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With the morning's events coming into full swing around the Ricarchu village, Bryce brought his morning training to a conclusion by bringing about the destruction of yet another training dummy that he was using for technique refinement. The Riolu-Pikachu hybrid took a deep breath as he watched the remaining splinters of the dummy crumble to the ground before him.
"Well done Bryce." came a voice behind him, accompanied with the sound of paws coming together as if clapping. "Just check the alignment of your right shoulder when you come in for a hit like that, and you'll be able to put up a bit more power with each hit. Good job today."
Bryce turned around to see a Lucario that was his brother, Lee. He stood at roughly 5'11", and had a rather slim physique though that only served to betray his swiftness and deadly reflexes with his own training as an assassin. "So what do you have planned with the rest of your day?" he asked.
"Well, there was a lake that I was interested in checking out." Bryce stated, stretching out his limbs as part of a cool-down routine he had for his training.
"Hmm, I thought you would've seen everything there was to see around here at some point." Lee said, a small smile spreading across his face, though it would be difficult for Bryce to have seen it from the distance he was at.
"Not this one." Bryce continued.
"Alright, just be careful while you're gone. I'd rather not have to come looking for you again." Lee returned, nodding in approval.
"See you later Lee." Bryce stated finishing his stretching and bounding into his arms for a quick hug.
Upon releasing himself from this last act, Bryce made for the village perimeter and past the guards there and into the forest that surrounded the village and concealed it from the watchful eyes of the outside world. After a bit of walking, Bryce was surrounded only with the tranquil noise of wind rustling through the tops of the trees, water gently floating along in a distant stream, and the occasional tweet of a Starly in a nearby tree. This was the kind of piece and quiet that Bryce enjoyed most when he was away from family.
His journey continued for another hour or so before he came upon the lake he was looking for. The wind by this time had died down, leaving the surface of the lake flat as a mirror and giving off a perfect reflection. The grass beside the edge of the lake was in perfect condition and ripe for laying against. Bryce had tired himself with his earlier walking and resolved to settle himself in the grass for a short nap.
After thus settling himself down, he let himself doze as the world gently rotated around him. His tail twitched out of happiness and at length, his eyes fell shut to allow him to doze off. The world felt just as it should be. Everything was perfectly silent, the temperature outside was perfect, and as far as today went, no one was out to bother him about another mission.
It was impossible to tell how much time passed while Bryce was in his trance for time was not of a paramount concern to him, though had his senses been about him, he would've realized that was not only not alone, but being eyed intently by someone. This had been going on for the better part of 20 minutes until this mysterious phantom had deemed it a reality that Bryce had no intention of waking up. As silent as her serpentine body would allow her to, she silently slithered out of her concealed position in the bushes to approach him. Within moments, she was coiled beside the Riochu and gazing down at him, wondering how he'd react when he saw her.
The wind began to pick back up ever so gently, causing a stray leaf to land on Bryce's nose. This prompted an involuntary twinge from him, causing him to blink himself awake only to find himself facing this strange serpent. Bryce lay in shock as he stared up at what must have been the most beautiful Milotic he had ever seen in his entire life. Completely caught off guard by this appearance, Bryce was hopeless to offer any response to this new development.
"Hello there." The Milotic said after awhile, noting Bryce's nervousness.
"Hi..." Bryce returned, letting his tail lay between his legs.
"What brings a little guy like you out here?" The Milotic asked.
"I was just relaxing out here. I come out of my village to do that when I've got some free time." Bryce stated, now recovering some of his composure.
"Would it be alright if I joined you?" Asked the Milotic.
"Not at all." Bryce replied, rubbing the back of his head.
The Milotic proceeded to settle her body around Bryce in a kind of ring area. After she was done situating herself she spoke again.
  "How long have you been coming to this forest?" asked the Milotic.
"For about eight years now. Almost nine." Bryce replied
  "Hmm... I guess I've never been through here when you were around." Mara said, musing to herself. "By the way, whats your name?"
"I'm Bryce." was Bryce's reply.
  "Nice to meet you Bryce, you can call me Mara. I'd shake hands as is the custom of humans, but..." Mara replied as she showed off her hair-fins.
"I understand." Bryce said, smiling a bit.
  "So Bryce, do you live around here?" Mara asked.
"Yes, I do, actually." Bryce replied with a nod.
  "Well I guess that makes us neighbors. Would you like to see where I live?" Mara said.
  "Sure." Bryce returned, letting his tail wag at this prospect as he stood up. He had been watching Mara through aura vision and every second of observation assuaged more and more doubts that he had about her. She certainly wasn't looking to hurt him, and she actually seemed kind of nice.
With all of this understood, Mara unraveled herself and proceeded to lead the way for Bryce back through the woods. Before long Bryce was led to the side of another lake. This lake's most notable accessory was the large 3 story mansion with Italian villa style architecture. The whole thing was designed in a U-shape so as to allow for the construction of a patio with a pool on it. "Wow..." Bryce stated an admiration upon seeing the house. Bryce was no stranger to having lived in a villa, but a home like the one he was now seeing was no small feat of construction, to say nothing of the cost for getting something this large out into a forest where few could find it.
  "Would you like to meet a really close friend of mine?" Mara asked, now trying to get Bryce out of his trance.
"Oh. Umm, sure." Bryce said, being brought out of his haze.
Mara proceeded to lead Bryce around the perimeter toward the house. The grass that surrounded the lake seemed to be well looked after due to its short length. Whoever tended this area as the gardener must have either been diligent about their work or had a huge amount of help with what they did, or perhaps both. Bryce was soon upon the house and approaching a pool where a boy of about 19 years of age lay in a reclined position on an inflatable floating chair. His body was well toned, indicative of peak physical shape, though not overtly muscular to the point of being odious.
"Hey Ted, we've got a visitor." Mara said upon arriving at the edge of the pool. She took her tail and proceeded pull the float to the side of the pool so the human could speak with Bryce. The human turned to look at Mara upon being addressed, though once he saw Bryce, he removed a set of shades that were set across his face.
Bryce only waved upon being acknowledged. His reservation was well warranted given his previous experiences with humans. Everything from his childhood, his adolescence, even today he had reason to mistrust humans more so than most Pokémon had any right to. The human climbed out of the pool as soon as he had drifted to the edge. He proceeded to kneel down in a manner that put him on an equal height with Bryce.
"I'm Ted" he said, holding his hand out to shake.
"Bryce is my name" Bryce returned, taking Ted's hand in his paw and shaking it.

"A pleasure to meet you Bryce." said Ted, nodding in acknowledgement.

"Oh Bryce," Mara started, causing Bryce to look back at her. "Did I mention that Ted is an aura guardian"

Bryce's eyes widened at that revelation. Come to think of it, Ted's aura certainly had a better than normal composure. "An aura guardian?" Bryce said, letting the words ring in his own ears and sink in before smiling. "And my respect for you rises." he finished, now shedding some of his reservation that he would keep around meeting new people.
Ted only scratched the back of his head upon hearing this. "Aww common, I'm not that good." he said. Pokémon being able to wield aura and the power that came with it, though the appearance of a human aura guardian in todays world was all but unheard of.
"Ted, will you just take a compliment when it comes to you?" came a voice that must have been on the roof.
By pure instinct, Bryce snapped to a battle ready stance and formed an aura sphere in his right paw with an electro ball in the other. This act was one he quickly came to regret as the only thing that was up there was a Lucario, whose only notable feature was a white spot on the tip on his right ear. In a single sweeping motion, the Lucario dropped himself from the roof of the manor and landed gracefully on the patio beside the pool. Bryce quickly diffused his two spheres upon seeing that he had no further use or need for them.
"Was that an electro ball?" The Lucario asked, as he righted himself to his full height.
"Yes." Bryce said with a bow.
This earned a smile of respect from the Lucario. "If I and a hat, it would be off to you. I've been around the block when it comes to travel, but I've never seen a Riolu that knows Electro Ball."
"The I assume that you've never seen a hybrid pokémon before..." Bryce said, only now realizing he hadn't gotten the Lucario's name.
"Zyrae." Stated the Lucario, answering Bryce's question. "And you are correct about my not having seen a hybrid before."
"Get'em while they're hot!!!" came a voice from inside the house. Indeed, it should be noted that the day had worn on to the point that the sun was now fading behind one of the lower foot hills of Mt. Cornet.
"Its that time of day again." Zyrae stated.
"Bryce," Ted started, "Would you be interested in joining us for dinner?"
"Sure." Bryce returned with a nod.
Everyone present began heading inside. The interior of the manner held a rather simplistic, yet stately design and decor. Ted proceeded to lead everyone toward the dining room where a well prepared dinner was in the process of being spread out on the table. Everything from salads, sweet meats, hot breads, and all manner of other things that were a part of a well prepared dinner were being set out. Around the table were seated the other residents of the house, namely a Mightyena and a Serperior. The Mightyena was slightly larger than what Pokédex entries would have ordained, and the Serperior that was seated at the table was wearing a Gracedia flower that she had artfully tucked into her right head extension.
Bryce, and the company behind him took their seats around the table, and greetings and salutations began getting exchanged. The Serperior (whose name was Rosalie) confessed her role in the gardening and landscaping situation. A quick investigation of the Mightyena revealed that his name was Lucas, though he wasn't able to answer that himself due to his being mute. This would normally have been a set back in understanding him, though Lucas's expressions and other acts he made while introducing himself to Bryce such as his constant pacing around him, nuzzling, even licking told Bryce all he needed to know about what kind of a Pokémon he was at heart.
  While this was going on, a Charizard was busily ferrying in dish after dish of food that would be had for that night's dinner. Right around the time that Bryce and finished acquainting himself with Rosalie and Lucas, the Charizard sat down in one of the chairs that put him closest to everyone else. "Its all here folks. Help yourselves, and you're welcome in advance."
Talk of any kind was more of the idle kind than anything else. Bryce got himself acquainted with the Charizard (whose name was Kaleb). Bryce was soon read in on Charizard's designation as the proud cook of the household as the primary interior designer for the house. Kaleb took an immense amount of pride in his work, and those notions were well founded as Bryce tried all the dishes that had been prepared only to find that they exceeded most reasonable expectations that could be placed against the best of cooks.
"So Bryce," Ted started after seeing that Bryce had finished his dinner, "When you're not getting invited to a Pokémon Master's house for dinner, what do you do exactly?"
Bryce's smile left his face like frost in July when this question fell on his ears. His eyes closed and he let out a deep sigh as he thought about his answer for a few seconds. "...If I tell you that, you'd kick me out, or worse." He said, with the usual glow in his voice have been snuffed out.
"What makes you say that?" Zyrae asked inquisitively.
"...The road I travel... society looks down upon." Bryce said before opening his eyes and returning the intrigued looks of everyone with a somber expression of his own. "I'm a good mon, but I do bad things to improve the world."
"But what is it that is so bad?" Plied Mara, eager to break the suspense of the moment.
Bryce sighed again, seeing no way around it. "I'll shoot straight... I'm an assassin."
The room seemed to light up with nonplused amazement at this revelation, though what was most surprising of all was that no one seemed to take that as any reason to be scared. The shock was soon broken by Ted who spoke up.
"If you follow that line of work for good intentions, then you're among friends here." Ted stated, having come to terms with the statement from Bryce.
"Wait, you're okay with this?" Bryce said, a little taken aback by the willingness for everyone to look past this development.
"Of course." Zyrae chimed in. "Ted's Dad did a lot of work with assassin's like you after he left the military if his diaries are to be believed."
"You'll have to tell me more about him some time after dinner." Bryce said, now setting about clearing the remaining scraps off of his plate.
Dinner was soon concluded and the table was cleared off. The manner, speed and organization among the residents of the manor seemed to suggest that this was just how things were in the manner. To Bryce, Ted didn't seem to be 'the head of the household', he operated more as a part of it than anything else. By this time, the sun was setting and night had fallen upon the area. Mara gave Bryce nod and a motion with her tail as she wanted him to follow her upstairs.
Taking the opportunity, Bryce followed Mara upstairs. The second floor of the house was decorated in much the same manner as the first floor, except that the second floor primarily had carpeting on the floor. Mara led Bryce down one of the hallways to her room before showing him inside. The inside of the room really had no other word to describe it other than 'beautiful'. The wall paper as well as the paint on the ceiling gave the distinct impression that Bryce was walking underwater. There was a large tub of warm water off in one corner for relaxing in, a bathroom that took the definition of opulent to another level entirely. And then there was the bed; a queen sized mattress that felt as soft as a cloud when Bryce dared to push his paw against it. Navy blue satin sheets gave it the perfect touch for blending in with the room around him, and the bright red (almost pink) Ducklett down comforter made the bed a sight for weary eyes. Wasting no time, Bryce hopped upon the bed and went to the head where a mound of pillows had been artfully arranged that morning.
"Like it?" Mara asked, sliding herself on the bed behind him and slipping her tail under the covers.
"Its wonderful" Bryce said snuggling himself under the covers and purring happily as the bed contoured to the shape of his body. Mara proceeded to intertwine herself with him to that Bryce would be as snug as possible throughout the course of the night. After a couple moments (and licks from Mara), Bryce was fast asleep and purring with each exhalation he gave off. He hadn't been in the company of this house for more than a couple hours and he was already loving it.