FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

I frantically tore the job poster off the wall and hustled over

towards my team. "Hey Liru," I shouted. She was talking with a

wingull when she turned around to face me. In her paws was a medium

sized package that had a tag with my name hanging from it. "What's

with the yelling?" she said with a grin revealing her excitement.

The rest of the team had regrouped by now, curious about the objects

that we held in our paws. "I want us to start with this job," I

said holding the paper out for them to read. Liru was the first to

react. "Lilly... She was the one Truce and I rescued from Genko

Forest, right?" I nodded only to be met with a high pitched whistle

from Mishren. "Whoa, you serious?" he asked, wide eyed at the mission's

difficulty. Ritch gave me a disappointed stare and it really pissed

me off. "We can't do this," he began. "Our team isn't ready to

take on a mission this difficult. Not only are the chances of getting

wiped out pretty high, but even if we do somehow manage to complete

it, the amount of injuries that we'll receive would also be

plentiful." Jorge seemed to nod in agreement after listening to

Ritch's thoughts. I also thought that his argument was pretty solid,

but something in my mind urged me to charge forward and fight. "I

want us to do this job because I believe in our combined skills and

abilities. Remember, this team is unique in terms of our composition

and because of that, we have a wider range of tactics that we can

use. Injuries will occur no matter the mission we decide to take on

and it's your job to keep us healthy enough to stay in the fight." Growling, Ritch grabbed me by my shoulder. "I know how to do my

job, but can you do yours? You're the leader. You're suppose to make

decisions that positively affects the team. Why do you want to risk

out health by charging into such a dangerous mission?" I grabbed

his paw off my shoulder and pushed him back. I couldn't hold myself

back anymore and told him everything that's on my mind. "What's

your problem? From the day that we first met all that you've ever

given me is negativity. I tolerated and respected your opinions at

first until I realized that you basically have no trust in my

leadership. In fact, I only see you give this sort of treatment

towards the girls on this team while th-.." Upon saying that, my

eyes opened up in realization. "Now that I think about it," Jorge

said rubbing his chin, "Ritch does tend to act more friendly around

guys and anytime a girl rolls up to ask him something, I could sense

a tiny bit of resentment in the tone of his voice." Ritch's face

began to heat up as he tried to bring the discussion back on topic.

"Don't change the subject and answer my question. Why do you want

us to do this specific job so much." Calming down, I looked at Ritch's embarrassed face and replied.

"The victim's the prince and he's one of my friends. I met him in

Genko Forest and together we took out Rydro the tauros before Truce

and Liru came and found us. I owe him a lot for giving me that first

chance to prove myself worthy to join Sofeda and now I want you to

give me a chance to prove myself worthy as a leader." The argument

soon died down and the atmosphere of the job office returned to

normal. It was mostly quiet, that is until a loud ripping of a box

made all of our heads turn towards the source. "L-Liru!" I

stammered. "Don't go opening my package without my permission."

The deed done Liru stuck her tongue out and looked inside. The entire

team looked as well to find a pouch filled with the money Haless

raised for us and six metal cases. We each took a case and opened

them up to find a polished badge. Crafted into the shape of a shield

with a sword sticking out from the top of it, the front of the shield

had an outline of a brain etched into it. A shiny colorless jewel fit

snugly inside the brain to prove that it was an official piece of

authority. The mood immediately began to lighten up since the others

all had their old badges taken away by their previous captains last

night. Just the simple action of holding these new badges in their

paws seemed to fill them up with confidence. Smiling at this thought,

I went back into the package to retrieve the money only to find a

letter that had previously been hidden underneath all of the cases.

Picking it up, it read,Salutations Winta, Today marks the (official) start

of the Unification Project! Success is still a far ways away but I

know that you and your team will be able to overcome all obstacles to

get to it. The badges that your team now possesses used to belong to

me and my teammates back when the organization was still united over

seventy years ago. In fact, the first ones to ever use them was the

founder of Sofeda and his five closest friends. When Sofeda broke

apart into the three factions, these badges lost most of their power

and the color of the gems faded into what you see today. Despite

this, please treat and treasure these relics with care. Aging along and watching the

organization as it strays away from its roots, I find myself longing

for the days of old. I remember looking up and admiring all sorts of

heroes back when I was still a dratini lad. There was always

something in their unwavering eyes that made you feel safe and at

ease. When I first saw you staring at me from across the lobby, I was

reminded of those feelings and knew that you were destined for great

things. Like the founder and the other heroes of the old Sofeda, pave

yourselves a path filled with hardships and camaraderie so that you

too can pass on your legacy to future generations.Sincerely,Your Friend HalessI

folded Haless's letter and placed it inside my badge case, keeping

his words in mind. "We should go and clear our heads by shopping

for supplies," I said showing them the bag of cash. The others

agreed and together we traveled to the neighboring city of Novamira.

The journey took about an hour and when we reached the city, I was

surprised when I saw the place. It reminded me of human city if you

just replaced all the people with pokemon instead. "Where should we

go first?" Jorge asked as he rolled around anxiously. I thought for

a minute before answering. "Do any of you know of any places that

sells equipment or accessories?" I asked back. Ears perking up,

Nyami could hardly contain her excitement. "Ooh! I know the best

place to get accessories! What kind of stuff do you have in mind?"

she asked without hesitation. "Well, we're going to need packs or

something to carry stuff in, right?" I said smiling. Leading us to a

store called Silk&Needle, we were greeted by a caterpie and

beedrill who ran the place. "Hi Selk! Hi Nida," Nyami said with a

cheerful smile. "Welcome back Nyami," the beedrill buzzed. "I

see that you've brought some friends along with you. How's our

favorite customer doing today?" "I'm fine Nida, thanks for

asking," Nyami replied. "Say Selk, do you happen to have any

backpacks for sale? My charmander friend here is interested in buying

some for our team." The caterpie crawled over and examined me

carefully. "We don't have a supply of backpacks ready for sale

since there isn't a demand for them at the moment. However, since

business is slow today, we'll be happy to make them for you right now

for only 500 poke a piece." "Sounds good," I said, paying the

caterpie and thanking him for the service. The beedrill flew

into the back room as Selk counted the money. "Head on over to

where Nida went so that she could get your measurements," he said

crawling away. Doing what we were told to do, the team walked in to

find Nida looking at shelves filled with various colors of silk.

Taking hold of a bundle of green silk, she flew towards me and

examined my body. Before I could even blink, she had already begun

working. Knitting quickly with amazing skill and precision, the

beedrill's creation started to take shape upon my back. Entranced by

the speed and sound of his drill-like arms, I didn't even realize the

time fly by. "...and with the finishing touches... it's done!"

Nida said crossing her arms. I immediately took it off to examine it

closer. Not only was it masterfully crafted, but there were even

buttons and pockets sewn on as well. "The material was made by Selk

to be resistant to the elements so you don't have to be afraid of

igniting it with the flame on your tail" Nida said reassuringly.

Curious, I placed the thing above my tail and found that it didn't

catch on fire. Smiling at my actions, Nida went back to work. Overall

it took her about an hour to complete our order. Thanking Selk and

Nida for the final time, we went off to visit other stores. "Now

all we need is some food and medicine," I said cheerfully. "Anybody

want to recommend a good place to buy from?" "I know two places,"

Mishren replied. "First one is a berry field on the outskirts of

town. Managed by a vespiquen and worked on by her combee children,

the fruit produced by them are some of the best in the land. The

second place is a general store run by a kecleon. Great place to go

to if you want to find items that are the same quality as specialty

stores but cheaper." "As for medicine," interrupted Ritch, "I

can go and buy some from toxicroak, the best medicine-mon in the

city. For this mission I'll go and get six reviver seeds, six oran

pills, and some bandages. All of this together costs exactly 7000

poke." "Splitting up

doesn't sound like a bad idea," Nyami said. I nodded in agreement.

"Alright we'll break into two groups," I announced. "The first

group going to the medicine-mon will be Ritch, Liru, and Nyami. Now

before you start to protest, listen to my reasoning. Since Liru and

Nyami are quick on their feet, they'll be on our scouting team while

the rest of us will be on the main team. When they're out scouting,

they might find some medical materials lying about. However, if they

don't have that kind of knowledge beforehand, then they'll just leave

it behind. To prevent this sort of scenario from happening, I want

you to show and teach them about these things. The rest of us are

going to go and check out kecleon's shop. After both groups have

finished, we'll go and meet up at the berry field to finish shopping

for supplies. Does everyone agree with this plan?" When everyone

gave some sort of approval, I handed 10000 poke to Ritch split our

party.