FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Two days passed, Richard was now sitting in the police station office alone. Richard was getting used to living like a normal person, getting up for work, chatting to friends, finishing work, watching TV then back to bed. Richard found it incredibly boring, but every time he looked to see Tera at his side, it always just seemed to make the day seem brighter and less repetitive. Today was Richard's birthday. Cleaves, Stripes, Tera and Ethan were not in the police station, Richard knew they were planning something for him. He sat down to a computer which Mac setup for him, he needed to look up something. He typed in the search bar 'Hoenn shootout' and hit enter. A lot of results came up, but Richard clicked the one titled 'forest shootout carried out by mercenaries on killers'. A video popped up, of a male news reporter standing in front of a cottage. There were a lot of police men around the place. The video loaded up and the reporter began talking.

"Approximately three days ago, this was the scene of a massive fire fight between mercenaries, and a family of killers. The total body count so far is said to be in the eighties, twenty-one of whom were members of the family that lived here. Five others were found, and confirmed to be employees of a private military corporation. The investigation is still in progress, but it seems that they may have been hired to bring justice. The remaining bodies consisted of innocent people and law enforcers who the family had killed, and then buried around the cottage. As you can see, they are still digging around the property. The police firmly believe that there are more victims they have yet to discover. An estimated twelve-hundred shots were fired. Police have released no information as to what company or group the mercenaries belong to, or what motivated the family to commit these insidious acts."

Richard stopped the video to think about what he just heard. "Five mercenaries..." Richard muttered to himself. That meant that the rookies had been killed and the police found Carter's body. He wondered if they would come looking for him too. Richard heard something coming from reception, he guessed that it was Cleaves, he always hangs about the station. Richard shut down his computer and entered reception, he couldn't believe what he saw next.

"SURPRISE!" Everybody called out. Richard looked around, he could see everybody he recognized around the town, Tera, Ethan, the zangoose, Cleaves, Stripes, Mac, Derick and his boy Chris were all there. The reception room now had a table with loads of different drinks, foods and a big chocolate cake, there was a banner on the right wall saying, 'Happy 26th birthday'. Richard was stunned, he was in the town for a couple of days and they are already making a big deal of his birthday, he guessed he must have left one hell of a first impression. "I… just… thank you all!" Richard had a big smile on his face, he couldn't remember anybody setting up something like this for him, he never had a birthday party before. A few minutes passed and everybody began talking to each other, Richard was talking to Mac.

"How's the bullet proof vests coming along?" Richard asked.

"Very nicely, it's a lot easier than I expected." Mac replied.

"Where do you get the materials to make them?"

"My old buddies still send me stuff they collect on their travels."

Richard was a little confused. "Your buddies can find that kind of stuff?"

"You'd be surprised," Mac said in a sly tone.

"What made you want to make bullet proof vests for us?"

"Well, after the attack on the deputy and the absol, it made me realize that the deputies and sheriff need protecting too. Besides, I have a lot of spare time," Mac explained.

"This town is very lucky to have somebody like you around," Richard cheerfully said.

"That's what I said about you to Ethan when he told me about how you handled that scumbag convict. Anyway, I see a drink over there with my name on it, see ya later. Oh, and happy birthday," Mac said as he walked over to the drinks table.

Richard saw Derick and his boy walking towards him, Chris spoke first. "Are you the deputy now?" the boy said shyly.

Richard thought it was a rather silly question to ask when he's dressed in his uniform. Richard knelt down. "Yes I am," Richard replied.

"That's good, I know your a good guy," Chris said, his voice began to loose its shy tone.

Richard smiled, he felt good being called the 'good guy'. "Thanks, I'm sure that one day you will become the deputy too."

Chris' face lit up. "Really? But I'm not really strong."

"You don't need to be, you just need to know the difference between right and wrong," Richard said in a reassuring tone.

Chris turned to his dad. "Can I be the deputy when I grow up?"

Derick liked the thought of his boy becoming a deputy, it made him slightly proud. "Of course, you can son."

The boy jumped with excitement slightly, it made both Richard and Derick smile. "Thanks for coming," Richard said to Derick.

"Well it was the least I could do after you helped us and the zangoose. Speaking of which, is she going to become a deputy too?" Derick asked.

"I'm not sure, I haven't heard any news of her becoming a deputy, but Ethan seems to like having her around."

Derick looked over to Ethan, he saw the zangoose by his side. "Huh, I think they would make a good team."

"That's what me and Tera thought," Richard said with a smile.

Derick then remembered what he wanted to talk about. "How are you and Tera doing anyway?"

"Oh, we're both doing fine. I don't think either of us thought we would be living in a small peaceful town like this, I know I didn't." Richard thought about some of the missions he had been on, he remembered smearing himself with blood and mud to strike fear within his opponents in one mission, that was only one month ago. A lot had changed.

"I'm glad you like it here," Derick stated.

Chris began tugging on Derick's shirt. "Dad, can we go talk to the zangoose?"

Derick smiled. "Sure. You'll have to excuse us Richard, my boy is really interested in learning about different Pokemon."

"Bye Derick."

"Bye," Derick said as he was led towards the zangoose.

Richard looked over to see Cleaves and Stripes coming towards him.

"Hey birthday boy! Want a rematch?" Cleaves said quickly.

"Are you still only playing for money?" Richard asked with a smirk.

"No, no, no, no, no! Just a simple rematch, no money involved." Cleaves quickly responded.

Richard smiled, he thought back to when he saw Cleaves' smug face, he guessed he wanted to regain his honor. "Sure, lets go!"

A few minutes later and Richard was once again looking at the smug expression on Cleaves' face, he had won… but only because Richard wanted him to. "Well, your the winner this time Cleaves."

"Yep, but you were damn good yourself." Cleaves said as he patted Richard on the back.

"Thanks, lets get back to the party," Richard said while walking to the door, Cleaves and Stripes following closely behind.

Richard walked in to the reception room and saw Tera running up to him.

"Richard! I got you something," she happily told him.

Richard could see she was holding something in between her paws. "Really? What is it?"

Richard held out his hands and Tera dropped a watch into them. Richard was speechless for a second, it wasn't just a watch, it was a tactical watch. He remembered telling Tera about one of his missions, someone shot the tactical watch on his wrist using a 9mm semi-automatic pistol. The metal that the tactical watch was made from was strong enough to stop the bullet from penetrating the skin, although it still hurt like hell. The fact that she even remembered was enough to make him smile. "Thank you so much."

Tera looked at his face, she had never seen him so happy before. "I'm glad you like it."

Richard wore his new watch, after getting a gift like this he thought that he had better ask when Tera's birthday is so he could get her something special. "When's your birthday Tera?"

"In 2 days," Tera told him.

"Really? Why didn't you tell anyone?"

"Probably the same reason why you didn't tell anyone but Ethan."

Richard didn't tell anyone else because he didn't think they would care, he could see why Tera would think the same. "Well, I promise to make your party even bigger then." Richard told her..

"No thanks, I don't really like parties. Lets just keep this between you and me," Tera said to him with a smile on her face.

Richard could kind of understand, the mountains were isolated and the clan couldn't have been very big, throwing a party would probably be too much of a drain on resources. Maybe they just didn't have parties, or maybe she didn't want the attention. Whatever the reason, he was going to respect her wishes. "Alright then, I promise I'll get you something nice."

Tera smiled ever so slightly and said, "thanks."

The sun slowly crept down and it soon became night, everybody was now leaving the police station and heading for their homes, Richard and Tera were once again sitting in the back of Ethan's squad car with the zangoose upfront.

"Did you like the party?" Ethan asked.

"Yeah, I've never had anything like it before," Richard answered.

"Really? You have never had a birthday party before?" Ethen questioned in a clearly surprised tone.

"No, Either nobody cared or I was too busy with other things," Richard told him.

Ethan knew that Richard had a sketchy past, he decided on not asking why he was too busy or why nobody cared. "Well, we care."

Those simple words hit Richard, he had spent all his life around people who didn't even care that he was still alive, excluding Carter, and now he was in a town where just about everybody liked him, and sitting in a car with people who he now considers his best friends.

"I'm glad I met you all," Richard said sincerely.

Tera looked around to Richard. "I'm glad I met you all too."

"Me too." Ethan said.

The zangoose gave out a faint whine which Richard guessed was a, "me too."

They had arrived at Ethan's place again, Richard and Tera sat on the couch and watched TV again, there wasn't much on but they didn't really care. Ethan and the zangoose had decided to go to sleep early. Richard was skipping through the channels but found nothing but trash. He gave up on finding anything good and began talking to Tera. "Are you still having nightmares?"

"Not anymore," she said with a smile.

"Good, I'm gonna go to bed now, I think I might have had too many drinks at the party." Richard got up.

"I'm going to go to bed too," she said as she followed Richard.

Richard liked how Tera followed him around everywhere, he was nearly never alone now. Richard had reached his room, he saw Tera entering her room and closing the door behind her, Richard entered his room and closed the door behind him. He walked over to the bed and threw himself on it. He looked over to the same window that he always looked at when he falls asleep, he didn't know why he always looks at it but he guessed it was just because it was the most interesting thing in the room. He still asked himself some questions, but at least there were less to ask now. He looked at the watch on his wrist and smiled before he closed his eyes, and drifted into a deep sleep.

Author's Note: This chapter has been cleaned up a bit, and made easier to read. I hope you all enjoy this story! It is fun for me to go back and look at the first real story I ever made. :3