A/N: Here is chapter 2!!! Whee!! Thanks so much to all of my reviewers, who rock. I hope everybody reading enjoys this chapter, and thank you for going from chapter one to two! I hope it's good!! Please read, review, and enjoy!!

Emerald

2

"Gaaaahhhhhh!!!!" Emma shook a fist at the cave in front of her. "Geez, how hard would it be to have an easy, cut through path to this cave?"

According to her brand-new map, the fastest way to the next town over was to go through this cave.

She recklessly danced through the entrance, followed warily by her Tree.

The cave was dark, and Emma certainly did NOT like the dark.

She let out a squeal as the Treecko rolled its eyes. "Treecko, how in the world are we ever going to get through this?"

"You can see, can't you?" A voice said calmly behind them.

Emma jumped several feet, then whirled around to greet the person.

It was a girl with blond hair pulled back in two braids on both sides of her head, with stunning blue eyes. A somewhat sulking boy about the same age as Emma (14, probably) stood behind her, arms crossed, face impatient, utterly silent. His deep red hair was mussed badly.

"Whismur Cave's not quite pitch black inside. There are much darker places."

"Well, yeah," Emma agreed nervously.

"Plus..." The girl let out a little breath of air. "You see, there was something like an earthquake earlier here, and... Well, some rocks fell down and blocked the path."

"They WHAT?!" Emma was now racing towards the middle, her starter waiting patiently for her to return. When she did, she was breathing hard and had a shocked expression.

Unknown to her, the girl's blue eyes were scanning her, then darting back to the boy beside her, then back to Emma again. Her eyes narrowed slightly in recognition as she stepped forward.

"We were just coming to Rustboro through this cave when the earthquake happened. We're originally from..." Her pause was unnoticed by Emma, but the boy beside her fidgeted nervously. "Lavaridge Town."

"Oh! My grandfather went there once. He told me the hot springs were wonderful!"

"Oh, yes. Very nice, really." But the girl's thoughts were on something else.

Emma gave a guilty start. "Wait, do you mean that you want to go back there, but can't because now you're trapped?"

"Yes..."

"That's horrible!" She gave an unhappy gasp, then whirled around. "Tree, attack the rocks in the way!"

He raised a nonexistent eyebrow, and just lazily swatted at one with his tail.

"Harder!!" Emma demanded.

"W-wait, it's okay!!" The girl gave a weak smile. "We can handle it ourselves. To go back home, we'll just... Er..."

Emma whipped out her map. "There's no other way to reach Lavaridge Town except if you know how to Surf." She paused, then stopped to give a grin to the girl. "Oh, by the way, my name's Emma. I guess I can try to help you if you want!! My grandpa's a great pokemon trainer, and I'm sure he'll fly you there or something. All we have to do is go back to my house."

The boy gave a soft grunt, then shook his head. "No way. We don't know who you are."

"I'm EMMA."

"I'm Deo," he responded back, sarcasm dripping off his voice.

"I'm Jira," the girl broke in, stopping what was soon to become an argument, or at least it would from the boy's point of view.

Emma grinned. "So, let's go to my house!"

"Thank you," Jira responded. She turned and began to walk towards the exit, the boy at her side, giving her a glance that easily said, 'What in the world are you DOING?'

She gave him a nudge with her shoulder, and he immediately glanced over his shoulder. His green eyes locked onto Emma's, and for a minute, she saw something in him... Something very strange. A soft purple glow, and then... Nothing.

She shook her head, and quickened, catching up to the two.

"So, are you two related?" Emma started a conversation for the millionth time.

"We're siblings," Jira responded. That's plainly what Jira did. She responded to questions, but she didn't seem to be able to do small talk.

As for Deo, he didn't talk at all.

The three were walking through the Petalburg Woods (which Emma thought were frankly very creepy, seeing as with the bugs and darkness and everything), heading for Littleroot.

As they turned a corner, and Emma saw a light that she believed to be the exit, she dashed forward, whooping delightedly.

She ran smack into what she guessed was a bird.

"What the heck?!" She exclaimed, jumping back, rubbing her nose. "Geez, what in the world-"

"Wing! Gull!"

Jira rushed forward, a pokeball in hand, as it occured to Emma that this girl was a pokemon trainer. But the Wingull let out another cry, at which she lowered the ball, hooking it silently back onto her belt. "Poor thing."

"What?"

Jira reached out a hand, and began to... To STROKE the bird pokemon. "This Wingull's lost, Emma," she murmured softly. "It doesn't mean anybody harm."

Emma began to gape. Just how did Jira know such a thing?

"Let's go, Sis," Deo said bluntly. The Wingull landed softly on her shoulder, and she gave them both a weak grin.

"I guess I'll take it to the beach. There's one nearby, right?"

"Yeah." Emma smiled. Although she had her doubts about Deo, she was sure that Jira was a good person. "We'll take it home."

The Wingull let out a cry as they exited the forest, then flew silently towards a house that Emma hadn't noticed before.

"Hey!" Emma yelled, and raced after it, followed closely by the others.

The Wingull then landed with a small 'thump!' on the shoulder of an old man. He glanced at the three as they all stopped to huff for breath.

"Youngsters... You brought my lost Peeko back to me." His old, but sharp eyes scanned all of them, his face then splitting into a 'grandfather' grin. "Why, thank you!"

"Uh... You're welcome."

"My name's Captain Briney, but I suppose you can just call me Mr. Briney now..."

"You're a retired sailor?!" Emma exclaimed. "Wow!!"

"And what are your names?" He asked, as Peeko began to circle his head.

"I'm Emma." Emma glanced towards the two others. As usual, Deo sat in stony silence, while Jira looked nervous to answer. "They're Jira and Deo."

"You look mighty familiar, girl." Mr. Briney looked at her face with a queer look. "What's your last name? Is it Reynolds?"

"Yeah, I'm Emma Reynolds!" She beamed. "How did you know?"

"I knew your grandfather." He turned, and Emma did not see the dark look on his face that lay there for several seconds. He then turned back with a bright smile. "Edward "Dragon" Reynolds."

"Yeah, that was him." Although her grandfather's real name was Edward, he had become such an accomplished dragon trainer that he was often called "Dragon" by his friends. Affectionately, of course. "You were friends?"

"Very good friends." Emma searched her mind for any mention of a Mr. Briney. It clicked with a man her grandfather had once talked about.

'My best friend, and best rival. The best water pokemon trainer you've ever seen.'

"He talked about you!" She let out a happy little gasp.

"Did he?" Mr. Briney coughed into his sleeve, it covering the frown on his face. "What did he say?"

"Just that you guys were best friends and you were a great trainer."

"I see. But I'm not that boy any more." Mr. Briney paused. "A long time ago, your grandfather gave me something for safe-keeping. I think by now he'd want it returned, because I never took the time to give it back. It'd slipped my mind."

"Really?"

"Yes. Would you take it back for me, and give him my greetings?"

"Of course!" Emma beamed again, though behind her, Jira began to worry. Deo's look, if it was possible, darkened to an unhappy, angry look.

Mr. Briney returned, clutching something extremely precious in his hands...

He held it out, the necklace's green emerald in the middle sparkling. It was a tiny, but perfect, ball of glimmering green, surrounded by a golden yellow hold. Carved on the emerald's surface, highlighted by swirling gold markings, was something that...

Resembled a dragon.

A/N: Yay, I will now talk to my reviewers!! I do this every chapter, to thank y'all for reviewing!! Here we are!

Hinata-rocks- Oookaay, I'll look it up!! Thanks for the recommendation! And thank you so much for reviewing! I hope you liked this!

St Elmos' Fire- Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! Yep, Deoxys will be a big part of this! Thank you so much for reviewing!!! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I hope you'll like this story. Also, I like your name. It's cool.

Well, I'll see everybody in a week!