FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

PART NINETY EIGHT 2/2

A good twenty minutes before they exited into the light, Jack was fairly certain it would have taken days to travel thought the forest on foot, but with laying of roads around and through it for the sake of convince it was far less of an ordeal. Even for those on foot there where guest inns dotted along the way the people of the region had done what sir anthro had failed to do, conquered obscura forest by turning a bastion of refuge for pokémon into just another tourist spot.

That said, the walk to the heart of Obscura Forest had been relaxing if only for half an hour, circumventing most of the distance by driving had been in Ahsoka’s opinion well worth sacrificing the two days it would have normally have taken; if they had just walked there like those trainers on their pokémon journey and while it may have proven to be counterproductive for her partner, to miss out on this portion of his pokémon journey. She felt it to be more beneficial to his health, to spend a couple of days at the loch where the air was at its freshest in the whole of the region. The loch had even according to legend to have once soothed the rage of a rampaging Gyarados.

“I’ll go fill the water can while you get camp set up”

She had said to the others, it had been more of a matter of fact comment than suggestion but Jack and his pokémon seemed fine with it. It had taken her a few minutes of detours just to be sure none of her lovers pokémon were following her, especially that weavile, she still remembered the ambush along with the merciless display of violence the dark/ice type had delt with the mightyena’s. With jerrycan in hand Ahsoka made it to the designated rendezvous point where she had arranged to meet the enforcer team that HQ had deployed, as expected they were already there waiting for her. It spoke volumes that she heard one of them speak to her before she even noticed their presence around her.

“Punctual, just like your dossier said”

The tone used was jovial, but there was nothing pleasant about an enforcer team, they were the pure embodiment of danger. She could feel every fibre of her being screaming at her to run; run as fast as her legs would carry her, yet her mind was already processing as much data as it could gather, analysing their body armour worn over top of their combat fatigues, the possible weak points in their defences. She couldn’t read their facial expressions due to the face masks and berets covering most of their features, all she could tell was the colour of their eyes. Their uniform was, save for a red ‘R’ upon the front of their berets, a matte shade of black.

Unlike his team the man’s head was exposed, she could only conclude this was more for her benefit than anything, maybe it was a curtesy or to put at ease. Whatever the reason it was taking all her will just to maintain her cold emotionless facade. Ahsoka observed him raising his hand, her eyes narrowed as the men and women around her seemed to tense up. Was this a trap, had rival back at HQ decided to eliminate her.

“Steady now, not looking for trouble, just offering my hand”

He announced his hand raised in greeting; their eyes met while hers remained hard his softened as a disarming smile formed upon his lips, she sighed taking his hand hoping this wasn’t what she suspected.

“Guess, if you were here to illuminate me, I would already be dead”

She replied, to this the head enforcer burst out into laughter, in turn those around her began to relax as he continued to speak.

“You give us far too much credit, besides you summoned us, remember?”

He chuckled; she kept her poker face but felt a sense of relief untie the knots in her stomach as their hands separated.

“Indeed, here’s the sitrep. A valuable resource currently being cultivated is being targeted by the unknown that the media has dubbed as the phantom, it managed to abduct the resource once, we all most lost the resource.”

She stated in a clear crisp voice, the man nodded as he listened before asking.

“And the current state of the resource?”

Closing her eyes for a moment she stifled a quiver in her lips, opening them she made her reply.

“Recovering, I need to get back to the resource.”

The head enforcer rubbed his deeply scarred cheek as he nods slowly to this, no words where needed as she took her leave. The enforcer team watched her leave, waiting until they where sure she was out of ear shot.

“Arceus damn it, I thought she was going to kill us for sure!”

One of the team members gasped slumping down on to his rear end, his face had gone quite pale while another was trembling as she held herself.

“Did you see how cold those eyes where, they where as cold as an ice type!”

A third noted his hand against a nearby tree as he leant forwards to gather himself, the team leader stood there calmly thinking back to Ahsoka’s dossier, if first impressions where correct every word it had within had be been true.

“Jackson, once you’ve finished pissing yourself, make a note to remind me to find out which bone head forgot to let her it would be us taking the job.”

He noted with a calm though firm tone to his voice, deep down though he had felt the icy twinges of panic himself, but the rest of the team looked to him for leadership so he could not afford to let his own fear show through.

Meantime back at the camp site, Jack Thronten had been side-lined by his pokémon while they set up the tent, every attempt to help out had resulted in being led back with a series of pushes back to the tree sat upon he was currently sat upon. The four of them were working together like a team, which seemed strange to him since he was more used to them fighting amongst themselves while struggling to get any thing done yet not this time. For a moment he began to wonder if this was a dream and perhaps, he was still asleep but the sudden chilled breeze that caressed his cheek counted that theory as he felt a shiver run down his spine.

Deciding he could no longer just sit still anymore though at the same time unable to offer assistance with the large tent, he proceeded to dig a fire pit with the collapsible entrenching tool. It didn’t take him long to dig out the turf with the shovel head but just as he began to ease up the lengths of sod, then Bunny bounded over to usher him back to his stump where he sat watching until the lopunny had just finished lining the edges of the fire pit with a series of large rocks of differing sizes that she’d sourced from the surrounding area, with an idea he got up announcing his intentions to get some fire wood.

“I’ll go get some wood”

This time it was Oni’s turn force him back to the stump, though she was not quite as gentle as she shoved him hard as she wagged a paw like finger at him, like some disapproving parent.

“Weavile…Weavile…We…Vile…Vile!”

[Forget it, you need to rest, we got this!]

“But I want to pull my own weight”

He tried to complain but the Weavile shook her head firmly as Blaze headed towards the tree line.

“How about I purify the water then?”

Jack suggested as Ahsoka returned with the jerry-can filled with fresh, ice cold water from the loch. But Lucy was also rummaging through one of the back packs, fishing out a sizable water purifier sachet, with a gesturing motion she waved for Ahsoka to come over to her.

“I…guess, not then?”

He sighed, it felt wrong somehow as if he was being lazy, while everyone was busy doing something, everyone that but himself. It was frustrating just sitting there watching every one, after what felt like an eternity for Jack, everything had been set up.

“How about I make us some dinner?”

Jack announced, this time there no resistance or attempts to sitting him back down, He finally felt useful again as he began setting up ready to make food for eight hungry mouths, though he wasn’t surprised that they were more than happy to let him do the dishes while they lazed around the fire. A smirk came to his face as he scraped the plates off into the fire, he could not help but notice Oni; Blaze and Bunny huddled together whispering to each other, though for the life of him, he could not quite hear what the trio was planning for him, he still had a sinking sensation it was going to involve him in some way.

“Lucario…Luca…Car…Rio?”

[Let me help you master?]

Lucy asked came over her tail wagging behind her, she had already begun collecting up the plates he had finished with.

“Thanks, I’d appreciate that”

Jack mused feeling a sudden sense of unease as the sun began to set into the distance, he didn’t understand the reason for it but he really did not wish to be alone when darkness fell. He put it down to not wanting to be attacked by some wild nocturnal pokémon, yet deep down he wasn’t sure that was the real reason he felt a sense of unease.

Shrugging it off he put the dirty pots washing up into the largest of the pots before heading in the general direction of the loch, it only took a handful of minuets to reach the water’s edge. Every now and then his hands would go numb from the sheer icey temperatures of the frigid water, the whole process took longer than normal what with stopping to rub his hands between his thighs just to warm them up. After a while of this he noticed several magikarp feeding on the food residue being washed away, their mouths acting like suction cups to gulp down every bit they could, it gave him an idea.

Holding the put half submerged he let the pokémon clean the pots and plates for him. It kept his hands from dipping into the water and the pokéfish got a free meal out of it, the magikarp seemed to have no qualms about being used as a dish washer so it was a win; win for everyone involved.

Lucy had stood there next to him patiently throughout it all, taking each item as it was cleaned, she could smell other humans and their pokémon close by, she didn’t think too much into it. She was more occupied with watching out for her beloved trainers’ safety as he finished the last plate, the fish pokémon hung around for a few seconds to see if there was any more free food would be up for grabs before swimming off.