Beast Speaker, Monster Tamer

32: On Our Way to Hosu!

"A week's worth of clothes and any needed supplies," Elise muttered, shutting the door to the house as she split her attention between giving Pan his affection and taking off her shoes. She tense when something creaked overhead, freezing before remembering the presence of the Zoroark. "I'm home!" She announced and the creaking stopped.

Deeming it enough time for the Zoroark to leave if it so wished, Elise went up to her room. Pan slipped between her and the door as she cracked it open and began barking and howling in her room. Upon opening it, she saw a very uncomfortable Zoroark standing in the middle of her room as Pan circled it. It gave her a strained look and Elise crouched down to beckon the dog away from the Pokémon. She whistled lightly and Pan trotted over to plant himself between her arms, huffily eyeing the Zoroark. Elise smiled and greeted the Zoroark cordially.

"Hi! I didn't expect you to see you still here."

The basket storing her hidden stash was still untouched but Elise tensed at the loose Pokéball next to it. She had a few stored away, ones outside of her quirk that the lab professors had given her. There were fewer risks of her suffering rebounds in the cases of them being destroyed, and if she wanted, she could forge the bonds with them and have them integrate into her quirk seamlessly. Elise wasn't afraid of not having enough either, they were plentiful and easy to access. What made her leery was the risk of the Zoroark accidentally trapping itself in the sphere.

"Ah, 'scuse me," Elise muttered as she slid past the Zoroark. Snatching up the sphere, she turned to the Pokémon and chuckled. "Don't want you to be caught up in this, huh?"

It pointed at the Pokéball curiously. Elise's vision was washed over by a blurry scene of a Pokéball opening up and a flash of red light disappearing into it. The girl wobbled at the rush and blinked.

Holy cow. Is this the power of the Zoroark?

"Y-Yeah. That's what it does. Pokéballs are like containment devices," Elise explained to the Zororark, slipping into the explanation given to her by the lab professors. "When in contact with a Pokémon, it converts it into the unique energy signature making up the Pokémon and transports it into the sphere, where I believe the Pokémon reforms as a miniature sprite." She scratched her head. "I don't know what it's like inside but I heard that it's like a small dwelling with all the things you could wish for."

Is that right?

After a moment of silence, Blaziken confirmed it. Yep! It changes to what I prefer during the moment.

"Hah," Elise sighed. "I'm envious a little bit, heh. Anyways, sorry to keep you, the window is open for you to leave. I'll be downstairs."

Gotta go cook. She thought idly, scratching her back near wear a scar ended. With that thought, she waved it goodbye and ushered Pan down the kitchen with her.

The rice pot was empty and Elise fell into an easy monotony as she moved about the kitchen. With the rice in the cooker, Elise set out a pot for soup and a pan to cook the ginger pork. Pan had followed and made a general nuisance of himself as she got ready in the kitchen.

Ginger, soy, sauce, sake. Elise pulled out the cookbook and flipped it to a marked page. Scribbled notecards were secured to it, a product of her scrambling to write down Bakugou's barked instructions over the phone. Pan rammed his head into her knee and she almost toppled.

"Shoo," Elise muttered, nudging at the husky as she washed an onion. "I'm gonna spill the ginger sauce all over you, you pest."

Amidst the sound of bubbling water and the knife hitting the cutting board, Elise heard the stairs creak and the soft padding of footsteps. Pan left her side. Pulling the sliced pork and a cabbage head out of the fridge Elise turned to greet the new figure, surprised at the turn of events. Setting down the things in her hand, she grinned. "Welcome! Would you like something to eat?"