FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Welcome to chapter five. I had to delay this chapter because I was busy, but I decided to make double the length of a normal chapter to compensate for the wait. For whatever reason the site is messing the indents on a lot of the paragraphs. Please make an attempt to ignore it. Please enjoy!

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Chapter 5: Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained

Koto awoke with a start, covered in cold sweat. Huh? Where am I? He thought to himself blinking the sleep out of his eyes. After a few seconds he realized he was next the tree that he normally slept next to. He tried move but was met with a pain in his shoulder. Damn, what happened? He began to ponder the events that lead up to now. Let's see, I was in Rustboro with Kara when... His eyes widened, Kara... she's in trouble. I need to find her. He tried getting up again, this time ignoring the pain, when he realized his front paws were tied together. What the hell?

"Oh sorry about that!" A female voice exclaimed to his right. He looked over and saw Kara's mother walking toward him. Something in her tone told Koto that her apology wasn't sincere. "I didn't know when you would wake up and I didn't want you to run off before I could ask about what is going on." She said staring at Koto intently, a look of distrust in her eyes. "So, who's 'Etzy'?"

Koto cringed at the mentioning of his long lost lover's name. Just hearing it sent a soul piercing pain through his heart. "How did you hear that name?"

"You talked in your sleep," Caroline said matter of factly. "So who is it?"

"None of your concern," Koto answered harshly. He took in a deep breath trying to overcome the pain of the wound near his shoulder.

"Koto, where's my daughter?" Caroline asked with anger creeping into her voice.

Koto released his breath painfully and looked at the ground. "I don't know" he said quietly. "But she may be in danger. I need to find her." He continued, returning his voice to its normal level.

"Do you have any idea where she went?" The vaporeon asked, raising her volume.

"No, but I can find her," Koto said with confidence.

Caroline tried to calm herself. "Well... you're not going to do much of anything with that gash behind your shoulder," she said changing her tone to a more reasonable one. "You should rest for a while." She used her claws to cut the makeshift rope, binding Koto's forelimbs. "I don't necessarily like you that much, but you might be my best chance of finding my little girl, and I will come after you if she isn't found," She leaned in towards the jolteon. "Got it?"

"Yeah, yeah, I got it." Koto said while rubbing his wrists. He tried to move again but only managed to almost reopen the shoulder wound. He slowly laid back down. "Ow! So how long was I out."

"About three days," Caroline replied. "That poison inside you was part tranquilizer. Someone didn't want you waking up for a while."

"Three days!" Koto yelled in surprise. "Anything could have happened by now! I need to go after them!" He attempted to stand once more, attempting to ignore the pain. Once he was standing on all fours he said to Caroline, "I'm going."

"Not until you tell me everything." Caroline said quickly.

"There's no time!" Koto said beginning to limp forward at a not so fast pace.

"Look you can barely move. I'm worried sick about Kara, and as much as I want you to go find her, it's not like you can really help at all in this condition. Take your time." Caroline yelled, seeming nothing more than annoyed with scarred jolteon.

"We were attacked." Koto said. "Someone attacked us and I'm going to find out who. If you think I can't do anything because of this," he said motioning towards his shoulder, "Then you don't know me."

Caroline stared at him. "I really don't know you. No one does."

"And for that I'm glad." Koto said quickly before stretching his shoulder to test its limit and then dashing off into the forest straight back to Rustboro.

"Wait!" Caroline yelled to the cocky jolteon, but he kept going. Dammit, she cursed in her head. Brant had wanted to see him before he left.

About an hour and a half later Koto arrived at the entrance to Rustboro. Welp, full circle, how annoying. I hate retracing my steps, Koto thought as he ran through the city. It would probably be best if I head over to that hill where I last saw them. He began to move towards the outskirts of the city to the right of the pokémart.

"There he is!" A man yelled loudly through the crowd.

Koto turned his head around. He saw three people in black trench coats and bright blue berets. He also noticed a bright blue letter E on each of their shoulders. It took Koto a second to realize it but they were headed towards him!

One of them threw a pokéball and a pyroar appeared. All four of them now charged at Koto. He needed a plan and quick, but what could he do?

~

Zack walked down route 115 to Rustboro. Kara walked alongside him and Nick sat on top of his backpack. Their journey had taken slightly longer than was expected. They made a few extra stops to battle with some trainers. Everyone had agreed that Kara needed the experience. She hadn't battled much but over the past few days, but she had shown great improvement. She didn't have very much strength, but her speed was through the roof. Taking a hit was no problem if she barely ever got hit.

While Kara enjoyed her newfound skills, she was getting really excited that they were finally nearing Rustboro. Now they could really begin their search for Koto, assuming he was alive. "Hey Nick, do you know anything about tracking?" Kara asked the oshawott curiously.

Nick thought about this for a moment. "Well I can recognize signs of some certain pokémon, but I haven't practiced any real tracking skills if that's what you mean," he replied.

"What if we're not able to tell which way he went?" She said becoming a little worried.

"Don't worry, I'm sure it'll be fine." Nick said confidently.

"I hope so," Kara responded staring at the ground.

"Here we are," Zack said out of nowhere.

Kara looked up, there was the entrance to Rustboro. "All right! Let's go slowpokes!" Kara exclaimed running in the direction where they were attacked.

"Hey wait up!" Zack said chasing after the leafeon, Nick desperately trying not fall off of the backpack.

They were nearing the pokémart when Kara heard a lot of yelling. "Hey Zack, do you hear that?" Kara asked her trainer as he caught up with her.

"Uh, yeah. What's going on?" He replied catching his breath.

"Sounds like a fight." Nick inquired.

They quickly turned the corner of the pokémart. They saw three men in the same uniform as the two they spoke to before leaving Verdanturf. The trio moved closer to the men to better see what was happening. They had to push against a crowd of people who were trying to leave the area. As they neared the men Kara noticed something. The men had a pyroar and they were attacking Koto. "Look, he's alright!" Kara shouted before receiving a shush from Zack and Nick.

Zack, Nick and Kara watched from a distance as the pyroar sped towards Koto, fire flying everywhere. Koto expertly dodged the attacks while his own volley of electricity shot through air at the pyroar. It rolled out of the way and went in for a quick attack. Koto was almost fast enough to dodge the attack but a claw grazed his leg. Koto stumbled but managed to recover his footing quickly. He went in for a thunder fang attack and directly hit his mark, biting the pyroar on the neck and sending thousands of volts of electricity coursing through the pyroar's body. The fire pokémon fell over on the ground unconscious. One of the trainers took out a pokéball and returned the pyroar to it. The other two each took out a pokéball and threw them simultaneously. Out came a zebstrika and a heracross.

"There's no way he can keep this up! We have to help!" Kara shouted urgently.

Zack reached for two pokéballs and threw them. "Alright Shelby and Cooper, let's do this," The boy yelled. "Cooper, use ember on the heracross! Shelby use quick attack on the zebstrika!"

Shelby sped towards the zebstrika while cooper built up fire in his mouth. Shelby slammed into the zebstrika's side with all her force. The zebstrika barely staggered before turning on the Shelby and using thunder. Cooper shot his ember at the heracross. It hit it's mark but barely did anything. The heracross turned around and charged towards Cooper using megahorn. It's incredible force sent Cooper flying into a wall.

Koto was about to use discharge on the heracross but the zebstrika surprised him with thrash. Koto flew at least ten feet and landed sprawled on his side.

"They're too strong! We can't take them!" Zack yelled returning Shelby and Cooper to their pokéballs.

Both the heracross and the zebstrika were now converging on Koto, who was struggling to get up, the gash above his shoulder having reopened and blood matted his fur. "I have an idea," Zack said taking out two pokéballs. "Or, at least a temporary one." Zack quickly put Kara and Nick back into their pokéballs. He threw a third pokéball between the heracross and the zebstrika and it landed exactly where it was supposed to. On Koto's head. Koto was sucked into the pokéball, and it was there he stayed. Zack ran as fast as he could and dove between the confused heracross and zebstrika. He slid across the ground, grabbing the pokéball that now contained a jolteon. Putting the pokéball on his belt and scrambling to his feet, Zack began to run.

Alright, everyone's safe for now, but what do I do? Zack contemplated. Those guys are hot on my heels. The sun is setting, could that help my getaway? I could take everyone out at once and have them do a combined attack on the pokémon. No, that would be to risky. Shelby and Cooper could barely do shit against them. He turned a corner around a large building. Damn! Dead End! Zack's heart was pounding. The zebstrika and heracross rounded the corner. His only option was to make a mad dash back towards the entrance of the alley and make an attempt to dodge the pursuing pokémon.

Zack was about to try his luck when something odd happened. The two pokémon stopped in their tracks. They looked confused. Then they started to darken? What on Earth? Zack was just as confused as they were. Suddenly they were thrown back into their trainers and they regained their color.

Zack looked all around him. A dark figure stood on the roof above him. "Dusk!" Zack saw what looked to be an umbreon jump into the air and fire a pulse of dark energy towards the assailants before landing back on the roof.. A cloud of smoke covered the entrance to the alley. "Come with me!" Zack heard shouted from the roof above him as a rope was tossed down to him. Well I guess I don't have time to waste, he thought as he began to climb the rope.

Zack reached the top of the building and heaved himself over the edge. He quickly stood up and looked over the edge into the alleyway. The dust was clearing and the attackers were gone. Zack turned and saw that dark figure walking away from him, the umbreon by his side. "Well, are you coming?" The figure asked, and then he leapt from the roof.

Zack was astonished. He ran to the edge where the man had jumped and looked over. It seemed like he had jumped into a thick tree not to far below the roof. Well, nothing ventured, nothing gained, Zack thought to himself as he took a leap of faith into the tree below.

~

Matthias stood in the middle of bright white room in one of the more secretive areas within the Epsilon hideout. Matthias was a rather gruff man. He was fairly tall and usually had some stubble on his chin. He was also a control freak. He did not like being in situations where he had no leverage over what was going on. That is what lead to his seeking of power. He wanted major things to happen, and he wanted to be in charge of them. Therefore, he was here, in a testing facility of team Epsilon working on the next thing that would change the world. In the white room with him were about a hundred pokémon, all strapped to tables and struggling to break free. They were all fire types. Matthias had always admired the beauty of fire. Not it's destructive nature, but the way it looks when it moves always gave him a good feeling.

"All right Kuzu, prepare to activate the E.R.T.I.S." Matthias said beginning to leave the room.

"Yes sir." The words echoed throughout the room from the intercom system. Matthias walked through the room's exit and into an adjacent room with a one way window into the previous room, joining Kuzu. Kuzu was fourteen years old and Matthias' head scientist and evil genius who had invented and overseen the creation of the E.R.T.I.S. He was incredibly smart wholly devoted to Matthias' cause.

"Do you think it will work?" Matthias asked the aspiring scientist.

"No telling. This will be the first test." The boy replied starting the timer. "All right, here we go. Energy Replacement and Transfusion of Induction System test number one is a go in t-minus five seconds." Kuzu said turning a key to power up the system and flipping open the glass case that covered the activation button. "Beginning." He said pushing the button.

Matthias stared intently through the window as a flat panel of glowing blue pure energy filled the top of the room. The wall of energy began to move downward towards the pokémon who were desperately trying to escape.

"No no, something's wrong." The young scientist said with annoyance.

Matthias turned to look at him with a quizzical look. "What do you mean? It looks to be working fine to me."

"No, the system is producing too much energy," explained the boy. "The energy wall will overpower the natural energy of the pokémon and we won't be able to absorb any. With that amount of power the pokémon in that room will be needlessly fried. We won't gain anything."

"Well turn it off." Matthias said urgently. It had taken his men forever to catch all the pokémon in the room.

"Sorry, no can do," Kuzu apologized. "Turning off the system mid cycle would cause a massive release of radiation and could fry all the equipment in the facility. Not to mention kill everyone."

Matthias' lack of control over the situation angered him. All he could do was sit and watch as the pokémon were disintegrated. Many of them cried out in agony as their skin melted. Before long, all movement stopped and the room was filled with nothing but ash and bone.

"Do not worry too much Matthias." Kuzu said reassuringly. "It is as they say. Nothing ventured, nothing gained."

~

Zack crashed through many limbs and branches on his way down. He could feel the edges of the branches scraping at his skin giving him hundreds of tiny cuts. He landed hard on a platform within the tree. Zack was dazed and almost fell over when he tried to stand up. Zack regained his composure and looked around. No one was there. What? I just watched him jump in here. The platform he was standing on was made of plywood and looked like it had been there for quite a while. This is a huge tree! Zack thought to himself taking another look around. He noticed a folded piece of paper in the middle of the platform. He walked over and picked it up. He unfolded it and realized it was a map of the Hoenn region. Upon closer inspection an area on the map was circled. Somewhere on the west coast of Hoenn and next to it the word cave was written. Hmm. Interesting. Zack refolded the paper and shoved it into his pocket. I'll deal with that later. Zack thought, more worried about the alleged 'murderer' that was strapped to his belt.

He started to look around for an easy way down from the tree and noticed a vine that hung low to ground from where he was. After he had descended, he walked around looking for a safe spot to rest. After a minute he found a dark spot behind another building and sat down breathing heavily. That was crazy. Alright I need to sort out our plans. He took out Kara's pokéball and opened it. Out came Kara.

"What's happening!" Kara shouted as soon as she appeared.

"Shh, we're all right, I think." Zack said not so courageously. He then took out another pokéball and out came Sam.

Sam took a look around. "Whoa! we're already in Rustboro! Come let's get to lookin for Koto." Sam noticed zack was out of breath and her expression became an annoyed one. "Alright, what'd I miss?"

Zack took out Nick so he could better understand Sam and Kara. After they finished getting Sam up to speed, Zack presented the pokéball that Koto resided in. "What is our next move?" Zack asked his companions.

"That's Koto!? Let him out. I wouldn't think he'd like being in there." Kara said impatiently.

Nick translated for Zack. "Well hold on now, I want how much you know about him, Kara. Words spread and I haven't heard good ones," Zack said.

Kara looked confused, "What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about things I've heard. I've been told me that he's murdered people," Zack explained. "We else would those man have been chasing him for?"

Kara was dismayed by this information. "No, Koto's a nice person! He wouldn't, kill anyone." Kara herself was becoming unsure, thinking of the scars on Koto's side.

Sam sat off to the side listening to the conversation. She didn't really have an opinion on him, as she had only met him once and very briefly. "Sounds to me like we should ask him."

"Maybe that would be best." Zack complied

"I hope so," Kara said.

"Alright I'm going to take him out," Zack said once again holding the pokéball. He opened and out came Koto, only he was passed out and once again bleeding non-stop from his shoulder. "Oh my gosh!" Zack shouted as he zapped Koto back into the pokéball.

"He needs a pokémon center!" Sam said urgently.

"No lets take him to Brant," Kara said. "He's my village doctor. He's really good."

"The pokémon center is much closer," Zack replied.

"Brant is much better," Kara said childishly.

"Alright we better get going." Zack said standing up and taking out their pokéballs. He sucked Nick, Sam and Kara into them and started running.

~

Koto was running, but he didn't where to. All of a sudden a room appeared right in front of him. He couldn't stop himself fast enough to not go into the room. He turned around and the entrance was gone. The room was a bright white. There wasn't anything in it. No openings or anything, but then, there was something. Their was a chair in the middle of the room. Sitting in the chair, was Koto's trainer, Sarah. She stared at him with a her bluish green eyes and gave Koto a soft warming smile like she always did. She slowly stood up and walked over to Koto. She got on her knees next to Koto and began to pet him behind his ears. Koto hadn't felt that sensation in years.

Koto laid there indulging in the gentle rub when Sarah spoke. "Koto, you've gained some scars since last I saw you."

Koto turned to look at his side where the scars resided. "Decisions were made, and they can't be changed," he said putting his head down and allowing Sarah to continue rubbing behind his ears.

"But Koto," Sarah began, "Where is Etzy?"

Koto's eyes widened, "What??" He turned to look at Sarah but she wasn't there. In her place was Matthias. In his right hand, he held a machete that was covered in blood. The room was now dim and concrete, and in the corner was Sarah. Her lifeless body covered in cuts and huge gashes that went deep into her vital organs.

Matthias began to speak, "Hello little runt. Did you miss me?" he asked menacingly, breaking out into a sharp toothed smile.

Koto backed away and closed his eyes. "No! You're s'pose to be dead!" When he reopened them the room was white again, and Sarah was still sitting in the same spot with a concerned look on her face. "Koto, the shadows are good," she said.

"What?" Koto responded confused.

"The shadows, are good," she repeated. "The shadows will save you."

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Thank you for reading chapter five! Just viewing this helps me stay motivated to continue writing. As always, have a great day!