FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Hahaha! Double feature! Ah, haven't done this in a while, but it's finally happened. I finally got the next chapter out. It was tough, but I pulled through. Hopefully, this won't happen again and I can write both stories at once like before. Not much more to say here, so I'll let you get to reading. Remember, comments and votes are welcome and appreciated.

**********8**********

It was late in the morning, but neither of them could tell how late it was anyway. They walked in a straight line, holding paws, or tails, with a golduck leading the group through the dense fog just east of Celestial Town. The golduck's name was Azura. She was the one that Westen had brought back with him to guide them through the fog.

"Anybody lost yet?" the golduck asked the group.

"Not yet." Kato and Tammy replied together.

"I'm still holding your tail, aren't I?" Westen sarcastically replied.

"No..." Perry said quietly.

"We're fine back here," Mia said. Since Eevee and Nina had to hold each other's tails in their mouths, they weren't really allowed to say anything. Kai brought up the rear since he's the only other pokémon in the group who could walk on two legs.

"We're okay." he said.

"Good. It's going to be a while before we come across any source of fresh water around here, so you'll have to stay thirsty until we're there," Azura explained. "By the way, how's your stomach holding up?" Westen made a hurt look as he remembered the encounter he had with Mia earlier that morning.

(Flashback)

Eevee and the others had just woken up from their restful sleep and were enjoying a small breakfast consisting of nothing but berries. Everyone was talking and joking around, until a rustling came from the bushes. They all turned to see a golduck emerge from the foliage, along with a familiar green lizard.

"Good morning everyone," Westen greeted. "This is my friend I told you about. Her name's Azura and she's going to guide us through that fog on the other side of town." The blue duck whacked Westen over the head. "Ow! What was that for?!"

"I can introduce myself, thank you very much," she said. "Hello, I'm Azura. I'll be your guide through the wonderful world of near blindness."

"It doesn't make much of a difference if you just rephrase what I just said." Azura slapped him over the head again.

"Anyway," she continued. "Now that you know who I am, tell me who you are." Everyone introduced themselves politely to the blue duck. Once it was Mia's turn, Azura stopped the buizel before she could start. "No need for you to introduce yourself. Westen's told me about you already. I'm glad there's someone else out there who's willing to put this guy in his place. Sorry he caused you so much trouble."

"It's alright. I had fun owning the little thief."

"You didn't-" Westen tried to protest, but was cut off by Azura.

"Do you want to get hit again?" the blue duck asked. Westen quickly turned away and started muttering to himself.

"I'm Eevee." The golduck looked toward the brown fox.

"Hello to you to. I see I'm face-to-face with both leaders of this little group." Eevee and Mia glanced at each other before looking back at Azura.

"I guess you could say that," Eevee said with a shrug of his shoulders. "So, how exactly are you going to guide us? When I went over with Nina, I could barely see my own paw in front of my face." The golduck grinned.

"That can easily be explained. You see, most of us golducks have this ability to see through those nasty fogs as if they weren't even there. Some of us volunteer to help pokémon cross the unknown as an act of generosity, but those of us who are really dedicated, like myself, help trainers out as well." she said proudly with her chest sticking out.

"Aren't you worried about getting captured by trainers?" Azura shook her head.

"Nope, the police in the next city you all are heading to give those of us who are dedicated to the job, these cool bands to protect us from getting captured." She turned around and showed them a dark purple belt strapped around the base of her tail. "I'm not really sure how, but they say it works just like a regular pokéball. So, technically, I'm a captured pokémon. The only drawback to the job is that we have to stay near the towns so that we're... 'easily accessible' as they say," she said with a casual flick of her wrist. "So, you guys ready to go?"

"Actually, we were in the middle of having some breakfast. Would you like to join us?" Mia asked.

"No thanks. Me and this guy already got our snack on the way here, so you don't have to worry about us," the blue duck responded.

"Oh, okay. Well, make yourself comfortable while we finish eating."

"Don't you mean make 'yourselves' comfortable?" Westen asked.

"I think you've made yourself plenty comfortable around here." Mia said while sending a glare at the lizard.

"Whatever, I did my part. A little appreciation would be nice." Westen said in an annoyed tone.

"I do appreciate what you did. I'm just not going to tell you because I still don't like you."

"Ouch. Way to really put it bluntly, Mia." Eevee said.

"The little creep deserves it. When he starts acting like he's got some sense, I'll probably be nicer to him."

"Alright, Mia, let's just finish eating and we can worry about him later." Mia shrugged and walked back to where she was eating with Eevee.

"Whatever, fish breath," Westen mumbled to himself, but apparently not low enough because Mia stopped walking and turned to him.

"You got something to say to me?" she asked in a threatening tone. Westen was a bit surprised she had heard him, but he didn't let it show on his face.

"Not unless I like the smell of fish coming from your mouth," he replied. Mia approached the green lizard, easily towering over him with her arms crossed over her chest.

"You wanna repeat that? I'm giving you one last chance to back down before I decide to make that yellow eye of yours black and blue."

"You're not gonna do anything. Besides, I'm the only threat here. You're not scaring anyone with that tough front you're putting on." By now, everyone's attention was on them, except for Azura. The blue duck seemed to be more annoyed than anything else right now.

"Hey, quit it, Westen. There's no need to provoke her. You're just going to get yourself hurt," she warned him. Westen gave her a sideways glance.

"She's not going to do anythi- oof!" He doubled over in pain, holding the spot on his stomach where Mia had punched him.

"Sorry, what was that? I can't hear over your whining," Mia said. Westen had a mind to uppercut the weasel in her jaw, but he couldn't move very well in his condition.

"Ya know, if you keep up that attitude of yours, you're not going to be on nice terms with me," he wheezed.

"I think I'll be able to live."

(End flashback)

Westen groaned a bit at the memory. "If it makes you fell any better, I did warn you." Azura said.

"Thanks for caring so much," he replied sarcastically.

The group continued their journey through the fog with little or nothing to say. Just walking in the blinding whiteness seemed to keep their minds occupied. There were times when trees or other vegetation would come into view just a few inches from their faces and they would wonder how they missed it. The grass beneath their feet was wet with dew as if it had just rained. The only sound that could be heard were their own footsteps. The surrounding forest was eerily quiet, but was at the same time very peaceful. It was like walking into a forgotten part of the world, devoid of any human interference and completely isolated from civilization.

At the same time, some couldn't get rid of the helplessness they were feeling at having to fully depend on one pokémon to guide them through virtual blindness, namely Eevee. Other than his parents, there hasn't been one person, or pokémon, he's had to put all his trust in to get through a problem he couldn't solve himself. Of course he was thankful that they weren't forced to go back the way they came, but he wasn't fond of having his paw held like a newborn kit. Mia on the other hand couldn't be more grateful, granted that she didn't like the fact that the help came from the teecko, but was grateful nonetheless. It was also nice that she had another female probably around her age to talk to. It's been such a long time since she could chat with a female who wasn't preoccupied with what game she was going to play next, not that she would mind playing with the kids.

Hours went by and there was no sign of that promised source of water. The children's feet were getting sore and everyone was at their limit, except for the golduck, who has been through this path plenty of times. Hungry bellies were growing among the group and were making themselves heard. Though they had some berries when they left, they were soon gone after two brief stops as everyone grew hungry over the course of their journey.

"Are we there yet?" Kota whined. "My feet are killing me."

"Mine too." Tammy added. "And our paws are getting sweaty."

"So... thirsty..." Perry was getting extremely dehydrated and was now constantly panting.

"Mnjandjhansjsuwthst." (My jaw hurts and my tail is covered with spit) Nina tried to say, but had her mouth full with Mia's bushy tail. Eevee wanted to throw in his two cents, but he was also in no position to clearly voice his distress either. Mia, Westen, and Kai kept silent about their growing fatigue as well, not wanting to cause anymore trouble for the blue duck. Azura glanced behind her at the group and sighed.

"We're almost at a resting place, just hold on for a little bit longer guys." The kids all groaned in unison at having to walk even further until they can rest, but was relieved at the same time.

The fog started to clear up some about fifteen minutes later, which amazed everyone. Silhouettes of trees and bushes could be seen and the sound of running water was getting louder. It wasn't long before the group came upon a large clearing. There was pond in the middle with water going in and out of it. Some trees and bushes were growing berries just on the other side of it. A somewhat large cave was next to it, which, strangely enough, was already lit up inside. Had the group not been exhausted, they would've appreciated the site a little more.

"Okay guys, from the look on your faces, I can see that you're all wiped out. Be thankful that all your work paid off cuz we're stopping here for the evening." Azura said. Eevee spit out one of Nina's tails in surprise.

"Evening?! How long have we been walking?!" he exclaimed, not worried about getting lost since he could see again. The blue duck pondered on the question a moment as she looked up at the sky.

"Mmm, I'd say about... Almost nine hours," she said almost casually.

"Nine hours?! Couldn't we have taken a break earlier?"

"We could've, but I wanted to do this in one go. It makes for better time because it'll get really dark around here really soon due to the mountain blocking out the evening sun. By then, you all wouldn't be able to see anything... Well, much less than what you can't see already. You'll see what I mean soon." Eevee was about to make another comment, but his stomach decided to cut him off and make a loud gurgling sound, which made the blue duck giggle. "Since you're hungry, I'll go out and get you all some food once we get settled."

Azura led the group into the lit up cave. It was really spacious, enough to fit a snorlax family of six comfortably. The ground was soft, like a bunch of dugtrio just dug through. The fire inside was large and warmed the cave up nicely. A large figure sat on the other side of the fire and it looked like it was eating something. As they got closer, they saw that it was a machoke. He glanced up from his meal and stood up.

"Hey, sweet cheeks, how you doing?" he asked as he approached the blue duck with open arms.

"I told you not to call me that!" Azura yelled with reddening cheeks. He just laughed at her.

"Aww, don't be like that. I call it like I see it and you've got the sweetest ass in-"

"Axel, there are children here!" The machoke looked around Azura and saw the tired bunch.

"Oh, I didn't see them. Sorry about that." Eevee and the others walked passed Azura and collapsed once they found a spot by the fire, panting and still very hungry. "Jeez, what did you do to them? They look completely out of it." Axel commented as he looked over them.

"You know I had to get them here as soon as possible or it would get too dark for even me to see." Azura replied.

"I guess you're right, but they're still just kids. I'll go get some food for everyone. Be back in a sec." With that, the macho machoke left to gather food. Azura sighed and went to join the others around the warm fire. She sat next to Westen, who was looking like he wanted to laugh.

"What are you looking at?" she asked with a mildly irritated look.

"Why don't you just get with him? You know he's gonna keep messing with you until you do."

"I'm not getting together with that macho airhead. He's way too arrogant for his own good and he acts so stupid most of the time."

"Whatever. You know you like it when he calls you sweet cheeks."

"I do not like it when he calls me that!" Azura smacked Westen over the head and crossed her arms with a pout.

As they continued to bicker, Eevee took it upon himself to check on everyone. They mostly suffered from sore feet, but only he and Nina had aching jaws and Perry suffered from mild dehydration. He thought that maybe he should take him out to get a drink from pond, so he told the desert mouse to come with him to quench his thirst in the pond. It was right outside the cave and he would make sure they were still visible to the others. Perry agreed and silently followed Eevee outside with weary feet. Once they reached the waters edge, Perry got on his knees, dunked his head into the water, and began to drink as much and as fast as he could. He came up after a few seconds and fell on his back with a content and refreshed look on his face.

"Feeling a little better?" Eevee asked.

"Much... Better," Perry panted. "I thought I was gonna die. I was so thirsty."

"Well, thank goodness that didn't happen. I wouldn't want anything bad happening to you guys." Just then, eevee saw a large figure come from behind one of the trees. It was Axel. He was carrying an arm full of different kinds of berries. He looked over at the fox and desert mouse a bit surprised that they were outside.

"What are you two doing out here?" he asked.

"Perry was really thirsty, so I brought him here for a drink. Is that okay?" Eevee replied.

"As long as you don't go any further than this, then you don't have to worry about me or sweet cheeks in there getting on you. Just make sure you check with us before you do anything. We don't want you getting lost or anything." Eevee nodded. "If you guys are done, come back inside to eat. I know you must be starving." As if to confirm his statement, Eevee's stomach made a loud growling sound, which made Axel chuckle.

Once they went inside, Axel set all the berries he gathered in a pile and everyone grabbed their share. There was plenty to go around, so they could eat as much as they want. The kids were gobbling up their food like it was their last meal, which is understandable since they had a long day. Axel properly introduced himself to everyone and told them his life story. He's lived in these woods for as long as he could remember and knew where every source of food and water was. He may not be able to see as well as Azura, but thanks to the location of his home, he didn't have to go very far to find a decent meal and a source of water. He's known Azura and Westen for a while and only recently had Azura use his home as a resting place for the travelers she was guiding to make her job easier. Azura has lived in these woods since birth. She was raised close to the edge of the forest where there was more water. She was inspired to be a guide through these parts after seeing handfuls of people getting turned around and lost, although it was a bit dangerous at first since the trainers wanted to capture her.

After their introduction, Eevee, Mia, and the kids introduced themselves as well. They explained where they came from, how they came to meet each other, and why they needed to get to the other side of the forest. Needless to say, they were surprised that such a thing could happen to a group of young pokémon. While they were talking, Eevee couldn't help but notice that Kai kept staring at Westen rather intently from time to time. He assumed that it was because he didn't trust the gecko, but, then again, no one in his group did. That didn't mean he had to glare at him.

Once everyone settled in for the night, the brown fox approached the pup. "Can I talk to you for sec?"

"Sure, what is it?" Kai asked.

"It's nothing much; just a quick question. I noticed that you were staring at Westen a lot and was wondering what that was about." The riolu pup looked at the ground.

"I don't trust him..."

"Err, okay. None of us do, but-"

"I don't trust him because he's too... suspicious looking. I thought that it just because he was a thief, but something about him doesn't sit right with me. It feels... unpleasant..." Eevee was curious now. Just what does the pup see about the lizard that he already couldn't?

"If it makes you feel any better, Mia and I will keep a close eye on him in case he tries anything."

"I want to too. It's better if there're three of us doing it than just you two."

"Okay, we can do that. It's getting late, so try to get some sleep for now. We have a long day ahead of us in the morning. With that being said, the two joined the rest of their party and huddled together for the night.

*****8*****

Eevee was the first to wake up the next morning. He got up and stretched his stiff muscles, getting all the kinks out his back as well. After that, he quietly walked to the mouth of the cave and sat down, staring out into the ever-present dense morning fog. His mind began to wander about the obstacles they would probably face once they got past this one. He suddenly started thinking about his home again. It was so far away from where he is. He missed playing with his friends, training every day with his trainer, even Aipom's daily groping of his privates. "Well... Maybe not that part," he thought with a blush. He just missed having her around him. She was the closest thing to a family member to him anyway.

He then thought about what Kai said to him the previous night. Other than the obvious personality and moral quirks, he couldn't find a reason to feel the same way the pup does about him.

"Hey, little guy," Alex whispered. Eevee jumped in surprise at the sudden greeting. He was so deep in thought that he didn't notice the machoke wake up.

"Oh, uh... Hi," he said coming down from the initial shock.

"Sorry about that. Anyway, I just wanted to tell you that I'm going out to get breakfast."

"Alright, do you need any help?"

"No, I can handle it myself. Besides, it'll be a lot easier if I didn't have to look after someone who can't see two feet in front of him."

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense." With that said, Alex ventured out in search of food.

Shortly after Axel left, everyone began waking up one by one. As expected, everyone was hungry after waking up and there wasn't enough food leftover from last night to go around, much less fill their empty stomachs. It was agreed that the kids split the leftovers among themselves and snack until Axel came back. It was nearly half-an-hour after this before the machoke came back with an armful of freshly picked berries for them to eat. After breakfast, the group of travelers said their thanks and goodbyes to Axel.

"Hey, Sweet cheeks, maybe we could go somewhere nice to get more familiar with each other when you come back," Axel said before the blue duck got too far.

"I'm not going anywhere with you, you muscle-headed pig!" Azura shouted back as she led the group away from the cave at a faster pace.

The group was lined up the same way they had been the previous day. "So how long before someone other than you can finally see some sun?" Mia asked.

"Not too long. We'll be on the other side of this in a few hours, even if we take our time," Azura replied.

"'Even if we take our time'?" Westen asked. "You're the one controlling the pace here, so don't go saying 'we' when it's all you."

"If I wanted your input, I would've asked for it."

"You don't have to ask because I know you value my opinion above all others."

"Ya know; if it wasn't for them I would've ditched your sorry butt until you begged me to come back."

"Pfft! As if I would beg for anything," he scoffed. The two continued bickering for a little while before deciding it would pointless to keep going on.

As the hours dragged on, Eevee noticed subtle changes in his surroundings; he could actually see them a little bit. This got him a little excited. Eventually, the fog cleared up enough so that no one had to hold each others paws/tails anymore and could see the sun again. Judging from its position in the sky, Eevee guessed it was about midday. It was at this point Azura figured that it was safe to leave them, since there wasn't anything that required her help anymore.

Once she announced that she was leaving, she was thanked by everyone for her helpful guidance. Before she left, she gave Westen some last minute advice on how to get on Mia's good side so that she wouldn't hit him anymore, which consisted of an apology and a change of attitude. Needless to say, the treecko brushed off her advice and was going to continue with his way of doing things. With an indifferent shrug and sigh, Azura said her goodbye and went back towards the dense fog they came out of.

With one obstacle overcome, it was smooth sailing from here on out for the group of travelers. Eevee was feeling relieved that they wouldn't have to go through anything like that ever again, or at least he hoped they wouldn't. "So where to now, oh fearless leaders?" Westen mockingly asked. Both Eevee and Mia gave him an irritated look.

"Is there a reason why you're still here?" Mia asked, not bothering to hide her irritation.

"Actually, there is a reason I'm here. I intend to be compensated in some way for helping you guys out and I'm not leaving until I am."

"You can't be serious."

"Oh, but I am," Westen replied. "I can't just go around doing favors for nothing. I've got a reputation to uphold. If I keep doing things for free, others will start thinking that I'm... decent." He shivered at the thought.

"What kind of reputation could you possibly have? You're nothing but a thief," Mia said.

"Exactly! You expect a thief to be dishonest and untrustworthy, but you also expect him to have connections and to get you what you need for the right price," Westen countered. "In order to keep my rep from going to the crapper, I gotta make sure I get paid."

"Fine, what do you want from us?"

Westen thought about everything he could possibly get from them. Unfortunately for him, he couldn't come up with anything that could compensate for an entire day of looking for Azura. He didn't expect to spend that much time looking for her and what he wanted out of the deal he made with Eevee earlier didn't really cover the work effort. Eevee was slightly nervous. He thought that Westen would just bring up the deal they made and be done with it, but he didn't. The fox had agreed to admitting that the treecko was the greatest in the world and bowing down to him in front of the others. Just thinking about doing it made him feel like less than a male, so there was no way he was going to tell anyone about it.

"Eh... I can't think of anything right now, so I'll just tag along until you come up with something." Eevee sighed and shook his head, thankful that he wouldn't have to embarrass himself. That didn't mean that he was going to let the treecko do whatever he wanted though.

"If all you're going to do is tag along, then at least make yourself helpful in some way. I don't care what it is, just as long as it's not slowing us down in any way or causing trouble," Eevee said.

"Me cause trouble? Surely you must have me confused with some other treecko. I guess I'll refrain from doing anything that'll rub your fur the wrong way," Westen replied half-mockingly.

Eevee knew that he wouldn't get a better answer and left it at that. For now, he needed to find out where they were going... and to get something to eat. He was starting to get a little hungry and he wasn't the only one.

"I'm hungry," Tammy whined.

"Me too," Her brother, Kato, added.

"Do you two share the same stomach or something," Westen asked, noticing that the plusle and minun have done everything together without fail since he's meet them.

"No, we just eat at the same time," they said simultaneously. The treecko smirked at them.

"I'll get you guys some food," Eevee said.

"I'll go out and gather some too," Mia said.

"That's alright. I'm sure there's a bush or something I can just rip a branch from. I'll be back in a bit." With that said, the brown fox ran out in search of a nearby source of food.

*****8*****

"Damn... damn... damn!!" Eevee mentally screamed. He couldn't believe that he managed to get himself lost in the middle of nowhere. It's been almost two hours since he's confirmed that he doesn't where he's going anymore. He was sure that he was going the right way back to the others. "They're probably wondering where I am right now."

It al started right after he took a bit out of a bitter green berry. He had never seen it before, but didn't think any harm could come from tasting it. Once he took a bite, his vision blurred and everything seemed jump at him with very bright vivid colors. He wandered around for who knows how long before he regained his senses. It only took him a few moments to assume that he was lost and an even shorter time for the slight panic to set in. He found a river earlier and followed it in hopes of getting some clues as to where he was, but it all he found was a waterfall.

"Argh, where the hell am I?! It'll be really bad if I can't find them. I really shouldn't have eaten that berry." As he continued to mull over his situation, he came across a wooden fence and an open field, a very big one. The brown fox climbed on top of it and could make out a house in the distance. He debated in his head whether or not he should go or not. He felt a little fatigued, but his curiosity seemed to be nagging at him. In the end, curiosity seemed to get the better of him. He hopped down from the fence and started to make his way over to the house. Eevee walked for about five minutes before finally arriving at the house. It was a regular two-story wooden home with a brick chimney on the side. It sort of reminded him of his home, but he stopped himself from trying to remember too much. He didn't want to feel homesick again.

He walked around the back and saw that a window was open, but that wasn't what interests him. There was a delicious smell coming from inside that made his stomach rumble. Without a second thought, Eevee jumped up and managed to pull himself up on the window sill. He found that he was looking into the kitchen. It had a white tile floor and it seemed pretty big, or at least bigger than the ones he's seen. Sniffing the air again, he traced the smell to a pie that was sitting on a counter. His mouth practically drooled at the sight of it. He jumped onto the stove that was in front of the window and quickly dashed over to the enticing dessert. He wanted to munch away at it, but it still seemed too hot to eat.

"Darn it. I really wanted some," he thought. Eevee felt his stomach rumble again. "There's gotta be something here." A brief scan around the kitchen revealed a bowl of pokémon food on the floor, which he took no time in running toward. He knew it was bad manners to eat someone else's food without asking, but he thought that he could always explain later. Unfortunately, that time was sooner than he expected. No sooner than he had taken the first mouthful, he was tackle from the side by his worst fear; an angry mightyena. It hade him pinned on his back with a claw at his throat ready to start slashing.

"What do you think you're doing," she growled, baring her sharp teeth at the frightened fox. Eevee swallowed the food he had in his mouth, more out of fear than anything else.

"J-just eating," he choked out.

"Who said you could eat out of my bowl?" The black dog pressed harder on his smaller frame. She felt the collar around his neck and stopped her growling. "Matter of fact; who are you and where's your trainer? I don't remember seeing anyone coming in her to drop you off."

"I... don't know where my trainer is." The mightyena lifted her paw off of him and allowed him to breath easier.

"Did you get separated?"

"Something like that," he replied not looking at her anymore.

"I suppose it's okay if we share then." Eevee looked at her confusingly. "What? Since you're lost or whatever, you can rest here for a bit. I'm not heartless," she huffed. Eevee rolled over and slowly made his way over to the food bowl. He opened his mouth and hesitantly went for a bite, looking at the black dog the entire time. Apparently he was taking to long to accept her offer. "Hurry up and eat something before I change my mind!" Eevee jumped and started eating as fast as he could. The mightyena joined him and soon they finished the bowl.

"So, where am I anyway?"

"You're at a daycare. It's where trainers drop off their pokémon to socialize, train, and have... fun with other pokémon." The fox noticed her smirk and the added emphasis on the word 'fun', which wasn't too comforting seeing as she was what he was most frightened of. He could guess what she meant by fun and sort of shivered at the other meaning. He wasn't sure if he could ever get that close to a female... willingly. He's still somewhat traumatized by his friend, Aipom.

Suddenly, they both heard a door open, along with several voices and footsteps at once. Several pokémon flooded the next room over. "Cari, we're back!" someone called out. Cari, the mightyena, ran up to the girl and nuzzled her leg, to which the girl knelt down and rubbed the black dog's head. Her name was Carmen. She was a fairly tall girl with long brown hair and eyes. She looked no older than fifteen years old. She wore blue jeans and a red top. "I missed you girl. Have you been good while I was gone?" Cari barked happily and licked her face. "That's good; and who's that over there?" she asked looking over at the unfamiliar eevee. "Did someone come by and drop it off?" Cari, knowing that she was talking about Eevee, simply nodded her head instead of trying to explain the situation. Carmen stood back up with a mildly annoyed look. "I wish people wouldn't do that. How am I supposed to know that the next person to pick it up isn't trying to steal it? But whatever, it's not like I can do anything about it now." She walked over to the brown fox, briefly lifting him over her head to check his gender and back down again. Eevee didn't think twice about it, since he had no idea what she was doing. "Since you're here, why don't you go mingle with the other pokémon," she suggested. Eevee looked passed her into the other room where the other pokémon were playing. He casted her a nervous look before he headed to the next room.

There was a variety of pokémon from what he can see and they all seemed younger than him. There were a couple shinx playing by a sliding glass door, a machop talking with a meditite, a starly perched on a lamp, and, what really caught his attention, another eevee. It had a slightly lighter shade of brown fur than he did and seemed a little smaller than in frame. It wasn't doing anything other than lying on the couch. He hasn't seen another eevee or any of his evolved forms, other than his dad, before. It was only natural for him to want to get to know another one of his species. He made his way passed the other pokémon and was almost there, but he was stopped by a large mass of white fur that appeared out of nowhere. Looking up, he saw that he was standing in front of a zangoose.

"Where do you think you're going?" the zangoose asked.

"I'm just going to talk to that eevee over there," Eevee replied.

"I don't think so buddy. Go find something else to do; she's busy."

"So she's female." She doesn't look so busy to me."

"Well she is!" he spat.

"Whatever. I'll go see for myself if she's busy," Eevee said while attempting to walk past the large cat, but he was stopped by his large claws.

"I said no!"

"Who's gonna stop me, you?!"

"Yeah!"

"It'll take a lot more than you!" When he said that, two pokémon appeared at the zangoose' side; a lombre and a skarmory.

"Look, you might want to go somewhere else before you get hurt," the lombre said somewhat monotonously.

"We don't want to be the cause of any unfortunate accidents," the skarmory added, who was the only female in the group.

Even with the odds heavily stacked against him, Eevee didn't back down. Was it because he wanted to talk with the other eevee that badly? Not really. Was it because he was stubborn and didn't know how to pick his fights? That has something to do with it, but it wasn't it. He didn't like being pushed around, and he definitely wasn't going to let three pokémon he didn't know tell him what to do. They glared at each other for a moment before Carmen stepped in to stop the situation before it escalated any further. She separated them into different parts of the house as a sort of 'time-out' until she was sure they cooled off.

Eevee sat in a corner in the kitchen where he could be out of the way of everyone. "I don't know what their problem with me talking to that eevee is, but I'm gonna kick their ass if they try something like that on me again," he thought. "I know that female eevee heard everything that we said, so why didn't she say anything? She could've told them to back off or something." He thought more on the countless possibilities as to why she ignored the situation and why those punks were so protective, if he could call it that, of her. A little starly dropped in front of him, breaking his train of thought to see what it wanted. "What's up?"

"The human lady said that you can come outside to play with us," the tiny bird said in a somewhat high-pitched voice. Eevee shrugged and got up.

"Alright, it beats being in here anyway."

He followed the starly outside through the glass door, which was along the same wall he broke in from. The other pokémon were playing a game of tag. He joined them in their game to clear his mind and relax. Of course he would let himself get tagged and maybe drag on the chase a bit to make it more fun. He played with them for about half an hour before he called it quits, deciding to take a rest under a nearby tree. The events of the day had caught up to him and he was feeling more tired than he thought he should be. He found the perfect spot and got real comfortable, feeling his eyelids getting heavier by the second.

"H-hello," someone said. He opened his eyes to see that it was the female eevee he saw earlier.

"Hey, what's up," he asked while yawning. Noticing his drowsiness, the female felt bad for disturbing him.

"Sorry. If this is a bad time, I'll come back later..." Eevee immediately closed his mouth.

"Nonono, it's not a bad time!"

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, it's fine. Uh, sit down with me." The female joined him under the tree and Eevee could tell something was bothering her.

"My name's Fay; and I'm sorry about earlier. I should've tried to stop Berret and his gang from trying to pick a fight with you, um..." It took Eevee a moment to realize that she didn't know his name.

"You can just call me Eevee and you don't really have to apologize. It's not like you did anything wrong." Fay's mood didn't seem to lighten, so he decided to switch the topic. "So, how long have you been here?"

"Well, my trainer dropped me off here about a week ago, but I've been coming here ever since I was little. It wasn't because he didn't want me around or was trying to breed me. He just noticed that I liked being here and meeting lots of other pokémon. So he said that I can stay here whenever I can?"

"Whenever you can?" he asked; to which Fay nodded.

"We usually travel all over the place, just to explore. He has a couple other pokémon with him, so I don't have to worry about him getting lonely without me. Whenever we come by, he just drops me off and picks me up after a week or so." Eevee noticed that she was a lot more cheerful now that she was talking about her trainer. It seemed that they got along pretty well. It sort of made him feel a little sad that he wasn't with his trainer, but he knows that they'll be reunited one day.

"That's nice," he said. "I've never been around here before, so this area is new to me."

"If you want, I can show you around the ranch. There's this pecha berry bush near the edge of the forest that has the sweetest berries in the world," she said excitedly. "And I can show you the route we take when we go out for our daily exercise." Eevee was already raring to go when she mentioned that she was going to take him to where food was. The drowsiness he felt before she showed up was mostly gone.

"Do you mind if we go now?" he asked standing up.

"Not at all," she replied as she got up as well.

"Well, what do we have here?" Someone said behind them. Both foxes turned around to see a familiar zangoose. "Didn't I tell you earlier that she was too busy?" Berret said in an annoyed, yet superior tone. Fay started cowering behind Eevee, which didn't go unnoticed by the brown fox.

"I'd say she has plenty of time now," Eevee replied, which only angered the zangoose.

"Ya think so? Then she doesn't need to be wasting it with you!" The two glared at each other again.

"Uh, Eevee, let's just go. We can go some other time," Fay whispered after a few moments. Eevee thought about her suggestion and agreed. They could go when it was guaranteed they won't get bothered.

"Sure, let's go inside," he said. Both of them turned to go inside the house, but the zangoose wasn't going to let things go that smoothly.

"Yeah, go inside... but you have things to do here!" He grabbed Fay's tail, making her scream as he roughly pulled her back towards him. Eevee quickly turned around.

"What the hell is your problem?!" he shouted.

"You're my problem," Beret said darkly. Before Eevee had a chance to do anything, he was suddenly blasted to the side by a powerful stream of water. He rolled several yards, finally coming to a stop in an open area. He slowly got up and shook the water out of his fur. He looked around for whoever attacked him and saw that it was the lombre from earlier.

"Those bastards," he growled angrily. He sprinted towards the pair with a Shadow ball forming in his mouth. The fox was stopped yet again by another attack to his side, causing him to accidently fire his attack toward the house. Luckily, it only hit the house and not any of the kids, but it alerted them to the scene.

"What was that?" one of the shinx asked.

"That eevee is fighting Berret's gang!" one of the kids shouted. Everyone's attention was turned to Eevee, who was slowly being surrounded.

"Don't look so tough now," Berret mocked. Eevee saw Fay struggling to get out of the lombre's hold on her. He was really angry at this point. Not only had Berret gotten his team to blindside him twice, but he took Fay hostage and had the gall to mock him.

"I'd like to see you fight me one-on-one instead of having Chrome dome and cabbage head helping you out," Eevee growled. The lombre didn't seem to mind his comment, but the skarmory looked like she wanted to tear his head off. Berret simply smirked at him.

"Please, like I'm going to waste my time on you."

"Sounds like you're scared to fight me by yourself." Berret stopped grinning and turned serious.

"I'm scared of anyone. If you think you can take me, bring it on." Eevee took the invitation and started off with Quick attack. When he got close enough, the zangoose sidestepped him and tripped him with his foot. Eevee fell face first into the ground. The trio laughed at him. "Is that all you got? I thought you could take me," Berret laughed. Eevee gritted his teeth and charged again. The zangoose widened his stance this time and took the attack. Eevee managed to push him back a couple feet. When he looked up at the zangoose, he saw Berret grinning madly. "You're so weak." he said. He smacked Eevee across the head with back of his claws, sending the fox flying several feet.

By now, all the young pokémon in the area were watching the fight. The large gathering of pokémon also caught the attention of one inside the house. "Hmm, I wonder what they're all looking at," Cari asked herself as she looked out through the sliding glass door. It didn't take her long to realize what was going on as she saw Eevee rolling across the ground and Berret walking towards him. "Shit," she swore. The mightyena wished the door wasn't closed or else she would've stopped the fight herself, but she had to run upstairs to get her trainer.

Eevee struggled to get to his feet. "Damn, he's strong," he thought. Zangoose were well known for their strength and skills in combat. Eevee wasn't doing so well against him. If it wasn't for the fact they had a helpless female captive, he knew that he wouldn't have bothered fighting them. Well, maybe that wasn't true. He felt the urge to smack them earlier. Still, he was getting beat pretty badly and it wasn't helping that his vision was getting blurry.

"You might as well give up. There's no way that you're going to beat me," Berret said. Eevee didn't hear him though. There was an annoying ringing in his ears. HE glanced around at the surrounding pokémon. They looked like they wanted to help, but they were clearly scared of the zangoose and his cronies. Looking over to Fay, he saw that she was shouting something at him, but he was too tired to make it out, maybe more than he thought. The ground suddenly disappeared from beneath his feet and he felt like he was flying for a moment. The next thing he knew, the ground was coming at him fast and he blacked out.

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