FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 6

The older one seems to be wearing a white outfit that almost match the color of the fur on top of his head that reeks heavily of oils and other things, probably to keep it perfectly in place. The younger one has a soft brown fur with a tint of red that seems to go from the top of her head down in long strands that go to about halfway down her back. Her coverings seem to be a lot more colorful, ranging from the almost painful pink of her the covering over her chest to the soft sky blue on the coverings to her legs.

"Oh! It's so cute!" She screams as she bolts after me.

My first instinct is to back away quickly but quickly getting enough bearing to know that there isn't anywhere to run behind me except into the enclosed space Allen is in I turn and try to make a break past the two humans, hoping to get outside and back to the safety of an area where I can evade capture more easily. I don't manage to get very far though as right after scrambling past her I find my a pair of hands gripping me very firmly and pulling me back towards her where she then wraps both of her arms around me in some kind of hold.

"Aren't you such a cutie?" She coos as she squeezes me even harder, making it difficult to even breathe.

I struggle against her grip, trying to find some purchase to make my escape but my hind legs are all but hovering in the air with my back pressed against her in such a way and my front legs are not having much more luck as she's squeezing just below my elbow which restricts how much I can even move my front legs. I can't tell what she's saying, the words too high pitched and fast for me to make out but from her scent I cannot pick up any sign of hostility on her part, or from the older one. At most both only seem to be surprised to see me. Still, it is not comfortable the slightest bit to have her squeezing me so roughly and with me being so essentially helpless in this situation. I rotate my head enough so that I can almost face her head and then with what air I can manage I spit out a small bit of flame at her. It misses as I was more trying to scare her into letting me go than actually hurt her but it seems more to make her angry.

"No!" She states in a rather stern tone as she loosens her grip enough to smack me against my nose. "Bad! That is not a nice thing to do miss vulpix. You do not attack people."

Still having no clue what she's saying other than she did address what species I am and is giving some sort of verbal reprimand but since her grip loosened when she went to hit me I am able to squirm enough that I can finally slip out of her grasp. Completely forgetting Allen I continue my flight to somewhere more secure when the other human picks me up, eliciting a whine of frustration at being treated in such a way again after having just earned my freedom. His arms seem to be holding me just at the elbow which really is uncomfortable as it forces my forelegs to be at an angle my position that isn't even close to being relaxed.

"I don't think it was a good idea to be so rough with him, Carol. He seems to be a wild pokemon though he doesn't seem all that dangerous. You probably just frightened the little guy," the old human speaks as he start to spin me back and forth as he takes a better look at me. "Seems to be somewhat small for a vulpix but doesn't look malnourished or weak. My guess is he's simply not fully grown yet. From his size guessing about one and a half to two years of age. Probably another year before he's fully grown. Though I wonder what he's doing all the way in here," he states as he finally puts me down.

I guess that since both have grabbed me and have not yet not done me any harm there is no reason to continue trying to flee the building. Instead I head back towards the door that Allen had gone through, trying to find out what's taking him so long.

"Allen!" I call into the room.

"What!" he shouts back at me as he finally leaves the room, noticeably angry at me.

His anger dies suddenly when he sees the two humans and then pushes me behind him as he stands between me and the two humans.

"You!" The old man states out of shock, "What are you doing back here?"

Allen makes a motion of grabbing something off one of the digits in his forelimb and then points to the room he just exited and then made a motion of putting down whatever was in his hand.

"Where's their trainer, mister Oaky?" Carol asks, noticing that Allen is carrying the bag that normally would be around a human trainer.

"That is a good question," Oak replies, studying us.

"We are our own trainers," I try to reply before Allen swipes back at me, hitting me on one of my cheeks.

"Quiet!" he hisses, "There is no need to tell him any more than necessary. He can't understand us anyway."

Allen's comment confuses me but the intrigued expression on the old man's face seems to make Allen even more on edge as he pushes me even further behind him and starts trying to guide us towards the exit. I have no clue why it is that Allen seems so afraid of that old man. Granted he did grab me earlier and considering how easily he was moving me around he easily had enough strength to hurt me but he didn't really smell threatening. Even now I don't pick up the slightest scent of anger or otherwise ill intention from either of them. Since we are already our own trainer I don't know why it was something I am supposed to keep secret from other people.

"Wait a minute," Oak speaks up, which causes Allen to wince. "is it possible he stole my ring to make himself a trainer? That would be an interesting circumstance."

Hearing him talk about it seems to remind me that Caleb and Sanaline are still in their balls and should be fully healed by this point. Feeling that they would rather be free than stuck in their balls any longer I dash past Allen toward the machine, intentionally moving at a speed that is fast enough to get me to them quickly but not fast enough to seem like I'm trying to escape; just in case they would pick me up again if I seemed like I was.

"Hey, wait up little vulpix," Carol shouts as she follows after me, apparently more interested in whatever I'm doing than the staring contest between the old man and Allen.

Finding the location of the device easily enough I quickly assess the area around it and leap onto a counter near the machine before moving on top of the machine where Caleb's and Sanaline's balls are.

"What are you doing up there little vulpix?" Carol asks.

"Not going to go after that other one?" I can hear the old man ask in the distance.

Ignoring the girl for the time being I push my nose below each ball and then raise my head, pushing the balls onto the floor. I then hop down and press their button, releasing Caleb and Sanaline. They both shoot out of their balls and for the most part seem just the same as they were when they last went into their balls. I turn around them, examining them in more detail as my head cocks to one side for a moment before turning the other direction, my attention on the girl more or less ignored though I am at least making sure to keep enough a mind on her to know instantly if she moves.

"So did it work? Are you all better?" I ask.

"No, that healing machine made us as weak and pathetic as you are," Sanaline huffs and picks up her ball into her mouth before almost walking right through me if I hadn't jumped back out of her way.

When she gets close to where the girl is she hisses at her to prevent her from making any move before heading further into the direction that Allen is. Caleb, however, stretches each wing before giving an experimental jump into the air to see how well his wings handle. Satisfied he nods.

"Thank you for the concern my soft little friend. But where is our other friend?"

"Oh, right. Allen!" I shout before instinctively grabbing Caleb's ball for him and then rushing off back towards where Allen and that old man are in case Allen needs support.

As I run I'm almost curious as to how passive the little girl seems to be. Though she hasn't left me alone the slightest bit since seeing me she doesn't seem the least bit inclined to try and stop me. Instead as Caleb and I go rushing to Allen's aid, she turns and follows us back; not saying a single word. I can, however, pick up a strong scent of curiosity coming from her. When we turn the corner to where Allen and that old man I find a curious sight. Sanaline is doing her best to be as intimidating as possible in her position between Allen and the old man. Allen is holding that box while the old man is holding out his hand for something. I stand there completely perplexed about this situation. The little girl catches up and for whatever compulsion starts stroking my back fur.

"There is no way that the Nurse Joy would ever just allow a couple of pokemon to be a trainer. Now either you stole that Dex and bag from some actual trainer or you used my ring as a way to make it seem like I'm authorizing this little stunt. Either way you will either hand me your Dex so I can verify it or I will call in the police and they'll surely side with me on this."

Allen seems to consider it for a moment or two before reluctantly handing it over to the old man, Sanaline seeming very frustrated at not being given the opportunity to confront the old man. He takes it and then starts looking it over, clearly knowing what he's doing. At the same time for whatever reason the little girl has started rubbing her hand along my back fur. Though she uses a lot of force with each little stroke along my back, it doesn't really feel enough of an affront for the time being to get angry at her again. After all she's at least not trying to grab me again. The strokes with the fur do send a sort of contented feeling to me but I'm mainly just confused as to why she is doing such an act in the first place.

"Well it seems that you are a legitimate team, for the most part at any rate. I don't think it'll take much for them to essentially pull your license, though they'll not be able to so long as you obey all of the rules. But this does seem like an interesting enough experiment that I might be able to publish the results of the possibility of pokemon to act as trainers, regardless if you succeed or not." He states cheerfully in a fast enough manner that I can't really make out most of the words he's saying. He starts pushing more buttons on the device. "And with this everything you do will be sent to me. If nothing else anyone looking at your dex to verify if you are legit will see that I'm recording your progress and know how it is you got this privilege."

The old man hands back the device to a very grim looking Allen who grabs it and quickly moves to place it back into be bag before putting it on. I rush over the rest of the way to Allen, the little girl looking a little disappointed that she can't keep stroking me.

"Are you okay? What was he saying?" I ask, my head turning to the side.

"Nothing. Let's go."

"But it sounded like what he was saying was something important."

"We're going," He states as he grabs my ear and starts pulling me as he reaches me.

"Ow. Let go!" I complain, noting that in the future when Allen looks angry I should keep my ears away from his reach.

He keeps moving and holds on to my ear as we walk past the two humans.

"You leaving already?" the little girl asks and starts to wave. "Well have fun miss vulpix. We'll meet again."

Once we've passed the humans and are out of the immediate eyesight Allen finally lets go of my ear.

"Pulling on peoples' ears is mean," I whine.

"So, that's how you two became your own trainers?" Sanaline asks in a somewhat mocking tone. "Instead of getting to be one on your own you had to steal a ring from someone of authority and then use that to lie your way to make them think you had permission to join a group?"

Allen responds by punching me in the side of the head.

"What was that for?" I ask.

"You were closer."

"Right, sure he was," Sanaline continues. "Though I'm sure it couldn't have been the dimwit's idea to do this. You're just taking out your frustration on him for the fact that they caught you. As it was clearly your idea to do this, you would be the only one to have faced the punishment for impersonating a human."

"What does impersonate mean?" I ask, turning toward Sanaline as we exit the building, making sure to stay out of Allen's striking range.

"It means, my fluffy little friend," Caleb adds as he flies above us. "To pretend to be someone you are not."

"So then what is the punishment for pretending to be human? It can't be that big a thing since I look nothing like a human so I don't know how they could mistake me for one," I comment.

Neither Allen nor Sanaline seem to be making any sort of response. In fact neither of them seem to be even looking in my general direction. I decide that it is probably best to not press the subject since they either do not know either or do know but don't want to say or think about what that punishment can be. The silence caused by my question is fairly quickly broken by Caleb speaking up from above us.

"If you don't mind I think I'm going to stretch my wings out and do a bit of flying for a little bit. Don't worry, I won't go far and I'll be back by the time you reach the grass again," Caleb comments before taking off ahead of us and quickly out of speaking range.

"So where are we going anyway?" I ask, trying to break the silence after another minute or two passes.

"Where else?" Sanaline retorts.

"We're going back through the grasses and hopefully before it gets too late at night make it to the Pokecenter before it gets too dark. And in the mean time since we now have three of you we'll be spending the trip getting you three to be not so pathetically weak."

"So I'm not the trainer now?" I ask as Caleb swoops back down to where we are.

"No, right now I am. Hopefully we can get your enough experience fighting that you won't be as much of a push-over when we actually need you to fight."

"I'm not a push-over," I pout as we walk back and re-enter the tall grasses.