FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

ACT ZERO

first minute

"What do you want!" I yelled to Aver.

"If you'll let me explain, I'll-"

"We don't have time!" Aries interjected.

"I'll make it short. Ok?" Aver conceded. "I died. Ok? Me. Not you, not anyone here. Me."

"How did you die if you're standing right here?" Aries asked.

"I'm getting to that! Yes, yes, I made this night, yes, it was me. Don't ask how, we don't have enough time for me to tell you. Suffice to say, it was my fault." Aver smiled maliciously. "Now, I expect you're wondering why I gathered you all here..."

"Oh, cut to the important stuff!"

"I always wanted to say that. It was an eclipse just like this. I watched....and I burned."

I tried to understand. "So you basically created your death...recreated...but for us instead of you?"

"In essence, yes. The same thing that's about to happen to you happened to me, centuries in the past and not too far in the future."

"What does that mean?!"

"It means that time and space both are irrelevant here! You're in a separate dimension!"

"Ok...and you put us here." I said.

second minute

"Yes" Aver answered.

"But why? Why screw with us?" Aries asked.

"Think about it. Think about my death!" "How did you burn...watching an eclipse?" Aries tried.

"Yes! I had no idea what actually happened to me! It seemed impossible! So I investigated."

"And you found...us?"

"Yes. In hindsight, I probably created my own death. Paradoxically. I have to explain everything to you-"

"Which means you involved us because you involved us." I said. "We're only in this death trap because of your stupid actions!"

"I suppose. But we'll still find out why I died. That's what we're all here for, isn't it?"

third minute

"You brought us here!" Aries shouted angrily.

"Don't get upset with me. Duke it out with her." he pointed to the unmoving Allie.

"Allie? Why?"

"I'm not sure how, but she's the one responsible for my death. That's all I know. So I created this dimension so I could trap my murderers and find out the truth."

"So why'd you turn us into animals?"

"Oh, I didn't do that. Your patron animals saw that you would be in peril, so they tried to help you."

"Patron animal?" I said.

"Yes, yes, yours is a wolf, his a bat, and so on. We don't have time for tedious details, do we? We've already wasted your precious minutes talking. I'd say you only have eight minutes before the eclipse is over and we all go up in smoke."

"We die if we can't stop you?!" Aries ejaculated.

"Of course. What else would you have expected?" Aver replied smugly. "And defeating me also means solving the murder mystery. Oh, I should've brought Agatha Christie, she's have this in a flash..."

fourth minute

"Come on, Aries, let's get him!" I said.

"Yeah!"

We scrambled to opposite sides of the street, and we tried to climb the buildings. As I climbed, I could tell my wolf side was coming more into focus, as I was furrier than I normally was. Aries was also a bit more batlike.

I got to the roof, but Aver was still a good ten feet away. I couldn't jump that far, and I saw Aries wasn't faring much better.

"Let's try to build something to get up there!" I yelled across to him.

We jumped down and started to build a barricade up to Aver. He could move around, so he just kept ascending higher and higher.

fifth minute

We kept building. If this dimension was going to die anyway, we didn't need to respect anyone's personal property. We wrecked houses trying to get closer to our enemy, but to no avail. For eternity it seemed, we tried to ascend as far as we could. But we were wasting precious minutes. We were already halfway done with the countdown.

sixth minute

"This isn't working!" Aries yelled. "We need a new plan!"

"What do you suggest?!"

"I...Hold on...Allie! They're still connected aren't they?"

"I don't know. Aver is above her, so they're not in the same body anymore-"

"But what if they're still connected! What if we could get Allie to get rid of Aver? She needs to wake up!"

We rushed over to Allie. She was still unmoving, but barely breathing.

Aries started to shake her. "Allie! Wake up!"

"No!" I said. "Lemme try. Allie. It's Rhys. Wake up. Please." She didn't move.

"It's not working!" Aries said.

"I know!" I replied. "I don't know what else to do!" I sank down in despair.

Aver, from above, started laughing. "You didn't actually think that would work, did you?" He taunted. "She's barely alive. She's not going to wake up anytime soon."

I stood up. "Ok, we need a different plan."

"Like what?"

"We need to think of something, and fast."

seventh minute

"Allie is unresponsive, so it's just you and me. There's gotta be something we can do!"

"Hang on..." Aries said. "Aver said we were given these tails and stuff for a reason, right?"

"Yeah...?"

"So what is that reason? They've gotta help us, somehow! Maybe, me being a bat, I can fly or something? If I try?" He concentrated. Nothing happened.

"...and maybe not." I said.

"You got any better plans, Rhys?!"

"I'm just a wolf, I don't know what I can do with that."

Aver called from above, "You've got four and a half minutes! Figure it out!"

Aries lost it. "Aaah! I don't know what the hell happened to you! Just leave us alone and go die somewhere else!"

"No can do, my friend."

"I'm not your damn friend!"

"Calm down there, friend." Aver continued, mockingly. "This is a;ready set in motion, you have to find a way out of it yourselves. I'm just the lowly spectator."

"God, I hate him." Aries fumed.

"I know." I said. "But shouting at him won't do any good. But beating him up will."

"And how do you expect to do that?"

eighth minute

"While you were having your shouting match, he made me angry, too. I kinda punched the wall." I held up a slightly bloody fist.

"Ok...? Sorry, I guess."

"No, that's not the point. But the fragments, they float a little, like he is."

"So is everything in this place magical except us?!"

"No, we are too. Remember? You're the bat and I'm the wolf. The loner bat and the lonely wolf. We can do this!"

"If they float, maybe they can hit him instead of us trying!"

"Let's try."

We both starting punching out everything in sight. Everything from our makeshift tower was also starting to fly away. It wouldn't support our weight, but we could hit him with it.

Aries and I started pelting an unsuspecting Aver with bits of anything we could find. He flinched.

"Hey! Stop it! That's not fair!" he screamed.

He flew higher, but our projectiles were still going the distance. But it didn't seem to make a difference. The eclipse was still going; the Moon even seemed to be slipping away.

"Aries!" I yelled. "We're running out of time! Look at the Moon!"

This also caught Aver's attention. Both the blonde and the black haired boys looked at the Sun.

"Ha! You're running out of time! You maybe have two minutes left! Three tops!"

This just set Aries off. He started screaming at Aver, and shaking with anger.

ninth minute

"Aries, are you ok?" I asked tentatively.

"No! I'm sick of this guy! Someone needs to...finish him off!"

Then my friend exploded. Kind of. Black fur erupted from his body, wings sprouted from his back and merged with his arms. His tail and ears assimilated into his form. Aries was now a full, big, bat.

"Aries! You're...a bat!"

He turned and grinned an insane, fangy smile. "I know."

With that, he took off. He flew up and tackled Aver to the ground.

"You're a big, talking, flying bat!" I said, still in shock.

"Did you expect anything less from Aries, the bat?" he answered. He and Aver started fighting on the ground. Aries kept swinging his claws at Aver, trying to scratch him. But Aver was a dodgy little guy, and avoided most of his swings. One time, he got a nice little cut on his face.

"Enough!" Aver pushed Aries to the side and shot back up into the air.

Aries turned his furry head towards me. "Ready for a new tactic?"

"Um, yeah, I gues-wpah!" Aries had grabbed my shoulders in his claws and lifted me off the ground.

"Ok, I'm going to fly near him, you kick and punch and- just give 'im hell!"

"You got it!"

And thus the battle started. Aries would fly close, I would thrash for all I got, and Aries would scratch and bite. It was working well, but not well enough. Aver could still dodge most of our combined attacks, he even got a good punch at my shoulder. We were running out of time. I could see the Moon moving away.

"It's not enough!" I shouted above to Aries.

"I know! But what else can we do?" he replied.

Maybe... we can...I can...I've got to try!

tenth minute

Aries was carrying me down on another strike when it happened.

"One minute left!" Aver shouted tauntingly.

As Aries carried me down, I felt a shiver running through my body. It got more and more intense, and Aries felt it too. Just as it reached its apex, he knew to drop me. I was right above Aver, and I fell right on top of him. We plummeted to the ground.

Before we hit the street, I knew what had happened. I could see my furry paw holding Aver's wrist. I could feel the wind coursing through the fur all over my body. I could feel the elongated fangs in my mouth. I was a full wolf.

Dust flew up all around us as we made contact below. I was holding Aver down with my newfound strength. Aries shot down to join me.

"Ok. We've got you, now what?" I said.

"How should I know?! I have as little control over this as you do." Aver answered.

"Augh! Aries, what do we do?!"

"I don't know!" he whacked Aver in the face.

Aver turned his face back to us. "Beating me up won't help." he said through a wicked smile.

"Rhys, we're running out of time! And ideas!"

"I know!" We looked up at the sky. The Moon was almost all the way across the Sun. We were dead in a minute.

Time is running out.

Running out.

Running out.

final minute

"I am not giving up and dying a second time!!" Aries shouted. He ran/flew over to Allie and started to shake her. "You have got to wake up and stop all this! You stopped the meteor now stop all this! Please, Allie! Wake up!"

I ran over to help. Aver just layed there. "Allie! Allie!! ALLIE!!!!" I looked up at the sky. The Moon was about to slip away. 5...4....3...2...

"We're dead, Aries!"

Then, everything stopped.

Time is standing still.

Standing still.

Standing still.

Aver and Allie were both pulled together in the air by an invisible force.

"Wha-what's going on?!" he yelled.

They combined in a flash of light. Both we visible, but they were in the same place exactly. Allie opened her eyes. Fire blossomed from them. She extended her arms. Suddenly, she burst into flame, more than I'd ever seen on her, brighter and stronger than ever before. Then the fire burst forth and a phoenix flew out of it.

"Go Allie!" I yelled.

She flew in circles through the air, fire trailing her path.

Aver was struggling. He looked in pain.

"So this is how..." he struggled to get the words out. "She killed me....it transcended time...to then....and now... NOOOOO!" He disintegrated and fell to the ground. All that remained was a pile of ash.

As Allie wove her marvelous fiery trail, everything started to fade away. Everything turned white and dissipated. Not the blinding, intimidating kind of white. No, it was softer, the edges were blurrier and fuzzier. It looked nicer, like the white clouds are made of. The kind of light that looks like you've just won.

Things started to come back into focus. We were swishing through different images, blurry and unrecognizable at first, but then they came into focus. First we were in a forest. I could see me, walking in the dark.

"That's me!" I exclaimed.

"Shh!" Allie, now back to a human form, said.

I walked my usual route, that night I got my tail. We moved swiftly away from me, to some wolves. They looked like they saw me, and performed an organized howl. All at the same time.

Back to me. Suddenly a tail and my furry ears appeared on my body. I started to run away, hearing the wolves.

"This must be how we got our tails..." I mused aloud.

Everything disappeared again.

"So... are we going back in time and space?" Aries asked.

"Looks like it." Allie responded.

Time is turning back.

Turning back.

Turning back.

We fast-forwarded to a few hours later, in the early morning. A cave came into view. We saw Aries walking rapidly into them from the surrounding forest.

"Hey, that's me!" Aries said.

"What were you again? A bat?" Allie asked.

"Yup."

"Then we should be seeing some bats soon-ah, here they are."

A few bats flew above him, unseen by the now sleeping Aries. They all looked at each other, then squeaked at Aries in unison. A tail and pair of ears appeared on him.

"So each animal gave us these because we're...like them?" I asked.

"Aries, how often do you come here?" Allie inquired.

"I spend most of my time here..." he said.

"So, like bats, you...?" "Darkness? Caves? Loneliness?" I said.

"Something like that." Aries muttered.

Everything zoomed out again, but it didn't fade to white yet. Instead, we flew upward towards the top of the cliff and time raced forwards a few hours, to a little past sunrise. There was Allie sitting on the edge of the overhang.

"Ok, it's my turn, but this I didn't understand. How did I get the gifts of phoenixes? They don't even exist!" Allie said.

We looked up. Slowly, deftly, silently, the Sun extended some weird tendrils. They looked like strings of light reaching out towards Allie. They touched her, and her wings and tail sprouted.

"Oh, so it was the Sun...? That doesn't make sense."

"You're a child of the Sun?" Aries guessed.

"Who knows." I said.

"So now we know what happened to Aver, why we were here, and how we became furries. What other mysteries are there to solve?" Allie said.

"I don't know."

Then everything got blurry and white again. But this time, the white started to originate in the center of us three, and fly out. It sped by us, and we started to get pulled by it. Away from each other.

"Wha-what's going on?" Aries said, worried.

"I don't know!" I said.

Allie and Aries were starting to become fuzzy.

"Wait-no!" Allie shouted. "I'm starting to forget! What happened? Why-no! I don't want to forget!"

I realized the same thing was happening to me. What was his name? Avery? Ackbar? What was my friend? Who was my friend? He's right there, but what's is name? Ariel? Armando? The Sun did what to Allie again?

"Why is this happening?"

"This dimension is being erased! And us with it!"

"I don't want to go!"

And yet we were. We were completely separated from each other by the whiteness. Then everything blacked out.

ÉPILOGUE

I went to school, just like any other day. It was a stereotypical early April morning, a little misty and a bit cold. I met my good friend Allie, outside the school doors. She waited for me there, every day.

"Hey, Rhys!"

"Hi, Allie."

We went inside to wait for school to start. As we were standing in the hallway, Allie, being her cheerful, annoyingly nice self, saw this kid hanging out in the corner by himself.

"Hey, Rhys, I'll be right back."

"Kay" I said, not really paying attention.

She came back with him.

"So Rhys and I- this is Rhys, by the way- we were going to go see a movie later. Wanna come?"

I swear, she did this on purpose to annoy me.

"What movie?" the kid said timidly.

"The Host." she answered.

"Yeah it's going to be fun" I said sarcastically. "So, you coming?"

"Uh...sure. My name is Aries by the way."

"Well, hello Aries." I said.

"Oh I can't wait!" Allie said, excitedly.

The bell rang and we all went our separate ways to class. The thing is, though, I felt like I met that Aries kid before... Oh well. He seemed interesting enough. We could be friends. I walked into math and began my day.

Time is moving on.

Moving on.

Moving on.

finis

Thanks for reading! Now that that's over, I'm going to start working on a new story, with these three plus a new adventurer! So se you then, and thanks again!