Dove
#8 of Vaporeon
The world is far from perfect; that much is certain. Sometimes things just go horribly wrong, and then there are times that things go wrong, yet so completley right. This is one of those times. An Absol, barely two months old, was wandering through the empty streets of Celadon. She had never known her mother, and her previous trainer had bred her with the mindset that she'd be born male. Not wanting a female, he had abandoned her to wander the cold wet streets of Celadon. Mid winter had struck the little city hard, and though the streets had some stray pokemon, most were old enough to just run into the forests surrounding the town to last through the cold season, but the lonely female Absol was too young to know this survival trait. She couldn't remember the last time she had eaten, a week? Maybe two? Trash cans and dumpsters were specially locked to stop wild pokemon from ransacking them in the night, and even if she was lucky enough to come across one that hadn't been locked, there would be little to nothing within that could be eaten. The last food she had injested was given to her by a butcher, who thought that she was someone's companion. He had given her bits and bobs, gristle, fat, some spare bits of meat which had been cooked up before he put it out for her. That butcher hadn't been there since, and even though she frequented the store all she ever got was harsh words and attacked with a broom.
She was so miserable she was sure that she was bringing the rain down upon her, and it hadn't stopped raining for at least a day or so. The grass thrived, as did the trees and shrubs, but she never took refuge from the rain under them for fear of being found and attacked by other Pokémon or people, instead she had her own private den of sorts in a back alley. A cardboard box for something called a 'refrigerator' was the main part of it, big plastic bags were dragged over the top to keep the rain off, else the cardboard would melt, and she had piled newspapers inside to make a small bed that she would cry herself to sleep on. It was well hidden, too, behind a large old dumpster that had not been used in months and behind it was a window that was blackened by dust, but the room within was a boiler room, so she was always warm.
She crawled to her humble abode and lay down on the slightly soft newspaper and softly whined as she drifted to a dreamless sleep. The next day came as a shock to her, as it was dramatically colder even in her box. The rain, during the night, had turned into snow, and the cardboard box she slept in was sagging horribly in the middle. Sadly she got up and went in search of something to prop it up so that the snow would not crush her when she slept. Her mind told her it was pointless; the Distater Pokémon's special trait was that they could sense disaster before it happened, and she could feel something terrible coming. Even so, she searched high and low for the better part of a few hours, eventually finding a large log that some careless homeowner had dropped on their way home, and she dragged it back to her den and used it to prop up the cardboard and plastic. Now content that her home would be safe, for today at least, she went out in a silent and stealthy search for food. She stopped by the butchers one last time, hopeful that she might come across the man who had been so kind to her, but to no avail; the woman who chased her away with a broom on so many occasions did so again, and this time the young Absol was struck in the ribs by the broom. She fled as fast as she could, and wound up back at her den. By this time it was late afternoon, and she was now exhausted from her running, which she didn't have the strength to do in the first place, and she curled up on the paper and whined herself to sleep once more.
She awoke a few hours later in incredible pain. The log that was supposed to hold her box up had slipped under the weight of the snow that recently fell and onto her leg, breaking the bone. The cardboard home, now unable to support the snow, came caving in on her, and she howled in pain and sadness. So this is how it was to end? Crushed to death alone and unloved not even a year old? A blizzard started to rage, and her desperate howls of pain went unheard through the night. The next day she couldn't move; still being held beneath the cardboard and wood deathtrap she had called home. She hadn't slept, and now could howl no more with her throat sore from calling for help all night. Instead all she did was cry pitifully as she felt her leg grind painfully under the wood. Slowly she drifted to sleep, tears still running down her face and into the newspaper beneath her.
She awoke later, still in excruciating pain beneath her past home. Why hadn't anyone gone looking for her? She had been in the city so long she was known to many of its inhabitants, yet none of them searched for her. Maybe they all thought that she had gone out to the forest to hunt for her own food. She sniffled sadly, she didn't want to die like this; crushed to death cold, alone, and hungry. She wanted to have at least one friend who would miss her... She tried to move into a more comfortable position before remembering that the log had not only broken her leg but was holding her down. She yelped loudly at the sharp surge of pain and fell back into the position she was trapped in. She twitched painfully and heard footfalls in the snow in the alley. Something bipedal had heard her, and this biped had a quadroped with it.
"I heard what sounded like a Pokémon down here." Came the male human's voice. "Do you see anything, Tricky?"
A male Ninetales's voice replied a no.
"Well, let's go back then, it must've been from the forest." The human said. His footfalls began to walk away.
No! So close! She thought depserately. Come back! She whined loudly and pitifully as she started to cry again. It wasn't fair, they were so close she could literally smell them... She never heard the human's shoes crunching the snow as he came back and found her cardboard home, but she did wave her tail weakly when he tore it open and pulled the log from her broken bone. Most Pokémon of her size don't like to be picked up, especially with a broken limb, but she gave no protest when he carefully lifted her from the newspaper and held her tenderly. She cried happily as she nuzzled and licked her savior.
"Hello there, Absol." He said happily. "Dear oh dear, you're a mess; c'mon, let's go to the center and get you patched up." He stroked her carefully, tightly holding on to her. "Let's go, Tricky."
His Ninetales happily obliged behind him and he started off to the center. The Absol, still nuzzling the trainer with her nose, finally managed to look down at the damage that had been done to her leg. Though she couldn't see how badly broken it was, the area around the break was horribly swollen, like someone had stuck an entire pokeball into her leg; and when you're only half the size of a full grown Absol, that's a big problem. She whined painfully as snow began to fall around them, and she blacked out before they got to the center.
The trainer, a seventeen year old boy named Vlad, walked into the Pokémon Center as the blizzard took full strength. Tricky, his faithful Ninetales walked alongside him, his tails writhing all the time. Vlad walked up to the desk and gently put the Absol onto the marble top.
"Nurse Joy!" He called. "We've an emergency out here!"
The pink haired nurse came walking out of the pharmacy storage and up to the desk, where she carefully examined the Absol. "What's happened here?" She asked. "This is the Absol that has been walking around town, why's her leg broken so badly?"
Vlad shrugged. "I don't know, but I found her in an alley in a cardboard box that had been crushed by the snow, there was a log across her leg." He said. "She must've tried to prop the cardboard up with the log, and then had it fall on her while she slept."
Nurse Joy pulled something from her apron and clipped it into her ear; a small translator developed by Silph Co. that had been handed out amongst breeders, Centers and Professors. She turned it on and gently woke the Absol. The small Pokémon looked at her weakly, whining all the while.
"Hello, sweety." Joy said. "Do you know how long your leg has been broken? I can't tell what to do if I don't know how long it has been broken."
"Ab.. Sol." Came her reply.
"A whole day? In this weather?" Joy asked rhetorically. "And you've hardly any meat on your bones... Okay, girl, I'll make you all better." Joy said, lifting her off the counter and into the surgury ward.
Forget what the Absol had been through, this was one of the weirdest experiences she had ever had; two humans that didn't treat her like trash, and one of them put a painful needle into her thigh, which took all the pain in her leg away. She watched in amazement as nurse Joy literally popped the huge swelling and a lot of blood came pouring out. Then she heard and felt her leg move back into position loudly, cracking like her Poké Ball had when she was abandoned. Joy then wrapped her leg and a splint in cotton soaked in hyper-potion and covered that in plaster wrappings which solidified slowly to keep her leg still while the break healed.
Finally she was given a sedative to put her to sleep while the cast became more sturdy. Joy put her into a bed and covered her body with the blankets before returning to Vlad.
"She's asleep, and the bone has been set in a hyper-potion cast. She should be fine by tomorrow." She said. "She just needs some rest and a few good meals."
"Alright." Vlad replied. "Glad to be some help, I'll see you around."
"Wait, where're you going?" Joy asked.
"She doesn't belong to me." Vlad said. "I'll leave her in your capable hands and you can release her back to the wild when she's better."
Joy grabbed his shoulder. "You can't go out in this blizzard, and you saw the state she was in when she came in; she was barely surviving out there. Take her with you, please?" She pleaded.
Vlad sighed as Tricky bit his thigh, his way of protesting. "Alright." He said. "But on two conditions."
"Name them." Joy said.
"First, until I can go get more food from the department store, she needs to be fed here." He said. "And second, I'd like one of those translators, they're really hard to come by, and I'd like to know what my Pokémon are talking to me about."
Joy smiled. "Is that all?" She asked, pulling a small box from behind the counter and handing it to him. "Here you go. Now, you need to go and capture her in a Poké Ball, she's sedated so she won't be able to escape."
Vlad sighed. He hated keeping pokemon in those little traps, it's hardly a good way to endear yourself to whatever small creature you've just met, and as such he had only kept one Pokémon with him, his Ninetales Tricky. He was quite the handful; difficult to bathe and even more difficult to restrain when he felt mischevious. With a sigh he pulled a Poké Ball that he had recieved from one of the professors years ago and walked into the ward. The Absol looked so peaceful, despite her broken hind leg. He meekly tapped the ball to her shoulder and she vanished in a bolt of light. Before he released her he took his translator out, plugged the batteries, put it to his ear and turned it on. Gently he put the ball on the bed and pressed the red button, releasing her. She looked up at him weakly for a moment.
"Good... Night..." She mumbled, before going back to sleep.
He pulled the covers back over her and kissed her forhead. "Sleep well, Dove." He whispered before walking out.
Vlad had remembered his parents telling him of another trainer in his family who had gone through the same sort of thing, a distant cousin whose name he could never remember; so he made his way to the videophone and called his mother. She was a tetchy woman with a mean streak a mile wide, but her heart melted whenever she saw Tricky's face and the videophone was the only way to talk to her without her losing her cool. He had been out of the house for two years now, and the first thing he made sure to do was to get the Thunder Badge and HM02 so that he could return home as soon as possible. He didn't own a Pokémon that could fly, but it was only a matter of time before he got his hands on a Pigeot, a friend of his was sending one to him as thanks for a rare item he had given to them. His mother reluctantly picked up the phone.
"Hey, mum." Vlad cheerfully greeted. "How're you?"
"I'm fine." She said bluntly. "What's up?"
"I wanted to ask if you had the phone number of that cousin of mine that recently rescued a Pokémon? I've gotten myself in a spot and I wanted to talk to them." He said sweetly.
She checked her watch and looked at the wall behind the phone before replying. "What town are you in?"
"Currently I'm in Celadon, why?"
"Because she should be coming into Celadon right about this time... I'll give you her cellphone number, 595 632 7111."
"Thanks mum." Vlad said, before hanging up. He put in another coin and called the number he had just been given. An ornery voice answered it.
"Hello, who's this? How'd you get my number?"
"Hello, this is Vlad Westwell, I'm a cousin of yours. I heard you were in the area and my mother gave me your number." Vlad replied. "Can you tell me where you are? I'll send my Ninetales to guide you to me?"
Her phone hung up abruptly and he thought she was being rude, believing him to be lying to her. "I'm behind you, dumbass." Her voice rang out. "I only just got to the center myself."
Vlad spun around and found her hand to be shoved into his. "I'm Sandy." She said, then motioned to the Pokémon with her. "These are Azure, my Zangoose, Blueberry my Vaporeon and Izaac my-" She looked around nervously. "-Where'd he go?" she asked. Vlad looked about but couldn't find Tricky with him either.
"Hey, where'd Tricky go?" He asked. He was answered by being thumped against the wall beneath a Lucario which was almost as tall as he was. The Lucario gave him an apologetic look before running back over to Tricky, who had playfully thrown him.
"Ah, there he is." Sandy said. "That's Izaac, my Lucario; he's Azure's son." A little fuzzball unearthed itself from Sandy's winter jacket. "Ah, and this is Crystal, my Suicune." She said, lifting the puppy out and showing her to Vlad.
Vlad scratched Crystal's chin. "Hello there." He said. "I'm Vlad, that's Tricky, my Ninetales. I've recently aquired an Absol, but she's in the ward at the moment with a broken leg."
"Oh?" Sandy asked. "what happened?"
"Only she knows for sure." Vlad replied. "But I found her this aftenoon in a collapsed box buried in snow, she had a log on her hind leg that had broken it. C'mon, I'll show you to her."
Sandy waved her companions to go and play with Tricky and followed Vlad to the ward, where Dove was sleeping peacefully on a bed.
"She's so small." Sandy commented.
"I don't know anything about her." Vlad said. "Other than the Pokédex entry."
"Your Pokédex tells you detailed information on pokemon you've got in your party." Sandy said. "It can tell you age, gender, favourite foods, what her nature is and even what abilities she knows; just point it at her and it'll check her for you."
Vlad did as she told him and was rewarded by a series of beeps. The panel inside lit up and started showing statistics.
"Let's see... Absol, female, she's just over... Two months old?!" He gave Dove a worried look. "She likes sweet foods and is currently asleep." He continued. "It says here she's dangerously underweight and that she should not be used for official battles until it has been remedied."
"Yeah, Blueberry, Azure and Izaac were the same when I got them." Sandy said.
Vlad's Pokédex beeped a few more times and his attention returned to it. "Sandy, what does a little PSN mean?"
"What?" She asked, grabbing the dex and looking at it. "This isn't right..."
Dove started coughing; lightly at first, but soon heavily; small fleks of blood hit the pillow and Sandy hit the call nurse button. "Vlad, we've gotta get out of here now, she's having an allergic reaction to something that's been put in her, a bad allergic reaction!" Sandy snapped. "Joy will handle everything, c'mon!"
Vlad was dragged from the room by his cousin as Joy ran past with a whole tray full of different medecines. The door to the ward was slammed shut behind him. He composed himself and walked back out to the main room where Sandy's pokemon were struggling, rather badly, to get at Tricky. This was a game that Vlad knew well, sort of a mix of keep-away and wrestling; Vlad never won, mainly because it's near impossible to get your hands on a Ninetales if they don't want you touching them, and even against five other pokemon, two of which Tricky had a type disadvantage against, Tricky was winning hands down. Vlad smiled at Tricky's triumphant look. Tricky's face changed however, and he yelped, throwing Crystal over to Sandy and recoiling his tail.
"What was that for?!" Sandy asked.
"She bit me!" Tricky said defensively.
Sandy looked at the giggling water-type in her hands. "Did you bite him?" She asked sternly. Crystal looked apologetic.
"Y... I...!" She blurted. "...Sorry."
"It's okay, Crystal." Vlad said. "Tricky's bitten me plenty of times, he can consider it payback." He pulled a strand of fur out of Crystal's teeth. "That's better, now, get back over there!" He pulled Crystal from Sandy's hands and lightly tossed her back over to Tricky, who caught her in one of his tails and went back to being his regular old self.
"What the hell?" Sandy almost shrieked. "You could've hurt her!"
"Tricky is fast, he'd have used Agility if he thought I hadn't thrown her hard enough, she's fine!"
Sandy humphed as she went and sat down to watch her Pokémon carefully; and Vlad chuckled lightly before he leaned against a wall.
A short time later, Nurse Joy came dawdling back out of the ward wiping sweat off her brow. Vlad quickly walked over to her to get the verdict.
"How is she?" He asked.
"She'll be fine." Joy replied. "She had a near catastrophic reaction to the anasthetic, so I've given her anti-histamines and she's out of the worst of it. She's awake now, you should go see her."
Vlad nodded and thanked her as she walked past him to the front counter, and he quietly made his way to the bed in which his Absol lay. She didn't look up at him at first, not even noticing that he had sat in a stool next to the bed, but she cringed when he put his hand on her back. She tried to spin around, to flee, dreading any further contact with her tail tucked between her legs. She whimpered loudly.
"It's okay!" Vlad said, removing his hand from the trembling female. "I'm sorry if I startled you." She calmed slightly, but her eyes started darting about the room, and she started to look flustered. Vlad sighed. "Toilet?" He asked. She nodded shyly and he carefully lifted her from the bed. "C'mon, there's a small yard just around the corner here, hold on." He carefully carried her out into the exercise yard and put her down next to a tree. "I'll be back for you in a moment or two, take your time and try not to get your cast wet, okay?" She nodded again and he walked back inside, leaving her in the yard.
Quietly she did her business and then hobbled into a far corner, where she curled up as tightly as she could, whimpering at the light pain she could feel from her leg. She was terrified, to say the least. Cold, hungry, a broken leg, and now with a human she didn't know watching her. She twitched when another spike of pain flared up her leg, and she shivered as she cowered in the snow. She heard someone call a name; Dove. Her head lifted a little, was that her name? Dove? It seemed to fit into her head nicely, alien though it was. A second voice joined the human's own, another male, both calling Dove. She heard four feet shuffling through the snow, and then a nose snuffled her ear before she was physically lifted from the snow by a really, really bushy tail.
"Found her!" Tricky called happily. He lowered her to his face. "You scared us for a second there, Dove; don't run off like that!"
She looked down at the floor and twitched again, a tear ran down her face. Vlad took her from Tricky's unresisting tail.
"Don't cry, Dove." He said, cradling her. "Please? C'mon, let's go inside; I've helped Nurse Joy prepare something for you."
He carefully carried her inside and the smell of cooked food hit her nostrils so strongly that she started to drool. She was carried into a room with a few tables scattered about here and there with chairs stacked on top; it was now about nine at night and the cafeteria was closed for the most part. Vlad carried her over to four bowls and put her down. Here the smell of food was incredible, and she could practically taste it with each inward breath. Each bowl had alot of food within, and she couldn't identify any of them, mostly because of the mixed smells, but she was sure that there was some meat in the closest one. She gave a questioning look, which he nodded his affirmation to and she ravenously dug in.
"Each bowl has a different meat." Vlad said. "Each is prime cut, I'd never feed anything less to my companions, we have beef, pork, chicken and mutton." He pointed to the different bowls to point out which was which. "Tell me which one you like most, and I'll go pick some up when weather permits."
Though she wasn't really listening, she understood what he said and kept eating. This human was being so kind to her... Her mind went back to the butcher lad who had given her some foods the last time she ate. Even she didn't want to realise how hungry she was now, and she had quickly finished all the food that had been put out for her. Finally, after months of starving she had a full tummy. She licked her muzzle clean and walked over to Vlad, nuzzling his thick pants contently.
"So which one did you like most?" He asked, stroking her back. She tilted her head for a minute before walking back and poking one of the bowls. "Alright, then." Vlad said. "We'll get some more beef when the blizzards stop; for now, I'd like you to come and meet some people."
She was introduced to a female human, his cousin, named Sandy. She was remarkebly friendly; five foot nine with long blonde hair and an intelligent air about her. She also met a blue Zangoose called Azure; she was tall for a zangoose, roughly five foot seven, and she had an hourglass figure. Then there was a Lucario called Izaac. He was supposedly Azure's son, and he was also alternate colours, bright blue and gold. He was roughly the same height as his mother, a little bit taller. The spike on his chest was flattened and blunt, like he had evolved lying on his stomach. She met a little Suicune named Crystal that called Sandy 'mummy'. Other than her small size, there was little about her that was any different from any other Suicune. Finally, of all of Sandy's pokemon, she met a Vaporeon, Blueberry. He was slightly shorter than most of his species, but he was... Cute. In her eyes, anyway. She found herself momentarily attracted to him, but then she smelled another female, a psychic type, on him. He seemed to emenate an aura of strength and intelligence. Though she was insanely curious of them all, she wouldn't leave Vlad's side, hiding in his shadow as best she could when Azure walked up to her curiously.
"Now, now." Vlad said encouraginly. "What're you afraid of? They're not going to hurt you."
Dove would not be dissuaded, scurrying as quick as her legs would take her away from Azure's friendly paw. Azure looked let down for a moment, before a thoughtful look spread on her face, and then padded over to Sandy and whispered into her ear. Sandy nodded, pulled her backpack from her back and covertly handed Azure something. Azure cautiously walked back over and held out a pink poffin, offering it to Dove. Dove sniffed the air curiously before inching forward to sniff the cooked berry treat. She gingerly took it from Azure's paw and nibbled it a little. She was taken aback at how wonderful it was, sweet and juicy with a slight crunch to it, like it was made of bread crust filled with jam. She happily munched the poffin, distracted by the treat long enough for Azure to be able to scratch a claw behind her bladed horn.
"Like all children everywhere, candy is all it takes to bring her out of her shell." Azure said, still scratching Dove's head. Dove finished eating her poffin and looked up at Azure. She leaned into Azure's scratching claw and gave a contented purr like sound.
"Well, it's time to head to bed for the night." Vlad said, carefully lifting Dove into his arms. "I'll see you tomorrow, Sandy."
Vlad took a key from Joy and went to the room he had rented for the night. He carefully put Dove into a large soft armchair, Tricky jumped up behind her and curled his tails around her, keeping her warm and guarding her from sight. Vlad turned the lights off and climbed into bed, and soon both of the males were asleep. Eventually Dove felt sleep creep up on her, and she dozed off.
She awoke the next morning to slight discomfort. Her leg didn't hurt anymore, she noted that, but she had, during the night, managed to not only tangle herself up in Tricky's tails but had one of them in her mouth. The taste of fur made her spit his tail out, waking him up. He was momentarily scared that another creature was sharing his bed, let alone a female; and he almost threw her across the room before remembering the night before and nuzzling her cheek. Vlad was already awake, and walked in the door carrying food. He put down two bowls and sat on the bed with a plate of his own food.
"Breakfast." He chirped happily.
Dove and Tricky wasted no time in eating their respective food, and Vlad didn't take long to eat his own. He put his plate and the bowls onto the tray he had carried it in on and looked happily to his companions.
"Well," he began, standing up, "with the blizzards stopped for now, we can go down to the store for some supplies; but first we've got to get that cast off of your leg, so we'll go to Joy downstairs."
He picked Dove up in one hand, lifted the tray with another and walked out. Tricky had the key, and he dutifully locked the door behind them as they left. Vlad put Dove on the counter and Tricky put the room key next to her. Joy put the key back on the rack.
"Okay, time to remove the cast." She said, lifting a small instrument from behind the counter. "Don't move, sweety." She said.
The small device sqealed in a supersonic pitch, and Joy put it to the cast. The plaster cracked loudly, and Joy put the device away. She slipped the cast off of Dove's leg and put it on the top with a soft thunk.
"There you go, good as new." Joy said.
"Thanks, Nurse Joy." Vlad said, lifting Dove back onto the floor. "Let's go, you two." He said to his pokemon, walking to the door.
The first stop was the department store. Dove never knew it was so big inside; six floors, including the roof. Humans inside were selling dozens of things, from medecine to refrigerators. Vlad bought a bowl for Dove and a few dozen sodas from the vending machines on the roof. Their second stop was a building down the road. This store Dove had been past many times, but had never been inside. It sold camping supplies for trainers and Pokémon alike. Vlad spent ten or so minutes looking about the dozens of displayed items before a clerk provided him assistance. From here they purchased a larger tent than Vlad had previously; he got a special discount and a free bed for Dove by trading in his old one, which was in remarkebly good condition. Finally, at about lunchtime, they got to their final shop for the day, the butchers. Vlad and tricky walked right in, not a second thought or glance at the place, but when Dove ducked her head around the door, the mean old lady behind the counter came out swinging her broom once more, foul language spat at the near defenceless Absol.
"I thought you'da learned by now not ta come round here, ya little bit-!" She was cut off mid cuss when Tricky grabbed the broom with a tail and hoisted the woman off the floor. He growled angrily, and the very air around him seemed to boil with anger.
"If you don't mind." Vlad said, walking over and picking Dove up. "There are children present."
"That little gutterswipe has been hangin' 'round here like a bad smell!" The woman spat. "Homeless Pokémon shouldn't roam the streets and do as they please!"
"This little 'gutterswipe' as you name her now belongs to me." Vlad said. "You'd do well not to harm her, else it'll be more than a broom you'll have to replace."
The broomstick, where Tricky held it, flared and quickly burned through. The woman, not one to be deterred when on the warpath, clung onto the shaft she held and swung at Tricky. It struck one of his tails painfully. Ninetales are, by and large, extremely protective of their tails, preening and grooming them, making sure they stay healthy and burr free; and one of the most foolish things to do in life is to grab or damage even a friendly Ninetales's tail when they aren't expecting it. Tricky exploded in almost every sense of the word, his other eight tails grabbing the woman and holding her aloft. Now Tricky had even the Machamp cutting meat behing the counter backing away, he was liable to do anything, from Flamethrower all the way to Fire Blast or Giga Impact; Ninetales's are notorious for obliterating entire buildings when angry. He didn't, however, get the chance to do anything, as Dove jumped from Vlad's arms and onto his back. She hummed in a strange way, her voice echoing with harmonics that put Vlad's hair on end. The woman's eyes narrowed, and then she went limp.
Vlad put his Pokémon into their Poké Balls quickly. "If you don't want your Pokémon fainting, I'd suggest withdrawing them." He said. "Perish Song is funny like that."
"D-did your Absol just knock out my mother?!" One of the butchers bellowed.
"It's only temporary, she'll be fine in an hour or so." Vlad said. "Sorry for the inconvenience."
"Actually, we're rather relieved; she's got a temper like a rampaging Tauros, so it's nice that she's shut up for a change." He replied. "Slide her under a table, she'll be fine."
Vlad did as he was told before releasing his Pokémon again and standing in line. It was late afternoon now, and they were the last customers to be served for the day. Tricky busied himself by idly grooming his tails, getting any knots that may have formed the last day or so; and Dove sat faithfully at Vlad's side, avoiding the gaze of the other customers and their companions. Finally it came to their turn, and Dove found herself looking that kind butcher in his eyes.
"I thought I recognised you." He said. "You're that poor little Absol that I gave scraps to the other week. I'm sorry I was unable to make it a regular thing, but 'ole thunderthighs' over there kept an annoyingly close eye on me after that, saying I had 'wasted perfectly good sausage grind'." He craned over the counter and ran a hand through her fur. "But now that you're here, I don't see why I can't 'misplace' some more."
"On the note of meat;" Vlad said, "we'd like about three kilograms of prime beef, and another three pork. Could the pork be gristly, though? Tricky likes it better when he can really chew on something."
"Tricky would be the Ninetales, yes?" He asked idly.
"Yep, my eldest. He was barely a puppy Vulpix when I was given him for my birthday, and I've had him for almost eight years." Vlad said proudly.
"That's good." The butcher replied, bagging the meats into kilo batches. "It's nice to meet someone who has such a close bond with their Pokémon. Prey tell, how did you meet this city's wandering mascot?"
"I found her yesterday, just after eleven A.M. in an alley. Her leg was broken by a log that had fallen while holding up her makeshift den, a refrigerator box. She'd have suffocated, or possibly died of massive infection from her break had I not heard her." Vlad replied, stroking Dove's fur.
"This'll be five hundred." The butcher said. "Have you named her?"
Vlad nodded, handing the money over in exchange. "Yeah. I've devided to name her Dove."
"Well then, Dove;" The butcher said, now directing his attention to her, "I hope you'll find this to be to your liking." He wandered off into the store for a minute or two and returned with a sausage with dust on the plasic coating. "This is the second sausage I ever made, roughly five years ago. Its been in our cellar happily fermenting and now I believe it's time that it was enjoyed. Nothing but pure prime beef and spices went into this, and I assure you that you'll love it." He leaned down over the counter again and stroked her head. "Have a good life, kiddo."
"Thank you." Dove quietly said.
Vlad thanked the butcher and led his team back to the center, where he rented another room for the night. Sandy was here as well, playing with a couple of her Pokémon, and Tricky wasted no time in rushing over to join the fray. The double-doors opened again as Azure and Izaac walked in. She was carrying a bag with, what looked like, one item in that she was keeping hidden from Izaac at all costs. Izaac on the other hand, had a large blue fabric bag that wobbled lightly with each step. Tricky dropped Crystal from a tail, sniffing the air before rushing over to them in what Dove could only describe as 'someone's here, fuss fuss fuss!'. She idly wandered over to see what was so interesting to him, and sat down watching the large yellow fuzzball making a menace of himself. He reached into Izaac's bag with a tail and pulled out a Mago berry, holding it just infront of Izaac's face. He stuck his tongue out teasingly.
"Hey!" Izaac protested, "We bought most of these berries, and we've spent hours collecting some on our way back!"
"Let him be, Izaac." Azure sighed. "We got dozens of those; we buried at least fifty, remember?"
"Besides;" Tricky smugly quipped, "I'm not eating it, this one's for her." He said, putting the berry infront of Dove.
Vlad chuckled. "Well, she does like sweet foods." He said. "Go for it, Dove."
A few hours later, after dinner and some idle time they wasted comparing Pokémon and trading poffins, Azure presented Izaac with what she had been hiding from him earlier; a book on reading and writing English. It turned out to be his birthday, and he had completley forgotten, but Azure and Sandy hadn't, and they shared the celebrations with Vlad and his Pokémon. Eventually Vlad led his sleepy Pokémon up to their room. Once again he was carrying Dove, but this time it was because she was too tired to walk up the stairs, and she didn't mind being cradled like that; it was strangely soothing. She was deposited in a soft armchair and Tricky curled up around her, again covering her in his warm fluffy tails. Vlad secretly took a photo of that moment without Tricky noticing and slipped his camera into his backpack, which he then left at the foot of his bed. The lights went out and Dove heard Vlad get into bed.
"G'night you two."
"G'night." Tricky replied.
Dove shifted lightly, getting more comfortable, before quietly replying. "Good night."
She lay there in the dark, her glowing eyes shining through the inky blackness for some time. She heard Sandy and her party move off to bed, and she could faintly hear Nurse Joy restocking the pharmacy, but what she could hear most of all were the gentle breaths of Tricky and Vlad as they slept. Her body moved lightly every breath that the Ninetales took and she nuzzled into his tail. As she drifted to sleep, a tear ran down her face. Finally she had what she wanted most; finally she was safe and well fed, finally she had a loving family; sure they weren't all Absol, but they didn't need to be.
She was, for the first time in her life; happy.