Riley approached the pokemon center, shrouded in nighttime darkness. In one hand, he clutched a note and a pokeball. The other hand he kept free for forming aura spheres.

At the wall of the pokemon center, he used his aura to sense which room Ash was in. He would have to go in that specific window if he wanted to have time to talk to Lucario and place the note and pokeball before he was kicked out.

Finding the correct window, he formed an aura sphere and broke in.

Seconds later…

Iris and Cilan were startled awake as the alarm in the pokemon center went off.

"Ash!" They both yelled together, remembering what had happened earlier. They raced towards the room he was in.

"Those… men… must've… come back… for… him…" Iris wheezed as she ran. "We… have… to… hurry…"

They arrived at the room and burst in to see a man who they recognized from the group they'd seen earlier that day leaning over Ash.

He turned towards them and sighed. "Guess I got caught sooner than I'd planned. I'm sorry. I was just making a delivery."

"What did you do to Ash?" Iris hissed.

"I assure you that I did not hurt your friend." The man said. "I'm telling you that…"

"FREEZE!" Officer Jenny entered the room behind Iris and Cilan, Nurse Joy right behind her. "Put your hands in the air, intruder!"

The man put his hands up. "Alright, Officer, you caught me. You can do what you want with me now."

Officer Jenny blinked in surprise. "That's it? You're just going to come willingly?"

"Yep. I have no reason to stay out of jail. I admit I've committed crimes and I'm not proud of them. I will gladly take whatever punishment you throw at me." The man said. "Now are we going or not? I don't want to be here when Ash wakes up."

Officer Jenny was confused at that statement, but handcuffed the man and led him out of the room.

To Iris and Cilan's relief, Ash opened his eyes a few minutes after they left.

"Ow… My ankle…" He moaned.

"Ash! Thank goodness you're okay! We've been so worried!" Cilan exclaimed.

Ash pulled something out of his pocket. It was a pokeball and a note.

"What's that, Ash?" Iris asked.

"I don't know." Ash admitted. "It wasn't there before. Cilan, can you read me what it says?"

Cilan took the note from Ash. "Of course. It says: 'Dear Ash, I know you one of your friends is probably reading this to you right now, so the first thing I'd like to say is that I'm sorry I broke in through the window. I didn't think I could get this to you by walking in the front door.'" Cilan paused. "So this is from the guy who broke into the pokemon center a few minutes ago? Interesting."

"You can tell me about that later. I want to hear what the rest of it says." Ash said impatiently.

"Okay, okay! Gees…" Cilan said. "'And no, I did not drug him if you thought I did.' Stop laughing, Ash. We don't even know who this is from. 'On to the more important stuff, you probably want to know what I was doing with those men earlier. Yes, I sensed you in the crowd. I know what that means, so congratulations for reaching our goal. I'm sad I never got to see you do it.' Goal? What goal?"

"Can you stop it with the commentary please? I'll answer your questions later." Ash responded.

"Okay." Cilan agreed. "'Back to the point, those men threatened to kill you if I didn't do what they said. I'm sorry it turned out like this. All I wanted to do was help you. If I hadn't tried to help, though, those men would never have come after you. Just so you know, I'm not leaving you by yourself. Lucario has promised to protect you. I ask that you keep him outside of his pokeball, which I gave you along with this letter, so that he can do so. That way, I can know you're being protected at all times. If you are challenged to a six on six battle, Lucario has also agreed to battle with you. If you have any aura problems, he's the one you should ask. Again, I am sorry it turned out like this. Make me proud. Riley.'" Cilan looked up from reading the letter. "So Lucario is this Riley fellow's pokemon? Who is Riley anyways?"

Ash smiled. "He's a friend. Let's just say… it's thanks to him I learned to see again."

Iris and Cilan exchanged glances.

"Ash, do you mind if I show this to Officer Jenny? Some of the charges might be dropped if she learns he was threatened." Cilan said.

Ash hesitated. "Well… I guess so. If it will help Riley."

"Officer Jenny might have some of the same questions we have. Let's ask Ash our questions first." Iris suggested.

Ash moaned. "Do you have to?"

"Yes. Now, tell us about Riley." Iris said.

Ash smiled again. "Well, it started with a disturbance on Iron Island, where Riley lived with his Lucario and steel-type pokemon. I was being myself, trying to stop a raging Aggron from hurting itself. Then, the Aggron suddenly turned and charged right at me! If it hadn't been for Riley showing up at that moment, I would have been badly hurt. After that, we worked together to stop Team Galactic, who was causing the disturbance, from destroying the island."

"So Riley is really a good person?" Iris asked.

Ash nodded. "Once we'd stopped Team Galactic from destroying Iron Island, he decided to work with Professor Carolina to learn more about the ruins Team Galactic had found and been using." Ash paused before continuing. "It was a few months after I'd been blinded when I met him again. He was making a delivery to Professor Oak from Professor Carolina and… I remembered something he'd told me back on Iron Island. I remembered he'd said he'd been studying to be an Aura Guardian."

"An Aura Guardian?!" Iris and Cilan gasped together.

Ash nodded again. "Yes. I thought maybe, since I had learned a while back that I could use aura too, he could help me. You know how Aura Guardians can see with aura? I thought it would be a solution to my problem and it was."

"In the letter, Riley said he never got to see you accomplish your goal. What did he mean by that?" Cilan questioned.

"He meant he never got to see me accomplish my goal. It was around then that he mysteriously disappeared." Ash said, leaning back against the pillows.

"Well, what happened? How did it come to that?" Iris demanded.

"I was walking home from Professor Oak's, from my training with Riley, when they ambushed me. I tried to get away, but I ran into a low tree branch." Ash told them. "They taunted me. It was around the time they were about to knock me out that I gained my Aura Sight."

"Knock you out? Are you saying they kidnapped you?" Iris asked. Ash nodded. "What happened next?"

"They beat me for a couple of days and then they knocked me out again. The next time I woke up, I was in the hospital. When I found out Riley wasn't there, I knew it hadn't been a dream." Ash sighed. "Now I know what happened that last time I was knocked out. Riley came for me. They made a deal on my life after Lucario took me home."

Iris and Cilan stared at him, hardly able to believe the story they'd just heard.

"So Riley saved your life?" Iris asked.

"Maybe. I don't know." Ash said.

"It sounds like he did. If he did all this for you, he obviously cares about you." Cilan pointed out.

"Yeah…" Ash said. "But now he's in jail because of me."

"It's not your fault he's in jail, Ash. It's the fault of those men that kidnapped and used you." Cilan assured him.

"I guess you're right… but still, I want to see him." Ash said. "Well… you know what I mean."

"You can't leave the pokemon center just yet, Ash." Iris said. "But we'll take you to talk to him as soon as you can."

Ash sighed again. "Okay, but I hope that's soon."

"It will be." Iris promised. "I'm going to stay with you for the rest of the night, okay? Cilan's going to take that note to Officer Jenny now, right Cilan?"

"Of course. I'll be back." Cilan said, leaving the room.

"You just get some rest, Ash. Nobody's going to hurt you while we're here." Iris said.

Ash nodded, soon falling asleep.

Iris just sighed, hoping nobody else would come after Ash that night.