//------------------------------// // Burning Sensation // Story: A New World, a New Way: Against the Book // by Speven Dillberg //------------------------------// Burning Sensation The moment Scorch had rolled over and started snoring, Jenny knew he was a lost cause. It would have been easier to wake a Snorlax, and a lot less painful. Still, the two Ponytas had been kind enough to make sure she had water, and had even given her a blanket of her own to sleep on. It was still on the floor, but she appreciated the sentiment. Now, she had a problem. She had drank too much. Scorch was completely out of it. She had to use the bathroom and had no idea what to do. I am not going to… go on the grass, she thought. I’m still human. I don’t look it, but I am. And humans use the toilet. She smiled for a moment. But where is the toilet? As she looked around the room her ears drooped. There was a bookshelf, a desk, a table and two doors, but no obvious way to the bathroom. At least one of the doors was open, if she wanted to go outside. Not happening, Jenny reaffirmed to herself. She may be trapped on another world in a body that wasn’t hers, being treated like a household pet, but she still had her dignity. She carefully stood up, swivelling her head around to make sure she hadn’t missed anything. Of course, she was Officer Jenny, she was a police officer, she wasn’t about to let a few closed doors stop her. Except she couldn’t reach the handle. Even when she reared up it was still out of reach. “Great,” she muttered angrily. “It would have been nice if I got turned into something a bit bigger. Why is the handle so high up anyway?” she asked. “The little one wouldn’t be able to get in here.” She turned around and looked around, hoping for a chair to stand on. When that turned up nothing, she turned to Scorch. “It’s not like he’s gonna wake up…” she rationalised. She still felt bad when she started pushing the still-sleeping Growlithe over to the door, though. As Jenny climbed on top of him to get to the handle, he began rolling over, threatening to throw her off. “No no no no!” she screamed as she slammed into the door, muzzle-first. “Ow…” She looked up and sighed, seeing the handle was now in easy reach. At least all this effort had paid off. She grabbed the handle and pulled it, smiling that she was going to get out. Except, the door didn’t move. “No…” she said as she pushed the door, futilely. “No no no no no!” she screamed, hammering on it in frustration. “Are you okay in there?” she heard a voice ask from the other side. “I’m hearing a lot of ‘Growl’s.” “Argh!” Jenny found herself on her back when the door pushed against her, knocking her off of Scorch and onto the ground. “Ow…” she moaned as she clutched the back of her head. Scorch, despite getting rolled over, didn’t wake up. “Why was he sleeping against the door?” the bigger Ponyta asked as she pushed her way into the room. Jenny just stared. Of course. The door was pulled open from this side. She sighed angrily as she righted herself. If she had spent a few moments to actually think, she would have realised that. “Were you trying to get out?” Jenny nodded, for some reason feeling like a child at school getting told off. “Why? You got bored?” The Growlithe nodded again, hoping it would let her explore a bit. Maybe she could find the toilet. “Well, I guess you can walk around. Just don’t go drinking out of the toilet.” Jenny almost tripped, almost halfway out the door, at hearing that last part. “Drink from the toilet!? I am not a Grimer!” she yelled angrily, snarling at the pony. “That’s disgusting!” “Woah, calm down,” the big Ponyta said placatingly, calmly petting her head, completely ignoring the display of aggression. “I don’t want to have to get a muzzle.” That shut Jenny up, her snarl quickly becoming a grimace. Being treated like an animal was one thing, being treated like a dangerous animal was another completely. She lowered her hackles - and what a weird idea that is, she thought - and took a few deep breaths. She was a police officer, she was meant to be calm and rational. She wasn’t supposed to lose control of her emotions so easily. After calming herself, she simply stared ahead as she resolved to find the toilet. Too much time had been spent dawdling, and she had no idea how much control she had as a Growlithe. She definitely didn’t want to find out at a bad moment and get branded incontinent. “Toilet, toilet…” Her head swivelled as she looked around, not sure which way to go. “What would Scorch do?” she asked herself. She sat on the ground for a moment, her rear legs squirming as she tried to think. Whenever Scorch was after something, whether it was the trail of a criminal or the box of treats she had hidden, he used his nose. She cocked her head. Now that I’m a Growlithe… could I do the same? she asked herself. “Only one way to find out…” she muttered, sniffing. She was almost knocked over from the information overload. She’d been ignoring things before, more focused on why she was a Growlithe to pay attention to what she could do now. Smells were so much more intense, and she was smelling things she’d never knew existed. She remembered hearing that Growlithes had one of the best noses of any Pokémon, and now she knew why. It was like she had been blind her whole life and was seeing for the first time. Somehow, she knew how to pick apart the overwhelming array to get what she wanted. To her left, she could smell the remains of burnt toast and peanut butter, along with what she guessed was tea. To her right was the smell of bleach and disinfectant, not exactly what she wanted. Ahead lay toothpaste and soap. “The toilet will be next to the bathroom,” Jenny said confidently. Most houses she had been in had been laid out that way, and she saw no reason this would be any different. She hurried in the direction her nose pointed her in, really starting to get desperate. Pushing the door open with her head, she sighed when she saw a porcelain trough. “That makes sense, they have four legs,” Jenny mused, nudging the door closed. “And so do I,” she added as an afterthought. “This should be easy.” “Arceus-damned pull chain! Get! Down! HERE!” Jenny shouted angrily, her teeth gnashing at the chain which taunted her by staying several inches out of reach. Of course, this had to be the part where everything fell apart. She could have slipped and fallen into the toilet, or missed. But no, fate would not be that kind. “Jenny?” She turned around and saw Scorch, having wrenched himself from Cresselia’s realm, staring at her in confusion. “What are you - ?” “Scorch!” she barked. “Get here and let me stand on you!” “I… what?” the Pokémon asked. “I need to pull this chain. If I get on your back, I can reach it!” Jenny explained loudly. “Now get over here!” she ordered. “Are you okay?” “Yes, I’m fine, I just want to hurry up and flush this stupid thing so I can nap.” Jenny blinked. “Did i just say ‘nap’?” “You remember what those eggheads call Growlithes?” Scorch asked. “The Puppy Pokémon. And the force wondered why no-one took us seriously…” he muttered. “Hey, don’t do that,” Jenny said, stepping away from the chain. “There’s nothing out there with a nose like a Growlithe, and you have no idea how amazing that is.” She looked around, frowning. “There’s probably somewhere better to have this conversation than next to a toilet that hasn’t been flushed.” “All right, I’ll get next to the wall and you jump on my back,” the other Growlithe said, getting into position. “Just don’t move,” Jenny said, jumping up and grabbing the chain with her teeth. “There you are. Why are you…” They both turned to see a slack-jawed Nightingale staring at them. “Huh. Well… At least you’re not drinking from the toilet...” The pony disappeared, her confused expression never changing. “Why would we drink from the toilet? People poop in there!” Scorch pointed out. “I don’t get it either,” Jenny agreed. Nightingale was at a loss. She’d been observing the two ‘Growlithes’ since she’d taken them in the previous day, and what she had seen didn’t make sense. At times they acted just like puppies, but at times they displayed intelligence and problem-solving abilities far beyond anything that could be expected. She tapped her pen against the paper, trying to find the best words to use. She glanced at the pair, watching as they seemed to argue. Over what, she had no idea. “Look, Jenny, you don’t know how long it’ll be, you need to practice!” “But what if I get turned back tomorrow? It’ll all be wasted,” Jenny pointed out. “Not really,” Scorch retorted. “At least this way we won’t be sitting on our butts all day getting fed treats by the girl. Though I guess that isn’t so bad…” he trailed off. “No, bad Scorch,” Jenny said, smacking him lightly. “I won’t watch you get fat and lazy. You’re still a Police Officer, even if you’re not ‘on duty’ at the moment.” “Technically, you’re the officer, I’m just the attack dog,” he pointed out. “And if you get fat, it reflects poorly on me,” she shot back. “And I guess you’re right, even if we get nowhere it’ll be interesting.” “Now the student is the teacher,” Scorch said mystically. “Stop that and teach me how to breathe fire already,” Jenny complained. Despite how much she wanted to be human, the idea of breathing fire, something she’d seen Growlithes do hundreds of times, was suddenly very interesting. Maybe it was because it was now a possibility, or maybe it was some old childhood fantasy reawakened. Either way, it was kind of exciting. “We should go outside, don’t want to set the curtains on fire or something,” the other Growlithe mentioned awkwardly. Nightingale watched as the pair left the room, a pen hovering in the air over a notepad. “The two seem perfectly capable of having complete discussions amongst themselves, though for some reason they consist solely of parts of the word ‘Growlithe’. I do not know why as of yet but…” “So, how does this work?” “Well…” Scorch stopped to think. How did it work? He’d been doing this his whole life, he’d never had to actually think about how he did it before. “First thing’s first, take a few deep breaths and get relaxed.” “Okay…” Jenny did as he said, not sure where this was going. “Fire can do a lot of damage, but only if you let it. As long as you remain in control of your emotions, you remain in control of the fire,” he explained, recalling something his parents had mentioned years ago. “That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use fire when you’re angry, but you need to control the anger. If it controls you, then the fire might die, or go out of control.” “That… that’s kinda profound, Scorch,” Jenny admitted. “I didn’t know you were like that.” “You could only start understanding me yesterday,” he pointed out. “Heck, I could be a real philosopher and all you’d ever hear is ‘Growl, Growlithe, Growl’.” “Heh, good point.” “Another important thing is to call your attacks.” “What? Why?” “It’s… hard to explain. Most Pokémon battles aren’t to the death. So, we call our attacks so the other guy can brace themselves.” Scorch shrugged. “At least, that’s the way I see it.” “Hmm.” “All you need to do is take a deep breath, and… Flamethrower!” Scorch opened his mouth and let out a stream of fire into the air, bathing the area in heat. “Easy as that,” he stated. “Though perhaps you should start with something like Ember first.” “All right then.” Jenny did as he said and shouted “Ember!” Nothing happened. “Uh, Jen, I said Ember, not Fire Fang,” Scorch said, pointing out that her teeth were burning. “Still, that’s kinda neat,” he admitted as she tried to look at her jaw. “Took me ages to figure out how to do that.” “Thanks, I - did you hear that?” she asked, her mouth still full of fire. “Yeah,” the other Growlithe said with a frown. “Smells like a… a pile of scrap metal.” “But it moved.” “Yeah...” he replied uneasily.