Knuckles sighed with annoyance. It was going to take forever for Leaf to cross that mud… So, Knuckles bounded over to Leaf and promptly tossed her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

"Aah! Knuckles! What are you doing?" Leaf cried. Knuckles was almost as dirty as the blasted mud itself thanks to him wandering around in it earlier.

Knuckles didn't reply and just dropped her to the ground once they were out of the mud.

"…Ouch!" Leaf glared at Lucario, "What the heck was that for? Next time you suddenly decide to pick me up like that, warn me first!"

Knuckles shrugged. He was only trying to help her across the mud…

"…Maybe we should just leave," Leaf sighed after he pulled her back to her feet, "I don't think I can stand it much longer…"

Knuckles seemed to agree. This safari game was going nowhere fast…

So Leaf and Knuckles walked back to the entrance to end their Safari Game.

"'Ey thar! Yer game's not over yet!" some lady standing by the entrance reminded Leaf.

"Yeah, but I think I'm going to call it quits for today…" Leaf said sheepishly.

"'Ey, looky! I gots me a Croagunk!" a voice said suddenly.

Leaf turned around to see a young boy holding a particularly muddy Croagunk, "Ya wanna pet 'im miss?" he asked.

"Waaugh! Nooo! Keep it away from me!" Leaf cried.

"Yer loss! I'm-a gonna catch me some more!" the kid said and ran off.

"Y'all can rinse off over thar," the lady from before pointed to a few hoses at the back of the main building.

"Great, that sounds good," Leaf smiled, and immediately went over to wash off her shoes.

Once she finished, she turned to Lucario, "Your turn now," she said and held the hose above Knuckles' head so he could take a shower.

Once he was clean too, the two of them left the Great Marsh once and for all.

"Well… I guess now we should look for the Pokémon Gym or something…" Leaf said to her Lucario.

"Leaf?" a familiar voice asked from behind her.

"Huh?" Leaf turned around, "Riley?"

"Hi, Leaf," Riley smiled, "I'm glad to see that you're alright…"

"What are you doing here?" Leaf blinked, "I thought you were on Iron Island…"

"Things were resolved back on Iron Island; I'll tell you all about it later if you want."

"Well, that's good. I'd love to hear how everything turned out… but that still doesn't explain why you're here in Pastoria City," Leaf pointed out.

"Well…" Riley began, "actually, I came because I was worried about you… I hadn't heard from you in several days… and what with that attack on Lake Valor…"

"Sorry, I was held up for a while, so I wasn't able to charge my laptop and-" Leaf broke in somewhat sheepishly, but then suddenly looked taken aback, "Whoa, wait a second… did you say attack on Lake Valor?"

"Yes, it happened last night. Haven't you heard about it?" he asked.

"No, what happened?"

Riley sighed, "Looks like we have a lot of catching up to do…"

"Yeah, I think we do…" Leaf said thoughtfully and looked at his Lucario at his side. Both Riley's and her Lucario were looking at each other curiously.

Riley noticed as well, "Hmm, looks like that egg I gave you turned out really well," he said with a smile as he looked at Knuckles. Knuckles looked surprised to hear that.

"Yup, his name is Knuckles," Leaf said proudly and wrapped her arm around him.

"Oh, yeah, that's right," Leaf said to Knuckles when she noticed the surprised look on his face, "Riley here is the one who gave me your egg."

"So," Leaf looked at Riley, "that means your Lucario is Knuckles' father, right?"

"That's right," Riley nodded. Knuckles and Riley's Lucario looked at each other with new meaning in their eyes.

"Hey, my Lucario is taller than yours," Leaf noticed.

"I suppose that can happen sometimes…"

"That means mine is tougher," Leaf teased.

"We'll see about that," Riley said with a slight grin on his face, "But, I must say, I'm surprised that your Lucario was able to evolve so quickly… He must care about you a lot."

"Yeah… he likes me," Leaf agreed, but she looked confused, "but what does that have to do with anything?"

"Well…" Riley had a feeling that she didn't know this already, "A Riolu only evolves into a Lucario once it has established a strong bond of trust with its trainer."

"Oh, really?" Leaf looked at her Pokémon, "I remember that was how my Espeon evolved a long time ago… But, I didn't think Riolu evolved the same way… But it makes perfect sense now…"

"And here I thought my Riolu was special or something!" Leaf added sheepishly.

"Every Pokémon is special," Riley said sagely.

"Yeah, I know; you're right," Leaf grinned. And then her stomach growled loud enough for even Riley to hear. Guu~!

"Maybe we should stop for lunch," he suggested while Leaf laughed sheepishly.

"I can agree to that!"

After the two of them found something to eat, the trainers and their Pokémon found an unused picnic table to eat on. All of the restaurants were packed at this hour, and they didn't want to wait around for a seat.

"Alright, Riley, so what's up with this attack on Lake Valor? What happened exactly?" Leaf asked after she had swallowed her first bite of food.

"I've got the news report right here," Riley pulled out a newspaper from his bag and handed it to Leaf.

Leaf took it and gasped when she saw the pictures. Hundreds of Magikarp were photographed flopping uselessly in the remains of what used to be Lake Valor. The entire lake had been blown up and drained of its pure water. The island cavern where Azelf had once lived was now nonexistent, having been blown to smithereens.

"This is terrible!" Leaf cried. Knuckles couldn't read the words, but from what he could see from the pictures alone, things were pretty bad. All those Magikarp that he had seen not too long ago were now without a home… Knuckles snarled with anger. Those Magikarp had been completely defenseless.

"This happened because Team Galactic couldn't find Azelf…" Leaf said quietly and held her head in her hands.

"Leaf…?" Riley prompted quietly. Leaf just sighed and didn't look up.

"…What happened when you went to Lake Valor? Did you find Azelf?" Riley asked.

"Yes," Leaf admitted, "I found Azelf before Team Galactic. Right now …Azelf is in a pokéball in my backpack. He's my Pokémon now…"

"You… captured Azelf?" Riley was surprised.

Leaf sighed heavily. There was a lot she needed to tell Riley. She then told him everything, even about Team Galactic tricking her and that they would have succeeded if it weren't for Lucario's evolution. It was all a long story, but Riley listened carefully. He could tell that Leaf had been through a lot so far, and it didn't seem like things were going to get much easier for her from here on out.

Riley couldn't think of anything to say after Leaf finished speaking, "…I'm sorry I wasn't there to help you…" he said finally.

Leaf looked at him. Then, she smirked slightly, "I think you were, in a way," she pointed to Knuckles with her thumb.

Riley looked at her Pokémon with surprise in his eyes.

"If it weren't for Knuckles, I doubt I'd even be sitting here right now, and I think the same might go for Azelf too," Leaf continued.

Riley didn't know what to say.

"Besides," Leaf pressed on, "You were needed on Iron Island… am I right?"

"You are," Riley finally admitted.

"So, what happened out there anyway? You said it was all resolved?"

"That's right. Iron Island and all of the Pokémon living there are finally at peace. But it wasn't easy to get there…" Riley began. He then proceeded to tell her of all that had happened on Iron Island.

"Turns out," Riley continued, "I ran into three young trainers named Ash, Dawn, and Brock. They helped me considerably when it came to warding off Team Galactic. Together with the help of Lucario, we discovered Ruins that Team Galactic had dug up. These ruins were even made up of the same compounds as the Veilstone City meteorites…

"Then we realized Team Galactic was using a strange device near the ruins for an unknown purpose. This device was what was resonating to cause the steel types to go berserk. Lucario was using his Aura to try to figure out what they were up to, but he was corrupted by the negative energy produced by the machine… In other words, Lucario went berserk just like all the other steel types…"

"Oh, no," Leaf broke in. This was too much; she never expected Riley's Lucario to fall prey to the same plight as the rest of the steel types…

"So, Lucario went crazy and turned on you?" Leaf cried. That would be pretty scary.

"Frankly, yes," Riley answered. He opened his mouth to continue, and Leaf was on the edge of her seat, eager to find out what happened next.

Suddenly, Leaf felt something slimy and cold touch her leg. She screamed as she jumped up from the table and scrambled several paces away.

"What happened?" Riley looked alarmed and got up as well. Both Lucario jumped up out of their seats, ready to attack whatever came out from under that table.

"Something slimy touched my leg!" Leaf managed to say.

But… it was only a Croagunk that slowly crept out from under the table.

Leaf sighed in relief, "It was only a Croagunk…"

Riley and his Lucario relaxed, but Knuckles looked as though he wanted to destroy that Croagunk. His Aura was flaring.

"Chill out, Knuckles!" Leaf said frantically, "It's just a stupid Croagunk! Who cares?"

Knuckles wasn't really listening. He glared angrily at the Croagunk and was about to unleash an attack.

"Knuckles! Stop it!" Leaf said again. Her Lucario's temper wasn't something she wanted to deal with right now.

"Leaf," Riley said quietly but clearly. Leaf looked at him, and he jerked his head in the direction of the path leading out of town. There were two men approaching, and they looked vaguely familiar…

"Team Galactic…" Riley said to her, "You might want to make yourself scarce for the moment…"

Leaf gasped when she realized who it was. She pulled off her white hat and yanked hard on her Lucario's arm. It was time to get out of here, whether Knuckles liked it or not. Once Knuckles finally got the picture, the two of them headed to a farther picnic bench. Knuckles sat on the ground, and Leaf blocked him mostly from view. She kept her back turned in an effort to conceal her identity as well as she could given the situation.

Once they were hidden well enough, Riley focused his attention on the two newcomers. They were arguing quietly until they caught sight of Croagunk.

"Hey, Slippy! It's you! What are you doing here?" one of the grunts cried.

"Does this Pokémon belong to you?" Riley asked them.

"Who're you?" the second grunt asked bluntly.

"I'll have you know that this Croagunk shouldn't be wandering around alone like that," Riley just continued talking and ignored his question.

"Oh yeah? What're you gonna do about it?" the first grunt asked threateningly.

"Perhaps you should take better care to watch over your Pokémon in the future. I'm sure they'll become more obedient if you take care of them well," Riley continued his lecture.

"Shut up! We didn't come here ta listen ta you flap your gums!" the second grunt growled.

"Really? Then what did you come here for?" Riley asked smoothly.

"C'mon. We don't have time to deal with punks like him. You heard the boss, we gotta save our Pokémon's energy until it's time," the first grunt grunted and recalled his Slippy. The second grunt just growled at Riley before the two left.

Riley and Lucario watched them leave. They were both remotely surprised to turn around and see Leaf walking straight past them out of town with Knuckles on her heels.

"Where are you going, Leaf?" Riley asked.

"I have to get out of here, Riley; I'm sorry, I just can't stick around here any longer…" Leaf said without looking at him. She adjusted her hat on her head and started to walk away again.

"Wait!" Riley said suddenly. Leaf stopped, but didn't turn around to face him.

"…You shouldn't have to do this alone…" Riley said finally.

"I'm never alone," Leaf replied and turned around, "I have my Pokémon with me."

"I suppose you're right…" Riley acknowledged, but he didn't sound convinced, "Where are you going next?"

"Mount Coronet," Leaf answered, "I need to get to Snowpoint City."

"Good luck," Riley said to her, "And be careful."

"I will. Bye, Riley," Leaf turned to leave.

"Good-bye…"

oOoOoOo

Notes: This next chapter is going to be so much fun to write! Have you ever wondered what it would be like if Riley fought somebody using his Aura powers? Well, stay tuned and you'll find out!