Okay, here's another chapter, a little short breather before we begin the last battle of the quarter-finals. How will the results of this shocking match affect our heroes? Don't forget to review!

Just a Bad Writer for Fun: Thank you, I'm glad that you thought that the chapter was so good, it was a really tough one to write.

Number13teen: Yeah, Cynthia really did her best, she deserved her win.

Tambry96bj: I wanted Cynthia to win because I thought that it was better than making Blake win all his battles. Even though he was built up to win due to story-related reasons, that doesn't necessarily mean he actually WILL win. Now the matchup in the finals isn't as clear, is it?

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 72

"Blake lost…" Kitty said, surprised.

"So Cynthia managed to pull it off, huh?" Julia said, smiling. "But still, they both did their best."

Sango remained silent, and rose from her seat, drawing the attention of the others.

"Hey, something wrong?" Julia asked.

"I need to go," Sango said, pushing past Julia and Kitty's seats.

"Hey, where are you going?!" Julia asked. "There's still one match left, you know!"

"…" Elaina watched the end of the match in silence, glancing away from the screen. She bit her lip behind her mask, looking down. She felt bad for Blake having lost, but she supposed it was just as Gerard had said; Blake really wasn't strong enough to win, and certainly not against her. But still…

"It would have been nice, at least." At least this meant she wouldn't have to hurt him. Hurting a friend… no, well, they weren't really friends, right? He was friends with Elly. But Elly wasn't who she is, not really. It was just another mask, like the one she was wearing now. It didn't make her any less sad for him, though.

"I see. So in the end…" This was all he was capable of…

Blake himself was holding a similar feeling. He sat in silence in the waiting room, a pit in his gut as he looked down at the floor which was spinning around him. His pokemon had been taken to get healed, and at the moment he didn't know what to do with himself.

His door opening drew his attention as Sango stepped into the room, her face plagued by a variety of emotions impossible for him to pinpoint.

"Um, hey," she said, giving him a small, awkward wave as she forced an uncomfortable smile onto her face. Blake didn't really feel like returning her greeting, and simply glanced away from her.

"So, um… how are you doing?" She asked. Idiot! He just lost! How do you expect him to be doing?! Idiot! Idiot!

She sat down beside him, turning on the couch so she was facing his side, and tried to lighten the heavy cloud that she could feel hovering over his head.

"That was a really intense match, you know? You sure did your best!" She said, giving a force laugh. She reached out to pat him encouragingly on the shoulder as she imagined Cynthia would have done, but retracted her hand before making contact, clutching it to her chest.

"Oh, and it was really, really close, too! Everyone was saying that it was the best match they've ever seen, and I mean, to have it come down to the wire like that, and-"

"And lose." Blake muttered, Sango wincing and pulling back.

Before the match had begun, Sango told herself that whichever one of them had won, Blake or Cynthia, she would cheer for them and be happy, but she hadn't thought that seeing Blake lose would hurt this much. The silence was killing her. She so desperately wanted to say the right thing to make his loss not feel so bad, to make it all okay, but she couldn't think of the words. She glanced helplessly at Silver. It was always so much easier with him, her Castform's mood would change with the weather. But Blake? Why couldn't she find the right thing to say? And why did it hurt so much to feel this helpless?

"E-even if you lost, you still tried your best, right? So you can-"

"Sango." Blake's interruption was sharp and cold, and it made her heart ache to hear. He turned to look at her for the first time since she'd started talking, and his face hurt her even more. He was almost smiling, but his eyes were sad.

"It's okay. You don't have to try so hard to cheer me up. I'm really fine."

His lies stung.

"If you're fine… then why is it you look like you're about to cry?" Sango asked.

"…"

"Pretty pathetic," Blake muttered, turning down to look at the floor, or maybe just away from her. "I can't even take a single loss without it hurting this badly."

"Is it really that bad?" She asked. This time, her hand did reach him.

"I wanted to win… I needed to win… but I wasn't strong enough. I went in thinking that there was no way I could lose, because I had a reason to fight. I was going to win against Cynthia and go on to defeat Elaina. I'd make her see the error of her ways and free her from the pain of her harmonia so she could be happy. But in the end… that was just the dream of a stupid child."

There was anger in his voice that Sango found unnerving. Was he angry at her? At himself? At Cynthia? Or was it someone else entirely?

"I wanted to help her, I told myself that I needed to help her, but in the end I couldn't do anything. I wasn't strong enough to do a damn thing for her. Why did I even come here if I'm so weak that I can't do a damn for a helpless girl with no one else to rely on?"

Stop it. Stop saying those things. Every word he was saying cut into Sango, the pain in her breast aching in time with her thoughts, shouting out at him to not feel this way, to not blame himself. Stop talking about being helpless! Stop telling me about how hard you tried… how bad you feel! Stop talking about… her…

Letting out the feelings he'd been holding onto, Blake felt himself completely drained of energy. He collapsed to the side, his head landing in Sango's lap as he stared numbly outward.

"Uh… wha-! What are you doing?!" Sango exclaimed, her face turning bright red as her prior bitterness blew away.

"…Sorry…" Blake apologized. "Just… want to stay like this… for a little while…"

"…That's fine…" Sango murmured, placing a tentative hand on the side of his head in comfort.

"Well now, I hope I'm not interrupting anything too steamy going on~"

Sango threw her arms into the air and let out a yelp as Blake shot off of her lap and sat upright, both turning their heads to see Cynthia standing in the doorway, smiling like the cat that got the canary.

"Careful Dakota doesn't get her eyes on you two, otherwise there will be a whole new wave of scandal going around."

"We weren't doing anything!" Sango nearly shouted, Blake nodding in agreement.

"I'm sure, I'm sure." She nodded, the mocking tone of her voice sending an odd wave of guilt through Sango.

Cynthia glanced at Blake, then at Sango, and her smile drooped.

"So what? You were comforting him, yeah?" Cynthia asked. Sango wasn't sure what to say, so she nodded.

"And look at you," Cynthia frowned, glancing back to Blake and narrowing her eyes. "What? Torn up over losing a single battle? What's with that?"

"Hey!" Sango objected. "Blake-"

"Can speak for himself," Cynthia said. "If you can't even take losing to a friend, then what were you thinking about facing that girl Elaina? You would have gotten yourself hospitalized, or worse!"

"I know that," Blake said. "But-"

"But?" Cynthia asked. "What? How much did that battle really mean to you? Unless…"

She gasped, her eyes widening in realization. Then, her smirk returned.

"Oh, I get it. She does have a killer body, after all."

"Eh." Sango and Blake looked at Cynthia in confusion.

"So you wanted to fight her and show off, huh? Now I get it! That's why you're so broken up now! You were planning to seduce that masked girl with a display of your battle prowess so you could entice her into your bed, and here I go ruining the entire plan!"

She placed her hand on his shoulder, smiling sympathetically.

"Sorry, Blake. I didn't know it was something like that."

"That's not it!" Blake exclaimed, standing up and brushing her hand away, his face bright red. "I wasn't trying to seduce anyone!"

"Oh, really? I'm sooo sure," Cynthia sniggered, holding her hand in front of her face to resist the urge to burst out laughing. "I saw you! You saw her fight for the first time, and you haven't been the same since! Look, Blake, I get that her body is a real smokeshow, and with a bod like that her face has gotta be the tops, but that's no reason to get this hung up over her! If you wanna put the moves on her, then why don't you get on and go talk to her?"

She scoffed, leaning back, and shrugged.

"Besides, any girl who'd get all hot and bothered over seeing a guy win a couple of battles isn't worth your time, right?"

"That's not anything about what this is," Blake replied, but his words fell on deaf ears.

"Although, I gotta admit, you've got great taste." Cynthia smirked. "Tell you what. As the person who beat you, I'll take some responsibility for your hardships and I'll beat her for you, sound good?"

Cynthia's eyes sparkled with excitement as she licked her lips.

"And then I'll take your plan and make a move on her myself." She clutched her shoulders and shivered, closing her eyes. "Oh, man, I can't wait to get my hands on that body of hers!"

"Like that would happen," Blake laughed, "she'd eat you for breakfast."

"Ooh, you think so?"

"And didn't you just say that someone who'd fall for you just because you beat her wasn't worth my time? So what's up with this?"

"Well, I assumed that since you're you, you'd want to do the boring respectable thing and take her out on dates and girlfriend the heck out of her, but what I want is a little more… visceral." Cynthia's eyebrows wiggled suggestively, Blake rolling his eyes.

"Come on, I'm not looking at Elaina that way!"

"Oh, so what way are you looking at her? From behind? If I remember your tastes, that sounds about right. I gotta say, in my professional assessment it should be totally worth it. Tell you what, you can join in for round 2, sound good?"

"Get your mind out of the gutter!"

Sango looked on at their conversation, utterly stupefied.

No matter what I said… I couldn't make him feel better at all… But Cynthia… she just came in like it was nothing and blew the sad atmosphere away without even trying… now he's full of energy and all smiles, joking with Cynthia like nothing's wrong…

She bit her lip, gripping the couch tightly as she looked down, the pain in her chest making it hard to bear watching the two talking any longer.

Why isn't it me? Why can't I make him smile like that? Why is it her?

She blinked in a mixture of confusion and realization.

What the hell? What's wrong with me?! Why am I thinking like this? Cynthia's my friend! And Blake… why am I so cut up over this? I should be happy that Cynthia managed to pick up Blake's mood… but right now, it's like… I'm angry at her. Why…?

Sango wanted to leave so badly. She wanted to jump up and run to some small corner and not have to be here anymore.

"Sango… do you… like Blake?"

Julia's words from a few nights' prior echoed in Sango's head.

No… no way! Do I… do I?

Sango clenched her hand against her chest and winced in pain.

Maybe I… I was so afraid of it that I told myself that we were just friends. So I could convince myself… so that things wouldn't have to change. But this feeling… it really is…

"Hey, Sango." Sango looked up to see Blake had turned back to her.

"Y-yeah?" Sango asked.

"Are you okay? You still seemed a little troubled," Blake asked. "Thank you for worrying about me. But it's okay. I really am feeling better now."

Blake gave her a beaming smile and Sango's heart skipped a beat. She smiled, her cheeks flushing bright pink.

Yeah… I really do love Blake… don't I?

With this realization, the turmoil in her heart from the past few days sharpened to crystal clarity. And with it… she pain of jealousy at seeing Blake together with Cynthia was too much to bear.

"W-well," she coughed, standing up. Smile, smile damn it! "I should probably get back to my seat, the next match is about to start, so…"

"No, come on, stay!" Cynthia said, flopping into the middle of the couch that faced the television. She patted a spot next to her, looking at Sango eagerly. "We can see the whole match from here! Plus, we have room service! Sit!"

Sango glanced at Blake. Now that she was aware of her feelings, the last thing she wanted to do was give away that anything was unusual. There was no point in having this feeling if they couldn't keep up the same relationship they had now, right? So she wondered… what would she have done in the past, back when she only thought of him as a friend? Don't treat him any differently, just… the same. Yeah. Normal. She could normal.

Sango blinked. Leaving now would mean that Cynthia and Blake would be watching the next match… together. Alone. She coughed, and sat down next to Cynthia. Silver fluttered down into her lap.

"Okay, I'll text Julia and let her know what's up."

Blake nodded and sat down on the other side of Cynthia. She snuggled up against him and smiled, reaching for the remote. Sango felt like she was chewing on ground glass. Silver winced in pain, Sango realizing she was clutching the sides of his head way too tightly.

No, no, this is just how Cynthia is. This is all perfectly normal. You're reading too much into this. I just need to calm down.

Sango felt like she was buck naked, she'd never felt this embarrassed, not even when she was wearing that ridiculous cheerleading uniform. She felt like Cynthia and Blake could see how her feelings all over her face. And did they have to be so cuddly?! What was up with that?!

Calm down, calm down, calm down! Just be normal! They're probably looking at you right now, thinking something is wrong with you!

They weren't.

Sango glanced at Cynthia and Blake, who were watching the screen.

"Something wrong?" Blake asked.

"No! Nothing!" Sango said, forcing a smile onto her face.

"Really? 'Cause you're smiling all weird in stuff." Cynthia noticed.

Crap. Crapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrap. What are you smiling like an idiot for, idiot?! Just smile normally! The way you always smile when you're around them! As she thought this, a grim realization struck Sango.

How… how do I normally smile, again? Sango had absolutely no idea. What had been completely reflexive the night before was now troublingly alien, and Sango couldn't figure out what she was supposed to do. How did she force her lips into the right positions? How was she supposed to smile? What… what was a normal smile supposed to look like?!

She let out a nervous laugh.

"Really, really, it's nothing!" Sango said, waving her arms. No, no, that's too far the other way! Now they'll think you're hiding something!

"Oh, I get it," Cynthia grinned. "You're just jealous, aren't you?"

Sango's blood went cold and she could feel her heart stop beating. Even though Cynthia had always teased her before about having feelings for Blake… now that she did, there's no way she could brush it off like a joke now! Cynthia would notice, and then she'd tell a joke, and Blake would see it, and… and…

"You're jealous that I'm cuddling with Blake, right? That's no good!" Cynthia pulled off Blake and lunged at Sango, laughing as she tickled her sides. "If you wanted some skinship yourself, you just had to ask, dummy!"

Her sigh of relief was caught in her choking laughter and she began coughing, trying to laugh it off. It's all okay. Just relax, that's all. Sango began laughing as Cynthia continued her tickling attack, relieved that at least the girl wasn't practically dry-humping Blake's leg now.

That's right… just be normal. Just friends. We're still friends. Until I sort out how I'm feeling and I'm ready to confront him about it… ready to make a change… I'm happy with just keeping things like this for now.

Besides, she had no idea how Blake felt about her, a thought that made her suddenly so very sad. If Blake really did have feelings for his friend Claire like she'd suspected… Or for Cynthia… and what about Elaina? Or that new girl, Ryoko, or the friend they had made, Elly. Compared to cool, beautiful, or special people like them, what chance did she have? No… it was better to just nurture these feelings, right? And stay friends.

…Right?

"Huh?" Julia drew her eyes from the stadium, where Akira and Daryl's match had begun. She reached into her pocket, withdrawing her phone.

"It's Sango again," Julia said.

"What's up with her?" Nick asked. "A follow-up to what she said about watching the match with Cynthia and Blake?"

"Uh…" Julia looked at the text message, confused. "It just says 'HELP ME'."

She looked up at her phone, glancing to Kitty, Nick, and Ryoko.

"Help her how?" Kitty asked, confused.

Well, this was quite a shakeup. Sango finally acknowledged how she feels about Blake. It might have been obvious to everyone but her, but now she's finally come clean with herself! The question now is what she'll do about it? Stay tuned for the last battle of the quarter-finals coming next chapter!