October, 2001

"Be kind,

For everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle."

-Ian Maclaren

Sylvia's POV:

Classes started about a month ago, and it's pretty easy so far. Though it's probably because we're still trying to get into the flow. It's only to get harder from here. My courses are actually interesting to be in, for once, mostly because I actually got to pick what I wanted to major in thanks to my college credits.

I was probably going to become a Leafeon since I lived in the forest, which I would've been okay with, but somehow this evolution got to me first. I was always curious about where I lived and did like nature (which I'm sure is a common preference for all forest dwellers), so I took a class on biology. It's cool because we get to experiment on plants and stuff.

During our free time, my friends and I went off into the city to explore. We found this karaoke club during our first few days here and it immediately became a favorite place for us to go. We don't actually go up on the little stage there and sing. I mean, we do, but not a lot since we don't have a lot of confidence in ourselves. We like to talk with the regulars and other 'mons there, because you know, socializing is awesome. Some 'mons even gave me advice on way to advance or start up relationships when I brought it up, they sounded legitimate and foolproof, but I had a gut feeling they wouldn't work on my type of guy.

We also liked to check out stores and look at the beautiful stuff they had. There was this adorable ribbon shop somewhere that I would definitely go back to if I had money. Which we didn't have currently since we don't need currency since you can get all you need from the land (unless you were spoiled with dolls and toys when you were young, I know I was). My parents might have some lying around though, since my dad was from a city. At least when I'm with my friends, I won't be going around making my travels buddies angry like I kinda did with Rook and Kori.

Speaking of Rook, I should probably ask him if he's friends with Kori. Then I can ask him what Kori likes and dislikes, stuff like that. I did just that when I got back to the apartment buildings and knocked on his door. The Bayleef answered the door with a beer can in one paw. Behind him was a Pikachu passed out on the couch, with an empty can on his belly. I assumed that he must his roommate.

"Ooooh-Oh… oh. Oh hey Sylvia! What brings a cute girl around here?" He greeted with a drunken tone, he was kinda swaying back and forth, and his breath was kinda… bad. Real bad. I tried my hardest not to grimace. "Wanna *Hic* come in?"

"Umm… is this a bad time?"

"Wha-? No, not a-" He burped loudly and almost lost his balance. "Oh-Okay… maybe."

"Okay well, I guess I'll see you later then?"

"Oh-Oh okay, see you around." Then he slammed the door shut.

Well, that escalated pretty quickly. I guess I'll have to wait another time when Rook isn't drunk.

I knocked on his door again the next afternoon. Rook thankfully answered the door sober, but he did seem to have a headache from the hangover. His roommate wasn't there also, so he must still have classes.

"Yeah? Oh hey." The sober Bayleef answered.

"Hey Rook. Can I ask you something?"

"Sure sure, what is it?"

"You're Kori's friend, right?"

He tried to hide a grin, and leaned against the doorframe nonchalantly, "Of course. Shortstop and I go way, way back."

I gave him a smirk, "Oh yeah? how far back?"

"Probably when we just little fetus' floating around in the wombs of our mothers." He answered casually.

Maybe a little too personal, but okay.

"Really?"

"I'm serious. We're childhood friends."

I made a mental note of that.

"Oh okay. So, you must know what he likes, right?"

He shifted his eyes around. "Well… sure. He likes books, as well as watching TV, I can tell you that much. They're like the only two things he does honestly, other than studying. Oh yeah, shortstop's big on that too. You know, academics."

"Anything else?"

"Unless you also wanted to know that you're mostly going to find him face down on a mattress, not really. He's a simple guy... if you're in to that sort of thing."

What?

"Oh no, it's not like that. I just thought it'd be good to know for you uhh... you know, reasons."

"Whatever you say, milady." He grinned, "Is that all?"

"Well uhh… do you know anything else about him?"

He shook his head, "No sirree! But if you really want to know more, then you're probably better off interviewing shortstop himself."

"Why do you keep calling him 'Shortstop'?"

He laughed. "He was a late bloomer."

Trying to get information from Rook is like trying to squeeze water out of a rock. Sure, he probably knows how I feel about Kori, but would it kill him to help me move things along? The only thing I can do is go see him myself, I went up using the stairs instead of the elevator to the next floor and to the end of the hall, where Rook (hopefully) said where his dorms are. Which must be really convenient for him, because the very last room in each floor is a single-dorm for one 'mon. It's something I just found out after overhearing it in one of my lectures among students last week.

I knocked on the door and waited for a response. I heard the bedsprings of a mattress go off, followed by footsteps. A Glaceon rubbing the sleep out of his eyes answered the door, but how wide his eyes became when he saw me made that unnecessary.

"Oh hey uhh… uhh… Sylvia?"

"Hey Kori! How's it going?"

"Umm… good."

"It's a nice do out, wanna come with me to walk around the city? It'll be fun! Trust me!"

"But-"

"It's a little chilly out today, so there's no need to worry about sweating." I smiled,

"Erm, sure, okay."

Once we were out on the sidewalks, I wasn't really sure what to do or say from there. I didn't really think that far enough. I mostly got as far was exchanging small talk about our recent experiences in classes. I learned that Kori decided to take the mandatory classes first, like stuff relating to english, math, that kind of stuff. He said he choose to do them first to get them over with, and give him time to think about his electives.

I kinda wish my little brother was here to lighten the mood again. He can turn any bore-fest upside down. It's kinda embarrassing once I realized how I needed him for my relationship troubles, but it's the truth. I can't be the only one who finds it cliché that your crush takes a liking to your younger siblings more than you. Speaking of my little brother, I wonder how he's been doing. I think my parents are going to visit for Thanksgiving next month, so that'll be something to look forward to.

Oh, what am I doing? I'm hanging out with Kori right now. I should be thinking of ways to break the ice.

"Hey Kori, look at-" I turned my head to see that Kori wasn't beside me, "Umm… Kori?"

I looked behind me to see him standing over a two-story building. He was gawking at the sign above the red double-doors. I walked over to him to get a better look at it. Honorhall Orphanage was what it read.

"Hey, what'cha looking at?" I nudged the Glaceon to knock him out of his blank stare "Umm, you wanna come in or something?"

"Wh-What? No. It's fine."

"What do you mean? You seem pretty interested."

"I said it's fine." He said, with a little agitation, he started walking again. "Let's… let's just go."

Kori's POV:

I went right back to my dorm after that walk with Sylvia. I never should have went with her.

I want to go back to bed, but I can't because the thought of that... place, feels like it's eating me from the inside out. I opened one of the drawers and popped the last pill I had brought from my den. Soon I'll need to find a pharmacy around Tromble to get more. And I have a feeling Rook isn't going to do it for me anymore.

I tried study for some upcoming quizzes to try to get my mind off it, I switched to lying on the couch for a while when all the facts were passing straight through my head. I was in a fetal position on the couch, thinking it might help as well. If this keeps up, I swear I'm going to start seeing things. I tried watching TV after, but it was hard to hear what was going on in because there was some loud and obnoxious noise coming from the room next to me.

It was only a few minutes later when I realized I was crying.

November, 2001

"Trot with me through the Autumn leaves,

and keep close to stay warm.

Soon you'll see how much you mean to me,

feelings I've never felt before...~ ,"

-JackleApp, Youtube Channel

Sylvia's POV:

My parents and Nathan ended up visiting me near the end of November for Thanksgiving. It's nice to spend time with family and all, but I think it would romantic to spend some of it with someone else I had in mind.

My mom complimented how tidy I kept the dorm (even though Kinzy is responsible for that, she's a cleaning maniac). The Vaporeon and I were preparing dinner while Dad and Nate were watching a football game on the couch. Nate would mimic the shouts coming out of Dad as they watched, except with a higher pitched voice. Sure, it's a little sexist, but Mom says it's family tradition.

After we said our prayers, ate our meal, stuff like that, Mom started to ask me how college was. I told her about the same thing I said to Kori during that walk (or date) we had. During my explanation, I accidentally slipped the word "Kori" out through my tongue, which made her go absolutely crazy.

"Kori?" Mom raised a brow. "Isn't that the name of the boy who you've been going on and on about?"

"Umm…"

"Oh my gosh! You've grown up so much! Is he here to? You two are dating right? Little Nate said you were during the summer. How has it been going between you and him?"

"I'm not little anymore!" Nate shouted from the couch.

"Mom, we're not boyfriend-girlfriend and all that. Nate just doesn't understand that stuff yet."

"Yes I do!" The Eevee interrupted again.

"But he said he saw you two together in the forest. Surely that must mean something, dear."

"We were just… you know, hanging out."

"Did you kiss?"

Great, now that image is going to be stuck in my head for a while now.

Blood rose to my cheeks. "No! I don't wanna talk about it!"

"Alright then." Dad came up from behind me. "How's school? Doing well?"

"I just told Mom, but yeah, it's easy so far."

The Jolteon punched my shoulder, a little harder than necessary admittedly. "Atta' girl. Here, some money that's been lying around back home." He tossed me a small pouch. "Use it to buy, you know, whatever trendy things that's been popping up lately. You want more, then get a job."

"Thanks Dad."

"No prob." He looked the window, towards the night sky, "Welp, I think it's time to leave before it gets any later. Time to go. We'll come back during Christmas alright?"

"Alright."

The goodbyes were unusually long, since Mom and Dad were giving me warnings before they walked out. Things like "Don't go messin' around with and strangers!" and "Never go into the city alone okay? Always go with your friends." Which are pretty obvious, anyone with common sense would follow that instinctively. It's just how my parents are though, being overprotective and all that, especially when I was young, maybe when I was a freshman too. It took forever to convince them enough to live in my own den.

All my friends were out with their families as well and weren't back yet, so I really had nothing else to do. I wanted to talk to Lily about her new boyfriend she met after a fateful encounter when she went to that karaoke club with Isha. Which, just happened to be Rook's roommate, and his name is Spark. She said he's a nice and funny guy, I sure hope she's right; that wasn't the impression I got when I first saw him.

I went and did what I wanted to do in the first place, and went to room 0688. I found out that Rook must've had similar plans too, because I found him repeatedly knocking on the door.

"C'mon Kor', I ain't got all day." He said with an annoyed tone.

"Something wrong?" I asked, which got his attention.

"Oh hey Sylv', if you're looking for pillows-for-brains, right now is a bad time. He's either having some hardcore sleeping session, or just flat out ignoring us."

"Have you considered that he might not even be home?"

"Please. The most obvious thing about him is that he never steps foot outside his room on his own will."

Almost right on cue, a voice came from behind us.

"Uhh… what are you guys doing?"

We both turned our heads to see the Glaceon we were looking for. The Bayleef looked unamused. "And where the hell have you been?"

"Uhh, nowhere." He dismissed.

"We're you visiting family?" I asked,

"...Yeah, yeah I was." He nodded feverishly, his response got him a dirty look from Rook.

Then the grass-type padded over to him and mumbled something into his ear. I wasn't actively trying to eavesdrop, but did hear something about homework.

"Rook, do it yourself."

"Oh c'mon please? I forgot it and it's due tomorrow."

"Then stop getting high."

After that encounter, which also ruined any kind of chance to have a nice little walk in the night with Kori since there became a heated argument between him and Rook, I've been trying to see if he had any free time to hang out, but whenever I show up, he doesn't answer. Not in a resenting way, but he's just not there (I've pressed my ears against the door to try to hear anything on the other side, and I always hear absolutely nothing), it's like he's gone and disappeared. I hope the argument he had wasn't too bad. I had left when I started to feel out of place during it, maybe I missed something big after I left.

I asked my friends and even Rook if they had seen the missing ice-type, and they all came up short. What was odd was that Rook was confused by it. I asked him what went on during the argument a few days ago. He said he did end up getting answers to the assignment before shouting came into play. I was a little disappointed, because that was basically when I left. And I could've had some quality bonding time.

I decided to take measures into my own paws and shadowed Kori as he left the main university building the next day- where we registered. I had to follow from afar so he wouldn't notice. I ended up following him back to his dorm, which left me dumbfounded. Of course, once I suspect something's wrong, and I go and do something about it, everything turns out being okay.

I watched from the end of the hall to see if Kori would come out, which, according to Rook, would be very unlikely. Even though his claim was contradicted almost immediately, it did make sense, so I guess it was true. I only observed for a little while before I sighed and left. Little did I know that Rook's claim was going to be wronged once again.

Just as I was about to slide my keycard onto the doorknob to my apartment, I heard a door opening from upstairs. I assumed the obvious and dove into my dorm as quickly as possible. I waited for a few seconds before I opened my door and held it slightly ajar so it was wide enough gap for one eye to peek through.

I saw Kori (without his shoulder bag) walk into the elevator press a few buttons in the panel inside, and the elevator closed. I ran out and used the stairs to get back down to the lobby floor.

I walked out as casually as possible so I wouldn't look suspicious to the receptionist, Mr. Depo, though he probably would just make a witty comment and never make another thought of it. I started following Kori once again outside. I had a feeling that he was going to lead me somewhere that was going to be quite interesting.

The journey was becoming more and more odd as Kori started to head towards the city and taking twists and turns on the pedestrian walkways. Oooo, this is going to be something. I just knew something weird was going on in him. Just a few more blocks, and I'm going to find out. I will admit that this is kind of stalker-level stuff I'm doing right now, but it's not for naughty intentions. This is to satiate my curiosity.

After a while of shadowing, he finally entered a building, which looked vaguely familiar to me. Suddenly, everything just clicked together when I noticed that the building was two-stories tall, and it had red doors.