Cynthia is in a tough spot, emotionally-speaking, and it trying to piece herself back together! Will she be able to come back from her depression and hold her head up high? Valentine's Day is continuing, so we'll have to see where things go from here!

Also, thank you to everyone who read my story "The Heir to the Dragon". I would appreciate if you continue to read and support it in the future! You can get there through my profile! The story is finally completed! Thank you for reading!

The Semi-Final Round of the second Pokemon Academy Best Girl contest has begun! Which three of these six girls will make it to the Finals? So far we've only got a few votes in, so show your support for your best girl and vote on the poll in my profile! We want this competition to be close, after all! Who's going to win?!

Semi-Finalists: Ayame, Sylvia, Marion, Sango, Elaina, Valerie

Just a Bad Writer for Fun: This has certainly been a very stressful day for a lot of people, I'll give you that.

KedharS: I think that even at the beginning they got along okay enough, even if Cynthia did get on Sango's nerves a little. It was nothing as bad as, say, Cynthia and Maddi's relationship.

Rowlets and Oshawotts: Okay, because you asked so nicely, time for more heartwarming fuzziness with Cynthia feeling better. And other things. But mostly the fuzziness. …But also the other things.

Aquahaze675: Maybe they'll get together, he could be the thing she needs to finally get over Blake for good. That's good, right? Rebound relationships? Those always turn out well.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 669

Cynthia let out a sigh, and rose to her feet. She wiped her eyes with her sleeve, they were finally dry. She turned and looked towards Sango, who was currently talking with Marion. Both girls were smiling, and that brought a smile to Cynthia's face.

It still felt weird, having it there.

Cynthia had worn smiles all her life, even back when she had wanted to cry. Her life growing up hadn't been the best, and she'd compensated by being as chipper and eager and happy as she could be, and somewhere down the road she had actually become happy for real.

The thought that it was strange for her to be smiling right now made her hope that she could regain that feeling again.

As soon as Caelia is allowed to have visitors… I'm going to go apologize to her, Cynthia vowed, turning and looking out over the water as she thought of the girl that she considered her friend. Even if she doesn't want me to be there… no, she probably wouldn't even care if I did apologize anyway, now that I think about it.

Cynthia let out a sigh.

But that doesn't matter. I need to let her know that I'm sorry. That there's someone who cares about her, who wants her to be happy. Even if she doesn't care, I think that she still needs to know that there's someone. Even if it's someone like me…

It probably wasn't going to go as she wished, Cynthia could understand that. Caelia probably wouldn't even look at her. But this is about her, not about me.

Cynthia had to thank Sango. If it hadn't been for her friend's help, she never would have built up the resolve to do what needed to be done. She looked for her friend, but the blonde was mysteriously gone, which was a surprise. No, she had to be somewhere around here.

Cynthia did a double-take, trying to find her friend, but no, she couldn't see Sango anywhere around the lake. Aidan was gone, too.

That was odd. There was still cleaning that needed doing, so why was Sango gone? The blonde wasn't the type of person who would leave if there was still work to do.

Intent on thanking Sango and apologizing for being such a trouble, Cynthia walked down the shore over towards Marion, who was helping Ayame and Blake with their fishing poles. She was the last person Cynthia saw speaking with Sango, and that meant that she was her best bet for finding out where Sango went.

As she walked closer, Cynthia realized something else that she had noticed, but hadn't really thought about until now. Sango wasn't the only one missing. That other boy, the one with the nice body that Cynthia couldn't help but feel all moist over… what was his name again? Allen? Ames? Something like that. He was gone, too.

Cynthia's pace quickened. She had been picking up some signals between the two of them, if they had gone off somewhere alone on Valentine's Day when they should have been doing their work, then was it possible that…

She stopped and shook her head. If she wasn't so emotionally damaged right now, she would have burst out laughing at the absurdity of her though.

Sango? With a guy? Come on, Cynthia, today's been a pretty shocking day but there's no way something like that could ever happen, she told herself.

Convinced that the idea of Sango going off to have a romantic rendezvous in the forest was an impossibility, she approached Marion again.

"Come on, Blake! Pull! Don't fight it!" Marion was urging him eagerly. Blake was playing on the line, pulling against his bite. Ayame's attention was off of her fishing pole, and she was looking at Blake instead, cheering for him to go on.

Cynthia paused, stopping behind the couple to watch. It wasn't the time for her to interrupt, she was happy to let this play out. The look of excitement on Blake's face as he struggled was worth it, and she was rooting for him.

It was definitely strange. As someone who was in love with Blake, it would be easy to think that Cynthia would be quietly hoping he'd fail; that either he or Ayame wouldn't be able to fish up a Luvdisc, thus proving that the jinx would be of no help to them. They could break up, and maybe they would, and that would give Cynthia a chance.

But she wasn't thinking that way at all, and the fact that she wasn't was a surprise to her. She was rooting for his success, because…

Because she loved him, that was why.

Cynthia wanted Blake to be happy, and him being happy made her happy. Her heart was lightened, and her feelings of guilt about what had happened with Caelia began to lessen. Come on, Blake! She silently cheered. You can do it!

I want him to be happy, I want him and Ayame to be together forever, if they can. Cynthia felt a real smile spread across her lips for the first time in what felt like forever. It was a nostalgic feeling, and it practically made her smile all over again.

Caelia, I'm sorry for what happened with you, Cynthia quietly apologized. I'll make it up to you somehow, I promise.

But Sango's right, I can't keep beating myself up over that accident forever. I'm just going to be glad you're okay.

"Come on, Blake!" She shouted, startling Blake enough that he nearly let the fishing pole slip through his fingers. Ayame looked back at her, surprised, and then turned back to the water and resumed her encouragement.

"Cynthia's right, you've got this!" Ayame agreed. "Just a little more!"

Blake continued to pull on the rod and reel in the line, doing his damndest to fish up the Luvdisc, and with a final tug it finally broke the water, the pink pokemon flopping around on the line in front of him, its scales sparkling in the afternoon sun.

The biggest smile Cynthia had ever seen spread across Blake's face.

"I-I did it!" Blake said, rising to his feet and taking the line, pulling the Luvdisc back over the shore so he could unhook it.

"Way to go!" Marion cheered, applauding excitedly. She was happy just seeing a successful fishing experience, but it was nothing compared to how Cynthia felt. Her heart lightened in relief, and she smiled, silently applauding Blake. It wasn't her moment, it was his. And it was someone else's, too, just as much as Blake's.

Marion and Cynthia were certainly happy for him, after all, but Ayame was by far the most overjoyed by what had happened.

Blake had pulled up a Luvdisc, after all, which meant that their job here was halfway done. Now, it was just up to her to fish up a Luvdisc of her own, and then the two of them would release their Luvdisc together to ensure their eternal happiness in the future.

Ayame leaned over and pulled Blake into a tight hug even as he tried to free the Luvdisc from the line, and he struggled against her.

"Come on, Aya, if you mess with me too much, then I might accidentally drop the Luvdisc into the water!" Blake protested, laughing in spite of himself. Ayame smiled and let him go, and he freed the Luvdisc, passing the slippery fish pokemon off to Marion, who took it over to a small storage tank filled with water and releasing the pokemon into it.

"So, how was it?" Marion chortled, her eyes shining with excitement. "Did you have a blast fishing up that Luvdisc? Finally figured out just how wonderful fishing is, didn't you, Blake? It's just the absolute best!"

Blake laughed, nodding in agreement. He wasn't as thrilled as Marion was, of course, and he was far from her newest convert into the fishing family, but he had definitely enjoyed himself struggling against the pokemon.

Fishing wasn't so bad, when you got used to it. Especially in the company of people that you cared about. No wonder Marion and Sango liked it so much. A small smile crossed his face as he picked up the tiny tank and stared at the Luvdisc inside, sitting back down next to Aya, who was reinvigorated by Blake's success.

"Now then!" Ayame cheered, picking her fishing poll back up. "If Blake can catch one, then I can do it, too! Just you watch, Blake! I'll get one in no time! You can just kick back your feet and watch me show you how it's done!"

Ayame's experience with fishing was almost zero, of course, having grown up on an icy mountain, but Blake definitely admired her confidence.

Try as he might to spend the day staring at her (and it wasn't like that was something difficult, either, her gallant figure as she sat with fishing pole in hand could have captivated him for hours) there was someone else that he needed to check in with, first.

He felt a little guilty, turning his attention to another girl while in the middle of his date with Aya, especially considering that it was Cynthia, but it was the fact that it WAS Cynthia, and she had been catatonic due to the incident (which he had since learned had involved Caelia, unfortunately) that he was giving her his attention.

He didn't let his guilt get the better of him. As he had discussed with Cynthia this morning, she was his friend. And he was going to take care of her like he would any other friend, when she was in a tough situation.

She had been in bad shape, and he wanted to take a moment to make sure that she was really okay after all.

"Hey, Cynthia," Blake said, feeling more than a little awkward about things. It was such an un-casual greeting that even Aya took a second to glance up from her fishing pole at the two of them, giving Blake a look like "what's the matter with you?"

"Yeah, what is it?" Cynthia asked curiously.

"Um… are you feeling better?" Blake asked. God, why was he so bad at this? He had been worried about Cynthia earlier, but now that she was standing in front of him, seeming totally fine, he found that it was getting awkward to try and pretend like they were just friends.

This was probably a conversation he should have saved for a less auspicious day, but he had to ask anyway just to make sure. "Are you okay?"

Cynthia blinked, a big grin spreading across her face. "Yeah, don't worry about me, I'm fine," she assured him. "Sango talked with me earlier, and helped me figure some stuff out. I'm still bummed about what happened with Caelia, but I'm going to be okay. Thanks for being so concerned, Blake, it means a lot."

"Oh, good," Blake said, sighing in relief. It was a mixture of relief that Cynthia was okay and relief that he could go back to cheering on Aya and not have to worry about Cynthia anymore, but that was still more than enough.

But then he thought of something that Cynthia said, and glanced back up, confused. "Hey, now that you mention it, where is Sango?" He asked, looking around. Sango was nowhere to be seen, even though Silver was still sleeping atop the counter of the abandoned stand.

"That's what I want to know," Cynthia said, nodding in agreement. "She's gone. Marion? What's up, have you seen her anywhere? You were the last one to talk to her, right? So do you know where she went?"

Marion smiled and saluted, nodding her head eagerly. "Yeppers! Not a problem! See, Sango was talking to me earlier about how she was sad that this event had been such a colossal failure, and how she was going to make it up to me by holding another one next year herself, and inviting me! It was just the best, so I was hugging her all over, and…"

Marion continued to ramble on about things that Cynthia didn't care about. Yes, it was nice of Sango to offer something like that, but right now Cynthia was more concerned with what had happened to the girl herself.

"…So Aidan came over a little while ago," Marion continued, and that made Cynthia perk up. Finally, something that made sense! But… no, she had thought that before, but that had been impossible, because it was Sango.

"Aidan? You mean that big guy?" Cynthia clarified. Marion nodded her head in confirmation. "Okay, well, what did he want?"

"He wanted to talk with her about something," Marion said. "Said it was pretty important. So they went off into the forest to chat about it, that way. It was only a few minutes ago, if you have something you want to talk to her about you can probably find them."

"Okay, thanks, I'll do that," Cynthia said, nodding. "Blake, you stay here and keep rooting for Ayame, I'll go express thanks from the both of us!"

"Sounds good," Blake said, more than happy to devote his remaining time to supporting his girlfriend and leaving the rest in Cynthia's capable hands.

Speaking of Cynthia, she was feeling a little bit mischievous herself as she headed in the direction that Marion had indicated. She didn't believe for a second that Sango was actually going to make out with that guy, but she was definitely curious.

Sango getting called out by a boy, on Valentine's Day? Especially a boy who looked like that, it was something that Cynthia just had to see for her own eyes, even though she knew it probably wasn't what she thought it was.

If Cynthia HAD truly thought that Aidan was about to confess, she probably wouldn't have been as eager to talk to Sango as she was at the moment.

So where was Aidan right now? Well, he was with Sango, chatting her up while trying to forestall his important topic as long as possible.

Could you really blame him, though? He had asked Sango to come into the forest with him, and she had said yes. This was really going to happen. He was really going to tell her how he felt about her, even if he didn't have a Luvdisc to offer. It was the kind of thing that tended to make a guy nervous! He had even brought Arion for moral support, and that still didn't make what he was about to tell her any easier! Sango was just too awesome!

"…So, like, I think it was really cool of you, helping that Caelia girl with cpr," Aidan said, downplaying his own involvement. "That was really heroic."

"Yeah, you've only told me that, like, a million times today," Sango laughed, rolling her eyes. "Come on, that can't be what you wanted to talk about. You've been stalling me for like ten minutes at this point, what is it?"

She flashed Aidan a reassuring smile. She didn't know what it was that he wanted to talk to her about, but he was such a good friend that she was willing to hear him out, whatever he had to say on the matter. And Aidan, well…

"It's okay, you can tell me, I don't bite," she assured him.

Aidan took a deep breath, willing his nerves to calm down. He couldn't believe how difficult this was! He was studying to be a Pokemon Ranger, for Pete's sake, someone who threw themselves into dangerous situations without flinching every day! How was confessing to a girl so difficult?

Cynthia managed to find them, creeping up on the clearing the two were standing in just in time to hear Aidan finally spit it out.

"So, um… I like you," he admitted, and Cynthia had to suppress a gasp.

She was stunned. Certainly, it wasn't "going into the forest to make out" levels of serious, but come on, she would have never imagined that Sango would be getting a love confession, even if it was Valentine's Day!

The only question was what Sango's response would be. That had Cynthia more intrigued than anything. After all, Sango had always seemed fairly ambivalent to love. Cynthia assumed that she was probably asexual and/or aromantic, considering the way she seemed to be on the topic.

No way Sango actually felt the same, right?

"…I like you too," Sango said, and Cynthia nearly fell over in shock.

"R-Really?" Aidan asked, his face brightening. It was one of the happiest faces Cynthia had ever seen, the guy looked like a big happy Growlithe getting called a good boy by his trainer. Even if his expression did seem to be a little disbelieving.

Cynthia had to admit that she sympathized with such a feeling of shock; she couldn't believe it either, given the circumstances.

Sango actually liked a boy? A boy who liked her back? Was this for real? Was Cynthia about to see one of her best friends get a boyfriend? She wasn't even upset about the fact that would make her practically one of the only single people left in their friend group, this was too good to be-

Wait. Wait, wait, wait.

Cynthia was an idiot. She had completely forgotten who she was dealing with. This was Sango, there was no way that she actually meant it like that.

"Of course!" Sango laughed. "You're a great guy, Aidan, of course I like you! I like all my friends!"

Cynthia slammed her head into the trunk of the tree she was hiding behind, biting down on the scream of frustration threatening to burst free. Sango was one of the most infuriating people on the planet sometimes!

Fortunately, Aidan wasn't going to let himself get discouraged. He had certainly baulked at her explanation, and had paled a little, but he wasn't going to give in so easily. He had used up most of his courage confessing, and he wasn't going to back away now!

"No, that's not what I meant!" He pressed, shaking his head. "No, I mean that I like you like a boy likes a girl! I want to go out with you, and maybe even, like… you know, be your boyfriend!"

It was the bluntest, most childish, "two-fifth-graders-on-the-playground-promising-to-marry-each-other"ish confession that Cynthia had ever heard. But for someone with the romantic experience of Sango Akana (that is to say, none, as far as Cynthia knew) it was probably the level of dumb it needed to be for it to sink into that thick skull of hers.

Luckily, with her tree situated conveniently between the two of them, it was a simple matter for Cynthia to observe how the statement had gone over with its intended recipient. She peeked out behind the tree at Sango.

Sango's mouth was wide enough to swallow her Castform whole. Her face had gone pale with shock, but was beginning to fill with color as the reality of the situation sunk in. Cynthia sighed in relief, she'd actually managed to figure it out.

Well, Sango gets her first confession! And she has a nice little witness to it in Cynthia! What will come of this, I wonder? Will anything ever be the same again?