It’s a long shot, but it’s the only way you can see out of this. You speak up, “Wait! What if there’s another way? The vulpix you said killed the pichu, Xander, he saved my life yesterday. He could have killed me, but he didn’t. So why would he kill a pichu?” Murmuring breaks out in both groups.
Boc shouts back, “It is obvious he killed the pichu. His snout was covered in blood. Who else could have?”
“Has this thing not been going on for years?” You respond. “I remember peers of mine disappearing at the watering hole and stories of the same thing happening for years prior. Xander has three tails which means he is only a year old, so he could not have killed all those pichu.”
“So other vulpix have been hunting pichu,” says Boc. “Sounds like we should just ban the vulpix regardless…”
“What if it’s something else, other than a vulpix?”
“What then?”
“Well… I am no friend to vulpix, obviously, and my own tribe wants to force mate me to an undesirable buck, so let me investigate the death as a third party and find the true culprit.”
Boc says, “and what happens when you find nothing or that it was the vulpix?”
You sigh and lower your head, “then I will become Flik’s mate… you have nothing to lose…”
It is dead silent for a second then Boc groans, “Fine… but I will not abide your fantasies for long. You have till sundown tonight to do your little ‘investigation.’ When you fail, you’ll be mated to my son tomorrow afternoon, after the execution. And Lady, we expect you to do your own investigation to find who helped Xander and expect you to bring the accomplices to the execution to face justice.”
“Very well…” says Lady. Lady leans in and growls into your ear, “Lulu, you lied to me, and if I wasn't in the right mind, I'd keep you to eat for myself. I do love the way pikachu taste but don’t get to eat them often, and I would take my time and savor every... last… bite. And you would scream and squirm and wish the vulpix would have eaten you. Trust me, I can make it last a long time, slow cooking you bite by bite. So go ahead, make my dinner and just try to run away. You may run, but I am the best hunter in this forest and I will find you and return your head to the tribe. The rest of you will slide down this:"
You look up to see Lady's maw opened wide and hovering just above your head. Lines of razor-sharp pearly canines warn you what they were made for; her front fangs meant to snag prey and rip chunks of supple flesh while the back molars meant to crush bone and serrate meat into a fine paste. Her mouth drips with drool meant to help slather the meat and ease its descent down the gullet. Her tongue hangs out the side, lined with little bumps designed to taste her savory prey's blood and flesh, sending signals to her brain telling her, “That’s good… Eat more!” A long thread of saliva drips off the tongue slowly, like it were tree sap, and lands on your face. In the back of her maw, a gaping gullet beckons and with each breath out, sends waves of sweltering heat that would rival the hottest summer's day.
The sight sends a primal shiver down your little prey spine. Never have the gods designed a more perfect tool for killing, maiming, and devouring. You would be the perfect meal for this maw and the stomach attached; not too big to leave any for the scavengers but also not too small to leave her gut unsatisfied - a perfectly proportioned pikachu picnic.
Lady smacks her jowls and licks her chops with deliberation. “Understood?”
You nervously nod your head yes.
“Good, one last thing…” Lady brings her snout down to your asshole. She presses her cold nose right into your sphincter, making you jump and yip in surprise. She takes a deep inhale of your scent. She finishes, brings her open, sharp maw into your line of sight, and tells you, “I never forget a scent, Lulu. Now go...” Lady releases your tail and you waste no time dashing to the tribe.
You run directly to your father, embracing him. You hug and cry into his fur and he cries back. He holds the back of your head and tells you, “my baby, I-I…”
Your father is interrupted by Dale, “not now, Wible; we are still in enemy territory. Get back in formation.”
“Y-yes, of course.” Your father runs back, leaving you in the middle of the V formation.
Boc continues, “so long as the others step forward to face justice, vulpix can continue to use the watering hole. But we will be keeping a much closer eye from here on out.”
Boc turns around, and the tribe of pikachu leave back into the brush and you with them, saved from death for now.
You walk with the tribe in silence for about thirty minutes. Once safely away from the heart of vulpix territory, your father asks "Boc, can we stop? I need to talk to Lulu."
Boc and Dale stop and whisper to each other. Boc then responds, "Yes, that’s fine. We’ll take a short break."
The bucks relax and lounge around. Your father runs up to you and hugs you once more. You tell him, "I'm sorry, Dad."
"It's okay, baby." He releases you from his hug but not his grip. He looks at you directly into your eyes, his shimmering with tears. "Lulu, the pichu the vulpix ate was…" his voice chokes up, "it was Jet."
"W-what?" You are devastated by this news. Jet was your favorite nephew and was one of the reasons you considered staying. He was a lot like you, both in temperament and physique: small, fast, and brave. But those characteristics made you desirable to males in your peer group also made Jet easy to bully by those same males. Jet always had trouble making friends and loved sneaking off by himself. You kept a close eye on him while your sister was away and caught him more than a few times trying to run off. You wonder if you not being there at the watering hole led to this.
Hearing this news breaks your heart; you are about to break down and cry, but you shake the tears from your eyes and tell your father, “No, Dad. The vulpix didn’t kill Jet. I just know it. I swear I’ll find what really happened.”
“I hope you’re right, Lulu.”
You finally break down and cry into your father's shoulder. It’s been such a hard day that you just sob for a couple minutes until you sober up. Boc comes up to you and your father and says, “We should get a move on.” The pikachu gather in formation and begin to walk once more; you in the back of the group next to your father.
After a thirty-minute walk back, you come to a line of trees that smell of pikachu piss and have scratches of claw marks in the bases; the edge of pikachu territory; you’re home. After another fifteen minutes, you wind up back in the heart of pikachu territory - a large clearing nestled between tall trees. You never thought you’d be back here so soon and still a pikachu, but here you are.
As is standard practice when most the males leave, the tribe is on high alert. All the tribe’s pikachu are in the center of the clearing with young, unmated males and older males too old to fight on guard while in the middle are all the female pikachu watching over the pichu. The pichu play but only half-heartedly - even they know the weight of the situation.
Once the line of bucks integrates back into the tribe, guards are let down, but the mood does not lighten. The bucks go to their mates and begin telling them what happened in whispers. Soon, members begin to spot you. One pikachu says, “is that Lulu?” and soon after a wave of murmurs sweeps the tribe with the only word you can pick up is, “Lulu?” As all eyes turn to you, you lower your ears in embarrassment.
Your mother runs up and hugs you, “you’re coming back?”
“N-no mom, well maybe. I-I’m here to find out what happened to Jet.”
“What do you mean?”
Before you can respond you are cut off by a throat clearing. Boc says, “Darla, can you please excuse us; I need to talk to your daughter, alone.”
“Yes, of course, Boc.” Your mother then departs to your father.
Boc turns to you, “listen, Lulu, I don’t know why, but I’m giving you a chance here. You have till sundown. You can do whatever you want, ask around or go to the watering hole, so long as you come back by night. Try to run away and we will hunt you down as an enemy. Do not make me look like a fool here for giving you a chance.” Boc walks away leaving you alone surrounded by your former tribe members.
You take a deep breath, exhale, and look around; sundown will be in about an hour, so you’ll have to choose who you will talk to carefully. You see a few options:
- Kat, your former mentor, is the matriarch of the tribe. She is in charge of keeping pichu safe and was probably the first on the scene.
-Then there's Xander; he’s here somewhere. It would be good to get his side of the story.
-And you could talk to Dale. Dale is the most trusted pikachu in the tribe with the only possible exception being Boc. Dale has been in charge of investigating the pichu disappearance before. One of your close childhood friends disappeared as Jet did; they said she was captured by a human but you’ve always had doubts about that. Maybe you could question Dale about that incident.
-Then there is Fenny; Fenny is a pichu the same age as Jet and was Jet’s main bully. He was always picking on Jet, so you just have a feeling that he might have had something to do with him running away.
Whatever you do, the sun will set soon, and you’ll probably only have time to talk to two chu before you’ll have to head out to the watering hole to look around.
What do you do?
(Because of the lack of logic in interactives on this website and to cut down on pages, if you want to play it how it is intended, only read two conversations then head off to the watering hole. Otherwise, just play how you want. Thanks!)
