With all the build up in the Orre Region, we will continue… not by focusing on anyone in the Orre Region! Instead, before the climax, we'll move back to the Pokemon Academy! We're going to take a look at Cynthia, and see how she's doing! She's gotta think up some ideas for her battle facility, and we've also got spring break for our folks back home! So let's put Orre on ice, and switch to something that people will probably care less about. Ha ha ha.
The Final Round of the Pokemon Academy Best Girl Contest 3 has begun! Get the votes going in soon! There are three girls in the finals! Who's going to win? Chloe? Cynthia? Or Vic? One of those girls will become the third best girl, so get those votes in as soon as possible! You've only got one vote this time, so make it count!
Finalists: Chloe, Cynthia, Vic
KedharS: It's a little more complicated than that. It's a secret for business reasons.
Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings
Chapter 1025
"…And basically, now I need to figure out what I want to do for my battle facility," Cynthia wrapped up her explanation. She let out an exhausted sigh. "What a pain in the ass, right?"
Neither Julia nor Sango knew quite how to respond to that. They just stared at her in silence, blown away by the amount of detail she'd put into her explanation.
"That's… wow," Sango mumbled. "The Battle Frontier, that's really something, huh?"
"Why didn't you ever tell us about this?!" Julia demanded. "A place for pokemon battles, where trainers can go and enjoy themselves while training their pokemon at the same time? It sounds amazing, why were you keeping it a secret?"
Cynthia smiled sheepishly. "Well… the Commander said that I shouldn't tell anybody about it… or something along those lines. He was really focused on keeping it secret, so I thought I just shouldn't tell anyone, you know? Plus, given how your first run-in with his group went, I don't think you would have been particularly happy about it anyway."
Julia recalled when Tommy and Ross (but mostly Tommy) had attacked her and Kitty months ago, trying to test her harmonia. A scowl crossed her face.
"…You make a good point," she grumbled.
Cynthia continued regardless. "But you know? It's a pretty amazing concept, right? Just think about it! All that hard work! All those people going to battle! It's such a great idea!" Then she sighed. "If only I could come up with something."
"Hmm? But didn't Julia give you an idea earlier?" Sango asked, remembering Cynthia's excited statement.
Cynthia shook her head. "No… I thought about it a little more, and you know… it's just not really a good fit? Yeah, I like my grandparents' inn, and it's a great aesthetic design, but like… what about it would focus on pokemon battles? It's not like you can just go nuts fighting in a hot spring, these facilities need to be a little more creative, you know? Like Mason's idea, that one's brilliant!"
Sango made a face. "…The maid one? Really?"
Cynthia rolled her eyes. "Oh, please, of course you have to react to THAT. You realize his idea is a whole lot more than just maids, right?"
"Oh, yeah?" Sango asked, raising her eyebrow. She crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Well, tell me a little more about it then."
Cynthia stared blankly at her for a few seconds. Then she turned to Julia. "So anyway, I need to think up a really interesting and creative idea like that one! But I'm stuck, my head is hurting from having to think this hard!"
"You're sure it's not how early you woke up?" Julia asked, smirking. Cynthia hadn't woken up before noon in almost two weeks by this point, enjoying the pseudo-time off that the senior trip had provided the rest of campus.
Sango sighed. "Okay, Cynthia, then what were you thinking about doing?"
Cynthia gave her another blank stare. "Huh? What do you mean?" She asked, confused. Sango sighed and picked up Silver, rocking him gently as she sat back down in her chair. She was going to be in this for the long haul.
"I mean, well, you already told us about this, right? The Battle Frontier? So if you're stuck, you might as well talk about it with us. Workshop some ideas or something, you know? I don't see much harm in that," she shrugged. "Maybe we can even help you."
"Sure, I'm game," Julia nodded.
"Really!? That's great, guys! Thanks!" Cynthia cheered. "With you two in my corner, I bet we'll come up with all sorts of great ideas for battles!" She was staring mainly at Julia when she said that. Which made sense.
"…Why do I get the feeling that you're going to be putting more stock in Julia's ideas than mine?" Sango asked, scowling.
"That's not true at all!" Cynthia huffed. "I know you're both going to contribute a lot! Julia will provide me with interesting and exciting ideas based on her knowledge of pokemon battles and experience as a trainer, and Sango… um… you can go get us snacks!"
Sango gave her a dead-eyed stare.
"Hey what do you want from me?!" Cynthia demanded. "Julia's in the Battle Course like me, or at least, she's gonna be! So of course I'd value a trainer's insight! That doesn't mean I won't appreciate any advice you have!"
Julia glanced warily at an irritated Sango. "…Sango, she does have a point…"
"I know she has a point, and that's what annoys me!" Sango snapped. "Fine, fine, so then. Julia. What AMAZING ideas do you have for this?"
Julia blinked.
"…Pass."
"What!?" Cynthia's jaw dropped. Sango burst out laughing.
"Yeah, some help," she cackled, nearly dropping Silver as she went into conniptions on her chair. "Really making great use of your experience as a trainer there!"
"Hey!" Julia's face heated up. "I'm… I'm doing the best I can, you know, but it's hard! I'm more into traditional battles, I can't think up creative ideas on the spot!"
"Raaah! What are we going to do then!?" Cynthia groaned, tugging at her messy hair. "This is hard! Creative ideas, creative ideas… wait! I got it!"
"Hmm? You thought of something?" Sango asked, raising her eyebrow.
"Yeah, just here me out here," Cynthia said, smiling triumphantly. "What about… pokemon battles on motorcycles?"
Both girls let Cynthia sit with that solution for a little while.
"…Well? Come on, guys-"
"That's stupid." Julia responded immediately.
"Incredibly stupid," Sango agreed.
"What?! But-"
"There aren't a lot of pokemon who can keep pace with a motorcycle," Julia said, coldly cutting Cynthia's ridiculous idea to pieces. "And it would be absurdly hard to keep pace AND fight against another pokemon."
"Plus there aren't a lot of people who can drive motorcycles anyway," Sango added. "I thought this was supposed to be some big park for everyone to come battle? How's that going to work if only people with motorcycle licenses can fight?"
Cynthia made a sour face. "Fine, fine, okay. So my next idea… pokemon battles, but in gigantic robots! And you fight against the pokemon yourself with power armor! Well?"
"Completely unfeasible," Sango shut it down.
"Do you have any idea how much that would cost? Is the technology even there?" Julia couldn't believe her ears.
"Fine. Then we put everyone into a virtual world and have them fight with their pokemon in an MMORPG, and whenever you lose a pokemon battle in the game-"
"Cynthia, for the love of god, stop stealing ideas from anime," Sango groaned, slapping her forehead. "They aren't good."
"Come on!" Cynthia wailed. "But I suck at this! I can't come up with anything creative!"
"You're very creative, though," Julia said, raising her eyebrow. Cynthia was the gal to see if you wanted zany ideas. The fact that she was stuck on this was actually kind of surprising.
Cynthia let out a sigh.
"But I'm not good at coming up with stuff like this. It feels like all the good ideas have been taken already."
"Well… what about this one?" Sango suggested. "How about renting pokemon? You know, there are a lot of people who might want to have pokemon battles to test their skills, but lack the pokemon to do so, or the time to train them. You could do something like that! That way, even I could participate if I wanted to!"
"Chloe's already doing a rental system, remember?" Cynthia glumly replied. "This feels like it would be just a cheap knockoff."
"Well, I mean… yours would skip all the pokemon puzzles and stuff though, and just focus on the battles," Sango said.
"…Yeah that sounds LESS fun than hers," Cynthia dryly replied. "Like I said, cheap knockoff. No thank you."
"Well, fine then!" Sango pouted, slumping back in her seat. "What do YOU want to do then? What idea do YOU have?"
"If I had one, I wouldn't be stuck like this!" Cynthia replied.
"Sango might be onto something, though," Julia said, stroking her chin thoughtfully. "There are all sorts of different needs people might have at a place like this. That's one of the appeals of a rental facility, right? And why the Battle Frontier has so many diverse facilities. Do you like double battles? There's a place for that. No pokemon of your own? There's a place for that. Do you like roughing it in the outdoors with your pokemon? There's a place for that. Do you like sticking with one type? There's a place for that."
"Do you like maids?" Sango pitched in, snickering. "There's a place for that."
Julia wasn't amused. "…Anyway, what I'm saying is that maybe the right thing to do is find your niche. What sort of experience can you offer to meet the needs of the trainers there, that maybe they can't get at the other places."
"…Huh… maybe you're right," Cynthia said, stroking her chin thoughtfully. "What sort of need can I offer to meet? Yeah…"
She brightened. "Thanks, Julia! That's a lot of help!"
Her optimism was short-lived, however.
"…But I can't think of anything," she added with a sigh. "Dang it! This is a pain!"
"Well, maybe hobbies then," Sango suggested. "That could help get the creative juices flowing. You just need to theme your facility! What's something you like? Something that you enjoy more than anything else, and start from there?"
Cynthia stared at Sango. Then she grimaced.
"…Sango, this is a family friendly park. I can't just fill it with a bunch of naked-"
"POKEMON!" Sango exclaimed. "Why does your brain always go there?! I was talking about P-O-K-E-M-O-N!"
Cynthia grimaced again. "People and pokemon… doing it? Look, Sango, I know Pokemon Rangers are supposed to be close to pokemon, but when it comes to stuff like that-"
"Why do you just assume sex has to be involved?!" Sango was as red as a tomato. The only thing stopping her from flinging Silver at her roommate was her love for the Castform.
Julia and Cynthia snickered as their friend calmed down. Once they finished sobering up, Cynthia returned to serious mode.
"But now that you're talking about it, you're not wrong," she admitted, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "It would be good if I thought about something I liked. Just… well, not that."
"Okay, so… besides 'that' what are some things you enjoy doing?" Sango asked.
Cynthia thought about it. And thought about it. And thought about it some more. Finally she squeezed out an idea.
"…Okay, so just stick with me here…"
The beginning of her proposal did not kindle excitement in either girl.
"I was thinking we could do the Battle Hostess Clu-"
"REJECTED!"
"Oh, come on!" Cynthia shrank back from the double rejection. "It's MY idea you know, so I can do it if I want to!"
"REJECTED!"
"You guys suck!" She practically flung herself into Sango's bed, screaming into the other girl's pillow. She turned over and stared up at her own bunk. "Gaaaaah! Why is this so difficult?! I love pokemon battles, why can't I just do those?! Why do I have to be so… damn creative about it? A battle's a battle's a battle!"
"Why do you even want to be part of this Battle Frontier thing if it's such a pain in the ass?" Sango asked curiously. "I would think you'd relish in being able to have your freedom. Is this really what you want to do with your future?"
"Hmm? What do you mean?" Cynthia asked, turning over to look at her friend.
"W-Well… okay, so I know I'm not one to talk," Sango admitted. "After all, I already know what I want to do, and that's become a Pokemon Ranger. That's why I study so hard, and work so hard at my extracurriculars. So if you want to call me a hypocrite and tell me to shut up, I totally get it. But I was just thinking… well, if it's so much trouble… why not just, I don't know… back out?"
"Seriously?" Cynthia sat up, unable to believe Sango had just suggested that. "Sango, they're counting on me! Do you know how amazing it is, that the Commander himself is expecting great things out of me? It's awesome!"
"Yeah, I know it is, and believe me, I'm happy for you," Sango said. "I'm just saying… well… you're only 16."
"Yeah? So what? You're younger than me, you know," Cynthia sniffed.
"…Right, yes, but all I'm saying is that nobody expects you to have everything figured out already, you know?" Sango said. "It's OKAY if you don't know what you want to do. I know the Commander has a lot of faith in you, and you want to do good working for him at the Battle Frontier… but all the other people in his group, haven't they been with him for a long time? They're all devoted to this idea because they've spent a lot of time thinking about it, and that's how they've all been able to come up with ideas, right? But… you haven't."
"I know, that's why this is such a pain in the ass!" Cynthia groaned. "I love battling way more than any of those guys."
"…Yeah, I don't think she's getting it," Julia said, glancing at Sango. Sango sighed and buried her face in her hands.
"What? What don't I get?" Cynthia demanded. Even Julia seemed to be in the know about whatever Sango was talking about. "Come on you guys, explain it to me!"
Julia and Sango shared another look.
"Cynthia… I know you're the kind of girl who sees something you want to do and then throw yourself right into it," Sango said gently. "But don't you think that maybe… you should think it through a little more? I know Maddi's given the Battle Frontier some serious thought, and even she's not 100% convinced it's what she wants to do with the rest of her life. Are you sure that you're sure, I guess, is what I'm asking."
Cynthia had to think about that. Was she sure that she was sure?
She… wasn't sure.
"I mean… I want to be part of it, you know?" Cynthia said. "All those cool ideas, being on the cutting edge of battles, getting to do what I love, it sounds amazing!"
"I'm amazed, myself," Julia admitted. "And yeah, the way you're describing it? It does sound pretty amazing. But see… I have no idea what I want to do."
Cynthia blinked in confusion. "Huh?"
"With my career," Julia clarified. "In the future. I don't know. Gym leader? Pokemon master? I haven't given it a lot of thought, and I'm not sure that even if I do, I'll be able to come up with anything definitive. But I'm not bothered by that. I'm fine with taking things slowly and waiting until I've figured out what it is I want out of life, you know?"
Cynthia frowned, not quite convinced. "I mean… I guess I get where you're coming from, but… believe me, this isn't something I'm rushing into! Honest!"
"Oh, so you're sure then?" Sango asked hopefully. "You're certain that this is what you want? Because if you are…"
Her voice trailed off as she saw the look of apprehension cross Cynthia's face. Apparently the redhead wasn't that sure after all.
"It-It's complicated," Cynthia admitted. "Do I want to be part of the Battle Frontier? Work with the Commander, and Maddi, and the others? Yeah, of course I do! It sounds great! But at the same time, well…"
"Well what?" Sango gently urged her.
"Well… I just don't know," Cynthia mumbled. "This all feels really real all of a sudden, you know? So dealing with it… I guess I'm not sure if I'm ready."
"Maybe the fact that you can't come up with an idea is your brain telling you that you aren't ready," Sango said softly. She didn't want to crush her friend's dreams, but at the same time she didn't want Cynthia to be led astray, either.
"Yeah, maybe not…" Cynthia mumbled.
"Don't get yourself too worked up," Julia said suddenly, startling both of them. She'd been so quiet for a while that both girls had forgotten she was there.
"Wh-What do you mean?" Cynthia asked.
"The Battle Frontier is all about battles," Julia said simply. "And you need to work hard to figure out what sort of battles you want to have. So maybe you're just stuck for now, but it might come to you later. When do you have the most fun battling? What about battles make them enjoyable, and make you want to continue fighting? I don't know, maybe that's the right way to think about this. And when you come up with something…"
She shrugged.
"All I'm saying is that you have some time to think about this. So you might as well not worry too much about it, and just go on as normal. It'll come to you eventually."
"…Yeah, you might be right," Cynthia nodded. But even as she agreed verbally with the other girl, she was still not convinced.
Poor Cynthia. She's starting to question whether or not this is the right course of action. Does she want to continue working with the Battle Frontier? What ideas will she come up with? What other steps forward does she have? Where will we go from here?