It was a dark, summer night in a forest in the middle of nowhere. Owls and crickets filled in the silence with "whos"and chirps. Foxes came out of their dens to scavenge for food. A tiny clearing in the forest in the middle of North America, right in the USA. Just down south of Detroit It was the perfect place for camping, which is what Daniel was doing. He failed to set up his tent once more, failing to get one end of the stick through one of the holes, before promptly giving up. "God dammit," he said before going to his backpack on the ground and retrieving a sleeping bag from the top of it. Despite the tent issues, the young man did enjoy camping out alone, away from the noise of the city, just away from people in general. After laying out his sleeping bag on the ground, he laid out on top of it, as it was still far too warm to be sleeping in the sleeping bag, it was the middle of summer after all. The sound of crickets slowly started reaching their way to the young man as he laid his heads on his arms. The many stars in the night drew the boy's attention; he rarely ever got to see them due to all the lights in Detroit. Daniel tried his best to make out constellations, while having really no clue what each constellation looked like, and just started coming up with his own. "And that is… stickman!" Daniel felt proud of his naming scheme so far. A sudden flash of light made him jump; was it about to start storming?

With speed that even surprised himself, Daniel set up his tent and got inside of it, and waited for water droplets to fall from the sky. A bunch of animals started running out of the brush around his little camp site, which confused him. He was no expert when it came to animals, having grown up in the middle of Detroit; he never saw anything beyond dogs, cats, and maybe the occasional squirrel. Maybe they were just trying to seek some form of shelter from the incoming lightning storm. Daniel stuck his head out of the tent after all the commotion had died down. No animals were around, but the bushes were still rustling. The young man stepped fully out of his tent, no wind, no reason for the rustling. In fact, there wasn't a cloud in the sky. It was a nice, starry night with no obstructions to its view. So what caused that flash of light? Maybe it was another camper or group of campers that maybe swung a flashlight around while finding a place to settle down for the night. Daniel jumped when he heard a twig snap.

For a split second, where the bushes broke up, something about the size of a golden retriever passed through, and into another bush. Daniel was being watched, maybe it was just a dog… if it weren't for the mass following it.He withheld a scream and decided he didn't want to meet whatever this thing was. Without a second thought, the young man got into his tent, completely disregarding his backpack. He then zipped it up, and killed any lights that he had on in it. He didn't know how much this would help his situation out, but how could an animal have object permanence? Most dogs couldn't even recognize their own reflections, so maybe he was safe. The rustling stopped, but Daniel wasn't an idiot, he wasn't going to unzip the tent and make sure it was safe. For all he knew said animal was standing right outside the flap. He tried his best not to jump when he could hear whatever was circling him, dig through his bag where his food was, before it let out a low, frustrated growl. Maybe that was all whatever it was wanted, then it'll leave him alone.

Then something started nudging the tent's zipper, like it knew how to open it, and that something kept trying to get inside. Daniel covered his mouth as he tried to keep himself from screaming as the tent's zipper started coming undone. What kind of thing was going to be on the other side? An alien? Another camper? Or some sort of lake monster? The flap fell open with a canine-like face on the other side, but something was wrong. It wasn't a dog, it wasn't a wolf, and it definitely wasn't a coyote. Its eyes were a piercing red, and a tuft of fur on the top of its head in between the ears, and its fur was like that of a freshly groomed dog with golden fur. If it weren't for the situation, Daniel would've admired how pretty it looked. "Holy shit!" Daniel tried putting himself as far as he could away from what was before him. His back hit the back of his tent, with no pocket knife, he couldn't quickly get away. Like he would be able to do so to begin with. The creature had a canine-like body, which meant it would've been faster than him, and there wouldn't be any hope of him getting away.

"Ninetales?" The creature tilted its head, before taking its head out of the tent and sitting down. "What?" Daniel was confused for a split second until he saw it; nine, long tails. The creature then grabbed his backpack in its mouth, and brought it to him. "There's no fucking way I am awake," he said to himself as his backpack was gently given to him. It was untouched too, like nobody laid a finger onto it. "Ninetales," the creature gave the boy a smile, and sat down before him. "I have to be dreaming," Daniel said. Ninetales tilted its head again, before going to nip its new companion. "Hey!" Daniel jumped, before sighing. "God dammit! How is this is real " he said. Daniel figured he might as well try petting the Ninetales, what could go wrong? Daniel set a hand on the Pokemon, who gladly allowed the boy to pet it. The Pokemon's fur almost felt like a mix between a dog's coat and a cat's, yet it was very fluffy. Overeall , petting what was basically a fire breathing fox was kind of pleasant. "Why are you being so nice?" Daniel asked. From what he could recall, Ninetales weren't exactly fond of people, specifically strangers. "Nine?" The fox tilted its head, before taking a hold of the young man's hand.

Ninetales didn't bite down on the human's hand, it was just digging into his shirt's sleeves, he then dragged his new friend outside of the tent. "This is probably some weird prank," Daniel said as Ninetales sat him down by his fire pit. The fox quickly shot fire at the pit and let out a cheerful bark. Whoever was pulling the strings must've been some costume designer, a normal costume would've caught fire with such a stunt. "Ninetales," The Pokemon eyed the backpack that was still in the tent. Daniel didn't immediately catch what Ninetales was getting at, but he did know that he was hungry. He quickly retrieved his bag from inside the tent, and pulled out a sandwich. To his surprise, the bag's contents were entirely untouched. Daniel was just about to take a bite. Ninetales placed a paw on his leg. "Ninetales Ninetales." Daniel looked up from his food and saw the Pokemon's face. He couldn't imagine a Pokemon being capable of puppy eyes, given how strong they supposedly are in the games, he thought they could just take what they want without struggle. "You want a sandwich?" Daniel asked. Ninetales nodded, in the manner of a dog, barked and wagged its tails.

"Alright then," Daniel reached into his bag and pulled out another sandwich and handed it over to Ninetales. In a heartbeat, the Ninetales swallowed his sandwich whole and looked up at the boy with gratitude. "Jesus christ, you don't mess around when it comes to eating do you?" Daniel laughed as Ninetales sat down next to him, but never made an attempt on his companion's food. After Daniel had scarfed down his sandwich, Ninetales laid his head on the boy's lap. The fox yawned and sneezed. Not in Daniel's wildest dreams did he think that he'd be letting what was likely some guy in a fox suit, or a robot in a fox suit, lay their head in his hand. "I still don't know if you're actually a Ninetales or some guy in a hyper realistic fox costume. "Ninetales," the Pokemon sat up and let out a growl. In an instant, several balls of fire ignited around the pair. They almost looked like Wil-o-wisps in the show "Holy shit," Daniel looked at Ninetales, who was grinning. "Ninetales," it said.

As soon as they showed up, the fireballs dissipated, and the Ninetales laid its head back down. "Alright… I don't think a prankster could do that," Daniel placed a hand on Ninetales. Was this Pokemon just his now? How the hell was he going to explain this to his friends that he now had a Ninetales? What about his landlord? How the hell would he be able to take care of it? He could say it was a dog, but the nine tails was a dead giveaway. Not to mention the red eyes, Ninetales' ability to breathe fire, and the fact that it seems to only be able to say "Ninetales" along with the sounds a normal canine can make. Now that he had to split his three days' worth of food, he was only going to be able to stay out here for a day and a half. Which was plenty of time to come up with at least something to hide the fact that he now had a Pokemon.

"Hey Ninetales," Daniel called. The fox didn't even lift his head, but opened his eyes and angled his ears towards the boy. "So did you just come over here for food, or did you want to stick with me?" Daniel asked. The fox lifted its head off of the boy's lap, and rubbed up against him. "Ninetales!" the fox said. After a couple of seconds, Ninetales entirely placed himself on top of Daniel's lap and yawned. "Alright then, I guess I'm your property now," he laughed as Ninetales got cozy. "I'm… going to need to buy dog food aren't I?" he sighed as he patted "his" Pokemon's tails, which quickly moved out of the way. The fox lifted its head and glared at Daniel. "What?" he asked. Ninetales scoffed and laid its head back down. "Fuck, it's been too long since I've even picked up a Pokemon game." He had forgotten that Ninetales didn't like having their tails grabbed. After learning of his mistake, he settled his hand on Ninetales' side and laid his head on top of the sleeping Pokemon. Surprisingly Ninetales was fine with being a pillow, like Daniel was complaining, it was the best pillow he's ever used.

The next day, Daniel almost felt like he was on the softest bed in the world. He honestly didn't want to open his eyes, which he wouldn't have, if it weren't for last night. His blurry vision saw what he could've guessed was Ninetales, with the golden fur, and the slight "Nines" escaping the Pokemon as it snored. Daniel rubbed his eyes to clear them up, and to hopefully not feel super sleepy. The warmth Ninetales provided made that difficult however, with it being a fire type, its flames had to come from somewhere right? Which the boy didn't mind, it was extraordinarily cozy, even when he knew he was out in the middle of a forest. Ninetales, noticing the weight of a human's head no longer being on his back, lifted his head and let out a loud yawn. "Big yawn," Daniel said out of instinct.

It wasn't too uncommon for most people to say that when a pet dog yawns, or any pet really. Which is why he had said it, but he forgot a crucial thing about Ninetales:

They're supposed to be incredibly smart. Ninetales weren't geniuses, nor were they going to solve complex math problems, but they were still pretty smart. With them being able to perfectly understand human speech. So Ninetales was definitely a lot smarter than the average dog he'd see down the street, and was probably smarter than he was. Ninetales didn't seem to mind Daniel's comment and greeted him with a bark. "Mornin' Ninetales," Daniel said while contemplating how lucky he was; of all the pokemon that could've come into being, a Ninetales was the one. Ninetales weren't particularly aggressive towards humans in the show from what he's seen of it, and this Ninetales in particular was pretty friendly. "Ninetales," the Pokemon greeted, who chose to remain on Daniel's lap.

"So, do you have any powers like telepathy or telekinesis? I've seen a pokemon movie here and there, and almost always there's a pokemon that can speak with its mind, like proper english," Daniel said. Ninetales tilted its head as it processed what was being asked of it. Without much thinking, he lifted up the boy's backpack with his telekinesis, and had it circle around him and Daniel for a couple of seconds. "So… you've got telekinesis?" Daniel asked. A grin came to his face as he saw his backpack gently lay on the ground with seemingly no force behind it. It was getting pretty hard for him to believe this was a prankster in a fox costume. On top of that; psychic powers were just a pretty cool thing to witness. Especially since nobody in history has been capable of them. Ninetales nodded, before looking at the ground. He had no idea how to use telepathy, which would make communicating with his new companion easier. "That's pretty neat," Daniel ruffled the tuft of fur on Ninetales' head. "Can you use telepathy?" Ninetales shook his head with a look of defeat.

"Hey now, don't feel bad about not knowing how to do something. I wish I could do a backflip, but I've got no clue how to do one. That doesn't make me worthless does it?" Ninetales shook his head. "So are you useless for not knowing how to make use of telepathy?" Daniel continued. The fox glanced at Daniel before putting his stare back on the ground. "C'mon, you're pretty cool, you can lift stuff with your mind. You're a fire breathing fox too, that's pretty neat if you ask me," Daniel said with a reassuring smile. Ninetales didn't move, Ninetales were a pretty common Pokemon, so what was unique about that? Daniel had no idea as to why was he being so nice to the Ninetales? He just met the thing and it was like he'd known it for years. He grew to like this pokemon in one night, which just didn't make sense to himself.

Whatever, he had a pokemon, the ten year-old him would've jumped at the opportunity for something like this. So he may as well take care of Ninetales, how could that go wrong? It was pretty exciting, because now he could have a pet and a Pokemon in one go. Ninetales looked at Daniel again. "Ninetales," the Pokemon sighed as the boy patted his back. Then was put into shock when an arm was wrapped around him. "Ninetales, you're awesome, you'll figure out how to use telepathy at some point. It's the same thing with learning a new skill; it just takes time. The worse thing that can happen is that you won't," Daniel reached for his bag. "Now let's get a sandwich in out systems, and you can show me all the cool things you can do." Ninetales nodded as a sandwich was given to him.