TO WHERE YOU ARE

by kathlaida-princess

Summary: When one day the Zigzagoon Cookie went missing, his best and only friend, the Vulpix Noodle immediately took on the difficult quest to leave their village and find him. But what if he doesn't want to be found? OC Fic

Disclaimer: All Pokémon species used here and all Pokémon related stuff belong to Game Freak/Nintendo. All Naruto-related stuff belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. The stupid use of ideas, cheesy plot and locations belong to me ^^

Author's Notes: Hello, dear readers! Now I find myself with more time and motivation to write, but sometimes the ideas I get belong to none of the fictions I'm currently writing, but to other smaller ones I have dwelling in my head. And since those ideas are there, I might as well use them, so here is one of them!

As you can probably deduce from the summary I wrote, this will be a very small and simple story centered on two Pokémon characters, the Vulpix called Noodle and the Zigzagoon called Cookie. I will write in a very Mistery Dungeon style, so there won't be any humans but Pokémon will behave a lot like us.

The plot is intended to be fluffy and at the same time very simple and light, so don't be expecting great dramatic scenes or something like that. Still, it is a set of ideas that popped into my mind and that made me grow fond of them, so every word here has meaning. For me, these fictions made from the "overflow" of motivation are as valuable as the others, the ones I work a lot on.

So, I really hope you grow fond if this story too!

And to answer to the question some of you must have after reading the name and species of the characters, they were inspired by the two Naruto characters Naruto himself and Gaara, as well as their beautiful (even if a bit neglected…) friendship. But, of course, you don't need to like Naruto to like this story, so please do not lose your motivation because of that ^^;

I guess I talked more than enough now.

Let's begin!

CHAPTER 1

HELLO, STRANGER

For a very long time, for as long as the oldest Torterra and their parents and grandparents could remember, the tiny Greenbark Village has existed, peaceful and sleepy, leaning against the roots and base of a tree so big that there were needed a hundred Aggrons to hug it, that legends told Groudon itself planted and blessed its seed.

The village and the humongous tree protecting it were themselves surrounded by an evergreen forest, the Forest Region, with other similar communities spread throughout it. Beyond it, were the other Regions forming the Pokémon World: the Desert Region (this one including the Jungle Region in its midst), the Water Region, the Snow Region and the Mountain Region, each of them faithful to their name. But the Pokémon of each region seldom left it and explored the rest of the world, since all of them felt so comfortable in their own to go through all the trouble. After all, if you were a Mudkip, what possible reason would you have to leave your house by the river to go visit the scorching and dry desert or the dark and scary caves in the mountain?

Because of that, all villages sprinkled all over each region remained more or less the same as time went by, with the same rules and no serious problems. The worst they had to deal with were the predators that didn't live in the villages and roamed the land hunting for the next meal, but even those hardly ever posed a heavy threat. There were no humans and Pokémon of different species but same habitats managed their houses and communities themselves, according to the rules of each village.

And, of all villages, Greenbark had always been the most monotonous and peaceful one, with its many wooden houses gathered under the kind shadow of the giant tree, its lazy inhabitants protected by the thick circle of forest.

This is, Greenbark was the quietest village until HE was born.

All villagers remembered his parents. His mother was a beautiful and powerful Ninetales. She had lived for a very long time (Ninetales usually do) and she was able to make peace with a group of Staraptors that sometimes savaged the village, giving cooked food in exchange for the Pokémon's and the village's safety. His father (a Ninetales with the same age) was equally respected, especially for his wise advice and extremely rational words. He had even been a teacher of some of the children Pokémon in the village. But both of them died when a great three fell upon them while they were escaping from a thunderstorm, and they left HIS egg behind, almost ready to hatch.

The villagers, after knowing what happened to the two Ninetales, paid their last respects to them and decided they had to look after the unborn orphan. The eldest of Greenbark, a Venusaur called Leaflet, brought the egg to his own house and took care of it, lulling it, keeping it warm and even talking to it, until the moment it hatched.

A baby male Vulpix was born from the egg, just with one tail, like all others, and he was apparently completely normal, but his curly hair and tail were of a dark shade of orange instead of completely red, his eyes were as blue as the sky that could be seen in between the leaves and his whiskers were longer and thicker than usual. Still, the eldest was charmed by the baby's looks and mischievous smile the moment he set his eyes on him and, since the first thing the toddler walked to was a big bowl of ramen that a Chansey was cooking in his kitchen (probably marveled by the smell), Leaflet decided to call the Vulpix Noodle.

But, unfortunately for little Noodle and the Venusaur, besides the unavoidable kindness and adorableness that was surely locked inside the baby, he was also born with a hyperactivity that, allied with precocious fire moves and his sheer curiosity, helped him almost burn down the eldest's house in a few days and make everyone in the village have at least one reason to yell at him in a week.

Soon, many villagers began protesting against Noodle at Leaflet's house, whether because he had invaded the ramen shop's kitchen and left it in a mess, he had dug a huge hole in Mrs. Jane Mawile and killed all the flowers or he had set the newest master-piece of Pierre LeSmeargle on fire.

Sadly, neither the eldest or the other villagers had the capacity to deal with the fox-mon's everlasting energy, so, when all basic care and education were given to him, Noodle was sent to the vacant house his parents left when they died and began living there, among the many toys and other objects the Ninetales had already bought for the expected child. The Chansey who lived with Leaflet was the only one who visited him, three times a day, to bring him food, and it was with her that he learned to talk. She did notice that the Vulpix was extremely kind and she was very surprised at his growth, but he had managed to destroy great part of the house's furniture with his playing and running, and she knew that letting him live there was the best for the village.

But was it the best for Noodle?

When he got tired of playing with his toys or running around the house, the little Vulpix would come to the window and look at the rest of the village's children, all playing together. Since he wasn't exactly locked inside his own house and he thought that he would have a great time with the others, one time, he decided to join them and, as usual, his hyperactivity hurt a few of the other Pokémon and left them all unhappy with him. Not even the other child Vulpixes seemed to like him. And to add one more reason to their dislike, Noodle was now grown up and still only had one tail, which meant he never had a friend and that, unfortunately, marked him as an almost outcast.

Depressed, the one-tailed Vulpix made up his mind: from then on, he would be an example for everyone. He would control his energy and impulses and would behave correctly with the other villages. Then, he wouldn't have to be alone anymore.

He tried hard to accomplish this goal, and he was indeed capable of being nice towards other Pokémon, bringing them presents as an apology for past events and even helping them with some chores, but the playfulness was buried deep inside him and, unfortunately, even if he now did not do anything wrong when playing, the villagers still reprehended him, and it all returned to the same state of exclusion.

With this, Noodle decided he wouldn't get depressed ever again because the others couldn't accept his faults and he decided to move out of his parents' house. He built a small shack up the trunk of the gigantic tree, in the base of a branch, and begun living there. He rarely came to the village: he could find berries to eat in the outskirts of the village and he spent his time exploring the forest or just thinking, imagining a world where he did have friends. Sometimes, he visited the ramen shop to have a bowl of his favorite food, but it didn't taste that special, now that he could feel the disdain the Lickilicky shopkeeper had towards him. Sometimes, he passed by the eldest's house, because he seemed to be the only one to still respected the fox's parents' memory, but even Leaflet seemed rather relieved when the Vulpix returned home alone. The children tortured him and teased whenever he left his house, and the irritated fire-type would reply with well-executed pranks.

Some years went by in this routine, and Noodle grew up even more, with his bitter existence and his single tail as only company.

He did not know, however, that it was all about to change.

It started when he was at home and his stomach began growling, protesting loudly and annoyingly to be fed. The hungry Vulpix therefore had to leave his home to find some berries, and he did so, and went to a new part of the forest. He suspected there were different and more delicious types of berries there, since he had cleared out most of the other parts before.

He was right, and he quickly filled his mouth with them, as well as a small pouch he always carried whenever he would gather food. They were blue and had a pleasing mixture of flavors. You might know them as Oran berries. But, as he made his way back home, he saw something that delayed his return for quite a while.

Leaning against a tree with an expression of pure despair upon its face and whimpering gravely in pain, was a Zigzagoon no bigger than Noodle himself, but this Zigzagoon was quite different from the ones the Vulpix was used to. Deep crimson in color instead of brown, its eyes were of a cold shade of jade and, most surprising of all, the Pokémon was missing a hind leg.

Noodle knew Zigzagoons could only be found in the Forest Region, but he never seen this one before, so he was sure this Pokémon was a stranger, maybe from another village. Noodle also knew that he had to help it. After all, he was never the type to abandon anyone, even though others had done it to him before.

The Vulpix scurried to the stranger and looked it over. There seemed to be no injuries upon its body, but it looked dangerously exhausted and was certainly in pain.

"H-help…" it whispered weakly, stretching one paw forward, "I'm so… hungry…"

After hearing this, Noodle had just one thing to do. He quickly reached for his pouch and took out a few of the Oran berries he picked up before. He placed one carefully on the Zigzagoon's paw and helped it take it to its mouth.

"There you go, pal," the fox replied kindly. What had happened to the poor creature to be like that? "Eat it up, there's more where it came from!"

And the other Pokémon obeyed, first nibbling humbly on the fruit but then, after taking the smallest part of its flavor, gobbling it up avidly. Noodle was quick to give it another berry, and then another one again, glad to see that the raccoon was responding so well to his care. After the fifth berry, the Zigzagoon stopped eating, and merely smiled at the Vulpix, saying, "Thank you so much, for all the food… You just saved my life… But why… why did you help me?"

The fire-type returned a wide grin, blushing a little before replying, "Oh, come on, you're making me be embarrassed… It was the least I could do. If someone needs help, it's just natural to lend it…" Noodle thought that was obvious. For him to ask that (the one-tailed Vulpix now knew the Zigzagoon was certainly a he), something really bad must have happened to him… "How long have you been here? And why are you here, all alone?"

"I…" the Normal-type began, still thinking about the other's answer, "I am a traveler. And I travel alone. I was just trying to arrive to the next village as soon as possible before going forward, but I was so weak… And now you helped me… Now I can carry onto Greenbark." And he motioned to stand and resume walking.

Noodle, however, could see that the Zigzagoon was still in a dangerous state, so he nuzzled him, as to make him stop. "No. Before you can visit my village you need to rest. I have a home nearby, you can stay there while you're here. I'll look after you."

The raccoon blinked once, overwhelmed with the other's offer. Still, he tried to protest, saying that he had already done enough, but the Vulpix didn't give up.

Before they knew it, both of them were walking together, Noodle supporting the impaired other, towards the fox's house, where the Zigzagoon could recover his strength.

Little they knew then that that event would trigger a chain reaction that would bind them as true friends for good.

"You know, for a Zigzagoon you are very light!"

Now, all that happened a long time ago, much longer than just a traveler's visit, and the two small Pokémon still remained together, living at Noodle's house built on the tree and becoming the best friends in the way.

That day, it was early morning, the loud Pidgeottos could be heard from afar in the wild and the Zigzagoon was already awake, limping clumsily around the kitchen, moving bowls and jugs almost mechanically, trying to make breakfast with the remaining Pecha berries and the last cereal of the box. As he set the food on the low table, his expression was rather distant and he looked absent-minded, lost in some sort of dimension invisible to all other Pokémon.

Maybe that was why he didn't notice that the Vulpix had just carefully sneaked out of their bedroom, mischief written all over his furry face, and was now throwing himself on him in a playful embrace.

"Good morning, Cookie!" the fox happily greeted, before the raccoon could fall on his belly and react.

But his reaction wasn't at all effusive. The crimson-mon merely fell and sighed boringly, "Good morning, Noodle," and began crawling out of his friend's grip.

"There's our breakfast. Let's eat," the Zigzagoon added, in the same nonchalant tone and expression.

At this, the Fire-type frowned strongly and narrowed his eyes at the other, utterly surprised and rather sad that he didn't greet him in the usual way. Any other day, Cookie would have already noticed his approach and would still let Noodle hug him anyway. The Normal-type then would chuckle lowly and raise his bushy tail to tickle him, right in the middle of his back, his soft spot. That would force the one tailed Vulpix to wiggle and laugh uncontrollably, and that was the sure thing to make Cookie laugh as hard too. The two of them would then separate and eat breakfast together. Noodle would share the dream he had that night while stuffing his mouth with food and the Zigzagoon would listen and nod, not bothered by his friend's lack of manners but eating with a much better behavior.

But today the raccoon seemed so distant, and the fox couldn't guess why. Still, he tried not to worry too much and sat by the table as well, drinking his glass of Pecha berry juice and gulping down his bowl of cereal as he reported his newest dream: his crazy and completely random adventures in a world overpopulated with PokéBlocks, where he had to team up with a group of skinny Natus to devour them all! Fortunately for him, many were ramen-flavored, so he was able to save the world from the sugary invasion.

However, Cookie did not react to this fantastic dream either, nodding distractively every once in a while, but obviously lost in another world, without the PokéBlocks or the Natus. That saddened Noodle even more, and he began wondering what was wrong with his best friend.

Still, breakfast ended with no further comments, and it was soon time for the beginning of their daily routine.

Due to the other's apparent inertia, the Vulpix led the way. The two of them tidied up the house, went out in search of berries and to plant some too (Cookie was the one to have that idea. If Noodle planted his own berries, they wouldn't run out), explored a new part of the forest and then played some pranks on the children who still bothered them. However, Noodle was the one who seemed to have all the fun, since his partner was still so far away and distracted, limping unexcitedly behind him all the way, like a plane on automatic pilot. And, when you're with your best friend and you feel that he isn't having any fun, you don't have fun at all either. He did not laugh at the fox's clumsiness while cleaning or suggested any activity like he usually did and, whenever Noodle turned his face to him with his characteristic "up-to-no-good" smile on, it would melt down to a sad look in front of Cookie's impassiveness.

The day seemed to go by too slowly and painfully like this, and the Vulpix was now very worried about his friend's state of mind. Was he bored, sick or unhappy? Was Noodle being an awful friend to him, did he get tired of him? All this brought a feeling of sorrow back to him that he hadn't experienced since he was little and friendless, a feeling of sorrow that Cookie scared away when he decided to stay with him. The Fire-type didn't like it at all and wanted it to go away. The Zigzagoon was probably feeling that sorrow too, and that urged the fox even more.

So, by the end of the long, long day, when the night came and stars began sprinkling the sky with their glow, the one tailed Vulpix knew he had to do something. After dinner, he took his friend outside and both laid on the fluffy grass, side by side, trying to make pictures out of the many constellations. For the first time that day, Cookie was fully interested in an activity, and Noodle took advantage of that, scanning the stars carefully for something funny. The shiny dots had a very peculiar pattern that night, extremely familiar to the fox, although he didn't know from where.

Noodle could see old Leaflet's face and Pierre LeSmeargle's eyebrows among the stars, and those discoveries managed to make the Zigzagoon smile genuinely, bringing some joy and light to the Vulpix's own heart. So, he felt like it was the right time to let out the question that had been bothering him…

"Cookie…"

"What is it, Noodle?"

"Do you… do you want to leave me?" Bitterness and latent sadness were buried inside his tone of voice.

The Zigzagoon turned his head to the other mammal, looking incredulous.

"No, never! We are friends, aren't we? We will always stick together," he replied. "Do YOU want to leave me?"

"Of course not, I'm really happy to have you here!" the Vulpix replied as well. "It's just… you seemed so… far away today… that I thought you really wanted to be far away for real…"

Cookie let out a small surprised gasp that Noodle didn't quite understand, but he then moved a paw across the grass to kindly poke his friend, "I don't. I have all I could ever wish for here. Don't worry about anything."

The fox turned his head to the other too and saw that he was actually smiling now. This made all the worry melt away and he could smirk as well, the wide, white, cheeky grin.

Then, all of a sudden, all that Cookie could see was the Vulpix's body embracing him again, but this time the Zigzagoon returned it and chuckled, behaving just like normal.

During the last few minutes they spent watching the stars, again blissful and careless, Cookie began speaking, asking some questions that took Noodle a bit by surprise.

"Do you think the world is really big?"

"Huh?"

"Well, the stars seem so close, but they're really far away. And the forest seems really small too from here, but I've spent my life traveling it and it isn't. So I wonder… the whole Pokémon World must be bigger than we could ever imagine…"

The Fire-type thought for a while about it and then he replied, "I guess so… But why do you ask?"

"Just some random thinking… don't pay too much attention…"

Noodle nodded then stretched, opening his mouth wide as he yawned loudly.

"AAAHHHHH… I am really tired today… Should we go to sleep now?"

Cookie looked at the sky one last time before getting up with some effort, "Alright…"

The two raced playfully back to the house and went to their joint bedroom, each of them cuddling in their own small nest after saying their good-nights and closing their eyes.

But Noodle didn't fall asleep just yet, unlike his friend beside him. He opened one eye and looked at him. Cookie was smiling. And the Vulpix knew exactly why. Even if his nest was dirty or had nothing but the ground, it will always be the most comfortable thing to the Zigzagoon.

The Fire-type's heart was at peace after their talk and a huge wave of affection swept over it as he kept on looking. Noodle had an idea. Tomorrow he would wake up earlier than Cookie and he would be the one to make him a special breakfast.

But before that, even before he could go to sleep too, he had one last thing to do. The fox rose from his nest and approached the peacefully sleeping raccoon, licking his face affectionately once, chuckling when the other mumbled lowly. He really had a deep sleep.

Then, going back to his improvised bed, Noodle finally slept in peace, inside a dream of talking bowls of noodle and cookies.

END OF CHAPTER

More than enough for a first chapter, huh? ^^;

The first part is in italics because it's a flashback. There will be more in the next chapters.

Still, I do hope you liked this.

See ya next chapter!

kathlaida-princess logging out…