The next morning was, to put it quite frankly, hell.
Echo decided that because my body was too cold, and I hadn't somehow woken up able to walk again, that I now had to spend all morning attempting to learn how to walk again.
Naturally, it wasn't easy. In fact, it was a bit too hard. We, or rather I - Echo did nothing but bark orders and claim "I'm just trying to help!" - worked my tails off, but to no avail. By what I assumed to be noon, I still couldn't even take two steps without losing my balance.
Not to say, though, that Echo's advice was totally useless. I did figure out that, with my tails being the size they were, they could be used for stability. Like, if I was about to tip to the side, I could try and counteract that by moving my tails to the other side. Not that this mattered; I didn't know how to use my tails, either.
Finally, she gave up and told me to stop. The Dark-type went outside, and after about... 3 minutes, I'd say, she finally came back in holding a stick of sorts.
"Can you at least get onto two paws?" She questioned me. At my hesitant nod, not actually sure if I could do so, she offered me the stick. "Then here. A cane. Clearly you can't walk properly, so this is probably your best bet, Vulpix. We can take you to Audino's when I have more money, and find out what's wrong, but for now..."
I was already up and balancing, awkwardly, with the stick. This body was not meant to be in a bipedal stance, but... It still felt right. I carefully used the stick, or I guess cane, and took some awkward steps around. At this, Echo let out a sigh, presumably one of relief that I wasn't completely useless.
"Alright, let's at least go into town. I won't always be here, so I should show you around so you know what's where." Her tone of voice made it clear that something was bothering her, but I didn't press it. Shouldn't be rude to someone who's giving me a place to stay.
She led me outside, looking around at the town. "You're going to stick out like a sore thumb... A pure white Vulpix is surely going to be noticed..." She wasn't talking TO me, despite using the word you're. "Ah, well. Whatever, we'll just go." The Absol started walking off before making sure I was following, which I was, although a bit slowly.
In the town there were a bunch of pokemon. Lots of Pokemon stared at us, but probably because of me. Most of the stares were that of what seemed like confusion. I could have sworn I'd seen a human staring at me as well, but I blinked for a moment and there was no longer anything there, except a vanishing black tail.
Echo led me around, showing me some key places to know about. Some restaurants, some shops, some places for entertainment. It seemed like this civilization of Pokemon lived mostly the same as my vague knowledhe of human civilization that I could recall.
Finally, we stopped at a certain shop. It didn't have a store name, but they had images of clothes. Echo smiled as she brought me inside. "Feel free to pick one thing to buy. I usually let Pokemon I help get something to wear to feel more comfortable, and so you shouldn't be an exception."
Over at the checkout, there was a Snivy watching. I couldn't tell if the grass type was male or female, though. I ignored that for the time being and looked around, overhearing Echo talk to them.
"... hello, Echo. I see you've made a new friend." The Snivy spoke. Even their voice couldn't make it clear whether they were male or female...
Echo laughed a bit. "You could say that. But this Vulpix, she seems to be a bit of an odd duck."
"... She is special." The grass type responded simply. "I believe she may know something we don't that could be dangerous if we cannot trust her."
I sighed as I walked over, having settled on a light purple scarf. "I can hear you both, you know. This store isn't too big."
The Snivy looked at me straight on. I could see their right eye was closed, and they were solely looking at me with their left eye. "... My name is Summer." They introduced. "I'm non-binary, although customers these days don't seem to care about that... right, L... Echo?"
Echo nodded. "Yeah, I've seen what you mean..." I tuned out the conversation as I handed Summer the scarf. For some reason, they seemed to talk to Echo, but were looking at me. The whole time, not even blinking. Quite disturbing, to be honest, almost as if they were staring into my soul.
But that wasn't the weirdest part. The Snivy had said Echo, but wasn't going to. They had hesitated on an L sound... Although the name Echo contains no such thing. It was almost like Summer knew something. Something I didn't.
I was shocked back to reality by them putting the scarf around my neck with their vines. Echo said goodbye, and went to leave, with me close behind. As the door shut, one final sentence came from the grass type, being interrupted by the door shutting.
"... How strange... white... I wonder why she-"
That stuck with me as I followed Echo back to her house. The Absol seemed to think nothing was even wrong, though, which was the strangest part. It was almost like, to her, this was normal.
"Well, Vulpix, it's getting late. You think you can handle going to bed by yourself tonight?" My simple nod in response was enough for her to smile. "Good. It's best you get your rest sooner than later. I'm going to be working overnight tonight, so that we can get you some assistance from Audino." With that, she left again, leaving me to myself.
It didn't take me long to get settled into the guest bed, my cane propped against the bed. I was sore, again, this body wasn't meant to be bipedal for that long. But the pain didn't matter, I was close to drifting off to sleep anyway. My eyes closed and the sounds around me vanished...
... and then it screamed.