Me: Here's chapter two.
Vurso: Not like Sera has anything better to do, since she's grounded.
Firethroat: Want me to toast your mom, Sera?
Me: Naw. Even if she does ground me sometimes, I still love her.
Firethroat: … Right. Anyways, on with the fic.
Vurso: Hey! That's my line!
*They start fighting. *
Me: *Sighs and starts typing, between ducking as things fly through the air over me. *
*********************
I sighed softly as I looked down at my reflection in the puddle. My mom's face appeared behind me, and I looked up into her eyes.
"Why am I so different, Mama?"
My mother gently licked the top of my head, and said, "Because you are. Besides, I wouldn't have you any other way."
I was six months old now, and my mother had recently rejoined her old pack. Which meant bad news for me. The young Growlithe refused to accept me as one of them, and the others in the pack weren't much better. The only one who truly accepted me was my mother.
I growled softly. "But everyone else in the pack hates me."
"I don't hate you." My mom told me in a matter of fact way. "And neither do they. They just don't know you yet."
I snorted. "And they don't want to get to know me."
"Just give them time." A howl sounded, and my mom stood up. "It's time me for to go off to hunt. Now you be good." I smiled innocently. My mom started to walk off, then turned back. "Little One."
"What?" I asked, putting on my most innocent face.
"No battling." While I cursed mildly under my breath, my mom bounded off to join the other hunters.
I looked again in the puddle. What stared back definitely wasn't a Growlithe. A white muzzle, the wispy beginnings of a white beard, a head ornament made up of three points, and light blue fur was what I could see. What the puddle didn't show was my ribbon tail, my purple fur cape… thingy, and white diamond spots.
What am I? I wondered. I narrowed my red eyes, and growled. Finally, I splashed the puddle with one of my still overly large paws, dispersing the image. I turned and stalked away, back toward the pack.
I lay down in my usual spot on an outcropping of rock, and closed my eyes, to doze in the sun. Alas, it wasn't to be.
"Hey, guys, look, it's the fire-less wonder." I tensed momentarily.
Oh, great. Doesn't this guy have anything better to do than bother me? I groaned mentally. I opened my eyes to look up into the face of Racer, one of the Growlithe my age.
"Scram, Racer. I'm trying to take a nap." I curled up with my back to him, and hoped that he would go away.
I jumped up and yelped as an ember landed on my back. A chorus of laughs told me exactly who was responsible.
I turned, growling, to find Racer and his two goons laughing their heads off.
"You're going to regret that." I snarled.
"I don't think so." He adopted his 'I'm so high and mighty' look. "You see, you can't do a thing to me, because I'm the son of the pack leader, and you're just a runt mutt, that's not even a Growlithe. Why your mom just didn't leave you to die when she had you is beyond me."
I saw red.
A wind picked up, not much more than a cool breeze, but a wind. I took a long, deep breath, held it for a few seconds, then let it out with as much power as I could. A sharp wind rushed out, which pushed all three of the Growlithe back a few inches.
Not giving them time to recover, I took another deep breath, and again exhaled. This time, a small, weak stream of water gushed out, hitting them dead on. It didn't do much, except wet their fur a bit. But with their natural fear of water, it was enough. They all ran away, yelping.
I sat down, and sighed. "Mom is so gonna kill me." I muttered.
I scratched my chin, and bit at a flea, before I decided to make myself scarce. Racer would blow everything out of proportion, and it would be better if I got out of the way for a few hours.
I turned, and bounded off. I had gotten pretty good at running, from imitating my mother, or so I thought. I knew I wasn't exactly the fastest pup in the pack. Make that, I was the slowest. Sometimes I felt like a Slugma was faster than I was.
After getting about a quarter of a mile away from the pack, I sat down to rest, winded. I heard a snickering, and turned to see a Ponyta colt with his mother.
"What's… so… funny?" I panted.
"The way you were running!" He laughed.
"What's… wrong… with the… way I… run?" I asked.
He snorted. "You don't run like that. That will get you nowhere, and just tire you out."
"Well, how am I… supposed to run?" I asked, still trying to catch my breath.
"I can't teach you, and neither can my mom. You don't have hooves. But I do know who can." He said.
"Oh? Who?" I asked.
His mother raised her head from where she was grazing, and swallowed her mouthful of grass. "Since you seem to be such a nice young foal, whatever you are, I'll show you."
"Thank you." I said, standing. I felt it important to be extra polite, so that the Rapidash wouldn't change her mind.
"You're welcome." She trotted off, with her foal at her side. I followed as best as I could. In case you haven't noticed, even a Ponyta or a Rapidash at a trot is pretty fast.
It was a quarter of a mile before we reached our destination. By that time, I was dragging my feet, and my tongue was nearly scraping the ground.
"Tired… tired…" I gasped.
"Well, you can rest now, because we're here." The Rapidash told me kindly.
"Thank you… Mrs. Rapidash…" I gasped out, collapsing.
"Welcome." She trotted off.
The Ponyta whispered a quick "Good luck" before cantering off to catch up with his mother.
Once I had caught my breath, I looked up. I was in the middle of a community of Eevee and it's evolutions, and every single one of them was staring at me.
"Um… hi?" I said, nervous.
"Hello." One of the littlest Eevee replied, before her mother shushed her.
"I'm sorry for intruding, but The Rapidash that just left told me that you could teach me how to run…" I suddenly felt very foolish.
I should have never left the pack. I thought to myself.
Suddenly, one of the younger Umbreon walked up to me, and sniffed my nose. "I'll teach you." He told me. My heart jumped, then plummeted when he added, "If you can catch me a fish."
"Huh?" Was my only reaction.
"You heard me. Catch me a large fish, and I'll teach you how to run."
"But I don't know how to fish!" I protested.
"Well, learn." The Umbreon turned and walked away. I was left standing there like a fool.
"Aww, pay no attention to him, Sugar." I turned to see a Vaporeon sitting behind me.
"Excuse me?" I asked. "What do you mean?"
"That there's Moonshine. 'e 'as the biggest, most inflated ego this side o' the mountains. Unfortunately, 'e's the best runner in the pack. An' 'e knows it." She replied. She had a matter of fact, down to earth attitude that I liked.
"Thanks. If I may ask, what's your name?" I asked politely.
"You ca' ask, an' ah'll tell ya. The name's Whirlwater. What's yours?"
"Uh…" The question took me by surprise. "I… don't have one…"
"Well, what do people call ya?"
"My mom calls me Little One, and everyone else in my pack calls me 'runt'." I told her.
"That's hard. What kinda pack ya in?"
"The Growlithe and Arcanine pack nearby." I replied, sitting down.
"Ah must say, you're the strangest Growlithe ah've eva' seen." She said, matching me.
"I'm not one. My mom is an Arcanine, and she accidentally bred with a Gyarados."
Whirlwater's eyes narrowed slightly. "Ah'll take your word for it. Anyways, since Moonshine's the best one ta teach ya how ta run, lets go teach ya how ta fish."
"Are you sure you want to teach me?" I asked.
"Sugar, ah have nothin' betta ta do right now, so ah might as well teach ya how ta fish." She got up and trotted off.
I groaned as I followed.
After about ten minutes of trotting, we arrived at a small creek. "Here we are."
I sat down and groaned. "No more running…"
Whirlwater laughed. "Don' worry, Sugar. Now it's swimmin'." With that, she jumped in.
"That's even worse." I muttered.
Whirlwater got out, dripping, and started pushing me towards the creek. "In ya go."
"Whirlwater! Water and I don't mix!" I yelped.
"Sure ya do. Ah ain't seen a blue poke yet that wasn't a water poke."
"Well I'm your first one!" I shouted, trying to get past.
"Ya got a water smell about ya, and that makes ya a water poke!" Whirlwater shouted back, and pushed extra hard.
I found myself standing in the middle of the water, and I froze. All my life, I had been taught that water was bad. Now, I was in the middle of a creek.
"There, now, that wasn't so bad now, was it?" Whirlwater asked me.
I whined softly, before I figured out that I was fine. The water wasn't hurting me. I put my nose down, and sniffed. Which earned me a nose full of water. After I finished sneezing it out, I looked up to see Whirlwater grinning.
"Told ya so."
"Aww, shut up." I grumbled.
Whirlwater laughed. "Now that we've got ya in the water, time ta teach ya how ta fish."
She walked to the middle of the creek, and I followed at her heels. The water was about chest high on me here, but as I wasn't very tall to start with, that didn't mean much.
"Now, Sugar, just do what ah do." Whirlwater told me in a quieter voice. I nodded once, and watched as she scanned the water at her feet. I jumped back in surprise when she suddenly lunged her head down, and come up, with a large fish flopping in her mouth. After a few seconds, she tossed her head and released it back into the water.
"Why did you let it go?"
"Ah'm not hungry. And ya should never fish when you ain't hungry, or fishin for someone else that cain't." I took the lesson to heart.
I stood in the middle of the creek, and looked down at my feet. I didn't know what I was supposed to be looking for, though.
After a few minutes, I noticed some shadows swimming around my legs. "Whirlwater." I whispered. "What are these?"
"Those are fish, Sugar." She whispered back. "Now, when one gets right between your legs, just reach on down, and grab it."
I waited for what seemed a long time. Every time a fish started to swim around my legs, I would do something to scare it off.
It was over an hour before one finally got right between my legs. I squinted my eyes, tensed ever so slowly, and lunged!
And come up with a mouth and noseful of water. And no fish.
"It's all right, Sugar. You're still learnin. Won't be long before you'll be able to catch one of 'em." Whirlwater reassured me. "Ya jus' gotta have patience."
"Patience was never my strong point." I muttered.
"Me neither, but I learned it."
I sighed and went back to looking at the water. It was about five minutes before another fish came around. And it was another miss.
I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths. I reopened my eyes, and went back to looking for fish.
The sun was starting to go down after I missed my tenth fish. "Com'on, Sugar. It's gonna get dark soon. We should head back."
"Just one more try." I murmured. Whirlwater sighed and nodded. I smiled thankfully, and went back to looking at the water.
A fish lazily swam up, and started to inspect my toes and feet. I resisted my urge to pounce, and instead kept as still as I could. The only thing to move was my eyes, as I tracked the fish. It took its time, going to each foot, and inspecting it, before slowly drifting down to settle between my front legs. I slowly moved my muzzle until it was pointed straight at the fish, then stopped. The fish turned to regard me with one large eye, and it was almost impossible for me to keep from lunging.
Come on, fish. Stop looking at me… I thought to myself. Finally, it decided I wasn't interesting, and went back to looking at whatever it is fish look at.
This was my chance. My head was in the water before I knew it, and I felt something slippery in my mouth. I took a firm grip on it, and triumphantly lifted my head above the water, blowing water out of my nose.
"Ya did it, Sugar!" The Vaporeon was grinning as wide as her mouth would allow her to. I was smiling, too, although it wasn't as noticeable.
I proudly walked up on the bank, and shook myself to get most of the water out of my fur. I put the fish down, and put a paw on it to keep it from escaping. I looked up, grinning.
"Thanks for teaching me, Whirlwater. What can I do for you in return?"
"Ah don' want anythin, Sugar. Ya gave me somethin ta do, an, even betta, ya became mah friend. That's payment enough in itself."
"Thanks again, Whirlwater." I leaned down to pick up the fish, when a thought struck me. "Whirlwater?"
"Hmm?"
"I have a question."
"What is it, Sugar?"
"Why doesn't Moonshine just catch his own fish?"
Whirlwater snickered. "Cause he's a big ol' chicken around water. He had the misfortune o' bein' raised by a couple o' Flareons, an ya can't get him near water now. But he has a huge cravin' for fish, and not many in the pack wanna sit around all day, catchin' fish for 'im."
"Oh. Thanks for telling me, Whirlwater. And thanks again for teaching me how to fish."
"You're welcome, Sugar." With that, I picked up my fish, and we trotted off in different directions.
On my way back to the pack, I thought about my day. I had gotten two important things that day. One was the ability to fish.
The other, and far more important one, was a friend.
*********************
Me: *Still ducking things that fly overhead. * Ugh… those two never stop fighting…
Firethroat: AND I'LL BET IT WAS YOU THAT TOOK MY ICE CREAM OUT OF THE FREEZER!
Vurso: WHY WOULD I EAT YOUR ICE CREAM? I'M WEAK AGAINST ICE, YOU IDIOT!
Me: *Sighs and snaps my fingers. * *They both suddenly have straight jackets on. *
Both: *Look at me, stunned. *
Me: You'll stay that way until you both calm down and stop fighting. *Snaps my fingers, and sends them both to their rooms. *
Both: *Faintly yelling. * Please review!
Me: *Sighs and goes to polish off the rest of the ice cream in the freezer. *