Unlike the original chapter, this chapter has new scenes to cover up some details. As always, I'm doing my best to make this a much more interesting story.
I encourage all readers to read on, enjoy, and review. :)
Chapter 3: A Very Calm, Relaxing Approach
The birds' chirps sounded outside the room as Lucario slept while leaning against the bed. The Aura Pokémon slowly opened his eyes and mildly yawned. He looked around the room a bit before looking back at Chris, who was still sleeping. Lucario stared at him for a bit, thinking what the teen would show him today if there was something else he hadn't done before.
Out of a cue, the teen yawned loudly and woke up. He turned his head to Lucario and nearly yelped. "A-aah!" Chris yelped, startling Lucario.
"G-good morning," Lucario greeted startled.
Chris backed away a bit. "S-sorry, you were staring right at me after I opened my eyes. I-I got scared, t-that's all…" he trailed off embarrassed.
Lucario looked down a bit. "I'm sorry…"
"Well, you kind of have a scary-looking face…" Chris muttered. "…But…good morning, anyway…"
An awkward silence ensued between the two.
"…" Lucario looked away. "…What are you going to do today?" he asked.
"U-um, I was about to make breakfast for the two of us, but I completely forgot to take a shower yesterday because I was…distracted with you."
"I'm sorry for that," Lucario apologized.
"Oh, it's okay," Chris said, forcing a smile. "I actually like to show you anything a normal person does."
Lucario turned to Chris. "Should a Pokémon really try to do the same stuff humans do?" he asked.
Chris rubbed his chin. "Well, I never thought about that…but seeing that you didn't really get sick with eating normal breakfast, I suppose Pokémon can do it…" He chuckled and stared at Lucario. "If that's true, then you can do a lot more things than I'd ever do by myself. I'm a bit jealous."
Lucario shook his head. "I don't know if I can do what a human can do," he said before his eyes drifted away. "…But I think I like to do other stuff than battling and meditating all the time."
"(I've got to wonder why he doesn't look like a bodybuilder yet,)" Chris thought. "Don't get so discouraged. With some time, you'll be doing the same things I do every day."
"I'll try to distract myself from getting depressed…"
"You sound depressed now," Chris pointed out.
"I-I know," Lucario said embarrassed.
Chris looked at the door. "Well, I need to take a shower before I forget again," he said. "A shower… Wait, that reminds me about something else."
"What?"
The teen looked at the Aura Pokémon. "Do Pokémon take showers often?" he asked.
"A shower?" Lucario said.
"Yes, as in cleaning yourselves," Chris said.
"Oh, we clean ourselves."
"…How?" Chris asked before he shrugged. "I-I hope you don't clean yourself by licking your body…"
Lucario looked upset at this. "I'm not some kind of filthy Growlithe if that's what you're trying to say," he said.
"N-no, sorry," Chris said with a gulp, making Lucario stop glaring at him. "I honestly thought you did that because you look like a dog…"
"…" Lucario stared at Chris.
"…Fine, you don't really look like a dog," Chris said. "But how do you clean yourself?"
"I just enter a body of water and dry myself," Lucario said.
"That just won't do."
"It won't?"
"Of course it won't," Chris said. "Water just gets you wet, but it'll just remove stuff like mud but not the smell. I can bet that your…" he stared at Lucario's weird black wheels, "…armpits smell horrible," he finished.
Lucario looked away for a bit. "I've never smelled my armpits before so…"
Chris turned away to avoid seeing the Aura Pokémon smelling his armpits. A fast sneeze clarified the teen's horror about Lucario before he turned back at him. "Oh my god, you ARE dirty," he said.
Lucario seemed to be shrugging a lot while blushing a bit. "I-it never occurred to me to do that sort of thing like smelling myself… The odor is just…unbearable to my nose…"
"I'm surprised you don't radiate it while you were close to me yesterday during breakfast," Chris said disgusted. "I think it's about time you use soaps and shampoos on yourself. Oh, and you'll be using less water as well."
The Aura Pokémon looked concerned. "Will that make the odor go away?" he asked.
"I'd be dismayed if somebody asked a question like that to me…but in your case, I don't feel like that," Chris said. "Yes, it'll help you to smell clean."
Lucario stood up. "Then please, show me how to take a shower."
Chris chuckled mentally at the request, but he then blushed. "I-I'm afraid you'll have to do it yourself because I can't technically teach you how without losing all my dignity," he explained. "I'll just…give you instructions."
"Why?"
"Because I don't know if you've ever seen someone…naked."
Lucario gasped and shook his head. "I-I understand what you mean now," he said embarrassed. "I-I'll do my best on my own."
"Sheesh, talk about embarrassing," Chris said. "I'm so embarrassed myself just thinking about it."
"C-can we just get over it?" Lucario asked.
"Y-yes!" Chris said as he left the bed. "You'll have to listen to what I say. Normally, it'll take you ten minutes to finish…but I don't know how long it's going to take you."
"I'll make sure to do it fast…"
"Let's just go to the second floor. The bathroom is there."
The Aura Pokémon nodded, and soon, the two went upstairs to the second floor. The second floor looked almost like the first floor, except for the fact about three bathrooms. A terrace was located behind two windows and white curtains that overlooked the neighborhood of the south. In front of it, there was a living room where three bathrooms and three rooms in some small hallways. On the northeast corner of the floor, a new set of stairs leaded to the attic.
"This floor looks nice," Lucario said.
"I'm glad you like it," Chris said. "You'd think this place is for hanging out. But I guess it's just that because of the terrace."
"Can I see what's outside?" Lucario asked interested.
"Well, the fences of the terrace are big enough to hide you from being seen if you don't walk to the edges. I suppose we could go there after taking a shower…" Chris trailed off. "But…I have other things to do today."
"What do you have to do?"
"It's time for me to seed the garden I have outside in the yard," Chris said. "You can come with me after taking a shower."
Lucario looked at the small hallways with the doors. "Where is the bathroom here?" he asked.
"Each hallway has a room and a bathroom," Chris said. "It doesn't matter which hallway you take." He walked to the left hallway where a mirror hung in the wall, and opened the door of a blue-tiled bathroom. He then entered inside. "You can use this one over here," he called out.
The Aura Pokémon followed the teen into the blue-tiled bathroom. It was big enough for three people to be inside, with the actual bath situated on the right corner, occupying a quarter of space of the room. A sink was situated next to the left side of the entrance with a toilet on the right side. Several towels were hanging on the right wall.
Chris turned to Lucario. "If you want to dry yourself, you'll use one of those towels," he said as he pointed at the towels hanging on the bars. "While you're here, you won't shake your body to dry. I don't want this place to be soaked with drops."
"I can't dry myself like I normally do?" Lucario asked.
"Of course not," Chris said. "Using a towel is the most sophisticated way to dry one's body." He stared at Lucario's spikes. "Just…be careful not to rip the towels with your spikes, please."
"I'll be careful…" Lucario muttered.
The teen turned towards the bath. "And there's the place where you'll be taking the shower," he said.
Around ten minutes later, Chris left the room, and steam began escaping under the doorframe. The teen remained behind to see if Lucario was going to have any troubles with the bath.
Chris's fears soon erupted in the form of Lucario yelling. "I-it's so hot!" he complained inside the bathroom.
"Turn the lever to the right, turn it, quick!" Chris yelled.
"W-where is it? I-I forgot!"
"I told you it was facing the wall!"
A lever turning to the right was heard.
"I-it's so cold now!" Lucario complained.
"T-twist the lever a little bit to the left!" Chris instructed.
And soon, a relieved sigh made Chris sigh himself. He felt silent as he waited Lucario to finish with his shower. The water's sounds ended, and a figure stepped out of the bath…then started shaking madly.
"THE TOWEL!" Chris yelled.
"S-sorry," Lucario apologized behind the door. "I forgot the steps already…"
Chris sighed. "Did you make sure you didn't leave any parts in your body full of soap?"
"I don't have any soap left…"
"Good, now dry yourself with a towel, and DON'T rip it in the process," Chris instructed. "You'll be done very soon."
Lucario felt silent before he grabbed a towel and began drying his body with it. Chris closed his eyes dismayed as he thought that Lucario didn't learn well enough how to take a shower by himself. If this were true, then Chris would have to watch out for him every time he would take a shower. "(This is probably the only lesson he didn't understand. Great, now I'll have to be more careful…)"
Chris recalled something…
"(…Is he really a dog? He shakes to dry his body…)" Chris shrugged at the thought before the door of the bathroom opened with a clean Lucario walking out to meet up with him. "Oh, you're…fluffy…"
Chris stared at Lucario's yellow fur. Apparently, the shower had made his fur all fluffy and spongy. It was so fluffy that it even outlined his shoulders and his entire throat. The spike on his chest was even half-buried inside the fur. Lucario blinked confused at Chris's expression. "…Is something the matter?" Lucario asked.
"O-oh my god…" Chris muttered before covering his mouth to hide some chuckles. "L-Lucario, y-your fur is so…so…fluffy…" He reached out to rub a hand on Lucario's fur around his throat, feeling it extremely soft and puffy.
Lucario looked at his yellow fur. "Well, my yellow fur is the longest fur I have in my body. The blue fur I have is fairly shorter than my yellow fur…" He blushed embarrassed.
"A-a-ahahahaha!" Chris laughed a bit. "Y-you look so fluffy, I swear! A-ahahahahahaha! O-oh, m-my funny bone! I-it hurts!" Chris complained jokingly as he held his stomach with both arms.
Lucario grunted angrily at this response. "Do I look so funny to you?" he demanded.
Chris gasped and quickly stopped laughing. "I-I'm sorry, Lucario!" he apologized. "I-I never seen a Lucario with fluff-I-I mean, fur like the one you have! P-please, don't hurt me!"
Lucario kept glaring at Chris before he gasped and stepped back. "I-I'm sorry…" he muttered ashamed. "I…I don't like to be laughed at…"
The teen sighed. "(What a way to ruin the mood…) W-well, I-I'll be careful not to laugh at you anymore… But, geez, it was a small joke…" He looked worried. "It's sometimes good to laugh at yourself when you see your reflection in a mirror…"
"I just tried this out now," Lucario said. "I didn't know what to expect from a shower." He looked at the mirror to see Chris's and his reflection. "…P-pfft…" he stifled a chuckle.
"H-hey, you just chuckled at your image!" Chris complained, startling Lucario.
"I-I couldn't help it after looking at myself in a mirror," Lucario said in his defense.
Chris shook his head. "I feel like we skipped a nice time to laugh together… Oh well, you're just starting to live a life you couldn't experience before." He stared at Lucario. "But you still like this new life, right?"
"Well, the odor is gone, so…"
"Not just because of that…"
"O-oh, then, yes, I'm enjoying my new life," Lucario said. "But I'm sorry for sounding so threatening to you."
"It's okay now…again," Chris said. "Are you getting hungry?"
"I think so," Lucario said.
Chris smiled a bit. "Just let me take a shower myself and you wait for me in the living room below. I'll prepare breakfast as soon as I come down. After that, I'll go out to the garden to sprinkle water on the flowers I have."
"You have flowers here?"
"I told you before that I have a garden," Chris said. "Even though it's weird for somebody like me to do gardening, I care about the outside look of this house. I don't want people to think this place is a dump in the outside… But nobody ever takes a peek at the yard because the fences are a bit too high," he said embarrassed. "My aunt taught me to conserve the flowers by myself."
Lucario thought for a moment. "I'd like to see that garden by myself," he said.
"You're…into flowers?"
"No," Lucario said. "It's just that the atmosphere around flowers is a nice place to relax while meditating…" He looked worried at Chris. "I'm not going to meditate there all the time, but I still want to do some meditation once in a while."
"…Oh, I see," Chris said nodding. "Figures, you being someone who is into meditation…" He chuckled. "I think it was a bit too obvious you'd like to do that in a field like that." He went to the bathroom and closed the door. "Okay, you wait for me in the living room to make breakfast! Don't look outside if there are any people walking by the pavement, okay?"
"Alright," Lucario said before he left the second floor.
After Chris came back to the floor to prepare bacon for breakfast, the teen showed the satisfied Lucario the yard.
Chris smiled at Lucario. "You look very happy," he said. "Did you like to eat bacon?"
"It was certainly much better than the pancakes you served me yesterday," Lucario said pleased. "It tasted so much better to me."
"(Hmm, he liked meat… I wonder if he would like to eat steak later… I don't have steaks though,)" Chris thought, seeing the pleased look on Lucario's face. "(I wonder… Will he grow more confident if I make him food he likes? If that's so…I'll be careful not to make him fat…)" The two stopped in front of the door leading to the yard that was besides the corner of the kitchen. Chris opened it and revealed a set of stairs going down. "Walk down the stairs," Chris said. "It's okay to walk outside."
The Aura Pokémon walked down the stairs as he looked around the yard. The yard itself was large, occupying the right and upper areas around the house. On the top right corner, a small storage was taking the space. Behind the house, the yard had a single yet large tree that reached the third floor easily. Around the fences, there were rows of different flowers arranged, and there were more rows around the house's walls as well. Lucario looked around the firm grass on the ground as his feet touched it.
Lucario smiled and closed his eyes, feeling the wind brushing against the grass. For a brief moment, he felt as if he was back in his world.
Chris walked down the stairs and stared at Lucario's relieved expression. He smiled at him. "(If he is happy, that gives me more points of confidence with him,)" Chris said. "Your first step into the yard and you feel relaxed already?" he asked.
The Aura Pokémon looked at him. "The air in here is so refreshing," he said. "There is so much life around here."
"Life?" Chris said confused.
"Since I can sense auras, I can sense all auras of living things," Lucario explained. "I just not only detect people's auras, but I can sense flowers, mountains, and even the earth itself. Everything is alive," he said. "But some areas happen to be full of aura, and when they are full of aura, they are also full of life. I get very relaxed when I feel their life."
"Hmm, that's an interesting way to relax…" Chris trailed off.
Lucario looked at the flowers. "Flowers specially have soothing auras. They mostly have a lot of life. I think I've never been so close to them before." He closed his eyes to relax. "It's so nice."
The teen rubbed his chin. "I wonder if I took great care of the flowers to give so much aura energy as you're saying…"
"That would be the case," Lucario said as he sat down on the grass. "I feel very relaxed with the air in here…"
Chris looked away, a little bit jealous that Lucario could sense auras. "Sadly, I don't feel as relaxed as you," he said. "I'd only feel relaxed if I smell a flower. Hmm…when compared to you, humans have limited ways to relax."
Lucario opened his eyes and looked up at Chris. "Oh no, I still have yet to know more about all the things I haven't experienced yet," he said. "So far, I think I can't do more without someone helping me out."
The teen folded his arms behind his back. "(Is he flattering me? I think so…)" he thought. "Since you enjoy being here, I guess I'll start my work with the flowers," he said. "I just need to water them, though. After that, I'll be done with my duties here."
Lucario looked interested. "How many times do you water them?" he asked.
"I water them every three days," Chris said. "My aunt told me to take great care of the flowers because she was the one who planted them in the first place. And since I like my aunt, I'm going to watch over the flowers… Besides, I told you I don't want people to think I live in a dump."
Lucario shook his head. "Your home doesn't look like a dump to me. You do a very good job in keeping everything in order by yourself," he said.
Chris looked a bit concerned at Lucario's last word. "Oh… Sometimes, I wish there was someone else to help me out," he said before looking at Lucario. "But I can do this just fine."
"…" Lucario stared at Chris's look for a moment.
"…Is something wrong?" Chris asked.
"Oh no, I was just thinking about how I was going to relax here," Lucario said. "You can leave me and go to water the flowers."
"Okay…" Chris said before he walked away to retrieve some gloves from the ground. He then went over to a watering can that he filled with water.
The Aura Pokémon blinked as he saw the teen sprinkling water over the flowers on the yard. Lucario looked up at the bright sun before looking down at the sprinkled flowers that shone with the drops hanging on the petals. He smiled and closed his eyes to sense the radiating aura growing with life.
Chris took a moment to see Lucario sitting in a meditating position. He smiled a bit as he saw the Aura Pokémon sighing in total relaxation. "(And I'd feel much better if he was my Pokémon…)" He looked back at the flowers and sighed. "(I know he isn't legally my Pokémon. He still is under his trainer's ownership. If I went ahead and asked him to be my Pokémon…he'd feel insulted, and he'd probably get very angry…I just know it,)" Chris thought scared. "(As long as he remains here….he is just a guest in my house until I find a way to take back to his world. Of course, I don't know a way… Poor guy…)"
The teen silently sprinkled the flowers with water.
"(…There's no way I can find a way back to his world,)" Chris thought. "(And even if I did…would he be willing to throw away the only opportunity he has to experience a true life? Is he okay to fight and stay inside a Poké Ball all day until he's called out to fight? That's a horrible way to live if he asked me…)"
Chris shook his head and sighed.
"(And here I am, thinking about some video game's mechanics literally ruling over his life… This isn't just fair for him…)" he thought with concern. "(It's either set him free from his eternal imprisonment in my game or I'll get beaten up by him…)"
The Aura Pokémon opened his eyes to see how Chris was doing with the gardening. Lucario saw how Chris's pace slowed down a bit. "(Is he getting tired?)" Lucario asked. "(Perhaps I should help him out…)" He looked to his right where another watering can lied nearby. He blinked at it and looked back at Chris.
"(I should stop thinking about all that already,)" Chris thought as he sprinkled the flowers with water. "(I'm getting lost in my own thoughts…)"
The sound of a watering can coming from nearby made Chris turn his gaze to the south fence, where Lucario was standing in front of a row of flowers, sprinkling water over them. The Aura Pokémon sensed the teen looking at his way, making him look over his right shoulder at Chris.
"(I'd never thought I'd see a Lucario watering flowers with a watering can before…)" Chris shook his head and looked worried at Lucario. "U-um, it's okay!" Chris said. "I can take care of everything myself!"
"Nonsense," Lucario said. "I want to help you with this."
"A-are you sure of that?" Chris asked.
"I'm sure of that," Lucario said. "To be honest, I feel bad that you're doing the work while I'm just sitting in the middle of the yard doing nothing." He looked at the flowers he was watering. "And…I like to do this a bit."
Chris fell silent. "…You like to water flowers?" he asked.
"I think it's my duty to watch over these flowers," Lucario said. "With the water you're giving them, you're giving them more life. And with more life, their aura grows stronger. Thus, this place becomes much better to relax." He looked at Chris. "Please, let me do this."
"…Okay," Chris said. "If you really want to go ahead…"
"Trust me, I like to do this," Lucario said. "As the Aura Pokémon, I believe I should preserve life for the nature of this place. Besides, isn't this the only place I can stay besides going out from here?"
The teen looked down for a bit to think about the question. He smiled a bit and nodded to Lucario. "You're right, I guess," he said.
"Thank you," Lucario said before he smiled and turned to the flowers.
Chris's gaze drifted away from Lucario as he watered his flowers. Chris's eyes were still trying to see the Pokémon even though they couldn't fix themselves on him. The teen didn't want to look at Lucario for a while. "(I wonder if I'm discovering his true colors…)" Chris trailed off in thought. "(He seems very nice, actually. Treating flowers as if they were his is a nice thought. Well, his decision was based on his aura abilities… That reminds me… I should ask him some time later about what attacks he knows provided he doesn't destroy anything within my house…)"
Lucario gazed back at Chris. "(I think today was a nice day,)" he thought. "(For some odd reason, I'm starting to feel like I was supposed to live here…)" He shook the thought away as soon he said that. "(W-what am I thinking? I belong to my world. I enjoy my stay here. But…something is telling me that I should see what else I can learn here…)" he stared at Chris, "(and he might be the only one cordial enough to show me all there is to know and do in this world.)"
Half an hour later, Chris and Lucario stood next to the stairs as they looked around the watered flowers. Thanks to the sun, the drops made some small glitters that made Lucario feel their aura cover the yard.
"Well, thank you for your help," Chris said with a smile. "Thanks to you, I finished sooner than expected. And…it seems you look relieved."
Lucario snapped out of his state and looked at Chris. "To the contrary, I should thank you," he said, surprising Chris. "I learned about more stuff today like yesterday."
Chris blushed a bit and looked away for a moment. "Oh…I-I'm glad you're thankful," he said. "Do you feel in home a bit?"
Lucario thought for a moment. "That's hard to say… Even though I'm enjoying my stay here so far…it's going to be a long time before I start calling this my home…" He gasped and shook his head. "I-I mean to say this place is nice as a replacement until I go back to my world someday soon. If I think this is my home, I'd be betraying my trainer's wishes to go back."
The teen looked concerned. "(How much I want to tell him that his life here is so much better than his life in a video game,)" Chris thought worried. "(I need to change the topic here…)"
Chris stared at Lucario for a while.
"…Oh, that's right," Chris said. "All that stuff about auras piqued my interest."
Lucario looked at Chris. "It did?" he asked.
"Yes," Chris said. "Before, I never thought that it was so amazing to sense auras like you do. After hearing you talking about how much aura the flowers radiate and everything else that it made you relax, I'd like to hear more from you later."
Lucario thought for a moment. "(That's an interesting idea… Teaching a human how auras work…) I honestly didn't think about showing someone how auras manifest…" He stared at Chris and smiled a bit. "I suppose I could teach you what to know about auras."
"Really? Thank you!" Chris said relieved. "This is like something you're showing me in return for showing you everything in this world."
"If you think that way, then I'm glad," Lucario said.
"(Nice move,)" Chris thought to himself. "(If I can somehow establish a strong bond with him, he might stop feeling so bad about being here rather than his world. I need to be careful not to make him think I want to own him, though…) But show me about auras later," Chris said. "It's time for us to go back into the house."
"Why?" Lucario asked. "There isn't anyone around the vicinity, and I don't pick any human auras nearby."
The teen looked away. "Oh, I thought you wanted to watch that show we saw yesterday," he said. "You seemed REALLY interested in seeing those battle scenes."
Lucario looked hesitant. "I-it's going to be shown today as well?" he asked.
Chris looked at him and nodded. "Of course, that show always airs five times a week. I've watched all the episodes, and new episodes are about to come soon," he said.
"In that case…I'd like to go watch them again," Lucario said.
Chris chuckled. "A Lucario interested in anime? You really are starting to give me a different look on all Lucarios in general," he said amused.
Lucario blushed. "I…just like to see intense action…" he muttered.
"That's probably because you want to be part of the intense action as well," Chris guessed.
"I admit it… It's like a Pokémon Battle, but without actual Pokémon," Lucario said. "…Can we go now?"
The teen chuckled again and nodded. "Alright, let's go back inside," Chris said. "I've got to think about what to eat for our meal."
The two decided to go back inside the house, leaving the flowers glimmer with the drops that fell to the ground.
The day went on until night came, and Chris was already sleeping in his bed. The Aura Pokémon rested by leaning against the bed, sitting in a meditating position. Lucario opened his eyes and looked outside to the moon as he reflected his thoughts about his new experiences.
"(Chris told me that I should take a shower daily,)" Lucario thought concerned. "(I'd feel a bit stupid doing it every day in the morning, but I don't want to stink… I don't want to stink, so I don't have any choice left… Somehow, it feels nicer to be clean, though. The air smells fresher…)" he thought before blushing. "(…I hope I didn't get used to my own smell all this time… He doesn't know that…)"
Chris mumbled a few words behind his back before falling silent.
Lucario stopped blushing and closed his eyes to relax. "(And thanks to the gardening we did today, the aura surrounding this house feels much more lively than before,)" he thought. "(With an aura like this, I feel so much better… Will it help me to calm down? I went too far in glaring at him for having…that kind of fur I don't want to mention.)" He looked at his fur, which now had returned to its usual sharp look.
The Aura Pokémon looked over his shoulder at the teen's calm look.
Lucario turned back to face his reflection on the TV. He smiled a bit and closed his eyes to sleep. "(I'm sure of only one thing about this world, though…)"
The flowers in the garden, although having lost their drops, radiated with more aura.
"(This world still has a lot for me to see and experience.)"
Originally, Chris and Lucario bonded too much quickly (in a ridiculous record time). But now, an idea has sparked me. This story's new theme should be how the two slowly bond together as time goes by. In the end, this is some kind of battle for Chris to bond together with Lucario so the latter ultimately decides his decision whether to stay or think of a way to go back to his world.
From this point, the story will start having brand new chapters to prolong further their slow bond. At last, I've seen the theme I originally ignored: the bond.
I encourage everyone to review and to enjoy this story. :)