- N - = Nicky's part

- J - = my part

Chapter 011 - Let the training begin!

- J -

"Well, the main goal of today is to get ready for tonight's battle." The purple-eyed woman said, firmly. "If we happen to find some clue, then good for us. But try to focus on your battle against Roark."

Just before leaving the bedroom, Amethyst looked at the teenager. The idea of getting involved in an incident that was about a beast that ate pokémon didn't seem very attractive to Amethyst, to be honest.

But Stephanie seemed so confident...

"Okay." The older woman finally said. "I'll help you."

Amethyst made Dew get back into the pokéball. She opened the door and they made it into the corridor. Amethyst's steps were slow, as if she didn't want to know what had made her Roserade worry so much.

"Above all," Amethyst thought, her head lowered. "I don't want Riley to get in troubles. But what if..."

They reached the kitchen's door. Amethyst decided that she wouldn't keep thinking about that issue. There was something more important in her mind.

Both females got into the kitchen. It was pretty much strange to find Serena and her pink pokémon on the other corner of the kitchen.

"I apologize for our tardiness." Amethyst said, as usually contrasting with Stephanie's hastiness. "The wound wouldn't stop bleeding, I had a hard time dealing with it."

She then looked at the man sat by the table and remembered what was that 'more important thing'. Riley. He was there... and Amethyst didn't know what would happen if she let him go again...

Trying to remember what had they been talking about that morning, Amethyst remembered that they'd had a small argument last night and realized that she had been acting as if nothing had happened. How shameful of her!

Then, Amethyst noticed Rodent sleeping on Riley's lap. Well, it sure had to be comfortable there, Amethyst thought as she blushed.

"Aww, how cute!" Amethyst finally said, taking seat near the blue-haired man. "This is a nice scene, hehe."

The woman brushed Rodent's fur, softly. Her purple eyes slightly half-closed, looking gently at the rat.

"He even seems to be a good boy!" She exclaimed, laughing. "Doesn't him, Ms. Brown?"

Amethyst started to eat her breakfast, almost cold. But she tried not to mind.

"Oh, my...! Even cool, this tastes so good!" She exclaimed, to nobody in particular, although it was supposed to be adressed to Serena. "I like it!"

"Oh, can I have some orange juice, Serena?" Amethyst asked, still munching.

Taking aside the whole 'eater monster issue', the situation wasn't that bad. She had met two nice girls, one of them had even become her apprentice, and she was with Riley again! She only had to think of a way to overcome her mistake from last night. Oh, and there was Roark, too.

"So, what are we going to do today?" Amethyst asked. "Training? And what about... umh, the Dance?"

Amethyst blushed and looked at Riley from the corner of her eye. She had still to deal with the Miner's Dance. Well, if she didn't manage to find a partner, at least she had Stephanie...

- N -

Riley had started getting anxious when the door opened, permitting Amy and Brown back into the kitchen.

"Ah," He beamed, getting up from his seat. "Our prodigal daughters return,"

Brown giggled, and took a seat at the table as Amy patted her Raticate. Under the older trainer's hands, Rodent stirred awake and purred happily.

"He even seems to be a good boy! Doesn't him, Ms. Brown?"

"He's only good because he wants a cuddle," She laughed, but waited for Amy to finish with her Raticate to invite him onto her lap. She scratched him liberally between the ears and watched his tail wag back and forth with glee. "Were you a good boy to Mr Riley?"

"Raticate!"

"Amethyst's right, Miss Brown," Riley nodded, "He is very well behaved. Did you train him specially?"

"Naw," Brown shook her head. "Maybe it's something that happens when you only have one pokemon – you tend to bond with them in a different way than if you kept a full team?"

Across the kitchen, Serena heard Amy's request for a drink and nodded. "Audino'll get it for you," She said with an edge of finality – it wasn't a question. Shuffling across the room, the pink pokemon poured the pitcher of orange juice into a glass before handing it to the purple-eyed woman.

"Audino?" It looked at her pleadingly, as if hoping for a pat like she'd given Rodent.

Riley kept silent, thinking about the obvious bandage now on Brown's arm. What had Amethyst just said? It hadn't stopped bleeding?

"Are you sure you're ready for training… today?" He tried not to sound like he was belittling her, "In your condition, it'd be easy to reopen a wound, especially since we're going into a mine."

"Pfft," Brown flexed her arm, "I can take it! Besides, I really really really want to get that badge as fast as I can. The Pokemon League tournaments are coming soon, and I want to qualify this year."

"This year? Why the rush?" Riley raised a hand, tempted to read her mind to find out, but settled for asking politely instead. "Couldn't you simply go for next year's tournament? Completing eight gyms in a single year sounds… incredulously difficult."

"That's the thing." Brown seemed slightly flustered, reminded of how little time she had left. "My parents are fighting in the League this year… and I want to beat them."

Serena had stopped washing dishes, and wandered back to the dining table to listen in. Even her Audino extended its curly ears to find out more.

"My parents… well, they're not about to get a prize or anything for good parenting. I haven't seen them in years. When the royalties from The Brown Effect book started coming in, they decided to use the money to further their trainer career – they took on the Hoenn League, and now, they're doing Sinnoh.

"So, this year, I got a letter from them. They'd already gotten eight badges and they were going to join the Sinnoh League tournament, and they asked whether I'd like to come along to cheer for them. I didn't have a lot of money, so I asked to borrow some from Gold – just for a short trip." She turned to Amy, chuckling. "Amy, you know what Gold's like. He didn't think a short trip was enough!

"Gold gave me a ton more money than I asked for – enough to live for several months in Sinnoh – so I could take on the League myself. He was all like: 'You're not their cheerleader, you're their daughter, and it's about time they realised it!'" She waggled a finger in the air, and dropped her voice to match his baritone, knitting her brows to feign Gold's infamous short temper. "I guess he wanted me to assert myself. I wanted to prove to the other dexholders I could be a strong trainer, too, so I agreed."

She shrugged. "And that's how I got here. If Rodent and I can get the Coal Badge and move on to Eterna for the Forest Badge by next week, we'll still be on schedule. Rodent has a type advantage against the grass types in Eterna, so I don't see much of a problem there… but beating Roark's a big problem for us."

Serena looked slightly moved. She knew all too well what it was like growing up with parents that didn't see eye-to-eye with her. Brown was lucky she had this generous 'Gold' fellow, whoever he was – she never had a soul to help her survive without her parents. She was the one who had to pay for her own school fees, she had to work to buy her books, her food, the clothes on her back. Brown was definitely too lucky to have a benefactor like Gold.

"Wait, did you say you had a type advantage against grass types?" She raised a brow. "The last time I checked, your rat was normal-type. That's far from super-effective against a grass type."

Brown waggled a finger in the air, tutting. "Watch this," She turned to her Raticate. "Ready, buddy?"

"Ticate!" Rodent nodded, grinning.

Hastily, she grabbed Amy's plate of food out from under her, holding it slightly above her Raticate's head. "GO!" She hollered. "RODENT! FLAME WHEEL!"

Instantly, Rodent doubled over, hunching and squeezing his tiny body. As if by magic, his fur began to spark, glowing brightly before setting itself ablaze at his collar. It looked, for a brief and perfect moment, like a tiny Typhlosion. Serena Joy gave a tiny gasp of shock, which pleased Brown to no end.

Carefully, Rodent lurched forward, spinning like a wheel, the fire spreading all over his body, until the spectacle resembled a little campfire at his trainer's feet. The bacon on the plate began to sizzle and splatter, hissing and sputtering as if they were back in the pan.

"Perfect," Brown beamed. "Okay, Rodent, you can stop now,"

The spinning slowed until all that was left was a dazed-looking Raticate. Feeling pleased, Rodent turned to his trainer and grinned.

"That was awesomesauce," She gave it a thumbs-up. "You rocked, boy!"

"Raticate," Rodent blushed.

"C'mere," Placing Amy's now-warm breakfast back on the table, Brown held her arms out to her Pokemon. Gleefully, Rodent jumped into her hug. "You're such an awesome feller, you know that?"

Serena watched the display of affection in silence, rubbing her arm. She darted a glance at her Audino, who was looking at her with large, sad eyes. She didn't need to understand its language to understand what it was thinking: would the two of them ever be that close?

She cautiously reached her hand, giving the top of her Pokemon's head a single, brief pat. In a second, it was over, and her arms were back to being crossed over her chest.

"Not bad," She added, "but you're going to need a lot more than a parlour trick like that to beat Roark."

"We'll see about that," Brown steeled her brow. "Rodent and I are going to beat him hands down!"

Serena chuckled humourlessly. "Blondie – nobody's ever beaten Roark on their first try, at least none I've seen. If you beat him on your first shot, I'll kiss a pokemon."

"Is that a deal?" Brown looked pumped at the prospect of a bet.

"Why not? I'll even let you pick the Pokemon."

"Oh yes!" Brown pumped her fist in the air. "You are so going to kiss a Muk when this is over!"

"I hope you're not actually thinking of winning," Serena laughed.

"We totally are!" Brown snapped, agitated, "We'll show you! I'll make you eat your words and-"

"Ladies!" A blue shield materialised between both normal-type trainers. Brown staggered backwards out of shock. "Control yourselves!"

His velvet-gloved hand in the air, Riley shook his head. "Let's not get too hasty here, Stephanie. We've a lot to teach you if you want to be ready for Roark, and there's a high chance you won't beat him on your first try."

Serena smirked, generating a low growl from the teenager.

"Stephanie. Don't start a fight." Riley commanded sternly – the combination of gentlemanly politeness and strictness in his voice was enough to make the younger trainer back down. Riley leaned back, letting the aura shield dissolve.

"Amethyst," he looked at her. "To answer your question, we're going to be training first. I was hoping you could spar your Togekiss against Stephanie's Rodent at the Mines, maybe until lunchtime."

He indicated to his pokegear, smiling coyly, "I made some calls just now, and, if we finish early, I've got a little surprise planned for the both of you."

"What kind of surprise?" Brown perked up instantly. Rodent scampered onto her shoulders, ears alert and excited.

"I won't give anything away just yet," He laughed. "But I'll give you a hint – it's for the Dance."

He'd arranged for a fitting for dresses for the Dance. It wasn't much of a secret – they'd figure it out by the time he dragged them both to the tailors. Paying for their outfits was the least he could do, given the circumstances. Not to mention it was the nicest thing he could think of giving Amethyst short of an actual proposal to the Dance.

From the corner of his eye, he gave Amy a glance. She still wasn't talking directly to him about anything more than polite conversation. It was like they'd just met all over again – all their old familiarity was gone. She probably hadn't forgotten about last night. It still left him somewhat raw thinking about it or, even worse, the idea that Amethyst would be joining the First Dance with someone else as her partner. What were the odds she still wanted him?

"It's getting late, we should go," He finally steeled his conviction, rose from his seat and placed his fedora back onto his head. "We'll see you for dinner, Miss Joy," he added, doffing his hat in a gentlemanly fashion to Serena.

"Care to lead the way to the mines, Amethyst?" He added.

- J -

"Our prodigal daughters return."

What the hell? Amethyst thought, incredulous. It was okay if Riley believed she was too young, but calling her a daughter was a bit too much...

Well, she tried not to think about that.

"I know what you mean." She said, looking at Stephanie. "When I only had my Eevee, we were very attached..."

Serena's pink pokémon poured Amethyst's glass with juice.

"So its name is Audino!" The purple-eyed trainer exclaimed. "I always wondered what kind of pokémon it was! Unovvian pokémon are so strange, but Audino is cute as well!"

Amethyst listened to Stephanie's parents' story. So it was never too late to conquer a League, uuh? The woman let both the teen and the man talk. However, she couldn't help but feel surprised when she heard about Gold.

"Oh! I didn't know Gold was that generous!" Amethyst said. "Crystal must have put him in his place, haha!"

Gold had always been to air-headed for Amethyst. Not that she disliked him, but he wasn't the type of person she wanted to be with for too long. On the other hand, the strict, bossy Crystal was like a model for Amethyst. So young, yet so liable...

After Rodent's demostration, Amethyst was impressed.

"So this is what you told me about when we met!" She exclaimed. "Since Rodent's Explotaro's son, he knows that fire-type move! It's so amazing!"

The young woman tasted the re-heated bacon. It was delicious! Amethyst thanked the blondie for warming her meal again. In the blink of an eye, Amethyst's breakfast had disappeared.

"Thank you very much for this." She said, nodding.

But the Joy was too busy dealing with Stephanie. Those two were bonded to hate each other. Definitely.

"Well, Serena, not that I want to be annoying..." Amethyst intervened, shyly. "But the Sinnoh Dexholder, Platina Berlitz, beat Roark in their first match..."

Thanks goodness Riley stopped the argument! It was starting to get so loud... so annoying...

If there was something Amethyst disliked, it was noisy, annoying people. In fact, she even felt surprised for liking Stephanie. Well, maybe she was a bit loud-mouthed, but definitely a good girl...

"Amethyst, to answer your question, we're going to be training first. I was hoping you could spar your Togekiss against Stephanie's Rodent at the Mines, maybe until lunchtime."

"Okay." Amethyst said, still not looking at Riley's eyes. "As you said, it's going to be very tough for Ms. Brown to beat Roark in the first match, so I'll do my best!"

When Riley mentioned the surprise, Amethyst looked at him, surprised. It was then when she remembered about the Dance... again... She figured they would go to buy some clothes. Heh, was that a surprise?

Amethyst wasn't the type of girl that loved going shopping, at least not so much as Pink and her sister-in-law, Morganite. Man, they were crazy about clothes!

Anyway, Amethyst had to be presentable for Riley... Wait. It wasn't like she was going to go with him, was it? Didn't he think she was too young for him? Meh.

"Okay." The chestnut-head said, standing up. "Take care, Serena, see you tonight."

They got out of the flat.

"Care to lead the way to the mines, Amethyst?"

"Sure." She said.

Thanks goodness the mines were near, because Amethyst didn't have anything planned to talk about while they walked. The three of them got to the mines and went down some stairs.

"Are you sure we won't disturb the miners?" Amethyst asked.

She hated to cause problems. They finally found a mine in which noone seemed to be working.

"Okay, this place is empty." Amethyst said, looking around. Well, maybe there was some miner underground, under their feet. Oh well. "Ms. Brown, please, meet my Togekiss, Toge."

Amethyst sent her Togekiss out. His wings were strong and muscular, as if he was used to fly long distances.

"Toge, toge! Kiss!"

Apart from that, Toge seemed to be a goody pokémon. He looked at the brown-eyed trainer and her Raticate, a nice expression on his face.

"It would be kind of impossible to force Rodent to have a high defense like Toge." Amethyst said. "But since Rodent, although small, has a sturdy body, just like Toge, we'll try to take advantage of his body-type to rise his defense!"

Just in case it didn't work, Amethyst had a bunch of items in her bag. She was the Item Specialist, after all.

"We'll start as in any regular training." Amethyst said. "Battling! Show me your speed first! Rock smash!"

Maybe not the softest way to start (since that move was fight-typed, hence strong against Rodent), but it was Toge's weakest attack. However, although Toge had the defense, Rodent had the speed. But Toge was definitely more experienced. Amethyst'd had him since she was 13, after all.

"Now, fly to the skies and hit him with a fly attack!" Amethyst exclaimed.

Toge flied high, getting prepared to attack again. What would Stephanie do? Then, Amethyst noticed something was missing.

"Riley." She said, turning to the man that was behind her. "Where's Lucario?"