Chapter 2- Arianna

Adrian and Draeka woke up early the next morning, the sun was just starting to smile over the valley. Because it was so early they decided to take Riolu to the pokemon center to get a check-up and make sure he wasn't to badly hurt from his little suprise the previous day. The pokemon center was always open so getting in at this hour wasn't to big of a deal. After getting dressed and ready to go Adrian grabbed the pokeball containing the Riolu and helped Draeka onto his shoulders where she liked to be.

Before leaving Adrian found a pen and paper and wrote;

Taking Riolu to pokemon center, Don't worry Draeka's with me.

So his mother wouldn't freak out when she found he wasn't there. He took the spare keys to lock the door behind him and left the note on the table inside.

After waiting a second to adjust to the cold air the two began walking towards the pokemon center. Adrian looked back at the house where the soon-to-be gym leaders lived and it didn't look as if anyone was awake yet so he decided to stop by later.

After about fifteen minutes Adrian and Draeka came up to the pokemon center, it was built near the southern end of the town so any trainers would be able to get to it quickly. There was a trainer that came by every now and then to see family but because there would soon be a gym that traffic was soon to increase. When Adrian walked in the Chansey at the main counter said something to him in a slightly worried voice, Adrian in turn looked to Draeka to translate.

She just wants to know if anythings wrong. She said, a little annoyed form being woke up.

Adrian looked back at the Chansey and told her; "Its ok, we just caught this Riolu."he said holding up the pokeball, "We wanted to make sure everything was ok before we started doing anything serious."

Chansey only smiled and walked up to take the ball from him, She quickly took it over to a large machine behind the counter which purred to life as the pokeball was placed on it. After a few minutes Chansey brought Riolu's ball back and said something which Draeka translated again.

She said everything is ok and that theres nothing to worry about.

Adrian thanked the Chansey and Draeka and left the building. Draeka sighed again as she tried sleeping on Adrians shoulder again.

"Want to go back up the valley to train Riolu?"

Sure, I bet he wants to take a swing at me anyway after what happened.

"Am I irritating you?" Adrian asked sincerly despite the smile on his face.

Yes you are, can I sleep? She said with a small amount of anger.

"Sorry, I forgot your not a morning pokemon." He told her gigling to himself now.

After that Adrian kept walking towards the edge of town, he didn't ask Draeka anyhing else because she did finally fall asleep. On the way Adrians thoughts kept rifting back to the new gym leaders, what pokemon did they have, what were the chances of him beating them. Eventually the yeards and houses were replaced by trees and pokemon as he passed the fringe of the town. Adrian found his usual path in the farther part of the valley that led higher up towards the springs and where he caught the Riolu.

Once they were at their usual spot which overlooked the valley and town Draeka started to wake up. She shivered in the morning air so Adrian wrapped her inside his coat so they could share each others warmth as they watched the sun rise.

After about half an hour the sun was almost complety past the horizon, the sunlight starting to everything up. Draeka eventually tried to crawl back onto Adrians shoulder when the sunlight reached them. She hesitated when her head got over him and then continued to get her tail up as well.

"Everything alright Draeka?"

Yeah everythings fine, the sun feels nice. Also theres a girl here, I think shes the one your mom was talking about.

Adrian was suprised to hear her say that but didn't move to show it.

Aren't you going to say hi?

I'm trying to think what to say.

How about; Hi

"No point in trying to sneak up on me, I know your behind me."

"How'd you know?" A girls voice sounded behind him.

Adrian turned and saw her, she had shoulder length brown hair, almost as dark as his, a blue sweater and dark blue jeans.

"I have my sources." Adrian said while smiling and petting Draekas tail.

"Your Adrian right?"

"Yeah, I take it my mother told you about me."

The girl came and sat next to Adrian, not taking her eyes of the Dratini. "Yeah, she also said you were going to be leaving soon, though I wasn't expecting anyone to be up here this early."

"Me either, we come up here all the time. Why were you trying to sneak up on me?"

"I was up here trying to see if it was true that Lucario were up here and I saw you two and decided to try and spook you. I failed but it was worth a shot."She said laughing to herself.

Adrian was laughing now to. After the girl sat down Draeka decided to move from his shoulders to her lap, the girl was startled but relaxed once Draeka settled. Adrian started laughing harder when he saw her expression.

"She won't bite you know." He said after he calmed down."well you know my name, but whats yours?"

The girl looked up from the Dratini that was now sitting in her lap. "My names Arianna." She said with a smile.

Nice name. Draeka commented, like she expected Arianna to hear it. Adrian looked at Arianna expecting the opposite but was suprosed to see a look of shock on her face.

"Are you alright?" He asked her, concerned.

"Did she just talk?"

Yes

"I don't know did you hear something?" Adrian said starting to smile again, he knew what had just happened.

"She did didn't she?"

"Yeah she did. Her name's Draeka." Adrian replied. starting to laugh again. The look on her face was priceless.

Arianna was still a little confused from Draeka's ability to speak. Adrian was when she started talking to him.

"How does she do that?"

"I'm actually not sure, I've been meaning to ask my dad but he's somewhere between Johto and Kanto so its not like I can just call him up in a moments notice." Adrian replied.

"Can other pokemon do it?"

Adrian was about to answer but couldn't, he hadn't had an opportunity to try with another pokemon. "I don't know, actually now that I think of it," Adian continued as he pulled out Riolu's pokeball. Adrian pressed the center button and there was a red flash. Arianna gasped in excitement when she saw the pokemon that was released.

"So there are Lucario in these mountains."

"Well we haven't seen any Lucario but we caught Riolu just yesterday."

The Riolu shook his head as he took in his surroundings, a dazed look in his eyes. Riolu looked from Draeka to Arianna and then to Adrian, although he seemed a little afraid of each of them. The fur around his eyes was crusted with dried tears. Draeka crawled up to him, Are you ok?

Adrian started to walk up to him but the Riolu started to back away from him, the look in his eyes shifted to fear. "Riolu?"