"Day Care"

Nothing more interesting happened for a long while. The days blurred together: early morning and late afternoon as well as night went by with him in his kennel and he spent the day in the large enclosure areas with the others.

Back in his forest territory everything had been familiar and easily manageable - it had been the only environment he had ever known in his life. Having been suddenly uprooted he quickly lost his overconfidence and became more cautious. Because of this, Max was invaluable. The two had simply clicked and a friendship as easy as breathing quickly developed. Max knew everything there was to know about life with Vaughn. More to the point he didn't seem to be afraid of anything - a great comfort to the growlithe. Max introduced him to almost all of the other pokemon, but other than the few girls in his group growlithe only saw other males. The four who stayed with them were the ones who had formed permanent attachments to males in the group and would not accept any other under any circumstances, because of this they were trusted to hang out with the boys. One of the four was Max's mate, an espeon called Shadow - a contradiction of names that growlithe found amusing until he saw her berating Max, then Shadow's name began to make sense to him.

Every few days Vaughn would brush growlithe's coat down and give him a brief medical exam in the white room. There were no more breeding sessions and he did not see the girl, Sarah, who lived with Vaughn again. Growlithe actually began to grow quite lazy with nothing to do; he enjoyed it even, and began to relax.

After several weeks his routine changed. His kennel was not opened in the morning when it was time to move out to the enclosure. Confused, he stood up with his paws on the kennel door and watched the others leave. Max sat down next to the gate and told him to "get his ass off the door" before it broke.

"What's going on?" the growlithe asked, somewhat indignant.

"My guess is that the Boss is heading out on a trip."

"So?"

"So… it looks like you're going with him. Congrats, kid." Max grinned. The growlithe sat down, thinking about what might be happening. What would traveling with a trainer be like? Would he have to stay in a ball? Who else was going?

"Max!" Vaughn called from the other side of the kennels. Max grinned over his shoulder at growlithe before bounding off.

"Behave yourself!" he called, and disappeared out into the exercise yard. Growlithe felt a little like a ship without an anchor. He curled up and waited, wondering when Vaughn would come back.

About a half hour later he got his answer. Vaughn showed up outside his kennel looking different than normal. He usually wore loose clothes that were obviously meant for work. Now he was in a tight black t-shirt, denim shorts and a white vest. There was a large rucksack slung casually over his shoulder. He opened the kennel door and called growlithe out. Getting to his feet he followed obediently on Vaughn's heels as they set off for the building. Sarah, the girl, was waiting outside the door with three other pokemon: an absol, a doduo and a tiny pidgey. The little bird pokemon fluttered around Sarah's head excitedly, diving down and circling her ankles, zipping up to the roof of the building behind her, and chattering so fast that growlithe could barely understand it.

"Is she here yet?" Vaughn asked, reaching Sarah and pulling her into a one-armed hug. Growlithe sat down beside Vaughn's feet, staring up at the hyperactive pidgey in bewilderment. Sarah shook her head.

"No. Skyler hasn't seen her yet either." The pidgey landed on Sarah's shoulder briefly at the mention of his name and rubbed his head against her cheek once before taking off again. Vaughn and the growlithe stared after him, Vaughn with a look of supreme patience, growlithe with one of dazed shock. Vaughn collapsed into a sitting position against the wall and the absol padded to his side, placing a paw on his knee. Somewhat nervously, growlithe remembered watching this particular absol practicing in the big enclosure - the claws were what gave him his name: "Scythe."

Yet… as the growlithe watched the two now, there was an odd sense of gentleness in the gesture and an equally gentle touch to Vaughn's reciprocal pat on the head. It was so casual and so meaningful at the same time that the growlithe was fascinated by it. Was this what it was like to bond with a trainer? Part of him began, in that moment, to secretly hope. He didn't know it but his breed was famous for extreme loyalty and devotion, and the longer he spent in Vaughn's company the more the trainer began to sound the devoted nature of the growlithe.

A loud squawk from above jolted him abruptly from his thoughts. The tiny pidgey, Skyler, was shooting down to them like an arrow. He came to an abrupt halt before Sarah's face and hovered there, twittering madly. Soothingly, Sarah gathered the bird into her arms and stroked his head. Skyler's cries stopped so suddenly that the growlithe wondered if the bird had had a heart attack, but then he heard a low crooning noise coming from him.

The bird was freaking bi-polar!

The sound of hooves broke into his thoughts and he looked up to see a bright flash galloping through the trees to them. It leaped a fence and screeched to a halt not three feet away, long trenches in the dirt evidence to its previous speed. He heard Vaughn make a small "tsk" under his breath as he stood.

"Honestly, Kate," Sarah said, ruefully, "A rapidash? Could you be any more cliché than that?"

Growlithe looked up at the large horse pokemon and saw, as the flames of its mane receded, a grinning human female up on its back. She slid down the fire-horse's back with careless ease and cocked a fist on her hip.

"You can't beat a rapidash for speed." She answered, sticking her tongue out. The growlithe tried to catch the rapidash's eye, but the horse seemed oddly haughty and wouldn't look at him.

"Don't bother," said a quiet voice next to his ear. He looked around to see one of the doduo's heads lowered to his level. She was speaking kindly, but he caught an edge of resentment in her tone as well. "Ranger's pokemon are always like that, they think that we're too tame."

"What? What's a range-" but the growlithe broke off as he realized the humans were looking at him.

"So, he's the fella you're training?" The ranger, whatever that was, said, looking him up and down. Though he could tell that she was sizing him up, the growlithe felt an immediate liking for her. Her hair was blonde but not obnoxiously so - it was a nondescript, natural color, and her large blue eyes inspired trust for reasons he couldn't understand.

"That's him," Vaughn said, swinging casually up onto the doduo's back. "Haven't thought of a name for him yet, though."

"Well, that'll come." The blonde girl, Kate, he thought it was, looked over at Sarah. "Sorry to take your boy away like this, Sarah."

"It's nothing." Sarah said, waving a hand airily before resuming her caresses on Skyler. "You need him and he needs to train the growlithe." Vaughn guided the doduo over next to Sarah and leaned down. She placed a hand lightly on his shoulder and rested her forehead against his.

"I'll be back soon. Send Skyler if you need me." The growlithe heard Vaughn's usual pantone voice grow colorful with emotion, and was struck with the urge to look away - it felt indecent watching this farewell.

"Don’t do anything stupid." She cautioned, and then laughed. Vaughn pulled away and the other girl climbed quickly back up onto the rapidash. With a last wave, Vaughn turned the doduo away ad they were off. It took the growlithe a few seconds to realize that he was supposed to follow, and he tore after them as fast as he could.

--------------

He had grown soft, and by the end of the day he knew it.

He had been able to keep up with the others well enough, but whenever they stopped for a rest he was out of breath. The path was mercifully flat and even, though trees screened it on both sides completely which made for somewhat monotonous running. By mid-day his body began aching, and when night fell and they stopped he was ready to fall asleep then and there.

The two humans hadn't spoken at all, and he hadn't had the air to speak himself so the day had been quiet. When they made camp things were no different. Kate and Vaughn set up two tents with the speed of long practice, then Vaughn called the growlithe over to him. Moving somewhat stiffly he obeyed and they walked into the forest together.

Vaughn talked to him, quietly and unobtrusively. The words didn't mean much - it seemed to be the kind of mindless chatter humans usually filled their days with, but the growlithe found that he enjoyed the sound of Vaughn's voice. As he talked, the trainer gathered various sticks and small logs. Realizing that they were gathering firewood and struck with a desire to help, the growlithe dashed to the side and picked up a sizable log in his mouth, ignoring his protesting muscles. Vaughn laughed and reached down to ruffle the tuft of creamy white fur on the growlithe's head.

"You picked that up quick, didn't you?" He chuckled under his breath. "You're like a little rocket."

They made it back to camp quickly and, wanting to be helpful, the growlithe breathed fire onto the arranged pieces of wood. They caught immediately and he sat back on his haunches, pleased. He girl, Kate, rubbed behind his ears in appreciation, stowing her tinder box back in her pack.

"Damn, he takes the initiative, doesn't he? He'd make a good ranger partner."

"No way, Kate." Vaughn said, chuckling a little and kneeling down with four bowls and a bag of pokemon food. He laid them out on the ground and poured the dry food into them. The other two pokemon from the kennels, the doduo and the absol, came over immediately but the rapidash waited until Vaughn had walked away before coming to eat. The growlithe noticed that its food bowl was pushed slightly off to the side. Munching thoughtfully, he wondered why this pokemon was so different from the others he had met. Didn't it like its trainer? Kate seemed like a decent sort of human, what could be the problem?

"So how've your missions been going?" He heard Vaughn ask.

"Not too bad. We haven't had any of the problems the Almia branch has to deal with."

"What, those gigaremo things?"

"Yeah. Apparently there're a few top rangers over there dealing with the problem. Me, I've been out in Johto for most of the time lately."

"And?" Vaughn had produced a frying pan and was unwrapping several sausages. Kate was washing some berries that she had picked. His stomach full and his bowl empty, the growlithe settled down by the fire and let himself doze halfway, doing his best to ignore his protesting muscles.

"Well…"

"I remember on the phone you said that this had something to do with Team Rocket."

"Yes." The growlithe noticed that Kate's eyes darkened at the mention of the strange name. Off to one side the doduo was scratching a nest out next to Vaughn's tent and the absol, Scythe, was sitting facing the surrounding forest, listening. "You know that several years ago their leader disappeared." Vaughn grunted an affirmative, tossing the sausages into the pan and holding it over the fire. "Well, since then there has been very little activity from them on our radar. They flared up briefly in Johto and then died down again. Now, though, we've had several incidents of pokemon kidnappings in pokecenters and several research facilities have been attacked."

Kate sat down slowly looking over at the Rapidash as it curled up under a nearby tree, its flames dying down slowly as it dozed.

"An inside source," she said quietly, "informed our ranger union that Team Rocket has started researching which trainers and breeders have been fighting with exceptional pokemon. We think that they're planning something big, and all of the evidence points to a mass coordinated attempt to steal top pokemon all over the region at the same time. Psychic pokemon have been disappearing in huge numbers, which makes me think that they're being used for communication - which makes sense if they're going to try a widespread attack."

"And you think that you've found one of their bases?" Vaughn said thoughtfully, turning the sausages over. From the edge of the camp Scythe snarled softly.

"Yes, which is why-"

"You called me."

Understanding one another, the two humans gingerly slid their food out of the pan and onto tin plates, eating in silence. Scythe came over to sit next to Vaughn and the trainer fed him little bits every now and then. Vaughn offered some to the growlithe but, after smelling it, he refused. Too many flavors, besides he liked his meat raw.

He fell asleep before the humans crawled into their tents, too tired to stay awake any longer, basking in the warmth of the fire and dreaming of the growlithe female he had met back at Vaughn's home, which he was already beginning to think of as his home too.

-----------

Over several days the ache in growlithe's muscles disappeared. The group kept up a steady pace and soon he was able to talk with the other pokemon as they ran, except for the Rapidash of course. The doduo was named Reah and she was very friendly, though she had a tendency to be easily distracted by anything shiny that they passed and whenever both of her heads started talking it was tough to understand her.

"Why is the rapidash that way?" he asked one evening. One of Reah's heads kept pecking at her pecha berry, the other answered him.

"He's still wild. The ranger isn't his trainer, even though he likes her," she answered, blowing air out of her nose disdainfully. That made sense, given the rapidash's behavior, but the growlithe still found it very strange.

"How did she get him to help us, then?" He asked, staring at the fire horse who was rubbing his shoulders against a sapling - scratching an itch.

Reah had explained that rangers were somehow able to convey feelings of friendship to pokemon and persuade them to help. It was a concept that the growlithe found fascinating and he made a mental note to talk with Max about it when they made it home.

While Reah was very talkative, Scythe was just about her exact opposite. The growlithe was very uncomfortable around him at first, but that all changed the second morning that they were traveling.

They had been rounding a curve in the road and the growlithe was slightly behind the others, still slightly sleepy. The second that he lost sight of the group around the bend something on his peripheral vision drew his eye and he looked around just in time to see a looming, winged thing about to attack him. A dismayed cry escaped his mouth before he could stop it and he slid to a rapid halt, his heart racing in his chest, expecting any minute to feel a sharp pain along his side.

Another blur shot across his range of sight, a white one, and a rumbling snarl echoed down the path. Looking up, the growlithe saw Scythe sinking his teeth into the neck of a fearow just beneath its jaw where it couldn't twist around and stab him with its beak. Still snarling terribly Scythe began ripping at the fearow's wings and body with his claws, his eyes glowing an angry red and his battle cries weirdly muffled by feathers. The bird pokemon screeched in pain and surprise at the sudden onslaught, and Scythe's weight forced it to the ground - where it was almost helpless. Releasing it, the absol leapt back and stood between the fearow and growlithe, still uttering an unbroken chorus of snarls. The fearow shot back into the air and hovered, looking murderous. Scythe lowered his head and stepped forward, showing his fangs all the way up to the gums and preparing to launch another assault. But at that moment Vaughn and Kate appeared around the bend and the fearow fled, realizing that it was outnumbered.

Shaking slightly after his adrenaline rush, the growlithe got to his feet as Vaughn stopped next to them.

"Good job, Scythe," the boy said, laying a hand on growlithe's head reassuringly and checking him over. The growlithe was unharmed, and a rare smile crossed Scythe's face when Vaughn ruffled his neck fur in approval.

After that Vaughn spent a portion of each evening training the growlithe instead of settling down to rest immediately, and after a few sessions of sparring with Scythe the growlithe ceased to be so wary of him.

So it was that with a newfound sense of friendship that they continued their journey.

--------------

Back at Vaughn's home Sarah was continuing with business as usual. Walking around the compound she called Skyler down to her and opened the door into the main computer room. Her pidgey soared in before her and perched on top of a metal cabinet, twittering and preening himself. Smiling at the bird pokemon she walked across the room to another door and stepped into the incubation room.

It was dimly lit and slightly warmer than the rest of the building. Long, padded tables with glass cases on them stood in rows across the room. There were about twenty cases, but only four of them held eggs at the moment. The cases in use glowed softly from the incubation lamps and hummed faintly. Sarah moved to each one in turn, opening them and running her hand across the surface of each egg carefully and making notes on a clipboard. Smiling, she finished her exams and exited the room. None of the eggs were close to hatching yet, but she was pleased with their progress.

Sliding into a chair in front of one of the computers she powered it up and began entering the data she had just collected. Skyler fluttered down to land on her shoulder and she raised a hand absently to caress his head. He cooed softly in her ear before attacking a strand of her light-brown hair. Smiling and tugging her head to one side she finished her job then turned to face him.

"With all that energy, Skyler, it's a wonder you can ever manage to stay still." She offered him her finger and her nibbled it happily, closing his eyes. "Feel like visiting your mom?" She asked, tilting her head to one side. Skyler immediately began zooming and twittering around her head in enthusiastic approval of this idea. Sarah got to her feet and left the room, turning off the light and shutting the door behind her.

It was dark and cool, the room was lit eerily by the tiny bulbs on the equipment - though it was a bright day outside this room had no windows. The only sound was a slight humming from the computers and the refrigerators.

With a stealthy *snick* the door opened slowly and light flooded the room once more. A figure was briefly outlined in sharp relief against the glow from outside, a male with shaggy hair, before the door closed again and threw the room back into darkness.

Soft footsteps tapped across the room and a chair creaked as the figure sat down. The computer he had chosen beeped as it woke from hibernation mode. The screen flashed a password request. A low chuckled came from the man before he produced a small plastic box and plugged it into a USB port. The computer flashed a "welcome" message and opened access to its files. With an almost triumphant manner the man began typing into the keyboard, copying its files. Within minutes he had completed his task and removed the plastic box. Pocketing it he put the computer back to sleep and left the room as quietly as he had come.

Outside the man halted beyond the tree line and pulled a radio device out. He plugged the small box into it and pressed a button. The tiny screen at the top of the radio began blinking green and flashing "data transfer in progress."