Chapter 2: The Honest

It wasn't much of a surprise to hear a wince before anything else from the creature. Dropping a few feet and landing on solid ground while totally unconscious would do that to anyone, alien or not. From what Bryce had carefully examined, there were no external injuries on the creature, though he wouldn't be surprised for it to have a bit of a bruise in the coming day or two. Now he had to hope it didn't have any internal injuries or complications, because taking it to a hospital was out of the question, obviously. As Bryce watched the creature, one of its paws pressed against the mattress, sinking slightly into the bed's softness as it lifted itself up into a sitting position. The other paw rubbed at its head, giving another soft groan of displeasure.

"Ugh, my head…"

After a night of surprises, the day was just as giving. Bryce definitely just saw her talk...just saw her talk. No mistaking that voice for anything but feminine. Yet another piece of incorrect information, he supposed; although females were uncommon for her species, they certainly didn't talk. Telepathy, sure, but…

"Um…"

He blinked, looking at the creature once again, seemingly lost in thought. "Hi?" He offered.

The downside to meeting alien creatures, even with some information about them online, it probably wasn't fully accurate. As she cocked her head to the side a bit, Bryce reached to his side to grab the cup sitting on his desk.

"Need some water?"

It looked him over again, nodding slowly. Well, it only made sense that it'd be cautious of him. At least her first thought wasn't to murder him. Bryce took a sip of the water, audibly swallowing it.

"See? Nothing in it."

He scooted his chair forward, slowly offering it to her. As her paws held the container, Bryce kept just enough of a grip on it to know that she was both really in front of him right now and that she would have enough strength to hold it on her own. Thankfully, he worried for nothing, as she raised the glass and took a few gulps from it with a small sigh, handing it back to him.

"Thank you." She gave a gentle smile.

"You can understand me." He couldn't help but say it. Clear as it was, he just had to be sure.

She nodded again. "I can...and no, it's not a dream."

Oh, right, that whole aura thing. He'd have to be careful about that.

Raising an eyebrow, Bryce gave her a skeptical look. "And I can be sure of that how, exactly?"

She didn't respond with anything but offering one of her paws for him to take. Bryce looked at it, then back at her. May as well go all in on the 'dumb decisions' trend that he'd apparently been starting. His hand rested on top of it. It felt...softer than he'd expected. His hand slowly turned at the wrist as the creature changed her grip, then gave him a soft pinch on his palm.

"Real enough for you?"

Although her expression changed, the playful tone in her voice was clear. Truthfully, it was real enough for him to believe it more real than fiction the moment he'd picked her up. Even if it was all in his head, it'd be more interesting to see where this all went. And if not...well, he'd better hope that the authorities don't find out about this.

"...yeah." He paused. "Real enough."

His hand carefully slipped free of hers, resting back in his chair. The question of who should ask what first came to mind, even though he'd had plenty of time to think about what to ask. It was probably best to let her ask first. She was the one that'd been taken here unconscious.

"It's only fair that you ask first." He broke the silence, hardly even realizing that he'd done so. She probably had plenty of questions, especially if she didn't come here intentionally. "Before that, though, just so you know...no, there's nobody else here in this house right now, and you're not being monitored by hidden cameras or anything like that. It's just me."

Lucky for her. It may not have been wise to just admit that he was here all alone, though…

"Um, okay...?" She replied, not entirely sure what he was getting at. "Well, if you were planning on doing anything to me, you would have done it by now."

He nodded. Not that he was planning on it. Bryce could handle gore, and if push came to shove, yeah, he could probably...well, do someone in if he had to. Picking on an unconscious, and as far as he knew, innocent creature though? That wasn't like him.

She took a deep breath. "Well...you seem to know a little bit about me, right? I thought…" She paused, looking away, a bit embarrassed to continue, "...well, I was kind of expecting to see someone scream, or call for help...something like that."

"Most people probably would." He replied. Way to instill confidence there, champ. Then again, she also had no clue what that would mean for her. "Yeah, I know a little about you. You're a Lucario." She had to be. "Not sure where you come from specifically, other than the Sinnoh region, but yeah, there are...depictions, I guess that's the best word...of Pokemon here." Bryce looked her over for a moment. "Not all of it's right, though. I was expecting you to be much shorter. Like, a foot and a half shorter."

Lucario looked down at her form. "Strange...I still feel the same height. If that makes any sense. But, I mean..." She gave a sheepish chuckle. "...I guess it's not that weird to think I'd look a little different in a different universe, right?"

With all the knowledge Bryce had about travelling between universes-none-he mulled the thought over. Regardless of anyone's beliefs, evolution and adaptation, in some regard, was natural for mankind in order to survive and grow. It seemed reasonable that "Guess so. So that whole multiverse theory was true, huh?"

Lucario gave him a strange look. "Mm, I'm not sure about multiverse in the way that you mean. As far as I know, there are many. Not infinite, though." She sat up a bit more, continuing. "I'm here as a sort of scout. Our universe is getting overpopulated with Pokemon-"

Yeah, no kidding. There was, what, nearly a thousand different Pokemon now?

"-so I'm one of the ones sent out to look for other places that we might be able to send Pokemon to live in harmony with humans."

Bryce scoffed, though it came out sounding more like a sneeze that he'd held back. "Hate to disappoint you, but that won't be here. At best, Pokemon would get used as weapons of destruction, and at worst?"

She probably didn't want to know.

"You probably don't want to know."

"Well, I have a year to figure that out for myself, I guess."

"A year?" It was the first time his tone had changed at all. This poor thing was stuck here for an entire year? He swore slightly under his breath. "Look, I, uh...won't...and more importantly, can't...stop you from leaving or anything, but you might want to remain in hiding for a year long research project like that."

"Or…?" Her tone wasn't accusatory, at least.

Hoping that he wasn't about to burst her bubble of thoughts of a pure, innocent world. "You'll probably be locked away and cut open within a few hours. Mankind doesn't like unknowns, even if you're not completely unknown. And I don't mean the kind of cutting open that you'll wake back up from."

Lucario looked down. "Oh."

Great, now he felt horrible. If it was his decision, he'd just let her live in peace for a year, but he couldn't just let her not know what would likely happen. But the only place he could think of that she would be able to research and live without any other human interference was...here. Screw it, he'd already brought her into the house.

"Look, it's totally up to you, alright? You can do whatever you need to do." Ugh, he wasn't good at this kind of thing, but he was about to do it anyway. Bryce gently grabbed her paw, holding it softly. "But if you'd like to stay here, I'll look after you as best as I can, okay? Sure, I still live with my folks, but as long as we can keep you out of their sight...it's not like they're here that of-hnnk!"

Pain. So much pain.

"Oh, thank you!"

Yes, you're welcome, now please let go. Someone didn't know their own strength, and even barring that, hugs were awkward, so stop anytime soon.

"S-Sorry!" Lucario let go, with Bryce sitting back in his chair, chest heaving.

"...i...it's fine...owwww…" Yeah, that was going to leave a bruise. Catching his breath, Bryce thought it over a bit more. "I guess I'm not doing too much these days. I'll help you research whatever you need as best as I can. My folks are usually out on business or spending time with friends or whatever, so they're not around often, but we'll have to have some sort of plan in case they're around." He folded his arms, looking off to the side to think for a moment. "We've got plenty of space, but it might not be a good idea to wander too far from me right now. And maybe avoiding any windows or doors that lead outside."

Even looking away, he could feel her sticking her tongue out at me. "Yes, dad."

He just rolled his eyes at that. "After a hug like that, I'm not about to tell you what to do. It's just advice."

"Better."

Cheeky one, hmm?

"...really, though, you're okay with me staying here?" Lucario asked quietly.

Bryce shrugged, giving a small chuckle. "Not like my opinion matters all that much, with how strong you are."

A silence filled the room for a moment. "...It matters to me."

Something about the way she said it...it sounded sincere. It felt sincere.

"Sorry." It slipped out before he could stop it. With a sigh, he continued. "I'm not...most people don't really care about what others think when it comes to something important. They're more set on things than they think." He turned, not meeting her gaze. "Yeah, I'm fine with you staying. For as long as you want to stay."

This time, when he said it, Bryce didn't feel like it was such a bad idea anymore.

"Thank you." She said, again. And this time, it felt just as honest as it did before.

"...don't mention it." He replied. "We've got most of today, so how about I show you around, maybe get something to eat if you feel like you could."

She frowned. "Ohh, why'd you have to mention food?"

He rolled his eyes. Aaand there went the moment. "C'mon, I'll make whatever you're in the mood for."

Lucario's eyes dilated for a split second. "Protein…"

"Carnivore, huh?" Bryce made a face of disgust. She gave a pout before he smirked. "I'm just kidding. If there's no meat in the equation, it's no good." He'd never be able to go vegetarian.

Her ears perked.

"Meatloaf it is." He offered a hand to help her stand. "Careful getting up, though...just because you feel the same height doesn't mean you are."

She nodded, carefully swinging her legs in front of her. Bryce pulled her up off of the bed, slowly. It wasn't slowly enough, apparently, and her entire frame was holding onto him, legs shaking a bit.

"S-Sorry…" She squeaked out, nervousness apparent.

"You're fine, I gotcha." Right, he'd have to ask about her being so light later. Along with the eyes, too. They looked better the way they were, actually. "C'mon, one step at a time."

It took a bit of getting used to, but like any skill that someone had to relearn, it came faster than the first time, and a few minutes later, Lucario was standing and walking like any normal...well, bipedal would.

"Looks like interdimensional travel isn't so bad on you. Not after nine hours of sleep, anyway." Bryce mused. "So, food?"

Lucario nodded, taking his hand as they walked out of his room and into the kitchen, thankfully without any more accidents.

Author's Notes: Because this story was based on a dream, many of what I remembered and wrote down that following morning were specific scenes. Since this was the first story I'd ever written (outside of schoolwork requirements), I admittedly did a very poor job of knowing how to connect those points together to form a story with at least some type of flow. One of the big things that I had for Lucario, as a character, was that most of her character traits were shown early. I'd done this to allude that she was open about herself and not typically how a Lucario is portrayed. In this story, while she will still be more open than Bryce will, I intended to spread out her characteristics a bit more. That was the reason for intentionally referring to only her physical characteristics in chapter one and never calling her a Lucario until this chapter. If you've read the previous story before, you'll also notice that her defining feature isn't explicitly addressed here, either. But we'll see more of that soon.

Comments are always appreciated, and remember that friendship is shown through many ways. -Delta