The Riolu jolted awake, gasping for air and taking in his surroundings.
Where… Where am I?
He felt the soft cloth underneath him. A bed? He noticed various pieces of equipment. He turned around, looking through a nearby window to see… A human village? I'm in one of those Pokemon centers…
Collin entered through the door on the other side of the room, Tenkai on his shoulder. Nurse Joy entered behind them.
The Riolu instinctively went into a defensive stance. "Why am I here?"
"Calm down, please," Nurse Joy responded. "You were in bad condition when Collin here brought you in. If it wasn't for him, you might have died."
His stance lowered. "You… You saved me?"
"Like I said," Collin began, "I didn't want to hurt you. Lucas didn't mean to, either. He just lost control for a second…"
"Well, thank you for your concern. Can I go home now?"
Collin glanced at Nurse Joy. "Is he good to go?"
"He should be," She responded. "Just be careful. We still don't know what happened to that girl…"
"Do you think those Ultra Wormholes from Alola might have started appearing here?"
"Professor Birch contacted the Aether Foundation about it, but they haven't responded."
"Hmm… Well, anyways, I'd better take this Riolu back to his home. Thanks again!" Collin attempted to help the Riolu get off of the bed, but he just jumped off by himself.
"I can walk fine, thanks," he snapped.
"Sorry, I was just trying to help." They walked out of the Pokémon Center, where Lucas was waiting.
"Hey," Lucas said to them. "Sorry about… What happened…"
The Riolu gave a sigh. "No, it's my fault. I shouldn't have provoked you like that."
Collin and Lucas exchanged confused looks as the Riolu continued. "I'm sorry for being so hostile to you. Every human before has tried to capture me on sight, so I decided to take the initiative before you saw me."
Collin kneeled down, meeting the Riolu eye to eye. "Don't worry, I won't try to capture you. Not unless you want to join us, that is."
The Riolu gave a chuckle, shrugging. "Sure, why not. I guess I owe you for saving my life."
"That's not what I was suggesting…"
"Well, I mean, you can also help me get stronger, right?"
Collin chuckled. "Sure." He pulled out his PokéNav, opening it and pointing the screen toward the Riolu. "Put your hand on the screen, please."
"I thought you were supposed to use a Pokeball," he responded, doing as he was instructed.
The screen lit up, and an automated voice instructed, "Please state your name."
"Richard," the Riolu answered.
After a couple of seconds, the device responded. "Pokémon registered to team." A hologram of a Riolu appeared, hovering above the PokéNav. "Riolu, the emanation Pokémon. The aura that emanates from its body intensifies to alert others if it is afraid or sad. It has the peculiar power of being able to see emotions such as joy and rage in the form of waves."
Collin put the PokéNav away, patting Richard's head. "Welcome to the team. And to answer your question, I only use Pokeballs in emergencies."
"Yay, a new friend!" Tenkai exclaimed, hopping off Collin's shoulder and nuzzling Richard. "Hi, I'm Tenkai!"
"And I'm Lucas," Lucas chimed in.
Richard gave Tenkai a pat. "Well, it's nice to meet you both."
There was an awkward silence, which Richard eventually broke.
"Ok. So… Now what?"
As if answering him, a large rift opened above them, and wind started to swirl around them.
"Uh oh… Guys, get in your Pokeballs," Collin ordered, pulling them out of his bag.
"We will come out, right?" Tenkai asked worriedly.
"Tenkai," Collin answered, "I promise that I will let you guys out as soon as I know it's safe." He started to feel lighter, as if the rift was pulling him in. "Just please, get in! RETURN," he shouted, causing the Pokeballs in his hands to shoot out beams of energy that enveloped his Pokemon, drawing them into the Pokeballs.
"Just in time," he sighed, as he felt himself floating off of the ground, at first slowly, then suddenly shooting towards the rift. "Looks like we're going on an adventure!"
He went through the rift, and it closed as suddenly as it had opened, as if nothing had happened.
Another thing I originally included was a mysterious box Collin found. For some reason, only he could see and hold it. Inside were Mega Stones for his team and a special Z-Crystal for Tenkai. The rift opened shortly after he found the box.
Oh, and he almost died pulling it out of the cliff face it was in. :P
Why'd I get rid of it? Well, that'd spoil some exposition in the next chapter.
~Tenkai