Here's chapter 2, sorry this is late I busy going on a trip to somewhere (that isn't important).

I don't know what to say know, except enjoy the chapter.


-000-

Part 1: Galactic Conquest

Chapter 2: Daijōbu

"Pikachu, Riolu!"

As both Pokémon were quickly falling to the ground Ash, their trainer, was running quickly toward where his Pokémon were about to fall. Ash leapt forward with his arms stretched out in front of him as he caught both of his Pokémon in his arms, saving them from what could've been a dreadful demise.

"Pikachu, Riolu, are you two okay?" the trainer asked his Pokémon as he set them both in the ground.

"I'm okay Ash, but that was a close one." said Pikachu to Ash, relieved that he and Riolu were caught by their trainer.

"Big deal, that was nothing." Riolu lied, as he crossed his arms and smirked, acting as if the recent event didn't bother him in the slightest.

"Then why did I hear you screaming back there?" asked Pikachu with a slightly annoyed tone in his voice. He knew that Riolu was lying just to try to look better than him. He always did.

"I wasn't screaming," he lied, again, "I was just" but before he could finish he got cut of by Prinplup, who had just approached them.

"Pikachu, are you okay?" asked Prinplup.

Pikachu opened his mouth to answer her question, but he was cut off by…

"Oh, don't worry about me Prinplup, I'm just fine, thanks for asking." Riolu said sarcastically. Prinplup just rolled her eyes, annoyed because of what the young Pokémon just said.

"Don't worry Prinplup, I'm fi-" Pikachu tried to say to Prinplup, but he was interrupted again, only this time by Buneary, who had leaped toward him and wrapped her arms around the yellow Pokémon.

"Pikachu, I'm so glad you're okay, you had me worried…" Buneary trailed off as she tugged the yellow Pokémon closer to her…

…a little to close in Pikachu's opinion.

"Don't worry Buneary, I'm fine." Pikachu said as he tried to push her away, but she proved to be stronger and tightened her hold on him, preventing any means for him to escape. "Hey Prinplup, I-" he said as he looked up to where Prinplup was standing, only to find out that she wasn't there any more. The Penguin-like Pokémon had just walked away in the opposite direction where she was facing him.

Riolu quietly watched the whole scene take place before him. He looked over to where Prinplup was heading and then he looked over to where Pikachu was, still trying to pull Buneary away with no chance of succeeding, but then he suddenly turned his head toward where Prinplup was again to see that she had turned her head and looked over to where Pikachu and Buneary were located, the former still trying to break free of the latter's hold, and gave the two one last look before she turned her gaze back to the direction where her food bowl was located.

Then an idea struck him like a thunderbolt to the head. Riolu though that his idea was so hilarious, that he had to cover his mouth with his paws just to hold back his laughter. 'Oh man, this is too good, I gotta go tell someone.' he was about to run to where the other Pokémon were located, but then another idea suddenly came to the fighting-type's mind. 'No wait, I could use this to my advantage' he though, then he looked over to the direction where Pikachu was, who had just gotten the normal-type off of himself, and he smirked to himself. 'This is gonna be fun, Pikachu.' he though as an evil chuckle is all that could be heard from him.


About half an hour later, when the group finally finished their lunch and Brock put away all the cooking gear, plates, the portable table, ect. Everyone was ready to move on; all that was left now was to put away all the Pokémon back in their respective Pokéballs. Each of the trainers pressed the button in the middle of their red and white spheres, which caused a red beam to shoot out of the mechanism and caused the Pokémon to become engulfed in a red light, which recalled them back to their respective pokéball, all except Pikachu, who preferred to stay outside of his pokéball and be on his trainer's shoulder, and…

"No Ash, I don't wanna go back in there." Riolu said this as he jumped out of the way of the red beam.

"Huh, what's wrong Riolu?" Ash asked Riolu, wondering why the small Pokémon didn't want to go back to his Pokéball.

"Can I please ride on your shoulder, Ash, like Pikachu always does?" Riolu asked his trainer, giving Ash the same puppy-dog eyed stare he tried earlier with Prinplup.

Ash had a confused look on his face and blinked twice before answering, "Sure Riolu, I don't see anything wrong with that," he said as he stretched forward his arm, "hop in." he added.

Riolu happily jumped onto Ash's shoulder, opposite to where Pikachu was, "Thanks a lot, Ash" he said this as he hugged his trainer's head.

"Just as long as you don't cause any trouble, alright?" he warned the young Pokémon.

Riolu had let go of Ash's head and made a salute gesture with his arm, similar to Team Rocket's Wobbuffet, "Don't worry Ash, you won't be hearing anything from me." he promised to his trainer. Riolu then looked at Pikachu, who gave him a 'what are you up to?' look. The Emanation Pokémon just gave him a big, innocent-looking smile.

'He's up to something, I just know it' Pikachu thought, but he quickly put the thought out of his mind as he turned his attention over to Dawn, the female of the group, who just began talking.

"Alright, now that that's settled," said Dawn, as she looked at the oldest member of the group, "Brock, is Jubilife city nearby yet?"

"Well, Dawn," he said as he looked at a small map of the southwest of the Sinnoh Region, "Jubilife city is close by now, it should take us less than a day for us to get there."

Dawn's face lit up with excitement as she heard the good news. "That's great; we'll get to Jubilife city in time so I can compete in the Sinnoh Grand Festival."

"Well then, what are we waiting for?" Ash beamed, "Jubilife city, here we come!" he said as he pumped his fist, clad in back fingerless gloves, in the air.

The group then began walking down the road that the map indicated that lead to Jubilife city. They were all thrilled to reach the city after days of walking so much; unlike Riolu, who was lost in his thoughts, sure everyone was deep in their own thoughts at the moment, but instead of thinking about finally reaching Jubilife city or about the upcoming Grand Festival, he was enjoying his time outside of his pokéball.

'This is great, the bright sun, the fresh air,' he thought as he took a deep breath and then let it out, 'no wonder Pikachu stays outside of his pokéball all the time, speaking of which,' he then looked over at Pikachu who was sitting in Ash's other shoulder, just as happy as the humans of the group that they were near their destination now, ' I can't wait for what I have in store for him.' he chuckled quietly as he thought of his plan, "This is gonna be so good." he whispered to himself.

Pikachu was relaxed in his trainer's shoulder, opposite to Riolu, without a care in the world. 'Man, we've haven't been in a Pokémon center in days, it'll sure be great finally resting in one of those soft beds again.' He thought this as he looked over to every one of the humans of the group that were walking down the road, but then his dark eyes looked over at Riolu, who was giggling quietly, 'I wonder what he's up to this time.' He thought, but then suddenly, he saw Riolu's red eyes staring at him. After a few seconds the fighting-type Pokémon then began to chuckle again as he looked away from the electric-type.

"Okay Riolu, what are up to this time?" Pikachu asked the small Pokémon with a slightly annoyed tone in his voice.

Riolu just gave him a big, innocent smile and said, as he kept facing forward, "Oh, nothing, nothing at all." but Pikachu knew that he always said that when he was planning something.

All Pikachu did in response was just sigh, "Just tell me what's the plan this time, I mean, I'm obviously gonna find out sooner or later so its just better for everyone if you just tell me already." He told him, but despite that, he all ready knew what he was probably going to say…

Riolu just shook his head in response, "Pikachu, Pikachu, Pikachu, now, where would the fun in that be?" he told him, he was now facing the yellow Pokémon, but his big smile remained unchanged.

Pikachu just sighed once again, "Why do you make this hard, Riolu?" he began explaining, trying to convince Riolu to reveal what his plan was about, "Haven't you figured out by now that your plans to try and steal others food never work, and"

"Oh, my plans won't be about that this time." he interrupted Pikachu. The young Pokémon couldn't resist saying just that small hint of what was his plan was going to be about.

"Huh?" Pikachu had a bewildered look on his face. If this time his plan didn't have anything to do with stealing others food, then he had no idea what did Riolu had in mind this time, "Well then, what are you gonna do then? Pranks?" he asked, "Although, you probably can't do any 'good' pranks, since the Sinnoh government confiscated your pranks bag after that little 'incident'." he told the mischievous Pokémon as he remembered the event.

Riolu just maintained his big grin and folded his arms behind his head, "Like I said: where would the fun in that be?" he repeated to Pikachu, but then his face went from a large grin to a serious frown, "And about the 'incident', you, Ash, Dawn, Brock and those big muscular guys from the government should have little more sense of humor." he told the yellow Pokémon as he looked away from him.

Pikachu opened his mouth to say something, but he was cut off by many ringing noises that rang in a rhythmical tune. The ringing noises were loud enough to catch the whole group's attention.

"Wait a sec, that sound, isn't that…" Ash said, while trying to remember where he heard that sound before as he, much like everyone else, turned his head and looked at the source of the sound, which seemed to be the pink watch-like device around Dawn's wrist. "Isn't that the phone application of your Pokétch, Dawn?" the Pokémon trainer asked the coordinator.

"Looks like you're right, Ash." she acknowledged, as she looked at the screen of her Pokétch. It displayed an icon that looked like a cell phone. Next to it was a square that displayed 'unknown caller' inside of it. Below it was a rectangle that had "receive call" displayed inside of it and another rectangle that had the words "reject call" shown inside of it as well. "I wonder who could it be?" Dawn asked no one in particular.

"Well, it's definitely not one of those useless filler characters that appear every episode." Riolu replied to Dawn's question.

"Riolu!" Pikachu scolded him, while giving him a stern look. Riolu just gave him a 'well its true' look at him, but Pikachu kept glaring back at him.

Dawn rolled her eyes, due to the argument of the two Pokémon, as she pressed the first rectangle, due to the screen on the Pokétch being a touch screen, and, suddenly, it displayed a man that looked to be in his sixties and due to the screens' small size his face was the only thing that was visible to the group. He had white hair and a white moustache. He also had an intimidating look which was shown on his face.

"Good day to you all," the man greeted the group "I see that you are all doing well."

"Hello, Professor Rowan," the threesome greeted the professor.

"You three are probably wondering, why am I calling? Am I correct?" Rowan asked the group.

"Now that you mention it, Professor Rowan," Brock said, as he began to wonder, the professor never usually called, so it was strange for him to call them "what are you calling for?"

"Well, I can't tell you three all the details yet, but it's a matter of great importance," he then cleared his throat before continuing, "meet me at Oreburgh city and I will explain everything."

"Professor, what are you talking about? Why can't you tell us over my Pokétch?" Dawn asked him. She, much like the rest of the group, was unable to understand the reason as to why the Professor couldn't just tell them what he wanted to tell them over the Pokétch. If he couldn't do that then the trio couldn't even begin to imagine what he was going to tell them.

"I can't explain now, just go to where I told you three to go and make it quick, there's not much time left." he told the group.

"But" Ash was about to ask Rowan something, but he was too late as the professor had already hung up and the screen only displayed the words 'end of call' inside of a rectangle.

"That was strange," Brock said, while rubbing his chin, "it seemed like Professor Rowan really wants us to go to Oreburgh to tell us something important."

"Yeah," said Ash in agreement to what Brock said, "I just wonder what he wants to tell us and why couldn't he just tell us over the Pokétch."

"Well it doesn't matter what he was gonna tell us now," said Brock to his traveling companions, "what's important now is to head on over to Oreburgh city and find out."

Dawn, unlike the rest of the group, that were wondering what was he talking about, was more concerned about the Grand Festival, "Shoot, and we were so close to Jubilife city." Dawn said while looking down at the ground, her facial expression had now saddened. But then she felt as if someone had placed their hand on her shoulder. She quickly looked up as she looked right into Ash's eyes staring back at her own.

"No need to worry, Dawn," Ash said to her, using her usual catchphrase, "whatever it is Professor Rowan is gonna tell us shouldn't take too long and, besides, Oreburgh city is close to Jubilife," he stopped for a moment to recollect his thoughts, then began to talk once again, "I promise, Dawn, you'll get to the Grand Festival in time, you'll see." he added while giving her a reassuring smile. She noticed that both of his Pokémon did the same.

Dawn smiled back at him, "I guess your right, Ash," she said to him, "we've got to head on over to Oreburgh city and find out what Professor Rowan wants to tell us." she said with great determination.

"Well then," Brock said to the two humans, "now that it's all settled we shall head on toward Oreburgh," he then turned his gaze to his pocket sized map, "which, according to the map, should only take one day for us to reach." he told everyone.

"Well then everyone, what are we waiting for?" Ash said, as he beamed a smile at everyone in the group, "Let's head on over to Oreburgh city!" as he finished he pumped his fist in the air and now he and his traveling companions were heading on toward the opposite direction of the road they were heading.

Dawn, however, stopped and looked over at Ash, "Hey, Ash," she called out his name to get his attention.

Ash turned back to look at her, "What is it, Dawn?" he asked her, as he raised one of his eyebrows, wondering what she was going to tell him.

"Thanks for cheering me up earlier, Ash," she told him, "I really appreciate it."

"Anytime, Dawn," he responded, as he smiled at her, "anytime."

Pikachu and Riolu were also smiling at Dawn, much like their trainer, but then their ears perked up and they both turned around to see where the sound came from.

"Hey, Ash, Brock's calling you." Riolu said, as he tapped the side of Ash's head in order to get his attention.

It worked, as he turned around and both Ash and Dawn saw that their third traveling companion was trying to get their attention.

"Hey, are you two coming or what?!" Brock yelled over at his two traveling companions.

"Well, Dawn, I think we should get going." Ash told her, as he began moving ahead toward where Brock was located.

Dawn nodded in agreement as she continued to walk forward, while staying slightly behind Ash. The group continued to march on toward Oreburgh city, in hopes of finding out what does Professor Rowan wants to tell them and what does he mean by 'there's not much time left'.


Well everyone, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Again, I'm sorry for the delay and I'll try to update as soon as possible. Riolu's plan shall be revealed soon…just not now.

The Pokétch phone application is just something that I hope comes in Pokémon Platinum (which, in case you don't know, comes in USA in spring :) )

Daijōbu is Dawn's catchphrase in the Japanese episodes of Pokémon, while in the English dub it's "No need to worry". It basically means the same thing in japanese. (Just in case anyone wondered what did the title of the chapter mean.)

Any questions/reviews/suggestions on how I can improve/ will all be gratefully accepted.

PS: My school starts on August 11, so if there are any more delays then you know who to blame.