FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Skye pulled her shirt off the moment she and Ruki were inside. With a soft sigh, she sat on the bed and fell onto her back. "What a day..." As tired as she felt, she still wanted to try the restaurant she saw out in the courtyard earlier. Skye sat up and looked ahead at Ruki, sitting on the carpet while grooming himself. "Ruk'."

He stopped mid-lick and lowered his paw to look up at her.

"I want to go see what the restaurant in the courtyard has to offer in a bit. Want to come with?"

He nodded at her without hesitance, of course, he did. He wouldn't ever let Skye go anywhere alone if he could help it.

She grinned, "okay, just give me some more time."

She and Ruki rested for nearly an hour before she began to feel hungry. Skye quietly yawned and sat upon the bed, pushing a few strands of her hair behind her ears and looking down at Ruki napping beside her. "Baby..." She gently placed her hand on his side, slightly shaking him until he woke up and yawned as well. "Ready?" she softly asked and watched him slowly sit up. While he woke up, Skye went over to her backpack on the floor to find a different shirt to put on. There was no way she was putting on that tight safari one again.

Ruki watched her get into and zip up the thin white jacket that she wore during the cruise from Alola because it matched her off white colored pants well enough. He hopped down from the bed and followed Skye out of the door afterward.

"It's right up here," she said while taking a right and heading north toward the tan-colored building with a blue roof. Skye pushed open the door once she got there and held it open for Ruki. Many trainers were sitting at rows of brown tables within the restaurant, and a person in an informal black suit standing right by the entrance.

"Oh, have you come to battle?" he asked.

"Battle?"

"Ah, have you ever been to Seven Stars?"

"No, this is my first time in Sinnoh," she replied.

"Well, while a restaurant, this is also a prime spot for trainers to engage in double battles," he said.

"Oh, well I'm not-"

"And to have a meal- a free one... at this wonderful restaurant, you would have to face the owners, Roman and Kylie, in a double battle."

"Huh?" She was taken back by this. "But, I... I don't even have two pokémon. Skye felt something nudge her leg. It was Ruki.

If allowed, he'd take on two opponents for Skye. Ruki had only ever battled her friends' pokémon as a vulpix back in Alola. He had no experience as a ninetales, but this was a grand opportunity for him to gain more.

"Hm, give me a moment." He walked through a door at the other end of the restaurant.

Skye kneeled by Ruki while waiting. "I don't think we should do this. You need to take it slow since you've just evolved, and I'm not dressed to battle," she said. "We don't need anything for free either, you know?"

"Nin..." he still wanted to try, battling for free food wasn't something to pass up, plus, he wanted to impress Skye.

"Gosh, I don't even have potions..."

The door opened, and Skye stood back up when she saw the male approach again.

"So, I have good news; the owners said you may still battle them if you choose to."

"I..." Skye looked down at Ruki, who was currently giving her eyes that begged for a chance. "Okay," she said. "I will..."

She and Ruki were led through the door, a kitchen, and to a decently sized battlefield located behind the restaurant. Skye assumed that the older male and female standing on the field were the owners. He walked over to her and grinned formally. "So, you would like to try your hand at battling my fiancé and me, right?"

"Right," she replied. "We'll try our best."

"Ready when you are."

Skye watched him walk back to where he stood before, and she sighed quietly, leaning down to face Ruki. "Remember, it's two against one. Just look back at me if you want to give in," she told him.

Ruki nodded, but he felt confident enough to hold his ground. He walked with Skye to the opposing end of the field and stood some feet in front of her while she backpedaled to give him space.

Skye nodded ahead at Roman, signaling that she was ready to begin, and that's when their opponents, a girafarig and munchlax were released beside each other on the field. Skye eyed both pokémon closely.

Ruki spread out his hind legs a bit, slightly lowering his body into a stance of attack while glancing at both pokémon standing at the other end of the field. He'd have to look out for two attacks at a time while listening to Skye's every command. That shouldn't be too hard. He kept his ears perked and almost immediately heard Roman call out an attack to the girafarig. "Iron tail!" And shortly to the munchlax by his partner, "bodyslam!"

Ruki's eyes shot back and forth between both pokémon and caught the girafarig preparing to run first, and shortly following that was the munchlax preparing to as well. Ruki wasn't sure what to do.

"Ruk'..." Skye called out to get his attention just as the girafarig began to run toward Ruki. "Uh, R-Ruki, out of the way... to the right!" she quickly told him.

He darted to the right, just barely keeping his balance and nearly slipping over his paws. While Ruki did successfully dodge the girafarig's rear end, he'd unintentionally thrown himself in the path of a body slam he couldn't possibly react to in time. Ruki braced for a split second before the munchlax's body slammed into him, causing Ruki to fall onto his side and slide back a foot.

"Ugh," Skye sighed. "Ruki... get up and use ice beam on that munchlax!"

He shook the attack off quickly and was back up on all fours in seconds. Ruki wasted not a moment preparing the beam of ice with his open mouth and aiming directly at the pokémon that had just attacked him. Before releasing the fully charged beam, Ruki heard Roman tell his munchlax to dodge the incoming attack, which gave him an idea. He swayed his body to the right a bit, turning his head in the same direction as if about to release his ice beam. The munchlax hopped to the left, and that was what Ruki had hoped for. Quickly, he aimed his attack to the left, "ni!" And shot the powerful beam of ice. The projectile hit the munchlax directly in its face with enough power to knock it over and faint him immediately. Ruki smirked to himself for a moment before slightly turning back at Skye for her approval with a paw raised.

"Ruki, the battle!" She pointed ahead. Skye didn't want to take his attention away from what was important.

He looked back ahead and saw the girafarig preparing to attack for a second time. He didn't know what it was until the pokémon abruptly began to dart at him headfirst.

"Out of the way, Ruki!"

That would be easier to do if he'd been prepared for the zen headbutt. Ruki did his best and attempted to roll to his left, but just as he started to, the girafarig slammed headfirst into Ruki's, causing his chin to hit the ground directly below him roughly. His hind legs were forced upward from the impact for a moment as he slid back a few feet before fully collapsing.

"F-uck..." Skye gasped underneath a concerned exhale after seeing Ruki take such a horrifying knockdown. She took a step forward but stopped herself. "Ruki?..." She had nothing to give him. Her potion was in her backpack that she didn't bring with her.

His eyes were winced shut, his teeth clenched, and his breathing stuttered as he lay on his stomach trembling. He'd never been hit that hard before. His head was spinning, throbbing, but he slid his paw out in front of him and pressed onto the ground until he found it in himself to slowly get up. Ruki opened his right eye, keeping the other shut as everything was out of focus and very distorted, including Skye's voice. He stumbled to the side a bit before somewhat regaining his balance.

Skye had to end this quickly, preferably with a conscious Ruki. "Ruki... Ruki, use ice shard!"

He heard a slightly muffled feminine voice, which had to be Skye. Ice shard, she said. Ruki opened his mouth enough to create the attack. He somewhat made out the girafarig in front of him and tried his best to aim the attack. Ruki's unstable movements kept his opponent guessing, and a second later, he expelled five solid pieces of flash-frozen ice from his mouth in a spread-out manner. The girafarig was pelted by three of them, though it still stood and was then ordered to use psychic.

Skye knew that psychic was virtually undodgeable. Ruki would have to take it and retaliate with something more robust. "You can do it, Ruki, finish with another ice beam!"

Ruki's vision had fortunately fallen back into place for the most part. He saw the pink aura coming toward him, and it definitely wouldn't help his headache. It surrounded him for a few excruciating seconds, an intense migraine plaguing him. He tensed and shut his eyes until it faded, leaving him dizzier than he was prior. Ruki could barely stand at this point, but he had to faint that girafarig. He had to. Ruki weakly went on to create an ice beam and barely aimed his attack, shooting it from his mouth at the girafarig, who was able to dodge it at first. Ruki couldn't allow that, and just before the beam of ice disintegrated, he repositioned his aim to the left, hitting the girafarig with enough of the attack to knock it over. Ruki fell unconscious afterward.

He slowly opened his eyes, looking around in a confused manner until they found Skye sitting in front of him. His headache was gone entirely. He felt fine, safe with Skye beside him.

"You did it, Ruki." She reached down and placed her hand on top of his head. "Roman gave you a full restore. You're fine now," Skye grinned.

Roman had gone into the kitchen to break the news after the battle and approached Skye from behind a few minutes later. "As promised, you've earned your free seven-course meal. Your pokémon is well trained."

Skye stood and turned to him. "S-Seven course?"

He nodded, "that's the reward."

That would be the most food she'd ever receive in one sitting, but Ruki deserved it for his performance. "Is there a way we can take it to go?"