To alert it, the fin on its head senses the flow of water. It has the strength to heft boulders.

4

The next time I came to, I didn't even have the benefit of recognizing trees or bushes. I didn't even know what was around me. So far, the closest I could get to was curved walls of mirror…maybe. Except if they were mirrors, they might have reflected something other than, what, blue light? Rainbows? No, yellow? Metal?

Basically, I had lost my mind. It only made sense. First I'd heard a Ninetales talk, then got turned into one, and finally abducted by aliens. Any moment one of those rectangular-shiny panels would open and I'd see their bulbous head and buggy black eyes.

I giggled, tipping onto my back. "Bring it on, butt probes. Probular!"

Actually, this position was quite comfortable. It let my sore paws hang down and…wait, they didn't hurt anymore. Not much of me hurt anymore, actually….maybe I'd already been probed?

Eventually, enough time ticked by for my thoughts to settle. Having finally had all the time I needed to take stock of my new form, I did so, slowly feeling out each tail and toe, running my tongue along my sharp teeth. I sniffed, but only smelled the soggy, mildewy scent of water and something I quickly recognized as myself. There was just a tinge of the same summer-air-above-a-parking-lot that Ninetales had.

Of my surroundings, however, I could smell nothing.

"Let's see, last thing I remember, a flash…" Then it hit me, and how could it not? I moaned. "Oh dear Latios, don't tell me…"

Was this the inside of a poke'ball?

I sighed and let my head fall back, where the fluffy stream of bangs or whatever they were between my ears cushioned the fall.

"Welp. Better than getting eaten or humped by dogs, I suppose. Frick, pokemon are creepy."

At this rate, nothing would have surprised me anymore. And laying around with nothing but metal and shiny and my own voice gave me what I needed to feel that, maybe, just maybe, I'd be okay. Every stretch of a paw and twitch of a tail without pain became more and more comfortable. Yeah, I was a poke'mon, and like hell I wanted to be, but it wasn't like I had been exactly happy as a human either. It wasn't like my brother would be any worse for wear without me, and I had been a burden on mom anyways, being the dateless, jobless corpse that I was, fresh out of school without any interest in poke'mon and not exactly good with people either. I had mainly just wasted my time reading, drawing, and trying to practice dancing off the internet. We'd never had the money for lessons, and being raised by a single mother who had always struggled to make ends meet didn't exactly encourage one to become an artist. It was no way to make a living. Nor had I been passionate enough to pursue it to the point it could make a living.

I'd…actually been kind of devoid of…anything, really. Passion or otherwise.

Maybe whoever had caught me could actually make me into something useful.

Somewhere along testing the ways I could move my back legs, I dozed off, my half-formed dreams of testing out pencils in my paws and ice cream bleeding over into silver hair and cool, stone-gray eyes.

Another flash interrupted my sleep, along with an abruptly cold, hard ground replacing the little divit I had found to curl up on my back in. I tipped over onto my side, shivering from the abrupt jolt and found myself on the edge of a town in an empty basketball court. I could see pedestrians passing by some distance away at the foot of tall buildings only dreaming about being skyscrapers.

"Whoa, it really is black."

"No duh, butthead. I'm not a liar."

Whatever hope I had smashed to the floor at the distinct sound of children's voices, and exploded into smithereens at the sight of, not one, but two short, scrappy, and dirty newbie trainers—which meant they were eleven, at most. Two boys, each with equally new and dirty beginner poke'mon at their heels, one a Torchic and the other a Mudkip.

I put my paws over my eyes rather than get up. I couldn't watch this.

"Have you named it yet? Is it a boy or a girl?"

"I don't know, I haven't had the time to check. I just got it back from the poke'center."

"Dude, no one just has that luck. Maybe it's cursed or something."

"Jerk! You're just sore you don't have a shiny, let alone a Ninetales! I looked it up, they're super rare!"

"Yeah, and if you read all of it you'd have known Ninetales can curse people, and what the heck would one be doing by the river? Vulpix are way on the top of Mount Pyre."

"Maybe this one got kicked out because it was weird looking. Or because it was weak. According to my poke'dex, it's barely level ten."

"Ten? Frick, where does a Vulpix go evolving at ten?"

"They evolve by firestones, dipweed. You could evolve a baby."

"Is this one a baby?"

I sighed and moved my paws to my ears, wondering what would happen if I just booked it. I'd heard of poke'mon running away, hadn't I? But, then, if they could, how did beginner trainers get any poke'mon to stick around? Especially noobs like this.

Unfortunately, paws don't work all that well for plugging your ears.

I sensed rather than saw something warm hop near.

"You ok?" squeaked a tiny, infantile voice.

"I don't hurt," I said. "Kind of all that's going for me right now."

"Aw. Well, um…that good. Yeah, you okay. Jimmy is nice."

I dropped my paws and opened my eyes to face the Torchic standing by my nose, its beady black eyes as decipherable as any other bird I'd ever seen. At least I could understand what it was saying, even if it's supersonic voice didn't convey much inflection.

Great. Now I'll be raising two children at the tender age of seventeen.

The Mudkip didn't even bother to talk. It just looked at us, blinking stupidly.

I wondered if I could do that blue fire thing again and dribble all over it. Maybe pain would spark up its brain cells. I grinned at the idea. I was a poke'mon now too, right? Poke'mon hurt other poke'mon.

As soon as I thought that, I felt ashamed. Poke'mon or not, I had just seriously considered barbequing a baby.

The little Torchic hopped atop the puff of bangs between my ears. I found its weight rather comforting. I took a whiff, recognizing the smell of heat mixed with something like my neighbor's Pidove, except cleaner. They reeked. The little firebird kneaded a bit around before nuzzling down in the makeshift nest of my fur.

"A few battles should get her up to speed! How about it?"

"All I got right now is Mudkip and a Seedot, and I don't care how weak, you aren't getting any fire poke'mon near my Seedot."

"But Mudkip…"

"You don't need to beat Mudkip. Just leave her out for a bit and then switch over."

"But Torchic…ugh, screw it. Ninetales, up and at'em."

I just looked at him. What made him think he had the right to boss me around? And right after I'd gotten comfortable.

The kid—Jimmy, if Torchic was to be believed—reminded me of dirt. Dirt colored hair, dirt eyes, and freckles sprinkled all over him as though he'd been sprayed by a slipping tire in a puddle of mud. He even smelled like dirt beneath the BO of unwashed man child. When I didn't jump to attention, he scowled.

"Oy, up," and as though it were a magic, mind-control beam, he flipped open his vest to show me a shiny, stone-colored badge the size of my thumb tip. "I have the experience, you know."

Was any poke'mon supposed to know what that meant?

But, since he had technically 'saved' me and healed me up, even if it meant I was captured, and since that one stupid single badge meant he did technically know more about poke'mon training and battles than me, AND since I wouldn't technically be able to run back into the wilds and live to tell the tale until I could defend myself…

I groaned and heaved myself to my feet and walked over to where he indicated. The other kid's eyes widened as they followed me.

"Whoa…it shimmers when it walks…"

I glanced back, expecting something like sparkles. But, no, it was just the light shifting on my black fur.

"Pay attention, dude, this is a battle." Jimmy had an endless supply of seriousness, didn't he?

The other kid sighed. "Alright. Fine. Go, Mudslot!"

The Mudkip plotted forward, blinking its doleful, beetle eyes.

"Alright," said Jimmy from behind me. "Don't bother with any fire, all physical. Bite!"

Like, literally? I looked down at the Mudkip, shining with slime. Ugh…

"Ninetales!"

My name isn't Ninetales, but I had made a commitment. So…I forced myself forward and opened my mouth.

Just to get a face full of water vomit.

I swore, even as I yacked and retched. I didn't care that it felt and looked like normal water, it was warm like spit and tasted like mud with a hint of bile.

Then something like a bowling ball shoved into my legs, knocking me into the air and onto my side. I groaned, my front leg where it had collided hurting something awful.

This is going to be my life from now on, isn't it?

The sound of the little amphibian inhaling deep got me scrambling to my feet once more.

"Bite! Come on, Ninetales!"

There was one good thing about getting its vomit in my mouth. I no longer feared getting the actual thing in there, as it couldn't taste any worse.

I leaped forward, more agile than I had ever been on two legs, and chomped down on its tiny middle. Tapping into all the rage I had at it throwing up in my face, I dug deep and flung it side to side before throwing it like a slimy rag doll.

"What the—" the other trainer moved.

"That's right! Get 'em, Ninetales!"

This is inhumane, I thought, even as I jumped forward and steeled myself for another bite. I had to admit that there had been something deeply satisfying about digging my fangs into something.

With the force I had chomped and thrown the slimeball around, I figured I had to have done some damage.

My paws had no sooner hit the dirt than I got another face-pow of water, this time thick enough to gush down my neck and stomach.

The taste, the smell—ugh, water up the nose, water up the nose, except now it burned with the fiery intensity of a thousand suns.

I yipped in pain, coughing, hacking.

"Call her back, Jim. That's enough."

"She's still standing, though!"

"Her bite hardly did anything to Mudslot. It's the slime. Just call her back."

"No! Ninetales! Bite him again!"

I managed to clear my eyes enough to glare at him, feeling a familiar heat bubble up in my stomach.

The little dirt turd just glared back.

"Just do it, I know you can."

Was that supposed to be encouraging?

At least the Torchic at his side managed to look concerned. Or, I hoped. I actually couldn't tell.

I closed my watering eyes against the pain. "Okay," I said, "you little water bane, enough with the face."

Of course, the Mudkip didn't respond, nor could I even see if its flat face had changed at all.

The other trainer sighed. "Fine. Mudslot! Put her out of her misery!"

I cringed back, but not fast enough to avoid the third column of water vomit from rushing into my face, my eyes, up my nose, in my mouth.

I gave one final retch, struggling for breath, then all went black.

When I came to again, I was once more in the round, alien spaceship-like room of chrome and rainbow mirrors and my leg didn't ache. My fur had dried, but I could still taste the nasty water in the back of my mouth with every breath I took.

The fire Jimmy had incited in my belly once more bubbled up, burning up my throat and down to my legs. I clenched my teeth, hard, imagining his shirt there, or maybe even his arm.

But he was just a kid. And I just a poke'mon.

"But that had been vile!" I cried. "Oh, come on, all this just for a sport? Why do poke'mon put up with this?"

I hid my nose beneath my paws again, taking slow breaths to urge the heat back down.

"Why'd you do this to me, Ninetales?" I whispered, soothed by the sound of my voice in that alien room. "I didn't mean to hurt you. I was going to try and be friends. I wouldn't have mistreated you…"

But even as I thought that, I remembered her last words about granting 'his' wish, which could only mean that of my brother. I suppose turning me into a poke'mon would have done something to help me get along with them, but so far it had only given me more reason to fear them and want to avoid having one for a pet, perish the thought one for battling. The idea of doing what Jimmy did to me to any poke'mon made me nauseous, and he had only been doing what a trainer should: exposing his weak poke'mon to battle so they could gain experience and grow stronger.

All I learned is the taste of Mudkip, I thought, rolling onto my back. It was immensely comfortable, after all, especially if I put my tails beneath my back like a soft bed.

I watched the still rainbows for an immeasurable amount of time. I had no watch, and the light remained the same. At some point, I grew drowsy, and since I had nothing better to do, I allowed my eyes to close, where the image of my brother's gooey-brownie smile floated to the forefront of my mind.

I was already going to try for you…

Would I ever turn back? And if nothing else, why hadn't Ninetales let me stay in that house? Perhaps this wouldn't have been so bad if my brother had been the one to catch me. Or even better, it wouldn't have taken that many brain cells to piece together the black Ninetales with his missing, black-haired sister, even if it was a fantastical stretch, and he could have helped me—which was probably why Ninetales had kicked me out in the first place. Couldn't have him curing me and switching me back before I finished my trip through purgatory.

All too aware of the despair gathering at the corners of my mind, I let myself fall back into sleep, whispering to myself that it would get better; that this was going to be an adventure. How many people could say they'd been turned into a poke'mon? Or breathed fire? There had to be something in my future to look forward to.

That was before tomorrow came.