Author notes: Hello everyone. This ranting section will be considerably shorter than usual. Why? Because the famous Review Response section has been moved somewhere else. Where, will you ask? Well, on my story blog, that I made soon after I posted last chapter. Of course, since I didn't post a chapter in the last three months, I haven't yet advertised my blog. Oh well, I will do so now. On my story blog, you will find goodies such as review responses, excerpts of future chapters and random fun stuff. There will be a few secrets for whoever wants to go there, such as answers to question such as why I didn't post a new chapter in three months. For those who are interested, the link is in my profile, as my homepage link. I wait people in great number. Now, here's chapter 13!
Chapter 13: Species Clash
A threatening silence was creeping around the small room, as two of its occupants stared at each other with ill intent. Neither creature had made a move, both waiting for the other to do so. The silence was burning them, the obvious discomfort growing stronger with every passing second. One could only imagine the unpleasant thoughts crawling inside their minds as they struggled to ignore their most primal instincts and desires for their own good; all this, because one creature had wanted more than it could chew.
At first, the plan seemed simple: catch the umbreon so it wouldn't hurt Sparktail, then release it away from him. At least, that was what the aforementioned Pikachu had expected and truthfully wished for. But no, he hadn't been that lucky. For some reason that only Arceus may know, Jen had conspired against him and decided, against all reason, to keep the Umbreon for now. The mouse had complained, of course, for his life was more important than the well being of some random and highly dangerous black vixen, but wind can't move a mountain. After he had his life saved by the girl, he could hardly order her around. She was, sadly, the one in control here, and also one, for better or worse, gifted with the curse of the genuinely generous mind, desiring nothing more than to make every pokemon happy. In this case it was evidently for the worse as, a few minutes ago Jen had released the nasty Pokemon, inside her tent, with him, and despite the fact any common safety rule would have commanded against it. When he had thought she couldn't possibly make it worse, Jen had came up with the smart idea of asking him to talk with the umbreon to get to know her. Needless to say, the Pikachu was between a rock and a hard place. On one side, he could hardly disobey his trainer's newest (and stupidest) order, but on the other side, he didn't want to obey it at all. It was simply too risky. He wouldn't put his life on the line only to build up some useless friendship that nobody but Jen cared about.
In this particular dilemma, he had chosen to stick with the middle ground of apathy. Sitting uncomfortably on the soft tent's floor, he was basically only trying to relax and to forget about the ridiculous situation he was forced in. Behind him, Jen was gently rubbing his back, a vain attempt to motivate him. Instead of doing what he was asked, the rodent had his eyes fixed on the large creature laying down two tiny feet away from him, shivering at the thought of every nasty thing she could do to him if she wanted to. One false movement, one ill-intended motion, and he was dead meat. How could Jen do this to him? He might never know.
The situation wasn't much better for the other creature involved in this. The umbreon wasn't quite sure how she was supposed to feel after having been forced here by the evil human egg. When she had been thrown out of it earlier, she obviously had tried to fight tooth and nail to escape her new fate, but the nasty human had brought her into unconsciousness with a heinous blow. When she had woken up, however, things had changed. Her side wasn't hurting anymore. The human had surrounded her middle body and her paw with a strange white skin, that, while limiting her movements, made the pain vanish. More than that, she had found fresh meat, albeit in small amount, waiting right in front of her muzzle for her to eat. Hunger requiring, she had quickly gulped down the food, then set her eyes on the tasty Pikachu. As much she had wanted to chew on him, something told her that she shouldn't. She wasn't sure why yet, but she knew that it was related to how the human had acted toward her somehow.
Right now, it wasn't with hungry eyes that she was staring at him right, though. What they showed was curiosity, and curiosity only. There were many questions drifting around in her mind, many of which probably wouldn't be answered soon, if ever. However, she wasn't totally in the dark about her situation. The rodent's fear could be smelt, clearly obvious among everything in the nest. It was an odor she savored, as shown by her tail moving back and forth behind her pleasantly. As much fun as it was to feed on his fear for her own pleasure, having the real meal would be more enjoyable. But, since she was given meat earlier, it had to have come from the human's previous prey. And since nobody had told her about the origins of the delicious food, she unexpectedly was the one to break the silence with a question of her own. "Why hasn't the big creature eaten you yet, rodent?"
The ice had been broken: violently. Sparktail's eyes widened at the weird question, his voice staggering as he struggled to place coherent words. "E-Eat m-me? Wh-hat?" Was this vixen crazy? In what kind of world had she been raised? To the educated pikachu, this question wasn't only stupid, but it was devoid of any common sense. Only a being with half a mind would think that humans ate Pikachu. At this moment, something lit deep inside the rodent, a rage fueled by this offence to his logic. Mixed with his instinctual hate for the vulpine kind, his anger was turned into a strong desire of revenge. The first idea he got was to give the Umbreon a good dose of reality with a good beating, to put her back in her place, which was outside this tent and away from him! He had nearly given in to it, his body shaking as he tried to get up on his paws, but he found the action impossible to accomplish. There was that annoying weight on his shoulders, pressuring on him and holding him in place, preventing any outburst of frustration.
Visibly annoyed, the Pikachu struggled to get away from the weight, but it held him tightly, trapping him in its power. Giving up, he sighted deeply as he realized that it was only Jen's hand blocking the path of his impulsive actions and their lethal consequences. It was just further proof of how low he stood now in the grand scheme of things, where the weak force of one hand was enough to restrain him. He couldn't really blame Jen for doing that, but it was kind of depressing. Soon enough his struggles faded into obedience, induced for lack of will. His expression fell as he drowned himself in a pool of guilt and shame. As much he hated to admit it, Jen was far more powerful than he was and represented a figure of authority as well as a model to follow. If she was restraining him, it was because he was doing something that displeased Jen. Never would he want to hurt her feelings; the mere thought that haunted him with dread. It's not that he had wanted to disobey her, he just...
The mouse lifted his head up, giving the Umbreon a dark glare. He just didn't want to have his intelligence and his knowledge insulted by the incoherent rambles of a stupid and ignorant creature that could be left for dead for all he cared! That's what he so much wanted to tell the vixen, so she would stop with her nonsense. Not that he would be able to do it, because he wasn't as powerful as either of the females around him. He would never overthrow them with strength because...
An understanding smile appeared on the rodent's muzzle. Somewhere, under the cover of his emotional and instinctive compulsions, a wall created by rash attitude, sat the logical solution to his latest dilemma. All it took for the barrier to flicker out of existence was a good second of reflection, resulting in this valuable piece of logic piercing though the darkness of his mind. Strength wasn't the answer. He was a fool for thinking, for even one moment, that he would be able to beat his opponent using that. You didn't hit the weak spirited soul with a barrage of insults, you corrected it with a good dose of opposite and positive logic. It was so simple that, now that he was thinking about it, he wondered why he hadn't deduced that earlier. Had he given himself more time to think about his earlier behavior, he would have gotten the obvious answer to that perplexing question and maybe have solved future dilemmas before they ever showed up. But he had more pressing matter to take care of. Namely, it was time to beat the Umbreon at her own game, so he began to focus on doing that, all the while skillfully avoiding further arguments with himself.
With a renewed confidence he strengthened his glare at the much larger beast, his muzzle displaying a tiny smirk before he started to speak with a joyous voice so unlike of him. "I mean… how to explain that in a way you would understand. Well, first of all, nobody here is food. I'm not food, you aren't and the big creature isn't. It would be silly to think that anyone here is going to eat anyone. Nope, nobody is going to do that. And you know why nobody will?" he asked the Umbreon, a large grin appearing on his rodent face. Unsure about how she should react to this and perplexed by this strange grin, the predator blinked a few times, shaking her head slowly in negation and confusion. The concept of food appearing without a rodent being hunted seemed impossible, but then again, the big creature had given her food before and the rodent was still there and perfectly fine. If he wasn't the next to be hunted, who was? Giving the rodent an eager and curious look, she waited for the rest of the story. It soon came to her with the same, soft and joking voice, not that it mattered to her. She cared only about his words, as only those would tell her what she needed to know.
"It's very simple, really." Sparktail stated, and began a sort of pantomime routine to clarify his following explanation. "It all starts with the evil mean ball of terror. I'm sure you saw it before. It's round and pretty, but it opens and shoots light to get you. When it gets you, like it did, it means that the big creature captured you. The big creatures, by the way, are called humans. When humans capture us with the evil ball of light, they become our master. A master is someone that gives you orders and that you must obey, otherwise you get punished. Some human masters make Pokemon do bad things, like hurting other Pokemon for their pleasure. There are a lot of bad humans all around the world, but some are nice. This one..." the Pikachu said, pointing at Jen momentarily with a smile, before turning his attention back to the dark Pokemon. "...is a good one. She's called Jen and she's our master. It's important to obey her. When she tells us to fight, we must fight. When she tells us to sleep, we must sleep. When she tells us to go in the ball, we must go in the ball. Now, you must be wondering where the food is in all this, aren't you?" The former human asked her mockingly, knowing perfectly well what he was trying to do. Instead of giving her the answer he knew she wanted, he was taunting her with all the horrible and negative aspects of her new life. His intent was simple: he wanted her to run away where she wouldn't scare him by her sole presence.
Unfortunately for the selfish mouse the vixen wasn't annoyed in the least by his words. Granted, she still wanted to know about the food, something she made known with a weak impatient growl, but she otherwise remained calm. Only a glint of excitement in her eyes betrayed her eagerness to know more about these humans, especially this Jen-human. She couldn't put a paw on it, but there was something soothing in these new concepts of masters and orders she yearned to understand. Nevertheless, she listened religiously, eager to hear it all. The same was true for the former human, though for a completely different reason. By the end of this, he might just get the Umbreon to be gone.
"Hehe... I thought so. That's another very simple thing. When we obey our human master, they give us all the food we need to live. You want meat? Do everything she wants and be nice to her, and she will give it to you. The funniest thing, you see, is that this food doesn't come from prey or bushes. Humans takes it from a magical place where they give food. I don't know where it comes from, but I heard that some humans prey on Umbreon like you to have their meat and give it to other humans. Who knows, maybe Jen is one... of... those... huh?"
The joking rodent then blinked a few times in confusion, looking puzzled as he stared at the Umbreon, words having been cut from his muzzle. He would have continued trying to scare away the beast with his lies, but his target wasn't patiently listening anymore. Now, in fact, it felt more like she wasn't satisfied with the distance between them, which wasn't of any comfort to the one who had basically just made fun of her. The previously solid two feet between them was melting away as the large predator rose on her paws, stretching her legs. Incidentally, she actually hadn't moved at all, remaining in the same spot that she had always been in since she had been released. Yet, as she now stood over three time his height instead of being at eye level, the whole seemed situation to be taking a turn for the worse. This was only helped by the fact that the vixen remained silent, her cold red eyes glaring down at the small mouse, as if plotting to savor him. Sparktail shivered, not feeling so good about himself, all of a sudden. His mind was rolling wildly between the possible scenarios that could possibly happen, his body tensing up and his fur rising instinctively. When the Umbreon made a move, her paw inching toward him, he was ready to react.
And he did, showing no human thinking in his actions. Standing on four paws, he moved his left hind paw backward, its sensitive bottom underfoot probing the rough plastic floor of the nest. Sadly, he knew too well that the lack of an obstacle in the way meant that he hadn't reached safety yet. Fearfully staring into the red menacing eyes of the large vixen, he took more steps backward. Each one brought him more dread as he wasn't still feeling what would bring him protection. The Umbreon was walking forward faster than he was backing away, his life feeling more and more threatened with every step. When one of his paws was finally stopped in the middle of its path, blocked by a wall of human skin, he almost jumped up in surprise and relief. There, behind his right foot, stood the only thing that could save him from the dangerous situation he had stupidly trapped himself in: Jen.
Since his foot was slightly tilted left on the human skin, the Pikachu deduced that he was resting against the human girl's right hind paw. This meant that the safe zone between her paws was to the left of that point, since she was usually sitting with her hind paws crossed, because of the lack of space in the nest. Now, it was only a matter of reaching that safe zone before the Umbreon reached him. Tilting his body on the left, he crawled closer to the wall of human skin, pressing his side against it. Scared out of instinct, his ears drooped and his tail pressed against his other side, every side now protected against the umbreon's fangs. Having gotten through all the tools he had to protect himself, he closed his eyes and tightened himself in the smallest ball he could be in, his ears listening closely to the predator. In this tight position, his only comfort was the heat coming from the large human, giving off a fake feeling of security and protection. This feeling was everything he had, but sadly, it was no use against the weight of reality.
Into his ears, came the sounds of the predator creeping closer. Like a timer ticking toward his death, the paces on the plastic floor were slow, regular and loud. Between these, soft blows of air came from a muzzle, whose teeth would soon sink into him. He could hear those "Thump. thump, thump, pfftt, thump, thump, thump, pfftt..." clearly, but it was the only thing he could bring himself to do. He was shivering, he was frozen with fear, but nothing was coming to help him, not even his human. She might be serving as a shield for his emotions and body, but she wasn't replying to his silent pleads, for reasons he could only guess. He didn't want to know why his only friend was giving up on him, why she wasn't even brushing her hand in his fur to calm him down before the inevitable and why she was acting like he didn't exist. He didn't want to know why she was betraying him. In this state of panic, all he wanted to know was when those noises to stop, when the threat would vanish the same way it came.
His wish was partially granted when the pacing sounds stopped, though he knew it could only mean one thing. The clock had ticked its last and his time was up. The scent of the beast was too strong, too close. She was all around him and he was trapped from all sides. The so-dreaded muzzle was hovering over him, probably deciding where it would bite. It was lowering, getting closer and closer. His bones would soon break from the strength of those jaws and his blood would flow on the ground. He whimpered, waiting for the end to come. Suddenly...
A "Hehehe... hey... that tickles! Hehe... stop!" sound was heard, resonating in bursts around him. Strangely, it wasn't coming from him, neither had it come from the evil beast. It was Jen's soft words, coming infrequently between bursts of laugher. His human was... having fun? This piece of information, so contradictory to everything else, did a good job at shifting priorities inside Sparktail's simple brain. Simple questions like "Am I really threatened?" and "What is going on?" waited no time to activate his inherent Pikachu curiosity. For his survival, he had to unravel the mystery of this new information. Maybe completing the puzzle would sooth his mind.
Even though he was still shivering from the proximity of the Umbreon—as he was still technically in a life-threatening situation—he turned his head slowly, moving his eyes toward Jen while moving as little as possible. When he saw her from the corner of his left eye, he completely stopped moving, paralyzed by the weird scene. It wasn't scary, fortunately, but it was no less difficult to understand. The human girl was laughing and smiling in reaction to something. The something, as hard it was to believe, was the black creature licking the hand of his human friend, her tongue lapping the prehensile member happily, as if it was some kind of game. The thought of the Umbreon playing a game effectively removed any bit of fear left, but it didn't make him smile. Something, deep inside, was preventing him from enjoying the scene. It was something primal, something emotionally charged and childish. It was bothering him deeply, so much that he had to make it known.
His fear of the predator attacking him now gone, he sat up, placing his back towards the human's legs protectively. He also extended his paws in a sign of interdiction, his eyes staring up at the beast, filled with mixed emotions of negativity. "Hey! Stupid thing! She's mine! Stop stealing her away from me! She must play with ME! " Sparktail shouted at the Umbreon, his voice both angry and threatening. In his mind, this was inconceivable, but it was happening. The Umbreon wasn't trying to eat him, but she doing something more intimidating on a mental level: trying to steal his spot as Jen's favorite. He wouldn't let that happen! If he was forgotten, if Jen didn't care about him anymore... he would never get back whatever thing he had lost and that he cared deeply about (he couldn't remember what it was at the moment.)
Determined not to lose his precious spot, he kept his eyes on the Umbreon, who stopped doing what she was doing to look back at him, looking annoyed. "I'm not stupid thing, I'm Kagai, rodent. I'm not stealing new mommy away from you, because she's sharing her love. She's going to care for me too and make me better. You just said that. I want to be better. I won't be scared anymore. I will be strong, not weak." said the Umbreon apparently named Kagai. Sparktail was taken aback by the way she had spoken. Her voice wasn't the angry response Sparktail had expected, but a nice voice filled with hopes, like the one of child. Her words were perplexing as well. Predator and weakness didn't compute in his pikachu mind. It was two concepts diametrically opposed, impossible to have in the same sentence.
At the same time, the Pikachu looked down a little, the voice making him feel a bit bad about his petty jealously. As far as he could see, Kagai meant no harm, but he was shouting at her like if she was stealing his most precious treasure. Maybe she was, in a way, but it still wasn't a valid reason to act this way. He wasn't being a very nice chu. Had Jen understood his words, she would have scolded him. He had to make up for it somehow, even if he wouldn't be punished if he didn't. When he looked up at her again, he had successfully hidden those thoughts and focused more on actually replying to her. "I'm not rodent either, I'm Sparktail." he told her a bit innocently. "But you can't really be scared of something, can you? You look big and strong and scary, to me. You have nothing to be scared of, I'm sure. If I was you, I know I wouldn't." he stated, trying to ease his own bad feelings by making her feel better.
It didn't work. Since Kagai had stopped licking the human, the girl had stopped laughing and a strong silence filled the tent once again. The rodent's words rammed into Kagai's head, penetrating a sizable portion of her mind as a gloomy feeling took over her. Feeling uncomfortable, she took a step back, closing her eyes. "I... no... I'm not strong! I'm weak! He... he... told it to me. I'm weak. I'm a bad Eevee. I did bad. I didn't want to, but... the big humans creatures... they came and... they were all black and with little red... and scary... the small pointy thing took my red water. It was mine and I wanted to go away... so I did something really bad... I thought about being stronger and I became stronger. But... but... I thought it was good... I thought I did good and I was happy... but... he... he... he..." she muttered, sounding like she was on the verge of crying; would that she had been able to. They were hard and painful images, but she wanted to tell someone. She would feel better about it if someone knew what had happened and told her that they were sorry for her. Maybe it would make the images go away.
Almost at the same time, the two other beings in the small room said "What's wrong?" Worried, Jen looked down at Sparktail, waiting for him to show her what the Umbreon was talking about. Kagai was shaking and backing away as she spoke, nothing to make the teenage girl feel good. The rodent thought the same of this, with an added feeling of guilt, since he had likely caused this to happen. His curiosity was stronger than his tact however, so he was compelled to add something. "Who is this "he"? What did he do? You became stronger and evolved. That's great! Isn't it?" he asked, none of his guilt apparent in his voice.
Not feeling like answering this one, Kagai growled lightly, intending to make the questions stop. The rodent wasn't even phased; he his eyes on her. "Kagai... why..." he started asking again, but he was frozen still by a loud growl, then a powerful enraged voice "He hurt me!! He used his claws and hurt me with them! My red water left me then too! And she... she didn't stop him! She looked at me and she was... sad... very very sad. They wanted me away... Because I wasn't purple, I was bad. I was Kagai. I wasn't their little Kai anymore... I wasn't their kit... they wanted me to be gone. So I left. I was hurt and sad, but I had to leave. If I hadn't... daddy would have hurt me more until I died..."
Sparktail's face went wide eyed. The pikachu felt both scandalized and frightened by this horrible tail. He simply couldn't believe it. This Umbreon had been... banished by her parents because she was different? They had wanted her dead because of that? Sparktail could be cold in the face of others' problems at times, but this one melted his heart. This kind of banishment was unheard of in his pikachu mind; it was contrary to all sense. It seemed totally illogical that parents would banish a perfectly fine kit because it was different. It would go against the spirit of survival. The smaller the number of individuals in a group, the smaller your chances of survival were. You couldn't just throw one member like that, for no good reason! Those parents, whoever they were, were disgusting creatures. He couldn't hate the vixen anymore, not after hearing that. She was only a poor lost kit trying to survive and who was probably finding here what she was looking for. Since the enemies of your enemies are your friends, Sparktail decided that he would have to cross the bridge of his fears and attempt to establish some kind of good relationship with Kagai.
Also, he couldn't betray her. He wouldn't tell Jen about that tale. She needed to know, however, that Kagai should be allowed to stay. It was against his instincts, but he would have to get used to it. He didn't want to be the cause of the death of a child. There was no way he would let the umbreon leave the group, as long he could do something against it. Starting by acting against his body, he walked near the larger beast, displaying an understanding smile. The predator didn't even move, too shocked by her own returning memories to act. She only watched him as he walked to her side and nuzzled it gently with his body, before facing Jen. His body was screaming for help, Kagai was utterly confused by this complete turnaround from an aggressive behavior to a friendly one, and Jen...
Well, Jen was just smiling widely. For a reason she failed to grasp, her Pikachu was trying to be friends with the Umbreon. This was all good news to her. She wanted to keep the vixen here until she got better, and maybe keep her forever, if she wanted so. It wasn't mating season and this Umbreon was too young. She couldn't have kits to take care of and, if she was starving, nobody was there to care of her. She was, obviously a loner trying to survive. It fitted her minimum requirements for having a new Pokemon, which were to avoid breaking any ties the pokemon may have with its environment. Furthermore, the licking she had given her was not something commonly seen from a Pokemon she had just encountered. It was a strong sign of trust and appreciation. This Pokemon had accepted her, and if she didn't desire to leave eventually, she would accept her too. Sparktail had finally accepted her, which would probably make the whole process much easier. Now, all that was left to do was to wait...
--
"Sparktail, Sunny, Umbra, are you three ready to go now?" Jen asked the three pokemon. It had been a few hours since Sparktail and Kagai had learned to tolerate each other and now it was finally time for them to leave. The tent had been taken down and placed back into its bag, and everything had been cleared from the spot, leaving it almost as clean as the time Jen first arrived. At the mention of her new name, Kagai growled silently to herself. Since Sparktail had been too lazy to tell Kagai's name to Jen, the girl had given her a new one. The vixen wasn't happy about that, but Sparktail had explained to her that humans like to give nicknames to Pokemon, because they are weird like that, but that it didn't mean that they liked them less. He also told her that every Pokemon would know her real name and use it, so she wouldn't feel like she had lost it. It would take her time to accept that her new mommy wouldn't call her by her name, but considering how bad things had been before, this was something she could deal with. Shaking the feeling out, she imitated the mouse and nodded, then she walked to her new friend, Sunny.
Released soon after Kagai had told her story, the small vulpix had proved to be as nice as she looked. They had played together some, Sparktail joining them because Sunny had forced him to. Kagai hadn't understood why she should have to play with the mouse, as being nice to him seemed to be enough for her, but it had been no use arguing with the fiery Pokemon. She had been so insistent about it that Kagai had had no choice but to agree. After she played the game, she had to admit to herself that playing with a mouse wasn't that bad, especially since she had been fed more meat for her efforts. Everything was fine again and things were looking better.
Incidentally, the happiest person about the newcomer hadn't been Jen, Kagai or Sparktail, but Sunny. It was the first time ever she got to play with a Pokemon to which she had a natural liking, which made the Umbreon an instantaneous friend to her. She hadn't waited to see how the Umbreon acted to decide of that, all she had needed was to sniff her. The bond of almost-kinship had worked its magic, the Vulpix immediately calling Kagai a friend and asking for a game. Having a friend like her was like the best thing ever. "Yay! Did you hear, Kagai? We are going to go on a trip again! We will see a lot of new things and it will be fun, fun, fun!" she shouted happily, getting a nod in reply.
To Kagai, the most important thing was that she was finally going to be freed from the curse of this area, though she couldn't help but feel excited by those fun things the smaller vixen had talked about. She didn't know what was ahead for her, but it was going to be fun. Behind her, she would leave her worries, to keep only the good memories of her early childhood, memories kept alive by the way Sunny acted. It was like having her sister back again. "Yes, it's going to be fun. There is going to be more food and more games. I'm also going to become stronger. You, me, Sparktail and new mommy are going to have a lot of fun." she said, watching Jen leaving with Sparktail at her side. At this, a sly smirk appeared on her muzzle. "The first to pounce the mouse wins."
Before she could turn around to run, the small Vulpix was gone, running toward her target. Not long after, Kagai heard. "Hey! Sunny! What are you doing? I'm trying to walk here! I'm not going to carry you all the way! Get off! Get off!" It was Sparktail, complaining with a heavy load on his body. Kagai chuckled a little, walking past the mouse and the other vixen. "This is going to be so fun..." she said.