That night, I dreamt of home.

I walked through that empty husk, wind biting at my skin. My room, emptied; my father's, missing the one thing it needed. Only, this time-

This was not the first time I dreamt of home.

Sunlight crept into my eyes, forcing me to crack them open. Rock, not painted ceiling, greeted me. There was a certain finality to it, to be honest, but it didn't bother me as much as I felt it should.

"Good morning, Piplup," I said, stretching and yawning.

Piplup grunted, tumbling from her nest. "Lup."

I smirked at that. "Not a morning person… err, Pokémon, are you?"

"Piiip. Luuuup," she complained, pushing herself up. Piplup rubbed her eyes, blinking at me. "Pip."

In that instant, two wires must have crossed, because I got it. "Yeah, I'm real. Been alone for a while?"

She gave a languid nod, wandering to the cave entrance. "Lup lup pip piplup, lup pip lup lup."

And there it goes. "I have no idea what you just said. Either you become a psychic, or I teach you English."

Rolling her eyes, Piplup presented a third option: Charades. She mimed plucking something, then putting it her mouth. Giving an impressively disgusted face, she spat it out.

"You're... sick of berries?" I guessed, moreso based on my own thoughts.

Nodding with great enthusiasm, she mimed a flicking gesture. It sparked a memory, of fishing with my father on the ocean.

"Fishing? You want to fish?" I inferred, stroking my fuzzy chin in thought.

Piplup beamed. "Pip!"

I chuckled. God, she was adorable. "You're good at charades, you know. Have you ever considered a career as an actor?"

That earned me a smack on the nose.

Our resolve to not eat berries lasted about an hour. We had to tide ourselves over somehow, after all. Following our light breakfast, Piplup wandered off while I attempted to start a fire. I assumed she went to catch a fish, but we were speaking two different languages.

Using my advanced knowledge of geology, I hit rocks together for about ten minutes. I had determined that rock X and rock B, when hit together, made sparks, and produced a fire with it.

Just as I was growing anxious, Piplup returned with a dead Magikarp. They are huge, by the way.

Tottering under its weight, Piplup tossed it next to the fire. She looked proud, if tired. I ruffled her head, saying, "Thanks! Let's get this on a spit. Or whatever it is you do with fish."

Magikarp is much like carp in taste, but with a much meatier texture. It is also, most importantly, not berries. The cooking and eating brought us to around noon, as I had to make a knife from rocks. The wait was well worth it, but it left us coated in filth somehow.

"Piplup, are there any springs on this island?"

She looked up, tilting her head and tapping her beak. "Lup?"

"Bathing, fresh water, et cetera," I explained. Upon seeing her open her beak, I added, "You shoot fresh water, but that feels awkward to drink. Or bathe in."

Piplup brightened, leaping onto my head. "Pip lup!"

"There is an actual spring? That's... convenient."

What was less convenient were the tracks surrounding the hot spring. They looked sort of canine, with long pads and three gouges for claws. Judging by Piplup's expression, she didn't recognize them.

On the other hand, it was a hot spring. A hot spring!

"I am using this later, you know," I stated, muscles informing me that yes, I really should.

"Piiip." Piplup, warming herself on a rock near the spring, nodded in agreement.

We found the hot spring on the other side of the island- inset in the rocky outcrop that dominated it. By my limited knowledge, that meant it was most likely a volcanic island. That meant it was like Hawaii or Japan, and part of a chain of islands.

That aside, the tracks meant we had company on the island. From what little I'd seen, bugs (or rather, Bug types) were very common. I couldn't tell if they were intelligent, but they didn't look it. Though I was unable to remember all 802 (I think?), most of the canines at least looked smarter.

Piplup rolled over, and after a brief scrabble slipped into the spring.

A chuckle escaped me, earning a glare. "Sorry," I started, trying to contain my laughter, "It's just so... undignified. Need a hand?" I extended a hand, and grasped her flipper inside of it.

"You've been so nice to a complete stranger. Without you, I'd be in a rough spot," I continued, words tumbling from my mouth, "And it's nice to have a friend, you know?"

She tilted her head, her expression difficult to read. "Pip."

"That's not helpful in the slightest."

Piplup, giggling, leapt from the water and onto my head, knocking us both in.

I let the laughter go this time, and I felt a great weight leave my shoulders.

Paws tread without a sound on stone, creeping up on the strangers. Eyes, shining like rubies, watched the human and Piplup leave the hot spring- together, without a care in the world.

Author's Note:

Hello everyone! I promised this chapter would come up far earlier than it did, but I made a lot of alterations to the story- it originally was going down a much darker path. I am still struggling with the formatting, as it doesn't make much sense to me- I have to save it as a .odt file, then upload it, then insert all the line breaks manually! Please leave a review to let me know what you thought!

Regards,

Verdin Grey