9 Chapter 8

Ren stepped inside the murky innards of the drainage pipe. He had to bend over to fit. As if in an eternal bow, he saw slight hesitation from the figure at the end of the pipe. He was seen now, and he figured that it was aware that its ways out were through him or to wherever the drainage pipe emptied into--which wouldn't be great for a Charmander.

It let out a small show of sparks--almost like a cough. He saw it as a warning sign.

Don't approach further.

He got the message clear. He took the hot dog and held it out as far as he could. He looked around and tried to find something to set the meat down on. He didn't want to place it in the muck...he felt like that would be an insult more than anything.

"Hey, give me some snow, like some wads of it," he stepped back and quietly called out to Azzy. He held out his other hand behind him and waited until he felt the cold snow slapped into his hand. He took a few steps closer and saw another spray of sparks. He saw it close up now--and he had to stop as his eyes widened. There it sat, and with a noticeable wound on its hind leg, was Charmander.

It let out a weak sound, and he realized as it tried to get up to back away, its leg was hampering it too much to support it. This must have been its last stop before stopping to let its wound heal out from the cold. Ren knew he had to help, but he was far from the best person for the job. He stood there thinking--if he alerted someone else--they'd probably have to report it. He was sure vets weren't trained on how to help Pokémon. And if it got taken away...well, he just wasn't sure what would actually happen to it. Rumor is that they're being collected up to be tested on. As if they couldn't learn all about them by playing the game, he thought.

He came back to himself and slowly made his way forward, determined in his action. Azzy leaned in and said something about being careful, but Ren's focus was on Charmander. He kept eye contact and tried his best to keep a neutral expression. "It's okay," he said. "I'm not here to hurt you. I just want to give you some food and bandage up that leg."

Charmander growled, an easy enough warning sign. Ren swallowed hard and slowly crept forward. As he progressed he could see more clearly how deep the cut on its leg was. It looked like it had been bleeding a lot. He got as close as he wanted to get before getting things ready. He was only a few feet apart--and he set the packed snow down on a dry spot just near Charmander. It growls increased as he approached but he stood back, still hunched over as he left the hot dog on top of the mound.

"You got it?" Azzy asked.

"Yeah, one sec though, it's leg is hurt pretty bad."

"Yeah I think I saw it, it was limping when I was following it."

"I'm going to try to bandage it, I'm going to use my shirt." He slowly unzipped his coat and still watching Charmander started to slide it off.

"Wait, are you sure? Dude I don't want you getting hurt."

"I'll got water here if I need it for myself. I'd feel awful leaving it here like this with who knows what else is out there that did this..."

He set his coat down beside him and slid his shirt over his head. When he got it off he began shivering like crazy. Ren held the shirt high up as he grabbed his coat and slid it on again. He shivered deeply as the coat was pressed tight against his skin. He took in a sharp breath and saw that Charmander was sniffing the air, still giving a suspicious low growl to Ren. He took a few steps back, holding his hands freely in the air.

Charmander sniffed the air again and focused in on the hot dog that sat on the mound of snow. It craned its neck out to try to reach it, but it was just barely not able to make it. Ren slowly inched closer, making sure that he was visible the entire time.

"I'm just gonna slide this over to you," Ren said softly. He bent down even closer and pushed the hot dog within its reach. Charmander sniffed it closer and then bit into the edge of the hot dog. It eyed Ren suspiciously still as it began to chew. It looked down at the hot dog and took another bite. Ren approached as slow as he could muster, one step after another he knew that he was going too close. He braced himself for the inevitable bite or burn or whatever was going to come, but when he was right over, he saw Charmander just staring straight into his eyes.

Ren wondered if they had reached an understanding. He saw Charmander go in for another bite and he bent down. He adjusted Charmander's leg and instantly he saw its eyes dart straight to him. It made a pained sound and he tried to work quick. He wrapped the shirt around Charmander's leg and as he went to tie the knot he felt the piercing of its teeth into his arm. His coat was old, but it was padded so it held against the bite.

"It's okay..." he let out. He knew screaming would probably make it bite down harder, and that might actually cause some serious damage. It was instinctive--he didn't blame it for that. He was intruding, he was the threat that the Charmander had to protect from, and...he was almost...

"Done." He tightened it to keep pressure on and he backed up. Charmander let off and sniffed toward its leg, investigating the site of the wound.

"You're going to have to keep that on for a bit, okay? You should be fine. I don't know much about you, but I had a wound like that in my leg," Ren pointed down. "Mine got better after a while. Here, have this," he reached down and grabbed the last of the hot dog. He set it down right in front of Charmander's face. It was a risky move, he could have gotten bit again, but he smiled as it bit into the rest of it and began chewing. He held his hand over his left arm, the bite was burning into his skin. He exhaled sharply and closed his eyes. It was the price of admission--but he felt good about it. "If you stick around, stay safe, I'll come bring you some more food later, okay?"

Charmander stared at him back, chewing and then swallowing the rest of the hot dog. It made no move, but it also hadn't started back to growl. He took that as a good sign, but wasn't going to push it. He started to back out, keeping eye contact with Charmander until he was far enough away to turn around. The light reflecting off the snow was a tough sight to readjust to, but it cleared much faster than before. Azzy looked to be jumping out of himself with glee as he saw Ren reappear from the pipe.

"Dude, you got so close! I was watching from out here. I couldn't hear you clearly because of the echo, but did you say you were coming back?"

Ren nodded. "We'll need to gather more food, but I don't think it's going to be moving today. It could barely even move when I approached. I'd like to at least make sure it doesn't starve."

He nodded and grinned. "Now, I wonder where we'll get some food when we have no money?" His grin grew.

Ren sighed. He knew Azzy had a penchant for mischief.

"I don't think we should steal, though," Ren said. "I don't know if making someone else suffer is the right way to go about this."

Azzy groaned. "You and your morals. Okay, fine. We can beg for some money. Use that to buy some food. Sound better?"

Ren nodded and they both ran off, back up the hill toward the bike path. Ren was zipping his coat up and shivering. After a long course of working the streets they scraped together enough to get four hot dogs. They saved a little to get one each for themselves. Azzy gave the remaining to Ren so that he could save up to get another shirt. Ren laughed at this on the way back down through the bike path.

They both peeked their heads into the drainage pipe and saw the burning embers glowing at the back end of the pipe. The Charmander had seen them and made a sort of whimpering sound.

"Here," Ren handed the two hot dogs over to Azzy and bent down to scoop up a pile of snow, packing it into a flat shape.

"I'll follow behind so it doesn't get too spooked, but we'll rest the food on this so it doesn't have to make contact with the grime."

"Ah, that's why you asked for snow last time," Azzy said, understanding.

Ren nodded, and he followed Azzy inside the pipe.

"Go slow, don't want to scare it more than it probably is."

"I don't think fast is an option in here," Azzy replied.

They approached and the Charmander let out another sound. Azzy cocked his head to the side and whispered out, "I'm going to scooch out to the side, pack the snow down in front of it."

"Got it," Ren said.

Azzy slid aside and he saw the Charmander lift its head slowly as it saw Ren up close. He smiled as he bent down and packed the snow down in front of its face. Charmander started to sniff the snow and stuck out its tongue to lick it. The sight made both of the boys laugh. He stepped back and let Azzy move forward and set the hot dogs down.

The Charmander looked at the hot dogs with a hungry look on its face, but then it looked up to Azzy with a suspicious look.

"Oh, I think it knew you were following it and doesn't know if it should trust the food," Ren explained.

"Aw what?" He complained. "Man, I'm not gonna poison you or anything like that."

"Here, lemme see if I can help," Ren said.

Azzy stepped aside and Ren bent forward and took to a knee. "Here, it's okay to eat," Ren ripped off an end of one of the hot dogs and tossed it into his mouth, making a show to the Charmander that it was safe. He swallowed and nodded as it looked down to the closest hot dog and took a hesitant bite into the end. He heard the Charmander's stomach rumbling and it stopped chewing to look back at the hot dog with a more hungry look in its eyes. It ate and ate and Ren took a step back, watching its expression change from starving to a more satisfied hunger.

"That should be good, right?" Azzy said. "I feel real good about making sure that it has a meal for the night."

"Yeah..." Ren stood, lost in thought.

"What's up?"

"I was just thinking...what if whatever hurt it was still out there?"

Azzy looked from him to the Charmander. "I mean, it probably is, but it should be safe in here, right?"

Ren stroked his chin and then tapped on his forehead. "I...don't know. I feel like we'd be leaving it up to chance."

"Hm..." Azzy began. "Well, what do you suggest we do? It's not like we can take it back with us. Imagine trying to hide it from Mrs. Barbon of all people--the queen of snooping."

"Maybe..." Ren thought, his eyes closed and a look of consternation on his face. "What about the shed?"

Azzy looked up, looking at him with a puzzled look. "The...hm...I think that could work?"

"You still got the lock for that?"

Azzy grinned and nodded slowly. "Ooh I like this more mischevious side of you. I guess I am rubbing off."

"The mischief has a purpose, Az. Let's not forget that. It's not wanton."

"Well I don't know what that means, but I'm wanton to get out of this cold already," Azzy said, rubbing his hands together.

Ren side-eyed him and couldn't help but chuckle.

"Well then, trainer, you should go and grab it, I don't think I'd be much appreciated doing so," Azzy said.

Ren nodded and turned back around, ducking back into the pipe and he trudged through the muck and the slime. Charmander lifted its head as he approached. Ren saw those eyes studying him over.

"Sorry buddy, I don't have anymore hot dogs, however, I do have a spot I think we can get you out of the cold, and away from whatever did that," he pointed toward its leg injury. Charmander sat and seemed to take in his words. It was so strange, but it really felt like it was understanding what he was saying.

~To Be Continued~