Brook took a deep breath and steadied herself for what she was about to do. She had to do it, it wasn't her fault! She was starving, and that Ninetales was too protective of its berries for her to snatch even one. Brook briefly wondered what a Ninetales was doing in the Glimwood Tangle but shook her head and focused on the dilemma in front of her. She took another deep breath and smelled the delicious food that was being cooked not 20 feet away. She eyed her target again – the large backpack the trainer had pulled a huge meal from and set next to his tent. She took one last deep breath…another one – and slumped back behind the tree. She couldn't do this! It would be practically dooming the other trainer if she did! Although he would still be able to go back to town… and he would still have his pokémon… she almost let out a sob at the errant thought, but held it back, quickly glancing back at the trainer to see if he had heard anything. Luckily, he was fixated on adding ingredients to the curry he was making for his dinner, and not on thieves hiding behind trees. He couldn't have been more than 15, out here all alone… Brook shook her head again, finally stood up and set a determined glare on the bag. She couldn't abandon her Pokémon. It wasn't her fault, she reminded herself again. She stepped out from behind the tree and ran.

The boy in the clearing reacted immediately, whipping his head up and around to locate the loud noise. Brook leaned down and grabbed the backpack as she ran, stumbling at the sudden extra weight.

"Hey!" the trainer shouted out in surprise.

As she looked back up, she saw that the trainer had moved in front of her. Thinking quickly, she moved to the side just enough to shove him out of the way with her shoulder while she continued running, nearly forcing him into the fire that was cooking the food.

"Sorry!" she yelled back, hearing him shout in pain. She managed to make it to the other side of the clearing before she heard the trainer speak again:

"Bolt! Stop her! Don't let her get away!"

Brook's eyes widened in fear. A pokémon named that uncreatively would be named either for its speed or for being an electric type, both of which were incredibly bad for her situation. She cursed and pushed into the trees, hoping she bought a few seconds by making the trainer point out where she had gone to a pokémon that didn't manage to catch a glimpse of her. She continued to dash into the ever-darkening forest, lit only by the occasional glowing mushroom or pokémon. Her lungs began burning after only a dozen seconds, and her legs started to betray her a minute into the chase, catching several troublesome roots. Despite the increasing pain, she continued stumbling onward, the occasional loud barks and cries to stop only fueling her fight forward through the forest. Finally, what felt like hours later, she noticed the lack of noise behind her. She slowed down to listen and shuddered as everything fell silent. They lost her.

Brook slumped down against the first tree behind her, closed her eyes, and breathed. It was pure luck she had managed to get out of there without being caught. After a couple of minutes, her stomach growled loudly, reminded her of one of the reasons she was stealing.

'Hope he didn't use all of the food.' she thought, a slight fear gripping her as she tore into the bag. Looking into the bag, her heart fell in dismay. It was empty, a large hole in the bottom of the bag revealing itself as the culprit.

"No, no, no!" She mumbled, checking all the other pockets. "Yes!" A shout of victory tore out of her throat as she held up a small bag of berries. The smile she wore turned into a frown when the light of a nearby mushroom gave more detail to the berries. "Cheri," she muttered. "Why'd it have to be Cheri? Can't the universe give me a break for once?" She sighed and hesitatingly ate one, grimacing at the spicy flavor. "Bluh. Disgusting." She was quick to reaffirm her stance on the taste, even as she popped several more in her mouth, her hunger taking over. The whole bag was soon gone, and she found herself wanting more despite herself. She glanced at the backpack, but before she could even reach for it, a loud bark had her scrambling to her feet.

"Did you find her, Bolt? Show me where!"

'How did he find me?' Brook began to run again, a cramp in her ribs making itself known very painfully, the rest of her body responding in kind. 'I can't keep this up for much longer.' She kept running though, determined to find a way to get away, even as she heard yelling and barking from behind her. The trees and giant mushrooms began blurring together, her legs started faltering, her breathing became shallower and shallower. Her exhaustion was finally catching up to her, regardless of her efforts.

'Wait, haven't I seen that giant mushroom before?' The thought distracted Brook just enough for a tree looming out of the darkness to catch her by surprise. She fell back, the earth smacking the back of her head as if to punish her for being so stupid. She slowly sat back up, holding her head in pain and ears ringing. Far behind her, she could hear her pursuers crashing through the brush. She had to get up. 'Easier said than done.' She groaned and flipped over to get her feet under her, squeezing her eyes shut from the pain. Why was the ground so fuzzy? The question answered itself when she opened her eyes and looked up into the uncaring eyes of a Ninetales. She gasped and looked down. Sure enough, she was laying on top of one of the creature's large tails. Quickly, she sat up and scooted backward, thoughts of getting caught by the trainer and his Pokémon disappearing under the weight of the angry gaze of the Pokémon in front of her.

"S-sorry, I was just tr-trying to –" The Ninetales cut her off.

'You again.'

Brook gulped. Not only did she accidentally wake the Ninetales up and stomp all over its tails, it just happened to be the same one she had accidentally tried stealing berries from, and it was apparently powerful enough to create a psychic link to broadcast its thoughts to her if it wanted to. Brook felt her mouth go dry.

"Please-please don't –" She only managed to gasp out a couple of words before she was cut off once again.

'I've had quite enough of you. Be silent.'

Brook felt a sudden pain in her head, and her memories of the last few hours were forced to the forefront of her mind: following the trainer, preparing to steal his bag, running away, rummaging through the bag in search of food, and running into the tree.

'Hmph. Trying to be a crafty little thief? Not very good at it, I see.'

Brook remained as silent as she could, whimpering slightly at the pain, eyes wide with fear.

'Ah, I have the perfect punishment for you.'

"Wait!" Brook suddenly ended her silence by scrambling to her feet.

'You might even end up liking this form; it will compliment your stealing habits.'

"No, please! I just wanted to –" Her words froze in her throat a third and final time, but not by the Ninetales. Instead, an excruciating pain centered in her chest caused her to double over. She groaned for a moment before the pain spread to the rest of her body and doubled in intensity.

Brook screamed. Every part of her body was on fire, electrocuted, and frozen all at once, and it wouldn't end. Even with the pain numbing her senses, she could feel her body being reshaped, stretched, compressed.

She couldn't think.

It started from the bottom, with her toes melding together and her feet becoming nothing but nubs on the end of her legs. Her legs snapped forward, and Brook lost the Cheri berries she'd eaten earlier. The base of her spine exploded in pain as a tail of her own emerged and began growing fur. The rest blurred together, bones shifting, snapping and reconstructing, fur bursting from her skin like a hundred thousand needles, but the worst by far was her head.

She couldn't breathe.

Within the few seconds it took to get to her head, Brook had already lost her voice, and could only dry heave from the pain. A constant pressure burned into her skull and reshaped it, forcing her mouth forward, forming a muzzle. Her ears relocated themselves to the top of her head, stretching out painfully. Her neck and the top of her head erupted in pain as large amounts of fur burst from her skin, forming two fuzzy masses. Her teeth were slowly and painfully forced out with a new set of sharper teeth. All the while, her entire body was compressing and shrinking to a fraction of its former size.

She couldn't move.

She couldn't even close her eyes anymore. Despite whatever magic that was changing also keeping her awake, the edges of her vision began to fade and blur into darkness. In a split second, the pain finally faded to a dull nub and Brook collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath, passing out without a second thought.

Matthew wasn't having the best day. Not a terrible one, for sure, but not nearly even a good one.

"Matthew, your Pokémon are healed and ready to be claimed." The young nurse trainee, which Matthew now knew as Mackenzie after making a rather awkward assumption, looked over the small smattering of trainers and hobbyists in the lobby. "Is Matthew here?"

Matthew sighed, stood up, and stretched for a second before walking over to the counter. Even standing at full height, he still only came up to the chins of the other trainers around him, trainers his age. He frowned and ignored them. He had plenty of other, more important problems at the moment.

"I'm here," he said as he reached the counter.

"Ticket please?" Matthew silently handed it over.

"Okay, four pokémon. Ah, here we go!" She pulled out a tray from the machine right next to her. "And here you go!" she pulled out the four pokéballs resting in the tray and handed them to Matthew. The professional smile she held melted away into a concerned look. "You aren't considering going back to the gym, are you? This is the fifth time you've come back here in two days."

Matthew frowned at the intruding question but answered it anyway. "I don't know. I was thinking about going into the forest to train for a bit before I tried it again." He scratched the back of his head and faked a laugh. "Looks like I have a lot more work ahead of me than I thought I did."

Mackenzie only grew more concerned. "You should be careful in the Glimwood Tangle. People go missing in there all the time. The rumors about the fairy types aren't exactly based on myth, you know."

"Look, I may not be able to beat this gym yet, but we can handle any wild pokémon we come across. Besides, I can always come back here if I get in a spot of trouble, right?"

Mackenzie looked like she wanted to argue the point more, but only bit her lip. "Just – be careful, alright? Things around here will get too lively without you too dampen the mood a bit!"

Matthew blinked in surprise. Mackenzie's smile quickly turned into an awkward grimace.

"Sorry, it sounded better in my head."

Matthew chuckled. "No, it's fine. You're right, anyway."

"Well, if you're gonna go, take this just in case. You never know when you'll need some help." She grabbed a pen and a notepad and wrote something down. "Here."

Matthew took the paper and glanced at it. "Your Rotom-phone number?"

"Yeah. If you need me, just give me a call." She glanced out the glass doors of the Pokémon Center. "You better get going, unless you want to be finding your way by mushroom light alone."

"Right." Matthew glanced outside for himself. It was still mid-afternoon, just enough time to get everything he needed, if he was quick. "Well, thanks for everything." Matthew sighed and clipped the pokéballs onto his belt. "I really appreciate it."

"No problem. Really." Mackenzie switched back to service mode. "We hope to see you again!"

Matthew smiled and walked to the door. It was nice of Mackenzie to offer her help like that, but he doubted he would need it.

"Hey!"

Matthew paused in the doorway and looked back.

"I'll be rooting for you!" Mackenzie was waving at him as he left. He only smiled awkwardly and waved back before quickly leaving the center. He was glad it was cold out.

"Alright Bolt, let's take a walk." Matthew threw one of the pokéballs on his belt, catching it again as it released a Boltund onto the sidewalk in front of him. "You can fly around too, Chiss." This Pokéball he threw straight into the air to release a Corvisquire. It immediately circled his head once before flying off. Matthew chuckled, knowing that the pokémon would be back before he got to the forest. But first, he needed some supplies. Some Cheri berries would be greatly appreciated, for one. He knew most of his team loved spicy food, and even he was beginning to take a liking to their flavor after cooking it for a while. He also knew the supply of berries he'd gathered in the Wild Area before traveling to –

"Hey! Get offa me!" Matthew nearly went down as Bolt jumped up on him, licking any bit of his face within reach and interrupting his train of thought. "Alright, alright! Let's go." Matthew said laughing. Bolt took his walks seriously and wouldn't let him get away with even the slightest of delays to them. "We need to get to the store pretty quick here, bud. You know the way?" The Boltund nodded, the yellow and white fur on his face blending together for a moment. He twisted around and sniffed the air for a moment before picking a direction. True to his name, he bolted off, leaving Matthew in his dust both figuratively and literally. "Hey, wait up!" Matthew coughed, stumbling into a run to catch up.

"Lucky those Cheri berries were on sale, huh?" Matthew let Bolt eat one of the small red berries from his hand as he ruffled his ears. The static electricity running through his hand made it feel like TV fuzz, but Matthew ignored it. The Corvisquire barely fitting on his shoulder, however, expressed her displeasure by chittering loudly and pecking Matthew's head. "Jeez, sorry, calm down!" Matthew removed his had from the Boltund's head to block the bird's pecks. "Here, you want one too?" He reached around to the pocket of his pack that held the large bag of berries.

"Oi, wid' ye watch where yer goin'?" Looking back in his attempt to reach for the berry bag, Matthew managed to run into someone.

"Sorry sir! I was just distracted, is – what's happening here?" Matthew cut himself off. "Is there some sort of demonstration going on or something?" Dozens of people, all dressed in the same colored uniforms were gathered in the crossroads right before the forest entrance.

"That's none o' yer business, now es it?" The man scoffed. "Get lost, laddie."

Matthew frowned. "I just need to get through to the forest. Can you let me through?"

"Cannae ye let me though?" The man mocked Matthew in a high-pitched voice. "Go the long way around if ye need te get to th' forest so badly."

"What's wrong with –" Matthew would've kept arguing, but Bolt nudged his leg and whined. Matthew sighed. "Fine. Have it your way." He turned and left. Luckily, he knew a shortcut to the other side of the impromptu blockade. He would at least be able to make it to the forest before the sun set, and he already knew a good place to set up camp.

"That's right, run off, shortie!" The man yelled after him. Matthew gritted his teeth but managed to brush the insult off and keep walking away.

"Chiss, you're gonna need to get back in your ball or meet back up again when I get through the alleyways." Matthew held up the pokéball. "You won't fit through some of them." Chiss made a displeased noise but tapped the button on the ball, dissolving into energy and getting sucked into the ball.

As Matthew predicted, he managed to make it to the forest before nightfall. He could see whatever was happening with the uniformed people was finished. He frowned. 'Maybe I should have just waited. Those Trubbish were not happy with me passing through their territory.' He sub-consciously shivered at the smell still left on him. Who knew they could throw trash so accurately?

"Alright Bolt, time for you to get back in your ball too. I don't want you running off and starting a fight with any random Pokémon you see." The Boltund gave one last happy bark, before the click and electrical sound of a pokéball signified his compliance. 'So begins the hike.' Matthew thought with a grin. It was a difficult one, but the campsite was well worth the effort. As he hiked up the barely-marked trail, he noticed more fairy-type Pokémon scampering around than usual. 'Strange… it almost looks like they're trying to get away from something.' Realizing the implications of that thought, Matthew tensed and scanned his surroundings more thoroughly, one hand ready to throw a pokéball. Nothing. Matthew relaxed slightly but remained vigilant in case anything decided to pop out at him.

"Bleagh!"

"Aabakgo-oof!" Matthew glared at the laughing Impidimp in front of him, heart still beating out of his chest.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up." He muttered, getting back up and brushing the dirt off his pants. "You better not have just made me crush those Cheri berries I just bought, you little twerp." The Impidimp stopped sniffing up what Matthew assumed to be his annoyance at the creature for a moment to give him some fake tears.

"Whatever, just let me past." The tears morphed into a snicker as the Impidimp wandered off the trail, still sniffing up Matthew's negative emotions. He shuddered. Matthew hated the little things. Always in your pack the second you look away, nabbing the stuff you need, and just being a general annoyance. Matthew made sure to keep an even closer eye out for any more threats and kept hiking. Luckily, the rest of the hike was quiet.

A few minutes later, Matthew finally reached the clearing he was looking for. The last time he camped out in these woods this clearing was perfect, and it looked like not a thing had changed since. With a tired grin, Matthew began to set up camp. The tent went up easily, but starting a fire was next to impossible in this forest without a fire-type on his team. He managed it eventually, though, and soon he had a nice spicy curry stewing over it, ready to surprise his team.

That's when a near-deafening noise from behind surprised him. A small figure rushed out from the edge of the clearing and snatched up his bag.

"Hey!" Matthew stepped forward and stretched out an arm in a futile attempt to stop the thief. They only dodged to the right and shoved him out of the way. "Ow!" He fell right next to the fire, catching the curry pot on the way down and spilling it everywhere. He cursed as some of it splattered onto his shirt and burned him.

"Sorry!" the distinctly female voice rang across the clearing from the retreating shadow. Matthew gritted his teeth.

"Bolt! Stop her! Don't let her get away!" As the light from the forming pokémon faded away, Matthew realized that the thief had already gotten past the trees, the darkness of the forest concealing her movement to the Boltund in front of him.

"That way!" Matthew pointed in the general direction and added, "Track her down!"

Bolt sniffed the air, slowly turning around, and…

"No, Bolt! Not the curry!" Matthew sighed. "Look, can you track down my scent on the bag she took? Don't worry about finding her quickly. She'll have to stop eventually, and I'm tired anyway."

Bolt nodded enthusiastically and turned back to face the direction the thief left. Matthew slowly stood up, wincing at a pain he knew was going to be a bruise in the morning.

"Alright, let's go."

It was roughly ten minutes into the hunt, and Matthew was barely trudging along between massive yawns. Bolt, however, seemed to have an endless fountain of energy to keep him going. They had managed to find most of the items Matthew kept in the center pocket of the backpack scattered on the forest floor, and Matthew was collecting them, using his shirt to hold them in place of the lost backpack. Bolt suddenly stopped, ears perked forward to hear something Matthew couldn't, nearly tripping him.

"Did you find her Bolt? Show me where!" The forest ahead of them immediately burst into noise, and Matthew saw the thief taking off again. He cursed his stupidity and rushed forward. "Come on Bolt, after her!" Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed his backpack sitting on the ground by a glowing mushroom. "Go on ahead Bolt, I'll be right behind!" The dog-like Pokémon barked and ran after the disappearing noise. He quickly inspected the pack, noticing the large hole in the center pocket and the missing berries. He frowned. 'Why did she only take the berries? There're still more valuable things in here, like my TM and TR case, or the evolution stones I've found. Was she really only stealing for food?' He decided to think about it later and dumped the items he held in his shirt into the center pocket. He'd come back for the whole backpack later. Right now, he just needed to call Bolt off the chase. Some missing berries weren't worth the effort of catching a criminal, especially with how tired he was right now. Of course, now he had to find Bolt before he got too far away. Matthew sighed. It was going to be a long night.

It only took a minute's run to get to where Bolt was hiding. Wherein lied the problem.

"Bolt?" Matthew crouched down next to the cowering pokémon behind a bush. "What's wrong, buddy?" He glanced to where Bolt was looking and froze in fear as well. A huge Ninetales that radiated an even larger presence stood over his thief. It's fur, the purest white Matthew had ever seen, was glowing, lighting up the girl's face. Matthew gasped. Hadn't he seen that face before?

"Wait!" Matthew's thoughts were interrupted by the girl standing up and shouting. "No, please! I just wanted to –" She suddenly doubled over without any visual cause. Matthew barely managed to wrench his eyes away from what was happening to the girl to hurl up whatever he had for lunch. He tried covering his ears, but her screams penetrated through without resistance for the few seconds they lasted. He felt Bolt retreating into his pokéball on his belt. In a surprisingly short amount of time, silence fell over the forest again.

Slowly, he lowered his hands and peeked through the bush again. A small dark lump lay in front of the Ninetales. He felt sick again. Slowly, and as quietly as possible, he started crawling away in an attempt to get away before the Ninetales noticed.

'You there. In the bushes, trying to escape. Not very well, I might add.' Too late. 'Come here.'

Matthew gulped and shakily stood up. The Ninetales wasn't even looking at him, but rather, it was inspecting the small form on the ground.

"What are you going to do with me?" Matthew felt a hundred different instincts telling him to run away, and a hundred more yelling that running away would be the stupidest decision of his life.

'Nothing... yet.' Matthew's mouth dried up. 'If you don't stop standing there like a buffoon, that is.'

"Oh! O-of course, I didn't me – I didn't mean to – I was just –" Matthew decided that shutting his mouth and doing what the Ninetales told him to do was the best course forward. As he neared, he noticed the tiny lump – what had to be what was left of the girl – was not some burnt corpse like he thought, but was actually a small creature, some pokémon he'd never seen before.

'Good.' Matthew snapped his eyes away from the unconscious pokémon to see the Ninetales staring him down. He involuntarily took a step back. 'Listen to me, human, and listen to me well. This Zorua is incredibly important. You will see that no harm comes to her. There may be people coming to capture her. Do not allow them to do so.' The Ninetales looked away, eyes distant.' I will be coming back in a short while – perhaps a week or more – and when I do, you will be waiting for me with that Zorua. As long as you're nearby, I will find you, but do not leave this forest, or I will have to hunt you down and believe me, you do not want that. Do you have any questions?'

Matthew opened and closed his mouth a few times incredulously, fear starting to wane.

"What? What's a Zorua? Why and who would be coming after her? Why is she so important? Why did you turn her into a Pokémon? Was it beca–"

The Ninetales faced Matthew again, and he felt the fear flood back full force. 'You presume much, and ask some questions you don't deserve the answers to. I'm certain you can find out what a Zorua is for yourself, but the people interested in obtaining her will most likely be part of a criminal organization. It would be a good idea to avoid people in uniforms.' Matthew's thoughts flashed back to the 'demonstration' that blocked the path to the forest. 'One more thing: do not tell anyone of the Zorua's identity. In fact-' The Ninetales closed its eyes for a moment. Matthew felt what was almost a 'click' in his mind. 'There. In the morning, you will no longer remember her being human at all.' Matthew's eyes widened in surprise. "Wha-why?" 'That is all you need to know.' The Ninetales looked at him pointedly. 'Now, I must leave her in your care. There is much I need to do.' With those final words – or rather, thoughts, the Ninetales gracefully bounded off, disappearing into the thick air of the forest in an instant.

"Wait! But – you can't just –" He slumped down to the ground in shock, the full weight of what just happened hitting him. He looked at the Zorua in front of him, wondering what exactly he was just shoved into. 'That Ninetales said to look out for people from a criminal organization. What if they find me? Will I have to fight them? What if I lose? Will they kill me?' Matthew shuddered.

"Come on, Matt, get it together. You can do this. You can take care of a pokémon for a week. That's easy street! You've beaten a few gyms already; some lousy criminals won't stand a chance against you! Besides, they don't even know you're out here. I just gotta stay low for a while, that's all."

Matthew stood back up, feeling a little bit better. He leaned down to pick up the Zorua, trying not to think about how it was a human only minutes before. 'The Ninetales said I'd forget about that in the morning. But why? what's so important about her?' Realizing he'd probably never get the answers, no matter how desperately he wanted them, he shook his head and pulled out a pokeball.

"Come on Bolt. Can you track down my backpack real quick? I'm pretty sure it's just a straight line from there back to camp." The glow faded from the Boltund, who, after a quick scan of the area Matthew supposed was to look for the Ninetales, immediately began to sniff around. It only took a couple of seconds for him to catch the scent and go zipping through the forest, Matthew trailing behind.

By the time he got back, holding the backpack from the bottom with the Zorua on top, he was too exhausted to do much. After setting up a small bed for the human-turned-pokémon out of a spare blanket, he ended up just collapsing into his own sleeping bag. Yet, despite how tired he was, he couldn't close his eyes, imagining every rustle in the bushes, every branch snapping another criminal henchman sneaking up to kill him off and take the pokémon next to him. He sighed in frustration. The not-so-great day he had was starting to look like it was turning into a not-so-great week.