Vulpine Times

Disclaimer: Don't own it.

Although fanfiction-dot-net has a policy against reviewer responses, I think it will be okay to say to foxyjosh that, yup, that about sums it up. (And that Sari's a 'she'. Hehe.)

On another note: My chapters don't have titles, mostly because I just can't think of names for them. If I could get names for them I might give them names, but for now I'm just going to give them the generic "Chapter number" names.


Chapter 4

When I realized that I'd become a Pikachu my first reaction was one of confusion; was that even possible? But then, according to the rules, with Metronome literally ANYTHING was possible.

Somehow I was sure that Mewtwo knew this would happen, and on some level I was glad he'd told me about it. Though... perhaps what I'd learned while inside had been far more valuable, certainly an explosion would have been worth that much.

Transforming into a Pikachu, Natty specifically, had been quite the pleasant surprise, though. I'd always loved Pikachu, and now I was one! Albeit temporarily. And as we walked into the door to the nesting-place after a quick run back, I started exploring myself.

The first, and to me most obvious thing that I needed to explore were the big, obvious swells of flesh that surrounded my mouth and neck; it felt like someone had stuffed my cheeks full of fluff! As though I had pillows attached to my mouth!

And as I realized this, I had a sudden desire to knead them, pushing and pulling on them with a smile, "Piiiikaschuu Piiika!" 'It feels funny!'

Aik'sha's eyes shined as Natty smiled, taking up position in front of me and mimicking my movements, pushing her face in and pulling it out to nearly twice its normal width in a rather interesting display of pliability, making us quite the pair of face-making Pikachu. And I suddenly felt so silly! In fact, as I stood there making and recieving faces, I got a sudden, overwhelming need to laugh and roll on my back, holding my belly and sending sounds of "Pika-chuuu!" echoing through the halls.

Which, by the way, was exactly what I did, joined soon by Natty across from me and Aik'sha jumping on my belly, whereupon she started tickling me.

What I didn't know was that Natty was actually rather ticklish in certain spots, and that Aik'sha had spent enough time with said adult to know where these spots were. She attacked them furiously, tickling them, even adding a bit of electricity to the equation that I wasn't expecting, which interestingly only made me laugh harder.

As I laughed I could literally feel sparks flying around my new cheeks, zapping through them and flinging 'round my teeth in a wholly pleasant sensation that just made me want to feel it even more.

Finally, mercifully just as I thought my lungs would catch fire from their burning, Altair pulled Aik'sha off of my belly by the nape of her neck, leaving me to fight off the last fit of giggles with a continued glow in my eyes.

Then, with a smile still on my face, I rolled to all fours, sparks flying from my cheeks with obvious anticipation, 'I wanna shock something!' The muscles that made up my new electrical sacks twitched, sending out spastic jolts of electricity that I enjoyed just listening to; it was as if instinct was telling me that this was my friend and I should let it out to play.

Suddenly I stopped and looked longingly out the door behind me, 'Too bad it's dark out...' And it was, pitch dark really.

There was a moment of silence, and suddenly I felt a jolt from behind that surprised me enough to make me fall forward, landing on my face.

Unphazed, I suddenly turned around to find Aik'sha holding herself and sparking slightly with a confident grin.

Before I could respond I felt another shock, and this time I immediately turned to see Natty grinning at me. I immediately responded by sending her a shock in kind. Aik'sha laughed, Altair shocked her, and before any of us knew it we were rolling about, sometimes running and shocking each-other as we went down the hall, disturbing a few Voltorb and causing the Magnemite to scatter.

Finally we all collapsed into a pile, laughing, giggling, and no longer sparking, our reserves all but spent as we relaxed in a large, empty room where a few other groups of Pikachu had been inspired by our playing into playing themselves.

"Raichu, Raichurai." I felt something on my shoulder and looked back curiously; it was that other Raichu from the group that had first come to find me the day before.

"Pi? Pikachu pi?" 'Huh? What's up?'

Suddenly Natty stuck her face out from under me, smiling up at the newcomer, "Piiii!" 'Hiiii!'

Suddenly he was confused, backing away and looking between Natty and I as our little group disentangled ourselves, 'Natty why are there two of you?' He didn't really seem alarmed, just confused.

Almost as if to answer, I found that I just couldn't hold it anymore and as I stood there, I suddenly glowed again and quickly became skinnier, longer of limb, and with a vastly different center of gravity, forcing me to fall automatically to all fours.

I shook my head as if to clear it, 'Wow, that felt funny.'

Natty ran to the Raichu, 'Zak! Sari transformed into me! It was really cool!'

'Oh, that explains it. He thought I was her, his mate. Ew.' Aik'sha excitedly ran to my front, stopping with a minimum slide to face me at close range; she had a smile on her face that quickly faded to a curious look, 'Hey, how come your eyes changed?'

I blinked, tilting my head, 'They did?' I suddenly felt self-conscious about my eyes... something I had rarely before thought about.

Suddenly something touched one of my tails, and I reflexively pulled away to find Altair sniffing me curiously, 'You got another tail, too.'

I blinked again, looking back to find that, indeed, a fifth tail had mysteriously appeared between the other four. I gave the group an experimental swish; other than there being more sensation, it felt pretty much the same. What's the difference between four tails and five when you weren't used to having a tail at all? True, fewer tails were easier to keep track of, but they mostly moved together anyway so it wasn't that great a change.

'Huh, so I do.' That probably meant I was growing up. I was now one tail away from six, the standard number for a normal Vulpix, though I wondered if they ever got more than that. I wouldn't know until I saw one with seven or more, though I figured that eight would be the hypothetical maximum, since having Nine tails would logically be the domain of the evolution, Ninetails.

Natty approached Aik'sha, 'Come on Aik'sha, time to go back to the nest.' She picked the little girl up by mouth at the nape of her neck and started carrying her away, Aik'sha complaining listlessly as she did so and Zak following behind.

Altair stayed behind with me as I watched them go, feeling strange as I waved my tails around a bit, trying to ignore the sensation of the new one and trying to ignore the sudden itch in my eyes.

After a moment he spoke, 'Ready for sleep?'

I looked at him, then stood, 'In a minute, I want to check something!'

I took off down a hallway, Altair just behind.


Though it may have been mostly abandoned, this old power plant had still been made by humans, for humans; and any building made for humans had at least one common feature: Restrooms.

And where one could find a restroom, usually they could find a mirror, and right at that moment I simply needed a mirror; I wanted to know what I looked like. The water outside didn't seem like it was ever calm enough to do so, but a mirror, even if broken, would be just the ticket.

Finally I found them: two doors, one with the pink women's room symbol, and another with a blue men's symbol. I pawed my way through the door with the pink symbol and made my way inside.

Unfortunately it seemed as though some of the Voltorb that lived in the place had taken up roost in there, and at some point the mirror had been... well, exploded on; there was simply nothing left of it, not even any real shards of appreciable size. I sighed, "Pix..." Backing up I... found that I couldn't properly pull the door open. "Pix?"

'Aw shoot! No hands, no handle!' I looked behind me at Altair, who didn't seem too concerned, 'I can't get it open.'

Tilting his head curiously at me, he looked up at the handle on the door, to which he quickly jumped, latching on with all four paws. He then kept grip with his forepaws as he pushed off of the doorjamb with his feet, effectively opening the door. 'You did it!' I made my way into the way of the door and held it open with one leg so that Altair could come out as well, which he did.

"Piiikah." Altair rubbed the back of his head with a sparkly blush and I smiled, moving on to the other door, this one the men's and this time jamming the door open with what I was fairly sure had once been a piece of wooden moulding that had been chewed by sharp, pointed teeth and left in the middle of the hall.

This room had a mostly intact mirror, and I was glad to be able to at least jump to the really quite dirty sinks where I was able to finally see myself in this form for what was the first time.

Really, I just looked mostly like your standard Vulpix. Four legs, smooth build, shiny hair, a series of almost dredlock-like hair curls on my head that didn't shine quite so much as the fur on my five tails, and soulful pink eyes with a pair of black dots to the lower-right of my right pupil.

Pink. I frowned curiously. Why were my eyes pink? It wasn't as though I was opposed; I'd always loved the eyes of Sasami from Tenchi Muyo! But why would they change (at least I presumed they had, based on Aik'sha's reaction), and to pink? Most Vulpix had black or brown eyes, though I could guess that some at least had blue or green; pink however was...

'Well, I did just transform a few minutes ago. And if I remember right, all the Pokemon that can transform are, themselves, pink. Ditto and Mew... I wonder if there are any others? Can Celebi transform? ... I don't think so.' I tilted my head, and the dog in the mirror... mirrored the action, 'Can that really be me?' I swished my tails, the critter in the mirror did the same; I put a paw on the glass and my reflection did the same.

Suddenly Altair joined me with a smile and started making faces at his reflection, "Puiiiikaaau-" He stuck his tongue out and planted his face on the surface, pulling his cheeks out and stretching his face to nearly twice its normal width, making me giggle at his antics.

I had seen what I needed to see, my reflection, while almost surprising, pretty much confirmed my suspicions and told me what I needed to know; I didn't want to stand there too long, though. I knew that if Altair or I were to paw one of those handles that I could quite likely recieve a painful shock as water came out of that little silver... what was it called again? It was... well anyway, my Vulpix side was absolutely adamant, it didn't want to stand around where it could be pelted with cold water at any time, and it was time to go.

I jumped down and, remembering my previous entrapment, made my way to the door, which I quickly pawed open with the minimal opening that the decorative fleshing had left in the way, and called back to Altair to come with me, which he quickly did with a grin.

I saw a clock on the wall as we jogged back to where we'd slept the night before, it was about 8 PM. Seemed like a perfectly reasonable time to go to bed. If one could call a hard floor 'bed'.


I didn't know what time it was when I woke up again, considering the clock on the wall didn't seem to have moved... at all, which was disappointing but not necessarily surprising; a stray thundershock could have easily fried it, and without any people about there was no point in it being repaired.

And I figure that someone at least did do minimal repairs here; otherwise the generator wouldn't be running. If the generator was running, then that meant that there was a load.

True, the electric Pokemon could suffice as something of a load, but where a Raichu would max out at a few hundred thousand volts, the typical commercial power plant often pumped out millions, even trillions, often at low amperages making the generated power all the more intense.

Or was it high amps that made it more powerful? Suddenly I couldn't remember, though I knew, as I shook my head wryly, that this was nothing new: I'd been forgetting and remembering things, doubting my own memory since practically the day I was bor-'FAUCET! IT'S CALLED A FAUCET!'

I stopped, the force of my revelation so powerful as to have distracted me from my short walk out the front door; then I shook my head again, 'Not that it matters, I can't seem to think of its equivilant in my new language...'

Of course this thought bothered me as I made my way, carefully, around Voltorb that, so early in the morning, seemed perfectly content with looking like big Pokeballs, just laying there looking discarded and random.

'Maybe if I called them... water vents?' I tilted my head, that particular image bringing to mind volcanic vents spewing water rather than caustic gasses; to my Vulpix mind that seemed like sacrilege, though it had to agree that such seemed a reasonable description. But it soon came up with a new, better alternative, 'Human water springs then, like hot springs except they can control the water.' I nodded, satisfied with my decision; this one involved no sacrilege.

Not that it mattered all that much, as I soon reasoned, 'I somehow doubt that they'd keep the water running here anyway; nothing here but a bunch of Pokemon, Pokemon that would see no reason to turn the water off once turned on, and may not even understand how to do so in the first place.' Intelligent as these Pikachu seemed to be, I somehow doubted that they cared much for human things, and thus likely didn't care to learn about them, let alone how to work them.

'Although I do remember Ash's Pikachu opening some of his other Pokeballs from time to time, and I might be mistaken but I think there migh-no, it was Ash himself... or was it May that turned the wheel on that one cruise boat when the Pokemon accidentally set it adrift toward a waterfall? Hmm... well, it doesn't matter.

'What was I doing again? ... okay, going outside for some morning exercises. Right.' I nodded my head with the decision, though no one outside my skull would have known why I was nodding my head and looking determined. Indeed, I found myself to be rather entertained with this knowledge and had to fight off a fit of giggles as I pawed my way outdoors.

Again only Zapam was out here, training himself by tackling boulders and shocking them, presumably in an effort to grow stronger.

Again I asked him to help me train and again he outclassed me in every way, though he expressed pleasure at the strides I'd taken in only one day and surprise at the strange song that I sang as a result of a quick Metronome. It had caused him to become drowsy enough to fall to his face, allowing me to land a few hits before he got back up, hardly any worse for wear and still as pleasantly bland as ever.

I had to admit to myself that his bland pleasantness was a tad disarming, but I'd always enjoyed being around odd people; after all, I'd been friends with everyone from a goth and punkster who thought like a politico, to jokers and nerds who like to talk about their latest Star Trek game.

Too bad I wouldn't be seeing any USS Enterprises anytime soon, that would have been kinda cool. Not all that much fun but cool anyway.

I was just starting to get too tired to fight much more when suddenly, without warning I grinned wildly, my heart bursting from its frame as I laughed almost crazily, 'Goodie! A fight! Let's Fight! YAAA!'

Zapam's eyes widened as I closed on him with more speed than before, actually evading his counterattack before ramming him with my head, that wild look in my eyes before his tail caught me blind and knocked me back.

I rolled with the landing and was back on the attack before I'd even realized I'd been hit, giggling like a maniac the entire time as again Zapam countered at the last moment, throwing me over his shoulder and sending a shock my way.

The landing wasn't hard, I'd simply kicked my legs at the rock that I was close to hitting, a crazed smile still in place, but the thundershock caught me blind and knocked me to the ground...

I twitched... helplessly trying to get back to my feet... and failing to do so... 'Owwww... what hit me?'

Zapam approached cautiously, his cheeks sparking with anticipation and warning, 'I did.'

I looked up at him, struggling through evident paralysis to at least roll to a dignified position, 'Wh-what happened? I just...' I closed my eyes; behind their lids I saw an image. It was orange, humanoid, though its skin had the consistency of cracked lava and its mouth seemed much more a jack o' lantern than a mouth; its body was made of globs of stuff and rather than speaking, moving, or even thinking, it simply seemed to fade away as I thought of it. 'Strange, I don't recognize THAT Pokemon.' Though it wasn't as though the possibility that it hadn't been a Pokemon was beyond reasoning, it could have just as easily been a figment of my imagination, a personality created to represent my own innate battle-lust and released in that one moment when I was closest to its purpose.

Zapam approached me a bit, 'You battled very well there, whatever happened it seemed good to me.'

I smiled wryly; leave it to a veteran fighter to think of the power of something over its dangers. Still, he had a point; if overthinking things was preventing me from being as effective as I could be, I would need to learn to think less and just do.

Don't think, just do. Live in the moment, not the past or the future; take every opportunity and prepare for the future only when convenient. Don't get bogged down in details, trying to pull off special moves only took time and opened you up for disaster.

I got flashes of fighting on Super Smash Brothers. I'd always played that game well, from the first one to the latest, Brawl, and always I used Pikachu as my most effective fighter. Blitzing across the screen, spreading sparks and screaming obscenities in a language I found cute as large groups of the most advanced AI in the game simply fell to my superior balance of speed, skill, and power.

Mmmm, suddenly I wanted to try fighting like a Pikachu; I didn't have the proper cheeks for it, though, so instead I settled for finding some way of fighting like a Vulpix. Perhaps I could emulate the style? I couldn't use a Thunder attack, but Fire had its own power, I was sure I could figure it out.

And I would. As soon as my body was in shape and up to speed; after all, even the Pichu were out performing me! Aik'sha had seemingly infinite energy, despite moving at nearly twice my speed step-for-step and doing it nearly all day long. I needed that sort of endurance, and was determined to have it if gaining it killed me!

... not that I hoped it would...

Shaking off the cobwebs of being thrown around, I got back on my feet, shaking off the residual effects of Zapam's attack, 'I'd like to keep going.'

Zapam's smile was blank once more, his invitation for me to resume normal activities; I quickly complied.


Aik'sha awoke me well after the sun had risen high in the sky, complaining that my spot was too hot for her and quickly scurrying to the cool grass, where she waited for me to wake up.

I groggily opened my eyes, not so comfortable today as I had been the last time I'd fallen asleep in the sun. Zapam and I had really done a number on my body, and though the rest had done wonders, I was still sore, incredibly so, really.

Still, as I sat up, I was glad. For one thing, this was a pace that, while hard, would have good results; the sweet berries could be used if I really screwed up to give me a boost of strength to heal and perhaps even keep going, but most of all was the promise I'd gotten from Zapam.

He'd removed willpower from the equation when he agreed: He was going to wake me each morning when the sun came up, and train me at that same pace until I could sustain it myself. I didn't need to drag myself out of my favorite dreamland, I didn't need to find reason to roll away from my warm, cozy corner where none of the Pikachu wanted to cuddle as much as they did with each-other. I would build my endurance quickly; I would likely hurt myself, many times pulling muscles and straining joints as I put them to forces and through rigors they weren't used to, but in the end worth it.

'Yes? What is it, Aik'sha?'

She pointed to the river, 'The elders are going to start fishing, do you want some?'

I considered; truth be told I wasn't too sure, if only because I wasn't sure my battered body would be able to drag itself to the river, it seemed too far. But I nodded anyway, somehow getting my carcass off the bleached ground around me and lumbering slowly to the riverside, where I spotted and trotted to Altair's side as he patiently waited.

Yet again there were two groups; one with a single Raichu further upstream and a larger group further downstream, which was where I currently was. Altair merely gave me a smile, which I tiredly returned, though he said nothing. In fact, none of the normally chatty Pokemon were making any noise, and I quickly realized why: Fish were sensitive to noise, and being very quiet made them feel safer, which was helpful in catching them off guard.

Also helpful in catching them off-guard: Fishing at different times of the day, which is what seemed to have been happening, as the day before the fishing had gone on early in the day, where now it seemed much closer to, if not after the noon hour. As well, Fish Pokemon were likely smarter than the other fish I was familiar with, so additional tricks were helpful; tricks such as baiting the water upstream with food to lure them to more available waters, then scaring them downstream with a quick zap that sent them swimming.

And that zap finally came, followed a few moments later by the Raichu net doing their thing, sending paralyzed fish flopping to shore; most of the catch was Magikarp, though I did see a few Goldeen mixed in, some of those even making it back to the water with a bit of wriggling about.

Most of the catch was quickly claimed; Altair had caught one for himself, another soon flying through the air to smack me in the face, prompting my companion to start laughing.

I had a bit of trouble killing the thing for some reason; I'd thought that a good fire would be enough to fry a fish, but it just didn't seem as effective as Altair's electricity in that regard. And when I'd finally gotten it to stop flopping around I flamed it a bit till I thought it was cooked and started tearing it open.

My first few bites were... 'Ugh, I can't chew! I think I overcooked it.' I shook my head with disgust, 'I guess it will take some practice...' I sighed, mentally shaking my head, 'Even here, I guess I have a lot to learn about living away from society; I can't imagine how hard it would be in a forest, or just plain on my own.'

I smirked to myself, 'Listen to me, complaining about how dry my food is.' I sighed, 'Though I almost wonder if it would be better raw; for all I know it might be better for my constitution. Foxes rarely cook their food after all.' I tilted my head, 'Although, if they could, they probably would; cooked protien is easier to digest than uncooked. Hmm, I guess I'd have to ask a natural-born Vulpix how they do it.' Ignoring my thoughts, I continued with my consumption, trying to ignore any thoughts that might pop up and cause headaches.

My head hurt enough already; ramming it against hard objects, repeatedly, had that effect.


Going above and beyond the call of survival is not an easy thing. Normally no living thing will work any harder than survival demands, usually adapting to the needed level of effort early on and staying there for the remainder of their lives. Doing any more than that was difficult, and held little reward.

Which was why humans so often did so little training; survival didn't call for it so long as there was an infrastructure to keep them seperate from the sort of situations that would require physical exertion, and like humans Pokemon needed a reason to go beyond the minimum.

That reason could be called Morale. Whether it be in the form of the adoration a body-builder is given by those who witness his feats of strength, or something simpler, like the added calm of greater security given by greater strength and preparation.

For the Pikachu, their primary morale point was playtime: They did it a lot, and it kept their spirits high even as it gave them a time and a reason to practice their attacks, defenses, and social interactions. In fact, the social exercise was its own form of morale, the closeness afforded by their nature making the dangers of the world seem less important, yet driving them to feel protectiveness that made them want to grow strong.

For me I had thought I knew what my morale would be: The satisfaction of having grown strong, knowing I'd done all I could to protect myself and further those around me.

But after my third morning of training I realized I was flagging; my previous afternoon had consisted of eating a meal and tending to my sore body, stretching my muscles and even taking a short run before I finally gave up and rested for the rest of the evening. If I could barely move, trying to continue doing so wouldn't help much, so instead I rested... and eventually slept.

The next morning Zapam had kept good to his promise, quite literally zapping me awake when I didn't respond right away.

At that moment I had nearly been offended, but I bit my response; I chose this course, and I was going to see it through.

And then the training had started. Rather, it wasn't really training so much as it was a beat-down; I tried to fight effectively, and got incrementally better at doing so, but Zapam held all the cards and I was defeated at every single turn. I couldn't even get close to him, and he knew it. Even my fire, a ranged attack that spread out and SHOULD have gotten him, had been simple to dodge; he flanked me and sent me sprawling.

And I getting sent sprawling had been the pace of things all morning, nonstop for several hours, even when several Pikachu joined in; Zapam had effectively ignored all of our combined attacks and hit me at inopportune times, often seeming to appear out of empty air as if teleporting. The harder I tried the more he proved that he was simply out of my league.

And as I lay in my little dried-out circle, I wondered if I would be able to continue with such punishment. 'I'm all out of energy.' I picked my head up, looking to where the Pikachu played, 'I can hardly feel any more than just my body; even smells feel far away...' My head wobbled a bit with the effort of keeping it aloft, 'This sucks.' Shakily, I put my head back down, resting it on my forelegs as I concentrated for a moment on my breathing.

'This sucks.' I lay there a while, trying to get my slight shaking under control, and not doing very well. 'This sucks.' I lay there a while, trying to think of some other way to sum up my situation, and not doing very well. 'This really sucks.'

Finally I stood suddenly, shaking my head, 'I just need to eat something!' I was hungry, my stomach telling me so, and perhaps one of the sweet berries would replenish my reserves enough to at least be able to stand properly.

Fortunately I did have the energy to walk, not run, to where the berries grew wild; potent and sweet on their vines.

Looking with tired eyes I found the berry patch to... look... different from how I remember, just a few days ago; it was as though the bushes had... grown, noticably enough that it was almost as though the old bushes had died and left new bushes in their wake.

Ignoring such oddities I approached one of the strands, sniffing one of the fruits that were lower to the ground, having barely the energy for that, let alone to reach up much higher.

With little thought for the taste I chewed and swallowed, feeling it go down my throat and land in my stomach.

There wasn't an immediate reaction, but after a minute or so, as I was walking away, I did feel my headache start to lift and some of the fatigue start to flee from my legs.

But my mind was another story; I wasn't thinking well, and thus I wasn't feeling good. It was only my third day and already morale was down.

I sighed, drooping my head a bit as I walked. 'I need to do something, I can't just sit here and feel stupid...' I sighed again, wondering what I was going to do.

Then I perked my head up, looking off to the distance... 'Well, why not?' I then ran, going to a certain copse of trees.

Morale is a funny thing; it can come in so many forms and hide itself so well, at times it can be hard to identify. But one kind of morale is almost universal: Feel good foods.

And the spicy pumpkins really did the trick; I didn't start rolling around helplessly, but it certainly lifted my spirits to a level much more sustainable, feeding energy back to my limbs as my heart felt fit enough to pump life giving blood once more.

'... do I even have blood?' I tilted my head curiously, licking my chops as I walked away from the thorny bush behind me, 'Blood is so fragile, I can't imagine it could survive at several hundred degrees... but if not blood, what keeps me going? Magic?' I snorted, amused, 'Magic, right. Ki, maybe, but I'd like to avoid going down the "Magic is every solution" lane.'

As I approached the dwindling Pikachu gathering I started off at a slow trot, 'Well, Pokemon seem to be made of energy, since that's how Pokeballs seem to work, so that's probably about right. Though the stuff that was caked in my fur the other day seemed like blood; yeah, probably special high-temperature blood.' I wondered a bit at this, considering my thoughts, 'I wonder what it feels like to get caught in a Pokeball?'

Strangely, though my human side seemed intrigued by the notion, if none-too-thrilled at the idea of being made helpless so easily, my Vulpix side didn't seem to have any strong feelings on the matter either way. It recognized that they were there, but didn't seem to think that they were threat enough to worry about.

Finally I decided that I would likely someday try it out, but that I would have to find the right trainer first.

'There's that thought again. Someday I'm going to be finding a trainer, it's not really even a question, is it?' It took not even a moment of thought to answer, 'Nope, not a question. I'd rather do it myself, but there's only just so much I can do on my own.'

But before I went anywhere, I was going to have to first get myself in shape, so that I could at least be ready for battle; if I couldn't even battle properly I knew that most trainers wouldn't know what to do with me.

Or, more appropriately, I just wanted to go it alone for a while. No need to go off on a limb so soon after all, I'd just gotten here!

As I jogged by the group I saw Aik'sha, who seemed to have found a new playmate in the form of a male Pichu I didn't recognize; the two were tackling each-other and rolling about, sparking the whole time like a pair of fuzzy batteries.

'Except that batteries don't normally spark... Hmm, I need a better metaphor. Well, cute kids anyway.' Shrugging off such thoughts, I continued on to my burned out spot.

I didn't have the energy to run much, or to hit things, or... well, much of anything. But Meditation was something I could do.

And would.


'Vulpix.'

I was standing in a calm, relaxed pose as I kept my mind focused on the flame.

There are many forms of and strategies to meditation; most of the simpler ones involve visualization of some form. More difficult sorts involve no visualizations, being considered more pure methods to gain true mastery over ones self, but of the visualization sort there was no end to the creativity.

Some would suggest that you see an egg, a shell to build around you; this shell is then meant to protect you spiritually. Others say that the shell, whether it be egg or sphere shaped, should be formed in miniature deep within you, then expanded, including the good energies and expelling the bad to make what is inside stronger as well as safer.

And there are many forms that involve flame. For reasons that I felt were apparent, this was what I thought of when I decided to meditate; it simply popped to mind.

I'd started by building a small, blue flame in my mind, which I placed in my belly. That was simple, I could have done so in my sleep. Maintaining it took concentration, especially since the slightest distraction could cause it to sputter and die.

'Vulpix.'

'Vulpix? What kind of a name is th- oh. Right. Is he talking to me?' With intense concentration, I had grown my tiny spark to a flame that towered over me, or by my estimation would if it were real, it would fill the whole of my little circle, towering to some four times my height (disincluding my tails). And as it had grown, so had my concentration, fully to the point where, with an interruption, I felt safe enough to be able to open my eyes and know the outside world once more.

There was a blue/orange haze around me, and as my eyes adjusted to seeing light again and sharpness of vision returned I understood; the haze wasn't a fog, it wasn't a light, it was a flame, roaring and guttoral, powerful and tame, blue and orange... Strange yet familiar, 'Interesting, I guess that proves I'm a real fire-type.'

Outside my flame I saw a Raichu looking at me; smell seemed to have been removed from the world, the flames burning away any and all chemicals that would normally carry scent to a nose that was entirely surrounded by said fire; because of this I found it difficult to immediately recognize Zapam, though familiarity with his voice and blank, smiling face quickly rushed in to fill the void, taking the place of a scent upon which I'd hardly realized just how heavily I'd come to rely. 'Zapam, did you call me?'

Zapam didn't appear to make a true expression, merely standing and pulling the tip of his tail before him, revealing that there was a Magikarp speared to it, 'If you're going to train hard, you should eat well. We don't have that food humans give their Pokemon, but this will work almost as well, and tastes much better.'

He stood there a moment, as though waiting for something; I however merely stared blankly at him for a moment, then spoke, 'Why would you do this for me?'

Most of him didn't move, though he did bring his right forepaw to scratch his chin, 'I don't understand?'

Most of my mind was occupied with holding a flame, burning slowly yet brightly as that very fire seperated me from the world beyond, and because of that my response was slow, my speech monotone, matching Zapams in that regard, 'I came to this place only two days ago; none of you or yours know me, yet all of you accept me. I could be a danger to you, but you let me sleep with you, and you feed me. Why?'

He didn't respond right away, though halfway through my speech he tilted his head curiously, apparently in wonder at what I was getting to; when I was finished speaking he remained silent for a moment, 'You treat the young girl, Aik'sha well. Altair and Natty like you as well, I and the first-male find you interesting.'

This time it was my turn to be silent, awaiting for a response to come bubbling up from the ether, an agonizing wait as my terribly slowed mental processes turned abused, overworked gears to try to understand what was going through them. One thing stuck, an image of Aik'sha smiling, waving one arm over her head, which had been thrown a bit to the side with the effort; I'd adored her from that first moment, 'I care for her.'

He did not move, 'She is trusting.'

I thought for a moment, my heart pumping in my chest, 'I... will not betray her trust.'

Finally, he struck the killing blow, 'You want to protect her.'

My eyes focused on him, but I only partly saw him; the flame around me said what little my eyes did not, suddenly flashing brightly before calming once more. Thoughts not even so coherent as to have images suddenly flashed through my heart and I spoke, 'She frightened me, when the Spearow attacked. She was strong but there were too many; I did what I could to help her, but I could not hope to save her myself. I know that there are many, much stronger things out there. I could have died as well, but somehow that does not hurt like seeing her curled up and bleeding.'

'You will be strong, I will help you. First you eat.'

His tail beckoned, twitching slightly with a speared fish; I could not smell it though I knew that it would smell very good; I accepted, taking a step toward him. The response was that a small line of grass erupted into much more solid and visible flames that burned for a moment before being extinguished; the fire that surrounded me, though it felt incorporeal and cool to me, was apparently at least hot enough to start fires and burn.

I thought on this for a moment, then concentrated; the flames bent to my will and pulled back, becoming a cape that surrounded and towered over me, parting to the front to allow me to approach my benefactor without harming him or the grass upon which he stood.

Now even more distracted with the efforts of such control, I was sublimely unaware of what Zapam was doing as wonderful smells hit my nose, driving me to tear deliberately at the flank of the creature that was apparently a meal.

'That is a strange skill.'

I hardly noticed his words, mind wholly on what I was doing; getting distracted now could mean that someone would get hurt, the grass (and my food!) would be burned, and moreover it would be a painful failure in an exercise of self-control. I did not respond, hardly even realizing I was being spoken to.

'I have seen fire before, but rarely blue. You grow more interesting with time. Your control is also impressive.'

I responded, though not with words but merely a grunt of acceptance, being all that I could muster without losing my concentration.

'Will you grow better with time? I want to see. We will help each-other that way. I will see you again soon.'

I grunted again and he left, going inside the nest to do whatever it was the Raichu did in there.

It wasn't long after he'd left that I had another visitor, Aik'sha approached my clearing with that unnamed male, looking with curiosity at the blue flames that enshrouded me, 'You sure do got a lot of funny skills, what's this one called?'

I considered her, smiling despite myself as I thought on her request; what would I call it? I didn't even question why I was so ready to name it, I simply decided it needed a name. Really, only one name I could think of stuck, 'Fox fire.' I suddenly got a flash of Shippou, a young demon fox, yelling that name while throwing blue flame; it seemed to fit.

Keeping control was getting to be difficult already, Aik'sha and the food both affording rather potent distractions, so I decided to put the flame away, filing it to the back of my mind; it would fizzle, diminishing fairly quickly, but so long as I got back to it quickly it would still be better than starting over entirely.

Aik'sha marvelled at the blue fire that suddenly disappeared, 'Wow, that's so cool! How do you do it?'

I smiled, feeling much more alert now that I wasn't distracted with such a great mental strain, 'It's very hard, and takes a lot of concentration.'

She and the male twitched their noses, then she tilted her head, 'What's that?'

'What?'

'That! Concentration! What's that?' She approached me with a quick, almost rabbit-like hop, regaining her standing position to look at me curiously.

I blinked, 'Concentration?' It was such a simple thing, a concept that even a child should understand, that it took me a moment to realize that niether of the children before me understood it, 'It's when you think very hard about something, like...' I frowned as I tried to come up with an image that a Pichu would understand, though I didn't immediately come up with something. "Vulll..." Suddenly I had a flash of inspiration and smiled, 'Like if you saw a rock, and wanted to see if it was a Geodude or not, but not attack it. If you watched it for a really long time and waited for it to move, that would be close. If you watched close enough to see it breathing that would be really hard concentration! It's like paying really close attention to something.'

The male tilted his head, 'That sounds really boring.' Aik'sha nodded her head in agreement.

I smiled, standing as my tails waved a bit, 'It is.'

The male spoke again, 'Then why would you do it?'

I shrugged, 'It's part of getting stronger; there's a lot of things it can help you do. Humans teach their Pokemon to.. um, use 'Focus Energy', and that's really just concentrating on attacking better.' Suddenly I wondered if these two would ever learn that skill; I couldn't remember if Pikachu would learn Focus Energy, but the Pikachu mindset didn't seem well-suited to it. The Raichu seemed to have a more sturdy, solid mindset better suited to concentration, but Pikachu seemed to jump from idea to idea, living in the present far more than the past or future.

'In fact, they act rather a lot like adolescents... Yeah, the Raichu are the real grown-ups, the Pichu are children, and the Pikachu are like teenagers, plenty of energy and they can make more babies, but still with some growing to do.' I considered this for a moment, smiling at my analogy. 'So who's your friend?'

Aik'sha smiled as she grabbed the male's shoulder, 'His name is Ka'bo! He sleeps in one of the other rooms! He's much more fun than Ka'shi!'

I tilted my head, smile still in place, 'What about your other brother?'

She smiled, waving her haunches, 'Ti'ka still sleeps too much! He's even more boring than Ka'shi!' Ka'bo laughed, causing Aik'sha to tackle him in a roll.

I sighed, suddenly more aware of the soreness of my body, 'Sometimes I wish I had your limitless energy.'

She smiled, 'Yeah! Then we could play more!' She and Ka'bo seperated, her giving me an excited look, 'Hey! Can you show us that thing!?'

I tilted my head, 'Which thing?'

Ka'bo gave Aik'sha a curious look as she responded, 'That blue fire thing! Can we see it?'

I smiled, nodding, 'Okay, but it's hard to do so don't make too much noise or it might not work.' The Pichu nodded and I started, reaching back, far into my mind, to that place where things I'd filed away for later rested, awaiting for me to pull them forward again, and pulled forth that warm, strong feeling.

As I closed my eyes to better concentrate I felt a wave of strength engulf me, warm and pleasant as light crossed my vision, engulfing the world in a silent, comforting blanket.

I heard the children gasp in wonderment, though one of the voices seemed as confused as impressed.

There was something wrong though; for one, I was suddenly having trouble keeping my footing, and the other senses that told me about the outside world were warbling, complaining about suddenly being confused about something. Even my eyes, closed as they were, seemed to be swirling a bit as I stumbled and fell on my face. 'Wha? My face?' I shook myself, trying to shake off the feeling of... offness.

No longer wanting to concentrate, having other things to think about, I opened my eyes. The first thing I had to wonder about was why the others seemed further away, though I figured they'd have backed up to give me some room so it made sense.

The next thing I wondered on was why I'd landed on my face; ever since becoming a Vulpix landing on my face was... rather hard, for two reasons. The first reason was because my head was naturally locked in a horizontal position, pointing directly away from my body rather than perpendicular to it. The other reason was that my muzzle, that long mouth and nose combo, would get in the way.

'Oh wow! That's even better!'

Aik'sha nodded, agreeing, 'Yeah! I didn't know you could still do that!'

Eyes wide, I stood on my rear paws and looked down at my forepaws: they were hand-like and yellow. "Pi...chu?"


End Chapter 4

Geeze that scene took a long time to get to. It was important that it happen, but at the same time I wanted it to make sense, and I was having trouble figuring out how to make it as such. What I have now feels, at least as of now, about as natural and real as anything else that happens in my mind. Though again, I'm one of the few people I know who would use lightning and palm trees to get to trains and chocolate. ... yes I said it, and yes I meant it. Hehehe.

On another note, lately because of this story I've found myself enamored with Foxes. Vulpes Vulpes, the common red fox specifically. I read a NebraskaLAND article on them and how one photographer documented the den-activities of a small family of two adults and four kits and was smiling the whole way through.

I'll always like Pikachu, and always use him in whatever Smash Bros. game comes out (I've heard he was totally weak in Melee but in MY hands he ROCKS!), but if they put Vulpix in there... ... that would be SOOO YES!

I doubt that such a Vulpix would transform at all, but I can just see the Final Smash: Evolve to Ninetails!

Its forward-B move would be Fire-Blast, neutral-B would be flamethrower not unlike Charizard or Bowser, down-B Firespin and up-B would be a rocket-blast not unlike Fox. Having six tails would make tail-based attacks reasonable and kicks and bites wouldn't be out of the question; she'd be about as fast as Pikachu though perhaps a bit lighter. ... yes, I've thought about it. grins

And on that note: Pikachu is losing! D: Stupid computer is bad at fighting properly! Well, at fighting it's okay, but it doesn't seem to understand that being off the platform is bad. -.-? Owell. Currently Lucario's ahead at 48 of 99 lives, Pikachu at 41 is second, then Dedede at 37 and Snake at 25. Snake is cool and all, but he really doesn't seem to do well in the Smash world. But then, in the hands of someone who knew what they were doing, I can also see how he would be a REAL danger; those bombs and rockets and grenades and mortars... all of it explosive, much of it remote, and usually done fast enough in a lithe, experienced enough package (that being Snake himself) that I can see him being dangerous. Just apparently not so much in the hands of the computer.

I better finish this and start on the next chapter before I decide to try writing that Smash Bros. fic I came up with. I mean, do those drivers not NOTICE the people fighting on the road? And I KNOW I've seen Capt. Falcon knock one of those cars off the road with a Falcon Punch in Melee! (In fact, I think it's in the opening scene, or one of the promo vids if I remember right.) That just BEGS for a fanfic from the point of view of the Blue Falcon's driver as he gets knocked off the road with a Falcon Punch! "Falcon-" "Is that ME?!" "PUNCH!" "WHAT?! AAAAAABOOOM!" "Show me yer moves!" LOL!

... hehe, guess I got that out of my system. That was a short fanfic! XD Neways, review plz!

Alex Ultra: Distributor of Dementia
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