To everyone in the plains, Growlithe was a known nuisance.
He would wake up everyday and "play" (read: bully) with children in the plains. Despite this, no one blamed him, how could they when Growlithe was the only one of the Arcanine line that was in the plains? He had no one to raise him properly after all.
He had been alone since his hatching, his egg alone in a cave that was hidden within the Arcanine territory in the plains, his father, Kouen, was the Flame-Alpha of their pack, the only Arcanine pack in the plains.
Kouen had been powerful, his Fire Blast was a technique that gained the respect of even the fire proof Rhydon herd that roamed the Western plains.
Growlithe's mother had gained her pack name, Kousha, only a year prior to the incident and had previously been named Flaring-Hide, had the most gorgeous of fur and was a capable hunter, her tenacity and passion had drew the feared, then Flaming-Jaws, who had been the prince of the pack.
Kouen and Kousha had a son, Ember-Heir, who was hatched a year prior to the conceiving of Growlithe. Many in the plains remember Ember-Heir quite fondly, the young pup had been curious and charming, he had insisted on assisting many of his pack members, as he grew, he had became a strong warrior and keen hunter, only just ready to receive his pack name when poachers had struck.
It was quite violent night, many recalled, the plains burned with the wrath of the eastern pack, never had the creatures of the plains felt such heat, the screams of the humans who dared attack the pack were loud, ringing throughout the night, Flame-Alpha Kouen was ferocious, those with better sight claimed he had taken down dozens upon dozens of captured Pokémon, bringing down the wrath of the great, legendary beast, Entei into their mortal plains.
As morning had settled, the pack had disappeared, what was left revealed itself only half a month later, in the form of an innocent Growlithe pup with no name.
What had branded him as the heir of the pack? On his head, branded, was the burning ensigna of the Arcanine Pack, a golden shaped flare, twisted in the shape of a canine. He soon became known as simply Growlithe, the heir of a Kingdom of no one, the ruler of none, and Flame-Alpha of no pack.
What will become of him? Will he simply live on? Will he avenge his family that he never knew? Join a human's team and become a keystone combatant?
Or did he simply disappear?
"That poor Growlithe! To live with no herd..."
"Oh buzz off, you Kangaskhans and your herds, us Beedrills live only to serve the Queen!"
"Oh really? Your Queen that changes every other month?"
"Don't start snapping at us! Our Queens have low blood sugar!"
"Oh sure, all of them have some kind of health issue, it definitely isn't caused by some other Beedrill ursurping her rule every week."
"You—!"
The day had started normal enough. Wake up, hunt, eat, play (bully) with the local Kangaskhan pups until their mothers shoo him away, take a dip in the river that ran north of his territory, battle a bit, fend off humans and their tamed Pokémon, sleep.
Growlithe sighed as his day came to an end, taking a breath, he spit Ember at the soft soil before settling down on the warmed ground, satisfied with his fire.
He had a nice dinner, an oblivious ratata had wandered too far from its pack and ended up in his stomach. Growlithe snickered as he thought about the Raticate's reaction when she finds out her precious third child had gone somewhere she'd never see again.
'Serves her right to never teach him about the scary Growlithe that lives just two paws away from her den.' Growlithe thought as he yawned, stretching out in his warmth spot, bitterly restraining himself from searching for warmth of body heat. 'Stop that, Growlithe, you're not like those Kangaskhan pups who needs their mothers to rescue them.'
Growlithe scoffed, the concept of mothers and rescue were foreign to him, why should he wait for someone who doesn't exist to rescue him? Take his fate into his own two hands and save himself, he was not weak! Growlithe will protect the territory left to him by his predecessors and one day, he will be so powerful that none of the creatures in the plains will pity him!
The Eastern territory had mainly been occupied by the powerful Arcanine pack, now that they have all been poached, the others who resided in the plains were afraid of the poachers' return and had not taken over the pack territory.
'Hah!' Growlithe thought, 'let them return! I'll send them off with the treatment they deserve!'
The plains' creatures had been right to fear the poachers, they had taken care of the Arcanine Pack, whose power was only rivaled by the resistant Rhydon Herds of the West. At least that was what Growlithe had heard from the old Tauros that lived in the Southern plains near the woods—he had never gone West to meet the Rhydons.
A loud crack that echoed through the night snapped Growlithe out of his daze, his sharp ears twitched as his nose caught a foreign smell.
"Quiet! Don't wake the Pokémon!"
"Why are we going through here anyway? There are no Pokémon—not since the poachers from three years ago scared off all of them."
"Exactly! This is the closest and safest route to the Tauros herd, we will get there before morning and nab all the of them!"
The two men who had been so careless as to wake the napping Growlithe stumbled clumsily through the plains as they moved slowly through the grass, oblivious to the quiet Growlithe who stalked after them, emerald eyes glowing with intelligence as they stared after the poachers.
'Well,' Growlithe thought dryly, 'at least we know it's not the old bat, Cro.'
Ah yes, Cro, a Golbat who had lost her ability to hear, she claimed it was due to a battle decades ago, but Growlithe pitied her whenever he spots her grandchildren, Jin and Kol, hunt caterpie for her.
Caterpie tasted bad, despite Kol claiming rather otherwise, and Growlithe would rather skin himself then attempt to eat another one of their fuzzy tails.
Growlithe snorted as he watched one of the human curse rather fervently when he tripped over the other's net. 'If those two bumbling fools manage to catch a Tauros, I would eat a Beedrill Stinger.'
It seemed his mirth had led to some noise, as the two poachers turned around, one of them screaming loudly in surprise, pointing rather excitedly at Growlithe.
"Look, Jorde! A Growlithe! I thought they'd all been poached!" He shrieked excitedly.
The man he was talking to, Jorde, looked baffled, "I can't believe it, Masu, I thought they'd all been gone after Rocket attacked the plains."
The two closed in on Growlithe, who started growling rather menacingly at the poachers.
Jorde grabbed his capture tool, "It doesn't matter, let's catch it first!" He yelled, tossing out the scarlet ball, "Go, Golett!"
The other man, Masu, copies him, "Pelipper!"
The two creatures that appeared from the capsules spoke an odd language, from Growlithe could gather, they were from a different region, thus their language was also different. The humans, however, still spoke the same language.
"Hydro Pump!" Masu yelled, the massive blue and white bird wasting no time to spit out a column of water at Growlithe.
The orange canine flipped out of the way, landing nimble on his paws as he spat an Ember at the bird, who was too slow to dodge, but recieved close to no damage.
"This one can move! It'll do well in a circus! Golett, Shadow Punch!"
The golem was quite slow as it lumbered forward, fist raised, glowing with ominous energy. Growlithe wasted no time in attempting to Tackle the slow Pokémon, feeling quite surprised when he simply passed through it, although the confusion quickly faded to panic when the Golett grabbed onto him, readying his Shadow Punch to hit the Puppy Pokémon.
The poachers laughed as they saw Growlithe's attack, "It tried to attack a ghost type with tackle!" Masu howled as Growlithe was sent flying by the Golett's punch.
Getting up, Growlithe barely dodged Pelipper's Hydro Pump and jumping up, grabbing onto the Pokémon's head, rearing his head and snapping his jaws shut abruptly with a Bite.
The Pelipper wavered in the air from the sudden attack, Growlithe smirked before he jumped up, silently thanking Old Jida the Tauros as he fired a Swift, successfully hitting the injured wing and incapitating the Pelipper, although he was quite unprepared for the super effective Mud-Slap from Golett.
Growlithe grunted as slammed against the ground, Golett landing on top of him, holding the fire canine down with his weight, raising its fist, the golem once again smashed down at Growlithe with a Shadow Punch.
Growlithe growled with frustration as he attempted to flip his position with Golett's. When he found himself unable to, Growlithe became quite irritated, he grew even more so when Golett slammed another Mud-Slap on him, tiring him out even faster.
It seemed luck was by his side though, as Growlithe was able to surprise the Golett with an Ember, the golem not expecting resistance from something in a position such as the one Growlithe was in. The surprise worked as Growlithe seized his chance, leaping up, he buried his teeth deep into Golett's neck, Biting it until it fell pliant, unconscious.
The two poachers had abandoned their Pokémon, Growlithe hadn't even notice their escape. Growlithe stumbled and fell, the exhaustion and injuries preventing him from moving, with much energy exerted, Growlithe flipped himself over, falling unconscious.
The day had started normal enough, it's end was as odd as it could've been.
"Haven't you heard? The poachers returned to the Arcanine Pack's old territory!"
"What?! The incident was only three years ago! What happened to Growlithe?"
"Gone! Vanished! I asked the Pokémon the poachers left behind, they said that they'd been defeated by Growlithe."
"Okay... so Growlithe won, where could he be then?"
Growlithe groaned as he woke up, around him, it sounded like the plains had decided to invite humans to play, the loud sound of murmuring and shouting was prominent. As he slowly opened his eyes, he was surprised to find himself in a dark alley, looking at a strange creature.
It reminded him of the Zigzagoon a human had brought to the plains once, but smaller and less... zigzaggy.
The odd creature growled, and tackled him—well tried to tackle him, the attempt kind of flopped when Growlithe smothered it with Ember. The odd thing scampered off rather quickly afterwards.
'Where is this place?' Growlithe wondered as he stumbled out of the alley, the trash and noises were very easy to track with his nose and ears, 'Too easy, this place smells.'
As Growlithe quietly moved through the crowds, he was surprised to find that no one had jumped at seeing him—jumped to catch him—and the most reaction someone had of him was to shoo him away with their hands. The more he walked through the crowd, the more he noticed that they all lack the red capsule device that he had came to associate all humans with.
An ache on his face reminded him of his injury, he was also reminded of his hunger when a piece of meat had fallen onto the ground. Growlithe snatched the skewered meat and quickly ran back into the alley, scarfing down the meat.
'This... is pretty good!' Growlithe was surprised at the taste that bombarded his tongue, licking his lips, he set out to find more food.
No Pokémon, no capsule balls, no humans trying to catch me and tasty food.
'I can live in be like this.'
"Say Jida, you were pretty close with Ember-Heir right?"
"Haha! As close to an Arcanine as a Tauros can be, young one."
"Did he tell you what Growlithe's name was supposed to be?"
"Did Ember-Heir tell me? No he did not, but I learned it anyways, from Kouen."
"Really? What is it?"
"Growlithe's name is..."
Ace sneezed once more as he walked down the path of the island. The islanders had claimed that there was a pest here and that if he could exterminate it, they would give him and Juda a ship.
Rubbing his nose, Ace cursed his luck, to have been seated at a bar next to duck hunters—how could he not sneeze? At least he managed to burn the feathers.
'Thank you Mera-Mera no mi.'
As he turned into the alleyway the villagers had called the thing's den, Ace was surprised to find an orange dog(?) barking rather ferociously at a pack of raccoons. The raccoons were jittery and constantly lounging forward and back—like they were afraid of the weird dog spitting or something.
Then the tiger-printed fur on it flared up and the dog charged forward, the seemingly united pack of raccoons immediately scattered, causing the dog to charge straight into Ace.
Ace fell to the ground on his back, the dog perking up in surprise when he found out that the human hadn't been burned.
"Hey, hey!" Ace grabbed onto the dog, holding tightly when it began to struggle, when it had attempted to bite him, Ace allowed his arm to phase into flames, only to be surprised when the dog ate his arm. And then it started eating up his shoulder.
Ace screamed.
"Blazing-Paws"