Yes, another series. Hopefully this one lasts pretty long!

Not Just a Toy by SqueakyTails

Prologue: A Synthetic Birth

My mom said my hatchday was one of the most surprising moments of her life. Ever since I was laid the Wrei Ninetales clan she lived in expressed concern at how soft my egg was, how malleable it was under her paw. There were many rumors of infidelity: that my mother had mated with a Pokémon of a different egg groups and had doomed me to a cruel, mutant existence. My father had always vouched for her, though. He fought off any naysayers with his powerful fiery magic if he had to. As is common for our species, I hatched alongside four of my siblings in a litter. That was when my mother realized what I… what I was.

My mother whined softly, gingerly pawing my pulsating egg as my siblings climbed over one another against her belly. She quavered, “The shell is too soft, Ruyo. He can’t get out!”

My father exhaled deeply through his slender, golden muzzle, his nine bushy tails swaying in anxiety as he looked at my struggling egg. “Give him a little longer, Niya. Sometimes they take a while to—”

He cringed as my egg burst open with a thunderous clap, causing my siblings to clamor in fear as they squirmed against my mother, pitiful voices squealing for comfort. I added my own cries to the den as my father licked me over.

“What was that all about?” Niya questioned, her long ears pulled back in irritation. “Why did his egg explode like that?”

“Niya… you should see this,” Ruyo spoke in a low voice.

My mother immediately craned her neck around her wriggling kits to see me, her eyes wide in fear. “What is it? What’s wrong with him? Sweet Arceus, please tell me he’s okay, Ruyo!”

“I… I don’t know. Just look at him.”

Niya eyed my golden, shining pelt. “He’s a Shiny…” she whispered. “Oh, Arceus, Ruyo, he’s a Shiny! This is wonderful!”

“Hold on, Niya; look closer… and listen.” Over the squealing of Vulpix kits arose a sharp squeaking noise emitting from my shining body as I stumbled and crawled over to my mother. The dimly illuminated den nevertheless provided enough light for my mother to make out the rocks through me.

“What in the world…?” she muttered in confusion, peering into my hollow, translucent body. “He’s like one of those… oh, what are they again? The toys the humans play with?”

“I believe they’re called balloons, and yes; he does bear many similarities...” He pointed to a tiny valve on the tip of my single white tail.

Niya looked at my small, helpless, translucent form as I took my place beside my siblings, unsure of what was to come or what to do with me. Nevertheless, her motherly instincts took priority. “Well, I don’t care what he’s made of, flesh, rubber, or anything else. He’s our son and he needs a name.”

After a moment of silence, Ruyo spoke up in a whisper to not disturb the now sleeping kits. “How about… Sai?”

Niya smiled. “Sai’s a wonderful name.” She nuzzled my rubbery pelt ever so gently, smiling as she pushed into my hollow body with her wet nose. “Welcome to the world, Sai. I’m Niya, your mother. Next to you is your dad Ruyo. We love you more than you can understand…”


A few days after our hatching, we were brought before Wrei clan at our meeting-place, a rocky outcrop decorated with designs seared into the rocks by countless generations of Ninetales. It was a traditional ceremony for new parents to bring their kits before the clan to be officially accepted and welcomed. Many Ninetales and their kits perched on various flat stones, yet all deferred to the clan leader Rinaro who claimed the highest rock.

While my siblings were welcomed with howls and yelps of applause, the clan only muttered at my presentation. The words “adulterous”, “cursed”, and “unnatural” could be made out as Pokémon voiced their theories.

“I told you- she’s an adulterous witch!” One of Niya’s former friends declared, her fur spiked in anger. “Look at the poor kit- deformed, weak—“

“My son is not weak and deformed!” Niya shouted, fire flaring up around her. The two both growled as they stared each other down.

“He’s another human experiment; he has no place among us!” Another voice sprang up.

“How dare you! Why, I have half a mind to—“

“Enough!” Rinaro shouted as he summoned an ethereal blue fire mid-air to silence the crowd. “Niya, if Sai was not born of impure blood, then why is he… the way he is?”

“You mean you don’t know?” Niya asked in surprise. With five hundred years of experience, there were few things unknown to the wise Ninetales.

“I do not. Nevertheless, you say he is composed from the materials of man and I have never taken it upon myself to learn the matters of humans. Perhaps Dentak would know?”

“I’ll ask him tomorrow,” Ruyo volunteered.

“Good. Until we learn more, all of you are to accept Sai as you would any other kit or you will answer to me. Do you understand?” The congregation voiced their assent. “Good. Ruyo, make sure Dentak speaks to me as well. We’ll meet again privately,” he stressed, looking at the Ninetales around him, “at half-moon to discuss his fate. Now, is there anything else to be brought before the clan? No? Very well, meeting adjourned.”


Soon after sunrise the next morning, Ruyo wasted no time in hunting down the answers- literally. “Dentak!” Ruyo called as he trotted towards the Alakazam, who opened an eye as he was roused from his meditation atop a boulder. Uncrossing his bony legs, Dentak levitated down before the Ninetales with a smile.

“How may I help my fellow Pokémon today?” he queried in a Zen tone.

“You’ve read the humans’ books, right?”

“A number of them, yes. What do you wish to know?”

“My son, he’s, well… I’m sure you know.”

“I do not,” Dentak beamed serenely. “I have found it impolite to read others’ minds without permission.”

Ruyo sighed. “Okay, well, he’s a… a balloon.”

Dentak’s eyes widened. “A balloon, you say? Do explain.”

“Yes. He’s made of latex and filled with air, but he acts and plays like the rest of his littermates. I was hoping you could tell me something, anything about it. I can’t convince my clan that he’s a normal kit; they suspect human intervention or adultery.”

“Don’t worry; I believe you. He was truly born between you and Niya. Nevertheless, I have read that in the rarest of cases, consumption of plastic-contaminated food or water by the mother could lead to the incubated Pokémon being born “synthetic”, composed of the materials of man rather than those of nature.”

Ruyo nodded slightly. “For a time while my mate Niya carried her eggs we lived downstream of a factory. We moved away since, but…”

Dentak nodded in turn. “Yes, that does correlate with my studies. Do you live near any human settlements?”

Ruyo gave a half-smile as he shook his head, his long tuft of a mane whipping back and forth. “No, we decided to get as far away from human pollution as we could within clan boundaries. It wasn’t too far, though, what with Niya expecting and all.”

“I would advise you relocate near a human town or city. Your son will depend on latex and rubber for his nutrition.”

“Latex? That’s inedible! I nearly choked on a bit of plastic as a kit…”

“But your son is a synthetic; he will need to eat latex to stay healthy.”

“He’s been doing just fine on Niya’s milk…”

“But does he seem to be in pain or otherwise fatigued most of the time?”

Ruyo sighed. “Well, yes, actually.”

“It’s hard for a synthetic to digest regular food; while he can subsist off of it, it will leave him sickly and tired. He needs a supply of latex.”

“And so soon after they hatched… is it really what he needs?”

“I promise. There is a city only a few miles east of here. You can live in the woods, but be certain to harvest rubber when you can from the city. Even if you must raid their garbage, it will keep your son healthy.”

Ruyo scoffed. “A Ninetales? Sift through human trash? Are you insane?”

Dentak eyed him solemnly. “It will keep your son healthy,” he repeated. His meaning was clear.

My father sighed. “Alright. Maybe I can make a deal with a couple city Pokémon or something…”

“I trust you will do the right thing.”

My father returned home with the news. Niya was concerned over the rest of the kits; they had not weaned yet and could not make the trip. After a long discussion, Ruyo agreed to make the trek to the city a few times to gather rubber in addition to the berries he normally harvested. These would be long journeys, but the couple knew it was for the best.

They nuzzled goodbye the next morning before Ruyo sprinted east towards the city. My siblings and I were far too young to understand, but Niya had to blink back tears as he disappeared into the forest. As we fed from her belly, she silently hoped to Arceus that Ruyo would return home safely.


My father pawed around an aluminum garbage can on the outskirts of the town, unable to bring himself to actually push it over and dig through it; a Ninetales was far too refined for that lowly scavenging. But if it was for his son…

A rumbling came from within the can. Ruyo crouched, his tails held high in a battle pose. His preparation was in vain, however, as only a Zigzagoon poked his head up from under the lid, a half-eaten sandwich held proudly between his jaws. Hopping to the concrete below, he placed it on the ground and called, “Check it out; I got a cheeseburger!”

Ruyo cringed at the resulting cacophony of metal clanging against concrete as another Zigzagoon with a slightly moldy bag of Sitrus berries sprinted towards his friend. Dropping the bag, he congratulated the other Zigzagoon, “Nice, bro! We really lucked out today!”

“Erm, excuse me,” Ruyo spoke. The two turned towards him.

“Aw, cool, a Ninetales!” the first spoke.

“Hey, you’re not sharing our burger!” the other warned.

“C’mon, Lendo; you know what ma taught us- sharing is caring.”

“But Paston! Cheeseburger! We can share the berries, but that cheeseburger is ours.”

“I’m not interested in your berries,” Ruyo replied, “I have enough already—”

“Whoa, what?” Lendo interrupted. “You have berries? H-hey, you know what ma said. Sharing is caring!”

Ruyo smiled. He had found far more berries than he needed. He let his cloth sack drop to the ground beside him, revealing a rainbow of fresh, ripe fruit. The two Zigzagoon gasped in surprise. “I want to make a deal, gentlemen,” he proposed.

“There’s always a catch,” Lendo complained.

“Hey, this could be good,” Paston encouraged. “Whatcha got for us, Tailsy?”

“Do you know where to find rubber or latex?”

“Heh, yeah,” Paston replied. “It comes up pretty often in humans’ trash. Whatcha need that for?”

“That’s not your concern. However, I am willing to trade my berries if you can get me any scraps of rubber you can find. Any kind is good, really.”

“…You’re kidding us, right?” Paston clarified with a bemused grin. “You really think rubber is worth berries? That stuff’s worthless!”

“I’m not kidding. If you have any now, I’m more than willing to trade now.”

“Hey, hey, Paston! When I was scavenging just now, remember when that kid had a hatchday party?”

“Oh, yeah, there was so much cake. That was a good day. Anyway, what about it?”

“They just threw out all their extra balloons; there’s like thirty of ‘em in a bag, not to mention all the scraps from party.”

“Balloons?” Ruyo asked “That’d be perfect, yes!”

“You got it, Tailsy!” Lendo darted back in a zigzag behind the corner and promptly returned with the package of balloons.

“I’m thinking ten berries for the lot,” Lendo offered.

“Ten? You crazy?! Seven’s plenty!” Paston chided.

“Fifteen’s fine by me,” Ruyo proposed, already pawing out his payment. Paston’s jaw dropped. Ruyo padded over to the package and carried it back to his bag before slinging it back around his shoulder. “It was a pleasure, boys.”

Snapping out of his shock, Paston asked, “Hey, you coming back, Tailsy?”

“My name is Ruyo,” he replied. “And yes. I’ll be back in a couple days.”

“We’ll have all the rubber you can eat! I mean trade!” Lendo promised, eyeing their reward hungrily.

As Ruyo turned, he silently laughed at the comment before calling. “Glad to hear it! See you two then!”

Niya was overjoyed at his return, and I was overjoyed to finally eat my first helping of latex. I eagerly devoured a small balloon before I fell asleep, my young body completely sated.

Rinaro met with Dentak and my father. Once the Alakazam explained me, Rinaro decided that I should be accepted into the clan- besides, who knows what a Pokémon like Sai could offer? In his centuries of wisdom, Rinaro knew better than to reject a clan member because of difference. The word was spread and the muttering died down, though not completely. I was safe… for the moment.


My mother’s next biggest surprise came when my siblings and I were wrestling in the fields. I had managed to get myself pinned beneath both my brothers before I suddenly burst into a flat pile of golden latex. My sister, Iera, yelped in surprise. “S-sai?” she quavered, pawing at my scraps. “What happened?”

“W-we need to tell Mom!” Yore declared in a shaky voice as he scrambled to his paws. Forou nodded, obviously terrified. The three ran back to Niya who was sunning on a large stone.

“Mom! Mom!” Iera cried out.

Niya sat up. “What is it? And where’s Sai?”

“Sai… he… he popped!” Forou stammered.

“Popped?!” Niya stood immediately. “Where?!”

“This way!” Yore pointed, running as fast as he could back to my flat body. Niya followed before sprinting ahead just in time to see the most curious event unfold. My body was fully intact once more… yet much smaller. As Niya approached, she heard me take one deep breath after another as every inch of my body from the curls on my head to my six rubbery tails swelled and grew. As I returned to my regular size, I looked up to my mother.

“Hi, Mom!” I said, completely oblivious to the scare I had caused. For as fragile as I was, it appeared that I could recover from even the most devastating of injuries.


Time went on and my siblings and I grew older. When we wrestled we often had an unspoken “no popping” rule, but sometimes they misjudged their strengths and I had to spend the next few minutes pulling myself together- literally. The walk to our new home was long, painful, and full of sharp things, I remember, but my father had already prepared us a den when we got there. The city was only a few minutes away, yet we enjoyed a mostly pristine forest to live in. My cousins and clanmates seldom visited, but that was fine- they didn’t like me too much anyway.

Eventually I outgrew the supplies of latex my father provided and had to supplement it with biological food. It was a little tricky eating berries with rubbery teeth, but I managed. I soon learned of and later met Paston and Lendo. They were nice, but a little rough, I decided.

My indigestion grew more and more painful as I struggled to digest the berries we could much more easily scavenge. I grew thinner… or, well, more translucent as time went by, little by little losing what small amount of mass I had.

Adding to my worry was the fact that tomorrow was the sixth full moon after my hatchday. Customarily, Vulpix would be presented before the clan once more and tested to determine their strength and ability, the former I obviously lacked. If I was deemed too weak, I’d be banished and my family shamed. Nevertheless, after generations of weeding out the weakest among us, few if any Vulpix are banished nowadays. But I knew I was too weak. After gazing at the city skyline, the sun setting behind me to paint the landscape in a gentle orange, I was struck with an idea.

I would leave.

It was such a simple idea, but such a scary one as well. If I left tonight, my family wouldn’t have to endure the shame of seeing the son they tried so hard to defend fail in front of the entire clan. Although they might endure some ridicule, I would fade from their thoughts. A quiet disappearance is a lot easier to forget than a public banishment.

The next piece of my plan sprouted quickly. I would flee into the city outskirts where Trainers tend to search for Pokémon to catch. Only the Pokémon most willing to be caught dare come so close to human settlements. A human would probably have an enormous supply of latex available to him, so not only would I survive, but I would thrive. And if I was used in those battles of theirs, that’d be even better. All my life I’ve been at the mercy of my siblings, the clan, and even the bushes in the forest. Being strong enough to hold my own against organic Pokémon would be a dream come true. But first things first… I had to leave home.


After I ate my last meal with my family and assured them I would pass the tests tomorrow, I made sure not to fall asleep in our den and instead paid close attention to the breathing of my siblings and parents. Iera fell asleep almost immediately and Forou soon joined her. Yore began to snore, then Dad, and finally my mother Niya. I blinked away latex tears as I stood ever so slowly to keep my squeaking to a minimum as I left the den. I carefully padded twenty tail-lengths away before I broke into a sprint towards the city and towards an uncertain future.