Being a member of the Elite Four was a lot more involved than Flint had been expecting, so it took a while for him to find the free time, but at the first opportunity he got, he headed straight for Sunyshore. He'd talked a bit with Volkner on the phone, but this would be the first time he'd get to meet with him in person since landing the job, and he was naturally excited.
Nothing seemed wrong when he first entered the gym. Volkner greeted him with a small smile and a warm hello, asked how he was enjoying the new role.
"It's been hectic, I can tell you that much," Flint said with a laugh. "Looks like you don't have a lot going on here today, huh? Wanna go to the café and we can catch up over lunch?"
"No thanks. I'm not hungry," the gym leader replied with a wan smile.
"Well… just drinks then?" Flint suggested, to which his friend nodded, after a moment of consideration.
The conversation continued amiably enough as they made their way there, took their usual seats, and ordered their drinks – Flint complained about paperwork; Volkner complained about Sunyshore being dull and lonely without Flint around. All the while, a suspicion scratched at the back of Flint's brain.
"You sure you don't want anything to eat, man?" he asked. "When's the last time you ate?"
"I'm not hungry," Volkner said again, avoiding answering the second question. Flint narrowed his eyes suspiciously.
"Volk… Are you doing that thing where you stop eating again?"
Volkner looked away and took a sip of his drink before replying. "No."
Flint frowned and leaned forward, crossing his arms on the table. "You're a terrible liar, Volk. When's the last time you ate?" he asked again.
"Look, I've been under a lot of stress lately-"
"Answer the question."
The electric-type trainer withered under the glare his friend leveled at him. "Yesterday morning," he admitted.
He braced himself for a scolding, but somehow the look of pity on Flint's face was worse. "You can't keep doing this to yourself, Volkner. I know you lose your appetite sometimes but you've gotta eat something. What started this, anyway? You don't do this out of nowhere."
Volkner looked despondently down at his drink and moved it in a slow circle on the table, watching the liquid swirl. "I've just been going through a rough patch, lately. Seems like nothing's going my way."
"How so?" Flint asked, sliding a small menu across the table to the gym leader.
The blond paused for a moment, trying to actually list his problems, and found that he didn't have as many as he felt like he had. Instead of making him feel better, that made him feel like an impostor. "Well, you know. Best friend left town," he shot Flint a wry smile, "haven't had any good battles lately, some capacitors I ordered got lost in the mail…"
It took half an hour of coaxing, and a few threats to drag him to the hospital and have an IV put in his arm, but Flint eventually convinced Volkner to eat half a bagel. It wasn't like this was the first time this had happened, so the redhead knew how to deal with it. Volkner just did this sometimes when he got into one of his moody phases – although now Flint harbored suspicion that they were not simply moody phases at all.
Wasn't sudden changes in appetite one of the symptoms of depression he'd read about?