Warm Doggy
Anan grinned. Another nice day, the sun shone brightly, the air smelled like the salty ocean, and Olivine City felt lively. Just as a port city should.
Anan Ginkawa looked normal, felt normal, and almost was normal. Dark blue hair, green eyes, medium height, dressed in a light pink tank top and baby blue stretchy pants, nothing out-of-the-ordinary for Johto. However, sometimes...her disorder flared up, but that didn't happen a lot if she took her medication.
She had a disorder called Poliwag's Syndrome, where the afflicted person had trouble walking and breathing air. However, recently medications were developed for the patients, and if the pill was taken daily, no symptoms should arise. On the other hand, people with Poliwag's Syndrome were excellent at swimming and holding their breath underwater. Rare cases showed patients with the ability to actually breathe underwater, but Anan wasn't in this category. However, she did enjoy swimming and being near the water, especially since it felt so much easier to move around when you floated.
This was the reason why her parents were...reluctant to send her on a training journey. More than half of the ten-year-olds in Johto left on their training journeys early on, relatively soon after their birthday. Most of the leftover potential trainers left home before their fourteenth birthday, delaying their departure a little. Of the few left over, some left when they finished high school, some left during adulthood. And some, the category eleven-year-old Anan most likely found herself in, never left home at all.
Now, this didn't mean she would never own a Pokemon, no, no, no. Her parents planned on buying her a nice Water type that she could swim with, or a Fighting type who could assist her when she had trouble walking. Even a Flying type to take her places. Almost all people who stayed away from anything like a trainer's journey owned a Pokemon if medical or mental reasons didn't prohibit it.
In fact, Anan had her eye on a Wingull all the way from Hoenn. Living in Olivine City had its many perks, one of them being the people from all over. A man from Mossdeep City recently set up a shop in downtown Olivine, and sold Hoenn-native Pokemon found around Mossdeep. It was perfectly legal, since he was a professional breeder, and it let trainers and other people buy healthy exotic Pokemon.
Anan visited that shop rather frequently, and got to know the owner, Jeff Vulpixson, pretty well. Well enough to convince him to set aside a Wingull chick. The chicks needed to be two months old in order to be sold legally, and the chick she wanted hadn't reached the one-month mark. Plenty of time to convince her parents to buy her.
The Wingull looked very healthy and cute, and she had a Dragonair for a father, and by the laws of Pokemon heredity she was born knowing the Dragon type move Twister.
That day, Anan opened the shop door, hearing the bell jangle as the door slammed behind her. Inside the shop sat a huge pool, since most of the Pokemon for sale were Water types, and a Clamperl cooed at her. She giggled, limped over to it, and rested a hand on the hard Plexiglas. The other hand slowly moved down to touch the rough shell of the Pokemon, and stroked it with equal slowness. It wasn't as if Anan had much trouble moving her hands, but it was a side effect of the medication. Sometimes, if she wasn't too careful, her hands would start jerking around.
But it was better than falling down a lot. She still limped a little, but she had more control over walking than she would have without the medication.
A few Spheal growled cutely at her, and a Snorunt hid behind a rock put in shallow end of the tank. The three Wailmer lifted their heads and spewed water through their blowholes, and the single Relicanth looked up from the reeds at the bottom of the deep end. Above the tank were the hanging perches for the Wingull and two Pelipper, and one of the Wingull flapped down to swim around on the surface of the water.
"Oh, nice to see you again, Anan." She looked up to see Jeff walking over, holding a Snorunt. "Come to visit Kuki again?"
"Yup!" Anan squealed as Jeff set the Snorunt down in the tank. Immediately, the shy Ice type ran over to the other Snorunt, staring at Anan like she was a Snorunt-eating monster. "Hey, Jeff, why are the Snorunt all afraid of everything?"
Jeff chuckled, and brushed his rough-skinned hands through his shaggy black hair. "A Houndoom. We call him Demon."
"A Houndoom? Here?"
"Yeah, been scaring the Snorunts half to death. And don't ask me what he's done to my prize Iceberg. Poor girl's been shivering ever since." Iceberg was Jeff's first Pokemon. She had stayed with him since he was ten, and Jeff raised her from a baby Snorunt to a contest-winning Glalie. Iceberg retired later, and helped Jeff raise more baby Water types and Ice types for his breeding business when he went solo from a larger one in Mossdeep. "The thing's even been harassing the others, even though they're Water types. It almost ripped off Kiki's left wing. Demon's even got red teeth and claws. Like they've been stained with blood, or something." Jeff shivered. Especially since Kiki, a Pelipper, laid many healthy Wingull eggs, including Kuki's.
"Scary," Anan mused, though a little worried. A rogue Houndoom? In the middle of downtown Olivine? Especially one who attacked Water types. "I hope I never see Demon."
I spoke too soon, I really, really, really spoke too soon, Anan thought as she slowly backed up against the wall of the building. Across from her, snarling, stalked one of the largest Houndoom she had ever seen. Just like Jeff said, his bared fangs and claws were blood red.
"Um...nice...doggy?" She felt herself shiver all over, and the coldness of the plaster behind her didn't exactly help.
Demon howled, bared his fangs, and lunged at her. Luckily, Anan was able to step to the right, so the mouth that would have gotten her neck only chomped down on her hand.
Not to say it didn't hurt, and it definitely drew blood. However, something strange happened. The Houndoom immediately dropped her hand, snarling, and shook his head back and forth very wildly.
Anan looked at her left hand, which didn't bleed fast enough to be lethal or anything, but it still bled. She held her hand next to her shirt, trying to stop the blood flow out, but mostly, her attention was on Demon. The inside of his mouth was also filled with blood, but Anan knew she hadn't bled that much.
"D-demon?" Anan stood up, and walked over to the slightly crazed Houndoom, and, while ducking when his teeth barely missed her arm, took a closer look at the inside of his muzzle.
His teeth weren't just red...they were bleeding.
She looked around at the alley next to them, and noticed a bunch of trashcans. Thinking quickly, her right hand jerked out to knock the lid off two of them, and dug around inside the trash with the same hand. "Ew, ew, ew, I don't want to know what this thing is, um, eeeeew...here!" Her hand grasped the rusty side of a throwaway Pokeball, and turned to face Demon once again. "This'd better work..."
And she threw the Pokeball at the crazed Pokemon. It hit the Houndoom, opened up (though she noticed it creaked) and caused Demon to disappear into it with a flash of red light. It clattered to the ground, and after a few shakes, a broken ding informed Anan she caught the Houndoom.
"The...the Pokemon Center..." she breathed, grabbing the rusted Pokeball. "Ow!" Anan yanked her forefinger on her good hand away from a bit of broken metal.
"Really? A disease?" Anan asked the nurse as she waited outside her Pokemon's room.
"M-hm." The nurse, a black-haired, brown-eyed young woman, nodded. "He has a genetic disorder," Anan rolled her eyes, "it's recessive, so his parents probably didn't have it...but he has a larger number of capillaries in his teeth and claws. The capillaries themselves also larger than normal ones, so they have a brighter red color when the blood has oxygen. The blood primarily with oxygen is near the edge of the teeth and claws, making them appear red."
"Um...yeah. Is he okay?"
"Well, it does cause minor pain when he walks around, and bites down on anything. However, the problem is semi-curable, and we have a few options. The most affordable option is this," she held out a blue-and-white shiny Pokeball with one hand, "and this," the other held a jar of small round, pink pills. "The pill keeps the blood flowing in the normal blood vessels, and the Pokeball relieves pain and pressure. If you give him one pill daily and keep him in the Pokeball at least four hours per day, the affected areas should turn more of a pink than a red, a lot less noticeable, and shouldn't affect normal activities."
Anan nodded, trying to take in all the information. "Um...okay. So...yeah. One pill a day, four hours in the Pokeball. Gotcha."
"May I have the old Pokeball?" Anan nodded, and handed it over. The nurse stared at it, turning it around lightly. "Ugh, old is right! This looks like it came from a trash can." The girl laughed nervously. "Well, this should only take a minute-" The sign outside the room turned off. "Oh! You go visit your Houndoom, I'll switch his Pokeball to the medical one."
Anan nodded, and walked inside to see her new Houndoom laying on a hospital bed, glaring at her. "Um, hi, Demon. How're you feeling?"
He growled, although he couldn't exactly move his jaws because of the numbness from the small surgery.
"Yeah...um, I'm your trainer now, I guess. My name's Anan, and you're Demon so, yeah." Anan reached out, and scratched behind one of his horn-ears. "You know, you're a pretty...cute...doggy?"
He lifted an eyebrow. Or whatever they have.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, so you're kinda scary, but that's okay! I promise to be a good trainer! Or, well, probably not a trainer. I can't exactly leave home." Demon gave her a strange look. "I mean, I'm thirteen and all, but I have PS." Demon looked...confused. "Poliwag's Syndrome...if I don't take my medication, then it's hard for me to walk and breath, but I can swim really well. So...I kinda wanted a Water type, actually I wanted this one Wingull named Kuki, but that's okay. Because you're fine. I'm sure that you just need a good friend. So...um...sorry if you want to battle and all, but will you be a friend?"
Demon rolled his eyes, and gave a look that said "fine" in a super-reluctant voice.
"See, look at this," she said as she held out the pills. "A nurse is switching your Pokeball to one that's medical, and these pills and that Pokeball will help your symptoms go away. But no side effects, unlike me. My hands can get kinda twitchy, but hey, it's better than not being able to breath, right?"
He nodded.
Anan chuckled, and patted his head.
Three months later, the sun rose again on a new day.
"Wake up, Demon! Kuki! Up, up, up!" Anan stroked the Wingull's beak, and opened up Demon's medical Pokeball. The bird opened one of her eyes sleepily, and Demon barked. "Demon! Catch!" A single pink pill flew through the air, and the Houndoom opened his mouth to catch it.
So what if it tasted horrible? Catching stuff in your mouth meant fun for Demon.
As Anan downed her own pill, she shook her head. "Whew! Come on! To the beach!"
Kuki cawed happily, and flapped her wings. Demon whined, mumbling how unfair it was that he had to go to the beach with them.
"Aw, Demon, just stay on the sand! Let's go!" The three walked out of their house, and walked the short walk to the shoreline. "There it is!" Anan ripped her yellow cover-up dress to reveal a dark blue one-piece swimsuit, and dove in the water, shivering. "Hey, Kuki!"
The Wingull cheeped, and settled down to float in the water next to her, while Demon rolled his eyes (again), and sat down on the warm sand, running his pink-ish claws through the grains, and just feeling warm.
His life with Anan sure wasn't very exciting, but that's what it was. Warm. She was a little ditzy, and once she had to go to the hospital because her breathing problems came back. But hey, she gave him treats, walked him, played with him, and...dragged him forcibly to the beach.
That night, as Anan read a magazine while using Demon as a pillow (Kuki sat on her perch next to them), she looked at him.
"You know...you are kinda cute...and warm! A warm doggy!"
Demon snapped at her, causing her to giggle. Yeah, yeah, so what if he was warm? Just...not cute...
Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon. Pokemon is owned by Satoshi Tajiri, Gamefreak, and any other respective and legal owners.
Author's Note: Wow…every single one of my holiday stories (this is one of four) has at least one human or Pokemon with some kind of major problem…AND THIS ONE HAS ONE OF EACH! This one took me the longest to think up, and yet I was able to write it practically in one sitting. Strange, huh? Anyways, this one is a holiday present for…Hon-chan AKA READORDIE, who has no account here. Yesh…I hope you enjoyed it!