"Please now, you two. Make yourselves Comf-ter-ble," the ninetales said, looking over a pot of tea over a flame.
Aika and Dylan sat on a sofa in the living room of the house. Yuki's words did not ease them, they felt tense in that house. Fully enclosed in its walls with a pokemon much larger- and much stronger- than either of them.
Even if they were blood related, Aika knew that Yuki was trouble. Locke was always scarce with what he said about the pokemon, and Tamin moreso. But every word they did say about Yuki was far from kind. Her parents spoke of her like she was a mythological, phantasmal monster. Now that monster was right in front of her.
Deftly moving her tales, Yuki got three cups that she set up a coffee table between them. She took the pot off the flame and filled the cups up. "You've had quite the journey. Enjoy," Yuki smiled.
Aika raised an eyebrow. "I'm sorry, I'll pass," she said.
"It's fine, it's my treat," Yuki said.
"I can't be sure you didn't put anything odd in that," Aika said.
"I poured all three of these from the same pot. Rest assured, if I had poisoned you then I would have poisoned myself as well," the ninetales lifted the cup closest to her and took it to her mouth. She took a sip in front of them.
"You could've built up resistance to a particular poison over time.," Aika calmly argued. "You've been here for years. Not like you had much else to do here."
Yuki smiled. Not of cunning, of gladness. "My my, you are quite the smart pokemon. Always thinking one step ahead, I like that."
She moved a tail across the table, pushing the other two cups closer to herself.
"Wait, the tea was poisoned?" Dylan asked.
"No," Yuki clarified. "But she showed great wisdom in not accepting it from a stranger, re-gard-less."
The ninetales' face wasn't hard for Aika to read. She looked proud- proud of her.
"I came here because I want to see Han. And if anyone would know where he is, it would be you," Aika bluntly said. "Do you know anything that you can share?"
"Yes, I do," Yuki confirmed.
"Great! What do you know?"
"Now now, don't get too hasty. I'll tell you later."
"Wait, why?"
"Because the moment I tell you is the moment you no longer have a reason to be here," Yuki said. "If I were to tell you all you want, then you would simply grab your bags and i-med-i-at-ly head off. So stay for a bit, we've got quite a bit we need to catch up on. Let us talk."
Aika was frustrated by that, yet she couldn't deny it. Ideally she would've liked this to be a quick in-and-out operation, and Yuki saw through her on that. Given how long she had been in the forest, of course she'd want to talk. "Alright. But you'd better still tell me where my father is. I'm not going to be waiting here a whole week just doing chit-chat."
"Have no worries," Yuki took a glance out of the nearest window, gauging what time of day it was. "Firstly, I just have to ask. How did you find this place? It's not exactly an a-trac-tion."
"I asked Leah where you might be, since you were my only real lead. She said that you moved here since you left the guild, and here you are."
"Leah? Who would that be?"
"Oh, it's Espeon and Sebastien's daughter," Aika explained. "She also has a sister named Silver."
"Fascinating. I'd always en-vis-ioned them as being parents, but this is my first confirmation."
"Leah is the oldest among us. She's the only one who has become a member of the guild so far."
"And who would this 'us' be? Tell me, what are the other children in that old town."
"I have two siblings named Pannen and Elijah. Dewott and Mienshao had three kids, Argus, Ishmael and Dandelion. Elley and Albert had one child named Mill."
"Elley is the sister of Locke, right?"
"That is correct."
"And who is Albert? That name is unfamiliar."
"He's a liepard. Never been a member of the guild."
"That would be why, then," Yuki took another sip of tea.
"What have you been doing all these years? And why did you leave Eastflame?"
"Officially speaking, I left the guild on my own accord. But in spirit, I was kicked out," she began explaining, "I could've continued to keep pulling strings to keep myself there, I know my way around social dy-na-mics and obligations to do that. But after Hunter left, I didn't see a reason to stay. There is some satisfaction with being in a place where your mere presence suf-foc-ates those around you, but I learned that after a while, you start to get suffocated too.
I read the room. My time there was done. So I moved out here. Fresh air to breath in and out, and plenty of room. I'm past those golden days, but I enjoy my days here."
"I see," Aika said.
"Who is Hunter?" Dylan asked.
Aika just remembered that he had given the fake name to Hunter, and Yuki remembered the note Aika had handed to her. "That was the nickname that Han was given. He was the best at tracking things down and finding objects, so he liked to be called 'Hunter'."
That was far from the strangest thing the human-turned-pokemon needed to accept in this new world for him. "Got it," he said.
"I believe it's my turn to ask a question, now," Yuki said.
"Alright," Aika said.
"I simply must ask, who is this litten? I keenly remember there being no incineroar or torracat in the guild's town, so I wonder where he came from, and for what reason you brought him along."
"My name is Dylan. We met yesterday," he said.
"He's from a family of travelers and got separated from them due to a mystery dungeon. Since we're both trying to find our families again, it felt fitting for us to travel together," Aika lied on Dylan's behalf.
"I see then…"
Yuki continued looking straight at Dylan, studying him. Yuki's face wasn't easy for Aika to read, by Aika could tell Dylan was getting uncomfortable. The minccino knew she needed to change the subject.
"Everytime I heard about you back at home, they said you were a vulpix. So when did you evolve? And why?" Aika asked Yuki.
"When we were at the guild, I was already the greatest threat while he was the grass which I hid behind," she began explaining. "As people's a-tten-tion were fixated on my brother's unending antics, they turned away from what I did behind the scenes. So long as I occasionally got punished for a small misdeed, people didn't suspect me of my greater sins. Us being the same size helped with that tre-men-dous-ly.
Him and I had a great thing going for a good few years. Your mother was the one who threw a wrench into that for me- and I admit I miscalculated her. But for a time, it seemed I could restore what we had. He even evolved into a zoroark, so that gave me hope that it would be even easier to hide behind him.
He quickly dashed my hopes, however. Backstabbed me by reporting me to Sylveon. So when I did end up leaving the guild, I didn't have anyone to hide behind anymore, so I saw no point in no longer e-volv-ing."
"Makes sense," Aika said.
"Uh, but why are some of your tails black? And the fur on your side?" Dylan asked Aika. "Is that dye or…?"
The ninetales smiled again. "I'll get to that soon enough." She took another sip of tea.
Aika got frustrated by her avoiding questions, but she knew she had to keep a calm appearance. "Sounds like your relationship with your brother was quite tenuous," Aika observed.
"That is quite the un-der-state-ment," Yuki said. "It's not that we never spoke again after that backstab, but I think it was only out of obligation. Blood became the only bond we had- and even then it was only half."
"You do know enough about him to help me on my way, right?"
"Yes, I do."
Aika could feel getting pulled back-and-forth. This conversation wouldn't go anywhere if Yuki could just keep pulling the information back like a coin on a stick. The minccino adjusted her seating again and took another breath. "I need to get on her good side to get her to help me out," she thought
"You seem to be proud of your stories from the guild. So tell me, what are some of your biggest accomplishments? Tell me of your greatest feats."
"Oh my, a curious one are we?" Yuki said. "You either already know of my clashes with your mother, or don't want to know those. So I'll skip those tales.
But before Tamin came around, there was an braixen who was quite interesting. I got him tangled up in my grasp quite well. He towered over me physically, but I was a mon-o-lith standing above him in power."
"Tell me more," Aika said.
"Did a little digging, did a little eavesdropping. Turns out that braixen had quite the past to him. Killed his sister and framed it as a suicide," Yuki paused for a moment to let those words sink in. "I'd call him 'cunning' if he wasn't such a nervous wreck about it. Why would anyone do such a thing if they didn't have the emotional fortitude to handle the aftermath? Pa-the-tic.
Could've reported him straight to Espeon, but that's not fun. So I told him privately, and that's how I got him wrapped in my tails.
Most people who have maids have them only because they were born into wealth. I worked to get mine, and that makes it so much more sa-tis-fy-ing."
Aika glanced at Dylan. He looked disturbed, clearly wanting to leave. Aika didn't want to leave him there, but she knew this was her opportunity to get what she wanted. "Very impressive," Aika looked back to Yuki.
"Any stories you've got now?"
"Not many, as I'm still quite young. But for my age I have my fair share," Aika said.
"Go on."
"There was this one time I was holding a ball on the ground, asking one of the mienfoo to kick it. But when he ran up to me, I quickly pulled it out of the way. He kicked the thin air and fell onto his butt."
"Classic gag, but still quite a-mus-ing when it's pulled off."
"I was also thinking about modifying some books to prank the next person who tried to read them. Like cutting out pictures of other people to put over the heads of the pictures in the book. But I sorta left on this journey before I ever got a chance to pull that one off."
"That was one of your father's ideas he brought up a few times. I recall him saying that he felt it was too much effort for what it was worth when it came to the ex-e-cu-tion. But with your bipedal body, perhaps you could have an easier time with it."
"Then I'll finish what he started!" Aika enthusiastically said.
"Good girl," Yuki said.
"You didn't tell me that your father was a prankster," Dylan said.
"Well, it was something he did from time-to-time. Relaxing between the important missions," Aika replied. "It was all in good fun, don't worry."
"And you didn't tell me his sister was like… this."
"It's all okay, don't worry," Aika tried to reassure.
"You do seem to be the daughter of your father, that is for sure. But before we move on to the really important stuff, there is one more question I must ask you."
"What would that be?"
"I've told you where my relationship stands with my sibling. But tell me, what's your relationship with good ol' Locke?"
"I-" Aika found her words fell short. She wasn't prepared for that. "Well… I love him. He's my dad and he raised me, I don't have anything bad to say about him. I don't hate him in the least."
"But he's not your dad, is the thing," Yuki said. "That's why you came on this entire journey, isn't it?"
"I don't resent Locke at all. Once this is over, I'll be happy to move back into that house and go back to how things used to be. It's just… I don't want to live my whole life without getting the chance to see Hunt- Han at least once.
I want to know what he looks like. I want to hear his voice, and I want to see how he acts myself. I don't just want second-hand accounts. Once I have that, then I can go back to Locke, to Tamin, to Pannen and to Eli. I'll celebrate all of their birthdays and stay with 's all I want."
"With all the work you're putting in, it seems like you're fighting against fate itself to get this one precious meeting with him. All these sacrifices. Perhaps more than you realize."
"Yes. Once I get that, I will be satisfied. So please, help me get it."
Yuki smiled once more. "Well now. I have to admit, you've got me very interested to see where this journey is going to go myself," she sat up. "So: I'll bite. I'll help you out the best I can. Come with me to the upstairs and I'll give you what you need."
"Thank you," Aika sat up as well. "Couldn't you just tell me here?"
"You'll need much more than words, my dear. Better maps, better supplies, and something to show him once you find him. I have all of it, just follow me,"
The ninetales began walking out of the living room. Aika followed her, and Dylan hopped off of his seat. But just as he did, Yuki turned her head to look at the litten.
"Not you. This will be some aunt-and-nephew time. I'll have to ask that you please wait in this room," Yuki told him. "And please don't be making any ruckus or messes now."
Aika looked back at him. "Sorry, just do as she says for now," Aika said with an awkward smile and a shrug. "I'm sure we won't take long."
Dylan was beginning to feel things were off. But he knew he was surrounded by forest every which way, and Aika was the only companion he had in that world. He didn't have much of a choice in the matter. "Alright," Dylan sat down again.
He wasn't the only one who began to feel things were off. The possibility that she was being lured into a trap crossed her mind. But at the same time, Yuki did seem to be accepting of her since they were related, and she would be back to square one without her help. She proceeded with caution, and she kept her eyes peeled for any mechanism that could potentially be triggered.
Yuki lead Aikia to an upstairs room. It wasn't technically an attic, but with random things strewn about the edges of the room, it was one in the ways that mattered. Once Aika entered, Yuki pushed the door closed with one of her tails.
"Sorry for taking you somewhere so drab, but I just needed some privacy with you and I," Yuki said.
"Why couldn't we have just continued the conversation in the living room?" Aika asked.
"Because then, we wouldn't be alone. Not with that guest you brought."
"Dylan doesn't mean any harm," Aika said.
"But I simply must ask: what is he?" Yuki asked, putting quite the emphasis on the word 'is'.
"I already told you about him, he's a litten traveler who was separated from his family."
"Well I think there has to be more to it than that, don't you? Litten aren't native to this continent, so I find it quite unusual you'd just find one walking around."
"Fire vulpix and ninetales aren't native to here either. What's your point?"
"Getting separated by a mystery dungeon is a pretty specific occurrence, do you have any more details on that?"
"He was probably going off of an old map that didn't have the mystery dungeon labeled on it, so his family went in by mistake."
"And instead of going back to the dungeon's entrance or around it, he joined you on your journey?"
"It was his idea."
"And it just so happened to lead in the dir-ect-tion that I lived in?"
"Well…"
Yuki smiled and put her head forward, right to Aika's ear. "He's a human, isn't he?" she asked quietly.
"No, he's just a litten. I think he might have some memory issues," Aika said.
"Now now, it's not a very nice thing to lie to your aunt," Yuki said.
"...Yes, he's a human," Aika admitted. "But he's not violent like Armin was, he's only ever been kind. I've seen him myself."
Yuki smiled and pulled her head back again. "I thought so," she said. "But you don't need to be defending him to me. Might I remind you that your father is the one and only 'human slayer', and you're traveling with a human yourself. Are you planning on leading him straight into the maw yourself?"
"No, I don't plan to do that."
"Hunter lost Eno to a human. How do you think he'll feel about Dylan? Think he'll make a one-eighty turn on a dime?"
"When he hears that I'm his daughter, he'll be willing to hear me out."
"How can you be so sure?" Yuki asked.
"He's not a monster."
"I'm not so sure I'd concur with that sen-ti-ment, my dear," Yuki said. "You're wanting to get the approval of both the human, and the human slayer. Seems you even went as far as to give a fake name to Hunter to keep him from finding out the truth, but that's not going to last forever."
"I'll find a plan for Dylan soon enough. I'm not heartless, but I am going to find him."
"I think your am-bi-tion exceeds you. But I do know of a way you'll be able to appeal to Hunter."
Aika lifted her head. "What would that be?"
"Bare with me, for this will be quite the story."
"Alright…"
The ninetales walked to a bookshelf in the room and withdrew a light blue book. "Tell me, have you ever heard the story of Rolan the glaceon and his research?"
"I don't believe I have," Aika said.
"Then take a seat. I've been eager to share this with another soul," she said.
Aika followed along, taking a seat on the ground. Yuki came and sat right next to her, wrapping her tails around Aika's back to her back in an oddly motherly way. She held the book in the tips of her tails, right in front of Aika.
The minccino looked down. The book was opened to a page that depicted a male glaceon, but he looked abnormal. The two strands of fur which came off of his head looked to be segmented, covered in dark purple scales instead of smooth fur strands. The scales climbed upwards and onto his face, as if forming a partial mask. His eyes were slitted like a snake's, and his entire body was much darker than any glaceon should be.
"He was a scientist without equal, set himself to learning what many saw as 'myst-i-cal', and finding out how it actually works," Yuki began explaining. "It's common knowledge that pokemon get the species of their mother, but as it would turn out, pokemon in-her-it much more from their fathers than everyone had realized. It just takes a little finesse to find it."
Aika understood why she was bringing this up, but still wasn't quite sure how this was going to go. Yuki flipped the page, and she continued speaking.
"Using materials infused with the energies of different types- along with precise practices- it's possible for a pokemon to gain the types of their father. Quite a fas-cin-a-ting process, and it's all thanks to Rolan's discoveries. People took to calling this a 'type awakening', which is just a wonderfully fantastical name, don't you think? Give pokemon new types, new powers, and new colors. All that unlocked from within."
"Wait, is that why your fur is black?" Aika asked in realization.
Yuki smiled. "My father was a zoroark too, you know."
"So you want me to-"
"Wait one more second, my dear. I'm not finished with the story yet," Yuki interrupted.
Aika went silent again, she knew she needed to be quiet to play along.
"Type awakening was a great discovery on its own, but Rolan always had his eyes on greater am-bi-tions. Every pokemon at some point in their lives has wondered to themselves 'what if there were more evolutions to eevee?', but never pursued it further. Rolan never forgot that question. In type awakening, he saw po-ten-tial. He didn't just want to customize a pokemon's type, he sought to trigger a new kind of evolution with it, and he moved forward with complete con-vic-tion.
With every eevee he could get a hold of, he tried. But do understand: when type awakening was first discovered, it was a crude art and only the basics were understood. In his pursuit of research, many pokemon were left malformed due to it not being conducted quite right. Many lost senses, and some even died. Countless died, actually. Each attempt gave Rolan a better understanding of how to ensure the type awakening is done correctly- but he still needed to try out every parameter to uncover some hidden evolution. So he kept trying."
"Wait, he killed pokemon in his research?"
"Oh yes, quite a few. He is an absolutely ab-hor-rent person for everything that he's done, unforgivable even. To this day, no one dare name their child 'Rolan'. And at the end of things, he didn't even discover a new evolution like he'd hoped."
"So why the hell would you do this 'type awakening' on yourself then if he was a horrible person?"
"Well now that we do have his research, we might as well use it," Yuki said. "It's not like ignoring his discoveries will bring back the lives of those he killed. If anything, if we destroyed his research, then that would only lead to someone repeating Rolan's atrocities to re-find all that he discovered.
We can't change the past no matter what we do. So we should base our choices solely on how they will change the present and the future. "
"This still doesn't seem right. He killed pokemon, innocent ones."
"And if we don't use Rolan's research, that means they died for nothing. I really don't understand what it is that you're so hung up about," Yuki said. "Say, did you know that Espeon's parents actually moved to the Stone Continent specifically just to avoid Rolan?"
"They did?" Aika asked.
"Yes. They moved to this continent, and then had two children," Yuki said. "Those children went on to become guildmasters for the guild, and then your parents met each other at that guild. So if it weren't for Rolan, you almost ce-rtain-ly wouldn't exist."
Aika fell silent. She needed a second to let that information sink in. The book Yuki was holding had images of Rolan's test subjects: they were hideously deformed and even looked malnourished. Aika had no idea how many died, but she could only hope it wasn't that many.
"My dearie, they're far beyond saving. Most of them died before you even came into this world," Yuki said. "You can put your heroism aside, you're not saving a single soul with it right now."
Aika gritted her teeth. She still wanted to argue with Yuki, but she could tell it wasn't getting her anywhere at all. "...So what do you want me to do, then?" she minccino asked.
"Well now, you want to meet Hunter, but I'm just worried he might not be as ac-cept-ing of you as you hope," she said. "He hasn't seen you for a second in his life, you've been raised by Locke this whole time, and you've even taken a human with you on your journey. I can't imagine he'd be happy about Dylan one bit. So to make up with that, I was thinking you could get closer to him."
"So you want me to get one of these 'type awakenings'?"
"You need to prove to him that you are his son, not Locke's," Yuki said. "Believe me when I tell you, a blood connection isn't enough for him anymore. You need to show co-mmit-ment. In body and in mind."
"This is ridiculous! This process has killed people before, I'm not going to do that!"
"If it was unsafe, I never would have done it on myself," Yuki lifted her black tails. "You can relax. Those negative results came from Rolan experimenting with al-ter-na-tive procedures. A guideline for a safe and proper type awakening has existed for a long time now. I still have the supplies on hand to do it to you, since it's the dark type for both of us."
"No, I don't want to do this."
"I'm sure you'll look a-maz-ing afterwards. And there will be so many more things you can do, since you're no longer stuck with plain 'ol normal typing."
"At the very least, I want my siblings to be here with it. This sounds like a very big deal, I want them here for it."
"If you wanted them, then you should have brought them along this journey when you first began," Yuki said. "At the end of the day, I'm the one with the information you want. So if you want me sharing it, then I need to see your co-mmit-ment."
"I have already gone on this long journey to get here, isn't that enough to prove my commitment!?"
"No. Because I didn't see it with my own eyes," Yuki smiled.
Aika gave a long pause. Entire seconds passed until she spoke again."...Fine," Aika conceded. "Just promise me that I'll be safe, and that you'll give me what I need."
"Of course, my dearie~"
Yuki brought one of her tails in front of Aika and unfurled it, dropping a sleep seed she was holding into Aika's lap. The minccino picked it up. "Do I need this?"
"The process is short. But I don't want you messing things up by freaking out or by changing your mind. This will just make things much easier for both of us."
Aika fiddled with the seed for a moment. She was rife with hesitation, but she knew full well that she couldn't appeal to the ninetales by mere pleading. "I'm too far along this journey to back down now," she thought.
After one more moment of hesitation, Aika placed the seed into her mouth and chewed down on it. She felt an immediate wave of tiredness befall her, going down her whole body and numbing her muscles before rising to her mind. She did not fight it, and let her consciousness fade.
Aika awoke with a shock. She immediately sat up and breathed heavily, but she did not know why at first. She looked around the room: black dusts, covered windows, darkened shreds of a meterial she could not identify, and purple lights surrounded her. She thought things would make more sense once her eyes had more time to re-adjust, but she still couldn't make any more sense of her surroundings after they became focused once more. She was still in the same room she had fallen asleep in, but everything was different. Aika felt a pain in her chest and looked down at it: there was an entry wound for a thin needle in her. She assumed that's what woke her up. As she looked down at the tiny wound, she began to notice that the rest of her body was looking different.
"A rousing success! You look gorgeous," Yuki's voice rang through the room. "Have a look at yourself now," she pointed to a mirror she placed in the room.
Aika turned her eyes to the mirror. A black streak of fur ran across her tail, and the fur on her tail ended in sharp points. Her paws had also turned dark, and a ring of black fur went around her neck. Her eyes looked to be darker as well, and she realized that she was able to see things in the darkness easier. Aika walked forward to get a closer look, and placed a paw on the mirror. She was changed, quite possibly permanently. She felt potential be unlocked with her, but she felt more saddened than excited.
But then, Aika reminded herself of the task at hand. She pushed those emotions away and faced the ninetales once more.
"Alright, I've done what you wanted, now you have to fulfill your side of the deal. Tell me where Hunter is."
Once more, Yuki smiled. "He had an apprentice named Oscar the garchomp. They trained together in the city of Ulfreton. They first met before Hunter left the guild, but Oscar became a greater priority once he left…"
End of chapter 14.