FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Hello all! I'm finally updating this one, it's been far too long hasn't it? Sorry it's been so long in development, this one ended up being longer than I expected. And at 6725 words, i believe it is my longest installment yet.

Any and all comments are appreciated, even if it's something as simple as a spelling error. Don't forget to fave, vote, and/or watch as well!

Hey, Felldewan you can finally read some more of my stuff!

***

"Ahhhh, it's good to be free, isn't it Bane?" said Mathias as he stretched in the morning sunshine just outside of the Rustboro Pokémon Center.

The Lucario turned around with a smirk on her muzzle and responded, "Yeah, it is good to be free, too bad I'm not. Hmmm, how to remedy this? Oh! I know! I forgot something in the forest, come with me to pick it up?"

Shaking his head and grinning Mathias replied, "Oh ha ha. Very funny. Look, if you ever do want to be free, just ask. I don't mind."

I swear he's too good for this world Bane sighed in Poké-speech before turning around and heading northeast out of Rustboro. Once Mathias' footfalls were audible behind her, she said "Just so you know, if you ever did need to journey through Petalburg Woods again, the twins would let you. You have passed the test after all."

"That's...good to know actually. What did you say to yourself in Pokémon though? And why are we heading northeast, Joy said the airport is just north of town."

"I didn't say anything."

"So I guess 'Lucario Lu Car Rio Lucar' is what you actually said under your breath?"

"Fine, you got me. I said I need to get some training in before we get on the airplane." Bane replied smoothly. "I haven't had any good exercise since I rescued you. I didn't want to make you have to wait for me to do anything you know."

"You could have gone and trained any time these past four days. Those were all just physical therapy making sure everything was working properly."

"Yeah, but I wanted to be there just in case you needed me. You yourself said it was pretty painful when you first started it. You did suffer some fourth degree burns, whatever that means."

"Joy was there the entire time during the physical therapy. And fourth degree burns are the worst kind of burn you can get I think. It means the bone and or the muscle beneath the skin was burned as well. That physical therapy had me doing stretches and exercises I've never done before though. Never had to really work my sides before."

"So that's why you were allowed to walk around before the physical therapy started. You weren't hurt too badly anywhere serious."

"It was serious, my eyes melted after all. I'm also lucky enough that I heal at several times the normal human rate. Also, don't forget that you had to half-carry me half the time I was allowed outside. That and that Chansey kept her backhand ready in case I decided to go too far or too fast. One does not simply ignore the warnings of a Chansey trained in the way of the backhand."

Bane, who giggled at the mere mention of the slap-happy Pokémon, doubled over laughing at "trained in the way of the backhand."

It was several minutes before she was composed enough to say "Tha-ha, that was, haha, great! Whe-hehe, where did you come up with that? 'Trained in the way of the backhand!' whooo hahahahahah!"

Mathias watched with a smile on his face while his friend broke into a new fit of laughter. Once she had calmed herself down a bit more he said "I don't know, the first half of that sentence feels familiar, like it's a quote or something, but I obviously can't remember what. As for the second half, it just came to me. Now, training. What exactly does that mean for you?"

Bane took a deep breath and with a grand sweep of her paw towards the surrounding woodlands said "Speed. I need to be as fast as possible. If my opponent can't catch me, I won't lose to him. As for what my training will be, that depends on what is nearby. If there are enough rocks of the right size, I'm going to have you throw them at me as fast as you can."

With that, the Lucario began to investigate the immediate area. She looked between roots for rocks, in the trees for pinecones and on the ground for decently sized fallen branches. After about five minutes of looking, she had amassed a small pile of rocks and sticks. "Hmm, not enough even for a warm up. What to do, what to do" mused Bane.

"Here, let's just-" Bane began before she was interrupted by an unfamiliar voice.

"Hey!" the voice said, it was definitely male, but rather high for one. "You a trainer too, huh? How about a match! I've never beaten a Lucario before, should be fun!"

Bane and Mathias turned as one to face the newcomer and, upon seeing him, Bane groaned audibly. There was no other way to put it, the voice belonged to a child. He seemed to have only just entered his teens, he had black eyes and dark black hair. For some reason, he was wearing a suit and tie as he traipsed across the countryside. He had a smug smile on his face and a Pokéball in his hand.

"So," he said as he stopped across from Mathias, "what do ya say? Yes? Or no?"

"Umm-"

"Do it" Bane hissed. "I can take this guy, I watched him face someone else from your window while you were out. He knows nothing about battling Pokémon. All he does is tell his Pokémon to hit hard, that's it. Just tell him it's a one on one match. Me versus any Pokémon of his he wants, and that's it."

"Fine," Mathias answered, relaying Bane's stipulation and adding, "It wouldn't be very fair if you could throw half a dozen fighters at her, would it?"

"Hmmm, I'll accept your condition if you accept one of my own. We each go "all in" as they say. You are, after all changing the name of the game. Until you had a condition it was just a game, now it is a competitive match. The stakes are higher in a competitive match." The kid said with a smirk.

"All in, I can do that. Only have enough for a one way ticket to Kanto anyways." Mathias replied with a shake of his head. "Even if we lose, it still won't be that big of a setback."

Bane shook her head and grumbled "You really need to work on your oral skills. If you hadn't said anything you would have gotten away with it, but now? No"

At Mathias' proclamation, the rich kid stood and gaped like a fish for a couple seconds before frowning. Finally he said, "Fine, I'll take the money, but empty your bags. You have to have something worth my time in there."

Opening his bag with a groan Mathias retrieved his emerald from his bag and said "Here, this good enough for you?"

In response his opponent pulled a Pokéball from his belt and yelled "Go Ninetales! Burn that dog to a crisp!"

As the red and white capsule returned to its owner's hand, a large quadruped materialized out of the red light. The first thing Mathias noted was its color. Its fur was a lustrous silver color. The next thing he noticed was that it was a fox, a fox with piercing red eyes and nine long tails, a fluffy crest on the top of its head, a thick mane and blue fur on the tips of its tails. At just about three and a half feet tall, the creature was only just a few inches shorter than Bane, not counting her ears.

Mathias sighed and whispered "I hope you know what you are doing. That thing looks powerful and I really, really can't afford to lose that rock."

Bane snorted and said "If you knew how to use your tongue correctly, you wouldn't be in this mess. Besides, like I said I can handle this clown."

With a devilish grin on his face, Ninetales' trainer shouted "Let's finish this quickly, use Fire blast!" The Ninetales took a deep breath and unleashed a torrent of fire in a shape similar to an asterisk.

Bane merely smiled and said in Mathias' head "Dance."

"Dance?" Mathias replied, confused. Before he could blink however, Bane had disappeared, the fire whooshing by Mathias and nearly singing his hair. In an instant, Bane appeared by her opponent's side, giving him a swift punch that made her glow slightly for a second.

"Again" the kid demanded. "It can't dodge all of your attacks."

Unfortunately for him though, it appeared as if she could. Bane dodged and weaved, jumped and ducked, flipped and rolled; avoiding his Flamethrowers, Incinerates, and Fire Blasts with apparent ease all while delivering quick, light punches that made her glow briefly each time she struck.

The rich kid was growing angrier by the second, his yells becoming louder and, if it was possible, his commands becoming even less strategic. Not only was his Pokémon incapable of landing even a single blow, but Bane seemed to be toying with them. Finally, with his face the same color as a cherry, he shouted at the top of his lungs, "Fuck it! Use Overheat! There's no way the damn thing can dodge that one!"

The Ninetales glowed bright red for half a second before literally exploding in fire, wave after wave of searing heat and roaring flames pouring from his body. Bane however, merely smiled and disappeared like she had at the beginning of the fight. As the flames cleared, Bane was nowhere to be seen and the Ninetales looked exhausted.

"Where the hell is it!!!!" the rich kid roared at Mathias. He received his answer soon enough as all of a sudden a blue, black, and cream colored blur shot out of the sky straight at his Pokémon. Before he could comprehend what was happening, Bane landed on the dumbstruck fox foot first, delivering a kick that sent it flying twenty feet away to land in a heap on the floor and cease moving.

Both Mathias and his opponent stared dumbstruck as Bane calmly brushed a few specks of dirt off of her fur, not even bothering to look at the silver fox. The poor fox's trainer growled something under his breath and threw a wad of cash at Mathias' feet.

As he straightened up, he saw Bane grinning wildly. "What did you do?" Mathias asked incredulously as they walked back towards Rustboro.

"Oh, nothing too extreme." Bane said in an offhand manner. "I used Power Up Punch several times until my High Jump Kick would be strong enough to land the finishing hit. Lucky for me, that idiot of a trainer-"

She broke off as a dull thud reached their ears along with the words "Stupid fox! Can't even 'thud' win 'thud' a 'thud' match 'thud' against 'thud' a 'thud' Pokémon 'thud' you 'thud' have a TYPE ADVANTAGAE against!!!" The final outburst was followed by several more thuds, a sickening crack, and a single loud whimper.

Glancing sideways, Mathias saw that Bane was livid with anger. Her jaw was clenched, her paws balled into fists, her entire body tense and her eyes staring so intently that Mathias was afraid she would actually let loose some sort of fire attack from them.

As she made to turn around, Mathias grabbed her arm. Suddenly she focused her wrath upon him, glaring at him and shouting inside his head so loudly that he winced. "What?!? Are you just going to sit there and let him do that?!? The damn thing doesn't have anything left in it after I finished with it! This can't be the first time either! I'm going to kill him!"

"Bane" Mathias began.

"KILL HIM!"

"Bane!" Mathias growled in her ear.

"What?!?"

"Hang on for just one second, OK? I have an idea. I'm letting go of your arm now, don't do anything stupid."

He slowly let go of her arm. Bane, still livid, yanked it out of his grasp but otherwise did nothing. Nodding, Mathias pulled his Pokédex out of his pocket and began pushing buttons.

"What good are you going to do with that stupid thing?" Bane growled.

"If you let me figure this thing out I will, aha! Got it!" he murmured as he pushed two final buttons and the red rectangle began to ring.

A second later and there was a soft click and a female voice came from the Pokédex and said "911, what's your emergency?"

"Hi," Mathias whispered, "I just saw a man beating a Pokémon that was recently defeated in a battle. I am northeast of Rustboro."

There was another sickening crack, though this time there was no yip. Mathias shook with suppressed anger. "Hurry!" he said through clenched teeth "Two bones at least have been broken and the Ninetales appears to be unconscious."

After a second's pause the voice said "Alright sir, Officer Jenny is on the way." If anything else was said, Mathias didn't hear it as he thrust the 'Dex into Bane's paws, growled "Hold this, I'm going to keep him from doing any more damage" and slowly marched towards the unconscious fox, glowering at his fallen opponent with his jaw set.

The kid did not stop kicking his Pokémon, taking no notice of Mathias' advance until, finally, Mathias stepped up behind him and caught his leg as he prepared another kick. "What do you want?" He growled. "I already gave you all of my money. Father's going to be pissed enough as it is, I can't give you anything else."

"All I want" Mathias said through gritted teeth, "Is for you to stop beating your Pokémon. It's unconscious. What do you expect to accomplish by kicking it now?"

Mathias wasn't sure how he expected the kid to respond, maybe with a laugh or with a snort of derision. He definitely didn't expect a fist to fly towards his face. Though, fly seemed to be giving it more power than was warranted. His fist seemed to be moving in slow motion, in fact, everything seemed to be moving in slow motion. Bird calls were long and drawn out, the leaves seemed to dance at half speed and the kid seemed to take five seconds between breaths.

Slowly and calmly, Mathias brought his own hand up and caught his opponent's fist. Instantly everything went back to normal speed. Birds sang in half second calls, the leaves danced properly, and the kid's chest heaved rapidly.

Mathias had no time to process this however, as once again everything moved in slow motion while the kid dropped his other hand towards his belt. Once again, Mathias caught his opponent's hand with his own by simply slowly reaching out and grabbing it.

"What. The. Hell." The kid growled. "I barely started moving and your hand shot like a bullet and caught my arm. What do you do, fight your own-"

Before he could finish his sentence, both he and Mathias were struck by a yellow wave of crackling energy that caused them both to freeze up and fall to the ground.

"Nice shot Manectric!"

"Tric!"

At the sight of the Thunderwave attack, Bane placed herself between the newcomers and Mathias and growled at them. The trainer, a woman with blue hair wearing blue clothes and a blue hat, looked at her without a trace of fear or apprehension and said "Do you belong to the man who called in the disturbance?"

Bane tensed, still growling and said "Yes. He is the one keeping the other from using more Pokémon. Why did you have to attack him too?"

Officer Jenny pat the head of her Pokémon, a five foot tall blue furred canine with yellow "bracelets," a yellow "helmet," and yellow haunches, and said "Because he couldn't follow directions. The operator told him not to engage or I would be forced to paralyze both of them."

"Couldn't you see that he was keeping the other one in check?"

"I can't exactly gamble on this, can I? If he was the one trying to use Pokémon and I paralyzed him, the suspect would have been able to bring out one of his own, wouldn't he? In order to protect myself, I had to paralyze them both."

"Bane..." grunted a voice from the floor.

Looking down, Bane nearly jumped out of her fur. Struggling to stand was Mathias. He moved slowly and laboriously, as though every flex of his muscles required a great effort. Once he was halfway up, his movements suddenly became much quicker and much more fluid, though they were still slower than normal.

"Bane," he repeated. "Don't be mad at her, I did exactly what I told you not to do."

"Never mind that," Bane gasped "How are you standing?"

Shaking his head, Manectric growled and dropped into a fighting stance only to be bopped on the nose by Officer Jenny.

"Enough." She barked. "I don't know what's going on here, but he is the one who called it in. He's on our side. For now."

After watching this exchange, Mathias looked to Bane and said "What? What'd I do?"

Bane chuckled, shook her head slowly and said "Humans are supposed to be completely paralyzed by Pokémon moves. They aren't supposed to be able to stand until the effects wear off. Only Pokémon are able to fight through paralyzation. So basically, you are doing the impossible right now."

As Officer Jenny handcuffed the kid she said "Mathias, I'm going to have to ask you to stay in town for a while. You and this Ninetales here are going to be key witnesses in the case against this man."

"Well" he sighed "I guess that's OK. I got-" All of a sudden his muscles refused to obey his instructions, slowly letting him fall towards Bane. Bane, who was watching Officer Jenny check the Ninetales' injuries, didn't notice him falling until he collapsed on her full force.

"I know I'm cute and fluffy, but that doesn't mean you get to use me as a pillow." Bane growled from beneath her trainer. She rolled out from under him and began rummaging around in his bag, looking for the curatives Nurse Joy had given him when he started.

With a great "Aha!" she sprayed a yellow medicine right in Mathias' face. Within moments he was standing up and muttering thanks before looking back at Officer Jenny.

Jenny, now placing the Ninetales back inside his Pokéball, said over her shoulder "If you would like, I could book you a place to stay until the court hearing. It won't be a nice place, but it'll be cheap. We like to make sure witnesses are as able to appear in court as possible. If you had little money we would provide some food as well, but I think you got that covered."

Mathias looked at Bane who merely shrugged her indifference. "I think we will take you up on that. It's easier than trying to find a place on our own."

With the kid over her shoulder and Manectric following close behind with the kid's Pokéball belt in his teeth, Officer Jenny said "Alright. Follow me to the precinct and we will get it all sorted out."

"Well, here we are" Mathias said as he tossed his bag onto the sofa just inside his new apartment.

"It feels...cramped" Bane said looking through the entryway, past the loveseat sofa and twenty four inch TV into the dining room that barely accommodated the table inside it.

"How long did you say we were going to be stuck here?" She asked as she explored.

"Officer Jenny said it could be up to a month, but that she would tell us once the date was fixed. Why?" Mathias answered as he examined the bedroom.

The room contained a double bed pushed all the way into the corner, one small window set in the wall opposite the door, a tiny walk in closet, a nightstand between the closet and the bed, and just enough room for someone to sleep on the floor next to the bed.

"What, you don't want to get out of here? After all, how long have we been stuck here in Rustboro? Also it is your journey we are on, how can you not want to know when we will be able to leave?"

"Sure I want to get on with it, but if you think about it this gives us a prime opportunity."

"You know you don't need any prime opportunities with me."

"Did you really just say that?"

"Yeah, that one sounded better in my head. Anyways, what's the opportunity?"

"The opportunity" Mathias said with a smile "is for you to teach me everything I need to know in order to be a proper Trainer. Sound good?"

There was a loud echoing bark from the bathroom as Bane replied "Sounds like a plan to me. At the very least I want you to understand the reasons why I lost when I do lose."

Officer Jenny and Manectric payed them a visit a couple days later. It turns out that the local judge couldn't preside over their case for another four weeks. So Bane set about educating Mathias in everything he could possibly need to know about Pokémon battling.

First and foremost, she taught him about types and their matchups. She made especially sure to point out that against a trainer who actually knew what he was doing, she would never have been able to defeat a Fire Type. Once he had a decent grasp of types, she used the Pokédex's encyclopedia function to teach him about as many different moves as she could.

For the first half of the month, she trained on her own, quizzing Mathias on whatever subject she happened to be teaching him at that time as she trained. After two weeks however, she decided to have a little fun.

"Today we are going to do things a little differently." She said with a grin as they entered the clearing in Petalburg Woods they used for their training.

The clearing was large and spacious, the trees surrounding it in a nearly perfect oval shape. There were very few leaves left in the middle of the clearing as Bane had once ordered Mathias, on pain of having to cook mashed potatoes, to prove to her that he knew how to start a fire. He started a fire easily enough, but Bane was so excited for potatoes for the rest of the day that Mathias ended up cooking enough for her to have only mashed potatoes for dinner regardless.

Bane, with a spring in her step and a wag in her tail led her trainer to the center of the clearing and said, "Today, you are going to spar with me."

"Wai-wha?" Mathias spluttered, looking at her wide eyed with his mouth hanging open.

"Not only that, but I'm going to keep asking questions while we spar. Train both the mind and the body at the same time."

Mathias shook his head and said "You don't honestly expect me to be able to keep up with you do you?"

Bane giggled and said "No, not right at first. Though I do expect you to be able to stand up to me eventually."

She walked up to him and said "First though, I need to make sure you know how to stand. Show me your fighting stance."

Mathias did as instructed only to be smacked on the back of the head. "Ow! What was that for?"

"Bend your knees more and widen your stance. You are too easy to knock down. There you go."

Her red eyes locked onto his green ones. "Ready?" she asked.

In response Mathias made a quick jab with his left only to find that Bane had disappeared. He was able to follow her after image for a split second before he found himself face down in the dirt with her kneeling on top of him.

"We are sparring," she growled in his ear. "Not fighting like a couple of strays over some old bread. We bow to each other before each fight. Understood?"

"Yes ma'am." Mathias wheezed

"Good. Now stand up."

As he did so Bane continued, "I used a move just now. A move called Extreme Speed. It allows me to move at, go figure, extreme speeds. Normally, I won't use a move while sparring with you, but I needed to teach you a lesson. Now, are you ready?"

This time, Mathias assumed his fighting stance and nodded, only to be smacked across the face. "What'd I do this time?" he groaned.

"We bow, then we take up our stances."

Nodding once again, Mathias waited for Bane to make the first move. As she began to bow, so did he, making sure to maintain eye contact the entire time.

Bane smiled as she dropped into her stance and said "Heh. Good job. Always look your opponent in the eye. Now, name all the types that Fighting is Super Effective against."

Mathias crossed his eyes and stuck his tongue out in concentration. "Ste-" he began before getting punched in the stomach by Bane.

"Focus." She said "You need to be able to respond without thinking. Ready?"

And so they continued. More often than not, Mathias would get hit while searching for the answer to a question, though he did manage to answer a couple questions quickly enough to dodge a punch.

For two whole weeks they trained twice a day for two hours. Once he had his memorization work down, the sparring matches became much more even. Bane was still so much better than he that he never came close to defeating her, though he did manage to land a few hits the last couple of rounds.

Finally the day of the trial arrived, and with it one problem that neither man nor Pokémon expected.

"Bane! Get in the water!" Mathias growled.

"No!" Bane barked back.

Mathias was attempting to carry Bane through the doorway and into the pink tiled bathroom, inside of which a full bath and a bottle of specially formulated Lucario shampoo were waiting. Bane, with her superior strength, was using the doorway to pull herself out over Mathias' shoulder, her feet dangling in midair.

"I told you last week you were going to have to take a bath for court. You look like some mutt off the street."

"I AM some mutt off the street! I lived in the woods for years! Besides, I didn't think you were serious!"

Mathias nearly dropped Bane as he paused momentarily before saying, "Since when have I ever not been serious?"

"Hmm, let me think." Bane grunted. "Oh I know! Just now when you said you had a 'special surprise' waiting for me."

"I did have a surprise for you, didn't I? You were even so excited you leapt into my arms and demanded that I carry you to it."

At that, Bane's jaw dropped and she fell limp in Mathias' arms. Mathias, not wanting to waste what was probably going to be his only opportunity, dashed inside and dumped Bane in the warm water before promptly turning around, shutting, and locking the bathroom door.

Glaring at him and dripping with water, the Lucario said "Well, I guess I did ask for it this time. But never again will you get me anywhere near a bath."

"I can't promise never, but I can say this. I won't make you take a bath unless it is absolutely necessary." Mathias said as he splashed water on Bane to make sure she was thoroughly soaked.

"And what exactly does necessary mean?" Bane hissed.

"It means if our looks will actually matter you are taking a bath. Otherwise, you don't have to."

"When do looks matter?" Bane asked, grimacing as Mathias splashed water on her face.

"Well, they matter in court. If we showed up looking like you did the judge and jury might not take us seriously. They might assume that we were trying to win money off of the kid because it seemed easy. At least at first, once the evidence came in they might think differently but still, we need to look our best in court."

Bane cocked her head and closed her eyes while Mathias, now satisfied with how much water was in her fur, began lathering shampoo onto his palm.

"I guess that makes sense." Bane said, slowly opening her eyes again. "Seems stupid to me to judge off of appearances, but humans can be strange. Like your fascination with soap."

Mathias grinned. "You mean this stuff?" he said as he began rubbing soap right between Bane's ears.

Bane squinted at him and growled "Yes, that."

"Might want to close your eyes." Mathias said softly. "Soap can sting."

Bane instantly squeezed her eyes shut. "Thanks," she whispered.

"Lucky for you," Mathias began as he moved on to her ears themselves "you won't be walking around smelling like flowers. The lady at the store said that the unscented shampoo actually works best at getting your fur clean."

"Hmph." Bane grunted. "So it was either feel cleaner or smell cleaner? Not sure which one I prefer."

Mathias, now sudzing up her nose and face, chuckled and said "If you want, I could buy one of the scented ones and we can find out."

Bane's face scrunched up into a snarl and her eyes flew open, only for them to snap shut again as she cried out in pain.

"I knew this was a bad idea!" She roared.

"Bane, don't" Mathias began, but it was too late. She was already pawing at her eyes trying to clean them out.

"Rraaagh!"

"Bane, stop. Bane! Stop!" but Mathias' pleas fell on deaf ears. Frustrated, he slapped her across the face and miraculously she stopped moving.

"What was-" she began.

"Stop." Mathias said quietly. "Let me help."

"Hold your breath and keep your eyes closed until I tell you to," he said as he gently placed his hand on the back of her head and lowered her beneath the water to rinse off the soap.

Once the soap was out of her fur, Mathias turned the faucet on very low and cupped some water in his palm. Quickly bringing the water to her eye he said "Blink your eyes as fast as you can in the water." It took a few tries, but finally Bane's eyes were shampoo-free.

After that incident, she did nothing unless instructed to. The only other hiccough arose when it came time to wash her private areas. After much stammering on Mathias' part and a coy smile or two on hers, Mathias gave her the bottle of shampoo and left her to wash herself.

Once she was clean, Mathias used his shiny new Magmortar brand hand fur drier to dry her fur and make it poof out to seemingly twice her normal size.

"My ears look ridiculous. When did you buy all this stuff anyway?" Bane said while examining herself as best she could in the mirror above the sink.

"You were there with me. I bought it all the same time we bought groceries. You were busy salivating over some sweet or another when I spoke with the saleslady."

"So you tricked me."

"I didn't trick you, you distracted yourself. Besides, I enjoy seeing you look like a...a poodle."

Bane's ears perked as she cocked her head, "A what?" She asked.

Mathias shook his head as he began brushing Bane's fur down. "A poodle? I figured you would know what that is. It feels like it fits but I can't for the life of me picture one of them."

Bane almost shook her head but stopped herself at the last moment, she didn't want to cause herself anymore unnecessary pain. "I've never heard of a 'poodle' before, I would have said I look like a Furfrou. Canine Pokémon, white fur. Humans like to trim their fur into different styles."

"Let's just chalk this up to another mystery and get back to making you at least somewhat presentable."

"I can present just fine, thank you very much."

"Shut up and work with me here. I still need to get myself ready."

"I can work you-"

"Shut. Up."

Two hours later and Mathias strode out of the bathroom with his hair slicked back, his face clean shaven, and wearing black pants with a white button down shirt. Bane, who was now examining her reflection in the TV looked over at the sound of the bathroom door opening.

"I can see how this makes us look more, uh, more"

"Professional?" Mathias supplied.

"Yeah, more professional."

"Well, we still have plenty of time before we have to appear for the trial. Good thing you have been waking me up at the crack of dawn for training every day. I didn't think your bath was going to take that long."

"If your amnesia wasn't such a serious thing, I would make a joke about your idiocy. As it stands, now you know. Washing fur is not something that is done very quickly. Or easily. Or with my cooperation." Bane said with a smile.

As Mathias locked the door behind them Bane asked, "So how long is this court thing going to take anyways?"

Turning onto the sidewalk Mathias grimaced and muttered, "It could take all day or even longer."

"All day?!?" Bane balked. "But, why?"

"Because that's how long the government takes to do something."

Fortunately, theirs was the first case of the day. As Mathias and Bane took their seats, Mathias having convinced Officer Jenny of the importance of Bane's testimony as well as his own, saw an extremely disgruntled older gentleman glare at them.

This gentleman had the same black hair and black eyes as the young man the two had defeated one month ago. His blue suit was in immaculate condition despite his agitation and his jaw unclenched only long enough for him to mumble something to the person on the other side of him. Once he had done so, the same youth whose violence had started everything leaned forward, looked at Mathias, and nodded his head solemnly.

For the rest of the time until the judge entered the courtroom, the man neither said anything nor looked in Mathias' direction again. Once the proceedings began, however, his eyes never seemed to leave Mathias' face.

Things went well enough. Mathias' and Bane's testimonies very obviously swayed the jury. When the defense questioned Mathias things became interesting.

"Your honor," the defense's lawyer called "I would like to have this man's and his Pokémon's testimony corroborated by a Psychic type Pokémon."

The judge sighed and said "Do you mind having a Psychic type Pokémon looking through your head, son? It's not shameful to say no, most people can't cope with a Psychic type looking through their mind."

Grinning Mathias said "I don't mind. I've had one in my head before now, it wasn't that big a deal."

The judge raised an eyebrow but only said "In that case the court will take a five minute recess as we acquire the services of a licensed Psychic Pokémon."

When Mathias reentered to the courtroom, he was greeted with the sight of an extremely tall bird standing in front of the witness stand. The bird was nearly five feet tall and was covered primarily in green feathers. Its wings were white with red and black tips while its feet were red with two white toes, one in front and one in back. Its eyes were almond shaped and it had two red crests on the back of its head.

As Mathias took his seat at the stand once more, the bird turned and stared at him unblinkingly. The two stared at each other while the rest of the courtroom filed in. Finally the judge called for order.

He looked at Mathias and said "This here is Xatu. He is going to look into your head and convey what he finds to myself and the jury. Don't worry, he will only tell us things that relate to the case at hand."

Without waiting for any sign of acknowledgment, Xatu began digging through Mathias' head. Mathias, remembering the words of the Alakazam from Dewford Isle, decided to 'walk' Xatu through his memories in order to speed up the process and lessen the pain.

After several minutes a misty voice in his head declared "Thou hast been analyzed. Thou may return to thine seat." Mathias raised an eyebrow at the green bird standing before him. The bird merely nodded as way of affirmation.

As Mathias returned to his seat the judge proclaimed "Now that a Psychic Type is here, we will be reviewing the testimony of all of the other witnesses as well as the defendant."

For nearly half an hour, the Pokémon read the minds of everyone who had appeared as a witness. When the rich kid took the stand, Xatu glared at him and squawked loudly. The kid groaned in pain and held his forehead in his hands.

Finally, the interviews ended with the Ninetales. The Ninetales hunched over and hung his head as if in fear as Xatu began to simply float out of the courtroom. As the bird reached the door, the Ninetales gave a high pitched yip and said something in rapid fire Pokéspeach. Xatu gave a slight nod and left the room, using its psychic powers to open the door in front of it.

Afterwards, the jury retired to debate amongst themselves. They returned not five minutes later and delivered a unanimous vote of "guilty."

With a bang of his gavel, the judge declared "This court finds the defendant guilty as charged. His trainer's license is hereby revoked. His Pokémon shall be put up for adoption. Furthermore, he shall be expected to pay a fine of twenty thousand dollars payable to any Pokémon Center in retribution for the unnecessary treatments given to his Pokémon."

Glancing at Mathias he continued "Additionally, if he is willing to accept him the Ninetales whose abuse started this whole case would like to accompany Mr. Shaw on his journeys."

Mathias and Bane sat up straight, blinked, and looked at each other at this. "I see no reason not to take him." Bane said quietly.

"I'll take him." Mathias announced. The Ninetales, who had been making himself as small as possible up until this point, gave an extremely excited yip and bounded over to Mathias' seat with all nine tails wagging furiously. When he reached Mathias, the excited fox jumped onto his new Trainer's lap and began frantically nuzzling and licking his face.

"In that case," the judge said with a smile, "Court is adjourned."

As Mathias opened the door to the tiny apartment he was soon to leave, the Ninetales bounded inside and began eagerly sniffing everything in sight.

"He acts like a dog" observed Bane.

"I don't really care if I have one dog or two." Mathias said in her ear. Straightening up he said "So, do you have a name of your own or do I need to give you one? And yes I know that Pokémon have names that they use amongst themselves only, that's what I'm looking for."

The large fox stopped his examination of the fridge, slowly walked over to Mathias and said softly "My name is Xedot."

"Zee-doe, got it. Um, how do you spell that?" Mathias said.

Both Xedot and Bane gasped, looked at eachother, and then at Mathias.

"What?" he finally asked.

"Well," Xedot began softly, "it's just that you understood me."

Bane meanwhile, punched Mathias in the gut and said "How come you've been pretending like you can't understand Pokéspeak?"

"Umm, one more mystery to be solved? I don't know why I can understand you now but couldn't before, Xedot. And Bane, I couldn't understand a word of what Xedot here said until just now or what Officer Jenny's Manectric said at all so don't go blaming me."

Bane merely shook her head, grabbed bother her human and her new fox friend and said "Well, at least tomorrow we finally get to leave Rustboro. We are going to the airport first thing in the morning so make sure to get to bed early."

***

Soooo, we have some new insight into our hero :D

What does it all mean? What is going to happen next? Stay tuned for I shall release the next chapter much quicker than I released this one!