Chapter 6: Vaniville Acts

The small town of Vaniville is a quaint, quiet place to live. For one who simply can't stand noise, it's paradise. For the restless wanderer, it's a prison. For the restless wanderer who simply can't stand noise, it's hell.

Early in the morning after the battle in Lumiose City, before the sun was up, a young blonde was shifting restlessly in her bed. Her long, golden hair was tangled up while her bright blue eyes blinked desperately. She hadn't got so much as a wink of sleep. She'd gotten up six times in the night: four to get a drink of water, and two to get a midnight snack, but it was no use. Nothing made her eyes want to close.

With a sigh, she reached over to a table sitting by her bed to get another drink of water. But her hand grasped something else instead: a blue ribbon given to her by a beloved friend. For a moment, she put it down, only to pick it back up again. She looked at it, though it was hard to see in the darkness, and held it to her chest, rubbing her thumb over its soft silk. She sighed, her face only falling even more as she continued her restless night alone.

"Where exactly are we going?" Sonic, still a Werehog, asked as he walked through the dense, forest grass.

"Don't worry, Sonikan," Hoopa grinned. "We're getting help. You don't want to go on your quest to beat the Eggman alone, right?"

"Right," Sonic said. "But who are we getting help from?"

"An old friend," Hoopa replied. "Ah! Here we are!"

Sonic raised an eyebrow (or whatever he had). "What's this?"

"Vaniville Town," Hoopa said.

Sonic looked at his companion with a small bit of doubt in his eyes. "How do you know our friend lives here?"

"I developed a psychic bond with her when we met, and now I know where she is all the time," Hoopa explained.

"I see," Sonic nodded, although he didn't actually.

The blonde girl was still in bed holding her ribbon, eyes shot from lack of sleep, when she heard voices outside. At first, she thought it was in her head. But when they continued, she shot up and looked out the window. A monster was walking through her yard!

"Oh no!" she whispered. "What is that? Mom's not gonna like this!" She leapt out of bed and grabbed a Pokeball, rushing out.

"Hey," Sonic muttered, "what's that smell?"

Hoopa sniffed the air. "I don't smell anything."

"I don't remember having such a strong sense of smell," Sonic said to himself. "Where did it come from?"

"Maybe from your monster-guy form?"

Sonic carefully scratched his head thoughtfully. "Maybe," he muttered. "I still don't understand everything about this, so you're probably right. I wonder –"

"FLAMETHROWER, NOW!"

Sonic jumped on hearing the sudden command and narrowly escaped a torrent of fire aimed right at him. Hoopa took cover in his shadow. When the smoke cleared, he saw a bipedal fox-like Pokemon holding a wooden stick at the end of which a small flame burned.

"A Braixen?" he said somewhat stupidly.

"Again!" came the command. Braixen unleashed another torrent of flames, but this time Sonic was ready. He leapt out of the way and, running on all fours, pounced on Braixen and punched it with a powerful uppercut. Braixen fell onto her back, but quickly leapt back up and gracefully spun around, then knelt down. Sonic rolled his eyes and threw a spitball at her torch, extinguishing it. The fox Pokemon was not happy about this and reignited it, throwing another torrent of fire at Sonic with an animalistic grunt. He rolled out of the way and smashed Braixen against the back of her head, knocking her onto her face.

"Did she just say –?" Sonic started.

"No!" Hoopa snapped at him. "She was just saying what she always says."

"Good," Sonic grumbled, then he said to himself so Hoopa couldn't hear, "Was it Japanese, then?"

The sky was starting to light up as dawn approached. Braixen attacked with another torrent of flames. Sonic dodged, but he hit a wall. Braixen seized the opportunity and closed in on Sonic, backing him up against the wall. He saw a tree branch above him and desperately reached for it. His arm suddenly stretched up and snatched it in an almost elastic manner. Shocked, he found himself yanked up and thrown into the sky, screaming in surprise.

"That was odd," the blonde girl said on seeing this. By now, the sun was visibly rising.

"Hey, Serena!"

The blonde girl started on hearing her name called. "Huh? Who – Bonnie!" she exclaimed as the little, yellow-haired girl leapt into her arms in a bear hug.

"I missed you, Serena!" Bonnie giggled.

"I missed you too, Bonnie," Serena replied, hugging her back.

"Okay, Bonnie," came the familiar voice of Clemont. "Don't strangle the poor girl."

"Oh, right," Bonnie sheepishly let go. "Sorry."

"No need for that," Serena chuckled. "So what brings you guys here?"

"We came to find you," Clemont said. "We need your help."

"Help? What do you need me fo–"

"WHOOAAAAAAAAA!" a flailing figure cried from above before landing face-first in the ground. His legs stuck up a moment, then flopped to the ground. "Not the nose again," he grumbled, his voice muffled by the ground.

"Sonic!" Serena exclaimed. "Where did you come from?"

Sonic pulled himself out of the ground, restored to his natural form, and dusted himself off. "I accidentally launched myself into the sky," he said. "Gee...those rubber arms are more flexible than they look."

"Rubber arms?"

"Yeah. I was being chased down by this angry fox who wanted to barbecue me for dinner or something," he explained.

Serena's eyes widened. "You mean Braixen? But...we were chasing a monster –"

"And it was him!" Hoopa suddenly jumped out of Sonic's shadow, appearing to have his hands on his hips. Everyone gasped in shock, especially Serena. "You were trying to kill him!"

"I was?" Serena repeated, shocked. "But...I don't understand."

"He's got this big bad monster-guy thing going on, and he changes into it sometimes."

"Yeah," Sonic nodded. "It's weird."

"Oh, Sonic," Serena whispered, "I'm so sorry. I didn't realize it was you!"

"Ah, don't sweat it," he shrugged it off. "You're not the first one to make that mistake, and you probably won't be the last."

"I see," she nodded, then yawned. "Oh, man. I sure hope Mom doesn't get mad about all that –"

"SERENAAAAAAAAA!"

Everyone facefaulted. "You had to say it," Bonnie grumbled.

"I had to say it," Serena sighed.

"There you are!" Serena's mom, Grace, said, hands on her hips with an angry glare in her eyes as they walked up to her.

"Mom, I'm sorry, I can explain," Serena talked rapidly. "It was a misunderstanding, there wasn't a monster, it was really –"

"Quiet!" Grace snapped. "Look at what's happened! Did one of your Pokemon do this?!"

Serena looked at what her mom was pointing at and gasped. The fence surrounding the pen of Rhyhorn they kept for Rhyhorn Racing was broken. The Rhyhorn had escaped!

"What happened?!" Serena cried.

"Well that's new," Clemont scratched his chin thoughtfully.

"The Rhyhorn broke out and are rampaging around town," Grace went on. "We can't stop them. What happened?!"

"I don't know!" she protested. "The only sounds I heard all night were from Sonic!"

Grace raised an eyebrow. "Sonic?"

"Yeah, that's right," the blue hedgehog nodded, stepping forward. "I got into your front yard, and then Braixen attacked me because she thought I was a monster."
"Why would she think that?"

"Long story. Can't talk about that now."

"Well, that's good, because we need to herd those Rhyhorn back into the pen. Serena! Get your suit on!"

"Aww man," Serena moaned. "I'm so tired of racing."

"Maybe we should suit up too," Clemont suggested. Bonnie agreed, and they all went indoors. Sonic stayed outside.

"Boy," he muttered, "I sure hope Baseball Head gets here soon. We're gonna need his help."