Micah practically jogged back to the Pokémon Center, Donny trotting alongside him with the determined waddle of someone trying to keep up despite having legs barely longer than soda cans. The morning's training had gone well,better than well, actually,but curiosity gnawed at him like a persistent Rattata.

  A loaner Pokémon. From Maxie's research team. What kind of Pokémon did researchers keep on hand? Something defensive, probably. Maybe a Geodude for its durability? Or perhaps an Aron, given the team's focus on geological research?

  The Pokémon Center's automatic doors hissed open, and Micah made his way to the reception desk. The same Nurse Elise from yesterday looked up with recognition.

  "Ah, Micah. Good timing. Your delivery arrived about twenty minutes ago." She reached beneath the counter and produced a standard Pokéball, its surface pristine and marked with a small label bearing Maxie's distinctive handwriting. "Standard loaner agreement applies,treat it well, don't attempt to trade or release it, return it when your apprenticeship concludes or when Maxie deems it no longer necessary."

  "What kind of Pokémon is it?" Micah asked, accepting the ball with both hands.

  Nurse Elise's expression shifted into something that might have been amusement. "I think your mentor wanted that to be a surprise. Though I will say," she paused, choosing her words carefully, ",it's well-trained. Very well-trained. Follow its lead when it comes to security and threat assessment. It knows its job."

  Security and threat assessment. That sounded... serious. Micah glanced down at Donny, who was attempting to investigate a decorative plant in the corner with intense focus.

  "Should I release it here?"

  "Preferably outside. It's... spirited when first released in unfamiliar locations." Nurse Elise's smile was knowing. "Good luck."

  Micah thanked her and headed back outside, finding a relatively quiet section of the Pokémon Center's exterior courtyard. A few trainers occupied distant benches, but there was plenty of space for whatever "spirited" meant.

  He crouched down to Donny's level. "Hey, buddy. We're getting a temporary teammate. Someone to help keep us safe while you're still growing up. Be nice, okay?"

  Donny rumbled, tilting his head with curiosity. The Rhyhorn had no framework for understanding what was about to happen, but seemed willing to trust Micah's judgment.

  Taking a steadying breath, Micah pressed the release mechanism.

  The Pokéball opened with a flash of white light that coalesced into a form that was sleek, angular, and unmistakably canine. The light faded, revealing,

  A Houndour.

  Not just any Houndour. This one stood with the rigid posture of a soldier at attention, its black and orange coat immaculate, not a hair out of place. The bone-like structures on its back and skull were polished smooth, catching the morning sunlight. But it was the eyes that struck Micah most,intense, alert, constantly scanning the environment with the focused intelligence of a trained guard dog.

  The Houndour completed its environmental assessment in approximately three seconds. Eyes sweeping across the courtyard, cataloging exits, evaluating potential threats, dismissing the distant trainers as non-hostile. Then those eyes locked onto Micah with an intensity that made him instinctively straighten his posture.

  "Uh. Hi," Micah said, suddenly feeling like he was being interviewed for a job he hadn't applied for. "I'm Micah. Your... temporary trainer, I guess? Maxie sent you."

  At Maxie's name, the Houndour's posture shifted fractionally,still alert, but the rigid tension eased slightly. Recognition, then. It knew who Maxie was, understood the chain of command.

  The Dark/Fire-type approached with measured steps, each paw placement deliberate and controlled. Not aggressive, but not friendly either. Professional. It circled Micah once, sniffing carefully, processing information through scent that humans couldn't access. Then it moved to Donny, who had been watching this entire exchange with wide-eyed fascination.

  Donny, bless his newborn heart, tried to waddle forward enthusiastically, apparently deciding this new dog-like Pokémon was a friend. The Houndour stopped him with a single, low growl,not threatening, but commanding. A clear message: Stay there. I'll come to you.

  Donny froze mid-waddle, confused but obedient.

  The Houndour completed its inspection of the young Rhyhorn with the same methodical precision it had applied to everything else. Sniffing, observing, evaluating. Then, apparently satisfied that Donny posed no threat and was in fact the charge it had been assigned to help protect, the Houndour positioned itself between Micah and the rest of the courtyard.

  Standing guard.

  "Okay," Micah said, processing this. "So you're... serious about the security thing."

  The Houndour's ear twitched,the only indication it had heard him. Its eyes remained fixed on the courtyard, scanning for threats with unwavering focus.

  Micah consulted his Pokédex, pulling up information on Houndour. Dark/Fire-type. Known for pack loyalty and territorial behavior. Often used by law enforcement and security services due to their intelligence and natural protective instincts. This one was probably,

  His PokeNav buzzed. Message from Maxie:

  You've met the Houndour by now. Her name is Bellatrix,designation, not nickname. Trained for protection and threat assessment. She'll follow your commands in non-security situations, but defer to her own judgment regarding danger. Don't take it personally. Her job is keeping you alive, not making you feel in charge. Feed twice daily, standard Fire-type nutrition. She's fully combat-capable but prefers to de-escalate through intimidation when possible. Don't expect warmth. She's a professional.

  Micah looked at Bellatrix,because apparently that was her name, or designation, or whatever,with new understanding. This wasn't a pet. This wasn't even really a partner in the way Donny was. This was a bodyguard who happened to be a Pokémon.

  "Bellatrix," he said, testing the name.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  The Houndour's ear twitched again, but she didn't break her vigilant scanning of the environment.

  "Right. Professional. Got it." Micah picked up Donny, who was still frozen in his confused waddle position. "Come on, then. Let's... go back to the hotel, I guess? Get you settled?"

  Bellatrix fell into step beside him immediately,not pressed against his legs like Donny preferred, but close enough to intercept any potential threat. Her gait was smooth, efficient, the movement of something that had walked patrol routes thousands of times.

  The walk back to the hotel was surreal. Trainers they passed on the street noticed Bellatrix immediately, and their reactions were telling. Most gave them a wider berth. A few looked nervous. One trainer with a Poochyena actually recalled his Pokémon preemptively, apparently not wanting to risk his young pup challenging what was clearly a much more experienced and dangerous Dark-type.

  Bellatrix ignored all of it, focused entirely on her assigned task.

  When they reached the hotel, Micah discovered another aspect of having a professional bodyguard. Bellatrix inspected the room. Thoroughly. She checked the bathroom, under both beds, the small closet, even the window,apparently evaluating whether it was a security risk or emergency exit.

  Only when she'd completed her inspection and determined the space was secure did she finally sit, positioning herself near the door where she could monitor both the entrance and the room's occupants simultaneously.

  "Well," Micah said to Donny, who had climbed into his lap and was watching Bellatrix with fascinated curiosity, "this is going to be interesting."

  Donny rumbled agreement, though he clearly had no idea what was happening.

  Micah pulled up his PokeNav, accessing more information about training and working with guard-type Pokémon. Most of the articles emphasized the same points Maxie had made,these Pokémon were professionals with specific jobs, and trying to force affection or casual friendship would only undermine their effectiveness.

  The key, apparently, was respect. Not love, not friendship, but mutual professional respect. Bellatrix did her job, Micah respected that job, and in return she'd keep him alive.

  It was so different from his relationship with Donny,warm, emotional, built on the immediate bond of imprinting,that Micah wasn't sure how to process it.

  He looked at Bellatrix, still sitting at rigid attention despite being indoors and presumably off-duty. "Do you... ever relax?"

  One ear swiveled toward him followed by an almost imperceptible huff ,acknowledgment of the question,but she didn't change her posture.

  "Right. Stupid question."

  ,---------

  The afternoon brought an unexpected complication, socialization.

  Micah had decided to take both Donny and Bellatrix to the park for more training,basic obedience work for Donny, and hopefully building some rapport with Bellatrix through structured activity. What he hadn't anticipated was how other trainers' Pokémon would react to Bellatrix's presence.

  They'd barely entered the park when a young Growlithe, probably someone's newly-caught partner, came bounding over with the enthusiastic friendliness that Fire-types were known for. Its trainer, a boy about ten years old, followed with an apologetic expression.

  "Sorry! He's still learning about personal space and,"

  Bellatrix's response was immediate and clinical. She positioned herself between the approaching Growlithe and Micah, lowered her head slightly, and released a growl that seemed to resonate in the chest rather than the ears. Not loud, not aggressive, just... authoritative. A clear statement: You will not approach my charge.

  The Growlithe skidded to a halt so fast it tumbled over its own paws. It scrambled backward, suddenly much less enthusiastic about making friends, and returned to its trainer with whimpering apologies.

  "Oh," the boy said, staring at Bellatrix with wide eyes. "She's a... working Pokémon?"

  "Guard training," Micah confirmed, feeling like he should apologize even though Bellatrix had done exactly what she was supposed to do. "Sorry, she's kind of... intense about her job."

  "That's okay!" The boy backed away, recalling his Growlithe to its Pokéball. "We'll, uh, train somewhere else. Sorry for bothering you!"

  He retreated quickly, leaving Micah standing in the middle of the park with a Rhyhorn who didn't understand what had just happened and a Houndour who had already returned to scanning for threats.

  "Bellatrix," Micah said carefully, "we're not actually in danger. That was just a friendly Pokémon."

  Bellatrix's ear twitched. She knew that. She'd assessed the Growlithe as non-threatening within the first second. But her job wasn't to differentiate between friendly approaches and hostile ones until after she'd established defensive positioning.

  Micah sighed and found a more isolated section of the park. Maybe training with Bellatrix present would require adjusting his expectations about social interaction.

  He set Donny down and pulled out the standard Fire-type nutrition Maxie had specified. "Bellatrix, are you hungry? I brought food."

  The Houndour glanced at the bowl Micah set down, then returned to her scanning. Not interested in eating while on duty, apparently.

  "Okay, fine. But you're eating eventually. I'm not explaining to Maxie why I let you go hungry."

  He worked with Donny on the same basic commands from earlier,come, stay, release. Bellatrix observed this training with what Micah could only describe as professional interest. She wasn't engaged emotionally, but she was clearly cataloging information: Donny's capabilities, his response time, his strengths and weaknesses.

  After about twenty minutes, something unexpected happened. Donny, frustrated by repeated failures at the "stay" command, started to wander off toward an interesting rock formation. Micah called him back, but Donny was fully engaged with rock-based curiosity.

  Bellatrix moved.

  Not fast, not aggressive. She simply positioned herself in Donny's path and made a single, quiet sound,not quite a bark, more like a controlled exhale.

  Donny stopped immediately, looked up at the much larger Dark/Fire-type, and waddled back to Micah without further prompting.

  "Huh," Micah said. "So you'll help with training?"

  Bellatrix returned to her guarding position, which Micah decided to interpret as: I'll enforce reasonable behavioral standards when they align with safety protocols.

  They continued training, and Micah noticed the difference immediately. With Bellatrix present, Donny's attention span seemed longer, his responses sharper. The Rhyhorn might not understand complex pack dynamics yet, but he apparently recognized that Bellatrix was an authority figure worth respecting.

  By the time they took a break, Donny had achieved his longest successful "stay" yet,fifteen seconds without moving or panicking. Progress, real and measurable.

  Micah sat in the grass, Donny climbing immediately into his lap, and watched Bellatrix maintain her vigilant patrol pattern. Even during their break, she didn't rest. Eyes constantly moving, ears swiveling to track sounds, nose processing thousands of scent markers humans couldn't detect.

  "Do you ever get tired?" Micah asked.

  Bellatrix's response was to shift her position slightly, adjusting her angle to better monitor a group of trainers who'd just entered the park. Threat assessment ongoing.

  Micah pulled out his PokeNav and sent a message to Maxie: Bellatrix is... intense. Also incredibly effective. Donny's actually training better with her around. Question though,does she ever relax?

  The response came quickly: Bellatrix knows three states, on-duty, off-duty, and sleep. You're seeing on-duty. Off-duty requires explicitly telling her she's released from guard responsibilities and creating a secure environment she trusts. Sleep happens when she's confident nothing will threaten her charges overnight. Give her time to assess your competence. She'll adjust accordingly.

  So Bellatrix was evaluating him. Determining whether he was capable enough to be trusted with some of the security responsibilities, or whether she needed to maintain maximum vigilance at all times.

  No pressure.