Ronnie, Lebasí, Danni, and Smort all just stared at the three in the doorway, unable to think of anything to say.  Roxas walked forward and bowed his head low.  “I figured that you’d get somewhere like this,” he said, “So I hope you don’t mind, but I felt that I needed to get someone’s attention.”

Ronnie just looked between Roxas and Erika.  “How did you get here so fast?” she asked the Gym Leader.

Erika smiled.  “Well, you’ve been online for a while, as far as I can gather.”  She then looked closely at the page on the screen.  “I’m a bit surprised that you got that far on the research, though.”

“B-but…”

“Don’t worry,” Erika said, smiling.  “It’s quite simple.”  She turned back down to Roxas.  “Do you want to explain?”

“Sure,” he replied, nodding once to the Gym Leader before turning to his trainer.  “I ran to Erika’s house.”

“Really?” Ronnie replied, very surprised.  She turned to her friend.  “I didn’t know you were staying over there again.”

“Oh, I wasn’t,” Erika replied quickly.  She turned back to Roxas.

“I ran over to Erika’s house to get DyDy,” the Leafeon explained.

“What’s a DyDy?” Ronnie asked.  Lebasí chuckled loudly, and Ronnie turned to give him a stern look.

“Dyanna, or DyDy for short, is a Pidgey that I keep at my parent’s house in case of emergencies,” Erika explained, since Ronnie was speaking entirely in English.  Ronnie had long learned how to direct her speech to a human whenever they were in the room, even while speaking to a pokémon, so that they all could understand all she had said.  “She keeps communications between me and Mom and Dad,” Erika continued.  “I guess you could say she’s kind of like a carrier pigeon.”

“Oh, I see,” Ronnie replied.  Lebasí continued to chuckle silently in her head.

“Well,” Roxas continued, “I snuck over to her and asked her to get Erika for me, since you were researching all this.”

“Then,” Erika continued, “I borrowed a Charizard belonging to one of my students to get over here.

“Why didn’t you go to Tommy?” Ronnie asked her Leafeon.  “He’s staying over there at Erika’s place, after all.”

“Uh, the thing is…” Roxas started, but he stared at the floor and lowered his ears, as if fearful of being berated.

The Ninetales walked over to Roxas and bumped his snout against Roxas’ head.  “It’s ok, Uncle Ox, you can tell them.”

“UNCLE OX?!” Danni yelled wildly.  Everyone turned to stare at her, especially Erika, who had simply heard a Meowth yowling crazily.

She speaks what all of us, Ronnie and her pokémon, are thinking upon hearing “Uncle,” Lebasí telepathed to the entire group.  Ronnie saw Erika do the familiar shudder that everyone did when surprised by the Abra.

“Um, it’s a long story,” Roxas said.  He sat on his haunches and lowered his head in thought, while the Ninetales named Gin followed suit and Erika sat on the foot of the bed.  “Just to explain, though,” Roxas continued, “I didn’t go to Tommy because I figured you all deserved to know about this, but I know Tommy would’ve been against it.”  He stared intensely at all of them.  “It’s a very touchy subject for him.”

Ronnie, Danni, and Smort nodded at exactly the same time.  They were all listening in very intensely, and were at the edge of their seat, bed, and cart, respectively.  Lebasí simply allowed himself to appear bemused as he levitated above the group.

Roxas began his tale very slowly and very deliberately.  “Pay very close attention, guys, because I don’t want to have to go over too much.

“Now, this story begins when I was an Eevee.  I was a bit older than a cub, but not quite as mature as to be called an ‘adult.’  I lived with my mother, and at one point she became immensely pregnant.”

“Ok, then what?” Smort asked excitedly.  Ronnie and Danni giggled.

“Please, wait until I’m done, ok?” Roxas asked, almost scolding Smort.  The Grimer melted a bit, and frowned sadly, but nodded.  “Alright, then,” the Leafeon said.  “To continue…

“Well, my mom died in childbirth when I was out… helping another pokémon.”  Roxas frowned a bit as he thought about this particular memory, but shook his head when his three companions sighed sympathetically.  “It’s nothing,” he said, looking up at the floating Abra, who nodded.  Roxas turned back to the other three.  “Mom had entered labor way too early, and I found that she had been carrying seven Eevee cubs, which are way more than is normal for an Eevee or Eeveelution to carry.  To be honest, she needed help at a Pokémon Center if she wanted to live.

“Well, at any rate, I entered to find my mother dead, and I was very distraught.  However, to my surprise, another pokémon was there.  A female.”  Roxas frowned once again.  “She was an Abra, although I must admit, she was strange for an Abra.  Something, I don’t know, was too… regal would be the best word.  She was too regal to be a normal Abra.

“Anyways, she helped me to clean up the mess and take care of my mother, but she also helped me to realize that not all was lost.  One of the eggs had survived.”

“Eggs?” Ronnie asked curiously.  “But wait, aren’t you mammals?”

“Ronnie, please,” Roxas murmured tiredly.

“Sorry,” the trainer replied quickly.  “Please continue.”

“As I was saying,” the Leafeon started, “One of the eggs survived.  The Abra told me that the best way for me to save the egg, my brother, was to go to the western edge Route 7, which is also the eastern edge of Celadon, and to wait for a kid with spiky black hair and an Oddish on his shoulder.  She told me that if he would catch me, he could take care of my brother.  Therefore, I went to meet my future trainer, all the while pushing my brother in his egg.  I’ll give you three guesses who that was,” Roxas said, smiling.

“Tommy,” Danni replied.

“Exactly,” Roxas said, grinning and nodding to the Meowth.  “You get ten points, Danni.”

“Well, I’ll be darned,” she replied sarcastically.

Roxas then continued.  “So, naturally, Tommy was surprised to see not only an Eevee, but a wild Eevee with an Eevee egg.  He immediately set to capturing me and taking care of my brother.

“Eventually, my brother hatched out.  He was a cute little shiny Eevee, with red-orange fur that you could swear was aflame.”

“Shiny?” Ronnie asked.

Erika took up the mantle for this one.  “Ronnie, when a pokémon is ‘shiny,’ it means that the pokémon has a genetic defect causing its fur color to be a different, unnatural color.”

“Well, it may be unnatural to you,” Danni piped up, “but to us pokémon, a nice, shiny male is oh so sensual…”

What Danni means to say, Lebasí thought to everyone, is that a shiny pokémon is somewhat like nobility to us.  We cannot help but be attracted to a shiny of the opposite gender, and we consider those of our same gender as ‘greater’ than us.  It is a natural instinct.

“How interesting…” Ronnie voiced, lost in thought.

“You see, then, that my brother was considered great,” Roxas said, almost like a question.  “Tommy had high hopes for him, because my brother almost seemed like a fire type, and Tommy wished to evolve him into a Flareon.  Well, I’m getting ahead of myself,” Roxas said, shaking his head to clear it up.  “So, my brother was born shiny, and Tommy gave him the name ‘Carter.’

“Carter grew strong, and as suspected, he naturally gravitated towards fire and fire type pokémon.  The thing was that Tommy already had a fire type pokémon.  She was a Vulpix, named Naelia, and as Carter developed, Tommy would have him train alongside Naelia so that, when the day came for Carter to be evolved with a fire stone, he would already be used to everything that had to do with fire and fire types.

“Well, as all of Tommy’s pokémon and I noticed, Naelia and Carter started spending more and more time together.  Sometimes, when on guard duty, one would sneak the other out of his or her poké ball and they would escape somewhere, staying together sometimes for hours on end, with none of the rest of us around to supervise them.  All the rest of us pokémon knew immediately what was going on, but poor Tommy was naïve with such things and he couldn’t understand our pokémon speech yet, so he had no clue.  He found out the hard way.”  Roxas chuckled then, and shook his head while smiling.  “One day, Naelia couldn’t keep up with her training, and Tommy became concerned for her.  Soon, she started throwing up and having dietary issues, so we rushed to whatever Pokémon Center was the one that was closest to us.

“Tommy was really shocked to find that his Vulpix was pregnant, and was carrying one Vulpix egg in her womb.”  Roxas turned to the Ninetales and nodded curtly.  “Hence why Gin here was calling me ‘Uncle Ox.’  He called me that because he is, quite literally, my nephew.”

“So Carter and Naelia became mates?” Ronnie asked to make sure that she was keeping up with the story correctly.

“Yes,” Roxas replied simply.  “My brother and Naelia fell in love, and would sneak off to mate.”  Gin blushed a bit when hearing that particular bit of news.

“That’s cool,” Smort said, “but what’s that got to do with Tommy and all this kitsune stuff?”

Roxas looked over to his nephew, and Gin cleared his throat.  “I guess I could explain from here for a while,” he said.  He turned back to Roxas.  “Thanks, Uncle Ox.”

“Anytime, kit,” Roxas replied.  He then went to sit next to Erika, who proceeded to rub his messy head.

“First of all,” Gin started, looking over from first Ronnie, to Danni, to Smort, and then, finally, up at the ceiling to Lebasí, “I just want to say that I’m pleased to meet you all.”  He bowed his head low and almost allowed the pelt that covered the top of his head to sweep the floor.

“Ooh, no need to be thankful, sweetie,” Danni swooned.  Ronnie and Smort both gave her awkward looks.  “What?” she asked them defiantly.

“Oh, not a thing,” Ronnie replied.  Lebasí and Smort chuckled lightheartedly.

“So, to speak of my mother and father,” Gin started.  The others quieted down quickly enough.  Gin’s voice and tone were so smooth, and yet somber, that he could easily have quieted the loudest of parties.  “My mother and father deeply loved each other, but as already stated by Uncle, Father was being trained to evolve by the elder trainer, Mr. Goodson.

“The time came when Sir Elder Trainer bought a fire stone for use on Father.  However, Father had a condition, one that Sir Elder Trainer did not know of, and it was not detectable by the pokémon doctors at the pokémon hospital.

“Father had been birthed prematurely by Grandmother, as Uncle already said, and therefore he wasn’t fully developed.  He would get easily sick, and sometimes Sir Elder Trainer would have to take him out of commission so he could rest back to full health.”  Gin took a moment to pause here, as he thought about the dad he had barely known.  Ronnie could sense his depression, and it made her want to reach out and embrace the poor pokémon, so he wouldn’t feel any more pain.  Then, Ronnie felt Lebasí’s presence, and warmth crept back into her.  She stared up at the ceiling and smiled at her Abra, but Lebasí merely frowned and then focused back on Gin, which surprised Ronnie greatly.

Apparently, Erika was upset as well, because right then she suddenly yelled at the Ninetales.  “Hey, Gin!  Don’t try that crap on Ronnie!”  The Ninetales and the trainer both snapped their heads toward the Gym Leader, but Erika made no remarks of apology or any such thing, and a scowl flickered across Gin’s muzzle before it was set back to the same depressed state.

“At any rate,” Gin continued, “when Sir Elder Trainer presented the stone to Father so that he may evolve to be a Flareon, Father did not evolve, but instead started to convulse and shake violently.  He broke into a seizure, and died.  Father’s body could not withstand the stress of the forces of evolution, and he suffered the ultimate price for Sir Elder Trainer’s ignorance.”  Gin once again appeared depressed, but instead of creating an overwhelming desire to hold him close, Ronnie just felt pity for him.  The creature was simply too handsome and graceful to wallow in misery.  It didn’t suit him, in Ronnie’s eyes.  Ronnie also got the sense that, although he called Tommy “Sir Elder Trainer,” Gin had little to no respect for him.

Danni, meanwhile, was completely captivated.  She leapt off the bed and rubbed her body against his side, purring all the while.  Gin turned to look into her eyes, and Danni stared back up and asked simply, “So what happened next?”

“Well, as you all may know, the Vulpix and Ninetales line has mostly females in it,” Gin started explaining.  “Hence, when a female Vulpix or Ninetales offers herself, she becomes a life-mate with her mate.  The opposite is true of Eevees; since there are mostly males than there are females, when a male offers himself, he, for the most part, becomes a life-mate to his female.  And, because of that, Mother and Father held deep bonds with each other.

“So, once Father died, Mother became deeply depressed.  She would not battle, nor eat, nor even sleep, and thus she became extremely ill.  Fearing that his Vulpix was going to pass away early, Sir Elder Trainer took Mother many times to the pokémon hospital, but after many tests and nutrient shots, the doctors finally told him that she would pass away if she couldn’t become stronger.  Her lack of rest and muscle use was causing her to simply rot away.  Mother had given up on life.

“At that point, I was still a kit,” Gin continued, his voice steady but quiet.  “Nothing that Sir Elder Trainer could say would get her to start working, until finally he brought up the fact that, if Mother remained the way she was, I would end up passing on early.  That thought terrified my mother.  It shocked her so much that she finally started trying to take care of herself.”  Gin then stared back at himself, and another scowl came across his face, as if he hated what he was seeing.  “Well, even though Mother started trying to take care of herself, she had gone on too far in her state, and both Mother and Sir Elder Trainer realized the same thing.  Mother was simply too weak to survive.

“This new realization prompted Sir Elder Trainer to do the only thing he could think of to make my Mother extremely powerful in a short amount of time.  Since the fire stone that was supposed to be used on my father had never fully been used, it was still good to be used on another pokémon.  To save my mother, Sir Elder Trainer snuck the fire stone into her daily food, and when my mother touched her nose to the stone when trying to sniff her food, she evolved into a Ninetales.

“However, Mother never wanted to use the fire stone.  She was terrified of them, after seeing what had happened to Father, her life-mate, and once she was finished evolving, the thought of becoming healthier and better fit to live with the very device that had killed her love dejected her to no end.  She ran away…”  Gin’s fur bristled throughout his body, and he bowed lowly after saying that while staring at an area in the middle of the floor.  After a couple of tense minutes, he raised his head back up.  “Mother couldn’t think straight, and so she ran away, and abandoned her trainer, pokémon friends, and me…”

The four listening to the story just stared around uneasily, not sure what to do.  Gin the Ninetales stopped speaking and took a few steps back from Danni to make it clear he was finished.  However, something still didn’t settle right.

“Hey, wait a minute!” Smort cried suddenly.  “This doesn’t explain anything!  Naelia ran away?!”  Without waiting for a response, he continued.  “If she ran away, then she didn’t die!  And this still doesn’t tell us anything about the kitsune whatevers!  Grimer!” he finished angrily, as if his species name were a curse word.

“The story has yet to be finished,” Roxas replied calmly.  He then turned to his Ninetales nephew.  “I think this is as far as you know, right, Gin?”

“Yes,” he replied.  “When he went back to his hometown in Johto, Sir Elder Trainer delivered me there, to be cared for by his family.  Eventually, once the Nature Loving Princess became a trainer, Sir Elder Trainer gave me to her as a present.”  He turned and grinned to Erika.  “I’ve never been happier.”

“Aw, thanks, Gin,” Erika replied.

“So, shall we continue?” Roxas asked, and everyone promptly agreed.  “Alright then.  So, you now know Naelia’s frame of mind, and why she became a Ninetales.

“Well, Naelia was definitely capable of taking care of herself.  When she ran away from us, she was somewhere in the late thirties region of her level, and therefore, she had a ton of experience that normal pokémon in the wild don’t have.  We know that she was fine throughout her ‘extended stay.’

“Tommy chased after her for two weeks, trying to find her any place he could.”  Roxas suddenly chuckled, which surprised the listeners, considering he was telling such a depressing story.  “What Gin didn’t mention was that we’d been in the Johto region for a few months now, and although it was Tommy’s home region, it was much easier to get lost there than in Kanto, where the cities are larger and the region is way more modern.  After those two weeks were up, Tommy couldn’t get back to the last town!”  Roxas started laughing loudly.  “You see, Naelia had left us in this huge forest, called Ilex, and we had chased after her from just outside of a town named Azalea Town.  Somehow, we ended up in the Ruins of Alph, over seventy miles away!”  It took several minutes for Roxas to calm down, because it seemed that particular memory was simply hilarious for him.

Finally, he stopped laughing and took several deep breaths.  “Ah, sorry guys,” he said, shaking with the leftover excitement.  “Good times, you know?”

“Definitely,” Ronnie replied.

“Well,” Roxas started again, “we didn’t see Naelia again for about a year.  When it finally came time for us to face the Johto Champion, one day, a pokémon using Flash came up to us in the Victory Road caves while Tommy was asleep.  We, meaning Tommy’s pokémon, all tensed up and got ready for a battle, since we were supposed to be guarding Tommy, his equipment, and the rest of the pokémon, but when the pokémon came around the corner, we all gasped.  Standing in front of us was a much more, er, ‘mature’ Naelia, with fire wreathed around her.  She just stared at us.”  Roxas then swallowed deeply, and stopped speaking.

Smort was now leaning almost completely off his cart.  “And then what?” he asked, his blobby hands up to his mouth.

“Don’t make any judgments, okay?” Roxas asked.  This sudden question surprised everyone, and Ronnie looked up to Lebasí for clarification, but he simply smiled down and nodded to her.  Lebasí then turned to Roxas and nodded to him, so the Leafeon nervously continued.  “Well, Naelia’s fire wreath increased in size, until it fully engulfed her, and then, it morphed and changed shape into this large oval that was roughly as tall as Tommy.  When the fire dispersed, Naelia stepped out of it, now in her human form.”

“WHAT?!” Ronnie, Smort, and Danni all screamed together.

“You see,” Gin spoke up, “those kitsune websites you were reading are actually pretty accurate.  We Ninetales’ have human forms, and can transform between appearing as humans and Ninetales very easily.”

“Are you serious?” Ronnie replied, almost falling off her chair to listen.  She had lost her focus on keeping her speech to English, and now she was speaking in only Ninetales dialect.

“I am quite serious,” the fox replied, suddenly growling and snorting indignantly.

Erika then spoke up.  “Gin, why don’t you give us a demonstration?”

“What, here?!” he replied immediately, almost roaring.  “I do NOT show off my other form for mere entertainment!  A Ninetales’ human form is a sacred thing, and is a secret we Ninetales hide securely.  My agreeing to explain all this to her is far enough!”

And then, Lebasí entered the conversation.  Gin, show Ronnie what Erika requests, or I will tell Roxas what you tried to pull on Ronnie earlier.

“What do you mean?” Roxas asked, while Gin’s eyes grew huge.

It is up to Gin if I am to reveal anything, Lebasí said, staring down pointedly at the Ninetales.

“Oh, fine then!” he exclaimed angrily.  Lebasí smirked, satisfied, while Ronnie and Roxas both gave the floating Abra confused looks.  “Give me just a minute,” Gin said, bringing the attention back to him.  He stared at the eyes of each of those watching him in turn, and then, quite suddenly, his body caught on fire.

“Aah!” Ronnie screamed, as the blaze took over and engulfed the fox’s entire form.  “What do we do?!” she asked frantically.

“We wait,” Erika replied simply, as Lebasí snickered overhead.

Slowly, the blaze elongated, and the fire swelled upwards to become a round sphere.  Then, just as slowly, the circle pressed inwards towards the middle until the blaze was a vertical cylinder.  Suddenly, with a grand, whooshing sound, the fire dispersed, and Ronnie was staring at the most grand, handsome, attractive man she had ever seen.

Gin blinked as he observed everyone.  He was now standing at roughly six feet in height, wearing a brilliantly white shirt and slacks, and he had pale white skin and blonde hair that was so soft in color that it also appeared white, and hung to the mid of his back.  The irises of his human eyes were red, and seemed to shimmer as he moved.  His facial features were gentle and smooth, and that, combined with his extremely pale skin and red eyes, made Gin’s human form appear to Ronnie as if he were an albino man who had spent his entire life indoors.  However, he was not without his own sense of human wonder and attraction.  He exuded a huge, overwhelming sense of confidence and strength, along with a mannerism that seemed to hint at some hidden wisdom in his masculinity.  Ronnie couldn’t help it.  She knew he was a pokémon, but she found herself imagining him as her boyfriend, and walking with him to places in Celadon, and then out to Route 7, and then, for some reason unknown to her, to places that she had never been, with big, sprawling trees that made a dense wooded forest.

Ronnie could barely sense her presence in the room that she had never left, but when she focused on Erika, she found that Erika had an oddly pleasing look on her face.  Gin, meanwhile, seemed to be becoming a bit uncomfortable, and he continued to look between Lebasí and Roxas’ watchful eyes.  And that’s when Ronnie noticed something she had never thought she’d ever see.  Lebasí was staring at Gin, his eyes wide open.

The shock Ronnie felt was so immense that she was brought immediately out of her daydreaming.  “Lebasí, y-you’re staring with your eyes open!” she gasped, barely able to get all the words out.

The Abra turned to Ronnie, smiling grandly.  And here I was, thinking that you would not be able to break out of the captivation yourself.

“What do you mean?”

Lebasí then turned to Erika.  Concentrate on her for me, will you?

Ronnie gave Lebasí a skeptical glance, but turned and stared at Erika’s blissful face.  Now what would shock the Nature-Loving Princess? Ronnie heard Lebasí think to himself.  “Ah, I know,” he finished aloud.  He turned to Smort.  “Are you ready to be a bit uncomfortable?”

“Huh?” the Grimer replied, but Lebasí didn’t give him a chance to complain.  Suddenly, Smort cried out as he was surrounded by Lebasí’s familiar purple aura, and he was levitated towards Gin.  Smort was then suddenly flung between the Gym Leader and her pokémon, and Erika cried in shock as a purple smear covered her vision for an instance.  Then, quite suddenly, Smort disappeared from view and reappeared on his cart.

Erika couldn’t help it.  She started crying.

Ronnie turned to her friend, full of concern.  “Oh, don’t be like that,” she said consolingly.  “Lebasí and Smort were just trying to help you.”  {But from what,} Ronnie thought to herself, {I have no clue.}

Erika stared back at her friend, trying to smile, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it.  “I know that they’re trying to help, Ronnie, but I’m still not ready for such a thing,” Erika said, burying her face in her hands.

Ronnie and Lebasí met eyes for a second, and they both agreed on the same idea.  Ronnie reached into her pack and pulled out the familiar pink Mind Plate.  “Here, Erika,” she said.  “Put your hand on this Mind Plate and rest it for a second.”  Ronnie then turned to Lebasí and nodded.  She had been meaning to manipulate Erika’s distressed feelings and settle them, so that her friend could calm down easily, but right when Lebasí linked his mental strength with hers, Gin came over and placed one of each of his hands on the girls’ shoulders.  “I’m sorry for any strange feelings I may have caused,” he apologized, as Ronnie placed her hand over Erika’s.  Gin patted Ronnie’s shoulder, and, in doing so, accidentally swept a finger on her neck…

Ronnie seized up, and then collapsed.  She was lying in the middle of a bunch of wrecked concrete, and she was sure that she could smell fresh grass and dirt.  She looked around.

Erika’s gym, the Celadon City Gym, was a total ruin.  People were running around, and pokémon were clashing in various areas.  There were a lot of people in black running away in the distance, leaving what was left of Erika’s gym, and Ronnie noticed that she was lying in the threshold of what was once the grass covered arena.  The roof was still intact, as were the stands for the visitors, but on the side of the stands where people cheering Erika would normally sit, Ronnie could see the dirt covered arena through a gaping hole in the bleachers.  “Wh-wha?” Ronnie murmured.  She felt thoroughly exhausted, and although she tried to stand, she couldn’t get her legs to hold her weight.

She suddenly felt hot breath behind her neck.  Ronnie immediately became frightened, and wanted to run, but her future self had no such thoughts.  She turned around slowly to face the unknown presence.  “Did we do it?” Ronnie’s future self asked tiredly, while trying to clearly make out the shadow’s features.

“I don’t know how, but it worked,” the other replied.  Ronnie was instantly comforted.  Although she couldn’t make out more than a vague silhouette, the voice she had heard was Gin’s.

Ronnie also felt her future self being calmed.  “Oh, that’s good…” she replied.  Then, Ronnie felt herself fall backwards.

“Whoa!” Gin called out, as he reached out and held her.  “I’m taking you to the hospital.”  He then lifted Ronnie up and carried her, and it was at that instance that Ronnie noticed Gin was still in his human form.

“Where’s Lebasí?” Ronnie asked, stifling a groan.

“He’s already been taken by the Nature Loving Princess.”  Gin then uttered a low growl.  “The attack took more of a toll on him than it did on you.”

“WHAT?!” Ronnie yelled, suddenly losing her exhaustion and jumping into a standing position.  “Where is he?!”

“R-Ronnie, you’re not healthy,” Gin replied shakily.

“I don’t care!  WHERE IS HE?!?!?!”

Gin stared at the heaving form of a very hysterical psychic trainer and decided that it was best to give in to her questioning.  “He’s in the Nature Loving Princess’ pokémon hospital,” he replied.

Ronnie immediately turned around and started sprinting towards what used to be the hallway overlooking the grounds.  She jumped through the broken window panes, using them as a shortcut to avoid the actual exit.  As she headed towards the hospital, she could see other people and pokémon, some with visible gashes and marks, and others simply holding themselves, trying to get to the Pokémon Center.  She sidestepped all of them, and, as she shoved her way past a couple of dejected looking trainers, she found herself crying, for no explainable reason.
Ronnie blinked rapidly as she came out of her reverie and found herself back in her room, but she was able to hide her moment quite well.  She had not stopped holding Erika’s hand, and so she continued to comfort her friend without saying anything.  However, she didn’t need to hide her attention, because she lost it rather quickly.

Lebasí dropped from the ceiling like a sandbag, and landed with a large THUMP!

“Lebasí!” Ronnie almost shrieked.  Everyone else turned to face the fallen Abra, who now had a small nosebleed from his small snout.  Ronnie ran over and knelt next to him.  She picked him up rather quickly, and held him in a huge, constricting hug.  “Are you ok?!”

“I was fine until you attacked me,” he replied, his voice muffled.

“Sorry,” Ronnie replied sheepishly, as she let go of him.

Lebasí hovered away from her, giving her a sour and slightly haggard look, with his eyes wide open.  He looked over himself, straightened out his fur, and then felt the blood trickling beneath his nose.  “Ow…” he mumbled, as he pressed the hurt part.  “I must have landed face first.”  He shook his head in disbelief, and then closed his eyes.

Ronnie heard a whooshing sound behind her, and turned to find that, while everyone was paying attention to the Abra, Gin had gone and turned back to his normal Ninetales form.  The Ninetales looked over at Ronnie and gave her a slightly pained look.  I’m sorry, he mouthed.  Ronnie just smiled to him and turned back to Lebasí.

All of Ronnie’s other pokémon, and even Erika, were asking Lebasí questions and were trying to figure out what had gone wrong.  None of them could believe that Lebasí, in his attempts to comfort Erika, could have possibly gotten himself that tired that quickly.  Lebasí just gave everyone a sour look and refused to answer any questions.

After the sixth “What happened to you,” Lebasí frowned deeply at everyone and shouted telepathically, LEAVE ME ALONE!!!  He then teleported away, and only Ronnie knew that he had disappeared to the tiny island in the middle of the lake.

Ronnie took several minutes, and then she contacted her upset Abra.  She didn’t try to figure out what had happened, but simply asked {Are you ok?}

I am fine, Lebasí grumbled.

A giggle entered Ronnie’s thought.  {Are you sure?}

Yes! Lebasí bitterly shouted.

{Ok, ok,} Ronnie whispered gently, {but you know that I need to make sure you were ok.  I couldn’t stand for you to be hurt, physically or emotionally.}

Lebasí paused for a long while, but Ronnie could feel that he was mulling over whether to speak or not.  Finally, after possibly several minutes, he thought, I apologize for being rude to you, your friend, and our friends.

{Our friends?}

The other pokémon, I am sure you know.  Ronnie could sense that Lebasí was grinning.

{Well, that would’ve been my guess,} the trainer replied cheekily.

Lebasí took another few moments to think before he responded.  I did not want to have a premonition.  I just desired to comfort Erika.

{I know.}

Well, what you do not know is that I had that premonition with you.  Lebasí’s grin was becoming larger in Ronnie’s mind.

{Oh, really?  But I didn’t see you.}

That is because I had my own separate premonition.

“What?” Ronnie asked loudly.  She noticed her other pokémon looking up at her.

You still need to learn to keep mental conversations in the mind.

{Sorry,} Ronnie thought sheepishly.

Well, as I said, I had my own premonition.  Ronnie could sense Lebasí becoming very thoughtful.

{Well, it’s not that big a deal, right?} Ronnie asked.  {I mean, you’ve had your own premonitions, I’m sure.}

No, Ronnie, I never have.  Ronnie suddenly felt a feeling exuding from Lebasí that she hadn’t felt before.  It was awe.  Not only do you have the unique power of divination, but you can also share it with those who do not have it.  That… is amazing…

The trainer blushed greatly at this.  {Oh, c’mon Lebasí, I’m not that big a deal.}

You are more strange than you realize.

{Hey!  That’s not a nice thing to say.}

Lebasí chuckled greatly at this.  His chuckling became louder, and soon, Ronnie had the sense that Lebasí was rolling all over the soft sand of the little lake’s island, engulfed in laughter.  Oh, Ronnie, you are still so simple-minded! Lebasí thought, full of mirth.

{Hey, that’s not nice either!  What are you trying to do, put me down?}

No, no, not at all.  Lebasí smiled, and then Ronnie felt that he was facing in her direction.  Look, return your attention to the others, and I will catch you up on my premonition at a later time.  For now, I will sleep.

{Fine,} Ronnie thought, and Lebasí lowered his connection with her to that of a casual observer.

Ronnie turned and watched her pokémon speaking lowly to each other, and then she looked over at Erika, who stared back at Ronnie apologetically.  “I-I’m so sorry,” she said.  “I didn’t mean to hurt your Abra, or insult him.  I just don’t like Grimers…”

Ronnie smiled as she realized that everyone still thought Lebasí hurt himself helping Erika.  “Don’t worry about anything.  You weren’t the cause for it at all.”

“Really?” Erika asked, and Ronnie was surprised at just how hopeful she appeared.

“Yes, really.”  Ronnie smiled and whispered quietly, “Lebasí and I just had a premonition.”

“Honestly?” Erika whispered back, full of curiosity.

“Yeah, but it was a really powerful one,” Ronnie murmured.  “I think that’s what hurt him.”

“Wow…” Erika said, starting off into space.  “This is amazing.”

Ronnie turned and looked over her pokémon in turn.  When she saw Roxas’ face, she gasped in realization.  “Hey, wait a minute!”  Ronnie focused on the Leafeon, who turned to her with bemusement across his face.  “What were you saying about Naelia and Tommy at the Victory Road?”

“Oh, right,” Roxas said, staring around for a second at his fellow pokémon, whose attention had turned back to him immediately.  “Um, well, let’s see…  Oh, right, Naelia transformed.”  Roxas looked back up to his trainer.  “Did you notice how you felt when Gin transformed?”

Ronnie and Gin both stared around uncomfortably, and Ronnie blushed as she said, “Yeah.”

“How did you feel?” Roxas asked directly.

Ronnie blushed even harder.  “Why do I have to say it?”

“You might as well,” Erika said.  Ronnie was surprised to hear her friend saying this.  “Ronnie,” Erika said comfortingly, “there’s no point denying it.  It happens to everyone who sees a Ninetales’ human form.”

“What does?” Danni asked, while Smort nodded encouragingly.

“Um, uh, well…” Ronnie started off, blushing heavily and full of embarrassment.  “Let’s just say that, well, I was… attracted… to him.”

“Ah, I see,” Danni said, nodding knowingly.  “You wanted him to be your mate.”

“Hey!” Ronnie yelled angrily, while Gin scowled at the Meowth.

“What?” Danni asked defensively.  “It’s true, right?”

Ronnie just stared at her pokémon, but she couldn’t deny the strange feelings she had received when staring at Gin as a human.

Erika put a comforting hand on Ronnie’s shoulder.  “Don’t worry about it,” she said.  “It happens to all humans who see a ‘human Ninetales’ of the opposite gender.”

“It’s another part of the kitsune legends,” Roxas added.  “They state that a human can’t fight off their feelings of lust for a kitsune, and, well, Ninetales do have very similar powers.”

Ronnie became very uncomfortable, and started to shift around a lot, but none of the other pokémon looked even remotely surprised.  “Ronnie,” Danni said kindly, “we all have these types of feelings.  It’s only natural.”

Roxas had no trouble sensing Ronnie’s discomfort, and he decided that, as a kindness to her, he would continue with the story.  “Well, what Naelia did in Victory Road was very simple.  She turned into her human form, approached Tommy, and woke him up.

“What she did next surprised us all, Tommy included.  Naelia, very slowly and very deliberately, held Tommy’s face and kissed him.”

“WHAT?!” Smort and Danni shouted, completely forgetting about Ronnie.

“Why did she do that?” Danni asked excitedly.

“Wh-what the heck-eck was she thinking-ing-ing?!” Smort sputtered, somewhat angrily.

“Calm down!” Roxas yelled.  “I said I didn’t want to have to explain myself.”  The other two pokémon became instantly quiet, and stared at Roxas, who looked over them slowly.  “That’s better.  Now, I can’t explain why Naelia did what she did, but it is common for Ninetales to gain affection for humans, considering their close relation to them.  For some reason, being alone from us all that time made Naelia realize how much she missed us, and especially how much she missed Tommy.

“Now, poor Tommy was still pretty young at this point, and he didn’t realize what exactly was happening.  All he knew was that this beautiful young woman had come over and kissed him for no apparent reason, so he didn’t think anything of it, until Elyiad went and tackled Naelia while Thornlam doused both the Ninetales and the trainer.  It was then that Tommy broke out of Naelia’s spell, while Naelia defensively transformed back into her Ninetales form.  Tommy was then able to see who exactly he had kissed.

“Of course, it goes without saying that Tommy freaked out quite a bit.  That was the first time I had ever heard him with a foul mouth.”  Roxas stared away at some random spot, frowning.  “Tommy’s not one to lose his cool, but he sure did that time.  He freaked out so much that he ran the opposite way a short distance, spitting out his mouth and kicking the rock walls of the cave.  He hurt Naelia’s feelings deeply.  She started crying and turned to run the other way, but then Tommy shouted ‘You’re not leaving us again!’ and withdrew her into her poké ball.”

Roxas sighed heavily.  “After that, Tommy calmed down.  He turned to stare at each of us, and we all just stared back at him, surprised at how he had reacted.  Ely and Thornlam had attacked Naelia simply because they had wanted her to ‘snap out of it,’ but Tommy had been altogether a totally different being.  We were all, for the first time in our lives as his pokémon, scared of him.  We were scared to be near Tommy.”  Roxas then shook his head sadly.  “That was the only time he ever broke down like that, but from then on, we knew that even Tommy had his dark side.

“Well, that was something in itself.  We made it out of Victory Road, went to the Pokémon League entrance gates, and went to the large Pokémon Center that is housed there.  Tommy checked us into the hotel that is also housed there, and then he asked for a private training room.  When we were there, he let us out, and after telling us to make sure that nothing bad happens and to keep an eye on her, he let out Naelia.

“She was obviously distraught.  There were large tear stains on her fur, and she couldn’t stop hiccupping and coughing.  The first thing Tommy did when he released Naelia was he kneeled down and hugged her tightly, which was a surprise to her and us.  But then, Tommy sat down at her eye level and, very straightforwardly, told her that what she had done was not acceptable and that she could never do it again.

“This was all well and good, and Naelia agreed easily enough, to our surprise, but the Pokémon League’s training rooms are in large amounts, with tons of trainers outside of them in the hallways.  They’re not as nice as the ones in Erika’s Gym, because they’re open to the general public.  Therefore, they were not soundproof, and it’s my firm belief that it was there at that time that the rumors of Tommy and his Ninetales having an ‘immoral relationship’ were created.  All it takes is a little misinterpretation for these things to get started.”  Roxas sighed heavily, and took a moment to catch his breath.

Ronnie, Danni, and Smort all stared around at each other uncomfortably.  “Wow,” Ronnie mumbled, “I had no idea…”

“Everyone has their faults,” Smort said lowly.  “It’s what they do with them that define who they are.  Tommy tried to forgive Naelia, and in return, a scandal was created.  But he’s handled it with grace.”

Everyone turned to face the Grimer, who appeared very depressed, and even Danni couldn’t think of a smart comeback for that wise statement.  But then, Roxas coughed a little before continuing, and everyone turned to face him again.  “As Naelia and Tommy were becoming slightly friendly again, Tommy decided that it would be a good idea for us all to take a large break.  We stayed at the Indigo Plateau for about three months, not training nor doing anything of that sort.  In that time span, Tommy and Naelia were able to set some clear boundaries for each other, and Tommy allowed Naelia to transform into a human for him while being under the careful watch of all of his pokémon, especially Yent, a Girafarig who had been with us during our time in Johto.  Yent kept Naelia’s power under control, and she and Tommy were able to have calm, rational conversations with each other.”

“So, even though Tommy didn’t know Naelia as a Ninetales, he could understand her?” Danni asked inquisitively.

“Oh, that was not the case,” Gin responded for Roxas.  “When us Ninetales are in human form, we speak human languages.”

“Really?” Ronnie asked, intrigued.

“You did not notice?” Gin asked, equally intrigued.

“Ronnie can’t tell when she’s speaking English or as a pokémon,” Roxas explained to his nephew.  “It all just sounds like English to her.”

“Oh, how interesting…” Gin said, as his attention drifted.

“Since Naelia could speak with Tommy,” Roxas continued, “she was able to tell him a lot of things about us that he didn’t understand.”  The Leafeon turned to Ronnie.  “I suppose it would be appropriate to compare this stage of Naelia and Tommy’s relationship to yours and Lebasí’s, Ronnie.  She taught him many things about our personal lives, just like Lebasí taught you.”

“I see,” Ronnie replied briskly.

“So, it came to a point that, even after Tommy and his main team took on and defeated the Johto Elite Four, Naelia spent a lot of her time as a human.  Tommy became used to her presence, and her alluring powers no longer had any effect on him.  There were several rumors going around about the strange, new woman in the young trainer’s life, but nobody ever thought that this woman, who called herself “Lydia,” could ever be Tommy’s long lost Ninetales, who had made a singular appearance at Indigo Plateau before disappearing again.

“After spending almost a year’s worth of time in relaxation after becoming the Johto champion, Tommy decided that he wanted to go take on the Hoenn Region’s Pokémon League.  Many of us were excited to go along with him, although honestly, I can’t say I was too thrilled.”  Roxas smiled happily at this moment.  “Elyiad and I wanted to take some time to be left together in relaxation, and since she had taken on both Pokémon Leagues, whereas I had not, she was very ready to take a break.  So, we stayed at Tommy’s old home in Violet City, on a piece of empty land that he had bought for his pokémon, and that many of us still live on today.”  Roxas then nodded at Gin.  “We actually stayed there with Gin for a while.”

“I was very happy to see Mother again, as you can imagine,” Gin said, grinning.

“Naelia transformed back into a Ninetales while at Tommy’s pokémon ranch,” the Leafeon said, “and that was the last time she ever transformed, as far as I can gather.  The only other who’d know of any times after that would be Tommy himself, and none of us really want to ask him, as you can imagine.  After that, Naelia remained Tommy’s ever-loyal Ninetales, and became Tommy’s main fire type pokémon again.”

Roxas then looked over at his audience.  “Well, as you can now tell, I was not present when Naelia died, nor was Gin.  We don’t personally know what happened.  However, we do know a couple of things thanks to a certain pokémon.”  Roxas closed his eyes and took a deep, long breath before continuing.  “Safelíara saw a lot of what happened that fateful night.  She knows more than Tommy realizes.”

“Safelíara?” Ronnie asked curiously.  “She holds the key to everything?”

“Yes.”  Roxas slyly grinned and looked between Erika, Danni, Smort, and finally, Ronnie.  “As you can imagine, it can be, er, ‘difficult’ to have a conversation with Felí sometimes, but she said enough for us to know what she knew.

“That fateful night, on Route 119 between the Weather Institute and Fortree City, Naelia and Safelíara were on guard duty to watch over Tommy’s equipment and the other pokémon.  Naelia had taken to nestling close to Tommy whenever he slept and, because all Ninetales have ghostly powers, she was able to keep this a secret from Tommy.  She still had very deep feelings for him, whether he realized this or not.”  Roxas sighed lightly.

“So,” he continued, “Naelia was very close to Tommy’s physical form that night.”  Suddenly, Roxas looked up at Erika, and then back at Gin, before finally turning to Ronnie and her other pokémon.  “Oh, I forgot the most important legend!!!”

“Of what?” Ronnie asked.

“Of the kitsunes, of course!” answered Roxas, who shook his head while wearing a small grin on his muzzle.  He turned to his nephew.  “Gin, please explain about the tails.”

“Oh!” Gin and Erika replied together.  Danni grinned a little at this.

“There is a legend behind touching a Ninetales’ nine tails,” Gin said.  “The legend says that when a person, especially a human, touches one of a Ninetales’ tails, that human will be cursed to eternity.  It is the same behind the kitsune legends.”  Gin took a moment to chuckle before continuing.  “There are many variations on the legend, but the one that is most accurate is that a Ninetales’ ‘curse’ is either benevolent or malevolent.”

“So, there are good and evil Ninetales?” Ronnie asked.

“That is not the point,” Gin answered.  “Sure, every creature has its evil beings, as well as its kind ones, but for the purpose of the curse, that is not so.  What the benevolence/malevolence thing means is that when a being touches the tail of the Ninetales, they will either be blessed with wonderful things, or they will be cursed with horrid things.  Now, we Ninetales do not control what kind of curse is laid upon the victim.  We simply are either purely benevolent in our curses, or purely malevolent.”

“Then, in theory,” Smort though aloud, “any particular Ninetales only has one kind of curse?”

“That is correct,” Gin replied.

“So basically, if you have a benevolent curse, no matter who touches you, they’ll have good things happen, and if you have a malevolent curse, no matter who touches you, bad things will happen?” Danni asked, continuing Smort’s thinking.

“You are right on the money,” Gin said, smiling to the Meowth.

“Oh, thanks,” Danni said coyly.  Ronnie and Smort chuckled.

Roxas nodded approval to his nephew, and then continued.  “Unfortunately, Naelia had a malevolent curse upon her tails.”  He took a moment to look each of his audience members in the eye before continuing.  “She was lying alongside Tommy, nestled against him even though she wasn’t sleeping, and Safelíara was keeping watch alongside Naelia.

“As Safelíara watched, a bright light flashed across the sky, and then, she and Naelia were staring straight into the eyes of a different pokémon.  This pokémon was, as Felí described, ‘dark as dark can be, with a white plume atop his head and one visible, deeply penetrating blue eye.’  He stared deeply at the two of them, and then faced Tommy.  ‘That’s him,’ he said, and then he demanded that Naelia and Safelíara move aside so that he could eradicate Tommy.”

Roxas’ audience gasped largely at this, all except Erika and Gin, who both turned to stare at each other uneasily.  Danni gazed up at the Leafeon.  “Why did this pokémon want to kill Tommy?”

Roxas stared back down at the Meowth.  “From what Felí said, this pokémon accused Tommy of murdering his cub, or child, over in Sinnoh.  However, Tommy had never been to Sinnoh at that time, and both Naelia and Felí tried to explain to him that he was incorrect.

“Well, they were unsuccessful, and the pokémon was ‘beyond powerful,’ in Felí’s eyes.  He simply waved an arm, and both Naelia and Felí were thrown aside.”  Roxas took another moment to eye his audience, and he couldn’t help grinning when he saw how engrossed they were, especially Smort, who looked as if he might fall off his cart in anticipation.  “This is where it gets tricky.  Felí says that after that happened, she turned around ready to wake Tommy up, and warn him to get all the pokémon released so they could fight this ‘thing.’  However, the pokémon was already charging an attack, and was about to release it.

“Don’t forget about Naelia’s deep feelings for Tommy.  According to Felí, Naelia did something that ‘one would only do for the deepest love.’  As the pokémon released his attack, Naelia screamed and charged her body in front of Tommy.

“What happened next, not even Felí knows.  All she remembers at that point was that there was a flash of both deep blue and light pearlescent pink, and then, darkness.  She took a moment to blink, and as her eyes readjusted, the pokémon was gone and Tommy was screaming as if he were having a mental fit.

“Felí turned to view her trainer, and gasped in fear at what she saw.  Naelia was slumped over Tommy’s body, and her tails were lying on his face.  She flew over and pushed Naelia’s body off of Tommy, but the damage had already been done, and, as she watched, Tommy started growing out his hair.  But even as his hair grew longer, nine individual areas grew bright white, and since then, Tommy has had the hair he has now.”

It took several moments for Ronnie, Danni, and Smort to gather their feelings for what they had just learned.  Roxas took a moment to survey their faces, and then sighed before lying down with his head between his paws.  Danni then asked what everyone else already knew.  “S-so, then, was that wh-when Naelia… perished?”

“That is when it happened,” the Leafeon somberly replied.

Suddenly, Gin gasped, and everyone watched as he left the room.  Erika got up and quickly followed him, and then, after several tense minutes, returned holding a poké ball.  “He needs a moment to collect himself,” the Gym Leader explained.

Nobody could think of anything to reply.