Our group has landed in the Hoenn Region, and have gotten a bite to eat! What will they do now? It's a long trip to Lavaridge Town, and hopefully they won't get into any trouble on the way there. Can Cynthia stay on her best behavior and keep from groping Elaina? Will food cure Julia's temper? What about Sango? She's probably starving!

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: I can imagine a lot of fun things. Especially considering the lineup that we've got working with us. I hope it's going to be a blast.

Hyphenman: Welcome to how complicated the timeline is for this story. So very rarely does everything align, unfortunately. But yes, it's only been a couple of months since Cynthia and the others were here, about three or so.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 1035

Julia tore into her hamburger, devouring it in two bites. But that was fin, because she had four more in her bag. She wasted the briefest of seconds to wipe her mouth, and bit down into the next one, relishing the juices that rolled down her mouth.

"You're, uh… really hungry, huh?" Kitty smiled a little. Her own stomach rumbled a little. The burger she'd gotten earlier wasn't enough, it had been mostly grease.

"I barely had anything to eat today," Julia said, becoming a Houndoom in human form as she ripped into her next burger. She held out the bag to her friend. "You want one?"

"N-No! I'm fine!" Kitty said, shaking her head frantically. Yeah she was hungry, but she'd barely been able to choke down the greasy meat patty, she didn't know if she could stomach another one at the moment. "But… got any fries?"

Julia licked her fingers clean and dug around in her bag, pulling out a handful of fries. She held out one after another to her friend, and Kitty nibbled on them without even grabbing. Julia smiled, holding out a few more.

"Aww," Cynthia whispered, giggling. "You two are so cute together."

Kitty blushed, but Julia was just confused. "What do you mean?" She asked. Kitty sighed under her breath in disappointment.

"Still, you guys are nothing compared to Sango," Blake said, nodding to the blonde. If Julia's bagful had been excessive, then Sango's sack of burgers was filled to bursting; she'd bought over ten of them! It sat beside her on the bench as they waited for the bus, and she was shoveling them into her mouth with no sign of stopping.

"Dang, I wish Caelia could have some of that appetite," Blake smiled, turning to Caelia.

"I know, right? Gotta put some meat on those bones, girl!" Cynthia grinned, slapping her on the back and nearly knocking her over. Caelia didn't even seem to notice. Unfortunately, Cynthia's crucial method of making friends with others, primarily skinship, didn't work on her friend, since Caelia didn't feel physical contact.

But that didn't mean she was going to stop.

Sango looked up, and now it was her turn to offer Caelia some food.

In theory, anyway. If Julia looked like a Houndoom devouring her food, right now Sango looked like one as she guarded her burgers.

"Yeesh," Cynthia winced. Sango kept her dead eyes focused on Caelia as she slowly unwrapped another burger and bit into it. The threat was clear.

It was the dead of night by the time the bus showed up. Cynthia was on the phone as they got aboard. "Hey grandpa, grandma," she chatted. "Yeah, we're just getting on the bus right now. One of our friends said she wanted to stop off and get something to eat so we're going to be a little late. But we should be there in a few hours!"

Cynthia closed her phone and turned to the others. "Guys, we're going to be on the bus for a little while, so it'll be pretty late by the time we get to the inn. There won't be any dinner, sadly, but at least the people who needed to eat already did."

She turned to Sango, who was still shoveling in hamburgers like a Snorlax.

"…Before they ate us, anyway."

Julia finished off her bag, and handed the rest of her fries to Kitty to finish off. The two girls were sitting side by side. She stretched and yawned, feeling sleepy after finishing her meal. "It'll be a while before we get there… so I'm going to catch up on my sleep…"

She slumped down against Kitty and before long, she was snoring like a puppy. Kitty's face was red as she felt her crush press up against her.

A trickle of blood rolled out of her nose and she clenched a fist in victory. Best… trip… ever…! She cheered.

Aidan, on the other hand, had gotten most of his sleep on the plane, and now his sleep schedule was completely messed up. He had more energy than anyone here, with the exception of Sango and Cynthia, who were both busy. Sango with eating, and Cynthia with…

Well, she was mainly chatting Blake's ear off. Blake was trying to block her out, he was too worn down from the flight. The emotional pressure of being sandwiched between Caelia and Elaina, and dealing with Elaina's panicking, was too much. He just wanted to get to the inn and go to sleep; they didn't even have time to check out the sights of Slateport as the bus traveled up towards Mauville and then Lavaridge.

As for Elaina, she was just grateful to be on solid ground. Without worrying about the airplane, all the tension inside of her had drained out, and she had fallen asleep against the window.

Nick, who was sitting next to her, couldn't stop staring at her sleeping face, and he wasn't the only one. Reiner and Will were checking her out as well, but not in a creepy way or anything. They were just amazed.

"You know, looking at her like this… fast asleep and peaceful… she seems like such a normal girl," Reiner murmured.

"She is a normal girl," Blake chastised him for saying that.

"Y-Yeah, I know," Reiner blushed in embarrassment. "It's just, well… I mean, we were all thinking it, you know? She's got harmonia, and even if she's a nice person, she's still dangerous, you know? But like this, she just seems so… gentle, I guess."

Blake glanced over the seat at Elaina, and he blushed. She really was beautiful, her face was practically glowing. A gentle flower in bloom-

He smacked himself across the face.

"Yeesh, what's up with that?" Cynthia asked, surprised. "Thinking something rather… cheeky?" She burst out laughing, and Blake gave her a dirty look.

Aya! You're in love with Aya! He reminded himself, slapping his face once more for good measure. Ayame's handsome smile popped back into his mind, reminding him of how much he missed her. He'd brought her Goomy, of course, to look after her, but that didn't stop him from feeling, well… "stirred" by Elaina.

He knew he didn't feel that way about her. She was just cute. The same way he occasionally thought that Cynthia was cute. But that didn't mean he was ever going to do anything with either of them, they were just his friends!

And you shouldn't think anything else, he warned himself. He didn't want to make Ayame think she couldn't trust him.

If only we weren't on a break… Blake and Ayame had worked out some important rules about when and how often they could contact each other. Blake had been upholding them, but about a week ago he'd lost all contact. She wasn't calling, or answering his calls, and their text chain had died off. If he hadn't known any better, he would have thought she'd done the same.

It was a stern reminder that their separation for vacation was necessary in order to get over their dependency issues.

But he still didn't want to abandon his feelings for her.

"…Don't you just want to poke her cheeks?" Cynthia said, startling everyone.

"What?!" Blake sputtered in disbelief.

"Look! Her cheeks are so rosy and soft! It just makes me want to…" She reached over and poked, but it was Blake's cheek, not Elaina's.

"…Why are you poking me?" He grumbled.

"Because your cheeks are cute, too," Cynthia smirked. "Besides, you of all people should know how important it is to appreciate good cheeks."

Blake opened his mouth, his face bright red. But he couldn't say anything. He glanced away in embarrassment.

"…What's she talking about?" Will asked, confused.

Cynthia opened her mouth and Blake clamped his hand over it.

"Don't worry about it."

"Mryr shtii warna pogerr," Cynthia mumbled through Blake's hand, crawling over Nick and the aisle, reaching out towards Elaina. Blake sighed and let her go. Cynthia poked her face a few times, grinning at the cute murmurs Elaina let out.

"Mrrhm?" Elaina's eyes fluttered open and a burst of wind smacked Cynthia on the face, knocking her off of Nick, and both of them into the aisle.

"Wha-?! Huh?!" Elaina sat up, confused. "Did… did I do something?" She asked worriedly.

"Nope, you're good," Cynthia said, giving her a thumbs up from where she was lying on Nick. "Just a few friends wrestling."

"…Huh." Elaina was pretty sure her harmonia had just been triggered, but she didn't want to push it. Maybe it had just been a dream. But then, everyone was staring at her kind of weirdly… "You're sure nothing happened?"

"Cynthia poked you while you were asleep," Will volunteered with a smirk. Elaina's eyes widened with shock and her arms wrapped around her breasts. She glared at Cynthia furiously.

"What did you do?!" She demanded, and a strong wind rocked the bus.

"No, no! On the cheek, just on the cheek!" Cynthia sputtered. "I didn't cop a feel or anything like that, I promise! I wouldn't do stuff like that."

"Maybe not anymore…" Blake mumbled under his breath. Cynthia shot him a dirty look.

"Shut it!"

She looked hopefully to Elaina to see if she believed her.

"Wh-Why… why did you poke my cheek?" Elaina asked suspiciously. The air in the bus went from stale and dry to blustery as her temper started to flare.

"B-Because… you looked cute and I couldn't help myself," Cynthia apologized, hanging her head in shame. It wasn't the same as groping but it was still an invasion of the other girl's privacy, which wasn't okay.

Elaina didn't see it that way.

"C-Cute?" Her jaw dropped in shock. Needless to say, the fact that she never took her mask off meant that very few people had ever called her cute before. It was hard for her to know what to say in response.

Cynthia, on the other hand, was confused that she was confused. "Yeah, duh, of course you're cute," she said, elbowing Blake in the side. "Don't you agree, Blake?"

Blake was taken aback, feeling pressured by Elaina's hopeful gaze. The pressure she was staring at him with was hard to resist.

"UH… y-you're…"

"Yes?!" Elaina looked a little too eager to hear what he had to say.

Then Blake felt a piercing stare from behind. He glanced over his shoulder to see Caelia staring intensely at him.

This was getting worse and worse apparently. Now whatever he said would end up getting more pressure from Caelia.

Was there a right thing to say?

Blake thought about Elaina, and then he thought about Ayame and what she would have to say about him calling Elaina cute.

The answer was obvious of course. He knew that Ayame wasn't the kind of person who would lie. She would have told Elaina the truth, and would want him to do the same.

"…Yes, Elaina, you're cute," he admitted.

Elaina brightened like the sun, and looked happier than he'd ever seen her. A scarlet flush danced over her cheeks and she smiled.

"Th-Thank you," she giggled.

Blake felt a tug on his sleeve, which he saw coming. He suppressed his sigh, and turned to Caelia, who was sitting behind him. Her stare was intense and her face was emotionless, but he didn't need to read her face to know what she was asking.

"Yes, Caelia, you're cute too," he said.

Then he felt another tug on his sleeve. This time he didn't bother suppressing his sigh, turning back to Cynthia who was staring at him with sparkling eyes.

"Am I cute?" She asked innocently.

Blake responded by flicking her in the forehead.

"OW! Hey!" She wailed, rubbing the red spot. "Why'd you do that?!"

"I'm not falling for your tricks," he smirked.

"Oh, really?" Cynthia cooed, batting her eyelashes. "And… what about falling for my feminine wiles, hmm?"

Blake rolled his eyes, smacking his face in frustration.

"Cynthia…"

"Come on, Cynthia, cut it out," Sango groaned. "You keep hitting on Blake even though you know he has a girlfriend, and honestly, it's getting kinda annoying."

"You're just upset because Blake hasn't called you cute," Cynthia smirked. "Unless, of course, you were thinking… of getting called cute by somebody else?"

Sango tightened her eyes into a glare. "What are you talking about?" She growled.

"Oh, nothing," Cynthia said, giving a knowing look towards Aidan. Sango's scowl deepened, and she leaned in close.

"Cynthia… when we get to Lavaridge, you and I are going to have a conversation, got it?" There was a threatening tone in her voice.

"Uh… why?" Cynthia asked, feeling a little uneasy. Maybe she'd pushed things a little too far. "I-I guess so…"

"Good." Sango sat back in her seat and finished her burgers.

"…Oh… okay then," she said, sitting back down with a wary look on her face.

The bus continued down the road as the group continued to gossip amongst themselves, and the time seemed to fly. For most people, with Blake being the sole exception. He felt pressure from Caelia staring at him. It was like the girl didn't even blink.

It was late in the night when the bus finally pulled into Lavaridge Town.

"We're here! We're finally here!" Cynthia said, bursting out of the bus. She wanted to put some space between her and Sango, whose attitude surprisingly hadn't improved over the course of the multi-hour bus ride.

"Lavaridge Town…" Elaina murmured, stepping off the bus, her eyes scanning over the bus station and the surrounding town. In the distance the dark shadow of Mt. Chimney blotted out the starlight, but it was hard to see just how tall it really was. That wasn't what she was impressed by, however. She closed her eyes and took a long breath.

"Hey Elaina, are you okay?" Blake asked, walking up next to her. He was surprised by the calm smile on her face.

"Yes, I'm fine," Elaina said, nodding. She turned to Blake and smiled. "It's the air. Can't you feel it, Blake?"

"Uh…" Blake wasn't sure what she was talking about. There was no wind. "It's… kind of warm out, I guess, is that what you mean?"

"Yes, so warm and gentle," Elaina nodded, turning back towards the town, seeing the steam rising up amongst the lights. "I've never been anywhere like this. It's so… peaceful." She turned back to him, and even in the darkness he could see how her smile lit up her face.

"Thank you for inviting me, Blake," she whispered, turning and following the others down the road towards the inn Cynthia's grandparents owned.

Everyone trudged out towards the inn, and Cynthia knocked eagerly on the door. Her grandmother peaked her head out to greet her with a smile.

"Oh? Now who's this now?" She asked, stroking her chin. "I don't remember seeing any beautiful movie stars in our guestbook…"

"No, grandma, it's me," Cynthia said, rolling her eyes. She hugged her grandmother. "And these are all my friends! You've probably seen a few of them before."

She stepped aside to introduce everyone. "You remember Sango and Silver, right?" She asked, gesturing to the couple.

"Ah yes, I remember you two," she laughed, reaching out to pet Silver on the head. "You stayed with us over Cynthia's last break!"

"That's right," Sango nodded.

"And that right there is her friend Aidan," Cynthia introduced Aidan next. "And his partner… who was it again?"

"Arion," Aidan answered. He reached out to shake her hand. She took it and smiled.

"Nice to meet you. And yes, a lot of you do look familiar… were you here on that school trip?" She asked curiously.

"I was," Will said, raising his hand. "My name's Will."

"Us too," Julia yawned. "I'm Julia… and this is Kitty."

"Hello," Kitty smiled. "Nice to see you again."

"This is Nick, and Reiner," Cynthia said, introducing the other boys next. They both said hello. Then Cynthia gasped. "Oh! And this right here is Caelia! I've told you about her, right?"

"Ah, yes, Caelia," Cynthia's grandmother nodded. She held out a hand towards Caelia, but Caelia didn't take it. "I've got a private bath already separated for you."

Caelia did blink at that one. "Private… bath?"

"Yes, yes," the elderly lady nodded, walking over to her. She lowered her voice. "My granddaughter told me about your… little issue. This way, you can still take a bath without having to… startle anyone, you see?"

"…Thank you," Caelia mumbled, glancing down at her arm and dragging her sleeve down a little further.

"And then this is Elaina!" Cynthia said, pushing Elaina forward. "She's my new best friend! Elaina, this is my grandmother!"

"Hello! Pl-Pleased to meet you," Elaina bowed quickly.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Cynthia's grandmother smiled. She turned to Blake. "And this handsome young man is…?"

Cynthia grinned, her eyes shining. "Well, grandma, this… is Blake!" She tightly hugged Blake's arm, planting her cheek on his shoulder.

"Oh, my!" Her grandmother gasped, her eyes widening. "Blake! I see. Oh ho ho… I've heard a lot about you…"

Blake glanced at Cynthia. She turned away, pointedly not making eye contact.

Cynthia and the others have finally made it to the inn! They've got a bunch of stuff to do, but the first thing is taking a bath! What fun things will they get up to in the inn? I guess we'll have to find out, won't we?