Ah, the Slateport City Water Park! A place for having fun and enjoying yourself! But there are a few girls in the group who aren't the biggest fans of water parks. But even though that's the case, these girls will still be a bit of a handful. And it's usually going to fall to Blake to deal with those situations when they arise… hopefully he'll be able to help.

KedharS: Yep, Elaina's definitely getting doses of wholesomeness. The question is, what's going to come from it?

Hyphenman: Indeed, it's very nice. As are the swimsuits.

Leppyvstheworld: They're nice, and they're also functional!

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 1059

"I don't want to get in the water!" Ruka signed. She pouted indignantly, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"Come on, Ruka, it's going to be really fun!" Cynthia pleaded. "Don't you want to have fun? You seemed so excited to go to th water park on the ride over here!"

"Well, that was before I learned that I was going to get wet!" Ruka signed. "I don't want to get my fur wet!"

What fur? She was wearing a swimsuit over pale skin; but Cynthia didn't want to press the issue if she didn't have to. She knew what the climate of the Hoenn Region was like, and that for Ruka, "wet" probably meant "soaked with rain".

But she wanted to show her pokemon that there were fun ways that one could get wet. Not in a dirty way, of course.

Ruka wasn't the only conscientious objector. Caelia also wasn't the biggest fan of the water, either. Cynthia sighed, and forced a smile to her face.

"Okay, guys, why don't we split up?" She suggested. "I'll take Caelia and Ruka to the wading pool in order to get them used to the water, and the rest of you can-"

"Zorua!" Ruka shouted, stomping her foot. She ran over and hugged Blake tightly. He sighed in exasperation and met Cynthia's eyes. Ruka wasn't going anywhere without him, it seemed. And she wasn't the only one.

Caelia calmly walked over to Blake and grabbed his wrist with her good hand, squeezing tightly. Blake winced. Another one.

Cynthia grumbled. "Why is it always him?" She muttered under her breath, frustrated that her crush was more popular with the people she wanted to be friends with than she was. Which was quite an interesting mindset to be in.

"Okay, I'll go with you," Blake sighed, deciding to make the sacrifice. It was better to ensure that the girls had fun than to focus on having fun himself.

"W-Wait!"

Everyone turned to Elaina, surprised. Elaina's face was red with shame. She glanced down at her feet awkwardly.

"I, um… I also… don't know how to swim."

There, she'd said it. In spite of growing up in the island paradise that was the Alola Region, Elaina had never learned how to swim. It was embarrassing, but it was just a fact that she lived with. She never spent her time outside, or trying to do anything that would involve swimming, so she never gave the idea any serious consideration.

But now that they were here… she might as well learn, right? It certainly wasn't because she wanted to go to the wading pool with Blake or anything, certainly not!

"Uh… you don't really swim in the wade pool," Cynthia said. "It's kind of… for wading."

Elaina's cheeks flushed. "Y-Yes, of course! I knew that!" She stammered anxiously. "I just… um… n-never mind!"

She was tempted to turn and run the other way, but held herself back.

"Well, if you want to come, you can," Cynthia shrugged.. "I won't say you can't. But wouldn't you like to do something more fun? Like go on the water slides?"

Elaina glance up at the large water slides towering over them.

She gulped. "U-hum, um… maybe later…" she said, shivering a little.

"Well, whatever!" Cynthia pushed right past that, turning on her heel and heading for the wading pool. Blake followed after her, practically dragging Caelia and Ruka behind him, while Elaina railed after thm in the distance.

That left the other seven waiting around, not sure what to do.

"So, water slides?" Will suggested immediately.

"I like the sound of that!" Reiner agreed.

"Absolutely!" Sango nodded. She pumped her fist into the air, a bright smile spread across her face. "Let's go! To the water slides!"

"Castform!" Silver chirped in agreement.

Julia glanced at Kitty. She was shaking and her face was an even more pallid hue than usual. She was trembling.

"Hey, guys, actually I was thinking-" Julia was about to say that she wasn't feeling up for going on water slides just yet for Kitty's sake, but it didn't go the way she'd planned.

"WROAAAAAR! YEAH, WATER SLIDES, WHOOOOO!" Kitty "roared" in her bell-whistle-squeak of a voice, pumping her fists in the air and making a ferocious face. She charged after Sango and the others leaving a stunned Julia.

"…Okay then," the brunette sighed, rubbing her temples. She trudged after them, but was blocked by two tanned guys in speedos. She suppressed the urge to throw up.

"Get out of-"

"Hey babe, you here with anyone?" The guy on the left asked, showing what he must have thought was a charming smile.

"If not, want to come have a party with us? We got booze and treats if you're interested," his buddy offered, somehow even dumber than his compatriot. Julia might have had a rocking bod, but there were only so many ways someone could spell "statutory".

Not that Julia would have been interested regardless. She reached to her waist and fingered the button on the pokeball affixed to her swimsuit tie.

"Houndoom!" Roden emerged from his pokeball, bearing his fangs and snarling aggressively at the wannabe pickup artists.

"I am here with someone, actually," Julia scoffed. "His name is Roden and he's the jealous type. I don't suppose he could come along to play too?"

"Houndoom…" Roden warned, narrowing his eyes. Black flames flickered out between his flames as he stalked towards the two men.

"Uh… a-actually, we must have mistaken you for one of our friends just now!" The first guy stammered, scrambling to his feet. "Sorry, go-got to go!" He turned and dashed away, which was better than his buddy did. He couldn't even make it back up to his feet, he just scrambled across the pavement after his friend.

Julia smirked, patting her Houndoom.

"Good boy," she purred. Her Houndoom was a way more reliable man than any she'd come across before. She turned and caught up to the others as they got in line for the "Kingdra Mondo Water Twister."

"Uh… I think I'm gonna sit this one out," Nick winced, staring up at the whirls and twirls of the water slide.

"Uh… shouldn't there be covers over some of those turns?" Reiner asked. He looked a little green as he saw a girl nearly get flung out as she passed a turn.

"What's the matter?" Julia sneered. "You're not scared, are you?"

"N-no! I'm not scared!" Reiner protested. "I just…"

"Well, I'm DEFINITELY not scared!" Kitty lied, putting on a brave face. "I can handle a mondo twister just fine!"

Julia realized she'd inadvertently goaded her friend into this. "W-Wait, Kitty, I didn't mean anything like that, if you don't want to that doesn't mean you'll be-"

"I'll be fine, Julia!" Kitty assured her. And yet her face was pale, and it wasn't due to the layers of sunscreen.

"Well I'm going first," Julia said, stomping ahead of her in line. If it was safe enough for her, then it would be safe enough for Kitty. That was the most she would compromise when it came to keeping her friend safe.

"Well if Kitty's going then I'm going," Reiner stated.

"Well if you're going, then I'm going!" Nick said. "I don't want to be the only one here who's NOT going!"

"Whoever's going, the LINE is going," Sango said, stepping forward. The others quickly joined. In the end, everyone decided to ride the mondo twister.

"Ueeeeeeehhh…" Kitty groaned, slumping down on a bench just outside the mondo twister. She looked completely drained.

"I warned you," Julia said, walking over to Kitty. She was wringing out her hair. "If you didn't want to get overwhelmed, you could have stayed.

"I got turned so many ways," Kitty wailed. "And then I hit the water! Ueh!"

She'd gotten the full water-up-the-nose treatment thanks to the mondo twister. And she definitely regretted going. It wasn't even that fun, she'd gotten slammed all over the place in twists and turns. "I feel sick… I think I swallowed pool water…"

"Yeah," Julia nodded in agreement. She'd actually had a great time, but she wanted to make Kitty feel better. "If you ask me, water slides aren't very fun-"

"WOOOO! DAMN!" Sango skipped up, slapping Julia on the back. She was red with excitement and practically exploding with energy. "That was so epic, don't you think!?"

"It certainly was something alright," Julia said, not trying to make it out to be a big deal. She was trying to be a supportive-

"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Reiner hit the water and emerged, pumping his fists into the air. "DUDE! That was awesome! Water slides are so fucking epic dude!"

Julia glared at him, and was tempted to unleash Roden again.

"So what do you think? You guys ready for some more?" Aidan asked. He'd had as much fun as Sango had, and was already interested in the next water slide they'd be trying. "So what do you think? The Tentacruel Trouncer or the Whiscash Wobbler? We could also try the Crawdaunting Crash," he asked excitedly.

Each suggestion made Kitty go a little more pale. She felt that water she'd swallowed starting to come back up on her.

"Or the Swampert Smasher," Sango said with an eager smile. The look on her face said "dangerous" which was exactly what Kitty didn't want right now.

"Um… I don't… ugh…" Kitty felt a little feverish. She slumped back over on the bench and swallowed her compulsion to vomit. She'd definitely made a mistake pushing herself to go on such a hard water slide, that was for sure.

"Can I just… um… wait for a bit?" Kitty asked, fumbling for the guidebook. There had to be something she could do that was less deadly than any of those. "What about going on the 'Lazy Lotad Lagoon' ride?"

The Lazy Lotad Lagoon was a nice, peaceful ride where people lounged on large inner-tubes shaped like lily pads as they drifted slowly down a long river that spanned the perimeter of the water park. It was just the sort of ride built for her.

…And little kids. But Kitty preferred not to think of herself in that category for obvious reasons, of course.

Sango couldn't hide her disappointment at Kitty's suggestion. "Well, I mean, I guess if that's what you want, it's okay," she said, smiling a little. "Maybe we could do that a little later though? I really wanted to do the Wailmer Wave Ride early, before the lines got long…"

Kitty gulped, and Julia recognized the hesitation in her friend's eyes. That was the look she wore when she was about to make a big sacrifice for someone else.

"How about we split up?" Julia quickly suggested. "I'm feeling a little uneasy right now myself, why don't Kitty and I hit some of the slower rides, maybe go to the gift shops, and we meet up with you two later?"

Kitty brightened, overjoyed at Julia's suggestion. She nodded her head eagerly. "Y-Yeah, that sounds like a great idea!" She agreed.

Julia smiled, and looked hopefully at Sango, who nodded in agreement. "Works for me!" She chirped. "We'll meet up at the food court at…" She checked the large clock in the plaza. "…12 o'clock sound good? That'll give us an hour or two to get on all the best rides."

"Sounds good," Julia agreed. "Ready to go, Kitty?" She asked, turning to her friend. Kitty nodded rapidly and the two headed off on their own, leaving Sango, Aidan, and Reiner to wait for Will and Nick to finish coming down the slide.

"So, Lotad Lagoon?" Julia asked. It wasn't the kind of ride she would suggest, but she could certainly enjoy it if Kitty was there with her.

"Hm… actually, I wanted to stop off at the gift shop first," Kitty said, heading for the lockers to pick up her bag. Julia followed after her, surprised.

"Really? Why? Shouldn't we save that for the end?" She asked. That was when most people usually went to a gift shop in her experience.

Kitty turned to her, with a surprising fire of determination burning in her eyes. "Are you an idiot, Julia?!" She shouted, catching Julia off-guard.

"Uh… wh-what?" Julia asked dumbly.

"Do you have any idea how many people are at the park?" Kitty demanded. "And you want to save the gift shop for the end?! Well, let me tell you what's going to happen if you do that! If you do that, then when we finally get to the gift shop, all the best gifts? Gone. Totally gone. Is that what you want? No gifts?! Because that's how you get no gifts!"

Kitty jammed her finger into Julia's stomach, glaring menacingly at her. Julia just stared at her in numb confusion.

"Uh… okay then…" she mumbled. This was serious business to her friend, it appeared. She just followed Kitty's adamant stomping towards the gift shops.

Julia wasn't much of a "souvenir" person, especially since most of the people she'd be getting souvenirs for were either in the Hoenn Region right now, or her parents, who were from there. So while Kitty was filling up a giant bag, she was just absentmindedly browsing. Then she spotted something interesting, walking over to get a closer look.

It was a pair of necklaces. They were strung on leather cord. One was a large beautiful scale about the size of an eyeball, glittering pink with a purple wavy pattern when you turned it to the light. It reminded Julia of Kitty's eyes. The other one, she thought, was cooler though, it was a sharp, jagged fang from some sea pokemon, it reminded her of her Sharpedo's teeth.

"Something catch your eye?"

Julia flinched, nearly falling onto the display out of shock. The shop employee had seemed to come out of nowhere!

"Uh… wh-what? Oh, um… no, just browsing," Julia said, shaking her head. Her eyes slid back to the necklaces in spite of herself.

"Ah, the Deep Sea Tooth and Deep Sea Scale necklaces I see," the woman smiled, a twinkle in her eye. "They're some of our most popular jewelry, outside of our Heart Scale Lockets. Got a special fellow you're thinking of?"

Julia blinked. "Uh… what? No…"

The woman's face turned stern. "Oh. Well, I see."

Julia was irritated by the sudden attitude the attendant was copping, when she'd been the one to approach her in the first place.

"Is something the matter with it?" She asked.

"No, it's just… they're meant to be sold as a pair," the woman explained. "You buy one for yourself, and give its partner to someone important. That's the idea, anyway."

"So like a friend?" Julia asked, glancing at Kitty out of the corner of her eye. The girl was staring very intently at a stuffed Mudkip.

"I… suppose a friend would work," the woman said, caught a little off-guard. "It would certainly be unusual, though."

"Fine, I'll take it then," Julia said, handing the lady some bills before she even finished talking. That scale would go great with Kitty's eyes, not to mention that the tooth would look pretty badass hanging from her neck as well.

"Well, enjoy!" The woman chirped, handing Julia the package. Julia turned and walked over to Kitty immediately.

"Hey, Kitty, look what I got!" Julia called, showing her friend the two necklaces.

"Whoa! Those are so cool!" Kitty gushed. There was a tinge of envy in her voice, which made Julia happy.

"Actually, there're two of them," she said, holding up the scale and tooth necklaces. "I got one for you!"

Kitty's eyes widened. "Seriously!?" Then, to Julia's surprise, she reached out and snatched the Deep Sea Tooth from Julia's grip.

Julia took a moment to process that. "Wha… but that- um…"

But Kitty had already slid the necklace on, the sharp tooth nestling above the hem of her swim suit. She had a bright smile on her face, filled with gratitude.

"Thank you, Julia! I love it! This is the best present ever!" She gushed. "What do you think? 'Wild' Kitty looks pretty good, yeah?"

Julia just nodded dumbly. "Y-Yeah. Glad you like it," she mumbled, glancing at the Deep Sea Scale in her hand. She'd gotten it for Kitty, but now she didn't know what to do with it. Oh well. It wasn't her style, but she'd wear it anyway. She slipped it around her neck, and Kitty's smile widened when she saw it, nodding in approval.

"So, uh… want to keep shopping?" Julia asked. She was still taken aback. She'd thought that Kitty would have wanted the pretty scale necklace for sure, but apparently she didn't know her friend as well as she thought she did.

Julia glanced down at the scale and rubbed it between her fingers. It felt surprisingly smooth. Shaking her head, she followed after Kitty.

Well, the day at the water park seems to be off to a good start! We spent some time focusing on Julia and Kitty, and the two of them seem to be enjoying themselves. Hopefully the rest of the day goes this well for everyone! We'll be moving onto Blake and the girls in his group next, which means it won't be as wild as here, hopefully.