Chapter 1 - Part 2

Steven walked up to the house, taking his shoes off on the porch. Before entering the house, though, he picked Growlithe up and carried him inside to keep the floors clean. He took Growlithe to his bedroom upstairs and set him down, closing the door behind him. Then Steven took his oak-brown bag (which looks like a satchel), set it down next to his bedroom door, and sat down on the edge of his bed with a sigh of relief.

The first thing Growlithe did was sniff around. Steven laughed when he sneezed after sniffing under the bed. Then he got up and stretched, and picked Growlithe up.

"Rrr?" Growlithe barked, caught by surprise.

"I need to give you a bath to clean you up buddy," Steven said. "If you aren't clean, then my dad won't even consider letting me keep you…and then I'd have to release you into the forest." Where you'd probably die, he didn't add.

He opened his bedroom door and walked a short distance down the hall to the bathroom and opened the door. Once inside, he closed it and set Growlithe down so that he could turn on the water in the tub. While he was waiting for the tub to fill itself, Steven got shampoo, conditioner, multiple towels, and a hair brush out of his bathroom closet. When the tub was filled halfway with water, he grabbed the shampoo and conditioner and set them down beside the tub.

Then he picked Growlithe up and gently lowered him into the warm water. Growlithe seemed to visibly cringe when he went into the water, but, to Steven's surprise, didn't struggle with Steven to get out. Next, Steven got the shampoo and poured a generous amount into his hand. Then he gently rubbed it into Growlithe's fur, working the cleaning agent thoroughly through all of his friend's hairs to ensure a deep clean. He made sure to get Growlithe's entire body, especially his cream-colored tufts of fur.

Then, using water from the tub, Steven rinsed his friend off, using the hair brush to help him get all of the shampoo out and get rid of any snarls or snags that would be there after such a cleaning. Then he repeated the procedure with the conditioner.

The whole time, Growlithe didn't fight him or splash him with water, much to Steven's surprise and pleasure. When he was done washing him, Steven took him out of the tub and set him down on a floor towel, and, grabbing another towel, dried Growlithe off before he could shake himself dry and create a mess, although, at this point, Steven didn't expect him to do that, but better safe than sorry. Then he got the hair brush out again and brushed his friend's fur to straighten it out…

"NO! ABSOLUTELY NOT!" Steven's father shouted. "Get that THING out of this house right NOW!"

"Dear! You're being unreasonable!" Steven's mother exclaimed.

"No, mom," Steven said. "It's fine."

"No, it's not!" his mother shouted. "You're going to apologize to our son right now!"

With that, Steven got up from the table, his diner still at his place, uneaten, and picked Growlithe up from where he sat on the floor and headed for the front door. He picked up his bag, which he had moved earlier to the front door, and was about to leave when he heard the phone ring. He paused, hearing someone get up from the table and pick up the phone.

"Hello, you have reached the Barns residence. This is Mrs. Barns-how may I help you? You WHAT?! Okay, he's on his way." He heard the phone slam down again. "Steven-I don't know what you did, but the cops called saying that you needed to go to the police station immediately! What's going-"

That was all he heard, because he was already racing off, Growlithe still cradled in his arms, headed for the police station at top speed.

"Here you are, Steven," Officer Jenny said, handing him the two poachers' bags, wallets (minus the poachers' I.D.s), cell phones, and tranq. weapons. "You can keep these. You caught them, on your own property, nonetheless, so their property is now yours to keep."

"Thank you, Officer Jenny," Steven said, setting Growlithe down to take possession of all the objects Jenny was offering. "Have a good day!" Then, new property in hand, he left the police station and headed back for the forest, Growlithe following him, hurrying to get there before it got dark, since the sun was setting quickly behind him.

Once he made it to the forest's edge, he broke from the path, and, with leaves crackling underfoot, headed deep into the forest, navigating it with skill and ease. For Steven, it was home away from home. When he was younger, if he wasn't at school, or helping his parents, he was out exploring the forest, searching every nook and cranny, memorizing the locations of every rock, bush, and tree, and having fun with the forest Pokémon. Now, as he wove his way through the forest, Growlithe close behind, his footsteps had hardly a pause at all to them at any point in time.

Steven slowed as he approached a natural rock formation sticking out of a small hill. He worked his way around the formation to a spot where vines and moss hung freely. He split and held apart the plants and entered a dark cavern, which had been hidden by the plants. Growlithe followed Steven closely as he entered the cavern as well.

Steven set his newly acquired property down and knelt down in front of a wooden chest. He gently opened the lid and withdrew two blankets, an oil-powered lamp, and some containers of dried food. He lit the lamp, setting it in the center of the cavern. Darkness had fallen outside while he was doing this, and he laid one of the blankets down on the floor and beckoned to Growlithe to lay down on it.