Cynthia seemed to be acing her assessment with Ayame due to how well-trained her pokemon are and how much care and dedication she puts into making sure that they're being taken care of. It looked like she had this one in the bag… until Ruka fumbled the bag with her little prank, and decided to show Ayame an illusion of Blake naked. Something tells me Ayame isn't going to react very well to something like that. Remember to review!

Arbiter8991: Yup, Cynthia's going to feel pretty rough, that's for sure. Hopefully she'll find a way to get out of this.

KedharS: Yeah, she needs to make things clear, Ruka shouldn't be messing around like this.

Hyphenman: Hey, Cynthia's trying her best. Ruka's the one who keeps messing up.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 1261

Ayame fell back on her perfect ass and her jaw dropped. "What… what the fuck?!" She exclaimed, staring at what was undeniably Blake's naked body. The second she saw it, a series of memories began flashing through her head, reminding her of all the… other times she'd seen his body before. She turned red, and the memories disappeared as quickly as they had come, leaving only the faintest traces in remnant.

Ayame turned red.

"Wh-Wh-WHAT?!" She sputtered again, not sure what to make of this. She turned to Cynthia and glared murderously at the girl, but Cynthia looked as shocked and appalled as Ayame did.

"Ruka!" She exclaimed. "Cut that out right now! Stop!"

She grabbed Ruka and the Zorua immediately returned to her fox form, blue eyes wide and watering with tears. She'd just intended it to be a little joke, but Ayame's outburst and the fact that her mom was clearly upset made her realize how much she'd screwed up. She began to shake.

"Z-Z-Zorua!" She wailed, bursting into tears. It stunned Ayame and Cynthia for a few seconds, but neither girl was buying it.

"Stop using fake tears," Cynthia chastised her pokemon, and Ruka immediately sobered up and turned off the waterworks. It was clear she was still depressed, though, and looked down at the grass contritely.

The situation temporarily resolved, Cynthia cautiously glanced up at Ayame to see if the tomboy was upset with her.

But it was hard to tell. Ayame looked rather frazzled, as if she wasn't sure what she was supposed to make of what she saw.

Finally, she regained her voice.

"What the fuck was that?" She growled, turning to Cynthia. "Were you trying to pull a prank on me or something?"

"No! I swear, I didn't!" Cynthia wailed. "How would I?! I don't even know what Blake looks like naked, I couldn't tell Ruka to turn into him! And I would never do that, honest! I tell Ruka all the time not to do things like that! Don't turn into people without their consent!"

Ayame sighed and scratched her head. "Look, Cynthia, I want to believe you, but you have a bit of track record when it comes to shit like this…"

Ruka looked desperately between her trainer and Ayame. She'd just wanted to have a bit of fun, she hadn't meant to get anyone in trouble!

In a puff of smoke she turned back into her human form and waved her hands frantically to get the attention of the two girls.

"What, more pranks?" Ayame groaned.

"Ruka, not now," Cynthia snapped. She was trying to be patient with her Zorua but she really wasn't in the mood for this.

But Ruka was desperate. She began signing as fast as she could, hoping the girls would get the message, punctuating her signs with cries of "Zorua!"

Unfortunately, Ayame didn't know sign language, and Cynthia was still an amateur at it. So neither girl really got what she was trying to say.

"What's she doing?" Ayame asked.

Cynthia sighed. "She's trying to tell us something, but I don't know what. Sango will be able to tell us…" Cynthia reached into her pocket and fished out her phone. "I'll call her and tell her to come down, so she can translate."

"You don't need to," Maddi said suddenly, surprising both girls. They'd forgotten that the brunette was here.

"Huh? What do you mean, Maddi?" Cynthia asked, confused.

"I mean I can tell you what she's trying to say," Maddi explained. "She's saying that Cynthia had nothing to do with this, and it was all her idea. She wanted to pull a prank on Ayame to get back at her because Blake was so interested in her and she feels attached to him. So she wanted to startle the other girl with an illusion of him naked."

Maddi actually blushed at the last part. "But, well… she sort of made up the illusion from scratch, since she doesn't actually know what Blake looks like naked…"

"…Oh." Ayame would have been able to know that Ruka's illusion wasn't accurate if she still had her memories, but those brief flashes were nothing serious. She glanced at Cynthia, who still seemed aghast- and shocked, as well.

"Maddi, how did you know all that?" She asked, confused. "Can you read sign language?"

Maddi flinched. "What? Uh, no, I just… um…"

Then she realized she'd forgotten something pretty important.

"See, it turns out… I have harmonia," she admitted, keeping her voice down. She realized it was a pointless gesture the second she did it, given who she was talking to.

"WHAT?!" Cynthia screamed at the top of her lungs, her jaw dropping in shock. "You have harmonia!? How?! Since when?! Why is this the first time I'm hearing of this?"

"W-Well, it just kinda… happened," Maddi said, very much trying not to have to go into the specifics. "It happened on the Orre trip, and I guess I just… forgot to tell you."

Her eyes skipped over to Ayame for a second and the two shared a tense look. It wasn't the only secret about the trip being kept from Cynthia.

Cynthia, meanwhile, had completely forgotten about the prank, the pressure she was under, and frankly, if you put a gun to her head, even the fact that Ayame was here to assess her capabilities to nurture baby pokemon. She was too overwhelmed with the news that Maddi had the powers of harmonia.

"Ahem," Ayame cleared her throat, drawing them back to the topic at hand. "Cynthia, you'll have all the time in the world to talk to Maddi about her harmonia, but in the meantime, we have business to discuss," she reminded the redhead.

Cynthia blushed sheepishly and nodded. "R-Right, I forgot," she laughed a little. "Sorry, Maddi, for bugging you, and, um, sorry, Ayame, for Ruka doing that. But I promise, it's going to be the last time, alright? She won't ever do it again!"

Ayame wasn't convinced. She crossed her arms over her chest and cocked her hip to the side, using her physicality to intimidate the other girl.

Cynthia gulped.

"I-I'm telling you the truth!" She promised. "I'm going to discipline Ruka a lot and make sure she won't do it again, right?"

Cynthia turned and glared at Ruka and the Zorua froze. While Cynthia would occasionally get angry at her pranks, this was the first time she'd gotten really mad. And Ruka wasn't sure how she should handle that. Having already lost her human companion once in the past and been abandoned by her family, the little Dark type had some serious attachment issues, and the idea of her trainer throwing her away because she was too much trouble terrfieid her.

She couldn't let that happen.

"Zorua!" Ruka wailed, running over to Cynthia and throwing herself into her arms. The fact that her human guise was over half a foot taller than Cynthia made the whole thing look rather awkward, but Sora quickly reverted to a Zorua.

She figured the cuteness would endear herself more to her trainer that way.

"I'm still mad at you," Cynthia sniffed, glancing away from the adorable fox in her arms. But it was hard to STAY mad at something that cute, and it was obvious that the ice around her was starting to melt. Ayame sighed.

"I'm just worried about your… impulses," she said. "How do you think Serefina would feel, for example, if you had Ruka transform into an illusion of her for you to drool over?"

Cynthia didn't want to admit that was a possibility, but she couldn't deny it outright, either.

"Pokemon acting out is a result of their trainer not properly instilling discipline and care," Ayame continued. "That Zorua may be a recent capture, but she's YOUR pokemon now, and you need to take care of her, and teach her right from wrong."

"That's why I'm trying my best to raise her right," Cynthia said. "I've only been her trainer for a few days, Ayame, please! You can trust me! I won't let her do bad stuff like this again!"

She really meant it, too. But Ayame still wasn't convinced.

"I know you don't want her to," she said gently. "But I'm worried whether or not you'll be able to put your foot down. This reflects badly on your ability to take care of your pokemon, Cynthia, you have to get that, right?"

Cynthia got it. But she didn't like it. She nodded sadly. Ruka started to cry. While she didn't fully get what was going on, she knew that Cynthia was losing something important due to her prank, and that made her feel incredibly guilty.

"But with that in mind… I'm still going to give you my letter of recommendation," Ayame finished, and Cynthia had to shake her head to make sure she heard that right.

"Wait, what?" She gasped, her jaw dropping.

"You heard me," Ayame said. "I can tell from the way you hold yourself and the way you treat and care for your pokemon, you're precisely the kind of person the Caretaking Course wants doing volunteer work for them. Now, the fact that you can't keep your Zorua under control is a bit of an issue, yes, but it won't have anything to do with the sort of work you'll be doing with the pokemon there. You won't be influencing any pokemon's behavior, after all, you'll just be one of several volunteers playing with the baby pokemon."

Cynthia couldn't believe her ears. It was happening, it was really happening! Ayame was letting her work there! Or at least, signing a recommendation letter saying she could. This was exactly what she'd wanted to hear!

"Oh, thank you Ayame!" Cynthia cheered, moving to give Ayame a hug even though she was still carrying her Zorua. Ayame wisely stepped out of the way, knowing better than to get hugged by someone as grabby as Cynthia.

"I'm just doing what any responsible member of the Caretaker Course would do," Ayame asserted. "And pranks aside, it's clear you're a really good girl with a lot of love for pokemon. And the pokemon we raise in the nursery are the ones in need of it most."

"Hey, uh… I have a question," Maddi said suddenly. "Why, um… why does our school have a nursery, anyway?"

That was the part of this whole exercise that had never made any sense to her. Certainly it was strategic to have a place designed to raise baby pokemon, but what were baby pokemon even doing at the school in large enough numbers to begin with? Just because she and a few other girls (and Blake) had gotten their hands on eggs didn't mean that was a natural occurrence.

Ayame shrugged. "Well, the nursery is there for a variety of reasons. You understand that the students in the Caretaker Course are responsible for looking after all the pokemon that the other students aren't using on their party at the moment, right?"

"Yeah, of course," Maddi nodded. "You think I don't know that?"

Of all the students in the Pokemon Academy, Maddi probably made the most extensive use of that group on campus. She had over 50 pokemon, after all. And while yes, there were a few other trainers who had around that number, most of those trainers were having their pokemon looked after by relatives, or by a Pokemon Professor in their hometown. But Maddi needed to have her teams ready to go at the drop of a hat, so she wanted to stay close to them.

Ayame ignored Maddi's flippant tone and continued. "Well, when looking after pokemon, we try hard to make sure that there's no… funny business going on between the pokemon of different trainers, for the sake of their health."

"Oh, you mean sex," Cynthia said with the subtlety of a monster truck.

Ayame stared dully at her.

"Yeah, that," she muttered, rolling her eyes in disbelief. "Well anyway, mistakes happen. And sometimes an egg is found. When that happens, the owner of the mom has a chance to claim the egg. If they don't, the faculty takes in the egg, and raises it in the nursery, see? And then the pokemon is nurtured until it can be used as a rental pokemon by the students."

"I'm not sure if that really accounts for the numbers, though," Cynthia said, scratching her chin. "I saw a lot of eggs stored up there when I poked my head in."

Maddi agreed, even if a few pokemon produced eggs now and then, she doubted that made up for the sheer volume she'd observed.

Ayame smiled mischievously. "Ah, yes, that's because of another service we off here. I'm sure you know all about the fundamentals of egg moves and pokemon breeding, right, Cynthia? Working to breed pokemon with certain inherent characteristics, like a higher than average attack stat, or more defenses?"

Cynthia stared at Ayame with a blank look in her face. The circuits in her head were sparking. "Not really, I just want to play with the cute pokemon," she replied.

Ayame sighed. "Well, the Pokemon Academy has a bit of a reputation," Ayame explained. "Our students, particularly in the Caretaking Course, are the best of the best."

Cynthia was surprised by that and so was Maddi. "Really?" Both girls asked, glancing at each other and then back to Ayame in disbelief.

"Of course. In fact, while we raise good battlers, certainly, our highest graduate-to-success rate for students who move onto careers in their chosen profession happens to be in the Caretaking Course! And not only that, the vast majority of the most reputable breeders in the world happen to be alumni from this school!"

Cynthia's jaw dropped.

Maddi thought it made sense, though.

"I guess when it comes to things like Pokemon Battles, that are so much more a part of the world as a whole, there are a lot of avenues for success," Maddi agreed. "Skilled battlers can come from league challenges, after all, and most schools for trainers are just purely focused on battles. The Pokemon Academy is one of the few multi-curricular schools for pokemon content."

"Exactly," Ayame nodded. "If you've got all those trainers coming from everywhere, then there's a significantly lower chance that you'll break out and be famous. It's the same thing with the Appeals Course, but honestly? That one's even harder."

"Yeah, I heard something like less than 1% of 1% of people in a given acting school will move on to find success in television or movies," Cynthia said. It was a rather grim prospect. "And there are specialized Ranger Schools as well, so you don't need to come here specifically, either."

Cynthia was reminded of all the struggling that Sango had to go through just to get her probationary license. It seemed like a pretty hard job.

"That's right," Ayame nodded. "And if you want to become a researcher or a professor, well, the field of academia is pretty crowded these days. But that's not the case with things like Pokemon Breeders. There's a lot of opportunities there for someone who wants to become a breeder, you know. After all, it's a pretty hard field that requires you being licensed, but it's not a popular field everyone wants to break into like the Battle or Appeals Courses, it's not lucrative like the Research Course, and it's not a government job with a guaranteed salary like a Pokemon Ranger."

"It sounds like it sucks," Maddi said, earning her a dirty look from Ayame. She tried changing the subject. "So what does all that have to do with pokemon eggs?"

"The reason the school has so many eggs in the nursery is because it's a service we offer," Ayame explained. "Not just to students, but to trainers from all over. It's similar to a Pokemon Day-Care. We will take eggs off the hands of trainers who don't have time to hatch them themselves, and use them as part of the training for our students. Then when the eggs hatch, the trainers can drop by and pick up their pokemon."

"Whoa, that does sound pretty cool," Cynthia said, nodding.

"That's not the coolest part," Ayame said, her eyes sparkling with glee. "Why do you think it is that so many trainers would trust the students here with their eggs, when they're just kids?"

"Uh… no idea," Cynthia said, shaking her head. She glanced at Maddi, but the other girl was just as confused.

Ayame held her head up high and slapped her chest. "It's because the students at this school are some of the best around!"

"Whoa, really?" Cynthia asked, her eyes widening.

"That's right. Our school may be seen as a battling school first and foremost, but that doesn't change the fact that we excel in all our fields of study. It's the top-ranking school in the league, after all. A student in the Caretaker Course here may still be in training and not have their license, but odds are they're in the top 1% of Pokemon Breeders just based off what they know."

"…Whoa," Cynthia said, amazed.

"And we've built up a reputation not just from our students, but from the alumni that have gone on to make big names for themselves," Ayame explained. "Because we offer our services for so cheap, people know a good deal when they see one. This reputation that's been built up, showcasing just how skilled our students are at raising pokemon, is one of the things that keep this school in business you see. That's the world you're gonna be entering if you want to take up this job, Cynthia."

"H-Huh?" Cynthia was caught off-guard by Ayame's piercing gaze. She was staring at Cynthia like this was an actual job interview.

"…Um…"

"The school has a reputation to uphold. People trust that our students will do the best they can to look after their pokemon. That's a big reason why Serefina was so apprehensive of your joining."

Serefina had blabbed to Ayame. Cynthia should have seen that coming.

"So I'm gonna ask, before I write you that letter, do you think you have what it takes to uphold our school's standards of quality? Do you think you can keep from harming our reputation? Because you're not even a student in the Caretaker Course, Cynthia. That's why this is such a risky prospect for everyone involved."

Cynthia gulped. Ayame was really heaping the pressure onto her.

"Well?" The tomboy asked expectantly.

Well, Cynthia managed to avoid Ayame breaking her into bite-sized pieces, but I'm pretty sure she didn't expect a confrontation like this! Ayame isn't wrong to question Cynthia in this regard, either, she needs to know just how important her work is going to be if she wants to take this job. The question is, will she be up for it or not?