Finally, our heroes have made it back to the Pokemon Academy in one piece! The only problem is Ayame's mind isn't in one piece itself. With her memories going haywire she's going to have a heck of a time picking herself back up and figuring out how to go forward. And what about Blake? How's he going to handle this situation? He's learned the truth from Alcea, so we'll just have to see how well he can take the news.

KedharS: Yup. Poor guy. He's in a really tough position. Hopefully he can find the strength to rally, because if not, this is going to be tough.

Hyphenman: Yeah it's a really tough situation for both of them. They're going to be going through a lot, and I doubt they'll be able to pick up the pieces properly. But you're right, I don't think this is the end for them just yet.

FinLay Real: That's really nice to hear. I've been working very hard on the Orre Region arc, so I'm glad the payoff was worth it!

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 1248

When Cynthia was a little girl, she would spend most of her year living with her grandma and grandpa at their inn. That was because her parents were seldom home. But occasionally, they would take her back to their house in Rustboro for several months, and she would be "home".

Rustboro City had never really felt like home to her. Sure, she had many of her toys and games and stuff there, along with a lot of her clothes. She still lived there after all. But even though she knew her family loved her, it just never felt as warm and fun to live with her parents as it did to live in the inn (though the lack of chores was nice).

Needless to say, the thought of leaving her grandparents' inn was usually something that filled her with anxiety. Growing up, she'd wanted to stay there forever and never have to leave.

She was feeling that way right now.

Spring Break had been… eventful. She'd found a new friend in Ruka, tried to build friendships with Elaina and Caelia, and most importantly, had seen two people who should have been friends… pretty much start the countdown to nuclear annihilation.

And she was right in the middle of it.

Sango had confessed her feelings to Cynthia. Now normally, that would send the redhead over the moon, even if Sango's chest was as barren as the desert on Route 111. But unfortunately she was not the target of the blonde's affections.

Sango was in love with Blake. She knew Cynthia liked him, but since she was closest female friend she had confided in Cynthia that she had feeling for him too.

And because the gods hadn't had enough fun at Cynthia's expense yet, Blake had heard every word.

What an absolute mess.

Now Cynthia found herself in the most awkward position in the world. One of her best friends had feelings for the other. And that best friend was in love with someone else. (And that person wasn't Cynthia. She was still a little bitter about that part.)

Sango had said that she wanted things to be completely normal with Blake, act like it never happened. Well, Cynthia wanted that too. But wishes were Ponytas because apparently neither one of them quite knew what "normal" was supposed to look like.

Blake had been in his brooding mode since he woke up. He was clearly lost in thought about something or other, and Cynthia had a pretty good guess what. And considering he was more or less the heart of the group, his attitude made ripples that caused the other students to feel a little awkward and uncomfortable themselves.

Not Sango though. She was still trying to force it. Joking around with him, pretending that everything was normal, even though her jokes were going over like a lead balloon. By the time they were all packed up and ready to go even she had given up, sensing that something was wrong but not sure what it was yet. An uncomfortable atmosphere hung over the crowd as they said their goodbyes and thanked Cynthia's grandparents for their hospitality.

So yeah, Cynthia didn't want to leave the inn. More specifically, she didn't want to get on the grueling 2 hour bus ride to Slateport City, and the even longer flight back to the Pokemon Academy. Trapped on a bus and a plane with those two sounded like absolute torture.

If only she could stay home forever…

…But no, that was a pipe dream. It was time to head back. They all filed onto the bus, and Cynthia sighed in relief. They'd left early in the morning, so early the sun was hardly out. Which meant that the bus was almost empty. She couldn't imagine what would have happened if space had been tight, and she'd been forced to sit next to Blake or Sango.

Or worse, if the two of them had been forced to sit together.

"Zorua!"

Ruka, currently in her human form, tugged on Cynthia's sleeve, snapping her out of her fugue. That's right, she actually had to get on the bus. She followed the eager Zorua up onto the bus and reached into her purse to pay the fee.

"Two children'll cost 1000," the bus driver grunted.

Cynthia's jaw dropped and her eyes slid to Ruka.

"W-Well, she's not a human," she said. "She's actually a pokemon. Show her, Ruka."

"Zorua!" Ruka nodded, dropping her illusion for a moment before returning to being a human child again.

The bus driver raised his eyebrow, intrigued by the transformation, but not impressed.

"That's pretty interesting, miss. But the rules are the rules. If she's using a seat, it's another 500, I'm sorry." He sounded sincere enough, but that didn't make it better for Cynthia. She clenched her jaw to keep from groaning in frustration.

Well, what was she supposed to do? Everyone else had already found their seats. She glanced down the aisle, seeing the Blake was sitting off by himself in the back. Because of course he was.

Cynthia sighed, and glanced at her Zorua. The little thing's blue eyes were shining with anticipation for a bus ride. They looked so much like Cynthia's own.

…Wait, WERE those her eyes? She couldn't be sure.

"Ruka…" She mumbled. "Can you, um… turn back please?"

She held up the Zorua's pokeball to explain what she wanted. Ruka's eyes bulged and she shook her head, crossing her arms with a "humph!" like a petulant child.

Cynthia groaned. She was only 16 years old. She was too young to be a single mother, damn it!

Then, her brain flashed to an image of her and Blake, running her grandparents' inn together. Blake as the strong and muscled host, and her as the mature and gorgeous hostess. Her hair was grown out long like her sister's, her boobs had started to come in, and she was raising a couple toddlers…

Oh yeah, that was the stuff.

Then her dream shifted. Blake was gone, and in his place was Serefina. They were doing that co-parenting thing, where they adopted a few kids, or maybe gotten a surrogate. Lord knew that Serefina's genes deserved to be passed on to the next generation. But the important part was Serefina had grown UP, and DAMN had she. That body was the reason the word "MILF" had been invented.

"Excuse me, miss? Are you getting on or not?"

The bus driver's impatient voice shook Cynthia out of her delusion. Crap. She'd been drooling, how embarrassing. She turned red and shoved a few coins into the man's hand, taking Ruka by the wrist and dragging her down the aisle.

So it was twice as much as it should have been. It was Ruka's first bus trip, she could afford to splurge a little.

…

That being said, Ruka would have to learn to get in her pokeball pretty damn quick, because she was NOT buying her a plane ticket. That was a whole different level of scale.

In the end, Cynthia took Ruka to the back of the bus, sitting down across the aisle from Blake. She wanted to be close to him, so she could see how he was doing, at least, even if he didn't want to talk to her. Factoring that in, she let her Zorua sit beside the window, because of course she did. This would be the first time Ruka was leaving the Mt. Chimney area, and she deserved to see as much of the world as she could.

Cynthia took the aisle, all the better to observe Blake and be ready to talk to him if he wanted to talk. It's not like she didn't understand how awkward this whole mess was.

On another note, being in the back meant Cynthia got to keep a close eye on everyone else. And while people like Reiner and Will were completely pointless to watch, and Caelia was practically as still as a statue as usual…

…

Cynthia pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed.

Sango was looking back at them. And she wasn't subtle about it. Ever ten minutes or so she would turn her head and glance at Blake. She was trying very hard to make it seem like she was casually stretching, but come on. Nobody had that many kinks in their neck. She was blatantly checking out Blake. Probably out of concern given his recent attitude, but then, Cynthia was pretty sure that her crush had a little something to do with it too.

Honestly, she was amazed that Sango had been able to keep a secret from her all this time. Now that she knew the truth, seeing the way Sango was acting it really should have been obvious a long time ago. Cynthia made a note to be more attentive to her friends in the future.

The rest of the bus trip continued in relative silence, with Cynthia taking the opportunity to catch up on her sleep. She'd been having trouble get a good night's rest since the incident with Sango's confession, and frankly, getting her body's internal clock messed up could actually be a good thing, considering she'd be hit with jet lag when they got back.

The real awkwardness was when they got on the plane.

Unlike the bus, the plane was completely packed full. She wouldn't have been able to buy an extra ticket for Ruka if she'd wanted to. Thankfully, Sango had managed to convince the Zorua to return to her pokeball (Cynthia really needed to ask her friend to teach her sign language at some point so they could communicate) so that wasn't an issue.

No, the problem was the seating itself.

Now normally, Cynthia didn't mind getting the middle seat. There are a lot of horror stories people tell you about flying, like sitting next to babies or the dreaded "child kicking the back of your seat when you're trying to relax". Not to mention people who are so overweight they make things inconvenient for the people sitting around them.

When it came to Cynthia though, because of her petite proportions, the middle seat wasn't as uncomfortable as it would have been for someone like Julia or Sango. She didn't take up much room after all.

Unfortunately, this middle seat happened to be located between Blake and Sango.

It was the most uncomfortable plane flight of Cynthia's life. She sat there, stone as a statue, while Sango tried to make small talk with Blake.

Cynthia blamed Silver. If Sango hadn't put her Castform in a pokemon traveling case and he was here instead, maybe he would have done something to discourage this behavior from his partner!

…Yeah, that was dumb. But Cynthia was running on little sleep and a lot of frustration.

Even worse, Blake's attitude towards the whole thing. It was clear that the boy wasn't interested. Not only did he look like he hadn't gotten a wink of sleep last night, but his thoughts were elsewhere. Before this, he'd been staring out the window the whole time. Now, with Sango talking to him, he at least turned to look at her and wore a smile, but Cynthia had known him a long time.

She could tell when something was up.

And could anybody really blame him? Here he was, trying to make small talk with a girl who he knew for a fact had feelings for him, feelings that he didn't reciprocate. It was awful. Like some sort of devious torture. Cynthia was amazed he could hold up so well.

Sango seemed to be picking up on that too. She could tell something was wrong. Unfortunately, she was the kind of girl who would try to make you feel better if something was wrong. And because she had no idea that she was the cause of all this awkwardness, it never occurred to her that maybe the right thing to do would be to keep her mouth shut.

Oh god. Is this what Maddi goes through? Cynthia realized that she was in the exact same situation as her friend. Sango was her, trying to be social. Blake was Maddi, absolutely not interested. And Cynthia was Sango, trapped in the middle.

How ironic.

Because the tension was only rising and Cynthia was liable to die of awkwardness if this kept going any longer, she did something that she knew she probably shouldn't do, but couldn't help herself from doing anyway.

She lobbed a grenade into the conversation.

"So Blake! Are you excited to get back home?" Cynthia asked. Blake flinched in his seat, startled that Cynthia had suddenly spoken up. Sango stared at her in confusion.

Cynthia glanced at Sango briefly, trying to convey how sorry she was with a momentary look. It hurt her to do this, but she really needed to end this conversation before she was swallowed up.

"I bet you're looking forward to seeing a certain Ayame Toujou, eh?" She joked, elbowing Blake in the ribs playfully. "Well, I'm afraid you'll have to wait a little longer, they won't be back for a while yet, sorry! You'll have to make do with the two of us for now!"

Yeah. It was cruel. Seeing the way Sango's expression flickered with a betrayed sting of pain for an instant tore Cynthia's heart out. But it was clear that this conversation was only making Blake (and her) uncomfortable, and bringing up Blake's girlfriend was the quickest way to stop it.

If only she knew

"That's…" A shadow passed over Blake's face and Cynthia froze in her chair. She didn't know what had just happened, but she knew something was wrong. That wasn't an expression she was used to seeing from him.

"Blake? Are you okay?" Sango asked, picking up on the same uneasiness as Cynthia.

"It-It's nothing," Blake said, shaking his head. "Don't worry about it."

Oh, yeah fucking right. Blake didn't get to brood all morning, then make a face like that and tell his best friends "don't worry about it".

"Come on, Blake, it's us. You can tell us!" Cynthia urged him. Both girls stared at him with concern in their eyes, and he winced.

How the hell was he supposed to tell these two what Alcea had told him?

But then… he couldn't keep it secret, either. It would come out either way.

So better to come from him, he figured.

"It's about Aya. Something happened in the Orre Region," Blake mumbled.

Both girls immediately tensed up.

"Is… Is she alright?" Sango whispered, her eyes wide with worry.

"What happened?" Cynthia was more interested in figuring out what was going on. Mainly because the girl lived in a state of denial. Ayame was okay, because of course she was okay. Cynthia had no intention of living in a world where she wasn't okay.

"I-I don't know the specifics," Blake shook his head. "But Alcea called me last night and told me the important parts. There was an accident… or something like that… and Aya got injured. It was a head wound or something. The school had to end the trip, and everyone came home early. They're back at the Pokemon Academy right now."

Uh-oh. That sounded really bad. No, no, no! Cynthia didn't want to hear this! This was awful! She felt like the worst woman in the world.

Why couldn't she just keep her damn mouth shut and learn to live with awkwardness?! Why did she have to pry like this?!

Sango was all business now. The earlier worry had checked out early, and mature concern had shown up to fill in for the day.

"Tell me what's wrong," she said insistently, in her "I'm-Sango-and-I'm-a-Pokemon-Ranger-so-you-better-tell-me-what's-going-on-right-now-mister" voice.

"Aya, she…" Blake's voice cracked. For a second, Cynthia thought he was going to cry. But he was strong. He didn't give in like that. He whispered out the last words.

"She has memory loss. 'Acute Retrograde Amnesia' is what Alcea said."

"Amnesia?!" Cynthia sputtered in disbelief. It was like something out of a manga. "What do you mean? Are you saying she doesn't remember anything?"

"That's ridiculous," Sango shook her head, but it was clear that she was trying to convince herself more than Blake.

Blake sighed, and turned to stare out the window. It was cruel. Telling them that, and then not explaining it any further.

Sango and Cynthia shared a glance. Neither called him out on it. They both understood just how much he had to be hurting.

Because if it had happened to Blake, they would feel as awful as he must be feeling right now.

Finally, Blake turned to the two of them. His eyes were wet, but he hadn't burst into tears just yet. His lip trembled and he explained.

"She… forgot about me."

Those words hung over the cabin like an executioner's blade.

It took both girls a second to process.

"…'Forgot'. What do you mean 'forgot'?" Cynthia demanded. "How can she just… forget you? No, that doesn't make any sense."

"Cynthia's right," Sango nodded. "Explain it! Because that would mean she forgot us, too! So what, she just lost the whole last year or something?!"

Their voices were raising, none of them had any concern for the people sitting around them. This was way too important to think about keeping quiet.

Blake quickly shook his head. "N-No, as far as Alcea knows, she still remembers this past year. She remembers everything. Everything except me."

The two girls stared at Blake, their mouths wide open. Neither one had any idea what to say in this situation.

"Everything we did together, all the things we shared… she remembers it all," Blake continued, his voice distant. "It's just me she doesn't remember."

And that was that. He turned back to the window, lost in thought. Cynthia saw him reach into his pocket, and her eye caught a glimpse of light blue.

The ribbon…

He was stroking it, thinking about her even now.

Sango and Cynthia shared another look. They both understood that there wasn't anything they could say in a situation like this. Neither one would be able to help Blake in his current condition.

So the only thing they could do was sit beside him in silence, being there for their friend and crush however they could be.

Well, the secret's out now. And honestly I think Blake's taking it rather well! He hasn't burst into tears, at least, so that's a plus! But how will the others react to this information? What will Sango and Cynthia do about it? How is this going to affect Blake and Sango's relationship, now that he knows her feelings and things with Ayame are complicated? I guess we'll have to find out!