Wade flopped over in the grass once he thought Houndour thought they had played 'Chase' enough. Ignoring the fact that he had just seen Team Plasma, which confirmed that they did in fact, exist, today was simply a beautiful day. Sun was shining brightly in the afternoon, the sky was nice and clear, save for sporadic clouds. Except for one clump of clouds towards the pier, which Wade had decided to also ignore. It was nice, sunny, with a very pleasant breeze, and he just wanted to enjoy the day.
Houndour on the other hand, had also finally ran out of energy, and had opted to lay beside Wade. He would've happily laid in his human's lap, but his stupid trainer decided to sit in the shade! Just a couple inches to the left, and they both could bask in sunlight! And to make things worse, his human was being too busy with a book that was apparently in his pocket. He let out an involuntary whine, and Wade looked up from the pocket book he was reading.
It was one of the first books on top of the pile he was given. It wasn't a complicated, long book like the first one he had read about Houndour or Houndoom. It was a book that was an abridged version of a Unovan history. It was actually pretty interesting… if he had any friends he'd be excited to tell them if he ever managed to find a way back to his home world. Well, if that was even possible. So far, he figured that he was likely dead, or highly crippled in the real world… could it be considered real? The book in his hand, the Houndour at his side, the pain he felt when a bird slammed into him and 10mph all felt real.
Would he even want to go back home? Sure, he was able to get by, but he never properly lived. Sure, he'd miss his Mom, and he'd definitely miss his dog. But back home, he was a nobody. Well, in this world he was also a nobody, but he had a friend. Sure, that friend was pretty much a dog, but the dog was probably smarter than he was. The moment he could find some way to communicate with Houndour will be the moment Wade makes a mess in his pants. That would be awesome… Wade didn't want to go home.
A whine broke Wade out of his thoughts and he set his book down. "Is something wrong, bud?" Wade placed a hand on Houndour's head and began to rub away. "Can you even feel it when I rub you here?" Wade asked before tubbing the skull-like structure on top of Houndour's head. To his surprise, despite the bone-like structures on Houndour looking like actual bones, they were actually kind of soft. The skull at least felt a bit dense, like it was an armor of some sort, but it was still fuzzy and had some white fur on it. It wasn't very thick fur, but it was there.
Houndour seemed to love it when Wade rubbed the 'skull' and glared at him when he stopped. "So you can feel that… hey Houndour, can you headbutt me?" Wade asked, before realizing what he just asked. Houndour tilted his head in confusion. Attack? Attack his trainer? Hit Wade? Houndour then began to grin, and he headbutted Wade in the shoulder. Wade yelped and started rubbing his arm. "Alright then, that skull on your head is as hard as I thought it was… yet it's still kind of soft? I guess that would make sense since you're not an insect, or have an exoskeleton…"
Wade rubbed his arm again. "That's gonna bruise at some point, but that is an alternative to burning somebody alive, eh?" Wade chuckled. "You can't use the move Headbutt, but you can headbutt… how does that even work? Y'know, with moves being stuff like just kicking, but if you drop kick somebody then it's not High Jump Kick?" Houndour tilted his head in thought. "I guess in a battle it doesn't really matter, if you can tackle somebody, you might as well tackle somebody, right?" Wade shrugged and cringe at the pain in his arm.
"I think you headbutted me a little too hard bud, even my shoulder hurts… nevermind, you headbutted me there," Wade winced as he moved it again. Houndour simply scoffed.
"That's what you get. You stopped petting me, when you aren't allowed to stop petting me…" Houndour said. He needed to break that habit, Wade wouldn't be able to understand, so why did he speak anyways? He pushed that thought aside and began to look a bit more sympathetic. "Look, sorry for hitting you that hard, you seemed to want to know how hard my head is, so I showed you. Are we still friends?" Houndour reared up to try and lick Wade's cheek. Wade smiled and patted the dog on the back, on the rib-like structure.
"Well, I can't be mad at ya, I did tell you to headbutt me," Wade hugged Houndour, which took the canine by surprise. He tried to back away, but stopped. "It's just a hug, bud. It means we're friends, and that I love you," Wade chuckled when Houndour had finally processed what a hug meant. It wasn't long until his pokemon melted.
"Hey Wade!" The young man looked up to see White. "Mind if I join you?" She asked. Wade nodded and the girl took a seat in front of the duo. "Can I pet Houndour?" White asked.
"You can try, but he probably won't let you. So far, I'm the only person that he lets touch him. And Houndour still tried taking my hand off when we first met… I think it's a form of trust. Or it's Houndour saying that he's my pokemon and doesn't want another trainer," Wade shrugged and winced. "I dunno though. I wish Houndour could talk, so I could actually ask why," Wade let go of Houndour, who promptly rolled over and off of Wade's lap."And now he's done with affection for the day," he chuckled.
White reached out towards Houndour while Wade supervised. If it looked like Houndour would bite the kid's hand off, he'd step in. So far, Houndour didn't even bare his fangs and White's hand was an inch away from his nose! Wade noticed how gentle Houndour was while sniffing White's hand, whereas he'd snapped at Cheren, N, and him at least once. The next thing Wade knew, Houndour was having the time of his life, getting jaw scratches from White, but didn't seem too engrossed in it. White squealed and by then, Houndour was bored and had moved away.
"Well, he didn't bite ya, so I'd say you'd make a better trainer for him than me," Wade jokes. Houndour promptly nipped him. It was Houndour's way of saying 'don't say that' and Wade patted Houndour on the head. "But you two are perfect for eachother, Houndour. Who knew you could be a lady's dog, eh!" Wade yelped when Houndour nipped him even harder. Now the canine just looked downright offended and his face said it all.
'You are my trainer. You alone are my trainer. Don't you dare say otherwise. You're my trainer, I'm your pokemon, and we're going to be together until we die.'
Wade nodded. "Alright, I won't joke about how somebody would be a better trainer for you than me. Even if I personally think somebody could train you better than me, but if you say I'm your trainer, then I'll be the best trainer I can be for ya," Wade scratched Houndour's jaw, who seemed to enjoy it far more, now that it was coming from his trainer. They continued like this until Wade was blinded by a flash. Sitting across from him, white was giggling, and holding a pocket camera. "I got all of that on tape! You two are perfect for each other!"
"What does that mean?" Wade asked.
"Houndour is loyal to you, and you clearly love him!" White tapped the pocket camera a couple times. "And… now the video is on the internet," she giggled while Wade just stared at her before shrugging.
"Well, if people think Houndour is a cute little monster, then that's cool. Because they're right. And it'll help out with my new goal… I wanna change the reputation that Houndour and Houndoom have. I read a book and… people seem to really not like'em. I don't get why, since my Houndour is pretty nice, but apparently Houndoom apparently have a tendency to strike, or attack their trainers for no reason," Wade patted Houndour in the head. "And if posting that video online helps with that, I ain't gonna complain."
Houndour nudged his trainer's hand. Wade was talking about his new goal, too much in fact, and it was a good goal. But all that time Wade was yapping, could be time allocated to his trusty Houndour! Luckily, his trainer caught on and cupped the canine's snout in his hand.
"That's right, we're gonna show that you Houndour and Houndoom are actually a bunch of big babies. That's right, you're really just a buncha big ol' sweethearts, you just don't want anybody other than me to pamper ya!" Wade patted the ground beside Houndour's paws and the canine lunged. The two of them began to wrestle. Neither of them noticed how White's phone was now out, streaming the whole thing to the internet. Wade saw the phone, which was blatantly pointed at him and his pokemon, and waved.
"You're live, Wade," White said.
"Well, hey, whoever the hell is watching," Wade said before being gently tackled by Houndour. No matter how rough the wrestling looked, Houndour was making sure his claws and teeth never made contact with Wade's skin or neck. In fact, Houndour was happily letting his trainer pin him to the ground, that's how playing worked. You let your friend win a few times, then they let you win a few times. When it came for Wade's turn to be pinned down, all Houndour did was lick his trainer on a cheek, and let Wade up.
White also decided it would be fun to record the duo playing as well, just for her own personal enjoyment… and to show Cheren and Bianca when they meet back up at the lab. Unbeknownst to all of them, the clip of Houndour pinning Wade down was being shipped to through the vast internet, on various video sharing platforms, forums, and even official league forums. That wasn't on any of their minds, Wade and Houndour were having fun, and White was laughing when Houndour licked Wade in the eye.
White eventually stopped the stream and stopped recording. She bid Wade farewell, who was too busy having a one sided argument with Houndour about how eye licking was against the rules of play fighting. Houndour was winning. White quickly worked her way through the streets of Nuvema Town. Having grown up here her whole life, had quickly made her way back to the lab, where Cheren was standing by the door, while Bianca was sitting on the steps. "Hey guys!" White greeted with a huge grin on her face.
"White, what did you do this time? You didn't drop some mud on another Patrat, did you?" Cheren asked.
"No, this is even better. I was just hanging out with Wade and Houndour… he said the word 'hell', do you guys know what that is?" White asked. Cheren shrugged.
"We could go ask Professor Juniper, or even your mom. Though, why were you hanging out with them?"
"Well, I just saw them laying in the grass under a tree. Wade's going to be traveling with us, so we might as well get to know him… whatever. I got something I've got to show you guys," White pulled out her pocket camera and began to show them the video of Houndour and Wade playing together. From the pure happiness that was apparent on Houndour's face, to Wade genuinely smiling, to the gentleness they had to make sure they didn't hurt each other. Even if Wade looked a little stupid; playing like he was a child.
"They're adorable!" Bianca squealed.
"I know, right? When I left, they were arguing about something, and it looked like Houndour was winning despite not being able to talk," White and Bianca giggled at the image that popped into their minds.
"Why was Wade's movement a bit… off? Like he was trying not to put weight on one of his arms while he was wrestling? Did he hurt himself while they were wrestling?" Cheren asked.
"I saw Houndour headbutt Wade, but I don't think Wade really cared about that. He did wince a couple times while moving the arm that got headbutted, but I think it's fine. It's probably just a bruise… It kinda looked like he was experimenting with the bones on Houndour's head," White said.
"You'd figure if Wade was with Houndour long enough, for as long as I think they've been together, you'd think he would've already known about that…" Cheren pointed out. "Perhaps Wade wasn't telling the truth at dinner yesterday," he suggested.
"Don't say that! For all we know, he probably never thought about how hard a Houndour could headbutt. Perhaps it's to see how well Houndour would do in a battle, and he wants to take part in the Gym Challenge," White argued.
"It's illegal to even use a Houndour, or Houndoom, in official League events. That included the League Conference, fighting the Elite Four, and taking part in the Gym Challenge!" Cheren sighed and shook his head. "Let's just drop this for now and ask Wade later. Probably when we get to Driftveil, by then he should be comfortable enough around us to tell us the truth… if he isn't, then it doesn't really matter. By then, if it turns out that he's a threat, we all should be powerful enough to overpower him. Especially if we all attack at once."
"Yo, did I miss something? Why are y'all talking about overpowering me and Houndour?" Wade called as he ascended up the steps.
"Uh… we wanna see if we can beat you in a battle when we get our first pokemon," Bianca lied. Cheren facepalmed; Bianca was a terrible liar.
"Don't even try it. I'm not that good of a battler, Houndour just strong as hell," Wade shrugged. "Anyways, it turns out this Pokedex is tied to the official league forums. Found that out when the thing started going off. Some guy really, really wants to buy Houndour," Wade chuckled as he whipped out his Pokedex. "People are weird. Spending actual money on a pokemon that's a rare color variation… Well, then again, I do know somebody who would drop 100 on a Shiny Pikachu…" Wade shrugged and walked past them and into the lab.
"What is a dollar?" Bianca asked.
"Nevermind that, let's go ask Professor Juniper what the word 'Hell' means!" White rushed into the lab. Both of her friends soon followed.
Professor Juniper just blinked a couple times at the question asked. "So you heard Wade say that, didn't you, White?" Professor Juniper asked. She shook her head when the young girl nodded. The group were sitting at the dining room table enjoying a rather early dinner. It wasn't anything spectacular, just a plate of spaghetti and meatballs for each of them. Wade was too busy hand feeding Houndour meatballs to hear the conversation that was happening. "Wade, stop being a bad influence on these kids, please."
Wade looked up and shrugged. "Alright, I'll keep my potty mouth on watch. So no saying the shi-" Houndour nipped Wade's finger and he yelped. "Fine, I won't say it," Wade glared at Houndour who was looking rather innocent.
"You shouldn't constantly be feeding Houndour food off your plate, he'll get fat," Cheren said.
"And League Branded Pokemon Food looks sketchy to me. It's pretty much just fancy cereal that's been dusted with the bare minimum of nutrients. Before you ask, yes I ate some, and it's pretty much just cereal," Wade shrugged. "I'd rather have Houndour enjoy his food rather than eat cereal everyday… at least until I figure out how to make pokemon food myself. After I get some help with working out a proper diet for Houndour."
"Though, that was some pretty good cereal, lemme tell ya. Beats what I had back at home," Houndour rolled his eyes, the kids blinked a couple times, and Professor Juniper snorted.