Midoriya stood in an alleyway, his hood pulled on securely, looking around the area warily.

He had heard rumor some villains using one of the buildings in the area as a hideout, but he wasn't too sure which one it was. He needed to find one of those villains, and possibly track them to the hideout, or just threaten them outright, before knocking them out. He was just going to do some quick scouting first, before deciding which Pokemon were best suited for raiding the hideout.

He heard the sound of something running, and he turned a corner, not really sure what was going on, until a Riolu ran right into him. The Emanation Pokemon fell onto the ground, looking up at Midoriya, they're red eyes practically glowing in fear, as another man ran into the same alleyway.

"I'm so sorry about my Pokemon. It's very mischievous and loves to run away from me." The man apologized, before he turned to the Riolu, growling, "Get back here!"

The man tried to recall the Fighting-type, but the Riolo hastily dodged the red beam and hid behind Midoriya, shaking.

Under his hood, the green haired boy frowned; there was no way this Riolu could be acting out of mischief. Most Riolu are sensitive to a special type of energy called Aura, and while not all Riolu can fully use these powers, all of them can sense and read these Aura waves in order to see if a person is good or bad.

It was most likely that this Riolu was running away from a possible abusive trainer, and if this was the case, then Midoriya needed to put an end to this before seeking out other villains.

"Riolu!" The man growled, his eyes glowing in rage, "Get back this instance!"

Midoriya glanced down at the shaking Emanation Pokemon, before turning his attention back to the man, "This is your Riolu?"

"Yes!" The man replied, and Midoriya asked, "If he is your Pokemon... why is he scared of you?"

"I don't know!" The man hissed, taking a step forward, which prompted the Riolu to hide himself further behind Midoriya, "That stupid mutt is never listening to me, and always causing mischief by running away from me!"

Midoriya took a step forwards threateningly, his emerald eyes glowing in rage under the hood, "Don't call him a stupid mutt! And Pokemon won't run from their trainers for no reason. Especially not Riolu; they're extremely loyal Pokemon. You're not going to get him back until you explain why he's scared of you!"

The man just froze, before tossing the Pokeball to the ground and crushing it beneath his feet, "Whatever! It's stupid! It can't follow directions, it won't evolve, it can't even battle! All it does is create a mess! I can just buy another one!"

The man just ran out of the alleyway, and Midoriya decided it just wasn't worth pursuing him at this point in time. He remembered the guy's face; he'd track him down later.

Midoriya turned his head to look at the Riolu, and the Emanation Pokemon caught his eye, and began backing away slowly. The greenette just reached down slowly, with Riolu just staring at his hand warily, before the greenette gently pat Riolu's head, running his fingers through the Riolu's short fur.

The Emanation Pokemon froze for a good minute, before reaching his paws out to grab Midoriya's hand.

"You alright there?" Midoriya softly asked, "Don't listen to whatever that asshole said, okay?"

The Riolu looked away slightly, before turning back to Midoriya, "Bad human. Took me away from Mama. Made me fight birds and the ground kept shaking and he threw me in water and would push me down."

The Pokemon looked up at Midoriya, "Are you... going to make me go back?"

"No." Midoriya shook his head, before gesturing to the remains of the Pokeball behind him, "He doesn't own you anymore. And even if he did, I won't make you go back unless you want to."

Riolu's face immediately lit up, "I knew you were nice human! Mama told me that if the human that got me was bad, I should find a nice human!"

Midoriya gently scratched Riolu's head, "Hey... Riolu, do you mind Teleportion?"

Riolu just looked up at Midoriya in confusion, "I don't know Teleport."

"I..." Midoriya paused, "I'm going to teleport home. Are you okay with that?"

The Riolu thought about for a few seconds, before nodding hesitantly. Midoriya picked up the small Emanation Pokemon, wrapping his arms around Riolu tightly, "Alright, hold on for a few seconds."

Midoriya looked around the alleyway to make sure no one was around, before he closed his eyes and concentrated.

Home.

He could feel the familiar feeling of being teleported, and by the time he opened his eyes, he could see the lake in front of him. Soru just turned to Psyche, "Hey, using Mind Reader and then Teleport is pretty handy."

Psyche just sighed in exasperation, opting to ignore the bug in favour of the Pokemon in Midoriya's arms, "We have a new addition?"

Midoriya just nodded slowly. Riolu was still clinging tightly to him, and Midoriya gently pat Riolu, "Hey, we're here."

Riolu lifted his head, and looked at the area around them. He could see a Flygon napping near the lake, curled up around several sleeping Budew. There were several Elekid and Magby sleeping within the cloud-like feathers of an Altaria, as a Toxel tried to pat a Charmeleon's head, much to the chagrin of the Fire-type.

The forest was teaming with Bug-type Pokemon, and Riolu could see several Water-types fooling around in the lake.

A white Eevee ran up to Midoriya, looking up at Riolu curiously, and Midoriya let the Emanation Pokemon down to interact with the others and to introduce themselves. It wasn't long before Reiko and Riolu were running around and playing with each other, but that was cut shorts as a Gardevoir emerged from the forest, picking up the Riolu, "AHH! You're so cute!"

She spun around, holding onto the small blue Pokemon tightly, but luckily, a Gallade swiftly plucked Riolu out of her grasp and set him down before Riolu got too dizzy.

"We talked about this! You can't just pick up every single baby Pokemon that you see!" The Gallade argued, putting himself between his female counterpart and the small Fighting-type pokemon.

"But he's so cute!" The Gardevoir countered, "You can't tell me not to cuddle him!"

"You already cuddled all the Magby, Elekid, Budew and that little Toxel! And got attacked for your efforts!" Gallade sighed, trying his hardest to drag Gardevoir away, "

Midoriya gave Eclipse a scratch behind her ear, eliciting a purr from the Illusion Fox Pokemon, as they watched the two Psychic-type Pokemon arguing.

There were many Zorua and Zoruark scattered all around the Beast's Forest, using their illusion abilities to hide the lake from view, and with the help of the multitude of Psychic-type Pokemon that also live in the forest, to misdirect everyone away from their homes; the Zorua line use visual illusions, while the Psychic-types fill in the gaps to manipulate people's perception of the world around them.

With their abilities, they could make people think that they're completely lost within the forest, when in reality, the exit was literally just ten steps away from them.

They didn't want to pick a fight, and given people's destructive nature, they'd much rather hide than pick a fight with people that they might not necessarily win, which could result in their capture and being taken away from their families, since they weren't exactly considered common Pokemon.

The occasional Dark-type Pokemon, like Mightyena and Hydreigon, slipped past their ability to hide them, since the Zorua line's illusion abilities couldn't keep track of every single living thing in the entirety of the forest, and Psychic-types can't detect them, and don't know when they should be manipulating the minds of humans to hide Dark-types.

This seemed to work in their favor, though. They managed to create the illusion that the Beast's Forest was a haunted, empty woods, void of any life, filled with nothing but powerful, destructive Pokemon that would lash out if anyone ever invaded their territory. Rarely anyone dared to enter the forest at night, and even if someone did dare to, they would be chased out by the multitude of nocturnal Pokemon that preferred to roam at night.

Thus, they could rest and drop the illusions, revealing the true forest that was teaming with life, a true safe haven for all Pokemon.

Midoriya could see the faint light from the various Volbeat and Illumise that flitted about at night, before the boy sighed, and headed back into the small house. Noticing his movement, the Riolu immediately ran to his side, wrapping his arms against the boy's leg.

"Come on. Let's find you something to eat." Midoriya murmured softly, "Also... do you want a nickname, or do you want to be called Riolu?"

The Riolu lowered his head slightly, "I don't want to be called Riolu... but I don't have any name ideas..."

He raised his head, looking at Midoriya excitedly, "Can you give me a name?"

Midoriya just glanced down at the small blue Pokemon, before scratching his head, "I'll call you Lu, alright?"

Lu nodded eagerly.

"So... we're all good to go?" Shinsou asked, looking at his friends.

"Yep!" Uraraka grinned, as Kinu sat on her shoulder, "We're going to have to go through the forest again... so I hope it won't be too bad."

"It shouldn't. We only had problems since we ran deeper into the forest." Koda piped up, "As long as we stick to the path, we should be fine, and we'll be able to get to Shimane City in no time."

Iida checked his Pokedex, as well as a guidebook that he had purchased from one of the shops they had visited, "Well... we should spend a few days in Shimane City. Not only is there the next gym there, Uwabami, but there is also another small forest just on the outskirts of the city that doesn't seem to be connected to The Beast's Forest. There is also a desert, a Daycare center, and they host several small festive competitions a year that give out prizes such as Battle Items, Evolutionary Stones, rare Pokemon, and even Pokemon Eggs."

"We should definitely check those out." Shinsou nodded, "We don't even need to hit the gym on the first day."

"Well... according to this guidebook, Uwabami likes to make a show out of her gym battles, regardless of whether she wins or loses. She has many fans, so there will be many spectators... we should use that opportunity to see what kind of Pokemon she has." Iida stated.

"Wait, doesn't Shouto live there too?" Koda asked, "We can even meet up with him! I think he's also trying for the gym challenge!"

"Yeah." Iida nodded, "Didn't he start off with two Eevee as well?"

"I think so?" Shinsou scratched his head, "Or did he start with two Vulpix?"

"Either way, let's go!" Uraraka grinned excitedly.

It didn't take too long for the kids to reach Shimane City, and they admired the roads that were covered in festive decorations.

"Woah!" Uraraka looked around, "What event are they holding right now?"

"I'm... not sure... actually..." Iida frowned lightly, flicking through his guidebook, "Let's just visit the Pokemon Center. There should be tons of information there. Then we can make a plan of what to do -"

"Oh. You guys are here."

The four kids turned, only to come face to face with a familiar boy with red and white hair.

"Shouto!" Koda waved, and the boy just nodded. An Eevee and Glacion sat by his feet, though the Eevee looked a bit sad and gloomy.

"Do you know where the Pokemon Center is?" Shinsou asked, as Vee hopped off his shoulder to try and talk to Todoroki's Eevee, but the latter just turned away sadly, much to Vee's dismay.

Todoroki nodded, and led the way, and it was barely a minute before they reached the Pokemon Center, "This city has two Pokemon Centers, given how big it is. One is by the exit to Hosu City, and the other is by the exit to Fujiya City."

"Is your Eevee okay?" Shinsou glanced down at the small brown fox as Vee returned to his side, "He looks... sad."

"Flare's alright. He's been like that since I told him that I wasn't going to buy him a Fire Stone, and didn't really want him to evolve into a Flareon." Todoroki sighed, "I traveled to Fujiya City, which is the next town over, and after visiting my mother at the hospital, I scaled Dark Ice Mountain for Rea to evolve into a Glaceon."

"Why were you in Dark Ice Mountain?" Koda asked, "I thought there was some rumour about some villain group residing there... or am I getting mixed up..."

"Well... that's true." Todoroki replied, "I also had to get an Ice Stone for Iyuki to evolve, though i couldn't really find one. Plus... I heard that the legendary dragon Pokemon, Kyurem, resides in the Giant Chasm, which is at the very top of Dark Ice Mountain. I'd have to get to the top eventually."

"You... want to catch Kyurem?" Shinsou raised an eyebrow.

Todoroki nodded, "One of the strongest Ice-type Pokemon that doesn't have a weakness to fire due to its Dragon-typing. I want to catch Kyurem to show everyone that I don't need fire pokemon to become the strongest trainer."

"You do need type diversity, you know?" Uraraka sighed, "And honestly, I get that you have a strained relationship with your father and all... but you don't have to take that frustration out on your Pokemon."

"I get that." Todoroki looked away, as Flare crawled up onto Todoroki's lap and lay there, "I just... don't really wish to use Fire-types right about now..."

Todoroki fell silent for a few seconds, before he raised his head, "Anyways... you guys are staying for a few days right? For all the festival stuff?"

Uraraka nodded, "Yeah, you have any idea what's going on?"

"Not really." Todoroki shrugged, "But I do know what kind of competitions are going on and what prizes can be won. I'm interested in a few of them. There is a competition where we have to visit the forest and catch what we think is the "best" Pokemon, within a time limit. We're allowed to keep the Pokemon afterwards, but you can win Evolutionary Stones from those. There's a fishing competition with the similar premise, and I think they give out those... uh... trade evolution items? And there's also a battle competition based on how many gym badges you have, and you can win mystery Pokemon, as well as eggs. There are other competitions, like beauty and eating, but I don't think you'd be too interested in those."

"That sounds interesting." Shinsou nodded, "I'd definitely be up for the catching and battling competitions."

"There are two catching competitions, one in the day and one in the night. The same goes for fishing, since the Pokemon you can catch varies." Todoroki replied, "We should go register for the battles ones right now, though. They are being hosted this afternoon, and while the catching and fishing competitions run daily through the week, the battling ones are only held today."

"Alright then, let's sign up for those right away!" Iida stood up hastily, and Shinsou slumped onto the table, shaking his head slightly at his energetic friends, "It's too early for this..."

Vee pawed at Shinsou's cheek, and the lavender haired boy just glowered at his Pokemon, before he pushed himself up to follow his friends out of the Pokemon Center.