Almost two months since the last chapter! I apologize for the people I've kept waiting (if there's any at all).

Remember when I said I was in a hurry to make the first chapter? Even though I took the extra time to polish chapter one (and lost my seventh spot because of it), the whole story had basically no long term plans made. It really came back to haunt me the past month and so. I've sorted that all out now, though, so expect faster updates in the future. Or at least, until I catch up to the current PercentVerse timeline. After that, it'll likely be an update every month to follow the pace of the original story. In the meantime, I have some projects of my own to initiate, so keep an eye out!

I've made some changes since last time. Here they are.

-Summary: A slight tweak, nothing important

-Notes: Removed the numbers rant, because frankly even I found it uninteresting in hindsight.

-Bio: My bio has been updated! Check it out for some general information about me.

The first thing I noticed was the vibration of my horn. It started in the morning as an almost unnoticeable buzz. By midday, it had intensified — not in an overwhelming way like before, but as if it was growing impatient. It was urging me towards something. I was inclined to ignore it but soon found myself unable to.

I closed my eyes and focused. There was indeed more to the buzzing than it appeared to be. I could make out a vague direction, as well as another mysterious feeling I could not grasp. The closest thing I can compare it to is some form of heat. The sensation was not physical, so it was like a spectral heat wave. It was odd, but not so much as to be uncomfortable.

It was fascinating, but I could not figure out what to do with the information. It was like I had a sixth sense of sorts.

Sixth sense… that's it! It's disaster sense!

That means trouble was near, approximately in the direction of the village, and the heat...

My nose picked up a faint trace of smoke.

Fire! I hope I'm not too late.

I broke into a run, trusting my instincts to guide me. My new body's stamina was impressive, carrying me all the way away from the river, through the trees, and up a hill without a break. I was not prepared for the sight at the top.

Whistler Village was visible not far in the distance, completely engulfed in flames. The ravenous fire latched on and devoured anything it could. Even the stone walls were burning somehow. As I got closer, I spotted panicked Pokémon struggling to get away from the mess.

The temperature was nearly unbearable, but I kept going — not just to rescue strangers, but because my parents might be trapped inside. The scene up close was pure chaos, with Pokémon scrambling everywhere and calling out for help. A few fire types were trying, but they were stumbling in the rubble and not getting much done. A Vaporeon was shooting some water around, succeeding somewhat in containing a portion of the fire. Strangely, there was no trace of humans, which gave me some hope.

The flames swayed along with the wind, dancing dangerously close to the nearby forest. I need to go in and go out fast, before the fire spreads further. Thankfully the streets were relatively clear of anything flammable, allowing me to navigate around. I spotted a Deerling stuck under a collapsed roof that was far enough away from anything burning for me to approach. My horn and ridiculously large claws made quick work of the remains of the building, despite the fact that I was clumsy with my limbs. The Deerling whispered a quick thanks before hurrying off. I felt a wave of satisfaction hit me and couldn't help but smile a little.

While I was distracted, something rammed into my side and almost knocked me into a burning fence. I turned around to see who it was, but only caught a flicker of a devil-like tail as whoever it belonged to disappeared behind some wreckage. I brushed it off as someone just in a hurry until it happened again. This time, they managed to push me into fire. I yelped and jumped away before I could get burned, but I was still left with slightly charred fur.

"Hey, who's there? Come out!"

I stood still on high alert for a full minute, but there was no sign of the culprit. I saw a Pokémon in need of help, and as I was rushing over, I got hit again. I noticed how little the impact hurt me. Whoever it was must have been running into me at a very high speed, but it felt more like a shove than anything else.

I reacted faster because I was expecting it and saw a menacing looking black canine creature with large curved horns. A Houndoom, and a male one, too. As soon as he saw me, he stopped trying to escape.

"What are you doing?" I demanded.

He had a calculating look in his eyes, and he took a suspiciously long time to respond. "Sorry, I was just looking for something and wasn't watching where I was going."

His tone was bizarre. He spoke slowly, punctuating every word, as if he was a beginner English speaker. There was definitely something fishy going on.

"Okay..." I didn't know what to make of the situation, but there wasn't much I could do either way. "Try not to kill anyone, I guess."

"Of course." He smiled, revealing a mouthful of sharp teeth. The normally warm gesture sent shivers down my spine. I watched him walk away into the forest before turning my attention back to the fire.

Things were coming along relatively well. The only Pokémon left hanging around were the ones trying to help. The fire hasn't yet managed to spread out to the forest. It was unfortunate that we had no way of controlling the situation. There were still no humans in sight.

"Hey Flareon," I called out to a Flareon nearby. "Have you seen any humans around here?"

"Huh?" She seemed to have been startled by me. "Oh. They evacuated long ago. Why aren't you leaving as well? It's dangerous here for non-fire types."

So my parents were safe. I mentally sighed in relief. I figured that this was the case, but it was still nice to get a verbal confirmation. "I was just helping out. I'm leaving now."

The heat was starting to get to me, even though I took extra care to stay as far away from the fire as possible. As I was heading out, the Flareon ran and caught up to me. "Wait for me. I have nowhere else to go anyways."

We have just made it out of the village when the trees beside us burst into flames.

"What's happening?" The Flareon cried out as we were suddenly surrounded by fire.

"I don't know. Run!" I was not about to be cooked alive. As I ran, I thought I saw a flash of a black shape, but I did not pay enough attention to know for sure. The fire pursued me, spreading unnaturally fast and followed me no matter which direction I went. It was as if someone was controlling it. I was only barely keeping ahead.

I couldn't run for much longer. The constant action has fatigued my body, and the heat left me drenched in sweat. The fire wasn't letting up one bit. I needed to go somewhere where it couldn't go.

The river! Which way was it again?

I picked a direction purely by feel, and prayed I was correct.

I was panting heavily and barely holding up by the time I heard flowing water, but there it was! I immediately dived in and stood in a shallow portion of the river to catch my breath. The water cooled me down quickly.

"Ah!" Something dropped into the river, making a loud splash. I recognized the Flareon's voice. She must have tailed me all the way here and fell in. Wait... Oh no!

I didn't know how harmful water is for fire-types, but I was willing to bet that taking a swim is not healthy for a Flareon.

I got on the river bank and saw the Flareon struggling to stay afloat nearby. I lowered my head and offered her my horn. "Grab on!"

She flailed her forelegs around wildly, but couldn't quite hold on to anything. "Can't… grip…"

I was about to jump in to help when I felt her bite hard onto my horn. I pulled, and she was out of the river. The moment she touched solid ground, she made a beeline back into the fire, muttering 'cold' the entire time. She sat in the flames and shivered for a good while before coming out.

"Thanks for rescuing me. Something pushed me in, and the water was… unpleasant." She shivered again as if to emphasize her point.

"Did you catch what it was?" I asked.

She tilted her head to think. "No. I saw a glimpse of black, but that's not too helpful."

A heavy downpour started without any warning. The sky seems to have had enough of the fire.

The Flareon looked up and made a face. "I'm going to find shelter, want to come with?"

"Sure," I agreed. The fire wasn't going anywhere now, and I had no other plans.

There was a little grotto conveniently close by. Both of us collapsed immediately after entering. It had been exhausting.

My fur was still soaked, and it was getting uncomfortable. I stood up and shook the water off, which made the Flareon look at me curiously.

"You're acting like a dog," she blurted out. Her eyes widened as she realized what she said. "That just came out! I didn't mean it that way!"

I didn't know how to respond, but then I realized I didn't care much. "It's fine. I don't really think about these things anymore."

"Um… it's been a crazy day, eh?" She changed the topic smoothly.

"Where did the fire come from? I wasn't there."

"Um, I think I might've caused it," she admitted, fidgeting with her paws. "I was hiding out after the transformation. Something came into my hiding spot this morning and spooked me. I sort of lost control."

"I doubt it was just you." I thought back to how the fire had spread. "There was definitely something off about the way the fire acted."

"Yeah…" The Flareon trailed off.

I realized that I should probably stop referring to her as 'the Flareon' in my head. "My name's Sorin, what's yours?"

"I'm Clara." There was an awkward pause before she spoke up again. "What do we do now? I'm not even an adult. I'm only sixteen."

"I'm sixteen as well."

"Oh, really?" Clara's eyes lit up. "I thought you were older. Maybe it's because Absol look a little scary."

"I guess we try and find our parents." I was also glad to find another transformed Pokémon of my age. "Do you live near here, by chance?"

She shook her head. "Nah. I live on the island."

Wow, that's far. "I live a bit closer, and in the same direction, actually."

"Do you want to travel together then?" She asked excitedly.

It came unexpectedly, but I found no faults with the proposition. The more the merrier, and safer. "Sure."

"Yay!" She had a big smile on her muzzle, and her fluffy tail was wagging slightly. It was cute. I smiled back.

She calmed down quickly. "Oh, I made it awkward again, didn't I? Sorry."

"Don't worry about it." I waved a paw.

"Say, how's the transformation for you so far?"

"I've been doing fine, actually," I replied. "The first day was weird. I'm pretty sure I was delirious the entire time. I somehow ended up kilometres away from the village, so I spent the last few days out here in the wild. I've gotten used to it."

"I freaked out when I transformed. I managed to lock myself in a cabinet and no one found me. Oh, I hope my parents don't think I'm dead. Being a Pokémon is interesting, though. I was a huge Pokémon fan before all this happened. I guess I should count myself lucky to have transformed into a likeable Pokémon."

"Huh. I haven't played any Pokémon games, but I'm familiar with the mechanics due to a similar game I played when I was younger."

"I just hope they don't treat us like pets." She rested her head on her paws.

I decided to try and lighten the mood. "Have you tried eating berries? They taste amazing now."

"Berries? I've been living off some extra food my parents had in stock."

"Hold on," I said as I got up and started towards the mouth of the grotto. "I saw some growing by the river. I'll bring some over."

I surveyed my surroundings once I exited. The fire had already been put out completely, and the rain had diminished to a light drizzle. I found a bush covered by those blue raspberries on the other side of the river. I ended up cutting and taking a whole branch to ensure that there was plenty for both of us.

"Here you go," I told Clara as I lay down the branch I had been carrying in my mouth.

"You sure these are safe to eat?" Clara eyed the alien-looking fruits wearily. "I've never seen this kind of berries before."

"They're some sort of raspberries. They're one hundred percent safe, I promise."

Clara picked one off tentatively and chewed. I had to chuckle when her eyes widened. "Oh wow, these are like… raspberries, but I never liked raspberries before. Wow… I think I'll just keep eating." She grabbed another berry.

It's no surprise that when we finished, there wasn't a single berry left on the branch. I couldn't get tired of them either, even after eating only them for three days straight.

With my belly satisfied, I lay down and relaxed. "I think I'll call it an early night, I'm drained after all that excitement today."

"Wait, you're just going to sleep here?" Clara asked with an incredulous tone.

Yet another thing I've stopped thinking about. I did a shrugging motion with my shoulders. "Well, we don't have much of a choice, do we?"

She grimaced. "This is going to suck. Good night, I guess."

"Good night."

Just as I was getting comfortable, my horn started to vibrate. My disaster sense provided me with no information other than a general sense of unsettledness. There was no urgency, and it didn't feel like it was directed towards me specifically. I figured it was just a warning about the state of the world. I had no way of knowing, but I could imagine all the chaos that must be happening in the cities. There was no point in dwelling over it, especially when I was so far away from everything.

But I found myself unable to fall asleep. I tossed and turned, my mind filled with questions about the future.

How many more disasters like the fire today will I encounter? Will my instincts demand me to go and stop them? What will my future be like as an Absol?

I looked over to Clara, who was curled up and looking quite snug. I thought back to the Deerling I saved.

I closed my eyes and dozed off in no time.

Word count is 2430 without notes, which is a bit short for my liking. I would like to try and aim for 3-4k, but no promises.