FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

"Sylvia! Wakey wakey! It's time for breakfast!"

The singsong voice roused the Noivern from her sleep. She frowned and turned under the covers until a flat, cold surface disrupted her peaceful lounging. It was her tablet, one that she had been binge watching videos on last night. She opened her maw and took a slow yawn, before pushing herself upright.

Sylvia could see the giant green lawn beyond the trees, a breeze carrying the soft scent of summer grass through the room. It had been nearly a week after Team Serawings had won the Kalos Championships, and the excitement had started to settle. No longer were there news conferences to attend, parties to hold, or guests to entertain. The boredom was only exacerbated by the absence of all her teammates. On any other day, Sylvia would have just opted to sleep in, but she didn't want Kelsey to eat breakfast alone.

Rubbing her eyes, Sylvia stood up and felt the soft carpet beneath her paws. The mansion had been so quiet the past day or two that it spooked her to leave her room at night. She walked out of her room past the doors of her teammates and headed down the staircase. There Kelsey was at the kitchen counter, her long black hair coming down beyond her shoulders and resting on her blue tank top. She fetched bowls of miso soup and congee from the microwave as she noticed her Noivern.

"Good morning!" Kelsey greeted Sylvia as she placed the breakfast on the table. "Do you feel like having soup and congee? Or do you want something else?"

"This is fine, thank you." Sylvia nodded to her trainer graciously, having noted that Kelsey wore the translator earpiece and thus could understand her.

"Great! Well, here's your spoon."

Sylvia sat down and began to scoop the congee. Human food had always appealed to her, the seasoning tasting better than the artificial flavoring in brand packaged Pokemon food. Though Kelsey was usually too lazy to cook breakfast, she often made her own dinner at the end of the day. It was a shame that most of her teammates didn't like it. Sylvia thought it was delicious.

"House is quite empty, isn't it?" Kelsey commented. "What do you want to do today?"

"It would be boring if it's just the two of us," Sylvia answered, thinking back to the day trip they took together yesterday. Kelsey was obviously unfit to partake in any play Sylvia could have done with the others, and the Noivern would rather have stayed home. "How long is everyone going to be gone for?" she finally asked.

Kelsey paused for a moment, shoving a strand of hair back behind her ear. "You see, these things can take a while, depending on the situation. I can't say for sure, but I don't think they're gonna be back anytime soon."

Sylvia paused for a moment, and felt a momentary disgust. "Why would they even need to go?" she started to complain. "We don't need the money, do we?"

Afraid to meet her trainer's gaze, the Noivern looked down and stared at her bowl. She knew that wasn't the reason, but the a part of her wanted to say it anyway.

Kelsey sighed and brushed Sylvia's mane. "I get how you feel. It feels a bit strange for me, too, knowing what they are doing. But championship Pokemon always get these offers, and if they want to, who am I to tell them no?"

The Noivern whined and tugged on her trainer's hand. She, too, had been offered such an opportunity for the first time, since she was finally of age. It was flattering for the first few minutes, but when the gravity of what she had to undergo settled in, she hesitated.

"Hey now, you don't have to go if you don't want to. But you can't control what others do, can you?" Kelsey said in a sweet, motherly voice. "Maybe we should just forget all about this and go for some bubble tea. How's that sound?"

Sylvia's reservations were definitely still there, but she didn't want to be too much of a baby, so she just nodded and said, "Okay."

But as they left the house, Kelsey said one more thing. "If it makes you feel any better, if I were a Pokemon, I wouldn't choose to go to the breeding center either."

It did make Sylvia feel better, at least for a while. But when looking outside of the window of the car, she saw a Swellow and Unfezant flying together in the sky, and she felt something stir within her. Even if she didn't want to go breeding, Sylvia did feel that she would want a mate some time in the future. A male to call her own, whom she could rely on to comfort her, to love her... the concept was desirable. Yet none of the males in her life were worth pursuing. It's not as if she met much Pokemon anyway, but the few whom she knew did not interest her in that way. If she had to be honest, her male teammates didn't have terrible personalities, but they were not compatible. Except Icarus, but Skarmory were kind of...

Sylvia felt shallow for judging appearance, and wriggled in her seat. Kelsey was typing something on her phone and didn't notice, which the Noivern was secretly disappointed at. Her trainer was usually attentive to her, but Kelsey seemed rather invested conversing with a friend right now. Sylvia took large sips of the rather sweet bubble tea and let the coolness calm her.

It was still morning when they finally arrived home. Sylvia got off the car and headed inside quickly, wanting to occupy herself with her tablet.

"Hey, Sylvia? What do you want for lunch?" Kelsey called her before she went upstairs.

"Huh? Oh, anything is fine," Sylvia answered as she began climbing up the stairs.

"So is the Pokemon food fine with you?"

Sylvia stopped in her tracks and turned around, heading to Kelsey's room. Her trainer was in front of the mirror, putting on makeup. "What do you mean? Are you not having lunch with me?"

"Ah, I'm going on a date with someone, so I won't be home," Kelsey explained as she applied lip balm, a rare sight.

"A... date?"

"Yeah, he's the son of one Dad's friends. I ought to at least try to see if there could be anything, right?" said Kelsey. "Anyways, so do you want me to order you takeout?"

"Oh. I... I'm good. I'm not that hungry."

With that, Sylvia turned around and ran to her room. She quickly dived into her blankets and wrapped herself around tightly. What was she thinking? Of course Kelsey would have to go be with some male as well. She just won the championship, after all. It was unfair.

No, this wouldn't do. For now, she just stayed beneath the soft fabric and let it soothe her. But Sylvia was still, after all, a champion. Surely she could muster the strength to do something to make herself happy. She just needed to figure out what.