As Ash sits on the edge of the bed at the hotel he's staying at for the local tournament, he suddenly hears a knock on the door. "Oh boy," the young boy exclaims as an excited smile spreads across his lips. "They're here!"

"Pika pika!" Pikachu, who had been sitting by Ash's hand, excitedly replies as he happily hops up onto his trainer's shoulder. As he happily hurries towards the front door, Ash gasps with delight to see his mother and his two friends, the former of whom accompanied by her faithful Mr. Mime, coming to greet him.

"Ash!" "How awesome to see you again!" Brock and Misty happily exclaim. "My little boy, I missed you so much." Delia coos serenely. "Mime, mime!" Mr. Mime cheerily adds. Ash and Pikachu beam as they all happily share a group hug. "I'm very happy to see you all again too; it's been so long." Ash replies blissfully. "Pikapi." Pikachu adds.

"I've made a nice dinner for all of us, including something special for our little friends." Delia adds. Upon hearing this, Ash and Pikachu's eyes light up; they could never resist Della's cooking. "Oh, thanks, Mom, you're the best!"

"Pika-piii!"

The group then make their way inside, upon which the four humans sit down to a lovely dinner of corn on the cob, green beans, and Della's famous casserole; after serving the food, Delia traipses up to Ash, Misty and Brock's Pokemon, who had gathered on the floor nearby, and presents them with a lovely big dish of Pokemon food with a decoration resembling a Bulbasaur's bulb on top. "For you, sweeties." The Pokemon happily lick their lips and rub their tummies(Well, those with lips and tummies, that is) as they happily squeak and chatter a thank you. Delia smiles kindly. "You're very much welcome, dears."

After Delia returns to the table, Pikachu pauses for a moment, traipses up to Ash, and politely asks him for the ketchup bottle; Ash obligingly gives Pikachu the bottle, upon which the small electric mouse thanks him and returns to the other Pokemon, pausing for a moment to offer them some ketchup, which they politely decline. Pikachu then squirts ketchup all over his portion of the food and cheerily eats it, causing the others to smile and giggle.

The four humans happily converse with each other over dinner, sharing recent adventures with each other; Brock's doctor business had been very successful, as had Misty's ventures as the Cerulean City gym leader. The Pokemon themselves are happily sharing their recent adventures with each other as well, when they suddenly notice that they haven't seen Riolu from the moment they sat down. Silently wondering where he was, the Pokemon then suddenly see Riolu slowly traipse up to them with a dour look on his face. "Zu," Misty's Azurill says, hoping to help him feel better. "Azu zurill zu zurill azurill?"(Uhm, would you care for some ketchup?)

Riolu doesn't answer her, but stomps over, abruptly snatches up an armful of the food, startling the other Pokemon, then stomps off to a corner of the room to eat by himself. Worried, Pikachu softly walks up to him. "Pika pi pikachu?"(Riolu, what's wrong?)

"Mmf," the small blue Pokemon mumbles through a mouthful. "Ri riolu ri riolu ri."(Mmf, go away and leave me be.)

"Pi pika-"(But Riolu-)

"RI RI RIOLU RI!"(I SAID LEAVE ME BE!) Riolu exclaims as he angrily shoots an Aura Sphere towards Pikachu's feet.

"CHAAAAAAAA!" the little electric mouse screams as he leaps backwards into the arms of an equally startled Ash, who had come up behind him right at that very moment. "Riolu," the young boy says sternly. "That wasn't very nice. We don't hit our friends!"

"Hmph," Riolu scoffs. "Ri riolu ri ri, ri riolu ri riolu ri riolu."(Hmph, with friends like him, you'll never need any enemies.)

"Riolu," Ash says with concern in his voice. "You don't mean that..." At this moment, Brock, Misty and Delia run up to meet them. "Ash, what happened?" Brock inquires. "Riolu just tried to hit Pikachu." a very worried Ash replies. Della gasps. "Oh my!"

"He's been in a very bad mood all day but won't tell anyone what's wrong." Ash continues. Delia muses for a moment. "Hmm, perhaps he'll feel better after a good night's sleep."

"I...certainly hope so." Ash replies. "Pi..." adds an equally concerned Pikachu.

Later that night, the group gather in the hotel's bedroom. Ash, clad in a white pajama shirt with a Lickitung's face on the front, and blue pajama pants, slowly climbs into bad as Pikachu hops up on the pillow, which resembled a Snorlax, next to him. Upon seeing Riolu enter the room, an ever hopeful Ash attempts to appeal to him. "C'mon, Riolu," he says cheerily, patting the pillow. "There's plenty of room for you up here too." The small blue Pokemon's only response is an indignant sniff as he slowly steps over to the corner, curls into a ball and closes his eyes. Ash and Pikachu exchange concerned looks, truly at a loss for an answer.

The group then softly drift off to sleep; Misty's Azurill snoozes softly on her pillow beside her, Brock's Comfey dozes softly on his bedpost, Delia's Mr. Mime sleeps at the foot of her bed, and Pikachu sleeps softly on Ash's pillow as Ash gently cuddles him close, gently hugging Pikachu around his tummy with one hand.(1) Peaceful though they may have been, Riolu, who was still sulking in the corner, was still at quite a bit of unrest.

Upon noticing the back door open a crack, the small blue Pokemon begins softly making his way towards it; pausing in the doorway for a moment, he glances back over his shoulder at the group. They won't miss me. he thinks, as he then tiptoes out the door and begins hurrying down the path behind the hotel so softly that no one heard a sound.

No one, that is, except Pikachu.

(1) Similar in manner to how Delia hugged Pikachu in bed in the actual episode.