FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The evening sky began to rise rather early around this time of year in the mountainous region of Colorado. Star clusters could already be seen dancing above alongside the large looming crescent moon as the light blanketed the landscape below. Looking out the car window as they drove up the hillside to the rally point, Jude's hair danced in the wind as he gazed down the steep side of the hill that seperated their car from the tree-filled forests below. They weren't driving to far up the mountainside to celebrate the 4th of July; just to an extended ledge of rock that peered out over the area that their friend Buzz suggested. "How much further you think we have to go?" remarked Jude to furry-friend Bolt as they rounded another corner ledge.

With a toothy smile and twitching blue-striped ears, the silver-furred lombax barked back that the GPS showed close to two miles left to go. "In a hurry to see the others again, Jude? Or you just want to snuggle up with Caitlyn again?," Bolt remarked while flashing a smirk with his tongue out.

"You're hilarious Bolt, you know that," Jude replied as he rolled his eyes before smacking the kitty with a playful punch to the shoulder. The car immediately swerved slightly from the steering wheel be pulled down, but the driver quickly recovered.

"Hey, hey save the shenanigans for when we get there lover boy." Shaking his head with a smile, Bolt turned his attention back to the road as they neared the last cliff corner. "I want to get us there in one piece ya know." "Heh heh, fair enough," Jude muttered back as he rolled his window up.

The two of them really needed a few days off after helping their boss Magnus setup the lab for the past month. It wouldn't be operational for another week, at least until Magnus finished moving things around and setting up the equipment. Since the 4th of July holiday was near, Jude suggested they go unwind for a few days and revisit with old friends to celebrate the occasion and the future opening of Riftveil Industries (their lab). Their boss told them to go on ahead and that he would meet up with them as soon as everything was setup right, however long that would be.

As the car rounded the next turn and avoided the guardrail, Jude pointed ahead to the grey truck along rocking ledge that spanned out. "That must be it. Guess she beat us here again."

"You know she has a thing for speed," Bolt replied with another smirk. "She's more feisty of a kitty to be called a lady if you ask me" he continued as his paw loosened its hold on the steering wheel and he clicked his nail on the touch screen of the car to end the navigation. "I'll just park on the other end so Buzz will have room to park once he gets over here."

"You sure you didn't overdue it on the coffee again?" inquired Jude as the car turned into park along the icy bank.

Bolt flashed a glare of annoyance in his direction. "O I'm sorry, it not like I've been driving for ooohhhh FIVE HOURS straight to get here," he snapped as he checked his watch. "My coffee is a sacred treasure you know." The lombax took his empty mug in his paw as he rolled the window out to dump out the remains. Jude could only roll his eyes at the thought. Bolt was the only member of the trio that drank coffee at the lab. Jude got the jitters from it so he never drank it, and Magnus simply referred to it as "liquid dirt" after he tried a cup. "Looks like Cait already setup the lawn chairs at the end," Jude mentioned as he peered out in front of the truck. The blue tigress tilted her head around the side of her chair as she waved a paw at the duo's blue Mazda CX-7, springing to her feet to come meet them.

As Bolt turned off the car and both of them unbuckled their belts, a brief pause could be felt between them. Silence engulfed the car with the lombax and human turning their gaze to one another.

"Loser gets the firework boxes alone?" challenged Bolt as he extended a silver paw to his colleague.

Jude smiled as cool and classy as he could. Grasping the furred hand with a strong squeeze, they shook on it. "Sounds good. Time to make it three in a row." In a quick flash, both pulled their hands back and threw them forward as they spoke in unison: "ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS....SHOOT!" As the dust settled, the furry paw showed two fingers extended while the human hand was a fist. "Woohoo, that's three in a row buddy. I'm on fire," boasted Jude as he danced a quick jig in his seat.

"Hah, I'll ice you next time, lover boy" retorted Bolt as he extended a tongue with a scowl before exiting the vehicle. Flicking the bottom lever with a claw, the blue trunk was popped open as a few partially opened crates of explosive goodies sat waiting for the kitty to come deliver them to the point. "Gonna go see if Cait needs a hand with anything?" "Sure thing. I'll get the soda in a moment," Jude replied as he strode through the thin snow over to his waiting feline friend.

"Great to see you again, Jude!" cheered the blue tigress as she gave the human a fuzzy embrace. "It's good to see you too, Cait," Jude cheered back as he stroked the back of her soft head with both arms around her neck.

Breaking their embrace, Caitlyn dusted some of the snow off her sides as she resized up Jude, since she hadn't seen him in months. The blue tigress was sporting a small purple T-shirt and wearing denim pants down to her brown Eskimo slippers. Jude, already being used to the cold weather and a lover of it, was casually decked in a green sweater and baggy khaki pants with a small green scarf around his neck. He even was reckless enough to wear sneakers in this frigid weather to round out the look. "How's it going, Cait." a distant reply came out as the two stared back to the blue car. Bolt was trudging as best he could through the snow as the two crates he carried sunk him down to his knees from the weight. The silver lombax took the safer approach for the cold while wearing a white-T shirt with a black lambda logo over an insulated shirt and sporting bagging khaki pants, Eskimo shoes, and an orange beanie that outlined his tall pointed ears. "Where do should I put the fireworks at?" Bolt questioned as he kept walking past them to the lawn chairs. "Just drop them anywhere you want," replied Caitlyn with a cheery tone. "Buzz can help you set them up when he gets back."

With a surprised look from both Bolt and Jude, the human remarked where the missing bird was. Caitlyn simply pointed out over the ledge to one of the forest slopes below. "He wanted to get some flying time in before y'all arrived. Plus, we needed some firewood for later."

"Ah good idea," nodded Jude in agreement at the thought. They could probably use a campfire for later so it wouldn't get too cold around here while they celebrated.

"I got to ask," pondered the tigress as she placed a paw on Jude's shoulder while Bolt unloaded the remaining box. "What took you guys so long to get here? You said to meet up around 8pm, and yet y'all didn't get here until almost 9." With a chuckle, Jude shook his head as he mentioned "well we had to stop a few times for Bolt to get coffee, me to grab munchies, and both of us to use the restroom." Jude gave an apologetic bow to his friend as he continued. "I'm sorry if we kept you waiting long. We would've drove faster if not for the ice covered roads."

"It's all good. This fur and outfit keeps me nice and toasty so I was fine with the wait. Buzz was glad that it gave him time to go for a fly, so no harm no foul," Caitlyn remarked as she patted the human's shoulder before walking to the Mazda to help unload the drinks.

"That truck has a hemi I take it?" Jude remarked as he pointed to the large grey truck. Caitlyn nodded with a grin, saying that's what lets her drive so past. Guess Bolt was right, Jude thought to himself. She really lives up to that tomboyish nature.

After everything was unloaded and the vehicles locked up, the three friends exchanged pleasantries for a bit as they waited for the final member to return. Kicking back in their chairs, Jude and Caitlyn caught back up on things since their last trip while the lombax sat with arms behind his head as he took in their chat. "By the way, Jude, you sure you're not cold?" asked the blue feline while pointing to the truck bed. "I got a large blanket in the back if you need it. Or are you gonna just let the wolf out to play?" she said with a smirk. Caitlyn knew since she first met the human years back of his lycanthrope side (mostly because that's how she first saw him). However, she also knew that Jude was rather reserved on walking around as a hulky wolf beast all the time since he didn't want to scare anyone with it or accidentally have a "feral incident" happen. With a shrug of his shoulders, Jude stepped out of his seat as he walked over to the large opening behind them for some space. "Guess it wouldn't hurt. Plus I've been itching for some free time like Buzz out here." Taking off his shirt and shoes, Jude tossed them over to his chair before asking Caitlyn if she could put them back in the Mazda for the remainder of the evening. After a quick nod and smile, her eyes lit up as she watched the human hunch forward to the ground as he began to let the wolf out of its cage.

Initially, Jude's black hair only extended down to his neckline; but as he began to shift, his entire body began sprout thickening patches of russet brown fur and his black followed suit by lengthening while melding to the brown color. His gritted his teeth from the muscle spasms occurring as his muscles swelled with intensity and girth, adding more height to his form with now longer legs. Jude quickly gained nearly a foot in height as he reached seven feet as already most of his body was a reddish brown rug with a lighter tone on his side muzzle and chest as his pants began to tear at the seams from the size of his legs. Stretched to their limit, the khaki's ripped to shreds as his long bushy tail extended forth with hair and his nails began to extended into sharp, black daggers. Caitlyn got a quick glimpse of his face before he stared up to the sky; his growing muzzle was already full of razor teeth and extended canines while his green eyes slightly lightened in their sockets. As the final changes set in place, his ears elongated to the top of his skull and an intricate pattern of silver etched markings came forth as they traced from the top of his neck line to the hilt of his tail and a silver-spiked cuff around each wrist. Still in great shape as ever, Jude., the blue tigress thought to herself as she finished sizing the hulky wolf up. The human was now a massive beast compared to the 6 foot tall man with some muscle that he was before. His arms and legs were ripped to the core and his chest nearly barreled out a good distance. The russet brown wolf gained more than two feet of height over the transformation, rising on digitigrade feet to a little over eight feet. With a brief howl up to the sky, the werewolf lowered itself to the ground level as he walked over to the waiting tigress.

"Aaahhh, that feels so much better," remarked Jude as he flexed his back and messed with his wrists. His voice had dropped some in tone from the transformation, sounding mildly deeper than usual. "Mmmm, probably should've taken these off too," he said with a claw pointing down to the remains of his pants.

"Hah, you know there's a lady present here, right?," jestered Caitlyn to the now blushing beast before her. "I kid, I kid, Jude. Though to be fair, you got nothing to be ashamed of with what your packing down there." With a brief look from the feline at his exposed sheath and large balls, Jude rolled his big eyes at her as he strode over to sit back down. "What? Was it something I said?," as Caitlyn said in a sad tone with extended arms, almost like she was stating the obvious to everyone nearby.

"Thanks for the compliment, Cait," sassed the lombax as he stared ideally at the whole conversation. "You can stare at mine any day, you know. Lover boy isn't the only packing, if you catch my drift." Bolt stuck his tongue out as for joking with Caitlyn, especially since he knew how to push her buttons. Flashing him the middle finger, the tigress followed suit with the brown werewolf and made her way toward her chair when she heard a slam from behind her that drew her attention as well as Jude's and Bolt's.

Over on the grey truck, another big figure emerged from the bed of the vehicle with large brown wings extended briefly as the creature dusted the snow remains off it before jumping down. "You three done bickering? I could hear the whole talk while I was flying in," barked the large hawkman that stepped toward them. It was Buzz, who just returned from his flight and collecting the firewood. Standing close to seven feet tall, he was a large avian anthro with the head of a hawk and broad wings/talons to go with it. His body was covered in dark brown feathers that meshed well with the amber beak and eyes that set on his face. He was well-toned with good muscle for a hawk and his arms/knees could be seen with unique yellow X-bands inscribed on them. The snow cracked softly under the grip of his talons as he trudged through the cold ground with not a sign of the chill getting to him.

"Sorry for making y'all wait," Buzz remarked as he scratched the back of his head in embarassment. "I probably should've came back sooner, but I lost track while I was flying," he said with a chuckle.

Stepping out of his seat to stretch his feet, Bolt dusted the loose snow off his khaki's as he walked over to shake the hawkman's hand. Bolt first met Buzz on a research trip to study new tech a few years back, and introduced him to Jude and Caitlyn when they got together last year. "No worries, Buzz. We were just watching Jude let his wolf-side out for some air in the meantime," the lombax mentioned as he gave a firm shake and smile to his fine-feathered friend. "It's good to see you're looking well, old friend."

"The feeling is mutual, old friend. I was looking forward to meeting you and Jude again," Buzz muttered as he shot a look back over at the glaring Caitlyn. "Staying with her for two weeks was worth it for the body-building training, but it makes me have my limits, heh heh." The avian chuckled to himself as Bolt also got a good laugh of it while Caitlyn only shook her head in annoyance at the boy talk.

"You look bigger since I last saw you, Buzz," Jude chimed in as he stood next to his lombax colleague, now dwarfing him in size. "Caitlyn put you to work, I take it?," Jude remarked as he extended a large paw and shook Buzz's hand, nearly ripping it off in the process.

"Indeed she did, Jude. Cait knows her stuff around botany, but she's a master when it comes to self defense training." Flexing a bicep of his, Buzz continued with the ideal chatter. "I'm still nowhere near as ripped as you like that though."

"I wouldn't let this phase you though, man." Jude gestered as he swept an arm down his chest. "This is all for show most of the time" he said we a toothy smile. Bolt could only roll his eyes at the thought as he quickly slapped a pectoral of the werewolf with his hand and reeled in pain for the moment. "Ouch...those things are like concrete slabs to the touch," Bolt yelped as he shook paw back and forth. With a brief laugh from all three other friends as the lombax smirked from how childish he was acting, the four all headed to the vehicles to unload the remaining items for the event.

Buzz had already dropped a few split tree-branches and a stump in the back of the truck when he landed, so he decided to go grab that while Caitlyn took a spare shovel from the truck to start making an open spot for the campfire that had no snow on the ground. Meanwhile, Jude hauled over the ice chest from the trunk while Bolt carried over the bag with the spare lighters and a bag of marshmallows. In a matter of minutes, Caitlyn had cleared a section of dirt to place the firewood while Bolt helped light the fire.

Since the evening was starting to pass by quickly, Jude and Buzz chatted about each other's previous activities as they set up six rocket pods near the side of the rock ledge deep in the dirt. Even Cait and Bolt could be seen having a good laugh by the fire as they popped open some cans of Big Red and Root Beer and strode over to help the two burly men finish setting up the fireworks. Apparently though, nothing could keep the wolf and hawk from having a little more fun as they tested their might against each other. Jude easily got the better of each trade as he took the chest blows in stride and grabbed the hawkman from behind, pinning him against the snow while being careful with his wings. "I got you beat now, man," boasted the large wolf as he grinned at his prey beneath him. However, his smile was quickly lost when he turned his head briefly to the side to be met by a flying blue fist from a certain tigress, sending him skidding in the snow a few feet. "Damn, that's smart," Jude replied as he brushed his wet nose from the blow.

"A girls gotta have some fun too right?" challenged Caitlyn as she slapped her chest as if to edge the wolf on for a showdown. Flashing a toothed-smile back as he rose from the snow, Jude nodded as he charged the tigress with a fast lunge, but was immediately foiled as she side-stepped his blow with lightning speed/finesse and followed up with a spinning kick to his silver-etched back. Losing his footing, Jude plowed face first into the snow in front of Bolt as the lombax pointed and laughed at his colleague with utter amusement. With a crack of her knuckles, the tigress repositioned into her fighting stance and goaded her adversary for another crack at her. Not wanting to suffer another humiliating defeat, Jude motioned out the white flag of defeat as he rose from the ground, smiling all the while as he stepped over to help Buzz get up. "You got him good Cait," cheered Bolt from the sidelines as Caitlyn took a bow.

"You know it." she remarked as she flashed a peace sign for victory. The two burly guys chuckled as they dusted the dirt and snow from their fur/feathers as they all regrouped to have a drink.

"Ok so all joking aside, how should we do this tonight?" questioned Buzz as he sipped a Mug Root Beer.

After pondering to himself for a moment, a light bulb went off in Bolt's head as he paced toward the crate. "I say we each shoot a few off one at time for the hell of it, then save about 6 rockets for a final barrage as a grand finale," proposed the lombax. Shrugging both arms to his side with a Big Red in hand, he stood at attention until all three nodded to him that the idea was good enough for them. "Alright then. Shall we begin?"

Among all three crates that Bolt and Jude brought with them, there were roughly 24 rockets to fire off in total with eight of them being the size of a large glass jar. With each one taking a rocket one at a time, the group gazed in awe and wonder at the spectacle of lights that showered the evening sky with bursting fireworks. From a 5 starred splash of white/blue to a raining shower of brown metallic sparks, the light show brought much joy and relief across everyone's face. The night was becoming a grand memory they would cherish for days to come, but it still needed to be finished in style. With only six rockets remaining as intended, the group went to their positions: Jude knelt on the left side with two big rockets, Caitlyn to his right with a small one with a green spiral, Bolt with two small ones of solid red and blue, and Buzz to round out the far right with a large white pod with star stickers. After the chimed in unison with a countdown from 5 seconds, each friend light their fuses and rushed back together to as they placed their arms over each other's shoulders, even though Jude's were out of Caitlyn's reach. A loud screech could be heard as all six rockets blasted off high into the air in different directions before exploding into a grand shower of cosmic colors.

"Wow...this was way better than I ever thought it would be..." remarked Bolt as he broke the silence of them staring into the lights. All three nodded slowly at his words while still staring forward, entranced by the glorious display.

"Happy Fourth of July, guys and Cait," Jude replied with a warm smile as he looked down at his friends.

"Happy Fourth of July," replied the other three in unison.

As they stepped aside before deciding to go back to their seats to roast some marshmallows, a fun thought struck Caitlyn in the head as she rushed back to her truck. Taking a camera from the front seat, the tigress suggested they take a group photo in the center of the area to mark the occasion. A sound idea it was to be as each of the friends grabbed their drink and walked over to the side of the Blue Mazda. "I'll set the camera on a 30 second time delay to snap the shot," remarked Caitlyn as she adjusted a few gears on the plastic camera and carefully placed it on top of the vehicle, making sure to point it towards them as they stood side-by-side a few feet away with drinks in hand.

"I say we toast with our drinks," suggested the lombax as he extended his Big Red out front. "To the best friends I'll ever come to know. May fortune and luck follow us wherever we go." Bolt said as he glanced to from side to side.

"To the bonds of friendship that will always hold strong, no matter how far away we go from each other," chimed in Jude with a Big Red.

"To the fun times we'll have together for days to come," barked Caitlyn while swinging her Root Beer.

"And to a new tomorrow for us to shape with our own two hands," rallied Buzz on cue.

"Cheers!" shouted all four friends in unison as the green light flashed 3 times before engulfing them in light, capturing the memory of their successful Fourth of July celebration.

Writer's Note: To anyone from the U.S. who wishes to celebrate this day of our independence (even though its actually July 2nd ;3 ), Happy Fourth of July!