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“Flaaffy!”
Vulpix rushed to her window, peering down to find Flaaffy standing on the ground below, staring up at her fifth floor window, waving at her, a rope in hand. He grinned like a madman.
“Vulpix! Your dad’s gonna be sorry he stopped us from being boyfriend and girlfriend!”
“Flaaffy…” Vulpix smiled wistfully. “But…” Her legs wobbled; her eyes began to panic. “What if my father catches you!?”
“Yeah, what’s he gonna do? Evict me?” Flaaffy puffed out his chest. “I don’t have a home to begin with!”
“And what exactly is your plan when I’m down there with you? I don’t exactly have my entire fortune on me, y’know.”
“I’ve got a fund saved up! Don’t ask where from, it’s a long story and it took a long time, but it should be enough to get us out of here and living comfortably for a few months while we situate ourselves.”
Vulpix sighed. “...I guess I need some adventure in my life.”
Flaaffy began to swing the rope, but Vulpix held up a paw, shaking her head. Flaaffy stared, befuddled, as Vulpix leapt from the window, spewing an icy frost from her muzzle. In moments, an icy path formed beneath her. Landing on her feet, she slid down the path, landing straight into the arms of Flaaffy.
Flaaffy blushed. “You, uh… I didn’t-”
“Know I could do that?” Vulpix chuckled. “Despite me being all prim and proper, Dad forcing me to take dance lessons unfortunately didn’t really turn out the way he intended it to.”
“What kind of dance classes-”
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Vulpix leapt out of his arms, looking at up the mansion that had been her home. Her eyes narrowed as she saw a light flick on in the house. “We have about five minutes, give or take, before they realize I’m gone. Do we have a means of getaway?”
“I, uh…” Flaaffy nervously chuckled. “I did enlist Machoke for a bit… but turns out he got sick, and-”
Vulpix looked at him disapprovingly. “Seriously? You made a whole elaborate getaway but forgot to actually get a getaway?”
“I didn’t forget! I just… circumstances happened, y’know?”
Vulpix groaned. “Fine. I know a shortcut through the woods. That should keep them off our tails for long enough that we’ll be able to ditch them.”
“Aren’t you scared of getting your pretty little tails dirty?” asked Flaaffy, teasingly.
“Call me pretty like that again and I’m gonna make sure you go to sleep for a pretty long time.”
“Okay, well, uh…” Flaaffy looked around. “Which way?”
“This way.” Vulpix began to jog over to the woods. “Follow me!”
“Er… yes! Coming!”
Flaaffy ran after her, trailing just behind her. The two rustled through the bushes, running deeper and deeper until the light of the moon couldn’t pierce the treeline. Vulpix eventually stopped at a large rock, keeping her back pressed against it. Flaaffy tumbled onto the ground next to her, panting heavily.
“Gosh… a little warning with the distance next time?”
Vulpix shushed him. She glanced over the rock before turning back to him. “Where’s your method of getting to Port Renegade?”
“The docks…” Flaaffy took a moment to recover his breath, leaning on the rock. “I’ve got a ride lined up with a certain someone…”
“Please don’t tell me it’s Tropius.”
“It’s Tropius.”
Vulpix muttered swear words that Flaaffy couldn’t quite understand under her breath.
“Well, it’s better than nothing,” Vulpix’s ear twitched; following the sound, she saw a figure approaching the pair behind Flaaffy. “Hey, Flaaffy, is that one of your friends?”
“Who?”
Vulpix felt a hard thwack against the back of her head, and she promptly lost consciousness.
—----------------------------------
“Ugh…” Vulpix blinked rapidly, taking eye of her surroundings. “Where am I?”
“In my domain, dear.”
Vulpix now saw she was in a dark, dimly lit room; a single lamp illuminated the place. Her limbs were tied with rope, and her tails were similarly clamped together. Bird-like Pokemon, with plumage as black as the night, surrounded her, and directly in front of her stood an even larger bird with a more pompous attitude than any of the others in the room could hope to muster.
“You… You’re Honchkrow.”
“Indubitably. And you’re Vulpix, the fresh snowfall of the Ninetales family,” Honchkrow leaned into her face. He chuckled to himself as if he had just told a hilarious joke. “Missing Mommy and Daddy already?”
Vulpix spat a fresh batch of Powder Snow into Honchkrow’s face. He sputtered, struggling to clean it off his hat-like plumage, as one of the Murkrow to his side whacked Vulpix in retaliation.
“Lay off of her, boys. The less harmed she is, the more valuable she is,” Honchkrow maniacally grinned. “Her Daddy’ll pay big time to ensure his pretty little daughter remains in as appealing a package as possible.”
Vulpix growled. Honchkrow scoffed, pointing his wing at Flaaffy. He was tied up with rope, and still out like a light. Honchkrow tapped the bottom of his chin, and after waiting for a moment, ordered one of his lackeys to come closer.
“You, 47. Unleash a Nightmare on him.”
The Murkrow grinned, and with a flap of its wings, Flaaffy began to convulse. Vulpix could only watch in horror as Flaaffy writhed, his eyes flashing wide open in a single second, his mouth screaming.
“What did you mean Pokemon!? I don’t understand what you-” Flaaffy blinked, staring at the imposing figure of Honchkrow before him. “Oh, that would explain a lot.”
“Talk, sheep.” Honchkrow glared at him. “Who else knows about this? We don’t want anyone else spilling the beans.”
“Sheep? That’s really very rude, you know. I’m a bit more intelligent than the average person.”
“I wasn’t trying to demean your intelligence, but I suppose your interpretation lends credence to itself. Stop playing coy with me, or the girl gets it.”
“Boss,” asked the Murkrow, “I thought you wanted her unharmed?”
Honchkrow grumbled. “Yes, but I wasn’t going to tell him that, was I?”
Flaaffy, who was just now taking a look at his surroundings, glanced at Vulpix. He locked eyes with her, and in a single moment, Vulpix was struck by how unnaturally confused Flaaffy had become.
“Why the hell do you have a cute kid like that chained up? Is she rich or something?”
Both Honchkrow and Vulpix blinked exactly once.
“47.” Honchkrow did not stop staring at Flaaffy. “Exactly how hard did you knock this guy over the head?”
“Only the standard amount sir. We only save the concussive blows for 58 and people who cut in front of you in line.”
“Flaaffy? Are you alright?” Vulpix said, terrified. “Please. It’s me. You know me.”
Flaaffy stared at her, slightly dazed. “You’re a Vulpix, right?”
Vulpix’s eyes lit up. “You remember me!”
“That doesn’t really say much when we all have the same names as our species,” said Honchkrow.
“I’m admittedly a bit finicky with my Pokemon knowledge… I kinda dropped off after Gen Four.” Flaaffy scratched his head. “So, uh, is there like a prophecy or something?”
Honchkrow looked at Flaaffy incredulously. “A… prophecy?”
“Yeah, I mean, I’m a human sent from another world with a cute Pokemon spawning next to me who’s apparently my best friend,” Flaaffy said, “There’s gotta be a prophecy somewhere. That’s how all of these isekais work.”
“Well, here’s a prophecy.” Honchkrow cleared his throat. “Once upon a time, there was a very special person…”
Flaaffy’s eyes sparkled. “Uh huh, yeah…?”
Honchkrow whacked Flaaffy with his wing. “Who was getting on my nerves!” Honchkrow gripped Flaaffy’s shoulders, eyes ready to kill. “Either give me something useful, or shut the Bruxish teeth up.”
“Bruxish teeth? That seems very racist. I’m sure Bruxish are very nice people… animals… things…?” Flaaffy turned to look at Vulpix. “What’s a Bruxish?”
Vulpix looked horrified.
“47, take him to the spare room. You know what to do… Oh! And make him suffer if you can.” Honchkrow’s eyes narrowed. “No one wastes my time, especially not a criminal lowlife like yourself.”
47 cocked his head. “But sir, aren’t you also a criminal? Like me?”
Honchkrow took a sharp inhale. “Yes, but, and this is important; I’m not a lowlife! I do cruel things to people I don’t like because it amuses me. Crime is an art form, and this scum has hardly even begun his first painting!”
“Vulpix!” Flaaffy asked, “How do I Thunder Shock people?” Flaaffy paused. “That’s still a thing I can do, right?”
Vulpix opened her mouth, and promptly closed it. Shaking her head, she sighed. “Well up this feeling inside of you… depends on the attack obviously, but for an attack like this… feel something angry… and cruel… and volatile… and unleash it back at him. If you’re doing this for the first time, you may have some difficulty-”
Flaaffy promptly unleashed a Thunderbolt so bright and blinding that Vulpix had to shut her eyes. When she opened them again, Flaaffy was dusting himself off, Honchkrow laying on the floor in front of them.
“Well, that was pretty easy,” Flaaffy stared at her, confused, before remembering. “Oh! Right.”
Flaaffy ran to her side, trying to undo her ropes. He continually fumbled and failed to grasp at the knot, however.
“Curse these strange nub hands…”
“Erm… Flaaffy…” Vulpix gulped. “I think you might wanna hurry…”
Flaaffy looked around to find the Murkrow had all emerged from the shock of seeing their leader knocked out in one clean blow. They snarled, their wings spread wide.
“Alright kid, you’re gonna hate me for this, but…”
Flaaffy picked up Vulpix like a loaf of bread, holding her high above his head. Taking a deep breath, he promptly began to run.
“Flaaffy, what are you doing-”
Vulpix stumbled as Flaaffy nearly dropped her. She tried to open her mouth, but found herself too jumbled around in the sheep’s grip to be able to form coherent sentences. Vulpix, deciding that she was likely going to die, shut her eyes and prayed to whatever gods were out there that she lived to see tomorrow.
“So, partner, what's your name?”
Vulpix screamed as the Murkrow fired wave after wave of Air Slashes at them.
“Alright, AAAAAA, glad to meet you! Is there a guild nearby?”
The pair reached a door, which Flaaffy blew through with relative ease. Vulpix chose not to respond further until he'd stopped.
Flaaffy kept running until the sounds of the mafia grew silent. Stopping on the beach, Flaaffy caught his breath, casually dropping Vulpix on the ground like a sack of potatoes.
“So, uh, yeah. You, me, guild?”
Vulpix's bottom lip quivered. “You're not Flaaffy… are you?”
“That's what I've been saying! My name's Gerome!”
“Ger… ome?”
“Yes! Gerome, I'm a human!”
“A human?” Vulpix scoffed. “You know those are extinct, right?”
“Oh, cool, does that mean I'm also part of a prophecy that says I'm a demon or something?”
“I, uh… don't think so?”
“Cool, I'll make this work.” Flaaffy winked, holding out an arm. “Again, I'm Gerome, and-”
Flaaffy went into a massive ramble about himself, humans, and joining the guild. Vulpix took a deep breath and thought to herself. This human clearly was under some kind of assumption that she and he were on some sort of world saving journey, which clearly wasn't the case. Perhaps if she could get him to complete his quest, he would leave, and she could get Flaaffy back? It was a long shot, but Vulpix knew she didn't have any better alternatives.
“Fine. Whatever you're asking for… Gerome,” Vulpix stated, “I'll do it. But the moment we're done-”
“Great! We'll be Team Plasma Shock! Now we just need to get registration and-”
“Wait!” Vulpix interjected, “The guilds are-”
“Oh, is that a Mystery Dungeon over there!?” Flaaffy yelped, “Let's go!”
“...not exploration teams. Huh.” Vulpix trailed off, sighing. “What kind of life have I just got myself into?”