To all of those who read the previous version, this chapter is a brand new one. It's probably going to be one of those "cute" moments.

I encourage all readers to read on, enjoy, and review. :)

Chapter 4: A Carnivorous Aura Pokémon

The chirping sounds coming from outside awoke Lucario, who sat next to Chris's bed. The Aura Pokémon yawned as he fixed his gaze outside to the blue sky. He looked back to Chris, who was still sleeping deeply. Lucario blinked a bit before turning back outside where a few birds flew by to the horizon.

"(…Those birds weren't Pokémon, that's for sure…)" Lucario said, recalling how the birds looked so different from a Starly or any other bird-like Pokémon. "(They didn't look so much like any other bird I've seen before…or maybe they're… No, he told me there weren't any Pokémon in this world. I shouldn't get my hopes up with this world's inhabitants.)" He looked down sadly to the floor. "(…I must really stop looking so depressed before he notices. I don't want to make him worry about me.)"

Chris grumbled a few words as he slowly woke up, seeing Lucario looking down on the floor. The Aura Pokémon pulled back his head and looked at him. "Good morning, Lucario," Chris said.

"Good morning," Lucario said.

"Well…" Chris said as he yawned a bit, "this is your fourth day ever since you came to this place… Are you finding your stance here enjoyable so far?"

"Oh, yes," Lucario said. "You don't need to worry about so much."

"That…I can't do," Chris said skeptically. "I still need to look after you so you don't mess up. You've been here for four days now, but it's just too soon to leave you roam my house on your own."

Lucario looked away. "I suppose you're right…" he muttered.

Chris sat up from his bed and embraced his knees. "With that settled, you need to take another shower," he said.

The Aura Pokémon blinked at this and turned to the teen. "A-another shower?" he asked.

"Well, yes, you have to take a shower daily," Chris said mildly upset. "You don't expect to be clean for three days after taking a bath, do you?"

"I…thought it was that way."

"Sorry, but no," Chris said. "You'll still start stinking after you wake up. You need to keep yourself clean every single day to be…well, clean," he said. "Besides, it's much better if you get out of the bathroom. You'll feel really nice after a bath."

Lucario smiled a bit. "I do remember feeling so nice after taking a shower," he said. "It felt so nice."

"Alright," Chris said, sitting on the side of his bed. "You go take a shower in the second floor while I go ahead and make breakfast for us. I'll take a shower after I eat."

Lucario sighed and walked out from the room towards the second floor. While he did this, the teen made sure that he went upstairs. "(I did notice that look he had when I was waking up…)" Chris thought worried. "(Is he still lamenting the fact he's stuck in this world? If that's so…that will make him feel so melancholic all over again…)"

The teen looked outside to think what to do.

After half an hour, Chris and Lucario were sitting together in the living room, having scrambled eggs for breakfast. The Aura Pokémon found the new dish to be tasty. The teen watched as Lucario ate his scrambled eggs, looking relaxed when he closed his eyes to chew his food in his mouth.

"(That look he's doing is so nice to see,)" Chris thought to himself. "(He never had the opportunity to eat scrambled eggs before. I can tell that very well.)"

"Hmmmm," Lucario mumbled pleased as he ate his scrambled eggs.

The teen stared intently at the Aura Pokémon for a long a while. Something about Lucario's happy look for eating breakfast made Chris realize that there was a way to please him more.

"(…I wonder… Will I make good progress with him if I made more food for him to eat?)" Chris wondered. "(They do say that using food is a nice way to show hospitality to others. Will this work with him?)"

Lucario chewed his food before he noticed Chris was staring blankly at him. The Aura Pokémon felt a bit awkward after the teen didn't react at all. "Uh…um…is something I'm doing wrong now?" Lucario asked, breaking the uncomfortable silence in the living room.

"…Oh, what? Oh no, no," Chris said embarrassed. "I was just daydreaming about some stuff after I saw how happy you looked when you were eating your breakfast."

"(He isn't thinking about some odd stuff about me, is he?)" Lucario thought worried. "Well…yes, I like these…scrambled eggs," he said, forcing a smile. "I never ate something like this before. I'm grateful you gave me this for the morning."

Chris forced a smile next. "I'm glad you like them," he said. "Since you haven't eaten these kinds of dishes before, maybe I should give you more food this afternoon."

"There's more?"

"Of course there's more," Chris said. "There are so many dishes that I haven't eaten before, but I still got to eat many kinds of them. Are you familiar with…meat?"

"Not that much…" Lucario said. "I never got to taste meat in my life."

"Would you like to eat some steaks later this afternoon?" Chris asked. "I think you'll like eating them better than anything else."

"…Go ahead," Lucario said. "As long as it's edible…"

"Don't worry about that," Chris said as he pushed his plate aside and stood up away from his chair. "It'll be very edible, that's for sure. I'm going to go upstairs and take a shower for now, though."

"I'll see you later," Lucario said.

"Wait for me in the couch," Chris said. "You can watch TV if you want."

Lucario nodded as the teen made his way upstairs to the bathroom. The Aura Pokémon put his plate aside and pushed his chair to stand up and stretch his arms. After doing so, Lucario walked back to the living room and sat down on the couch. He rested his arms on his knees as his mind wandered off in thoughts about what would be shown to him today.

"…I trust that he won't humiliate me in some way," Lucario muttered to himself. "So far, nothing has gone wrong…"

Deciding to distract himself, Lucario picked up the remote control and turned on the TV. His crimson eyes stared intently at the epic battles that were shown on the screen.

Hours later…

An unimaginable scent wafted along the air in the living room. The same scent went all the way to Lucario's nose, who mumbled some pleased grunts. Just by smelling the succulent smell of meat being cooked over a frying pan from the kitchen made his stomach beg for food. It was just as if he had been ignoring the best kind of food he couldn't get to lay a fang on it. As time passed, his stomach kept growling and growling without him getting embarrassed about it. The scent was so strong that it even made his mouth get full of water.

The smell of meat was just too much for him to handle. Lucario didn't know that he could find a liking to meat food.

Lucario looked back all the way to the kitchen where he saw Chris cooking up some steaks over a frying pan. While he couldn't make out the steaks' texture from his spot, their scent was good enough to make him think that they were destined to be digested inside his stomach. The only thing he wished to do now is eat whatever Chris was making for the two.

"It's going to be ready in two minutes!" Chris called over without turning to Lucario. "You should sit down in your seat now!"

Lucario took Chris's words as some sort of order that he needed to follow for his benefit. Briefly, the Aura Pokémon snapped out and found himself stopping midway to the chair. "(Is he trying to control me with food?)" Lucario thought embarrassed. "(How long am I going to fall for this world's wonders?)"

And the scent of meat softly soothing his nose told him otherwise.

"(…Oh no, I shouldn't be thinking like that at all,)" Lucario said, shaking his head to fight the scent to no avail. "(The scent is…is just too…too good for me to ignore… Concentrate… I just need to get over the smell and eat whatever he wants me to eat…)"

Lucario couldn't tell that he was submitted to his own temptation. He unknowingly sat down on his chair, the scent making his stomach growl. Again, thanks to the smell, he mumbled some words. His nose suddenly started to smell the scent, telling it was getting strong and stronger. As if he was forced to turn his head towards the kitchen by some unknown force, Lucario saw Chris carrying some fresh steaks over a big plate.

Lucario's eyes instantly fixed on the brown meat. He could see the true scent wafting off from the top. His mount started watering inside without his consent. As Chris brought the plate over the table, Lucario's crimson eyes fixed on it like they were having some kind of vendetta on the meat.

Chris sat down on his seat and saw the blank expression Lucario had on the meat set in front of them. The teen looked down, seeing the Aura Pokémon's chest breathing in and out at a rather fast pace. "…Are you…feeling okay?" Chris asked.

The Aura Pokémon was called back to his senses, turning to Chris. "I-I'm fine," he said. "Was I distracted just now?"

"I'd…say so," Chris responded. "You were staring into the meat for quite a long time…"

Lucario quickly turned his head to the meat over the big plate, as if Chris's words sounded like a warning that the meat disappeared or something. "…I'll be honest," he said without giving Chris a look. "The smell of the meat is…is really refreshing and appetizing to me," he admitted embarrassed.

"(In other words, he likes it!)" Chris cheered triumphantly in his mind. Without hesitation, he chuckled and said, "Well, go ahead and eat as much as you like. It's better when it's warm."

Lucario didn't do a thing as Chris offered himself to hand over two steaks to his plate. The Aura Pokémon's eyes were totally focused on the steaks, thinking the steaks had some kind of power that forced him to focus on them. With the scent now filling the air right under his nose, Lucario couldn't avoid inhaling the scent, letting a very pleased mumble by accident. He opened his eyes in shock, looking at Chris. "I-I'm sorry if I sounded weird…" he muttered.

Chris chuckled a bit. "Oh, don't worry about it," he said. "I expected you to do that after you said you liked the smell."

The teen could have sworn the Aura Pokémon blushed slightly. "Can we just eat now?" he asked mildly upset. "I'm feeling so awkward right now…"

"Right, just be careful because they have bones in them," Chris said as he calmly began to cut his steak to pieces with a knife, using a fork to bring a piece to his mouth.

Lucario saw the relieved expression Chris made whenever he ate a piece of meat. Looking back down to his plate, Lucario calmly grabbed his knife and fork. Having learned how to hold his utensils from Chris, Lucario slowly and carefully started to cut his steak. He chipped off a piece that he impaled with his fork. He felt his mouth watering even more as he slowly brought the piece of meat to his mouth.

And after taking a small bite of it, Lucario's eyes shot wide open.

After the meat touched his tongue, Lucario felt that he was taken to the heaven. His eyes slowly closed as he savored the meat inside his mouth. He chewed on it, spreading the unbelievable and tasty treat across his sharp fangs. Surely, he thought, the meat's taste easily overwhelmed any kind of Oran Berry he used to eat. The taste would even easily defeat a Sitrus Berry's flavor. Lucario never thought there was going to be something so powerful in taste like a small piece of meat. Chris stopped eating once he heard the satisfied Pokémon mumbling happily to himself. He noticed how Lucario rose up his chin while looking relieved. The teen blinked a few times at this, smiling a bit as he went back to eat.

As time went by, Chris couldn't help but notice the Aura Pokémon began eating at a faster pace until he settled down with a calm and collected look to enjoy fully every single piece of meat he brought to his mouth. It was not long before his pleased mumbles grew louder and louder, causing Chris to think that there was some kind of big lion standing right next to him who was about to leap on his back and bite his head off.

"(Oh my god… Is it just me, or is he sounding a little bit too wild with all those mumbling sounds he's making?)" Chris thought with some fear, seeing how Lucario continued to eat his steaks happily. "(I-I know I found out he likes to eat meat, but this is a little bit too much from what I expected from him…)"

Chris nearly hopped from his seat once he noticed there was something wrong with Lucario. The teen looked back to the Pokémon's plate, completely clean from any meat. However, this was not the case for Chris to look dismayed. It was the fact that Lucario was eating a whole bone that was inside the steak. Chris didn't think Lucario would go so far as to eat the bone, but it was a scary sight to see because of the fact Chris could spot Lucario's sharp fangs easily breaking the bone apart as if it was some kind of candy. Moreover, a single bite from the Aura Pokémon's sharp fangs was enough to break parts of the bone he held with one hand.

"(No way…)" Chris said in disbelief. "(I know dogs like to bite on bones to eat them, but…he's literally breaking the whole bone with small bites! What's more, he is eating a bone, for god's sake! I thought he was going to leave it alone and go for another steak!)"

Deciding that it was awkward to see the tall Pokémon obliterating the unlucky bone with his sharp fangs, Chris tapped on Lucario's shoulder.

And all that he received as a reply was an angry growl from Lucario, who glared at Chris without thinking.

Chris yelped at this and nearly fell back from his seat. His reaction made Lucario come back to his senses, gasping aloud after recalling what he did. "I-I'm sorry!" Lucario apologized as Chris pulled himself back to his seat to avoid falling off. "I-I didn't know what I was doing!"

Chris looked a little bit scared at Lucario, who in turn felt stupid. "I-I think I shouldn't have interrupted you," Chris said. "I-I'm the one who should be sorry for it."

"N-no, no, it's my fault," Lucario apologized. "I don't know what was happening to me after I started biting that bone… I…I just went along with the flow and started tearing it apart with my teeth…"

"F-fangs, you mean…" Chris corrected.

"Y-yes," Lucario said, still sounding ashamed. "Please, don't be scared. It was a mistake done by my part…for growling at you without thinking…"

Chris gulped and leaned back to his seat. "I thought you really were going to punch me for real this time…" he muttered. "Seriously, I don't want to think about you hurting me because, well…you're technically far stronger than any normal person out there."

"(Oh no, what did I just do?)" Lucario thought dismayed. "(One mistake I do always leads him to think I'm going to hurt him… Am I that violent?)" He shook his head and looked ashamed at Chris. "Please, forgive me for being so rude… I'm going to be more careful next time. I promise."

"(How can I trust him that he won't do the same mistake?)" Chris thought worried. "(It's me who's making him get angry…)" he thought before he shook his head and sighed in relief. "I forgive you, so don't worry," Chris apologized. "After all, you still need to get used to this world, am I right?"

"I suppose so…" Lucario trailed off, before the scent of the steaks in front of them soothed his nose. Soon, he sighed in pleasure as he savored the smell.

Chris blinked at this before he chuckled heartily, something Lucario made react angry.

However, deep down, Lucario had a feeling that told him to laugh together with the teen. Unfortunately, his mood got the better of him, and he just grunted silently to himself so Chris wouldn't hear him. He did, however, stifled the grunt after Chris opened his eyes and resumed eating his plate. The teen, once again, gave Lucario another steak, which somehow forced him to eat and mumble happily, forgetting what had happened between the two.

After a while, all plates were empty while Lucario leaned back to his seat, shattering a small piece of bone with his sharp fangs that went down his throat and hit his full stomach. He let out a pleased sigh, putting his hands over his lap. Chris had just finished his plate, seeing Lucario resting against his chair. "Were you satisfied?" Chris asked.

Lucario turned to him and nodded. "Yes," he said with a happy look. "This was by far the best meal I've ever eaten thanks to you."

Chris mimicked the same happy look as a sign of affection. "I'm so glad you enjoyed it. Your look says that pretty well," he said.

Lucario gasped mentally as he changed his happy look for a blank look. He looked away embarrassed. "Y-yes, you like you said…" he muttered.

The teen tilted his head confused. "Is something else bothering you now?"

"No, it's nothing," Lucario said without turning to Chris.

"…Alright," Chris said, picking the plates and utensils to bring them to the kitchen.

As the teen left the table, Lucario was puzzling himself with the fact that he gave the teen a happy look. That, and the fact that he wanted to laugh with him, made Lucario think that he was slowly forgetting his trainer whom he was very fond. "(I need to stop doing this…)" Lucario thought. "(If I keep showing happiness to him, will I eventually forget my trainer? Is he trying to make me submit to his world? There's only one way for me to know without having to ask him directly…)"

The only way to clear his thoughts was reading Chris's own mind. The Aura Pokémon glowed ominously as he turned to look at Chris, who was cleaning the plates at the time.

"(I knew he was going to like eating steaks,)" Chris thought in a cheerful mood. "(Somehow, I think I'm doing a pretty good job to make him feel more at home so that he doesn't feel so bad about being here. But…I wonder how long this will go like this…)" he wondered worried. "(It's just too soon for him to get used to this world, I admit… Am I doing a good job, really? I shouldn't be thinking that he would become my Pokémon or something stupid like that. I mean, he is already owned by someone else than me…)"

Lucario noticed that Chris stopped cleaning for a moment before he resumed.

"(…No, don't you dare think you can just make him be your Pokémon,)" Chris thought seriously. "(You can't just grab him for yourself while he's so confused of what is going on in his life. It's…too tempting to do that, but that's not right at all. I'll just have to live with the truth until I find some way to make him go back to his world…assuming I can find one with what I have… For now, I'll hang in there with him. My job now is to make him feel at home, and that's all I'll ever do for him. Yes, just like that…)"

Lucario looked worried as his body made the aura disappear. He blinked a few times and looked down to the floor. "(Even he is struggling to think about what to do with me… I can't find any selfish intentions. His aura is blue, so he's not a bad person with malicious thoughts…)" He looked up to the ceiling. "(But even so, I can't put my full trust to my aura. Only time will tell me what to do while I'm here…)"

Soon, Chris came back from the kitchen, making Lucario look at him. The Aura Pokémon stood up and looked down a bit at the teen. "Well, I don't know what to do," Chris said. "I don't have any chores to do."

"Really?" Lucario asked.

"I'm pretty much free today, so yes," Chris said. "Maybe I should use this time to teach you something else?"

"Oh, yes, please do," Lucario said with an apologetic look. "Think of this as some way to excuse me from growling at you."

"Well…if that's what you wish," Chris said, rubbing his chin. "I still don't know what to do…"

It was then that Chris fixed his look to Lucario's mouth. A single piece of meat was still hanging on to his lips. Noticing this, Lucario touched his lips until he sucked up the little strand of meat inside, briefly chewing it with his fangs. Chris spotted Lucario's fangs. "Oh yes, now that I think about it, you need to have dental hygiene."

"Dental…hygiene?" Lucario wondered.

"Um, yes, think like having a bath, but instead, you clean your mouth and teeth…I mean, fangs," Chris said. "Are you up to cleaning your fangs?"

"…I guess," Lucario said confused.

"First, let me see if you really need to clean your fangs," Chris said. "Okay, open up your mouth."

Lucario shrugged. "I feel uncomfortable now," he said.

"I'm not going to insert my hands in your mouth, if that's what you're thinking," Chris said disgusted. "I just need you to show me your fangs for a little bit…and if you would, smell your breath to see if it's not stinky."

Lucario looked upset at the part mentioning his breath, but he opened his mouth wide open.

Chris looked particularly intimidated. From a distance, he would always find four sharp fangs every time Lucario spoke. But from a short view, Chris found out that there were rows of small, sharp-looking fangs extending in and out from the four larger fangs. "(Gosh, no wonder why those bones he ate were easily turned into crumbles. Those sharps fangs he has look exactly the same from each other…and they look extremely sharp…)" he thought, spotting some little remnants of meat stuck between some of the fangs.

"Are you done?" Lucario asked.

"N-not yet," Chris said. "Now, I need you to exhale slowly."

Lucario did so.

And Chris felt that he was being tortured. Lucario's breath was, in a few words, plain down horrible. His breath smelled as if a dead rat's corpse was being kept inside his throat, and there were probably even more ways to define the horrendous bad breath that Lucario was letting dwell inside his mouth for a place to call home.

"Sweet mother of…" Chris muttered, stepping back to survive with the fresh air he was able to inhale, away from the Pokémon's bad breath.

Lucario closed his mouth, looking clueless to why Chris was gagging a bit. "U-uh…" he trailed off. "…Is something wrong?"

"O-oh," Chris gagged, "I wouldn't say something is wrong when that something smells nasty," he said. "I-in fact, it is…horrendous. Your breath stinks like a dead corpse of something close to it was being kept inside your mouth…"

Lucario, again, looked upset. "That is very ridiculous to compare my breath to a dead corpse," he said, crossing his arms. "I'm sorry, but I'll take that as an insult this time."

Chris looked worried. "Well, if you're so sure, then go ahead and see what I mean. Smell your breath."

Lucario did so.

"…" The Aura Pokémon felt that his consciousness was slowly leaving him. His own breath was just too much for his nose to handle.

Chris looked bored, making Lucario snap out from his state to look apologetic at the teen. "…So?"

"…I want to get rid of this unbelievable breath…please…" Lucario muttered embarrassed.

"You and Mr. Toothpaste will get along just fine," Chris said with emphasis.

"…You're introducing me to someone else already?" Lucario asked. "I thought I wasn't supposed t-"

"I was using figurative speech there, you know."

"…I feel stupid."

Chris sighed. "Let's go back to the bathroom again…" he instructed. "That's where I'll teach you how to clean your fangs… Hmm, I wonder if there are any 'Fangpaste' for your fangs?" he joked a bit while Lucario simply sighed.

After taking Lucario to the bathroom where he was told about how to use toothpaste together with a blue tooth brusher, the Aura Pokémon was left to do anything inside the bathroom as he stared at his reflection on the mirror over the washbowl. He opened his mouth to spot the little strands of meat stuck between his fangs.

"(What was I thinking, going around with meat stuck there?)" Lucario thought dismayed. "(At least I know you're not supposed to have something stuck between your teeth when you're talking…)"

Looking at his tooth brush, the Aura Pokémon started cleaning his fangs.

Later that night…

"For the last time, Lucario, you have to clean your fangs three times a day," Chris said as he lied down on his bed, as Lucario tried to get the concept of cleaning after yourself. "Each one of them is done after each meal you have."

"Oh…so that's why you always went to the bathroom every time you ate," Lucario said, sitting down on the floor next to the bed.

"What were you thinking before you learned this, then?"

"I was thinking you were taking a shower three times a day instead…"

"…If I did, my skin would turn really white."

"…That was figurative speech this time, right?"

"Oh, good, you're starting to grasp the concept," Chris said relieved.

Lucario sighed and looked away. "…Chris, tell me something," he muttered ashamed. "Am I…pathetic to you?"

"N-no, no, no! You're not pathetic!" Chris tried to correct. "W-why are you asking that all of a sudden?"

"Because I think I'm very clueless about everything a normal person knows commonly," Lucario said worried. "It's been a short while, but…I'm starting to think I wasn't meant to know about this world's culture that much and I were meant to be just a wild Pokémon."

Chris shook his head disapprovingly. "That's not true," he said. "Lucario, I truly believe that you have…potential to do more."

"…Do I…" he muttered in a downcast mood.

"You and many other Pokémon have the same potential," Chris said, sitting on his bed. "It's just that there was never some kind of Pokémon who does this kind of thing, but…let me ask you this."

Lucario turned to him. "Go ahead and ask me…"

"Were you able to do all the stuff I showed you all these past three days?"

"…Yes, but I screwed up a bit in each one of them," Lucario said.

"It doesn't really matter," Chris said seriously. "It's not like you're going to succeed right after doing it the first time. Like I said before, you just need to get used to this. Are you telling me that you haven't enjoyed all this so far?"

"I sure did…" Lucario trailed off.

Chris chuckled heartily. "Then there's no reason for you to be so depressed," he said, rubbing Lucario's head between his ears. "So please, don't worry because there's so much to show you later on."

Lucario blinked shocked as he saw Chris rubbing his head. The teen noticed what he was doing and gasped, drawing back his hand to his side. "…"

"I-I'm sorry for that, really, I'm sorry!" Chris apologized. "I-I got carried away, I swear!"

"…It's okay," Lucario said with a sigh. "Please, don't get so worked up over that."

The teen couldn't believe what the Aura Pokémon told him. Chris's action was sure about to spark a little growl from Lucario, but Chris never thought Lucario would just shrug it off. "(Maybe he's slowly opening up? Nah, it can't be. It's too fast for him to do that…)" Chris thought before he yawned, lying down on his bed. "Well…thank you, Lucario."

"You're welcome, Chris," Lucario said apologetically. "…Do I still need to clean my fangs three times a day?"

"…Yes, do that so your fangs don't look yellow," Chris muttered. "Good night…" he muttered softly, drifting off to sleep.

The Aura Pokémon made sure that the teen was sleeping deeply. Once he did, Lucario leaned his back to the bed and looked outside to the night sky. Looking at the moon and the stars, he smiled a bit to himself. "(It felt nice when he rubbed my head…)" he thought before he gasped mentally. "(W-why did I think that just now? My temptations are taking over my own decisions…but…I wouldn't say they are temptations because I enjoy what he's doing for me…)"

Lucario kept pondering about all the things he was going to learn in the incoming days. Drifting off to sleep, the Aura Pokémon smiled, regardless about the times where he reacted violently against Chris.

Somehow, he thought, he was going to behave much better from now on. The only thing Lucario needed was to have optimism. And Chris would certainly enjoy an optimistic look coming from him.

The night went on as Lucario smiled a bit during his sleep…

I hope everyone enjoyed this brand new chapter. I have nothing else to say other that the fact I enjoyed writing this one.

I encourage all readers to review. :)