FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

“Ugh…" Julie pushed the blanket off her while her alarm blared at 4 a.m. on a Monday morning but bundled back up after the air hit her. Soft white light pressed her closed curtains with gentle patience, requesting entry.

She reached under her pillow and grabbed her phone with a blue rubber cover to disable the melody from her dropdown. She then took the TV remote from the nightstand beside her and pointed it at the wall-mounted screen to turn it off. Julie usually had it on at night to relax or use it as background noise while doing her homework. She just fell asleep with it on sometimes.

At least she'd had a good weekend. She had cooked with her mother Saturday night, and they'd gone to eat at her favorite diner the day after. It was a friendly noodle place, so Julie woke up with a better outlook on Monday than usual.

She lived a comfortable urban life in Goldenrod City and had been well off since childhood due to her mother being the manager of a Pokémon Center.

Julie got up after minutes of telling herself to, pushed her curtains aside to light her room, made her bed, and slipped into her swablu slippers by her bed.

She then went to her restroom. Upon looking in the mirror, she instantly remarked her hair. "That's a yikes..." Her accent was Johtoan.

Her hair was tousled, tangled quite a bit, and she needed to straighten it in several areas, which she did in due time. She used water, a brush, and a leave-in conditioner on the counter. Her wavy brown hair rested past her shoulders and contained thick blonde highlights that blended it.

After doing her hair and caring for her hygiene, she double-glanced at a white bottle against the wall under the mirror and sighed. "Come here..." she muttered while grabbing it and shaking the pills inside. They were antidepressants prescribed years ago.

Julie pressed and twisted the top, taking a mini white pill and popping it in her mouth. She turned the sink nozzle and put her mouth under running water, using it to swallow and setting the bottle back.

Julie checked the time on her cell along with today's forecast by unlocking it and pulling her dropdown bar.

The phone was slightly bigger than her palm and modestly bulky. Its screen had a deep crack from top to bottom from when she'd fallen off her bike last year in a horrendous accident. "High forties with fifty-four percent chance of showers. Love this city," she grumbled.

It was now 4:30 a.m.; she had to be at her first class in two hours and a half. Her senior schedule was: regional history, science, math, lunch, language arts, and business, all taught in sixty-minute increments with a forty-minute lunch break.

She slipped into knee-high socks, blue sweatpants, and chose between a blue or white tee from her closet. She ultimately went with white and put a matching hoodie over it with pink arm sleeves.

One of her favorite colors was blue, though. Her window's curtains were a bright icy blue, as were her nails and walls with scattered stickers she had never bothered scraping off. Julie collected items made from evolutionary stones and had a wardrobe with glass windows against her wall by the window to hang them in. It was a hobby of hers; she hoped to fill it one day.

She also had a map of Johto and Kanto pasted on the wall above her bed and an organized bookshelf against her wall beside it that doubled as a nightstand. It had a fake potted flower on it and a mini statue of a seel riding a wave from an old field trip with: 'GA' branded on the wave. The stand also held a middle school volleyball trophy labeled: 'Golden Ocean Middle School' on its bottom front section and a golden ball atop it.

She used the stand as a general storage, even keeping her pair of wireless earphones and wallet holding her school and region I.D. too. She'd cleared it recently, as it was a bit messy with miscellaneous items on it.

The shelves were stocked to the brim with books, and a group of antique periwinkle beautifly were built into the wall above it in the swirly pattern of a whirlpool.

She slipped her wallet in her back pocket, grabbed her left wireless earphone for the ride, slung her backpack over her shoulder from the floor, and made her way down the carpeted stairs with soft steps as her mother was still asleep. She usually went in for work at 6 a.m. unless she had to be there early for any reason.

After making it off the last stair, Julie took a right into the kitchen and grabbed a water bottle from the cabinet near the floor, along with a fruit bar from a bowl on the dining room table that would hold her off until lunch.

She'd trained herself to eat less and vitalize herself when slimming her profile some months ago through an off-and-on diet. Julie had always been more or less health conscious, taking after her mother, but used to have a sugar addiction that had reached a record high and left her control under her depression.

She left her slippers by the door and slipped into high-top running shoes lined with fleece, then headed out the door across the wooden porch and pavement between the grassy lawn and mailbox.

She reached the bar attached to the side of her house where she locked her bike at night and stuck her bottle in a slot on the side of her backpack, then turned her earphone on with a button. It caused a light to flash at the bottom, and she stuck it in her ear.

Julie crouched to dial the pin on the lock and removed it, dropping it in the basket on the front of her bike, then mounting and riding west down her residential street while speed-eating her bar with one hand. She saw the compact mail truck across the street and the employee dropping off packages at doorsteps. He took care of this side of the street at around 6 or 7 a.m., so her mother usually got the mail.

Julie lived two city blocks from downtown Goldenrod on a quiet road. It was kind of a sweet spot. If she rode north or south, she'd be riding deeper into the neighborhood.

The weather made her shiver, gentle breezes pushing her hair back and stinging her face and hands while pedaling past more homes. Julie glanced up at the trees she rode under at what leaves remained from autumn, which dropped from their branches and littered the ground.

Goldenrod's climate was cool by default, being a mountainside city. It was also close to winter; she wasn't far from the beach at that. The region saw less rain during the winter, but it would get frigid in the coming months.

People entered parked vehicles, a garbage truck picked up bins across the street, others took their early morning jog or walked with their pokémon through the neighborhood, and a school bus stopped before homes to pick up children for school.

Julie's school was close-ish, over two hours away by bike. She didn't have to endure it for much longer, anyway. Julie was a few months away from graduating at eighteen. She would finally leave Ecruteak High, the public school she attended.

She would much rather spend her time with pokémon, and speaking of pokémon, it brought her to think of Midnight, the school's umbreon. He had a generic name, but that was what happened when the school's faculty was in charge of that sort of thing.

Julie usually saw him roaming the halls on her way to classes at times, and they'd gotten close over the past year when they first interacted after crossing paths enough times. He'd been at the school for two years now. She gave him as much affection as possible when she had time, occasionally bringing him a treat from home.

It made her grin to picture him sitting before her while chewing berries with those red orbs fixed up at her and cute, furry ringed ears and puffy tail to complement.

"Andd into the fray," Julie whispered. Her surroundings gradually dissolved from a tranquil neighborhood to rush hour traffic and dirtier sidewalks. People walked to and fro; shady types loitered in front of liquor markets and pointed out sporty cars or told jokes while their rugged pokémon like machoke and croconaw accompanied them.

Rattata and pidgey tore and picked through garbage bags that sat idle in dark alleys. They ran or flew for cover when people opened doors to toss more bags.

Murkrow and pidgeotto sat atop the edges of buildings or on light poles, giving the occasional cry while watching the activity below. A few caught sight of a young wild furret darting between footsteps and trying to steer clear by running into the street, but traffic scared it back into the line of fire in a hopeless loop.

Even with its gritty appearance and stuffy air, this side of downtown closer to her area was generally safer and appeared nicer than central. Central was difficult for the city to keep up with due to the homeless, gangs, and people who littered and graffiti'd.

The bare asphalt became a bike lane as she entered the inner city and had to ride on bigger and busier roads prolific in corporate skyscrapers. She soon stopped before a large intersection and watched vehicles speed past, putting her foot on the ground to wait beside pedestrians.

Julie sat up and kept one hand on her handlebar, taking the last bite of her bar and slipping the wrapper in with her bottle. She pulled out her phone, unlocked it, and dragged down her notification bar, where she pressed the 'Magnect' option. It connected her phone to her earbud, making a corresponding beep in her ear.

Magnect was a wireless software founded forty years ago and grew to be sophisticated enough to become the modern standard for short-range interconnections between many electronic devices.

Julie put on a song by one of her favorite modern male pop artists and set her playlist on shuffle, then slipped her phone into her pocket.

She glanced around at busy breakfast restaurants, a public elementary school built at the edge of a residential neighborhood with a fenced empty playground, and food trucks parked beside curbs while tapping her handlebar with her finger to the rhythm in her ear.

A man let his energetic mankey point out an option at a truck, while others had their obedient pokémon sit back while ordering.

The plaza she went to sometimes was west down the road, which she saw in the distance. It had her favorite café to study at: 'Wikiblux,' which was the most popular one worldwide with a circle-shaped light purple logo outlining a half-filled cup with a wiki and bluk berry floating atop the dark purple liquid.

The plaza also had a two-story structure with small family-owned eateries and markets on the first floor, and boring businesses like check-cashing, dentist, and a tax preparation service on the second.

It was also home to a Sumon dealership, a reliable and globally successful truck and jeep manufacturer founded in Galar, and one of the few Poké-Doption Centers in Goldenrod that Julie had visited many times when she was younger.

Doption had been founded in Sinnoh over a decade ago, dedicated to rehoming pokémon that had been born into household lives and couldn't function in the wild, alongside keeping regions pure.

The company sometimes sold foreign pokémon at inflated prices that people had abandoned or dropped off. They also had trucks that traversed the region to seek pokémon from foreign regions and round them up.

When the light turned red a minute later and signaled for everyone to cross, Julie pedaled across the lines and kept to the bike lane afterward, riding among a couple of other cyclists. The sidewalk beside her was populated with other people and owned pokémon strolling with some of them.

She was now a mile from her home amid Goldenrod and ensured to watch driveways of homes, multistory apartments with automatic gates, and parked vehicles before passing. Over the years, she'd almost gotten hit several times by cars or trucks reversing or darting out.

One had been responsible for the bike accident, as Julie had to screech to a stop at the last second to avoid a collision. Her bike's rear tire left the ground, and she toppled over, fracturing her arm on impact with the pavement because she landed on it; she bruised her legs and knees as well after the bike fell on top of her. It had knocked the air out of her and hurt so acutely that she could do nothing but lie still on her stomach, mewling and crying to herself.

The person in the car had been an older woman taking her children to school who seemed genuinely sorry, considering she'd gotten out all hysterical to take the bike off of Julie, sat her up, and called an ambulance.

Julie may have suffered fewer injuries if she'd rode into the car, but her first thought had been to avoid an accident and possible confrontation. She'd had to wear a cast for weeks and couldn't ride to school, so she had taken the bus until she healed.

It would take her around thirty minutes to reach the northern exit on her bike. The halfway point would be the Magnet Train Station and Goldenrod Radio Tower, both of which she was close to. The Goldenrod Gym wasn't far either, located a few miles north.

Julie could see the station in the distance.

People walked up sets of stairs leading from the ground to a large indoor building sitting at three stories. Inside was where one purchased tickets and boarded the train.

Speaking of, Julie saw the gray bullet model appear from behind a tall structure on its raised tracks and slow to a gradual halt as it entered the building, where it disappeared. The tracks being built above the roads ensured shorter travel time.

The train ran from Saffron City, the biggest in Kanto, and stopped in Johto's Goldenrod, connecting both regions. The path from Goldenrod took passengers east through both Violet and Cherrygrove City, over the ocean, then finally passed through Viridian and Celadon City before stopping in Saffron.

The prospect was a collective beauty to watch out the windows; Julie had ridden it multiple times when her parents had taken her on trips to Kanto.

The tall Radio Tower was responsible for broadcasting over fifty programs and music for all of Johto and was Goldenrod's most unique structure. It was a skyscraper with a rounded base, which was essentially its lobby, and thinned out into offices as it ascended into several larger recording studios toward the top.

Atop the roof were multiple telecommunication towers to broadcast countless stations to the population.

Julie knew this route and the surrounding areas of her house like the back of her hand. She had yet to explore much as Goldenrod was massive; she steered clear of areas that were considered unsafe, as taught by her mother, like the majority of Downtown Goldenrod up north and most of the central northern districts that the city put less money into.

However, the wealthy and rich population lived in the Goldenrod Hills edging the district's outskirts in a clearing of its abundant trees. It was also home to the Goldenrod Observatory, which she had been on a field trip to. The city had cut miles of trees down long ago to extend its limits.

Little Kalos, an expansive middle-to-upper-class area that tried its best to capture the region's culture, also resided up there. Many people from Kalos opened restaurants and markets there.

Fortunately, she rode through decent areas, but Julie always made an effort to be home before dark. She'd indeed be targeted as a young woman, especially in metropolitan Goldenrod where over three million people resided.

The rest of Johto's cities didn't hold a candle in population density other than Olivine at two and a half million, Blackthorn at just under two million, and Cianwood at close to one and a half.

---

Away from the commotion and coastal air, Julie had three routes to pass before reaching Ecruteak City. The air was comfortable, cleaner, and smelled of nature. Her face stung and was still a soft pink, and her hands were numb, which the sun gradually warmed.

She rode down Route 35, a dirt path sprinkled with grass patches and surrounded by pines, which she noted the deep, rich green of while they swayed against subtle breezes. It also featured a small, fenced body of water. She passed other students biking and walking likely from Violet City, which was closer to Ecruteak than Goldenrod. She knew of a handful of students who commuted daily from Azalea Town, which was hours south of Ecruteak.

Julie would hate to endure that, even if she used public transportation. She took buses at times when her mother sent her farther out for errands but generally avoided it so she didn't have to be closed in among so many people.

She already found her current daily route tedious at times. She should have a license like her best friend. Johto and Kanto were even connected by what was known as the 'Full-Circle Highway System' that didn't heavily interfere with the nature of routes. The government had built the elevated road around the outskirts of every major city with exits leading to each one.

It sprawled through mountain ranges, over open forests, and the ocean so civilian vehicles and trucks transporting goods could effortlessly traverse the region. Other Accordian regions built them decades ago as well.

But Julie was still afraid to take her driving test. She'd have to shake that soon, but they didn't have a car anymore regardless.

Julie rode slowly in case an unknowing pokémon stepped out of the forest and waltzed into her path.

She looked into the trees and saw a couple of venonat hopping and ledyba buzzing. She also spotted glimpses of aipom hanging in trees and gathering berries, along with a few armed forest rangers in red and green outfits patrolling.

Route 35 through Route 37 were short, fifteen-minute journeys; she rode along the end of 37's trail that soon dissolved into Ecruteak's smooth stone roads. It was a quaint and more traditional city with old structures. The homes had wooden, downward-sloped roofs, and its businesses were worn and faded.

The historic Bell Tower deeper into the city towered over a congregation of homes, markets, the gym, and the Pokémon Center.

Layers of trees with stunning golden leaves and others with a tinge of light green lined the outskirts, along with small ponds. The trees along the routes and in Ecruteak retained their leaves throughout all four seasons due to the warmer climate. Life-sized lanterns were also posted around the city that turned on at night and lit the streets.

Men in tattered tops and worn-out pants pulled water from wells behind their homes; women in wool skirts and old blouses tended to farms and crops. More people around the city pushed wheelbarrows of supplies down the side of the road with the help of machamp or geodude.

Cars were a rare sight; they were usually old models too. People either walked or rode their donphan or arcanine here, which was against the law in most big cities, as it would congest the walkways.

Cell phones were also a rarity. People mainly used Pokégear here, a device resembling a bulky wristwatch with a small screen. It displayed a map of Johto, told time, and could make calls. The newer versions, still vastly outdated, were bigger and had more functions.

If not those, people often used Poképads, which had been a Silph device released in between the Poké lineup and the sleek mobile phones used today. The Poképads' appearance were essentially if a Pokétch and a cell phone had a child: a less bulky, more compact Pokétch minus the straps and shaped in a rectangle one could slip in their pockets, and no, it wasn't touch-screen, but it did include more useful features, including web access, text messaging, games, and a decent camera.

However, they all were old news now due to the more complex and capable cell phones introduced roughly thirty years ago by Silph, a company based in Saffron City. Silph was also responsible for Pokégear created seventy years ago. Other companies in various regions mimicked its success and created other devices like the Pokétch in Sinnoh and PokéNav in Hoenn; however, Silph had ultimately gained the upper hand after releasing the Poképad, which had utilized several popular and effective features from the Pokétch and PokéNav.

Julie rode her bike down the lone dusty but litterless roads under the sun. She spotted a young child and his father picking up a few stray plastic items from beside a curb and stuffing them into a bag.

She went around a woman with groceries saddled on the back of an arcanine who casually trotted with sure, heavy steps. Pedestrians dotted the sidewalks and worn marts with open doors. They sold cheap and limited food and drink items that children and teens from around here bought.

Most of them didn't attend high school and instead worked for their households out of eighth grade. A number attended Ecruteak, although they typically didn't interact with students who lived outside of this city. They also carried a stigma because of their culture and generally low attendance numbers that they weren't as intelligent as Johtoans, often forcing them to work harder to gain respect.

The people of Ecruteak were originally from Oblivia. Even after stepping foot in Johto, they primarily taught their children their language, Fiorean, and embraced much of the culture, both of which Fiore shared. Due to past migration from Fiore, a colder climate, to Oblivia, a much warmer one, their complexion tended to be darker.

Over a million Oblivians had been forced out of their region and relocated to Johto around one hundred years ago for refuge during a past war between them and Ferrum after Johto opened their doors, where they'd built their own community on land provided by the government alongside receiving checks monthly to help sustain them to this day. Ecruteak was the closest they had to home, which was now a distant and corrupt memory plagued with rampant crime and an awful government after Ferrum had infiltrated following the war.

Many Johtoans frowned upon their culture and lifestyle, as it was unrelatable to the majority of the modern world. They felt the Johto-Oblivians and their corresponding mindsets were a drain on Johto's society as they spread into inner cities around the region, including Kanto's in recent years.

Julie could never look down on this city or its people, though. Ecruteak kept busy in its own archaic way. She enjoyed the historic environment and admired that they were pure-hearted, worked hard, and grew their own berries without involving chemicals.

Small banks, cheap clothing stores, and thrift shops saw in-and-out customers. Some walked while using and making calls on newer models of Pokégear or Pads, which was what Julie saw in Goldenrod— except on phones, and people were usually glued way harder since cell phones had more functionality.

Such a simple lifestyle these people had. She had always wondered if they were satisfied with it, knowing what more their lives could be, but their existences were surely brighter and carefree in comparison.

Julie looked ahead and saw her school off to the side. It sat in a massive field: an old white two-story structure with peeling paint.

The school was built here decades ago and was home to two hundred students, but the city may shut it down in the distant future as a growing number of residents complained it devalued the city. It was a good school, minus the minor drug issue and deviants. Fortunately, they were only a loud minority and ended up expelled if they were too defiant.

A tall pole built before it in the grass flew the region's flag hosting four colors. It had a rich, half-gold center that faded into a scarlet orange at the top, and its other half was a deep blue that faded into a soft white. In the upper left corner sat a gust of wind carrying two feathers.

The flag's colors represented the legends of Johto: Ho-oh and Lugia. The region revered them so deeply that they'd built two nine-story towers in their name for the guardians of the sky and sea to reside: the Bell Tower in the east and Brass Tower in the west, both in Ecruteak.

The Bell Tower was cared for and stood to this day, but the Brass Tower had been charred and sacred ruins for over a hundred years. According to legend, a violent thunderstorm formed one night; a lightning strike then struck Lugia's Brass Tower, starting a fire that burned for three days.

Lugia had attempted to call upon the winds to put out the flames. However, their sheer strength had threatened to decimate Ecruteak, and by the time Lugia had the idea to call upon the rain, its tower collapsed.

Julie pulled in and locked her bike among others at a station below a massive digital sign. It displayed upcoming events or important information about the school, such as days when it would be closed.

She tugged on her lock to ensure it was secure and walked along the grass with tall trees before the school and onto the pavement. It led to stone steps through the open doors.

Students filled the halls; posters hung on the walls, displaying the school's name in cursive or their sports team.

Julie headed north down the main hall, her posture slightly slouched. She passed a few classrooms close to the entrance, including her math one, and stairs to her right leading to the school's second floor that students walked up to get to their lockers or classes.

As she passed the flood of perpetually exhausted and eager kids, she could feel some eyes on her, which was nothing out of the ordinary.

Julie arrived at her faded locker several rows down and set her backpack on the tile, dialing her lock to open it. She glanced aside at a tall brunette girl with her hair in a high bun, who shoved her backpack in her locker and took out books. That was Leia.

She was considered a popular girl, always wearing short skirts or short shorts with tight shirts or jean jackets— oh, and she always had a boyfriend.

Julie had regional history as her first subject, so she unzipped her bag and snagged the book for it. She also grabbed her binder with completed homework sheets, her water, notebook, and a zip-up pack of pencils and pens, then opened her locker and stuffed her backpack inside.

Some students carried theirs around all day. It was convenient so they didn't have to stop at their locker after every period, but Julie didn't like lugging hers around.

Midnight was currently nowhere to be found. He tended to avoid the halls while they were so busy. She'd be the same way if she could.

Julie cleared her head and walked past her locker to her class down the lengthy corridor. She reached her hand and disabled her earphone.

At the end of the current hall was a wooden bench under a large window letting the sun in. One could look out of it and see Ecruteak's mini plaza across the road. To the right of it was a hall with more lockers and classrooms. Other students passed Julie to and fro from down it.

Ecruteak's plaza had small businesses and a couple of restaurants that Julie went to sometimes if she wanted a donut or pizza that wasn't from a chain after school, or when she wanted to buy berries for Midnight.

She turned left into her class before it.

Most of her peers were seated, chatting or scribbling last-minute assignments. Some were asleep since the teacher hadn't entered yet.

She made a beeline to her desk at the back and set her books, paper, water, and pack on the faux wood after sitting. Usually, the kids who screwed around sat back here, but this class was an exception, and Julie disliked sitting at the front in any room.

The room was set up like a traditional class that the teacher had decorated to look appealing. Large, detailed maps were pinned on the walls, displaying several regions, pictures of landmarks in popular cities, and mountainous landscapes around the world. Julie never got tired of losing herself in such idyllic settings and picturing herself in them.

"Morning."

Julie looked at the boy sitting beside her and grinned. "Good morning, Max." He had long black hair and was out from Blackthorn.

"Did anything interesting last night?" he asked. "I did a ton of studying for the test in two days." He shrugged. "Nothing wrong with procrastinating if it works, right?"

Julie's eyes went wide. "I actually totally forgot about that. Thanks for reminding me." It would mainly be labeling various attractions, towns, and cities among different regions the teacher had gone over. Shd would likely breeze through it but would be disappointed in herself if she got anything less than an A.

"Jules, pencil?"

"Hold on," Julie told him and shifted to the other side, facing the blonde beside her. She usually wore tops with skirts, headbands with a cute mini bow off to the side, and a fluffy pink or blue wrist cuff on her right wrist depending on her mood. It was pink today. "Jane, how do you never have one?" Jane was sweet, so Julie could never be rude to her, but she could get annoyed. Jane lived in one of the best areas in Goldenrod and of Julie's favorite ones to shop or hang out in.

She shrugged. "I brought one Thursday and the day before, and... Jules, you know I'll return it."

"That's the crazy part. You don't." While generally soft spoken, Julie came alive around those she was comfortable around. She looked ahead shortly as the teacher entered with a regional history textbook and laptop tucked under her arm. She was a kind middle-aged woman with black hair held in a bun atop her head, currently wearing a cream sweater and black pants.

Julie slipped Jane a pencil from her pack, who whispered "thank you" in response.

"Good morning, class." She walked to her desk and grinned after a couple of voices returned it, set her items down, and opened her laptop, typing on it for a minute or so. Her desk had a jar of colored pencils and a nametag stating 'Miss Vasella.'

She grabbed a small black remote and went to stand by the whiteboard, pulling down the projector screen. "Today, we will be reviewing Johto, Unova, and Galar for the upcoming test, alongside touching more on the Galar Mines and Isle of Armor."

Miss Vasella pointed the remote to the ceiling to turn on the projector, which displayed an overhead shot of the modern Village Bridge in Unova. It was an arched bridge made of stone and spanned several miles to the east and west over a body of water, grassy fields, and forests of trees. Twelve buildings lined the start of the bridge's edges with stairs at the center. Once one got to the top, they could look upon the extensive field, greenery, water, and the pokémon who resided in them.

The teacher stepped aside. "We'll start with locations that aren't on the review. Think of it as an intriguing sneak peek into next week. What you're looking at is an image of Village Bridge, located between routes eleven and twelve that connect both."

Julie shifted in her seat to lean in. Unova had caught her eye ever since she'd started studying it inside and outside of the classroom.

Miss Vasella clicked the remote. The next slide showed an image of a white structure on the bridge near the top at the west end with an older man in a tee and cap waving at the camera. It had inviting flowerbeds and potted plants in front of the building, and above them was a sign reading: 'Village Bridge Restaurant.' "It's a popular tourist spot with thousands visiting annually to take its telling historical tours and dine at the restaurant in this image, known for its delectable berry sandwiches."

Miss Vasella pressed again.

A photorealistic drawing of the Village Bridge? Or what it had been. The art was drawn from the same angle as the first image but without the bridge in its place. Instead, it displayed a flooded river covering the field and swallowing homes, several of which had crumbled.

"The Village Bridge is well over two hundred years old and was constructed after the river we saw in the first slide had flooded and destroyed livelihoods. After the tragic event, the government came up with a charming idea. They ordered the community to be constructed atop the beautiful bridge. It is upkept by qualified individuals, as a total collapse would equal an even bigger tragedy. The river has flooded again multiple times but is no longer a threat."

Julie grinned. It was truly amazing how people came together in times of need and built such profound structures on short notice. If only it could always be that way.

---

After the hour passed, she was back out in the halls. She held onto some new things about her home region, Johto, where she'd lived all of her life, and Unova, which was an ally.

Unova was allied with Johto, Kanto, Hoenn, and Paldea in what was referred to as the Unified Accord. It was the strongest and most respected nation with Kalos and Fiore also having joined five years ago, while Kalos looked to depart. The second strongest world power was the SNDA. The South-Northern Defensive Alliance currently consisted of Alola and Galar as close and trusted allies.

Both and all other regional alliances were kept in order by the Global Union, an international power located in Unova that mantained global order and a semblance of world peace if and when possible.

Julie wondered if they would ever be on the Accord's level of global influence and domination. Alola and Galar built off of each other and fast-tracked societal and economic progress. They were developing mutually faster than any other regions, but it was still hard to believe. The Accord had been in power for over two hundred years and had won more conflicts than it hadn't.

It had close to a hundred military bases built strategically around Galar and Alola in the ocean and on the land of other regions nearby, ready for action, as those two were the Accord's greatest threats. Galar and Alola dual-funded their militaries nonstop and built airstrips and bases as an indirect challenge, but they knew better than to challenge directly. The only aspect that struck uneasiness was that they were likely gearing to be ready for a direct challenge.

Onto less depressing matters, after Village Bridge, Miss Vasella had moved on and covered the marvelous Liberty Garden, a luxurious island purchased and named by a rich family long ago off the coast of Castelia City, Unova's capital. It had been a private island for decades; however, the family opened it to tourism in recent years for a source of easy income.

Julie would take the ferry from the Liberty Pier in Castelia City if and when she ever visited Unova, as Miss Vasella had taught. Speaking of Castelia, it was the largest city in the region and among the largest in the world. It saw traffic from around the globe, so it held many cultures and food— a cosmopolitan dream that would make for nothing but an exquisite experience.

However, Julie was most interested in its university she wanted to apply to after graduating, as well as a few others with her mother's help. The convenient option that'd allow Julie to stay within the comfort of Goldenrod would be attending UG Southside City, which was twenty minutes south of her house near the beachfront in a decent area.

Her mother had taken her one day to tour its grounds, but Castelia was considered a top one with the world's best regional history program, so Julie would have to work as hard and be as prudent as she had been to get a chance at being accepted. If she couldn't from high school, which was eminently competitive, she'd transfer from a community college.

It only reaffirmed that she had to remember to study for the test tonight. Julie had an A in history, an overall GPA sitting at 3.8 that taking several rigorous honors classes in previous grades had boosted, and would like to keep it that way, not to mention SAT testing was only a couple of months or so away.

On her way to return her book to her locker, Julie spotted a familiar black creature sitting in the general area where her locker was. Every ring but one was a bright yellow. The one on his right ear was a distinct blue, which was as rare as a pokémon being hatched as a shiny.

Everyone passing or standing by paid little to no mind to him, occasionally stopping to greet him or pat his head. He wasn't an unusual sight, after all. Julie just couldn't help herself. He was adorable.

She approached and crouched before him after the area cleared momentarily, leaning her book against her locker. “Hey, Midnight." Julie wore a slight grin and leaned in on her toes; she ran her palm over his head, glancing at his rings as they faded to a dim, glowy yellow tinged with a soft blue. His ears folded as she brushed her hand over them and rose after she removed it.

She'd researched the phenomenon after they'd first met because his rings glowed during their interactions the more time they spent together, where she'd found out they light up for two reasons: excitement and moonlight. It reminded her of Lilly purring when content.

She figured Midnight had been waiting for her today; she'd be a bit flattered if that were the case, as if it were a boy she liked, and she did really like him.

Julie brought her hands to caress his cheeks, squishing them together for a moment, which he briefly raised his paw against. “I need to get to my next class. See you afterward if you're here, okay?" She pulled her hands and rubbed his head, then grabbed her history text and stood to slide it in her locker. She afterward got the necessary book out of her locker for her next class.

While walking, she glanced back at Midnight with a grin that grew and brightened her eyes.