A dark figure. Wide plains with nothing but rocks and dirt. Two more figures neared the first, facing off across the landscape. The first had a glowing sphere in his hand. His grip tightened, and the sphere shattered as if it was made of glass. The silhouette began to glow with multicolored flames. In a deep, emotionless voice he said "Prepare yourselves."

Riolu woke with a start. Wiping sweat off of his head with his paw, he breathed slowly, trying to get himself calmed down. "Only a bad dream." Still, the fear was lodged in his chest. The young pokemon got out of his bed and stumbled to the window. The curtains were pulled open, the room suddenly filled with sunlight. Riolu blocked the sun's rays from his eyes while grimacing. He moved to the berry pot and uncovered the top. "Aggghhhhh… Only three Oran berries left! Time to go to the square." He walked over to the door and swung it open. Piplup was directly outside his door, and got hit as it opened. She squealed and bounced on the stones with a dull clunk. "Ow! Riolu! Pay more attention next time! I could have been seriously hurt!" Riolu rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "You get hurt when you breathe. What do you want?" Piplup sat back up. "Alakazam asked for you again. Up the mountain again with you." Now it was Riolu's turn to get mad. "Seriously?! That old fool is always calling me up there! What in the blazing world does he want now? Piplup shrugged. "Who knows? Just remember; please don't get that angry with him. He's just an old guy." Riolu frowned and walked away.

Riolu always liked going to the square. People to see, things to buy, sights to behold. Sure, he had to go to Alakazam, but why not mess around first? He passed Swellow and Lombre as they set up shop. Sneasal, Tododile, and Voltrob were in the square, gathered around something. As Riolu moved forward to investigate, he saw that they were not gathered around something, but rather around someone. Chickorita's voice was small and frail, a bully knew by the voice who to pick on. Needless to say, Chickorita wasn't in the best situation. She was being mocked and jabbed from all sides by the three larger pokemon. Riolu gasped as he saw what was happening to his friend. "Remember what Makuhita taught you." Riolu set himself to strike. He still had the element of surprise on these jerks… Sneasal's low, smooth voice was cut by his pained screech. Tododile and Voltrob turn to look, and the latter was rewarded with a quick series of punches and a roundhouse kick to finish him. Tododile, the last one standing, glanced left and right. Seeing that he was alone, he put himself in a fighting position. Riolu was the first to act, and, of course, also the last to act as Tododile received a series of kicks and punches before being knocked into the air, slammed roughly back into the ground, then stomped on as Riolu descended from the sky. Chickorita lay stunned, seemingly frightened at the sight of three pokemon knocked out in the course of five seconds. Riolu scanned the rest of the square for any more thugs, and seeing none, he allowed himself to relax and straighten up. Tododile groaned weakly, but was silenced by Riolu's foot cutting through the air to land a sharp blow on his jaw. The thug's head lolled slowly to the side. Chickorita suddenly leaped on Riolu. "Ohhh, thankyouthankyouthankyouTHANKKKYOUUU! IwasworriedforaseacondthattododilehadyoubutheDIDN' Tbecauseyoukickedhisbuttandthatwassooooooawsometha nkyouthankyouthankyou!" Riolu smiled at his friend. "No problem, Chickorita! Let me know if they keep on bugging you."

Riolu turned to leave when he saw something out of the corner of his eye. Kirlia stared at him from across the square. An instant blush came to Riolu's face. "She saw all that?! Was she impressed? Is the frightened? Is the disgusted by violence or anything? No, wait; she's O.K. with beating up people who need it… I wish I knew what she was thinking. Wait…. Yep, she's still looking at me! Ok, ok, act cool. –Ow!- Darn it, stubbing your toe is not cool! Wait! Did she notice…? Oh, maybe not, but if she did….." The blush left Riolu's face as he nervously lifted his chin and walked out of the square. After being out of sight for a few seconds, he jogged to the opposite direction back through the square. "Sorry, wrong way." The square was in complete silence. Kirlia smiled with a hint of amusement.