FSE

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The sun was starting to disappear behind the hills as Quox kept his position on top of the wooden wall. Tall logs that had been chopped from the surrounding forest had been erected and tied together to form a thick barricade to protect the mon inside from, well, everything. Bandits, thieves, ferals, you named it and any mon in the village of Bracketsbur would state that their wall would protect them from it. Even better was... well, Quox himself. The Zoroark grinned down from his position and looked upon the forest floor. There were no real threats at the moment, in fact, there never were any threats.

Ever since the wall had been constructed near fifteen years ago the various disasters the village had experienced had drastically decreased. It was why so many mon supported Euron to continue to hold the position of mayor. Hell, even Quox supported Euron. Of course, the mayor was out at the moment, so Quox found himself just slacking ever so lightly on his duties. He instead wanted to have some fun, such as with how he had conjured up a duplicate of himself that stood just a few feet to the left. So far, the other guards had no inkling of what he had done, and that was why this would be fun.

Coming his way was Bastian. Bastian was quite the tight ass among the guards, and for good reason. His grandfather had organized the very first team of guards to protect Bracketsbur back before they even thought of making a wall. His whole family had taken up various leadership positions among the guard, and Bastian was just the latest in taking the head position for himself. It was well known to everyone that Bastian's father had basically browbeat him into accepting the position. It was just their family's tradition. Still... he could be an ass, and that was why Quox was more than eager to pull off his trick.

"Quox, what's the status-" As the Hitmonchan reached out to grab the Zoroark, the illusion faded away.

"BOO!" Quox screamed out from right behind the fighter. Bastian let out a shriek of fright as he twisted about, wasting no time in throwing out a fist that smacked Quox right in the snout. The Zoroark fell back, but continued to laugh despite the massive amount of pain the punch had imparted onto him. "I GOT YOU GOOD!" Quox crackled out amid his laughter.

Bastian huffed a bit to calm himself, then quickly narrowed his eyes in rage, "You idiot! You have a job to be doing!" He spat out. "We don't pay you to play these silly games of yours!"

Quox frowned at that, tapping his fingers together, "I'm sorry. I thought it was fun..."

Bastian fell silent, then let out a weak sigh, "Just... get up, Quox. Get back to your post." He muttered as he walked away.

Quox hopped back to his feet, watching with disgust as Bastian walked on off, "Can't even take a joke." He murmured under his breath.

"Perhaps if you were more.. tame with them, he would have a greater appreciation for them?" Sibello had walked over to Quox's spot and smiled weakly at the Zoroark, "Do not take it personally."

Quox sorted and crossed his arms as he frowned at the Mienshao, "Guy has a stick up his ass. That's what's personal."

The fighter looked out into the forest, "Perhaps. But it is his stick, and he's had it for some time. Euron will be gone for a few weeks, you know, and during that whole time Bastian will have more responsibilities to bear." She closed her eyes, "I fear that it will be too much for him to handle. He always enjoys stacking more responsibilities upon his shoulders. I have already reached out to try and unburden him a tad, but he would not allow me."

"Guy thinks he's so damn perfect." Quox commented. "He has to be just like his grandfather, or some shit like that."

Sibello sighed, "And that, in the end, will kill any passion he has for this job."

Quox fell silent, "Soooo... has Tir come back yet?"

Sibello sighed once more, "No, he has not. He claimed that he was going to check on some disturbance, but he has not yet returned."

"Bandits?" Quox asked.

"No." Sibello shook her head, "It sounded more like ferals. More than likely a merchant that decided to push ahead without the rest of his group, and fell prey to a pack. It seems no matter how many warnings we set up, they always perform such behavior."

"Yeah, mon can be stupid at times. Liiiike." Quox gestured off behind him. Sibello turned, chuckling as she saw Cello and Sarkos disappearing behind a building. "See?" Quox asked. "They think that no one knows. The whole entire bloody village knows." He shook his head a bit, "I swear, those two are way too horny for each other."

"Quox!" Sibello cried out in playful shock. She lightly tapped the Zoroark on his shoulder, "We were all like that at some point. I say the kids should have fun before they grow up." She shook her head, "I swear, Sarkos' father is going to make him another Bastian. I'm going back to my section. Remember, stay positive."

As Sibello walked away, Quox could only sigh to himself as he peered out at the forest. He honestly wanted Euron to come back soon. If Bastian was going to be THIS high strung while the mayor was out, then Quox knew that sooner or later he was going to end up in a fight with him. What was so wrong about injecting some fun into the whole job? It was what kept him motivated after all.

"Um, Mr. Quox?"

"Huh? Oh, you." Quox broke away from his thoughts and sighed at the sight of their local resident Abra nervously wringing his hands together, "We have no letters today, Samuel."

The Abra managed a weak smile, "But... my friend said he was going to be sending one today. The mailbird should have arrived some time ago."

Quox could only shrug, "Maybe he ran late this day? I haven't seen him, and neither have any of the other guards. You know that you shouldn't be up here."

Samuel looked down, "Oh... just no mail calls came in, and I was just a tad worried that I had been skipped over."

Quox snorted, "Look, head back on down. When the delivery Swellow gets here, I'll let you-"

Their discussion was interrupted by a loud scream... a scream that came from the forest. Quox turned about, his eyes scanning amid the tree line. Samuel tensed up and looked about nervously as well. the other guards looked over to Quox's section as they got ready to rush over if anything else happened. A few tense seconds passed... and silence was all that the guards heard. "What was that, Mr. Quox?" Samuel asked.

"Hm... possibly bandits." He murmured out as he gradually relaxed. "Either that, or some merchants who strayed away from their caravans." He huffed and crossed his arms, "Either way, it looks like that we'll have a body or two to recover. We keep posting up those damn warnings, and no one ever takes them seriously."

Samuel frowned at that, "Oh... that doesn't sound good at all."

"It never is." Quox agreed.

"Well, when the delivery Swellow gets here, I know that one letter was being delivered to me." Samuel nervously tapped his fingers together again, "Just let me know when it comes."

"No problem." Quox watched as Samuel made his way down the wooden steps, and let out a weak sigh. That Abra was always stringent with dates and times. That was probably the main reason why his home city had tossed him out. Take the twitchy perfectionist and toss him over to the village. Yeah, just make other pokemon bear his presence. Then, another scream pierced the silence that Quox was starting to enjoy. The Zoroark's head snapped up, as did the other guards.

He focused on the forest, soon catching sight of bushes and trees that were moving erratically. Something was coming right for the village. Out from the tree line ran a Nuzleaf with a terrified look on his face. Quox could tell that Tir was out of breath as he made it to the wall and collapsed against it. "It's Tir!" Quox Shouted out. "Open the gates! Something spooked him out there!"

The mon in charge of the gate began to crank the wheel as the single wooden door began to rise up. Quox leaned over his section and watched as Tir was dragged inside. The fox turned about and saw Tir being dragged inside the fort and set against the interior wall. There were already a group of guards surrounding the whimpering grass-type, asking him all sorts of questions. "Enough!" Bastian shouted out. The guards stepped away from Tir as Bastian leaned down and spoke to him in a low tone.

Quox looked away from the situation and back out at the forest. Tir had been running from something, that much was certain... but what? He scanned the tree line, pretty sure that a group of bandits had taken him by surprise. As he focused more and more, Quox could see that a few bushes were moving. "Sir!" Quox shouted back to Bastian, "We have some more mon approaching! It seems like there is a group coming this way."

"Back to your positions. Quox, you know what to do."

The Zoroark didn't need to be told twice. The fox held out both hands and concentrated. A shimmering dome appeared around the village walls as in the blink of an eye Bracketsbur disappeared. Well, it didn't truly disappear. It was still there, but to anyone outside of the walls they would only see a rather large clearing.

Quox kept his illusionary dome up, every so often glancing back to see Bastian continuing to converse with the shuddering Tir. "What do you think happened?" He called over to Sibello.

The Mineshao returned his question with a mere shrug of her shoulders, "Beats me. He seemed rather delusional when we pulled him in."

Before Quox could reply the tree line began to shake quite a bit. The Zoroark kept his guard up as the shaking intensified. What he saw next left him speechless. Ferals had a specific means of acting while in the wild. Canines hunted in packs, usually numbering twelve or so, bears would travel alone, insects stayed high in the trees, etc. It was the way nature worked in these parts. So the sight of hundreds of mon working their way out from the forest caught him off guard initially.

His first logical assumption was that it had finally happened. A bandit clan had finally decided to take the initiative and storm their neck of the woods. Sure, Bracketsbur was far away from any trade routes, and barely had any resources to its name, but they were also ill equipped to handle a bandit group of this size. The best they could hope for was that the bandits would be boggled by the illusion and walk on by.

Yet... these mon weren't bandits. Quox could tell that straight away. These mon had no packs, and they weren't even speaking to each other. These couldn't be ferals.... such an idea wouldn't make any sense. Why would so many species all be clumped together when they would fight among each other for territory? He leaned over his section, looking down at the approaching mon and paled. "... They're ferals... " He croaked out. A millions thoughts ran through the Zoroark's mind. How was this even possible? Why were these ferals together to form one massive group? No wonder Tir had fled back to the village! With a group this size even he wouldn't be capable of surviving!

"... They're coming..." Sibello murmured.

"The illusion will stop them." Quox hissed out.

And, it seemed that Quox was right. As the ferals approached the illusion they all stopped and just stared at the seemingly empty clearing. Quox let out a sigh of relief, though quickly cried out in confusion and fell onto his rump. Several ferals had dashed forward and slammed their bodies against the wooden wall. In an instant, Quox's illusionary feat faded away. The Zoroark scrambled back to his feet in a desperate bid to hawken up another illusion, but he was already too late. With loud shrieks the other ferals charged and slammed into the wooden barricade.

"Hold your positions!" Bastian called out. "Take them out from up top!"

The guards along the wall took Bastian's command to heart. The water mon threw down water guns, the fire-types expelled scorching flames, and all manner of other attacks were thrown down upon the feral crowd. Quox joined in with throwing down a Dark Pulse, smirking as he saw that their attacks were starting to thin out the crowd down below. Then, to his horror, Quox saw the tree line shaking again as another large group of ferals made their way out of the forest.

"N-No way..." Quox croaked out.

The walls were creaking and groaning as the first group kept on bashing against them. The additional bodies of the second group finally caused a cataclysmic crack to form along the wooden walls. With a loud groan the section that Quox and several other guards were standing upon collapsed in on itself. Quox fell upon the ground, having to curl up to protect himself from the bits of debris that rained upon his furry hide.

He blinked to get the dust out of his eyes and he looked about. Through the dust the hordes of ferals pushed into the village. Quox could hear screams echoing in the distance. He got up, only to let out a shriek of pain and collapsed upon the ground. He looked at his leg and grimaced at the sight of a wooden beam that had pierced his thigh. The pain was rather overwhelming for the fox, and despite his best efforts to not cry, he was soon he was tearing up. As the dust cleared up more he saw that the other guards were up and already striking back. Electrical bolts were striking the various ferals while Bastian was moving in between their ranks and hitting mon after mon with his elemental punches.

The other mon that had been on the wall with him were likewise dazed, but slowly were getting back up. Quox used a larger shard of the wall to help prop himself up. A Dewott that was rising up let out a cry as a long pink appendage shot out from behind a dust wall and wrapped around his body. The water-type couldn't help but thrash as the dust cleared, revealing a rotund Lickitung as his attacker. Before the Dewott could let out another scream he was pulled toward the feral's mouth. Then, in a maneuver that Quox had never borne witness to, the Lickitung opened its mouth wide. With one fell swoop the Dewott was shoved inside the gaping maw. The little mon's screams rose several pitches, but that did little to deter his attacker. With a loud gulp the Dewott's body disappeared into the feral's mouth. Quox paled as he saw the bulging shape of the guard being pushed down into the Lickitung's stomach.

Then, the tongue mon turned to look at Quox. Every muscle that Quox possessed shivered as the Lickitung's wet tongue rushed right at him. He had no time to react as it wrapped tightly around his body and pinned his arms to his sides. The Lickitung easily raised Quox up as it once more opened its mouth. Quox squeezed his eyes shut as he waited for the inevitable sensation of being shoved down the mon's throat. A loud animal-like squeal caused his eyes to open once more. A Scyther had sliced right through the tongue that had bound Quox. The fox fell to the ground as the Lickitung let out a gurgle and fell to the ground in a deceased state.

The Scyther dashed right on past the dazed fox and made his rounds slicing at the other ferals along his path. Quox trembled as he struggled to untangle the tongue that was wrapped around him, yet he could feel the paralysis from the saliva locking every muslce in his body. Then... he heard the familiar voice. "Quox!"

Sibello rushed over and pulled the tongue off of him and set him to the side, "Don't move!" With that small bit of advice she rushed off into the crowd of ferals. For the next few seconds all Quox could do was twitch and do his best to try and move any part of his body. Then, slowly but surely, the paralysis began to die off. His fingers could move... then his arms... and soon he was standing up of his own accord. The searing pain in his leg continued to plague him, but he forced himself to walk forward. He took an oath to protect this village, and he would be damned if he didn't carry it out!

He could tell that many ferals had burst through the opening that had been created. Judging by the loud screams in the distance, it was apparent that the citizens were also being attacked by these ferals. Quox took another step, screaming out from the pain of the wooden beam. He managed to make it to one of the wooden houses and leaned against it to take a breather. Off to the side he would see Samuel was running from a rather large Victrebel.

Quox couldn't help but shout out, "Teleport, you daft bastard!" Samuel tensed up at the sound of the insult, but in the blink of an eye he disappeared.

With its current meal gone, the plant turned to look at Quox and let out a shriek. It struck out with a vine, but Quox held out his hands as a Protect shimmered around his form. He was pushed back by the force of his shield, so he decided to lay down a second illusion in his place and moved to the left of his duplicate. The Victrebel struck again, its vine causing the illusion to disappear. Taking his opening, Quox threw out a Dark Pulse that blew a hole in the Victrebell's side. The feral gurgled and sunk to the ground. The acidic fluids contained in its stomach hissed as they dripped onto grass.

Quox fell to a knee as he huffed from exertion. All around him mon were rushing about to fight off the ferals, yet more screams echoed out as these mon were grabbed and forcibly stuffed into the maws of the predators. He felt sick to his stomach, soon throwing up onto the ground. He felt a case of light headedness while he dragged himself to the entrance of the house that he had been leaning against. No one was inside, so he managed to pull himself in a bit more before everything went black.

As his eyes opened again, he was aware that it was night. He was still in the house, and he was alive... he was alive. He sat up and immediately cried out in pain. The wood was still embedded in his thigh, and it was REALLY hurting now. He caught sight of the curtains that hung in the house, so he slowly made his way over and tore them down. He looked down at his leg and took in a deep breath. He grabbed one end of the wood and began to push. His will broke down as his mouth opened and he screamed in pain. He gave another push and sobbed out as the beam slipped out, revealing a disgusting hole. He turned his head away and wrapped the thick curtains around his wound. He tied them and shakily rose to his feet. As he was getting ready to balance himself the sound of the door opening caused him to fall back down.

"... Quox?"

The fox blinked his eyes and looked over to see Bastian standing there along with a familiar Abra.

"... Bastian? Samuel?" He tried to rise again, soon crying out as pain consumed his leg. The two other mon rushed over with Bastian grabbing the fox and helping him stand. "Easy... easy... " The fighter said, "Just relax."

"I... I'm glad that you are fine, Mr. Quox." Samuel said with a weak smile. "You saved me... out there."

"Yeah... what about the others?" He asked Bastian.

The Hitmonchan took in a sharp breath, then looked away, "... We're all that's left."

"That... that can't be right." Quox said, trying to wrap his head around Bastian's words, "... I saw everyone. They were fighting."

"A third group came." Bastian grumbled out, "They overtook us. They're dead."

Quox was silent, not quite sure on what to say, "S-Sibello?"

"DEAD!" Bastian shouted as he let Quox fell to the ground, "DEAD! DEAD! DEAD! DIDN'T YOU HEAR ME THE LAST TIME!?" He shrieked out.

Samuel quickly rushed over and did his best to lay out Quox in a far less painful position, "We need to get out of here." The Abra stated, twitching just a tad, "We... we have to get to Simis, and-"

"And what!?" Bastian shouted down at the Abra. "We leave any survivors here!?"

Samuel lowered his head, "Sorry... I shouldn't have said anything."

"You're damn right about that!" Bastian spat, causing the Abra to flinch. "We're staying here and we're looking for more survivors! That's an order!"

Quox looked up, "... We need to find help." He said, "We... we have to get another group here. If we can attract some attention, then we won't need to leave the village. We can... keep on searching while more mon come to help." He said as he grimaced in pain.

___

There we go for chapter one! There are many questions, but few answers at this point. So then, what shall happen?

Choice A - Quox's choice - I agree with Bastian. We took an oath. We remain here and look for survivors, but we can build a fire or do something to attract attention of passing mon. They get help and we don't leave potential survivors.

Choice B - Bastian's choice - We have no time to build fires. We have to spend our time searching. If Quox survived, then others could as well!

Choice C - Samuel's Choice - We have to get out of here! The ferals could come back at any moment! We have to get out of here and make our way to Simis. There we can heal up and regroup. We won't help anyone if we just die out here.

Choice D - Reader's submitted choice

Votes will be accepted up until the fifth, just so I have enough time to gather the votes and write up a new chapter this weekend. I am aiming to go for weekly additions with such a system, so I am thinking of posting new chapters every Thursday. Leave a comment about this schedule and if you think it'll be a good idea!