FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 1 - The Way It Began

"Alright, you ready Bulbasaur?" Samantha said, quickly looking down at the Pokemon who was huddled with her in the brush. She looked back up at the Pokemon they were spying on; a Ninetales taking a drink of water from the fast moving river that cut through the forest. Her green eyes focused on the fox's tails swishing majestically through the air, teasing her with the reward that they held.

"Bulba!" her Pokemon replied loudly. A little too loudly, as both of them ducked lower when the Ninetales suddenly turned to face their direction, looking suspicious of the sudden noise it had heard. After a moment or two, the fox let out a humph and went back to lapping at the water. Samantha wiped her brow and glared at her Bulbasaur, who smiled apologetically. When she continued to glare, Bulbasaur reached a vine up and pulled his trainer down towards him.

"What are you-" Samantha whispered, in no mood for his games, but then she was cut off as Bulbasaur planted his forelegs on her chest and planted his lips upon hers, closing his eyes as he kissed his trainer. Samantha's eyes widened in surprise...then she closed her eyes as well, accepting the kiss from the grass type. For a moment, the two didn't move, their tongues intertwining with one another lovingly. Then they heard a loud lapping noise, and both looked back at the Ninetales, who was finishing up his drink. They pulled apart regretfully, but knew thos would probably be their only chance. If this didn't work out...

"Ok, on the count of three..." she whispered. Bulbasaur nodded, then licked her face one last time and fell back onto all fours, preparing himself to attack.

"One..." Samantha said. The Ninetales ears perked up.

"Two..." The fox turned in their direction, letting out a suspicious growl.

"THREE!" Samantha cried, and both she and her Pokemon both leapt out of the brush and charged directly at the fox, which yelped in surprise. "Bulbasaur, use Vine Whip!"

The Ninetales turned and began to run, but hadn't managed to go two feet before it felt one of the dinosaur's vines wrap around its back legs and pull hard. The canine got a face full of dirt as he lost his balance, and was sent skidding along the ground from what momentum he had gathered.

"Good job, Bulbasaur!" Samantha said, running towards the downed Ninetales. "Now just hold him there while I-" Suddenly a deep snarl sounded through the air, causing Samantha to stop in her tracks. The fox slowly picked himself off the ground, turning to look at the girl and her Pokemon with bared teeth and fiery red eyes.

"Bulbasaur..." Samantha whimpered, feeling her joy from a second ago quickly fading into terror. "...help."

The Ninetales broke into a sprint, teeth open and aiming directly at Samantha, but then Bulbasaur pulled his vine hard again. The fox careened past the girl, sent off balance yet again by the vine wrapped around his leg. The Ninetales rolled onto its feet though, and sunk it's sharp teeth into the vine, chewing and tearing through the Bulbasaur's whip. The dinosaur cried out in pain and let go of the Ninetale's leg, retracting its whip.

The fox eyed both Samantha and Bulbasaur, trying to decide who to attack first. Bulbasaur noticed this and quickly ran in front of Samantha, trying to look fierce. The Ninetales simply gave the canine equivalent of a smirk and paced back and forth warily, deciding how best to eliminate this threat. Meanwhile, Samantha backed away, feeling her trainer instincts kicking in.

"B-Bulbasaur, hit him with R-Razor Leaf!" she yelled, pointing directly at the Ninetales. Bulbasaur looked at her over his shoulder and nodded, but then turned back just in time to see flames heading towards him. Both the girl and the pokemon leapt to the side, barely dodging the intense heat as it incinerated the trees behind them. Barks of laughter could be heard as they struggled to regain their footing, and both looked angrily over at the fox, who was pawing at the ground in such a way to suggest for them to try again.

"Ninetales?" the Pokemon asked, lifting his head up smugly and showing off an intimidating grin full of sharp canine teeth.

"Never." Samantha replied, despite not knowing what in the heck the canine had said anyways. "Not until I get what I want." The Ninetales eyes drooped and he shook his head in disbelief. The girl and her stupid dinosaur were clearly outmatched; any trainer with common sense would know when to-

Suddenly, the canine found itself flipping head over haunches as his back legs were tugged upwards into the air. He yelped in surprise and kicked himself for not keeping track of the grass pokemon's whereabouts. He whipped his head around to see that the Bulbasuar had ran to the edge of the river behind him and stretched his vines over a thick tree branch, thereby giving him the leverage needed to lift the larger fire pokemon off his paws. The fox struggled to wiggle free of the vines, but he could neither shake free of their hold nor reach them with his sharp teeth.

"Bulbasaur!" Samantha's Pokemon yelled, looking proud of himself. Then his smile faded as he saw flames building in his opponent's mouth, aiming directly at him with a dangerous look.

"Nine...TALES!" the fox cried, shooting a full power flamethrower at Bulbasaur. The grass type attempted to dodge to the side, but the attack came too fast, and he found himself being hit full force by the flames. He flew back, crying out in pain from the intense heat and impacting against a tree. His hold on his vines slackened, sending the Ninetales falling to the ground in a heap.

"Saur..." Bulbasaur groaned in pain, trying to stand up, but unable to due to the multiple burns that now adorned his body.

"Bulbasaur!" Samantha cried, starting to run towards her fallen Pokemon, but then she was cut off by the Ninetales, which nearly knocked her over in his rush to beat her to the former. The fox stared down at his fallen prey for a moment, waiting for the dinosaur to look up and see his death coming. Bulbasaur slowly opened one eye, smiling as he expected to see his trainer there to comfort him, but then he gasped as he saw nothing but the threatening feral expression of the Ninetales.

"Gotcha!" a voice behind the Ninetales called, and the fox suddenly felt someone pull on his tail...or rather, his tails. He turned around to see the human with both hands each grasped around two of them, his eyes widening at the sight.

"Finally!" Samantha said. "I have your tails, and now you have to grant any wish I have...or rather, any two that I have." She tugged a bit on his tails to emphasize the fact that she did, in fact, have two.

The Ninetales stared at Samantha for a long time, while Bulbasaur let out a weak groan. Samantha smiled, feeling assured of herself...that is, until the fox began to make sounds of unmistakable laughter.

"Nine Nine Tales Tales?" the Pokemon asked her, smiling smugly at the human.

"What?" Samantha said, not understanding what he was saying. The fox rolled his eyes, then concentrated hard for a moment.

"I said....is that really why you attacked me?" a voice said behind Samantha, and the girl whipped around to see a man behind her. Her eyes bugged as she saw he was completely naked, with a pale, creamy skin color that matched the Ninetale's fur. Not only that, but he also had nine beautiful tails swishing behind him, identical to the ones she was holding in her hands. His long flowing hair floated as though it were underwater, and his piercing red eyes made his smile look ever so intimidating, his slim face making his features stand out all the more.

"Uh..." Samantha said, not sure what to say to this man, although her eyes traveled all over his thin, muscular body. He chuckled and approached her, but she held her ground, keeping a tight grip on the fox's tails. "W-who are you?" she asked nervously. The man crossed his arms and frowned.

"I am..." he paused for a moment."...a representation, if you will, of that dignified creature that you are shaming with your touch at this very moment."

"So you're the Ninetales then?" Samantha asked, raising an eyebrow.

The man deadpanned. "Yes." he hissed. Then he raised a hand at her as his eyes glowed red. "Now release your filthy hands off my beautiful tails at once." he commanded.

Samantha felt a chill run down her spine at the man's words, and she nearly followed his order. But something made her hold on, and she shook her head in defiance.

"No." she said, looking down at the ground.

The man looked shocked at her answer, and the Ninetales growled. Without moving a single muscle, the man suddenly shot forward, moving so close to the girl that she could feel his breath in her ear.

"Release me." he repeated, growling a bit himself, his eyes turning into slits for a split second.

Samantha forced herself to look the man in the face, adrenaline pumping through her veins. "No." she said again.

"NOW!" he roared in her face.

Samantha's hands trembled, and she loosened her grip. But then she heard the tiniest whimper come from her Bulbasaur, and she stopped.

"Not until you grant my wishes." she said.

The man quickly raised a hand up as if to strike her, and Samantha cringed. But then he cocked his head and slowly brought his hand down to stroke his chin, eying the girl with an amused expression.

"Ah, I see. You've heard the legends of what our kind can accomplish." he said, turning and pacing around the girl, his eyes directly meeting hers.

"That's right. For every tail I hold, I get a wish." Samantha said. "R-right?"

The man's face was expressionless for a moment, as he contemplated the girl's words. For a long time, no one spoke, the only sounds being the occasional groan from Bulbasaur, the nervous panting of the Ninetales, and the rushing water of the river nearby. Samantha watched as the man stopped where he was and looked at her.

"If I were to grant your wish-" the man said.

"Wishes!" Samantha interrupted, shaking the tails she held. The man gritted his teeth in anger, but quickly recovered and took a deep breath to calm himself.

"If I were to grant your...wishes..." the man said, nearly growling out the last word, "...what would they be?"

Samantha's heart leapt with joy. "Well, my first one would be to let Bulbasaur go." she said. Bulbasaur, despite being in massive amounts of pain, glanced up and smiled at his trainer. The fox growled at the dinosaur to stay down, but the latter saw Samantha's nod towards him.

"An unselfish request, from a human no less...how surprising." the man said, genuinely sounding impressed. Samantha shot him an annoyed look at the implied insult to her species. "And your second wish?"

Samantha grinned. "I want you turn me into a Bulbasaur."

The man froze, his red eyes widening; even the Ninetales let out a confused growl, it's ears perking up in Samantha's direction."What?" the man said almost immediately, his dignified sounding voice no longer present as he instinctively leaned in closer to hear her. He noticed this and quickly regained control of himself, clearing his throat and standing up straight. "I mean...repeat yourself, I can't hear your whisper of a voice." he said.

Samantha raised an eyebrow at the man. "You heard me, I want to be a Bulbasaur." she said, almost going to cross her arms, then dropping them as she nearly let go of the tails she held.

The man narrowed his eyes at the girl. "A human that wishes to be a Pokemon...how interesting..." he said, turning his back to her as he thought about her request. "May I ask, why?"

Samantha felt her throat suddenly go dry in her mouth. "Because...well, uh...look, it's none of your business!" she said, becoming defensive and squeezing the fox's tails hard. The man visibly winced; despite his back turned to her, the girl could see something else of his tense up considerably underneath his tails. She nearly giggled at the sight, but the situation she was in was unfortunately just as tense as his ass.

"No, no, there's something far more interesting going on here..." the man said. He turned back around, giving her the most threatening smile yet. "There are few things in this world that make a human want to give up something so personal, and yet act so selfless at the same time."

He paused, his smile slowly becoming a grimace. He looked over at Bulbasaur, and understanding entered his eyes. "You love him." he said bitterly.

Samantha felt her throat catch in her chest. "Of course I love Bulbasaur, he's my pokemon." she said. "We've been together for-"

"Do you think me for such a fool human?" the man said. "I see now why you would risk incurring my wrath, all for the sake of a silly old legend that you once heard about as a child. You love him...as one would a lover."

Samantha forced down the embarrassed lump in her throat, but she couldn't hide the blush that rushed into her cheeks. The look on the man's face was one of both disgust and intrigue, as he viewed the girl falling apart emotionally before him. His tails swished side to side, showing his satisfaction at having figured out the human's secret, and he smirked. Then he suddenly clutched his face in pain as Bulbasaur suddenly whipped a vine across the Ninetale's snout, bringing it back around for another attack. The canine snarled and caught the vine in his maw, biting down and shredding the vine into pieces, before bending down and gripping the Bulbasaur's throat tightly in his mouth. The latter squealed in fear, and Samantha screamed.

"Stop!" she cried desperately, finally letting go of the fox's tails and wrapping her arms around it in an attempt to pull it away. The Ninetale's easily threw her off however, sending the girl sprawling into the dirt. "Don't kill him...please...don't..." she said, crying at the sight if her pokemon being held in the fire pokemon's maw.

The man stood up, a red mark clear on his face, identical to the one on the Ninetales. His expression was angry, yet his smile was genuine. "Thank you for releasing me." he said, and Samantha's eyes widened as she realized her mistake, seeing the Ninetales swish it's tails around freely.

"No...wait! You still have to grant my wishes!" she yelled, standing up and approaching the man forcefully. "Let him go! I don't care what you do to me, just...let him go!" She was practically hysterical.

The man nodded. "As you wish." he said. He nodded towards the Ninetales, which nodded back. Then with a great heave of it's head, it tossed the wounded Bulbasaur into the air towards the river.

"No!" Samantha yelled, watching as her Pokemon disappeared with a splash into the fast moving water.

"BULBA! BULBASAUR!" the grass type called out, attempting to keep his head above the surface as he called for his master to save him. He head popped in and out of the water, although as the current dragged him away, he grew smaller and harder to see, his cries hardly audible over the sound of the increasing rapids.

"You monster! He can't swim!" Samantha said, screaming in the man's face.

"Then I guess you better save him before he succumbs his injuries." the man said, not even looking at the girl as he walked over and petted the Ninetales on the head.

"SAVE HIM NOW!" Samantha screamed.

"You've already used both your wishes, my dear Samantha." the man said, turning and walking away into the forest, the Ninetales by his side.

Samantha opened her mouth to protest, but then froze as she heard Bulbasaur let out a faint cry down the river. Without another moment's hesitation, she took off, following the river's edge. The man ignored this, but then after a moment stopped where he stood, looking back at the girl. "Oh yes, I nearly forgot." he said, before raising his hand to aim at the girl's back, despite her already being quite a distance away. A small ball of green light formed in his palm, spinning rapidly before firing off towards her.

'Perhaps we'll meet again someday, my dearest." the man said. "But until then, I bid thee adeiu." the man said, smiling one last time at his soon-to-be victim.

Samantha ran as fast as she her legs would carry her, doing her best to keep Bulbasaur screaming head in sight. He disappeared beneath the increasingly violent rapids for a moment, then came back up and laid eyes on her. "Bulbasaur!" he screeched, his voice hoarse and tired.

"Send me a vine!" Samantha yelled.

Bulbasaur disappeared beneath the water again, and Samantha's heart nearly stopped as he stayed under for quite a long time. But then he came back up, and with effort, he sent out both of his green ropes towards her. Samantha watched as it slackened in midair, and fell to the ground just a few feet away from her. She threw herself after it, trying to get a firm grip. Every time she got close though, it always managed to slip out of her grasp. The water it was soaked in, and the fact that it was partially shredded due to the earlier attack by the Ninetales, didn't help matters.

"Damn it!" Samantha yelled as the vine slipped away from her yet again. She felt a stitch forming on her side, tired from all the running she had done. But she had to help Bulbasaur, whose eyes were wide with fear as he saw Samantha try again and again to catch his vines, which were now slipping back into the river. If she couldn't catch one before it sank back into the water, the dinosaur knew that he wouldn't have the energy to throw them out a second time. He felt his injuries and tiredness overcoming him, and he slowly began to slow in his efforts to stay afloat...

"Gotcha!" Samantha suddenly yelled, and Bulbasaur perked up, a rush of excitement going through him as he felt Samantha tug on his vine. "Alright, Bulbasaur, I've got you! I'm not letting go of you no matter what!"

"Bulba!" the Pokemon called back, feeling himself come to a stop in the middle of the river. He turned to look down the water for a second, and shuddered as he saw the rapids he had been about to fall into. He felt himself slowly being pulled through the water, and despite his having to struggle to keep above the water on his end, he knew that soon he would be ok...all thanks to...

Then Bulbasaur saw it; a green light coming out of the forest and hitting his trainer in the back. Samantha stood there, frozen in confusion for a second. Then she screamed in pain and fell to her knees, letting go of her Pokemon's vine.

"Bulbasaur!" the pokemon yelled, more worried for a moment about his trainer than himself. Then he screamed as he disappeared beneath the white rapids, his last view being of his trainer...his lover...collapsing to the ground.