A beam of sun cut through a crack in the black window drapes on the eastern window of a second-story apartment. The blade of light slowly drifted across the floor and wall and up the bed until it reached Brock's eyelids, rousing him from sleep.

Brock made a fist with his left hand and used it to rub his eyes; his other arm was pinned beneath the small frame of an attractive young brunette wearing nothing but a silk sheet. She laid motionless with her head on Brock's shoulder and her hand on his chest.

He nudged her softly, and after seeing no signs that the movement had disturbed her sleep, he held his breath and slid his arm out from under her, carefully removing her hand from his chest and pausing briefly, only once, when he thought she might have awoken.

As he put his feet on the carpeted floor, he felt her body shift and looked at her in time to see her roll over and nestle into the neck of her pillow. He wished he could spend more time admiring the soft curve of her back and the way that the thin blade of light traced it along up to her gentle shoulders. He had to gather his things, though.

His boxers lay on the ground by his feet, so he flipped them right-side-out and pulled them on. He slid off the bed and tiptoed around the room looking for his things. A shoe here, a shirt there. Pants. Socks. His. Hers. Other than the personal effects strewn about the room, it was fairly well kept. It reflected the girl to whom it belonged well. Neat, organized, yet full of passion.

Brock put his clothes on as he found them, continuing to move quietly so as not to wake the girl. Once he made sure that he wouldn't be leaving anything behind, he crept over to her side of the bed and planted a soft kiss on her forehead. He was really quite fond of the girl, especially for only having known her for a single evening. He closed the bedroom door behind him gently and made his way to the front door.

An eevee that was curled up on the sofa met eyes with Brock and let out a yawn. Brock couldn't resist; he walked over to it and began to pet it softly on the head. It's fur was plush and tan, its mane white and soft. Brock scratched lightly behind its long pointed ears, and it licked his hand with a rough pink tongue to return the affection. Brock turned toward the door and the eevee leapt from the sofa gracefully to weave in and out between his legs, brushing against him and flickering its tail slowly. It let out a mew and a soft whine.

"I'll miss you too, girl," Brock said, crouching down and stroking the soft white fur around the eevee's neck. When Brock made to stand, the eevee took a step back from him, looked back toward the hallway where the girl slept, and then looked at Brock, tilting its head softly to one side. "Yeah." Brock looked down towards the hallway. "You're probably right."

He walked toward a glass and steel-framed desk by the other sofa and pulled a blank sheet of paper off of a stack on top. He grabbed a pen from a cup on the desk and scribbled a note as the eevee continued brushing against his legs.

I had a great time last night. You were amazing, and your eevee has

a beautiful coat.

- Brock

The girl in the silk sheet had been bragging about her eevee's coat the night before, so his

comment wasn't entirely out of context. He did, however, hope it might distract her from the fact that he left no way for her to get in contact with him. Brock always liked to leave a note if he could, though. It didn't feel right sharing a night with a woman and then mysteriously disappearing forever.

Brock closed the front door and walked down the apartment stairs toward his SUV on the side of the street, smiling the whole time. He checked his watch and decided he still had time to go home and shower before work.

He went home quickly, showered, dressed, and brushed his teeth before he began his commute. He listened to about 20 minutes worth of radio, cycling through pokemon related programs in between commercials. Talk show hosts discussed proper diet and nutrition for grass type pokemon and (more interestingly to Brock) how to best care for the rock type pokemon geodude when it sheds its outer crust, a geobiological event that occurs about every 5 or 6 years when the rocky growth inside becomes too large for the outer crust to contain. Brock also made a quick stop to pick up some breakfast for his co-workers.

He arrived at the pokemon shelter about ten minutes late, but that wasn't a sin that a box of doughnuts couldn't absolve.

"Good morning, ladies!" Brock said a little enthusiastically to the receptionist Beth. Beth was a little younger than Brock, friendly and good natured. She eyed Brock suspiciously.

"What?" Brock asked, pretend puzzled.

Beth pointed at him from behind her desk and let slip a sneaky, teasing smile. "You had sex last night, didn't you?"

"Who, me? No. Wait, what?" Brock was flustered, but not nearly as much as he was letting on. Sometimes he liked to put on a little for the theatrics.

"Oh my god!" Beth laughed. "You did!"

"You know you're the only one for me, Beth." Brock might have even sounded convincing if she didn't know any better. But she knew way better.

"You're so full of shit," Beth laughed again and reached for a doughnut.

"What gave it away?" Brock asked.

Beth took a bite from a piece she tore off of the doughnut. "These," she said thickly through a mouthful of fried dough and icing, followed by an exaggerated wink. Brock was thinking how much he enjoyed having coworkers he could be silly with as she swallowed her bite and daintily wiped pink icing from the corners of her mouth with a small napkin. "Plus," she continued, speaking clearly now, "you've got that look. That walk. Who was she?"

"A really nice girl I met at a coffee shop." Brock thought about the sliver of light that traced along her back earlier that morning. "She has an amazing eevee. Cute as hell."

"You'd think the cute girls would have learned better by now", Beth said pretending to ignore him and fake-typing at her computer.

"Actually I was talking about the eevee. But the girl was alright, nowhere near as cute as you though." Brock smiled and Beth rolled her eyes.

"Is that Brock?" a woman's voice called from a nearby hallway before a blonde friendly looking woman in her mid-30s appeared from it.

"Tina! Doughnut?" Brock held the box of pastries open toward Tina, one of his favorite supervisors, who was usually in a bubbly mood.

"Just half, Tina said, "I'm on a diet."

"I don't see why," Brock replied with a wry smile.

"Oh, you!" Tina said playfully as she tore a doughnut in two pieces and put the smaller of them back in the box. "You're list is hanging by the door."

"I'll get to it, then," Brock said, leaving the box of doughnuts on the front counter. He walked down the hallway Tina had come from and grabbed an apron hanging from a hook near the door to the yard and kennels behind the shelter. Brock was about to start his day keeping the kennel and nursing abandoned pokemon back to health and teaching them the skills they would need to survive if they could be released into the wild.

Brock tied the apron behind his back, and as he looked at the list of his chores his smile disappeared. That look, the one Beth was talking about. That walk. Everything that he was feeling that morning suddenly left him.

There were a few pokemon to be washed, a couple of neuter-like procedures he would assist with, an interview with a potential adopter, and a pokemon to be euthanized.