{"sf1_id":718340,"sf2_id":null,"title":"Defenders of Evodusai Part 14","author":"Mizucharoshi","words":1907,"posted_at":"2014-06-15T13:12:00.000Z","tags":["charmander","pokemon"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/718340-defenders-of-evodusai-part-14","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/718340","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=718340\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"","content":"I frantically tore the job poster off the wall and hustled over\ntowards my team. \"Hey Liru,\" I shouted. She was talking with a\nwingull when she turned around to face me. In her paws was a medium\nsized package that had a tag with my name hanging from it. \"What's\nwith the yelling?\" she said with a grin revealing her excitement.\nThe rest of the team had regrouped by now, curious about the objects\nthat we held in our paws. \"I want us to start with this job,\" I\nsaid holding the paper out for them to read. Liru was the first to\nreact. \"Lilly... She was the one Truce and I rescued from Genko\nForest, right?\" I nodded only to be met with a high pitched whistle\nfrom Mishren. \"Whoa, you serious?\" he asked, wide eyed at the mission's\ndifficulty. Ritch gave me a disappointed stare and it really pissed\nme off. \"We can't do this,\" he began. \"Our team isn't ready to\ntake on a mission this difficult. Not only are the chances of getting\nwiped out pretty high, but even if we do somehow manage to complete\nit, the amount of injuries that we'll receive would also be\nplentiful.\" Jorge seemed to nod in agreement after listening to\nRitch's thoughts. I also thought that his argument was pretty solid,\nbut something in my mind urged me to charge forward and fight. \"I\nwant us to do this job because I believe in our combined skills and\nabilities. Remember, this team is unique in terms of our composition\nand because of that, we have a wider range of tactics that we can\nuse. Injuries will occur no matter the mission we decide to take on\nand 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\njob, but can you do yours? You're the leader. You're suppose to make\ndecisions that positively affects the team. Why do you want to risk\nout health by charging into such a dangerous mission?\" I grabbed\nhis paw off my shoulder and pushed him back. I couldn't hold myself\nback anymore and told him everything that's on my mind. \"What's\nyour problem? From the day that we first met all that you've ever\ngiven me is negativity. I tolerated and respected your opinions at\nfirst until I realized that you basically have no trust in my\nleadership. In fact, I only see you give this sort of treatment\ntowards the girls on this team while th-..\" Upon saying that, my\neyes opened up in realization. \"Now that I think about it,\" Jorge\nsaid rubbing his chin, \"Ritch does tend to act more friendly around\nguys and anytime a girl rolls up to ask him something, I could sense\na tiny bit of resentment in the tone of his voice.\" Ritch's face\nbegan to heat up as he tried to bring the discussion back on topic.\n\"Don't change the subject and answer my question. Why do you want\nus to do this specific job so much.\" Calming down, I looked at Ritch's embarrassed face and replied.\n\"The victim's the prince and he's one of my friends. I met him in\nGenko Forest and together we took out Rydro the tauros before Truce\nand Liru came and found us. I owe him a lot for giving me that first\nchance to prove myself worthy to join Sofeda and now I want you to\ngive me a chance to prove myself worthy as a leader.\" The argument\nsoon died down and the atmosphere of the job office returned to\nnormal. It was mostly quiet, that is until a loud ripping of a box\nmade all of our heads turn towards the source. \"L-Liru!\" I\nstammered. \"Don't go opening my package without my permission.\"\nThe deed done Liru stuck her tongue out and looked inside. The entire\nteam looked as well to find a pouch filled with the money Haless\nraised for us and six metal cases. We each took a case and opened\nthem up to find a polished badge. Crafted into the shape of a shield\nwith a sword sticking out from the top of it, the front of the shield\nhad an outline of a brain etched into it. A shiny colorless jewel fit\nsnugly inside the brain to prove that it was an official piece of\nauthority. The mood immediately began to lighten up since the others\nall had their old badges taken away by their previous captains last\nnight. Just the simple action of holding these new badges in their\npaws seemed to fill them up with confidence. Smiling at this thought,\nI went back into the package to retrieve the money only to find a\nletter that had previously been hidden underneath all of the cases.\nPicking it up, it read,Salutations Winta, Today marks the (official) start\nof the Unification Project! Success is still a far ways away but I\nknow that you and your team will be able to overcome all obstacles to\nget to it. The badges that your team now possesses used to belong to\nme and my teammates back when the organization was still united over\nseventy years ago. In fact, the first ones to ever use them was the\nfounder of Sofeda and his five closest friends. When Sofeda broke\napart into the three factions, these badges lost most of their power\nand the color of the gems faded into what you see today. Despite\nthis, please treat and treasure these relics with care.  Aging along and watching the\norganization as it strays away from its roots, I find myself longing\nfor the days of old. I remember looking up and admiring all sorts of\nheroes back when I was still a dratini lad. There was always\nsomething in their unwavering eyes that made you feel safe and at\nease. When I first saw you staring at me from across the lobby, I was\nreminded of those feelings and knew that you were destined for great\nthings. Like the founder and the other heroes of the old Sofeda, pave\nyourselves a path filled with hardships and camaraderie so that you\ntoo can pass on your legacy to future generations.Sincerely,Your Friend HalessI\nfolded Haless's letter and placed it inside my badge case, keeping\nhis words in mind. \"We should go and clear our heads by shopping\nfor supplies,\" I said showing them the bag of cash. The others\nagreed and together we traveled to the neighboring city of Novamira.\nThe journey took about an hour and when we reached the city, I was\nsurprised when I saw the place. It reminded me of human city if you\njust replaced all the people with pokemon instead. \"Where should we\ngo first?\" Jorge asked as he rolled around anxiously. I thought for\na minute before answering. \"Do any of you know of any places that\nsells equipment or accessories?\" I asked back. Ears perking up,\nNyami could hardly contain her excitement. \"Ooh! I know the best\nplace to get accessories! What kind of stuff do you have in mind?\"\nshe asked without hesitation. \"Well, we're going to need packs or\nsomething to carry stuff in, right?\" I said smiling. Leading us to a\nstore called Silk\u0026Needle, we were greeted by a caterpie and\nbeedrill who ran the place. \"Hi Selk! Hi Nida,\" Nyami said with a\ncheerful smile. \"Welcome back Nyami,\" the beedrill buzzed. \"I\nsee that you've brought some friends along with you. How's our\nfavorite customer doing today?\" \"I'm fine Nida, thanks for\nasking,\" Nyami replied. \"Say Selk, do you happen to have any\nbackpacks for sale? My charmander friend here is interested in buying\nsome for our team.\" The caterpie crawled over and examined me\ncarefully. \"We don't have a supply of backpacks ready for sale\nsince there isn't a demand for them at the moment. However, since\nbusiness is slow today, we'll be happy to make them for you right now\nfor only 500 poke a piece.\" \"Sounds good,\" I said, paying the\ncaterpie and thanking him for the service.  The beedrill flew\ninto the back room as Selk counted the money. \"Head on over to\nwhere Nida went so that she could get your measurements,\" he said\ncrawling away. Doing what we were told to do, the team walked in to\nfind Nida looking at shelves filled with various colors of silk.\nTaking hold of a bundle of green silk, she flew towards me and\nexamined my body. Before I could even blink, she had already begun\nworking. Knitting quickly with amazing skill and precision, the\nbeedrill's creation started to take shape upon my back. Entranced by\nthe speed and sound of his drill-like arms, I didn't even realize the\ntime fly by. \"...and with the finishing touches... it's done!\"\nNida said crossing her arms. I immediately took it off to examine it\ncloser. Not only was it masterfully crafted, but there were even\nbuttons and pockets sewn on as well. \"The material was made by Selk\nto be resistant to the elements so you don't have to be afraid of\nigniting it with the flame on your tail\" Nida said reassuringly.\nCurious, I placed the thing above my tail and found that it didn't\ncatch on fire. Smiling at my actions, Nida went back to work. Overall\nit took her about an hour to complete our order. Thanking Selk and\nNida for the final time, we went off to visit other stores. \"Now\nall we need is some food and medicine,\" I said cheerfully. \"Anybody\nwant to recommend a good place to buy from?\" \"I know two places,\"\nMishren replied. \"First one is a berry field on the outskirts of\ntown. Managed by a vespiquen and worked on by her combee children,\nthe fruit produced by them are some of the best in the land. The\nsecond place is a general store run by a kecleon. Great place to go\nto if you want to find items that are the same quality as specialty\nstores but cheaper.\" \"As for medicine,\" interrupted Ritch, \"I\ncan go and buy some from toxicroak, the best medicine-mon in the\ncity. For this mission I'll go and get six reviver seeds, six oran\npills, and some bandages. All of this together costs exactly 7000\npoke.\" \"Splitting up\ndoesn't sound like a bad idea,\" Nyami said. I nodded in agreement.\n\"Alright we'll break into two groups,\" I announced. \"The first\ngroup going to the medicine-mon will be Ritch, Liru, and Nyami. Now\nbefore you start to protest, listen to my reasoning. Since Liru and\nNyami are quick on their feet, they'll be on our scouting team while\nthe rest of us will be on the main team. When they're out scouting,\nthey might find some medical materials lying about. However, if they\ndon't have that kind of knowledge beforehand, then they'll just leave\nit behind. To prevent this sort of scenario from happening, I want\nyou to show and teach them about these things. The rest of us are\ngoing to go and check out kecleon's shop. After both groups have\nfinished, we'll go and meet up at the berry field to finish shopping\nfor supplies. Does everyone agree with this plan?\" When everyone\ngave some sort of approval, I handed 10000 poke to Ritch split our\nparty.","previous":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/703009-defenders-of-evodusai-part-13.json"}