FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

BASEMENT

"So how are we going to open this?" I asked the others as we faced the basement door on the end of the hallway. It's a white double door with two small windows on it. One could accidentally think that it's an exit if it weren't for the sign that reads 'basement' on top of it.

"We can always pick the lock," Alex suggested.

"Good idea, but who can do it?"

"Mei can."

"She's in class, remember?"

"Hmm..."

The two of us turned our heads towards the only adult in our current group. He turned his head towards us and gave a small sigh.

"Alright, stand clear," John said as he approached the twin doors. He placed his left hand on the keyhole and his right on the handle. The door suddenly clicked, indicating that the lock had been opened. John pulled down the handle bar and swung the door open.

"Nice work," I complement him.

"Thanks. I guess that all those stealth missions really come in handy," John said as he descended the cement staircase.

"Stealth missions?" Alex asked as we followed him.

"I've been in several kinds of situations that needed me to be stealthy and entered the target building without being noticed."

"What were you doing back then?"

"Mostly data gathering or rescue missions."

As we continue downwards, the light became darker and darker by the step. Soon, we've reached the final step in total darkness. We can't see our hands even if they were a few inches away from our faces. The windows did no help either.

"This basement is really deep," Alex's voice rang.

"Not to mention really dark," I said. "I can't see a single thing."

"Whoa!!"

"What's wrong!?"

"I almost tripped over something hard..."

"Let's try and find some light."

I heard someone beside me snapped his fingers. A light orb appeared out of nowhere on the palm of his hand. I had to close my eyes because of the sudden change. Soon after my eyes have adjusted, I opened my eyes and looked at the person. It was John.

"This should help a lot," he said. "Now where're those switches..."

He stepped closer towards the closest wall and brought the light closer.

"Let's see..." He mumbled as he examined the wall. "Ah! Here it is!"

He flicked the switch, but nothing happened. He tried to turn it on and off over and over, but it was useless.

"Huh?" He said. "Well this is strange..."

"Why wouldn't the lights turn on?" I asked.

"Hey guys," Alex called from somewhere in the darkness. "Rather than trying the lights, have any of you smelt something since we came down?"

Now that he mention it, something foul hangs in the hot air. I sniffed the air once more and winched. Something rotten is inside the basement, like it was decomposing. The scent is pretty miniscule, for the scent of iron covered it.

"Did something happen in here?" I said.

"Where does the scent come from?" Alex pondered.

"Alex. Cast a fireball on your hand," John ordered.

"I haven't remembered how to do it yet. Sorry."

John just sighed and tossed the ball to him. As the light passed me, I saw something dark on the floor for a second.

"Wait! Pass it to me!" I told my twin. He tossed me the ball and I caught it with my right. I peered down to see a pool of dried blood lying in front of me. Beside the black pool, a trail of blood led into the darkness. I knelt down and licked my index finger. I rubbed the finger slightly on the dark spot before bringing it back to my face. The scent of iron could be smelt as I pulled it closer to me. I rubbed my thumb to my index finger. The friction caused it to rub away.

"What is it?" John said as he stepped closer.

"Blood," I answered. "And by the look of it, it's still fresh. Probably around fifteen minutes ago." I raised my head and turned it towards John. "Did my Hunter instinct kick back in?"

"If you can determine the time, then probably yes," he said as he knelt down beside me. "Hey... I've smelt this scent before..."

"Well of course. It's blood. The scent of iron is..."

"No, I mean the body. The body scent is familiar."

"You do?" Alex asked.

"And it's not so long ago... Where have I smelt this..." He said as he stood up and followed the trail beside it into the darkness where the light didn't reach.

"What are you, a dog?" I smiled slightly as I stood up as well. Alex and I followed him quickly but as we found him, he's not in his human form. He's now an arctic wolf with the same green and blue eyes. From the tip of his lupine ears to the end of his tail, he's covered in a soft and fuzzy white fur. I also noticed that the gym outfit he was wearing before has also changed. Right now, he's wearing what looks like a traveler's outfit, consisting of a long sleeved light brown shirt that's been buttoned up from top till his stomach, a baggy dark brown pants, complete with boots, and a belt bag on his side. The shredded cloak he wore yesterday when he put out the fire covered his back. I also saw his paws covered with leather gloves of different lengths, the left one elbow length, while the right one wrist length. His sharp eyes gazed at me for a moment.

"A wolf, and you know that," he smiled back. "We do have a keen sense of smell."

"How can you see in this much darkness?" Alex asked. "I nearly tripped over something a while ago."

"I just can," he smiled back. "You two might wanna morph before we continue exploring this place. Something is lurking in here and things will not turn out pretty."

"What about the pearl brooch?" I asked. "Aren't we here for that?"

"Would you like to try and find some precious jewel with something or someone dangerous lurking in the basement unarmed?"

"You got a point..."

We quickly drew our cards and morphed into our anthro forms, weapons ready by our sides. The scent of iron became very noticeable with our canine muzzles.

"Alright," Alex smiled. "Let's start searching."

John nodded slightly and continued to examine the ground beneath us. The light orb was carried by me who was standing between John on my right and Alex on my left. Eventually, a small glimmer of light shone on the floor. We stepped up to find the pearl brooch. It, however, was covered by a thin layer of blood.

"Well that was easy," I said.

"Too easy," John mumbled. "And how in the world did it get covered in blood?"

"Whatever the reason is, we got it," Alex smiled as he knelt down to grab the object. We took a closer look at the design. It was the same one she usually wears to work. The same silver gold rose flower with a pearl embedded on the center. As we were about to clean the metallic object, our canine ears picked up a noise from behind us in high speed. Before Alex and I could turn to see, John stepped behind us and thrust his left hand forward, creating a crystal barrier around us. A loud clash soon rang as something hard slammed into the magical wall. With a snap of a finger, the crystal shattered into shards and exploded. A loud shriek was heard and the creature that attacked us soon cowered back into the darkness.

"Not done yet!" John yelled as he swung his right paw like drawing a sword from its sheathe. A quick shimmer of light soon appeared close to his paw. The pure light soon took its shape as a ceremonial sword. It's a double-sided blade with one runic symbol on the blade close to the silver hilt. I could tell that it's the symbol of the star sign Leo. But with a quick glance on the other side, I noticed that the symbol is different. Instead of Leo, it's Gemini. The handle of the blade is probably made from a mixture combination of moonstones and diamonds. He swung the blade up before pointing it forward. A magical energy flowed towards the tip of the blade and merged together into a fireball. He shot the magical energy forward towards his target. His arm was thrown up a little sue to the recoil of the magical shot. The fire magic soon homed towards its target and hit it with full impact, which also caused it to explode as well. In that small flicker of light, I was able to identify the small bits of our enemy. It has the body of a praying mantis, wings of a bat, and a stinger of a wasp. The fiend's body soon was covered in flames. Its shrieks of pain were deafening to us canines as its body soon turned into dust and melted into nothingness.

"Alright! You did it!" I cheered.

"Not quite," John's gaze quickly darted left and right. He readied himself by hovering hid right paw a little diagonal to his side and left paw forward, as in a relaxed battle stance. "Those fiends travel in groups. Usually in a pack of more than..."

"Twenty?" Alex asked. John and I quickly turned our head towards him in shock.

"Well... yeah," he answered. "But how did you know?"

"Let's just say that we've been ambushed..."

John and I quickly understood what he meant. We turned our backs towards each other and looked around. We could practically see the fiends' faint, but glowing, green eyes. Alex and I quickly drew our cards and turned them into our weapons, preparing for battle.

"By the looks of it, I'll say that there are 22 left," John told us.

"So all we need to do is to take care of these things, right?" I asked.

"Or, if you want, we could retreat and head back upstairs."

"No way! I'm not backing out of a fight," I yelled in confidence. A gentle sigh came from the lupine's muzzle.

"That is so like you," John said as he smiled. "A few pointers, target the joints of his forelegs. After disarming them, hit a little under their thorax."

"Got it," we said in unison as we prepared our own battle stance. Alex created an ice pillar behind us and placed the glowing orb on it. He then covered it with another glass of ice serving for a purpose of protecting the ball from falling and as a lens to enhance the light emitted from it.

"All set?" John asked once more. "Cause here they come!"

The fiends darted towards our direction quickly. They raised their scythe-like legs up and hacked downwards. John, knowing how they would attack, quickly created another barrier around us, deflecting their attacks before getting hit by the crystal burst. At that precise moment of distortion, we deftly countered their attacks. Using my gauntlets and grieves, I crushed the pinpoints John told us before and decapitate the creature with a powerful backhand swing. I kept hitting left and right as I avoided the blows, but they outnumbered my side. To make matters worse, just as I were to take a step, my left foot slipped on the pool of blood from before. I crashed to the floor with the blood matted all over my fur and another splitting headache like before. Once more, I was in no position to block or counter the fiend in front of me. Just as it raised his leg, his body was hit by an ice burst, freezing him to the bones, if he has one... Using that chance, I flipped up and landed a heel swing kick on the thorax, shattering it into pieces. I quickly jumped to my right and made a quick flying roundhouse, sending the mantises back a few feet for Alex to attack with his magic. He swung his staff here and there like a martial artist, hitting the weak spots as well.

"When did you learn to do that?" I asked, impressed.

"Yesterday while you were at the hospital," he quickly replied as he charged his energy to the end of his staff. Charges of electricity quickly accumulate in the green orb. He spun around quickly with the rod. The 360-degree turn was soon followed by a lightning circle that zapped the enemies. At the look of it, I quickly had an idea.

"Alex! Zap the lights!" I yelled as I hit another mantis. "And a strong current!"

Alex didn't reply. He just followed my orders and zapped the lights above us with a lightning bolt. The bursts of light coming from the ceiling blinded the enemies. They shrieked in pain and covered their bug eyes. At that precise moment, John cast a thunderstorm around us. Multiple lightning bolts came down from the air and struck the enemies at the same time, frying their body with a current of over 100.000 volts. Soon, the fiends dispersed into the shadows once more and the lights from the ceiling stopped shining. We held our positions and listened carefully for any other enemies. There was nothing but silence. We blew out our breaths and relaxed a little bit.

"Now that's what I call 'Mission accomplished,'" I smiled.

"Nice teamwork, you two," John smiled. "And a clever thinking you did back there, Ger."

"Thanks, and it's Michael."

"Sorry, just keep forgetting," he shook his head.

"No worries. I guess that the me right now is different from before. We're humans, in high school, enjoying teen activities. Plus, I finally have a twin brother I always wanted."

John's eyes were shot opened on the last statement. His muzzle was slightly opened and his lupine face was in a state of shock. He placed a paw on his muzzle and thought deeply.

"Now that you mention it..." He mumbled silently. He continues to mumble something incomprehensible to Alex and me. What's even weirder, his different colored eyes gazed back and forth between me and Alex, though most of the gaze was given to my twin.

"Uh... What's wrong?" Alex asked.

"Nothing..." He shook his head. "Let's just go back..."

Before long, we head back upstairs and sneaked into the boys' locker room. Alex and I took a quick shower, drenching our furs and let the cold water wash away the dried up blood. After the relaxing wash, we also cleaned and analyzed the brooch. Turns out, it was 100% genuine. We returned to Ms. Elijah (in our human forms, of course) and returned the object. She was even more delighted when she heard the authenticity. However, despite her joyfulness and reward (extra credit), the nagging feeling in my head still remains. Who was that person that died? Was it someone close? Or perhaps someone passed by? Why does it seem like the basement still holds secrets? And what was it that bothered John at the last second? Something about these questions really bugged me. I just sighed heavily and let all the answers fly to me later. For now, I just continue my not-so-ordinary life in Rockwood Academy.