AN: Sorry, I wasn't satisfied with the fight scene and story progression. I had to rewrite and rethink it a lot.
On the plus side, I ain't dead.
Chapter 1.4:
-Drought-
Waking up without sunlight shining on my face still takes time getting used to, even though I've been sleeping in my underground den for about a week now. But waking up with someone snuggling you though, was a welcomed feeling for some reason.
'Maybe it's the fact that I'm not alone anymore?' I thought.
I stood up, causing the eevee to groan at the loss of her mattress, because she was literally sleeping on top of me since I was close to double her size. Walking up to one of the entrances with a peephole, I see that the weather is calm as the day before, therefore we must go out and commit murder before things turn to shit.
Walking back to the sleeping eevee, I note that all signs of her being starved and weak when I met her were gone like it never happened at all.
I remember in my old life that introducing solid food to someone who hasn't eaten for some time might kill them due to shock, making it a necessity that liquid food must be fed for a couple of days before reintroducing solid food.
But here in this world, that didn't mean shit because she just ate it like a One piece character and was suddenly healed a couple of hours when she digested the food…. I have no idea if this only applies to pokemon or if it would do the same for humans.
After confirming that she's gonna be fine, I started poking her with one of my tails.
"Get your ass up, bait." I said while poking her.
The sleeping eevee tried to cover her face, but I switched targets and started poking her in the ribs causing her to laugh. "Whyy! Please stop!"
I didn't stop.
Vee finally stood up after one of my tails went into her ear causing her to yelp in surprise.
With her now finally awake and moving, I proceed to walk into a tunnel leading to one of my exits. "Let's go, we're going out to kill something."
Vee grumbled something I couldn't understand, but didn't protest and stood up.
"Wait, you only have 5 tails?" Vee suddenly asked while yawning.
I didn't stop walking. "Yeah, why?" I asked with a shrug since I had no idea what she was talking about. 'Did Vulpix have 6 tails or was it 7.' I thought to myself
"You're not even fully grown and you're this strong already!?" Vee suddenly freaked out about something I definitely did not know.
'Huh, I guess vulpix does have more than 6 tails then?' I mused.
I just kept walking and ignored her since it doesn't affect me much. Vulpix has trash stats like most of the early gen pokemon so it doesn't matter what she's talking about.
"Oi! You're not even paying attention at all, aren't you?!" Vee shouted out as she suddenly shoulder tackled me, causing me to stumble.
I corrected myself and glared at her. "The hell's wrong with you?!"
Her ears started twitching in annoyance while her collar and tail puffs up in annoyance. Instead of being intimidated, my temper calmed down due to how cute she looked. SoI used one of my tails and gave her a head pat.
'Hehehe so soft.'
She tried to bite my tail, but I was able to pull it back in time. "As fun as this is, we're burning daylight and we're almost out of food."
Vee just sighed and nodded, knowing she's not getting anywhere. "Fine, let's go!" and ran ahead.
'I hope we find something to eat, out there.' I thought to myself.
I finally reach the exit with Vee waiting near it. While she may be annoyed at my nonchalant stance, she's not willing to go outside first due to her senses not being as sharp as mine.
I nodded to her as I went ahead to check outside for anything trying to ambush us.
…
It took me a minute of peeking for anything out of the ordinary and careful listening for it to be deemed safe to leave until I gave the signal, for Vee to come out.
After some thinking, I decided that we will be heading to the location of the young rattata I killed, banking on a hunch that its den was nearby.
"How good are you at tree jumping?" I suddenly asked her.
She hummed. "I've done it before, but not frequently because I grew up in the plains."
"Good enough, try to keep up." I motioned her to follow as I climbed a tree and jumped to another while Vee followed after.
…
After almost two hours of hopping, we have finally reached the area where I murked that rattata.
Our travel speed was slowed down considerably due to Vee's inexperience but she was a fast learner, rapidly improving by imitating my movement due our size and body shape being similar enough.
My theory behind this is that her quick learning came from a pokemon's capacity to learn or copy a variety of attacks with varied elements compared to a purely physical activity not aided by energy manipulation.
My musing was interrupted as Vee pointed at something. "I see some tracks, but I'm not sure if it's fresh or not."
I nod. "Let me take care of that part, you watch my back."
"Got it." She replied as she jumped into another branch while I followed after her.
Landing down at the ground, I approached the tracks laid in the snow and took a sniff. It takes a second to process the information, as I did the mental math.
"This is about a day old at the most." I murmured to myself. "I'll follow this on the ground while you travel by the branches to keep an eye out."
Vee nodded and we split off.
"Have you found any other entrances?" I asked out loud, knowing Vee is listening in.
After a few moments, she landed right next to me. "I found another entrance that way and from the size of it, that would be their main entrance."
"Got it, then we block this exit off with dirt and whatever rocks we can find." I told her.
She looked confused but nodded. "I know the move dig, so can I collapse this tunnel section instead?"
"That's a better idea, you do that while I wait for you at the larger entrance." I nodded to her as I jogged off.
On my way to the main entrance, I gathered up some sticks and large branches that are relatively dry and placed them on my back while using my tail to hold them in place.
Vee came back while I was picking up some branches. She didn't question what I was doing, but instead helped me in carrying them to the entrance knowing I'll explain it when we get there.
She's pretty useful like that.
…
After reaching the entrance, I then used slash to cut off the branches at an angle to cut the sticks at a sharp angle and started planting them around the entrance making it a cheap spiked barricade.
Planting down the sharpened sticks was a bitch and a half to do without thumbs but I made do with skillful application of my tails.
Granted, sharpened sticks wouldn't do serious damage since pokemon have tougher skin against haphazardly placed barricades means it would only deter them but not injure them, but I'm hoping it will slow and funnel them into a chokepoint.
"I see what you're doing, but why would they want to come out in the first place?" Vee asked me.
I gave her a smirk. "Watch and learn." As I used ember on a bundle of branches and pushed it deeper inside.
"Wow, that's a bit cruel." Vee commented.
I rolled my eyes. "I'm not going in there and risk going face to face with a raticate in an enclosed space unless you're willing to do it first." Making Vee shake her head fiercely.
"Good point, shutting up now!"
The smoke from the burning branches eventually got a reaction from the inhabitants of the burrow because after a couple of minutes we suddenly heard what seemed like a cacophony of footsteps and squeaks heading towards us.
"You do know that a cornered rattata will always bite, right?" Vee asked me in worry as she heard the noise growing louder and louder.
My claws glowed white, while I gathered fire type energy into my throat as I prepared two offensive moves at once.
But unlike ember, where I used the gathered fire energy and launched it in compressed form, I instead spat it all out at once as a cone of fire illuminated the dark hole as I was met by multiple red glowing eyes reflected by the light behind me.
"SCREEE" The mob reacted with a shriek of pain as my flamethrower washed over them, setting the wooden barricades on fire, producing more smoke and a more daunting obstacle for the trapped rat pokemon.
'I didn't plan that part, but I'll take it.' I thought to myself as I lowered my posture, preparing to swipe at anything in melee range.
Best part about the smoke from the flaming barricades is that it will deter them from trying to break through, combined with the extra smoke it's producing caused the rattata to cough and might even irritate their eyes which will help me get the initiative.
After that initial flamethrower, the noises started up again into a mad dash into our direction as my fire probably consumed a good chunk of the oxygen inside.
Vee's entire body shined bright, as some type of energy that was covering her suddenly went towards me, making what seems like my next attack to be empowered.
"Helping hand? My, aren't you full of surprises." I commented, but my eyes refused to leave the entrance of the den.
I hear her scoff. "I can take care of myself but I'm not a brawler, I'll leave that to you." As golden stars fly out into the entrance, hitting something followed by the hiss of pain.
The smoke suddenly gets disturbed indicating that a victim was about to break through in front of me.
My paw swipes down, empowered by Vee's helping hand into the smoke.
CLANG! As I hit something solid, causing the smoke around us to clear, giving me a good look on my enemy.
As my claws clashed with the teeth of a familiar raticate who's currently using hyper fang, snarling at me with her bloodshot eyes irritated from the smoke.
In normal circumstances, I would have lost this exchange in terms of attack stat and move power.
But with Vee's helping hand, my claws powered through the raticate's hyperfang, sending her flying back into the hole while Vee took potshots at it with swift as yellow stars chased after the raticate I sent back into the abyss.
Multiple footsteps can be heard rushing towards us.
I prepared another flamethrower and fired at the entrance, causing more squeaks of pain as I saw multiple shadows getting engulfed in the fire.
A disturbance in the smoke rippled at my left side, causing me to transition to slash on my right paw and preemptively swiped, cutting through the face of an unfortunate rattata who tried to make a break for it, causing blood and brain matter to splatter on the ground.
The smoke caused from the barricades are now slowly thinning out as the barricades that were on fire are now burnt to a crisp, courtesy of my second flamethrower.
But thankfully, the charred wood still has some use as I hear a soft grunt of pain coming from my right side due to the embers now littering the ground like a minefield.
The rattata was intercepted by Vee with a quick attack which transitioned into bite as she tore through a rattata's throat.
Everything was turning out perfec–
"Noo! I'll kill you!" A voice screamed out.
My hackles raised in attention, and I was put into a state of hyper-focus as everything around me greyed out, and the background noise slowly faded out as time seemed to slow down once again.
In the corner of my eye, I see it happening in slow motion as the smoke now cleared out, giving me a perfect view of the raticate lunging towards Vee with hyper fang.
Knowing that it would cause serious or fatal damage if it hit her, I used quick attack to enhance my movements and intercepted, abusing slow motion, I ran towards the raticate then I used the momentum and tackled the raticate out of the pounce.
"RAA- ompf!" As I crashed into her, interrupting the raticate's warcry and displacing the momentum as we crashed into the dirt.
Time goes back to normal, as I had sent myself and the raticate rolling on the ground, both of us are clawing and trying to bite each other's face off.
Our scuffle on the ground ended as the raticate and I jumped back away from each other.
I didn't get out of it unscathed as I got some scratches on my face and left shoulder, but I managed to land a deep slash on one of the raticate's hind leg, making it hard for her to balance on two legs, forcing her to stand on four limbs and limit her mobility.
I began circling the raticate in front of me as she tried to do the same only to wince as the piled up injuries were now coming down on her.
"Why?" The raticate said weakly.
"I'm gonna be honest, I'm the reason that rattata runt never came back that night." I said with a smile filled with teeth, hoping for a reaction.
The raticate froze then lunged at me with a bite, while I sidestepped the telegraphed attack, while punishing her with a tailwhip, knocking her off balance.
I circled her again, this time the raticate tried to play defensively but she was bombarded with yellow stars from Vee who just finished off her rattata causing the raticate to look her way.
Seeing Vee standing over the dead rattata, the raticate got even angrier and tried to rush her with hyper fang, only for me to use my tail to trip her with my tail while giving her stage two defense down.
"You monsters." I heard the raticate groan weakly while eating dirt.
I suddenly got a jolt of power rushing into me as I felt my next move being empowered as Vee gave me a nod.
'Time to end this.' I thought, as I attacked the downed raticate with slash on her exposed neck, cutting through skin and bone like a guillotine, beheading the raticate.
I turned to Vee who was watching the execution with troubled eyes as I nodded to her.
"Good job on the assist, now check the area if anything's coming here, and call me if you do." I told her, while I went deeper in the burrow.
She quickly shook out of it and headed for the trees. 'I'll have to talk about that to her later.' I thought to myself.
Heading deeper into the burrow, I found a couple of newly made tunnels that looked unstable which means they were built by the move dig with only a single use in mind.
There are other rooms, but are devoid of life and little interest so I moved on.
The last room I found seemed to be their main room where they all slept. In one of the walls, I see scratch marks made by smaller pokemon, and some sticks with chew marks on them, while in the corner I see what seems to be a ball of rolled grass stuck together by mucus.
'They were a family. Of course, they were a family.' I thought to myself darkly as I looked around. 'And then I came along and killed them.'
Knowing all that new information, I felt nothing. Nothing at all other than I know that this will greatly increase our chances of living past winter.
I shook my head and sighed. "I did this, I could likely live off of plants but I intentionally did it, it doesn't matter what they were."
"Circle of life am I right?" I asked myself as I walked out of the chamber.
After double checking the whole burrow, it would seem that most of the residents used dig to get away after I hit them all with that first flamethrower.
It would seem that the 2 rattata we got probably didn't know how to use the move dig while the raticate stayed behind to try and fight us off.
'Here's to hoping the survivors won't come back for revenge later on.' I thought.
Exiting the cave, I take stock of our kills which consist of 2 medium sized rattatas and an adult raticate.
Shortly after Vee landed on the ground next to me.
"I did a circle around the burrow and found nobody trying to approach us, but I saw some tracks heading away from here." Vee reported.
I nodded and gestured a rattata to her. "We'll eat the rattatas right here while we haul the raticate back home for storage, no point trying to track down the survivors."
"Okay." She replied meekly while dragging her kill next to mine.
After I finished preparing the rattatas by cutting out their intestines then roasting said intestine because Fun fact about animal or pokemon guts.
Eating the intestines of herbivores is generally safe, and even recommended since it's mostly half digested plant matter containing vitamins a carnivore won't normally have access to but that doesn't matter much since Vee and I are omnivores.
But rattatas are omnivorous too, so I don't trust them to not catch diseases from the meat they ate so I decided to roast them just to be safe.
After I was done roasting the intestines, I had Vee eat first while I kept watch and patrol the perimeter in case anything tried to take an opportunity.
After a couple of minutes, Vee finished her meal as we switched places, with her taking position by the trees while I ate breakfast.
…
I finally finished my food and thankfully, nothing tried to attack us and now here I am, cutting out the internal organs of the raticate to reduce cargo and for immediate consumption while Vee's taking an extended watch in the trees.
Normally, I wouldn't have bothered eating its guts because while raticates are also omnivores, they prefer more meat in their diet, unlike rattatas.
But with winter making food scarce, wasting free food is a bad idea. Hence, after I cut out the intestines, I lay them on some rocks as I prepare for me to roast and hopefully get rid of any bacteria while the other organs like the liver and lungs are eaten raw.
…
The walk back home was quiet, Vee was traveling through the trees scouting ahead for any threats while I'm dragging back the dead raticate.
Thanks to my pokemon biology shenanigans, I can easily carry the larger and definitely heavier raticate with ease. The only annoying thing about the whole thing was the visibility issue I'm having due to its body blocking most of my sightline.
But with Vee watching my back, I at least know that I'll have a couple seconds of warning if something tries to attack me.
"What do we do now?" Vee asked me from somewhere.
With my mouth currently occupied biting the raticate's limb, I just shrugged and gave a grunt hoping she was watching me.
"Sleep and rest then?" She asked again.
"Mm." I grunted in affirmation.
…
Nothing tried to bother us on the way back as we finally reached the boundaries of our home. I buried the raticate in a layer of snow in the center near the main tree, since it would be in perfect view of multiple entrances, meaning if anything tried stealing it, we would get multiple angles to shoot and come out from.
I'm currently erasing my footprints and drag marks while Vee is on the trees watching my back for any threats.
"We made a good team earlier, I'm guessing that's our thing now?" Vee spoke out.
I nodded, as I erased any visual tracks leading to the den. "I'll draw attention while you look for openings and pick them off."
With our trail erased, Vee joined me in my usual patrol in checking the perimeter for anything out of the ordinary. After confirming the area was secured, we went back to the den.
I'm currently curled up into a ball until Vee huddled next to me. "Hey Drought?" Vee suddenly asked me which I answered with a grunt. "Mm."
"Are we monsters?" Vee asked while laying next to me.
Straightening up, I looked at her. "Oh, you heard that?"
"Yeah." Vee replied with a troubled expression covering her face.
I sighed as I used my tails and wrapped around her, bringing the eevee closer. "Is this your first hunt with a mon that could talk back?"
Vee nodded.
"Let me ask you something, is it wrong to want to live?" I asked Vee, surprising her.
She shook her head. "No."
"And before you say that we're omnivores, where we can eat plants and all that crap, I tried foraging when it was warmer with my friend Ivy who's a grass type, we looked for hours combing through frozen plants and all we got was shit food that barely tasted anything." I answered, causing Vee to giggle.
"The morsel we found was only enough for one of us, which is why I convinced Ivy to join me on an adventure instead."
Vee, who's slowly cheering up, asked me for more details.
…
-Time skip no jutsu-
-Drought-
At least two months have passed, and the snow is now slowly getting thinner as the days become longer. Vee decided to be a permanent resident of the den and join my pack? Skulk? Fluffle?
Whatever.
Over the past two months, We spent most of it in a pseudo hibernation where we slept for days and left our den to hunt for food. One of the things I found out about Vee is that she came from a large pack of eeveelutions, allowing her a large movepool from varying elemental moves to the support moves like helping hand.
It turns out that Vee ran away from home due to her feeling babied by her older siblings and wanted to prove to herself that she could survive alone just fine. She refused to talk to me for a couple of days when I called her a dumbass.
Poke.
A certain Eevee was poking my face.
"Good morning, you were brooding again." She said between pokes, making me ignore her again.
In those two months, I have no idea how to categorize our relationship since it's not leader and subordinate because I don't see her as an underling, but we're not close enough to be anything more intimate either.
All I know is, that I'm comfortable enough for her to help clean my more hard-to-reach places like the back of my neck when we're grooming each other, even though I've seen her jaws tear through flesh.
Poke.
The whole grooming thing was new to me since I've mostly used fire to clean myself, breathing it out all over my body since I am very resistant to my own flames but dirt and grime are not.
Turns out Vee doesn't like the smell of a smoked fox as a pillow so she taught me a thing or two in self-care because unfortunately, Ivy and Exeggutor weren't able to teach me because of different biologies. With one of them being a tree, and the other having similar skin to an amphibian mixed with a plant means they do things differently.
I felt like I was a cat, licking myself clean especially since both of us are based on foxes meaning we have barbed tongues.
But I digress.
Poke.
…
Po- I slapped her paw away from my nose. "What?"
Her ears lowered and eyes dilated, giving me a look. "Can we go to the river? I wanna see if your friends are over there."
'Is that baby doll eyes? I thought this region's pokemon didn't learn them.' I thought.
Normally, I would have said no, but with the climate getting warmer I decided that it was time to go out to the river to get something to drink that's not from freshly melted white snow and It would be nice to introduce her to my two other friends anyway so I nodded and started heading towards the exit.
My wounds have healed long ago from that raticate, but my fur still has some patches that need growing to do, meaning my worrywart friend Ivy will fuss at my injuries if any of them's infected.
…
We took my usual path when heading to the river, but instead of jumping to the trees I decided to go for a scenic route and walk on the forest floor instead, a trail that was heavily used by heavier pokemon, giving us a straight line.
"I can't wait to meet your friends." Vee said happily, as she was practically skipping.
I just nodded, as I was busy watching the path we're taking for any signs for an ambush because while winter is coming to an end that also means most pokemon are now confident to come out of their shelters without fear of blizzards, it's still not warm enough that plants can come out of hibernation meaning food is still scarce while pokemon are more active means more chances of encountering hungry predators.
My ears twitched, causing me to stop walking while I scan my surroundings as everything seemed to quiet down. Vee stopped her walk, and started looking around herself, ready to react to anything.
"What is it?" She whispered.
I slowly step in front of Vee as I hear breathing noises. "I'm hearing multiple pokemon in front of us hidden by the trees." I whispered back.
"Do we attack?" Vee asked behind me.
I shake my head. "Let me try something first." I took a deep breath and gathered normal type energy in my throat then roared out.
"RAAAARRRGHH!"
Causing a wave of sound to pass through, with the shockwaves making an indent into the snow. Multiple shrieks of surprise were heard, as three meowth came running out of their hiding spots.
A fun fact about the move roar is that the stronger you are, the stronger its effects ranging from range and potency against weaker pokemon. Making this move to be the closest thing to conqueror's haki making it useful to prevent someone from being swarmed by weaker opponents if they have access to it.
Of course, other pokemon can use their own roar to counter its effects.
I huffed in disappointment as the meowth didn't run out to fight us, but instead came out to run away from us.
"Looks like they were too weak to contest it." I said out loud as Vee just deadpanned at me.
"You do know that meowths are supposed to be stronger compared to us in general, right?" Vee remarked snidely.
Snorting, I roll my eyes. "Whoever told you that can go fuck themselves. Hard work and spite will close the gap."
'Stats or not, I'll win.' I thought to myself.
We continued walking towards the path in a more relaxed manner as I no longer felt that uneasy feeling and Vee's back on her excited mood and it's infectious.
"Have you ever fought meowths before then?" Vee asked me suddenly.
I nodded. "I dealt with a pair of them before when I was walking home with Ivy and her siblings."
"Were they strong?" Vee asked.
I shrugged. "No clue, I didn't give them the chance for a battle."
Vee just deadpanned at me, as I just smiled at her.
…
'Ah, the river. It feels like it's been years since I was last here.' I thought to myself.
Looking at it, it seems that the river hasn't changed much other than a couple of bushes growing near the river are now devoid of leaves but everything else stayed the same. Still, one thing that stood out to me is that EVERY pokemon was staring in our direction for some reason.
As in, everyone stopped what they were doing and was now looking at us.
I blinked. 'The hell are they looking at?' I thought, as I subtly looked behind me and saw nothing.
"Um wha?" Vee said in confusion.
Focusing my gaze forward, my eye caught onto something shining in a corner, I see the three meowths I spooked off from earlier are huddled in a corner, shaking in fear.
We lock eyes, causing the three to flinch and hide behind a rock. 'I guess they must've told them or something.'
I snorted, knowing that the commotion wasn't something serious, I just ignored the crowd and just walked towards my favorite rock while Vee followed me trying to ignore the stares we're getting, as the pokemon are moving out of our way.
After finally reaching my rock, I sat down while Vee sat right next to me, a familiar voice suddenly called out.
"Drought!"
I turn and see Ivy and her two siblings running towards me, causing me to activate my ability since I don't want my friends to deal with the cold and it's like treating them with food.
The cloudy skies above us suddenly got a hole torn through it, letting the sun bathe us in warmth causing the snow around me to start melting.
Fun fact, the move Sunny day has two parts.
First, the caster has a radius on what they could affect and manipulate. What it does, is that it soaks said radius in the caster's typing of choice which ranges from fire, ice, or water. Of course, the more trained and powerful the caster, the larger the sphere of influence.
The second part would be the catalyst. For sunny day, it could be the sun or creating a ball made up of fire energy, allowing for it to be used at night time or indoors.
I have no idea why this miniature sun isn't used as an attack, but I've tried it, and it dissipated once it touched something solid which means no copying Frieza's attack.
For now.
Anyways, back to my friends approaching.
"Sup." Added With a wave as Vee who's sitting next to me is on the sidelines watching.
"I'm guessing you're the roar everyone heard causing those three to come running out here?" Ivy asked, pointing at the meowth still hiding behind the rock.
I shrugged. "Perhaps." Causing Ivy to just shake her head, being used to my antics. The twins who're watching noticed Vee and walked to her since they decided she's more interesting.
"Hi!/ Hello! Who are you?" They both said at the same time.
Ivy, now noticing Vee, eyed her with curiosity. "Who's she, a new friend?"
"Meet Vee, she's my minion." I replied, causing the eevee to choke in embarrassment, making Ivy laugh in disbelief.
She slapped my shoulder. "Hey! We're partners, damn it!"
"Hello, my name's Ivy and these are my siblings Bloom and Thorn." Ivy introduced herself while gesturing to the twins.
Vee nodded with a smile. "Nice to finally meet you! Drought spoke a lot about you and Exeggutor"
"Really now?" Ivy looked at me with a smile then turned to Vee. "How did you two meet and what crazy adventure did he drag you into?"
Vee lost her smile and groaned. "He found me when I was tired and starving, then he offered me food and shelter."
"And you went with him after having just met?" Ivy asked with a raised brow while the twins were whispering to each other about strangers.
Vee just slumped. "He got the drop on me and I got nowhere to run, so I either go with him or take my chances, you know?" Ivy moved closer and patted Vee in sympathy while the twins sat next to her and gave her a hug.
"Of course, while on the way back he decided to use me as bait from a noctowl!" Vee suddenly screamed and pointed at me with her paw causing the twins to gasp and look at me like I'm a bad guy.
'Guess she was still salty about that.' I thought. "I don't know what you're talking about, partner." I said while trying to look innocent.
The dry look they gave me wasn't very assuring. "I can see him doing that, did he share at least?" Ivy commented in which Vee nodded.
"What about your crazy adventure with big brother?" Thorn, the male twin suddenly asked, causing Vee and I to freeze.
'Shit, I don't think telling the twins about the rattata massacre would be a good story.' I thought, Vee giving me a side glance tells me she thought of the same thing.
I gave Ivy a subtle glance, hoping she got the hint. Thankfully she understood my meaning, but before she could change the subject I felt a presence suddenly showing up behind me.
"A new friend, young Drought?" The voice of Exeggutor echoed, causing Vee to fall off her rock in surprise while Ivy shrieked.
Looking behind me, I noticed he was glowing pink with psychic energy meaning he just teleported in.
The twins rushed the larger pokemon for a greeting, while I nodded. "Yeah."
Looking at Exeggutor, I realize that something's wrong with him. "You're hurt!" Ivy screamed out.
The psychic glow from teleport covering his body dissipated, allowing me to see look at him more clearly. I can see that he's sporting some slash marks on his bark and what seems to be a burn injury, which looks like a first degree burn which is concerning since he is a grass type pokemon.
"Can any of you apply some snow on my burns-."
Exeggutor didn't even get to finish his sentences as I turned off my ability and ran to the snow. Then I started piling off some snow on my back while I was using my tails like a scoop and ran back.
I started applying the snow Exeggutor's right leg since it's one of his most visible injuries and it's easier for me to reach. "Thank you, young Drought."
"What happened?" I ask him, while to the side I see Ivy and the twins starting to haul snow and rub it into his burn while Vee is now climbing all over Exeggutor due to her being the most agile and light out of all anybody to get a closer look at his injuries.
Exeggutor just slumped onto the ground in order for the twins to reach his burn with their vine whips, causing a small shake of the ground. "I had some unfortunate encounter with some unsavory pokemon, nothing to worry about."
'Bullshit.' I thought, but didn't vocalize.
"Some of the bitemarks have burns added on them, so some snow is needed to be applied here as well." Vee directed some of the snow placement.
'Does that mean fire fang? Growlithe?!' I thought darkly. "Where are they?" I asked calmly then I suddenly got a slap to the back of the head.
"Calm down! You're melting the snow!" Vee screamed out, snapping me out of it as I saw Ivy and the twins trying to hold on to their melting snowballs.
The area was also devoid of the pokemon who were leeching off my warmth.
I turned off the ability as I felt the cold seep in and apologized in embarrassment. "Sorry." As I stood up and started helping them in covering Exeggutor's burnt skin in snow.
With the four of us working together, we managed to do it in a couple of minutes.
We all sat down, with serious looks on our faces. "Where are they? I just want to talk to them." I asked calmly, causing the twins to shiver and hide next to Ivy.
Vee, who's used to my violent side, just snorted. "Yeah, I'm sure you'll get along just fine."
"I wouldn't want us to start a fight at the river especially with the truce." Exeggutor replied.
"Truce? You mean they'll be safe from Drought." Ivy chimed in with a laugh, lightening the mood as the twins giggled as Exeggutor broke a smile.
"Individually? Drought definitely wins against them but you need not worry about this." He gestured to his burns. "In a few minutes the burns will cease, while the melted snow will help with the dry bark." Exeggutor assured.
'The wonders or bullshit of pokemon biology.' I thought.
Knowing that Exeggutor will be fine, I sat down back into my rock. "But growlithe don't hunt alone, do they." I replied with vitriol.
"Not growlithe, it was the houndour pack that did this to me." Exeggutor replied. "Let's move on to lighter topics while we wait, who's your new friend, young Drought?"
Before I could give Vee an introduction, she butted in. "My name's Vee, and it's nice to finally meet Drought's friends with how much he was talking about you all." Causing me to turn away.
"All good things i hope?" Exeggutor replied with a smile.
Trying my best to be nonchalant, I replied. "It's not like I have anything else to talk about."
The look they gave me, means I failed horribly.
We continued talking like this for a while, and I got a more detailed local history of this area rather than what I broadly got from random chatter.
One. The king of this area is an OLD Ursaring who routinely destroys the beedrill colony for their larvae and honey.
Two. There was a large fight between the houndoom and persian pack/pride, which resulted in the casualty of all their evolved members leaving behind the younger pokemon to scatter.
Three. The previously stated pokemon decided to have a conflict near the sleeping king who woke up grumpy which caused him to give out hammer arms for everybody, making everything who was hit to paste with a dash of hyperbeam.
…
A half an hour passed and we suddenly got into a conversation where I slipped and it brought me into hot water.
"I'm not really sure of my opinion about humans since I never met them." Vee added.
I grunted. "I did, it was not a fun experience-" Causing Ivy to shriek while the twins gasped.
'Oh shit.' I thought, as I see Ivy already rushing at me while the twins are right behind her. 'Honestly, she worries too much about me.'
"I ran into them before I even met you, I'm fine!" I screamed out, while trying to hold Ivy back with my tails.
Exeggutor was quietly watching, but chose not to comment since he's smiling at the scene.
"Hm, is that where you got that bite mark on your left wrist?" Vee asked me.
Before I could answer, Ivy already used her vine whips to get past my tail and started checking my left foreleg. "Let me see that." She muttered. "I notice some new scratch marks here, but I'll ask about them later."
I just nodded, hoping she wouldn't remember to question me about the scratch marks. "Yeah, they had growlithe with them but I was very lucky they didn't have bows and arrows that day."
"Hold on, had you just escaped them when we first met?" Exeggutor asked me while Ivy gasped. "I remember that! You looked so disheveled and angry, glaring at everything."
"That was not my best day, but no. I spent a day resting after I escaped." I said with a wince. "You know, I never asked why you kept calling me young, Exeggutor." Causing Vee's ears to twitch in annoyance.
Exeggutor chuckled. "You only have 5 tails, by judging young Vee's reaction, she most likely tried to tell you." Causing the Eevee to nod.
"It's not like I'll use them all unless I'm gonna tail slap the crap out of someone, so what's the big deal?" I tilt my head in confusion while Ivy scolds me for my crude language.
Vee just groaned in frustration. "I did try telling him that, but can someone else explain to him in ways he'll understand?"
Exeggutor nodded happily at that. "Adult Vulpix have 6 six tails, do you understand that much?" he asked, I nodded. "Adolescent pokemon are still underdeveloped physically and have less energy, meaning they are less powerful in both physical and special capacity."
"That's it? I didn't notice." I answered nonchalantly causing Vee to facepalm/paw while Ivy who's used to my antics just sighed. "You'll get used to it." She said, while comforting the new member.
"Yes, you'll have to get used to Drought breaking the mold." Exeggutor added.
"I noticed, when h-" Whatever Vee was about to say was cut off as I gave everyone a raised paw. "Shh. Something's coming." I gestured as I heard multiple footsteps coming out of the forest.
Seven pokemon came out, One Houndoom who seemed to be the leader accompanied by six houndoom sniffing into the air, looking for something as one suddenly howled causing them all to look in our direction.
At the edge of my vision, I see the twins being herded by Ivy into the center of our little group between her and Exeggutor with the larger pokemon now standing up, shaking off the snow.
I looked at his burnt bark and was pleased that his previous injuries are almost gone now except some slight dark patches on his bark.
Vee was now walking to my flank as I remained in a sitting position.
I gave my friend the side eye. "How many of them did you fight originally?"
"There was a dozen of them, I assume they're hiding the injured." Exeggutor replied.
Looking at the approaching pack, I counted and right now I'm seeing 7 members of the pack with a houndoom leading them.
'Probably a newly evolved.' I thought.
Watching them running towards us and it seems they have no plans on slowing down.
"Can you teleport us out of here? Cause they don't seem to be respecting the truce." I asked Exeggutor.
He shook his heads. "Sadly, I'm too tired to do it with everyone. I suggest you and the others run while I keep them occupied." Causing the others to gasp.
I stood up and snarled. "Fuck no, I'll-"
"What if you only include Ivy and the twins?" Vee interjected, while Ivy tried to protest. "What?! You're not doi-"
Exeggutor does a quick mental math, and nods. "That, I can do but are you both sure-"
"Yes/Yeah." Both of us answered. "We both can escape on our own, and I'm sure Drought wants some payback." Vee reassured Ivy for her comfort.
He nodded to me as psychic energy began covering their bodies, as I heard the pack start barking frantically, as some fire and dark type attacks were being sent our way, hoping to disrupt the teleportation.
Vee fired off swift, intercepting the ember attacks while I jumped and deflected a ball of fire.
"I really hate it that you're going out to do something stupid again, but I'm at least relieved that you'll have someone to fight with." Ivy said bitterly, then she turned to Vee. "Watch his back for me, please?"
Vee nodded. "Of course I will."
Exegutor and the others finally disappear, causing the pack to snarl in anger while Vee and I start using quick attack to dash towards the treeline.
Awoo!
A howl was heard behind us. "They seemed angry." Vee snarked at me while running.
"You go into stealth, I'll draw their attention and keep them busy while you look for an opening and pick them off with play rough." I instructed her.
Vee immediately answered. "I know you want payback, but couldn't we just go back home and hide for a couple of days then strike when their guard is down?"
"No, we've left plenty of our scent back at the river, they could use it to track us back home since we walked on the forest floor." I answered back.
Vee just groaned. "The one time I wanted us to relax, Fine! Just don't die!" She shouted as she went somewhere to lurk.
Knowing Vee's shadowing me, I moved into the center of my selected battlefield. A group of large trees large enough to act as my cover and support my weight, I sat in one of the branches of the trees.
A couple of seconds passed and I started to hear barks I couldn't understand. 'Huh, Houndour/Houndoom did make their own languages.' I thought, as they finally caught up on our trail.
"Fancy meeting you here!" I shouted at the houndour pack, gaining their attention, causing them to stop and look at me.
I gave the snarling pack a smirk, making them even more agitated.
"You!" A feminine voice that came from the houndoom shouted at me.
My smile got wider. "Me!"
"You ruined our hunt!" She snarled.
I tilt my head in faux confusion. "I thought the river had a truce on it."
They laughed while the houndoom snorted. "What truce? Anyone strong enough can get away with breaking it, am I RIGHT?!" She bragged, causing the others to howl in agreement.
"But you're all weak though?" I asked them as I suddenly used quick attack and disappeared into the canopy.
The pack's shock turned to outrage, as they tried shooting me down with different projectiles of the dark and fire element. "Get him!" The houndoom barked out.
Dodging projectiles was easier than I thought, as I jumped to another branch, letting the pack try and chase me down, while I wait for an opportunity.
As I jumped to another tree, I notice a houndour that overextended and tried to climb one of the bigger trees near me.
Seeing the freekill, I pounced onto the houndour with quick attack.
The separated houndour didn't have time to react as I crashed into the pokemon with quick attack causing us to fall down.
I landed on the houndour, using it as a cushion then I transitioned to slash, injuring the houndour further as it looses unconscious with a gash adorning its side.
The rest of the pack are now converging on me while firing ember, I bit down on the houndour and propped it up like a human shield, causing the attacks to land on it, while I returned fire with my own as some willingly got hit while others dodged.
"Fucking Flash fire." I muttered behind my pokemon shield as the houndoom followed by members who were empowered earlier are now rushing towards me even faster while the others are now moving to my flank, hoping to surround me.
Seeing that fire would be useless and going into melee with three larger opponents, I decided that it's time to screw it as I bit down on my downed shield by the scruff of it's neck, eliciting a whimper and YEETED it to the trio rushing towards me.
"Catch!" I shouted while cackling, as I bravely turned around and ran the fuck away with quick attack, running past the houndour trying to close in.
Taking a peek behind me, I see that my pokemon missile managed to reduce my pursuers with only the houndoom and a houndour chasing me, while the last one stayed with the injured member.
A commotion came behind me as I turned around and saw the houndour trying to attack me from behind suddenly attacked by a brown blur and was dragged away further into the distance.
'Vee's keeping them busy, nice!' I thought.'
The houndoom gave a series of short barks, causing the houndour to disengage from me and run after where Vee dragged that houndour away. With the houndoom now alone, the need to run was discarded as I walk forward my opponent.
"Oh? I thought you'd be running away again." The houndoom confidently said.
I ignored her attempts at goading me, and walked towards her as well. "Come at me mongrel."
The houndoom opened up with a flamethrower, forcing me to dodge at the side as I tried to get closer. I fired off a single ember shot, only for it to be absorbed, causing the houndoom to laugh maniacally and lunged towards me.
I inwardly cursed as I was on the defensive, having to slap her bite away with slash barely deflecting her attack.
'It's that growlithe fight all over again!' I thought, as I sidestepped and used my tails to tail whip my opponent.
The houndoom missed another attack, allowing me to capitalize with slash, giving her a deeper injury than last time.
I landed another tail whip but unfortunately, she's smarter than the damn dog and leered at me in the corner of her eye giving me the same uncomfortable feeling of a status down.
"I can do that shit too fox!" The houndoom barked out.
'Two to one. I'm ending this.' I thought.
Channeling energy into both my front claws, I rushed the houndoom with reckless abandon, forcing her to cancel the attempt of using leer or any ranged attacks.
While the fighter with more reach has an advantage, in the world of pokemon where Victini roams.
Those words are only a suggestion.
I tilt my head to the side, narrowly dodging the houndoom's bite as I tackled her into the ground due to my momentum and swiped both claws filled to the brim with energy, sending the houndoom crashing into a tree.
She didn't get up.
I'm currently leaning into a rock, catching my breath while watching my opponent's unconscious form which frankly surprised the hell out of me when I saw her exhale visible air due to the cold.
Apparently, overcharging slash with energy doesn't make it sharp as hell, instead I made it blunt, making it a very powerful but nonlethal attack.
My ear's twi-OW causing me to wince, I realized that the houndoom didn't fully miss and she must've nicked my left ear.
'On second thought, killing her might be the way to go.' I thought, annoyed that I have a permanent injury.
But before I could finish her off, I hear footsteps coming in from multiple directions as the houndour now converged in my location with various injuries littering all over them, I even see the houndour I fucked up from earlier hiding further in the back.
Vee landed by my side, also injured but not to the degree some of the houndour are now sporting. Her fur now messy, some open injuries littered all over her body while she's already breathing heavily.
"Good job kicking their asses partner." I said, as I stood to my full height and moved infront of her protectively causing the houndour to flinch, making me inwardly laugh as they were almost two times my size.
I took a deep breath.
"FUUUUUUUUUUCK OOOOOOOFF!" I roared out with all my might, causing causing the trees near them to shudder as the houndoom woke up with a start, causing her to flee while the rest of the pack followed after her.
With the rest of them now gone, I turn towards my partner. "You alright?"
"I'm fine. I should be the one asking you that." She shot back as she walked up to me to get a closer look. "Damn, she even got you in the ear."
Causing me to wince as I felt the pain spike again when I involuntarily moved it. "Yep, let's get the hell out of here."
"And for once, I agree with you."
-0- interlude -0- What happened on her end.
-Vee-
Dang it! All I wanted was to relax for one day and now we're stuck in this kind of situation, forced to watch my idiotic partner take center stage while I wade into the shadows.
Watching him take down that houndour was satisfying as I had nothing to do but wait for one of them to split off.
'There!' As a houndour split off and tried to flank.
'Not on my watch!' I thought, as I used quick attack and dragged the houndour away while I followed up with double kick then quickly disappeared into the trees.
Scouring the battlefield, I see a houndour trying to fire on Drought, causing me to fire my own swift, peppering the houndour with projectiles.
Unfortunately, firing a flashy move like swift alerted my location as the rest of the pack are now aware of my presence.
Too bad they were a little bit too slow to chase after me.
'Oh shit!' I thought, as I saw Drought toss the houndour he was using as cover into the houndoom making me hold my laughter.
Too bad the moment was almost ruined as another houndour tried to sneak up on him causing me to use quick attack and drag the cheeky dog into the snow then give it a double kick to finish it off.
Hearing a series of barks soon followed by footsteps, I quickly took cover as the houndour were now actively searching for this dastardly eevee.
In the corner of my eye, I see Drought face off against the houndoom alone.
Unfortunately, I was interrupted from my musings as I see one of the damn houndour try to join in, forcing me to pounce on the poor fool.
The houndour cried out a bark of pain as I landed on him with quick attack.
A growling was heard from my left. "There you are." As I see ALL the houndour now looking at me.
"Meep."
-One chaotic fight scene later-
"Ow." Everything hurts, I didn't get out of that brawl injury free, but thankfully the houndour that were kicking my ass retreated, causing me to chase after them.
I was met with a scene of Drought leaning over a tree, standing over the houndoom unconscious, with the rest of her pack running towards her while I ran towards mine.
While I was preparing for another skirmish to defend my partner, Drought took a deep breath and roared, causing the houndour to freeze in fright while the houndoom woke up running.
We had a short exchange before heading straight home to rest.
AN:
Name: Drought
Species: Kantoan Vulpix
Ability: drought - triggers sunny day, which causes a radius around the user to magnify fire type attacks and the sun.
Known moves:
Fire fang - covers the fangs with fire.
Ember shot - instead of multiple small fires sent towards an enemy, it is compressed into 6 shots giving it more stopping power. (same power as bullet seed)
Quick attack - activated before jumping or running while deactivating mid air, only used to gain momentum.
Fury swipes - not gonna be used, was used to brute force learning slash.
Slash - Normal type energy folded together and compressed into an edge, like a blade.
Name: Vee
Species: Eevee
Ability: Adaptability - 2x STAB
Known moves:
Swift - fires multiple star projectiles that hones in on an enemy.
Quick attack - activated before jumping or running while deactivating mid air, only used to gain momentum.
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