"Sometimes, it's hard to know which way you're supposed to go. But deep inside, you know you're strong; if you follow your heart, you can't be wrong."
— Pokémon Diamond & Pearl: Galactic Battle

— — —

⠀⠀Kevin laughed as Jacob's heart continued to race from the events in that dreaded kitchen just moments before. "Dude, you were in some deep shit," he said with an amused smile as they ascended the stairs and entered Jacob's room, their Pokémon following closely behind. Jacob could only sigh as he closed the door.

⠀⠀"God, I can't believe I'm twenty-one and I have to ask my parents for permission for this kind of stuff," Jacob grumbled, sitting on the foot of his bed. He felt a little childish for behaving in such a way, but at the same time, Jacob was still frustrated at the unfairness of the whole situation. Buizel hopped up into his lap and nuzzled into his chest, which helped a bit of his stress.

⠀⠀"I think the way that you don't wanna make them upset or anything is sweet, honestly," Kevin said with a smile as he slid into the spot next to him. Jacob rolled his eyes as he pet Buizel.

⠀⠀"Yeah, well, what has that ever gotten me? They still treat me like that, after all," he grumbled. Did he sound like an ungrateful child? Probably, but he was a bit bitter.

⠀⠀Kevin chuckled. "So, Professor Rowan internship, huh? What a freaking smart guy, you know those are super hard to get," he whistled appreciatively. Jacob shrugged, scratching his head.

⠀⠀"Yeah, I guess," he mumbled half-heartedly. Truth be told, the old professor was a selective man, and only a handful of the most qualified and best-looking applicants were ever accepted into his intern program at his lab. Jacob had lost many hours of sleep and rest just to be able to be considered, and he vaguely remembered being shot with cold Water Guns by Buizel several times throughout his all-nighters. "I worked my butt off on my resumé, picked up a bunch of volunteer opportunities to beef it up. . . " Jacob trailed off. Those late nights were filled with more energy drinks and coffee mugs than his heart could probably handle, he thought to himself as Buizel jumped out of his arms to play around with its older sister.

⠀⠀"Was it fun?" Kevin asked excitedly. "I remember, like, half of my graduating class saying that they were gonna try for that internship to go into research."

⠀⠀Jacob considered the question. Fun? "There was a Ponyta that burned me and I was around forty minutes late, then Professor Rowan basically singled me out later and told me that he didn't think I wanted to be a researcher," he named off the events of the day listlessly. God, it felt like those events had occurred days, maybe even weeks ago, though the truth was a little closer to a couple hours at best. Eventually, Jacob shrugged hopelessly. "But yeah, it was fun. I definitely wouldn't hate being a researcher."

⠀⠀Kevin frowned at his friend's dull tone of voice. "You don't wanna be a researcher?" he asked with worry. "You've been studying to be one since, like, sophomore year of high school."

⠀⠀Jacob sighed. He had been considering those things to himself. "I don't know. I wouldn't hate it if I became a researcher, but I don't know if that's what I'm passionate about; what I really want, you know? I'd hate to live knowing what I was passionate about and settling for less."

⠀⠀It felt like a weight had been lifted off of his chest once the words left his mouth, frankly. Jacob had grappled with the idea for such a long time now, but after talking to Professor Rowan, things seemed to make a little more sense. His heart yearned for something—what that "something" was, Jacob wasn't sure, but it was out there somewhere in the world just waiting for him to find out and make it his own. The fluttering feeling in his heart faded away into a warm thrum, and he smiled to himself inwardly; maybe he was a little glad that he worked so hard for the internship. It helped him in ways that he could have never imagined.

⠀⠀Jacob turned to Kevin. "What about you, Kev? A coordinator, huh, how fancy," he wiggles his brows suggestively, causing them both to laugh. Kevin's laughter subsided first, and he quickly adopted an unreadable expression.

⠀⠀"Yeah. . . It was a lot of fun, traveling around with Croagunk," he said softly, in that kind of bittersweet tone, almost as if he was reminiscing about a better time. Kevin looked up at Jacob a bit sadly. "I was going across, like, two, three regions? Working odd jobs and winning battles to get money, participating in contests all around the globe and just seeing what's out there beyond Sandgem. . . It was the life, man," Kevin finished. Croagunk, who sat in its trainer's lap with Kevin's arms draped over it, croaked happily, as if it, too, was recalling fond memories.

⠀⠀Jacob stared at his friend, who had stopped so suddenly. When Kevin cast him a curious look, he gestured vigorously. "But?" he prompted a bit impatiently. The corner of Kevin's lips tilted upwards into the slightest smile, but he soon stared off into the distance, as if he was visualizing something else other than Jacob's plain bedroom, like his mind wasn't all the way present.

⠀⠀"I remember practicing my routines in the dark behind the Pokémon Centers I stayed at, the week before, the night before a contest," Kevin recalled quietly. He chuckled to himself, shaking his head. "God, it felt like it never mattered after a certain point. I always lost after the first round, and I've never won. It was so fucking embarrassing."

⠀⠀Jacob frowned in concern. "Wait, you said that you had won a couple when my dad asked. That you had a couple of ribbons," he interjected. Kevin shook his head.

⠀⠀"Lies," he scoffed, grinning a bit in that weirdly vacant way. "I knew that I'd be called a failure if my parents got wind of it, and our families are close," he sighed. Kevin continued in that empty, tired tone of voice, "And I would usually see other coordinators from previous contests, because we all have to travel around to get five ribbons and the contests rotate all the time. And they'd see me and ask if I had gotten a ribbon yet and just tell me, 'Oh, next time, for sure!' and sometimes it felt genuine, others it felt like I was getting mocked." He mimicked a whiny voice, then groaned softly and buried his face into Croagunk's head.

⠀⠀A muted sense of sadness bloomed in Jacob's chest. It hurt to see Kevin like this, dejected and quiet. In a hope to lighten the mood a bit, he said gently with a smile, "You must be really passionate about contests to have persevered for so long."

⠀⠀Kevin smiled a bit as well, a bit bittersweetly, then nodded. "Yeah. Performing with my Pokémon gives me a rush like no other. I can't imagine doing anything else right now, but I couldn't handle failure after failure like I did then forever, especially not because. . ." he trailed off, leaving the sentence unfinished, but Kevin just coughed awkwardly and continued onwards. Hm, how weird. "I stopped for a long while, then decided that I might as well come home. Get my mind off of it, recuperate, maybe give myself a little bit of buffer time before I try again."

⠀⠀"It must've been tough to go through all of that, but it's good that you haven't given up," Jacob said softly as he laid a hand over Kevin's. "You found a passion and you're striving towards it, even if you have to stop and take a break. I wish I had the kind of courage you have to pull that," he added. Kevin scoffed with a small smile, rolled his eyes.

⠀⠀"You give me too much credit and yourself too little," he said, slugging Jacob lightly in the shoulder. "I miss contests though. The performance, the applause, the wonder. Makes me kind of miss all of those nights practicing, right, Croagunk?" Kevin looked down at the frog Pokémon, who croaked loudly once. Kevin seemed to take the sound as a yes and patted the Pokémon's head. Then, he seemed to stare off again, reminiscing about something that once was, that sad expression back on his face. Man, what was Jacob supposed to do to cheer him up and get him out of this funk?

⠀⠀He watched as Croagunk made itself comfortable in Kevin's lap, and curiosity overcame him. Well, this was as good of a distraction as any. "Seriously, man, since when did you have a Croagunk?" he asked, recalling the minor shock he had upon the sight of the frog Pokémon.

⠀⠀Kevin hummed, pursing his lips as he fell into deep thought while leaning back on his hands. He was in that position for a while, a delightful little ditty leaving him before he looked to Croagunk in his lap. "I think I found him in a dumpster," he said honestly, with such an innocent expression that Jacob couldn't help the snort of laughter that left him from the crassness of Kevin's wording.

⠀⠀"I-I—what the hell?" Jacob asked, an incredulous grin on his face. He glanced at Croagunk, and the deadpan look the Pokémon wore only made things funnier. Kevin soon fixed him with a sharp look that made him drop the smile immediately.

⠀⠀"Something wrong with my dumpster Pokémon?" he asked with a raised brow, probably half-jokingly, but he soon yelped in pain as Croagunk jabbed him in the rib cage with its padded hands. Croagunk then folded its arms and turned its head away with a croak. Jacob could've sworn he saw a terribly cross look on the Pokémon's face.

⠀⠀"I don't think Croagunk enjoys being called your dumpster Pokémon," Jacob noted helpfully, giggling as Kevin—now rubbing his sore ribs—scowled and mumbled something to Croagunk about "only kidding" and "you didn't need to hit that hard."

⠀⠀"But he kinda is!" Kevin protested, glaring at Croagunk who was already poised to strike again. "My sister and I took a trip to Pastoria City from Veilstone, and I found this guy digging around a dumpster behind a restaurant. I protected him from a swarm of Yanma, and the rest is history," he finished with a smug smile. Immediately, Croagunk croaked and vehemently shook its head, leaping out of Kevin's lap and onto the ground.

⠀⠀Croagunk began miming someone walking around, then flapped its arms and croaked rapidly—Jacob assumed the Pokémon was copying a Yanma, a big dragon-fly Pokémon. Then, Croagunk flailed its arms around, covering its face as if to protect itself from those imaginary Yanma. Finally, Croagunk straightened and jabbed into the air, croaking with each punch and kick before posing victoriously. Kevin heaved a big groan and massaged the bridge of his nose out of exasperation, and Jacob couldn't help but laugh as he realized what the frog Pokémon had been doing.

⠀⠀"Oh, so Kevin was walking around and he got attacked by a swarm of Yanma," Jacob guessed, glancing over at his friend and hiding his grin at Kevin's embarrassed expression, "and he started freaking out and was really scared. Then, you came out from an alleyway where there was coincidentally a dumpster and defended him from the Pokémon, and you decided to tag along with him after that because you thought he wouldn't be able to defend himself from another attack like that."

⠀⠀"Dude, Jacob, that's just—"

⠀⠀Croagunk nodded and croaked loudly, bounding up onto the bed again and patting Jacob's shoulder in congratulations. As Kevin began scolding Croagunk—citing betrayal as the reason, nonetheless—Jacob laughed and pet Croagunk's head with his free hand. He looked over at Kevin, still chewing out the frog Pokémon and said with a smirk, "Someone's not as tough as he thinks."

⠀⠀Kevin rolled his eyes. "Whatever, man," he grumbled. He beckoned Buizel over with a whistle, coaxing it out of Jacob's lap with a Pokémon treat he had in his bag. "Hey, Buizel, do you have any dirt on Jacob to get back at him?" he asked sweetly while feeding the weasel Pokémon from his hand. While chewing, Buizel seemed to consider the question before shaking its head with a shrug, barking apologetically. Jacob laughed triumphantly as Kevin groaned in disappointment.

⠀⠀"I do nothing, Kevin," Jacob reasoned with a smile as Kevin snorted.

⠀⠀"Oh, I know. The only time you've left this town was for sport tournaments and to shop in Jubilife, you sheltered loser."

⠀⠀Jacob felt his serene smile falter with shock, and he struggled to collect himself again. Ow, Kevin's scathing remark hurt more than it should've, though Jacob couldn't tell why because Kevin was most likely joking and had no intent of actually hurting him in any significant way. Maybe it particularly stung because Kevin's words rang true—Jacob was a sheltered loser. He had never left Sandgem, had chugged along life with his entire easy future planned out for him like a script; he'd never even tried to break away from the plan and see what was out in the world. Jacob continued to smile pleasantly, but it felt like Kevin could see right through him. Almost immediately, Kevin dropped the teasing sneer and quickly adopted a concerned frown.

⠀⠀"Sorry, was that harsh?" he asked hesitantly. Jacob shook his head.

⠀⠀"No, I was just thinking that you're right."

⠀⠀"Aw, c'mon man. You're making me feel bad," Kevin whined with a pout. Jacob chuckled, opening his arms to both Croagunk and Buizel, who both wanted to sit in the crook of his elbows. Floatzel was off in the corner entertaining herself with some toys; it all felt so comfortable. And plain, Jacob thought.

⠀⠀"Dunno, a part of me thinks that I've been making the right decision by going immediately for a professional path, but another part makes me regret not going on the adventure with you," Jacob sighed with a bit of longing. He glanced over at Kevin and smiled slightly. "Remember when you asked? I think I remember it pretty vividly."

⠀⠀Kevin sighed, reminiscing. "Ah, yes. the spring of my senior year. You had come to school to drop something off from my parents, and we had met under the cherry blossom tree in the courtyard. The flower petals were falling in the spring air, the wind blowing my tousled black hair just so, and I had asked, 'Jacob, will you travel the world with me and see all the beauty the world has to offer and make the memories of a lifetime?' and you had said—"

⠀⠀Kevin was really getting into it now, his voice changing pitches as he dramatically flourished his hands this way and that. It was almost pathetically easy to tell that Kevin had been a theater kid. "'Oh, Kevin, I'd love to but," Kevin turned his head away dramatically and clutched his chest, "I am burdened by academic responsibilities and the weight of societal expectations! I cannot!'" He sighed, and eventually concluded, "So, alas, you left me to my devices, and I traversed this desolate wasteland on my own." He swiped a fake tear from under his eye with his thumb and sniffed. "Tragic, isn't it?"

⠀⠀Jacob raised a brow in disbelief, the corner of his mouth twitching as he tried not to laugh at the absurdity of his best friend's words. He glanced down at Buizel and Croagunk in his arms, even throwing a look at Floatzel who was currently carefully arranging wooden blocks into a building to ask, 'Can you believe what this guy is saying?'

⠀⠀"No. . ." Jacob drew the vowel out a little longer for extra emphasis. "I don't know what kind of alternate dimension you climbed out of, but that did not happen. You called me and said you had left school stuff at my house so I went to give it back to you, and you drag me behind the school next to the freaking dumpsters to ask me, 'Hey, Jacob, wanna go on a—and I quote—'fucking wicked journey' with me?' And it was raining. Pouring rain."

⠀⠀"What, no—"

⠀⠀"And you're right," Jacob continued, smiling because he was taking a bit of joy in Kevin's annoyance at being derailed so thoroughly. "I said no because I was already in college and I wanted to finish, but you know damn well I wouldn't go—" Jacob placed the back of his hand on his forehead and swooned, "—oh, woe is me! How it breaks my heart to deny you, like Kevin. Come on."

⠀⠀Kevin huffed and crossed his arms. "Way to take the fun out of things, Bae," he sniffed. Croagunk leapt back into Kevin's laps and held its arms out for a hug, but Kevin turned his head the other way petulantly. "No, you betrayed me! Forget it," he scolded Croagunk, who only croaked and threw its arms over Kevin regardless.

⠀⠀They sat quietly for a second, playing with their respective Pokémon. Floatzel even stopped stacking her blocks—she had been surprisingly able to construct an impressive wooden tower—to walk over to Jacob and pick a fight with Buizel. As the two bickered, Jacob mumbled slowly under his breath, "Would you. . . would you like to go with me on this journey?"

⠀⠀Kevin froze mid-scratch on Croagunk. Jacob could've sworn the frog Pokémon narrowed its eyes at him. "Huh?" Kevin asked, as if he didn't think he had heard quite correctly.

⠀⠀"If I do end up going on this journey. . . Would you like to come along, Kev?" Jacob repeated, a little louder than before, but his eyes still focused on the quarreling weasel Pokémon rather than on his friend. His heart was beating fast just from asking the question, and he was pretty sure he might explode if he looked in Kevin's direction.

⠀⠀Jacob didn't look, but he heard Kevin take a deep breath—a heavy, tired one. Oh, god. He quickly rushed out in a single breath, "You don't have to at all. I know you just came back and you're super tired and you said you wanted to take a break from traveling and contests, but you offered the same thing to me when you went away so I thought it was only right to do the same for you but, like, it's totally fine if you don't want to, please don't feel pressured to come along if you don't wanna—"

⠀⠀"Woah, woah, Jake!" Kevin interjected in surprise. "Slow down, I think you're gonna pass out if you go that fast. Take a deep breath."

⠀⠀Jacob did as he was told, his face burning uncomfortably. "Sorry," he muttered. Kevin made a face of confusion.

⠀⠀"For what? I think it's sweet that you thought of me like that," Kevin reasoned. Light pink was dusted across Kevin's pale skin, but Jacob was drowning a little too much in his own embarrassment to notice. Kevin sighed and brushed his hair back with a thin hand. "You're right, though, I'm really tired after traveling so long. I don't know if I'm up to traveling again so soon."

⠀⠀"Then don't feel like you have to—"

⠀⠀Kevin put a hand in Jacob's face to stop his sentence, which caused Jacob to gape in mock offense. "But, if you give me a little bit of time to get my shit together again, I'd love to set out with you. I can't think of another person I'd rather travel around with." Kevin winked playfully, but Jacob could tell that every word he said was genuine. He was at a loss for words at how. . . how amazing Kevin was.

⠀⠀"I. . . I'd like that. A lot," Jacob managed. Kevin laughed, a light, airy sound like a fairy in a forest, and nodded as he stood up from the bed.

⠀⠀"We'll talk about it more later, okay?" Kevin asked with a toothy smile as Croagunk jumped onto his back, forgoing the Pokéball. "Walk me down?"

⠀⠀Jacob had to pull himself away from just staring at Kevin's pretty grinning face. He jumped up from his bed, rubbing his nape. "Yeah, of course, Kev."

⠀⠀They walked down the stairs with Buizel and Floatzel loping behind, and Jacob helped Kevin load his bags into his dad's car after Kevin had thanked his parents for the food. As his father climbed into the driver's seat and Kevin slid into the passenger's, Kevin turned to Mrs. Bae and said, "Mrs. Bae? Can I tell you something?"

⠀⠀Mrs. Bae, a little more calmed down, smiled and nodded. "Of course, honey. What is it?"

⠀⠀Kevin briefly glanced at Jacob, who stood quietly beside his mother with his hands behind his back. "Well, I just wanted to let you know that going on a Pokémon journey helped me figure out was passionate about and I had so many good experiences out there. And if you're worried about how Jacob would fare out in the world, I'd happily go along with him. I have a lot of experience after two years." He flashed a pearly white smile at the woman—the final blow to his stunning argument.

⠀⠀Jacob glanced at his mother from his peripheral version and winced. That steely look in her eyes was back again. But she only nodded and maintained that sweet motherly smile, which was somehow more foreboding for Jacob's well-being.

⠀⠀"I'll keep that in mind, Kevin. Take care, tell your family hello for me, will you?"

⠀⠀One more apologetic look from his best friend. Then he watched as Kevin nodded. "Will do. Have a good night!"

⠀⠀After Mr. Bae's car had sped off into the night, his mother locked eyes with him. And she wasn't happy.

⠀⠀"House. Now. We need to talk." And without another word, Mrs. Bae walked back indoors with her hands on her hips. Jacob gulped, and Buizel nuzzled up against his leg in an attempt to sooth him.

⠀⠀"Well, it's now or never, buddy. Right?" Jacob muttered.

— — —
POKÉDEX ENTRIES:

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YANMA, the Clear Wing Pokémon. Yanma is capable of seeing 360 degrees without having to move its eyes. It is a great flier that is adept at making sudden stops and turning midair. This Pokémon uses its flying ability to quickly chase down targeted prey.

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and it happened... month gap between updates... i'm sorry!! i think this chapter is better than the previous one so i hope you enjoyed regardless!

i've been taking a lot of hard and time-consuming classes, and college apps are a pain in my ass, but i'm trying hard to find time to write somewhere in between, so i hope you'll all be patient with me... tysm

also y'all.. THE STEALER... this tbz comeback is gonna be fucking INSANE. the teasers, the pictures? i will simply perish. im gonna upload my favorite pic from the teaser pics so far so scream w me pls. PLEASE SUPPORT THEIR COMEBACK, ITS GONNA BE A BIG ONE (and i hope mymusictaste holds a fansign call event so i can talk to tbz 🥺🥺)

spoiler: ^^ he'll show up eventually

^ maybe he will too >.>

thank you for reading, i hope you enjoyed! vote, leave a comment if you did, yaknow how much motivation they are :)

peace,
- angie

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