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First Battle and Realization of Hearts

(Jubilife City - Normal POV)

"Hey Riolu, we're almost there!", Jake exclaimed excitedly as Jubilife City slowly appeared before them. He looked at the sourroundings for a while, "Whoa, that's one good-looking city...too bad as the condition we're in right now, I can't challenge the gym leader yet. Maybe just a few battles to warm up. What do ya think, Riolu? "

"Can we stop somewhere to buy chocolate bars, Jake? I'm starving.", Riolu groaned.

"Since when you liked chocolate? And have you been listening to what I was saying?", Jake asked, shaking his head.

"To answer your questions: First, since last night, when we ran out of pokechow and you gave me 3 chocolate bars for dinner. And second, no, I didn't listen to anything. I'm STARVING!"

"Ok, ok. Just let me check the map and you can have as many chocolate bars as you want.", Jake replied and opened his pokedex. The trainer scanned the map for a while, "There's a pokemart in the city, about ten blocks away from here. We can get there 1st to by some necessities...and your chocolate bars, of course. Then we'll go to the pokemon center, get a room to throw this damn backpack in, and finally, lunch."

"Then what're you waiting for? Let's go! Chocolate bars, here I come!!!", Riolu shouted and quickly made his way toward the city.

"Riolu, wait up! Hey!", Jake tried to call the exciting pokemon, but he was trying in vain, "Oh boy, how can that little pup recover so quickly. I mean 2 days ago, he was still a shy, miserable pup, but now...Hey, I said wait , Riolu!", the trainer sighed exhaustedly as he started to pick up his speed, not wanting to lose the fighting pokemon's sight. Of couse, the heavy backpack was extremely 'effective' in slowing him down.

...

When Jake finally reached the pokemart, Riolu had already been standing at the front door (and the trainer had no idea how could Riolu get there without him to lead the way. Maybe he liked chocolate so much that he could detect its smell from miles away), waiting impatiently as the fighting pokemon was pacing back and forth.

"There you are. What took you so long?", Riolu asked with his arms crossed in front of his chest.

"I told you to wait, didn't I? Beside...you try running fast with this damn thing on your back...", Jake said between deep breaths, pointing at the backpack with his left hand, while putting his other hand on his knees.

"Yeah yeah, whatever! Are we going to buy chocolate or not?", Riolu said eagerly. He seemed really hungry.

"You know what they said: The hungrier you are, the more appealing food is to you.", Jake said with a smirk, "Now, when we get in there...", the trainer looked at the pokemart, "...try to be patient. You'll get your chocolate bars, just follow me and don't mess up, ok?"

As they entered the pokemart, Jake and Riolu went straight to the food section. Jake needed to buy some more pokechow for Riolu (but he doubted that the pup would ever touch those pokechow again), some snacks, candies and energy drinks for himself. It was supposed to be a normal and peaceful shopping trip for both of them, if it weren't for Riolu's restlessness. The little guy stuck his nose every where, sniffing and touching any kind of sweet he saw. If Jake weren't there to stop him, Riolu would devoured everything ediable before his eyes.

"Jake, can I have this..."

"Put that back to where it was, Riolu. You're making a scene here!"

"Jake, those candies look yummy, can I..."

"Riolu, I'll say this one last time: Behave or I'll return you to the pokeball!"

...

And so, it took the trainer half an hour to get his Riolu under control. Jake let out a sigh of frustration as he made his way to the cashier. Now he understood why they never allow people to bring dogs or pups along when they go to a market or any place similar: They will ruin all the stocks, wreck havoc and cause more damage than any thief or crazy customer can do!

"For Arceus' sake. I'll never let this pup go shopping with me, ever again!", Jake muttered as he opened his map to find the way to the pokemon center.

"What did you say?", Riolu asked.

"Nothing. Let's go to the pokemon center quickly. I'm tired and I need a nap. I also need to check your conditions.". Riolu let out a disappointing sound. Going to the doctor was definately not his favourite part when it came to traveling.

...

After ten minutes walking, they reached the pokemon center. Jake got Riolu to check up 1st as Nurse Joy took the fighting pokemon to the medical room, which was right behind the counter where she worked.

When Nurse Joy came back, she informed the trainer that Riolu's healing pace was quite fast, and he was well enough to take off his bandages, much to Riolu's delight, since he was the type that could never stand still for more than five minutes (except when he is tired), and those bandages were actually made him feel confined and uncomfortable. Jake smiled, feeling glad that Riolu was getting better. Nurse Joy also asked if there was anything else she could help, and Jake told her that they needed a room to settle in until the next day.

As they got inside their room, Jake looked at the its surroundings for a while. The room was fairly big enough for 1 or 2 persons, it had a sofa, a bed and a bathroom.

"Not too bad. At least it has a private bathroom.", Jake muttered and threw his backpack on the sofa.

"Jake, can we have lunch now...", Riolu groaned while rubbing his belly. Jake chuckled. He totally forgot about the little guy and his chocolate. He opened his backpack and took out a box of pokechow and four chocolate bars. Jake then looked at Riolu with a smirk on his face.

"So, which one do you prefer? Maybe I should give you this pokechow...", the trainer said as he got on his knees, face-to-face with the fighting pokemon.

"Come on Jake, this is not funny. I'm starving!", Riolu pleaded, trying to make the most adorable puppy-dog face he could imagine.

Normally, Riolu's puppy-dog face would work effectively on anyone, but unfortunately for the pup, his opponent this time was Jake. The cuter he tried to be, the more Jake wanted to tease him.

"That trick won't work on me, pup. But I will give these chocolate bars to you if you give me...a kiss on my cheek.", Jaked teased, thinking that Riolu would never agree to do such a thing.

What's unknown to the trainer that there was a faint blush forming on the fighting pokemon's face. Riolu looked at Jake, then at the chocolate bars in his hand, and then to the ground while rubbing the wrist of his left arm with his other paw in a shy manner.

"Ok....", Riolu whispered, much to the trainer's surprise. But before Jake could react, Riolu had already gotten on his tiptoes and planted a kiss on the trainer's cheek.

Jake's eyes widened in surprise and his mouth almost gaped open as Riolu kissed him. Their faces were too close to each other that Jake could feel Riolu's gentle, warm breaths spreading on his cheek, and for some reasons, a visible blush started to form on his face, too. The trainer felt like the time around him was frozen and his head was spinning uncontrollably.

"Did Riolu just...KISS me???!!" was the only thing in Jake's mind as he was still lost in his thought, if it weren't for a soft noise coming from the fighting pokemon.

"Uhm Jake, can I have my chocolate now?"

"Huh, what...uhm, ok. Sorry for teasing you.", Jake replied and awkwardly handed the chocolate bars to Riolu.

After that, they had lunch quietly, not bother to utter a word. Jake, as usual, was having snacks ans energy drink for lunch while Riolu was munching on his chocolate bars. Although the trainer tried his best not to look at Riolu, he couldn't help smiling when he saw the pup gobbled his chocolate greedily.

"What?", Riolu asked with a mouthful of chocolate as he noticed Jake's staring at him.

"I know chocolate is 'yummy', but eating that thing too much won't do anything good for your health.", Jake chuckled.

"Oh, who cares? It tastes good that that's all matter to me!", Riolu replied as he swallowed the rest of chocolate in his mouth.

"And have I ever mentioned that you look cute when eating like that?", came out of Jake's mouth without even thinking. And he immediately cursed himself for saying something stupid like that.

Riolu looked away shyly, but he managed to stammer, "Thanks".

The atmostphere in the room suddenly became extremely silent, unpleasantly silent. Both Jake and Riolu had no idea what to do know. Today was just getting crazier and crazier for them. First, Riolu kissed Jake, and now, the trainer admitted that Riolu was 'cute' right in front of the pokemon.

"I think I'll take a nap.", said the trainer, "How about you, Riolu?"

"I...I'm kinda tired, so I'm going to sleep, too."

...

(Jake's POV)

I was laying on the bed, next to Riolu, but for some reason, I couldn't get myself to sleep. The images of him kissing me and his blushing face kept appearing in my head. Ok, I admitted: He is cute, and just now, for one second, I found him attractive, not the usual way like how you find your favourite singer (or actor) attractive, but...sexually. My mind then drifted over to the first day we met, when I embraced him in my arms. Come to think of it, I thought it felt rather good. I meant...come on, don't you find it wonderful holding a pup in your arms. But now, thinking about it really...turned me on a little.

Of course I did care for Riolu, but so far, I only thought of him like my 2nd little brother, cuz he really reminded me of Zane (my little brother): Energetic, playful and sometimes mischievous, but overall, docile. But since the moment he kissed me, I started to have...weird thoughts, 'dirty' thoughts about him. Quite frankly, there were to things that pissed me off about this: First, I didn't find these thoughts disgusting. And second, I didn't even know where they came from!

Wait...it couldn't be that I...had feelings for him. Noway, and I meant noway that gonna happened. We were both male, and he was just a pup. If this was some sort of trick my mind was playing on me, I would rather commit suicide before it drived me crazy!

As I was still lost in my thought, I heard a soft groan coming from the Riolu and turned aside to look at him.

"Master..., please...", Riolu was talking in his sleep, "...please stop beating me. I promise to do better next time...", the groans started to become whimperings as tears leaked out from the corner of his eyes and his body trembled slightly. I felt my body go stiff: So even in his dream, Riolu was still obsessed by the terrible memories of his previous trainer torturing him. I suddenly felt regret not killing that punk (I meant Riolu's previous trainer) when I met him last time.

I put my hands on both side of Riolu's waist and softly lift him up to let him rest on my chest, his head was right under my chin.

"Shh, don't cry Riolu, you're with me now, not with that bastard anymore. Do you remember? I promised that I'll protect you, so don't cry...", I whispered into his ears while hugging him and rubbing his back. (I hate to admit, but I think I might get addicted to hugging this pup ^.^).

"Jake...Is that you?", Riolu whimpered.

"Yes, it's me."

To be quite honest, I'd never put anyone to sleep before, not even my brother (I'm 10 years older than him), but it surprised me that I knew how to do this with this pup, and it surprised me even more that it actually worked. Riolu's whimperings stopped, and he snuggled his head into my neck (kinda tickle, but I liked it).

"Sleep well, my little pup.", I smiled and slowly let myself be drifted to a deep sleep as well.

...

(Four hours later, Jake's POV)

I slowly opened my eyes, and the 1st thing I did was checking my watch: 4 pm. Everything seemed like a usual afternoon for me, except the fact that there was A pup laying right on my chest with his head under my neck. I smiled and looked at him: He was even cuter when he sleeps, almost like an innocent child (trust me, pups always look innocent when they sleep ^.^). But as much as I didn't want to, I had to wake him up. He'd been laying on me for over four hours, and my body had already gone numb because of laying for too long. Beside, I'd had plans for afternoon: We would take a walk around the city, find somewhere cool to have dinner and a trainer to challenge (sounds good, doesn't it?).

"Hey Riolu, wake up. Come on, pup!", I said while shaking his shoulder slightly and rubbing his ears. The pup opened his eyes and looked at me.

"Jake...what's time is it?", asked Riolu as he yawned lazily and rubbed his eyes. I chuckled, "4 pm. Now do you mind getting up, you've been laying on me for four hours." "...I've been laying on...WHAT???", Riolu jolted and immediately jumped out of my chest, turning his head away from me. Thought I didn't look at him directly, I could have sworn there was a faint red hue on his cheek. For one second, I wondered if Riolu had the same feelings for me as I had for him. But I shook my head to discard the thoughts. We had plently of time, so there's no need to rush.

"Hey Riolu, I'll go change in the bathroom and we'll have a walk around the city. Do you want to use the bathroom 1st?", I informed him as stood up from the bed and stretched my arms to get the blood flowing in my body again.

"Uhm, no.", Riolu replied, his voice was barely louder than a whisper.

"Ok."

...

"Good afternoon, Nurse Joy.", I greeted her as we made our way to the pokemon center's front doors.

"Oh, afternoon, Jake. Where are you two going?", Nurse Joy replied with her (typical) caring smile.

"We're going to have a walk and find somewhere for dinner."

"How is Riolu doing?"

"Oh...", I looked at the Riolu and smiled, "He's a lot better now."

"That's great! Have a fun walk!", she smiled.

"Thanks"

...

We headed down to the main street. I could tell Riolu was astounished by the scenary as he kept turning his head from left to right, pointing at any building he saw while smiling loudly. I let out a quiet chuckle: Of couse, what did you expect from a hyper-energetic pup like him. And even though I hated to admit this, I was getting really excited too. This was the 1st time I'd been to such a big city, and everything seemed new to me (well except for the fact that they were typical features of a city that even a fool could tell).

...

"Hey Riolu, do you want to have dinner now?", I said as I spotted a restaurant right ahead of us.

"Good idea. I'm starving."

"Ok then."

...

"Can we help you, sir?", a mid-aged receptionist asked as we enter throught the restaurant's doors.

"Yes. I would like a table for 2.", I said.

"This way, sir."

We walked throught a corridor that led to the dinning room. The corridor's walls were painted blue and decorated with a lot of pokemon pictures: Charizard, Luxray, Flygon, Swampert, blah blah blah, you name it.

As we reached the end of the corrider, there was a big, brown painted set of doors. The receptionist grabbed the door handle and opened it, geasturing us to come in.

For the 2nd time that day, my mouth almost gaped open again (and I think you know the 1st time) at what I saw. Behind the doors was an unbelievably big room, about five or six times bigger than my house's kitchen (and I never said my house's kitchen was small). Tables and chairs lined the room, and there was a huge chandelier in the middle of the ceiling, from which light illuminated the entire room. Overall, the room was clean, morden and luxuriously decorated.

The receptionist led us to a table at the room's left corner. After sitting for a few minutes, a male waiter approached us with two menus tucked under his arms.

"Your order, sir.", the waiter said politely as he handed each of us a menu, waiting with his pen and notepad.

I took a look at the dishes list in the menu, and decided to go with spaghetti bolognese. Meanwhile, Riolu was searching he menu, properly looking for any kind of dish that includes 'chocolate' in its name. I chuckled.

"Riolu, there's no chocolate bars here. I think you should try waffles."

"Waffles. Is it good?", he asked innocently, making me smile again.

"I can guarantee you: It's as good as chocolate."

"Ok, then I'll have waffles."

I nodded and turned to the waiter, "We'd like to have a spagetti bolognese and waffles with chocolate sauce."

"What about drink, sir? Would you like something to drink?", he asked as he finished jogging down our orders.

"Uhm, two cokes please. That's all, thank you."

...

Ten minutes later, the waiter returned with a tray of food and drink. He placed the dished in front of us in the right order: I with spagehetti and Riolu with waffles. And we immediately digged in.

"Wow, you're right, Jake. This 'waffles' stuff is good!", Riolu said with a mouthful of waffles.

"Told you."

...

After our wonderful dinner, we continuted to walk around the city, enjoying the lively atmostphere there. I noticed there was still one thing left to do: Find a trainer to challenge. And it didn't take long as I heard some one calling behind me.

"Hey you there! Wanna battle!"

I turned around to see the person challenged me: A boy wearing black shirt and cargo pant, and he was holding a pokeball in his hand. He looked young, about 3 or 4 years younger than me. Judging from his appearance and face expression, I bet he was still a beginner, like me, and that would make the macth easier for me, especially when my only pokemon is a scared pup that was abused by his previous trainer for losing too many times.

I knelt down and looked at Riolu, "Hey Riolu, you want to battle?"

"I...I don't know."

(Riolu's POV)

"What should I do? I don't know if I can battle again. I mean, what if Jake fails to keep his words and...beat me if I lose, like what my previous trainer used to do to me...", I thought dreafully as the memories from my previous battles invading my mind again, making me trembles in fear, "...my previous trainer. just like Jake, he was really nice to me when we 1st met. He cared for me deeply, and I thought we will be best friends forever. But when it came to battle, he got really...insane. The more I lost, the more aggressive he became. He would even yell at me and beat me everytime I lost, and it wasn't all my faults. I meant, how can you expect a young pokemon like me to be a good battling machine instantly, without time to train and learn? Just like telling a child to challenge an adult in a wrestling match..."

As I was lost in my thought, I felt Jake's hands rubbing my shoulder gently. I lift my head up and saw him looking at me with concern in his eyes.

"Riolu. I know you still...remember what your last trainer did to you. But you're safe with me now. I'm not 'him', and I'll never do such a thing to you. Do you remember when we 1st met and I promised that I'll protect you? When I said anything, I meant it. Beside, I know you can do it. You're strong and brave, and I'm lucky to have a pokemon, no, a friend like you..."

I looked at Jake. Part of me wanted to think that he was just lying and trying to get me battle, but when I looked deep into his eyes, there were only pure sincere and tenderness.

"Hey, are we going to battle or what?", the other trainer yelled, looking extremely impatient.

"Just one minute!", Jake replied and he (the other trainer) let out an annoying huff and crossed his arms in front of his chest. Jake then looked at me again.

"Look, Riolu. Battle or not, you're the one who decide it, and I'll never force you. Just keep in mind that no matter what happens, I'm here for you, and you can count on it."

For one moment, I realized how foolish I was to have doubts about his kindness. Jake is my new master, my new trainer. He rescued me from my previous trainer, treated me like a friend, not some kind of pet or tool. I can't let him down. I don't want to be a weakling who keeps relying on others any more. I want to be stronger, I want to make him proud.

And in that very moment, I realized the special feelings I always had for him ever since the 1st time we met. Why I'm always blushing when I'm close to him, why my heart's always beating faster when I see his smiles.

Jake, I love you!

(Normal POV)

"Alright!", Riolu said with determination, "I'll do it...for you.", the fighting pokemon whispered the last part, making sure that his trainer wouldn't hear it.

"That's great!", Jake said enthusiastically, but he paused for a second and looked at Riolu one last time, "...Are you sure about this, Riolu. I said I won't force you. We can withdraw now if you change your mind."

"I'm sure. Let's do it!"

"You two...Are you going to talk all night or are we going to battle!", the other trainer (I will call him 'kid' from here, cuz he's younger than Jake) shouted and squeezed his pokeball tightly as if he wanted to crush it into pieces.

"Ok, ok. We're ready!", said Jake as he stepped backward until the distance between him and the kid was safe enough.

"Come out, Charmeleon!", the kid shouted and threw his pokemon to the ground. After a beam of red light, Charmeleon appeared. The fire pokemon let out a mighty growl, indicating that he was ready for battle.

"Whoa, a Charmeleon!", Jake muttered, "Guess look can really be deceiving. One minute ago, I thought he was a noob, and now, he threw a pokemon this level at me!". The trainer also recalled his 'unpleasant' time with Charmander (for more details, please read chapter 1 ^.^), which sent shivers to his spine.

"You ready?", the kid asked Jake, and he only replied by nodding.

"Then let's do it! Charmeleon, use ember!", the kid commended and Charmeleon obliged, released a ball of fire from its mouth.

"Ember, a basic move of any fire pokemon. This kid is underestimating me, and this might be my chance!", Jake thought, "Riolu, dodge it and use quick attack!"

With his incredible speed, the fighting pokemon easily dodged Charmeleon's fireball. Riolu then jumped toward Charmeleon and within one second, he disappeared with a white flash when his body was still in the mid air.

"Where did he go? Oh shit, Charmeleon, behind you!"

Too late. As Charmeleon turned around, Riolu gave him a direct hit on his face with his paws clenched into fists. The impact made Charmeleon stagger and daze off a little, but the fire pokemon quickly regained his sense, ready for his master's next order.

Jake was a little surprised as he'd never seen Riolu this quick and strong before. Actually, this was his 1st time seeing his pup in battle. Riolu might not very 'successful' with his battles in the past, but those battles definitely helped the little guy to build up his speed and experience.

"That's right, Riolu. Use quick attack again!", Jake shouted and the fighting pokemon nodded in agreement, charging toward Charmeleon with a great speed, a white glow forming behind his trails. Within a brief moment, Riolu got behind Charmeleon again, but before he could launch his attack, his paws were blocked by the fire pokemon's claws in an extremely fast moment.

"Too bad for you, the same attack won't work twice. Charmeleon, use scratch!". Charmeleon complied and attacked Riolu with his sharp claws. Though the fighting could easily dodge those attacks, it was clear to Jake that Riolu's stamina was slowly decreasing as his breaths were getting heavier, meanwhile, Charmeleon showed no sign of losing strenght, as the fire pokemon's attacks kept getting quicker and stronger.

"So your pokemon specific is speed, huh. In that case...Charmeleon, lock his movements with fire spin!". After that, Charmeleon released a vortex of fire from his mouth, setting the entire battle area on fire and trapping Riolu inside. The fire was so powerful that Jake had to cover his face with his arm to protect himself from the high tempature.

"Riolu!!!", Jake shouted desperately.

When the fire slowly died down, it was unexpected to everyone that Riolu was still standing, his arms crossed in front of his head in a 'X' shape.

"Riolu!!!", Jake cried out, "Are you ok?"

"Yeah...", Riolu replied and nodded, "I'm fine. Still have enough strength to kick that Charmeleon's butt!". But as much as Jake wanted to believe his pup, he just couldn't. The fighting pokemon's body was covered in burn marks, and he was panting constantly as if all energy was drained from his body.

"Tch, that pup sure is sturbbon, isn't he.", the kid muttered, "But that's ok. Charmeleon, finish him off with Flamethrower!".

Charmeleon let out a loud roar before releasing a stream of fire from his mouth. The blast of fire looked exactly like the one when he used the amber move, except now, it was ten times bigger and hotter. If this attack hit, Jake knew for sure that he would lose.

However, much to the trainer's surprise, Riolu didn't seem like he wanted to dodge that fire. Instead, the fighting pokemon charged toward it with an incredible speed. And...BOOM.

"Hah, your Riolu is more stupid than I thought. Charging toward a flamethrower like that!", the kid said in a mocking tone and laughed evilly. But at that very moment...

From out of nowhere, Riolu appeared right in front of Charmeleon, his paws were joining together with a blue energy sphere between them. Even Charmeleon couldn't react to this surprise movement, as if he were thinking 'there's noway that stupid pup can walk after being hit by my flamethrower'.

Everything seemed to go on slow motion as Riolu released his energy sphere right at Charmeleon's belly, resulted in another explosion and creating a massive cloud of dust surrouding both Riolu and Charmeleon. When the dust finally faded away, it revealed to figures on top of each other. Riolu was standing in front of Charmeleon, who was laying unconcious on the ground, indicating that the he was K.O. And although Riolu was still standing, it looked like that he would fall to the ground immediately as his feet were shaking violently.

"Nooooooooo!!!", the kid shouted and ran to his Charmeleon. Jake also ran to Riolu, just in the nick of time to catch Riolu with his arms right before the fighting pokemon could fall face-first to the ground.

"Jake...I did it! We won!", Riolu whispered weaky.

"Uh huh, you were great! I'm proud of you!", Jake stammered as he managed to choke back his tears. The trainer then immediately took out his burning heal potion from his backpack (don't ask me how he got it. Let's just ignore it and move on XD) and sprayed it on Riolu's burns.

"That was a great match. I was completely defeated.", the kid said as he pulled out some cash and handed it to Jake.

"This is yours. Now hurry and get him to the pokemon center."

"Thanks. I hope we'll meet again someday. And I still haven't know your name."

"Ryan. Nice to meet you."

"Same goes for me. I'm Jake."

...

(Jake's POV)

"Nurse Joy!!!", I yelled as I ran through the automatic sliding doors and headed toward the counter where she was working.

Nurse Joy jolted in surprise as someone called her loudly and gasped when she saw I was carring an unconcious, wounded Riolu in my arms, but she quickly regained her composure.

"What happened, Jake?"

"Long story. We just had our first battle, and this is the result. Please hurry get him some medical help right now!", I explained while panting heavily.

"Right, right away. Chansey!", Nurse Joy called out from the hallway behind her, and immediately, two Chanseys wearing nurse's hats appeared with a stretcher. One of the Chansey gently took Riolu from my arms and placed him on the stretcher.

"He gonna be fine. Please calm down and have a seat at the waiting area. I'll do my best.", Nurse Joy said and gave me a reassuring smile as she quickly disappeared behind the medical room. So I got no choice but to waited as I made my way toward the waiting area and sat down.

"Riolu, please, please be ok..."

(Two hours later, Jake's POV)

I felt a hand gently shock my shoulder and slowly opened my eyes. It was 10 pm, and I'd been sleeping for the last two hours (well, it usually the way people end up when thay have to wait for so long on a chair).

Nurse Joy was standing right in front of me with her usual smile. From that smile, I could tell that Riolu was ok even without her telling me.

"Don't worry. Riolu is ok. Though he needs to get some rest for the next two days. It would have been worse if it weren't for the burn healing potion of yours", she said.

"Thank you very much", I said in a quick tone, feeling happy that Riolu was ok.

"Jake, I know this is personal, but can you tell me what happened to Riolu?", Nurse Joy asked curiously.

"Like I said before, it's a long story. You might want to sit down, cuz it is a very intense one."

And so, I told her about the battle we'd just had, about how Riolu endured Charmeleon's attacks and pulled out the win. I didn't know why, but I also told her about the 1st day me met. How I rescued Riolu from his abusive trainer and how we became good friends.

...

"How awful! What kind of a trainer could do such a terrible thing to his pokemon?", Nurse Joy said with a saddenen expression on her face, "...but at the same time, I'm glad that you two had found each other. Riolu was very brave, and I know you're also a very kind and caring trainer. You're doing a great job taking care of him, and I hope you can keep it up as long as you're with him."

"Thanks. I promise"

"Uhm Nurse Joy..."

"Yes?"

"I know you won't appreciate this, but can I...bring Riolu to my room. I want to be with him tonight.", I whispered like a guilty child as Nurse Joy stood up and was about to return to her counter.

Nurse Joy looked at me hesitantly for a while, then at the medical room, then at me again, but she finally nodded, "Ok. Follow me.", she said and gestured me to follow. She led me to the room where Riolu was resting.

I carried him to my room. As I got into my room, I gently placed the sleeping pup on the bed and looked at him.

"You look exactly like the 1st day we met: A patched up little pup. But you're not that same miserable and scared pup any more. You're strong and brave now. I'm proud of you!", I said while caressing his cheek.

"Jake...", Riolu muttered in his sleep, "I...love you."

A small smile appreared on my face, as I bent down and kissed him softly on his lips.

"I love you too, Riolu."

...

(To be continued)