Riley.

Two Mornings Later.

"Oh, hell no. Not you again."

"Hey, Riley!"

Of course. Of all people. In the tournament I didn't even want to be in, I had to be paired against my will with Leon Higgins.

The morning of the tag-team tournament, we were given numbers on signs. Whoever had a matching number was who we were paired with.

Lee looked the same as he had last time; black hair gelled in spikes, same leather jacket(everybody seemed to be wearing jackets in September), same skull earring in his left ear. Same annoying grin. Same different-colored Umbreon.

"I was wondering when I'd get to see your little group again," Lee told me. "I'd been hoping to be here with a friend of mine, but I suppose you'd be as good a partner as any."

Riolu trembled at my side, holding two of my fingers in his whole paw. I understood what he meant; Lee had such a commanding energy. I wonder if it had anything to do with aura.

Lee kneeled in front of Riolu. "Hey, this your partner?" He asked. Riolu hid behind my knee.

"He-he's real shy-" I told him.

Lee ignored me, and rubbed Riolu's head. He smiled real big.

"Hey, buddy!" He greeted Riolu. "You excited? You get to work with me and my friend Shift. We're excited, right, Shift?"

The Umbreon, Shift, nuzzled Riolu's face. "Um!" She yipped.

Riolu hesitated, but then smiled a little and came out from behind me. "H-hyuh."

"See?" Lee laughed, standing back up. "Only took a little coaxing. You've got a great pokemon here, Riley."

"Thanks," I accepted the compliment. "I...I've had him a long time."

It wasn't long before the tournament began. The mayor of Hearthome, a portly white-haired man, welcomed us to the city from a platform near the back of the dome, and showed us the grand prize of the tournament: $200 cash, and a pokemon egg for each of the two winners.

"These will be standard double battles fought over the next few days," He explained. "Each team is made of two people, and each of these two people may use up to two pokemon. The winner of a battle will be decide when a team has three out of four pokemon knocked out. Today's first match-ups will be shown on the contest screen above me."

The screen above him flickered on, showing the sixteen match-ups of the preliminary rounds. Lee and I would be the fourth match. Amber and Volkner would be the second, Tess and some purple-haired guy were tenth, Flint and an older guy were eighth, and the last match-up had Dee and...

Cynthia. Of course it was her. I had rotten luck. At least if we had to battle, it wouldn't be for a long time.

Later.

"You ready, Riley? Because I won't carry you on my back."

"Riolu and I can hold our own."

Mine and Lee's first battle came sooner than I'd imagined. We went out to the battlefield.

We were against two girls, named Delly and Winnie, with a Teddiursa and a Luxio. Shift didn't look scared, but that Luxio unnerved me.

"Annnnd...begin!" Marian, the lady who oversaw contests, was reffing the tournament.

Lee jumped right on it. "Riley, get that Teddiursa! Shift, use Dark Pulse on Luxio!"

Shift opened her mouth, and breathed out a beam of pure dark energy. Seeing it gave me a chill. It slammed into Luxio, stunning him.

I nodded. "Riolu, use Force Palm on Teddiursa!" I ordered, obeying Lee's orders.

"Don't give Luxio a chance to react, Shift! Use Swift!"

Delly pursed her lips. "Use Fury Swipes, Teddiursa!" She didn't want to be overwhelmed like Winnie.

While Shift barraged Luxio, Riolu lunged at Teddiursa, charging energy into his palm. Teddiursa swiped her claws into him, interrupting the attack.

"Counter it!" I told him.

Riolu kneed Teddiursa hard in the stomach, then quickly charged another Force Palm and let it loose, knocking Teddiursa out. Luxio followed seconds later.

"Teddiursa!" Delly squealed.

"No!" Winnie cried out.

Marian nodded. "Both Teddiursa and Luxio are unable to battle!" She announced. "Riley and Lee are off to a fantastic start!"

Delly and Winnie pouted.

"Go, Chatot!"

"Marill, I choose you!"

A parrot-looking pokemon from Winnie, and a blue mouse-looking pokemon from Dellie. Not too difficult.

"Shift, use Dark Pulse on Chatot before it can attack Riolu!" Lee jumped right back on it.

Winnie frowned. "Chatot, use Protect!"

"Protect! Protect!" A green forcefield shielded Chatot from the attack.

Delly smirked. "Marill, use Bubblebeam on that Riolu!"

"Light Screen, Shift! Protect Riolu!"

A lighter green force covered both Riolu and Shift as Marill spat out a thick stream of bubbles. Riolu flinched as they hit him, but they just popped harmlessly against his body.

I decided to take the reigns from there. "Riolu, use Quick Attack and take out Chatot!"

"Chatot, use Pluck on Riolu!"

"Shift, guard Riolu!"

Riolu dashed out at Chatot, with Shift close behind. Chatot flew above Riolu and tried to peck its beak at his fur, but Shift headbutted it aeay, giving Riolu time to leap up and slam himself into Chatot. Marill was too slow to do much of anything.

"Shift, finish Chatot off with an Iron Tail!" Lee ordered. I saw he was sweating a little. Was it his jacket, or was he that excited?

Shift leap up and did a somersault, her tail gleaming silver. She slapped Chatot to the ground, knocking it out.

Marian laughed. "Chatot is unable to battle! And our second winning team today is Riley and Leon!"

The battle left me reeling. Lee had been on top of the whole thing, Shift barely even needing Riolu for support. It was hard to keep in mind that he was a seasoned trainer, a Top Coordinator.

In the Waiting Room.

"Ha! That was a great warm-up. Maybe tomorrow we'll be up against a team with a little more nerve."

Leon stretched his arms over his head as we reentered the coordinators' waiting room. I heard a few bones in his spine pop.

Volkner, standing against a wall, chuckled. "I'm hope so, since it's gonna be me and Amber you'll be battling."

Our little group congregated around a drink machine, Lee sticking near me.

Dee eyed him. "You know, I didn't expect you to be so tough, Lee. I've heard dark-type pokemon aren't all that strong."

"Ha!" Lee stroked Shift's ear. "Not my Umbreon. Shift has carried me through hundreds of contests, little lady; she could run circles around your little Snorunt and Eevee.

I saw Dee turn red. She was definitely about to say something rude.

Tess clapped a hand over her sister's mouth. "So, um, mister Higgins...you've been in a lot of contests, right? How many regions have you been to?"

Dee pulled her hand off. "Did you win your first Grand Festival?"

"Do you have any pokemon besides Shift?" Amber asked.

Lee held up his hands. "Damn, girls, give a guy some space. Gonna be a while before anyone asks y'all out if you're always this invasive."

Flint frowned. "So you only have Shift?"

"No. I have two more pokemon besides Shift; I didn't win a Grand Festival until I was 14, so no, I didn't win my first Grand Festival; and I've traveled three different regions besides Sinnoh: Johto, Kanto, and Hoenn. In that particular order."

Lee let us ask him all sorts of questions, except what his other two pokemon were. He said that "Fallon and Rosie hopefully won't be nessicary if we keep winning like we did today". Typical older trainers; always thought they were such hot stuff.

After the first round of battles ended, the tournament was over for the day. My friends and I went to Amity Park to hang out, but Lee came and pulled me aside, of course.