Two sets of pawsteps lay in the damp soil, one larger, one smaller, leading away from a gap in a white timber fence. From behind the border sat rows of suburban homes, yellow brick and gray stone with pale violet shingles, rounded windows gazing out over lush flowering gardens. Old leaves swirled lazily from upright branches, green with patches of brown, floating down to earth as the wind swept through the woods.
"Ha ha! You didn't have to scare that poor human boy, you know," said the Vulpix, snickering as the Electrike trotted after him into the trees, moving away from the human houses. "He just wanted to feed you a few scraps from his dinner plate."
The Electrike gave hiim a nasty look. "Well, maybe I don't like the taste of processed Flaaffy chops," replied the dog, tiny jolts of electricity darting between his paws. "Especially after they've been gnawed on like that." He shuddered, shaking his head. "Agh!"
The fox yawned. "Hey, food is food, and the humans have a lot of it," said the Vulpix, glancing back to the Electrike, who looked more uncomfortable than angry. "This one time, I found this soft white patty in a human's trash, with this yellow eye in the middle. It came from their kitchen garbage, but it tasted just fine. I think it was egg!"
"Egg? Eggs don't look like... 'patties'," said the Electrike, pausing to scratch behind his green-and-yellow ear with a hind paw. His eyes followed the subtle incline of the land through the gaps in the branches overhead, trees gradually rising towards the jagged mountain in the distance. "Have you even seen a real egg, anyway?"
"Sure I have! But you really should try some of what I had," said the Vulpix. "It was good stuff, too. It was sorta salty, but also kinda peppery." He licked his chops, salivating for a moment. "And there was this red creamy stuff on it, too. It tasted like Tamato, but a little sweeter."
The Electrike stared at the Vulpix, his eyes hardening slightly. "If you're trying to get me to eat some of that 'pit-za' stuff again, it's not going to work," said the dog, giving him a look. "That stuff tastes awful. Sorry."
"I told you, that pizza wasn't done right!" protested the fox. "It was undercooked and doughy, and the cheese hadn't melted, and- oh, never mind." He sniffed at a nearby flower, then opened his jaws wide and bit off the entire bulb, petals and all. "So what're you gonna do today? I heard there's some Taillows nesting by the lake. Wanna come watch a mother feed her hatchlings?"
His eyes lighting up, the Electrike glanced to the Vulpix. "Taillows? Now, that sounds like a meal," said the dog, licking his chops as the fox chewed and swallowed the remnants of the flower. "So which way is this lake? Are these birds, um, plump and fat?"
The Vulpix rolled his eyes, but grinned. "Oh, come on," chortled the fox, his tails fanning down as he hopped up onto a nearby stump. "Really. Do you ever think about anything other than your stomach?" As he said this, he reached up with a paw for a plump Magost berry, dangling from a nearby branch.
The Electrike was unamused. "Hey, look, I don't ask for much," said the dog, rising up onto his hind legs, forepaws on the side of the Vulpix's stump, looking up at the fox questioningly. "I like a nice, fat bird, freshly caught. I'd like one, three times a day, but just once a week is good too!"
The dog fell silent as his nose picked up muddled scents, wafting through the trees. "Hey, do you hear that?" said the Vulpix, hopping down from the stump, his ears twitching. The duo looked at each other, then glanced towards the mingled barks and shouts, the scents of fur and iron, approaching in the distance.
Abruptly, a Poochyena crashed out from the bushes and tumbled out onto the ground, startling them both. "Look out! Coming through!" yelped the dog as he raced past the Electrike and the Vulpix and off into the woods, wide-eyed and panicking. The two barely had time to glance back and dive into the shrubbery before a pair of heavy human boots came trampling after the dog.
"Well, that's not something you see every day," said the Vulpix as the human hunter chased the Poochyena further down the path, shouting and waving a large net. A sly grin spread on his muzzle as he glanced back to the Electrike, whose eyes had narrowed, his snout up towards the air. "Say, you wanna go chase them?"
The Electrike watched silently as the human swung his net at the yipping Poochyena and missed. "It's tempting," said the dog slowly, carefully tasting the air. "But... I think human would give me indigestion..."