What other guests will to come to the inn tonight?

Thunder Fire: Eh? Why not? Kagome is adorable.

JoshGamerV: I just wanted to make sure she was okay. She's adorable, and deserves to win. No idea what role she'll have in the story moving forward, probably this is the last time we'll see her, sadly enough.

KedharS: Yup, very sweet. Kagome is adorable.

Aquahaze675: Sadly, no. I doubt it. Sylvia fixed her life, and Kagome has a wonderful view of her beloved big sister. Meeting Sylvia again would make the magic go away, and turn Sylvia into an actual human and not an ideal. Neither girl wants that. I'd prefer to keep Sylvia as her beloved big sister. But I never say never. If the story calls for it, it might happen.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 436

Kagome's mother came to greet her, and took Kagome back to their room for bedtime. Kagome said goodbye to Sango and Cynthia and followed her mother, the two girls watching after her with wistful looks on their faces.

"…You're not wrong, Cynthia," Sango admitted. "She's an adorable sweetheart."

"Makes you want one?" Cynthia asked.

Sango rolled her eyes. "Cute as she is, it doesn't change the fact that I'm way, WAY too young to think about stuff like that. Ask me again in 10, 15 years."

"Yup, that's my Sango, she's not even thinking about boys or romance, just 'Pokemon Ranger' all the time!" Cynthia laughed, completely missing the sallow color passing over Sango's face that betrayed the fact that she wasn't exactly right.

"…Uh-huh," Sango laughed. "Not really focused on that. Hey, so, let's watch something else, what do you think?"

"Ooh! I know! There's a great video we can check out!" Cynthia said, typing into the search bar of her phone. "People think it's faked, but I think it's totally legit!"

"What's it about?" Sango asked, curious.

"Just watch, shh!" Cynthia said. "Okay, here it is!"

On the screen, a dark image appeared. It looked like a forest at night. There were hushed whispers and the rustle of bushes. Then, the camera flipped around to see the face of a man in his twenties or thirties lit up by the camera light. Behind him, the figures of about half a dozen other men could be seen, looking like the quintessential college fratboy squad.

"Hey, everybody, welcome to the Saffron Investigation Squad!" The man whispered There have been some reports of a special rare pokemon wandering around on Route 7, driving the other wild pokemon out of the area, and WE are going to be the ones to capture it!" At that, a loud "woooo!" could be heard from behind him, followed by laughing and cheering.

"And don't forget to like, comment, share, and subscribe!"

Sango looked at Cynthia and raised her eyebrow.

"These guys are serious about capturing pokemon? Really?"

Cynthia smiled sheepishly.

"You know how it is, gotta get those followers, right?"

"They seem like morons."

"No argument there, just watch. It went viral."

"Okay, so this is the hunting grounds that people have reported," the man said, turning his camera around to scan across the darkened trees, bushes, and tall grass. "No one knows what pokemon it is, but it could be anything, maybe even a Dragonite. Now, my boys here think it's a legendary pokemon-"

"Yeah, go Moltres!" Another guy shouted. Sango gave Cynthia another look.

"Moltres?"

Cynthia gave an exasperated sigh and shook her head. There wasn't really a justification she could come up with.

"Now then, we should- Whoa! What's that?!" A rustling in the grass drew the camera. A Rattata crawled out, looking around, before scurrying into a bush.

…

"Whoa, false alarm there, just a Rattata. But that's the kind of intensity you get when hunt with the Saffron Investigation Squad!"

Sango buried her face in her hands, and shook her head.

"This… just, no. No."

"Hush, it's starting."

Suddenly, more rustling, louder this time, came from the tall grass. A Growlithe ran out, and behind it, came a shadowy figure bursting out, lunging at the pokemon, causing the people to scream. Sango squinted, but she couldn't see what was happening. The camera was spinning around, the Growlithe was yelling in pain, and then it was over.

"…That's it?" Sango asked, glancing at Cynthia.

Cynthia shrugged.

"I couldn't see a damn thing, most of the video was just channel hyping," Sango scowled. "Like, all I saw was a shadow. That could have been any pokemon."

"A lot of people are saying that it's just a hyped up fake," Cynthia admitted. "And yeah, we don't see what happens. But the truth of the matter is, there were a lot of attacks on wild pokemon in the area at the time this video was shot, and there was a problem with pokemon fleeing from their habitats into Saffron City and Celadon City."

Sango's work with pokemon rangers told her exactly what they meant. A hostile predator of a pokemon had entered the area, and the resulting shift in the ecosystem had driven off the prior inhabitants into the neighboring cities. It happened all the time.

"Did any pokemon rangers get called in, then?" Sango asked.

"I don't know, let me check," Cynthia said, closing the video and beginning to scan the web. "…Okay, it says a few months ago, the public awareness raised from that video combined with the reports of pokemon attacks in the area and the destabilization of the ecosystem and pokemon life led to a team of Pokemon Rangers being called in. But when they arrived, they couldn't find any trace of any sort of powerful rare pokemon that would account for the incidents that were reported. So they judged the video to be a hoax."

Cynthia sighed, setting her phone down.

"Well, that's a bummer. I didn't know that it was already solved. Although, I guess someone chasing youtube clout is better than the notion that there's a violent wild pokemon roaming the Kanto Region and attacking people."

"Then what caused the wild pokemon to be driven from their natural habitats?" Sango asked. "That didn't just happen for no reason. Did they figure out what the cause was?"

"It doesn't say," Cynthia replied. "Though, I imagine if they persisted, the issue wouldn't have been resolved. So I guess the pokemon just moved back into their homes?"

"Then we can't be sure it's a hoax," Sango said. Cynthia raised her eyebrow.

"But they didn't find any pokemon."

"That just means that it didn't stay in the area," Sango explained. "It could have gone somewhere else, move to a different route. Were there any other reports of similar attacks in the area?"

"I didn't hear of any, but there could have been," Cynthia said. "We'd have to ask someone from the region. But come on, it's not that big a deal, we don't need to play junior detective like this. Definitely interesting, though."

Sango was a little frustrated. As an aspiring Pokemon Ranger she didn't like the notion that there was some wild pokemon going around harming the local ecosystem and attacking travelers. She hoped that it really was just some sort of hoax, but she didn't have to concern herself. Maybe Cynthia was right, she didn't want to think any further on this.

"I guess," Sango agreed. "Let's just watch something a little lighter, okay?"

Cynthia could certainly agree with that.

As the night wore on, both Sango and Cynthia were getting a lot more tired. They were yawning in harmony at this point, and Sango was about ready to call it, and head off to bed, leaving Cynthia to continue watching the desk alone. Silver was too tired to remain floating, napping on the desk.

While staring blearily at Cynthia's phone as they watched some anime that had a little too much ecchi for Sango to enjoy, Sango fished her own phone out of her pocket to check the time. 12:30 in the morning, ugh. She wiped her eyes, and that didn't help her stay awake any more than she was before. She let out a yawn and put her phone away. She opened her mouth and was about to tell Cynthia that she was ready to turn in, when the sliding open of the door alerted the girls to the presence of another guest.

Sango and Cynthia's eyes shot up, both girls now wide awake, Cynthia sliding her finger over to the "off" button to maintain the image of professionality and not broadcast borderline-hentai from the front desk to their new guest. She slipped her phone into her pocket and rose to her feet, putting a dignified smile on her face. Silver, roused from his sleep, peered up in surprise.

The man who entered the inn was old, very old, with pale white hair sticking out wildly from all sides of his balding hair, reminiscent of Albert Einstein. He had a wrinkled face and tiny glasses hiding green eyes behind them, and wore a frazzled jacket and slacks. As he walked forward, it was clear that, despite his advanced age, he was neither infirm not decrepit. He pulled a suitcase behind him, an old, worn sort of thing that did not appear to be that heavy judging by how easily he pulled it.

"Oh, yes, Mr., um…" Cynthia's professionality began to fade as she revealed how unprepared she was, quickly flipped through the reservation logs to find the old man's name.

"Decker," the man introduced himself, extending a withered hand out to Cynthia. His voice was scratchy but did not carry any weakness in it. He had an accent that neither Cynthia nor Violet recognized, but they guessed that it was some kind of European. And yet, he still spoke near-perfect Japanese, he must have spent much time in the region. Not an ordinary tourist, apparently. "Professor Johanes Decker. Pleasure to meet you."

"Ah, yes!" Cynthia said, nodding. "Let me just get your information down here, you've already prepaid by card, is that right?"

"Yes, yes," Decker said, nodding. He smiled, stroking his chin, as though he had once had a beard he had forgotten he'd shaved. "Are you new? Where is Roland?"

Cynthia blinked.

"New? No, sir, I'm just helping my grandparents out over the holidays," Cynthia explained. "You know my grandpa?"

"Just in passing," Decker laughed, waving his hand. "I come here a few times every year. The water soothes my old bones, you see, and a stable body makes my mind sharp."

He pointed a wrinkled finger at his head and smiled ruefully. While Cynthia dug around for the key to his room, his eyes landed on Silver, sitting down on the front desk. The small pokemon glanced up at him, confused.

"Castform?"

"My, a Castform, that's quite a rare one," Decker spoke, his thin lips peeling into a smile. His green eyes were shining.

"Yeah, he's my friend," Sango explained, reaching out and petting the side of Silver's head. "He's been with me since I was a little girl."

"You know, Castform are quite special, among pokemon," the professor said. Cynthia and Sango both looked at him, curious. "You see, while they lack the capacity for evolution, their bodies are capable of changing their form to suit the weather."

"I know," Sango said.

"How fascinating," Decker murmured, leaning in closer to study Silver a little closer. "The number of pokemon that change form? So few of them, I must admit."

"Really?" Sango asked, surprised. "Is he really that special?"

"Indeed, indeed," Decker nodded. He cleared his throat, correcting himself, and stood up straight. "Apologies, dear girl. You see, I'm a pokemon geneticist, that's where I've built my research on, and the notion of form changes and the DNA of pokemon that possess the capability have always been something that fascinates me. So I lost my balance a little bit, but that is fine. You don't need to pay any mind to the ramblings of an old man like me, heh…"

He chuckled a little more, patting Silver on the head. He turned to Cynthia, who handed him his room key.

"Oh, it's, um, no problem," Sango said, standing up. She smiled bashfully. Being told that her partner Silver was a special pokemon, that made her feel kind of happy. She moved around the desk and walked over to escort the older man to his room. "If you like, Silver and I could come show you to your room? I can take your bag."

Decker glanced down at his suitcase and then turned back to Sango, and nodded. "Certainly, that would be a great help. Thank you young lady."

"I'm Sango," Sango introduced herself, shaking his hand and taking his bag. "Nice to meet you, professor."

She turned back and called, "Silver, come along!"

"Castform," Silver yawned, floating up and moving after his partner.

"Cynthia, I'll be going to bed after this," Sango yawned. "I'm getting pretty sleepy now. I take it you can handle the rest by yourself?"

Cynthia wasn't happy about it, but she wasn't about to drag Sango down and keep her up just to keep Cynthia company because she didn't want to be alone for the next few hours.

So Sango escorted the professor to his room, listening intently as he explained all about pokemon genetics and form changes in this thickly accented voice, leaving Cynthia all on her own. She sunk back in her chair and yawned.

It was looking to be a long night.

Indeed, the night was a long one. Cynthia had finished the series barely knowing what had happened, her eyes were so heavy. She considered going to make herself some coffee, but her grandpa was very strict about this sort of thing. She couldn't leave the front desk unattended in case one of the guests rang down asking for help.

It pissed her off, having to work like this. She loved this old inn, but right now there wasn't anything that she could see about it that she enjoyed. If only the other employees hadn't left for the holidays, someone who was actually paid to work here would be in her place right now. Oh, well, hopefully the other attendants would be coming back soon, and she could return to being just a normal guest like her friends.

Or at the very least, she could ask her grandparents for some wages.

The last guest was supposed to arrive at 3, and that was an hour away at this point, and she was already basically sleepwalking through her job. She checked her phone again. Maybe there was something else she could watch? She found another series. Something about a guy tutoring five hot sisters. Worth a shot, she figured.

She didn't know how long she had been watching before she raised her head and did a double-take. There was a girl standing in the lobby. Cynthia hadn't even noticed her. She was a pretty thing, a golden-eyed girl with blonde hair the curled on the end, and a pale face devoid of emotion. She wasn't looking at Cynthia. She wasn't looking at anything, really, she just stared off into space, her golden eyes glassy and distant. It added to the doll-like appeal of the girl, along with her gothic dress.

"Um, excuse me? Can I help you?" Cynthia asked. She was miffed. The girl had walked right into the lobby without taking her shoes off in the entrance hall, tracking mud across the floor. She wouldn't mind that normally, but she'd spent the better part of her waking hours that day cleaning it until it shined, and now it was all dirty.

The girl didn't say anything. She tried again, a little louder. Still not response.

Cynthia scowled. Judging by her appearance, the girl didn't appear to be from Hoenn. Or anywhere in Japan. She looked like she might have been a half, but with that blonde hair Cynthia suspected she was a foreigner. So she tried in English.

"Blonde girl in the black dress! Who are you and what are you doing here?"

That finally got her attention. She blinked and turned to Cynthia.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" Cynthia repeated.

"My name is Guinevere," the blonde said. As Cynthia had suspected, she wasn't speaking Japanese, she spoke English. "I am here because I was told to come here."

"Well, Guinevere, could you please take your shoes off? You aren't allowed to wear shoes in the lobby," Cynthia explained.

Guinevere leaned down and took her shoes off. She left them sitting on the floor.

"Put them in that rack over there," Cynthia requested. Guinevere obediently walked over to the shoe rack and placed her shoes on it, and returned to standing in the lobby. At least she wasn't making more of a mess, but she hadn't even approached the front desk yet.

"Now, are you looking for a room?" Cynthia asked.

Guinevere shook her head and answered "no."

"Then how can I help you?"

"I don't understand what you mean."

Cynthia scowled. "Is there anything you need?"

"…I need to check in," Guinevere said after a pause.

Cynthia's eye twitched in irritation. She was too tired for this. It would be one thing if there was a language barrier, but they were speaking HER native language.

"Do you have a reservation?"

Guinevere answered like she was reading off of an answer sheet that had been provided to her. "Yes. I have a reservation."

"Who is the name under?" Cynthia sighed, flipping open the reservation book.

Guinevere blinked.

"I don't understand how a name can be under someone."

Cynthia decided to just check the log for someone named "Guinevere."

Nope. Nobody.

"I'm sorry, but I can't find your name here."

"Okay."

Cynthia stared at the blonde. The blonde stared back at her.

"Guinevere, do you need anything else?"

"I need to check in," Guinevere repeated.

"Well, we're booked full," Cynthia said. "Unless you have a reservation, I can't help you."

"I have a reservation."

"Is it under a different name?" Cynthia asked.

"Is what under a different name?" It was like this girl was trying to piss her off.

"Your reservation. Is your reservation under a different name?"

"How can a reservation be under a name?"

Cynthia wanted to scream. Instead, she sighed.

"Okay, I have a reservation here for a person under the name 'Flora'," Cynthia offered.

Guinevere didn't answer.

"Is your reservation under the name Flora?"

"I don't understand what that means."

"Do you know anyone named Flora?"

"Yes."

Okay, good. Now they were getting somewhere.

"Was Flora the person who told you to come here and check in?"

"Yes."

Why was that so difficult?!

"Okay, yes, you have a reservation then."

Guinevere didn't respond. Cynthia sighed. She reached behind her and found the key, turned, and sat it down on the desk for Guinevere to pick up. She didn't do it, she didn't even move.

"Would you like your key?"

"Why do I need a key?"

"Aren't you checking in?"

"Yes."

"If you check in, that means we give you a key."

"Okay."

The girl was still standing in the lobby, still not making any moves over to pick up the key.

"Come here and pick up the key."

Guinevere walked obediently over to Cynthia, pulling her suitcase behind her. She picked up the key.

"…You can go now," Cynthia said.

"I don't know where to go. Flora told me to go to the lobby and check in."

Cynthia sighed for what felt like the millionth time that night. She stood up from her seat and walked around Guinevere, going to lock the door. The night was over, she was going to bed.

"I'll show you to your room."

She dimmed the lights, turned, and headed to the hall. She paused. She wasn't hearing the sound of footsteps. She turned around and squinted through the darkness. She flipped the light back on. Guinevere was still standing in the lobby.

"Guinevere, come with me to your room," Cynthia requested. Guinevere nodded and followed after Cynthia, the redhead flipping the light off.

Of course the last of the guests was the most annoying. Cynthia just wanted to get some sleep.

Guinevere has returned. What will come from this?