Blue is a lonely color

Trashcans clanked against one another as snarls filled the air. "Houn!" a creature yelped in pain as it was thrown against a wall. "Hou-Hound...our" it grunted standing on its paws. "Hound!" another voice barked growling aggressively at the smaller creature. "...grrr" the smaller one tried to intermediate its attacker, but the bigger creature only grunted and breathed a large flame at the runt. The smaller one yelped and ran out of the alleyway tripping over itself before continuing to run.

After a few blocks the smaller pokemon sat down panting. The streetlamps exposing the creature to be a Houndour, covered in scratches and singed fur.... singed blue fur. This houndour was a 'special' kind, but it never felt that way. Ever since its mother had walked off leaving her pups to fend for themselves, this one has had the hardest time. It was the smallest, and with its fur it had even a harder time.

After a few minutes to catch its breath it started to walk around again, trying to find the first meal of the day, maybe one of the very few it would get in a week. City pokemon rarely lived a good life unless they were big and strong. "..." it turned into an empty alleyway, smelling no other pokemon, but some stale food. It scampered in and started to dig through the trash cans. Ignoring the foot steps from the sidewalk.

Izzy yawned as she walked down the streets of Goldenrod, the sun had already set, but even a city like this was safe at night. Policemen and women roamed it to make sure it was safe and with her pokemon she had little to worry about. She heard clattering of trashcans in an alleyway up ahead and narrowed her eyes. might be a bum... or some stray pokemon she thought taking out a Pikachu's pokeball ready to defend herself.

As she made it to the alleyway she poked her head in to take a look. She saw something digging in the trashcans grunting as it found food. she watched as it dragged something out and wrinkled her nose at the foul smell. It was something old, probably moldy and unwise for anything to eat!

Izzy placed her pokeball back into her bag and instead pulled out a bag of poke-treats. "hey..." she whispered gently and shook the bag as he crouched down making herself smaller to be less fearful toward the creature, "don't eat that.. come here" she whispered again shaking the bag.

The houndour almost gagged when its tongue touched the foul food in the trashcan, but it would have to do... "houn..." it sighed about to eat when a voice made it stop. "..." it stiffened and turned toward the voice growling. A human! She had crouched down and was holding something, she shook it and it made a funny sound. "...houn?" it gave the air a sniff and could faintly smell something that was actually tasty!

Her voice was nice, calm and gentle... and the houndour could not feel any evil from her. Slowly it moved closer, keeping hunched to appear bigger. It felt this might still be a trap, but the chance for real food was too good to pass up!

"Good come on" she whispered opening the bag and putting a few of the treats on the ground. "It's yummy, and good for you" she whispered smiling gentle. As the creature moved closer she could now see that it was a Houndour. poor thing she thought seeing the shadowy outline of his ribs. must be starving! she never saw pokemon like this in the forest... Living in the city as a stray must be tough...

"I will not harm you" she promised putting even more food out, as the pokemon moved closer she could see a surprise. The light behind her showed the creature as blue! "oh wow" she murmured.

The houndour moved closer and sniffed the food, it smelled very very good! Her voice was so nice, first time a human's voice was relaxing and not terrifying followed by junk being thrown at it. He could feel surprise roll off her as the pokemon stepped into the light, its ears fell back worried. But she did not become hostile only crouched there watching the Dark pokemon.

"..houn" it whimpered a bit then wagged its tail and started to chow down, oh gosh did this food taste good! "hound!" it barked happily and continued to eat as she poured more food down on the ground.

"Poor little guy" she tilted her head, "I'm guessing you are a boy" she muttered unsure really, She finished dumping out the bag and watched the little guy eat.. he was small, not just by looking underfed, must be a litter runt she thought to herself.

The houndour finished eating and let out a happy kind of bark wagging his tail, He looked at the human who now seemed dazed... "houn?" he grunted moving closer nudging her hand with his nose, "houndour" he growled kindly as his tail wagged. This human was nice... she smelled like other pokemon, so he figured she was one of those 'trainers' his mama warned him about. They were people who took pokemon and made them fight.

Now that he thought about it, he did not see the difference with fighting for survival, and fighting for sport. Life was just lots of fighting anyway... getting a good meal and a warm place to sleep might be worth it! but he doubt this nice lady would want an ugly pokemon like him... his fur made the other pokemon laugh, and beat him up. "hound.." he sighed tail drooping.

Izzy blinked looking down at the creature as his nudged her hand. He smelled bad that was for sure, but he was just a sweet heart she could tell. Seeing him appear sad made her reach out and pet the helm like dome on his head, "You're just a sweet heart ain'tcha?" she asked with a smile, "You're a very cool looking Houndour too, never seen one or even heard of one being blue before, must make you pretty popular" she whispered.

But seeing his appearance she figured it was the opposite, that he was pushed around, and being a stray in general must have made his life hard, "i wish i had more food, but i don't i'm afraid" she informed the pokemon sadly. "but if you want you can come with me to the pokemon center to rest and get cleaned up" she offered, "you'll be safe i promise"

The houndour backed up a pace and looked at the human. Pokecenter? that place was where trainer's pokemon went! But she promised safety, and he trusted her to be right. Also somewhere safe and warm seemed like a great idea... but cleaning? eh maybe this one time.

"Houndour!" he gave her a nod standing there looking at her tail wagging. maybe there would be more food at the place!

Izzy smiled looking at the houndour, “okay let us go” she said softly as she stood up. She smoothed out her pants and turned. “This way” she explained as she walked, she glanced back to see the Houndour following. I know this is only one pokemon, but he needed me now, and if I can help just this one… then I’ve helped at least a small bit she thought hating to see anything suffering especially when it seemed to have no choice.

After a few minutes of walking they arrived at the Goldenrod Pokemon Center. “Here we are” she said cheerfully as she led the pokemon into the building.

The houndour followed the human timidly, but kept close; trusting her. He thought it would all end well; he would get a good night sleep and a warm bed, and another meal! Those snacks she gave him made his stomach feel good for the first time in a long time. For once he did not feel left out by his fur color, or his size. She was nice to him just because she was a nice person!

His ears flattened back seeing the bright lights of the building. This was the place she had said, and he followed her slowly onto the hard white floor and under the bright lights that made his fur stand out even more. “Welcome!” a voice said cheerfully making him jump. “hound!”

“Oh hello Nurse Joy, I’m back from my walk.. and well I found this guy” she said motioning to the pokemon. “Oh my, did you catch him?” the woman asked confused, “no I found him in an alleyway in the trashcan.. and I fed him and brought him here to be looked at and cleaned up… just for tonight” she added quietly wishing it would be longer.

“Oh okay, let me see” the woman walked around and smiled, she gave off an air of utter kindness, even more then Izzy as she looked down at the pokemon, “hello, my aren’t you a special color” she said sweetly. “Would you mind following me to get cleaned up? I promise you won’t be hurt and you can come back to Miss Dizzel when we’re all done, okay?”

"hound?" he whimpered up at the lady. She was older then the nice lady who fed him, but she seemed even nicer if that was possible! She wanted to clean him... at first he was not sure, but then she promised to let him back to see the other lady! He wagged his tail in agreement and padded after the lady glancing back at the woman as she sat on a big fluffy couch appearing to wait for his return.

He followed the lady into a room where she asked him to get in a big white tub. He jumped in, "Now i want you to relax, we're going to wash you up" she said with a smile as warm water started to pour on top of him. "houn!" he yelped, but tried his hardest to be brave and just sit there letting the nice lady wash his bony body.

The soup smelled horrible to him, but it did make his fur stop itching, and though he hated his color, his clean fur seemed to glow! it was pretty cool. "here we are" she said wrapping a towel around his body and started to dry him. He started to feel even warmer and he was loving it.

Izzy waited for the houndour to return, hoping he was enjoying the bath. ...i hope he'll be okay, but i can't help but wish i could take him with me...maybe i can she smiled to herself. A houndour would be a great pokemon, but she did not want to take him unless he wanted to go with her... otherwise he might not trust her.

Izzy looked over as a sound caught her attention. "oh well look at you" she smiled as Nurse joy returned with the Houndour looking all clean and even a bit fluffy.

The Houndour barked happily and ran over to the first nice lady. She seemed to be happy that he was clean, but she was happy to see him before being clean, so maybe she was happy just seeing him in general? His tail wagged as he sat on the couch next to her laying across her lap. "houn, dour" he grunted closing his eyes as he felt her rubbing his back through the armor.

Izzy smiled petting and rubbing the dark type pokemon... he would make a great member of her team. She could feel that about him, and he seemed happy with her, and she knew she could keep him safe and comfortable. "I know you're a wild pokemon, but would you like to be on my team? I can keep you safe and happy, and you'll have two new friends..." she continued to ramble softly.

She reached into her bag and held out a pokeball, "you'd be with me in this, i'll put a special sticker on it for you, and well you won't have to walk unless you want to, and i can train you to fight off other pokemon, and you'll never be hungry or picked on again"

The houndour looked up at her as she spoke, he understood most of what she said, but he was nervous. He would give up being free, but then he quickly thought again.... Being free so far only got him beat up and hungry. She would take care of him despite his strange color and size. She would keep him safe and feed him, and even make him stronger to beat up pokemon and be the top dog!

"...Houndour" he gave a nod and without knowing how he leaved forward and pressed his nose on the button of the pokeball. A light sucked him in and after a few moments he felt an energy engulf him and he knew he was caught. After a few seconds he was released from the ball and sitting next to his trainer... Nice lady was his trainer now!

"Houndour!" He howled loudly wagging his tail and licking on Nice Lady's face.

Izzy smiled cheerfully as the houndour went into the pokeball. He wanted to join of his own free will and she finally had a third member to her team. "welcome" she whispered, "welcome to my family, Blaze" she whispered his nickname before releasing him and then squealing as he started to lick her face after his rather loud howl.

"Gah! down boy!" she laughed hugging him close.

/thread

Lvl 12 Houndour, Shiny