FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

But I suppose that that is something that will just have to wait for another time as Hammer opens up a door and I see three people sizing me up. It seems that the process that made me into what I am really likes using Earth animals to change people into. Of the five of us we have a fox, some kind of lizard-like thing, a feline of some sort, a horse that towers over us and a hyena. Not knowing what else to do I bow forward as a greeting, the weight of the book and being unused to these legs almost make me fall forward.

"Everyone," Hammer begins as I try and steady myself. "I would like to introduce you all to Rose, our new member to our squad. Rose, this is Jack, Glass and Tower," he points to the feline, the hyena and the horse. I suppose Tower would be quite the fitting name for something that big.

"Why do we fucking have to deal with the green lass? Why couldn't we have kept Archer and let the fucking team that screwed up pay for it with her?" the feline complains in a strong Irish accent. "No offense lassie," he adds quickly.

"Because they lost their squadron leader and it would probably doom the team by forcing them to take up a fresh combatant. They needed someone with experience so they got Archer. And since you feel so adamant about complaining, perhaps you should be the one they shadow for our mission tomorrow night." Hammer retorts.

"Fucking hey," Jack shouts in response, gesturing wildly.

"Relax," Glass laughs. "It'll suit you well. You don't typically get into the thick of it anyway."

"Not if I'm doing my job right. A good sniper should never have to throw a single punch. Thus why these are wasted on me."

Tower has been staring at me quietly the entire time, as such it is almost surprising when the quiet, deep voice speaks up. "What element?"

"Fire and healing." Hammer responds for me.

Tower simply nods at the information, the equine face completely unreadable, but I can definitely detect a look of disdain on the other two. I notice one thing that annoys me. None of them are wearing the dress that is my uniform. Jack seems to be wearing the intermediary outfit. Hammer and Tower seem to be wearing almost nothing at all. Both are completely bare chested. Hammer is wearing little more than a loin cloth and leggings. Tower is wearing what looks like it used to be pants, but torn quite heavily. Glass is just wearing simple body armor, like she just repainted a SWAT uniform. Feeling somewhat insecure I turn around and put my book along the wall.

"Great," Jack complains. "In other words fucking useless. We have to give up Archer and got a nursemaid in return."

"What rating?" Tower asks, ignoring Jack's comment.

"I don't understand," I reply, not remembering any rating system that was said to me or even reading anything in the book that mentioned a rating system.

"For our sake of convenience we have given everything a rating from H to A on how much damage it can either dish out or take. A rated H attack is something that can create a fist sized crater in sand. Each rank up is twice that size. For the defensive side of things it is what rating you can take no problem. So find the highest rated attack that can be taken without any real damage and then go up by two. So if an Enemy is F rank or higher then an H ranked attack will have little to no effect on them. On top of that it gives a good idea to the level of attacks they can dish out on a regular basis. Another thing of note is how your own rating will change from day to day. We are all usually rated to be a C in our released state. Then assuming we have no acceptance our rating will drop one each day. So a C today, D tomorrow, E the next and so forth. Did you learn any offensive spells yet?"

"Projected Flame," I nod, still trying to absorb all this rating stuff. But I figure with all things I'll eventually get the hang of it.

"Bah, that's only a D class. If that's the best you can do then I only give you a week. Guess we'll just have to give you a lot of really heavy duty gear."

"Hush," Glass defends.

"In any rate that will have to wait till later. This isn't a meet and greet. This is a combat training session. So let's get started with some warm ups."

Combat training is a very tiring thing. Naturally I sucked at it and the assurance that everyone does poorly at first isn't much of a consolation. Especially during the parts I had to train against someone else. The only one that didn't typically give me a few more bruises to my growing collection of them was Jack. And then mainly because he was at best half-assing it if not taking it easy on me. But I'm sure it must be for my own good to go through all this. I will also admit by being prone to being distracted a lot. My body felt differently, moved differently. Everything I did just reminded me of the fact that the way my body felt when doing things was much different than what I would expect. Constantly pointing out that I wasn't in my own body and was something I had to reject with all my will, even if it did move much easier than my actual body. This accursed body might be weak, but it certainly was pretty fast and agile.

And even more thankfully the things on my chest don't really get in my way. I know full well what they are, but a part of me feels that to acknowledge them for what they are would be an act of acceptance for not only what they are but what they represent. I can feel them move a little bit as I run or swing, but it isn't that much. I can only imagine the difficulty I would have in trying to survive if I had to deal with six things constantly bouncing around. That doesn't mean they aren't a bother. They are more sensitive than the rest of my chest or my arms, so getting hit on one of them stings a lot. Not as much as that three foot long appendage sticking out of my ass, though. That thing really doesn't like getting abused at all. Though I suppose by now it has probably shrunk by a few inches. I know my nose and whiskers have. Well not by inches but I can tell that they're smaller.

Training lasts for about an hour and a half. Then as if by some wordless cue everyone stops and leaves, as if everyone else stopped existing for all of them. Well except for Jack, who proceeds to flip everyone off and call them all cunts. My own priorities after being let go is first find where my room is so that I can drop off my book, then find the spell I need to heal my body. After that don't know. Maybe explore this place for a while. Who knows, perhaps I'll luck out and find who I need to talk to to get some underwear. Besides, I'm sure it wouldn't be too hard to track me down if they needed me for anything. And mission tomorrow means no mission tonight. Whether or not it is a mixed blessing. Though I'm not entirely sure I'll be ready tomorrow anyway. Being told to go kill others is one thing, actually having to do it is another matter entirely.

My fireball is only a D, huh? Going by what they said that would mean it would make a crater in the sand sixteen times the size of my fist. That would mean what? A five food diameter explosion? And yet this body is rated to C, so my fireballs would hurt, just not do a lot of damage. So then just what is this body made of? Though that analogy doesn't make a lot of sense. After all, what would a bullet be rated? Because I doubt that a gun fired into the sand would make a fist sized crater. Dunno, it just seems weird. Might have just been a bad analogy and was mainly stating that each rank up is twice as powerful.

Course I also remember that fire spells tend to be larger but slower. Lightning spells, though, are usually only about the width of a finger but can pack quite a punch really quickly, if you can hit with it. That seemed to be the gist of Lightning magic. Really strong, really fast, really small, really hard to control. Thus much better suited to close combat. Wind magic is the best at long range but tends to not be much good at close range. By comparison, my element, fire, is pretty mediocre across the board. Not the strongest or weakest. Not the fastest or slowest. Not the best at offense or defense but is all right at both. In essence the worst element for someone who specializes but the best element for those who may need to adapt.

I manage to backtrack to about where the rooms are and spend a moment fumbling around a bit, looking for which pocket I had put the key. I was so overwhelmed at first that I didn't really pay attention to where I put it. I have half a moment of panic as I can't seem to find it at first. That would certainly be embarrassing. To have lost my key the first day of arriving here. But I do find it in a pocket almost hidden in the folds of this dress. I keep hold of the key in one hand while still holding the book in both. After getting the number I need I start to walk around, looking at the numbers trying to get a sense of how they work, made worse by the fact they are not all numbers. It takes me a few minutes to realize they are in a hex pattern built at a diagonal. I reach my door and step inside. I place my book on the table and flip to a page for healing bruises and begin casting it, moaning in relief slightly as all my aches and pains are replaced by a general fatigue.

With a sigh I plop down onto the bed, taking of the first time since I got here a chance to rest. I consider briefly just curling up under the sheets and taking a nap, hoping to wake up and have had it all be just a bad dream. But there's too much to do. With another long sigh I pull myself out of bed and close my book gently so as to preserve the spine. I go over to my closet and pull out my intermediary uniform and grab the pants and slip them on so that I'm at least wearing something down there. I can definitely tell why these are the day two uniform, they fit but with how my legs are currently structured they are not very comfortable. Eh, consider it an act of defiance. If my legs were normal I wouldn't be having this issue. I do end up using the tail slit for my tail Felt way too weird having it above the pants and too bulky to hide in a pant leg.

I brush out my dress a bit and look at my hands, in particular the umber colored fur on the back of them. If it weren't for the fur they'd look almost normal. But I can fix that. I light one of my hands with a bit of fire magic and begin rubbing it against the back of the other. There is no pain. I had half expected to have had to cure myself inflicted burns. But it doesn't hurt. At first I think it might have been a pointless venture but then my nose wrinkles up as the smell of burnt fur permeates the room. I lift me hand and see the other pretty much now devoid of fur, but otherwise unharmed. So my body is fireproof but my fur is not. So that's a thing. As I begin work I half consider doing it to my whole body but then I rationalize. All I know is my hands are fire proof. Having the thing spewing out and handling fire magic be immune to burning makes sense. Having the entire body fireproof and not the fur, much less so. Once done I look at my handiwork before heading out the door to go explore the place.