- N - = Nicky's part

- J - = my part

Chapter 002 - An Aura user's arrival!

- J -

"I-I'm not the kind of girl you would flirt with, actually." Amethyst said, gently but showing that she had no interesting in talking about that topic.

Amethyst tried to remember after hearing Stephanie's question. She hardly remembered anything about Roark... He wasn't the type of guy that interested her, anyway.

"Mmhm..." Amethyst muttered. "I told you we met for a very whort time, and it was in middle of a battle, you see... But he seemed a very serious guy. Judging by appearance, he looks nothing like his father. At all."

"Hahaha!" Amethyst laughed. "And I guess you could say the same about me and my brother! He's blonde, I'm a chestnut-head; he's green eyes, I've purple eyes; he's stubborn, I'm quiet. But...! If we look closer, the shape of our eyes is very similar, haha!"

Amethyst smiled, remembering her brother, glad to meet someone who was a friend of his.

"Actually, we don't usually talk about each other, at least as siblings." Amethyst said as they kept walking. "Why should people know we're siblings, after all. And it's something our enemies could use in their advantage, you see."

She had no time to reply to Ms. Brown's question because the young teenager crashed into the door. Alarmed, Amethyst helped her not to fall.

"Ooh!" She screamed. "You okay?"

Even Dew and Maki seemed worried. Amethyst smiled with sorrow as the dizzy girl muttered that that was something which happened to her constantly.

"Poor thing..." Amethyst said.

They got into the Pokémon Center, Amethyst's arm around Brown's shoulders.

"Come on." She said. "Let's go heal your b- Hey! What's happening?"

She looked at the back of the room, where a pink-haired woman was yelling at some trainer.

"She definitely looks like a Joy." Amethyst thought. "But she doesn't dress like a nurse..."

- N -

"Say… If you battled Roark…" Brown asked, suspicious, "does that mean you have his… his Gym Badge?"

She tried not to fall over as Amy guided her into the Pokemon Center. Sensing his trainer's shoulders wasn't the safest place to be, Rodent abandoned his roost and walked on foot into the Center-

-Only to bump into a large, Chansey-sized pink rabbit Pokemon.

"Audino," The pokemon blinked at the dirty rat who had pushed himself into his belly. "Dino-au, audi!"

"Raticate!" Rodent hissed, annoyed at being scolded, before running back to his trainer.

"Ro, stop bothering the ugly Chansey! It's not its fault it was born that way." Brown sighed, helping herself to a chair, and getting out of Amethyst's support. "Thanks, Miss Amy, this feels so much better. I think my butt forgot what a chair felt like…"

She trailed off, noticing the older trainer's attention on a loud pink-haired woman at the back of the lobby. The woman's hairstyle and figure clearly indicated her status as a Nurse Joy, but her dressing was different – she had on a loose tee-shirt and jeans, looking more like a starving artist than a well-kempt nurse. The ugly Chansey was trying its best to calm her down as she slammed the table and screamed at a trainer with a large bipedial dog pokemon.

"BEAT IT, CHUM," The woman snapped. "For the hundredth time today, I am not a Nurse!"

The male trainer blinked, looking rather shocked. Clearly he'd never been talked back to in a long, long time.

"Laelaps," He turned to the blue-and-black dog that stood next to him, "Laelaps, boy, I think she thinks I want you healed." Under his torn fedora, the man chuckled. He had, Brown realised, amazingly sharp features, like a statue, with a strong nose and chiselled cheekbones, sloping gently to a pair of very amused lips. He was dressed smartly, but his suit looked worn, as if it'd spent years wandering the globe.

(Laelaps? What kind of stupid nickname was that?) The dog pokemon barked sharply and Brown realised it was laughing.

"No, Miss, you're mistaken," He smiled coyly. "I only wanted to ask you where your… roommate... was, Serena Joy."

At the mention of what was clearly her name, the pink-haired Joy stiffened. The ugly Chansey blinked, looking as startled as its trainer.

"Ohmigosh," She stammered, finally turning her head to look at the man directly. "Y-you must be…"

"Riley," The man tipped his hat, exposing a headful of cobalt-blue hair. "We met last year at the Miner's Dance. I don't think you remember me, Serena Joy." He extended a gloved hand for her to shake. "I'm looking for Roark. It's important I speak with him."

"H-he… He's at the mine," She blinked, slowly shaking his hand like in a dream. He had a firm grip, like an age-hardened vice, and his eyes seemed to bear into the deepest pits of her soul. Serena gulped. His eyes were unnaturally old for someone who looked so young.

"Ah," His features didn't change. "I'll just wait here for him to come back." Gently, and still smiling, he slid himself into the seat opposite her, his large dog pokemon keeping watch. Serena Joy simply blinked at him, mouth agape. Brown almost felt sorry for the pink-haired woman – 'awkward' didn't come close to describing her position.

The only sound from the booth was Serena's heavy breathing and the clinking of Riley's fingers playing with his gold necklaces.

"I hear the Miner's Dance is in a fortnight," He rested his chin on his hand. "Would it be too hasty of me to assume Roark already asked you to lead the first dance with him?"

Serena Joy looked close to vomiting. "R-Roark? And… and me?" She stuttered. "No, I mean, no! We're not… I mean, we've never…!"

The male trainer threw his head back and laughed, a gesture his dog pokemon mirrored with surprising similarity.

"Give him time, Serena Joy. It'll happen eventually." He winked, and for a brief moment, Brown swore she saw a flash of glowing blue. "I can sense these sort of things."

He turned his head. "And speaking of senses, I think I recognise a very familiar aura. Hello, Amethyst. It's been a while. Care to introduce me to your friend?"

- J -

"Oh, no." Amethyst denied, smiling mysteriously. "The battle where I met Roark wasn't a Gym battle."

Amethyst didn't notice Audino and Rodent's small confrontation when they just entered the Pokémon Center, but Dew and Maki did. Both Amethyst's pokémon stared at the Audino because they had never seen a pokémon like that.

"Rain?" Maki asked.

"Rose..." Dew said.

Despite she was helping Brown to sit on a chair, what Amethyst was paying attention to was the loud-mouthed Joy and the trainer she was yelling at.

"I-it can't be…" She thought.

Amethyst and Brown stared at the male trainer and that Joy named Serena. While Brown's expression denoted curiosity, Amethyst was more like in a daze staring at the attractive man.

She was so engrossed that she couldn't help but flinch when the blue-eyed man called her name. On the other hand, Dew and Maki jumped in joy.

"Rose! Roserade!" Dew exclaimed, as she danced around the elegant Lucario.

"Masquerain!" Maki said, shaking her wings happily.

Amethyst's face was totally red, and she was like petrified, staring at Riley with a lump in her throat. She only was able to respond when Ms. Brown pushed her towards the man.

"Ri-Riley...!" Amethyst exclaimed, totally blushing. "Hello...! It's been a long time...!"

She was so nervous that she didn't seem the cool person she had been when she met Stephanie. She seemed more like a young teenager...

"He must be in his early 30's, right?" Amethyst thought. "He's still so handsome..."

Noticing Ms. Brown's impatience, Amethyst decided to say something useful.

"Oh, meet Stephanie." She said, pointing at the young girl. "Stephanie Brown. She's a Dexholder! We just met, but she's a pretty nice girl!"

Amethyst smiled softly, still blushing...

- N -

Rodent crossed his arms, about to complain to his new friends, when he noticed Amethyst's two pokemon distracted by the new trainer.

Brown looked at the two pokemon's reactions, then at the man, and then back at the woman she'd been travelling with. She narrowed her eyes, there was definitely something going on between those two.

While she was surprised to notice Amy knew him, she was more taken aback at her behaviour. In the span of ten seconds, the older trainer had gone from a confident and strong trainer, to a melting glob of incoherent sentences. Why was she stuttering? Why did this Riley fellow make her so… upset? Excited?

…Or could it be love?

She snapped out of it and waved politely, however, as Amy introduced her. "Hi, Mr Riley," She added. "I'm from Jhoto, and this is my Raticate - say hello, Rodent."

The rat pokemon simply sniffed the man's shoes. For the first time in a while, Rodent seemed more interested in the person he was meeting. Brown had to agree – there was something decidedly mysterious about this Riley fellow.

Riley simply tipped his hat again. "It's a pleasure, Stephanie Brown. I've read Professor Oak's book about you: The Brown Effect? I must say, your effect on pokemon is righteously funny. " He pulled out a battered paperback from the inside of his jacket. Brown gasped, recognising the book instantly. "It kept me very entertained on the trip here."

"My, you've been through so much," He looked her up and down, holding his hand in the air as if he was scanning her. "First that battle with Byron and now a swarm of Bidoof? You sound like a girl who deserves a rest."

Brown blinked with her mouth wide open, feeling slightly violated that a perfect stranger knew so much about her. Sure, he could have read about her in the book, but how had he known about the Bidoof? That had only happened today.

"How do you know that?" She stuttered, before turning to the older trainer. "Amy! How does he know that?"

Riley smiled beneath his dark blue hair. "You seem surprised to see me, Amy," He stood up, taking one of her hands and holding it between two of his own. Brown looked at them – his gloves were velvet and seemed lovely warm. "I thought you were coming to Oreburgh to join in the Miner's Dance. It's very popular around this area."

"The Miner's Dance?" Brown raided an eyebrow.

"The Miner's Dance is a celebration held every year in Eterna and Oreburgh." Serena Joy piped up, finally glad to be part of the conversation. "It's held every year on the third night the harvest moon is full, and was originally supposed to be a ceremony to Palkia and Dialga for good crops for the next year. Since Oreburgh stopped farming and went into mining, Oreburghians call it the Miner's Dance here and not the Harvest Dance like in Eterna."

"A Dance?" the teenager's smile grew, she picked her Raticate from the floor and spun him in the air. Rodent squeaked uncontrollably in fear, turning bright green as his trainer spun faster. "That's so exciting!"

"It's tradition that the farmer with the most crops starts the Dance, but here in Oreburgh, it's the Chief of Mining Operations that has the first dance." Serena began to blush uncontrollably. "It's very romantic."

"If I recall, Byron used to lead the dance every year," Riley added, still looking at Amy with his ageless eyes. "But since he left for Canalave, that first dance has always been Roark the Gym Leader's job… and he must always do it with a partner." He glanced quietly at the Joy, who had turned her back to the group to prevent them from watching her face turn deep red.

"It's tradition that every singleton joins in the dance," Serena muttered, her face buried in her Audio's chubby belly. "They say it's the place where you find your true love."

"It's nonsense," Riley smiled at Amy, "I've gone every year and still I've yet to find a dance partner."

- J -

"I must do something to stop looking so dumb..." Amethyst was thinking, as Ms. Brown introduced herself. "Or Steph will distrust me...!"

Dew and Maki smiled as they saw Rodent smell Riley's worn shoes. Dew approached Lucario happily, since he had protected her when she was a Budew back when they were staying at Iron Island with Amethyst, Riley and Emerald.

"Rose!" Dew exclaimed, showing Lucario how much she had grown up.

Lucario kept his serious expression, however.

Amethyst smiled softly at the pokémon, still with a slight blush on her face. However, the story about Oak's book Brown effect? caught her attention.

"Whoa! I knew Steph was special, but not THAT special!" Amethyst thought, impressed. "Although I can understand... Her effect on pokémon is rather... odd."

The suddenly shy Amethyst couldn't help but giggle at Stephanie's embarrassment when Riley scanned her. She obviously didn't know anything. Amused at Ms. Brown's discomfort, Amethyst felt a little more relieved, although the slight blush stayed at her face.

"Oh! Riley has the power of aura!" Amethyst explained. "You remember when he knew I was here? He detected my aura, that's it!"

Amethyst smiled at Riley's Lucario and kept explaining.

"Actually, only Lucario and Riolu have that skill." She added. "But after living all his life with his Lucario, Riley developed that skill too. He can read our mind, see what's happened to us or who's near him if he wants!"

Giggling nervously, Amethyst looked at Riley's eyes. It was then when he held her light hands between his own. Amethyst's blush became terribly intense... Thanks goodness Stephanie's question broke the awkward silence.

As soon as Serena stopped explaining, Amethyst let go off Riley's hands, nervous, and rushed to introduce herself to Serena.

"I-I'm sorry, Ms. Joy!" Amethyst exclaimed. "I apologize for not introducing myself properly! I'm Amethyst, Amy for friends! And this is St-!"

Ms. Brown's excited dance interrupted Amethyst's speech. She couldn't help but laugh at Stephanie's enthusiasm.

"Oh, my!" Amethyst thought, amused. "She's so lively!"

However, Amethyst's face turned red again as she listened to Serena's explanations about the Miner's Dance. Even more red when Serena added the "find your true love" line.

Indeed, she had visited Oreburgh to have a look at the festival. But she would have never imagined she would meet Riley there!

"It's nonsense, I've gone every year and still I've yet to find a dance partner."

Amethyst flinched when she noticed Riley was smiling at her when he said that.

"Oh...!" She exclaimed, her face red as a tomato. "That's hard to believe, you see, being so handso-! Uh? What am I saying? I-I mean...! Sorry, I was thinking about other things, Riley..."

She noticed Brown flickering shocked at her nervous behaviour. That way, Riley would change his mind about her. But she simply couldn't say anything intelligent!

"Oh, well." Amethyst finally said. "I heard you mentioned Roark, and Ms. Brown is looking for him to battle him!"

- N -

Brown listened intently as Amy explained the power of aura to her. That must have been the blue light! She thought. Riley seemed very powerful, especially with his superpowers.

Maybe it was the aura in the air, but something seemed supercharged as Riley looked into the older trainer's eyes. The tension in the air was intense, and felt like a bag on cotton wool had been dumped on her head. Something was definitely going on between the two of them.

"Imagine what living with Grimer and Muk'll do for you!" She laughed meekly. "You'd have the power of stinkyness!"

Rodent laughed, but Serena Joy's ugly Chansey seemed as if it had missed the joke entirely. Maybe it didn't know what Grimers were.

"It's alright," Serena shrugged at the purpled-eyed woman apologising to her, somewhat surprised when the woman suggested her young friend attempt to beat Roark for the Coal Badge.

"Battle Roark? With that rat?" Serena Joy stared at the Raticate and his trainer, then snorted uncontrollably. "You're joking! Tell me you're joking!"

"It's not funny!" Brown stamped her foot, the fur on Rodent beginning to bristle. "Rodent is awesome and… and smart! And… awesome!" Her Raticate nodded. "We'll wipe the floor with Roark!"

Serena Joy laughed – not a mean laugh, just a very amused one. "I would love to see you try, blondie." She smiled. "You're at a serious type disadvantage. Plus, Roark's no pushover. He's very, very strong."

Surprised to see the snarky woman compliment anything, Brown's heart fell as she imagined just how much stronger Roark was compared to her. Maybe Kris was right, maybe battling wasn't for her…

"Raticate!" Rodent squeaked defiantly in her arms.

"You're right, Rodent! We can't give up now!" She nodded. "I-I… I bet Rodent could beat your ugly Chansey!"

"Audino! Dino! Au Audi!" The pink rabbit pokemon looked offended.

Serena Joy rolled her eyes. "I don't doubt that – Audino's a weakling." The pink pokemon looked doubly offended. "I had a Sawsbuck… now, if he was alive, he'd turn your Rat into chopped liver."

"What happened to him?" Pokemon dying were a rare thing to Brown.

"He was… he was eaten." Serena closed her eyes. "He was a good pokemon, like a partner. Nothing can replace a friend like that."

Brown nodded, she knew what it was like to have given half her heart to a partner like that. Rodent was her friend, and no pokemon she ever found came close to being a replacement. Out from the corner of her eye, she caught another flash of blue from Riley. Was he using his aura on them?

Serena narrowed her eyes, no doubt thinking the same thing. If he could read my mind, how much did this Riley person know? She thought, slightly afraid. More importantly, how much can I let him discover before Roark gets in trouble?

"I should go now," She added. "I have to get the house ready for dinner tonight. Roark wanted you to come over, Mr Riley." Quietly, she got up and excused herself, making sure to take the vacuum she came for. She signalled for her Audino to follow her back to the apartment. This definitely needed her to think it over.

"I can hardly wait, Serena. Roark's complimented your cooking very often," Riley added slyly, before she was out the door. If he knew anything, he certainly wasn't going to say it. "Would it be alright if this lovely lady and her friend came with me?"

At the thought of eating, Brown's stomach growled loudly. She suddenly realised she'd spent most of lunchtime running away from beavers. Still, why would Riley call Amy 'lovely'? Was he… dating her? ...Then again, anyone would have agreed Amy was attractive, what with her long brown hair and her eyes like looked like costume jewellery gems. Not to mention her outfit! Brown never felt daring enough to show off her figure in a midriff-baring outfit like Amy could.

"I… uh… I guess?" Serena shrugged. "Do you know where to find us?"

"I know Roark's apartment," He assured her. "See you at seven." She nodded briskly and darted out the glass entrance of the Pokemon Center.

Riley watched her go like a stone statue, as unblinking and emotionless as his Lucario. Finally, he turned briskly to both trainers, his happy attitude apparently restored.

"You two look like you could use some lunch," He added, taking out a wallet from his pocket. "Come on, I'll treat you both – just tell me what you're in the mood for." He smiled as Brown screamed 'YES! YES!' uncontrollably at the thought of a free meal.

"We have so much catching up to do, Amy."