FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

My stomach rumbled again, but I forced myself to wait. I was hungry, but barging in wouldn't get me fed any faster. It would probably just make it take even longer out of spite.

I was waiting in a back alley between two buildings. One of the buildings was a pawn shop, and the other was a bar. I hated being there - it was far too visible, and there were a lot of people around the bar at night. Some nights were worse than others, and this one wasn't as bad as it could be, but it still made me uneasy. Even if most of the humans only came into the alley to throw up - such a waste of food - and either left right after or passed out I still didn't want to risk being caught by one.

But this was where my 'employer' did his business. If I wanted to get paid for the snatch and grab, then I had to wait here until he was ready for me. So I rearranged my tails and tried to ignore how exposed and near a group of noisy people I was.

Eventually the back door to the pawn shop creaked open, clearly in need of new hinges. A conversation spilled into the alley as somebody stepped out. I felt my fur bristle and had to fight the sudden urge to run at the sight of the Pokemon that strode out into the alley.

A Growlithe.

Cops and I were not on friendly terms. That's the way it worked, at least for a Vulpix. I wanted to eat. They wanted to stop me from doing the things I had to do to eat, and if they caught me at it... well. I had heard enough stories about what the cops did to Pokemon they caught. I wasn't sure how many of them were true or not, but I did not want to risk finding out. And I was suddenly quite conscious of the items I had swiped from the safe that were hidden in the satchel at my side. If the Growlithe knew I had stolen them...

The Growlithe was more concerned with the other person he was talking to, fortunately. "...so don't plan on causing any trouble next week. This 'crippled trainer' is a big deal, and has a lot of attention on her right now with her promotion to gym leader. Make a mess and it won't be just us on your back - keep your nose clean until she gets the help she needs and goes home. Trust me - you make us look bad, and we'll..."

The Growlithe's eyes narrowed as he glanced towards me. "What is _that_doing here?"

I glanced around for cover, or for an even faster route out of the alley than the two I had already filed for reference - outrunning a human was one thing, but having to run from a cop was another, since he could follow after me through a lot of narrow places humans couldn't - but another Pokemon pushed past him.

"That is one of my many legitimate business associates, whom I must ask you to stop bothering. I'll pass your message along to the Don, but as I'm sure you already know, we have no interest in ever causing any trouble, and are offended you would even suggest such a thing. Now, if you'll kindly excuse me..." The large Raticate motioned to the alleyway entrance, clearly dismissing the Growlithe while at the same time blocking his view of me.

The Growlithe took the hint and marched away, growling under his breath and muttering something about 'flea-infested city vermin'. Both the Raticate and I waited until we were sure he was long gone before the Raticate turned towards me and motioned for me to follow him.

I slipped into the back of the pawn shop and waited for the door to close behind me. "What was that about?"

The Raticate rolled his eyes and waddled over to the desk in the middle of the small back room. "Some bigwig trainer is coming by to get some help for a problem with her Espeon, and it's got the cops in a tizzy. The 'Crippled Leader,' or something. They're just doing their monthly intimidation rounds early, but don't worry about it. All bark, no bite." He settled in behind the table and looked up at me, his small hands tapping on the table. "So - did you get it?"

The Raticate was my contact for jobs. He was from some island area and was a dark-type, like most of the Pokemon that made up the criminal organization of the city. The town was famous for its psychic-type gym, and his natural protection against having secrets ferreted out by a telepathic Pokemon made him a shoe-in for coordinating with various people who didn't want to have their secrets revealed. Since a lot of those Pokemon and people wanted things stolen, they came to him, and he came to me. I'm sure he had a name, but I didn't know it - he was just the Raticate if I ever needed to talk about him. Which I rarely did - the people who needed to know about him already did, and the people who didn't know about him didn't need to.

"Of course I did." I pulled the folders out of the pouch and dropped them on the desk, followed by the black bag. The Raticate nodded and picked up the folders, rifling through them before smiling broadly when he opened the small bag. I had the strangest thought that he was about to stuff the bag right into his puffy cheeks - it probably wouldn't even make a bulge in those huge things - and had to work hard to keep from laughing. He wouldn't appreciate that, and I didn't want him getting mad at me.

"Excellent." He reached down to one of the desk drawers and opened it, pulling out two Razz berries out and dropping them on the desk. My stomach rumbled at the sight. He glanced at the black bag and reached back into the drawer, then tossed a third Razz berry up on the desk.

I frowned at him, twitching my ears. "Three? The job was for five."

The Raticate glared at me. "No, I said the job could pay up to five if it works out. You got the documents, but there's still work to do with them before it actually pays off. If it doesn't, then this is all the job was worth, and that's me being generous and giving you a bonus for this bag of nuggets."

"That's not fair! I did this for five berries; I want the rest of what I'm owed, or else-"

The Raticate bared his teeth and hissed at me, cutting me off. "Or else what? You'll take me to court? Call the cops on me, with what they'd do to _you_right after?" His eyes narrowed as his rope-like tail swished behind him, as if he was eager for me to try something. "Or are you threatening me yourself?"

I felt a sense of dread rising in me as he glared down over the table at me. I had a sudden half-formed idea of burning the papers just to spite him... but I knew that if I did, I'd be left with _no_berries at all, and that the Raticate would probably beat me just for the fun of it.

I felt my ears and tails droop as I shook my head. I wasn't a match for the Raticate in a fair fight, and I knew it. "No..."

"That's smart, girl; now take the berries and be glad. I'll call you when I have something new for you to do." He looked away from me and closed the drawer, then opened another drawer to slide the folders in. He glanced up again, then looked over the desk towards me with steely eyes. "That's all."

His voice was cold, making it clear that he was kicking me out. I huffed in frustration and grabbed the berries, stuffing them into my pouch before turning away and shoving the door open with my body. I slipped back outside, letting the door fall shut behind me, and took off through the streets.

I slipped through the narrow opening between the sidewalk and the street and fell the short distance down to the wet floor. I coughed out a wisp for light and searched for the opening at the far side... there. I hopped through it and crawled through the short dirt passage I had dug out long ago, until it opened up into the wider cavern that I called my home.

It was small, and it was damp any time it rained, but it was safe. The humans never bothered with it, and aside from an occasional curious Pokemon chasing scents nothing else cared what was down here either. I had been worried at first that I would have to worry about another fox Pokemon trying to steal the den, but I had eventually realized that I didn't have to worry about that. There weren't any other Vulpixes here, just Zorua, and their skill with illusions and ability to confound the psychics in town gave them a lot more options for homes. None of them cared about my little hollow down in the sewers, not when they could live in a house. Which was perfectly fine with me - they could fight with each other over who got to pretend to be a particular human living in a nice house; I was happy here. I had pulled a few scraps of cloth down to make a makeshift blanket, which I stretched out on before pulling one of the berries out of my satchel.

I forced myself to eat the berry slowly so it would last, but it was still gone before I knew it. My stomach rumbled again, clearly wanting more after having been denied for so long, but I ignored it. I would have to make the remaining berries last as long as I could - I was sure the Raticate would either forget about the other two berries even if he did get a pay off from whatever he used the papers for, and I didn't know when he would have another job for me - so I squirmed out from the harness and tucked the pouch with the last two berries off to the side of my den.

I rolled onto my side and curled my tails around to get comfortable on my bed. I was already starting to feel tired - the exertions were catching up on me, and even if my stomach wanted more, a meal always helped me feel sleepy. It was quiet, and cool, and dark... and before long I was fast asleep.

Opal limped through the dark forest. He could see just fine, but that didn't change that it was what people would consider 'pitch black' - ever since he had evolved into an Umbreon, he had been more than capable of seeing in even the darkest of nights. The heavy canopy of leaves obscured the light of the stars from reaching this far down, but it didn't bother him. He found it was actually rather peaceful, like his Pokeball, aside from the sound of bugs in the distance.

Sara had brought him here to look for a new teammate. A Ledyba; she had said that one would add a good skill set to their lineup... but Opal could feel her emotions and knew there was a subtle hopefulness beyond simply a new Pokemon to battle with. His trainer had started to feel bad for him, especially after she had learned that Phoenix had been picking on him. Which had been why he had kept it a secret in the first place, after all, but there had been no hiding it once Clara had learned.

Oh well. What was done was done - there was no way to change the past.

But he was pretty sure Sara was trying to find another nocturnal Pokemon to keep him company at night. And he had to admit he wouldn't mind - he hadn't realized how much he had missed having other Pokemon to spend the night with until they had left Jyrrian City last summer, and he had been happy to see Tule and the others when they had come back. It would be nice to have another Pokemon along with them that was awake when he was.

Sara had been exhausted by the time they got here and had gone to bed, but Opal had slept all day on the train ride. So he was out exploring, getting an idea of the forest here, and hoping to maybe meet a new friend.

But he had been wandering for a few hours now and his leg was starting to bother him. He had learned how to walk with the limp since shortly after he had evolved, and could keep it from hurting for a while... but he must have been pushing it as he walked through the unfamiliar forest. He started to turn and head back towards town... but stopped when he felt something out in the distance.

Pain. Lots of pain, crippling pain, rage, _hate_towards the cause of the pain, and beneath it... sorrow? No - despair. Strong emotions, reaching him even this far away.

He wasn't sure what it meant, but he felt concern and an urge to find the source. Maybe it was something he could help with.

The Umbreon limped through the forest and towards the sensation. It grew stronger as he approached, not weaker, meaning that whatever creature was in pain wasn't getting any better. He started to siphon off part of it, using the dark energy it gave him to ignore his own discomfort from his leg... until he slipped past the final tree and saw the source of the feelings.

A Ledyba was lying on the ground next to a tree, sobbing. Her wings were held outside her shell, and something was wrong with them. They weren't clear like he had seen in the pictures Sara had shown him - those pictures had shown thin veins of black that slipped through the otherwise clear material that made up the wings, which folded neatly back under the shell when the Ledyba wasn't flying. Something horrible had clearly happened to this one. Her wings were entirely black and were frayed at the edges, as if... as if... The Umbreon cringed in sudden understanding and sympathy.

The delicate wings had been burned.

Opal felt the Ledyba's sorrow turn to panic as she noticed him. She tried to move her wings, tried to get into the air and get away, but her wounded wings couldn't manage it. She fell back to the ground and lay there, staring up at him in a panic.

"It's okay." Opal slunk down to the ground, stretching out and laying down to try and make himself look as non-threatening as possible. He had to really work at doing that, and he knew it - his blood-red eyes and yellow glow made him a frightening sight. The Ledyba didn't need more of that right now. "I'm not going to hurt you; I came to try and help. Your wings... what happened?"

The Ledyba still looked frightened, but hope started to enter her eyes at Opal's words. "Other Ledyba... they did this to me. They..." She made a choked sound and broke off, and Opal felt a wave of anguish and despair flow from her.

The Umbreon grimaced and looked back over his shoulder. His leg was bothering him from how far he walked on his own, but... if other Ledyba had been the ones that did this to her, she had nobody else to help her. He couldn't just leave her out here on her own.

"Climb up on my back. I know somebody who can help; I'll bring you to her."

The Ledyba looked at him warily, clearly not sure if she could trust him... but then she looked back behind her, towards the gathering of Ledyba that could still be heard as a distant buzzing through the night. Opal felt a sense of betrayal and a sense of hopelessness as she looked off into the distance, and he winced in sympathy, only able to imagine how difficult this decision had to be for her. But she finally turned and crawled towards him, climbing onto his back and clinging tightly to him.

He rose slowly to his feet, careful not to unbalance her, and began the long, limping walk back to Sara.