Mt Steel: part 1

The following morning, Persian awoke to the sensation of the ground rumbling. Her entire body was sore from last night. Houndoom had been too worked up to sleep, so they had returned to the woods where they rescued Caterpie and ran next to each other for hours. It had gone dark but that hadn't stopped the two. Persian had night sight and Houndoom was fuming fire. No matter how much her muscles were burning, Izzy did not stop running. She was loyal like that. As a result, though, everything hurt this morning.

Sitting in the arch that acted as a door frame, Persian watched the Dugtrio in front of their house, pacing back and forth. After his fourth time passing her, she decided to speak up.

"Can I help you?"

She decided to keep her voice low, to allow Houndoom to sleep more. The poor guy looked like he needed it. He was entirely out cold, snoring so hard he scorched the hay a little.

The Dugtrio saw the sleeping Houndoom as well and rightfully thought it was a bad idea to wake him up.

"I need your help. Diglett is kidnapped. A Skarmory just flew by and grabbed him and flew all the way to the top of Mt Steel!" One of his smaller heads got tears in his eyes.

"Don't worry. We'll go look for Diglett. If we succeed, could you and your kin plough our garden for us?" Persian referred to the barren, rock littered dirt that surrounded their hut. "I'd like to make this place look better. More like home."

"Consider it done. As soon as Diglett is back, I'll bring everyone over and we'll have your garden ploughed in no time," said the tallest head of Dugtrio.

Isabelle nodded. "All right. We'll leave in an hour. Mt Steel seems pretty big so it might take us most of the day. I'll go into town and stock up on food."

Leaving a note with a paw print on it for Houndoom, she left to walk the small distance into town.

In town, Isabelle first went to the Kecleon shop. There, she purchased some apples and berries with the money she'd found in the Thundershock Rock or what that place might have been called. With a pouch considerably filled, she headed over to the Pelliper Post office to check the job offer board. While they're going to Mt Steel, might check if someone else needed anything there, too. As she walked past, she felt the banker's eyes on her. She realised she must look poorly. After Dominic's anger from last night, here she was, walking with some difficulty because she was so sore. Still, she held her head up, totally ignoring him.

At the board, a Pidgey hung up a notice. As she came close, the bird flinched a little but Izzy pretended not to notice as she read the notice. Pidgey apparently needed someone to bring some sort of gummy to Spearow in the lower levels of Mt Steel.

"Hey. Would you like me to do that for you? I'm going there anyway," she said in her kindest voice possible.

"Y-You would? T-that would be most kind, miss," the bird tweeted.

"Please, don't be scared. I'm not going to eat you. I had an apple for breakfast."

The Pidgey gave her a tiny smile and handed her a little box with the gummi and a note for Spearow.

"Thank you. I'll come and find you here tomorrow morning with the reply?" The bird nodded. "All right. See you then!" Then Persian headed home again, yet again not looking at Persian, who meowed at her.

Dominic was delighted at having all that bed to himself. That wasn't to say it was better than with his Persian in it. It wasn't. That said when he was alone there was nobody to pull at his ear, trying to get him to wake up. It was a warming thought. He let his eyes drift closed, stretching out into a long, limp, black mass. Half sleeping, he didn't hear the scuffle of paws at the doorstep or smell the approaching Pokémon. The Pokémon approached, and started snuffling curiously around Dominic's bed, which caused the Houndoom to go from unaware of the outsider to hyper aware of it, all in a single heartbeat. He spun around, finding his feet quickly and dropping his front forward into a low, snarling stance.

His eyes alighted not upon a vicious, vile assailant. In fact, if Dominic had pounced, he'd likely have soared straight over the small, very young Poochyena that stood looking at Houndoom with wide eyes. It looked back at Dominic for a moment, then dropped into a perfect mirror position and started to growl. Dominic bit back a laugh at the high pitched little noise and straightened up, but the pup was having none of it. He launched himself, swiping against Dominic's forepaw and trying to bite it. The little one's mouth barely worked yet, and Dominic stepped aside once, then twice, to send the pup sprawling.

Dominic tired of the game soon and, after checking whether his partner was not around to chastise him, he knocked the Poochyena with his muzzle. The smaller Pokémon sprawled onto his back, where he was easily pinned with even the laziest of efforts.

"Who are you? Are you someone else looking for help? It's really my partner that deals with that sort of thing." He permitted himself a brief, wicked grin that was all fangs outlined with the fire that bubbled deep in his throat. "Better people-skills."

"Yes! I mean... No! Well, yes, but not like you did for that Magnemite!" He was struggling and straining to get up. Dominic had to admire his energy but he wasn't going anywhere just yet. Poochyena dropped back and flopped, his paws up alongside his head, looking pitiful. "I wanna join you! I want to be as big and fierce as you are!"

Dominic arched an eyebrow. He let up his paw and moved to lay back down in his familiar spot, head propped so that he could both see the Poochyena and revel in the scent of his feline love. "As fierce as me, hmm? Takes a lot of hard work to get there! How did you find us, anyway?"

"Well, uhm, first I saw you in the caves and then I tried to follow you but, uh, you're really really fast. So I was lost in the forest for a bit but then, last night, I saw you and, uhm, the Persian lady, running around. I managed to follow you back but it took ages and ages. I was gonna come a little bit ago but uhm..." The Poochyena, who'd been speaking with the speed and enthusiasm only youth enabled, fell suddenly quiet and started to twist a forepaw into the ground. "Well... The Persian lady makes me a bit nervous, kinda."

Dominic let out a loud peal of laughter that lingered as a grin. "Does she now? Maybe you've more sense than you look. Let's wait until the Persian lady is back and see what she says. As long as you're careful, I don't see why you can't come along with us."

Persian returned to find Dominic talking to the tiniest Poochyena she had ever seen. She waited in the doorframe until either of them noticed her. It was her Houndoom who first spotted her. He stood up from the bed to nuzzle her face affectionately.

"So, who's this?"

The Poochyena squeaked in fear but was shoved forward by Houndoom.

"I-I'm Poochyena! I.. I … I'd like to join you guys." From the amused expression on Dom's face, he acted much differently when she wasn't here.

"Do you now? Why?"

"When I'm a Mightyena, I want to be as fierce as Houndoom is, ma'am…"

Only Houndoom knew she had a soft spot for young Pokémon and would never reject one.

"All right," Persian said, faking a sigh. "But don't get in our way. Dominic, you're in charge of his training." Barking her orders, she turned her tail and set out, towards Mt Steel.