FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

"Look, a backpack! This camp's full of goodies."

The voice woke Lucius up, and something told him it wasn't the guild's Waker. It was definitely female, for one. Also, it contained the nasally tones only a nosepass could get away with. Suddenly, Lucius was wide awake. He remembered where he was: the clearing before Basalt Pass. Lucius could see three raiders: a raticate, an ivysaur, and an arcanine that dwarfed them all, Team Storm included. The nosepass must have been behind him, looking through the backpack. Lucius and the rest of the team were ensnared in vine whip, and Lucius could see no way out, unless...

Lucius's thoughts were interrupted by another voice, deeper than the first, in the barking inflections of an arcanine. "Good. Make sure that you grab all of the suppliesz along with the zorua and eevee. They might sell well on the southern slave market." Slavers! That would explain why these guys raided the camp: not for supplies- they looked groomed enough, even the nosepass was glinting in the morning sun- but for slaves. With an Arcanine, and the entire team tied up in vines, there was only one chance. "Wake up, Fern!" Lucius yelled. Everyone was jolted awake but Typhon, Fern puffing fire and burning her vines. "Well, well. Look what we have here," the arcanine said, smirking. "Lookee, boys. It seems one of them is awake and-" on his left side, the ivysaur went down, twitching. A burn was on it's flower and it appeared to be out cold. Fern was glowing blue, making it clear that she was both the one that took it down, and was ready to evolve into Braxian. "Oh, no! Get outta here! She ain't got double damage from rock anymore! We lost our advantage! Get out! Out!" The arcanine was practically helping with terror and ran, leaving the Ivysaur behind. The rest of his team was just as bad, scrambling to follow their leader. "Cowards," Lucius snorted, his voice flooded with unconcealed contempt. "Come on, let's revive this son-of-a-magicarp and set him back on his way to Forest Hall." After breaking camp and interrogating the ivysaur-"I swear, this is my first run! I didn't do anything! They never even showed me their base"- Team Storm set off again, through the treacherous Basalt Pass to Mage Hill. Later on, Lucius caught up to Fern again, ready to tell another story. He was slightly intimidated-Fern was now the tallest one in the group- but was ready to tell Fern another story. The story follows:

Remember, Fern, this is supposed to be a parable. It may not be true, but I st-still see it as h-history. IOnce, a very long time ago, after the Fire of Forest Hall but before now, there was a mystery dungeon called Dragon's Maze. You know about it, I know about it, Fras has even been there, and Fang's egg was laid there. Anyway, there were three dragons- called Truth, Values, and Absence. Now, these aren't their real names, but it's what they represent. A star had just gone supernova in the U constellation and these three were fighting over the region, all three wanting to control The Maze, which spans the entire region, even into the next, which was named Otnak at the time. The Truth scorched the region, Values striking down all that disagreed with it. Absence forever the world. Every Pokemon picked a side, and eventually, it was realized that there would be no winner. Truth and Values were equally powerful and had the same number of followers. Absence was far more powerful but had less followers than the other two. So, it reached a standoff. Eventually, the three retired to three craters in the Maze, but Pokemon are still picking sides. The gods' influence still permeates our minds, even those that don't believe. Just like before, both Lucius and Fern got caught up in the story. When it ended, Lucius looked up at Fern, purple from blushing. "I pick values. What would you pick?"

Fern considered it for a moment. "Probably also values. Like you said, the truth burns. Oh, look, we are here." Sure enough, looming above them was a red and white striped tower, like a lighthouse or the north pole. "You two luvdisc done? We have a mission to complete," Eve teased. Both Fern and Lucius looked away. Then they all went in.

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