The Professor's Secret

3. What's Wrong with Charmander

I could see the strong bond of admiration and friendship that Trevor had managed to build between himself and Professor Augustine Sycamore – it was almost like a tangible, dense fiber connecting one brain to the other, all perceived through the long explanation of what the latter believed to be mega evolutions.

Charmander was still too scared, too sickly looking for me to return him to his Pokeball; and though shielding him from all the strange faces that seemed to scare him should prove effective in diminishing his fear, I decided that hugging him and holding him close to my heart should do it in a most warming way – he would hopefully feel protected by me. But was that really the reason why I involved the soft Pokémon so tightly between my arms, or was it because I needed his heat against what seemed like an empty chest?

"That right there is a bond, you silly brain!!" My inner voice was harsh with my decision-making organ, hoping it would stop secreting the happy hormones whenever Professor Sycamore moved, making his long strand of black hair brush across his face like a gentle caress.

Trevor was clearly the professor's friend – they talked smart, discussed theories together, Trevor helped him like a devoted little assistant, and had been doing so for a long while.

...And I... What was I? Oh yeah, I remembered now with sarcasm... "The Rhyhorn racer's daughter" – it was his voice in my head that I heard pronouncing such words, which made the thought even grimmer.

I smiled at my own silliness and dropped my head so that my cap would hide my eyes in its shadow – which one was deeper, I did not know.

The awaited farewell came, and it proved as disappointing as the entire reunion with my friends and the Professor – among them I was, indeed, only another one of those 'children', the special treatment resumed to nothing but a wild dream.

...I don't recall him even looking my way during that general goodbye in front of the elevator as the doors slowly closed, cutting off my view to him.

Back on the busy street of Luminose, new instructions guided our collective journey, now that we had finally met our tutor: we were to set out and see as many Pokémon as we could, sure, that was the original plan... But, while exploring Kalos, we were to keep an eye out for those mysterious 'mega evolutions'.

Trevor was, in his own right, overly excited with a new scientific breakthrough. Looking at him in his sudden concentration, I could almost picture him years from now wearing a white coat like Sycamore, sitting behind a table and searching nonstop... Would he look just as handsome?

"Mega evolutions..." – Trevor mused, his eyes dug into the sidewalk as if his life depended on that thought – "What do you think it takes to achieve it?"

"You mean other than this rock?!" I picked it from my pocket. They were part of the key to unlock those fourth evolutions, Sycamore said as he handed them out to us.

"I'm sure there is more to it..." – he mused on.

"Don't you guys think the Professor's onto something?!" – Calem's voice sounded grim.

All eyes met him, wide with surprise – except for Trevs, he was still secluded inside his own fascinating thoughts.

"What do you mean 'Onto something'?" Shauna demanded in a mix of curiosity and irritability.

Calem looked ahead, towards the orange light of the sun setting between those tall buildings, choosing carefully his words:

"He knows more than he revealed us, that's what I felt."

"Nonsense." – Trevor's tone was so monotonous, and his eyes were still so distant, that we could barely tell if he was talking to us or to himself.