Quiet… so quiet… the Ninetales’ house was completely in silence. No noise was being made whatsoever, aside from the subtle breathing that the creatures were doing, peaceful Wednesday morning…

Until one single noise flowed throughout the house, there was no warning that it was going to happen, it was too sudden that it caught all the sleeping foxes by surprise, waking them up in an instant. But why not the spider though? Well… let’s say he was the source of the noise… a loud high pitched scream that reverberated throughout the whole house.

The fire & ice twins went to the living room first, since their bedroom was closer. Their fur was a bit messy since they had just woken up. The icy one shouted first after an angry grunt. "What the fuck is all of this noise!?"

The fiery one yelled in concern. "John! Are you okay!? What happened!?"

The small green little arachnid looked at them, and his eyes (including the secondary ones) widened as he took some steps back.

"N-no… you’re… not real…" He took more small steps back. "This body ain’t real… none of this is real…"

Claire slowly approached John while her sister was watching with an annoyed look on her face. "John… calm down… it’s us…!"

John’s body tensed up, as the big ferocious monster in his eyes got closer. "Eek! Stay... stay back...!"

"Calm down, we’re only trying to help!"

Elsa just groaned in annoyance as a small icy mist escaped from her mouth. "Ugh, I’ll just freeze him so he stops with this crap."

As John heard that, his whole body went into a state that he couldn’t even describe… primordial fear. "Stay… STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM ME!!!"

The Joltik then hid away inside the couch, in a steep and tight hole where his whole body could fit. His whole body was shaking, there was no other place for him to go, he just showed fear to what was possibly a predator. Who cares if they have intelligence or not, yesterday that snow fox just said she could very well eat him! 'Why wasn’t all of this just some big lucid nightmare!?'The small bug type thought as he shook, fearing what would happen if he stepped out of his hiding spot. 'I thought that everything was a figment of my imagination, it was supposed to disappear after I went to sleep! Wait… I fainted before and didn’t wake up in my bed… Goddammit! I’m so fucking dumb!'

The fire Vulpix called out. "John!"

Elsa scoffed. "Deal with your pet, if you excuse me, I need to be in my very best state before I meet with my friends at school."

She turned away and went on the way back to her bedroom, not before she encountered her parents. "Elsa, what’s wrong!? What were those screams and shouts?" Izo asked in a worried tone.

"Oh, that?" She hmphed in annoyance. "That was just Claire’s new pet being an annoyance."

"Hey, that’s our guest, you're talking about, young lady!"

"Whatever, I’m gonna prepare myself for school."

She walked away, moving her legs in a sassy way. Without further complaint, the Ninetales went to the living room. What they saw was Claire calling out to John while she was moving her paws between the couch pads. The fire Ninetales asked. "Claire, what happened?"

The daughter answered, looking back at her parents in a worried tone. "It’s John! He suddenly got scared from seeing me and Elsa that he shouted and hid in between the couch pads! And after that, he’s been hiding in silence!"

"Did something happen to make him so scared?" The ice Ninetales asked.

"I don’t know if it was Elsa’s threat… but he was so scared of seeing me, I think he thought I was gonna eat him…" Claire deduced, looking away with a frown.

The nine-tailed vulpines looked at each other and slowly nodded and the fire one took a step forward. "Let me try talking to him, okay?" Claire nodded to her and got her forepaws off the couch, while Reya got in front of the furniture along with her husband. "John…?"

No response.

"John, I know you’re in there. Look… I know you’re scared, who wouldn’t be? If you said you were really a human, no wonder you are so scared right now. Being thrown into a new world… in a body that is way different from before, the constant dangers that might be lurking every corner."

The Joltik stood silent, although opened his eyes to look back at the light between the cracks of the couch pads.

"But it’s okay, we understand how you feel. We may look big and intimidating with our abilities and physique, but we promise we wouldn’t even think about hurting a friend. So please, trust us, or at least… trust Claire." Reya said with a smile, hoping that the greenish tick would leave out of his hiding spot.

It was once again silent for a moment until they saw pointy blue nubs poking out of the couch, then being followed up by a small greenish-yellow body coming out of the sofa really slowly. A head popped out with four eyes looking at them. "So… you’re not gonna… eat me?"

"Of course we won’t, silly!" Claire responded, reassuring the Joltik. "How many times am I gonna have to tell you that?"

"… Probably a million times until I feel completely safe…" John said, looking away in nervousness.

"Then watch me, I’m gonna make you the safest Joltik that’ll ever exist, and that’s a promise!"

"…" John completely came out of the couch and sat on it, watching them in silence as his body tensed up. Until he let out a sigh, relaxing his body a little bit."Okay then… I trust you, Claire."

The Vulpix’s eyes glimmered as her curled-up tail started to wag in happiness. "Thank you John for trusting me! I won’t disappoint you!"

Meanwhile, Izo put a paw on Reya’s back and said in a low voice to her wife. "You always know your way with words with everyone, don’t you?"

Reya replied with a low voice. "I mean, it’s one of the few reasons we’re together, you know? Maybe it’s just natural talent."

She winked at him and Izo let out a chuckle, he then turned towards Claire. "Alright Claire, since this situation is now resolved, go prepare for school, don’t want you missing out on any other classes."

"Alright, dad! And it was just one time okay? It won’t happen again!" The orange Vulpix went running to her room, while John was left with the two godly-looking foxes that he feared most in this household. But he felt like he was getting used to them.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Izo sighed and looked back at John. "So… about Claire…"

"Yeah, I know… you want me to go to her school with her because she’s lonely." He waved off the mental distress that was going on in his head. "Don’t worry, I will do it, I just… had a slight existential crisis…"

"We understand, don’t worry." Reya said with a warm smile.

The ice fox added. "It’s just that we um… need to say some things before you go."

John started to mentally sweat again as he heard those words. "… Like what…?"

Reya began with a frown. "Listen, the world is… kinda not safe for humans-turned-Pokémon right now… not just you, but to other humans in other continents and towns."

"… Why?"

"There are… some criminal organizations around the world that kidnap humans for their own goals from what we keep hearing in the news." The ice fox said looking down.

John’s body tensed up from that. "What… what do they want with us…?"

"Some of them force the humans to tell some things about their world so they can acquire the best technology possible." Reya said. "The news said that the richest companies are technology related, and since humans are so advanced in that department... they capture them."

"Yeah, footage from security cameras all around the world show some kidnappings and all of them were confirmed to be humans..." Izo said, adjusting his glasses with his forepaws. "And that's when they are last seen..."

"Oh god..." John muttered looking down. What has he gotten into? "Is..." He looked back at the couple. "... Is there something else I should know about?"

Izo grimaced as he remembered something from his work. "I don't know if this is true or not... but... I heard certain rumors about an organization preparing some sort of invasion... they are kidnapping humans to learn about your world... and possibly take over there."

"What the fuck!?" John blurted a bit out loud.

Reya made a silencing noise. "Not so loud, we don't want the kids to learn about any of this yet." Reya sighed and looked at her husband. "Besides, those are just rumors, correct?"

"Yes, of course. We don't need to think too much about those." Izo reassured. "However, there's something more that I feel the need to tell you to be careful about while walking on the streets with Claire."

The Joltik stammered. "A-and that is...?"

Reya continued for Izo. "There are these... strange Pokémon that started roaming around since these kidnappings started happening... however, only in this continent it seems. So... the media thinks they are not related to the kidnappings."

"They seem more powerful than regular Pokémon, even though they resemble the original forms. They behave strangely, and we're not sure we could describe it..." Izo sighed. "If you and Claire spot one of them, tell her to avoid them. Alright?"

"Uh... fine, I will..." John said with a nod. 'How would I know what's different or not, since I basically don't recognize ANY Pokémon!? Do I just have to suss out some that act shady?'

Izo nodded and called their daughters. "Kids, are you ready? The bus is gonna be here soon!"

Suddenly Claire came running to the living room while Elsa came walking normally in a regal sort of way. They were both wearing a sort of backpack made for four-legged creatures and also some white and red uniforms. There was some sort of air surrounding them and John could smell it. "What is this smell…?"

Izo leaned in close to John and closed and whispered to him. "Scent blockers, they spray that on themselves every Wednesday to cover their scent. If any male gets into mating season earlier than usual, they won’t get aroused and the urge to mate with the girls."

"Oh…" John supposed that was right since some animals are attracted to the scent that some females produce. Izo backed away from him and looked at the fire and ice twins.

Claire said ecstatically. "I’m ready!"

Elsa flipped her head fur. "Ready and pretty, as always!"

John didn’t feel that safe around Elsa, so he thought that it was best to stay away from her as much as possible. "Hey um… Claire?"

"Yes, John?" The Vulpix tilted her head with a smile.

"How happy would you be if I told you I uh… would be coming with you?"

Claire slowly gasped as she let out a shriek of happiness while jumping in place. She then ran circles around John. "Thank you so much, John! We’re gonna learn so much together!"

A thought occurred to the Joltik. 'Hm… I wonder what they teach besides common knowledge…'

Claire grabbed John with her mouth and put him in her backpack. "I know you’re shy, so you can hide inside my backpack if you want!"

"Thank you," John said in relief. 'Really helpful when I’m hiding from basically everyone.'

Meanwhile, Elsa was just thinking badly about Claire's new bug boyfriend as usual. 'I can’t believe this disgusting bug will be on the same bus with me… doesn’t matter, as long as he doesn’t annoy me.'

"Alright kids, hurry up before Asher decides to pass by and don’t pick you up alright?" Izo said with a smile.

"Yes, dad! Bye mom, bye dad!" The orange Vulpix said excitedly

"Bye-bye~!" The white Vulpix said with a wink and smirk.

"Bye kids! Also John?" Reya called.

John peeked out of the backpack. "Yes…?"

"If you ever get caught. Pretend to be a baby Joltik alright? Just say Joltik or Jol to act like one, okay?"

John nods and enters the backpack, not fully closing the zipper to let some air enter, so he could breathe.

"Bye my little princesses!" Izo said with a smile.

The twins leave the house and walk to the front yard of their home. Their house on the outside was orange colored with two windows spaced out from the door. It was only one floor and the front yard was surrounded by a wooden fence. The neighbors’ houses were spaced out from each home. It seems they lived in a rural sort of place, but not that much. The twins sat on the ground waiting. Elsa was sitting on the ground in a bipedal-like position, messing with her phone, while Claire took out her backpack and opened it, revealing John curled on himself like a little green ball of fur. "Are you gonna be like this for all of school?"

"Well, if it doesn’t get me spotted, then yes."

"Come on, don’t be scared." She took out John from her backpack and held him in front of her face. "Some Pokémon might look scary and bad…" She looked at her sister while making a smirk.

Elsa took her eyes off her phone and looked at Claire. "What?"

She then went back to messing with her phone, messaging her friends with a messaging app. Then Claire looked back at John. "But not all of them are as evil and monstrous as you think! Most of them are good Pokémons! Just give them a chance and you’ll like it!"

John looked at her eyes, it was glimmering. Her baby doll eyes are so cute he couldn’t even want to disappoint her. "Alright then… but if something happens, please stay there with me, okay?"

"Of course!"

Elsa butted in, not even looking away from her phone. "Heh, I didn’t know you would lower yourself so much to date a bug."

The fire fox looked at her slightly pissed. "Shut the fuck up! He’s not my boyfriend!"

John decided to add. "And like… I’m literally too old- … too young for her…? I don’t even know anymore…"

Claire was about to reply when suddenly loud footsteps approached them. John looked to the side and spotted a big scarlet orange and white lizard with what looked to be large feathers coming out of their arms, head, and back. It had a giant spiky semi-circle coming out of its chest that looked like a wheel. It was coming in their direction on all fours. "Oh look, it’s Asher!"

image [https://file.garden/ZeEYyRamDG12bOk5/CBAW_C05.png]

John looked at the Koraidon in shock. "The hell is that thing!?"

"Oh, that’s Asher! He’s a Koraidon and he is the bus driver of our school!"

"That’s the bus driver!?"

He was pulling, behind him, a very large car that looked like an actual school bus, but it was smaller and had no ceiling. The big orange lizard stopped in front of them and Elsa put her phone on her bag before getting on all fours along with her sister, putting her backpack behind her and John above the backpack. "Good morning kids!" The bus driver happily said.

Claire replied. "Good morning Asher!"

"Morning." Elsa replied with less enthusiasm.

Asher pressed a button beside his chest wheel that opened the door, allowing the two sisters (and an unnoticed spider) to enter the bus. There were a lot of different Pokémon on the bus, such as a Budew, an Eevee, a Purrloin, along with others. Elsa took her seat along with the Purrloin and began chatting with it along with a Glameow behind her. While Claire went to sit on the back of the bus, where there was a- 'A bee!? With drills for limbs!?'

John started shaking and kept staring at the Beedrill sitting across the other side of the bus. Even though it was a bit away from Claire and John, his flight or flight instincts were going haywire, and he immediately went back into the backpack. Claire looked confused at her backpack. "John…?"

The bug stuttered. "Oh, I- I uh… went to look for something to do while on the bus so uh… yep. The bag looks fun."

"… Alright?"

The Beedrill glanced at Claire, but immediately went back to looking outside the bus, supporting his head with his drill.

The bus started moving as the Koraidon started walking and then started to pick up the pace. And with that, John’s new life would begin for good.