A new spark of interest enlightened me to write a new chapter.

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

Chapter 6: An Unbelievable Strength

It was a brand new day as always. Yesterday, Chris and Lucario had been enjoying themselves more than they could think. Although Chris felt that there was hope to form a nice bond with Lucario, the Aura Pokémon still held the idea that Chris wasn't his trainer. He just saw him as a friend.

Waking up first, Lucario opened his eyes and looked outside for a brief moment. "(I wonder if he still wants to play video games with me,)" he said. "(…I hope I don't become an addict…)"

The Aura Pokémon heard the teen yawning behind his back. Looking over his shoulder, Lucario was greeted by a small smile from Chris. "Oh, good morning… You're such an early bird…"

"I am tempered in body and mind," Lucario said. "Therefore, I do my best to look strong."

Chris slowly sat up. He wondered how much of that was true. In fact, he wanted to ask an important question. Given his eyes, the teen was fully awake. "That reminds me. How did get to be so tall?"

Lucario stared blankly. "What do you mean?" he asked. "Am I very tall?"

It surprised Chris that the Lucario never thought he was very big. Chris barely even reached Lucario's neck, making it possible that the back of his head would have an accident should he ever decide to stop with the towering Pokémon following him from behind. "Well, yes, you're…huge."

Lucario couldn't help but preen a little. "That goes to show I'm strong," he said

"Let me measure your size to give you an idea…"

A few minutes later, the teen had the Aura Pokémon stand upright while Chris used a measuring tape. Not counting the long ears, Chris had to climb up his bed to reach the top of Lucario's head. He then went all the way down to the floor, Lucario staring down at him. "According to this measurement, you're… 6'07''?!"

"Is that tall?" Lucario asked.

Chris stood up. "I-I'm just 5'3''! You're technically a giant the same size as a Mewtwo!" he pointed out. "Lucario are roughly just 4 feet that…"

Lucario got in deep thought. He was actually thinking about fighting Mewtwo someday, but his chances were pretty slim as they were. "Then perhaps I'm just a special kind of Lucario."

"N-no kidding…" Chris trailed off, kind of shaking.

The Aura Pokémon noticed the shaking. "Why are you shaking?" he asked.

"I-it's…uh…just that it's kind of a scary thought," Chris said. "I fear that one day you might try to hurt me if I accidentally offend you in some way…"

The Aura Pokémon stared flatly at the teen. "…You're my only hope to survive in this world," he said. "I'm very grateful that you're taking care of me." He placed a hand on Chris's shoulder. "Instead of hurting you, I would most likely…no, I would protect you from harm if somebody else were to do it."

Chris stared up at Lucario for a long while, blushing slightly at the statement. "Uh… That's…really kind of you, really…" Chris trailed off. "…It kind of feels like I have a super guardian watching my back."

Lucario chuckled. "I don't mind you calling me that," he said.

Chris chuckled next. "N-no, just saying your name is enough to me," he said. "Besides, what am I thinking? You're just tall. Last time I checked, your level was around 40…"

The Aura Pokémon felt a bit peeved, but he restrained a glare. "I told you that I'm strong," he said, facing the bed and lifting it up with a single hand. He then looked back at Chris. "Not just tall but very strong."

The teen could hardly believe what he saw. There he was, staring at a tall Lucario lifting a pretty heavy bed with one bare hand that just barely budged if it was pulled by one normal person. "…Holy…crap!" Chris exclaimed in disbelief. "You're…"

"Very strong," Lucario finished, still holding the bed with one hand. It didn't really look like his hand was even struggling with the sheer weight of the bed.

"I-I see and don't believe it…" He got closer to him. "That status screen was lying to me all this time or what? This bed is just too heavy to lift this easily!"

Lucario seemed to raise a hairless eyebrow. "Really now?"

"I can't believe you don't know your own strength," Chris said. "You're like…like some kind of Pokémon version of Hercules, except without the muscles!"

"Who's Hercules?"

"Uh, the strongest Greek God with incredible strength…"

Lucario looked back at the bed on top of his hand and smiled slightly, placing it back to its spot. "I feel so special today for some reason," he said, clearly joking.

Chris couldn't help but grab one of Lucario's hands. The Aura Pokémon saw how the teen pressed his own hand. "Your hand feels kind of soft, but then there's some kind of very thick layer underneath…"

"I'm a Steel-type," Lucario pointed out. "I have normal skin on the outside, but a thick body of steel underneath."

"And very fluffy whenever taking a bath," Chris's mouth blabbed quickly. "I-I mean, you're just…amazing…" The Aura Pokémon started to suspect that the teen was trying so hard to make Lucario like him. He quietly read the teen's mind without raising suspicion. "(First a Lucario stumbles upon my room, then I start to surprisingly open up to him, and now I find out that he's apparently Hercules' own Pokémon! Oh goodness, how much more incredible can this get?)"

It was clearly Lucario Appreciation Day.

Chris shook his head, not even feeling that his privacy got violated a bit. "Y-you know, this made me think that you probably want to do some sort of exercise… A Pokémon like you surely wants to keep getting stronger," he said.

Somehow, Lucario liked where the conversation was going. He had food and commodities, and the only part that was missing was working out. "Yes, definitely," he said. "I feel like there is a lot more room for improvement."

"Oh, in that case, I want to have you do something for me after we have breakfast," Chris said. "We'll be going outside to the yard. I just hope that I don't make you feel undermined for what I have in mind…"

Not wanting to mind-read again, Lucario asked, "What?"

"It's just so that I have wood to burn for the chimney outside," Chris said. "Problem is, the logs are pretty long and they can't fit into the chimney as they are. It's not even cold yet, but so I thought that you'll like to…uh…use your strength to snap the wood in half just so that you get to train for a bit."

Lucario kept staring at him till he said, "Let's eat so you can show me those logs."

After experiencing the wonders of bacon, the teen brought the towering Pokémon outside to the yard. They went behind the house till reaching a spot full of long logs. The logs themselves were very wide, and Lucario saw the chimney before: they weren't going to fit they way they were.

"Unless you want to use the axe inside the small storehouse behind," Chris said, "you're all free to go."

Lucario looked at the pile of wide logs. There were a lot of them. "Good, this shall prove to be a worthwhile job," he said, snapping his neck a bit. He then cracked his large hands.

"(Oh god, he's starting to feel narcissistic. I shouldn't have said so many remarks… Wait…is he trying to impress me?)" Chris realized, feeling a bit touched by the thought. "(I-in that case, I need to keep this going…) It's okay if you don't want to do everything."

"Are you kidding me?" Lucario asked, looking sideways at Chris. "I can do this in one sitting. Watch me." He lifted a wide log, possibly the widest one of the whole bunch, and placed it down. Moving to the tip, Lucario brought a heavy fist down, snapping the thick log apart into two pieces.

Chris was amazed. The log was so thick that it would've taken three axe strikes to cut through, but Lucario only needed one hit. "T-that was…very good," Chris remarked. "(Oh no, I'm remarking him again… Who am I kidding, this is awesome!)"

Lucario moved back and cut another section off with one fist. Having moved to the last section, Lucario stood up and crushed the middle portion with his foot.

"(Even his feet are crazy-strong!)" Chris thought. "You're…downright super powerful in any way…"

"Thank you," Lucario said, almost as if he was acting cool. He looked over to the pile of wide logs. "There is still some job to do…"

Ten minutes it was all it took for the Herculean Lucario to finish with the logs. Chris had been staring, watching the dutiful Aura Pokémon display his unbelievable strength. The logs were giving away to his sheer strength. There were instances that pointed wood would leave a nasty mark on anybody's fist, but Lucario's fists completely reduced them all into pieces. Once he had cut down all the logs, Lucario picked them up and stacked them on one arm, carrying a pyramid of ten logs to place back on the spot he took them from.

Chris was still impressed, as the towering Lucario approached him, dusting off his knuckles. "There you go," he said. "You're ready for the winter."

"Y-yes, thank you," Chris said smiling. "I have to give it to you. You're surely the strongest being in this world."

"Why, thank you," Lucario said nodding, pulling Chris under his arm. The teen's face was practically brushing against the Pokémon's furred chest. "I feel stronger just knowing that."

The teen leaned in and wrapped one arm behind Lucario, not even budging him one bit despite the small force. "If my Lucario is happy, then I'm happy," Chris said.

The two chuckled for a bit until they realized they were sharing a hug of sorts. Staring shocked at each other, Chris and Lucario separated and looked away, feeling very embarrassed.

On Chris's side, it felt like he truly owned a Lucario. The feeling was really nice, to say the least, but then embarrassment took in. "(Oh god, I just…I just hugged him…and he did it first to me!)" Chris thought alarmed. "(Is…is he perhaps figuring out that…)"

On Lucario's side, it felt to him that Chris was his trainer. The feeling was so natural that he was grateful he even did such a move, but then realization hit him hard. "(W-what did I just… I pulled him into a hug without objecting?)" Lucario thought alarmed. "(But I have another trainer! How could I do this?)"

Not wanting to feel embarrassed anymore, the two turned to face each other with small smiles. "I think we got carried away there…" Chris trailed off.

"Agreed," Lucario said. "…It was…nice, though."

"U-uh…yes, it was," Chris said. "For a second there, I thought you were making sure I was okay, but I'm obviously dreaming too much…"

Lucario looked sideways. "…You can…think of it that way…" He blushed slightly. "You're not really bad at all. It almost feels to me that my trainer was right next to me."

Chris looked sad. "(I hope one day you realize that I've been using that trainer you speak of to raise you, so…technically speaking…I am your trainer…)"

Lucario felt that his ears drooped sideways a little. "(How can this even happen to me?)" he asked himself. "(I barely have any memories of my original trainer and yet I don't feel a thing for her. Yet when I'm with Chris…his attitude…his hospitality…his aura, all make me feel right at home… Ugh, I can't let him make me change my mind. I must be loyal! But still, part of me doesn't want to leave him behind!)"

The teen cleared his throat. "W-well, since we're done here, why don't we go back outside?" Chris suggested. Lucario snapped out from his thoughts and nodded.

As the day passed, Lucario and Chris felt conflicted of what was going to happen tomorrow. The luxuries at home would eventually make Lucario feel more grateful towards Chris, who would forget any troubles clouding his mind.

Future would only tell them both how the events would play out with time…

After night settled in, Chris then recalled something. "Hey, Lucario," he said.

Lucario, sitting on the floor to the side, looked at him over his right shoulder. "Yes?"

"I forgot yesterday, but… Do you want to play…video games tomorrow…with me?"

The Aura Pokémon seemed to grin. "Oh, sure. I'm looking forward to it."

Lucario would eventually warm up even more all the same.

I completely forgot about Chris's plan till I looked back, but still, now everyone here can tell how special this Lucario is.

And in case you want to imagine clear depictions of them both, I have released art in DeviantArt and the Colors site. My username in both places is the same as here. Take in mind that I'm fresh to this, so my drawings will possibly get better with time.

I encourage all readers to review. :)