Before even thinking about entering the Pokemon League, you have to train your pokemon until you think they're unbeatable. And what better place to do that than Iron Island? The boat ride was a bit nerve-wrecking for Ayuki- she didn't like boat rides at all- but for some reason, the sight of the island made it all worthwhile. Mind you, it wasn't anything totally spectacular. It was just a huge, black mine dried of its ore, but the lack of people made it… relaxing.

Ayuki steadied herself off the boat, pushing back her dark hair as she examined the island. The mine's entrance wasn't very far from there. She sucked up a few deep breathes, trying to calm the butterflies attacking her stomach, and then slowly walked towards the mine's entrance. Her knees were still a bit shaky, but by the time she was only three feet away from the mine, her body calmed down.

She entered the mine and escaped the beating sun. Inside, it was quite dark, the only light coming from the lights propped up on the mine's walls. The air was cool, and Ayuki instantly loved it there. Maybe if she got rid of all the abandoned oil drums and beams, she'd come here more often.

She noticed something right away, though. She noticed that there weren't many pokemon there. Well, she was only on the first floor. Maybe once she went down to the basement she'd find more Pokemon. Ayuki started towards the stairs to her right. Before she could take one step down, though, one of the pokeballs on her belt began to quiver. She didn't have a chance to unclip it from her belt when a huge flash went off and her Lopunny appeared.

"Lopunny! Lo lopunny!"

"Hey, I didn't tell you you could get out," Ayuki hissed at her pokemon. Lopunny giggled softly, cross her arms and winking.

"Lopunny punny!"

"Whatever," Ayuki grumbled, walking down the stairs. "I don't see any Pokemon for you to battle anyways." Lopunny let out a disappointed grunt, trailing behind her trainer. The basement floor was no different. Lack of both trainers and pokemon. The two kept walking forward until they saw a platform leading to the second basement floor. Ayuki examined the platform before stepping on it and pushing the lever. It slowly took them to the second basement floor, giving Ayuki nothing to worry about. On the second basement floor, nothing was different, except there was actually someone other than herself there. She saw a trainer not so far away from her wearing a long blue coat and a matching hat. A pokemon stood next to him, most likely a Lucario, which instantly made Lopunny purr to herself.

"Calm down, you," Ayuki hissed at her, laughing lightly. At the sound of her laughter, the trainer turned around, hope glinting in his dark eyes. He walked up to her, his Lucario following.

"Hi. Let me introduce myself quickly. I'm Riley, this is my pokemon partner Lucario," Riley said quickly, grabbing the girl's hand with his own gloved hand and shaking it gingerly.

The smoothness of his quick voice and the action of him shaking her hand caught her off guard right away. Not only was his voice soft and silky, he had such a pretty face. Pale skin, dark blue eyes and matching spiky hair. Goodness, he was making her stomach churn much worse than the boat ride. Ayuki could hardly even respond.

"Uh, my… I'm Ayuki! And this is my partner, Lopunny." Lopunny greeted Lucario, a purr in her voice. Lucario's eyes widened and he blushed slightly. Ayuki sighed. "Oh great… Oh, um, you sounded a bit worried there. What's wrong?"

"Yes, it seems that the amount of Pokemon here has dropped greatly since I made a trip to Canalave City. Even the trainers here have abandoned the place. I think something fishy is going on around here."

"Maybe it has something to do with Team Galactic," Ayuki suggested. Riley tilted his head softly, the gesture making Ayuki mentally swoon.

"Team Galactic?"

"Y-yeah," Ayuki responded shakily. She gulped and tried regaining her composture. "You know? Green-blue hair, astronaut-like uniforms?" Riley shook his head. "Well, they take pokemon away from trainers. They're nasty people, but the grunts are quite idiotic."

"Seems like something we can handle." Ayuki's amber eyes widened.

"W-We?"

"Sure? Don't you wish to help me? This mine is much better with pokemon lighting it up." He paused, looking away. "Well, you don't have to help me. I'm just a mere stranger."

"N-no!" Ayuki exclaimed, face reddening as she flailed her hands. She bowed her head. "I-I'm sorry it came off as that! I just… was a bit surprised you'd want help from a stranger." Riley smiled.

"You seem like a lovely girl who'd help out any pokemon in need. Am I right?" Another blush crept on Ayuki's cheeks.

"Maybe… I'll help you," she said sternly, Lopunny nodding in agreement. Riley smiled softly.

"Great. Let's go."

The four walked forward through the lonely cave, no sign of pokemon nor grunts anywhere. At one point, they got to an intersection with two flights of stairs.

"I'll go left," Ayuki suggested, taking a few steps to the left. Riley looked over at her with a concerned look.

"Are you sure?" Ayuki laughed.

"I'm fine!"

"Okay… Just shout if you find the grunts, okay? Let's meet back here in ten minutes. Is that okay with you?"

"Yes, totally," Ayuki said, giving him a thumbs up. "I'll see you then!" she shouted as she raced down the stairs. Riley sighed softly. Lucario chuckled.

"What?"

"You seemed concerned about the girl."

"Well, she was a little shaken up when we found her. How could I not?" Lucario simply chuckled even more.

"You really need to go out more. This mine is doing bad things to you. You don't even recognize when a girl takes a liking to you."

"What?"

"And you've taken a liking to her, haven't you?"

"I'll put you back in your ball," Riley grumbled, turning towards the flight of stairs. He walked down slowly, Lucario trailing after him. They walked around the room and found nothing out of the ordinary.

"Do you really think the girl likes me?"

"Of course. Didn't you see the way she reacted to your voice? To just looking at you?"

"I barely know her…"

"Well, get to know her," Lucario said, examining his paw. Riley raised an eyebrow at his partner.

"You must feel like quite the matchmaker."

"I am," he said with a smirk.

"That Lopunny, though." Lucario glared at him.

"What about her," Lucario said. Riley smirked. They made their way back up the stairs. Riley rested his back against the mine's wall, Lucario doing the same.

"The way she purred at you."

"Quiet," Lucario growled, crossing his arms and looking away. Riley laughed.

"Not so fun now, is it?" Lucario grumbled a reply Riley couldn't understand, but the fact that he was flustered was enough to make Riley laugh. It grew silent between them as the seconds ticked by. With each minute, Riley grew uneasy, a feeling unfamiliar to the calm and collected gentleman. He hummed to himself, fiddled with his fingers, until he found himself pacing around the room.

"Do you think something has happened to her?" Riley finally spoke, looking over at Lucario. Lucario opened his red eyes, blinking at him. "Should we go find them?" Lucario let out a sigh, taking a step forward.

"Let's go," he said, following Riley down the stairs. At first, there was nothing to see except the usual; abandoned oil drums, beams, and broken lights on the floor. With each step Riley took, his stomach churned with worry. Every turn they took, he grew hopeful that they'd see the two battling a pokemon or something of the sort that would have caused them to lose track of time. But that wasn't the case, which made Riley's hopes come crashing down. They soon came close to another platform. Riley opened his mouth to speak when Lucario covered his lips with his paw. Riley darted his eyes toward him. As they locked eyes, Riley could hear a few voices mumbling at each other from the bottom floor the platform lead to.

"Geezus, girlie. You sure were troublesome!"

"Yeah. But it's nice that we got your Lopunny. She sure is a steal." Both of their eyes widened. There was no mistaking it. The voices speaking were talking to Ayuki and Lopunny.

-…-

Ayuki glared at the two male grunts. She wanted badly to shout at them all the curse words she knew, so many that no amount of soap could clear her conscience, but the grey tape over her mouth was in the way of that. And any hopes of giving them a beating were shattered, for her arms were tied behind her back with rough rope, along with her legs. There was no getting out of this one. All she had brought was her Lopunny, who was fainted and trapped in a steal cage behind the two grunts. They laughed at her angry look.

"WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU-" she shouted, but because of the tape, it came out muffled and silly. The grunts laughed.

"Hey, maybe we shouldn't just leave her here. Maybe we should take her with us! She was actually quite strong. If we hadn't cheated, we would have definitely lost."

"You're right," Grunt number 2 said, folding his arms. "That long, dark hair of yours looks nice, but cut boy short and painted the galactic blue would look even better." Ayuki's eyes widened.

Hell. No.

Grunt number 1 walked up to her, looking her straight in the eyes. She was fuming, and anymore eye contact with them and she would go nuts. She looked away, glaring daggers at the floor. Her eyes widened when she felt a hand on her chin. The hand forced her to face Grunt number 1.

"Trust me girlie, you're gonna love working for us."

A loud crash erupted next to her, causing her to scream in quite a girlish way. But not nearly as girlish as the two male grunts screamed as they backed as far away possible from her until the stumbled over an empty oil drum.

Meanwhile, Ayuki was going crazy. She tried squirming away from the gaping hole on the mine wall just inches away from her, but ended up falling forward and scraping her chin in the process. Whatever caused the explosion, it was mad, and it wasn't going to have mercy.

"Ayuki!" a voice shouted. Ayuki looked up to see Riley about to take the platform. Those platforms took forever, though, and Riley seemed to have no patience at the moment. He jumped off the platform, giving him a heroic look as his long jacket lifted in the air on the way down. He landed a few feet away from her, crouched down with a hand on the ground to steady him. Lucario landed the same way. If only Lopunny was awake to see it, she would have been freaking out the same way Ayuki was. Riley stood up, turning to Ayuki.

"Are you okay?" Ayuki nodded, then her eyes widened.

"The grunts!" she shouted, but of course, it came out inaudible. Riley raised an eyebrow at her.

"Huh?"

"The grunts! Get the grunts!"

"What…" He turned around just as Grunt number 1 lifted his fist towards him. Riley took a step to the side, grabbing the grunt's arm and twisting it behind his back. Grunt number 2 took the chance to race forward and try and kick him in the rib, but ended up ignoring Lucario. Lucario grabbed the grunt's leg and tripped him, pinning him down on the ground. He saw the glint of a key and reached forward, ripping it off the grunt's chain.

"Uf, looks like we've been caught," Grunt number 2 grumbled, Grunt number 1 giving him a glare. Riley pushed Grunt number 1 forward. He stumbled into Lucario, who pushed him onto the ground and kept him pinned down next to Grunt number 2.

Riley rushed over to Ayuki, quickly untying the ropes on her arms and legs. She sat up, rubbing her wrists and groaning. Riley pulled off the tape over her mouth, causing her to yelp in pain.

"I-I'm sorry!" Riley exclaimed, running his thumb over the red mark the tape had left.

"I.. It's okay," Ayuki mumbled softly, staring at Riley's eyes. They remained that way, Riley running his thumb over Ayuki's lips and both of them staring at each other's eyes until the grunts, even Lucario, groaned.

"Sorry!" Ayuki exclaimed, getting to her feet and rushing over to the cage Lopunny was trapped in. Lucario walked over to her, handing her the key. She fumbled to open the cage, the shaking of her hands getting in the way, but she managed, shaking Lopunny awake.

"Lo… pun…"

"Are you okay, Lopunny?" Ayuki asked worriedly, helping her partner crawl out of the cage. Lopunny nodded, rubbing her left shoulder softly.

"What happened?" Lucario asked. Ayuki stared at him with huge eyes, as did Lopunny.

"Sweet Arceus, you can talk!" Ayuki exclaimed. Lucario rolled his eyes.

"What happened?" he repeated.

"I just… how can you… The grunts. We were about to beat them when they took out this gun thing and shot Lopunny with it. They hit me too."

"With actual bullets?" Riley exclaimed.

"N-No, it was like this electric thing. They shot Lopunny in the shoulder, and they managed to barely hit my stomach."

"How are you not doubling over in pain?" Riley asked, so much concern in his voice that made Ayuki's stomach flip flop forward and back. She grinned.

"I can handle it. I'm more worried about Lopunny," she replied, a silence settling over them as she searched through her backpack. She took out two oran berries and handed them to Lopunny. "Hopefully this will suffice until we get to a Pokemon Center." Lopunny nodded. Ayuki turned to the grunts and glared.

"What did you do to the pokemon?" she demanded. Grunt number 1 snickered.

"We won't tell you."

"Dude," Grunt number 2 hissed, squirming under Lucario's grip. "We're outnumbered. Just tell them we took all the pokemon."

"What? Where are they?" Ayuki asked.

"Great going!" Grunt number 1 shouted.

"We're done, okay? I don't want to get hurt anymore."

"Where are the pokemon?" Ayuki asked, glaring at the two grunts. Grunt number 1 sighed.

"There's a bunch of pokeballs stashed in the floor down the stairs to the left over there. We were ordered by our leader to wipe out this place of any pokemon so we could use the pokemon as our own, and destroy this island to put a Galactic HQ."

"I hate to break it to you guys, but Galactic has disbanded since a while ago," Ayuki said.

"What?" the both shouted in disbelief.

"Yeah. I took down your leader, Cyrus, and Dialga and Palkia left to another dimension. Cyrus followed and now everyone he left behind is in jail. And soon, you two can join them."

"Crap. Crap! If I would've known, I wouldn't have done this," Grunt number 2 grumbled. Ayuki sighed.

"I would let you go…"

"Really?"

"But you shot me in the stomach, and now I wish you two a nice time in jail."

"Aw…" the two grunts sighed. Ayuki walked over to the pile of things the grunts had brought, grabbed a long line of rope, and tossed it to Lucario.

"You and Lopunny tie them up. Me and Riley will go release those pokemon."

"Will do," Lucario said with a nod. As Ayuki walked towards the stairs with Riley next to her, she squealed, "I can't believe he can talk!"

-…-

"It looks like the grunts were telling the truth," Ayuki mused as she stared at the ginormous pile of red and white spheres, with a few duskballs here and there. She sighed, resting her hands on her hips. "This is going to take forever."

"Before we do anything, we should treat your wound," Riley said, grabbing Ayuki's hand and leading her towards a rock.

"W-what, no! I'm fine, actually! Totally good- ow that hurts!" she exclaimed, shooing away Riley's hand.

"Ah, so it does hurt. I thought you were fine," Riley said, sitting her down on the rock.

"I am. I can treat it myself- stop touching it!" she whined, covering her stomach with her arms. Riley chuckled softly, grabbing Ayuki's bag.

"Which one is the medicine bag?"

"That one," she mumbled, pointing at one of the outer pockets. "I only have pokemon medicine, though…"

"Trust me," Riley said as he pulled out a roll of bandages, a burn heal, an ice heal, and a static heal.

"Okay," Ayuki said softly, staring as Riley worked his magic. He sprayed all three onto his hand, rubbed it together, and then looked at her.

"Well, uh, raise your shirt…"

"Eh?" Ayuki said, her cheeks growing warmer.

"I just need to apply this and put the bandages on. Nothing else…" Riley said calmly, but found that he too was blushing. He was definitely glad his hat was hiding his eyes from her.

Ayuki took in a deep breath, and exhaled lowly. "F-Fine," she finally said, pulling her shirt up a few inches. At the feel of his warm hands against her stomach, she shivered softly, then let out a tiny laugh.

"Sorry?"

"No, it's fine," she laughed, running a hand through her hair. "Your hands are just really warm- Oww!"

"Did that sting?" Riley asked, grabbing the ice heal and spraying over the red mark on the pale skin of Ayuki's stomach. The stinging sensation slowly wore off. "Better?"

"Yes," Ayuki replied. After Riley wrapped the bandages around her stomach, she pulled her shirt down and smiled.

"Thanks," she said. "I do feel much better."

"No problem," Riley said with a warm smile. Suddenly, he frowned. "I… was really worried about you." Ayuki's smile faltered.

"Huh? Oh, well… I always get in that kind of trouble. But I don't think I would have gotten out of this mess without your help so… Thank you." Riley gave her a warm look and stepped toward her. He grabbed her hand in his, and did one of the most expect things from him.

He pulled her hand to his lips and gave it a small peck.

"Let's release these Pokemon, shall we?"

-…-

The sun was already setting when Ayuki and Riley exited the mine. A boat with a red and blue siren came to pick up the grunts. Officer Jenny, the one driving the boat, had offered to give Ayuki a ride, but she passed. The boat was a lot faster than the one that brought her here, and Ayuki knew she wouldn't be able to handle that. Once Officer Jenny left with the Galactic duo, Riley told her he had something to give her. She had been waiting for a good ten minutes when he finally walked out of the mine with a blue egg in his hands.

"Here," he said, carefully handing the egg to Ayuki. She took it in her arms, gasping in awe at it. The blue color matched Riley's eyes perfectly, and the egg had some sort of black wavy line through the middle.

"I wonder what it'll hatch into…"

"I've been wondering the same thing. It just doesn't seem to want to hatch while I'm taking care of it. Maybe it needs a lovely girl like you to take care of it?" Ayuki laughed, her cheeks turning a rosy color.

"I'm sure with a little time-"

"It's been three months."

"Oh… Well, I'll take really good care of it for you," Ayuki said with a broad smile.

"Lady! Are you coming or not? It's time for us to leave!" the boat's captain shouted. Ayuki frowned.

"I guess this is goodbye," Ayuki mumbled.

"Thanks a lot for helping me and the pokemon of this mine. I appreciate it very much," Riley said, outstretching his arm. Instead of shaking his hand, though, she leaped forward and hugged him, catching him off guard, for once.

"Thank you for saving me," she whispered into his ear, then pulled away and smiled at him, catching a hint of pink in his cheeks. "Bye Lucario!" Ayuki exclaimed, shaking his paw. "I still can't believe you can talk!" Lucario chuckled.

"Goodbye, Ayuki. Goodbye, Lop-" Lopunny cut him off by squeezing the air out of him with a hug. The bunny had a monstrous grip! When she let go, he staggered back, gasping for air. Being the flirt she was, Lopunny simply giggled, bring her paw to her lips and blowing a kiss at him. Lucario's face became red as a tomato. He crossed his arms and turned away from them, frowning with embarrassment.

"Goodbye!" Ayuki shouted from the boat. Riley waved at her and stayed outside until the boat disappeared.

Ayuki sighed to herself, sitting down and wrapping her arms around the egg Riley had given her. Lopunny rubbed the top of it, pouting at her trainer. Ayuki gave a weak smile.

"Yeah… I'm really going to miss them too…" She looked back at the island. It was now a small spec in the ocean. She planned on visiting them, but the Pokemon League was so close by. Once she got home, she'd have to set off for the League. What if by the time it was all over, he'd be gone?

"Lopunny…"

"Riley…"

Nara: I was gonna make this a one-shot, but I've decided to make it a two, maybe three, shot c:

Have you guys ever played Diamond/Pearl/Platinum and once you get to Iron Island, Riley's waiting there? I started freaking out when I saw him, and I was so sad that it was just a short while that you could be with him ;A; While playing, I was guilty of like this whole ROMANCE SCENE going on, when really we were just tracking down those Grunts xD

Well, this is the romance scene c; Also, am I the only one who loves to pair up BunearyxRiolu or LopunnyxLucario? I hope not xD

I hope you guys like it~ n.n Next chapter to be up soon!