That's exactly where Lucas was.

The sun had already started melting down the sky, which had been painted a mix of hot violet and blazing orange. The waves still washed against the shore in the distance...

But it wasn't like he could focus on anything after all THAT.

"So...I don't understand. When he says he needs something from me, whatever this machine is, it's supposed to help out with...what exactly?"

"That's a Pokédex," Dawn said, standing right beside him in the sandy city. "You can't research Pokémon without a Pokédex, Lucas. That's a no-brainer."

"Right..." Lucas smiled sheepishly. She was pretty sassy, now that he thought about it.

"But don't worry, I'll be with you every step of the way to make sure you learn all the ropes...for the most part. I'll try to help when I'm free, then it'll just be you and me," she said, nudging him on the shoulder with a cheeky smile.

Nervous chuckles spilled out of his mouth as he tried to piece together what the ropes entailed.

"Lucas..."

"Yeah?"

"We'll get to the bottom of this. Your problem. We'll figure it out together. You shouldn't have to go through this alone," Dawn said, staring into his soul.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

But something felt...

"What's wrong?" she asked, tilting her head.

"Dawn...thanks. I know you mean well, but you don't have to help me with this. I've been thinking, we only met yesterday, we don't know anything about each other, so it's not like you have any obligation towards me. You'd probably be better off...leaving me alone—not in a rude way."

The girl simply stared at him with a blank expression as the lukewarm wind tossed her glistening midnight-blue hair around like salad.

"Lucas, my mum's dead."

...

"What?" The word flew out of Lucas's mouth.

All the maturity he'd mustered up to tell her how he felt weird about her being so nice to him did nothing to stop his raw confusion from showing. "S-sorry..."

"It's okay; it was a while ago," Dawn said, doing nothing to remove the elephant of confusion standing between them.

Lucas's face twitched and twisted as he tried to figure out exactly what to say...why the hell did she bring that up?

"Chill out, dude. Listen, my mum died when I was eight. She was cursed by a Gengar, and there was nothing I could do to help her. I was useless. I'll spare you the extra details because I'll probably start crying, but ever since then, I've made it my mission to help as many people as possible when I can."

The mist in Lucas's head finally began to clear. Now it made sense to him—why she was so nice and close.

Of course, those love-at-first-sight relationships only happen in anime, not real life.

"So you helping me is just part of..."

"My own mission, yeah. I don't know if that makes you feel better, but just think of it like this: I'm helping you help yourself for myself."