FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The following six days were a drag. Skye couldn't quit anticipating Aaron's arrival and where she would take him around Alola in such a short amount of time. They'd talked plenty over the phone about how the trip would go in general along with a few rushed plans.

Skye would meet him in Hau'oli upon his arrival, spend time with him in her city, introduce him to her parents, and he'd head to Akala Island before evening.

During that period, Skye had also mustered the courage to break the news to her father, and of course, Ruki sat beside her the whole time to grant support. Her father had a passive take on the situation, so she wasn't sure how he felt about it yet. It brought a pinch of anxiety that Skye had tucked away.

She was currently in Hau'oli's three-story packed shopping mall with Ruki, heading toward a popular clothing store. The climate was a more stifling kind of humid, so she wore a tight top and jean shorts with her purse over her shoulder.

Hundreds of people were present. Many had pokémon and walked with bags from various clothing stores and eateries, arms full as they went up and down escalators.

Restaurant and dessert stands offered open seating, and those behind doors with concealed seatings were packed. Employees stood outside stores offering perfume and food samples to catch customers; people bought from watch, electronic, toy, and other stands built along the center of the walkway.

They passed the Alola One bank, with people inside talking to tellers or writing paper forms before ATMs to withdraw cash, which was a hassle since one had to sign papers to get said cash.

Unlike the cheery, green-worded logo with a sun replacing the O, the interior was somber. It consisted of dull carpeting and beige walls, with security on the premises. Alola One was the most popular and trusted bank in the region.

They also walked by the movie theater that Skye had frequented with her friends and still did with Ruki. She looked inside the dark open area and saw movie posters on the walls, people in line for tickets with a list of movies and showtimes above the counter on a screen, and others buying overpriced popcorn and pizza from the counter.

They showed movies from years ago too, including Skye's favorite called 'A Pika's Story.' It was about a pikachu who'd grown up with and fallen in love with his best friend, who happened to be a shiny pikachu. They had been together for three years into teenhood. After a group of human poachers caught wind of his mate's existence and pokénapped her, the male takes his close friend, a quilava, and they track her down, doing whatever it takes to get her back.

She looked down and grinned at Ruki as he took a whiff of buttery air. He could inhale a large bucket by himself, so Skye usually got him his own serving when they went.

"I've got enough clothes, but I want a few new options for this week. I wore some of my favorites in Sinnoh already." Skye wasn't out to shop for casual clothing. This was very specific and something she never did.

They passed a small play area with kids climbing equipment and people getting their nails done at a nail bar.

Skye also saw her favorite salon among a line of stores with customers in chairs getting their hair done inside. She hadn't been in over two weeks. Her highlights were fading, so she was due.

The store was on the second floor, so Ruki went behind Skye and stepped onto the escalator behind a piplup and an older teen male.

When they reached the top, Ruki saw a car dealership called 'Mana-Z' and a shiny, sleek but slightly boxy-edged convertible sports car model based thirty years ago on a podium. People signed a raffle next to an older gray-haired man in a sports tracksuit.

Ruki didn't even know how they got the cars inside the mall, and how would they drive that one out?

Mana-Z was one of Alola's finest treasures, a high-quality sports vehicle line consisting of cars and SUVs that had been perfected over the last decade. It was considered one of the best manufacturers worldwide while staying in a semi-affordable price range for the middle class; the demand to own one grew exponentially, so Alola exported thousands per year.

Its logo was a matte black palm tree, which Ruki found familiar, making his mind race— then he remembered one was at home in the garage.

Anyway, beyond that was his favorite part of the mall: an area with massive bushes trimmed in the shapes of various pokémon, like exploud and phanpy, which tourists snapped pictures of as usual.

It was also near Pokare's double-door entrance. The bold red letters in an extravagant font sat above it as people, plenty with their companions and bags of products, came and left.

Just ahead was a capacious clothing store with vibrant pink lettering called: 'Luxurae,' consisting of a slim silhouette of a slender feminine luxray.

On both sides of the entrance behind windows were spotlighted mannequins modeling lingerie.

Skye pushed its door open and entered the cool, dimly lit pink and purple-hued environment to upbeat dance music. Pricey options hung on clotheslines and organized wooden racks against walls, from lingerie and bras to cute bedtime outfits that women were checking out.

Screens on the walls played video advertisements of stunning women with perfect figures modeling extravagant outfits in artful cinematic settings and slow-motion shots. Some walked alongside or posed with luxray and arcanine.

Posed mannequins around the store modeled select outfits on sale with signs beside them detailing up to 50% off.

Greeting Skye instantly on a stand to the left were assorted ear headbands. She went over and picked up a pair of espeon ears, running her fingers over them. They felt real, although Skye hadn't touched an espeon in her life. "These are cute." But it wasn't like her to wear them.

Skye put them back and looked behind her, then around her proximity. Ruki was nowhere to be found. "Mh, how does he still wander?..." She walked toward the entrance and looked around, spotting him by a clothesline near the store's far right.

Ruki had seen something that caught his eye, and he'd never get Skye to pay attention to him in a clothing store without forcing her to come to him.

"Ruki, how'd you even…" Her eyes fell upon a white satin dress upon approaching, which Skye took and held up to her chest. It'd fit.

The dress would cut off slightly past her upper thighs and had two short slits with thin pink outlining on both sides to reveal more skin, leaving the cloth's front and backside to drape. "...I might like this." Fortunately, the store had changing rooms. The dress was priced at 8,000, so it'd likely be the only thing Skye would buy.

"Come on, I wanna try this one." She walked toward the stalls on the store's opposite side but came across another rack that caught her eye.

She glanced around the store as if it were taboo, then grabbed one she liked before continuing to the dressing rooms.

Ruki saw it, however: the rose-colored leather collar with an outlined shiny metal heart connecting the object at its center. He followed her into the dressing room after Skye opened its door. What something like that was used for, Ruki didn't know. It resembled a collar, but humans didn't wear those.

She closed and locked it, setting the dress, choker, and her purse on the wooden bench. A mirror was on the wall behind her. "You can take the seat."

He climbed up and sat on the seat across from her while she took her shirt and shorts off. Ruki looked away to give Skye a sense of privacy. He couldn't be sure how she felt about that now.

She set them down and picked up the dress, noticing a zipper on its backside. Skye put it on, looked in the mirror to zip it up almost entirely, and pulled out the dress's bottom areas. She turned around and studied herself. The slits on the side revealed her thighs perfectly, and Skye liked how they ran down her sacred areas.

She then leaned over and picked up the choker, unclipping it and fitting it around her neck before reclipping and turning back to the mirror. Skye's cheeks warmed. She had on an alluring dress and a heart choker. Gosh, her parents would be appalled. She turned to Ruki. "Thoughts?"

Perhaps undressing and wearing outfits like this in front of him was a bad idea, but it wasn't like Skye had anyone else, and they were more than comfy with each other. She just didn't want certain feelings to return. She'd fought any temptation and kept it clean between them ever since they'd returned from Sinnoh, which wasn't easy when their past amatory acts entered her head whenever she got lonely and horny for any reason on top of the intense emotions she had for him.

He looked back and swallowed. It drew him in more than enough. He had to resist the urge to eye Skye's legs and kept his gaze on her face, somewhat on her choker, which didn't look bad on her, but Ruki couldn't understand its purpose or why she'd wear it.

He also had to clear his mind from shameful thoughts entering it. He nodded. "Nine," Ruki said, his tails swaying against the wall.

"Big help, as usual." Skye grinned. She took everything off and got back into her clothing, walking her choices to the front desk and paying out of the mini wallet she kept in her purse. With a bag stuffed inside it to hide the contents from her parents, she exited the store with Ruki.

"I can't believe he'll be here tomorrow… Gosh, I'm a mess." Her father wasn't helping, and she was probably overthinking. What would make this any different from Sinnoh? Well, besides the fact that they were no longer friends.

They paired well together. Ruki hoped she'd take him with her; she likely would since Sylmi would be here too. It was a reunion Ruki couldn't afford to miss.

"I might as well get my hair colored since we're here. We'll see if any spots are available." Skye needed fresh highlights and didn't feel like doing it herself when she could risk screwing up the style.

"Nin..." He didn't see anything wrong with her hair. It looked pretty to him, but Ruki did know she enjoyed going to that salon, so he followed as they went back down the escalator and to the glass doors.

He saw two women and one man with long straight blonde hair occupying three out of four cushioned chairs. Three other women tended to their hair from behind in work outfits, cutting strands and spraying water on their hair before mirrors and counters of equipment. Small, mounted TVs on the wall above ran the local news station.

Skye opened the door and closed it after Ruki, putting her palm out by his face to stop him at the door by the couch and two potted bushes. "Wait." She walked some feet aside and approached the reception desk, where an older black-haired woman with glasses sat behind a PC.

The woman grinned. "Good to see you, Skye. Komo mai. How has it been?"

"Great. I actually came to get my hair highlighted, but I don't have an appointment…" She glanced over at the empty chair.

As did the woman. "Hm, okayy. Let me check the system and see if we have anyone coming in within the next hour."

Ruki sat and kept his eyes ahead at the customers and stylists smiling and talking. He looked around at more potted plants and mini trees occupying corners too, which, collectively, was the least entertaining thing he'd laid eyes on since Oreburgh.

He bored easily when Skye got her hair done since there was nothing to do. The only times when the hour had flown by was when she'd made appointments with friends and they brought their pokémon.

"Aurite. Lucky you." The woman smiled. "Nobody's scheduled for the next two hours. Go ahead and take a seat. A stylist will be with you in a moment."

"Mahalo," Skye replied, thanking her and walking to the chair, turning briefly to beckon Ruki before sitting and putting her bag down.

He followed and sat beside her, glancing up after one of the women styling hair grinned down at him. Ruki would be watching people and pokémon pass the salon doors for a while.

Skye looked aside as someone came from the back around the corner in her peripheral vision and smiled. It was a guy older than her by a couple of years from Johto with a short light blue cut. "Jesse!" She waved as he approached. He'd been her stylist countless times over the years.

"If it isn't my favorite customer and her other half. Used to be so tiny." He chuckled and knelt to Ruki. "Can I get a paw, Ruk'ster?"

This guy did not have to do this every time. Ruki lazily raised his paw and let Jesse fist-bump it before he stood again. That should have stopped after he evolved, but Ruki tried his hardest not to be a grumpy ninetales.

"So, what brings you in today?" Jesse asked while looking her hair over.

"Just highlights. Same streaks. The ones I have now are fading."

"Say no more." Jesse went to the counter in front of the chair at his station and opened a drawer, pulling out foil and a small comb to start. "Sit upright, please. Going to part the areas we're focusing on."

She shifted and straightened her posture as Jesse went and stood behind her, where he parted sections of her hair with his hand and used the comb to lift strands from the top of her scalp.

"I haven't seen you since before you two ran off to Sinnoh. Howzit?"

"Good. Amazing. I have someone visiting tomorrow who I met on the trip; I'm super hyped for it. It'll be their first time coming over." She kept as still as possible.

He moved to the other side of her, repeating the actions with opposite sections. "Always exciting to introduce a guest to your region. I think I end up feeling more overwhelmed than they do, having so much to show them and not enough time."

Skye giggled. "That's so me, but I'll be satisfied showing him the beach and Shopping District. They both hold a lot of charm."

"They're a he? Like a guy friend?"

"Well, not exactlyy…" She grinned to herself. "We really hit it off in Sinnoh. I liked him from day one, so I'm bringing him here for another week to see how we fair under a different light."

Jesse gasped. "That sounds adorable. Am I ever going to see him?"

"I guess this week will decide that." Skye wasn't paying attention to what was on the TVs initially but glanced upon seeing it cut from the news reporters to a woman in a fancy white jacket and burgundy buttoned tee underneath. She stood before a podium at a recent event with journalists and citizens in the audience. "Isn't that Corintha?"

"Mhm, have you heard about that already? It's huge," Jesse said while working on her hair.

"I don't think so."

Corin Bank, founded in Alola by Jessica Corintha, was considered one of the biggest banks worldwide. They planned to bring a few locations to Alola.

"Could change a lot if it sticks, but I'm not against it. I'll shut up so you can listen."

Skye focused on the woman speaking.

"And we have been working with several first-world powers on this subject for around five years." She spoke with a Galarian accent. "For centuries, we have used cash as a means of payment. We have been stuck on it; governments have more or less suppressed cash's advancement time and time again to slow the means of change due to our lacking knowledge of cybersecurity. However, the technological progress we've made in the last decade renders us prepared, alongside the countless porygon and rotom we have and are training to act as an impenetrable wall of safety for all consumers.

The woman brought up her hand to cover her mouth while clearing her throat. "On to credit that has become a societal norm in the past decade—we have also used variations of it in plenty of ways dating back hundreds of years ago, such as using exclusive coins and forms of metal that were valid with specific merchants.

However, two decades ago, we saw the birth of the very first modern edition of credit in the form of a card. Cherubi's, a relevant fast-food chain founded in Johto, created a rewards program allowing customers to build points every time they made a purchase. In the years following, other chains noticed and copied its success, with banks following suit, and here we are. Ninety percent of you watching have credit lines—and good scores, hopefully." She smiled.

Light laughter and buzzing came from the crowd but died down quickly, which was when Corintha continued. "But that didn't quite produce a reason to stop carrying cash, which is why Corin Bank is chuffed—pleased... to announce the world's very first official debit card."

She pulled from her pocket what looked exactly like a credit card that the camera zoomed in on. It was gray with the silhouette of the red Dyna Tree at its center and the bank's name in the center of the outline. The tree referenced the Crown Tundra, a location in Galar. "So, make no mistake, this isn't the sequel to credit but an absolute alternative to cash. This card will be attached directly to your bank's checking account and uses the same sale terminals your credit one does. You swipe it, and it takes the money from the respective account without hassle...

Here's a fun fact. The concept of debit cards had only once been experimented with in the past in an exclusive, controlled setting by a company that shall not be named; however, the concept wasn't properly explored and had gotten muddled because said company didn't last long, setting us stagnant. We have adopted the concept and are bringing it to you almost a decade later; alongside it, we will be redesigning ATMs in a user-friendly fashion for ease of use. It is only the start."

"Oh my gosh. No way?" Skye said after Corintha finished and started taking questions from a buzzing crowd. Skye was totally getting one on top of a credit line. She'd turned eighteen at the best time.

"It sounds great, huh? I have a feeling cash is going to dwindle as hard as gear did soon."

"I agree. Like, who would want to carry hundreds of bills and change around when it's all on a card? You don't even have to count at that point. I'm gonna be so lazy." Skye giggled.