The Bond of Aura Chapter 13: An Aura Sphere, a pokémon fanfic

...What? This story is still a thing, you know.

I encourage people who think hard work hardly works to read on, enjoy, and review.

Chapter 13: An Aura Sphere

Summer Vacation was nearly over. Only two weeks left before Chris would have to return to school.

The rest of the time went flying by for both the normal teenager and the not-so normal creature who lived in his house. To Chris's chagrin, it didn't seem like he had made too much progress trying to bond with Lucario doing other stuff. The Aura Pokémon had taken it upon himself to keep training every day to unlock the power of the Aura Sphere. To Lucario's chagrin, it didn't seem like he had put too much stress into his bulk training as he had hoped, since he hardly noticed a small inch of mass jump out from any sides of his assumed-godly body. He speculated it was because he had eaten too much meat, but he learned that gave consumers a lot of protein and he hadn't eaten more of anything else... In truth, he was being too hasty. Results like those took time, just like trying to learn his staple technique that was heavily associated with his species.

Still, it was very nice of Chris for helping him out. He couldn't deny that...although he wanted to. The fight against his subconscious had been an arduous one that he feared he would lose. If only if he could apprehend that Riolu physically, he would win. But no, it had to be a fight of emotions that he couldn't control, and that same Riolu was represented by those bottled emotions that wanted to leak out to reveal how he truly felt about the human taking his time to show him so much. The problem with his boggled memories about the past that had his real trainer is what was keeping him back from "replacing" the person he liked the most, but sometimes he wondered if his past was a lie and he was living reality...

...He couldn't think it was a lie. It would be a great disgrace if he thought that was a big lie. Then, he would get into a big dilemma thinking what had been real and what had been a lie. What he was living through right now was perfectly, painstakingly real and it was that fact that made him feel so uncomfortable other than not knowing how to do that move.

If that large piece of steak lying down Lucario's snout wasn't making him move for the final blow using his fangs, Chris knew something was up from his seating position right next to Lucario. It was already afternoon's daily meal and just until that moment Lucario was being his normal self. Concerned that depression had set in, Chris decided to interrupt the creature's thoughts. "Are you doing okay there?" he asked. "Is there something different with the steak I made today?"

Lucario then shook his head to snap out from his thoughts and come back to reality. "What now? Oh, no. There's nothing different (apart from my past...)" he said and thought. When he took a big sniff from his meaty food, he had hoped to start tearing that thing apart with his utensils, though he started doing it very slowly, much to his dismay. And even when he accelerated to give Chris a false impression, the teen wasn't fooled. Something was wrong.

Now the new question was whether to press the creature for more info or not. During times of stress from a person who was more prone to acting angry, it wasn't advised to get them to talk about it right away. But maybe it would be possible to reach somewhere as long as Chris was careful about it. Feeling that he could do that, the teen armed himself with courage and pressed on. With a clear and inviting voice, coupled with a worried look, Chris said, "Lucario... I know something is wrong with you. I've seen how you've been acting for the past few days."

The human was truly a dangerous opponent. While Lucario didn't doubt he could submit him using his physical strength, he felt weaker on the emotion department; his supposed best trait of all. Then again, all the moping faces he put on for days were easy to spot. Lucario only sighed as he stopped eating.

"...It's okay," Chris reassured him. "You can tell me and I'll do everything I can to help you."

Take me back to my world, Lucario thought. "I...don't know how to put it into words," Lucario muttered.

"Is it the fact you haven't learned Aura Sphere yet?"

That was a good escape route to avoid telling Chris how he truly felt about everything. Lucario wasted no time in taking that path out of his main issue. Only time would tell when the teen would find out about that. "Yes... Yes, that's it," Lucario said, looking at him. "I've trained for so many days and yet I can't seem to do it right. It's starting to put me down..."

Chris looked worried. "You really want to learn that one move, don't you?"

"Of course. It's my signature move," he said. "Like a Venasaur has Solar Beam, I want to have my move in my skill set. Not having your signature move should feel like a crime."

"Unless the signature move was useless," Chris added. "I think a Magikarp hates to know Splash."

"Probably... So...I really want to learn my move soon. I just know I'm very close to grasping it with both hands..."

"Well... Have you tried to do that pose for the move yet?"

"I've done that a few times, though the pose itself is irrelevant," Lucario explained. "It should be easy to do with one hand, but with both hands my focus in slightly stronger and easier to concentrate my aura flow...but it's not enough. I wish to know what's keeping me from learning it already."

Chris recalled Lucario was at a low level when he last saw him on his little DS screen, though it was a great surprise he was much stronger than his appearance and level suggested when he was able to lift his bed with one hand and chop wood effortlessly. If every other Pokémon was like him, he wondered why there hadn't been any deaths in the game or why young children were trusted to have those nukes with them. "...Maybe you should try pursuing other stuff?" Chris suggested.

"If it's another housecleaning skill, I don't think that has anything to do with my potential."

"N-no, I didn't mean that," the teen said. "Since you started doing training, I noticed all you've been doing is train your body and meditate, but...maybe...well... You're the Aura Pokémon, aren't you? Wouldn't it be easier for you to do the move if you used your aura for other stuff?" Lucario stared, though it didn't help that red-eyed glare he was stuck to wear intimidated Chris a bit. "That could be it, couldn't it? Aura Sphere and your aura ability are closely related to the same thing, so...why not dwell a little more on your aura to get a feel to it?"

"Hmm..." Lucario got into deep thought. The human was probably right on that. Lucario hadn't used his aura much for so many days that he felt it was starting to become forgotten. Aside from the occasional and quick landscape check, there wasn't much else to use his aura for...except avoid the tempting thoughts of reading Chris's inner mind for what he truly thought about Lucario. But whenever he did that, the teen meant everything he said. "...I must get reacquainted with my aura skill," he finally said with a small nod. "I need to temper it. My body and mind have been sharpened, but not my own innate skill. I shall start to use my aura a lot more from now."

Feeling that they had arrived at an answer, Chris smiled a bit. "I'll cheer you on from here," he said. "You have my full support."

"In that case, I'll start now."

"Wait, what?"

Lucario simply closed his eyes, and he released the aura energy contained in him in the form of slow moving flames that crackled silently all over his body. The teen was very surprised that the Aura Pokémon set himself on aura fire, but he knew well the blue flames were harmless to the touch. Inside that flaming aura, Lucario became one with his sixth sense by sensing and feeling the world through his second method of eyesight. Although the world he saw through that set of eyes was all matted in blue fire, he could perceive shapes very well, especially the ones belonging to humans that weren't aware that a supernatural being like him was walking around. The aura waves that defined the landscape were calm and peaceful, while the aura waves coming from living beings were very varied in wavelength and strength. The one right next to him radiated pure waves of awe. "This is how I'll will see the world until I can learn the Aura Sphere," Lucario spoke, his physical eyes under his eyelids turning to the teen's aura. "Perhaps this is the only way I can get to it faster than just sharpening my mind and body."

If Chris hadn't known any better, he would have already tossed a bucket full with water on the large jackal. Since he did know better, he could only watch in awe at the glowing Aura Pokémon. "A-are you sure you'll be fine like this?" he asked, nearly avoiding asking if Lucario was really on fire and was merely resisting it. "I mean, with your eyes closed and all..."

"It makes no much difference to me, because I can see where I'm going using my senses," Lucario reassured. "The only difference in eyesight is that everything is coated in blue aura, unless I find the odd red aura that indicates a soul is filled with negative emotions. Well, there's much less definition in objects because of this like color and sharper focus, but it doesn't matter much as I can tell very well what the shapes are. Let my senses be my eyes and see the world through them."

"Okay..."

That being said, the Aura Pokémon stood up and started walking away to the second floor without ever opening his eyes and letting his senses be his guide around the world...

Chris blinked in curiosity until he noticed the food on Lucario's plate was almost nearly untouched. "Are you going to eat at all?" he asked.

The Aura Pokémon shamefully came back and sat down on his seat to start eating away, but true to his word, he never dared open his eyes to even eat and look down on his prey. In retrospective, eating his top favorite food with eyes closed made a curious sight: the aura covering his body would die down as he indulged himself in the meaty taste for a little too much, distracting him from his aura training until he was finished. Throughout the whole scene, Chris could tell that he was indirectly interfering with the plan...which he found very amusing since it only made Lucario look like a large blinking light bulb turning on and off.

Hours later after the experiment started, Chris had finished doing the usual house cleaning. More specifically, he was just about to finish washing the dishes. As he put a wet white plate aside, he became distracted when he looked outside the window to spot a plane flying in the sky to the west...

"(You only have that red bowl left to wash, Chris. That plane moves slow when looked at from afar.)"

That mental call startled the teen a bit, but not as much when he had taken those telepathy messages that one time when he and Lucario relaxed inside the pool. His attention went back to washing the last dish to finish his routine. "I wasn't going to stare at it for too long..." he mumbled as he looked over his right shoulder to talk to Lucario...

He was nowhere in sight around the dining table or the living room in the background.

"..." As his hands instinctively closed the faucet, the teen blinked in confusion until he realized the Aura Pokémon was last seen upstairs, sitting down on the mattress in a meditative position while facing the terrace doors. Telepathy sure was handy for Lucario, Chris thought, because it allowed him to tell what the boy was doing and looking at without being there in person. It was only until the teen's uncontrolled gaze rested on the red bowl that Lucario had told him about using only his aura senses...

…

After idly staring at the bowl, something clicked in Chris's mind. Lucario had told him that his aura vision let him see the shapes of objects matted in blue aura. He also said the bit about not being able to tell anything else beside shapes, so if that was true, how was he able to tell the bowl was red in the first place? The teen had a good memory and he didn't remember handing Lucario a red bowl in the morning, so there was no way he could tell the color away as there had been more bowls to clean prior to the red one... And the plane... That one was discarded as simply him using that super radius of his when using his senses, but as for the bowl...

Did he lie to Chris?

The teen didn't really feel the need to confront Lucario about something as small as that was. He wanted to avoid every wrong chance to make the tall behemoth snap out even slightly.

"(Yes, Chris. That green slime on the wall is really glaring. But do you have to stare at it for too long? Or is there some kind of hidden purpose?)"

What the...

Chris then noticed that, during his idle stare, he had been staring at a gooey matter on the wall that was left behind from a fly that had annoyed him to no end minutes before it met its demise under the flyswatter. Again, the mention of another color threw him off, and it wasn't even that large enough to spot standing from afar. Never mind what he said before. Chris had to find out what was going on. Looking up to the ceiling, he asked, "There's no hidden purpose. I was just simply thinking about something you said a moment ago that made me think something..." he said, unsure if Lucario heard him.

He did. "(What is on your mind?)" Lucario asked through the telepathy.

"Nothing much...except... Hey," Chris then grabbed a random green bowl from the basket. "What's this that I'm holding?"

"(A bowl.)"

"What's its color?"

"(Green.)"

"And what did you say about recognizing shapes when using your aura senses?"

"(That I could only perceive the shapes of objects except colo...)" Lucario suddenly paused abruptly, making Chris raise an eyebrow in a suspicious manner. "(...Chris, please, I'm trying to focus here.)"

"Oh, no you don't!" the teen said, looking angry. "You said earlier you couldn't perceive colors with your senses until you slipped up thrice a few seconds ago! How is it that you can suddenly tell the color?"

"(B-because I'm relying on your eyesight to see what you see through your eyes.)"

That bit of info was both new and strange to hear all of a sudden. "...What now?" he asked. "My eyesight? What? I mean... What?" After that, he just heard mumbling sounds and stuttering; clear signs that Lucario didn't know what to say about what he just said. Getting a little worried that something bad might happen if he didn't act fast, Chris hurriedly went upstairs to confront the Aura Pokémon in person. He found him on the exact same spot he last saw him, though now he had opened his startled eyes to look up at the human. "Okay, all I recall a few seconds ago is that you saw what I was seeing...through me? What?"

Fortunately, by the time Chris had gone up to the second floor, Lucario managed to scramble up a weak statement. "W-while I was using my aura to navigate my surroundings, I suddenly got curious and I went back to check up on yours... Um... One thing led to another and...well...I suddenly found myself seeing what you were seeing through your eyes," the Aura Pokémon explained. "...In full color," he added hastily.

The teen was now both surprised and perturbed to hear that new fact. "...Again, what now?"

Lucario sighed. He found it right to talk about his little discovery, though he felt bad that Chris's little moment of weakness let him look serious. "You remember the talk we had, right?" he asked, and Chris nodded. "I realized too late that the color fact was...corrected...but at the same time, it wasn't corrected."

"...You're making me get lost more and more, you know," the human said with a dull look, easing his stance. "What exactly happened that let you see everything in color without using your eyes?"

"You."

"And now this turned very awkward," Chris muttered, looking embarrassed as he went to sit down on a nearby couch to relax. "Seriously. What happened?"

It was a good time to relax, Lucario thought. He needed to rest after doing his little experiment for hours to no end. The Aura Pokémon sighed slowly and stared at Chris. "This is rather embarrassing to say coming from someone who should know, but it seems I don't have a complete understanding of my aura senses as I thought," he said. "It could be the main reason why Aura Sphere seems impossible for me to pull off..."

"I didn't think you actually had issues with your aura senses as a whole..." Chris trailed off in thought, concerned about that crestfallen look Lucario put up. "It's even weirder how there are issues at all. You're really not like other Lucario I've seen. You're really tall and really strong, and you told me you can sense auras from miles away from here..."

Lucario felt a little proud to be remarked like that out of nowhere, though he knew that wasn't the point of the statements. "Sensing auras miles away looks like an early gift from the rest I can get after getting enough awareness," he said. "The finding I found earlier is proof of that, I think."

"Finding...?"

"Yes, the finding I found while I was looking at the world with my aura senses," Lucario said with a small nod. "As I surveyed the world through its own aura essence, I wandered about and spotted the auras of human beings and those strange creatures that aren't Pokémon."

"Animals and pets."

"Uh, yes, those," Lucario said awkwardly, still not used to calling anything else other than a human by those terms. "I grew a little curious when I started to focus on those auras specifically, you see. As you know, I can use telepathy to communicate from far distances or to be silent about my conversations, which is possible due to my senses creating a mental link with another aura. But as I focused too much into a random stranger's aura to dwell in their mind...I suddenly found myself entering their psyche when I calibrated the wavelength to match theirs. That was enough to somehow enter their bodies in a sense where I was able to use their normal vision to see the world in color, unlike how I described earlier. They don't even notice I'm using them as my vision beacons."

"Uh... Wow... That's really amazing..." Chris trailed off, unaware that he was smiling a bit. "So you're telling me you can use other people's eyes to see the world without using your aura vision?"

"It appears to be that way, yes," Lucario said, looking proud of his little achievement. "Well, I can also read their thoughts while they look. Not only that, but I can also hear what they say and hear from where I am. I could hear the rushing sound of water and the clanking sounds of the plates downstairs using your ears without relying on mine."

"T-that's even more amazing! I think you really discovered a very helpful ability using your sixth senses!" the teen said with utter amazement. The Riolu in Lucario's subconscious stuck his little chest out proudly. "Just think about the possibilities you have using that!"

"Um... I do believe it's a useful ability to have, but I don't know if I like to deprive people from their privacy," Lucario said with a forced smile. He was lying a bit on that regard, because he had been fooling around with the ability long before he got into Chris's aura. Long story short, the mild of a child on a sugar rush was hard to keep up with. "F-forgive me for using it on you earlier. I got a little too carried away with it that I didn't notice too soon I was getting in your personal space."

"It's kind of okay... The most important thing is that you managed to master a truly wonderful skill, right?" Chris asked. "This could be proof enough that there's more about your aura skill than meets the eye."

The Aura Pokémon looked a little disappointed, however, when he remembered why he was doing this. "I wonder if learning Aura Sphere will take more time than anticipated because I haven't mastered all those hidden skills you speak of..."

The cheerful mood had come to a complete stop all of a sudden, which erased the truthful smile on Chris's face. He felt a lot of sympathy for Lucario's disappointment. "B-but it'll be okay if you keep this up!" he tried to cheer up hastily. "Don't think you're a lost cause! You're an amazing aura user! You were able to unearth this amazing skill with your aura so there's no way you'll fail at your true goal!" The lonely teen failed to realize that his last encouraging words had come out a little too strong and honest, but Lucario didn't also realize he liked the support very much as he, with renewed spirits, smiled once more at the teen. The Riolu was overly happy for the strong and kind words. "Who knows. At the end of this long training, I can only imagine your Aura Spheres will be extremely powerful to handle!"

Lucario chuckled. "Maybe they will... Maybe you do have a good point in that," he admitted as he stuck out his right open palm facing up, his right arm enveloped in a calm and soothing aura glow. "I... I really appreciate the support. Thank you..." The Aura Pokémon then realized he had just indirectly made a closer bond with the human, much to his shameful mental groan. But in the end, he just had to suck it up and accept the move without making faces or else he would look like a big jerk in front of him. Lucario had to keep up with the friendly look lest he wanted to ruin his image. His eyes drifted to his right open palm...and it was right around then that he felt like a door blocking the aura flow from his psyche had been opened, allowing him to feel a rush of power forming quickly on that same limb empowered by his life force. "Grrrrrr..."

The random growling sound made Chris wary of Lucario's tough look. That sound triggered a sense of danger somehow. "W-what's wrong? W-why are you growling now?" Chris asked, fearful that he had screwed up somewhere in his conversation.

The glow on Lucario's right arm seemed to be moving forward to where his open palm was and leaving the rest of the arm bare with no signs of power, only adding up to the intensity of the sacred force that was building up right above the palm's thin air. As the glowing started to take shape into weak but concentrated trails of wind forming within the still floor, Lucario's growling sounds grew with intensity, as if he was trying to wrestle furiously what was trying to appear above his palm to avoid letting it run wild and destroy blindly anything in its path without his command. The gushing winds grew all the more intense as they circled above thin air, where the aura gathering around the palm was taken into the wind to form trails of rippling aura waves in circular, curved lines. "GRRRRRR..." Lucario's growls came out louder, baring his sharp fangs wide. He could feel the rushing power building up faster as the trails of aura started circling faster, eventually making a round glow of light that was also catching itself ablaze with a blue flame of life. The round dot started to grow faster with every second, until it eventually reached the size a little above of that of a basketball. Once upon reaching that size, the sphere of blue flames came to a stop just as soon as Lucario let out a bestial "GUUUUUUUUAAAAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHH!" while staring intensely at it.

The wind forming around the sphere had died down once it completed its appearance. During the whole ordeal, Chris had taken a meager shield behind the right arm of the couch he was sitting on, because he knew it would be futile to run away from the demi god with super strength. But once silence settled in, he slowly and carefully rose up from his hiding spot, and his eyes then dilated in utter shock and surprise at what he and Lucario were looking at. Above Lucario's right open palm, there was a hovering, mystical blue orb of life energy pulsating calmly. Said sphere was none other than a true Aura Sphere; a powerful weapon meant to do harm and destroy its targets. Though, despite that description, it was somewhat soothing to watch without having to see it actually blow up. Behind that floating sphere, Lucario was looking astonished at it, albeit he was keeping a steady and firm control on it. He could hardly believe that he had managed to actually materialize the one move he trained so hard to learn, his eyes staring intently at it for a long time.

After a few seconds of silence passed between both staring at the Aura Sphere, Lucario moved his head to the left and told Chris, "Sorry for growling like that. It was a spur of the moment."

"...A-apology accepted, but still..." Chris kept staring. "...Y-you did it! You learned Aura Sphere!"

That confirmation made it official to Lucario, who then decided to smile and chuckle confidently with pride at his achievement. He could sense the raw life energy attached to his own being through an invisible aura link, and he was sure that he could control it at will if he wanted... Then again, he wasn't so sure about that, so he forewent asking Chris for permission to move the sphere around and did just that out of a pure reckless adrenaline rush. The Aura Pokémon slowly made the sphere float around his reach using his own will to test how well he could handle it, and he was happy to know that he was able to tame the living sphere of life like a true master of aura. To his quiet surprise, Chris didn't seem to mind much to see the sphere move about. Lucario could sense the pure feeling of awe radiating from the human's aura.

At last, Lucario learned Aura Sphere.

After circling around his self, the Aura Sphere went back to floating above his palm. "It is done... I've done it..." Lucario trailed off, his eyes reflecting the blue glow. "This is what I've been working so hard for..."

"And you have such a good control over it. I didn't know you could move that around like it's nobody's business," Chris said. He had a hard time taking his eyes off from the orb. "Congratulations, Lucario!"

"Thank you," Lucario said with a smile at him. "I feel like all the stress I had to put it with is long gone now that I can see this up-close with my own eyes..." It was rather odd for the Aura Pokémon to say that so simply, because he thought the world was right with him. His mind had been distracted when Chris cheered him up earlier. When he recalled that moment, Lucario couldn't believe that he didn't try to brush him off. Not brushing him off proved to be a real stress-reliever, and Lucario didn't want to admit that. The Riolu inside of him pouted, knowing better than his adult persona. Shaking his head to avoid thinking too deeply about that, Lucario went back to focusing on his pulsating Aura Sphere.

The teen then recalled that the sphere was meant to do lots of harm. "U-um..." He stuttered just as he recalled that, backing off a bit and alerting Lucario. "S-say, isn't that meant to hurt people?"

"Uh... Well... Yes..." Lucario said, sounding awkward when he was reminded of that. The last thing he wanted was Chris fearing him. That thought felt extremely terrible just thinking about it more than simply disliking it. Back on the matter at hand and on his palm, it would be a waste if he didn't get to show off his move in the way it was intended. "...Do you know someone you particularly hate and many others do?"

"LUCARIO!"

"N-never mind!" Lucario hastily said, feeling very ashamed for implying that. "I-I mean, there has to be someone..." He sweated bullets when Chris forced a glare his way. "S-something I could use this on..."

Chris was not an idiot. He knew full well that this Lucario was not normal at all. He was tall. He was super strong. He could sense auras miles away. It stood to reason that Aura Sphere would not simply blow up in a five foot explosion and could possibly be much more destructive all because of its owner. Target practice was not advised. "How about you don't try logging that thing at all?" Chris suggested, crushing Lucario's spirit for seeing the sphere blow up. "You learned the move. Isn't that more than enough to you? If it's meant to destroy, I'd hate to see it actually destroy anything in here."

"It can't be used to destroy... It can be a tame sphere," Lucario said as he examined the sphere.

"What? I thought that was meant to hurt enemies..."

"No, I think I can make it be just a sphere of aura not meant to explode... Here." The Aura Pokémon simply stuck his left hand into the sphere. The sphere's aura didn't react violently when it came into contact with its owner's hand; something that surprised Chris when he saw it happen. Smiling a bit, Lucario looked at Chris. "You could stick your hands in there and feel its raw power through your aura, even."

"..." Chris stared.

"Try it. It won't hurt you."

The human blinked. "W-what? Oh, I-I see..." He gulped at the actual idea to stick his hands into that blue nuke floating eerily in the air. After a few seconds of silent staring, he was hesitant to approach it at all. "I-I'm having second thoughts about this. Are you sure it won't explode on you only just because you made it?"

"I can tell you with a straight face that this won't explode," Lucario said. "It has a direct connection with my psyche. If I were to take a wild guess, the other Pokémon who are able to use this move surely cannot even hope to move it around their selves like I did a moment ago, so in the end it is a weapon and nothing more to them. But to me, I bring out its true potential."

"Which is..."

"A technically stronger Aura Sphere meant to do massive damage." When Chris's right eye twitched, Lucario realized what he had just said. "I mean... An Aura Sphere that can do much more than simply damaging foes. Why, I can probably let it bounce around to connect with this world's life energy...like this." He let go of the sphere. Chris ducked when he saw the moment the orb started to fall on the floor, but when it landed on the floor, it did bounce a bit on it, making him rose up quickly from his pathetic shield behind the couch's arm. He was even more amazed when he saw the sphere act like a really mundane ball with a rather awesome visual effect added to it. With Chris's doubts cleared, Lucario nodded. "See now?"

"...Dear goodness, it took you a short amount of time to get very acquainted with this move?" Chris asked. The Aura Pokémon blinked at that comment. "Seriously. It's like everything poured down on you the moment you learned it. Pokémon surely know how to learn things really fast in record time."

"I don't think I really learned that fast," Lucario said, though he wanted to show off that he was special. "I just have a very close understanding and attachment to my aura skill that it was easy to tame this Aura Sphere quickly and it took some time to actually make the move come out of me if you remember... I probably will have a rougher time trying to master other non-aura moves like Close Combat..." He blinked when he thought about that other move. "Now I want to know Close Combat."

"No way. You're getting too excited now, and that one move is surely not for mundane activities."

"Perhaps I am excited and I want to put that move for mundane activities," Lucario chuckled, making Chris chuckle heartily a bit. "I'm getting a little ahead of myself, though. I can sense how you feel better, so why don't you try holding this Aura Sphere with both hands? Go ahead. It won't hurt you."

Once he was back to staring at the Aura Sphere on the floor, Chris gulped. He didn't know for sure why he was doing this until he recalled he had to trust Lucario's words to make him like him even more as a person of trust. Steeling himself with courage, the human teen stood up from the couch and crouched down to pick the sphere with both hands. He gasped a little when he could feel something solid even before touching the outline of the sphere, and he gasped once more when he unwillingly raised his hands and dragged the sphere up unintentionally... But when Chris found himself holding the very Aura Sphere over his hands, he breathed out in surprise just as Lucario stood upright from his spot to watch the human look utterly awed at the orb of life. Just holding the sphere in midair between his hands was enough for Chris to feel a rather powerful feeling leaking out from every corner of the sphere itself, and it was more apparent when his hands and arms started to glow with his own aura brought out by the sphere itself, watching his intangible soul's energy mix up with the sphere's own aura as if making a link through aura alone that he couldn't control. He thought this was a big trick of magic, but it felt nothing like any other thing he had experienced before (except for maybe a freak accident in drinking coffee at a young age, but that was nothing like this).

"Hooooooooly crap," Chris muttered under his breath. Lucario chuckled. The Riolu in his head chuckled loudly and proudly. "L-look at me! I'm holding an Aura Sphere! A-a-ahahahaha! This is amazing! Can I pretend I made this? Because this is so amazing!" he said cheerfully, thinking that the sphere's overwhelming energy was making him go in high gear instead of his rather increased emotion of joy.

"Sorry, but I'll have to reveal that it was me who made that," Lucario said, calmly putting his palm over the sphere to claim possession of it...

Lucario was very much aware that, at that one moment alone, he felt revitalized when he made contact with the Aura Sphere again. Somehow, feeling the sphere's aura was rather different than before because of something he didn't foresee happen. Due to how the sphere had made contact with Chris's aura to bring it out to see with the naked eye, the sphere acted as a conduit that brought Lucario's and Chris's aura together as they both were close to it. That event in turn made Chris aware of what had happened, because he could also feel just as revitalized as Lucario had felt. The two immediately gasped the first thing the connection was made, but Lucario, shocked to feel such positive feeling mix with his, called off the Aura Sphere and made it disappear in thin air. The two then backed off from each other but didn't avert their gazes as they looked on surprised.

"W-what was that?" Chris asked.

"I-uh-well... Our auras kind of...connected to each other through the Aura Sphere... I didn't see that coming at all," Lucario said in relative shock. "I have never thought about letting our auras touch like that. That was rather shocking to...sense." He shook his head a bit to forget about that. "U-um... Are you okay, though? Do you feel strange? I don't want to find out I made you feel ill because of this..."

"Well..." Chris looked at himself and felt nothing out of the ordinary. "I feel fine... I don't feel like I gained a sixth sense or anything like that."

Lucario made a thorough search in Chris's aura and found nothing strange. "You're right on that. Nothing changed in your psyche."

"Phew. That's a relief..." the teen sighed and then smiled a bit. "But, you know, not that I want to repeat that again, but it...felt good in a supernatural way...you know? It's like I could feel something super nice flooding into me... Of course it was like that. You're a super Lucario." He blushed embarrassed and looked away when he noted that remark too late. Lucario himself also blushed. "Hooooo boy, I'm not thinking straight at all! A-and I mean thinking right! N-not about orientation..."

"I definitely think you're just...really letting your joyful emotions run wild after that, so I understand," Lucario said, still blushing but in truth secretly feeling tall and strong for hearing that compliment. The Riolu in his mind looked like he did not want the moment to end anytime soon. "...Thanks for the compliment, though."

Chris chuckled and slowly looked back up at him. "You're welcome...always welcome," he muttered the last part. The two unintentionally shared a brief silence sharing bright looks until Chris stammered. "So! Uh... You learned Aura Sphere! That was a real big achievement for you."

Lucario nodded. "Of course. I feel much better now that I replaced Roar willingly for it."

The teen's smile went away over a grimace when he stopped to think. "...Wha...?"

"Uh, Pokémon logic I can't comprehend very well. I wish I had more than four moves in my arsenal but... Oh, who cares. Don't think too much about it, Chris," Lucario said with a long shrug. "Yes..."

"...Okay, but I'll think too much about it later. I just want to tell you that you did it at last," the teen said nodding.

"Yes, but it's kind of disappointing that I won't be able to see how powerful it is when it is meant to explode," Lucario said. "I can feel the raw power, but to see it blow up would give me a more accurate display..."

"I'm sorry, but... It's not going to happen," Chris said with a stern look. "I implore you that you do not fling an Aura Sphere at something on the ground."

Lucario then got an idea when he heard the last word. "...What if I flung it high into the sky, then?"

"What? I don't know how that would go... It might scare people if they see a random poof in the sky."

Lucario's eagerness was getting the better of him, though the Riolu inside of him wanted to impress Chris with his power. "I promise it won't cause a stir. We can see it together from the terrace. If I send it far too high where no planes are flying, it'll be okay."

"...I just don't know, really," Chris said.

"Trust me," Lucario said, forcing a serious look. "I've trusted you for weeks. Please, just trust me this one."

Those words either hurt or made Chris feel so much better. It was the best way to get even closer to the behemoth. Denying him now after the rush of excitement would possibly kill their trust. Pressed a little by the suggestion, Chris eventually nodded. "Fine. If you really know it'll be okay, you can do it... But only once, okay?"

The Aura Pokémon fought the temptation to wag his tail once. "Thank you, Chris. I swear, it'll be a moment to remember," he said right before turning around and opening the doors of the terrace. A reluctant Chris followed the Aura Pokémon from behind and sighed. He chuckled despite the fact Lucario had just convinced him to use the dreadful move in the air just to watch it explode. The teen thought it was more surprising to watch the sphere float about without causing collateral damage than actually seeing it try to kill something, but at least it wouldn't be so bad to just watch it go off in the air. It would most likely just look like a firework. Those thoughts helped the human ease his mind as he watched the cocky Lucario charge an Aura Sphere – surprisingly in less than a second – and blast it high up to the air...

One week later...

A bright and quiet morning was greeted by the curtains of the living room shyly opening in the middle for a small hole between to let a cautious eye to peek outside into the wild outdoors of the neighborhood. It looked like there weren't any policemen patrolling the area and advising people to make a run for it for the next random terrorist attack that had happened a week ago. Still, the place looked too much deserted for Chris's dismay and Lucario's horror. There used to be innocent passerby walking down the sidewalks, but not after...that happened that pretty much terrorized even the most stone-faced adults when it was made public through the media. Or, more precisely, when everyone heard it going off.

As the ringing of the phone suddenly buzzed off and made Chris yelp after it broke the silence, Lucario was meanwhile burying his ashamed look on his hands while sitting on the couch; a practice he had himself gotten used to doing in the past few days. He didn't bother to watch the human pick up the phone to accept the call coming from the same caller: his concerned parents.

"O-oh, hey, mom. Nice to hear from you again," Lucario would hear. "What? Oh no, everything's still okay. Sure, outside it looks eerily empty, but, other than that, everything's fine with me. I'm brave enough to go out and take the mail... I've made the payments for the bills too. Don't worry about those. S-so! How are you and Dad doing?"

The conversation would carry on like that for minutes, but Lucario was not blind to the world outside by just covering his eyes. He could visibly feel Chris's gaze directed to him whenever the teen's aura would suddenly get all anxious and make him stutter words while talking to his mother. The Aura Pokémon's own image was scaring him. Great, now I can get others scared of me with one look at my back, Lucario thought sarcastically. His dignity was being plucked off bit by bit, and the Riolu inside his head was sitting down on a corner to reflect what he had done wrong on that fateful day when he had become related to some Iraq country he had never heard of before. Chris's explanation of that only made things worse because Lucario never considered himself a terrorist related to those people with the strange hats and long beards. Then again, Chris had wisely said to him the words "all terrorists are Muslims, but not all Muslims are terrorists."

"I'm not a Muslim or whatever they are, Chris," Lucario shot back, though he liked, albeit just a bit, that he learned some current history lesson without reading about it. All things considered, Lucario was neither a Muslim or a terrorist...though he started to fear he was the last one as the media hadn't stopped talking about it on TV whenever he tried to change channels to forget the freak accident.

On the plus side, America would strengthen their defenses and bolster the war effort on.

"Alright, Mom. See you later! I'll be fine... I just know something like that will never happen again. I have this hunch." Chris turned to Lucario, who then looked up to show Chris his disheartened expression. The teen reflected that with his own. "I'll be just fine," he added with a somber look before hanging up and putting the phone down on the table. Sighing very slowly, he went over to sit next to Lucario to pat his strangely sweaty back caused by the feeling of sheer humiliation he had endured for days now. "I'm sorry for asking this again, but I'm extremely worried about you... How do you feel?"

"I feel like the world is just not ready to see me in the flesh for simply tossing an Aura Sphere in the air," Lucario said bluntly.

"It simply doesn't sound that simple..." Chris trailed off. "You didn't have the remotest clue that the Aura Sphere you blasted in the sky would technically take the size of three planes crashing together in midair and linger there for five minutes...and I suppose that booming sound wasn't all that far away from the ground for everyone in the neighborhood to hear and cause hysteric panic..." Lucario hung his head down. "...Admittedly, that Aura Sphere you launched was sort of too big, wasn't it? It was twice the size of your head. (Holy crap... Why didn't I just get a Riolu with no super strength thrown in?)"

"I-I think I got too excited that I didn't care about checking how much power I used on that one move alone... Damn it..." He curled his right hand into a fist and hit his right knee in shame. "I let my own emotions get the better of me. Now everyone thinks some foreign country wants this city out of the map."

Chris forced a very bad chuckling sound. "You at least sent the US Military an incentive to keep working harder?" he tried to cheer him up.

"That was never my intention." Lucario raised his head and looked down at Chris. "This... This is beyond embarrassing and shameful. You don't even know how bad I feel about this. I just had to get too cocky about learning Aura Sphere. I should've listened to you..."

"...Well, if you want the honest truth, I think so," Chris said, much to Lucario's expected dismay. Watching the big guy look depressed and feel small for days for that incident made Chris feel a lot of sorry; a far outcry to what that day signified for both of them when the Aura Sphere came forth. Ever since then, Lucario forbade himself from using the move even to practice moving it around in the air, though his endless sulking and downcast look was an added stressing feeling on top of the police force swarming the area to locate fictional dynamites and nukes. It was bad enough that Lucario had never flashed a smile. He didn't even have the strength to force one no matter how many times Chris tried to use words to mend him.

So, as a last ditch effort, Chris decided to hug Lucario from the side.

The Aura Pokémon got startled at the sudden move, blinking fast and looking down at him. Chris didn't say a thing. He just continued staring empty air to send Lucario a silent message that he had him for support anyway. Maybe the Riolu in him, alerted, stood up and tried to make Lucario return the hug, but the Aura Pokémon willingly ran his long and sturdy left arm behind the human's back and pulled him close to return the hug as well. As the silence continued between both of them, they were relieved to feel their lips curling into small smiles. Those actions were just enough for Lucario to break down an important barrier that he wished wasn't going to make him think he found a replacement.

"...Chris," Lucario began.

"Yes?" Chris asked.

"You're the best otherworldly friend I could ever have... Please, never let me succumb to my own misfortunes without fighting back."

"..." Lucario could vaguely feel the teen hugging him tighter. But that feeling was not as meaningful as the single tear his aura picked up when he had unwillingly used Chris's vision to see it shed. That tear was not meant to signify sadness but happiness. "It's the least I could do for you living here with me, you know..." Chris muttered.

Thinking back on the Aura Sphere, Lucario found out why he managed to pull it off on that one day. If hadn't been for the training. As a user who heavily relied on emotions and life itself, it was theoretically possible that the mental barrier he put up to keep Chris from getting too close to him acted like his own barrier to keep his skills from nourishing properly. It was vastly different to the aura sight upgrade he found out he had, as he recalled and replayed that moment in his head multiple times when that sudden power surged out of the blue. It should had come forth when he was looking through the eyes of others, not when Chris voiced out a very honest message of support that made Lucario feel happy with himself...

…

...No, he thought to himself. Accepting Chris as a friend more than ever was just the right push in the right direction, as Lucario didn't feel guilty about it as much as before only because he confused friends for trainers. If accepting Chris as a true friend had unlocked the Aura Sphere, Lucario was bound to enjoy the next days ahead much better with a clear mind, at least until his eventual but mysterious return to his world of origin. The Riolu in his head agreed wholeheartedly to this notion, happily skipping and flailing his little arms around with glee.

Not noticing he rested his chin on Chris's head, Lucario closed his eyes and chuckled. "Wow. It is quite easy for me to please you... I'm glad my presence alone is enough," he muttered.

"It really helps you're so nice, too... Thanks."

Lucario growled silently with affection. "You're always welcome."

Well, I wonder how it'll go for both of them from here, because both will have to endure school life in their own ways, not to mention the holidays.

Please review, or else I will feel obligated to turn Lucario into a Muslim terrorist. (No offense to the real pacific Muslims out there. I know who NOT to point fingers to.)