Thank you to everyone who reviewed that last chapter. There was some amazing critical feedback in there, and, as usual, I loved reading all of it. I'm actually trying to go back and make changes in the previous chapter to reflect the amends, and I'm also going to be answering some doubts and concerns as part of the story of this chapter. As usual, thank you guys for reading this stuff, and I'd appreciate it if you left a review!

Chapter 14: An Exercise in Civil Defense

Lucas' fear was worrisomely clear in his eyes as he pulled on Dawn's hand. "Dawn, it's serious. They're back."

Dawn said nothing as the panic began sweeping through her.

"Grunts, at the end of the city. Route 104. Rowan's down there. All hands on deck. Barry, Alyssa, you're coming too," he said as he rapidly turned to face the other two."

"Like you have to even ask," Barry nodded in agreement as grabbed a Pokeball from his satchel. Alyssa grabbed a Pokeball from her purse as well as the group prepared for an incoming battle.

"We have to get there as fast as possible," Dawn began with a very toughened, unempathetic look on her face. "Let' go." She began to race off to the elevators as she slung her bag around her shoulder with Lucas, Alyssa, and even Barry tailing quickly.

They reached the ground floor in under a minute, and all four dashed outside into the busy sidewalk at full speed. The sidewalk was full of lunchgoers and workmen on break. Lucas and Barry decided to take over, knowing the routes and the areas of the city by heart.

"Come on," they both firmly said, grabbing Dawn and Alyssa by the hand and pulling them into a parking lot for another massive skyscraper.

"Wait, where are we going. Professor Ro—"

"We can't walk through all that traffic. And we're certainly not waiting for sidewalk signals. This is faster, trust me," Lucas said through pants as he and the other three broke into a full sprint across the lot, earning more than a few honks from cars navigating around the inclines and rows full of various luxury vehicles. A minute later, they emerged at the other end of the parking lot's entrance, having cut through a few blocks of traffic and traveling quickly into walking traffic again. This time, Lucas and Barry cut through while Dawn and Alyssa followed closely behind them.

Nearly hitting a car as they charged through a two-way street, they reached a less crowded end of the city nearly five blocks of running later, panting, and looked to the path that opened to Route 204 ahead of them. "Lucas, I-I can't find—"

"There," Alyssa interrupted, pointing to four grunts surrounding a familiar old man how had a stern, bold countenance. They were still a hundred yards away and had to close the distance fast, and, once again, began sprinting. As they neared, they could see one of the grunts backhand the old professor across his right cheek. Dawn silently grimaced, her eyes reddening with tears, but she held her fury down and kept chasing. One of the grunts grabbed Rowan by the collar now, and his voice was finally audible to the oncoming trainers.

"I'm not going to ask you twice, Professor. Just give us the fucking research!"

"How specific," Rowan gruffly replied. The grunt dug his fist into the poor Professor's gut, and he keeled over in pain, letting out an angered growl.

"Don't play a tough guy, old man," the grunt thundered, pulling back his fist as he held the coughing professor by his collar again. "We know where your little assistant girl is, and if you don't cough out what you know about those Lake Pokemon, then perhaps she w—"

"Back OFF of him you brutes!" Dawn hollered as she threw Margaret's Pokeball in the grunts direction. The grunts slowly turned to face the trainers, who were now only a several yards away, as Lucas, Barry, and Alyssa released their Pokeballs as well. A Ponyta, Starly, and Shinx began running alongside their trainers (Alyssa, Lucas, and Barry respectively) as they closed the distance between themselves and their targets.

Taking notice of the approaching challengers, the grunt let go of the professor's collar, dropping him to the floor, and turned to face Dawn, Alyssa, Barry, and Lucas along with the rest of his team. Rowan got up and dusted himself off, and his formal confidence seemed a little shattered by Dawn's presence: he didn't want her there. "Dawn?" he said with an admonishing voice, "What are you doing here? You need to get out of here. I'll be fine," he finished as he looked to Lucas. "Keep her safe, boy. You need to leave before something serious happens to you."

"You 'eard ol' gramps," the lead grunt brashly stated, "Now piss off."

Dawn was finding it more and more difficult to hold herself back. "Professor, I'm not leaving with—"

"Lassie, fuck off. Unless you want your face to get pounded into the dirt next the professor's."

"Lucas, get her out of here," the Professor said with demanding, fiery tone.

"With all due respect, sir, we can—"

"I've fucking had enough!" the lead grunt yelled, throwing a Pokeball to the floor as a luxurious, gray feline pranced onto the concrete floor: a Glameow. "Oi, you three, make sure these scums don't get to the professor!"

"Yes, boss," the other three replied. All three released their three Pokeballs at the same time, and two Stunkys, a Glameow, and a glittering green Zubat flew out of the Pokeballs.

"Heh, I wonder how you bumbling idiots managed to catch a shiny Zubat," the Professor chuckled, but the lead grunt would have none of it. Without saying a word, he turned around and dug toe of his boot into the professor's heel, sending the old man staggering backward.

"You know what, Professor? I'm done talking," the grunt furiously said. He turned to the other three grunts, who gave a nod in return. "Alright, Professor, if you don't give us that research, these four Pokemon here will open fire into lovely little assistant here, and you can carry her mangled corpse home as a present for your lack of cooperation," he said with a smirk.

"That's against the rules of Pokemon combat: you're not allowed to attack the trainer," Barry blurted out matter-of-factly.

The grunt just rolled his eyes in response with a chuckle of wry amusement: "I don't think you've noticed, but, uh, we," he said, gesturing to himself and the other grunts, "are criminals. We don't follow the rules, remember?"

The grunt then stooped to talk into the shaking Professor's ear, "Hm… I hear your brother died this way, too. Isn't that right? Don't you wish you could have taken your choice back? You and I both know you can't, so let's meet in the middle, shall we? That way, you won't have to make the same mistake twice."

"Dammit, Lucas! I told you to get her out of— oof," he said, as he spat out a small trickle of blood after another grunt kicked him mid-sentence.

"I'M GONNA' KILL YOU!" Dawn screamed as she attempted to charge toward the grunts.

"Dawn, don't do it. It's exactly what they want you to do," Lucas said, trying to calm her down as he used his entire body weight to hold her back. But she seemed to not notice him as she writhed in his comforting hold, trying shred the grunts across from her until she finally settled a few seconds later.

"You wanna' shot at me sweetie?" a grunt mockingly asked. "What's it going to be Professor?"

"Alright, I'm done. You apologize to the Professor and his assistant here and leave with your tail between your legs, or I send my foot so far up your ass that your teeth will fall out. You follow?" Lucas butt in.

"Hm, a feisty one. Once our job here is complete, I'm going to have that Glameow there scratch you up all nice until you bleed to death," a grunt retorted.

"Lucas, I'm ordering you to leave this instant!" the professor yelled, now angrier than before.

"With all due respect, professor, we can handle these grunts," he said before turning to face the lead grunt, "Perhaps they haven't noticed yet, but I've beaten 4 of them to a pulp right here in Jubilife not more than 3 days ago. And with three more people helping me this time, I'll sure as hell do it again."

"Move forward an inch, and I will have these Pokemon blast her head off!" one of the grunts said, although he was now a bit more afraid after hearing Lucas' mention of the events that happened a few days earlier.

"Do it. I dare you," Dawn fiercely said.

"W-we'll do it. We're not kidding around!"

"Dawn, please…" the professor begged as tears began to form in his eyes. "I can't lose you, too."

Dawn glanced sadly at her uncle for a short moment before looking back at the grunts with increased fury and rage. There was a tense silence as the grunts planted on their rear foot, ready but somewhat watchful and observant before choosing to spring into a fight. Lucas, Dawn, Alyssa, and Barry, on the other hand, seemed ready to fire on the instant they needed to. Seconds passed like minutes as the tension built between the two parties: a clash was now inevitable.

"I'm going to give you one more chance to leave, or you'll end up like your buddies," Lucas warned.

"You think you're all tough because you took on the easiest people of our lot. Some of them didn't even have Pokemon to fight with. Wait till you get a load of some real power, and you can have a front seat while I humiliate you, your pal, that senile old professor, and your pretty lady friends right here and now," the lead grunt snarled.

A few more seconds crawled past until the order of attack rang from Lucas' side of the battlefield. "Margaret, use confusion on the Zubat!"

With that shout, the scene turned into visceral chaos with Pokemon and trainer lunged into the fight at full tilt, leaving nothing to mercy or hesitation. The Zubat, much to its grunts horror, fell to the ground almost immediately before weakly and dizzily fluttering and rising again, struggling to fight Margaret's concentrated power on her mind. Margaret began to give off a weak aura and began to close her eyes while she pressed her super effective attack deeper into the mind of her target, and her small Meditite's body began glowing with more power as she further concentrated.

To Dawn's right, Alyssa had decided to provide Dawn and sent Cecilia blazing toward the other final grunt's Stunky to hit it with a powerful hit from a Double Kick.

To her left, Lucas and Barry fought together as each tried to synchronize attacks from Galahad and Alexander to deal with the lead grunt's ferocious Glameow and his partner's Stunky. "Galahad, open up with a Wing Attack on the Glameow!" Lucas called out while Barry ordered Alexander to use Spark and defend Galahad from an oncoming Fury Swipes from the Stunky.

All at once, the Pokemon and their attacks condensed into an intense but small volume as attacks and Pokemon made rapid and concussive contact in the violent frenzy, much to Rowan's concealed but growing fear, but the battle was very clearly one-sided. Galahad dove out of the sky in his signature style, his wings glowing and pulsating with energy as his eyes narrowed to prevent the wind flow at his high speeds from destroying them. He cut across the Glameow with a whipping CRACK as he pulled out of the dive and leveled off at low attitude, only feet above the ground. Alexander charged into the heap, tackling the Stunky with jolting electricity that it charged up in its fur, while the latter dug a few hits of its energized claws with Fury Swipes. Both hit the ground in a sparking, furry ball, with quick slicing movements from the still fighting but heavily weakened Stunky.

On the other side, Cecilia raised its front hooves and landed both on the little Stunky, sending the Skunk Pokemon directly into its trainer and knocking the former out with a devastating THUD from the impact and super effective hit from the Double Kick. The Zubat next to Cecilia had finally succumbed to Margaret's focused Confusion attack, its thoughts in a mangled mess and the psychological disarray too much for it to maintain flight as it hit the ground without another flap of its wings. Both Grunts recalled their Pokemon with a look of fear, despair, and even anger in their eyes as they, along with Alyssa and Dawn, turned to face the other half of the battle.

"Cecilia! Take care of that Stunky!" Alyssa ordered.

"Margaret, use Calm Mind and then Confusion on the Glameow!" Dawn called out, pointing her finger to single out the target.

"You're an idiot. Glameow! Use Feint Attack!" the lead grunt laughed while Margaret charged up a rich, purple aura around herself, increasing her already strong concentration and power to higher levels. Glameow leaped off of her feet with the grace of a Ballerina, its front paws extended out into the sky while its tail and rear legs helped to aim its body upwards as it ensnared Galahad out of the sky, bringing him down like prey into the ground below with an explosive WHACK. The deceptive cat still held on to its prey, using Fury Swipes on its prey without a command from its owner, much to Lucas' anger.

Meanwhile, Alexander and the Stunky were tussling and writhing not far away, snarling and using tooth and claw as well as erroneous Sparks and Fury Swipes in their rage. "Finish it, Alexander. Send a Spark into his chest!" Barry excitedly thundered. The Shinx pinned and gripped the Stunky with its front claws, pulling a screech from the Stunky's throat before silencing it with a powerful Spark attack engaged directly into its chest. Having disabled its enemy, the little Shinx slid off and trotted back to Barry while the other grunt growled as he returned the Stunky.

Margaret had finished charging up with her Calm Mind, and Margaret now had an intense aura shimmering around her: her eyes even glowed as well with new power. Dawn knew that she had to fire the Confusion at the last remaining target, but the situation had changed too quickly. Galahad was now in the way as the Glameow held the bird firmly in the claws of its front paws, biting and nabbing at it while carefully avoiding the gripping talons of the powerful but small Starly. "Lucas, you need to get Galahad out of the way!" she called out, and Lucas nodded instantly, knowing what was coming with one glance at Margaret.

Before the lead grunt could even process or react to Margaret's captivating aura or what Dawn had just said to Lucas, Lucas recalled Galahad, leaving the Glameow's grasp suddenly empty, and sent out another Pokeball: "Prometheus, finish this!"

Dawn decided that now was the perfect time to switch her Pokemon as well: "Great job, Margaret. Hazel, you're up!" she said as she threw Hazel's Pokeball with one hand and returned Margaret with the other just after the Meditation Pokemon fired a powerful Confusion at Glameow, stunning and slowing the Pokemon.

"Alexander, Spark on Glameow!" Barry shouted while Prometheus, Hazel, and Cecilia patiently lined up directly across from the Glameow, like a menacing firing squad. Alexander hit squarely with his target, sending it sparking and rolling with momentum directly into the waiting line of fire of the fire-types. Like the raging broadside fire of a battleship, Prometheus, Hazel, and Cecilia delivered a crippling salvo of embers in rapid succession of the other, leaving the Glameow smoking and smoldering as it leaned over and collapsed.

The four trainers looked onto the lead grunt and his posse with happy resolve as they recalled their Pokemon, while one of the grunts tripped moving backward away from them. "I'm gonna kill you all. Wait till Commander Mars hears about this! She'll have you all fed to her Houndoom after she's boiled you in each other's blood! This isn't over y—ack!" he choked as Lucas ran forward and grabbed his collar.

"I could kill you. Right here. Right now. And nobody in the damn world would care or bother to stop me, except for her right there," he whispered menacingly into the Grunt's ear while he pointed to Dawn, "but that's not why I'm letting you go right now. I want you to," he paused as he thrust his right foot into the grunts kneecap, "go and tell your 'Commander Mars' and any other sorry bitch in your little tea-party that if I ever see them in my way or in the way of any of the other people here…" he paused again, "I will hunt, not just kill, each and every one of you. One by one. Step by step. You will watch pieces in your machine disappear until you have all understand that resistance is futile and you kneel before me, begging for the ax to finish what you started." The grunt' eyes widened with fear as Lucas continued talking, "Now, I can make the whole ordeal less painful for you if you tell me where this Commander Mars is," he coldly whispered as he dug his fingers into the back of the grunt's neck.

"F-floaroma. She's in Floaroma Town!" he squeaked out, panicking.

"Floaroma? What's she doing there?"

"I-I don't know. I don't have clearance! I swear I don't—ugh," he spat as Lucas slammed him into the ground midsentence.

"You're lying. Tell me, what is Commander Mars doing at—"

"Lucas, he's had enough!" Dawn cut in, slightly trembling. "Let him go," she weakly followed.

Rowan keenly watched like a hawk as Lucas relaxed his shoulders, stood straight, and looked the grunt dead in the eyes as he rose to his feet as well. Lucas shoved the grunt his with his right hand in the direction of Route 204. "Run. Run away to your Commander Mars, and tell her what I told you. And you best pray that she takes that to heart, or she'll be taking a bullet instead." The grunt shakily nodded before limping away, grimacing as he held his knee. "I'm not going to tell you three separately," he said to the remaining grunts, "Leave." All four grunts walked away slowly on Route 4 with two grunts supporting the limping grunt while Lucas watched them silently until they had finally become obscured by thicket cover.

A crippling silence washed over the group as all eyes were on Lucas who seemed not to notice, dusting off his coat and scarf before looking up and making direct eye contact with the professor. "Professor, I hope you're okay."

"If it's my injuries, they'll heal in due course, boy. If it is about what I have just borne witness to, no. I am most certainly not okay," he said, his eyes slowly closing. "Barry, and you, young lady," he still said with his eyes closed, "I hope it wouldn't inconvenience you to leave us three alone for a while."

"N-no, sir," Barry shakily said. He gave a silent farewell nod to Lucas as Alyssa simply looked at Dawn with sympathy and at Lucas with confusion before she too turned around with Barry and left.

Silence ensued between the remaining three with Lucas and Dawn both looking at the professor while he focused the entirety of his gaze on Lucas. Lucas cleared his throat and began to speak when a cold THWACK resounded across his right cheek, Rowan's hand turning his face left with brute force. Dawn gasped as she brought her hands to her face, "Professor please, you have to st—" She stopped as Rowan raised his hand to immediately silence her.

"Don't worry, Dawn. I-I deserved… that," Lucas weakly said as he regained his balance and rubbed his cheekbone.

"That and much more. I warned you. I told you to leave. You directly disobeyed my orders and demonstrated insolence during a critical moment, nearly resulting in her death!"

"Sir, I mean no disrespect, but we took care of the situation. The grunts are gone, and everyone, including you, I'd like to point out, is safe. We suffered no losses and the threat retreated, so yes, there is a clear fault in me for disobeying you, but there is no fault in anything else I did."

"You fail to comprehend the fact that the one fault you had is the largest and most dangerous one you possess. You worry so much about me and what would have become of me had you not arrived. I would have resisted. I would have struggled, and, if necessary, I was prepared to give my life. There was nothing they could have taken from me that I was not already willing to give up to keep her alive. But you, of course, have no coherent thought process whatsoever on this matter, and you nearly had her killed for a meaningless, futile, success, and even that success, you were most uncivilized and exacting in your methods."

"Sir, we saw you from the top of the Poketch Tower. Sooner or later, she would have seen you and interfered, with our without me. As for my methods, I do not treat threats with respect because to do so would be as futile as it is civilized."

"Forget about how you dealt with them!" the Professor furiously said, "When you gave me your word that you would protect her, I trusted you, boy. I trusted you. I trusted that even if she chose to run off and pick fights with grunts to save me, you would have the moral compass to not only prevent her from getting involved but also to safely escort her away when I ordered you to. If a lucky hit from the Pokemon struck her, what would you do, Lucas?" Silence resumed as Lucas hung his head. "Then I've proven my point. I ruined her life once before, in the same situation, an I made a mistake that cost my brother's life and the happiness in poor Dawn's. I promised Aaron I'd take care of her, and I raised her since. And now, I worry that my promise may have been futile and that I may become the vexed source of her suffering once more when you pitted her against those… grunts."

"He did the right thing," Dawn said softly. The professor looked to her direction immediately. "He did the right thing," she said, loudly this time. "I-if Lucas and I don't stop these grunts when they're terrorizing people, then what kind of people are we? How are we different from them?"

"At least you'd be alive if you did what I told you to!"

"If he did what you told him too, I'd rather be dead anyway."

"Dawn, I—you've been on this journey not for two weeks now, and you're already standing up to criminals. I'm wise enough to tell you that you will run into them again, but this time you'll be facing somebody higher in their ranks; they've surely noted you two, and perhaps Barry and that other girl, as consistent threats on their radar. There's no limit to what they'll do to remove you from their way," he paused as he sighed before speaking again, "I let you on this journey because I remember Aaron and Juliette telling me years ago how much you loved contests, how much you loved Pokemon. And when you came to Sinnoh, I saw that same ambitious and potent girl in you: I knew it would be most unethical of me to obstruct you in achieving your dreams, but it would just as unethical of me to let you battle these tyrants knowing full well that it could mean your end. I just cannot trust that you'll make it out alive with him."

"I think I'm the safest when I'm with him. If it wasn't for him, maybe I really would be dead."

The professor looked at Lucas almost menacingly. "It seems as though the two of you have made up your minds. I cannot force you to comply with the choices I want you to make, but I can tell you that if anything happens to her," he said narrowing his focus on Lucas, "you will be liable. And though I may be a man of science and discipline, on the most personal matter I pursue ideals with frontier justice, boy." Lucas nodded affirmatively. "That isn't to say not I'm impressed by what you've done. Despite your blatantly disobedient actions, I must agree with you that they were rational to an extent. You defended me, her, and your ideals with prowess and strength given to you by your Pokemon. Your Pokemon have grown inclined and strong with you in a fashion that I, in my many years of evolutionary and behavioral research, have never witnessed. But I want you to remember that everyone has their capacity. There will come a day when you will be defeated in battle, and neither the strength nor prowess you and your Pokemon have accrued can save you then: invincibility is a myth. I can only tell you that when such a day comes, I pray that it's against a regular trainer and not those Galactic thugs."

"Yes, sir," Lucas nodded.

"I trust, although reluctantly, that you will take care of yourselves, then. I'll be making my way back to the lab and nurse these wounds."

"Would you like us to escort you there?"

"No thank you, boy. There isn't much hindrance from the damage, mere inconveniences are all," the professor matter-of-factly said as he felt the blood on his face. "I should be able to navigate back on my own. I would, frankly, more about your path forward. I pray you will tread with caution," the professor forebodingly said as he turned and walked back to the direction of Sandgem Town.

"Lucas, I'm sorry about… that. About everything that just happened," Dawn said after Rowan had passed behind a building corner,

"Why are you apologizing? You did nothing wrong and neither did he."

"But he… he—"

"Hit me?" Lucas said with a painful smile as he brought his hand to his cheek, "As I said, I definitely deserved that. He was looking out for you, and he thought I was just as much danger as those Galactic guys because I kept leading you into their line of fire. Besides, he said we should focus on what's ahead of us, and I think we should look at that instead, and put this behind us for now."

"Should we file a report to the cops about these Galactic people?" Dawn cautiously said, hoping to change the subject to something less personal.

"No. They won't do anything anyways, and now we have a gym leader's word to back that up."

"But… what if Professor Rowan was right. What if we can't help but run into these people again and again?"

"It's not a question of if but when. We will run into these guys again. That grunt will limp back to his commander, and if she's wise, she won't do anything stupid, but I have a feeling that won't be the case. When we do run into them, we're going to have to just kick their asses to the curb."

"Lucas," Dawn sighed with a hint of relief, "how do you keep doing this?"

"Doing what?"

"I mean, we keep running into these Team Galactic people, but every time you seem totally unshaken by them. You put up with it like it isn't weighing down on you."

"Right now, it isn't weighing down on me. We're not at war, yet. So I'm not taking this to heart so much as I am preparing for the next punch. But don't worry about it: I'm going to make sure you're nowhere near the fire."

"I'm not taking a back-seat through all of this, Lucas. If you're going to stand against them, so am I. We agreed to go through our gyms and contests together, and I say we agree to fight Team Galactic together, too."

"Agreed," Lucas weakly smiled. "Come on, we have to get to Floaroma quickly."

"What about Barry and Alyssa?"

"They'll be on their way soon enough, but we'll have a lot of explaining to do when we see them again."

Dawn nodded in agreement, and the two walked forwards into the opening towards Route 204. Route 204 seemed to bear no features or semblance of Jubilife in it: it was as pristine and natural as Jubilife was concrete and steel. Dense, green grasses gently waived as little Winguls and Starlys played and drank from nearby ponds and creeks that lined the side of the route. A small white fence separated the banks of the ponds and creeks from the rest of the routes, but a jump was enough to move over them and onto the banks.

The two were quietly trekking through the bushes and thick vegetation when loud rustling could be heard ahead. Lucas held his hand up to stop Dawn as the two focused dead ahead.

BUDEW! BUDEW! Two small, green Pokemon, which looked like grasses tied into a bulbous knot, leaped in front of them. "What the!" Dawn yelped, jumping back while Lucas just laughed at her sudden fear. "Very funny, Lucas," Dawn said, pouting.

"Alright, you two, uh, out of the way now," Lucas confusedly said, gesturing away to the side, trying to tell them to move. The Budews only seemed more confused than before. "That way," Lucas said again, this time making walking motions with his fingers. Still now response. "Okay, then," he sighed, "I guess we'll just have to move around—hey!" he said with some surprise as the Budews moved to block his path again while he tried to navigate around them.

"I think they like you," Dawn laughed.

"Well, I don't like them. No grass types or fairy types on my team."

"That's mean. Look at those cute little things," she said playfully, bending down to pick one up when POOF! Small, green dust particles sprayed from the Budews mouth at Dawn.

"Wha—a-choo!" she sneezed as she stepped back. "Whoa, uh, Lucas," she said holding her hand to her head as she stumbled back. "I think I'm a little dizzy…" She couldn't finish her sentence as she slumped down, asleep.

Lucas quickly turned around and caught her before she hit the ground. "Hey, Dawn," he said, snapping his fingers by her ears. No response. He quickly felt her hand for a pulse like his mother had taught him so many years ago: he felt a steady undulating resistance against the touch of his fingers. He let out a sigh of relief as he gently lay her in the grass.

BUDEW! The green Pokemon angrily said as they began to approach him. "Alright, I asked you twice…" Lucas murmured as he pulled out two Pokeballs. "Prometheus, Galahad: go!" The Charmander and Starly landed right in front of Lucas, separating him from the suspiciously hostile wild Pokemon. The opposing Pokemon halted for a moment, but did not scatter and just kept yelling and screeching angrily. Lucas had enough when one of them lunged at Prometheus, who easily moved to the side and avoided the aggressive move. "Wing Attack and Ember."

In the span of a second, Galahad took to the skies and rained back down on one of the Budews, smashing into it with is powerful wings while Prometheus torched the other with a small fireball. The Budews fainted but not before dizzily bumping into each other and falling backward. "Alright, you two—whoa." He was cut short by a blue brilliance of light emanating from both Prometheus and Galahad as this light enveloped them entirely into a sphere of blue brilliance and color. Lucas had seen this once before now, and his mouth broke into a ridiculously happy grin at the spectacle.

As quickly as it had come, the sphere dissipated into the air, and as the brilliance and light faded, the form of a Staravia and Charmeleon appeared where the Charmander and Starly once were. Galahad's feathers and body were larger, his talons had stronger claws and larger on them, his beak had grown, and his head feathers had grown into a beautiful black arc. Prometheus on the other had a taller body, longer arms, an elongated and dragon-like head with a small protrusion in the back, and a longer a fiery tail all while maintaining his lustrous gold hue from his previous phase. Both Galahad and Prometheus immediately ran and flew over to him, with Galahad perching on Lucas' arm while Prometheus nuzzled against his side.

"Ah, look at you two," Lucas happily said. "Look at your wings, Galahad," Lucas said with pride and awe as Galahad stretched his much-enlarged wings wide as they slowly began to catch the gentle breeze that was pushing against them. Lucas' eyes widened as he realized what was about to happen and ducked just as Galahad took flight into the air, gliding at altitude effortlessly over the pond. Lucas eagerly watched the increased prowess of his evolved Pokemon when it did the unexpected.

Without warning and almost instantaneously, it dipped its stretched talons in the water below while using its wings as brakes before flapping vigorously and dragging a huge, wriggling orange mass out of the water: a Magikarp. While the struggling Pokemon writhed in its crushing grip, Galahad, although with some difficulty, persisted as he brought it to shore, dropping it form considerable altitude. "A real bird of prey, huh?" Lucas said with an impressed grin on his face. "I'm kind of glad you didn't see that though, Dawn," he chuckled. Prometheus ran over to Galahad and the two began pecking and devouring the catch while Lucas attempted to wake Dawn again.

"I don't want to do this to you, but…" he said as he released Caesar from his Pokeball. "Caesar, lightly use Bubble on her." Caesar proudly nodded, gently discharging a light-blue and luxurious beam of bubbles that popped on her face, waking her.

She gently rubbed her eyes as she got up and faced Lucas, who stood up and pulled her up with him. Dawn quickly glanced around to see the Budews missing and all three of Lucas' Pokemon pecking at something by the banks of the ponds. "Oh my god, Lucas. What did you do?" she asked with some concern and curiosity.

"A lot actually," he nonchalantly replied, barely believing what he had just witnessed himself. "You were asleep for not less than 50 seconds because those Budews hit you with a Sleep Powder, and I sent Prometheus and Galahad in response to dismiss them. They defeated the Budews, and both evolved before Galahad flew off over the pond, snatched a Magikarp as you see in the Jubilife TV documentaries, and plopped it down by the bank and began…"

"Oh my god," she said, putting her hands to her mouth with distaste. "And you let him do it?"

"Well, yeah. It's natural for them, right? You've seen those nature documentaries before."

"Yeah, but those are wild Pokemon that hunt each other, Lucas. We have Pokemon food in our bags!"

"But this is way cooler!"

"I think you mean crueler."

"Hey, your Pokemon don't have to hunt, you know. I'm just going Laissez-Faire on mine: it's not like I'm going to train them to attack and eat other Pokemon or something." Dawn raised her eyebrow. "I'm serious!"

"Okay, I believe you," she said, rolling her eyes as she turned to face the three Pokemon by the lakeshore. Galahad was making rounds and dives above the lake, flapping his wings with Wing Attacks to make waves and flows in the water below while Caesar was happily breaching and jetting effortlessly through the water, creating wakes behind him. Even Prometheus, despite his general aversion for bodies of water, was having his share of fun as he lobbed small Ember attacks into the water and watched them sizzle and boil the water around them before they disappeared.

"You're Pokemon are crazy, Lucas," Dawn chuckled, "just like you. I like that." She leaned onto him, hugging his arm. I think it's time you noticed I'm crazy too, about you.

The two ate lunch, a picnic of sorts, as Lucas pulled some out leftovers for their previous meals that they shared between themselves and Dawn's Pokemon. They sat there by the bank watching all five of their Pokemon play in and above the water. It took a bit of convincing and persuading to get all of their Pokemon to return back to their Pokeballs again, but once Caesar finally acquiesced and left the water, they two continued trekking and made their way to the Ravaged Path.

Outside the cave's entrance, Dawn stopped to read the small sign that stood outside the dark, void-like entrance.

RAVAGED PATH

The path above is an unsupervised part of nature with little light and is the habitat of many wild Pokemon. Tread with caution and use a light source and map to guide you through. Estimated Travel Time: 4 hours

DO NOT DISTURB OR PROVOKE THE WILDLIFE.

"Wait," she said, putting her hand in front of Lucas as he was moving forward, "It sounds dangerous to go through here."

"Well, there's no other way to get to Floaroma."

"But it's going to get dark in a few hours, so if we start getting into the cave now, it'll be dark before we get out," she said as she peered into the dark cave.

"We can set up camp for the night, then."

"In the cave?"

"Yep."

"A-are you sure about that?"

"We'll be fine, trust me. We can make a fire with the wood I brought."

"How did you fit that much would in your bag?"

"Porta-boxes," he matter-of-factly said. "Never heard of 'em?"

"Uh, no."

"So they used the technology that puts a Pokemon into a Pokeball to turn other small and relatively little objects to more portably sized versions of themselves that are stored in a box. When you need the device, just tap the dot on the box and you get your stuff inside back."

"Hm, neat."

"Well, it doesn't really work on anything bigger than a small car, and the object you're shrinking can't weight too much either."

"Okay, I guess we'll be fine, then."

"Right, you'll need this," Lucas said as he fished and handed her a flashlight from his backpack. "Ready to go?"

"Mhm," Dawn smiled, and the two ventured forth.
The ravaged path was a relatively small cave, so light poured in from both the entrance and the exit which helped to keep the cave fairly visible for a few hours, but the journey to the exit was still slowed by the slope of the path in the cave as it rose steeply upwards with every step they took as well as the rocky but loose terrain of the paths and areas in the cave. By the time the sun had lowered, the cave had become totally invisible and the two began to use their flashlights to proceed, but their exhaustion caught up with them, and they decided to stop and take a break for the day near a small, flat area to the left of the main path in the cave next to a pool of water.

"Ooo, water!" Dawn excitedly said as she walked toward the pool.

"I wouldn't drink from that," Lucas warned as he grabbed her hand before she went too far.

"Why not?"

"Water in caves is usually a chemically altered version of rainwater deposits, or even worse, it's still-water, which means that microbes have infested it. I did bring some bottled water, though."

"Oh, thank you," she said, reaching for the bottle he handed her from his bag.

"Do you want to set up camp here?"

"Yeah, it's rocky everywhere else, but it's kinda smooth and flat here. I like it. DO you want me to help you set up the tent?"

"No, I got it, thank you," he kindly said as he tossed her the porta-box for the firewood, "but can you start the fire?"

"How? We don't have anything to set the wood on fire."

"We have Hazel and Prometheus, right?" he said as he released Prometheus from his Pokeball. The flame on the Chameleon's tail began to light up the area in a warmer glow than the bright, LED flashlights they used, so Lucas promptly switched his off and Dawn followed suit. Dawn released Hazel and the two Pokemon helped her ignite the wood while Lucas used another porta-box to set up his own tent.

"Is it okay if I change inside while you start cooking?" Dawn asked.

"Yeah, go ahead," Lucas smiled back as he pulled out the steel tray he had stowed to help reheat the leftovers they had. Lucas and Dawn switched places a few minutes later, and Lucas set up the sleeping bags inside the tent while he was inside before he returned outside to finish his share of the leftovers.

They decided to put out the fire after they finished and retired to the tent where Lucas, as usual, plopped down and slipped into his sleeping bag before Dawn blinked. They decided to release both Hazel and Prometheus in side the tent since their tails provided a small, but warm and safe fire for them. Dawn, meanwhile, packed all of her things into her bag again before laying down next to him in hers.

"I guess we can't watch a movie tonight, huh?" Lucas smiled at her.

"No, I guess not, but you can answer my questions."

"Questions?"

"I've spent some, well a lot, of time with you, and I've got some burning questions for you, but I never get to ask them."

"Um…" Lucas said, hating the lack of knowledge he had about what was coming. "Yeah, sure. Ask away," he cautiously agreed.

"First thing's first," Dawn began immediately, "In that gym battle with Roark, you sent out Prometheus and Galahad first when you could have sent out Caesar instead: how come?"

"Seriously, that's your burning question?" Lucas smugly said.

"Anyone who watched that would have that question, Lucas. I mean, you kinda purposefully put yourself at a disadvantage there, even though you did end up winning that battle."

"Honest truth, I didn't know what a gym battle would be like. I knew that leaders like to keep their final Pokemon in the back like a hidden trump card and then use it at the end, and I didn't want to have to be down to a Pokemon that was weak against rock types to defeat that trump card. So I decided to send out Galahad and Prometheus first so that if I had to make a strong last stand, I could do it with a Pokemon that would be effective against that final Pokemon. I guess that first battle was a lot easier than I thought, so I just ended up looking like an idiot," he glumly finished.

"No wait, I didn't mean it like that. I was just… curious, that's all," Dawn quickly followed, her induced guilt clearly showing in her voice.

"That's alright, I know. Next question."

"Have you ever dated someone?"

"Wait what?"

"I-I'm sorry if I was too u-up front about it. Seriously, you don't have to answer that one." Are you crazy Dawn?! Now he'll think you're a creep…

"No no, it's fine. Well, it was a little on the nose, but I'll answer it if you do too."

Clever boy. "Deal."

"I guess I go first, then," he said. He took a deep breath in, "No. Well, I mean I've tried but always struck out…"

What kind of idiot would turn you down? Dawn pityingly thought.

"But the last time I tried was way back in tenth grade, almost three years ago, really. But that's all there is to me: I don't try often, but the few times I did, I struck out. How about you?"

"I'm usually the one that strikes other people out."

"Oh. You're lucky."

"No, not really. I mean, it's not easy for me to turn someone down, and it's not like I'll finally end up dating someone by continually handing out rejections, but I can't settle for just anyone… The thing about turning someone down is that it's just as hard as being rejected, if you think about it."

"Explain," Lucas curiously said.

"Well, you've been turned down, and I've turned several boys down, but are our outcomes any different? We've both still never dated anyone, right?"

"Good point."

"Thank you."

Some contemplative silence followed before Lucas spoke again. "So you said you turned boys down because it couldn't just be anyone, so who would be your special someone?"

"Like, criteria?"

"If you can call it that, yeah."

"Quid pro quo?"

"Fine, quid pro quo. You go first this time."

"Well…" she dreamily sighed, "I like taller boys, like the ones who are just a bit taller than me. I like hazel eyes, like yours, actually. And I also like darker hair, like yours. But that's just stuff on the outside. I think I just really want someone that I can laugh with, cry with, and then snuggle up next to at night. Someone I can trust," she said, implicitly pointing to Lucas with each criterion. "Your turn."

"For me, it's those piercing blue eyes that always get me. They're just so… I can't explain it. They're just that kind of pretty. I don't care much for hair color, I guess, but I think I like black best. But I think personality's the most important thing, too. I hate girls who are rigid and fake all the time just to get attention and sympathy, like Lucille and Valerie. I mean, you have to be passionate about something, right? And it can be a quirky or funny thing, too, but you have to be real about it and share how happy that thing makes you. If you're genuine about how you feel and you really believe what you say, then I guess you're the best person any man could ask for."

"Hm," Dawn said, focusing fully on processing what she'd just heard. "I hope you find someone worth your while soon. You really are a good person."

"Thank you. I hope you find someone before our journey ends, too."

Some more contemplative silence ensued. "Well," Dawn said as she yawned, "I think I'll be going to sleep now."

"Yeah, me too."

"Nope. You have to tell me a story."

"How do you manage to never forget that?"

"Habit," Dawn laughed.

"Alright," he sighed, "Have you ever heard of George and the Dragon?"

"Uh, no."

"It's an old Galar-region myth. It's a damsel-in-distress story."

"What's with you and damsel-in-distress stories," Dawn playfully laughed.

"Hey, I didn't write them. I'm just retelling them," Lucas replied.

The two shifted their sleeping bags closer together with small, subtle adjustments while Lucas completed his story, and by the time they finished, a few millimeters of sleeping bag lining were all that separated them from each other. They stared into each other's face with a pleasant smile as the light from the Pokemon's tails flickered and sparkled in each other's countenance. He placed his hand on her cheek as pulled closer, their foreheads touching, and they soon drifted off to sleep.