The hot springs adventures continue! This chapter is a little short, but I wanted to write some more about Cynthia and Sango having fun. I really want to explore their dynamic a little closer this arc, what will we see go for them? What adventures will they and Maddi get up to in Lavaridge Town? Hopefully it won't be as bad as what happened to Blake and Ayame, and this arc will just let them take it easy. We'll see.
KedharS: Yes.
Thunder Fire: You can't hurry love. No, you just have to wait. Love don't come easy. It's a game of give and take.
JoshGamerV: Good, I was just kidding. I have no intention of having the two of them get together.
Aquahaze675: Watch her back from what, though? From Cynthia? Cynthia wouldn't try anything… probably, anyway.
Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings
Chapter 426
Fully refreshed, Cynthia and Sango slipped on their robes and stretched, walking the quiet halls of the inn in the dim night.
"Hey, Sango," Cynthia said, turning to her friend, "you said you wanted to eat, right?"
Sango patted her stomach and nodded. Even if she hadn't said anything, the look on her face quite clearly conveyed just how famished she was. Silver also looked more than a little hungry, and Cynthia hadn't had much to eat that day either.
"Grandpa!" Cynthia skipped back into the main lobby. "We were getting hungry! Is Grandma Rose back yet?"
"As a matter of fact, yes, I am," a calm voice behind her caused Cynthia's ears to perk up and her face to brighten. She whirled around, her eyes shining.
"Grandma!" Cynthia turned to see an older woman walk into the lobby, a warm smile on her wrinkled face. Her blue eyes were shining as bright as Cynthia's were, clearly happy to see her granddaughter. Her curly hair was faded, but it carried the memories of a time when it was as vivid as Cynthia's, and from a glance Sango could see the relationship between the two of them. Cynthia ran over and gave her a hug.
"Ah, so good to see you again, sweetie," Rose said, hugging Cynthia and patting her on the back. "Why, you look so healthy, have you lost height?"
"Well, no, I- HEY!" Cynthia realized what her grandma had said, pulling away from her with a pout on her face. She huffed, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "Grandma! I'm getting taller!"
"Ohoho, I'm just kidding, dear," Rose laughed. She turned her twinkling eyes on Sango, who was standing in another doorway, heading towards the hall. "Ah, and you must be Sango! I remember you from your last stay here!"
Rose peered curiously over Sango's shoulder. Sango glanced behind her, confused. It wasn't Silver she was staring at.
"Am I wrong, or didn't you bring another friend with you as well?" Rose asked, tilting her head to the side in confusion.
"Oh, yeah, Maddi!" Cynthia laughed. "Yeah, she was real exhausted so she's conked out in her room, she won't be eating with us tonight!"
"Haah, what a shame," Rose sighed, glancing behind her into the kitchen, shaking her head. "I had bought enough food for three thinking she would be tasting my cooking, but it seems I've bought too much, what a mess."
Cynthia smirked.
"Nah. Actually, grandma, you probably didn't buy enough." Cynthia jammed her finger in Sango's direction, her smirk widening. "Sango could eat enough servings for at least three people on a normal day, and she's starving."
"Cynthia!" Sango exclaimed, irritated but also unable to refute what her friend had stated. Her rumbling belly said more than enough, much to her embarrassment.
"Why, that's fine," Rose laughed, holding her sides. "I like a girl with a good, hearty appetite! I'll cook you girls up something great!"
"No, that's okay, grandma, I can do it!" Cynthia said, following her grandmother into the kitchen, while Sango hung back in the lobby listening to them.
"No, no, nonsense!" Rose said, shaking her head. "You're a guest, Cynthia, I can't have you cooking a meal on your first night here! You two relax, unwind, go into your room! I'll bring your food to you, not a problem!"
"You sure?" Cynthia asked. The tone of her voice brought a smile to her face. Cynthia didn't need to worry so much about being inconsiderate. She was very considerate if she put her mind to it, that was something Sango was quite certain of. And indeed, the glum look on her face as she trudged out of the kitchen confirmed Sango's suspicions.
If Cynthia did feel guilty about her grandmother cooking them dinner, though, it quickly passed, and a big smile spread across her face again as she greeted Sango.
"C'mon, let's head back to the room!" Cynthia said, her tone filled with excitement. There was a spark of mischievousness in her eyes that Sango vaguely felt wary of, but she didn't mind too much. That was just Cynthia being Cynthia, as usual.
"Good night, grandpa!" Cynthia called as they headed down the hall. "We'll be in our room!"
"Cynthia!" Roland's stern voice brought Cynthia to a halt. Sango could see the wince in her eyes already. Clearly whatever was happening was something she'd been expecting.
Roland walked up to them, his arms crossed over his chest. He wore a disapproving frown beneath his small white beard.
"Aren't you forgetting something? It's not time to turn in for the night just yet, you know?"
"F-Forgetting something?" Cynthia chuckled, her face going pale. She averted her eyes, the guilt evident on her face. She was looking desperately to Sango, clearly wanting the other girl to say something. Sango pretended to be very interested in the pattern on the wallpaper.
Roland held up a clipboard and presented it to Cynthia. Cynthia's face turned completely white, and she slunk down, clearly dispirited by whatever it was that was written on the paper.
"What is that?" Sango asked out of curiosity, peeking over Cynthia's shoulder.
"It's her chore chart," Roland said. "Starting tomorrow, she'll be fulfilling the chores on that list. This place is hard to keep running, you know, we need every pair of hands we can get. And as family, it's Cynthia's responsibility to help out around the place, wouldn't you agree?"
"But I'm on vacation!" Cynthia whined.
"You said that if we let you invite your friends over, you would pay for their stay and yours by helping us with the chores that need doing," Roland said calmly, unfazed by Cynthia's pouting. "You're family and you've got to help out, you know."
Cynthia sighed, giving one last helpless glance at Sango, and hung her head sadly, nodding. She took the clipboard and began to note the chores, wincing every once in a while.
"There's so many…" She groaned. "I won't have any time to hang out with my friends… I was going to go around with them tomorrow and see all the sights! I wanted to show off Lavaridge Town to them, and hang out having fun! Come on, grandpa, you know how much this means to me!"
"If you work hard, you'll be fine," he assured her. "Just don't slack off. You and your friends can still have plenty of fun."
With that, he turned and walked down the hall, leaving a clearly-disheartened Cynthia to sulk about what was in store for her.
"Well, this sucks," Cynthia grumbled, tucking the clipboard under her arm. It was like all the excitement she had built up had completely drained away.
"Hey, come on, maybe it won't be so bad?" Sango suggested, shrugging her shoulders. "I'll help out tomorrow if you like."
"No, that's fine," Cynthia said, shaking her head. "You guys are guests. I can't ask you guys to do something like that, it wouldn't be right."
She brightened up and flashed Sango a smile that, to Sango's surprise, didn't seem to have any trace of the sadness she had just been showing. It was like that previous depression was all just a figment of her imagination.
She really, really hoped that Cynthia wasn't just getting better at repressing her emotions behind a cheery smile. That was a level of pain she didn't want to have to confront.
"Come on, Sango, what's the hold up?" Cynthia asked, walking back and grabbing her by the wrist, her eyes shining excitedly. "Better be prepared, nothing can smash through that stomach's stubbornness like my grandma's sushi platter! She'll have you sobbing with joy, just you watch! Or, I guess, more accurately, taste."
"Sushi?" Sango licked her lips. They were having sushi, that sounded delicious. She followed Cynthia back to their room, where Cynthia flopped out on her futon, stretching. She rolled over, and grabbed Aud's carrying case.
"I've been waiting for this all day!" Cynthia groaned, opening the lid. A blast of cold air filled the room, Aud stretching out with a yawn. Cynthia scooped up the small pokemon in her arms and cuddled her closely, nuzzling her cheeks all over Aud's fur.
"Vulpix! Vulpix!" Aud giggled, waving her tiny legs.
"Ahh, you're just the sweetest, best little snowflake cupcake in the world, Aud! Yes you are, yes you are!" Cynthia pressed her face into Aud's belly, blowing as hard as she could onto it. "Phbltbtrl! Aww, you're adorable!"
Sango walked over to Cynthia and sat down in her adjoining futon, smiling warmly at Cynthia wrestling with her baby pokemon.
Cynthia had told her some really serious stuff today. Stuff about her insecurities and worries, about how sad she felt sometimes. And even just now, another thing had been loaded on her shoulders, and she wouldn't even be able to hang out with her and Maddi tomorrow. And yet, through all of that, Cynthia hadn't lost her smile. And seeing Cynthia smile, that made Sango want to smile. She didn't know how much she valued having Cynthia around as the energetic and always-cheerful pervert that she was until she had seen her sad, and right now, Sango wanted to see Cynthia be happy all the time.
"Cynthia… are you sure you're okay about tomorrow? I mean, if you explain to your grandpa, then I'm sure that you guys could come up with some sort of arrangement…"
"It's fine," Cynthia assured Sango, holding Aud up in front of her face and staring into her pokemon's sparkling blue eyes. "I mean, yeah. I wanted to show you guys around town. But so what? So you and Maddi will go have fun on your own. I mean, that's what I promised, right? I told Maddi that she wouldn't have to hang out with me if she didn't want to, and now she won't, I'll be here."
Cynthia turned to Sango and gave her a smile, but this time Sango didn't miss the tears in the corners of her eyes.
"So it's cool, everyone's happy," Cynthia said.
Everyone except you, Sango wanted to say.
"You guys just promise you'll enjoy Lavaridge, okay?" Cynthia asked. "It's kind of small, and yeah, there's not a lot to do. But it's fun, trust me. Oh, and be sure to check out the Lava Bakery I told you about! You know, the one that makes those delicious lava cookies that I adore? You gotta try 'em, they're the best! You and Maddi will love them, and so will your pokemon! And don't forget to pick some up for me, I'm not about to watch you devour them all, you Grumpig!"
"Hey! Don't call me a Grumpig!" Sango laughed, smacking Cynthia in the face with the pillow from her futon.
"Oh, don't like that one, huh?" Cynthia said, sitting up and setting Aud down, picking up her own pillow. She stood up and backed away from Sango, taking a fighting stance. "Well, maybe I should call you a Snorlax, yeah, that's a much better fit!"
"You're the one who's always lazy," Sango jabbed back, swatting at Cynthia with a pillow as she dodged the redhead's swing. "With all that energy how can you hate exercise so much?"
"Oh, I wear myself out doing… 'other activities'," Cynthia smirked, hitting Sango in the gut with the tail end of her pillow.
"Speaking of those 'other activities', none of that," Sango snapped, shaking her head. "If you want to… 'take care of business' then you go find a bathroom, I'm not putting up with that next to me, you got it? I'd rather cram myself into Maddi's private room first."
"Oh, come on!" Cynthia said, rolling her eyes. "We all have our needs! We can't all be repressed like you!"
Sango's eye twitched.
"Repressed?! How's this for repressed? Silver!"
Silver flew into Cynthia's face, filling her vision with white and grey as Sango ran towards her, smacking her on the back with the feather-stuffed pillow as Cynthia howled with laughter.
"Hey! Come on, come on, that's cheating!" Cynthia laughed. "It's two against one!"
Cynthia managed to pry Silver off of her and step away from Sango, breathing heavily. Her eyes were flashing with glee as she came up with a new plan to win this impromptu pillow fight.
"If that's how you want to play it, then two can play at that game!" Cynthia chortled, kneeling down and picking up her belt filled with pokeballs off of where she'd left it on the floor.
"Whoa! Hey, that's not cool!" Sango scowled. Cynthia was clearly going to use her pokemon to seize the advantage. "No fair! I don't have any other pokemon!"
"Aren't pokemon rangers supposed to be all about adapting to hostile environments?" Cynthia smugly replied, tossing her pillow up and down with one hand. "Think of it like training, because I'm about to turn this into the most hostile environment you've ever seen!"
Sango tensed, but before Cynthia could make do on her threat, the sliding door rattled open.
"Well, it looks like you two girls have been building up an appetite!" Rose laughed. She walked into the room, pulling a long cart behind her. Atop the cart was a table, and piled on that table were rows upon rows of marvelously prepared sushi! The aroma of fish wafted up into Sango's nose, and she began to drool. Sango's pillow dropped from her hands, forgotten, as she slowly approached the cart, licking her lips.
"Smells great, grandma, thanks," Cynthia smiled, accepting the ceasefire by setting her belt and pillow down. She walked over to the food as well, stunned that her grandma had prepared such a magnificent feast in such a short amount of time. Aud, equally curious, plodded alongside Cynthia as she walked over to the food. "Think it's gonna be enough, Snorlax?"
"Snorlax," Sango deepened her voice, nodding her head. The two girls giggled.
"My, and who's this little cutie?" Rose asked.
"She's Sango, grandma, you already met," Cynthia snorted.
"No, no, this one!" Rose leaned over and picked up Aud, the small white pokemon looking closer at her, curious. "She's a cute one, what's her name?"
"She's Aud," Cynthia said, smiling. "She's my new baby pokemon! Isn't she just the cutest?"
"She certainly is," Rose said, laughing. "She's a Vulpix?"
"From Alola," Cynthia explained. She launched into her spiel about how special Aud was, and Sango had taken the opportunity to sit in front of the table and begin eating. She'd heard this song and dance a lot of times by now.
Eventually, Rose set Aud down and headed out, wishing the girls the best. Cynthia sat down next to Sango, Aud crawling up into her lap, licking at her lips eagerly. Cynthia gave her a tiny bit of Sushi, Vulpix yipping excitedly.
"It's good, right?" Cynthia grinned. "How is it, Sango?"
"I love it, it's delicious," Sango said. "Best sushi I've ever had! Your grandma is an amazing sushi chef! Try some, Silver!"
"Castform!" Silver chirped, smiling at the taste of the fish pokemon.
"You know who'd really love this?" Cynthia asked.
"Maddi would, think we should go wake her up?" Sango asked. But that would mean less for her. "No, she probably wants to get her rest."
"…You're just saying that so you can have more for yourself," Cynthia dryly noticed, Sango pointedly looking away from her and saying nothing.
"…No, I just think that she needs to take it easy, long day," Sango said.
"Sure, sure, but it wasn't Maddi I was talking about, I meant that friend of yours, Marion."
"Oh! Yeah, Marion would love this stuff!" Sango gasped, nodding her head. "She just loves fish, to bad she isn't here to try it. Actually…"
Sango fished into the sleeve of her robe and withdrew her cellphone. She snapped a few pictures of the sushi platters they hadn't yet started on, and texted the photos to Marion. Before she even realized they had gone through, her phone began ringing.
"And she thinks we're just fishin' on the riverside, throwing back what we could fry…" Her phone sang, Marion's personal ringtone.
"Wha! She called that fast?" Cynthia marveled, more than a little startled by the sudden call.
"Hey Marion, you see that spread?" Sango answered.
"Totes! That stuff looks delicious! You're eating sushi? And you didn't invite me? That's just the tears my girl!" Marion's pout was practically audible.
"Yeah, it's delicious," Sango said, nodding. "Best sushi I ever tasted, if I'm being honest."
"…Now I know you don't think it's better than mine. Are you telling me, little miss fishing queen junior, that you've tasted better sushi than what I can so painstakingly prepare? Because them's fighting words, and it ain't gonna be a pokemon battle home-slice, we're talking a full-on fish fry!"
"Sorry," Sango said, shrugging her shoulders, not really able to translate Marion-speak. "I wish you were here, I'd love for you to try it."
"…Well, where are you then?" Marion asked. "Speak the location, knave, of those whom you think prepare tastier sushi than I!"
"…Geez, don't be so dramatic," Sango said, rolling her eyes. "We're at the Akai-Sou, a hot spring in Lavaridge. Check it out sometime, it's run by Cynthia's parents, and the sushi really is the best, trust me!"
Marion said nothing. Just when Sango was prepared to put her phone away, thinking the other girl had hung up, she responded with a cryptic "I'm on my way," and the line went dead.
Sango stared at her beeping phone, waiting for Marion's words to sink in. She glanced up at Cynthia, dumbfounded.
"She… she wouldn't, right?" Sango asked, more for herself than actually thinking that Cynthia would know anything about it.
"…She's your friend, you tell me," Cynthia said, resisting the urge to burst out laughing. If Marion did somehow show up here, that would be the most hilarious thing she had ever seen.
Sango's face turned white as a sheet. There was a knock on the door.
"Sango!" A familiar muffled voice called out from the hall. "Sango, it's Marion! Let me in! I want sushi! Sango, Sango! Sushi! Suuuushi!"
Sango slapped her face in response. She sighed, trudging over to the door, and sliding it open to greet her friend and fishing enthusiast.
Marion has returned! What does she bring with her? This chapter was a little short, but I just wanted to show the girls joking around and having fun.