FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

.-3-

As I climbed out of my bedroom window, Sparktrivis spoke.

"Brilliant plan," she said sarcastically.

"I didn't see you coming up with anything," I retorted.

"Because it makes sense to stay inside when you're on punishment. You'd better pray that Jackie doesn't come in that room."

"You seem a lot more concerned about this than I do," I replied as I closed the window.

"I fear you won't live after tonight."

"Just lead me to this teacher of yours."

"Teacher's for you. Try to keep up!"

The fairy zipped away from the house at full speed. I had to use one my techniques, the Blitz dash, to keep up with her.

"Um, how far away is this guy's house?" I asked.

"It's in the city," Sparktrivis replied.

"Twenty miles?"

"I guess. I don't keep a ruler on me at all times."

About five minutes later, we were in the city. The skyscrapers were tall--that's about all I could describe since we whizzed past them so fast.

"Slow down," said the fairy, "we're here!"

Sparktrivis stopped in front of a small tea shop that resembled a pagoda. I landed beside her.

"This is it?" I asked incredulously as I raised my fist to knock.

"What are you doing?" Sparktrivis asked.

"Um, about to knock on this door..."

"For God's sake, it's a shop. Just go in."

"But it's someone's house, too."

"Do you want to stand out here arguing with me and look like a mental ward escapee, or do you want to go in?"

I recalled that I was the only one who could see the fairy. I could feel the stares and wasted no time entering the shop.

Inside, the shop had very oriental decor. Paper lanterns, paintings of geisha, et cetera. Its appearance was from no one country, but a blend of several. Bags of tea lined one of the walls. Teapots and teacups lined the wall adjacent to it. To my right was the checkout counter, behind which was a glass case of oriental souvenirs.

"Can I help you, young man?" asked the old dragoness behind the counter. She had pale grey skin with paler grey hair pulled into a tight bun. She wore a green kimono.

I couldn't begin to explain the reason why I was here. You can't exactly tell dragons that a fairy that only you can see led you here to find a teacher without making yourself look crazy.

"Uhhhhh..."

"Are you one of those neighborhood hooligans?" she asked impatiently.

"Of course not," I replied nervously.

"Then why are you here? Explain or I will call the police."

_ _

_ Tell her!_ Sparktrivis cried telepathically.

Easy for you to say, I replied indignantly.

"Who are you talking to?" the clerk asked.

I froze. "Nobody," I answered.

"I heard voices. Yours and a girl's."

She leaped over the counter with remarkable speed and grabbed me by my left arm. "Who are you talking to?" she asked. "You're not going anywhere until you tell me who."

Despite her words, I struggled to free myself. With her free hand, she grabbed a hold onto my sleeve and struggled with me. In the midst of our squirming, my sleeve was rolled all the way up to my shoulder, exposing my birthmark.

The shopkeeper stopped fighting and released her hold on my arm. I quickly backed away.

"I'm sorry," she apologized. "I should have realized sooner. Please, follow me."

I was about to reply 'Hell no' when a telepathic voice popped into my head.

She's sincere, said Sparktrivis.

She also tried to tear my arm off, I retorted.

"I'd listen to that girl's voice," said the dragoness. "Now do you want to meet your teacher or what?"

She turned around and walked to the rear of the store. I threw my arms up in defeat and soon followed.

The shopkeeper tapped on the wall with her pinky finger. It sprang open to reveal lush green grass, twisted trees, a cascade and the koi pond it emptied into. An old dragon sat on a mat in the middle of a concrete walkway, apparently meditating.

"Come," the hag said. I obeyed, and we slowly walked up to the old man. Up close, he had dolphin grey skin, a plume of white hair between two grey horns, bushy white eyebrows, a curly white mustache, and a white beard that ran down his chest. He wore a burgundy robe with black accents, black pants, and black cloth shoes. A yellow orb hovered at the tip of his tail. His eyes were closed.

"You must be Rex Lightning," he said without opening his eyes. "I foresaw your arrival."

"How do you-"

"Have you mastered your innate abilities?" he asked, cutting me off.

"I guess," I replied.

"You do not guess," he said. "You either know or you don't know. I will ask you again: have you mastered your innate abilities?"

"Yes," I replied grouchily.

"Let's find out."

With remarkable speed the elderly dragon flung the tea dish sitting next to him straight at me. I shattered it to a thousand tiny pieces with a thunderbolt.

"Impressive," said the old dragon as he sat up. He lifted his eyelids to reveal piercing blue irises. "Impressive indeed."

It was then I noticed the stack of dishes he had behind him. A smile broke across his face and, with a wave of his right arm, the dishes were floating in the air.

"Pigeon shooting?" I asked, readying myself.

"You can call it that," he said.

The dragon closed his eyes, and the first dish flew. I shot a bolt at it and it turned to china shards.

The remaining twenty-four dishes came after each other in rapid succession. Sixty seconds later, the lush grass was littered with broken china.

"You've shown mastery of the Thunderbolt," said the man. "Now do the same with the Shock Sweep."

The Shock Sweep was a sliding sick with the foot covered in electricity. I prepared myself as the old timer stomped the ground. Immediately several stone slabs appeared, some floating in mid-air, others sticking out of the ground.

"You're goal is to reach me," he said. Very suddenly and inexplicably I was at the other end of the walkway.

"Now!" he barked.

The first slab was a floater, followed by one rising from the walkway. I slid under the first with the Shock Sweep and jumped over the second. As I went through the obstacles, they grew tighter and tighter together. At the end I used the aforementioned ability to break through the last slab.

The old dragon said nothing. Instead, he waved his arm and flung me back to the beginning. I saw the stone slabs had been replaced with two walls, one on either side of the walkway.

"Be quick," he said. With a snap of his fingers, the walls began to move towards each other.

I activated the Blitz from earlier and charged through the gap between the walls. The further I progressed, the faster they moved, until I was nearly crushed upon reaching the old dragon again.

"Good," he said as he clapped his hands together. A number of logs fell around me in a circle.

"You will find yourself in situations like this where all opposition must be struck at once," he said.

I extended my right arm and unsheathed my claws. Time for technique number four, the Spinning Claw.

"Do it."

I unleashed the attack. All of the logs were reduced to stumps. I sheathed my claws.

My mentor nodded as the logs vanished. He snapped his fingers again, and a series of vases appeared, each at different heights and distances.

"You will have to eliminate enemies that are out of reach of your melee abilities," he explained.

I knew he was alluding to the Electrorb, a ball of electricity. There were seven vases. The first was not ten feet from me. The second was slightly behind it and hanging in a tree. I conjured two orbs and took out both targets.

Targets three, four, and five were almost in a straight line, but far apart and at different heights. I broke these vases as well.

Target six was in the koi pond.

"They'll be fine," the teacher assured me as I hesitated. I regained my composure and destroyed the vase.

The last target was on top of the shop behind me. It too was destroyed.

"Bravo," he said as another log appeared beside him. It was much larger and thicker than the ones from the Spinning Claw test.

"At close range, you may decide to use a powerful strike to kill or weaken the enemy," he said.

Again, I unsheathed my claws to use the sixth ability, Savage Claw. One quick swipe was all it took to cut deeply into the wood. A second swipe split it in half.

"A flurry of quick attacks can break the opponent's guard," said the teacher. Without warning, he rushed me. For an old guy, he moved fast.

I lifted my arm to block the oncoming blow; his fist contacted the plate covering the front of my forearm. I returned the favor with a punch of my own and was met with a guarding forearm.

The Power Pummel is exactly as the name says--a series of punches in rapid succession. I used this to pound on the old timer's forearm. I could see him buckling as I did so. With my left hand, I punched him squarely in the jaw. He stumbled back a bit, but didn't fall.

"Did I hurt you?" I asked in concern.

The dragon laughed. "No, son, I'm quite alright. Don't let my appearance belie my strength."

With that, he rushed me again. I jumped to the side, narrowly missing his fist. I kicked him in his back and knocked him the ground. I used the Quick Jab (basically a Power Pummel with a flattened hand) to break the obligatory guard. My fingers came hard onto his snout.

The old dragon jumped up and grabbed his snout. Blood was dripping out of his left nostril. He casually wiped it away.

"It's been a long time since someone made me bleed," he said.

He was on top of me like a cat on a mouse. We rolled around, off the concrete walkway and onto the grass, exchanging blows as we went. He ended up on top, forcing me to stare into those sharp blue eyes as I dodged his punches. I caught both of his hands and forced him off of me.

The teacher was hardly shaken. He came running at me like a mad bull. He wasn't going to punch me--he was going to run into me like a locomotive.

Or rather, he would have, had I not used the ninth ability, Jackknife. It is a fist-first body dive into the enemy. My knuckles met the elderly reptile's abdomen, sending us both to the ground, with me on top of him.

Sensing the danger, I flipped off of him, and he flipped onto his feet. Undeterred by the body slam, he flew high into the air, then came down in a dive, straight for me.

The koi pond was to my left. It gave me an idea--an idea that required the dragon to be extremely close. In fact, he had to be on top me. If my plan didn't work, I would be in for a world of pain.

I counted down from ten to one.

Ten, Nine,Eight...

The dragon drew closer.

Seven, six, five, four...

His hair danced in the winds created by his high-velocity fall.

Three...

Our eyes met for an instant.

Two...

The point of impact was nearing...

One.

I jumped into the air right before the collision. I twisted my body out of the dragon's path and slammed my tail against him--the last innate technique, Tail Whip.

With an 'oomph,' the elderly mentor crashed into the rocks above the koi pond, then fell into the water (which was deeper than it looked) with a huge splash. The startled fish swam wildly in the confusion.

A few tense seconds passed, then there was a ripple. The dragon's head popped from below the surface.

His freshly-wettened hair gave him the appearance of a shaggy dog. It drooped over his eyes. I could hear Sparktrivis trying to stifle telepathic laughter.

"Not bad," he said, "but I'm afraid the fish may need counseling after this."

*****

"You may call me Master Furon," said the old dragon. He was wrapped in a towel, sipping hot tea from a teacup. His wet clothes sat in a corner next to him.

"And I am his wife," said the elderly dragoness. "Most people call me the Old Woman. You may do the same."

"I'm sure you have a lot of questions," said Master Furon. "I can answer some of them if you like."

The first question was easy. "How do you know my name?" I demanded.

"Psychic powers," replied Furon nonchalantly.

"How did you know to expect me?"

"That dates back to ancient times. A certain family in those days was responsible for maintaining contact with the gods. I am a descendant of that lineage.

"That doesn't answer your question, I know," he continued. "But you play a very vital role in this 'contact with the gods.'

"Of course, people nowadays have all but forsaken the gods. In the ancient past, however, the deities were respected and worshipped by the people. For a time, that is."

"What happened?" I asked.

The Old Woman picked up where her husband had left off. "There was a war amongst the Gods." she explained. "It threatened to wipe out this entire planet.

"The one responsible for this war," she continued, "was Shadza, the God of Shadow. Fueled by hatred and greed, Shadza launched two separate campaigns: the first was a result of his hatred, with the goal of snuffing out all life on the planet. The second was powered by his lust for power and greed. Shadza sought an ancient relic called the Core for himself. It granted its wielder near unstoppable power, but to prevent such an event, its Guardian, Belvini, had split it into nine pieces--one for each of the nine main gods--and entrusted them to each deity.

"Unsurprisingly, Shadza was met with strong opposition, mostly due to Dyntos and Vizin, the God of Thunder and Goddess of Wisdom. They rallied the other gods to oppose Shadza.

"But the Ruler of the Underworld was resourceful. He had one of his pet serpentine dragons, Altezz, to attack the ancient city of Drakoz--present-day Xexul. Dyntos, the protector of that land, considered this an attack against him and engaged Altezz in combat. The god easily vanquished the evil beast, but, in a twist of irony, the God of Light, Cirrus, struck him from behind, mortally wounding him.

"Knowing of Dyntos' demise, Shadza proceeded to exterminate the Thunder race in an effort to prevent his eventual reincarnation. He reduced them to a meager ten members when Vizin intervened. She hid the remaining thunder dragons in her Psychic Shrine, then engaged Shadza in combat. After a fierce battle, Shadza was defeated and sealed away by Vizin and the other deities sans Cirrus. However, Vizin would not savor victory for long, as she succumbed to wounds she received in the fight.

"Which brings us to the present, and you. The seal on Shadza is weakening, and Dracex will soon feel his influence once again. We cannot rely on the gods this time, as the people have forgotten them, and their power comes from the people."

"So I have to stop this guy?" I asked.

"In a way," said Furon. "His minions and creations are far too strong for an average dragon to handle. But that's the thing, Rex--your strength greatly exceeds average. When his minions do come, we have to make sure you are prepared so when he does break free, his damage will be kept to a minimum."

"When will he break free?"

"It won't be for a while yet. Two decades. You'll be an adult by then. But let's move onto other business. Business like that feather in your pocket."

I had forgotten about the thunder plume. I reached into my pocket and pulled it out. I handed it to the Master, who observed it for a bit, making note of its color.

"Each one of these has distinct characteristics that tell which technique it hides," said Furon. "The flattened, slightly elliptical barb tells me that this one holds the secrets to Flying Discus."

As if to confirm Furon's suspicions, the feather glowed brightly, then there was a flash of golden light. When it went away, the light was gone. Instead, it replaced the blue of the Master's eyes.

"Come," he said, gesturing to the hidden area behind the shop. The voice was his and yet...not his. Nevertheless, I followed him.

"Aren't you excited?!" asked Sparktrivis.

"Not particularly," I replied. "You seem to have enough excitement for both of us, though."

Furon stopped at the end of the walkway. I stopped behind him. The Old Woman, who had been following as well, stopped next to me.

Master Furon made the motion of throwing a Frisbee, and a wide disc of golden electricity flew into the air.

He turned to me. I stepped forward.

"Your turn," he said.

I pulled my arm back in a similar motion to Furon and concentrated on that shape. Wide. Elliptical.

I swung my arm. A blue disc flew high into the sky. It wasn't as wide as the one thrown by Furon, but it was close enough.

"Again," said Furon. I performed the moved three more times. Furon lifted his right hand, and the light from his eyes went away. Their normal blue color was restored.

"Excellent," he said. His voice sounded normal. "There are many more moves for you to learn, and the thunder plumes appear randomly, but at this rate we should have no worries."

"It's getting late," said the Old Woman. "You'd best get back home."

Home. Uh-oh.

"Do not worry yourself about your grandmother," Furon said. "She has not noticed your absence. And, if you're quick enough, she won't notice it after you do two things:

"First," he continued, "go to the cemetery. Find a tomb marked with a thunderbolt and go from there. Second, find someone to teach you the Song of Fire: Baron's Bolero. You'll find it'll come in handy soon. If fast enough, you should get back before 7:30--it's 6:15 now. Lastly, try to make it here at least twice a week for training. You're good, but you need to be better."

Master Furon handed me a wooden flute. The instrument had a rather simple layout, with five keyholes and a barely defined mouthpiece. "Understood?" he asked.

I nodded. "I understand, Master."

He put his fist in one hand and bowed. I did the same.

*****

Outside the shop, Sparktrivis spoke.

"That wasn't so bad," she said.

"Aside from the mysteriousness, no," I agreed. "Where's the cemetery?"

"Just north of here."

"Good. Let's hurry--my ass depends on it."

With that, I sped off towards my first mission. Oh, what a mission it would be.