Ashes plumed from maw and drifted up toward the starlight. I blew sparks into the fire; the heat lingering on my lips and inside my snout.
The flame within me had come alive. I looked toward father, who had roused himself from his well-worn spot in the dirt and stretched his legs. My stomach rumbled, a reminder of the moons that had passed since the last catch.
I knew that each time my father left home, no matter how many suns and moons passed, that a delicious meal would be brought back. Sometimes berries, curly stems with red juicy bits or large blue ones with a dryness that only a sip of water could cure. Sometimes meat from others that weren't fast enough. That was always the tastiest.
I swatted at his bushy throng of nine tails as he passed me by. He groaned in response, but it was a kind tone. Mother was asleep already with my brother and sister; nestled up to the flame in a fluffy ball that looked like snow.
With more practice, more food, and more growth, I would be just as powerful as father and mother. I would go out on the prowl and blow fire. To pass through the forest like a true predator.
I would hunt.
Father paused as he neared the edge of our hovel. The fire mother had spat out burned a smoldering batch of twigs, and brother and sister slept quietly on a small pile of straw. Father looked to me and lowered his snout; his red eyes burned like embers and his sleek beige coat shimmered in the firelight.
It was finally time.
I chased after him into the underbrush, escaping from our small alcove in betwixt the trees. No others dared near our nest. Not with mother around and the promise of burns. It was a cozy spot that once belonged to another; one that had a great horn on its head that spun fast and broke the stone faster. Father had found the place when I was just a pup when my eyes could hardly open.
But tonight I would go out. The hunt was the hunt, and it would take as long as it did to do what father did. Many suns and moons would pass. Would we leave the forest?
I looked back toward mother. Her eyes were open, watching us with a frozen gaze.
She remained silent as Father growled again, ushering me forth. I fought the urge to yip, and turned tail and followed him through the sticks and logs. Slipping forth and following in father's footsteps, the heat of the fire left as the evening breeze greeted my face.
My first hunt had begun.
We walked until dawn. Father never slowed nor looked back to check on me as my paws ached something fierce. Father's instincts and sense had taken us to the edge of a small stream, teeming with little flittering creatures that looked of flowers and other plants.
They gave a wide berth as we entered the clearing. They stood wary with their big eyes and leafy tops as father took a slowly took a sip from the water. It was his forest and they all knew it. But, no real danger was present to the leafy creatures. Father wouldn't spend energy on small creatures that tasted of dirt and weeds.
The hunt would continue.
He looked back at me and motioned his head toward the water. It was time to drink, and I would not wait for another nod. One did not keep a master hunter waiting, even if it was my own father. Time for games would be later with the little ones.
We left quickly, darting back into the thicket. We ran on and on until I could not feel my feet. They simply moved, knowing the pain would be worse if I were left behind.
The sun had nearly set until father found our quarry. A brown rat with large teeth had dared challenge father. Father ate a few chunks from its guts, and that let me take few bites of the smokey and chewy meat. The scorch marks from its tail to neck reminded any watchers in the wood of the truth.
We were the hunters.
Father clamped down on the creature's neck and began to drag it, dragging it along while leaving a thin trail of blackened blood. There would be no stopping or sleeping on the way back. The rot would set in soon enough, and mother and the others would be hungry.
And so we walked. It did not matter how much my paws hurt, how cold the wind became as the sun vanished and the darkness crept up the trees.
No exhaustion in mind, no pause to mind the lesser creatures. Just one thought.
Return.
We eventually stopped by the stream we had crossed previously. It was quiet and the moonlight beamed off the water.
I looked down and sipped, looking at the redness in my eyes and fur. The curls atop my head were matted with dirt, but it mattered not. I drank anyway and then curled up beside father and the future feast.
We'd be home soon.
The air smelled sour as we neared home.
Father dropped the carcass and sniffed the air. He must have sensed what I did as he rushed forth, nearly knocking me over. I followed as fast as my legs would carry me, bounding over logs and under fallen branches.
As I neared the trail that led to home, I froze. Sounds of creatures I did not recognize filled the forest. Loud sounds of voices unclear. The snapping of twigs and sounds of crashing perked my ears up. I treaded closer, only a few more trees before the entrance would be in sight, but it was the bleats and panting that made my heart thump and my belly grow hot.
Father's howl echoed through the forest. He was angry and soon the breeze carried a heat that wasn't there before. I willed my legs to move, creeping closer toward home.
Another howl, this one higher pitch. More yelps. I hurried around the last large tree trunk and froze.
Animals with grey hands and feet and black bodies had surrounded our home. Others were with them too; creatures of mud and those without eyes. They shouted and screeched as they attacked our home with reckless abandon. Slaves to the orders of the ones that shared a red 'R' on their chests, as if painted in foul blood.
Father wasn't seen, but I saw mother across the way. One of the creatures with the 'R' was dragging her by the neck. Was she sleeping? Where were the others? Where was father?
I tried to call forth the fire, but it remained in my gut twisted in all sorts of knots and roots. It was just as scared as I was. I wanted to cry and run home.
But this was home. Where did you run when home wasn't safe?
The bushes rustled as the intruders shouted more amongst each other. Father was waiting. They held strange balls of white and red in their hands and pointed with their other gray hands. Was this a tribe we had not found yet? Why did the other creatures obey them?
Father sprang forth from the bushes, and let out a great pillar of fire from his mouth. Greater and mightier than any of the tiny flames that dwelled within me, and so the wave of heat turned the green to ash and burned the bats and slimy ones.
A small flicker of hope rose in my chest. Father spewed another blast of fire out, and then his eyes turned purple, freezing one of the ones with an 'R' in place. The bats flew around, dazed and confused as they received no orders.
I crept forward, sticking to the shadows and trunks of trees. My siblings should be close. Where were they? Another boom went off, and the smell of burning filled my chest. Father was angry and sought to kill. I peeked around and watched him continue. He wanted blood and his tails had splayed outward, revealing his full intent.
Not to kill for food, but only for blood. To hunt for only the hunt. He would destroy, with the only goal of leaving them to die in fear and pain. The pain that stirred in me. That wished for them to die in a worse fear than that settled into my skull like an air sickness. Nobody touched mother like that.
And then an arc of mud hit father. A winged one with large fangs sunk them into father's neck. He cried out and shot off a beam of fire wildly into the treeline. Another blast of mud hit. Then another.
He stopped moving after that one. Shallow breaths escaped from his mouth as one of the creatures with an 'R' painted on its chest threw a rock at it, but the rock split and a red light erupted from the opening as it hit the ground. Father melded with the red light and disappeared. The rock didn't move, and the hideous creature snatched the prison rock.
Would that happen to me?
I tried to move, but my legs slipped. My feet felt weak from all the walking, and even now the fire inside me had died down to nothing more than coals. I needed to run, but I couldn't run. Paralyzed in the spot peeking around a tree knowing I too would do no better than father.
One of the strange invaders pointed at me with its grey hand. I shrank back, but one of the ones who threw the rock at father was quicker than me. They grabbed me by my tails and yanked hard.
Its pale face turned into an upside-down grin. My skin crawled as I dangled in the air. It held another rock in its freehand. I quivered and tried to call forth the fire.
Nothing but a small puff of ash came out. I opened my mouth to cry, but no sound came out; the terror firmly lodged in the back of my throat where it made it hard to breathe.
The monster smashed the rock against my head, and red light washed over me. I wanted to struggle. To run. My legs didn't move as the world moved away from me. The air was thin and fleeting as I pawed helplessly at trees that stretched on forever.
And then it was dark. Not like night or when eyes were closed. The darkness swallowed me up and coiled around me like smoke, even if I could still see my paws below me but not the ground I stood on.
A coldness had settled within me as I looked around. No sound. No family. No light. No hope.
I called out and no echo returned. Was this it? I walked around the infinite blackness until my feet could carry me no longer.
Eventually, I fell over and let the dark overtake me, and thought of brighter days. We were supposed to be the hunters. The ones who ruled.
Why would they hurt us? They weren't hungry. To kill only to kill. Pain for pain. This was not the way we had lived by all this time. The cruel predators had ignored the rules. Their evil had chewed at their fur it seemed and forced them to wear blood-red 'R's and mismatched furs of others they must have killed.
I rolled over and my heart froze solid.
The warmth was the past.
I fell asleep and did not dream. The embers of hatred that burned cold in my stomach would be my home. Nothing else was left.
A/N: A one-shot to practice my hand at something I don't generally write: 1st person tragedy. Figured a Vulpix bright and hopeful going on their first hunt only to find Team Rocket doing what they do best would do. This is my take on trying to write from a Pokemon PoV, so take it as you will.
For more fics and such, come check out the Fanfiction Treehouse discord. Lots of other authors and a compendium of fics at discord . gg / 9XG3U7a
Thanks for reading!