“Why would she know that move?” Tommy asked. “It isn’t even the same typing.”

“Call it a hunch,” Dad said. Tommy winced as his father slapped him on the back, “C’mon, you have nothing to lose! Try it out!”

He stared at his dad for a couple seconds before shaking his head. “Fine, keep your secrets old man. I’ll try it out if you think I should.”

“Houndour, are you ready?” He asked. Houndour barked again and resumed her battle stance, down low on her haunches with fangs bared threateningly.

“Alright, use Thunder Fang!” He called out to her.

He watched on in stunned disbelief as her fangs first crackled and sparked and then emitted small yellow streaks of electricity. She snarled and charged forward, clamping her fangs down onto a fallen log, shattering it into dust and rotted splinters.

“Not bad,” his dad nodded. “You’ll have to practice some more, the electricity left a lot to be desired, but it will be a great finishing move. Can you just imagine hitting a water Pokémon with that move when it’s least expected?”

“How…?” Tommy started. He looked over at his father, his mouth hanging open. “How did you know she could use that move?”

“Like I said, just call it a hunch,” Dad grinned. “Your old man has his ways. Now come on, let’s head over to the barn so that we can check out her heart rate and range of motion and you can add them into your journal.”

Tommy’s mind raced excitedly as he and his father made their way back to the barn with Houndour in tow. One thing kept coming back to the front of his mind.

Maybe I can actually stand a chance against Nessa, he thought to himself. Her Shellder is probably at an insane Power Level though. They’ve been training together for years now.

Tommy and his father arrived at the barn and quickly got to work on their inspection of Houndour. They checked her heart rate, bite force, the range of motion on her legs, and took her temperature as well. Through it all Houndour stood there, not the least bit bothered by her trainer’s poking and prodding. He was grateful that she was so trusting of him already.

He recorded all of her measurements in his notes and planned to test her as often as he could to make sure that she was healthy and growing properly. He wouldn’t be as extensive every time but he decided to check her height, weight, internal temperature, and heart rate at least once a week and everything else once a month. He couldn’t believe that their thermometer read 100 degrees Celsius when he first took Houndour’s temperature. His dad assured him it would only get hotter as she got older and that he should go buy a special thermometer if he wanted to get accurate readings.

As the week progressed Tommy and Houndour became inseparable. She followed him around everywhere he went when she didn’t have to be in her Pokéball but he didn’t mind at all. He was happy that she ran alongside him when he exercised and followed him around in the mornings when he did his chores. The Miltank got used to her quickly as she escorted them to and from their corral but Tauros still kept his distance.

“Don’t worry, he doesn’t like anyone.” Tommy reassured her.

He spent his evenings after school training in the yard at home with her. Houndour only had two attacking moves so he was able to split up his time focusing on Ember and Thunder Fang. Tori came outside to watch more often than not and would cheer them on, clapping with excitement as Houndour ran around biting logs and setting things on fire.

Even though Thunder Fang wasn’t very strong yet, Ember more than made up for it. Houndour’s lungs were massive and with the amount of air she could inhale, she could spit a steady stream of Embers for well over ten seconds. Her Ember was still very inaccurate, spraying everywhere in front of her when she used it, but it would have to be enough for now. With more practice they could work on narrowing down her attack range but Friday came quickly and it was soon time for their first battle.

Tommy sat in the locker room, hands shaking as he tried to calm his nerves. He hoped that he and Houndour could pull out a win. He knew she was strong but her Power Level was still low; Solosis had been Power Level 8 when he fought his first match and the little guy had gotten stronger in their month together. Now Tommy was essentially starting over.

He tried to clear his thoughts since focusing on Solosis before a match wouldn’t do him any good, but he was having trouble. He didn’t want the Pokémon to be left alone sitting on the shelf in his Pokéball or worse still, he didn’t want to see Solosis battling with a different trainer. He could only hope that there would be some way to see the little guy again somewhere down the road since he couldn’t rent a Pokémon anymore.

He forced those thoughts from his mind, he didn’t want to be distracted for his upcoming match. He strode into the arena when he heard his name called and got ready to battle after shaking hands with his opponent.

The girl he was battling against ended up having an Alolan Meowth, no doubt thinking he was going to bring out Solosis. She could only look on in horror as he called Houndour out of her Pokéball. His trainer information hadn’t been updated in the PokéNav database yet since this was his first match since Houndour had been caught.

“Begin the match!” Professor Larkspur yelled.

“Use Howl!” Tommy yelled before his opponent had the opportunity to call out any moves of her own. Though he planned to try to make it through the fight without revealing his trump card, Thunder Fang, he still wanted to start the battle with Howl since his opponent had no idea of his Pokémon’s moveset yet.

Houndour rested on her back haunches and a guttural howl erupted from the back of her throat. It reverberated around the arena and when she next assumed her battle stance, hackles raised and glowing a dull red, Tommy thought that she looked just a bit more aggressive and menacing.

“Now, use Ember!” he told her as he spied his opponent rubbing the goosebumps away from her arms.

Houndour inhaled a massive breath of air and unleashed a lungful of flaming embers across the battlefield. They whistled shrilly as they streaked across the pitch, Meowth dodging the bulk of them but still getting hit by a few strays due to the sheer volume of missiles.

The dark cat raced across the battlefield, wicked teeth gleaming in the stadium’s lighting, as his trainer had just called for him to use Bite. Meowth was faster than Houndour and clamped its powerful jaws onto her back, but since Tommy’s Pokémon had a Dark typing it resisted the move. The cat hissed angrily as his teeth reverberated off of the bones protruding from Houndour’s back.

“Ember again!” Tommy told his Pokémon now that Meowth was within striking distance and couldn’t use his speed to evade. Houndour spat a mouthful of burning flames into the cat’s face and he screeched in agony, rolling on the ground and trying unsuccessfully to extinguish himself.

“And Meowth has been burned!” Professor Larkspur commentated for the handful of watching students. “Is the battle over or will we see a turnaround?”

“Meowth, get up and use Scratch!” The girl told her rental, refusing to give in. Tommy could swear that he heard the resignation in her voice and the distraction dearly cost him. He winced in pain as his Pokémon was raked by Meowth’s dagger-like claws; she howled in rage and Tommy shook his head to clear his thoughts.

“Ember,” he said simply, trying to will the hesitation from his voice. Meowth had collapsed to the ground, the inextinguishable flames doing steady damage over time to the poor animal. A final volley of flaming embers scattered from Houndour’s mouth but Tommy’s opponent recalled Meowth to its Pokéball before any more damage could be done.

The match ended in Tommy’s complete victory and he similarly recalled Houndour to her Pokéball to let her rest.

“Thank you for the match,” he said as he clasped hands with the girl.

“I didn’t know you had a Houndour. I shouldn’t have challenged you,” she mumbled. “You used Solosis the last three fights you fought in and had him with you when we were on the excursion last weekend.”

“Yeah, I just caught my Houndour,” he told her. “You would have won if I didn’t catch her because you’re right, I would have been using Solosis.”

He left the stadium a half hour later and met up with his friends out front. They were all smiling as he emerged from the stadium.

“Awesome battle!” Jon told him. “Houndour was so cool!”

“Thanks!” he said. “Is there a place where we can heal our Pokémon? It’s the first time I’m not using a rental.”

“Yeah there’s a small Pokémon Center on campus,” Ashley told him. “We can head over there now. After that, will you introduce Houndour to all of us?”

“Yeah, I’m sure that she would love to meet everyone!” He agreed. “Just be ready to get slobbered on!”

“Wait, how is that going to work?” Aubrey frowned. “You’ve only had Houndour for like three days. There’s no way that she gets along with humans yet.”

“Tommy has a way with Pokémon,” Nessa said. “Ashley and I noticed it when we were on our expedition last weekend, every Pokémon he meets seems to trust him almost instantly.”

“Yeah, he’s a freak,” Ashley agreed. “My Totodile didn’t even try to bite his hand off the first time that they met.”

“I don’t think that means every Pokémon trusts me instantly though,” he said quickly as he realized Darius, Jon, and Aubrey were all giving him weird looks.

“You’ll see once we get to the park,” Nessa said. “As a matter of fact I bet if the three of you called your newly caught Pokémon out, they would be more friendly with Tommy than they are with you.”

“Sounds awesome!” Darius said cheerily. He wrapped Tommy in a loose headlock. “Maybe you can help me tame my Pokémon a bit then. He’s a bit thick-headed!”

“Uhm, if I have to I guess?” He shrugged. “Don’t expect much though. I don’t think it’s anything great.”

“We’ll be the judge of that!” Jon smirked. “Now let’s go!”

After getting Houndour healed, everyone headed over to the park and crowded around Tommy. Feeling incredibly self conscious he called Houndour out who, upon seeing her trainer, immediately jumped onto him and knocked him to the ground. Everyone else yelled in surprise until they saw that he wasn’t actually in trouble; Houndour was just licking him everywhere while he was sputtering, laughing, and flailing his arms.

“I can’t believe it. I would have thought that you and Houndour had been friends for half a year if not for the fact that I saw you battling with a rental Pokémon last week with my own eyes.” Aubrey muttered as she watched Tommy and Houndour in amazement. She narrowed her eyes suspiciously at him. “Have you been lying to us? Have you been using a rental even though you’ve really had a Pokémon all this time?”

“No! I really just caught her!” Tommy yelled as he tried his hardest to keep the puppy away from him. “Now, say hi to everyone else!”

She sat up and walked over to each of his friends, smelling their hands and clothes while they just stood completely still and wide-eyed. “You can pet her if you want, she’s harmless.”

No one felt brave enough to move a muscle, so Tommy looked over at Jon and smirked. His friend’s eyes widened in horror as he realized what was coming.

“Please, Tommy,” Jon begged. “Don’t do this.”

“Yeah, I just remembered you gave me shit on Monday for being friends with Ashley, plus all the shit you give me regularly for being friends with Nessa,” Tommy smiled fiendishly. He pointed at Jon, “Houndour, lick him!”

She leapt onto Jon, easily knocking him over and then proceeded to lick his face and neck as he struggled futilely. Everyone else laughed at Jon’s misfortune until Tommy sicced Houndour on each one of them in turn.

“I can’t believe how cute she is,” Darius said, scratching Houndour on her belly as she lay upside down in the grass with her tongue out. The six of them were all sitting in a circle smiling down at the puppy. “You do have a gift Tommy, I’ve never seen anything like it. How have we not known all these years?”

He just shrugged and didn’t say anything. He was already getting tired of everyone saying he was special; he believed he was like everyone else.

“Help me with my Pokémon then,” Darius continued. He unclipped his Pokéball from his belt and got ready to summon it but stopped and looked around. “On second thought everyone else might want to back away, he’s pretty temperamental.”

Everyone scrambled to their feet and rushed back, apprehensive about whatever was about to come out from Darius’ Pokéball. Tommy started to back away with everyone else but Darius grabbed him in an iron grip and pulled him in a headlock again.

“Not you, Tommy,” he laughed. “You agreed to help the two of us out.”

“I’d like to point out that I was actually volunteered,” Tommy said as he struggled helplessly under Darius’ arm. He sighed and quit struggling. “But fine, call him out. Once he attacks me at least all of you guys will finally agree that I’m nothing special.”

Darius grinned and tossed his Pokéball, “Come on out Rhyhorn!”

Tommy felt his heartbeat quicken as he looked down at the massive stone quadruped that had materialized in front of him. It pawed the ground nervously, then backed up on its hind legs and bellowed at the top of its lungs. Tommy heard a growling next to where he was standing and smiled as he looked over to see that Houndour had run up to stand beside him and protect him.

“I’m fine for now, girl,” He said absent-mindedly as he scratched her behind her ears. He was trying to keep his focus on the Rhyhorn in front of him and didn’t want any distractions. “Back up a bit, Houndour. I don’t want you to scare him. If he tries to charge me then you come help out, okay?”

She growled protectively in the back of her throat but did as she was told, retreating to go stand next to the rest of Tommy’s friends. He looked on and laughed as Darius tried to approach Rhyhorn who kept turning its back to him. At least Rhyhorn wasn’t charging at Darius or anyone else for the moment.

“Today’s been the best day so far if you can believe it. Normally he’ll try to run away or tackle a hole through the wall of the house,” Darius chuckled. He was walking a complete circle around the Pokémon with his hand out because Rhyhorn kept turning away each time Darius got close to its face. When he turned all the way around and made a complete circle he locked eyes with Tommy.

Tommy froze as Rhyhorn slowly trundled its way over towards where he was standing, sniffing at the ground as it walked forward hesitantly. He stopped less than a meter away from where Tommy was standing and tilted his head at Tommy inquisitively.

“You can get closer if you want,” Tommy spoke soothingly to the Pokémon. “You’re pretty cool looking, aren’t you?”

Rhyhorn approached so slow that it barely looked like he was moving. Tommy’s entire body was tense, ready to jump out of the way of a Tackle, even though he was trying to will himself to relax. He tried not to move a muscle as Rhyhorn sniffed at his shoes and started to walk a small circle around where he was standing.

He watched in disbelief as Rhyhorn sat down on its back legs and smiled up at him. The Pokémon bellowed loudly and Tommy smiled back at him.

“Yeah, you’re not scary at all. Are you, boy?” Tommy laughed. He extended his hand and was centimeters away from placing it on Rhyhorn’s head when he stopped, remembering where he was and that this wasn’t even his Pokémon. He took a deep breath for what was about to come and looked up.

All of his friends had their mouths open in utter amazement.

Darius was standing there with a look that Tommy had never seen before on his normally kind face.

“He’s your Pokémon. You should be the first to touch him,” Tommy called over to his jilted friend. Darius' face immediately softened and returned to normal for which Tommy felt grateful. He didn’t want one of his best friends to be mad at him.

“Can I come over though? I don’t want to scare him away,” He asked Tommy. There was apprehension and fear in his voice but Tommy knew that his friend wasn’t actually scared, he just didn’t want to be rejected by his first Pokémon friend.

“Yeah, it should be fine. Just walk over slowly,” He told Darius.

Darius approached as slowly as he could, though Tommy could see that his friend could barely contain his excitement over getting to finally interact Rhyhorn for the first time. He stepped in front of the stone Pokémon and it tilted its head inquisitively up at its trainer.

“Extend your hand slowly,” Tommy whispered as Darius reached out to pet his Pokémon. He smiled and stepped back letting them have their moment together.

Rhyhorn bellowed happily as Darius placed his hand on its head, running it along the rock and stone that made up his tough skin.

“I’ll never forget this moment,” Tommy overheard Darius say as he smiled down at Rhyhorn. “It’s nice to meet you Rhyhorn, I’m Darius.”

“Congratulations, man!” Tommy smiled at his friend, who had turned back to look at him. “You and Rhyhorn are going to be amazing together.”

“I’ll never forget this Tommy,” Darius smiled. He glanced down at his Pokémon then looked up at Tommy solemnly. “Anything you need, ask me anytime. I swear here and now that you’ll always be my brother!”

“Whoa, there,” Tommy laughed. He scratched the back of his head awkwardly, not sure how to respond to his friend. “I’m glad I was able to help you out but we’re friends man. What are friends for? You don’t owe me anything. I just did what any friend would do, you would have gotten there on your own anyway.”

He watched with a smile as Rhyhorn bellowed happily and nuzzled his head into Darius’ hand.

“Can I meet him now?” Tommy broached carefully. He didn’t want to intrude on any moment that his friend was sharing with his Pokémon.

“Of course!” Darius laughed heartily. “Come say hello! We wouldn’t be at this point without you! In fact everyone should come say hello!”

Everyone raced up to Rhyhorn who widened his eyes in surprise. Darius soothed him and reassured him though and ultimately the stone behemoth let everyone touch its head. Tommy marveled at how amazing it felt to run his fingers along the cool stone that made up Rhyhorn’s head and face.

“Now do you believe that you have something special?” Ashley spoke softly next to him.

He turned his head to see Ashley and Nessa grinning at him from ear to ear.