- N - = Nicky's part

- J - = my part

Chapter 009 - In the tight spot!

- N -

Riley waited until they were far away enough before swiftly getting out of bed and checking under it. The slipping wasn't under there. Quickly, he searched under the table, the chairs, and every last cabinet.

Where could it be? He wondered, perplexed.

It was clear enough Serena was hiding something about the Zoroark – the last thing he wanted to do was for her to find it and get suspicious.

"Laelaps, I choose you," he whispered, pointing his pokeball out of the window.

A flash of bright light leapt out the window, solidifying into the Lucario on the ground floor below the apartment.

"Laelaps," He whispered to his pokemon, "today I need you to keep watch near the Oreburgh Mine – I know, I know! You already checked it yesterday, but do it again. I'm sure something's there. Report back if you find anything."

Barking in agreement, the Lucario took off, and disappeared into the city.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Stephanie tried to contain her enthusiasm – Amy was an incredibly powerful trainer, maybe even stronger than Gold, or maybe even Ruby, and she'd already seen how strong they were! It'd be amazing to finally have a dexholder to show her what to do.

"This is gonna be epic," She finally cheered. "A real, strong dexholder! And she's going to teach us how to battle!" Titling her head up, she looked her Raticate in the eyes. "Isn't this exciting?"

"Cate!" Rodent agreed, smiling. "Raticate!"

"Thank you so much, Amy," Brown turned to the purple-eyed trainer. "We really could use some help. Rodent's usually faster than his opponent so we always hit first, and we're good at dodging, but if we get hit…"

"Raticate," Rodent shuddered, recalling how easily Byron had beat them the last time. Bronzongs were slow, but he took a lot of damage whenever they hit him.

"Defense,"

Brown turned around, resting a shoulder on the doorframe was Riley, his hat fixed back on his head, his suit clean, and looking dapper. How did he go from being so tired to looking so good so quickly? Brown wondered.

Looking sharp as usual, the man smiled, and repeated himself.

"Your Raticate has a naturally high Speed stat, and he's agile enough to dodge his opponents – that's called Evasion. So, you're good at Speed and Evasion, but you can't take a hit?" He explained. "If anything, you need to bulk up Rodent's Defense stat."

Turning to Amethyst, he attempted to explain a little better: "Remember Diamond, on Iron Island?" He said, hoping Iron Island wouldn't still be a sore wound to Amethyst's heart. "He faced a problem like yours, Miss Brown – but his Pokemon had an incredible base Defense stat but were lacking in Speed."

As they walked down the hallway to the kitchen, Riley continued:

"Count yourself lucky that Amethyst has an excellent defensive pokemon," He added. "A Togekiss, am I right? Rodent could learn a thing or two from sparring against a defensive pokemon – especially since Roark's own pokemon specialise in Attack."

"Raticate…" Rodent thought about it pensively, sounding afraid.

"Don't be such a baby, Rodent!" Brown picked him off her shoulders and stared at him in her arms. "You can do this!"

"Ticate…"

"Oh come on, you're a tough guy," She put her nose against his. "You're my widdle tough guy, arenchoo?"

"Audino!"

Serena Joy crossed her arms, the large pink Pokemon by her side. "I've got breakfast ready," She pointed to the table, which was piled high with bacon and eggs and toast in various shades of doneness.

"Ooooh," Brown and her Raticate cooed in unison, before dashing to the table and helping themselves liberally to the food.

Serena looked at her Audino, thinking about what Roark had said. Maybe it was time to move on – was she pushing all her hatred of her family to the pink pokemon? It hadn't done anything to actually deserve her coldness… Still, it would never replace her Sawsbuck. Was she blaming it for trying to do that too?

As Amy and Riley entered the kitchen, she waved them a vague ''G'morning,".

"Roark's already left," She added, just in case they were curious. "Which reminds me! I have to give you these,"

She handed them a strip of paper each, hesitating before giving a third to Brown. "Tickets," She explained, "for the Dance. Technically, you don't need them, since it's open to the public, but this is for the couples who're doing the First Dance. Just bring a partner."

Quietly, she thought about Roark, wondering whether he'd ever ask her directly about the dance. He didn't have a partner, did he? Maybe it was time she asked him herself…

"What are you doing?" She arched her brow, staring at the younger trainer who had started unwrapping a bandage on her arm. She hadn't noticed the injury before – but then again, the girl wore plenty of layers of clothing – the bandage had been covered by her sleeve.

"I'm changing my bandages," Brown answered, peeling the wrapping off further. "I got hurt by a Purugly a while back,"

The wound was bright red, and bleeding slightly. Serena winced – that definitely looked like it hurt. However, the girl was unmoved at the size of it, as if this was something she encountered on a regular basis.

That girl had guts at the very least. It turned Serena's own stomach to see so much blood.

"Don't-Don't do that at the breakfast table!" Serena said, feeling sick from all the blood. "People are eating here!"

"But I got another one under my shirt too and I can't reach it by myself and-"

"No buts," Serena said sternly, before turning to the other two at the table. Riley was unmoved at the display, as if he'd seen much worse in his life. Was she the only at the table afraid of blood? "You… you can't just… do that in the middle of nowhere,"

Her stomach felt twisted. She could never stand the sight of people getting hurt – maybe that was why she never wanted to be a nurse. She had no idea how her cousins could handle their patients coming to them with so many cuts and bruises, and pus, oh Arceus, the pus!

Ugh.

"Here," Shuddering, she pulled a bottle of ethanol from the cabinet above the sink. "You better go somewhere to get that thing dressed."

The girl looked at the medicine as if she'd never used it in her life. Curiously, she opened the cap, sniffed it, and opened her mouth…

"Don't drink it, dammit! It goes on the wound!"

"Oh."

Serena planted a palm against her face. "Amy, could you help her?" her voice was tiny and scared. "You can use my room – just… just… do something."

- J -

Seeing Stephanie so enthusiastic about Amethyst training her was something that filled the woman's heart with joy. She had never done anything very useful, so she felt really important when the teen asked her for help.

However, she looked too enthusiastic.

"I hope she isn't expecting something amazing from me..." Amethyst thought. "I'm not 'that' much of a strong trainer..."

The purple-eyed trainer frowned when she listened to Ms. Brown's problems. Yeah -she thought- a normal Raticate wouldn't have had a very high defense.

"Mmmh," Amethyst muttered, rubbing her chin. "let me think, I guess t-"

She couldn't finish her sentence because Riley appeared. The chestnut-head stared at the man, her mouth slightly opened, as it happened everytime she got caught in his beauty.

His face looked brilliant again, his eyes were as vivid and beautiful as always... His firm, yet warm smile... And that blue, dapper suit that made him look so elegant, so... sexy...

"Oh, my Arceus..." Amethyst thought, almost drooling. "I just can't believe I've been sleeping near this man all night long... Sigh..."

She wasn't listening to Riley's explanations, of course.

Hence, she flinched when he talked to her.

"Oh! Mmh, yeah, Diamond." Amethyst said, hastily; she played with one of her curls around her finger, nervously. "He took 'course B', so I guess Ms. Brown would have to take 'course A', hehe."

As they went to the kitchen, she listened to Riley's words, and remembered how her Togekiss, Toge, almost defeated his Lucario. Laelaps had been wanting to battle Toge because he had noticed his strong defense.

Of course, Toge wasn't still a match for Laelaps.

"Well... yeah..." Amethyst muttered, blushing. "I guess Toge is my most defensive pokémon..."

The woman smiled when Stephanie petted Rodent. They were so cute together! She couldn't understand why Serena couldn't see it...

And there it was Serena, along with her... strange pokémon.

"Good morning, Serena... Oh, my!" Amethyst excaimed happily, clapping. "It's been SO long since I don't have a proper breakfast like this!"

Contrasting with Ms. Brown's suddenness, Amethyst slowly sat down next to the blondie.

"Enjoy your m-!" Amethyst was saying before starting to eat.

But Serena interrupted her as she gave her the Dance ticket. Amethyst looked at the ticket and covered her mouth with her hand.

"Oh, Arceus!" She exclaimed, opening her eyes totally. "The Dance's tomorrow...!"

Amethyst started to blush uncontrollably, and she didn't know where to look at, nervous.

"B-but how am I-I suppossed t-to find a p-p-partner in such a small amount of time?" She asked.

When she was saying that, Stephanie was unwrapping her arm. Of course, nobody wasn't listening to her... or that's what it seemed.

However, Ms. Brown's wound was enough to catch Amethyst's attention.

"Oh, my! How can you move your arm with 'that' injury?"

Amethyst didn't know what was more surprising, Stephanie's wound or Serena's fear of blood. She was a Joy, after all... Then again, she wasn't a nurse.

Unlike Serena, the purple-eyed woman didn't seem to mind that Ms. Brown was displaying her injury while they had breakfast...

...and she couldn't help but laugh when the blondie was about to drink of the medicine.

"Pffft-" A small snort came out from Amethyst's mouth.

As the Joy facepalmed, Amethyst got up and grabbed Stephanie's (not injured) arm.

"Let's go, Ms. Brown." She said, as she pulled the teen away from the table.

She took her to Serena's room.

"Sit down on the bed." Amethyst said while she opened the bottle and poured the liquid on a gauze. "This might hurt a bit... But I can help it! Go, Dew!"

Amethyst sent her Roserade out.

"Dew, use aromatherapy on Ms. Brown's wound so it won't hurt that much when I heal it." The woman ordered.

When Roserade was done, Amethyst approached Stephanie and used the medicine on her wound.

"Well done, Dew." She said. "There, there, Ms. Brown... Okay! Now, time to put on a new bandage!"

As Amethyst put the bands around Stephanie's arm, she smiled softly and wistfully.

"When I was 9-13, I used to get hurt a lot, too." She said. "I lived a lot at the streets and even when some family welcomed me in their houses, I wouldn't stop getting hurt because I was too clumsy to travel that much."

The young woman closed her eyes, remembering those times.

"Now, I'm still clumsy and weak, but at least I have my pokémon to help me, hehe!" Amethyst laughed. "Say, are you feeling better now, Ms. Brown?"

- N -

"It's just a scratch," Brown assured the older trainer. "Don't worry so much about it,"

Still, she allowed herself to be led out of the kitchen, Rodent on her heels.

"Rodent, go back in the kitchen," She muttered, smiling. "I'm going to be okay,"

The rat pokemon looked unconvinced, until Riley broke a piece of toast to catch his attention. Rodent's head snapped back to the dining table where Riley waved the toast in the air, tarried for a moment, before deciding to follow his stomach back to the kitchen.

"That's a good fellow," Riley patted the pokemon's head soothingly. "Let's give your girl some privacy, alright?"

Brown watched them both until they disappeared down the hallway.

Serena Joy may not have wanted to be a nurse, but she sure loved pink. Her room was probably, and without exaggeration, the girliest room in the world. Brown had never seen so much lace before in her life – it trimmed the curtains, the lampshade, heck, even the bedsheets! Roses were printed on the wallpaper, a vase on her dresser boasted freshly-cut flowers, and the air had a gentle smell of rosewater on it.

"It's so, so, so… frilly in here," Stephanie wrinkled her nose. "How does she LIVE?"

She'd barely realised she was dripping blood onto the bedsheets until Amy sat her down and pulled out her Roserade's pokeball. Brown winced automatically, half-afraid the Roserade would attack her. Thankfully, Dew seemed good natured enough to listen to her trainer, executing a perfect Aromatherapy move.

Stephanie sighed, that really was a lovely smell… If anything, it at least helped drown out the perfume in Serena's room, replacing it with another fragrance that somehow reminded her of Jhoto… of rolling in fresh grass in the summer, of playing in the stream by Gold's house as the spring flowers were in bloom…

…And just like that, it was over. Amy was wrapping a new bandage around her arm, tuttering and talking soothingly. For a moment, Stephanie thought she saw a look of self-loathing in the woman, a feeling she herself knew all too well.

"When I was 9-13, I used to get hurt a lot, too. I lived a lot at the streets and even when some family welcomed me in their houses, I wouldn't stop getting hurt because I was too clumsy to travel that much."

Stephanie arched a brow.

"Where were your parents?" She asked quietly. The mortality rate of dexholder parents was unnaturally high, she'd begun to realise – Gold and Kris only had a mother, Silver and Blue had lost both of theirs, Red never had any to begin with (purportedly, he grew up raised by wolves, but that was hearsay, Crystal assured her) .

And Emerald. Emerald never talked about his family either…

"Now, I'm still clumsy and weak, but at least I have my pokémon to help me, hehe! Say, are you feeling better now, Ms. Brown?"

"Don't say that, Miss Amy," Brown retorted, "You're as good as any dexholder I ever met, and that's strong as far as I can tell. So, maybe, maybe, maybe… maybe you're not the strongest dexholder, but you're definitely not the weakest."

It took her a while to remember that she'd been asked a question. Tentatively, she flexed her arm to check. The new bandages felt clean and stiff.

"I'm good," She finally answered. "…You're good at this, Miss Amy,"

Something crinkled under her shoe as she flexed. Curious, she bent her knee and brought her sole to her face – a little slip of paper had stuck to the bottom of her running-shoes. Strange, she thought, how did this get here?

Carefully, she peeled the slip free from her foot.

"Look at that… someone's pokemon was eaten outside Oreburgh Mine." She handed the slip to Amy, pointing to the photograph of the Sawsbuck carcass. "Ever seen a pokemon like that? They say you can only find them in Unova,"

The article went on to explain how the bite marks were too narrow to be a Luxio's, or even a Shinx's. The Sawsbuck's trainer was never mentioned. Brown scratched her head, puzzled.

"Who'd leave a newspaper clipping lying around the house?" She wondered. "It sounds like an awful morbid fascination, don't you think so, Amy?"

The memory of last night and the notebook hung in her mind. Was this pokemon a victim of Serena Joy's 'subject'? Her hands tightened around the lump in her jacket where the notebook was, wondering whether Amy would provide any answers if she asked.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"She asked where she'd get herself a date," Serena parroted, somewhat bemused, as she poured orange juice into her glass. "She doesn't have a date."

Amy didn't have a date. And all this time, Serena'd simply assumed the purple-eyed trainer would go with the sharp-suited gentleman that had dragged her to their apartment for dinner in the first place. All the signs were there – the awkward body language, the yearning glances, the hand gestures that gave so much away…

Had she been wrong? Serena wondered. Maybe Amethyst and Riley were just good friends. Maybe she was reading too far in to their relationship. Still, it made her wonder just how much of it was platonic…

"She asked where she'd get a date," She repeated again, to no one in particular. "A date…"

From the corner of her eye, she saw Riley stiffen. Sleeping against his chest, Brown's Raticate stirred, yawned, and smacked its lips drowsily.

"I don't see her having much trouble finding one," Riley admitted, stirring his coffee and trying not to disturb the sleeping rat. "There are plenty of dateless miners around," There was a note of wistfulness in his voice, as if he was giving away something he cherished. "And Amethyst's a reasonably attractive woman… She has admirable eyes, wouldn't you think so, Serena?"

"Mhm," Serena shrugged, and gulped the entire glass of juice down. She wiped her mouth. "Funny," She attempted to be conversational. "To think, my biggest worry is finding a dress I'm not going to trip over in time for the Dance."

She looked at the man, who was wearing what appeared to be yesterday's clothes. Didn't anyone change their clothes from last night? She wondered. Maybe trainers didn't even bathe. Maybe they were born with their clothes on them. No one could travel through the region and camp in the woods while wearing the same set of clothes for months.

No one.

"What are you wearing, anyway?" Serena asked. "For the Dance, I mean."

"Suit." Riley answered flatly. "Blue jacket, black shirt, fedora,"

"Seriously?" Serena was beginning to believe her theory.

"Hmm…Orange socks…?"

She smacked her face against her palm.

"I'm joking! You know I was joking, right?" Riley laughed. He skimmed through a pokegear, checking his schedule. "I'll see if I can get a fitting done by tonight. Maybe a black tux? No?" He smiled serenely. "Too formal?"

Serena imagined him in a tux – starched lapels, cravat and all. Even she had to admit that was a dashing combination.

"Really," She assured him, "anything goes. There's not much of a dress code… Come to think of it, I don't even know what Roark's wearing! I bet it's his work clothes," She crossed her arms.

"I could ask him for you," Riley suggested. "I'm taking Stephanie and Amethyst down to the mines to train later."

"Naw – focus on getting that rat presentable enough to fight Roark," She smiled. "The last thing I want to do before the Dance is to scrape little pieces of Raticate out from under his Rampardos' foot tonight."

Riley chuckled. "Regardless, I'm thinking of taking the girls to go find decent dresses afterwards. Care to join us?"

"Nope," Serena shook her head. "I've got a dress already… sort of. It's my mother's. I'm just going to alter it."

"Traditional," Riley nodded. "I can respect that,"

"Traditional my ass," Serena sighed. She hated having to rely on her family. It just meant she'd forever be a Joy. "It's cheaper than buying one, that's all,"

"I admire your practicality,"

"Pfft."

There was silence between the two. Serena watched Brown's Raticate sleep, the rise and fall of his chest matching the breathing of the man he was sleeping on. Her Audino, she noticed, was sipping orange juice quietly, pretending not to exist.

"Another concern I'd probably note would be the full moon," Riley finally noted, looking off into a faraway place. "Do you believe in the myth of Zoroarks transforming in the full moon, Serena?"

Again with the Zoroarks. Serena felt the hair at the back of her neck prickle with fear.

"Not… Not really," She finally muttered. "Besides, the full moon isn't for another…" She reached for her notebook in its usual spot on the kitchen counter, only to grasp thin air. Dammit, where was her notebook?

"The full moon's tomorrow," Riley answered flatly. "If there really is a Zoroark about, I intend to find it at the Dance,"

Serena felt her throat go dry.