Chapter Text
"So... This is 40k."
"A bloodier aspect of it, yes."
The ninetales grimaced as the Ultramarine smashed an orc with his gauntlet before driving his chainsword through the foul greenskin's stomach. A bolt from his pistol smashed through a gretchin wretch that was attempting to sneak up on him. The .75 round turned the greeenskin's body into to so much paste, the pathetic thing not even enough to register on the machine spirit's sensors as it slammed into a more worthy target, namely a tankbusta that was about to hurl a grenade. The bolt burrowed into the filthy hide of the greenskin before the internal sensors detected the optimal area at which point it detonated. The grenade the ork carried dropped to the ground. Two seconds later, the explosive detonated. A chain reaction was set off as the other explosives on the ork’s person was set off in unison, sending shrapnel, limbs, green ichor and other pieces of orks that were unfortunate enough to be close to the tankbusta flying in all directions. As the smoke cleared, Captain Titus smiled at his handy work. Nothing but scorch marks, limbs and the new paint job that the bunker now boasted illustrated that the green horde once walked these grounds. Captain Titus paused to assess his surroundings. Seeing no more orks in the immediate vicinity, his stance eased. With deftness common to the noble astartes his bolt pistol was reloaded in quick succession as he moved down the hallway deeper into the facility. The screen faded to black, transitioning to a loading screen with a picture of the next level prominent.
The human she stood next to hit the pause button the moment the next level loaded. She glanced to her newest companion as he turned to her.
“What is it?”
"Do you want me to stop and find something else for you to look at Rose? You seem perturbed."
Rose shook her head. "No Andrew, I am fine. I have seen sights just as bad back in the wilds of Virdian Forest and Mt. Moon, if not as... Gruesome as what is show here. It comes with the territory of living in the wild.” She said with a wave of her paw.
“I suppose that is to be expected.” Andrew said.
“The wild is an unforgiving place where mistakes are punished. I should know considering I have dealt with being on both ends of that reality.” She shrugged. “Compared to what I have seen, I am not such a pup that I can’t handle dealing with a little gore. Living in a place where beedrill and scythers are present means that is an inevitability. But I appreciate the gesture.”
“No prob. But still, let me know if you want to see something else.”
“Like I said Andrew, there is no need to fret. I will let you know if something is to my disinterest. Besides, I am curious as to what this fiction of your world has to offer. Certainly nothing like I have seen back in Kanto. I wouldn’t mind continuing to observe you play this video game of yours." Again she shrugged. “Though it would appear that you wish to desist for now.”
Andrew saved his progress before setting the controller aside, his attention turned as he picked up a water bottle beside him and took a sip.
“Yeah, I would like to take a little break from this play session. Not that I don’t enjoy playing, but I'm kinda feeling out of it right now.” Rose straightened, her ear standing at attention.
“Are you unwell? I did not mean to push you.”
“Nah, just a small headache from not getting enough sleep last night. Some sleep should do the trick, although-” He said, looking at his wrist watch. “-It isn’t time for me to sleep yet. Don’t want to screw up my sleep schedule and all that. Even though work has been cut off this week due to you guys just popping out of nowhere, I still want to maintain it. God knows that getting back to some normal schedule can be a bitch, especially with this adderall keeping me up at night.” He picked up a bottle filled with orange tablets and held it out for her to see.
Rose stared at the bottle for a few seconds before giving it a sniff. She recoiled a few seconds later as pungent smell of medicinal herbs permeated her senses. Her nose wrinkled as she took a deep breath of fresh air to purge her sense of the vile thing.
“Arceus, this adderall smells awful. It’s like someone took up those medicinal herbs back in Viridian, grounded them up and somehow made them worse. I can only imagine the taste if the smell is anything to go by.”
“That’s why I down it with water. The taste sticks around otherwise.” Andrew said, returning the tablets back to the table.
“If they keep you up, why take them? This lack of sleep isn’t good for your health.”
“Because of a little known disorder called Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Or just ADHD for short. Put simply it’s something which causes me to be distracted easily. These pills-” He pointed to the bottle. “-keep me both alert, awake and focused. Not to mention not taking it now just causes me to withdraw. Which means being drowsy the whole day.”
Rose frowned. She glanced at the bottle for a second before huffing.
“Perhaps you might wished to work on weening yourself off of them if they cause such problems. Being sleep deprived is never a good thing. It does one’s body a disservice.”
“Perhaps, but that’s a topic for another time. Maybe I will try to ween myself off it, but not today.”
“I hope that you do.” She paused, scrutinizing the human before her.
“I sense that you have a few things on your mind that you wish to talk about.”
Andrew nodded.
"I find it curious that a being such as yourself would be so intrigued by our stuff. One would think that a wildling like yourself would hold no interest in the affairs of humans unless it was to their benefit, especially since you are a Ninetales."
**&&**&&
"Normally that would be the case. However seeing as I have awoken in this new world, I thought it was only natural to start learning about it and what it has to offer. Considering that you did 'catch' me to only to help avert a fate that would have left me a beaten pulp, I considered it the least I could do to learn about the person that helped me. Even if only for a short duration while I stay here. Although-" She paused, a smirk worming to her muzzle. "-I believe I may just stay here longer than for just a few days considering the danger out there at the moment. Besides, I am quite curious of humans more than what my kind normally would be otherwise."
"I suppose. I never expected to see a Pokemon in my life, let alone a ninetales of all things getting gained up on the road I was traveling on. Though it may get difficult to feed the both of us considering that I usually live alone."
"I am sure we shall manage. I am more than capable of fending for myself so as to lessen the burden between us." Her tails twitched upward, poised as the elegant huntress. "After all, I am still young by my kind's standards. I still have yet much to learn about both the world and myself. If Arceus presents me an opportunity to learn about something, then I shall. It is what mother taught me, you never stop learning about the world around you and yourself. It’s how I have managed to survive so long in the wild.” She paused, glancing at her surroundings.
“Speaking of which...”
She noted the pile of clothing that was piled up in the corner. A few dishes sat on the desk next to the room’s computer. Scraps of trash littered the desk. Other random assortment of items laid unorganized on the tabletop. Put simply, the place was a mess.
“Okay. I cannot tolerate the state of this room any longer.”
Her fur bristled, wondering how long Andrew this place as it stood.
“I take it that you aren’t a fan of the room.” Andrew said.
Rose gave him a pointed stare.
“One of the first things I was taught is that you always keep a proper den, not just for yourself but your potential mate and pups.”
The human’s lips turned ever so slightly downward.
“I can see by the look of your face on just what you think of this room in particular. You held your tongue longer than I thought you would.”
“My apologies Andrew, but this place is… How do I put this politely?”
“A dump?”
“No, certainly not that bad. But I will say that you have done a poor job of keeping this place tidy. It seems you have tried to keep it neat. But I smelled the results the moment I stepped into this room. The rest of the place is fine. More or less.” Rose paused, gathering her thoughts. Her ears perked as Andrew sighed.
“I don’t disagree. Truth be told I haven’t done the best of keeping this place clean. Usually it isn’t this bad but things in the past few days just made me not give a shit to be honest.” Rose shook her head, eyes looking on in disapproval.
“A vulgar way to describing it, but accurate. This is hardly a den worth respecting, and your attitude about it even less so.” She said with a huff.
“Like I said, I usually keep things here so it doesn’t get to that point. But the last few days have been rather hard on me, dealing with both the rent and the trouble caused by the arrival of your kind.”
“I can smell that the problems here have persisted for longer than that. You’re like a pup who hasn’t been taught how to properly care for oneself.” Andrew shifted, his head pointed down as he twiddled his thumbs.
Rose starred, putting two and two together.
“Wait. You don’t mean to tell me you haven’t been taught, have you?
“Some of the basics yes, and I have a listed note of instructions in one of my drawers somewhere around here to help me through it. But yeah...”
Rose’s jaw dropped.
“By Arceus, you are out here on your own and you don’t know how to take care of yourself?”
“I do, just not very well for the moment. I have gotten better at it though.”
Silence permeated the room as Rose digested this information.
“He’s just a pup out here on his own. No wonder why this place was a mess.”
Rose shook her head. The ninetales moved towards Andrew and jumped up on the couch he was sitting on. She gave the human a hard stare.
“So you mean to tell me that your parents left you out here to fend for yourself?”
“No, no, no.” Andrew said, hands raised. “They did prepare me. I wanted to go out here to try and fend for myself for a little while. The man who owns this apartment is a close friend of my dad. So he gave me a discount price for a few months to help get me started out here. It’s close to the place that I work at, so we decided it would be a good opportunity to get some experience living out here on my own. And it worked to a degree. Sort of.”
Again Rose stared in disbelief.
“This human is but a naive, lazy pup. A well intended pup, but a pup nonetheless. It’s a wonder that he managed to live out here like this at all. He said he has been here for only a couple months, yet the place already shows signs of neglect. He said he has been keeping on it, but at the rate he keep neglecting this place...” Rose shuddered. She had seen dens where their owners simply did not bother to keep the place up to standards. Those were individuals that more often than not were sickly things, even if they were in good health they never would attract a mate.
She stood in thought for a few moments.
“I can’t let this go. I own this human for saving my life. The least I could do is put this pup to muster and instill a proper education to fend for himself and more. Not just leave it like this.”
She thought back to the day before. If what she had heard was any indication, the area was still quite dangerous with Pokemon continuing to pop out of nowhere, often in a panicked state. Which usually meant a lot of corpses and damaged property when they ran into the humans carrying those guns. Another shudder passed through her.
“To think that these humans carry something so dangerous on their person. To be so common too. Then again, Andrew did use one to save my life, and it isn’t as if the humans here know how effectively defend against a rampage of angry Pokemon otherwise that wouldn’t render them dead. Not that there are many ways to stop a herd of rampaging tarouses without killing them anyway. Besides with the way things are currently right now, it would probably be best for me if I were to lay low for a while anyway.” Her mind made up, she turned to face Andrew. He had since turned off the console and television, and was in the process of gathering the pile of clothing into a basket.
“Andrew, I have come to a decision about staying here.” Andrew stopped what he was doing and turned to face her.
“Oh? And what would that be? I won’t blame you for not staying here. Since this place is currently a mess and all that.
Rose couldn’t help but roll her eyes.
“About that, I have decided to stay here for the foreseeable future.”
Andrew paused. His posture stood uncertain, but he looked on with intrigue.
“For precisely how long is the foreseeable future?”
“Considering the situation out in the wild, and the sorry state of your abode, I have elected to stay here on a more permanent basis. Probably for several months at least.” Rose saw the blood drain out from Andrew’s face.
“Oh. Well, that might be difficult to house the both of us, considering that-”
“About that Andrew, I have decided that I will also help educate you to better care for yourself.”
“… Say what? Why?”
“Oh come now Andrew. You did help save my life after all, and did decide to give me shelter. If only for a little while. Even accounting for how you are both struggling to take care of yourself and reluctance to care for someone other than your own for a long period of time without benefit to yourself, you decided to do the right thing and help someone in need. The least I could do is help you better yourself in some capacity. Not to mention, we can protect each other from the madness that is currently occurring out in the world right now.”
Andrew starred, silent for a few moments before sighing.
“Well, I can’t say that I know what I feel about this. I mean on one hand I am glad you’re staying. But I wonder if I could even care for the both of us. Or even want to care for a second tenant, what with being selfish like that.” He said, scratching his head.
Rose smiled. She walked up to Andrew and gave him a small nuzzle.
“Andrew, I do believe that this will benefit the both of us. Perhaps it was fate that we found each other. I get to learn more about this world from you, while you get to learn more about how to better yourself. Perhaps it was preordained by Arceus Himself that we are fated to meet like this.” She said with a chuckle.
“I wouldn’t know about it being preordained by Arceus, but I won’t say that this is an unpleasant surprise. A roommate would be nice, and a ninetales at that.”
“You flatter me. But do you agree with allowing me to stay here?”
“Sure. I don’t think Mr. Jackson will mind your presence. So as long as you don’t burn down the complex down.” He smirked. Rose returned the smile.
“You wound me Andrew, to think that a ninetales would so easily lose control of her flame.”
“Just checking.”
“Mmm. Now with that out of the way, I do believe that we should start cleaning this den of ours.”
Andrew’s face fell.
“Ah, guess we should.” Rose gave Andrew a playful bump of her nuzzle.
“Oh relax. From what I have seen if all goes well, we should be done with the most important stuff by the day’s end.”
“If you say so.”
“But of course. Now, let’s get these clothes into the basket...” The clothes lifted into the air and were dumped into the basket. For the next few hours, the two spent the day neatening up the place. While they were not done by the day’s end, they made substantial progress in livening up the place.
It would be the start of something wonderful, though neither knew of what was to come down the line, it would cement a greater friendship that would last throughout the ages.
Fin.