FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The rest of the day was silent. The morning held better promise. Terry crawled out of his tent. He put on his blue bandana, glasses, a blue shirt, vest, and cream cargo pants. Terry lit a fire and waited for his friends to wake up. Stormy was the first one to awaken. She sat down besides Terry. "Morning." She said. "Good morrow." He nodded.

"Are you always this formal?" she asked. "Only to friends and family." "I don't know if that is a good or bad thing." "How so?" "Either you consider me a friend, or that you use a formal greeting to close friends." There was a soft glint in Stormy's eyes. "Very funny. I am one quick to trust people." "Thought so. Just be careful whom you trust. I've learnt over the years to be weary..." Stormy said. "It's fine with us." Terry beamed. "Florance is very trustworthy, I only just met Martha, but I can tell she is trust worthy."

There was an unzipping sound. "Why, thank you for the compliment." Martha said as she stepped out from her tent. "Uhh.. You're welcome." Terry said, he hadn't intended Martha to hear the compliment quite yet.

The group all helped out with making breakfast. Martha took the initiative with the pancakes, Terry prepared the drinks, Florance took care of the cutlery, and Stormy fried the bacon. In a very short time, breakfast was ready. Martha fed their pokémon.

"Good morning everyone. Today is a brand new day; let us make it the best we can." Stormy toasted over her glass of orange juice. "Hear, hear." Terry, Martha and Florance toasted.

They spent an hour or two clearing up their camp, and walked on. They followed a map Florance had. "If we continue this way, we should make it to Striaton City by about... A little after lunch an hour or two. Give or take." Florance said.

Florance's estimations did turn out to be correct. The group did reach town a little over lunch time. They wondered around the big buildings looking for lunch. They were passing by brown, two storey apartments when they heard an explosion, followed by brown (and very vaguely pink) smoke billowing out of a second storey window.

They dashed towards the source, Stormy easily taking the lead. To a casual observer they saw a beige and purple blur. They crashed up the stairs of the building when they were stopped by a young man. "Don't worry about that. It happens all the time. Our resident pokémon professor lives there, along with her family." Martha looked sceptical. "I've never heard of a professor like that." Martha mumbled.

They tried the door, however they heard a voice. "Everything's fine! Come back later!" After that they could get no response. "Err... Right. Let's continue." Terry said. They wondered over to the pokecenter.

"According to the map there is a Gym here." "Gym?" Terry asked. Martha and Stormy looked aghast. "S-Sorry. I'm still new to this kind of stuff." "Let me explain. I'm only saying this once." Stormy huffed. "All over this region lies eight Badges. Badges are symbols that you defeated the town's resident Gym Leader. The Gym Leaders are experienced battlers, if you can defeat them you earn a badge, you can then move on to the next Gym. Once you have all eight Badges, you can challenge the Elite Four. The Elite Four are amongst the very best and strongest of the region. Once they are defeated you face the strongest trainer of this region: the Champion. The Champion is merely a title; it can be passed on to someone who has the strength, fortitude and will to defeat him or her."

"I-I don't get it..." Florance said. "I told you guys. I'm only saying it once." Stormy said in a haughty manner. "Here. I'll take over." Martha cut in kindly. "There are eight Gyms and their Leaders. Beat them, and you can face the Elite Four. If you can beat them, you can face the Champion. Defeat the Champion; you can be crowned Unova's Champion." "That makes sense." Terry said.

"Be warned. The Gym Leaders are very knowledgeable when it comes to their Type's preference. For example, in my home region; Hoenn. The forth Gym Leader, Flannery specializes in Fire-Typed pokémon."

"Would you like a jelly baby?" Stormy offered. "W-whaa?" Florance was thrown off. "Jelly babies. It's a kind of sweet." Stormy said, sporting a wide grin. Terry declined, while Martha and Florance helped themselves to a few of the jelly babies.

"Who is this town's GymLeader?" Stormy asked. "According to the map, there are three."

"What?!" Martha and Stormy gasped. "I guess this a challenge I cannot back down from." Terry said. He was surprised because he meant it. Terry was rarely the confrontational type. Terry believed in Tidal. Terry believed in his bond in his diminutive friend.

"I'm with you there." Florance agreed. Stormy and Martha agreed to battle the Gym leaders. The quartet had decided to take individual turns on taking the Gym Challenge; they also agreed to keep this city's Challenge a secret from each other.

"Who'll go first?" Stormy asked. "Does anyone want to go first?" Florance said. The group stared blankly at each other. "Short straw?" Martha offered. "No. I will not be confined by fear." Stormy burst out. "I see this as an opportunity to improve myself. Even if I lose, ultimately, I'd win in the end: life experience. That is why I set out from home. I vow to become better." Stormy continued.

"I will go first." Stormy stated. "The rest of you, wait somewhere else. I'll message you when I'm done." Terry stared at Stormy. He noticed that she was shaking slightly. "Stormy, you are the bravest person I know." "Is it because I volunteered to go first?" "No, it's not that. You look like someone who went through many events. I believe that you went through them with your head held high."

Stormy's eyes flicked down."Yeah..." "Is something wrong?" Terry asked. "Not really..." "Was it something I said?" "No. It's not. Someone else said something like that. Nostalgia, that's all."

"You don't have to go first if you don't want to." Terry offered. "It's fine. I'll go, could you wait a moment?" "Take all the time you need." Martha added in.

Five minutes later, Stormy strode in the vast building. "I hope she'll do alright." Florance worried. "I'm sure she will. She has a strong will." Martha said confidently. "We believe in you Stormy!" Terry called out to the closing doors. "Edge of town when you're done!" Martha added.

"Will do. See you guys soon." Stormy closed the doors behind her.

"Transcendence from pain and suffering, the most beautiful things I have ever seen." Florance said. "You've been hanging out with me too much." Terry commented. Terry's comment lightened the tension.

"Where should we go in the mean time?" "I heard there is a interesting place East of the sun and west of the moon." Martha said. "What?" Terry and Florance's collective responses. "Never mind, it was a reference. Anyways, I hear that there is a cool place east of here. It's called 'The Dreamyard'."

"I'm fine with that. Let's go." Terry, Florance and Martha walked towards the Dreamyard. "Any idea what's it like?" "Not really. From what I hear, there are interesting pokémon there. It's the remains of an old building." "That sounds a bit scary." "Shall we go? We don't have to go if you don't want to."

"It's fine. I want to go. Life's an adventure, right?" "I guess it's settled then. Let's go."