I Became a Vulpix

by Anshee-Rose

A young female student wakes up one day to find herself turned into a grievously wounded vulpix having barely escaped death. After a hectic stay at a pokemon centre, she is adopted by a family and lives on as the oldest daughter's pet. Read on as she tries to adapt to her new life and to uncover the mysteries behind her transformation and her wound.

48. Chapter 48

Ilma leered at me with wide pupils, incredulous, as I shivered in fear in front of her. She canted her head to the side then closed her eyes for a few seconds.

"Damn," she said. "I did not see that coming."

"Did you just ask Articuno if it was true?"

Ilma giggled gently. "Guilty as charged."

She stood on the sofa, towering over me. For a few moments, she simply stared me down, her eyes creeping over my body as if to analyse it. Thoughts raced in my head – was she going to attack me? Tell me to get out? Call me a liar?

"So you used to be human," she finally said. "How did you become a pokemon?"

"I don't know. I just went to bed, then woke up in another world and another body."

"Another world? You mean you're not even from here?"

I nodded with a strong blush, and her formerly focused look turned to confusion.

"That… is a mystery. Interesting, certainly, but also dangerous. I have to commend you on how well you fit in. I would have never guessed."

"Topa helped me," I whispered. "She knows and has been teaching me about this world, and how to… be a pokemon."

"I see. That makes her special, in that case, for knowing this. I do think, however, that you should not tell any more pokemon, and certainly not any humans. This needs to be kept secret as much as we can. I am grateful for the trust you've shown by telling me this."

"Articuno said the same thing. She said that Moltres wanted to destroy me before I became a problem."

Ilma giggled. "Not a surprise. Moltres is a little hot-headed, from what I have heard. He seems to always be of rather extreme opinions, and Articuno sometimes has trouble keeping him in check." Her laughter was cut short as she turned her head to me with a stern look. "So the leaders know about you, and they discussed your case. I have to admit, I feel envious. I wish they knew about my existence."

"Maybe they do? You're a zealot."

"No. Articuno mentioned that she doesn't know if the other leaders even have zealots. They don't seem to communicate very often."

She sat again, then hopped off the sofa to return the bag to the kitchen. When she returned, she stood above me for a moment, but turned around and laid against a pillow away from me.

"So, how are you enjoying being a pokemon?"

The question caught me by surprise, and I spent a few seconds to mull it over, staring down at my paws in silence.

"I got used to it," I finally said.

Ilma raised an eyebrow, staring at me with an expectant look on her face. I gave her a shrug after a moment of silence.

"What a remarkable answer," she said. "Yet you are so young, and were so emotional just a month ago. You have grown so much in such a short time. I am impressed. You must have been a brilliant human."

"Not particularly. I was a university student, but I was probably below average when it comes to my class."

"University students who are below average are considered vastly above average the population here," Ilma said.

"I guess it would be the same in my former world. I just don't like saying I'm intelligent. I don't know if I am, but if I were, I would not brag about it."

"How humble. As far as vulpix go, though, you might just be one of the most intelligent in all of history. Vulpix is normally less intelligent than humans. I wonder if your intelligence will grow once you evolve, then you would be one of the most gifted ninetales as well."

"Why? Is ninetales more intelligent than humans?"

Ilma nodded with a large smile. I had no time to reflect on it, however, as she continued talking.

"That does bring a question," she said. "Do you plan to evolve?"

"I think it's too soon for me to make that choice," I replied with speed that surprised even myself. "I haven't thought it through."

"Agnes will want you to evolve eventually."

"I know. All I can say is that I am not ready."

Ilma nodded with approval. "How very mature. I really admire the progress you've made with your mindset in a mere month."

I opened my mouth to say something, my ears laying themselves on my head in anger, but didn't speak any words. Ilma was right – my mindset had significantly changed since I had first met her, and with the perspective I had gained, I felt like I had a clearer view of my life in general, as well as my future.

Yet, the idea of losing Agnes still made my heart turn, and I had no idea what I could ever do if she died. Or when – I would certainly outlive her.

"Say, Ilma, I have a potentially upsetting question."

"Sure, ask."

"You said that vaporeon lives a few hundred years. What will you do when Doctor Belish dies? What do pokemon in general do when their trainers die?"

She remained silent for a second, her eyes and ears lowering themselves. "There aren't that many pokemon who can outlive humans. Most of us have lifespans similar to theirs. For those unfortunate enough to have to go through that, it depends. The ones most attached to their humans will either let themselves die with them, or assign themselves to the human's children."

I nodded. I had heard stories of pets doing this in my world – it wasn't unthinkable that pokemon, who were more intelligent than animals, would do the same. At the same time, I would have expected that to cause pokemon not to simply waste away their lives – maybe that was why they assigned themselves to their trainers' children.

"The ones who are not attached to their humans' families leave their households and return to the wild. It is rare, but possible, and in general, these pokemon are not very accepted by the others and are ostracised. I surmise they live rather unhappy lives until they die of old age or in a fight."

My thoughts redirected themselves to the zealot eevee, cast aside due to the colour of her fur. When Agnes died, if she had no children, could I join her at the lake? Would that improve either of our lives?

"Can zealots go live with Articuno?" I asked. "Even if they become mostly useless to her?"

"Yes, of course. I don't know of any who did that, but it is very much possible. I think she assigns them a patch of land, and they can continue reporting that way until they die."

"Will you do that?"

She slowly shook her head, and let out a sorrowful sigh. "I get no such choice. I am not a free pokemon, I am military property. When Belish dies, I will be reassigned to another officer. That is what happened to Dante, by the way. So many of his owners have died now, but at least he is nearing the end of his life and the commissioner should be his last human."

"Who's Dante?"

"The director's absol. He is about 250 years old now. I'm not sure what his exact age is since we never talked about it."

I nodded slowly, my eyes lowering themselves with a sad frown. Was that the reason why he was so silent? Was he unhappy with his new assignment? Did the director know?

"Given my decorations and record, I will probably be given to a high-ranking officer," Ilma continued. "Then another one when that one dies. Rinse and repeat until the end of my life. You, on the other hand, are the property of an individual, which means you are free to do what you want once that individual dies. If you decide to look after Agnes's children, they will have paperwork to do to adopt you as their pokemon."

My heart dropped. For a second, I considered walking to her to cuddle in a vain effort to cheer her up, but her neutral face told me she didn't seem bothered by the prospect of being property and having no freedom.

"Can't you just leave after Doctor Belish dies?" I asked.

"I would be branded a deserter," she replied with another sigh. "Shamed and stripped of my achievements."

"Is that more important than your freedom?"

"Yes."

Her cold answer threw me off, and I didn't dare continue the conversation.

Nothing more was said after that about Articuno, the zealots, or either of us. We continued playing games in the water until our ears caught the familiar jingle – then rattling – of keys and we rushed out to meet with Belish as he returned from work. He spared some time to dry me with a towel, and we had a silent meal as he watched television, Ilma cuddling with him as I kept myself away from them, laying against the arm of the sofa.

The media had not yet heard of the attack Agnes and I had been victims of, but were trying to assign blame to police for the cordon surrounding the Glossy Hills and the immense losses the tourism industry was facing because of them, while at the same time attacking them on their failure to catch the serial killer or make any known progress on it.

I turned to Ilma, who laid on her trainer's lap as he ate. "What about the school? Do they know what happened to Agnes?"

"As far as they are concerned, she was wounded during an exercice," Ilma said. "They were not given the specifics of it, nor will they. Its nature or purpose are also kept secret."

"How do you justify that?"

Ilma shrugged. "It was an activity intended for her due to her exceptional performance in physical tests. They don't need to know more."

"What about Derek and Pico?"

The vaporeon snapped her eyes to me. "What about them? They're not Agnes's family. Derek is not in a relationship with her. He is not entitled to knowing more than the others, even if they're friends. If Agnes wants him to know more, she can have him visit her. I have no doubt she will once she is taken out of the ICU, but for now, he knows nothing."

"Why has he not visited her yet?"

"Her location is kept secret by request of the commissioner."

I nodded with a whimper. That was a fair stance, albeit harsh. It was Agnes's choice whether or not to let Derek know how bad she really was, and for the time being, she hadn't even begun recovering and was not able to make the decision.

I had no heart to continue chatting or practising with Ilma afterwards. She and Belish went out in the garden to play and left me alone in the living room moping. They didn't stay out long and went to bed quite early as the sun set, dragging me into Belish's bedroom with them – and, as promised, Ilma forced me to cuddle with her until I fell asleep.

It took well over a week for Agnes to be moved out of the ICU.

During that time, Ilma trained me mercilessly and tirelessly, forcing me to swim for hours without break in the morning, then having me perform various battling and fighting exercises she had learnt from the military in the afternoon until Belish came back. My only break was when her trainer was home, which we generally spent eating then resting on the couch until he had to leave.

I adamantly refused to cuddle with Belish and would only cuddle with Ilma when she forced me to at night. The only affection I allowed myself to get was when I visited Agnes in the hospital and she held me against her, breathing with decreasing difficulty over the days. Her family had not returned after her rude rejection the first day, and I had not had a chance to see Topa again, or even hear from her. Every day when I turned the corner to go to Agnes's room, I felt a pinch in my heart from not seeing the ninetales sitting in the corridor waiting, and every day she was not there to meet with me, the pain got a little stronger.

Finally, on Thursday, August second – almost two weeks after the deadly trip – Belish received a call saying that Agnes had been transferred to a personal room. Preparations had been made for me to visit her in the afternoon, and the commissioner and himself would visit the following Saturday to gather her testimonial – and mine – about the attack.

My body wavered in anticipation as a police car took me from Belish's house to the hospital before the doctor left for work. Besides the policeman who drove, I was alone – Ilma had opted to let me have this reunion with Agnes in private and went to the school with her trainer. A nurse accompanied me to the upper floors of the hospital, quite far from the ER and the ICU, and struggled to keep up with my hasty steps.

She stopped before a door undistinguishable from the others to me, and knocked.

"Miss Trokair, your pokemon is here."

"Let her in."

Her voice was completely different from the one I had heard the first time I had seen her after she woke up. Although still somewhat raspy, it was more lively and a lot more confident, resonating in my ears in a smooth flow instead of the bursts of laboured breaths she used to speak with.

The room Agnes was in was similar to the one I had been in after returning home, but larger, and far larger than the ICU room she had been stuck in. There were fewer machines and less equipment, but Agnes still laid on the same bed, a nasal cannula going into her nostrils, and several IV lines into her arm and hand. She weakly moved her head to the door when it opened, and an angelic smile brightened her exhausted face when she saw me.

"Come here," she said.

I didn't rush. I knew she was severely wounded and still in pain. Although I did run up to her bed, I made sure to jump on it next to her feet, then carefully walked towards her chest until she wrapped an arm around me and kissed the top of my head. The nurse took the opportunity to check on Agnes's vitals, then left us together in peace, closing the door behind her.

"I'm doing okay," my human said once we were alone. "They removed the drain yesterday. I can breathe on my own now, although they're still giving me oxygen for safety. And, look."

She pushed her sheet aside to show me the gigantic bandage that covered her belly – the same that I remembered on myself. She had lost a horrifying amount of weight, and there was not much meat on her bones anymore.

I lowered my head towards it, sniffing around her lower stomach where I knew her wound had been. The smell of blood was gone, replaced with unpleasant artificial smells that caused me to sneeze, probably from the medicine that had been applied to clean around the wound. Agnes pulled me up with an amused giggle and covered herself again.

"How are Ilma and Doctor Belish treating you?" she asked. I barked with joyful enthusiasm. "That's good. We'll be together again soon, okay? I think the hospital might keep me for a while more. They tried to make me stand yesterday, but I nearly passed out when I tried to sit." She chuckled again, as if amused by the memory. "It's going to take me a long time to recover from this, that much is certain, but I'll be okay. And when I can return to the force we can catch these bastards once and for all."

I emitted a quiet whimper and poked her cheek once with my muzzle before nesting against her.

"Don't worry, I'm not exerting myself until I have permission to from the doctors. They will want me to, anyway. My muscles will atrophy otherwise and we can't have that."

She smiled to me, and my heart broke.

How could she be in such good spirits after what happened to her? She had nearly died – again – and been separated from me for a week. Despite visiting her, her parents had shown that they still had no respect for her, to the point where she had to send me away for my own safety. She wasn't sure she would even properly recover.

It was the same thing as her accident in her childhood. Alone and rejected in a hospital, she still managed to smile and find hope for the future. Wounded and broken, she had the strength not to give up.

But she wasn't alone this time. She wasn't rejected.

She had me.

I adjusted my position so that my head rested on her chest and let out a deep sigh. She kissed my ear, causing it to flick away, and gently rubbed the side of my body.

"You and I are the same now, aren't we?" she asked. "Survivors of the same horrible wound. And this time, you were the one who saved my life." She hugged me tighter and sniffed loudly. "Thank you."

There was a knock at the door. Before Agnes could reply, a nurse came in, carrying a large egg in her hands. My human immediately groaned with disgust.

"I'm sorry," the nurse said. "You know it's important for your recovery. We'll give you another meal tonight to see if you are able to swallow now. Do you mind if I check your bandage?"

"It's okay." Agnes seized the egg from the nurse. "Go ahead. Can I give some to Ruby?"

"A bite or two won't hurt."

Agnes separated a part of the chansey egg as the nurse lifted her sheets to check her bandage. The texture was similar to a marshmallow, but smelled like a delicious fried egg. I carefully picked the small part she gave me from her hand, my tails wagging as I ate it with haste – while Agnes winced and groaned as she forced herself to eat the rest. The nurse gently swatted my muzzle away when I tried to sneak a bite in.

"Don't eat it," she said. "It's important for her. We give her chansey eggs because they're the only food we know of that can be eaten even when the person is unable to swallow water, and they accelerate the healing process for most people." She covered Agnes with her bed sheets again. "Bandage looks good. Oh, the hospital called your family and they will be visiting you soon. Should I tell them you don't want to see them?"

"No," Agnes replied after a delay. "I'll see them. Tell them to bring Topa, I miss her, and I'm sure Ruby does as well."

I furiously nodded as the nurse withdrew, then turned worried eyes to my trainer.

"Don't worry," she said. "I can take it. I think it's time I gave my parents a piece of my mind, and I'm worried about Melissa."

Despite her confident voice, the arm that held me against her tensed up.

Agnes was shaking when another knock came from the door, and the nurse announced that her family was here to visit her. She allowed them with a trembling voice, still tightly holding me against her.

Melissa rushed in first. She ran to Agnes, crying her name, and threw herself into the arms of her sister, who held her as she could with only one arm and whispered soothing words in an attempt to quiet her loud wailing. Her parents followed soon after, standing by the bed at a respectful distance, so that Melissa had the time she needed to cry in Agnes's arms.

Topa walked in last.

I gave a hint of escaping my human's arms to go to her, but Agnes's hold tightened as soon as she felt me moving. I understood that she needed me to stay on her for comfort during the coming conversation, and that Agnes was well aware there would be nothing pleasant about it. As I peeked at her, Topa gave me a grave nod, as if to say she understood why I had not moved from my position, and instead walked to my side of the bed to stand on her hind legs and exchange a few licks with me. We said nothing – we could have our conversation once the humans had had theirs.

When Melissa removed herself from Agnes's arms, still crying, she ran to her father, who held her against his leg with a protective hand upon her shoulders. Her mother repressed a sob, then hurried towards her wounded daughter, leaning forward for a hug.

Agnes pushed her away.

"Why?" her mother asked.

"I am not a fool," Agnes said in a growl. "Your theatrics and fake tears won't work on me."

"What are you saying?"

"I know what you tried to do to Ruby when she returned home."

There was a silence. Agnes gave her father a subtle nod, and he gave me a subtle smile.

"I didn't do anything!" her mother protested.

"Because Father stopped you. I want nothing to do with someone who attacks my pokemon and blames her for the consequences of my own decisions."

"You can't mean that."

Agnes groaned with difficulty as she tried to sit up, then whimpered in pain and laid back down. Her mother raised her arms towards her, but I stood over my trainer, growling protectively, and she withdrew.

"I know very well how you feel towards me," Agnes continued, holding her belly with her free hand. "Why you didn't visit me when I was a kid. Why you won't let me form a real relationship with Ruby."

"You don't know what you're saying."

"I do. I will call the flat I'm holding tomorrow and buy it. Go ahead and disown me, since your hatred for Ruby is more important to you than your pretend love for me. I'm moving out."

Melissa moved towards us, but her father held her back. Silent as a tomb, Madam stared at her daughter with bewildered eyes, and with tears.

"You're overreacting because you're in pain," she said, stepping forward again.

"Yes!" Agnes shouted.

The effort caused her to cough violently, trembling and seizing on her bed. She coughed so hard that she retched several times and caused her nasal cannula to be shot out of her nose. I stood and laid my head on her chest as I could, and she held me with both hands while taking deep breaths to regain control of her breathing.

"Yes," she repeated, putting the tubes back into her nostrils. "I am. I've been in pain almost my whole life. I've been in pain since the day you refused to visit me in the hospital when my hair was being held on my skull by sutures. Do you know what it feels like to learn that your parents consider their jobs more important than your life? That they don't love you?"

Melissa resumed crying at that moment, and her father's hold did nothing to soothe it. He peered at her with sorry eyes, then took a hesitant step towards Agnes, still holding his weeping daughter.

"Agnes –" he said.

"Shut up," she interrupted. "You are hardly better." She turned back to her mother, fuming. "You're blaming Ruby for what happened to me, but you're wrong. We needed this trip to mend our relationship, that's true, but our relationship needed mending because we never had a chance to grow into one at home. Because you made those stupid rules that said I wasn't allowed to love my pokemon because you were hurt from loving yours."

Agnes's mother's mouth wavered, and she began crying silently. It didn't stop her daughter's angry glare, and she simply held me tighter even, almost to the point of hurting me. I peered at her with a worried stare.

She too was crying.

"I nearly died because you two are incapable of love. You want to blame Ruby for it? Without her, I would be dead. She was the one who saved my life. She is the reason why I'm in the hospital recovering instead of in the morgue waiting to be identified. She means more to me than you two ever will."

Agnes sniffed loudly and carefully slid a hand under my chest to lift me and put me on hers.

"Thank you for trying to learn from your past mistakes and having the hypocrisy to visit me now," she said. "But I don't need it. Melissa is the one I wanted to see, not you. Now, get out. I don't want to see you ever again. I don't want you in my life."

Sir finally let go of Melissa and walked towards Agnes, trying to take her hand – which she refused to give.

"Please," he said. "You don't need to be this drastic. We'll let you move out if that's what you want."

"You'll let me move out but you won't let me love my pokemon. You won't let Melissa love hers. You brought this upon me and it's time I recognise it. I will not change my mind. Get out."

"What about me?" Melissa whined. "Are you removing me from your life too?"

"No," Agnes said. "I will stay in contact with you. You can visit me in my apartment when I'm better."

Melissa limped towards her sister to hug her again. Agnes held her with both hands, and glared at her parents with a furious frown.

"Out," she said.

Sir gave Agnes a grave nod and gently took his wife's hand, who was still crying, to lead her towards the door. Before leaving, he turned around, tears in his eye, and glanced at his daughter with a smile.

"If that is your decision," he said, "then I will respect it, and I will ensure that your mother does as well. But if you ever change your mind or decide to give us a second chance, you know how to reach me. I just want you to know that I am proud of you, for everything you've done for your pokemon, for the strength you have, and for your achievements. I am proud that you found something worth your life, even if that isn't us. I am proud of you and, even if I never showed you, I love you."

He turned around and left as Agnes broke into tears.