julia is coming around! In the meantime, though, there was still that little bit of drama with Sango… hopefully everything is going okay with her, because she really deserves some wholesomeness too!

KedharS: The number of people Sango hasn't been a tsundere towards in one way or another is very low. It's how she shows she likes you (when she doesn't want you to know).

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 1066

Blake's body jostled as the inner tube hit the sloped wall of the water slide, bouncing off and turning sharply down the path, following the flow of water and gravity towards the bottom.

They were moving so fast, he didn't have time to look over his shoulder to see how Caelia was doing. He could feel her heels digging into his shoulders so he knew she hadn't fallen off, but he couldn't help but be curious about how she felt about the water slide. Was she having fun? Was she scared? Or more likely, was she completely ambivalent, like she always was?

He didn't have time to wonder as the tube had just bounced off the last turn, wobbling straight for the pool at the bottom. They hit the water with a splash and Blake felt the spray in his face, laughing as they skidded over the surface, coming to a stop in the middle of the pool.

"…Phew," Blake said, taking a moment to catch his breath. That was as exciting as he'd imagined it. The only thing that might have made it more intense was if it was one of those slides where he went in just by himself, with no tube.

But he didn't need to worry about that right now. He looked over his shoulder to see how Caelia was feeling. As he expected, she seemed ambivalent to what they'd just been through. Her pale skin was slightly flushed (and dripping wet- what little he could see, anyway) but beyond that there was no trace of emotion to be seen.

He tried asking anyway, just in case. "So Caelia, how was it? Did you have fun?"

Caelia blinked.

"…Face wet," she finally said, waving at her mask.

"Oh, right," he'd almost forgotten. Caelia's face covering couldn't get too wet, or else it would start to cause problems. Luckily, she'd brought spares. They just needed to change the cloth.

Blake got out of the inner tube and pushed Caelia over to the side of the pool, helping her carefully to keep her from falling into the water. Having already seen her drown once, he didn't want a repeat of that again.

While they waited for the others to go down the slide, Blake led Caelia over to the smaller lockers that were set up outside the slides. Unlike the large lockers at the front of the park, these were for simple carry-ons and towels and the like. That was where Caelia had stored the majority of her face masks for later use.

Blake looked around to make sure they had some privacy. "Hey, um… this might sound weird… but do you mind if I change your mask for you?" He asked. Her head snapped to stare at him with a look of mild surprise. He knew it was kind of risky to put himself in this position given the fact that she was already really clingy. But at the same time, he'd seen Caelia struggle with her mask before, and it's not like she'd become MORE dexterous since then. It would go faster if she had someone to help. But the question was whether or not she would even accept. For Caelia, her mask was a very private matter, so it wouldn't be a surprise if she told him to go fuck-

"Okay."

…Himself. Well, that was a surprise. Caelia's eye was as dull and lifeless as ever, but Blake convinced himself he could see a spark of light there. He didn't want to push the issue, just taking her acquiescence in stride. She sat down on the bench with only a bit of difficulty, staring up at him like she was waiting for him to make a move. He knelt in front of her.

He reached up gently and brushed Caelia's bangs out of the way, revealing the white cloth beneath. It had already started to yellow at the edges. He realized this was the closest he'd ever gotten to her face before. Staring at her like this… it was really hard to see her scarring. There were traces, of course. A line of skin between where her mask ended and her neckline began. But it was hard to see. She said she didn't care about her appearance, and everything about her certainly evoked that. From the greasy quality of her hair, this might have been the first time it had gotten wet since… well, since she'd almost drowned. That made him wince. What he wouldn't give to take care of that stringy hair for her. But he knew it was futile. That was just something Caelia didn't care about, just like how she didn't care about how she dressed. Her usual attire was generally in a stat of rot. But where her burns were concerned, she always took care to hide them.

It must bother her… how could it not? Blake knew how she felt. While he didn't put much stock in his appearance (at least in the past; since he began dating Ayame, he'd taken care to follow some of Olivia's tips about how to dress) he'd always taken care to hide his own scars. That was the bond that linked him and Caelia. They both despised the damage they saw in the mirror. It just happened that Caelia's scars were more than skin deep.

With delicate fingers, like he was brushing his sister's hair, he reached around her and untied the mask, gingerly lifting it from her face. Her eye was open and staring right at him as he lowered his hands, revealing her scars to the world. But right then, the world didn't seem to exist. People walked past, but no one looked their way. It was just the two of them, and him staring at her marks.

They were as brutal as he remembered. Raised red skin that was warped and twisted around her features, so severe that her face could barely be seen through the damage. But the most significant part was the crater in her face, where her eye had once been. The most permanent of all reminders that she was damaged.

He would be lying if he said he felt nothing staring at her. But he didn't let himself show any revulsion. He couldn't hurt her like that. So he smoothly placed the replacement mask over her scars, lining it up with her nose, and tying it around her head.

It had only taken about a minute, but to Blake it felt like he'd just finished performing surgery. He stepped back and sighed in relief.

"There they are! Blake! Caelia!"

Blake turned to see Cynthia running up to him. Ruka was beside her, and she wasn't smiling.

"Zorua! Zor!" Ruka shouted, stomping her foot in frustration. She stared up at the slide, waiting for Sango to come down and translate.

"Don't worry about her," Cynthia said. "She's just upset because she got splashed when we hit the bottom."

Cynthia glanced at Caelia, seeing the wet mask in Blake's hands. "I'm assuming the same thing happened with you?"

"Yeah, I just changed her mask for her," Blake said. He turned to help Caelia back to her feet, but she stood without him, a surprising display of balance from a girl who usually had trouble with simple walking.

"Thank you," Caelia murmured.

"So how was it?!" Cynthia nearly knocked her back onto the bench with her passion. "Did you have fun? Aren't water slides amazing?!"

Caelia blinked.

"…Fun?" She mumbled. Blake wasn't sure if that was a yes, a no, or completely misunderstanding the question.

Cynthia didn't mind. "Well, that's okay! I'm just glad you could get the experience!" She beamed at Caelia. "The more stuff you have like this stored… I'm sure you'll eventually become happy." In Cynthia's eyes, Caelia was a victim of circumstance. Because of her unique physiology, she'd never had the chance to experience happy or fun times. But she truly believd that the other girl could overcome that with enough good memories. That was why she'd brought her here, and invited her on the trip to begin with. Cynthia couldn't heal her body; she couldn't make the other girl feel anything. But spending time with them, coming to a place like this, it had to be better than sitting in her room, counting the days as they passed by.

Caelia said nothing. She simply stared away into the abyss. Cynthia sighed. Well, baby steps. She'd get there eventually.

"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Kitty's scream of joy as her inner tube slammed into the water sounded through the water park. Julia had relented and let her sit up front (mainly to keep an eye on her and make sure she was safe) and because of that, she'd had a blast. The two girls got out of the pool and Kitty was filled with energy, jumping up and down with glee.

"Oh my gosh! That was so much fun!" She gushed. "Julia, we've gotta go again! Come on, please!? One more time!"

"There's other stuff we can go on," Julia said. But she wasn't saying no to the idea of more water slides, which Kitty saw as great progress.

Sango and Elaina came down next, and Elaina's screams were a lot less joyful than Kitty's were. Like Blake, Caelia and Ruka, this was her first water slide, and she was having… a blast? Maybe? She had her eyes tightly pinched closed and she was clutching the handles of the inner tube so tightly her fingers were turning pale.

"That was something," Cynthia mused. She was mainly talking about the way Elaina's boobs had bounced in her bathing suit when she hit the water. She wasn't a TERRIBLE perso because she was hoping for a wardrobe malfunction, right?

The girls got out of the water and the guys began coming down. First Aidan and Nick, then Reiner, and finally Will. As they gathered together, Aidan was toweling off his Shinx. Everyone was excited to go on another ride, even Ruka.

"So we've got a few people who can't go on the normal slides," Sango said thoughtfully. Caelia, Ruka, and Elaina were out of the question; they needed inner tubes. As for the rest of them, they could do what they wanted, but Julia didn't want to go on rides she couldn't go on without Kitty. That made things difficult.

"I've got an idea!" Cynthia said. She was smiling a devious smile.

Sango handed the brochure over and sighed. She had a feeling that any ride Cynthia suggested probably wouldn't be a lot of fun.

"…So what's the point of this one?" Reiner asked, confused. "Is this a water slide? It doesn't seem like one, it seems like a carnival game."

The ride Cynthia had led them to was Kingdra's Clash. It was a special ride because it was one of the few water rides with automation involved. There was no direct contact with the water; people sat on a large metal disk in seats as, similar to a roller coaster, the disk was carried down a track. In the center of the disk was a large Kingdra statue.

Cynthia was really gushing over it. "You go through a fun tunnel," she explained. "But mor importantly, it's perfect for us, since we have so many people! It's six to a disk, which means we can all go on together!"

There could be two disks on the ride at one time. The reason for that was simple- part of the fun of the ride was controlling the Kingdra at the center to shoot bursts of water at the people on the other disk. It was a ride where the goal was to soak and get soaked as they went through waterfalls and over bumps and turns.

A water warfare ride. That was Cynthia's bright idea.

"I'm in!" Ruka signed eagerly, focusing on the idea of getting to spray people, and ignoring the likelihood that she might get a blast of water in the face.

"It does seem like fun," Sango agreed. She liked the idea of getting to shoot water at people, especially since she had a good aim. Meanwhile, Blake was less sure. Caelia and Elaina might not enjoy this, but if they were going to go on it, he might as well have some fun with it.

"Sure," he agreed. "Kitty? Julia? You guys in?"

"Absolutely!" Kitty nodded.

"As long as I'm not in Reiner's boat," Julia said icily, glaring daggers at the boy.

"Why am I not surprised?" Reiner sighed, rolling his eyes. "Whatever."

The only thing left to do was for them to set up their teams. It reminded Will of when he went through Sylvia's escape rooms with the others back on Pokemon Day. He was actually enjoying himself on this trip, surprisingly. He hadn't expected to have this much fun, but he was really grateful that he hadn't turned down Cynthia's invitation when she'd offered.

Eventually they decided on the following teams:

Cynthia, Ruka, Reiner, Sango, Aidan, and Nick

Kitty, Julia, Elaina, Blake, Caelia, and Will

"Okay, you guys hyped for this?!" Cynthia demanded as they sat down in the ring. Cynthia spun the wheel to take control of the Kingdra, turning it towards the other disk. The ride got startde and she immediately fired, spraying water at the other car.

"Hey!" Blake shielded his face from the water. "Seriously? We haven't even been on the ride for five seconds!"

Cynthia's only response was a wicked laugh from across the river.

Blake scowled and grabbed the controls of their own water gun. He fired back at the other disk, but his aim was a lot worse.

"You suck at this," Julia scowled. "Give it to me."

Julia snatched the trigger from Blake and aimed the water gun. It wasn't exactly easy. In spite of their shapes, Kingdras weren't exactly designed to be efficient water guns. But the sprayers were designed for a wide release, meaning that you didn't need great aim to hit; it wouldn't be very fun that way. But Julia had a specific target in mind.

She turned the barrel of the gun on Reiner and smirked, pulling the trigger. Hearing him yelp was satisfying.

"Ah, I've had my fill. Anybody else want-"

Julia didn't have time to finish her question because a short burst of water hit her in the face. Two more sprays caught Kitty and Caelia.

"Nice shooting, Sango!" Cynthia praised, slapping her friend on the back.

"You sure this is a good idea?" Sango asked. "Julia, Kitty, Blake, that's all fine. But hitting Caelia, with her face mask, that seems kinda…"

"It's all in good fun," Cynthia assured her. "I want to get Caelia's heart racing! We need this girl excited, and a good game of firing at one another is the best way to do it!"

Sango thought that there HAD to be other ways to go about doing things, but she wasn't invested enough to speak up. She just handed the gun back to Cynthia.

"Zorua!" Ruka cackled, snatching it away. She began firing like a lunatic, not even getting close to the people on the other disk. But she was having fun, so Cynthia was more than happy to let her continue shooting.

Then, as they rounded the first turn and passed under the waterfall into the tunnel, a spray of water hit Ruka in the face. It was perfectly timed to soak her as she passed under the ribbon of water, and was trying to take a breath.

"Zor-buh?! ZORUA?!" Ruka sputtered out, coughing and choking. The water in the pistol was about as strong as a water gun attack, and the force of the direct hit was enough to make her drop her illusion and return to being a pokemon.

Across the river, Elaina smirked.

"Wow, that was amazing timing!" Will complimented her, genuinely impressed. "Where'd you learn to shoot like that?"

Elaina wore a tired smile. "I've played a lot of first-person shooters," she mumbled. She turned the gun towards the others and began firing.

"I vote we let Elaina handle the water gun from now on," Kitty grinned.

"Sounds like a plan to me," Blake agreed. "You're doing great, Elaina!"

"Thank you!" Elaina was smiling. She aimed the water gun again and pulled the trigger rapidly, hitting Reiner and Nick.

Sango seized the gun and took aim.

"Silver, how close am I?" She asked, not able to get a good view from her angle. "Is Elaina in might sighs?"

"Castform!" Silver's cry sounded like a "yes" to her, so she happily pulled the trigger, hitting Elaina directly.

That just made the other girl mad.

"Oh, you want to play like that, huh?!" She growled, unleashing a barrage of water on Sango and the others.

Blake just sat back in his seat and smiled. He turned to Caelia. She seemed to be doing pretty good, that was a relief. Although she'd definitely need to change her bandage. He wondered why he'd even bothered if this was where Cynthia had wanted to take them.

The students continued to blast water at one another as they passed through the twists and turns of the Kingdra Clash. There was no sightseeing to be had, or even shooting at the targets that had been set up. The two groups were fully engaged in water warfare, and they were having a blast.

By the time they reached the end, everyone was smiling. Even Caelia, if you could call the small tug on the corner of her lips a smile. Cynthia liked to think optimistically, thrilled that she'd finally found something that the other girl could enjoy.

"So what now?" Sango asked, checking her watch. "It's getting late. Didn't your grandparents want us back before dinner?"

Cynthia sighed, staring at the sun. It was getting pretty low in the sky.

"One more slide," she decided. "There's one more slide I want to go on, if that's okay with the rest of you?"

She really hoped that nobody would have any objections. They could see how much this meant to her, and considering that she was the one who clearly had the most experience with this place, they trusted her judgment.

Even if it WAS Cynthia.

"Sure thing, Cynthia," Blake agreed, feeling confident he was speaking for everyone. "One last ride, and then we'll go."

Cynthia grinned.

"Excellent."

So they're going on one last water slide! What could it be? Hopefully, it'll be fun. But I wouldn't trust Cynthia… her judgment may be askew. Then again, she seems pretty invested in getting the others to have fun and building good memories, so you never know. Maybe it will be a fun and wholesome ride or something!