Aoife still wasn’t back by lunchtime, so the others went out to a restaurant, at Ruari’s recommendation.  “It’s a great little place, really,” Ruari said.  “It’s a café, just down the street.  I recommend the chicken salad sandwiches.”
 As they sat underneath an umbrella on the café’s patio, Ferio said, “Ruari, I researched Pokemon for a while and I’ve never heard of your condition before.  I’d just like to ask—”
 “Condition?” Ruari repeated.  “Honestly, I don’t have a disease.”
 “Well, you know what I mean,” Ferio said.  “Is it okay if I ask you a few questions about your…ability?”
 “Go ahead,” Ruari said.  “I’d refer you to Danae too, but you know how she is…”
 “What?  Your sister’s a Pokemorph?” Aidan said.
 “Yeah,” Ruari said.  “She’s an Ampharos.  We’re not really related, we just grew up together.  We were created in the big labs on Cinnabar, and we lived with a scientist there…she sort of adopted us, I guess.  They took us in to the labs for tests every day, almost.  And we went to school, of course.  When I was 10, Danae was 23, so they decided they were finished with their study and that she was responsible enough to take care of me, so we moved here.
 “We lived with the former gym leader, an old woman named Ailbe, but she died.  I was 12 then, and we became the new gym leaders.”  Ruari took a deep breath, then became suddenly interested in her sandwich, busying herself picking out bits of tomato.
 “I meant the technical stuff,” Ferio said.  “How do you turn into a Pokemon?  Is it a genetic mutation?  How were you created?”
 Ruari shrugged.  “You’d have to ask the scientists themselves.  I didn’t create myself, so I don’t know.  I was under the impression that I was created by accident…Danae said so, anyway.”
 “Well, forgive me speaking ill of your ‘sister,’” Petra said, “but I wouldn’t trust her as far as I could throw her.  I most certainly wouldn’t believe any nonsense like that.”
 “Well, you know,” Ruari said.  “She told me this when I was only 6, so I tended to believe her.”
 “Sounds like you’ve had a pretty lonely life,” Petra said, suddenly realizing how alike she and Ruari were.  “Poor Ro,” she said, patting her arm sympathetically.
 “Hey,” Ferio said.  “I _can_ ask the scientists themselves!  Aoife’s going to Cinnabar Island after this, isn’t she?”
 “She better,” Sora said.  “She needs all the badges to get into the Pokemon league.”
 “Hey, maybe I can go visit them again!” Ruari said.  “Uh…you guys don’t mind if I come along, do you?”
 “’Course not!” Sora said.  “You’re one of us now.”
 “Good,” Ruari said.  “I had only really planned to come with you until you got to my gym, but you know…things happened.”  She cast a meaningful glance at Petra, then continued.  “Besides, anything to get away from Danae.”
 “Well, if everyone’s finished,” Sora said, “maybe we better go _back_ to Danae now.  Hey, Ruari, think you could show us the gym?”
 “Sure!” Ruari said, standing up and walking over to deposit her paper plate in the trash can.  “I’ll show you guys.  Let’s go back now.”
 
***
 
 Ruari led Petra, Sora, Aidan, and Ferio down the stairs, the way ahead of them darkening as they descended underground.  The stairwell finally opened onto a spacious underground room, lit by torches shaped like Ampharos tails.  There was a large lake in the center and a variety of stalactites and stalagmites.  There were several waterfalls feeding into the lake, and some stone statues of water, dragon, and ice Pokemon that gave the area a mysterious, medieval feel.
“Just like Cyan Island,” Aidan said.  “But without Articuno floating above the lake.”
“And these,” Sora said, admiring a Gyarados statue.  “They didn’t have anything like this on Cyan Island.”
 “Those statues are quite nice,” Ferio said, going over to examine a Dewgong one.
 Ruari sat down on a stone ledge, smiling proudly.  “I chose those myself.  Danae didn’t want them because she’s a big troglodyte, but I insisted.”
 While the others looked at the statues, Petra sat next to Ruari.  “They give this place a really romantic atmosphere, don’t they?”
 She was about to put her arm around Ruari’s shoulders when a loud thumping and yelling erupted from the stairwell.  “Hey, guys!  I’m ready for my battle!”
 “Aoife’s back,” Ruari said, standing up and looking a little disappointed as their young redheaded friend clattered down the stairs.
 “Hi, every…whoa!”  Halfway down the spiral staircase, Aoife tripped and fell on the stone floor of the cave.  “Ow.  I was going to say I was ready for my match now, but I dunno…”
 “How did you find us?” Ferio asked.
 “Danae told me you’s were down here,” Aoife said, standing up and brushing herself off.  Chu-Chu hopped down the stairs behind her.
 “Pika, pika, pikachu.”
 “Well, if you’re ready then,” Ruari said, ascending a pinnacle on the opposite side of the lake from where the statues were.  “You stand on that stalagmite over there,” she said, pointing to another pinnacle on the other side, which Aoife climbed cautiously.  “How about…three against three?  I’d use my Gyarados but it doesn’t fit in the underground lake.”
 “Gyarados?” Aoife cried.  “You didn’t tell me you had a Gyarados!  I had no idea you were that good!”
 “I’m _not_ that good, though,” Ruari insisted.  “It’s a baby Gyarados, but it’s still pretty big, and it’s not at a very high level yet.  You might have been able to beat it anyway.”
 “Yeah right,” Aoife said.  “I just hope I’m ready for this.”
 “Well, we’ll find out, won’t we?” Ruari said, throwing out her first Pokeball.  “I think I’ll start now with…Lapras!”
 The same Pokemon with which Ruari transported herself and Petra to Turquoise Island came out of the Pokeball, a creature that looked like the Loch Ness Monster but with a saddle-like shell on its back.  “Lapras,” it said, in a soft, feminine voice.
 “Hey, no problem,” Aoife said.  “Go, Chu-Chu!”
 “Pikka!” Chu-Chu said, jumping onto one of the stalagmites sticking out of the lake.
 “Lapras, use Mist!” Ruari said.  Lapras didn’t appear to do anything, but suddenly it seemed as if clouds had rolled into the cave.
 “Pika?  Pika?”  Chu-Chu looked around, but it couldn’t see farther than its own paw outstretched in front of it.
 But the mist was also making the rock it was standing on slippery, and Chu-Chu’s footing on the rock (which wasn’t so stable to begin with) began to falter.  “Piiika!” she cried as she slipped off the rock.  But she managed to grab onto the side, and she sighed in relief at not falling into the water.  “Chaa.”
 The mist, however, didn’t last forever, and it began to dissipate.  As it faded, Aoife noticed that the very tip of Chu-Chu’s tail was in the water, as the Pokemon clung to the side of the rock.  “Chu-Chu!  Use Thundershock now!  You’re partially in the water so it’ll still conduct!”
 “Pii,” Chu-Chu said, as if thinking, “Well, I guess I’ll give it a try.”  Luckily, Aoife was right and as Chu-Chu Thundershocked aimlessly, the charge went into the water and easily felled the aquatic Lapras.
 “Okay, return, Lapras!” Ruari said.  “Now, Ronan, go!”
 Ronan was Ruari’s Dragonair, her companion when she was in Pokemon form.  “It’s kind of pointless to use Ronan now,” she thought, “because Aoife will probably beat it in the same way.”
 She was right.  With another successful Thunder, Chu-Chu soon took care of Ruari’s second Pokemon.  “Sorry, Ronan,” Ruari whispered as she returned her Dragonair.  Although she knew Ronan couldn’t hear her at this point, she planned to apologize to him later.
 “Good job, Aoife,” Ruari said.  “One more Pokemon, although this one isn’t like my other two.”
 Ruari sent out her Pokemon, but Aoife was confused until she saw it.  “What do you mean not like your other…oh, I see.”  Ruari’s third was Ampharos, an electric dragon Pokemon.
 “Thunder, Ampharos!” Ruari said.
 “Counter with the same attack, Chu-Chu!” Aoife said.  “It won’t work, but at least Chu-Chu will feel like she gave it a try.”
 The two Thunders hit each other…and fizzled out.  “Ampharos?” Ruari’s Pokemon asked, scratching its head.
 “Come back, Chu-Chu!” Aoife said.  Chu-Chu looked dubiously at the space of water between it and the land, but jumped anyway, and made it across.
 “Now what should I use?” Aoife thought aloud.  “Cubone maybe, but what if it fell in the water and got hurt?  I better use a plant Pokemon, like…Weepinbell!  I choose you!”
 But Aoife’s aim with the Pokeball wasn’t as good as she had hoped.  Weepinbell came out of the Pokeball, but it landed mouth first on the rock that Chu-Chu had occupied.  “Bell!  Bell!” it cried, but muffled by the rock it was now stuck to.
 “Oh, geez,” Aoife sweatdropped, head in her hands, as Petra laughed at her Pokemon’s accident.
 “Petra, this isn’t very amusing,” Ferio said, glaring at Petra.
 “Sorry.”
 “Let’s see, what attacks can Weepinbell use even though its mouth is stuck?” Aoife mused.  “Maybe Vine Whip?  Try Vine Whip, Weepinbell.”
 “Weepinbell,” it whimpered, but complied even so, and its vines shot out and slapped Ampharos into a rock on the side of the lake.  Ampharos stood up dizzily, but as Aoife was about to order Weepinbell to attack again, Ruari’s Pokemon fell into the lake.
 “Return, Ampharos!” Ruari said.  She hopped down from the pinnacle and came back around to the side of the lake where the others were.  “Here’s your badge, Aoife,” she said, drawing the green badge from her pocket and handing it to Aoife, who slid triumphantly down from her pinnacle and accepted the badge.
 “Thanks, Ruari.” 
 
 
Author's Notes
No, I didn't spell "dragon" wrong in the title, that's Dragyn, as in Ruari's last name.  And Danae's, for that matter, because she's who the title referred to: the dangerous Dragyn (as opposed to Ruari, I guess, the, um, not dangerous Dragyn?).  Yeah, Danae's a bitch, although I originally planned to make her a lot meaner than she turned out to be.  And although Ruari is basically me, my own sister is older than Danae and not as mean. ^-^  Too bad we didn't get to see her transform.  Although maybe we'll see her later, like maybe in the Orange League or something, hmm?
 
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