The Mega Tribe

Within Building Walls

The Manager dragged me with the leash in his hand as he was preparing to display another set of Pokémon this week.

Inside was the dreary grey walls, with glass walls trapping various Pokémon that were being displayed in the building.

I saw an empty one that looked recently cleaned and realized it was meant for me, at the very end of the hall.

I snarled and shot a Shadow Ball at the Manager's face.

He moved his head away and scowled.

"Your father is in the tank next to your's." The Manager snapped.

I looked over and I almost lost my balance. Unihorn!

"Dad!" I bolted to the tank and he looked down at me.

"Alice, so good to see you after two months!" Unihorn neighed. "If you wanna keep up the conversation, you might wanna listen to the Manager and get in your tank."

I knew my father was right, and I immediately trotted over to my tank. The Manager grabbed a key and locked me in my tank.

"Is Dimples here?" I whispered to my father only feet away from me.

"The Houndour pup?" Unihorn asked. "No, but his caretaker should be letting him out soon."

"Thank goodness they still have caretakers for the pups and kits." I sighed. "Even though they recently fired a lot of them."

"All that matters to them is training the young to become strong." Unihorn muttered. "And making sure the public don't notice any Pokémon abuse."

I heard a door at the back of the hall creak open and a Houndour bolt out with his tongue lolling.

"Dimples!" I purred.

Unlike most Houndour pups, Dimples isn't fierce at all and loves everybody like Teddybear does. He barked excitedly and started greeting all the display Pokémon in their tanks.

I saw Dimples's caretaker walk out with Riffin treading behind and I flinched.

"What put burrs in his fur?" Unihorn murmured.

"Limedrop Sweetums was sold for 3 million Poké and a Shaymin." I explained.

"Who was she?" Unihorn asked. "I thought Eglantine was his mate."

"She was traded off months ago." I replied. "Mate after mate I swear."

"He thinks that the rarest mate is the best, he always moves on to even rarer mates." Unihorn snarled. "He didn't even care that your mother Sabline and a bunch of other Pokémon were traded for that Virizion."

"At least you have your oldest kit." I purred. "Me."

"Of course." Unihorn quickly looked up and his face brightened.

I saw Dimples greet the Pokémon next to Unihorn and bolted towards us, dancing his paws in excitement.

"Hey Alice! Hey Unihorn!" Dimples barked.

"Hey Dimples." I greeted him softly. "They still been letting you outside everyday?"

"Every other day now." Dimples whimpered. "At least I have my friends in the kennels."

The caretaker brought out a ball and threw it across the building.  Dimples's eyes grew as big as saucers and he sprinted in the direction of the ball.

"We shouldn't be here." Unihorn admitted. "Pokémon are supposed to be free, Sabline believed that more than anything."

Ah yes, the wild. My mother Sabline told me the most wonderful and sometimes scary stories about being free from a trainer's hands. How you could hunt and survive or easily be torn apart by a bigger rogue Pokemon.

"They think they're keeping us safe here." Unihorn laughed darkly. "How wrong they are, making us no more than their property, making us battle instead of them."

"And trading away the ones you love."

We were surprised to see Riffin walk towards us without acting like we were beneath him, he looked down shamefully.

"I'm sorry for how crappy I've treated you two." Riffin whimpered. "I really liked Limedrop Sweetums. I know that'd be hard to believe."

Me and my father only exchanged glances of genuine surprise and looked back at the forlorn dog.

"Being the Manager's pet isn't as easy as it sounds." Riffin sighed. "You fall in love with the Pokémon you help your master take care of, only to have them ripped away from you."

"Why don't you let them have your pups?" Unihorn suggested. "Sabline may be gone, but I still have her daughter right here."

"I don't want to do that with a mate I could lose." Riffin sniffed. "Looking into my pup's eyes knowing I let their mother down?"

Riffin pawed the ground nervously. "I said too much."

Riffin looked at me briefly before walking over to a food bowl in the corner.

"What's with the big change?" Unihorn narrowed his eyes as I got up. "Don't tell me you're going to him."

"He looks like he's got a lot to say, the poor dog." I whispered. My heart fluttered, why? I must've been embarrassed to associate myself with such a smug Pokémon.

But he broke his shield of pride and even apologized to us. And that had to mean something!

I noticed his coat was starting to get shaggy like a wild Furfrou's and I walked to him, he was eating pellets of food miserably.

"I...thought you always had some of whatever the Manager eats...?" I asked him gingerly.

"I refuse to eat with him." Riffin growled. "He got rid of Limedrop Sweetums, Eglantine, Joyblossom, Athena, Grape Shimmer, and...Tara..."

He looked down and collapsed, burying his face in his food bowl.

"Everyone believes that these shinies and legendaries you were mates with were nothing more than your trophies." I confessed. "You even said that the rarer the better."

Riffin's irises shined a malicious red.

"I'm not that cold!" Riffin barked. "Tara, my first mate, wasn't shiny nor a legendary. She was something else to be quite honest."

He looked away and sighed.

"I've been alive for 8 years, the Darkness Core can't possibly be any worse than what I've gone through." Riffin whimpered. "Your Dad's right, I gotta start having pups to get to Monmaura at least."

I nodded, to get to such a holy land, you could only have lots of children to populate the Earth.

"Why, aren't you such a young girl?" Riffin smiled weakly as he got up. "Such an innocent gaze and a fiery spirit..."

He smiled the most endearing smile possible to me, I felt the rush in my heart burst into a fire as he chuckled softly.

"Why don't you be my mate?"