The next morning, I woke up bright and early, headed to my Gym, and completely clobbered Ash's Pokemon.

It wasn't that it was easy, it was that I didn't repeat my mistakes, and also that I chose to use Cranidos first, which threw him off from the start. He wasn't prepared for Cranidos to know Flamethrower either, which was bad for him as he'd planned a Turtwig as his main Pokemon against me.

I felt bad to do it, a little, as Paul sat in the stands frowning and sneering the entire time. I remembered my humiliating loss to my father at the last Gym Leader conference, and it took all my strength to remain professional and not just let Ash win for the hell of it.

He left the Gym incredibly dejected, and I decided to go digging on my own, as the mine was closed for the day and digging always cheered me up.

My hand was a bit tired out, though.

Heehee.

While in the gorge I could hear Ash battling his older friend. I had realized before I fell asleep that I recognized him - he was Brock, another Rock-type Gym Leader, from the Kantou Region. I'd gone to his Gym long ago, but it was his younger brother I had battled then. We had compared our Onixes, and I remember he told me his older brother Brock had given him Onix to help him on his road to becoming a Gym Leader. The boy was barely thirteen and in charge of a Rock Gym (with his Dad's help), and I had been jealous, but impressed.

I listened to them training, and the advice Brock gave him about defeating Rock types. I could only assume Brock hadn't been able to give advice before my first battle with Ash, seeing as how Ash was focused more on copying Paul than beating me.

That's it.

"Hey - working hard, I see," I stated loudly, stepping out from behind a rock. They both turned and looked at me, surprised.

"Mr. Roark-!"

"Training in a rock gorge against a Rock Pokemon... you chose a good place to practice," I said, smiling as nicely as I could. Ash looked really depressed.

"Yeah, but I haven't been doing very well," he mumbled, looking somewhat downcast.

Ah, man, I felt so bad.

"Don't say that... it's nothing to sweat over. Just... come at me the way you and your Pokemon are, and battle me in your own way," I said gently, still smiling. Ash looked up, his face determined.

"I will - and I would never attempt to use my Pokemon like Paul did-"

"That does it." I leaned my pick-axe against the ground, glaring a little now. Ash looked shocked. "I'm really curious... and this has been bugging me since yesterday..." I made a big show of pondering, looking up at the sky. "Who exactly was it that you're trying to beat in this Gym battle again...?"

"What?! Well obviously-!" Ash started to reply, but stopped himself dead short. I smirked.

"You're obsessed with Paul right now, and I know you can't help that... he's your rival. But, you're supposed to focus on beating ME," I said firmly, looking Ash right in the eye.

He looked right back at me. "Yeah... I know." And he smiled.

"Good." I lifted my pick-axe back onto my shoulder. "Anyway, I'll leave you alone and get back to my excavation."

"Excavation...?" Ash blinked. I wondered if maybe he wasn't very worldly, despite having come from so far away. Funny how that happens sometimes.

"You mean you're going to go dig for fossils of ancient Pokemon," Brock said quickly, obviously trying to hide his friends' obliviousness. I grinned.

"Yes - because I love ancient Pokemon!!" I bent over, gently lifting a very small piece of a fossil from the ground. "Actually, it was right here that I found Cranidos' fossil, when I was a kid. And we brought him back to life..." I remembered it very well. I'd always brought rocks home to show Dad, assuming they were fossils. It took a long time before I could tell the difference between something only a few thousand years old and something a hundred million years old. Dad taught me how to figure it out, but he wasn't always the most patient person when it came to how many normal rocks I brought home, making a huge fuss over them and crying when they were only rocks.

I'd been digging all around Canalave, and finally one day rode my bike into Oreburgh to dig in this same gorge. When I found Cranidos' fossil, I knew it was the real thing this time. I knew because when I touched it, it was like there was a voice in my head, telling me of another world and another time, the picture being painted in my mind's eye as clear as if it was right in front of me. I hauled it into my bike basket and high-tailed it home.

"Dad!! Dad!!" I yelled, nearly crashing my bike into the side of the house. I grunted, lifting the fossil and dragging it and myself inside. My Dad was on the couch, Riley perched on the arm next to him as they talked. Riley was already a teenager then, and was having a really boring obsession with his ancestry. I could hear him telling my Dad all about it, and nearly stepped on his Riolu's tail as I tromped into the room.

"Roark?" Dad stood up, the better to see me from behind the chunk I was carrying. I dropped it, rattling the entire house.

"It's a real fossil, Dad, I know it is, it TOLD me so!" I squealed a little bit. Riley raised an eyebrow.

"Roark," he chuckled, "That's adorable. You got that idea from me, didn't you? I'm sorry, Byron-" He turned to my Dad apologetically. "I told him about my great-great-great-great Grandfather, who could feel-"

"NO! STUPID RILEY!" I shouted, frustrated. "I am NOT adorable, I really - it talked to me!!" I looked pleadingly at my Dad, who was kneeling over the fossil. "It really did..."

I don't think my Dad was paying attention to anything Riley or I had said. He looked up, grinning at me. "Well, boy, you really found one this time... and it's a complete specimen, looks like."

"REALLY?!" I squealed. Then I stopped to stick my tongue out at Riley. He crossed his thin arms, glaring at me.

"Where did you find this, son?" My Dad was touching it with his bare hand. I stared, drinking it every drop of his praise.

"Near the Oreburgh Mine..."

Dad stood up, pondering something. "Why don't we take it back home then?"

I blinked. "Back... home...?"

"I got a phone call today, they just finished that... Fossil... Revival thing..."

"The Fossil Revival Machine?!" I screamed. "Dad - let's take my fossil to show them!!"

"Just what I was thinking," Dad replied, easily lifting my treasure into his arms. Riley made a face.

"Don't you think they'll be too busy to play with Roark's-"

"Naw, they called because they know I have a bunch of fossils stored and don't have any to revive right now... but we can bring them Roark's find first," Dad said, winking at me. I almost felt like crying from happiness. Riley looked taken aback.

We piled into Dad's car, arriving half an hour later in Oreburgh. I rushed ahead into the Museum, letting Dad handle the heavy fossil. Everyone was just as excited as I was, and we all (the scientists and my family) held our breaths as the fossil was placed inside and the machine started up. It would take 24 hours to know if it had worked or not, so we headed to the Gym to visit the Leader at the time. I was sure I wouldn't be able to sleep from the excitement, but Riley bored me into slumber with stories of his heroic family past.

The next day I played in the mine with my Dad until it was time to go back to the museum. I remember hopping up and down excitedly as it turned off and the doors open. Inside it was full of smoke.

"Ancient Pokemon, are you there?!" I cried, and I couldn't help myself but scramble up one side of the machine. One of the scientists yelled at me to stop, but Dad gave him an glare stern enough to kill a man. Looking back, Dad was being a reckless father - again - as we now know many times the Pokemon emerge from the machine furious and angry and blowing hyper beams all over the place.

This time, however, a small form sat coughing inside the smoke. I crawled over to it, my heart instantly melting from how cute he was. He blinked and looked at me with wide eyes.

"Crani."

"You're a Cranidos...right?" I grinned, reaching out to touch its little arm. "I'm Roark. I dug you up. Will you be my best friend?"

Cranidos blinked at me, then stood up on wobbly legs and dropped itself in my arms. I squealed happily and turned to hop out from the machine. Everyone gasped as I emerged.

"It WAS a Cranidos!"

"And the machine worked!"

The scientists clapped and cheered behind me, but I only had eyes for the Pokemon I was now struggling to carry. My Dad knelt down next to me, his hand on my back.

"Roark... you turn ten in another two months, right?"

"Four more months," I giggled. I didn't care. My new friend was so cute.

"Why not keep this Cranidos, and start training him a little early?" He winked and handed me a Pokeball. My mouth hung wide open in shock.

"R...really? B-but... I don't have a-"

"Your old Dad's a Gym Leader, I'll make up some excuse for you if they catch you training without a Pokemon License," he mumbled.

I remember bursting into happy tears at that point.

"... it's not science that's amazing, Ash, it's these fossils. They wait for millions of years...they wait here, just so they can meet me, and tell me about themselves." I drew in a deep breath, coming back to present day, not even thinking about what I was going on about. "Fossils are so cute...don't you think so, too?" I swooned a little, clutching the tiny one in my fist, trying to transfer my love to it. "So cute... and romantic... fossils can be so romantic..."

It was much later that I realized Ash probably had no idea what I was talking about. That was fine - Riley never really understood it either.

"""

I had a million missed phone calls on my cell phone, which I'd left at my house. I shed all my clothing except for my boxers and flopped onto my futon. I was completely exhausted.

Amongst other people, Volkner had called ten times, my Dad thirteen. I was a bastard and a bad son and called Volkner back first.

"Roark!" He picked up on the first ring. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," I sighed, relaxing into my pillow. "I'm fine."

"You were on TV. Oreburgh City is all over all the news stations. I saw you on TV."

"Then you know that I'm fine," I smiled, closing my eyes.

"No - the cameras got knocked out! All we know is the rampaging Pokemon was caught... people got injured..."

I almost laughed. His voice sounded so panicked and worried, it was a sound I didn't often get to enjoy. "Everyone's going to be fine, and yeah, we caught the Pokemon..." I tried to keep a smug note out of my voice. "We got the people who'd let it loose, too... well, actually, Rampardos did."

"Oh, good..." I heard him sigh in relief and it sounded like he also flopped down into pillows. I felt annoyed he hadn't paid attention to what I'd said. "They called in the Army and everything, it's all over the news in Sinnoh, everyone's really been panicking. I saw the tanks and figured it was too big a mess for you to be involved, but I saw you on TV running in front of the Pokemon and then the Aerodactyl attacked you and some kids and the camera went dead. Why the hell would you deliberately run into that sort of situation?"

Oh, so that's why I had so many phone calls. I laughed a little at how Volkner sounded almost accusatory now. "Because I wanted to protect the Pokemon, that's why. It was nothing Rampardos and I couldn't handle," I was definitely smug sounding this time. Volkner paused.

"What's Rampardos - another dinosaur Pokemon?"

"It's Cranidos' evolution!" I said indignantly. "You're a Gym Leader and you don't know that?"

"I'm a Gym Leader, not a paleontologist," he growled. "Anyway... I didn't know you had one of those."

I felt exasperated. "I didn't have one. Volk, my Cranidos evolved today. During the battle." I surpressed a happy giggle. Volkner whistled.

"Cranidos evolved...congrats. Wasn't he your starter Pokemon a decade ago?"

"Yes!" I couldn't help it, and I giggled.

"So you must be pretty excited after all this time."

"Hell yeah I am!" I squirmed around and decided not to tell Volkner that Ash had beaten Rampardos shortly after he evolved. I wasn't ashamed - Ash put up a very tough battle to earn his badge this time, and it seemed he had completely forgotten about Paul. "Rampardos stopped them on his own... he's amazing," I breathed. "I can't wait for you to meet him. I'm... I'm probably going to train the Aerodactyl that attacked the city, too."

"You wanna train that crazy thing?"

"He's not crazy, he just got woke up after sleeping for eons, and someone threw a Pokeball at his nose! I'd be pissed too!"

"I'll have to try throwing a Pokeball at you next time I want you to wake up then," Volkner sniggered. "Speaking of which... do you think you'd get in any trouble, if you too some sick leave to get over the trauma of helping to save your city?"

I paused, not quite understanding at first. "But I'm not really - OH!" I sat up a little, suddenly excited. "Oh! You mean... yeah, I mean, I could probably take a whole week off, and nobody would say anything... y'know?"

"You should take a week off starting on Monday morning," he mumbled, sounding a bit shy now. I laughed.

"How about last train Sunday night instead?"

"Deal."

I grinned. "Goodnight, Volk, and thanks for worrying about me and calling me ten times today."

"I did not. Goodnight." With that, he hung up. Shaking my head to myself, I double checked that he really had called ten times, then called my Dad, who also picked up on the first ring.

"Roark! Son, are you-?"

"I'm fine, Dad," I sighed. My Dad grunted in reply.

"I knew it. You were born tough, you-"

I heard Riley in the background make a crack about Dad not needing to worry because I can read ancient Pokemon's minds and feel their souls. I snorted.

"Tell Riley my fist is gonna feel it's way into his pretty little stomach next time I see him," I mumbled. "By the way... is it just me, or is he constantly at the house, lately?"

"Yeah, well," Dad's voice trailed off thoughtfully, and then, after an awkward pause, "Well, goodnight son."

"Goodnight, Dad."

I pushed my phone aside and took my glasses off, snuggling deep into my blankets, deep in thought about how differently the two men I cared about most in the world reacted to my having been in a life-and-death battle that afternoon. As for Riley, he was just jealous that he couldn't read the mind or feel the souls of jack shit.

A strange thought crossed through my head for a moment, but I brushed it away quickly.

It was impossible, after all.

I fell asleep with a small smile on my face, my mind full of Rampardos and my upcoming visit to Sunyshore City.

Being a Gym Leader is a pretty good life, after all.

"""