Chapter 5: Color

As the day continued to go by, Bryce found himself feeling that, for once, things didn't feel like they were slowing down to a crawl. For someone near the top of his class in school, it took him quite a while to figure out why. Perhaps it was true, as the old saying went: judging from an outside perspective is a very easy thing to do, but judgement within is often contained by oneself. Not until the atmosphere turned shades of deep yellow and oranges, with purple splashes of clouds slowly rolling in did Bryce and Lucario finally agreed to return to the house. Though it was still a possibility that his parents wouldn't show up tonight, it was best to get a plan in place. The last thing either of them needed was an interrogation.

Lucario had just returned from the bathroom to find Bryce moving stuff around in his closet. Part of her wanted to help, but it was his belongings. Despite her quiet entrance, he'd clearly heard the Pokemon return.

"Guess it's a good thing I keep all my clothing in a dresser and not the closet." Bryce stood up, turning to face her with a few small shoe boxes of stuff. "Should be plenty easy to tuck away into the corner if my folks come knocking."

He rolled his eyes at the last statement. Parents didn't knock, not unless they walked in on their kid changing clothes or something else embarrassing. And until that happened to him, they'd just be barging in any old time. As he set the shoe boxes on top of his dresser, he thought for a moment. Now was as good a time as any to install a lock on his door. Plenty of time to do it, too.

"You missed a few things." Lucario knelt down, standing up a moment after, a few trading cards in paw.

"Ah, so that's what was in those boxes." He walked over, taking them from her outstretched paws and looking them over. "I'd forgotten they were in there. Used to collect 'em all the time. Never played against someone in real life, though."

"You could always teach me. If you've got enough cards for two people to play."

He raised an eyebrow at that. "I do, but trust me, this game gets into the realm of 'so complex, it's not even fun'. And apparently it's only gotten worse as time goes on." Bryce paused. "Although…"

He went back to the shoe boxes, opening them both. Sure enough, there was a modest amount of trading cards with the blue backs that he was looking for. He tossed them onto the bed where the pair of them hovered over them. Bryce grabbed about half of them, thumbing through as Lucario picked up a few, studying them.

"Feels kinda surreal, huh?" Bryce asked, eyes still locked on the cards as he slid them from one hand to another.

"I guess." She mused, quiet but curious.

It took her only a moment longer to realize what he was probably looking for. She was proven right, too. Bryce pulled out the card from the rest, handing it over to her. Hardly a reflection of herself, but sure enough, it was a Lucario.

"It's yours, if you want it." He didn't think of it as a gift as he'd passed it to her, but it was one, in a way. "Clearly I don't use them for anything anymore."

One of her digits glossed over the card's text, still looking at the picture. Bryce would know that look anywhere. He'd seen it in the mirror at least once a week. Maybe he'd messed up. Rome wasn't built in a day, and people wouldn't change that quickly.

"For what it's worth, that's not what I expect you to be." She continued to look at the card as he said it, but he continued. "A lot of Fighting-types are portrayed as Pokemon that were made only to fight, nothing else. Pretty sure you're more than that if you decided to go to an alternate dimension as an ambassador of sorts."

Her body was there in the room, but her mind was clearly a million miles away.

"Hey, don't make me go and find a purple marker."

Still nothing. Right, that wasn't funny. Bryce didn't do funny, but he did do serious. So he walked over, snatching the card from her paw.

"Mm?" She blinked, looking around as if a bright flash had gone off in her vision.

"If I wanted you to get all mopey, I could have found something else." He replied, tossing the card into the corner.

"But-"

"Yeah, I get it, trust me. And I'll say it again: if you try and hold yourself to everyone else's standards, you'll never make everyone happy, least of all, you. I'm the last person qualified to say that I look different from the normal human, but I'm human enough to know that if something about your physical appearance shattered someone's hopes and dreams for what they wanted you to be, they weren't ever dreaming for your goals. They were dreaming for your own." He paused. "That feeling won't go away overnight, but just be yourself around me. I won't judge you."

"...are you sure about that?"

Her tone made him pause. Admittedly, yeah, he was judgemental of the outside world. Very judgemental. Bryce took a deep breath.

"I promise, I won't judge. But I will try and snap you out of it if you're feeling down."

Lucario's gaze bore deep into him. She could probably tell he was a touch nervous, even if his physical tone said he was only semi-committed.

"It'll take time." She replied.

"Time is all we got." He agreed. "Now, let's forget about all that and relax for a bit. We'll learn how to do research later, once we're sure my folks will or won't be coming home for the night. Dinner?"

She gave a small smile, nodding.

"Good, I'm feeling lazy." Bryce sat down in his chair, turning to the computer screen. "Time to make use of technology's best feature: ordering in."

As far as he knew, Lucario never had a trainer. The closest thing to it would have been her training, but if she hadn't tried pizza before, he might just be witness to her biggest 'discovery of a lifetime'. When in doubt for toppings, go for meat. She watched over his shoulder for a moment, before stepping to his side.

"Thanks." He replied.

It might feel a bit unnerving to have a housemate that could read your thoughts, but sometimes it was better than having to verbalize what he did and didn't like. And having someone standing behind him was one of those things Bryce took care to avoid at any given moment. He knew why, too, and she probably did as well. Even if she didn't, that only made it that much more selfless.

Another mental note: get a second chair in here. And use it as a footrest when anyone came by so it wouldn't look suspicious.

Soon enough, food had been ordered, and the two of them had about half an hour to kill while they waited. Bryce quickly cleaned up the trading cards.

"Well, you said you have a lot of free time. What do you do for fun?" She asked.

"Depends. Want to watch something, or would you prefer something more hands-on?" Or paws on, he supposed.

"Hands on, definitely."

"Alright, I'll load up a game then." Bryce pulled out the drawer attached to his desk, looking through his games before pulling one out. He removed the disc, ejecting the previous one and swapping it for the current one. The menu started to load up as he plugged in a pair of controllers. "Crash course, that's the machine that plays the disc, and it reads that disc and projects a sort of interactive video that's controlled by these." He held up one of the controllers before passing it to her, taking the other one for himself. "As for the game, we'll take it slow, and hopefully the AI will play nice."

"AI?"

"Automated Intelligence. The game requires four players, so since we only have two, the game will put in computer players to make it four. They're good in some aspects...not so great in others. Kinda makes them endearingly stupid, sometimes."

Bryce reached the title screen, loading up the tutorial mode.

"This'll play by itself, so I'll just let it do its thing. Let me know if you've got any questions. I'll probably explain more once we get into the game anyway. No such thing as a perfect tutorial." He set his controller back on the desk with a quiet 'thunk', looking over the map. Normally, he'd never get to see this.

The rules went by, Lucario staying totally silent. Eventually it concluded and she gave him a side glance. "And this is a simple game?"

"Simple in concept. Despite all the rules, the game revolves around three things: skill, understanding, and luck." Bryce took a quick look through the boards. "Mm, this is probably the most simple one. Ready?"

As it turned out, Lucario was not ready. At least, on some levels, anyway. For her first time playing, she did quite well. All of her moves were calculated and she made the best moves with the knowledge she did have. It also helped that Bryce explained the board when his turn came up. Even when she had to exhibit the skills, she'd almost always come in second. It also helped that a basic stage meant that only so much luck could happen to tilt the game in or out of her favor. But as for the understanding…

"What?! Why steal from me!? I haven't done anything to him! You've been in first the entire game!"

He had been, and for the first time in a long, long time, Bryce was holding back laughter. "Nobody understands the AI." He said sagely. Then he continued. "If I had to guess, it's because I have enough of a lead that they know the likelihood of them catching up is extremely low, so they went after the next highest player on the leaderboard. You."

"I feel cheated." She huffed.

"You're still in second, and I doubt they'll catch you." Bryce was trying not to snicker, thankfully holding it in. "But if you learn nothing else, know that the computer is a cheating bastard."

Lucario rolled her eyes, but she knew he was entirely right.

"I guess we know you're not a robot. Or at the very least, not one as low-tech as those are." He shrugged. "Congratulations, you're capable of making rational decisions."

As rational as wanting to visit an alien planet, anyway.

"Great, thanks." She replied sarcastically.

A few minutes went by as they idly chatted before the doorbell rang.

"A way to let the house's owners know you're at their door." Bryce explained, standing and heading out of the room. "Be right back."

It was always nice when someone delivering food wasn't one for idle conversation. It also helped that, at least at that establishment, they were paid by number of deliveries. No way would they bother taking their sweet time if they wanted more money. Bryce walked back into his room, using a leg to pull the door closed.

"How'd you do that?"

"What, the leg thing?" He asked. Getting a nod, he replied, "lots of practice from when you have your hands full. Especially when someone else forgets you're right behind them and just closes it in front of you."

He sat the box down on the bed, opening it up and grabbing a slice. "Don't worry about plates, by the way. 'A lazy meal deserves a lazy way of eating', as a wise man once said."

"You?"

Bryce nodded. "Me, I lied about the wise part." He took a bite of the pizza. Pepperoni and sausage, a combination as old as time itself.

"I doubt that, you seem smarter than you let on." She mused.

"Maybe. But chessmasters aren't we all?" He replied playfully. "Chessmasters that hover over their pieces, not realizing they're merely a pawn on someone else's board."

Lucario blinked. "What?"

"Just the thoughts of a self-proclaimed cynic. Unrelated, give it a try." Bryce said, nodding to the slice of pizza in her paw.

To her credit, when she took a bite, she didn't hold back. Probably part of the natural instinct of a predator. Not like he could say anything about that, though. The moment she started chewing, her eyes lit up. Yep, there it was; like a kid discovering candy for the first time. She tried to talk, but with a mouthful of pizza, she stopped herself, holding up a paw to cover her mouth. Realizing how silly she looked made her laugh, of course. Thankfully not enough to choke.

If anything, it made her seem more human...but in a good way. Perhaps now was a good time to give his idea a shot. The sooner she opened up, the better. Who knew how much she'd figured out about him, maybe even things he didn't know.

"Well, aren't we ladylike, Miss Violet?"

She practically froze, mid-chew, looking right at him before gulping down the bite. "W-What…"

If anything, Lucario sounded...embarrassed? Sheepish? Not quite scared, and definitely not angry, so that was good.

"Too early for nicknames?" He asked, in a lighter tone. "Calling you Lucario seems like you calling me 'human', I guess. Even if you're the only one around me, it might be good to have some sort of backup name."

She seemed to be mulling the idea over in her head. Come to think of it, calling her 'Violet' may not be the best choice if she wasn't enamored with her different feature.

"It's a semi-popular name for females here, dunno if it is back in your world, though." He offered, namely to let her know he didn't just come up with it out of the blue. "Or we could just stick to 'V', or-"

"...it's nice, actually."

Bryce looked back at her, meeting her eyes for a split second before looking away. It was hard to avoid the smile, though. Even if it was hardly the biggest grin around, finding an expression more sincere may just be impossible.

"I'll try." She nodded. "Y'know, not hating it."

"Good." He responded softly, almost smiling himself. Almost. "And if it's not your thing, we can always go back to 'Lucario' or figure something else out." Jokingly, he raised up the half eaten slice of pizza in his hand in a faux-cheer. "To not giving a damn about what other people think of you."

Violet couldn't quite understand the motion in full, but the meaning behind it was crystal clear. She mirrored his actions, and they both took another bite.

Between a teenager's metabolism and a Pokemon who was eating pizza for the first time, clearly one large pie wasn't going to cut it next time. Night had all but fallen, with no parents in sight or sound. Bryce was idly looking through a few things on his computer as Violet rested on his bed. Suddenly, she sat up.

"Oh, right, this is your bed. You've been up for a full day and-"

He waved her off. "Insomnia problems. Can't hardly sleep, really. So don't worry about it, if I get tired, I'll barricade the door so nobody can get in and sleep on the floor."

"But-"

"We can figure out a sleeping situation another day. Get some rest and I'll see you tomorrow, alright, V?"

Violet paused at her name, but only for a moment. Well, nobody got used to a nickname in an hour or two. "I...fine. But just for tonight."

"Sure." He agreed, knowing full well that it would take more than a day to fix that issue.

Bryce stood, turning off the light, tucking the empty pizza box behind the trash can. He'd deal with that later.

"Sleep well." He said, quietly.

All he was met with was a yawn. Strange...he actually felt a bit tired as well. There was a first time for everything, he supposed.

Author's Notes: Well, happy new year, all. Or in this case, probably just a relief that the year's over. Congrats, you survived it!

So, Violet as a name. Obviously it comes from the eye color, but it actually stems from a few other sources as well. In case it wasn't obvious from the portrayal of Bryce's parents-or lack thereof-I've never really been close to my family. It's less about being the black sheep of my family and more like feeling like one. The end result, as another author put it in one of her books, left me with an "acquired a talent for being near but never part of a group". The same could be said for my peers in school; even if they considered me a friend, I probably didn't consider them as one until after this story began and helped turn my life around. At the very least, I wouldn't consider them trustworthy.

There were only two that I would consider friends. We'll see more about the second one later on. For sake of anonymity, I'll keep her name undisclosed-and no, it's not Violet-but she was one of those rare gems of a person that never cared what others thought of her and always encouraged others to follow their dreams. She was also in the grade above mine, but electives merged all of middle school and all of high school, so we'd known each other through drama classes and computer classes. We went to a school that had a dress code with uniforms, but I ran into her outside of school one day, wearing a purple shirt. She mentioned that the color fit perfectly for me.

As it turned out, that was the last thing she'd ever say to me. She was killed by a drunk driver that same weekend. So to anyone that knows me in real life, if you see me wearing purple, it's not only as a reminder of Violet, but also of a friend that played a part both large and small in my life. I think she's proud to know I'm working on this once again.

Comments are always appreciated, and remember that change takes time. Time itself is one of our greatest enemies, but it can also be one of our greatest tools. -Delta