Hoenn's Sapphire Chapter 4 Part 3

Previously:

An Unknown Pokémon had come to the camp, and stole a bowl with food for Mud. Wanting to find out who took the food, Jayce and Mud set off following a faint trail left behind. Neither knew of what was to come…

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*First Person, Unknown*

Way to easy, that was all I was thinking as I dragged the container of food away from the Human's camp. I don't know, nor do I care why the human left this food out on the table. Where a Poocheana like myself could easily get to.

I first thought the food might have gone bad, but after a quick bite that was proven wrong. It tasted different than I would have liked, but me and my sisters are hungry, and when you're hungry you find your stomach can put up with many things.

My problem is that this bowl is nowhere near light, so I'm forced to drag it and the food within it. Don't really care, It just takes me forever to get it back to my sisters. My main problem however is trying to come up with a something to tell them that won't have them yelling at me.

"BITE-STRONG-HOUND!"

Damn it, too late. An apparently they are already at using full names. So yea, Bite-Strong-Hound is my full name. And the Pokémon who just yelled was one of my sisters, so I let go of the container and turn to look in the direction the voice came from.

And I inwardly curse, it's not one, it's both of my sisters. They don't look happy with me, then again that's nothing all that new.

"Where in the name of Arceus have you been!? You had us worry sick!" That was the younger of my two sisters, she…well I find she dramatizes a lot of things.

Using a good portion of my mental might, I resist rolling my eyes. "I was out getting food, oh sister of mine. And if you'd actually look you'd see I got some, you're welcome."

My elder sister looks behind me, and I can see her eyes widening. Right there I start thinking that maybe I'm about to FINALLY get some praise for my actions…nope. Instead of prase I get…"Bite-Strong-Hound, how many times have we told you not to take from humans and their Pokémon!"…I get scorn, like always.

I respond with a huff, "It's the human's own damn fault, he should have taken better care of the stuff."

"That doesn't matter! You steal from a Human they are bound to go after you"

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*Third Person, Narrator: Yea…getting away from that for both me and the Author can agree that if we don't you'll be stuck reading that argument for a good while…*

While the Poocheana family were arguing about the ethics of stealing from a human and his food loving Pokémon, said pair were still working on tracking the stole food down.

At the edge of the clearing they had found it a tad difficult to follow the indication. But thankfully there were other ways to track. Mud had already gotten the sent down and could follow that way. While Jayce was noticing the disturbed brush and was able to follow that trail.

So in short, they were actually making good time and quickly catching up. And as luck would have it, they got into each shot of the arguing family right when it was getting to the general repeating arguments.

Mud understood, Jayce wished but was alright without knowing. It sounded bad period. To the other local Pokémon who knew they had heard this whole arguing thing before and just tuned it out not caring at all.

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*First person, Water-Mud-Under-Steel, "Mud"*

It was odd listening to the arguing family, at least I'm assuming they are family with how much the three of them are going at it and how little the other locals are caring.

Me and Jayce ended up watching a good bit of the argument hidden in some brush nearby. Jayce was watching with a raised eyebrow, not knowing what to do at all (probably trying to figure if he should break up the argument to get the food back or wait till it is over then get the food back).

From what I'm hearing they've moved on from arguing about stealing from Jayce and me, and moved onto family problems. Something about the male feeling like his sisters are being overprotective.

Like I care, I want my food back.

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*First Person, Bite-Strong-Hound*

My argument with my sisters keeps going the normal way. They refuse to see I am no longer the egg fresh Pokémon I once was, and that frustrates me to no end.

Then from out of brush jumps out this Mudkip, yelling at us to "Stop arguing and give me back my food!"

I turn and look at him, not really caring. But my sisters, they jump up and over me, to in front of me, between the Mudkip and myself. Both growling protectively.

The Mudkip seems to notice the hostility also gets ready for battle. From the same place the Mudkip came from shouts a clear voice, "Mud, Mudslap." And the Mudkip does so without missing a beat.

So there I am, shocked to suddenly see both of my elder sisters in a battle with what has to be a trained Pokémon. And the trainer seems to be in the brush, until he comes out probably to make sure he has a good view of the battle.

The Mudkip looks like…well like any normal Mudkip. The trainer…I think Humans would call him five foot something, an interesting shirt, some weird pants, fingerless gloves, colorful shoes, and is that a head band?

Thankfully he doesn't have the head band on his head but actually hanging from his neck. But why would he even have it to begin with?

A small thud comes from next to me, bring my attention back to the battle and for the first time I am shocked. Both of my sisters are down already. They haven't fainted completely, but it is easy to tell on more attack to either of them and they are down.

The Mudkip seems to know too as well as the trainer. The trainer doesn't do anything, except watch me. The Mudkip however starts moving to the container of food, the food that I had stolen.

I wasn't going to let him take it, not without a fight from me. So, ignoring the cries from my sisters to stop, I jump into a tackle at the Mudkip.

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*Third Person, Narrator*

With the Poocheana sisters down, and the male not doing much of anything, Mud figured it was alright to get his food back. But when the male decided to try and stop him, Mud had lost the last of his patience. He had been hoping to show Jayce his new move another time, but then again now was alright.

Just as Jayce was about to call out a move, Mud opened his mouth and let out a Watergun. The attack hit Bite-Strong-Hound in the chest and sent him flying into a nearby tree. Jayce's jaw dropped at seeing Mud know Watergun already, Mud was happy at the results and the poochena family was shocked.

The sisters thought their brother was down, but then became shocked when he got up and shook the water out of his fur. He let out his stat boost move and tried his attack again.

Jayce noticed the battle wasn't over and quickly ordered Mud to throw a Mudslap at the attacking Pokémon, both trainer and Pokémon slipping into battle easily.

Bite-Strong-hound truly was tough, tougher than his sister though. He was taking quite a few hits from Mud and yet was still going longer than his sisters did; he even managed to get in a few hits on Mud. But he was ultimately defeated.

He landed right next to the food they had been fighting over. He was stubborn though and refused to give up, he kept trying to get back up, but his tired body just could not do it. All there knew it, even Bite-Strong-Hound, but he refused to accept it.

Mud was happy to know he could finally get his food and so he went over to it and dragged it away. Bite-Strong-Hound tried his hardest to try and stop Mud, but the best he could do was drag himself. By now though both of his sister had recovered enough to stand, and had stopped him from going after the food.

They were both telling him that it wasn't worth it, they had all lost and no matter how hungry they where they were not going to be able to stop Mud from taking the food back.

Once Mud had dragged the food a bit away he damn near swallowed the stuff. There was not much, it truly was just a snack, but after all that work even a small snack was nice.

Jayce was watching all of this going on, he could tell from the way the Poocheana family was acting that this was about food. The three Pokémon looked rather hungry, and he did just battle them over food. He couldn't bring himself to call out to Mud to leave. He had more Pokémon food back at camp.

With an idea he walked up next to Mud and crouched down, "Good fight Mud, I'm sure that snack wasn't enough. We'll get back to camp for more soon. But first, I was thinking, what would you say if we invited these three."

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*First Person, Water-Mud-Under-Steel, "Mud"*

At first I thought Jayce's idea was crazy, but then looking at him I understood why. This wasn't a normal battle for us, or for the Poocheana family. This was a battle for food, we had plenty of the stuff while these Pokémon have very little.

It was a matter of ethics and his conscious controlling his actions. Just another reason to appreciate him as my trainer.

I look back at the Poocheana family, they hadn't listened in on the conversation, they were too busy trying to get up the male of the group. So I walk up to them.

"Hey, you three put up a good fight."

The two females look at me a bit shocked, but the male glares at me. He is the one who responds, "So what, you're gloating now? Sure you beat the crap out of us, but now we get to struggle to find more food."

The elder female turns to chastise the male but I cut them off, "I'm not gloating. I'm just saying you did good. Jayce and I also understand the food thing. And so, we're inviting you to join us at our camp for some breakfast." The three of them look at me in shock. But instead of letting them try and pull a pride thing I continue. "Jayce brought plenty of extra, and we understand the difficulties of finding food at times. Think of it as an 'We're sorry'. So what do you say."

The male looked torn, but the females they were having a very good silent conversation. They just look at each other, and I think they read each other's eyes so quickly most would not be able to follow. And when their conversation ends they looked back at me.

The elder speaks, "Alright, I guess that's an offer we can't pass up. I hope you understand if we are cautious though."

I couldn't even help but smile, "I would be uncomfortable if you weren't cautious. Follow as best you can, I know I did a number on you."

The male seems to snort, "You're strong true, but nothing we can't recover from."

I couldn't stop rolling my eyes as I turned and walked in with a hop in my step.

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*Third Person, Narrator*

With a deal reached, Jayce and Mud started to work their way back, following their own tracks. The poocheana family followed a bit behind, and no matter what Bite-Strong-hound said the two sisters helped him keep on his feet as they followed the human and his Pokémon.

After a time, longer than what it took when they set off in the first place, they finally reached the camp site, exactly as Jayce and Mud had left it. The poocheana's held off at the edge of the clearing, unsure of what to do.

The first thing Jayce did was get out some bowls out and then got out the Standard Pokechow and filled the three bowls with it, he then walked a bit back towards the poocheana, but not all that far from his camp and put the bowls down. He was then soon back at the tables giving Mud his food and starting his on his.

The poocheana took a bit of time to move towards the food, but once they felt comfortable that it was alright to eat the food they went to town on it.

Jayce could easily tell that the family had not eaten much in the last few days, he did not know how he felt about that.

When the Poocheana were done with their food, Jayce took a break from eating his own and gave them some more. And by the time they were done with that, Jayce and Mud were also done eating.

After the excitement of the day, Jayce decided it wouldn't hurt to take the day off. He wanted Mud to relax a bit, and in truth, he was curious about the Poocheana family.

The family in question did not know what to do now that they were as full as they could be. They were in a small debate when Mud made their decision for them. With a splash of water from the stream, the four Pokémon started to spend their time playing, acting like the young Mon they were.

Jayce found himself having to take deep breaths to stop himself from laughing as he watched the four mon play. He found it quite a sight, and something he personally hoped he would be able to see more of.

But also while he was watching he noticed some interesting actions. The male poocheana seemed to at odds with its sisters, something told Jayce that the male kept trying to stand on its own four feet but the two females were protective of the male. Even while playing this action could be seen. Jayce wanted to do something, but could not tell what.

Then he noticed another action, the male seemed to have an arrogance streak and that led him into competing with Mud a great deal. This and a few other things he saw got Jayce to start thinking that maybe he should see about catching the Male.

He could probably catch the Pokémon no matter what, but he did not want to force it. He felt that if he did it would damage any relationship he might be able to have with the poocheana. This meant he also had to try and convince the two sisters.

Strangely enough the other four Pokémon were thinking along the same lines.

Mud felt that Bite-Strong-Hound would be a good addition to the team.

Bite-Strong-Hound himself felt that maybe having a trainer would actually prove to his sisters that he could stand on his own. He also wanted to go out in the world and go up against new and different Pokémon, having a trainer was the best option for that.

The two Poocheana sisters were thinking that for once, they were seeing a different side of their brother. And that maybe, he wasn't as weak as they had thought. He had lasted longer against Mud than them. So maybe, having their brother get a trainer would allow him to grow in ways the two of them could never get him to.

So in all, all of them were thinking along the same lines, but none of them knew this and thus none of them had any clue on how to go about this.

When Lunch started rolling around, Jayce had already gotten more food ready for the four Pokémon as well as himself. As they all ate they were all thinking about the next step.

When all had eaten a silence had fallen over the camp, and it was Jayce who first caught the signs. He had started to see them during lunch, and so he figured it could not hurt to try and see if he was right.

"So, I'm going to make a decent guess and say that all of you have a question of some sort. And from the looks you have all shot around I would say that the question is the same."

The sisters looked surprised and bit happy. Mud looked happy that his trainer had actually figured it out. And Bite-Strong-Hound looked a bit perplexed but also relived. They all figured this would be able to go a lot easier now.

Jayce looked at Bite-Strong-Hound, "From what I am seeing, it all relates to you. And since you are the subject of these thoughts I figured I would ask you. Do you want to Join my team? Do you want me as your Trainer?"

Bite-Strong-Hound got a smile on his face, with a jump towards Jayce and a sound of confirmation, all there knew his answer.

Jayce let out a smile, he got up and headed to his bag pullout a single pokeball. With a half hardly aimed toss it was heading in Bite-Strong-Hound's direction. The Pokémon jumped straight at the ball heading his way and after the collision was sucked in. After just a few wiggles of the pokeball, it was signaled that Jayce had acquired a new Pokémon.

The sisters looked a bit sad, but they knew this was the way the world worked, no use getting upset about it.

Jayce went and picked up the pokeball looking rather happy. He held it up then and then released his newly caught Pokémon.

The Poocheana materialized at his feet looking rather proud of himself, and anxious to see what was going to happen.

Jayce had to chuckle at his new Pokémon's actions. Then he remembered something, he leaned down so that he was closer to his new Pokémon's eye level. "Welcome to the team then. And as part of the team, you are going to need a name. Saying Poocheana in battle every time would be a pain, even more so when you evolve. So let's see…I think I'll call you Hound. Not the most original, but I rather like it."

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*First Person, Bite-Strong-Hound, "Hound"*

What my new trainer was saying was making him seem rather crazy, but then Mud came over. "Don't think too hard on it. Humans don't understand what we say completely and most call us by our Species' name. Jayce doesn't like that so he gives us our own name, The fact that he is using a part of our actual names is pure coincidence."

I raise an eyebrow at that, "Really? Humans are strange."

My new team mate lets lose a laugh, "You don't know the half of it, Hound. We'll get used to it."

We probably would have continued our conversation when one of my sisters speaks up behind us, forcing us to look at them. "Congratulations brother. You disserve it."

For the first time in a long time I smile at my siblings, "Thanks. I'm actually looking forward to this."

Both of my sisters look sad, but also rather happy. I'm sure I'll eventually feel the same way, but right now, I'm way too excited.

Well that is until Mud slaps one of his paws onto my shoulder laughing, "Don't go jumping for joy yet." He then looks at my sisters, "If I know Jayce, we probably won't be leaving for several days more. He's going to want to toughen your brother up a little before we leave and there is no telling how that will go."

At first I thought that wouldn't be too bad, but then I remember my battle with Mud and it hits me. I'm about to "toughened up", and that leaves one thought in my mind.

This is going to hurt…

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*Journal*

Entry 5 Con.

Well, I am finally done. Spent some two weeks camping in the forest. I can say I did want I wanted to. The training for Mud went really well and I even caught a new Pokémon. A poocheana I named Hound. He was actually one of the three poocheanas that I met in the woods, but he was the one that I caught. Little bugger actually tried to steal some of Mud's food.

Which reminds me, note to self: Do not mess with Mud's food, he likes that stuff way too much.

I caught Hound half way through my stay in the woods, the other half I spent working on getting him caught up with Mud a bit, with the other two Poocheanas watching (they were his sisters I think).

Funny thing, the sisters seemed to have fun watching Hound train. The training consisting of working on his tackle and mock battling with Mud. Looking back I may have over done the training. Mud is not exactly an easy Pokémon to go up against and Hound was a good bit behind in strength. But then again, I got him caught up.

After a week he still couldn't beat Mud, but at least now Hound can give Mud a good challenge.

When the two weeks were over I packed up the camp said good bye to the two female poocheanas and started to try and figure my way back to the route. Did horrible. It wasn't until Hound came out of his pokeball and started to lead me did I get back, he has a damn good noise considering that his how he got me to the route.

Once back to the route I called Hound back and made my way back to the nearby town, for the life of me I can't remember the name. Anyways I made it to the Pokémon center just before sun down and after a quick check up of Mud and Hound I rented a room for the night and…well what else can you call a normal evening. Nothing happened.

Well I'm just about done with this, I'm resting in my rented room with Hound and Mud out, both looking like they are asleep at the foot of my bed. I'll head off soon as well, tomorrow I'll try and get all the way through Route 102. But I plan to stop just before I reach the next city, Petalburge City, If I'm going to go in that city I want to do it fully rested.

But I'll worry about that when the time comes, first I got to see about getting through the Route ahead of me, shouldn't be THAT hard.