(Authors notes: This little one-shot is like a prequel to my Summer Adventures Series. I don't own the Pokemon franchise.)

Read and Review... PLEASE!

A Friendly Match

"Ryan the riolu is unable to battle!" The referee shouted. "Beedrill wins! Therefore, challenger Jordan has lost the gym battle!"

"Hey!" Jordan shouted. "It's bad enough that me and my team lost. You don't have to rub it in my face!" Jordan went over to Ryan, who was lying on the court floor unconciously. Jordan picked the little riolu up and held him in his arms.

The gym leader Queen Bee Betty, who wore a yellow dress with black stripes, looked at the fourteen year-old as he held the unconcious riolu. She noticed that Jordan had a sad look on his face.

"Are you okay?" Betty asked sympathetically.

"Yeah" Jordan sighed. "It's that I feel like... I broke a promise with my brother." Then Jordan withdrew Ryan back into his poke ball. Then he walked out the gym.

Later that evening, at the Pokemon Center, Jordan turned in his five poke balls to the healing desk. The nurse put the poke balls on a small tray, and then she slid it into a machine that looked just like an oven. The nurse then shut the glass door on the machine, and pressed the green start button.

"That thing still bothers me a little bit," Jordan said. "It kinda reminds me of Hansel and Gretel. But then again, it also reminds me of that story from the Bible." Jordan then remembered reading the Bible to his riolu, Ryan, last week. But then Jordan remembered that his little brother hates losing. "My riolu is not gonna be happy when I pull him out."

"What makes you think that?" the nurse asked politely.

"It's just that he hates losing" responded Jordan. He then remembered that the evolved form of riolu, lucario, can doubt their trainers if the trainer lets it down. Jordan then started to worry that maybe the same thing happens with a riolu. Jordan then watched as the timer on the healing machine went off.

"Sounds like your pokemon are all better now!" the nurse said happily.

"At least physically," Jordan sighed. The nurse then handed the Poke Balls to Jordan, who then put four of them in his backpack. Jordan then took the other Poke Ball and opened it up. Ryan then came out. Jordan then knelt down to the little riolu, and said, "Are you okay, little bro?" As Jordan tried to place his hand on Ryan's shoulder, Ryan swiped it away.

"Don't call me that anymore!" Ryan said angrily. "I trusted you, Jordan. We made a promise together that we'd always be brothers. I kept my end of the promise!" Then Ryan grabbed his small red collar and took it off his neck. Then he threw it on the ground, right in front of Jordan. Then the little riolu looked right back up at Jordan. "But you just couldn't keep your end of the promise!" he then shouted. Ryan then ran towards the door and out.

"Ryan, wait!" Jordan shouted. Jordan then got on his feet, picked up Ryan's little red collar, and ran after Ryan.

Later at a riverbank in Butterfly Forest, Ryan stopped running to rest. He panted like a dog, with his tongue out. He was so angry, that when he regained his strength, he drove his fist into a rock and smashed it. Jordan then came by, and when Ryan saw him, he looked away.

"Ryan, can I talk to you?" he politely asked.

"Go away!" the little riolu angrily shouted.

Jordan then walked up to Ryan from behind. "Ryan, I'm sorry. I'm sorry we lost."

"I don't believe you."

Jordan then knelt down to Ryan. "Ryan, I didn't mean to break our brotherly promise."

"Well, you did."

Jordan the sat down, and scooted next to Ryan. "Ryan, please listen to me."

"No!" Ryan shouted as he put his blue paws on his little ears. "I'm not listening to you anymore!"

"Ryan, please just hear me out!" Jordan said as he brought Ryan's little arms down. "Listen, I'm sorry we lost, but you have to understand that losing wasn't that big of a deal. We were just playing a game."

"But if we were truly brothers, you'd remember that I hate losing!"

Jordan then started to get frustrated with Ryan. He even clinched his left hand into a fist, just so Ryan couldn't see it. Jordan then took a deep breath, and continued with his lecture.

"You're right, Ryan. I would remember that you hate losing, and I do." Jordan said firmly. He looked at Ryan as he sat down cross-legged, and crossed his arms. Ryan looked down and away from Jordan, with his eyes closed. "But what I don't understand is why. Ryan… please be a good brother and help me understand. Why do you hate losing?" Jordan said softly. "At anything?"

Ryan sighed and opened his eyes, although he still didn't look up at Jordan. "Because losing is the opposite of winning, and when I win, I feel good about it. I feel like… I'm the best."

"So you're telling me that you just want to be better than everyone else?" Jordan said. The little riolu nodded his little head. "Ryan, I don't mean to condemn you, but that's bad sportsmanship" Jordan sighed. "How do think Kyle, Max, Sam, and Robin would feel?"

Ryan thought about how much his friends meant to him. "I guess… discouraged."

"Exactly. They'd feel less confident if they thought that they weren't as good as you." Jordan looked at the reflection of the moon in the water. "Ryan, do you remember last Tuesday when you won hide-and-seek nine times in-a-row?" Jordan asked. Ryan nodded his head. "Well… Sam wasn't too happy about it."

"I… I guess I was a little… merciless" Ryan admitted softly.

"You didn't have any mercy. In fact, it bothered Sam so much, that when I was playing video games that night, that little buizel came to me with a piece of paper in one hand and a pencil in the other. You wanna know what he wrote? 'Ryan is a buzz kill'."

Ryan was shocked at what he just heard. "He… actually wrote that?" the little riolu asked as he looked up at Jordan.

Jordan nodded his head. "I was surprised, too. But Ryan, please understand that when all you want to do is win, neither people or pokemon want to be around you. Ryan,… they would want to be around a good sport, someone who just enjoys the game and hopes that everyone did too, someone who thinks of any competitive game as… a friendly match."

Jordan looked down at Ryan, who felt very ashamed.

"You okay, Ryan?" Jordan asked softly as he put his hand on the little riolu's shoulder.

"No. I'm not" Ryan sighed. Jordan withdrew his right hand and reached into his right pocket. He pulled out the same red collar that Ryan abandoned earlier.

"Will this make you feel better?" Jordan said as he presented the collar to Ryan, who, in response, nodded his head. Then Jordan strapped the collar back on Ryan's neck. Then he placed his hand on the little riolu's back. Then he looked down and remembered what had happened earlier. He took a deep breath, and said, "I'm really sorry we lost, Ryan."

Ryan stood up and hugged Jordan on the right side. Then he pulled away from Jordan and said to him, "I forgive you, but Jordan… I'm the one who should be sorry. I was a bad sport. I promise to show better sportsmanship when I lose. In fact, I'll be a good sport whenever I win. I'm really sorry Jordan."

"Don't worry about it. I forgive you", Jordan said. Then he remained silent for a brief moment. Then he asked, "Are we still brothers?"

Ryan smiled and said, "We'll always be brothers." And with that, the little riolu leaped right up to Jordan and hugged him once more. This time, Jordan hugged Ryan back. After that short, warming hug, Jordan and Ryan started to walk back to Honeycomb City.

The End