Author's Note: And after a long wait, we're back!

Sorry everyone. I hate excuses, but this is a legitimate one. I meant to upload this almost two weeks ago, and it should have been uploaded, but there was some kind of issue with my account. It wouldn't let me upload any chapters on anything. I tried multiple times. Eventually I just contacted the admins about it and, after a little while, they got the problem sorted out for me. It was a bit of a scare, because they told me that there was a possibility of me having to make a hard reboot of my profile. For those of you who don't know what that is, it basically means that I would have had to make a whole new one. Fortunately, I was able to avoid that. Still not sure what the problem was in the first place though. Oh well. It's fine now.

So, back to the story. Since it's been a while, I'll give you all a refresher. The last chapter ended with Riolu giving our girl Iris an Aura Sphere to the face. Fun times.

One more note. As this is chapter 9, you should all know that, come chapter 10, I will be going back and fixing any grammatical/sequential errors that any of you may have noticed. Special thanks to Feibush Melech for providing a whole ton of help on that regard. I hope you continue to do so.

And now...I'm out of words. You can read. Please do enjoy, as this is the longest chapter thus far.

The Hyper and the Unpredictable

"Heheh...sorry about that..." Iris said sheepishly, apologizing for her earlier handling of Riolu. The four of them - Dustin, Riolu, Iris, and Axew - were currently sitting across from each other on the grass. Dustin and Riolu sat next to each other while facing Iris and Axew, who also sat next to each other across from them. Shortly after the...'incident', Dustin was going to call it...Iris had regained consciousness with the help of Dustin and Axew. She still had numerous smudges on her face and clothes, but otherwise seemed none the worse for wear, miraculously. Axew was relieved by this...and promptly went back to eating its Sitrus berry.

Riolu, for one, didn't seem pleased by Iris's apology (though, ironically, he should have been the one saying sorry). He sat on the ground with his arms and legs crossed and his eyes closed in a huffy manner. His only response to Iris was a short grunt.

Dustin sighed. "It's okay," he told Iris. "Riolu just really doesn't like to be held...at least not that tightly..."

Riolu nodded in agreement. As Iris opened her mouth to respond, she suddenly winced and put a hand on her side. It made Dustin concerned. "Hey, are you sure you're alright?"

Iris put on a smile. "Don't worry, I'm just a little sore. But I'm fine, really!" she assured him.

"Well...okay, if you say so." Dustin rubbed his neck. Truth be told, he was just happy that he didn't have to take her to a hospital or anything. Explaining this whole 'incident' to a doctor or nurse wouldn't have been very fun. He laughed a little. "It's a good thing Riolu held back for you. I know getting hit by an Aura Sphere probably wasn't the best introduction...but at least you weren't seriously injured!"

Iris joined in on Dustin's mirth. "Yeah..." she giggled, right before falling silent. She looked down at Riolu with a thoughtful expression. "You know," she said to Dustin, "I didn't realize it until Riolu used Aura Sphere, but I recognize you from yesterday."

Dustin blinked. "Uh...really? From where?"

Iris lifted her hand and pointed back down the road Dustin and Riolu had come from. "Outside of that lab building, back near Nuvema Town. We saw your battle against that other guy. You know, the guy with a Snivy?"

Dustin hardly required any elaboration on Iris's part. "Trip..." he muttered. The memory of his defeat at the hands of the smug blonde Trainer was still fresh in his mind, which was only natural when you considered that it hadn't yet been a full day since it happened.

"It was a great match!" Iris exclaimed. "It's too bad you lost. Still, you and Riolu were really good! The two of you put up an awesome fight! It's funny, I didn't recognize Riolu while I was watching. I'm not sure why. But yeah, the battle was really fun to watch! Right Axew?"

The little reptilian creature looked up. "Ax ew ew!" it agreed enthusiastically.

By now, Riolu had stopped pouting and was smiling from all of the compliments being thrown in his direction. Dustin himself was a bit embarrassed by the praise, and was blushing slightly. "Ah, thanks! That means a lot actually, since it was our first battle ever!" he said, grinning. Then he stopped. "Hey, wait. I didn't know we had an audience. Where were you, exactly?"

This time, it was Iris's turn to blush. "Oh...well, see...I was kinda hiding in the trees..."

Dustin cocked an eyebrow. "...and why were you in the trees?"

"Oh, it wasn't something weird or anything like that!" Iris immediately responded, putting up her hands defensively. "Me and Axew were looking for Sitrus berries over there. We just overheard you and that guy talking and getting ready to battle, so we decided to watch."

"...okaaaaayyy..." Dustin drawled.

Lovely, he thought. So aside from Professor Juniper, we had another secret observer. Add to that her flipping out at me earlier and almost suffocating Riolu, making him almost go ballistic...this girl has -3 points with me so far. Though I guess there isn't any harm in just watching us battle...and I guess I did throw a Poké Ball at her head...and Riolu may have overdid it by using Aura Sphere on her...

"So Dustin, I'm curious," Iris interrupted his train of thought. "You said that you're from Sinnoh, right? So then why are you starting your journey in Unova?"

"Oh." Dustin leaned back a little. "Well that's sort of a long story. See, my mom is-"

"Rio! Riolu!" Riolu suddenly jumped up, cutting off Dustin mid-sentence. His ears were raised and alert, the same way they always got whenever he noticed something out-of-the-ordinary.

"Huh? What is it Riolu?"

The Emanation Pokémon was facing Dustin's left, farther into the forest. He simply raised a paw a pointed urgently at something in the tree line while staring intently the same way.

"What's going on?" Iris inquired. Dustin narrowed his eyebrows.

"I don't know...hold on," he told her. He swiftly got up to his feet and followed Riolu's gaze, searching for whatever it was that had caught his Pokémon's attention. However, unlike the situation with Iris, Dustin was unable to find anything that really stood out from the rest of the surroundings. There were plenty of trees, obviously. Some of the trees had vines hanging from them, as well as large blankets of moss. There was also an abundance of bushes scattered about. One of them he saw had yellow flowers, but the majority had variations of pink and purple. A few were even growing Sitrus berries, like the one Axew was eating. Breaks in the treetops allowed the occasional ray of sunlight to shine through, illuminating sections of the forest floor, which was very...well, grassy.

He must have been making Riolu impatient, because the Pokémon hurriedly jumped onto his shoulder, grabbed his head, and manually turned it so that he was looking in the correct direction. It took a moment for Dustin to understand what he was seeing.

There. He would have missed it entirely if Riolu hadn't decided to help out. But he saw it; the yellow-flowered bush. Now that Dustin was actually getting a good look at it, he could see that it wasn't a bush at all. Far from it. What he'd originally taken to be leaves and flowers were now clearly distinguishable as green fur patterned with yellow spots. And upon further inspection, Dustin was able to make out the near-white underside of the creature, as well as its basic shape: four legs, lean body, small tail, and a head that was lowered to the ground as it grazed. He instantly recognized it.

It's amazing what you can discover when you take a moment to actually look at something, isn't it?

"Hey...that's the Pokémon from yesterday!" Dustin blurted out in excitement. And indeed, it was one of the Pokémon that he and Riolu had seen during their car ride with Professor Juniper the previous day. If his memory served, the professor had identified it as a 'Deerling'.

Dustin was ecstatic. This time there was no mistake; they'd found a wild Pokémon! Unfortunately, the Deerling picked that moment to stop grazing and went leaping deeper into the woods. Witnessing this, Dustin pulled himself together.

"Quick, let's go Riolu!" he told his partner, who was already on his shoulder, so it was just as well. Dustin ran three steps. He stopped just before the fourth, spinning around to face Iris. "So yeah, it was nice meeting you Iris! Sorry about the whole fiasco. Maybe I'll bump into you again somewhere. See ya!" With that he spun back around and shot off after the Deerling, not giving Iris so much as a chance to respond.

"...umm...what..?"

"...axew?"

Dustin followed the Deerling for about a minute. Brief though it was, it was still a pretty rough chase; the Deerling ahead of him was effortlessly and speedily bounding through the forest while Dustin struggled to navigate through shrubs and between trees. Fortunately for him, Riolu was there to point him in the right direction once he started to lose the trail. Seriously, Dustin had no idea where he'd be in life if it weren't for the little guy.

They soon arrived at the edge of a small clearing. Dustin ducked behind a bush, taking Riolu with him. Then they both slowly peered over their cover.

The clearing by itself consisted of little more - in fact, nothing more - than a pond and flat area of grass beside it. Not very interesting. What Dustin and Riolu did find interesting however was that, in addition to the initial Deerling they'd been chasing (the individual which, by now, they'd both lost track of), there were at least 20 other wild Deerling simply milling about right in front of them. Seriously.

"Whoa. I didn't think we'd find the whole herd..." Dustin whispered. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Riolu nod in agreement. And it was in fact a herd that they'd stumbled upon. Some of the Deerling were gently grazing while a few others were drinking from the pond. The rest of the doe-like Pokémon were either running around and playing with each other (those were mainly the younger ones, it looked like) or silently dozing on the bed of grass beneath the warmth of the sun. None of them seemed to yet be aware of Dustin and Riolu's presence. Carefully, Dustin pulled his Pokédex out of his pocket. "Just to be clear..." he mumbled to himself as he raised the Pokédex and scanned the nearest Deerling. The device activated, speaking with a lowered volume.

"Deerling, the Season Pokémon. With the change of each season, the color and scent of a Deerling's fur also changes to match the surroundings. Ancient civilizations supposedly used them as a way to mark the seasons. When sensing hostility, most Deerling either hide in the grass or flee."

"Thought so," Dustin muttered. He looked at part of the lower screen. "Alrighty, so Deerling is a...Normal and Grass-type?" He stared at the information being displayed. "Huh. That's unique." Shrugging, he reached back into his pocket and traded his Pokédex for the Poké Ball he'd thrown at Iris earlier (she had been kind enough to return it). Expanding it, he grasped the ball firmly in his hand. "Okay...this time for real...I'm gonna catch a Pokémon!" Determination shining in his eyes, Dustin stood up, exposing himself, and targeted the same Deerling he'd scanned, who was among those quietly grazing. Facing away from him, it gave no indication of having noticed his movement. Dustin seized the opportunity.

"Let's try this again! Go Poké Ball!" he announced, pitching the capsule at the Deerling. It flew through the air, straight on course. As he watched it get closer and closer to its target, Dustin allowed himself to grow excited.

That excitement was abruptly cut short, however, when the Deerling did something completely unexpected. It stopped what it was doing and raised its head just as the Poké Ball was about to make contact. Then, with a simple flick of its ear, it swatted the capsule aside with a hollow SMACK. The red-and-white ball went rolling away in the grass, never once popping open. The Deerling then went back to eating as though nothing had happened.

Dustin stared. Slowly and deliberately, he pieced together everything he'd just seen. Finally, his jaw dropped.

"What the...that...that's not even fair!" he almost yelled. He probably would've started yelling, but that was right about when-

"Well, what did you think was gonna happen?"

"GAH!"

Dustin whirled around frantically and fell over into the bush, almost landing on top of a startled Riolu in the process. Now trying to ignore the newfound pain in his pelvis, he looked up. Standing before him was none other than Iris, with her hands on her hips and a very unimpressed look on her face. Peeking its head out of Iris's own personal forest (hair) was Axew, looking down at the scene curiously.

"What the heck?!" he cried, not bothering to keep his voice down anymore. "Iris, did you follow me?!"

Iris shook her head in annoyance. "Never mind that. Did you really expect to capture that Deerling just by throwing a Poké Ball at it?"

Dustin suddenly became confused. He blinked slowly. "Uh...yeah, pretty much. Isn't that how it works?"

Iris sighed heavily. "Wow, you are such a little kid. You obviously can't catch a Pokémon just by tossing Poké Balls around willy-nilly! You have to battle it first. I thought everyone knew that..."

Dustin blinked again. "Oh," he said candidly. He actually hadn't known that, but it did make sense. A battle would weaken the Pokémon, making it easier to capture. That settled it. With his new plan decided, Dustin rose to his feet and patted the leaves from his clothes. "Well, thanks for the tip! but I'm not a little kid. I'm new to all of this, okay?"

Iris shrugged, but didn't say anything more.

Dustin looked down at Riolu, who had been silent for the past couple of minutes. "Okay buddy, you ready to fight?" he asked. Riolu nodded excitedly. "Right! Then let's go!"

Dustin and Riolu burst out of cover at the same time and ran into the clearing. Literally immediately, every single Deerling in the area, even the ones that were sleeping, ceased whatever it was doing and raised its head to look at them. Dustin stopped and singled out the same Deerling that he'd previously tried to capture. Riolu went and took a combat stance ahead of him.

"Alright, time to battle!" Dustin shouted. "Riolu, use-"

"DEERLIIIIIING!"

Now, Dustin couldn't tell which Deerling was the one that gave it, but that loud shriek was apparently the equivalent of a red alarm. In a split second, the entire herd was bolting, filling the air with panicked cries and the sound of hooves hitting earth. A surprisingly large cloud of dust rose from the ground in their wake.

It was all happening so fast, Dustin had little time to react. "Hey, wait!" was all he got to say as he impulsively reached out with his arm when the dust cloud enveloped both him and Riolu. he made the mistake of breathing in. On instinct, he screwed his eyes tightly shut and coughed into his elbow while he used to other arm to wave away the dirt lingering in the air. After a few more moments, the dust settled. Dustin hesitantly cracked one eye open, then fully opened both eyes. He and Riolu were now the only ones in the clearing. All of the Deerling were gone, just like that.

"Hey, hold on! Come back!" he called out in vain. "I just wanted to battle and capture one of you! Wait, that probably isn't helping. Agh, darn it!"

Dustin stamped his foot in frustration. Carefully, Riolu approached and looked up at him with his ears down. "Ro lu rio?" the Pokémon asked sadly.

"Huh? Nah, it wasn't your fault buddy," Dustin reassured. He knelt down a patted Riolu on the head, which quickly got the Pokémon the brighten up. "Still, I didn't think we'd scare them all away. Maybe we should have stayed hidden and attacked like that..."

"And how would that have worked? You were never hidden to begin with!"

Dustin looked over his shoulder. Iris had entered the clearing and was walking toward them with an amused smile. Her words confused Dustin greatly.

"Iris...what do you mean?" he asked as he stood up and turned around.

Iris stopped in front of him and sighed. "I mean that those Deerling obviously knew you were there, right from the get-go. I mean, you weren't hiding very well."

"...I wasn't?"

"No, you weren't," she said. "Maybe you didn't notice, but you weren't exactly being discreet when you practically tore through the forest to get here. And then you were noisy when you tried to hide behind a bush right next to the herd, so of course they noticed you. Why do you think that one Deerling didn't freak out when you threw a Poké Ball at it?" Before Dustin could respond, she answered her own question for him. "Because it already knew where you were, so it knew where the Poké Ball came from! That's also how it was able to deflect it!"

Dustin was flabbergasted. He wasn't sure how, but everything Iris had said so far made sense. "W-well," he stammered, "if they knew where I was, then why didn't they run right off the bat? Or better yet, why were they scared when I jumped out?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Iris asked. Dustin shook his head no, and she groaned loudly. "They didn't run because they didn't think you were dangerous. At least not until you ran out into the open and started yelling like a maniac. That's what set them off. Do you even think about these things before you do them?"

Dustin took in everything she said, including the last question (which probably referred to more than just this one blunder), but didn't answer. Instead, he blushed, started rubbing his neck, and laughed nervously.

Iris sighed again, but while smiling this time. "Just like I thought. Charging in without any clue what you're doing. You really are a kid."

Dustin frowned. "No I'm not, so stop calling me that!" he replied angrily, raising his voice. "I made a mistake, alright? Why are you even here anyway?"

Axew retreated further within Iris's hair in fear of Dustin's sudden outburst. iris crossed her arms. "Well, someone's being awfully rude," she huffed. "I was just joking. And for your information, I'm only here because you ran off in such a hurry. I wanted to know what was up, that's all. Is that so bad?"

Dustin was about to retort, but stopped himself. "I...no." He sighed and gazed downward, now feeling guilty. "Sorry for yelling. I'm just a bit upset about all of this. You know, failure to catch my first wild Pokémon and all. It's agitating."

You rubbing it in doesn't exactly help either, he thought.

Iris hummed to herself for a moment. Then she brought her arms back down to her sides and smiled jovially. "Alright. I accept your apology. Again," she added with emphasis.

In spite of himself, Dustin grinned. He didn't know why he did it; he just did. Somehow, hearing those words from Iris just made him feel better. He didn't get much time to contemplate it though. Before he could verbally respond, Dustin felt a light tugging sensation on his lower body, getting progressively harder to not notice. Curious as to what the cause was, he shifted his vision over slightly. he saw Riolu standing by his feet, reaching up and pulling semi-gently at the left leg of his shorts, as though trying to get his attention. The Pokémon had one of those 'come on, hurry up!' expressions as he looked up at him.

Sheesh, and they call me impatient? I haven't even been talking for a full minute! Dustin thought with amusement. Nevertheless, he abided by his partner's wishes. he shrugged his shoulder-strap into a somewhat more comfortable position as he spoke again.

"Okay...right! Well, I guess me and Riolu should get going then. We've got a lot of ground to cover, I think. So, thanks for the...help," he squeezed out the last word after a momentary lapse. Turning around, he added over his shoulder, "Maybe I'll see you around somewhere. Bye then. Come on Riolu."

"Rolu!"

Without another word, and mentally berating himself for that rather awkward farewell, Dustin began walking away with Riolu in tow.

"Hopefully we'll find another wild Pokémon on the way to Striaton, and actually manage to catch it this time," he said directly to Riolu, who was walking beside him.

He'd barely taken his seventh step when Iris's voice made him stop.

"Wait!" she called out behind them. Dustin and Riolu looked back at her. "Where are you going?" she asked.

Not really caring why she wanted to know, Dustin answered. "Striaton City. We're gonna go challenge the gym there and earn our first Gym Badge!"

A couple of silent moments passed. Iris then, for some unknown reason, started laughing. Dustin was taken aback by this. "What? What's so funny?"

Iris quieted down and coughed a little before looking at him with a bemused expression. "If you're going to Striaton City," she said, "then you should know that you're going the wrong way. Striaton City is north from here. You're going west."

"Huh?" Dustin looked back at where he'd been going, then to his left and right, as though expecting to see a 'This way to Striaton City' sign posted up somewhere. He turned back to Iris. "Really?"

"Mm-hmm," she confirmed with a nod. "Trust me, there's nothing out that way except for ocean and a few small islands. It's just one big dead-end. You're better off going north. That way there's fewer U-turns involved."

Dustin considered this. Thinking back on it, he recalled seeing something on the map in his Unova brochure that looked a lot like what Iris was now describing. He decided to take her word for it. "Alright...thanks!" he said after a moment's hesitation. He was about to start walking again, but he halted. He thought about it for a few seconds, scratching his head as he did so. "Uh...how do I know which way is north?" he finally asked.

If Iris was annoyed by this question, she didn't show it. "Oh, that's easy. You see the sun and where it's rising from?" she asked, pointing up at the bright flaming disc, which hadn't moved much compared to when Dustin last looked at it. "Well, no matter where you are in the world, the sun always rises from the east and sets in the west," she explained. "So, with that in mind, if we were to face the direction that the sun is rising from..." she turned around and did so, "...then north would be to our left, and south to our right. And if you're facing west, then it's the opposite. So the sky can be used like one giant compass!"

Dustin's eyes widened, but he recovered quickly. "Huh. Cool! Yeah, that's definitely handy!" Riolu, probably tired of standing and waiting, took that time to climb up and perch himself on Dustin's shoulder. Dustin took this as his cue. "Right then. Uh...thanks again!" he called out unceremoniously before sprinting in the direction that he now recognized as north.

This time, he managed to take eight steps before he heard Iris's voice behind him.

"Hold on a second!"

Dustin skidded to a halt and reeled around to look at her. He was starting to notice a pattern forming here. "What is it now?" he asked as evenly as possible despite his growing exasperation. You don't want to know what was going through Riolu's mind at that moment.

"Now where are you going?" Iris asked, confusing Dustin yet again.

"You said this way is north. I'm going north."

Iris shook her head once more. "I meant north in general, like when you're on the road. If you go north straight from here, you're gonna find yourself at the bottom of a cliff. Them you'll have to backtrack." She sighed, then, quite unexpectedly, smiled genuinely. "Tell you what," she continued. "Since you're new to Unova, and you don't seem to know a whole lot, I'll go with you to Striaton City. How's that sound?"

Dustin blinked. This was rather...sudden. "Uh...you will?"

"Sure!" Iris waved her hand dismissively. "It'd be a shame if you got lost this early in your journey. Especially if it's on Route 1; that would just be embarrassing. I know all about the land around these parts, so I'll help you out by being your guide. Just until Striaton City though, okay?"

"Um...okay...are you sure? I mean, I'm sure I can find my way..."

"Hey, do you want my help or not?"

"What? No, that's not what I meant!" Dustin sweated a little bit. "I, uh...I guess I'd appreciate it, since you're offering and all. I just don't see why you suddenly want to help me. It's a bit...out of the blue, if you know what I mean."

"Oh." Iris walked closer and smiled super-brightly. "It's simple, really. You clearly have no idea what you're doing after all. And also," she winked, " I'm just that nice of a person! Isn't that right Axew?"

Axew poked its head out from Iris's hair, appearing to grin. "Axew axew!"

Dustin leaned back. He wasn't quite sure how to respond, between that 'no idea what you're doing' comment and that oddly out-of-place wink. What he did eventually say was this: "Uh..."

"Alright, enough wasting time! If we're gonna go, then let's go already!" With this, Iris turned and ran over edge of the clearing. Once there - and Dustin would have done a glorious spit-take had he been drinking anything - she gracefully jumped three meters up from the base of a tree, landing perfectly on the nearest branch. She looked back at Dustin, who was still standing in the same spot. "Come on, hurry up!" she called before turning around and leaping to another tree.

Dustin, with his mouth hanging partially open, shook himself and took off after her, muttering to himself.

"I have no clue what just happened...but whatever, I'm going with it."

"Rio."

Author's Note: If any of you guys have ever wondered why there are so often random items scattered across the routes for you to pick up in the games, this is why. Note how Dustin never picked up that Poké Ball he threw. Yeah, it's just gonna sit there for the next Trainer who happens to go through that area. And Dustin will eventually remember that he left it behind, and promptly smack himself.

Troll face.

Anyways, I'm not proud about the wait you all had to endure, but I AM proud of my new longest chapter. And some chapters in the future will inevitably be longer. Such as when Dustin meets up with his former babysitter, who happens to be - WHOA HO HO. NO SPOILERS. Sorry, my bad.

(secret Troll face)

Moving on. Here is my Reader Question for all o' ya'll. What is your favorite individual video game/video game franchise (aside from Pokémon, because I assume that's why you're all reading Pokémon fanfics)? Mine is a weird tie between Assassin's Creed and Halo. Let me know yours, but only after you review!

**Coli Chibi, I'm calling you out here, stop forgetting to answer these questions. I don't like having to remind you in our PM chats.**

Oh, and one more thing. Since a new person is here, the lineup list will now be shown. See ya next time!

Dustin's Party:

1: Riolu, male

Ability: ?

Move Set: Aura Sphere (we've been over this), Quick Attack, and Bite.

Iris's (known) Party:

1: Axew, ?

Ability: ?

Move Set: ?