"Oh, man…"

Sometimes, it could be hot, even in the fall, Goh was learning. He was sitting on the couch beneath the stairs of the Cerise Institute, tugging at his collar.

"Maybe I should get a drink of water…"

He frowned at the idea after considering it a moment further. If he spilled anything on the suit he was wearing, even water, he was sure Chloe would never let him hear the end of it.

The Cerise Laboratory had come into a curious bit of fortune. Recently, a research magazine renowned by Pokémon Professors the world over had given a great award to the lab and its research staff in thanks to their efforts in solving the mystery of the town locked in eternal night. The magazine wanted to run a full spread on the laboratory, including the professor, the technology, the assistants, and of course, the research fellows.

Part of this spread would be profiles on all of them, and for the profiles, they were instructed to send in formal pictures to present the best foot forward for the lab. Professor Cerise had agreed, and had even purchased some expensive cameras to take the highest grade pictures with.

One of these cameras sat next to Goh on the couch instead of his beloved Grookey or even his fellow researcher, Ash. The Pallet Town native had managed to get Mr. Mime involved in assisting him in taking the needed pictures for the magazine, but he had also mistakenly left without telling Goh where he was going to have his pictures taken, and so Goh was stuck asking for more help.

He had texted Chloe while she was at school, asking for her help, and she agreed to help him easily enough after he explained why Ash couldn't do it instead. So now he waited for her to arrive, already dressed up in the best suit his parents could find in his size.

While he was no stranger to fashion trends, he was fully aware of how all the layers came together to hold in his own body heat, raising his temperature by a few degrees while he sat, waiting. He couldn't have the Pokémon with him, either, lest Grookey's dirty paws leave marks on his suit for this important picture.

He'd definitely go to spend time with them after all this was over with.

He took out his phone again and checked the time, seeing when Chloe should arrive. Seeing that she usually arrived ten minutes or so from now only made him groan. He felt like a prisoner to his own clothing. He tugged to loosen the string tie a bit, trying to give himself at least a little more breathing room.

The familiar call of "Yamper, yamper!" outside the door told him that, perhaps Chloe was arriving more quickly than he originally thought. He sat up and turned his head towards the door, only to see it open and for his friend to step inside.

Chloe was of course dressed in her school uniform complete with her backpack. She quickly let out her Eevee from the Poké Ball she must have been waiting in ever since Chloe left the school grounds, and her fluffy Pokémon immediately leapt into playing with the rotund pup, rolling him over onto his back and digging her paws into his belly.

Chloe was giggling at the sight as Goh stepped over, holding the Camera in its box under one arm. "Hey, Chloe," he said. He could feel the sweat already beading on the side of his face. "Are you ready to get this show on the road?"

Chloe looked up at him, her familiar smile at the ready, but as she took him in more, her eyes went wide in what Goh could only assume was shock.

Goh's suit was a classic fit, colored white, with a full, long-sleeved jacket that he had buttoned up. Underneath the outermost jacket, he wore a black vest, and under that vest was a gray, long-sleeved button-up shirt. The string tie he had loosened earlier was a deep red with a gold snapping button to hold it closed. He felt it was a bit childish for him not to have it tied properly, but he frankly didn't have the time nor interest in learning how to tie it properly and he didn't have Mr. Mime around to tie it for him like Ash did.

But something about seeing him dressed up this way must have thrown Chloe completely out of her normal rhythms, as her eyes continued to scan him up and down before settling on his face. "Goh…"

He furrowed his brow at her. "Chloe? Did you hear me?"

She blinked, her cheeks tinting pink in the afternoon sun. "Huh?"

"I asked if you were ready to get this show on the road," he said, repeating himself. "You know? Get the pictures I need taken for the magazine?"

She seemed to be staring off into space again when he asked. "Uh… oh! Right!" She shook her head as though shaking her thoughts clear from whatever had entrapped them. Chloe reached her hands out for the camera box, which Goh quickly handed to her. "Did they say anything about appropriate backgrounds or anything? Does it have to be neutral or do you think we could go outside?"

Goh internally cringed at the thought of going outside dressed in as many layers as he was. He already felt like he was sweating up a storm and the sun would do him no favors at this rate. However, getting the best photo was imperative to properly promoting the laboratory, and the instructions given indicated that the most important thing was the outfit and that the researcher was center stage in the photograph. Outside or against a wall inside were both acceptable.

"It can be either or," he said, shrugging. "Which do you think would be better…?"

Chloe seemed to be staring at him again, so he just snapped his fingers in her face, startling her back into reality.

"Good afternoon, Miss Cerise," he said teasingly. "Why are you being such a space-case today?"

Chloe turned away from him, fully averting her gaze as she looked at the door. "So, uh, outside and inside both good? W-Why don't we head outside then?"

Goh raised an eyebrow. She was acting really strange today. "You think natural lighting will help the picture come out better?"

"Yeah, totally!"

He wasn't sure where her exuberance was coming from, but she usually seemed to do this when she wasn't fully paying attention to what she was supposed to be listening to. He'd called her out on it more than once, but he decided to let it slide for now.

"Alright, but let's not go too far, okay?I don't exactly want to walk down to the docks dressed like this.

Chloe shook her head. "There's a nice tree that will make a good, unassuming backdrop," she said, pointing out the door. "We just need to head down the stairs a bit. C'mon!"

Goh sighed and followed her out the door. As much as he wanted to focus on getting this picture done right, he was also starting to worry about Chloe, wondering if she was perhaps coming down with an illness. That would explain her strange behavior, at least.


Goh found himself standing with the afternoon sun giving a gentle glow to his suit as Chloe continued to get the camera situated. "Is it done yet?" he asked, feeling hotter by the second.

"Just about," she said, her focus entirely on the camera. So get ready, okay?"

"Okay… but what would be the right pose?" he asked. "Should I stand with my hands behind my back?"

Chloe shook her head. "No, I feel like you need them up front. We really should emphasize… you know…"

He raised an eyebrow. "I do?"

"Y-You know!" she stammered. "How you wear the suit!"

"How I wear the suit?" Now she was talking nonsense in addition to acting nonsensical. "What do you mean by that?"

Chloe's face flashed pink again, and even the tips of her ears started to turn, Goh could see now. "Well…" she said, taking a deep breath after. "...you know, it looks really good on you."

He blinked, as though she had said something completely obvious.

"Yeah, it does. It's supposed to."

Of course the suit looked good on him. The size was exactly chosen correctly; not a suit he would have to grow into but one he would end up having to replace as he got taller. That means while it was hot to wear, it did fit him quite snugly, emphasizing the shape of his body. The pads in the shoulders even helped him seem more broadchested than he actually was. It was chosen specifically because it would make him look good.

Why was this news to Chloe? She must have realized it was meant to play up his appearance for the camera, right?

Somehow his explanation seemed to stun her again. She shook it off, shaking her head. "If you really understood what I was saying, you wouldn't be so cavalier about it like that…" she muttered.

He raised an eyebrow at her statement, but she was finishing attaching the lens to the camera, so he didn't press any further.

"Alright, so I guess let's try a few poses, then," she said. "Can you put your hand on your chin?"

He did as she was asking. "Like this?"

"Yeah," she said, pulling the camera up. "Okay, but change your expression a bit. Give me something a little more confident. Cocky, almost. Like you know this suit makes you look good, so you want to flaunt it a little."

Goh balked. "A-Are you sure this is the kind of picture that a research magazine will want?!"

"Think of this as practice."

"Practice?!"

What had gotten into Chloe today?

She waved off his concerns. "Yeah, practice. Now do it."

Sighing, he rolled his eyes and put his hand to his chin again, this time thinking of a moment where he felt supremely confident. His thoughts found themselves sliding back to the various times he'd had her on the backfoot, teasing her about something or another.

That confident, teasing expression came easier than it perhaps should have.

He heard the shutter snap a few times as Chloe took her shots.

"Okay, how about… Oh, could you flex?"

He could feel the irritation rise on his face. "Like a bodybuilder?"

"Is… that too much?"

"That's definitely not something a research magazine would be interested in…"

She sighed. "Alright, alright… Well, how about we have you hold something, then. Like a book?"

"A book?" he asked. "I mean, it does make sense…" He put his hand to his chin in thought this time. "We do want to look like we're taking our research seriously. Do you have one?"

"No…" she frowned. "But there's tons in the lab, right? Let me go grab one."

She sat down the camera on the box and turned and left, leaving Goh alone with his thoughts once more.
He took a few steps closer to the tree to stand in the shade. "Alright, this is going pretty well so far," he said, rolling his shoulders. "Just a few more shots and we should be good."

Looking around the tree, he saw something strange. At least, unseasonable.

A small pink flower with a yellow pollen head was growing in the grass just out of the shade of the tall tree he was near. He reached down and gently plucked it from the ground.

"Maybe a Pokémon planted it and was growing it…?" he thought to himself, looking at the flower in his hands. Either way, it wasn't going to be alive much longer besides. The first frost would be here soon, and there wasn't a flower that Goh was aware of that could survive such an event, so picking it wasn't a huge waste. He could even put it in a vase and put it in his room.

"Goh? I'm back."

Chloe's voice called out to him. "Coming!"

He stepped around the tree again, and Chloe's eyes went wide at the flower.

"G-Goh…"

He chuckled. "Oh, this? I found it just a little bit ago. It's a shame we're already in autumn, right? We could have seen a lot more of these out here if it was spring instead."

"No, hold on."

Chloe picked up the camera and pointed it at Goh again.

"Now, look at me with the flower."

"With the flower?" He furrowed his brow. "What about the book?"

"C'mon, Goh! Please?"

He couldn't find it in him to deny her. "Okay, fine. Like this?"

He held up the flower and put on his supremely confident look again, almost sneering at the camera.

"No, you don't have to go that hard," she said. "Just… smile like you normally do. Like you smile at me, okay?"

Goh felt his face warm up at her direction, but he shook the feeling off. He gave her the gentle, friendly smile he usually wore while they talked about school, or homework, or Ash, or his research trips or… just about anything, he supposed.

It was an easy smile to put on his lips.

"Like this?"

"Yeah! It's perfect!" she said. Even from here, Goh could see the wide smile on her face, and the redness at the tips of her ears. She took the pictures, snapping the shutter each time.

"Honestly, I don't even think we need to try the book now," she said, putting the camera aside. "But I guess we might as well since I went to get it."

"But what about the flower?" Goh asked, looking at it in his hand.

"I'll hold it while you hold the book," she said.

Goh approached her, a clever idea rising in his mind. "Alright, then."

He stepped close to her, keeping the same gentle smile on his face. With his dexterous fingers, he gently slid the flower into Chloe's hair, the stem held in place by the way her hair was pulled back into its braid.

He recognized the similarity of the flower he picked to the one Chloe's barrette was modeled after, and he smiled at the thought.

When he stepped away, Chloe's face was entirely red, contrasting her green eyes in a way he rarely got to appreciate. Feeling his own confidence swell, he held up a finger to her nose before going to her forehead and tapping it gently with his index finger.

"C'mon, stop spacing out," he said calmly.

Chloe nodded, stepping back from him. "R-Right. Sorry." She handed him the book and went to pick up the camera, her fingers glancing over the flower in her hair before she picked it up.

Goh returned to his spot near the tree and held the book under his arm. "I'm ready."

"Alright, here goes!"


Ultimately, it was the picture of Goh holding the book that made its way into the magazine proper. The picture of Ash on the opposite page had him grinning widely and holding a stack of papers while looking a bit nervous and uncomfortable in his own formal clothes - a vest and white long sleeve shirt with a blue necktie.

"Mr. Mime really put me through it with that…" Ash chuckled to himself. "I guess we both had the same idea, huh?" he asked.

Goh nodded, grinning. "Well, you know what they say, great minds think alike!"

"Ha! Right!"

The two of them bumped the sides of their fists together before returning to looking at the magazine on the table, only somewhat hearing the door open in the distance and the pitter-patter of Yamper's feet before he was joined by Chloe's Eevee.

Chloe herself appeared in the kitchen only a few moments later. "Hey guys!" she said, holding her phone in one hand. "Did the magazine come in?"

"Sure did," Goh said. "Wanna take a look?"

She nodded and stepped closer. "I wanna take a picture of the first time you guys ended up in a publication together. It's honestly really cool."

Goh chuckled. "You just wanna flex on people at school about it, don't you?"

She giggled. "Maybe a little."

Goh watched her unlock her phone, and though her lock screen was a picture of her and Eevee, once it was gone, his eyes widened at her phone background.

It was him, holding the flower towards the camera, giving that gentle smile of his.

He felt his cheeks heat up upon seeing it, but he didn't want to embarrass her by pointing it out, so he left it unmentioned.

He was just glad that those pictures didn't go to waste after all.


This story finds it's beginning in a conversation I had on Twitter in December about the outfit Goh wore in the art depicting him in a suit from last year. Goh definitely cuts an intriguing figure in it! I wanted to make sure the story fit into the world of 'One Who Chases' so it's still fall when we're taking pictures, even though it was written in winter and it was practically summer when I am posting it today! We'll be moving into the Winter months soon enough.

One thing that I may not have mentioned before is that while they are stand-alone stories, there is usually some connection between the side-stories and both the books they precede and the books the follow. In this case, a successful research assignment puts Goh in the spotlight. Having just come off of a success related to the feather, I hope your minds are also turned to where the future leads for our hero.

If you're reading this when it's new, then you are either a few short hours away from this year's Global Pokémon GO Fest or you may be relaxing after the first day has ended. I'll be doing my best to catch as many Pokémon as I can, as well, so I hope you push forward with your own goals as well!