The rest of the afternoon's hunting for Argent was unsuccessful, and so as the afternoon drew to a close, Felix parted ways with Ash and Goh after trading phone numbers. Checking the time, it was close to the time Chloe usually arrived at the lab, and so Goh walked a bit faster than usual on their way back there.
Strangely enough, Felix didn't mention his bargain with Goh at all after Ash returned to the table, and so Goh didn't mention it, either, treating the secret as part of the bargain.
As the two of them walked up the steps, Goh saw Chloe talking with her father, who was holding his bags, looking like they were getting ready to go home. Milling around her feet were her Eevee and her father's Yamper, who seemed to be in a conversation themselves.
"Wait!"
He shouted the word as he approached. If Chloe went home, there'd be no chance to speak to her about Felix's bargain and the map.
Chloe and Professor Cerise both turned to him. Chloe's face was instantly annoyed. "Oh, welcome back, Goh. Just in time to see me off."
He cringed, kicking himself mentally. "S-Sorry. But obviously all this stuff came up… I promised before I knew I'd be looking for a Pokémon today."
"You missed studying with me because you were looking for a Pokémon?"
There was not a hint of amusement on her face as she crossed her arms.
"W-Wait a sec," he said, holding up his hands. "It's not like I was looking for a Pokémon to catch. This guy, Felix, he lost his Pokémon and we were all looking for it…"
Ash came up behind him, putting a hand on Goh's shoulder. "It's true. He lost his Eevee, so we were looking for him."
The irritation on her face melted away instantly, being replaced with concern. "So wait, did you guys find his Eevee?"
Goh stopped and frowned, shaking his head. "No… not yet, at least. There's an area of town we're going to try searching tomorrow, but searching and putting up missing Pokémon posters is the best we can do. Hopefully someone sees him and tells us."
Chloe clutched her hands over her chest. "Poor little guy. I hope he's alright out there…"
And in the moment, Goh forgot the bargain and nodded. "Yeah… I hope he's alright, too…" But soon, his senses returned to him, and he shook his head.
"Hey, before you go, can I talk to you about something?" he asked.
She blinked at him. "Uh, sure? What is it?"
He looked at her father. "Uh… sorry, Professor. Can I talk to Chloe about something privately?"
Professor Cerise's eyes went wide, but he shrugged. "Be my guest, Goh."
As Goh began to walk into the Laboratory, Ash followed, causing Goh to stop and turn to him.
"I said privately, Ash."
Ash blinked. "Oh, you mean private from me, too."
Sighing, he led Chloe into the lab, making sure Chrysa and Ren had already gone home for the day as well.
Chloe's eyebrows were pushed together as she watched him do this searching, her green eyes following him. "Goh? What's up? You're acting kinda weird."
"Vui."
Her Eevee had followed her in, of course, but at least Goh could count on the Pokémon not to be able to speak.
"I need a favor," he said. He kept his eyes focused on the ground, not wanting to give away any hints as to what he needed until he asked.
"Goh…" her tone was low. Glancing at her face, he saw the suspicion mixing with the worry in her eyes.
"I-I promise I can explain," he said. "I just… need you to do something for me."
Chloe crossed her arms. "So you've said," she noted. "What is it?"
"...okay, so has your Dad told you about the Eevee's trainer?"
"No, not really," she said, raising an eyebrow. "But I'm guessing that it was the plain-looking guy with the brown hair I had to walk past on my way to school. You said his name was Felix, right?"
Hearing that didn't raise Goh's hopes at his prospects as the weight in his stomach seemed to grow even heavier. "Y-Yeah… his name is Felix." Rather than leading with the task, he decided to lead with the reward, hoping that baiting the trap with honey would help get her to agree to it. "His family is really wealthy, and they have a bunch of artifacts and ancient things."
Goh saw her quick mind already moving. "And this Felix guy has something that you want that you need my help to get?"
He was always at a disadvantage against her, this situation showed. She had already discerned what the favor was, she just hadn't come to the details yet.
Goh decided to press on by explaining what the prize was. "They have a map that's supposed to lead to where Mew lives."
Her eyes went wide at the name drop.
"Mew…?"
Goh eagerly nodded, hoping that this would lead to where he wanted. "Yeah! A way to find Mew again! So you see? We need to get that map," he said, stepping closer to her.
He was leaning pretty close to Chloe, and he saw his own expression reflected in her eyes. It was the pale reflection of greed he saw in Felix's house.
Chloe saw the same greedy expression and stepped away from him.
"How are you even sure that it's real?" she asked. "You know more than anyone that these sorts of things are faked all the time, trying to cheat people. 'A fool and his money are soon parted', Goh."
He wasn't sure if the fool she was talking about was himself or Felix, but he pressed on regardless. "Well, we wouldn't be getting it with money…"
Chloe swallowed, her eyes searching his face once more for the meaning behind his words. "What do you mean…?"
It was time for Goh to unveil the favor. There would be no moving forward from here without Chloe knowing, so he took a deep breath and explained it all at once.
"...that Felix guy says he fell in love with you at first sight, and so if I could convince you to go on one date with him, he'd give me the map."
The entire room went quiet. Goh's eyes looked around and he finally noticed that both Eevee and Grookey had departed to give them privacy.
The weight in his stomach told him that he'd prefer to have the chimp here.
Chloe's eyes went wide, and her cheeks burned red like they had been slapped. "Y-you're joking. You HAVE to be joking. There's no way you'd come here and ask me to do something like that, right?" She shook her head in disbelief. "Where's your phone? Are you recording this as a prank to upload somewhere, Goh? I won't forgive you-"
"It's not a prank," he said calmly. "It's a bargain."
Chloe took another step back before stepping angrily up to his face. "Have you lost your mind?!" There was a fury in her emerald eyes that Goh felt entrapped by. "You came to me to ask me if I would go on a date with some… other guy just so you could get a map that's probably completely fake?! Are you listening to yourself, Goh?! This is the height of insanity."
And he had to concede that. "I know it sounds crazy," he said. "But Felix was already talking crazy. He was calling you beautiful and talking about how kind you are, and he had only ever seen you just once! How can you decide on stuff like that just seeing a person once?"
His attempt at injecting a little humor into the conversation seemed to only irritate Chloe. "And what's that mean?"
Goh was expecting Chloe to agree that declaring your love for someone who you'd only met once was crazy, but her questioning put him on the backfoot. "W-What's what mean…?"
Chloe searched his face for something that Goh wasn't even sure was there. All he knew was that the more this conversation went on, the less he was sure he'd end up happy at the end of it.
"And you're okay with this Felix guy doing all of this?"
The question came quietly, Chloe speaking barely above a whisper. It sounded almost afraid of the answer Goh would give.
Goh stepped back and ran his hand through his hair. He felt like he was sweating, but he wasn't sure if it was nerves or stress. "...It's just one date, right? It's not like I'm asking you to kiss the guy or anything. You go spend one afternoon with him and then you're done. And I'll do whatever you want after that, okay? I'll study until my eyes fall out. I-"
He looked up at her, meeting her eyes once more. She was watching him quietly, wide eyed. He couldn't continue to look into those emerald eyes, so he bowed his head. "Please, Chloe. You're the only one I can rely on for this."
She sighed, which Goh knew meant she was probably coming to a decision, one way or another. "Since I'm doing this as a favor to you, then it's your job to make sure his Pokémon is found safe and sound. While I'm on this 'date' or whatever, you'll keep looking for his Eevee, got it?"
Goh nodded emphatically. "Of course! I promise, I'll definitely find Argent, no matter what!" He finally almost felt like he was getting closer to achieving his goal. He could practically feel the map in his open palms.
She shrugged. "Fine, then," she said, looking at the ceiling rather than at Goh directly.
"So you'll do it?" he asked.
Chloe sighed, but nodded. "Yeah. I will. I probably won't like it, and you owe me BIG time for this, Goh, but I'll do it.. You better be ready when I come to collect."
Goh nodded. "Thanks, Chloe. I can always count on you."
She rolled her eyes. "One of us has to be reliable," she said. "Just find Argent, alright?"
"No problem!" Goh said, his confidence returning. "I bet we'll find him way before you two even leave on that date! You could both bring your Eevee! It'd be cuter that way, right?"
He might have felt confident while making his teasing joke, but when he glimpsed at Chloe's face, he saw through her mask of annoyance in a way that only someone who knew her for their long friendship could. And underneath, she wasn't angry, just sad.
He pushed the guilt bubbling up in his stomach aside, focusing on the important thing: the map.
"I'll text you the details later," he said. "Thank you so much for agreeing to do this for me."
She smiled sadly. "You're welcome, Goh. But please don't ask me to do anything like this again, alright?"
As she spoke, Grookey and Eevee, seemingly sensing that it was okay to come out of hiding, returned to the two of them, looking at the humans with concern. Without saying another word, Chloe scooped up Eevee into her arms and stepped out, the door closing behind her.
Grookey walked up to Goh and tapped him on the leg, looking up. "Grooki?" he asked.
"I'm alright…" he said, looking at his sweaty palm. "I think."
Despite getting what he wanted in the end, it felt like he had lost something along the way.
"She said yes?!" Felix said the next day while he, Goh, and Ash were scoping out the back alleys of Vermilion City, searching for Argent.
"Shh!" Goh hissed. He looked over his shoulder to where Ash was.
The trainer was standing at a utility pole, a stack of missing Pokémon posters under his arm. He held one of them up against the pole as Pikachu stood on his head, holding a roll of tape, and he proceeded to tape the poster up.
"Yes, she agreed to it," he said. "Just come with us back to the lab and she'll go with you after school, okay?"
Felix nodded. "You've got it! And you can just come by tomorrow for the map. Thank you so much, Goh!"
Goh put on a smile as Felix took his hand and shook it, but even on his own face it felt crooked and distorted.
Ash stepped back up quickly. "I've got that one up," he said, blithely oblivious to the transaction that took place behind his back. "Where are we putting up the next one?"
Felix pointed up the hill, towards the next street corner. "We should see about putting one up near there, too."
"Got it."
Ash and Felix walked away up the hill, while Goh found himself rooted to the ground. "Grooki…?" asked his Pokémon.
"I'm… I'm okay," Goh said, more trying to convince himself than his Pokémon. But the weight in his stomach that returned with Felix's appearance wasn't something that would leave him easily.
Grooky cooed quietly, seeing through Goh's facade and showing his own worry on his face.
The rest of the day came and went without discovering any clues to Argent's appearance on the streets of Vermilion City or online, and so Ash, Goh, and Felix walked back to the lab.
Though only Felix and Ash seemed in high spirits.
Goh walked behind them, trying his best to force a smile on his face. He was unable to shake the weight growing in his stomach, but the more he thought about it during the day, the less he knew what to call it. Clearly it was some sort of feeling. He just wasn't sure what to call it.
The three boys entered the lab to find Chloe sitting in the foyer, reading a book as she waited. Yamper was sprawled out at her feet and Eevee was quietly nestled into her lap. As soon as Felix stepped in, Yamper's ears perked up, and he turned to them as they entered and he began a low growl at the boy. This made Eevee's ears twitch in response and she looked up from her comfortable seat, but Chloe kept her nose buried in her book.
"H-Hey," Felix said, giving her a wave. His face was already turning red and he hadn't even said anything yet.
Chloe sighed, her tell-tale sign of resignation and she looked up. But her eyes met Goh's first, and the incredibly tired expression she held said only one thing to him.
'You owe me for this'.
The weight Goh felt became even heavier and more uncomfortable.
"Oh, hey," Chloe finally said, closing her book. "I guess you're Felix, huh?"
He nodded. "And you're Chloe… I-It's nice to finally talk to you," he said shyly.
She gave him a polite smile. "It's nice to talk to you, too. I've got all my homework finished for the day so I'm free for the rest of the afternoon, though I do need to be back here in a few hours to go home."
He nodded. "O-Of course! I will absolutely make sure you're home on time. Wouldn't want your father to worry about his daughter, right?"
Felix's nervous laughter felt to Goh like a needle being stuck in his ear, piercing and painful. He looked down to Yamper and saw the puppy still growling, even as Chloe stood up and stepped over him towards the boy she agreed to go on this date with.
Eevee also walked up behind her and sat down patiently. "Eievui!"
Felix looked down at the Pokémon somewhat uneasily. "Oh, does it belong to you?"
Eevee blinked at him, tilting her head. "Vui?"
Chloe giggled, leaning down to pick her up. "Yeah, this little powderpuff is mine. She's really curious and likes to meet new people and Pokémon."
"Eievui!" Eevee said, smiling and wagging her tail as she was held.
Felix's expression faltered. "Well… I was wanting to go some places with you that don't allow Pokémon. Could we leave it here?"
Goh felt his own eyebrow rise at the suggestion, and he, Ash, and Chloe all shared confused looks. Places that don't allow Pokémon? What sorts of places might those be?
Chloe gave Goh a much longer look, the resignation on her face as she turned and walked to him. "Okay, Goh, can you look after Eevee while I'm out?"
Goh took the Pokémon from her, and Eevee turned in his arms, pawing at Chloe. "Vui? Vuvui?"
She gave Eevee a gentle smile. "Be good for Goh, okay? I'll see you later."
With that, she turned on her heel and walked to Felix's side.
"Let's go, I suppose."
Felix smiled widely and warmly, and the two of them headed out.
Goh stood there for a moment, watching them leave. The door closed behind Chloe with a note of finality that echoed through the manor.
It was quiet in the lab now. Ash looked around the room and shrugged. "Hey, Goh? Wanna go check on the Pokémon?"
Goh took the seat where Chloe had been sitting in the lobby when they arrived. "I… I might be a bit," he said, sitting there.
"Are you sure you're alright?" Ash said, crossing his arms. "You've been kinda weird all day."
All Goh heard was Chloe's voice, saying the same thing yesterday.
"I-I'm fine. I have to be."
He looked into his hands, and he tried to picture the map in them. This is what he wanted. He was going to get what he wanted. This had to be considered a win, right?
Then why, Goh wondered, do I feel like I lost?
Ash shrugged. "Alright. I'll leave you alone for a little bit. But you know you can talk to me, right?"
Goh nodded, his eyes still looking at his hands.
"Thanks, Ash."
Ash and Pikachu left without another word, and Goh sat alone in the quiet foyer.
And he felt truly alone. In his mind's eye, he could still see Chloe walking away from him.
With the afternoon sun filtering in through the windows, he felt himself become much smaller, and his thoughts drift back to his younger days, far back than before he was even old enough to become a Pokémon Trainer.
He could remember standing by his desk in the classroom, putting his books away in his backpack alone. He would then put the backpack on his shoulders to begin the long walk back home by himself. He would walk through the halls, all but ignored as his classmates and peers whispered things behind his back. He didn't know what he could say in those situations to them, and it was often the fear of a negative reaction from these peers that would keep him back.
So he heard them call him a weirdo who didn't want to play with them. He knew his presentations in class were awkward and often turned into jokes later. But all he wanted to talk about was Pokémon, and no one seemed to understand that part of him. He didn't have anyone to connect with, not even a Pokémon of his own at home to play with. In fact, when he went home, he'd probably be unlocking the door himself with his own key he kept on a chain underneath his school uniform.
Though the chain was still visible, and so some classmates had made fun of him for wearing jewelry, and teasing him about that.
The only sound to keep Goh company was the silent plodding of his own steps through the empty school.
But one day, all that changed.
One day, after beginning his long, lonely walk home, he heard someone's steps coming closer to him. He would then turn and see the face of one of his classmates, a girl who sat on the opposite side of the room than he did. Her long maroon hair was twisted into a braid, held together by a yellow ribbon. She had to stop once she caught up, putting her hands on her knees and catching her breath.
Goh watched her quietly. He opened his mouth to speak, but he couldn't find the words he wanted to say, so he choked any sounds back and closed his mouth.
After a moment, the girl stood up. "Hey," she said, "do you mind if I walk with you?"
Goh blinked at her for a moment, not sure what she meant by that, but he gave her a quiet nod and turned to keep walking.
She gave him a wide smile and offered him her hand. "My name's Chloe!" she said, brightly.
"I'm…"
"You're Goh, right?" she said, smiling.
Swallowing his own name, he nodded. He took her hand and shook it. It was a hesitant, awkward, weak handshake, but Chloe put a lot of energy into it.
She giggled. "Did you have fun in school today?" she asked.
Goh let his head hang. "Not really…" he admitted.
"Well, there's always tomorrow!"
The more she spoke, the more she seemed like his opposite. He watched her, curiously, thinking to himself that maybe he discovered some strange, new kind of Pokémon.
"Say, Goh?"
Her saying his name broke him out of his thoughts. He looked up at her. "Y-Yeah?"
"You like Pokémon, right?"
Goh quietly nodded.
She excitedly gasped. "Me, too!"
"R-Really…?"
She nodded. "Yeah! My Daddy's always talking to me about Pokémon this and Pokémon that! I even get to play with them at his Lab sometimes!"
"Lab…?" Goh blinked, frowning. "Wait, is your dad… a Professor?"
She nodded. "Yeah! He's the smartest, coolest, nicest Professor in the whole world! He has a lab right near our house, too! And we have the cutest Pokémon that no one's ever seen!"
Goh's eyes went wide. "A Pokémon no one's ever seen…?" he said, his breath catching in his chest. "For real?"
"Yeah! Do you wanna come over and see it?"
"I…"
He wanted to say yes and follow her, to see this strange Pokémon that could be both described as cute and as one that's never been seen. But he froze. He knew he had to go home, even if there wasn't anyone there waiting for him. His parents might get really mad at him if he didn't come home.
"Do you need to ask your Mom and Dad?" Chloe asked, intuiting the question.
He nodded, and she quickly produced a cell phone from her bag. It was pink and made of plastic with a wide screen. The image on the lock screen that Chloe unlocked was from a television show Goh recognized about girls who would drink special beverages and transform into superheroes. She handed the unlocked screen to Goh.
On the background of this was a picture of Chloe herself with a man that was likely her father and some strange Pokémon he had, indeed, never seen before. It looked sort of like a Growlithe if its legs were made to be very short, and instead of having a wild black and orange fur pattern, it was all a smooth brown with what looked like a yellow muffler around its neck.
Before Goh could ask who that Pokémon was, Chloe gestured to the phone. "Go on. You can call your parents and ask them if you can hang out with a friend for a little while, right?"
Goh's eyes went wide at the word. "F-Friend…?"
She smiled and nodded at him. "Yeah! From now on, we're friends, Goh!"
Of course, when he explained to his parents that he would be going to hang out after school with a friend, his parents were excited for him and encouraged him to go, saying that they would even be by later to pick him up if Chloe's parents weren't able to take him home.
Goh bounced the back of his head against the wall as he sat on the couch, trying to shake the memories away. He smiled darkly at his own hands. "Even back then, when I didn't know how to express my own loneliness, Chloe didn't bother asking questions about it. She didn't ask why I didn't talk with anyone else, or ask why I acted the way I did. Chloe just… saw that I needed a friend, and took it upon herself to become that friend…"
And despite everything that had occurred between that day she offered him her hand and today, they were still friends. Even when things were at their absolute worst, Goh knew that he could still rely on Chloe's friendship.
Perhaps that's why, he thought, that having her leave with someone else was affecting him so much. He was mentally kicking himself for even suggesting it now, but it would only be the one afternoon, right?
"Right…?"
Even now, he could see the sadness in her eyes, her sadness from the previous afternoon where they had spoken, and he had made her agree to his plan.
"Eievui?"
He looked down at his lap for the first time since sitting down, and he saw Chloe's Eevee looking back up at him. She wagged her tail expectantly, her wide, dark eyes reflecting Goh's face, and his own tears.
He went to wipe his arm across his face, only for Grookey to pull on his arm, first. "Grooki! Ook ooki!"
"Grookey…?"
He smiled and wiped his tears away with his other arm. If even the Pokémon could notice his bad mood, then clearly he would have to do something about it.
"You two are right," he said. "I'm not thinking clearly about things. Now isn't the time to be doubting myself or being afraid that Chloe won't be friends with me after all of this. I have to put my trust in her and keep looking for Argent. After all, I promised Chloe that we'd do that while she does this for me."
"Grookey!
"Eievui!"
Goh took out his phone and shot Ash a quick text, explaining that he'd be going out for another search and that he'd be back later.
A few moments later, Ash shot him a text back, only asking that he pick up some dinner for the two of them on his way back, since Mr. Mime's cooking can get a bit tedious. Goh chuckled to himself and stepped out the door.
He didn't get far before he noticed that Eevee was still following him. He stopped and turned to her. "Hey, don't you think you should stay here and wait for Chloe to come back?" he asked.
Eevee tilted her head at him like she didn't quite understand what the question was before tilting it the other way and stepping forward, past him. Grookey stayed on the ground as well, walking beside Eevee and now ahead of Goh. He chuckled to himself at the two Pokémon, but he knew when he was outvoted.
Chloe's little Eevee sure is mysterious, he thought to himself.
The three of them headed back to the downtown part of Vermilion where Goh had been earlier in the day, searching for the Eevee with the shiny silver coat.
"Maybe having Eevee with us will help us find him…" he said. "If Argent's been hiding, maybe seeing Chloe's Eevee will get him to drop his guard for a second…"
"Grooki," he said, seeming to agree with Goh's estimate.
As they turned the corner, they happened upon a cafe with outdoor seating. As Goh looked over the clientele of the establishment, his eyes caught a glimpse of something he shouldn't see, so he quickly scooped up Eevee and Grookey and hid behind a shrubbery.
He would recognize the back of Chloe's head anywhere.
Peeking over the shrub, Goh was quickly joined by Grookey and Eevee as they spied on Chloe and Felix. They seemed to be chatting animatedly about something or another, but he was too far away to eavesdrop.
That weight he had somehow shed back at the lab began to reappear, but he shook his head and attempted to keep it at bay. Spying on Chloe wouldn't be the way to show that he trusted her, and he asked her to do this, besides. If he was blaming anyone for how he felt, it would have to be himself.
Chloe began to turn her head and so Goh ducked and pulled down Eevee and Grookey with him, hoping she didn't see him. He was clearly becoming a sight for the people walking up and down the sidewalk where he was hiding from her, so he crawled away far enough so that he'd be out of Chloe's field of vision before standing, scooping up the two Pokémon with him, and retreating further.
Hiding in an alleyway, he took a deep breath. "That was close…" he said.
"Grooki…"
"Eievui…"
The thought of Chloe catching him filled him with the same fearful thrill, he recognized, as staring at the picture of her laughing on the phone. He knew he'd get chewed out for following and interrupting her date, and it wouldn't look good to Felix, either, especially after he adamantly had said that he and Chloe were just friends. He'd be risking the map as well as Chloe's trust in him, and after going all this way, he couldn't allow himself to risk either of them. Not with the prize so close.
The only thing that wasn't at hand was Argent. Goh looked around, frowning. "Now let's see what we can find. We haven't searched this area yet…" he said.
Goh, Grookey, and Eevee walked down the alleyway, interrupting a Rattata that was eating a slice of discarded pizza who leapt behind the large, opened dumpster and scurried away into a hole in the wall behind it. He scratched his chin. "Pokémon usually live in nests, like that Rattata, right…?"
The Pokémon with him looked up at him with wide eyes.
"That means… if Argent is really staying out here, he'd have to have made a nest for himself. And if no one's seen him, and if the online listings aren't showing anything, either… then maybe he's staying in or around that nest the whole time."
Goh thought over everything he'd seen so far over the past two days as they searched for any traces of Argent. Was it possible that he had overlooked something? Maybe with this new angle, he could think of where he had seen something suspicious that would indicate a Pokémon only having recently moved in.
"Maybe it was…"
He gasped as his eyes went wide. "Wait…!"
A wide grin grew on his face. "Wait! That's gotta be it!" He beamed this smile down on Grookey and Eevee. "I know where Argent is probably living! All we need to do is go check it out!"
"Grookigroo!"
"Eievui!"
"Let's go right now..!"
Goh stepped out of the alley he was in, only to freeze at the sight he beheld. Before his senses left him entirely, he immediately turned back around, scooping up the two Pokémon.
Chloe and Felix were walking this way, holding each other's hands.
Goh's head was swimming with anxiety. His stomach was doing somersaults so quickly that he was sure he was about to throw up. He knew he couldn't be caught spying on them (though he wasn't trying to do that at all!) and so he hid in the one thing he could be sure Chloe wouldn't touch.
He climbed into the dumpster with Grookey and Eevee and closed the lid.
If his anxiety wasn't bad enough, the smell of garbage warmed by the early fall sun was enough to make his stomach churn itself over. But he held his nose and stayed as quiet as he could.
He could hear their footsteps.
"...I must be seeing things," came Chloe's voice, muted by the lid over Goh's head.
"Why would you want to walk down there?" Felix asked. "You're far too lovely to be in such a filthy place. Who knows what awful, disgusting things live in there…?
"Who knows, indeed?"
Goh held his breath, and for once, Grookey wasn't misbehaving and Eevee was only copying what was around her.
There was a moment of silence before Goh heard Felix's voice again.
"Let's move on, Chloe. There is a lovely park up here with a gorgeous flower bed. We should gaze upon it, though… I'm afraid they're not as beautiful as you are."
"Yes," Chloe said, her voice being directed to the dumpster. "Let's."
Goh remained still as breathed the noxious fumes through his nose, but it was getting to be too much to bear. Eventually, he threw open the lid and took a breath of fresh city air before climbing out of the garbage.
Looking down at his clothes, he was now filthy and covered with whatever juices one finds in the garbage. Grookey and Eevee stumbled out behind him, also covered in filth.
He groaned. "This day just gets worse and worse all the time…" he said. Looking at the Pokémon, he shrugged. "I guess it can't be helped… Let's get home and clean up. We'll just have to hope Argent can stay safe another night in the city."
Making sure to take a route that stayed as far away from the park Felix had mentioned, Goh left and returned to the lab to give himself, Grookey, and Eevee a bath before Chloe came home and wondered why her Pokémon smelled like she'd been playing in garbage.
Though as he walked the long path up the hill to the lab, in his mind, he could only focus on the image of Felix and Chloe's smiling faces as they held each other's hands.
