Brock woke suddenly in a cold sweat. Had it been a nightmare? There was no way the world could just end like that, not after all they had been through.
He kept his eyes squeezed shut and breathed, taking a moment to center himself and let his heart rate come down. He was still here and alive. Yeah, it was just a nightmare.
A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts. "Brock, Tilly wet the bed again, and she won't let me move her. Can I get some help, please?" Forrest's pleading voice came from the other side of the door.
Brock sat there momentarily, stumped about why Forrest was in Sinnoh, before he looked at the room around him. This was his bedroom and his bed in Pewter City.
"S-see if Yolanda can help. I might be a bit," Brock replied after a moment as he got up on shaky legs and saw the gym's schedule on his nightstand.
"That's odd. This should be in the gym's office," Brock muttered before flipping it open and scanning its contents. His eyes widened, and he ran out of the bedroom, leaving the notebook to crash to the floor.
He made it to the front room of the family house, dodging toys and discarded clothing, and spotted Salvadore in the kitchen packing lunches for school.
"Salvadore, what's today's date!?" Brock asked with a sense of urgency.
Salvadore, startled, dropped the wrapped sandwich. "W-what?"
Brock took another breath. "Sorry for startling you. I asked what today's date was," he said as he picked up the dropped sandwich and placed it in a paper bag.
"It's April 4th," Salvadore replied, looking at Brock oddly.
"And what year is it?"
"1997. Are you okay, Brock? Do you need to see Nurse Joy?" Salvadore asked jokingly.
Brock couldn't hear him anymore. Oh, Arceus! It wasn't a nightmare. It wasn't a nightmare. It wasn't a nightmare! It wasn't a-.
"BROCK!" Salvadore yelled. "You're scaring me! What's wrong!?"
Brock took a shaky breath. "Sorry, little bro. It's nothing. I just zoned out for a second," he said. "I need to get ready for the day. The school bus should be here pretty soon, so make sure everyone's ready. I need to go figure some things out before I open the gym today."
Salvadore continued to look at him in worry but let it drop. "Okay. I guess I'll do that."
"Thanks. I knew I could rely on you!" Brock said, ruffling Salvadore's hair as he walked past him and back to his room. After he shut the door, he leaned against it and slid to the floor before putting his face in his hands. "What have we gotten into this time?"
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We had one more day before our scheduled gym match with Brock. With the season starting just under a week ago, it was understandable that we didn't beat the start of the season rush. That gave us extra time to prepare for the battle and see what Pewter had to offer.
I would have liked to check out the museum, but I also understood that Ash wanted to keep me as low profile as possible. In small border cities like this, word-of-mouth spreads rather quickly, and I was a Pokémon that would probably be talked about.
So that's how we found ourselves in a forest meadow before the foothills of Mt. Moon, about half an hour east of Pewter City, so that we could train in private. Pidgeotto and Metapod watched from the sidelines while Ash directed me in a practice battle against Pikachu.
"Let's try it again, Riolu. Counter!" Ash said as Pikachu came at me with another Quick Attack.
I stood with my legs spread apart, my body parallel to the attack coming straight at me, my left paw open in front of me, and my right paw tightened into a fist at my side. As Pikachu became a blur, I closed my eyes and felt the aura appendages on either side of my head rise as I tried to anticipate where Pikachu would strike from.
Seemingly of its own accord, my body swiveled to one side and brought a knee up. The gasp of air and the feeling of my knee hitting something signaled to me that my hit successfully connected with its intended target. I opened my eyes just in time to see Pikachu landing on three of her four paws while holding her stomach.
"Nice hit. Ow," Pikachu said through gritted teeth.
"Thanks, but was that a Counter or just me hitting you?" I asked as I held a paw out to her.
Pikachu grasped one digit of my paw, mine dwarfing hers, and stood up, taking a moment to breathe. "It definitely felt like I took a fighting-type move, so yeah, I'd say you did it. Is this how you felt all the time when we trained in Viridian Forest?"
"Like a punching bag? Kinda," I said with some cheek. "Looking back on it now, it did hurt, but I don't think I was anywhere near being knocked out. If anything, you increased my pain tolerance."
"Oh, great! I've created a masochist! Arceus, help us all," Pikachu mock-cried.
I raised a brow. "Do you even know what that word means?" I asked.
"...Yes?" Pikachu said uncertainly.
I leaned over and whispered something in Pikachu's ear, and her face turned a bright red-orange. "Really!? No! Never mind, then, you're definitely not one of those! You're one of the most virtuous Pokémon I know!"
"Do you know what virtuous means?" I chuckled.
"Y-yes! I do happen to know what the word means!" Pikachu huffed indignantly.
"Good job with that Counter!" Ash called. "Let's try Brick Break now. Pikachu, would you go help Pidgeotto with-"
A sudden bright light from the sidelines stopped Ash mid-sentence. My aura appendages rose of their own accord, and I felt an intense amount of energy underlined by… excitement? Excitement.
I guess that means Metapod's evolving.
The evolution took around thirty seconds before the light died down, all of us observing in silence with smiles on our faces. In Ash's case, he was jumping in place.
"All right, Butterfree! Way to go!" Ash said in excitement. "Change of plans. Let's break for lunch, and then I'll work with Butterfree and Pidgeotto afterward. Riolu, you'll work on Brick Break with Pikachu."
We all nodded and then broke for lunch. I dug through Ash's backpack and brought out two bowls. Pikachu and I would share one, while Pidgeotto and Butterfree would share the other.
"Hey, Riolu, would you mind slicing these up for me?" Ash asked, pointing at a cutting board he had brought out and a few bags of different berries.
"Sure, just a second," I replied, setting the bowls down and running over. "Okay, Aspear berry for Pikachu, Figy berry for Pidgeotto, Lum berry for me, and for Butterfree…" I trailed off.
"Hey kid, is your favorite flavor still bitter, or has that changed?" I asked the newest evolved member of the team as Ash started to pour some Pokémon food into the bowls.
"I don't think that's changed. So, bitter, please!" Butterfree replied.
"Gotcha, and congrats on evolving! When are you gonna take me flying?" I asked with a smirk.
"Um, well, I, um," Butterfree stuttered and looked between Pidgeotto and Pikachu. Pidgeotto seemed to be trying to hold back her laughter, while Pikachu just shook her head.
"Knock it off, rookie. He just evolved," Pikachu said, though she was trying her hardest to hide a smile.
"Fine, ruin my fun, why don't you?" I pouted before throwing the Aspear berry high. "Toast it, Pikachu!"
Pikachu obliged and threw a Thunderbolt at the fruit, tenderizing the shell enough to be easily cut open.
"Thanks," I said as I caught the smoking fruit, hastily setting it down on the cutting board before it could burn my paw.
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"So, do you have any idea how to learn Brick Break?" Pikachu asked me as we moved to a more rocky area.
"Kind of. I know what it's supposed to do and the concept behind it," I said thoughtfully. "Brick Break is as much about its utility to remove barriers like Reflect and Light Screen from the field as it is about dealing damage. I don't suppose you ever learned those moves, did you?"
Pikachu blinked. "I can learn Reflect and Light Screen?"
"I'll take that as a no," I noted to myself. "But yes, pikachu are capable of learning those moves. You actually have a pretty extensive move pool."
"Huh. I wonder why I never learned more moves over the years," Pikachu wondered.
"I think that might partially be how you guys were trained. Correct me if I'm wrong, but most of the time, when you learned a new move, it was something you learned on your own, right?" I asked.
Pikachu thought about it for a moment as she hopped to the top of a rock and sat. "I guess you're right. Though there were a few times we trained for new moves, like with my Iron Tail, Swellow's Aerial Ace, or the counter-shield technique."
I nodded along. "True enough. I'm gonna try to figure out Brick Break. I suppose you'll keep working on Electro Ball?"
"Yep! I'll be nearby," Pikachu said before jumping down, walking a little distance away, and began concentrating.
As I took a moment to watch her work, I couldn't help but admire how dedicated she was to getting this move down. Ever since she found out I knew what her potential was, it was like a fire had lit under her. It was amazing to see her so motivated in her training.
"Aw, dude! I had such a nice view, too," a voice suddenly said. I quickly looked down to see that the rock Pikachu had been sitting on had eyes and arms.
"What… what were you looking at?" I asked, unsettled that I hadn't even noticed the geodude.
"Her assets, dude! How can you not notice those?" the geodude replied with a sleazy grin.
It did not take me long to get the hang of Brick Break.
After a while, Ash called us back, and Pikachu came over to see me standing next to an unconscious geodude.
"What happened to him?" Pikachu asked.
I waved my paw to shake off the lingering fighting-type energy. "He graciously volunteered to help me with Brick Break," I growled as I walked past Pikachu, taking her paw in mine to lead her away from the scene.
Pikachu looked back at the geodude and seemed to be thinking hard before a look of horror spread across her face. "Oh, Arceus. That wasn't a rock I stood on, was it?"
"Nope."
"And he was-"
"Yep."
"That pervert!" Pikachu cried, trying to pull away as her cheeks sparked.
I tightened my grip on her paw. "Easy, Pikachu. He's already out of it," I assured her.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
Pikachu shot one more look at the geodude before looking up at me. "Good," she said. "He's lucky it was you. I would've knocked him to next week!"
"Remind me never to piss you off," I chuckled and let go of her paw. "I don't want to be on the receiving end of a beating from you when you're mad." Pikachu looked at me and giggled while we waited for Ash to finish packing everything up.
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"There you are!" Misty said as Ash walked back into the Pokémon Center. "Where have you been? I thought you were going to be back an hour ago."
Ash grinned unrepentantly. "I was, but then Metapod evolved, and we had a chance to do some more training," he admitted.
He took out Butterfree's Pokéball and gave it to Nurse Joy at the counter. "Could you take Butterfree's measurements and give him a checkup? He just evolved."
"Certainly, Ash, and congratulations on your new butterfree!" Nurse Joy said as she accepted the Pokéball and left for the examination room.
Ash thanked her and then turned back to Misty. "I'm going to let Riolu and Pikachu nap in the room, and then I'll be ready. You wanted to check out that exhibit, right? What's it about?"
"It's going to have some Pokémon from the Hoenn region, and I want to see if they have any water types," Misty replied. "Now hurry up!"
Ash hurried to their room, released a sleeping Riolu onto his bed, and placed Pikachu next to him. After a moment's thought, he left his backpack by the foot of the bed before leaving and shutting the door.
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I woke up to the late afternoon sun filtering through the window curtains. I yawned, rubbing my eyes before turning over and trying to settle down again. The action of moving made me realize something.
"I have to use the bathroom," I mumbled before carefully sitting up and taking in my surroundings. Ah, Pikachu's sprawled out next to me, asleep, and we're back in our room at the Pokémon Center.
I hopped off the bed and silently tiptoed to the bathroom. Fun fact about the Pokémon Centers was that their bathrooms were decently sized and had toilets for both their two and four-legged patrons.
After washing my paws, I made it to the kitchenette and poured myself a glass of water. The sound must have awoken Pikachu because I felt her aura begin to stir.
She quickly ran into the bathroom, and I heard her gag. "Oh, Arceus. It smells so bad!"
I'm pretty sure I remembered to flush. Probably. Maybe.
No, wait, I definitely did.
"What have you been eating, Riolu?" Pikachu yelled.
"Most of the same stuff you've been eating, presumably," I answered. However, her question got me thinking. This is a new body. Do I have any allergies or food intolerances I didn't have before?
Unlikely. Though, this is a dog-like body. Maybe there are some things I can't have anymore, like chocolate. No, wait. Max gave Lucario chocolate in that Mew movie, so chocolate should be fine. Phew.
I prepared a glass of water with a straw for Pikachu when she came out, which she gratefully took. We sat with our glasses in silence, me having to use both paws to hold mine while Pikachu set hers on the ground and used the straw.
"Hey, Riolu, can I ask you something?" Pikachu asked.
I chuckled. "You just did, but I'll give you another one. What's up?"
"Are you planning to evolve when you get the chance?"
"What brought this up?" I asked, curious to know why she asked as well as to buy time to come up with an answer.
"Well," she started, looking nervously to the side, "I've been thinking about whether I want to evolve or not. I've had bad experiences with a few raichu that turned me off to the idea in the past, but it would be a way to get significantly stronger."
I nodded and set my glass down between my legs. "You're worried that evolving will change who you are, and not just physically," I stated, continuing when Pikachu gave me a hesitant nod. "Well, I don't think you really need to worry about that. With the bond you and Ash have? Even if you do decide to evolve, you'll still be you, no doubt! Either way, you have the potential to be a world champion Pokémon."
Pikachu stared at my glass in thought for a minute, unseeing, mulling over what I said before meeting my eyes. "Is that what cartoon Ash and I did? Did we become world champions?"
"Yep! It was you, Ash, and the team of Pokémon he trained, which, incidentally, had a lucario on the roster," I grinned and winked before taking another gulp of my drink.
Pikachu laughed and spoke up. "Speaking of lucario, do you want to evolve into one?"
"Eventually," I nodded. "I want to make sure that I get everything I can out of being a riolu first, though. I wouldn't want to evolve and then realize I'm barred from something because I didn't learn that something as a riolu."
"Oh! I remember we took advantage of something related to that when we fought at the Vermilion City Gym! The giant human gym leader evolved his raichu before it learned any speed moves," Pikachu exclaimed.
"Oh… Do you mean Lieutenant Surge? Yeah, that's the kind of situation I want to avoid."
"That makes sense," Pikachu nodded. "Do you know what you want to learn before you evolve?"
I thought for a moment. "The only move I can remember off the top of my head that I want to learn before evolving is Copycat. I'm pretty sure that can't be learned after evolving. But I could be wrong."
"Does that move do exactly what it sounds like it does?" Pikachu asked, having finished her water and was now fiddling with the bendy part of the straw.
"Pretty much. It'll temporarily let me use a move I saw another Pokémon recently use. I think it could be a good tool for training to help me get a feel for other moves I could learn," I said before tilting my head. "Well, that's assuming I don't forget the feeling of the move I copy."
Pikachu's ears twitched, and mine followed a second later as we heard three sets of footsteps approach the door. I closed my eyes and felt out their auras, feeling the familiar life energies of Misty and Ash, with the muted energies of Butterfree and Pidgeotto inside their Pokéballs on Ash's belt.
The third aura was unfamiliar but felt rock solid.
"Brock!" Pikachu cried in excitement as she dashed towards the opening door. I grabbed our glasses and set them next to the sink before getting my first good look at the gym leader as he walked in behind Ash and Misty.
Brock stood about a head taller than the younger two. He had a head of spiky brown hair, and his eyes were as black as onyx gemstones. He wasn't wearing a vest; instead, he was just wearing an orange t-shirt that left little of his musculature to the imagination.
Hold up…
"His eyes are open! He has eyes that I can see!" I exclaimed, pointing a digit of my right paw at him in shock.
I guess I made a racket because all eyes suddenly landed on me.
"Woah, Riolu, chill out! This is Brock," Ash explained, misunderstanding my outburst as he took his shoes off and sat on the end of a bed. "He's one of the friends I told you about back in Viridian, remember? We ran into him at the Hoenn exhibit today. Turns out he's had his memory back for a few days now."
"You didn't tell me you caught a Riolu, Ash," Brock said as he held Pikachu in his arms while he walked up to me with a smile. "Nice to meet you, Riolu."
Brock held a hand out, which I automatically shook. I was too focused on looking into his eyes to really think of much else.
I never knew someone could have an eye color so dark. I could barely tell where the border between the iris and the pupil was. It was kind of mesmerizing.
"Nice eyes you got there, bud. I'm sure we'll become great friends soon," Brock said as he released my paw.
"Same," I nodded back.
"Well, then," Brock said as he sat on the edge of the other bed, "What's the plan? Are you going to do the same things you did the first time around, or are we changing it up?"
Ash sheepishly rubbed his head. "To be honest, I haven't put a lot of thought into it yet. It was actually Riolu's idea we head to Rota first thing."
Brock nodded. "Ah, that would explain why you got here so much faster this time. You're planning to enter the tournament up there this year, huh? Well, you can count me in! I'm sure the lovely Ilene would love to see me again!"
My head started to ache from the waves of infatuation rolling off of Brock, and I wasn't even trying to sense his emotions! I hopped onto the bed and, in a desperate bid to relieve the growing pain in my head, employed a tactic I remember seeing many times throughout the anime.
I pulled Brock down to Earth via his ear.
"Listen, man. I'm gonna need you to stop that right now. You're giving me a headache," I told him off, not that I thought he would understand much of it. I let go of his ear, and he started rubbing it tenderly.
Brock sighed. "Yet another chaperone joins the group. I won't hold it against you," he said, winking at me.
Yeah, I'm never getting used to that.
"So, how soon are we leaving for Rota?" Brock asked.
"Since you dragged your dad back home already, and he's looking after your siblings, we should be ready to leave right after Ash's gym battle with you," Misty answered. "I've always wanted to see the castle. This is going to be so much fun!"
"I didn't drag him back home," Brock muttered. "I just confronted him and talked him into coming back. He was really eager to prove himself a worthy father again."
Pikachu decided she had been in Brock's arms long enough and hopped down to sit next to me.
Brock cleared his throat as he brushed his arms off. "Anyway, if you're going to do the gym challenge again, you should challenge the gym leaders' stronger teams. At the very least, you'll be getting a better experience out of it. If we're going to be confronting Team Galactic again someday, we all need to be stronger."
Ash blinked before his eyes widened. "Wait a minute! Was I given the kid gloves treatment the first time around!?"
"Ash, most gym leaders have a team that can battle at the 8th badge level or above," Misty explained. "If it's not their personal teams, the League issues Pokémon for the gym that can battle at all levels. You wouldn't have stood a chance back then against me or Brock if we went all out."
Ash looked between Brock and Misty with a conflicted expression before sitting back down and deflating. "I guess you're right. Still, I could challenge stronger teams this time! I know it will be a while before I can take on their strongest teams, but I know we'll get there."
Brock nodded and smiled. "That's the spirit! Well, how would you feel about getting your gym challenge out of the way first thing in the morning? I can bump you up to before the gym opens for your challenge."
"That would be great!" Ash said. "Then we can leave for Rota right after!"
"Sounds like a plan," Brock said as he stood up. "I need to get back to the house and get ready, then. I already told my family I'd be leaving soon, so I'll be saying my goodbyes. It was really nice to see them again."
Ash and Misty said their goodbyes as Brock left the room, leaving just the four of us.
"Well, so much for keeping you a surprise for Brock," Ash chuckled. "Still want to go see the museum, Riolu?"
I hopped to my feet and pumped my fists above my head. "Heck yeah!"
Ash chuckled as he stood up. "Alright. It'll be just the two of us, then. Pikachu, would you mind hanging out with Misty?"
Pikachu and Misty looked at each other and seemed to have a conversation with their eyes before Pikachu looked back at Ash. "Sure. Have fun! Museums aren't really my thing."
"Your loss," I shrugged as I followed Ash out the door. As we passed through the lobby, I noticed the stares of a few trainers and locals on me, which was understandable given this was the first time I'd been in the lobby when other trainers were about. There was even a machop who blew a kiss at me.
I shuddered a bit at that and jogged to catch up with Ash.
"Riolu, want to ride on my shoulders?" Ash asked as we exited the Pokémon Center's doors.
I looked up at Ash with a raised brow. "Are you sure? I weigh at least 73 pounds. That's almost four times more than Pikachu."
Ash hummed. "Yeah, I'm sure. I need to get stronger, too."
I shrugged as Ash knelt down, and I climbed on, legs dangling over his shoulders as I held onto the sides of his head to hold on.
Ash slowly stood back up, making sure he could keep his balance before holding my legs like he would the straps of his backpack. "Alright, let's go!" he declared as he started walking.
After a few minutes of walking past other citizens and crossing a few streets, I remembered one particular quirk of Ash.
"Ash, do you even know where you're going?"
Ash skidded to a halt, nearly causing a woman and her persian to bump into us. The persian gave him the stink-eye as they moved around us. "Uh. No. No, I do not."
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We eventually made it to the museum. Ash paid for admission, and then I was given free rein to look at everything on display to my heart's content as Ash shadowed me.
"Why did you want to come here, Riolu?" Ash asked/groaned after a while. "The ancient Pokémon fossils and the evolution stones were pretty neat, but I don't get why you'd be so interested in a spaceship."
"Because it's cool!" I responded. "July 20th, 1969. It's so cool that despite the difference in universes, this world and mine landed on the moon on the same date. Though, Earth didn't start using space shuttles until the mid-late 70s, and they were never used for moon missions. Why do they have a model of one on display here?"
"I don't think I got any of that," Ash grumbled as he looked around. "Why don't we go get something to eat before we head back? We can pick up something for Pikachu on our way."
I took one last look around and decided that my curiosity was sated for now. "Sure. Let's also get something for Misty as thanks for watching Pikachu."
"Was already planning on it. How do noodles sound?" Ash asked.
"If I can get pork in mine, I'm all for it!" I replied as we exited the building to find that the sun was about to set. "Wow, we were in there for a while."
"Yeah, you did get carried away in there," Ash affirmed with a laugh. "C'mon, there's a great ramen shop close to the Pokémon Center."
Thankfully, I remembered the way back, so I took the lead for us so that we wouldn't end up lost. As it got darker, the street lights began flickering on, painting the buildings and asphalt in a different light.
It was still bizarre to me that, unlike Earth, vehicles were a rare sight here, primarily being used by emergency services and government entities. The main mode of transportation for most people was their own two feet, bicycles, or Pokémon-back if their Pokémon were big enough to be ridden.
I inhaled deeply, appreciating how clean the air smelled. I guess a positive of vehicles not being very common, combined with how much wilderness there is between human settlements, was that air pollution was pretty much a non-issue. I remember back home that, due to the geography of the mountains where I lived, smog would get trapped in the mountain valley for days on end, which often meant we got the worst-rated air quality in the United States.
I smiled and started humming a jaunty tune. I felt a flicker in Ash's aura, and I could feel that he was happy that I was enjoying myself.
Not much else of note happened the rest of the evening. We got our ramen to go and had dinner with the crew at the small table in our room. I almost cried with how good the pork ramen tasted.
Like the previous night, Pikachu and I settled in on either side of Ash since the room only had two beds. I was still up a bit after Ash's and Misty's breathing slowed in a rhythm of sleep when Pikachu poked her head over Ash to look at me.
"Riolu? Thanks for talking with me today. It really helped," Pikachu whispered.
I smiled. "Any time," I whispered back before deciding I should actually sleep to perform well in tomorrow morning's battle.