Fate, Cruel Fate

Saffire twitched his nostrils. The scent was familiar to him. Very familiar. He delved deep into the recesses of his mind, and remembered a Vixen...

... Surefire....

He had loved her, had he? He could not remember, but he remembered that he had promised her something. Why could he not remember what it was?

Feeling helpless, he looked imploringly at Rage and Hotstreak. Rage returned the look, puzzled. 'It smells of fire, almost like the Vulpix back in the cave ...' she broke off shivering, even though there was no breeze.

There was something wrong, something very bad with the scent of Surefire. "I fear whomever it is is suffering from the disease."

'I hope not,' the Frost replied. 'This virus must be spreading faster than I thought.'

The Ninetails flicked his ears. "Well, friends, are we ready for another one? Because I fear this is one I must face alone. This one is known to me... And I must be the one to face her."

Autumn noticed Hotstreak's ears twitch at that statement. 'If you would prefer to, we will wait a short distance away.'

"Please," he replied. "for if I must complete the task I have been asked, I feel I shall need you afterward." It was with heavy paws he padded through the trees, following a scent that he had barely glimpsed a scent of on the breeze.

'I wonder who this she is?' Autumn asked thoughtfully.

'Fare well (literally),' Rage called after the Ninetails as he disappeared into the bushes.

Hotstreak ran forward, rubbing her cheek against his shoulder. This was, after all, the last time she might see him and she did not want him to leave. "Take care," she whispered, sounding somewhat saddened.

Saffire smiled and nuzzled her, "I shall, little one."

He glanced back at Rage, a little saddened that her farewell had not been warmer, but she was, after all, a water type, and water type were known for their colder personalities. He inclined his head at her as means of farewell.

She watched him as he lowered his eyes, tilted her head slightly, as if considering, then padded over to his side

Saffire smiled faintly, but sadly at her. Hotstreak narrowed her eyes.

'Be careful,' she told him firmly. 'We won't leave until you come back, preferably whole.'

"I shall do my best. And I thank you for helping me. In my absence, I suggest you find yourself a meal, for I shall induitably be hungry on my return." He tried to disguise the fact that he was absolutely terrified at the thought of what he might have to do...

Surefire could scent Saffire now, although her memory was lost in a haze. She no longer remembered who he was, or why she had sought him out so incessently. All she could think of was the hunger.

And the hunger puzzled her, because it was not directed at food, or even blood (which was the only way fire pokemon gained moisture, hence why most fire pokemon are carnivores, except Ponyta, which has a better adapted stomach) but for water. And she had never craved water before, yet now spittle was hanging from her mouth, and dragging in the dirt so that it was stuck with leaves and dirt and twigs.

Rage was boiling inside her, like a seething fire, a fire she could hardly contain. So thinking, she opened her mouth and sprayed fire at a nearby bush, reducing it to ash in seconds. She was still angry though.

And then she scented him. Saffire. He had caused her all this pain, this anger, this thirst.

~No he hadn't~ a small part of her mind said, but it was weak, a feeble cry. ~He loved you. He promised he would never find another.~

Then where is he now? And why could she smell something else on the wind. Bitch and vixen. For a moment jealousy fought with her loathing, and the loathing won out.

And then she saw him, striding confidently towards her. He was beautiful. And different.

She had never seen such a magnificant Ninetails before, and for a moment the rage was gone, she was Surefire again. But not for long enough. The red clouded her vision again...

*

Saffire saw her the moment she saw him. From a mere glance he knew she was sick. Her eyes were showing their whites, drool hung from her mouth in a trail, laden with dirt, and she walked as if she had been eating fermented berries. He gulped. The sight of her brought all the memories flooding back to him.

He had promised her there would never be anyone for him but her.

Yet where had he been when she had been bitten?

He had failed her.

He had failed Amelia.

He had failed everyone.

The depression, so recently clensed from his soul, descended again like a great hawk, sweeping away all reason. If he had been with her, protecting her, instead of wandering off and evolving into this hideous, forgetful monster he had become, she would be alive now. Not some hopeless husk, the soul long departed.

He had done it before, he would do it again, and this time, too hades with the consequences! If she bit him, so be it. He wanted her to bite him, needed her to bite him, needed release from the agony in his heart. He would drink her blood, savouring the poison within.

Lifting his head, Saffire let out a long mournful call, it was not a howl, but it came close, and it was powerful enough to cause grief in the hearts of all who heard it.

Then he lowered his body, and ran forward to meet his doom and destiny...

Surefire looked up at him, but there was no recognition in her eyes, nothing, just a glowing fire. She lunged at him, and he rolled away, narrowly avoiding having the fur singed from his back. He rolled into a crouch and looked up at her pleadingly.

"Surefire, I'm sorry, do you recognise me?"

Another gout of flame, this time missing him by more then a foot, was her only reply.

He did not want to do it, but he had to. He struck her with his strongest attack - Ice spin. She did not dodge, and the full spinning force of the ice struck her in the back, sending her tumbling backwards. She crawled to her feet, stumbling again as her legs failed to support her. Saffire quickly followed up the attack by charging at her. Suddenly she regained her footing and lunged at him. He felt her poisonous teeth sink deep into his chest, biting deep, felt his lifeblood flowing from him, staining the drool about her mouth pinkish.

Twisting sharply, he clamped his jaws about her throat, attempting to cut off her air supply. She was growling from the back of her throat as she tore at him. There was no pain, even as his mane turned from silver-white to a dark red. All he felt was a searing coldness across his heart.

She grew weaked, as he tightened his grip, tasting her own blood. It was sweet, like a torturous wine. It was her undoing, and now it would be his. He would die her death with her. Slow and painful.

At least he could make her end quicker.

He should have stayed with her. But he had failed her.

She fell limp in his jaws, and he let her fall to the ground. Breath still rasped in her throat as she gazed up at him with eyes that were almost, but not quite, clear.

"Thank you," she gasped. "I'm sorry..."

"I am sorry too," Saffire replied, staring down sadly at the dying Vulpix, as she gazed at him one last time, before her vision was clouded and she passed from this world.

"I'm sorry too."

And throwing back his head he let out a call such as had never been heard before at the Lake, a call of such grief and misery that none who heard it could not misunderstand the message. The death.

And then, his mane stained with blood, both hers and his, he trotted towards the water's edge. Already he could feel a wobble in his legs as the virus took hold of his motor skills.

Soon the pain would be over forever...

*

Nose dipped to the floor, Autumn trailed the scent of a nearby Pikachu. The smell wasn't particularily fresh, almost as if the creature was already dead (and of course, it was). Hotstreak and Rage followed the other Vulpix in their quest for food, thier heads bowed in turn, searching for the source of the scent.

Then, out of the blue, they heard a sharp call from nearby. Hotstreak and Autumn knew their own kind well enough to recognise it as a Vulpix or a Ninetails but Rage was temporarily confused.

'What is it?' she asked her companions.

The vulpine creatures exchanged glances. 'Saffire,' Hotstreak murmured quietly.

Instantly, the trio abandoned their search for food and turned at an angle to cut into the area where Saffire hopefully was. As they reached the clearing, they heard another cry of despair and glimpsed Saffire at the lake's edge, by the looks of it about to throw himself in. A Vulpix's carcass lay nearby, clearly dead.

'Saffire!' Rage called out in alarm, hurrying up to him, the others followed closely. Autumn looked nervously at Surefire's body. 'What're you doing?'

Saffire stared at them. His muzzle was covered in gore, and in his chest a gaping wound leaked blood onto his fine white fur.

"Get back," he growled, "and stay away. Or kill me now. I carry the disease and it must get no further then this."

He staggered a few more feet, looking drunk, his legs barely supporting his weight and his nine tails dragging on the ground. Once so beautiful, he now looked terrible.

"Please," he whispered, "give Surefire a proper incarceration. Please, as we have the others. Now, I must leave you, I must shed this mortal coil before I become too consumed by hatred to understand it."

He staggered a few more feet, his legs twisting beneath him. But somehow, despite the large amount of blood loss, he managed to keep walking...

'Where are you going?' Autumn persisted. 'What's happened? And who was this special Vulpix?' She glanced again at the blood-smeared body several feet away uncomfortably.

But Rage had already spotted what her friend had missed. Saffire's sense of direction seemed to have gone amiss and his paws looked like they were missing the patches of earth that he aimed at. Examining the corpse closely, she could see bitemarks on its chest that had drawn blood.

He'd been poisoned on the Vulpix's blood, either on purpose or accidentally. She did, however, know which one was worse.

'We need to get help,' she said, her eyes growing wide.

Hotstreak felt herself stiffen at the sight of the once magnificent ninetails, now covered in blood. And worse....he had the virus....

Tears came to her eyes, and she took a step closer,"Saffire....".

She closed her eyes tight for a moment, and the tears ran faster. She looked at him again,"Saffire...if you have the virus....". She walked a little closer,"Please, if you're going to die, kill me too! I don't want to live if you're not here!". She looked down,"Especially since...I never got to tell you that....".

She looked up again,"I love you."....

An unwanted shiver rippled over Autumn body. Hotstreak had just said that Saffire could have the virus and Rage seemed to think that too.

'Hotstreak,' she said, in uncharacteristic firmness. 'Don't go killing yourself yet.' She swallowed. 'We don't even know whether Saffire actually has the frothing sickness yet. Don't rush to conclusions, please.'

'Either way, we need to get help,' Rage pointed out, her eyes strangely glazed over.

Saffire was at more risk of dying from blood loss then rabies, for his chest was still bleeding, as though Surefire herself had tried to rip his heart out, as she surely had, in a metaphorical sense.

He gazed at Hotstreak, sadness in his sapphire eyes and shook his head sadly.

"I am truly sorry," he said, "you would be a fool to love me. Any vixen, or bitch would." He stared at the ground, his fur hanging in blood and mud stained clumps. "I am dying," he continued, "and wherever I travel death and destruction follows. If you get close to me, you will only die."

He stared sadly at the place Surefire had fallen. "I lvoed her," he whimpered, "how could I forget her? I am truly unworthy of the love of any fine vixen like yourself." His voice was growing slurred now as he began to lose control of his senses. His vision had already gone from sharp and clear to a blur, and when he moved his head he almost fainted.

"It is better this way," he whispered as his legs finally buckled and gave way beneath him and he hit the dirt, with an ill-disguised whimper.

Rage's face paled as Saffire collapsed to the ground, blood spreading slowly and creuly over the leaf-littered ground. She swallowed, thinking quickly on how to stop the bleeding.

'Hotstreak ... uh ...' she tried to form a plan in her mind and on her lips at the same time but they seemed to block each other. 'Erm ... Hotstreak, could you please see if you can find some leaves or something that we could use to stop the blood? I don't think there are any poisonous plants in the area so we should be safe if you bring back something large. Autumn ... uh ...' she pondered on where or who to get help from, then it came to her. 'Spirit! Yes, Autumn go to Slywuud's tree and get Spirit. Ask him to come here if he can, and as quickly as possible. I'll stay here and look after Saffire if no one objects ...' She paused, realising that Hotstreak would probably want to stay with him, due to her last few statements.

Hotstreak quickly ran off to get some leaves. She had brought back quite a few, "Is that enough? How's he doing?" She fanned him trying to cool him off. "He will be ok, right?" Hotstreak asked getting a little more worried...... Tears came to Hotstreaks eyes. Then two slid down her face.....

Hotstreak then remembered something. When she was young, she had gotten a wound similiar to the one Saffire got. It was painful, but another pokemon threw some fire at it, that had made it not get infected. Hotstreak then quickly spewed one flame of fire at the cut, and ran off as fast as she could to get some water. When she returned she put the water on it. It had quickly cooled off. "That was painful.. but it helps it!" She told Rage and Autumn "But it should work!"

Autumn winced. 'I'm sure it hurt,' she said. 'But what was it meant to do, exactly?' Steam rose from the now cauterised wound, wisping into the air like spirits.

Saffire whimpered as the flames seered his chest, neatly sealing of the bleeding but leaving a nicely burned patch of skin.

He growled low in his throat, "begone, all of you! How dare you try to save me. You're only condemning yourself."

And then he saw her, walking towards him. A young girl, no more then 10 or 11, with raven-black hair plaited straight down her back. Hair long enough to sit on. Her skin was dark, and there was something foreign in her appearance, Native American perhaps. Her clothing was likewise was almost traditional American.

His blue eyes widened as she knelt before him.

"Amelia," he croaked. "I'm sorry. I failed you."

She knelt before him and placed her hands on his injury, running then through his ruff. Her touch was gentle, so soft that it felt like nothing more then the cold breeze. "Ssshh," she whispered, putting her hand on his head, caressing him.

Then she glanced over at Rage and Autumn and Hotstreak. She smiled faintly, and turned, beginning to walk away. Around her feet danced a shape, almost invisible to the suffering Ninetails. A Vulpix.

She (the Vulpix) turned and looked at him, her mouth opening in a grin. "I forgive you," Surefire said, before turning away and following Amelia.

"Don't go!" Saffire begged, "please, take me with you, I need you, I need both of you!"

Slowly they become more and more translucent. The badly injured fox tried to drag himself free, but something was holding him back. He glanced and saw that it was his body, his body was holding him here, holding him here when he wanted to be there.

He strained, pulling with all his might, and suddenly he was free...

He watched as the girl and the Vulpix slowly faded away, the two most important females to him, and then glanced one final time at Rage, Autumn and especially little Hotstreak.

Hotstreak was rubbing her head against his cheek, and Rage was padding his newly acquired burn with leaves and water.

Could he leave them?

He glanced again at the parting forms of the two beings he had most loved, and back at the ones that loved, or cared for him.

And then he made his decision...

*

'We're not going anywhere,' Rage said, trying to soothe the obviously distressed Ninetails. She couldn't hear, nor see, Amelia and Surefire's spirits but Saffire's calls were plain to her. 'Don't you go anywhere, either.' She paused for a second, her paw resting on the leaves tha she had used to half-bandage his wound. 'I know you think that there's nothing here for you,' she began, seriously. 'but there is. We're all here for you and we always will be. I don't know who it is you failed, but if you asked them, I'm positive they wouldn't say that.' She stopped for a second and looked him straight in the eyes. 'You think that no one cares for you, by the way you act. But you're wrong, and you couldn't be wronger (?). Take Hotstreak for instance -' she glanced up at the distraught Vulpix '- she said she loves you. Autumn loces you as a brave and self-sacrificing friend. I love you too,' she added with the flicker of a smile.

Hotstreak was on the other side of Saffire, also trying to get him to do something. She nudged him, tears still in her eyes,"Saffire...please don't die...we all need you.". She looked down slightly,"I...get the feeling you really like Rage. And I can tell she likes you too.". She looked up at Saffire again, putting a slight smile on her face,"But even if you don't like me, I'll always love you Saffire. Just please, do us all a favor and don't die!". She didn't mean to make her voice get any louder than, but it did. She quickly softened it,"Just that one favor for me. Please Saffire, we all need you.". Tears were still streaming down her face as she spoke. She loved Saffire, but if he loved Rage more, she wouldn't mind....(would she?) As long as he opened his eyes.....

The spectre of Saffire glanced one last time at the departing shades of Amelia and Surefire. They needed him here, Rage and Hotstreak and Autumn and Spirit and all the others. It would be wrong for him to leave now. Amelia and Surefire would wait for him, he knew them enough to understand that.

A certain maturity had come with his evolution, he had cast off the angst in deference of something different - responsibility.

With one final blink he returned to his body, his blue eyes weeping copiously at what he had cast away, but hope at something more. Something yet to come. He pried open his eyes and whimpered, whimpered from the pain of the bite, and the somewhat more painful burn. It was a scar he would carry with him forever.

"Thirsty," he whispered, and his voice was hoarse.

Hotstreak glanced at Rage, "I think he's thirsty, and since water harms Autumn and me, are you willing to get some?" She asked sitting next to Saffire. She looked to Autumn, "Do you think that's why he said 'water'?".....

Rage's blue eyes widened, first in shock, then in pure joy. 'Saffire!' she cried, her voice breaking. 'You're alive!' He nodded weakly, still lying in the blood-smeared dirt. She stroked the side of his face with her paw, then quickly picked up one of the leaves she was going to use to pad up his wound, but hadn't gotten around to using it. She breathed gently on the air around the leaf, a mist forming around it, neatly condensing the moisture in the air onto a decent size pool of water on its surface.

'Drink,' she insisted.

Saffire managed, with great pain, to lap up the water in the leaf, leaving it hanging in his mouth when he was done. His throat was starting to feel a little bit tight, and he had to struggle to swallow properly. His head was feeling as if it was full of fuzz and he felt weary.

So very weary...

With a thud his head hit the ground and his sapphire blue eyes closed. The ground beneath him was stained red with his life blood.

Rage stroked the sleeping Ninetail's head sadly. 'Poor Saffire,' she said quietly. Carefully, she poured away what was left of the water in the leaf and set it down.

'We should let him sleep,' Autumn suggested. 'And maybe have some food ready for him when he wakes up. Will either one of you come with me to get some food?'

Hotstreak sat down next to Rage, and also stroked him softly. "Ya, I suppose we should let him sleep...." She looked down at him worried. She was really happy about him deciding to stay with them. He had realized he was important to all of us, especially Rage and Hotstreak who were starting to get a little bit closer in friendship (I hope)

Saffire was dreaming. They were not good dreams.

He was running, running, his legs pumping beneath him, sending dirt into the sky in small dark clouds. Breath rasped in his throat but he didn't know where he was running, or why...

His legs twitched spasmodically as he "slept".

There was darkness around him and a smell, a bitter smell. The smell of blood and death and disease and evil. And then beneath his feet was the hot lava of the volcano. He was running across the molten lava. His head was on fire, an inferno of heat and pain.

His tongue lolled out and he began panting exuberantly, drool beginning to hang out of his mouth.

Water! He needed water, so much water... Then he felt it, its coolness, pouring on his face, and suddenly his eyes pried open and something burst from the ground in front of him. It was pain, intense pain, in the form of a great Ninetails. Not black, but evil never-the-less, its fur a molten gold.

Its tails filled the world. There were hundreds, no thousands of them, and they came towards him, twisting, grasping, reaching for him.

He saw in their coils that they already held someone captive, a small orange-red Vulpix. She was frightened, he could sense it. He tried to lunge and reach her, but the lava was dragging him back. Somehow the water had combined with the rock-hard magma to make a soggy molten-mess, and his paws were sinking.

Fur began to fall from him in great clumps and each clump grew and changed into Surefire. Soon he was surrounded by tiny Surefires, each no larger then his paw.

They were singing, in an eerie childlike voice. He could not make out the words but he knew what they were saying.

He had killed her.

He could not grab her from the tails of the great Queen Kitsune, although he lunged and snapped, his jaws closed on nothing, it all felt of nothing. She smiled, and grinned. It was not a pretty grin, it was feral and evil and terrifying.

She was the Vulpine-Pokemon goddess of death. Her tails represented the souls of those she had stolen.

As Saffire watched, Surefire, the actual, full sized one, was being absorbed by the tail, her body and paws merging with it, until only her face looked out, open in a silent scream.

"Help me," she mouthed.

Then, with a flick of the tail, she was gone forever.

"No!" Saffire cried. He flung himself at the deity, and fell through her. His now-naked body twisted in the air. He thrashed wildly, claws tearing out chunks of grass and flinging them in the air, almost as if he were having a fit.

He tumbled downwards, downwards, he was falling into an enormous mouth!

The teeth surrounded him, and it closed its mouth, a thousand needles stabbed through his body...

Semi-conscious, he howled in great agony, his jaws closing about the nearest thing to reach, this he shredded mercilessly with strength almost beyond what one would imagine.

*

Autumn jerked aside as Saffire tore apart the leaf which had only moments ago held the water that he'd drunken. The reminants of the leaf floated down in spore-like fragments, its plasticine side reflecting the pale sunlight of the morning. The leaf had been only about an inch from her paw, and shivered at the thought of what would've happened if he'd reached just that little bit further ...

'I wonder what he's dreaming,' she worried quietly. 'I hope its not anything too horrible.'

Hotstreak nodded, agreeing with Autumn. Her eyes gew more worried then before. She was too wondering what he was dreaming about. Hotstreaks eyes glowed with tears, remembering what he had said, when she had told him her darkest secret....Was it a mistake? She knew she had to tell him, but she never thought he would react like that! She shook her head a bit, just to get out of her short reverie......

Somewhat saddened, Rage looked around at the morose group. Autumn seemed devoid of her usual 'make-the-best-of-a-bad-situation' attitude as she watched Saffire moan in his torturous sleep. The crimson-furred Vulpix's pale eyes were glinting strangely in the afternoon (got it right this time!) sunlight, almost as if they were briming with tears that would never be shed, for the fire-fox's fear of water. Suddenly, Rage realised how much they had changed - developed even- from the time they first had come to the Lake ... from when they met its inhabitants ... How far they had come ...

Hotstreak, careful and caring as always, was watching Saffire as he writhed in his semi-consciousness. She'd risked pretty much everything for him, and even admitted how much she loved him, though he turned her away. Yet she still worried for him, watched over him, like his refusal didn't matter to her. Secretly, the Frost admired her greatly, but lacked the second Vulpix's courage to tell her opinions out loud. Someday, she would have to tell her how much she wanted to be like her. But that time would be a long way away ...

Her azure eyes fell upon the silver Ninetails once more. She cared for him as much as Autumn and Hotstreak did, perhaps even a bit more if that was possible. She'd shyly admitted that she loved him and she didn't actually regret it but was still embarrased. In truth, she loved him a lot, as a friend, if not a mate. And she hoped that he would feel the same way about her.

'There must be some way to help him,' Rage said imploringly. 'Or someone to help him, at least ...'

Hotstreak too, liked Rage very much, but was also very shy to say that to her. Rage was very pretty, and she had a great personality. It was just the part that she was so serious that Hotstreak wasn't to fond of. When would she tell Rage that she wanted to become close friends with her? And what about Autumn, did Autumn like Hotstreak? She shook her head, and looked down at Saffire hoping he was alright...

"Ya, there has to be a way to make him better, at least I hope." Hotstreak turned her head to Rage and said, "I just love him so much. Ever since I got here, I knew that I would like him how I do now." Her eyes were lit up with tears as she went on, "I just think that...well...it would help him if we were better friends...." She glanced back down at the ground where Saffire was sleeping. Did she like him too much? No, she just wished he liked her a little more then he did now.... Even if that didn't happen, she would still have deep feelings about him, no matter what....

'I'd like to be friends,' Rage smiled shyly. 'I just think ...' She trailed off, blushing white as she sometimes did. 'Hotstreak, you were the one who thought of burning Saffire's wound, that was very clever, do you know of anyone who could help us? I know you want to save him as much as we do.'

*

He gasped for breath, drool spattering on the ground.

Struggling, the furless Ninetails stuck his teeth into the flesh of the tonsil and it twisted and suddenly he was holding Surefire in his jaws.

No, it wasn't Surefire. It was Hotstreak.

He tried to let her go, but his jaws seemed to have taken on a life of their own, they were squeezing, squeezing. And then he wasn't holding Hotstreak anymore, but Rage now, choking the life from her.

"NO!" He screamed in his head. He couldn't kill them, they had been so kind to him!

"NO!" Saffire suddenly yelped.

*

Hotstreak thought hard for a second. She hadn't met anyone really, only Saffire, Rage, Autumn, Firestorm, Manami who hated her, and a quick glance at Evin. (there might be some more) "I'm sorry Rage, but I can't seem to think of anyone right now. I do really want to save him though..." She replied to Rage, "You wouldn't know anyone...would you?" Hotstreak asked. She heard Saffire scream no! She shivered and added, "Do you think he is ok?" Her eyes grew worried once again....

Autumn stiffened as it started to drizzle. 'Rain!' she hissed. 'We must get out of it quickly!'

Ignoring the burn from the cascading raindrops, she looked around hastily for some shelter. There were some thick bushes nearby but they wouldn't protect the fire Pokemon from the rain if it got harder. Their best chance was some sort of tree, or cave. Shr thought quickly, searching her short memory for somewhere they could take shelter.

'There's the cave where we found the first Vulpix in,' she suggested halfheartedly. 'It's large, and dry and near. There's also Slywuud's Tree which is a bit further if you want to try that - I stayed there last time there was rain. Either way, we must decide quickly.'

'I don't mind,' Rage replied. 'The rain doesn't bother me. But for Saffire's sake, I think we should take the cave. It's closer.'

Hotstreak nodded, "I agree, the cave sounds like a great idea! Maybe we could find some help when the rain lets out." She shuddered as more burning rain hit her back, as she walked over to Saffire and started to attempt to gently pick him up...She managed to pick up half of his weight, but quickly collapsed under the weight. It was too heavy for her, and the water was weakening her more by the second.........

*

Great jaws clamped down on Saffire and he lunged, whirling in a fury of teeth, snapping wildly and blindly. His dream, for the moment, had become reality, as he tried to grasp hold of Hotstreak...

Hotstreak looked up, as Saffire barely missed her skin with his powerful bite, but managed to grab some of her fur. Hotstreak whimpered, and tried to get up again, but it was too mich weight. She began back up digging her claws deeply into the ground. After awhile of suffering and pain, she had pulled herself out of it, and pushed back as hard and fast as she could just making it out.

She quickly got up and ran to the side where Autumn and Rage stood. She then remembered it was raining out, so she sat under the closest bush, soaked.... She shook trying not to hit Autumn with any water.....

Saffire's pale blue eyes flickered open for a moment, as small sharp points like flaming icicles bet against his skin, driving into his fur like needles. His eyes were mostly white now, rimmed with red, and streaming with tears.

"Help me..." He whispered plaintively, his claws digging up huge furrows in the mud as he tried to drag himself to his feet, but his hindlegs seemed to no longer be working. Every movement sent spasms of pain through his entire body and he bordered on the edge of unconciousness again. Somehow, he managed to work his way onto his belly and dragged himself through the mud, his fur now stained with blood and mud and drool, he looked like he should be dead, but somehow, against all odds, he was clinging to a life he would have flung away casually earlier

Hotstreak quickly ran over to him not caring about the pain she was feeling from the rain. She had to help him. She gave him a quick reassuring lick, "Saffire, I don't know how we are going to help you yet, but I know you are going to make it!" She nuzzled him softly being careful not to get bitten....

Hotstreak felt the rain burning against her skin. She ignored it, she thought Saffire was more important...! She looked at him, "How can I help you, Saffire? Please tell me!"

"Thirsty," he whispered, drool flecking his muzzle. "Hotstreak, it hurts so much. Pain, consuming me..."

He stopped, halfway towards the bush and starting spasming, painful throes, almost like a fit.

Rage took over pulling. She wasn't weakened by the rain, but hadn't slept for over 24 hours. 'Hotstreak, Autumn, help me!' she gasped, pushing the spasming Saffire towards the bush he had started out for. 'We need to get you three out of the rain!' Saffire's thrashing paws hit her more than once but she pushed with all her might to get the injured Ninetails under some cover.

Hotstreak rushed over to Rage," I don't know how much more rain I can stand, but I will do anything for Saffire! Saffire, rain might not taste that great, but if your thirsty enough you can try it!" She could only hope that he had heard her. She helped Rage drag him to wherever they were heading to. The rain hit her face harder. She knew she had to stay out of the rain, but she needed to help Saffire! She couldn't stand it but she had to and she knew it!

Autumn cringed as the rain grew harder. Lightning ripped wildly at the sky with neon strikes. She tried to push Saffire under the bush but she knew that she was weakening rapidly, as were the other two Vulpine Pokemon. Suddenly, she collapsed to the ground gasping.

'Sorry,' she panted. 'I just can't move anymore ... I'm too tired.' Rage turned around alarmed at her friend. 'Hotstreak! Get under the bush! You need to save your strength for later and you must get out of the rain before it hurts you more! I'll try and get Saffire under.' Behind her, Autumns struggled to get up and half-crawled under the nearest bush. Hotstreak joined her. Grabbing Saffire by some of his pale fur, Rage somehow managed to drag him under the cover. She carefully tucked his tails under the overhang of tangled branches and lay on the ground, thoroughly worn out.

In moments, she was sound asleep, enjoying dreams of sunlight and rainbows ...

Saffire's delusions had passed over. Now he was just very sore and tired. But he remembered his dreams in stunning clarity.

"Hotstreak, Rage, Autumn," he slurred, "I didn't hurt you did I?"

He closed his eyes, hoping sleep would bless him with oblivion but his entire body was in pain, great agony centred at the burnt wound on his chest, which was weeping a little, despite the cauterisation. The rain, at least was washing some of the blood from his fur, but it would take a good solid bath before he was clean again. Each raindrop seered him to the bone, despite the fact that he had greater immunity to water then most fire types, his condition had weakened him so much. The bush, luckily, sheltered him from the worst of the downpour.

"Thank you," he whispered, "thank you for staying beside me. I love you all for it." In his exhausted state he had said more then he had intended, and quickly tried to choke it back, but words were said and there was nothing that could be done.

He could swallow now, it hurt, but he could swallow.

Hotstreak who was too worn out, turned her head toward Saffire, "No, you didn't hurt me, but you cam pretty close. I know you can pull out of this Saffire!" She stood there looking at him.

She moved her postition a bit closer to Saffire, trying to comfort him some more. Hotstreaks eyes lit up again, "Do you mean it Saffire, you love us?" That had to be the best part of her life. She had wished those words lastest longer....

Hotstreak licked him softly, again. She closed her eyes for a minute. He had been so kind to her, and she really appreciated it. Then there was Autumn, who had called her a friend when she was there less then a day... There was also Rage, who she could feel was starting to like her a little.... by little....she hoped.... How great it would be for Rage to be a close friend...