After a day of video gaming, everyone will be taking a nice relaxing break. What will there be left to do at the inn? There are definitely chores, but I think we'll skip those and go to the time that everyone's looking forward to! Another bath scene! Isn't that what we all want deep down? But will there be any other surprises going forward? What will happen in the bath?

The Final Round of the Pokemon Academy Best Girl Contest 3 is here! This is the end! There's only one day left, so we've got to vote for who the best girl is! Who's going to win? Chloe? Cynthia? Or Vic? One of those girls will become the third best girl for the Pokemon Acaemy, so get those last votes in! Can we get a climactic victor? You've only got one vote this time, so make it count!

Finalists: Chloe, Cynthia, Vic

KedharS: Yup, more wholesomeness. And not only wholesomeness, Elaina gets to be a badass at something that doesn't risk putting people in the hospital, which is always nice to see. Maybe she can give the others some gaming tips. Or even play cooperative mode.

Hyphenman: Elaina's just that good.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 1053

It was close to dusk. Cyntha went out for a nice walk in the garden around the inn after she finished up her chores.

It was shaping up to be a long night, she'd thought, but it was surprisingly almost over. Just in time for her to catch up with the rest of the girls for a long, hot bath. But first, she needed to go see how her friend was doing.

Caelia hadn't tagged along to watch the video game matches, even if Blake was going to be there. She had no interest in video games.

So she wanted to check up on her to see how she was doing. As she entered the girls' room, she suddenly realized that she had no idea what Caelia did with her spare time. Every time she came into see her back at the Pokemon Academy, it seemed like the girl was sitting around on her thumbs not doing anything.

Now was evidently no exception. Caelia was just staring at the wall when she entered, again not doing much of anything.

"Hey, Caelia, how are you doing?" Cynthia asked, approaching the girl. Caelia didn't register her approach at first, before slowly glancing at her.

"…Nothing," was Caelia's reply.

Cynthia sighed. "Well… I'm sorry you didn't want to play video games." She walked over and plopped down next to the brunette, flashing a friendly smile. "So, tell you what. Tomorrow, we'll do what you want to do. So spill it! What is it?"

Caelia blinked, staring off into the distance for a while.

"…Blake."

If Cynthia had been eating she would have choked on her food.

"Wh-Wha?! You know, he, um, has a girlfriend, right?!" She sputtered. "You can't just… I mean, he wouldn't… he'd just… it's-!"

Caelia's eye twitched with confusion, even though it was hard to tell from her blank face. She shook her head just slightly.

"What does… Blake want to do?" She mumbled.

Cynthia blinked, processing Caelia's meaning. Then her face turned red as a rose and she quickly shook her head. "O-OH! That's what you meant!" She gasped in shock. She burst out laughing. "Gotcha, gotcha. That's good. Yeah! What's Blake doing? I wonder if he's going to come up with something fun for us to do!"

She jumped to her feet, suddenly realizing that this wasn't where she wanted to be at the moment, considering what she'd just thought of.

Cynthia rushed out of the room.

"I-I should take a bath to cool down," she decided. It was embarrassing that Caelia, who was clearly obsessed with Blake, had a cleaner mind than she did recently. But it's not like it could be helped! Yeah, Blake had a girlfriend, and yeah, she was going to be on her best behavior around him.

But at the same time, she didn't… well, she couldn't help herself! She liked him, she really did, and he'd been so sweet today, trying to help her with her problems. And even if hr issue hadn't been completely fixed, she still appreciated all he'd done for her.

Luckily, a nice warm bath was exactly what she needed to get her mind off of things.

"Oh, Cynthia, you're going to take a bath too?"

Cynthia glanced up to see Julia and Kitty heading towards the baths.

"Yup. You guys finish up with your chores?" She asked.

"I had to weed in the garden," Kitty groaned. Her fingers were stained green. "I was already sore enough from gaming…"

"Well, Kitty, a green thumb is actually a good thing," Julia said. "Gardening can be a very relaxing activity, and it helps a lot with building patience and responsibility."

Kitty and Cynthia both stared at her.

"…Of course you'd say that," Kitty mumbled under her breath.

Julia was confused. "What's THAT supposed to mean?"

Kitty shrugged.

"I think it means you've been spending quite a lot of time in the Gardening Club since Alcea left," Cynthia smirked. "I wonder why, if she's not here to train you anymore? Could it be that our Julia has genuinely taken an interest?"

Julia blushed a little. "S-So what if I did?" She scoffed. "I grew up in Rustboro City you know! I barely spent any time around plants, the closest I ever got was the Pretty Petal Flower Shop, and even then that was just looking!"

Cynthia was loving this. "Well, who knew our Julia had some actual feminine characteristics?" She cackled.

"Hey, don't treat me like I'm some Sango!" Julia snapped. "I like girly stuff just fine! …Sometimes, anyway."

"Growing your hair out doesn't count," Cynthia replied. Julia just glared at her.

"What's this about 'some Sango'?" The girl in question asked, walking up to the group. She wasn't in a pleasant mood.

Julia gave her a blank stare. "Exactly what it sounds like," she bluntly replied. Sango continued to glare at her.

"Um…" Elaina was the last one to walk up. Unlike the other girls who'd been doing chores around the inn (or in Sango's case, carrying stuff around) Elaina had been tasked with taking care of guest hospitality, and that was maybe the most taxing job of any of them.

"Well, we worked hard, we played hard, and we battled hard!" Cynthia stretched. "But it's getting late. I say we take a nice long bath and call it a night, what do you say? It's late enough, I doubt any of the guests will still be up. We'll have the whole place to ourselves."

"Works for me," Sango nodded. Elaina agreed as well, and the five girls entered the bath. After changing their clothes and taking their showers, they walked out into the spring.

Cynthia's guess was wrong, though. There was another figure soaking in the water, enjoying herself in the bath.

"Oh, pardon us," Cynthia said, stepping into the water. The redhead had her back to the girls. "We didn't think anyone would be in at the moment."

"How's the water?" Sango asked politely.

The woman didn't answer either them. It was a little rude, but not that strange. The other girls got in the spring, chatting a little.

Then she turned around and everyone froze when they saw her face.

"Is that-?" Kitty gasped.

"Cynthia?!" Sango gasped.

"ME?!" Cynthia couldn't believe it. It was like she was staring at her reflection in the water. But this wasn't just some image. There was a whole person standing in front of her, a person who was a perfect copy of her.

It wasn't just the face that Cynthe recognized either. That was her body she was staring at, nakedness at all.

Her doppelganger smirked, approaching her.

"What's going on?!" Sango gasped, falling back in the water. Silver floated up in front of her, preparing to defend her partner.

Cynthia brain jumped to a dozen possibilities, and the strongest of them was "evil clone here to kill and replace me". But she didn't have her pokeballs they were back in the bathroom! She cursed her recklessness as the copy approached.

"Who are you?" Sango demanded, putting herself between Cynthia and the lookalike. She wasn't sure what was going on, but she was going to protect her friend if Cynthia's suspicions would prove to be correct.

Cynthia's clone stared at Sango for a few seconds and blinked curiously. Then she smiled and in a second her features warped. She went from a copy of Cynthia to a copy of Sango, and stalked closer to the other girl.

"Wh-WHAT?!" Sango gasped, falling back in the water. She didn't believe in ghosts, and f she did, she wasn't afraid of them. But this… this wasn't a ghost, right?

"Get away!" Elaina finally overcame her crippling fear and stormed through the water, the wind swirling in front of her. The Sango copy stumbled back, surprised, and then a wild grin spread across her face and she transformed once again, this time into a copy of Elaina.

"Ooh!" Whoever or whatever this was, it was clear that they were curious about Elaina and her body. She reached up and began to squeeze her large chest experimentally, and definitely seemed to like what she was feeling.

Elaina went pale with embarrassment. "Th-That's… stop it!" She wailed, summoning a massive gale that caught the water, raging towards her distracted replica. The other girl just barely managed to jump out of the way.

Getting the message, she returned to her appearance of Cynthia, laughing like the girl herself; even worse, in fact. She turned and fled for the exit. It was only after a moment's pause that Cynthia realized just what was about to happen- and how absolute not okay she was with it.

"WAIT!" Cynthia shouted. "You can't go outside naked looking like me! Guys, stop her!"

Julia ran towards the girl, but "Cynthia" easily ducked around her. But luckily Kitty was there for the interception. She stood in front of the door with her arms raised, refusing to let the shapeshifting girl past.

The shapeshifter skidded to a stop, staring at Kitty for a second. She ran her eyes over the pale girl's body.

"…Meh," she clicked her tongue and glanced away from Kitty, clearly not impressed.

Kitty fell to her knees in shock at the slight, holding her hands over her meager chest. The Cynthia copy leapt past her fleeing into the showers.

"OH, NO! No you don't!" Cynthia was like a woman possessed as she tore after her, throwing on her robe haphazardly. She'd barely got the thing on, but considering that she was chasing her naked clone, a few clothing failures weren't the worst thing in the world.

Blake yawned, heading to the restroom. He was exhausted. After the video games, they'd spent practically the entire afternoon doing chores, and he was just ready to go to bed, for decades if necessary.

There was a flash of red out of the corner of his eye. He glanced in that direction, and then did a double take.

It was Cynthia. And she was naked. There was a wild look in her eye and a manic smile on her face, and she was charging right at him.

"Cynthia-?! What-" He barely had time to get her name out before she leapt across the hall and threw herself atop him.

What the hell was going on here?! Had she finally lost it?! Cynthia was stark naked and rubbing against him in the middle of the hall! She was nuzzling herself up into his neck and panting like a pokemon in heat.

"CYNTHIA!" He shouted, trying to push her off. But she was surprisingly heavy. "WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH YOU!? I thought you said you were going to respect me and my relationship! Have you lost your fucking mind!?"

If she heard him, she didn't show it. She was too busy running her tonge across his face and digging her claws into his back.

…Wait, claws?

He didn't have time to follow that thought because the door to the girls' room slid open and Caelia stepped out, perhaps to use the restroom herself.

What she came across was a naked Cynthia humping him in front of her room. And while the brunette's face showed no emotion, he could tell at a glance that she was NOT pleased.

"W-Wait, Caelia, this isn't what it-"

"EEEEEEEEEEEEYAAAAAAAH!" Cynthia's ear-shattering scream echoed through the hallway. Wait, Cynthia's scream? But that didn't…

Blake struggled to sit up with Cynthia on top of him… and saw another Cynthia at the end of the hall, her face pale with horror.

"Blake! That's not me!" She wailed. "I-I'd never do that, honestly!"

But there wasn't time to process that, because the hall started to flood with people. Specifically, the boys. Everyone else in Blake's room came to see what the commotion was, and they were shocked at the sight.

That was the final straw for Cynthia. With a furious roar she stormed down the hallway, fist raised.

"GET THE HELL OFF OF HIM YOU SKANK!" She shouted, hitting her duplicate in the chest with a powerful punch.

Cynthia rolled off of Blake and slammed into the wall, her face twisting with shock. Her jaw dropped as she stared at Cynthia in confusion.

Then she started to cry.

In a puff of smoke, the sobbing Cynthia was gone, and in her place was a tiny black pokemon, a little fox with tufts of red in her fur. She was crying like a baby.

"What the hell?! A pokemon?" Cynthia gasped. That hadn't been what she'd expected at all.

"Cynthia, calm down," Blake said, sitting up. "I think it's a pokemon that can transform? Like Ditto, maybe?"

"I've never heard of a pokemon like that," Will said, surprised. "What kind is it?"

"Zoruuuu!" The small pokemon wailed. It was much like a fox. In a moment, it answered Will's question with another sob. "Zorua!"

"Zorua…" Reiner said thoughtfully. "It sounds familiar, I don't know…"

"Wait!" Cynthia gasped. "I recognize that pokemon!" She knew the tiny thing looked familiar. She'd seen it before!

"Oh, you're right!" Nick realized. "That was the pokemon on Jagged Pass! The one those Machoke were attacking!"

The small Zorua blinked away its tears and its face brightened. It dashed over to Cynthia and began nuzzling against her leg.

Cynthia had been upset at the little thing, but she softened when she saw how affectionate the small pokemon was. She reached down and petted its dark fur, lifting it up and giving the pokemon a big warm hug.

As she cuddled the Zorua in her arms, it suddenly grew several sizes and transformed into Blake, knocking Cynthia over. The Zorua, in Blake's form, was straddling Cynthia with its hands pinned next to her head, a playful smirk on Blake's face.

Cynthia turned bright red at how close Blake's face was to hers.

The Zorua began to laugh. Blake was much less amused.

"D-Don't hug me with Blake's form!" Cynthia exclaimed, shoving the pokemon off of her. The Zorua stumbled back and returned to its original form, still cackling.

"What the heck's going on here?" Sango demanded. She'd finally caught up with the other girls, everyone else but Elaina. She was panting and out of breath by the time she caught up with the rest of them.

"I'll tell you what's going on!" Cynthia scowled. "This little trickster was playing pranks! She was pretending to be me, and getting all hot and heavy with Blake!"

"…You were making time with a pokemon?" Julia looked at Blake like he was absolute scum. Kitty turned red and averted her eyes, looking a little sick herself. Sango was completely disgusted.

"She didn't LOOK like a pokemon then!" Blake sputtered. "She looked just like Cynthia!"

"Oh, so you thought you were getting all touchy-feely with Cynthia, then," Sango scowled. "I'm sure Ayame will LOVE to hear that."

"You know what I mean! I wasn't enjoying myself!" Blake exclaimed. "Come on, you guys know I'm not like that, right?"

He looked to other guys for confirmation. But Reiner found it amusing, and just shrugged his shoulders with a shit-eating grin.

Caelia narrowed her eye. "…Scum."

"Plus, she's still doing it," Will said, pointing at Blake's leg. The Zorua was rubbing up against him like a Skitty.

Blake was about to say something, but he didn't have the opportunity. Cynthia gasped loudly, getting everyone's attention.

"THE PAINTING!" She shouted. She turned to Will and Nick. "Remember, guys?! There was a painting in that old house, and the girl in the painting, she was holding a pokemon, remember?"

Nick gasped. "Oh, shit! You're right!"

"That was this pokemon?" Will asked. He couldn't remember perfectly but that sounded right. The colors were right, anyway.

"You're the ghost, aren't you?" Cynthia scowled, narrowing her eyes at the tricky pokemon. "You've been using those shapeshifting powers to transform into that girl, and scaring people away! Like that TV show with the dog pokemon solving mysteries, Scooby Doom!"

The Zorua blinked, pulling back from Blake. Her blue eyes were gleaming wickedly, and she transformed once again. And just like that, the ghost from Jagged Pass appeared in the center of the hall, cackling madly.

They've discovered the true identity of the Ghost of Jagged Pass! It was old man Zorua! Jinkies! Well, after that little peep show, it seems that we've finally got to the bottom of the culprit. Cynthia's dignity and modesty might have taken a few hits thanks to karma, but it could have been worse. In the meantime, what will we do with our little Zorua?