- N - = Nicky's part

- J - = my part

Chapter 033 - The secret!

- J -

Roark's happiness couldn't be measured. Not only he was going to go to the Dance with Serena but also she'd kissed him several times! Who cared if Riley suspected oh him? Well, at least in that moment... However, his comment abut Riley's stuffy-ness wasn't bad-intentioned, anyway. The miner wanted to keep his friendship with the blue-haired man... After all...

Amethyst, however, didn't know how to feel. What would Riley think abou her? Not that complimenting him was a bad tihng, but maybe he'd think she was too... blatant?

"Thank you, Amethyst, I've often wondered what it'd be like if I'd change – just to lose myself, be wild, for one night. I don't know if I'd like it."

The chestnut-head flickered and looked at the man who was grabbing her hand at that moment.

"B-be wi-wild... for one n-night?" Amethyst repeated, blushing uncontrollably.

Was he meaning what she was thinking...?

"You won't. Trust me, control's a pretty nice thing to have."

Amethyst stared at the pink-haired woman, surprised. What was all that about? What did the Joy mean? Why couldn't she understand? Was she that stupid, or drunk for that matter?

Then, Stephanie arrived. Good. It wouldn't be so hard to understand the stubborn teenager.

"Welcome back, Ms. Brown." Amethyst mumbled. "So, did they agree to play that song you two were talking about?"

She watched Rodent (who was mysteriously fatter than usual) ate all his trainer gave to him.

Roark was already eating, giving Serena a glance each... five seconds? He was certainly fast at eating, too, just like Amethyst. He needed to be done soon, there was much work to do after lunch!

"Uuh?" The purple-eyed lady noticed Stephanie doing faces after tasting her drink. "You don't like it, Ms. Brown?"

Amethyst patted Stephanie's back.

"There, there." The older woman said.

"You don't like chocolate milk?" Roark asked, after having a look at Stephanie's glass. "How could you? It's delicious...!"

"There, you can have some water." Amethyst added, handing the teen her glass of water. "I'm already done anyway..."

It was then when Amethyst noticed Serena packing her things.

"...I'm taking Amy back to the apartment after this; she needs to sleep that alcohol off."

"Oh, yes, please." The chestnut-head begged, relieved because she was going to finally have some rest.

While Riley folded Serena's dress onto his lap, Amethyst took Riley's jacket and covered her own shoulders with it as well.

Suddenly:

"Roark, is it possible I could speak with you tonight? I've been meaning to ask you something, but I've never really figured out how to go about doing it."

Roark stiffened on his seat.

"Well, yeah," He said. "to be honest, I was thinking the same... Serena told me yesterday you wanted to talk to me, so I was wondering what would that be..."

Amethyst looked at the miner and his old friend. Again, the tension on the air... Riley wasn't even looking into Roark's eyes. Just what the hell was Riley thinking about Roark?

Roark finished his meal, and so the others did. After Riley paid, the group got out of The Reynardine.

"Well, then, I'll see you at dinner, Roark? We can talk in the kitchen."

The red-head flinched; he was too fixated staring at Stephanie and Rodent to notice Riley was talking to him.

"Eh? Yeah, sure." He nodded, before putting his hard-hat on. "I'll be there, Riley."

Roark gave Serena a quick glance, which she used to peck on his cheek. The miner blushed; whatever was going to happen, he would bear it... because he had the Joy to support him...

"Well, I must go back to work." Roark said, a smile on his face. "Take care, guys."

"Bye." Amethyst mumbled, sleepy.

Then, she felt Serena's hand grabbing her shoulders and pulling her away.

"C'mon Amy, I've got something to tell you."

"Eh... uh, o-okay." The poor woman muttered; she gave Riley and Stephanie a glance. "La-laters..."

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

Once back in Roark's apartment, everything felt so... quiet, relaxing. Amethyst had longed that for a whole day...!

"Thanks, Serena." She mumbled as the older woman helped her to take seat.

So, alone again, uh?

"Amy, I wasn't going to say this in front of Stephanie, Roark asked me to the dance! I said 'yes'!"

It took Amethyst a few seconds to process that info. As much as she wasn't surprised, she was too drunk to think cleverly.

"I-I'm... so happy for you, dear!" Amethyst exclaimed. "I told you! I knew it! You are... so lucky..."

The longing was too much obvious to not notice on Amethyst's tone. She'd really wished Riley had asked her...

"But that's not exactly what I meant to tell you. First – how good are you at keeping secrets? I mean, keeping secrets from Riley and Brown?"

Amethyst flickered.

"A secret?" She asked. "Why, yes. I certainly don't mind keeping a secret from my friends, specially since you're my friend, too."

The purple-eyed trainer shrugged and lolled around the sofa. She looked into Serena's blue eyes, her cheeks burning. She needed that sleep so badly...

"So," Amethyst said. "what's that 'secret' you want to tell me, Serena?"

- N -

"You're getting fat." Brown put her hands under Rodent's armpits and lifted – he felt like a heavy backpack, or a cinderblock.

"Raticate." Rodent grunted. She let him fall back onto the floor of the shopping mall, his tiny claws hitting the tiles with assorted clicks. He was much too bloated to do anything beyond lying down next to the fountain. Battling was out of the question.

"What were you eating back there?" She crossed her arms and tapped her foot at him, annoyed. Rodent copied her movements exactly, which only served to bring a scowl to his blonde trainer's face.

"Well, thanks to you, we can't battle anyone."

Rodent's ears fell with the realisation. He looked almost guilty.

Gingerly, he put a forepaw in his mouth and pulled out half a wedge of cheese from the inside of his cheek. It was roughly the size of Brown's head. He looked at her, as if wondering whether dropping his cargo would make him more battle-ready.

"Ohh, that's so gross." His trainer laughed. "But that's sweet of you." She took the saliva-covered cheese with the tips of her fingers and dumped it into the nearest trashbin. Without a word, she wiped her fingers on her skirt and started towards the sound of battling trainers outside the mall.

"Come on," She said, "maybe we can go beat up some youngsters or something. They all use Starly – how hard can that be?"

Rodent wagged his tail and trotted alongside her.

"Okay, let's go over what we know." Brown spread out her fingers, five of them, and began counting. "One – there's a black beast running around town, according to the papers and in the mine. It's probably the same thing at the Reynardine, and probably a pokemon. "

"Raticate."

"Two – Roark and Serena are probably on this and they've got something to hide."

"Raticate."

"Three – Serena's notebook said the beast turns into a human and back."

"Raticate."

"Four – The beast at the restaurant's female."

"Ratirarrr?" Rodent's head tipped to a side, as if asking how she knew.

"It's got diddies in the painting, Rodent." She pointed to her chest. "That's kind of common sense."

"Raticate." He shrugged.

"And five – the only female we met in Oreburgh that's trying to hide anything is Serena. Ergo, Serena's totally totally totally the beast. Case closed closed closed." By now, her outstretched fingers had turned into a fist. She looked at it, satisfied.

"We so totally have this case in the bag." She beamed.

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

Serena Joy crossed her legs primly in her seat. It had been her favourite chair after moving in with Roark and had been worn into a soft yielding mess by its previous occupant. According to Roark, that had been Byron's chair and, although it smelled suspiciously sweaty in places, it had been broken-in perfectly.

It was a good place to read, the autumn sun from the window behind it shedding the last of the afternoon light onto her lap. On days before the full moon, she'd catch Roark lying in it, trying his best to savour the last of the sun before the moon rose.

The sunlight filtering in was gold-yellow (the same colour, she realised, as Stephanie Brown's hair) and stretched in a rectangle across the living room, looking like liquid gold spilling over the coffee table. Roark's collection of geodes under the coffee table glass sparkled in reply and scattered their colours on the ceiling – red-pink rubies, blue sapphires and, yes, purple amethysts, all speckling the ceiling like a kaleidoscope.

And to think people said there wasn't anything beautiful about rocks.

Amethyst herself seemed mollified to take the seat opposite her, perhaps a little too tipsy to think much. She wondered whether it was right to tell her what she was about to – Amy was still very dizzy, upsetting the poor girl wouldn't be the smartest thing to do.

Her purple eyes were droopy with fatigue, but in the late afternoon sunlight they sparkled purple like the gemstones under the table; Serena suddenly understood why Amy's parents probably named her Amethyst.

"So," Amethyst said. "what's that 'secret' you want to tell me, Serena?"

It was obvious enough Amy, despite being sleepy as sin, was sober enough to understand whatever the Joy was about to say. Serena swallowed, hard, wondering how to approach the subject.

"Well," She rubbed her thumbs over lips, thinking. She remembered her notebook, and then, remembered it had gone missing in the morning.

"I had a notebook – it'd probably be easier to explain if I had it with me but I can't find it…" She looked about vaguely, but shrugged. "We'll have to do without it."

Her Audino had woken up from the noise in the living room, poking its pinkish head out from the behind kitchen door curiously.

"Okay, Amy, what I'm going to say is going to sound… really really weird to you – please promise me you're not going to… freak out or anything." She leaned in close to the brunette's face, and looked at her earnestly. "Alright?"

Satisfied, she leaned back slightly in her chair.

"Okay, do you… do you remember when we talked about the monster at dinner yesterday? And in the afternoon when I mentioned something killed my Sawsbuck?" She looked at the floor, suddenly interested in the weaving pattern of the carpet, and how she hadn't vacuumed it this morning. Anything except looking Amy in the eyes.

"Well, I was lying when I said I didn't know anything about it. The truth is… after it killed my Sawsbuck, I was distraught. I couldn't eat, couldn't sleep. All I wanted to do was to grab a gun and shoot that thing in the head. I spent weeks studying what it could be, and when I finally figured out I was dealing with a Zoroark, I bought a hunting rifle and went after it."

"I knew it was living in the mines – that's where we were attacked, and where Sawsbuck…" She sniffed, paused, and then straightened to continue: "It was the only place in the city limits that could keep a monster that size out of view anyway."

"Roark was in the mines when I got there – and I thought he was hiding the monster from me – he kept telling me to get away, and not to stay in the mines past sunset… I really didn't listen." She laughed hollowly. "When you really want to do something – getting even with the thing that killed your best friend, for one – you really don't think about your own safety, do you, Amy?"

Audino had waddled up to the table, a teapot and a pair of cups balancing on a tray. Serena nodded her thanks, and poured Amy her drink.

"So. Roark. This was the first time I'd ever seen him up close – well, I'd seen him around when I was living with my cousins at the Pokemon Center, he'd come in and get his team healed before big gym battles, and he'd always give me a smile. I thought he was sweet, but I never really thought much about him… well, not until he started telling me to leave the mine. I was so annoyed at him, I swear!" She chuckled, "So, I tell him to get out of my way, and then, I hit him – hard – in the face."

Her hand fled to her cheek, rubbing it as she remembered exactly how she'd hit him that night they'd first met.

"And he – to my surprise – he starts… growling at me… And the next thing I know, he's doubled-over, telling me to run, and screaming like something was trying to burst out of his chest. I was so scared, I thought he was sick..."

She rubbed her fingers over her lips again, and then ran her palms over her eyes, as if to relax herself.

"Have you guessed why I brought everyone to the Reynardine today?" She looked sheepishly at Amy. "I… I thought I could give you a hint, without, well, without having to tell you directly…"

A sigh. She looked at her reflection in the tea.

"…Roark's the beast."

Pulling her pink hair free from the loops she'd tied them into, Serena leaned back and exhaled. There, she'd said it. She didn't feel nearly as good as she imagined she'd be. Rather, she was feeling afraid, guilty, even – what would Roark say if he found out she'd betrayed his trust to Amy? Would Amy even keep it a secret?

"I found out that night in the mine," She continued, still keeping her eyes fixated on the teacup. "I probably wouldn't've survived if Roark hadn't tried to hold himself back. I never told anyone – but Roark asked me to stay with him, just to be safe. Most people just suspected I didn't want to rely on my family anymore when I stopped living at the Pokemon Center – it's true in a way, but not the only reason."

"Myths were always just that – myths. And to finally see a mythical pokemon in the flesh… well, I thought that was too good an opportunity to pass up. Maybe that's why I was so interested in Roark – no because he's nice, but because he's… something fascinating." She looked guilty at the floor. "That's perverted, I know."

"Up until recently, he was a perfectly normal person – human, just like us. But around a year ago, he told me he started shifting at night, usually around the full moon, but sometimes the night before or after, too. He doesn't know why, and if Byron knows, he's not telling Roark – he hasn't spoken to his dad in nigh-forever."

Serena leaned her head back onto the headrest of the chair. It smelled of old leather and comfort, but seemed hard and unforgiving at the moment. She shifted meekly.

"He's been transforming every month regularly for over a year now – he stays in a deeper part of the mine and I make sure he doesn't get loose. Sometimes I take notes in my notebook, but I don't know where it is anymore." A shrug. "The notebook's for a project for school… at least, it was supposed to be at first. I don't know. Now, it seems too private."

It seemed like forever before she lifted her face to look at Amy's. Serena tried to read the brunette's expression.

"This… this is a lot to take in." She admitted to the dexholder. "And if you think I'm batshit insane, I'm not going to hold it against you."

Getting up and wiping her hands over her face again, she noticed her cheeks were wet.

"I'm going to get more tea." She explained, herding the teapot and both cups into her hands. She caust a sideway glance at Riley's jacket on the young woman's shoulders. "You should take that jacket off – it gets warm indoors."

Deep down, a part of Serena was surprised. How could she go about acting so nonchalant after what she'd just admitted? It was so surreal, so… so…

"I don't even know why I'm telling you this." She admitted.

"I've never said anything like this to the Joys at the Center, or to my family." Given how estranged she was to the Joy family, it wasn't that much of a surprise. "And I don't have any friends in this region…

"I guess I really needed to get this off my chest. The notebook worked for a while, but I can't be the only person living with this secret. I'd explode." She leaned her head against the kitchen door, not quite ready to go in and sever her conversation with Amy. "And now, with Riley in town and everyone suddenly interested in the beast…"

A tired sigh escaped her.

"If you have any questions…" She began, then paused. "If there's anything, anything I could help you answer… just ask."

With that, she shut the kitchen door, letting Amy think through what had just conspired between the two of them.