Ch. 5 At The End Of The Day

The ground rumbled as a giant black paw slammed against it, knocking down a tree. Through the day, which has crawled into the night with only a little orange out on the horizon, the massive Kyle sprinted forward, his expression unchanging. Maya, laying on his snout, hung on tight, once giving out a yelp when he leaped over a river, leaving a pair of pawprints behind. His eyes narrowed as he clutched his hand-paws, seeing white and yellow light ahead.

Soon, he paused as he stared onwards towards a town, and his expression darkened. He kneeled before he plucked Maya off of his muzzle and set her down. She winched, her body still sore even as it strengthened during the trip, and she lay down, her head upwards at Kyle. The massive hundred- and fifty-feet tall Kyle soon shrunk down in size, becoming a normal Lucario’s height of three-foot eleven even as the spikes on his appendages grew in length.

“That wasn’t comfortable,” Maya said as Kyle approached her, with her shaking her tail.

Kyle said nothing, instead forcing her mouth to open up before stuffing her with more herbs and Oran berries. She gagged a bit, with her curling her paws as she swallowed them and before she could utter a protest, he sprinted towards the town. She shook her head and lay down, resting as she cursed Kyle a bit.

It’s always the same with that hypocrite, Maya noted. Always judging her for being so petty when she wanted vengeance for her brother, but she could tell from his eyes that he desired no different. So when he revealed his ‘glorious’ goal of finding and killing any anthros he encounters during their first journey, the only thing surprising was that it was targeted towards anthros. And how insistent he was that he should be part Jolteon to her part Zoroark when other Electric-types were far easier to use. And now, after dragging her in affairs once more when he yet to fulfill his side of the bargain years ago, she got nothing but injuries to show for it angered her.

She shook her head even as she clenched her teeth. Whatever his reasons were, she hoped that it wouldn’t end with her own death since she still wished to avenge her brother’s death. At that thought, she felt something touched her head, as though claws rubbed against her forehead. She jumped a bit and spun around, but no one was there. She stood up, her body protesting against her sudden movements, and her paws sunk a little into the soft ground. But wherever she turned, the only things around were the few blades of grass, a couple of trees, and a distant town.

Kyle crawled near the wall that surrounded Kucheat Town, his hand-paw rubbing against the steel bars. His ears twitched as he heard pawsteps coming closer, and he let go, laying down near the shadows. Above on the other side, a patrol of Boltund walked down, and they sniffed for a bit. Then, one approached the bars and sniffed as electrical sparks emitted from the ears and tail. They watched the area for a couple of minutes before walking onwards.

Kyle leaned upwards, looking at the barbed wires hanging above the bars, and he nodded. Then, he shifted himself into a crouching position before he leaped upwards, jumping over the fifteen feet tall, and landed on the other side. At that moment, he heard a furry of pawsteps coming from where the Boltund went to, and his body glowed yellow a bit. Then, everything slowed down to a crawl before he sprinted, reaching the center of town within half a second.

He grunted as he rubbed spikes on his appendages, feeling them shrunk by an inch. He shook his head, and he skimmed through the area, with stone pavements covering the roads and steel poles that lit up the sides. Pokémon walked by him from both sides, with some giving him an odd look, whether it was because he looked like a shiny, how weird he looked even as a shiny, and the purple mask he wore. He shrugged, and he closed his eyes, soon ‘seeing’ aura of the Pokémon around him, and he walked.

For a half-hour, he walked onwards, sensing for any Vulpix, Ninetales, Absol, or Flareon. He felt a couple of Vulpix, but their aura doesn’t match Faith’s own aura, nor does a Flareon. Soon, he stopped, and he gave out a slight grin, sensing up north a specific Vulpix, Faith, along with a Ninetales and a Zoroark. His grin disappeared, feeling no Flareon, but he knows that Vulpix no matter how long it’s been since the last time he met her.

His eyes opened, and he turned to the building he ‘saw’ them in, a five-floor hotel called Raichu’s Nest, with the walls painted brownish-yellow. On the sign was a Mawie drawing, which hung on several other buildings and with a couple of them having a steel engraving on them instead. He turned over there and entered the building, the yellow light shining over his body.

“Ah, hello there!” An Emolga behind a desk said. “What can I do—”

Kyle’s body glowed a bit, emitting electricity as he disappeared to the other side of the building within a quarter of a second. He stopped and rubbed one of the spikes, with them shrinking half an inch this time. He grunted before opening the doors to the stairs, climbing up to the third floor.

He closed his eyes for a few seconds, ‘seeing’ the Pokémon aura and nodding when none stood within the hallways. Then, he opened his eyes and entered the hallway, his feet-paws not making a sound. Onward he went until he stood in front of the door where Faith and the other two are.

Kyle pressed his hand-paw against the door for a few seconds, his limbs going numb all of a sudden. His heart quickened along with his breath before he closed his eyes and, extending into the appendages, he pulled out the extended device. His breath quickened, and he pressed its button, the purple light shooting out from it through the ceiling and roof and into the sky. He waited a few seconds, and he sighed, putting it away.

Then, without thinking about it, he lay his ear against the door, hearing words from within.

“So that’s what happened,” A-Ninetales said, his tails curled up around his body. “Getting a fake Fire Stone from Maya, with it exploding upon you contacting it, and leaving you with an evolutionary flux problem. No wonder why I saw that beam of fire that night. And hearing about Jirachi’s ignorance about your type, it’s no wonder why he thought that my ability seems natural.”

“And why I grow from fire, just like you,” Faith said as she leaned against the window, the stars far fewer here than at her home. She pressed her paws against the soft cushion, stuffed with cotton, even as the cold light shined above her.

“Must say, that Maya girl got some issues,” David said as he leaned back on the bed, with it stuffed with stuffing and metal springs. He held up a Wonder Orb, a green orb with small yellow ovals surrounding what looked like a sprouted seed. “Who would want to destroy a town just because a Vulpix ticked her off?”

“I don’t think it was because of me,” Faith said, turning around to the white room with its light grey carpets and white stones that’s somehow stayed in place because of something like clay. “After that battle with her, Adrian talked to me.” She paused, her ears twitching a bit. Was that a tap? “He had a small chat with Maya. He thought that it was odd that she reacted to him commenting that she’s doing it for a grudge, not for research.”

“Eh, I don’t see your point,” David said, crossing his legs while stuffing the Revive All Orb into his hair mane. “After all, it makes sense that she had a grudge. A grudge against you. You heard what she said several hours ago, right?”

“Hmm. Even so, why planted that fake Fire Stone at Arkanilacum at all when there are countless towns and Pokémon she could’ve given it to?” Faith rubbed her ear a bit. “Why attack Arkanilacum when there are far better places to test it out?”

“I think you’re just twisting your tails over nothing.” David shrugged. “Especially since she seems to be the type that held a grudge for brushing her fur wrong.”

“Regardless of her reasons, the only one who knows for certain is hundreds of miles away,” A-Ninetales said, one of his tails hanging off from the other bed. “No use trying to decipher her reasons.”

Faith nodded before she sighed, turning back to the reflection on the window. Her thoughts felt confused even as her tails twitched and her limbs felt stiff. Behind her, David rolled up from the bed.

“Anything wrong?” he asked.

Faith hopped off from the chair and shook a little. “I guess. I just can’t stop wondering what is going on with Adrian. For years, he’ll find any excuse to be with me. But, ever since that event, he kept his distance from me.”

“To be fair,” A-Ninetales said while David rubbed his muzzle, “you didn’t act grateful to him.”

“I know. It’s just,” Faith paused for a second. “It’s just that I know why he is doing it. It’s because he loves me. Of course, I love him, but not as much as I love Kyle.”

A-Ninetales’s ears twitched from hearing a scratching sound, but there wasn’t any shadow near the doorway. “Care to explain more on who he is?”

“Kyle was a rather cool Riolu when he came to our hometown sixteen years ago,” Faith answered while David nodded and A-Ninetales turned away, rubbing under his neck. “Nothing seemed to faze him. In fact, he was a rival of both Adrian and David back during our school days.”

“That part I admit to, though I didn’t take my defeats as hard as Adrian,” David said, turning to the ceiling. “Though I will add that Kyle wasn’t nearly as nice to Adrian or to me as he was to you, Faith.”

“I guess. Still, underneath it all, I know that he is a sweet, understanding Pokémon who always knows what others want. And, despite losing his home long ago, I know there isn’t a violent bone in his body,” Faith said even as David rolled his eyes a little.

“Hmm. Losing his home. Did he ever explain why?” A-Ninetales asked as he looked at his paw pads.

“He never revealed much. In fact, I’m not sure if he knows much about it himself since he was so young when it happened.” Faith rubbed her chin. “All that he knows is that his parents were doing an experiment with anthro technology, and it went wrong due to interference from his hometown’s leadership.”

“Hmm. Did he ever reveal the name of his hometown?”

“Huh. Now that you mentioned it,” Faith’s eyes rolled to the side, “he never did. I guess that he has forgotten it.”

“That is interesting,” A-Ninetales said, and he rubbed his badge for a second. David squinted at him for several seconds, his arms crossed. “Might be, no, I hope that it’s a coincidence.” He shook his head. “Sorry. A thought comes to mind, but I don’t want to give out baseless reasonings.”

David continued squinting even as Faith lay on her back, with A-Ninetales rubbing his badge some more.

“How about Adrian? What do you think about him?” A-Ninetales asked, and Faith rolled up a bit.

David grinned and spoke up just as Faith opened her mouth, his voice high “‘He’s a wimp, plain and simple,’ Faith said.”

“Hey!” Faith said, rolling up and glaring at him. “I never said any such words!”

“Nope, but you might as well say it with how you acted around him.” David winked. “Don’t deny it. After all, you kept on egging him on for being a Flareon rather than anything else, like a Vaporeon. And plenty of other stuff.”

Faith winced a little. “Just because I teased him for being a Flareon doesn’t mean—”

“Eh, you do realize how much that choice cost him, right?” David asked and grinned wider when Faith’s face turned blank. “He never did tell you, did he? Why Adrian stayed even as his family moved out, that is. He told me. He had to and demanded that I not tell you the truth. I thought that it was dumb, and I told him that, while I’ll keep it private then, I will reveal the truth if it’s convenient.”

“What are you talking about?” Faith asked, rolling onto her paws.

“The truth is that his dear old daddy disowned little Adrian for evolving into a Flareon, and the rest of his family cut him out as well.” David gave out a dark chuckle when Faith gasped. “All for not evolving into a Vaporeon. And, from the looks of it, he did it for nothing. I bet that’s why he’s with Saria up north. He couldn’t bear the shame of it all.”

At that moment, steps echoed outside of the room, which faded in seconds. A-Ninetales rubbed his chin for a moment even as Faith’s face turned pale, her paws shaking. David chuckled for a moment before shrugging and looking over his claws.

“I think I see a far clearer picture now,” A-Ninetales said, hopping off of the bed and instead turning outside. He blinked for a moment, a surge of electricity outside of the hotel before it disappeared, and he shrugged. “I wonder if he was offered a chance to become a Vaporeon, would he accept it?”

“What makes you say that?” David asked with a chuckle. “Once you evolve, there’s no going back.”

“When the Absolite fused with Saria, we went to another friend of mine who helped study the mechanics of how her abilities work now,” A-Ninetales said while rubbing one of his ears. “That friend is one of the magic users I mentioned during our travel here, a kitsune mage as he would call himself, and he is gifted in the art of transformation.” David leaned forward even as Faith sat, their eyes towards him. “I have never seen him fail in changing someone into something else. If he’s here and the question is asked, why I’m sure that he’ll happily transform Adrian into a Vaporeon.”

Faith’s head spun. “Wh—”

David gave out a stomach-splitting laugh. “OK! Now I find this to be ridiculous! Throughout all the strange stuff you told us, even the idea of a living toy, it’s this that broke my believe button! There’s no way someone, even a ‘kitsune mage,’ could be able to change an entire species.”

A-Ninetales tilted his head, looking hurt on a personal level. “I don’t know. It seems pretty mundane to everything else I encounter, even in this universe. Plus, I have seen such spells work. Heck, I confess that I was once a victim of such an event.” A-Ninetales shrugged before he shook his head. “Sorry. I’m just confused that you’ll disbelieve what my friend can do.”

“Eh, fair point. I’ll believe it when I see it,” David said, flopping back.

“Very well,” A-Ninetales said, stretching his limbs. “I think it’s time to slee—” A-Ninetales paused when his badge beeped, three times fast, three times slow, and three times fast. The pattern repeated even as his eyes widened, and he pressed on his badge. “What’s wrong?”

“My horn reacted for just a moment when we got attacked by a giant Lucario!” Saria’s voice said, coming from the badge. “Worse, he’s not attacking me directly. He’s after Adrian! I need help now!”

Faith’s eyes widened in horror, envisioning Adrian crushed by a massive Lucario. She shook her head and the vision off, her expression became stern, before running towards the door. David, his expression just as serious, leaped up and turned on the knob, with both of them running out. A-Ninetales followed behind, his teeth gritting even as he glared.

“What the Hell?” He said in a low growl.