The last chapter was rather peaceful, but this one has a little bit of conflict in it. What awaits Cynthia and Sango at the dawn of the new day? And will Maddi ever come out of her room? What will Gwen do, now that she's in the inn? What did she even come here for? Remember to review.

Aquahaze675: Ichika best girl. Moving on, Decker will have a role to play, and as for Gwen? Well, let's say there was a reason I made Sango conveniently go to bed before Gwen arrived at the inn.

KedharS: Maybe. We'll have to see.

Rosealine gold: Sorry, but your review legit didn't pop up for me.

JoshGamerV: Gwen will never be "normal". She's on the autism spectrum. Her behavior patterns are an ingrained part of who she is and how she perceives the world, harmonia or no. She may develop better methods to help her function, but that will still not be normal. As for why they send her, it's because she follows orders. To the letter. She's an obedient tool, if a slightly unwieldy one.

Thunder Fire: Maybe they're looking for something unrelated to the Oracles. We still know nothing about their plans.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 437

To Cynthia's surprise, she woke up well-rested that morning, all her fatigue drained away. Sitting up in bed, she heard the scratching sound of Aud in her carrier beside her, looking up at her with those big blue eyes of hers.

"Hey, girl, want to get out for a little bit? That should be fine, come on now," Cynthia grinned. She unlatched the carrier and lifted the tiny white pokemon out of the cold enclosure, setting her down and rising to her feet. She stretched, and yawned, surprised that after such a long night she didn't feel so bad.

That's when she realized that she was absolutely starving. And it was surprisingly bright outside. The sun was so high… wait, what time was it?!

Cynthia knelt down and fumbled for her phone, lifting it up to her eyes.

3:23 PM

Cynthia's jaw dropped. She'd slept the whole day away?! A solid twelve hours?!

Cynthia was so startled she didn't even think to take the time to change out of her pajamas, she ran out of her room with Aud in her arms, a million thoughts racing through her head about how her grandpa was going to be so mad at her for missing all of her chores. She burst out into the lobby, her eyes landing on her grandpa, standing at the front desk, a startled look on his face.

"Grandpa!" Cynthia gasped, her face flushed with embarrassment. She lowered her head repeatedly, expressing her apologies. "I'm so sorry! I overslept! I-I didn't mean to, grandpa, I swear! I was just so tired, and I must have slept through my phone's alarm, and so I couldn't do any chores or anything, I'm so sorry!"

"Cynthia-" Roland opened his mouth to reply to her, but Cynthia wasn't done with her apologizing, she was on a roll.

"I promise, I'll start working really, really hard right now and do whatever you want, and if you want me to work the evening shift again I will, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean-"

"Cynthia!" Roland said, a little louder, raising his voice so high he began coughing. Cynthia gasped and ran around the front desk, setting Aud down on the wood and rubbing him on the back to soothe his throat.

"Sorry, grandpa, I didn't mean to work you up so-"

"It's fine," Roland insisted, his voice evening out. Cynthia looked at him, confused.

"What do you mean?" Cynthia asked.

"It's all taken care of. That girl, Sango?"

"Yeah, what about her?" Cynthia tilted her head to the side, confused.

Roland smiled. "She's a very lovely girl. When she woke up this morning, she saw that you were asleep. She came down to talk with me, and she explained that you've been having difficulty sleeping for the past few nights. She told me how you were barely able to stay awake last night, and that she couldn't imagine you would have the energy to do a full day's work without a full night's rest. She offered to take your workload on her own shoulders for the day. I agreed with her, so I decided to accept her offer and let you sleep in as long as you wished."

Cynthia blinked. Her eyes began to water.

"Grandpa… Sango…"

"I realize that I may have been working you too hard these last few days," Roland admitted. "You're always such a lively and energetic girl, and so I assumed that you wouldn't have an issue with keeping up with the workload of our usual employees, to pick up the slack. But that was a poor assumption on our part. As much energy as you have, you're still just a girl."

Roland reached up and placed his hand on Cynthia's cheek, cradling it gently.

"Take the day off. And go get some food in you, you must be starving."

"Thanks, grandpa," Cynthia smiled, touching her hand to his. She turned and picked up Aud, trotting off into the kitchen to go prepare a late lunch.

After eating, Cynthia stretched and wondered what to do. She hadn't had free time, not REAL free time, in as long as she'd been here. It was always working, or sleeping, or hanging out with her friends, but for the first time she felt like she could relax and just be herself.

Of course, being the social person that she was, the first thought to cross her mind was to go pay Sango a visit and see how she was holding up. Besides, she needed to thank her. Sango had really come through for her today, and she didn't know what she could do to repay such a wonderful friend for letting her sleep in.

"Let's go for a walk, okay Aud?" Cynthia smiled down at her Vulpix.

"Vul!" Aud chirped. She plodded after Cynthia as Cynthia slowly ambled out of the room, making sure that her baby pokemon's tiny legs could keep up with her. As they walked, Cynthia paid special attention to Aud's condition. The pokemon didn't seem that worn out by the heat, even though she'd been out of the temperature-regulated carrier for a while. Cynthia hoped that meant Aud's body was growing and adapting to the heat, and that she was maturing. Maybe in a few more days she wouldn't even need cold temperatures to keep from getting sick!

Cynthia found Sango out in the back garden, hanging up the futons and bath robes to drip dry. They had a drier, but Grandma Rose preferred the more traditional methods, believing they were better on the material or something. Cynthia didn't really get it.

"Sango!"

Sango glanced up to see Cynthia bound down the steps out into the yard, Aud following after her. Silver floated up to Cynthia, a smile on his face as well.

"Cynthia, hey, you're finally-"

Sango had just draped a towel over the line when Cynthia threw herself into Sango's arms, glomping her with a tight hug as she tenderly rubbed her face into Sango's chest, startling the blonde. She stumbled back, confused, but Cynthia wasn't letting her go.

"Wh-what are you doing?!" Sango sputtered, her cheeks flushing.

"Thank you so much," Cynthia said, letting Sango go. She looked up into her friend's eyes, her own glistening with tears. "It means a lot, you know. You taking up my chores for me to give me some time to sleep? Especially after I dragged you into drinking two nights ago and that forced you into working all day yesterday… I can't believe you would do something so sweet, even keeping me company last night, at that…"

Sango snorted, rolling her eyes. She doubled over laughing, much to Cynthia's confusion.

"Wh-what's so funny?" Cynthia pouted.

"Cynthia, how long have we been friends?" Sango asked in between giggles.

"…Uh, since the first day of school?"

"Exactly, you idiot! You're one of my best friends, dork!" Sango punched Cynthia in the shoulder, smiling. "Of course I'd step in to help you if you needed my help!"

Cynthia smiled gratefully at Sango.

"Thank you so much," Cynthia said. "But still, is there anything I can do to help? I mean, you helped me out so much, it just doesn't seem fair to, like, you know, let you just work out here by yourself when I could be helping."

"…Sure, if you want," Sango shrugged. She was willing to help Cynthia out because she needed it, but she didn't really mind if Cynthia wanted her to help. She nodded to the hamper of laundry a few feet away by the clothesline, and Cynthia went to start helping her hang the sheets up, Aud running and yipping at her heels.

After the girls finished the laundry and Sango was done for the day, she turned to Cynthia with a collaborative smirk.

"Want to see something that might make you feel better?" She asked. Cynthia nodded. Sango led her through the garden and out to a cleared plot of land, where, much to Cynthia's amazement, a hole was being dug right in the middle of the field.

Violet muttered expletives as she dug her shovel into the dirt, flinging it over her shoulder. The hole was a few feet deep and a few more feet wide, clearly showing that she had been working on digging the hole all day long, in the hot sun.

Cynthia gasped and held her hand over her mouth, before doubling over, giggling. Her mocking laughter caught Violet's ear and the other redhead jammed the shovel into the dirt, whirling around and glaring at her sister.

"Looking good, Red!" Cynthia called down. "You're getting quite the workout, huh? They say digging is a good way to build character!"

"You think this is funny?" Violet snarled.

Cynthia nodded gleefully, yes, yes she did. Violet always rubbed her beauty (and even more irritatingly, her height) in Cynthia's face, and seeing her working in the field like this, especially after how she'd boasted yesterday about sleeping with Flannery, made her feel all warm and fuzzy inside, like things were finally evening out for her.

Sango sighed, shaking her head. She'd wanted to just show Cynthia her sister working to make her perk up, since she'd seen Cynthia's prior animosity towards her sister before. But she didn't expect Cynthia to start picking a fight. Sango still wasn't exactly sure what the relationship between two sisters was supposed to look like, and Violet's attitude was even more confusing. Their conversation a few days prior had indicated that yes, Violet did love Cynthia, but the way she seemed to pick fights with her made Sango question that.

"This is all your fault," Violet spat. "You and your friends stealing my booze out of my room, and getting up to god-knows-what? And now grandpa's blaming me, and making me dig some big pond in the ground for WHAT reason again?"

"Well, maybe don't bring alcohol into the inn next time," Cynthia replied. "It's your fault you can't go a few days without having a drink!"

"You're 15. What were you doing drinking? At your age?" Violet demanded. "What if something had happened?"

Cynthia shrugged her shoulders. "Well, it didn't. So stop being so upset and get over it already. It's about time you took a few knocks down, little miss perfect."

Violet scoffed. "Is that really what this is about? You're STILL upset about the fact that all those girls kept picking me over you? Not my fault you keep falling for older ones who find me more their type. Why don't you find a nice skinny twig of a girl I won't be interested in, huh?"

Sango opened her mouth to try and stop Cynthia from firing back. What Violet had just said was unbelievably out of line. But Cynthia's tongue and wit were both faster than Sango ever could have hoped to be, shooting back with "look at the cool queen of the Hoenn Region! What, so insecure about yourself that you need to sleep with your little sister's crushes just to feel superior? When you know that I may not have your looks, but I've got ten TIMES the talent as a pokemon trainer!"

A guttural growl erupted from deep within Violet's throat, and Sango knew that any peaceful resolution was now, unfortunately, off the table. Why did she think it was a good idea, bringing Cynthia here? Just to cheer her up? Aud was whining, sensing her trainer's agitation, but like Sango, Cynthia wasn't paying her any mind, too focused on finally letting out the frustrations she had been building up towards her older sister.

"Admit it, Red, you're just jealous," Violet scoffed, her eyes taking on a cruel look. "Jealous because you can't look like me, you can't score with half the women I have. You're a jealous girl, and you're blaming me for your insecurities because that's easier than taking responsibility for yourself! Newsflash, people aren't turned off by you because of your height or your figure, Cynthia, but because you're a pervert who can't keep it in her pants long enough to build up a decent relationship with anyone, woman or man!"

Well, Sango wasn't going to SAY she agreed with Violet, but she suspected that the older woman was right on the money. Cynthia didn't exactly have a rebuttal, either, choosing to glower angrily at her older sister instead.

Violet continued, "and honestly, that's why I worry about you so much! Because you're so insecure that you try to mask it with that smiling face and debauched mouth, and you just drive away people because you're too afraid that if they ACTUALLY got to know you, then they might reject you for who you are, not for what you act like!"

"That's… no, you're-"

"So why don't you grow up and start acting like an adult?" Violet demanded. "You're a teenager and yet you're still acting like an irresponsible child blaming your big sister for all your woes and laughing at my shortcomings, when I'm the one who's trying to help you any way that I can! No wonder the first boy you fell in love with chose an older woman over you, because you're still an immature child!"

Violet panted, her eyes slowly widening as she realized what she had just said. Sango gasped, the color draining from her face. Violet… she hadn't just said that, right? One look to Cynthia's vacant face was enough to confirm that Sango hadn't just misheard. Violet looked completely horrified, her face looking as sick as Sango felt.

"Cy-Cynthia, I-I didn't mean to-"

Cynthia's eyes were glassy as she tried to process what Violet had just said. "How?" She asked, not even sure if she was asking herself or her sister. She felt numb. "How did you…?"

Cynthia turned to Sango, her face a cocktail of confusion and disbelief mixing with loads of denial as she stared at her friend. Sango was the only one who knew, so…

Sango swallowed, her terrible poker face revealing what Cynthia feared to be true. She tried to explain, that she hadn't meant for it to be a problem and that she'd only said those things because Violet was worried about her, but all that came out was "Cynthia, I… I didn't know-"

"You told," Cynthia muttered, shaking her head again. Sango desperately wanted to explain that it wasn't like that, but… it was. There wasn't anything to do but try to apologize.

"Cynthia, I'm sorry, I-"

"You told." It had finally sunk in, that this wasn't some bizarre misunderstanding. And the look on her face broke Sango's heart. Cynthia reeled away from her like Sango had slapped her with all her might, her eyes filled with betrayal as she stared at her so-called friend, who had just revealed one of her most painful privacies to her sister, who had just thrown it right back in her face.

It was too much for her to bear.

"Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" Cynthia wailed, tears pouring from her eyes. Sango reached out to her but Cynthia recoiled back, shoving the taller girl aside. She ran crying back into the inn, Aud running desperately after her but she was unable to catch up, left forgotten as Cynthia slammed the door shut behind her.

"What did I just say?" Violet mumbled. Sango turned to the older girl, still stunned that she had said something so cruel. Violet had dropped into a crouch, cradling her head in her hands as she trembled. "How could I say that to her? What sort of a sister am I?"

Sango finally found a resemblance with Cynthia beyond the physical, and the outgoing personality. Both girls had a horrid lack of self-control.

"I told you that in confidence," Sango seethed, tears welling up in her eyes. She curled her hand into a fist, but she knew it wasn't Violet she wanted to punch, not really. There was only one person who had betrayed Cynthia's confidence, and that was her. But she still wanted to scream at Violet. It was wrong, but she wanted someone else to blame for what had just happened.

But she knew that it was her fault.

"I'm sorry," Violet muttered. Sango wasn't sure whether or not she was apologizing to Sango for revealing Sango's words, or to Cynthia for the cruel things she had just said. All she knew was that she could see that the angry and abrasive older sister who had just been assaulting Cynthia with her sharp tongue was now crying in the dirt like a scared child.

I'm the one who needs to apologize, Sango bitterly screamed at herself. I didn't even think about it when I told her. I always thought Cynthia was tougher than anyone with that cheery smile she always puts on, I didn't even think it would matter if I revealed something so private to her older sister. And I said that I was her "friend" like it was some big thing, but as a friend I betrayed her in the worst way I could have… and I didn't even think about it twice.

"Vulpix…"

Aud's cries finally snapped Sango out of her fugue. She turned to see the small pokemon scratching desperately at the door.

"You talked about loving your sister, and yet you hurt her so terribly," Sango chastised Violet, shaking her head. She walked over to Aud, hanging her head in shame at her own part in this. "And I'm not any different."

Sango knelt down and picked up Aud, the small ice pokemon looking up at her, tears in her tiny eyes. Sango felt like crying herself, nestling the small pokemon against her chest. She slid the door open and stepped inside, not sure what to say.

Cynthia's eyes were a blur of tears as she ran down the hall, before crashing into someone. The yelp told her it was a woman, both girls falling on the ground.

"Ow, sorry…" Cynthia muttered, wiping her eyes. She picked herself up, seeing the girl she had just ran into. "Are… are you okay?"

"I think that's a question that I should ask you," the other girl said, standing up. Her voice was soothing, making Cynthia's heart feel a little more eased as she met her amber eyes. She was taller than Cynthia, with wavy-blonde hair dancing around her collar, and she wore a kind smile that was as bright as the sun. "Are you okay?"

"…I'm fine," Cynthia lied, even as tears were falling down her cheeks again. "Don't worry about it."

Cynthia pushed the taller girl aside and dashed down the hall, not sure where she was going, just trying to get as far away from Sango and Violet as possible. She wanted to curl up somewhere dark and small and just cry.

"…Poor thing," the blonde murmured to herself. She turned and continued to walk down the hall, turning down the corner to see a blonde girl with a Vulpix from the Alola Region in her arms, heading in her direction, a Castform floating behind her. The tall girl had a hollow look on her face, like she had just had to shoot her pet pokemon. As she passed, one blonde stopped another with a hand on the shoulder to halt her.

"Huh?" Sango peered at the woman standing beside her, confused. She didn't recognize her, she'd never seen her before. But there was something familiar about her. Was she one of the guests who had come in the night before, or come today? Sango didn't know where she'd seen her before, and wasn't in the right frame of mind to try and figure it out. What did she want?

"Hello there," the girl said, her voice a ringing bell of warmth. "My name is Flora. Are you okay, miss? You seem like you're in pain."

"I'm fine," Sango lied.

"A lot of that going around," Flora murmured. She reached a hand to pat Aud on the head, gently petting her. "I just ran into a young redheaded girl, filled with tears."

"Cynthia…" Sango winced.

"Is she a friend of yours?" Flora asked.

"…Not anymore, probably," Sango muttered, glancing down. Flora sighed. She glanced at Sango's clothes. Her yukata identified her as staff, though at her age she was just a volunteer, most likely. But that would suit her purposes.

"Do you work here?" Flora asked, changing the subject with a smile.

"I guess… look, I just-"

"Could you please show me to the baths?" Flora asked, tilting her head to the side and giving a smile. "I got in early this morning and didn't have a chance, it would mean a lot to me if you could show me the way? My roommate isn't exactly interested in stuff like that, so…"

"Uh, yeah, sure," Sango muttered, nodding. Flora let her lead the way, studying the younger girl's back. Clearly, whoever she was, she and the redheaded girl, Cynthia, she had been called? They'd had a fight of some sort. She could feel the anxiety rolling off of the Castform and the Vulpix in waves, the poor dears, and focused her harmonia on soothing their woes as best she could.

Flora sighed. She could make pokemon feel better with her powers, but when it came to people, well… she'd just have to do her best to try and help the poor girl, she clearly needed a friend right now.

This chapter was really rough on Cynthia and Sango. As much as they care about each other, Sango still betrayed Cynthia's confidence in one of the worst ways. Hopefully, they'll be able to repair their relationship, and hopefully Cynthia and her sister will be able to reach an understanding as well.