FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Robin's steps were hurried and uneven as he made his way out of the school's front door. His club activities had ended long ago and with most of the school already gone home he felt more fearful than ever.

He wiped away the gathering sweat on his forehead with his lavender cloth and pushed his spectacles back into position. His heart was racing and his short legs trembled weakly with each step.

It'll be fine, he thought to himself. Lee wouldn't have stayed this late after school on his own even if he wanted to fight me. There's no soccer practice on Wednesday afternoons so him staying for sport isn't likely either. Despite the logical reassurance he gave himself, he made sure to try and get away from school as speedily as possible, nonetheless. His feet barely touched the stairs outside of the entrance as he made his way to the bottom and briskly moved toward the gate. The large quad between the school building's entrance and its main gate took what felt like an eternity to cross but the shocking surprise that stood waiting for him toward the end of his journey made his guts churn.

'Robin, my friend,' Lee Michaelson said with his brow furrowed in agitation. 'I was beginning to think you weren't going to make our appointment.' He removed his hands from his pockets and crossed them on his chest. 'You know that I hate it when people keep me waiting. We agreed to meet at three.'

'I never agreed to that,' Robin said weakly. It was his small rebellion.

Lee sauntered towards him, his uniform neat and tidy as it always was, a trick to lull others into thinking he was a proper student. The straight A bastard made a game out of manipulating them with his oozing confidence and his silver tongue. But there were a select handful of children in his class that knew that he had a terrifyingly cruel side. Robin hated the fact that he was one of those students.

'Well, you don't have to give your consent for me to kick your ass, now do you?' His irritation dissipated with that. The very thought of cornering his victim seemed to put a certain sadistic pep in his step. 'You've wasted a lot of my time, Robin. I think it's only fair that you endure a punishment that is directly proportional to the boredom I've had to put with by waiting here for you.'

He was right in front of Robin now, standing a head taller than him and beaming with a devilish grin. Robin clenched his sweaty fists. He wanted nothing more than to bravely fight back. But he was not a brave person and he hated fighting more than anything.

'Do we have to do this?' he asked with his eyes fixed on the ground. It took every inch of courage he had not to bolt away from his debonair oppressor. 'I don't want to fight you.'

'Who said anything about fighting? I'm going to pummel you in the dirt and you are going to take the beating like champ, alright. No rebelling, no pointless struggling..." Robin lost all will and ran back to the entrance of the school. "...and above all, no running," Lee finished.

Robin sped toward the doors as fast as his legs could carry him. He hardly noticed the blurred yellow figure dash past him until it changed course to intercept his path. Its sheer speed kicked up a cloud of dust, shrouding its form and sending a chill up Robin's spine.

As the airborne sand settled, more and more of the creature's silhouette became visible. It was a large lizard-like specimen standing on its hind legs and swinging its long tail from side to side. The reptile was a bright shade of yellow, but for its head and neck as well as the tip of its tail, which where black as jet. Orange bands stripped its tail and hind legs and spines of that same colour lined its lower neck like a collar.

'Try as you might, there's no running from a Heliolisk. Not unless you can match it at twenty metres per second, isn't that right, Gauge?' The Heliolisk cried out in agreement and in an instant it activated the muscles in its neck to prop open its collar, the orange spines now rimming the black frills to create a truly intimidating visage. Robin's mind was a haze of half thought out escape plans and prayers to Arceus for mercy.

'I heard that you got a Pokémon recently,' Lee continued. Bring it out and let's see which one is stronger! But I have to warn you, if you fail to give me a good show your beating will only be that much worse.'

'I don't want to fight you, Lee,' Robin screamed, his heart pulsing rapidly. 'I just want to go home. If you let me go I won't tell anyone about this, I swear.'

'Ha! People have tried to rat me out before, you know. No one believed that I could possibly as cruel as the barbarian they described to their parents and teachers. Needless to say, on both occasions I got off scot-free.'

'If more than one person was complaining about you, how could the headmaster overlook it?'

'I charmed them into thinking that I was the one being bullied. I said that those mean jerks were only lodging complaints as a sick way of torturing poor old me.' He began to laugh maniacally. Those fools ate it up so fast I hardly had time to enjoy the show. And when all the fuss had died down I made sure to pay those rats back ten times over.'

Robin panicked. He needed to keep him talking. If he could stall him then maybe somebody, anybody would find and help him.

'Why risk it?' He asked. 'If someone catches you here they'll know that the reports about you were true.'

'There's hardly anybody still at school, genius. You thought that if you hid in a classroom for long enough after your club ended that I would simply give up. But that's turned out to be big mistake, hasn't it? It only gave everyone else more time to leave and give us the privacy that we deserve. Now show me your Pokémon!'

Lee darted towards him. Robin turned and made to run but Lee's Heliolisk shot at him from behind and tripped him up with a light swipe of his tail. Despite extending his arms to break the fall, Robin's face was buried into the dirt. He attempted to get up but Lee planted his foot into his back and stomped him back down, brutally knocking the wind out of his chest in the collision.

'What are you waiting for, mister top achiever? I thought I told you to bring out your Pokémon!' He began to kick his back repeatedly. 'Where is it, huh? Where?' He started kicking Robin's chest now. In desperation Robin attempted to curl himself up into a ball but the barrage of blows to his chest connected every time. 'Where is it?' With each taunt he brought his foot crashing into Robin until finally he rolled away and brought himself to his feet. He pulled the Pokéball from his pocket and threw it out ahead of him. A scintillating light burst forth from the sphere and gathered into his only Pokémon.

The Sligoo raised its head and looked around in a state of confusion. She found her trainer behind her and happily slid towards him, utterly oblivious to the situation. As she crawled up to him and nuzzled his leg he realized that he had never used her for battle before. He hated fighting and although he had taught Violet some useful moves, he resolved not to use her for any sort of battle unless it was an emergency. The crass laughter coming from his opponent was a knife through his heart.

'That's your Pokémon?' Lee finally managed. 'There's no way that thing's going to give me the battle I'm looking for. Damn, Robin, now I'm going to have to beat you for real.'

'Violet,' Robin said, petting her head to get her attention. 'This guy is trying to hurt me. I need you to help me fight him.' The words were poison on his tongue. Dragging Violet into a fight was the last thing he wanted to do. But with the Heliolisk readying itself for combat, he saw no other choice. For Violet, however, no further words were necessary. She moved out to meet Heliolisk head on, hardly bothered with the idea of defending her master. He might have been proud of her had he not felt a dark dread wash over him like an angry torrent that threatened to pull him under and drown him if he did not fight it. He reached into his pocket and found his stash of chewing gum which he reserved only for when he was nervous. Without taking his eyes off the Heliolisk, he popped a stick into his mouth.

'I can't believe you're actually going to try and fight me.' Lee taunted. You'd have better luck catching Arceus! Let's tear this kid a new one, Gauge! '

The two Pokémon stood between them hardly moving, sizing each other up, no doubt. In that brief instant Robin felt his heart in his throat. Was he truly sending Violet out into a fight she couldn't win? No, he decided. He needed to shove thoughts of loss aside for her sake as well as his own.

'Now, Gauge, get close!' Lee called. And just like that the battle had begun.

Gauge bolted forward and swiftly ran right past Violet then altered his course to launch himself around her with blinding speed. Robin could barely keep his eyes on the Pokémon as it darted around his, continuously getting close enough to attack but changing direction at the last second. It's trying to lure me into an attack, he thought. I can't take the bait. We have to ride this out. Violet's gelatinous horns were twitching minutely, picking up the Heliolisk's movement through the changes in the air around her with her highly adept senses.

'Gauge, use Flash!' The Pokémon responded quickly to the call moving itself in front of Violet and spreading its frills. Violet was bathed in a blinding light issuing forth from collar but was hardly affected at all.

'Violet, Dragon Breath!' She drew her head back and generated a wondrous azure light in her mouth.

'Dodge it!' Lee commanded. Gauge sprang upwards to barely avoid the gust of burning blue air blown out by violet. 'I blinded you, dammit! How did you avoid my attack?'

Robin struggled to control his trembling body, chewing roughly on the gum. Of course he would never reveal that Sligoo's were actually blind and used their bodies' various other senses to detect their surroundings. He hardly had the time to think of Violet's next attack before the Heliolisk sprinted forward with his.

'Thunder wave, Gauge!' Lee commanded. The Pokémon obliged by spinning its body and sending energy to its tail. Rings of electricity burst forth and hit Violet, sending small jolts through her body and temporarily disrupting her nervous system. Lee chuckled with satisfaction. 'Let's see, what happens to a Pokémon's trainer while it's stuck with paralysis?' He signaled Gauge and the yellow devil sprinted past Violet only to slam his tail into Robin. The force of the blow sent him flying off of his feet. Violet desperately scrambled toward him with the tiny shocks still wreaking havoc with her movement but she was determined to reach him.

'Oh, isn't this just precious?' Lee mocked. 'Your trainer is too weak to help himself! He goes around trying to impress everybody with his good grades and his clean record but in the end he isn't worth shit! He can't do a thing to help himself and neither can you! Do hear me? You're both nothing!'

The taunts were daggers in Robin's back. He knew that Lee was targeting him for being the only one to beat him academically but he never realized that he'd held such a grudge. Violet seemed unfazed and determined. She slid her gelatinous body toward him, slipped between his legs and helped him sit up with her tiny arms. He could now see the tears welling in her devolved green eyes just as they were in his. Lee and Gauge swaggered slowly towards the two and the devious look on his face made Robin break out into a cold sweat. He rubbed Violet's head, careful to avoid her sensitive antennae. 'I'm sorry,' he whispered. 'I wasn't good enough as a trainer for you. I don't care what they do to me but I won't let them hurt you!' He held up her Pokéball, ready to return her to its safe confines but she clearly had other ideas. With a swift smack of one of her larger rear antennae, Violet knocked the Pokéball out of his hand. She waved her arms emphatically, still in a state of semi-paralysis but unwavering in her resolve. Grey clouds gathered from thin air and blocked the warmth of the sunlight. As Robin looked upward, a drop of cold, wet rain landed on his face and a heavy drizzle followed.

Rain dance, he thought. She's using Rain Dance. Upon contact with the water Violet's body emitted a spectacular light and soothing warmth emanated from within her. Robin sat wide eyed and mouth agape while her form changed in front of him. 'Violet, are you... evolving?' He asked. Her body's metamorphosis greatly increased her size and she appeared to be changing into something else altogether. And then, as quickly as the transcendent shower of light had appeared, it vanished leaving only the new and improved Violet in its wake.

Robin hardly noticed that he had not exhaled since her evolution had begun. Violet raised her head, standing taller than he ever did. She shook herself lightly and small sparks of electricity flared, indicating her recovery from the paralysis. Her snail-like appearance was no more. The body that replaced it was that of large bipedal dragon, still gooey as ever. She was a chubby thing, her thick inward curling tail swaying from side to side and the large rear antennae on her head drooping down to her shoulders. Her small front antennae twitched rapidly as they took in information of her surroundings. Robin stood to greet his Sliggoo who had now become an enigmatic Goodra.

'Hey, Violet,' he said. He could barely contain his excitement. 'How do feel?' Violet slowly opened her striking jade eyes to see for the very first time. They went wide as she surveyed the world, greatly intrigued by everything around her. Looking into her eyes sent a wave of heat through his body. He didn't have time to make sense of the peculiar sensation though.

'Now this is more like it!' Lee announced. 'A fully evolved dragon type should give us a proper challenge.' Hearing the voice of the person who was hurting her trainer lit a raging bonfire within Violet's chest. Robin could see her body trembling with anger.

'Let's go, Gauge! Thunderbolt!' Lee's Pokémon happily complied, sending a crackling arc of electrical energy surging toward both of them. Violet stepped in between Robin and the attack, wincing with pain as the as the powerful electricity permeated every cell of her body.

'Violet, no!' Robin screamed.

'GOOOODRAAAAAA!' She roared, shaking off the attack.

The bolt repelled off of her body and struck the ground a few metres away from them. 'Are you okay?' Robin asked. She gave him a small smile and then her frown returned as she turned to their attackers. She drew her head back, gathering masses of dragon energy into her gaping maw and dug her feet into the ground to steady herself.

'She's attacking us! Gauge, use Thunderbolt now!' Lee commanded realising the danger but by then it was already too late.

The Heliolisk's bolt thundered towards them. Violet's energy blasted outward in a radiant beam of red and blue, the tip of which bore the visage of a horrific dragon. The dragon parted its jaws to swallow the thunderbolt whole before careening towards Gauge and clamping them shut around him, the full force of the Dragon Pulse causing a devastating explosion.

Violet turned and hugged Robin tightly, tears running down her lavender cheeks. He embraced her in turn and the two stood glued together while plumes of smoke surrounded them in the aftermath of her destruction.