[Part 1]

At this point, it seemed like the Goodra was specifically timing the start of her meals for when Hiei arrived from the top of the mountain. Maybe that 'food is tastier when eating with others' did apply to the dragon for some unexplainable reason. Though the King of the Mountain didn't rule out the possibility of being the odd one out either.

Anyway, Inabayama looked a bit nervous today, obviously unsure how to breach the overhanging blanket of silence. The Gardevoir did not mind silence, though once again, she felt like putting the dragon out of her misery. And in the case of this particular dragon, she didn't even mean it in a violent sense either.

One more peculiarity for the ever growing mental pile.

"So, have you found out if you still enjoy hugs?" Hiei finally inquired. This was obviously still not enough to let the Goodra breathe out, but they'll get there when they get there.

"Oh, uh… Yeah, I still do. It was really nice," Inabayama tried to smile, "Thank you?.."

"It was nice," Gardevoir agreed.

At this, the dragon finally seemed to relax a bit. Did she really think that Hiei would hold that hug against her? The dragon didn't initiate it, the Gardevoir did. Did the King of the Mountain look THAT unreasonable and capricious?

Thoughts for later.

"Soooo…" ah, here comes Inabayama's more talkative side "Do you have any long-term plan? Cuz if you do, I'm in."

"Long-term plan?"

"About dealing with humans. Whatever you're gonna do to them, I want to help"

Ah.

"Inabayama. Do you know, what is the highest recorded lifespan lifespan of my kin?" the dragon shook her head, "34 years. For most, it was two, maybe three decades, if they were lucky. And for some reason, I've been alive for almost two hundred years. Maybe it was due to a random mutation that prolonged my lifespan. Maybe due to something else. But I don't know how long I still have. Could be days, for all I know. And rather than spending what are probably the last specks of my lifespan on some kind of a futile, endless pest control to hunt down every human all over the world that you seem to imagine, I'd rather spend it here. Where the last of my kin rests"

Of course, there was another reason. Apart from some fools sometimes wandering into her domain, the humans have finally got the message to stay away after the first few years. As long as they did not bother her or this place, there was no reason for her to resort to drastic measures. Of course, Inabayama didn't need to hear that, on the off chance she decided to do something foolish.

The Goodra seemed to accept that answer, and was rather quick to pick a less loaded venue for a discussion. So they were able to talk at length about simple, minute, relatively insignificant things up until Hiei's could no longer resist the call of slumber.

This scenario repeated for the next day, and the day after that, with Gardevoir growing rather fond of their peaceful conversations for some reason. It could be due to the dragon's impressive intelligence, or the fact that she UNDERSTOOD the King of the Mountain on a level other Pokemon didn't, or maybe because the Goodra possessed the force of personality that could easily match her physical might, or some other, unquantifiable reason for that matter. Regardless of how Hiei's consciousness was determined to unravel any mystery it came across, it was surprisingly silent in regard of that dragon whenever in her presence.

Though one day, this calm, if peculiar new routine was interrupted right in the middle of one of their conversations. Suddenly, Hiei's attention was drawn to the mountain base.

Intruders.

[Part 2]

To be honest, Inabayama had some troubles sleeping the night after she told the Gardevoir about her past. The events of that day got her thinking. More than usual, that is.

Hiei obviously felt very strongly about humans. Perhaps much, much stronger than the Goodra. But for some reason, she had been living on this mountain without leaving it, and for a really long time too. The thing with her kin explained part of it, but not everything. And she couldn't possibly be afraid of humans either. Maybe she needed reliable allies before attempting anything? If so, Inabayama was willing to become such an ally. Whatever the plan was, the humans wouldn't stand a chance if the King of the Mountain was even half as strong as Inabayama! (and she was all but certain that Hiei was the STRONGER of the two)

The dragon also thought about that hug. It was nice. Really nice. But given how quickly the Gardevoir left afterwards… Could she be embarrassed? Maybe of her purring? (seriously, how cute was that?!) If so, their next talk was going to be pretty damn awkward. And she'd rather not have awkward. It would've felt like a significant step back. ESPECIALLY if the King of the Mountain began ignoring her as the result.

And oh, lucky her, once the Gardevoir arrived, there WAS a woeful silence. Inabayama had spent an unbearable amount of time trying to think of a good way to break the ice, but to no avail. Though just when she has starting spiralling into thoughts about how the King of the Mountain was starting hating her, Hiei actually broke the metaphorical ice herself.

And… The Gardevoir wasn't embarrassed?

Huh.

Either way, then the Goodra decided to bring up the other big topic - of being there for any kind of plan Hiei had to deal with the humans. Though it seems like this time Inabayama was off the mark once again, and there were no such plans at all. The King of the Mountain was content with just staying at this place until her death, be it tomorrow or in another hundred years? Given how passionate and opinionated she had been so far, it WAS rather strange. Though it was not Inabayama's place to dig any deeper - so she just switched the topic to something less volatile.

To her surprise, the Gardevoir tolerated the small talk to some degree, so they chatted for a bit, up until the King of the Mountain decided that she was too fed up with the dragon's company, and left.

And for the next few days, Hiei has been diligently coming down to chat with the dragon, obviously deciding that not humouring her could be detrimental to the peace of the place. Inabayama did not mind - as long as she was able to at least have a calm chat with SOMEONE, you won't hear her complaining.

Though this idillic routine was interrupted some other day, just in the middle of the Goodra's retelling of the story of that one time she had to supplex her way out of a human-infested cave. Suddenly, something caught the Gardevoir's attention, and she immediately flew DOWN the mountain. That? That never happened before. Without much thought, Inabayama ran after her, throwing a berry she had been holding on aside. Hiei didn't react to her in the slightest - tuned the dragon out, perhaps?

Either way, in just a few minutes, they arrived into a clearing that bore simple landmarks like hollowed out tree stumps, primitive sheds and dirt roads. It looked lived in, and not by humans. A small Pokemon village.

And in the middle of said village, stood three purple-bodied humans, throwing those blasted human-made round capture devices at Pokemon trying to flee. One of them was laughing like a madman.

Inabayama clenched her fists, and ran to the trio, fully intending to pulverise them into bloody mash. But before she could take another step, the Gardevoir sharply raised her claw and pointed it towards the humans.

Then, Inabayama blinked at a sudden bright flash.

As she opened her eyes, the cackling human disappeared, just a cloud of light red mist swirling in their place, while the crimson-soiled purple coverings limply fell to the ground.

Inabayama came to a screeching halt, and then hurriedly jumped back, trying her best to understand what just happened. Two other humans, noticing the laughing suddenly cutting off, glanced in the direction of their missing brethren, only to freeze up, staring dumbly at what they were seeing.

With another point of a claw, the second human also disappeared into a bright flash, leaving behind scarlet mist, and causing the remaining one to snap out of their disbelief, the fear- no, the TERROR creeping its way onto their face. With a practiced, if panicked swiftness, they threw one of the capture balls off their belt, releasing a bright yellow, red-cheeked mouse just in time for the Pokemon to see the last human disappearing in a third flash.

Without any further regard for the three piles of human coverings surrounded by the settling red fog, the King of the Mountain waved her hand to make all the remaining capture devices jump into the air and crack open, releasing Pokemon both freshly taken and those belonging to the purple trio. The former ones cleared away in a haste, still shaken from the experience. The latter ones blinked around in surprise, trying to locate their trainers

"Your old masters are dead. Killed for their greed and disregard for others' freedom," Hiei proclaimed, crimson eyes looking at the freshly freed Pokemon in contemplation, "As long as you behave yourselves, you may live in this village with-"

"Y-you killed my human!" the yellow mouse had finally came to its senses, turning to the Gardevoir, fear and rage clouding any sense of rationality.

"Yes, I did. Is that a probl-" with a furious squeak, the yellow Pokemon threw a thunderbolt at Hiei, yet the bolt just struck uselessly against air in front of its target.

Instead of pointing a claw like with humans, the King of the Mountain covered the distance between them in a blink of an eye, grabbed the mouse by the neck and effortlessly lifted them into the air. Another panicked jolt of electricity seemed to just dance along her arm without causing any damage or discomfort.

The crimson eyes cruelly, coldly glinted, as she unhinged her sharply toothed jaw, and mercilessly bit into the poor thing's skull with a horrifying, loud crunch. Then again, and again, and again. The grotesque, nauseating sounds froze the blood of the rest of the freed Pokemon in their veins, horror evident in their eyes. Then, mostly decapitated body was thrown to the ground without much care, clawed hand smudging blood across Hiei's jaw in an attempt to wipe it.

"Does anyone else have a problem with what happened, or with following my orders? … No? Good. Since you used to belong to humans, you will not leave this village. But you are allowed to live for as long as you stay here, and follow the rules. I'll know if you don't."

With that, the King of the Mountain turned to leave, only to notice Inabayama standing there. Whatever she thought about finding out that the dragon was present, she kept it to herself

"Let's go back," Hiei blurted tiredly.

It took a few seconds for Inabayama to shake herself out of her stupor, though as she followed the Gardevoir back up the mountain, her mind kept going back to what she just witnessed, sending shivers down her spine.

She never realised that Hiei could be so terrifyingly, stunningly, breathtakengly GORGEOUS.