Ryan's Intermezzo: Part the Second

"What took you so long! Isn't the beach wonderful?" When we got past the trees, we were suddenly on a warm, white beach that looked like it went on indefinitely in both directions. Sketch was smiling, with sand already clinging to the fur around his feet, hands, and even chest. He'd obviously rolled in it before we'd arrived. The waves were but a few yards away, rolling up on shore and then dying backwards before starting up again. Wingull circled lazily above, cawing and crying at us. Besides us and the birds, the beach looked deserted. Old pieces of driftwood were the only other signs of life. Sketch started to run along the beach, but quickly changed to chasing the waves back into the ocean, and then running away when they came back. He laughed the whole while.

"Yes, the beach is beautiful." I looked down the endless beach then smiled at Sketch. He paused in his game to grin back up at me before continuing to chase waves. I turned to Kitsune, who had sat down. She looked mildly uncomfortable, shifting her rear every few seconds. "That's just sand in your fur. It'll only get worse the more you squirm." Kitsune remained silent, but stopped moving. "Now that we're here, what shall we do?"

"I'm a little hungry…" Kitsune trailed off and looked up at the birds. Her tongue flicked out of her mouth and licked her lips slightly. I stared at her until she turned her head back to me. "But I refuse to eat those wingull. They looked good at first, but they smell badly." No surprise. wingull were scavengers and no strangers to eating whatever they could find.

"I have nothing I could give you right now, though. You could always hunt, correct?"

"Yes, I could. I'll go now before I get too hungry to move." She stood and shook in a vain attempt to remove sand from her fur. Kitsune started to walk away before I decided that letting her go off alone was a bad idea. After all, she was here essentially against her will. There was no guarantee that she'd come back after finding food, not to mention the possibility that her prey shouldn't have been prey at all. Images of trainers finding half eaten pokemon and even the bloodied remains of a human child started to flood my mind before I managed to close such dangerous thoughts out.

"Kitsune, I think I should go with you. You see, I've never been a great hunter and there are plenty of things you could teach me." It wasn't really a lie. I wasn't a great hunter and there were plenty of things she could teach, though most of those would probably disgust me. In reality, I hate even eating other creatures, let alone stalking and killing one.

She eyed me warily before responding. "No. Ninetales hunt alone." Kitsune started walking away again, but I made no move to stop her. If she wasn't going to let me come, then I'd just have to follow her on my own. She paused and glanced back at me. "Wouldn't it be easier for you to transform into my meal?"

"Ha, very funny, Kitsune. Just go before I change my mind about letting you go alone." I could tell that she was smiling as she darted down the beach and into the trees on the side. Sketch walked over and tugged on my jeans.

"Where's Kitsune going?" He looked up at me innocently. It was amazing and a little disturbing that Sketch had forgiven Kitsune so quickly after she most likely destroyed all his paintings. I know Katar confessed, but I just felt that Kitsune was really the one behind it. Katar really couldn't have set anything on fire while Kitsune could have. Though he may have lured her to do it, I still believed that it had been her. I bent down to him and placed a hand on his furry skull.

"She's going to find something to eat, and I'm going with her very shortly. I'm going to leave Glitch here with you while I'm gone, okay?" I smiled and Sketch's eyes brightened. He snatched the pokeball from my hand the moment I pulled it from my belt.

"Glitch hasn't been to a beach before! This'll be fun!" Sketch walked away from me and back towards the water, playfully tossing the pokeball. I sighed and went back to the cover of the forest.

"Alright…I need a form appropriate for tracking with both speed and accuracy. That means a canine in all likelihood. It'll also have to be quick on its feet and able to hide fairly effectively. Something small and fast…" I ran through my memory, searching for anything that fit the criteria. A ninetales would be too big and Kitsune would know that it was a fake. Mightyena were fairly good at stealth, but had worse noses that most other canines. An absol would most likely attract Katar for no real logical reason. There's absolutely no way I'm going to imitate Bio. Of course, there are other pokemon in the umbreon family…perfect! The fastest thing on four legs… a jolteon!

I took off my belt, which still held three pokeballs, and dropped it to the ground. It was the only part of me that wasn't actually me, and a jolteon could never wear a trainer's belt. I crouched down on to all fours and started the change. My body was shrinking, my clothes were being absorbed, and everything was turning pink. It was starting…my body was starting to burn with pain. I had to clench my teeth to keep from yelling. My eyes were jammed shut to try and stop the tears as my body twisted and tore itself apart to return to my natural state. I could tell that I was back to the way a Ditto should be, so I took a short break to catch my breath.

Transforming shouldn't be like that. I shouldn't have to feel each little motion setting my nerves ablaze. Sure, it was probably compounded from too long in one form, but it had always been like this. I hated changing, but I needed to continue.

Four limbs started to grow out again, coated in bristly fur. The torso and abdomen took shape; a small, dog-like body. Pointed ears grew back from my developing head. When the movement and pain stopped, I opened my eyes. The world was in grayscale now, which was a little disorienting. Immediately, I looked myself over for mistakes. There were none that I could see, and I breathed a sigh of relief. My ears were twitching at each little noise, but my nose was picking up everything. I had no idea what any of these scents were, except one. Even my human nose could smell Kitsune; a jolteon could easily follow it. I locked on to the scent and started following it through the trees.

I found Kitsune near the bushes on a much wider section of beach. There were people here, tons of them. They were wading in the water, basking on the beach…what could Kitsune possibly be doing? Something in the back of my mind was bothering me. It was saying that I was being careless. What did it mean? It clicked and I knew what it was. Kitsune was in heat and I was a compatible male. I had subconsciously picked a male form because that's what I was used to. Hurriedly, I did a minor transformation into a female jolteon and resumed watching Kitsune.

She was merely sitting just on the edge of the beach, watching the humans. Her eyes scanned across the beach, heading towards me. Quickly, I crouched low in the brush and stayed that way. Kitsune didn't seem to see me, but she did see a child. The child had seen her as well, and had begun walking towards her. The girl was obviously intrigued by the white fox, but Kitsune's eyes looked sinister to me. She was planning something that I wouldn't like, that was for sure. I swallowed a lump and hoped to Lugia that she wouldn't hurt the girl. Kitsune stepped backwards into the brush and was obscured from view.

The girl paused, considering following Kitsune. Instead of turning around like she should have, she starting moving forward again. I had to do something to protect her from Kitsune. If she got within Kitsune's reach, there would be nothing I could do. I needed to act now. I leapt from my hiding place and landed in front of the girl, growling as best I knew how. She sort of jumped back in surprise and a tiny bit of fear. It wasn't enough to send her away, though. I started charging a small shock attack, feeling my fur stand up as the static built up. Little blue forks of static danced around me and the threat of an impending attack caused the girl to turn and run. When she was gone, I let the electricity discharge harmlessly and ceased my forced growling.

"What are you doing?" Kitsune's voice was coming from behind me. I'd let her sneak up on me, foolishly. "And why are you brown?" That last part came with surprise on my part. Brown! But I thought I looked fine…in grayscale. If anyone with sense saw me, they would try to capture me for the 'unique' color.

"I guess I made a mistake in my transforming. All I'm trying to do is make sure you don't do anything wrong, such as luring small children to their deaths. Care to explain what you were doing, Kitsune?" I turned around to face her, even though she was easily twice my size now.

"…no. I'd prefer it if you leave me alone while I hunt now."

"So you were hunting, like I suspected? Well then, I really can't leave you alone now. Lilac trusts me to keep you out of trouble. It'd be very bad for both of us if you were eliminated for being a dangerous pokemon. Hunt something normal so we can get back to training."

"I didn't think you'd want me to hunt something normal because you'd think it was dangerous. I was going to hunt gyarados..."

"Of course I wouldn't want you to do that! Besides the fact that, as a fire type, you could easily drown in the ocean, gyarados could swallow you whole without even realizing it. Then you tried to go to something 'less dangerous' that could get you hunted for murder. You have no concept of relative danger. Why don't you just go to the forest, find some linoone, and eat them?"

She sighed a long, drawn out sigh/ "But I'm tired of those rats…" I was suddenly angry at her. She had nearly killed a kid to get a meal when actual prey animals were all over the place. Now she had the gall to effectively tell me 'no'? I wasn't taking care of her because I wanted to and she was abusing the fact that I couldn't lay a paw on her without fear of hurting Lilac.

"Kitsune, please just do what I say. I don't want to fight about this; I just want to get back to Sketch and the others." I was forfeiting and she knew it. Kitsune smiled enough to reveal pearly fangs which made me nervous. I was suddenly very aware of just how much bigger than me she was. I had managed to give her even more power: how could I have been so foolish? "Please, Kitsune."

"Alright, I'll return with you to Sketch if you let me hunt gyarados." Simple bargaining behavior; if you want this, then I want that. Even though I'd rather not have her hunt gyarados at all, I thought it'd be safer for all involved if she was at least near a source of help. The sooner I could get back to being human, the better anyway.

"Agreed. You lead the way." Kitsune nodded and started down the beach the way I had come. I followed after, acutely aware of tiny grains of sand starting to work their way in-between my paw pads. It was far more uncomfortable than the 'sand in my toes' feeling due to the fact that it clung to fur, too. I looked around Kitsune and saw Sketch sitting on the beach and looking up at what I knew to be a blue and pink pokemon (though my jolteon eyes read everything as gray).

Its body was jagged and angular, seemingly comprised of boxes and blocks. What could be considered a head was tapered somewhat and contained two large, white eyes that stared endlessly. It had only two 'legs' which were really more like triangular feet, and a small tail-like structure stuck up from the back. Tail, feet, and a few other patches were blue while the rest was pink. The most striking feature, however, was an odd pattern that ran across its body. All over the otherwise smooth surface were tiny black fissures like lightning, which forked and spread around edges and across planes. As we neared, the closest pupil swiveled to track us and Kitsune began to slow. It spoke in a mechanical, though soft, voice. "Ryan, I see that you are back."

"Yes, I trust that you kept Sketch safe?"

"Affirmitive." The Porygon floated lower to the ground so that he was merely hovering an inch or so above the sand. Kitsune had stopped a few feet away from it, but I continued past her until I stood next to the Porygon.

"Glitch, this is Kitsune. Kitsune, this is Glitch." I nodded towards them respectively, and then waited for Kitsune to respond. Glitch replied first, looking towards Kitsune and bowing as best it, I mean, he could.

"Greetings, Kitsune."

Kitsune didn't return the gesture and simply kept eyeing Glitch. She finally broke the silence while only throwing me a quick glance. "What is it?"

"…he's a Porygon, a man-made pokemon. He's nothing to be afraid of, Kitsune." She listened to me then stepped closer before reaching out a paw. Gently, she tapped Glitch on the front end of his head before quickly pulling away.

"Why are you pawing me?" Glitch asked in his calm voice with only a hint of curiosity. He didn't need to know, he just wanted to. Using such apathy made sure he wasn't disappointed when Kitsune didn't respond to him but instead turned to me.

"It sounded intelligent for a moment there." Wait, did she really just say that? Glitch's eyes widened momentarily before returning to their neutral laziness. Kitsune was running the risk of upsetting him, but she had no idea what that would mean. "Why does it look so cracked?" Good, a chance to steer the conversation in a better direction, if only a slightly better direction.

"He looks that way due to a minor problem during his creation. There was a corruption which altered his appearance, among other things. That's why Glitch has all those cracks…many people would consider him 'broken'. In fact, if I hadn't found him, he was going to be deleted."

"Deleted?"

"Glitch was created by computer and can travel between the physical and the virtual realms. Thus, he can be deleted with the appropriately equipped computer."

"Oh, so it's a ghost." Kitsune relaxed and sat back on her haunches. "Only ghosts can go between planes."

"I can't go between planes, and I'm not a ghost." Glitch spoke up again, but I shook my head to keep him from continuing. I moved my mouth so that he could read the speech patterns I was soundlessly imitating. Silently, I managed to tell him to 'drop it'. He seemed to understand, as he floated back up a few feet into the air.

"Yes, Kitsune, Glitch is a ghost." If that's the way she felt most comfortable thinking about him, then there was no reason not to go along with it. She seemed much happier with believe that he was a spirit and a happy Kitsune was, at least in this case, a good thing. Keeping her happy also meant letting her hunt gyarados, as my memory informed me. "Kitsune, if you want to hunt gyarados, now is the time. Sketch, stay near the shore while Kitsune goes to hunt."

Kitsune ran off to the water's edge and stared to wade in. Normally, this would be a very bad thing for Fire pokemon, but she had talked about it as if she'd done it before. As such, I could trust her enough to know that she knew what she was doing. If anything unexpected happened, Glitch and I would be more than enough to help her. While Kitsune went further out, I snuck back into the forest to return to human form. Once Kitsune was done eating, then we could get some work done…