FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

"That Sawyer," Anne spoke lightheartedly as she, Alexandrine and Vivian walked towards the Guild's gate, "He looks like a rough boy, but I could tell he's very kind, too."

"Huh?" Vivian stared at her mother, a hint of confusion in her eyes.

"What are you getting at, Anne?" Alexandrine asked, the Glaceon looking at the Psychic-type with a bemused expression of her own.

"It's just... Interesting," the Espeon continued, "Under any other circumstances, I'd look at that Shinx and think he's a delinquent who wouldn't do you any good."

"That's not really interesting... You sort of tend to be judgmental like that," Alexandrine replied with a chuckle.

"No, wait. I meant to say... Knowing he saved you," she looked at Vivian, faintly smiling, "And seeing his reaction to my request that he look after you... He might look slightly rash, but I can tell he's a very chivalrous young male!"

"chivalrous?" Vivian's confusion only grew far greater when she heard that word, "What does that mean?"

"It means he's kind and has a pretty good sense of right and wrong," Alexandrine replied before the Espeon could, "That's what you're trying to say, Anne?"

"Yes," Anne blushed lightly, "I'm saying... He's a very interesting boy. You should stay close to him Vivian," the Eevee perked her ears at those words, "With some manners, he'd be perfect for you!"

"MOM!" Vivian blushed a deep shade of red, "I just met him! Besides, I'm too young to be thinking about that sort of thing! And...And..."

"You already feel a little crush, don't you?" Alexandrine teased the Eevee.

"Wha-I- No!" the kit gave a short, nervous laugh, "I don't even know him that well!"

Both older females laughed softly at their child's reaction, their teasing seemingly getting her more than they thought it would. The three continued their humor and laughter until they reached the gate, at which point they had to part ways. The child and the two adults stood on opposing sides of the Guild's walls now, the only thing not keeping them apart at the moment being the large gate. Their surroundings were completely silent, the Eevee sitting at the gate while the Espeon and Glaceon were already standing on the road towards Chance town. Slowly, Vivian walked up to her parents, giving both an affectionate nuzzle before turning around and making her way back in the same direction she came from.

"I have to get to assembly now! Thank you for coming to visit me!"

"Take care, kiddo!" Alexandrine replied, watching her child walk away.

"Remember that we love you!" Anne added, her tone still carrying some concern.

"I'll never forget it, mom!" Vivian answered in a caring way as she slowly vanished from her parents' sight in the distance...

The time for assembly had finally come as the students lined up and grouped into their respective teams in the Guild's gardens, waiting for whoever was in charge to appear and give them a welcome into the Guild's activities. Vivian had caught up with Sawyer, May and Abby by that time, and the four were as apart from the other teams as any other. Sawyer looked around for any familiar faces he might have seen from the day before... He recognized the Pikachu girl again, her teammates a Marill and Emolga that he hadn't seen before. Everyone seemed to be expecting the same thing, even if no one really knew what it could be. The voices of the many students gave the garden's usual, quiet nature no chance to show as it was drowned in all the noise. At some point, the crowd of new apprentices seemed to have lost sight of what, exactly, it was they were expecting, as no one caught sight of the serious-looking Flareon that slowly walked up to the a spot in front of the large mass of young Pokémon and spoke out as loud as she could, hoping to get their attention.

" Listen up, ya worthless excuses of a new class!"

Everyone fell quiet at that moment, Sawyer, May, Vivian and Abby all immediately focusing their attention on the Fire-type that stood imposingly in front of them, the other apprentices following suit.

"Got your attention, didn't I?" She huffed in amusement, looking at the apprentices, "Now, GROUP UP ACCORDING TO WHO YOUR TEAMMATES ARE AND LINE UP!"

The moment the words left her mouth, everyone had already done as instructed; the Flareon's imposing voice gave the older Pokémon no trouble in making the others obey her.

"That's a good bunch of runts," she sounded pleased, continuing as she began to pace back and forth in a casual fashion, eyeing the students one by one as she did, "Now listen up... This here assembly marks the official start of you lives as Guild apprentices! And don't think this'll be a dreamy wonderland! You'll be worked beyond the limits your very consciousness will allow to before you faint! You will do as you're told and you will learn the true value of discipline! And if you so much as show the slightest hint of disagreement or defiance with what I instruct, you'll be kicked out to never come back!" She barked commandingly, "Am I clear?!"

"She sure looks uptight..." Sawyer mumbled.

"Sure does," May whispered back.

"Do that one more time, and you're out of here," the Flareon glared at the Shinx and Mareep, briefly looking at Vivian, causing the Eevee to flinch while Abby tried to (very faintly) cheer her up.

"So, as I was saying, you'll get no mercy from me! I don't care if y-" She paused when she noticed the students' attention was focused elsewhere, close to her but not exactly on her, "What are ya all lookin' at, I told ya t-"

"Havin' fun, lass?" the sterner voice that came from behind her immediately answered her question as she let out an audible yip before turning around to find herself face to face with a quite-older looking Flareon, the male that stood before her being slightly over one and a half times her size.

"D-daddy! Hi!" She stammered out nervously, some of her fur standing on end from sheer nervousness as she took a few steps back. Her voice had changed to a sweeter, girlish one, no trace left of the rash, dominating attitude she had shown the students moments ago, "I... I was just-"

"Have ye finished that report on the Meteor Crisis and the Temporal Crisis that Barnes left fer yer class?"

"No..."

"I take it ye've at leas' studied fer yer test on the types of Seeds."

"N-no..." The Flareon girl sounded nervous, her father's tone remaining calm, but carrying a hint of severity in it.

"Did ye study the weather effects an' manipulation techniques fer Isanne's next lesson?"

"No..." The girl looked down, blushing in embarrassment at her father scolding her in front of an entire batch of new apprentices.

"Well, fer the maker's sake, lass! What are ye waitin' for?! Get goin'! An' ye better get outstandin' grades in every last homework an' test ye've got due fer tomorrow or I swear yer rump'll get a swattin' like it hasn't since it was barely any bigger than me paw!"

"Y-yes, dad! I'll get goin' right now!" the Flareon blushed a shade of red so deep it was easily noticeable through her fur, quickly running away into the Guild's main building and leaving the new apprentices and her father standing in the garden, a few faint whispers and muttering along some very low laughter being the only sign the scene that had just taken place even did.

"Sorry about that. Me sprout sometimes forgets she's got things she's gotta do as a student," the older Flareon addressed the crowd, "I sometimes wish she were more like her mother, bless her soul... An' quit laughing at her," he directed his gaze at the spots in the crowd some chuckles were still coming from, which were immediately devoid of any sound, "She might be a stubborn an' reckless hard case of a young student, but she's still me only child... But that's not what I'm here for. I... We," he added as a Vaporeon, Jolteon, Espeon, Umbreon, Leafeon and Glaceon joined him in front of the crowd, "are here to welcome ye to the Adventurer's Guild! Congratulations on being accepted as our official students an' apprentices!"

A few quiet cheers came from the crowd, perhaps most of the young ones feeling too puzzled due to what had just transpired to actually process whether or not cheering was something the teachers were willing to accept.

"We'll be yer teachers as long as ye're all here to learn all ye can about adventurin'! Me name's Aiden, and I'll be teachin' ye everythin' ye've gotta know about fighting!"

"I'm Bryce," The Jolteon took a step forward, "You're going to be taking fitness training with me," he paused, scanning the new apprentices, "And boy, do some of you need it! You've got to stay in good condition, otherwise any skills you pick up would be useless."

"I'm Mystery," The Vaporeon took her turn next, making a slight bow, "I'll be working with Bryce to build up your stamina... We'll also study type matchups and some other basics."

"My name is Barnes," The Espeon went next, making a bow like Mystery before him and looking over the students, "With me, you shall learn what you must about history and lore... Such knowledge might prove vital someday, believe me..." He quickly looked at Sawyer's team as he browsed the students, continuing, "I can see this class is going to be a very interesting one... No doubt you all have your strengths and the potential to accomplish great things... I expect to see such things from you in the future..."

"I'm Duncan," The Umbreon followed, "We'll look over surveillance and scouting... It's very important to be in the know before you try anything out in the wild. Once we reach the higher classes, there's a few more tricks we'll get to work on."

"Hey, I'm Palmer," The Leafeon sounded idle and somewhat bored, "We'll study seeds, berries... Anything you can find out there, you'll learn about it with me... And... Yeah, that's pretty much it, to be honest."

"I'm Isanne," The Glaceon was up next, "Your first few classes with me will cover weather, its effects and how to take advantage of it... Then you won't be seeing me for a while, but I'll be back once you get to higher levels, so don't miss me too much!"

"Your classes will start tomorrow," Barnes addressed the crowd once more, "You'll find schedules for when and where you are to attend them in your rooms. You may take the rest of the day off."

"Make sure ye make it in time fer class tomorrow!" Aiden addressed the young ones one last time as the teachers each took their leave, heading off on their way to continue teaching class and leaving all the newcomers at the garden with the remainder of the day to themselves.

"Was that all?" May asked her teammates, puzzled, "I expected somethin' a little... I don't know, bigger."

"Maybe tomorrow, at our first class?" Vivian replied.

"Yeah, maybe," Sawyer nodded, "We've got the day to ourselves, though... What should we do?"

"We should hit the town and talk to everyone!" Abby chirped in immediately, "Or maybe we should look around the Guild and look at all the cool stuff! Oh, or how about we go back to the mess hall and have a snack?"

"We just ate!" May replied, slightly amused at the Skitty's attitude, "I really don't think that'd be good for anyone!"

"How about we go talk to our classmates, then?" The pink feline suggested, simmering down, "We're going to be together for a long while, so we might as well make friends!"

"Sounds fair," Sawyer looked at all his teammates, his tone a mellow, careless one, "Think we should do that?"

"Hey, you're the ones who did the rescue, right?" A voice from behind the team made them turn around to find a Growlithe with a confident smile sitting upright, looking at them.

"Yep," May answered, "That'd be us."

"Well, sounds like you're off to a good start," the pup replied, scanning the entire team as he did, "I'm Ernst, by the way," he added, "You've sure become famous after what happened... Though I honestly don't think it's that impressive."

Those last words poked at Sawyer more than he would have liked. Not that he actually cared about what others thought of the rescue; he and May did it to save Vivian, after all. But he could see the young Fire-type was heading towards the point of showing something off, or perhaps trying to leave an impression on them. He'd seen and had enough of Pokémon like that back at his home.

"Come again, bud?" May replied, sounding slightly offended, "Now wh-"

"It wasn't," Sawyer stepped forward, the Shinx's eyes meeting the Growlithe's and noticing the pup's brief surprise as a reaction to his words, "But we didn't do it to impress anyone... Personally, I'd rather we save our chances to do that for class," he looked back at his team, all three females giving a nod, May's being more miffed while Vivian's was a nervous one. Abby, on the other paw, had puffed her cheeks a bit as she glared at the Growlithe, "And to be honest, I feel sorry for anyone who'd go help someone in trouble just so others would find out."

"Really, now?" Ernst smiled, "Well, you look like you're good... I hope we'll get a chance to see just what you can do later."

"Yeah," Sawyer didn't grant the pup an inch of ground, "I'm looking forward to it."

With that, the Growlithe stepped away and went back to his team, consisting of an Electrike, a Poochyena and a Glameow who didn't seem to notice he had left them moments ago. Once he was sure he wouldn't be coming back, Sawyer relaxed, letting out a sigh as he looked down for a moment.

"What's his problem, comin' at us like that?" May watched the Fire-Type go, "Some guy we're gonna have to put up with!"

"Um... Are you okay?" Vivian approached the Shinx, "You look like you were worried about something..."

"Nah, I'm fine," Sawyer shook his head, looking at the Eevee, "I'm not too fond of Pokémon like him, that's all... Trying to make it look like we saved you because we wanted to show off."

"But you didn't, right?" she replied, "You did it because I was in trouble... What he thinks doesn't really matter... Right?"

"I know," Sawyer answered, smiling at her, "Come on," he looked back at Abby and May, "Let's go have a look around the place."

"No, no, no!" The Flareon growled in frustration as she looked at the many pieces of parchment with paw prints all over them, scrambling them around as she looked for the ones she was supposed to study, her despair sounding off the hallway her room was on as Sawyer, May, Abby and Vivian walked down it, exploring the place that would be their home for a long time.

"This place is amazing!" Abby commented, "It's, like, you think you've seen how big it is, but then you keep exploring it, and it gets bigger and bigger! That's awesome!"

"It's pretty impressive," May replied, looking up to see how far above them the ceiling reached, "How'd they manage to build a place this big?"

"Maybe it was giants?" Abby jokingly suggested before all four gave a short laugh, not noticing the Absol walking down the opposite way who stopped to look at them before carrying on his steps...