Chapter 17

Although Cream and Dark Growlithe’s travels were taking them further and further from Ninetales and her pack, she was still weighing very much on Dark Growlithe’s thoughts. It had been a few days of travelling since Dark Growlithe had told Cream his story and although she had been shocked and unnerved, the feelings had faded to the back of her mind.

“Wow!” was all Cream could mutter in awe as she stared in the direction of the sunrise.

The landscape had slowly been changing as the two pokémon travelled away from their homeland and was now a completely alien, yet startlingly beautiful, world. The ground had once been flat, except for the mountain range through which the river flowed, but now consisted of hundreds upon thousands of rolling hills and valleys tucked closely together. The hills’ peaks broke the sun’s light into long shafts that passed over the deep valleys, mottling the surface of the earth. Further enhancing the beauty was the thick jungle that was now beginning to claim dominion. Cream’s eyes roamed over visually impenetrable jungles in various hues of green, speckled with bright fruits and sweet-smelling flowers.

“Hey, Growly! You’ve got to see this!” enthused Cream, rushing to where Dark Growlithe was still dozing under a bush for shelter.

“What is it?” he asked, blinking sleepily.

“We’ve reached a huge forest!”

“Isn’t that where you heard the jolteon was? In a jungle?” asked Dark Growlithe.

Cream nodded, “But come see it!”

Dark Growlithe finally dragged himself up and followed Cream to her vantage point. The two stared out in wonder at the expansive and unknown wilderness.

“Isn’t it amazing?” asked Cream breathlessly.

“It is,” agreed Dark Growlithe, his heart lifting from the wonderful sight, “But we still need breakfast.”

“I know. There must be plenty of food in there though.”

“Then let’s go. I’m hungry. We’ve done nothing but travel for the last couple of days.”

“Don’t you want to wait a bit? It’s such a beautiful sight.”

“I see a more beautiful sight every morning,” bragged Dark Growlithe, tenderly nuzzling Cream’s neck as she blushed. “Now let’s go.”

*****

With a groan, Bandit stretched his stiff limbs, cracking them, before stepping out of Ninetales’ warm den in to the chilly morning air. Ninetales’ pack was almost entirely female now, as many more males had been killed off. Each killing making every other male even more determined to escape, even some of the females were getting restless and Ninetales’ had had to resort to sending a small pack of females to go out and locate males to force into the pack. The ultra-loyal Vulpix Squad had increased in size from six to ten and were even tougher now. Three of the Vulpix Squad were hunting for males.

“Ninetales is having a drink but will be back shortly,” a flareon informed Bandit.

He nodded. Here he received the respect he deserved. It lessened the blow to his pride that was caused by his looks. Before, Bandit had been a rather attractive eevee but now, with half of his fur burned away and his body covered in scabs from his painful flight through the trees he was ugly. Bandit rested on a rock and smiled inwardly as food was brought to him. If he co-operated with Ninetales he could have anything he wanted. He already had respect and he would soon have revenge on Dark Growlithe for everything he’d done. His doubts about the way he’d lived his life that he’d experience while wounded in the forest were all forgotten in his burning desire for revenge.

*****

Cream had listened to Dark Growlithe’s criticisms on her hunting and stalking and had acted upon them. She was now moving silently through the thick undergrowth of the jungle. The damp plant life was making Dark Growlithe decidedly uncomfortable and he was also finding it harder to move his larger body through gaps in the foliage. In between the two hunters stood a pikachu, happily munching on berries, unaware soon it would be the one being munched on. Cream was closest to the pikachu and led the attack. She sprung out of her hiding spot using quick attack, scattering leaves around her. Pikachu was used to being hunted and counter-attacked with his own quick attack. The two met in mid-air. Cream was knocked off balance but her teeth still scraped the pikachu’s arm, drawing blood. Dark Growlithe barked and jumped at Pikachu from behind. Pikachu swung blindly with his tail, catching Dark Growlithe on the cheek with a stinging blow and at the same time sending a painful shot of volts into the fire dog. Dark Growlithe’s vision went white then spotty from the shock. His muscles froze, paralysed, and he shot over Pikachu and tumbled through the berry bush and out of sight. Cream let out a cry of anger and tackled Pikachu, pinning him up against a tree. He grabbed her chest with a paw to try and fend her off, as she strained to get her teeth around his neck. Pikachu let out another electric shock. Unfortunately for him he was almost totally empty and the attack didn’t do any real damage to Cream only gave her a nasty shock. The two fell next to each other, Cream from the attack and Pikachu from the exhaustion after running out of electricity. Quick as a flash Cream recovered and bit Pikachu’s neck.

“Pika!”

One good bite shut him up and ended his life. Cream was elated. She had caught breakfast.

“Growly?” she called, licking the blood off her lips.

There was no answer.

“Growly?”

She dragged the pikachu carcass with her to where she’d last seen Dark Growlithe. Peering through the bush she saw that behind it there was a steep slope, leading to a rocky stream at the bottom. Dark Growlithe was lying motionlessly on the stones.

*****

“Now where exactly can I find Dark Growlithe?” asked Ninetales.

“You go through the forest, sticking against the mountain until you come to a small gap. If you go through that gap you’ll get to the vaporeon pack’s territory. That’s where Dark Growlithe is,” answered Bandit.

“There’s no way we can fight against vaporeon,” stated a member of the Vulpix Squad, “We’d have a type disadvantage. We wouldn’t withstand more than two attacks … even if we’re lucky.”

“I know that, fool,” snapped Ninetales, “I’ve been around a lot longer than you.”

The vulpix, a new member to the squad, immediately apologised while the more experienced members laughed to themselves.

“Queen?” asked one vulpix sweetly.

“What?”

“We could always kidnap a baby eevee and hold it for ransom. They wouldn’t risk a child and you could get Dark Growlithe.”

“That won’t work,” argued Bandit, “Eevee aren’t allowed outside without a vaporeon accompanying them. They remain in the pack boundaries. Only when learning to hunt do eevee ever leave.”

“And you can’t go in,” said Ninetales, “Because you killed another eevee, correct?”

“Dawn. Yes.”

“But Dark Growlithe goes out occasionally?”

“I don’t know how much he’ll go out now. The reason he went out was to train some of the eevee. Most will have left now and he’ll be starting with a younger group.”

An uncomfortable silence descended in Ninetales’ den. She knew where Dark Growlithe was but she didn’t have a way to get him.

“What I need is a way in,” muttered Ninetales, “Something he won’t suspect and something the vaporeon will allow in.”

“Queen Ninetales! There’s an unknown mightyena and pup approaching.”

“Bring them here,” ordered Ninetales, “I want to know what they’re doing here.”

*****

Cream risked injury, sliding and jumping down the slippery slope to get to Dark Growlithe as quick as possible. She darted to his side; her heart was hammering in her chest. She only hoped he was alright.

“Growly?” she whispered, nudging him gently.

He didn’t respond but Cream noted with relief that he was breathing. She quickly checked him over. He wasn’t bleeding anywhere but his right hind leg was at a very odd and painful-looking angle. Cream hoped it wasn’t broken. Now she needed to take him somewhere to recover and to protect their food from another hungry pokémon. Dark Growlithe was heavy compared to Cream and it took a lot of effort for her to move him a safe distance from the stream’s rapidly flowing water. There was no way she’d be able to drag him back up the hillside to the pikachu carcass so she made her way back up, almost slipping down twice, to retrieve their hard-earned food.

After rolling it down to Dark Growlithe she took a moment to observe her surroundings. She spied what looked like a good hiding hole a little way away. Steeling herself, she took hold of Dark Growlithe, being careful not to injure him with her sharp teeth, and began to drag him to the hole. It was exhausting work for a small eevee and when she finally made it was a devastating blow to realise that it wouldn’t serve her purpose. For her alone it would have been fine but it would be a squeeze to fit Dark Growlithe in and furthermore the mouth of the cave was too high for Cream to lift Dark Growlithe up to. Disappointed, Cream carried the pikachu to the cave mouth and collapsed. She was hot and sweaty. The jungle was very humid and she was unused to it.

“Uhh…”

Cream looked at Dark Growlithe, he was stirring.

“What’s going on?” he asked after he woke up.

Cream cuddled up tightly to his chest, tears of happiness flowing silently through her fur.

“You fell during the battle,” she explained bravely, “I dragged you here because I saw this cave but it isn’t a good cave.”

“That’s alright,” he comforted, shifting position slightly, “Ow!”

“What is it?”

“My leg,” he grimaced.

“I haven’t had time to examine it yet but it could be broken.”

Dark Growlithe said nothing but breathed heavily, waiting for the pain to pass.

“We have to get you some shelter,” decided Cream, taking charge.

“You’re right,” agreed Dark Growlithe.

Closing his eyes and gritting his teeth he forced himself up to all fours. His body was aching from bruises he sustained during his tumble and the pain in his injured leg almost caused him to collapse; only Cream’s immediate support kept him up. It scared her to feel Dark Growlithe shaking and unable to support himself, in her view he was so strong.

“I’ll help you,” she said, “We’ll just have to wander until we find a place we can stay.”

Cream reached out and gripped the pikachu in her jaws before beginning to slowly help Dark Growlithe move.

*****

One member of the Vulpix Squad and two houndour went to confront the two dark pokémon. To their surprise it was a male mightyena and his son, a poochyena.

“Stop where you are!” commanded Vulpix, “This is Queen Ninetales’ territory.”

“That’s good,” answered Mightyena, not even slowing, “I’m looking for her.”

“Stop him,” Vulpix ordered the two houndour.

The smaller dogs growled and rushed Mightyena. Poochyena dropped behind his dad who simply head butted the one in the side, sending it yelping and sliding away, and blasted the other one with a shadow ball, knocking it out. Vulpix snarled savagely and used flamethrower. The flames all passed over Mightyena as he ducked. Vulpix then tried to get closer by using quick attack but Mightyena used feint, and reappeared, pinning Vulpix to the ground with one of his large paws. He picked the protesting fox up by her tail and flung her over his shoulder at the houndour that he’d head-butted. The two pokémon’s skulls collided hard and both of them were knocked out, Vulpix lying upside down on houndour, her white belly shining in the sunlight.

“Come, Puki,” called Mightyena.

Ninetales’ other pack members had seen the fight and called her urgently. Ninetales came out angrily, ready to fight but when she saw Mightyena she relaxed.

“It’s you,” she called to him, “It’s been a while.”

“I’m glad you remember me,” he called back, “I have a favour to ask you.”

*****

Cream had found a suitable place for Dark Growlithe to stay and the two were feasting on the dead pikachu. Because of the slow travelling the meat had stiffened and was cold but it was still food. After the unlucky pikachu was nothing but a mound of bones and some stray clumps of fur Cream gave Dark Growlithe a proper and thorough check.

“Nothing’s broken,” said Cream with relief, “But I think your leg is dislocated.”

“Makes sense,” agreed Dark Growlithe, looking at his sore and unresponsive leg, “Do you know how to put it back in?”

“Not really,” admitted Cream, “I’ve heard a bit about it but not much.”

“That’s okay. It shouldn’t be that difficult, you just need to shove it back into the joint. It’ll be hard and you’ll need to ignore any noise I make because it’s going to be painful.”

Cream gulped and nodded. She carefully felt through the layers of muscle and cushioning fat on Dark Growlithe’s leg until she knew where all the bones were and was sure she had his leg properly lined up. It was horrible work, every touch of her paws on his leg sent a fresh wave of excruciating pain coursing through his body, causing him to whimper and moan. Cream knew it had to be done though and so braced herself before pushing with all her strength. Dark Growlithe’s cries of pain echoed through the surrounding jungle and tore at Cream’s heart as she pushed his joint where she was pretty certain it was supposed to go. She was torn in two, knowing this was for the best but also wondering whether she was pushing correctly, if she made a mistake she would be putting Dark Growlithe through so much pain unnecessarily. Luckily she felt his leg snap back into the joint under her paws and that one feeling flooded her with relief as Dark Growlithe quietened down to only a low whimper as the pain dissipated. Cream curled up against his chest, the stressful operation had drained her even further today and it was still morning.

“Thank you,” said Dark Growlithe, “I couldn’t have done that without you.”

Cream filled with pride at his words and felt him move his head and his warm tongue stroke the top of her head.

*****

Ninetales, Mightyena, Puki and Bandit were seated together in Ninetales’ cave. Puki had considered playing with Bandit but was put off by Bandit’s damaged appearance. Bandit was pretty pissed off by this but it was probably better that Puki didn’t have any involvement with Bandit.

“I see you’ve got a child now,” observed Ninetales, talking to Mightyena, “I guess that means you found someone other than me.”

“I did,” replied Mightyena, “A younger female. But I’m sure you’re used to that sort of thing. An old relic like you.”

A dark look came over Ninetales' features, “Just for your information Ninetales don’t age.”

“So you looked like an old fox even when you were young?” taunted Mightyena.

“Where’s your mate now? She left you?”

’Twas now Mightyena’s turn to get upset, “She was captured by humans.”

“Is that your story? So why have you come back to me? I’ve got eyes for another. A younger dog.”

“Good for you,” said Mightyena sarcastically. “No, not exactly. I have no interest in you as a mate. My mate’s still alive and I’m going to get her back but I can’t do that with Puki. He might get hurt or captured as well.”

“Go on.”

“I want you to look after Puki for me. As a favour for old times. Will you do it? Just until I rescue my mate. Then I’ll take him back and leave you alone.”

“Why should I do it? You can’t offer me anything.”

“Don’t be like this Ninetales. How many of those little vulpix out there are mine? I’ve already given you payment. Members of your pack and some good nights in the past.”

“Not the best nights ever. I didn’t tell you about-“

Mightyena cut her off with a warning growl, “Not while my son is present. When I get back I also want him completely unharmed.”

“Protective, eh? Whatever are you talking about? Harmed?”

“Sure you’re just an innocent pokémon. I’ve heard the stories, Ninetales. I know what happens to the males in your pack. Don’t forget I was with you for a while.”

“Oh, stop panicking. I won’t do anything to your son, nor will any of my pack.”

“You swear?”

“I’ll swear by one of my tails,” answered Ninetales.

This satisfied Mightyena. Everybody knew that Ninetales had magic tails and to swear by their tails and break the oath would almost certainly result in death.

“Then I’ll be back when I have my mate,” Mightyena then turned to Puki, “Alright, son. Ninetales will take care of you. Listen to what she says. I’ll be back with Mommy shortly. I love you, son.”

“I love you too, Dad,” answered Puki sadly, “Bring Mommy back.”

Mightyena nuzzled Puki one last time then left.