I became a vulpix Chapter 04

I followed Agnes to her car, my walking made approximate by the general weakness of my body from my week of forced bed rest and the fact that I wasn't sure how to properly walk just yet. Although I was walking slowly, she was patient and simply adopted my pace, understanding the exercice was difficult for me. Walking on all fours was a weird feeling, especially given my legs had a different size from when I tried it as a human and my body wasn't bent forward, but it wasn't as embarrassing as I expected it to be. While I could feel my tails wagging slowly behind me, I was surprised not to feel anything under my paws as I walked on the concrete, and it was unsettling. Used to the tactile feedback of my human feet, even through socks and shoes, I felt like I was walking on nothing and I was scared of stepping into something sharp and hurting those little paws of mine.

When we arrived to her car, I was surprised to see how big it felt now that I was a vulpix. It was a very average car one would expect from a student, of a shiny red colour reflecting the sun almost too much, blinding me when I was looking at it. I was about as big as the wheels, and in spite of my efforts, I failed to see myself in the rim that seemed to be worn and had lost its chrome finish. Disappointed, I didn't notice the plastic cage Agnes pulled out until she opened it and asked me to walk into it.

I was being put in a cage again. No one seemed to trust me, which made sense, but it was very upsetting for me. I was being restricted once more, as I had been my entire first week as a vulpix. Was there no freedom for me? Would I spend the rest of my life in a cage? Was I going to be no more than a fighting dog, risking my life for the entertainment of people who never ever liked me?

I backed off from the cage, refusing to step into it. I didn't want to be a prisoner anymore. If she wasn't going to at least give me some freedom, I would probably be better off running away and trying to live by myself.

"What's wrong?" Agnes asked, kneeling to pet me.

I instinctively stepped back before realising it was her hand and allowed her to pet me. She tried to softly push me into the cage, but I resisted, and after a few seconds of struggle, she stopped insisting and tried to convince me instead of forcing me:

"The cage is here for your safety. Look."

She showed me the inside of the car, drawing a safety belt to support her claims. I turned my head away, pouting to show my discontent, but eventually gave in to her begging and accepted to be in the cage as I had no other choice. If it was just a matter of security as she claimed, then it would hopefully be a rare occurrence limited to car trips. I could probably live with that, and I had the disturbing feeling I did not actually have a say in the matter. As promised, she drew the security belt over the cage to secure it, installed herself in the driver seat and started the car.

I didn't pay any attention to the trip from the pokemon centre to Agnes' house. I was busy sniffing at the cage. I could recognize at least three different odours, all of which were very similar to mine. Two of them were very faint, while the third one was a bit stronger, but none of them was as strong as Agnes' scent was on her car. Did those odours belong to other vulpix? I had no idea how to tell the different components of each scent apart. All three were similar to mine, two more than the third one. Assuming they did belong to other vulpix that were previous pets, why were they not completely identical to mine, save for the individual odour part that I couldn't identify anyway? Was it the age? In that case, two of the vulpix were about the same age as me, and the other one was either older or younger. Was that right? I had the feeling I was guessing wrong. There were too many things I was smelling, but age would probably have been part of the individual odours. In this case, there was the exact same part as mine for two of them, and the third one differed slightly, but still felt similar.

When the car stopped for a moment, Agnes extended an arm to slip a finger through the plastic cage and try to pet me. As I was making efforts to stick my muzzle on her finger, I smelt on her the same odour I was unable to identify. Puzzled, I took time to think about it.

The answer hit me like a truck. Agnes and I did share that odour, and both of us were female. It was more or less the only thing we had in common. Did that mean those things I was smelling so strongly were pheromones? Did that mean that out of the three vulpix that had been in this cage, two were female, and the other one male? Then, what happened to those vulpix? Why were their odours so faint, feeling like mere remnants of a past memory the cage wanted to keep of them? Were they dead? Did they evolve, and become too big to fit in? Were they simply not using the cage anymore for some reason? If they were dead, then they had been dead for a while already, and that could explain why Agnes decided to adopt me. And if they weren't, then it meant using the cage was indeed a rare thing, and Agnes was not lying when she said it was for my safety. I felt reassured by the idea of finally being given actual freedom to move, but nothing was set in stone yet. I didn't know what I was getting into, and I got more nervous as the car kept going and I knew I was getting closer to Agnes' home.

When the car finally stopped, I thought my heart was going to stop because of how fast it was beating. This was the beginning – second beginning – of my new life. I was now Agnes' pet for sure, which meant I would have to obey her every order, was expected to play whatever games foxes played, and expected to cuddle and act all lovey-dovey with her, which I frankly wasn't too excited for. I had no idea what kind of family she had, or how she would treat me, and I was silently praying for her family to be kind. Above all, now that I was relatively free to move, I was worried they might figure out I was not actually a vulpix. What worried me most were the three odours I smelt in the cage. If there was at least one of them still alive, would they welcome me? How would they react? Would they notice I wasn't behaving normally?

Agnes opened the door of her car and freed me from the cage. My heart still racing so much it made my eyes jolt in rhythm, I scanned around to try to see in what kind of house she lived.

The only thing I could see was a massive building that looked nothing like a house. It was a manor or a castle or a mansion. It was ridiculously big, but not very tall. I could count three floors, plus one that seemed to be smaller directly from the ground, probably some kind of cave, as it has no visible windows. The building was made of some very old stone, its grey discoloured tones contrasting weirdly with the vibrant greens of the vegetation that surrounded it. Remarkably clean and worn out, the stairs leading to the elevated entrance were beautifully carved and curved, as was the front porch, decorated like a roman temple. The centre of the building was flat, apart from a circular bump in the entrance, but the sides seemed to come towards me. They were clearly not rectangles, and were not round either. They were some sort of polygon, but I wasn't sure how many sides there were, and I wouldn't have the freedom to run around them to count. Breaking the monotony of the flat stone were two tall windows per discernable side of the mansion and per floor, and the circular part only had one window that was smaller and located higher than the other ones. The roof was blue and of changing heights, decorated scarcely with chimneys that didn't look like they were used at all. I had no idea how big the whole mansion was, but I was sure of one thing: Agnes or at least her family was outrageously rich.

As Agnes walked to the door, carrying me in her arms, I took time to look at the garden. I felt like I was in a park more than someone's garden. It was so big I couldn't even see the fence from where I was. I could see a gravel road leading to the mansion, and a smaller one leading to a side building in which Agnes had parked her car. Trees were regularly planted along the road and provided it with much needed shade. I couldn't see much more as Agnes was stepping in the mansion.

After going through some sort of glass room that was probably the round part of the entrance, she opened the door leading to the main hall. After putting me on the floor, gave her coat and bag to a butler who had come to welcome her, and ordered me to sit and stay still. Laughing for myself about how cliché this was, I obeyed, barely taking measure of the size of the hall I found myself in. There was a beautiful chandelier hanging from the ceiling, made in a shiny metal that I couldn't identify because of the bad vision of my new body. The floor was made of white marble, regularly broken into pathways made from soft red carpets. I was disappointed not to see any armour decorating the hallways, but the expertly made furniture largely made up for it.

"Find Mother and Father, please," Agnes told the butler she gave her clothes to.

She turned to me, kneeling to pet me, visibly amused by my open muzzle and wide eyes.

"Do you like it?" she asked. "Welcome to the Trokair manor!"

I did like it, but above all, I was amazed. The idea of living in such a luxurious house was very exciting. I couldn't wait to explore the whole building and see what was behind each of the windows I saw from the outside.

"Hello, Mother, Father!" Agnes said, standing up and greeting the two people who were coming down the stairs.

Her parents were both wearing suits, and were fitting exactly in the rich parents cliché. Her dad was thin and obviously strong, perfectly shaved and with fairly long very dark hair. Her mother was very tall, wearing a pencil skirt, her hair tied in a ponytail behind her head. I didn't focus too much on Agnes' parents, as something else caught my eye instantly. There was a ninetales walking by their side.

She was stunningly beautiful. Her fur was of a marvellous light beige colour and was shining as if she were a model for some brand of shampoo. She had a long mane coming from the top of her head that elegantly fell on the back of her neck and a perfectly combed collar of fur covered her luxurious chest. Her limbs looked thin, which gave her a very noble look, and a very long muzzle, probably longer than mine. She had nine very long tails, spread in a fan and floating freely behind her as she was walking by her master, tipped in an orange fur similar to the colour of my own tails. The stern but polite look on her face gave her an extremely mature look as she was heeling her master in silence. I knew she had noticed me, or she would at least have been notified I was coming, but she didn't look at me until Agnes' parents and she reached us.

Agnes picked me up, petting me to reassure me after she noticed I was shaking, and made me sit on her arm as if she were carrying a baby. I felt embarrassed by it, but that position was very comfortable, and Agnes' fingers combing the fur on my head was relaxing.

"I assume this is the one?" her father asked.
"It is," Agnes replied with confidence. "We just came home from the pokemon centre. I have to go back tomorrow to finalize paperwork, but she is more or less officially my pokemon now."
"Still haven't found a name?"
"Not yet, but I'm confident I will have found one by tomorrow."
"Let me see," her father asked, stretching his arms forward to request to hold me.

Scared by the man's impressively big hands, I tucked my head in my shoulders, laying my ears and lowering my muzzle to avoid being touched, but Agnes ignored it and gave me to her father. He carefully picked me up, holding me from under my arms, staring straight into my eyes. I made sure not to move and noticed my tails were covering my body, that was completely still. The man looked at me for a few seconds in that position, then smiled. He put me on his arm like Agnes did just before and started petting me.

Although I was still scared, I turned around to smell his neck, curious to try to learn more about him and assuming that it would be expected of me. His scent was similar to Agnes', and I could differentiate the part I assumed were pheromones on him. It turned out I was right, and I felt proud of it, feeling like I was starting to learn how to properly use my senses. A few seconds of intense sniffing allowed me to also differentiate the part that seemed to be common to humans, but I still had pretty much no idea what else I was actually smelling.

Agnes' mother walked up to me and stretched a hand to pet me as well. I tucked my head in my shoulders again before allowing her to touch me and sniffing the hand that was at my reach. She didn't pet me for too long and stopped, heading back up the stairs stating that this wasn't any of her business.

I felt relieved when she left. There was something about her that made me uncomfortable, as her smell felt somewhat foul, at least rather unpleasant. Smelling the man again, I realised his odour was much more enjoyable, almost friendly, and decided I should trust him, as he was probably the head of the house I was going to live in. With a deep sigh, I gently laid my head against his shoulder.

"She is friendly!" the man laughed, taking me off his shoulder and giving me back to Agnes.
"That's... surprising," Agnes said, petting me and holding me tight to reassure me.

Her father didn't seem to understand her reaction, but I was pretty sure I did. After the houndour's trainer had tried to strangle me, it was expected I would be scared of humans, especially men.

"I like her," her father said eventually. "Welcome in, little one."

He turned to his daughter.

"So... Do we have more information on what happened to her?"

I turned my head instantly and focused on the conversation. Was I finally going to know?

"No," Agnes replied, going back to petting me after noticing I seemed interested. "We don't know what or who did this to her. The police didn't even visit. They don't seem to be interested. There were journalists, though, but they are just annoying."

"I will instruct the servants not to let any journalist visit her," Agnes' father said. "She doesn't need to be stressed."
"I hope I won't be questioned at school," Agnes replied. "I know there is an investigation going on, but I'm not sure if she is part of it."
"She probably will," the man replied, sighing. "As far as we know, she is the only survivor. That makes her very special."

Did I survive something? I was the only one who did? What exactly happened? Would I ever get a definite answer? Why was everyone being so cryptic?

Agnes mentioned something or someone did that to me. Did that mean that what happened to me was not an accident? Did someone try to kill me? Was that why I was considered special, why I was visited by journalist, and why there was an investigation I might be a part of?

Did that mean that the houndour that died in my room was also a victim of whatever happened to me? Was that why the man was angry at me? Because I survived something his pokemon died of? Because I was the only one to survive it? That still didn't explain what had happened to me. I was pretty sure by then that I was victim of an attack, part of a series of murders the police were investigating. I didn't know the details or what exactly happened to me, but that explained a few things. In that case, why was I attacked? Why was the houndour attacked? Who was responsible for this? Were they responsible for my transformation too?

"Good luck to you," Agnes' father said, petting the top of my muzzle gently. "You will stay in the house until your recovery is complete. Don't overdo it and try to relax. You will need to rest."

He kissed his daughter on the forehead.

"I have more work to do. I'm glad you brought this one home, I think she will be happy here. You've been looking for a pokemon for a while, now you have one!"

He petted the ninetales on the head, then left. His pokemon didn't move, staring at him until he was out of his sight, then turned to Agnes.

"Hey you!" she said, putting me on the floor to kneel so the ninetales could come cuddle with her. "Remember the vulpix I talked about? Here she is! Come on, don't be shy."

That last sentence was for me. Scared of the other pokemon in the room, I was hiding as I could behind Agnes' legs, hoping that she would leave me alone. She was almost twice as big as me, and looked so much more mature that I felt inappropriate compared to her, but above all, I was scared of interacting with her. I was remembering all the questions I was asking myself. What if I made a mistake and she figured out I was not a vulpix? Should I tell her right away?

"I'll leave you two together," Agnes said. "Show her around and give her instructions, okay? You'll be responsible for her behaviour!"

The ninetales nodded, then Agnes left. The pokemon stared at me as I was curling up, trying to get as small as I could, hoping she would forget about it. She sat down and simply looked at me for several minutes, probably waiting to see how I would react. The more time passed, the smaller I was trying to become, and I would gladly have disappeared right that instant if I could. There was unfortunately nothing I could do to avoid the interaction, and after walking in place for a few seconds, I sat down, trying to control my heart rate.

"Hello!" she said.

Her high-pitched voice was stunningly pretty. She sounded extremely kind, and the way her voice vibrated felt comforting and friendly.

I realised that, although I understood she was greeting me, I could clearly hear "ninetales" and not "hello". This puzzled me immensely. That obviously meant that pokemon could communicate with one another, but was I supposed to reply in plain English? Anything else didn't make much sense to me, and I gave it a try, tensing up, not quite ready to face the consequences if I was wrong:

"Hi," I muttered.

Compared to hers, my voice felt rude and immature. It was lower pitched, and felt much less patient and friendly, but I still thought it was cute, although in a more childish kind of way.

The ninetales seemed to be very excited by my answering. She stood up, walked a few sidesteps, then bent over to sniff at me for a very short moment, laughing silently.

"Welcome!" she said, standing up in her usual noble stance. "My name is Topa. I will be responsible for you until you recover. Agnes did not give you a name yet, so I will just call you Vulpix. Do you mind?"

I wasn't sure if I should answer or not. She scared me. She was clearly an adult, and I felt like a child compared to her. Worse than a child, for I was not even the same species, evolution tree aside. I at least felt a bit better, thinking I had a partial answer to one of my questions. One of the vulpix I smelt in the cage was the ninetales, and she was not using it anymore because she evolved. That gave me hope I wouldn't have to be put in a cage anymore.

"Okay," I whispered as if I hoped she would not hear me.

"You are cute!" she said, sitting down to look less impressive. "You seem to be pretty shy, too. I hope I am not being invasive."

I was surprised by how polite she was. Were pokemon about as intelligent as regular animals, or more? Did they have social norms? Was she just behaving the way she had been taught to behave with humans? I didn't feel like I was interacting with a fox. This very much felt like a conversation with another human being, and it disturbed me immensely. I was barely taking measure of how little I actually knew of this world.

"No, sorry, I... I mean, this is a bit scary, this place is so big, there are so many people, it's too new for me."
"You spent the last week in a pokemon centre, did you not? I suppose you are used to the quiet rooms. Do not worry, neither the maids nor the butlers will bother you. They know you have been injured and have been instructed not to disturb you."
"Okay," I replied, unsure of what to say.

I felt relieved to know my interactions with other humans would be limited for the time being. I didn't feel ready for that yet. I was hoping to observe the way the ninetales behaved and copy it to try to pass as a fox before I had to face the world as one.

"The property is rather big, but you will not be granted access to all of it. Do you want me to show you around? There are also quite a few rules you need to know. I apologize for drowning you in information right as you come in, but it is important."
"No, that's fine," I replied with a bit more confidence.

The idea of walking and talking with the ninetales felt appealing. Being told the rules of the place would at least give me a better idea of the kind of life I was going to live. Agnes' parents seemed to be kind, at least her father, the ninetales seemed to be extremely kind as well, and she was visibly very happy, even excited to have me around. For the first time since I woke up as a vulpix, I felt optimistic. I was certain this place was going to be great.

"Alright. You seem to be tired. Can you walk?"
"Yes," I replied, although I wasn't sure I could. "My belly hurts, but I did nothing for a week, I need to move."

I let her walk a few steps first, carefully analysing the way she walked, before jumping from my sitting position to follow her and copy her movement as best I could. I was pleased to notice that I had been naturally walking properly in spite of my inexperience, although the pain in my gut made me stumble at times and generally limp with difficulty. I felt somewhat excited, almost impatient, at the idea of walking around in the property. It was so big, there had to be numerous things to explore and discover. Above all, despite my early worry, I felt relieved to have a ninetales take care of me. Not only would it make it easier for me to learn how to behave as a fox, but it would also mean I wouldn't have to worry about anything much until I was properly healed.

Starting from the entrance hall, we went to the left into a very large corridor. There were two doors on each side of it, and another one at the end. The first one on our right was open and ninetales lead me into it. It was a big room with the biggest TV screen I had ever seen embedded into a wall on the right, facing several couches and a small table. The room was slightly decorated with multiple pieces of furniture, probably hosting stuff to be used with the screen. There also was a table of reasonable size by the entrance with six chairs spread around it. On the other side, directly facing the table, two magnificent cupboards surrounded a beautifully crafted fireplace. I could only guess that the cupboards had somewhere a wood stash to feed it. The fireplace was surprisingly clean, and completely empty.

"Humans call this the lounge," Ninetales explained. "It is permanently open. Feel free to go around to smell things. We are allowed to come here at any time, but do not touch the furniture and do not step into the fireplace. Also, do not climb on the couches or chairs unless someone invites you to. The table is obviously completely forbidden."

I waited until she finished explaining to start walking around, sniffing at everything I could find. I couldn't smell anything new, which felt very boring. The whole place was disturbingly clean. Going to the couches, I noticed there were three big couches and two smaller ones. One of them was very long and was parallel to the TV, while the two on the side were tilted and much smaller. Between the big couch and the tilted ones were two small round couches, probably meant for ninetales to lay on. The dark blue colour of the couches contrasted with the generally red palette of the walls and floor.

"You can lay on the round couches any time if you want."

I jumped onto one of the small couches. It was very floppy and that felt disturbing. I jumped down, unsatisfied.

"I do not like them either," Ninetales said, amused by my reaction. "The big ones are much more comfortable."

She then led me to the room facing the lounge.

"This is a gym for the humans," she explained. "The door is generally closed, but if someone is in, you can enter. Just make sure not to disturb them while they are exercising. Do not enter this if no one is inside."
"How do I know if there is someone inside?"
"They will leave the door open. Generally, remember this: do not try to enter closed doors."

That sounded like a simple guideline, but I felt disappointed. There were probably a lot of closed doors, which meant there were a lot of rooms I would not get to explore. If that room was as big as the one we just excited, I couldn't wait to see what kind of equipment was in it.

"Behind this is a huge library," Topa said, pointing to the end of the corridor with her muzzle. "Access is strictly forbidden. Do not enter under any circumstances!"

Obviously. I felt sad not to get to visit it. As a human, I loved reading, and visiting a massive library would have been an awesome experience, but I was not human anymore, and reading would certainly be something I was going to miss.

Ninetales then took me to the door directly to the left of the end of the corridor and asked me to walk in. That room was very weird. The floor and the walls were covered in a somewhat soft mat and the room was completely empty.

"This is the pokemon sports room," she explained proudly. "This is meant for us to play, practice, or fight. The mats you see here and on the walls are fireproof, so there is no risk of setting anything on fire."

She looked away as she said that, blushing slightly.

"I look forward to your recovery," she added. "I think this is where we will spend most of our time. At least I hope so!"

I wasn't too sure about that. The idea of fighting, battling, or whatever it was scared me. Would I get wounded? How dangerous were pokemon battles? How did they even happen? I was certainly not ready for it, and I was scared of her finding out. I didn't even know how to use my powers.

The rest of the house was fairly boring. The last room in the left wing was a music room, to which I was not granted access. As I thought, a majority of the rooms were closed. The right wing of the house had a kitchen on one of the sides of the corridor, and a ballroom at the end of it. Unfortunately, the ballroom was closed, and I did not get to see it, although I was extremely curious. Ninetales told me it only opened on rare occasions, and was a massive mostly empty room, which was rather boring. This family didn't seem to be a very festive one, and most of their immense house was left unused.

The second floor had bedrooms. Ninetales didn't even bother showing me anything and took me straight to the right wing, at the end of the corridor. There was no door, but the corridor continued then split into three smaller ones. I counted, in total, 8 rooms, each corridor leading to one of them. Ninetales took me to the end of the corridor straight ahead, then turned around, looking back at the centre of the building.

"The room on the right is the parents' room. The one on the left here is Melissa's".
"Melissa?"
"Oh. She is not here now, she is staying over at a friend's for work. She is Agnes' younger sister."

I didn't dare ask how young she was, but I was hoping she wasn't too young. I didn't want to have to deal with an annoying kid on top of all my problems, especially not before I could pass as a fox.

"If you take the corridor on the left, you'll find Agnes' room. The other rooms except one are guest rooms and are rarely used. No matter what happens, we are not allowed into the bedrooms, even if the doors are open. We can only stay in ours."

Ninetales then took me to the corridor entrance. There was a room on the left that had no door. It was her room. There was a bathroom in it with everything one would expect from a human's bedroom, except the bed was replaced with two thin couches. One of them was yellow and the other one brown. There was a wall separating the bedroom from the bathroom part, and we were generally not allowed to the toilet and shower. There was a litter box next to its door.

"That is for you," Ninetales said. "You will not be allowed in the gardens until you have fully recovered, so this will have to do for now. The yellow pillow is for me, and the brown one for you!"

I felt upset I would have to use a litter box again, but it was inevitable. I had become used to it in the pokemon centre, but the idea of being seen by another pokemon embarrassed me.

"I have never been to the third floor," Ninetales said as she nested on her couch. "I only know it is where the maids and butlers live."

She yawned.

"Did you understand everything? You might be lost for the first few days, but you will find your way pretty easily after that."
"Yes," I replied.

The rules were very similar to the ones my family applied to my dogs. I felt sad to have been restricting them for so long without knowing what exactly it did to them. Although this place was ridiculously big, I felt like I was a prisoner. I wasn't even free to go where I wanted.

"We still have time before dinner," Ninetales said, stretching. "Do you want to do anything?"
"I don't know," I replied, suddenly gloomy. "I should probably rest."

I was faced with a reality I never thought about until then. I had nothing to do. As a human, I would waste my days on my computer or reading, but as a fox, I had access to none of those, and my wound did not allow me to go in the gardens to at least walk or run. There was absolutely nothing to do as I did not see any toys in the room. Even if there were any, would I be using them? I had no idea how foxes played. I had no idea about anything.

I looked at Topa, who was laying down and obviously ready for a nap. She was the answer. I could ask her anything I wanted about foxes, and she could tell me how to act like one. She could be my mentor, but that required telling her I was human, and I didn't know if she would believe me. What would I do if she didn't? What if she did believe me and somehow told Agnes and her family? Would they get rid of me? Would they sell me to scientists? Could I trust her?

What if I did not? I would eventually be confronted to a situation where I would have to use my powers, and it was obvious to me I did not know how to use them. I needed her to teach me, unless I spent my days in the pokemon sports room practising by myself. Even then, the chances she would sneak up on me and find out were too high. I needed to tell her.

I opened my muzzle, trembling heavily, before I noticed she was sleeping. Sighing deeply, I walked to my own pillow and laid down on it. I probably should wait before telling her, as she had known me for a few hours at best, and was probably not ready to hear the truth. I certainly wasn't ready to tell her. Deciding that postponing would be best, I closed my eyes, hoping to rest. I could tell her the following day.