The Kitsune and the Jackal

by Hyperjade

War is hell, and nobody knows it like the inhabitants of Taika and Prokopios. The countries have been warring for centuries, neither historically giving an inch. Different abilities, different species, even, neither side is capable of predicting the other, of turning the tide. But two very powerful beings have the means and the reasons to bring about an end to this pointless war.

1. Chapter One

Hello, everyone. This is Hyperjade.

Jango: And I'm back!

Amber: I got him to come back peacefully.

Jango: Yeah, by smashing me flat.

Me: A-hem... We have an introduction to do. Anyways, Hello everybody. This is "The Kitsune and the Jackal". This is a mostly unique story, though I am putting a few pokemon-like characters in it, so it qualifies as pokemon fanfiction. Otherwise, some aspects are inspired by entirely different things. However, this story is something I consider almost completely original, and I would wish to share it. Mostly because it won't get out of my head unless I put it on paper. Well, the computer. Well... You understand.

Jango: I don't think they understand.

Amber: Jango, manners.

Jango: Yes, Ma'am.

Me: Anyways, I have to decide whether to juggle this along with my other stories, which I am capable of doing, or putting it off until New Age is done. If you have an opinion about that, please include that opinion in your review. Thank you.

Amber: We hope you enjoy the chapter.

Jango: Let the fun begin!

---

The Kitsune and the Jackal Chapter One: The Blue Flame.

Clack.

"Check."

I scowled as he looked at his side of the board. The bugger. If it wouldn't feel like I was punching myself in a metaphorical manner, I would probably plant my fist on his nose. Maybe my paw, if I wanted some extra power.

Across from me sat a seventeen-year-old boy with shorter hair, looking at the board. His awesome cobalt blue trench coat that was way too big for him laid out behind him in a spread as he idly tapped the corner of his side.

I liked chess. It was a great game. Unfortunately, my friend here thrashed me whenever I asked to play. My green eyes met his identical green eyes. His eyebrow rose, and I turned my attention to the board. It was mate in three. I couldn't defend against it.

I humored him and listened to him say checkmate for what must have been the thousandth time. "You get better every game you play," he told me as he started putting the pieces away.

I was not exactly happy about my loss, so I must plead guilty for grumbling "Isn't worth a damn against you."

The boy gave me a smile. It was a smile I had seen in the mirror, almost identical to it, two years ago. And yet he was different. Certainly older. This kid's looked like he was seventeen since I met him when I was two.

"Years of experience," he replied calmly as he finished putting away the board. He never answered me when I asked 'how many years'.

He stood up to put it away in the little home I had. Well, 'Home' was a single room. A spacious room, and actually quite nice and cushiony, but little trainees like me don't get to live anywhere else but the compound that I lived my life in for a majority of that life.

Don't get me wrong, I was treated just fine, but in addition to formal schooling that I had pretty much finished a few years back, there was also military training that I was put through. It was not going to be long before they set me out.

Because of the whole 'war' thing. I'll explain that later.

My friend brought a bow out from inside his trench coat (don't ask me how he fit it in there) and also a clean rag. He began wiping it down again. The bow was also cobalt blue with a glowing light blue string. Very simplistic. I recalled the first time I questioned him about that.

"Why do you keep cleaning that thing? It's just a bow."

"It's my bow. I like my bow."

"But… Ah, whatever."

Wow. I haven't introduced myself. I'm Gabriel. I'm human at the moment. Slightly shorter than average, dark, short hair and green eyes. Until I became seventeen, I had bloomed relatively late. At least my face was far less rounded at this point. Being nineteen, I was pretty much in prime physical condition.

The kid currently using my chair was the guy that I unofficially bunked with. You'll understand my word choice in a bit. I was due for a visit from some higher ups, and I kind of had to play dumb. You'll understand that in a bit too.

But the boy who looked like my seventeen-year-old self had been with me since I was two, and not because he's a sibling or anything. He's always looked like that my entire life. Actually gave me some insight as to what I would look like eventually during life.

He also helped me understand what kind of shit I was going to go through if I let the buggers who were coming to visit me control me. Play dumb. That was the plan. I glanced quickly to where I knew the hidden camera was, that I had let them install to help them try (and fail) to figure out why odd things in the room kept happening that they would not accept my explanation for.

"Company in ten." the boy said, putting away his stuff into the folds of his trench coat again, no evidence remaining that they even existed in the first place. He walked over to the door and leaned against the wall next to it. "Go for it, kid."

"You realize how young you look, right?" I rolled my eyes at him. He didn't answer me as the door opened and a man and a woman stepped in. These were not the people to worry about. These guys weren't bad at all. The higher ups, though, you took care to only do as you were told and nothing extra. Gods forbid you did anything nice for them unbidden, lest they think you more valuable and sic more dangerous tasks on you.

And they knew it, too. They knew why people didn't do anything for them out of the kindness of their hearts. There were too many negatives for that to ever happen. They didn't care.

"Hey, Gabe." the twenty-five-year-old man greeted me with a respectful nod. Being 'unique' as they call me had something to do with it, I reckon. More on that later.

The more formal woman nodded at the fact that I was ready, as I always was, and she said yet again: "I shall inform the leaders of your upcoming visit." and she turned away.

This gave me the chance to shake my head and gesture at her without words. "Hopeless, isn't she?"

"Absolutely." the man's nod said. No actual language passed between us, but it was easy enough to understand. The woman leaped forward, her body shrinking and her clothes melting into her form as she grew fur and her face elongated. Now a common house cat, she walked off and into one of those tunnels for small animals that allowed messengers to travel between rooms faster. It was useful but honestly more for keeping everyone informed or even safe if we are under attack.

"They changed the room again." the man informed me, handing me a slip of paper that told me to go to conference room five. I shook my head in amusement. It was a different damn room every time they sent somebody after me.

"Yeah… It's always been a different sector recently. Mind leading me this time?" I asked, handing the paper back.

"That is my job."

I grinned. The guy almost never had to lead me anywhere. It was a surprisingly easy job for him to take on, especially because he could have been stuck with much different stuff to have to do.

he rolled his eyes and walked me off. I waved into the room, where my friend had been seeing me off. It was actually a lengthy trip, considering the size of the compound. If I told you that the guy I was going to meet was an aging man with a formal posture and equally formal attire, would you tell me it seemed like I was in for a serious discussion or would you groan about the sheer cliche of the fact that I was going to meet a guy I was not supposed to be trusting and he happened to be in control of a bunch of stuff? It was in so many movies.

Anyways, this old man was one of the leaders of the country. Our country. Prokopios. Not too large, really. It's progressed rather quickly, however.

"First question," I said as I walked through the door. "The automatic doors. Most have visible sensors. Not these rooms with the fancy interior. I guess this is considered a place where 'more important' meetings take place?"

Part one was a success. The man was already sighing. "Please sit down, Gabriel," he said. It was no request, that much I knew. So I did sit down.

He didn't say anything. I didn't say anything. He was waiting, and because of that, so was I. You don't cross the people in charge openly. It turned out that he was waiting for a bunch of people using computers and such. They had their laptops and everything.

At least the white room had a little more color.

"We wished to discuss your future." the first man said. Given that he sat directly opposite me, it felt as though I should treat this as a proper discussion rather than just sitting there and nodding.

"I'm listening." Okay. Maybe I should have been more formal. It was a bit difficult after watching the bloke imply that I had a choice when we all knew I didn't with the word 'wished'.

He paused. "During the entirety of your life, your unique beast form has interested us. Your initial, more destructive abilities, along with your multiple methods of controlling your environments. Your blue flame streams… And the hidden psychokinesis."

My eyebrow rose. "What psychokinesis?" I asked. Again. I've gotten really good at asking that. As I expected, one of the laptop screens was turned to me, and I could see me losing in a game of chess.

The other side of the board was empty and my friend's pieces were moving on their own. I shook my head.

"Just because you can't see him and the camera can't see him doesn't mean he's not there." I refuted.

I only received skeptical looks. I really didn't like that my friend for most of my life has been basically inaudible, invisible, and intangible to everybody other than myself. "I understand that you have a legitimate belief that your little friend, who happens to look precisely like you, truly exists, but this is childish. Perhaps you use the concept to explain what you do in your own mind."

I really, really wanted to roll my eyes.

"There is another, entirely different possibility of course, which would help explain your use of that image as your reasoning behind your actions." the man continued, bringing my interest level up a few notches. "When you were ten, you were given ample time to create a detailed drawing of your 'friend' and used five days getting it just right. When you turned seventeen, you were nearly the spitting image of this. It is possible—and far more valuable—that you viewed a version of yourself from your own timeline." the old man leaned forward. "Is it possible that you can see into time?"

I couldn't help it. I started laughing. Really hard. That had to be the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Once I calmed myself down, I had a seriously valid point. "That guy may look like me, but did I ever wear that blue trench coat?" I asked. "No. I didn't. And he can make physical contact with me. I can't move my own body around with psychic abilities. Nobody can without decades of training. Psychic stuff doesn't come instinctively. I've learned that in the many, many classes I've been put through. You refuse to accept that I've got a friend living with me that can only be seen, heard, or touched by me alone. I have to ask: Is that because you can't comprehend a being that only exists according to one person, yet still technically exists?

I was proud of myself. Big words everywhere. I might make a habit of that. "I cannot comprehend something that does not exist." the man said stiffly. That sobered me up a bit. I had annoyed him. You don't want to go too far if you are trying to annoy somebody in power. The next step was to convince them that I wanted nothing to do with their little program.

"That's fine with me," I said truthfully "The fact is that without my aura-fire, I can't move things around. On top of that, you know for a fact that when you tested the levels of energy coming off from me that my human form has absolutely nothing but my physical strength going for it."

"You have demonstrated numerous times that you can." the dense old man replied stubbornly, his men, whom I was doubting the free will of, started showing me recording after recording of things moving about on their own whether I was looking at them or not. Some of them I barely remembered. I did remember that the bow seemed to be just as hidden as the rest of what these dolts thought was an imaginary friend.

I have muscle and power over a source of energy called 'aura'. That's about it.

They gave up and put them away in unison. I was seriously thinking that the laptop guys could be robots. "If you insist on being difficult in this manner, I feel that I must change topics to something we can agree on." the geezer decided.

"My beast form."

"Your unique beast form." the man continued. "No animal we have seen or know of is like it in the slightest, and you have powers beyond that of a normal animal. You are much stronger, have abilities that all of those around you do not, and are bipedal as well. Your abilities surpass any commander in our army. Your potential is gigantic."

I knew where this was going. My apparent insistence on having what they considered an imaginary friend was not going to get me out of this unscathed. No, I had to somehow make them think that me being the best potential warrior they have ever seen just by having a beast form that was both unique and powerful at the same time did not mean I was worth their time. Being bipedal and being versatile also allowed me to hold weapons properly.

I did not say a word. The man in charge continued. "You have a choice," he lied "We have learned that our opponent has changed tactics again. We need you to support them, and you have the training to be in combat."

This was not true. They did not need me. Part of the reason this war was pointless was because every advancement other parties from Taika, the other country that for whatever reason we were at war with, made, we had made advancements that matched them. It was stupidly comical. Nobody ever got the advantage. There were deaths, and then both pulled back after realizing it would turn into a bloodbath. That was pretty much ninety percent of war brawls.

I still said nothing, so the man cut straight to the chase. "You can come with me right now, and we will give you a briefing on the plan for the war. Or…" he said, leaning forward again. "You can go back to your room and continue your training until you are needed so badly that we will no longer give you the liberty of choice."

Now it was my turn. My thoughts filled with facts, such as the fact that they would send somebody to grab me within hours of declining, maybe even staging a siege from the other party to get me moving, and would drag me into this war anyways. Facts such as the fact that this man was actually a half decent liar, and the fact that he had given me no actual information right at the moment, which suggested they might throw me in blindly anyways.

"With all due respect…" I said, leaning forward "You already know what my answer is."

He dismissed me quickly. When I exited the door, I swiveled at it closed and put my hand on it to keep it shut. I was strong enough. "What are you doing?" Randal, the man who had walked me here, hissed. I shook my head at him. They would start the discussion about my merits relatively quickly. It's possible the decision of what to do with me could be made right now. I couldn't hear anything at the moment, so…

The process was painless, quick, and almost instinctual. It had taken me years to master the use of it, but eventually, it works out. My arm gathered fur, as did everything else. My hand reformed into a paw in half a second. I instinctively stood on the balls of my feet as my legs changed quickly. My clothes melted into my transformation and my face jutted out into a muzzle. My hearing sharpened as my ears moved and changed so that they were above me, and four appendages stretched into existence behind my head. During all of this, silver conical spikes of metal jutted from my chest and paws. I was stronger, I was faster, I could see more. Hear more.

Perhaps I should explain what I am at this point.

I… We, our species, are both a generic, mutual form with unique distinctions, known as the human form, and then, equally important, is the extra, random form that is different for each person and can be accessed at any time with practice. They are a part of us. Every single person around me can do the same, with a distinct difference. I am… Unique. Most of us have animal forms that already exist. Mine doesn't. It's new.

And by practice, I really mean practicing how to change how you move automatically to work with your changed form. You see tiny children accidentally change forms all the time. Self-control is also important.

My hearing enhanced, I discerned what I was listening to. "What do you think?"

"He acts childish. He's smart. Unbelievably so. Playing up his abilities since he was four. Pretending to know for a fact that his 'friend' exists while he uses abilities he pulls directly in front of me without admitting that he has them and bypassing interrogations."

I froze. What had I done wrong? The fact that I couldn't get him to believe that the younger version of me existed, which, if I hadn't gotten that truth through the bloke's head, it should have at least told him I wasn't mature enough to be in battle… Yet. Instead, he had led himself to believe I was a liar, and a good one.

"He can think on the fly, make things up, and understand when to act as he does. He would be brilliant as a commander. Give him two hours, and then bring him here. Don't bother with trickery; Our little unique will see it coming.

"Son of a bitch…" I thought.

I slipped back as quietly as possible and reformed as my human form. I pulled the other man away, putting my finger to my lips. "I'm in trouble." I revealed quietly as we started taking the path back to my room. "A whole lot of trouble."

"You're not going into battle?" the dense man guessed. I shook my head.

"I'm not going to fight a pointless war." I growled as I walked quickly to my door and opened it. I pointed at him. "I don't need you spreading this around, but it would be fair to say. I've gone through all of this nonsense. I'm not going to fight for a bunch of people who don't even know why they are forcing others to fight. I'm outta here as soon as I can be, and I have an hour and roughly fifty minutes to figure out how."

I shut the door in his face and walked over to the bed and pulled a suitcase from underneath it. It was thick, but I could carry it without a problem even burdened with all my things.

"Rough day?" my own voice sounded behind me. I nodded slightly, not willing to banter. A sigh followed as my lifetime friend walked into my vision as I started packing all sorts of clothing in there, for just about any weather, especially cold weather. Fur was great, but sometimes you need something extra. As long as I put in the pre-prepared hole where the chest spike would go. Let's just say mistakes were made years back. Repeated mistakes.

"I have less than two hours to get the hell out of here," I said, "And people are going to try and stop me."

"Will you fight your way out?"

"If I have to. At least fighting to escape has a purpose."

"I have to leave as well."

I frowned and turned to him. "I'm not leaving you behind of course," I stated. He started pacing in a way that really worried me. I only pace when I'm so stressed out and trying not to show it that I resort to doing that to show it in a way that isn't cuffing somebody over the head.

"I was called away." he finally stated.

"...What?"

"I was called back home," he revealed, "My family is busy with something, and their focus is divided too much. They need my support, and I've been buggering off here for seventeen years. I've been putting it off."

I had always known very little about this guy who looked like me. I tended not to question him. He knew what he was doing. But… He was also the only guy I really knew. I knew him like I knew myself, which really made sense.

"Hey." I interrupted, grabbing him by the arm. "You've been supporting me for years. You're up and leaving now?"

"I have to. There are people's lives I can save," he informed me, confusing me even more "and Zephyr's being lazy as per usual and can't be bothered to move. Besides, You're a big boy. You can handle yourself."

The way he called me boy or kid implied that his age was more than he looked, and considering he hadn't seemed to age in seventeen years, I guess he had more important things to do now that I could handle myself. "You'll get out of here. I can promise you that. And to assure that…" he added, and my eyes widened as glowing wings made of odd floating symbols glowed into existence behind his back. "I'll go ahead and make one hell of an exit."

The 'boy' snapped his fingers, and in a display of power I had never seen him pull at all (he tended to act relatively normal around me), all of the stuff I was going to pack flew into all the bags and those bags were tossed together in a pile. he also took the stuff from my suitcase into a backpack used for carrying things for war stuff, which effectively made it a hiking backpack. I understood. Stuff I wore would sink into my skin as I transformed. A suitcase would not as I was just carrying it. How the distinction was made, I hadn't a clue. Maybe they just made the backpacks a special way or something.

"By the way, that species that you are is called a lucario," he said offhandedly while he picked up the bags and tossed them to me as a cluster of them. I caught it, blinking. I wasn't actually a unique? "Don't get me wrong, they don't exist around here. Nobody on this planet will ever discover one, so for here you're unique."

"When I do this, people will swarm to grab you, thinking it's you who's escaping. Which you are, but I'll be causing the ruckus." my very powerful and knowledgeable doppelganger continued, and then I watched him jump up and bash his way through my ceiling!

I gawked as the roof was blasted apart and revealed open sky. I was back in my human form, so it was not as comical as it could have been I think, but… "You… You just…" I stammered.

"Well, get out of here then," he said, before saying: "It felt good raising you, you know. I'm sorry that I have to leave after all these years. Just… Don't get yourself killed, okay?"

and then he soared off at intense speeds and vanished. I got the sense that I might never see him again, and legitimate tears appeared in my eyes. Because of course they did. The guy was my best friend and had indeed treated me like I was his son or something while he raised me. I started calling him my friend solely because he looked like a younger version of me.

I almost no longer cared that there was a giant fucking hole in my roof. I realized how efficient the guy was. If he had stayed any longer, I might have gotten properly emotional. Any shorter and there would have been no explanation. Well, not so much explaining, but I knew it was important, which was enough.

I switched forms once my bags were on, feeling them sink into my transformation. I went to my door and locked it using the normal lock and the chain as well. Just in time, actually, because somebody started banging on the door. "Get out here, Gabriel. Right. Now."

"Nah, I'll pass," I said, looking about for an exit. Nothing. Nothing. They started banging on the door, and I quickly held it in place. I had no exits. I would have to fight my way out, I knew, and my friend had bailed, leaving a giant freaking hole in my ceiling.

Wait.

Giant freaking hole in my ceiling. I did have an exit. I grinned a toothy grin, my muzzle split by my smile. One last gift. And I certainly had the ability. The door cracked behind me as they slammed something heavy into it, so I quickly pulled my cabinet over to take my place in front of it and leaped out onto the roof of the compound.

Shielding my eyes from the sun for a moment, I looked about. I sweatdropped at what I saw. They were shorter, but there was no going on the ground floor. The compound was oddly shaped, with various levels in the buildings. It actually looked like a white mess of building, as each room needed to be bigger or smaller. I had escaped into a parkour game.

Which I would play without hesitation. I started my sprint, instinctively letting my arms trail behind me. And then, I closed my eyes.

You might be asking: How stupid is it to parkour with your eyes closed?

Well, with those odd appendages behind my head hovering and shivering in place, I had this sort of blue vision that let me see a lot more than normal. Around corners and such. It was interesting. Everything was in a blue outline of sorts, and living things glowed more. Once I knew how to use it, I used it often.

Unfortunately, there was a bat and a parrot joining me as I ran, flying up from behind me. I groaned, mostly because if I wasted time, the slower, stronger ones would start to show up.

"Just bugger off!" I called back, giving the lot of them a glare, and thrust two tiny, basically harmless spheres of blue energy the size of marbles at the two of them, which made little explosions and knocked the flyers back. They made their annoyance known, but I was gone in the eves of the building portions.

I kept sprinting, trying to make my pawsteps quiet while doing so. Left. Right. Jump. Wall jump. Keep sprinting. The end of the compound was near enough, and then… I would be in the open. I would have to fight my way out of this place. I'd go… somewhere. Pick a direction and go.

Because what kind of adventure doesn't start that way? I know. It's a legendary cliche. But… Whatever.

Unfortunately, when I did get myself off of the building where I've lived pretty much my whole life (don't worry, I get out often to walk about. It's not like the place was absolutely sealed), I was so much in the open that my not-so-much friends the bat and the parrot flapped in front of me and quickly transformed.

Wings stretched out into arms, and claws stretched into legs. Within a half of a second, two humans landed in front of me. They were already dressed in battle gear, meaning they had been prepared for an escape. It was probably my little meeting.

"Hey, Batty." I nicknamed the guy I didn't know instantly, earning a scowl as the boy hefted a customized sword with bat wing shapes as the handguard. The other guy had some knives held backward in his hands. They were single edged, two foot long blades. Generally nasty looking.

"You're coming with us." 'Batty' stated, hefting his blade. "And if you ever call me 'Batty' again, I'll gut you."

"Nice, isn't he…" I thought with a sweatdrop. At least the parrot morphing guy seemed peeved with his partner's little issue.

"Calm yourself," he ordered, stepping forward. He addressed me. "Do not make us bring your back by force."

"Sorry bud," I responded, "But I'm not sticking around. I don't want to be part of a war without purpose. I don't want to be part of a war at all. Attack me, and I'll fight back, knock you out, and move on."

"So be it," he readied his blades. The man's red clothing was going to be an eyesore, especially if either of us got blood on it. Nobody likes bright red mixed with blood red. It just doesn't fit.

"I always preferred the color blue," I said conversationally, standing listlessly. The two facing me grew restless when rather than the blue spheres that I would throw around on occasion, my form became enveloped in a cobalt blue flame. Aside from the initial fire, that flame traveled in inch diameter strings of flames that did not burn.

When my two opponents charged, they found a web of my aura fire wrapping around them and lifting them into the air. They struggled, and slashed at my flames, but they were soon immobilized. If they changed now, their blades would fall. They could not put them in their sheaths.

At least, I thought so. They did become a parrot and a bat again, their swords vanishing. I had the decency to look impressed. "New toys?" I asked, and they started to fly towards me. They only got themselves smacked to the floor with enough force to knock them unconscious, and then I let my aura fire die out.

I was out of there. Nobody was going to catch me. I made sure not to step on the two of them on my way out. Turns out the outlying towns were unaware that I was a problem yet, so…

"Hello, child." an old woman called from her stand. I skidded to a halt and waved. I walked over quickly. My time was short, but she wouldn't sell me out.

"Hey." I greeted her. I leaned against the counter. "I'm a bit short on time... " I whispered, "I need to go."

She understood instantly. "Good for you, child. I wish you luck. You might want this." she said, and As I watched, she pulled a tent out of the stuff she carried and handed it to me slowly. "I do not require pay. I'm old. I would prefer it if a younger person like you had a better place to sleep on your way out."

I smiled now. "Thank you." I closed my eyes. My friends in this town were not going to see me again. She gave me the smile I had known pretty well for most of my life when I went to get things for her. That's why I stopped in the first place.

But now I was behind the building, and becoming human for a moment just to put the tent in my bag, put the bag back on, and change again. Before you ask, the weight does stay with me. It just seems to transfer throughout me. My fur seemed to weigh an extra eighty pounds at this point, but I could handle it. This form has lifted hundreds of pounds before.

If I wasn't so damn useful, they wouldn't be after me.

I ran through some back alleys on my own for ages. Those turned into streets, and streets turned into less used roads, and then… The plains.

I had three miles until I had forest. and then… Nothing. Nobody really bothered to go very far out. The forest seemed to be a maze. If I got lost, I would at least be lost far away from this lot, and I hear apple trees are in this year.

Some of the more superstitious thought that the land beyond repelled those who advocated war, which was a lot of people. This country was practically built fighting the other, and Taika was actually built in the process of fighting us. I was born in the middle of this thing. It's apparently hundreds of years old.

It's been a long and messy struggle.

I heard yelling, and poured on the speed. Risking a look back, I saw something I wasn't really a fan of. They had a flock of birds after me. I could outrun them if I really tried, but… They might follow me. I had no actual idea if the forest kept people who enjoyed war out.

On the other hand, the border was really, really close to me, which I was beyond happy about. They stuck their military base right in the back of our portion of land. So convenient.

Pros and cons to everything. I reminded myself of this as I ignited a net with my aura flame and tossed it in the air to be a distraction. As they veered away, I poured some real speed into my movements, aware that I was still technically carrying eighty pounds, and almost got to the tree line.

Then again, 'almost' is about as good as a sort-of-pacifist nature like mine in a war.

I had twenty people standing there in front of me, weapons drawn. I could not focus on so many. I could get seriously injured like that.

So I bolted. I was aiming for the forest to my left. Unfortunately, I really meant it when I said transformations were second nature The flock of different birds, Batty, and some other things that fly got in front of me again.

Parrot boy and Batty charged at me. I gave an animalistic growl. "I just want to leave!" I shouted, ducking the bat-sword and socking that guy right in the jaw. I'm pretty sure I broke something of his. I then parried one of the parrot guy's blades with the metal spike on my paw. "Just let me go in peace and you will never hear from me again!"

I blasted him with more aura fire, holding him in place with the flames. I could snap his limbs apart like this. I just didn't want to.

But then I had to sequester more. And more, and then I couldn't focus. I was tackled to the ground. "Fuck! I'm so close!" I shouted in my mind.

"You know what you remind me of?" one of the meaner looking blokes asked, his face looking like a feral beast had taken their claws to him. I felt no need to spit on him, I considered those wounds early retribution for what he was doing right now. He put his boot on my chest and held me down. "You remind me of a filthy Taikan with just about everything. Biped, fur, snout, tail, you look a lot like one, and I wouldn't feel any remorse for ending your life."

Okay, I don't actually know any taikans, but being called filthy was deserving of a little spit. He rubbed his eyes to clear them and stamped down harder, but by this point most of the others were converging on me.

Big mistake.

I roared and unleashed as much aura fire as I knew how to, launching them away from my in a spray of still conscious bodies. I was gone after that. Let them pick themselves up and be angry about letting me go.

Nothing stopped me. I sped through the trees for about ten minutes before resting and leaning against a tree. Weighed down as I was, I couldn't go on for too much longer without issue. I needed some rest.

I forced myself to walk on further instead. It would not be too difficult to just sit down and sleep. The weather's been nice for a while. It shouldn't go against me now.

When the sun set, I finally stopped walking and climbed a tree. The branched bent a bit more than they would, but an extra eighty pounds didn't matter to the branch I was looking at. Thick, strong, and not covered in sap. Perfect.

The next day, I used the large tree to get my bearings. There was the town, in the distance, except it looks like I had turned myself around a bit. I was skirting the territory. to the west. That was just fine with me. If I could get somewhere west of the point where a lot of battles happen, then even if they did manage to get in here without being deterred, they wouldn't have the slightest clue of where to go to get at me.

So I started forging west. Let me tell you how freaking mundane those weeks were. Trees, trees, and more trees. It started getting colder, but my sole source of entertainment was the fact that the types of trees were changing over time. Hey, the bark's lighter colored now! Hey, is that a touch of red?

But then it started getting cold. I couldn't just turn back, could I? No. I was not playing war games. I was going to walk on until things got…

Really, really fucking cold. Ice. Snow. It came almost out of nowhere. There were clearings with a foot of the stuff sitting about. This was supposed to be early autumn, right? I had to keep walking. I had to keep moving.

I started using the tent because it was a really freaking good tool. I was carrying it with me now, not in my bag. I could not afford to not be covered in fur in this sort of weather, and it was easier to handle the cold like this.

Then something happened. I was walking along some snowy plains almost robotically near some cliffs when a real snowstorm struck. Ice shards and all of the snow on the planet started pelting me, it felt like. My words "This came the hell out of nowhere!" were lost in the wind and ice.

A chill started to set in as I had pushed myself a bit hard today. Perhaps I was a bit brain dead or something to have just kept walking, but I needed to. I needed to keep going. I felt like if I didn't, I wouldn't accomplish anything.

But I guess I just didn't have the common sense to turn back. Problem was, that the heavy coat I had put on was not working so well. My hood up, my snow pants on. I had even stuck gloves on at this point. How did I do this? By setting them down, transforming, and putting them on.

Loopholes bring warmth. Unfortunately, they aren't at the moment. I was freezing now during this impromptu snowstorm. Ten minutes of this and I was down, cursing softly to myself, I started trying to dig a hole in the snow and maybe preserve warmth, but conditions actually grew worse somehow.

I collapsed. I was on my back now, fighting sleep. "Shit," I thought "It would have been smarter just to go south, wouldn't it have been?"

something appeared in my vision. A shadow. Moving, standing there. I stared up at it, wondering what the heck all of those twisting objects were that I was staring at, moving behind whatever it was… I felt I should recognize what I was looking at, but I was a bit groggy at the time.

Then, I was picked up. I felt myself going out like a light and hoped that whatever was doing this wasn't going to try and kill me.

---

And then it was warm. I was covered in something. I was on my back still, and my tail was pinned. It wasn't too bad of course. I groaned and blinked. The roof looked nice. it was brown. Seeing that instead of white, I had brown, it was a bit less panic inducing to realize that I was under the covers of a bed.

Even so, I still freaked out a bit and jolted up when I realized that I could. I was still heavy, but my clothing was not there. My animal form was just fine, and in fact, I felt like I was in perfect health. The room was… Nice. The bed was really large. It looked like the roof and walls were carved out of the rock, and were misshapen, but it was warm.

There was a bed, chests to contain things, and other stuff. I blinked. I checked myself, My spikes were intact, though my rather sudden rising had torn up some of the sheets on top of me, so they weren't.

I pulled myself out of the bed slowly, as quietly as I could, my eyes on the door. I wasn't letting down my guard. I don't know what grabbed me, but sticking me in a warm bed and other things were disarming yet suspicious. Made me wonder what they wanted from me.

I dropped to my paws silently, realizing that the bed was really big. And it looked used. Was I using up somebody's bed? It was big enough for two to fit pretty easily. My eyebrow rose for a moment before sneaking up on the door and slipping it open by twisting the knob.

As I stepped forward, I generated a swirling cobalt flame around my paw and more volatile energy around my other paw. Military training took over as I started with threat analysis.

It was warm in here. I saw a cave entrance. Snow blew past it in a speedy manner. It looked nasty out there, but the opening was downwards, and it was actually really warm in here. Around the room were some desks, a counter of natural stone with cooking materials strewn about it and a stove of sorts with wood in it.

I was in the first of three extra rooms. I slowly, silently opened the door to the second one and found a storage room. Filled with food storage, however the heck it was brought around.

The next one I opened even slower. I smelled something different, like the traces of the scent of other people I was managing to pick up. As quietly as possible, I opened the door.

And let me tell you, I instantly regretted it.

"My eyes!" I shouted in my mind as the image seared itself into my mind and I backed away from the doors. I would not forget that anytime soon.

I walked to a chair near a desk and just kind of sat down while rubbing my eyes. My winter clothing was hanging up near my door. Hoping that she didn't notice that I had walked in on a girl who was dressing herself, I walked into my room, transformed, removed all of my packs, and changed again.

With a weight literally lifted, I started unpacking my things. Everything, I laid out and tried to make sure they were dry. Just about everything was dry. Except for the water bottles, but those are water bottles. What the heck were you expecting?

But I was interrupted. Having been absolutely dazed from before, I got my first real look at her when I stood and turned around. Let me tell you, I was suddenly quite glad I was in the form that my friend dubbed as a 'lucario' form.

She was a taikan, for one. And a very pretty one at that. Probably around my age, the fox-like being had two major colors on her fur that was surprisingly orderly. Her left fox ear was yellow, her right ear was blue. Her hair was blue, and then her face was in a fox-like muzzle. It too had two different colors, though it was the right side of her face that was yellow, and the left side was blue. And her eyes… Were a lighter color of blue.

Six tails, three were mostly blue, three were mostly yellow, and each had a foot of tail space at the tip that was the other color compared to the rest of them. From her neck down, the colors seemed to be swirling to her left, between blue and yellow.

And then her clothing. They were mostly dark chocolate brown with her collar, sleeves, and the tips of her pant legs, as well as any other opening in the clothing, had a milk chocolate brown coloring. I then noticed that her clothing choices were a bit revealing. Not entirely in an open sense, actually; that brown T-shirt was tight on her, her curvaceous form displayed, but it wasn't open and showing her fur. It was looser near the base. It was tight enough however that it was relatively obvious how large they were. Her 'pants' too were very tight on her form, and the same generic colors. They did not even cover what pants were supposed to cover, as the clothing started about a foot below that a foot above her knee and downwards. She wore no shoes. They were more like thick stockings or something. A inch wide brown band circled her neck with a sort of writing on it that I couldn't read. It wasn't like a collar, not really.

I understood that the base of her shirt had to be looser to accommodate the large amount of thick-furred fluffy tails coming from her back. I'm glad I only had one. But why make the part around her chest and shoulders tighter? Especially with her being as… Voluptuous as she was? The overall effect was that it looked very indecent though she did have fur covering the unnecessary open area. I mean, really now. Why? Just why? If I stuck around, I would be sure to mention it and at least mention the indecency of the attire.

It occurred to me pretty quickly that she looked beautiful. It was probably the tightness of the clothing and the colors and her face. I always liked blue. Yellow was a nice color as well. I myself had lighter chest fur, and in fact, we had similar color schemes.

We were staring at each other silently. I hadn't a clue what I would say and I was afraid I would stammer or something. However, I eventually got over my initial shock (mostly shock at the unwitting and shock-inducing image I had seen that was seared into my brain) and showed my paw to her. "Hello," I said lamely.

"You've woken up. Took you long enough," she replied, taking my paw and shaking it. "What are you doing out in a snowstorm in the middle of uncharted territory?"

"Being stupid and stubborn and paranoid."

That brought a tilt to her head. "That was more forthcoming as anyone I have ever met has been," she decided. Her voice was like music to my ears; they weren't orders and they were more conversational. Kind of like how the odd father figure/friend spoke to me.

"I just woke up," I explained. Now I got a chuckle. Her chuckle was nice; she laughed without opening her mouth in a sort of humming chuckle: 'Hmm-hmm-hmm'. "So… This is your place then? In the middle of nowhere plains in the country of nowhere?"

She rolled her big blue eyes. "Yes. I turned this cave into a proper home with plenty of light. I have lived here for seven years. I would like to know who I saved if I may."

"Gabriel" I introduced myself. I wouldn't go and change right here. I didn't know if she would be hostile to a prokopian such as me. That guy who was going to kill me was right; I did look a lot like a taikan. With the bipedal form and the features of an animal as well, my beast form could be mistaken for a slightly… odd… Taikan form.

"Christy," she introduced herself in turn. Her tails were constantly moving about. They were actually pretty distracting. That, and I had never seen a taikan with more than one tail ever.

That being said, I had only seen videos and pictures of them. "It is very nice to meet you." I finally decided to say "So… You live with anyone else, or is that room just for strays?"

She laughed. "Just for strays," she responded, "But I picked up a bit more than that, It seems. Hiding all of that stuff… What, under your fur?"

I froze, looking at my mostly unpacked things. This girl seemed smart. I did not know whether she would figure out about who I was.

In fact, she seemed to put some pieces together. "That's a beast form, is it?" she asked. "A lot like a taikan, though your body shape is more animalistic. Skinnier arms, larger quantity of chest fur, and paws rather than hands. There are some taikans that are unique, but we can't just transfer matter into our fur. I had been wondering why carrying you back here was more difficult than it should have been."

I tried to chuckle to deflect some of the overall bad-ness of the situation. "Difficult by about eighty pounds minus whatever food I used from in there. Mostly I just used what I could find in the forest."

She nodded. Then, she frowned. "Are you here to kill me, Gabriel? Because that's only going to work out for one of us," she said. I backed up, arms up in surrender.

"No! No. I'm here because I'm not going to be a part of this pointless war between people who know nothing about each other." I protested, taking in the fact that her tails were spread around her in a threatening array.

I did not want to fight her. One, she was entirely innocent, to my knowledge. Two… I'm not gonna think about number two for a while.

Thankfully, she seemed to calm down. "Then you are welcome to stay. I came here to avoid my own war."

Her tails moved back to their normal position where they constantly moved about behind her. I breathed out a sigh of relief, not even trying to hide it. I guessed she deserved to at least see my other face, so I shifted forms and stood up on my feet.

"I've never actually met a taikan before," I explained.

"And I have not met a prokopian in person."

I frowned. "Why bother with the names of countries? We kind of disowned the lot of them, I think." I asked.

She looked thoughtful as she walked towards the exit for the room. "I believe you call your mutual form your human form, correct? Well, human-"

"Please call me Gabe."

"Well, Gabe, I am a uniquely colored fox-like creature known as a kitsune. If you want to be on a first name basis, sure. Call me Christy."

I frowned now. "Christy, are you always going to be so formal?"

That took her aback apparently. Then, she gave a slight smile. "God, if you won't don't think I will," she proclaimed, and I grinned.

"Perfect. Now, I'm starved. I saw some food while I was snooping around."

"Oh, I knew what you were doing," Christy said without hesitation, walking around the corner while I stood rooted to the spot.

"Th-that was an accident!"

---

That was chapter one.

I have to say that this story is going to be somewhat more mature than others though I will still avoid lemons and things that bad. I built this story after seeing a certain image of a character and built my character off of it. On Deviantart, there is an image of Christy the kitsune, made by McTranceFox and with the title of "Come to me on snow". I normally would use characters with less obvious poor clothing choices, but in this case I liked the look of the character and built an entire story around her and the other main character, Gabriel.

I felt the need to cite my source there, but on the topic of the story itself, I hope you enjoyed this first chapter. Please tell me what you thought of it in reviews, and unless it becomes a problem, I will be juggling it along with my other two ongoing stories. Please also inform me of the first impressions you get from this story.

That all said, have a nice day, everyone. Thank you all for reading.