Youthful Innocence

This is a scene from my pokemorph fanfic, Surviving Human Nature, where Ember the growlithe meets a houndour. I just couldn't resist drawing them when they were pups. ^_^

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"Leave me alone!" the houndour snarled, advancing slowly towards Ember.

Ember had to admit that she was rather impressed by how menacing this pup could make himself look but she wasn't afraid of him.

"What's the matter? I'm not going to hurt you or anything. I just wanted to talk to you!"

"I'm not scared of you. I just want to be left alone," he said and he turned and began to stalk off in the opposite direction.

"Wait!" Ember couldn't quite keep the disappointment out of her voice. "I just wanted to know if you really have a human and… well, I'd really like to meet one. That's all."
Ember saw the pup's retreating form stiffen but he stopped and turned slowly to face her.

"You don't want to meet a human if you don't have to. They're cruel and they will hurt you if they have the chance."

"How do you know? Does that mean you have a human then?" Ember blurted, taking a few cautious pawsteps forward.

"Had a human," the pup corrected. "I ran away and I'm not going back."

"Wow, really? What did they do to make you want to run away?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Sorry," Ember said quickly. "I'm Ember. What's your name?"

The dark-furred pup just looked at her.

"I said, what's your name?" Ember repeated.

"Don't have a name," he grunted.

"What? Of course you do. Everybody has a name!"

"Well, I don't. The humans never gave me one," the pup replied, sounding annoyed.

"What about your mother? What did she call you?"

"I don't remember her or anyone else."

"You mean, you've lived with humans that long?" Ember asked, astonished.

"I guess so. I can't really remember."

"So, what kind of pokemon are you? I've never seen anything like you before."

"I'm a houndour," the pup said shortly.

"What's a h- Ouch!"

A drop of something cold and wet landed hard on Ember's nose, bringing with it a slight burning sensation. Both pokemon ceased speaking to look at the sky. It was starting to rain and that was bad news for two young fire-types. An adult growlithe would not be bothered by a bit of water but for a puppy, it could be painful. Drops began to patter down around them, softened by the grass and leaves.

"We'd better get out of here," Ember said to the houndour. He didn't look too concerned but he nodded and followed Ember as she raced into the trees just as it began to pour.
The trees provided a bit of cover but Ember was soon soaked to the fur and shivering when they reached a hollow log that had fallen and collected moss and lichens. Panting, the two pups crept inside, shaking the water from their coats.

"Ugh, I hate water," Ember said through chattering teeth. She looked over at the houndour who had settled himself at the far side of the log. He looked better off than she did at least but he didn't reply. Talking to him was like talking to a cloyster with its shell clamped tight. There was a long stretch of silence in which the only thing that could be heard was the rain falling hollowly around them.

"So, you are on your own now, right? Well, maybe you could join my pack. I'm sure Father wouldn't mind," Ember suggested cautiously.

The houndour gave a hollow bark of a laugh. "Oh, I'm sure that would be fine, if I wanted to be torn to pieces by an arcanine!" he replied angrily.

"Inferno's like that with everyone. He just hates humans. I could tell them the truth; that you ran away!"

"No thanks," the houndour said bitterly and he turned his back to her.

"I was just trying to help," Ember muttered angrily and she too turned away from the houndour to curl against the rough surface of the log. The two did not speak again and shivering, Ember fell into a light doze.

She was awoken a little while later by a warm body settling itself around her. She blinked sleepily to see that the houndour had settled himself against her. She stared at him in confusion.

"You were shaking so much that you were moving the whole log," he said uncomfortably.

"Oh, sorry," Ember said. Now that she was awake, she suddenly realized how cold she really was. Yet, with the combined heat from their bodies, she felt much warmer.

"I didn't mean to get angry with you before. Its just… not a lot of people are nice to me and… well, I just don't know how to act," the houndour said shamefully.

"Its okay," Ember said, feeling more warmly towards him. From their closeness, she could see the dried blood on his ear in the dim light. It looked painful and instinctively, she put her face close to his and began to clean his wound.

"You don't have to do that," the houndour said, grimacing a bit but he didn't move to stop her.

"What happened?"

It was a while before he replied and Ember suspected that the memory was more painful than the injury.

"I displeased my human in some way and he set one of his other pokemon after me," he sighed heavily. "If I hadn't of run away, it would have been a lot worse."

"That's awful!" Ember cried indignantly.

"Ember," the houndour said suddenly, "You're really nice. I just wanted you to know that."

"I think you're really nice too," Ember said, grinning.

After that, the conversation ceased but it was a comfortable sort of silence. It was now warm and comfortable inside their log and it smelled pleasantly of damp fur. Ember listened to the rain falling down around them until her eyelids drooped and her head dropped right onto the houndour's shoulders and she slept.

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Like it? Here's the [link] to the first chapter.