Fisherman's Wharf
People and Pokemon were having a good time on Fisherman's Wharf: shopping in its variety of shops, eating the best seafood anywhere in the city, watching the Wingulls and Pelippers fly off into the horizon, and taking tours to see the infamous Alcatraz Island. Everyone was cheerful, except for one cloaked Vulpix, hiding underneath the pier.
"Someone around here is bound to know Ninetales, but who?" said Vullen as she remembered what that Eevee said two nights ago: Wow... look at that guy... he's the same size as Ninetales... "Could it be possible, that those idiots knew something about Ninetalesuk?"
Just then, she overheard someone, talking about Ninetales. Putting her hood on, she hid behind a pillar as she saw the same Leafeon and Glaceon she met in the forest, walking along the beach.
"San Francisco's a great city, don't you agree Snowflake?" said Leafeon.
"Yeah," sighed Snowflake, leaning against Leafeon, "Ninetales sure was... um, worried that his apartment wasn't going to fit all of us".
Those two! They're from the forest before those four fools came, and they know Ninetalesuk as well? Vullen continued to eavesdrop on the couple's conversation.
"Well, at least it's better in the Flea Bite Café," continued Snowflake, "Who knew Ninetales was so helpful to Sasha".
"Kind of making Charlie jealous, huh," replied Leafeon.
Vullen's eyes lit up from the information she just got, Flea Bite Cafe, huh? She leaves them, in case they recognized her. She asks another canine about the cafe, and sure enough, ten minutes later, she arrived there.
Flea Bite Cafe
This is the Flea Bite, huh? Vullen entered the establishment and began looking around, but saw only other Pokemon and canines eating, drinking, playing cards, or talking to one another. Where's the Ninetales? Just then, a German Sheppard walked up to the counter, where there stood a beautiful Irish Setter, cleaning the counter.
"Hey, Sasha," said the German Sheppard, "Where's Ninetales? I wonder if he's done with Eevee's parents?"
Vullen perked her ears up in her cloak: Ninetales... do tell...
"I don't know," said the Setter, "All I know is that Shaina went a while to his house. I sent Itchy there to give Charlie, not you, a note if he can help me out here a little while longer".
Just then, a Dachshund with a red cap entered the café and bumped into Vullen.
"Excuse me," apologized the Dachshund, "Sasha, Charlie wasn't home".
"What?" said the Setter, "Where did he go?"
"No idea".
"What about Ninetales?" asked the German Sheppard.
"Oh, Charleon said that he and Shaina went to the park to... talk about something".
The park, hmm? With that new information, she turns and leaves the café and headed straight for Golden Gate Park.
Park (Across the pond from Ninetales and Shaina):
"HEY!" said a kid, trying to get his skateboard back from a teenage, red-haired boy, "THAT'S MINE!"
"Get lost, kid!" shouted Nox as the skateboard burst into flames. As the kid cries and runs away, Nox turned to his twin brother, Equi.
"What happened to stealing candy from a baby, huh?" said Equi.
"Shut up!" shouted Nox, preparing to strike Equi before hearing something: someone was talking, someone familiar. Equi looks across the pond and sees Ninetales and Shaina.
"Bro, check it out who it is!"
Nox smiled as he saw the couple lying down on the lawn, "Fox boy and his girl... heh. My schedule's been booked solid for today, so…"
"You want me to mess with him?"
"Exactly"
"Fine, but remember, I kill him, my point!"
"Whatever".
Meanwhile, the brothers weren't the only ones keeping a close eye on Ninetales. Vullen was on top of a tree, looking through its shrubs to get a closer look at her enemy.
"There you are, Ninetalesuk," She said to herself as she reaches for a dagger, "You're now going to pay for what you did!"
Ninetales was lying on the green grass, nuzzling Shaina's muzzle as she giggled.
"It's a peaceful day, isn't it?" said Ninetales as he looked into Shaina's green eyes.
"I know," said Shaina as she looks across the pond, where Equi and Nox moved out of the way, "It's all so quiet".
"Too quiet…" began Ninetales. Suddenly, he sensed danger. Turning around, he sees something heading towards them, "SHAINA, DUCK!!" A red dagger barley missed them by inches. A cloaked figure appears from the trees
"NINETALESUK!" screamed the figure, "YOU'RE GOING TO PAY!" The figure unleashed two more daggers and sent them straight at them.
Ninetales quickly knocks them away with his Iron Tail, "Who are you?!?"
Vullen lands near him and unleashes her sword, "YOUR END!" She swings her sword at Ninetales, but he dodges it with Quick Attack and disappears.
"Ninetales!" cried Shaina.
"Where are you?" hissed Vullen before she got struck on the back by Ninetales' Iron Tail, "GRAHH!" She falls and drops her sword.
"Who are you!?!" shouted Ninetales, but Vullen continued to struggle.
"I WONT FAIL!" She swings around, launching a dagger straight for Ninetales.
Ninetales moves to the side and lets the dagger fly past him before pinning Vullen down, "Game over!"
"This isn't over…" snarled Vullen as a black aura surrounded her, "NOT YET!!" The aura sends Ninetales flying off her.
"ARGH!" grunted Ninetales as he hit a tree, Shaina rushing to his side.
"NINETALES!" she cried, "What does she want?!?"
"I dunno!" Ninetales faced Vullen, who just grabbed her sword, "What do you want with me?!!"
"VENGENCE!" roared Vullen, "YOU KILLED MY PARENTS, AND I WANT VENGENCE!!"
"I... killed your parents? I never do things like that!"
"SILENCE! YOU'LL PAY!!" She launches at Ninetales, who embraces Shaina and waited for the attack, but then... "GAH! WHAT'S THIS?!?" Vullen was caught in a water appendage
"Water? Can't be Vaporeon…"
Vullen was then pulled out into the middle of the pond, where Equi was waiting.
"GOTCHA!" shouted Equi as he held his victim, "NINETALES, I W... wait, you're not Ninetales!" Equi takes the cloak off Vullen, "Wow, go for a trout and end up with a shrimp".
"Shrimp?" said Nox, looking at the struggling Vullen, "That's a pretty big Vulpix, if you ask me".
"How dare you…" screamed Vullen, "BUTT INTO MY PLANS!!!"
"Your plans?!?" asked Equi as he made his water appendage freeze, "You butted into mine by stepping in front of Ninetales!" Vullen hisses and pushes back the twins with her aura, knocking the ice off her. "Something's not right with this Vulpix".
"Besides the abnormal growth and black aura?"
Vullen unsheathes her red sword and growled at Equi and Nox.
"No big deal," said Equi as he created his Ice Blades, "I can do that too!"
"Wait Equi!" shouted Nox to his twin.
"What?"
"This Vulpix's power... is similar to... Sultrie's…"
"SULTRIE'S?!?" said a shocked Equi.
"I want my revenge…" growled Vullen, "AND YOU'RE STANDING IN MY WAY!!" She charges for Equi, sword ready. Equi counters with his own blade as he created another one on his other arm.
"Take this!" shouted Equi as he slashed at Vullen, cutting the end of her cloak.
"GRAHHH!" snarled Vullen as she swung her sword at Equi. Equi countered, but used both swords to block.
She's strong, thought Equi as his blades began to crack from the force. Swinging away, Vullen spewed flames from her mouth towards him. "Ice Barrier!" Equi created a giant wall of ice, which melted away as the Flamethrower hit.
"Take this!" shouted Vullen as she tossed three daggers straight for him. Equi blocked using the Ice Blades, but they broke as the daggers made contact.
"What are you?" said Equi to the Vulpix.
"An avenger!" shouted Vullen as she charged for Equi.
Equi quickly put his hands together, "NEPTUNE VORTEX!" Suddenly, the whole pond began swirling around into a giant whirlpool, "Try getting out of this one!"
Vullen got caught inside the raging whirlpool. Thinking fast, she aimed her mouth down, and with a deep breath, she spewed a massive Fire Blast, launching her out of danger.
"Thanks for the warm up," said Vullen, landing behind Equi, "But it was pathetic! Fire Blast!"
Equi quickly submerged underwater, dodging the attack with seconds to spare. "PATHETIC!" he said as he emerged from underwater.
"She's good," complimented Nox as he watched from the sidelines.
"I COULD USE SOME ASSISTENCE HERE!" shouted Equi to his brother while he created more ice blades.
"Can't. I said I won't interfere. Plus, she's kind of cute... for a Pokemon".
"It doesn't matter if you help or not!" shouted Vullen, her paws inside her cloak, "Both of you will die!" She throws a barrage of daggers at Nox.
"PHOENIX SHIELD!" shouted Nox as he gets surrounded in a fire orb, reflecting away the blades, but Vullen used Quick Attack to go behind Nox and struck a dagger at his leg, "AAHHH!"
"NOT GOOD ENOUGH!" shouted Equi as Nox pulled the dagger out of his leg, "AQUARIOUS PLUNGE!" The pond's water rose into the air before splashing down on top of them.
"YIKES!" shouted Nox as he quickly vanished before the water hit back down.
Vullen stood on the edge of the pond, her cloak back on, "Pathetic".
"You truly are powerful…" panted Equi, She's pretty clever and skillful, but who would win if she went against Sultrie? Hmph, who knows, "FINE! NINETALES' YOURS!" Equi vanishes into vapor, "IF YOU CAN CATCH HIM!"
"What?!" said Vullen as she began looking around, but saw that Ninetalesuk and the setter were gone, "He's gone!!! NO!!"
Ninetales' Home
"Come on, you two!" said Angel Charlie, "Put your backs into it!"
"I want to keep my back!" responded Flareon as he squeegee the windows clean.
Angel Charlie mopped up the last tile, put the mop against the wall, and wiped his arm across his forehead, "Well, we're done. Now that wasn't so bad, now was it?"
Flareon, Jolteon and Vaporeon just groaned. Angel Charlie was putting the cleaning supplies away when he heard someone bang the door open.
"What in the…?" Ninetales and Shaina entered and were panting hard, as if they just got away from something. "Ninetales! Shaina! What's with you two?!?"
"Attacked! That's what!" panted Ninetales.
"ATTACKED!?! By whom?!?"
"That's the problem," said Shaina, "We have no idea".
"This is a problem".
Flea Bite Café
Everyone was in the café, discussing on Ninetales' mysterious assassin.
"And then," continued Shaina, "She somehow was covered in a black aura and flung Ninetales off her".
"What did she wore?" asked Itchy.
"A black cloak, covering herself…" began Ninetales before Eevee gasped.
"Wait!" he said, "Did you see what type she was?" Ninetales shook his head, "Did you at least guess what she was?"
"Eevee, why all these questions?"
"We... might have met her when we got lost in the forest".
Everyone, except Jolteon, Flareon, Vaporeon, and Eevee, became shocked, "WHAT?!? WHERE?!?"
"You met her?" said Shaina, "In the forest, alone?!?"
Flareon nodded, "We saw her campfire and went to her".
"She had a creepy feel around her," said Jolteon, "So we didn't stay long".
"All we know is that she wanted to meet someone," said Vaporeon, "But the weird thing is, she was as big as you, Ninetales".
Ninetales blinked, "So?"
"Did we mention that she was a Vulpix?" said Eevee.
"A WHAT?!!??" shouted Ninetales, surprised.
"A Vulpix. I saw that she had six brown tails under her cloak as she stroked the fire".
"I can't believe this... SHE WAS WEILDING A SWORD AND DAGGERS!!"
"Daggers," said Jolteon, "Um, were they red bladed daggers by any chance?"
"If they didn't had my blood on it, yes".
Jolteon turned pale "We never told any of you this, but.." he gulped, "we found a horde of Pokemon in the forest slain by something. When I stepped back, I found a bloody red dagger on the floor".
"Wait," said Gerta, "There was a report about trainers finding wild Pokemon hurt, as if there was a sword-wielding maniac!"
"She was responsible for all that?" said Sasha, "But why?"
"Well," said Angel Charlie, "It could be possible, but you don't suppose, that the cloaked Vulpix is…"
"My sister?!" said Ninetales, "My twin sister?!?"
"And I thought you were bad…" said Flareon before Sasha slapped him on the head.
"He deserved that," said Angel Charlie as he glanced at Ninetales, "Remember, she was taken from your parents by Belladonna".
"I know, I know," said Ninetales, "But... Why?"
"Well, at least we know she's in town," said Jolteon.
Just then, Itchy was thinking of something that made him begin to shake. "She was wearing a black cloak, right?"
"Black cloak and six tails, why do you ask?"
"You into fashion now?" asked Flareon before being bonked on the head by Sasha.
"Okay," said Vaporeon before turning his head towards the dachshund, "To answer, yes".
"I might have… bumped into her," muttered Itchy.
"What? When?!?" asked Ninetales frantically.
"I think it's better to ask where".
"Okay, where?"
"Here.…"
"Here? She was actually here?"
"Yeah".
"She must have overheard us talking about you, Ninetales," said Sasha, "And Itchy said you went to the park".
"Hold on!" said Ninetales, realizing the situation, "Then that means she knows that you guys are my friends and I come here a lot…"
Shaina gasped, "She knows where you always go".
Charlie gulped before blinking, "Wait, there's one thing that's getting to me. If you were attacked by her, then how did you escape?"
"She was somehow pulled into the pond. We didn't stick around, so we don't know who or what did it".
"That means only one thing... THE POND'S ALIVE!!!" shouted Jolteon.
CLANG!!!!!!
"Thank you," said Sasha as she handed the frying pan back to Gerta.
"Hmm…" pondered Angel Charlie, "So, how exactly did she get pulled into the pond?"
"It was... a water appendage," replied Shaina.
"Equi!" said Angel Charlie as he snapped his fingers, "But the question is: Why did Equi nab her?"
"To join their little group?"
CLANG!!!!
Sasha hands the frying pan back to Gerta as she puts it away. "Besides the Sleeping Idiots' suggestions, I may have a guess. What if Equi was aiming for a different target, but got the wrong... Fox?"
"Wouldn't be surprised if he was after me," said Ninetales.
"I know," said Angel Charlie, "Now, what I want to know is, where is she now?"
"And why is she after Ninetales?" asked Sasha.
"Wait," said Ninetales, "What did she say back in the park? Didn't she blamed me for something?"
"Yes," said Shaina, "She blamed you for the murder of her parents".
Ninetales closed his eyes as he pondered on his theory. That's why... she's attacking me
"Ninetales, remember that she was with Belladonna this whole time," said Angel Charlie, "She's being blinded by the darkness, and you need to show her the light to the truth"
Meanwhile, Charlie was behind his counterpart, mocking him. Itchy goes to him and whispers in his ear.
"You do know you're mocking yourself, Charlie".
"He wishes…" said Sasha on Charlie's other side. Charlie stops as he gets pulled away by the ear. "At least we know why she's attacking Ninetales, we just gotta know where she is right now," stated Flo.
"Simple, she'll be coming after Ninetales, right?" asked Itchy.
"Right. Oh, you're saying that she'll come back here, right?"
"Two words. Yes and... DUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!!!"
"That's three... Whoa!"
Everyone got down as a red-bladded dagger flew over them and hit the soda fountain, making it spray soda everywhere.
"YOU'RE ABOUT TO BECOME DEAD IN A MINUTE!" shouted Vullen as she slashed through the doors and launched herself towards Ninetales.
"Yikes!!!" shouted Ninetales as he sidesteps the attack.
Vullen glares at everyone before noticing Eevee and the Stooges, "YOU GUYS??!!"
"H-hi... Vu-Vul-len," said Jolteon, his body shaking from fright.
"Vullen?" said Ninetales as Vullen glanced at him, her anger rising.
"The last name you'll ever know!" she shouts as she swings her sword towards Ninetales, but gets caught by Angel Charlie, his paw glowing blue as it held the sword.
"THAT'S ENOUGH!" shouted Angel Charlie as he sent Vullen back against the wall.
"Butt out!!!" Vullen unleashes a blast of black aura that knocks Angel Charlie away, "I've had enough of fools standing in my way for revenge!!!"
Angel Charlie got up and created a blue orb, "Then call me a Joker!" he said as he launches the orb.
Vullen knocks it away, "Shadow Rope!!!" Angel Charlie got tied up in a bundle of shadows, keeping him from moving.
Ninetales approached the giant Vulpix, "Vullen, why are you attacking me?"
"YOU KILLED MY PARENTS!" She roared, "AND I'M HERE TO AVENGE THEM!!"
"Vullen... I couldn't have killed your parents…"
"LIAR!" She hissed as she swings her sword, but Ninetales dodged the attack, "MY MISTRESS WITNESSED YOU KILLING THEM!"
"I couldn't have killed your parents... BECAUSE THEY'RE MY PARENTS TOO!!"
Angel Sasha slowly approached Angel Charlie, "What shall we...?"
"Sashy," whispered Angel Charlie, "I have enough energy to send you to heaven. Tell Annabelle... Hurry!"
"Okay, dear," cried Angel Sasha as she disappeared in a blue aura.
"ENOUGH!" shouted Vullen, "MY MISTRESS TOLD ME THAT YOU ARE A TRICKSTER, AND I WON'T FALL FOR THEM!!" She swings her swords at Ninetales, but he dodged it.
"I'm the same age as you!!" Look!!!"
Vullen paused from her attack, "Same Age?!? How?"
"I was a pup the same time like you. How could I kill your parents if I was a child?"
What if he is right?, thought Vullen, but then, she remember what Belladonna said, He has plenty of tricks up his tails... don't fall for them...
"Vullen, Belladonna is a demon. She took you away from your parents when you were a child... they were alive back then! She sealed their memories of you! She's just using you!"
Vullen kept thinking of Belladonna's words, Plenty of tricks up his tails... don't fall for them... She swung her sword, narrowly missing Ninetales' ear, "Enough of your lies!"
Ninetales lowers his head, "What do I need to do in order to convince you... Sister".
Vullen stopped her attack as she sees into Ninetales' eyes. Those eyes... where have I seen them before? Vullen drops her guard down and backs away a little.
"I'm your brother, Vullen. I'm your twin brother. We were born on the same day".
"How can this be... GRAHH!" Vullen got hit in the back by a green orb and falls to the ground, unconscious. A purple whippet steps in between Ninetales and the collapsed Vullen.
"Belladonna!" hissed Ninetales at the purple whippet.
Demon Belladonna smirks as she turns to the trapped Angel Charlie, "Chuckie? She was too much for even you?!? HAHAHAHA! I got to hand it to my other self for that!"
"It's the Belladonna from my world!!" said Angel Charlie, struggling with the Shadow Rope.
"Right on, Chuck," she turns to Ninetales, then to Vullen, "Shame you had to put foolish thoughts in her mind. She could have finished sooner".
Ninetales vanished and reappears beside Vullen, "Vullen!!"
"My other self was right, you are powerful, but…" she snaps her fingers and Vullen disappears in vapor, "We got to get going".
"NO!!"
Demon Belladonna laughed, "This is too much, even for me!"
Ninetales falls to the ground, "No…"
"Well, if you excuse me, we need to rekindle Vullen's bloodlust again," Demon Belladonna laughed as she too disappeared.
Angel Charlie, the Shadow Rope disintegrating, rushed to Ninetales, "Ninetales!" Ninetales stood silent.
"Ninetales?" said Shaina, approaching the fox.