FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The moon was generous this night. A universal lighthouse that lit up the otherwise pitch black ocean to save countless boats and lives from the remorseless shoals, all while illuminating the surface of the sea and allowing eager Water-Pokémon to stay up a few extra hours without fear of bumping their heads into one another by accident.

Lugia saw it from a different perspective. Safe from shoals and not carefree enough to loaf about after bedtime, the only relevance the bright moon carried was making it easier for others to spot the enormous legendary flying above the ocean's surface. He moved at great speed and all in all was a capable flier, but during shorter journeys he would always prefer swimming underwater. His massive bulk reduced to a tenth of his original weight, he was free to move as fluently and gracefully as he pleased. But to avoid detection from the sea's inhabitants during such a long journey, he was forced to stay out of their watery realm and remain airborne. It was tedious, and he found himself idle of thought in a matter of minutes.

At times like this, he often thought about his wife and children, and as of late, Mew. She was taking surprisingly long to finish up her duties in No Man's Land. He had managed to get rid of the dangerous Lucario fairly quickly, and had not expected her return to delay so. Feelings of unease crept up on him as he feared that something might have happened, that she was trapped and helplessly begging for help which would not come.

Lugia shook his head, dismissing his worries. Mew was not a child anymore. She had defeated Mewtwo, a feat beyond even his capabilities. Now that Lucario was out of the picture, there was not a single thing in this world capable of harming her. However, such had not always been the case, and Lugia found himself thinking of times when the complete opposite had been closer to the truth.

After all, Mew was the daughter of his precious friend. She was to be taken care of by Cresselia after his friend's passing, but the legendary of the moon became obsessed with hunting Darkrai and ended up shunning her assignment. In scarcely a year, the child Lugia had sworn to protect stood alone in the world with no one to supervise or teach her. However, fortune in misfortune, there was another legendary who shared her jinxed fate.

Tefay had been assigned as the original caretaker of Celebi's daughter, but was relieved of duty when Celebi somehow managed to survive. While no one could have predicted that the second child Zerobi would be the end of her, the sudden disappearance of the one who caused the impregnation came as no surprise to Lugia. The new generation's Celebi had neither parents nor caretakers, and a sister with no place among the legendaries.

Overwhelmed and out of options, Lugia sent the non-legendary child to a foster family, leaving her with nothing but a name and hopefully secret heritage. As for the new Mew and Celebi, it was decided that both would be taught by the wise Giratina, one of the very few Pokémon even Lugia might refer to as "old".

Lugia smiled to himself. Even then he had been haunted by needless worries over Mew, thinking Giratina would bite the dust and leave the children to fend for themselves. He frequently went to check up on them in the distant meadow where they resided in peace.

He remembered one time in particular, when he had come there and not seen a sign of any of them. Calling out, one of the rocky hills had begun to rumble, the aged Giratina showing his face. Moss grew over the legendary's large and grey body, letting him lie in camouflage as humans and Pokémon alike passed over him without even realizing it. His once proud clawed wings that were as black as the night now hung down the sides of his body, like long shreds of a grey tattered cloak.

"Where are Mew and Celebi?" Lugia asked while examining the area, seeing no sign of the two children. He could not help but notice that unusual apparel marked Giratina. Endless amounts of tiny doodles covered his face, suggesting that his two juvenile pupils had grown restless and played a prank while he was sleeping. Lugia was unsure whether Giratina realized this or not, figuring the mossy elder had not seen the reflection of a mirror in at least a century.

"I wonder..." Giratina whispered, following Lugia's gaze and looking around while his calm expression never changed.

"... Have I overestimated you?" Lugia asked as he felt a twinge of anger hit him, "Is taking care of two infants too much to ask of an old relic like yourself?"

"Patience," Giratina continued with a heavy sigh, "Exert befits you poorly, young one. Observe."

Lugia felt rather annoyed at being called young, having lived several decades longer than your average Pokémon. Wanting to go out to search for the two, he suddenly saw two small figures moving at the edge of the clearing, zooming through the air towards Giratina at a brisk pace. Lugia felt his worry melt away and forced himself to calm down, not wanting to intimidate the innocent children.

Celebi had grown a little since the last time he had seen her, a pair of feelers beginning to sprout out of her forehead. Perhaps she had even gained a centimeter or two in height, but it was not easy for someone as large as Lugia to determine. A spitting image of her mother, he knew she would not be growing much more in size anyway. She was turning out to be a clever and compassionate legendary, showing promise with her botanical skills and appearing fit to care for the flora of the world. Lugia could only hope that her sister Zerobi was displaying equal excellence among the ranks of regular Pokémon, finding peace and never agonizing over her unknown origins.

Mew came up swiftly from behind, Lugia wincing as she narrowly avoided a branch by ducking her head in the last second. She was just as skilled as Celebi if not more, but Lugia could not help but pay extra note to her flying, ready to swoop in and grab her should she lose focus. Had she even aged at all? Lugia saw her body looking fragile and helpless like always, her fetus-like appearance making her appear to have left the womb too early. Indeed, had her birth been delayed but another year, Lugia might have been able to spend more time with his dear friend...

"Uncle Tina! Uncle Tina!" Celebi screamed with a shrill voice, carrying a small object in her hands with Mew following closely behind. Lugia left his inner musings and felt his departed worries quickly return. Although they both were but a fraction of his size, he was certain he could have pinpointed their ridiculously panicked expressions from miles away. They ignored him and went directly for Giratina, stopping in front of one of his massive eyes.

"Mew killed it!" Celebi yelled, holding up the object in her hands.

"Did not!" Mew protested, soaring up to Celebi and trying to take whatever it was away from her.

"Did too!" Celebi retorted and tightened her grip around it.

"You're the one who plucked it!" Mew yelled while trying to pry Celebi's hands open.

"You're the one who blew it up!" Celebi argued before her hands accidentally dropped the object, making both of them gasp in terror. Lugia squinted as the tiny object slowly dwindled towards the ground, trying to see what it was they were arguing about. In a gentle arcing motion, it suddenly began to drift upwards, its fall reversed by Giratina's telekinesis as he moved it closer to his face.

"Is that..." Giratina said as he examined the object, a thin stalk with a thick knob on the top, "... A dandelion?"

"No!" Celebi huffed before pointing accusingly at Mew, "It was a flower! White and pretty before Mew killed it!"

"I-I'm sorry!" Mew replied with a shaky voice, seemingly on the verge of tears as she gazed at the stringy flower before her, "I-I don't know what I did, I j-just looked at it and... And..."

Lugia felt like he should intervene and do something, remembering himself to be the child's guardian. Even so, he had only promised to protect her, and did not know where to start when it came to comforting her. He knew himself incapable of replacing her mother in every regard, but felt he should at least try.

"Calm down," Giratina said before Lugia had time to act, smiling and speaking with simpler terms than Lugia had come to expect of the ancient being, "A dandelion IS a flower. A very special type of flower."

Inhaling slightly and then gently blowing out, Giratina accidentally conjured up a hurricane for his tiny pupils. Both Mew and Celebi flailed about in surprise, the two inexperienced legendaries having a little trouble stabilizing themselves in midair. As the powerful gust rushed past them, several white fuzzy things tore away from their bodies and soared up into the sky. Giratina used his psychic powers to grab a hold of one of them, patiently waiting for his students to settle down.

"Mew, you did not cause the dandelion any harm," Giratina explained calmly, Mew's head perking up hopefully, "Rather, you fulfilled its purpose in life."

"Ah!" Celebi gasped as Giratina brought the miniature cotton-like thing in front of them, "That's a piece of the daddy lion!"

"Yes... And no," Giratina corrected, "This is a seed. From this, a new dandelion will grow."

"But... But..." Mew stammered with a lump in her throat, "How? They were flying, not... Burrowing..."

"The white segment functions as a parachute, which allows for a safe landing," Giratina explained while slowly turning the seed to the side, "All it needs is to hit the soil. The more scattered it is from its brethren, the better, so even a slight puff of wind is enough to send them on their way."

Celebi and Mew stared at the miniscule piece of the flower, examining it from every angle with amazement. After a few moments, Mew's face suddenly turned into a frown as she pointed at Celebi.

"But... That means YOU killed it!" she accused her friend, realizing their roles had been reversed.

"... What!?" Celebi exclaimed in shock, looking at the ruined flower before gazing at Giratina with pleading eyes, "No! Please, don't die! Uncle Tina, save it!"

"Pay it no mind," Giratina said while slowly shaking his head and letting go of the broken plant, "You only ripped off the stalk. From the roots, several new dandelions will grow to replace that one."

Celebi gasped, and quickly dove down to catch the flower in mid-air as it dwindled down.

"But... But..." she stammered while hugging the stalk close to her chest in protection, "This is my daddy lion! I... I'm the one who..."

"You did not harm it either," Giratine explained while refraining from shooting Mew a dirty look, "Spreading its seeds was the purpose that dandelion had in life. After that, it would have wilted on its own."

Celebi stared up at him with a stubborn expression, refusing to let go of the dead plant. Meanwhile, Mew's expression brightened as she smiled.

"See? I told you we didn't do anything bad!" she said reassuringly while flying up next to Celebi. Knowing that Giratina was not about the break character as the benevolent grandfather any time soon, Lugia realized it was up to him teach the two children about reality.

"You BOTH did bad!" Lugia exclaimed with a strict tone, "Why were you out looking at flowers in the first place? You know you are not supposed to leave this area!"

Mew's smile faded, and Celebi clutched the flower harder, her absolutely non-existent physical strength barely even causing the stalk to bend.

"And that dandelion is not a flower, it is weed!" Lugia continued, needing to set things straight, "An unprofitable, troublesome and noxious growth! All the real flowers would have benefitted had you properly destroyed it!"

Like her mother before her, Celebi was to be the caretaker of flora. For her to be given misinformation at such an early stage in life was unacceptable. Both Mew and Celebi stared off to the side in embarrassment, not willing to face him.

"But... It was so pretty..." Mew whispered in defiance. Lugia muttered quietly, both tiny legendaries developing an attitude he did not approve of. Could the responsibility of the future truly ride on their shoulders? Obviously Giratina felt that enough was enough, interjecting between them with a deep murmur.

"Appearances can be deceiving, my dear," he explained calmly, lifting both legendaries up to his eyes with telekinesis like a sustained gust of wind, "For all you know, it could have been poisonous. If you must ignore my warnings and sneak out again, at least remember to never touch... And stay far away from anything that moves."

"But if they can't fly-" Celebi started as Mew's tail suddenly jumped into action, the thick end covering the front of her mouth.

"Shh!" Mew hushed her friend with a meaningful expression. Not knowing what else this behavior could be about, Lugia figured the younger of the mischievous duo had almost spilled the secret of their little prank against Giratina. However, this proved to be a faulty assumption as the two girls looked at each other for a moment before nodding in agreement.

"We found a monster!" Mew revealed with an excited voice. Giratina and Lugia stared in awe as both Mew and Celebi's faces broke into endless amazement.

"It was big! Really big!" Celebi shouted while reaching out with her arms, the itty bitty sprout failing to properly represent anything of large proportions, "It had a tailbone-"

"But no tail!" Mew interrupted as she wiggled her toes, "And so many toes! It can probably carry things with its feet! We saw that it had an extra eyelid, and when it looked at us-"

"It saw you!?" Lugia suddenly burst out with a terrified voice.

"N-No!" Mew immediately responded, her eyes opening wide. Seeing that his sudden yell had scared her, Lugia sighed and tried changing his tone.

"It saw you," he said calmly. Mew stared at him for a second before reluctantly looking down at the ground.

"... Yes," she admitted before lifting her head again, "B-But it couldn't fly or anything! It couldn't reach us!"

The tiny legendaries continued chatting delightfully about the peculiar being, the two elders exchanging a quiet look of disdain as it slowly became clear that Mew and Celebi had just had their very first encounter with the human species. It seemed the time had come to stop trying to preserve the children's innocence, and finally begin to instruct them about the dangers of the real world.

BLORP

The sound from out of a nightmare awoke Lugia from out of his daydream, no longer finding himself in a grassy meadow but hovering above the sea at night. The sound emanated from a massive bubble of air that had crawled up from the depths and burst by the surface. The size of the bubble told him that he had reached his target... Quite a bit sooner than expected. Had his reminiscing made him lose track of time? It was the most reasonable explanation, as the notion that she had moved this far away from her usual habitat carried far too many unfortunate implications.

"... Foolishness..." Lugia muttered to himself. He would forever be burdened by paranoia and worries of the worst kind. Even now, he wanted nothing more but to race for land to find out if everything was still alright with his family, friends and Mew. Still, they were all legendaries, not only powerful but also revered. Lugia knew that should misfortune befall Mew, one of the Earth's many other creatures would protect their savior now that he was not there. Like always, he was worrying over something he could do nothing about. But perhaps that was enough? Mew was the world's most powerful psychic, after all. If he wished hard enough, she might sense just how much he thought of her, praying that she would be safe.

Feeling recharged with determination for the task at hand, Lugia took a deep breath and dove into the black ocean. Darkness covered his being as he disappeared into a reflection of the moon, the waves scattering the solemn picture.