Vulpine Times

Disclaimer: Don't own it.

Well, it's Tuesday, one week since I introduced chapter one, and as promised here's Chapter 2.

Edit: A minor (repeat: Minor) change was made in this chapter. Indeed, it's only a change of some ten words with little difference at a whole. XD Guess that makes this at version one-point-one.


Vulpine Times Chapter 2


I stared blankly at the screen. Upon it were four animals of varying sizes and look. In my corner at the bottom left were a Pichu on the left and a Vulpix on the right, both female. In the upper right were a pair of Spearow, standing there motionless.

Pichu used Thundershock! It's super effective! The enemy wild Spearow fainted. Wild Spearow joins the fight. Wild Spearow used Peck! It's not very effective. Vulpix used Tail Wag! The enemy wild Spearow's defense fell.

Pichu used Thundershock! It's super effective! The enemy wild Spearow fainted. Wild Spearow joins the fight. Wild Spearow used Peck! It's not very effective. Vulpix used Tackle!

Pichu used Thundershock! Yet another Spearow fainted, and as useless as that Vulpix was turning about to be, this fight shouldn't last long; it wouldn't take Pichu long to go through six Spearow, right?

They kept coming, though, and though the fighting experience made Vulpix stronger every few moments, it wasn't enough, she couldn't drop them like Pichu could. And then, the fifth Spearow fainted, leaving only the sixth... but then another joined in.

And another. And another. At ten, Pichu had had it, fainting from relatively small damage repeated continuously, and Vulpix was left alone.

Vulpix had dropped a few, but was nearly out of it herself when I found myself getting frustrated; there was no backup, why couldn't I choose someone else to join the fight? The Spearow got to have infinite backup but I was left standing there alone!?

"Stupid game!" With a snort, I put it down for a moment, intending to cool off. The Spearow wouldn't have that, either, coming out of the screen to screech angrily, clawing at the startled look in my eyes, not intimidated one bit by my size. "Agh! Stupid birds!"

I heard a scream- squeak? I searched for it and found a little yellow ball being attacked by a bunch of birds, one of them pulling on her tail 'Aik'sha!' Acting quickly, I scooped up the furball and dashed out of my room, closing the door behind me to keep the wild birds at bay for a moment.

Suddenly I smacked myself on the forehead, why hadn't I tried running away earlier? Or using a potion? Had I simply been too stupid to think of it? But then I thought and nodded; the Run and Bag buttons had been disabled. That was why I hadn't used them, there was no running and there were no items.

I hardly noticed the switch to four-legged locomotion as I made my way up the stairs, while at the same time I didn't question that their size had not changed; rather, I was more distracted by the enraged screaming that now was coming from behind me. They'd escaped! Stupid construction, they probably found that hole in my closet!

Frustrated now, I dashed the rest of the way upstairs, hardly even noticing the door as I made my way outside. 'Stupid birds! Is this going to happen every time I walk through tall grass? I don't wanna play this game anymore!'

There were more outside, and as I ran through the grass, past familiar boulders as confused people wondered what the heck was going on, I found that there was no way around it; I needed help, I couldn't get out of this on my own. But where would I get it?

"Piix!!" Suddenly I shot awake, my eyes wide and heart beating; there was something on my shoulder! "Pix!" Instinctively I pushed myself away, jerking quickly and nearly running into a Pikachu that had been laying behind me. Unfortunately it was too dark, without enough light filtering down to where we were to allow me to immediately tell what had touched me awake.

"Pipichu?" It was Altair, my nose told me that now, though I still couldn't see his face. He was asking if I was okay, and I sighed, shaking as I collapsed to the floor again. I wasn't used to having such intensely frightening dreams, and as I sat there, I was realizing that I was happy to have the strange ability to remember my dreams: I always listen to my dreams, and remembering them is an important part of listening to them. I wouldn't have been here if not for that, though I might also have not nearly died a few hours ago.

If not for my dreams, I'd be much safer, but I'd also be quite bored; I always loved dreaming in technicolor, be it about mermaids taking over the world or advice on how I should conduct my life, my dreams always came in vivid, glowing shades of red, yellow, green, blue, gray... almost cartoon-like in their power, and sometimes I still found myself thinking about that adventure that started in the desert and took me across the world in search of the six demons and the gods that could seal them...

All these thoughts flashed across my mind as I tried to settle my heart, nodding my head as images from my dream flashed back, unbidden to my mind's eye. 'I... was remembering the fight earlier.' In my heart, I almost felt a pang of regret for having been woken; I didn't get to see how it would end, but that was alright, I knew how it ended. I owed a debt to that Raichu that I could never repay. 'Altair, that Raichu that helped me earlier, what was his name?'

Altair 'piii'd in thought, causing my mind to supply an image of him with arms crossed before he answered, 'That was our colony's eldest and strongest; his name is Zapam, I think. His human left him here with us when I was very little, barely hatched.' Altair was speaking quietly, so as not to awaken the others, though his laugh was just as audible, 'I think only Zapdos is stronger! Zapam is so very strong!'

I smiled at Altair's enthusiasm, 'I wonder if he will talk with me later, I'd like to thank him.'

Altair audibly curled up, yawning with a soft "Chaaaa.." before muttering sleepily, 'Maybe, I think you're interesting, why wouldn't he?'

I smiled softly before yawning quietly myself and setting my head down once more. I had some trouble getting to sleep, my mind rushing through the interrupted dream and how it meshed with my current situation.

What it all came down to was one line: It's not a game anymore.

I think I would have preferred dotHACK, at least I would have kept my opposable thumbs.


It was very early when I rose, so early that the sun had yet to grace the land with light, caressing the clouds with a quiet radiance that made them glow just brightly enough to signal the morning, but not enough to banish the gloom of night. It was also a moist morning, of which my paws took note as each dab of moisture gave me a quick jab of pain before my body heat caused it to quickly evaporate.

Strangely, despite the bother that the water was giving my paws, I still found myself thirsty. I supposed that, fire-type or no, water was still likely the core of the chemical processes that made my body work, the suspending chemical that allowed sugars and enzymes to find each-other and react. I wondered, though, how much would be too much, and whether it would be alright to drink from the river or if it would be safer to get my moisture from my food.

'Well, no way of knowing unless I try. Just a little bit to start.' And with that thought I trotted to the water's edge and stuck my head over the clear water; apparently the river wasn't long enough at this point to have picked up much in the way of contaminants, not that there was a whole lot of choice in the matter, so I did the only thing I could think of.

When I stuck my muzzle into the water there was a distinct shock of pain, much sharper than I'd been having walking through the wet grass, though it did eventually fade as I held my face in the cool water; it was not unlike sticking a cold foot into hot water, painful but therapeutic and the skin would adapt quickly.

After an experimental sip I downed a gulp or two of the stuff, noting with curiosity that my mouth and throat didn't burn as my jaw had.

As I finished I found myself curious. Did water really hurt that much? Looking at it, it seemed so harmless, and I had literally just drank it down, would it really...? I was so entranced by the idea... I had to try it out.

The pained yipping that resulted from me sticking a paw into the water was enough to start someone laughing, and when I turned my eyes to him I realized that it was Zapam, the Raichu from the night before. 'Uh, good morning.'

The large Raichu smiled down at me, his mirth remaining still, 'Is it not to your liking? Will you not be swimming with us then?'

I cringed, though at the same time I was intrigued; the stinging in my paw was fading quickly, perhaps that one guy with the Sandshrew had something there. Still... 'Perhaps not. Fire and Water don't like each other.'

He smiled, but rather than coming up with something else to say he instead stuck his face, the whole dang thing, into the cold water and, at least I assume, drank his fill before standing up, holding his belly with a satisfied sigh. I decided to speak up, 'I wanted to thank you... for helping me yesterday.'

His smile remained, as though plastered permenantly to his face, though he did not laugh, instead speaking in what was, for a 'chu, a rather monotone voice, 'You were saving one of our children, the others are happy for that. I saw her electric in the sky and came to save her, I didn't see your fire until I was close.'

I cringed, knowing that there was more than one reason he'd only seen fire when he got close, not the least of which being that I hadn't even used fire until the last few moments. 'Still, I'm alive because you were there.' He didn't seem apt to take too much from this, so I changed the subject to something that, while still related, was different from the previous one, 'You're also very strong. Altair tells me you're the strongest here.'

Zapam's grin widened and he adopted the pose of a bodybuilder proud of his physique, 'I am very strong! I wake early every day to train, just as my human taught me when I was small.' He calmed down for a moment before looking at me with curiosity, his face and ears tilted, though his neck made it hard to tell, 'Are you here for training too?'

I smiled, a thrill of excitement shooting through my spine as I nodded, 'Would you help me? I've never trained on my own before, I'm not sure I know how.'

He held his smile as he sniffed me curiously, I allowing him to do so, wondering what he would do, 'You're young.' He backed up as I gave him a curious look, 'Not a Pichu, but for a Vulpix very young. I can help you, but I do not know any fire.'

I took this information in for a moment, just how young was I? Still, that didn't matter, what mattered was that I get stronger; my dream from the night before came unbidden back to the forefront of my thoughts and I approached him eagerly, 'Any training will do, I just need to get stronger!'

His grin widened just a tic a moment or two before electricity sparked from his cheeks and I found myself in pain. "Pix!" Just as quickly as it started it was over, leaving me to shake my head clear of the second major shock in as many days; though this one had been much stronger than Aik'sha's desperate attack, I was much healthier and Zapam hadn't put much effort into it. It still hurt, though.

'Now attack me, don't worry about hurting me.'

I looked at him, for just a split second puzzled about what I should do, but I quickly decided to just bull my way into this and did the simplest thing I could think of: I tackled him.

Or I tried, as he used those thick, powerful arms of his to stop my attack entirely and throw me back, sending my tails into the water whence I leapt forward with a yelp. Instinctively I took the pain to help me, using it to stoke my fire, which I quickly launched at the Raichu that had hurt me.

Zapam's cheeks sparked, and just a moment before my flames would have hit him I saw the electricity surge in an arc before him, stopping the fire and sending it out to the sides, where it failed to hurt much of anything. 'Reflect?'

I'd hardly stopped breathing fire when Zapam had cleared the distance between us and lashed at me with his tail, sending me sprawling, where I struggled my way back to four feet before launching more fire.

He was holding back on me, I knew he was; that attack the night before had caused the ground around me to nearly explode with the force of the hit, where what he was doing now seemed much more like light love-taps than anything. But going easy or not, that didn't change the fact that within only a few seconds he'd attacked me three times and sent me flying twice, where I'd not even landed a hit. I had a long way to go, but the pain reminded me that it was real. I wasn't going to quit.

Inside ten minutes I'd had enough. After twenty minutes I couldn't feel my legs anymore, and not long after that I was numb all over, and I'd STILL failed to land a hit!

As I lay there, huffing heavily from exhaustion and feeling the pain of electricity and morning dew over my entire body, Zapam slowly approached, 'You're finished; rest for a while. We can continue in the next morning.'

I huffed some more, trying to come up with something to say, but failing. My mind was so involved in its lack of oxygen that I could come up with nothing to think about, nothing to occupy my thoughts, and for me that was a strange feeling. 'At least I know that "morning" is a word to them now.'

He said nothing, but a few seconds later I heard some Pikachu coming out, and even noticed Aik'sha's voice among them, and soon Zapam was fighting with five Pikachu and an unusually strong Pichu all at the same time. And winning. Suddenly I didn't feel so bad about losing like that.

A few minutes into their play-fighting I had rested enough to feel myself again, and rolled myself to a laying position from which I could watch the fight of the 'chu's.

Interestingly, in this fight, despite hurting herself every time she used her electricity, Aik'sha actually lasted longer than I had. Perhaps she was more used to such fights, or perhaps being on a team allowed her to do better than otherwise, but in me it only reinforced to my mind just how far I had yet to go.

As the fight was winding down I noticed another approaching from behind... and a rather alluring smell. I was noticing that I was hungry, and that smell reinforced that even more.

I looked to my right to see Altair approaching, carrying in his mouth something that I found myself almost surprised to see: A roasted Magikarp.

He set the unfortunate fish on the ground beside me, and I gave it a surprised, almost confused look, so Altair decided to encourage me, 'You're hungry, right? These are very good! And easy to catch, too! The water is full of them!'

Shaking my head, I realized that my hunger was pretty much forcing me to do something I never would have thought of, and I followed Altair's example by taking off a chunk of the fish's flank, pulling with my mouth and paw before chewing it and swallowing.

As I ate Altair smiled and went off back to the water, where he quickly shocked another splashy fish into unconsciousness, then to death, continuing until it had been lightly toasted. He brought his meal to where I was enjoying the one he gave me and started in on it as well.

It was obvious to me, as I'd often wondered, that Pikachu were meat eaters, or at least omnivores. Unlike their namesake, the common domestic mouse, Pikachu had powerful killing attacks and the confidence afforded to an animal that could do just that. And then there were the teeth; where mice had large incisors, good for chewing through hard things a little bit at a time, or soft things very quickly, these Pikachu had enlarged and very sharp Canines, the teeth of a predator. Their flashy coloring was a detriment to running away, and their strong personalities even more so.

Ratata screamed loudly and ran quickly, Pikachu greeted enemies with a wave and zapped them powerfully.

It was still a surprise, though, to see a creature so reminiscient of the innocent, carefree image portrayed by Ash's Pikachu with a predator, but then, the same could be said for the common housecat, or the domestic dog. Both were quiet, gentle house-goers, but in nature were merciless predators, killing and eating to live.

And I now understood how such a large population could live in such a small area. The power plant lured them here, but between the berries, fresh water, and the abundance of Magikarp (and presumably other water-bound life), there was more than enough here to count as almost a Pikachu haven, an eden just for them where no other, animal or Pokemon, was better suited.

There were advantages to being predators (or even scavengers) aside from the self-assurance that it would give those who were as such. Eating meat meant having plenty of protien, and protien drove the body's most important processes, and was the building block on which growth depended. Protien drove muscle growth and development, allowing predators to get very strong very quickly, but more than that Protien drove brain growth. Plant eaters that developed to eat meat almost always had an explosion of brain size, and predators on average had brains nearly three times the size of their herbivore prey.

And just as humans had, Pikachu seemed to have changed from a weak, probably plant-eating ancestor to this powerful, playful, excitable, and even dangerous predator, whose head and presumably brain took up a visible third of its body, and as a Pichu fully half. There was a rule, which those who studied evolution always kept in mind, and that was that the larger the brain was in relation to the rest of the body, the more intelligent the animal was.

And also like humans, Pikachu were similarly capable, and happy, to eat fruit. Why wouldn't they? Fruits had sugars, and sugar was a potent shot of energy that went straight to the veins, and the vitamins and minerals available only in plant life would make it so that forsaking fruits and veggies in lieu of meat just didn't make sense. 'Perhaps thats why Pikachu are so loved by humans, because they're so alike. It's almost scary, really, but Pikachu don't need to depend on spears and knives to do their killing, or fire for their cooking, they've got the natural weapons that humans lack.'

As I flipped my breakfast over to its other side, ignoring the holes where its eyes had exploded, I thought back with wonder. What happened to the Spearow that had fallen to the ground the other day? Had they, too, been consumed? Or had they been left where they were to wake back up and fly away? Well, unless I found them laying there still, or their skulls scattered about, I likely wouldn't know.

I licked the bones a bit, giving the tail fin a look as I considered eating some of the innards, yet at the same time disgusted by the idea, 'So I guess Pikachu won't be going off to make guns and tanks anytime soon, not unless their electricity became useless, and they're so specialized with that that if that happened they'd likely either grow larger or become plant-eaters to compensate.' I shook my head, 'They'd also be defenseless then. They can bite and scratch, but that does little good against a bird that can dive-bomb them. They'd adapt, but little would be left of the happy-go-lucky critters we've come to know.'

With a sigh I looked at Altair, considering him for a moment as he chewed. He noticed my attention as he pulled some meat from the bones of his meal, which now had nearly as little meat as my own, his fangs sunk deep into the flesh that pulled so easily with so little wasted effort. This to an animal so often compared with mice; really, they were more like cats or dogs, in both build and attitude- or perhaps both, a mix of man's favorite pets with a loyalty to match. 'Done?' Altair snapped me from my thoughts as he swallowed his latest bite.

I nodded, 'I'm not sure what to do with the rest, just leave it here?'

Altair smiled, 'I'll help you take it to the water! The fishes like it when we do that, and they grow faster that way too!' Then he frowned, 'If we leave them out, Spearow will come, and Spearow are bad.' He stuck out his tongue before tearing off another chunk of meat, smiling as he chewed.

Acting on an impulse, I asked him to open his mouth for me. He did, but he still had meat in it and I actually revulsed, 'Swallow your food first! Please?'

He did so, opening his mouth so I could get a look inside. What I found was a mouth remarkably like that of a human. Short, flat incisors for scooping at fruit like apples and berries, long, sharp canines, and crushing molars in the back that would make short work of meat and plant alike. Really, the only difference between the two was that the middle incisors were much larger, proportionately, than those of a human, though rather small in comparison to the super-enlarged canines, which were long, thin, and sharp. In fact, the thinness of them suggested that they only rarely saw a whole lot of force, and usually either simply latched on (for a zero-distance shock from the cheeks), drug dead prey (probably to feed the Pichu), or to pull cooked meat from the bones (cooked by the very shocks that had killed it).

The other remarkable thing was that it seemed that his mouth was actually relatively small, that his cheeks were in fact very thick and fatty, which made sense considering their use. On an impulse I stood up and touched one paw just behind his cheek, finding it to be remarkably soft and pliable. As he made confused noises, mouth forgotten, I kneaded further along to the back of his head, kneading with one paw at the base of his skull.

'What are you doing?'

I sat down, my exploration finished, 'I've never seen a Pikachu up close before. I was curious.'

He tilted his head, 'But you saw me yesterday! Remember?'

I laughed, bringing one paw up close to my mouth, 'I mean before that.'

As Altair gave me confused, but ultimately not-too-curious looks, I moved back to where I'd been sitting before, that spot having dried off from my body-heat. My experimentation had revealed that he, indeed, had enlarged sacs that wrapped around the head, growing visibly thinner in the back, where they met with just barely a touch right at the back of the skull. For just a moment I wondered if, perhaps, they were also connected under or over the jaw, but I doubted it, as it wouldn't do to have them shorting themselves out all the time. I also found myself curious as to just how strongly those sacs were connected to their nervous system, or what sort of processes actually generated the energy and how it was stored, let alone released. I also conjectured that a Pichu's smaller body put more effort into generating the energy than insulating from it, which made sense; the human infant's body puts far more effort into developing and growing its brain, the one thing that allowed humans to survive in the wild, than into making the neck strong enough to support said brain. For the first year or so an infant's head needed constant support lest it bob around wildly, why wouldn't Pichu, whose electricity was its only real strength, be the same?

Altair finally finished his meal and stood up, 'Come on!' He then grabbed his leftovers by the tail and started dragging it, leaving a film of grease and pus from the still-intact innards as he went.

I followed him in much the same manner, ruminating on the seeming wastefulness. But I had to admit, without guarantees as to the quality of the preparatory cooking, there was simply too much risk in eating who-knew-what in the guts and stomach which, small as they were, could contain just about anything. Few predators ate those parts, usually leaving them for scavengers to pick at, though some with stronger stomachs would take those protien-rich organs as well.

Besides, the commotion that arose the very moment our leftovers hit the water made it clear: These fish Pokemon had no qualms about eating their dead, and didn't seem to be bothered by the picked-away state of the corpses.

Still, with the way my nerves were going it was as though I was expecting a Gyrados to pop out of the water and attack us for taking its young or something of the like. But then, considering that most of those that were feeding on our leftovers were other Magikarp, I somehow doubted that such would give these proceedings half a thought.

There was a Raichu in the water now, standing without moving in some of the shallower parts of the water. He wasn't moving, and as the fish swam around him, perhaps looking for a meal themselves, he suddenly released a wave of electricity with a shout, actually pushing some of the water away as though he'd exploded, sending electricity sparking at the water's edge and causing several of the creatures to twitch and float to the surface, consciousness having left their eyes. This was the second hunting method I'd seen the 'chu's use, and was even more effective, relying on raw power, of which Raichu had plenty. Altair had targeted a single fish that was near the surface, this Raichu had simply sent out a wave of energy that had stunned several of them from well beneath said surface.

He then used his tail to flip many of them to land, where some Pikachu were waiting with sparks in their own cheeks, which was released on whichever fish came closest to them.

'Selfless cooperation, doing things for others in the group without expecting anything in return.' I was amazed, but somehow not surprised, it was simply one more thing that made them human-like. A few of the Pikachu immediately ran off with their meals, running into the plant where they doubtless were going to feed the hungry young.

More sparking at the water's edge caught my attention, but the first Raichu had left the water now and was swinging his fur dry even as I watched. 'What now?'

Further down stream there was a group of Raichu, four of them that had spread out into the river and were sending a widespread, cumulative jolt of electricity into the water; the first Raichu had scared many fish, some of which had swam quickly downstream to a trap that was now being triggered, whence they were flipped to shore by the long-reaching tails of those same Raichu, who seemed to have spread out just to the width that they could cover with their tails.

They didn't cross the river, it was some... well, judging distance was hard at this size, I suppose, but they easily were able to bring about as much fish from the water as a team of fishermen with nets in the same amount of time.

'Remarkable.'

It took only a few minutes before the fireworks were over, and in that time most of the colony was now well-fed, including the Raichu who were now happily carrying their meals in forepaws that more resembled fists than feet or hands, yet apparently still had some of the dexterity they'd had as Pikachu.

I sat, transfixed for a few moments as I watched the colony eat breakfast, opening a new day as many of them happily munched away, some of them giving their meals a second or third zap as necessary (whether for cooking or to finish killing it), some of the doubtless higher-level Magikarp managed to wiggle their way back to the water, where they quickly disappeared, but on the whole all were fed and happy.

Altair considered the scene with me, pulling on his ear as though grooming it. I noticed this, and it suddenly made me self-conscious.

I hadn't given it much thought till now, but with blood from the night before and dirt and grass wedged into it with a mess of water and a moving fishy smell that would only get worse with time; I was a mess, and now that my mind was on it, my fur pulled strangely, sticking together oddly around my wounds, mussed just about everywhere; filthy filthy filthy!

I shivered a bit, shaking off the imagined attention that I wasn't even sure that I was getting, but couldn't help but feeling. 'I need to clean off.'

He considered me with a tilt for a moment, then nodded, 'Okay! I'm going to check if the Pichu are awake yet!' And he ran off, heading for the nest from which he'd been born years ago.

This colony was large, having several nesting areas, one among the Raichu and several among the various groups of Pikachu, each well protected by the walls of the building and thus with little reason to clump them all together. Altair's nest currently had five Pichu, with two on the way, for a tenuous total of thirty Pichu colony-wide.

I quickly dismissed such thoughts, for the moment, though, as I turned to find an isolated corner where I could consider my problem, feeling sticky icky and sore the whole way.


It didn't take me long to find that grooming was a tedious process when one's whole body was covered in fur. Moreso when contact with cold water was painful, as I'd found when I tried it earlier. I'd managed to dissolve one clump of blood on my shoulder, at the expense of a few tears for the pain, but all that had even accomplished before the water evaporated was to thin the stuff out a bit.

'Oh what I wouldn't do for a trip to the groomers!'

Rather I was stuck using my mouth to accomplish my grooming, mostly using my teeth to try to brush contaminants from my fur, licking at what was too dried-in to be pulled out right away. It was hard, tedious work which I questioned the wisdom to, but for some reason I found myself responding to a vain streak that I'd hardly ever even noted before. Perhaps it was because I was a Vulpix? If I remembered right Vulpix were said to be vain, grooming themselves to perfection, and here I was, doing just that.

With my mouth. Oh the lengths I was going to. Bah.

'Stupid stick, get out!' I pulled a bit, but because it had lodged right along the middle of my back, actually getting caught between two of my tails, I wasn't able to even reach it properly. I could get close, in a feat of stretchability that I'd never before thought I'd have been able to do, but I couldn't actually reach it.

I growled, 'Dangit! Come out!' I tried again, but it remained stubbornly in place, and I was getting frustrated, 'STUPID!' "VUL!" I shouted at the stick, a puff of flame coming out with the word, though I hardly noticed the heat.

'... oh...' Where the fire touched, my fur now had a light luster that it hadn't had before. The hairs had actually shrank, visible but ever-so-slight, loosening the stick which now even just looked looser, no longer tangled. I reached back one more time and pulled it out a bit, giving the parts that stuck quick bouts of flame to loosen them, and within a few seconds my most vexing problem had been solved.

It made sense; most biological waste could be burned away, things like the fatty acids from my meal, sticks and leaves, even blood and animal waste could all be burned away with relative ease, leaving my body and fur, which were literally made to live at the edge of orange lava, wholly intact and even looking shiny and new!

With a grin I tried it out, and in a few minutes and several breaths of fire I was right as rain just about everywhere. My face still needed some attention, but most of me was feeling rather good! 'Hah! I'm just a little Phoenix, aren't I?' "Vul! Pix!" I practically glowed as I strutted around for a moment, noting with some interest that I had accidentally made a burned-out area of bald ground, at the edge of which stood a couple confused Pikachu that I just now noticed, along with Aik'sha, who seemed fascinated by what I was doing.

'Yes? What is it?'

Aik'sha stood, giving the area around me an experimental sniff, 'What are you doing? Why did you attack yourself?'

I smiled, 'I was grooming, it made me feel much better!' I wagged my tails a bit, revelling in the feel of the wind through the nice, shiny, and now much thinner hair.

The Pikachu shrugged to each-other and left, their curiosity sated, though Aik'sha stayed with me. 'So what you gonna do now?'

I thought, a smile on my face (I felt so good!), before responding with a smile, 'I think I'd like to run around in a circle for a while.'

Aik'sha seemed puzzled for a bit, but then she smiled and made several fast, small circles, looking like she were chasing her tail, though she quickly got tired of that when she got dizzy, whence she lay on her back and stared dizzily at the sky. "Ppp-piiipichupiii..."

I giggled, lightly stepping over to the little girl with mirth in my eyes, smiling down at her as her eyes slowly stopped swirling. 'Dizzy?'

She shook her head to clear it before she stood on all fours, looking up at me, 'I don't think I like that, it makes me dizzy.'

I smiled, 'That's okay, I think a bigger circle would be more fun. Wanna come?' I backed up a step, then ran away a few feet, when I knew that Aik'sha was following I ran off.


After about an hour of running about aimlessly I'd grown tired and winded, and I finally found myself drawn to that patch of bare earth I'd made before, where I sprawled out helplessly, panting with the effort of just making it that far. Aik'sha, however, seemed to have boundless energy; even after an entire hour of running around, her shorter legs making her move much, much faster than I had been, she was still on her feet and still ready to face the world, a glow in her eyes as she poked my nose with one claw. 'Done al-pant-ready?'

I laughed, 'It's too cold pant-here, it hurts pant to breathe pant so hard!' I was panting, and the cold, wet air was indeed hurting my lungs, as though I were in a deep-freezer; if I breathed too deeply too quickly it literally hurt, though the burn in my legs, while tiring, actually felt good. But tiring... But good. And tiring. Indeed, the only reason I'd stopped was because the pain and tiring element in my legs had finally overwhelmed the good feelings... about ten minutes ago, and after just ten minutes my willpower had finally broken.

Aik'sha brushed her face, as though cleaning it, and then smiled brightly, 'Okay! I'll go play with my brothers!' She then ran off, yelling names I didn't recognize and acting REALLY hyperactive.

'Impressive; I wonder if a Vulpix in a volcano would have as much energy. How can she have so much energy anyway? My legs are more than twice as long as hers!' I sighed, gasping as I did, 'I must be out of shape.'

Activity level diminished, my mind was now being allowed to wander once more. This was another reason that physical activity suddenly had more appeal, since I knew that once I started thinking it would be hard to stop.

I was gasping, but at the same time I wasn't panting. Vulpix is a fox Pokemon, and foxes are canines; when canines get hot they pant, opening their mouths wide and breathing hard to evaporate moisture off their tongues and lower body temperature, extending their ability to continue activity. This was a behavior that allowed dogs, wolves and foxes to run for hours at a time without tiring or overheating, taking long, loping (even lupine) strides, often simply outlasting their prey.

But Vulpix was not those relations, and though similar, to force such behavior upon it would a grievous insult. Frankly, why should Vulpix pant? To lower its body temperature? Why would it want to? Its body temperature is well into the hundreds, even thousands of degrees, and is a part of its survival mechanism. And with such high temperatures, what good would evaporating a little water do anyway?

Besides, the idea of letting my tongue flop around hopelessly made me cringe at the indignity of it; I reasoned that no self-respecting Vulpix would do that, it was too silly!

Of course, I'd never met another Vulpix, so I couldn't speak for them, but the very idea of it just made me shiver; why spend so much time combing my fur and caring for my image, only to stick my tongue out and start drooling? Bleh.

So instead, I merely kept my mouth just open enough to take in the air I needed, and breathed only as hard as I needed to.

That mystery satisfactorily decided, I relaxed a bit, splaying my tails out on the ground behind me, laying my head down on my paws with a smile.

I didn't know why, but somehow with how tired I was I felt satisfied, as though I'd fulfilled an urge that was now rewarding me for having done so; perhaps this happened to all Pokemon, encouraging them to develop their physical prowess to prepare them for the cold, dangerous world that was just as willing to do much the same thing.

I didn't have the energy to puzzle on the apparent laziness of Snorlax, Slaking and the rock-types, however. The sun was bright, the ground dry, and with my tails splayed out like this I was picking up on the warmth of the day; with my body as tired as it was I was asleep in minutes, and not even aware it had happened.


'Is that it?' He looked down upon the scene. There was an entire colony of Pikachu, Pichu and Raichu below him, running about and keeping an eye on him; they would not attack him, because he was not attacking them, but their eyes were attuned to attacking over great distances, and like any archer their eyes were sharp. But they did not hold his attention.

He could still feel it, minor waves of energy radiating out and away from this place, still focussed on one individual who still remained in this place.

The place was inconsequential, only being where this... thing had happened.

His target was splayed out on the ground, a spot that had been dried up and burned out, with dry ground around her, picking up heat from her body and the sun enough that there was a slight shimmer in the air around her.

She looked comfortable, it would be a shame to interrupt her now. So he moved out of sight; no need to alarm the electric rodents, they had nothing to do with this.


When I finally reawoke I had no idea what time it was; it was bright daytime, but as to the hour I didn't have a clue, and thus hadn't the foggiest as to how long I'd been out.

Shaking my head, I wondered about the shimmering world around me; for a moment I was alarmed, why was it the Pikachu seemed to be wobbling? Was there something wrong with my eyes? Was I caught in some form of containment field?

Whatever was happening, I was comfortable, so not immediately alarmed. I stretched with a yawn, opening my muscles and feeling several pops among my joints as I shook myself awake, taking in that warmth that had lulled me to sleep as my mind did a full reboot.

Thoughts straight once more, I became curious as to the source of the strange shimmering, and it was a shimmering... a shimmering I recognized. It was as though the day were hot and the concrete radiating enough heat to roast a ham, the waves of energy coming off the ground creating that ever-so-familiar shimmer.

But there was no concrete here? And really it only felt warm enough to, maybe, be some seventy or eighty degrees, not the hundred or so needed for such drastic shimmering!

"Pix?" Then I remembered myself, and looked down. The ground around me was even more baked dry now than it had been when I'd fallen asleep, and there was a slight, carried wind of cool air rushing toward me from the grass around the area, being warmed by... me.

I felt so comfortable, I really didn't want to leave this nice, warm blanket, this comforting enclosure that felt so nice, but with a shake I finally decided that I needed to do so, and stepped out.

The air outside of my bubble felt chilly by comparison, and I immediately shivered at the feel of it, but my fur did its job and the shivers lasted only for a moment of surprise, though it did elicit another couple yawns or so as I walked further into the clearing where the Pikachu seemed content to laze about in the sun as I had been.

I figured that, so long as they were in a group, they need not fear an attack from above. Why, a lone Pichu had dropped several Spearow just the day before, why should a large group of grown Pikachu fear them?

'Hmm, there's that thought again, I wonder if those Spearow are still there?' For a moment I wondered on the question; should I or shouldn't I go to see? It would only take a moment?

Finally, curiosity won out over caution, and I went to the scene; it wasn't all that far, mercifully, as I wasn't sure my bruised, abused muscles could carry a full-speed run for long, let alone fight properly. That nice rest had done wonders, but I wasn't quite fighting fit yet.

I rounded a corner, where a large boulder embedded in the soft ground at the water's edge marked a bend in said river, light foliage caressing the beach in a natural blind; sticking my head out I looked at where I remembered the last Spearow being dropped, quite forcefully, by Zapam's attack.

There were still some three Spearow laying there, obviously dead as their eyes had dried out, though the greater clue was that their bodies were currently being picked at by a group of curious Pidgey and a Pidgeotto.

Suddenly the Pidgeotto hopped at me, spreading her wings wide, 'These are ours! You can't have them!'

I jumped back, 'I don't want them, you can have them!'

The Pidgeotto seemed confused for a moment, but nodded, apparently satisfied, 'Fine.' But then she had second thoughts, 'You can't have my babies either!'

I frowned at the insinuation, 'I don't want them either. I was just wondering if those things were still here.' Though I had to admit, something in my furry little heart told me I wouldn't mind a mouthful of feathers if the chips were down. The Spearow were scrawny, but Pidgey were much more plump...

I shook myself mentally. I liked Pidgey, I didn't want to take them, why would I? I drew the line at Magikarp; the mindless fish didn't deserve it or anything like that but there was a difference between them and a flying type. If for no other reason than because birds were hard to catch and had too many feathers...

No! Bad Sari!

The Pidgeotto considered me for a moment, then hopped back away, 'Fine. But come no closer!' She flapped her wings a couple times, kicking up a little bit of sand and a small bit of gravel from under the grass.

I responded by sitting on my haunches as she turned to her babies, keeping an eye on them and me as well as she kept one eye pointed in my direction. I made no move toward them, and the young ones eventually relaxed under their mother's watchful gaze.

As they started pulling at one of their fallen cousin's wings I lost interest; I had my answer, I needed no more than that, and watching birds eating birds was boring.

After turning to walk away and trotting a few steps I was stopped by a chill wind, spurring me to sniff the air curiously. What was this? And that smell? A smell of... metal and glass?

How did glass even have a smell? It doesn't even evaporate! 'Wait, that has nothing to do with anything.'

Looking up, I saw a figure descending in a scene reminiscient of the Bad Guy (tm), descending from the Heavens to lay havoc and chaos upon the heads of the innocent.

They say that in the wild, you should never show fear, because showing fear is as good as showing weakness, inviting and even inciting attack. But in this case I didn't much care as I backed away, my tails perking as I lowered my head in an automatic reaction, 'Mewtwo.'


End Chapter 2


Nope, I'm afraid I don't have much of a rant this time around. :P

Alex Ultra: Super Thunder SHOOOOOCK!
LATER