Hungry... So HUNGRY! D:

Phoenix whimpered, laying her chin on her paws. To either side of her, her brother, Olympus, and her sister, Mae, mirrored her pose. All three of them looked up at their mother, an aging Arcanine by the name of Yoruie. Phoenix's stomach growled, and she rolled over, pawing at the empty air. Food, when you were a carnivore, was hard to come by...

Maikeru wasn't sure how he ended up here, he was known to sleepwalk. He started to walk in an easternly direction to get back, and ran across a pack of growlithe, with an Arcanine he assumed was the Alpha male/female. As he got closer though, he saw one of the Growlithe was larger than the others, and much thinner. He continued to get closer, and then he saw it. The growlithe was half human half growlithe... Maikeru didn't know how this came to be, but he needed directions. As he walked closer, Silver dug his claws into his shoulder, and he noticed that one of the growlithe was eyeing him hungrily, or more specifically, Silver. He walked more cautiously towards them until he was close enough to say... "Umm... do you know directions to Veridian city...?"

Phoenix sprang up, growling heartily. She had no way of speaking with this human, but he had stumbled into the pack's newly made territory, and she wasn't pleased. Her younger brother and sister cowered behind her and Yoruie. She eyed the pokemon upon the trainer's shoulder hungrily, but she knew better than to take the tame prey that the trainers kept. She let out a cute-ish bark, baring her slightly pointed, but otherwise human-looking teeth, as her tail fluffed up.

Maikeru paled... He didn't know how, but he seemed to anger the pack. Silver tried to bury himself in Maikeru's hair, when he got an idea. Pokemon can't speak human, so maybe this growlithe simply wasn't able to speak to him, although it looked angry. He looked at Silver. "Silver, can you please as this growlithe directions to the nearest town? It doesn't seem to understand me." Silver looked at him like he was crazy, and then did a few yips and barks to the pack.. Maikeru waited for the pack to do something.

Phoenix and Yoruie exchanged a look, before the half-growlithe plopped down beside her mother. Yoruie growled lowly for a moment, then barked lowly, conveying the fact she didn't know. Phoenix licked her lips, staring off into the distance as she tried to remember not to eat tamed pokemon... They tasted bad, and weren't worth it, remember?

Ah, yes. Phoenix remembered... She shuddered at the memory.

Behind the two, Mae and Olympus poked their heads out to peer around their elders, eying the pokemon on the trainer's shoulder hungrily. Apparently, they hadn't learned their lesson about trainers' pokemon...

The half growlithe seemed to back down, but the two younger ones seemed to be a little too hungry. "Ummm... I know you probably can't understand me, but I think I'm going to go..." Maikeru started to walk away. He was walking backward so he could keep his eyes on the growlithe.

Phoenix tilted her head, understanding him perfectly well. Pursing her lips, she repeated, "Go...?" almost like a parrot but sligtly raising her voice at the end. You see, Phoenix could understand and imitate humans, but she couldn't form words on her own. Human-speak was very confusing.

Trotting towards him as he walked backwards, Phoenix circled around him, her head still tilted as she straighted to stand on just her hind paws as she set her family with a glare, almost as if telling them to stay put. Thankfully, they obeyed.

Maikeru didn't dare move much, but he did send Silver back to his pokeball. He had heard the "Go", which is why he didn't run, and it... no SHE... seemed to be trying to stand up. When she succeeded, he moved one foot forward as if to start walking, and noticed her doing the same. Soon, she had taken a few wobbly steps. He turned around and looked at her more closely. She seemed about 13-15. He poined to himself and said "Maikeru" then waited for the girl to do somthing.

When she had been held in her Daddy's arms for the first time, Phoenix remembered being given her name. Drawing upon that memory, she pointed to herself and said, "Phoenix." while grinning. She frowned slightly as the pokemon was sent into it's pokeball, for she couldn't imagine how awful being stuffed inside that white and red ball would be. As he studied her, Phoenix studied him. What was his name? Ah, yes. He had just said it. Maikeru.

Maikeru did a cautious smile. He felt reassured that Pheonix was trying to understand him like he was trying to understand her, but he wasn't sure she wouldn't still attack. He decided the best way to assure that was to make it so they didn't feel like attacking. He pulled out his two food bowls he had for Silver and Plusle, and put some spicy poffins he had made into them. He held out both bowls to Pheonix.

Phoenix barked happily, her tongue lolling to the side and her tail wagging furiously as she saw the bowls of food and smelt the contents. Unafraid, she went back onto all-fours, running toward Maikeru, but pulling up short just in front of him. Peering up, she grinned, touching her nose to his to express her gratitude, then slowly took the bowls and headed off to her family, eating half a bowl on the way, not noticing much spice, having to deal with breathing fire and all... She barked sharply once to her brother and sister, setting the half bowl infront of them. She had told them to share, but as soon as she turned her back, the two had started fighting over the food, and their growls and barks were almost unnerving as they fought.

Phoenix's ears lowered as she crept toward her mother, setting the full dish in front of her. Yoruie licked the top of her daughter's head between Phoenix's ears, and then, she too dug in. Phoenix trotted back over to Maikeru, and sat down infront of him, letting out a happy bark.

Maikeru took an extra poffin out, this one sweet, and handed it to her. He then decided he really should get back home, so he waved goodbye and started walking north, hoping that a town or road was nearby.

Phoenix smiled as he handed her the extra and quickly raced back to her family to share it. By the time she looked back Maikeru was waving goodbye, already walking off. She plopped down on the ground and let out a mournful howl, it's meaning painfully clear, 'Come back... Come back or visit...'

Sirius smelled human. He followed it, and it led to a small pack of Growlithe. He stayed somewhat away until the human left, studying the pack. He almost lept forward when the human pulled out food. In fact, even now his stomach was rumbling. He ran fingers through his thick black hair, now dirty, trying to clean it a little, then started walking toward the pack slowly after the human was a good distance away.

The crunch of a twig snapping underneath feet not of one of their own alerted the pack, in the process of finishing the half-eaten sweet. Phoenix lept once more to her feet, diving through the bushes to tackle the newcomer before he could get any closer, her claws digging into his shoulders a bit, but not enough to draw blood. She growled lowly, her tail held high in the air as she kept him pinned, as if to say, 'Who are you, intruder?' as she looked him straight in the eye.

Still locked in a defensive mode, she didn't realize yet how different his appearance was from everyone else she had known... In fact... He was a lot like Phoenix herself.

The two growlithe and arcanine hung back... For now.

Sirius smiled. He had succeeded in finding someone like him. He responded in poochyena "My name is Sirius. I'm trying to find people like me. By the way, very nice tackle." He gently pushed the girl off, then stood up, brushing both legs free of dirt. He then walked over to the rest and kneeled down. "I mean you no harm. I am simply curious." He then slowly lifted his head to see the pack's reaction.

Phoenix growled lowly, but allowed herself to be moved. She trotted next to him, careful to stop him before he got too close to the pack. Yoruie, towering over them all, padded over, narrowing her eyes. The arcanine sniffed lightly at Sirius, before growling, "Who?"

"Sirius. He's like me, see?" Phoenix quickly replied, whimpered slightly and licking under her mother's chin as she crouched low to the ground, her tail wagging. "Please, please, please mother, let him stay if he promises to be good? Maybe even give him the half-sweet?" Her ear flicked in Sirius's direction. "I could hear his stomach growl from all the way over here..."

Considering her daughter's proposal for a moment, Yoruie's eyes narrowed further. "Never have we allowed so many outsiders into our territory in one day." She grumbled, her paws kneading the ground for a moment before batting the bowl with the remaining half of the sweet in it towards the newcomer.

Sirius took the bowl cautiously. "Thank you. I understand if you don't want me in your territory, but I was curious about your daughter." He cautiously took a bite of the round thing, and was immediatley awash in flavor. It seemed hot, like fire. He quickly covered his mouth. When it stopped burning, he took the one he bit out of, but pushed the bowl back. As he let the rest of the heat fade, he looked back at the girl. "So, have you met any others like us?"

Yoruie snorted, then escorted her other two pups away, leaving Phoenix and Sirius to themselves, for the arcanine knew her daughter was more than capable of handling anything thrown at her.

Phoenix laughed, her tail wagging as she watched Sirius take a bite. She immediately took his uneaten piece and nibbled upon it, looking thoughtful. "No... No one has. I didn't think there even was a YOU out there. No one had ever heard of halflings like us."

Sirius was crestfallen. Here he was talking to the only one he knew like him, and now probably the only one he would ever know. The loneliness he often felt escalated. "Oh. Thats too bad... I left my mother to find others like me, and so far your the only one I've found..." He put his head onto his knees. "At least you still have a family. Anyways, who was that human I saw earlier? He looked kind of interesting."

Phoenix whimpered, saddened that he had left his family. At least she had been accepted by her own, and she had never felt the urge to leave. She scooted closer, letting him take comfort from the short fur that covered her side and brushed against him. "Human names are tricky to remember, especially if you've only heard them once. It sounded like Maikeru."

Sirius' ears perked up. He had heard that name before. A trainer named Maikeru was in the woods nearby earlier. "I think I know him. He was in the woods a mile east of here. I didn't get close, but i saw him wave goodbye to someone, I didn't catch their name, and then walk off towards here. I later heard a fight, but when I went to it to investigate, nothing was there. I hope he wasn't attacked."

"He was nice. He gave us this food!" She gestured to the sweet she was about to finish, then popped the rest into her mouth. "It's hard to hunt around here.. We're always so hungry. Hey, maybe Mother would like you better if you brought her back something to eat! Come on, let's hunt!" Phoenix cried excitedly, grabbing his arm between her paws and tugging him to his feet. She only paused for a minute to look behind her with a bark before dashing off into the thicket, following the scent of a Lopunny.

Hmmm, he hasn't hunt anything yet, so he didn't know how he would go about doing it. Pheonix seemed to know enough, so he simply followed her lead. Since he ran faster on two legs, he simply ran along behind her. As he went along, he caught the scent of a nearby Lopunny, and his stomach growled again. That fire bread didnt fill him up. He let instinct take over. Sirius and Pheonix quietly snuck up on the Lopunny, who was busy plucking Aspear berries from a bush. Sirius nodded to Pheonix, giving her the first attack.

Phoenix was completely focused upon her prey, and an ear flicked toward Sirius, a little annoyed that she could hear his breathing that loudly. Creeping forward while the Lopunny's back was turned, Phoenix sprang, using an extremely accurate and powerful Fire Fang, effectively killing (and cooking xD) the low level Lopunny in one shot. She looked back at Sirius, her tail wagging as the limp Lopunny hung from her jaws.