Riley.
Some Time Later.
"Riles...you okay? You look pretty green around the gills."
Dee laughed. "What, that Johto guy tell you you're related or something? You're positively green."
I took my backpack to the bathroom so I could take a shower. "Don't worry about what Lee told me," I called out to them, taking my shirts off. Then, I turned the knob for the shower. "We're leaving for Eterna Forest, tomorrow."
I removed the rest of my clothes, standing under the blistering hot water. I recollected my conversation with Leon Higgins, trying to make sense of it...
Lee looked up at the starry sky oncrke the girls were out of earshot. "That Riolu, Astro...he's not right. Aura's off-kilter. Do you know anything about it?"
"Uhm..." I cleared my throat. "What? His what is what?"
"Don't look at me like I'm stupid. You've got a way with it, too? With aura?"
I laughed. "I don't-what? The hell are you talking about?"
Lee hooked a black eyebrow in the air. "I could nearly smell it on you. You can sense the waves, too, right? Or has no one ever told you?"
"Uhm." I shuffled my feet and looked down. "You've got the wrong...guy...I don't-"
"You really don't know?" Lee's features softened. "Has anything ever happened you couldn't explain? You could feel something dangerous approaching?"
I gulped. The incident in the cave came to mind, with the Onix. Along with a million others, including the day Riolu was kidnapped...
"So what?" I demanded. "You gonna tell me I'm 'special'? I have 'secret' powers? I won't believe it, 'cause I'm not special. I'm just...I'm just Riley."
Lee pursed his lips. "I remember the denial. The same belief, 'I'm just Lee'...Riley, did something happen? What?"
Now it was a matter of choice. I gave him an abridged version of the Onix encounter, how I'd felt the vibrations of the rock change.
"But, at that point, anyone could have felt it, if they knew what to look for," I quickly added.
Lee listened to my story, stroking one of his Umbreon's ears. I had set her off; her black fur was on edge.
"But what lead you to check the rock for oncoming enemies?" He wondered aloud. "Did the atmosphere change? Seem upset? Did it maybe set you off, emotionally?"
I was mentally disarmed to that. I had never considered how the cave's atmosphere had affected me, but I had been different. More...alert. Quick to react. No developed reflex could have caused that.
Lee chuckled. "Didn't expect that?" He asked. "Aura-that is, the universe's spritual energy-is more obvious to us. If you trained right, you could battle blindfolded. Not that I'm at that point yet, myself."
"But, who is 'we'?" I demanded. "You're not answering my questions!"
"Who do you think? The usual norm for groups of teenagers with specific, weird powers. There used to be a lot more adult Aura Guardians, but..."
"'Aura Guardians'?" I repeated. "Is that what you call yourselves? What does that have ANYTHING to do with me, let alone Astro?"
"Um!" Umbreon yipped at Lee's side. He raised his eyebrows.
"Guess I've...said too much." He shuffled an Adidas bag he carried on his shoulder. "I guess...nah. You ought to get on back with your friends. I'm going to keep an eye on that Riolu..."
Lee ran off down the street, his odd-colored Umbreon following. I almost followed.
"Get back here!" I yelled. "Le-Leon!"
Of course, he didn't listen. The sleepy town was silent, even after the contest. I could still hear Lee's sneakers slap against the ground.
I rubbed shampoo through my hair, sighing. Water dribbled into my mouth, along with shampoo.
"Damn!" I splurted out. "Man..."
I rinsed the lather out of my hair, and washed myself with the bar of generic Pokemon Center soap. Then I got out of the shower, and toweled off.
As I rubbed my hair dry, I caught a look of myself in the mirror. I hadn't looked into a mirror in ages.
In the two weeks or so since I had left home, I hadn't gotten very much sun, thanks to how many layers of clothes I wore. My face was just a little reddish from sunburn.
My hair was getting longer, too. I ran a comb through it, tugging through the tangles. Long black hair, dark eyes, pale skin, dark clothes...man, I could have been mistaken for a goth. Or Lee.
I closed my eyes, and concentrated on the room outside the bathroom. I could see Dee's shadowy outline get up, march over to the bathroom door, angry...
"Riley!" Dee pounded on the bathroom door. "I don't care if Lee upset you, other people gotta take a shower, too! If my face breaks out from all this damn makeup Amber put on me, it's on YOUR ass!"
"Augh!" I opened my eyes, crying out. Had I just...? It was just like with Onix, only I did it on purpose this time.
"Riley!"
"Let me get dressed!" I shouted back at her. "Christ!"
I pulled on my long-sleeved pajama shirt and sweatpants from my bag, and hurried out so Dee could shower the femininity off of herself.
Riolu was curled up on the pillow of my bed, already asleep. Amber was sitting on her bed, already washed up and ready for bed.
"Riley?" She piped up as I set my backpack against a wall.
"Yeah?" I answered. I wasn't as shaken as I'd been when I'd gotten in the showee. I knew what she wanted to ask.
Amber looked down at Astro, curled up asleep in her lap. "What did Leon tell you? You were so upset when you stormed in."
I sighed. "It...just something stupid. He thought I was someone else."
"But, you were gone so long-"
"I told you the truth, Amber!" I snapped at her. Even I winced at my tone.
Astro's leg twitched in his sleep. Amber glared at me.
"Fine," She huffed. "You didn't have to yell."
"I'm sorry," I apologized. "That really wasn't nessicary of me. Sorry."
The three of us went to bed after Dee got out of the shower. I had to pull Riolu off of my pillow so I could lay down.
I don't think I went to bed until after two. Even then, I didn't get any real rest...
In A Floraroma Citizen's Home.
9:00 That Night.
"Back so soon, Lee? I thought the judges-"
"Sorry, Gramma, I gotta make a call. I'll be upstairs."
A young man dressed in black marched through the door of his grandmother's home in Floraroma, fresh from judging a Pokemon Contest. He looked as if he had just seen a ghost.
Leon took the stairs two at a time, Shift following at his heels. The Umbreon was used to her trainer dashing around everywhere.
Leon didn't feel safe until he made it into the spare bedroom he had taken at his grandmother's home for the upcoming Contest season in Sinnoh. He had been invited as a guest judge for several contests, starting in Floraroma.
With fumbling fingers, Leon pulled his Pokegear from his jeans pocket. He dialed a long-distance number.
"Ughh...what, Lee?" A gruff voice answered. In a darkened shack on the Slateport City beach, a man sleeping on a futon had answered Leon's phone call.
"Mark! Thank God you're awake." Leon began pacing the bedroom.
"Yeah. Well, can happen when an overseas idiot calls you at nine in the morning." Leon heard springs creak as Mark got out of bed. "What's up?"
"Man, you'll never believe it." Leon ran his fingers through the ruined hairgel spikes in his hair. "Tonight, at that contest, there was a Riolu. And he could access his own aurafor attacks, which no Riolu should be able to do. And I followed the crazy wavelength of his aura. And, well...that Riolu's trainer, she's friends with this kid. And I think...I think I found another one of us."
The sound of a cigarette being lit. If Leon had noticed, he would have given Mark a lecture.
"I call bull," Mark challenged. "How old?"
"Like, thirteen or fourteen," Leon answered. "I know. Pretty young to be able to do anything with it. But weren't we?"
"Lee, don't you try to talk to him." Mark took a long drag on the cigarette. Leon's lungs hurt, aching for the nicotine rush. "We're walking a dangerous rope ourselves. Don't test our luck."
"Well, I already started on telling him." Leon thought desperately of the emergancy pack he kept in the drawer of the bedside table. "And, I'm not pushing it by-"
"You already told him?" Mark snarled. He took another drag. "Leon Higgins, how long have we been saying that we wish Steven had never told us about aura? Six years?"
"And how long have we known that this is the right thing to do?" Leon shot back. "I know being an Aura Guardian's dangerous. But, you could still come here. We could train. Recruit Riley. We're young. We're-"
"That's what makes it so dangerous, you dipshit!" Mark shouted at Leon. "All those Aura Guardians who died before us, they died because they were young! I won't stand by and watch my best friend die for a cause he doesn't belong to!"
Leon had to take a second and breathe. He finally stopped pacing the room, and stooped down to stroke the top of Shift's head.
"Mark, I know you want me to stay out of Sinnoh's business," Leon sighed. "I get it. But...an ancient power is growing, here. I can feel it in my bones. Somebody is planning to use that energy for something bad. And that Riolu...he's a part of it. I don't know it, yet, but I can feel it. We have a duty to protect the innocent citizens. And Aura Guardians are a dying race..."
A long silence. Leon heard Mark light another cigarette.
"I swear to Christ, dude, I told you I quit smoking-"
"Alright," Mark sighed. "Look, I dunno what I'll do about my sister. See if Mom and Dad can handle Maggie without me. If I can get a boat to Sinnoh, I'll think about it, but I don't know. I don't have all that much in the bank for a cross-seas trip. It'd be great if Dad could lend me money, but I know he can't."
Leon nodded. "Alright. I understand."
"I want you to think about our families when you consider this crazy 'duty' of ours that you speak of," Mark continued. "I've got two sisters. Your little brother just earned his first badge. You've got a fiancée, man, does Daisy even mean anything to you?"
"Don't give me that talk, Mark. Daisy knows what I'm getting into. She loves me enough to trust us to be careful with this. Just...just try and come see me, okay? Because I know she can't. She's got her own brother and sister."
Leon talked to Mark over the phone for a few more minutes, getting the usual lecture. Then Mark hung up.
After Mark hung up, Leon went into the drawer for the cigarettes and lighter. After his nerves calmed, he called Daisy to tell her goodnight.
AOF: If you don't understand the entire exchange between Leon and his friend Mark, you're not meant to. At least, not yet.