In the world of cat ownership, it's often sad that one doesn't choose to own a cat. A cat chooses to own a human. Indeed, the responsibility of caring for a cat is often thrust upon a person from out of nowhere; the creature appearing on their porch, or in a window, or scratching at their door in the middle of the night. It was much the same deal with Pokemon, only instead of a normal cat you would end up with a cat that could set you on fire. Or a mouse that could electrocute you. Or a terrifying mythical sea monster...though those intended to prefer being left alone more often than not! Today, it was Emily who would be chosen as the (un?)lucky winner of the free Pokemon sweepstakes, and it happened in the most routine place imaginable: right when she was checking her mailbox! The freckled redhead didn't even notice her new pet at first. She was much more focused on flipping through the envelopes of junk mail she had pulled out of her mailbox for anything relevant before she caught a blur of orange-and-black fur out of the corner of her eye just as she turned around to head back inside. “Oh! Hey there, little fella...” the human said after having a little moment to be startled by the creature's sudden appearance; though it was just a little puppy, looking up at her with those cute little puppy dog eyes, it was still a Growlithe, and it could still light the grass around it on fire if she spooked it! Plus, the poor thing was whining and whimpering as it stared back into Emily's eyes, clearly in some kind of distress, practically begging for her to take it in. After a few seconds of looking around to see if the Pokemon belonged to anyone, and the little Fire-type continuing to approach her with those huge, adorable eyes...well, those motherly instincts kicked in, and before she even realized it, Emily had scooped the Growlithe right up into her arms! The junk mail she had come out to collect dropping to the ground and scattering in the wind as she turned around and walked back into her house with her surprising new friend in tow... “You’re probably pretty hungry, huh?” Emily asked the little fire puppy as she scritched underneath its chin, bringing them into her rather plain-jane kitchen and setting the pup down while she rooted around for something in the fridge that she could feed it. Obviously, she hadn't really intended to stock up on Pokemon food or anything like that, but...something meaty would probably work out okay for the puppy, right? There was a bit of lunch meat that she could cut up and give to the Growlithe, who was thankfully waiting obediently by the kitchen island as Emily prepared its meal instead of exploring and potentially tearing up the house it had just been introduced to. That lunch meat along with a nice, cold bowl of milk was combined to make a nice little dinner for the Growlithe, Emily sitting back and watching the Pokemon eagerly start to snarf it down from the moment she put the two bowls on the floor! “Goodness, guess you were hungry...” the human said with a soft giggle as she waited for the puppy to finish so she could clean those dishes up; it was pretty late already, and Emily was looking forward to getting ready for bed not too long after this before the Fire-type had very suddenly entered her life. The only thing she was thinking about as she did those dishes and started to get ready for bed, the little rapscallion tagging along behind her all throughout the journey? What name she would give her new pet... It came like a flash as Emily got settled in her bed. It took a few attempts to get the Growlithe to hop up with her, but once he settled in next to her...mmmh. So warm and fluffy, just like a space heater for those cold nights! As she lay there in her bed, half-asleep with an arm wrapped gently around her new pooch like he was a beloved plushie, the name came to her. It was perfect. “Riley. I'll name you Riley...” were the last things out of Emily's mouth before she rolled over; Riley happily barking in response to his new name before a chorus of loud and brackish snores soon erupted from the both of them as a new page turned in Emily’s life. The human wondering how her day would change tomorrow, how different the world she would wake up to would be...and it would be quite different. In fact, more different than she was possibly expecting, to be honest! The human’s dreams were full of possibilities as to what could come next for the two of them. The places she could go, the Pokemon battles she could engage in...the battles! She had never even thought about being a trainer, but now this avenue had been opened up for her so graciously. So many ideas for her to explore in her subconscious, but the one that was going to end up becoming reality she could not have foreseen in her wildest dreams. Morning came. A deep smile still lay across Emily’s face as the human dreamt. She was somewhere nice and warm. Perhaps a field in the middle of a sunny day, running with her puppy. It was perfect. It was beautiful. And then something dripped on her. Strange, it wasn't raining; it was a cloudless sky, even. Another drip. Wait, why was it warm - And that was the thought that snapped Emily awake. The human groaned and slowly opened her eyes, her brain's struggling to process the orange-and-cream-colored blur that was standing on top of her and making it impossible for her to move. Then she felt the warmth and wetness on her face, saw the snout of a very different Pokemon come into frame, along with some very warm, stale dog breath panting down onto her face. And another glob of drool, just to be safe. And to be even more safe, a giant, red tongue coming down to give her a big, slimy slurp from chin to forehead, Emily immediately cringing and trying to push herself away before realizing that her shoulders were being pinned down by this massive Pokemon's paws! “EEEeeewww!!” Emily immediately cried out as she tried her best to smear the slimy stuff off of her face, rolling over and trying to at the very least rub it into her pillow, only succeeding in getting it into her hair as Riley jumped off of her bed and started to shake frantically like he had just taken a bath - sending a bunch of shedded orange fur flying absolutely everywhere in Emily’s bedroom in the process, of course! It seemed that little bit of affection was all that Riley needed to evolve overnight, turning the cute little puppy into a gigantic, 300-plus-pound, six-foot-tall Arcanine that could probably BE Emily's bed if she wanted it to be! And, though, that was a very cute idea, owning something this gigantic was absolutely not something Emily signed up for when she had picked up this cute little puppy off the side of the road... “Okay. I *cannot* do this.” the human said to herself as she stumbled out of bed, immediately grabbing her phone and looking up the nearest shelter or daycare that she would be able to drop Riley off at. Though she was soon distracted by having to shield her face from something Riley was doing in the corner of her room; namely, sitting down and licking himself in some very...private places, as dogs were wont to do! “Oh, come on Riley, I don't want to see that...” the human groaned as she covered her eyes and turned away from the Arcanine, trying her best to continue her research in peace. Eventually, she did stumble upon a shelter that would potentially take a giant Fire-type, but you had to get there physically, and it would probably fill up fast for the day. It took quite a bit of corralling to get Riley out of her room, and then out of the house towards her car. But as she walked the Arcanine towards her car, she very quickly realized a bit of a problem with her plan: there was simply no way that Riley would even fit inside! “Oh, god. Okay. Ummmm...” Emily started to ramble, tapping her feet and looking around as she tried her best to figure out a solution to this problem. There was no way leaving Riley in the house would work out. She didn't have a garage, or anything like that, and she wouldn't want to spring this beast on any of her neighbors, even for the hour or so it would take for her to confirm everything with the shelter. The only option she had left was her backyard. So, after some more corralling, she managed to get Riley back there, locking him in with a chain link on the door as the pooch pouted and whimpered a tiny bit at the edge of the fence. “I won't be gone for too long, bud. Just wait here...” Emily said quickly before she darted back to her running car, hopping in and driving off to the shelter that would hopefully get this massive Arcanine out of her hair! It took Riley approximately five seconds after seeing Emily's car disappear into the horizon to start attempting to escape. Being a Fire-type, he could easily just melt the fence with a Flamethrower or something like that, but even he understood the potential consequences of going for such an option. So, instead, the Arcanine opted for an equally destructive, but ultimately more contained attack. He reared up on his back legs, then jumped forward with a powerful burst of speed, blasting the lock wide open with a strong Headbutt; flying through the open gate and making his way right to the door that Emily had freshly locked. The bolt lock took a few more Headbutts than the spindly chain lock, but it too eventually fell to the Fire-type’s power, swinging wide-open on its hinges to let Riley saunter his way back in. And then...the Pokemon had the whole house to himself.~ The first thing that caught the Arcanine’s wandering eyes was a tall potted plant next to Emily’s kitchen island. It looked as if it was growing out of the bottom half of an old barrel; some kind of thriving, tall fern. And now that Riley had his eyes set on it, it wouldn't last much longer. The Legendary Pokemon's tail swished back and forth as he sashayed up to the plant, knocking a lamp positioned on a nearby table to the ground with a dense crash that sent pieces scattering all over the hardwood floor. Riley either didn't hear it, or didn't care, though, because he continued to saunter right over to his target, turning around and lifting his leg up before a loud trickling sound started to echo throughout the empty room. Finally, he had gotten the opportunity to mark his territory. Now that he had gotten that important milestone out of the way, the Arcanine was beginning to feel a bit frisky. He quickly jumped his way over to the living room in graceful, yet still quite mischievous bounds, immediately hopping onto Emily's nice, clean couch and spreading dog fur all over it! Not only that, but once he incidentally got his teeth on one of the pillows, instinct kicked into overdrive, and soon, Riley was tearing up those pillows, the sofa cushions, even the curtains on the wall - anything soft, rippable with a claw, and filled with stuffing, basically! Nothing was safe from the Arcanine’s primal urges, Riley biting down on pillows and cushions as well, frantically shaking them in his mouth like prey Pokemon...sending stuffing flying everywhere in the process, of course. All that terror soon made the Arcanine a bit tired, though, and he found himself plopping his butt down onto the carpet a few seconds later, before realizing that it felt rather nice, honestly! So he started scooting around on the carpet with his butt, scratching some very hard-to-reach places in the process, enjoying the soft fibers in a rather...unique fashion! Riley continued this little respite for a few minutes, before he got the zoomies again and quickly made his way into Emily’s room - the same room where he had evolved this morning - and found the large, stuffed Snorlax plush that she had. Something carnal inside of the Arcanine activated, and he found himself baring down and starting to hump against the plushie before he even realized what was happening, honestly! It was the only thing in the house that was large and soft enough for him to do that kind of thing to, and as soon as the Arcanine saw it, some kind of switch just flipped in the Pokemon’s brain... Emily’s car pulled back into her driveway about an hour later. She had gotten to the shelter just after it had filled up for the day, and now she had to deal with this huge, obnoxious Arcanine for at least another night. The door that Riley had burst through had at the very least swung shut, though as Emily approached, she could already tell something was off with how the bolt lock had been completely broken. As the trainer cautiously opened the trashed door, though, she couldn’t imagine what she actually had to deal with on the other side! Her eyes went wide and her jaw slowly unhinged as low as it could go as she saw the absolute tornado that had gone through her kitchen while she was gone. Shattered lamp pieces on the kitchen floor. A torn-open garbage bag with refuse strewn about the entire kitchen. Mud tracked from the backyard, through the kitchen, into the living room. And the crown jewel of it all, a dirty, mud-coated Arcanine sitting on Emily’s torn-up, tattered couch, coating it in mud in the process with his very existence! “Oh. My. God.” was all that Emily managed to say as she stumbled into her house, looking like a soldier returning from war as she slowly made her way towards Riley. Before she could say anything else, though, the Arcanine bounded off of the couch towards her, shaking off all that mud and muck in the process - which ended up splattering on Emily, the walls around her, the carpet, the couch...another shriek from the unfortunate dog owner pierced the ears of the entire neighborhood as she looked down at the collage of dirt that had been erected upon her outfit for the day. That same neighborhood would be treated to the reason for that shriek a few minutes later, as a dirt-covered Emily sprayed over a very pouty-looking Arcanine hunched down in a kiddie pool in her front yard, the human soon taking a sponge to Riley’s muddy fur and scrubbing as much muck out of it as she could. The clear and clean water soon adopting a deep brown hue as it absorbed the thick mud, to the point where bathing in it probably wasn't helping Riley anymore. In the middle of scrubbing the Arcanine’s lower back, though, Emily heard an ominous bubbling starting to come from under the surface of the water...realizing what it meant, the human threw herself back in disgust, which gave Riley the opportunity he needed to jump out of the muddy pool and start running around the yard! “Oh, no you don't. GET BACK HERE, RILEY!” Emily yelled at the top of her lungs as she started to chase the Fire-type around her front yard - but in her haste, she forgot about the kiddie pool. And that meant she ended up tripping right over it, falling down into that muddy water with a thick SPLASH! Riley just snickered as he watched his trainer floundering around in the water. He knew he had won. - It took Emily hours to clean up after all the messes that Riley had made. And, of course, there were some that she couldn't fully fix, like the ripped-up couch cushions. She would just have to get new ones. But, eventually, the trainer could collapse in her bed, completely exhausted and drained from the unexpected events of her day. Perhaps her bedroom could be a tiny respite from the beast that had invaded her house. One tiny thing, though; Emily hadn't closed her door. And she was so dead right now that, even though she realized that fact, she just accepted what was inevitably going to happen. And that was that Riley was going to come bounding through the open doorway, jumping right onto her bed and slotting himself in right beside her, using the worn-out trainer as little more than a doggy body pillow for a well-earned rest after a long day of play. Emily didn't fight it; she couldn't, really. Even as she started to overheat underneath the bulk of the Fire-type, those thick forearms squeezing her chest tight as Riley started to snore right into her ear...all she could do was try her best to get the tiniest bit of rest. The human was so exhausted that she did actually manage to get a decent amount of rest, though it wasn't exactly of the highest quality and it was pretty patchwork and spotty, but it was still sleep. As the next morning came, Emily found herself presented with the quite difficult prospect of attempting to get out from underneath Riley, the Arcanine still knocked out cold and snoring up quite a storm. It felt like trying to get out from being trapped underneath a boulder at first, only more annoying considering that boulder was constantly snoring in her ear! But, after a fair amount of wiggling, pushing, and patience, she managed to make her way out from underneath Riley, all while the Arcanine still snored away happily. Urgh. At least she could go and make herself some breakfast while she thought about everything that had happened last night. Emily just stared straight through the bacon that was frying in her pan as she relived yesterday's events. “How on earth did I think this was a good idea?” she thought to herself. “I can barely take care of myself, let alone a Pokemon, especially something like an Arcanine...” she continued to sulk, only interrupted by the sounds of Riley starting to run into the kitchen, probably attracted by the salty smell of frying bacon. It was the worst possible time for him to show up, though. All that sulking Emily was doing was beginning to boil over, especially as the Arcanine got up on his hind legs and wrapped his forearms around Emily in a giant, sweltering bearhug! All at once, that anger released, Emily yelling as she struggled to break free from Riley’s embrace, whirling around to avoid the Arcanine as soon as she managed to push him off of her. “RILEY -” she started to yell, finger pointer and ready to go - but there he was, just lying on the floor, belly up, looking almost disarmingly adorable. Those same puppy-dog eyes he had as a Growlithe, the ones that had brought her in before...they were working their magic again. As much as Emily thought it was hard to admit, thought that she got special privileges due to her situation, it would have just been cruel for her to drop the Arcanine off at a shelter like that. It would be a very long and arduous road to be able to take care of Riley properly, and be able to maintain herself in the process...but, well, that was the situation she was in now. Letting that anger dissipate, Emily walked over to Riley, kneeling down onto the floor and giving the Arcanine a long, deep belly rub. “You're such a good boy, Riley. And you're my good boy.” She turned back around to the frying bacon, realizing that this whole endeavor had taken more than a few minutes and that it was probably going to burn if she didn’t finish it up soon! But while Emily was distracted, Riley sneakily got up onto the counter next to her and took a few laps of a cup of orange juice she had poured herself...plopping himself down on the floor and watching as she unwittingly took a drink from that cup just a few seconds later~