FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

"Mmmh... Nnngh... N-NO!!" The totodile shoots upright, spraying a stream of water at the wall. As it pools harmlessly on the floor, Moto scratches at the back of his head and comes to his senses. "Same dream again..." Shaking his head, he looks over to the Jolteon sleeping quietly in the other bed.

Lance slept deeply through the night. The sounds of the forest and the ocean from outside failed to stir him from his sleep. Even the sun shining on the battered fox's face through a crack in the wall couldn't rouse him.

His body was sent through the wringer the previous day. Despite his demeanor later that evening, he is going to need more time to recover fully. With the help of the Oran and Sitrus berries Moto had brought him, the totodile is sure that it will help speed the fox's recovery along.

His friend asleep, Moto takes a few moments to really get a good look at the sleeping fox. He tilts his head curiously. Reaching out with one hand, he gently pets the yellow Pokemon. "So soft..." He hadn't noticed the Jolteon's fur the last time; he was too focused on making sure he was going to be all right.

Moto hadn't paid enough attention before to see the scarf that the Jolteon is wearing either. It's a sky blue color with wisps of white mixed in, and is large enough to cover almost the entirety of the Jolteon's white mane. Something about it tells Moto that there's more to the scarf than just being an article of clothing. "Huh..." Moto says, examining the scarf more closely.

Asleep, the Jolteon appears to take on a completely different look. The fur on his body is smooth and flat. It's not the usual spiky form that electric type Jolteons are known for. Instead of always looking tense and on edge, he looks rather peaceful.

"I guess I should let him sleep..." Moto decides after petting his friend one more time.

Setting a large leaf near the bed like he did before, he sets a small pile of Oran and Pecha berries on it. "Well, see you later I guess." he says. He leaves the shack and makes sure the door is secured behind him.

---

Not long after being left alone, the water from Moto's attack slowly makes its way to Lance's bed. As it soaks up the water, he finally wakes up.

With a stretch and a loud squeaking yawn, he blinks a few times to bring his eyes into focus.

"What the-?!" He instantly charges his body with electricity. He looks around a moment, then relaxes. He's in the small cabin the little Totodile brought him to. "Right... I got lost..." he reminds himself with a sigh.

As he gets out of the moist bed, Lance is careful not to touch what's left of the pool of water, and doesn't even notice the breakfast that was left for him. He goes outside and wanders into the forest to do some exploring, a smile on his face. The Jolteon hasn't felt this good in a long while. Despite getting hopelessly lost during frightening circumstances, the thought of having made a new friend is encouraging to him.

Lance looks around at the trees surrounding him. "Yup. Iiiit's a forest all right. Who'da thunk there'd be this many trees in the woods." he jokes with himself then starts to head back. The cabin is still vacant by the time he gets there.

---

Staying true to his word, the cheery Totodile is seeing how well things work without the pants he's grown so used to wearing. He swims about and after a while has to admit to himself that it is rather nice not having the extra resistance. "Maybe I can get used to this..."

He floats on his back lazily to clear his head and relax. Only the waves gently crashing into each other and the Wingull flying overhead are around to disturb his thoughts. As the waves carry him silently at their will, Moto finally shakes his head and sighs. "I should get more sleep..." Flipping over once more, he takes a leisurely pace toward home.

"Maybe he'll even help me with my dream!" Moto says to himself on his way. He's excited now. But first, he has to check up on his friend.

Once home, he scratches his chin. The door to the cabin is open. "I could swear I secured it when I left..." Shrugging it off, he heads inside.

"Oh..." The totodile droops his head. The Jolteon's bed is empty. Sighing sadly, Moto's tail drags along behind him as he cleans up the water still puddled on the floor. "Without even saying goodbye..." he finishes cleaning up the water, sighs again, and crawls up onto his bed. "Oh well... It was fun while it lasted I guess." he tells himself. He was looking forward to having someone to talk to for a while. "He's probably long gone by now, on his way ho-"

"What was fun? Did I miss something?" Lance pokes his head down from the top of the doorway, staring at his reptilian friend with a playful grin.

"GAH!!" Moto jumps and falls out of his bed, landing on his head. He pulls the pillow off of his face and glares at the door. "Don't SCARE me like that!"

The yellow fox was laying down on the roof and fell asleep. He only woke up when he heard movement inside. "Didn't mean to scare ya'. I thought you knew I was up here, sorry." He says and sticks his tongue out.

"I coulda fainted..!" Moto gets to his feet and brushes himself off. "Besides, didn't you have someplace to go? Like an adventure or something?" He thinks a moment, then tilts his head. "Is there treasure there?"

Lance sucks his tongue back in and tilts his head right back. "Treasure? What're you talking about?" The Jolteon pulls his head back up and finally hops down off of the roof. "Nowhere in particular I have to be. Just..." He looks up thoughtfully. "Well, home I guess. I was on my way home before I ran into Sce-"

He shakes his head. "Someone. Whoever they were." The Jolteon sits down in the doorway and looks at the reptile curiously. "I don't suppose you know how to get to Lakethorn Oasis from here, do you?"

Home..? That's where he was going..? Moto thinks to himself. So he's not some kind of adventurer...

"Adventurer?" Lance asks, his head head tilting to the other side.

Moto's face flushes with embarrassment. He wasn't intending to say it aloud.

"Uhh, n-nothing." Moto replies finally. "Lakethorn Oasis... Oh right, you asked me about it yesterday. Wait here a sec."

The totodile moves aside one of the end tables near his bed to reveal a small hatch.

Lance again chuckles, impressed. I can't believe how much human relics this little guy's found. It's amazing.

Disappearing through the hatchway, the crocodile soon returns with a rolled up poster. "I knew I had it somewhere. I found it a while back and brought it home, so I went to look for it while you were sleeping last night. Here." He spreads it open on the floor.

"A map?" Lance asks.

"Is that what it's called?" Moto replies. "While I was looking at it that first day, I realized that the river has the same shape as this blue part here." he says, pointing at a squiggly blue line on the poster. "And here is where we are. And over here..." Pausing to examine the map momentarily, the water type points at another spot on the map. It's a small forested area surrounded by open plains. The Oasis itself is shaped like a rose thorn. "There, that's Lakethorn Oasis. I think..."

The Jolteon leans in. "Looks like it to me! And if I'm right... There's where me and my brothers and sisters live."

So he has a family, too... Moto looks over at Lance with just his eyes. He shakes his head.

"Well, like I said last night, it's about a day's walk from here. So not TOO far I guess. If you go through the forest anyway. But we'll be almost guaranteed to run into the Breloom Brothers, or Sceptile's gang if we do." Then he points at the hatch. "But if we take my tunnels, we can get by them without them ever knowing we were there!"

Lance scoots back away from the trap door. "Tunnel..? As in... under the ground?" The electric type shivers. "No thanks. I'll take my chances with the gangs I think."

"The tunnels will be faster. And they won't beat you up like the gangs will." Moto smiles and laughs. The thought of going on an adventure of his own is getting him excited, and he begins hopping from one foot to the other. "B'sides, I dug 'em all myself!" he declares proudly. "I'm no Diglett, but they're sturdy. I even tried to cave them in once cause I thought I was being followed, and I couldn't. It would take a Rhydon to collapse them probably. Except for the places I specifically rigged to collapse anyway... After the false alarm, I thought it would be smart to have that set up, just in case."

Nodding a bit, Lance licks his lips nervously. His eyes keep shifting toward the hatch, then the door. "But... It's under ground... You can't see the sky under ground." He gulps audibly and shakes his head slowly. "I don't think-"

"Well of course you can't see the sky. But..." Moto scratches his jaw in thought, then pats the Jolteon on the shoulder. "It won't take us long. And I have places to surface here and there too."

The electric type's fur stands on end as a chill runs up his spine.

"No electricity please..." Moto backs away from him, afraid he was about to launch some kind of attack.

"I just... I HATE being underground..." Lance explains with a shiver.

Relaxing when no attack comes, Moto again pats the fox on the shoulder. "Don't worry. I hate storms, but you were able to help me last night. So...this will let me be able to help you. Besides..." Moto motions toward the door. "It's either that or rile up the gangs again. And, if it was them, you saw how persistent they are. In the tunnels, the only other Pokemon you'll need to worry about is Magikarp and Goldeen mostly. But they all leave when they evolve usually."

"If there's no other way I guess..." the Jolteon gives in. "As long as we don't have to swim to get there... I don't mind water, but..." His ears twitch as he swallows. "I'm a terrible swimmer."

"Well, I do in some of the tunnels, but it's okay. I'm a champion swimmer!" Moto responds, putting a fist to his chest proudly. "No one has ever beat me at swimming before." The Totodile leaves out the part about not having anyone that isn't a fish to challenge to a swimming race. "But I don't think there's more than some puddles to walk through on the way to the oasis."

Moto doesn't see Lance shiver again at the mention of even a simple puddle.

As the electric type is about to stand up, his stomach growls. "Maybe we should get something to eat." he says and sits down completely on his backside. With his front paws on his stomach and his back legs sticking out in front of him, even he chuckles a bit at himself as he sees his friend start laughing.

After taking a moment to compose himself, the blue reptile takes the uneaten berries next to Lance's and sets them down in the middle of the room. Then he starts rummaging around in the end table drawers. "Aha!" Pulling out a pair of apples, he rolls one over to Lance. "I was saving these for a special occasion, but..." Grinning, Moto starts shivering in anticipation. "We're going on an adventure! That's reason enough!" he declares, and chomps down on the apple still in his hand.

Lance lays down and nods appreciatively before starting to eat as well. "You definitely know how to pick the ripe ones..."

Moto smiles, then throws the rest of his apple in the air and catches it in his maw to finish it off in one gulp.

Chuckling again, the Jolteon shakes his head. "So, where did you get all this stuff? I've never seen so many human relics in one place before. Or anything so... Detailed." he finishes, motioning toward the map.

"Hyoomans?" Moto tilts his head in thought. "What's that?"

Lance blinks in surprise. "You really haven't heard of them?"

Moto shakes his head and sits down to eat some berries. "What's it do?"

"Ooohohohoooo..." Lance chuckles and grins. He doesn't often get to talk about humans since his father died. And here's this little guy without any knowledge of them.

His speech comes out in rapid fire. "Well humans were Pokemon, sort of... My dad said they walked on two legs, kinda like you, but only straighter. They only had fur on their heads, and they trained us Pokemon to use our abilities to the fullest. And they wore clothes, like those pants of yours, and shirts to cover their skin since they don't have fur. And they liked to build stuff, like your end table there, and your bed there, and the cushion you had me sleep on. And maps, and bottles, and all kindsa crazy stuff."

Moto tries to keep up with what's being said, but is having trouble. "So.. Hyoomans are ancient Pokemon or something?"

"Sort of." Lance replies. "They still had to eat and sleep and poop, and they fight each other and love each other and yadda yadda yadda... But they don't have any attacks like we do. They had to make stuff to do that for them unless they used their hands to hit someone else or something."

Moto has no idea what the Jolteon is talking about. Thinking about it only makes his head hurt. "But hyoo... Him.. Humans... Is that right? Anyway... I've never seen them. And this is the first time I've even heard of them. Maybe they're from old stories."

Lance nods. "Well they are, really. My dad said they used to share the world with us. Until they just, disappeared one day and left all their stuff behind. No Pokemon could have made this sort'a stuff. And we don't tend to wear clothes."

The Jolteon eyes his friend for a moment, then looks over at the clothing still hanging up on the wall. "You didn't used to be a human or something, did you?" he jokes.

"I am not a human!" Moto shouts. "I'm a Totodile, and always have been!" Once he calms himself down, he apologizes. "Sorry, I just..." He shakes his head of the memories dredged up by the accusation.

"I wear those clothes because I like them, and they're comfortable." he says finally.

Laughing, the Jolteon nudges the other Pokemon with his paw. "I was just playin', take it easy. Who ever heard of a human becoming a Pokemon?"

Moto thinks for a moment, then smiles. "Yeah... Sorry I yelled... I don't know why that got to me."

"So where did you get it all? You have so much stuff here it's hard to believe."

"Well, you can't see it from here, but on the other side of the cliff, there's this big thing in the water with a whole bunch of this stuff. It's where I got my bed from. And the... whatever that is." he motions toward Lance's bed.

"Cushion. But it's big enough for me to call it a bed." Lance replies with a smile.

"Right, Cushion... But yeah, I got my map from in there. It was in this."

"A bottle?" The Jolteon's head jerks backward in surprise.

"So that's what it's called..."

Lance gets to his feet. "I'm surprised it fit in there. Why would anyone try to put it in there for that matter..?"

"So how do you know about all this stuff? I've been trying to figure it out for months." Moto asks, setting the bottle down.

The electric fox shrugs. "Just a hobby I guess. And my dad taught me a lot." He turns to look out the window. "Any more stuff out there like this?"

"Probably." Moto shrugs. "There's some places I couldn't get to. Couldn't even see inside. But Lobi is pretty big, I'm sure there's lots of stuff in there."

"Lobi?"

"Oh, that's just what I call it. I think it's an ancient Pokemon or something."

"Ancient Pokemon..? Now this I gotta see." Lance decides at last and stands up.

"Well, the only way in is by swimming. So if you want to get inside, you're gonna have to-"

"Nevermind, I'll pass."

"It's really not a big deal. I can carry you easi-"

"I changed my mind." Lance says decisively and sits back down.

Moto stares at the Jolteon curiously. "You don't even want to see it now?"

Lance tilts his head in thought. "Well, I'll take a look I guess."

"Great!" Moto says with a grin. "Lobi's huge, you can't miss 'im!"

"As long as I don't have to swim to see it. Let's just say the 'doggy paddle' isn't my forte." Standing up again, Lance waits for the crocodile to lead the way. "Shall we?"

Smiling again, Moto jumps ahead and starts walking. "So how come you never learned to swim? I thought electric types like you would be more at home than most in the water. I mean, you have the type advantage, right? If anyone comes close, you just zap 'em! But..." Moto pauses. After a moment, he starts laughing. "I s'pose that would be bad for me if I was near you."

The fox Pokemon chuckles. "Yeah, maybe... But type advantage wouldn't do me any good anyway if I can't swim. I sink faster than a Geodude full of Pokeblock." he says, sticking his tongue out. "At any rate, it'll be cool to see from the beach."

The fox suddenly drops his front half to the ground. "Let's go already! I wanna check this thing out!"

Moto jumps in surprise at the sudden outburst, but quickly becomes more excited himself. "We can see it better from the cliff." He points to the north where sure enough, there's a cliff overlooking the ocean. "And the only other way there is by swimming anyway, so.. Since you seem to hate water... To the cliff!"

It doesn't take them as long as Lance thought it would to reach the top of the cliff. It looked much farther away from the cabin. The forest trees stop not far from the peak, leaving the precipice clear of debris.

"Over here." Moto says, taking the fox toward the pointed edge.

Growing out of the cliff face at it's peak is a massive tree. Instead of growing straight up, it grew outward to hang over the water.

"Whooooaaaa..." Lance's jaw drops in awe as he looks out at the object.. "That thing is massive...! And..." Lance squints as he examines it. "Is that... Oh...my god..."

Moto gets a worried expression on his face. "W-what is it..?"

"That's a ship!!" Lance declares, shivering with excitement.

Sticking out of the water is a massive ship, broken and rusted. The bow found shallow water and remains mostly intact, while the stern, broken just beyond the center, wasn't so lucky. It has sunk below the water, leaving it inaccessible to anyone that isn't a water type Pokemon.

"A ship?" Moto asks, tilting his head. "What's that?"

"That!" Lance motions with his head toward it. "My dad said humans used to use them to travel long distances over water. I never thought I'd ACTUALLY see one though! And it's waaaay nicer than the ones my dad told me about... I have GOT to find a way in there..!"

The Jolteon looks about, then he grins and looks at Moto. "I think if I use Quick Attack to get a running start, I could jump my way over there using the tree as a spring board."

Moto blinks at his friend a few times. "You... You're gonna try and jump it...?"

"Well I'm sure not swimming. But I've GOT to see what's in there!"

"All right, well... Let me get up there first and clear out a landing spot." Moto says excitedly. "Wait here!"

Moto then starts his way down through the forest and before long, Lance can see a wake in the water.

"He's fast..." Lance says, taking note of how quickly the small figure is rounding the bottom of the cliffside.

Disappearing under the water, Moto picks up speed. Then with a powerful flick of his tail, launches himself out of the water and grabs on to the piece he's always used to get on top.

Lance sits down and watches with admiration. "He made good use of the ladder. Too bad it's broken or I could have used it maybe." he tells himself as he watches Moto climb. "I can't believe he lives so close to an actual ship!"

Once the crocodile makes it to the top he gets to work and eventually waves up to the fox to signal that he's cleared enough space.

Nodding, Lance checks how sturdy the tree is sticking out of the cliff. "Seems steady enough..." Taking a few more steps outward, he jumps on it lightly. "Feels good and strong... Yup, good to go!"

The Jolteon looks down to judge the distance. "I can definitely make this... Get ready! Here I come!!" Lance calls out.

"I'm ready!" Moto yells back.

With another nod, Lance turns around and puts some distance between he and the tree. "This should be far enough."

"I wonder how he's going to get back to shore once he's over here..?" Moto asks himself as the yellow Pokemon disappears from his view.

Lance, digging his feet into the ground, tenses his body. He erupts into a series of sparks and dashes forward, an aura of white light surrounding him as he executes his Quick Attack toward the dangling tree. With a short hop, he hits the end of the largest branch, and it launches him into the air.

Moto uses a hand to block the sun from his eyes just in time to see the yellow Pokemon getting larger. "Lance?" Then his eyes go wide in fear.

As he falls, Lance folds his ears back. "Uh-oh..." He misjudged the distance. "INCOMING!!" Lance barks just before he lands right smack into the small blue crocodile, and they both go tumbling across the deck of the ship.

Unfortunately for them, the guard rails have rusted away. Instead of stopping the pair of Pokemon when they hit, the railing gives way and sends them careening over the edge.

"WAAAAH!!"

Moto acts quickly. He manages to grab hold of the maintenance ladder with one hand and grasp the yellow fox by the scruff of his neck with the other. "Gotcha!"

The electric type lets out a painful yelp as he slams into the side of the ship. He hangs there for a moment, at first unaware of his predicament. "Whew... That was cl-"

Lance draws in a deep breath in terror. He can see nothing but water below him and it's a long way down. Instantly, the fox goes into panic mode. "Get me up, get me up, GET ME UP!!!" he shrieks, squirming and twisting in the reptile's grip.

"Lance..! S-stop... moving! Hrnng!" Moto grunts, struggling to hang onto the wriggling Pokemon. "Lance!!" His grip slips. With quick reflexes, Moto lets go of the ladder to let himself fall, grabs the vulpine in his teeth, and takes hold of the ladder once more.

"Shtof shtruggring!!" Moto orders, having to tighten his bite to keep from losing the fox again. He can taste a bit of iron on his tongue. It's then he realizes his teeth have caused little pinpricks of blood to emerge. "Holg shgill!"

Lance goes limp, all four legs curled up and whimpering in fear as he is slowly carried up the ladder.

Finally Moto is able to make his way to the top and throw the frightened fox back onto the deck of the ship. "You really don't like water... Do you..?" he asks the fox, breathing heavily. He hops up and leans against a wall to rest.

Lance has crawled his way as far from the edge of the deck as he can, curled up in a ball against the door to one of the cabins. "No." he says after he catches his breath. "I don't."

Sighing in shame, the Jolteon closes his eyes and rests his head on his front paws. "Strong against water types and afraid of water... I'm pathetic..."

Moto gets up and sits with his friend. "And I'm afraid of the dark. But I dug out all my own tunnels. You'll learn to overcome it, so no, it's not pathetic." he says. "My first battle ever, I was up against a Charmander. And in one shot, he knocked me out with an ember attack of all things. Believe me, fear of something isn't pathetic."

"It is pathetic though. You at least got knocked out by an attack, even if it was a type you're strong against. I get even a drop of water on me and...and I freak out!" Lance sighs again. "It's why I wear this..."

The yellow fox touches the scarf around his neck with a paw. "It's called a Weather Band. Yeah, there's plenty out there that could help me out more, but... This... It keeps me dry in the rain, and I don't collect moisture when it's foggy. Or have snow melt on me when it's snowing..." He looks away from his companion, ashamed of himself. "I just can't handle being wet..."

Moto flicks his tail and stands up. "Well I can help you with that." He beats his chest with a fist. "I'm a water Pokemon. I can introduce you to water nice and slow. Like this." Moto jumps back, and gives a light spray of Water Gun on the deck of the ship, allowing it to slowly creep toward his friend.

Lance gets up quickly, looking back and forth between the water and Moto. "What're you-"

The water soon averts course, streaming away. "I mean... If you stay afraid of water, there'll be lots of stuff you won't be able to do." Moto explains.

"Yeah, well..." Lance says, lifting a paw so it doesn't get wet. "Let's just... go check this place out for now. Where to from here?"

"Umm..." Moto scratches at his cheek, his eyes wandering over the deck. "It's this way." He starts toward the back of the ship. The weight in that direction has caused the deck to angle downward. "I got in the first time I came here since this part just pushes open, then- WAAH!"

Moto slips in a puddle of water left from his demonstration and falls on his back. He starts to laugh about it, but is cut short. The ship shifts, the angle steepens, and the poor crocodile slides through the doors, yelling all the way. "Laaaance!!!" But before the fox can react, Moto falls somewhere out of sight.

"No no NO STOP!! Come back!!" The Jolteon tries to run after his friend, but his fear of water stops him. He can't bring himself to step in the water to give chase. "Mmmmm..." he whimpers, shifting side to side with his ears folded back in worry. There's water all over the entrance, keeping him from getting through the door.

"There." He spots a window and heads toward it. It clearly doesn't lead to where he thinks the crocodile went, but it will get him inside. "I'm... I'm coming, Moto!" he calls out, then backs up for a running start to jump through the window.

As Lance is preparing himself to head inside, he hears a muffled thud. "Moto?!" he calls out, but the crashing waves below the ship are the only sounds he hears in reply. As he listens, his feet start tingling, and he notices a slight vibration in the floor. "Electricity...? This thing still has power?" Listening more intently, he can hear a faint buzzing with intermittent crackles. "It sure does... And..."

Lance's ears fold back and he suddenly feels sick. "If there's any exposed electrical parts touching the water, then... I gotta find Moto..."

Without any further hesitation, Lance jumps through the window at last with a crash. "All right, Moto... How to..." He stops, feeling dizzy. The electricity in his body is being sapped from him. Looking down, a well of terror erupts within him as he realizes he's up to his elbows in water. He panics, jumping this way and that, whining and crying as he tries to get away from the water until he goes crashing through another window that runs from floor to ceiling. Free of its cage, the water carries him with it through a large open room and slams him against a wall.

Yelping painfully, Lance is helpless to get to his feet until the water dissipates completely.

"I... Hate... WATER!!!" he yells, his voice echoing throughout the ship.

After taking a moment to recover, the Jolteon brings himself back to his purpose. "All right, Moto, where are you..?"

He heads back up the sloped floor. "Moto?" he calls from time to time, never getting a response.

As time passes, the worried electric type grows weary. "Figures... I finally make a new friend after months of only having my siblings to talk to, and I lose him because of stupid water. I knew that stuff was evil..."

His rantings halt as he turns down a hallway and there's a massive stairwell below him. The walk way to the top of the steps has collapsed, as well as the stairs themselves. The only way out of the lower level is a single door. Laying nearby it is a small blue figure.

"MOTO!!" Lance sidles the edge of his platform, looking for the best way down. He fails to hear the crackling of electricity in his panic.

"No other choice..." he concludes, seeing no easy way down. Taking a deep breath, he readies himself, then jumps.

His front legs hit first. The right, finding the floor too slick, twists in an awkward fashion. With a sickening crack, the bone in his foreleg snaps in two as the rest of his body collapses to the floor. He emits an ear piercing yelp of pain followed by a series of high pitched whines. "NNGAAH!!" he growls out.

Finally taking a moment to see what's hurting so much, he looks down. His leg is bent between the elbow and the wrist at a grotesque angle, his paw pointing at the wall behind him.

"GrrAAAAHHH!!!" he yells again as the pain takes hold of him. The shock to his system makes him feel ill in an instant.

Lance takes a moment to gather himself with some deep breaths. "I... gotta get.. to.. Moto..." he reminds himself. He props his body against the wall to try to stand. Between the sickness from his broken limb and the slippery floor, he's unable to stay upright for more than a few seconds. He again falls to the floor, jostling the snapped bone. His vision turns white, his breath leaving him.

"No..." he shakes the dizziness from his head, and his sight returns. "I'm not giving up yet..." He looks around.

Next to where the stairs once were, uphill from where he lay, is the door he spotted from the upper level. And next to that is the Totodile.

"I'm... NNG!! Coming, Moto...!"

With his good leg, the fox again props himself up against the wall and makes his way forward. With every inch, his struggle to remain conscious grows more difficult. "MOTO!!" he barks again as his vision blinks out. "Wake... AGH..! Wake UP!!!"

---

Moto can barely hear his name being called as he comes to. The sound seems muted somehow. "Oooh..." he moans. His body and head ache. As he opens his eyes, the world around him is blurry at first, but soon comes into focus.

"Hmm..?" The little blue reptile gets to his feet as his hearing and vision clear up. The door in front of him cracks and sparks with electricity. "Gah!" Moto jumps away fearfully. "That woulda hurt..."

Gulping nervously, he turns around to the sound of moaning. "Lance!" He rushes to his friend's side. "How did you... Why... What happened?! Lance, your leg!"

"I... I was... Uuhhg..."

The vulpine slumps to the floor and vomits. His body is going into shock. "I don't feel good..." he groans, gulping down another wretch. With every beat of his heart, the whiteness blinking in his vision stays just a little longer than before. Little black spots persist, dancing about in front of his eyes.

"I... I..." The pain in his leg grows faint, his breath again leaving him. His head falls to the floor with a soft thump as his vision goes dark.

"Lance..? Lance..?!" Moto shakes his friend, trying to rouse him.

The fox doesn't respond.

"Oooh..." Moto whimpers. He looks between the Jolteon and the closed door. It crackles at him mockingly.

"All right... Umm... Stay.. Stay here. I'm gonna get you out." Moto says, trying to gather his courage.

With unusual determination, the Totodile approaches the sparking door. "Here goes nothin'..." He takes hold of the door. As he feared, electricity surges through him, and he cries out in pain. He doesn't let go, the fear for his friend fueling his efforts.

"GRRAAAAH!!!" he pries the door open enough to squeeze through.

Once on the other side, he drops to his hands and knees weakly. "Ow..."

He takes a moment to catch his breath, then finally looks around. "That's why it's charged..." Moto says. A loose electrical wire is hanging down from the ceiling and resting against the door. Carefully, Moto grabs it and sets it between the slats in a nearby bench.

"That should do it." With that, he turns around. The hallway leads downhill, and is filled with water. The totodile can't tell how deep it goes, but the ship is starting to shift again and he isn't sure if it's going to sink or not. Even if it doesn't, Lance needs him.

"I'll be back soon." He calls through the door, then dives into the water.

Lance comes to as his friend starts to leave, and he reaches out with his good paw. "W-wai-..." he tries to call out, but it's nothing more than a whisper. Moto is gone. "M... Mot.... C-come ba..." he whimpers softly.

He can hear the crackling electricity on the other side of the door. With a pained effort, he starts to scoot forward, but he's too weak. His body has gone into shock, his vision again filling with blinking black dots as the world spins around him. "N-need..."

---

Moto emerges from the water and looks around. "Well that was lucky." Directly in front of him is a door with a red cross on it. He recalls seeing something in there before that might help him. "Just the place I was looking for."

He heads inside and begins rummaging around. He finds multiple bottles filled with little white pellets, several beds, long sticks... But he sees nothing like what he remembers. "Hmm..." He heads into another room and begins digging through closets. "Here we are."

There's several objects, all of them three times his height. A long strip of fabric is attached lengthwise with a shiny stick on either side of it. One of them, identical in color and length, is rolled up around one of the sticks. "How convenient!" he says, taking hold and carrying it over his head. It's much lighter than he expected. "I'm coming Lance!"

---

"N-need... El..." Lance whines under his breath. He tries again to scoot toward the doorway.

His body is starting to feel numb. Whether it's compensating, or going deeper into shock, he isn't sure. What he is sure of, the pain in his leg has started becoming a dull throb instead of a constant piercing stab. He takes a deep sigh of relief, as he can now concentrate a little better on staying calm. He still feels too sick to stand, but at least he can move. Again the Jolteon makes the effort toward the door, this time with some success. But the more he moves, the more ill he feels.

With the room spinning and his vision flashing in and out of focus, he decides instead to close his eyes and lay down. Hopefully the little crocodile will come back for him.

"Heh..." he laughs at himself before it turns into a sputtering cough. He wouldn't blame the little guy for leaving him to die here. The Totodile is pretty small, and it's unlikely he'd be able to carry him for very long. And even then, they barely know each other.

For all he knows, I could just be toying with him, waiting for the right time... Just like the gangs...

Sighing in defeat, he takes a deep breath and resigns himself to his fate. Either Arceus will smile on him and the little blue reptile will come to his rescue for a second time, or he will be left there to starve to death or die of shock.

"Lance?" Moto returns and again squeezes through the door, this time without the electrical surge. "Lance, I'm here." He then turns around to drag the cloth object in behind him and unroll it. "I'm gonna need your help to get you on this. I also found a way out of here." Moto keeps the fact that the return trip is over water as his little secret for now.

"Tch..." Lance grunts as he feels the others' hands on him. He opens his eyes and smiles weakly. "You... came back..."

"Of course I did! I said I would, didn't I? C'mon, lift up just a little... There." With Lance's help, he's able to get the Jolteon onto the cloth.

"Sparks... Where..?" the fox points toward the doorway, then loses the strength to hold it up. "N... Need... el... ele..."

Moto looks to his companion proudly. "I pushed it away so it wouldn't zap you when you touched the door."

Just looking at the yellow Pokemon, it's hard for Moto to tell that the poor thing is in pain. The Jolteon just looks tired if Moto ignores the broken limb. But he knows the pain is there, and his companion is fighting through it.

Then he tilts his head as he realizes what Lance meant. "Sparks... Oh! You're an electric type! You need electricity!"

Moto grabs one end of the two shiny rods shoved through the piece of cloth and drags the weak Pokemon toward the door. He has to stop to pry it open further. The task is made much easier without it shocking him the entire time.

Despite his fear of electricity, Moto grabs hold of the cable and brings it over toward Lance. He is however cautious about pointing it away from himself.

Lance reaches forward again, this time to touch the live wire, his eyes closing. A surge of power flows into him, and he takes a deep breath. His vision returns, and the broken limb goes completely numb. Even the feeling of being sick leaves him. "Muuuuch better..." he says, rolling onto his back for a moment.

"You can let go now." he says to the Totodile, who quickly returns the cable to the slats in the bench.

Feeling better, Lance stands up and finally gets a good, solid look at his broken limb. "Damn... That's just... Impressive." he laughs. "Ow... Laughing makes it hurt..."

Moto stares in awe at just how quickly the fox seems to have recovered. His friend still looks pretty beat up, but by all other appearances, the Jolteon seems fine in every way now.

"Thanks..." Lance says finally.

"Nothin' to it." Moto replies. The Totodile looks down the hallway. Just before the pooling of water is another door, and through it, their way out. "Lie down on that and I'll get us out of here. I can carry you, I promise."

"I can hobble..." Lance replies. He starts to hop forward but finds it far more difficult than he anticipated. With a painful whimper, he lays down. "Maybe not... You're sure you can manage...?" he asks, one of his ears turned sideways. "Good find by the way. Did you already know this was a stretcher, or just figured it would work?

Moto gives a defiant huff. "Just thought it'd work. I carried this... Stretcher you called it? All the way back here so you could use it. I'm sure I can do it, so just lay there. Besides... You're not that heavy." The statement is meant more to convince himself than Lance. Just the short distance to the door at first wore him out. The Jolteon is heavier than he looks. However, he does his best not to let it show that he's struggling and starts off. Slowly but surely, he drags the other Pokemon behind him. "I can do it."

Nodding a bit, Lance does his best to stay comfortable and make things easy for his friend. "If you're sure...and...thank you...again..." he says softly. He's not used to having another Pokemon helping him. Especially without really knowing him that well. He always thought that he and his family were the only ones that ever do this sort of thing in this world of corruption and greed. Like the gangs that run the nearby forests and mountains, he's only able to picture Pokemon looking out for themselves. And now not only is the little guy doing everything he can to help him, he's even promised to lead him home.

"You didn't think I'd leave you here alone, did you?" he asks, looking back over his shoulder with a grin. "That's what Sceptile would do. I'm not like them."

"Well still, thank you... I'm sorry we couldn't explore more. I really wanted to see what humans do on these things, and I know you wanted to try and see more too..." says Lance.

"It's not your fault. I slipped in the first place and you had to come find me." the Totodile shrugs. "And besides, we can come back when you're healed. And without falling over the side next time." he jokes.

They finally reach the other end of the room where there's a window looking outside. The room was rather large and fairly angled downward, and the window is just a few feet above the water level.

"We're almost there...it's...not much farther from here..." Moto says as he starts trying to lift the Jolteon up to the window.

"Take a rest, you're tired." Lance replies. "We're not in a hurry."

"I'm fine."

The Jolteon pauses a moment to think about what he just said. With a tilt of his head, he starts laughing wildly. "HA!!! ME!! Of all Pokemon... Not in a hurry...!!! Ah ha hahahaaa...! Ow..."

Moto smiles and starts laughing with his friend. He feels good knowing that despite his injury, his friend is in good spirits.

The Totodile's grip slips. "I guess...it wouldn't hurt to rest for...a minute or two..."

"Good." Lance nods approvingly. It's too quiet for him on the ship, and the creaking bulkheads aren't making it easy for him to be patient while his hero rests. "So...have you always...you know, worn clothes?" He's going to do whatever he can to try and ignore his throbbing leg and the unstable ship, even if it means bringing up something they already talked about.

Moto turns around and leans against the wall. "I have for as long as I can remember. This is the first time, other than taking a bath of course, that I've gone anywhere without them." He shrugs. "I had a shirt too, but Sceptile and his gang shredded it. So now I just have the pants and this scarf. It just feels normal for me to wear them I guess. Being naked like this is going to be hard to get used to."

"I see..." Tilting his head, the Jolteon recalls something his father told him once. Something about long ago, humans would sometimes come back to this world. Sometimes they themselves would become Pokemon because of the bond they share with their ancestors; those who spent their whole lives with Pokemon. At least, that's what he recalls of the legend.

He shakes his head to remove the thought. There's no way... He just likes acting like them, he didn't used to be one. He even said he wasn't earlier.

"Well, like I said before," Lance continues aloud, "You look much cuter this way. And it doesn't slow you down when swimming. I saw you from the top of the cliff and you were just flying!" Lance says admiringly. "And hey, maybe we can even find you hankie or something that'll actually give you a benefit of some kind instead of just looking good, you know?"

The scales on Moto's cheeks flare out slightly in a blush. "I guess I'll... Try it without them for a while longer... if you think it helps..."

"Definitely..." Lance says again. He can't keep his eyes from wandering as the Totodile looks away.

The small reptile is sitting on his rump and leaning back against the wall. The short legs and wide belly make it easy for the Jolteon to see the space between the reptile's thighs, and to the space where mammals like himself would normally have genitalia. Lance finds it rather attractive seeing just a slit hidden among the scales instead of what he was expecting. He can't help but admire just how smooth the scaled body is compared to his own spiky fur.

He shakes his head. "What? You say something?"

Moto tilts his head at the fox curiously. "I was saying when we get back, I'll have to make a cast for your leg so it heals right."

"A what?" Lance cocks his head sideways, one ear folded back and an eyebrow raised. "What's a cast?" He's always considered himself pretty knowledgeable of human antiques, but he's never heard of this 'cast' thing. "What's it do?" Then he cringes. "Will it be wet...?"

Moto was expecting the yellow Pokemon to agree right away. Instead, he's surprised by the response. "It, well... Someone taught it to me a long time ago." He has to think for a moment how to describe it. "Well, basically... It keeps your leg in place so that the bone heals. It's broken right now, and if it heals that way," he points at the ugly bend in the leg, "You'll never walk right again. And no, it's dry..."

"Good."

Moto gets to his feet. "Well, I guess we should get back then so I can get started on it. We can get out through here." He knows it'll be impossible to keep the Jolteon from getting wet. He can only hope that the fox will remain calm. There is after all no other option to get home. "It's a bit of a drop, so hold on and be careful of your leg. It's nor far down though."

The whole time they have been on the ship, it hadn't even occurred to Lance that it's completely surrounded by water. He looks out the window to see nothing but blue ripples.

"Eeheh... No, no I.. I think I'll be okay here." he says, shifting on the stretcher as Moto lifts him to the window. "I don't mind starving to death, really. It'll be an adventure! A whole new experience!"

Moto glares at the fox from under him. "Lance... I faced electricity to save you. Twice. The door and with that... thing... This is the least you can do. I promise, I won't let anything happen." Using a chair, Moto props up the stretcher to keep Lance in the window while he climbs up. "You trust me right? I mean... I came back for you."

Gulping loudly, Lance has to admit that the little crocodile has a point. "I..." He cranes his neck, trying to look out the window and failing to see anything. "I just... I...." He's at a loss for words. He clearly doesn't want to go in the water, but he doesn't want to let his friend down either.

He gulps again. "A...all right..."

Nodding, the Totodile hops through the window, hanging onto the two sticks at the end. He presses his feet to the outer wall. "Get ready..." It's roughly three feet to the water, but it's deep. "One.. Two..."

Lance panics. "No, I change my mind! I'll stay here and keep it clean! I don't wanna go!" He starts scrambling to get off.

"Three!" Moto kicks with his feet and yanks on the the stretcher.

If Lance stayed laying down as he was told, he and the stretcher would have likely landed on the water with minimal splash. It was what Moto was preparing for.

But Lance didn't cooperate.

His weight shifts toward the front as he tries to turn around. The fulcrum changes, and instead of pulling the stretcher out level, it flips downward, catapulting the Jolteon through the window and splashing into the ocean.

"Huh?" Moto says, not understanding why the stretcher is so light all of sudden. He turns around when he feels a slight shift in the water. "LANCE!!" he calls when he sees the fox crying and scrambling to stay afloat.

Lance's struggles jostle his broken leg which only fuels his terror further. He feels something grab him, and for a moment, there's a truly death stricken look in his eye. Fear responds for him, and his body kicks and begins charging up for an attack. However the creature struggling to hang onto him bumps the broken limb at the break. His vision turns white as it did before, but this time, it stays. He feels faint, his stomach churns. Then: nothing.

"Lance, please! It's me!" Moto feels his own twang of fear when seeing the electric fox get ready for an attack. "Please don't, it's me Lance!!" He closes his eyes to brace himself.

Nothing happens. He opens his eyes. The fox in his grasp is completely limp, unconscious.

It's Moto's turn to feel sick. He failed. The fox, Moto's only friend, has drowned and it's his fault. The dead weight in his arms is too much to carry and he loses his grip. "Lance, no! I'm sorry..!" The electric Pokemon starts to sink under the water when Moto comes to his senses.

He quickly dives underwater and pushes the Jolteon back up, using his own body to keep him afloat. It's a struggle for him, but Moto manages to get his friend to shore. "We're almost there..."

It's already almost dark, but he can see his home. He's tired and weak, but he still has a job to do. Getting down on all fours, the Totodile carries the Jolteon on his back across the sand to his small cabin.