Hola, everybody! I'm really, really pleased, by the way, at all the amazing reviews. You people truly rock ;)

Ugh, I have WAY too many tabs up right now. I've got YouTube, a bunch of FFNet stories that I need to read, a bajillion tabs with Pokemon walkthroughs and specific routes and Gyms, and I even have my walkthrough book next to me. These stories take a heckuva lot of effort XDDD

Nonsense chapter, but I think it explains a lot ;)

Thanks!

Disclaimer: If I owned Pokemon...um...there would be a customize-your-character option!

x.X.x

It took a day. Twenty four hours of fidgeting, checking my cell phone for the time, fidgeting some more, getting up to go for a walk, returning to the PokeCenter, fidgeting, trying to get to sleep, failing, pacing around Jubilife, people-watching, and fidgeting. But finally, at seven o'clock in the morning a day later, Nurse Joy came out to knock on my door.

"Your little Riolu is strong enough to go out, but no intense battles for a couple of days," she informed me with a warm smile, chuckling as I practically shoved past her and dashed into the waiting room. "This way!" I turned around and followed the nurse and her Chansey partner into the back room, beaming when I saw Riolu. He was hooked up to a steadily beeping machine, and as soon as he saw me he let out a, "Rio!" of delight. Nurse Joy gently unattached him from the machine, and he hopped down off the bed and ran toward me. I couldn't keep the smile off my face as I knelt and wrapped my arms around his neck, burying my face into the fur on the top of his head. "Rio! Rio-lu!" he chirped, pulling away. I straightened up, smiling down at my Pokemon, and turned to Nurse Joy.

"Um…" I didn't know what to say for a moment, and then gave up on trying to look mature and darted in to hug her. "Thank you!"

She laughed, returning the gesture, and gave an amused "Oh!" of surprise when Riolu followed my lead and wrapped his arms around her shin, restricted from giving a proper hug by his height. I beamed, stepping back, and then nodded at my Pokemon. Nurse Joy smiled affectionately, mussing my hair and scratching Riolu behind the ears. "You two be safe, now. Off to Oreburgh?" she inquired, chuckling as he closed his eyes and gave a little sigh of contentment.

"Yep!" I said cheerfully. "I'm going to get my first Gym badge there, and then I'll be on my way to being the best trainer ever!"

"I'm sure you will. That's a rock-type Gym, you know. Your Riolu has an advantage."

"Really?"

"Mm-hmm! So you'll have it pretty easy on your first Gym: that's good!"

"Awesome!" I turned to Riolu, grinning, and said, "We're going to kick butt!" He nodded and pumped his fist in the air.

"Rio-lu!"

Nurse Joy laughed, walking us both out, and waved as we were departing from Jubilife.

"Have fun! Be safe!" she called, and I nodded.

"Bye! Thank you!" Then she disappeared back into the Pokemon Center, and I looked down at my Pokemon. "Ready to go?" I asked, and his head bobbed happily. "Okay, to Oreburgh!"

He walked next to me as we made our way to Route 203, according to the map that I had stashed in my backpack at the last minute. I was grateful for it now, because without it I would have had no idea where we were off to. I talked absently to Riolu as we traveled, telling him about my life, my love of pancakes, his daring rescue, and anything else that came to mind. He listened happily, swinging his arms, and looked around at the scenery and the trail we were traversing. "You know," I said, glancing at the map again, and my Pokemon looked over with his head tilted to the side as he listened. "I've never actually battled before. I've seen people at school battle, so I kind of know how, but I don't even know what your moves are or what they do. So if we were attacked by…a Bidoof or something, I would just have to rely on you, which I suppose I could do in the wild. But what about trainer battles?" I knew he couldn't answer the question, so I kept talking. "I mean, I think I'd sound like a pretty bad trainer if I just said something like, 'Riolu, attack!' And, you know, if we're going to be the best team ever, we've gotta do more than that…" Riolu's ears twitched as he nodded, and his lips pulled back in a toothy smile.

"Rio riolu!" he said confidently, stopping in his tracks. I followed suit, halting, and watched curiously as he made the gesture to wait. My Pokemon turned around, looking at a tree near us, and then glanced over his shoulder to make sure I was watching. My brow creased in confusion, which cleared as Riolu suddenly darted forward and kicked the tree, zipping back to where he was before in a move that I had seen him do with Nidorino. He cocked his head, asking, "Rio?" as he gestured to the tree that he had just attacked, and I shrugged.

"Can I call that Quick Attack?" I asked, and the biggest smile I had ever seen stretched across his face.

"Rio-lu!" he cheered, nodding vehemently. Then he turned around again, looked over his shoulder to get my attention, and finally hunched his shoulders and squeezed his eyes shut in another move that he had used against the thief's Pokemon. I stroked my chin, wrinkling my nose in concentration, and said, "Mom once had a Pokemon that could do that. It lets you stay alive through any attack, right?" At a nod of assent, I clicked my tongue thoughtfully. "I think she called it 'Endure.' Would that work?"

"Riolu!" He beamed, and I nodded.

"Okay! So we've got Endure and Quick Attack. Anything else?"

"Rio…" My Pokemon sounded like he was thinking, and finally his eyes lit up. "Rio-lu!" He pointed to the tree, and then raised his arms above his head like a zombie in a scary movie and pretended to glide around while making a scary, "Riooooo…" sound. I cocked my head, asking, "Huh?"

"Riooo…rioooluuu…"

"Are you…a zombie?" I asked, thoroughly dumbfounded. He shook his head and kept "gliding," still making the echoing call like the ones I had heard in movies late at night.

"Rioooo…luuuu…." He stopped and glanced at me helplessly, and I asked slowly, "You're…a flying zombie?" Riolu shook his head again, blowing out his lips in a raspberry. I giggled, and then straightened and kept guessing. "Are you a Pokemon?"

"Riolu!" At this, he nodded happily, and then kept swaying and gliding. "Riooo…"

"A flying-type?" He shook his head, dog-ears swinging. "A dragon-type?"

"Rioooluuu…"

"A…a ghost-type?"

"Riolu! Rio-lu!" He hopped up and down, beaming, and then backed up as if switching places with himself. Then his eyes darted to me and back to the tree, and ran forward to perform a newly-dubbed Quick Attack. Then, glancing at me again, he bounded forward and started pretending to be a ghost, walking around and seemingly not affected by whatever the "first" Riolu had just done.

"Okay, I know normal-type moves don't work against ghosts. That's what Quick Attack is, right?" I asked, and Riolu nodded slowly. He turned around again, now simply staring at the tree, and then nodded at me before bouncing up to be a ghost again. "Um…you…stare at a…ghost-type?" I guessed hesitantly, and he shook his head.

"Rio!" He went back to his first position, staring at the imaginary ghost, and then lashed out with a Quick Attack. Immediately after, my Pokemon pretended to be the ghost again ("Riooooluuu…") and executed a dramatic fall, obviously impacted by the normal-type attack.

"So…" I began, and Riolu plopped down cross-legged on the ground as he watched my lips move. "You stare at a ghost-type…then you can use Quick Attack on them?"

"Rio-lu!" he agreed cheerfully, nodding.

"Okay…I could call that…Move Work?" He stuck his tongue out at the name, shaking his head. I rolled my eyes. "Fine, fine. Um…Ghost-Weakness?"

"Rio," Riolu said, pretending to gag again.

"Quit being dramatic." My parents had said that to me often enough. "How about…Ghost Sight?" I suggested. My Pokemon shrugged, shaking his head slightly. "Future…Sight?" I asked, and his shoulders again moved up and then down. "Or maybe…Foresight?"

"Rio! Riolu!" At this last name he looked up, his head bobbing, and I beamed.

"Okay, then! Foresight it is! Any other moves?" Riolu shook his head, and I nodded, reaching out a hand to help him up. He gleefully took it, skipping ahead of me, and I giggled. "Save your energy! We might have to beat a few trainers later!" I called, and was answered by a faint, "Rio-lu!" I beamed, chuckling as I heard an abrupt rustle in the trees above me and then saw a tiny head poke out of the leaves and wave. I waved back, and was cheerfully answered with, "Rioluuuu!"

Maybe a fighting-type wasn't so bad after all.

We kept walking, my Pokemon swinging around in the trees like a Mankey and popping into view every now and then to wave at me. I would always giggle and wave back, my affection for my new partner slowly growing, and after a little while I got out a granola bar to eat. Almost immediately, Riolu climbed out of the trees and crawled up to sit on my shoulder, clinging to my neck and shifting as he leaned forward to sniff the granola bar.

"Want some?" I asked, offering it. He wrinkled his nose, and then shrugged and took a huge bite, stealing at least half of the whole bar. "Hey!" I exclaimed accusingly, closing my eyes and sticking my tongue out as he sprayed crumbs, saying through a mouthful of food, "Riolu?"

"You don't have very good manners."

"Rio. Rio-lu!"

"Oh, fine. Just no more for you, 'kay?"

"Rio! Rio rio rio! Rio-luu!"

"That's not very nice-hey! Ow! That hurts, you meanie!"

"Rio!"

"Well, I was going to give you some more, but not now that you've gone and pulled my hair out!"

"Riolu!"

"Nope! Not a chance!"

"Rioooooo!"

"Don't try to scare me! I'm not afraid of you, even when you're pretending to be a ghost!"

"Rio-lu."

"Yeah, yeah. Get your own food." But I knew it was a battle lost, even as he folded his arms across his chest and let out the biggest raspberry I had ever heard. I burst into laughter, beaming and halting on the trail. "Alright, fine." I handed him the rest of the granola bar, and Riolu hopped off my shoulder and walked next to me, munching happily as we continued up Route 203.

x.X.x

Tada!

Yes, I know about the dashes. Just bear with me, if ya please ;)

And I have definitely listened to all of your reviews about Celeste getting homesick. Believe me, they have not gone unanswered ^^

By the way, I have a question for un-biased ears:

Am I getting into their relationship too fast? Because I'm going off of what *I* would do in this situation, providing that I had my heart set on a fire-type and got a Riolu instead, but what do YOU think? Is Celeste warming up to Riolu too quickly? And if she is, what do you think I could do to fix it?

Sorry about sounding like a commercial or something...one of those, "Can they reach the burning pancakes in time? Or will their breakfast burn? And can Drew and Lucy ever find true love?" kind of summary-things XDD

Thanks a ton!