"Set us down there, Lucas," Collin instructed his Latios, pointing to the grassy field of Route 103 below them.

Lucas gave a nod, hovering down to a height where Collin could get off.

"This is the perfect place to train," Lucas commented. "Too bad I still can't go all out."

The Eevee on Collin's shoulder hopped onto the ground, almost disappearing into the tall grass. "Don't worry, Lucas! I'm sure that we'll be able to really fight soon!"

"Tenkai's right," Collin commented. "You'll have a challenge soon enough, Lucas." He bent down to give Tenkai a pat. "Let's try out that new Double Team you've been working on."

Tenkai's tail started to wag. "I'm ready!"

Collin stood up. "Lucas?"

Lucas gave a nod, flying up about 10 feet into the air. "Whenever you're ready, guys."

"Alright, Tenkai, use Double Team!"

Tenkai jumped into the air, creating afterimages that formed a small sphere around Lucas.

Alright, Lucas. Don't go easy on him.

Lucas closed his eyes, trying to sense which image was really Tenkai…

After a few seconds, his eyes darted open as he started looking around rapidly, a panicked expression on his face. "What? What's going-"

Tenkai leapt up from the same position he was before, arcing above Lucas.

"Now, Iron Tail!"

Tenkai's tail started to glow silver as the afterimages disappeared. He did a front flip and came crashing down onto Lucas's back, sending them both into the ground.

Collin ran towards where they crashed. "Are you okay?"

Lucas gave a small pained groan as Collin noticed the tail-shaped bruise on his back. "Fine," he responded. "That one actually stung a bit. Nice hit, Tenkai." Lucas used Recover, and the bruise disappeared.

Tenkai gave a proud smile as Collin started to scratch his back. "Good job!"

"Too bad it only really works when I have something to hide in or behind…"

"True. But seriously, Lucas? You couldn't tell where he was?"

"I thought I did, but all of a sudden, it seemed like all of them were him, then none of them!"

Tenkai gave another proud snicker. "Yeah, I've been working on learning how to shift my energy."

"Alright, that was a quick and easy training session," Collin remarked. "Come on, let's head to Slateport City for some lunch-"

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY TERRITORY!" a voice called from behind him.

He turned around to see a Riolu about 6 feet from him, holding a small assortment of berries in his arms.

"I'm sorry," Collin responded. "I didn't realize this was your-"

"Wrong answer!" He shouted, simultaneously dropping his berries and lunging at Collin.

The adrenaline from the training, however short it was, gave Collin the reflexes he needed to dodge the attack. The Riolu, surprised that he missed, stumbled a bit upon landing.

Tenkai hopped back onto Collin's shoulder as Lucas moved between him and the Riolu. "Should I take him?"

"No," Collin snapped. "I don't want to hurt him if we don't have to."

The Riolu lunged toward them again, going for a Power-Up Punch. Lucas put up Protect before the Riolu could get near them, so he bounced off, landing on his back. He immediately got back up, showing no signs of damage.

"Come on, show me what ya got!" he taunted. "What are you, a Latios, or a Torchic?"

Anger filled Lucas's eyes. He suddenly snapped, using Psyshock.

Collin tried to stop him. "LUCAS, NO-"

But it was too late. The Riolu had a look of fear in his eyes, immediately falling limp to the ground.

Collin ran over, picking him up, examining the damage.

"He's barely breathing… Heartbeat's weak… What were you thinking, Lucas?"

Lucas calmed down. His expression shifted to shame. "I… I'm sorry."

"You know what? I'm too worried to be angry at you. We need to get him over to a Pokémon Center, quickly." He hopped onto Lucas's back and they took off, heading for Oldale Town…

I've decided what I want to talk about for post-notes!

I can go over the original version of events, why I made them that way then, and why I changed them.

I'll make sure to spread it out (because the first few chapters here are completely different from the original).

So, the biggest thing was getting rid of an entire character. Originally, I had the Riolu already on Collin's team, being a smart-ass, until he rescued a shiny Kirlia from a Mightyena, which caused him to evolve into Lucario, and he and the Kirlia falling in love. Cheesy, I know. It was the first reason I stopped that one: The interactions became awkward for me to write. I just nixed her altogether in this one.

~Tenkai