So here's what happened next.

Battles between the top eight were set for the afternoon. These were 3-on-3 matches. Everything from quarterfinals onward would be tomorrow, day 3.

Dawn had won her top-16 match, and her top-8 was early in the afternoon. She also won that. If I won my top-8, Dawn and I would be battling in the quarterfinals, a 4-on-4 double battle. I started strategizing against her immediately.

I could go with Coeur, who had no particular advantage, but also no particular disadvantage. Faith had an advantage against Dawn's scyther and no other disadvantages. Dawn's electabuzz worried me because we had two disadvantages and no advantages against electricity. Hope, meanwhile, was the only one with an electric advantage against Kenna and Dawn's altaria and scyther. Def could cover Kenna and Melody with magical leaf and psychic moves, but he was bad against the scyther, which Trust could cover, but Trust was bad against Kenna and the altaria, which Hope could cover, but she was bad against Dawn's electabuzz, which none of us could cover…?

Anyways. I'll spare myself the embarrassment and just tell you I lost the next battle. In the retrospect of just a few minutes after Faith, Def, and Prom got trashed by Ashley de Leon of Sunyshore, I figured out that I'd been so focused on my battle with Dawn, I forgot to take the present battle seriously.

First tournament, anyways. Not bad. Got to top 8.

"Luck evolved," Def mentioned.

It confused me until I remembered I'd been using the shiny stone necklace as a lucky charm. "Yeah," I said, laughing. "I suppose so."

Day three. Dawn and Thomas were still in, so Lucas and I stayed. Thomas joined us in watching Dawn's mid-morning quarterfinal battle.

It was a strange experience; Thomas sat between me and Lucas, talking to both of us in turn. Occasionally I would attempt to reply to something Lucas said; he never responded to me.

Dawn did better than I did against Ashley, but she lost as well. This made me feel a little bit better about my loss.

Afterwards, Dawn and Lucas headed out. I almost considered leaving – more time with Lucas, more time to figure things out – but I knew I was a better person than that.

"Sorry we're not staying longer," Dawn said. "It's just if we leave now, we can get to Pastoria by nightfall."

"That's all right. You guys are traveling together again?" I asked.

Dawn shook her head. "We're just heading in the same direction. I'm stopping in Pastoria, but he's heading back to Canalave."

That made more sense.

"It's really nice of you to stay for him, though," Dawn said, referring to the 5-badge trainer with a battle in three hours.

I shrugged. "It's not like he's got anyone else supporting him."

Dawn nodded. "Okay. Well, see you around."

"See ya," I said.

Lucas didn't say anything. "Say goodbye, you goof," Dawn said, mussing his hair.

He smoothed his hair back down. "Bye," he said. For a moment his expression was almost open, like he was fine with – even glad about – talking to me.

"See you," I said, my heart backflipping.

He looked away. Should I have been pleased he reacted like that? Concerned that Dawn had to prompt him to say anything? Flipping heck, man.

As we parted ways, though, I kept thinking of how Dawn had messed with his hair, and how Lucas hated to be touched. I never would have done that.

Thomas left lunch early to get dressed up. "That still seems like such a hassle," I told him.

"I'm performing."

I shook my head and finished my lunch. There was a good hour left before his battle, so I went to wander around a little outside the stadium.

"Excuse me, do you know what divisions are competing right now?"

I turned around. There was a girl who looked about my age – short, dark-haired, wearing a gray cardigan over a blue skirt.

"I think they're on a break right now. The 5-and-6 badge division starts quarterfinals at one," I let her know.

"Okay. Thanks."

I nodded, and noticed a little latios-shaped figure at the bottom of her skirt. "Nice skirt," I said, grinning.

"Thanks! It's my favorite," she said, smiling. She had a slight Jubilife accent.

"You're into the eon duo too?"

"Ever since I was little."

"Same here. I've forgotten all my reasons why, but I remember thinking they're awesome."

"Yeah, and who needs mainstream favorites like mewtwo and articuno when you can support the underappreciated legendary pokemon out there?"

"So true," I said, laughing.

"Anyways. I gotta catch up with my friends, but thanks again. I'm trying to avoid someone in the first division," she said, shrugging in a what-can-you-do way.

"Ahh. Okay. Have fun!" I said.

"Thanks!"

She walked off, and I caught myself feeling lighter than before. I guess I'd enjoyed being able to connect with someone like that.

Or you think she's cute, said a voice in the back of my head.

I tensed and glanced at the girl walking away. No I don't, I told the voice hurriedly, looking away.

What makes you so sure?

I shook my head internally. No. If she was cute, I hadn't noticed. She just had the body type I'd always wanted, and I liked her skirt because it was blue and had a latios.

Do you hear yourself?

Stoppp, I told the stupid voice, deciding to walk to the green room just to get away from… this.

There was something terribly wrong with Thomas's outfit.

"What is it?" he asked, looking down. "Did I spill something? I've only been wearing this for five minutes."

"No…"

It was a button-down and pants like the day before, although this shirt was burgundy and his pants were dark brown. The shirt was tucked in evenly, his socks matched, and there were no stains in sight.

"I don't know what it is," I finally said.

"Okay. Well, if you figure it out, let me know," Thomas said.

"Oh, I will. This is really bothering me."

"That's not all that's bothering you."

I raised an eyebrow.

"Hey, I was there this morning, too."

"You mean when Lucas was refusing to talk to me?"

"Mhm."

"Thanks for bringing it up, I really appreciate it," I said, laying the sarcasm on thick.

"Just checking on how you're doing."

I rubbed my forehead tiredly. "Thomas, I'm fine."

He didn't respond. He set his bag on the countertop by a mirror and started rummaging through it.

"Whatever," I muttered. "I just don't get why he's so mad at me."

"He's not mad."

I blinked. "You know what's going on? Tell me."

"I don't know what's going on," he said, taking several things out of his bag – water, a bowl, a glasses case. "He just didn't strike me as mad."

"And you know this… how exactly?"

"Same way I know you're stressing over him," Thomas said, pointing his glasses case at me. "It's obvious."

"Then what is he, if not mad?"

He tapped the case against his chin. "You know when you spend too much time with someone and you don't want to talk to them anymore?"

"I've literally never felt that way… is this a subliminal message?"

"What I'm saying is he just doesn't feel like talking to you," said Thomas. "I don't know why. That's just the sense I got."

"Huh." I frowned. "So he just needs space."

"Yeah, probably." He looked into his bag and pulled out a small plastic case.

"Next up, Kyle Nguyen. On deck, Thomas Zamora."

"I'm gonna find a spot. Good luck."

"Wait, can you hold on to my wallet? I don't want to leave it in the room."

I frowned at him. "Did someone hold it the last few times you battled?"

"These pants have smaller pockets. Please?"

I took it and put it in my bag.

"Thanks." He turned to the mirror.

I headed out, still thinking about what he'd said. So Lucas just needed space… Was that the case? I hadn't even seen him for weeks before this tournament… so…?

I also couldn't deny the physical ache in my chest when I thought about having to avoid talking to him. In the past – especially last time around – talking to him always lifted my spirits so much. It didn't even matter what we were talking about – it could be something mundane, or he could lean in like he was listening, or he could hear everything I said easily – it always resulted in every part of me floating on air.

I'm not sure I can explain why. Maybe it was the way he leaned in. Maybe it was the way he held my eyes with his, the way someone would hold both your hands in sincerity.

Most likely it's because I love him.

Anyways. Giving Lucas even more space would sting, but if it was for the best, then it would be worth it. I could do that.

Decisions are a lot easier to make when you don't immediately feel their impacts.

I found a seat in the stadium as Kyle Nguyen defeated Kevin Hale. The venue was really filling up, as trainers who'd finished their brackets joined the audience and spectators came to watch higher-stakes and higher-division battles. I checked my poketch – the tournament was slightly behind schedule. There was no gap between the current battlers leaving the field and the next battlers walking on.

"This will be a four-on-four double battle between Thomas of Ecruteak City and Tejal of Snowpoint City. No substitutions will be allowed between rounds. Battlers, are you ready?"

I was zoning out a little, so it took me a minute to notice that Thomas wasn't wearing his glasses. But when I did, everything clicked into place.

"Battle… begin!"

I'd rarely ever seen him without his glasses on, and he looked so different that it was no wonder I'd forgotten. If his clothing had seemed wrong before, his lack of glasses was the last piece in a puzzle spelling disaster.

Because I remembered him.

Valor Resort Tournament, last time around. Dawn was up against a 3-badge trainer, a guy dressed up in dark red and brown. For the longest time he had the upper hand, and Dawn was down to her last pokemon – Rhea, her grotle.

Rhea finally beat the trainer's first pokemon, a sandslash. Lucas and I cheered for Dawn, and we were so focused on the battle, we didn't realize anything was wrong until Rhea also beat the trainer's silver noctowl.

"That was fast," I said, frowning.

"Look at her opponent," said Lucas.

I looked, and found Dawn's opponent glancing nervously at the sidelines. I didn't see anything out of the ordinary there, but whatever he was seeing was enough to thoroughly distract him from the battle.

He shakily pulled out his last pokeball and released a quilava on the field. At the time I didn't have a ton of battle experience, but I could still clearly see how little sense his battle choices made. He did things like ask his quilava to use ember when Rhea had her between her jaws, where the quilava couldn't reach her. Sloppy decisions that were nothing like the trainer he'd been five minutes ago.

And he lost. He calmly shook hands with Dawn, but as he walked off the field, a shadow passed over his face. For a split second, he looked for the world like he was breaking inside. But he composed himself and left the field.

I had to retrace. Where were we sitting when we watched them? Wait – what side of the stadium was Dawn on? The north side? The south side? Or was that a different tournament?

I shook my head a little – it wasn't even the same battle timing. Different division, different round.

Cassie and Esther – quilava, ampharos – were on the field, up against a shelgon and daikenki (sorry, a samurott… do you mind if I just call her a daikenki?). Tejal, the opponent, was playing with type advantage and getting her daikenki to attack Cassie. Thomas was mostly having Cassie dodge and Esther attack, turning the advantages around. He was ignoring the shelgon, but he could afford to, as the dragon-type wasn't especially fast. Things were going well.

And yet… I couldn't get it out of my head.

"Evelyn, have you ever…" Def paused. "Well, peut-être pas."

"What are you talking about?"

"Someone is trying to talk à moi."

"Who?"

"Je ne sais pas."

Thomas's counterstrategy quickly paid off, as a thunder from Esther took out the daikenki. Tejal sent in a vibrava, and though Thomas tried, Esther soon went down as well. He sent out his absol.

"Ah, it's him!"

"What's him?"

"Marcassin is trying to talk à moi."

I zeroed in on Thomas's absol – Marcassin looked anxious. Oh no. The disaster pokemon knew something was up.

Okay. What happened to Thomas last time? What would do that to him?

I barely know him, I thought desperately. How am I supposed to figure this out?

Well, what do you know about him?

I… fuck, um, he's from Johto, he's got five badges in two regions, he hasn't gotten over his ex…

It clicked. I dug through my bag to find Thomas's wallet, and dug through his wallet to find the photo of him and April. I could try and match the photo to the people in the crowd, although the stadium was full enough that this might take a while.

No such problem. I recognized the girl in the picture immediately. We'd had a chat about legendary pokemon.

I scanned the stadium for blue and gray, and eventually found the girl in the latios skirt on the opposite side of the battlefield. She was sitting dangerously close to the sideline with two friends, watching the battle with a nervous grimace on her face.

No wonder she's avoiding someone in the first division. At the rate of five badges in one year, Thomas ought to be a one-badge trainer in Sinnoh by now.

I bolted down the stairs to the edge of the stands. Marcassin took out the vibrava with an ice beam. 2-1, Thomas. A heracross joined the battle. Thomas was winning; maybe if I could just pull Thomas's attention away from the wrong side of the field until the end of the battle…

"Go Thomas!" I shouted. "WOOOOOOO!"

He grinned in my direction and continued battling.

"You got this, Thomas!" I kept yelling. "Go! WOO!"

The noise of the crowd made my shouting less weird. Not that the weirdness mattered. I just needed Thomas not to see her.

Then Cassie tackled Heracross with flame wheel, throwing them both into the far wall. Too close. Tooclosetooclosetooclose.

"YOU GOT THIS, THOMAS!" I hollered desperately.

But his face fell. The smile melted from his face, and he forgot to give his pokemon a command. April happened to glance his way, and cringed as their eyes met.

"Come on, Thomas," I yelled, faltering.

They broke eye contact almost immediately. Thomas kept looking back anxiously at April. He was breathing too fast. The battle was as good as over – Cassie went down quickly, and Swaine went in briefly before he and Marcassin both fell to Thomas's opponent.

I was out of there before Thomas and Tejal even shook hands. I rushed to the green room.

Thomas jumped when I burst into the room. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"What's wrong?" I echoed.

"Are you okay?" he asked me.

"Are you?"

"Yeah."

"Uhm?"

"What?"

I stared into the innocent façade of his face. Thomas was composed, but something about him was the smallest bit subdued.

"I'm gonna get dressed," he said, pointing at the bathroom stalls. I realized he was holding his regular clothes in his hands.

"Oh. Okay."

He went in, and I sank into an armchair with a sigh.

So much for that. Honestly, it seemed like this bothered him less than me. He was taking this… very well. I'd mostly been worried because I knew he still wasn't over her, but he'd taken it similarly well last time.

But then there was the overwhelming sense of missing a puzzle piece.

Ashley, Kyle, and Kevin are all from the same story as AJ from last chapter. Tejal sort of is too, but that's not the original character's name because fuck the original character's name.

In other news, daikenki is just what I've always called samurotts, and I'm 80% sure it's Axel's fault.

Going back to college in a week ;_; I should be more excited but I've enjoyed being lazy for too long oops.