FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

April 14th

When I woke up, I found Chi nuzzled around me, still sound asleep. Her body was warm and her fur was soft, making her comfortable to the touch. Though I wanted to stretch and walk around for a bit (though it might be painful), I didn't want to wake her up by leaving, and besides, I was enjoying this, so I awkwardly stayed where I was.

Baxter was curled up in a ball and, though now asleep, shivering. I couldn't tell if it was from the chilled breeze coming in on this April morning or from the lack of physical contact with us (pokemon wake up warmer when they sleep close together). Perhaps he was shivering from a nightmare of sorts? I couldn't tell, but I was uncomfortable seeing him like this. I wanted to embrace and comfort him, but I didn't want to interrupt his sleep.

It was about mid-morning and I could clearly see that the three of us were in my familiar, homely cave. The walls were a good mix of regular old rocks and a nice few beautiful blue gems. I had actually tried to take out these gems in the past, but I could never do it, they were lodged in there. The walls and ceiling beside and above us formed a lopsided arch that offered good shelter and the ground was hard, yet still soft enough to sleep on comfortably. I lived and slept near the mouth of the cave and rarely ventured further than a few meters inside of it. Tonto and I went exploring there once, just to see if it was hiding anything, but ended up hitting a dead end after about five minutes. There were a few Zubats and Golbats sleeping in the dead end of the cave, which is why I don't venture there now. They don't bother me, as they sleep during the day and fly about at night; the opposite of what I do, in fact I almost never notice their coming and going. Perhaps they realize that I live here too and are respectfully quiet when they fly about...?

My mind wandered aimlessly about as I lay there with Chi. A lot had happened yesterday; Tonto went missing, I got injured, and a search party was formed to locate him. I hadn't seen anything new or battled any new creatures or anything and yet I still felt as though yesterday had been an adventure. There was still that thrill, that excitement, that novelty, even that great element of fear.

My mind wandered to Tonto. It had been more than a whole night since I saw him last. Was he crushed by those rocks and never to be seen again, or was he exploring a place completely foreign? Maybe he had made it to the other side before the rocks came tumbling down. Maybe he had had a heart-pounding race against death that he would be sure to tell everyone about when discovered. Maybe he was looking around the new environment at this very moment. There would be interesting and exciting things down there, I'm sure. New gemstones? New food? New pokemon? He would cause quite a commotion at Home Tree and abroad if he were found alive... If he were found alive...

The pretty, orange sea weasel pokemon stirred beside me, her fur softly brushing against mine. She was groggy now, probably just waking up. She moved her paws across my body slowly, getting a feel for her surroundings. "Vriska, dear, is that you?" she groaned lethargically.

I smiled, enjoying her waking in my arms, a warm feeling washing over me. I dare not say anything, for fear of sounding weird and awkward.

Slowly, she opened her eyes. "Why yes, it is you," she observed in a sweet tone, looking at me lax and cute. I was frozen. I gazed at her with that stupid grin remaining engraved on my face, unable to look anywhere else. I tried to break out of my stupor, hoping I could do something, anything, to not seem like such a fool.

She giggled; such a charming, vivacious sound it was. "You look happy to see me awake" she toyed.

"Uhhh..." I mumbled stupidly, that grin remaining plastered on my face.

She giggled again. I can only hope she hadn't seen through me right then and there. "I hope you slept well. You should be hungry right now, darling. You haven't eaten anything since lunch yesterday! I should get you something to eat."

She was right! At once, my stomach grumbled and I began to crave food again. I looked down at my stomach, embarrassed.

Chi let go of me, stood up, and stretched her arms up into the air, yawning. "I'll get the three of us some Oran berries to eat. I won't be gone long, I promise. In the meantime though cutie, please don't get up unless you need to drink water by the lake or relieve yourself. Someone from Home Tree said they were going to look at you later and you shouldn't put any unnecessary stress on your body. For today, just rest; heal. Would you feel safer if Baxter was awake to look out for you? I don't want to wake him up, but I would feel bad leaving you alone so vulnerable".

I quickly glanced over at Baxter, still shivering, still asleep. "You don't have to wake him up. Trust me, Chi, I'll be fine".

She bowed her head, undoubtedly finding it difficult to leave, but respecting my wishes and taking me up at my word. "Alright" she responded. "I trust you'll take good care of yourself, then. Goodbye Vriska".

Quietly, she stepped away from me, toward the entrance of the cave. When she was close enough to Baxter's shaking form, she bent over and hugged him lightly. After a few seconds, she stopped, gently kissed him on the head and went on her way. My heart leapt as I saw his shivering become considerably tamer and a content, though brief smile flash on his face. Chi continued on her way, but stopped and looked back at me after she was barely out of the mouth of the cave. I swished my front right paw away from me repeatedly, my way of wordlessly telling her to leave. She smiled, turned around, and went on her way.

Once she was out of my line of sight, I got up and retrieved my laptop, fighting some abdominal pain as I rose. Though still in pain, I found that my condition had improved overnight enough for me to get up without vocalizing my pain and waking up Baxter.

I knew that Chi would be gone for quite some time as she didn't know the area very well, but I knew that it wouldn't be too long before she asked someone for help finding food to bring us. After that, I didn't particularly know how long she, Baxter, or whoever wanted to see me, would stay with me, so I realized that if I wanted to use a nearby human's wi-fi connection to get on the internet, I would have to write my journal and check for any messages now while I was practically alone.

Remaining standing up was painful and uncomfortable at the time, so laying down, I eagerly turned the power on, watching the display quickly run through its typical, though strange and confusing set of screens. Some screens were just a set of bare-bones looking letters and numbers that disappeared so quickly that I couldn't read them, while others consisted of these pretty letters and a picture, with a bar below that with little dots running from left to right within it. Before long, my screen displayed a bunch of things that I could click on, set in neat rows and columns, a pre-set picture that almost seemed like it imposed behind them. I sought to refine my thoughts on the events that happened on April 13th, so I clicked something that took me to this thing where I could do that.

Though I generally have a pretty good idea as to what I want to write out, it's always a bit difficult for me to type things because of how my "pawpad" as I like to call it is structured. My pawpad, when I use it in this context, is not the soft padding of my paw, but instead refers to a set of buttons I can press to write letters. I'm about to get a bit technical here, but I feel like briefly describing how this works will help me operate it better.

Since my paw is bigger than a human's fingers, the buttons they use are smaller than the ones I use. The buttons on my pawpad are, well, the size of my paw and unlike the humans' keys 12 of these buttons can be pressed in two different ways. The first way to press these buttons is called the "Slight Press", which is basically where I push down a button until it hits a small amount of resistance. The other way is called a "Full Press" where I continue to press the button down after it hits the small resistance, making a clicking noise before it tells me that it can't go down any further. The "Slight Press" is usually used for making lowercase letters and the "Full Press" is usually used for making uppercase letters. When Sparky was explaining it to me, he said that these keys kind of act like "the L and R buttons of a game cube controller", though I can't say I have any idea what a "game cube" is.

For reference, the general layout of my pawpad is as such:

1 2 3 4

5 6 7 8

9 0 A B

P D

There is a pad where I can move my paw across to move a mouse located below the buttons labeled "0" and "A", that isn't shown. Since I have not mentioned what the "P" and "D" buttons do, I'll relay their purposes, mostly for my own reference. To be honest, though, I'm actually not sure what these two buttons do sometimes, especially the one labeled "P" and I can't particularly remember what Sparky said they stand for. From what I have gathered of these buttons thus far, however, the P button has four settings and the D button has three. Based on what settings I have at a given time, what the buttons 1 through B do changes. For example, when I have the P and the D buttons both on the "O" settings, "1" types in a "q", but when I have the P button on the "O" setting and the D button on the "S" setting, "1" types in a "u". The 11 other normal keys are affected similarly with the "OO", "OS", and to an extent "OF" settings (with the first initial standing for the setting P is on and the second the one D is on), so in general the P and D buttons toggle what all the buttons do, I guess. Sometimes, when I start inputting things using the "FS" or Arceus forbid the "FF" combinations... Well, let's just say things get hectic and confusing.

For both the P and the D buttons, there is an "Off" (O setting), a "Slight Press" (S setting), and a "Full Press" (F setting) setting. Turning on the Slight Press and Full Press settings works just the same as doing a Slight Press or a Full Press on the other 12 keys, but you can toggle off Slight Press by doing a second Slight Press and a Full Press with another one. Doing a Slight Press (SP) on a Full Press (FP) setting just switches from the former to the latter (this is also true when going from FP to SP). Unlike the D button, the P button has a fourth "setting" called "Long Press" (LP), which isn't really a "setting", its whole purpose being to shut the computer off and turn it on. To do an LP, I just do a Full Press on the P button for three seconds.

I feel like one of these days, I'm going to have to make a chart of some sort detailing what everything does. It would probably take a while, but I think I could do it and it would definitely be a useful reference. Sparky has written a type of "user's manual" for me, but I can't understand anything in it. For now, I'm content with just being able to get the practice in typing this journal.

In any case, a lot had happened, so I typed up the journal entry for April 13th to examine my current situation and refine my thoughts. Looking back on it, a lot had changed that day and I'm sure now that things will get even crazier and reading over what I had written, I noticed something incredibly interesting. Chi said that the tunnel bent toward the west and because of some of the adventures I had had last winter, I knew that the suburbs where Sparky and many humans lived were also located to the west. Suddenly, I got an idea though it was a fairly last-resort one, and risks would still have to be taken and suspicions would be provoked were I to follow through. Should the search for Tonto be called off, this would have to be my plan B and nobody could know about it. To avoid unnecessary repetition, I'll detail what it is in a short bit.

After updating my journal, I checked a chat-log that I go on sometimes to see that Sparky had sent a message last night.

SeductiveRodent69

4/14/XX 2:54 AM

Ayyyy! Vriska, you said you'd tell me a story about one of your adventures tonight. Why haven't you said anything? I was expecting a story, dang it! :[

Oh, that SeductiveRodent69, classy as ever. I used to think he was a bit of an odd fellow, but he just uses a lot of mannerisms that many others seem to do on the Internet. Humans and domesticated pokemon have such a strange dialect, and yet it's so easy to pick up on, even if I don't understand what everything means exactly.

Sparky seems to spend most of his days indoors, continually feeding his computer electrical impulses, writing "code", and "surfing the web", though he occasionally "modifies" computers, and has "picked up" females during this past mating season.

Somehow, he seems to be good at all three of those things, though I do admit that "surfing on the web" or whatever is pretty simple. Sparky only had to spend an hour or two showing me how to operate a web browser and have me practice a bit with it until I could use it adequately. However, he has an extensive amount of information about dozens of popular websites and knows all of the ins and outs of their subcultures. He sometimes uses that to great effect to suit his own purposes, whether they are good or not so good.

Another, related, thing that he can do skillfully is something called "hacking", which I think is gaining access to things that are secret or private or something without permission. I don't know why he does this, but I don't think about it much. I mean it doesn't sound like something anyone should be doing, but I'm new to all of this, so what do I know?

He also knows how to "code" things and make "programs". Usually, the codes consist of a long string of colorful letters and words, some of which form these weird faux-sentences. These words and phrases tell the "programs" what to do, I guess. I don't really know much about these codes, but the programs can vary wildly from one to another depending on what words are placed where in the coding. Most of the programs turn out to be a sort of interactive video. It's very strange and confusing to me, but Sparky seems to know what almost everything does and can crank out some pretty sweet programs wicked fast. He'll usually sell the programs he's made under a pseudonym on some website for about 99 cents each and they typically make him a decent amount of money. In fact, I believe that he said that he has made three times more than his trainer right now, which is pretty much unheard of in the realm of humans.

Yet another incredible thing he can do is modify and enhance computers greatly. I don't know much about how he does it or how he learned to do it and I only know of two computers that he has modified, the one that he uses and the one that I use. I just wrote about how mine works and I would love to write out how his works and some of the background he has with it, but not right now, perhaps in some future entry.

Lastly, he has used his computer to entice and meet up with female Pikachus over the mating season. While he is not normally like this, he can be flirtatious when he wants to be, kind when he wants to be, and sweet when he wants to be. The way he goes about hooking up is clever, if a little chilling. Pokemon, even domesticated ones, usually don't know how to operate a computer, but their owners do. From what I've gathered, Sparky does research on pokemon trainers in his area and once he finds a trainer with a female pikachu, he tries to find some of that pokemon's likes, dislikes, and interests. From there, he finds out where they live, then goes to their house pretending to be a poor street rat who has the same interests as the female. Strangely enough, the plan seems to work well for him, though I am at loss for how.

Speaking of trainers, Sparky has one whom I believe is named "Mike" or something like that. Mike's a cool trainer (or at least as "cool" as a trainer can be), since he generally just lets Sparky do whatever he wants. From what Sparky has told me, his trainer works at a "boring as hell 9-5 job" from Monday to Friday, but makes a decent enough living to afford a small house and a "car". Mike doesn't particularly know his Pikachu very well, since even when he's home, Sparky closes and locks the door of a room that is solely his own (I guess a house is like a cave and a room is like a cave in a cave or something?). Mike knocks on the door and asks if he can come in when he wants to feed him or bathe him or take him somewhere and Sparky unlocks the door after a minute or two. While not completely oblivious, I don't think Mike truly knows how well his pokemon is with this popular, useful, unique machine, for their relationship would be much different if he did. When Mike is at work, I will occasionally venture to sneak into the suburbs and hang out with that interesting, though somewhat taxing Pikachu. Sparky and I both know that there are rules against wild pokemon being in the suburb, but as long as I stay only at Sparky's house and sneak out before Mike gets home, no one will know.

I figured that if I wanted to chat with Sparky and ask him for help executing my plan, I'd have to do it now before Chi came back. I had a conversation with him from there, which I've taken the liberty of copy-pasting.

VriskTaker7

4/14/XX 11:53

Oh, right. I've been pretty busy lately.

SeductiveRodent69

4/14/XX 11:55

You are a disappointment.

VriskTaker7

4/14/XX 11:57

Shut up you big jerk! XD

SeductiveRodent69

4/14/XX 11:57

No. You shut up. .u.

VriskTaker7

4/14/XX 11:58

XD Hey, that must be my queue to tell you that one of my friends went missing. It all started yesterday morning...

SeductiveRodent69

4/14/XX 11:59

Some friend they are, going missing on you! Who do they think they are? :[

VriskTaker7

4/14/XX 12:00

I know right?

SeductiveRodent69

4/14/XX 12:01

Tell me who this clown is, so I can mess him up!

VriskTaker7

4/14/XX 12:01

The guy's name is "Stupid" and he is Stupid!

SeductiveRodent69

4/14/XX 12:02

Something tells me that "Stupid" isn't the most intelligent pokemon in the world, though I can't think of a reason why... Where was the last place you saw Stupid?

VriskTaker7

4/14/XX 12:02

In the lake near my cave.

SeductiveRodent69

4/14/XX 12:02

Lol. Is he a magikarp? :

VriskTaker7

4/14/XX 12:04

Are you insinuating that magikarps are stupid, sir?

SeductiveRodent69

4/14/XX 12:05

Uh no. What made you think that? o^o

VriskTaker7

4/14/XX 12:06

Yo' face. :P Ok, but seriously one of my friends is actually missing.

SeductiveRodent69

4/14/XX 12:07

And you think I'll help you? That's kawaii. :3

VriskTaker7

4/14/XX 12:08

You jerk! XD So you said that the suburb you live in claims to own not only the land the houses are on, but also the ground below it, right?

SeductiveRodent69

4/14/XX 12:10

I said nothing of the sort! Such accusations! :o

VriskTaker7

4/14/XX 12:11

And so the humans have stuff below the ground and a way of getting there, otherwise they wouldn't make such a claim.

SeductiveRodent69

4/14/XX 12:12

You mean sewers? Oh man, don't go mucking up those places with your dirty forest animal scent! They're already icky enough as it is. Why would you want to grace that place with your unholy presence?

VriskTaker7

4/14/XX 12:12

Real smooth, SeductiveRodent69, real smooth... -

SeductiveRodent69

4/14/XX 12:13

You know it! ;)

VriskTaker7

4/14/XX 12:14

But seriously bro, I'm looking for my friend.

SeductiveRodent69

4/14/XX 12:15

You think your friend is in the sewer?

VriskTaker7

4/14/XX 12:18

My friend is probably somewhere under the ground right now. A few pokemon I know are trying to find him, but are all having a super hard time even getting to where he could possibly be. You see, others and I helped him break open a rock at the bottom of a nearby lake to reveal a tunnel, but after he went in, he didn't return. When a search party was formed to go look for him, they ran into a pile of rocks that they couldn't break through no matter what they tried. My friend is probably on the other side of those rocks, so I'm trying to find a way around them. Since the tunnel went toward the direction of the suburbs, I believe that I might find my friend by going to the suburbs, going underground, and exploring from there.

SeductiveRodent69

4/14/XX 12:19

Well, that sounds like quite a predicament you got there.

VriskTaker7

4/14/XX 12:20

I concur.

SeductiveRodent69

4/14/XX 12:20

So what makes you think I would want to go down into the sewers with you? Also, how do you expect me to help you with any of this?

VriskTaker7

4/14/XX 12:21

I don't know, probably by simply taking me down to whatever this "sewer" thing is. Why don't you want to go down there? Are you too scared or something? :)

SeductiveRodent69

4/14/XX 12:22

Looks like someone doesn't know what the sewage system is...

VriskTaker7

4/14/XX 12:26

...Ok. I've just looked up what it is. Yuck. What do those sick humans even use it for? Do I even want to know? I wish I could type in a disgusted face! Ugh, Is there anything else below the ground in the suburbs?

SeductiveRodent69

4/14/XX 12:27

Lmao. and yeah, dirt.

VriskTaker7

4/14/XX 12:28

That was insightful! :)

SeductiveRodent69

4/14/XX 12:28

I'm glad I could help! ^-^

VriskTaker7

4/14/XX 12:29

So then my friend is lost forever...?

SeductiveRodent69

4/14/XX 12:31

B-But I'm right here... o^o

VriskTaker7

4/14/XX 12:32

You know what I meant you troll. -

SeductiveRodent69

4/14/XX 12:34

Teehee. .w. Whether or not "Stupid" is lost forever depends on you, mostly. You have to decide if "Stupid" is worth the trouble of 1. Scouring a dirty, smelly place, 2. Getting caught as a wild pokemon in the suburbs, and 3. Finding out how to get into the sewer. I'd personally advise you to not look for that darned Magikarp. I mean, this is essentially, a wild zangoose chase, but hey, whatever floatzels your boatzel.

VriskTaker7

4/14/XX 12:35

So you're not going to help me, I take it?

SeductiveRodent69

4/14/XX 12:38

I wasn't originally planning on it, but I might be able to help you... for a price.

VriskTaker7

4/14/XX 12:39

Why can't you just be a nice Pikachu and help out a friend?

SeductiveRodent69

4/14/XX 12:40

It's mostly because I don't want to. I thing you've known me long enough to know that if I don't want to do something, I generally won't do it. Do you accept?

VriskTaker7

4/14/XX 12:41

Accept what? You haven't told me what the "price" was yet.

Just then, I heard Chi's soft, gentle footsteps on the ground nearby. I knew that I wouldn't have time to see Sparky's response before Chi arrived, so in a rush, yet still remaining on my back, I shut my laptop and set it next to me.

I saw her walk into the cave with a few dozen oran berries cradled in her arms and a smile on her face. Once she was close enough to me, she lazily dumped all of them down.

"I'm sorry I took so long, Vriska angel, but look at all of the food I collected for us," she told me, delighted. Then she became taut, as if she caught herself making a mistake. "Sorry," she half-whispered. "I didn't realize that Baxter was still asleep."

I glanced over at that brown ball of fur, still slumbering just as Chi had said. I could gather that his sleep was still uneasy, though the shivering had gotten better since Chi had hugged him about an hour or two ago. While I can't say this for sure, I felt that even in his sleep, Baxter was tense and perhaps afraid.

"Should I wake him up, Vriska?" she inquired in a soft whisper. "I would feel so bad waking him up when he's still asleep, but I don't want the rest of the day to just pass him by."

I didn't need to think on the matter for long for I knew it needed to be done. I spoke up loudly "Baxter!"

He started, scrambling to his paws in surprise "Y-yes." He stammered pathetically. "I'm sorry! Did I sleep late? I hope you aren't mad at me."

Chi hastened to his side, embracing him comfortingly "Shhh-shhh-shhh. It's Ok. We're not mad at you, sweetie."

Baxter pushed her away, turning around to hide himself from her. "No. It's not" he rebuked, a tone of guilt lacing his voice. "I slept while you were gathering food for us and someone could have hurt Vriska during that time! What kind of creature sleeps when needed to protect another, a friend even, who's at their most vulnerable? I've betrayed her trust and I've betrayed your trust. I... No." he shook his head, obviously repressing something.

Though she was faced away from me, I could tell that Chi was concerned, scared even, for that small, anxious eevee. A few slight noises issued from her mouth, beginnings of a consoling word, an uplifting thought, a thoughtful phrase, but all of the noises stopped short and abrupt, fizzling away, melting into the air after being deemed worthless by her. She didn't know what to say, what to do, how to start and stood there in a pained, helpless hush.

It was bad enough that Baxter was miserable, but this... It was painful to see Chi, such a kind heart, be stuck, paralyzed, sad, trying her very best... I looked away, this being a bit much for me. The weak, quiet breeze was the only thing I heard for a few moments, sadness and tension, my only feelings.

"I'm going to get you a guardian, Baxter" Chi suddenly proclaimed. "You won't need to feel alone anymore. You won't need to feel isolated. You won't need to feel ashamed. There are pokemon who love you, Baxter dear. There are pokemon who can help if something is wrong. You won't trouble them; trust me. I know you aren't a bad pokemon".

He remained as he was, forlorn and in despair, perhaps doubting her words. Chi. Reluctantly, Chi realized that there was naught she could do for him at this time and so again sat in silence.

I changed the subject, for I didn't like dwelling. "So, is someone going to check on me soon, because I would really like to search for Tonto myself?"

Chi turned to face me in answering my query, a look of sympathy remaining on her face. "Yes. He is an elder of ours, and his name is Gabriel; he said he will be here soon. From what I gather, darling, he's the community's local healer. Do you know him?"

"Yes" I responded, fondly recollecting the times he visited me on those days as a pup when I felt sick. "He's a good guy," I said dumbly.

The cute buizel gave a small smile at my uninformative and facepaw-worthy comment about him, lifting my mood. She had such a wonderful, gorgeous smile that I couldn't help smiling back.

"Do you know how soon he'll be?" I couldn't help asking. With Gabriel, "soon" could be anywhere from 8 minutes to 8 hours and it was always a bit of a bother as a kid when my parents told me "Gabriel will be here soon".

"Vriska, sweetie, I know you want to get better so you can go out and help search for Tonto, but you can't rush your recovery like this. Please, you need to rest and take things slow for a while before Elder Gabriel comes, otherwise you'll just impede your progress." She warned gently but firmly, sounding more than a little a bit like my mother. I groaned quietly at this, wondering why she didn't just say, "I don't know".

She playfully giggled at my slight agitation and though agitated I was, I couldn't help smiling in response. "Speaking of recovering," she began, picking up a lone oran berry from the ground "You can't heal unless you're well-fed".

I opened my maw up wide. "Roar!" thundered I, "I'm a hungry hungry hippopotas! Now come forth and satiate my appetite!"

"You're so strange" the buizel laughed, approaching and placing a berry in my mouth. As she was doing that, I humorously bit down on her paw, making some comically fake eating sounds.

Thus began our lunch. Our shenanigans started out simple enough, a lot of fooling around, laughing, a few pokemon puns, but eventually reached the point where I convinced Chi to throw some berries into my mouth. She was concerned at first, suggesting that I might choke on them, but after a few minutes of cajoling, she came around. I told her that I would close my mouth at random intervals to make the little game harder and so that I didn't get full too quickly (those berries, while small, are surprisingly filling). Most of the berries missed their target, but she did manage to get one or two into my mouth. Baxter, upon hearing us having fun, politely asked if he could join in, and after some encouraging words, started throwing a few oran berries at me himself. Most of the initial attempts missed, but after a while, he was able to get 1 or 2 good shots in. When Baxter made his first successful toss, he flashed a slight smile, enjoying his victory and upon his second, the smile became just a little bit bigger. I had swallowed seven oran berries before I told them that I had had enough and actually needed them to stop. They both understood and ate their lunch in good spirits, relatively speaking. I noticed, however, while watching Chi eat, her looking at the Oran berries funny, almost as if they tasted differently. I became slightly concerned as I saw her eat only two of them, but I didn't mention it since I didn't want to make her feel self-conscious or anything. Baxter ate lightly as well, having only two berries for lunch.

As I lie as they were just finishing lunch, Chi advanced toward me gingerly and said simply "Elder Gabriel is here". I didn't see him at first, but before long a big, friendly, goodra came into view near the entrance of the cave, looking about with his big green eyes, goo shamelessly dripping down his arms and chin.

"Hallo." Greeted he while looking down warmly at me "It's so nice to see you again, Vriska!"

"Pleasure, Gabriel" I responded back amicably.

The corners of his mouth turned up and his eyes twinkled kindly "Ah, Yes! Always is, always is. Now," his countenance turned slightly more serious "I hear you've been having some abdominal pains from being hurt yesterday. You're a fighter, so I'm sure you'll get through it okay, but first, I'm going to have to check on you," here he dropped his serious demeanor altogether "and I'll start by giving you a nice, warm, gooey hug!"

I welcomed his embrace without hesitation, as his goo was always super warm and soothing, seldom failing to make me feel at least a little better. Because he was so much bigger than I was, however, he had to hover his body slightly over mine, so I didn't get crushed, goo dripping from his body, appendages wrapped lovingly around my back. Contrary to what many think upon first glance, the goo of a goodra is actually remarkably calming and therapeutic, especially when applied in just the right way. Whenever I had a stomache or a fever or a cold or the flu as a pup, one of the first things Gabriel always did when treating me was to hug me. Of course, he would still examine me and come back the next day with the herbs and food he said I'd need to recover fully, but he would be sure to supplement it with a gooey goodra hug upon every check-up.

After hugging me, Gabriel shifted his body, so that he was now laying with his stomach to the ground and his appendages on my underbelly, making sure to rub in that relaxing gel real good where he believed I need it most, my abdomen. This does wonders in alleviating the pain and helps to lighten the dark mood that naturally comes with ailments. He rubbed the goo in a circular motion on my belly, pressing down firmly, though not uncomfortably, and began asking me questions.

"Your friend Chi has informed me of all that happened yesterday," Gabriel started, looking at me with big green eyes, still making circles on my tummy "but I want to make sure I have the details correct before continuing. So, to help your friends break a rock at the bottom of the lake, you shot a Flame Burst while high in the air after grabbing onto Tonto, Correct?"

"Yes." I answered.

"And when you were deep underwater, you freaked out and Chi had to save you from drowning, Correct?"

"You forgot how Tonto and I broke the rock open" I pointed out, gloating somewhat.

He smirked at me "Why yes, of course. How could I forget? So then after being saved, you blacked out again and woke up in your cave. Chi told me that at one point, shortly after you came to, you tried to stand up, but experienced great pain in your attempt. Can you describe that for me?"

"Well...um... I dunno, really... Kind of like this sharp, shooting my pain in my upper abdomen" I stammered awkwardly. I don't think I'm all that good at giving descriptions of my physical discomforts.

"Your upper abdomen?" the goodra asked "Can you put your paw on the area where you were having these discomforts?"

I acceded, putting my right front paw on the left side of my upper abdomen. He followed my paw and started rubbing goo on the spot where I had pointed.

"I see," he noted thoughtfully. "Would you say you felt a burning sensation when trying to get up?"

I thought for a bit "Umm... A very mild one, yes."

"How much did it hurt?"

"A lot"

"Do you have any other symptoms?"

"Not that I know of"

"Have you experienced this symptom since then?" he inquired.

"Y..." I began, catching myself about to blindly answer the question. I remember Chi had told me beforepaw not to get up for anything unless it was to relieve myself or get something to drink and I had gotten up without doing either of those. I knew that if I answered truthfully, Chi would know that I didn't take her advice and I didn't even have a good excuse. However, if I didn't answer truthfully, I would prolong my recovery.

"Umm... Next question, please," I responded trying to avoid having to give an answer.

Gabriel chuckled. "Sorry, but I'm afraid that this question is pretty important." He had known me for long enough that he could tell when I wanted to avoid answering a question because it might get me in trouble with someone and when I was actually genuinely uncomfortable answering a question.

"Fine. Yes, I have experienced this symptom again this morning," I confessed.

"When exactly did you experience it this morning?" he asked, glad that I was able to respond to his question truthfully.

"It was around midmorning, right after Chi went to go get some food for us. I tried standing up and was able to do it, but I still felt that sharp, shooting pain."

"Was the pain as bad as it was last night?" the goodra asked.

"No. It was more manageable, but still painful,".

"Do you experience these symptoms only when you are standing?"

"As far as I know" I shrugged.

He nodded understandingly. "Have you ever had these symptoms before?"

I shook my head. There were more questions after that, mostly used to gain a more accurate account of my ailment I think...

"Are you taking any herbs that I should know about?"

"No."

"How are you doing right now, physically?"

"Aside from not being able to stand up, not bad."

"How are you doing right now, emotionally?"

"Aside from Tonto being missing, I'm alright"

"Has anything been making you sneeze, cough, or get a sore throat that shouldn't be?"

"Nope."

"Sleeping okay?"

"Yes."

"Do you have any questions that you'd like to ask me?" He finally queried.

"No." was my response.

He stopped rubbing goo on me, but still remained lying with his belly on the ground. "Alright, I believe I know what's wrong... Or at least I kind of do. You said that you blew a huge Flame burst into the air yesterday and that now your upper abdomen hurts when you stand up. I'm sure you know this already, but just as a refresher, you know that you don't breathe fire from out of your lungs like you do when you exhale, right?"

"Oh of course! I can't imagine how painful it would be if I had to breathe fire out of my lungs!" I exclaimed with levity. "There's a special flame inside of me that continually burns, the source of all my fire-based attacks."

"Correct! And do you know where that 'Great Flame' of yours is located?"

I could tell that I was being led on. "The upper abdomen, right? Where I was feeling pain?"

"Precisely!" he declared with gusto. "When you did that Flame Burst yesterday, you overexerted yourself. Come to think of it, actually, what Appy described resembled more of a flamethrower than anything."

"But I don't even know that move! I'm not a level 34 yet, so how could I possibly do a flamethrower?" I gasped in disbelief, ears pricking up on hearing this confusing piece of news.

"I don't know what to tell you, Vriska," he admitted. "This is beyond my area of expertise, but I do have a few friends that are simply phenomenal with fire types and I'll be sure to holler for them if you want."

"That would be great" I encouraged. "Do you know of anyone else who has ever done a move that might have been above their level?" I put forward, genuinely curious.

Gabriel cocked his head slightly and ran one of his appendages across his long, back right antenna on his head, hunting for a case from the past that might be relevant. "I... don't... think so..." he deliberated slowly, but thoughtfully. "I'm sorry," he concluded before long "but I'm afraid I can't help you here either".

I was slightly disappointed, yet at the same time, I was very much intrigued. Here was Gabriel, a 7 and a half year-old goodra who had a passion for healing the sick since he was a Goomy, coming across something new. I would have figured that with his age and experience, he would have seen or learnt about a little bit of everything. I certainly didn't expect my current case to be original to him, at least.

Looking at me with his big green eyes, he again spoke "Yes... This is a curious case, to say the least. I have dealt with cases where a fire-type's Great Flame gets a bit inflamed after eating a bad berry or using too many fire-type moves in one day, and while they do get some periodic cramps the day after, they can still run and play without much trouble. Your case is more severe, but it still looks like your Great Flame is just inflamed and based on what you've said, your condition seems to be improving at a decent rate. For now, here's what I would advise: Drink plenty of water, don't stand up too much, relax and get plenty of rest, and whatever you do, don't do any fire-type moves. In fact, if I were to give you just one piece of advice, it would be not to use any fire-type moves at all until a friend of mine can get a better look at you. In the meantime, I guess, feel free to rock the boat like you always do, but please don't rock it with a fire-type move".

I chuckled at that last comment he made. "So..." I began "You said I shouldn't stand up 'too much'. How much, exactly, is 'too much?'"

A great smile spread across his face when I said that; he knew me too well. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Chi also smiling, shaking her head, perhaps figuring I was a bit restless.

"Just be sure to sit or lay down if you're in pain or feeling faint" he responded, winking at me.

I nodded understandingly. Remembering something suddenly, I hazarded to change the topic. "Chi?"

"Yes, dear?" she responded genially.

"Do you remember how two days ago, we told a fennekin that we would get her some herbs that she wanted in exchange for food? Do you remember what herbs she wanted and where to find them because we should probably do that soon."

Her eyes widened, her eyebrows lifted, and her mouth made a bit of an "o" shape, recalling the event. "I do remember that." She told me. "But..." her face contorted slightly, eyebrows furrowed, eyes squinting and looking a bit upward. "I don't remember what exactly she wanted from us... Do you, darling?"

I thought about it for a bit, then shook my head, not being able to recall.

She became somewhat sullen. "Oh. This isn't good." She observed. "I might be able to remember what she looked like, but I don't know where I would be able to find her..."

"What did she look like... Aside from being a fennekin, of course?" Gabriel questioned her.

Chi proceeded "Umm... She had a bushy tail for a fennekin... Her ears pointed out more toward the side, than up in the air... Her ear fur was less full than that of other fennekins... had green eyes instead of red... She had wide hips, but I suppose that can be said for most female pokemon right now... She was tall and skinny for her species... Umm... Hmmm... looked healthy, I suppose, except that a bit tired... Her scent smelt faintly of strawberries..."

The Goodra took a small moment to think, then replied "Ah, She must be new here. I don't know of any fennekins that match that description. I'll relay what you said to a few pokemon I know who frequent Home Tree and I'm sure you'll hear again by tomorrow what herb she wants"

"Thank you very much, Gabriel, elder, you have been a great help."

He beamed. "It's my pleasure! ...Now, you said that you wanted me to help Baxter get a guardian, correct?"

"Yes" she returned "He's been exceedingly sad, even if he won't admit it, and I am concerned about him."

Gabriel approached Baxter slowly, looking sad but hopeful. Once he was mere feet from the small eevee, he sat down and looked at him, briefly examining his countenance.

The eevee looked sad, yet also determined not to look the part, to hide it even. His eyes appeared to be wetter than usual, but he was making a concentrated frown, trying to seem tough. "You know the rules of the community better than I do" he humbly, but icily commenced "but even I know that at 5 seasons old, a pokemon should be able to fend for themselves. Besides, there are many younger pokemon who need a guardian more than I."

Gabriel sighed. "Yes. You are a 'winter baby', a rarity in the wild. Yes, there are many other younger pokemon who need a guardian, but-"

"Aren't I just taking away from them, then?" he interrupted shortly.

Gabriel remained patient with him "...I wouldn't look at it like that..."

"But that's exactly how it is! There's a reason why younger orphans take precedence over the older ones and I won't allow myself to rob anyone of their childhood anymore." He retorted bitterly.

"Baxter..." Gabriel started, slightly surprised "I know that there are a lot of orphans in need of a guardian right now, but you aren't taking anything from them by getting one. And I hope you're not blaming yourself for your little sister's death when you say 'anymore'..."

Baxter looked down, sadly, but somewhat irately. "You don't understand. I was her bigger brother! She trusted me, but I failed her! I failed to protect her!"

Gabriel said nothing, patiently waiting out his mood. Baxter remained as he was, silently stewing in his own misplaced anger. Chi simply sat with a sympathetic, understanding look on her face.

After a few minutes, Baxter was showing signs that his anger was passing. He then sighed and spoke again. "Look guys, I'm really sorry for making you all worry about me and I really appreciate the concern, but please... It isn't necessary."

At that point, Gabriel good-naturedly patted Baxter's head with one of his gooey appendages and told him "You're a nice, caring kid, Baxter, and I hope you realize that. I'll be back again tomorrow to ask you some questions about your general well-being, but I have an appointment with someone coming up soon. Please take care of yourself and try to rest up tonight."

In one swift movement, the kindhearted goodra arose and exited my cave, though not before turning around with a thoughtful smile, saying "You are all very sweet and kind and I wish the best for you. Always remember that I love you all! I'll be seeing you tomorrow" and waving back at us.

The period of time after he left, I must admit, was pretty boring for the most part. About five minutes after Gabriel left, I decided that I had had enough laying down for that day and wanted to get up, but Chi insisted that for the next 10 or so minutes I keep laying down. I pestered her about wanting to get up the whole time, until she finally gave up and told me to come back should I experience any pain. I know that she's just looking out for my safety, but I think I can look after myself just fine.

Once I was outside, I stretched out my legs and took in the surrounding clear blue skies and windy breeze, the temperature about the same as yesterday. After that, I was feeling dirty and thirsty, so I went to the lake to drink some water and bathe for a bit.

At the lake, I took my sweet time drinking and bathing myself, enjoying the feeling of being outdoors. I didn't venture very far out into the lake when bathing, just enough to completely submerge myself and float on my back whenever I wanted. From there, I let my mind wander and daydream, casually cleaning myself.

While I was in the lake, I noticed a few water-types swimming around the area Tonto and I blasted yesterday and occasionally saw a pokemon pop above the surface of the water from time to time, probably to get a breather. It looked like they were the search party that Chi had told me about and long minutes of watching only heightened my suspicion. Watching the water-types, I could tell that they were making a cooperative effort to find something, swimming around the lake and going inside of the hole at the bottom of it, talking with each other seriously after searching, appearing to make suggestions and plan things. Yet I don't think they went about their search expecting to actually find anything and, as time passed, they collectively seemed to lose motivation and hope, getting frustrated as plan after plan failed to bring results.

Aside from that, there wasn't a whole lot to be noted from the search and it honestly looked a bit boring. However, I did see a female dewott, Kanani, who I knew from the community-required seminars Master Ling gave. She was having some trouble with her stomach, clutching it from time to time and wincing, but trying her best to ignore it. I would focus on her from time to time, feeling minutely concerned, but admiring her attitude and ethic. Kanani always had a determined work ethic and go-getter attitude and it was refreshing to see her usual self, contrasting the progressively more disheartened mindset of almost everyone else in the party.

When the Sun was just beginning to set, a seel tapped on her back and when he got her attention, motioned to an important-looking tentacruel floating by the hole. They talked to one another once she was near enough, but their conversation wasn't a friendly one. The tentacruel remained calm as he explained something to her, but Kanani became agitated. Her body had stiffened and it even through the wavy surface of the water, I could tell she was glaring at the tentacruel ranting about something. The tentacruel didn't like this language, apparently, and seemed to start on his own tirade. The exchange went on for a few more minutes until Kanani went silent for a few seconds at something the tentacruel said, then indignantly shot up through the water, in my general direction.

There was a loud splash as she violently arrived at the surface, obviously angry about something, unloading strong words upon any in the near vicinity. "What a load of Tauros!" I could hear when she was close enough. "Stupid tentacruel, thinking he knows what's good for me and when I need a break! I swear on Arceus, we're never going to find Tonto if we just take breaks all willy-nilly! ...Well, speak of Giratina (author's note: 'speak of the Devil'), it's Vriska, herself."

I submerged myself under the water, vainly hoping she wouldn't notice me.

"You think I'm not gonna notice that?" she scoffed, slightly amused, slightly annoyed. "Come on, Vriska, I'm not mad at you."

Reluctantly, I emerged from under the water, knowing I could trust what she said. "Oh?" I squeaked, trying to fake ignorance.

"I'm mad at that dumb tentacruel, who fancies he knows exactly what I need, though I'm sure you already knew that you spy; the surface doesn't just randomly make waves you know" She vocalized bitterly, but jocosely.

I grinned sheepishly; she was good. "Oh, right... I hope you didn't mind."

She shrugged. "Nah, it's cool. Don't mind me, I'm just angry right now. I imagine you're holding up alright now, since you're here."

"I could be better" I admitted "but all things considered, I think I'm holding up alright, yourself?"

"I figured you'd ask that and I figure you already know part of the answer... spy!"

I smiled guiltily.

She laughed. "Alright, so I'll fill you in. I haven't been feeling my best for the past few days. I've been getting headaches, I go to sleep earlier than I used to, I sometimes wake up in the morning feeling sick, I get cramps, yada yada yada. I can still go throughout the day well enough, despite my problems, so whatever right? I assumed I'd gotten some sort of small, weird virus or something and I'd get over it soon enough. So anyway, I was bored yesterday after finishing a thing I've been working on for a while and Rita, whom I haven't seen in quite some time, went up and asked me if I wanted to be a part of a search party. Sure, got nothing better to do, why not? So then, I got up today determined to do everything in my power to help find Tonto. I followed the orders that I was given speedily, diligently, and thoroughly, hoping to set an example for everyone else on the team. Things started out well enough. We weren't making the progress that I wanted us to make, but we were still doing fine. However, as the day grew on, the team became less and less motivated. This frustrated me, to be sure, but I knew that those lazy muks wouldn't listen to me, so instead of wasting my breath on them, I just worked harder. Sure, I had been having cramps throughout the entire day and sure they were bad, but I could work through it, I know myself. Apparently, though, a tentacruel who hasn't even known me for a day knows me better than I do and says I should just give up! In what universe does that make sense? How can anyone possibly expect to find Tonto when everyone feels like we're not going to find him? Ugh! Mark my words, the way things are going right now, the party's going to call it quits before the first quarter of the night has passed!"

"Oh..." I said, disappointed, though a bit hung up on the symptoms she listed. "Well, I'm sorry to hear all that. None of it sounds any good..."

"I know right?" she exclaimed "Pokemon give up way too easily sometimes, but just know this, Vriska, I won't stop looking. No amount of fatigue, headaches, cramps, or nausea is gonna stop me."

I looked quizzically at her, coming upon a realization. "Umm..."

"What?" she asked.

"Well... I uhh..."

"What is it, come on" she prodded, getting a bit impatient.

"Your symptoms..."

"What about 'em?"

"...Um ...Remember what we learned last winter...?"

"...Wait a second... Are you implying that I might be... pregnant?"

I was silent. I was sure then that she had made the connection and saying any more was unnecessary. Before long, she gave me a quick, simple "Thank you" and rushed on her way in the direction of Home Tree.

I returned to the cave not long after that, Baxter and Chi welcoming me back. We talked lightly for a few minutes, about what we had done those past few hours. I updated them about what I did and they updated me about what they did. They didn't really do a whole lot, except for talking and bonding a bit. After a while, we realized that there wasn't much to say and so we opted for telling one another stories. Baxter and I told her about one of our local tall tales and Chi told us about one of hers. This lasted for a good while.

Appy visited the cave just before the night was a fourth of the way over, telling us that after much consideration, the search for Tonto was to be called off. She said that the search party had thought of and tried everything, but that it had all been for naught. The rest of the night was silent and each of us coped with it in our own ways. Appy brought us some nuts to eat for dinner, so that Chi wouldn't have to worry about anything happening to Baxter and me. After that, we sat in sad, somber silence until Chi fell asleep. At that point, Appy left us after telling us to rest well. I waited in the dark with my eyes wide open until I was sure that Baxter was asleep.

I am pretty sure that all of my guests are now asleep, likely having melancholy dreams about the adventurer they believe lost forever. Yet, here I lie awake, focusing my eyes on this bright screen, my mind revisiting the events of the past two days and wondering what events lie ahead. I don't quite know why, but I feel that Tonto is well and alive; all I need to do is find him. He is not a pokemon who just goes down without a fight; he is a fighter, a dreamer, and an adventurer.

I know now what I have to do. I must make my way to the suburbs, then to the sewers to search for and find him. I must find a way to cover my scent from anyone who might suspect I've left. If possible, I plan to find him and return him to the community before sunrise, but I know I must also plan in case I have to spend more time than that on my mission. Going to the suburbs, I risk my autonomy, my security, and no one, except I, can control if I remain feral or if I become but a pet to be trained. I don't know when I'll be able to make my next journal entry, or even if this is my last one, but for now, I must be done.