FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

"You sure he went this way?" The muscular blue dragon asked.

"Pretty sure." Jason replied. "I'm sure he just wanted to get away from everyone for a bit, David. You know how Tyler is."

The blue dragon frowned. Tyler was a bit of an introvert and he knew his brother wasn't comfortable in prolonged social situations. He also knew that the particularly powerful personalities most of his friends had wore down Tyler's social energy faster than others might. But David still figured that Tyler would at least say something before he quite literally ran off into the woods. Especially not when they had been complaining about feeling weird last night after having an allergic reaction from that bug that bit him. David hadn't even known Tyler had allergies and they had been together nearly their entire lives.. From the way Tyler reacted they had been just as surprised.

"Yea but like, Tyler's not stupid." David eventually responded to his muscular leonine friend. "He's not an outdoorsy type but he should be smart enough to not go running off into the wilderness when camping in an unfamiliar area. "And how do you even know he went this way?"

"Tracks." Jason replied without hesitation.

When David gave him a disbelieving look the lion rolled his eyes and knelt down. "Look here." Jason lectured while tracing his finger along a slightly indented bit of exposed dirt among tree branches. "Something came this way and left a print behind. You can tell from the elongated shape that it's not a wild animal's foot like a cougar or a wolf's. You've seen Fang's feet. Both regular and wild wolves have more triangular shapes to their paws. YOU on the other hand-" Jason paused to jab a finger in the direction of David's legs "-have those more elongated feet. And since it's a LOT smaller than your foot Arkham's Razor says the most likely explanation is true. Which, in this case, means that it's most likely Tyler's footprint.

"It's Occam's, actually." David corrected. He felt unusually proud of knowing that even if it was only because Tyler had explained it to him several times over the years when they said it.

Jason blinked in confusion at the correction. "Huh? Is Tyler not actually his first name?"

It took David a second to understand what Jason meant but when he did the blue dragon rolled his eyes and sighed. Deciding to ignore the misunderstanding rather than try to set things straight David turned back towards the direction they had been going.

"Fine fine oh fearless expert tracker. Lead the way." David suggested while making a dramatic motion to step aside for his leonine friend. Then, a question sprung to his mind. "Hey, how do you know about this tracking stuff, anyway?"

Jason's lips spread wide to show off almost every single one of his sharp teeth. Clearly he had been waiting for the opportunity to brag at the source of his secret skill. "Cub Scouts."

David had to force himself to stifle a snort of laughter. Once they were moving again David felt a little bit more comfortable letting Jason lead the way. The lion may not have exactly been the brightest crayon in the tool shed but he had a bit of that weird savant energy when it came to certain skills. From the way he had so confidently described the tracks they were following in such un-jason-like style David figured this was another one of those cases. They had been walking for about fifteen minutes down a trail only Jason seemed to notice before the lion let out a slightly confused sound without stopping.

"Huh..."

"What is it?" David prompted.

"Oh, nothing to worry about. Just the trail is getting a bit easier to read though the foliage is actually denser here. I guess maybe it rained around here recently and the ground must still be a bit wet so the footprints are showing up easier." Jason explained, sounding slightly skeptical of his own explanation even as he was giving it.

They continued on for a few more minutes in silence until they stepped through the tree-line into a brightly lit clearing in the middle of the forest. Jason stopped leading them and instead started pacing around to examine the clearing. As he did he made several more curious or confused wordless sounds at whatever it was that he was seeing. When David finally couldn't take it anymore he had to speak up.

"What is it this time?" David blurted out with just a hint of frustration. He knew Jason didn't do it on purpose but it was no less frustrating when the lion would ponder aloud to himself like that and need to be prompted to speak.

"Oh uh... Not sure, actually. See over there?" Jason replied before pointing towards the middle of the clearing where there was a small ditch that even David could see was freshly dug out.

"Yea?"

"Not sure what that is. It doesn't look like something was trying to dig a hole its like something just Pushed dirt out of the way. A lot of dirt." Jason began lecturing again. Clearly he was enjoying being the expert in something and explaining it to some else for once. "I can also see where Tyler went back into the woods but the foliage is a lot more visibly broken and torn up like something was trying to brute force its way through the trees instead of move between them. But I dunno anything big enough to do that in this area save for maybe like, an overgrown wild bear or something. Some of those things can get pretty damn big. But they're usually pretty docile and I can't imagine Tyler being dumb enough to provoke one."

"Doesn't that just mean we need to hurry?" David asked, concern welling up at the explanation.

Jason looked unsatisfied even as he answered. "I guess? Something still feels off though."

With no better alternative Jason moved to lead them deeper into the forest after Tyler. It wasn't long before even David started to notice the signs of something big passing by. Low hanging thin tree branches had been snapped off or bushes had been pushed out of the way; leaving their stalks bent or outright torn off from something's passing. But it wasn't until Jason stopped them again that David really started to get worried.

"Thats weird..." Jason said aloud.

David, concern building, rushed over to Jason's side. "What is it?"

He needn't have bothered. As soon as he got next to Jason he saw what the lion was looking at. It was a torn up piece of cloth. Particularly, one with a vaguely recognizable video game logo on the back of it that looked it had been violently ripped off of it's wearer. At least that was the immediate conclusion from seeing all the tears and shredded seams.

"Thats uh... Isn't that Tyler's shirt?" Jason asked. Even the typically mellow lion was starting to sound mildly concerned.

By wordless agreement the two picked up their pace down the trail. But Jason pulled them to a stop only moments later when he noticed something else. David expected an even more worried look on his friends face but when he turned to look the lion over Jason looked more baffled than worried.

"What is it? What's wrong?" David prompted, trying not to let his concern show. He may enjoy teasing and pushing around his brother a bit like any good sibling but he still was concerned for their wellbeing.

"Hey David? Come here a second?" Jason prompted. When David reluctantly approached he saw what Jason had stopped in front of.

A footprint.

Either David had been getting better at picking them out following Jason's lead or this one was just more obvious for some reason.

"Come over here and put your foot right here." Jason instructed while gesturing next to one of Tyler's tracks.

Confused, David did as Jason said and stepped down carefully next to the indicated footprint; careful not to disturb it. David's confusion only grew when he recognized what had Jason so baffled. The footprint was bigger than his. And it wasn't just a bit bigger than David's foot it overshadowed the blue dragon's foot and rather large boot as well. Hell it looked almost half again as big as the boot print David left when he moved his foot back.

"Why is that footprint so-" David started to ask only to cut off mid sentence.

The bushes in front of them rustled and both the dragon and lion immediately stiffened in concern. Slowly standing upright, both turned towards the bush while doing their best to not make any sudden movements. Jason raised his hands into a boxing stance while David extended his fingers; claws at the ready to fight whatever was about to jump out at them. They both nearly had a heart attack when a deer exploded out of the underbrush and rushed right past them without giving either predator a second glance.

Their confusion only grew when a second buck followed by several doe, some rabbits, a few squirrels, and even a pair of cougars all burst from the tree-line and ran right past them like some kind of miniature stampede. But before either of the two could voice their confusion something else drew their attention.

Thud.

The ground vibrated slightly underneath them in response to the noise. Not much, but enough to notice. Blinking, both looked at one another in silent question.

Thud.

"What the hell is -" David started then was interrupted by the ground shaking enough to unbalance them both.

Thud.

The third sound accompanied the ground shaking so hard they both stumbled a half-step to keep themselves upright.

THUD.

The last quake was too strong for them to keep their footing this time. Both the muscular lion and dragon fell back on their asses even as they looked around trying to find the source of whatever was causing this. The impact this time had been accompanied by the louder crashing sound of trees toppling and foliage being smashed apart. Both guys looked at each other in concern; half expecting some giant wild bear to leap out at them and attack. Something came at them, alright. But it wasn't a bear.

A foot slammed down in front of them both with so much force they would have been sent sprawling again if they hadn't already been on the ground. It was big enough that two nearby trees were pushed out of the way and half-uprooted like little more than two thin weeds to the over-sized appendage.

David and Jason both gawked in disbelief at the sheer scale of it. The toes alone were almost half their height and they both could heave easily fit under that single foot with room to spare! The sheer weight of it and the rest of whatever it was attached to was so much they could both see it sinking several feet into the ground. It was going to leave a hell of a footprint behind when it moved again. But then something clicked in both of their heads. They had been so stunned by the arrival of something so insanely impossible as a foot big enough to crush a bus like a tin can they only now realized that it looked familiar.

As if in response, massive fingers covered in the same dark purple hide as the foot was reached down and tore open the forest canopy overhead. Blinding light flooded in and forced the two jocks to squint their eyes after being in the gloom of the overhang so long. When they finally could see again they looked up into the new opening overhead and immediately went slack jawed in shock.

"Hey guys..." Tyler greeted them in the low rumble of thunder his new height had transformed his voice into. "You'll never guess what that bug bite did to me..."