Here's another chapter. In this one, we'll get the breakfast of champions! …Or the breakfast between Cynthia, Sango, and Caelia. This can only go well.

KedharS: Very possible.

Rosealine gold: Yeah, this is the kind of annoyance I think she'd like to avoid.

Aquahaze675: Yup, that sounds a lot like Sango, to be sure.

Hellraiserphoenix: We can only hope that things work out okay.

Tambry96bj: Lot of heartbreak going around, everyone's in a bad place emotionally.

Thunder Fire: I feel like Cynthia is the only winner in that situation.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 366

Sango was not enjoying this.

There were few things that could make her not like the experience of eating.

This current atmosphere was one of them.

On one side of the table was the cheery, peppy, Cynthia, lovingly feeding her Vulpix with a big smile on her face.

On the other side was the stoic, cold Caelia who stared numbly off in the distance without saying a word.

And in the middle was Sango, glancing shakily between the two polar opposites that were facing each other.

Please don't go bad, please don't go bad, Sango silently pleaded, beads of sweat rolling down her forehead.

Sango didn't understand what the point of all this was. Cynthia and Sango had previously drawn the conclusion that Caelia was a little unstable, especially as it applied to Blake. She clearly had strong feelings for him, and when it came to Blake, both girls were afraid that Caelia was not the most rational person.

So why on earth did Cynthia think that it would EVER be a good idea to tell a girl like Caelia Auburne, who was THAT obsessed with Blake, that she liked him too? It was like she didn't even understand the idea behind her obsession.

Caelia would not be reacting well to this, that was for sure.

Sango glanced warily at her friend, feeding her Vulpix like she didn't have a care in the world. She sighed. Maybe she was being a little too paranoid. Maybe Cynthia knew something about Caelia that she didn't.

Still, Sango couldn't help but be worried.

"Hey eat up, Aud, it's very good for you," Cynthia cooed, feeding a special ground paste designed for baby pokemon to the small Vulpix, who was lapping up the mixture excitedly. Aud was the only one eating, actually. Caelia had not even touched her food, and Sango, for once, was too focused on the tense situation to eat. And Cynthia was too entranced with feeding Aud to bother eating herself. It was a rather odd breakfast.

"Anyway, Caelia!" Cynthia raised her head up from Aud suddenly, Sango flinching in response. She gulped, and glanced at the ratty-haired brunette.

If Caelia heard Cynthia addressing her, she didn't acknowledge it.

"Are you doing okay?" Cynthia didn't seem fazed by Caelia's lack of response, and spoke to her anyway.

"Fine."

Was Caelia ever "fine"? Sango wondered.

"I was really worried about you when you ran out into the snow last night," Cynthia said. "I thought… when the blizzard struck, I thought you were going to die."

Caelia looked quietly at her, not even blinking.

"She's telling the truth," Sango interjected on Cynthia's behalf. "I heard some of our friends had to drag her back inside to keep from risking her own life to go out and find you. She called me in hysterics because she was worried that you would get hurt out there, and was desperate for me to find you and bring you back to safety."

"Needless," Caelia said. "Concern for me-"

"It isn't!" Cynthia shouted. Her voice was louder than usual, which threw even Sango off.

"Vul?" Aud looked worriedly up at her trainer. But Cynthia didn't even pause to comfort the small pokemon, she was completely directing her feelings towards Caelia at the moment.

"Concern for you isn't meaningless," Cynthia insisted, dropping her voice so that people would stop staring in her direction. "You might think your body is a broken wreck, but there are people who will be concerned for you if you die. Think about your pokemon, think about me, think about Blake! Do you think Blake wants anything to happen to you?"

"I know."

Cynthia blinked, surprised. Sango glanced at Caelia as well, her eyes widening in shock. Caelia was aware of something like that? From what Sango had seen of her she didn't seem to have any care for her wellbeing at all.

"My life matters," Caelia said. "Can't end it. Need to live. My pokemon, can't abandon them. Mine. Need to keep going."

"Yes! Exactly!" Cynthia gushed, sitting back down. Her eyes were shining brightly with relief. Caelia finally got it!

"But not you."

"…Huh?"

Caelia stared coldly at Cynthia.

"My pokemon. How they feel matters. Not you. Don't need your concern. Nothing. Pointless."

Cynthia scowled. She didn't get it after all.

"Your pokemon aren't the only ones who care about you, you know!"

"Don't care."

"What do you mean you don't care?!"

"Your feelings. Don't matter. Don't care how you feel if I'm gone. You aren't important. Only Blake. Only Blake matters."

"So Blake is the only person whose opinion you care about?" Cynthia scowled.

"Yes."

"So no matter how much I care about you and want to keep you safe, it doesn't matter to you, huh?" Cynthia asked.

"No."

Cynthia let out a sigh.

"And I was actually worried about you when you cried, too."

Caelia blinked. Sango looked at Cynthia in shock.

"Did our conversation last night not mean anything?" Cynthia asked. "Not a thing? Even though right now, you're still hurting?"

Cynthia knew something that Sango didn't. She wondered what had happened between the two last night. Whatever it was, Caelia had run out into a blizzard and Cynthia had chased after her. Sango wasn't sure what that meant, but she had a bad feeling that she had missed something really important after Cynthia had left Aud with her.

Cynthia had taken Caelia to see Blake and Ayame. Apparently, Caelia had already known about their relationship, and they had a conversation with the couple in question about it. And then Caelia had run out into the snow. Due to the hectic nature of the night before, Sango hadn't had the time to really pause and sit with that, letting it sink in.

But it was clear now that something really important had happened.

"After you two left last night, how did the conversation go?" Sango quietly asked.

"It didn't," Cynthia tersely replied. "She saw them cuddling together… and then that was it. She didn't say a word to them."

Sango winced in sympathy for the girl. That must have been painful. It would have been painful for her, certainly.

"Blake doesn't want me. Hurts. Won't end it. Can't end it. Pokemon need me. That's all."

"So what are you going to do now, then?" Cynthia asked. "Are you just going to lock yourself away in your room and stay with your pokemon? Cut people out of your life completely?"

"No."

"Then what?"

"She's going to fight back, obviously."

Cynthia and Sango whirled around to see Sylvia standing in the center of the cafeteria, her Shuppet floating behind her. She wore a smile that was positively horrendous on her pretty face, and she strolled forward, taking the fourth seat at the table despite the lack of invitation.

"It's been a while since I've eaten here," Sylvia purred. "The food is as atrocious as always, but the coffee is surprisingly passable."

Sylvia set a mug filled with dark liquid down on the table and reached into her purse, withdrawing a packet of sugar. She tore open the bag and slowly sprinkled the sugar down into the coffee, like the snow that fell last night.

"What do you mean by 'fight back'?" Cynthia demanded angrily.

"Well, last night, Caelia gave me quite a fright," Sylvia said, glancing at the quiet girl. "She was all set to end it all rather than continue going on with the pain she was feeling."

"What?" Cynthia gasped, turning to look at Caelia. She knew that Caelia had been in bad shape, but… did she actually think about…?

"Thankfully I was there to keep that from happening," Sylvia continued, giving an exaggerated sigh of relief. "If not for that, well, I don't know WHAT might have happened, but it wouldn't be good. But thanks to my help, I was able to show Caelia that this wasn't the end. There was something more out there for her, that she didn't need to end things without getting a chance to really start living, you know?"

Cynthia glared at her. Whatever gratitude Sylvia was expecting clearly wasn't going to be coming her way anytime soon.

"Ooh, scary," Sylvia giggled. "You should be happy! I gave her a reason to keep going!"

"What reason?" Cynthia growled.

"Why, you heard her yourself, didn't you? Her pokemon, of course!"

"What does that have to do with 'fighting back' then?" Sango snarled.

Sylvia smirked.

"More of an internal struggle thing, you know how it is. Personal growth, finding a reason to keep going, all that."

Neither girl believed her even a little.

"…Well, anyway, I don't see how it's such a big deal," Sylvia shrugged. "Unless the thought that someone actually doesn't want to be friends with you really stings that badly, of course. Is your self-esteem really that fragile?"

"I'm worried about her," Cynthia replied. "Whether she 'likes me' or not, I just want her to know that there's someone who worries about her."

"And she doesn't care, and you have to accept that," Sylvia said.

"You were the one who did this in the first place, weren't you?" Sango growled.

Sylvia blinked.

"Oh? Whatever do you mean?" She innocently asked.

"I don't know you as well as everyone else, but even I can see that you're a rather slimy person," Sango said. "I'm starting to get a real good picture of you, yeah."

Sylvia smirked, retrieving another sugar packet, snowing it down into her coffee.

"Believe me sweetie, you haven't even started scratching the surface."

"You told Caelia that Blake and Ayame were together, didn't you?" Sango asked.

"Absolutely," Sylvia nodded.

"Why would you do something so cruel?!" Cynthia cried.

"Me? I'm the cruel one?" Sylvia asked, looking at Cynthia and raising her eyebrow. "I wasn't the one to take her to go look at the lovebirds for herself, driving her to tears. That was you, wasn't it?"

"I… I just…" Cynthia flushed indignantly. "I just wanted to help… I thought that if she could talk with them, then maybe… maybe things would be better for her."

"Oh, did you?" Sylvia chuckled. "You were wrong."

"I know that, but-"

"Oh, no need to beat yourself up, I was actually grateful for it," Sylvia said. "I originally told her what was going on, because I wanted to have her go and confront the two about it in the first place."

"So you were trying to get Caelia to attack Ayame and Blake?!" Cynthia sputtered, glancing at Sango. It was the same situation they had feared in the first place. Caelia had been a pile of dynamite ready to blow, and Sylvia had just lobbed a grenade at her.

"I did feel a little bad for pushing her too far, I was hoping for something entirely different," Sylvia admitted. "But I do love when something unexpected happens! Now, Caelia's found a new goal to focus on!"

"What new goal?" Cynthia demanded.

"You don't seriously think that she's going to be able to break up Blake and Ayame?" Sango demanded.

"What? Oh, I wouldn't dream of it!" Sylvia said, shaking her head. "I'm actually quite happy with their position in their relationship!"

She poured more sugar on top of her coffee. Then more. Then even more. Until there was just a big pile of sugar piled on top of the mug, slowly dissolving.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Sylvia asked, tilting her head to the side in confusion. "I do like them together, quite a bit! Why don't you believe me? I'm hurt!"

Cynthia and Sango seethed at her. Aud was looking up at Cynthia rather anxiously.

"That's quite a cute pokemon," Sylvia purred, noticing the Vulpix. "Is that what hatched from your egg? Adorable!"

"You leave her alone," Cynthia hissed, picking up Aud and holding her as far away from Sylvia as she could get her.

Sylvia shrugged.

"If you like Ayame and Blake together, then why would you do this?" Sango demanded. She was on the verge of tears. She didn't want the two of them to break up, and it seemed like Sylvia was trying very, very hard to do exactly that.

Sylvia smirked.

"The best relationships build up through adversity, of course," Sylvia smiled. "And those two? They're the best relationship. Such a sweet, pure girl like Ayame is the perfect foil for that darkness."

"…Darkness?" Sango asked.

"If you mean all that stuff he's gone through before, then-"

"No, no, nothing like that," Sylvia yawned, dismissing Cynthia with a wave of her hand. "I mean the real darkness. The darkness inherent in his nature, you silly girls. Look. Right here."

Sylvia gestured to the coffee in front of her, and the shrinking mound of sugar. She added another packet to the pile.

"Blake is like the inherent bitterness of a cup of black coffee," Sylvia explained. "And Ayame? She's like nice little packets of sugar, sprinkling tidings of love and affection on him to try and salve that bitterness."

Sylvia picked up a straw and began mixing the sugar in.

"But no matter how much sugar you add… the coffee will swallow it whole. Because at its root, the coffee is dark and bitter. And you can try to hide it sugar and sweetness, but you can't really erase it. And if you keep trying, if you pile in too much sugar, well…"

Sylvia pushed the beverage that was more sugar than coffee at this point forward.

"Any takers? It's a rather revolting blend. You can suffocate it, bury it, but all you have left is a mess that no one would be able to choke down. Ayame might think she can help him, but I know better." Sylvia winked at the girls. "So I'm gonna be rooting for her! I hope she does her best! Because when that darkness eventually rears its head, well… that should be interesting, to say the least."

Cynthia stared at the cup of coffee and felt queasy.

"I know Blake on a more fundamental level than you girls do," Sylvia said. "Blake shows you the good sides of himself. But me? I've got a good eye for seeing the sides of people that they don't show to others. The sides that they don't even know about themselves."

"Wrong."

Sylvia blinked, surprised. She turned to Caelia for the first time, shocked that she had interjected so suddenly.

"What do you mean?"

"Blake is… very kind," Caelia said. "Darkness… no. Kindness. Caring. Blake accepted me… no one else. Kindness."

Sango and Cynthia looked at Caelia in a brand new light.

"…We'll see," Sylvia shrugged. "But if you want to be with him, well… you're going to need to face that side of him one way or another."

"You still haven't given up, then?" Cynthia asked.

"No. Never. Blake chose. Ayame. Not me. Never me. Body. Broken. Blake accepts me. Can't love me. Too broken."

Caelia's eye was shining in a way that unnerved Cynthia.

"Right now, can't have him," she murmured. "Right now."

"…And that's all you need to say about that," Sylvia cut her off, rising from her seat. "Good luck in the Tag Tournament, girls. It was quite fun, if memory serves."

Sylvia gave them a wink.

"Enjoy the coffee, my treat."

"Wait!"

Sylvia glanced back at the table, intrigued.

Sango grabbed the cup of coffee and held it to her lips, glaring at Sylvia. She tilted her head back and poured the whole thing down her throat. She nearly gagged. Sylvia was right. That much sugar really had been revolting.

But she still managed to get it down.

"…I can swallow it just fine," Sango said, wiping her lips and setting the mug down, glaring at the sophomore.

Sylvia smirked, and shrugged her shoulders. She gave Sango a light bit of applause.

"Well, good luck then. Maybe you're the one meant to be with him and not Ayame."

"Ayame could swallow three of those without blinking," Sango shot back. Sylvia shrugged again, turned, and walked away.

Cynthia looked up at Sango admirably, and turned to Caelia.

"You're trying to break up Blake and Ayame after all, then?"

"No. Can't. Not ready yet," Caelia replied.

"Well, I'm not letting that happen," Cynthia scowled. She stood up, setting Aud down, and pointing her thumb at her chest.

"Because I love Blake too."

Sango groaned inside. She knew it was coming.

Caelia blinked. A wave of surprise washed over her face, the first look of emotion Cynthia and Sango had seen from her today.

"…What?"

"I love Blake. I need him, same as you," Cynthia said. "But I won't let whatever it is you want to do to him and Ayame happen, do you understand? They're both important to me. You're important to me, too, but please. Someone else. Something else. Anything else. Don't ruin Blake's happiness."

Caelia said nothing. She stared quietly at Cynthia, and began eating her breakfast, already long-since gone cold.

Things are really getting tense. Relationships are really difficult, unfortunately.