Sorry this took so long, and yeah, I really hope it was worth the wait ^^'

Chapter four: Understanding

Aurora hadn't realized how tired she really was, when she woke up Riley and their pokemon where already up and about. She was a bit dazed but the thought of Tony coming after them kept her from falling back asleep, and so she sat up. It was warmer than yesterday, which met that the night would be a bit colder, that she remembered very well when she first tried to get through the forest. She looked at Riley, he tending the tiny fire as delicately as he possibly could as he was boiling berries. "Hey, Riley how long was I out since you got up?"

He stopped tending to the fire and looked at her, a wide grin spread across his face and he started to chuckle. "Do you really want to know? It might hurt your record of up and out earliness thing!"

"C'mon Riley, seriously, cause I really want to go back to bed and that's not normal. I should've been up before you!"

"Truth?"

"The truth,"

Riley thought for a moment and let out a sigh, "Well I got up and it took me about half an hour in the morning. By the way the sun was just coming up and it took me about three minutes to get the small fire started. So maybe an hour?" Riley smiled.

Aurora fell backwards and covered her face with her hands and let out a loud groan. "Arg, I want to go back to sleep!"

Riley smiled, "Well them go ahead I'm sure Tony won't find us in here, heck we can't find our own way out!"

At the name Aurora shot right back up and grabbed a handful of dirt and smothered the small fire that Riley finally got going. Riley was furious and he started to yell at her but she covered his mouth and pulled him back to the wall of the ledge and then Kirlia did the same with Riolu. Seconds later a crowd of people came rushing past but as they were hidden no one saw them. They were lead by a pack of Houndoom and Riley and Riolu stopped struggling once they saw the crowd.

Just as they thought it was safe another man had jumped down from the ledge, only he was going his own pace. Aurora softened and leaned forward and she whispered "Tony?" Riley looked at her with shock and then covered her mouth and pulled her back. Tony turned around thinking he heard something but quickly joined the rest of the group.

As soon as the search party was out of sight they crawled out of the space they were in and Riley had a word or two to say to Aurora. He fixed his hat and looked at her. "What was that? Do you have a price on your head or something!? I mean what was with Mr. Big with the boots and camouflage pants? Was he your boss?" he scolded.

"I…. I guess you could say that. But he was always like a dad to me," Aurora was ashamed and looked towards the ground, trying hard to look passed it. "He was there for me, he helped me, he cared for me, but he lost me. He lost himself in his research, and I should have known…. Because, I should have and me and him were close… And I-I should have…." She couldn't carry on with what she was saying anymore, as her throat was caught by that wad of guilt. Then Riley began to feel guilty and tried to think of something to change the topic.

"….. How did you know that they were coming before they were on top of us?"

She looked up at him, "Huh? Oh, um, I used aura. You do know what aura is right?" She saw him sort of stand there thinking, but she saw he didn't know. "Aura is the essence of all living things, it is inside you, me, Pokémon, everything,"

Riley looked around, "But, how do you see it?"

Aurora smiled a little, "Now that takes practice. You may not want to face the challenge," she slyly said while turning away to make Riley feel like she doubts he can learn.

"Well I have the Riolu and you don't Aurora. He'll learn aura sphere in no time flat!"

Aurora turned around slowly with a look that didn't say she was impressed, "Aura sphere? Puh-lease, I too can create an aura sphere," At that statement Kirlia took her mistresses' arm and looked at her in a worried tone. "It's okay; it'll be small, for now."

She stepped back ward three steps and pushed her shoulders back, then closed her eyes. She then proceeded to put her hands in front of her fingers up, and then met both of her wrists. Riley saw a flashing light begin to appear with a bluish hue. Aurora pushed her hands out keeping her wrists together, this time her fingers were pointing towards a tree. The lights became more constant like a strobe then crossed her arms so they created an X shape, and in the V of the X a sphere formed. She slid her top arm so it would hit the back of her hand. As she did that it sent the sphere made of aura streaming into the trunk of the tree, it then caused a small explosion upon contact. The incident had indeed left both Riley and Riolu dumbfounded.

Aurora opened her eyes and smiled, but she stumbled backward immediately due to lightheadedness. Riley and Kirlia caught her; while Riolu stood in front to make sure she wouldn't fall forward. She looked at them puzzled, and then shook her head, "I'm fine; see," Aurora stood up on her own two feet firmly planted on the ground.

"If I knew that making that aura sphere took that much out of you, I wouldn't have asked you to do it," Riley guiltily stated.

Aurora stared blankly at him and spoke in an honest tone, "You didn't ask Riley, I wanted to show you. I did that mainly because I wanted to teach you!"

Riley looked proud and overly excited. "Well you have found a willing student, until we get out of here that is! Remember you still owe me a battle." Riley's enthusiasm caused them to shake on it as a deal they were determined to keep.