FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

As I reentered the colony holding the bag of chips, I made a dash for the main room, where I tossed them into the pile of things that was sitting there and dashed through the only tunnel I was familiar with. Dashing through, I headed for Rice's room. My heart was pounding as I approached it, and my paws were all sweaty. As I made the turn and darted into his room, I ran face first into him, stumbling backwards a couple steps.

"Ow... Rice! Where is she? Is she okay?" I asked between pants.

He turned around. "Whoa there, she's fine, I just finished wrapping her leg up in this cloth. She's going to be fi-"

I pushed past him and ran up to her. "Electra! Electra are you okay!?"

She didn't answer me. I looked at Rice. "Can we bring her to my room? I want to be alone with her..."

Rice shrugged. "I don't see why you couldn't..."

Nodding, I got down low and carefully slipped my paws underneath her head. "Do you have a mat or something I can put her on?" I asked as I felt around her head, taking note that she was still breathing.

"Well... I'll go check." He said as he left the room. I stared down at Electra, watched her belly rise and fall as she breathed... I don't know how long I stared at her breathing, but it must have been long, because Rice came back with a blue mat and cleared his throat, which meant he must've been standing there for a while.

"Here you are, just ease her onto this." He said as he walked over and placed it just underneath her rear, placing her tail onto it.

I made a face. "I'll... Get her onto it... Just keep her head up." I said as I walked over and took hold of her from underneath, just above her back legs and carefully lifted her up, making sure I didn't touch her wounds. Man were they nasty looking! It's not that they looked nasty, but... She was covered in blood! I couldn't tell where the actual wounds were, and where to pick her up.

"We have to put her on sideways." I said as I took the mat form underneath her and put it under her left side, then went to the other side and rolled her onto it. "There, see?"

Rice smirked. "Nice work..." He chuckled.

I smiled at him. "Now I just drag her to my room?"

He nodded. "Need some help?"

I shook my head no. "Nah... I can do it." I said as I took hold of the rope on the front, putting it over my shoulder and pulling the mat along the ground, out into the tunnel. "Thanks anyway." I said as I dragged it out, out of sight now. It wasn't an easy thing to do. She was heavy! She didn't look it though. I hadn't picked anyone else up, so I couldn't compare her to anyone else, but even Rice said she was heavy, didn't he?

As I got to my room, I pulled her inside. Right up to the leaf bed, and rolled her off of the mat and onto the bed. She was laying on her back now. Exhausted, I lay down next to her, on my side, facing her. I could hear her breathing, and see her moving. I wondered if she was conscious. She seemed alright when she'd gotten hit though... I wonder when she passed out, and why... Well I kind of know WHEN she passed out... But why? Did they tranquilize her or something? No, they couldn't have... It was just a bulled, right?

Standing up, I took a look at her leg. It looked like it had stopped bleeding. Now all it had to do was heal, right?

My ears perked up as I remembered something. She was shot, right? So doesn't that mean there's a bullet inside her somewhere?

Flipping her over, I saw blood on her other side too.

"Okay, what the heck? Was she shot twice or something?" I growled, my cheeks sparking out of anger now, and not so much to make light. But in the extra light I HAD made, I saw something shiny... It was stuck in her side... Right below the first brown stripe on her back.

The bullet! Maybe it was a shotgun... Maybe there were multiple bullets shot out in one single shot... A bit much for a Pikachu... I mean, why not just use a regular pistol? Or even a tranquilizer dart! Damn humans!

Taking hold of it, I tugged it free quickly, so that if she WAS awake, the pain would be quick and over with immediately. Looking it over, it was indeed a bullet, but why was it here? Had it gone THROUGH her, and gotten stuck in her side? That would be really bad if that were true, but if it isn't, then that means there's a second bullet inside her somewhere, right? And that's even worse! Maybe they DID use a shotgun after all...

That's just harsh.

Flipping her over, I didn't know how to get the blood off so that I could see clearly, while avoiding touching her wounds.

Water! But where would I get some?

A thought popped into my mind. Maybe if someone had carried back a gallon of water, or a bottle...

Turning around, I darted out of the room, taking the only path I knew of, the one to the main room. Upon arriving, I saw them taking all the things we'd gotten and moving them into another room. Sighing, I grabbed something and followed them out. When I got to the room, all the stuff was piled neatly, boxes ontop of eachother, things that would fall off were in a separate pile, cans were in their own corner... Walking around the room, I spotted a couple cases of water bottles. Running over to them, I slashed off the plastic with my claws and grabbed two, running back through the tunnel I'd come from. There was oddly enough room for me to squeeze by the others, no doubt I received some strange looks for doing so. As I entered the main room, holding the bottles, everyone was giving me strange looks. Ignoring them, I ran through the room to the other side, entering the tunnel that I knew lead to my room, and all the others. Running through, I skidded to a stop at my room, darting inside and twisting the cap off of one of the water bottles.

This wouldn't hurt her, it's only water... Water never burns anything, right?

Sighing, I poured some of the water over her wounds. Watching the blood wash away, I stopped pouring once most of it was gone, closing the bottle now and getting down onto all fours to get a better look at her. Flipping he over, I mentally slapped myself in the face for not cleaning her other side. Standing back up, I opened the bottle and used the rest to clean off her other side, tossing away the empty bottle. Getting down onto all fours again, I looked closely at her wounds. There was a hole in her leg. That I already knew. Flipping her over, I moved her fur out of the way and spotted another hole on the opposite side of the first one.

Okay, that's good news, no bullet in her... But if that one went through her, then where did that one in her side come from?

Rolling her back onto her back, I spotted a small wound just above her tail. This one, I knew, had a bullet inside her.

"What the HELL!" I yelled as I stood up and pulled on my ears. "What did they, hit you with a shotgun or something? The morons!" I yelled as I shot an angry bolt of electricity into the air.

There were no questions about it - She had a bullet somewhere in her belly area.

"Great..." I said as I paced around her, my tail dragging. "What the heck do I do now? I have to put something in her to take that out..." Walking back over to her, I looked closely at her wound. Angling my light carefully, I spotted something shiny...

The bullet! It was within reach! - Sorta...

Closing my eyes tightly, I reopened them and sighed, taking a deep breath and begun pushing on her belly, trying to force the bullet to the surface.

No luck.

I pushed harder. Still nothing.

Sighing, I tried pushing on the sides of it, rather than above it. Still nothing. Maybe something's holding it in place, but what? Nothing's there TO hold it, so it must just not want to come out.

Sighing, I sat down next to her."I wonder if it's magnetic..." I said as my ears perked up a little. Wait, maybe it was! And if it was, then I could get it out! But where would I find a magnet? Surely no one picked one up from the pokemart, right?

Sighing again, I thought of where I could find a magnet... And a strong one at that!

But magnets were held by Pikachu and Raichu to boost electric attacks, right? And Rice is the most powerful in the colony, so surely HE has one, right?

"Hmmm.... Let me ask Rice... If anyone knows where a magnet is, it's gotta be the leader." Standing up, I made a dash into the tunnel, taking a left and going down to the little turn, going into the tunnel that had all the Raichu rooms in it. Running to the very last room, I turned and entered it. Rice was sitting in the center, eating a big berry.

"Oh, You. What was your name again? I was just going to go look for you, I need to give you thi-"

I cut him off. "Rice! I need to know where I can find a magnet, and my name is Dallas." I said as I walked right up to him.

Placing his berry down on a rock, he looked down at me and placed his tail on my shoulder. "For your mate I assume, right? To get those little metal things out."

I nodded. "Yes, for that."

So, he knew about the bullets this whole time, and didn't tell me... Great... Why didn't he tell me? Was this some sort of test? Or was he going to go look for me so he could give it to me? Maybe what Clawstrike said was true, maybe he really IS a jerk...

"Right... Like I was saying... I was going to go give this to you." He said as he held out a metal stick. "This is the magnet you need. I already took out two of them."

Grabbing the magnet, I turned around and darted out of the room. "Thanks!"

Took out two of them already? And there were still more in? Yeah, they definitely hit her with a shotgun... That's just... Cruel...

So those two holes across from eachother... The bullet did not go through her, Rice had just taken the bullets out for me...

As I ran through the tunnel, magnet in my mouth, I almost ran right by our room. Turning, I ran inside, spitting the magnet into my paw and walking up to Electra. Slowly, I brought it near her wound, then touched it. Smiling, I pulled the magnet away. My smile faded as I realized that the bullet had not stuck to the magnet. "Oh, come on!" I said as I placed the magnet over her wound again, then pulled it back. "Come ON!" I yelled. Had he given me the wrong thing? Was this just a rock? I pressed it against her, then heard a soft click. Perking my ears up, I slowly and carefully pulled the magnet away from her, and watched as the bullet was retrieved, stuck to the magnet.

"WOOOOO!!!!!" I yelled as I pulled it off and put it with the other one. "Thank you Rice!"

Smiling now, I placed the magnet down and lay next to Electra, who thankfully, was still breathing. Exhausted from all the running and the panic, I dozed off...

---

Yawning, I awoke an hour or so later. Wiping my eyes, I sat up, then looked at Electra. Her eyes were open, and she was smiling at me.

"Dallas... W-what happened? My leg hurts..."

I smiled and placed my right paw behind one of her ears and gently scratched it. "It's okay now, you're going to be okay... You just need a little rest is all..."

She purred for a bit, then coughed, so I stopped scratching. "You hungry or anything?" I asked as I stood up, stretching.

Of course she was hungry.

She sighed. "No..."

Okay, maybe not... That's a first!

I tilted my head. "What do you mean no?"

She flicked her tail. "I mean no... I'm not hungry..."

I scratched my left ear. "But y-you're always-"

She tried to sit up. "I know that, ow, but right now I am not. Well I am, but I don't feel like eating!"

Okay, so she IS hungry... But just doesn't want to eat... THAT makes more sense.

Walking over to her, I placed my paws on her shoulders and helped her sit up. "You feeling okay? Not sick or anything?"

She made a face at me. "I was not sick a couple hours ago and I am not sick now." She groaned, trying to stand up. "What makes you think I just suddenly got sick because my leg got hurt?"

Sighing, I stood up and looked at her. "You might want to try rolling onto your belly and standing up on all fours first."

Smiling, she nodded and slowly lay back down. Walking over to her, I rolled her over. "Thanks..." She said as she attempted to get up. Slowly, she pulled herself up, and actually stood up, wobbly, but standing.

"You know, the best thing for you is to get moving right away after an injury." I said as I got down onto all fours and stood next to her.

"I know... Why do you think I'm doing this?" She said as she slowly took a step, then another, headed for the tunnels. "Unless it's a broken bone, then you can only heal it by keeping it immobilized..."

"I know." I said as I smiled. "Where are you going?" I asked, following behind her.

"I have to go see Rice... I have to thank him for saving me..."

I made a face. "Rice did not save you, I did... Well. We both did..."

She sighed. "Rice carried me down and got me to fall asleep so he can pull metal things out of me... So yes, he did kind of save me. Don't get me wrong, you DID carry me back and all, and after I fell asleep, I don't know what else you did, so I guess you did save me too, because if you left me, the humans would have gotten me and killed me, so thanks... She said as she took another step, her tail dragging. "Anyhow, I guess if it weren't for you, Rice would've never gotten to me, and therefore would never had been able to find me, or take them out..."

So that's why she fell asleep... Rice tranquilized her, not the humans...

I made a face. "Rice did not take them all out, I took some out too... You don't think I was worried about you? I am your mate! The last thing I would do is run off while you're hurt! I can't believe you think RICE did all the work!" I growled, wiggling my nose.

She sighed. "That is not what I meant at all... I know you are my mate. I know you would do anything to protect me... What I meant, was that Rice helped me a lot... And he deserves a thank you..." She said as she started walking towards the direction of Rice's room.

I sighed. "And I have no problem with that... I had a problem with the way you worded it..."

She took another step, slowly. "Ugh... Well sorry..." She whined, moving slowly along the tunnel.

After maybe ten minutes, we approached Rice's room, and walked inside.

"Ahhhh Electra! How are you doing there?" Rice said as he walked towards us.

She smiled at him. "I am doing well... I think... I just came by to say thank you..."

Rice patted her head with his tail. "No problem at all... It's kind of my job."

I tilted my head. "I thought you were the leader..."

Rice looked at me. "I am, but with that job comes others... I can't just go around leading everyone if I know nothing about how to cure them when they are sick, help them when they are sick, provide great battle strategies, all that stuff, plus, I have to keep MYSELF in check. If I'm weak, my whole colony is weak." He said as he stood up tall and proudly. "This Raichu can NOT be sick, ever, even though sickness is very rare here, it can still happen, and I have to be prepared for when it does."

I looked up at him and scratched my head. "Well, how would someone else become the leader?"

Rice chuckled and patted my back with his tail. "To do that, you have to go through ME." He smirked. "Either that, or be voted in by all the others, and then STILL have to defeat me."

I nodded. "You DO look kind of tough to beat..."

"I'll be right back, don't follow me or help me." Electra said as she turned around and headed out.

There was an awkward silence as Electra left, and after she was gone, Rice sat down.

"Dallas... Between you and me, I sense that you are a very powerful Pikachu... Maybe even more powerful than I am. I am not saying that you should battle me for my position, but I am saying that you could be what we've been looking for... We've needed someone like you for almost two years now... You are not in the position for me to tell you why though. You have much more to learn before you can help us. Don't get me wrong, you have been a BIG help to our colony from the start. Because of you, we will make it safely through the winter. But anyway, like I was saying, I sense great power within you... I can tell when you are near, because the power flows through the air around you... You could do great things with it... And with that power, comes responsibility. Like I told you, I am a powerful Raichu, but I am also very responsible about it. I do not go around showing it off, and I hope that I never see you doing it either. This power... I have never sensed such power in a Pikachu before.. You are special Dallas... You are a very special Pikachu... There is no doubt in my mind that you are the one... This is all destiny... You were sent here to help us... it is the way things were meant to be. Stumbling upon our colony was no accident, it was destined to happen. You were destined to come here and help us... Now, like I said, you are not ready to know why yet... And like I said when you first set foot in here, I am going to get you into the flow of things. Hopefully, we can get you to work starting tomorrow. As for your female, she'll have to rest some before she can start. Chances are, she'll be better by tomorrow. Not fully healed of course, but able to move around more."

I interrupted him. "Wait, what do you mean by work exactly?"

Rice chuckled. "When I say work, I do not mean we're going to force you to get up early in the morning and carry things around outside in the freezing cold. What I mean, is we have a million things we have to do in this colony to keep it up and running. There are many things that need to be done, like taking care of the Pichu while their parents are away gathering food or something. Each and every one of us has a job. You already know part of mine, but I'm not going to get into everything I have to do as a leader. Anyway, like I was saying, there are many jobs here. Some, you will find fun and others, you will find annoying, and not want to do. It all depends on what you like and dislike. I have Pikachu and Raichu here that enjoy moving heavy things. Now I'm not going to go around and check on you to see if you're doing your job well, and yell at you if you're not. That's not how it works. You'll see when tomorrow comes. You'll find the perfect job for you, I know you will. Oh, and another thing. Training. YOU sir, will need to train your battling skills at least twice a week. Once you master them, you will find keys to learning new moves on your own, new battling techniques, and much more. Now if you have any questions to ask, ask me tomorrow, when I'm getting you into it. If not, then I'll see you around." He said as he stood up and walked toward the tunnel. "I have something I have to do."

As he turned the corner to leave, he looked back as me. "Don't worry about the jobs, I'll get you into the flow of things tomorrow. It's really not that bad. Like I said, there is no consequence for slacking off. You can screw around and not do the work, but we'd prefer you did it. For the benefit of the colony. If you don't work, and just hang out with us, that's perfectly fine. Just don't cause any trouble or you'll be kicked out of the colony. Non-workers that cause trouble are intolerable. You know what? Why don't you come with me. I'll get you into it now."

Shrugging, I nodded. "Okay." I said as I began to follow him out, seeing Electra behind me. "Oh, Electra... I'm going to get a job... Stay in Rice's room and rest okay?"

She nodded. "Um... Okay? But I thought jobs weren't until next week..."

I chuckled. "They weren't, but I want mine now."

Nodding, she walked into Rice's room, a bit faster than before. Was she feeling better already?

Smiling at her, I turned around and ran to catch up to Rice. "I'm going to go a different way... Get you familiar with the different routes..."

I smirked. "That would be nice..."

Laughing, he stood up tall. Frowning, I looked up, realizing that the ceiling was indeed high enough to stand up now. How did I not notice that before? Standing up, I walked ahead, and man was it easier to walk. I could stare at his back instead of his rear, and it made me feel so much better. I wasn't even going to ask when or why the ceiling got higher, to avoid sounding stupid.

"We're going to go outside first, so come this way." He said as he took a right, the tunnel slanting upwards. "Now, as you can see, there are many tiny holes in this tunnel. This is to prevent flooding. The water will collect in the holes and the ground will soak it up. Now if there is a lake overflow or something, and water pours in, well we have a different plan for that, but it kind of has to work. You don't need to worry about that, because it is never going to happen. But anyway, let's go out." He said as he got onto all fours and began running. Doing the same, I noticed that NOW the tunnel was narrower. I guessed it was to prevent things from coming in, which was pretty smart of them... As we excited, I noticed we were in a completely different area, nowhere near the bush where I initially entered the colony. I was now in a field, tall grass everywhere. The grass was tall, but not over our heads.

"Okay, you wanna go look around for something to do? When you find a group that you want to join, just tell them you're the new guy, and that I said you could work there."

Gee Rice, thanks for showing me around like you said you would... Jerk...

Nodding, I watched as he turned around and went back into the tunnel, then I looked around me. There were Pikachu everywhere, most of them out of sight. Walking around, I spotted a few gathering berries. They waved to me, and I waved back.

Not the job for me.

Continuing, I saw two Pikachu up in a tree, giggling and poking a pidgey with a stick. Every time it moved and looked, they would hide behind the trunk of the tree and smirk at eachother.

I wonder what their job is...

Continuing to watch them, I watched one of the Pikachu grab its tail and pull hard on it, then hide. I smirked at this, because the pidgey freaked out and fell out of the tree. Chuckling, I called out to them.

"Hey you guys, what's your job?"

Looking down at me, the one that pulled it out of the tree answered me. "Our job is to make sure other Pokemon keep off our land. Don't want intruders coming in and eating one of us or something."

Smiling, I nodded. "I am the new guy, and Rice told me it's okay if I joined you guys and helped."

Sighing, he climbed down the tree, followed by the other one. Two others were standing on the ground already, because they'd never climbed up. Looking at their tails, I saw that one was female. The rest were male.

"i guess we can use another 'Chu... sure... But I have to remember to tell Rice that this group is full... I don't want anymore Pokemon in this group..."

"Well my mate wants to join in too..." I said as I scratched the back of my head.

"Too bad." He snapped. "Full group."

One of the males pushed him away. "Sorry about that, he thinks he's the leader or something... I assure you we have no leader in this group. Everyone has equal power. Your mate can join in if she wants."

I nodded. "Okay, thanks. So what are we doing at the moment?"

They all shrugged. "Just making sure there are no nests being built near us..."

Smirking, I walked into the group. "Well then, let's go."

One of them took off running, followed by everyone else. Shrugging, I ran ahead of them, but stayed behind the first guy I saw him look back at me and smirk. Not knowing what he smirked about, I kept running, until he stopped short and moved to the side a little, sticking his tail out in front of me. I noticed it right away, but I knew I couldn't stop in time. My mind racing, I blocked out all of my human thoughts, and focused on my Pikachu ones. Pikachu instinct took over as I tripped over his tail and became airborne. I jerked my body forward into a front flip, landing safely on all fours and standing up tall, turning around to face him.

Wow, Pikachu instincts are so cool...

"Wh-what the...?" he stuttered.

The female chuckled. "New guy has some moves!"

I blushed a little and scratched the back of my head. "Well... I guess you could say that..." I said as I turned to the guy that tripped me. "What the hell was that for anyway?"

Chuckling, the male that tripped me held out his paw. "Welcome to the team" He said as he went to take my paw to shake it. Grinning, I grabbed it and pulled hard, flipping his left foot out from under him with my tail, then tugged him down onto his belly, sitting on him and pinning him down.

"Heh... Thanks." I said as I grabbed his other paw and held both his paws behind his back. "Name's Dallas."

He grunted and wiggled underneath me, trying to pull himself free. "Hey, no fair! You have all the moves!"

I chuckled. "Well, not all of them... I'm just improvising really..."

The female giggled and patted my back. "Okay Dallas, let him up."

Giggling, I got up off of him, letting go of his paws. "Well he deserved it..."

As he stood up, one of the others jumped on him and knocked him back down, then leaped back into the group, laughing.

Yep. This is the perfect group for me. Seems as though they only go around messing with eachother and others for fun.

Laughing, I held out my paw. "Here, c'mon."

Taking it, he smiled at me as he stood up, brushing off his fur.

"Name's Stryder..."

I smiled and hugged him. "Hiya Stryder... I'm Dallas..."

The female stuck out her paw. "My name is Starlight, nice to meet you Dallas.

I smiled. "Nice to meet you too. You seem nice. Do you have a mate by any chance?"

Giggling, she shook my paw. "Surprisingly no, but now, I've got my eye on a certain male..." She said as she winked at me, giggling.

Stryder placed his paw on my shoulder and whispered in my ear. "Hey, you must have something special... No one, and I mean no one, can get to HER like you just did..."

I laughed a little. "Heh... I'm starting to get that "Special" thing a lot lately..." I said as I let go of her paw. She stared into my eyes and just smiled, wagging her tail.

"You must be a powerful Pikachu... I can feel it..." She said as she licked my nose.

I took a step back. "Yeah... Rice said so too... I'm not sure though... I mean, I suck at fighting I think..."

The two males that hadn't introduced themselves whispered something to eachother and laughed, then joined us in the group. "We'd better get going. Discuss your oh so powerful lightning later." He laughed, the other male joining in and laughing too.

Stryder frowned. "How is that funny? You two are idiots!"

Starlight nodded. "Yeah, you two will laugh at anything."

Smirking, I waited until they'd stopped laughing.

"No, we don't." They both said.

Grinning, I pretended to fall over on my belly, plopping into the grass. Looking up at them, I saw one of them smirk, trying to hold back a laugh, while the other burst into laughter. Once he was laughing, the other guy joined in. Standing up, I pushed him onto his back. "Wow, they really do..." I said as I grabbed the other guy and pulled him down ontop of the other, watching them squirm around ontop of eachother with random, inappropriate laughter, one of them managing to stand up.

"HEY!" The one on the ground yelled as he squirmed, trying to get up. I just chuckled as I placed my right foot on his belly and pressed down.

"OOF!" He said as he made a face. "Ow! Let me up!"

Well THAT made him stop laughing...

Starlight giggled and stood behind me, hugging me. "You show them who's boss Dallas!"

Chuckling, I pressed down harder until he coughed, then picked up my foot. "Heheh... I'll try my best." I said as I turned around and hugged her, my tail wagging.

She let out a soft squeak and kissed my cheek, to which I blushed and just looked at her. "I kind of have a mate though..."

She tilted her head. "So? We can have more than one mate. You didn't know that?"

I looked up into the sky. "Wait a second... I think I remember her mentioning something about it.. Yeah, I'm pretty sure she told me that... But I must've forgot... But anyway, I love her, and right now she's hurt... The last thing I want to do is mate with someone else behind her back."

Starlight nodded. "I understand. I saw you carrying her back from the human place. There was a big bang. I was scared..."

Stryder tapped on out shoulders. "Enough talk, those two left the group... Said they quit or something because they were fed up with being picked on..."

I tilted my head. "Awww, I didn't mean to make them leave..."

Starlight smiled. "We've been trying to make them leave for ages... They're annoying..."

Stryder nodded. "He said the "Powerful guy" was ruining their fun... One left and the other followed."

Starlight let me go, and I let her go, smiling. "Rice wants to feed those two to a sharpedo..."

Smirking, I looked her in the eye. "Why not feed them to Electra? And I can see why..."

She tilted her head, and so did Stryder. "What...?"

"Nothing..." I said as I smiled.

We all laughed for a second, then Starlight's belly growled. Giggling, she looked at me.

"Let's head inside and get something to eat."

Smiling, I nodded. "Stryder? You hungry?"

He nodded. "I could use a good meal right now. Sure."

Nodding, I looked at Starlight. "Lead the way." I said with a smile on my muzzle. Nodding, she ran off towards the main entrance, me following and Stryder following behind me. I recognized it because of the bush and the dirt pile. As we entered, I noticed that my cheeks sparked almost automatically. I didn't even have to think about it, they just sparked now.

We walked into the main room, then into a tunnel, and when we got out, we were in the room where they had moved all the human stuff.

"Okay, all the good food is in here. And from what I know, no one can eat it unless you are with a group." Starlight said, giggling.

Stryder nodded. "Heh... We have such a good advantage..."

I looked at them. "You don't know the half of it... Here." I said as I reached into he pile and pulled out another bag of beef jerky. "Ooooh I love this stuff." I said as I tore it open with my claws.

Stryder tilted his head. "Well that stuff we can open, but the hard stuff that our claws can't cut through we need your help for. And especially the ones where you can see the food inside, but when you touch it, something is blocking you from getting to it. And our claws don't even make any marks on it!" Stryder said, stopping as he caught a sniff of the jerky, his tail wagging. "Ooohhhhh what IS that?"

Giggling, I took out a piece and handed it to him, taking out another and handing it to Starlight. She immediately bit into it and chewed slowly, drooling a little. "Ohhh this is so good..."

Taking out a piece, I nodded and bit into it, "So good." Except now it was even better than I remembered...

Stryder snatched another piece, and so did Starlight, and after a minute or two, there was no more.

"Oh, put the empty thing over there." She said as she took it out of my paws and tossed it to the other side of the room, where random wrappers of things were piled.

I shrugged. "Well that works I guess."

Stryder nodded. "We take them outside and burn them when the pile gets real big."

I frowned. "Good idea I guess..."

He nodded. "We wet the ground around the fire so nothing else burns."

I nodded again. "Very good idea..."

He grinned. "By peeing on it!"

I made a face. "Less... Of a good idea... Probably one of the weirdest ideas I've ever heard of..."

"Well everyone that has to go in the colony gathers in a big circle and pees when we're about to burn stuff. Then we put the stuff in the middle and light it on fire." Stryder smirked.

Starlight shrugged. "Let's get some real food." She said as she walked into another tunnel. Shrugging, I followed her in, and Stryder followed behind me. When we got into the next room, there were tons of fruits, apples, pears, bananas, grapefruit, even pineapples! Running up to one, I picked it up and began scratching off the rough brown outside with my claws.

"AHHHH PINEAPPLES!!!! Come on everyone, take one and let's go outside. Trust me, this is ALL you need!" I said as I dashed out with it in my paws.

Nodding as they both gave me awkward stares, Starlight and Stryder each took one and followed me out. When we got outside, I ran to the spot under the tree where we had just come from, and continued peeling off all of the brown, making sure all you could see was the yellow all around it, then I handed it to Stryder and took his.

"Wait, you're supposed to take off the brown part?" He asked as he looked at it. "We always left these alone because they tasted nasty..."

Smirking, I tried not to laugh. "That's... Heheh... Um... Nevermind... Yes, you take it off. Now eat it." I said as I tried to peel his really quickly, scratching off all the brown skin.

He made a face at it. "If this is nasty... I swear I'm going to hurt you..." He said as he sniffed it. "Or at least try to... Well It smells okay, so..." He said as he shook some juice off of his paw. "It's juicy..." He said as he took a bite, juice flowing down his chin and onto his belly as his eyes opened wide.

"Oh my... Wow..."

Starlight snatched it and bit into it, squealing as she chewed quickly, juice going everywhere. "AHHHH THIS IS SO YUMMY!"

Chuckling, I peeled it a bit slower as Stryder snatched it away from her and climbed the tree, Starlight leaping and grabbing his tail, dragging him down, then pouncing on him and snatching the pineapple and standing ontop of him while she bit a chunk out of it, leaving him wiggling underneath her. Laughing, she hopped off of him and took another huge bite, swallowing it down whole and taking another before he tripped her and snatched it away, this time climbing all the way up the tree.

"HA! It's MINE!" He yelled.

Looking at Starlight, I chuckled. "You're supposed to enjoy it, not stuff it down your throat."

She made a face at me. "Why can't I enjoy stuffing it down my throat then?"

Wow, that's something Electra would say...

Smirking, I held out the now peeled pineapple I had in my paws. "Well, when you put it that way, I guess you CAN enjoy it that way..."

Snatching it out of my paws, she bit into it and chewed it quickly, slurping up the juice that dripped down.

I frowned. "Eh..." I said as I took the last one and began peeling it. Looking down as I peeled it, I noticed my claws has gotten longer... And sharper... Taking a second to look at them, I jumped to my feet as something dripped on me. Looking up, I growled at Stryder, who was eating right above me. "HEY WATCH IT!" I yelled at Stryder, who had his face buried in the side of the pineapple, juice dripping everywhere. Ignoring me, he continued, while Starlight took big bites out of hers and looked at me every now and then.

"Ooooh I'm so full..." Stryder said as he climbed down the tree and flopped onto the ground, licking his paws, the pineapple next to him. Shrugging, I stopped pealing mine. I hadn't gotten to the yellow part yet, so I set it down and picked up what was left of Stryder's. Shrugging, I bit into it. My eyes widened as I chewed it slowly... I had remembered liking these... But never like this... This was amazing! This was... Heaven in my mouth!

Drooling over it, I took another bite, then another...

Damn this is good!

Before long, I had downed the whole thing, or what was left of it after Stryder pigged out on it. Looking at Starlight, I frowned as she took the last bite of hers, only the bottom part left.

"Dang..." I said as I looked at the pineapple I had been peeling. I didn't want to peel it and waste it, but I was still hungry... Frowning, I walked over and took the rest of her pineapple, licking the bottom, trying to get everything off of it that I could get. When I could barely taste it, I put it down, Stryder was staring at me, but Starlight was on her back, her paw over her belly.

"I can't move... It hurts... Ohhhh I'm so full..." She moaned as she rolled onto her belly and stood up onto all fours. "Ohhhh I feel like I'm carrying eggs..."

Blushing, I stared at her. Stryder smirked, and I just stared right into her eyes, not believing that she'd just said that.

"Um... Okay then... What now?" I said, trying not to laugh at her.

"I guess we clean up... I'm so sticky..." Stryder said as he licked his paws. "And cleaning them myself just spreads it..."

"She's sticky and she's carrying eggs." Stryder smirked.

Laughing, I looked down at myself. My fur was soaked in pineapple juice, thanks to Stryder, and I was dripping onto the ground. Looking at Starlight, I saw that she had leaves and dirt all over her from laying down. Smirking, I nodded as I pointed to the direction of the lake. "Yeah, better clean up..."

Nodding, Starlight pointed with her right paw. "Just walk that way and you'll get to a lake eventually... I'll be there soon, you two run ahead."

Shrugging, I looked at her. No doubt she was full to the limit. "No, I'm not leaving you behind... I'll stay back with you."

Stryder frowned. "I'm not going alone, sooo..."

I stared at him and frowned. "Are you KIDDING me..."

He shrugged. "What?"

I sighed and started walking. "Nothing..."

Starlight stood up and patted her belly. "Ohhhh.... Man I'm full... I think he means why would you go off without me."

I nodded. "Yeah..."

He frowned. "But she told me to."

Growling and smirking, I facepalmed. "Ugh, nevermind..."

Knowing what I meant, Starlight laughed and started walking. "I can walk fine now, nevermind it."

Drama queen...

Sighing, I walked behind her, and she turned her head to look at me. "Thank you for your concern Dallas." She giggled as she stopped and kissed my cheek, then continued walking. Not knowing how to respond, I just stood there for a bit before running off to catch up to her.

"Oh, you're welcome Starlight." I shouted.

She just looked back at me and winked. Giggling, I licked her cheek as soon as I caught up. "So where IS this lake?" I said as she stopped walking. "And why did you sto- AHHHH!" I squealed as I fell backwards into it. Standing up, I turned around, blushing. "Oh..."

Starlight smirked, and Stryder burst into laughter. Just then, I felt a tap on my shoulder.

"Dallas?" said a familiar voice, a voice I knew all too well.

Perking my ears up, I whipped around. "Electra! What are you doing here!?" I exclaimed, surprised that she was here.

She wagged her tail slowly, very slowly. "Well, Rice told me to go clean up here, so I'm washing off."

Such a jerk, making her walk by herself in this condition... He didn't even help her out! I'm starting to think that what Clawstrike said about Rice was true... He really IS a jerk...

Starlight walked up to us and stepped into the lake. "Ohhh warm... So Dallas, is this your mate you've been talking about?"

I nodded, and so did Electra. "Yes, I am." She said.

She giggled. "She's pretty. What happened to her? Why is she bleeding?"

Sighing, I got down onto all fours and looked closely at her wounds. "The humans did it..."

Now I'm referring to them as "The humans..." Now I know I'm losing it!

She frowned. "I'm sorry... Is there anything I can do?"

I shook my head. "No, nothing we can do at all... She just needs to rest for a bit..."

Electra's cheeks sparked, and electricity jumped across the water. I stood up and looked at her, sighing. "Something wrong?"

She growled. "I am going to really hurt the humans that did this..."

I nodded. "Me too... And I should've... But you were the priority back there, not thwm..."

She looked at Starlight. "I kind of feel better though. I mean, it doesn't hurt at all anymore... It's not really bleeding at all... So... I just need it to heal, right? Besides, I feel good enough to walk on my own."

Nodding, I walked out deeper into the lake. "Well that's good."

Stryder was already in the middle, swimming around. Starlight looked at Electra and giggled. "I like your mate..."

Electra frowned. "Well I like him more."

Starlight laughed a little. "Nooo, I think I do..."

Electra grinned. "We mated, we've been together longer, and he feeds me, therefore, I love him more."

Starlight frowned. "Well you got me there... But we can share him, right?"

She chuckled. "I guess so... We can have more than one mate, right?"

Starlight nodded. "Yeah."

Electra held out her paw, and Starlight shook it. "I'll take you back to our room. You can stay with us."

Stryder swam up behind me. "Dude... How do you do it...?"

I made a face. "What'd I do?"

He pointed to Electra and Starlight, who were having a conversation. "How do you get all the females?"

Smirking, I laughed. "No idea..."

He grabbed my paw. "Let me sleep in your room with you... I want your females too..."

I frowned. "No. And please don't ask me again."

He sighed. "Fine..." He said as swam toward shore. "Hey everyone, shift's over, we can do what we want now." He yelled as he got onto all fours and shook himself off, then ran off. I swam onto shore and got onto all fours, shaking off, followed by Starlight, then Electra, who made a face that said she was in pain, but didn't want to say it. I walked over to her and placed my right paw on her back. "Easy there girl... You don't need to shake off like that. Take it easy. You don't want to hurt yourself even more."

Starlight squealed. "Awwww he's so helpful and caring!"

I blushed and looked up, my tail wagging slowly. "Well she's me mate..."

Electra laughed and walked in front of me. "Well let's get going. I'm kind of hungry..." She said as she got really close to me, whispering in my ear. "I don't think this is a good idea... Bringing that female into the relationship like this... From out conversation back there, I don't think she's going to be a good friend to you... She seems... Dark... Evil... I don't know how to word it, but I can tell by the way she talks that she doesn't really love you..." Electra whispered, her ears flattening to the back of her head as she spoke. "Trust me, this isn't going to last... First impressions may seem like love, but they fade quickly, trust me." She said, sighing.

"Well we'll see how it goes." I whispered back, smiling.

Starlight chuckled. "Well we just ate, and had something that was sooooo good..."

My ears perked up. That other pineapple! I'd left it there!

"Stay here, don't move." I said as I ran off in the direction we came. When I got there, I immediately spotted it right where I'd left it. Picking it up, I made a dash for the lake, getting there in about three minutes and skidding to a stop, panting. "Electra, you HAVE to eat this thing..."

She smirked. "You don't have to tell ME twice... But why?" She asked as she took it from me.

"NO!" I said as I snatched it back, taking my sharper claws on my right paw and peeling off chunks of the hard brown outside. Wagging her tail, she watched me. "I know what that is... And I love them..."

Trying to peel it as fast as I could, I just scraped most of the brown off in huge chunks, I didn't bother going all out on it. After all, she was hungry, and I wasn't going to keep her waiting. Not to mention she eats literally anything, from rocks to other Pokemon, so a little pineapple skin isn't going to hurt her... As I got it peeled, I handed it to her, licking the juice off of my paws. Not even wasting a second, she got to work on it, taking enormous chunks out of it and swallowing them whole, not even taking the time to chew and enjoy it.

"Why don't you chew it? Enjoy it, it's the best fruit ever." I said as I stood next to her, petting her head gently as she ate. Pausing, she looked at me.

"Then I would get juice all over me, and in my cuts, and it would sting them."

I tilted my head to the side. "Excellent point... Carry on then." I laughed.

Frowning, she took a really big bite, and ripped off a large chunk, one that didn't fit in her mouth. The enormous piece of pineapple hung out of her mouth and down over her chin. I watched as she tilted her head back, trying to get it to fit in her mouth, before becoming annoyed with it and swallowing it down whole! Taking a step back, I looked at Starlight, who was also walking away from Electra. I pointed to the pineapple, then Electra, and Starlight nodded. "How did she..."

Nodding, I made a confused face. "Exactly..." I said as I walked back over and stood beside her, just as she was finishing it and scraping off the bottom part.

"Um... Electra... How did you just... Well... You ate that huge chunk whole..."

She put the bottom of the pineapple down and licked her right paw twice. "Yeah, so?"

I dragged my tail around in the dirt. "Well... That should've been way too big to get down... You should've had to chew it..."

She shrugged. "No I shouldn't have..."

I looked at Starlight, who just frowned and shook her head. "I know I couldn't eat it like that even if I tried..."

Nodding, I stood in front of her and looked her in the eye. "Electra... What's the biggest thing you've ever eaten whole?"

She licked my nose. "Well... I'd have to think about that... But the biggest thing that comes to mind at the moment is this annoying Eevee that my old trainer used to play with all the time. I'm sure I've done bigger, but I remember when he used to feed me really big things and rub my belly when I ate them whole... But then I ate his Eevee and he brought me to the Pokemon center and left me there... He was mad because it was a really well trained or something. If you ask me, it was stupid... Then Ben picked me up and I met you, and yeah... You know..."

I nodded, as she answered my question, my heart racing as I stared at her. So my mate could eat me at any moment... And I'd probably enjoy it... That's nice to know. Looking at Starlight, I could tell she was thinking the same thing, by that horrified look on her face.

"Okay, that's really cool..." She finally said as she walked over to us. "Just... Please don't make me your next meal..."

Electra smirked. "I don't eat my own kind... Unless there's a really good reason."

I coughed to change the subject. "Um, we should head back now."

They both nodded, and I walked off toward the colony. I couldn't believe that Electra had eaten an Eevee whole, but after what I had just saw, I was beginning to think she could. Besides, why would she lie? I was thinking about that the whole walk back to the colony, and the walk back to our room. Not even noticing that Electra was walking fine now.

"This is your room? This looks cozy." Starlight said as she entered and sat on the leaves, her tail wagging.

I nodded. "It is... You two stay in here and talk about whatever you talk about, I have to go do something quickly." I said as I left the room and headed towards Rice's room. No doubt, we needed to have another talk. This time, it wouldn't be about me. Well it kind of would be though. I planned to tell him about the job I chose and who I met and stuff, then tell him about Electra... As I entered hie room, he was standing there, facing the other way. He had blood on his tail, and on his paws from what I could see. When he heard me enter, he turned around. "Oh, Dallas... Just who I wanted to see... Don't mind this, just come in." He said as he sat down. It seemed safe enough, right? Shrugging, I entered, and was grabbed by his tail and slammed to the ground, pinned down. "Gotcha..." He grinned as he leaned down on me. "You really need to train harder Dallas..." He laughed.

-------END chapter eleven.-------