I'll be participating in NaNoWriMo.

That's the bad news.

Chapter 25: Rinzu

Lucas lowered the glass. The sun had finally wound down, marking the end of yet another busy day. It would had been, at least, had he not been drowning red wine for the last half an hour or so.

The lab's equipment vibrated in idle. The towering, cyclic pokemon transfer machine sat in silent, dusty from disuse and disrepair. Broken vials, empty pokeballs, and half-opened books littered the desk tops. Beneath it was a fallen chair. Its sullen marks and dirt gathering hinted it had been there for quite some time. Lucas sat at the visitor bench and stared intently at the door. Things had been harsh, and he expected it. However, he never quite knew how hard it was going to be. Another week here alone would cause any man to turn insane, let alone someone of his situation. It had been months since he had gotten any visitor, and he couldn't remember the last time he lifted his lips to smile.

The doorbell rang.

"Who is it?" Lucas spoke up. His own voice startled him, as something he hadn't heard as often as he should. "We're closed."

No answer was immediately given, but the door opened from the outside. A girl stepped in, just how Lucas remembered. Her increasingly cerulean hair flowed fully, with only a pair of small rosy hairpin holding it up, letting a small stream hung by her cheeks. A maroon scarf wrapped its way loosely around her neck, possibly to combat the changing weather, and dropped all the way to her waist. She peered inside, head turning rapidly for a few moments.

"The door wasn't locked," said Dawn, "What's with you?"

"There's nothing with me." Lucas raised his voice, of which he had lost control. Three raised octaves later, he calmed himself down. "I'm fine."

"I don't think you should be drinking." It was easy to spot the bottle he was clutching. This reminded Dawn of her encounter with Looker in the casino, though at least Lucas didn't look like he was going to pass out anytime soon.

"That's for me to decide." Lucas's arms snapped, flailing ever so diligently. He downed another shot. "What are you doing here?"

"I need your help." Saying that, Dawn followed the movement of the glass carefully. "I need to know where Roseanne is."

"Who?" His hands flung. "Never heard of her."

"You have." Dawn frowned at the deterioration of the situation. "Though I guess you just don't feel like doing anything."

"Why should I do anything?" Another shot. "For the last four years I've worked in this lab alone. Not one single person was interested. No one cares about my research. No one cares about how I feel. No one cares about me."

"Lucas, I think it's time you stop." Dawn stepped forward and tried to grab him by the wrist, but only managed to catch one.

"Get away from me."

In the struggle, he broke free, and pushed her towards the cabinet. She hit the metal hard, and caught herself bleeding from below her right shoulder. She knew this wasn't going to work. Even if he was drunk, it would be immensely difficult still for her to physically force him to do anything. Sliding her hand to her hip, she released Pipi. As soon as the metal penguin hit the ground, it propelled a stream of ice cold water toward Lucas, washing him and the alcohol down to the floor. There he would lay in a puddle of what could only be described as crude moonshine, before passing out entirely. The empoleon then returned to its rest.

"That hurts." Dawn moved to the first aid cabinet, her left hand clutching the wound.

It wasn't a particular deep cut, but the gash was wider that she would've liked. Heading to the bathroom with the supplies, she rinsed the wound under the shower hose, subsequently drenching her shirt in the process. It stung, but nothing too alarming. She followed this up by a mild rubbing of antibiotic ointment, before wrapping it with bandages. The process took a good twenty minutes due to the awkward position of the wound, but it was relatively painless. This was all through her survival training she learnt as a child, and had worked out well enough in the past. Departing the bathroom briefly to check on Lucas, it was clear that he was still sleeping. Being knocked down didn't seem to affect his wellbeing all that much, especially not compared to the alcohol.

Sighing, Dawn realised she had to get the information she wanted on her own. It didn't help that everything here was in such a pitiful state, though that didn't really come as a surprise for her. It did mean, however, that she had to at least clean it up to acceptable levels before attempting to find anything in here. She recalled being in this very same place not three months ago, yet everything had gotten so much worse it was hard to believe. Clearing out the broken vials and test tubes weren't easy. They were sharp and they were aplenty, and one wrong touch could send her back to the first aid box again. While she worked, Dawn could hear Lucas gurgling up noises from his hollow throat. He didn't look like someone who was used to drinking, which was both a good and a bad thing.

Presently, the clutter found itself manageable at last. Pulling up the abandoned chair, Dawn sat down at the desk and began scouring the drawers. She found mostly lab reports and research paper drafts, which would be just about what she expected. She wished there was a better way to go about this task, but silently continued. The desk was unnaturally large, housing various different types of lab equipment and test gear. The kind of science that would be happening here was far beyond her. She wanted an address, or at least a phone number, both of which had so far eluded her best efforts. Dawn believe Roseanne to be the key to the case, and she would not leave here until she found what for which she came.

"Ugh..." Lucas groaned.

Dawn turned to the boy on the ground. Perhaps the water had at least helped him sober up, she thought. Putting off her search, Dawn placed her palm on his forehead. It was heated and wet, but he didn't put up any resistance. After a few light taps on the cheeks, it appeared he was coming to. With all her might, she pulled him up by the shoulder blades until his form was slumped over the dripping bench. It was at this point which he clutched his stomach and defaced the ceramic flooring. Dawn was not in the way of it, and was infinitely thankful. In a moment, he stopped. She had a hand to his back and patted it.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Dawn," Lucas seemed to have regained himself, at least partially. "What's wrong with me?"

"Life's hard, so you took to drinking." She helped him sit straight back up. "I came at a bad time."

"Right." His voice trailed and his eyes wondered. They kept going until he spotted the wrapped bandage on her shoulders. He frantically tried to stand up but failed. "Oh god, Dawn, did I do that?"

"It's nothing." She lightly rubbed the spot. It still stung, but the wound would heal soon enough. "Don't try to move. You've caused enough trouble for one night."

"I'm sorry." He collapsed onto his knees, face buried in his hand. "I can't even say for sure why I did all this."

"What happened to you, Lucas?" She asked.

"I can't get the funding for the lab anymore. It's been hard ever since the professor left, but at least I had Roseanne helping me." Dawn narrowed her eyes at the mention of the name. "But she left too, and I can't do this alone. This workload is impossible, and there's no money to keep it afloat even if it wasn't."

"I'm sorry for it, Luke."

"No one called me that in a long time." He smirked painfully. "After this week I'll be moving back to my parents and return the property. I've already transferred all the pokemon subjects, all that's left is to clean this place up."

"That'll take a while." Dawn chipped in, glad that he was finally sobering up.

"Yes it would." He wiped his mouth. "Why are you here anyway?"

"I need you to tell me where Roseanne is." Dawn broke it out slowly, making sure that the information was being received proper.

"Why do you need to know?" he asked.

After much consideration, Dawn decided to go the diplomatic route. "It's for an investigation, classified."

"Fine, gimme a minute." Picking himself back up, Lucas sauntered toward the then clean work desk. He seemed slightly bemused as to its condition, but carried on. Within the front, right, two from the side and five from the top cabinet was a case file. Grabbing it with shaking fingers, he handed it over. "I don't know what you want with this, but it's yours now."

"Are you sure you won't be needing this?" Dawn received the papers cautiously. From the label, it seemed to contain information regarding the past and soon-to-be past personnel of the facility. There were never that many working in such an unpopulated town like Sandgem, but the file was bulky nonetheless.

"I've read and memorised all of them." Dawn was once again reminded of why she didn't like science. "With how the place is closing down, there isn't going to be anything worth writing in there again."

"Will you be ok, Luke?"

Their eyes met for a brief moment, before he turned away. Soon Dawn did as well, and headed for the exit.