I'm really spoiling you guys with the daily uploads, aren't I? Oh well, I suspect that that will change soon enough.

If you want to picture Lucas's supervisor, picture CeeLo Green. If you want to picture Dr. Donnelly, picture former U.S. Senator Joe Donnelly. Those are the face claims for those two characters. This is nothing to do with politics, just two people I could picture when writing this.

I also have a Discord server now. The invite code is EwcwefN. It is case sensitive.

I hope you like the chapter, and please don't forget to rate and review, if you please.


I'd felt the sensation of drowning in my dream just long enough to experience what was easily the most fear I'd ever had in one moment. I had barely been able to assuage that fear with the knowledge that, no matter how terrifying it might have been, it was still just a dream.

Imagine how relieved I felt when I willed myself to open my eyes and found that I was still in my own bed at home.

That's it, Lucas, I told myself. Breathe in, breathe out. You can breathe. Inhale, exhale...

Looking around my room, I saw that I'd presumably been thrashing around in my sleep. I could assume this because my blankets were strewn all over the place, and, even though I'd just been sleeping, it felt like I'd been running due to being short of breath.

I turned on my tablet, which I always kept right next to my bed at night. I liked how, when I recharged my body, I also recharged my devices; I felt like there was some kind of poetic justice in that.

According to the tablet's clock, it was 5:22 AM. The appointment my mother had made for me with Dr. Donnelly was scheduled for seven, so I had well over an hour to wait. This was a bad thing, because I wasn't supposed to eat anything before the appointment.

I lazily lay down in bed for a few more minutes before deciding that I might as well just get up and face the day. Swinging my legs to the outside of my bed, I pushed myself onto the floor.

After I was finished with my morning routine, including brushing my teeth and getting dressed, the thought of what had happened in my dream crossed my mind once more.

It's definitely interesting, what happened, I thought to myself. Interesting that that dream was so vivid.

I should probably preface that when I dream, they're usually not as vivid as the experiences I have in real life. I don't have the same level of consciousness in dreams, and I typically don't remember many details of them afterwards.

This time, however, was different. I could vividly picture the cavern I'd just been in, as well as the five Lucario that had hunted me with their scythes. I could feel the sensation of not being able to breathe and trying to reach the surface of the lake. Most importantly, I could feel every bit of the fear that had coursed through my system.

I whiled away the rest of the time before the appointment by looking at the news, trying to find out more about the blizzard in the Coronet Range. The more I looked, however, the worse the news seemed to get.

It might have been sunny and warm in my hometown of Gardenia, a nice quiet suburb of Pastoria City in the southeastern part of Sinnoh, but this blizzard in the mountains was one of the worst that they'd ever had. It might have been nice if the ski resorts in Emaire had been able to open in the summer, but everything had to be readied for it, and it was hard to persuade people to work there in the heart of a blizzard.

Something's definitely fishy here.

Eventually, it was time to go. My mother, bless her heart, did not eat anything in front of me, not even the usual avocado toast she liked to have with her morning cup of coffee. Instead, we just went out the door and got into her car. I could have driven myself, but I didn't particularly feel like it that day, so my mother had agreed to take me there.

"Anything new happening?" she asked me as we were pulling out of the driveway.

I had a short internal debate about whether or not I should tell my mother about the dream. I was 18 years old, after all, not 8, and I didn't want to risk sounding childish in front of her, even if she was my mother.

That debate was resolved quickly when I realized that if I didn't tell her, she would probably think I was hiding something. Of course, she would have been right. She was an extraordinarily perceptive person, one who would be able to tell rather easily if something was wrong.

"Yes" I said. At first, I wondered if that was against my own better judgment, but after reminding myself of the reasons stated above, I no longer thought that. "I had a bad dream last night".

I mentally slapped myself in the face. As stated above, complaining about a bad dream one had had is something that a much younger person would do. But now that I'd said it, all I could really do was wait for my mother's response.

"What happened in the dream?" she asked me a few seconds later.

"Well, I was falling from the sky, towards a deep, dark lake. I sank to the bottom and saw a ghost or spirit right in front of me".

"Could you breathe underwater in the dream?"

I nodded. "Not like that matters, though, since it was only a dream. In any case, I followed the spirit to the surface and to a cave, where there five Lucario hunting me down with scythes".

My mother gasped, and it appeared that she was so shocked that she nearly crashed the car. After stabilizing her vehicle, she said, "That's really quite a dream".

"Indeed it was. And I'm wondering somehow if it's connected to the blizzards up in the mountains".

"I doubt it" my mother replied. "It just doesn't make sense that it would be. You don't normally have vivid dreams like that, do you?"

Shaking my head, I looked out the window at the hospital that we had just reached. It was the Gardenia Regional Hospital; I'd grown out of Children's. And really, that was just as well; I didn't need to be seeing all that childish artwork that Children's had on the walls. At eighteen, I'd find it rather nauseating how colorful it was.

After my mother parked the car in the garage, we made our way inside. We checked in at the front desk and waited for about ten minutes.

That's another thing worth noting. We weren't early for the appointment; if anything we were a minute or two late. However, they still made us wait. That's been my experience almost every time I've gone to the doctor. Why don't they just tell you to come later?

Ah, well. That's enough about that.

"Lucas Enfield?" the woman at the front desk said.

That's me, I realized.

By now I knew the way to Dr. Donnelly's office by heart, but I still allowed my mother to lead the way. It was rather embarrassing being led by her through a public place, but that's just the way it was.

My primary care doctor's office was on the third floor of the hospital. As we entered the office, he looked at us with a friendly smile.

Dr. Donnelly was a burly man with thinning black hair. He was probably in his late fifties or early sixties, and he was one of the kindest men I knew. I was very glad that I had him as my doctor.

"So how's it going?" he asked me. "I've heard about your symptoms; you said hunger and chest pain?"

I nodded. "That is correct. Yesterday at work, I was really hungry even right after eating lunch. And later that afternoon, I felt like a spike was trying to make its way out of my chest".

Dr. Donnelly nodded, looking at the notes he'd taken on his computer. "Well, I've ordered a blood test and an EKG test. We'll just run a quick scan of his heart to make sure that there are no problems with that organ".

My doctor picked up his phone, and I wondered at first who he was calling. Then, he said, "Lucas Enfield needs to get his blood taken and an EKG test. Nurse Joy, do you think you could do that?"

There were a few more exchanges of dialogue between Dr. Donnelly and Nurse Joy on the other end, but I didn't hear any of what the latter said. After a minute or two, my doctor got off the phone and turned back to face me and my mother once more.

"We're ready for the tests" he said. "Follow the nurse out to the lab. Julie, do you want to go with him to the lab, or do you want to stay here?" (Julie is my mother's name, by the way).

"I'd like to go by myself, thank you very much" I said. "For Arceus's sake, I'm eighteen now. I can take care of myself to this degree".

"Okay then" my mother replied. "I'll wait here".

Dr. Donnelly nodded. "That works. Lucas, I'll see you in a few minutes, once the tests are over with".


The blood test was pretty uneventful. It was just a blood test, after all; Nurse Joy just put the butterfly needle in my arm and blood flowed out. After filling four vials, she said that that was all.

The EKG was far more interesting. I'd never had one of them done on me before, and it was definitely a curious experience. The stickers that they put on my arms and legs felt rather cold, although they didn't hurt at all.

"There we go" the nurse doing the EKG told me. "We're done".

Even though I wasn't afraid of medical tests in the slightest, it was definitely a relief to be done with them. I followed the nurse back to the waiting room, where my mother was still waiting for me.

Dr. Donnelly came out of his office and headed over to the waiting room as well. He looked at both me and my mother and asked us if we had any questions.

"When will the results of the test be ready?" my mother asked him.

"They should be here within a few hours. In the meantime, Lucas, you should feel free to go to your internship. Just stop and take a break if you feel dizzy".

I wasn't worried about that; after all, I never really felt dizzy after having my blood taken. I assumed that this time, things would be no different, and that I'd be completely okay at work.

My mother drove back home with me. We didn't talk much on the way back, because, honestly, what was there to talk about? I didn't see much point in having a conversation, personally.

When we got back to my house, my mother fired up the griddle to make pancakes for me. Pancakes were my favorite breakfast food, and they were also very filling. Given what I'd told my mother about being extremely hungry, I suspected that that was the reason why.

While she was making them, I turned on the TV to see if I could find any more news about the blizzard. Fortunately, it seemed to have tapered off, at least for now. Maybe that meant that I wouldn't have another nightmare, but it could also be wishful thinking on my part.

As we were eating, my mother said, "I'm proud of how you handled the appointment with Dr. Donnelly. You were quite grown up, you know?"

"What do you mean by that?" I asked her.

"I mean that you seemed to be initiating a lot of the discussion of your symptoms. You're doing a good job of advocating for yourself".

"Thanks, I guess".

"No problem" my mother replied, cutting one of her strawberries in half and putting one of the halves in her mouth.

Don't get me wrong, the pancakes were delicious. However, I couldn't help but have some very dark thoughts in my mind as I was eating them. Mostly, they were related to my dream.

Who even was that spirit? He looked like a surfer dude...why would I see that underneath an icy lake?

I tried to put it out of my mind. My job at Cadillac Jack's would be to be the best intern I could be, no matter how distracted I might have been by these feelings of dread. I might not have liked the task, but it was at least something to do to take my mind off of my dream.

As I was eating, I saw a picture out of the corner of my eye, the picture that was on the shelf above the stove.

It was of a frozen lake. More specifically, one in the Coronet Range that me and my parents would occasionally vacation to, Lake Gordon. Normally, it was a peaceful place for me, a place of good memories.

However, the fact that it was frozen brought to mind memories of my nightmare.

Well, there's always something there to remind me, isn't there? Isn't that just great?

Before I could panic, I reminded myself that my nightmare didn't mean anything. It was just that, a nightmare, and that meant that it wasn't real. I tried to comfort myself with that, but, the more I thought about it, the more I felt like a little kid.

So just don't think about it.

That was indeed another tactic I could use. I could just block it out of my mind for as long as possible. Perhaps eventually I'd have to reckon with it, but I'd delay that day for as long as possible.

"I should probably head to work now" I said. Looking at the clock, I saw that I still had fifteen minutes before I'd have to leave for real, but I needed something to distract myself, and driving was one method of distracting myself.

"Are you sure, Lucas? It's quite early. I don't think you want to wait around for work to start, do you?"

I nodded. "I'm perfectly fine with waiting around. Besides, I still need to put my work shirt on".

"You do that, then" my mother replied.

Cadillac Jack's required all of their employees to wear a very specific outfit, a deep purple T-shirt and orange pants. Don't ask me why that was the dress code; that's just the way it was. And yes, it looks just as ridiculous in real life as it does in your mind's eye.

I went to my room and changed into the required clothes. After giving my mother a good-bye hug, I left out the back door of my house and got into my car.

The drive to the diner wasn't long. It couldn't have been more than five or ten minutes before I pulled into the parking lot and turned the car's engine off. I could have gone into the restaurant right then and there, but I didn't want to spend any more time in there than necessary. That's how much I hated my internship.

I still had ten minutes to wait when I felt my stomach growl once more.

Do you know that empty feeling you get in your stomach and esophagus when you're very hungry? Well, that's what I was experiencing even though I'd just had a stack of pancakes practically drowning in strawberries and syrup.

Relax, Lucas. You already got tested for health problems. If there's a problem, you'll find out in a few hours.

I gulped and tried to just relax. It would almost be a relief when 9:00 arrived and I could begin working. At this point, even boring, miserable work would be better than no work.

The clock struck 9 AM eventually, so I got out of my car and entered Cadillac Jack's. I didn't know why, but something told me that today would be my worst day yet on the job. And that's saying something, I thought, considering that this job really sucks.

There was a family of Lucario and Riolu eating a relatively late breakfast in one of the diner's booths, but that didn't surprise me too much. After all, many different species of Pokemon had the same status as humans, meaning that they could, for instance, drive a car if they were bipedal like a Lucario.

I'd give anything to be one of them, I thought. I'm just so hungry.

I saw my supervisor in the kitchen, so I entered it and waved at him, trying to appear more enthusiastic than I really was about today. He was still smiling, though, maybe because he loved to torture me with all these tasks. I suppose someone had to do them, though, so why not me, the lowly high school intern?

"Glove up" my supervisor, a large, dark-skinned, bespectacled man told me. "You've got work to do today, son".

I have a name, you know, I thought. Lucas Zantry Enfield, but you can just call me Lucas. Not that my supervisor cared.

By this time I was absolutely famished, and my hunger was slightly rising with every minute that passed. It would be all I could do to try not to stuff one of the paninis in my mouth. Even one fry would be hard to resist, but I was afraid of what would happen if I did that. Besides, it would be a rather unsanitary thing to do, and I didn't want to make any of the diners sick.

"You'll be wiping down tables today" my supervisor said, handing me a stack of wipes and a spray bottle. "Go down the line and wipe down any tables that appear to be dirty".

I nodded. There was little else I could do; I wasn't going to disobey him, no matter how much I wanted to.

And so I left the kitchen to where the family of Lucario and Riolu had just been eating. I'd seen from the kitchen window that, not two minutes ago, the Lucario father had paid the bill, and then the family had left. I decided to start with that table.

I sprayed down the table and began wiping the crumbs and spots of maple syrup off of the table. I found it helpful to sing lyrics to some of my favorite songs as I did so, because that was one way to alleviate the boredom.

As I was wiping down the table, I sang the song about liking pina coladas and getting caught in the rain. I also had to wipe down the benches, because that's just the way it was. I made sure to sing quietly so that my supervisor wouldn't think I was slacking off.

It didn't work.

"...and I'd like my Chinese food cooked right-". That's what I was singing while wiping down the fourth table, before my supervisor tapped me on the shoulder.

"What is it?" I asked him. "I'm doing my work, can't you see?"

"No singing while you're doing work. Don't want you slacking off, son".

I nodded. "Yes, sir" I replied, holding my flat hand up to my forehead as if I were doing a military salute.

After that, time passed more slowly, and with a lot less noise. I continued wiping down tables until I reached...some number of tables. The eighth? The sixth? The twelfth? It felt like about a hundred.

It was then that I started feeling hungrier and hungrier.

It's official, I thought to myself. This is the hungriest I've ever been. I don't know how I'm going to be able to resist food once I'm back in the kitchen.

I kept cleaning off the tables until roughly 45 minutes had passed. By this time the diner was almost empty, and the first people coming here for lunch wouldn't arrive for at least an hour or two. Thus, I was probably done wiping tables, at least for now.

After taking a minute to sit down in a chair while making sure, of course, that my supervisor couldn't see me, I stood back up.

Do you know that feeling when you've been sitting down and then you stand up suddenly, and your vision darkens and you feel kind of dizzy? Especially if you haven't had enough to drink that day?

That was me. I was definitely starting to feel rather weird.

I walked back into the kitchen, and, by now, I started to feel rather hot. I was having a hard time focusing on things at this point.

"Are you okay, Lucas?" asked a voice that I knew belonged to my supervisor. It sounded very far away, though.

"N..." was all I could say.

I then proceeded to crumple to the floor in a dead faint right in front of my supervisor.