Disclaimer: Don't own it.
Before I start I'd just like to say that part of the impetus for writing this story is thanks in large part to the author Fragmented Disillusionment, and his story 'Minor Miscalculations', with some additional impetus coming from Rusty Raccoon's 'Just Your Average Pika'. Past that, though I can claim some amount of inspiration from those two stories (hey, they got me back into Pokemon at least, and that's saying something!), this particular story actually has a pedigree measuring in at nearly a decade now. More on that later, though, after the end of this chapter.
Vulpine Times Chapter One - Prologue
Deep in a cave, close to if not within the area of Kanto, there was a being of great power and superior resolve, though some would say his lack of experience in certain areas would make him come off as, at best, an adolescent. (Don't tell HIM that though!)
He'd been here for quite some time, quietly knowing himself and those around him, protecting and defending, if only for something to do; see, those he defended didn't need it, and would often tell him exactly that. They were loyal to him, perhaps to a fault, but even he agreed that they didn't really need his protecting. The problem was that, as he understood it, he wasn't protecting THEM from the WORLD, he was protecting the WORLD from THEM. And despite all their prowess, and despite all that they were, they didn't truly understand this.
Although, if the truth were to be told, he was fine with that; why, he was even starting to consider... but that is a story for another time. For now, he had better things to think about.
'Master, what bothers you?'
He shook his head, slowly gesturing the little yellow companion away, "It's nothing, I just sensed something is all."
Pikachu lowered his head a tad, slowly responding, 'Is there... some way I can help?'
He shook his head slowly, "There is no need for that; although I can sense it, it is much too far away for any of you to be bothered by it."
Pikachu backed away a bit, submitting to his master, 'Okay. Master?'
"Yes?"
'There are humans coming here... Wing and I spotted them riding a Blastoise toward the island...'
"I see." He thought for a moment, then turned, "Start gathering the others, I wish to speak with them."
The Pikachu squeaked and scurried away, leaving him to his thoughts for just a moment longer.
'What was that I felt? ... I think I just might investigate, perhaps Mew can watch the colony for a time...'
I did not know pain... incredible, indescribable pain. Unknowable pain, so intense as to force consciosness out, outside the periphery, beyond where thought could occur and thus it could not be known.
I did not know how long it lasted, nor could I truly think anything of such inane concepts as time, dealing with the reality of being torn to shreds was much higher on my priority list, after all.
I might have screamed, or I might not, I was unsure, really. But as with most things an end came, and the end was only the beginning.
Altair was not a cautious Pikachu, nor was he bold, or brave. In fact, he hardly understood what it meant to be brave, short of what it took to impress females. But what he was was adventurous. Adventurous enough to leave the colony for extended periods, even though there wasn't much to explore that wasn't cut off by physical boundaries such as sheer walls and rolling rivers.
Altair's colony lived in a remote, isolated area nearly devoid of trees, with little grass and only just enough to eat, but though they were isolated they were comfortable. Here there were few predators, fewer enemies, and those same features that cut them off also gave them protection.
Life had always been good at the abandoned power plant.
On this day Altair had been travelling a bit up-river, near where sparse grass gave way to a few trees, wandering a bit and perhaps hoping that he might spot some food, or something of interest. Why, he'd even be satisfied if a trainer had fallen out of the sky, pokeball ready to capture him. He'd still run, but at least it would be interesting.
"Pika?" For a moment he feared that perhaps he'd been hasty in his wish for something interesting, as he noticed something approaching his position from the sky; not making any noise but coming closer nonetheless. But the sight wasn't all that gave him pause, it was the feeling; unnatural, horrible, wholly unnerving feelings that couldn't be explained even if he'd tried, yet were captivating in much the same way; so strange as to have locked him in place curiously staring in abject terror as something black, with specks of white, descended upon him.
Then the black became red, the whiteness swallowing what was left, even as the whole of it became that much brighter, that much closer, and that much stranger.
Then he heard something, the call of someone in distress; it was not attacking him, it was attacking another! But who!?
He soon got his answer as the red ball of light, seemingly opposed by the white streaks, slammed into the peak of a nearby palm tree, not quite breaking it but creating a crack which Altair recognized as the release of electricity on a grounded object, followed closely by a small mass tumbling from the impact point. "Pi?"
Curiosity still outweighing concern, the young Pikachu continued to watch as the ball of red, with well groomed silken hair no less, emerged to show itself, "ChuKa?" 'Vulpix?'
Despite that he now knew what it was, Altair still did not approach, for the strange Pokemon was still sending off waves of strange energy, primarily in the form of red lightning which surrounded it, but as he watched Altair's attuned senses noticed something else, something... electrical...
"Chu pikachu ChuKa!?" 'An electric Vulpix!?'
Though he remained stunned, and now FAR more curious than afraid, Altair's flight instincts nearly caused him to turn and run when the energy, crackling around the creature furiously like a caged beast, loosed itself primarily from her tails straight into the air, screaming off like a dragon rising to its domain in a flash of red and white that nearly sent the young Pokemon to his rump...
And then... it was over, and as the energy dissipated Altair was left with nothing but the sounds of a Vulpix screaming unintelligably and the distinct feeling that something beyond his understanding had just occurred.
Altair was not a brave Pokemon, and he was not cowardly, but after a display like that he wasn't about to face the strange fire-type alone. And with that in mind, he quickly left the little Vulpix to pass out in peace.
"Raichu, Rai-chu chuRai?" 'Altair, how much farther?'
"Pika! Pika-chu! Chu pikachu ChuKa!" 'Close! It's real! An electric Vulpix!'
"Piika, pikachu chuka pii." 'I smell something, of ash.'
As their noses started to guide them the party of four, two Raichu and two Pikachu, started slowing down so as not to frighten anything that might be... well, frightenable.
And soon, they found it.
I'm not sure how long I was out of it, but the sound of chattering brought me back, though what I discovered had me confused, and not a little bit alarmed.
'Is she badly hurt? She smells of burns?'
'Maybe she is supposed to?'
'She doesn't look injured...'
'If she is, what should we do?'
I blinked, shaking off the chatter as I came to the land of the living, bright lights and a low-level hum leaving my head in a blur as I turned around, still feeling as much as though I were dreaming as awake.
'She's awake!'
When my vision finally settled and my mind had finished rebooting, I found myself looking at a single... yellow blob, which quickly resolved into something more solid. 'A... Pikachu?'
Ignoring my confusion, the creature went to all fours, approaching me with caution before speaking carefully, "Pika; Pika pikachu?" 'Hello; are you injured?'
My heart nearly leapt from its place in my chest, giving me a massive heave of adrenaline and wakefulness that I nearly passed out again then and there, "Vul-vulpix pix!?" 'Wha-What's happening!?'
Perhaps it was my strange response, or my strange behavior, or maybe it was because I hadn't answered its question, but the Pikachu responded by tilting its head and speaking again, still in that perfectly-understandable pseudo-language that seemed to convey meaning directly to my mind, 'You fell from the sky and used electricity. Why?'
As I heard these words I backed away for a moment, suddenly aware that I was as much on all fours as the being before me, perhaps even more-so as I darted my eyes in all directions before finally looking down at what had moments before been my hand.
The sight of a brown, furred paw greeted me, and with some morbid fascination I looked further, finding a furred shoulder at the front of a barrel-like torso of red, ended with two animalistic legs and... four silken-brown tails, each of which ended in its own curl...
'Are you injured?' There was that question again, directed at me and spoken in that pseudo-language that I appeared to understand relatively well...
Mind racing, I looked back to the somewhat-nervous creature, marvelling at it even as I was slowly coming to realize that I should respond, 'I... don't think so...'
As I shakily sat back on my haunches, considering myself and the strange world around me, the Pikachu turned to one side, where I saw that there was one more Pikachu and a pair of Raichu closely watching the goings-on; apparently not specifically interested but still curious enough to stick around. As the one that had apparently been appointed to be the emmissary said something to the others, I suddenly felt the need to speak up, 'I'm sorry! I didn't... hurt anybody, yes?' As I said this I stood to all fours and backed away carefully, trying to consider my options; in any careful situation, the first few moments often counted the most, and I had no idea what would be the result with just one wrong move.
The Pikachu turned back, 'No, you just came from the sky!' He accentuated this statement with wide movements of his forelimbs, showing an immitation of one fist flying through the air and smacking into the other one, 'And then you hit that tree and you fell, and then you did an electric attack at the air!'
I blinked at this, turning my head curiously, 'I... did?' I then looked at the tree, which showed some mild damage near the top, which made me wonder about how I could survive such a long fall unscathed... Leaving that thought to the side for a moment as I suddenly came back at them, a fervor in my 'words' that had been absent before as excitement and mild panic started creeping in on me, 'Where am I? We! What.. where... OH NO! Where do I go!? Who will believe me! I can't- but- I! N-nnow...' Highly agitated, I started pacing in a tight circle, both physically and mentally chasing my tails as panic started to overtake me.
Suddenly one of the Raichu stepped in my path, making me stop and take a step back, 'Calm down! We won't hurt you, just calm down.' It had its forepaws out in front of itself, holding them in a peaceful, disarming position, though I knew that he could attack quite quickly from any position should I antagonize them, and he had plenty of backup, too. Though all of that escaped my mind as my own forelimbs failed me and I quickly shivered to the ground, mind spinning and emotions running wild...
'I'm sorry, I'm sorry-' With some effort, I shook the stupidity from my head before speaking one more time... 'I think... I'm lost...'
As those around me took this in, apparently unsure how to handle the situtation, a flash of yellow-black caught my attention as a little ball of fluff dashed at me chanting "Pipipipi" 'Runrunrunrun' to stop just a few feet away.
The Raichu seemed to notice my attention, as well as the arrival of one of its young and moved to chastise it, but as often happens with the most hyper of children the little critter dodged around the elder to look at me excitedly from under one of the elder's arms, 'What is it?'
'It's a fire type-' Raichu reached for the Pichu, but the Pichu simply hopped to his other side.
'Is it friendly? Will it play?'
'I don't know, but you shouldn't be here!' Raichu found that Pichu had ignored him, dodging around his grabs once more to get around to his opposite side.
'Did you ask it? We should ask it!'
'Stop running arou-Ah!' And with one last lunge, Raichu managed to fall on his face as the little Pichu ran up to within a few inches from my face.
I meanwhile had found myself to be incredibly amused by the display of childhood in action, and had nothing but a smile in my eyes as the little one smiled, waving one arm in the air over its head, 'Hiii miss fire-type! My name's Aik'sha, you wanna play!?'
As I laughed in response the Raichu got his bearings back and picked the child up from under her arms, eliciting a few disappointed sounds from the little ball of energy, which made me smile even more, 'You should do what they tell you, little one; you could get hurt if you don't!'
Aik'sha huffed from her place between the elder's paws, 'I'm not that little! I'm real close to evolving! I hardly ever shock myself now!'
One of the Pikachu, which for some reason I could tell was female, approached us to chastise the hyper little fluff-ball, 'She's right, you could get hurt, just running up to strange Pokemon like that! What if she attacked you?'
Aik'sha puffed with frustration, 'But nobody plays with me anymore! Ka'shi just lays there, and Ti'ka is always sleeping! I'm all alone since brother and sister evolved!'
As Raichu handed the child to the female Pikachu, I stood, a tad more sure of my ability to do so now, 'Are there... a lot of you, nearby?' I didn't bother thinking about how I was saying what I was saying, too preoccupied with trying to sort out thoughts never spoken and hardly understandable to begin with.
The Raichu laughed, 'Some! So you will not fight us?'
I shook my head vigorously, having no desire whatsoever to fight with these... somewhat intimidating creatures of vaunted power and up-close intimidation value, 'I won't fight you, I make it!' Of course the Raichu didn't seem to notice as I stopped to consider my sudden choice of words, puzzling at the sudden replacement for 'promise', finding that I had no suitable replacement. 'Strange...'
Raichu laughed some more, waving one large paw at me, gesturing for me to follow, whence I followed, acutely aware that the other four electric rodents were following me close behind.
As we passed through a thicket of grass I was mildly startled as a silver metal ball with magnets and screws attached flew out in front of me, causing me to yell out and fall on my behind.
The Pichu, Aik'sha came and patted me on the shoulder with a smile, 'Don't be afraid of them, the Magnemite never do anything but fly around and make noise!'
I nodded dubiously, taking in whatever knowledge I could as I returned pace behind the lead Raichu.
'Hey, can I ride you? They never let me ride them!' Aik'sha suddenly did the one attack that no one, human or Pokemon could resist: the Puppy Dog Eyes attack, holding her forepaws together as she looked up at me with wide, soulful eyes, "Piiiiiiiiiii?" 'Pleeeease?'
I was taken by the utmost of surprise at this and nearly forgot to respond, instead stuttering single syllables that meant nothing even in this strange language I now found myself speaking. I did finally smile, nodding slightly, 'Sure, ok.' I then lowered my head to let her climb on, which she did with an excitable squeal, whence she planted herself on my shoulders, grabbing hold of the fur at the nape of my neck.
'Let's go! Yaaay!' As the child started bouncing excitedly a bit, I couldn't help but laugh and smile; I'd always loved kids.
The female Pikachu appeared beside me, looking at Aik'sha, 'You keep still, okay? You're bigger than you once were.'
As Aik'sha made disappointed noises, I turned to the female, though I quickly found myself with no ideas as to what to say.
She, however, quickly supplied conversation, 'Hello, I am Natty, who are you?'
Blinking at the name, if for no other reason than an attempt to commit it to memory, I formulated my own response, 'I am Sari.' That said, I looked around a bit, discomfort seemingly apparent.
'Sari? Sounds... funny; where are you from?'
I considered this for a moment; where WAS I from, exactly? 'Ah, somewhere far away, I think.'
Aik'sha chose that moment to laugh out loud, 'You sure don't know alot! Is your name all you know?'
Natty, unperturbed, went for her own line of thought, 'I bet it's hot where you're from; I heard fire-types like it hot.'
I considered this, and decided to answer honestly, 'Sometimes, but it gets cold too. Very cold.' I nodded decisively; whether I was a fire type or not, any temperature sufficiently below freezing was cold. Perhaps an ice-type wouldn't think so, but I did!
Natty wondered on this for a moment, then smiled, 'It rains here sometimes, but it gets hot in the nesting places! Maybe you'll like that?'
I smiled, a bit of nervousness creeping up on me, unsure of what to think about that... that is until I saw it.
'Oh... wow! It's big!' I didn't exactly allow myself to get overwhelmed with awe or anything, after all I'd seen bigger buildings from much closer, even to my suddenly-reduced perspective, but it was still pretty big.
Natty smiled widely, 'Yeah! I think it used to be a human thing, but it's nice inside! Let's go!' She suddenly ran off, passing the Raichu quickly, who just sighed and raced to match her pace, which I did as well after a quick adjustment to be sure my passenger was still holding on well enough...
Or at least I tried to, it felt like I couldn't quite make my legs work the way they were meant to for a moment; oh they responded alright, but something about the ways they were built just made the alternating, two-legged movements of human running Just Not Work. I actually nearly fell on my face before I got the hang of the loping strides required of this form, much to the amusement of Aik'sha, who enjoyed the ride rather alot after this point.
Although I lagged behind quite a bit, I did finally meet up with the others at the entrance to the large power-plant, which I had to admit looked even bigger up close, seemingly built into the side of a mountain as it was. Once I approached the door the ones who were there waved me to follow and then darted inside, after which I soon followed along with the ones who had lagged behind with me.
Walking through the corridors, avoiding various electric-type Pokemon (most dangrously the various Voltorb and Electrode that seemed fond of sitting on random spots of the floor), and generally feeling confused ruled the next half-hour or so as I followed my hosts, Aik'sha pointing out various things of interest and commenting on the relative pros and cons of playing with the assemblages of Pokemon around the areas through which we passed, much of which simply led to me understanding that there were areas best avoided.
There were Pikachu just about everywhere in here, but it was only when we came to one last room that I started seeing Raichu about... a LOT of Raichu. Not just ten or twelve, but easily three dozen or more, all surrounding a large machine which I recognized as an operational generator, which was obviously spinning noisily and generating a relatively quiet hum and gentle heat that licked at my face like a pleasant breeze.
Finally my hosts stopped and Natty gave Aik'sha a look, 'Go to your brothers now.' Aik'sha didn't complain, merely saying a quick good-bye and running off to a little corner with two other Pichu and a small clutch of eggs.
It always puzzled me why mammals would so commonly be born from eggs, but didn't question it; if that was how it worked, then that was how it worked. Besides, bearing eggs that did most of the birthing allowed the females to be more ready to fight for longer periods, which would be good in a world where combat was common and often intense.
Not that such concerns were all that important when my Raichu guide stopped beside another Raichu, this one female; the two of them nuzzled in greeting for a moment, a spark or two flying from their cheeks before one started quietly briefing the other. Feeling this was important, I sat down to await what would come of it; I didn't have to wait long.
The female approached me, lumbering a bit on her rear-limbs, though much more sure in that position than the younger-levels seemed to be: All the Raichu walked nearly exclusively on rear limbs, where Pikachu seemed equally at home either way and the Pichu seemed to prefer all-fours.
She waved her arm with a smile, 'Hello! Are you friendly?'
I blinked for a moment, but nodded, 'I think so?'
The male Raichu approached beside the female, 'Do you have a human to look for?' I shook my head, I didn't have any humans to look for, at least none that I could think of.
The female smiled again, 'No other fire-types are here, but do you want to stay? We have enough food for one more belly!'
I was perplexed for a time, wondering just what was going on; how could so many animals, Pikachu, Raichu, Pichu, and even supposedly the Voltorb and other pokemon of the area be so numerous with so little apparent food nearby!? It really didn't seem to make sense, but if they insisted... Besides, a bit of shelter until I got used to things would be nice.
I needed only to nod my acceptance, but I added a verbal line anyway, 'Okay, I am Sari.'
The male nodded with a smile, 'I am Karro!'
The female gave a happy, though not overenthusiastic wave with a friendly smile, 'I am Datta.'
The Pikachu that had followed me, a male, came up beside me with a happy smile, 'They're our first-ones!'
This I understood right away, expressing my understanding with a light gasp; these were the alpha pair, presumably the oldest and strongest of the group and the leaders-apparent, which made sense with the way all the others simply accepted their judgement with little thought.
That same Pikachu quickly moved on, apparently not noticing my silence, 'I am Altair!'
For a moment I was still, then I was suddenly struck with an incredible urge to laugh, which I only just resisted long enough to ask, 'Altair?'
Altair nodded, adopting an amused smile accentuated with one hand scratching the back of his head.
Amused, I swished my tail(s), giving Altair a look of priceless enjoyment, 'I like that name.' I wasn't sure I could convey enough meaning to tell the poor male that he was named after a star many light-years away, but I felt that I had to say something to the effect.
The attention seemed to have gotten to him and he laughed, 'I think Sari is pretty too!' As I adopted a bemused expression he darted a few feet back the way we had come before turning around with a wave, 'I'll show you more! Come on!'
And with a quick look to the alphas, who hardly even seemed interested, having gone back to... whatever they did back there, I took off after him.
It didn't take me long, with the help of both a nose sensitive to such things and memories from the past, to see some patterns that would help to assist me in, at the very least, telling male from female around here; for some reason, where male Pikachu have full tails resembling mini lightning-bolts, the females have just the smallest notch missing upon evolving to said stage, which stays there throughout their lives. If one didn't know better they might say it was an extraordinarily consistent and common battle injury, but unlike many I had the advantage of having owned a Pokedex.
A paper one, true, but perhaps that just made it more thorough, if a tad less useful when it came time to actually check up on things on the fly; it was more a study aid, though it didn't help much now, being unavailable to study. After all, wondering on the comparative strengths of a Pikachu vurses a Vulpix to a Voltorb was little more than idle thought if one couldn't actually flip through the pages anymore, they being literally a world away.
Although I still questioned it, I could only hold conjecture as to how and why such a... vigorous population of mammals could survive in such a relatively small environment; obviously the power plant was drawing them, but could it be sustaining them as well?
Still, when asked, Altair was happy to show me the food that was available, which led to us being outside, not far from the building itself.
'See? It's there!'
Tilting my head curiously, I considered what Altair was showing me; the remnants of a garden long-forgotten were visible, showing lots of care in the past that now left equipment to be flung about randomly, long vines carrying large numbers of yellow-green fruits growing now more wild than tame, a large tree reaching for the sky not far away, orange fruits swaying proudly in the breeze.
At first I wondered how an unkempt garden, so obviously torn apart by critters looking for food, could grow so wildly and so well, but it didn't take me long to notice the garbage. It was strewn about everywhere, mostly likely never straying more than a few feet from where it had been originated; fruit seeds, skins, discarded leaves, lost and rotted fruits now too rancid to eat, and generally the waste of consumption for dozens of yards around simply everywhere, often hidden to the eye but visible to even a cursory sniff. And everywhere, new vines springing from the ground, discarded seeds taking root, mulch leeching vitamins to the ground, feces stinking and fertilizing at the same sniff. And the tree, tall and strong, had obviously matured enough that there were now more of it, smaller and flung as far as the Pikachu cared to carry its fruit before eating.
It helped that the ground was naturally saturated by the waters that still flowed not far away.
'We shouldn't stay long, though, something might see us alone out here.' Leading by example, Altair dashed off to procure one of the large, curved yellow-green fruits, which he plucked and brought back to me, leaving some on the ground as he stuffed a pair into his mouth, making his cheeks puff out a bit before he started chewing.
I hardly noticed Altair's antics, though, too preoccupied with sudden melancholy. 'Of course I can't hold them, I can't even grasp things as well as a Pikachu can-' I turned my right paw a bit, so I could just see the blackish pads that red fur nearly hid entirely, 'These are made for walking, not holding or climbing, not like for a Pikachu, which climbs as well as it runs.' I sighed, biting the bullet to bite the fruit left for me; there weren't many, but if I wanted more I now knew where to find them.
I chewed for a moment, keeping Altair's reactions in the periphery of my vision as I did, 'Mmm, sweet. I think I would have preferred something Spicy, hot and intense, but Sweet's almost as nice... Just so long as it isn't bitter.' A sickly expression crossed my face for just a tic, and as I swallowed I tilted my head curiously again, 'I wonder what that means about my... nature?' Despite myself, I smiled, amused at my internal dialogue.
'Isn't it good? So sweet, so good!' I giggled lightly as I watched Altair massage his cheeks, obviously immensely pleased at the taste; somehow I almost expected a Pikachu to enjoy sweet things, but to see the reaction was just... amusing, to say the least.
'It's good, thank you. Is there anything spicy here?' I was almost ashamed to ask, but one never knew unless one asked, so asking couldn't hurt.
He laughed, 'Do you like hot things?' As I pouted, he started thinking, 'Maybe...'
As I watched for a moment I swore I could see little balls of white vapor, congealing in a swirl about his head as he thought without apparent success, until finally he turned and ran off at a pace that I could just barely follow.
When we finally stopped it was in an area with light tree growth; VERY light tree growth, with a stand of perhaps ten or eleven trees no taller than a single-story house, which was still pretty large to my new perspective, though still small in my experience. In the center of the stand was a set of bushes, scraggly and worn, almost weary-looking yet with a look of defiance that almost made one want to shout for it not to give up, that living in the cruel world only made one stronger!
Altair hardly had to lead me to this one; just approaching it I got a teary sensation in my eyes akin to what someone smelling Jalapeno might experience, though exxagerated by my by-now more sensitive nose. "Vul Vul-Pix!" 'It smells good!'
Altair smiled, though I could tell the smell wasn't so much to his liking as it was to mine, 'Do you like it?'
Figuring that this was as much of an invitation as I would get, and knowing that I wouldn't have an answer until I tried it, I approached the bush inspecting one of the strange, green mini-pumpkin-ish fruits and bit down, feeling strange enough to not be using hands and nearly as much just for putting my eyes so close to pointy spines.
The texture was not unlike what I'd have expected the look of frozen milk to taste like, with splinters and shards throughout that squeezed and popped easily enough, providing a unique feel that I really had to search my mind for a parrallel to; but the flavor...
'It's good... It's GOOD!' I nearly jumped around the clearing in my excitement, instead taking another bite, savoring every flavor I ever truly loved all jumbled into one package of intensity, acidic and powerful, nearly enough to make my tongue want to leap from its place, though for joy or pain none could tell. I could sense a sprinkle of tomato, a spritz of sharp orange, perhaps some granny-apple (the green kind), something I couldn't identify, and a bomb-load of hot and spicy with a touch of sour that left me with a watering mouth and, further, satisfied.
Looking back at my guide I found that our roles had been somehow reversed, with him looking bemused at my antics just as I had been at his moments before, 'Thank you, it was... very good.' I had wanted to say 'awesome', but somehow found that I couldn't think of the right way to say it; still, I was fairly sure that the wild grin that I could find no reason to supress would manage to convey the way I felt.
Altair laughed, apparently happy that I was happy, 'Are you full?'
I blinked... 'Apparently so, now that I think of it...' I looked at myself, grinning at the irony of being even mildly surprised, 'I suppose I shouldn't be surprised; new body, new stomach, new appetite; nice to know my tastes haven't changed too much.' "Vul!" I nodded and followed as Altair took me on a quick tour of the area outside the 'nest place'.
Not that there was much to see, but it was nice to get out and about, if only for some fresh air to allow me to think.
The feeling that this was a dream persisted, for a time; after all there was only one place where Pikachu ran around, happily pointing at various interesting rocks and small plants that smelled funny, squeaking with that common call of a Pikachu that was so disturbingly familiar that I could almost have sworn that I'd walked into a Television set.
Because that was where Pikachu belonged: In a television, on the screen, playing with other Pokemon and blasting off brilliant shows of yellow light which might or might-not cause epilepsy in small japanese children, or perhaps less vividly on the screen of a video-game, making meaningless noises and using 'Thundershock!' on hapless Pidgeotto.
It certainly didn't belong right in front of me, as often as I'd fantasized such a thing it still felt strange, though perhaps not so strange as suddenly being four-legged. Or furry, let alone well-groomed. How did something like that even happen? Being well-groomed I mean; I was fairly sure that most Vulpix, reportedly, took pride in their appearance, but I'd hardly even had this BODY for a few minutes, and indeed as time went on it got more mussed and less spectacular; a groomed appearance wasn't really NATURAL. But what did that mean? And why Vulpix in the first place? Although, in that case, why not? If not human, what else? Vulpix was admittedly a world better than Koffing, or Ekans, or even the Magnemite that always floated so listlessly overhead.
I shivered a bit as some possibilities, even likelihoods presented themselves, and some of my conclusions, presumptuous as they were... I could NOT be a Koffing! Even to think it was... Ugh! No way!
'Is something wrong?'
Looking up, I found that my thoughts were seemingly somewhat transparent, but I smiled reassuringly, 'No, I'm okay!'
"Piiiikaaaa!!"
I turned to see a small bunch of Pikachu advancing on our location, each one smiling playfully, running and tackling first Altair and then each-other, leaving me somewhat entertained at their antics until Altair turned bright eyes to me, 'Wanna play?'
"vul? Vul!" I was then brought into the dogpile, becoming the first canine therein and quickly finding the tossing about to not be unpleasant; when the bundle of fur opened enough to get back on my feet I was grinning and carrying on nearly as much as the rodents across from me...
That is... until I noticed that I now had five Pikachu... looking at me with grins planted on their faces...
'Huh?' "Pix! Pihihihihixixix! Vulpixvul!" And I laughed, rather helplessly at the combined assault of five very well-executed Tickle Attacks.
Suddenly Altair broke off with another male, both of whom had smirks on their faces as they suddenly blasted each-other with the first true electrical attacks I'd seen since arriving; at first I'd worried that they were fighting, but soon the other three Pikachu joined in and within moments there was a snarling fur-ball of twisting yellow fur and flying electricity.
I wasn't too keen on joining in with an electrical game like that, being of the wrong type, so stayed out of it.
It did, however, make me think about finding some fire-types... other Vulpix, specifically, if only to get more information about myself. Oh well, I wouldn't even know where to FIND other Vulpix, if I remembered right they weren't in the wild anywhere, they could only be bought or won... 'At the Game Center thingy, if I remember. Never did like that place.' (A/N: This is true only for Yellow version, the version I used to play.)
Shaking my head, I realized that, other fire-types or no, I still wanted to try these vaunted fire-type attacks I supposedly had.
I also had the strangest desire to hit things at full speed... hard, and repeatedly. Strange.
I stood, stretching my back and hind-quarters... then decided I would find someone to... play with. Preferably without electricity: I'd just gotten here, I didn't really feel like getting paralyzed so soon.
It seemed that the late afternoon was a time when most of the colony went outside for their various activities, including the Pichu who were especially fond of climbing on things, something which I found myself to be... not all that great at, at least compared to the little rodents, who seemed well-built for climbing. With their grabbing paws and sharp claws they practically RAN up the sides of what few trees were about, and their little bodies made for little resistance from gravity, whereas my paws were not designed for climbing, my claws of little use as I had trouble digging them into anything, and my body was relatively heavy.
Still, I humored the children for a time, then returned to the ground, where I instead spent some time running about for something to do, interestingly having a few races with some of the Pikachu... which I lost. Even the Pichu beat me! While not really humiliated, it was rather humbling; these guys had spent their whole lives as they were, I hadn't even spent a whole day on four paws... or paws at all, for that matter.
'I suppose that's why I wanted to run around in the first place; I'm okay walking, but still a tad unsure on... my feet.'
Stomach grumbling, I decided to find that bush with the spicy fruits. It wasn't very hard, with how little territory there was around here, and when I found it I immediately approached, sniffing the green pumpkins curiously before biting down on one.
It was a few minutes later when Aik'sha found me, laying on my side with tears in my eyes and a silly grin on my face. "Vullllpix vul!" 'Ohhh yummy!'
Aik'sha twitched her nose, apparently considering me, "Pichu pi? Ppichu?" 'You like it? Miss Fire-type?'
Grin renewed, I rolled to my feet, 'Oh yeah! These things are great! Wonder what they're called?'
Aik'sha giggled, running up to the bush before climbing it, actually grabbing onto the thorns for support before she grabbed one of the fruits with her mouth, tumbling to the ground and rolling to a standing position, hard-won gain still in her mouth, "Pffchu!" 'Mfffoo!' She bit off a chunk, chewing it before swallowing, shivering happily as light sparking came from her cheeks. 'Yummy! Right?'
I nodded with a smile, laying down as I watched the little Pichu make long, but fun work of her meal, perhaps not celebrating as much as I had but obviously happy nonetheless. "Pichupi!" 'Yummy!' I smiled and she hopped my way, 'Wanna explore?'
I tilted my head, 'Explore where?'
The little Pichu hopped away a few feet, then waved me over to follow her, 'This way!'
I followed her, managing somehow to keep up as we approached a spot just south of the generator building where a landslide had apparently occured somewhen in the past, large boulders laying about; 'Lookit! See?'
I considered the landscape, 'See what?'
'We can climb here! See?' She pointed at the nearby cliff face, then matched action to words and hopped atop a nearby boulder, hopping to another one soon there-after, quickly making her way up using the rubble before turning around and waving back at me, 'See? It's fun!'
I didn't think it seemed all that wise to be going up there, 'Come back down! What if the rocks move!?'
'Then I'll shock them! I'm really strong! See?' "Piii!" Without even any time to think the little one grinned and zapped some poor, unsuspecting boulder, which fortunately didn't move. She smiled, 'See? It barely hurt!'
I could tell that her smile was slightly strained, but now I had a new worry, 'What if that had been a Graveller! It would squash you!'
She got to all fours to look down at me better, smile plastered in place, 'You worry too much! I'm the strongest Pichu in the colony! Now come on slowpoke!'
I was about to argue some more when I noticed... something, and by some cue I didn't consciously understand, looked up. 'What's that?'
"Pichu?" Aik'sha apparently noticed the attention I was paying the sky and looked up herself, 'Spearow!' On a level that didn't matter at the moment, I noted that there wasn't as much alarm in her voice as the situation probably warranted; there wasn't just a Spearow, or a couple Spearow, but at least a good hundred or so...
Some of them were diving... directly at Aik'sha. 'No! Stay away! Aik'sha get down!' Acting impulsively I ran to the falling chasm, taking a more direct route than the little Pichu had taken, trying to at least get closer to her.
"Pichu ppichu Pii!!" 'Go away, stupid birds!!' Aik'sha wave her arms, as though to shoo the attackers away. It didn't work, and when that became obvious the little baby Pokemon stretched out, "P-! Pichu piiPIIIII!!" 'Fine! Then take this!' She then curled up with some effort and lit up the sky with a shock at least as strong as what I'd seen the Pikachu using before, hitting the lead Spearow with an attack that actually jumped to some of the ones close-by, stunning three and making five stop their attack, though that still left... a few coming at her, which she quickly zapped as well, knocking two away and making three rethink their attack.
I had to admit, for such a little mouse she was doing rather well; electricity had a distinct advantage over flying types, but even so she was... rather outnumbered and some got past her, knocking her backwards a bit; she quickly recovered her footing and I was pushed to go a bit faster, putting even more effort into my mostly-useless climbing.
Egads, shouldn't I have been able to jump the distance there in, like, two hops!?
Aik'sha stood up on shaky legs, 'I'm not done yet! Super ThunderSHOOOCK!' "CHUUUUUU!!" In one last attack she pumped out nearly thrice the energy she'd put out in any of her previous attacks, actually dropping one of the birds to the ground and driving the rest to back off. 'Gotcha! Stupid birrrr-' With an audible thump, the little female fell face-first on the ground, 'Owiiiee...'
Just as I was making it to her level, some more Spearow had noticed that the little baby had stopped attacking and decided to capitalize on the weakness, turning back for another go at a quick meal. 'Back off!' They paid me little heed, though, as I covered the child with my tails protectively, continuing to dive until, at the last moment, I kicked her beneath me and at least three of the persuers dove right through my tails, slamming directly into the stone below, three more staying in the air around us, squawking wildly. 'Grab on!'
As adrenaline rushed through my veins I scowled angrily at the birds around me, waiting impatiently for Aik'sha to get a grip on my fur before I turned and ran, three birds in hot pursuit and gaining fast, now seemingly as intent on me as on my rider, the stunned three already shaking their heads and more coming from the sky at a good clip; the bloodrush was giving me energy I hadn't had before and this time I did make it to the ground in only a couple convenient hops, though I hardly registered this as I took hits to my flank and tails as they clawed and pecked at me incessantly. I was on the ground and running back to where the rest of the colony was, marked easily by a series of energetic lightning bolts that put Aik'sha's efforts to shame passing through the sky, when Aik'sha decided she had at least a little bit of fighting spirit left and let out a weak, unfocused zap that sent the closest three Spearow flying... and sent me twitching to the ground. 'Ah, ow! I said I didn't wanna feel that just yet!' Biting through the pain and possible paralysis, I got to my feet and kept running.
Though the near-ground ones had flown off, there were now even more dive-bombing us, several from the back and a few from the front, 'Not good! Shoot, run AT them!' Throwing my head around and instinctively maneuvering myself to give Aik'sha the easiest time of staying attached, I ran directly at, and through a wave of beaks and claws coming at us from behind, severely throwing off their aim as most of them overshot us, actually creating a wave of obstacles that made most of the Spearow coming from the other direction break off their attacks, but at the same time creating big mess between us and the rest of the colony, 'Shoot! Not good!' Hoping for a miracle, I tried using fire to attack them from a distance, but for some reason couldn't make any come out; I knew it was there, I just couldn't figure out how to make it come out! 'Man, I knew I should have tried it earlier than this! Now what!?'
With little choice, I simply did my best; dodging and running away, trying a random kick and waving my tails like mad, even ducking behind some random rocks big enough to provide shelter. By some strange windfall one of those rocks just happened to be a Geodude, who then attacked the Spearow that had ran into him by throwing other rocks up at them, actually sending a few of them to the ground as I did my best to make use of the lucky break, running through an opening in the flock created by the rock-type's thrashing, managing to get out of range just as he exploded in apparent rage, taking several more birds out of the picture as well as knocking himself out.
Unfortunately for me I had turned my attention away from where I was going when the Geodude had exploded, and when I turned back I got an almighty THWACK! as a Spearow ran headlong into my face, actually knocking me sideways and stunning me greatly.
As I sat there I heard more squawking and even felt a few scratches, though all the pain did was to serve to stoke my anger at them, making me yell out, "VULPIXVUUULLL!!" I was surprised to see flames coming from my mouth, but at this point they did little good as I was surrounded and coming to be in rather a lot of pain, even through the haze of adrenaline. 'This sucks!' Yelling some more, I threw more and more fire in the air, doing what I could despite knowing that it wasn't much.
Then the sky gave an incredible LURCH as the very ground seemed to explode around me, lighting up my entire field of view and creating a crack so loud that I'd hardly realized I'd even heard it.
Around me there suddenly lay a dozen or so knocked-out birds, and when I looked I saw a male Raichu that I didn't recognize smiling and approaching me.
Breathing hard, I said the only thing I could, 'Thank you!'
The Raichu didn't say anything, instead taking Aik'sha in his mouth and gesturing with his arm for me to follow before taking off on all fours, thankfully slowly enough that I could just manage to keep up on shaky legs. For the first time I was glad that I had four of them, since in the state I was in I'd have never been able to handle just two.
They say that pain lets you know you're alive, and at that moment I could unequivocably tell that I was most certainly alive, there was far too much pain to be otherwise. Yet at the same time, though I recognized the pain, it somehow didn't seem all that important; it was important, now that there was no fighting going on, but even now it was hard for me to understand the pain as anything more than my body telling me I was injured.
Altair approached me where I lay, quite literally licking my wounds (I always licked my wounds, I love the taste of my own blood, but somehow it seemed even more important now); he had some of the strange yellow fruits with green hooks on their end, which he handed to me, 'Eat these, you'll feel better.'
I looked at them; they were the sweet berries from earlier. With all the exertion I realized that I was hungry and the pain somehow made food all the more appealing, so I nodded as I took one of the things in mouth, chewing at the sweetness before I swallowed.
With a deep breath I felt a wave of relief sweep over me; he wasn't kidding when he said it would make me feel better! 'Those must be the kind that restore HP... wow, I have HP.' Shaking off the silliness of my thoughts, I looked Altair in the eye with an appreciative look, 'Thank you.'
Altair smiled, 'Do you want another? You look really beat up.'
I considered... then gave in; I couldn't pretend that I didn't need it, I was in too much pain; as unimportant as it seemed it was still a detriment. I nodded and took another as I thought back on the attack from earlier.
Apparently the Spearow would come by this area just a few times a year, usually in the changing seasons, sometimes timing their arrival with when there were only a few Pikachu outside, in which case there would be fewer Pikachu at the end of the day, though sometimes they would show up just as the whole colony was outside, as had happened earlier, and in such a case only one, maybe two if seperated from the others would be picked off and carried away. Apparently this place wasn't as danger-free as I had at first thought; because of Aik'sha's boldness I had thought that she didn't know much danger, but it turned out that she was simply that brave and bold. She indeed had a stronger attack than any of the other Pichu, being nearly as strong as a weaker Pikachu in that area; that seemed to embolden her, though the elders were quick to point out that she was still small and had little in the way of endurance, and that the power of a Pikachu was of little use if half of it went through your own body.
I generally had to agree, though in my own mind I had to wonder just what Aik'sha would become once she'd evolved: If she had the power of a Pikachu as a Pichu, what sort of power would she have as a Pikachu? Or a Raichu for that matter, it was a matter that I simply would have loved to see the answer to.
Though I also wondered if her strength might have simply been an indication that she was close to evolving. Curious.
Without even thinking of it, something occured to me, 'Altair, is it safe to go outside?'
Altair tilted his head, 'I guess, but it will be dark soon and the night things will be out.'
I thought, 'Then perhaps you could come with me?'
He smiled at this, nervously pulling on one of his ears before answering by getting on all fours with a nod, urging me to take cue to do the same, and we were off.
I was looking out, over the water... the water that was already reflecting starlight, though not stars. It was fresh mountain water, coming from a waterfall that was just a short swim upstream, though I wasn't exactly keen on that idea. If my suspicion was right this river should curve around, take a turn to the west, then go north near a town and empty into the sea to the east. Of course, such things were niether needed nor important at the moment.
'Why did you want to come here?'
I looked from the water to my current companion, a male Pikachu named Altair who just so happened to have been the first Pokemon I had ever seen. 'I need to do something, but to do that I can't be in the nest; it's too busy in there.'
He tilted his head curiously, 'Like... Practicing?' He smiled an interesting, ever-so-ready smile that seemed to radiate at the prospect of a play battle.
I had to disappoint, shaking my head, 'Sorry, not that, though I probably will want to when the sun rises.' 'Huh, no one word for morning; though I suppose I could be missing a lot. I imagine having a language forced into your skull could leave a lot of gaps.' Disregarding his expression, I looked back over the water, 'I'm going to be doing something very quiet, but if something goes wrong I could hurt somebody.' Mind it.
"Pika?" 'What?' Mind it.
I smiled, 'Nothing very interesting. But if you notice danger, let me know please?' Mind it, mind it, mind it.
Altair's expression said that he didn't understand, but he nodded anyway, followed by him rolling onto his side to lay there relatively quietly. Mind, it, mind, it...
Seeing this, I smiled again; he didn't have a clue what I was already doing.
Mind. It. Mind. It.
If one were to look closely enough, they might have noticed my eyes already moving, ticking back and forth. Mind. It. They went right at Mind, left for It.
Mind. It. Mind. It. Mind. It. Mind. It. What was I minding? It. Mind. It. I can't remember. Mind. It. Mind. It. Perhaps it was my goals. Mind. It. But they were many? It. Mind. It. Mind. So what was it? It. Mind. It. Mind. It.
Perhaps it was... Mind. It. That. It. Mind. It. Mind. It.
I didn't need the majority of my mind to be active to feel It. Mind. It. It was there, everywhere; piercing me, slicing me into innumerable pieces. Mind. It. But more than that... It. Mind. It. It was...
Mine-dit. Mine-dit. The words were running together. Mine-dit. Such was unavoidable... Min-dit. When one repeated them over and over enough. Mind-it. Min-dit. Mind-it. Mine-dit. Mined-it.
What did such a thing lead me to? Mind it. I didn't know. Mind it. It wasn't important. Mind. It. So long as I paid IT mind. It. Mind. It.
Vul. Pix. Vul. Pix. I was chanting it now... Vul. Pix. Though if one understood... Vul. Pix. They would hear my true chant... Mind. It.
Finally, I noticed it. Mind. It. Mind. It. A strange, new pull. Mind. It. Mind. It was as I suspected. Mind. Impressive. Mind. It. Mind. It. Though not too much.
Mind. I would think on this later. It. Perhaps... It. Mind. After some training. Mind. It.
It's time to stop, now... Mind. It. Great. Mind. It. I can't stop again. It. Stupid chant. It. Comes so easily, it's hard to stop. Vul. Pix. What was Altair doing? Mind. It. He was probably bored. It. Mind. Did he have any idea what I was doing? Mind. It. Vul. Pix. Very. Strange. Vul. Pix. Mind. It.
It wasn't like a shout, nor a whisper. Mind. It. It was the ticking of a tock... It. Mind. Or rather, of a clock. Mind. It. Wonder if I could use Tick Tock? Tind. It't. Nope. It. Mind. Now this is getting annoying.
Time to get out! Mind. Stopit! It. And I touched it. It didn't touch back, was unaware... Tock. Clock. Duuu. Boh. Yatz. Korss. I'm done now.
'Sheesh, if that pull wasn't so cool to look at... no, don't go back. Stoppit.' Shaking my head to clear it, I looked to my right to find that Altair wasn't there. Rather, he was behind me, playing with Aik'sha, who apparently was hardly affected by our shared altercation earlier that day.
Standing up with a stretch, I turned to face the pair with an amused look, 'Aik'sha, what are you doing out here? The moon is out.' And full, too, making it all that easier to hunt for those that did so by night.
The two of them stopped rolling around, Aik'sha mostly seeming to try to wrestle the larger Pikachu into submission and said adult allowing her to do so, and afforded me suitably clueless expressions, Aik'sha answering, 'I wanted to see you, so I came here and you wouldn't talk to me so I was playing with this nice Pikachu, he's fun!'
I chuckled lightly, suddenly fighting the urge to think about the fact that I was currently on all fours, 'I see, but isn't it dangerous out here in the dark?'
She nodded vigorously, 'Uh-huh! But I can light it up, see?' "Chiuuu-" She curled up aggressively and sparks started coming from her cheeks, discharging just enough into the air to see a little better by. 'See?'
I smiled as Altair took the little female in a standing grip that stopped her antics; he set her down and turned to me with a curious expression, 'What were you doing?'
I considered for a moment, then told the truth, 'I was looking.' Though I didn't wish to say everything at once.
The both of them tilted their heads at this, 'Looking at what?' Altair said this just before Aik'sha added her own comment.
'You were rocking your head funny, how could you see something like that?'
I sighed, 'It's hard to explain, but I have to look at it; I can always see it, no matter where I am.'
Aik'sha gasped, 'You must have really good eyes! Sometimes I can't even see my brothers if we're really far apart.'
"Pi?" 'Huh?' Altair tilted his head, 'How can you see something from everywhere?' Approaching me on all fours, he sniffed me, as if looking for something, Aik'sha mimicking the move.
I sighed again, thinking for a few moments before responding, 'It's something that I can see everywhere, because of what it is; it's just very hard to look.'
"Chu..." 'Oh...' Aik'sha stood, giving me a curious look as Altair seemed to be starting to lose interest, 'What is it?'
I considered again. Then smiled, 'I don't really know, that's why I have to look at it.' Shaking my head with a laugh, I stood, 'Let's go back to the nest; outside is dark now and getting cold.'
Aik'sha moved to walk beside me, Altair nodding his assent and moving to my other side. Aik'sha gave me a curious look, 'But aren't you a fire-type? How can you get cold?'
I grinned, 'I don't know, but I know I can. Besides, I'm tired and sore from fighting, I'm ready to sleep.'
Altair yawned widely, 'Oooh me too. Come on, I know a warm place!'
I hardly got the time to realize that he'd started running before Altair was many feet ahead of me; I started running, Aik'sha just ahead of me.
None of us noticed small sparks of electricity sparkling about my tails before disappearing.
As I rested on the hard floor I allowed my mind to wander, as it often did. I didn't know what I was going to be thinking about, but what I finally ended up seeing in my mind was pictures, images, sounds... stories of the future and questions I would need to answer in time.
Would I ever meet another Vulpix? A Ninetails? I could see images of both species in my mind, and found the idea alluring, but I also knew that Vulpix were relatively rare...
How much of the world would I see? And how would I go about seeing it? Would I get caught by a trainer? Would I instead find a trainer I liked and get them to capture me? Or would I somehow simply wander the world on my own? Honestly I was fairly sure that my, ultimately limited experience in the wild meant that, although I could adapt, wandering around aimlessly would be hard, dangerous, and ultimately fruitless. I would put too much effort into survival and not enough into exploration.
And then there was the fact that I had no idea how wild Vulpix survived; sure, I could hope that some form of much-well-aligned 'instincts' would kick in, practically forcing me to live as a Vulpix would. However, I didn't think I could count on that, I wouldn't even know what was real instinct and what was hope and conjecture. Humans just weren't very good at listening to their instincts, no matter how strong, what made me think I would be any different? Even though I was no longer human.
Sleep overcame me, and I dreamed strange dreams. She was happy.
End Chapter 1
As I said before, much of the inspiration for this story came not through what I've read or heard, but rather much of it came through adapting a story that I wrote many, many years ago. Although no-one but myself will likely ever see it, 'The Wrong Way' had some fifty chapters written in my cursive scrawl, on some hundred-plus pieces of line-rule paper, all of which is still stuffed away in a safe-keeping place. Although only four chapters ever made it to Fanfiction-dot-net, I still revere it as my original pride-and-joy, holding it upon a pedestal above all others.
Unfortunately, much of my style has changed since then, and I've come to realize that my attention span is such that I would never, ever be able to transcribe all fifty-some chapters onto my computer. As such, unless I can manage to either decide to do just that or in some other way manage to get it accomplished, it will remain in its current form: Written in cursive and brazenly unfinished. Which makes me cry, the canyon arc was too priceless not to share! Waaah!
At any rate, when I came to the Pokemon section, looking up some Mew stories (because I'd come to like Mew), I chanced across one by Fragmented Disillusionment, which then led me to Minor Miscalculations, one of the two impetus fics for the drive to write this one, the other being the fic that inspired MM called 'Just Your Average Pika'. At that point I found myself wanting to get The Wrong Way going again, but just couldn't bring myself to do so. Rather, I decided to leave old fics be and start a new one with much of the original soul intact. The biggest changes between that fic and this one are two: First, I couldn't really wrap my mind around Nidoran as a main character, so I scrapped it and searched my Pokedex for a suitable replacement; I refused to pick Pikachu simply out of principle. It was tempting to do so, which was the exact reason I refused it, I wanted something that would be more difficult to adapt to without being too 'out there'; when I chanced across Vulpix it was like a light blinked on and I loved it immediately. The other most major change is that, where Nido was caught and had a trainer right away (much of the story revolving around the relationship between the two), Sari has yet to be caught and won't have a trainer for quite some time. The method of entry is also different, displaying at least some of the ways that my style has changed over the years.
On another note: This story and the universe herewithin is most decidedly NOT intended to be connected to the universe with which FD and RR's stories take place, and probably never will be. Cameos could become possible, I suppose, but only at the behest of the owner of the characters involved, and honestly I don't even see THAT happening in any logical fashion. In an Omake possibly, but again only at the characters' owners' behest.
And finally: I think I'll try to get one chapter out roughly each week, if I can. It takes a lot of time to write a chapter, and I typically spend at least as much time editing and perfecting them, but I'd really like it if I could make that as a goal and keep to it. We'll see how well that goes. Ne? V
Alex Ultra: Crazy Hazy Lazy!
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