A/N: This is my second fic since my comeback, and I suggest you listen to Wolf by First Aid Kit while you're reading. It really adds to the story, in my opinion.

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon or any characters in the story.

Wolf Mother

Cold, stone, pupiless eyes looked down at the small altar in the beating heart of the fortress of trees. The clearing was lit by harsh moonlight, the frozen stars glittering angrily above. Shadows all around moved, malevolent eyes fixed on a hunched figure in the middle, kneeling before the altar on the grass.

Sobbing quietly, a woman laid a bundle at the foot of the shrine. From the folds of linen, a needy cry came, and a stubby had poked out, grasping at the air. The woman hummed soothingly, her tears dancing on the grass as she wept for her only child, her child by a married man.

Dark as night, shadows embracing the clearing swarmed in.

Growling.

Get out.

The woman shifted, seeming to have noticed the presences. After a last long look of love at the helpless bundle at the foot of the altar, she fled. The baby let out a shrill cry, arms flailing.

Murky shapes closed in, jaws snapping with menace.

Suddenly, a blaze of light parted the sea of bodies as a lithe shape swarmed down the large statue overlooking the altar, red eyes glowing. Its fur shone silver in the moonlight, and it curled its body protectively around the child.

Hissing, the shapes backed away. Even evil had to surrender to authority.

14 years later…

Snap.

Brown eyes panicked, and Ash froze in his crouch. He peered out from between the large leaves of the bush. Twigs poked him in the side, and he shifted, adjusting the creamy golden pelt around him.

Silence is your friend.

He narrowed his eyes, and hoped the Raticate had not seen him. The large creature was crouched just beyond the bush, in a patch of shade out of the afternoon sun nibbling a seed husk.

The best kills are made with the element of surprise.

Satisfied it was occupied, Ash made his move. He let his arrow fly, and a soft thump and a flower of blood on the Raticate's fur told him he had made his kill.

Be vigilant in retrieval.

Ash looked both ways as he stalked towards the fallen Raticate, his bare feet sliding easily across the grass with an enviable deftness of movement. He knelt down and stroke the bristly fur next to the muzzle.

We give thanks for every piece of prey, and only take what we need.

This is food.

He extracted the claw arrowhead from the body swiftly, wiping it on the grass to rid it of the warm blood, It was a relatively clean kill, almost as clean as the ones his mother made, and the teeth glinted in the sun as he held it up proudly.

This was his first kill.

Once you're done, get out of there.

He tied the Raticate securely on one of the tails of his pelt, and streaked up the slope.

His mother would be proud.

The sunset bathed the highest point of the forest with blood, lighting the trees below with fire. The stony cliff ledge was tainted orange as the retreating sun sent out the last of its warm rays.

With a full belly that evening, Ash lethargically leaned back into Ninetales' fur, their matching pelts mingled with each other in the dying light. Ninetales' head was raised proudly, her ears pricked as she gazed out at her domain, red eyes bright.

"Humans are irresponsible creatures, my son." Her flint edged voice suddenly sounded.

Ash turned his head to her, eyes wide.

Ninetales was still looking at the forest. "Look." She nodded towards the trees below. "The east side. Those humans are destroying my forest. They use the wood for their dens and pollute the air with smoke with the trees they burn."

Ash was puzzled. "But they need dens, don't they. Just as we do." He gesticulated at the cave behind them.

"Yes." Ninetales agreed. "But there is a difference between necessity and greed. The humans take far more than they need. I see them cutting down trees every day, scaring the Pokémon and angering the spirits. Their arrogance is dangerous, and I fear it will take the hardest lesson for them to learn. The forest has survived without them for generations. But they cannot survive without the forest."

Ninetales turned to her son, curling her tails tightly around him. She had been guardian of this forest for age upon age upon age, a deity whose eternal life force was bound to the forest, and could only be ended by its destruction. She would always remember that night at her shrine, a woman asking protection for her only son who she couldn't keep. She had taken pity on the child and his mother, and used her authority to dismiss the evil spirits who were insistent on quenching the child's fragile life to feed their vacuous want for the innocent. And now she would protect him from the humans, whose insensitivity to the balance of the forces of life would ensure their downfall.

Night was falling, and dark shapes started to prowl. Ninetales didn't stop them. Dark and light had to coexist to preserve the delicate balance of the forest. Instead, she got to her paws and nudged her child towards their cave.

Ash sprinted through the forest, the trees a blur. Despite the morning dew, he was sure on his feet and did not slip. The sky was a powdery blue, and the creatures were stirring in their nests, the malevolence of night fading away. He was not on a hunt, though the tempting scents of prey tried to distract him. Ninetales had sent him on patrol duty on the east side of the forest.

He scouted around, checking for humans. He had never seen them here this early in the morning, but he had seem them before, and they were taller than him, and shouted each other loudly in barely discernible words. And there was also that awful whirring noise they made when they were cutting trees. Ash crept as he neared the perimeter, keeping in the shadows.

Movement beyond the ridge in front of him had his senses alert. He still had a way to go before he reached the very end of the forest, and he leapt over the river below the ridge and gripped the bank as he peered over the edge.

It was a human, sat cross legged on the grass as a shaft of morning light cut through the trees into the clearing where she sat. She was murmuring softly to a Vulpix who sat a little way from her, and in her hand she held what seemed to be a flat piece of rock and a stick. Ash crept closer, entranced. This creature had such long blue hair, longer than his that was tied up like a tail. The pelts she wore looked unnatural, and had no fur, and had no lingering prey scent on. Though they carried a foreign scent, they were coloured like the stones on the cliffs and the warm colours of dried grass. Ash tilted his head to the side as he observed her. Her hand swept across the rock in her other hand, with the same skill and deftness of a hunter.

She was a human

And she was dangerous.

He did not know how much time had passed when he realized himself, but by now it appeared to be noon, and the time to return to Ninetales with his report had long passed. The Vulpix gave a sharp yip, and the human laughed softly, like water tumbling over rock, a sound that sent a tingle down Ash's spine as the Vulpix trotted back calmly into the depths of the forest. The human gathered her rock and her sticks together, and Ash realized she was as tall as he was. She left, towards the direction of the east village, but Ash was content to stay crouched below the ridge, as uncomfortable as it was.

He did not notice a pair of narrowed red eyes watching him from the shadow of the trees.

Two weeks passed, and Ash carried on his routine of watching the human on his patrols, clueless as to why he felt so drawn to this creature.

Until one day; a careless crunch of bracken, startled blue eyes turning to meet his, wild brown eyes staring in horror.

It all changed.

"So you were raised by a Ninetales?" Dawn looked incredulous as he told her about why he had been watching her for the past two weeks.

"Yes." Ash replied. He felt strangely at ease talking to this human, and they sat next to each other in the clearing where he had first seen her, the hazy afternoon air a warm blanket around them. He was intrigued by long eyelashes flicked when she blinked. "And you live in the village beyond the east side?"

"Yes." Dawn replied. "It's not a big village, but we get by."

Ash's eyes had wandered to the objects in her hand. He pointed to the slabby rock like object.

"What's that?"

"Oh, this?" Dawn held it up. "This is paper." She showed him her other object too. "And this is a pencil."

"And what are they used for?"

"This." Dawn flipped her pile of paper over, and Ash gasped. On the paper was a perfect image of a Vulpix, its head peering questioningly at him and eyes staring as if it were alive. He leant closer. The image seemed to be made of a multitude of grey lines. He was astonished by her skill, and the detail of the image must have required the same lightness and grace that filled him when he ran at full pelt through the forest.

"It's beautiful." He breathed. "Where did it come from?"

"The paper and pencil. And they come from trees." said Dawn. "We cut them down-"

Ash leapt up. "You're the same as them!"

"As who?" Dawn stared at him in shock at his sudden outburst.

"As the humans!" Ash yelled. "You cut down too many trees, you're arrogant, you destroy the forest, scare the Pokémon-"

"Wait a moment." Dawn stood up to meet his gaze and held up her hand to interrupt him. "We're not all the same you know." Her eyes were flinty and held a trace of anger. "I agree, our village takes too much wood, but who am I to stop them?" She wrung her hands in hopelessness as strength seemed to leave her. "It's just me against all the leaders of my village."

"I would help you." Ash said softly.

"Does that mean you'll come back with me?" Dawn asked, holding out her hand, a hopeful gleam starting to blossom in her blue eyes.

"What?!" Ash exclaimed, looking around wildly. "I can't! I belong in the forest." He gestured to the Ninetales pelt he had worn his entire life, which his mother had licked clean for him every night. "I'm not one of you."

"You're human, Ash."

Ash shook his head petulantly. "I belong in the forest." He repeated.

Slowly, Dawn held out her hand, palm up.

She was too close.

Her eyes were all sympathy, understanding.

No.

Ash held out his hand, his palm facing hers. For a moment their hands touched, then slowly Ash clasped his fingers around hers, marvelling at how they fit together, perfectly.

I'm human

"See?" Dawn gazed at him with a tenderness that struck him like lightning.

Too close.

Ash broke away, meeting her eyes for the last time, with a fleeting glance.

That evening, Ash sat wordlessly on the clifftop with Ninetales, as they always did, surveying the forest.

Ninetales nudged a piece of Raticate towards him, the most succulent part.

"Not hungry?" She asked, licking the top of his head.

"No." Ash sighed.

Ninetales curled around him, and once more Ash revelled in the comfort of his mother's soft fur.

"I never wanted this day to come, my Ash."

Ash didn't know what she was talking about, but perhaps, deep down, he did.

"I know about you and that girl."

Ash remained silent. He knew of Ninetales' hatred for humans, and he was torn between loyalty to his mother and his instinct to protect Dawn.

As if she knew what he was thinking, Ninetales spoke again.

"And I admire her." She swiped her tongue around her muzzle. "I have seen her before, and she is different from others of her kind, in her village. She has a vision. She understands the importance of balance, the difference between greed and necessity. But most of all, she understands you, Ash." Ninetales sighed. "You are my son, there is no doubt, but you are also human, and that is where you belong."

Ash remembered the sensation he had felt when their hands touched. The sense of belonging. The tug in his gut that had told him that was where he was meant to be.

"You are a human, Ash. And I know you will do great things with your humanity. It is a precious gift, my child, and because you have a good heart, you will know how to use it. There will be those who will wish to silence you, but you must stand up to them. Perseverance will ensure you will prevail." His mother looked at him squarely. "You must cherish your life with every breath you take."

"So… you want me to go?"

"It is what you must do. But before you go tomorrow… close your eyes." And in the burning light, a swirl of golden magic surrounded the boy, and when the sparks were swallowed up by the evening air, he was not stood in the Ninetales pelt he had always worn, but a pair of limestone coloured shorts and a faded green shirt. Ash looked down at the left pocket.

On it was a little Vulpix, made of threads like in Dawn's image she had shown him, almost as if the colour was taken from the dying light of the sun. Its ruby red eyes glinted at him.

Ash turned to see Ninetales gazing at him, and he was scorched by the love of a mother. "No matter where you go, you will always be my son."

He went to sleep that night curled even more tightly in his mother's creamy soft fur. Her body was tense, even long after Ash had gone to sleep.

Ninetales did not speak the next morning, instead nudging him towards the edge of the forest with little yips and whines. She left him to carry on alone when Ash found Dawn where he usually was. She was there, without her paper this time, but sitting calmly on the ground with her back to him, as if she were waiting for something.

Ash walked confidently towards her, making no disguise of the sound of his footsteps on the grass, and she turned around, surprise lighting her eyes as she caught sight of him.

And, watched over by a pair of red eyes from deep within the forest, Ash held out his hand, feeling a comfortable presence wreath around him.

"Ready to change the world?"

A/N: As always, reviews are nice.