Edit: Gah, I totally forgot to say that I got the prompt for this (see the title) from yamiduke13. Other than that, have a good one, peeps!
He considered it a successful day when he wrested control from that idiot, even if it was a wet, miserable day when he did it.
"C'mon, Chuck, gimme my jacket back." His trainer whined, one of his more annoying habits, but whining wasn't going to get him anything anymore, he would have done better if he'd demanded it.
Chuck growled at him.
His trainer didn't shut his mouth, but he at least stopped whining.
"Look, it's stopped raining, we need to get going before it starts up again."
He growled at him louder, and this time his trainer got the point and fell silent.
He had been content to obey the human when he had been a mere vulpix and didn't know any better, but the fire stone had changed that. Being forced to evolve well before he was ready was not something he planned on forgiving any time soon.
He knew that it had stopped raining, but it would also start back up quickly enough, something that his trainer seemed oblivious to. He had no desire to go walking around when everything was dripping wet.
They would leave when he decided, and not a moment earlier.
The only upside of his evolution was that the increase in intelligence allowed him to see what his trainer really was, not a leader, or intelligent, or even a tactician, but merely the human version of a kit. He was not going to follow a kit.
Haley, the growlithe pup, bounded over to him from the far side of the tent, and stopped just short of standing on his beautiful tails. Carefully, she scooted around them until she reached his side and flopped over onto her back, asking for attention in a suitably submissive way.
It had become clear that his trainer was not a suitable leader, not if he couldn't control even a single evolved pokemon. His rebellion had initially been a test, but he had quickly realized that it was actually a necessity.
Once his trainer backed off and sat back down on his sleeping bag, he stopped growling.
"Good human." His silence said, "Obey me and you will not be harmed. Probably."
After watching him for a moment to make sure he wasn't going to move, he turned to Haley to start licking her clean.
She batted at his muzzle in an invitation to play. She always wanted to play, but, for once, he was inclined to let her paw him and wriggle in place instead of forcing her to stay still. Just so long as she stayed in place.
Perhaps he needed to calm down after his trainer's insubordination, or perhaps he was grateful that she obeyed him without question, either way, he was more relaxed when he finished. She was also as clean as it was possible for a growlithe to get, though that wasn't particularly much, and it wouldn't last very long either.
Growlithes weren't vulpix, they were clumsy, dirty and very loud, but they were cousins, of a sort, and he would treat Haley as such.
After she was clean, he curled up around her to force her to take a nap. Her feet were still tender from walking through all the puddles the day before, and the less she walked on them, the faster they would heal. A nap would also stop her from running around and hitting the tent walls again. The last time she did that, she shook so much water down on them that he'd given her a firm nip to stop her from doing it again.
If his trainer wasn't going to protect the two of them, then he, Charles the ninetails, would.