- N - = Nicky's part
- J - = my part
Chapter 021 - A silver-haired badass!
- N -
Riley kept quiet as Amy seemed to shift uneasily next to him – what was she thinking about? Was he making her uncomfortable?
He held his hands together, twiddling his fingers under his gloves. The silence between them felt as awkward and thick as a brick wall.
It didn't last long, though – not when Brown was walking back with a Rampardos doll. As Amy began to explain what a pokedoll was, Riley thought quietly: Serena had used the doll to escape from the Zoroark, no doubt. While she did seem to love the creature, the odds were that it wasn't always tame. He recalled the vision where Serena had tried to stand up against it, the panic in her face, the raw feral look in the beast's eyes…
He looked grim. The beast was a danger – and as much as Serena wanted to keep it safe, she couldn't always control it.
But… why did she want to protect it so much? After it had tried to kill her, why was she risking everything to hide it from him?
He noticed Amy was looking flushed – the room was getting too warm for her. Instantly, he felt terrible for saddling her with his jacket, but then remembered the miners outside the door and decided it was best she kept it on – for the sake of his pride, at least.
Without a word, he walked with her out of the shop – and right before a familiar-looking young woman.
She was about Stephanie Brown's age, and even seemed tall enough to match the blonde in height (something Amethyst, he noted coyly, had yet to do). There was a sense of dramatic elegance in the way she carried herself, a world away from how Amethyst hid herself under her clothes, and tried hard not to be noticed.
There was something nagging familiar about the shade of her silvery hair. He'd seen her before. Her aura felt all-too familiar. The lingering sense of déjà vu about her was driving him quite mad. Who was she? And why was Amethyst so shocked to see her?
"Remember Pink? Well, Morganite's her sister-in-law; yes, Kyanite's sister. You do remember him too, right?"
Ah. That explained it. So, Kyanite had married Red's sister? Would wonders never cease?
"A pleasure," Riley doffed his hat in a dapper fashion, a genuinely coy smile gracing his features. He must have looked quite dashing, as Stephanie Brown made a little enamoured 'oh!' as she exited the store to join them.
"I'm Riley," He extended a warm gloved hand to shake. "I was with your brother and Pink at the Sinnoh Battle Frontier several years ago. Kyanite was a wonderful conversationalist, if I remember correctly."
He couldn't quite say the same for Pink. While his memory of Amy and her friends had diminished considerably, he vaguely recalled feeling the most ghastly sort of annoyance at the young woman's general enthusiasm. It made him, if he recalled properly, be thankful that it was Amy who had fallen for him then, and not her.
How Kyanite had the wherewithal to tolerate Pink long enough to marry her was beyond him.
Brown took the opportunity to sit on a railing and shove her purchases into her bag. She kept a respectful distance from the Chingling trainer; she wasn't going to risk getting attacked twice in one day.
Rodent, however, thought otherwise. He scampered towards Amethyst and her friend, crawling up Riley's jacket and rested himself squarely on the purple-eyed trainer's shoulders.
"Rarr?" He tilted his head curiously to a side, looking at the strange little bell Pokemon. Both he and Brown had never seen anything quite like it; then again, Brown wasn't the sort to be interested in any other pokemon but him. "Rrrricate?"
He sniffed the tiny golden bell experimentally.
"Rodent," Brown laughed, picking her way to the front to get a good look at the silver-haired trainer. "Rodent, don't scare it!" She kept a safe distance, however, still prepared to run just in case the bell pokemon had a taste for flesh.
She wasn't sure whether she was supposed to introduce herself like Riley had – it was plain to see Morganite was busy with Amy.
"Mmh, well... y' know... they say that your... partner will be your 'true love' ever, and-"
"That's bullshit! I just want that guy for the Dance (I'd hate to go alone, duh), and that's it. And he thinks the same, so..."
Brown giggled, only to find Serena Joy behind her, her arms crossed over her chest.
The girl, Morganite, had given her a dastardly look as she noticed her oversized attire – Serena didn't flinch, instead choosing to wear her most intense glare and gun the silver-haired teen down slowly with it. Brown winced. The pink-haired woman looked fierce enough to melt metal, but Morganite stayed calm regardless.
"Don't knock tradition," Serena snarled, her Unovvian accent sounding very out of place in the little group. "I like to believe that the First Dance really does have some sort of magic to it; I'd be heartbroken if someone I knew danced with someone else tomorrow night, that's for sure."
Did she mean Roark? Stephanie looked at Serena, hoping for a hint from the pink-haired woman. However, Serena's uncompromising stature gave noting away. If she really did love Roark, she wasn't about to admit it.
"You're the weird one here, Amy. Since the early age of 16, you started to waste your time clinging to ONLY one man. How could you waste your adolescence like that?"
Serena said nothing more, but Riley seemed somewhat shaken by the development. His mouth was gently agape, hanging loose, with the beginnings of a smile at the edges. Both Brown and Serena stared at the couple with an odd curiosity – to love a man for more than eight years… that took diligence.
"Amethyst…" He began, disbelief cracking at his voice. He was cut short by the silver-haired girl's sudden departure.
"Meh, it's okay, don't force yourself. Well, I hafta go, guys. See ya at the Dance, I guess!"
Brown watched her go, nodding with approval.
"I like her," She smiled. "She's feisty!"
"At least somebody does," Serena looked at Morganite's figure disappearing into the mall. "She's so rude."
"Ummh, well… Don't take her wrong, please… She's actually a nice girl, and she was adorable when she was younger, really…"
"It's alright, Amethyst! I understand," Riley laughed. Rodent skittered off Amy's shoulders, allowing him some room to rest his arm gratefully on his jacket. "She's an interesting person. I'm looking forward to seeing her at the Dance tomorrow night."
Brown seemed anxious. "I wanna say hi to her," She admitted. "Think I should go after her, Miss Amy?"
Riley chewed his lip. "Well… I do want to take you both somewhere right now," He admitted. "You need dresses for tomorrow night, and a tailor I know in the mall wouldn't mind doing a fitting for you and Amethyst here."
"I can always meet you there later," The blonde answered. "I have never never never seen another trainer my age for ages!"
"If you do leave, that'll just leave me and Amethyst." He noted, before realising he'd been thinking out loud.
Serena stepped in, "If you're going to a tailor's, I'll come with you," She still carried her garment back slung over her arm. "I need to get my dress fixed, too."
- J -
Morganite looked at Serena with disdain as the Joy sermonized her about the Dance.
"Don't knock tradition, I like to believe that the First Dance really does have some sort of magic to it; I'd be heartbroken if someone I knew danced with someone else tomorrow night, that's for sure."
"As if." Morganite thought, giving Serena a last glare before turning back to Amethyst again.
That's what happened when two hot-blooded women collided. But Morganite, as much as she might be blunt and needlessly sincere, wasn't one who liked to pick up fights.
She was too busy clearing things up for Amethyst, anyway. Raised with an older brother by her side, Morganite was a girl that never showed mercy for anyone.
"This is TERRIBLE!" Amethyst was thinking, while she stuttered, without know what to say to Morganite. "Riley's hearing EVERYTHING! Ms. Brown and Serena too, but I don't know if they know who's Morganite referring to..."
Morganite left, but that didn't ease Amethyst's pain.
However, she was her best friend's sister-in-law, and she had to do as much as possible to get along with her. That's why she defended her when Serena criticized her.
"It's alright, Amethyst! I understand. She's an interesting person. I'm looking forward to seeing her at the Dance tomorrow night."
Amethyst flickered, confused, when Riley rested his hands on her shoulders. Why did he seem to be in SUCH a good mood? Morganite had poked fun at her, and yet he seemed as good-natured as usually. Wasn't he even angry...?
...or ashamed? Because she was sure that Riley knew that Morganite had referred to him.
"I wanna say hi to her. Think I should go after her, Miss Amy?"
Oh. Oh, it was so obvious that Stephanie would want to get along with Morganite. Just, how much of a good idea would be if these two got together?
Anyway, Amethyst didn't even have time to reply, as Riley continued with the conversation.
"Well… I do want to take you both somewhere right now. You need dresses for tomorrow night, and a tailor I know in the mall wouldn't mind doing a fitting for you and Amethyst here."
"I can always meet you there later."
"Oh, no!" Amethyst thought, in panic.
She didn't feel like staying with Riley alone. At least, not at that moment, when the shame was so recent. Thanks goodness Serena told them she would go with them!
"Okay, okay." Amethyst said, notoriously overwhelmed. "First of all, Riley, didn't you say you would take us to that place tonight?"
It hadn't be very difficult to find out that the "surprise" he'd mentioned that morning would be the dresses for the Dance.
"Not that I mind whether we go now or tonight," Amethyst hastened to add. "because I'm cool with it if we go now. But when are we going to have lunch?"
Although she didn't want to admit it, Amethyst was starving. And all the plans seemed so rushed to her, being quite a calmed woman.
She looked at Morganite's figure in the distance and remembered Stephanie's enthusiasm about getting to know her better.
"O-okay... Go." The purple-eyed trainer said to the teen, pointing at Morganite's faraway figure. "But don't... don't get too distracted, we have to have lunch in... a while."
Amethyst wasn't certain about what were they going to do at that moment. She certainly preferred to go shopping at the evening but... then again, going shopping just before Stephanie's match against Roark sounded quite ridiculous.
"Oh, and don't worry about her pokémon." Amethyst added, recalling the Brown Effect, just before Stephanie left. "She's not a very experienced trainer yet."
As soon as the blondie left, Amethyst started to worry about Brown asking Morganite to go have lunch with them. But oh, well.
Amethyst turned to Serena and Riley, still a light blush on her face. At least, she had now a grown up woman to cling to, no matter how rude she was...
-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Morganite turned her head back when she heard some rushed steps behind her.
"Cling!" Chingling exclaimed.
"Oh, you are friends with Amy, aren't you?" Morganite asked. "Mmh, what do you want?"
The same way Stephanie didn't care about the minners drooling at her, Morganite seemed to think the same.
- N -
"I'm Stephanie Brown," the blonde girl introduced herself, scratching her shoe against the back of her leg in slight apprehension. Amy had told her not be afraid of Morganite's Chingling, but still, it helped to keep a respectful distance.
"I'm a dexholder from Jhoto," She smiled.
"Oh, you are friends with Amy, aren't you? Mmh, what do you want?"
Brown felt a bead of awkward sweat run down her head. Morganite was nothing like Amethyst, but she wasn't entirely like her either – there was a calm sense of reservation in her, like she was self-assured in everything she did.
Superiority wasn't something Stephanie had much of – not when she was the whipping bitch to every creature in the pokedex.
"Yeah…" Brown chewed the inside of her cheek. "Mmmyeah, about that… I just wanted to say 'hey' and…"
"Raticate!" Rodent chirruped on her shoulders.
"Right, and this is Rodent," She gestured to the fluffy brown rat, beaming with pride to show him off. "And he and I have… hm…" She rustled through her many layers of clothes (with were plentiful, especially with Amy's jacket) before finding her vest and peeling it open to display her Viridian Gym badge and the Canalave one under it. They gleamed in the fluorescent light of the mall.
"He and I have two whole badges!" She grinned, her smile stretching well across her face. "Pretty awesome, huh?"
-x-x-x-x-x-x-
"Not that I mind whether we go now or tonight, because I'm cool with it if we go now. But when are we going to have lunch?"
"Oh, Arceus! You're obviously hungry," Serena looked concerned. "Look at you, Amy, you're blanched!"
She laid a worried hand on her forehead, as if to check for any lingering trauma on the russet-haired woman. She might never have become a nurse, but Serena was at least as worried about a patient as any other Joy in her extended family.
Riley, however knew otherwise. It wasn't just hunger gnawing at Amethyst, oh no, this was far too complicated. It was mixture of fear, shame, of red-faced self-loathing and, oddly enough, regret. He felt it radiating off her body in waves if anguished aura.
Quietly, he removed his arm off her shoulders, opting instead to hold her hand in his, rubbing his thumb soothingly over her knuckles.
"Are you alright?" He whispered gently, looking her in the eyes. Morganite had mortally wounded her pride, no doubt, but still he was far too elated with the young woman's revelation to care.
Amethyst wanted him. Amethyst wanted him.
And he'd do his best to reciprocate.
"If you don't want to go get your dress just yet, don't," He said again, softly. "That last thing I want to do is force you into doing something you don't want to." He kept his grip on her hand loose, unwilling to herd her into an emotional corner. He didn't want to – couldn't – force her to love him.
"I have a plan," Serena cleared her throat, sounding slightly uncomfortable with the affection before her. "How about I take Amy for a snack first? You can go get your tux done up first – and if Stephanie goes to the tailors to look for you, you can tell her Amy and I are at The Reynardine. It's the biggest one in the basement, you can't miss it,"
"That sounds… alright to me," Riley admitted before turning to Amy, "Are you okay with this?"
"Trust me," Serena grabbed Amy by her shoulder and pulled doggedly until Riley's fingers slipped away from her hand. "She'll love it,"
A few minutes later…
She didn't speak a word until they got to the escalator, looking occasionally behind her shoulder to look at Riley, who was now a rapidly disappearing dark blue figure.
"He likes you," Serena simply noticed. "You should grab him – not every guy tries half as hard as he does," She added wistfully, as if regretting something herself.
She kept quiet, though, as if lost in her thoughts.
"Riley'll probably bring that Stephanie kid to meet us in a while. Till then, we really need to feed you – you look so small," She said with a chuckle. Truth be told, Serena was unnaturally tall – skinny, svelte and nearly Roark's height –standing next to her dwarfed Amy in comparison. The extent of her brown hair merely grazed Serena's shoulders.
"Come on," Serena led the other trainer the moment their feet touched the basement floor. "There's a great restaurant I know,"
The Reynardine was a grand affair, taking up a third of the basement with plush red seats and velvet curtains. A brass band was playing, their sound wafting through the door. The miners kept to the diners upstairs – no one would shell out for a four-star restaurant for their lunch break.
Serena always felt that guests lent an exception to any social rule.
She paused at the outside of the restaurant, where a sandwich board labeled 'Today's Special' in gold lettering told them the Borsch was the best in all out West Sinnoh. The signboard spelled out 'Reynardine' in neat gold foil above the image of a dark jumping fox creature. A statue of the creature was carved from black Oreburgh stone and reared, snarling at them, by the door. In the celebratory mood of the Miner's Dance, someone had put a red miner's hardhat on his head, tilted at a jaunty angle. It was disturbingly comical.
Serena stepped back, carefully looking at the creature, from its sleek dark body to the mane of fur that trailed from its head, tied up with a dark velvet band. "Hmmm…" She rubbed her lips with a curious finger, before extracting a pair of glasses from the inside of her (well, Roark's) jacket.
She tiptoed and perched the glasses on the beast's nose, just under the hardhat, and smiled at her handiwork.
"Kinda looks like Roark, now, huh?" She laughed. "Don't tell him I did that and he'll never know where his reading spectacles went."
With a conspiratorial wink, she pulled Amy into the restaurant.
They were seated by a suited waitress under a mural of the fox-like creature running with a smug expression from a pack of snarling Lucario.
"There's a funny story behind this restaurant," Serena nodded. "Roark told it to me – he doesn't come here often, but, well, I like it here."
She cleared her throat, "Stop me if I bore, you, alright? Well, this place's still fairly new – it's only been running for… about twenty years. There's an old urban legend in Oreburgh about a black fox creature that used to haunt the moors around here, and it'd take the form of a beautiful young woman to seduce young men and eat them."
Serena laughed incredulously. "Well, frankly all I think the beast wanted was some fun, but, well, most everyone was terrified of it. It wasn't until an Aura Guardian came into town and fought it with his Lucario that it vanished and never came back.
"Well, that's the story – but don't take my word for it, Byron can tell it to you better. He was still Gym Leader when it happened, and pretty young, around Roark's age," She noted. "Someone went and made this restaurant about the beast, and it's still pretty popular with folks who like the legend… like me. Roark hates it, but he's got good reason to."
A waiter served them both glasses of wine, which Serena swirled about absentmindedly. "I mean, I know where he's coming from… His mother disappeared around the same time, and he wasn't even old enough to open his eyes." She lowered her voice, "Don't tell anyone I told you that – Roark sleeptalks – he doesn't think I know."
The brass band began playing a new song, it sounded a little like bugle music just before a thrilling hunt.
"There's supposed to be sightings of the beast again," Serena sipped her wine. "But it's all just rumors, don't let them fool you."