บท 6: Chapter 5: I Reincarnated Into...A What!?
Oblivious to the few notifications that echoed in Miles's mind as he slumbered, an unknown amount of time passed before his mind began to stir awake again. His mind was crystal clear. Miles couldn't think of a moment of having such clarity before. It was as if he had the best sleep in his entire life.
'Mmm. That was the best dream I've ever had. I already lost count with how many restless nights I've recently had. And I even got to drink with the most beautiful woman I've ever laid my eyes upon. Only a fool would want to refuse such an invitation, heh', Miles thought to himself. It didn't matter which day of the week it was, he was always sleepy when he woke up. He didn't have an ounce of drowsiness.
As much as Miles wanted to enjoy this sensation, he knew he had to start the day. Opening his eyes, he felt the rays of the sun strike down on him.
Once his gaze became clear, he could see a vast open lake. The current atmosphere was chilly, but for some reason, he felt warm. In the distance, fish jumped out of the lake in happiness, creating little ripples of the still lake. Thick layers of ice could be seen around the lake's rim. It was thick enough to where a person could walk on it without having to worry about it breaking. It was completely frozen around these areas. Dark grey clouds currently formed high above, looking like it was about to snow.
A cold breath of air escaped out of Miles's mouth seeing this new sight before him. Seeing this large and partially-frozen lake was definitely new to him, he was expecting to be back inside his bedroom. So he wondered if someone pulled a prank on him. Miles also recalled it was the heart of summer, so seeing this cold atmosphere before him definitely left Miles confused.
"Yip?", Miles tried to exclaim at the scenery, yet his eyes just blinked the moment he said that.
'The fuck's a yip?', Miles immediately thought to himself, not expecting to hear a cute-sounding yell escape from his mouth.
"Yip!", Miles tried to say a second time. And again, this cute-sounding yip escaped from his mouth, not the words he wanted to speak.
Miles's heartbeat began to thump erratically hearing the cute yip again. His mind became sharp. For some reason, this lake began to stretch and appear much more grand and imposing than what a normal lake would be. Feeling nervous, Miles decided to take a step forward on the soft sandy beach before him. It was already covered in snow. Miles looked downward, and saw a little paw step into it. It had very lush fur, and was pitch black. Just seeing this little furry paw of his made his heart pitter back and forth at a fast pace.
Miles immediately ran toward the lake's frozen rim. Thankfully the sun was peering through the gray clouds, allowing Miles to see a reflection of himself. Sure enough, there was no human face, nor a human body before him for that matter.
It was something else entirely. Two soft black ears stuck out of his head. His nose was a snout that protruded out from his face. His mouth was more curved, which stretched along the side of his snout. He was no longer standing upright either. No more than a foot long at most, his body was completely made of black, glossy fur. It was especially shining and clear thanks to the sunlight pouring down on it. To top it off, he had a bushy tail sticking out of his backside, which swooped downward.
"Yip...", Miles uttered, not expecting to see this appearance before him. He was human no longer. 'This...is a fox?', Miles wondered. Now it was starting to click as to why he was making those yipping noises earlier. It wasn't a bark or a meow, so ruling that out, he knew he wasn't a dog or a cat. But that of a fox.
'Don't tell me, sharing a drink with that beautiful woman really did happen?', Miles' thoughts stirred, becoming more and more clear as the moments went on. He soon recalled the endless white space with the torii gates. It was then that it dawned on him.
'I reincarnated. Didn't I?', Miles concluded. 'Is this what Yozora meant by that surprise she mentioned? Am I really a fox now!?', Miles inwardly cried to himself.
"Ufufu, I take it you like my present. It would appear the reincarnation was successful.", A charming voice reached Miles's ears before he saw the empty air over the lake begin to twist and distort. It didn't take long before a small orange torii gate appeared. Miles saw the same beautiful plum-haired woman with the four fox tails step out of the gate, and remained floating mid-air, as if she was actually stepping on it. She looked down at a little black fox who was now in her view, nestled into the snowy beach.
"Yip!(I didn't think to take this literally that you would turn me into a fox!)", Miles exclaimed, lodging a complaint at Yozora. She simply smiled back at him.
"You see my cute little fox, that is where your first mistake was. Never trust a fox. No matter how much one may pamper you, deep down, being mischievous is in our roots. It's not like I didn't leave you with anything though, right? You chose this yourself. You could have declined the system and chosen to reincarnate as a human again~", Yozora playfully responded.
"...", Miles tried to respond, but didn't find the words to retort Yozora. Sure he was in shock, but was it really a bad thing for him? He still got a second chance at life no matter how he looked at it.
"Yip?(So what happens now then? I do appreciate you giving me a second chance here, but I'm seriously a fox. I mean, what CAN I do like this?)", Miles asked Yozora in doubt.
"You are free. Unbound by those human chains that held you down in your previous life. You can do whatever you want to do here. You won't get yelled at by your superiors. That line of boring work is long gone.", Yozora explained, causing Miles to turn silent.
'I'm...free? Does that mean I won't have those old men breathing down my neck every damn minute I turn to in that accursed office?', Miles' eyes lit up hearing Yozora say that. Yozora smiled seeing Miles's reaction to her words.
"I take it you like it, yes? You can grow and adapt to this new place. Grow strong enough and you could achieve a human form again. You will need to go through a couple evolutions to achieve that though. In order to do that, however, you'll need to find that out on your own. But until then, you won't need to worry about paying for food or anything like that. Just focus on surviving, my cute little fox~", Yozora explained. Her playful grin returned as she said that.
"Yip.", Miles simply nodded his head. He didn't need to formulate any words to assure Yozora that he would be fine from here.
"Oh, and this place is rather crude and desolate to my liking, so I will be stepping out in a moment. I will be sure to check in on you again after the next fifty years pass. And to ease your doubt, yes this is Wolverine's World as you called it. It will not be the Avengers. At least, not now. You could very well find a way to travel to Earth-616 if you grow strong enough. I left you a little parting gift so be sure to open it alright?", Yozora said, before she twirled around, letting her kimono flutter. She had a small umbrella in her arms this time.
As Yozora departed into the torii to leave Miles to his own devices, Miles let out another 'Yip' to assure Yozora that he will be fine and thanked her again. Seeing that, Yozora smiled, and left some parting words for him.
"And by the way, your starting point is the year 1885. The young boy who eventually becomes Wolverine was just recently born on a large plantation about a day's worth of travelling from here. You could make it with those tiny feet of yours, or you could dive deeper into the Canadian wilderness to hunt and grow stronger. Whether or not you want to will be up to you. From what I reviewed of your memories, you have a good decade before needing to come to a decision.", Yozora said as her words started to dampen in tone. Miles saw Yozora depart back into the torii gate, and it vanished from sight.
Miles was now left alone. It would be up to him on what to do from here on in this second change granted by him, even if he was no longer human.
At the end of the day, Miles was still thankful to Yozora. It was time to have some fun in this new world he crossed into, which would eventually get overturned by the future X-Men!
******
I know Wolverine's starting point has always been ambiguous. It will not follow the Wolverine's origin movie. Then, it went all the way back to the 1830s, but for the sake of this fanfic, we will be starting in 1885.
Don't forget to drop some power stones if you like the story so far and add it to your collection!
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