Hey all,
I originally intended for the introduction to be broken up into two chapters, but I couldn't find a good spot to split them so I hope y'all like long chapters. And I probably don't need to say this, but I do not own Pokemon (shocking, I know). Anyway, I'm just writing this story for fun but feel free to leave a review and follow if you like it... or even you don't like it, I'll still appreciate the review. I hope you enjoy, and stay frosty my dudes.
Chapter 1
"Ooohhh…what happened? Where am I? And why does my head feel like I got into a kickboxing match with a kangaroo?" I groaned inwardly as my brain attempted to reboot itself from what I could only guess was a really deep sleep. I was having quite a bit of trouble answering my own self-proposed questions, though, as I could feel a headache pounding away at my skull, and my mind felt like it was in some kind of drug induced haze, not that I had much familiarity with that feeling other than a few close calls with alcohol poisoning and that one time I was put under with anesthesia.
I'm not sure how long I ended up lying there waiting for my brain to properly wake itself up, but I eventually started to regain some of my senses and realized that I was lying down on my stomach against something that was rather hard and cold. I could also hear birds chirping and an owl hooting in the distance along with the rustling of leaves as I felt a breeze on my face.
"Right, so I'm definitely not in my bed at the apartment. Although, I don't really remember going out last night either." I reasoned. Starting to get worried, I did my best to think about the last thing that I could remember doing. "Let's see, the last thing I remember is that it was sunny for the first time in days… and that I had umm… decided to go for a walk around campus. Yeah, that sounds about right."
Ever since I was a kid, I had enjoyed being outside and going on what my mom would call 'nature walks', which was really just me and her walking around the forest behind our house. As I got older, my parents made it a point to take me on a camping and hiking trip through one of the nearby national parks every year during the summer, and while I'm definitely no survivalist, I did learn some of the basic skills just in case I ever got lost and didn't want to make a bad situation worse. Unfortunately, our trips had to stop when I moved halfway across the country for college. I often found myself too busy during the summer months to make any prolonged visits, so we seldomly had enough time to plan a proper trip. Luckily for me though, or unluckily if you consider my current situation, my university campus is much larger than average and has a lot of undeveloped and somewhat secluded areas that act as parks and mini-nature reserves where students can just walk around and enjoy being outside.
As I lied there reminiscing some more, an extra painful throb in my head brought me back to reality and forcefully reminded me that waking up on the ground with a bad headache and without any recollection of how I got on said ground was, in fact, not good. With an inward sigh, I returned my attention back to the present. "I must have fell and hit my head pretty hard to have been knocked out cold like that." I thought dourly for a moment. However, I couldn't help but to chuckle a little bit at my own misfortune as I had been practically cursed with bad luck from birth. Through the years, I had learned to just roll with the punches and try to laugh it off the best I could. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger and all that jazz. Although, this time as I smiled it felt…different. Like the muscles in my lips and face were not in exactly the right place as they should be.
"Damn, I must still be disoriented from that fall. Hopefully my face isn't actually banged up that much." I thought belatedly as I tried to open my eyes for the first time to properly assess my situation. Unfortunately, the task seemed a bit too much for me still, and my headache intensified as I tried to look at the world around me. I immediately shut them to lessen the pain and cringed on the ground while trying to focus on my breathing. Eventually, the pain dulled back down to a manageable level, but my thoughts still felt hazy and disjointed.
"Fuck that hurt. I wasn't even able to make out anything other than some dull brown and green blobs, which I'm going to guess are trees. There are a lot of wooded areas around campus so that doesn't really help to narrow down the number of placesIcould berrrightnooowww…" Feeling my inner ramblings begin to cloud over once again, I did my best to calm myself and tried to take a deep breath, with the key word there being tried. All I got for my trouble was something more like a shuddering gasp as my lungs were filled with air that was much colder than I was expecting for what was supposed to be a sunny spring afternoon. Nonetheless, the unusually cool air managed to clear my head a bit.
"Well, that is definitely strange. It should be a lot warmer than that… oh well, I have bigger issues than mother nature forgetting what season it is. One of which is being heavily concussed in a fairly isolated part of campus where no one will probably find me for quite a while." I lamented with a heavy sigh. "I know I shouldn't try moving myself too much with a head injury, but seeing as no one is around to help, I'll have to at least make it far enough back to campus to flag someone down." I thought begrudgingly as I began to try and wrestle control of my body, which was still feeling oddly stiff and very uncooperative. I could feel my legs and arms moving, as well as some other sensations that I couldn't quite place, but they were refusing to bend in the ways that they were supposed to.
Growing frustrated with my body's inability to follow simple commands, I let out a low growl and huff. "Ugh, this is getting me nowhere. I need to see what's going on." With more trepidation and caution than the action probably deserved, I slowly began to open my eyes once again. The pain in my head increased some more but not nearly as much as last time, so I pushed through it as I slowly blinked my eyes and squinted at my surroundings. With each blink, my eyes began to focus more and more, and the colored blobs slowly began to materialize into trees that fit into what looked like a much gloomier and more heavily wooded area than I was expecting. In fact, I couldn't think of any woods I've been to that was as dense or as huge as the foliage was here. Seriously, these trees looked like they could be as big as California Redwoods or something. Also, the soft light permeating the area made me think it must be either early morning or late in evening, which would explain the cooler than normal air since it was still early enough in spring for the temperature to drop quite a bit at night. "Damn, it was midday from what I remember, so I've already been out for a while." Trying not to dwell too much on that, I continued to stare at the overgrown woods ahead of me.
After marveling at the gargantuan trees for a few more seconds, I took notice of something else in my field of view that didn't make much sense. Focusing on what was right in front of my face, I saw what looked like a short brown, fuzzy muzzle with a small black patch of skin on the tip, kind of like a dog's nose. Furrowing my brows with extreme bewilderment, I instinctively reached up to the front of my face to touch whatever this thing was supposed to be, only to stop halfway as a small cyan colored paw came into view where my hand should have been. For the next few seconds, I silently stared at it with the same look of confusion as my mind sluggishly tried to understand what was going on. I decided to try something and slowly began to move my hand left and right. To my slowly growing horror, I saw the paw mimic the commands I was giving my hand. After stopping my motions for a second, I then refocused on the brown muzzle in front of me and moved my 'hand' to touch the tip of it. As the paw made contact, I felt something soft and leathery touch my nose at the same time I felt what was supposed to be my hand touch a somewhat wet, textured patch of skin. My mind seemed to shut down for a minute as I stared at the point of contact and struggled to comprehend what my eyes were seeing in conjunction with what my hand and nose were feeling. As if needing confirmation, I repeated the action of touching my nose and was met with the same result.
"...What. The. Actual. Fuck…" I was frozen in this position as the pit that had been slowly growing in my stomach suddenly turned into a black hole of dread and desperation. My eyes shot wide as I began to hyperventilate, and I could feel my heart reaching a very unhealthy number of beats per minute as it tried to hammer its way out of my ribcage. I opened my mouth to scream only to immediately close it with a whimper and screw my eyes shut as the headache I had been ignoring came back with a vengeance. Finally, after a few minutes of cringing on the ground, my headache subsided, and I managed to get my breathing under control again, although I could still feel the adrenaline pumping through my veins screaming at me to jump up and run away as far as I could. Shakily, I lifted my head off the ground and opened my eyes once more to try and process the sheer amount of absurdity of my situation. Just to make sure I hadn't imagined it, I looked down at the paw and began moving it around as if it were my hand before finally setting it back down and staring ahead once more.
Doing my best to ignore my newest discovery and to prevent another panic attack, I opted to take in the rest of the scenery around me. As my head gently swiveled left and right, I realized that I wasn't actually on the ground but instead was on a large moss-covered rock in a small circular clearing that was covered in short grass and dotted with red and yellow wildflowers. Satisfied with what was in front of me, I then maneuvered myself on to my right side and tentatively looked back. Ignoring the black tuft of fur and the small furry body at the edge of my vision, I scanned the area behind myself only to discover more of the same grass and flowers that had been in front of me along with a few squirrels scurrying up and down some of the trees near the edge of the clearing.
Ready for the brisk air this time, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. "Alright Jacob, you can do this. Just be calm and analyze the problem." I mumbled to myself for some reassurance only for it to backfire as I grimaced when I heard a voice that sounded younger than my own. Grant it, I am only 21, but the voice I just heard sounded like I was 16 again. Shaking myself out of my thoughts, I opened my eyes and steeled myself for what I was about to do and its inevitable conclusion. I slowly looked down to the furry body and began to take in the details that I saw. Turns out the black tuft of fur was more of black mane, sort of like lion's, and the rest of my body was covered in what looked like dark brown downy fur, with the exception of my paws which were covered in short cyan fur going up a bit past the first joint above them. Focusing on my front left paw, I couldn't help but to bring it closer to my face and try to flex it while I pondered what I was seeing. "It doesn't look like a dog's paw nor does it quite look like a cat's either. I guess it kind of reminds me of a fox's… maybe. I'm not all that familiar with the anatomy of different animals, so I don't really have much of an idea." I thought as I stared at it and managed to push the claws out of my toes and then retract them. I shuddered at the alien feeling. As a shiver reached the base of my spine, I saw a small flicker of movement in my peripheral. Shifting my attention back to the end of my body, I saw a small plush-looking tail that was the same brown color as the rest of my body flick into view and rest on my hind leg. I tried to move it again by focusing on it but failed miserably after only making it twitch a bit. I carefully reached back with my paw to feel it and to try to figure out if it was possible for me to control it. After reaching it, I discovered that it was in fact as soft as it looked as I ran my paw through it. "Man, if I could make blankets out of this stuff, I'd be rich." I thought somewhat darkly as I tried not to think about the fact that this was my tail I was feeling with my paw. After some trial and error, I managed to curl my paw enough to get a small grip near the base of it and, without really thinking, gave it a sharp tug.
"FUCK!" I yipped as I felt a surprisingly painful shock at the base of my spine which caused the tail to flick back down to the stone and mostly out of view as soon as I released it. I huffed and scowled at my own stupidity as I continued to stare at my back end. "This is crazy. I want to say that this isn't real and that I'm either in a coma or dreaming, but that pain I just felt was definitely real." I thought with more labored breath as I tried to come to terms with what was happening. I took a few extra seconds to steady my breathing as I did my best to relax my posture before resuming my inner monologue. "Still, I can't imagine any possible scenario where I wake up in an unknown forest with a killer headache and with the body of some kind of weird, mutated fox." As I continued to look over myself, a new worry started to rise in my head as a fearful expression took over my face. Hesitantly, I lifted my hind leg and looked down my belly. With a relieved sigh I let my leg drop back down.
"Oh thank God, I still have my boys. I'm not sure I could have handled any more major body modifications today." Still relieved at this new silver lining, I turned forward again and rested my head on my forepaws. "Alright, so I'm lost and alone in a body that isn't mine, or even human for that matter," I grumbled, "and I have no idea how any of this could have possibly happened… perfect… just perfect." I lamented. Sullenly, I picked my head up and examined the blue paws laid out in front of me. Deciding that sulking wasn't doing me any good, I started planning my first move. "I guess… the first thing I need to do is figure out how to stand up and get off this rock." I slowly used my forepaws to push myself into a sitting position which came surprisingly easy and felt mostly natural. With some newfound confidence, I maneuvered my hind legs under me and carefully pushed against the rock with them. I shakily rose to a standing position as I worked muscles that I've never had before, but eventually, I managed to come to a stance that at least looked relaxed. I inspected my body once again, and it was now that I realized why everything looked a lot bigger to me. Even standing at my full height, I guessed I was probably only about two and a half feet tall!
"Well, that at least explains why everything looks huge. Alright, now time for the hard part." I thought as I gingerly started lifting my limbs to 'walk in place' to try and get a feel for my new body. Again, the motions felt oddly natural and I only stumbled a bit on the first few tries. Luckily, the rock was big enough for me to walk around on, so I started taking a very leisurely pace around the top of it. "This is really odd. I would have expected learning to walk again to be a lot harder. Then again, absurd seems to be the flavor of the day, so I'm just gonna go with it."
Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I continued around the rock while staying focused on my forepaws and what was in front of me. After about my fifth circuit, I started trying to think of how I was going to actually get off the rock, which admittedly wasn't very high off the ground, but face planting down the side of it still wouldn't feel very good. Unfortunately, while I was looking ahead and forming my next plan of action, my hind legs managed to catch a particularly wet patch of moss which subsequently sent them sliding over the edge along with the rest of my body. Stricken with panic, my claws instinctively extended as I scrabbled to find a purchase on the rock. Despite digging grooves through the moss, my claws couldn't grip anything, and I fell ass first on to the hard ground a few feet below. This probably wouldn't have hurt too bad, though, if only I hadn't landed directly on my tail, which is kind of a hard feeling to describe really, but I'll try anyway. Imagine stubbing your toe on the sharp edge of a metal post, but instead, your toe is at the top of your ass and is also directly connected to your spine. It doesn't feel good.
"AHHH! Son of a bitch that stings!" I exclaimed as I tried rubbing at the base of my tail to ease the pain. I quickly stopped though as I felt my ears perk up at what sounded like someone laughing nearby. "Finally, maybe I can get some answers." I thought as I hopped back into a standing position and jerked my head left and then right while peering through the tree line looking for the owner of the voice.
"Hahahahahah, oh boy, you really stuck the landing on the one youngster. And I had a pretty good view of it from up here, too." Said a much older and jovial voice. Turning my head up, I was, not for the first time since I woke up, staring slack-jawed at what was in front of me. It was an owl… a really big owl, which in and of itself isn't too surprising since I seemed to have shrunk quite a bit when compared to my old body, but it was the fact that I recognized it, or at least its species anyway, that was throwing me for a loop. There, in the branches above me, was an older looking noctowl with solid white eyebrows and grayed feathers adorning its chest. "That's a noctowl… like from Pokémon… I must have had a stroke or something." I thought as I silently stared at him. With a heave, the great owl spread its wings and launched off the branch while slowly gliding to a spot in front of me.
Still staring with my mouth agape and at a loss for words, the owl gave me a quizzical look and decided to break the ice. "Hahaha, well I'll tell ya boy. You sure have been a hoot to watch, but I'm glad you've managed to get your paws under you again." He said as he started softly chuckling to himself. Thankfully, his terrible pun broke me from my stupor as I instinctively face palmed. Face pawed? Either way, I let out a heavy groan at this extra level of crazy.
"Wow, that was actually a pretty bad one." I groaned as I lowered my paw back to the ground and got a better look at my new visitor. He did in fact appear elderly as the arrows on his chest had dulled and grayed heavily over the years. I could also make out some old scars amongst his thinning plumage as well as some wrinkles along his face. However, my observations were cut short as he decided to continue the conversation.
"Oh, you youngsters just don't know how to have fun anymore these days." He said as he adjusted a few feathers along his wing and then returned his attention back to me. "Anyway, my name is Breezeway, but most folks around here just call me Breezy. I was just heading back to my nest for the night when I saw you dozing on the rock over there," Breezy said as he gestured a wing tip behind me, " so I decided to stick around until you woke up. You were out for so long though, I ended up taking a nap myself, but I did wake up in time to catch that finale of yours at the end there." He chuckled as he finished his introduction.
"Haha, yeah, I was just a bit… disoriented from having such a good nap." I awkwardly chuckled and forced a smile on my face as I stared up at the old, all be it intimidatingly large, bird. I continued staring at him not really sure if I could trust him enough to ask him how the heck he even existed and how I had somehow transformed into a fox in the middle of the woods. He gave me an expectant look as I realized I hadn't properly introduced myself yet. "Oh um, my name is uhhh…" I stopped in my introduction as I had extended a paw towards him as if to shake his hand and thought better of giving him my actual name. Not being too good at being put on the spot like that, I said the first thing that came to mind as I looked at my paw, "…Blue. You can call me Blue, Mr. Breezeway um, sir." I forced my smile a little bigger as I cringed inwardly at my amazing stroke of creativity.
Cocking one side of his eyebrow, he gave me a questionable look as he extended a wing tip to bump against my paw before letting out another low chuckle and gaining a smile on his beak. "Ha, I guess your folks weren't too terribly original when they named you huh, kiddo. And please, just Breezy is fine."
"Ha ha, yeah, I guess you could say that, Mr. Breezy." I said with a little bit less of a forced smile as I actually did feel a little more relaxed around the large owl.
To his credit, Breezy just rolled his eyes at the formality. While it did remind him that he was getting on in years, he nonetheless appreciated the respect that was meant behind the youngster's words. A quality that was sorely lacking in much of the other forest's youths these days.
Before another awkward silence could take hold, the large avian decided to go ahead and ask what was on his mind. "Speaking of your folks, I've lived here for most of my life, and while most of the zoroark pairs around here aren't very sociable, I have met all of them. Yet, I've never seen any of them with a shiny zorua before. I'm going to guess that you're not from around here, are you, Blue?" He asked quizzingly.
"A zorua? Shit, I have no idea what that is. I know that a zoroark is Pokémon, so I'm betting that a zorua is the previous evolution to that. I haven't played any of the games or kept up much with the fandom since gen II, though, so I'm not really sure. I can barely recall an episode from the anime where a zoroark creates some kind of illusion at an abandoned Pokémon center and pretends to be nurse Joy or something. And based on how he's talking, we're in some woods that actually have zoroarks and, most likely, other Pokémon as well. Did I somehow get transported to the world of Pokémon and forced to play the role of one?! I… I… I just… I just don't know how I'm supposed handle that. Either way, big bird here is staring a hole through me and is waiting on an answer. Crap, how am I going to play this." Averting my eyes downward and chewing on the inside of my cheek, I decided to just wing it… crap now even I'm making bad puns. "Well, no sir, not exactly. Although, to be honest, I have no idea how I got here, and as for my parents… my mom died a year ago, and I haven't seen my father in quite a long time." I said truthfully as I looked back up to meet Breezy's eyes. He continued to stare at me for a long second as a more somber atmosphere settled around us and his features softened a bit.
"Hmmm, I am terribly sorry for you lose, kid. These keen eyes of mine don't miss much, so I know you're telling the truth and not just fishing for some sympathy." He said solemnly as I looked back to the ground with a more sullen expression. He shifted closer and extended a wing around me. "That being said though," he stated as he brought my eyes back to his, "I can also tell you're not telling the whole truth of the matter either." I was about to object, but before I could even fully open my mouth for a retort, he stopped me. "And that's alright, Blue. We all have secrets and reasons to hide things, and I'm not going to press you too much on it unless I think it's important."
Slightly taken aback by the old bird's observation skills, I couldn't help but stutter a bit while thinking about how I should reply to that. "Okay, I was not expecting that. I'll need to be a bit careful around him in the future, but he seems alright enough. I still don't think he'll be able to help me figure out how I got here, though… Oh well, as long as I'm mostly truthful with him, I should be fine." After my brief contemplation, I decided to just keep talking with him and see where that went. "Well, umm, I appreciate it, Mr. Breezy." I said somewhat sheepishly.
"Ha, no problem, kiddo." He said heartily as he moved back to his spot in front of me. "But, getting back on topic, I'm guessing you're not planning on calling that rock over there home for the foreseeable future, eh?" He asked with a nod behind me again. With a quick shake of my head and a 'No, sir,' he continued "Hmph, that's what I thought. Since you're new to the forest, mind if I ask what your plans are?"
At his question, I brought my paw up to my chin and looked back to the ground with a thoughtful expression as if I could find the answer there. "My plans? That is… a really good question actually. I should be trying to find a way back home, but I'm mostly at a loss on how I could possibly do that. Heck, I don't even know how I got here to begin with. Unless I happen to run into Mewtwo or some other legendary, I can't think of any realistic way to just hop dimensions and find my way back. If I find Professor Oak or maybe some other regional researcher, they might be able to point me in the right direction, but that's a long shot at best. I'm not even sure if I could properly communicate with them either seeing as the people in the anime couldn't understand Pokémon. However, Meowth learned how to speak with people, so maybe I can, too. Either way, that's a long-term goal, and I need to figure out what I'm going to do right now. First things first, I need to know where I am." Finishing my introspection, I returned my attention back to Breezeway. "I'm not really sure, actually. And to be honest, I don't even know where I am right now. Is there any way you could you tell me a bit about this place, Mr. Breezy?" I asked as I gestured to the woods around us. His questioning gaze quickly turned into a more concerned look before speaking.
"Hmmm, I thought I saw you land on your tail when you fell off that rock, kiddo, but I'm beginning to think maybe you hit your head on the way down somehow, too." He said as he leaned in closer to me looking for what I would guess to be possible head trauma. After some brief assurances from me, he continued. "Well, right now you're in the Winding Woods just south of Snowbelle City." He explained as he gestured off to the side. "Snowbelle is a human settlement that, as you could probably guess, is covered with snow for most of the year. Further to the south from here is a large clearing called Pokémon Village which is where many other Pokémon around here, including myself, call home. We originally founded it to help protect ourselves from any would be human adventurers that occasionally come from Snowbelle." He said with a slight look of disdain and a ruffle of his feathers before returning to a more prideful expression. "It has grown quite a bit over the years, and I would be lying if I said I wasn't proud of the progress we've made. As for the forest itself, it is actually quite safe for Pokémon as most of the wild animals around here don't pose much of a threat, and most of the other Pokémon are willing to leave each other alone, unless there's some sort of territorial dispute going on that is."
"...Well crap, I don't recognize any of those names, and if I ask him which region I'm in, he'll be way too suspicious. *sigh* I guess my best option right now is to learn how to survive and use this new body until I can find an opportunity to get out of here." With a plan in mind and seeing as no more exposition was forthcoming from Breezeway, I decided to let him know what I wanted to do. "Hmm, in that case, I suppose I could try living in the forest for a while, but I'm not sure if I'll stick around for very long. I kind of want to travel around a bit and see what's out there in the world, you know?" Breezeway seemed to smile a bit at that as I saw a faint twinkle in his eye.
"Hahaha, yes, I do believe I know a thing or two about that, young one. Not to puff up my own feathers, but I was quite the adventurer back in my youth. Back when I was still just a hoothoot, I travelled all over the region with a trainer who was taking on the Kalos gym challenge. I'd gotten to see and experience so many amazing things along the way, it's hard to keep track of all of them." He reminisced as his eyes glazed over a bit reliving his past triumphs. While he took a moment looking off in the distance, I thought about the name he just mentioned. "The Kalos region huh. I remember hearing about it, but I can't remember which generation that was, let alone anything that could be remotely helpful." I returned my attention back to Breezeway and realized that he was talking once again.
"By far the best part though, was meeting the love of my life outside of Lumiose City after one of our excursions there. Our love was a bit… unconventional as she was a swellow, but to me, she was the most perfect creature Arceus had ever put on this earth. I convinced her to travel with us for a time, and as our love grew, she and I decided that we wanted to settle down and start a family. Thankfully, my trainer agreed that it was what would be best and released me to be with her. We then migrated here to these woods and set out on our new lives as parents and mentors." He recalled wistfully. "All of my children have grown up since then, though, and left the coop, so to speak, to live their own lives, and I honestly couldn't be any more proud of them." He took a second for a breath before adopting a more solemn expression as I continued to listen silently. "They still visit from time to time, but it honestly hasn't been the same since Shade passed away a few years ago. She… she didn't deserve the fate that befell her, and I think its best I leave it at that." He stopped for a second to wipe the mist from his eyes with one of his wings before continuing. "But nonetheless that is in the past now, and I doubt you were wanting to hear an old bird's life story. My apologies for rambling on like that, Blue."
Feeling my own eyes begin water from the level of emotion Breezeway was showing, I move closer to him and place a paw on his leg. "Nonsense, there's nothing to apologize for Mr. Breezy. Just because something happened in the past doesn't make it any less painful. I'm sorry you had to experience what you did, but I hope it doesn't stop you from remembering the happier times with her. It sounds like you've lived an amazing life, Breezeway, and I honestly wouldn't mind listening to some more of your stories, especially if you feel like you need to get some things off your chest." I finished as I looked up at him with a reassuring smile before I had to stop and wipe the wetness out of my own eyes.
When I looked back up, he wore a soft smile. "That is very kind of you to say, Blue. I deeply appreciate the sympathy, but I believe we will have to save the stories for another time. Afterall, we have yet to address where exactly you'll be staying here in the forest." He said with an expectant look.
"Well, about that. The only problem is that, well… I've lived kind of a sheltered life up to this point, and I don't think I could really survive completely on my own out here. I'll need some help learning to fend for myself, so I was wondering if I could come back with you to Pokémon Village and learn more about what I can do before heading off on my own?" I asked hopefully.
Now back to his jovial self, Breezeway heartily voiced his approval of my plan. "Hahaha, yes, I do believe we have enough room for a single zorua. Although, I hope you're okay with sharing a burrow for a little while until we can get a proper one dug out for you. And I'm sure one of the zoroark families around the village will be willing to teach you a thing or two about surviving in these woods." Finally with something going in my favor for once, I mentally rejoiced as I felt a relieved smile cross my face. Seeing my happiness with his decision, Breezeway continued, "Now then, we've already spent the night out here, and the rest of the village should be waking up soon. It should be easy enough for me carry you there, so get ready to hold on an-" His debriefing of our flight itinerary was cut short though, as both of us perked up at the sound of the foliage being disturbed just past the tree line off to the side of us. We both turned our heads to the spot where the noise was coming from where, much to my surprise, a guy fell out into the clearing after tripping on a particularly well disguised root. I cringed a bit as I heard his face hit the ground hard, and I felt a pang of sympathy for him. I continued staring at him as he slowly picked himself up to his knees while holding on to his head and muttering what sounded like obscenities to himself. He was young, maybe around 18 or so, and a fairly average looking guy. He wore a light blue cap over his beach blonde hair and was wearing some typical, albeit very dirty, looking hiking apparel complete with a very large, overstuffed green backpack.
"Oh my gosh, Dustin are you ok?" Said a young girly voice as my attention shifted further behind him to try and spy the next human interloper. Instead of girl though, what appeared from behind him was a very concerned looking eevee. "Oh my god, if she just isn't the most adorable thing I've ever seen." I thought while strongly ignoring the instinct to walk over there and pet her. However, I quickly found myself a bit disconcerted by the fact that a talking eevee appearing in front of me was not nearly as shocking as it should have been. "I really should be more surprised, but I think I've already hit my quota for today." I thought silently as I watched her. As she approached him, we continued to listen to the pair as they had yet to actually notice us, which is a little hard to believe since there is a freaking 6-foot owl standing only about 20 yards away from them. " *sigh* It's alright Eve, I just tripped on a root… again." He grumbled while picking himself back up to his feet and dusting himself off. "Wait, did he just call her Eve? Wow… and I thought I was bad with names." I thought as I watched him begin to look around the clearing until our eyes finally met. We stared at each other for a second until his gaze flicked over to the large avian standing beside me.
Thankfully, the staring match didn't last long as the eevee jumped in front of the guy and cheerfully pointed over to us while looking back at her companion. "Look, Dustin! We finally found some Pokémon!" At her words, the young trainer looked a bit more nervous as he continued to look at the fully grown noctowl before replying. "Yes, Eve, I can see the noctowl, but I haven't seen that other Pokémon before." Him and Breezeway eyed each other carefully as he reached into his pack and pulled out some kind of red tablet. I didn't immediately recognize what it was, so I looked over at Breezeway to gauge the situation. He didn't seem very concerned, so I returned my attention back to the trainer with a nonplussed expression. The tablet then extended a little bit as he aimed it at me, and a mechanical voice started which I immediately recognized as the standard sound of a pokédex. "Wow, that thing looks a lot more high-tech than it did in gen I."
We all stood listening with rapt attention as the little machine began. "Zorua (shiny variety), the tricky fox Pokémon. This Pokémon is rarely encountered in the wild as it typically uses illusions to hide itself and its den. When caught in the open, it will sometimes take the appearance of a silent child. To escape predators, zorua will use its illusion ability to make itself look like a much larger and stronger Pokémon. For inexperienced zorua, the illusion is sometimes incomplete as their real tail shows through. Generally, touching its tail or disturbing its concentration will break the illusion."
"Huh, so I can make illusions. That will be a neat trick to learn later." I thought as the pokédex finished its monologue and was returned to its pocket.
The trainer looked back to me with elation as he twisted his cap back and spread his feet in a ready stance. "Alright! It looks like our luck is finally turning for the better, Eve. The very first Pokémon were going to catch is that shiny zorua!" He exclaimed while thrusting his finger at me. The eevee returned her attention back to me with a look of determination and got in a battle stance. "I won't let you down, Dustin!"
My eyes narrowed at their pronouncement of my own attempted kidnapping. "OH, THE HELL YOU BOTH SAY!? Not just no, but hell no." I fumed as I instinctively lowered myself into a ready position. Realizing that I had no idea how to battle, I remained calm as I was fairly confident Breezeway would back me up, but I decided to try a more diplomatic approach first anyway and addressed the pair. "I appreciate the offer, but I feel like I must whole-heartedly decline as I have no interest in being 'caught' at this time." I formally stated with my eyes still narrowed and with a touch of venom added to that last part.
To her credit, Eve didn't seem very much phased by the amount of malice I was directing toward them as she flipped back to her joyful expression. "Sorry, but no can do. Dustin just graduated from the trainer academy in Snowbelle, and we're needing another team member before heading to our first gym battle." She said matter-of-factly. "Don't worry though. I've lived with him for years, and he's a great trainer. He can be a bit of a klutz at times, but he's always been there for me and he really cares. He's always bent over backwards to make sure I've had anything I've ever wanted, and he's never asked me to do anything that I really didn't want to do. Travelling with us is gonna be a lot of fun as we explore Kalos together, and I'm sure we can learn to be the best of pals along the way." She explained as she adopted a more open and friendly posture. "So, what do you say, do you want to leave this gloomy old forest behind and come with us on our grand adventure and be friends." She finished by sitting on her haunches with a hopeful expression and spreading her arms like she was going to hug something.
I let the silence in the air hang for a second as I digested what she told me. With even more narrowed eyes, I let her know my thoughts with a low growl. "Not. A. Chance. In. Hell." I spat while I could feel my anger boiling at the idea of being enslaved to this kid.
With a disappointed look, she jumped back to her ready stance. "Well, I guess we'll have to do this the hard way then." She said with a pout before shifting her expression to an eerie smile. "Don't worry though, you'll learn to love it."
"…Alright, you are much less adorable now and a lot more psycho." I thought as I felt a tad unnerved by that last statement. Luckily, Breezeway stepped up for me and decided to make his presence known again. He stepped forward purposefully between me and the eevee as I saw his feathers fluff and the chorded muscles along his back tighten with each flex of his wings. "I do believe he's made himself perfectly clear on matter, little miss. Furthermore, I think you kids should learn some respect. This forest is meant to be haven for peaceful Pokémon wanting to live free from the bonds of the outside world and enjoy their lives. And you will Not come waltzing in here while making such threatening declarations that directly oppose that while I still live and breathe. I will not allow it!"He proclaimed with a levelled stare as each statement grew in intensity and seemed to physically press against our opponents. The eevee and her trainer were looking much less sure of themselves now and had already given up enough ground that Dustin was practically standing behind the tree line looking ready to cut his losses and bolt.
Seeing their apprehension and that Breezeway was going to handle things, I relaxed a bit and let out a relieved sigh as I mumbled my thanks to the fates above. "Phew, I'm glad that Breezy's here. I have no idea how to battle, so I would have been up shit creek if he hadn't stepped in." I looked back to Breezeway as he had his wings spread, ready to blast them all the way back to Snowbelle City, only for me to see him stop mid-flap as he twisted his head 180 degrees and regarded me with a questioning stare. I figured that, as an owl, he could probably do that with his head but seeing it up close still made my spine shudder a bit.
"Do you mean to say that you've never battled before, Blue?" He asked inquisitively as he twisted his body sideways and let his wings fall back to his sides.
"Well, I mean, no, not really. I've never needed to before." I explained sheepishly as I looked at Breezeway trying to figure out what the hold up was. He seemed to be thinking hard about something as he brought a wing tip up to his chin before glancing back to the human and the eevee and then back to me.
A great smile then spread across his beak, which made feel decidedly uncomfortable with whatever he was thinking of. "Well, in that case, I do believe now would be an ample opportunity to learn, don't you think?" I stared at him questioningly for a second while I processed what he said. I then felt dread overtake me as his words sank in, and I was forced to contemplate the odds of me not getting my ass kicked by the psycho ball of fur standing at the edge of the clearing. I quickly turned to her and began to gauge my chances of survival. As I looked into her eyes, her nervous demeanor disappeared and was slowly replaced by an uncomfortably large smile as she realized that the large noctowl was going to leave me to my fate. "Yep, I'm fucked." I thought in a panic as I started stuttering while trying to brainstorm ideas that could convince Breezeway that this was an absolutely awful idea. However, I wasn't able to form more than a few coherent words before Breezeway started laughing like the crazy old coot that he was and lifted himself off the ground.
"Hahaha, don't worry about a thing, kid. Just do your best and focus on the battle." He said with far more mirth than he had any right to. With a pleading expression, I watched him climb up into the trees and disappear behind the canopy. Turning my head back towards them, I saw the eevee still looking at me with that smile, but her trainer was still staring, with a somewhat astonished face, up to where Breezeway had disappeared to.
"Wow, I guess he was all bark and no bight huh, Eve." He said with growing confidence while readying his stance. "Alright Eve, are you ready to help me catch our first partner?" He asked enthusiastically while looking down at her. "Ready when you are Dustin!" She exclaimed with matching enthusiasm while springing back in front of her trainer and crouched low waiting for his order.
With my backup gone and my original bravado no longer forthcoming, I started backing up to try and put some distance between me and the eevee as I did the only thing I could think of. I panicked. "Crap! Crap! Crap! I don't even know what kind of moves I have, let alone how to use them! Are regular Pokémon moves even a thing here?! Or are we just supposed to start ripping into each other like rabid dogs?! Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope. I am not doing this." I thought frantically as I spun around and made a bee line for the trees while the guy started shouting behind me.
"Quick, Eve, close the distance. Don't let him get away!" Taking a glance behind as I was still running, I saw the eevee begin charging straight towards me at full speed. It looked like that even with my unfamiliarity with this body, I had enough of a head start to beat her to the woods, so as long as I can lose her there, I'll make it out of this in one piece. At least, that's what should have happened. To my horror, a white corona formed around her, and her legs started glowing white as she exponentially picked up speed. Then, in a flash, she disappeared. My eyes went wide as I realized what she just did, and I did my best to dodge to the side. I wasn't quite fast enough, though, as her quick attack clipped my shoulder and sent me rolling on the ground as she continued on her original trajectory past me.
"Reverse off that tree Eve, and then follow up with some scratch attacks!" Dustin yelled from behind me. I scrambled up to my paws trying to jump out of the way again, but Eve was already launching off the tree in front of me in a flash as I got up. I wasn't even able to move before I took a direct hit from the quick attack and felt the wind knocked out of me as I was launched on to my back. Eve further emptied my lungs by landing on top me and fixed me with a steely glare while she continued her assault without mercy. I flinched as I saw her claws extend and her paws glow white as she started swiping at me. I reflexively shut my eyes and brought my paws up to protect my face and neck.
My panic reached its crescendo as I felt pain lance across my arms and chest, and I lost the ability to think about what was going on. With my adrenaline and panic fully setting in, I felt an odd… force inside me start to stir. Hoping that it would somehow save me and without thinking about possible consequences, I grabbed hold of it and used it to strike out at my opponent. I opened my eyes seeing black tendrils snaking up from my maw, and in one swift, fluid movement, I reached up and bit down hard on the eevee's neck. All I saw was shock and pain on her face as her eyes went wide before I violently twisted my body to the side and slammed her head-first into the ground. Not done with her yet, I used my hold to grind her face into the dirt as I leveraged myself into a standing position above her and started swiping at the back her head with my own glowing paws. Unlike her though, I angled my swipes more vertically as each hit sent her head smacking into the ground again and again. Not one to just stand around, Dustin started barking orders once again.
"Eve! Roll over and make him feel bad for hitting you!" I didn't quite hear him as I was in fight or flight mode and continued my assault, but even if I had, I would have found the statement laughable at best. Eve apparently knew what he meant, though, and fought through the pain as she rolled over while scooping up some dirt in her paw and throwing it in my face. I was actually quite shocked that the little eevee was able to keep fighting after having her head hit that much. "Maybe Pokémon are just tougher and can take a lot more damage than people. Either that or she's just one thick-headed eevee." I pondered as I had to falter in my attack to wipe the dirt from my eyes. As I regained my sight, she was still laying there on her back clearly a bit disoriented while peering straight into my eyes. Before I could launch my next set of scratch attacks, a pink glow surrounded her eyes, and I couldn't help but stare into them.
Then, all I could see were those eyes and the tears streaming from them. I could feel all the pain and hardship I had put this poor eevee and her trainer through. "I'm a terrible person. I shouldn't be fighting this girl. She and her trainer just wanted to be friends, and this is how I repay them. By beating up on this poor, defenseless eevee. I should just give up and ask them to forgive me for ever being such a massive prick." I whimpered as I felt my own eyes starting to water from all the emotion I was feeling. I continued to stare into those eyes, transfixed by her gaze until another errant thought surfaced from my subconscious that was in a voice practically dripping with saccharine. "~~You're going to learn to looovvvveee it~~." My eyes shot wide with terror as I imagined an eevee wearing a ridiculously creepy grin complete with overly sharp teeth and blood-red eyes. The imaginary eevee then cocked her head to the side while laughing darkly in a much deeper voice than should be normal. With shudders running down my spine, I remembered where I was and shook myself out of my stupor. Looking back down with a leer, I was caught off-guard as Eve reared her head back and headbutted me right between the eyes causing me to stumble backwards and allowing her to scramble back to her feet. As we regained our footing with some space between one another, we eyed each other wearily as we were both panting and looking far worse for wear. I took the moment to briefly look her and myself over to get a better idea of what kind of damage our bodies had taken. To my surprise and despite looking like we had fallen out of the back of a truck, there wasn't any blood or open wounds on either of us that I could see. I was quickly broken from my trauma assessment, though, as Dustin took the lull in action to chime in with a new plan.
"Alright Eve, we've got him on the ropes. Put some distance between him and finish him off with a swift attack." Heeding her trainer's words, she jumped backwards out of my range with him and the moss-covered rock just off to the side and behind her as she began preparing her attack.
With my adrenaline fading, I began feeling the toll of the battle on my body. As I felt my energy slipping away from me, I found it much more difficult to formulate any kind of effective plan to get out of this. "Shit. If there's one thing I remember from the original Pokémon games, its that swift was a move that never misses. I can already tell I won't be able to get back up if I get hit with that, and there's no way I'll be able to reach her in time to stop her attack." I thought desperately searching for an answer while stars started forming behind her. I was running out of time as I began to panic once again. Shifting nervously from on paw to the other, I frantically looked around for anything that could help. No matter how hard I thought, though, I couldn't come up with anything. It felt like I was trying to figure out how to pull a rabbit out of a hat… "Wait… that's it!" With a last-ditch effort and reaching deep inside myself for that force I felt earlier, I spun around and started furiously digging into the dirt and throwing it in the eevee's direction. A dust cloud began to form between the two of us and spread all the way to the rock in the center of the clearing.
With a Cheshire grin, Eve saw my latest ploy and knew she was going to be victorious. "Sorry, but that's just not going to work. Even with your improvised smokescreen, there's literally no way for me to miss you from this close of a distance. Don't worry, though, I'll try not to hit you too hard." She stated proudly until a stray dirt-clog smacked her right in the face causing her to wipe eyes and fix a steely glare at the silhouette in the dust cloud. Feeling much less sympathetic and with her attack at full power, she dug her paws into the ground ready to unleash it. "Alright! You asked for it! Let's finish this!" She yelled while putting everything she had behind the attack and launched her bombardment on everything in and around the cloud in front of her. Smirking at the devastation she was causing, she watched as a trio of stars homed in on the zorua and slammed into him. Her smirk faltered, though, as the figure seemed unphased by the assault and wasn't even moved by the direct impact. She watched in bewilderment as the silhouette began to flicker and then completely dissipate while the dust cloud hung heavily in the air. She didn't get to contemplate what just happened for very long, though, as I appeared off to her side from behind the rock.
Seeing my illusion fade, she only caught a glimpse of me as I launched my sneak attack through the cloud and charged wildly at her while digging into the last bit of my reserves. I felt my body be engulfed by dark energy as I built up speed and rammed into her with everything I had. I actually ended up hitting her with enough force that we almost soared all the way to the tree line. Trying to capitalize on my advantage and before we lost all our momentum, I used what little energy I had left to dig my paws into the ground and grabbed onto the nap of her neck with my mouth. I then spun and used the change in direction to throw her forcefully into one of thick oak trees lining the clearing. Panting heavily and with my forelegs giving out beneath me, I watched as the eevee slammed face-first into the tree with her legs splayed in all directions. She stuck there comically to the tree for a solid second before finally peeling away and falling limply to the ground with a dull thud. I continued watching her body with an exhausted expression until my brain finally caught up with everything that had just happened, and I broke out into huge grin of disbelief.
"I… I won? I won. Ha! I won! I can't believe that actually worked! Take that you furry psychopath!" I exclaimed with elation as I reveled in my victory. Although, my celebration was cut short as Dustin decided to pipe in once again.
"Great job, Eve! He should be weak enough now. Gooooo pokéball!" He yelled aloud as my blood turned to ice and I felt my pupils reduce to pinpricks. In all the excitement of fighting for my life, I had totally forgotten the whole reason they were battling me to begin with. As time slowed down, I looked over to Dustin to see his outstretched hand releasing a new, shiny red and white pokéball perfectly arching right towards me. I then looked back to the eevee splayed out on the ground before me, and despite the amount of pain and fatigue she must have been feeling, I saw her manage the faintest and most shit-eating grin I've ever seen. I felt my heart beat once… then twice. With no other options, I screwed my eyes shut and steeled myself to try and fight the capture if at all possible. It looked like a normal pokéball, so I still had a chance, even if it was rather slim one as I was barely holding on to consciousness as it was.
Thankfully, I never had to find out what would have happened as a strong, nearly deafening, gust of wind picked up from overhead. Splaying my ears back and opening my eyes, I glanced to where the pokéball should have been only to see it reverse its trajectory back towards Dustin and slam into his face. I saw him fall on his ass and grab his nose in pain, and then, the next thing I knew, I felt something grip me around my midsection as I very quickly ascended off the ground. Before I could shut my eyes from the vomit-inducing sight of the clearing becoming smaller and smaller, I saw the trainer grab something from his backpack and hurry over to his downed eevee. With my eyes firmly shut again, I began to take deep breaths while trying to stop my guts from being expelled out of my body until I felt my ascent slowly level off. Thinking that I would be fine as long as I didn't look down, I looked up to my savior before opening my eyes once again.
Breezeway was looking down at me with a proud smile as we flew above the forest canopy towards the south. "Ha! You put on a hell of a show there, kid. For a minute there, I didn't think you were going to pull it off." He boasted. Seeing my less than pleased expression at his comment, he continued with his far too enthusiastic babbling. "What? You didn't think I was going to actually leave you all high and dry out there did you, Blue? If things had started getting out of hand, I would've swooped in to stop it." He reassured me. Not having the energy to retort, I leveled a stare off to the horizon as I felt my body starting to go limp in his grasp. "You actually held your own quite well out there, especially for someone who's never battled before. You've got good instincts, kid. I'm sure they'll serve you well here." All I could do was groan as I felt completely drained and tried to ignore the crazy old bird carrying me. It seemed he was content with travelling in silence, though, and I began to focus on the sunrise peaking over the distant mountain tops laid out in front of me. Not having the energy to properly appreciate the view, I could feel darkness creeping in on my mind once again. Without hesitation, I welcomed it with open arms and hoped that it would take me away from this place as a final thought crossed my mind, and I felt my eyes close. "What could I have possibly done to deserve this…"