Night has fallen after an unusually cool and stormy Hoenn day. Lee, Zinnia, and Brendan saw the weather moving in behind them and made haste to the next town to not be forced to camp in the rain. The relentless pace tired out Brendan, who went to bed as soon as they secured their hotel rooms.
As he usually does upon returning to civilization after a week in the wilds, Lee is allowing himself to stay awake a bit later than usual to watch the news on TV. Joining him in the darkened room is Ninetales. Together, the pair lie on their bed and laze about in the television’s glow.
“-Caught red-handed attempting to move several protected pokemon out of the Greengrass sanctuary for purposes unknown. The trespassers claimed to be merely playing an off-color prank, but the Rangers who apprehended them insisted that the suspects were poachers. Both suspects are in custody, and a court date has yet to be determined,” the anchorwoman on the TV screen says with a severe expression. “More on that story at 11.”
The TV then cuts to a commercial, and Lee frowns mightily, prompting an inquisitive glance from Ninetales. ‘What has you so dour, beloved?’ she asks.
Lee nods his head towards the TV. “Poachers. To me, people like that simply don’t have any redeeming qualities. I hate to sound spiteful, but I hope they get prison time for this. Who goes into a sanctuary for a prank? If they actually did do it as a joke, then they’re criminally stupid and should be locked up anyway.”
This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
A vulpine laugh bubbles from Ninetales’ muzzle. ‘Indeed, indeed. They should count themselves lucky that they did not receive ‘bush justice’ like the unfortunates your mentor Aasir felled.’
That comment makes Lee’s frown ease. Oh, he understands perfectly well why African reserve rangers immediately jump to lethal force, but he’s not about to casually wish death upon anyone. As he thinks, he lets his eyes roam Ninetales, stopping at her fluffy tails.
Before his sudden violent transmigration, Lee heard about some sort of pokemon rip-off video game in development, and it had quite a few people talking about it due to the ludicrous trailers of pokemon-esque creatures wielding guns. ‘I’m sure a poacher would pause if an elephant started waving around a rifle,’ Lee smiles thinly, eyeballing one of Nine’s wiggling tail tips.
Unbidden, the man imagines what his golden fox would look like if she had handguns gripped in each of her tails. Would she have nine different pistols, or would they all be uniform and low-profile, like the Glock that gathered dust in Lee’s nightstand drawer back on earth?
The thought gives way to an image of Ninetales bounding across the savanna, sending bullets in every direction from her tail-mounted guns. Ahead of her and screaming for help, a team of thuggish men cry and flail as their jeep is riddled with holes.
Lee chuckles under his breath, drawing yet more curiosity from Ninetales. Rather than ask, she simply peers deeper into his mind, taking in the ridiculous thoughts within.
‘Really, Lee?’ the vixen asks with a roll of her eyes. ‘Only pistols? You do me a disservice. I have the strength in each tail to carry much heavier burdens.’
In Lee’s mind, the handguns in Ninetales’ grip are suddenly replaced with full-blown RPG launchers held in a snakelike grip each. The look on the fox’s face is downright evil.
The laughter accidentally wakes Brendan.