Chapter 2
"Damn it, Zia! You need help, and there is no way I will leave you to bleed to death out here!" Everest yelled at her sister as she dragged her sister through the depths of Route 39 in search of what she knew they both needed. More accurately, whom they both needed.
Drops of thick, dark red blood marked the trail behind them, coming much more from Zia than Everest. The eevee only had a couple of scrapes and wounds that shed her blood and matted her once clean, hazel coat. However, that was nothing when comparing to how Zia was currently faring. The poochyena had a huge gash on her hip with several large cuts that dug into her sides and stomach, as well as her thighs, the blood that she shed matting her fur much worse than Everest's own. Her black fur was clumped with blood, but luckily Everest had made decent use of a caterpie's web to temporarily bandage her wounds. Everest had the natural skill of thinking on her feet, but she knew better than to think that this would be enough. They needed serious medical attention.
"No way, I rather…" Zia let out a harsh cough between cold words, spitting more of her blood on the grass that was under their feet. "...die than let you do that. Not...a chance in hell. I'm okay…"
Zia's breaths were rough and labored. On top of that, she was barely able to walk on her own without using her sister as a crutch. She used what little strength she had to try breaking free from Everest's hold on her, but her sister was having none of her bullshit.
Though hurt a bit herself, Everest strained herself into using her energy to hold her sister down while dragging both her and herself through the thick grass, with Zia not being able to put up much of a fight. Everest wasn't certain that this idea of hers would work nor what would come of it. With the home of the farm now too far away, the eevee knew that he was their best chance of making Zia survive.
Travis was back on the road the morning after meeting Everest and Zia, humming a familiar tune that was stuck in his head from childhood as he stepped to the beat. The sun had long returned to greet Johto with its warm rays. As pleasant as it was, this warned Travis that he had slept longer than he originally planned, but it didn't bother him too much.
Almost home… Travis thought to himself as little squares in the distance started to come into view, meaning that he would soon reach the city of Olivine. His home.
Speaking of home, Travis knew that his mother was probably beginning to wonder where he is by now, since he didn't mention to anyone about him camping out last night. He was an outside person by nature with the ability to walk for long periods of time with little rest, especially at dusk and night. If anything, his mother would probably just chuckle about it since it was to be expected. Nonetheless, the young man couldn't wait to get home, though he was glad to have woken up late enough to see Route 39 casted in the shimmering sunlight. Nature could look different to anyone depending on their perspective, and Travis was a person who wanted to take in all of the details…
"Just a few minutes before- Huh?" said Travis before he stopped walking and looked around, swearing that someone had just called his name. Without another sign, Travis decided to shrug off the feeling and continue walking until-
"Travis!" someone called with a muffled voice, making Travis stop before looking around once again. Someone had definitely called his name, and he could see who it was too. He had a small smile on his face. "Oh, it's you guys. What's…"
Travis cut his sentence short when two pokemon who were once far behind him now were within a couple of feet of him. One was slightly bruised with a few minor cuts, but the other was in much worse shape, passed out from the blood loss that she was suffering. The sight of Everest and Zia being so hurt made Travis sick to his stomach.
"Holy shit, what the hell happened!?" demanded Travis in shock, which made Everest flinch from his sudden change in tone. Seeing that he scared his new friend, Travis calmed down a little and tried not to be too harsh with his next words. "Sorry, I'm just really worried. What happened to you two?"
"It's too long of a story right now!" Everest shouted, too concerned for her sister's well being rather than recalling the details. "You said that you had medicine right? We need it, please!" she pleaded, nearly going into tears before Travis sighed.
"Well...normal medicine wouldn't help with cuts like that. I got no potions, so the only thing I can do right now is bandage her up, but she needs to checked into a pokemon center…" Travis told Everest before pointing to the fainted Zia, secretly really impressed that Everest thought of bandaging her sister with a string shot, which was now starting to be colored with Zia's blood. "She's lost way too much blood already…"
Though a generally laid back and nice person, Travis had issues when paying attention to certain details when in a rush. He wished that he wasn't in so much of a hurry to get on that walk back here to remember to stop by the pokemart for supplies. A hyper potion would do much more justice than bandages in most cases, and definitely more than the string of web wrapped around Zia's body. Knowing this, Travis cursed himself for his mistake, but it was too late for regrets now. If he didn't do anything for Zia, she would surely die, and he didn't want that to happen.
Everest was somewhat worried with the idea of being sent to a pokemon center, but she knew it was what her and Zia needed, and while she liked Travis, she would certainly trust the people who get paid for the job and remember their supplies over him. "O...Okay I guess, but don't keep us there, okay?" asked Everest.
"You've got my word." Travis confirmed before pulling his bag off of his back and fumbling through its contents. Everest crooked her head slightly, curious of what the young man was doing before he suddenly pulled out a pokeball, covered completely with red with a white 'E' on the upper half. Everest's eyes shot open the moment Travis pressed the button on the ball after aiming it at her sister. Zia's form soon was covered in a red light before she phased into the ball like magic. Neither ding or shake came from that ball. Did Travis just catch her sister?
"H-Hey, what are you doing!?" Everest shouted, shocked at the sight of the human that she trusted capturing her sister, right in front of her face to add insult to injury. Travis looked toward Everest with the most dull minded expression known to man, not knowing what she was upset about until he caught on a little later than he would have liked.
"Oh shoot." said Travis, slapping his face as Everest fought the urge to snarl and bite his leg off. She wanted an explanation, and her face said that she wanted to hear it now. "You see, this is an emergency ball," Travis started to explain. "It's main use is for safely transporting pokemon who need medical attention." Travis explained.
"Okay, but-"
"Let me finish, Everest." Travis said, cutting the eevee off as she bit her lip, trying to have faith in him like she did before. "This ball doesn't have binding properties like a standard pokeball. If you didn't notice, the ball didn't shake or even give that dinging noise pokeballs make when a capture is set in stone. It's limited on time, and after a few hours, she can break free whenever she wants. Trust me, Everest, I wouldn't force you to be my pokemon, haven't had one to my name since I was born. I have no reason to suddenly want to steal one." Travis shrugged, giving the eevee a smile.
Everest was no psychic to say whether or not Travis was lying to her, so she decided to smile back and keep her faith in him. She didn't think Travis would trick her, after all, he could have already done so if he wanted to. "Okay, thank you." she said with a very reassuring smile on her face.
"I've only got the one though," Travis admitted, before giving the ball to Everest, which she held tight to her chest against her huge scruff of white fur. "You can hold her while we run to the pokemon center back in town."
Everest gave a surprised yip when Travis suddenly picked her up around her waist and held her against his chest in the most comfortable way he thought was possible since she was injured as well, the eevee luckily catching on to his plan rather quickly. "Alright, let's go I guess." The eevee slightly slumped in his arms to give her tired limbs a break. Without need to speak, Travis rushed to town as quick as his legs could take him with the additional weight. Town wasn't too far from where they were now, but he wouldn't bother in wasting any time…
As big as Olivine City was, it wasn't much of a busy city these days. People usually strolled down the streets, taking it easy while having conversations with friends or fishing at sea which was a major pastime for the locals. Sometimes they would be lucky to see sailors wrestling on the beach for their amusement, which was all just in good fun. It certainly wasn't deserted, but the city seemed less busy than usual, with only children and a few adults being out. Travis didn't know what this meant, but he had his own problems to deal with, and that was made clear by how fast he dashed by the streets and buildings before he finally reached the pokemon center without giving a single hello to anyone like he usually did. What would have been a thirty minute casual stroll turned into a sixteen minute dash.
Despite bouncing up and down with each of Travis's quick steps, Everest had still managed to somehow fall asleep within the past few minutes with her ears waving in the breeze. She amazingly still held the pokeball that held her sister with her little paws.
It was thanks to the automatic doors opening a few moments before Travis dashed inside that he didn't slam into them. As soon as he got inside, he walked with a stumble in his steps with the exhausted eevee with a pokeball in her paws. Travis gave a few labored breaths as the few visitors that were there stared at him with pure confusion. Despite that, their attention immediately turned to the shiny eevee that was wrapped in his arms, most of their eyes nearly popping out of their sockets from how hard that they stared. The teen naturally paid them no mind and immediately continued dashing until he got to the counter to where the town's nurse gave him the same look of surprise that everyone else did, but actually concerned that the eevee in Travis' arms was bleeding out with an emergency ball in its paws, possibly containing another pokemon.
The nurse wore a standard white nurse's outfit with a trim of gold around the edges. Likewise to the trims, her hair was golden in color, going down to just below her shoulders. Her bright blue eyes were filled with worry for the injured pokemon, but her details weren't too important. "What happened to your eevee?" the nurse said, trying to keep her voice as calm as possible, despite her face showing a frightened and worried expression.
Travis carefully sat Everest down on the counter, whose ear fell over her eye as she continued to snooze, definitely the heavy sleeper of the two, if not both. Along with Everest of course came the emergency ball that Zia was being held in. Travis didn't exactly know how to answer that question, because he didn't know the answer himself. Though there was something he could say.
"I...don't know. I just found two pokemon out of town. The other one," Travis pointed at the emergency ball. "...is in much worse shape. My only guess is they were attacked by another pokemon…" Travis examined the cuts on Everest, with a closer look, he could see that those cuts were actually made by something with big claws that were made for killing. Whatever it was, it definitely got Zia better than it did Everest. The nurse frowned at Travis, but gave him a simple nod.
"Looks like it," she confirmed, though it was already obvious. The nurse gently picked up Everest as well as carefully handling Zia's ball. "I'll be happy to help them, if that's what you need." Travis frowned on the inside, but forced himself to keep a straight face.
Are you fucking with me? Of course that's what I need! ….Okay, she's trying to be nice. Don't stress… "Uh...yeah, please… Is it alright if I wait on them? I promised to take them back home, sorta.." Travis explained, the nurse giving a nod and a smile.
"Of course," she answered before gesturing over to what Travis assumed to be the waiting room, where very few chairs sat to complement the very little atmosphere…
Travis sat in the waiting room for what felt like hours. Anticipation and boredom were getting the better of him to the point where he would find himself peeling his fingernails or find his hands and feet fidgeting about for seemingly no reason. Maybe it was just because he cared for the two pokemon more than he should, not even knowing they existed more than a day. Everest was understandable, but he cared a lot for Zia too, even if she tried to pretend that he didn't exist to begin with. Travis had faith that the two canines would be okay, but he feared of what was out there in the wild that he didn't catch eye of before. As far as he knew, hostile pokemon didn't live around the area, much less in Johto in general unless one were looking around the Lake of Rage or Mount Silver. Whatever it was, it was still lurking out there, and it unsettled Travis.
"Travis, I have good news!" the nurse said, walking into the waiting room where Travis whipped his head in her direction, slightly surprised with her sudden appearance due to being too deep in his thoughts to hear her steps. The teenager was soon to catch on though, and he gave a grateful smile as he waited for the good news.
"The eevee and the poochyena are going to pull through just fine. The eevee is awake, and wanted to talk with you. I believe her name was Everest?" the nurse said before Travis nodded and stood up.
"Just lead the way." Travis said before the both of them exited the room.
"Honestly, I have never seen a poochyena here in Johto. They're...a lot less appealing than I thought." the nurse said, making Travis frown. The young man knew that the nurse wasn't trying to be funny or rude, but why would she say something like that? Sure, Travis didn't get too close to her, but he didn't think she was anywhere near ugly. Her large protruding fangs made her stand out from other pokemon, and Travis admired them a little. Zia was far past appealing to him, if anything, he would say she were rather exotic…
It only took a few minutes for the nurse and Travis to reach another room in the center, where they found two twin size hospital beds in the center of the room only a few feet apart from one another. Each bed had a small canine pokemon, and it was two that Travis was already familiar with. One of them holding Everest, who had woke up not too long before now, and the other one with Zia, who was now peacefully asleep under the soft green blankets with an empty blood bag attached to a pole next to her bed. The nurse left the trio for some privacy and left the room before closing the door behind her. Naturally, Everest gave Travis a warm smile as he walked over to her bed and sat down in a lone chair that happened to be there. The air was cool and nice, but the atmosphere seemed somewhat bleak…
"Hey, Everest. Are ya feeling any better?" Travis asked, and it sure seemed that way. All of Everest's wounds were now properly patched up with bandages and the bruises barely existed anymore. Her snow white hazel fur was well kept again, it was as if nothing happened at all. The shiny eevee nodded to the boy.
"Mhm, I'm still very sore from that strain on my body, but I wasn't too hurt to begin with. I almost feel as good as new." Everest reassured before shuffling in the sheets a little so she could move a little closer to Travis. The young man didn't think too much of this until Everest quickly leaned in toward his face and kissed his cheek, leaving the boy's face a boiling red with no comment. Everest giggled at his reaction before settling back into the sheets, he liked it.
"That's probably the most I can do to thank you, Travis." Everest said with a smile.
"Heh, no problem." Travis said with a poor attempt to hide the break in his voice before he twiddled his thumbs awkwardly in his lap with a nervous grin. He was never considered a ladies man for certain, but he knew he couldn't spend forever on details. He looked over to Zia. The poochyena was curled in a black ball of fluff under the green blankets as she still refused to wake up after the events of earlier today. Admittingly, she was pretty darn adorable, even if she had her back turned toward the two. She was going to be asleep for a long while, but she was going to be okay, which is what counted to Everest and Travis.
The web of the caterpie was finally unwrapped and replaced with a wrap of proper bandages around her torso and her hips. Travis and Everest were both glad to see that her fur was clean and beautiful, with no blood matting it down anymore. Zia would be okay… "How's she holding up by the way?" Travis asked.
"She should be fine, I hope." Everest answered with a defeated sigh. "I'm just glad that she isn't awake. She would certainly throw a fit if she knew where she were right now and what happened while she was asleep." Travis cocked his head at Everest.
"Huh? What did they do?" Travis asked before turning back to look at Zia.
"Nothing bad I think, but the lady did this weird thing where she said she was giving her the blood of a typhlosion…" Everest said, putting a paw to her chin while Travis gave her a rather amused expression as if he were trying to hold back a snicker. "I wonder if she'll be a fire type now…"
"Uh, no. I think you mean blood transfusion…" Travis said, spitting out a chuckle though he tried to keep himself from doing so. Everest blushed and grinned with embarrassment.
"Oh," the eevee said, giggling a little herself.
"The nurse just gave Zia some blood from another pokemon to help her out with all of the blood she already lost. It was donated, and each pokemon and person's blood types are labeled and checked for things like viruses. Zia should be okay." Travis informed the eevee, who nodded before looking over to her sister the same way Travis was doing. Sometimes, Everest wondered just how did she manage to deal with having Zia as a sister, but she could only smile. Zia was the most important thing in the world to her, and she was going to pull through. There was only one question she had…
"Hey, so when do you think you'll be out of here?" Travis asked Everest, taking the eevee out of her personal thoughts before she looked his way. The truth was she was already thinking about the same question.
"I...really don't know. The nurse said that we have to stay here until we get better. Apparently, we can't fend too well for ourselves in this state. I know Zia will be far from happy about being around so many people, and I have to admit that this place gives me a bit of the creeps too...It's too weird here…" Everest said before sighing, Travis going silent. The nurse was actually right, and having that pokemon that did this to them still running around out there would only make it worse if they couldn't escape from a fight. Staying here didn't leave much good options for them either, it was either go out and die, or stay here and possibly cause chaos with Zia, who would probably get hit with tranquilizer darts so much that it scared Travis, and it would only make her view on humans worse. He didn't want her to get...put down neither. Travis wasn't sure if his third option was a good idea, but he damn sure had one, and now was the time to speak.
"Well, it isn't too much better...but I might be able to let you stay at my place until you guys get better." Travis said with a small shrug before Everest nearly bounced out of the green sheets and slammed her tiny paws down onto Travis's shoulders, which didn't hurt him at all. Her tail swished wildly back and forth, up and down behind her.
"You kidding me, Travis!? Better you than a bunch of people that we don't even know! Could you really do that?" asked Everest with a sparkle in her eyes, ecstatic at the offer of a more trustworthy place to stay.
"Well there's no harm in asking, if you guys were already my pokemon, we'd be out of here by now." Travis answered with a laugh before standing up, accidentally bumping noses with Everest who sat back down on the bed with a reassured smile as he left the room to find the nurse, slightly blushing at the fact the two of them touched noses and Everest didn't notice. This would hopefully be a quick conversation…
As Travis had expected, the conversation with the nurse sure was a quick one, and it was only a few minutes before he walked back into the twin's room to meet back with Everest. Zia was still thankfully asleep while Everest waited for him patiently. "So? What did she say?" Everest asked as Travis took a seat next to her bed like earlier.
"Had to pull a bit of strings but the important thing is that you get to stay with me!" Travis exclaimed in a whisper with a grin on his face before he held his hand up to Everest, who didn't know what to do with it. Everest didn't exactly know how to express how happy she was, but having seen a high five before, she instantly met Travis's hand with her paw.
"This'll be awesome!" Everest cheered in a whisper before looking over to her sister, now slightly frowning. "We just need to get her used to things later in that case…" Travis thought to himself as he looked over to the poochyena. If he knew that anything was for certain, this would probably be the most interesting sleepover that he ever had…
The last few hours seemed to slowly drag by with Travis signing stacks of paperwork before the nurse finally gave Travis the official okay to take Everest and Zia to his house. Their care was now entirely entrusted to him and he was expected to release them back home once they both were healed, unless he decided to capture them.
Everest, finding it somewhat awkward to lay in Travis's arms again now that she was healed decided to take a much more comfortable position on his head. Having reached full maturity, she was a little bigger and heavier than the average eevee, but Travis didn't seem to mind. Her rear paws sat on his shoulders while her fore paws sat on his head riding piggyback...or piggyneck. It was a rather interesting sight for passerby.
Not wanting to put her in the ball again, Travis carried the sleeping Zia in his arms. He guessed that she wouldn't be nearly as comfortable as she was now if she knew what was going on. She was almost like a baby in his arms, only much bigger and heavier, but with a sleeping face that was oddly just as cute. "You sure this is safe?" Travis asked, fearing that the poochyena would awake in an instant and probably tear off his hands. Sure, she had a cute face, but no other canine pokemon had the intimidating large fangs of a poochyena, and Zia's seemed slightly bigger than average size to boot. It was obvious that she was just as physically mature as Everest.
"Nah, it'll be okay. As long as you're not too close to her once she wakes up that is." Everest joked, only giving Travis more of a reason to speed up his walking so that he could get home and settle her down before she woke up.
"Guess you're right. Oh, by the way, now that you guys are okay, do you mind telling me what happened out there?" Travis asked. Everest sighed as she heard the question, honestly not wanting to relive the memory so soon.
Guess it's the least that I can do for him…"I'll just keep it short. We were going to get back to our home after you gave us those berries and we met another pokemon who wanted them. He didn't really bother to ask, and just attacked us instead. I wanted to run but Zia insisted on fighting them and got her butt handed to her. That left me to try and outrun him while I had to drag Zia. I was lucky to see just how bad Zia got hurt in that fight and so I came to find you as quick as I could, since the farm was too far by that point…" Everest explained before Travis sighed.
Man, Zia is bold, maybe a little too bold for her own good as well as others… "Any idea what it was…?" Travis asked, the eevee shaking her head in disagreement, though he wouldn't see that with her riding on his neck.
"I've never seen any pokemon like him." Everest answered. Travis nodded, causing the eevee to bob up and down with his head and making her a little light headed.
"A foreign pokemon then, it's making sense. There isn't anything I know around there that's hostile, especially anything out of control like that unless it were an angry tauros...Whatever the case, your sister sure is brave…" It's somewhat odd, I heard that poochyena usually knew when a foe was too strong for them. They were one of the smarter pokemon that knew when flight was better than fight…
Everest giggled. "That's Zia for ya. Sometimes, I wish that she weren't that brave because she gets too stubborn to listen to reason...I told her that this would happen but I can't help but admire her a little. I'm proud to have her as my sister." she said with a shrug.
"Well. Changing the subject. I don't have a problem with you guys staying at my place, but we have to find a way to keep Zia under control when she wakes up. I don't want my mom being bothered by any of this since it's my responsibility. So I need you two to try and behave, though I trust you, Everest…" Travis said, Everest sighing.
"I can't predict how she'll react since we've never found ourselves in this situation before, but I trust you, so know that you can trust me. Zia can't be too much trouble the way that she's injured, so she'll probably tire herself out moment she gets pissed." Everest said with a giggle.
"I just hope that she can come around though. It's gonna be a bad experience for all of us until she tries to trust me. Hopefully, she'll just need a little push, but I can't change her mind on my own..." Travis told Everest, who frowned a little. "I won't have a clue what to do…
Travis didn't know how right he actually was, and he and Everest were left to stare in utter shock as Zia thrashed her body around the room in an angry fit. It was as if the pain the poochyena felt barely existed as she slammed herself into now cracked wooden dressers, clawed on the indigo painted walls, and bounced across walls like a moth that couldn't find its way to the light. Travis's room wasn't always the cleanest sanctuary on the earth, but now it was a pigsty. The dark green curtains that covered the windows were now torn as Travis sighed in relief that Zia was unable to reach the ceiling fan and destroy that too. Whatever was out in the open was not safe, and that was made painfully clear as the poochyena once again stepped over Travis's shattered Nintendo Wii, which continued to break under her feet and make Travis wince.
Travis made the smart move to put her in his room so she couldn't cause damage to anything else. He found himself mighty spooked when her eyes finally shot open and scanned the room when she woke up. Next thing he knew, this happened, with the only thing Zia yelled was profanities and inaudible screeches. Becoming tired of seeing more of Travis's possessions become trash in her sister's rage, Everest threw herself at her and tackled Zia to the floor and pinned her down. Oddly enough, that was when Zia's exhaustion finally came back full circle and she barely attempted to push Everest off, now her body even more sore and throbbing than ever.
The pooch gave labored breaths as she tried to regain herself, her body going up and down rapidly under Everest's body, which still kept her pinned to the ground where she could do the room no further harm. Travis considered himself lucky that he kept his closet door closed, which would make more of a disaster that he would have to clean up if Zia got to it. It seemed that by now, Zia calmed herself down a little bit, but a little bit wasn't enough to keep her from immediately glaring at Travis, which made him jump.
"You motherfucker! Where have you taken us!? I will make your life a living hell if you-" Zia found herself shutting up when a few glowing stars suddenly smacked her in the face, not powerful enough to really hurt her, but just enough to make her be quiet. Travis, with Zia being under the eevee, was the only one who saw Everest use a swift on her. Zia glared at her sister, though could not bring herself to growl or snarl at her. However, she was absolutely pissed, knowing that Everest let this human touch her to bring her here. She didn't seem to care that she was currently patched up and not bleeding to death anymore, being more concerned about where his filthy hands have been and how long was he touching up on her. He was a damn creep in her eyes, he was human, which meant he didn't care about them, only himself.
"Will you just chill out and listen, you crazy poochy!" Everest hissed, making the poochyena calm herself down just to let her speak. Travis was still left in shock, a hurt poochyena that was near death was still able to cause all of this destruction. It was crazy, not just that fact, but the fact that Travis was thinking that she must have been really strong for a poochyena, and he admired her. Though, admiring her strength was the last thing that he should have been worried about.
"Travis helped the two of us out of that scrap! After you passed out, I went to him and asked him for help and he actually gave us that help! We would have been stuck in the pokemon center in town with a whole bunch of humans you hate if he haven't offered to take us here. Better him than a bunch of other people that haven't done anything for us! If it wasn't for Travis, Zia, you would have died out there!" Everest informed while Zia and Travis had locked eyes with one another during her explanation. It looked like Zia was finally attempting to understand the situation, so Everest stepped off of her where she could finally sit up, still locking eyes with Travis. She didn't look angry nor happy, just a blank stare that unsettled Travis, and concerned Everest. The pooch turned her back to Travis with a huff, sticking her red nose up with pride. She couldn't believe that she stared at that disgusting creature for so long.
"Don't think I owe you one, human." said Zia in a cocky tone, which made Travis tilt his head at the pooch. Apparently, he wasn't getting much reward for helping her out in the first place…
"I mean, a thanks would suffice just fine…" Travis said with a sigh, knowing that things would turn out this way. "You just need to get better, Zia, and that's all that really matters to me. I'm not asking you to give me anything."
Zia didn't say anything for a moment, leaving Travis in thought of what she was actually thinking about, and whether or not she even heard what he said. She didn't even bother to give him an ear twitch or anything to let him know if she was listening. The teenager got his answer when Zia turned her head to look at him and he saw those violet eyes again, which were filled with emotions that he could only imagine that he could understand. Truthfully, though he didn't know it, Zia was quite surprised with Travis, not expecting him to be so genuine with a good deed like this. She trashed the place where he slept at night, and yet he wouldn't show his anger at her or even hit her. Not even a flick across her nose. From what she knew, a trainer would hit their pokemon when it did something that the trainer didn't like. Why wasn't he mad!? Zia brought her glare back in an instant before turning around and sticking her nose up once again, not being low enough to fall for his tricks. "A thanks will be all that you get, you human. This changes nothing between us, just so you know." Zia hissed.
Truthfully, Travis was getting a little frustrated with her attitude problem, but knew he would get nothing out of being mean back to Zia. She was trying to break him down and he knew it, and he knew if he could get under her skin enough, maybe she would finally come around. With those thoughts in mind, Travis decided to push his anger into the back of his head where it would fade into nothingness, he had to take responsibility for his deeds and that meant accepting things as they were until something decided to give. Everest glared at her sister.
"Since you're going to act like that, I might as well let you know that until the both of us get better enough to fend for ourselves again, Travis and I agreed that we will be staying here. Like it or not, that's how it's going to be." the eevee said a matter-of-factly, making the pooch's mouth drop a little before she stared at her white furred sister, seeing that she was dead serious. Zia stomped her paw as she mumbled profanities under her breath, only getting more bad news as the day went on.
Travis, though he didn't know why, started to feel pity for the poor pooch while Everest only rolled her eyes, not wanting to hear it. Travis had to admit that it was hard to feel pity for someone who threatened and looked down on him while they made a mess of the place he called home when he offered it to them to boot.
"Fine." Zia finally said with no emotion in her voice. She knew that with the state she was in, there was no fighting off her sister and she was now pathetically weaker than the human that she loathed so much. Zia turned around to glare at Travis once more. "I hope you're proud of yourself, you fucking cunt." was the only thing she said before she went to the farthest corner of the room and laid there in silence, wrapping her tail around herself as if it were a means of protection. Everest turned toward Travis, who stared at the poochyena with a frown.
"She's more bark than bite, so don't pay her any mind." Everest said in Zia's defense, who huffed once more, not daring to grace the human with seeing her face. Travis seemed to doubt that, but trusted Everest's word nonetheless. "Is there anything I can do to thank you, Travis? You have done a lot for my sister and I already." The eevee's kindness brought a smile back to Travis's face.
"Don't mention it, please. I'm just happy to help…" Travis said before turning back to look at Zia, who didn't acknowledge him, making him half-doubt his last sentence. "Hey, Zia." he said, not getting any response just as he expected. She just seemed content with staring at the wall, she liked it more than looking at his face. "If I ever do anything that you don't like, feel free to headbutt me in the gut or something…" he told her, making Everest frown at the thought.
Zia's eyes opened a little wider than what they were already, once again being taken by surprise by what came out of this human's mouth, even though this wasn't shown because no one could see her head. Letting a pokemon hit the human when he did something wrong? God, he was more spineless than she originally thought. The poochyena snorted with a smirk, not wanting to turn such a fine offer down. "Gladly." was the first thing she said in a somewhat gleeful tone since she got here. She really did hate Travis.
Everest thought that no one in the room was using their common sense but herself at this point, though she knew through the determined look of Travis's face that he was only trying to earn the pooch's trust. Everest, being her sister, knew better than anyone that he would have to go through hell and back to make that happen. The eevee feared for him, just what was he willing to go through to do it…?
