Chapter 3: Guard Jackal...and Frog

Simon's Home
Las Vegas, NV, United States
Sunday, 5 January 2020 08:30

Lucario sat down on my rolling chair behind my desk and leaned back, resting his arms on the armrests. Feeling comfortable, he noticed the placards and trophies on the top tier of my desk. "(Hmm, he must be a smart one,)" Lucario thought. Then he looked down at all of my gaming devices in front of him, starting with the racing wheel. He put his paw on it and rotated it left and right repeatedly. "(I've seen these in those people carriers, but this one is obviously out of place." Next, Lucario looked at the joystick to the right of the wheel's H-shifter. He noticed that these devices had something in common: many buttons. "(This is...complicated. What does he use these things for?)"

Lucario sighed and closed his eyes, remaining in his comfortable position. He wanted to meditate for a little bit. He remembered many memories that he made with my avatar in the Pokémon game. Then he wondered if he will make more in this world. Despite his desparateness to return, Lucario still wanted to explore this world. He took more deep breaths, with each one occurring after each longer pause.

After a brief period, a noise suddenly came from on top of my desk in front of the wheel. Lucario opened his eyes and leaned forward towards the desk. There was the second unopened Poké Ball that had expanded into a bigger-sized sphere. "(Another Pokémon!)" Lucario mentally reacted surprised. He took the ball into his paws and looked at it. Then he turned around, stood up, and pointed its front towards the doorway. "Come on out!" he commanded.

The Poké Ball suddenly opened, and out came a bright blue stream of light. That light began to concentrate to form a bipedal figure. This figure's skeletal structure is similar to a human's. There was a large ring that circled around its neck, and its ankles were pointed. There were two toes on its feet and three fingers on its hands. The head was shaped like a frog, and the top of its head had two blades sticking upward which appeared to be its ears. From top to bottom, this Pokémon stood 6 feet tall. The light dimmed until a full appearance was made.

"Greninja!" the figure said. Then he looked around feeling out of place and saw Lucario, "Errrr...gren gren?" From the human perspective, Greninja can only be heard speaking syllables from his name, but any other Pokémon such as Lucario can understand his language completely.

"So you're here too!?" Lucario asked in shock.

"[Apparently!]" Greninja croaked, "[What is going on? I thought we were supposed to be with Simon outside of Anistar City]?"

"True. But something must have happened without us knowing. We both ended up here...unexpectedly. I don't know how though. I made contact with a human and asked him some questions. He doesn't know what happened either. What is even more strange is that his name is Simon, just like our trainer. I'm going to try to figure all of this out...well, not just me but you too."

"[Uhh, okay. So what exactly is this place? It appears we are in...his room? And you know how bad it is to enter someone's room without their permission.]"

"Actually, this human allowed me to stay here. We did not talk much because he had to go meet his parents for some kind of gathering."

"[Well, that is nice of him.]" Greninja rubbed his left ear. "[So what are you doing here?]"

"Long story short, I suggested that during his absence I will protect this entire house. I want him to feel that he can trust me, or rather us now that you were brought along. He has never been up close with Pokémon before, and there is not a single one here either. We are in a different world for Arceus' sake!"

"[Damn.]" Greninja sat on my bed. "[Does that mean our powers have changed because we're here?]"

"Well, we have yet to find out with a battle. I think Simon wants us to stick around because if any of us goes out there, and if another human spots us, we may be in trouble. Also, this house is protected by some sort of security system, so that means we will be safe from intruders unless they really want to break in. Remember, we are foreign in this world, and other humans may have not seen an actual Pokémon either."

Greninja took a deep breath. "[Now that you mentioned that this guy's name is Simon, I'm starting to confuse myself with the Simon that we know.]"

"He does look different from our Simon, and he thinks differently too. He has some similarities in his speech though."

"[Will I get to meet him?]"

"Eventually. At this moment, he is unaware that you are here now. I will have to introduce him to you myself. Take it slow because after I read his aura, he still has a hard time believing that Pokémon exist."

"[Okay, you're my leader for now, partner.]" Greninja lied down on the bed and made himself feel comfortable. Lucario sat back down on my rolling chair. Both Pokémon were silent for a while.

Sunday, 5 January 2020 09:00

"Hey, Greninja," Lucario caught his attention.

"[Yes, Lucario?]" he replied.

"Can you look out of that window and try to see what the area looks like? I have never seen it yet."

"[Let's see!]" Greninja lifted himself up and proceeded to the window with Lucario following behind him. Then Greninja moved the blinds and saw the backyard as well as other houses in view. To the left and right of the view were tall palm trees, and barren mountains sprinkled with snow were visible in the background. The skies were clear today. "[I think we're in a dry and mountainous region. Definitely not Kalos, that's for sure.]" Greninja said.

"Huh?" Lucario barked. Greninja moved to the side to allow him to see the surroundings. "These trees do look like they are not native."

"[Maybe they're fake trees,]" Greninja responded. "[But there must be a source of water somewhere, and it seems that it has rained here recently.]"

Lucario made a slight growl. "I seriously hope we have the chance to explore the land outside."

[I think we will eventually. For now, we have to guard this house. Patience is important.]"

"You are right. I am getting ahead of myself again."

Sunday, 5 January 2020 11:00

For the past two hours, the two Pokémon have been doing nothing but sitting or standing around the house, keeping an eye out for any suspicious activity that may occur outside. Lucario has been doing pretty much all of the work due to his aura reading ability, while Greninja decided to go to the master bedroom and take a siesta on the most comfortable bed in the house.

Suddenly, a small dog barked from the house next to mine. Lucario picked up the sound easily thanks to his great sense of hearing. Curious about the four-legged mammal, he started to read its aura. "(Is that a Pokémon?)" Lucario thought. Its aura indicated a sense of excitement as its owner came back from shopping for groceries. He petted it, and the dog became even more excited. Then it sat and received a dog treat as a reward. "(Interesting creature. I want to know more about it.)" Lucario stopped reading the dog's aura and made his way into the master bedroom where Greninja was.

Greninja open his eyes and said, "[So, what's up?]"

"I just picked up other life in another house next to this one," Lucario replied. "This particular creature is not a human, nor do I think is a Pokémon. It has four legs and a tail, small in size. It seems that its human is its trainer, but not the kind of trainer that we both are used to. Also, it cannot speak human language, but it uses body language to communicate."

Greninja lifted himself up, crossing his legs and said, "[So from what I understand, this creature does not fight anyone. It can only speak its own language, and it lives with its human that trains him to do tricks and receive treats as rewards.]"

"Precisely," Lucario affirmed. "This world is something else. I mean, from what I had observed all morning, everyone likes to eat, socialize, and sleep."

"[Kind of what I want to do nowadays,]" Greninja said putting his hands on his shuriken markings on the sides of his thighs. "[We've been through a lot in Kalos. Maybe this is the time to take a vacation.]"

Lucario frowned, "How would you know? Simon never said that. He would always tell us what we are doing, when we are going, or where we are going in the future."

"[And he never told us any of those before we ended up here,]" Greninja pointed out. "[It could be a surprise.]"

"And do you think the Simon that we just met would mention that to us?"

Greninja shrugged. "[Maybe, or maybe not. Only Arceus knows.]"

Lucario sighed, feeling a little nervous of what to expect from this world. Then he heard a buzzing noise coming from below the floor. I was arriving from spending time with my parents. Lucario went into aura reading mode to find my presence. "Simon is here. Stay here! I will greet him downstairs and bring him back up here for the introduction."

"[Okay! I will just stay like this,]" Greninja replied, still staying on the bed sitting with his legs crossed. Then he closed his eyes.

Lucario made his way downstairs to the garage door and waited for me. Two minutes have passed, but I was still inside my car on the driveway. Lucario growled, "What is taking him so long?" Then he sensed that I was jamming to my electronic music with the volume cranked up to the loudest but safest number. The song currently playing was "Foundations" by Mitis featuring Adara. "(I have never heard something like this...ever!)" Lucario waited patiently until he had the opportunity to speak to him telepathically.

Once the song had ended, I suddenly heard a deep voice. "Simon, are you here?"

"What the...huh?" I looked around the outside of my car. "Lucario?"

"Oh, sorry," he said, "this must be your first time communicating to a Pokémon through you...is it not?"

"Umm...yes. How are you talking to me when I'm outside and you're inside?" I spoke aloud.

"With my Aura abilities, I am also able to speak using telepathy on those I make contact with."

"(That...is...so...cool!)" I reacted mentally.

"I heard that!" Lucario said suddenly. "Be careful of what you think about when I'm tapped into you."

"Okay, stop it, Lucario. You're freaking me out now. I'll be inside shortly."

"Oh, sorry. Okay, I will await your arrival." Lucario ended the aura connection.

I parked my Jaguar SUV inside the garage and got out. I inserted the house keys, unlocked the door, and opened it to find Lucario standing in front of me. "AGH! Oh my God!" I screamed, hopping and putting my hands over my heart. "Lucario, you really are good at scaring the hell out of people!"

Lucario realized that what he had done was wrong. "I am so sorry, Simon! Please forgive me. Once I sensed your presence, I could not help but go to you right away."

"Oh," I said. "I'm sorry, I took to long."

"No big deal. Actually I want you to meet another Pokémon." Lucario backed away as I closed the door.

"Wait...hold up. Did you just say 'another Pokémon'?" I stared at him with a serious look.

"Uhh...yes. I actually called him out of his Poké Ball." Lucario said with a straight face.

-
FLASHBACK

As I set my phone down on the desk in front of my racing wheel, I immediately saw the two Poké Balls which made their way into this world overnight. "What the f***?" I said out loud. One Pokéball was expanded while the other one was still in it's form for handling.
-

I facepalmed. "Oh s***! I completely forgot about that second Poké Ball. I want to meet him right now." Lucario was surprised by my words. "But before we do..." I paused briefly.

"What?" Lucario asked.

"Sorry, I'm still in disbelief. Can you hold out your paw for me please?"

"Uhhh...sure?" Lucario held his paw out towards me.

I put my hand under his paw and the other on top of it. My middle and ring fingers were separated just far enough to make room for the spike on the back of his paw. It felt like I was touching rubber. Then I felt the metal on his spike, carefully putting my index finger on the tip which did feel absolutely sharp. This aura Pokémon was the real deal.

"Do you believe now?" Lucario asked.

"I...I do now." I replied. "Let me see the other Pokémon."

We went on going up the stairs. "He is in the big bedroom," Lucario said. As we entered the master bedroom, he pointed at Greninja sitting on the bed and then looked at me. "Simon, this is Greninja, the Ninja Pokémon."

Greninja opened his eyes and made contact with mine. "Jaaa. Gren gren ninja!" he spoke. Then he got up and walked over to me until we were four feet away from each other. I stared at him, dazzled by his appearance...and his height. I looked up at his head then down to his feet many times for a minute. "Nin?" he then asked to interrupt my observance.

"Oh, sorry! I just can't believe I am meeting an actual Greninja for the first time." I was getting more and more excited with each passing second. I started shaking uncontrollibly. "Oh God! This is...no. Hold out your hand for me please, PLEASE!"

Greninja was confused as to why I was acting this way so suddenly. He held out his hand as if he was greeting someone formally, hoping that this would calm me down.

I grabbed his hand. The surface of his hand felt slippery, but his fingertips were sticky thanks to the adhesives. Experiencing all of this made me tremble even more. I backed away quickly, put my hands on the back of my head and said, "I am dreaming right now. Oh my God!" I started to walk in circles in the hallway, rambling about what I had just felt.

Greninja just stood still wondering what just happened. Lucario tapped into his mind and spoke to him, "Like I said, he still does not believe there are Pokémon in this world right now." Then he approached me trying to get my attention, being careful not to accidentally stab me with his metal spikes. I was completely oblivious to him walking up towards me because my mind was still going crazy. "Simon...SIMON!" When Lucario barked at me, I stopped, regaining my own sanity. I looked at him, then he said, "Look, I know you still do not believe that we are right here right now. But please, calm yourself for once!"

I started to sweat in embarassment. I took a deep breath, then I said, "Man. Okay. Sorry about that!" I looked at the frog's pink eyes. "It's nice to meet you, Greninja. I apologize for my reaction." I put my hands together and curled my fingers to prove it.

"Grawahl," Greninja responded, raising his hand slightly. "Grawl wah nin-ninja?"

I looked back at Lucario. "Umm...I can't understand what he's trying to say to me."

"(That's disappointing,)" Greninja thought to himself.

"He was asking if you could help us with figuring out how we got here." Lucario said.

"Oh! Of course," I replied, then looked at Greninja, "I also want to find out how and why you two arrived here. I don't want to say that magic did all of this because I don't think that is not how it works in this world."

Greninja crossed his arms and looked down at the floor. "Ninnnnn..." Suddenly, a loud growl came from his stomach. "Grawhl!?"

Lucario and I stared at him putting his hand over his stomach. Then I said, "Oh man. You guys must be hungry by now, and so am I. It's already lunch time. How about I make all of us some food?"

"YES!" both Pokémon shouted in excitement.

"Alright! Let me get dressed first, then I'll start. Why don't you two make your way to the dining table downstairs near the kitchen and seat yourselves?"

"We shall go before you, Simon!" Lucario said in reply.

I smiled as I watched both of them run rapidly down the stairs one after the other. "(Wow, they move pretty quickly! Haha!)" Then I turned around and went into my bedroom to change. "(I hope they are able to digest human food. They must be able to! I remember feeding them something in the game, but I don't remember what it was.)"