Okay peoples! Yes normally I would've updated a bit sooner but if anyone read the reviews you would know why. In case you didn't my computer had a virus and I couldn't touch it. But all better now! So shall we see if the little break made my story mind mush?

Chapter 9: Greetings

Aurora had just gotten off the ferry that led her to Iron Island. She had to admit that she was happy to be back doing adventures all on her own again. She stood on the rocky Island and took a deep breath in and smelled the iron just thick in the air. The salt in the water and the other minerals mingling with the smell of the iron made her smile with the smell of a clean earth. The ocean air made it so much fresher though. She opened her eyes, shifted her pack and was off to the nearest cave to study, report, sketch, you know the works. She gave a bit off a frown and brought out a small Pokéball which let out a Gardevoir that put her loving hand on Aurora's shoulder.

"I suppose that we should get to work… Huh?"

Work? But Aurora you told me to never think of our expeditions as work I thought?

"Yeah I did, didn't I? Well, if we are retrieving info for Prof. Rowan I think it will turn into a job if as much blink our eyes."

… So how shall we not blink? I thought that was a natural thing. Or is that another figure of speech that you did?

"It was Gardevoir, it was." With that and a sigh they were off to the caves of Iron Island.

Riley and Lucario had decided to head below deck of the ferry when they got on. They had both seen it so many times that Riley thought that it would be much more fun if they didn't know where they headed. But just before they landed on shore Riley had dozed off and Lucario couldn't wake him. He grunted and groaned but the teen wouldn't wake up. Then when the ferry docked there was a huge 'CLUNCK' that sent him forward and he gave a bit of a yell in shock. The moment that it clicked that they had docked the ferry was going to head back to Canalave City in a few minutes.

"Oh man, how long was I out?" Then the teenager darted out from below deck and saw he was going to have to jump for it. "C'mon Lucario, we can make this jump easy!" Riley had shouted out while gasping for air during his run.

Once they hopped on top of the railing Riley was a bit reluctant to jump, but when Lucario had already done so and landed safely on the ground he decided that he'd have to. "Lucario, WAAAAAIT!" He screamed as he jumped. He felt himself weightless in the air and flying on forever, but when gravity caught up to him he felt himself being hurdled towards the rocky ground. His knees were the first to land, then wrists, then his chin. He mumbled in pain as he turned over on his back on the ground. Lucario just slapped his head as he shook it in disbelief.

"You were lucky Lucario, that's all. That and you're more athletically capable than me… Oh well." Riley got up and picked the pebbles out of his skin, brushed off his now dirt covered pants, adjusted his cap, and left with Lucario towards the heart of the island. The adrenaline now pumping through his veins was all he needed to have the urge to train once more. Besides if he lost at the gym again, he convinced himself that he would no longer aim for a trainer, but he'd never abandon his Pokémon. He thought that to be cruel.

Aurora had at least gone through five tunnels and there hasn't been much to report on other than a few rocks, Geologists, fossils, and more rocks. "Gawd!" is all that she could think of as she wondered aimlessly. She had sworn that even the deserts that she had gone through had more Pokémon that this, or should she say at least had Pokémon? Aurora was most undoubtedly annoyed with what she was doing. Gardevoir could sense this though, and hear every thought flowing through her mind. There was one that quite frequently returned, but Gardevoir had never asked.

… Aurora? Do you miss Riley?

"What! What do you mean?"

Well it's just that he crosses your mind many times, that and you've never been the same since you've met him…

"I had just gotten betrayed by my family! Of course of turns out they never thought of as family as much as I! As for him crossing my mind! That's absurd; I almost didn't know who you were talking about." Aurora's cheeks started to flush slightly.

Then silently Gardevoir told herself this. Yes you have. You do miss him, and you turned pink at the mention of his name…

Aurora took an exit out of the tunnel and came face to face with a Regirock. She stood there and Gardevoir stood there just staring at the massive Pokémon. It made a little gurgle and with that it was off; running faster than she would've known was possible. She and Gardevoir had started to try and follow it but it eventually out ran them.

"… (huff) that (huff) Regirock (huff- huff) is something else (huff) let me tell you (huff)…"

Indeed, I have seen many-a-things with you Aurora, but not as bizarre as a Regi not attacking… Gardevoir had said to Aurora while she was gasping for air herself. They normally are very territorial are they not?

Aurora finally got her breath back. "Exactly… It was almost as though it was trying to lead us somewhere, but where then?" They took a look around their surroundings. It was just a pathway on the island with nothing significant about it. So they just tried to get back to more city part of Iron Island.

Riley and Lucario had decided they wanted to explore the old mine and see what had become of it since the ore they were mining for ran dry. It was in his family for generations and he would be inheriting it once he turned 18 from his grandfather. Currently it is his parents', and they've done nothing with it since they've gotten it, despite his best tries of trying to get rid of it. However taking a walk around, he is noticing how much he undervalued it. "Huh, I guess I was a real stupid adolescent. Ha! Now I'm a stupid teen! Once I turn 18 I wonder what I'll think of it then! …Right Lucario?"

Lucario gave a small chuckle and nodded his head in agreement. He too thought of how his master despised this place, no matter how many times he came here. Maybe because his grandfather had spent so much time here that no one noticed he was missing, until they found him? He knew that Riley never enjoyed the thought of Iron Island since the funeral. But Lucario had just hatched from an egg five months before that, so his memory could be a little foggy, but he was almost sure that was the case.

Riley made his way into the dark corridor of the mine and fumbled for the light switch. He finally found it and used all of his might to get the switch to turn the lights on. Off in the distance he heard a few bulbs exploding. It was old after all. When he turned around he saw the empty oil barrels, fresh air pipes, cars of rock that should've been wheeled out a long time ago but was long since forgotten, and a Regirock. ...Wait… is what he thought. He turned his gaze back to the Regirock who seemed to be staring into Lucario's soul and his. He stood there frightened to the point of yelling out, but he was too scared. Then the Regirock gave a call and was walking away.

"… W-Wait!" Then he was following it with Lucario not too far behind. They had sped up to a jog, then a run, but soon it was out of their reach and lost it. "Whoa, it just disappeared… Doesn't Regis normally attack?" Riley had asked Lucario this and he just shrugged his shoulders at the question. "Well, he got us out of the mine, but where?" They began to look around but found nothing. It was still six hours until the sun would start to set, so they decided to take an adventure.

"So Gardevoir… Do you see anything that might be the way back?"

I am afraid not Aurora. Judging by your question you do not either?

"Afraid so there Gardevoir…"

No

"What? I didn't even say anything!"

You did not say it out loud, but you thought it in your mind which I am connected to, and I am saying no.

"Well why not?"

I am not going off the path to see if we can spot the town because we may become even more lost than what we already are. That is why not.

"You party pooper!" Then Aurora stuck her tongue out at Gardevoir, and Gardevoir did the same. They both started to laugh at that.

They had been walking for five minutes and when Aurora looked ahead she something that made her heart skip, the Regirock that ran from them. Now was their chance to know why it had run, so they started to run the ways that it was to get to it.

Riley and Lucario had been walking in silence that seemed to irritate Riley. He let out a sigh and remained looking at the ground. They were lost, and Lucario didn't seem to care, but Riley did. This was his second home. So why didn't he know his way around? Riley had been walking side by side with Lucario until Lucario just stopped.

"Huh? What's the matter there buddy?"

The Lucario didn't answer, it just stared. Then in the blink of an eye it ran forward.

"Lucario! Wait! What on earth are you doing?" The teen tried despratly to catch up with him but when he looked ahead, he saw what Lucario saw. The Regirock that lead them out here in the first place!

They were running and running, just trying to catch it, but it hadn't moved an inch. Riley and Lucario weren't sure what they were going to do once they caught up with the Pokémon. It didn't even want to battle when they first met it! They had gotten closer and closer, until it was only a few feet away. But suddenly something ran right in to him.

"Oomph!"

"Ow wow! Why did you go and do a thing like that for?" Riley knew that voice. When he looked up he was curious.

"A- A- Aurora?" Riley practically whispered this.

This got the girl's attention, she looked up and her eyes widened. It was Aurora!

"Riley!" The girl flung herself at him crashing him against the hard ground yet again, and her arms around his neck were suffocating him. He was certainly not prepared for such a welcome. "Oh my gosh!" Aurora finally let Riley breath. "I can't believe it! I mean of all people to run into, of all places!"

"Yeah, I know! That was almost exactly what I thought." They were so wrapped up in saying hello that they didn't see the Regirock glance at the both of them, shrug and walk away.

"Ohhh, and you're still wearing the beret!"

"It isn't a beret!"

"Oh, okay then Riley. What would you call it then?"

"… Um, a cap, or a, um… I don't know! But it isn't a beret!"

"Well. I have got something better! I've been holding onto it for a while in case I might run into you!"

"Yeah well, you did run into me. Wait… Better?"

"Yes, and it's straight from the Hoenn region itself!" Aurora pulled around her pack and when she pulled it out of her pack, Riley was almost in awe.

HA! Muwahahah! I the writer decided that this was getting long and there shall be a part two! Stay tuned!