FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

When I woke up, the first thing I felt was soft warmth surrounding me. It wasn't oppressive or stifling, but... comfortable, like I was sleeping next to Sara or sitting on the couch after someone had just gotten up from it. My body hurt, but it was more a dull soreness than what I had felt before. I opened my eyes and felt relieved to find I could see again. At first everything was just a blur, but after a few blinks the room gradually came into focus. While I waited for my eyes to adjust, I listened, hearing the same beeping noise from before as well as the sound of slow breathing. Somebody was asleep in the room with me. The breathing reminded me of Sara sleeping, but it seemed a little bit off somehow.

My eyes finally adjusted and I lifted my head slowly, my neck stiff and sore, to see where I was. It was a small white room, maybe a little wider than one of the halls in Sara's house, and I was lying on top of a cushioned table. There was a counter along one side of the room with a row of cabinets above it, with one of them left slightly open, though angled so that I couldn't see what was inside. There were a few things on top of the counter- a box of tissues, a bottle half full of some liquid, and a few metallic items I didn't recognize. The beeping caught my attention again and I followed the counter to its end, where some sort of flat machine was making the noise. The front of it was dull green, and a yellow line moved across the center of it, jumping up and down whenever the machine beeped. I watched it for a moment and tried to figure out what the line or the beeping was for, but eventually I gave up. A wire was running out of the machine, and I followed it down, noticing for the first time that it was attached to me. The wire split into four parts, and though I couldn't figure out where two of them ended- they ran somewhere out of my view, onto my forehead- I saw that the other two ended in round pieces that were taped to my side. I stared at them for a bit in confusion. They didn't hurt or anything, but I felt that they should bother me somehow. I thought about trying to pull them off, but before I could decide the slow breathing drew my attention again. I turned and looked on my other side, smiling happily when I saw Sara sitting next to me in a chair. She was curled up to one side, sleeping in what I thought couldn't be a very comfortable position. She seemed to be a little paler than usual, but it looked to be more a trick of the light in this strange room.

I stood up to go to her, but when I got to my feet I wobbled and almost fell back down. My feet didn't feel right. They didn't hurt but they had a definite 'wrongness' about them. I looked down at them and found they had been wrapped in some sort of white material, like the rags Sara's mother would use to clean up spills. It was odd to see something so white where my normally brown fur should be, and the extra mass was throwing my balance off a little. I stood back up, slower this time, taking time to get used to the awkward bulk. "Sara?"

I tried to speak loudly enough to wake her, but my throat was sore and it only came out as a raspy "Eve". But it turned out to be enough- Sara stirred in the chair and let out a yawn as she stretched her arms. She opened her eyes and blinked a few times before jumping to her feet and rushing over to me. "Opal, you're awake! Are you okay?" She took a step towards the table and gently picked me up, holding me tight in her arms. I was worried for a brief instant- but it didn't hurt at all.

"I'm fine... just a little sore."

Sara smiled, then set me back on the table and rubbed my ears. "You did a brave thing back there, but you were badly hurt when Flen carried you back. The nurse here did what she could, but they said you were in a lot of pain, even when you were sleeping."

I tried to think, but I couldn't remember being in pain while I was sleeping- just the fuzzy memory of when I was awake and talked with Clara. "It wasn't that bad... we were all hurt, except maybe for the Steelix. Clara said we beat it, though... we did beat it, right? It isn't hurting anybody else?"

Sara nodded. "You beat it... it got away, but Flen said it was hurt at least as bad as you were. He's pretty sure that it won't come back here again. It looks like you did it- Tammy's still in the hospital, but she's awake now; everything's about back to normal."

There was a click, and then the door opened. A lady walked in, followed by a Blissey- a pink, egg shaped Pokemon. They were both wearing nurse hats, and the lady waved to Sara. "Can I talk with you outside for just a moment? We just need to go over a few things, and then we can let you come see him again."

Sara nodded. "I'll be right back, Opal; they're just going to help you get better." She gave me another soft pat on the head before leaving, shutting the doors behind her. I thought I heard a cough from outside a moment later, but the Blissey didn't seem to notice or mind.

After Sara left the Blissey walked up to me and handed me what looked like a white piece of bread. I chewed on it and it dissolved almost instantly in my mouth, leaving behind a sweet flavor. Almost immediately after that the remaining soreness vanished.

"Are you feeling okay, Opal? Flen said you were hit by a Dark Pulse, and a powerful one at that; that can be hard to recover from."

I gave a slight nod, and the Blissey started pulling the bandages off of my legs to poke at the paws underneath. "I feel a lot better. Clara got hit by it, too; is she okay?"

The Blissey smiled. "Clara's fine- she's a lot tougher than she looks, and she's learned how to heal herself. She was fine after just about an hour of rest in the sunlight, and she's helping Flen at the gym now."

The nurse Pokemon removed the last bandage and picked up one of my legs, feeling around it. "Let me know if anything hurts?"

I waited, but I didn't feel any pain from the Blissey's prodding- just a sense of soreness in some places. The Pokemon checked my other legs and a few spots on my back with the same results. She pricked one of my paws, which did hurt, and when I said so she smiled happily. "Sorry, I was just making sure! Clara said she did something so you wouldn't feel the pain, and I just had to be sure you weren't actually still hurting and just didn't know it. It looks like you're much better now though! Even if you might not be back to 100% you should be fine to go back home with Sara now. But you might want to go by the gym first; a lot of Pokemon have been coming by to check on you, and they'll probably want to know you're better. A nice little Oddish left just a bit ago, actually."

I blinked at the Blissey. "They were worried about me?"

"Uh-huh! Well, they were checking on all three of you- there's a Clamperl and an Absol here, too- but they all seemed especially concerned with you. You've made a lot of friends here, Opal."

The Blissey waddled to the door and opened it, saying a few words into the hallway beyond, and then Sara walked back in. She was holding my collar and bell, and it was only then that I realized I wasn't wearing it anymore. I cringed, worried I had lost it somewhere in the fighting, but Sara just smiled. "You'll probably want this back- we had to take it off while the doctors were working with you, but the nurse says you're better now and can wear it again. Are you ready to go back home?"

I nodded and rose to my feet. The weird feeling had left with the bandages, and I had no problems moving again.

A nurse walked in behind Sara and began cleaning up the bandages left on the table. "You should have him take it a little easy for a while; even if he doesn't realize it he's probably still a little stiff from being inactive so long. It would be best not to push him for a day or two, just in case."

Sara nodded to the nurse and picked me up, holding me on her arm. "You probably don't want to go back into your Pokeball, do you?"

I shook my head- the Pokeball was nice and all, but I wanted to spend some time with Sara instead. I was still a little worried about how she felt about my getting involved in the fight, and I was glad to see her again. "Not really."

Sara laughed and scratched my head. "That's fine; I'll just carry you back home."

"Can we go by the gym first? I want to let everybody know I'm okay; Blissey said they were worried about me."

Sara frowned at that. "Well... I guess we can, but I don't want to get caught helping out, since the nurse just told us you should take it easy. There's a lot of work going on at the gym- cleaning up and getting ready to rebuild- so we shouldn't stay long. But it's near the way home, so it shouldn't hurt to stop by for just a little."

Sara carried me out of the PokeCenter after signing a few forms. As we walked, she told me I did a great job, but that I should have tried a little harder to stay out of sight once Flen got involved. She seemed able to understand me pretty well now, which surprised me since Clara wasn't around, but I wasn't sure what to say about it. She didn't seem mad with me- she seemed a little proud, actually- but I could tell she had been really worried. She coughed a few times as we walked, and I started to get worried about it... but before I thought enough to say something, we were on the road to the gym.

We came around the last curve before the gym, but it was barricaded off, a concrete block standing in the way. Feren was sitting on the block, and he let out a sharp "Nid!" as we walked up to it. He hopped off the block and out of view, but a moment later he jumped back up, followed by every other Pokemon I had met at the gym. Shells, Tule, Felix, a Cubone, a Nidorina and a Spinarak all crowded onto the block, shouting and waving. I wagged my tail and tried answering all of them, but there were just so many Pokemon talking at once that I wasn't even sure what was being asked. The sky cleared a little and the sun shown when Clara hopped onto the block, and I felt an odd feeling run through me... but then a shadow fell over us, and the feeling vanished as Obsidian came to say hi, too.

We talked for maybe fifteen minutes while I reassured everybody that I was okay and listened to them tell me how foolish it was for me to get in a fight with a Houndoom. Eventually Perry appeared on the other side of the block, a smile on his face. "What are you all doing here, we've still got work to do! Opal needs to rest, remember?"

The gathered Pokemon all said there goodbyes, then trickled back towards the gym, Clara the last one to leave. Perry smiled at Sara and waved as he walked closer. "Sorry about that, but we really need them to keep working right now. We think it's going to start raining later, and we're hoping to get most of the trash and hazards cleared before the rain washes it who knows were. It's going to be months before we can fix this as it is. We're all really glad to know Opal's okay though! When he's rested, you should both come by and help; it'd be great training, and it would make everybody a little happier to see him back on his feet again."

Sara nodded, and started to say something, but was interrupted with coughing instead. When she recovered she nodded at Perry and waved at a Cubone that was still peeking at us from around the corner. "Sorry... I'll be sure to bring him, once he's better."

Sara waved goodbye to Perry and we left, heading back to her home. The sky was cloudy the whole way home, giving the city a sleepy and quiet feel, as if the sun was just too tired to shine. When we made it home Sara got some food and I ate, finding myself very hungry. We watched television with Sara's parents for a little after that, but I soon found I was tired again, and I walked up to Sara's room to curl up on one of her pillows. I heard Sara cough downstairs, and remembered she had coughed a few times while we were at the gym and seemed a little out of breath on the walk home. I decided to ask her about it when she came upstairs... but the pillow felt so soft, and I soon found myself drifting back to sleep...

*******************CRASH!

I woke with a start at the sound of shattering glass. I climbed to my feet and looked towards the noise, towards the now shattered window, but before I could do anything else something slammed into me and threw me off the bed. I hit the opposite wall hard and slid down to the floor, stunned by the impact. My vision was a confused blur, and I shook my head to clear it while I staggered back to my feet. I limped away from the wall and turned back to the bed, trying to figure out what was going on. Sara was coughing and flailing, her eyes shut and her arms waving about wildly... and a dark bird was hovering over her, flapping madly, its beak open in a screeching "Krow!" It looked a bit like the Murkrows from the petstore, but noticeably different- larger and fatter. Realizing that Sara was in danger- and from one of the same birds that had tormented me so much back in the pet store, no less- I jumped back onto the bed and tackled the bird in one quick movement. The attack took the bird by surprise, and it offered much less resistance than I had expected- the attack threw the Dark Pokemon back out the window, and my own momentum carried me after it. I only barely caught myself at the edge of the windowsill, fumbling amid glass shards to keep my balance. Once my footing was secured I leaned out to look for the attacker. I could tell that it was late at night, and a storm cloud was slightly obscuring the moon, so I could only barely make out the outline of my opponent. The dark bird was hovering just over a tree limb, glaring down at me.

The bird screamed a horrible "Honchhh," and flew back towards me again. I braced myself, getting ready to stop its attack and hold it outside of the room... but Sara's dad, alerted by all the racket, picked that exact moment to open the door and barge in, surprising me with the suddenness of his own entrance. The Honchkrow slammed into my side while I was distracted, and I spun from the impact, trying my best to keep my balance... but one of my feet landed on a piece of glass, and I slipped, feeling a sharp pain as the glass cut into my paw. I winced from the pain and slipped, falling off the windowsill... but my spin had pushed me the wrong way, and I fell out into the open air outside the second story of the house. I flailed, still spinning, desperately trying to catch myself on anything I could... but I only managed to flip myself around. The cloud in the sky passed away from the moon, and the world lit up as I fell to the ground, and I was able to see clearly as the ground rushed towards me.

Then just like that, everything just stopped. I blinked, confused as to what happened and why I was just hanging in the air, but then realized I was still falling- but that the speed of my fall had slowed drastically. Or maybe my thoughts had sped up? I had time to notice and absorb everything around me as I fell that last little bit- the sound of glass hitting the ground beneath me, the nearby tree lit in the silvery glow of the moon, the smell of what was probably my own blood coming from my paws. I felt a tingling sensation all over, like thousands of bugs were crawling through my fur. A roaring noise filled my ears as the world around me grew painfully bright, everything fading to white...

There was a thud as I hit the ground at full speed, the tingling sensation replaced with a blast of pain. My legs crumpled and I rolled along the ground, feeling rocks and twigs jabbing into me as I rolled over them. There was a horrible squeezing sensation around my neck, and I panicked as I struggled to breathe... then with a sudden snapping noise the pressure vanished. The bright light cleared away from my vision as I found I could breathe again, and I lay on the ground in stunned surprise. Granted, before that I had never fallen out of Sara's window before, but that a very strange experience. Everything seemed somehow clearer than it had before- I could see the tree in perfect clarity, each leaf on every branch swaying in the soft breeze, the color and spots of a bug crawling over one of those leaves- but I didn't have any more time to worry about what had just happened at the moment.

The Honchkrow was nowhere to be found, and I panicked, worried it might be back in the room with Sara. I tried to get to my feet, but my body felt different, somehow, and I stumbled back to the ground. I winced, expecting there to be pain so soon after the first fall... but all I felt was a soft impact that barely even registered as pain. I rose slower this time and shook my head, clearing it of the last of the pain and sleep. I knew that the door to the house was locked- the only way back inside was through the window I had just fallen out of. I looked back up the tree, but the branches didn't seem that far away anymore- as I thought about it I felt sure I could make the jump up to them. I walked back a few paces before running towards the tree and jumping... surprising myself as I landed perfectly on the narrow tree branch. I jumped up a few more branches until I found myself level with the window, then ran along the branch and jumped back onto the windowsill, wincing at the slight shock that ran through my leg as I crunched a piece of glass underfoot with my landing.

Sara was laying on the floor with the blanket next to her, scratches on her arms and face. Her eyes were closed and she was trying to roll to one side, seemingly unaware of what was happening as her body shook with coughing, and concern shot through me. Her dad was standing over her with a baseball bat, shielding his face with one arm and swinging the bat at the bird with the other. I growled and stiffened, then sprung forward in a leap, hitting the bird dead on and driving it to the floor. Sara's dad moved in and hit it with the bat, and the bird let out a screech of pain. It jerked and threw me off of it, then leaped back towards the window. It was fleeing for now, but I knew it would just turn around and come right back, and I looked around the room to try and come up with some other way to drive it away. Sara's dad ignored me and took a step towards the window, squinting out into the night. "Blasted Honchkrow... ack, it's coming back!"

Sara's dad took a step back from the window, shielding himself with the bat, but I wasn't scared. I hadn't come up with any new bright ideas, but I didn't want it getting back inside, so I hopped back up onto the windowsill. I had a strange feeling that the ledge was smaller than it had been before, and that it was lit with an odd yellow glow, but I pushed those away to focus on my opponent. The Honchkrow was on its way back, but it back winged as I jumped into view, hovering in place as it stared at me. I growled out at the attacking bird, bracing myself again to block it from coming back inside... and the bird's eyes widened in fear. It took a minute before I realized that I had scared it. The bird let out a startled "Honch!" and turned, flying out of sight behind the tree. I blinked, confused at what had just happened... but before I could do anything else Sara's dad yelled in surprise and jumped away from me. I looked back at him, startled, and saw him staring at me in surprise as he raised the baseball bat back into a protective position.

"You're not Opal, you're another one of those things! Get out of here, leave us alone!" He ran towards me and swung the baseball bat, taking me completely by surprise and hitting me square in the side. I fell out of the window again and braced myself, expecting another painful fall. I was happily disappointed- there was no flash of light this time, nor did it hurt nearly as bad, but it was still a bit of a shock. The impact stunned me and I felt the breath forced out of me, but I forced myself to get back up, looking around for the Honchkrow. I found it, hovering above me beside a tree branch, staring down at me, and I was sure it was going to come at me again... but then it flinched, and I saw the fear still there in its eyes, felt its fear like a cool breeze. The Honchkrow wheeled in the air and flew away, leaving as fast as it could.

I turned back around slowly, feeling pain in every muscle as I did so. I looked back up to the window and saw Sara's dad, leaning out of the window, the bat held in his hand. He looked after the fleeing Honchkrow for a second, but then turned to look down at me. I faltered for a minute in confusion and fear. I could feel anger coming from him in a way more tangible than I had ever experienced before. He had just hit me with the baseball bat, and everything felt so different and strange since I had fallen out the window... while I was frozen in indecision Sara's father moved away from the window, and I heard running inside the house. By some instinct I glanced down at the ground next to me, and saw my collar, snapped, laying in the dirt by the tree... but just as I decided to go over to it I heard the door unlocking and fear overruled my confusion. I ran, jumping over the fence and into the street, thinking as I did that the fence seemed a lot smaller than I remembered.

For the longest time I just ran, unsure what was going on, or what had happened to me. Sara's dad had attacked me, had pushed me out of a window. He was angry with me, and he had been trying to chase me away; even the Honchkrow was scared of me- what had happened?

The pain of the fall and the cuts on my feet soon got the better of me, and I stumbled in my run, falling to the ground. I was lying before an alley of some kind, littered with garbage and other discards. I stayed there for a minute, trying to get my breath back, when the sound of thunder reached my ears. I remembered Perry saying earlier that rain was coming, and I was about to be stuck out in the middle of it unless I did something. I thought about going back to the house, or maybe the gym... but everything hurt too much to think about going anywhere that far, and I wasn't sure what would happen when I got there. I looked farther into the alley and saw a discarded tarp laying on the ground, a yellow-and green colored piece of plastic. It wouldn't be very comfortable, but it looked like it would keep me a dry. I crawled underneath it, peeking back out and watching what little of the sky I could see from within the alley. As I looked up I saw the last little bit of the moon being covered up by a cloud... and then the rain came.

I stayed awake for a little while longer as the rain fell, listening to the rhythmic pitter-patter against covering above me, staying drier than I expected. The way the alley was designed caused most of the water to run off to the sides and away. Despite that a pool was forming just beyond the tarp, and I could barely make out my reflection in it, a distortion of an Eevee huddled underneath the tarp. As I drifted back to sleep, my last thoughts were of how odd the falling rain made me look, as if I were larger and darker, with eyes a shade of red like blood...