A few days went by without Alice or her new room mate saying a word to each other. Granted, Vulpix couldn't speak, but it avoided contact with Alice as much as possible. It ate everything placed in its bowl, though.

"I'm home," Alice announced after returning from yet another shopping trip. She had forgotten to buy groceries and had instead invested in a comfortable bed for Vulpix. Here's to hoping it'll like it. What gender is it, anyway? I'll have to check once it lets me get close.

"You need a name." Calling it Vulpix all the time might get confusing, Alice thought, remembering how confused school kids' Pokémon were in their oh-so-epic battles where the general order was "Rockruff, use Tackle!" from both trainers. Poor little dogs.

"Grrr."

"I won't call you that. How 'bout Newt?"

"GRRR!"

"Oh, okay. Here's dinner, by the way. Dig in, li– OW! Not my hand, stupid fox!" Alice jerked her hand out of the Vulpix's jaws,dropping the bowl and lifting the Pokémon off the kitchen floor. It fell down and whined before retreating under the kitchen table.

"Great. Sorry. Still hungry?"

The food, however, was all over the kitchen floor. Cursing under her breath, Alice treated her injury – strong bite for such a small thing – and started cleaning up the mess.

The door bell rang and Vulpix disappeared into the living room. After the second, seemingly more annoyed ring, Alice went to open the door, only to find no-one there. Children laughed in the background, joint by a Rockruff's happy bark.

"Why doesn't anyone teach the some manners?"

"Mrow?"

"Not you. Yours are as bad as theirs."

"Mrw."

"Have you come to apologise?"

"Grrrr."

"Why did I even ask. Hungry?"

It nodded. Well, appetite meant is was healthy, to some degree. Alice went back to the kitchen and poured dry food into the bowl, refilled the water bowl, and took a much-needed shower. It was TV time after that, and catching up on world news would likely help distract her from her anger about everything. Or it wouldn't.

"Malie City. In yet another attack, members of the criminal gang 'Team Skull' have stolen civilians' Pokémon and injured their trainers. They raided the shop at the Pokémon Centre and fled to Po town, pursued by police officers. The criminals' backup support drove the officers away before they could reach the Po Town police station. A police spokesman said, quote: "We were unable to catch the criminals because they outnumbered us and our Pokémon." end quote."

The flickering screen showed footage of the chase, and for a brief second Alice recognised her ex's face. He had really lost it now. Some other face on the screen seemed to attract the Vulpix's attention. And not in a good way. It jumped toward the screen, a flame building in its open, crying mouth.

"NO!" Alice yelled. A pillow knocked the Pokémon off its path and onto the tiled floor, thrown harder that necessary to make a point. "You. Are. Not. Setting. Anything. On. Fire."