The Bond of Aura Chapter 14: A Day of School, a pokémon fanfic

Suddenly, taking me three days, I got the urge of writing and finishing this chapter… It's incredible how you get these sudden urges to write something.

This is a new year for all of us, but not quite so for these two, still stuck in the eventful past.

So why not proceed ahead and see what happens? I encourage all high school lovers to read on, enjoy, and review.

Chapter 14: A Day of School

His enemies have gotten smarter since the last time he tackled one of them down in a very long exhausting battle meant to test his patience to the max. Now they knew the dangerous tactic of cooperation, as they had taken a rather intimidating formation that tried to outgrow him in size. Lucario watched sternly at his enemies staring right at his face, but they were very crafty, choosing not to move. Their formation was purely based on the art of intimidation alone. He could not falter against their devious tactic. He was a goliath if Chris's opinion held true. So then why was he getting so anxious against these enemies? He had the super strength to squash them all, but…what if they could counterattack with unseen force not even his aura could save him from? He clenched his aura fists hard, gritted his fangs hard, and glared down at the enemies. If they could play the game of intimidation, so then he. Lucario felt stronger knowing the limits of his strength on these enemies. His battle, though, took an unexpected turn when his enemies did not do anything, holding their position. When their determination to see their gigantic foe took a serious turn, it made Lucario finally growl mentally, sending them the warning message not to cross him ever… Narrowing his eyes tightly, he muttered the name of one of his enemies…

"Algebra I," he muttered very silently with a hint of cold murder.

Then his wary eyes widened once the stack of four books were taken away from the table by an oblivious Chris putting them away into a nice little blue backpack on the floor. The battle was over. Lucario's enemies had been simply taken away by unexpected forces.

But was the war over, he wondered?

"Hello?"

Lucario shook his head quickly when he came to, oblivious himself of the conversation Chris had tried to tell him. The Aura Pokémon blinked quickly and then focused on the blank-looking human looking up at him. "S-sorry, what were you saying?" Lucario asked. "I-I got distracted by…sensing people walking by the house outside…"

"Oh…" Chris turned around and looked at the clock next to the entrance of the house. It was 6:20am. In twenty minutes, he had to leave for the bus stop to reach his new school, where classes would start at 7:30am. Reminding himself about the time, he turned back to Lucario. "As I was saying… Today is the first day of high school for me. Summer Vacations are truly officially over."

Lucario took note of the getup the human was wearing. Chris was dressed rather formally, with a blue school uniform complementing his blue jeans and brown shoes. The formal look was complemented by the hair gel that made his hair look shiny and combed to the right side. If his fogged memory – caused by his silent battle against the books – served well, the outfit would be discarded entirely and would only be used for formal school events, whatever those were to Lucario. "I see… I can't imagine this is happening for real."

Chris grimaced a bit. "Probably because you're used to having a trainer traveling everywhere with you. It can be a hard chance of pace having someone close to you…er…" he blushed a bit and tried to correct himself, "…someone you see so often leaving for a half of the day…" The inner Riolu in the goliath's head was stretching his arms towards Chris. He did not want to see him go and leave him alone. "…We've talked a lot about this day coming, but are you sure you'll be okay by yourself?"

Lucario's inner thoughts were telling him no, that he wasn't going to do fine. He couldn't reveal to Chris he felt very lonely with that thought, and there was no way Lucario wanted to look needy. He had a spike chest that could seriously hurt opponents…and suddenly he realized that childish fact had come from his inner Riolu. Had he evolved too soon from his mysterious childhood self? He could only glare at his cheerful subconscious. "It will be fine," Lucario reassured. "It's not going to be much different without you around. I have my aura to go out into the world…in a way of speaking."

"Oh… Oh right, you have that," Chris noted. "It's all the more useful that you can use someone else's field of vision to look through their eyes and hear through their ears. It's always like you're out there without raising suspicion. So then, me not being here will be different to you."

"No!" the inner Riolu barked in protest. "I want you here! I want you to spend time with me forever! I don't want to sense your aura! I want to have you with me!"

"Exactly," Lucario told Chris, ignoring his inner thoughts. "I know the consequences of getting spotted by others in this world…" He glared at a nearby newspaper on a chair, with a small heading about the mysterious terrorist attempt on the city having shown no signs of appearing again. "…We unfortunately saw how that would play out."

"Yes…" Chris muttered, looking at the newspaper as well. "…But it'll be fine this time. I'll be going to school every day before the weekends. I won't be here at the house every morning, but we can still spend time together for the rest of the day unless I get a lot of homework to do."

"Stupid school is taking you away from me!" the inner Riolu complained with a pouting face.

"Homework?" Lucario questioned.

"Basically, adults teaching me new ways of learning new stuff in the world. It's like me trying to teach you stuff," Chris explained, which Lucario understood. Lucario had pegged Chris as an already-knowledgeable person, however. The Aura Pokémon couldn't believe how much better the human could get. He didn't need aura to read Lucario like an open – ugh – book. Now he had the chance to develop more otherworldly skills that could eclipse Lucario's aura? Were humans of the real world perfectly capable of taming his kind without raising their fists? "Maybe you can learn from me while I do homework…" That was a good opening for Lucario to stay on his feet against this formidable opponent…

"No! He's not your enemy! He's your friend, ri!" the inner Riolu complained to his older self.

"(Quiet, you,)" Lucario warned his inner self, noticing the Riolu had been more active too much in the morning. That was a bad sign… "That would be nice. I do like learning all these skills not related to combat," Lucario said.

"I wonder if any of the stuff I'll learn will be interesting to you," Chris said. "The only interest you could take is looking at pictures from many important landmarks in the world. The other stuff may not be as interesting… So anyway, you're saying you'll be okay without me during the mornings?"

"Yes, I'm sure," Lucario said.

"Take me with you, riiiiii!" the inner Riolu pleaded loudly.

"You'll do just fine. Like I said before, it's just a little time apart from each other every five days. It won't be that different," the teen said.

Half an hour later…

The current owner of the house had been gone for ten minutes now, but he wouldn't be back until a little later in the afternoon. Lucario had the whole house for himself, free to do whatever he wanted as long as he didn't cause collateral damage by accident. The Aura Pokémon sat idly on the living room's couch, hands resting on his sturdy knees, and staring at empty air while listening to the ticking sounds from the clock near the entrance…

…

Holy Arceus, how did the utter silence of the house not cause him to feel at peace? And he was supposed to relish peace and solitude. He could just not get used to his new gifts. Lucario was so much used to spending time with the human that it was everything he knew was life. Without Chris around, the dullness of meditation was not even tempting. Lucario needed some chaos and company…and it had only been ten minutes so far. How would he manage the next ten minutes now that his patience had been put through the grinder? He unwillingly listened to his inner Riolu protesting his buried wants.

"I want Chris here, riiii! It's so boring, and I feel so lonely! I need attention!"

It hurt Lucario so much to listen to those buried thoughts. They were quick to the point: demanding him to just accept Chris much closer and enjoy true life with him. Those thoughts quite clearly did not care much about his garbled past if they were so insistent on making him embrace the teen with open arms. But no, he was strong. He had to be strong in his mind and heart. Lucario did not need that interesting human around, no matter how many times his own thoughts betrayed him by tossing those unnecessary positive comments about that wonderful human. He could very much endure the silence of the house without outside interference!

So he listened to the clock going at it a little more…and then he gave up after the extra five seconds were over.

"I can't get used to this so easily…" he muttered to himself in an effort to pretend someone else was there. His aura heavily protested, sensing no presences in the house. "I must… I can use my aura to spy on someone else!" So he did just that by closing his eyes and never once glowing with aura. He really underestimated himself, not knowing that the normal Lucario was supposed to glow with aura when it was used. Anyone would be easily fooled into thinking he was looking at someone when in truth he could be looking at something else using his super developed sixth sense. Happy that he recalled his method to stay out of boredom, Lucario focused his aura on a random passerby outside…

…

It was natural to get a little bored from taking the field of vision of one random male adult. The adult he picked wasn't thinking anything peculiar… Oh wait, maybe that other adult further up ahead had a story.

…

No dice. The female adult he picked was almost the same. Lucario couldn't start to think the outside world was this dull now of all times… Then again, he thought he was probably jumping to conclusions. After all, there was an early mailman worker driving a truck with mail down the street. There should be some juicy stories in his head.

…

Or not. Thoughts about delivering mail to streets Lucario wasn't familiar with didn't interest him, or knowing the current schedule. Desperately, Lucario saw a bird flying overhead to the north. Well, it was a living being. Therefore, it stood to reason he could use that bird as a vessel to spy its thoughts…

…

Oh right, Lucario was lousy and a total stranger to chirping language. He only doomed himself listening nonstop to that infernal chirping sound. His aura senses desperately jumped down from the bird to another promising(?) male adult in a dirty alley…

…

Just as the human with the strange thoughts, it was a real waste. Lucario could not understand the appeal this thing called "booze" was or why this human was… Oh wait, it was a homeless guy. Lucario felt some pity for this soul and he wandered away to forget about it. No need to get depressed while he was bored.

It was then he spotted a school bus and did not think twice about picking a random target inside the vehicle. One such target was a nice human teen looking out the window with a clear mind on his shoulders…

…

…Wait a second. The aura from that human was frighteningly so familiar…

"So how was your Summer Vacation?" the other student sitting next to Chris asked.

Chris smiled and turned to the other student. "It was rather…normal, I guess," Chris told him. "(NOT,)" he thought, feeling a bit pressed into a corner. As to not raise suspicion, he asked, "How about you, Jordan?"

Ignoring the rest of that conversation, Lucario felt so sick in his head. He couldn't fathom how he ended up jumping from random human to random human and somehow ending up with Chris at the end of that long aura route. He dropped a lot of insults mentally, especially to that homeless guy thinking about booze. How does one even get results like this? The purpose of being alone in the house was to endure not being with Chris, and yet fate wanted to laugh at him! It didn't help how the inner Riolu was pals with fate because he was laughing and having a field day at the same time!

Back on focus, Lucario was speechless about how he found Chris out of randomly getting inside people's heads. There was absolutely no way, he thought, that he had been drawn to the teen. It had been such a gigantic coincidence that just…just happened, yes. The whole point about spending time alone was moot if Lucario couldn't stop thinking about Chris. Now that he had unwillingly invaded the teen's aura, it was all the harder for Lucario to just retreat… That was an ever worse sign. The option to retreat quickly was impossible somehow… He couldn't be serious about keeping that aura link until Chris came to the house! His own feelings were against him!

Shaking his head in an effort to severe the link, Lucario growled to himself…successfully severing the link.

Chris suddenly felt a chill running down his spine, which didn't go unnoticed by the other student Jordan. "Are you okay, man?" Jordan asked.

The teen mumbled a bit and asked, "…Ever felt like something wrong happened somewhere else while you were away from there, Jordan?"

"Like my dad getting drunk at a bar and saying harsh truths in a joking manner?"

"…Close, I guess," Chris said.

"…Eh, you get used to it," Jordan said with a shrug. Forgetting about that implication, Chris simply forced a small laugh and went on with the day. Talking to his friend helped him forget about worrying for the monster that he was hiding in his house.

And speaking of the monster hiding in Chris's house, Lucario was leaning back on the couch with an astonished look on his face. He covered his eyes with his left arm and sighed out loud. "What is going on with me…?" he breathed out. "I…I can't be getting too close to him… I don't feel needy…! The plan was to avoid being close friends with him over my trainer!" he scolded himself, trying to force his foggy memories out. Still, there was no progress on that, because he feared he had no past until he came out from his world… "No, no, no, NO! I have a past! I must! Why else do I even exist?!" he asked through gritted fangs.

"To make Chris happy and be together with him, riiii!"

Lucario pushed himself forward and grabbed his head at that comment from his inner self. He was not doubting the possibility he was going insane trying to fight the undeniable…so the most logical solution to keep himself from going insane is by calming himself down, listening to the infernal clock on the wall tempting him to blast it with an Aura Sphere. The stupid clock turned out to be the best distraction he could take, albeit logging his best weapon at it was very inviting… No, no, that was an awful idea. The clock was being helpful despite being an annoying little prick. Eventually, Lucario found peace of mind and leaned back on the couch, feeling much better with the world. Maybe now he could relax and forget about his aura trip…

Besides, he was sure Chris was going to have a nice school day without him around.

…

Five minutes later, outside the house, a leaping shadow stealthily moved north across the neighborhood without being spotted, being too fast and landing on barred locations with each sky-high leap. The door leading to Chris's backyard was left open without a lock on, though nobody ever guessed that. The house was left alone for real…

A few hours later…

It was almost going to be recess time at L.A. High School. So far, Chris had a very normal day with no strange occurrences. To avoid any chances of being weirded out by people, the teen made a secret mission: he eavesdropped on students talking about their personal lives just to be sure none of them talked about the "terrorist attempt" from a few weeks ago. He luckily did not find people talking about it, despite there being a newspaper clipping on the teacher's desk with the same glaring heading on a small section. It looked like the event was not worth looking at anymore…

In the classroom of 30 students counting himself, Chris was listening closely to the algebra lecture from Mr. Coriel; the teacher's back turned to them as the 36-year old teacher dutifully talked about finding unknown values using given numbers on the textbook. Unlike how many detested any math subjects, Chris was good at them to a certain point that did not embarrass him with low grades. It sometimes worked against him to be knowledgeable in math, as he was pestered by others not so lucky in the teachings to hear his working version to decipher the strange math language. He knew it was going to happen all over again. He could not stop hearing the occasional grumbling sounds of his fellow companions. Those sounds felt nostalgic.

The teen was sitting on the third row from the front to the back rows, the large windows to the left from the classroom's first floor of three overlooking the football field outside, which had a large area of trees that belonged to the school as part of a natural habitat to spice up the rural look. The area had been there even before Chris was born, although the school building progressively got more and more technological little by little every year, but the tree-filled area had always been the same, with the usual birds coming to rest or make their nests. Making sure he had enough time to take a quick peek, Chris looked outside to the field and let his eyes wander off to the trees overlooking the school building.

And then his eyes spotted something…someone jumping from the top of a bushy tree to another…

The moment had been very brief in itself, but Chris had a very good eyesight worthy of a gaming person. He recognized the overall wild appearance and the glaring blue color. Honestly speaking, he knew he hadn't seen things. Chris hadn't gone crazy not seeing that person for the last three hours of the day. By all accounts, what he had witnessed was not created by his mind… It was made more obvious by the random rustling of that one tree's branches. Whatever had landed in there, it was heavy enough to rustle a big half of the leaves. It wasn't even a windy day.

"(…Ooooooooooooooh crap,)" was all Chris thought at that moment.

"Mr. Garcia."

Chris blinked in realization and turned back to the blackboard, with Mr. Coriel focusing his attention on the one student he caught looking the other way from his lecture. Noticing the blank look on the teacher, Chris was very well trained in keeping an unfazed look. "Y-yes, Mr. Coriel?" Chris said.

"Do you perhaps know the answer to the current problem on the blackboard, or was there something outside that required more attention?" the teacher asked, making every student look at Chris, because it was totally unheard of to see even one not trying to look at a "problem" student messing up during a lecture.

The student simply took one look at the problem to find the value of x. "448," he simply answered.

"Well, now, that is…" Mr. Coriel trailed off when he glanced at the problem, "…correct…" he muttered in slight surprise.

Chris forced a small smile as the students started whispering some jokes about the teacher having unsuccessfully scolded an innocent listener. "Sorry, sir. You caught me at the exact moment I glanced outside for a little bit. I was listening closely to your lecture the whole time," he said.

"I…I see… Giving the answer like that proves it, and the problem on the blackboard is not even on the textbook… Well done," the teacher blankly said, turning back to the blackboard and pretending the little incident didn't happen.

"(I may daydream now and then, but my ears and eyes always stay alert… Phew…)" Chris thought to himself as the whispers died down. To his chagrin, he would be asked later in the following days how to solve the math problems of the class after making such a strong impression. Some of those students knew the full truth on how long he had been staring out, but it took them by surprise he had figured out one problem like that.

Back on more important matters, the teen glanced back outside at the suspicious tree and made a mental note about going out there during recess to confirm his doubts… He couldn't believe for real the deal had been broken so early…

An hour later…

It was recess time now, with every student in the campus going on and about without much of a care in the world, except for one concerned Chris walking towards the trees on the back of the school. With a tray carrying an apple, two small meat burritos fresh out of the oven, and a bottle of chocolate milk, he was not about to skip lunch by wasting time on something he thought shouldn't be possible. The food he carried also served another purpose, especially the meat burritos with the enticing smell wafting in the air. Remembering which tree the teen had looked at, the teen stopped right under the bushy branches – as it was very hard to see anything hiding in there – looked around to check for any onlookers, and started talking to the "empty" air there above his head.

"Is someone hiding in there?" Chris asked the leaves.

The leaves did not answer.

Embarrassed about the idea he had, Chris picked one meat burrito and raised it to the air to let its smell go up through the leaves.

…

A stomach growled quite loudly in the leaves, despite its owner having a thin-looking body that was used to eating too much delicious meat many days in the close past. That smell from the burrito was just too good to ignore.

"Oh, for god's sake!" Chris complained loudly, putting the burrito down on the tray. "Lucario, I know you are in there! I'm so used to listening to that stomach of yours echoing whenever I cook you a steak!"

Chris overheard a grunting sound coming from the leaves. From a small opening hidden from outsiders that was only visible from below the branches, a head poked out upside-down and looked down at him. "…" Lucario said nothing, but his worried face kind of said a lot.

"I knew it!" Chris said, looking disappointed. "It WAS you!"

"Damn…" Lucario muttered. "I thought for sure you wouldn't find out I was hiding here… Did you sense me?"

"No, I saw you clearly with my own eyes from the classroom in front of the football field. You were jumping from tree to tree until I saw this tree's leaves rustling a little too much!"

"Yes… I got my foot stuck on a branch while I tried to reposition myself."

"T-that's not the issue here. What are you even doing here?!" Chris asked, quickly glancing around to check for eavesdroppers. "I thought you said you were going to stay at the house until I went back home! We agreed to this days ago, even!"

The perfect chance to drive himself away from Chris had somehow shown itself. If he argued against Chris, Lucario would feel better…

"I'm really worried someone might see you and take you away to some weird place!" Chris added.

And now the perfect chance had been dashed to the ground by that sentence hinting kindness for Lucario's welfare. It was now hard to argue back. "…I…" Lucario trailed off. His inner self demanded him to tell the truth. "…I…I got bored…"

"…What?" Chris's face fell.

"I…got too bored being alone at the house…" Lucario admitted. "…It was very much unbearable. Using my aura to see the outside world didn't do anything to fix that, and somehow…I found myself sneaking around the city all the way to your school…"

"…" Chris grimaced in thought. "…So is it not a coincidence I found you here of all places outside the house?"

"…The truth is…I…I…I can't…stand the thought of not seeing you around…" Lucario screamed mentally. That had been a huge glaring flag right there. Staring down at Chris's surprised expression, Lucario worked hard to gulp down his breath upside-down. "…I am so used to…to spending time with you that…that otherwise it gets too boring for me…"

"…Oh," Chris muttered quietly. "…Maybe you're just too used to having people around you that it's very weird to be alone…"

"…I guess," Lucario said in defeat.

"(What he did today is just wrong… Yet…that is so sweet of him,)" Chris thought fondly. "(Of all places he could've gone, he went to the same place I am at. I can't get angry at him… But even if this looks like the right time to strengthen that connection with him, doing it outside the house is too risky…) Well…" Chris smiled honestly at the confused Lucario, "…thank you for dropping by."

Lucario's eyes widened in pure shock at the sudden thanking gesture, though his cheeks were already blushing. He then listened to his inner self barking happily in glee at the words.

"…B-but just so you know, I hope this is the last time you do something like this so suddenly," Chris said, readjusting to reality and trying to hide his blushing face. "Sadly, this world may never be ready to have you walking around…except maybe in a desolated place or my future children."

The Aura Pokémon didn't hesitate in using that comment to put his head back in the game. Embarrassment wasn't going to let him lose. "I-I agree… I'm ashamed in myself giving in so easily to boredom," Lucario said.

Chris sighed. "I know you won't do this again… You will just have to use your aura to go outside," he said. "Even if it was boring for you the first time around… You could still do other stuff, you know. You could watch TV or even workout."

Lucario grumbled. "I don't know how I didn't think about using those other options. I must be creative without causing trouble to you or your house," he said.

"Thanks. It's good to know you care about my feelings," Chris said happy.

"Oh, and…speaking of feelings… I wasn't entirely following you around," Lucario admitted.

"What?" Chris looked up.

"If I had been, I would've predicted you would find me hiding in here. I have a very good aura skill, as you've told me," he said. "I just got very curious about every person in the building, spying on their feelings and thoughts to entertain me a little."

"…That sounds extremely rude, you know," Chris commented.

"I-I couldn't help it, as I've said before," Lucario shakily said. "I've found out so many things in their minds, Chris. It was very…graphic."

"…Graphic?" Chris had a bad feeling.

A minute later…

Chris's ears were covered in disgust once he had heard from Lucario about the…very scandalous thoughts he listened to in the heads of many students. "…and I'm very concerned about why so many of them want to do stuff on their beds while no one is looking," Lucario finished. "I had a hunch it would be a little too much to listen to the full version of those stories, so that is why I did not pry further. But Chris, why are they so fixated in thinking almost the same thing? It's so incredible so many think the same. Why don't they think differently, like the two of us?"

The teen uncovered his ears and tried so hard to forget. "L-Lucario… I beg of you, do not ever get into their heads again in your life," Chris begged a confused Lucario. "Oh holy crap, I'll never see Jordan the same because of what you found out!"

"W-what is so bad about what I found out?" Lucario stammered.

"F-forget it. I'll just say that…it's very, very...very intimate stuff no one else should even know. Don't you know a mind is a terrible thing to read?"

"…"

"…Since it looks like you don't get it at all unless I flat-out say it," Chris sighed, "you listened to partial extremely erotic thoughts for humans."

"…" Lucario's mouth hung open upside-down, his crimson eyes shrunken in utter horror. His inner Riolu self had received such a super effective mind attack that he had fainted out of sheer bewilderment.

"NOW you understand?"

Lucario shook his head and nodded. "Y-y-y-y-y-yes, I-I-I see now. I-I mean, I-I understand now," he stuttered, trying to erase his findings of the day in the last two hours. "H-humans really don't look like they appear to look…"

"That's why you're not supposed to read their minds! It's rude when you want to do it, but it's risky because it can still scar you for life!" Chris warned. "…My mind is not like them, okay? Don't feel the need to inspect it. I really am pure of mind."

"S-so am I," Lucario agreed. "Fine. I won't ever dwell into another random mind. I will only rely on my aura to sense emotions. Emotions don't give out rampant thoughts and only ever allow me to see if it's safe to peek into their minds… A very happy person can be thinking some seriou-"

"AHEM!"

"R-right, let's not continue talking about it any longer."

Sighing in relief, the teen turned back to the direction of the school and the other unaware students. "Recess is not yet over. I'm going to have to go back so nobody starts thinking I'm talking to trees alone…" He looked down at his food tray and looked back up at Lucario. He walked right below him and held out for him a meat burrito. "Also, eat this. It should hold you over for meal time when I go back to the house. I know you didn't eat enough breakfast this morning."

Lucario quickly stretched out his hand to the offering and pulled it back with him. He did not wait to readjust himself in a straight sitting position, his mouth already devouring the exquisite taste of a warm tortilla wrapped around steamy meat with potato pieces inside. It was good to be alive.

Listening to Lucario's loud munching sounds, Chris chuckled. "You don't need to tell me you are enjoying it," he said. "I'll make sure to make my own version when I go back. Until then…please try to head back without getting spotted once recess is over and everyone is back inside the building, okay?"

"Yoos," Lucario said, mouth full.

"Good…" Concerned about the Aura Pokémon, Chris started heading back to the building. It was going to be hard to forget how over 60% of the people he talked to didn't look as pure as they seemed at first glance…which worked for his favor, as he completely forgot about the wandering Lucario in the campus.

The day went by as planned…

Early afternoon…

Walking down the pavement and heading south to his house, Chris remembered everything that happened before he had resumed classes. He prayed to dear god that Lucario was back at the house without causing suspicion around the city, or else their lives would change drastically for worse. As his thoughts created a messy hurricane in his head, the teen came face-to-face with his house across the straight tiled path to it. He took a moment to look to the sides of the street as if to give Lucario more time to barge back inside until he went on ahead and opened the door to enter inside…

"Welcome back," Lucario said from the nearby couch, having sensed Chris's presence since he sensed his aura leave the school.

"Oh, you're really here…" Chris said, closing the door from behind and tossing his backpack aside. He sighed and went over to the creature. "When did you get back here?"

"Just as you said, after recess was over," Lucario affirmed. "I had to be more careful. There were more people outdoors than in the morning…and I hardly had any control of my senses back then when I was bored."

Chris nodded. "Hopefully nobody spotted you…"

"No one did. I had my aura senses on high alert for any sudden spike of emotions. Specifically, emotions of high surprise. It would be obvious if someone else other than you would get really surprised seeing me around," Lucario pointed out.

The human felt much better. Lucario really was the Aura Pokémon. "That's much better to hear… Again, don't try going out, anyway," he added. "You may be the best ninja of the whole world, but eventually, someone is bound to spot you despite being too skilled."

"I know, Chris…" Lucario looked down in shame. "I must think of countermeasures to avoid the temptation of leaving the house while you're away."

"I'll help you out with that," Chris said. "We're in this together, you know."

Lucario stared at Chris for a small while until he smiled a bit. "We are, aren't we?"

Despite Lucario's escapades that day, he had fun sneaking out of the house and getting a controversial chance of wandering outside the house at his leisure. That experience had turned into a very tempting thought that would remain with him for a long time…or forever. He had to endure the "pain" of seeing Chris leave the house every morning, by which then the pain would turn into temptation to follow him as if he was his trainer. And again, Lucario would deny the thought as many times as he needed to stay focused. Regardless of what happened that was related to Chris's school days, Lucario would try to stay strong in the days to come…

The mighty creature was concerned about his inner self. It had become more active in a single day so suddenly, and its buried thoughts were coming to light almost completely in his own words. As much as he hated to admit it, Lucario was fighting himself. He had to stay on his guard at whatever would tempt his inner Riolu to bark out a piece of truth Lucario did not want Chris to hear to get "crazy" ideas of their relationship. Lucario could not be a jerk to the human. It just wasn't in his attitude anymore…or ever. He liked Chris a lot…and he had to keep it at that in hopes of finding out about his foggy past life in his world…

Enduring the real world was the only action Lucario could take on for the time being.

Late afternoon, he joined Chris with his homework. He sensed Chris's disappointment in having to do homework the first day of school, though Lucario took it as an exciting opportunity to learn what a normal student did during class time. Although he didn't consider being a scholar at all, Lucario was very curious about school homework. So then, at Chris's room, the human was sitting in front of the desk to the left of the TV, with an open book and a notebook on the furniture. Lucario sat down on the floor next to Chris, the first having no need to go for a chair as he was tall enough to reach the desk's full height at chest level. The curious Aura Pokémon looked down at the open book…

He was dismayed to learn the infernal English letters had fearsome allies: the demonic combination of numbers known as fractions, cousins to divisions and nephews to exponents. With his inner self joining in his own thoughts, a murderous growl escaped Lucario's gritted fangs while hoping his fierce glare could burn the pages taunting him, scaring and confusing Chris. There was too much for Lucario to see in the world, the teen thought…

For those of you who remembered the original chapter yeeeeeeears ago, this one is radically different and less silly, opting for a more realistic take of things. I didn't really want to get too much description for the school setting or Jordan, who is not going to be a recurring character with importance to the plot. Ultimately, this story is about the two main characters and will end with both of them. Adding another human may make this story less about Pokémon…so no implied love interests for Chris either. Bros(?) before hoes.

I admit there was a little too much comedy in this chapter instead of some more drama… What do you mean you don't mind? Oh, okay. I'll take your word for it.

However, the drama will continue on in the next chapters as these two explore some more themes until…that decision day comes and they have to do the right thing. Who will fall down first?

I encourage everyone to review, or else this English-speaking Lucario will go to war against the katakana characters of the Japanese language.