I dreamt of home again.

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

She turned-

I often dreamt of home.

The sun rose, and with it me. Piplup rose with my arms, groaning. At some point I'd grabbed her, using her as a stuffed animal as I slept.

"Sorry."

"Lup," she grunted, eyes half-lidded with sleep.

I ruffled her head, letting my fingers slide through the soft down. "C'mon, Piplup. Let's build ourselves a proper shelter- a home."

"Pip?" she questioned, still drowsy.

"So the rock around here is tough- I've seen a few that might work as an axehead. Why not build a nicer shelter? I've done a bit of carpentry, and we don't have much else to do."

Piplup sighed, leaping from my arms. "Pip pip lup pip lup piip piplup lup lup pip lup?"

I stared at her with a blank face. "What?"

She groaned, slapping herself in the face. "Lup."

Grinning, I pat her on the head. "This is gonna be a pain, but why not?"

"Agh!" I shouted, rubbing my arms, "Why?"

Chopping trees, as it turns out, is hard. I got halfway into a tree about half a meter thick before my arms utterly gave out. Were it not for my somewhat active lifestyle at home, I doubt this project would be happening any time soon. As it was, muscles I didn't even know existed were crying for mercy. Piplup, getting into the swing of things, had used what I think was Metal Claw on the tree to help.

"Luuup…" Piplup whispered, rubbing her sore flippers.

While useful, it seemed to hurt her muscles just as quickly. The poor penguin looked ready to drop, but her eyes sparkled with newfound enthusiasm. We'd gotten a whole tree down between us, and tomorrow we'd turn it into posts for the house. That was one tree down out of, say, eight for the structural parts.

Why so complicated?

After a lunch of berries and Magikarp, Piplup and I had spent a long time sketching plans for a house while our bodies rested. Since we weren't really doing much else, it seemed like a good idea.

"How about a trip to the hot spring?" I suggested, pushing myself off the ground.

"Piiip, lup! Piplup," she demanded, not moving from her limp, ragdoll-like position on my leg.

Sighing theatrically, I replied, "Fine, I'll carry you." Sliding my arms under her, I held the little ball of down tight. "You owe me, though."

Piplup gave a halfhearted shake of the head. "Pip…"

Day two was slower, as we'd decided to pace ourselves. We still managed to cut down a tree- and visit the hot spring, of course- but the day rushed by.

I did not dream of home that night.

"Do you-" I started, grunting in exertion, "Do you think these are uneven?"

"Piip…" came the thoughtful reply.

My arms screamed. "Please, I can't do this all day."

She shrugged, tilted her head, and gestured to her left. "Lup."

Wrapping my arms around the post- and with it, the entire frame for that side of the house- I pulled it towards me. "Ugh. That any better?"

"Pip-lup!"

"Great! That's the walls down," I said with pride. It'd taken us the better part of two weeks to carve the posts, make the frames, and build the walls. We'd also put up the frame for the roof as part of the deal. Two. Whole. Weeks.

And that's because it was about 2 and a half meters (just over 8 feet) to a side. Not huge by any means, but probably the limit of what we could do with our carpentry skills. Large enough, in fact, for our 'friend' with the big tracks to join us.

Patting down the dirt, firmly planting the wall post in the ground, I glanced up at 'The Rock' that dominated the island. The shadow shifted out of sight, as always. Whomever our 'friend' was, they'd caused us no harm, so I'd reasoned it wasn't worth worrying about.

"How're we gonna get the crossbeam up?" I asked casually, wiping sweat from my brow, "I'm thinking sort of pulley- we'd need rope of course. Or we could tug it up the side."

Frowning, Piplup hopped closer. Originally, we'd set up by the beach, but a nasty storm moved us to our current location. Placed only a minute walk from the hot spring, this clearing had space for more structures if we ever got really bored.

Back on Earth, I'd reflected several times, I had done so much less with my days. Yes, college classes kept me busy, but a hard day's work it was not. Working from sunrise to sunset day after day felt so much better, almost cleansing. Did I miss 'home'? Somewhat.

"Piplup!"

A stinging pain bloomed on my nose, snapping me back to reality with a sheepish look. "Sorry," I muttered, rubbing the back of my head, "What'd you say?"

Ruffling her feathers, she gestured to her sketch on the ground. "Pip."

Rubbing my chin in thought, I nodded. She'd drawn those thin palm leaves, with an arrow to what looked like a rope. During our free time, we'd experimented with weaving more complex containers from palm leaves. They were surprisingly flexible even when dried, actually.

"I see. We'd have to weave for a very long time to do that, so we might as well start on it for other tasks. The crossbeams are light enough for me to lift, with some help. How about I get up there, you push and I pull. I'll be able to lift the posts and notch them into place."

Tilting her head again, Piplup nodded. "Pip!"

I grinned. "Alright! Do we have time today?" Shading my eyes, I barely spotted the sun as it crept below the treeline. "No, unfortunately. We'll have to save it for tomorrow."

Shrugging, Piplup opened her beak to speak- only to snap it shut as her stomach rumbled. She rubbed her stomach sheepishly.

"I'll get the fire if you get the fish," I said conspiratorially, "Having dinner early wouldn't hurt."

Saluting me, Piplup dashed off towards the ocean.

Which was any direction, really, but my point stands.

Without the slightest crinkle of grass or rustle of greenery, ruby eyes approached the firelight. A snout twitched- more feline than canine- and inhaled the scent of cooked meat. Something rumbled inside of them, but it was ignored.

Nights would grow colder soon, the creature knew, and fire was a heat source. On the other hand, the raggedy human was talking loudly of something called 'Star Wars' to his diminutive partner. Yet another crazy human.

They were oblivious to its presence, as always; just how the creature liked it.

I dreamt of home that night.

I walked through that empty husk, wind biting at my tear-stained face. My room, emptied; my father's, missing the one thing I needed most. Only, this time, a woman in black by the window-

She turned, long hair billowing, a question forming on her lips-

I often dreamt of home.

Author's Note:

This chapter was quite interesting for me. Let me know what you thought in the reviews!

Regards,

Verdin Grey