Chapter Two-Mahar

"Vul…" The word was soft, and somewhat meaningless. It was as if the creature who had uttered it felt a need to make herself known, before even she began to doubt her own existence.

Indeed, it was easy to lose yourself here, to believe yourself invisible and removed from everything, yet somehow bonded with it as well. The night was so quiet that it might have been a void save for the hills all around her.

The little creature standing there was a vulpix, though admittedly a bit young to be out on her own. She would probably have become fully independent of her family a few months later, but what had happened back in the forest that had been her home had made the need to leave apparent. She would not be going back there. She shuddered just to think about it.

But she really had no idea what to do with herself. She wasn't hungry, as she had recently caught a few rattata to munch on, and a rather stupid blackbird that had stood calling damnation down upon her. Obviously, it had had no idea how far a good ember attack could travel.

No, she was good at fending for herself…good for an adolescent vulpix, anyway. Her parents had taught her well.

My parents… Mahar felt more alone than ever as she let her mind wander to her family. She knew it would be foolish to ever hope to see any one of them again. She still didn't fully comprehend what had happened back there. Those humans hadn't been the normal breed of trainers. No, she had always had a fascination of trainers and a somewhat puny fear of humans, which was often squashed by her own immense curiosity. She had watched many a trainer, and even interacted with a few of the beginning ones she knew to be no real threat. Yes, she knew more about trainers than any one of her cautious family had, and she could definitely say that those humans who had destroyed her family were not normal…not normal at all.

Mahar took a deep breath and pressed on through the hills. She had no real destination in mind. There was a small purpose in the back of her mind that she knew to be somewhat foolish. It was a longing for answers, for any sort of information on what had happened to her family after they had been caught.

She wished sometimes that she had let herself be sucked into one of those balls. It repulsed her to even think about it, that much was true, for she had sensed only death down that path, death or something far worse than death. But at least she might have been with her family, at least she wouldn't be stuck with this horrible sensation of not knowing, of wondering what might have happened, what should have happened…

Mahar paused suddenly, one paw raised questioningly. She sensed something out there in the night, some abnormal vibe, something out of place…

Close? What is it…? Mahar cocked an ear, taking in the night's rhythms around her, the smells and the sounds and the scents. Trainer.

She did not run. She sensed that this was not one of the trainers who had taken her family, and so not truly dangerous. Besides, what did she have to lose?

However, the vulpix was picking up a scent strong with fear radiating off the approaching trainer. She noted nervously the thuds his shoes made on the grass, the way his breath rasped noisily in his chest, as if he had been running a long time.

Then he was in view, racing breathlessly along the turf toward her, though she was not his goal. His belt, which contained one pokeball, marked him as a beginning trainer, at least to Mahar, for she had found that higher level trainers seemed to carry more pokemon as they grew in power.

The boy's appearance was somewhat messy. His shoulder length dark hair, while not exactly spiky, puffed out at the sides. Two light brown eyes peered from the large, somewhat crooked pair of glasses resting on the bridge of his nose. A coat much too big for him was tied around his waist, and its sleeves flapped in the mind. He looked to be about fifteen, though it was hard to tell in the night.

Mahar thought it was probably ridiculous to think of him as a threat, if anything could be told by his appearance. She simply watched as he drew nearer and nearer, wondering what had happened to upset him so. He was clearly terrified.

As it was, he nearly ran her over. She let out a sharp cry of indignation as she realized that he was not going to swerve to avoid her, having failed to notice her in his fear of whatever was chasing him. She barely escaped having one of her tails stepped on as she threw herself out of the way of his rather large shoes. As for the boy, he tripped and fell with a shout.

Mahar watched him as he slowly got to his knees, strands of his hair falling over his face. He took in breath after shuddering breath and coughed a bit, pushing his glasses further up on his nose with his pointer finger before turning his head to look at Mahar.

"Vul," she said, not really making an effort to form words or communicate. After all, the majority of humans were too unwilling to listen and learn to understand pokemon speak. The only ones she had met who had the merest inkling of what she was saying were trainers. Somehow, though, she didn't really expect him to understand her, especially not in the state he was in.

"Oh…vulpix. Hey, vulpix." His voice was soft and raspy as he spoke to her, and he kept shooting glances over his shoulder, as if looking for something behind him. A few seconds later, he scrambled to his feet, swaying unsteadily for a moment before starting forward again, though his pace was considerably slower than what it had been.

Mahar stared into the night behind him as he pressed onward. The rolling hills and fields in the distance glistened emerald in the moonlight, and the night sky seemed to go on forever above it, almost looking as though it touched down in some far distant place, like a dome. That was why this place was often referred to as The Sky Dome, Mahar knew.

There didn't seem to be any danger. The vulpix's nose wasn't sensing anything irregular. She could see nothing out there that was moving save for the taller grasses blowing gently in the wind coming in from the sea.

"Oh, they're out there." Mahar started a bit as the boy's voice came to her. He had stopped some ways ahead, and he read the question in her eyes as she looked at him. "Evil people…bad trainers are chasing me. Not Team Rocket, or Aqua or Magma. Something else, something worse. I have to get away…" And he turned and started jogging again, leaving Mahar more confused than she had been before.

The fox like pokemon decided after a few moments of thought that she ought to follow him. Perhaps she could help him. The mention of, 'evil humans' brought back memories…maybe he could give her some clues on what had happened to her family. She started purposefully after him.

He seemed surprised to see her trotting along beside him, and then he smiled. "You're different, aren't you, vulpix? I've never met a vulpix who would interact with humans…normally so solitary…"

"Well, I suppose I always was the oddball." Mahar found herself speaking, though she didn't expect him to understand. He didn't seem to mind though, merely nodding. Mahar supposed he had been running a long time with no company but his fear, and thus was glad to have some company, even if it was only a young vulpix.

The odd pair went on in silence for a moment, and, as no signs of pursuit surfaced, the boy slowed his pace to a walk. His breathing gradually returned to normal, and he began to speak softly to Mahar of his home across the sea, of how he had been kidnapped and brought here, of how he had barely evaded capture again.

Mahar listened with interest, hoping against hope that he would mention something that might be a clue as to what had happened to her family, but he did not. She supposed that she ought not have hoped…besides, even if he did see a ninetales or vulpix somewhere, what reason would he have for mentioning them anyway?

"I'm Geoffrey." He spoke his name out of the blue, a slight smile on his face. "I would ask your name, but I can't understand you. See, I only just became a trainer…my pokemon is actually stolen." He looked down at Mahar, then added hastily, "I didn't steal him from another trainer or anything. When the bad people were taking me across the sea, I overheard some of them talking about how they were going to throw him overboard or put him down or something, so I snuck in and sucked him up into the only ultraball I had. They never suspected, since I wasn't a trainer when they kidnapped me."

"Vul." Mahar nodded to him. She didn't think she would have really held it against him even if he had stolen a pokemon from another trainer…what did it really matter, anyway? Battling pokemon, in her opinion, was just wrong. It didn't matter if trainers thieved pokemon from one another, for the life was usually all the same. Pokemon were just objects to humans.

"You know, vulpix, before I was kidnapped my family all disappeared." Geoffrey spoke softly, voice almost a whisper, though Mahar's finely attuned sense of hearing picked up on his words with ease. "First it was my big sister who vanished, then my uncle, and several of my relatives I didn't know about. There were odd things happening back where I lived, as well…other people were disappearing. And one day, I just came back from school to an empty house. My parents were just gone. Their pet Persian died defending them…" He paused, a frown on his face. "I tried to run, got a room at a hotel, but they caught me later, in my room. Scariest moment of my life, that was…"

Mahar padded on in silence beside him, digesting this information. She waited for him to tell more of his story, for he had only given her a skimpy version before, but he said nothing.

They were nearing a city. Mahar found she could smell it. It wasn't a big city, or at least it didn't feel like one. It didn't smell of pollution or smoke or hundreds of cars, unlike the one huge city she had visited before, so long ago.

"Vulpix." She spoke to get his attention, trotting along in front of him. She figured that he would probably be safer in a city, as humans tended to protect other humans. "Follow me." And then she started off, hoping he would understand her intent, if not her words.

"You want me to follow? If there a safe place up there?" Geoffrey blinked, then hurried to catch up with her, jacket sleeves flying out behind him.

Pleased, Mahar led on, following the scent of the city. It wasn't far, maybe a mile or two. They would be there soon if they kept a brisk pace. Mahar had no clue what they were going to do when they got there, but, as she had thought before, she had nothing to lose. She had no real purpose in life, and maybe she could find one with this boy. After all, he needed protection, and she needed answers. Information traveled quickly amongst humans, she had found. Perhaps she could somehow make him understand just what sort of information it was she wanted. It was a start, anyway.

The vulpix drifted into her memories as they walked on. The night sky and the earth below seemed to come together in perfect harmony, creating a sense of peace around her, and she found she could drift into her own recollections easily. She remembered her home…a great forest south of here, far behind her now. The trees had been so huge that they seemed to breathe in the clean forest air. There had been a city there near the forest, though of course she and her family, living in the heart of the great forest, were never seen by any trainers.

However, Mahar had been about to change that. She had had a great curiosity and fascination with people in general and trainers in particular, and she had wanted to learn more. As she had grown older and more independent, she began to venture out toward the outskirts of the forest where beginning trainers came to catch pokemon. At first, she had not let herself be seen at all, watching from behind some bushes or from a tree, for, oddly enough, she was a good tree climber. Gradually, though, she had grown bolder, and had sometimes made herself known to the people there.

Mahar chuckled quietly to herself as she remembered. How the people in that city must have talked about the brave little vulpix who liked humans!

She had been very audacious, there was no questioning that. From playing with humans children to taking food from the hands of trainers, she had gradually come to think that perhaps humans weren't so bad as her family made them out to be. This trust had been considerably diminished when some trainers had actually tried to catch her. She had had a few narrow escapes, that was for sure. However, though this had made her more cautious, she had continued to interact with the humans, gradually gaining a better understanding of them and their city.

Mahar was so lost in her happy memories and sense of longing for days that had past that she failed to sense the presence coming up on them until it was almost too late. All she knew was that Geoffrey suddenly gave a shout and started running ahead, looking behind himself once with fear filled eyes.

Mahar paused for a split second. That was all the time it took for her to sense something behind them. She peered behind herself for a fleeting instant and made out a group of humans coming toward them from far away, appearing from behind a large hill to the east. This may not have been cause for too much fear, as the humans were reasonably far away, but Mahar glimpsed something running in front of them, something that seemed to float over the ground and that's dead eyes struck fear in Mahar's heart. She was running alongside Geoffrey in the next moment, little legs straining to take her as quickly as she could manage.

They were coming up on the city. It was very, very near now, and Mahar barked and yipped and generally tried to urge Geoffrey to run faster. She was filled with an all-consuming desire to escape, a feeling that reminded her sickeningly of the day on which she had lost her family and fled her home. She could not allow herself to be caught by those humans, could not allow Geoffrey to be captured by them either. He was her companion now more than ever, as they were both united in their desire to escape.

Mahar gradually became aware of a road stretching to the left. The road cut through the hills and snaked down into the city, and soon the vulpix could see the city itself, a small place looking sleepy and quaint in the moonlight.

A sense of dread filled Mahar as she sensed whatever it was coming up on them, so close now, they were doomed, doomed… The pokemon closed her eyes as she made a desperate leap and gained the road, Geoffrey beside her.

Quiet. There was nothing now, nothing but the sounds of the night. Mahar cracked her eyes open, and she could sense Geoffrey's confusion and fear as he looked behind them. Mahar turned and followed his gaze with her own, rather dreading what she might see.

Nothing. There was absolutely nothing behind them. The tall green grass swayed peacefully on either side of the lonely stretch of road. The chasers could have been an illusion. Mahar found much to her disquiet that she could not sense anything, either.

"…I want my life to be normal again…" Geoffrey's voice shook slightly, and Mahar pressed up against his leg reassuringly.

"I am here. I will help you," Mahar said, though she knew he could not understand her. She felt his fingers lightly stroke the reddish curls on top of her head, his hand still trembling a bit, and she thought of how alike they were, of how their situations were the same. Perhaps they could help one another, she and he. It was worth a try.

Underneath the moonlight, a vulpix and a human walked down the road and into the city side by side, one hoping to find answers and the other only wishing for safety. Both were equally lost in the world, and neither had any idea of what fate had in store for them…