Chapter 1: Survival Tactics

"Hey you mutt get back here!" a man shouted. "Those aren't free for the taking you know!" The young pup that had just stolen some sausages was running off with his prize. "You aren't getting away that easily" a Machop said as it barred the happily fleeing Growlithe. He proceeded to attack up the pup using seismic toss. "Hands off our bro" two very upset barks came ringing out of nowhere.

Tackle the humanoid pokemon was sent sprawling backwards. "Better late than never, Right fang?" another Growlithe stated. It was Dante, Fang's twin brother. Aurora His twin sister was standing off to the side making sure that Fang's attacker had been taken care of.

The siblings then resumed their path to their home. "How many times do we have to tell you Fang? It's not right to steal from humans like that." Dante said. "I'm only doing what we have to do to get by." responded Fang. "He's right you know." Aurora said. "Even if it isn't right we have to do it to survive."

Dante still wasn't settled by the point even though in his mind he was happy his brother had procured a bit of something to call lunch. They found their way back to the alley they called home. It consisted of a broken mattress, a couple of pillows, and an actual pet bed Fang had secured for his sister from a human place called the Salvation Army. It wasn't much but they weren't the kind to complain.

"Brother why do we continue to stay here in this alley?" Dante asked. "Because we promised mother that we wouldn't ever be caught or treated as a pet by humans."

Dante and Aurora winced at the mentioning of their mother. She had been taken by a group of humans called Wild Life Protection & Rehabilitation. The pups had been able to escape but at the expense of losing their mother, ever since they had stayed away from humans. Their Father had also been killed when they were just pups by a poacher who wanted Arcanine skin to prove his marksman's skill. He was caught by a WLPR field operative shortly after.

"Why can't we go someplace else?" this time it was Aurora who asked the question. "Because we're already settled in here." Fang stated. "Why move when we are safe where we are?" After getting uneasy at the sudden raise of questions Fang got to his feet. "Where are you going big brother?" Aurora asked.

"Out" was all she got in return. She turned to look at Dante for a comment. He simply shrugged.

Out on the corner of Oak Street and Main Fang was looking through the window of the Pokemart. Every since he was a pup he had been staring at the same item in the window, a spiked collar. He thought it a symbol of all that he held dear, the leading of his siblings, his independence, and his strength. But most of all he couldn't help but watch as all other pokemon that had trainers walk around with their own signs of ownership and independence.

In the distance he could hear a song being played. Then something else caught his attention. A human that was standing on the other side of the street on Main was watching him. He had been doing so for a while. Fang noticed that the boy wasn't like anyone else in the area. He wasn't dressed in nice fine clothes. He didn't have a high stuck up aura around him. After a second the boy left and Fang just sat watching, he then turned his attention back toward the collar in the display window.

An hour passed as Fang was admiring the collar he would never be able to call his own. He decided that is was long past time to go and gather something for his siblings and himself to eat. He proceeded to cross the street to Main and steal something from one of the dinners that lined the street. He passed a dinner that smelt of fish, but he didn't want fish to eat again. So he continued on till he had gone down the whole street and found nothing he wanted to eat. So then he rounded the block to the housing district. He went down the alleys that went behind the houses. "Dang, humans throw out some of the best food!" he thought as he walked along. He turned over a few garbage cans but he didn't find anything suitable to eat. What happened next, Fang would never forget for as long as he lived. He heard a scream from somewhere down the alley. Being curious he went to investigate.

A boy was being attacked by a group of Ratticate. He was covering the body of a Vulpix that obviously been attacked too. The Ratticate wouldn't let up the attack. Fang was tempted to turn around and walk away. But then he remembered a lesson his mother had taught him, to help anyone in trouble. "But does that mean humans too?" he thought. Just then the boy let out a scream for help. Fang opened his eyes to see that one of the Ratticate had bitten through his skin and he was severely bleeding. He also had numerous deep scratches from the Ratticate's hyper fang attacks. The Vulpix had its share of battle scars too, as it was lying in a puddle of its own blood.

Fang was angry that a pokemon would hurt a fellow pokemon. Instantly a flame surrounded his body, he attacked the nearest Ratticate with flame wheel. It went running as the fire singed its fur. The other three Ratticate that were left turned their attention to Fang who was snarling his fangs ready to bite in case of self defense. Two of the Ratticate ran off with blistering speed, leaving the biggest Ratticate staring Fang down. It didn't look like an average Ratticate. He had a scar over his right eye and oversized fangs. It started to hiss, and barred its giant front teeth and extended its claws. Fang was also extending his claws as he prepared for battle.

The Ratticate lunged toward Fang without moments notice, knocking him off his guard. It then proceeded to use double team followed by sword dance both confusing Fang and raising its own attack. Fang didn't know what to do so he attacked the nearest illusion, it disappeared. This only made fang more frustrated and more confused. One of the copies lunged and attacked Fang leaving a gash from the slash attack. Fang came back to his senses.

"You can't win!" the Ratticate said with glee. "I'm much faster than you are"

Fang finally used his head. "If they're only illusions they shouldn't have scents." He thought.

Fang used odor sleuth to single out the real Ratticate and use a combination of quick attack and bite. This caught the Ratticate of guard and it was now squirming to get out of Fangs mouth. He bit down harder restricting its movements. Then Fang used ember which singed the fur right off the Ratticate. The use of ember made Fang open his mouth. The Ratticate used this as his escape and ran off screaming "This isn't the last you'll hear of me!" at the same time the other two Ratticate that had run off jumped on fang simultaneously. Fang made riddance of them with a body slam.

When Fang was sure the threat was gone he turned to the young boy who was still trembling over the Vulpix's body. Fang cautiously walked up to the human boy who shuttered as Fang neared him. He wrapped his body even tighter around the Vulpix's body. Fang stared at the child's wounds wondering what to do. His mother told him to avoid humans, but this was only a child and he was protecting a fellow pokemon from harm. Fang decided that he would help the child thinking his mother would have done the same.