Disclaimer: All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies. All portions of the Pokémon universe/worlds/characters are the property of The Pokémon Company, Nintendo, Creatures Inc., and GAME FREAK Inc. This story is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written for my own enjoyment. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites.

AN: This latest revisions of this story have been self-beta'd; so there may still be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance.


Chapter 11: Finding Friends

Monday Morning, August 19, 2002
The Lost Wilds – Unexplored Territory
Located between Saffron City and Goldenrod City

Persistent prodding woke the boy sometime later, and he sleepily switched positions so he was curled around all three puppies as the mother dog got up to stretch her legs and eat. He quickly slipped back into a light doze, only partially aware of his surroundings. He woke up completely though when three cold noses touched his cheek and a single wet tongue licked his ear. He giggled for the first time in well over week, though he had no idea how long it had been since the day the police had turned up at Delia and Ash's house to take him away.

He sat up weakly, and spent a few minutes petting the puppies that had been searching for their mother. As he was stroking the wriggly pups he couldn't help but notice something odd about their tails. Picking up the runt he'd protected earlier, he lifted the pup right up next to his face and with one hand lifted the creature's tail – only to find another tail beside it. In fact, the puppy had exactly three tails much to the boy's growing horror. A quick check of the two bigger puppies revealed them to actually have twice as many tails as the runt.

The boy couldn't believe he'd been stupid enough to think this mixed up world actually had normal animals in it. He then remembered giving the mother monster a flick on the nose and ordering her to take care of her puppy and he began to panic. Frantically, he began looking around for the missing mother, fully expecting her to attack him from out of the dark for daring to rebuke her. It was at that moment that he was abruptly reminded of the three baby monsters right beside him; the runt had followed him and was currently trying to burrow under his leg.

Shaking, the boy reached out to push the creature away when he heard a sound from right behind him. Looking over his shoulder, the boy found the mother monster practically towering over him and he whined fearfully as he closed his eyes tightly. It was something of a shock then, when the monster dropped something about the size and shape of a tennis ball into his lap before moving passed him to curl back up with her babies.

Opening his eyes in confusion and trepidation, the boy lifted the object out of his lap to get a closer look. He was surprised to discover it looked like an extra large blueberry; the creature had brought him food. The boy didn't know what to think, he knew the young man that had saved him from the ugly birds had told him that the creatures weren't monsters but up until now each and every one of them had seemed so scary, even the little yellow shock-mouse. Yet this one brought him food, much like a real dog would bring its master a ball or a stick. The babies were kind of cute too, even if they did have far too many tails.

A big fluffy tail brushed across his face and the boy looked up to see the glowing amber eyes watching him. When the creature looked into his eyes, he felt something brush across his mind like a feather before vanishing. It was a decidedly odd but not wholly unpleasant feeling. Next thing he knew, the tail that had touched him was curling around his back and a second identical tail was pushing the hand that held the fruit up towards his face. It would seem the creature wanted him to eat.

Taking a small bite, he scrunched his face up at the strangeness of the taste. This berry, unlike the other fruits he'd eaten from this world, didn't have just one flavor; this one had at least three. It was bitter at first but soon turned sour as he chewed and finished with a spicy after bite. After the one bite, the boy tried to put the fruit down, only to have a pair of the mother creature's tails guide it back to his mouth. The message was perfectly clear; he was to eat the entire fruit – no matter how awful it tasted.

While he reluctantly ate the fruit one bite at a time, he watched one of the many tails of the mother scoop the questing runt away from his side. The boy, remembering the mother's attempts to ignore the tiniest pup when he'd woken up the first time, paused in mid bite to shyly remind the mother creature that all babies need their mummies. The mother huffed, as if exasperated, and rubbed her paw over her nose once before poking him in the tummy with one of her tails with annoyance and the boy giggled as he wrapped an arm around his stomach to protect his tummy from the tail.

He managed to eat a little more than half the giant berry before his stomach began feeling full. He yawned a couple of times as he let his hand fall to his side as his eyes fell shut and he slumped to one side as he slowly began drifting off to sleep; his body still extremely weak from everything that had happened over the past several days. He never felt the mother dog-creature gently set the fruit aside and cover him with six of her nine tails so he wouldn't grow cold, her eyes never straying from the odd child as she seemingly tried to figure him out.


Friday Evening, August 23, 2002
The Lost Wilds – Unexplored Territory
Located between Saffron City and Goldenrod City

Ash sat morosely in front of the small fire Charizard had lit for him. He was currently camped out in a thin copse of ash trees (something he normally would have found extremely funny) where he and his Pokémon had lost the boy's trail. And it wasn't that they'd missed a turn somewhere along the way, all signs of the boy had simply vanished. Between one step and the next, all traces of the boy simply disappeared two feet away from where they were sitting.

They'd lost an entire day backtracking on the off chance the boy had turned around gone back the way he'd come and taken a side trail at some point. He hadn't. Another five hours were wasted combing through the sparse woods surrounding the clearing where the trail ended in an effort to see if one of the Pokémon could pick up his scent again. They couldn't. Things had quickly gone downhill from that point forward.

After hiking around in circles for hours, digging under bushes and climbing up countless trees, the group had returned to last known location of the missing child to get some rest before continuing the search. They'd barely fallen asleep when they'd been woken up by the sound of a hundred Pokémon howling from all around them. Ash and his Pokémon had sat up to find a circle ninetales watching them from between the trees at the edge of the clearing. No matter which direction they turned, the mystical Pokémon were there and it frightened the bejeebees out of the twenty year old trainer. It didn't help that Pikachu and the other Pokémon were actually cowering on the ground beside Ash, even the powerful and prideful Charizard.

He would have packed up his things and moved but for the fact that the wild Pokémon had them completely surrounded and they didn't appear as if they'd be moving anytime soon. Exactly nine hours after they appeared, the ninetales stepped back into the shadows of the surrounding forest and vanished without a trace. Thinking that was his cue to leave; Ash packed up as quickly as he could and turned to head back to the train tracks to try and get a hold of Professor Oak in the hopes of finding out what the heck was going on. He'd not even managed to take five steps towards his back trail before nine ninetales stepped out of thin air to block his way.

It didn't matter which direction he took, the moment he tried to leave, several of the ninetales would be there to stop him. Sheer stubbornness had Ash trying to find a way out of the stand of trees for twelve hours before he finally got the point. It was right after he'd tried flying out of the area on Charizard only to find the ninetales waiting for him in the branches of the surrounding trees. That was three days ago.

Tallying up the days in his mind, Ash figured that the boy had been missing for fourteen or fifteen days now and he'd been without a means of communication for eight. He had no idea what was going on outside of the Wilds and no way of letting his mother and the professor know he was alright. He couldn't even send his Pidgeot out carrying a note; and he'd tried. Twice. The ninetales wanted him here and so here he would stay until they allowed him to leave.

It wasn't a pleasant thought.


Tuesday Afternoon, August 20, 2002
The Lost Wilds – Unexplored Territory
Located between Saffron City and Goldenrod City

When he next woke up, the boy felt surprisingly well. His cold was mostly gone and he felt refreshed. He was still very sore but he didn't hurt nearly as bad as he had before. Opening his eyes, he was surprised to find that he was using several of the mother's long, fluffy tails as blankets. Even more surprising was that the runt of the litter had curled up next to him at some point in the night.

As he stretched out stiffly, the tails covering him lifted away and he glanced to the side to find the mother creature watching him once more. She gave a loud yawn and shook her head before one of her tails handed him the uneaten half of the fruit from before. He made a face at the fruit but ate it anyway. The moment he swallowed the last bite he felt the last of his aches and pains fade away. He wasn't really certain why he suddenly felt better but it wasn't as if he felt the need to give it all that much thought. He was just happy to not be in pain.

A short while later he was given another, larger piece of fruit. This one the same exact kind as the ones he'd been picking when he'd been attacked by the giant birds. He didn't hesitate to devour this fruit in one sitting and when he was finished his tummy gurgled happily at being full for the first time in days. The boy tried to leave now that he felt well enough but the mother dog-creature had gently herded him back to the nest with the pups. He didn't really understand why she did it. He almost wondered if she thought he was one of her pups; which made him feel kind of weird.

After a few more waking and sleeping cycles, the boy realized he must be in some kind of underground cave, because he never saw the sunlight. It bothered him a bit a first, since it reminded him of the times when his aunt and uncle used to lock him in his cupboard back home, but he eventually grew comfortable in the near perpetual darkness. The fact that the cave was much larger than his old cupboard helped as did the knowledge that he was no longer alone; his attention often fixed on the constant presence of the rapidly growing puppies.

The mother would often leave the boy to 'babysit' the young pups while she went out and hunted for food. Though for the most part the only pup he really spent any time with was the runt; who was still half the size of his brother and sister. In fact, the runty pup spent more time curled up in the boy's lap than it did with its mother. The child was quickly growing fond of the tiny creature and had gradually stopped thinking of the tiny thing as a baby monster. It was hard to see a monster in the adorable ball of fluff that burrowed playfully under his shirt to stay warm or tickled his ears with its tongue.

One day the mother dog-creature broke her routine and carried a single piece of wood that was nearly as long as she was tall back to the cave instead of food. She placed the branch in the middle of the cave and promptly left once more. When she returned, she carried yet another branch of wood that she place right on top of the first piece. Seven more times she repeated the process, until she had nine good size bits of wood piled up in the middle of the cave. The boy didn't really think anything of the strange behavior until she gave a sharp bark and set the pile of branches on fire.

The sudden burst of light forced the boy to throw his arms over his eyes for several minutes until they had a chance to adjust to the abrupt change. When he was finally lowered his arms, he was surprised to be able to clearly see the family of dog-creatures for the first time (well as clearly as he could without his glasses). Now that he could make out their features a little clearer, he thought they looked more like wolves than dogs. Or maybe foxes. The puppies also looked nothing like their mother, they didn't even have the same number of tails, but he just figured that they must look like their absent father.

As the warmth and light of the fire filled the underground cavern, the child took the opportunity to look around the cave he'd lived in for so long. The roof, which he could just barely make out over his head, was made out of tightly packed dirt and huge boulders. The floor was loose dirt that had been packed smooth by time and many paw steps. In the corner opposite of the fur and grass nest he'd been sharing with the wolf-creatures, he could see the firelight reflecting off of the small spring he'd drank from several times since he'd woken up in the cave with the strange wolf-like creature and her pups. Thinking of the water made him thirsty and he headed over to the now sparkling spring and immediately he bent down and took a long drink.

When he finished drinking his fill, he sat up and noticed a large pile of various fruits sitting off to one side of the spring, like the ones the mother wolf-creature had been giving him. He'd just been thinking about digging through the pile of fruits to see if there were any more of his favorite kind when he heard the puppies whine and growl. Turning around he gasped in horror as he watched the mother place the two larger pups directly into the flames with her tail. She was reaching out with her another one of her tails for the runt when he rushed forward to save the tiny puppy.

Two long tails wrapped around his body as he lifted the puppy out of her reach and he twisted around to fight his way free as tears dripped down his face. He felt tricked by the mother; he'd just stopped thinking of her as a monster only to find out now that she really was one. More tails curled around him lifted him off the floor and for a full minute he thought he was going to be thrown in the fire too. That is until he felt a warm tongue brush over his face several times.

Opening his eyes he found himself face to face with the mother, her amber eyes staring into his green ones with a strange intensity. She touched his nose with hers for a brief second before giving a soft yip as she turned him to face the flames. He tried to look away but several more yips and one of her tails brushing across his face several times made him take a good look at the small fire.

Inside the flames, rolling around happily, were the two bigger pups. Awe filled the boy for the two pups appeared to be unharmed. In fact, the two puppies looked bigger than they were before they'd been placed into the flames and their eyes were now open. Unlike their mother, whose eyes were the color of amber, the two pups had dark red eyes that reflected the flames.

After a few minutes of watching the pups, the mother gently set him back down on his feet and gave a long whine followed by a short yip. The boy, no longer afraid, slowly relaxed his protective hold on the pup in his hands and watched as she lifted the wee boy up with her tail and tenderly placed it in the fire beside his siblings. The child moved a few feet closer to the fire to watch.

Before his eyes, the runt began to burrow between the burning branches as if looking for something. When it came up it had a tiny chunk of brightly glowing charcoal, formed out of the wood from the heat of the fire, in its mouth. He was a bit shocked to see the puppy swallow the thing whole and wondered if they other two puppies had done the same thing when he wasn't looking. Eight more times the little pup swallowed pieces of the glowing embers; the boy had counted each one.

As the last glowing piece of charcoal disappeared into the pup's tummy, the pup began to glow brightly. At the same time the flames of the fire shrank until only a few brave blue flames licked the still glowing pieces of wood that remained from the original branches. The other two puppies scampered out of the remains of the fire with nervous whines and the mother immediately pulled them away from the fire as she danced back away. She tried to bring the boy back away from the flames too but he dodged her tail and moved closer – he didn't want to miss seeing this puppy open his eyes.

If the child would have paid attention to the mother wolf-creature, he would have seen that she had become terrified. She had watched similar fire ceremonies, not that the boy knew this, and she knew that when the flames died and the puppy started to glow it was never a good sign. Each time it had happened, the puppy had too much magic inside of them and the pup would lose control of their magics and they would truly become part of the flames, their bodies vanishing forever from the world as their magic exploded outwards. This was why she'd tried to push the runt away in the beginning.

The mother was now cowering in the middle of the spring with her other two pups held away from the water in her tails. The child still didn't see her though as his eyes were glued to the now almost painfully glowing white puppy playing happily in the bed of embers. The boy was drawn even closer to the pup, yearning to see if his eyes had opened like the others and if they eyes would be red like his brother and sister's eyes or yellow-orange like his mother's eyes. He was so close he could feel the intense heat of the still hot coals on his face.

Dropping down onto his belly, so he was even with the pup's head, he watched as the little boy pup opened his eyes for the first time. The boy gasped as glowing blue eyes looked at him. The eyes were the same color as the blue flames that still burned and they danced just like the flames did too. Streaks of bright amber, glowing reds, and pale yellows flickered in the depths of the pup's eyes but never drowned out the burning blue.

The little pup gave an excited yip and belched out a small ball of fire that landed at his feet gave new life to the dying fire. The boy giggled at the confused expression of the puppy and unthinkingly reached out to pet the puppy. He didn't feel the heat of the flames until his hand touched the runt's nose, then a burning shock traveled from the tips of his fingers all the way to his shoulder and he threw himself back in distress as he cried out. The wild and white hot magic of the pup having transferred itself from the pup to the boy the moment they touched.

He cradled his now burning and throbbing arm against his body as he cried once more, this time in pain. Tiny little paws scratched against his pant leg and he looked down to find that the puppy followed him out of the fire. The little boy pup whined and licked his hand as if saying it was sorry and the boy sniffled twice before tentatively running a finger of his uninjured hand over the soft fur between the puppy's eyes. When he wasn't burned this time, he began stroking and petting the little pup freely, much to the puppy's obvious delight.

He was reminded of the other wolf-creatures when he felt several drops of water splash down on top of his head and trickle down his back. He giggled as the water drops tickled and shyly smiled up at the mother wolf-creature who was standing over him. The mother snuffled and sniffed as she first poked the tiny pup several times with her nose before doing the same to the boy, making him shriek and giggle as she poked him in ticklish spots he'd not known he had. While she was doing this, the two larger pups had joined their brother on his lap and all three of them were licking his uninjured hand and face.

The boy was breathless when the mother finally stopped tickling him with her nose and he found himself lying on his back with two puppies sprawled over his tummy and one tucked into his right armpit. When the mother returned, she dropped a large blue strawberry-like fruit on the ground beside him and lifted the two pups off his stomach so he could sit up. The last pup, the runt, simply climbed up his arm and chest as he sat up so that the little runt was now sitting on the boy's shoulder. Once he was up, the mother picked up the fruit and pushed it into his hands as she whined urgently.

The boy really wanted to go put his arm in the spring instead; for now that he wasn't distracted by poking noses and washing tongues, he could feel the burning pain in his left arm again. The mother wolf-creature was insistent though as each time he put the fruit down to stand up, she'd put it right back in his hand. Sighing, the boy reluctantly took a bite from the fruit and gagged at the overly bitter taste. He would have spit it right back out if not for the tail that had covered his mouth the moment he opened it to spit.

Making horrible faces, the boy unhappily chewed the bite and swallowed. He was then forced to repeat the process until the entire fruit had been consumed. When he finally swallowed the very last bite his stomach felt queasy from the bitterness of the fruit. A moment later, he was shocked when the mother wolf-creature put her cold nose on his burnt arm and he felt no pain. Gaping down at his arm in wonder, he could see that his arm had been healed of the burn while he was eating the fruit. It was like magic.


AN: I just wanted to thank Kouru-Kage for pointing out a couple of mistakes I'd made in the last chapter. Normally I'd have replied to the review but since he/she wasn't signed in… I fixed my spelling mistake (which was by no means the fault of my beta since it had been an edit I did after her earlier corrections) and fixed the reference to the Luxio being a dog-like creature. I honestly think that particular group (shinx, luxio, and luxray) look more like dogs than they do lions but well… I've half blind and half blonde. lol…

In regards to the number of tails on the vulpix; I know they hatch out with only one that splits as they grow but I'd wanted something more than just the color of the pups to differentiate between them. Call it creative license, though in most other cases I stay much truer to form in how the Pokémon look. (Misplaced dog-like comment aside because like I said I always thought they looked more like dogs…)

Anywho… just wanted to point that out… ~ Jenn

AN 12-05-12: This chapter has just been edited to correct a few minor punctuation errors, a grammatical error or two, clean up of a few sentences in order to smooth out a few awkward areas, break a few paragraphs down so as to improve readability, and had the date and place stamps added to the top of each section to allow for easier tracking of the timeline.