Chapter 6: Resistance

Funny thing about insomnia: it was possible to just nod off and not even be remotely aware that one had done so. It didn't happen very often to Bryce, but when it did, it typically meant he'd get a few hours of sleep, and wake back up to continue whatever he was doing, none the wiser.

But when there was another occupant in the room, that changed things.

For as long as he could remember, Bryce was a pretty light sleeper. Even his parents had mentioned offhand he wouldn't go to sleep when he was really little until there was nobody else in the room. If he was asleep when someone got close enough, his body would just wake up on instinct...and not just a slow fade into consciousness, he'd go to high alert.

Most of the time, anyway.

In his mind, Bryce was wide awake, typing away at his computer. Sure, it felt like he was going in circles, but that was normal for trying to find information on the internet sometimes. Then he felt a poke against his shoulder. Bryce glanced over. Nothing was there. Another poke pressed against him in the same place, stronger this time. Suddenly his eyes flew open, arms uncrossing as his head lifted up.

"Hunh?"

His eyes were met with a much more aware pair and a small smirk. "Morning, sleepyhead."

Instantly he looked somewhere else, anywhere else as he stretched. "Ha ha, very funny."

Suddenly he felt rather embarrassed. He slid a bit to the right in his chair to look at the clock. A little after nine. Five hours of sleep, huh...that hadn't happened in months.

"Probably getting hungry, huh?" He asked.

Violet grinned. Uh oh. "A little. But it was more fun catching you off guard…~" She teased.

"Fine, guess I'll get to pick what to eat for breakfast today then." He shot back. Well, what was left of the time to have breakfast, anyway. "But first, I need a shower." He stood, quietly continuing as he reached the door. "If nobody's out there, help yourself to anything."

Bryce quickly made his way to the bathroom to take care of the typical morning routine. More importantly though, he just...really needed to get out of there. It wasn't until the shower had warmed up and he'd stepped into it that he finally managed to realize why. Okay, so maybe he'd gotten a little flustered. Housing a Pokemon aside, the last time someone had actually managed to catch him in an unconscious state was…

...uh…

...never? Not for as long as his memory went back, anyway.

Maybe he really did need sleep that badly. He had been doing more than the normal routine since running into Violet. That wasn't going to change either. She didn't appear to be the type that would constantly train or anything, but obviously she was a better athlete than he ever was.

"Nah, that can't be it…" He said quietly, shampooing his head as he looked down at the drain as it whisked away the used water.

No matter how exhausted Bryce had gotten, he'd never fallen asleep in class. He'd never fallen asleep around anyone, except Shadow. Think, think...why else would he be comfortable enough to sleep around someone he'd just m-

-wait. No...no no no no, that wasn't possible. He wasn't that comfortable around her already. That wasn't possible! Bryce had known other people with similar interests for the better part of his life and wouldn't be able to relax around them. Okay, maybe he was just jumping to conclusions. He thought it over, the whole thing. Every single moment they'd spent together from start to finish.

He'd really been that comfortable taking a Pokemon into his house and let her stay there?

He'd taken what she said at face value?

They'd eaten pizza, played video games...and done other things that friends did?

Were they friends?

Bryce shut the water off, deciding that he was thinking about it too much. Just because he'd done something nice for someone and he had only considered the possible drawbacks a tiny bit…

...maybe he should spend a bit of time without her today. Yeah, that settled it. Bryce began drying himself off, working on a plan for the day. Breakfast, then show Violet how to do research online, and after that, he could get to work on that guest room. She'd need her own personal space too, and the sooner, the better.

Bryce looked around as he brushed his teeth. Shoot, he'd forgotten a clean set of clothes. Screw it, he could wear the same clothes long enough to get another pair. Maybe he was just getting stupid with her around.

Thankfully, the rest of the day seemed to go by in relative peace. They were a bit low on eggs, but that was another problem for another day. It was enough to make bacon, eggs and toast for two and not end up getting hounded for using up the last of anything. Violet showered while Bryce cleaned up the dishes, internally grateful that the only explaining he had to do when it came to cleanliness was how the shower worked.

One more reason to prefer cats.

After the dishes were clean, Bryce fed Shadow as well, watching him devour the canned food like it was his first meal in weeks.

"Heaven forbid I feed you after I eat and not before I do." He rolled his eyes, petting him for a few moments before heading back to his room, leaving the door open for him to return. Bryce worked on adding more to his 'to-do' list a little more before Violet returned.

"Ready to learn how to do online research?"

"As ready as I'll ever be."

"That's the spirit." He replied flatly, recalling the few assignments that required sources for papers. Evidence was nice, but for a high school paper, there comes a point where the paper is less about your thoughts and more about what you found other people saying. If teachers want that, they were welcome to go to the library any time.

"Alright, first rule's first: don't believe everything you read…"

As a true skeptic knew well…

…

Thank goodness for fast learners. After all the slow-minded students in his class, it was nice to have someone that actually was able to understand what was going on and draw accurate conclusions based on the information. Apparently it was a dying art on this planet. The only issue Violet seemed to run into was the keyboard. In her defense, it wasn't exactly designed for paws. But it just took a bit of practice and learning how to use it in her own way, and…

"...that's about it." He paused. "If anything else comes up, just ask."

By now, he'd been sitting on his bed for a little while, with Violet sitting in his office chair.

"What, you're not gonna watch?"

'Alone time…' "Nah, not unless you need me for something. I'm gonna get to work on a project of my own: cleaning up that awful guest room."

The Lucario nodded, ears downtrodden a bit. "Makes sense."

"But I'll be only a few feet away, so just come get me. And watch out for any of the critters I may be killing in the next hour." The only good spider is a dead spider, after all. "Since we had a late breakfast, we'll figure out lunch at about two or so."

Bryce stood up, giving a small nod to his new roommate, and then headed out of the room, stopping halfway. "Oh, and if you hear slight scratching, it's Shadow, but keep an eye on things in case my folks show up." An eye on things? "Er, so to speak." With that, he left, closing the door and leaving Violet and Shadow in his bedroom before he could sound more idiotic.

Well, that was awkward. Rolling his eyes at himself, Bryce walked over, slowly cracking open the door to the guest room. Thankfully, he wasn't hit with a wave of dust or any nasty residents. One look was enough for anyone to guess there were a few. That was probably as good a place to start as any: vacuuming and dusting, and hoping there weren't any nasty surprises waiting for him.

Bryce and his parents didn't exactly have company over all the time...or any time, for that matter. They had enough space for maybe two extra people, but with a distinct lack of visitors that were staying the night, the guest room was more of an 'extra storage' room. The twin bed had been laying in there, unused for years. Aside from a small nightstand and lamp, the only other things that were in the room were several boxes and far too many cobwebs.

Leaving the guest room door open, Bryce went straight to the hall closet for a vacuum. After the device was set in the room, he set out for the kitchen to grab a duster and some all-purpose cleaner. The last thing he wanted to do was have a Lucario around that had managed to get sick with something serious. With a toss, the duster and cleaner landed on the bed, emitting a small puff of dust.

Gross.

There was one upside to self-inflicted cleaning duty, at least: it gave him time to think things over in his mind. Vacuum plugged in and roaring to life, Bryce started running it across the carpet. The upside of being introspective, it meant that doing menial tasks wasn't quite as boring for him as it would be for others.

So, that question...were they friends?

They got along. She'd shared a bit about her goals, and he'd mentioned his opinions on a few things that he'd never bother bringing up about anyone else. Granted, that was only because he figured she'd be more free of bias, but it also meant that he trusted her on some level. Again, his mind thought to the fact that he'd been comfortable enough to fall asleep around her. Did he like being around her?

His immediate thought was 'yes', but then he considered it a bit more. Switching off the vacuum, Bryce quickly went to work on cleaning one corner of the room so he could place the boxes there. Sure, he didn't exactly have any sort of friend other than Shadow, so clearly there wasn't a lot of past experience to go on. Violet wasn't boring, he thought. On the other hand, he was always on alert around her. Mind reading made it hard to keep secrets. Even with nothing too terribly important to hide, his thoughts were the one thing that no human could uncover. Maybe he'd have to ask about the morality of that kind of thing and try to gently push for her to...well, not do that.

Corner clean, it was time to deal with those boxes.

The ground definitely looked better, but it was pretty clear that even with a good scrubbing, the walls definitely needed a fresh coat of paint. Maybe purple would be fitting for…

...hmm.

Had he pressed too hard about the whole 'don't care what others think' angle? Was he just trying to make her more comfortable? The more and more he thought about it, the more he just came up with more questions.

Yeah, he was definitely overthinking this. Right?

What if this was some sort of Pokemon thing, though? In any media, they seemed to mostly be capable of befriending humans pretty well. Did she have some sort of ability, natural or otherwise, to just make others inclined to like her and feel comfortable around her? It could just be her affective presence...free of judgment, wanting to learn, and accepting of an answer if it had logical reasoning behind it.

Those were good qualities to have in a...friend.

She was only here for a year. But he also knew that being distant, both physically and mentally, every single day, would be tough. Keeping others at arm's length was a skill that took precision, like walking a tightrope. Lean too far to one side and come off as awkward and antisocial like he often did, or get too invested and make a lasting bond.

The boxes stacked semi-neatly in a corner, he switched the vacuum back on, though mostly just so he could say some stuff out loud and see how it sounded without Violet hearing.

"I like spending time with V."

Yes or no? With everything considered...yes, he did. That was something that could change in the future, possibly, but right now? Yes.

"I don't think she's trying to con me."

That one he was a bit less sure of. He'd have to pause that one before saying a definite yes or no. More information was necessary before he could say that for sure. For now, he settled with, 'not intentionally, no, but maybe'.

Last but not least…

"I consider her a friend."

As much as he wanted to consider every factor, the thing on the forefront of his mind was watching her playful frustration while they were playing games together...and deep down, her playfulness when she was getting him flustered.

He was keeping that a secret to the grave.

Still, nothing in her personality or actions gave him a reason to say 'no'. And ultimately…

"...yeah, I do."

For now, at least.

Bryce switched the vacuum off, recoiling the power cable and placing it in the corner as he started to work on the nightstand. He'd already given her a chance when he'd found her, why not again? As much as he detested the phrase 'this time will be different', even if he never really went out of his way to look for a friend, there was no denying that she'd be different from a normal, human friend.

That seemed to be for the best, anyway.

This was going to be her room eventually. Violet should get to choose the color.

Author's Notes: Sorry about no updates last week, things got a bit hectic with family stuff. But enough about that, I hope you've all been well and safe. I struggled a bit when it came to deciding what to do with Violet learning different subjects, namely because several of them can easily lead to arguments. So don't expect a full lesson on history, politics, the creation of earth, etc. other than maybe the tail end of one side of the story. As someone who creates stories, I know there's potential for an infinite number of viewpoints for them.

Instead, let's talk a bit more about the comparison of this story to the original. Of course, I plan to have this story move a bit more slowly, though that's namely so that there's proper build up. Many people, Bryce included, can take a long time to open up to others. It's actually pretty interesting to read about the psychology of friendship, how and why people choose the friends they do, that kind of thing.

Speaking of, yes, I do research topics that I write about for this story. As much as feeling out my writing and thinking 'yes, this feels right' or 'no, this feels off' is important, researching the different lenses that relationships are built upon helps me find the base concept of what I'm looking for, and build upon that concept. Which is why it's taking Bryce longer than it did in the original story. While it's entirely possible that a kid could go his whole life feeling apathetic and one person taking time to invest in him could flip that outlook in a few days, it's also extremely unlikely.

Also, for anyone who's ever asked a friend that seems to be deep in thought, "Is your mind always running?" Allow me to answer. Yes. This is an extremely common series of events where it can appear one is just daydreaming, but in reality they're just running through scenarios and trying to figure out exactly what all of it means.

Even though I have a decently strong grasp on matters in psychology, I'm sure the whole 'researching' thing is going to get much more difficult for a certain character down the line. Their big element is something that I know absolutely nothing about in the technical sense, even though it's an important part in my life. Whoops. The good thing about that though? It means I'll have another thing that this story has given me.

Comments are always appreciated, and remember that sometimes all we need is a little bit of kindness. Give that kindness to others. Be willing to accept it when you need it. Those small moments can be worth everything to you or someone else. -Delta