The chaos was winding down when Abby woke up to find Kasai’s warm weight sleeping against her side, his tail wrapped around hers, his head leaning against her own, deep snores echoing from within him. The Ninetales let out a small sigh, she may not have actually known that the chaos in the city was over for a fact, but the fact that Kasai was next to her was proof that if nothing else, it was at manageable levels. Kasai was the type to not leave a job half done, in fact, he’d collapsed in the middle of some missions before because he’d worn himself out over the course of them.
Abby let out a sigh and nuzzled closer to her mate, listening to his heavy breathing as his warm breath against her head. The Ninetales closed her eyes and curled closer to his smoky smelling side, enjoying the comfortingly familiar aroma. The Arcanine’s snores became snuffles for a moment before he licked her cheek in his sleep and curled even tighter around her body.
The Ninetales smiled happily and licked him back, snuggling into his soft fur once more. She stayed like that for hours, listening to his snores and feeling his heavy chest rise and fall against her back. It was hardly the first time she’d found herself curled up ‘inside’ of him, though when she was human, she had to admit, it hadn’t felt anywhere near this... right.
She frowned, was that the word she was looking for?
When she’d awoken in his embrace as a human, she’d always felt a little stiff from being curled up. Abby had always been a fairly ‘straight’ sleeper as far as things went and waking up in the fetal position had not been all that good on her back. Now however she was a fox and curling up in a ball felt natural.
Eventually, Abby felt the urge to use the bathroom and pushed herself out of Kasai’s warm, near smothering embrace. As she did so, Kasai let out a snuffling grunt and rolled onto his other side, his paws scrabbling as they looked for her. Abby paused and leaned down to nuzzle him and whispered in his ear.
“I’ll be right back,” she whispered softly even though she knew he couldn’t really hear her. Then she gave him a lick on the muzzle and got off of the bed. The lights were on outside of the room, they always were after all, and she made her way to the restroom, coming back a few minutes later only to stop outside the door. Luke was sitting their crosslegged his eyes closed.
The Ninetales smiled and walked up to him, sitting down beside the Gallade. Luke didn’t say anything and instead, Abby felt his psychic hand stroking her down the back of the head. She smiled more and leaned a little into the psychic petting.
I’ve returned... for good this time, Luke said within her mind, a small smile crossing his face as he began to work behind her ears. Abby let out a reflexive groan and leaned into the psychic fingers.
“Good, I’m glad,” she said, her tongue hanging out of her mouth a little. “Also, you’re really good with those psychic fingers.”
Kasai has told me the same, Luke replied with a small chuckle, ending his affections. I just stopped by to tell you that things are calm outside, for the moment anyways. How are you doing?
“That’s good to hear... and I’ve been worse... but I’ve also been better,” Abby answered with a small sigh as she edged a little closer to the Gallade though still avoided outright touching him. “Apparently I have a voice in my head who represents my ‘Inner Ninetales’ and my instincts.”
Luke frowned and looked down at her. Really? That’s... peculiar. Would you like me to... investigate this?
“Yes please,” Abby replied, putting her head in his lap.
The Gallade didn’t flinch for once and he moved a hand down to gently touch her on the forehead. This was hardly the first time the psychic had seen to her mental health, in fact it was one of the things that Abby valued used the most about his skills. As a Ranger she had seen and done all sorts of things and it always paid to have Luke’s steady mind there to help her sort things out.
Luke was silent for a long moment as he sorted through the Ninetales’ mind before he withdrew his hand.
You’re not going insane, he answered the obvious question. She’s just a part of you and I suggest that you try to find a way to talk with her on your own.
“And you can’t supply me with that way because...?” Abby inquired, glancing up at Luke with her crimson orbs.
Because... it’s your mind Abby, Luke replied, using his hand to physically pet her again. I cannot... sort it out for you.
Abby snorted. “Meaning that you want me to work at it before you do anything.”
Perhaps, Luke replied, a small, almost smirk on his face as he gently pet her. Now then... I think Kasai sleeping mind misses you. You should return to him.
“Okay... thanks for your help Luke,” Abby said, leaning up to give the Gallade a light lick on the cheek. Luke smiled and opened the door for her, shutting it behind the fox, smile still on his face.
Abby walked into the bedroom to find Kasai on his back, a small frown on his sleeping muzzle. With a small chuckle she jumped back onto the bed and walked over to him and lay down on top of his chest, enjoying the feeling of his limbs wrapping around her as her face burrowed into his soft furred chest.
It was halfway through the next day when Abby was called to Ace’s office. To her surprise, Blackwing was there as well, looking extremely tired.
“Abby, good to see you up and about,” Blackwing said, flapping his batwings slightly.
“Thanks, it’s good to see you too,” Abby replied with a nod. “So... why did you two need to see me? Aren’t you busy with all of the... stuff that happened yesterday?”
“Oh, we are, that’s why he’s still awake,” Ace said, nudging her husband with a hoof. In the time between when he’d said hello to Abby and she’d replied, his eyes had begun to droop downwards. “Unfortunately, it’s precisely because of yesterday that we’ve called you here.”
“Oh?” Abby asked, frowning faintly as she cocked her head to the side. “Why?”
“Because... the Mayor of the city is considering banning Pokemon from within the city limits,” Ace answered, nudging Blackwing a bit more to further wake him up. “As you can imagine, he’s asked for ‘somemon’ to represent yourselves.”
Abby blinked twice. “So... you picked me?”
“You are the one who wants to open up her own branch of the Guard at some point,” Blackwing pointed out, shaking his head and reaching for another cup of coffee. “And you’re the one who has been working with a majority of the Pokemon, at least, as far as city officials care.”
“Okay...” Abby frowned for a moment. “What else is going on?”
“There are a large amount of ponies who are terrified of you,” Ace answered with a sigh. “Well, not you specifically, but of Pokemon of all types. Especially after yesterday... not many were careful enough not to lash out at ponies that weren’t involved in the attack or to avoid damaging lots of public property.”
Abby was silent for a moment before she nodded her head. “I see... makes sense.”
When she thought about it, it really did. The ponies seemed to have no idea how to really deal with Pokemon, and they certainly weren’t used to the damage and destruction that those Pokemon could cause. Heck, if Abby really thought about it, there would probably be certain cities on Earth who would ban Pokemon if they could after particularly bad incidents if they could get away with it.
“I’ll do my best then,” Abby said with a small nod. “When do I need to be there, wherever there is?”
“The mayor's office in an hour,” Blackwing replied, yawning heavily before he turned to Ace and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “I’m off to bed darling, best of luck Abby.” He then shook his head and walked past Abby, heading for his rooms.
“Wow... he’s tired,” Abby said after a long moment.
“Yeah, he’s nocturnal for a reason,” Ace answered, shaking her head, a slight smile on her face. “And it’s not because he’s a batpony.”
Abby nodded and closed her eyes. “So... any idea what I can tell the Mayor to keep him from tossing us to the curb?”
“Be honest,” Ace answered immediately. “Mayor Slots is an honest pony, despite the name. Just tell him your personal story and the benefits of having Pokemon here in town, I know that I’ve come to appreciate your help on the force.”
Abby smiled as Ace grinned at her and then nodded her head. “Right. Okay, I can do that. Think there would be any problems with me bringing Kasai?”
“No, I think that’s probably a good idea,” Ace answered, her expression becoming a frown. “An angry mob has assembled outside of the mayor's office in an attempt to shift the Mayor’s opinion... I don’t think they’d do anything but you’d probably be safer if you brought him along.”
The Ninetales nodded slowly. She’d never been the type to get roped into deal with angry mobs, that was mostly just normal police work really, but she knew what they could do if pushed hard enough in the wrong direction.
“Okay... and anyone more then Kasai would probably just infuriate them further,” Abby mused with a small frown. “Right, Kasai and I will head over there when it’s time.”
“Good,” Ace said with a nod as Abby turned to go. “Oh,and Abby, be careful,” the mare called after her.
Abby smiled back over her shoulder. “Don’t worry, I’m sure Kasai and I can handle anything.”
As she walked down the street Abby got a better appreciation for just why so many of the ponies were angry with the Pokemon. The streets were blackened, burned, and torn apart. Buildings had large holes gouged into them along with blast lines that were obviously from Hyper Beams or the like. Rubble was strewn across the road and Abby was sure that she saw a few blood marks here and there. As they walked along, the Ninetales felt several sets of eyes tracking her. Some belonged to ponies cleaning up, others to those looking at them with fear, and yet still others looking at Kasai with grateful eyes.
“I take it you did good work yesterday?” Abby asked the Arcanine.
“Ran myself ragged,” Kasai answered with an affirmative nod before looking over at a mare who had a small Chikorita balanced on her head with a pair of vines. “Saved those two after the little girl got herself knocked out.”
The mare waved at them and Kasai gave her a grin in response. Abby smiled up at him and nuzzled the Arcanine under the chin, pressing her side against his, her tail wrapping around his.
“I’m so proud of you Kasai,” she said happily, giving him a lick on the cheek.
“For what? Doing what’s natural?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Yes, for doing what’s natural,” Abby answered with a sigh as she leaned against him. Kasai paused in his walking and leaned down to nuzzle her head with his own and gave her a few licks before starting forwards again.
“Come on Abby, don’t want to be late,” he stated wisely, whapping her beneath the tails with his tail and causing her to let out a slight yelp of surprise and shoot daggers at him.
“Hey!” she snapped.
Kasai just grinned and licked her across the face before he set off at a light jog. Abby rolled her eyes and took off after him, easily catching up the the Arcanine and the two quickly made their way down to the mayor's office where the Mayor was holding his hearing.
They came to a stop at the edge of the square to find that, like Ace had told them, it was full of angry ponies holding up crudely drawn signs of Pokemon with large Xs over them. Some were decorated with slogans such as ‘not from our world, not from our city’ and several other of a similar vein. Though the crowd appeared mostly calm when Abby and Kasai had been approaching, constant shouting of ‘send them home’ and ‘get out of our city’ aside, the moment that they caught sight of the pair, grumblings and discontent began to build as more and more hostile eyes turned towards them.
“Well... this is pleasant,” Abby said slowly as she and Kasai were waved towards a thin line of Guards who were doing their best to keep the crowd contained.
“That’s one way to say it...” Kasai said with a small frown as his head leaned out of the way of some tomatoes flung at them.
Abby didn’t bother saying anything else, too busy dodging tomatoes and cabbages being thrown their way. Unlike Kasai, she wasn’t quite as good at dodging and an overripe tomato hit her in the cheek, splattering over her face. A low growl built in her throat but she didn’t react otherwise, there were worse things than having tomato juice on your face.
Another volley of fruit headed her way but Kasai stepped in front of her. “Protect!” he shouted firmly as a dome covered both of them. Abby smiled and gave him a lick on the face as the vegetables and fruit splattered across the dome before glancing at him.
“We should hurry up,” she said before moving forwards towards the door faster. The Arcanine nodded his head in agreement and followed suit, though making she he was on her side facing the crowd.
The pair reached the thin line of Guards and were ushered through, one using a magic driven towel to wipe Abby’s face clean, though it didn’t do nearly as good a job as Abby would have liked. They were lead down the hallway by a mare who didn’t give them a second glance until they reached a large set of doorways.
They found themselves inside of what appeared to be a very open office with a desk sitting directly in the middle of it. Bookshelves and several odd little decorations were arranged along the walls and Abby would have loved to have gotten a better chance to examine the room but she was interrupted by an angry shout.
“What are those things doing in here?!” an earth pony mare with a red mane snapped, she was standing in front of the desk along with the stallion who sat behind it. “My appointment can’t be over already!”
“I apologize Ms. Fluff, but I’m afraid it is,” the pegasus stallion said simply, brushing his dark mane back behind his ear. “Now then, if you would like to schedule another appointment about the issue, I’d be happy to hear your opinions again.”
Ms. Fluff glared at Abby. “I think that one is the very same vile fox who hospitalized my daughter!”
Abby blinked twice and looked at the mare with a frown before realization hit. “Oh, you must be the mother of the mare who kicked that Azurill. You’re mad at me for that?” she asked with a small snarl. “She kicked a baby in the face!”
“Yeah, I would be careful who you called vile,” Kasai said, a low growling rolling in his throat.
Ms. Fluff rolled her eyes. “Only because the little rat flooded her house!” she snarled. “You put her in the hospital!”
“Erhm,” Mayor Slots cleared his throat. “Ms. Fluff, your appointment is over. My secretary will see you out.”
Ms. Fluff scowled at Abby and Kasai before snorting and walking out of the room, tail twitching in annoyance. Abby scowled at her retreating rear in return and then looked over at the Mayor, his eyes had heavy bags beneath them upon closer inspection but other then that, he seemed orderly enough.
“Abby Trombley and Kasi, it’s a pleasure to meet two of my cities Guard,” Mayor Slots said, giving them an honest smile. “Though, I can’t help but wish that the circumstances were a bit better.”
“Yeah... us too,” Kasai said with a small frown, glancing back at the door, the chatter of the crowd muffled yet still making it’s way through.
“So, what would you like us to tell you?” Abby asked, getting to the heart of the mater.
“Why I should allow you Pokemon to stay within the city limits,” Mayor Slots answered, a small sigh escaping his lips. “Now, I do not particularly want to do this. I think your species has just as much right to live in Equestria as any other, provided that you eventually apply for citizenship and start paying taxes of course,” he continued, cracking a small smile. “But... yesterday half of the city was destroyed and dozens if not hundreds of ponies were injured. Worse this comes after a week of destruction, some of which I seem to recall you and your ‘team’ took part in.”
Abby slowly nodded her head. “I understand sir,” she stated. “You have to do what’s best for your city.”
“Exactly,” Mayor Slots said, nodding his head in return. “Now, I have a few days to draft a bill to put before the city’s legislature and I’m trying to find more reasons to keep Pokemon from being expulsed, public opinion to the contrary or no. However, I can only do that if you give me good reasons for my support.”
Kasai spoke up first. “Well sir... if the ponies stop fearing and attacking us... Pokemon can help enrich their lives.”
“Go on,” the Mayor said, giving Kasai a nod.
“Well... all we want is to just live as peaceful lives as you do, even help in jobs,” the Arcanine continued. “I mean I know several fire types that help cooks in heating food to the right degree, or water and grass types to help keep gardens fresh and clean. The ability of what we can do to help is almost endless.”
“For example, many fire departments back on our world employed water Pokemon to be in fire-fighting squads and I know that there are also a large number of Arcanine and Growlithe who serve the police force,” Abby picked up. “I mean, that was one of the reasons I got Kasai in the first place when I joined the academy.”
“I see,” the Mayor said, scribbling down a few things, somehow using his wing to hold onto the pencil. “Any other particulars?”
“Yeah, lots of rock and ground type Pokemon are hired for mining or even construction work,” Kasai added. “Some electric Pokemon are hired to help supply power to buildings too. Like that Electrode from yesterday. They brought by the dozen to run power plants and they happily do it too.”
“Hmmm, those are all good points,” Slots mused to himself before letting out a sigh. “But you do know what the strongest argument against keeping you in the city is going to be don’t you?”
“That we’re dangerous,” Abby said, guessing it immediately. “That we could kill a lot of ponies if given the chance.”
“Exactly, not to mention the property damage,” Slots said, nodding his head. “What would you like me to tell them about that?”
“To be honest... it’s a normal problem back in our world,” Kasai replied. “And the way the humans dealt with that is... well, by keeping Pokemon with them. You really think by passing a law you really will force all Pokemon out of your city?” he asked with an inquiring eyebrow. “It will probably just cause more trouble than it’s worth.”
“No I don’t think that I can manage that, which is why I’m talking to you right now and why there’s an angry mob outside my office,” he stated rather dryly.
“I realize,” Abby said with a small frown. It sounded like the crowd was getting closer for some reason.
Her ears flicked, yes, yes the crowd was definitely getting closer. That shouldn’t have been happening. Kasai caught it too and his head swiveled to the door seconds before it was kicked violently open. The doors parted to allow a swath of violent, chanting ponies into the room.
“GET THEM OUT! GET THEM OUT!” Dozens of voices roared at the same time.
Ms. Fluff was at the head of the group, an angry expression on her face.
“THAT ONE! THE FOX! SHE HOSPITALIZED MY DAUGHTER!” she shouted. “GET HER!”
Abby’s eyes widened as a sudden rain of objects began to fall down upon her. They didn’t seem to be heavy objects in the first second but then something truly large hit her in the skull and the Ninetale’s legs shuddered beneath her. Abby’s vision went spotty and she was forced to close it as blood ran down from her now open forehead and into her eyes.
“AHH!” she screamed as her mind filled with blinding pain centered around her temple. Blearily, she saw a blood stained brick lying on the floor beside her head.
Kasai’s mind had to process everything for a second before his eyes narrowed darkly and a deep growled rolled in his throat. “HOW DARE YOU HURT MY MATE!” he roared out, using the move Roar to amplified his words to near defying volume. “SHE IS PREGNANT AND YOU TOSS A FUCKING BRICK AT HER!” He advanced towards the group of ponies, fire sprouting from his jaws.
When confronted by a six foot tall, fire breathing dog whose voice was so loud that it nearly shattered their eardrums, the ponies instincts took over. They turned and ran, pushing each other to the side in an attempt to escape the monstrous predator.
The Arcanine continued his advance down the hall, the ponies parting like water before him, untill he was outside the front door. “AND IF YOU BLOODY HURT HER AGAIN, I WILL BURN YOU WHERE YOU FUCKING STAND!” He called up his most powerful fire move, Fire Blast. A roaring fire star launched like a rocket into the sky, where it erupted to shroud the whole area with intense heat. “SO LEAVE OR I’LL SEND YOU STRAIGHT TO FUCKING HELL!”
The ponies in the square dispersed so fast that Kasai was barely done roaring the word hell before it was empty. Several dazed guards looked up at him and did their best not to shiver in fear. The tiger dog looked absolutely terrifying, his fur standing on edge, fire in his jaws and death in his eyes.
Kasai stood there breathing heavily as he made sure all of the protesters were gone before he turned around and made a run back to the office. He rushed to Abby side and began to lick her wound. “Abby stay with me! Don’t pass out,” he shouted worriedly, licking and nuzzling her head.
“I’ve already called the hospital,” Mayor Slots informed him, moving forwards with a now wet white cloth and dabbing at the wound. “They should be here soon.”
Abby just lay there, her eyes totally lost. “Ka-Kasai?”
“I’m here, I’m here,” he said, licking her continuously.
“Okay... I’m going to take a nap... I’m tired,” she said, her voice turning sleepy as Slots began to bind her headwound. “Look after me... okay?”
“Nononono,” he said rapidly, moving a paw to shake her head lightly. “You got to stay awake for me Abby. If you go to sleep now....” he paused briefly. “You might never wake up.”
The Ninetales’ eyes flickered for a moment before they hardened slightly. “I... okay... I’ll... I’ll try.”
The Arcanine smiled as he gave her several more licks. “Good... I’ll be with you all the way.” He nuzzled her and wished silently that the ambulance or whatever the ponies used would hurry up.