Hiya! My first Pokémon fic, tell me what you think, please! I love Roark, and I didn't see many stories with him in them, so I thought "What the hell! Let's give it a shot!"

I don't own Pokémon.

Chapter One

"What do you think, Dew?" Lia asked her Larvitar his opinion on her choice of clothes. Dew the Larvitar sat on her bed and watched apathetically as his Trainer tried to pick an outfit. Dew glanced out the window. He loved their little house. It was just the two of them. He frowned. Dew didn't want to share his Trainer with anyone else.

"Dew," Lia whined. "Help meeeee…I need to look nice for my interview. Or do I? Should I dress up, or down? I mean, I know I won't be wearing a dress while I'm working, but still…"

Lia noticed Dew wasn't paying attention. "Dew! Come on! Help me. This is a team effort." Dew snorted and looked away. Lia set aside her clothes and kneeled in front of her Pokémon.

"Dew, do you want to do this? Are you unhappy with this? If you don't want to do it, we don't have to. I know you don't want to move. But this will still be our home. We will come back on the weekends. Gyms aren't open on the weekends and holidays. Benefits of being a Gym Trainer," she grinned, then sobered. "It's a great honor to even be considered for a Gym Trainer."

Dew's eyes locked with hers. Her eyes were full of concern, and a little disappointment. "If you don't want to, then we won't. Do you want this?"

Lia watched her Larvitar shake his head vigorously. Her eyes filled with regret. "Okay, Dew. If that's what you want. I…I just thought maybe…you'd want to do this."

"Lar Lar!" Dew shook his head.

Lia straightened up, "Okay then. Well…what should I wear?"

Dew looked at her incredulously. "Dew," Lia said over her shoulder. "I have to cancel our appointment. And I have to do it in person. You don't make an appointment with a Gym Leader to be a Gym Trainer and then call and say you can't do it. It's rude. We have to go in person and apologize. I respect your wish to not do this, please respect mine."

"Now, this shirt…or this one?"

"Just a little more, just a bit further…" he muttered as he reached into the hole to excavate a fossil. The hole was in the wall, near the floor. It was big enough for him to stick his head in, which he did. His headlight shined on the fossil, and all he had to do was grab it. "C'mon, almost…"

"Roark!" The voice reverberated in the hole and doubled in volume.

"Gah!" Roark jumped. Due to the small space, his head smacked against the ceiling and the little cave began to crumble. Someone jerked him back and Roark watched in horror as the cave closed in with the fossil sealed inside. He couldn't dig in to save it. The cave would just continue to crumble. It was a lost cause.

"Damn!" Roark pounded his fist on the ground. "I was so close!"

"I-I'm sorry, Roark, sir." The worker stammered. He was around the same age as Roark, and new to mining. He was from the city and easily put-off.

"No," Roark sighed. "You did no wrong. I was unmindful to my surroundings when I should have paid attention. You know how I get with fossils…"

"Yes, sir."

Roark stood, "That was a good one, too. A fossil of an ancient Golbat, I believe…damn…"

"I'm sorry, sir."

"No, no. Please don't blame yourself. It was my fault for being oblivious."

"Yes, sir." The worker still looked uncomfortable.

Roark gave him a reassuring, yet still disappointed smile. "What did you call me for?"

"Oh, uh, yes. Um, you have a visitor, sir."

"Oh?" They began to walk to the exit. Roark smiled and nodded to the miners.

"Going home, already?" One of them called good-naturedly. "It's hardly noon!"

Roark grinned, "It's three. I think an early retirement is justified. Matter of fact," he said even louder, "Why don't you all call it an evening and go home?"

"Haha, don't need to tell me twice," someone said.

The miners all left together, laughing and joking with each other. They waved to Roark and mentioned they'd see him later. Roark gave a small shiver from the drastic change in temperature. The mine was usually pleasantly warm all year round, perfect for the Pokémon that called the mine their home, and the miners who worked there. The holiday season was approaching quickly, and the weather reminded them that it was not a summer's evening, but a bitter, late November's day.

"So, who's my visitor? What does he want? Is it a challenger?"

"Actually, sir…your visitor…uh, he's a she. I mean, she's a girl. There she is, sir."

He pointed over to the sand pile they called Zuri Mountain. Roark followed his gaze and looked over at the heap of sand. A girl stood, smiling and waving at the workers as they passed. She wore a simple gray blouse and jeans. A Larvitar stood beside her leg.

As they got nearer, Roark could make out more details. She had shoulder-length chestnut hair, and green eyes. Her eyes showed a little disappointment, probably like his. She didn't see them approaching and continued to wave at passing miners.

"Bye, have a nice day. Bye, have a good day, please," she said to them as she waved.

"Um, excuse me, miss," the worker said.

The girl jumped and looked at them. He smiled apologetically, "Roark the Gym Leader, miss. I'm sorry for startling you."

She smiled warmly, "No, please, it was my fault, really. I'm sorry that I didn't see you coming."

The worker grinned back nervously, "That's okay. I'm a little new here. My name's Shawn. It's not hard to miss me. Well, I better get going home. Bye, miss. Bye, Roark, sir."

"Bye, Shawn," they said in unison as Shawn left.

Roark and the girl looked at each other. She blushed and held out her hand, "Hello, my name's Lia. We had an appointment today?"

"Oh, that's right!" Roark wiped his dirty hand on his dirty pants and shook her hand. "I'm sorry, I wasn't expecting you until four."

"No, it's my fault. I came early. If I had known you were busy, I would have waited. I just wanted to have a quick word with you, I didn't mean for you to send everyone home."

"That's okay. I would have sent them home early anyway. I wanted to get ready before you came, you know, take a shower and stuff…. And I can't leave them unsupervised in there."

"Oh," Lia said softly.

"It's a little nippy out here, why don't we go to my house and talk there?" Roark suggested.

"Okay," she agreed.

They walked in silence as Roark led the way to his house. "So…that's a good-looking Larvitar you've got there."

The Larvitar gave Roark a dark look stuck his tongue out. Roark blinked.

"Thank you. Dew is my partner and friend."

"Dew?"

Lia smiled at Dew, "Yes. As you know, Larvitar are Rock Pokémon and weak against Water. So I thought that by naming Dew 'dew', after a form of water, we'd begin conquering Water by conquering the name."

"That's an interesting perspective," Roark commented on her logic.

"Thank you. Um, so you're like…a foreman? At the mine?"

Roark looked a little surprised at her question, "Yeah. I guess you could say that. My dad left me in charge of the mine and the gym when he left. Actually, I was excavating a fossil when Shawn told me you were here."

"Oh, really?" Her voice had a hint of excitement. "What is it? Where is it?"

"It was a fossilized Golbat. You're actually interested?"

"Yes! I love history. I think fossils are really cool, especially ones of Pokémon that exist now. You know, differences and stuff. For instance, a fossil of a Larvitar a million years ago is bigger then my Dew, even though the estimated age of said fossil is the same as Dew."

Roark looked taken aback by her enthusiasm. "Wow. You're the first girl I've met who's interested in what I do."

Lia blushed, and opened her mouth to reply, but Roark suddenly cried out in pain. The Larvitar had bitten his leg, and showed no signs of letting go. Lia could see a dark stain of blood creeping down Roark's leg.

"Dew! Let him go now!"

It's a cliffhanger, I guess you could say, at the suggestion of my friend Hyena-chan. It was originally over 2000 words (it's now about 1500) so I will have a 2nd chapter up pretty quickly.

Please review, it will make me update faster!

~dani