Author's Note: The character Sallah, introduced in this chapter, is actually based off a character in a book I recently read. That character made a great impact on me, so I gave that name as a tribute. Also, that character matches the one in this story pretty well by actions and personality, so if you know what Sallah I'm referring to, then you'll know part of the ending. Here's the only hint: the last name was Telgar. Anyway, here's the next chapter. -EeveeInHeat

The Legend of Vulpix: Leaf of Time

- Chapter 2: Grace and the Great Tree -

A small Pokemon woke to a nudge. Coming out of its sleeping state, it looked around in the dawning sunlight that was filtering through the trees. However, it could see no one nearby. It suddenly felt another nudge and realized that the nudge was mental, not physical. It had only a second to realize that it was Grace before her mind retreated from its.

Now it was worried. Grace wasn't the one to play jokes, and she would usually tell it what it needed to do mentally. Concerned, it immediately started out to Grace. After walking through the dense forest for a little, it finally came to a large clearing. Small, pink, blossoming flowers covered the meadow, going all the way up to the Great Tree. The Great Tree was the largest tree in the forest by far. It towered over the forest, its branches soaring into the sky.

For some reason, though, the tree seemed to fading, as though losing its color. It became really worried when it saw a mound of dirt in between two of the roots of the Great Tree, a large hole right next to it.

The Pokemon walked into the meadow, looking around cautiously. It gasped as it finally saw Grace, lying on the ground. It rushed up to Grace and shook her slightly. "Grace, are you alright?" it asked, its voice low.

"No. An evil has come to the forest in search of power. The Great Tree is starting to die," Grace almost whispered. She tried to stand, but fell back down after a second.

"Oh, no!" it responded. "What can I do?"

"I need you to go get him and bring him here," Grace said. "I need you to bring the child without a companion. He's needed."

"I'll go get him. Hold on, Grace," it said, before turning and running out of the meadow.

(0)

Link wearily woke to someone shouting. Grumpy, he yawned and stretched, accidently scattering his leaf bed again. He glanced over to see a small Pokemon being the cause of the noise. He knew it was a Togepi by the eggshell it was still wearing.

"Who are you?" Link asked.

"I'm Sallah. Grace has sent me to get you," she said impatiently.

"Wait, you're a companion," Link said slowly. He jumped up as his thinking started up. "Yes, I've finally got a companion!" he shouted, leaping up into the air. Unfortunately, his burrow wasn't that tall, so he hit his head on the ceiling, hard. "That hurt," he muttered, rubbing his head.

Dirt started to then fall onto Link's head. He glanced up just as the ceiling caved in on top of him. When the dust dissipated, Midon was sitting on top of Link, blinking in surprise. Midon's Cleffa jumped down the new skylight and started hopping around Midon.

Link groaned and stuck his head out of the pile of dirt. "Oh, come on; right after I washed up, too." He then glanced up and saw Midon. "What are you doing here? Never mind, just get off; you're heavily than you look."

Sallah impatiently waited, tapping her small foot, as Link finally got out of the pile of dirt. Midon was grinning as he walked out the entrance, as though he had been planning that all along, while his Cleffa copied his prideful walk out. He stopped abruptly outside the entrance and exclaimed, "What's happening!"

Still shaking off the dirt, Link walked outside to see what the Grass-type was gawking about. He stopped and stared along with Midon as he saw it also. The grass and plants nearby were starting to lose their color, a slight purple tone appearing inside the plants.

"Something is happening to the Great Tree, Link," Sallah said, coming out after them. "Grace told me to bring you now."

"Come on," Link said. He started to rush toward the large flower clearing that the Great Tree was in, and where Grace could always be found. Midon and Sallah ran after him.

Link slowed down as he entered the clearing. In the clearing, in front of the Great Tree, was Grace. Link instantly realized something was wrong; she was in her land form instead of her usual sky form during the day. Like most Shaymin, when they came in contact with a Gracidea flower, which was the flower that was covering the meadow, they would change from their small shrub-like appearance into a taller, mostly white creature that could fly. It would change back in the night or in the cold, but Grace was laying in the sunlight, in the middle of a patch of Gracidea, yet was still in land form.

Link ran over to Grace. "Grace, what happened? Are you okay? Grace!" he shouted as he shook her slightly. Midon and Sallah ran up beside him.

Grace opened one eye slowly, though she had a pained expression on her face. "Link, you must help. The forest is in danger. Follow the evil down and defeat it," she said. Her eye closed after she finished.

"Follow the evil? Defeat it? What does she mean?" Link asked anxiously, looking up at Sallah.

"Link! Midon! I heard yelling. What's-" Rose asked, rushing up. She stopped as she saw the state that Grace was in. Others were starting to come into the clearing from the forest.

"Grace said that an evil had come to the forest. I think it's down in that hole," Sallah said, pointing to the dark hole between the Great Tree's roots. "It must be killing the Great Tree with its digging."

Link stared at the hole for a second before making up his mind. "I'm going down after it," he announced.

"Link, what are you talking about?" Rose asked, coming up to him, "It's something evil; you can't go down after it!"

Link shook his head. "I can. Besides, I'm the one Grace chose to go after it. I have to go down after it," he said.

"And I'm going, too!" Midon said, puffing out his stem chest and stepping forward dramatically. "If he can do it, so can I!" His Cleffa took a step, too, though it was shivering slightly.

Link started toward the tunnel, Midon only a step behind him. As he was about to go down the tunnel, he heard Rose shout, "Be careful, Link!" Link glanced back and nodded, before turning back to his goal. The tunnel that had been dug was large enough for him and Midon to travel side by side. He took a step and found that the ground was firm.

Taking a deep breath, Link started down the tunnel. He had to be careful not fall forward with the steep angle downward, which was even harder for a quadruped like him. After about a hundred feet down, it stopped and started out horizontally into three tunnels. There was barely enough light coming through into the tunnels to see a few yards into them. Roots could be seen against the walls, with some even hanging from the ceiling.

Link was almost fully down, when something pushed him from behind and he fell forward, bruising his sensitive nose on the ground. He angrily got up and turned around to see Midon glaring at him. "What was that for?" Link demanded.

Midon leapt down in front of him and pointed one of his leaf arms in his face. "Rose is mine. Stop trying to show off in front of her," he said.

Now Link was confused. "What?" he asked.

"You know what I mean," he said, before walking past Link toward one of the tunnels.

Link stared after, still confused, when he realized where he was going. "Umm, Midon?"

"Be quiet. I can do this all on my-" he started. Before he finished, he walked into the tunnel on the left, right into a giant web. "AHH!" he screamed, frantically trying to get out and only managing to get himself more caught.

"I tried to warn you," Link said.

"Just be quiet and help me get out," Midon ordered. His Cleffa simply started to run on the floor while laughing, not making Midon feel any better.

"Or you could just slice your way out with your sharp leaves," Link suggested.

Midon stopped and paused for a second. "Of course," he said, starting to cut the web, "I was just about to do that myself."

Sure you were, Link thought. "Okay then, it's my turn. Let's take that one," Link said, pointing to the only one without webs.

Midon, now fully out, simply looked away. "Go ahead; you can take the easy way. I'll continue my way," he said. He looked toward the web filled tunnel and pulled both his arms back. "Razor Leaf attack!" he yelled dramatically. He threw his arms forward and several leaves shot out, easily cutting through the web strands. A small pathway was left for about a hundred feet. Midon confidently walked down the path, his Cleffa bouncing along beside him.

Link shrugged at Midon's thoughts and started down his tunnel. Before long, he came to a turn. He cautiously looked around it, before continuing. All the way down, he couldn't help but feel a strange sense of dread. He took another bend in the tunnel, only to find a shadow in his path.

Link jumped as he saw it, but calmed down as he realized that it was only a Spinarak, one of the common forest Pokemon. Link was just about to walk by, when it blocked his path.

"Look, I don't know who you are, but I've to get by and defeat some evil thing to save the Great Tree," Link said.

The Spinarak looked at him for a second, before suddenly lunging at him. Link hurriedly jumped out of the way. He looked back and saw that the Spinarak was tapping its pincers together. Realizing that it was going to use String Shot, Link leapt to the side again. The thread passed him and hit the ceiling, dangling down afterwards.

Link didn't know what to do. In all his hurry, the thought about fighting without any attacks hadn't occurred to him. How could he defeat anything without knowing any attacks? Then, Rose's words came back to him. 'That could possibly even become a move like Rock Shot, or Tail Flick.' He could use his new trick.

Glancing around, he realized that he would have plenty of ammo in this tunnel. He dodged as another strand of web came at him. Aiming quickly, he flicked his tail twice, throwing two small, sharp rocks toward the Spinarak. They hit it right on the head.

The Spinarak swayed for a second, before shaking its head. Somehow, its eyes seemed different now as it looked around in confusion. "Where am I?" it asked.

"You were down here and then just attacked me," Link said.

The Spinarak looked generally surprised. "I'm sorry," it said. "All I can remember, though, is seeing some dark shadow in the bushes, and then, nothing."

"Follow this tunnel and then go up to get out. I've got to go rescue the Great Tree," Link said.

The Spinarak nodded before running down the tunnel, soon going out of sight.

He didn't remember anything. Was he brainwashed? Maybe he was hypnotized, Link thought, as he continued down the path.

Finally, he came to an intersection. Two paths led to the left and right. While the path to the right seemed larger, the path to the left seemed slightly lighter. After a little thought, Link concluded that the lighter one meant that it led to the surface, so he turned toward the one to the right.

However, before he could continue any further, he heard a very uncharacteristic scream, followed by the patter of thin feet hitting the ground, slowly getting louder. Link crouched down to get ready for a fight and pulled a few stones into a pile with his tail, ready to be flicked.

Soon, Link could see the silhouettes of a Bellsprout and a Cleffa running toward him. A few seconds later, three short silhouettes appeared behind them. The silhouettes of the Bellsprout and Cleffa finally came into focus, proving Link's guess that it was Midon and his Cleffa.

Midon suddenly saw Link and screamed, "Crazy Spinarak!"

When Midon finally passed him, Link flicked his tail out twice, sending two stones flying. Two of the approaching Spinarak were hit in the head, tripping them up. The middle one continued to approached, readying a shot of webbing.

Link was about to flick another stone, when Midon suddenly jumped in front of him and sent off a Razor Leaf, giving off some sort of battle cry. The sharp leaves curved around and hit the Spinarak on both sides. The Spinarak fell to the ground, never getting the chance to use String Shot.

"And that's how Midon rolls," Midon said, puffing out his chest.

Link chose to ignore the comment and checked on the recovering Spinarak. The Spinarak were getting up, but they appeared to be of their senses this time. Satisfied, he turned to go down the tunnel he had been about to go down. "Come on; we have to stop this thing before it does any more damage," he said, starting down the path.

"I'll just tag along," Midon said. "I can't let a fellow forest Pokemon get killed, after all," he added. Link was surprised at the statement, as it was probably the first nice thing Midon had said to him.

The light gradually grew weaker and weaker. They were so far underground, Link wondered how there was any light at all. Then, just as they heard the sound of earth shifting nearby, Link wondered how they could defeat the thing that made these tunnels in the dark.