FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

There is no calamity greater than lavish desires. __There is no greater guilt than discontentment. _ And there is no greater disaster than greed._

Lao-tzu (604 BC - 531 BC), The Way of Lao-tzu

Anything GOOOes

"Please make sure that all items have been checked out before proceeding. Thank you." A click sounded out through the intercom of the airport. A young male morph flicked his large ears as he made his way out of the crowded building. A quick glance at him would reveal him to be a lynx-morph, short muzzle and everything. He looked to be around his late teens. His bright green eyes stood out from his dark-gray fur, and the stripes across his face gave a very exotic look.

He wore a large, multi-colored poncho around his front, as well as an orange cotton sweater which ended just above his thighs. He wore loose fitting pants, as well as a pair of hiking boots. He had his pack slung over his shoulder, though it didn't seem like it carried much. Oddly enough, he also had what seemed to be a soda can clipped to his belt.

Needless to say, he easily stood out amongst the crowd.

He was very obviously a foreigner, or at the very least, appeared to be. The truth of the matter was; he was really just a traveler who had been to many places.

Wow,_the young feline thought to himself as he stepped out of the airport, _it's been a while since I've been in civilization... He chuckled, shaking his head as he began walking. I suppose I can take a break from the wilderness. I'll definitely miss the wildlife, but I sure won't miss the bugs... He shivered at the thought. He looked up at the sky. Well Yasu, let's see what we can find here.

_ _

***

"Here you go sir," a young female morph said to a man as she handed him his finished dish, "Enjoy." The man nodded as he took his plate, and began chowing down. The female was a softly brown furred canine-morph. Her darker brown hair trailed down to her shoulders.

She stood behind the counter of a wooden food cart, where a man sat on the other side, eating aside a rather portly bear-morph. Her tail was hidden from view behind a floral patterned kimono. A white bandanna was tied around her head to prevent her hair from dipping into her cooking area. Pinned to her kimono was a small name tag, with the name Mai Brownfur printed on it.

"Anything else for you today sir?" Mai asked the man politely, who only shook his head in response. "Okay, just let me know if you need anything." The man nodded, and continued eating. Mai sighed, sitting herself down on her stool. She looked off to the side, and noticed a tall dragon-morph making his way past the cart. Her eyes widened as she recognized the black-scaled reptile.

"Hey Aleis!" she called out, causing the dragon to stop in his tracks. He looked her way, and she waved to him. She then motioned for him to come, and a smirk spread across his muzzle. Mai smiled as he approached the cart, before getting up to meet him.

"Hey Mai," he greeted her, bowing slightly, "how've you been?"

"I've been doing alright," she replied happily, "and you?"

"Fine I guess," he replied, folding his arms across his chest. "So I see your job is food carting this time?"

Mai nodded. "Yup. Hopefully this time around I don't mess up anything like I did with the last two jobs."

Aleis grimaced slightly. "Yeah... How_is_ the mime now anyways?"

"He's better," Mai replied, "I tried calling him, but when he answered all I heard was-" She stopped.

Aleis blinked. "...Was what?"

"Nothing... Mimes, ya know?" The dragon rolled his eyes, chuffing and flicking his tail as he smiled.

"So is this job at least easier than the ones before?"

"Oh yeah," Mai nodded, "The dishes here are pretty easy to make, and I don't usually get too many customers at a time."

Aleis looked towards one of the customers. "Well, I can see that one of them really likes your cooking." Mai turned to look, watching the bear-morph stuff his face with food. She chuckled, and turned back to her friend.

"I suppose that's a good sign then," she replied. "Better than having him run away in fear."

Aleis chuffed. "You really should've checked before serving that egg. No one enjoys food that's that fresh." Mai snickered.

"Hey, that time it wasn't my fault. Besides, the dude got to take the little guy home afterwards." The two of them laughed.

"Anyways," said Aleis, "I'm gonna head home. Take care."

"You too," Mai replied as the dragon walked away. Returning to her spot at the cart, she gave the man his check before he left. She sat back down at her stool as the bear continued to chomp away at his large portion.

Wow...he really is going at it, she thought to herself as she observed the large morph, I know I'm alright at making stuff, but is my cooking really that _good?_Taking another look at the bear, she noticed there where what seemed to be bandages on his neck and arms. What was odd was the fact that they didn't appear to be standard medical bandages. They instead took on a silvery-gray color, and didn't wrap all the way around, appearing as though they were lazily taped over his body.

"Um...sir?" Mai asked hesitantly, "Not that it's any of my business but...are you alright?" The bear didn't respond, only continuing to stuff food in his mouth. "Uhhh...hello?" Again, no response. She shook her head, and left him be. After a minute, all of the food was gone from his plate. He slammed his plate on the table, making Mai jump. The bear looked her in the eyes.

"More food," he growled, making Mai withdraw slightly.

"Um..." she began, "what else would you-"

"FOOD!" he cut her off, slamming his plate on the table again. Mai jumped form her seat, and hastily got to cooking. She could already tell that he wasn't in the mood for waiting, so she prepared a quick dish. Once she was done, she handed it to the hungry male. He snatched the plate from her hand, and stuffed the food into his mouth. He swallows it within a few seconds.

"More food," he continued, "I want more FOOD!"

Mai jumped back, relatively frightened by the strange morph. "Sir, c-can you please calm down? I-I'll make more. I just need more-"

"MORE!" the bear roared out, before lashing out at her, making her yelp and jump further back. The bear reached into the cart, taking raw ingredients from it and stuffing it into his mouth.

This is bad, Mai thought to herself, pulling out her phone, I really should call someone-

Her thoughts were cut off as the stranger suddenly stopped. He gripped the table tightly with his claws as his eyes began to glow brightly. Soon, his entire body glowed as he roared out. When the light faded, what Mai saw put her in a state of shock. The portly bear-morph no longer stood at the cart.

Standing in his place was a monstrosity of a beast. It wore no clothes on its body. A few strands of blue fur stuck out from its hairless body. It vaguely resembled a cat in the way its head was shaped, though in a rather twisted way. The cat head rested against its actual head, which appeared to be shaped much like a human's. What looked like a scarf of cat arms rested on its shoulders, its color matching the rest of the monster's body. Its skin, disgustingly warty and bulgy, was of a light blue color, and its fat, round stomach took on a more white color. Its paws were bright yellow, matching the color of its face. Extending from the knuckles of those paws were short, thin claws, which were complimented by extra claws extending from the fingers of its paws.

"More...MORE," it growled out, moving behind the cart and grabbing up more food. Mai could only watch as it ate out of her cart, finding herself unable to move as the people around her fled from the area.

***

Yasu's stomach growled as he walked along the sidewalk. That's right; I haven't eaten since the plane ride. He had been walking around for quite a while, simply sightseeing. He put a finger to his muzzle as he looked around. Unable to find any restaurants, he tapped the shoulder of a random passerby. "Excuse me, sorry to bother you, but do you know any place I can eat around here?"

"I think I saw a food cart somewhere over there," the stranger pointed off to the distance, "Just follow your nose and you should find it in no time."

"Thank you," Yasu nodded in thanks as the stranger went on with her business. He looked to where she had pointed. Just follow my nose huh? Okay, shouldn't be too hard.

***

Mai continued to stare at the fat cat, unable to believe what she had just witnessed. Did that guy just...what is...I can't even... She shook her head, closing her eyes and willing the horrific sight away. When her eyes opened, nothing had changed. The monster continued to eat away. It was real.

Suddenly, it stopped eating. It began to sniff around, looking into the cart's contents. It growled, before slashing at it with its paw, destroying it. It stood up and turned to Mai. Her heart skipped a beat as it approached her.

"More," it demanded, "I want MORE."

Mai scrambled to her feet as it stalked towards her. "I-I don't have anymore!"

"Food," it went on, "I want more FOOD!"

"S-stay back!" she shouted at it, "I-I'm warning you!" It roared out angrily at her, and took a step forward. That was all the encouragement she needed to get her running. She quickly broke into a run in the opposite direction, refusing to look back as the horrific cat thing gave chase.

She turned corner after corner, trying her best to lose the thing. But as fate would have it, she could not, as she heard constant screams sound out behind her. She could hear the pounding of the monster's feet, its heavy breathing, and its angry growls.

No, no, no, please no, she thought to herself, this CAN'T be happening. She turned another corner, only to slam into someone and making them both fall to the floor with a hard thud. They groaned as they recollected themselves.

"Urrghhh," said the stranger, "that hurt..." Mai sat up, clutching her head. "Are you alright?" the stranger asked her. She looked up, seeing a young male lynx looking her way.

"Yeah I'm fine," she replied, before abruptly getting up, "B-but there's no time for that!" She hastily pulled the feline up to his feet, and began pushing him as she got back to running. "We need to get out of here NOW."

"W-wait a sec," the lynx protested, "Why? What's going on?"

"NO TIME TO EXPLAIN," she snapped, "just keep running!" Deciding to comply, the lynx-morph ran beside her.

"Are you being chased?" he asked frantically as they ran.

"YES," she replied, "and you WON'T believe by what!" They heard a roar behind them, and they turned to look. Looking behind them, they saw the fat cat monster running after them.

"HOLY SHIT, FUCKING RUN!" Mai shouted out, running for her life as she dragged the lynx behind her. For a moment, he didn't say anything, before speaking up.

"You run," he began, "I'll grab its attention while you make a break for it!"

"WHAT?!" Mai exclaimed, "Are you CRAZY?! What the hell are you going to do against something like THAT?!"

"Don't worry about me, just GO!" the lynx shouted, shoving her forward as he slid to a stop. Mai turned to look as she continued running, watching the stranger turn towards the large beast.

"Hey!" he shouted at the thing, "over here!" The monster growled, locking its eyes on him as it continued to run at him. Making sure that its sights were locked onto him, he dashed off to another direction, leading it away from Mai. The canine slid to a stop as she watched him run off.

Crazy son of a bitch is gonna get himself killed! she thought to herself, The hell is he thinking? She hesitated for a moment. She was glad that she was safe, but she couldn't ignore the fact that he had put himself in danger. Groaning to herself, she dashed towards where they had run, hoping she wasn't making a grave mistake.

***

Yasu slid to a stop as they made it to a clearing; a public park. He turned to see that the monster had stopped as well, and was slowly stalking towards him. He quickly glanced around the area, confirming that he was alone.

Good, I don't have to worry then. At that, he pulled the soda can from his belt, and pulled the tab up. Instead of it opening and hearing the hiss of the contents inside, the entire can began to shift and change, transforming into a mini hawk droid. He tossed it upwards, and it shot towards the monster, swooping down on it and making it stop in its tracks. Alright, time to get down to business. Now given extra time, Yasu un-slung his bag from his shoulder, and opened it up.

Unbeknownst to him, Mai caught up with them, watching them from afar. What...what is he doing? she thought to herself, hiding herself behind a tree.

Yasu pulled out a plastic folder and tossed aside to the ground next to him. He then pulled out a strange object. It was mainly black, with blue stripes running through it in an intricate design. There were three slots on top of it, with three windows corresponding with each of them at the front. It was no bigger than a standard stapler, and about as thick as a phone. He reached down for the folder and opened it up, pulling out three differently colored medals, one red, with the design of a hawk, one yellow, with the design of a tiger, and one green, with the design of a grasshopper.

Holding the medals in one hand, and the strange object in the other, he stood straight once more, looking at the fat beast. Holding the object in his right, he placed it on his midsection. As soon as it came into contact with his body, a silver belt suddenly formed around his waist, a strange circular object strapped to his right, and what seemed to be a cylinder case at his left.

He then took the medals in both hands, and slotted them into the front of the newly formed belt, with the red on his right, the yellow at the middle, and the green at his left. He then grabbed up the circular object from his right and, using his left paw, clicked the front of the belt into a slanted position.

He whistled out, causing the mechanical hawk to fly back towards him. It swept down and picked up Yasu's folder. "I didn't think I'd run into another Yummy so soon," said Yasu, "But I guess that's luck for me. Oh well..." Raising his right arm up and crossing his left arm across his chest, he swept the circular object across his belt, causing three tones to chime out. "HENSHIN!!!"

Suddenly, a barrier of medals formed around the lynx-morph, each having a different animal design at the front. They circled around him as they positioned over him.

~O~ Taka! ToRA! BattA! ~O~

~O~ Ta-To-Ba, TaToBa TA-TO-Ba! ~O~

The medals closed in on him, before fading away as his body began to change. Once they were gone, Yasu was no longer in the clothes he wore before. Instead, his entire body was covered in a sleek black suit. His torso was covered in chest armor. The front of it held a strange, circular insignia, with a red hawk design on the top, a yellow tiger design in the middle, and a green grasshopper design at the bottom. The rest of his outfit was designed in a similar way.

His helmet he now wore was in the shape of a hawk spreading its wings. Though primarily black, the hawk itself was completely red, which caused the bright green eyes of the helmet to stand out very well. His arms and shoulder-pads had yellow stripes running through them. His forearms were encased in yellow gauntlets, with sharp curved braces running up the sides. Stripes continued down the middle of his thighs, though green in color, and stopped at his knees, which were covered with oddly designed kneecaps. An insectoid design continued down his shins, all the way down his boots, finishing the look.

"Wh...what?" Mai said to herself, "is...is...wh-WHAT?!"

Yasu quickly took a battle stance, crouching slightly and holding his arms out much like a tiger would when stalking its prey, his left out in front of him, and his right close to his chest.

The monster roared out before charging at the newly armored lynx-morph. Once it was close enough, Yasu jumped up and kicked it, causing large silver medals to go flying out from its head. Landing on his feet, Yasu thrust his arms out to the side. Suddenly, a light flashed from the tiger insignia. It trailed down the stripes of his arms, before stopping at the braces. Once they stopped, the braces flipped out over his hands, forming three long claws on each arm.

"Hah!" Yasu cried out as he slashed out at the beast, only for it to evade and step back. Yasu ran forward, closing in on it before slashing out again. However, instead of slicing through its skin, Yasu's claws simply bounced off of the monster's belly, making him stumble backwards.

"What the?" Yasu said, confused. Avoiding a swipe at his head, he lunged forward and tried again. Again, his claw bounced off of the fat cat's body harmlessly and caused him to stumble. Regaining balance, he parried a swipe to his head before twirling around and swiping hard at the monster's shoulder. His arm bounced back with as much force as he had put into his swing, making Yasu trip and fall in front of the beast. He growled as he quickly scrambled to his feet. "Graahh, FINE! How 'bout this then?!" Turning on his heels, Yasu delivered a firm roundhouse kick with his left, making the beast fly backwards as it was hit full force, sending more silver medals flying from it.

Yasu stood straight again, taking a battle stance. "That's the result I was looking for." The cat thing growled and got back up, charging at him. Yasu jumped up and kicked its head again, making it stumble back. More silver medals were sent flying as Yasu continued to jump-kick the large beast. Once he landed, the monster roared out and swiped at him. He jumped high up in the air, avoiding the swipe and landing behind it.

Not giving it a chance to retaliate, Yasu delivered a firm front kick to its back, causing it to fly forward and fall flat on its face.

"Now to switch tactics," Yasu said to himself, before looking towards the mechanical hawk, "Hey! Toss me Gorilla!" The hawk maneuvered around, picking a silver medal out of the folder and swooping down towards Yasu, tossing him the medal. He easily caught it, and swapped it with the tiger medal in his belt. Taking the circular device from his belt again, Yasu swept it across the three medals, creating the medal barrier around him.

~O~ Taka! GOrilla! BattA! ~O~

Once again, the medals closed in on him before fading away. Now, taking the place of the tiger design was a silver gorilla design. His shoulder-pads and gauntlets had changes as well, becoming much thicker and larger. Yasu beat his chest, and approached the monster. Once it was up, Yasu delivered a firm punch to its torso, delivering even more force and causing even more medals to fly from the monster's body.

Yasu kept pace with the monster as it stumbled back with every punch, making sure to deliver one after another without fail. Drawing his left arm back, Yasu swung hard at the monster's body. It staggered where it stood as medals flew out of it. However, as its body returned to its normal shape, Yasu spotted something. Buried beneath the girthy beast seemed to be a bear-morph, who appeared knocked out.

I see, so it's that _kind of Yummy then,_Yasu thought to himself. However, seeing that he was distracted, the monster lashed out at him, impacting him in the torso and sending him flying back. He hit the floor with a hard thud, landing on his back.

"Ow..." he groaned as he got back up. As he did, the monster opened its mouth. Energy began to gather inside, before it launched a blast at Yasu. He quickly jumped out of the way, having difficulty due to the added weight of his new gauntlets. "Alright, another switch." He looked towards his hawk. "Give me Cheetah this time!" Following orders, the mechanized hawk tossed another yellow medal to Yasu. Catching it, he swapped it out for the grasshopper medal. Grabbing up the circular device again, he swept it across the belt.

~O~ Taka! GOrilla! CHEE-TAH! ~O~

The medal barrier closed in on him again, and revealed another change. This time, the grasshopper insignia was replaced by a cheetah's, and his legs became more padded and primarily yellow, with the crevices on the pads giving a spotted appearance, much like a cheetah's. He leaned back slightly, before dashing forward with incredible speed. The fat cat monster continued to launch blasts at Yasu, but he was just too fast for it. Running in a zigzag pattern, Yasu charged at it before delivering a powerful punch to its gut, sending it flying back several meters.

"Alright," said Yasu, "now let's get you out of there." He reached for the cylinder case at his side, and opened it up. He drew out the tiger medal he had swapped out, and switched it back in. He grabbed up the circular scanner, and swept it across the belt.

~O~ Taka! ToRA! CHEE-TAH! ~O~

After the medal barrier closed in on him and faded away, his gauntlets returned to its smaller state, with the tiger insignia returning on his chest plate. Charging forward at the same incredible speed, Yasu jumped up on the monster, gripping its shoulders as he began to rapidly kick at its stomach, his legs nothing but a yellow blur.

"HaaaAAAHHH!" Yasu cried out as he pushed his limits, every kick causing medals to fly from the fat cat's stomach as it began to melt away into a void of silver medals. Within the void, he saw the bear morph floating within. "HAH!" Again, Yasu cried out, reaching in with his arm and grabbing onto the morph's shoulder. With as much strength as he could muster, Yasu pulled the bear out of the void, and back out of the monster's body. He kicked the monster away from him as he landed next to the unconscious morph.

He panted heavily as he caught his breath. He moved over to the morph's side, checking to make sure he was truly unconscious. "...Okay good, he's alright." Heaving him up, Yasu dashed away from the monster, laying him near where Mai was hiding, before dashing back towards the beast. From behind the tree, Mai stared down at the unconscious morph, still having trouble coping with what she had just seen.

"Now that I've gotten that out of the way," he thrust his arms out, causing the light to trail down his arms and drawing his claws once more, "these should start working now. RrAH!" Yasu dashed forward, slashing at the monster's stomach with his left. Instead of bouncing off like before, the claws sliced clean through the beast, drawing out more medals from its body.

Satisfied with this, Yasu began dashing around, slashing at the beast from every direction. Every time it tried to swipe at him, Yasu was already coming from another side. Every time it turned, Yasu was on the other side.

"HAH!" Delivering one final slash, the monster stumbled back and fell onto its back. "Now to finish this." Yasu reached into the cylinder case at his left, and picked out the grasshopper medal. He swapped it back in, and swiped his scanner across.

*~O~ Taka! ToRA! BattA! ~O~ *

~O~ Ta-To-Ba, TaToBa TA-TO-Ba! ~O~

The barrier faded, and his legs were back to the insectoid design. He crossed his left arm across his chest, and swiped the scanner over the belt again.

~O~ SCANNING CHARGE!!! ~O~

A light traveled down Yasu's legs, before they began to change shape, becoming even more insectoid and 'z' legged. "HAH!" With his new legs, he jumped impossibly high up into the air as three large rings formed, leading down to the monster.

"SEIYA!!!" Yasu cried out as he suddenly shot forward, the image of hawk wings spreading from his helmet as he flew through the rings. He landed down on the fat cat, impacting it with astounding force. Unable to withstand it, the monster exploded into medals, flying everywhere and scattering across the floor. Yasu landed nearby, his legs having returned to normal. Standing up, he turned around, looking at the pile of medals.

"Phew," he sighed, "glad that's over with." Reaching down, Yasu clicked the belt back into a straight position. Taking his hand away, his suit suddenly lost color before fading away in a bright flash, returning him back to his normal clothes. He let out another sigh, putting his paws on his hips and flicking his ears. "Well...guess I should get to cleaning then." He glanced back to the bear-morph. "But first..."

He turned back to the unconscious morph, making Mai withdraw back behind the tree. Walking back to him, Yasu knelt down beside him. He inspected his head and neck; no bandages of which to speak of. Nodding in satisfaction, Yasu paused. He smelled a familiar scent nearby.

Uh oh, Mai thought to herself, doing her best to keep quiet. Tilting his head, Yasu stood back up, and approached the tree. He took another sniff, and furrowed a brow. Looking around the tree and past the bushes, he was met with the sight of Mai, knelt down behind the tree.

She bit her lip, and waved awkwardly. "Uh...hey..."

Yasu blinked, returning the wave. "H...hey..." Mai looked off to the side, avoiding eye contact. "What...what are you doing here?"

Mai didn't reply for a moment, her ears flattening against her skull. "I...I was worried." She looked back at him, standing up from her hiding spot. "You were going out there alone against that thing. I wanted to see if you were going to be alright, or if you were going to get yourself killed." She looked off to the side again. "But...it seems like you had that covered..."

"Yeah..." Yasu replied, scratching the back of his head, "I didn't...realize someone was watching..." Mai looked back to him.

"You know," Mai went on, "I'm not leaving here without a thorough explanation."

Yasu smirked slightly. "Yeah...figured as much. Alright, you deserve that much at least." Moving out of the way, Yasu allowed her to move out from the bushes. The two of them sat down near the morph as Yasu inspected him, checking for any injuries.

Out in the distance, another hidden observer stood amongst the trees. This one was a tiger-morph, and a male at that. Rather than having the normal orange fur color, his fur was completely white. He wore a black hooded jacket, with fur sprouting from inside it. The underside of the jacket had a leopard pattern. He didn't wear anything else too fancy, only having a yellow shirt and simple jeans.

The white furred morph growled as he watched Yasu from afar, glaring at him with his amber yellow eyes. "Damn you, following me all the way out here..." Flicking his striped tail in irritation, the feline moved away from the park, and away from sight.

***

When the bear morph finally woke up, he showed no signs of remembering anything that had happened. After speaking a bit with Yasu and Mai, the large morph made his way back home. Once he was gone, Yasu proceeded to pick up all of the silver medals that had fallen from the monster.

It took a while.

By the time all of them were picked up, Yasu's pack was filled to the brim with the things, even overflowing with them.

"So...now can you explain to me what that was?" Mai asked him as he sat down and clutched his back.

"Fine, I've kept you waiting long enough." He stretched his back before settling down. "What should I start with?"

"Well, you can start by telling me what the fuck that...thing was."

Yasu's large ears flattened against his skull. "Come on, language."

"Sorry," Mai apologized, "I'm just...really weirded out right now." She gestured a lot with her hands, driving in the point. "So what was that thing?"

Yasu let out a sigh, tilting his head slightly. "Where to start..." He flicked his ear. "Okay. That thing that attacked you is what's called a Yummy."

"A...Yummy?" said Mai, "Is it because it likes a lot of food or something?"

Yasu shook his head. "I honestly don't know why they're called that, but that's just what they're called." Mai shrugged, and gestured for him to go on. "A Yummy is formed through someone's desires."

"So..." Mai thought for a moment, "the desire for that guy was...food?"

Yasu shrugged. "I wasn't there to see what was going on before hand, so I wouldn't know."

Mai nodded. "Yeah, it was definitely food. The guy was chomping away at a bunch of food. He wouldn't even stop to talk to me." She suddenly had the feeling she was forgetting something, but couldn't remember what.

"I see," Yasu replied, "No wonder the thing was so...ahem...chunky..." Mai snickered.

"So, do they just form whenever someone really wants something?"

"Kind of," Yasu replied, picking a silver medal from his bag. He held it up to Mai. "Someone has to be implanted with one of these first." Mai took the medal from him, and inspected it. It had a strange design, having the image of a lion head at the front. "Once that happens, the victim's desire gets spiked up ten fold, and causes them to go after whatever it is they want, making them think only of that."

Mai quickly handed him back the medal, scooting away from him slightly. Yasu chuckled. "Don't worry; it can't just go in like that. The only ones who can implant them are these people called Greed."

"Greed?" Mai said, tilting her head.

"They're like the Yummies, but with a good amount of differences." He put a paw to his chin, furrowing a brow as he tried to remember something. "Ahh...what was the analogy I came up with to explain..." He tapped his short snout rhythmically. "Oh! Got it." He showed her the silver medal again. "You saw how these fell out of the Yummy when I was fighting it, right?" Mai nodded. "That's because the Yummies are made of these."

"They're made out of what it takes to create one?" Mai asked curiously. Yasu nodded.

"It's sort of like planting a seed," he went on, "then, after a bit of nourishment, the seed begins to grow. Then, once it has grown to a full on plant, it can start producing fruit that bears more seeds. The medals do the same. They get planted, get nourished by desire, and grow to produce more medals."

Mai nodded in understanding. "Okay...so what does that have to do with Greeds?"

Yasu dropped the medal back into his bag, only for it to fall out of the bag and clatter onto the floor. The lynx-morph clicked his tongue, ignoring it for now. "Well, Greeds are also made of those medals. However, their 'seed' is different." He picked his folder from off the ground, and pulled out one of the colored medals. "A Greed is formed using these; Core medals." He handed it to Mai.

"These were formed from the pure power of desire. If you mixed the right one with enough of those Cell medals, what comes out of it is a Greed." Once she was done inspecting it, she handed the medal back to Yasu. "While Yummies only focus on pleasing desires, Greeds can focus on whatever they want, though their usual goal is to produce more Cell medals."

"Why is that?" Mai asked.

"Greeds survive off of Cell medals," Yasu answered, "They can't live without them. It's what keeps their bodies together. Without a consistent supply, they can fade away and die." He placed the Core medal back into his folder. "That's why they produce Yummies in the first place. They give up one Cell medal so that they can produce their 'food,' consuming the medals produced from a Yummy."

Mai nodded, taking all of this info in. "Wow...that's terrible though. Especially since it means causing people to go through what that guy went through."

Yasu let out a sigh. "Yeah, but I can't really blame them."

"What?" Mai said in a surprised manner, "But why? That's terrible what they're making people do."

"Yeah," Yasu replied, "but at the same time, they're only trying to survive." He looked off towards the trees. "All they want is to be able to have a life, but the only way they know how to do it is by creating Cell medals." He flicked his ears briefly. "I've only ever run into four, and all of them seemed pretty desperate to me." He sat back slightly. "I don't think they intentionally want to hurt people either... They just want to be able to get by in life."

Mai looked off to the side. Get by in life...huh? She sighed to herself. She realized how similar their situation was to hers and Aleis'. The two of them were struggling to make payments and catch up with their bills. Both of them were taking multiple jobs at a time in an effort to produce money, their Cell medals.

"You know," Mai spoke up, "when you put it that way, it kind of reminds me of what my friend and I are going through right now." Yasu turned to her direction. "Both of us are barely making ends meat. For me, I've been shuffling through a bunch of random jobs. In fact, the one I have now is one I only took recently. My boss had me take one of his food carts and..." She trailed off, furrowing her brow as she began to remember something. ".........SHIT!"

Yasu jumped in his spot as she exclaimed. "What, what's wrong?"

The canine buried her face in her paws. "Uuuuuuuuurrghhhhhhhhhhh, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit." She let her hands drop to her sides, and stared up at the sky. "My boss' cart got destroyed by that Yummy thing..."

Yasu's jaw fell open as he realized what she meant. "Oh......dang...that...that's...wow..."

"Yeah..." Mai groaned, "I am so fired..."

"But...it's not exactly your fault. You could try and explain what happened to-" Mai shot him a dirty look. "......Right..." She stuffed her face into her paws again, groaning loudly.

"The cost of all of those ingredients, and I don't even know how much the cart'll cost me..." She opened her eyes. "Shoot, and the cash register is still there too." She reached into her pocket, letting out a sigh of relief as she felt the key there. She stood back up. "I gotta go back and make sure no one jacked it from there."

"I'll go with you," Yasu said as he got up, picking his folder off of the ground. Mai didn't really feel like sending him off, so she simply allowed him to tag along.

"You're really just gonna leave those there though?" she asked him, pointing towards the sack of Cell medals.

"You're right," said Yasu, looking at it as well, "I'll just hide it for now. They're just way too heavy for me to carry." At that, he pulled out his "soda can" from his belt, and opened it, causing it to transform into the hawk droid. It flew around him a bit. "Stay here and guard these Cell medals," he instructed it, moving the sac behind the tree where Mai had been hiding. The mini hawk glided over to a branch, and stood guard. Nodding to Mai, Yasu followed her as she led the way back.

***

"Okay, good, still here..." Mai said to herself, kneeling down and picking up the metal box from beneath the rubble of what used to be her cart, "it was too hidden for anyone to see. At least I can say that I have one good thing going for me today..." She slumped down on the floor. "Still though..." She kicked at some of the wood of the rubble.

Yasu scratched the back of his head. "Is it...really that expensive?"

"For me..." she replied, not bothering to look up at him.

Yasu scratched his head again. "Like...how much?"

Mai didn't reply for a moment. "About...like...$115 or something?" Yasu quickly reached into his pocket, and pulled out his wallet.

Pulling out a few bills, he knelt over and placed them on her lap. "Here, it's not much, but I hope it helps." Mai stared down at the bills for a moment, stunned at the lynx's actions. True, $30 wasn't much, but it certainly helped.

Taking the bills, she looked up at him and smiled. "Thank you so much. But...why do this? I mean, we barely even know each other."

Yasu took a seat next to her, looking up at the sky. "It's really hard for me to ignore someone in need." He flicked his ears slightly as he went on. "I got bullied a lot as a kid, so I know what bad times are like. So when I see that someone's in trouble, I can't help but do what others didn't do during my times of need."

Mai smiled. "Fitting for a superhero."

Yasu blinked, turning to her. "A wha...oh," he laughed, "yeah...I suppose you're right." He let out a sigh, flicking his ears once more. He turned to her. "So...will you be alright?"

Mai hesitated a bit before nodding. "Yeah. I'll...I'll be alright. I still have a few...extra jobs..." She turned away from him. "Just...yeah I'll be fine."

Yasu's ears flattened against his skull. "Well...if you say so..." Hesitantly, the lynx-morph stood from his spot. Mai looked up at him as he did so.

"Are you leaving?"

"Yeah..." he replied, "I stopped that Yummy, but that Greed is still out there. I need to find it before it can harm anyone else."

"Oh," said Mai, looking back down at her lap, "Um...okay. Well...be safe then."

"Thanks...I will..." Yasu scratched the back of his head again, taking a step away from the canine. "Um...so I'll...see ya around then?" Mai nodded, her ears splayed down. "Alright...well...bye..." He started for the other direction, looking at her over his shoulder. He stopped walking, patting his knee with his paw in a rhythmic pattern. He shook his head, and made his way back to her. "Hey, Mai?"

She looked up at him. "So uh...listen. I'm not gonna be leaving this city for a little while. I mean, that Greed could still be here after all. So..." He scratched the back of his neck. "I mean, if you want, you could...show me around a bit? And I could try and help you find a job in return?"

Mai smiled. "Yeah...I think I can do that."

~OOO~