Chapter 20: A Great Day

Well, this morning was starting out as anything but phenomenal. Bryce had woken up well before his alarm, and, unable to get back to sleep, found out the hard way that the extra gallon of milk in the fridge had been expired for days. Even after a hot shower, Violet had let him know–albeit, as nicely as she could–that her morning was going to be spent in solitary meditation. Understanding and knowing as he was, getting to have at least a little time joking around with her before school on Friday would have taken some weight off his shoulders. With a reminder to keep an eye out for his parents coming home before noon, Bryce had trudged off to first period. He had gotten better about not looking too down…at least, he was pretty sure he had…but right now it felt like it would take hours to be able to get out of the prison that was school.

At least someone else out there was on his side, because hours quickly became a matter of minutes. Bryce blinked, head lifting from its perched position on the palm of his hand as the lights and computer displaying the lecture suddenly switched off. The noise from the classroom did the opposite, with the general buzz of students mixed somewhere between the relief of getting a break and the annoyance of losing the very much needed air conditioning. The latter camp gave Bryce a small chuckle, namely via several swears underneath students' breath.

"What?" Veronica asked, chuckling a little bit herself as she asked.

"Nothing. Just been one of those days, y'know?"

She nodded, brown hair bobbing a bit. "Well, I guess–"

"Could I have your attention, please?" Came a booming voice.

Great, the principal. Physically, he was pretty much the textbook definition of what anyone would expect: a balding man in his early forties, and a slight sense of natural superiority when talking to any group younger than him that mostly disappeared when talking to an individual. He could probably do to lay off the cheeseburgers, though.

"Attention, please." He repeated, for the few still idly talking in the back.

'I'll pass.' Bryce thought, but listened anyway. With this classroom closest to the principal's office, and no intercom or backup power source, this was the best they could manage.

"I have been informed there has been a localized power outage for the city. We don't know how long this outage will last. Because it will heavily effect lesson plans and also prevent the use of air conditioning, we are canceling classes to–"

Either he didn't get the chance to finish, or Bryce couldn't hear him over the collective responses. It wasn't as loud as the last day of school rush. If anything, it was mostly a general murmur and buzz of thanking various deities for the stroke of good fortune. Even more surprisingly, Bryce was in agreement. Glancing at the clock, it wasn't quite one-o'-clock in the afternoon. He smirked, watching the principal go, leaving their poor history teacher to sweep up the discussion with farewells and 'don't forget to's'. The populace started flowing out of the room. They'd likely been the first in the school to know and they weren't about to pass up that advantage.

As they went through the motions of packing up, Veronica turned to Bryce, giving a grin. "Looks like the day's getting better."

"You know that's right." Bryce agreed, slinging the backpack over his shoulder.

The two walked out of the room, the last two out of the door just before they heard a gleeful shout next door.

"Freshman." He said simply, referring to the door. "Better get out of here before we get trampled."

The pair exited the scene quickly, stepping outside into the dry, sweltering heat. Even the gentle gusts of wind weren't enough to balance out the temperature into something livable.

"Guess I'll see you Monday?" He offered, turning to Veronica.

She nodded, but as Bryce turned to head home, she stopped him. "Hey, uh…actually, if you want, we could hang out for a bit longer?"

The question actually stumped him for a moment. To him, this was just a chance to go spend time with Violet. He wasn't used to any students having the time, patience…or even desire to hang out with him.

"I would, but my folks are actually coming back into town today, so I've gotta check in with them. Plus, I haven't fed my pets today." He paused, internally cringing, but also knowing he couldn't exactly tell Veronica the complete truth. "How about next weekend, though?"

Having been avoiding looking him in the eye since she'd asked, Veronica finally met his gaze for a few moments. "Yeah, I'm free then. We can figure out the details at school on Monday." She gave a small smile.

He smiled back. "Sounds good. See you then?"

Veronica nodded, waving goodbye for a second before turning the other way and heading back home. Bryce trudged through the heat as well, getting about halfway to his home as he stopped, only for a few seconds.

'...I'm an idiot.'

No use worrying about it now. Violet was more important, and a couple of minutes later, he was opening the front door–and nearly getting tackle-hugged by the Lucario.

"Are you okay? What happened?" She asked, lifting her head up to look at him.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?"

"I…well, something seemed off about your aura a few minutes ago, and your parents came by for a few minutes and they were acting strange–"

Bryce held Violet gently by the shoulders, pushing her back about a foot and giving her shoulders a gentle squeeze. "My parents? Strange? Perish the thought."

Thankfully she was well used to his sarcasm by now. Violet giggled, shoving him playfully in return. "Fine, I guess you're okay. Still, what are you doing home this early?"

"Power's dead at school." Bryce replied simply, pointing his thumb over his shoulder in the vague direction of the school. "No air conditioning, so they canceled class." A pause. "Disappointed?"

"As if." She smirked, rolling her eyes. "You're way ahead on your studies and now you have a three day weekend to keep me company."

"Well aren't you feeling greedy?" He teased, in full agreement with her.

Giving a mock pout, Violet crossed her paws. "Awh, I guess you have other plans…"

Bryce let his backpack slide off his shoulder and land on the floor with a soft thud. Smirking, he traded out the weight of books and paper for slipping one arm behind Violet's knees, swooping her up into a bridal style carry.

"H-Hey!" She laughed, instinctively wrapping her paws around his neck for extra leverage. "Put me down!"

"Really?" Bryce asked, drawing out the question.

"No, not really!" Violet answered, still laughing, so much that her infectious laughter got Bryce chuckling too. "Come on, your parents left you a letter in the kitchen."

With nothing better to do, he walked towards the kitchen, carrying the Lucario the whole way there. Sure enough, the letter was sitting on the counter in plain sight. As much as he might be able to carry Violet around, doing so one-handed while reading was impossible with his physique. Carefully putting her back into a standing position, he opened the unsealed envelope, reading the contents for a few moments. His face slowly shifted from a grin to a more neutral expression as he continued reading. After all, notes like this from his folks usually meant something bad.

"Huh…looks like my dad got a promotion, and he's going to be around even less than before…" He mused.

Bryce continued to read, but even as he did, he could feel Violet's heart breaking for him. He moved the note out of his vision. Rather than try and remind her exactly how little he cared for his folks, he instead beamed at her.

"Oh darn, guess I'll get even more time with you, then."

"But…they're your family…" She looked away, crossing her right paw over her body to hold her left arm.

Bryce knew full well that it must have been tough for someone that was actually close to their family…or at least, closer than he was with his parents.

"If anything, you're my family." He answered, quietly yet confidently.

Looking back at her was impossible in that moment, and his face was definitely warming, but Bryce wasn't about to take it back. Still, he could feel Violet giving him a curious gaze, somewhere between playfully teasing and wondering exactly how much he meant what he said.

"I mean, obviously…right?" Great, now he was the one that was asking for clarification.

He got it too, feeling a very tight squeeze around his chest as Violet hugged him tightly. Bryce gently hugged back with a free arm, setting it back on the counter and gently pressing his forehead against hers.

'If you ever need me, you know I'll come running.' Bryce thought, keeping the quiet tone even in his own mind.

'So will I.' Came the simple, sure answer from the Lucario.

Pulling back, Bryce glanced over at the envelope, spotting a green triangle inside. He raised an eyebrow, picking up the mail a second time and opening it proper. His eyes went wide, quickly setting the envelope down and picking up the letter again.

"Oh, hell yes…" He grinned.

With all the money he made from cleaning around the house, and combined with the fact his folks also gave him an allowance for food, cash wasn't really high on his priority list.

However…he knew exactly what he could do with this.

Violet recognized the bills, blinking curiously. "Is that…their way of thanking you?"

"Maybe." He shrugged.

It could also be them trying to buy his love, or at least appreciation. Too bad parents could do everything the best they could and still not be what their child needs.

"But what we could do with this–" he continued, double checking the count on the money, "–is help you to see other parts of the world."

Obviously she knew he wasn't referring to physically walking all over the world. "Mm?"

"If you're okay with me spending it on a surprise," He grinned, "I know exactly what I'm looking for and where to get it. I can even pick up lunch, too."

While the rarity of Bryce being enthused and excited was hardly lost on her, Violet was obviously curious about the prospect…and lunch didn't sound too bad either. With a smile and a nod, she gave Bryce one last hug, playfully pushing him towards the door.

"Alright, I'll see you in an hour?" She asked.

"Oh, far less." He replied, pocketing the cash and opening the door. "I can take a hint. I'll be back in about twenty minutes."

Twenty minutes later…

It had actually only taken fifteen minutes. One of the advantages of running errands at about one thirty in the afternoon: far, far less traffic–inside stores and out. By now, not only had Bryce unpackaged the entire setup, he was already installing some small boards on the corners of his bedroom for the receivers.

Violet watched, keeping an eye on the charging controllers. She gave the whole thing a skeptical look.

"So this is just a way to play games, but feel like you're in them?"

He gave a small smile. "Yeah, I thought it wasn't all that great either, but I've tried it before. If set up the right way, it can do some pretty amazing stuff. Besides, it's not just for gaming."

Bryce carefully stepped down from the last corner, inspecting the setup. All the wires were grouped together in a neat, organized way. All the receivers were ready to go. The controllers were charging. Violet had cleared out a good amount of play space.

"Alright, now for the real part." Bryce said, sliding into his desk chair. "Now I'm really glad I said I was busy this weekend."

"Yeah?" Violet asked curiously, tilting her head slightly. "Who'd you say that to?"

Uh oh. Time to play it cool. Bryce started typing in the search engine for the program he was looking for, clicking through the webpage to find the download. "Oh, there's a new girl in our class that sits next to me. She asked if I was free this weekend, but I couldn't exactly tell her why I was busy."

"Bryce. A girl, your age, asked you if you were free to spend time with her, and you said no?"

"Yeah?"

He didn't dare turn around, instead choosing to let the program start to download, but Violet was definitely giving him a look both baffled and flattered. "What exactly did you tell her?"

"That I needed to go check in on my folks and…pets." He finished lamely, then gave a chuckle.

Violet laughed too. "The only animal in this room is you, you big doofus."

"Hey, my time with you is more important than anything else!" He countered, now fully laughing as well.

Although he said it in a joking manner, Bryce was entirely sincere–and Violet knew it. Still, he probably should make more effort to spend time with other people…but deep down, one individual was plenty for him, at least at this point in his life.

"There, all done." He said, noticing the green bar fully full as he opened up the program.

"What about the controllers?" Violet asked, still noticing them charging.

"We can wait a little if you want, but I'd guess they're at least good to go for a little while."

Getting the hang of putting the headset and controllers on was a bit of a hassle, given the former wasn't exactly built for the shape of a Lucario's head. Still, they managed to find a way for it to fit comfortably. Bryce started up the program, watching from his computer screen as Violet found her way through the tutorials. Considering how quickly she was figuring the whole concept out, at least neither of them would have to worry about her banging into anything by mistake.

"So this is…"

Her gaze was settled on the only object in her viewing space: a large map of Earth.

"Yep, that's earth. And anywhere you want to explore, you can just point to a country and go there." He paused. "It'll probably take some time to load, but–"

"–that's incredible…" She breathed, holding back either a squeak of delight or a very mild swear. "...you're incredible!"

"Hey, I didn't make the–oof!"

Now he was being hugged again. Only then did Bryce remember how easy it would be for an aura-sensing Pokemon to navigate his room, even with a large pair of goggles on her head. More and more, he was finding himself letting physical affection slide. Violet was lucky she was cute. After a few moments, she let go, and he chuckled.

"Well, I guess I'll see you for dinner, or once the controllers run out of battery. Whichever happens first."

Bryce managed to lean back far enough to dodge the playful swipe at him. Chuckling, he stood up, figuring he could give Violet her space for a while. As he grabbed a pair of swim trunks, he headed outside. May as well make use of the pool before it started to get colder outside. Towel in hand soon after, he dove in, the comforting rush of water gliding past him as he mulled things over. Just because he'd gotten a bit more open with Violet didn't mean he was incapable of assessing where things were from time to time. Normally he would have swam laps idly while thinking about life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Hmm…happiness, huh? He was happy, living as he was now. Good living and food arrangements, school was a bit more tolerable, and with Violet around, things just felt…right. It was as if that missing piece was finally there–and it was a very big piece. Between her, Shadow, and even Veronica, to some extent, maybe he did have his own, strange little friend group. In the case of Violet and Shadow, maybe even an actual family. Floating idly on the surface for a moment, Bryce let that idea sink in. Shadow was part of the family–probably more than he was, honestly–and Violet…yeah, they were close. All three of them were close.

Bryce turned upright, swimming over and resting his arms on the side of the pool, facing away from the house. It was only now, that he was finally starting to heal, that he was realizing exactly how he was before summer started. Now, with things starting to turn around, he wanted them to keep turning, for the better. Now, if he kept at it, he could finally have the pieces of life he felt he never had the chance to have. Resolve set, Bryce swam over to the stairs, starting to dry himself off.

Tonight, he was going to order their favorite foods, they'd let the VR set get fully charged for tomorrow, and the three of them were going to snuggle under the covers with the air conditioning on while watching movies. One shower later, Bryce walked to his room, back in his normal clothes. Violet was resting on the bed, letting the controllers charge–patient, but also satisfied with her exploration. As the door closed behind him, she sat up.

"You look different." She pointed out.

Somehow, he knew what she meant. He felt different.

"Yeah. I do." He answered simply, smiling.

Bryce sat down at his desk, starting to order takeout from their favorite places. He could feel Violet watching him, but in a more curious way than anything else. Finishing up his own order, he started on hers. They may have grown in their tastes–one way or another–but she was still a carnivore, deep down. Not but an hour later, a few takeout containers were scattered on the bed, most of which were empty. Bryce and Violet were both tucked under the sheets, snuggled up next to each other with Shadow sitting between Violet at the corner of the wall. He felt Violet's muzzle rest over the side of his neck, giving a soft sigh.

"...yeah, me too."

"Mm?" She asked, still very much awake.

He gave a soft smile. "I'd give up the world to stay like this, too. All three of us."

Maybe they couldn't stay like this together, snuggling and petting Shadow. Maybe they would have to get up for Bryce to go to school and for Violet to keep learning about earth. Maybe there would be days where they didn't have time…but all of those things made this moment worth everything.

Author's Notes: Yep, I did end up deciding to go with a fluff chapter (a lot of them may seem that way before now, but they do have a purpose to the bigger story–give it time). It's also a nod to a story that I often read as a kid–and reread recently, as it's one of my favorites. If you know what story that is, you'll probably know what's coming next chapter. There'll be more to go over in that chapter, so instead, let's talk about life!

Been a bit longer than expected, but it's actually largely been for good reasons! Although it seems like just about everyone I know in real life had a pretty bad June (June 2023, for those in the future), the last month for me has been nothing but amazing. Unlike 2022, I'd actually been properly prepared to go to the convention I did last year (which I only knew about the con at the last minute)-and not only was it amazing because of the staff, attendees and events, it was a nice reminder that there are people out there that I can just be myself around. I can count the number of times I've just lived in the moment on one hand, but I actually got to be that way during the entire convention. It's been super inspiring to branch out from what I'd been doing and make my craft into something more, and despite it having been over a month ago, not only has my desire to do so not disappeared, it's not even wavered. I made a big 'To Do' list that involved understanding and working on a few facets in my life (mostly tech-related stuff, but some writing too), and I've been making good headway into everything on that list. Seems fitting, given that this chapter is a feel-good one as well.

Now it's September, and the resolve to spend more time with those that I connected and reconnected with back in June hasn't so much as wavered. It's definitely made my life better, so if any of them are reading this: thank you. Watching one aspect of my life start to disappear has been rough–even with the time to prepare for it–but having a new found family also means I'm not doing this crazy game we call life by myself.

The importance of found family–both for me personally and in the story–really cannot be overstated. Blood truly doesn't mean anything when it compares to people that you can be yourself around, loved as you are, have common interests, and understand at a deeper level because they're willing to have deeper relationships. I don't remember the exact quote, nor the person who said it, but at the end of your life, if you're sitting on your deathbed, you're not going to say 'I wish I'd made more money', 'I wish I spent more time working'. You'll say 'I wish I had more time with the people I loved, and I wish I had told them that I loved them more'.

As a difficult day comes up for me later this week, as cheesy as it is to hear (since we've all heard it before), be sure to tell those people–family, friends, whoever you're close to–that you value them. It doesn't have to be 'I love you', word for word, but when someone's life comes to an end, expected or not, you don't want to be the one living with that guilt when you could be living with the knowledge that 'I did what I could to make their life better, and I know they know I cared about them'.

I hope to have the next chapter out faster than this one was, but a big amount of stuff I've been working on aside from this has been completed, so I'll have more time. That said, I have been editing a story for someone else, one that definitely has a lot of themes similar to this story. It's been a lot of fun, and while both are important to work on, I haven't forgotten about Fantasy's Reality, not even for a second.

Comments are always appreciated, and know that days where you struggle to go places and meet people are quite possibly the days you need to try the most. People can often surprise you for the better, and you'll meet others that you feel as if you've known forever. -Delta