“I guess I can sniff them out!” The lil Vulpix said to herself as she stood proudly on all fours. Her mother taught her to recognize scents, it'll be easy! She'll just nose around a bit in one direction and then the other until she picks up on her mother's or her brother's scent! The little vixen leaned down and kept her nose hovering close above the ground as she began to whiff and walk forward, her bouncy crimson eyes occasionally peeking up to avoid any trees or shrubs in the way.
She did eventually find their tracks, their paws were imprinted against the soft soil as she followed their trace. (Mom and bro will be so proud that I found them on my own!) She thought to herself as her many tails waggled up in the air, her little rump raised as her body laid low to sniff up her kin's scent. But she soon picked up something else with their scent, something... noxious. She felt a bit sick and worried as she picked up a toxic aroma. Something was wrong, she could feel it in the air.
She was about to expose herself in a large clearing until she looked across and backed out from fright. There was a weird metal beast laying on the field that held people inside and out. The many people held weapons, the kind her mother warned her about! They banged loudly and left a smell of burnt powder in the air, but these didn't smell like fire. The metal beast laid on its four circular paws that were as black as the night with a silver disc in the middle... it was just sleeping there. The people were hoisting metal cages onto its back. She saw her brother, sleeping safe and sound inside the cage but unresponsive. She wanted to call out to him but at the same time she knew that if she did then the scary men will take her away. Then she saw two men hold a cage together to lift it onto the beast, her mother! She was awake and looked rather drowsy, almost as if she didn't sleep at all.
“This one is still awake!?”
“Screw it, shoot another dart into her, she's barely hanging on anyways.” A third man came out of the beast and pointed his weapon. Vulpsis flinched as she saw something spiky shoot out and stab her mother, the mighty Ninetales shivering once more and wobbling back and forth in the cage before falling down like her brother.
(What's going on?! Where are they taking them?!) Vulpsis wondered in her head as she began to whimper. The two men threw the cage clumsily onto the beast and secured them with some rope before closing some sort of door and heading into the beast as well. Vulpsis jumped from fright when she heard the beast suddenly roar to life! Its 2 front paws began to roll on its own as the metal beast sped off with incredible haste before turning out of Vulpsis' view for good. When she was sure it was gone she jumped out of her hiding spot and trotted down to where they were. The noxious smell lingered in the air and Vulpsis recognized it from earlier... so that metal beast was in the forest before... but how did those humans capture it? She wasn't given much choices now... she could go after them... or she could just stay behind. Or did the forest have other surprises in store for her... Vulpsis whimpered in helpless indecisiveness. What was she to do?
