Ch. 2- Xenophobia
"Well Riley, I'm very pleased to meet you." Brian introduced himself as politely as possible to the Lucario. Riley was about an inch shorter than Brian, and he was skinny. His muzzle was more pushed in than most Lucarios with a white spot in the center. His expression was disarmingly morose, his ears down at his cheeks and his arms tucked behind his back. The most outstanding feature was his eyes, they were a blinding shade of green, almost to the point of looking like someone had taken electric green paint to his irises. Their vibrant color was offset by the complete lack of happiness in them. Riley smiled diffidently at Brian's welcome, which disappeared almost instantly. "Do you want me to show you around?" Brian said after an awkward pause. Riley nodded. "Okay, well I suppose we could start he-" A shrill crash cut him off. A rock, roughly the size of a Graveler, came hurtling through a window, smashing the glass to smithereens and landing on an armchair, knocking it over. Riley dived to another chair and cowered behind it. "Son of- what's going on out there?" Brian grabbed his raincoat and ran out the front door. Riley peered over his chair at the wreckage. He was going to hate it here.
"Salazar! Stop it! Put that down, NOW!" Salazar, Brian's unhinged Hydreigon, was clutching a rock in one of his mouths. "Salazar! Put it DOWN! If you don't drop that, you're going into stasis again!" Salazar grudgingly threw the rock away from the ranch, hitting a tree and cracking it in two. "Okay, what happened? What were you doing?" Brian yelled. Salazar stood bitterly, slobber dribbling out of his 'lead' mouth in slimy cords. "Look, Salazar! I have a guest with me, and you're making a terrible impression! Now I want you to move your psychotic ass back into your quarters, or I swear, I'll make sure you never see an explosion again, got me?" Salazar snorted irately, but stomped back to his quarters obediently. Brian massaged his temples and breathed a heavy sigh. He needed to get the mess cleaned up that his flake of a Hydreigon made. But Riley still needed to be shown around the ranch. He looked around at the observing Pokemon. "Uhh.. Mara!" The shiny Buizel looked up expectantly. "Could you come-" Mara was in front of him. "..here. We have a guest, and he needs to be shown around. But listen, he's shy. Don't touch him, and, I know this is a chore for you, but try to move a little slower than usual." Mara wrinkled her nose in distaste. "Yeah, yeah, I know. You're the only one around who knows this ranch backwards and forwards. Just do it this once?" Brian said pleadingly. Mara pursed her lips, but nodded after a while. "Zelzel." she answered. Brian promptly hugged the Buizel. "Thank you soooo much!" Mara pushed him off, a little rattled. "S-sorry. This is just really important." Brian said sheepishly.
Riley stood, staring warily at the broken glass on the floor. He had cristallophobia ever since he was a Riolu. He stepped across the floor, doing his best to avoid the shards of glass. After making his way over to the other side of the room, he poked his head into the adjoining hallway. It seemed to go on forever, he couldn't see the end. "Impressive, eh?" Riley spun around in fright. A shiny, female Buizel stood across the room, over the sea of glass shards. She was in very good shape, her coat sparkled in the despite the gloomy lighting from outside. She had prominent curves and he found her very attractive. She nimbly tiptoed through the glass over to him. "We're gonna need to clean that up. Anyway, forget about that, I'm Mara." She extended a paw to shake, but Riley recoiled away from it, like she was going to attack him. "Please, just, just an introduction would be fine." Riley said meekly. Mara raised her eyebrow at the neurotic Lucario. "Al-righty then. Your name's Riley, yeah?" Riley nodded. "Yes. It's nice to meet you." Riley spoke in an infirm, frail tone of voice, never once looking Mara in the eye. "Hey, are you alright? You look really upset." Mara said, concern ghosting across her face. Riley took awhile to respond. "Yes. I don't travel much, I don't see that many new Pokemon, a-as a result." Mara smiled almost instantly. "Oh, I get it! You're just shy. Well, you don't have anything to worry about, Riley, we're all good Pokemon here…well, most of us." Riley felt a new gush of fear in his stomach. "But forget about that, let me show you around!" Mara began the tour, showing Riley the various rooms in the ranch house. Nothing particularly stood out to him. "..and this is the library. I don't go in here much, I'm not a reader." Riley scanned the room briefly. Then his eyes hit the Blaziken sitting in a chair. She was absorbed in her book, not noticing him or Mara when they came in. Her crystal blue eyes brimmed with intelligence, amplified by her rectangular glasses. Her body was tantalizing. She wasn't in shape like Mara, but she had the same smooth curves. As much as he hated thinking it, her breasts were plump and healthy, as well. She must have had some form of help, she must have cheated. Her face was, was, gorgeous. Riley shook himself out of this sentimental trance long enough to ask Mara a question. "Who's that girl in the chair?" Riley said, his voice cracking in the middle of his sentence. "Oh, that's um, ummm, what's her name, Steffi, that's it!" Steffi glanced up at the mention of her name. "Hey Mara. Who's that with you?" She had a much deeper voice than expected. "This is Riley, he's a guest." Steffi waved to him, giving him a smile. Riley couldn't respond, he just waved back. Mara hurried him along to the next room. Riley followed in a daze.
