Burning for you - Wild Fyre
#1 of Burning for you
Okay, so I know that I'm a little behind with my Immorality story series and that therefore I really shouldn't be taking side-projects on but I just had this great (well I think it's great) Idea for a short story series. It focuses on a male Vulpix (for now) named Fyre, (I know it's cliché but... screw you I can call him whatever I want.) and a wannabe trainer he meets called Katrina.
Of course, >insert all the usual disclaimer bullshit in here< It's quite obvious that I don't own pokemon, though I fantasize about it every day. (A guy can dream.) Anywho, the characters are mine however, though I am aware that the names will almost definitely have been used before. xD
Anyway I realize I'm boring the people who are actually still reading this to death so I'll finish by saying that I decided to write this because I notice a distinct lack of male Ninetales on this site, (And damnit all we need more male Ninetales!) the storyline is the all too common Abandoned a shit pokémon trainer for a nice one to begin with but apart from that I think this is pretty original.
Finally, if anyone's interested, this chapter was inspired by "Dear God" by Avenged Sevenfold.
Enjoy!
Burning for you - Wild Fyre
The rain fell heavily on the sodden earth and the downtrodden Vulpix who sat in it rather than go anywhere near the tent which his master had set up. He looked upwards to the sky, or rather, the thick blanket of grey cloud where the sky had once been.
The long grass at his feet was soaked and dragged at him uncomfortably when he tried to walk so he decided just to stay in place for now. He sighed as the rain continued to pound him relentlessly. "Story of my life." He said to himself sullenly, but was quickly broken from his navel-gazing by the rustle of the tent doors being disturbed.
His head snapped round to focus on the noise, fear rising in his chest before collapsing back as an almost exact duplicate of him poked its head out of the entrance. The other Vulpix scanned the area with a disdainful glance at the sky before coming to rest with a smile on the soaking wet form of her sibling.
"Nice day! Having fun?" She said chirpily.
He only grunted in response as his mostly dry sister came to join him in the rain.
"Oh come on grumpy-guts," She maintained a serious tone even while using the chiding remark. "We've got to make the best of every situation."
"And what exactly is "The best." in this situation Ashley? What is "The best." out of being captured? Is it being taken miles from our family and friends? Or is it the fact that our trainer makes us compete in mindless repetitive battles purely for his gain? Is it that he uses us for training if we don't do well in battles is that it? Is that "The best." in this situation?"
"Don't be like that." The Female sighed and shook her head. "God has a plan for us all Fyre, you just have to wait to see the light at the end of this tunnel."
Fyre growled angrily, "Oh shut up, Mum tried to feed us that same bullshit back when we were kids in the burrow and back then I believed it, but we're too old for fairytales now Ashley, let go."
"Just because you've lost your faith doesn't mean I have to," She hissed at him, but she quickly resumed her calming and comforting tone. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean for that to sound so... Sorry."
They descended into silence for a few minutes listening to the rain patter on the tent and the leaves of trees nearby. "So is he pissed?" Fyre broke the silence, wondering what kind of punishment was in store for almost losing that last battle.
"No I think he's OK for now, all his other pokémon got knocked out so if he's going to take it out on anyone it'll be them not us."
"I wouldn't put it past him." Fyre sighed again. "He doesn't even care about us enough to notice we're not in our pokéballs half of the time."
His sister merely nodded in response. The rain began to slow and thin out until it was only a drizzle, eventually it stopped completely and silence overtook the air. Through a gap in the clouds Fyre noticed the full moon. He would have called it beautiful back at home. A perfect crown surrounded the moon like a halo, a sure sign of the coming frost, but here in the thrall of some selfish human nothing was beautiful, everything was just a reminder of what he had lost, and what he stood to lose.
He shivered; now that the rain had stopped the chilling wind had picked up, freezing the pokémon whose body temperature was used to being extremely high. Both he and his sister were soaking wet now and the wind brought new heights of discomfort to them both.
"Come on," Ashley turned to face him as she said this. "He's asleep now, let's go inside, you can't stay out here all night you'll freeze." He nodded his acceptance and followed her back to their master's tent, laying down next to his sister for warmth he quickly fell in to a restless and uneasy sleep.
Fyre awoke to a sharp pain in his side, the air had been knocked out of his lungs and as he opened his eyes it became clear what had happened. His trainer stood over him one foot extended into a kicking motion.
He slowly got to his feet with a whimper and bowed his head before his master.
"Wake up you lazy little shit!" The trainer threatened another kick and Fyre scurried out of the tent to avoid it. The trainer followed him into the early morning sun. It was a bright day but just as Fyre had guessed the ground was frosty and stung at his paws.
Ashley watched with concern as he limped towards her while their trainer began to take down the tent. "What happened?"
"I'm SO sick and tired of this SHIT!" Fyre sat down next to her with a wince as the pain in his side flared up. "I- I can't live like this, this has to end, we have to be free."
Ashley didn't say anything, she understood how her brother felt after all, it was unbearable to see him in pain like this, and she had to admit that even her own faith had begun to waver, they were kind pokémon, surely a God wouldn't allow them to suffer like they had? She shook her head clear of these evil thoughts and smiled weakly at her brother.
"We'll get out soon, I promise you."
Fyre got up and walked to his sister and they began to nuzzle each other's neck, strengthened by their mutual co-dependence. "I'm sorry Ashley, I didn't mean to..." He trailed off as they stopped nuzzling each other and he resumed his sitting position. Behind them their trainer had finished packing the tent away and turned his attention two the two pokémon once more.
"Right you useless fucking pair of mongrels I'm going to the river to refill my canteen, if you two aren't ready and waiting to go when I get back... You don't even know what I'm going to do to you."
Both fox pokémon cringed at his words and watched him turn and walk away disappearing into the nearby forest.
Fyre decided to take his sisters advice and think on the bright side, at least his fur was dry now. He sighed, standing up and walking to where the tent had been to await his master's return. Ashley didn't take long in walking over to join him, they sat in silence for a short while before Fyre tensed up. "Can you smell that?" He asked taking a couple of sharp breaths.
"Smell what?" She asked confused, sniffing the air herself now, "I don't smell... wait..." she took another couple of deep sniffs. "What is it?"
Her brother looked worried. "I'm not sure, but we had better lie low for now."
They followed the alpha religiously. Pack life made sure that everyone got their fair share instead of all competing for the same kill, but lately there had been a distinct lack of food in the area, from the Alpha to the smallest child in the pack every mightyena was hungry and willing to take any meal that presented itself.
They had been watching the small group since they left the human city, always sticking to the forest that lay alongside the path which the human had taken and with the added luck that meant they were downwind of the more sensitive pokémon that he had kept with him.
Now was their moment, the human had been dumb enough to leave the relative safety of the path to venture into the forest, and without his pokémon no less. It was considered dishonorable to attack a human unprovoked, and they didn't exactly taste nice either, but the pack was starving and this would make a decent meal for at least some of them.
They halted not too far from the human as he kneeled over to fill a bottle at the river. A couple of their number shifted restlessly but the alpha hushed them and made them keep still. They watched as the human stood, screwing the cap back on to the bottle before turning and walking back into the forest. Unknown to him a couple of the Mightyena were so close that they could simply have reached out and ripped him to shreds but they enjoyed the hunt as much as any canine.
The trainer seemed shaky and obviously felt their eyes on him, but that wasn't enough, they needed him to run. The alpha let out a low growl and the human stopped in his tracks, turning to look for his unseen stalker. A couple of other Mightyenas allowed their own voices to join that of their leader.
The human began to walk again much faster than he had been initially and the group increased their speed to match, as more and more growls joined the first the trainer began to move faster and faster until he broke out into a fevered run.
The alpha grinned and let out a howl to signify the start of the chase. The pack rushed forwards chasing down the fleeing human.
Fyre's ears perked up as he heard the heavy footfall of his trainer coming fast out of the forest, and the snarl of a pursuing pokémon, he stood from his hiding place in the tall grass next to Ashley to see what was happening. He saw his master being closely followed by a large mightyena and behind them more, several smaller mightyena followed behind.
Their trainer, obviously too caught up in escaping to think about them didn't bother looking for the two Vulpix, unfortunately he didn't bother looking at the path either and an exposed root from a nearby tree caused him to stumble and fall. With a gasp of fear, which was quite possibly the last breath of air he'd ever take, he twisted his head to see the fangs of the oncoming pack leader.
Ashley looked away as she heard the guttural scream of her trainer, retching as the sickening sound of the tearing of flesh reached her ears and the scream died away. Fyre however was transfixed, he watched as the first Mightyena reached his master followed closely by the second and third. The first raised its head from his master's neck, blood streaming out of its muzzle, to let out a long mournful howl before going back to its meal.
Ashley continued to retch as more of the vile sounds met her ears, the snapping of bones, the ripping of flesh and tendon. She looked back to her brother who was watching intently. "We have to get out of here!" She whispered.
"Yeah yeah," He said apparently mesmerized. "In a minute."
Amazed by his flippancy she nipped his ear softly, this seemed to break the spell. "No not in a minute NOW!"
Seeming to come back to reality he nodded apologetically towards her and began to follow her out of their hiding place. They made it halfway to the forest before one of the Mightyena lifted his head for a breath and noticed them, letting out a howl to alert the others.
Four of the pokémon responded to the call turning to face this new prey while the others remained feasting on their ex-master. Fyre and Ashley stood stock still. "What do we do?" Fyre looked to his sister, she was always the more level headed of them, even if she did believe in fairytales.
"You run... I'll cover you, I'll meet you at our last camp site once I ditch them." Fyre looked horrified and opened his mouth to protest but his sister turned to him with a dead serious look in her eyes and he closed it again.
She leaned in to nuzzle him affectionately once more. "It's my job to protect you little brother, now go, don't worry they'll never catch me!" She gave him a confident wink although confident was the exact opposite of what she was feeling inside.
He gave her a worried smile and nodded before turning and rushing in the direction they had been headed, into the forest and back towards their last camp site.
The four Mightyena turned to chase the fleeing Vulpix but as they did they felt their backs being peppered with a searing ember attack. They turned snarling at the defiant female before them baring their teeth in a unified growl.
She smiled at them before turning and dashing in the opposite direction making sure they were all chasing her and not her brother before accelerating away as fast as she could in no real planned direction.
Fyre had been running for almost an hour before his adrenaline rush gave out and he felt the weight of his body again, suddenly there was nothing he wanted to do more than lay down and sleep, but the old campsite was another few hours walk from here and he forced himself on, the worry in his head driving him mad.
By focusing on worrying about his sister however the walk seemed much shorter than it actually was and he arrived before nightfall, slumping down with a humph next to the ashes of an old fire. His bronze fur was not ideal for camouflage but his diminutive size allowed him to easily hide amongst the tall grass nearby.
Suddenly the events of the day hit him fully and he wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry. On the one hand his abusive trainer was no more, he felt an almost physical weight lift from his shoulders at this realization, but on the other, he may have lost his sister.
He made his decision and he wept at the hopelessness of it all. Just as soon as things might have turned for the better something inexplicably cruel and awful happened and it always seemed to be him. If there was a God he had a sick sense of humor.
He decided there was nothing for it and that the only way he was going to make it through was by believing in his sister, Ashley would never get caught by those flea-ridden mongrels, he chided himself, what are you worrying about?
However this couldn't detract from his guilt, his self-loathing for leaving her like he did. He steeled himself as the boiling hot tears evaporated from his fur. He lay down in the long grass hiding himself from onlookers as best he could and attempted to get to sleep.
"Please be Okay Ashley, please."
Katrina rolled over as she awoke, attempting to get back to sleep and that wonderful dream she had been having. The sun shining through the open window, however, had a different plan entirely and reflected off the white walls of the hotel room bouncing back into her eyes and disturbing her once more.
She grumbled to herself as she decided it was probably too late to go back to sleep anyway. Opening one eye to check the clock she suddenly leapt out of bed, the duvet disregarded to the floor.
"Shit! Half past twelve? Not again." She had a habit of being a late sleeper but this was bad even for her, she brushed her pitch-black hair out of her grey eyes to make sure she wasn't misreading the clock. Nope, the digital readout declared "12:38" in imposing red numbers.
She dashed for the bathroom, removing her night dress (really just a long t-shirt which she wore at nights.) and underclothes before locking the door behind her, despite being the only one who could access the room apart from the hotel staff.
She finished her shower quickly seeing as she was already late and emerged with a towel wrapped around her head and another wrapped around her lithe figure. She finished drying herself and searched through the bag that she had brought with her for some fresh clothes, finally deciding on a pair of skinny stonewashed jeans and a t-shirt declaring that she was "Only wearing black until they made something darker."
Stuffing the various items she had left around the room as fast as possible she finally swung the pack onto her shoulder and made for the door. As she reached the door she couldn't help but feel that she had forgotten something, she turned and scanned the room once more, her eyes coming to rest on the dresser table where her belt lay beside a single pokéball.
She rolled her eyes, she'd forget her head were it not attached to her. She walked over to the table and attached the belt around her waist, picking up the pokéball she stared at it for awhile and sighed, after all this time it was still empty.
She could have become a trainer seven years ago, but her constant sleeping in meant that she had missed her chance on no less than three occasions after which she had given up. She had decided that pokémon were for her sister and the rest of her family, not herself.
It was funny now that she thought about it, her own sister was a powerful trainer of psychic types, a gym leader back in her home city of Saffron. Sabrina had gotten her first pokémon when she was ten and had shown great prowess in battle, and great affection for her pokémon out of battle.
Katrina was Sabrina's older sister, but she couldn't stand seeing her little sister advance so far ahead of her and she had left home. It was dangerous, to travel so far, all the way to Sinnoh, without a pokémon, but she had made her mind up and she was going to catch one, soon.
She placed the empty pokéball in her belt and finally exited the hotel room, planning out her day as she did. First she would head to the Pokemart, she needed to stock up on supplies, then to the cathedral, she had wanted to check it out ever since she had arrived in Hearthome city but had never gotten the chance to see anything but the outside.
She turned to lock the door behind her and as she did she caught movement in her peripheral vision, the door of the room next to hers opened and closed allowing the exit of another trainer. His black trench coat covered most of his body and the Buizel sitting on his shoulders blocked Katrina's view of the back of his head but she was sure that this was the trainer that had won last night's pokémon contest.
The unusually marked Espeon that followed him was proof, there was no doubt that it was him. He turned without a word to her and brushed past her on his way to the stairs down to the reception area. Her eyes followed him until he turned the corner onto the staircase and she looked back to her room door.
She realized as she felt the familiar envy rise in her chest that he was exactly what she wanted to be. She wanted to be the star pokémon trainer, she wanted to be someone everyone looked at in awe, and when she got her pokémon, everyone would know her name.
She finished locking the door and turned, happy with her newfound confidence and followed the trainer downstairs to the reception.
After paying for her three night stay she left the hotel having to think about her plan once more as it had been forgotten in her reverie. Clicking her fingers as she remembered what she was meant to be doing. She set off in the direction of the Pokemart, reminding herself to pick up more pokéballs while she was there, she couldn't very well become a great trainer with only one, could she?
Fyre had been waiting all night... again. He had been for the past two nights, He hadn't gotten any sleep since the first day he had arrived and two days and one night had passed since then. He was tired, he was worried, he was... a myriad of emotions and feelings swirled in his mind before he settled on the most prominent one... Hungry.
There was absolutely no food in the area whatsoever, but he had been reluctant to leave his post for fear of Ashley coming back while he was gone. But slowly the thoughts of food became more and more seductive and he made excuses for himself.
She's a smart girl, he thought to himself, if I'm not here she'll sniff around and pick up my scent, stop worrying. That was impossible for him, stop worrying? She'd been gone almost four days now, don't worry? You might as well ask him to quit the oxygen habit.
Still he needed food, he'd be no use to her if she came back and he was too weak to move. He picked himself up and finally decided to move from his hiding spot. He remembered that this campsite had been just on the outskirts of a human settlement.
There was probably a lot of food down there but he'd have to keep a low key... Now that his trainer was gone he could be captured at any time, and there was no way he was letting another human separate him from the only thing that mattered, his sister.
He trotted back to the path that he was sure led to the city and began to swagger lazily back towards town, trying to keep mostly to the shadows to avoid detection.
The city was bustling when he arrived. Hundreds of humans pushed past each other each owning a few pokémon, this made it easier for him to blend in as he joined the crowd and weaved between human legs, following his nose to try and find a source of food, the closest palatable scent he could find was the nearby Pokemart.
There was a short stretch of open ground between the crowd and the shop. Which he could see from here wasn't very busy at the moment, which would make it more difficult. He made his decision and made a run for the door, his superior speed covering the ground in a matter of seconds and passing through the door which had opened automatically as it sensed motion.
Once inside the small store he began looking over the items on the shelves. Mostly potions and healing items, things he neither wanted nor could operate, but it didn't take him long to find the food aisle. Most of the food was in packaging, things that made it difficult or downright impossible to get at.
He looked to the fruit section where a number of juicy looking berry types were set out in trays, and with no packaging. He wandered closer to the fresh looking tray of Pomeg berries, his size making remaining undetected easier. Still he scanned the area for onlookers.
He saw one out of the corner of his eye. A young looking girl watched him with one shifty eye while pretending to look at a can of tinned pokémon food. He turned to focus on her, flustered she looked away from him quickly her raven-black shoulder length hair swinging with the momentum of the turn.
Still she gave him a couple of curious glances over her shoulder. It was annoying but there was no way of dealing with it without drawing attention to himself.
Katrina couldn't keep her eyes off of the copper furred Vulpix that sat so casually so close to her, she was sure it didn't have a trainer or if it did he or she was very irresponsible, leaving a pokémon to roam like that.
It was impossible to tell if she had picked up her sisters prowess in battle, but there were certain... Other talents that her sister had that most certainly ran in the family. Sabrina, as well as every other female in the family, including Katrina herself, had some level of psychic ability.
Sabrina was extremely powerful, her abilities matched that of some low level psychic pokémon. Katrina's own power was somewhat limited, but she was learning slowly, and had mastered the creation of protective barriers even if she hadn't quite gotten the hang of aggressive attacks yet. Still her power was easily enough to read the minds of people and pokémon and she found this Vulpix so interesting that she did just that.
She picked up a great mix of powerful emotions which overrode any rational thought in the pokémons mind. Hunger, pain, worry, grief and loss all buried a clear intelligence which the pokémon held.
Katrina attempted to look deeper but was only met with confusion and a gruesome image of a ruined carcass, she picked up that this was what was left of the pokémons old trainer and had to stop herself from retching at the image.
Suddenly she was disturbed from her mind reading by a sudden shout.
"Hey you! You get away from there now!" A very angry store clerk was approaching the Vulpix which she noticed was now eating a couple of the berries as fast as possible. As it noticed the approaching man it raised its head and growled deep in its throat.
The clerk backed off but turned his attention to her instead. "Is this your pokémon miss?"
She thought about saying no, but that would only lead to the pound being called and when they found out about its trainer... "Yes," She nodded to add weight to her lie. "Yes I'm sorry, how much do I owe you?"
Fyre stopped his growling and looked at the human, cocking his head in confusion, He didn't know this girl what was she talking about?
"Eight fifty, and with all due respect you should keep this... Thing in its ball."
"I'm sorry, it won't happen again."
"It had better not."
With no due respect, you've got your head stuck up your arse. Katrina managed to stop herself saying it out loud, but it would have been worth it to see the look on his face.
The clerk walked away grumpily muttering to himself about "Today's youth." Katrina sighed and looked to the Vulpix who was still watching her confused.
"You're lucky I was here, what do you want to go to the pound?" The Vulpix just continued to look at her and she sighed again. "Go on get out of here go on."
Fyre was confused, she was a trainer wasn't she? He was obviously wild and yet rather than try to catch him she was shooing him away? It didn't make sense, nevertheless with a couple of wary glances over his shoulder he turned away from her and walked out of the Pokemart and back onto the street.
He was still hungry but he refused to go scavenging like a common Ratata, and those berries had filled him up a little, so he decided it was time to head back to his post. As he was walking to the city outskirts however he noticed a grand and ancient building.
The Hearthome Cathedral was a wonder of architectural design and its many spires and towers were both imposing and beautiful at the same time. Something in his head told him to go inside and he followed the mental order. Walking through the permanently open double doors and into the monastery.
If the outside was beautiful the interior of the building was simply magnificent. Stained glass windows lined the walls casting a range of colors onto the floor. Only a few human were in here and most of them kept to themselves sitting on the rows of uncomfortable wooden seats, their heads bowed and their hands clasped in front of them.
"This is praying," He heard his sister's voice from when she had first explained this strange ritual to him. "People and pokémon do it when they want to talk to god personally. Whether you believe in God or not, I pray for you every night. And whether you believe in God or not... I hope that sometimes... You might pray for me too."
He had dismissed it back then but maybe... maybe it couldn't hurt just to try it... for her. He looked to the grand pulpit where a huge wooden cross decorated with ancient, flaking gold paint hung ominously from the wall; something about it gave him the creeps.
He looked for a free row and hopped up onto one of the benches, walking to the centre of one and sitting down. Unable to clasp his hands like the humans he substituted by crossing one paw on top of the other hoping that if a God was listening he wouldn't care.
Uhmmm, Hi? He thought, unsure how to start but trying to force the thought out through his paws and to where ever god might be.
"Hi." He thought he heard a whispered response and nearly jumped out of his fur. He hadn't expected to get a response this quickly.
_God? Is... Is that you?_He questioned shakily, not sure how to address a divinity.
"Well... maybe, but I prefer just to think of myself as perfection."
Okay that definitely didn't sound right. The voice was feminine and it wasn't coming from all around or from in his head, it was being whispered into his ear. He opened his eyes and looked to his left jumping back in fright and almost overbalancing as he came face to face with the girl from the Pokemart.
"Gah fuck!" he exclaimed startled, thankfully quietly enough for most of the congregation not to hear... not that they would have understood.
"Well you don't look very happy to see me." The girl faked a pout. Up close like this Fyre could see her features properly. Her long black hair framed her face which was pale and unblemished by the acne that plagued most teenagers, it seemed she was one of the lucky few. Her grey eyes were eager and kind and her mouth, it seemed, was always tilted in a confident half-smirk.
Suddenly it clicked in his mind. "Wait," He said out loud, "you responded to me... but, I wasn't talking out loud and even if I was... How?"
From the context the garbled question made sense and she laughed as she answered, a quiet, subtle laugh like the chime of a small bell. "I'm what's called a psychic, I can read minds and interpret thoughts like any psychic pokémon."
Fyre was amazed both by her ability and by the way she spoke, calm and gentle, the complete opposite of his old trainer. Still he was wary, it could all be some kind of trick.
"Those berries can't have been filling," She said turning to rummage through the bag that hung from her shoulder. "Here!" She emerged with half of a sandwich, offering it to him with one hand.
Fyre took a couple of deep sniffs, the powerful stench of some kind of fish pokémon wafted from the sandwich and he decided he liked it, taking a ravenous bite out of the snack, no longer caring if it was a trick or not.
"That's better." She said as he finished the meal with a satisfied smile. "So what's your name? I can't very well go about calling you Vulpix."
Fyre was wary again, why did she need to name him? it wasn't like they were going to be spending allot of time together, even if she did seem like a nice person he had learned the hard way, you don't judge a book by its cover.
"Fyre," he said eventually. "You can call me Fyre."
"Hmm, that's a nice name... suits you," Katrina Read the thought as he spoke allowing her to translate easily. "You can call me Katrina." she said extending a hand and shaking his paw. "Nice to meet you."
Fyre grunted in agreement and the two fell into silence.
"So what are you doing in here anyway?"
"Praying."
"Praying? For who?"
"My sister." Silence prevailed once again, Katrina had sensed something about a sister but could only read that the thought was linked to a great sadness and worry.
Suddenly realizing something the pokémon snapped his head round to face Katrina the fear plainly etched into his amber eyes making reading his thoughts obsolete. "Shit! What time is it?"
The startled human looked at her watch. "About three O'clock, why?"
Fyre didn't answer, he just hopped off of the seat and dashed back outside heading for the city outskirts, the human staggering to her feet and attempting to follow as fast as she could. She wasn't sure why, she just felt that she couldn't leave him.
He cursed his stupidity, he had spent too long in the city. What if he had missed her? What if even now she was searching high and low for him, thinking that he had been found by the Mightyena? What if... All these thoughts filled his head as he ran full speed for the old campsite.
Katrina doubled over breathing heavier than she ever had in her life. She had caught up with the Vulpix at long last. He was sniffing frantically around what seemed to have at one point been a campsite, but was now nothing more than a ring of cold ashes and a pile of abandoned firewood.
She approached him slowly but as she got close the Vulpix let out a soft whimper and a few low pitch whines. He was crying.
"What's wrong?" She whispered softly.
"She hasn't come back," He spoke through another whine. "Three whole days... and she hasn't come back."
"Who?"
"My sister who do you think?" The venom clear even while mind reading. He didn't know why he trusted this human but he did, there was something in the way she talked, the way she looked, the way she acted that reminded him of his sister, and he found it comforting.
"Well..." Katrina wasn't used to dealing with situations like this. Fyre buried his head in his paws and continued to whimper. "Why don't you come back with me?"
The Vulpix removed his head form his paws to look up at her confused. His eyes studying hers for signs of what trick she was trying to pull. Her eyes were far too open, honest and kind to be hiding anything, and against his better judgment he trusted her. "With... you?"
Katrina nodded, "You'll freeze out here if you're left alone, you're still hungry and a good night's rest will do you good." She thought about it, liking the idea more and more with each passing second. "How about this, I need a partner..."
"I'm no one's fucking Pokémon!" He spat, interrupting her.
"No you don't understand, I need a partner, you need to find your sister. So come with me tonight, tomorrow we come back out here I help you look for..."
"Ashley." He filled in, coming around to her way of thinking.
"Right, and if we meet any cool pokémon on the way you battle it for me and I capture it. Deal?"
Fyre thought about it. He was still hungry, it was unbearably cold out here, and the chances of finding Ashley with the help of this trainer doubled. Besides which he couldn't help but trust her, her grey eyes, her kind demeanor. Slowly he nodded his acceptance.
"Good," Katrina confirmed with a smile. "Come on, let's get back into town."
After booking another night in the same hotel as before the pair went up to the designated room and Katrina opened the door for them both. The full moon had risen once again in the starry night sky, there wasn't a cloud in sight and another cold day threatened.
The Vulpix explored the room while Katrina or "Kat." as she had told him to call her for short was on the phone. It was a nice enough place, en-suite bathroom and all. As "Kat" Put the phone down the two didn't speak for awhile.
Katrina removed her black boots (Which were a bit Tom-boyish in his opinion) and snapped her fingers as she was wont to do whenever she came to a decision it appeared. She began to set out a separate bed for him, with covers which were actually just the spare blankets for the bed. The staff would go berserk if they found her doing this.
At that second there was a knock at the door and a muffled voice announced "Room service."
Katrina answered the door accepting the two plates and setting them down on the bedside table top, before tipping the staff member and closing the door again. The wondrous smell of cooked fish wafted from the plates and Fyre had to mentally check himself to keep from drooling.
Katrina sneakily shifted some of her food onto the other plate and set it down before Fyre, knowing that he needed it much more than she did. He dug into the meal that was set before him, eating messily but managing to keep it on the plate for the most part.
Despite eating slowly Kat was finished long before Fyre and stood up announcing that she was going to have a shower. In response to which the Vulpix raised his head and gave a small yip of excitement and acknowledgement.
Katrina smiled at the Vulpix, and walked to the bathroom, a couple of towels in hand. She began to run the water and flexed her hand under the flow to check its temperature. She paused to wonder at how easily she had connected with Fyre and whether it would be as easy with all pokémon.
One thing was for sure though, she had only met him a couple of hours ago, and yet she was sure in her heart of hearts, that saying goodbye to Fyre would be the hardest thing she'd ever have to do.
Fyre finally finished his meal, licking around his lips to clean his face. The mixture of the food, being out of the cold and having a friend allowed some of his faculties to return. He checked himself, friend? Had he just said that? No doubt about it, he thought of her as a friend, they had only met a couple of hours ago and yet...
He heard the click of the lock on the bathroom door turn and the door opened to allow Kat to emerge followed by an aura of steam. She wore only a towel wrapped around her hair and another one covering her modesty.
He was sure that had he been human, this would have been a little forward but with him being a pokemon he supposed it was not quite as awkward. Still, despite there being no romantic overtones whatsoever, he couldn't help but feel a blush form, luckily hidden by his fur.
The human walked over to the bed and sat down, reaching up to tussle the towel at her head to dry her hair. His sister had never done this... it was impossible... and yet something about the way she did it still reminded him of her.
"What'cha thinkin' about?" The human asked still drying her hair.
"Oh... Nothing."
"Come on, you know you can't hide anything from me. Tell me or I'll just go into your mind and take it." She teased.
"Well it's just..." He hopped up onto the bed taking a seat next to her as she discarded the now used towel. "Why did you help me?"
"Because you said you would help me." Kat replied bluntly.
"No before that... in the store, in the cathedral, giving me food, everything... I had no obligation to you back then and you had none to me. So why did you help me... Why haven't you tried to capture me yet?"
Kat looked startled by the question and had to think about it for a long time before she came to an answer. "I dunno... It just seemed like I had to... like it was my job to protect you or something."
He froze at the last ten words, had she really just said that? This was getting too weird. Still He was so full of gratitude for what she had done and what she was going to do that for now it didn't matter. He leaned forwards and licked her cheek affectionately. "Thank you."
Kat seemed startled but soon the half-smile returned to her face and she turned her kind gaze back to him. "Go on, get to bed. You can even sleep up here if you want to. The sooner we wake up tomorrow the sooner we can look for your sister and my first pokémon. Now turn around while I change."
He turned away blushing again while she unwrapped the towel from around her body and began to pull on her night clothes. First her panties, followed by her bra and finally the long gray t-shirt which went well past her waist that served as a night-gown.
"Ok now lights out." she hummed, a soothing sound as she reached for the light switch. The room however was not cast into total darkness the light from the moon was more than enough for Fyre to see Kat's form glide gracefully to the other side of the bed, lift up the covers and slide in.
"Goodnight Fyre." She yawned, falling asleep almost instantly.
The Fox pokémon watched her as her breathing became slow and rhythmical, He turned onto his side, curling up in a ball and attempting to get to sleep. He couldn't help but feel like he'd forgotten something.
"Whether you believe in God or not... I hope that sometimes... You might pray for me too." His sister's voice once again rang in his head.
He closed his eyes, picturing his sister as she had been last time he'd seen her, joyful, playful and most importantly alive.
God, I've never really believed in you. I've never even entertained the possibility that you might be real in a long time... But if anyone believed in you with all their heart and soul it was my sister. Ashley never gave up on you, even when I did. So please I'm begging, I'm pleading with you, for the sake of my sanity, your generosity and her faith. Please just let her be okay... Please?
Not sure how to end the prayer he simply finished the thought with a desperate plea. If God was as merciful as he'd been led to believe then he had to trust that Ashley would be okay. He tried once more to get to sleep, but he knew the attempt was futile, because all he could picture was the wrecked remains of his old trainer and how easily that could be Ashley.
So that's it. ^^ The first chapter of my new story series. In retrospect Chapter five of Immorality (My other story series) should be out soon and I'd like to thank all those who have been reading the series for your patience.
Please leave comments good and bad and tell me whether you think this is a series worth continuing. (Even If you don't I'll still continue it cuz I personally love it xD)
I'd also like to thank those who took the time to read over and PM me with your responses to the WIP version, you guys gave me the motivation (You four know who you are ^^) Also special thanks to Mysterydude, who mentioned my WIP in his WIP thread xD Thanks for that!