Chapter 3: Welcome to The Family, Son

John…

This was a dream, this definitely was a dream, he couldn’t be one of those disgusting things…

John…

Imagine him, crawling to all sorts of places, letting out webs out of god-knows-where to catch smaller bugs. Wait… did he even have to eat fucking bugs!?

John… please…

He couldn’t live this life anymore, he couldn’t bear to be a bug throughout his whole second life. He mentally snapped. Fuck his second chance, send him to the afterlife immediately! Even hell is better than being stuck like this shi-

John wake up, please!!!

The small Joltik jolted awake, panting quickly and heavily. He looked around for a little before being close up to the face of an orange vulpine face. “John, thank Arceus, you’re alive!”

He screamed in panic and immediately he fell on his back once again. He noticed he was on a soft surface, he flailed his little nubs trying to get up again. This time he wasn’t alone, he was grabbed by soft paws and put on his feet once again.

“There you go!”

“… Uh…” John, still dazed from everything, tried to get his act together. “… Thanks, I guess…

“What happened? You suddenly stopped answering me and I realized you fainted. Could you tell me what was wrong?”

“I uh…” The Joltik looked away, a bit ashamed. “Something you said kinda triggered me… like a lot.”

Claire looked a little confused. “Oh really? I’m really sorry then!”

The Joltik sighed as he looked back at her. “It’s… fine. It’s just a stupid trigger…” However, he looked down. ‘Stupid for you I’m guessing…’

 The Vulpix looked determined. “Well tell me then, that way I won’t make you faint again!”

“I um…” The Joltik turned his back to the multi-tailed fox. “It’s not a simple trigger… like it’s not something you said but… more like a realization of what I am…”

“You fainted from… knowing you’re a Joltik?”

“Uh…” He looked back at her again. “I want to know what I look like… are there any reflective surfaces around here?” He looked around to find that he was in some sort of bedroom. It seems the soft ground he was on was a bed, then which meant… he reached what essentially was the Vulpix home…

“Oh sure, there’s a mirror on the desk where my sis uses a lot. She really wants to be a model when she grows up, so she’s there for like most of the day.” She giggles to herself and picks up John with her mouth again. (He felt like wetting his pants but he was naked and didn’t want to see what bug piss looked like.) But he was getting used to it overall.

She placed him on the desk with a built-in mirror. He looked at the mirror and immediately flinched at what he was seeing. His body indeed completely changed, he had green fur all over his body, save for the pointy blue nubs as his feet, unlike normal bugs and spiders, he only had four legs which he was glad for. The only thing that made him cringe every time he looked at it, was his four blue eyes. He had two main eyes spaced out by two additional smaller eyes, slightly above the level of the main ones that had no pupils. So that’s why he felt like he was seeing double… because he literally was.

After what felt like hours but were seconds of looking in the mirror, he came to a conclusion. ‘God… I look so… disgusting … at least I don’t look a lot like a bug from my world… still, I fucking hate it…’

“I take it that it is the first time you looked in the mirror after you came into this world?” Claire asked.

“Um… yeah. You found me after like… one hour later after I came out of an egg.” John kept looking into the mirror, running a nub across his face still unsure if this was his true face. He opened his mouth to see what it looked like behind all of the fuzz covering it. Upon opening, he noticed that he had four fangs, two on the upper part, and two on the lower half. At least he had no tarantula fangs, which he was relieved of.

“Are you gonna be in that mirror all day?” She asked with a playful smirk. “Wouldn’t recommend it, because you would have a competition.”

“Huh?” He turned to face Claire, rubbing the fur on top of his head. “Sorry, just that my new body feels um… kinda alien to me if you get what I’m saying.”

“Oh, I’d get how you feel. I mean, you’re a human in a new body, of course, it would be weird for you. But man, I really thought you were gonna become like my sister.”

 The Joltik stopped to think for a bit about the fire fox’s sister. “Um… don’t mind if I ask, but… who’s your sister?”

“Well… she’s-“

“Oh look who got home early. Did the nerd come back with no results?”

They both look to the side to find a similar figure to Claire standing regally at the door. Inspecting the female figure for a little, John noticed that her fur was indeed white as snow, he noticed her eyes were baby blue, and her paw fur was a darker shade of her fur, almost like she was wearing boots. Instead of curly hair, she had straight head fur, going right to the back of her neck.

“Oh look, if it isn’t the ice queen herself…”The orange Vulpix sighed. “Hi, Elsa…”

John had to think for a second if that name was a reference because she gave her a silly nickname, or if that was her real name and it was pure coincidence.

“Claire… I guess ditching class just wielded bad results, huh?” Oh damn… it is her actual name. Looking at Claire, he saw that she snorted a bit of fire from her nose.

Claire growled. “Shut it, Elsa, I did find the source of light from last night!”

The ice Vulpix scoffed. “Like I said, you red bitch, there was no light and you were completely out of your mind!”

John thought for a second. ‘Should I quietly leave…?’ He took a slight step back until red paws snatched him, and put him in front of Elsa.

“Then take a look at this!” She stretched her paws forward showing the small Joltik to the white Vulpix. “He may not look like it, but he is a human!”

The white fox stayed in silence. “… Um… nice to meet ’cha?” The Joltik said with a sheepish smile, showing a little fang.

Elsa then sat on the ground with her lower torso and started chuckling. Her chuckles then transformed into a regal laugh of sorts.

Claire was a bit annoyed. “What’s so funny!?”

The ice Vulpix then stopped laughing. “You’re telling me…” She points a paw towards the Joltik with a claw nail poking out. “… this is a human?!”

Some flames can be seen coming out of Claire’s snout, narrowingly avoiding John. “Yeah, he fucking is, he confirmed it to me when we met!”

The ice fox put her paw close to her mouth, trying to sound like a fancy Pokémon laughing. “Ahahaha! You’re completely more out of your mind than I thought! There is… NO way that a small and pathetic Joltik like him could be the human that’ll save the world this time!”

John tried to butt in. “Well um… she got a point-“

“John is NOT pathetic!” Claire interrupted as put John on the ground. “He might not look like much now, but wait until he evolves!”

“Wait, evol-“

Elsa interrupted. “Yeah right, like a simple evolution would do much.” John stayed silent with an unamused face. However, it quickly morphed into fear as the ice Vulpix crouched head down towards John’s level, showing her fangs with a grin. “Look at him, so still, so silent, so weak. I’m sure he wouldn’t even notice if I ate him whole right now…”

Claire started growling as small flames were coming out from the sides of her muzzle. John took some steps back with a sheepish and fearful look. “Wo-woah easy there… I’m sure that uh… a princess like you wouldn’t want to dirty her mouth with um… a lowly bug like me… right…?

“Oh my, even though he smells like a newborn, he has manners.”

“Don’t you dare lay a single claw on him!” Claire warned snorting more flames from her nose.

“Like I would dirty my prestige claws to thrash like him.” The ice fox leans back from the Joltik and starts to walk away. “Now if you excuse me, I’m going to take my beauty bath!”

John mutters to himself. “Man, she has AN ego… I bet she throws herself at every boy she sees expecting them to love her… definitely bratty attitude…”

Elsa’s ears twitched and she slowly turned her head to face John. “What… did you just mutter about me? You scum of this EARTH!!!” As she said that, John felt chills around his body, as he realized that the temperature dropped.

The small jumping spider thought. ‘Shit! I forgot about animal ears!’

Elsa turned to him, and with every slow step she took, the ground around her paws became flat ice. “You’re gonna regret saying that to me, you pathetic bug!”

John tried to move his legs away, but he soon realized that they were stuck on the ice. He couldn’t even defend himself. Luckily, he wasn’t alone, Claire got in front of him, with a hot aura all around her and with flames surrounding her fangs. “Touch him and all of your combed fur is gone!”

That got a flinch out of the white Vulpix as she took one step back, the temperature increasing again as the ice around them melted. “Hmph, fine! Stay with your stupid bug, after all, he’s the closest thing you’ll get as a boyfriend anyways.”

Elsa laughed as she walked away while Claire growled as more fire was visible from her mouth. “Why you son of a-“

John interrupted the fire fox before she could say any further. “Just ignore her, it’s not worth being mad at her over nothing.”

The fire around her mouth dissipated as she turned over to John. “But it IS something! She insulted you, a human!”

“And what about it? Yeah sure I might be rare or something I guess, but I’m not THAT big of a figure as you make it to be.”

“But you are! You’re destined to save the world!”

“I am no fucking hero!!!” Claire flinched as she brought a paw to her chest. “Wanna know who I was before all of this shit? I was a twenty years old man who, basically, just lived on a computer for most of his job hours and free time! That was, basically, my life since I was fifteen! Majority of the time I was out of that computer, I was out with my friends, and not saving the world as you expect like basically every human to do, noooo, I was out with them just to have fun with them as friends do in that world! Yes, I may have sacrificed my life for them to escape without anything happening to them, but that was just my selfish sense of justice in action, and my desire for them to live.”

Claire couldn’t help but mutter. “… John…”

The Joltik looked aside with a frown. “I’m not as special as you think, I’m just… a normal guy…”

“Well, I didn’t think a young Joltik’s life could be like that.”

Another voice was at the door, the voice chuckles, this time a more deep female voice, more like a woman this time. They both look at the door and John immediately screams in fear from the majestic creature standing at the door. He steps back to hide behind Claire. “Oh… hi mom.”

John said with a surprised tone. “Mom!? That thing is your mom!?”

“Ohohohoho, he’s a scared one isn’t he?”

John took a peek to inspect the creature in front of him and Claire. She stood on all fours, had yellowish fur, and one red eye, while the other eye was covered by her head fur. The most noticeable feature about her was the nine giant tails on her back, the tip of each tail was colored red. John had so many questions, the major one being- “Claire… how is that creature… your mother?”

Claire answered nonchalantly. “Well, at some point in my life, I’ll become like her when I become stronger.”

“You what?!” John could imagine Claire in the future, looking like Kurama from Naruto, looking down at him like he was some sort of snack. He gulped dry at just the thought of it.

Claire’s mom started speaking again. “So… I may have overheard a few things said here and there between you and your sister. After all, you two scream a lot for no reason.”

Claire looked away ashamed. “Sorry…”

The nine-tailed fox approached both and sat in front of them, looking down. It felt like he was in the presence of a god with the way her tails moved behind her majestic form. If he wasn’t intimidated by Elsa since he got used to Claire, he definitely was intimidated by this creature. “So then… Claire, would you mind leaving the two of us alone? If he’s actually a human like you said he was, then I need some information.”

Claire looked at her for a few seconds in silence, before sighing and walking out of the room, leaving John fully exposed. He couldn’t take the fear and the pressure anymore, and since his body was new and like a baby, he pissed on the floor. A small yellow puddle was seen growing below him. At that, the majestic fox started laughing at the embarrassing situation the Joltik has gotten into. ‘Oh my fucking god… why!?’ John started blushing and shaking from embarrassment as he looked away. “I-I’m sorry ma’am I-I’ll clean this up for you… I- I promise!”

 The deity-looking fox just chuckled. “Hehe, no need to worry little guy, it’s okay. I get why you’re scared, just be honest, I look scary, don’t I?”

The Joltik slowly nodded.

“I guess these last events really confirm what you are. Now could you please step away from the puddle? I’ll clean it for you and then we’ll start with the questions.”

“L-like I said, I can clean it for you!”

The Ninetales raised a metaphorical eyebrow. “And perhaps can you hold a mop with that small body all on your own?”

John sighed. “… I guess not…” He stepped away from the small puddle and shook his nubs over the puddle to get rid of his excrement as much as possible. “So like… how would you clean it, if you can’t also hold a mop?”

 “Just watch, little one.” Suddenly, her eyes glowed purple and a purple outline could be seen with the yellow liquid as it started to float. John took several steps back from the scene and saw how the liquid was thrown out of the window that just opened out of nowhere.

“Wha- who- when… fucking HOW!?” The Joltik blurted out in utter surprise and a bit of fear.

The nine-tailed creature blinked and her eyes were back to her usual red. “That my friend… was Psychic.”

“Psychic!?” John asked a bit in disbelief and the Ninetales nodded. ‘Okay, what in the actual fuck is wrong with Pokémon?’ The Joltik thought. “I uh… how did you learn that!?”

The nine-tailed fox smiled. “Well, you could say that our species has a bit of psychic energy in our bodies.”

John stood in silence for a moment before facepalming with his nubs. ‘Of course, you dummy, they are literal Kitsunes, freaking fire spirit animals!’

“Something wrong?”

The Joltik groaned, looking aside for a second. “Ugh, nothing…”

“Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. A pleasure to meet you human, my name is Reya, what is yours?” Reya said with a friendly smile.

“My name is John.” The small spider sighed. “Look, can I ask you some questions? Because I have so many…”

“Sure thing, ask away! I’m sure you’re pretty confused throughout all of this.” She said while sitting on the ground, tails still looking majestically behind her.

“Indeed, I am… but about your daughter, um… Claire, she barely knows me and she is fangirling me all the time. Could you explain why?”

“Oh, it is just the way she is… don’t mind it. It’s just… she really wants to become an explorer, but it’s always required for you to be in a duo of sorts. She doesn’t have any friends at school, she studies and trains a lot to become an explorer alone, because she thinks no one would want to form an exploration team with her after…” Reya shakes her head. “… and she definitely knows that her sister would never do something like that.

John tilted his head. “And since she saw stories about humans, she either wants to be an explorer alone or with a human because she thinks that a human will make her the best explorer?”

“Oh wow, it seems you got it all just by spending some time with her. No wonder they say humans are really smart.” She mused as she put a paw on her chin. “Hm… do you perhaps have a home already?”

The Joltik remembered the small dome below the tree stump. Has he seen any web there? Probably he just wasn’t paying attention. “No… I don’t.” He started thinking how horrifying his mother could look. ‘Now that I know what my “mom” looks like, no way in HELL I would go back there.’

Reya suggested. “Then why don’t you stay here? You see… my husband and I feel that Claire is really lonely, while Elsa doesn’t care about her. I would stay by her side a bit longer, but I feel like our jobs are making us unable to accomplish that.” The Ninetales sighed sadly. “So… would you be her friend so that may cheer her up? From the way she was defending you from Elsa, she really must like you.”

After hearing all of that, he felt sorry for Claire, and for shouting at her too. So this might repay for what he said to her. “Alright then… I’ll do it.”

“Great! Thank you human!” She nodded her head in appreciation.

John made a forced smile. “You’re welcome…”

“Well since this is your temporary home, I guess I can say… welcome to the family, son .” She giggled as John let out a forced chuckle.

“Would your husband be fine with this…? Aren’t I taking more space?”

“Don’t worry about it, he might be a bit… cold… but he has a nice heart. Once he hears your story, I’m sure that he wouldn’t mind if you stayed here.” The Ninetales said with a smile.

“Well if you say so…” A sound interrupted him, it sounded like a high-pitched growling, it was then he noticed that the sound was coming from him. He was hungry… “Uh…”

Reya tilted her head with a playful grin. “Do you want something to eat?”

“That would be appreciated…” John admitted looking away.

The Ninetales put a paw on her chin, thinking about something. “Hm… I’m not sure if this would work, since there weren’t many Joltiks seen doing this. But come with me, I’ll find a good electrical spot for you.”

“Thank- … wait what?”