I sat on a bench outside the pokemon center, watching the sun rise over a far away mountain range. In the distance, I could hear a strange, yet pleasing musical sound rising up. I'd been hearing it for a couple hours now. According to nurse Joy, it was the musical sound of Kricketot, small bug-type pokemon that lived nearly everywhere in Sinnoh, and were most common in the mornings.

I heard the door of the pokemon center open, and a yawn. I looked in that direction, and saw Amy stepping out of the doorway, stretching. She hadn't noticed me yet, and I didn't make any sounds. She grabbed the poke ball from her belt, and held it out in front of her.

"Chimchar," she exhaled softly. "You're gonna be great, I just know it. So I'm going to do everything I can to become a better trainer, that way you can become a great pokemon. Come on out!"

She tossed the poke ball, and out came Chimchar, her small, monkey-like fire-type pokemon.

"Char!" he cried out, jumping up onto her leg, then climbing up to her shoulders, where he sat and rubbed the side of his face against hers. She smiled and laughed.

"Come on Chimchar, lets get a bit of practice in before everyone wakes up, okay? I wanna see what you can do." They started walking off into the forest nearby.

I sat there on the bench, thinking about everything from being here in Sinnoh, to my friends back home, to my pokemon that were at professor Birch's lab. Seeing Amy and her Chimchar reminded me a bit of Kirlia. I decided to go see what Amy was up to, so I stood up and walked into the forest.

I found her not too far inwards. It was easy, since I could spot Chimchar's tail flame from far off.

"Chimchar, use scratch on that tree!"

Chimchar ran up to a particularly unremarkable tree, and began scratching away with its little claws. After awhile, he got winded, and stopped, with dozens of claw marks cut into the tree, spaced pretty closely together. Amy stepped to him, knelt down, and rubbed the top of his head.

"Great job, Chimchar. You wanna take a little break and play around?"

"Char, Chimchar!"

"Haha, okay then."

Chimchar started running around, climbing trees and swinging from branch to branch. Eventually, he noticed me, and dropped down onto my head. Amy, who still didn't know I was there, finally saw me and jumped in surprise.

"Joe!" she cried out. "Umm, what are you doing here? How long have you been out here?"

I walked forward, petting Chimchar. "Not too long, I just got out here, but I saw you come out earlier. I can see you made a good choice with Chimchar." I motioned towards the scratched up tree. "Those marks are pretty close together. I think Chimchar is going to be good with close up attacks. You know, like, directing his attacks to one point, and stuff like that."

She smiled, and Chimchar jumped from my shoulder to the top of her head. "Yeah, I guess you're right." She looked down at her feet. "You must be a really smart trainer, then, to know stuff like that."

"Nahh, I wouldn't say smart," I said with a laugh. "I think experienced is more like it. I've been in a lot of battles, tough ones too. I guess what it comes down to is your ability to read your opponent's moves before they make them, and react in time to both get your pokemon out of the way, and set up a counter attack. Although, even I haven't really gotten to the point where I can read my opponent's mind, haha."

"You're right, Joe," she said with a smile. "So, do you want to battle then? So I can work on what you said, reading your opponent."

I grabbed Umbreon's ball off my belt and grinned. "Okay, you've got it. Umbreon, lets go!"

Umbreon came out of her ball, and purred lightly. Chimchar dropped from Amy's shoulder, and started jumping up and down, switching legs with each jump and landing.

"You make the first move," I said to Amy.

"Okay!" she replied. "Alright, umm, Chimchar use scratch!"

"Umbreon, detect!"

Chimchar ran at Umbreon, claws glowing a faint white color. He swung, but Umbreon read the move and deftly dodged to the left.

"Ahh!" cried out Amy. "Chimchar, use scratch again!"

Chimchar located Umbreon, and attacked again, this time striking her. She seemed unfazed by the attack, and hit with quick attack, sending Chimchar flying backwards. He landed on his feet, and opened his mouth to use ember, launching dozens of small spheres of flame at Umbreon. She fired a shadow ball at him, which took all of the fire spheres, neutralizing the attack. Umbreon followed up with a quick attack, launching Chimchar up into the air, and crashing down to the ground. Chimchar tried to get up, but he fell back down.

"No, Chimchar!" Amy cried out, and ran to pick him up in her arms.

Umbreon and I ran out to them as well, and I knelt down beside Amy. "Oh no, I'm sorry!" I apologized. "Is he hurt bad, Chimchar are you okay?"

Chimchar opened his eyes, and smiled brightly. "Chim, char!"

Amy laughed quietly. "I think that means he's okay." She put him back into his poke ball. "Take a little break, okay?"

From nowhere, we saw a group of six small blue and black pokemon that looked like lion cubs, running through the forest.

"What were those?" Amy asked.

"I don't know," I replied. "That was weird."

Joe, where are you?

I heard the voice in my head, Riolu calling me from the pokemon center. He was still asleep when I checked up on him early this morning. He was finally up, and I wanted to go see him.

"Amy, lets get back to the pokemon center," I said. "I want to check on Riolu, to check on Riolu, to see how he's doing." She nodded, and we left for the pokemon center, Umbreon back in her ball.

I still didn't understand why I could hear him speaking to me. It was like some kind of telepathy, and I wasn't the only one who could hear it. Steph and Amy could also hear him speaking, as well as nurse Joy. We hurried back to the pokemon center.

Inside Riolu's room, I saw Steph and nurse Joy by his bedside. We walked up to them, and I sat on a stool by the head of Riolu's bed.

Joe, he said, friend, you are here!

I smiled, and grabbed his hand. "Yeah, Riolu, I'm here." I looked up at the nurse, and asked "So how's he doing, nurse Joy?"

She opened up a binder she was holding, and looked it over once. "He's going to be fine, don't worry. His injuries worried me a bit, but he's making an excellent recovery. You'll be glad to hear that he's physically fit to be put into a poke ball now. You can officially make him your pokemon now."

From the doorway, we heard someone speak. "But before you do, Joe, there's something you need to know about that pokemon."

We all looked at the doorway, and there stood a tall man, about forty years old, with white hair, and a white lab coat. He stepped into the room, and walked towards us.

Confused, I asked "Umm, excuse me sir, but who are you, and how do you know my name?"

Nurse Joy answered my question. "How do you not know him? He's professor Rowan, the leading expert on pokemon here in Sinnoh!" She turned to face him. "Welcome to our pokemon center, professor, how are you today?"

"I'm fine, thank you," he answered. "Joe, professor Birch in Hoenn called me a couple of days ago and told me that you and your friend would be here in Hoenn. I meant to speak to you yesterday at my lab, but you left before I could arrive." He looked down at Amy, who was, again, looking down at her feet. "You must be young Amy, am I right? I apologize for not being present when you received your pokemon, I was out on important business."

"Umm," she muttered, "Its okay, professor."

I looked up at him. "Professor, I have a few questions about Riolu." Rowan turned his attention from Amy to me. "Let me guess, you want to know why you can hear him speaking, although its widely known that pokemon cannot speak, am I correct?"

Stunned, I replied "Ahh, yeah, that's right. Why, professor?"

He took a seat on the other side of Riolu's bed. "That is precisely the reason I came here to speak with you as soon as I heard you'd rescued a Riolu. You see, Riolu and its evolutionary line are quite in tune with a form of energy called aura. Every living being on earth gives off aura in some form. Riolu, and its evolved form Lucario, are the only creatures that can use aura as a means to achieve an end. Normally, only Lucario are powerful enough to focus their aura into telepathic abilities."

"I, I think I understand," I whispered, now understanding. "But if only Lucario are able to use telepathy, then why is Riolu speaking to us?"

Professor Rowan shifted his gaze to Riolu, who was now sitting up on the bed, listening intently to our conversation.

"It appears," Rowan continued, "that this Riolu is quite more in sync with its aura-related abilities than others of its kind and level. It is still not powerful enough to focus its aura in the ways that a Lucario can, and as such it cannot 'speak' to only one person at a time. Much like a radio station broadcasts its programs to all around who are listening, Riolu's speech can be heard by all those around it. However, with much training and practice, I believe Riolu will be able to use its aura in ways not even imagined yet. And that is another thing I need to speak with you about, Joe."

I nodded. "Of course, professor, go on."

"Joe," he said, "this Riolu, and all of its kind, are truly magnificent and powerful creatures. As such, it will require many hours of training for it to become as physically and mentally powerful as it is meant to be. This kind of training is rigorous, and for some cannot even be completed, as it is only doable by those with strong, pure wills and hearts. Riolu is still a young, naïve, and impressionable pokemon. Do you think that you have the ability, as both a trainer and a human being, to raise this pokemon to the fullest of both of your abilities?"

I turned my view from Rowan to Riolu. "Riolu," I said, "I think we can do this. Its gonna take a long time, but I'm willing to train you to the fullest of your potential. But I'll only do it if you'll allow me to train you. Are you ready?"

Riolu turned its head down, and immersed itself in thought. Suddenly, he popped his head back up, and replied.

Yes, I am ready. Joe, friend, I will train with you, and travel with you, and I will do my best to not disappoint you.

I smiled. "That's great Riolu." I turned to professor Rowan. "Professor, I think we're ready."

"That's good, Joe," he said. "Now all that's left is for you to capture Riolu in a poke ball."

"Oh, wait!" cried out nurse Joy. "I think that a special pokemon like Riolu deserves a special poke ball. Chansey!" She called out to her assistant, a big, pink, egg-shaped pokemon called Chansey, which entered the room. "Chansey, go get me the ball that we found the other day."

"Chansey, chan!" It wobbled out of the room, and came back a few seconds later, holding a strangely colored poke ball. Instead of red and white, it was mostly black. There was an orange ring around the top of it, and also around the middle, wrapping around the button in the center of the ball. Chansey handed the ball to nurse Joy, who handed it to me.

"Its called a luxury ball," she said. "it's a special kind of poke ball that makes pokemon even more friendly towards you. I've been saving it for a special time, and I think that its best if you take it for Riolu."

I turned my attention from the ball to Riolu. "Well," I asked, "are you ready?"

He nodded his head, and I tapped the enlarged ball to his forehead. From the ball came a beam of red energy, which enveloped Riolu and turned him into energy as well. The beam quickly jumped back into the ball, and it closed. The ball started shaking, rolling from left to right. It continued rolling for longer than I normally remembered balls moving for.

"Professor, is there something wrong with it?" I asked, worriedly.

"Hmm," he muttered. "I don't believe there is anything wrong with Riolu. It could possibly be that he's simply scared. Of course, no human has ever been put inside of a poke ball, so we could never fully understand the process that takes place."

"For all we know, it could be terrifying," said Steph, who'd been remarkably quiet the entire time we'd been here. "Riolu could be really scared. Maybe he's just getting used to whats going on."

The ball continued rolling around, with everyone in the room watching intently. Finally, the ball stopped, and let out a metallic clicking noise. We all sat there, staring, until I finally reached out and picked up the ball. I clicked the button again to open it, and Riolu came out, down on one knee on the bed. He slowly rose up to his feet, and met my gaze.

Does this mean… I am… your friend?

I reached out with both arms, picked him up, and pulled him in for a tight hug. "Riolu! Of course you're my friend! You'll always be my friend." I put him back down on the bed. "Now you can train, and get stronger. It just means that now you'll travel with me, as my pokemon. Are you ready to go?"

… yes.