[Pokémon] Lupine (PG/One-Shot)

This is an older short story I wrote for Halloween a few years ago. It's not so much scary as opposed to just dark...


Rating: PG for some violence, coarse language, and weird humor
Disclaimer: As a fan writer, I own no part of the Pokémon franchise, its subsidies, etc. This piece is an original fanfic based on Nintendo's series, though the characters and settings are my own.

The forest was always peaceful at twilight. With the waning of the sun, the creatures whom were about during the day always hid from us. For this, I do not blame them. After all, we are wolves. It is our time. At least, that is how I liked to remember it.

That one evening was amongst the quietest I'd ever known. There were no sounds to be heard for miles around, none but those of Father and I as we trekked down one of the deep paths away from our den.

Of our clan's members, Father was by far the strongest. A beast whose stature easily cleared six feet, his body was clad in chain mail save the helmet covering his brow and upper maw to part of the back of his head, the protective shell covering his torso and part of the his abdomen's backside, and the areas from his hind legs back that were bare. The part of his form that was unexposed was very muscular. But it saddens me that this regal creature I had never truly seen, only sensed.

His silence as we walked this eve I found somewhat unnerving. Not unusual considering that I didn't get as much attention as my siblings, but since we were here by ourselves the least he could have done was stuck up some conversation.

"Father? Where are we going?" I finally asked.

"Somewhere special… And we are nearly there," he replied. His was a stern bass. Comparatively, my voice was far less robust yet hinted gruffness.

I had always considered myself somewhat of an oddity amongst my brethren. The last to mature and still blind afterwards, I felt as though Father never much cared for me. This seemed to confirm it, but he did say this was somewhere special. And he insisted that only we go together tonight. I was more than elated to be here with him!

After a few moments, the rugged beast ahead of me stopped. I walked up to his side and sensed around the area before us.

It was a fairly open grove with little shrubbery between the trees surrounding it on all sides. The air also seemed to be completely still, not even a gentle breeze blew here. I found it a little disturbing because of that…

Yet, I found myself ambling slowly into the copse. As I did, I felt the presence of something as it sat perched in the trees above. I couldn't tell what the creature was in its entirety, just that it was a tall biped with what I took to be a long and bushy tail. There was no malice I sensed from it, only inquisition.

"Father? What is this place?" I asked as I reached the center of the field.

I heard the shifting links of his mail as he came up behind me. Then, the long metal talons attached to a ring around the pads of each forepaw that arced out several inched in front of his toes seemed to make a sound like they were rubbing against each other. Strange… Was he sharpening them before we went hunting tonight?

Turning about, the solitary eyeball on my mask seemed to focus on the glower Father was making from across the way. Next, I felt a shockwave of hatred emanate from him.

"Once a generation, a traitor emerges. He whose thoughts are impure…one who questions the sacred bylaws that dictate the pack's actions. It is these whom must be disposed," Father stated as he began to come towards me slowly, "Like my father before me, I will slay the bastard child that dares to question my authority!"

The large wolf began to charge at me. I started to run. But, within seconds, I felt the three of his razors digging into my back!

"For you, Lord Arceus heralds no mercy, cur!" he howled at me. I turned slightly, sensing his jaws open wide. This was it!

I heard something clang with his helmet just then. A stick?

"Enough!" a man barked. Then, I felt Father's paw and claws lift from my back.

That other creature I'd just sensed had forced him off me. But who was it?

"What are you doing?" Father roared at his attacker as I stood up.

"Cairo, get out of here!" the beast shouted at me.

I wasted no time dashing headlong into the forest ahead. There was no way I would ever look back. My savior, whomever he was, was on his own.

"Son of a…! He was supposed to die!" I heard Father shout. The sound of his voice carried far and very quickly. It easily scared the birds that were resting in the trees all around.

I ran for a while before coming to a small ditch concealed by the base of an immense oak tree. Surely, I would be safe here while I tried to contemplate just why Father wanted me dead.

It made little sense… I had always been loyal to the pack. There were some times when Father paid more attention to my brothers that I had questioned whether or not he'd loved me, but then Mother reassured me that he did. Were those few negative thoughts truly enough to call for my execution?

The slashes down my back were throbbing a lot! They were really painful, but didn't seem to be that deep. I had to take care of them.

Sensing the area, there didn't appear to be any types of fruit-bearing plants around. Only some bushes, shrubs, and several oaks and pine trees were nearby.

Saliva would have to suffice until I found Oran berries or something to eat. I immediately got into a position so I could course the wounds with my tongue. After making a few quick licks, I heard something rustling in the bushes a couple meters away.

From what I detected, the creature was a bit shorter than I and seemed disfigured… Its head was overall rounded, though it possessed a narrow elongated mouth with a lower jaw that seemed to be half-hinged or maybe broken. The mammal had a trapezoidal right ear that was missing a small portion near its top, while the left part of its head was missing and some of its brain exposed to the air. With a chest that protruded away from its abdomen and skin tight against its pelvis, this thing was literally a walking corpse, quite a surprise considering how bony its legs were. What manner of Pokémon could this be?

"Dinner…" the creature uttered as it climbed through the plant.

"If you value your life, stay your ground!" I ordered, standing up.

"Dinner…" it continued as it slowly made its way towards me. Step by step, it seemed to gawk at me more with its large blank eyes.

After it was in the clearing more, I used Confusion to force him back. Landing on its back, the demon immediately bounced back to its feet by using its long vertebrae-formed tail like a spring.

"Dinner… Want dinner…" it again muttered. Why didn't my attack phase it?

"Get back!" I growled.

"Dinner… Want… Friend?"

The zombie stopped a few feet from me and hunched over slightly. I folded my ears back and started to snarl.

"Who are you?" I asked it.

"Oposombie… Friend want dinner?"

"What?"

"Dinner. Want dinner. Doggy…friend. Find dinner. Share?"

"You want me to find food and share it with you? Why would I do that? We just met."

"I kill you, you don't. No problem make dead doggy. Twin Lancing work good," Oposombie replied as he raised his scrawny arms and wiggled the three stubby fingers with long claws he had on each paw.

I rolled my eye just then. There was no possible way this creature could…

Suddenly, the possum was on top of my back with his arms wrapped tightly around my neck. The points of his index claws were also against my throat, and were about to puncture the skin.

"Kill doggy? Make dead? Make like me? Or find dinner? You choice," he whispered in my ear as he pressed them harder.

"Alright! But first we have to run," I barked, readying to make a dash. Oposombie lessened his grip and dropped off.

Just then, there was a terrible howl. There was no mistaking it. Father was almost here…and he was calling for more of the pack!

I stood there, shaking violently. They said that his Eerie Bay was enough to completely terrify the bravest of Pokémon, making them completely immobile until he struck them down. This only confirmed the rumor…

"Doggy! Why scare?" Oposombie asked as he stood back up. How could he just shirk something like that off like it was nothing?

"Listen. My father just tried to kill me a short while ago, and now he's coming to finish what he started. We have to get out of here now!"

"Doggy not run, though. Scare easy? Me help doggy." Oposombie sat on the ground, hunched over, and started to dig. Within a split second or so, he'd disappeared into a small-sized hole.

"Want live? Come me!" he then ordered.

"I can't fit!" I replied. There was no way I could get though that! And my digging skills were simply atrocious…

"Hold breath."

"What?" I felt my body starting to sink into the dirt just then. I started to struggle, but only sank more quickly. Before my head was completely submerged in the earth, I took a deep breath and shut my maw tightly.

I kept sinking for a long moment before finally landing on something solid underground. Sensing that I was in a large tunnel with Oposombie, I immediately exhaled and took several breaths. The air was musty and smelled of rot, but that was probably due to the dead possum's decayed body.

"Hiding spot good. No one find me and doggy here," Oposombie commented.

"Where is this?"

"Cave made Diglett and Dugtrio once. Oposombie find when leave," he continued, turning around, "Outlet! You follow." Then, he started moving forward.

After a few seconds, I began to follow. There was no telling just where he was going to lead me, just as long as I could elude Father and my brothers.

<End Lupine>