Chapter 19: Kitsune: Good or Evil? Part Two
Injured again. Is this new path I have chosen really so different that I am no longer able to take care of myself? Things are falling apart so soon, it looks like my plans will go nowhere. A few unknown variables have knocked everything off course, but I mustn't let myself feel depressed about it. I no longer have the option of turning back, it was lost as soon as I failed the gym battle and was weakened enough to be caught in a pokeball, the only choice is to go forwards, hoping to find a way around the problem.

Kitsune lay alone in the pokemon centre; her eyes were closed as she lay in a private recovery room, but she was anything but asleep. While her tails lay limp because of both her mood and the fact one of them hurt to move, her ears were up and twitching. It felt like her ears were hearing something but the message wasn't reaching her mind to be perceived. Kitsune's jaws clenched and she bared her fangs and growled slightly. It wasn't just Thorn outside the recovery room that wished harm would come to her.

The sound of the recovery room door sliding open made Kitsune's eyes spring open, perceiving nothing more than a blur of movement— no, there was a feeling that the sight wasn't coming from her eyes, more being forced into her mind. An illusion. A good one at that. The door slid shut after a few seconds of what seemed liked shocked silence.

No point acting too hastily, I'm not in the best shape after losing so much blood, thus waiting to learn more is the best action.

"Bug's gone!" Kitsune could hear Ryan clearly through the door, even if he wasn't shouting in shock she would have heard, it would have just required more focus. Kitsune closed her eyes again and concentrated on not missing any part of what was being said. Ryan's voice turned to a sob, "He said he sensed a ninetales forcing a group of unown into serving it without question… I hoped it wasn't Kitsune doing it, but I should't have led Bug here, right into a trap."

"Kitsune's taken Bug!" Thorn screeched out, his rage seeming to vibrate every wall. Then there was silence, or at least the sound of some of them being quiet as if trying to plan without talking for fear of being over heard. They were clearly not stupid, even if they had already misunderstood the situation; they were doing their best not to under estimate her. Though by the sound of metal claws gently rubbing against paper and the occasional non-committal grunt from what sounded like Cinder, it seemed like the planning was being done by the Skarmory with Cinder being the only one even slightly interested in whatever plan was being made.

"Kitsune wouldn't have done it," Sketch was one of the exceptions; he still thought the best of her. Kitsune's tails almost started wagging at the thought of how much optimism in others was too much, and how Sketch was clearly beyond that point. He must have lived a very sheltered life. He was actually crying, "She's not bad, she's… she's… only hurt Thorn for damaging her beauty. She can't be punished for that and her bad luck."

Yes, it is odd how I seem to be having a run of bad luck.

"Sketch does have a point," Ryan seemed to also want to break the lack of talking. Lilac would have had to be with him, but why hadn't she said anything? "Glitch would point out how my bringing of Bug directly to Kitsune after he sensed what was happening was such a logical action that it could of easily been predicted and a trap been set here to catch Bug. Kitsune may just of been unlucky that we'd come to her fir—"

Ryan had stopped mid-sentence as the recovery room door open once more, and Cinder leapt through and at Kitsune, though he did not look overly aggressive. She merely shifted her front paws under herself as if about to jump out of the way. She didn't dodge. Cinder landed on her, knocking her over on to her side, though positioned most of his weight on the bed around her, instead of her, while biting into her neck. His teeth only touched the skin of her neck and how he held her he seemed to be expecting very little struggle, showing that he didn't want to use any more force than was necessary. He was treating Kitsune like she was a normal delicate ninetales. She pretending to struggle a bit, probing the weak spots of his hold more than testing his strength. He grinned, showing that he felt he had won and had no idea that his hold on her was worse than nothing. It only made her seem helpless.

"Now you're going to tell us what you did with Bug!" Thorn screeched while entering the room, though it quickly turned to a laugh as he leapt at her, raising one leg up towards her underbelly as she lay. She could feel his talons touching her fur as a threat. "Let's see how much I have to rip out of you before you talk."

"Sketch you really shouldn't watch—" Omega's voice spoke, and there were a few whimpers of terror from sketch as there was the sound of him being pushed to the ground.

It was all too easy. Kitsune's tails flashed instantly to glowing bright white as she slipped out from under Cinder, pushing him off the bed, and she spun around. As she turned she felt a brief bit of resistance on one tail for an instant, and even though using iron tail made them all numb, Kitsune was sure the only thing she could of hit was Cinder with a tip of a tail. It would certainly cut his flesh. She continued to spin, whacking Thorn's damaged wing with as many of her tailing as possible and as hard as she could manage.

There was no time to look to see what damage she had caused, and she used her hind legs to propel her towards the door as soon as she was facing that direction. She was mid-air before she saw Omega was holding Sketch to the ground in the doorway. One swish of her tails, with the white glow quickly fading, moved her trajectory so as she knocked Omega off Sketch and used him for her next bound, hearing a sound much like him choking on something as she did so. The only other thing she noticed on her way out of the pokemon centre was Biohazard unconscious on the ground outside and a trail of drag marks showing for certain he was dragged to the pokemon centre.

They won't underestimate me again. I doubt I would have stood a chance, even just against Thorn, if I hadn't completely caught them off guard. I feel so weak because of my tail injury. If it weren't for that, I'd stay and talk to them about what's happening and that I didn't do it.

Something caught Kitsune's eye, a spot of red. She turned towards it and continued to run; feeling lighter headed every moment. Once closer it triggered an instinct within her mind. The instinct said to her, "You are weak and need food, there are drops of blood leading a trail towards injured prey," alas without anywhere else to turn to sort out the problems she had, she just gave into the instinct without a fight and followed the trail. It felt bad to be going after prey when there were more important things to deal with and Kitsune put down the lack of a scent on the tail of blood drops to the blood loss.

She snapped out of her instincts managing her every thought. She saw Katar floating in the air and heard him screaming in pain, though the screams quickly subsided, as he seemed to lose consciousness. A golden glow surrounded him and it linked to the golden glow of a ninetales surrounded by floating black objects that reminded Kitsune of some of the symbols humans use, though they also all had one large eye each.

It was too hard to think clearly, and she just charged at the other ninetales, "Katar is mine!" she growled as she head butted him, disrupting his hold on Katar. "I cannot let him die till I've gotten pay back for him framing me. Tell me what makes your claim of a need for vengeance against him greater than mine or be gone."

"My lovely Kitsune, it is good to finally meet you, you may call me Huxian," the other ninetales coughed some blood while he tried to be as charming as he could and stand up. "Katar here is a long time arch-nemesis, though I never expected him to stoop so low as to promise to help me and then lead me away from all possible medical attention when he knew I was poisoned and didn't know it. My claim is quite strong, and death is the only punis—"

"He sliced a wound open on one of my tails and then proceded to drain blood out through it. You can see the injury…" Kitsune barked, turning her side towards Huxain and for the first time she noticed the white bandage wrapped around the wound. "…Okay, you can't see it, but still you should know something's come above life and death for our kind. Katar is rightfully mine."

"My unown slaves can heal that injury…" Huxian spoke, though his voice started to fall weak as the realization of what he was probably letting Kitsune know dawned on him. Still he continued on talking, merely starting to take a few cautious steps backwards, stumbling because of the toxin, his tails limp and his ears flat. "Yes, I was behind taking that unown from that human at the pokemon cen—"

It was too late for talk. Kitsune was already literally at his throat, about to bite it with full intentions of ripping it out. A flash of golden light knocked her back, then slowly lifted her into the air.

"I'm sorry, but I'm going to seal them away now. It'll only take a few moments," Huxain sighed, using the unowns' powers to levitate Kitsune and move her around a bit so he could inspect her every detail as the unown around him slowly faded with a very sad look in their eyes. "Katar says the toxin that is within me will kill me soon, but I can always hope that he is wrong. While weakened I am likely to lose my control over my servants if I don't seal them away somewhere they cannot escape… If I die they'll spend all eternity in an inescapable empty world. I wish that you'd help tend to my need while I'm ill so that I can teach you to exploit this power once I recover. It took me nine hundred years, but I'm sure I can teach you in much less as I had to learn with no help."

Kitsune's tails started wagging. "I've never met anyone so pathetic. You must have come all this way just to try wooing me, yet I'm not even a hundred years old yet. You've wasted your life as you've clearly missed all the chances of love in your life, plus nothing is impressive about having slaves do all your work. It actually looks quite easy to do and much easier for me to manipulate. The fact that you can't even use them to manipulate love adds to how inferior you are… I'm glad our species won't have to put up with you for too much longer, you're too much of an embarrassment."

Kitsune's fur started to puff out and glow a pale blue that, though the golden glow of Huxian was much a stronger colour, it seemed to be unable to hold around Kitsune's and the blue glow quickly spread. A sudden burst knocked Huxain backwards into a nearby tree, and Kitsune collapsed on to the ground. The blue glow intensified and suddenly the black forms of the unown started to appear all around them. Though the blue glow, nor a golden one, did not cover these as they were not under Kitsune's power or Huxian's.

"I'll deliver a killing blow to Huxian," Katar spoke, and somehow Kitsune wasn't surprised he was conscious, "he's more of a friend than a nemesis and I don't want him to suffer. I'm sure I can do it without damaging his pelt at all, though I'm not sure whether I'd actually have the heart to skin him afterwards. My old master taught me how so as to make money when there wasn't enough in killing people."

"No. He must suffer life," Kitsune growled weakly, feeling how little strength she had left, "death is too good for him, he needs to feel powerlessness for the remaining decades of his life and feel how much of a mess he's made of himself. Katar help me drag him to the pokemon centre, if he lives I'll forgive you for what you tried to get done to me."

"No, you lack the stamina to do so." a voice spoke within Kitsune's mind, "you have less strength left in you than he does. For now you must sleep so we can repair what damage we can."

Kitsune was plunged into darkness…