FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The afternoon shines brightly during a mostly cloudless day, casting it's light over a large and lone cliff overlooking the expansive region its current occupant calls home. The wind blows gently, carrying the scents of spring while an unusually large and even-more unusually black charizard rests on his side at the peak of the towering plateau.

He was a true brute of his species, easily a foot larger than most of his kind and with scales of polished onyx that shone brilliantly in the right light. He carried the typical pronounced gut of his species, dense defined muscle filled out his impressive form regardless and more than enough of a display to signal his fitness without the need for the piercing glare of his acute crimson eyes. He was Atlas, the retired leader and co-founder of the local explorers guild. His name carried tremendous weight here and in the neighboring regions, he and his partner had accomplished over years what most thought impossible in his tenure. They had beaten back threats and solved mysteries that even the finest fighters and sharpest minds had struggled with.

And now? A couple years after the climax of his greatest achievement, his penultimate battle alongside his most trusted comrade that shook the entire region and even now bore the deep physical scars in its terrain? There was nothing. Nothing left to accomplish, nothing left to challenge him or improve himself. He heaved a heavy sigh, enclosed fist supporting his head as he lounged and stewed in thoughts of boredom and increasingly bitter frustration.

What's the point in a great burning flame or beaming star in the night sky if there are none to witness it or feel the warmth? Would the flame not spread? Dare it die out..?

The last thought made him shudder and grunt, kicking a rock over the edge before a presence made itself known behind him. Looking over his shoulder he blew gouts of flame from his nose and sighed looking back over the landscape.

"What is it this time, Sable?" he grumbled with an all too familiar sigh to the similarly shimmering violet-haired Zoroark behind him. His former partner was an impressive example of his species himself, marginally taller than average but sleek and devilishly handsome. The fox's gentle amethyst eyes scanned over the lounging lizard before he folded his arms and heaved him own sigh of frustration.

"Atlas..what are you doing?" he asked as his friend responded with little more than a scoff. "The Mudsdales reported that you burned down some of their newest saplings at the berry farm.." he stated with disappointment budding on agitation from an increasingly familiar situation of scolding the once-noble dragon.

"They needed trees removed. I removed them" Atlas responded gruffly.

"Not THOSE trees, Atlas" replied the fox with equal grit and rubbed his temples in annoyance, he was perhaps the only mon willing to stand up to the absurdly powerful reptile. He held the illustrious title of the second-most powerful pokemon in the region and current leader of the guild. The midnight kitsune had always been the more analytical and mechanical of the pair, often the one to plan out, investigate or examine as Atlas charged in with a fiery passion and infectious enthusiasm. "This is getting out of hand, the good will of the town isn't going to last forever" he gestured with an outstretched arm, "You've been a vandal and a nuisance for nearly a year now. It's heartbreaking for everyone to see their idol turning into a bully".

"They would be the ones to know" Atlas sneered, "They gave us plenty of that when we arrived" a gout of smoke puffing from his nose before again looking back over the lands with an air of dismissal.

"Oh it CAN'T be about that!" Sable scoffed, his arms folding out as he swung one arm outward and back in a dismissive motion. "That was almost a decade ago, Atlas. The townsfolk hated and feared us because of Doom Crew's rumors" he barked as his brow furrowed, "You didn't even get the worst of it, everyone feared me from the beginning thanks to my ability to project illusions" remembering the small gang of houndour and poochyena hooligans that terrorized the town when the pair had first arrived vulnerable and afraid.

"But we proved them wrong! We showed our merit and discredited every single one with our actions. We earned everyone's trust and they made it up to us, Atlas" Sable shouted to Atlas's uncaring and deflecting gestures. "They all apologized, they helped us build the guildhall. Even the Doom Crew came around eventually" he continued, "We've built our lives and reputations here. These people are our family!" his teeth barred as a lump formed in his throat.

Sable's arms trembled for a moment before he heaved a sigh, lowering them as his shoulders went slack. "I'm tired of us only seeing each other these days just for this.." he sighed looking to Atlas shimmering in the sun. "I miss my friend, Atlas. What happened to that bright and brave golden charmander I used to know?" he asked in a sinking solemn tone. "Why are you doing this? Just taking what you want, damaging things carelessly and pushing everyone around" he exhaled. "You're giving the guild a bad name and ruining your own. I can't make excuses for you anymore".

Atlas rumbled with budding guilt in his core, his flames died down for only a moment at Sable's words. They had been together through so much, only each other to lean on when the going got tough. They were brothers, and even so it was hard for the zoroarks words to pierce the charizards formidable pride. It was an ego earned not only by his superior body and evolution, but the mountain of accomplishments that few if any other pokemon had ever achieved in the long weathered history of their world.

"I'm bored, Sable" Atlas finally admitted as the fox's ears perked. "What is there left to do? My best days are behind me..Why should I even care what others think?" he growled, "I have enough fame, wealth and power to ride out anything and everything. There's nothing left to impress or thrill me" he uttered bitterly before the flame flared once more.

"That's what this is about? Entertainment!?" Sable growled with frustration, "I've offered a dozen times for you to help me run the guild and train up the new teams. To help them explore and even set up some practice dungeons!" he barked, "Everything we've been though and you can't honestly-" he began before Atlas cut him off with a shout. "I'm not interested in babysitting or games anymore!" he hissed as flames flickered and billowed through his own snarling grimace.

The heat in the air brought a budding tension, almost palatable between the two titans as dark energy flowed like strings of dye in clouded water along Sable's fur in response and left the air unnaturally heavy. Legendarily powerful pokemon who had reached some of the greatest heights and now, it looked as though one might risk a fall..

Sable clenched his fists and pulled himself straight, a slight glare of frustration and sadness on his expression as he was the first to back off. "I've been trying, Atlas. We all have" he sighed and stepped back readying himself to leave. "None of us can get though that massive ego of yours anymore and it's reaching a boiling point" he glared gesturing with a pointed finger to the lounging fiery reptile. "You're becoming exactly what we fought so hard against. I'm warning you now. Look where all those criminals and monsters we stopped wound up. There will be a reckoning if you don't clean up your act" he spoke with an unusually grim tone in his normally calm and concise voice.

And with that he was gone, Atlas couldn't even get a word in before his former partner had vanished with that warning delivered. "Whatever" he grunted dismissively, closing his eyes and trailing a claw in the rock as its surface seared and bubbled from the intensity of his controlled heat.

---

Day 1

---

Atlas's reckoning would arrive sooner than he could have expected. By late morning he heaved a laugh, flying away with the gardening tools and basket of berries from an infuriated aipom that had been harvesting in the forest. He casually landed at his perch upon the cliffs, carelessly tossing the tools to the side and grabbing a handful of berries to bite into forcing juices to gush from the breached pulps and run messily down his claws and forearm.

As he munched his breakfast and smacked his lips without a hint of grace or shame, chewing noisily while surveying his domain he heard footsteps once more. He didn't even need to look back to know who was there, the sounds were deliberate, his presence purposefully announced. "What do you *chew* want, Grim?" Atlas huffed, dragging his tongue along his lips licking his chops clean of the excessive juices that sizzled and popped adding a sweetened aroma to the heated air around him.

A light tap struck Atlas's wing. A rock? Some sort of attack?

A light enveloped him, a deep glowing red that blurred his vision and made him tingle. He dropped his berries suddenly feeling unsteady as the world almost appeared to shift under his feet. There was a snap and it stopped. Atlas felt odd, his mind buzzed for a moment before shaking himself from the daze and soothing chill that entered and ran along his nerves as quickly as it left.

Atlas glowered, fanged bared as he turned quickly, steering his fury towards the indignant fox. "Just what the hell do-!" he snarled before pausing mid-sentence in utter shock. His gaze met the knees of the grinning zoroark suddenly towering over him, the beast large enough to block out the morning sun and cast the shiny alpha in darkness.

In Sable's hand was some sort of weird ball, red on top and white on the bottom while his other hand was pressed to his hip smugly. "W-wha-guh...Sable!?" Atlas squeaked, gasping at his own voice as he covered his snout and spoke again. "W-what is..what happened? What did you DO! What is..THAT??" he stammered and sputtered. His voice had gone from a deep and hoarse tone of authority to a boyish and soft hum better suited to a hatchling than a legendary zard like himself!

"What I'm doing is saving you from yourself~" he hummed cheerfully. Atlas tried to speak again but the fox casually placed a clawed digit against the shrunken pokemons lips to hush him. "A traveling merchant sold me some sort of ancient human prison device" he answered quite happily and tossed the ball lightly in his palm, rolling and bouncing it with his dextrous claws.

"I can't say I honestly understand fully how it works. But I do know it's harmless and stopping it early by closing the ball doesn't seal the pokemon" he hummed and grinned mischevously leering over his shrunken friend, "It seals their strength~".

"M-my strength..?" Atlas gulped, feeling himself over before hurredly dashing to what was once a small hand mirror but now was almost a full body one for him as he looked himself over. He was still every bit the handsome zard as before, but shrunken to less than a third of his original height. By estimate he had to be a little over a foot and a half, shorter than even the average charmander..

Without missing a beat he spun around to the smug Fox. "TURN ME BACK! The hell is your problem!?" he snarled as Sable simply smirked and stood upright once more rolling the device in his palm. "I told you there'd be a reckoning. Words were getting nowhere with that ego of yours so you forced my hand" he answered watching the diminutive pokemon huff and tense trying his best to be intimidating and failing miserably.

"So what? Just gonna suck up my powers and leave me weak forever, huh asshole??" Atlas all but squeaked with the ferociousness of a toasty mouse. A dismissive paw waved as Sable smiled and chuckled, "You know I wouldn't do that. But you could use a reminder of how it feels to be weak and vulnerable. To need others" he chimed. "Ever since you evolved you became increasingly mercurial. You need a serious dose of humility" he stated sternly and poked the dragons snout, "You'll get your powers back if and when you earn the forgiveness of everyone in town for your actions".

"And how the fuck do you expect me to do that?" Atlas scoffed, his little arms folded defiantly.

"Just so happens I can help you there. I have a rough personal list of chores and jobs from all those you've wronged~" Sable chuckled to the steaming fury of the increasingly flustered and helpless reptile below him. "So what? You're just forcing me into slavery to pay off everyone?" Atlas grumbled, "Why help in the first place if this is to teach me a lesson?" he sneered mockingly and fumed. "Because there's a wide disparity between helping a friend with some tough love and malicious punishment" Sable shot back. "I'm helping you the only way you'll respond to. And if you don't want my help or advice it's totally voluntary, however you make it up to everyone is your choice" he returned as Atlas rolled his shoulders leaned his head back letting out a sighing groan of annoyance.

Pulling his head forward again he huffed and relented, the sooner he got this over with the sooner he'd be giving his "brother" a piece of his mind as his 7ft self. "Fine...What's first on your precious list?" he muttered to the sly fox in reluctant defeat and closed his eyes while taking a long slow breath.

"Well first things first I spoke with the Mudsdale farm" he smiled as his tail wagged and flagged slightly finally making some progress in tempering the wild arrogance of his longtime friend and colleague after a year of constant dead-ends and arguments.

Atlas sighed, his toe claws tacking on the stone as he folded and squeezed his arms. "Damnit.."

****

The sun was setting in a soft crimson by the time Atlas was able to weakly flutter and fly his way home. Flying was somehow even more difficult with his tiny body, a effort that was adding to an already full day of strain and labor. He barely managed to claw his way into his personal rocky home and perch before rolling over into the large bundle of coal and sticks that composed his bed. Often he set it all alight and rested in the licking flames with a single breath. Today however he was simply too exhausted and crawled to its center to slump and groan.

He had forgotten what actual exertion felt like. The Mudsdales had been willing to forgive him if he spent the day helping them plant new tree's and rip up weeds. The task was normally a bit too fine for their massive hooves for them not to tear up the turf trying to abolish a single thistle. His once proud flamethrower had been completely ineffective, now closer to a weak streaming ember that could barely catch and keep a consistent flame on a great deal of the foliage.

He'd resorted to yanking them from the soft dirt, huffing and tugging with all his little might as he fell repeatedly into the mud or fell to his knees suffering through the indignity while tugging and grunting as he uprooted one after another and cursing Sable's name. He heaved and huffed straining his now weak and vulnerable form, his muscles burned, straining to pull out each prospective invasive plant as though he were some freshly-hatched weakling. It frustrated him to no end, one day able to uproot a tree with a single arm, the next he's struggling to yank out a single stubborn herb with only the thoughts of frustration and planned revenge to fuel his tiny muscles. Not that he planned to hurt Sable in any way, but that ball was going straight up his vulpine ass if he had anything to say about it.

Atlas grumbled and huffed, his eyes weary from the excessive strain and labor. His body was covered in the filth of a days toil and honest work, a light sweat glistened off his entire body, his heat not even intense enough to immediately evaporate it anymore as he rolled in what little fabric he could find and passed into a long deep sleep doing his best to dismiss thoughts of what tomorrow would bring.