Vulpine Times

Disclaimer: Don't own it.


'Oh wow! That's even better!'

Aik'sha nodded, agreeing, 'Yeah! I didn't know you could still do that!'

Eyes wide, I stood on my rear paws and looked down at my forepaws: they were hand-like and yellow. "Pi...chu?"

Ka'bo approached me closely, sniffing me curiously before standing with surprise, 'You're just like Aik'sha! That's so cool!'

I blinked, feeling my face; Ka'bo was now as tall as I was! I was still silent when Aik'sha approached.

'Can we play now!? Like last time?'

I blinked wonderingly at her, 'Uh, just a sec.' I then patted myself down with chubby arms, feeling out my cubby little body that was hardly as big as my head; then I reached around and grabbed my tail, which was shorter and mostly black, following the pattern of the upper half of my body. I pulled on it a bit with an amused smile, 'It feels so funny! I only got one tail!' I tugged on it as I rolled to my side, giggling a bit in the doing.

'You wanna play Now?'

I grinned at Aik'sha, nodding before tackling her to a roll; suddenly a bit of playtime seemed much more appealing.


He wasn't the strongest in his bunch, far from it really, but that didn't mean that he was weak. Again, far from it. His group was simply large enough that even an average, or below average Fearow would be considered, at least amongst its own kind, World Class. Which made sense, since their flock consisted of a good thirty percent of the world's population of Spearow and Fearow; so many birds that each spring and fall the flock would seperate into many smaller groups, most of which had at least a few Fearow and many hundreds of Spearow. Some of these smaller flocks would congregate to live in a small territory relatively far from any other groups.

As a Fearow he wouldn't be staying with the Spearow of this flock, he'd be moving on to more plentiful pastures further north, but if for no other reason than for protection he, like most Fearow, was staying with the Spearow during migration.

He, like most high-flying predatory birds, had excellent vision; he could see a small yellow mouse on the ground from two miles up. Could, in fact, tell that the three of them were not looking up and had yet to notice his flock. It seemed like the perfect opportunity; sure, they were electric rodents and would likely give him a shock or two, but as a Fearow he was effectively two evolutions above them and sure that he could handle it. Besides, they were far from their group, and thus far from the protection of a large number of Pikachu, or even a single Raichu, were young and thus inexperienced, and wholly unaware of his presence. He was, after all, the fastest flier with the biggest wings, and thus the first of his flock to reach this point.

He also saw some fighting types on the nearby mountain, and knew that he'd have an easier time taking one of them out, but at the same time fighting types were notoriously gamey with none of the fat that a nice mouse had, not to mention all the dangerous rock-types that fight-types tended to hang out with.

To him it was simple, birds had been predating on small rodents for as long as they both had existed, and no true predator could resist catching a youngster unaware and unprotected; without even thinking about it, he dove, pulling his wings in for maximum dive speed, descending at a speed just one iota before total loss of control; from this range even a Raichu would be heavily damaged by a direct hit, a Pichu wouldn't stand a chance.

One of the Pichu noticed him as he was about halfway down; it wouldn't make much of a difference, but the 'chus had good eyes, they needed them to properly aim their electrical attacks at such a range.

One of them launched a shock at him, coming within a few yards of hitting him, then the other two joined in soon after. None hit him, not at this range, but they were remarkably close and left the air tasting of ionization. Further attacks would be amplified by this fact, but by then he would be too close for their attacks to have much of an effect on him.

One of the three of them attacked again right away, the other two flagging slightly though they soon joined in; he was only a few hundred yards away now and his wings were just barely avoiding being caught in the shocking sparks flying from the little creatures.

They then huddled a bit, as though thinking it would protect them, before they all sent out blasts at the same time, in a thick braid of electrical energy that rammed into him dead-on and caused him to scream out, "FEEEEAAAAARRRRROOOOOOOOOWWWWW!!" But he would not be stopped! Not by tiny, underevolved mice!

'Oh no! It didn't work!' Fear was striking my heart as the Fearow approached; sparks jolted out of my cheeks as I shook a bit, 'Run towards it!'

Ka'bo shouted before I could make my thoughts known, 'Again!' Acting immediately I and Aik'sha obeyed as all three of us released another unified blast at the approaching predator, urgency causing us to put more into it than before; I really felt it as my body was shocked with the effort, nearly causing me to break formation as my body twitched a bit, my tail taking much of the excess but far and beyond inadequate for the task.

Our combined shock died out, leaving the three of us drained and twitchy but with no time to ruminate on it as I suddenly yelled out, 'This way!' And started running, crashing through the wall of fear that was driving me to run away; running away was a path to death, but instinct and fear was such a hard barrier that I almost couldn't bring myself to do what I knew best.

The other two didn't question it, merely taking off right along with me, their strong social ties giving them an immediate answer to such orders just as I'd answered Ka'bo's orders without thinking.

As we ran past I got a passing look at the Fearow as it came to the ground; it was nearly paralyzed apparently and actually hit the ground rather hard, though not hard enough to stun it. Acting without thinking I immediately turned around and gave it one last shock, followed quickly by the others before the three of us ran off, leaving the predator to shake off its paralysis as we made our way back to the colony, Ka'bo yelling out "PIIICHU PICHUPI!" as we ran, warning those who could hear that there was a Fearow coming.

Suddenly a large Pikachu came out of nowhere and put himself between us and the Fearow, causing it to second-guess its attack in mid-air, measuring the newcomer for a moment before continuing with one last lunge.

The Pikachu launched a powerful Thunderbolt attack and drove the Fearow off, then turned back around, still seeing battle, "Pika!" 'Run!' And we did so without question, the Pikachu keeping guard as we went, soon joined by another Pikachu as they led us back to the colony.

Only a few minutes later there was more electricity flying as a large number of brave Spearow started harassing the defensive ring, trying to draw a Pikachu out in the open where it could be isolated from the group. There were also a few Fearow diving a bit deeper into the group, but with so much electricity about with some thirty Pikachu still outside and joining in the defense (as well as a few Geodude that the birds had harassed to their own detriment), for the most part the attack had turned from dangerous to an annoyance.

The birds in turn seemed to have sensed this and chose to move on, flying off even as the flying electricity bounced amongst the clouds a bit, seeming to follow the enemy's retreat as a trio of Raichu made it outside for backup.

As I collapsed from exhaustion Aik'sha picked me up and shook me excitedly, 'That was so cool! How did you know it would miss!?'

I shook my head to clear it, 'I, it's complicated.'

Aik'sha smiled then started shaking Ka'bo, 'That was so smart! You're a really good leader!'

Ka'bo recovered control of his head, then started scratching it, sparks coming from his cheeks with embarrassment, "Piiiichu-"

As the colony dispersed one of the three Raichu approached the center, where the Pichu (including myself) had been huddled. He focused in on Aik'sha and I and approached closer, directing his attention on me, 'Aik'sha what happened?'

As I blinked stupidly Aik'sha ran to the elder and started explaining, with wide sweeping gestures and a loud voice, her take on what happened, 'Ka'bo and me were talking to miss Sari and then we wanted her to show us that funny fire thingy and she transformed into me and then we played for a while, that was really fun and then a Fearow came after us! It was really scary and we kept missing it but Ka'bo said to shoot it at the same time so we did and then we did it again and Sari said to follow her and the Fearow flew right over us and we shocked it again and ran here and then all the Pikachu started shocking all the Spearow and the Fearow and we won!'

As I stared at the girl who was now (exactly) my size, I wondered how she'd managed to get that entire explanation out in what seemed like one breath, chattering hyperactively like a chipmunk on Speed suffering from an adrenaline high. She started breathing hard, sparks coming from her cheeks as she suddenly fell forward, eyes swirling and making random cute noises.

The Raichu, Karro if my nose was correct, looked with puzzlement between the real and faux Aik'sha.

Embarrassed, I waved, a tad more reserved in doing so than the real Aik'sha, "Piiichu pipichu." 'Hiii there, elder Karro.'

He leaned down to my level and sniffed me curiously, 'How do you smell like Aik'sha?'

I got down on all fours, not entirely comfortable with having to explain myself, 'I transformed into her, I'm really Sari...'

He blinked, turning his head, 'I didn't know a Vulpix could transform?'

I laughed nervously, 'Me either! I just did!'

He nodded, standing once more, 'Oh, are you part Ditto?'

I shook my head, 'I don't! think.. so?' It shouldn't have been possible, but who knew? I didn't know if this body even HAD parents, let alone who, or what they'd been. And if it didn't then that could mean just about anything. For all I knew, I really Could have been a Ditto and not known it, staying transformed as a Vulpix while still able to transform into other things.

Ka'bo approached, 'She was going to show us that blue fire thing, but instead of that this happened! It was really cool!'

A sudden voice drifted up from the ground, "Piiiiichupi-" I couldn't pick out what was being said, being effectively gibberish, but it was a nice way to cap the conversation as Karro picked the little girl up off the ground.

'I think it's time to nest.' He then stood, little one in hand and yelled out, 'Pichus follow me!' He then started walking off as we did as told, most of us on all fours as we paced behind the commanding presence of the elder. The Pikachu seemed to have gotten the message as well and, though some dispersed to places unknown, a fair number of them remained, keeping the Pichu herded in place as continued lightning bolts arced through the air.

We were about halfway there when my body suddenly gave out and, in a flash of multichromatic light I was suddenly thrown into a confusing discontinuation of sensation, followed by a return of feeling larger than the Pichu around me, who other than a few curious looks kept following their elder.

I shook my head a few times to clear it, wondering for a moment why I hadn't questioned Karro's order. As a Pichu it had felt natural and I'd followed that feeling unquestioningly, wanting to get inside anyway, but now as a Vulpix I was feeling... well not rebellious, but not quite so desperate to obey. 'I suppose that makes sense though.'

A Pikachu approached me from behind just as I was getting back into the walk, 'How did you do that?'

'I... transformed, into a Pichu earlier. I think it helped, fire isn't as strong against birds, but I kinda wish I had chosen a Pikachu or a Raichu instead.'

The female smiled, 'Yeah! Then you'd have been bigger and that Fearow wouldn't have been so quick to pick on you!' She punched the air with enthusiasm then descended back to all fours to keep pace, as slow as that was.

I nodded with a smile, 'Though I wouldn't have been any stronger. Transform only changes form and skills, it keeps the stats the same.' I shook my head, 'That just means I have to keep getting stronger!' I nodded decisively.(1)

'Is something wrong?'

I flinched, 'Huh?' Then I realized that I'd practically been wearing my thoughts on my shoulder, 'Oh! No, nothing's wrong, I'm just thinking!'

She gave me a curious look, 'About what?'

I grinned nervously, 'About getting stronger! I need to get lots stronger!'

She seemed puzzled for a moment, 'Why?'

'Because... I do. And I want to protect Aik'sha.'

'Oh. Is that why you were fighting with the eldest this morning?'

I nodded, 'He's going to help me to get stronger!'

'Isn't it tiring though?'

I nodded, "Vul."

'If you're tired how can you fight later?'

I thought on that, turning my head to watch where we were going. It made sense, if I was too tired to do much after training, it would make a real fight that much tougher. However, 'The faster I get stronger, the sooner I'll be able to really help. Right now I feel like I barely know how to fight at all. I can; it's just I've never done too much of it before...'

'Oh, okay. I hope it works for you!' As we walked she kept eyeing the sky, warily watching the flock of Spearow that continued to fly overhead. I didn't blame her, we were nearing the door and as we started going through it that would likely leave fewer and fewer individuals outside, they becoming a more and more tangible target as they had fewer and fewer backup available.

And when I realized this I also started noticing some more of the agitation around me, cycling through the group like a living thing; the Pikachu had grouped into a bundle at the rear, evenly spaced at around three feet each, with me included in that formation to my surprise; the two Raichu that had come out with Karro were now taking up flanking positions near the door and standing there, visibly guarding the door as though they'd been there the whole time; which, I realized, was exactly the case. I hadn't noticed it before but I remembered that there had been two Raichu at the entrance almost every time I'd passed through it since arriving, just out of casual sight but there in scent and likely in body, keeping watch to be sure nothing dangerous got inside.

I didn't know how much of their behavior was automatic, whether by instinct or through learned behavior, or whether they sat around thinking up ideas, but the depth to which things went around here suggested that this group was, if nothing else, remarkably well-adapted to both their lifestyle and living environment. And considering that the games' Pokedexes said that Pikachu typically lived in forests, I could only guess that these behaviors were learned, marks of a local culture that was well-suited to this place and this group only.

After all, the deep sky wasn't as much of a concern when you had trees over your head.

Soon enough we were inside, which was just as well since at that moment those nice, puffy white clouds had started turning dark and were soon pouring water on the land, angry lightning spreading across the sky as if in response to the attack only minutes earlier.

'When enough Pikachu gather they can start Thunderstorms. Never thought I'd see it with my own eyes though. I guess that they have to throw that energy out to make it happen, though, otherwise it'd be storming here all the time.' I gave the rain a wary look, 'I bet that rain would hurt, too. Really good timing, that.' I chuckled to myself and continued on, working my way through the milling throngs of Pokemon, mostly Pikachu with the occasional Voltorb and Electrode (both more active than usual, actually rolling about rather than simply sitting around, likely awakened by the storm outside); why, I even saw a few grimer milling about!

'Huh, wonder why I haven't seen any grimer 'till now?' I tilted my head, 'I could ask, but this place is so clean that I guess I wouldn't have expected to see them anyway.' I tilted my head the other way, 'But the game made it seem like there were more than that many here. Wonder why?'

I spotted Altair and made my way over to him, stopping only a couple feet away, 'Hey Altair!'

"Pi?" He turned to me and smiled, waving in greeting, "Chaa!"

I smiled back, 'Hey, can I ask a question?'

He tilted his head, "Pi?"

'I heard that there's supposed to be lots of Grimer in human places like this, but I only see two or three...? Wasn't there supposed to be more?'

He thought on this, 'When I was real little there were more, but then humans came and... did something to the human things, and the Grimer just started going away. There used to be Muks too!' He nodded decisively, 'But they were the first to go. Good thing, too, I remember they used to fight alot.'

I smiled, suddenly remembering that episode. It had been in the first series when Ash's Pikachu had gotten a cold and those Magnemite fell in love with him, presumably from the magnetic field he was making; the Power Plant for that city had then gone out and the gang had to go fight the Grimer and Muk that had blocked the sludge output pipes. I could only imagine that the people had decided to clean things up.

Though that plant had been inside a city, this one wasn't. But then, if it was a problem in one place, they'd likely get the word out to solve it elsewhere lest the same thing happen there. It would help explain why I'd failed to smell much pollution since arriving.

Of course, get enough animals all in one place and they'd still make a mess, perhaps that's where the Grimer had come from, driven inside by the rain.

I sighed, 'I'm going to sleep. With the sun gone there's nothing better to do.'

He smiled, "Pika."


He grinned, looking at his companion, "Things seem to be going well, no?"

She didn't respond much, "Perhaps."

He tilted his head, grinning widely, "I like what your little friend did, it makes things interesting at least."

She nodded, "Interesting enough."

He chuckled, "Don't worry, I'll keep my end of the bargain. For now I think I'll watch, this little game is rather interesting."

She did not respond right away, idly fingering her shoulder-length black hair, piercing blue eyes gazing into a blazing pinpoint of light as though it held the answers to the Universe and All That Was. "Sure. Whatever."

He laughed, "Always so calm! Can't you be excited from time to time!?"

"Perhaps, but my excitement is behind me, Dementian."

Dementian grinned, "You see? It's a wonderful name, isn't it!? I just LOVE IT! DEMENTIAN! DEMENTIANDEMENTIAN! I want a World to shout it out loud! Wouldn't that be so very exciting?"

She rolled her eyes, "Yes yes, you like yelling. We get it."

His grin never left, though his voice became quiet, "Be that or no, the game goes on. We'll see how things turn out, won't we?"

"I suppose we will."


I awoke early in the morning with Zapam quietly speaking to me in the dark, telling me to awaken, giving me the feeling that if I denied him this for too long he would force the matter with a minor application of electrical energy to the pertinent parts of my body.

While I felt a quick shock would likely do the job, I didn't necessarily want to feel one if I could avoid it; feeling it in training, when I was ready for it, was bad enough.

My body was still a tad sore from all the excitement the day before, and as I walked the pads of my paws complained at the sudden abuse, having grown used to the consistent pressures of sleep, whereas now the alternating pressures of walking had them hurting with each step, though they adapted quickly enough. More worrying was the pain in my shoulder; I hadn't been abusing it, per-se, but it appeared that a spot just inside my shoulder blade was going to become one of those persisting pains, the kind that lasted until the problem that brought it about was solved, namely weakness and a lack of proper adaptation.

The first growing pains were starting to become apparent, and I had plenty of growing left. This was going to be a real joy.

It didn't take long for us to reach the clearing we'd been using to train, whence Zapam turned around and afforded me a blank, vaguely amused look that could have had just about anything behind it.

'Vulpix.'

I moved to a ready position, crouching ever so slightly, though a twinge of pain from my shoulder forced me to adjust it just a mite, 'Yes?' I didn't question his address, he simply called me Vulpix, the same as a human calling someone 'child' or 'boy', 'girl' or any other number of unspecific moniker of address. It worked well enough, too, considering I was the only Vulpix that any of the 'chu's knew about.

Besides, it helped to remind me that, yes, that's exactly what I was at the moment. I didn't know if he'd intended it that way, but I suppose unintentional reminders can be the most effective.

'You transformed into a Pichu yesterday.' It wasn't a question, it was a statement; apparently he kept up with what was said amongst those in the colony. That or Aik'sha had told him.

I nodded, remembering the strangely familiar awkwardness of it and the force of that form's habits. 'Yes, it was an accident. I was just as surprised as I was the first time.'

He was silent for a moment, then spoke again, 'Change into me.'

I blinked, my jaw opening with disbelief as I backed away, aghast; did he seriously expect me to just be able to transform on demand? It wasn't even supposed to be possible! I could try metronoming again, but the chances of a transform coming out of it were practically nil!

I stopped myself. When I became a Pichu I hadn't been metronoming, at best I'd only been meditating, though even that was questionable considering that it'd been the process of starting meditation that had led to such a result. Suddenly impossible held a question mark.

'I... can try?'

'Don't try, just do.'

I backed up another step; it was such a strange idea to be confronted with. Transformation was an idea that most could only dream of being able to do, suddenly having it thrust in your face was almost... scary. It was like a child wishing to have strength and then becoming afraid of the possibilities it represented, but only after having taken it; bearing a gun was a cowboy dream, but the responsibility it forced on its bearer was frighteningly heavy.

Likewise, being a Vulpix that could transform was an equally dangerous idea, but at the same time alluring...

Mind made up, I searched my mind, doing my best to shut out the outside world. What I found was almost laughable.

For most of the skills that I'd Metronome'd out of nowhere I'd simply taken note that they'd happened and then not thought on them past that, but as I did it more and more I now realized that I'd started noticing them better and better, even remembering the pulse of energy that passed through me as they occured. And though I held no hope of pulling off a water gun attack, having no idea, even subconsciously, what sort of forces had allowed it, I found that I was somehow much more familiar with the Thunderwave that had occured much later in my little practice session.

And now, sitting there in the back of my mind like a little button waiting to be pressed, was that same energy that had nearly ripped my body to shreds the first time I'd felt its effect. Subconsciously I knew what it was, and again I was almost afraid to touch it, so for a moment I instead searched for anything else that I might have collected back in that strange filing cabinet that was my mind.

The blue fire had gone, though there was a place for it, reserved only a small distance from Transform, and not far from that was where the trigger for releasing my Vulpix form's natural fire had laid itself. For a moment I feared that I'd only have four spaces, four places for such things, but I waved that off as silly. Besides, Metronome wasn't there, and as such I figured that the four memory slots was just a convention used to keep the game balanced and sane. Chances were that I'd really remember what I used, as happened in real life; if I didn't use it I'd lose it, if I used it I... well, wouldn't lose it.

I shook myself, realizing that I was thinking too much and that Zapam was getting impatient. Acknowledging his request, I gave him a determined look as I jabbed, then pulled on that little spot in my mind, opening up the file and sifting through its contents, trying to understand the pieces to the puzzle even as I automatically put it together.

This time I didn't just 'feel' the energy in my body, I actually watched as it integrated itself into my various systems, flowing through me like blood through veins, spreading to every part of my body as it started its work.

This time my mind was not passive as it happened, I could feel the ground seem to shrink beneath me as I grew larger, I could feel my bones rearranging, seeming to become mush before resolidifying. My body fattened, all four of my legs altering slightly as my tails seemed to squeeze together and lengthen in a manner that struck me as inherently unnatural and even somewhat disturbing.

My muzzle shortened, eyes widening somewhat even as my cheeks became large, filling with by-now familiar power even as I subconsciously straightened to a vertical standing position, my neck telling me that holding a horizontal position was uncomfortable as it required me to hold my head in an unpreferable position.

And as the transformation finished, I realized that I had also become male, which was strange in its own right.

Zapam seemed pleased, 'Aik'sha was right, that was cool.' He groomed one of his ears in what seemed a nervous gesture as I scratched the back of my neck in a similar manner.

As I had the night before, I curiously pulled on my new tail, almost twitching in disappointment at the fact that there was only one. Though the ability to stand upright and use my forepaws for more than locomotion gave me some reason to not be too angry. 'It still feels funny.'

He tilted his head, 'What does?'

'Having one tail.'

He seemed amused at this, 'Having more than one seems stranger to me.'

I gave it a few swings, experimenting with it; the tails of Pichu and Pikachu had been relatively solid, but this Raichu tail was longer, thinner and more flexible and I found that I could control it better.

Zapam gave me a few moments to experiment, then stated, 'We'll start now. Stay that way.' Then the fight was on.

I didn't really do any better than I had as a Vulpix in that fight, at best I was more resistant to his electricity; in fact, other than the exchange of fire for electricity, it wasn't all that different. I was still vastly outclassed, though this only made me want to try harder.

That fight, or at least the training that took the form of a fight, lasted some two hours and was, to that point, the longest I'd held a transformation, which wasn't saying much really. After all, it was only the third time I'd transformed, and the first time to have done so on purpose. Well, excluding the initial change to a Vulpix that had started this whole thing off.

A bunch of other members of the colony came out after a while and suddenly the fighting changed; Zapam stopped holding back so much on his electrical attacks and started moving around much faster and more forcefully. On the other side of things I also started taking cues from the others, subconsciously mimicking their fighting styles even as they seemed to be essentially giving me right-of-way, likely believing me an elder due to my appearance (let alone scent, which was likely identical to the very Raichu they were fighting).

An interesting phenomenon was when the Pikachu and Pichu became confused and started attacking me as well. It forced me to adapt to an increase in the pace of fighting, but I also got a few strong zaps and a solid bodyslam out of it before they realized that I wasn't so much of a challenge as the real Zapam was. After that they seemed to have latched onto the fighting style to see which one was him and which one wasn't. This didn't completely stop the confusion, but it slowed it down a bit, for which I was quietly thankful.

The sun was starting to shine in earnest when I finally ran out of endurance and was forced to drop my transformation, actually physically collapsing as I gasped for air, both physically and mentally exhausted. Zapam tried to rouse me a couple of times, to no avail; I'd have liked to break myself down even further, but I had nothing left, I was as broken down as I could get.

'This must be what it feels like to hit zero hp.' After a few minute's rest I wondered on that thought, 'I wonder if those sweet berries would help much?' A few minutes later I had recovered enough of my breath to be able to crawl away from the battlezone, where the fur (and electricity) still flew.

As I got away I found that, without even really wanting to, I had started thinking about, and being glad to have five tails again. It was a silly, unnecessary thought that I was immediatly shamed to have, but there just the same.

It was some time before I'd gotten enough oxygen in me to be able to stumble about semi-reliably. At this point I wasn't simply tired, I was also growing hungry and thirsty as well, and as my muscles cooled the pain was becoming more debilitating than the fatigue itself as I started limping more than walking, leaning on my left side rather heavily.

When I got to the fruit bushes there were a few Pikachu there, some eating with some gathering and others simply socializing; I approached, gaining the attention of a few of the more observant ones, but making little fuss as I came, which was somewhat surprising since I didn't necessarily recognize most of them and could only imagine that they didn't recognize me either.

I looked at the fruit remaining on the branches of the wildly growing bushes and sighed. They were too high to be easily plucked.

I backed away a few steps, then fell to the ground, really just wanting to sleep for a while. I almost succumbed to that desire when Altair approached me, seemingly out of nowhere.

'Wow, you look really beat up.'

My eye ticked, 'Thanks.'

'I bet you're hungry, want one?' Altair pointed at the fruits growing just beyond my reach.

I smiled appreciably, nodding in real gratitude, 'Yes please.' He smiled and climbed a foot or so to reach a nearby fruit, plucking it before leaving it at my feet, quickly going off to get another for himself. 'Wait.'

He stopped just short of the bush, looking back at me curiously as I stood with no small amount of effort, 'What for?'

I shook myself, 'I'm- gonna try something.'

He approached me curiously, 'Really? What?'

I smiled, 'Just stand there for a while.' He did, curiousity clearly marked on his face as I concentrated.

It took some effort with how tired I was, but it wasn't long before I found that strange little box in my mind and pulled it open, carefully removing its contents, which then spread out to do their thing.

The size difference between a Vulpix and a Pikachu is effectively negligable, but that didn't stop me from stumbling as my forelimbs shortened ever-so-little.

Suddenly it struck me that the process didn't hurt as it had the first time; normally one would think that turning bones, muscles, and especially nerves to mush in order to re-form them would hurt, rather a lot as it had that very first time, but contrary to that at this point all I'd felt was a bit of disorientation, which lasted a few moments before things settled down. .. and I realized I was male again.

Altair tilted his head curiously as I stood and I responded by holding up one finger-esque claw and walking to the bush, where I mimicked, however slowly, his actions from before, climbing my way to a nearby fruit, which I then plucked before gingerly making my way back down the meager two feet I'd climbed, walking proudly back to Altair who seemed just as dumbstruck as he was awestruck as I gave him what I'd gained from my little adventure.

'That's neat!' He took what I'd given him and started eating it as I picked mine up and did the same.

'Yeah, neat. This holds possibility.' I smiled despite my pain as I ate the thing that practically revived me from the dead.


"Tell me something, Mew. What is it you see in that one?" The answer was silent, even by telepathic standards, though with practice he'd come to understand what it meant. "I'm sure I will, I suppose I shouldn't have expected you to simply tell me." Again, the pink being before him seemed to smile more than speak, and again he understood what she was getting at, more than anyone else could ever hope to. "If you will not tell me I know not to prod, but what will you do now?"

Mew floated away a bit, smiled, did a backflip, smiled some more, and mewed happily as she floated away. She wanted to play.

Mewtwo sighed; chances were she'd draft one of the clones if he didn't come, not that he ever did, he was too serious for that. Still, a good battle from time to time was something that he sometimes would participate in. Nothing so serious as the first time he and a Mew had fought, but something to stretch their muscles out, so to speak.

Still, that saying-without-speaking thing got annoying really quickly. Even speaking in Mew-tones would be preferable, this other sort gave him headaches.


As tired as I was I wasn't able to hold the transformation for very long, hardly lasting long enough to eat the fist-sized fruit that now took up a fair portion of my stomach.

Of course, I now knew that I could eat more, but for some reason each time I ate one of these strangely powerful fruits I just felt more full than when I ate meat, which was strange considering that all canid's, including foxes, are carnivores. Wolves, foxes, coyotes, dogs, all canines so epitomized the classic meat-eater that their name was really the definition of predatory mammals: The canine teeth, the third tooth from the center on both sides, both on top and bottom; this was the classic sign of predation in a mammal, and it was named after the canine class of animals, of which I now was.

But then if one were to judge an animal, let alone a Pokemon, based solely on its classification, one would assume that a Pikachu was a small prey item that would sooner run than fight, multiplying rapidly to live a very short life of perhaps no longer than that of a rabbit, a similarly-built animal of similar size. Looking at its class one could assume that it would subsist entirely on tubers, nuts and plant roots.

The problem with such assumptions was that it payed attention to the animal's roots, leaving the animal itself as little more than an image put into a preassumed lifestyle. Pikachu would have a hard time keeping a low profile, especially with the blindingly bright warning color of yellow emblazoned boldly across its entire body, and the glowing red orbs of its cheeks screaming alarm to any predator capable of picking out color, which was a lot of them. Their attacking specialty requiring sharp eyes to guide, eyes too sharp to be those of a prey-item but perfectly suited to something more apt to fight than flee.

Then came the teeth, with those classic canines all long and thin and wholly useless for gnawing on tubers, let alone the hard shells of the nuts that would be their best source of protien if not for meat.

'Why am I thinking about this again? Oh right, I was surprised at how much fruit I was eating. Bah, maybe Vulpix take after bears that way, bears and dogs have a pretty close common ancestor after all. Heh, I'd love to have met a Beardog, they sound like an interesting sort.'

Tilting my head, I considered my thoughts, 'It's kind of interesting that I'm not more bothered by being a dog. Well, fox.' I tilted my head the other direction, 'Now that I think of it, I guess foxes aren't very dog-like. They're more cat-like, solitary rather than social hunters.' I tilted my head to the left again, 'Makes sense, it'd help explain why I'm so disturbed by having others hunt for me. I'd much rather be self-sufficient... more like a cat, I guess.' Again, my head turned back to the right, 'But then, foxes are still canines, still capable of being social, just... not as focused on it.' My head turned back the other direction as I remembered a story I'd read in a conservationist's magazine some time ago. Or was it hunting? Was it even in a magazine? I couldn't remember.

The Gray Wolf had been eliminated from Yellowstone National Park for many, many decades, and the prey-items that had once been theirs and theirs alone had come forth to have run of the place; the foxes, too, no longer had to worry about the area's top predator out-competing them. It had caused quite the ruckus amongst the research community when those very foxes were seen gathering in groups, acting out very complicated group hunting tactics remarkably similar to those of the very wolves that were missing from the area, taking down animals that were even larger compared to themselves than those same animals were to the wolves that had once predated them.

The unintentional experiment then ended with the reintroduction of Gray Wolves from Canada, whom quickly reinstated the previous order of things; taking their place as top predator, fighting off Cougars and driving the Foxes back to solitary lifestyles.

And I, in a similar vein, allowed myself to be in this band of social predators (or at the very least generalists), while at the same time not quite merging with their society as closely as the Pikachu were. Rather, I was tending to follow the names and faces (or rather, smells mostly) of only a few individuals, rather than mingling and socializing constantly as they were doing.

As my consideration of my thoughts started to wind down I had one more question to ask: 'Why do I keep rocking my head back and forth? Heh, you'd think I was metronoming!' As I laughed internally at this, I noticed just how much room I was being afforded, 'Huh, maybe that's why everyone's giving me such a wide berth.' I laughed again at this, tilting my head once more in amusement, 'Well if it works! Playtime has its place, it shouldn't be so constant. But I guess with no real territory to speak of there's no need for a patrol, and there's nothing to explore around here.' I tilted my head in what was quickly becoming a habit, 'I guess there's really nothing better to do here on this little island.' Again, my head turned the other way, 'Still, I get the feeling that this is just the calm before the storm; the humans got rid of their last problem, the Grimer and Muk, now they need a new problem or else they'll start becoming their own problem, needing more resources than nature can provide in such a small area. The river will give fewer Magikarp, the berries not grow quickly enough.' Tilt, 'If not a poison type, I suppose something else would need to fill the role of agitator. A Sandslash would fill that role well enough.' Tilt, 'It probably wouldn't like the waterlogged ground here, but it could always stick to the mountain, above the waterline.' Tilt, 'Then again, such would be likely to cause landslides, if it can even dig through stone so solid.' Tilt, 'An angry Gyarados would be dangerous, but not really fill the antagonist role very well considering its marked disadvantage.' Tilt, 'I know as well as any serious player that Gyarados is big and strong, but only with a little bit of special def.'

'Say, Miss Sari, are you metronoming over here?'

I turned my gaze on the little voice that had interrupted my thoughts, and suddenly I felt guilty. I had just been thinking about the many ways that Aik'sha's colony could be culled, knowing full-well that it was the young, old, and infirm that would be the first to go, the very individuals that my human psyche most sought to protect. Even that part of my mind that I attributed to my Vulpix nature (or 'instincts') agreed that endangering children was a no-no.

Of course, the predator in me still considered the young of prey items to be fair game. Like Ratata, Pidgey (no! No!), Caterpie (huh?), even Weedle and the cocoon Pokemon (namely Kakuna and Metapod) if one could be made off with and somehow broken open.

'Why am I suddenly seeing Caterpie as food, anyway? ... well I guess fire is super effective against bug-types, and Caterpie just have string-shot and tackle. Weedle are more dangerous, but them's the breaks and all that.' I shook my head, noticing that Aik'sha was starting to get wary in my silence, 'Sorry, no I'm not Metronoming. Just thinking.'

She tilted her head curiously, 'About what?'

'A lot of things. I suddenly want to eat a Caterpie, even though I've never even seen one for real.'

She laughed, 'You haven't!?' Then she stopped, 'Me either! Now I wanna see one too!'

I chuckled, 'What about Weedle? They're poisonous.'

She shifted her head to the side in thought, 'Yeah...' Then she grinned cockily, curling up and sending sparks shooting from her cheeks, 'But I can shock 'em! I wouldn't even hafta get close! They wouldn't get the chance to sting me!' "Piiiiii-"

I chuckled, 'Well your confidence is obvious. But there are no such things here, are there?'

'Nope! Say, you wanna play? Or can you show me that fire thing from yesterday?' She descended to all fours as she begged to me with bright eyes to entertain her.

'These Pichu really need something to do. No wonder her brothers lie around so much, with so little to do. Of course they do play, just not as much as their sister.' 'I'm sorry, but it would take a lot of time to make that work. I can't just spit it from my mouth like with the regular kind.' Suddenly I was struck, entertained by the notion that I was taking fire coming from my mouth as being such a normal thing.

'Oh, well you wanna play anyway? Hey! Maybe you can change into me like yesterday!'

If I'd had sweat glands, I might have sweatdropped. Canines, though, have no such things and as a fire-type I had no use for them anyway. That didn't mean I didn't try, of course, 'I'd rather not risk a repeat of yesterday. Two little Pichu look a lot less threatening than a Pichu and a Vulpix. Besides, I can't stay changed like that for very long. Still.' I stood, stretching my back and causing a few joints to pop, 'I think I can handle a game or two...' I saw Aik'sha suddenly beam like the sun itself, 'I hope...'


As it turned out, I did not have a whole lot of energy for games, in part because I'd never much enjoyed them, even as a wee spore of a human child. I tried, but being so much larger than the Pichu that played around me, I felt more like I was supervising than enjoying.

It was at about the point when I realized this that I suggested something new. Well, new to the Pichu anyway.

I asked the kids to find something that would stand on its own but could be pushed over. They didn't know why I wanted such a thing, but they went off to find something of the like anyway.

This alone proved to be a daunting task, though the Pichu were quite adamant about fulfilling the request properly, truly seeing the search as a game of its own, almost eliciting a form of hunting behavior as they searched in some of the oddest places for such a thing. (One even asked some Voltorb if they could move over so he could get a better look underneath them; interestingly they complied, though two of them collided and spontaneously discharged in violent explosions, leaving the rest of them rolling about, some of them exploding randomly and a few even making it outside.)

It didn't help the search that I didn't have a solid idea of what I wanted, just something that could be knocked over easily but stable enough to stay in one area, either standing or not, on its own.

Of similarly interesting note was when I found a bunch of Pichu wobbling about and crashing into things, including each-other. I was puzzled by their suddenly odd behavior, that is until I noticed some bats roosting in the corners of the ceiling overhead; apparently the little rodents had disturbed the bats' nest and been flashed with a Confuse Ray (or perhaps blasted with Supersonic), thus leading to them rolling strangely on the floor with swirls in their eyes.

For a moment I wondered why I'd never noticed the bats before, but I supposed that bats, being nocturnal, were active when I was asleep and thus I had no reason to notice them. So long as nothing disturbed them they'd stay latched to the ceiling, mostly asleep.

It was quite a while before I noticed it, sitting quietly atop a table in a place that I couldn't see very well from my position near the floor. Apparently, before the workers of this place had (apparently) abandoned it (remote management?), someone decided that they wished, in this remote place, to have a reminder of someone important to them enshrined upon a corner table, sitting innocently out in the middle of a hallway.

I'd have never discovered it, actually, if a pair of Pichu hadn't asked if the table itself would be suitable, nearly setting up to kick it over before I stopped them, 'You'll break it!'

One of them had looked at me, then at the table strangely, 'What's so great about it?'

I didn't know what to say, 'Well, it's...-' Of course, I needn't have bothered, as the other Pichu had decided to investigate, climbing the thing to get a better look at it.

'Hey! What's this thing!? Will it work?'

She held it over the edge, pointing at it curiously as I looked up to see what she was talking about.

My silence almost spoke for me, 'Stay there, don't move.' I looked around a bit... 'Okay, drop it down to me, I want to see it.'

She happily complied, dropping it down directly into my waiting tails, which I had splayed out for exactly that purpose.

As the Pichu gathered curiously I looked at the thing, gingerly pawing at the clasps on the back. I didn't want the glass, or even the frame really, just the wooden back part.

I grumped a bit as I started realizing that this task was... rather difficult... 'Stupid paws, I can barely use them any better than toes...' I pouted, 'Because they ARE toes.' I sighed.

'Say, what are you doing to it anyway?'

I looked at the Pichu... then stopped, 'Hey, stand there for me, okay?'

'Huh? Okay.'

She nodded and I reached back... again, going back to that little box... (button?) and... activating it...

'Oh wow, that's cool! How'd you do it?'

I shook my head, trying to shake off the feelings of... strangeness. 'I don't know, I just know I can.' Ignoring the attention I nodded my big yellow head and reached forward with little yellow hands, reaching for the clasps.

Though my hands were small, they were remarkably dextrous, making short work of the clasps holding the picture-frame together. Such it was that it wasn't long before I simply pulled the back bit straight out, leaving frame, glass, and picture behind. 'Got it!' I smiled as I handed the thing to the smiling faces around me; two of them carried it off to show to the others as one other ran ahead to announce the discovery.

I smiled as I watched them go, for a moment wanting to follow. I stayed, though, wanting to get a better look at the picture that the Pichu were so ready to ignore.

There was a man in the picture, smiling and holding up a younger boy; both were wearing white labcoats, though that seemed their only similarity, being that the larger one had black hair where the younger was blonde. 'Well I guess they're both smiling, but that's only to be expected.'

I placed the picture on the floor, placed the glass directly atop that, then left the frame around that. I'd put it together later...

I looked up, up at the table that now truly towered over me, 'If I can get it back up there. How did she climb that without knocking it over anyway!' I grumped as I looked at it, suddenly standing with my hands in fists, as though challenging the thing; I almost snorted, though resisted.

'Hey wait... I could climb it!' I looked at my paws, then smiled... then grimaced, 'Aw man, not now!'

It wasn't to be; I was too tired to hold the transformation for long, and after a quick bout of strange feelings I was back to being purely four-legged. 'Bah, either I need more practice or I'm still too tired for unnatural things.' I shook it off, turning away from curious tables to go the way of the Pichu (specifically the ones carrying my hard-won thingy-mabob).


While we were unable to find any cans, Kick-The-Thingy was an appropriate-enough name for the game that I'd cobbled up out of memories of a long-ago game that I hadn't played since I was little.

Of course the concept of 'Home' initially escaped their understanding: Rather than those that hid darting to home once the thingy had been kicked, ALL the Pichu, including Aik'sha (the first one to be 'It') had darted to the tree, pleased with victory.

This elicited another try, whence I guided the Pichu through the game; they got it quickly enough, even adding their own twists as they started using non-contact attacks to slow each-other down, both to catch and to prevent capture. Charm was a favorite tactic, making the tagger slow down ever-so-slightly, while Tail-Whip had become a favorite 'It' tactic, making the one to be tagged slow down a bit.

The display seemed funny to me in part because at times they spent so much time 'Attacking' that they forgot about 'Tagging'. Why one little battle went on so long that the other Pichu, clinging to tree branches, went to cheering both sides on, completely forgetting about kicking the Thingy.

Eventually, though, the sun had to set and the Pichu had to sleep; my little game had captivated them for a time, but now it was coming to be time for sleep.

I grabbed the thingy, for which even my human mind refused to provide an adequate name, and made my way inside, where I stayed awake for some time before finally falling asleep.


End Chapter 5

(1) : After having written this, I read about Transform on the Bulbapedia; according to their records, Transform actually does change the user's stats, just not their HP or their color Pallete (which is odd, since Ditto in the show did, indeed, change colors). For now, I'll let Sari assume that this isn't so. And for the curious: Aik'sha was the better attacker of the three Pichu's at the beginning of this chapter.

Well that's it for this chapter. Technically I decided that that was the end because I had set up a scene-change and couldn't remember what scene I wanted to put there, while the next scene I can remember a-t-m (at the moment) is something intended to be the opener for the next chapter. Hehe.

At any rate: Yay! ... nope, not sure why I decided to say that. On another note: I almost poisoned my will to continue this fic, but I found the cure! Or, I suppose, Mew found the cure. Don't ask. XD For now, I shall forge ahead!

From here on the story will start moving just a tad faster, there will be more time-skips because trying to cover several years of stuff on a day-by-day basis, as the beginning has been (mostly), would be icredibly hard and time-consuming.

I have also decided (somewhat) that this story will be seperated by Books; the first book will last for Sari's time with the Pikachu. Not sure how long the second book will be, but I have some ideas. Something to look forward to!

Meow! Till later!

Alex Ultra: Yip Yip Yip!
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