(CW: someone deals with a homophobic family member in this. Also, offscreen death.)

Sunday night was a dream I'd never had. I'd tell you it was because the memory is so vivid I don't need to dream about it, but believe me when I say I don't need to dream about Lucas's death, either.

This one happened at Lake Valor, too. But it was when the lake was clear and full and sparkling with moonlight.

Winter, a few days before Christmas, but the ballroom was warm and most of the ladies didn't wear more than a shawl over their gowns. The Trainer Ball. Known officially as the Lake Valor Tournament Gala, but colloquially called the Trainer Ball because it sounds like a kiddie sport.

I found him and stepped down the staircase. He was across the room, on his own in light formal wear. I wove through the crowd surrounding the dance floor, breathing deeply and slowly to prevent myself from blushing.

Lucas turned and smiled. It was a relaxed smile; we were well over a month after Galactic tested out their bomb in the Great Marsh, and the lull in activity made it easy to forget we were waiting for their next move. All was… quite well.

But like I said, he turned and we locked eyes, (and may I mention he looks lovely in a vest and tie,) and he smiled like he was actually having a decent time here. He'd been reluctant to go ("I don't dance"), but I'd persuaded him.

I wasn't sure I could persuade him of this. My heart was beating fast and light. "How's it going?" I asked him.

"It's going fine," he said with a mild nod.

The music changed like I knew it would – a slow song. My heartbeat thumped wildly in my ears. I was turning bright red, wasn't I.

"Hey, um…" A panicked string of cuss words ran through my head, taking up time.

But he waited for me to speak with the gentle patience I had grown to associate with him, and when our lines of sight crossed, his eyes caught mine. In three seconds my mind was clear enough to proceed.

I gave a smile that was a mix of gratitude for what he didn't know he'd done, apology for what he didn't know was happening, and a "Hey. It's me." I breathed.

"Lucas."

"Yes?"

"Will…" Breathe, Evelyn, breathe. "May I have this dance?"

The corners of his mouth stretched up. "Sure," he said.

So we moved to the dance floor and positioned ourselves the way couples did in high school: hands-on-shoulders, hands-on-waist. I was nervous about getting too close the whole time, but he seemed relaxed where we were.

It was lovely. If you haven't yet danced with someone you love, there's an ease of heart and an ease of shoulders involved in holding them just a little less than arm's length away. We kept making eye contact and then looking away. I wasn't sure I could handle that much of him at once.

When it was over I looked at him and said, "Thank you for the dance."

And he said, "Anytime."

And never had I considered so seriously that perhaps he liked me as well. His eyes were shining.

I remembered: I'd have loved to hug him, but Lucas Tristan didn't much care for physical touch. It was asking for too much, anyways. I'd loved slowdancing with him.

I met him downstairs the next morning. His eyes were lighter, warmer in real life. I'm very sorry-not-sorry about how often I talk about his eyes.

"Hey," I said. He nodded a greeting.

Over the last few days, Dawn had been out training on the routes fairly regularly. She'd come back with a spoink (Eliza, a sweetheart as far as I could tell) and a scyther (Eric, my first impression of whom was neutral, and my second impression of whom was "well fuck you too") on two different days. Lucas and I trained together and separately; Trust was getting flamethrower more reliably, his kadabra was reacting faster, we were still about evenly matched.

Promise, by the way, was trying to steal my baby. He looked after Hope constantly, played games with her with little jets of water, had begun to sleep with his long body curled around her. It make me a bit uneasy because… well, I was supposed to be looking after her, and I was concerned Promise was trying to take on too many protectees. But she was likely in better hands this way (paws, hah).

"Any plans today?" he asked as we headed to the cafeteria for breakfast.

"I was thinking I'd go to the gym," I said. "Not to battle," I added, because he looked so shocked at the thought. Gyms get exponentially harder between badges. "To see if I can get fighting lessons or something."

"Oh. Nice."

"What are you doing today?"

"Going south to train. I was thinking I'd hitch a ride to Lake Valor."

I tensed. "O-okay," I said.

Lucas looked at me quizzically. "It's nothing," I said, trying to brush the flashbacks away. It was nothing this time around. Nothing happened at Lake Valor this time around. It's fine. I'm fine.

But we split up in the dining hall briefly because he went to get coffee and I wanted an apple, and the sudden surge of nerves almost made my knees buckle.

Arceus, it's fine, I scolded myself.

The image of bright crimson eyes in the cave made me shudder.

Logic, where are you? groaned the logical part of me.

Okay. No big deal. He'd be fine.

I brought fruit back to the table he'd picked out. He'd picked out a muffin as well as the coffee. "Mm, so healthy," I joked. Lucas raised his mug as a sort of "Yup, cheers."

"So what are you doing around Valor?" I asked, pulling out a chair.

"Mostly training. I might catch a fire type."

I nodded. There were houndours around Lake Valor. They had a tendency to be a bit evil, but as I'd once caught a sneasel that was practically the devil incarnate, I wasn't one to talk.

"Any idea which part of the area?" Maybe he'd avoid the lake altogether.

"Not really. Never been there."

"Mm… If you go up the hill, you'll hit some cliffs," I warned him. "There's really not enough warning. Just be careful."

He sipped his coffee. Once he finished, he headed out.

The gym was closed when I arrived, but Maylene came jogging up within a few minutes.

"Hey there," she said, breathing deeply, "Sorry about the wait."

"It's no problem." I checked my poketch just to be sure; it was one minute before the gym opened.

"Are you here for a battle?" Maylene asked, unlocking the door.

"Um… Actually, I was wondering if you could teach me how to fight."

She looked up in surprise. There was a hint of amusement on her face. "You're a trainer, aren't you? How long are you in town for?"

"…Probably another half a week, or a week, max."

"There's a limit to what I can do, then. These things take time."

"Anything will help."

She smiled. "Come on in."

Over the course of the morning she taught me general things – keep your arms near your head to defend it, throw your weight into your punches– and threw in a few random tips. I wouldn't have thought to curl my knuckles asymmetrically on my own. It does more damage than a flat line, evidently. My pokemon took care of themselves (Promise and Trust took care of Faith and Hope) in the room next door.

"Am I taking too much of your time?" I asked when we took a break for lunch at 2 pm.

"No, no, it's fine," Maylene insisted. "As long as there isn't a challenger, there's nothing to worry about. Besides, I'd be lonely otherwise."

This surprised me. I tried to recall what I'd known about Maylene in the past: youngest gym leader, at only 18 years old, and she had taken over the Veilstone gym only recently… um… what else…

"I'm new to the area," Maylene said. "I haven't met many people yet."

"Where are you from?" I'd assumed she was a Veilstone native.

"Snowpoint. Do you know Candice? She's a good friend of mine."

"I've heard of her, yeah."

Maylene nodded distractedly. "Yeah. There… There was an opening for a gym here, so…"

After lunch she went over some footwork – mostly the idea of constant motion, and bouncing back and forth to enable lateral motion at any time. I left at five (Lucas had arrived back in Veilstone safely, thank Arceus) and returned the next morning, when she taught me two kinds of kicks.

"Okay," she said. "Lunch break."

I looked at the clock on the wall. It hadn't even been an hour.

"The thing is," she said as we ate lunch, "I don't want to teach you a ton of things in this half week or so. I'd rather teach you a few useful things and then make you practice them."

I got it. "Like that saying," I said. "It's better to know one kick and practice it a thousand times than knowing a thousand kicks and practicing each once."

"Right on."

I must have done at least a few hundred of those thousand kicks – and punches – that afternoon. Soreness was kicking in by the next morning, and I wasn't able to get to the gym until early afternoon.

Maylene was sparring with one of the four black belt trainers when I arrived. I watched her fight – ducking under his blows almost before they happened, moving with a light quickness I'd have assumed lacked physical strength behind it. But she soon proved me wrong, somehow managing to flip the much larger trainer over her shoulder onto the ground.

She looked up. I was now a bit intimidated. "Ah, hey."

"Sorry I'm late," I said. "I was really sore this morning." It felt like an excuse.

"That's all right. I had time to fight this guy." Maylene turned to the man on the ground. "Thanks, Colby."

He got up slowly, making a big deal about groaning in pain. "Don't get too good," he warned me, "or else she'll make you stay and beat you up, too."

"I wasn't trying to beat you up," she protested. "I wanted to fight."

"Same difference, unfortunately," Colby shrugged.

Maylene giggled quietly when he was out of the room. "I actually really like having them around," she said. "At least one of them is always available to spar with. I fight my lucario, too, but we've gotten too used to each other. Anyways. Do you have any fighting type pokemon?" Maylene asked me.

"I have a monferno."

I fetched him from where they were all playing (I'd expected it to be Faith and Hope messing around and Promise and Trust babysitting, but it looked like they were all enjoying themselves). Maylene had me practice fighting against Trust. Dodging, at first. Then Maylene gave us both protective gear ("Because you're new") and let us pretty much go at it.

It wasn't easy because he was such a small target, even though I'm convinced he went super easy on me. And he didn't hit that fast, but he hit hard. I did go from landing nothing to landing a hit once in a while… Which I guess was good?

A black belt poked his head in while Trust and I sparred. "Call from Snowpoint," he said.

Trust and I had hit a lull, so we were both paying attention and noticed when Maylene's face darkened. "I'm busy," she said.

"You can't keep–"

"I'm busy," she snapped. "And don't tell the gym leader what to do."

When he left and closed the door, Maylene sighed. "Sorry about that," she said to me. "Raphael can get annoyingly insistent if I don't stop him."

I arrived back at the Center to find Lucas and Dawn sitting unusually close together. Lucas had his arm around her; her head was on his shoulder.

I'd have left them be, even though jealousy made my stomach squirm. But Dawn looked shaken.

"Did… Did something happen?"

Dawn didn't look like she wanted to speak. Lucas wasn't one to talk for her. "That's okay," I said, putting my bag down while still holding Hope. "You don't have to– hey!"

Hope had squirmed out of my arms and landed on the bed. She hopped to the pillow, bounced across the nightstand, and wound up on Dawn's lap. "Priii~" she chirped.

Dawn lifted her hand. My togepi cooed as Dawn petted her.

Dawn smiled, then sighed. "I got jumped by Team Galactic today."

My jaw dropped. "Are you okay? Your pokemon?"

"Kenna… Kenna's hurt but she'll be okay. Everyone else just got knocked out, but…" Her voice closed up.

"One of them passed away," Lucas told me, finally speaking.

I got cold. "Which one?"

"Eliza. Her spoink."

Relief washed over me. That was unfair of me. To be so relieved Owen was okay that the spoink didn't mean as much.

"I'm so sorry," I said.

Dawn gave a small, tired shrug. "It happens," she said wearily.

"What else happened?" I asked, more to Lucas than her.

"Not much. I was in that part of town, so I finished the battle for her. I think they just wanted to scare her. They didn't even take anything."

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

They didn't even take anything. I'd thought it was the pokedex theft, which had happened last time. Looker's diary said that was two days away. Things had changed.

Maylene seemed a little off on Thursday. She didn't act differently towards me, but there was less light in her eyes, and something about her seemed heavier, slower.

She had me spar with her lucario. "He'll emulate some common moves people use, and I want you to come up with a way– Arceus damn it, Raphael, I don't care how many times they call, I'm busy."

"It's Volkner. Something city related. Very gym leadery."

Maylene scowled. "I can guess that from the fact that it's a gym leader. Don't patronize me." She passed him on the way out.

Raphael saw me looking at him and sighed. "I'm just the messenger. But I'd be concerned if I was her family, too."

Maylene's lucario essentially took over my training for the day. The spikes on his wrists and chest made things a little difficult, but I didn't often come close to them. He showed without words how to block and counter different attack approaches.

Colby walked in. "Hey, Evelyn."

"Hey."

"Just so you know, you, uh, probably shouldn't expect to see Maylene again today."

"Is it the call from Volkner?"

"No, she… Well, she was online, and I guess her family noticed. She didn't have an excuse."

"Why does she avoid her family?"

Colby shrugged. "None of us really know. Not our business."

Lucario surprised me with a sneak attack; I reacted quickly. We'd done this one at least ten times.

At four-thirty I called it off and collected my pokemon. Lucario left before I could ask him a question.

"Colby," I said when the black belt strolled through, "Where's the restroom?"

He pointed behind him. "Go right, then left, second door on the right."

"Thanks."

"Mhm."

I was barefoot still, so my feet made maybe a little less noise than they should have. Because the first door on the left was open, and I could hear the conversation inside.

"…why you're so adamant about it," said a male voice through a speaker.

A groan from Maylene. "You don't get it. I can't help who I am."

"You choose how you live."

"Not in this case. You think I'd choose to alienate my family?"

"That's what you're doing."

"But if I could get away with it, I wouldn't be."

"You can get away with it, though. Don't you see? You chose between alienating your family and dating a girl, and now you have neither."

"I'm still with Candice."

"She's still in Snowpoint."

"You're underestimating long distance. Look, I gotta go."

"Maylene–" A sigh. "We still love you. Come home. We'll help you get over this."

"Bye." Maylene hung up the call. Silence hung in the room and the hallway. Her head dropped into her hands, and she let out a low, frustrated scream. The quiet returned.

Then she said, "Evelyn, come in. Let's talk."

College is going well but is also busy. So, we'll see how this goes. The majority of this chapter was written in like three days, so it probably really just depends on creativity bursts. Fun stuff.

PSA FOR ANYONE TAKING CHEM: Don't violate the octet rule for the first three periods, you'll feel like an idiot.