FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

"...Are you serious?" said Martin, looking over his latest assignment. "THIS is what you're giving me?"

"Hey, I don't choose the assignments, okay?" said the voice on the other end of the phone. "I got the image, I was told I would be paid, and now I'm asking you to perform your duty to me as my go-to TF agent. Got it?"

"But he's had this done already!" yelled the anthropomorphic crow, looking over the picture his boss had given him. "Not only that, but it was done by HER! And now what, I'm just supposed to follow in her footsteps like always? Is it not enough that her boss literally said I was just a male version of her?"

"Well... you were kinda partially inspired by her," replied the voice. "Just be glad we didn't go with the first plan, because then you REALLY would have had problems trying to separate yourself from her. And anyway, just because the end result is the same doesn't mean that everything else has to be. I mean, if you look at the picture I gave you, you can clearly see that-"

"Alright, fine! I'll do it!" Martin sighed, hanging up the phone. Hey, at least he'd be getting some action, which was good since he hadn't been used at all lately. He reached out and picked up the figure his boss had sent him along with the picture - some character from some cartoon from the 90s or something. Then, without another word, he spread his black wings and took off towards the sky. Now all he had to do was find out where that man was...

Elsewhere, a man by the name of Phil Adler was standing on the edge of a boat, getting ready for his next scuba diving session. He sighed as he changed into his scuba gear, wondering what the chances of him having a nice, normal diving session were. Probably not very likely. He'd been scuba diving multiple times before, and every single time it was the same: he'd find some kind of treasure, and part of it would be a blue orca pendant. Then he'd put the pendant on, and it would transform him into some kind of anthropomorphic orca. The transformation was pretty cool, and he enjoyed it for the most part, but his diving suit would always get destroyed in the process, making him feel super guilty. And of course, he always had to pay to replace it. Sure he could use the rest of the treasure, but it almost never ended up being worth that much, which resulted in him having to use some of his own money on top of it.

And it just kept happening. Every single time he went diving, he'd find that same pendant, and he'd transform into that same orca. And even though he knew what it did, it always enticed him to the point that he could never stop himself from putting it on. Apparently it was cursed or something, and that's why it kept transforming him every time he went out. But hey, he was used to random things constantly transforming him, whether it was turning into an eagle during a football game, a dragon after exploring a cave, or even a cow after finding a cowbell in a field. What was one more form to add to the pile?

But whatever. He continued putting on his gear, finishing by putting the nozzle connecting to his air tank in his mouth. If his previous adventures were anything to go off of, he wouldn't need it for the entire trip, but it would be necessary for at least the first half. With that in mind, he nodded and jumped off the boat, into the water below.

The water was calm and relaxing, and Phil smiled to himself as he dove through it. He always loved diving like this... nothing around but the wildlife and the pure blue that was the ocean. It was a nice escape from life, responsibilities... and sometimes even his humanity. But he was hoping that wouldn't happen this time. Just once, he wanted to scuba dive like a normal person, without transforming into a humanoid sea creature!

Well, so far it looked like that was exactly what was going to happen. Other than a few fish swimming by, he wasn't really seeing anything interesting... so far, this dive was completely uneventful. Normally by now he would have spotted a treasure chest or the blue glow of the orca pendant, enticing him... but nothing like that was happening now. Absolutely nothing out of the ordinary had happened the entire time he was down there. Did this mean that the curse was no longer affecting him? That he could finally dive like a normal person if he wanted to? That's what it looked like... until he noticed something lying on the ocean floor.

It looked kinda like... some kind of action figure? Curious, Phil dove down to have a look at it. He picked it up in his yellow-gloved hand, gasping when he saw what it was. It was a figure of the character Streex, from the 90s cartoon Street Sharks! Funny, he had just been watching that show! Streex had always been one of his favorite characters, though. His cool demeanor, his confidence, the way he skated around on those roller blades of his... heck, Phil even recalled being turned into a slightly altered version of Streex through a pair of roller blades someone sent him! Grinning to himself, he picked up the action figure and held onto it tightly. If it was authentic, he might be able to sell it for a pretty decent price!

As he swam, he continued scanning the ocean floor, looking for anything else that might be of interest. But as he swam, he began feeling something in his arms... a sort of tingle that he recognized immediately. His muscles were starting to shift and grow, and that could only mean one thing: he was transforming again. But... how was that possible? He wasn't wearing the pendant! In fact, he hadn't even seen it the entire time he was down here! How was it transforming him?

His arm muscles grew larger and larger, until his suit finally could take no more. The sleeves immediately ripped open, revealing the strong, muscular arms that his new form had. But wait... the skin didn't look anything like it did when he was in his orca form. Normally it was black, but here it looked more blue... blue with purple stripes...

Realization immediately hit. He groaned, cursing his stupidity. Of course the action figure was doing this to him - why wouldn't it? A lone figure underwater, depicting an anthropomorphic aquatic creature... it was so obvious that it was painful. More tears in his uniform formed as his arms grew even larger, the blue and purple skin becoming clearer and clearer. He was changing all right, but not into an orca. Instead, he was becoming the very character depicted in the figure he picked up: Streex from Street Sharks!

His yellow gloves were starting to bulge now, as his hands were growing larger to match his arms. Finally, they tore open, fully revealing the changes: not only were his hands much larger, but his fingers had been reduced down to only four per hand, and the skin on them had turned purple. Each finger was also tipped with a deadly-looking claw, making his new hands look even more fearsome. Phil made a fist, feeling the power surge through his arms... he felt like he could lift up his boat with a single hand if he wanted to.

But now wasn't the time to start fantasizing, as more changes were starting to take place. His feet began twitching, and he felt them start to grow larger as well, taking up more and more space in his scuba flippers. Finally they broke right through, tearing the flippers apart as they grew. They had become purple like his hands, the toes reduced to three per foot with each one ending in a fearsome claw. That was odd, though, since he didn't remember the original Streex having those features. Unless... maybe he was becoming the alternate version that the roller blades had turned him into earlier! As the thought occurred to him, he suddenly felt the muscles in his legs grow and bulge, tearing apart the legs of his suit. Just like his arms, his legs were blue with purple stripes, and they were full of powerful muscle. Curious, he gave them a slight kick, the power in them becoming more apparent as he did.

As he examined his powerful legs, a twitch from his backside confirmed his alternate version theory. He could feel his spine stretching, growing, pressing against the back of his suit... until it could take no more. The suit quickly ripped apart, and his brand new tail was released, waving in the water. It looked just like a regular shark tail, only with the blue and purple stripes that were present on his other limbs. Well, now he knew that he was becoming his own alternate version of Streex, since the original character didn't have a tail.

His wetsuit was beginning to feel tighter on him, which could only mean that his torso was starting to grow larger as well. As if on cue, his chest suddenly burst through it, looking far more muscular and defined. He felt another surge from his upper back as a dorsal fin suddenly sprouted between his shoulders, knocking his air tank away and causing the nozzle to fall off his mouth. He panicked for a second, knowing that he wouldn't be able to breathe without it, but his next change was about to fix that. A strange feeling enveloped his neck, as if something was trying to form on it... and all of a sudden, he could breathe again. He cautiously reached his hand up to feel his new gills, noting how strange breathing through them felt. It wasn't the first time he'd turned into something with gills, but that didn't make it feel any less weird.

He suddenly felt like something was pushing from within his face, which probably meant that the final changes were about to occur. He opened his mouth, groaning as it grew larger and larger, rows upon rows of razor-sharp teeth replacing his puny human teeth. The blue and purple skin took over his face as it pushed out, his nose stretching to resemble the pointed nose of a shark. His goggles fell off, no longer able to fit his now massive head. With one final roar, he ripped the remains of his clothing off of himself, fully revealing his completely changed body.

He looked down at himself, then at the action figure he was still holding. The resemblance was striking... he looked almost exactly like the character, with the only differences being the tail and clawed feet he now possessed. There was no question that the action figure had done this to him... but why? Was it cursed just like the pendant was? Was he going to turn into this weird version of Streex every time he scuba-dived from now on? Granted, at least he could breath underwater this way, but still! He groaned, swimming back up to the boat he had come in on. Hopefully it would still be able to hold his weight!

He swam to the surface and stuck his head out from under the water, breathing in the sea air. At least he could still breath on land as well - good to know that trait still carried over from when he had first taken this form. He climbed aboard the boat once again, gladly noting that it could still float with him on it. But just as he was about to get ready to start up the boat again-

"Well, well, well. Took you long enough, didn't it?"

"Gah!" Phil spun around, his eyes falling upon the mysterious visitor who had landed on his boat. "What the... who are you?"

Sitting on the side of the boat was an anthropomorphic crow, one wearing a black fedora and a pair of square glasses. He stood up and walked over to Phil, his talons clicking on the bottom of the boat. "I thought you'd never return," he said, grinning through his beak. "But you did. Looks like you found that action figure I dropped for you, huh?"

"Wait... YOU did this?" cried Phil. "Hold on... your voice sounds kinda familiar... where have I heard that voice before?"

The crow only grinned wider. "Does the name 'Martin Fortsona' ring any bells for you?" he asked.

"Martin Fortsona..." Phil gasped. "Wait... that's it! You're the one who turned me into a fennec fox with those headphones that one time!"

"And an eagle-wolf that other time." Martin chuckled, noticing Phil's bewildered expression. "Yes, I was behind that one as well. You didn't really think that wolf attack was just an accident, did you?"

"Um... kinda, yeah." replied Phil. He looked down at himself. "But... why this form, particularly? I mean, I have already been in this form before..."

Martin shrugged. "I don't know. I don't really make these decisions, to be honest." He looked down at the action figure in Phil's hand. "But you've already been in that form on land, so maybe the person who ordered this just wanted to see what it would be like if you took that form in the water."

"Wait... someone's been ordering these changes?" Phil cried. "Who is it? Is it Shade?"

The grin instantly disappeared from Martin's face. "No. It isn't Shade," he said. "Shade has absolutely nothing to do with any of this, okay?"

"Are you sure?" asked Phil, finding Martin's behavior rather suspicious. "This does seem like the kind of thing she would do... not to mention that she was the person that caused me to change into this the first time..." He looked up at Martin, still frowning. "Unless you're not actually taking orders from anyone and you're just trying to imitate her or something..."

Martin's brow furrowed, his taloned fists clenching. "Let me repeat myself," he said, his voice shaking with anger. "Shade does not have anything to do with this. And I would not stoop so low as to 'imitate' her, either. I have far more pride than that."

"You know... you're kinda similar to her, now that I think about it," said Phil, not listening. "I mean, you're both birds, you both enjoy TFing people, you're both mischievous... heck, the two of you could be twins!"

"SHUT UP!" yelled Martin, finally losing his cool. "I'm not anything like her, okay? Just because her boss said that I was-" He suddenly stopped, taking a deep breath. "Sorry, kinda lost my cool there."

"Wait... Shade has a boss now?" asked Phil, totally bewildered. "When did that-"

Martin held up his hand, stopping Phil. "You don't need to know about that, okay?" he said. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to leave before I say anything else to get me in trouble." With that, he spread his wings and took off into the sky. "God, my boss is gonna kill me..."

Phil simply frowned, trying to wrap his head around the conversation he had just had. Was Martin really working for Shade? The more he thought about it, though, the more unlikely it was; after all, Shade wasn't the type to send someone else to do her work for her. But he was working for someone, that much was true. Not only that, but... so was Shade? He looked back down at himself, then shook his head. He would have plenty of time to figure that out later. For now, he needed to focus on getting back to the shore.

Maneuvering his large body over to the boat's engine, Phil started it up, hearing it rev to life. He grabbed the wheel and started driving the boat back to shore, trying to plan out what he would do once he got there. Being a buff shark was pretty cool, but it wasn't going to help him much once he got to dry land. He wasn't even sure if this form was going to wear off, like his orca form eventually did. And of course, he still had to pay for the suit he ruined. Oh well... all he could really do was sail back and hope for the best. Hopefully he wouldn't run into any crazed Street Sharks fans when he got back, too!