FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The next thing I knew, I was lying face down on the bed. My right arm was freezing. Attempting to move it felt like it was surrounded by some sort of thick liquid. "W-what's-?"

"Sorry. I did not expect this kitten's body to give in so easily this time." Guardian Tiger pushed against the bed with our left arm, though even with all of his strength he only managed to pull us up enough to glance down at Leopard Cat's body. "But it worked. We're in."

My eyes widened at the sight. Our entire arm seemed to be buried deep in Leopard Cat's chest. "S-so, this feeling is...?"

"His negative chi, yes." Guardian Tiger began moving our right arm around, pushing through the liquid chi. It offered far less resistance compared to earlier. Seems this stuff inside Leopard Cat doesn't want us leaving. "I bet it feels cold to you, yes? Don't worry. It'll be uncomfortable but you won't freeze."

Every move Guardian Tiger made felt like thousands of tiny, icy needles were pricking my skin. Despite what he said, the cold spread throughout my body. I couldn't stop myself from shivering. "What are you s-searching for?"

"I'm not sure," said Guardian Tiger. "Something. Anything. So far this is just a dark ocean of nothingness." As if to mock Guardian Tiger, our hand brushed up against something smooth and round. "Hmph. Never mind." Guardian Tiger grabbed the object, and as he did, a surge of energy shot through our arm.

Static-filled scenes invaded my mind. Faces that I didn't recognize. People smiling and laughing with each other. The quality of the scenes deteriorated as they came faster and faster. I couldn't keep up with what was happening until the scenes abruptly stopped. The last thing I saw was a person. Their head was in my lap. My hand moved on its own, brushing a strand of their hair back into place and then resting on their forehead. The edges of the scene darkened. The person looked up at me and smiled. And then, nothing.

I blinked and found myself staring back down at my bed again. "W-what the hell was that?"

"A memory, no doubt." Guardian Tiger released the object still in our right hand. Whatever power contained in it before was gone. "Likely a remnant from one of this wicked cat's previous victims."

"So, that person...?"

"Don't dwell on it, Liao. There's nothing you can do about it." Guardian Tiger continued his search. "The memory wasn't from Yan Shu-Chi. We need to keep looking."

"Right..."

The more Guardian Tiger searched, the more memories like the first one we found. Some were happy. Some weren't. Some memories crumbled in our hand before we had a chance to view them. But we didn't have time to search them all. As soon as we figured out they weren't from Senpai, Guardian Tiger threw the memories away. I could feel him getting more and more frustrated with each new memory, tossing them aside with considerably more force than before. "Lin Hu?"

Guardian Tiger didn't answer right away. His search for new memories did not slow down. Finally, he spoke. "...I apologize, Liao. I should have more control." He sighed, and the anger in his actions subsided. "Seeing so much life extinguished for the sake of this selfish yaoguai's desire for power is... frustrating."

"You don't have to apologize for that, Lin Hu. It's... hard for me, too." I looked back down at the unconscious Leopard Cat. He looked calm, despite what was going on inside of him. "It feels... unreal. Seeing all the bad things he's done. It's not something that the Leopard Cat I knew would do."

"You saw the side of him that he wanted you to see," said Guardian Tiger. "The side we saw may very well exist, but you can't ignore reality. This is who he is."

He was right, of course. I thought about everything while Guardian Tiger worked in silence. What are we supposed to do about him? It was impossible for me to think straight right now. My eyes felt heavy, and my body still felt so cold. An immense pressure in my chest made it difficult to breathe. At least the shivering stopped... Maybe I can just take a nap and let Tiger finish this stuff... he seems to know what he's doing. I closed my eyes and let Guardian Tiger's spirit energy catch me again. His body felt so warm.

I heard Guardian Tiger's voice, but it was hard to understand him. "Liao? What are you doing? If you fall asleep, you'll break the possession." Guardian Tiger's giant hand pressed up against my chest and shook my body a few times.

Kulau spoke next. "What wrong with Liao?"

"I'm not sure. He feels cold, but that's just from being in contact with so much negative chi. It shouldn't have any real effect on him."

"Can help. Will warm him up."

"That's not the problem, Kulau. Just keep this yaoguai's chi flowing. I don't want to know what happens if you stop while Liao's arm is this far inside of him." Warmth spread from Guardian Tiger's hand once again, soaking into my chest. Gradually, the pressure restricting my lungs disappeared. The cold retreated, leaving behind only Tiger's presence. "Liao's spirit power is dangerously low... He did use a lot earlier, but he should've recovered by now."

"Spirit power drained? Leopard Cat's doing."

"Impossible! My power was protecting him the whole time. I would have noticed."

"But did not. Only way this happen."

"Are you doubting my ability to protect Liao?!"

"Yes."

My eyes fluttered open as the world came back into focus. Every heartbeat sent a dull pain shooting throughout my body. At least I could breathe now. "Ugh... I feel terrible." I lifted myself up on an unsteady left arm and glanced up at Kulau. The Clouded Leopard was already staring at me with his usual neutral expression. "Guys, what happened?"

"I don't know." Tiger's voice came from my mouth again. "Kulau thinks this yaoguai was draining your spirit power, even while unconscious and under my protection."

"Only way," said Kulau.

Guardian Tiger ignored Kulau. "Just... tell me what you remember, Liao."

"Um, alright. It's a bit fuzzy though," I said. "I remember being really cold. But you told me that was normal. Then I started feeling really weak and tired. It felt like I was about to pass out." In fact, I still felt a bit weak.

"Hmm..." Guardian Tiger growled thoughtfully. "That certainly sounds like you were having your spirit power drained... but how? And why didn't I notice?"

"Told you," said Kulau.

Guardian Tiger let out a frustrated sigh. "I will make sure it does not happen again." As he spoke, a large amount of pressure built in our right arm. The shell that was Guardian Tiger's arm thickened, protecting my own arm with additional layers of his spirit energy. The chill surrounding my arm vanished completely. His excess spirit energy was expelled outward, creating a violent shockwave that rumbled the insides of Leopard Cat and pushed back his negative chi in a wide radius. "That should give us some breathing room."

The force of Guardian Tiger's spirit power surprised me. "Woah, how'd you do that?"

"Hm?" Guardian Tiger resumed his search once more. "I just released a large amount of spirit power."

"But why did it react like that?"

"Oh, that," said Guardian Tiger. "...It's sort of like air. In simplest terms, when you mix really warm air with really cold air on a large scale, you get a storm. Positive chi and negative chi mixing reacts somewhat similarly. The more chi you push together, the more violent it reacts. Of course, chi does not have temperature in the traditional sense. What you felt was just your body's interpretation of how our chi feels."

"As for this..." Guardian Tiger motioned towards the chi inside of Leopard Cat. Small sparks arced between the two clouds of energy as they swirled around each other. "It'll be unstable for a while as my chi battles with this wicked cat's. Once a balance has been attained it will form a new type of chi and reside within Leopard Cat."

"I see... I think I understand now." I said. "You sure know a lot about this stuff."

Guardian Tiger let out a small chuckle. "Well it is basic knowledge for a being composed entirely of spirit energy. I am quite familiar with how chi mixes." Tiger's smile faded. "...And I am also familiar with how it does not separate." My shoulders fell. I'm sure he was talking about Senpai. "...Regardless, we have already come this far. We might as well see your crazy plan through." I let out a small laugh and smiled. I'm glad Lin Hu's putting up with all of this. "In fact... this gives me an idea of my own."

"Huh?"

"I'll explain it later. For now, we really need to find one of Shu-Chi's memories." Guardian Tiger increased the speed of his search. Despite his efforts, we still had nothing to show for it. To make matters worse, the memories grew scarcer the further we explored. Tiger growled his frustration. "How annoying... He's hidden these well."

No sooner than the words left our mouth, our hand brushed against another memory orb. I gasped as a bolt of energy much stronger than any of the past memories shot up my arm.

My vision went black.

Pieces of the world slowly came into focus. Flashing, colorful lights. Arcade machines and their electronic noises combined with the voices of blurry patrons merging into a mess of unintelligible chatter. The last thing to come into focus was... my own face.

"W-what...?"

Leopard Cat's voice came from the mouth that wasn't mine. "C'mon, Liao! Over here!" A furry hand reached out and grabbed mine, pulling me towards one of the dance machines in the back of the arcade. "Ever played on one of these?"

"No, I haven't. I don't have the money to come here often." I watched myself survey the machine. It was one of those dancing games where you tried to mimic what the character on screen did. "Besides, why would we play this? We already dance nearly every day."

"No way, this is totally different!" Leopard Cat stood in the center of empty area in front of the machine. "Just watch me."

This is exactly like my date with Senpai... or Leopard Cat, I guess, from a few days ago... I watched all of the familiar details play out. Senpai danced flawlessly, and then I watched my own sub-par performance from his point of view. He never once laughed at my mistakes or my awkward motions. My heart sank as more of the memory played. Leopard Cat's voice, his face, his emotions... I could feel everything he was feeling.

Leopard Cat wiped away his tears and took a few deep breaths. "I'm so glad you went on this date with me, Liao. No matter what happens, at least I know you care about me."

My chest tightened. Tears of my own threatened to fall, and I swallowed the lump that had formed in my throat. I don't understand this anymore. Leopard Cat said everything was a lie... but this felt so real.

The rest of the memory finished playing. The final image of me and Guardian Tiger, just before Leopard Cat left to return home, lingered for a few seconds before slowly burning away.

"Hmph. This kitten puts on a convincing performance," said Guardian Tiger.

"After all that, you still think he's lying?" Guardian Tiger must've seen the whole thing with me. Did he not feel the same things I did? He was spying on us the whole date, but he probably couldn't hear what we were saying. This should've painted a different picture.

"...Yes. I admit, it felt genuine. But you must understand that that is the point. He must be able to fool his prey. That is how the kitten survives and grows stronger."

"I know... but..." I glanced back down at Leopard Cat's face. "I just want to hear the truth from him."

Guardian Tiger scoffed. "This kitten's been lying to you since the first day he met you. Even his words today were lies."

Wait... today? "What do you mean, Lin Hu?"

"Can't you feel it?" Guardian Tiger squeezed the memory orb still in his hand. It released a large cloud accompanied by a few sparks into the surrounding negative chi. For a split second, I felt something different. Energy that wasn't Leopard Cat's. His body quickly attacked the foreign energy, but unlike with Lin Hu's, the cloud from the memory put up almost no resistance. Soon, the chi had completely disappeared and became indistinguishable from the rest of the energy around us

"I see... so that's how it works. No wonder I couldn't sense any of Yan Shu-Chi in this mess." The orb in Guardian Tiger's hand still crackled with energy, seemingly unaffected by what just happened.

"Was that... Senpai? Did you just... feed part of him to Leopard Cat?!"

"...Yes and no. Yan Shu-Chi is already fully inside of this kitten. All I did was release a little bit from this memory." Guardian Tiger rolled the orb around in his palm, carefully inspecting the surface with his fingers. "What I don't understand is, why is there so much chi in here? He should have absorbed it by now.

"This memory is from just a few days ago. Maybe he hasn't had time?"

Guardian Tiger shook his head. "No. It would take little effort on his part to drain Yan Shu-Chi and be done with it. And what you said just now. Don't you find it strange, Liao?"

"Strange?"

"Think about it." Guardian Tiger tapped the orb in our hands with his thumb. "This memory is most definitely your Senpai's. It's saturated with his energy. Do you think a body with no soul, inhabited by a yaoguai, would be capable of forming new memories for itself?"

It did seem strange now that Guardian Tiger pointed it out. "Does that mean... Senpai's still alive?"

"Liao... You saw his body yourself. You know the answer to that."

"Oh. R-right..." How could I forget that? My shoulders sank as the image of Senpai laying on the floor reappeared in my mind.

"But this is still good news for us, Liao. It means your Senpai was, in some way, very much alive just a few days ago. Our chance of success just went way up."

"Really?!"

"Don't get your hopes up just yet. Extracting his soul from this kitten still won't be easy. But if we can do that..."

"Well, what are we waiting for?" I could barely contain my excitement. A strange mixture of eagerness and dread swirled around of me, settling into a lump in the pit of my stomach.

"Hold on. I still have no idea how to separate Yan Shu-Chi's and this kitten's energies." Guardian Tiger squeezed the orb in his hands once more. Just like before, a cloud of energy was released and quickly absorbed.

"But we're so close, Lin Hu! We can't give up now."

Lin Hu laughed. "I never said anything about giving up, Liao. I told you I had a plan." As he said that, Guardian Tiger began pouring spirit power out of his hand and onto Senpai's memory orb, coating the surface of it in a thick layer of his energy. "I've noticed this kitten's body has trouble absorbing my chi. Maybe I can use that to my advantage."

Guardian Tiger squeezed the orb a third time, harder than any of the previous attempts. The memory released a massive cloud of chi, however, this time it was encompassed by a shell of Guardian Tiger's spirit energy. The inside of Leopard Cat rumbled intensely, as if Guardian Tiger had triggered an earthquake. Negative chi swarmed us from every direction, collecting on the surface of the sphere created by Guardian Tiger. Sparks arced from the friction between the opposing forces, and I could feel the surface of Lin Hu's chi eroding against the negative chi's influence.

Guardian Tiger grunted against the pressure. "This kitten's putting up more of a fight than I expected." Surges of energy pulsed down our arm. Lin Hu seemed to be struggling to replenish the energy Leopard Cat was stealing. I wish I could help him somehow, but I have no idea what to do. "But... it's working...!"

"No way..." I couldn't believe it. Small amounts of chi had begun seeping through Lin Hu's barrier. It was identical to the chi inside of the memory orb. My wonder was short-lived, however, as the flow of chi suddenly stopped. Lin Hu let out a frustrated growl before withdrawing, pushing all of Senpai's energy back into the memory orb and absorbing his own spirit power back into his body. The rapid uptake of energy seared Guardian Tiger's hand, and he reflexively let go of Senpai's orb. Thanks to Tiger's protection I didn't feel anything other than the intense warmth of spirit power flowing back into our bodies. Meanwhile, Guardian Tiger was gasping for breath.

"Are you alright?" I asked.

"Yes, I'll be fine." Guardian Tiger felt around inside of Leopard Cat for the memory orb he had dropped, scooping it back into our hand. "Just used up a lot of spirit power. Not sure how much of that I can take."

"We didn't recover much of Senpai, either..."

"Unfortunately. But it wasn't a wasted effort. We proved it was possible. We just need to do it better." Guardian Tiger said it so casually that I couldn't help but let out a small laugh. "We're also running out of time. Kulau's almost at his limit, and my spirit power won't last forever. Our next attempt will likely be our last."

I glanced up at the Clouded Leopard. He looked much worse than before, like he was barely holding on. All of his focus was on Leopard Cat and the stream of negative chi flowing out of him. The ball of chi in Kulau's hand hadn't grown much. Whatever he was doing was working, but it was taking a toll on his body.

"...Alright. What's the plan, then?" I asked. Guardian Tiger was already on the move, searching through Leopard Cat's body again. At the same time, I could feel his spirit power building up in our arm.

"As I said, we're going to do what we did before, but better. I'll need time to concentrate my remaining spirit power," said Guardian Tiger. "This kitten puts up a good fight. Even though I am stronger than he is, I'm fighting against all of his energy with about half of mine."

That made sense. Leopard Cat had the home advantage here, and Lin Hu pouring all of his spirit power into the smaller cat seemed like a bad idea to me. After all, he needed spirit power to maintain his form. "Can I help? I'm feeling much better now."

"Hrm... A little extra spirit power could make a huge difference. But are you sure you're feeling okay now?"

I nodded even though I knew Guardian Tiger couldn't see it. "Yeah, I'm sure."

"...Okay. Just promise me you won't push yourself too hard. If you feel lightheaded or weak again, you should stop immediately."

"Alright, I promise."

The back of our hand brushed up against something. Another memory flooded my mind, this time of our trip to the hot springs. Through Leopard Cat's eyes, I saw him floating around the steamy water occasionally splashing it at me and the other two cats. Leopard Cat was mainly focused on me, however, I did have a nice view of Clouded Leopard's exposed body from this angle. ...Wait.

The memory faded. Guardian Tiger was already inspecting the orb with his hand. "This one does not have as much power in it as the other, but it still has more than it should."

I heard what he said, but I was already focused on something else. "Hey, Lin Hu... are you sure these are Senpai's memories?"

"Absolutely. You do not store your own memories in your chest, do you?"

"Well, no... There's just something I don't understand. If these are Senpai's memories, why am I seeing you and Kulau in them?"

"That's..." Guardian Tiger paused. "Huh. I didn't realize it until your brought it up, but that IS strange. Perhaps being possessed by this kitten allowed Yan Shu-Chi to see other spirits."

"If this works... is he gonna remember you guys?"

"It's unlikely Yan Shu-Chi was able to see spirits before this. Assuming he does remember what happened this month, it will probably feel no more real than a dream," said Guardian Tiger. "But let's not get ahead of ourselves. We still haven't saved him yet." As he spoke, Guardian Tiger enveloped the two memory orbs with his spirit energy and pushed them against each other. The surfaces of the orbs warped against the pressure before collapsing altogether. In place of the two orbs now stood a single orb containing the energy of both. "Just as I thought. The form may be different, but chi is still chi. That makes things easier."

"What did you do?" I asked. "And how did you find another one of Senpai's memories so quickly?" It had taken forever for us to find the first one, but Tiger seemed to have known exactly where to find the next.

"I simply merged the two memories. They are the same energy from the same body, so they already belong together," said Guardian Tiger. He grabbed the combined orbs and started in a new direction. "As for how I found the next memory... Once we found the first, the auras of the others were revealed to me. It's like... once you know what you're looking for, it becomes easier to locate."

What Tiger said did make sense to me. It's clear I still had a lot to learn about all this chi stuff. After his explanation, the two of us explored the rest of Leopard Cat's body, collecting the rest of Senpai's memories along the way. In the span of a few minutes, I relived all of the important events that had happened in the last month, but through Leopard Cat's eyes. Eventually, we had gathered all of the memories Guardian Tiger could sense.

Meanwhile, a massive amount of Tiger's spirit power had gathered in our right arm. I added as much of my own as I could, but it felt like drops in a bucket compared to what Tiger had produced.

"Alright, it's time. Are you ready, Liao?" asked Guardian Tiger.

"Yeah. Let's do this," I replied.

Guardian Tiger maneuvered us one last time towards what I assumed was the top of Leopard Cat's body. I could feel the surrounding negative chi flowing around us.

"This is the point where the chi being drained by Kulau is leaving the kitten's body," said Guardian Tiger. "After we've extracted the last of your Senpai's chi, we'll release it here for Kulau to collect. Then we'll need to get out of here, fast."

"Why's that?" I asked.

"Releasing so much of your Senpai's chi this close to the draining point will be like opening a floodgate. Kulau will not be able to hold back anymore," explained Guardian Tiger. "And yet, it is necessary. Otherwise Yan Shu-Chi's energy will simply be reabsorbed by this cat's body. We'll only have a short window to pull your arm out of Leopard Cat before our access point closes."

I swallowed. I don't think I want to find out what happens if my arm ends up stuck in here.

"All we need to do now is reach as much of this cat's chi as possible with my remaining spirit power. I just need to figure out the best way to approach this..."

"Oh." Something suddenly came to me. "Well, if you want to cover a lot of area, you should make a bunch of spikes rather than using a sphere. You end up with a lot more surface area compared to volume so you should have an easier time reaching more negative chi," I said. Guardian Tiger's eyes widened and he blinked a few times in response. "What? It's something I learned in class a while back when we talked about surface area."

"I'm just surprised that you paid attention in class," said Guardian Tiger bluntly. "You seem to have issues with that."

"Only recently, and only because of you guys!" I said in response. They really have been an almost constant distraction since their arrival.

"Liao, I've been watching you for far longer than a month. I admit we've caused you a few problems, but you can't blame this all on us."

"Ugh, whatever!" I could feel my face heating up. I forgot Tiger's been around me my whole life, making it impossible to hide my bad habits from him. "You know what to do, let's just start already."

Guardian Tiger smiled. "Very well."

Power rushed out from the surface of Guardian Tiger's arm. Dozens of thin spikes of energy pierced downwards into Leopard Cat's negative chi. As Guardian Tiger's energy spread further, each spike branched off into additional spikes. After only a few seconds, a vast network of Tiger's chi had materialized inside of Leopard Cat.

And that's when hell broke loose. Initially pushed back by the force of Tiger's expanding energy, Leopard Cat's chi came back in full force, slamming against the intruding energy from every direction. Guardian Tiger grunted heavily against the assault. Each impact chipped away at Tiger's spirit power, however, this time he had built up enough reserve energy to withstand the attacks.

Just like before, every bit of Tiger's energy stolen by Leopard Cat's body left behind some of Senpai's energy, energy that Lin Hu quickly pulled in. Massive streams of chi flowed in from all over and converged on the orb still held in Tiger's hand. I almost couldn't believe what was happening, despite experiencing nearly the same thing just a short while ago.

"!" Tiger's eyes widened. For a brief moment, I felt a chill run through Tiger's network. A small amount of dark energy rushed towards the orb and was forced into it with the rest of Senpai's chi. The contents of the orb darkened and rumbled in protest, but quickly returned to normal.

"Lin Hu? What was that?"

"Sorry, Liao. I let some of this kitten's chi leak through. It should be fine as long as I don't let too much in," responded Guardian Tiger. "But I'm burning spirit power way too quickly." As Tiger said that, I felt the edges of his energy network shrinking. No, shrinking wasn't accurate. It's more like it was... dissolving. His extended spirit power wasn't returning to our bodies, it was just disappearing faster and faster into Leopard Cat. "I'm almost at my limit here."

Sure enough, Lin Hu's network of energy was already down to half its original size. The flow of Senpai's chi was slowing as well. More and more bits of negative chi were leaking through. Tiger's breathing became labored as he tried to keep up. Whole sections of his network started collapsing, sending surges of negative chi towards us. Unable to replenish the missing spirit power, Tiger severed his connection with the compromised areas. Huge chunks of his spirit power vanished in seconds, lost to the void of Leopard Cat's body.

"I'm gonna have to call it here soon, Liao. I don't have much left," said Tiger. Despite what he said, Tiger didn't withdraw his remaining spirit power. Instead he continued drawing in as much of Senpai's energy as he could manage. "Brace yourself, Kulau."

Kulau just nodded in response, and with that, Tiger let out a cry as he applied all of his might against the orb in his hand. The orb groaned against the pressure as the surface of it cracked in several places.

"Lin Hu, you're gonna crush it!" I said.

"That's the idea!" he yelled back. Senpai's spirit power started to leak from the cracks. The entire surface of the orb was crumbling against Tiger's effort, and with one last yell, what was left of the orb shattered. It was just as Lin Hu predicted. All the spirit power we had collected exploded into the surrounding area, knocking both Leopard Cat's and Lin Hu's energy away. "Kulau! Now!"

Kulau sensed the change in atmosphere and was already making his move. His restraint from earlier was gone, replaced by a whirlwind of energy leaving Leopard Cat's body. Even parts of Lin Hu's arm were being stripped away by the force of Kulau's draining.

Seeing his chance, Guardian Tiger pushed against the grip of Leopard Cat's body. He lifted our bodies enough to be able to press our left hand against Leopard Cat's shoulder and used the smaller cat's body as a foothold to pull our arm free. As soon as we were out, Guardian Tiger jumped off of the bed and away from Leopard Cat. I immediately felt Tiger's spirit energy leave my body, and I turned around in time to watch him stumble backwards and crumple against the wall.