The rhythmic sound of the blade of the knife hitting the wooden cutting board in the kitchen gave Chloe's mind something to focus on rather than letting her thoughts wander. Especially when holding a sharp knife, it was important to remain focused and on task in order to minimize the risk of injury, and she had quite a few different vegetables to cut up.

Some of them, like the onions and mushrooms, were simple enough to just slice into pieces, but the broccoli had to be cut and prepared specially. She cut the florets off the tough stems and then cut the stems each into smaller pieces. She would have to partially cook these parts later a little bit before adding them to the final dish, but all of these preparatory steps were necessary for making the perfect finished product.

This left the carrots and potatoes, and after peeling the carrots, she went against the common wisdom of how to cut them and instead cut them into small, star shapes, leaving a stack of them on her cutting board, ready to be added to the stew. As she turned to move them from her board to a bowl temporarily, she saw Eevee on the kitchen counter getting close to the other chopped veggies. She shooed the Pokémon away. "Get down, Eevee! This isn't ready yet and this has to be absolutely perfect!"

Eevee looked up at her before hopping off the counter, landing next to Yamper, who was already pawing at the cabinets but lacked Eevee's jumping power to get up high. "Eievui…"

"Yamp…?"

She tried to quiet her mind, focusing on the task of cooking rather than the purpose of this particular meal's preparation. She began boiling one pot of water to prepare the broccoli as she set out the ingredients for the soup.

"I didn't think it'd be this much, Eevee…"

"Eievui…"

Her Pokémon, normally a source of positive energy, provided her with no comfort at this moment. Her backpack was heavy with books and missed assignments. Many worksheets would require her attention on diverse courses such as history, math, and literature and that was on top of the reading required for those subjects, as well as the make-up essays she had to turn in for what she learned during her absence (though on that note, she was sure that her experiences would end up being mostly dismissed as fiction, even as true as they really were).

And without Mika and Deliah around to help her catch up, all of this school work would end up being a solo affair, she realized, which made Eevee's rather blasé attitude even more irritating. This is why she was dragging her feet back to the laboratory. But still, the double doors came into view once again, and she opened them up, giving a half-hearted shout of "I'm back" as she stepped in, with Eevee rushing in between her legs.

"Welcome back."

"Huh?"

She looked up and she saw Goh standing there in the entrance way with a calm smile on his face. Grookey was on his shoulder, excitedly chittering at her before the chimp leapt from his shoulder to the ground, just as Yamper arrived from the other room to excitedly lick Eevee upon her return as well.

The Pokémon, all being happy to see each other, did quite a bit to lift Chloe's flagging spirits, but looking at Goh, she saw something hidden past his smile. He was clearly masking something fairly important with his greeting and handsome features, but if he was doing it openly, it meant that he would reveal the truth soon enough.

Which, to Chloe, meant that this was to cushion the blow to what she was about to hear.

But rather than approach the topic directly, she thought to tease it out of him a little. "Thank you," she said, "but I thought you'd be in the park with Ash."

Goh took in a deep breath and exhaled through his nose, breaking eye contact for a moment as he stuffed his hands into the pockets of his hoodie. "Something came up, and I thought you'd want to hear it from me as soon as possible."

"And you didn't text me again?" she said with a wry smirk.

He frowned. "It's not that pressing, so I wanted you to hear it from me."

He wasn't taking the bait, which only made Chloe that much more nervous.

"Alright then… what is it?"

He took his phone out from his pocket and unlocked it, showing her the listing. It was the now somewhat familiar notice sent from Project Mew, indicating that there was a new Trial Mission available. The screen read: 'Catch Regieleki and Regidrago in the Split Decision Ruins in the Galar Region's Crown Tundra', which sounded about right for a trial mission from the research project.

It was the words underneath that made Chloe's eyes go wide.

'This will be the last Trial Mission.'

"The last one…?"

Goh nodded.

Grookey, Eevee, and Yamper began playing some game together, running off down the hall towards the lab's kitchen.

"So, when do we head out?" she asked, happy enough for the distraction from all her school work.

"We don't," he said. He stared through her, and Chloe felt like his blue eyes were going to cut her in two before he even spoke. "You're not going."

This was what he wanted to soften the impact of. She was sure of it.

"I'm not going?!" she protested. "Okay, why not? I would expect my boyfriend to have a good reason as to why he'd want to spend time away from his girlfriend."

She put pressure on both of those words, hoping that her feelings on being left behind at this point would be made loud and clear.

Goh didn't budge. "Because I'm going by myself," he said.

"By yourself…?"

That caught her off guard.

"Wait, you're telling me that Ash isn't coming with you either?"

He nodded. "This is something I need to do by myself, so I asked Ash not to come with me either."

"But… but why not?"

On some level, she could accept that having her around wouldn't be that helpful, given that Eevee likely wouldn't be that good at helping subdue whatever a Regieleki or Regidrago was so that Goh could catch them. But the idea that Goh would go on some Pokémon related adventure without even his best friend Ash Ketchum seemed completely unthinkable.

Goh opened his mouth to answer, but he stopped himself and said nothing. But Chloe watched his eyes carefully, and it looked like he was searching for something, like he was trying to say why he thought he had to go alone but her short question wasn't enough. So she continued, to give him something to play off of, like when they would bicker and tease each other.

"I mean… What about all the teamwork and cooperation that you learned? Didn't having all of us there to help on that island, and how we worked together, show you that you can rely on us to help?"

He smiled and nodded. "It did. I definitely learned a lot about relying on others, and I'm thankful. But I can't continue to force you both to keep putting your own goals on hold to help me."

This reasoning did have at least the cadence of being sound, so Chloe's unease at this news was lessened somewhat.

He continued. "Ash has the Masters Eight tournament coming up really soon, and he needs to be able to train for it so that he's ready. And you have school, and I already know that all the time you spent with us starting with the time we spent going to Rota have put you way behind. I love you and you help even with just being there, but I don't want to be selfish. And I know going to school is important to you, just like Ash's training is important to him. So this is something I want to do myself."

In truth, she missed two full weeks of school, though most of that was the time they spent traveling between Kanto, Alola, and the island where the Mewnium-Z was hidden, so Goh's thoughts certainly weren't mistaken. And she had been thinking more and more about where her schooling was going to be taking her, so doing well with her current course load was something she was very concerned about.

"That's… very kind, Goh, but still… "

She hated the idea of him going by himself.

"You're worried, aren't you?"

She nodded at Goh's question. "Yeah."

He stepped in close and put his hands on her shoulders. "Do you think I can't handle things on my own without you and Ash to bail me out? Be honest."

She looked up at him, and not once during this conversation had he lost his composure. That same cool confidence exuded by his blue eyes was matched by his kind smile.

Perhaps 'composure' wasn't the right word, Chloe thought, thinking that maybe 'resolve' was the right word. Goh had resolved to handle this on his own, and now he was asking if she believed he could handle it.

And to Chloe, this boy could reach into the sky and rearrange the stars themselves. He was capable of catching a myth and proving their existence to even those who doubted everything. She loved him with all her heart, and she believed in him.

It felt like the faith he had been teaching her all this time had finally taken root in her heart, and she had no way to deny it.

"I know you'll be able to do it," she said, feeling embarrassed. "But still… even though I know that, I can't help from worrying, you know?"

"I know," he said. He leaned in close and Chloe caught the scent of his freshly shampooed hair as he softly kissed her cheek. "I'll be careful. I promise you that."

"Thank you," she said, smiling. "And… you'll let me see you off, right?"

"Of course. The plane leaves pretty early tomorrow, but there's no way I'd say you couldn't do that much." He brushed his hand through her hair until he was cupping her cheek in his hand.

"Thank you, Goh," she whispered as she leaned up and closed her eyes.

Her gratitude was returned by the soft, tender feeling of his lips against hers.

Now that the vegetables were simmering in their broth, Chloe began preparing the bechamel sauce. The trick was to create a roux, like she's had to make before for curry, so she began cooking the flour together with the melted butter, continuously mixing and cooking things together as the vegetables simmered on another burner nearby. Eevee and Yamper, who had wandered off before, now stumbled back into the kitchen, sniffing the delectable air that was wafting out of it. Glancing down as she stirred, she saw Yamper's mouth hanging open and saw him practically drooling over the smell of the food being prepared, but given how much of a glutton the little puppy could be, this was typical behavior coming from him.

And so too was Eevee copying this behavior typical of her.

There was something a little fun about cooking in a kitchen with Pokémon, but Chloe remained on task. Once the flower and butter roux was ready, she took some warm Moo Moo Milk and began pouring it into the roux bit by bit, making sure to mix it in well before pouring in any more. If the mixture got any lumps in it at this stage, she was told, they would be incredibly difficult to remove at a later stage.

"Smells like someone's practically got dinner ready!"

Chloe looked up from her preparations to see her father Professor Cerise, and her mother entering the kitchen, having come down from the upstairs. She tried to feign as much indifference as she could at being discovered, since she knew that cooking this would never be something she could keep to herself for too long. So she focused back on turning the roux into a sauce.

"Now dear, don't tease her," her mother said. "If Chloe is feeling this motivated to cook, I say we let her! It would be great to have someone cooking more often so that I could focus on my work more."

Cerise chuckled. "Sure beats the carry-out from Sugiya, that's for sure!"

"Are you guys just going to stand there and make fun of me?" Chloe asked in a low voice, trying her hardest not to scowl into the developing sauce.

"Sorry, sweetie," Cerise said as he stepped over. "Your mother and I were just surprised to see you so driven about something like this."

"You've helped in the kitchen before, but I can't remember the last time you made something like this. It's all so elaborate!"

Chloe shrugged off her parents' praise. "Well, it has to be ready for the morning, so it's not like I had a lot of time to sit and think about the details. Honestly, I got a lot of help getting everything I needed. I'm just following someone else's recipe.

"Someone else's?" her mother asked.

"And that's why I need your help," Chloe asked, bowing before her phone with her hands clapped together. "I've never done anything LIKE this before, but if there's nothing else I can do to help, then I just HAVE to do something, you know?"

The old woman on the other end of the call cackled loudly. "Well, when you put it like that, how can I refuse?" she said. "Sure, I'll teach you how to make Granny Halta's special cream stew!"

Chloe looked up at the phone, overjoyed. "Really?"

Her Rotom Phone was sitting on its side, and displayed on the screen was a woman she was very familiar with. Her hair had gone entirely gray, but there was a mischievous twinkle in her eyes that reminded Chloe of Goh. This woman was Goh's grandmother, affectionately called 'Granny Halta' by Goh in conversation, but for Chloe, she was a lifeline in a situation that wasn't going especially well.

"Now, tell me what ingredients you've got."

Chloe nodded at her phone. "Right. I went by the supermarket on the way home and I got some broccoli, carrots, an onion, some potatoes and mushrooms, some vegetable stock, heavy cream…"

"Wow! You certainly didn't take any chances, did you?"

Chloe felt her face heat up. "W-Well, I just thought of all the times I was over at your place and Goh and I would eat it," she said. "I thought a lot about the stuff that goes in it, and I tried to pick up everything I could possibly need. And if there's anything I didn't get… Well, hopefully our kitchen here's already well stocked enough that I can just use it here."

Halta smiled through the phone at her. "Even as old as I am, it's still hard to believe little Chloe's grown up so much."

That just made her feel more embarrassed. "W-What do you mean…?"

"When Goh brought you over that first time, you and he were barely up to my knee. You've both grown up so much. He's traveling the world, trying to join this research project while you've matured into a very kind young woman."

"C-C'mon," she stammered. "I really don't think it's that impressive. Goh's still an excitable dork and I'm still pretty cold to people. I'm sure it's just because we're taller that you're thinking that."

Halta put her hand to her chin. "I don't think so. I raised Goh's mother myself and there are still times she gets emotional and cries at the drop of a hat. You kids, though… You two have really changed. Come into your own."

"We've come into our own?"

"The way the two of you play off each other is sweet," Halta said. "Like just watching you two talk, you already get the idea that you're thick-as-thieves, and seeing you both grow into this new relationship you both have has been really special."

If Chloe wasn't embarrassed before, she certainly was now. "C'mon, you don't really mean that…"

"I do," she said with a nod. "I still remember Goh coming home from school one day, shortly after you two became friends. Normally he was so quiet at home, but he asked me how he could be better friends with girls."

The image of the short, boyish Goh asking his grandmother how he could be a good friend for Chloe was simultaneously too hilarious for words and too embarrassing to consider, so Chloe did her best to keep her thoughts hidden, though she felt the embarrassment rise to her face.

"I told him to just try and listen and talk things through, and I guess it was the trick, huh?"

"Well, Goh's always been a good listener and good at taking other's thoughts and feelings into account… even when he completely misunderstands their thoughts and feelings and misinterprets things."

Chloe's backhanded compliment was her way of trying to take more control over the conversation, but it brought an unexpected reaction from Goh's grandmother.

"You're right…" she said. "Poor kid."

Chloe raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"I just remember how worried Camille - I mean, Goh's mother would get when he would lock himself into his room to do research on Pokémon," she explained. "There would be times he would practically live in his room, even when his parents were home. About the only thing that he willingly came out of it for was to see you when you came over."

This gave Chloe pause, but as much as it hurt her heart to think of how lonely Goh used to be, she said nothing and just let Halta continue.

"I guess it was because you both loved talking about Pokémon so much, and he finally found someone he could share that part of himself with. Now his parents and I don't hate Pokémon, you understand, but we couldn't exactly have any in an apartment that small with the four of us already living here."

Chloe nodded. "We both really loved Pokémon in those days, and honestly, I was happy to be Goh's friend," she said quietly. "I just saw how lonely he was, and I didn't want him to be."

"I'm glad that Goh's always had a friend like you, Chloe," Halta said. "Even when he shut himself off from everyone and everything else, you still kept coming by to help him do his homework and get him out and with people and Pokémon. I know it didn't look like you were having much of an impact on him, but for his parents and me? You were a lifeline. I'm so thankful Goh has someone like you in his life that loves him as much as you do."

Chloe felt like her face was going to burn off. It was incredibly embarrassing to have your boyfriend's grandmother talk about how happy she is that you were dating her grandson. But nothing she said was wrong, per se. While Chloe would certainly point out that Ash's influence on Goh's life assuredly changed him for the better in a much more dramatic fashion than Chloe's years of friendship, perhaps Granny Halta had a point that Chloe's patience and persistence were important for their own sake.

After all, without Chloe constantly trying to bring Goh around to school for his grades as well as to socialize, would Goh have ever had the opportunity to meet Ash? Would they have both become research fellows at the Cerise Lab? The possibility was certainly there that it would happen regardless, but the fact that it absolutely happened with how things went was undeniable.

Perhaps, Chloe thought to herself, she should give herself a bit more credit when it came to how Goh matured.

But she couldn't say such a thing without enduring another teasing from Granny Halta, she thought, so instead she focused on asking Halta the steps to prepare the stew.

Her lungs were burning as she ran through the airport, carrying the stew in her bag. She had filled two thermoses after heating it up in the morning and raced out the door to catch Goh before his flight, but it was so early that she was running down the sidewalk towards the bus stop and the sun was barely peeking over the horizon. Eevee held onto her shoulder as tightly as she could with her paws, but Chloe knew that she didn't have a lot of time if she wanted to see him.

She rushed through the nearly empty airport towards the security checkpoint before Gate 8, where Goh would be flying out of. Since she wouldn't be flying out herself, this was the farthest she could go, and so she stopped and waited. She wasn't even sure if Goh would be here this early, but she knew his flight left shortly.

And so, she waited, catching her breath as Eevee fell to her feet, padding around her quietly.

She stood, waiting for what felt like an eternity, looking through the crowd for a sign of him. The waiting was harder than any other part of the process. Harder than accepting Goh's resolve to face this alone. Harder than working through her embarrassment to ask Halta for help. Harder than even making the cream stew itself.

Could she admit that she was, at least, a little afraid? This would be Goh's last chance at reaching a crucial step to his dream. If he failed here, and earned no tokens, he wouldn't make it into Project Mew. Even if he succeeded, acceptance wasn't guaranteed, Chloe knew. If he got any less than 5 tokens (which would be far more than given for any individual mission up to this point), he was in danger of losing out due to the performance of others. And the thought of Goh failing after coming this far made her heart falter. Her eyes drifted down to Eevee, who was staring back up at her, a hint of sadness in her own eyes.

"Eievui…" she gently cooed.

Chloe sighed, and turned her eyes back to the crowd only to be met by a wide pair of blue eyes, right in front of her.

"Chloe…"

"Goh!"

He had snuck up on her in that moment her mind was occupied. Grookey was on his shoulder, and both the boy and his Pokémon had a look on their face like they were worried about her, when as far as Chloe was concerned she should be the one worried about them.

Goh looked down at the bag she brought with her that contained the thermoses. "Were you running errands this early?" he asked.

"You dork," she sighed, rolling her eyes. She held up the bag and opened it up so he could see inside. "It's some thermoses filled with nice hot stew. Your grandmother's cream stew."

Goh furrowed his brow. "Did Granny Halta send you with it? I guess I should-"

"No," she said, shaking her head. "I made it. I just asked for the recipe."

Goh's cheeks burned red, even as close as he was to her face. "O-Oh."

"I… I know it isn't much, and I know you have to do this on your own. And so I'm not going to force you to let me go or anything like that. It's just…" A sigh.

"...you want to do something," Goh said, finishing her thought. "You want to help out, no matter what. And this was all you could think to do."

Now it was Chloe's turn to feel embarrassed. "Y-Yeah… Sorry it isn't much."

He took her cheek in his hand and brushed his thumb across it. "Don't be. I'm sure it's delicious and it'll be a nice warm treat when I'm in the Crown Tundra."

"Grooki!" Grookey added, waving his stick into the air.

Their combined charm and cheerfulness but a smile back on Chloe's face. "Thanks, Goh."

She she leaned into his hand and towards him, hoping for one more kiss before he left to face his destiny, an announcement went over the airport intercom.

"Flight G894 to the Wyndon, now boarding. Passengers, please approach the gate."

And the spell was broken and she knew he had to leave.

He dropped his hand. "Sorry…"

"Don't be," she said. She took the bag and pressed it towards him. "Go for it. Become a Chaser and make your dream a reality!"

He took the bag and nodded. "I will. Thank you."

He gave her his confident, cool smile, and she tried her hardest not to get emotional over it, but the tears in her eyes told her that she was ultimately failing. Goh looked at her, with eyes filled with sadness. She could tell he just wanted to comfort her until she was better, but he had to catch his flight.

As if picking up on this, Grookey leapt from Goh's shoulder into Chloe's chest, where she caught the chimp in her arms. He looked up at her with wide, dark eyes. "Grooki…"

"Grookey… what are you…?"

"That's perfect," Goh said with a grin. "Grookey, take care of Chloe until I get back, okay? I'm counting on you!"

"Grooki! Grooki!" he cheered, waving his stick.

Goh turned on his heel and bolted for the security line, and she stood there, silent as Grookey and Eevee both waved Goh off. She stood there until he disappeared behind the checkpoint and into the crowds all rushing for their plane, holding Grookey in her arms for a few moments.

It was only after taking a breath and looking down that she had a thought that turned her face red from ear to ear as she set Grookey on the ground. "C'mon, let's go," she said. "All we can do now is… have faith."

It was strange how much she was learning to have faith in those around her, she thought, after so long of feeling disconnected from the concept. But she couldn't deny that she did believe Goh would succeed and become a Chaser, even if all she had to go on was the warm feeling in her heart.

Hello! Once again, this is Purim, the author!

Last week was kind of serious in the Afterward, wasn't it?

This time will be a bit more brief. I hope that's okay.

The idea for this story came from two things: One, Chloe doesn't appear in the episode where Goh takes on his final trial mission. And two, Grookey isn't with Goh from the moment he arrives in Galar.

So where's Grookey? It's probably just staying inside it's ball where it's warmer… but it was a more fun idea, I think, to say that Goh had left Grookey with Chloe on purpose, because he wanted to help her feel better.

And I think Chloe making Goh his favorite stew is just a sweet image.

Thank you for reading! The next story is the last one before I go on hiatus for a while, so thank you for reading.