FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

On a weekend, one late sunny afternoon, a group of young teens stood amid a huge, sprawling grassy field in Laverre City-- four in total, an even mix of boys and girls in casual clothing with bulky Pokétches strapped to their wrists.

Two, a redheaded boy and a girl, stood off to the side while watching another boy and a girl who stood across from each other with pokémon facing off.

The girl, whose Pokétch was black with a violet stripe, had a black bob cut, and a fanny pack on the hip of her skirt, commanded a female gardevoir; the blonde boy commanded a male meowstic.

The girl stood with the most competitive of glints, a boot before the other; she jabbed two fingers out at the meowstic. "Garna, moonblast that meowstic!" she shouted in a Kaloan (French) accent.

Both pokémon stood with a slight drag in their eyes and a kneel in their stance, the meowstic more so, but still peered at one another.

The boy shot his eyes between the gardevoir, who opened her mouth and brought pink essence from within. It swirled into a physical ball of levitating, vibrant energy before her mouth. Its center was bright white.

He then shifted to his meowstic with a squint. "C-Counter with three rapid shadow balls!" he retorted in an Accordian (American Rhotic) accent.

"Euh? (Uh?)" The girl slightly tilted her head and eyed him with widened eyes that glowered.

Before she could take action, Garna grew her sphere to an adequate size and shot it just as the meowstic did. The spheres collided and burst on impact, creating an electric-esque, multicolored sparkly glitter that spread across and dissolved in the air.

"Woah," one of the spectating teens said. All four were glued to it.

However, the meowstic followed up almost instantly with another two rapid shadow balls that zipped through a clearing of the spectacle and struck Garna's face-- one after the other, snapping her head back.

The gardevoir cried; the attack sent the pokémon stumbling back until hitting the ground.

"Gh-Garna!" The girl leaned forward before her legs followed, running to Garna while the boy watched with a pleased smirk. His meowstic eyed the situation without much expression.

The girl started kneeling before her gardevoir, who slightly brought herself up and leaned on her hand, but double-glanced and spotted the boy's smug face. "Mh." She pursed her lips with pink cheeks and stormed over to him. "You cheated!"

"Cheated?" He chuckled. "My meowstic attacked and knocked your pokémon over. We're tied now."

She clenched her teeth and fists, approaching while everyone watched. She glanced back at Garna, who held her red cheek. "We aren't. You could never beat me in a real battle! Jamais (Never)!"

"You sound stupid, Cassidy. What was that, then, a fake one?"

She peered. "You know nothing. You would never survive a real gym."

"Cassidy," the other boy who had been watching approached and tugged her arm.

The other boy kept his smirk. "Just say you're a sore loser with more to learn. You throw a tantrum like this whenever you lose around here."

Cassidy ripped her arm away. "Because everyone and their stupid pokémon are clueless! I learn nothing from you people..." She turned sharply and reached into her bag, pulling out Garna's pokéball and returning the gardevoir in a flash of white while walking.

She tuned out the boy's snickers and trudged through the grass with narrowed brows. She left it behind and headed toward the pavement that people walked on.

"Cassidy!"

She kept her head down while pacing as the rapid footsteps approached and stopped beside her.

The redhead who had tugged her arm walked with her. "Cassidy, you've gotta quit."

"Don't talk to me," she mumbled.

"You can't keep treating the other trainers around here like that."

She stopped with a huff and turned to him. "They are not trainers. I lose only when they get desperate."

"Cassidy, it's not that serious... We battle for fun around here."

"I'm going home. Do not follow." She turned again and stepped onto the pavement, leaving the boy standing.

Cassidy's fists were still clenched. She kept them clenched while passing locals and ignored those who called to greet her as she strolled the walkway by the bridges nearing Central.

As she neared her home closer to the outskirts, her cheeks lost their fume and demeanor calmed a little.

From a distance, she looked ahead at her modest one-story home and saw two adults stepping outside with huge backpacks on their backs, gloves, and thick boots.

Cassidy broke a grin as they waved and raised her hand to return it. She sped up to a slow jog until arriving before them.

"Cassidy, we were going to wait for you," her father said and placed a hand on her shoulder, squeezing.

"Vous êtes en retard (You're late)," her mother added.

Cassidy looked down. "Désolé... (Sorry...)

"Ça va (It's okay)." Her mother brought a hand and rubbed her daughter's cheek. "Ça va."

"Cassidy, remember, we are going to hike up Pomace with our group. We'll be back by tonight and left dinner in the oven for you and Garna," her father said.

"Mhm. Be safe then." Cassidy hugged him tightly, then did the same to her mother, which they returned.

She watched them saunter off toward Laverre's exit for a minute, then went inside, where she shut the door, kicked off her boots, beelined across the living room, hall, and straight into her room.

It was as modest as the rest of her home, consisting of a bed against the wall, a small TV atop a dresser, and an unorganized pile of books in a corner.

Cassidy took Garna's pokéball out of her bag and held it out, pressing its release and letting a white, radiant ray of light beam from within it and stream to the carpet by her bed while making a soft, airy white noise.

A thin, smoky mist started from the floor and filled the air vaguely in the shape and height of a gardevoir before revealing the pokémon as the smoke dissipated.

"Garna..." Cassidy frowned a little while eyeing her bruised cheek, then paced to her dresser and grabbed a potion from one of her drawers.

She returned and patted the bed, which Garna sat on. "They cheated. We didn't lose, okay?" Cassidy brought up the item and sprayed her cheek. "No more than two back-to-backs."

"Gard," Garna replied with a subtle grin, wiping her cheek after the injury faded.

Cassidy huffed. "We'll talk soon." She went over to her book pile and grabbed a thick one titled 'Deep Psychic' with a piece of paper sticking out the top between pages as a bookmark.

Cassidy brought the book back and set it on the bed, sitting beside Garna and opening the book to the middle. She took off and set her Pokétch aside. "Like... really talk." She looked at her and pressed two fingers to the side of Garna's head, then brought her fingers to her own. "With our minds. I just have to learn more... I'll take a huge break from the battle guides."

"Gardevoir?" Garna placed a hand on Cassidy's upper back.

"I promise." Cassidy shifted closer to Garna's hip and set the book across their laps, eyeing the text. "Our bond is strong, my mind is strong... We just need to connect more." She looked back up at Garna, who was watching her trainer with the same grin. "Just one chapter, then we'll go eat, yeah?"

---

Cassidy sat across from Garna at the dining room table under dim lighting, both with bowls of soup, but Cassidy had barely touched hers.

She stirred at it with her spoon, her other palm smooshed against her cheek. She sighed before letting her spoon go. "I'm still annoyed."

Garna stared from her seat, lowering her hand after having taken a sip from her bowl.

"I'm never battling with them again. No more." Cassidy looked up at Garna. "We will wait outside the gym for tough trainers only. That's how we'll get really good."

Cassidy licked her lips under a grin and shifted her eyes up to Garna. "But then we go back, and no one will ever beat us, even if they get desperate." She faded her grin while averting her gaze. "But maybe I am too serious."

"Gar."

Cassidy looked back and saw Garna shake her head. She let her hand slip from her cheek. "How? They all think I'm weird... I am, no?"

Garna shrugged.

"I want to have fun battling, but not in their silly ways." Cassidy picked up her spoon. "You will explain this to me... Soon-- when we can talk."

A grin spread across Garna's face.

"What, you don't believe me?" Cassidy shared her grin. "Or you do."

A single nod.

"I'll tell Mom and Dad too. They don't believe people and pokémon can talk together." Cassidy lowered her spoon into the soup and raised it after it filled but stopped midway. "...But how will we prove it to them?"