"Whaaaat?" Leaf exclaimed.

"I… I did have a cousin named Toby, but… he… he died a long time ago…" Riley stammered, nearly too stunned to speak.

"What human tell Riley this?" Toby narrowed his eyes.

"Uh… I don't remember who exactly, but I remember my cousin Toby went missing a long time ago… and he was never found, so… everyone began to assume the worst…"

"Toby not die! Toby stand here now!"

"This… I can hardly…" Riley was at a loss for words now.

"Wow, I thought you two looked alike… but I didn't think you'd… actually be related…" Leaf was surprised.

"Listen," Toby suddenly seized Riley's jacket threateningly, "Riley not tell any person about Toby!"

"Why…?" Riley asked faintly, still hardly able to believe all of this was happening right now.

"Toby not want any person come to take Toby out of forest! Riley not tell anyone!" Toby growled.

"Chill out, Toby! Stop it!" Leaf tried to pry them apart, but it was pretty much useless.

"I won't tell anyone! I promise," Riley said in an effort to ease the tension.

"Riley is sure?" Toby relaxed his grip.

"Yes," Riley assured him. Toby let go of him, and Leaf was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief.

"But why? Why are you so intent on not letting your family know that you're safe?" Riley wanted to know.

"Toby not have human family anymore," Toby shook his head, "Not since Toby's father die… Now Toby's family is here," he gestured to his Pokémon.

Riley bent down to pick up his hat from Blathers' head just as the little bird was trotting over to them.

"Thief! You will pay for your crimes in chocolate!" Blathers shrieked.

Riley ignored him and readjusted his hat back on his head, "I understand, but what about your stepmother? Shouldn't she have the right to know that you're alive and well?"

"Toby not ever want to see stepmother again!" Toby said indignantly.

"Toby…" Leaf said softly. She turned to Riley and silently mouthed that she'd handle it from here, mainly because she was afraid Toby might punch him any second now. Maybe her more objective approach could help, "Is your stepmother the reason why you ran away from home, maybe?"

"Yes," Toby nodded, "Stepmother want to take Ki away from Toby! Toby not let that happen!" he sounded really passionate about it and really hurt as well.

Leaf walked over to him and took his hand in an effort to calm him down, "Well, you don't have to worry about that anymore… Legally, since you're obviously over ten years old now, she can't do that. If you became a registered trainer, there's no way she ever could take your Pokémon from you legally. No one could."

"So… Ki is safe now…?" Toby looked surprised.

"Yes, but he'd be safer if you registered yourself as a trainer…" Leaf reminded him.

"How Toby do that?"

"You'd have to come to the city, but it's a really easy process, and Riley and I would be happy to help you if you needed it," Leaf smiled.

Toby looked thoughtful as he considered for a moment, "…Okay. Toby go to be 'registered trainer'… Toby go with Leaf and Riley to city…" he reluctantly agreed.

"There's still something that bothers me, though…" Riley said thoughtfully, "Why would your stepmother want to take your Pokémon away from you?"

Toby frowned, "Stepmother never like Toby much… And when Ki evolve into Lucario, stepmother want to take Ki away. Stepmother say Ki is too strong for Toby. Stepmother pretend that Ki might hurt Toby because Toby is too small then. But Toby always know Ki never hurt Toby. Ki is good. Never hurt any person."

"…But what's her true motivation here…? Why would she want your Lucario?" Leaf wondered aloud.

"She wanted ta sell it on eBid," Blathers shook his head.

"Maybe," Toby shrugged, uncertain as to what 'eBid' was.

"I suppose that doesn't matter now, anyway," Riley shook his head, "The only thing that matters is that you've managed to keep your Lucario safe."

"How much do you want for that hat?" Blathers asked Riley. Riley just readjusted his hat, trying his best to ignore him.

"Just shut up, you annoying little Chatot!" Leaf cried, "Leave Riley alone!"

"I'll give you sixty sunflower seeds for it!" Blathers insisted.

"What are you talking about? You don't even have sixty sunflower seeds!" Leaf exclaimed with exasperation.

"He still owes me a bag of 'em, and he still hasn't given Knuckles some pizza!" the Chatot flew up to Riley, landed on his shoulder, and looked him square in the eye.

"Okay, that's enough," Leaf recalled Blathers back to his Pokéball.

"Nooooo! My beautiful hat!" Chatot wailed as he was sucked into his Pokéball.

"I'm sorry about that," Leaf sighed.

"Riley do have good hat," Toby acknowledged, "Aaah! BIRD!" he shouted and tried to shoo away Leaf's Swablu, who was about to have a heart attack because she just realized how dirty he was.

"Whoa! Chill out! My Swablu's just trying to dust you off! Nothing to… worry about," Leaf relaxed when Toby finally allowed the Swablu to happily dust away all the dirt. After she finished, Popuri promptly flew off to a little spring to clean off her now filthy feathers.

"Oh, man…" Leaf suddenly realized, "I had my Pokéballs with me the entire time, so that means…" she looked over at Riley somewhat sheepishly, "You've had to take care of half of my Pokémon without any of their Pokéballs all this time…"

"It was nothing," Riley shrugged, but his somewhat tired expression betrayed his words.

"Well, thank you, and I'm sorry about that," Leaf said sheepishly.

"It wasn't bad; we actually became pretty good friends," Riley smiled slightly, and Vegeta grinned at him. Blaze nuzzled against his leg rather affectionately. The now clean Swablu flew over and landed comfortably on Riley's shoulder.

"Dang… I guess you really did get along well…" Leaf scratched her head, silently remembering how hard it was for her to bond with his Pokémon… except for Salamence of course. She still had no idea why that Pokémon liked her so much…

"Anyway, we probably should get going," Riley pointed out.

"Yeah, let's go," Leaf nodded, "You think you can help us get back to the city, Toby?" she grinned, "I'm sure you know the way!"

Toby nodded with a small smile. Leaf decided to recall all of her Pokémon for now, since it was already hard enough to keep track of all of Toby's Pokémon as it was.

The three of them and the Pokémon walked back to Eterna City. It didn't take them too long to find their way back, thanks to Toby's impressive sense of direction. Once they got there, they immediately headed for the Pokémon Center.

"Uhm…Toby?" Leaf began, "There's one thing you should know about being a registered Trainer…"

Toby looked over at her, "What?"

"Umm… You're only allowed to carry six Pokémon with you at a time…" she admitted.

"What?" Toby looked frightened, "What happen to rest of Pokémon?"

"Don't worry; they get transported to a laboratory or something to be studied," Leaf hurriedly explained, "I don't know who they have in Sinnoh, but I'm sure whoever it is will take good care of them."

"It's a woman named Bebe," Riley informed them, "You can visit her anytime in Hearthome City to check up on your other Pokémon."

"You can switch the active Pokémon in your party anytime you want too," Leaf continued, "They have a machine in the Pokémon Center just for that purpose."

"Okay…" Toby said nervously as they walked into the Pokémon Center and made their way over to that very machine.

"Good afternoon," Bebe's face appeared onscreen the moment Leaf turned it on.

"Aah!" Toby yelped when he beheld the woman trapped within the machine, "Woman is in machine! Toby must get woman out!"

"No! Toby! Don't! That's just an image! She's not really in there!" Leaf cried as she, Riley, and Knuckles grabbed his arms to prevent him from destroying the machine.

"Not in machine?" Toby froze in place with a confused look on his face.

"No, it's just an image that is being transmitted to us," Leaf explained now that he had finally calmed down.

"Um… Is everything alright over there?" Bebe looked as if she didn't know what to make of such a strange situation.

"Yeah… He's just a little nervous," Leaf explained quickly, obviously unable to think of anything better to say.

"Oh? A first-time trainer, I see?" Bebe looked delighted.

"Yes, exactly! We're here to register him as a trainer," Leaf nodded.

"Oh, good! I'm Bebe! I'll be the one who cares for any new Pokémon you'll come across on your journey!" Bebe beamed at Toby.

"Bebe take good care of Toby's Pokémon?" Toby asked cautiously.

"Of course!" Bebe smiled warmly, "Now, you'll just need to answer the questions on the screen, and you'll be done! Simple as that!"

"He already has several Pokémon here, so… we'll probably need to send some to you now, actually…" Riley told her.

"Oh? Those are all his Pokémon?" Bebe looked surprised, "…Well, after you complete the questions and send your registration, you can send the extra ones to me."

After they finished answering all the mandatory questions and whatnot, (which wasn't that easy of a task because Toby didn't really know how to read… or properly sign his name) the machine printed off a brand new Trainer card for Toby. Now he was an official Trainer!

"Uh… do you even have any Pokéballs?" Leaf asked Toby.

"Yes…" Toby pulled out some old and rusted-looking Pokéballs from his pockets.

"Which ones are you going to send off?" Riley asked him.

Toby looked over his Pokémon carefully, "Well… Toby want to keep all, but Toby send Slugma and Oddish to Bebe…"

"Okay… then recall them and place them here…" Leaf directed. Once Toby did so, the Pokéballs promptly disappeared.

"Any new Pokémon you catch from now on will be sent to Bebe," Riley reminded him, "If you want to switch the Pokémon in your party, you'll have to come to another machine like this. They have them in every Pokémon Center."

"Toby always dream of catch new Pokémon…" Toby said quietly.

"I'm sure you will!" Leaf beamed.

"Toby not sure… Can Toby catch new Pokémon in… different places?" Toby looked thoughtful and slightly nervous, "Toby always want to find new Pokémon, but Toby afraid to leave forest… especially alone. When Toby come to city with Riley and Leaf, Toby not think city is scary anymore… maybe Toby travel now to find new Pokémon?"

"You can do anything you want to, Toby," Leaf smiled.

"Leaf is nice, so is Riley," Toby grinned, "Where Leaf and Riley go next?"

"Actually, we're headed for Snowpoint City!" she told him, "Maybe you'd like to come along for a while? It's a long journey, so I'm certain you'd find some new Pokémon along the way!"

"Yes, Toby like that idea! Toby will come with Riley and Leaf!" Toby agreed excitedly.

"In the short run, however, I think it might be a good idea to find some lunch first," Riley suggested, "It's getting a bit late."

Everyone seemed to agree, so they went off for lunch. After all that was over, they figured it might be a good idea to go look for some winter clothing. After all, Leaf and Toby were still dressed for warm weather. Riley was fine for now, but even he'd need a winter coat eventually. It was pretty cold that far north.

oOoOoOo

"I'm ready!" Leaf announced to Knuckles once she stepped out of the dressing room. She kept her top layer on, but replaced her undershirt with a warm, black, long sleeved shirt. She also had on some warm leggings underneath her skirt, and traded her favorite boots for more functional ones.

Knuckles groaned. Finally! She had taken forever… just to pick out something ridiculously similar to what she was already wearing!

"What do you say we go find Riley and Toby?" Leaf asked her Pokémon after she managed to stuff her new winter jacket into her bag. It had felt strange to her to have to pick out such a heavy jacket. The weather in Kanto was relatively warm and moderate; she never had to wear one like it before.

Leaf and Knuckles wandered around the men's section until they finally found Toby and Riley arguing over something.

"What's up?" Leaf blinked.

"Riley wear dumb clothes, and Riley keep try to make Toby wear them too!" Toby cried.

"They aren't dumb at all; they're perfectly fine!" Riley insisted, while holding out a pair of men's dress pants.

"But Toby like these!" Toby held out a pair of jeans.

"That's completely ridiculous! You'd look like you just rolled out of bed if you wore that!" Riley growled.

"You're both stupid," Leaf joked, "C'mon, seriously, how do you expect to stay warm in either of those pants? If I had to take a guess, I'd say you guys need to wear corduroys or something," she suggested.

"What is 'corduroys'?" Toby asked curiously.

"I'll show you," Riley said with slight exasperation as he led the way.

"Uh, well, good luck?" Leaf shrugged, "Let's wait outside," she said to Knuckles. She didn't really have a strong desire to pick out men's clothes with them. Especially since the two of them had completely opposite tastes in clothing… It was a like an endless political debate, one of those ones she'd definitely rather just stay away from.

Leaf took a seat on a bench near the clothing store and decided to try and focus her Aura into her palm. She was determined to bring out her Aura even if it took her years to figure it out…!

Eventually, she leaned back in her seat and sighed. She wasn't making any progress…

"How do you do it, Knuckles?" Leaf asked him. He was sitting next to her, doing nothing in particular. He blinked at her sudden question, uncertain as to what she meant by it.

"Will you show me your Aura?" she asked. Knuckles raised his paw and allowed his Aura to accumulate and seemingly dance around his outstretched limb.

"You're already five steps ahead of me," Leaf complained, "I'm never gonna learn Aura Sphere before you!"

Knuckles smirked.

oOoOoOo

Notes: To answer your question, Ampharoslover, I guess I have to say I always imagined that Riley's family did breed Lucario… Maybe they have their own Ranch… XD

Anyway, in all seriousness, I don't know for sure or anything, but I think of Riley as Sir Aaron's descendant. So, if Riley's family bred Lucario, then all these Lucario would be descendants of Sir Aaron's Lucario… I just think of that as very cool.

Also, please vote on my poll! I'm going to post more later, but I really want to see the results for this one first. I appreciate votes because then I'll be able to have a good idea of which Pokémon Leaf should keep in her party longer! Thank you!