The first thing I felt when I opened my eyes, was something nice and soft underneath my chin. What was before me was a black head with an orange snout. Horns protruded from the back, which began to curve back towards its neck, ending in a sharpened point. "Good morning my dear," a familiar voice said softly. "Houndoom?" I lifted my head, remembering yesterday's events, where Houndoom had courted me. In other words, we were a couple now. "How did you rest, Houndoom?" I asked. "Pretty well, but how did you sleep?"" Houndoom asked. "Well, I had a nice pillow to sleep on," I said with a slight stutter.
"I see that you two are still a happy couple," we both sat up to see Ninetales laying in the corner. In between her paws was a rock, what for, I had no idea. "Why are you holding a rock?" Houndoom asked. "I wanted to see if I could freeze it," Ninetales said flatly. In an instant, the rock was covered in a coat of ice. It looked like a pretty gem that any human would happily take. "Why did you want to freeze it?" I asked. "Well, it is a custom to offer a frozen rock to one who holds my interests. I have decided that I will try to find a new mate, as living in the past has only caused me emotional strife," Ninetales said with a small smile on her face.
"So I will be leaving our pack temporarily in order to find another Ninetales. I will not be abandoning you, as I will return as soon as I find a mate, but I must go out on this journey for myself. Who knows? Once I return, a little Vulpix will be following me, along with my new mate at my side," she said before standing up. "What happened to this unyielding loyalty towards your past mate?" Houndoom asked. "Simply put, watching you two court the other, and become a couple has made me realize something. I do not just want to sit by and watch others be happy. I have a life I must live, and I cannot live it by watching you two live it," she said with a whine.
I got up and slowly padded over to Ninetales, keeping my eyes locked on her lower head. A few years ago, I would have happily seen this Pokemon off. I really don't like Ninetales as a species, especially their Vulpix. But this Ninetales has become one with me and Houndoom's little pack, so I walked up and rubbed up against her. "You'll come back eventually right?" Ninetales nodded at my question. "I will miss you both, as when we met, it was a very friendly meeting," Ninetales said. Both Houndoom and I snorted, we hadn't heard her be sarcastic before. "Entitled, spoiled, mutt," I shot. "You weather hazard," Ninetales said. We both giggled. "Hey! What about me?" Houndoom patted up. "You are a demon mutt, you Giratina worshiper," Ninetales giggled.
"Hey! That is my god you are insulting!" Houndoom laughed as did I; Giratina wasn't real. Every Dark type Pokemon would know that.
Houndoom suddenly adopted a more serious face. "Say, Ninetales," he caught Ninetales' attention pretty quickly. "Take care of yourself out there. I don't want to wander around this den, and find out that you got killed," he said. "You forget that we Ninetales can be quite powerful… especially when it comes to fleeing," she said in a joking tone. "And to think we're breaking you out of your shell as soon as you're about to leave us," I said. "Well, we will get to explore what is under my shell when I return. Fare well, my friends," Ninetales said before getting up, rock in her mouth, heading towards the mouth of the cave.
I could hear Houndoom let a whimper escape his mouth as I struggled to hold one down myself. We had no idea if she would be able to come back. Something tickled at my nose from the outside. A single snowflake landed at the mouth of our den; we were going to be snowed into our den for the next few days… and Ninetales would be stuck out in it.
A huge blizzard was coming.
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I sighed as I exited the den without taking a second to look back at the home I would be leaving behind. It will be quite a while before I can even return home; Ninetales weren't exactly rare, but it is very rare to meet one out in the wild. On top of that, the potential Ninetales I could meet might not even be a male, which would make mating with them rather difficult… We could be soulmates, where our souls bond together, but I had the desire to have more kits. And in order to do that, I not only wanted a mate I loved and cherished, or a Soul Mate, but one I can mate with and produce an egg with.
My decision to leave at this time of year seemed terrible; it was the middle of autumn by the look of things. I could very easily survive in the cold, it really was not that difficult, but food could become a potential problem. There would be a lot less prey wandering out once snow starts falling, which would be fine since I could just become a vegetarian, but edible plant life would dwindle as well. Whatever, many of my kind have gone far and wide, searching for a soulmate, a mate, or a purpose in life. If they can survive in conditions similar to this, then I shall find my way through the snow.
I held my head high, keeping the frozen rock I had made in my mouth, and kept my eyes forward. There is somebody out in the world, waiting for me to find it. I just hoped I can find it before my pack members pass, and I hope I can find that person at all. If not, then I should have said my goodbyes to Absol and Houndoom.
The sunlight started to trickle through the orange and yellow leaves as I walked along, little white specs were falling in between, one even landed on my nose. I sighed, the first snow would be coming sooner than I had expected. The dead silence of the forest made me shiver a bit. I was so used to having Houndoom or Absol by my side, or ahead of me, but now I was alone. There was not a lot of wind today, but the occasional breezes would make the leaves rattle and whisper as I walked along. This would be the simple song I'll be hearing for quite a while.
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"Man, we left at a perfect time! Snow's coming down!" I turned back to see Daniel grin at the white, frozen rain that had just begun to fall around us. "That means if we're lucky, we'll be able to play in the snow," his smile somehow started to grow bigger. "Say Sol, can you walk a little bit ahead of me, and lift your tails? I didn't really bring the thickest jacket, since I thought we were just going to be hiking," Daniel asked. I shook my head before barking in response. "Daniel knows it's the middle of fall right?" Chili asked as we both began to inch closer and in front of Daniel. Our tails raised a little higher to block some of the snow befalling upon us.
"He knows, but you know our trainer, plus, I didn't even know it was going to snow today. Hell, I am pretty sure only an Absol would know that snow would be falling today… or was that a Castform? I am not sure, but one of those two can predict weather," I said while taking a peek at our trainer. His arms were wrapped around himself as the snow started getting worse and worse. "I think if a Castform sensed the weather, then snow would be falling like this?" Chili caught a snowflake in his telekinetic grasps. It was nearly the size of a golf ball.
"Well, come on. Let's get Daniel in between us, we need to find shelter right now. I know that hoodie isn't going to hold up very long in the cold. And if Daniel keeps standing out in this, we will be losing him today," I said, before stopping. "Yo Sol, is something wrong?" Daniel jogged towards me, expertly whirling around Chili, and in front of me. "Is there a bear out here? Or did you step on something?" Daniel picked my paw up to check for anything that might have gotten stuck in the pad. "I am so sorry for this, Daniel," I lowered my head into his arms as he hugged me… and then I yawned. When I woke up today, I didn't expect to be kidnapping my own human today.
The next thing I knew, Daniel slumped over my body, fast asleep, and then I stood up. Daniel was fast asleep now. My tails moved on their own, acting as an umbrella and blanket for my trainer. "Did you just use Yawn?" Chili asked. "Yes I did. Now let's find somewhere to bunker down for the night," I ordered before taking the lead.
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We reached the mouth of a cave, which was really just a hole in the side of a little cliff we had found. Daniel was securely held in place by my telekinesis, and was finally coming out of his slumber as I slowly laid down in the cave. "W-wha?" Daniel slurred as I laid his head down on the side of my stomach. "Chili, help me keep Daniel warm," the Alolan Ninetales nodded and laid his tails over mine, where our trainer was under.
"So, it looks like I am going to have to share my den with two human lovers for a couple days," my head snapped up as Chili quickly got to his feet. An Alolan Ninetales, a female, was standing closer to the end of the cave. Her tails were laid out over her, and her head was resting on her paws. She had her eyes wide open with a scrunched up snout. She stared at the still awakening form of our trainer with daggers in her eyes. If looks could kill, then Daniel would be a bloody pulp on the ground. "Is there anything wrong with us caring for our trainer's well being? I don't know if you've noticed this, but making sure our trainer doesn't freeze to death is quite high on our priority list," I growled.
"Hey bud, what are you growling at?" I felt an ice cold hand begin to caress my cheek, Daniel was now fully awake, but hadn't attempted to sit up until now. He was just on his knees as I growled at him. "You Mister, you are going to lay back down. It is cold and we have an angry guest in our cave," I said mid growl. I know he couldn't understand me, but it made me feel a little better when I said that to him. "Alright alright! I'm laying back down," he did just that as he grumbled about me at least making for a good pillow. That's when I noticed that Chili hadn't spoken a word since he spotted the Alolan Ninetales.
Could be he attracted to her? That was a possibility, even though I had to admit that our guest was very pretty… even if it seemed like she wanted to kill our trainer right now. "Quit staring at me, you freaks. Just focus on your trainer before I rip your eyes out," I could tell that comment was focused on Chili as he still had his eyes on Ninetales.
"Hey Chili, can you lay down? I wanna pet you," Daniel butted in, reaching his hand out for my surrogate child. To my surprise, the Alolan Ninetales didn't move. He just kept his eyes locked on our guest, ignoring Daniel's desire to smother him in affection. "Hey bud?" Daniel got up on all fours, and peeked over my back and saw the Ninetales. "Ah, Chili's got a crush, eh?" he elbowed me jokingly as I chuckled as well. "If that human makes another comment like that, he will be leaving this cave without a head," the wild Ninetales said. "And if you lay a paw on him, I will roast you alive," I almost snarled, before making Daniel lay back down. Then Chili opened his mouth and finally spoke.
"Mema? Is that you?"