Well, Cynthia has captured the little Zorua and made her the newest member of her team! But that doesn't mean that Ruka's been completely tamed. The mischeivous little Zorua might have quite a lot of tricks up her sleeve, and Cynthia will have to be careful that she doesn't do anything bad. In the meantime, how will Ruka adapt to life at the inn?

KedharS: Cynthia dealing with a pokemon as troublesome as she is, well, that's just the most perfect form of karma imaginable. Hopefully her luck will hold.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 1055

Ruka snapped awake. She was a nocturnal pokemon by nature, so it only made sense that she had such a hard time sleeping with her new trainer when Cynthia asked. But Cynthia wanted to sleep with her new pokemon, and so she agreed.

It took a moment for Ruka to realize what was happening though. She still needed to get used to the fact that she wasn't a wild pokemon anymore; she had a trainer now, someone who cared about her and would keep her warm and safe.

That's how she found herself, squeezed tightly in Cynthia's arms. She listened to the sound of her trainer breathing and smiled. But she still slipped herself free of her trainer's grasp, and turned into her human form.

As if sensing something was wrong, Cynthia reached out for her, fumbling around for the Zorua clumsily in her sleep. Ruka stared down at Cynthia and smiled, stroking her red hair thoughtfully. Her trainer really was special.

"Zorua," she whispered. She couldn't say "thank you" with words but that didn't change the gratitude she felt. She snaked her way out of the futon and rose to her feet, staring out the window at the moon overhead.

"Trouble sleeping?"

Startled, Ruka turned to see Sango staring up at her from her own futon, face illuminated by the nightlight's glow.

"Z-Zorua?" Ruka stammered. She wasn't expecting humans to be awake right now. It was awkward, being caught out of bed like this, and even moreso when she couldn't explain herself; it was too dark for any signs to be seen.

Sango got up and walked over to her. She wore a cold expression but otherwise didn't seem that upset with Ruka.

"Are you running away?" She whispered. "I would understand why. But it's the first time I've ever seen a pokemon run away from their trainer in the dead of night."

Ruka gasped. Was that what she thought?! She frantically shook her head. "Zor! Zorua!" She hissed, wishing there was some way to explain.

Sango raised her eyebrow, but wasn't making any moves to stop her or wake the others, so Ruka hoped she believed her.

Then the blonde sighed.

"Okay, fine," she agreed. "If that's not it, then what is it?"

"Zor?" Ruka tilted her head to the side. She wasn't sure how she was supposed to communicate with the other girl. But luckily Sango already had that covered. She dug through her backpack and pulled out a flashlight from the test of courage, flooding the room with light.

Ruka winced, shielding her eyes. "Zorua?!" She asked.

"What's going on?" Sango asked again, beckoning the pokemon to follow her. She led Ruka out into the hall so they could talk in private, even leaving a slumbering Silver behind. When they got outside, she looked expectantly at Ruka and waited for her to explain.

"There's somewhere I need to go," Ruka signed.

"Where?" Sango signed back, tucking her flashlight under her shoulder. She found that more convenient than risking waking everybody up with all her talking.

Ruka pointed out the window, towards Mt. Chimney.

"You want to go climb the volcano!?" Sango didn't mean to just blurt it out, but she couldn't help herself. Sign language couldn't properly convey the shock she was feeling about the other girl's statement.

Ruka quickly shook her head. "No!" She signed. "I want to go back to Jagged Pass!"

Sango wasn't sure how to process that. "You want to go back to Jagged Pass? And you're not going away? Why?"

Ruka glanced down at her feet. She finally looked up at Sango and with a reluctant sigh she signed "because I need to get something. It's really important."

Sango stared at her for a while. "Do you really have to go now?" She asked. "If you just told Cynthia about it, I'm certain she'd agree to take you there tomorrow."

"Zorua," Ruka shook her head. She signed, "it's important that we go tonight!"

Sango sighed. She didn't get what the big deal was, but it was clear that this meant a lot to Ruka. Finally she relented. "Okay, you can go. But I'm coming with you, got it? Cynthia would be heartbroken if you never came back."

Ruka brightened and nodded eagerly. It had been so long since she met someone she could have a proper conversation with, and even though she was Cynthia's pokemon she couldn't deny that she felt an affinity for Sango, too.

After getting changed into clothes more suitable for mountain-climbing, Sango followed Ruka out of the inn, and the two girls headed for the Jagged Pass that the Zorua had been haunting.

While they walked, Sango made small talk. She was full of energy now that she was awake and very curious about the pokemon who could talk to people. And most importantly, there was something about her she needed to know.

"Hey, Ruka," she called ahead as the two climbed up the steep path, "can I asked you something? I'm really curious."

Ruka glanced back, intrigued. "Sure," she signed. "What do you want to know?"

"Why did you just jump on Blake like that?" Sango asked. She was trying really hard to just seem casual about it. The last thing she needed was for one of Cynthia's pokmon to learn that she wasn't quite over her crush just yet.

Ruka was a little taken aback by her question. "I told you, remember?" She signed. "It's because he smells so dreamy~"

"Yeah, you mentioned that, some sort of strange pheromone, but I was just confused because, like… normally pokemon don't just leap onto other people you know? Especially not wild ones. Is this something that everybody does?" Sango wasn't just motivated out of her lingering feelings. She really was curious why a wild pokemon would be so affectionate to a random human that they owed nothing towards.

Ruka thought about it. "Well," she signed, "I've met a decent amount of humans I suppose… but none of them were like him, no."

Sango didn't like the sound of that.

"So these pheromones, they must be really rare then, huh?" She guessed. "I mean, if you've never felt that way for a human before…"

But Ruka wasn't listening. She was already off in her own little world, imagining what it was like to just cuddle up with Blake all day.

"Zooooor…" She sighed wistfully. She was too distracted to sign what she was thinking, but Sango had an inkling that she could guess. And it grossed her out a little. They'd teased Blake about getting it on with a pokemon, but it seemed like that was actually something that Ruka might have hoped for.

Which was a rather gross thought.

"So if you like Blake's scent so much, does that mean you wanted to become his?" Sango asked curiously. Ruka had said that she'd followed Cynthia down from Jagged Pass, but the way she was acting made it sound like what she really wanted was to be with Blake. Which was rather obscene, but now that she thought about it, not completely out of the realm of possibility.

She pictured Tara and Maria. Two of Blake's pokemon were already rather attached to him…

Ruka shook her head. "That is the reason I showed myself too him," she admitted. "I could have just hidden and let them go… but something about Blake made me want to come out and giv him a little scare, you know?" She signed with a wicked grin on her face. Sango rolld her eyes.

"Then, after that, well, I just had some fun with scaring everybody," Ruka signed, shrugging, like that wasn't some big issue. "But honestly… I don't think I wanted to be his pokemon. Oh, sure, it's nice to be around him, but…"

When she thought about how much care Cynthia showed her, it reminded her of her first trainer. That sweet little deaf girl who raised her since she was a baby, taking such good care of her…

Ruka shook her head. She didn't want to cry. She was a big pokemon now, she didn't need to feel sad about something like that!

Sango, though, could see the sadness etched as clear as day on the other girl's face. She kept that to herself. They were getting closer to the mansion now, and she had no illusions about just what part of Jagged Pass the Zorua was headed towards. She didn't know what the pokemon had left behind in that abandoned mansion, but it really wasn't any of her business.

"Zor."

Ruka cleared her throat, getting Sango's attention. That was one of the downsides with sign language, you couldn't just shout out to get the other person's attention, they had to be focused on you at all times so they could read what you were trying to say.

"S-Sorry," Sango apologized, blushing shamefully. "I was thinking about something important. So what's going on?"

Ruka's fingers were flying desperately. "I just wanted to make sure that you knew that even though I like Blake's pheromones, I definitely don't want to be his pokemon," she assured Sango. "Trust me, I can tell that he's off-limits."

Sango blinked in confusion, not quite sure what that meant. "Um… what are you talking about?" She asked curiously.

Ruka kept signing, "I know that he has a mate already. So even if I was interested in mating with a human, I wouldn't do it with him."

Sango was so shocked she nearly lost her footing, almost plummeting to a painful death on the rocks below.

"M-Mate?!" She exclaimed. "That's-! W-Well-!" Her face was red with embarrassment and she couldn't help but lose her cool. True, Ayame could be considered Blake's "mate" but when it came to humans, well… things were just different!

Ruka didn't seem to get that, though. She just stare dumbly at Sango.

"I can sense it," she explained. "Yeah, he's giving off these pheromones that just smell totally alluring, but at the same time, there's a scent covering him. The scent of another mate. Someone's laid their claim on him, and I don't want to get in the way."

She shivered. "I might die," she signed cautiously. That wasn't something she wanted either. "So I'm fine with being Cynthia's pokemon."

Sango didn't think that Ayame was the kind of girl who would hurt a pokemon for getting close to Blake, but then, she didn't want to test that theory either. In the meantime she was just surprised by how Ruka had been able to sense that Blake had someone in his life.

But she quickly ended that line of thinking. Imagining that Blake and Ayame were doing things that would "cover him in her scent" was just… gross!

Another cough from Ruka brought Sango back down to earth and away from her delusions about Blake and Ayame's intimate activities. She really needed to focus more.

"Y-Yes?"

"I'm telling you this for your own good, too," Ruka signed. That was confusing. What did this have to do with her?

"What do you mean?" Sango asked.

Ruka blinked, confused. "Well… you also wish to mate with Blake, correct?"

That time Sango really did lose her balance. It was only due to the faint mercy that they'd passed the steeper parts of Jagged Pass already that she didn't plummet to her death below. Ruka… had she really just said-?!

"NO!" Sango exclaimed, denying the allegations out of reflex. "I don't… I don't want to MATE with him! Are you crazy?!"

She knew that it was a bad idea to make so much noise out here with the wild pokemon about, but right now she didn't care. Ruka had really just stated that she wanted to… wanted to… no, that was just out of the question!

Ruka didn't look convinced. She smirked.

"I know what saw," she signed. "When I was on top of Blake and satisfying myself with his pheromones, you had a pretty clear reaction to it."

Sango went pale.

"I-I did not," she said, shaking her head. It was a pathetic attempt to deny the issue and she knew it. Ruka just laughed.

"You definitely were! You and my trainer both want to mate with him, I can smell it! Even right now, the thought of it is making your pheromones-"

Sango lunged forward and grabbed Ruka's hands, cutting her off before she could sign anything else even more incriminating. Ruka just continued to laugh, pulling herself free.

"You don't understand!" Sango was desperate. She couldn't have Ruka tell Cynthia, or anyone, about how she felt. But she couldn't trust the Zorua to keep her mouth shut! The little prankster would absolutely say something to-

…

Wait a minute.

Realization dawn on Sango and she calmed down, while Ruka just kept laughing.

"Don't worry," she assured Sango, wiping her tears from her eyes while signing. "It's not like I can just tell my trainer, right?"

The fact that Ruka couldn't actually talk was a relief, but not one certain enough to assuage Sango's worries.

"I'm serious. Please don't tell anybody!" She begged. Ruka's evil smirk wasn't very reassuring at the moment.

"Fine," Ruka finally signed. "Since you did me a favor coming with me all the way here. But I want you to do something else for me, too!"

Darkly, Sango realized that this Zorua really was the perfect match for Cynthia. They were both completely evil.

"Fine. What do you want?" Sango asked.

Ruka's answer came as a surprise. But a very heartwarming one.

"I want you to teach Cynthia sign language," Ruka replied.

"Sign language?" Sango asked.

"I really like having conversations with you, Sango," Ruka signed. "You're a lot of fun to tease, did you know that?"

Sango scowled. Definitely a pokemon fit for Cynthia.

"But I also want to be able to talk with my trainer, too, just the two of us." Ruka's smile took on a sad gleam as she relayed that. Sango winced. Then she smiled.

"Of course I'll agree to that," she assured the pokemon. "I would have done that anyway." It would be lovely, helping Cynthia better connect with her Zorua.

"I'm glad," Ruka signed, sighing with relief. "I thought that I would never get the chance to have a conversation with another person again. And now, well…"

Sango couldn't think of the words to describe how relieved and overjoyed Ruka seemed to be. It was like she'd found a place where she could finally belong.

A few moments later and they finally reached the mansion, stopping in front of the run-down old building.

"So what did you want to get in here?" Sango asked, but Ruka wasn't listening. She headed inside, making a beeline for the second floor. Startled, Sango moved after her. She was careful to walk only on the parts that Ruka did, afraid that the wooden floors were so rotted she might fall through. A few minutes later and she caught up to the other girl, who was in a room covered in cobwebs.

There was faded wallpaper on the walls that maybe once looked like a flower pattern, and all the furniture was covered in dust. Sango wondered how so much stuff was still here. Wouldn't the family have emptied out all the rooms when they moved out? The again, they'd never sold the building, either… perhaps they'd preserved it as a memorial to their daughter?

A shiver ran down her spine. Suddenly she felt like she might be doing something a little immoral. She was practically a looter!

No, it's fine. These are Ruka's things too, right? Of course she can get something she forgot. That was what Sango told herself in order to reassure herself that this was okay.

Speaking of Ruka, the Zorua was digging through the desk.

Sango glanced past her and saw a dusty picture frame resting on the desk. She picked it up and cleaned it, and the smile of a black-haired girl peaked back out at her. Sh was hugging a young Zorua in her arms. It made Sango feel warm and yet sad inside at the same time.

"Zorua!" Ruka's cheerful gasp turned Sango's attention from the picture. She saw that the pokemon was holding a weathered book in her hands. But it wasn't any ordinary book.

"That's… her diary?" Sango asked.

Ruka nodded. Tucking he book under her arm, she signed to Sango.

"Every night, when we were done playing, Marie would write down everything we did together in here. I couldn't read it of course but she'd spend hours telling me what she wrote with sign language. It's… incredibly important to me, even if I can't read it," Ruka explained.

Sango understood completely. "Yeah. If it's that important, then you definitely need to keep it. And hey, maybe Cythia will read it to you sometimes."

Ruka nodded, blushing a little. "I'd like that," she signed.

"I also brought this for you," Sango said, handing Ruka the photo. "I just thought… well, mayb it would be nice to have a little moment of her. I know that my pictures of my mom and me… they're some of the most precious things I have." Sango guarded her photo albums with her life.

Ruka took the picture, staring up at Sango in awe.

"Zorua!" She said with tears in her eyes. Her hands were full so she couldn't sign, but there was no doubt in Sango's mind that what she meant to say was "thank you".

Aww, a nice warm chapter about Sango bonding with Cynthia's new Zorua. It must be hard for a pokemon to lose their precious trainer, especially one with a relationship as strong as those two clearly had. But luckily for Ruka, she's found a new trainer who will definitely treasure her, and a bunch of new friends as well! Truly a lucky turn of events for her!