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Chapter 1: Awakening

I woke up floating in the enclosed space for a second time, there was no indication of any time passing, just the usual darkness that greeted me. One thing was different though. I reached out and touched the wall once again. The walls of my shelter seemed to have come closer to me on all sides, becoming more cramped than I remembered it being the first time I awoke. I no longer felt the feeling of safety that the walls made me feel as I went to sleep. All I felt now was fear and panic. What if the walls get even smaller and crush me? Was all I could think about.

A different feeling tried to push itself through all of the fear and uneasiness of my now conscious mind. The feeling of calm and peace, like something was trying to tell me to stop panicking and go back to sleep. It felt weird as each of the conflicting feelings tried to banish the other. This feeling of calm didn't seem to come from my rational mind, but somewhere deeper inside myself, an instinct.

My thoughts of panic were strong, strong enough to win against the instincts that tried to control me. I knew, or thought I knew, that this walled-in place was trying to kill me. Trying to crush me while I slept, I will not let it. I will fight against this evil place.

I tried to push against the wall, but all that accomplished was to push me further away in the liquid that kept me afloat so my back, tail and the back of my head hit the opposite wall. How do I get out? I tried to think of a way that didn't push me away. After a long time of trying different things to put pressure on the wall and making plans, I found a way. I was about to lose hope that I was ever getting out of this evil trap when I tried one last thing.

I positioned myself by pushing my front paws on the wall so I could touch both of my hind legs against the opposite wall. Once my legs were in place, I pushed off as hard off the wall as my weak legs could muster. I floated across the very short space faster than I ever could before, not thinking to raise my front paws before me, I smashed my head straight into the wall. Ow, it hurts. My eyes, still being forced closed by the liquid, started to water. All I could think about for a time was the pain that was ringing throughout my head.

Even with the pain, I knew this method was the best way to get out, as I felt the wall change a little. After the pain faded I tried again, this time with my paws ahead of me, determined to get this to work. It succeeded and with only a little pain in my front legs. A third time and the wall gave more than the first two times. I did this quite a number of times until… success.

Instead of stopping full force into the wall which happened every time before, the wall shattered into several large pieces. I launched through the opening and fell in a heap on the cold hard ground. I would have stuck the landing, but every part of me felt many times heavier than it was in the egg. My legs couldn't lift my body from whatever force was pushing me into the ground.

There no longer was the presence of the liquid covering my body, so instinctively I opened my eyes wide. The blinding light that instantly greeted my eyes was enough to give me a burning headache and I immediately closed them again. Spots of light still visible in the darkness of my closed eyelids.

My ears started to automatically pick up every sound that they could. Only being used to the sound of my own heart beat, the cacophony of sound only added to the pain of headache caused by the blinding light. One of these sounds were seemingly from two other pokemon voices nearby, but I was in too much pain to make out what they were saying. I instantly flattened my ears against my head.

My nose previously barred from smelling anything quickly started sniffing when breath began to fill my lungs. As I was not ready for this new sense, I began to feel nauseous from all of the scents that assaulted my newly working nose.

I tried to cower away from all of the new information that my senses were now picking up on. I used my new unused voice to cry out and suddenly a wailing sound accompanied the other sounds pestering my ears, hot tears began streaming down my cheeks.

It hurts. Was the only thing on my mind as I started regretting escaping from my prison, there at least wouldn't be this much pain if I had just went back to sleep. Maybe the wall was not evil, if it protected me from all of this. I began to slowly crawl backwards towards where I thought my old home was, when something soft and fluffy blocked my way, this new sensation felt comforting. This soft thing pushed me farther away from where I was trying to go back to. I barely had enough time to feel alarmed that I was being pushed away from my goal before two somewhat wet tongues started to glide across my fur, cleaning off the liquid that had covered me for so long.

-000-

Silver and Petal waited impatiently nearby as the egg began shaking evermore frequently. After the third shake when the first crack was formed they both knew that there was nothing they could do. It was several days too early and the couple was nervous about how much weaker their child would be because of it, they hoped their kit had enough strength to break out. If the kit had managed to only break the eggs seal but not break out, they would suffocate in the liquid as their bodies started trying to breathe. Helping break the egg was not an option as there was the high possibility of hurting their kit. So there they waited as the egg gained more cracks.

Luckily for the parents, many more cracks snaked their way across most of the surface of the egg as the kit was making progress. A large amount of moments later and part of the egg launched away from the egg along with their child who fell into a wet heap on the ground. This violent exit from the egg surprised the couple, but this was not the only thing they thought was strange.

First of all their child was tiny, more than small enough to be considered a runt. This frightened the parents, a runt would usually still be cared for by their parents, because most pokemon are not heartless, but their bodies usually weren't strong enough to fight off any diseases that wouldn't normally affect a kit. This was not the detail that surprised them the most as it was to be expected since their kit came out of the egg too early.

They had heard stories from their clan about strangely colored vulpix, colored a golden yellow with greenish paws instead of the normal reddish-brown, which nearly everyone who had seen the odd coloring thought it looked worse. This luckily was not the color that adorned their kit's fur. The main body of the fur was pure white in color. Their tails and tuft of fur on top of it's head were a red color like a normal vulpix. It's belly fur held a silvery white pigment. Their paws near the ends of their legs were a reddish brown. Both Silver and Petal were in awe at the beautiful coloring.

After their moment of surprise they noticed their kit shivering, to which they rushed over to it. The vulpix suddenly started to cry and backed away towards the mess that had previously been the egg. This was a normal behavior of a newly hatched kit so they did what the mothers in the clan normally did. They used their tails to push the kit away from the egg and after pushing them into the comforting embrace of Petal's fur, started grooming the small shivering vulpix while it continued to mewl, cleaning the kit from head to paws.

"It's a girl!" Silver exclaimed, winning the bet they both had competed in about the gender of their kit.

Petal had lost this bet, but was still ecstatic over their child who had successfully entered the world, doted on their daughter. Looking at her still weeping child and feeling uncontrollable motherly love which she had never felt before, murmured "I'm so glad she is safe." Petal paused, looked concerned, and said "She's too small, will she make it?"

Silver, not missing the look of concern, also felt worry creeping into his soul and tried to reassure his mate and himself. "She is fine right now, all we can do now is care for her and hope for the best, no use worrying about it." He himself really didn't believe this.

Their daughter now starting to calm down from her crying fit snuggled further into her mother's pelt. Seeing that she had calmed down, Petal knew from her time in the hatchery that it was about time for the kit's first feeding. Shifting onto her side, she got Silver to lift their kit by the scruff and set her down near Petals belly, to which the girl immediately latched onto and started nursing and kneading on her mother's stomach. Petal started cooing sweet compliments and encouragements to her child.

Silver, still looking at the adorable scene of his mate and kit, interrupted the soft cooing of Petal to say "What should we name her?"

"Well it looks like your name would fit her quite well, Silver." Petal said jokingly, lifting her head up from the ground while the hungry kit continued to nurse.

"Ha ha, very funny." The not very silver ninetales named Silver said sarcastically. "But seriously she needs a name, a beautiful one, but you know how creative I am with names."

Thinking back to the nickname Silver gave their eevee friend that lived near the clan, Puffy, because her fur would uncontrollably puff out. Petal quickly agreed that she should be the one to suggest names for their kit. "How about Celeste or Flare, no nevermind I don't like the sound of those and anyways there is already a Flare in the clan already." Petal said, quickly dismissing the names without input from Silver. Looking concentrated Petal said "Give me some time to think."

After a very long time of silence, only broken by the sound of the greedy nursing of their daughter, Petal finally exclaimed with a burst of triumph "Astra!"

"Astra, what?" Silver jerked up surprised, after settling down next to his mate and unnamed kit, because of Petals sudden outburst.

"We should name her Astra. I heard an elder mention in passing conversation that it means the stars in some weird human language." Petal said, feeling boastful about knowing something that most pokemon never learn.

"Because of the star shape on the egg?" Silver asked.

His mate simply nodded nnd said, "That and her white coloring reminds me of the stars in the sky that burn with a white radiance."

He continued, "It is a beautiful name, one that I would be proud to be able to bestow to my daughter."

"Then her name will be Astra." Petal said as she glanced at her kit, who had decided she was full and curled up against her mother's fluffy chest, falling to sleep.

With the egg hatching so late into the evening, by the time their kit hatched and fell asleep it was already very late. The full moon had already come out, showering their clearing and cave with a ghostly white light. Nocturnal creatures had woken up, making ominous noises in the darkness the trees provided.

The eggshell along with the fluid that was once inside it started to stink and both ninetales started to notice the headache inducing smell. "I suppose I will have to be the one to clean up this mess." Silver complained after noticing Astra curled up against Petal. "You get to cuddle with our adorable child while I do the dirty work." He muttered in jealousy.

"Thank you dear." Petal smiled and rested her head nearer to Astra.

Silver continued muttering annoyedly while he picked up the first of many pieces of the broken egg and carried it outside to put it past the treeline. On his way back to pick up a second piece, he saw something strange. A noctowl sitting on a tree branch at the edge of the clearing, though this alone wouldn't be weird. It was the almost glowing blue eyes it had that caught his attention. He had only ever seen their species with brown eyes. They stood staring directly at him. He moved a little bit to the left and their gaze followed. "Who are you?" Silver asked, a little frightened by the strangeness of the situation. Could it just be a coincidence that this strange pokemon was here on the same day of his kit hatching?

Upon no answer from the avian who was currently staring into his soul. He continued on his task, but carefully, watching the noctowl the whole time. Then after all of the egg pieces were disposed of and after warning his mate of the strange owl that was constantly watching he was onto a more disgusting task. Licking up the egg fluid, it was the cause of most of the smell. He had barely noticed the bitter taste when he was helping to clean it off of Astra to stop her from freezing, but now it was horrible. He still did it with surprisingly minimal complaint.

After drinking from the stream to get the bad taste from his mouth and settle his stomach, noticing the noctowl still hadn't left, he laid down next to his mate making sure his fur was covering Astra, warming her tiny body up.

"Astra still has yet to say a word." Silver whispered fully, waking a slightly dozing Petal.

"Give her time, it has only been a little while since she hatched. We all remember how overwhelming coming out of an egg for the first time is." Petal reassured him.

"I know, I'm still worried about her. Look at her size and say you aren't just as wary about every little detail that isn't normal as I am." Silver said.

"You yourself said not to worry, stop bringing this up, it just stresses us out for no reason. We don't even know if anything will be wrong in the first place!" Petal whispered with increased agitation when the subject of worry she had nearly forgotten was brought up again.

"I just…" Silver began

"Stop!" Petal yelled, as tears began streaming down her face, the vail that held her facial features to look passive and calm breaking instantly, as worry and doubt consumed her being. Her head suddenly filled with thoughts of something happening to her beloved daughter. She looked down to see if she woke up Astra but also to check the general wellbeing of her baby, just in case something had happened to her in the few minutes she hadn't looked. Astra was still asleep and well.

Finally looking up from his daughter to his mate and seeing how distraught he had made her, he could only say "I'm sorry I didn't realize how much it worried you." Feeling horrible he got up and on his way to the entrance said "I'm going to keep a lookout in case that bird does something, you just rest." Leaving his mate to calm down alone, but also wanting time to think. He could still hear Petal crying even though she was trying to be silent. He shed a few tears himself from the thoughts of harm that could befall Astra. After waiting for so long they both wanted to be the best parents they could.

He jumped onto the rock in the middle of the clearing, laying down, he watched the noctowl with blue eyes. It was a clear night and the stars shone with unusual brilliance, the full moon still covered the clearing in light. He was closer to it then he had been before, with the bright light of the moon he could make out more details.

The noctowl had a sad look in its eyes, with feathers ruffled and displaced. The whole body of the owl was slumped like it was exhausted and could fall asleep at any time.

"Aren't noctowls nocturnal?" Silver muttered quietly to himself. In a louder voice he directed a question at the tired stranger, "Is something wrong, why are you so sad?" To his surprise it answered this time.

In a feminine somewhat high-pitched voice that sounded depressed, she said "Something sad is going to happen and I can't do anything about it." She looked at the cave for a moment before realizing Silver was still looking at her and quickly looked back.

Silver had caught the sad look she pointed at his family and felt even more worried. "What is going to happen?" He asked with a panicked tone.

Cursing herself for her slip-up she did not answer the question, but instead said "I heard what you were talking about with your mate, I can tell you are going to make excellent parents with how much you care for her." Silver felt disturbed, were they really talking that loudly? The noctowl continued, "You have no need to worry about your kit, she will not die of sickness or weakness like you and your mate are worrying about."

Silver was confused which displayed on his face as well. Who was this creature to think they could tell the future. "You don't know what will or will not happen, no one can know what fate has in store for my daughter!" He shouted, mad at the false prediction that was being fed to him.

In the most reassuring voice she could muster, she said "I swear to Arceus himself that everything I said to you is completely true." She smiled at him and before he could get another word out she lifted off, flying into the shelter of darkness the trees' canopy provided.

Silver stared speechless after her, shocked at what she had just done. Swearing something on Arceus's name was not in itself shunned or considered taboo, but immensely dangerous. Lying while swearing on Arceus's name often resulted in death and even if you weren't lying it is still too risky to be used. Sometimes very rarely it would be used by couples as the ultimate declaration of love because if they were lying about how much they loved the other, they would die. It was not something you just risked to reassure any random pokemon.

It is said in legend, that most pokemon tend to pass on from generation to generation, that Arceus despises false promises. Although this is true, Arceus knows that lying and deceiving is an unfortunate byproduct of freewill, so he mainly leaves people who lie to their own fate. Using the creator of everything's name to deceive however, he finds it absolutely unacceptable and delivers punishment to whatever unfortunate soul committed this crime. It is one of the very few things that Arceus himself will act upon almost immediately to anyone, even other legendaries who are said to be his direct creations.

Even without this unreasonable risk that was made just to tell him to stop worrying. Silver for some inexplicable reason knew in his soul that what she said was true. He felt lighter than he did a few moments ago, for he knew Astra was going to be okay. He got off the rock and headed for the cave. Seeing that his mate had cried herself to sleep, he laid down next to his family and let the familiar warmth carry him to sleep.

The next morning Petal woke up just after sunrise, she hadn't slept well due to nightmares she had about her daughter. "Darkrai must have had a great time making those horrible nightmares." Petal said, sighing, after realizing none of those terrible events had happened.

She lifted her head up and looked around. Astra was still curled up touching her chest and Silver must have rejoined them when they were asleep, as he was asleep next to her. She carefully shifted away from Astra so she wouldn't wake her, she looked so peaceful. Petal got up and went to the stream for a drink, looking out of the cave, she saw that there were no clouds in the sky. It was a nice day other than the slightly chilly breeze that she didn't notice due to her high internal body heat. Petal went back inside and started preparing the food she needed to eat before she could feed Astra. Upon preparing the meals Silver woke up.

Silver however didn't get up, as he was the only one providing warmth to his daughter. Instead he got his mate's attention and told her about the strange conversation he had last night while they ate the meal Petal had prepared, Silver getting more food due to him winning the bet about their kit's gender the previous day.

Petal was just as shocked about what the noctowl had done as Silver was. The fact that the noctowl hadn't died right there meant she actually did predict the future of their kit. Petal didn't really care to question how a pokemon was able to do that, the only thing she cared about was that Astra could live a normal life. Relief flooded through her, replacing worry with a sense of happiness. A little while after they ate, Astra awoke.

Chapter End

Story Lore

Taken from a research report about ninetales by Prof. Oak

The biology of the vulpix evolutionary line is a rather interesting subject. Vulpix are born with six tails. Ninetales, after evolving instantly gain 3 more tails, ninetales tails are said to be the reason for their more powerful abilities. Vulpix and ninetales both have a flame core inside their chest unlike some fire pokemon that have their source of flames outside their bodies. Their fur and skin is able to nagate and absorb fire and use it to increase the size of their flame core for a short time, boosting the power of flame attacks.

Ninetales are very mysterious creatures. Some ninetales are said to live for a millennium, maybe even more if they are lucky. Being so long-lived, even the most dimwitted ninetales always tend to become very wise of the workings of both their own bodies and of the world as a whole. The eldest of the ninetales gaining knowledge that both humans and other pokemon would never have the chance to know. They gain access to very special abilities as they gain experience. One of these is the ability to permanently curse those who wrong them, the curse's effects vary based on how badly they wronged the ninetales, though other ninetales and vulpix are immune to these curses. They also gain another very essential ability. They can use their inner fire cores to artificially recreate the same energy that seems to radiate from fire stones causing the vulpix the energy is directed towards to evolve. Seeing as the species is a very community based one, it allows members of the same clan to be able to evolve without the outside help of a firestone. There have even been sightings by pokemon rangers close to the clans of some non-vulpix wild pokemon that need a firestone to evolve. They seemed to be journeying to one of the ninetales clans to trade for their evolution.

Another thing that adds to a ninetales mystique is their rarity. Outside of the very few ninetales communities, vulpix and ninetales are super rare. A ninetales feels very little need to have more than a couple offspring, since their children in all probability will stay in the same community as their parents and live as a family for their entire lives.

Humans have tried to increase the amount of the species in the world through breeding, however this did not turn out well. Something that people found out rather fast is that ninetales apparently tend to have very high opinions of themselves and will not stand the humiliation of force breeding. When people tried forcefully breeding ninetales, something terrible always happened. A few times the ninetales in question would rather kill itself than allow themselves to be bred like that, sometimes their forced partners would meet an untimely end. In the worst cases the whole breeding center was burned to the ground, little to say ninetales were banned from breeding centers everywhere due to the amount of lives lost.

Without the possibility of breeding the price of ninetales on the blackmarket skyrocketed. Every rich family wanted one, ninetales symbolize security and prosperity of a bloodline because one ninetales can protect a household for generations. The amount of ninetales disappearing from the wild due to trappers who wanted to make a fortune was making the already scarce population become an endangered species. Natural reserves were set up around ninetales' communities all over the world to protect them, but some trappers still get away with catching ninetales every so often.

End of report.

Author's notes

I had a lot of trouble trying to do 1st person pov in this chapter. I originally wanted most of this story in 1st person, but I might do a 3rd person pov that can only listen in on Astra's thoughts. The difficulty might have just been because I was trying to use 1st person to describe the thoughts and actions of a newborn, so I will try 1st person pov again next chapter.