Something More: Chapter 2

"Sure" she nodded before he took her hand and rushed off with her excitedly.

Unlike Cael's hands, Bruno's hands were dry and free of grease. He had a firm grip on her hand, but it was gentle enough that it didn't hurt like Cael's grip. It was almost comforting and gave a sense of security.

He lead her up a large winding staircase and down a hall. They stopped in front of a door that was painted black and had several "Keep Out" signs on it. She was nervous until she saw the small sign at the very top of the door that said "Burunarkus's room". Her relief quickly became panic again. Why was he taking her to his room? He was attractive to her and she wished more than anything that her parents had arranged for her to marry him instead of Cael, but that was not reality.

Her mind threw her an entire string of 'what if' scenarios which made her anxiety shoot through the roof, but she tried her best to look and seem calm. He opened the door and quickly darted inside.

"Shut the door behind you" he told her.

She gulped and did so. "Uh..."

He rushed over to the opposite side of the room and pulled off a poster on the wall that hid a panel. He began frantically pressing buttons on this panel. "So tell me, how do you feel about Earth."

She shrugged, still a bit anxiety ridden. "Uh, I mean I guess it's a mediocre planet at best, but it has potential."

He pressed two final buttons before a metal whirring noise sounded as the wall began to recede back and flip up, revealing a giant map of the first layer of the First Realm's solar system. The map was a hologram over a deep purple background. It looked amazingly beautiful.

"Woah!" Lydia exclaimed as her nerves seemed to calm down upon its beauty.

"Isn't it awesome?" he smirked at her.

"Yes! Yes it is!" she stepped up to the large hologram. "Did you program this yourself?"

He nodded. "Yes I did."

She put her hands over some of the complicated buttons that were on the hologram's projector. "May I?"

"Do you know how to use it?" he asked. "I worked hard on that."

"Of course, I make and program robots for Glorp's sake!" she smiled as she pressed a few buttons to zoom in on the planets of the solar system.

The hologram showed Mercury first. She scrolled to Venus and zoomed in on various places. The hologram's projector had a screen that displayed text that described in detail what the various areas that she zoomed in on were and their history and any other information you could want.

She zoomed in on her home and giggled when the hologram showed her home in exact detail. She read the text on the screen. "This is absolutely amazing" she told him.

"What is the significance of this place?" he asked her, looking at the home pulled up on the hologram. "It looks quite small. Perhaps owned by low-middle class Venusians?"

"I live there." she told him.

He gave her a look of disbelief. "What? No! You must be telling the lies!"

"No, I'm being honest! I live here." she told him again.

"Aren't you a princess though? Cael's sister?" he asked.

"Ooh Glorp no!" she shook her head. "I'm just a common Venusian. Prince Cael expressed an interest in me after I saved him from a virus beast and he told his parents that he wanted to marry me, so the King and Queen told my parents and they saw that as an opportunity to get themselves into a royal family and pay off their outstanding debts so they arranged a marriage for me and the Prince." she sighed after explaining.

"Oh." he frowned. "That sounds awful. Your parents are selfish."

"Yeah" she frowned and zoomed out of Venus.

"But so are mine. They let my sister get chosen for a battle ball and didn't insist that I get one too." he took out a black bean bag chair from the corner and sat down in it. "They thought 'oh she's more responsible than you, Burunarkus! She's stronger than you, Burunarkus! Maybe when you learn to grow up and buff up you will get your very own battle ball'! But what do they know! I would be a great battle ball user!"

"Ugh parents are the worst" Lydia complained. "Mine constantly discourage me learning new things and only care about my appearance and think that's all I should care about to. They always say 'Lidynaea you have to make sure you look good and act proper! You shouldn't be bothering yourself with robots and books'!"

"What do they know!" Bruno squinched up his nose. "Books and robots are cooler than lipstick anyways!"

"Yeah" she smiled. "and you should be able to learn and grow with a battle ball instead of waiting for nothing."

"YEAH!" he clenched his fist and raised it in the air again. "And with the power of the battle ball, I will CONQUER THE EARTH and harvest its true potential!"

"Say what now?" Lydia looked at him and raised her eyebrow.

"You said it yourself, Earth has potential!" he reminded her. "and I can harvest that potential! I know exactly what the planet needs, but I need a battle ball to do this properly!"

"How are you planning to get one?" she asked.

"Well, I located two unused battle balls on Earth, in a meadow in a location sector called 'Cornbury'." he told her as he got up and went up to his hologram. He scrolled to Earth and zoomed in on the exact location of the battle balls.

"If I could just get there and take it, then I will have the power I need to conquer that stupid planet and make it an excellent planet like Mars!" he told her his plans.

"Well here's the thing about that,"  Lydia began. "stealing battle balls is prohibited and if the Benevolent Alliance find out you stole a battle ball they will confiscate it from you. And without your battle ball you will wither and perish, because the balls merge with your DNA."

He frowned. "I guess I didn't think that one through..."

"But here's the thing, I can help you." she told him. "I have a battle ball, I know the rules, and I know a way around them."

He leaned in closer to her. "I'm listening."

"You have to-" before she could finish, the door to his room slammed open.

The princess was standing there with an annoyed look on her face. "Bruno, stop showing our guests your stupid plans to take over Earth and come downstairs. The treaty was signed and its time for the Venusians to go."

Bruno frowned. "But we're having fun!"

"Too bad!" the princess said before leaving to go downstairs to the conference room.

Lydia sighed and twiddled her fingers. "I-I don't want to go back to Venus. All they're going to do is force me to go on dates with Cael and prepare for my marriage in a few months."

"I don't want you to go either." he looked around the room quickly before looking back at her. "Do you have a pocket communicator? We can exchange numbers."

"Oh yeah!" she pulled out her pocket communicator and handed it to him. He typed in his number before handing it back to her.

"Call me when you get back to Venus." he told her.

She smiled. "Ok."

"Let me know when you get some free time. I know where you live now so I can pick you up and we can discuss these plans to get the battle ball." he grinned at her.

"Definitely!" she giggled.

He took her hand and planted a gentle kiss on it. "It was a pleasure meeting you Lydia." he then looked up at her with a sly grin. "Or shall I call you Asparagus Merchant?"

She laughed. "It was a pleasure meeting you too, Strong and Menacing."

He gave her a wink before escorting her down to the conference room.