Riley clenched his fists, bracing for the worst. At the best it might miss him, or at the worst it might kill him. That's when he felt warm, tingling fur brush against him. He was pushed back by the force of a strong Pokemon!

"Lyyyynk!" Riley winced, tensing up his muscles as he heard the Pokemon cry. He opened his eyes to see a Pokemon, the species of which he was familiar with. It was a Lynk, one of the desert-dwelling feline Pokemon that controlled electricity.

"Lynk!" he heard another human call. "Are you alright?" The human dropped to their knees next to the Pokemon. Riley assumed this was the owner of this Pokemon. But something didn't seem right about him.

He had hair of blonde and silver, and wore a black trench coat which had rips around the bottom of it. The coat looked exactly like the one worn by Team Delta's Leader! But clothing brands mass-produced clothing. Surely it was a coincidence.

But then, Riley noticed the man's right hand. It was bandaged pretty tightly, and the bandages stopped around the point where a PokeVice was tied tightly to his wrist. The PokeVice's screen was reminiscent of the screen of Team Delta Leader's mechanical gauntlet.

Could this be the true Leader of Team Delta, unmasked? If so, why would he save Riley's life? Either way, he was just too similar in appearance to the villainous radical! He even wore the same worn boots!

This gave him a sort of pirate-like appeal now that his mechanical demeanor was let down. His hair was messy and stood up. Clearly, a care was not given into styling it. His frayed trench coat hung around his shins, rippling a bit in the thick air of the tunnel. It could appear nothing short of threatening, paired with the rest of his worn-out outfit. His eyes were a silver that looked legitimately metallic, reflecting almost every light that hit them like a shining blade.

"Poor thing..." the man sighed, petting his Pokemon. That's when Riley realized. He had sacrificed his Pokemon's health to give Maika and Azura a chance to escape! Gritting his teeth and clenching his fists, Riley glared at Team Delta's Leader, finally unmasked, as he wasn't looking. When the black-sporting man turned to see him, though, Riley put up a facade of cluelessness.

"Lynk, rest up in your PokeBall for now. We'll get you to a Pokemon Centre as soon as possible!" The man got up after returning his severely injured feline Pokemon to its PokeBall, which had a purple top which had red seed-like shapes poking out of it. These were the most expensive, rarest types of PokeBalls: Master Balls!

It would be fitting that someone wealthy enough to run an organization like Team Delta would catch his Pokemon in one! But then, he began, his voice masculine but soft, "My name is Stiles."

He took a step towards Riley and held out his bandaged hand. Riley stared at it with resentment, but shook it hesitantly to avoid a confrontation that his Pokemon team just couldn't handle.

"It's nice to meet you, though it's unfortunate that this must be the circumstance in which we meet. And your name is?" He waited for Riley to reply. "Riley, did you say? What a heroic-sounding name."

The man, Stiles, sighed, turning for the exit. "I'm afraid I must be off. My Lynk saved your life. I didn't order it to, it did it on its own. You owe it a thank-you. Unfortunately, neither you, I, or himself has the time for that. I must go to the Pokemon Centre immediately and get him healed up. May fate have it that we see again."

Fate would have it that they saw again, Riley was confident. Though under which identity, he wasn't sure of anymore. He sneered as Team Delta's Leader, or Stiles as he was named, left the room through the door with his organization's insignia on it.

Trying to cool down from his encounter, Riley too returned to the Pokemon Centre in Malasarri City. He waited patiently a safe distance away from the Pokemon Centre until he saw Stiles leave, then entered himself. He gave Nurse Joy his Pokemon, then asked her where he could find the nearest Pokemon Gym, since he clearly wasn't getting a badge from Maika.

She recommended he stop by Mount Charm, to the southwest, now that the road there was open. Then, he would go to Selaine City, where the Bug-type Gym Leader could be found. As he left, he heard her humming the tune of Polleniah's hit song, Chrysalis Around My Heart, which was almost sickeningly popular in the region. However, it was without a doubt the catchiest song this year, having been released only months ago.

Polleniah really was popular, huh? Thinking about her, he headed out to Route 8, which extended out to Mount Charm. Experimentally, he used his PokeVice and looked up a song of Polleniah's. He looked of one of her lesser-known songs which was, if the description was to be believed, released only a week ago. He dug a pair of earbuds out of his bag and stuck them in each ear. However, he stayed as aware as possible about his surroundings, knowing strong Pokemon could jump out at any moment. As the song began, Riley was immediately captivated by the opening notes.

Faced with the teeth of a dragon,

How could I survive?

I don't have any clue

How I'll get out of this.

All I know

Is that there'll be blood!

Maybe we aren't so different,

The dragon and I?

As she sung the final syllable, I, she drew it out, changing the tone of her voice rhythmically as she kept the note.

I could try and look in his eye.

What would I see?

Would I see a reflection

Of me?

Oh, I,

Oh, I could try

To look in his eyes.

Riley was oblivious, but he was nodding his head to the song. He couldn't help but enjoy it, as much as he considered himself 'out of the loop' of popular culture.

Is it worth it?

Go Mega,

Go Mega!

Waste all your energy

To survive

And have none left

To celebrate!

Come, come here and cry!

Cry on my shoulder,

I'm here now!

And burn!

And fry!

And cry!

Cry it all out!

All of the dragon's poison

Might get to you!

But you can make it through,

'Cause I believe in you!

Without thought, he was loving the song, even though he would've never said he fell for mainstream popular culture. Maybe, if he encountered Polleniah again, he would say it to her face. But not to anyone else.

As the song reached its end, he put the earbuds back and turned off the playlist. He walked up to the base of the steep mountain. Here, there was a small house. It had a glass extension to it which looked familiar, even though Riley couldn't get the term off the tip of his tongue.

Perhaps the person living here could give him some directions to where he could find some good Pokemon to train his Pokemon against. He went and knocked on the door, and it was answered almost immediately with a cheerful "Come in!"

So, smiling at the polite tone of what sounded to be a woman's voice, he, Riley, entered. Inside, a pleasant young-ish woman with a green skirt on was tending to a Carnivine which had injured itself. "Please excuse me," she chirped. "I found this Pokemon around the woods patch around the other side of the mountain and it had injured itself by trying to get in a fight with a Lycanroc."

"Alright, buddy," she smiled, tickling the Carnivine's chin, which caused it to giggle and grin. "All better. Anything else I should know about, Carnivine?"

It lifted up its leaf-like hand, which it had evidently burned. "That's not a big deal, friend." She dug around in a handful of badly-cluttered cupboards and pulled out a Burn Heal and a roll of bandages. She sprayed the Burn Heal on the Carnivine's hand and then wrapped it in bandages, then playfully kissed the back of the bandaged hand, smiling widely.

"Good day, Carnivine! Come back if you need anything, like a juicy Aractric pest trying to eat my plants! I'll gladly feed you all of the Aractric you like!" She waved goodbye to the Carnivine as it skipped away back into the wild, the turned around to see Riley, closing the door back behind her.