Ninetales TF story-AGitS Pt.1

A Glitch in the System?

by Aaron

Ben was sitting in the middle of his college classroom
socializing with his friend.  Today was the last day of school before winter
break and both of them were excited for the end of the day. They were talking about
who their favorite Pokémon was and why.  Ben's favorite was Ninetales, and his
friend Isabelle's was Luxray. Ben's system had been acting weird lately. He
recently had a wild battle with his newly caught Ninetales, whom he had
nicknamed Charm on his Heartgold game.  This was weird because Vulpix and Ninetales
didn't actually appear in the game. As the end of the day neared, Ben and
Isabelle decided to have a battle.  At the end of the battle, Ben found himself
cornered.  His last Pokémon was Charm, but for some reason, he couldn't bring
himself to send her out.  It seemed strange but he had fallen in love with the
character in the game even though she was virtual.

"Come on already, I want to end this battle," Isabelle said
to Ben.  She was taunting him to try to get him to send out his last Pokémon.

"I don't want to.  I'll end the battle right here and just
call it a loss."

She answered, "Nope, I want to beat you personally."
Eventually he gave in and sent her out. He gave the attack order and so did
she, but when it went to the battle scene, his system began acting up again.  The
screen read "Charm used quick attack," but he had told her to use flamethrower. 
Charm didn't even know quick attack, and the screen suddenly went dark on both
their systems.

When it came back on, Isabelle's Pokémon was gone and it said
that Ben won the battle. He was excited but freaked at the same time.  When did
his Pokémon learn quick attack and why was his system acting up?  

He asked, "Is your game alright? I hope that sudden freak out
didn't damage anything."  

She replied, "Everything's good, save data's fine and I've
still got all my stuff."

Ben breathed a sigh of relief at hearing that. 

"Alright, everyone, class dismissed," the teacher said, and
everyone started for the front door.

"I guess I'll see you after break," Ben said.  Isabelle
answered, "Okay, but we can still stay in contact with our games and computers
right?" 

"Oh, yeah, forgot about those." They both left the classroom
and parted ways.

During his walk home, he was thinking about reasons why his
system was acting up so much. Was it a glitch? Was there an issue with the
wiring?  He couldn't bring a decent idea to mind.  As Ben passed by a forest
that grew nearby his home, he suddenly saw something within the trees.  It
looked like a fox, but it strangely had many tails. Before he could count how
many though, the fox took off. "Strange," he said to himself and continued
walking. When he got home he decided to head up to his room.  He needed some
time to himself.  He walked up the stairs, went in, and shut the door.

He changed his clothes to something more comfortable and put
everything away, and then he lied down on his bed and fell asleep. While he was
asleep he had a strangely vivid dream.  He was standing in the middle of a
field filled with flowers and what seemed like many Pokémon.  He found that he
couldn't move no matter how hard he tried, and he was wondering what was happening
when Charm walked up to him and started talking.

"I want you to be with me. Please join me in my world. I love
you."

She began to lean forward, almost kissing him, when he woke
up to someone calling his name. It was his mother calling him down for dinner. Strangely,
despite the fact that he was freaked out by the dream, Ben felt disappointed
that it had ended.

He went down to the dinner table.  They were having homemade
tacos that night and it was his favorite.  As he was eating, he found that he
couldn't enjoy it like he usually did, and his parents noticed.

"Is something wrong?" his dad asked. "You don't seem as
excited as you usually are."

"I'm fine, just a little freaked out."

"Why?" his mother asked. 

"Just a weird dream.  That's all. I'll be fine." He finished
his dinner and went up to his bedroom and turned on the TV.

While Ben was watching the movement on the TV, he couldn't
stop thinking about the dream.  What did it mean and what had Charm meant by
she wanted him to be there with her? He decided to think it over more the next
day and fell asleep. That night he had another vivid dream.  This time he was
in a clearing with Charm in front of him and he still couldn't move.

Charm walked up to him and said, "Won't you come with me? I
want to be with you and I know you love me too."

He was a little freaked out by the fact that she knew he
loved her but responded, "I do love you but I don't know how we could be toge .
. . "

Before he could finish, she leaned in and kissed him.  He was
shocked but didn't fight back as he was actually enjoying it. She moved back
and smiled and he blushed and smiled back.

"That was . . . unexpected, but I still don't know how it
could work out. I'm a human and you're a Pokémon."

Charm smiled and said, "I know you were a human, but
not anymore."

Ben was wondering what she meant when he looked down and saw
that he was on all fours.  His hands looked like paws!  Ben looked back at
himself and saw that Charm was right.  He was a Ninetales! He looked at her and
smiled. He didn't know what it was but he liked being a Ninetales.

She smiled back and asked, "Why don't you follow me and I'll
show you how to be a Pokémon.  We can be together!"

Ben smiled and said, "Sure, why not."  

He stood up and he followed her, and as they were nearing the
top of a hill, the dream ended and he awoke to his alarm clock going off . . .

Ben walked over and turned off the alarm, wondering why it
was on.  He tried to go back to sleep, but no matter how hard he tried he
couldn't.  He lay there, incredibly saddened by the fact that the dream had
ended. No matter how hard he tried he could not shake the feeling that he
belonged there with her and not here in the real world. He lay there for a few
hours moping and then got out of bed. The rest of the day passed uneventfully
and he went back to bed hoping that the dream would happen again, but
unfortunately it did not occur.

The next day he logged on to his computer to talk with
Isabelle. He wanted to ask her what she thought the dream meant.  He also
needed someone to talk to as he had been deeply depressed for the last two
days. When he asked her she told him, "I am not sure what the dream might mean
but it sounds like the kind of dream I'd love to have myself." He had not
wanted to hear that answer, but talked with her for a few hours anyway. At
about 3:00, Isabelle said she had to go and logged off. Ben shut his computer
and decided to play his DS for a while.  He turned it on and started up Heartgold. 
Ben had beaten the game long ago but he liked to check the global trade
terminal for any rare Pokémon. As he was going to Goldenrod City to check, he
ran across a wild encounter.  When Ben's first Pokémon was called out, to his
surprise it was Charm. He was surprised because she was in the second spot in
the party, not the first.

Suddenly his game began to freak out again and it went to a
screen that was like the evolution.  Only Charm was in it! Text started
appearing and it said to his surprise, "Would you like to come to my world and
be with me for real?"  The yes/no box appeared, and he quickly selected yes.  The
next line to appear though was random gibberish to him, so he read it out loud.

"Sento Manola Intan," he read aloud. "What the heck does that
mean?"

Before Ben could think on it anymore, he suddenly felt very
tired and weak.  He turned off the game, lay on his bed and fell asleep. While
he was sleeping, a portal formed in the middle of his room. Charm stepped
through.  She saw Ben sleeping, and she picked him up.  Using her tails to
carry him, she brought him through the portal and it disappeared.

When Ben awoke, he looked around to find that he was in the
middle of a field. "Where am I?" he asked himself. As he sat up he noticed
something was behind him, and he turned to find Charm lying behind him asleep.
He realized with surprise that he was in the Pokémon world and wondered if it
was another dream or if it was real.  He pinched himself to test it and felt
pain. "Okay, so it's real," he whispered, the excitement and surprise obvious
in his voice. He turned and looked at Charm again and thought that she looked
beautiful lying there.  He turned himself and lay back down and began to pet
her. As he was petting her, he began to wonder just how he had gotten there.  The
last thing he remembered was playing his game.  After another glitch he had
shut it off and fallen asleep. He was so lost in thought that he hadn't noticed
that Charm had woken up. 

Charm said, "I'm glad to see you're awake."  

Ben looked at her and smiled and she smiled back. "How did I
get here?"

"I brought you here.  That gibberish you read on the
screen was actually an incantation.  The words put you to sleep and then opened
the portal to my world.  I brought you through."

Ben was embarrassed at the fact that she knew he had called
it gibberish, but asked, "Why couldn't you perform the spell?"

"Because I would not have been able to bring you through; I
would have only been able to visit your world. In order for you to come through
the portal you had to be the one to say the spell."

"So what about you visiting me in my dreams?" Ben asked.

Charm answered, "I had to wait to see if you would be willing
to come to my world or not, and I had to find out if you truly loved me."

He started to think about why his alarm had interrupted the
dream that one night when she said, "I'm the one who turned on the alarm." He
looked at her, surprised that she knew what he was thinking.

He asked, "Why? I was enjoying our time together."

"I'm sorry, but it was necessary. I put too much power into
the spell, and if I hadn't found a way to wake you then you would have lost
yourself to the dream."

He was a bit angry but understood why she did it. "So what
happens now?"

Charm replied, "Now, you make the choice. Do you want to come
with me and be together or do you want to return to your world?"

Ben took some time to think about it.  His life was going
pretty good as a human.  He had plenty of friends and a loving family, but at
the same time he really wanted to be with Charm. After a few minutes, he
decided.  "I'd like to go with you."

She smiled and said, "Well, if we're going be together then
you will have to become a Ninetales."

Ben asked, "How?"

"I can change you into one but are you sure you want to make
the change?  Once you do, you can never go back." Ben looked at Charm and
nodded with a smile on his face.

Charm leaned in and kissed him again.  This time was longer
and felt better than when it had happened in the dream.  This time was real!  When
she was done, she moved back.  Ben smiled and said, "Weird, but that was a great
way to start the change."

"No, that was a pre-transformation kiss, but this . . . "

He noticed her tails moving around towards him and one of
them moved to his wrist and wrapped around it.  The skin she touched started to
glow, and Ben felt a jolt of energy surge through his body. "Is how the
transformation begins?"

He looked down at his wrist after she had moved her tail and
saw a tuft of fur growing on the spot where the tail had been.  It began to
spread up his arm, and he watched as his fingers grew bigger and a pad formed
on his palms turning them into paws. He reached over and felt his new fur and
it was nice, warm and soft to the touch.  Ben was surprised that the changes
didn't hurt.  In fact, they felt quite pleasant. As the fur reached his body,
it began to move toward his head and down toward his legs.  It reached his head,
and he felt his eyes change color and his nose and mouth begin to grow out.  When
it stopped, his nose turned black and moved to the top of his new muzzle. He
felt his ears beginning to get more pointed and move up his head. By this time
the fur had reached his other arm.  He looked at his left hand and saw that it
had changed to a paw as well.

Ben felt his hair beginning to change as well.  It grew
longer, changed color and became a mane. His face transformation was complete. 
He looked down to see that the fur had reached his legs, and his feet began to
change just like his hands.  He heard a ripping noise from behind him and
turned to see that he had sprouted a tail. His pants fell down!  He was afraid
that he was exposed, but when he looked the fur had already covered everything.
He felt his spine and the bones in his legs and arms beginning to reshape,
forcing him to all fours.  When Ben stood like that he felt his bones lock into
that stance.

Ben felt more tails beginning to grow.  He looked back he had
sprouted a second one, then a third, a fourth, a fifth, a sixth, a seventh, an
eighth, and then finally all nine tails had grown in. He felt the
transformation end and looked himself over.  All that remained of his human
self was some tattered rags on the ground that used to be his clothes.

Ben looked over at Charm to see her smiling, and she said, "You
look great!  How do you feel?"

Ben answered "I feel great! I love this new form."

It was tough getting used to the fact that he had a muzzle
and it felt strange to talk.  He was also having trouble getting used to
walking on all fours. 

"That's good," Charm said.  "Now how about we head to your
new home and I'll begin showing you everything you need to know about your new
form."

"Okay," replied Ben.  They stood up and began to walk toward
a nearby mountain.  As they were walking, Ben thought about the choice he had
made and felt that he had made the right choice.  Ben was very happy to be where
he was. They reached the cave, and they lay down next to each other, kissed
once more and fell asleep.

END