FSE

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D - 1

~~~

The group rested uneasily that night. While Samuel slumbered on against a tree, Bastion and Quox took turns throughout the night as they remained awake to keep watch for any potential ferals that would come their way. Surprisingly the night was relatively calm apart from the wind rustling a few bushes. Bastion was anxious the whole time. He had been taught by his father that wilds were supposed to be more active at night. Something about how night was their time to hunt each other, or something along those lines. Now? He barely heard a single feral shriek out here. He knew that some wilds were silent hunters... but so far none had even come close to their group.

Quox held the same reservations, only able to wonder whether or not they were being circled by any ferals while they rested here. It was a disturbing thought, and one that neither guard wanted to dwell on any further. They remained tense and as morning started to peek out through the trees the two couldn't help but wonder how they had even managed to get through the night alive.

"My father always said that ferals were more active at night." Bastion muttered. Samuel was already awake and munching on some berries that Quox had found on a bush. "I don't get why we weren't attacked. We were out in the open and had no walls around us."

"Perhaps they moved on?" Quox asked. "The herd was moving south, right? Simis is to the north, and where we are is more than likely north as well. Meaning, there would be no more ferals here to attack us. They would all be further south by now."

"And you honestly expect me to believe that every single one of them left their territories?" Bastion huffed, "Even you can't be that idiotic, Quox. Ferals mark their territory and defend it aggressively. Why would they just walk away from what they had claimed?"

"You were there at the village." Quox stated, "You saw all of those various ferals all attacking the walls together. Ferals who should have, under normal circumstances, should have been attacking each other. Mightyena who should have bitten into the necks of Furrets, Lickitungs who were supposed to be gobbling up the others in the crowd. This isn't a normal circumstance anymore. Whatever caused those ferals to attack the village also caused them to run away from their territories."

Samuel rubbed at his chin, "Normally... I would say that their leaving would be indicative of something scaring them. Say, a bigger predator entering the area and causing all of them to flee instinctively. But... if that was the case, they wouldn't have bothered to attack the village. They would just run past it and not bothered with attacking the walls. It's sort of how ferals run away when a tsunami is about to hit land, or a tornado is ready to touch down. They don't care about eating. They just want to survive."

"So, what?" Bastion asked as he wiped his lips clean of berry juice, "They were forced to run away and just happened to attack us because they wanted to?"

Samuel let out a weak sigh, "I... I don't know. It just... none of it makes any sense. The results we've seen just... they don't add up. They ran from their homes and territory, attacked walls that posed no threat to them, nor had any flesh, figured out how to breach them, and proceeded to attack us all. And banding together as they did? Quox is right, these aren't natural circumstances."

"But... if they did head to the south..." Quox said as his thoughts spun about in his mind, "Then... technically there shouldn't be any ferals near Simis then, right?"

Samuel blinked at that, then crossed his arms in thought, "Well, assuming that your hypothesis is correct, and this event is affecting all ferals, then yes. There shouldn't be any left at Simis. They would all have headed south. But that's hypothetical, of course."

"If that is the case though... then we should get moving." Bastion stood up and stretched his arms above his head, "Let's just see what we find there. Simis is a stronghold compared to our village. We'll get our help and head back to search for survivors. And if you two are right, we best get there now before the ferals things of coming back." He slipped his gloves back on with a nod, "Let's move out!"

___

The rest of the walk toward Simis was silent for the group, mainly because Bastion pointed out that it was entirely possible that Quox's hypothesis could be wrong. There might very well be some ferals that still roamed this part of the woods. Any chatting would obviously not help their vulnerable position, so they remained silent. Thankfully with the light shining into the area, Bastion knew exactly where they were. It took just a few moments before he led them onto one of the trade paths that lay between the villages.

The walk took only half an hour before the group finally saw Simis in the distance. Bastion made sure to keep the two calm as he continued to lead the way. The closer they got... the heavier their hearts grew. At first glance Simis looked to stand tall. The buildings were up, there were no fires, and there were no pokemon running around wildly outside of its borders. The closer they got... well, that was when the finer details began to stand out. There were some scorch marks lining the lower portions of the buildings. Red splotches had been flung against the walls. And of course, they could see a few bodies that lay upon the ground.

Bastion held an arm out to stop the two as he shook his head, "This can't be right... Simis is a more of a fortress..."

"Our walls were breached too." Quox gently reminded him.

Bastion fell silent, then let out a sigh, "There has to be someone left... let's get searching."

Quox looked over at Samuel, and he could tell that the Abra was thinking the same thing he was. The odds of finding some alive and kicking here were slim. It looked like the same thing that had happened back home had occurred here as well. There was no help here for Bracketsbur, and even if there were a few mon still alive they would be in no condition to send any reinforcements to help the other village out. Quox honestly wanted to say something to Bastion, anything really, to snap him out of his denial, yet... he could tell that Bastion was doing his hardest to hold onto hope. If Quox went ahead and dumped reality upon the Hitmonchan's head, he wasn't honestly sure how Bastion would respond.

So, the two kept their thoughts internal for the time and headed after Bastion into the ruins of Simis. The village was disturbingly quiet as Quox looked about with the others amid the signs of lingering warfare. Simis was the closest village to the trade routes, only but an hour or two away from the Golden Road. It was through them that Bracketsbur received their own supplies. It was also the reason why a contingent of guards and merchants headed up to Simis monthly so that they could check on any packages that had arrived and to bring the goods back to the village. Quox had been assigned to the contingent but one time, and once was all he needed.

Bracketsbur was quiet in comparison to Simis. With Simis there were merchants who broke off from the Golden Road and would wander into the village to peddle off any wares that they couldn't get rid of in the cities. According to the other guards who went constantly on the monthly trips, these merchants would often sell such goods at great discounts that enticed many a mon into buying the items they had. Simis wasn't as busy as a city could be, but it did constantly have merchants coming in and out of its gates.

Now? There were no merchants crying out for potential citizens to test out their products. There were no guards patrolling, just to make sure that no outsiders had the chance in breaking Simis' laws. It was all... quiet. Too quiet. Quox had often heard tales of cities and villages that had taken on the moniker of 'ghost towns', places that had become abandoned by mon simply because there were no more financial opportunities that lay there. Places that had once housed thousands of mon that now lay completely empty. It seemed that Simis had just joined their ranks.

"Hey, Quox."

Bastion's voice snapped Quox out of his thoughts as he looked over at the fighter, "What's up?"

"Go check the market district out. There has to be someone there. I'll go to the guard posts. Should be some guards there."

Without even waiting for a confirmation from Quox, the Hitmonchan dashed off. Samuel just watched him go, confusing dotting his face, "... He knows that this place doesn't have anyone, right?"

Quox just let his shoulders sag, "He does, he just doesn't want to admit it. He was so hopeful that we would find help here, and all we've found is nothing. I have a feeling that he won't be all that happy when we're done here."

"I just hope he doesn't crack." Samuel said with a weak sigh.

"He wasn't called to such a high position because he was easy to break." Quox stated. "He might be a bit mad after this, but he'll pull through. For now, come with me. We might not find anyone, but we'll need to find supplies that have been left over. We'll need food, medical supplies, and packs. to carry it all in."

"Right, right." Samuel followed after the Zoroark as they made their way to the market district. The many stands that the merchants would set out daily were all destroyed. Splintered wood lay upon the street while the various wares were scattered about. Samuel walked on over to one of the flipped over stalls and began gathering some berries, "So... what do we do after this? I mean, there's no help here, and we were relying upon that."

"Well, given the protocol we guards have." Quox responded as he shifted a few wood pieces about. "We must first find a place where we can relay our message that Simis and Bracketsbur have been overrun by wilds. More than likely, we'll have to find another village or city close by. From there, we'll have to do our best to get in touch with Euron and let him know what happened. He should have enough power to at least get some of the country troops to head on down and see if they can find survivors and figure out why the wilds attacked us all. That's the priority at this point, to get the word out that we need help." He grunted as he moved an iron pole out of the way, "Given we're some distance from the trade route, it'll take time before anyone comes upon Simis. It's not the right time frame for merchants to be passing through en masse, and we can't risk letting anyone else fall prey to the wilds here. We got the word out, and things start to improve."

Samuel gave a nod, "Okay, so just let people know. That sounds easy enough. I know that Cranket is about two days away, should we try heading there?"

"Cranket? Is that a trade route city?" Quox asked. He reached into a pile and pulled out a weathered leather backpack.

"Yes, it is. They specialize in shipping out various ores. They have the largest query in the country! It's the only place where you can find natural diamonds."

"You sure do know a lot." Quox said with a chuckle, "Hey, can you pass those berries over here?"

The berries glowed blue as they floated over to drop into the backpack.

"Alright, now we should check the hospital for now. See if we can scrounge up some extra medical gear." Quox adjusted the pack on his back, "Remember, keep a lookout for any wilds here. It would be best if we don't end up being ambushed when we least expect it."

"Of course." Samuel said, "But... shouldn't we let Bastion know first?"

"Well..." Quox stopped in mid-stride and sighed, "Yeah... I mean, he's not back here yet, so either he's found something, or he needs some alone time for now."

Samuel gave a small nod, "I can understand that. Still... it's got to be a bummer for him. Just wanting this place to help and then having to see that no one's around."

Quox shrugged, "It is what it is, in the end. We just have to keep on going as protocol dictates. And when we get to the next safe spot we can drop you off."

"Drop me off?" Samuel tilted his head, "What? You don't want me coming along for the ride?"

Quox rubbed the back of his neck, "Well... it's not that. We're guards, you aren't. When wilds come for us... well, I mean... we wouldn't want anything bad to happen to you. We're supposed to protect you, but while we travel we're out in the open. It would be safer for you if you just stay in one of the cities we get to."

"But Bracketsbur is my home too." Samuel protested, "Should I at least help you two out with getting a message to the mayor? I helped save you, after all, in the forest! If I hadn't ported you and Bastion out, then you would have been gobbled up by that Snorlax!"

"Helping out in one circumstance doesn't mean you are ready to fight wilds." Quox explained, "Yes, your porting power is nice, but what happens when we can't rely on it? When it's too far a distance to port to safety? When we have to stand our ground and fight? Do you want to take that chance of being made feral food? We'll talk about it more later when the time comes. For now we should focus on remaining alert."

Samuel grumbled a bit, but did as Quox bidded. As they two went deeper into the village they just saw the same signs that they had come upon at the outskirts. Abandoned buildings, chaotic messes, some signs of battle, and no signs of any living mon still around. Well, that was until the two came upon a rather odd sight. The other doors that had led to the various buildings had been left wide open, no doubt due to the residents of the village scrambling about in an attempt to find shelter. However there was one set of doors that had thick wooden planks angled across them so as to keep the doors from opening properly.

"Oh, I know that place!" Samuel said as he pointed at the stone building in question, "That's the mail office. That's where all the flying messengers arrive and roost at."

Quox peered up toward the top of the building and he could plainly see the openings that would allow flying type to get in and out with relative ease. "Why is it boarded up then?"

"Perhaps there are some survivors in there?" Samuel suggested, "The ferals wouldn't know how to board up a place, but regular mon would."

"But the planks are on the outside..." Quox frowned, "How could they set this up and still get inside?" He walked up to one of the doors and knocked upon it, "Hello? Any survivors in there?" He called out.

"GET AWAY FROM THERE!"

Quox turned back to where the voice had come from. On one of the other rooftops he could see two mon standing there, "GET AWAY!"

"What are-" Quox didn't get a chance to finish his query to Samuel as the doors rocked. He looked on as the doors shuddered again, this time with loud groans echoing out as the wood began to bend a tad.

".. Quox?" Samuel asked as he warily stepped back as well.

In an instant the planks shattered and the doors opened up. Quox's eyes bulged in surprise at the amount of ferals that staggered out from the building. "R-Run!" Samuel didn't need any further reminders as he rushed away as fast as he could. Quox fell to all fours and sprinted along, glancing back as he saw the ferals moving on out. The good news from this? There weren't THAT many there. The building could only hold so many mon after all, and it looked like these were stragglers that had been caged up. The bad news? There were enough ferals that Quox and Samuel could be legitimately ganged up on and easily killed.

Up above Quox caught sight of a bird in the sky, one that was rushing down toward Samuel. In one fell swoop a Hawlucha flew down next to Samuel, "You two, get to the green building up ahead! We'll lower a ladder!" He shouted out. With that, he quickly ascended once more. Quox could easily see the building that the flyer had pointed out. There was another mon on top who was busy moving something up top. There was a loud clattering sound as a wooden ladder hit against the stone down below.

Quox grit his teeth and looked over to the weary Samuel. He pushed up so that he was running on his two legs and scooped the psychic up in his arms. By the time they got to the ladder Quox was panting frantically. He pushed Samuel toward the ladder, "Climb! Climb!" Adrenaline fueled the two as Samuel climbed as fast as he could, his excitement causing him to miss the next step every so often. Quox glanced back at the encroaching crowd of ferals and cupped his hands together. With a loud cry he flung out a Dark Pulse that flung a few of the ferals back. He hurried up the ladder, managing to make it halfway before it started to creak and groan. Quox looked down to see several ferals were grabbing onto the ladder and trying to force it. His grip tightened as a loud crack sounded out. His feet fell underneath him as the lower half of the ladder was ripped clean away.

Quox dangled there, paralyzed with fear for but a moment. The ferals were all crowded underneath him, their mouths opened wide as they waited for the fox to fall into one of their maws.

"Get up here, idiot!"

Quox shook his head and used his upper body strength to pull himself up the rest of the way as he finally scrambled up to the rooftop. The Hawlucah looked at the remaining part of the ladder with disgust and let out a cry as he threw it down upon the hungry mob. "Dammit. Not good at all."

"You're telling me!" A Lucario gasped out. The fighter was covered with sweat as he huffed, "Why did you have to open the bloody doors?" He narrowed his eyes at Quox, "What were you two thinking!?"

"Hush, Sampson." The Hawlucha stated to the other fighter, "Are... you two merchants or guards too?" He asked Quox and Samuel.

"Um... Quox is." Samuel said as he trembled in place, "W-We came f-from Brack-ketsbur."

The two fighter exchanged confused glances, "Bracketsbur? Never heard of it." Sampson stated.

"It's to the south of Simis." Quox further explained. "We were just sieged by a feral mob but a day ago. We thought there would be aid here... but..."

"And we thought we were the only ones waiting for rescue!" Sampson groaned as he gripped his temples. "Fucking dammit!"

The Hawlucha crossed his arms with a huff "We were waiting for a trade caravan to come into town. We were looking near the north entrance and hoping we could get their attention before they came into town. By the time we looked toward the south end, well," He gestured to the mob down below, "You two had already started knocking on the floodgates."

"Why were you two up here?" Quox asked. "Are there more ferals in the city?"

"Not that I could tell." The Hawlucha stated. "There was an initial wave that just ran on through town. Killed a lot of folks. Some remained behind, I guess to still eat. Sampson and I were guards for one of the merchants who came here. When things went south we gathered with some others and thought we could trap a majority of the remaining ferals in the post office. It worked... in a way. A lot of the others were killed. We were hoping that reinforcements could come that night, someone at least from a nearby trade city. That didn't happen, but we thought we were safe."

"Until you two ruined it!" Sampson spat out. "If no more ferals came into town by the afternoon, we could have finally left this place!"

"Sampson." The bird cautioned him again with a frown. The fighter just huffed and looked away. "Well, in any case, I'm Deter." The masked avian gave a low bow, "And you two?"

"I'm Quox, and this is Samuel." The Zoroark stated. "We have another who came with us. A senior guard from Bracketsbur. He went to check the guard stations in town."

Deter spread his wings, "I should go find him then. You three wait here... well, not like you all have much of a choice." With a few flaps he set off.

Sampson sat back down with a sigh, "So we get two guards coming into town, and they end up making the whole thing even worse."

"We didn't know what was in there." Quox argued.

"Yeah, because people just put wooden planks over doors because it's the trending style!" Sampson spat back. "How stupid do you have to be?" The Lucario paced a bit, then looked down at the ground, grimacing, "There's no way we can get past that crowd. And who knows how many are still in the forest around this place? We're dead men now."

"Not necessarily." Quox frowned, "... You can jump, and I can jump, and Samuel can port..." He pointed out to the rooftops. "We can outpace the mob and hop from rooftop to rooftop. We can get to the entrance and run out to the trade route." He crossed his arms, "We just need a distraction of some kind first."

"Such a thing is suicide." Sampson muttered. "Listen, our best bet is to wait for a trade city to send a contingent of guards out to us. We'll get out safe that way. And who knows if there are other ferals out there?"

"I would propose that I could port ahead. Maybe get to the city myself?" Samuel asked.

"Or you all could wait." Deter flew back down and landed on the roof, "Well, found your friend. He found some shelter, but we need to move. We can't risk dying here and now. We need to head out at some point, and I think our foxy friend here is right."

~~~

Choice A - Quox's and Deter's choice - We hop rooftop to rooftop anyway we can and get as close as we can to the entrance. Then we scramble out of here!

Choice B - Sampson's choice - We can't risk that! We'll wait a day here for help. The mob can't get up to us, anyways.

Choice C - Samuel's choice - I can scout ahead, get to a trade route without anyone risking their health.

Voting will end on the 4th this time.