FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 10

I wake up the next morning and lay perfectly still. Having such intricate dreams last night I don't really remember where I am and the fact that I can't feel the sun's light on my body is somewhat troubling. I can smell a lot of humans nearby, none of them seeming at all distressed or concerned. From the sounds of their bodies they're getting close to waking up and I can feel a large weight over my chest. I open my eyes as I finally regain enough coherency to be able to remember what all happened yesterday. Except when I left the field I was born in I am pretty certain that yesterday was probably the most eventful day of my life so far. I open my eyes slowly and notice that the lights, though on are rather dim, putting it at a level that doesn't hurt my eyes to be fully open so quickly and yet still bright enough to allow me to be able to see. I crane my neck and see that the weight on top of me is the arm of a human. Upon seeing it I vaguely remember being woken up in the middle of the night by some young human picking me up and carrying me back to their bed where they pulled me close and went back to sleep. Since I had sensed no ill intent and was half asleep at the time I didn't really pay it much mind and as soon as the human had stopped fidgeting I fell back asleep.

The welcoming smell of food drifts to my nose, setting my mind on the task of getting some breakfast for myself while all of the humans are safely still asleep. I squeeze myself out of the human's arms, not feeling like being rude and forcing them awake by making a sudden movement. I hop off the bed and start to take a step before my body takes control and my whole body contorts into full stretch. I take another step as my back continues to bend as much as my body will allow. Though it is always somewhat an inconvenience it does help me get rid of any kinks I may have developed during the night. My mouth opens up in a big yawn mid stretch. Finally once the stretching is done I'm overcome with the urge to shake my body to try and get my fur loosened up so that it can lay the way it should. I consider going downstairs first and getting food but one of the other smells up here catches my attention, or more particularly of something I need to take care of. I follow my nose past all of the beds and find a small room sort of set to the side and find a strange tub thing.

I hop up and find that in the center of this tub thing is an amount of water. There is some very dilute smells of excrement left in this room and I ponder what the purpose of this thing is and find some sort of metal thing with a strong scent of a bunch of different humans. Trying to figure out what it does I rise up and press against it and hear a sound from below me and see the water has gone down a small bit. Piecing together that somehow this metal thing removes what's in the tub I relieve myself and then press the button as far down as it seems to go. Looking down and seeing everything seeming to disappear into some hole at the bottom of the small tub thing I hop down and walk out of the room, getting a rather strange look from Allen who had apparently just woken up and noticed me going into that room.

"What were you doing in there?" he whispers, apparently also preferring not to wake up all the humans in here.

"There was some water in a thing in there. It smelled interesting," I comment before walking past him, all the while making sure to stay outside of his striking range.

"You're an idiot," he comments before sitting back down for whatever reason, likely to get a little more sleep.

Either way what he was doing sitting back down was far less a concern of mine as seeing about getting some of that yummy smelling food below me. I walk as quietly as I can past all of them and reach the area where I can start to walk down and stop. Going up those things didn't really seem all that much of a problem. Looking down them I have some reason to hesitate. Each little platform is too short for me to stand on any one step and if I tumbled it'd probably hurt quite a bit. Though fairly confident in my ability to react I settle myself that if I did start to tumble and got hurt that lady near the front would likely be able to heal me before we go, though that would mean not getting any food. Settled on the desire to eat I start down the steps carefully. I don't bother stopping as if I did I might second guess myself and misstep but I do walk with my head aimed so that I can be sure that each step made reaches the next flat area.

When I reach the bottom I give a little sigh of relief, glad that I didn't end up falling over and hurting myself and thus am now allowed to enjoy myself with some meat for breakfast. Unfortunately the table where all the food is being held is being tended to closely by a rather fat human. I move closer to try and get a better look to see how attentive he is and if I would be able to get some food. But instead of letting me up to help myself to the food when I get close he raises up a foot and pushes me backwards in a manner that though wouldn't hurt me is still forceful.

"This is human food, not pokemon food. Go get the food we set out for your kind over there," the human grunts.

Dejected I turn around and lower my head as I try to figure out what to do. Having had my sights set on getting the good smelling food my appetite and stomach were getting ready to be start the digestion process but with the food now no longer an option they're starting to complain at me. I know if I wanted I could play the waiting game and get at the food when he loses his focus but that could be a while and I'd have to probably eat some of that plain stuff to sate my hunger a bit. But as I turn to go and sulk for a bit before getting some food I see the Alakazam Averik raise one of his arms and several of the little thick worm-like things are surrounded by a blue aura and lift from the table as well as a circular flat thing, all done without the fat human apparently noticing. All of the worm-like food moves onto the circular thing before it floats over to me and lowers itself slowly to rest on the ground. Averik then lowers his arm and the aura fades completely and then he gives me a quick little smirk and a wink.

"Thank you," I bow my head to him.

"Think nothing of it. Just be sure to look me up if you ever go to Saffron."

I turn my attention back to the little flat thing holding my food and I grip at one edge with my mouth and slowly start to drag it and the food on top of it to somewhere where I can eat it all without having to worry about that fat human or someone else interrupting me all too easily. Thinking it the safest place I move it to underneath one of the tables. This way not only am I out of view but I am protected in every direction except for in front of me. I lie down and look closely to see if anyone is making any motions to come after me and when I don't see anything I slowly grip at one of the worm like things and pull it closer to me before gripping it in my forepaws and biting into it. My eyes half close in response to the delicious taste of the meat but even with the joyful worm-like things I still make sure to keep from allowing my attention on my surroundings to wane. I mentally thank Averik yet again and pray that whatever deity he prays to rewards him for giving me the food. As I continue to eat a thought strikes me. Perhaps that is his intent. For all I know these worm like things are not tasting nearly as good as I think they do. Yes they are meat and as such delicious but if he can read my mind perhaps he can also influence my sense of taste to make sure I pay him a visit when I get to whatever this Saph Ron place is. But if it means getting this kind of taste again I'd be willing enough to do so.

Once done with all of the food in front of me I grab the flat circular thing and step out from underneath the table. I then hop up onto the soft thing and then place the flat thing on the table before taking a look around and not seeing Averik anymore, though it doesn't necessarily mean he might not still be close enough that he could have planted such sensations into me. Still, I sniff at the air to try and figure out where the others all are. Allen still seems to be above me, as does Sanaline. Or at the very least neither one of them have come down here yet. Caleb I can't smell though since he can fly it would not be too impossible for him to have come down here and not leave any scent on the ground. Wanting to have some air while I wait I walk over to the entrance to this place and step out. Once outside I can start to feel a sort of nagging feeling in the back of my mind to go back inside. I move out of the way of the door and sit down, my head tilting to one side as I consider this. I look up at the sky and take a few rather deep and refreshing breaths. Though they clearly meant me no harm it is still difficult to be comfortable with the scent of humans so compact. Out here the smell of humans is still strong, but there's also the scents of beyond.

I lean over towards one of my hind legs so that I can scratch off some of the loose fur on my neck. I stop scratching as it hits me why I feel compelled to go back inside. I scratch a bit more as I digest this thought. The one thing I had not previously considered was the thing that had inserted itself into my head. When I first went into the ball I felt something enter it so this must be what it is. Somehow my ball, which is probably over where Allen is has put something in my head to make it difficult for me to separate myself too far from it and thus wouldn't be able to simply run away. I decide to test this by standing up and taking a few steps forward. With each step I take I notice that the compulsion to turn around increases. It's like a sort of voice yelling at me and the further I get away from my ball the louder and more insistent this voice becomes. I shake myself to help my fur fall back into place from my scratching as well as try to shake off the compulsion, but with no luck.

Sighing I turn around and head back to the part of the building to the side of the door where the impulse that I assume wants me to go back to my ball is much more manageable. I sit down again and stare at the sky and watch a few white and puffy looking clouds walk their way across the sky. I spot a few birds flying around up there, going to some place of their own will.

"Will I ever be free again?" I ask to no one and at the same time anyone if anyone can hear me.

Even though I've technically been traveling with Allen for a full day now it is only now that it finally starts to sink in just what all I had gotten myself into. My ears droop down as I realize that I can no longer go back to being an oblivious little vulpix whose only concern is to find food and a safe place to rest. Instead I'll be stuck in a situation that will no longer be completely under my own control. I have no clue how long we will all be together and be our own trainers or what circumstances will our group cease to be but I am sure that when that happens I'll likely be a completely different person.

"Although..." I ponder as I try to turn it around and think of it in a different way, my ears perking up with the thought. "By being a part of this group I'll be able to get to places I couldn't have all by myself and I'll have many experiences that I would never have had if I didn't agree to Allen's request," I state cheerfully as I grin at the notion. "Just think of all of the stories I'd be tell everyone back home. They'll never believe all that I've managed to do in my life. And then... oh."

My thoughts turn again and my ears and head droop again as my thoughts shift against my will to my mother. If only I had been stronger or had chosen not to play there that day then everything would have been fine and that wouldn't have had to happen.

"I'm sorry, mother." I mope for a moment before I notice the sound of flapping wings moving closer.

I look up, half hoping to be able to distract myself with a potential hunt and challenge of a tasty looking birdy feeling safe to settle down on the top of this big building. But instead it seems to be Caleb flying back from somewhere. He moves over to where I'm sitting and then lands right beside me. He turns around and stares forward in the same direction as I am.

"You should really try to cheer up," he comments while fluttering his wings for a moment while he settles down. "It will simply not do to have such a pretty little lad like yourself looking as sad as you. What's the matter? Allen beating on you again?"

"No, it's not that."

"Then what is it?" he asks, turning his head towards me.

I pause a moment, ignoring his question, "So how far did you manage to get?" I ask looking up at the sky as if searching for something.

Caleb shrugs his wings a bit before turning his head back to face in front of him, "Very well, if you don't want to talk about it I won't press you. So you've noticed it too, huh?"

"The balls must have done something to us, making us unable to get far away."

"Well that may be true but it doesn't seem to work nearly the same way for me as it must for you. When I am in the air I feel nothing different than just being free. But as soon as I start thinking about landing I feel the compulsion to pick a spot closer to you guys. I would imagine in my case I could probably fly for hours and never have the slightest problem until I decide to land to rest up."

"So then that means that we're stuck with each other forever?" I ask, somewhat not looking forward to such a fate that I had apparently volunteered into.

"Yes and no. From what I gather there probably is a mechanism that will allow us to be released from our bonds of enslavement. But fret not, pretty one; I'm sure Allen will eventually warm up to you. Just give him time."

"Should I want that, though? I mean he's water and I'm fire. Aren't we supposed to hate each other?" I look over at him, my ears perking up in interest at getting the answer to the question.

"Well what does your heart tell you?" he replies.

"I don't know. My instincts tell me I should avoid him at all costs and he does seem to enjoy beating up on me, but at the same time he does know a lot that I don't and he does answer most of my questions. And he did choose me to be our own trainer."

"He did indeed."

"So I'm just really confused about it all. At one moment he looks like he wants nothing to do with me and yet at the same time seems to always put up with me. I'm just confused as to which way to feel about him. Do you think he hates me?"

"I cannot say."

"Do you think he'll ever not hate me?"

"I would like to say that I could be sure that he'd warm up to you and you two would be the best of friends but he is a water type and you are a fire type and he has lived believing in the type prejudices for a long time. So I have no clue if he'll soften to you or not. But rest assured. I'm positive that even if he is always hostile to you he'll never do anything that'll seriously injure that cute little body of yours. He would stand to lose far too much if he did."

"Can you stop calling me cute? It's really weird."

"I make a vow to never lie to you so if you are as cute as you truly are then it is simply out of my hands."

I scoot slightly away from him as my ears twitch slightly towards the area behind me. The compulsion to try and go back into the building is starting to get much weaker with every second. As I'm pretty sure that it doesn't have anything to do with the effect getting weaker as the ball getting closer.

"Well looks like the other two are moving around now," Caleb speaks up. "Shall we go and greet them?"

"Might as well," I shrug and stand up and start heading towards the door while Caleb hops onto my back.

Once in I see Allen and Sanaline both with a thing of some of the dry pokemon food, eating away in their own little corner. Once we get into the door Allen looks up and glares at me.

"And where did you two run off to?" He demands.

"Just outside, enjoying the morning air," Caleb pipes up. "We've already eaten. The early bird gets the worm as they say."

"You two can have your worms for all I care," Sanaline quips. "I'd rather be fully rested then playing in the dirt with you two idiots."

"Well if you haven't eaten you better make sure to now. Once the two of us are done we'll be leaving and won't be looking for a place to rest for a good long while."

"In that case I better go get something to drink," I comment before moving to the little tray that's on the ground and filled with water.