FSE

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Chapter 8

A couple weeks had passed by since their little band of outcasts had formed. To this point their travels had been pleasant and nothing bad had come about to stop them. They were even slowly beginning to form some trust for each other, a relief for Mei-Xiu and Tai-Xun to see. Kishiko had even taken to helping train the two, particularly Vlad, in how to improve his combat skills. He was a little humbled by it at first, having a Dewott teaching him how to fight better, but he began to accept it from seeing how skilled she could be. He'd still had trouble trying to beat her in their occasional sparring matches, so it was proof enough she knew what she was doing.

Meanwhile Locke had been enjoying the company of the Mien Siblings, getting to discuss things that weren't related to war and not having to worry about fighting all the time either. It seemed like a good fit for the group to have met like this, as all was going smoothly now. He had taught them some things in exchange for what they could give him, sharing their experiences of the world so far.

For the most part, everything had been slow and steady, with no major distractions or problems coming about to interrupt. But as the case typically was, that wasn't bound to last. The group had been out travelling again and decided to make a stop, as they usually did. They settled down in a good shady spot, away from the main path near the river.

"Alright, this place looks nice. Let's hang around here for a little while," Mei-Xiu suggested. The others nodded in agreement and settled down.

"How about we go get some food then?" Locke asked.

"Yeah, good idea, it has been a while since we had some food," Tai-Xun replied with a smile. But Kishiko instead sat down on the ground, crossing her legs.

"You can all go on ahead then. I shall stay here to catch up on my meditation. This place will be perfect while you are away."

"Alright, girl. Just watch yourself, we don't want anything to happen to you," the Mienfoo said as she turned to go with the others, leaving the strong-willed Dewott by herself shortly after.

Kishiko took a deep breath and closed her eyes, letting her mind wander and relax, listening to the peaceful sounds of the river flowing nearby once the group had moved on enough to be out of earshot. She always enjoyed these times to herself to just settle back and let her mind relax, nothing to bother her or distract her attention.

A short time later, her ears twitched as she heard some rustling behind her. This wasn't uncommon at all, so she paid it no mind, figuring it were just a passing Pokémon like usual. But then there was a different sound, like something falling from the trees. It sounded heavier than anything she would expect, like a berry or nuts, though it did remind her of more of a smaller creature with that soft landing. Whatever it was, she wasn't about to let it distract her any longer than it had already, this was her chance to relax and clear her mind.

"Well now, aren't you more focused than ever?"

A feminine voice spoke from behind her, causing her ears to twitch again, getting disgruntled that someone was trying to interrupt her meditation. But there was one problem... who was that? It wasn't Mei-Xiu talking to her, and she didn't believe anyone else knew they were out here. Suddenly her train of thought was disrupted as she felt a firm kick in her lower back from the intruder, noticing in that moment their skin felt smooth and scaly.

"Don't think you can ignore me, little Kishiko, I know it's you..." the voice remarked.

Kishiko growled a little as she opened her eyes, now getting irritated by whoever this was. And how did they know her name? She stood quickly and turned to face the stranger, to see for herself who was daring to taunt her. "Who do you think you are disrupting my meditation? And who are you?"

"Heh, you would like to know that, wouldn't you?" the Servine teased with a coy grin. "But if you truly must know, the name is Lin. You'll learn to remember and fear it one day."

"Hmph, there is no chance of that, _Lin._I do not fear anyone," Kishiko defiantly defended. Despite her tone, she kept a very serious look about her, only changing slightly to a scowl as she eyed the cocky Servine, observing her close. Just who was this and why did she seem familiar already?

"We'll just see about that..." Lin smirked again, flicking her forked reptile tongue in the otter's direction. "Perhaps when I have you begging for mercy on the ground as I take my sweet time torturing you for fun even..."

Kishiko growled, disgusted already by such talk. "You dare wish to threaten me? I will not stand for such behavior!" She reached for her shells, but suddenly, two quick vines shot out from the Servine's crest and grabbed hold of her wrists, stopping her in her tracks. "Wh-what the? Unhand me at once!"

"Ah ah, silly girl..." Lin teased, tugging back on her wrists as she struggled. "You aren't ready to fight me yet... and besides, what would you tell those cute little friends of yours when they come back to see you lying bloody on the ground with nobody around? I wouldn't be stupid enough to stick around to see their faces, as much as I would love to..." She gave a devious chuckle as she thought of the image in her head, causing more anger to flow into the Dewott.

"You are truly a sick creature... besides, I would not allow for such a fate to befall me! I am a great warrior, and I would easily defeat you in battle!"

"My, aren't we confident?" Lin flicked her tongue again as she used Glare, paralyzing Kishiko in place as she moved closer. "Tell me then, little Kishiko... how are you going to attack me right now?" As she stood within arm's reach, she retracted her vines, standing confidently as she left herself open to attack.

Kishiko growled and tried to lift her arm to punch, only to find she couldn't move, like her body was frozen solid. "Gah... what sorcery is this? I cannot move!"

"Tsk tsk, Kishiko... trying to fight an unknown enemy like this, that's an easy way to get killed. I would expect better from you." She smirked and punches the Dewott square in the nose, knocking her to the ground with a hard thud. "Now then... as much as I would love to play with you, I should really be on my way again..."

Kishiko groaned in pain as she laid on the ground, waiting for feeling to be restored to her body so she could get up. She kept a close eye on the devious Servine, in case she tried any other tricks. "You are truly vile, demon!"

Lin just smirked, placing her foot on Kishiko's chest to step down, leaning over to watch her cough and struggle under the pressure of it. "Hmm... how about you tell me something? How might your father be doing? Does he know you're out so late?"

She struggled and coughed as she felt the scaly foot pushed against her, but it didn't prevent her from giving an angry scowl at the remark. "Wh-what are you getting at? Why would you know anything about him?" she tried to shout between gasping breaths.

"Heh..." Lin lifted her foot again, letting her breathe normally. "You wish to know the truth about what happened to him, don't you? To know how I already know all about you? I can see it in your eyes..." She chuckled deviously as her tongue flicked again.

"Ngh... indeed, I do wish to know..." Kishiko coughed, looking on at her.

"Well, isn't that too bad..." the Servine said with a grin, turning around to prepare to leave. "You'll have to figure that one out for yourself. I would hate to spoil my fun so soon... after all, the fun has only just begun..." She let out another cackling laugh as she quickly ran off into the forest, disappearing amongst the trees with her green body blending in easily.

Kishiko growled in frustration, pounding the ground with her fist as the paralysis wore off, disappointed that she allowed the strange Servine to escape so easily without much of a fight, and without even getting any answers. Just what exactly was going on? What did she know about Kazuo? It wasn't beyond doubt to know of him, he was a war hero to the Ott Clan, and thus a villain to the Serpents. But it sounded like she knew more than that. It also was peculiar how that Servine found her so easily and acted like she knew a lot already. Was it possible she'd been spying on them this whole time?

"Ugh... I must meditate to clear my head of these thoughts... I shall confront those other Servines about what they know of this Lin when they return..." she grumbled to herself in anguish. The disgruntled Dewott pulled herself back to her original position, glancing around to ensure nobody was around this time to distract her again, and resumed her meditation like before, hoping to quickly relieve her mind of the stressful encounter she'd just been through.

Things returned to normal for a while, before Kishiko heard some more familiar rumblings of footsteps and chatter approaching. At least this time she knew it was friendly and not just that Servine again. "Hey girl, we're back now," a female voice called out. Kishiko gathered herself from the meditation and looked over to see her friends again, mentally happy to see them again.

"Ah, good, it is welcome to see you all again." She tried to sound sturdy like her usual self, but her mind was still buzzing over what happened previously. The meditation had mostly worked to calm her down, even if it didn't remove the incident from her thoughts.

"Well, that's quite different. You're actually excited to see us?" Tai-Xun joked. He walked over towards their makeshift campsite to set down what he'd found while scavenging.

"I suppose you can say that..." she replied, looking back to the river again.

"Is there a problem? Did something happen?" Locke asked with a concerned tone. Even in the short time they'd been together, he had never seen her act quite like this. Mei-Xiu took the time to move over closer and sit down by her friend and looked to her.

"You want to tell me at least about it?"

"If you insist, it may be important to bring this up..." Kishiko sighed. "I was ambushed while I was here meditating."

"What?" Mei-Xiu gasped, surprised to hear something like that could happen. "By who? Did you get a good look?"

"It was a Servine like them... called herself Lin. She acted as if she knows who I am, but I do not know her."

Mei-Xiu looked puzzled as well, before looking over to their own Servine friends. "You two wouldn't know anything about this, would you?"

Locke was taken aback by the suggestion. "Wh-what? Are you trying to accuse us of sending someone to attack you guys?" Vlad hissed as he crossed his arms, not happy about it either.

"Not at all, I'm just wondering if maybe you guys know who she is or if you've seen her before."

The two relaxed a little, before Vlad spoke up with a sigh. "No, we don't know her. Just because we're all the same species doesn't necessarily mean we're all from the same place either. Though our clan was pretty big, so it's always possible, I guess..."

"Well, that does not help much. She only said she knew my father and something about the truth regarding him, but would not explain herself..." Kishiko grumbled with frustration, recounting the event in her head, trying to think if she missed any important details. But unfortunately, it seemed this Lin girl was thorough in being obscure about things, as nothing stuck out. "I cannot think of anything else she said that helps either... I only know what she looks like."

Mei-Xiu patted her on the back for comfort. "It's alright, girl. Next time she comes, we'll be here to help. It's not like she's some kind of spy, right?" She chuckled a little, thinking of it as a joke. But Locke perked his head up at the mention, getting curious now.

"Hmm... actually, what if she is? It'd explain how she found us out here... or why she picked to appear when none of us were around," he suggested.

"And if she were coming after us, I doubt she'd pick on Kishiko, too," Vlad added in. "So I can't imagine she's concerned with me or Locke."

"Yeah, you make a good point. Do you think she's connected to your clan at all?" Tai-Xun commented, having been listening to their discussion as he finished preparing everything.

"Well... it's possible... I mean, if it's true she's a spy, there's no way we'd know about it," the smaller Servine replied. "We were just regular foot soldiers within the clan. It's not like we'd know anything about the ranks of others if they weren't in our squad or giving us orders. But she must have some reason to have interest in you, too."

"Hm... I suppose so..." Kishiko responded before shrugging her shoulders. "I shall not let her bother me. But if I see her again, I will show no mercy in beating her."

"Well, no matter what, we've got your back. We won't let her do this again without having to go through us," Mei-Xiu tried to comfort her. "If nothing else, we'll keep you sharp to handle her if she does come back." Kishiko let the thought sink in before she nodded in agreement. It was a nice reminder to know she had people she could trust, ones who would never betray her or look to hurt her. It was something she never knew she was lacking or wanted before.

"I appreciate having you all here then. Now let us rest for the night and move on from this trouble. It has taken up more than enough of our time." The others agreed, and settled down with the supplies gathered.

Even though none spoke of it, they still wondered about this Lin to themselves. Just what was she doing spying on them? And why would she only come for Kishiko anyway? It made sense she would have no interest in the Miens because they weren't involved in the war, but it still seemed strange. Especially if she were from the Serpent Clan and knew about the two deserters; wouldn't they interest her at all? Their questions would not be answered, of course. But it certainly appeared like if Lin was trying to send a message, it worked. Now they could only wait and see when, or if, she'd be back to bother them again or what she might do next time. In the meantime, they settled back and enjoyed their night, taking it easy and relaxing for a bit.