FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Welcome to chapter four. This chapter felt like it took me ages because I was originally very unhappy with it, but after some tweaking and some major additions, I just managed to make it readable! Please enjoy.

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Chapter 4: Decisions Decisions

Kara's mother Caroline was worried sick. Her daughter had never been this late before. Could something have happened in Rustboro? One thing she thought was for sure, it was probably all that Koto's fault. She knew he was trouble ever since he rolled into town. The way he looked at everyone with cold untrusting eyes. His image sent shivers down her spine.

Caroline was a vaporeon, and as such she loved to spend time by the river. Kara not making it home was keeping her from sleeping, so she was out by the river washing the village blankets for everyone. She figured she might as well do something useful while she was down there. She hung the last of the blankets up on the clothes vine so that it would be dry by tomorrow evening. 'I might as well try to get some sleep,' she thought.

She picked up the basket that the dirty blankets had been in and was about to start walking back when something caught her eye. There was a glimmer in the water, something shiny slowly floating by. She leaned in to see what it was. 'A knife, well that's rather peculiar,' thought the vaporeon. 'Why would something like that be in the river?' She shrugged and was about turn around when something else caught her eye. Something yellow and red was floating down the river. "Oh my gosh!" she said realizing it was a bleeding pokémon. She jumped in and took hold of one of its arms with her mouth. She swam back to shore, the unconscious pokémon in tow. She heaved the pokémon to the shore and dragged him out of the water. The wound was above the left shoulder and it was bleeding profusely. She quickly grabbed one of the blankets hanging above them and wrapped it around the pokémon where the gash was. She then realized, it was Koto.

~

The young trainer in Verdanturf town woke up bright and early. At first he had forgotten that he was in a pokémon center. He stretched a bit and laid there for a minute pondering what sights the day would bring. Then he remembered. He quickly turned to his side. The two pokémon from the night before were gone! 'Damnit,' he cursed in his head bolting out the door of the room, hitting his elbow on the frame. The center was busier than it was last night. He looked around. Spotting the two pokémon over by a window, eating some breakfast that the nurse had prepared for them, he calmed a little. 'I wonder if they'll accept my offer,' he thought nervously. He went back into the room got dressed and grabbed all of his things. He threw on his backpack and walked out.

"So what are we gonna do?" Kara asked

"We need to find a way to travel inconspicuously," the luxio replied. "We can't go back the way we came. Whoever was after us will likely still be in that general direction. We're going to have to go the long way around taking the marked routes."

"That's gonna take at least two days!" Kara exclaimed. "And that's without stopping to rest!"

Just then the two heard a loud crash. They looked over to the door where it came from. A boy was standing there looking around holding his elbow with his other hand. Then he looked at them and ran back in. They continued their conversation.

"I know it's a pain Kara, but whoever was out there was dangerous," Sam said apologetically. "We can't take any chances."

"Alright, I guess we'll take the long way," Kara complied. "My mom is going to be so scared."

Just then the boy walked back through the door. He checked to make sure he had everything, and then he strolled over to the two pokémon. "Heellllooooo ladies," he said looking at the duo. Kara and Sam both looked at him as if he was crazy. He cleared his throat, "um... I was wondering if you would like to accompany me... um... on my journey... as my pokémon. I uh... want to be your trainer." he said giving sort of a half-smile.

Sam and Kara looked at each other. "This is perfect," Kara said, "he can do all the walking for us.

"Alright but how can we be sure that he is going to the Petalburg woods, or even Rustboro?" Sam asked quizzically.

"You want to go somewhere specific?" He asked them pulling out a map of the Hoenn region. The two pokémon looked at him in surprise. "I studied pokémon behavior for two years before starting this journey. I only set out about a week ago from Lilycove city."

Kara looked at Sam, "Wow, look, he's really smart and he can help us. I think that's a win win."

"Alright Kara," Sam replied tentatively, "but are you sure you're okay with becoming someone's pokémon? I don't care much, he seems capable enough, but if he gets in trouble it will be your duty to protect him."

Kara hadn't thought about it before, but now that she did, she was excited. "That means wherever he goes, I'll get to go!" she said with smile. "I'll finally get to travel all over Hoenn!"

Samantha admired her enthusiasm. It wasn't something that many others had. "Alright but this isn't something you can just take back."

"I know, this just looks like such a good opportunity," Kara said still overwhelmed with the idea of so much freedom. "I feel like this is what I was meant to do.

"Alright, whatever you say," the luxio replied. Sam then looked at the young trainer and motioned for him to give her the map.

"Here you are," he said spreading it out and placing it on the floor. Sam looked at it for a moment before pointing to the Petalburg woods. "Hmm... alright, it seems a little far, but we'll head to Petalburg if it's necessary." He said refolding the map. "Now just to make sure this is clear, if you make this trip with me, you will be my pokémon. Alright?"

The two pokémon nodded their head in agreement. "Great," he said excitedly. "Come on outside and meet the rest of the team. The trainer stood up and started to walk towards the exit. Kara and Sam followed closely behind. When they were outside, the trainer took three pokéballs from his belt and threw them all. Out came an oshawott, a nidorina, and a vulpix. "These are my pokémon. The oshawott is Nick, the nidorina is Shelby, and the vulpix is Cooper. Oh and I'm Zack. Nick, Shelby, and Cooper these are our new additions to the team."

Zack's pokémon instantly went over to their new teammates and began to flood them with questions. "Now, now, don't smother them," Zack said.

The three pokémon backed off. Nick was the first to speak again. "So what are your names?" He asked

Sam replied, "My name is Samantha, but you can call me Sam. This here is Kara. I've only just met her last night."

"Hi!" Kara said quickly. "It's very nice to meet all of you!" she said energetically, excited to meet new people.

"Wow! You're both really pretty," exclaimed Shelby. "What's your secret?" she asked staring at them.

"Umm... I guess it just kinda happened..." Sam said, not having purposely made herself look good.

"So what's your story?" Cooper asked the pair with a quizzical look.

Sam told them about her former trainer and the events of the previous night. Kara grew sad and worried upon hearing of last night's events. She slothfully told the others of the normal life she had lived up until now. The others were shocked at the things that lead to the duo being there. Kara looked at the ground, "That's why we need to go back to Petalburg, so we can find my friend Koto."

Zack looked in their direction, and he could sense something was wrong. He walked over to the group and tapped on Nick's shoulder. "Hey, what's up?" he whispered worriedly. Zack and Nick had been together for a long time before their journey started. Zack could understand almost everything Nick said to him, so he was kind of like lead translator for Zack,

Nick turned to face him and whispered back, "You knew they wanted to go to Petalburg, right?" he asked.

"Yeah, I promised I'd take them there," Zack replied confused.

"Well I found out why." Nick said. "They were attacked by some guy and his pokémon right outside of Rustboro. Their friend was badly injured and fell into the River. They need to find him." Nick explained urgently.

To which Zack replied, "Well if that's the case we better get going ASAP. Alright everyone," Zack said switching back to his normal voice. They all looked up at him. "We're going to head out now. Everyone back in their pokéballs." he began taking out their pokéballs and returning them to their rightful ball. Soon just Sam and Kara were standing there. Zack looked at them. "Would you rather walk or do you want to get in a pokéball?" he asked them.

"I guess I'll get in one," Sam answered indifferently.

"Me too," Kara said, to worried to feel like walking long distances.

"Alright, here," he said taking out two more pokéballs and zapping the duo into them. "Okay, here we go," Zack said to himself beginning to walk out of the town.

Zack was just about to the exit of the town. 'Wow,' he thought. 'A brand new adventure, with new friends. This'll be great.' "Hey! You!" Zack looked up and saw two men wearing pitch black trench coats with bright electric blue E's on the left shoulder, and military style berets, also of the bright blue color. The one on the left was wearing dark aviator glasses. "Have you seen these pokémon?" the one on the right asked holding up a picture. The photo depicted three pokémon standing outside of a pokémart. More specifically, Sam, Kara, and their friend. Zack was surprised by this, but tried not to show it. "We've been looking all over for them. We have intel that says they came in this direction." The man on the right continued.

"No, I can't say I have," Zack lied.

"Well if you do contact us," the man on the left on the left said handing Zack a business card with a number on it. The two men were about to walk off when Zack stopped them.

"Wait!" he exclaimed. The men stopped and looked at him. "Why exactly are you looking for them? Have they done something?" He asked them genuinely concerned.

The man on the right held up photo again. He pointed to the Jolteon in the middle. "You see this jolteon." The man asked. "The one with the scarf. He's dangerous. He's not trustworthy, and above all, he's a murderer."

~

Koto felt groggy. His muscles ached and he had to force his eyes open. He took a look around. Where am I? He wondered. He seemed to be in some sort of dimly lit hallway. The whole thing looked to be made out of stone. All of a sudden, he remembered, he had been here before. He quickly got up and began to run down the hallway. He noticed a door on the left and stopped to look into it. There he saw himself, tied up on a research lab table. Struggling to break free. Suddenly his eye began to burn much more than normal. Then the door to the room slammed shut in front of him. What is going on?

He started running down the hall again. Another door appeared on his right. He stopped and looked into it. What he saw made it feel as if his heart had stopped. There was another research lab table. On this one was the only one Koto had ever grown to love. Etzy, the most beautiful shiny sylveon in the world and the one he had grown up with.

Koto tried to call her name, but his voice wouldn't work. He tried again, but to no avail. He tried to run in the room, but his legs wouldn't work either. The door began to close. NO! NO! NO! Koto yelled in his head closing his eyes and straining to try to move anything. Koto looked up to see his dearest friend turn her head and focus one pink eye on him. A tear rolled down the side of her face. Etzy. This was his final thought before the door flew straight into his face.

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I'm still not crazy for this chapter but I think It turned out nicely. Thank you for reading, and as always have a great day.