“Okay, come on.”
Domino had moved to the Kalos region after her departure from Team Rocket, considering it enough of a break before she had to go back on the hunt. It’d been relatively peaceful, spending most of her time seeing the sights with her companion, Rider.
“What?” Rider’s nose twitched as he spoke, looking at her. “You’re not lost, are you?”
“Wh..What? Totally not.” She was lying. Don’t worry about it.
“I’m not dumb, I can--”
“Wait.”
Domino froze at some rustling in a nearby patch of brush, and she crept over to investigate. Rider pressed himself down further on her shoulder, looking quizzically at whatever it is she decided to stare at.
Sitting lazily in the brush was a pokemon.
It wasn’t like any that’d she’d seen before, really. But it still rang familiar to her. The pokemon itself was new, but the concept.
“That’s a hybrid.”
Rider’s voice caught her off guard, and she nearly flinched. A hybrid out in the wild like this? Was it safe?
She hesitated, remembering what had happened with Rider before she’d stolen him. “We have to catch it, Rider. Before they do.” She didn’t elaborate on who she meant, but she knew Rider could get the picture.
The first time she tried to approach the funny creature, it backed away and spat a fireball at her, much to her chagrin. She wasn’t happy about how Rider laughed about it, but she brushed it off. Of course it would attack her, she was a random stranger! She’d have to think her way through this one.
Slowly she made progress, and slowly the pokemon began to attack her less and less. She was starting to think she was getting the hang of this, and maybe one time she’d get lucky. She had to, for this pokemon’s safety.
Rider fished through her bag, popping his head back out with a pecha berry in his jaws, and he shifted to nibble on it. Domino blinked, realizing how hungry she also was. “Oh, that’s a good idea. I should probably eat somethin’ too..”
Something else caught her attention, though.
The large green pokemon had noticed Rider with the berry, and gave a curious tilt of the head. Domino blinked before she reached in to pull out another berry, holding it out for a moment. “You hungry too?”
That seemed to get a reaction out of the pokemon, but it didn’t step closer. Domino gave a noise of realization before she tossed the berry out a little, far enough from her to give the pokemon space. It toddled over to it and began to nibble at it, and she gave a sigh of relief as she fished for her own snack.
When she looked back up, the pokemon was right in her face, and she startled. “Wh-- oh! Hey, buddy.”
It gave a sniff of her face for a moment before it suddenly flopped over on top of her, squishing her with its full weight. Rider laughed at her.
“O-Okay! Hey, buddy.” She reached to give it a pat on the head, recoiling a little bit at the slightly sticky texture. She’d just have to deal with that, she supposed..
“Brr.” The pokemon replied. Rider approached and made a noise that Domino couldn’t understand, and the other pokemon responded.
“Oh, right, I forgot..” Domino let out a sigh. “Hey, wait -- why didn’t you do this earlier?!”
“It was funny.” Rider stuck his tongue out. “Anyways, she’s grateful for the berry. And a little bit sorry for the fire.”
“Oh, it’s okay.” She gave her a pat on the head. “I have more of them if you wanna come with?
The green pokemon appeared to perk up at that, and Domino could see her tail wagging. “Good! I suppose I should give you a name, then..”
Rider’s nose twitched, and the other pokemon made a noise. “She’s got a name. It’s Peony.”
“Well!” Domino let out a breath, nudging Rider a little. “Guess that settles that. Welcome aboard, Peony.”
