Burning Curiosity
Burning Curiosity
Jenny woke up, her entire body feeling numb. “What… happened?” She asked. She looked around and found herself in a clearing, not unlike the last place she remembered being. She sat there for a few moments as the rest of her memories came rushing back. The failed pursuit, being overpowered by the Gardevoir. “Dammit all,” she muttered. Now there was no way she could show her face around the station. She had been so close, too, she knew it.
She didn’t know how long she sat there, feeling sorry for herself, but she was interrupted by footsteps. She looked up, and couldn’t help but smile. “Oh, Scorch, it’s you,” she said to the Growlithe.
The Growlithe paused. “How… how do you know my name?” He asked nervously.
“I… Scorch, of course I know your name,” Jenny replied in confusion. “You’ve been my partner for years,” she added.
“Wait. You mean… no, you can’t be. You’re not Jenny.” Scorch the Growlithe adopted an aggressive stance and started glaring at Jenny.
“What!? No, Scorch, it’s me! I swear, I’m - woah!” Jenny had tried to stand up, but for some reason her sense of balance was completely off. “Ow,” she muttered from her new position, one that let her admire the sky.
The Growlithe relaxed its stance a little, not sure about what he was seeing. “Are you okay?”
“What happened?” She asked herself as she rolled onto her belly. Why couldn’t she stand up? It was like her body just didn’t want to move the way she wanted it to. She got onto all fours and realised that it felt much more comfortable. “What’s going on?” She looked at her hands. Or rather, were her hands were meant to be.
“WHAT!?” she screeched, staring at the pair of orange paws. “WHAT!? WHY DO I HAVE PAWS!?”
“Calm down!” Scorch started pleading. “Calm down!”
Jenny looked at her, whipping her head around to get a better look at her.body. Orange fur with black stripes, a fluffy cream tail, more cream fur on her chest and belly… There was no doubting what she was. “Why am I a Growlithe!?”
“I - I - I don’t know!” Scorch shouted. “Just please, calm down!”
“Why am I a Growlithe, Scorch!?” she shouted back, only just registering that her eyes were level with Scorch’s. “Why!?”
“If you were Jenny you wouldn’t be acting like this!” the other Growlithe roared, finally fed up with her behaviour. “Now stop!” Jenny gaped at the sudden angry outburst. “Thank you,” Scorch said, thankful that she had stopped screaming. “Okay. You say you’re Jenny. How… how can you prove it?”
“Umm… Err… W-when we first met. You set fire to my hat,” she offered.
Scorch gave her a flat look. “Every time I sneeze there’s a good chance I’ll set something on fire. You’re gonna need to do better than that to convince me.”
“Whenever it’s cold you sneak into my bed?” she tried.
“That would describe almost any Pokémon.”
“One time I woke up because you stuck your tongue up my nose. That woke you up, and then I had to spend two weeks with my shoulders and neck covered in bandages from when you snorted fire.”
Scorch just stood there, his jaw hanging open loosely. “Okay, yeah, y-you’re Jenny. Um. Sorry,” he added timidly.
“No, I…” Jenny sighed. “I can understand, I guess. Why, though?” She shakily took a few steps forward before losing her balance again. “Argh!” She spat out a mouthful of grass and looked at Scorch, who was failing to hide a smile. “This is gonna get boring fast. A little help?”
Jenny had no idea how long it took for her to get the hang of quadrupedalism, but it felt like it was too long. Still, being able to move properly on all fours meant that Scorch could finally lead her out of the little clearing he’d found her in.
It turned out that they were in a park. Around them were numerous Pokémon of varying species, mainly Pidgeys, Flabébés, Budews and even Skiddo. She was sure she could see few stranger specimens, like Arons and Mareep. What was most disconcerting was that each one had a voice she could actually understand.
“They’re all talking…”
“Yeah. Well, um, you’re a Pokémon now, so you can understand us,” Scorch pointed out.
“This is so strange…”
“My trainer turned into a Growlithe, and we are absolutely nowhere I can recognize,” Scorch retorted flatly. “I think we passed beyond the point of ‘strange’ a while ago.”
Jenny nodded as she kept looking around, listening to the voices all around her. She had never imagined that she would be in a position to actually understand what had once been meaningless noise. But despite the multitude of voices, there was one thing they all had in common. “They sound confused.“
“I am as well. This park isn't anywhere in Kalos. And some of those Pidgeys mentioned being from Kanto. We're all confused,“ Scorch admitted nervously.
Jenny looked around before nodding to herself. “Come on, Scorch. We're gonna get some answers.“
“We are?“ her Growlithe partner asked.
“I’m a police officer. I might not look like it,“ she admitted, “but I can at least ask questions. Maybe someone here knows something.“
“I guess it’s better than sitting here...“ Scorch followed Jenny, partly out of a sense of duty, partly to help when she stumbled over her own paws again.
The officer-turned-Growlithe walked through the park, feeling more and more confident by the second. She could do this, it was what she was trained to do. As long as she ignored the fact that she was asking Pokémon instead of people, it was going to be just like questioning witnesses at a crime scene. With her strategy planned out, she stopped under a tree. “Excuse me!“ she called out. “I’d like to ask a few questions!“
“Get in line, pup!” an angry voice from above called back.
Jenny looked up and suddenly felt a lot less confident. Glaring down at her from its vantage point was an angry-looking Pidgeot. And it wasn’t just angry, it was angry. “Eep.“ And it towered over her, easily twice her height.
“What makes you think you can just waltz in and demand answers?“ the Pidgeot asked loudly. It didn’t even wait for an answer, instead just flapping its wings furiously and sending Jenny flying. The Growlithe let out a yelp of surprise as she suddenly found herself airborne until she slammed into a tree a few dozen feet away and fell face first into the mud.
“Jenny!“ Scorch shouted as he ran up to her. “Are you okay?“
Jenny let out a low groan, unfortunately leading to mud leaking into her mouth. The Growlithe shook her head and spat mud from her between her teeth. “Oww... did you get the number of that Rhydon?”
“Come on,“ Scorch said softly, putting his head under her chin and helping her up.
Jenny let out another groan as he helped her up but once he had she blinked twice and looked at him down her mud stained muzzle. “Thanks Scorch.”
“Let’s find a pond, get that washed off.“
As Scorch led the way, Jenny wiped away what she could. “I guess Pokémon aren’t all that different from humans,“ she muttered.
“Huh?“
“Turns out that some Pokémon are natural-born assholes too,” Jenny replied with a shake of her head. “If we were human I would arrest him for assault.“
Scorch laughed a little. “Get used to this kind of thing. Unless we find some Fire Stones we’re kind of left at the bottom of the ladder as far as ‘respect’ goes.”
“Really? Why?“
“Because we’re ‘small’,” Scorch replied with a small shrug. “Not to mention that only Arcanine are really seen as ‘adults’. Heck, if it wasn’t for you picking me I’d probably still be too weak to do much good in a serious fight.”
Jenny sat by the edge of the small pond and looked at her reflection. Instead of her familiar human face, with its blue hair and authoritative eyes, the face that looked back could only be described as ‘adorable’.
“Arceus... I’m cute...” she muttered to herself.
“Yeah, you are,“ Scorch said, looking at her with a big smile on his muzzle. “Uh, sorry.“
“You’re cute too,“ Jenny said. The other Growlithe started scowling a little, but she missed it because she was trying to wash away the mud.
“Hello?“ The pair looked to the source of the voice and saw a Tympole poking its head out of the water. “Are you okay?“ it asked Jenny.
“Yeah, I’m okay,“ Jenny replied, shaking her head rapidly. “I just got gusted by that big Pidgeot over there...” she said with a nod in the direction of the tree.
“Yeah, that guy’s a jerk. What did you want to ask before?“
Jenny laughed a little, immensely relieved that someone was willing to help. “I was hoping that someone knows something about how we ended up here,“ she explained. “You wouldn’t happen to know anything, would you?“
The Tympole blinked blankly at her. “Not a clue, sorry Miss, I just woke up in this pond a little while ago... I really hope that my family is around here somewhere but I haven’t seen any of my brothers or sisters in... well I just hope that they’re okay.”
“Oh… sorry.“ Jenny coughed awkwardly.
“Eh, don’t worry about it... I’m sure they’re okay,” the Tympole replied, more trying to reassure itself then it was her. “Anything else?”
“No, that’s… Actually, no, there is one more thing. Did anything happen just before you woke up here?“
The Tympole thought for a moment. “There… was a voice,“ it admitted. “I don’t remember what it said, though. Sorry I can’t be any more helpful.“
“It’s alright,” Scorch stated with a small nod. “You’ve already helped a bunch...” he glanced at the little bits of mud still on Jenny’s fur, refusing to come off. “Actually, do you think you could help clean that off?”
“That might not be a good idea,“ Jenny said cautiously. She was a Fire-type now, and to get the mud off would need a Water-type move. But what if it knocked her out?
“Don’t worry Jen, so long as he doesn’t put any force into it you’ll be fine,” Scorch assured her with a smile. “We’re not like Charmander, you know.”
“If you’re sure...“ she replied uneasily.
“Don’t worry, I’ve done this kind of thing before,” the Tympole assured her with a small chuckle as it sucked in a breath and then let out a smooth trickle of water across Jenny’s muzzle, washing away the mud in a comforting spray. “There you go, all done.”
“Phew. Thanks, I was worried you were gonna blast me into another tree or something,“ she admitted.
“Nah, I’m not a jerk,” the Tympole replied. “Us little guys gotta stick together, you know? Even if you two are already together no reason not to have more friends, anyways see ya.”
“I’m not that little...“ Jenny grumbled as the Tympole swam away. “And what did it mean by that?“
“Well... I’m a guy, you’re a girl, we’re both Growlithes... figure it out,” Scorch said slowly.
Jenny blinked. “O-okay. No offence, Scorch, but no. Hopefully this whole mess is temporary, and I don’t think anyone would accept ‘but I was a Pokémon at the time!’ as a valid defense. Not like I’m interested in that kind of thing in the first place...“ she muttered.
“Yeah, of course,” Scorch agreed with a nod of his head. “It’s kinda dumb to even think about in the first place.” He looked away. “Anyways, want to keep looking for clues Jen?”
“Jen?“ she asked, turning to face him.
“Hmm?” he asked with a frown. “It’s what I always call you... Or most of the time anyways.”
Jenny was about to respond, but an excited gasp cut her off. “Doggies!“
The pair blinked in surprise and turned to face a small, pale green Ponyta-like creature, staring at them in wide-eyed wonder. “Scorch, what is that?“
“... no idea.”
“Remedy, no.“
“But muuuuuum!”
The pale-blue unicorn gave her daughter a flat stare. “It could be dangerous, and I don’t want you getting hurt.”
“Mum, I’m just going to the park to see these new animals,” Remedy, a pale green unicorn filly said with a pout. “What if some of them are hurt?”
“And what if some of them hurt you?” her mother countered.
“I don’t think they will Mum...” the filly replied with a smile. “After all, I betcha that they’ll notice that I’m related to a vet!”
“How, dear?” the mare asked. “All you have is one of my spare bags.”
Remedy thought for a moment, her face scrunching up as she did so before the answer came to her. “Magic!”
Nightingale looked down at her daughter and shook her head. “Darling...”
“I said I’ll be careful! What more do you want?”
“To give me a few minutes.”
Remedy stared at her mother as she walked into her veterinary clinic. “Wha?”
“You said you saw a metal tortoise, didn’t you?” Nightingale called out. “I need to see this for myself.” She stepped out wearing a set of saddlebags. “I don’t want you going alone, and I want to see if these things are real,” she answered.
“They are! I saw one walk past my window!” Remedy claimed.
“Well, we’ll go and make sure,” Nightingale said with a smile as she bent down to nuzzle her daughter. “But if we don’t find any then we’re coming right back okay?”
“Okay.”
“Good. Now, let’s go.”
Nightingale followed her daughter as the filly hopped happily down the road. She wasn’t sure if the creatures Remedy claimed to have seen were real or not. If they were then things like the little dragon with the burning tail or the metal tortoise had to be documented. Perhaps if the creatures were truly as strange as he daugher said then she could send a scientific report to Princess Celestia, Nightingale had heard of it being done before after all.
It didn’t take the two long to get to the park, and when they got there, Nightingale’s eyes widened significantly... she was definitely sending a report to someone.
Remedy turned to Nightingale and gave her a smug smile. “I told you they were real, mum.”
Nightingale just nodded numbly... there were so many of them and most of them looked like nothing she’d ever seen before! She was starting to regret not bringing along a camera.
Remedy meanwhile just smiled and began to walk towards the creatures, her eyes on a particular pair who had wandered a bit farther away from the big clusters. “Doggies!” she shouted as she got close to them.
Nightingale followed her daughter’s line of sight and saw that the two did indeed resemble dogs. Very fluffy, strangely coloured dogs, but dogs nonetheless. They were, along with some of the bird-like creatures, the most normal of the lot.
“Mommy... can we take them?” the filly asked insistently.
“Well dear, I’ve never seen any dogs quite like them before, but they don’t have any fleas, they look healthy, and they seem quite docile... so until we can find their owners we can keep them.” And maybe I can do a little research… “Besides, we don’t want them to get hurt by all of these weird creatures.”
Scorch looked sidelong at Jenny. “It wants to take us. What should we do?” he hissed.
Jenny looked at the wide-eyed, off-colour Ponyta and a larger, pale blue one with a horn. She was wearing a white veterinarian's coat and little else. “I… Maybe we should go with them. For now, anyway.”
“Are you sure?” Scorch asked. “I’ll go with you, but this might be a bad idea.”
“It probably is, but I don’t know what else we can do,” Jenny admitted. “At least this way we can find out more about this place. This definitely isn’t Kalos.”
The other Growlithe nodded slightly. “Okay then, you’re the ‘boss’ Jen. And, I guess if things do go poorly, we could just burn our way out…”
“I don’t want to hurt anyone though…” Jenny said. She also had no idea how to go about accessing her new powers, but she didn’t feel like revealing that.
“Neither do I, but if we have to, we have to.”
“At least we didn’t have to hurt them…”
“How did this happen again?“ Scorch asked. The pair had been led to what looked a bit like a doctor’s office and had ended up with blue ribbons around their necks as makeshift collars..
“You saw those eyes, saying ‘no’ would have been like kicking a Pichu,“ Jenny retorted.
“Yay!” the little pony who had grabbed them exclaimed with a grin as she reached out and pulled the two Growlithes against her light green coat. “I’m going to love them and take care of them!”
“We can take care of ourselves. And, from a legal standpoint, I own Scorch,” Jenny pointed out with a frown as she was pressed against the filly’s side.
“Strange how all they can say is ‘Growlithe’, though. Never seen anything like it,“ the bigger one admitted.
“And they can’t understand us,“ Scorch added.
“Yeah, that is odd,” the filly agreed before frowning. “Is it okay if we give them some food?”
“Of course, dear, just make sure it’s not the medicated stuff.“
“Thanks mom!” the filly exclaimed, releasing the two Pokémon and dashing out of the room, leaving Jenny and Scorch on the floor in front of the blue mare.
“You two are peculiar,” the mare said with a small frown. “You kind of remind me of temple dogs that they have over in Neighpal but you’re the wrong color.”
“Great, more terrible Ponyta puns,“ Scorch muttered.
“I’m more worried about eating dog food...” Jenny replied with a grimace.
“Hopefully it’s good stuff,“ Scorch replied, his little tail wagging happily at the prospect of being fed.
“I’ll need to make sure to write down your descriptions before we find your owner...” the mare said, still frowning. “At least you’re obviously mates so you won’t get too lonely.”
Jenny’s blush was hidden by her coat. “We are not mates!“ she protested loudly.
The mare frowned at the barking dog. “Don’t worry, the food will be here soon I’m sure,” she assured Jenny, patting her on the head and completely misinterpreting the noises. “My daughter may be a bit excitable but she’s a nice little filly and she knows how to handle animals pretty well.”
“We are not animals,“ Scorch growled.
“I really wish that I had a talent for speaking to animals like some ponies I’ve heard about, then I’d know what you were saying,” the mare said, shaking her head as she turned away from them. “But oh well, no use wishing for something you don’t have,” she added as she walked over to the couch and her horn glowed as a dog reference guide floated over to her. “Maybe I missed something...”
“I got the food!“ Jenny turned and her eyes went wide at the smell.
The filly came trotting in with two dog dishes full of dog chow and... it smelled incredibly good. Jenny barely managed to restrain herself from diving in muzzle first as the filly set them down in front of her. After all... she wasn’t about to eat out of a dog dish!
Scorch had no such compunctions about where his meal came from, and was instead digging into the meal with puppylike abandon. “How can you eat off of the floor?“ Jenny asked in disgust.
Scorch looked up from his meal, licking kibbles off of his lips. “You realize this is where I always eat right? And this stuff is REALLY good too!”
Jenny stared at her meal. It smelled amazing, and the rumbling of her stomach WAS pretty insistent. “Just this once...“ she muttered. She leaned in, aware of the stares of the two that had taken them in.
“Jenny, if you don’t eat that then I will,“ Scorch told her seriously.
She rolled her eyes and took a small bite. She became aware of what was happening around her a few minutes later as her tongue automatically licked at her chops. “Wow,“ Scorch said. “It was like you hadn’t eaten in weeks.“
“What do you mean?“ Jenny asked, oblivious to what she had just done.
“Jen... you just zoned out and ate the entire bowl in less time than I did and I started first,” Scorch replied with wide eyes.
Jenny looked down at the bowl and saw that not only was it empty, it was spotless. “Wow...” she said, blinking in surprise. There were even bite marks where she had, in her fervour, missed the actual food.
“Well, you certainly have a strong pair of jaws,” the mare said as she glanced down at the bowl. “Keep them to yourself, okay? I don’t want to have to put you in a cone of shame.”
“A cone of…” Jenny stared at her, eyes wide. “You wouldn’t dare!”
Scorch just took the threat as the cue to begin to snicker. “Heheh, I don’t know Jen, I think you could pull off the Cone look.”
“Don’t you side with them, Scorch,“ Jenny said menacingly.
“Heheheheh, sorry, sorry, it’s just a really funny image,” Scorch said, a grin on his face as he continued snickering.
“I think your mate likes the idea,” the mare said with a small chuckle of her own. “I’m not sure if that’s a good sign, little one.”
“We are not mates,“ Jenny repeated angrily.
“Aww, they’re cute together,” the little filly said, smiling brightly as she hopped up on the couch with her mother. Then she turned back to the two Growlithes. “Let me know if you need to go outside to use the bathroom.” Jenny’s face fell when she realised she had failed to even consider that.
“Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it,” Scorch told her reassuringly, giving the other Growlithe a lick on the cheek. “It’s easy.”
Jenny frowned... she may have eaten out of a dog bowl but there was no way she was going to use the bathroom outside… “Yeah, well we’ll see about that,” Jenny said. “I just wish we’d gotten some real answers about what’s happened to me and how we got here.”
“I’m sure we’ll figure something out,” Scorch said before letting out a yawn. “Now, I think I’m going to take a quick nap, you know how eating always makes me tired,” he added as he walked in a small circle and then plopped himself down on the floor, face against his tail.
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I'm really looking forwards to how this progresses, hopefully Jenny won't react TOO badly to Scorch's eventual affections
I really hope someone in Equestria says "boot to the head, and another for jenny and the wimp" and these 2 get the extra boots. Hey it'd fit perfectly wouldn't it?
Regardless, another spinoff gets my approval, like and favorite
yes! let the Madness BEGIN!
MYSTERY DUNGEON: EQUESTRIA.
Sorry, couldn't hold it in.
Really interested on how they will realize what is going to happen with this spin off, Can't wait to read more of it!
Looks promising, keep it up.
MORE!
That or she runs into Gene/Jayce and Belle/Nao, probably the latter pair though.
4886407
Making Mystery Dungeons pop up definetly sounds like something Discord would do to me.
4887686 Well I think the Dragon Training Group in the main fic is from the Mystery Dungeon Series, is it not?
If it is then at least part of that world is in this continuity.
4887424 Unless they make their way over to Hollow Shades I think the other pair of Jenny-Growlithe are in that area already; the Meowstic fic hasn't gone to Ponyville yet, if they do at all is up to the writer.
4888420
I'm pretty sure they were trying to get to Canterlot, but a Diglett/Dugtrio attacked messed that plan up a bit.
4888442 Now that you mention it I think that they may stop in Ponyville for the race. When Seth and Apple Fritter (From A Brave New World) a pair of Meowstic are seen on the train ride back to Canterlot. It is very possible for them to meet up eventualy. You should probbaly run it by Zuesdemi and CroixArua first, but I highly doubt they will say no.
Only one thing about this story bothers me, how does Jenny know about Nepal if it doesn't exist in the Pokemon world?
Just remembered. you actually responded to one of my boot to the head chain comments in a certain chapter... i believe the comment you posted was responding to one of mine going "elsewhere a jenny-turned-growlithe and her partner take boots to the head"
Loving this!
4889495
Yep, that was it.
Speven, you so crazy.. I love it.
4888840 well you know how different regions are different parts of our world? Probably that
4896146 All I'm saying is I've never played a Pokemon game where there was a town/city that either named after or based on the country of Nepal.
4896213 yeah true... I was just saying what came to my head
4896213 and yet places like Africa and I think Asia are referenced in the Pokedex
4918229 What I meant was that if a version of Nepal does exist in the Pokemon universe it would probably be called something else and that is why I was wondering how Jenny understood the pun.
4918256
Actually, it was Scorch.
And Growlithes are kinda rare in Kalos (as in, not native, all imported), so maybe Scorch was, before being given to Jenny, living in the Pokemon equivalent of Nepal. After all, the Growlithe line are based on dog statues found in temples.
4889495 boot to the head has always been funnier than arrow to the knee after all.