"Did you see the email I sent you?!" Hector asked excitedly the moment I stepped through the door. Surprised, I almost dropped my keys and the box I was carrying.

"Umm, hi," I said as I slid in from the doorway. Hector was almost panting with anticipation as I set the box on the table by the door. I dropped my keys on the ground in the process and tiredly bent down to pick them up before tossing them on the table, as well. "I haven't been able to check my email since I left work—god, the subway was awful today, especially with this damn box."

"Oh, no—I'm sorry. But if you check the email, I think it'll make you happy! Hurry—I want to see your reaction!" He smelled clean, like he'd just stepped out of the shower. He was wearing gym shorts and a t-shirt from his company. They had a ridiculous logo, which indicated almost nothing about the type of work they actually did. In fact, I still had no idea what he really did for a living. Hector worked at some bougie biotech startup as a technician or lab assistant—whatever the hell his title was. One time, he tried to explain this medical miracle ooze he was helping with, and I literally had no idea what he was talking about that entire conversation. After that, he sort of gave up trying to explain his work to me. All I knew was that he made a lot more money than I did at my office job crunching numbers and sending emails all day. He used to be nonchalant about spending money on me and in general but had eventually learned to be more sensitive when discussing the matter. We'd been dating for over four years and were living together, so when we decided to make the move to find a place, I was frank about my finances—we would only get a place where I could afford to evenly split the rent. Hector wasn't from a particularly rich family, and I knew he probably felt proud to afford spending a lot of money, but obviously, it made me uncomfortable when he spent it on me. The only time I accepted gifts from him was on my birthday, and even then, he knew not to spend too much.

Hector fidgeted impatiently with his hair while he waited for me to read his email. I fought off the impulse to scream and plastered on a smile instead.

"You don't wanna just tell me what it is?" I said, forcing a laugh. It was difficult to match his enthusiasm after the rough day at work I had and annoying trip home, and he was not making it any better by nagging me like a yappy dog. He continued to look at me expectantly, so I slid my phone from my pocket and pulled up his email. "The League? What's that?" It was obviously rhetorical (at least to me), but Hector felt the need to say,

"Read the email and find out!" I sighed loudly (in my head) and quietly read through the email.

"A Pokémon theme park?" Hector nodded animatedly. I peeled off my jacket and tossed it on the rack by the door before plopping down on the couch to read more about the attraction. "Wow, holographic technology? Are the pictures with these people real?" I asked. He joined me on the couch.

"I think so. They look so realistic, right? It's incredible! And they're planning to open in a year from nowish."

"Wait, it says it's located on Dolos Island—that's the man-made island near here, isn't it?"

"Yeah, who knew all that construction would be for this?" Hector replied and laughed. "Did you see the price of the tickets, though? Pretty steep…"

"…Yikes. Maybe we can start saving up now," I said and set my phone down on the coffee table. I rubbed my face with my hands and staggered back a yawn. "Oh, it is too early for me to be this tired already."

"Want me to make some coffee?"

"Ha…too late in the day for coffee, though. Maybe I'll just eat something. I sort of skipped lunch, so that might have something to do with it. Did you eat anything yet?"

"No, I actually wanted to see if you were feeling sushi tonight. I was craving it all day today for some reason!"

"Shouldn't we be saving our money for The League, though?" I said and laughed. He swung an arm around me and sighed. In that moment, I felt my irritation and stress start to melt away. I probably just needed to calm down and not take things out on Hector, especially since he was trying to cheer me up.

"Ya know…," he said and paused. "Never mind—I got nothing! But we could just—"

"—Hey," Hector gently called and shook me awake. "We should probably keep moving." We'd dragged ourselves through a number of poorly lit hallways before we returned to a normal part of the manor—more twisting, seemingly endless hallways lined with locked doors and laminated wood tables with ornate decorations atop them. In one of those carpeted hallways, I laid my head in Hector's lap and passed out from exhaustion and stress. I imagined I could still hear the roar of the waterfall down the hall and felt needles in my nerves from remembering what we'd endured. Groggy, I managed to sit up and rubbed the sleep from my eyes. My leg panged dully with pain, but I'd suffered from worse injuries before and figured I'd be fine. Then, instinctively, I checked my jacket pockets for my two Poké Balls—safe and sound.

"You also…," I said but was unable to complete my thought. Thankfully, Hector understand what was trying to say and revealed his Poké Ball. "You caught the Milotic. Where did you find the Poké Ball?"

"In the bedroom with the Vespiquen. There was one tucked away in a hidden compartment in one of the dresser drawers. I had a hunch it would be better to keep it a secret from Robbie and Geo since we'd just met them, and it looks like it was a good call. Robbie might have tried to steal it if he'd known about it." I shuddered just from hearing their names and tried to keep images of their faces out of my head. "Anyway, this is good. Between us, we've got three Pokémon. If anyone or anything else tries to attack us, we should be able to defend ourselves." I sat with that idea for a moment. Unfortunately, some people knew I had caught Mr. Mime, so if anyone else was interested in stealing Pokémon, I would be the obvious target.

"If we get into a fight, don't call out Milotic unless it's an emergency," I said. Hector looked confused. "People already know I've got at least one Pokémon, right? They might come after me, but they won't have a reason to attack you."

"Sure, but I'm going to protect you if it comes to that. You know that, right?" It seemed like such an obvious (ex)boyfriend thing to say, but it still made me well up with tears. I quickly swiped them away with my sleeve and nodded.

"Okay, where should we go next?"

"Farther down this hallway, I guess." He pushed off the wall to get back on his feet. A glint of light off his watch face caught my attention.

"What time is it, by the way?" Hector flicked his wrist toward himself, and the screen lit up.

"Almost 9:30."

"Shit… We've already been in here for almost two hours? Do you remember what time the park attendant says this place closes?"

"Umm, maybe like 1 or 2AM? Do you think it matters if the doors are already locked?"

"Well, if we do get out, won't we just be trapped in the park if it's after closing time? Or what if the place goes into super lockdown at some point?" Hector scratched the back of his head. "And, fuck! What if there's even worse shit outside?!"
"I have no idea, but we shouldn't think about what else could go wrong. Let's focus on getting out first and then worry about what comes after later, okay?" Hector said to reassure me. I shook my head. Catastrophizing was my usual go-to defense mechanism in crisis scenarios.

"You're right. One problem at a time." I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. Somehow, I had to believe we would make it out. There was no other option. Hector extended a hand to help me stand. I winced as soon as I put pressure on my right leg.

"Oh, no—your leg. Is it still bleeding?"

"No, it's not that," I said and extended my leg out. The area around my knee and Hector's tourniquet looked slightly bruised and swollen. It was tender to the touch, but I could still bend my knee with some difficulty. "I don't think anything's dire, but it does kinda hurt a lot still." I wondered if when Dragonair saved me from Milotic it had actually busted up my knee somehow and that I couldn't tell because of all the adrenaline in my system. There was no way a little cut could act up so much.

"Okay, do you want me to rip off another piece of my hoodie?" Hector asked and interrupted my catastrophizing. "We could wrap it around tighter and—"

"No, that's fine. I'll manage as long as I don't put too much weight on it. Or something like that."

"…Well, I guess we'll just have to be careful. Here, give me your arm," Hector said and extended his hand to me. I took it and looked at him, remembering his face in my dream and seeing the way he looked in the moment. Something about him had really changed. I swung my left arm over his shoulder. "Is that all right?"

"Yeah, this should be good. Let's go."