Dedicated to: Every romantic who won't read a fanfiction unless the word "shipper" is involved. Blah to you.
Notes: If you don't know who Lanette is (or can't remember who she is), she's the Ruby/Sapphire version of Bill. She's not me, and I'm not channeling my every desire through her, unlike some romance writers out there.

From the first time I met him, I knew there was something different about him. He possessed an air that wasn't like the sort of thing you'd feel around Professor Oak or Elm or even the most laid-back among us, Birch and Ivy. He always stood a little too straight or made his movements a little too exaggerated. At first, I thought it was just because he was stuck up, being born and raised in wealth and higher society.

That is, until he asked me to come with him on a walk. Reluctantly, I obliged, though I was afraid that someone would wonder where we went to by ourselves. People tend to start rumors when they see a young man and woman on their own. Not only that, but also, for security reasons, those attending the Symposium Conference were told to remain within a block of our hotel.

I grew uneasy when we left that block.

I grew even more nervous when we left Celadon altogether.

It wasn't until the city was obscured by trees when I finally cleared my throat. He stopped, looking into the open field along the road. He stuffed his hands into his pockets and gazed at a wild Jigglypuff bouncing up and over patches of grass with mild interest. What he was really doing was waiting for me to speak.

"Professor McKenzie, don't you think we should be heading back?" I asked. "People will start to think that..."

My voice trailed off as I watched him wander into the tall grass not long after the Jigglypuff ceased to bounce. He threw a glance back at me, and automatically, I realized that I wasn't looking at the same person I knew. His smile was that of a child who was up to something. He took off his jacket slowly, revealing a slim body, much more relaxed than I had previously observed. His posture was no longer stiff, and his movements seemed to flow like water. He held his hand up, palm skyward and hovering over the edge of the grass.

"If you wish to go, I won't stop you," he told me. "If you would prefer to stay, call me 'Bill' and take my hand."

I stared at his outstretched hand for a long while. At the moment, thoughts of the devil ran through my mind. I couldn't help but think of my years in Catholic school, with all of the nuns and teachers lacing lessons of spelling and grammar with words of why all people should follow God and vehemently reject Satan.

Noticing my long pause, he added, "Though I love my career, I realized a long time ago that if you don't stop to enjoy life -- truly enjoy it once in awhile, then you might as well be dead."

I looked into his dark eyes and saw nothing. Yet his intense gaze seemed to hypnotize me. For reasons I couldn't explain, I slowly reached up to touch the soft skin of his palm. I whispered his name, that one syllable that seemed so strange in my ears, as if it would have been sacrilegious to say it at all. He smiled (Not the least bit reassuring.) and took my hand.

This time, I screamed his name as he forced me to run through the fields. We passed groups of wild Rattata on the move. We disturbed napping Persians who not long after reached up and tore the hem of my skirt with their relentless claws. We saw the world not as researchers but as wild children. I wondered if Bill saw this world all the time.

Suddenly, he began to laugh. I thought it was odd, but after awhile, I couldn't help but join him. Raucous laughter filled the field. Our throats produced untamed sounds rising from the wilderness, matching the Growlithe howls in the distance note for note.

As the sky burst into shades of red and orange, we tumbled into the dry, autumn grass out of exhaustion. Bill wrapped me in his jacket, then positioned himself so that he was lying on his back. We remained like that, side by side, chests heaving for breath, minds blown with exhilaration.

At this point, I noticed that my shoes were missing. My clothes were torn and dirty, and my hair was far from in place. Bill wasn't in any better condition. His shirt was partially open, his ascot was ripped off (by his own hand, no less), and he wore a strange smile on his wearied face. If people found us at that point, they would certainly start to wonder.

Somehow, though, I didn't care. I enjoyed being with him. I couldn't explain why. I knew that there was a warm feeling growing in my breast, and I knew what it meant.

I squirmed a bit, covering his arm a bit so that I could place my head on his chest. I shuddered at the noise. His rhythmic heartbeat, his relaxing breathing... Both were something so foreign, yet familiar. It was a unifying characteristic of all living things. People, Pokémon... Living, breathing. We were all wild. Perhaps it was being reminded of that link that allowed him to pass so easily across the line. To be a person. To feel a Pokémon. He was both. We were both. Wild...

As my lungs settled down, I took a deep breath. It was an odd, animalistic thing, but I could smell him. I could smell the sweet, metallic scent of sweat on him. I could smell the salt, the remnants of soap, the faint scent of flowers and cologne. All of it seemed so human.

He seemed so human. Flawed. Sin. He was the echo of Adam, mixed with just a bit of Eve. Born in sin, raised in sin. I spent my life intermixing science and theology. I knew what sin was. And the sort of blasphemy I knew he was bathed in and loved (for he had once before this told me that he was an atheist and happy to be one) both unnerved me and thrilled me.

I wished I could have his lifestyle. His freedom. His disregard for his social standing and duties to the Church. That's one of the reasons why I tried to be like him, researching the same thing, acting prim and proper, doing all of this while keeping part of me devoted to something bigger. (In my case, it was God. In his, I don't know.)

The other reason, though. What was it? I knew that I had another reason why I admired him. And at that point, it was because...

I wanted to be his Eve.

Never had I thought that someone could be so wild and carefree. Never had I known that someone could cross the line and live the unrestricted life that the Pokémon took advantage of. Never had I realized that someone could so easily pass back into place and become a conservative mockery of every other researcher before us. It excited me. It revived strange desires in me. It made me want to be with him. To be his Eve in the Garden of Eden. To taste the piece of the irresistible, forbidden fruit he still held on his tongue.

I closed my eyes and shivered. A thousand ideas popped into mind. The only thing they had in common was that they involved the idea of me taking him, right there, right then. Submit to human urges. Show him what I wanted.

Gingerly, I sat up and placed a hand on his chest, feeling his pale, tender skin. I looked into his face. His hands were behind his head, and his eyes were closed, but he wasn't sleeping. I knew he was simply thinking. Was he thinking what I was thinking? Did he cherish what he thought was a pure soul? Was that smile for the thrill of having a female rival, a match in mind only? Or was he in the mindset of another wild Pokémon, wanting the body and blood of a simple girl?

"Bill?" I finally muttered. "Could I ask you if you would--"

He opened one eye.

"If the ending of that sentence is what I think it will be," he responded, "then I'll have you know that I'm a virgin and that I'm astounded that a girl like you would think something like that."

Was he psychic?

I could feel my face grow hot in embarrassment. He opened both of his eyes, propped himself up on his elbows, and gave me a pseudo-innocent smile in what seemed like one action.

"It's not that!" I insisted. "I... I was just wondering..." My mind raced to come up with something else. "Why did you invite me here? Professor Oak brought that nice watcher with him. Why didn't you ask him?"

"Tracey won't go anywhere without Professor Oak," Bill replied with a small frown. "Besides, I wanted to return the favor."

He stretched back out on the ground as he kept his gaze on me. I drew my legs up underneath me so that I sat in a kneeling position. His jacket fell off my shoulders, landing in a pool of velvet and satin around me. I paid no notice as I continued to stare at him with a puzzled look.

"Return the... favor...?" I repeated, tilting my head slightly.

"This might sound conceited, but you remind me of the way I used to be," Bill explained. "There was a time when all I could think about was researching using conventional methods. I restrained myself to only what is still thought as 'the dignified methods': observing Pokémon only at a distance. Somehow, that didn't seem like enough. I felt like I was wasting my time."

He stopped only to listen to a Houndour wail in the distance. Several more joined in with the unseen dog, creating a chorus of the night. It sounded much more beautiful from right in the middle of the field than it did on the tapes I listened to in my lab.

"Then, someone took me on the same 'walk' I just took you on," he continued. "That person showed me all the wilderness had to offer and told me that the only way you can experience it is if you're a part of it. That, my dear Lanette, is the only way to experience life. You can't simply stand by and observe it. You must be a part of it. It's the same with studying Pokémon."

"Hence your costumes," I said.

He nodded. "Precisely."

I looked away, just in time to see the black silhouette of a Murkrow take flight. I felt a sort of anger grow inside me. So he didn't feel the same way I did. A feeling of betrayal replaced the warm feeling in my heart. I didn't notice as he sat up and faced the Murkrow, positioning himself next to me.

"Of course, that's not the only reason why I invited you instead of Tracey," he added.

I turned my head sharply, giving him a furious look which was no doubt lost in the darkness of the night.

"What was the other reason?" I snapped.

All of a sudden, he leaned in and locked lips with me. He didn't touch me otherwise. I could tell he was afraid of doing so. But I did taste the tongue which supposedly held the forsaken fruit, and oh Heaven, did it taste sweet! An eruption of emotion occurred deep within my bosom. A warm, tingling sensation ran through every part of my body. We separated shortly before I wrapped my arms around him, pulling him closer. His arms curved around my waist, and we drew together once more, close in the moonlight and oblivious to the world around us.

Moments passed like this until he finally drew away, resting his forehead against mine. It was my first kiss and apparently his as well. We were both breathless and in awe of each other.

"I think that's a suitable answer," he murmured to me.

Yes, it was.