A New Home part 1 by Seigi

A New Home part 1

Seigi, Arcanine, Aura, Brothers, Cave, Fire, Jolteon, Lucario, Male, Pokemon, Pokemorph, Rain, Twins, berries, chase, escape, houndoom, houndour, injury, pursuit

#1 of Pokemon Stories

This is a story for a friend that I've been working on for a good long while now. Love to hear any and all advice or critique and hope you all enjoy the story.

Pokemon © to game freak

Edited by a friend

"Hurry! We have to keep moving!" Smokey cried out, scrambling through muck, dead leaves and tree roots; his lungs burned in his chest with each ragged breath. Even with the massive storm hanging overhead and profuse amount of rain pouring down upon the world, his throat felt dry as he stumbled through the dark.

Streaks of lightning fracturing the sky in a grand blinding light for a few seconds before the world became dark and wet once more; thunder following after, rumbling across the land like an enraged beast. Wind lashed, bending the treetops mercilessly to the point of snapping, as it blew rain with such force that each glob of wetness stung Smokey's fur covered skin. Every muscle in his body burned, joints ached, with fatigue brought on from days of running, lack of sleep, food or water. Blood pulsed through his ears with such force is dulled the deafening boom of thunder overhead.

'Have to keep moving.' He thought staggering past a tree, pain ripping though his left shoulder as it slammed into the bark nearly throwing him off balance completely.

'If they catch us . . .' His stomach churned at the images flashing into his weary mind; forcing them away he turned his thoughts on the person behind him: his brother.

His brother

Slowing himself down to a slow trot Smokey turned his head to find his sibling in the darkness around them. A sudden flash of lightning lit up the sky, and the forest, momentarily letting him see his brother breathing hard, leaning his body against the tree Smokey accidently ran into.

"Fang, come on, we can't stop now. . . Not yet." Smokey panted after several gulps of air placing a hand on Fang's shoulder.

"I . . . can't . . . I can't keep this up." His brother wheezed harshly trying to catch his breath. "

Something seemed off as Smokey watched his brother hunch over, bracing himself on his knees. Never, in all the years Smokey knew his brother, did Fang ever have this much trouble breathing after a run. It didn't take the faint paleness to convince him that his brother wasn't going to make it. Hell, after they barely managed to escape their pursuers yesterday Fang didn't seem like himself. They needed food; they needed water; above all they needed rest. Especially his brother with how sickly he was starting to look.

Around them were trees, much like there has been for the past few days, well their entire lives considering they used to live with a pack and after, but looking around now it seemed the amount of trees was thinning. Maybe if they were lucky they could run into . . . Smokey thought hard, forcing himself to remember what other pokémon had called that place . . . poké . . . center? Yes that was it, pokécenter.

Draping an arm over his neck he helped Fang stand, every fiber in Smoke's legs protesting the added weight with jolts of pain through his calves, and carefully - for his brother's sake - walked on. Roughly five minutes later they found themselves on a stretch of dirt road that lead on for miles on either side with no sign of life at either end.

Letting out a ragged sigh Smokey felt like giving up. They've come so far, run for so long; he just didn't have it in him anymore. Another bolt of lightning streaked across the sky as he glanced to the right in hopes of something and there it was in that flash of light. The stretch of road they were on was lined with trees on both sides, a thin line of trees leading into thick foliage, but the one thing that separated both sides apart was a large mountain that was hidden in the darkness of the raging storm. What gave Smokey relief wasn't the mountain itself, but the small cave almost hidden by the trees.

"Fang, look, over there" Smokey beamed pointing to the mouth of the cave, his brother groaned as he raised his head; his eyes half glazed over and dull and a pained expression painted his face.

"Just a little longer," he started while walking them to the cavern "just a bit more and we can rest okay?" A drained nod was all he got for a response as they moved forwards.

Inside it was dark and damp, though considerably dryer than outside, and big enough for a large pack of Houndour like the one they used to belong to. Moss grew on the walls, towards the half rounded ceiling, water tickled from small holes making its way down sharp pointed rocks and into small puddles on the ground. Moving away from the mouth of the cavern Smokey led them to the back of the cave where it was less likely to get them wet.

"You gonna to be okay?" He asked his brother, who wobbled on his feet as soon as his arm came free from Smoke's neck.

"Y-yeah . . . I just . . . I just" Fang began panted rather harder than earlier, shaking his head a little, before falling back hitting the ground hard.

"Oh Arceus! FANG!" Smokey all but screamed rushing to his brother's side.

* * *

Smokey pulled his brother close to his chest, nuzzling into his neck, as he held him. Hours passed in the dank cave and Fang didn't show any signs of getting better from earlier. In fact he seemed to have gotten worse. His breathing coming in fast and shallow; a fever coming, seemingly, out of no where; and the cold night air making him shake every now and again.

Another bout of fresh tears streamed down his cheeks while he prayed to Arceus that his brother got better. He barely heard the voices coming from outside as he cried. Not until they got closer did they pull his attention away from his unconscious brother. Carefully, very carefully, he tugged his brother in deeper into the cavern until he hit the back wall; both of them shrouded by shadows. Just to be safe - in case it was the ones that have been chasing them - Smokey cautiously crawled over his older brother's body, as to not hurt him, to keep in safe from any harm.

Straining his ears he tried to pick up what was being said, scarcely able to hear amid the wind and rain.

"Alright, aura boy, just where is this cave?" One voice grumbled, obviously irritated.

"Just over here. We'll stay here for the night and hopefully, if the storm blows over by morning, we'll continue to where I train. If not then you guys can head back; that fine with you two?" Another voice said, slightly deeper in tone than the last.

Around this time three figures appeared and walked into the cave.

"Fine by me." The first voice replied. Squinting, Smokey could just see the silhouettes of whoever these new figures were. Two of them, the tallest nearly as tall as the cave itself compared to the others, looked like they were wearing something tight fitting and dripping wet. The third, just a few inches taller than the shortest figure, didn't seem to be wearing anything at all.

"I'll stick around if shocky here doesn't." The tallest said in a teasing voice, nudging the shorter figure.

"Shocky?" The shorter male, or at least that's what Smokey assumed from the sound of its voice, actually he concluded all three were male from the sound of their voices, seemed more agitated, but was ignored as the larger male continued.

"Besides you can't train against fire without someone that can use it now can you?"

Whatever the medium tall figure was going to say was cut off by the smallest of the three when he sneezed. Silently Smokey watched the short male pull back something that was on his head and noticed a soft crackling sound that followed. A flash of lightning partially lit up the cave letting him see what the three looked like.

Thankfully he recognized all three to be bipedal pokémon like himself and his brother. The tallest of the three was an Arcanine; cream colored fur covered his head, except around his eyes and ears which were orange. Instead of the orange fur and black stripes his quadruped feral types had he wore, Smokey struggled to recall the name for what some of the "non-wild" bipedal pokémon wore to fit in with humans, clothes.

And much to his surprise the smaller male, a Jolteon with yellow fur, a white spiky like collar of fur and large yellow ears with black insides, wore clothes as well. Unlike the Arcanine, the Jolteon was petite; like Smokey or his brother. The third had his back towards him making it fairly difficult to see what he looked like; though Smokey could see this male was colored, mostly, black and blue with a tan torso.

"I hate the rain." The Jolteon complained pulling off the cloth covering his torso; the crackling sound becoming more frequent the moment the cloth left his body and was tossed to the ground.

"Well," the third one started - Smokey almost gasped watching this one speak without moving his mouth! - facing the electric type "you could have always stayed with Mightyena and Absol."

"Are you kidding? You know how Mightyena gets!"

"Do you hear this, Lucario?" Arcanine let loose a deep chuckle, moving a large hand to rub Jolteon's head.

"This coming from the guy that likes to wear a pink skirt around the lab when there's no one around!" While he laughed the Jolteon growled streaks of electricity washed over his form; the fire type immediately drawing his hand back with a loud yelp.

Just before the Arcanine could spout his anger from the shock a ragged series of coughs caught all their attention, drawing it to the back of the cave. Smokey's blood ran cold as he remembered his brother's presence and his condition. Grasping a rock off the ground as the three males turned and Smokey readied himself to defend his brother.

"Who's there?" Jolteon asked cautiously moving forwards toward the sound, thankful for the bristles along his body for not shooting every which way from being startled. A firm hand to his chest halted him from moving on; looking to the owner of said hand he nodded to Lucario, who drew is hand back and closed his eyes. Something he always did when focusing to use his species' ability.

The four tear drop shaped appendages on the back of his head that, in a way, hung from the base of his ears and reached down to his shoulders, lifted up and buzzed to life.

Letting out an exhale Lucario centered his thoughts, focusing them on the sounds around him. From the soft *drip, drip* of water in the grotto and the heavy downpour outside, the roaring thunder echoing around them, gentle crackling of energy from Jolteon's prickly fur, to the breathing coming from him and his friends and the two mysterious beings.

Darkness surrounded him, in his mind, his senses heightened to it, compounding upon themselves hundreds, thousands, of times within mere milliseconds until a wispy smoke rose around him. This was the gift his race was bestowed and so few that weren't had an affinity for. And even fewer still knew how to use or control. More translucent smoke rose, only he aware of its existence around them, and a pulse of icy blue energy radiated from his feet.

The more of this energy moved the more he could so vividly see every crack, every detail no matter how minuet, revealed itself to him. From every cragged rock along the walls to the creatures living within the moss, Lucario could see everything around him perfectly. As the veil of shadows around him unraveled, two figures appeared, he nor his acquaintances didn't see upon their arrival to the cave, that he recognized at once. He didn't know who they were, but did know their species. Houndour were quiet a common sight in these parts and finding these two here, in all honestly, didn't truly surprise him. However, bipedal Houndour wasn't an everyday sight to see around here.

The short black fur that covered their bodies, save for the rusty red that adorned their chin, chest and stomach, was instead replaced by the icy blue only Lucario could see. Around each wrist and ankle a white band was wrapped around it and two, rib like bands protruded from their sides and back and a simplistic white skull draped their foreheads.

What he knew about the different pokémon that lived in this region, Lucario suspected that these two could be part of a pack, but if that was the case . . . Lucario pursed his lips in thought.

'Where were the rest of them? And the one on the ground . . .' A small waver of energy from the Houndour lying down caused him to take in a sharp gasp of air.

'His aura . . . did it just? . . .'

Like the jackal-like pokémon, Smokey, too, was in thought. Looking over the three pokémon in front of him, the strange garments they wore and how they talked. A lab? That sounds like something a human would be in; and where one human lived there was bond to be more. Maybe even a place to get his brother some help. It may not have been something many wild pokémon would do, swallowing their pride to get help from humans or human like pokémon living among them, but something was wrong with Fang and Smokey's concern for his kin was enough for him try and seek out any kind of help.

The only thing that pulled him away from his thoughts was the sudden intake of air from the strange pokémon accompanying the Arcanine and the Jolteon. Smokey watched, half curious and half suspicious, as the male stepped back abruptly like he had struck it.

'His aura . . . it's . . . fading?! This isn't good, what happened to him?'

"Guys," Lucario whispered "be careful. There's two Houndour in the back of the cave. One looks hurt and the other . . . just don't make any sudden moves."

"Hurt?" Arcanine asked quietly.

"Yeah, it looks like these two might need some help."

"Hello there." Slowly stepping forwards Lucario put out both of his hands in front of him.

"I'm Lucario and these are my friends, Arcanine and Spark." He said gesturing to the two behind him. Jolteon not looking all too happy with having his real name used and Lucario could only guess he was going to get an ear full when they get back to their home.

"We don't mean to any harm. The pokémon behind you, he looks hurt. We can try to help him, if you let us, please can you tell me what happened?"

Surprise was an understatement as Smokey stood there, astonished that this bizarre pokémon was not only looking at him, but knew where his brother was and wished to help. How did he know where they where? Did he misjudge where he hid himself and his brother? Could this pokémon see in the dark? If so it could explain why those things on its head where moving like they were. And help. That sent a mix of relief and suspicion flooding through him. If what was said was true then whatever was wrong with his brother could be fix. Could this be a stroke of luck to break the desolation of the past few days?

Of course the thought of his and Fang's pursuers getting these three to lower their guard for another attack crossed his mind as well. He was so worn out, he doubted he could defend himself or his brother against these three is that was the case. If it was, then why did his instincts tell him otherwise? Or the genuine concern the blue and black pokémon seemed to have.

"We were attacked. Three Houndoom came out of no where and one of them used a smog attack; my brother pushed me out of the way and got hit instead." He found himself saying before he realized it.

"Lucario if that smog poisoned him," Arcanine began "we wouldn't be able to do anything. We have nothing that could cure him with us; something like that would be back at the lab."

Lucario scowled briefly, opening his eyes but not facing away from the brothers ahead of him. "Houndour, can you tell me your name please?"

His voice was a little shaky, but he answered. "It's Smokey."

"Alright, Smokey, Spark and I are going to go get wood so we all can see. Arcanine here is going to stay behind to watch you and your brother, okay?"

Smokey nodded, still unsure if this Lucario pokémon could see him he added "Okay."

Quickly turning around Lucario made his way for the entrance of the cave, ushering Jolteon to go with him. "Come on, we need to get that wood fast. And try to find some Pecha berries. That would be very helpful right now."

Now alone with the other fire type, Smokey wasn't sure exactly what to do as he watched the Arcanine move towards him, though obviously not knowing exactly where he was like the Lucario had.

"Umm, Smokey was it? Can you move your brother into the light? Or at least let me know where you are so I can help move him?" Not wanting to leave his sibling Smokey guided Arcanine to him and together, after setting down the rock he held on to, lifted Fang off the ground; moving him to a dimmer part of the cave before setting him down.

Having a better view of the injured Houndour, Arcanine could clearly see the distorted pained expression on his face; beads of sweat drenched his forehead as he struggled for air. Sitting down on the ground Arcanine placed a hand upon the brow of the Houndour. Frowning as he drew his hand back he pulled his soaked shirt off his body and rolled it up.

'He's burning up; even for a half fire type like him this isn't good.' Dabbing the rain soaked cloth, still ice cold from the howling wind, across the sickly male's forehead he waited for the others to get back. Smokey sat himself down next to his brother, across from the fire type tending to him, and watched in tired silence.

Looking up after patting all the sweat off, Arc looked up to see the glum look on Smokey.

"It'll be alright, your brother will be okay. I've worked in a pokémon center before as a nurse and dealt with a lot of injured pokémon. I promise I'll get him back to full health." Arcanine said with a half hearted smile. In truth he has dealt with injured pokémon and pokemorphs before, whether brought on from physical attacks or special attacks their opponents possessed. However, because of one disadvantage to being a bipedal pokémon nearly half of the pokemorphs poisoned, frozen or stunned didn't truly make it through treatment; or make it at all.

Hope glimmered in Smokey's eyes upon hearing the words pokémon center his tail just barely wagged in delight, only from the lack of energy, when Arcanine said he worked at one of these pokécenters.

Minutes passed by, by the time Lucario came back with an arm full of wet branches and a couple pieces of thick wood. Setting them down he went to work grabbing one of the larger pieces of wood and hitting it with enough force to split it open and used the spike on the back of his right paw to dig out the still dry wood. As he did so, Arcanine dabbed away at newly formed beads of sweat; Jolteon arrived some time latter with a smaller load of wood tucked under one arm and a hand filled with a few berries.

"I don't know if some of these will be useful," He said walking over to Arcanine "but I found some Topo berries out there. Also found a few pumpkin berries, a couple Petaya berries and one Pecha berry."

"All I need right now is that Pecha berry. The others may come in useful later, but not now." Arc replied plucking a medium sized, pink, heart shaped berry out of Jolteon's hand.

Smokey felt a bit awkward watching Arcanine gently lifting his brother's upper body up and setting Fang down on his lap, still in an upright position. Many times before, Smokey has had to take care of his brother, nursing him back to health when he got sick with a cold or hurt from a fight. Fang cared for him the same way when he was hurt; like the time he broke his foot jumping out of a tree after getting a few apples for them to eat. Just sitting here watching someone else, someone they didn't even know, slowly feeding his brother small pieces of Pecha berry and rubbing Fang's throat to help him swallow it made him feel . . . out of place, unable to take care of his sibling like he had done so in the past.

"Don't worry; your brother is in good hands." The voice snapped the Houndour back into the weary reality around him. Turning his head he noticed Lucario no longer digging out dry wood from the wet wood, which was now all but hollowed out and in the middle of a pile of branches, instead he and Jolteon were gathering rocks and arranging them into a circle around the wet lumber.

"If anyone can get your brother well again, it's Arcanine." He spoke, again without ever moving his mouth to form the words, while he placed one last small stone down to complete the circle of rocks. Sitting back on his hind legs Lucario looked over to the half dark and fire type male he hadn't expected to run into and smiled tenderly.

"I do have to ask, with Arcanine tending to your brother; would you know any fire-moves by chance? It would make getting a fire started a lot easier," he paused and scratched at the back of his head for a moment, "though it would probably help more if the wood wasn't wet to begin with."

Nodding Smokey repositioned himself so he was sitting inches from the pile of the soon to be lit wood. "I know a couple, yes"

While the Houndour leaned down, breathing a tiny flame into the dry wood, Jolteon tapped Lucario on the shoulder and motioned him to the mouth of the cave away from the others. Getting up he followed his electric-type friend until they stopped, nearly outside in the howling wind and icy rain.

"Hey, Lucario, you know which kind of Pokémon live around here right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Well . . . I've been thinking. He said Houndoom attacked him and his brother right?" Jolteon asked, pointing to Smokey who was trying to keep what little flame he had from smoldering out.

"Aren't Houndoom, like, very territorial?" Crossing his arms in front of his chest, Lucario nodded.

"Okay well if those two were attacked from Houndoom, would they still be followed?"

Lucario pursed his lips in thought. "Well they could be depending on how large of a territory these Houndoom have."

Looking over at the two Houndour, Lucario let out a low sigh. "You think those two are still in trouble, too, huh?"

"I was thinking that while picking those berries." Sparky agreed.

"Listen, I know you don't want to be here so, if you want, go. If those two are still being followed me and Arcanine can take care of them." Sparky snorted and grinned cheekily.

"Even if I was going to leave, I wouldn't want to go anywhere in this weather. Besides it'll take hours to get back to the lab. Might as well stay and try to help out." Heading back into the cave Jolteon grew a little excited on the thought, and possibility, of a chance to fight any Houndoom that might still be following the two brothers. If that was the case why would he leave? He'd be getting a chance to make up for the professor he, and the two pokémon he lived with for years, lived with making them set off far too late to get to Lucario's training spot before dark. And if it wasn't for these two Houndour he would have tried heading back in the dark. Although such a thought would seem thoughtless to others, Jolteon did feel concerned about the injured Houndour and hoped he got better; he was just hoping to get some training done and get better at fighting.

Sitting down in front of the small fire Smokey managed to start while he and Lucario were talking, he mused himself with why someone like his aura seeing friend would need to train anymore than he already has. The guy was pretty much untouchable in the sparring sessions they had and could handle himself well against more opponents, at once, than the average pokémon could.

Why he would need to train against fire, even if it was a weakness he had, was beyond Jolteon. He's seen Lucario fight well against dozens of different fire types and came out on top each and every time. Leaning back on his hands he let his mind wander off to other things as the time passed by, the fire in front of him popping every so often adding new sounds to mingle with the echo of wind and rain.

Lucario, on the other hand, was looking over the Houndour brothers now that there was a fire going. Without having to see them with aura, they no longer took on the shades of blue he saw before; instead they had the same fur coloration he suspected them to have. Something that caught his eye though was how similar they looked to each other. Despite people's assumptions that any pokemorphs siblings would look exactly the same, like their more feral counterparts, that wasn't the case. Usually there was always something that could be used as a give away to help differentiate bipedal pokémon family members. So running into a pair of pokemorphs twins, essentially, was like having the same odds of running into a pair of human twins.

The shine a Houndour's fur usually had was replaced with ruffled unkempt fur and drying mud that covered their scrawny forms. Life for a pokemorph in the wild was never easy and their half-starved looking frame was something typical to find among pokémon like these Houndour; dealing with feral pokémon with a distain for any human like pokémon made finding a decent amount of food challenging.

Looking over the simple 'skull' on Smokey's forehead, Lucario noticed near the top left edge there was a deep cut that seemed to separate a small portion of the skull from the rest. A few scratches here and there also marred the white "bone", adding to the grimy look he had.

Glancing over to Smokey's brother, who looked worse for wear though from being poisoned, Lucario closed his eyes he focused himself until, once again, he saw the aura emanating from everything around him and sighed inwardly. Smokey's brother's aura no longer flickered giving him reason to believe that the Pecha berry had already started to take effect of ridding the toxin from the Houndour's body

Smokey pulled his legs up close to his chest, resting his chin on his knees, and looked absolutely exhausted as he looked over the strangers he just met not thirty minutes ago with his dull, glazed over, amber eyes. Gazing at the joleton -Sparky as he recalled- he took in the wet, red and blue things that adorned his yellow fur. Those strange materials wrapped around him only added to the feminine looks he had. Smokey might have even mistaken Sparky as a female if it wasn't for how masculine his voice sounded . . . or he was wrong and Sparky was a really flat chested female with a really odd voice.

Moving on, he glanced at the fire-type nursing his brother. To say he was large was nearly, an understatement with him nearly as tall as the cave when standing, but sitting he still towered over everyone. Thick powerful arms cradled Fang with as much care as a mother with new born pups. Smokey found himself staring at the canine's exposed torso, watching the muscles flex with every movement as Arcanine carefully dabbing at Fang's forehead, and found his mouth starting to go dry. Seeing his brother leaned against that wall of black furred muscle, he felt himself . . . jealous of Fang wishing he was in the arms of the fire-type he just met.

A twinge of guilt crept into his mind as he pushed the thought away. If he had been hit by that smog . . . if he had been poisoned instead of Fang . . . knowing his brother he'd be just as worried as Smokey was now. If not more so. After all they were the only family they've had for years now, ever since the change of leadership of their old pack. Ever since then they have been taking care of each other in thick and thing. At times, Fang even went days without food just to make sure his brother was fed and refused anything when offered.

If he had been poisoned instead of Fang, Smokey was sure his brother would have tried to keep these three, or anyone, from him and if he didn't realize what was wrong in time . . . Smokey let out a soft sigh trying to get his thoughts off the what ifs. In that moment soft buzzing, like the wings of a group of combees in spring, reminded him of the third person there.

Even by humanoid pokémon standards, this Lucario looked harmless. With thin arms, and a fairly trim stomach with no definition of any kind he didn't look like that much of a fighter. The only thing that looked dangerous was a spike on the back of each hand and one square in the middle of his cream colored chest. The rest of his body was covered in black fur from his entire legs, forearms, shoulders and a black 'belt' around his waist that seemed to hold up blue fur running from his hips to his knees. Two stripes of black also formed on his face; one horizontally from his nose to the back of his head and one vertically coming down the middle of his head.

Even if he looked like a push over compared to the two other pokémon in the cave, Smokey knew better than to underestimate something, or someone, he wasn't familiar with. How this pokémon talked and the four black 'tear drop' shaped appendages on the back of his head rising up and shaking when Lucario turned to look at his brother, caused Smokey's instincts to kick in, causing him to feel the need to be cautious around this figure.

Moving on from Smokey's brother, Lucario stoked the fire with one of the damp sticks that lay near by. Moving on from Smokey's brother, Lucario stoked the fire with one of the damp sticks that lay near by. Afterwards he scooted himself backwards until he pressed himself against the cave wall. Relaxing himself, as much as he could on the cool rocky surface, he closed his eyes to try and rest for whatever lay head tomorrow.

He might have too, if it hadn't been for the ever present, creepy, feeling of two prying eyes staring at him kept him up. Just barely opening his right eye, he caught a glimpse of Smokey staring at him right before the Houndour yawned. Maybe if things had been different, or they met under other circumstances Lucario would have probably tried risking a go at flirting with Smokey. Admittedly he'd love to press his luck with the Houndour, but doing so while his brother wasn't completely better didn't sit right with Lucario.

Instead he let out a soft exhale as he sat forwards and asked, "Never seen my kind before have you?"

The question caught Smokey off guard for a moment, before he realized he'd been seen staring at Lucario. Being one that hasn't lived among humans like these three have, staring as much as he has been probably was probably considered rude, Smokey found himself apologizing, as to not offend the jackal pokémon.

"No, no don't be sorry. You've done nothing wrong. If you have a question, by all means, ask away."

"What kind of pokémon are you?" At first, the question seemed innocent enough, but the few moments of silence made Smokey think he might have asked the wrong thing. That was, until, Lucario started to chuckle softly.

"Ah, well, in a way you already know the answer to that. Now before you have to ask, the type of pokémon I'm from are called Lucario. We're . . . a rare breed to find in the wild; whether from humans or other pokémon."

"Why?"

"Well in the wild, Lucario's tend to live deep in mountains to train and improve what they know." Lucario replied, prideful in how he talked about his people. "We're extraordinarily difficult to find and more so with our innate ability to control aura."

Sparky snorted with amusement to the conversation. Lying down he folded his arms behind his head and grinned as he listened on. 'There he goes again, showing off to impress someone.'

Being around his friend for so long, he's witnessed humans that didn't believe the stories of these jackal pokémon controlling aura, stare in awe at Lucario's gift. From seeing this time and time again, Spark imagined questions Smokey might ask, how Lucario would respond and the reverence the Houndour might give him afterwards.

"What's aura?" Smokey asked. Even while he rubbed weariness from one eye his curiosity kept him from sleeping.

Smiling wide Lucario began retorting what he's told others so many times before. "Well aura is the essence, substance, of life. All living things, from humans to pokémon to trees or bugs, produce aura. Lucario's, like me, and few others have the gift to see this invisible substance and if their trained properly, can even control it."

Smokey sat up a bit obviously perplexed; Lucario thought made him look adorable. "Wait if it's invisible, then how can you see it?"

"See these things on my head?" Lucario asked pointing to the dangling tear drop objects, to which Smokey nodded.

"When I want to use aura or see it, these rise up and make a buzzing sound. In sort they help me focus on it."

"So . . . when they were buzzing earlier--"

"I was looking at your brother's aura."

'That's how he saw us . . .'

"Actually if I wasn't here I don't know if your brother would be getting the help he needed . . ." Lucario trailed off and a moment of silence fell between them.

"So . . ." Jolteon could already guess what was going to be asked as he rolled over onto his side. "What does aura look like?"

"I could tell you, but" a large grin grew on Lucario's muzzle as he leaned forwards "I do have a way to show you."

"How can you show me something that's invisible?"

"Ah, true, but remember -"

'Remember, I can control aura.' Jolteon thought as he let out a very low sigh. 'Same line you use every time. Geez, can't you at least think of something new?'

"I can control aura." Lucario beamed seeing Smokey look so awake, even with the bags under his eyes. He even seemed somewhat less focused on his brother, though that was probably wasn't the case. Though that was short lived the moment Fang's torso convulsed; Arcanine quickly turning him onto his side just in time, as residual undigested Pecha berries and stomach bile splattered the ground.

Immediately Smokey's attention was back on his brother while, Arcanine simultaneously rolled Fang onto his back after he finished and keeping his brother from getting to close.

"Smokey, please, stay back." With a firm hand on Smokey's chest, Arcanine kept his voice soft yet commanding as he saw the concern painted on the Houndour's face.

"But my brother!" Smokey pleaded grasping the hand holding him back, but having no luck pushing it away. Even if he wasn't dead-beat tired he wouldn't have even managed to budge the canine's hand.

"I know this looks bad, but I was expecting this. Please Smokey, sit down and I'll explain." By this time Lucario had stepped in, gripping Smokey's shoulders to gently pull him back. With a bit of egging on from Lucario, Smoke finally sat down. Waiting a few moments Arcanine finally spoke once more.

"Smokey," he began, speaking softly "when I've dealt with poisoned pokémon like . . . us, the poison lowers our immune system and leaves us vulnerable to illnesses."

It was obvious Smokey didn't understand what he said, so Arch took a deep breath and tried to think of a way the Houndour could understand.

"Pokémon that look like us, when we're poisoned we get sick easier than pokémon that walk on all fours. Does that make more sense?" Smokey nodded, but his eyes kept wondering to Fang.

"Right now your brother is getting better, but he's still not out of the clear yet; he could still get sick from something else. It's better if you didn't touch him okay? We don't know if you have something that could make his situation worse."

Smokey fell silent and looked down at his feet. He knew the pure fire type was right; he had tangled with a Weedle when he was young and was worse for wear afterwards. Actually that was the first time he'd been so sick in his life and something he wished he remembered far earlier. But such a thing happening so long ago coupled with how beat he was, he wouldn't have remembered it anyways, or the signs of what his brother was going through. Though recalling it now was pointless as the silence in the cave was broken from the gentle cracking of the fire. In the stillness he noticed the sound of rain had stopped; in its place the occasional gust of wind blew softly in the dark night.

"And Smokey, with the Pecha berry not fully digested . . . it's likely he still has some poison in him." Looking down at the Houndour in his lap, Arcanine let out a soft sigh.

"To be honest, I highly recommend taking him back to the lab; he has a much higher chance of getting better there, than out here."

Smokey felt his heart stop as soon as the words hit his ears. Take his brother away? He was prepared to get help, but to have his brother taken away from him?

"No! I wont you take him away from me!" Smokey protested immediately, a defensive growl thick in his throat. Such strength behind the Houndour's voice took Lucario and Arcanine by surprise, even Jolteon jumped a little as he started to get onto his feet.

Dealing with a wild pokémon was risky enough, not knowing if they'd turn and attack if something was taken the wrong way. But dealing with an angry pokémon was something to always avoid no matter what.

Not wanting things to escalate further, Jolteon stepped in hoping to calm Smokey down. Grabbing a hold of his right arm, Spark found himself facing a snarling Houndour trying to get to his sibling. Holding on with a steadfast grip Sparky spoke in a calm tone as he looked Smokey dead on.

"Hold on there, no one said anything about separating you two."

"But he said-"

"I said," Arcanine interrupted "that it would be better for him to come back with us to the lab. I was also going to ask if that was okay with you and if you would come with us." Smokey folded his small ears back against his head. "Oh . . ."

"Hey, it's okay. We're strangers, you're tired, and you're looking out for your brother. I'd do the same if I was in your position." Arcanine said with an openhearted smile.

"And you don't have to a This is a story for a friend that I've been working on for a good long while now. Love to hear any and all advice or critique and hope you all enjoy the story.

-Marked mature for nudity-

characters © to game freak

Edited by a friend "Hurry! We have to keep moving!" Smokey cried out, scrambling through muck, dead leaves and tree roots; his lungs burned in his chest with each ragged breath. Even with the massive storm hanging overhead and profuse amount of rain pouring down upon the world, his throat felt dry as he stumbled through the dark.