A Fox's Chronicle 7

Chapter 7: Newcomer

... ... ...

...I'm somewhere... foggy. I can't really see anything...

"Hee hee hee..." A voice? Is someone else here? "Is that how you're gonna deal with everything? Run away, and hope someone else will bail you out?"

"Who's there?" I whirl around. I see some shape in the fog, but I can't really make out any details.

"Let's say... a friend. And your friend wants you to find a less boring solution to your next problem! Hee hee hee!"

I growl, "Shut up."

The voice keeps giggling. "Well, whatever you want, friend! See you later!"

... ... ...

I jolt awake. Was that a dream...? Something seems weird about it... Oh well. It's probably not important.

We still haven't left Mirror Mountain. We set up a little camp by Echo's cave, so we can rest up before making the trip back to town. I'm not complaining. It took a while to get this far, and I guess Emerald's saving those crazy magic berry things for injuries.

Emerald and Aurora are still asleep. I think I'll walk around a bit, just so I'm doing something other than sit here waiting for them to wake up. I stand up, and... notice a weight on my back. "Echo," I murmur, "why are you in my hood?"

"S-sorry," Echo whispers, "I-I-I j-just... W-well, th-the thing is, y-you see..." Oh my God, just spit it out... "I-I've n-never really s-seen anything outside th-the caves before, a-and... I s-sorta... d-didn't w-want it to end?"

I groan. "You tried to be a stowaway. In my hood. Right after we get you back home." Kid's not very clever, is he?

"Y...yes... I'm s-sorry, M-Mister Victor..." He gets quieter and quieter with every word. "I... I'll g-go now... Th-thanks for helping me..." He flutters out of my hood.

... "Hey, wait." I give him a side glance. "If you want to come with us, I'm fine with it. Just tell your mom, okay? I don't want to make her mad."

"R-really?" His eyes light up. "Th-th-thank you M-Mister V-Victor!"

Just don't make me regret it... "Yeah, no problem." And he flies off.

"Heh... Guess you're less of an ass than I thought."

Great, Emerald's up. I roll my eyes and look over at her. "Who asked you?"

"Nobody. Just thought you'd want someone to talk to 'til we head out." She looks down the cave. "...You really like that kid, huh?"

"...He reminds me of someone." And I refuse to tell her any further details. "What, do you not want him to come?"

Emerald shakes her head. "Nah. I like kids. They haven't learned how to be assholes yet. And lemme tell ya, there's more than enough assholes in the world."

I nod. "Yeah, I know what you mean. ...But most of the kids I've met are still assholes."

"Shit. Your world must suck," Emerald replies with an extraordinary degree of bluntness. "No offense or anything."

"None taken," I say, sort of waving my paw. "My world definitely sucks."

"Then why do you want to go back?" She's looking me in the eyes now.

"...Well..." I was not expecting this sort of question. "...I mean, it's my home. I got family and shit. Y'know?"

"Yeah, I know," she says with a nod. "...Hey. Remember when I said this sort of thing's happened before?" Of course I do. It sounded relatively important. I nod. "Good. I was just thinking about it... Mostly the part about a disaster. I couldn't think of any real problems that need divine intervention or whatever, until we saw that thing in the woods."

"What are you getting at?" I hope she's not getting at what I think she's getting at. "Are you saying I have to fight that thing?"

She sort of laughs. "Seriously? You sure know how to jump to conclusions, Vic." ...I so want to smack her right now... "I'm not getting at anything. I just think it has something to do with you. I mean, you obviously came from a different world, and that creep definitely looks like it could be from a whole other world. See the connection?"

I roll my eyes. "My world might suck, but we don't have things like... that."

"Not saying ya do. Who said there were only two worlds? More likely there's a shit ton, and ours are just the closest." She laughs again. "Okay, now that I say it out loud, it sounds really stupid." Couldn't agree more. "But it's just, y'know, something to think about. I have way too much time to think these days."

There's a few minutes of silence, broken by... purring? Apparently, Aurora purrs when she wakes up. "Mmm... Good morning, my Lady... Good morning, my star..."

"G'morning, Princess," Emerald replies pleasantly.

"...Morning." I thought she was done calling me a star.

Aurora yawns, stretches, and then stands up. "So, are we prepared for our journey home? There is an oppressive air in these caverns... 'twould be preferable to me if we would linger little more."

I take a second to translate what she just said. "I'm ready once Echo gets back. Dunno 'bout Emerald."

"Little Echo?" She cocks her head. "What of him? Did we not escort him home?"

"The kid wants to come with us," Emerald explains. "It's a 'call for adventure' sorta thing. You know what I'm talking about, right?"

"Oh, of course! I just never thought one so... fragile would heed the call." Like you're so un-fragile.

Emerald shrugs. "Well, he is a dragon. Power like that's just begging to do something."

Hold on a second. "Echo's a dragon?" I mean, yeah, his mom definitely is, but Echo's a tiny bat. Not a dragon.

"You'd be surprised what some dragons look like," Emerald replies. "There's slimeball dragons, seaweed dragons, cloud dragons... It's a pretty broad category."

"My Mother says dragon-trees live on the islands. Although, I've yet to see them myself," Aurora adds. "Mother says they have three faces on their heads, a fourth on their tails, and necks that stretch into the clouds. They must be quite stunning, no?"

I nod. "Sure." Those things are either horrifying or ridiculous. I hope I never need to find out which one.

"Missss Emerald?" I jump. ...I wish Echo's mom would stop talking from RIGHT behind me. "It ssseemsss my ssson would like to join you."

"Sure. I don't see why not," Emerald says nonchalantly.

"Th-thank you!" Echo zips off his mom's shoulder, and lands... back in my hood. I'm starting to wonder if I'll ever get a chance to actually wear the hood. "Bye, mom! A-and don't worry, I-I'll be sure to c-come and visit sometime!"

"There wasss never any doubt." The dragon turns to Emerald. "Missss Emerald. I trussst you will take care of my Echo?"

Emerald adjusts her glasses, and says, "Of course. I've already got two kids to take care of, what's a third?"

"I'm eighteen," I grumble.

"What do you want, a trophy? Far as I'm concerned, you're a kid until proven otherwise, kiddo," she snarks back.

I mutter a few swears under my breath.

As we start heading back, Echo asks, "S-so, you're actually a human?"

"Yeah. But I don't know why I'm an Eevee now," I tell him.

"W-well, th-that's okay. I j-just, y'know... th-thought they weren't real?"

"I thought Pokemon weren't real either. But here I am."

Most of the walk goes by quietly. Emerald and Aurora are chatting, but I'm not listening to them. Echo's looking around from his spot in my hood. I guess this is the last time he'll see his home for a while, so he's taking it all in. Soon enough, we reach the end of the cave, and...

...Oh shit.

The forest is on fire.