Now that Cynthia's heard some things that mankind was not meant to know, what will her reaction be? Will she be able to keep her cool, or will she be unable to resist the temptation to spill the beans to everyone? Well, good luck, Cynthia!

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: It's definitely a mystery to stump the ages, we'll have to get our top investigator Dakota Evans on the case.

Rowlets and Oshawotts: No, he doesn't, but that's just the situation that life puts us in sometimes, I'm sorry to say.

Aquahaze675: I hope that Cynthia proves to be a better friend than that. And yeah, things are definitely rough for Aidan, poor guy.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 671

Cynthia walked out of the forest and onto the lakefront looking like she'd seen a ghost. Her face was pale and she stared numbly off into the distance, trying to put the pieces together in her mind as she thought on what had just happened with Sango and Aidan.

It kept playing over in her head, the thought that Sango was in love with someone. It just… it wasn't possible to imagine.

After all, it was Sango! She had teased Sango about how she would have feelings for Blake, or even Aidan, or that new guy, Ian, but that had just been teasing, because she thought that Sango couldn't feel that sort of thing, or was just generally anti-romance.

But… Sango had a crush? She really liked a boy?

This was something to celebrate, but Cynthia didn't feel like she was in a very celebratory mood. Without even factoring in what had happened with Caelia earlier, Sango's expression when she said that she liked somebody…

It didn't seem like a positive thing.

Maybe that's why Sango seems so down on romance, Cynthia wondered. She must have feelings for someone, and she's too shy to act on them. I can't believe I was so insensitive, joking around with her like that…

Sango was such a good friend to her, and she hadn't been a very good friend in return.

She realized how little she knew about Sango's past. Sango might have a boyfriend, or even an ex, that she just didn't talk about with them. Maybe a childhood friend that she had a crush on? It was all possible.

One thing Cynthia was sure of though was that it probably wasn't someone that Cynthia knew. After all, she'd never seen Sango express anything even close to romantic interest towards Blake or Nick or Reiner, she hadn't seen her express interest in anyone.

Honestly, if someone had told Cynthia that Sango had a secret crush (and Cynthia had actually managed to believe it) then the name she would have guessed would have been Aidan. But it wasn't Aidan, so that meant…

No, this is way too stupid, there's no way Sango's a good enough liar to hide something like that! Cynthia reminded herself. She must have feelings for a guy from her school club, or one of her other classes, that's definitely it! Or maybe it really is that guy! What was his name again? The one who lost against Gerard, um… Frank? Yeah, him. Maybe it's Frank.

Cynthia forced a smile onto her face, assured that her intuition was right on the money. There was no way that she could be wrong about something like this!

Of course, the idea that Sango had feelings for Blake never even crossed her mind.

"Hey! What's up!"

Cynthia blinked, called out of her thoughts by the sound of Marion's voice. She turned her head and looked her way, the girl's sparkly eyes shining on her.

"Oh, um…" Cynthia wasn't sure what to say, she began fumbling for words as she stared at Marion, still feeling really shaky.

"Your face looks kinda… creepy," Marion said, scrunching her face up in a suspicious look, stroking her chin. "Hmm… tell me…"

"Uh, Marion, what… uh, what's up?" Cynthia swallowed. She suddenly felt like she was being put on the spot by the appearance of the scrutinizing Marion Rivers.

"Eh, maybe it's nothing!" Marion said, clapping her hands and shrugging her shoulders, her suspicious look sliding off and getting replaced with a smile. "Anyway, so, did you find Sango? What about Aidan? Everything okay there?"

"Sango and Aidan?!" Cynthia gasped, cold sweat pouring down her face. "Who are they again? I forget! Oh! Yeah! Them, right! Yup! Yup! Everything's good! Yup, they're doing fine, certainly nothing to worry about, nope!"

Marion blinked. "Oh, so you did manage to find them?"

Cynthia's blood went cold. If she said that to Marion, and Marion told Sango, then that would mean Sango would know that Cynthia had overheard, and there was no way Cynthia was going to let that happen! Sango would die of embarrassment, and she would probably never talk to Cynthia again, and that would be awful!

Crap, now Ayame and Blake were looking at her as well! Shit! How did Cynthia lie again? She needed to throw them all off the scent! Otherwise she might humiliate her friend! Come up with something, come up with something… Oh, duh!

"What do you mean? Find them? No, I didn't find them at all, nope, just got lost in the forest, unfortunately, didn't manage to find them, and they certainly weren't talking about anything! I mean, they might have been, but how would I know, right? Hahaha… boy, I wonder where they are, I really need to thank Sango, yup…"

Perfectly done! A masterful dodge! Cynthia congratulated herself, mentally patting herself on the shoulder for her skillful lie.

"…Sooooo… If you didn't find them, how do you know that they're doing okay?" Marion asked, her suspicious expression returning.

SHIT.

"Um… the call of the fishes told me, that's how!" Cynthia answered. "Indeed, my fishing instincts kicked in, and told me that my fellow fishing enthusiasts were okay!"

Please fall for it, please fall for it…

Fittingly, Marion fell for it hook, line, and sinker.

"Wow, really?! But you've never even been fishing before!" Marion said, her eyes shining with excitement. "Wow, that… you must be a prodigy! I'm certain of it, to already hear the voices of the fish, that's amazing, Cynthia! And you don't even have harmonia!"

Marion clasped Cynthia's hands, radiating enthusiasm. "Yes! I've decided! I simply must hone this talent of yours! I promise, on my honor as a fishing gal, I'm going to turn you into a master of the fishing pole, we'll have you reeling 'em in before you know it, yuppers!"

Cynthia was less than enthused.

"…Yay…" Cynthia muttered. Sango owed her a lot for keeping her mouth shut, that was for sure. And Cynthia was really going to wring it out of her somehow, forcing her to come up with a lie on the sport like that just to protect Sango's reputation.

Blake and Ayame, who had been watching the exchange curiously, understood what was going on immediately, of course, and glanced at each other. They nodded in affirmation.

"So, she's definitely lying, right?" Blake's nod confirmed.

"Yep, that was my vibe too," Ayame agreed with a nod in return.

Neither really cared about Cynthia's lies any further than that, however, and quickly resumed what they were doing, Ayame going back to fishing while Blake cheered his girlfriend on with excitement, Cynthia's strange behavior forgotten.

Cynthia was dragged over to the fishing rods by Marion, forcing herself to look excited. Before she would actually have to go fishing, though, she was saved by Sango and Aidan coming out of the forest and approaching the two of them.

Cynthia glanced at the two of them and sighed in relief. They both seemed to be doing okay, there was no trace of what had just transpired on their faces or in their body language. Sango was still wearing a smile, and Aidan seemed surprisingly chipper himself, for someone who had just been rejected by the girl he confessed to.

Cynthia wondered if such a brave front was one of the things that they taught in the Pokemon Ranger School or whatever those special classes that Sango and Aidan took were. After that thought passed her by, she turned back to Marion.

"Hey, Marion, I was wondering, um, I know that fishing is really awesome and all, but I'd really like to help you guys clean up, instead, if that would be alright?" She asked. Normally she hated physical labor, but in this case, to get out of fishing, she was happy to do it.

"Oh… why?" Marion asked, slumping over in dejection.

"Well, you know, because I wasn't helping at all earlier, due to the fact that I was feeling so down about Caelia and what had happened," Cynthia partially lied. She did feel a little guilty about it, especially considering it had been her fault in the first place. "I mean, I was the one who ended up pushing Caelia over the line, so if it wasn't for me, then the event would still be going on, right?" Cynthia explained, hoping that Marion would accept that as an answer.

Fortunately, she did, nodding her head. A smile returned to her face. "Oh, come on, you don't have to worry about that!" Marion laughed.

"But I feel bad, at least let me help?" Cynthia pleaded, trying hard not to sound like she was begging. Helping Sango and Aidan would also give her the chance to make up for how much of a jerk she had been, overhearing their confession like she had. They didn't deserve that, and Cynthia wanted to do something.

But mainly it was to get out of the fishing, that was her primary reason.

Marion kept smiling, and nodded her head. "Sure thing! Sounds like a plan! I'm glad you're willing to help, we can always use an extra pair of hands! Plus, that way…"

Marion practically burst up into the air as she jumped for joy. "…I get to take the time off to keep fishing!"

Without sparing Cynthia a second glance, Marion turned and dashed over to the lakeside, fishing pole in hand.

Cynthia let out a sigh, and shook her head. This was what Sango had to deal with on a regular basis, huh? The poor thing…

Well, I'm still going to keep my word, Cynthia decided. She turned to look at where Sango and Aidan were picking up long strips of wood and loading them onto the truck, and trudged over. She tried to seem excited about helping, but really, as much as she was glad to be making things up to the two of them, well…

"Oh, let me get that!" Aidan said, reaching over to one of the longer pieces. Sango looked up at him and her eyes widened, turning bright red.

"Oh! No, no, you don't need to!" Sango frantically refused, lifting it up. "I got it, really, there's no need to be nice!"

"I-It's not that," Aidan quickly clarified. "It's not like I'm asking to help you because, well… you know, it's just that it looks a little heavy for you, so there's no need to be considerate of me just because of… what happened."

"This isn't that!" Sango cried. "Trust me, I'm just- Oh, Cynthia."

…Things were about as awkward as someone could imagine. These two could barely talk to each other in their present state, even if they were doing a good job of appearing to be fine on the surface while they got their work done.

But even if Cynthia had no idea what had transpired between the two of them, with the rigid way they were speaking to each other and the fact that they could barely get near each other without one of them freezing up, she was pretty sure that she would have been able to guess that something had happened.

God, it was so obvious that Cynthia actually felt pity. Those two should be grateful that everyone else here has other things to occupy their attention, Cynthia noted, glancing at Marion who was busy fishing, and Blake, who was engrossed in Ayame doing the same.

But Cynthia didn't have time to worry about how dreadfully obvious the two of them were being, she had more pressing matters to deal with at the moment.

Namely, how would she make it through helping the two of them out with their work without either one catching on to the fact that she had overheard the little confession, and the resulting fallout. It was something that actually freaked her out a little bit.

Cynthia would have to do casual. And that would be just fine! Cynthia rocked casual, she was the queen of casual!

"Hey guys!" Cynthia said, waving at the two of them. Her arm refused to move naturally, jerking from side to side instead. "How are things?"

"Oh, um… doing good, I guess…" Sango said, glancing tentatively at Aidan before looking back at Cynthia. "How are… you doing?"

That was probably the dumbest question Cynthia had ever heard, considering not half an hour ago she was curled up in catatonia.

"Well, uh… there was that whole thing with Caelia, so…" Cynthia let the sentence hang there, and it did, for a lot longer than it should have before Sango gasped in realization at what she was referring to, her face flushing with shame.

"Oh my god! I totally forgot, sorry!" Sango winced in sympathy. "Are… are you doing better, though?"

Cynthia nodded, jerking her head up and down. "Yep, can't complain," she said.

"Good… good…" Sango said, nodding absentmindedly. The conversation died there.

"I was… looking for you earlier," Cynthia added. "To thank you for helping me out. But I couldn't find you, what happened?"

Sango flinched, and her face went pale. Her eyes quickly shot over to Aidan, and Cynthia made a mental note to start up a poker game and get Sango in on it. She could rake in quite a bit from this girl's lack of guile.

But now wasn't the time to think about things like that. Cynthia forced herself to make the dumbest, most innocent-looking smile that she could, and pretended like she had no idea that anything was amiss as Sango fumbled for words.

"Um, well… you know how it is… I was just… going for a run! Yeah, that's right!" Sango said, gaining in confidence as she apparently found a story that she could stick with. "You know me, always exercising, yeah!"

"That… that's right!" Aidan said, nodding in agreement, getting in on this bullshit story. "And you know, I was… going off for a walk in the forest too, enjoying the fresh air, since I'm training to be a Pokemon Ranger, you know how that goes, liking nature and all that stuff, right? …So that's why I was gone, in case you were curious," he awkwardly added.

Cynthia felt a groan rising up, and she forced it back down. Now wasn't the time. She had to pretend like she was swallowing their garbage with a big shiny spoon.

"Oh, I see!" Cynthia said, grinning from ear to ear. "That's really nice, it must be cool to be so in tune with nature and everything!"

Sango and Aidan glanced nervously at each other and plastered smiles on their faces as wide as the fake one that Cynthia wore.

"Yep, definitely!" They agreed.

All three wore false smiles, and went to go get started on packing everything away in the large truck. This was going to be quite an ordeal, Cynthia imagined, her internal bitterness not showing on her face, in spite of her frustrations with what was going on.

While the three of them were busy getting started on packing everything up, Blake and Ayame were focusing their attentions on the water. Things weren't looking so good, even as Blake encouraged Aya that she could do her best.

Ayame loved her boyfriend's support, but she wished that it could be slightly more helpful. Marion was fishing not too far away from them, and much to Ayame's chagrin, she had already caught three Luvdisc herself.

Blake had caught one, Marion had caught three, and Ayame was sitting in her chair digging her feet in the grass, not having caught a damn thing. She was ready to start cursing if her luck continued to be this shitty, fuck.

She refused to accept that this was a sign of anything about their relationship. It didn't matter! Just because she couldn't catch a stupid fucking Luvdisc, she was supposed to think that she and Blake were destined to break up?! No way! Not happening!

JUST TAKE THE BAIT ALREADY YOU DUMB FUCKING FISH! Ayame mentally screamed, trying to maintain her image of decorum. She didn't want to look like some shrieking, angry Loudred in front of her boyfriend.

"The Luvdisc really aren't biting, huh?" Blake said, sensing that Aya was a little on edge about this whole thing. She was wearing a calm look on her face, but Blake knew his girlfriend. Her eyes were sharp and cold, and her fingers gripped the fishing pole so tightly her knuckles were turning white. Blake's heart went out to her.

"Not really," Ayame muttered, trying to keep from sounding angry.

"Yeah, so don't worry about it," Blake said, smiling warmly at her. "After all, they're probably just tired, it'll take some time. It's not like you can expect to catch one immedia-"

"OOoh! Another one!" Marion's voice cut into Blake's platitude, and the sound of another pokemon being pulled from the water caused Ayame's eye to twitch.

Instead of socking Marion in the mouth, Ayame decided to do the responsible thing and maintain her composure, channeling her rage into her fishing pole, willing the Luvdisc to bite.

Blake looked at her, and began to worry. She cared about this so much, and he cared about it desperately too. He just hoped that she would be able to catch one of the Luvdisc, so that they could be together forever.

Even if the jinx wasn't real, he wanted it for her sake. But the Luvdisc weren't-

"AH!" Ayame gasped in shock, her fishing pole jerking in her hands as her face lit up with glee. It couldn't be! But it was! "I-I got a fucking bite! Yes! Fucking A!"

Blake lit up with joy, seeing her like that. Aya eagerly began to reel it in, and Marion set down her pole to dash over, willing to lend whatever help Ayame needed.

But Ayame didn't accept her help. She needed to do this herself. The Luvdisc fought her every step of the way, but when she finally fished it up, she was overjoyed…

And then she saw it.

It wasn't what she expected.

The Luvdisc was bright gold.

"Wh-What?" Ayame stuttered, confused. She glanced at Marion for clarification.

"WOOOOOOOO!" Marion applauded, her voice so loud that Ayame nearly let the pole slip from her hands. But she ignored the painful shouting in her ear and unhooked the Luvdisc, setting it down on the ground. She stared at it in amazement, and looked up at Marion.

"Marion, what's up with this Luvdisc?" Ayame asked, getting out of her chair and kneeling down next to the fish, picking it up and setting it down in the storage tank. She hadn't expected to fish up a gold Luvdisc, of all things.

Marion grinned. "It's shiny, obviously!" She replied. "That's our special prize! I can't believe you got it!"

Ayame's face brightened, and her heart pounded in her chest.

Special prize? What could that be?

Ayame got a special prize! What a wonderful occasion! …But keep in mind, that it is a special prize from Marion Rivers.