Roles
Lucas always was a bookworm; not even having Barry living next door in such a small town as Twinleaf could change that. Barry could, however, set his sights on the league and drag Lucas' brain to thoughts of adventure and exploration. Barry could also pester him to wait until his friend's birthday so they could start adventuring together, but that didn't take much convincing. He'd already planned on finishing the school year first, so waiting a few weeks more wasn't that big a deal in his eyes.
Taking on the badge circuit was naturally the default decision once they received their first pokémon. Turtwig was more curious than Chimchar, more content to take his time, but no less eager to test himself in battle. Lucas had the suspicion that the starter group did a lot of roughhousing with each other in the lab.
But then Professor Rowan had given him a pokédex, and that added a whole new dimension to his travels. The first thing he did right outside that lab in Sandgem was check Turtwig's registration and get Dawn to show him all the different options he had to take data. Books were, of course, one thing; but this was the fun part of science class all over again and this time he was actually doing something useful.
(-o-)
Dawn's father had been working for Professor Rowan even before she was born; she spent a lot of time in the lab because of it. When her dad wanted to introduce her to pokémon, that was where they went. When she started the journey preparation class, she'd fretted, unsure, but her dad always told her that even if she never went it was good knowledge to have either way. And then there were more trips to the lab, showing her the fieldwork gear and maps of Sinnoh and books about traveling.
Following Dad's footsteps and taking a volunteer position at the lab was a choice so obvious it was made without thought. Professor Rowan was scary at first, but he proved to be a good teacher. He'd shown her how the pokédex project worked as a citizen science program and demonstrated it by gifting her that same 'dex.
She'd been officially offered her first pokémon the day before that fateful trip to Lake Verity. She'd played with all of them of course, and ran after the mess they left behind in their more… enthusiastic sessions, but Piplup was the one who had taken to her, and the feeling was mutual. When she met the two boys who'd been entrusted with Turtwig and Chimchar after they'd been able to spend some time together, she was happy they'd been matched up so well.
(-o-)
Of course, as much as the pokédex project interested Lucas, there was no reason to not do both that and the league challenge at the same time. Even more so with the valuable experience the gyms provided; not only in battle but in learning to navigate and think critically to overcome whatever the leader put in their way. Oreburgh gym had been on the simplistic side in that regard, but battling Roark had been an… interesting experience. Starly and Shinx didn't do so well against rock types, but a lucky spark strike by the latter had left a paralyzed Cranidos wide open for Turtwig to bring the match home. The grass type had shouldered the bulk of the battle without complaint, and Starly – by then Staravia – got plenty of action at the Eterna gym.
Traveling around the region offered a lot of freedom. He could go pretty much wherever he wanted, whenever he wanted. But he kept himself to a schedule. It was easier that way in his eyes; always focused forward and feeling accomplished by the end of the day. Blocking out time just to work on the pokédex was a good way of relaxing, no matter what Barry would say about it.
Team Galactic was nowhere in his plans, but really, how could he not step in? It was unfortunate that Gardenia and Maylene couldn't legally do anything about the eyesores that were their buildings in their cities, but when they broke their cover, there was nothing stopping him from helping out Maylene and Looker; especially when a friend like Dawn was threatened by them. Seeing Lake Valor, and the results of the bomb… had only cemented that desire.
(-o-)
The Professor encouraged Dawn to take the league challenge, and it made a lot of sense. The stronger she and her team were, the further they could go, and the less they'd have to worry. Entering the Oreburgh gym for the first time had been nerve-wracking, but Piplup had been right there beside her, reassuring and encouraging and unintentionally making her feel guilty because wasn't she the one who was supposed to be the support and pillar? Piplup had taken the challenge solo and amazed her, but after seeing him into the Pokémon Center she resolved to build a true team so they were that much safer. That had come in the form of having Budew, Drifloon, and Kricketot by the time she reached Eterna City.
Still, wherever she went, it was always with a mission: to look for something, check a monitoring station, add to her pokédex. The gyms ended up being… freeing, in that regard; times when she was able to let go of whatever was next and focus on whatever was happening right then. It allowed for days when all she had scheduled was exploring the routes on the way to the next town.
Team Galactic was scary at first, and when she battled them and came out victorious she attributed it mostly to Lucas' assistance. But over time she felt a sense of confidence facing them down. They had to be stopped, and she learned she had the power to do it. Failing to stop Mars and save Mesprit was a setback marked by regret, but walking up to Spear Pillar, to face them down once more... she believed in her team.
(-o-)
He kept pursuing badges, Barry challenging him every step of the way, but when Dawn showed off her badge case and smiled about it – not acting evasive and cagey like she did about her 'dex – he realized that she was truly enjoying it far beyond his own sense of accomplishment. Even if, so far as he could tell, she didn't seem to realize the difference. She glossed over her projects with Professor Rowan unless he asked about him – which he did, because they were really interesting – to talk about her travels and her team. Not that they didn't deserve it of course. Empoleon, Roserade, Gardevoir and the others had earned every bit of their accomplishments, just like Torterra and the rest of his own team.
When he took the championship against all odds he'd been excited at first. Who wouldn't be? But after a few days he found himself back in Sandgem, talking with Professor Rowan about evolution and other regions and everything else they were doing at the time. Thank goodness Cynthia had followed in the footsteps of Champions Lance and Steven and had separated the job before he'd ever set foot in the League building. It was still a job though, and as fascinating as he found the lab, the pokédex would have to be his niche.
The Battle Frontier provided his next step. Surprisingly, Dawn had beaten him to it, and gave him some serious food for thought on how to balance helping Professor Rowan with his other duties. When he got around to checking the record screens displayed in the Battle Tower, he found she was doing quite well. He just smiled to himself when he saw it, and encouraged her to take on the League soon. If he ever lost the championship to her… he found he'd be okay with that.
(-o-)
Dawn could see every time they met that Lucas had really taken to the pokédex project. That was definitely a good thing because she… well… hadn't. It wasn't that she avoided it or anything, she just… forgot. And of course she checked in on whatever Professor Rowan asked of her, but she found herself looking forward to getting back on the road. More than once she wondered whether Lucas was better suited for her position, because he always seemed interested in what she was doing for the lab whenever the subject came up. It made sense – Lucas was really good at finding rare pokémon like his gabite and houndoom. She had Riolu and Froslass herself but it wasn't the same.
Before she knew it she found herself with eight badges shining in her case, sitting at the top of Vista Lighthouse looking towards the League. Riolu was at her side, occasionally standing in Dawn's lap to see just what had his trainer so interested. It wasn't entirely unheard of to win with a non-fully-evolved team. Red had proven it could be done, and Lucas had proven that taking the Championship at all could be done here in Sinnoh (a fact that she'd sincerely congratulated him for). But she wasn't Lucas, much less Red.
She found herself at the Battle Frontier instead. Meeting up with Lucas again was a welcome surprise, and she told him all about the desert near the Survival Area, the only place like it in Sinnoh and definitely somewhere she knew Professor Rowan would be interested in. When he'd encouraged her to take on the League she reciprocated with asking Rowan about an official position. He'd be better than she ever was, but she was fine with that.
Author's Notes:
Experimenting with some parallelism. This headcanon has been floating around in my head for quite some time, where, had their roles been determined solely by their aptitudes and not the circumstances of their childhood, Lucas would have been Professor Rowan's assistant and Dawn would have become Champion. But although it ended up not completely fitting the requirements, the fic itself was inspired by the Writers Anonymous Role Reversal Challenge.