FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Pokémon or anything related to it, although it was pretty awesome if I did. However, characters and plot are mine. You can use them but let me know first and credit me for them ok?

She had to run. She looked around the quiet and somber forest. By the faint light she could see it was almost dawn. She had been trying to lose the one chasing her for quite some time. She was on the limit of exhaustion. She heard a branch snap far away in the dark woods. She looked back terrified. No. Not this close. He couldn't. She slithered away as fast as she could, her blue serpentine body trailing behind her. 'Please. Don't let him catch me. Please...'

* * *

The next four days were spent almost exactly the same: they would all wake up in the morning and, while Leon made breakfast, Kairi meditated. Then, after breakfast, Miles would perfect Steel Wing while Leon and Kairi sparred. This would go on until they felt hungry and tired by the time Leon started to make lunch. After lunch they would all have a quick nap to recover from the morning exercise. Then they would resume training, Miles still working on Steel Wing while Leon and Sigma tried to get Kairi to learn Force Palm. After a couple more hours of training, they would take a dive on the river and wash themselves of the accumulated sweat. Finally, Leon would make dinner, they would stay awake for a little more and Leon and Miles went to bed, while Kairi stayed awake for a little while to meditate a bit more. So far, the Bug-types had left them alone, the only hint of their presence being the Kakuna that were still on the branches and that hadn't made a movement since their arrival. Kairi found them slightly unnerving.

On the morning of their sixth day in the Forest, Leon woke up and found that Kairi wasn't in the tent with them. After getting dressed up, he got out, finding Kairi meditating on top of the training rock. He walked up to her, yawning. 'Morning!' He called out.

'Morning.' Kairi answered, not opening her eyes.

'You got up early.' Leon remarked.

'Couldn't sleep. That weird dream again.' She answered, her eyes still closed.

'Seriously? Me too. The hell's wrong with us?' Leon asked no one in particular. Kairi didn't answer. Leon sighed. 'Well, anyway, you hungry?'

'Yep. Anything's fine, thanks.' She replied, a smile on her mouth.

'Ok, I'll just wake up Miles. I'll call you when it's ready.' Leon said, heading back into the tent.

'Thanks.' She replied. She continued her meditation. She tried to do as Sigma told her, trying to push her Aura Sight farther every day. When she started she could barely see outside their clearing but now that she had some practice she could reach as far as two hundred meters in every direction. The amount of Pokémon she could see was staggering. They were camped just outside a Butterfree colony. She could see Pokémon of all evolutionary stages: crawling Caterpie that were chewing on the tree branches, immobile Metapod quietly awaiting evolution and fluttering Butterfree feeding on pollen and nectar. It was amazing how they hadn't kicked them out of their territory yet but apparently the Butterfree thought they weren't a threat. Kairi could read that on their auras.

She turned her attention to the opposite direction. Over here there weren't nearly as many Pokémon, only a few Pikachu happily playing with eachother and... wait... what was that? Kairi concentrated hard on the unknown Pokémon but she couldn't make out what it was, its aura was blurry. She tried to at least gather what its intentions were. Focusing on the mysterious Pokémon and blocking out everything else, she inspected its aura. She gasped. The Pokémon's aura was bleak and it had only two things etched into it: fear and exhaustion. Whatever it was it was terrified beyond belief. It was a wonder how it could still run away from whatever it was running from. 'Wait... What if...?' Kairi pulled back from the Pokémon and quickly searched the forest in the direction opposite the one it was heading. She flinched. She had found a human trying to keep up with the creature about fifty meters apart from it. But that wasn't what made Kairi cringe. It was the fact that his aura was blood-red.

Her eyes snapped open. 'Leon!' She shouted, running to him.

'Huh? What? What's wrong?' He asked, taking his eyes from the food and looking at her.

'You look like you saw a Ghost-type.' Miles commented from Leon's shoulder.

'There's a man in the forest and he's evil and he's after some Pokémon and we need to save it!' She shouted, pulling Leon by his pants. 'Come on!'

'You sure you didn't fall asleep and had a nightmare?' Miles asked, chuckling.

'I'm serious! Please Leon!' Kairi pleaded, running to the edge of the clearing, waiting for him to get up.

Leon looked her in the eyes and realized she was dead serious. He got up and ran after Kairi. The forest was thick with bushes and tough undergrowth which forced Leon to dodge or jump over them. Kairi had even more trouble due to her tiny stature. Leon saw this and with a short burst of speed he caught up with her and picked her up. 'Where is it?' He asked, panting slightly.

'Take a left! It's about eighty meters that way.' She said with her eyes closed, pointing to the right direction.

He abruptly turned left, making Kairi and Miles hold on hard to him. He could feel branches and twigs scratch his arms and sometimes his face but he pressed on. Suddenly he breached a wall of foliage and found himself in a clearing. On the far side of the clearing, weak and sobbing, was a blue serpentine Pokémon.

Leon's eyes widened. 'A Dratini...' He said quietly to himself. The Pokémon was crying, obviously injured and scared. Leon stepped quietly towards it. 'Hey there.' He said, making his presence known to the Pokémon.

The Dratini flinched and shot an orange blob of energy at him. The Dragon Rage was weak and erratic but it was fast enough to make Leon barely manage to dodge it.

'Whoa! Wait please! I'm here to help! I won't catch you!' Leon shouted, raising his empty hands.

The Dratini stared at him, a challenging look on her eyes. Leon could see a few scars and bruises on her face, some of them looking fresh.

Kairi jumped down to the ground. 'Please listen. He's telling the truth. I sensed your distress from our camp and we came running through half the forest to try and find you. We won't force you to do anything but it would be best for you to let us help. You're obviously injured and there's someone looking for you isn't there?' At this point the Dratini looked terrified, confirming Kairi's point. 'Then let us help you. I give you my word we won't hurt in any way.'

The Dratini warily looked at them, trying to understand whether or not they were telling the truth. Then, she nodded slightly before fainting. Leon ran forward and knelt down, holding her head away from the ground.

'Damn she's been through hell. Who would do this?' Leon commented, inspecting her injuries. Suddenly he felt something metallic and cylindrical against his head.

'That would be me. Now drop the dragon and raise your hands.' He heard a rough voice somewhere above him.

'Ahh!' Miles shouted, flying upwards.

'Leon!' Kairi yelled, her eyes wide open in terror. She readied a Force Palm but the voice snorted.

'Don't you think of it. Call off your Pokémon or it will be the first getting shot.

Fear gripped Leon, numbing him. 'Don't do anything Kairi, please.' He slowly glanced backwards, letting go of the Dratini and raising his hands. A huge man built like a closet was glaring at him. His hair and beard were black and messy and he wore camouflage gear. His eyes were two bottomless dark pits. A hunting knife was strapped to his belt and a shiny and deadly looking Desert Eagle was on his hand, pointing at Leon.

'Good. Now slowly walk away from the Dratini.' He ordered. Leon got up and stepped away from her, the man following him. 'Now, on your knees.' Leon hesitated. The hunter nudged him hard on the head with the gun. 'I said, on your knees!' He yelled.

Leon grudgingly obeyed, slowly lowering himself. He felt the muzzle of the gun on the back of his head. 'Sorry kid. Can't have any witnesses.' The man said without a hint of remorse. Leon heard a click and closed his eyes.

'LEON!' Kairi cried out.

'I'm sorry it had to end this soon Kairi...' He thought, a lonely tear sliding across his face.

BANG!

'ARGH! WHO THE BLOODY HELL!?' The hunter shouted in pain.

'Whoa, what happened!?' Miles asked, alarmed.

Leon quickly got on his feet and ran a few meters away from the hunter, slightly in shock. Kairi stood in the same place, her eyes wide. The man was holding his bloody hand, the Desert Eagle on the ground a small distance from him. He looked around alarmed. 'Scyther! Search for the fucking idiot who did this to me!' He yelled, throwing out a Pokéball with his uninjured hand. A large, green, mantis-like Pokémon appeared in a flash of white, brandishing two wickedly sharp scythe-like arms.

'No need to look for us.' A voice came from above.

Leon, Kairi and the hunter looked up to see some guy on a tree branch when suddenly a white furry thing sped at the Scyther. Three dull clunks later Scyther fell down on a crumpled heap. 'GYAH! SCYTHER! GET THE FUCK UP YOU DAMNED BUG!' The hunter yelled at the Pokémon. Next to it was a white mongoose-like Pokémon with red markings. Leon's mouth hung open. It was a female Zangoose. But it wasn't that that astonished Leon. The Zangoose was wearing spiked bracelets on both arms and a spike collar around her neck. She also wore two golden rings on her left ear and a silver stud on her left eyebrow. The Zangoose was also carrying what looked like a long steel rod, which probably explained how Scyther was beaten up that quickly.

'Yo.' She greeted, winking at Leon.

'DAMN YOU!' The hunter ran to his gun when he suddenly found a thin steel blade pressed against his throat.

'I wouldn't move if I were you, this blade is extremely sharp. One clumsy movement and there goes your head.' The man gulped audibly. Somehow the guy managed to sneak behind him and had a blood-red katana on the man's neck. 'Good. Now Scythe, could you please fetch the Escape Rope I have on my backpack?' The Zangoose nodded and went to the tree were her Trainer had been, taking a backpack from between the roots.

While she did that Leon picked up Kairi, hugging her tightly. 'Are you okay?' He asked her, his voice trembling a bit.

'Don't worry about me!' She told him in a disbelieved, although shaky, tone. 'You almost died there!' She said, her eyes tearing up a bit.

'Don't worry, you don't get rid of me that easily.' Leon chuckled nervously. Kairi punched him in the shoulder.

'Don't joke about it like that!' She scolded him. 'Promise me you won't put yourself in danger like that again!'

'But it wasn't even my fault!' Leon protested but Kairi grabbed his head and forced him to look into her eyes, their faces a centimeter apart.

'Promise me.' She said slowly, putting as much force on the word as she could without yelling.

Leon looked into her deep green eyes and realized she was more worried about him than even he was. 'I promise.' He said.

'Good, now that that's settled,' She let him go and climbed to his shoulder. 'ask him who he is and what he wants.' She said, pointing at their savior who was tying the hunter up.

'Oi! Katana-wielding guy!' Leon called out at him. 'Who are you?' Kairi facepawed.

He looked up at them, grinning. 'The name's Pierce. Pierce Sharpe.' He was slightly taller than Leon, probably a couple years older. He wore brown cargo pants, dirty white sneakers, a dark-blue hoodie with its zipper undone and a white undershirt. Streaks of blonde hair peeked from under the hood. He wore glasses with transparent green lenses that masked the color of his eyes. Peeking over his right shoulder was the hilt of a katana. On his right hip was sheathed another katana, the one he had used just now. On his left hip was the pistol he used to shoot the hunter. 'Travelling Trainer and drifter of profession.' He said. 'That's Scythe, my partner in crime.' He said, signaling the Zangoose.

'Yo.' She said, waving.

'She doesn't talk much unless she wants to, which is rare, so don't let it bother you.' Pierce said.

'Uh, okay, and why'd you save us?' Leon asked. 'Not that I'm complaining, mind you.'

'Do I need a reason to help a fellow Pokéspeaker?' He asked with a sly smile.

'No, I guess not... Wait, what!?' Leon looked at him in shock. 'How do you know I can talk with Pokémon? And what do you mean, fellow Pokéspeaker?'

Pierce came closer, taking off his hoodie. A mane of shaggy blonde hair appeared from its depths. On his right ear there was an earring with a red fang dangling from it. 'Because of this.' He said, taking off his glasses.

Leon gasped. Pierce's right eye was a piercing blue. But his left one was a brilliant yellow. The same yellow as Leon's left eye.