#gyusol

“he’s like a hopeless teenage boy, gyu,” jun had explained during a quick meeting they had to talk about the moving, chatting over coffee and pastries. “if no one’s paying attention, he lives off of bread and jam, you know?”

mingyu, after a sip of his americano, exhaled a light chuckle.

“that’s cute. how old did you say he is again?”

jun tapped at his chin. “he’s a 98, so 24.”

“yeah, should at least know how to fry an egg,” mingyu pondered, “but no problem, i can cook for two, you know i don’t mind.” he shrugged.

“cool. i have a feeling you two will get along,” jun affirmed, intending not only to assure mingyu but himself, since he didn’t want to be the one responsible for putting any of his friends in a bad situation.

“yeah, i’m rooting for it,” mingyu complemented, leaning back on his seat with a dreamy sigh.

turns out junhui was not wrong, but wasn’t totally right. they did get along pretty well, mingyu’s puppy-like personality filling the voids hansol’s cat-like one left, and vice-versa. sometimes, one had more ability to solve a problem, or could take over certain chores better than the other. that balanced out the moments that could be seen as a burden to their newly developed relationship, especially when it came to a topic that was, funnily enough, mentioned in advance: food.

mingyu discovered that, while hansol, if junhui was correct, would survive on bread and butter or something like that, it didn’t mean one. it didn’t mean he ate little. in fact, hansol was actually more akin to a human vacuum when it came to any edible thing available, which started to get on mingyu’s nerves as he never knew how much he should be cooking.

or for how long he should leave his meal out of his watch.

“hansol!” mingyu exclaimed, about to spit a train of curses. he sighed deeply and gestured in the air, “i was gone for two minutes, how the hell did you manage to vanish with my ramyeon?!”

hansol blinked one, two times, slurping the noodles in the process.

“sorry, hyung.” he didn’t look really sorry as he said that, which made mingyu squint his eyes in disbelief. “you left it unsupervised and i thought you could just make more if you really wanted it…”

“unsupervised? i was taking a phone call!” retorted mingyu, forcing his roommate to stop for an instant to think about another reply.

“well, it’d be cold when you got back…”

mingyu exhaled in defeat.

“alright. i’ll just make some more.”

in the middle of bringing more ramen to his lips, hansol stopped, eyes attentive:

“how much more?”

mingyu frowned. “haven’t you eaten your share already?”

“hmm, still hungry.” hansol rubbed his stomach unpretentiously, the loose t-shirt he wore hiding the slight roundness that was already settling on his lower belly.

mingyu gave himself a moment to consider, pondering if the boy was being too greedy or was indeed hungry still.

since he didn’t wanna risk being a prick and had to make a new portion anyway, he decided that adding a bit more wouldn’t hurt.

“ok.”

***

it kept happening. hansol’s never-ending appetite, mingyu’s ever-disposition to feed him. as the time passed, they became more comfortable around each other, their day to day dynamic much better than the beginning weeks of living together. chores were shared, personal space was respected, habits were learned. they functioned like proper roommates nowadays.

one particular thursday, mingyu entered the apartment with two plastic bags hanging from his hand, a paper one under his arm.

“brought takeout. too tired to cook for you today,” he informed, putting them on the dining room table.

hansol’s eyes glistened, a strange and curious feeling shining from them. mingyu was a bit confused, until he realized, “for us. i meant for us,” he corrected himself as he took the containers from the bags.

hansol, however, didn’t seem too affected by it. his hyung had said what he said.

“ah, mingyu hyung,” he purred in the sweetest voice possible as he opened the boxes. “you’re the best, you know?”

mingyu simply smiled, feeling a warm blush creep up his cheeks.

***

considering the basic maths of hansol constantly on the hunt for food, meanwhile mingyu made sure there was plenty available, even when he couldn’t cook himself, in three months there were surely some visible changes, precisely on hansol’s wardrobe and waistline. the loose shirts, shorts and pants weren’t so loose anymore, hugging tighter wherever his new weight settled: his soft, chubby (and adorable, mingyu thought every time a shirt rode up to reveal skin) belly, his squishy cheeks and arms, his supple thighs. no body part escaped from the routine of being pampered by his roommate.

and said roommate… well, mingyu got overwhelmed at first in the face of this new “obligation” he ended up taking responsibility for. from the first month, though, he started seeing as another part of his day, another duty as natural was brushing his teeth in the morning. plus, he did enjoy how much hansol seemed to like his food, as well as he sensed some weird kind of pride in watching him always getting full from it.

(did he dig too deep to understand that? no. would he be confronted with it anyway? sooner than he thought).

that happened when he came home to a sight he didn’t ever dream of, but it certainly seemed to have come out of one.

hansol was sprawled on the sofa, legs opened and body slouched, two hands over his shirtless torso, more exactly running over his distended stomach, which was obviously filled to its maximum.

his sweats no longer needed to have its strings tied, stretched under the curve his belly already made over his lap.

mingyu felt his face heat up. it’d be less embarrassing to have caught him naked, to be honest.

“h-hansol?”

the reply came first as a hiccup.

“yeah?”

mingyu walked with caution into the room, as if one wrong step would make him wake up from that weird dream.

“what did you… what did you do?” he asked, tone not a reprimand, but pure curiosity and… desire? he felt his head spin.

hansol breathed in and out, pressing his fingers on a few tight spots. he seemed to be concentrating on his mission in order to not appear affected by mingyu’s presence. “ate the lasagna you left in the oven… you cooked that for dinner, right?”

“hansol, that was supposed to be our dinner for three days,” mingyu pointed out, his expression communicating the shock that buzzed through his body. he got closer, eager to see hansol better. to touch him. “i thought you’d eat like half of it and leave the rest for the other nights!”

“oh…” hansol’s face was bright red, as red as the tomato sauce around his lips.

before mingyu could stop himself, he asked, “jesus, how did you fit all of that inside?”

another hiccup slipped from hansol’s mouth. this time, mingyu was able to witness how much it made the rolls on his hips and waist jiggle.

“p-practice?” he stuttered, now aware of the interest in the older man’s eyes. he decided to give his inner considerations a shot, “i’m no lightweight, hyung. never have been. dunno why you didn’t seem to believe that.”

mingyu’s eyebrows almost met in confusion.

“what? what do you mean believe?”

hansol made his best to sit straight, the weight of the food a ridiculous obstacle. he felt like he needed fo defend himself, “well, you kept increasing the portion sizes, and bringing more food! it’s like you wanted me to eat!”

mingyu was moving his arms in the air, frantically.

“hansol, what the fuck? i kept making and bringing more food because how else could i keep up with your appetite?!”

“oh.” with his arms behind his back, belly looking even bigger and making mingyu dizzy, hansol looked part cute and part sinful, the puzzled face turning into one of shame. mingyu wanted to bite him. “so it wasn’t like… a challenge or something?”

“what? no! why would i challenge you?”

“i don’t… i don’t know. you seemed happy when i ate. especially when it was something you made, but i figured it was the same when you brought it, too. so i kept trying my best to enjoy,” he justified, speech speed forcing him to stop to breathe. “i mean, clearly that had some consequences, but…” he gestured to his belly, shifting in place to accommodate himself better. it was the first time his gain was being openly acknowledged.

when hansol decided to finally meet mingyu’s eyes, he hiccuped one last time in surprise. no negative emotion laid there. quite the opposite.

“you’re ridiculous,” mingyu sputtered, taking a step closer so they almost touched.

hansol smiled, mischievously.

“hmm, am i?” he laid back again, rubbing his tummy like he was inviting, daring mingyu. “you kept making sure i was stuffed, so i don’t think you’re so innocent.”

“i wasn’t– shut up!” mingyu lost his composure, dropping his knees on the couch and pushing hansol’s arm. “you’re the one who can barely move right now, i wouldn’t be so big-mouthed about this.”

hansol whined.

“hyung.” he grabbed mingyu’s hand, guiding it to his abdomen. “you need to take responsibility for what you’ve done.”

mingyu sighed. big sigh. why fight it?

“you little fucker,” he cursed, grip tigheting on the softness of hansol’s lower belly. “you’re a spoiled brat, that’s what you are.”

“hmm?” hansol hummed, his palm onto mingyu’s knuckles in the intention of guiding his movements.

although mingyu accepted it, he also sat properly, pulled hansol closer to cuddle him and joined with his previous free hand, pinching side rolls just to see hansol yelping.

“keep still. tell me if it hurts,” he ordered, a pang on both his heart and between his legs as hansol sighed, satisfied.

at a certain moment, mingyu had to pinch himself to just to make sure that wasn’t a strange hallucination, especially when hansol’s whines became more of pleasure than of protest. he kept rubbing the space until it was almost completely soft, drinking hansol’s little noises like they were a heavenly beverage.

the sun was shining bright and the weather was perfect, but sadly mingyu had to ignore the euphoric feeling of his feet sinking on the sand and rush towards the ocean. behind him was vernon, also running, but with untied shoes.

“i’m gonna kill you, hyung!” vernon cried.

“you can kill me once i get that fire stone!” this made absolutely no sense to vernon, but he didn’t have any energy left when it’s being used to run for his life.

once they reached the shore, mingyu motioned at vernon, hands moving frantically. “quick! quick!” vernon fumbled at his belt, looking for the right poké ball, before finally taking his dive ball — a blue ball with white waves etched on the upper half of the ball.

“lapras, go!” he shouted, aiming the ball towards the ocean as he ran before pressing the button twice — once to enlarge the ball, and once more for lapras to come out. an energy filled silhouette emerged from the half-opened ball, and a blue dinosaur-like pokémon finally solidified. her front side was mostly cream colored, and her ears were tightly curled. she also had a short horn on her forehead, four flippers with the foremost flippers bigger than the hind, and on her back was a heavy, gray shell, covered in blunt knobs. she floated in the ocean, letting out a beautiful cry.

mingyu braked in front of lapras in fear he would actually hurt the pokémon. his sudden brake caused vernon to crash into his back, which also resulted in mingyu falling face first into the sand. lapras watched them, letting out a cry in confusion.

vernon rose while groaning at the pain on his nose, while mingyu pressed his palms on the ground to lift himself up, spitting out sand from his mouth in the process. as soon as vernon was able to stand up, he hurried to his lapras, rubbing his neck to soothe him down. lapras closed her eyes and hummed. lapras was well-known for having a beautiful voice.

“vernon, we got no time!” mingyu said as he ran to hop onto lapras’ back, but vernon stopped him.

“don’t ride her before she says its okay! she’s going to throw you off her back!” mingyu clucked impatiently, feet tapping on the ground.. when lapras started nodding, vernon stepped onto her shell, before hauling himself upwards. as he finally settled down, he reached out to help mingyu on, and with vernon’s help, the older kid hauled himself upwards, settling himself behind vernon, vernon’s small backpack separating them. mingyu leaned on his backpack, gasping for air as vernon pat lapras’s neck twice. lapras let out another cry before she finally started surfing the sea.

“so, are you going to tell me why you banged on my door at seven in the morning?” vernon asked once the two of them calmed down after the morning run. lapras was surfing quite speedily, the wind hitting them felt refreshing on their necks. vernon’s lapras was smart — having braved the ocean before letting herself be caught by vernon. she had memorized the seas of kanto by heart, so it only took vernon to tell her the destination for her to surf towards the island.

mingyu sighed, patting his poké ball for reassurance. “i have to get a fire stone.” vernon raised an eyebrow at him.

“and… you have to wake me up at seven in the morning for that?” he asked. mingyu thanked god vernon was a pacifist. he knew if that was any other person, he would be in big trouble already.

“well, tomorrow’s the tide. and i have to get it before the tide starts or it’s gonna take a lot of time and i don’t know if the fire stone will still be there or not after the tide.”

“and you couldn’t have just rode the seagallop?” vernon asked, referring to the ferry. mingyu smiled sadly.

“well, if i had any money i would’ve ridden it instead of waking you up at seven in the morning.”

“then you could’ve just bought one at celadon’s department store?” vernon said in exasperation. “i wouldn’t mind accompanying you to celadon city by foot!”

“again,” mingyu mumbled, “no money.” vernon softened at the older boy’s words. money was hard, especially since mingyu’s ace, growlithe, can’t evolve without a fire stone. growlithe was mingyu’s pokémon since he was born, and vernon knew that there was no way mingyu would trade growlithe for anything else in the world.

but, since growlithe was unevolved, it means there are some limits to his powers. his stats wouldn’t be high enough to beat fully evolved pokémon, and even though growlithe himself was considered fast even as a growlithe, evolving into an arcanine would definitely make growlithe even faster.

“look, i’m sorry i had to drag you into this,” mingyu said, the wind sweeping up his hair. “i’ll make it up to you once we get back to vermilion, i promise.”

“it’s okay,” vernon said, quick to understand the older boy’s position. he was lucky lapras was already a fully evolved pokémon — no evolutions, to be exact — so if he won matches, especially gym matches, money came easily to him. and it was also the reason why vernon already finished kanto’s gym challenge, and mingyu hadn't even started his. “i needed to get out and go adventuring again.”

it took about three hours for them to ride from vermilion city to one island, where mt. ember was located. mingyu insisted that the fire stone was located at mt. ember. no trainer appeared during their ride (probably smart enough and rich enough to ride the seagallop, mingyu thought), but groups of seel and dewgong swam along them, and mingyu leaned back, his long arm reaching down to skim the surface of the water. sometimes, groups of staryu and horsea would appear, and mingyu would play with them, jokingly splashing water at them (mingyu didn’t know how he forgot about the fact that they were water type pokémon, but he did, and in return, got splashed by their water guns). the groups of seel and dewgong would also appear from underwater, waving their fins at him before swimming somewhere else. mingyu figured they probably saw the ferry often, but the ferry couldn’t stop to play with them.

it was about two and a half hours into the ride when the island finally came into view. vernon was currently knocked out, leaning his head on lapras’ neck with his hands around it. mingyu felt bad for the boy, for he did wake him up without any messages, so he decided to let him sleep some more. his hand reached out for the only poké ball he had with him, fumbling with it nervously.

to be honest, he had promised growlithe that he will evolve in two days, and growlithe had believed him, barking happily. mingyu knew that growlithe loved to battle and wished to battle stronger opponents, but mingyu also knew that if he didn't evolve he would have a hard time, and mingyu couldn’t beat seeing growlithe suffer. growlithe was, in a way, mingyu’s baby.

when mingyu could spot the pokémon center ahead, he tapped vernon’s shoulder, signalling him to wake up. vernon groaned as he opened his eyes, releasing his hold on lapras. he stretched to release the stress from his arms.

“we’re finally here,” he stated as lapras gracefully glided ashore. mingyu stepped off first, his feet hitting the soft sand, the sea water slightly splashing. mingyu held his hand out to help vernon off lapras, and vernon took it gratefully, before hopping down with a grunt. vernon turned to pat lapras’s neck, and lapras let out a happy cry before lowering her head, asking for a pet on the head. vernon laughed before obliging, and lapras hummed in satisfaction. vernon took out her poké ball, pressing the button to lapras’ neck. lapras then turned into a white silhouette, before completely disappearing into the poké ball.

“thanks. you did great.” vernon hummed, before turning around to face mingyu.

“i’m gonna have to go to the pokémon center first to rest lapras. is it okay?” mingyu nodded. after all, they had reached the island thanks to lapras. mingyu guessed it would be fine if they spared a few minutes for lapras to recover.

the two of them started heading towards the red roofed building otherwise known as the pokémon center. one island was a small island — so there were literally almost to no buildings besides the pokémon center and probably five houses. mingyu heard that bill, the guy famous for creating the pokémon box, lives here. he would want to meet bill if he had no deadlines, but sadly he had to fulfill his promise to growlithe.

the trip to the pokémon center only took them five minutes. vernon wanted to stop to eat, but mingyu stopped him, telling him they can eat during the way (for it was already eleven in the morning and mingyu didn’t want to waste any more time).

“according to the map, it says we should head for kindle road. it’s east from here.” mingyu said, staring at his map. vernon headed where east was, before stopping on his tracks.

“hyung,” he called. mingyu looked up from his map before it dawned on him.

“we’re have to surf again.”

this time, however, it only took them around fifteen minutes to surf from one island to kindle road. mingyu, feeling guilty for interrupting lapras’s rest, had fed her five oran berries as soon as they arrived on kindle road. lapras, delighted to see the berry, had eaten it speedily, almost chewing off mingyu’s hand in the process. as lapras was a gentle pokémon, she felt terrible, and rubbed her head on mingyu’s as a way to ask for forgiveness.

mingyu chuckled. “it’s okay buddy. you’re forgiven.” lapras cried in delight before vernon finally returned her to her ball.

mingyu turned to look at the scenery in front of him. he could see a lot of greens ahead — wild grass, where wild pokémon can be found and caught — and tall cliffs surrounding them. he could already see herds of ponyta and rapidash even from far away. flocks of spearow and fearow were flying above their heads. mingyu reached for his poké ball, pressing the button twice before a puppy-like pokémon emerged, barking happily as he finally solidified. mingyu grinned and opened his arms towards it, and the big orange ball of fluff leaped into mingyu’s arms.

“we’re finally here, growlithe! in a few hours you can evolve!” growlithe barked once more, wagging his tail in happiness.

in a glance, growlithe looked more like a tiger than a dog. growlithe’s fur was orange with black stripes, and the fur on its muzzle, chest, belly, and tail was beige, an additional tuft of fur on top of its head.

vernon smiled at the sight in front of him. he too, wanted the elder boy to start his gym challenge soon. that way, they can finally fulfill the promise they made when they were kids — battle each other with fully evolved teams. now mingyu was so close to his first step, and vernon wanted to help however he could (even if it meant being woken up at seven in the morning).

another small promise they made was to trade pokémon that can only evolve by trading. vernon already caught kadabra, and

mingyu put growlithe down, and the pokémon stood by mingyu’s side, wagging its tail furiously. growlithe is a loyal pokémon, and wouldn’t run until given orders otherwise. vernon could tell it was itching to run ahead, but since mingyu hadn’t said anything, he wouldn’t run until mingyu says it’s okay to do so.

“let’s go!” mingyu said, running for the greens ahead. growlithe barked happily, following his owner. vernon laughed at the sight, before running ahead after them.

“wait for me!”

the three of them slowed down once they reached the wild grass, afraid to startle any wild pokémon. the herds of ponyta and rapidash had been friendly, letting growlithe play with them once in a while. vernon sent out his own rapidash, who got along very well with the other rapidash.

after walking for half an hour, they settled down under a tree for lunch. mingyu had packed sandwiches and kimbaps — apparently, mingyu had packed a lot of spares for vernon and his pokémon too.

“i make a lot and i usually just give the leftovers to any wild pokémon in sight.” mingyu had told vernon when the latter accused mingyu of planning to take him all along.

vernon sent out all his pokémon except for lapras, which included the currently grazing rapidash, kadabra, scyther, snorlax and wigglytuff. snorlax, taking up most of the space, was still sleeping, as if he’s still inside his poké ball. scyther pokéd her scythes on snorlax’s stomach lightly, whilst wigglytuff went towards mingyu to help him, which mingyu accepted gratefully. meanwhile, kadabra headed towards growlithe in curiosity, and used his psychic to lift the puppy pokémon up. growlithe yelped in surprise before howling.

“kadabra, we do not randomly lift people up with psychic. now put growlithe down, please.” kadabra looked at vernon with a sad face, but vernon’s firm face made him lower growlithe down. as soon as growlithe's paws reached the ground, he ran for mingyu, wailing.

“it’s okay, baby,” mingyu cooed, petting his head. “he’s just playing with you. why don’t you play with bulbs too?” mingyu reached for the only other poké ball he has and released his bulbasaur out. growlithe barked in happiness as he leaped for bulbasaur, whose quick reflexes helped her catch growlithe with her vine whips.

mingyu had prepared a feast, to say the least. he had prepared lots of sandwiches (spicy ones for fire types growlithe and rapidash). they spent an hour for lunch (with snorlax eating almost half of mingyu’s sandwiches), and another thirty minutes to clean up. vernon sent back all his pokémon into their respective poké balls, letting rapidash say goodbye to her newly made friends.

bulbasaur had helped mingyu clean up the place before mingyu called her back to her ball. mingyu had offered growlithe to return to his ball to rest, but growlithe was too energetic to rest.

“how long is it going to take us to get to mt. ember?” vernon asked as he zipped his backpack close. mingyu looked at his map, and then at his watch.

“around two to three hours?” he said as he rolled his map before putting it on the side of his backpack. “it’s currently one pm, so if we hurry we can arrive there by three pm, and then go out by five pm. hopefully we can reach one island back around seven or eight pm, then head back to vermilion city.” vernon did not need to go through mingyu’s itinerary to feel exhausted. even only listening to the plan seemed exhausting — how were they going to finish that in less than twelve hours?

mingyu, however, wasted no time. as if the sandwich he ate earlier restored all of his energy, he ran towards north, growlithe catching up to him in no time. vernon realized that if he doesn’t run now, he probably would not be able to catch up with mingyu.

mingyu wanted to go to the ember spa so bad, considering his muscles were starting to cramp from running all day. but they were behind schedule, and mingyu’s perfectionist ass didn’t dare to waste another second.

they ran into trouble once when growlithe bumped into an angry graveler. growlithe’s fire typing was definitely a loss to them, but thanks to mingyu’s quick thinking by sending out bulbasaur, they managed to weaken the graveler to let them pass through. if bulbasaur had been a higher level, mingyu would’ve definitely caught that graveler — and trade it with vernon. but mingyu didn’t want to let any of his other pokémon evolve before growlithe — if his puppy was going to be loyal to him, then he’s going to be loyal to his puppy too, no matter what it takes.

once they passed the ember spa, they came to a slope leading towards a beach. when the horizon came into view, mingyu sighed in relief — if they can already see the ocean, that means they’re already halfway there. one more hour to go and they can finally begin the search for the fire stone.

growlithe started barking happily at the sight of the ocean, running even faster than before towards the icy water. mingyu shouted for growlithe in fear — he’s a fire type, for arceus’s sake! before anything bad could happen, mingyu spurted forward, using all the energy he has left to stop growlithe from diving into the ocean.

thanks to his long legs, mingyu reached growlithe right as growlithe’s paws touched the icy water. growlithe yelped in surprise when mingyu picked him up before losing his balance. mingyu’s body fell to the sand below, gasping for air. his legs had given out — he had ran as if his life depended on it. and in a way, his life did.

growlithe whined at the sight of mingyu panting for air, his head lightly bumping mingyu’s, as if asking if he’s okay. not soon after, vernon arrived next to mingyu. kneeling next to the boy as he handed the boy a bottle of lemonade. mingyu took it gratefully before sitting up, gulping almost half of the bottle in one shot.

“growlithe,” mingyu called, still wheezing for air. growlithe climbed into his lap, no longer as energetic as earlier. he probably understood that he did something bad this time, vernon thought.

“you’re a fire type,” mingyu said gently. “you remember what happened when you first battled lapras, right?” growlithe’s ears were down, and he let out a small whine.

“yes, you lost because of lapras’s water pulse. and the ocean,” mingyu gestured to the beautiful view in front of them, “is made of water. if you dive in there, arceus knows what would’ve happened.” growlithe was quiet, but looked at mingyu as if asking for forgiveness. mingyu ruffled growlithe’s fur, and growlithe looked a little bit better.

“maybe it’s time for you to return to your ball,” mingyu said, reaching for growlithe’s poké ball. “i’ll let you out again once we cross the sea, alright, buddy?” growlithe barked in agreement, and mingyu gently tapped the poké ball to growlithe’s body, who transformed into a white silhouette before completely disappearing into the poké ball. vernon patted mingyu’s shoulders.

“that was a close call,” vernon said, stepping towards the sea. “you go take a breather. i’ll get lapras out from her ball and ready her for our journey.”

as soon as mingyu was able to stand, he wasted no time to continue on the journey. the sun was shining bright on them — it was two in the afternoon, after all. the surf across wasn’t as fun as earlier, though — instead of friendly groups of seel and dewgong, the ocean was filled with groups of tentacool and tentacruel, and mingyu definitely did not want to touch any of the water.

lapras, however, was swimming faster than before — probably because the sun gives her energy. vernon occasionally patted her on the head, and she would cry in delight.

after an hour, they finally arrived in front of the entrance of mt. ember. mingyu heard vernon thank lapras before returning her to her ball. he took a deep breath.

this was it. they finally reached mt. ember after all the journey.

as promised, mingyu let growlithe out of his ball. growlithe barked happily, almost as if the incident earlier never happened. but then again, they were so close to getting the fire stone for him.

but growlithe — being a fire type — barked because he smelt something familiar. growlithe started for the cave, and mingyu and vernon followed behind him.

“he must’ve smelt the fire stone,” vernon stated. mingyu tilted his head.

“growlithe’s a fire type, and you know they have a very keen sense of smell,” he explained. “he’s been looking for the fire stone for all his life, and he’s a growlithe, so he must recognize the smell.”

true to vernon’s words, growlithe had sniffed the tracks, navigating their way towards the rocky mountain. sometimes mingyu and vernon would come across a machop or a geodude, but growlithe was so focused into searching for the fire stone that he moved so quickly, even the machop and geodude couldn’t catch up to him.

vernon was starting to lose energy half an hour into the hike — it was a mountain, after all, and the fire stone wasn’t located on the base of the mountain, sadly. he wanted to ask for a fice minute break, but he knew mingyu wouldn’t want to waste any more time, and he also knew growlithe wouldn’t stop for him. they’ve been waiting for this for almost ten years now, and vernon wouldn’t want to ruin the fun for them. he slowed his pace, still quick enough to not lose them, but enough for him to slowly regain his energy.

after what seemed like forever, growlithe finally stopped his tracks. vernon was leaning on a boulder, no longer capable of climbing anymore. but to his luck, they were already on the summit — now looking for the stone is all they need to do.

“hey, vernon,” mingyu called. “you just sit and rest. growlithe and i will look for the stone.” vernon did not oppose. he let his body fall to the ground, panting for air as he felt his legs cramping. he probably should’ve just called for kadabra to teleport him up to the summit — now, why didn’t he think of that? better yet, all of them could just teleport home after this!

he felt incredibly stupid for only realizing this now, but then again, mingyu also did not realize, so that makes the two of them.

on the other hand, mingyu and growlithe were actively searching — there were a lot of boulders and rocks. an hour passed and mingyu was sure they’ve been looking at every nook and cranny, but there were no signs of the fire stone anywhere.

that is, until growlithe kept barking into a certain boulder.

“what is it?” mingyu approached, but growlithe only continued barking. his front paws started scratching the boulder, so mingyu stepped forward to remove the boulder from the way. it was heavy — there was no way mingyu could do this on his own, but he didn’t want to trouble vernon anymore.

suddenly, growlithe let out a cry before pushing his whole body onto the boulder. the boulder moved, and mingyu realized right there and then that growlithe was using strength.

“good job, growlithe!” mingyu said, pushing together with growlithe. growlithe let out a little growl as the boulder finally moved out of their way, and in front of them was a small rock. growlithe pounced on it once for the rock to crack. mingyu took the rock and slammed it on the ground, and the rock finally cracked, revealing an ember colored stone. growlithe pounced on mingyu happily as mingyu fell on his back, hugging growlithe.

“we did it, growlithe! we found the fire stone!” growlithe was licking mingyu’s face and mingyu didn’t mind one bit. mingyu was laughing — a few hours ago he didn’t feel like he would succeed on his quest, but he did and he was so happy.

his happiness was cut short when vernon ran towards them, panting.

“hyung! i’ve been calling you, didn’t you hear me?”

“vernon, we found the fire stone!” mingyu grinned at him as he sat up. vernon looked frantic — what’s happening?

“that’s great, but i think we have a big problem!” mingyu opened his mouth to ask what the other boy meant when a cry of a bird broke the silence. above their heads, a red silhouette flew over them, and it felt like they were near a volcano. mingyu gulped. bird, red, hot. this could only mean one thing.

moltres landed on a boulder fifty metres ahead of them. mingyu and vernon were gaping in awe — they’ve heard legends of the legendary birds, but didn’t think they would ever come in contact with any of them! (when he got home, it occurred to mingyu that according to the legends, moltres resided on the summit of the mt. ember — mingyu didn’t know how he forgot about that small fact).

moltres was gold — it had a long, flowing head crest and a billowing tail, both made of reddish-orange and yellow flames. additionally, its wings were also shrouded in fiery plumage. it was eyeing them carefully, and none of them dared to move a muscle.

“should we make a run for it?” vernon asked. mingyu longed to take the fire stone, but he was scared moltres would attack him if he moved his hand.

“vernon,” mingyu said. vernon hummed in response, not daring to turn his head.

“this might be our only chance to ever battle moltres.”

“hyung, you only have growlithe and bulbasaur. we’re never gonna win.”

“it’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” mingyu said. “besides, i need you to cause a distraction for me.”

before vernon could take his ball out, growlithe barked in anxiousness, and all hell broke loose.

from his beak, moltres fired a flamethrower towards growlithe and mingyu. growlithe yelped and jumped off of mingyu, and mingyu’s quick instincts screamed at him to roll to the right, which he did. the pebbles and rocks on the ground caused him to groan in pain.

“lapras, go!” vernon threw his dive ball out, and lapras emerged, crying out her battle cry.

“lapras, hydro pump!” lapras shrieked before shooting out a powerful hydro pump — but moltres dodged it easily, for it has wings.

while moltres was distracted, mingyu jumped for the fire stone — moltres might be beautiful and all, but mingyu will never forgive it if his quest fails, especially not because he’s a legendary pokémon.

moltres shot a fire blast at vernon and lapras, but growlithe leaped in front of the fire blast, getting slammed by the fire blast into the ground in the process. he yelped, and mingyu didn’t realize he had shouted for growlithe’s name in despair. he needed to get the fire stone to growlithe somehow!

“hyung!” vernon cried. “i’ll cover, so you go evolve growlithe!” lapras let out another cry before using avalanche against moltres — moltres’s flying-typing neutralizing the damage, instead of it being not very effective.

mingyu wanted to run for growlithe, but he knew if he did, moltres would turn him into a roasted mingyu, and mingyu didn’t want that. he saw growlithe grunt in pain, but managed to stand up, his feet stumbling. so mingyu did the only thing he could think of.

“growlithe, catch!” mingyu threw the fire stone towards growlithe, and moltres was too distracted by lapras to notice. growlithe jumped in the air and caught the fire stone in his fangs, and he shined.

everyone was too distracted by growlithe’s evolution to continue the battle — even moltres. growlithe’s body grew — his body and feet grew longer, the taft of fur on his head grew towards the back of his head, and his tail got visibly longer and bigger. when the blue light vanished, growlithe was no longer there — arcanine roared handsomely, eyes ready to battle.

mingyu choked back a sob. after ten years, his growlithe was finally an arcanine.

he didn’t have much time to rejoice, though, because once the evolution process was done, moltres decided it was a good time to attack them with another fire blast (in a way, it was though). vernon shouted at lapras to dodge, but mingyu knew lapras wouldn’t have made it. arcanine, however, with his newfound speed, managed to push back the fire blast with flamethrower — a stronger version now that he was fully evolved. he ran towards mingyu’s side in no time, his eyes staring at mingyu, full of trust.

“vernon,” mingyu called.

“yeah?”

“if we die fighting moltres, i have no regrets.”

“you won’t, because the minute we start to become the losing side i will have kadabra teleport us back home.” mingyu laughed, too happy too contain his joy.

“well, i wanna fight first. how about you?” vernon smirked at the elder boy.

“i finished the gym challenge — i never run away from challenges.” mingyu smirked as both him and vernon switched into battle stance.

AS the sun rises over Ape Mountain, its agitated inhabitants send an urgent message to George via bongo-gram, warning the jungle heir that intruders are close afoot. Four apes, back to back, fiercely bang on oversized bongos and create a rhythmic cacophony. The message is loud and clear, immediately summing their leader.

Startled awake, the heir to the jungle wakes up mid-snore and groggily jumps into action—only to promptly return after realizing he’s naked. A few seconds later, our bouncing young hero vine-swings toward the danger. Because whether he’s tired or energized, hurt or healthy, eating or famished, he will always answer the call.

For he is the defender of the innocent, protector of the weak, and all around good guy George of the Jungle.