FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The Twins

Trey looked down at the two smiling youths in a mildly concerned manner.

"Their clothes are so worn and ratty, not to mention it looks like they haven't eaten in days...what would they be doing spending what little money they have at an arcade? Unless..."

"Something wrong?" One of the twins spoke up.

"...Hmm? No, everything's fine. So, you guys want to play a couple of matches?" Trey quickly perked back up.

"Sure do!" The other twin cheered. "Although, we're probably nowhere near as good as you are!"

"...Yeah, I see what they're doing now." He smirked to himself. "Well, let's try to fix that shall we? Step right up, who's first?"

"Me!" The dracomon on the left yelled as he hopped up to the console.

And with that, the "contest" began. For the next half an hour or so, Trey entertained the two youths' with several matches, alternating between the two of them. True to what they said, they didn't pose much of a challenge. But again, the perceptive Gaomon had an inkling of what they were really up to the whole time.

By about 1:30, Trey noticed one of the brothers seemed to be growing increasingly concerned about something.

"Billy..." He spoke up. "Maybe we should cut our losses, we're almost out of money..."

"Already?!" The one apparently named Billy said in a rather overdone shocked tone.

"Hey, I'm sorry you guys wasted all your cash hangin' with me." Trey added.

"It's okay..." Billy said rather solemnly. "But...!"

"...But?" Trey said faking a confused look. "Here it comes."

"How about this! Winner of this last match gets back double the money that was spent! Deal?" Billy offered with a smug grin.

"Knew it..." Trey smiled.

"Billy...WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" The other brother screamed.

"Shh, trust me! I've got this..." Billy whispered.

"Alright, you've got yourself a deal!" Trey spoke up.

"Cool! Alright, we'll do one more three round match, with winner-take-all!"

The two turned their attention back to the arcade console and selected their characters. Trey going with Chipp Zanuff and Billy chose to play as Sol Badguy, surprising Trey slightly because he had played as Eddie the entire time.

When the match started, Trey immediately noticed the difference; the Dracomon youth played one of the best Sol's he had ever seen.

The first round went to Trey easily enough, but he convincingly "threw" round two to give the kids some hope. When round three began, he caught a glimpse of the other brother, wearing a fearful look on his face. A smile arose on Trey's face as he successfully baited an opening Billy left after throwing out a lengthy Overdrive, triggered Chipp's "IK mode" and then preformed an Instant Kill on Sol, giving him the match.

"Noooooo!!!" Billy cried out, turning to his brother.

"I told you not to, stupid! That was the last of our-!" He was cut off by laughter. The two looked over to Trey, who trying, and failing, to control his laughter as he dug into his wallet.

"That was fun! Can't remember the last time I had such a challenge!" He lied. He then fished out a couple of bills from his wallet and took Billy's hand, leaving them in the shocked boy's grasp.

"Thanks for a great time! Oh, and one thing!" He said, kneeling down so he could whisper to the two of them. "If you're gonna hustle someone? Work on your 'act'!"

He then got back up and walked past the two awestruck twins, giving them each a pat on the head as he made his way out of the arcade.

"Cute kids," Trey snickered as he walked back outside, noticing some storm clouds rolling in. He moved his headphones from his neck to his head and turned on his iPod as he started walking back to the hotel.

The Gaomon wasn't even a foot out of the doorway before it started to pour. One thing he'd noticed over the course of his life was that he loved it when it rained. The cold water felt amazing on his fur.

Back when his mother was still alive, Trey used to climb out his bedroom window and sit out on his roof while it rained. He would sit out there for hours, sometimes with a cigarette he stole from his mom's stash, and just take in all of the new sights and smells that the rain offered. He found it very relaxing.

Following a ten minute walk in the rain, Trey reached the hotel lobby, sopping wet. He quickly made his way back up to their suite, dispensed his waterlogged clothing into the dryer and hopped into the shower for a more cleansing dowsing of his fur.

After his lengthy shower was finished, the canine sighed happily as he walked out of the steam-filled bathroom and into the living space, clad only in a pair of shorts. He then made his way back over to the sofa to check his phone, seeing that it was almost 3:00. Hanbei and Gai wouldn't be back for a few more hours.

"Maybe I'll do some yoga."

He grabbed his headphones and iPod from his nightstand and went back into the living to room to start. Jojo had given him several different regimens to try, depending on what other forms of exercise he'd gotten that day. By now, Trey had them all committed to muscle memory.

He must've lost himself at some point during his exercise, as when his phone started to go off in his pocket, he realized it was now nearly 4:30.

"Holy shit...!" He uttered as he hit talk on his cell. "Hey Gai, how're things over there?"

"Just fine, kiddo, it's good to see everyone again..." Gai replied with a bit of concern in his voice.

"...Something wrong?" Trey said, feeling something was up.

"Likely nothing we'll need to sweat over. As always, just be careful if you ever go out. Also, make sure you keep those knucklebusters I got for you on hand, too."

In addition to the ear piercing he got for his sixteenth birthday, Gai gave Trey a pair of stylish, monogrammed brass knuckles as a means to better protect himself. "Just in case", as Gai put it.

"Believe me, I won't forget about them!" He replied, recalling how he almost pulled them on that thug, Shuyin, earlier that day.

"Alright, just wanted to be sure. We'll be back in about an hour or so."

"Alright, see you in a bit." Trey finished before they both hung up. But a thought still lingered in his mind. "What did he mean by we won't need to concern ourselves with it?"

"Guess I'll just have to trust Gai on this." He shrugged. He then put his phone back into his pocket and made his way to the kitchen to prepare dinner.

Some leftover spaghetti from the night before made for a quick and easy meal as Trey reclined on the couch, later. And a re-run of Law & Order, courtesy of Netflix, occupied his attention while he ate.

Just as the episode was reaching its conclusion, Trey heard the now familiar card-key sliding into the door. He looked over to see Gai and Hanbei walking inside, just as wet as he was earlier.

"Nanika atta?" Trey asked from across the room.

"Afternoon, Trey." Hanbei replied as he removed his wet jacket.

"And how was your day?" Gai queried.

"Okay," He said, rising from the couch. "Spent most of the day at the arcade down the street. Met a few interesting people."

"Is that right?"

"Yeah, some complete douche tried to rip me off. Lucky for him, the arcade owner intervened before I had to teach him a lesson..." He said with a smug grin.

"Trey..." Gai started with a sigh.

"Don't worry! I wouldn't have done anything to him!" He said cutting off his uncle. "Unless he did something to me first."

"Well...alright then. Anyways, I have something to take care of for the Family, I'll take with you more, later!" Gai said, before he walked off into his bedroom, closing the door behind him.

"Care for a few more rounds of GG?" Hanbei proposed a moment later.

"Sure!" Trey perked up.

The two set up the SuperNova and played a series of several different matches, mostly resulting in victories for the wartortle. After a couple of hours, Hanbei claimed exhaustion and went to bed early. Being tired himself, Trey soon followed. Fortunately for him, his night was devoid of his usual nightmares, and the Gaomon was able to sleep soundly through most of the night.

...Or at least, until his cell jostled him awake.

BZZZZZZZZZZ

"Mmmmrph...Wha...?" He sat up in his bed groggily.

BZZZZZZZZZZZZ

"Who's calling at 7:00 in the morning?" He yawned, as he flipped open his phone it without checking the number. "Hello?"

At first, he didn't hear anything, and almost hung up. Until he heard a soft sigh on the other end.

"Hello?" He repeated.

"G-Gao-wow...I'm sorry to call so dreadfully early in your morning, but..." Jojo's haggard voice finally said.

"Jojo, what's wrong?!" Trey said, wide awake now.

"I...I don't know where to begin..." Jojo replied after a moment.

"Jojo, please..." Trey started sympathetically. "Just start from the top."

A moment of silence passed before Jojo was able to pull himself together enough to explain his situation.

"I...I wanted to surprise him after school to give him the CD I told you about. But then I...then I found him kissing someone else..." Jojo's voice started to crack.

"...He cheated on you?" Trey asked somberly.

"Yes, and with a girl we both know and consider a friend, no less!" Jojo snapped sharply, making Trey jump a little. "I'm sorry...didn't mean to blow up at you. But I'm just SO pissed off at that boy right now...!"

"It's alright, Jojo," Trey tried to calm the feline down. "Continue when you're ready."

"Suffice to say, I was certainly shocked to see the two embracing like that. And judging by the look on his face, Trey? He was just as surprised to see me there, too. I played it off at first, so as not to out him and make a big hullabaloo." Jojo paused to take a breath before continuing. "But after she left and we were alone again, I wanted to get out of there myself. But he insisted SO much, I gave him his fair chance to try and 'explain himself'."

"And just what did he say?" Trey said, genuinely interested.

"So get this: He said that he had been doing this as a means to help keep the two of us a secret! Then tried to JUSTIFY his actions by saying that he never 'fooled around' with her." Jojo's voice was getting shaking again. "He violated every ounce of trust that I had in him. It was bad enough already that we couldn't do anything openly, but to go and get himself a BLOODY BEARD?!"

"Jojo...I..." Trey said at a loss for words.

"Looking back...?" Jojo started, his voice slightly muffled by sobbing. "This may have been my fault. Perhaps if I hadn't pushed so hard for him to just be honest and come out, he wouldn't..."

"Don't even go there!" Trey snapped. He had heard enough, and now, his anger was beginning to flare. "This isn't your fault! HE'S the one who chose to cheat on you because HE was embarrassed! I'm not going to sit here let you blame yourself because of HIS insecurities!"

"But, Gaowow..."

"He's fucking lucky I'm not there, right now! But I'm wishing I WAS! ...RRRAAARGH!!!" He roared as his fist came in contact with a wall.

"Gaowow, Trey...please," Jojo started. "You know I'm not the violent type, and I wouldn't condone any that you would try to do, on my behalf."

"I...I'm sorry, Jo. It's just I can't stand to be all the way here, when you're upset like this!" Trey replied calming down. "I should be there..."

"...Gaowow, it means a lot to know that you care about me like that. I needed that right now." Jojo replied in a much calmer tone.

"Listen, Jojo, you know what I think? I know it's going to be hard to do, but I think it'd just be best if you try to get him out of your head, right now."

"What do you mean?" Jojo asked.

"Correct me if I'm wrong but, I think you still have feelings for this guy, right? What I'm suggesting might be a bit cruel but, if you want to make him take what he did seriously? I think you need to sever him from your life, completely." Trey finished.

"Gaowow..." Jojo started.

"No, listen to me. I need you to do this for me, okay? I need you to show me, and HIM, that you can flourish, even without him in your life. Show him that you can still do anything you set your mind to! Be it getting the honor role, becoming the valedictorian, win the Nobel Peace Prize...whatever. You just need to press on."

A brief moment passed and Trey heard a soft chuckle from the other end of the phone.

"You sound just like my Mum, she told me to do the same thing," Jojo chuckled.

"You told her already?" Trey asked.

"She was the first person I talked to after the situation crumbled. But...alright Gaowow, I'll take up your advice. I'll do my best to keep that koopa out of my head."

"...Koopa?" Trey queried.

"I guess there's no point in hiding it from you, any longer. All I ask is that you don't give even a mere hint of this to Hanny. Promise?" Jojo asked with utmost seriousness.

"Promise."

Jojo took a deep breath. "He is a son of Bowser Koopa, who's a close family friend of Hanny and his family. It may be silly to think of such, but I don't want any chances of me being at the center of any drama between the two. Especially since neither of them know anything about us being involved."

"I see...that is rather interesting. Anyways, no worries; I won't breath a word of this to anyone."

"Thank you, Gaowow. Thank you for being as good as you've been to me. I really do feel much better."

"It's no problem at all, Jojo. You're my closest friend in the world, so I'd gladly do anything I can to help you."

The two talked some more, before Trey told Jojo to go get something to eat and get some rest. They then said their good-byes and Trey hung up his phone. A quick look at the clock showed that it was 8:23am, he'd been comforting Jojo for well over an hour.

"I'll just say this. If I EVER meet him this Koopa guy..." Trey thought to himself. "He'll pay for hurting him."