Story Notes:
This is my first dive into the sea of pokemon fanwriting, so any advice or constructive criticism is appreciated.If you want to have your character in it, drop me a message and I'll see what I can do.The all important Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.The prologue is now non-existent, I've decided to scrap it.
Chapter 2 - An Atypical Morning
It took quite a while before Flameglow and Silverfur managed to pull a name out of the sisters, and deciding what to do about it took even longer. It was well past midnight when they finally decided that Silverfur would take a look into the person in question's character, and it was after that when the family remembered there was still a human waiting for them. Flameglow pointed out he could've gone back home while they were talking when they didn't find him immediately, but her daughters instantly shot that idea down.
{Then where is he?} Silverfur asked after fifteen minutes of not finding him by scent, {Because I don't smell him anywhere!}
Shieldpaw pointed to a nearby tree. {He's up there, on the far side, sleeping.}
{When did you intend on telling the rest of us?} Swiftblaze asked her sister.
{After you gave up or remembered that he wears odor neutralizing clothes and turned to the one with aura sensing abilities.}
{Oh, right. Sorry...}
The Lucario smiled at her surrogate sister then quickly scaled the tree, jumping down with the human in her arms. Sure enough, he was out like a light.
{Eh, why'd you take him down?} Her sister asked as she set Josh down at the foot of the tree.
{He very well can't roll off the ground, now can he?} She replied, sitting down next to him her band-mate
{Good point.} The Ninetales agreed, laying so her head was near Josh's. {How do you think he fell asleep without us?}
{You mean to tell me he can't fall asleep without you two beside him?} Flameglow asked, part amused, part confused by this.
{No, he just has troubles if we aren't someplace nearby. We have been traveling together for around nine years now,} Shieldpaw replied.
{So? Just traveling together doesn't do that to a guy,} Her father pointed out.
{It does if you've been sleeping in the same room or tent for that entire time.} Swiftblaze clarified, {Which brings us back to the question of "How did he find sleep?"}
{We could just ask him after he wakes up,} Her sister suggested.
{Good idea.} With that, the Ninetales splayed her tails over the three of them like a fluffy blanket.
{Do you normally sleep like that?} Silverfur asked, eyebrow raised.
{Only when its cold out.} Swiftblaze answered innocently.
{But it isn't cold out.} Their mother pointed out, smiling slightly,
{Maybe not for a fire-type, but I find it chilly, and I've got fur.} Shieldpaw pointed first to herself, then to Josh. {He doesn't.}
The elder foxes looked at their daughters, finding them lightly blushing, before looking to one another and apparently striking up a heated telepathic discussion after a few moments. First Silverfur looked confused, then Flameglow looked determined, causing the husband's expression to take a turn towards defensive, making his wife's become slightly aggressive, leading to an angry face from the dark-furred one, which in turn caused the light-furred to look disappointed, leading to a father looking concerned, which made a mother look hopeful, resulting in an defeated look on the blue eyed fox. Their two daughters watched this as one would watch a tennis match, their heads snapping from one side to the other as the silent argument played out, finally coming to a rest on the apparent loser.
{Well then,} Their mother finally began, sounding relived and slightly triumphant, {Just make sure you two don't over-exert him, or yourselves. I don't want to have to wake up and treat sore backs!} With that, she trotted off, her mate watching her leave while her daughters gaped at what she had implied.
{Don't mind her,} Silverfur finally said, looking at his still blushing kin, {She's just trying to say she'll approve of whoever you end up choosing. Just remember I'm going coming to scope out your picks tomorrow, I want to know if they're good enough for you.} He sat there a moment, trying to think of something else to say before giving up and following his mate back to their den.
{Uh...} Shieldpaw began, not sure how to break the awkwardness her mother initiated.
{Yeah...} Swiftblaze was in the same boat as her sister, blushing and bewildered.
{Wanna just..?}
{Pretend that never happened...?}
The sisters looked at each other for a minute longer before nodding and settling down for the night, both wondering just what doing the implied deed would be like.
#####
Josh awoke as the sun was peaking between the tree trunks uphill, and came to realize something was different from when he fell asleep. He felt hot, much hotter than his jacket would make him. He slowly opened his eyes to take in his surroundings, thankful for the dim light of dawn. After about a minute of looking at the tree above him(making it apparent he was on the ground) before he looked down to see he was covered in what seemed to be a fluffy blanket of fur. Grateful for the extra cover he tried to snuggle down further into it's warmth.
Thats when Josh realized he was being held on either side by a couple of people. Starting to panic, he slowly turned to look at the one at his right. He let out a small gasp of disbelief when he realized that the "person" to his right wasn't a "person" at all, but a "pokemon".
HOLYSHIT!! Josh screamed in his head once he was sure his eyes weren't deceiving him, Gods high and low, please tell me I didn't just bang some random pokemon!! He then came to the realization that the pokemon he was looking at was a Ninetales, and that the "blanket" covering him were it's tails. Aaaaand its a fucking Ninetales! Silverfur's going to roast my ass! Wait a minute... This Ninetales' mane was overly large. Oh gods, its Blaze! I'm so fu-
{Mhnmmmm...}
The mumble from his other side reminded Josh that there was someone to his left as well. Wait, if this is Blaze over here, then that means... He turned to look at the Lucario at his left. Paw... Great, I fucked both of his daughters, and now he's gonna make it slow and painful! Why do you do this to yourself, Joshua?! WHY?!
Josh lay there for a few minutes, cursing his heart out silently when he realized something: He was fully clothed. A quick pat down of himself proved this to be true. Josh, you stupid motherfucker! he scolded himself, Clothes should be the first thing you check! If you had done that first you would've saved yourself a ton of- You know what? Yelling at myself isn't getting anything done. Josh looked over himself once again. Might as well get my day started, no way I'm getting back to sleep now. With that, Josh set himself to wriggling out of the sisters' grip, eventually freeing himself ten minutes latter.
After doing his morning stretches and smiling down at his sleeping best friends, Josh turned around to find Silverfur sitting on one of the boulders that ringed the clearing, looking quite amused. Great, he must've been listening to my thoughts the whole time...
Yep, the old fox's voice rang in the human's head, Found them quite interesting too. Do you always swear so much? Ignoring the comment, Josh simply took several steps away from the trees and sat down to get started on breakfast.
#####
Shieldpaw woke up to the smell of her favorite breakfast food: bacon. Smiling as the delicious smell passed through her nose, she slowly blinked her eyes open. It was definitely morning, based on the lighting, and Swiftblaze must still be sleeping because the Lucario still had what felt like a blanket draped over her. She sat up slowly and stretched, causing her sister's tails to slide off of her upper half, then traced her chest-cresent out of habit.
The Lucario still didn't understand why she hadn't evolved normally, but in truth she found that she liked having the crescent more than she imagined she would a spike. After all, she didn't have to worry about stabbing someone when she hugged them, and the crescent never got in the way of her guitar when she played like a spike would've. Then there was the fact it made her stand out amongst other Lucario, so she could always tell if any image was about her or not. If only it could grab the attention of-
"Hey, Paw! You hungry?"
Josh. Just thinking about the human made her heart flutter, although she didn't know quite why. Maybe it was how kind he was to her, or the way he was always making sure she was comfortable with a new song before announcing it in their next gig, or the way he cooked her favorite foods, or it was the daily sparring matches he insisted on doing even though he always lost. There were simply were many good points about him for her to not lo-
"Paw?"
Josh's voice crashed her train of thought once again, this time getting her to look at him, and wave a paw before standing up and walking over. She may be head-over-heels for him, but she never let it show while he was watching, barring the daydreams she entertained herself with every now and again.
Smells good, She commented telepathically for Josh's benefit, the human not having the ability to understand poke-speak.
"Thanks, but your dad supplied the fire." Josh replied, gesturing to the smiling silver fox, "I forgot my flint and steel."
It's not a problem, just be sure that I get some of that meat too.
"Don't worry about that," the human chuckled, "If worse comes to worse I'll go forgo the bacon for jerky just to make sure you're satisfied."
Then you might want to get that out, because I can assure you I'll be taking you up on that offer. Bacon is one of those things no sane person would pass up.
"Too true," Josh laughed, "So how'd you sleep, Paw?"
Good, you? Shieldpay answered, hoping to fine out how he managed to find sleep.
"I ended up having to use that whistle that Leif made me."
Whistle?
"Yeah, this thing." He tossed a small whistle made of grass over to her, "Just don't play unless you want to fall asleep again."
Ah, a pokemon's grass whistle, Silverfur reminisced after a glance at it, Puts anyone who hears it to sleep. Had a few Nuzleaf that wouldn't stop using them a few decades back. Ended up running them out with a few birds just so we could stay awake!
"Birds?"
Yeah, birds. They seemed to wake up much faster than everybody else.
"Ah," Josh looked back to the frying meat, "Looks about done. Paw, could you get Blaze up so she doesn't miss out? I would but-" He was cut off as Silverfur slammed into him, trying to get at the meat. Shieldpaw watched the ensuing game of "Keep-Away" for a minute or so before getting up to wake her sister.
Dad can be such a Vulpix sometimes...
#####
Breakfast turned out to be quite the event for Josh, who constantly had to keep Silverfur at bay while trying to get Swiftblaze and Shieldpaw some of the bacon, which proved to be quite the task. He ended up having to throw the tasty strips of meat at his friends and hope the silver fox didn't get at the frying-pan in the process, which was near impossible for the human. By the end of the "meal" they were all winded, with Josh having to eat only jerky because Silverfur had eaten over half of the fatty strips of goodness. Despite this, all were in good spirits when they set out for Pyre City, Josh's hometown.
Pyre City wasn't a city back when Josh grew up, it was a small town. A tourist town, to be precise. Because Mt. Pyre was laced with long abandoned crypts many a trainer showed up for adventure, so a group of people settled to try and capitalize off of them. The town had been growing slowly until roughly five years ago, when Reverb gained regional attention, then there were thousands flocking to the place. There were those who simply wanted to see where Josh grew up, those who believed their talents were provided by the "magic" of the crypts and to "investigate" (be enchanted by) it, those who simply hadn't heard of the place before and were curious, and those who wanted to catch a Ninetales or Vulpix. (That last group had the worst of luck getting what they wanted, although a few succeeded in befriending them.)
It was around midday when the city finally came into view in the south, and while all were hungry, nobody wanted to try to eat at one of it's many food joints. Instead they angled east, away from the city, towards Josh's old home. Roughly an hour latter they found themselves looking at the front gates of the Auron estate.
I didn't think there would be quite so many people waiting here, Silverfur commented, finding himself staring at the throng of people clamoring at the gates, thinking Josh was inside.
"Neither did I," Josh whispered in reply, not wanting to draw the attention of the crowd. They looked like they'd tear him apart. And that's why we don't announce our presence while walking down the street...
So, how are you going to get us inside? Silverfur asked Josh, not looking away from the people.
"The way we normally do," The blue haired boy responded, looking at his band-mates, "You guys ready?"
Always, The sisters replied in unison, smiling at him.
"Alright! Silverfur, just follow our lead." With that Josh simply walked out into the open, his band-mates on either side of him. Silverfur stared at them for a moment in surprise, but quickly recovered and fell in step behind. Once the group was a fair distance away from the trees Josh did the one thing Silverfur couldn't possibly see coming, he whistled.
Within seconds the crowd war rushing over to greet them all at once, tripping over each other to try and make it to them first. Josh shot a grin at the oncomming mob, then suddenly broke off in a sprint to his right with Shieldpaw while Swiftblaze ran to the left, calling for her father to follow. After a moment's hesitation, he did.
The crowd obviously hadn't been expecting this and kept on running towards the place the four had been only moments before. By the time the majority had turned around Josh was already on top of the gate with the pokemon on the other side.
"Sorry, no time for autographs!" He said cheerily as he dropped down, pressing a button to electrify the walls, just to make sure they didn't climb over like he had.
{I just don't get some humans,} Silverfur commented as the crowd rushed to the gates once again, {I think several of them got trampled during that stampede...}
{Some humans don't get humans either, dad.} Swiftblaze pointed out with a dismissive flick of her tails, glancing at Josh. {I find that there's only a few you can understand.}
{Good thing we're with one of them...} Shieldpaw replied, blushing at the blue-haired human that was leading them into his home.Chapter End Notes:Ok, who didn't guess Shieldpaw's choice before she came out and said it? :3
As always I'd like some constructive feedback.Character Fact: Josh's last name may be Auron, but his in no way related to the legend Sir Auron. Several generations after the original Auron bloodline died off Josh's ansestors took up the legend's last name to honor his contributions to the early Arcean church. Josh hasn't bothered to change his last name because he likes the way it "roles off the tongue.
{Then where is he?} Silverfur asked after fifteen minutes of not finding him by scent, {Because I don't smell him anywhere!}
Shieldpaw pointed to a nearby tree. {He's up there, on the far side, sleeping.}
{When did you intend on telling the rest of us?} Swiftblaze asked her sister.
{After you gave up or remembered that he wears odor neutralizing clothes and turned to the one with aura sensing abilities.}
{Oh, right. Sorry...}
The Lucario smiled at her surrogate sister then quickly scaled the tree, jumping down with the human in her arms. Sure enough, he was out like a light.
{Eh, why'd you take him down?} Her sister asked as she set Josh down at the foot of the tree.
{He very well can't roll off the ground, now can he?} She replied, sitting down next to him her band-mate
{Good point.} The Ninetales agreed, laying so her head was near Josh's. {How do you think he fell asleep without us?}
{You mean to tell me he can't fall asleep without you two beside him?} Flameglow asked, part amused, part confused by this.
{No, he just has troubles if we aren't someplace nearby. We have been traveling together for around nine years now,} Shieldpaw replied.
{So? Just traveling together doesn't do that to a guy,} Her father pointed out.
{It does if you've been sleeping in the same room or tent for that entire time.} Swiftblaze clarified, {Which brings us back to the question of "How did he find sleep?"}
{We could just ask him after he wakes up,} Her sister suggested.
{Good idea.} With that, the Ninetales splayed her tails over the three of them like a fluffy blanket.
{Do you normally sleep like that?} Silverfur asked, eyebrow raised.
{Only when its cold out.} Swiftblaze answered innocently.
{But it isn't cold out.} Their mother pointed out, smiling slightly,
{Maybe not for a fire-type, but I find it chilly, and I've got fur.} Shieldpaw pointed first to herself, then to Josh. {He doesn't.}
The elder foxes looked at their daughters, finding them lightly blushing, before looking to one another and apparently striking up a heated telepathic discussion after a few moments. First Silverfur looked confused, then Flameglow looked determined, causing the husband's expression to take a turn towards defensive, making his wife's become slightly aggressive, leading to an angry face from the dark-furred one, which in turn caused the light-furred to look disappointed, leading to a father looking concerned, which made a mother look hopeful, resulting in an defeated look on the blue eyed fox. Their two daughters watched this as one would watch a tennis match, their heads snapping from one side to the other as the silent argument played out, finally coming to a rest on the apparent loser.
{Well then,} Their mother finally began, sounding relived and slightly triumphant, {Just make sure you two don't over-exert him, or yourselves. I don't want to have to wake up and treat sore backs!} With that, she trotted off, her mate watching her leave while her daughters gaped at what she had implied.
{Don't mind her,} Silverfur finally said, looking at his still blushing kin, {She's just trying to say she'll approve of whoever you end up choosing. Just remember I'm going coming to scope out your picks tomorrow, I want to know if they're good enough for you.} He sat there a moment, trying to think of something else to say before giving up and following his mate back to their den.
{Uh...} Shieldpaw began, not sure how to break the awkwardness her mother initiated.
{Yeah...} Swiftblaze was in the same boat as her sister, blushing and bewildered.
{Wanna just..?}
{Pretend that never happened...?}
The sisters looked at each other for a minute longer before nodding and settling down for the night, both wondering just what doing the implied deed would be like.
Josh awoke as the sun was peaking between the tree trunks uphill, and came to realize something was different from when he fell asleep. He felt hot, much hotter than his jacket would make him. He slowly opened his eyes to take in his surroundings, thankful for the dim light of dawn. After about a minute of looking at the tree above him(making it apparent he was on the ground) before he looked down to see he was covered in what seemed to be a fluffy blanket of fur. Grateful for the extra cover he tried to snuggle down further into it's warmth.
Thats when Josh realized he was being held on either side by a couple of people. Starting to panic, he slowly turned to look at the one at his right. He let out a small gasp of disbelief when he realized that the "person" to his right wasn't a "person" at all, but a "pokemon".
HOLYSHIT!! Josh screamed in his head once he was sure his eyes weren't deceiving him, Gods high and low, please tell me I didn't just bang some random pokemon!! He then came to the realization that the pokemon he was looking at was a Ninetales, and that the "blanket" covering him were it's tails. Aaaaand its a fucking Ninetales! Silverfur's going to roast my ass! Wait a minute... This Ninetales' mane was overly large. Oh gods, its Blaze! I'm so fu-
{Mhnmmmm...}
The mumble from his other side reminded Josh that there was someone to his left as well. Wait, if this is Blaze over here, then that means... He turned to look at the Lucario at his left. Paw... Great, I fucked both of his daughters, and now he's gonna make it slow and painful! Why do you do this to yourself, Joshua?! WHY?!
Josh lay there for a few minutes, cursing his heart out silently when he realized something: He was fully clothed. A quick pat down of himself proved this to be true. Josh, you stupid motherfucker! he scolded himself, Clothes should be the first thing you check! If you had done that first you would've saved yourself a ton of- You know what? Yelling at myself isn't getting anything done. Josh looked over himself once again. Might as well get my day started, no way I'm getting back to sleep now. With that, Josh set himself to wriggling out of the sisters' grip, eventually freeing himself ten minutes latter.
After doing his morning stretches and smiling down at his sleeping best friends, Josh turned around to find Silverfur sitting on one of the boulders that ringed the clearing, looking quite amused. Great, he must've been listening to my thoughts the whole time...
Yep, the old fox's voice rang in the human's head, Found them quite interesting too. Do you always swear so much? Ignoring the comment, Josh simply took several steps away from the trees and sat down to get started on breakfast.
Shieldpaw woke up to the smell of her favorite breakfast food: bacon. Smiling as the delicious smell passed through her nose, she slowly blinked her eyes open. It was definitely morning, based on the lighting, and Swiftblaze must still be sleeping because the Lucario still had what felt like a blanket draped over her. She sat up slowly and stretched, causing her sister's tails to slide off of her upper half, then traced her chest-cresent out of habit.
The Lucario still didn't understand why she hadn't evolved normally, but in truth she found that she liked having the crescent more than she imagined she would a spike. After all, she didn't have to worry about stabbing someone when she hugged them, and the crescent never got in the way of her guitar when she played like a spike would've. Then there was the fact it made her stand out amongst other Lucario, so she could always tell if any image was about her or not. If only it could grab the attention of-
"Hey, Paw! You hungry?"
Josh. Just thinking about the human made her heart flutter, although she didn't know quite why. Maybe it was how kind he was to her, or the way he was always making sure she was comfortable with a new song before announcing it in their next gig, or the way he cooked her favorite foods, or it was the daily sparring matches he insisted on doing even though he always lost. There were simply were many good points about him for her to not lo-
"Paw?"
Josh's voice crashed her train of thought once again, this time getting her to look at him, and wave a paw before standing up and walking over. She may be head-over-heels for him, but she never let it show while he was watching, barring the daydreams she entertained herself with every now and again.
Smells good, She commented telepathically for Josh's benefit, the human not having the ability to understand poke-speak.
"Thanks, but your dad supplied the fire." Josh replied, gesturing to the smiling silver fox, "I forgot my flint and steel."
It's not a problem, just be sure that I get some of that meat too.
"Don't worry about that," the human chuckled, "If worse comes to worse I'll go forgo the bacon for jerky just to make sure you're satisfied."
Then you might want to get that out, because I can assure you I'll be taking you up on that offer. Bacon is one of those things no sane person would pass up.
"Too true," Josh laughed, "So how'd you sleep, Paw?"
Good, you? Shieldpay answered, hoping to fine out how he managed to find sleep.
"I ended up having to use that whistle that Leif made me."
Whistle?
"Yeah, this thing." He tossed a small whistle made of grass over to her, "Just don't play unless you want to fall asleep again."
Ah, a pokemon's grass whistle, Silverfur reminisced after a glance at it, Puts anyone who hears it to sleep. Had a few Nuzleaf that wouldn't stop using them a few decades back. Ended up running them out with a few birds just so we could stay awake!
"Birds?"
Yeah, birds. They seemed to wake up much faster than everybody else.
"Ah," Josh looked back to the frying meat, "Looks about done. Paw, could you get Blaze up so she doesn't miss out? I would but-" He was cut off as Silverfur slammed into him, trying to get at the meat. Shieldpaw watched the ensuing game of "Keep-Away" for a minute or so before getting up to wake her sister.
Dad can be such a Vulpix sometimes...
Breakfast turned out to be quite the event for Josh, who constantly had to keep Silverfur at bay while trying to get Swiftblaze and Shieldpaw some of the bacon, which proved to be quite the task. He ended up having to throw the tasty strips of meat at his friends and hope the silver fox didn't get at the frying-pan in the process, which was near impossible for the human. By the end of the "meal" they were all winded, with Josh having to eat only jerky because Silverfur had eaten over half of the fatty strips of goodness. Despite this, all were in good spirits when they set out for Pyre City, Josh's hometown.
Pyre City wasn't a city back when Josh grew up, it was a small town. A tourist town, to be precise. Because Mt. Pyre was laced with long abandoned crypts many a trainer showed up for adventure, so a group of people settled to try and capitalize off of them. The town had been growing slowly until roughly five years ago, when Reverb gained regional attention, then there were thousands flocking to the place. There were those who simply wanted to see where Josh grew up, those who believed their talents were provided by the "magic" of the crypts and to "investigate" (be enchanted by) it, those who simply hadn't heard of the place before and were curious, and those who wanted to catch a Ninetales or Vulpix. (That last group had the worst of luck getting what they wanted, although a few succeeded in befriending them.)
It was around midday when the city finally came into view in the south, and while all were hungry, nobody wanted to try to eat at one of it's many food joints. Instead they angled east, away from the city, towards Josh's old home. Roughly an hour latter they found themselves looking at the front gates of the Auron estate.
I didn't think there would be quite so many people waiting here, Silverfur commented, finding himself staring at the throng of people clamoring at the gates, thinking Josh was inside.
"Neither did I," Josh whispered in reply, not wanting to draw the attention of the crowd. They looked like they'd tear him apart. And that's why we don't announce our presence while walking down the street...
So, how are you going to get us inside? Silverfur asked Josh, not looking away from the people.
"The way we normally do," The blue haired boy responded, looking at his band-mates, "You guys ready?"
Always, The sisters replied in unison, smiling at him.
"Alright! Silverfur, just follow our lead." With that Josh simply walked out into the open, his band-mates on either side of him. Silverfur stared at them for a moment in surprise, but quickly recovered and fell in step behind. Once the group was a fair distance away from the trees Josh did the one thing Silverfur couldn't possibly see coming, he whistled.
Within seconds the crowd war rushing over to greet them all at once, tripping over each other to try and make it to them first. Josh shot a grin at the oncomming mob, then suddenly broke off in a sprint to his right with Shieldpaw while Swiftblaze ran to the left, calling for her father to follow. After a moment's hesitation, he did.
The crowd obviously hadn't been expecting this and kept on running towards the place the four had been only moments before. By the time the majority had turned around Josh was already on top of the gate with the pokemon on the other side.
"Sorry, no time for autographs!" He said cheerily as he dropped down, pressing a button to electrify the walls, just to make sure they didn't climb over like he had.
{I just don't get some humans,} Silverfur commented as the crowd rushed to the gates once again, {I think several of them got trampled during that stampede...}
{Some humans don't get humans either, dad.} Swiftblaze pointed out with a dismissive flick of her tails, glancing at Josh. {I find that there's only a few you can understand.}
{Good thing we're with one of them...} Shieldpaw replied, blushing at the blue-haired human that was leading them into his home.Chapter End Notes:Ok, who didn't guess Shieldpaw's choice before she came out and said it? :3
As always I'd like some constructive feedback.