FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Just an FYI, I use Yards instead of ft. Kilometers instead of miles. Etc. Dracidon is what I use for people.

Focus...focus....

The word repeated itself multiple times in the young dragoness's head. Although the room was dark, she could tell that she was staring at a dummy. Sending out a sonic wave, the shape of the dummy, along with everything else in the room, flooded into her head.

Stretching out her claws, what felt like water formed around them, elongating the talons and hardening. Shutting her eyes, the dragoness took a deep breath, lunging at the dummy. Just as she was about to hit, her body shifted and she appeared behind it, slashing down its back. When she did, her body felt extremely weak and she collapsed.

Sending out another pulse, she found that the back of the dummy had been ripped open. The crystalline shadow claws were a bonus indeed. Still, she needed to figure out how to use her Shadowstep without collapsing. Maybe getting rid of the claws and focusing on her matter to reappear would work a lot better.

"Hey Jincea!" A voice that caused her to almost lash out with her obsidian tipped tail. Sending a pulse again, she found that it was another dragon. Except he was feral, whereas she was Anthro.

While she couldn't see the scale color, she knew that was green. At least, that's what the dragon had told her. It wasn't like she knew what color green was. Apparently his horns were black and his underbelly scales were of the same color. In fact, his horns reminded her of thorns. Every small space had a small horn and at the top of his head, two larger ones grew.

Plants grew down his back while a Flytrap grew on his shoulder. Confusingly enough, the Flytrap appeared...sentient. Jincea never figured it out. Then again, she wasn't sure if she wanted to. He would no doubt go on a ramble that would explain every little detail about the plant.

Perhaps the oddest thing was the device on his head. It looked like a helmet, but it was far too thin to protect anything. It was probably why he was here.

"What do you want, Illthian?" Jincea growled.

"I wanted to show you this cool thing that I just made!" Illthian indicated to the helmet. "It's um....well, I haven't thought of the name yet, but it increases my intelligence by at least two hundred percent. Seriously, I can think about ten things all at once!"

"...Don't you already do that?" Jincea replied, remembering all of the times that she tried communicating with him only to have him not pay attention half the time.

"Now I can do it more, my twilight star." Jincea almost faceclawed at his words. Head of the world's supply of robotics he was; a dragon of words he was not.

She was often called something to do with twilight because of her shimmering purple-black scales. Whenever she was in a dark environment, her scales would turn almost black. When in light, they were a dark purple. At least, that was she was told. It wasn't like she could see the details.

Jincea had been blind for as long as she knew. Normally that would set most off, but thanks to being a shadow dragon, she was born with the ability to send out Sonic waves that allowed her to map rooms or areas. Colors were obviously a luxury she didn't have. However, she could smell and feel better...Illthian just startled her. Her presumably grey eyes were hidden behind a black blindfold.

Her horns were described to rise up slightly before curving towards the sky. It was hard to envision, but she was told that it looked like obsidian. On her shoulders, spikes grew towards the sky. They also appeared on her flanks. At first they were a hassle, but thanks to some...sessions....with Illthian, she could store shadow energy in them. Purple crystals ran down her back.

"Right...well, is that all it can do?" the shadow dragoness asked, picking herself off the ground.

"Nope!" Illthian beamed happily. "Move behind me; I haven't tested this function."

Jincea spread her wings and jumped, gliding behind him. No sooner did she do so that something began to move. Sending a wave, she found that the dummy was stumbling towards them. Jincea was about to react when it suddenly collapsed. Illthian gasped for breath, shaking his head.

"Ugh...you really did a number on that thing, Jincea." Illthian grumbled. "I could barely communicate with it. Seriously, the central circuits were all destroyed and the core was badly nicked."

"Back up a second..." Jincea rubbed her temples with exasperation. "Why did you put in those things...in a dummy? Isn't it just for being hit?"

"I put them in so it can self repair. How else do you think there is a new one every few hours?" Illthian's voice sounded as if he was scolding her for not knowing. "I mean, do you know how much gold it would cost to manually repair or replace every session? Millions! I can't afford it!"

"My ass you can't." Jincea was silently envisioning herself throttling him. "Before I lose my mind, how did you control that?"

"I can force my will into machines now!" Illthian announced proudly. "I just need to tweak a few things in it and then it can go into mass production. What do you think would be a good price on it? Fifteen thousand for starting?"

"It seems a bit pricey..." Jincea replied. "Before you even do that, why don't you just fix it first? Remember the last time you put something out on the market and didn't properly test it?"

"Erm....I'm going to go fix it. Like...now." Jincea didn't even need to send out a pulse to know that he was rushing towards his lab.

A small smile formed on her muzzle, satisfied that he had at least learned from his mistake. Last year, he put out robotic wings for those who could not fly. Unfortunately, he never tested them properly and they would randomly fail, causing the user to either plummet to their deaths or get severely injured.

Clearing her head, she placed the dummy back in position, still a bit freaked about it moving. When she was sure that no one else was around, she started practicing on it again.

--

The Next Day

Jincea walked down the metal halls on a busy afternoon. She didn't need to send out anything to see where she was going; the sounds that other dracidons made mapped it out for her. Every echo mapped out the room and where everyone was. Off in the corner, a jackal was trying to seduce a fellow co-worker. Illthian had put in a rule that there was no work romance, but considering how many times that he had slept with females, including Jincea every once in a while, no one really followed it.

About halfway down the hall, Jincea heard an odd banging noise. It sounded like something hard was being hit against a wall multiple times. Following the noise, she found that it originated from Illthian's lab. Waving her claw in front of the door, she found that it had closed instead of opened. There, she realized that it had been opened...something rarely done. Was he so entranced in his work that he forgot to shut it? One way to find out.

Walking in, she found Illthian was the source of the noise. Had her eyes not been blind-folded, they would have widened in shock. There, he was repeatedly hitting his head against a wall to the point where he would soon get a concussion. Swiftly reaching him, she pulled him away from the wall towards the middle of the room, away from any hard surfaces.

"Illthian." Jincea didn't even try to mask the worry. "Why the hell were you banging your head against the wall?"

"Oh that...sorry, I had a mental block." He rubbed his head with his claw, giving her a sheepish grin. "I was trying to unblock myself. I guess I didn't realize what I was doing."

Jincea shot a wave at the wall that Illthian was on. There was a noticeably large dent in it. He must have been really deep in thought to not notice that. Curling her lip, she had a feeling that he was lying somehow. Yet, if she pushed the subject, he would never tell. The best thing to do was let him do what he needed...but keep a watch. On that subject, she started to rapidly fire her pulses.

"Illthian," she said, "Take a break. If I come back here and find you feverishly working again, I will drag you out and take away this like...well...this."

Jincea held up a blade from a nearby table. Running her claw on the edge, she found that it could split the scales quite easily. Blood dripped to the metal floor. Glaring at him the best she could, she kept it out of his reach. Was he trying to off himself with this thing and just couldn't find the will? If no, why did he need it? He had that leaf-blade for a tail.

"Jincea, put that back! I didn't hire you to steal my equipment." Illthian snapped.

"No, you hired me to make sure you didn't do anything stupid. You're obviously thinking to the point where you bashed a wall in your lab. I think you can do without this."

"Put that back now, or you're fired."

"Fine!" Jincea placed it back. However, she wrapped her tail around his neck, "But you are coming with me. I don't need to go through my day worrying about you, so you are coming for a nice, long walk."

Dragging him out of his lab, Jincea led him around the building. She didn't ask him to remove that helmet, as she knew that was pushing it. Plus, it needed to be tested, and he would never rest until something was tested now. He was starting to become like that machine that constantly tested physical limitations of others before going insane and being forced to shut down.

While thinking that, Jincea laid down on a cushion in Illthian's secret break room. It was small and perfectly hidden from the eyes of anyone except for the top members of his business. The city that they were in was shown in full thanks to a huge window that was cleverly disguised from an outsider's perspective. Illthian stood, looking out on the city, an unreadable expression on his muzzle.

--

Tomorrow Night.

Nighttime had fallen and Jincea was about ready to go to sleep. Illthian had calmed down and was back in his lab. However, he never came out. This was highly unusual and her mind couldn't rest knowing that he was in there after yesterday. Hourly checkups on him showed that he was hard at work on something. When she went to see, he sent her away.

Now it was her final check up. If he was not done, she would drag him out again. His behavior...it was extremely odd. Not just the staying in the lab part, but just how he acted. Normally he would be shoving whatever he was working on into her face. This included intimate moments. In fact, half the time he would get a random idea and dash down the hall to his lab halfway through.

Walking in, she found him in another chamber of his lab. It was behind a glass, but she could 'see' what was inside. And what was inside scared her a bit. Parts of various machines were tossed around without care. A table had a mysterious liquid that dripped slowly to the floor. The blade that Jincea had attempted to take was right next to it. What looked like a claw rested in the puddle of liquid.

To make matters worse, Illthian was slumped in the corner, his back facing her.

Without thinking, Jincea shattered the glass and ran over to him. He reacted to her touch with hostility, swiping at her with his right claw. When she dodged, he took a few deep breaths and looked at her.

"Oh...hello Jincea..." he gasped.

"Illthian, what did you do to yourself?" Jincea went to flip him over, but he refused to allow her. "Stop acting like a hatchling!"

"No, it's not ready yet..."

"What's not?"

"Err...."

Without waiting for a response, Jincea dug her talons into his scales and flipped him over. What she found was horrifying; her boss's entire left foreclaw had been severed and replaced with a thrown-together robotic limb. It looked like it could barely support him. However, the horror did not stop there.

On his chest, a metal plate was grafted. His internal organs could be seen from a small window. It was enough to make her jump back, screeching.

"ILLTHIAN, WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO?" she screamed, running towards a communication crystal. However, just as she was about to reach it, something struck her in the back of the head.

--

Chaos.

Chaos was all Jincea could find once she woke up. She was in the same place with blood in her mouth, but the entire lab had been ruined. Wires hung from the ceiling. In the distance, the door was blown apart. Tears in the ground exposed more wires. Electricity frizzed from the ends.

Slowly standing up, she started to send pulses every few seconds. Staggering out of the lab, she found bodies in the hall torn to shreds. In fact, some looked like they had been partially eaten. Getting closer, she found out that they weren't eaten; no, acid had destroyed parts of their bodies.

Sudden movement from one of the bodies made her almost stab at it. It was that jackal from the other day, twitching and flailing violently. Slowly walking over to it, Jincea saw one of the arms, which was loosely attached, fly off and almost it her in the face. Narrowly avoiding it, she saw that the jackal had taken one last breath, ceasing all movement.

Disturbed, Jincea slowly stalked towards her quarters. There, her armor was kept in a hidden closet. The armor enhanced her abilities by at least double the amount and, thankfully, had a shielding mechanism that would resist the likes of acid for a certain amount of time. The only problem would be getting there before whatever did this decided to come back.

Deep in her gut, she knew what had caused this, or at least had a clue. Whatever struck her came from behind her, and the only thing capable of doing so was Illthian. Illthian could occasionally spit out acid as well. Still, she wasn't going finalize that it was, indeed, him. After all, it may have been a random attack from another jealous company.

The way to her room was, if possible, more ruined than before. Half the ceiling had collapsed, giving only a narrow passage to get by. A limb stuck out from under the rubble. Acid had destroyed part of the floor, running slowly downstairs. Sending a pulse down there, she found...horrible sights. Sights that should never be seen.

Moving past, she finally found her room. The door was blown of its frame and actually was half sticking out the window. Walking over to the window, she saw that security guards were starting to come around. She had to find Illthian quickly before anyone else got hurt.

Finding the wall behind her cushion, she turned a crystal that was hanging from the wall and the wall opened up. There, embedded in a mechanical frame, was a metal cube. Reaching out and touching the cube, metal started to crawl all over her body. A few seconds later, a full suit of armor covered her entire body.

Although she couldn't see how much shielding it had, it would give some sort of verbal warning that the armor was failing. Normally the armor would have a visor on it, but again, she had no need for it. Plus, it was far more intimidating. At least, to her it was.

Testing the armor, she found that her hearing, movements, and abilities had been enhanced. From inside the room, she could hear the dripping of acid. She was at least twice as fast and she could perform that Shadowstep move with far less energy. As an added bonus, the armor would store spare energy just in case she would run low.

Back out in the hall, she was thankful to see that nothing had changed. No horrifying monster awaited her. Still, she had to find Illthian, and she had an inkling of where to look; his hidden break room. Although why he was there, she didn't know.

If he was there, Jincea's mind raced, what benefits would he have? Of course, this is if he truly was the cause. His lab would have a far better vantage point, as he would have various tools to get whatever he wanted done. Maybe he brought things to that room and is working in there.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she almost tripped on a corpse. Staggering for a brief moment, she leaned against a wall. Dread filled her heard when she investigated. What she found was by far the worst thing she had ever seen.

A lizard had been cut open, dissected, and had all of her internal organs removed. The flesh that covered the spine had been scraped away. The expression on her muzzle was one of pure terror; tears stood seemingly frozen in her eyes, jaw opened wide in a silent scream...it was by far the most ungodly act she had ever experienced.

Swallowing the vomit growing in her throat, she further inspected the body. She was held against the wall by titanium nails...nails that could have only come from Illthian's lab. He was the only one that used titanium on a daily basis. The cuts to her abdomen were done so precisely that, if she had wanted to, Jincea could have easily stitched them back together.

This all but confirmed Illthian's involvement, but...

...But why use internal organs? Jincea started walking again. What do you hope to accomplish? First you graft your own body with machines, then you....wait.

The realization hit Jincea like a building falling on her. It was that damn helmet! He could project his will onto machines...but what if an AI programmed its will into him? It made sense now. Did he plan to melt away some tissue and redo it with machinery like himself?

Either way, she had to stop him. Although she did have to wonder about why half robot and not full? Maybe she could exploit that if push came to shove.

Trudging forth, Jincea almost made it to the secret door...except for the fact that a giant door blocked the way. A little crevice allowed her to send a pulse through and found that was empty. However, there was no way across. Unless....

Steadying her breathing, Jincea concentrated on getting her molecules behind the door. It was different if she knew where she was going, but behind this door...it was still somewhat hidden. She could form in half the door for all she knew. Still, she had to try.

Her body faded into shadows and shifted. The transition felt like something was brushing against her scales with a feather. As a shadow, she could 'see' without pulsing. Color still avoided her other than black and grey, but she couldn't focus on that.

Appearing behind the door intact, she found the way to his secret room was very open. Almost as if it was...inviting her. Slowly she stalked down, hiding behind anything she could find at the slightest noise. Every step she sent off a pulse.

There, she found Illthian. At least...she thought it was Illthian. He was a grotesque mix of machine and flesh. What she assumed was blood dripped from random parts of his body, the machines on him were rapidly assembled and not perfect. His right wing was replaced, the other front limb...half the tail....oh, but his pelvic area was still flesh. Evidently he still had some plans.

"Come out Jincea...I saw you coming ever since you Shadowstepped behind that door," Illthian shouted.

Silently cursing, Jincea came out. He whirled around to face her, revealing his dismantled front. The chest area was still as it was before, but blood covered just about everything. Including his mouth. If she didn't know better, he had turned into a robotic zombie. The helmet was melted into his scales, preventing her from just knocking it off. His legs were torn and held together by metal.

"Illthian I'm ashamed...I thought you would have put better parts into you." Jincea had to get him away from that table he was standing near. A pulse told her that he was putting parts onto a dead body.

"Ah, but while they are not much to look at, they perform quite well for the moment." Illthian motioned her over, "Come, I'll show you firstclaw!"

"Uh no...I'd rather not." Jincea silently sent a check on how much back up power she had. Finding that she had enough to refill her several times, she somberly began to plot a plan.

"Oh come on, I wouldn't cut you up. You're special...my closest subordinate. I want you to have a choice, even though I can tell what it is already," Illthian commented.

"You're not Illthian," Jincea answered in deadpan, "I know you are just a rogue AI who took over his body. Do you really think that would stop me from blowing up this entire place?"

"No, I am not an AI." Jincea expected this, but listened anyway, "No, they just gave me ideas. For example, they noted that my claws were far too unsteady to perform any real work. They also noted that my chest couldn't protect a stab wound, so they influenced me to create this metal armor. Admittedly, I can't fully cut myself up without making it impossible to reassemble, but that is a task I am going to trust to this one." Illthian indicated to the body.

"So you are still flawed." Jincea pointed out.

"I will admit that, but it is something I intend to fix. And it isn't like you have any bombs on you to cause this place to explode."

"Oh Illthian....Illthian, Illthian, Illthian..." Jincea started to laugh, "I guess that helmet made you think so much about other things that you forgot a very crucial thing you told me when you first told me about the reserve power."

"I didn't forget!" Illthian growled, "I told you that if you inject too much power into your body, you would...." Illthian's eyes widened in fear, "You wouldn't."

"Oh, I would." Jincea shut her eyes and injected all of the reserve power into her body.

Her final thoughts of consciousness were one of sorrow. She once dreamed of perhaps growing closer to Illthian and making him settle down. For all his faults, he was always a beam of optimism that never ceased to dim even in the darkest hours. To see him fall...it pained him, but by doing this, she was sparing him.

As her body began to grow volatile and tear itself apart, she cried. Sending one last pulse, she saw that Illthian was lunging right at her, intending to kill her. Everything moved so slowly. Oddly, no pain could be felt in the final seconds.

"I'm sorry..."

Ok, so before anyone goes batshit on me for this; I KNOW THIS IS NOT MY BEST. I was trying something new with a whole new character. I know the dialogue is a bit sketchy and the development may not be top notch, but again, character I never really used before along with a setting that I haven't strayed too often too. Let's not forget that Jincea is kinda blind, so I didn't go into the detail of the characters movements and scenery intentionally. Plus I was limited to 4k words.

And I KNOW someone is gonna point out a Plothole. Cuz right after Jincea finds the armor, it comes up. You know what I mean. I left it blank purposely becuase Jincea frankly didn't care enough and just wanted to end it.

The new thing I was trying was horror, but with no giant monsters or big climatic battles or whatever. I wanted to rely on imagery. Sure it may not appear to be much, but I would very much like to try this again. I also gave it a mystery feel by having a bit of 'da fuck is going on?' scenarios.

I know Jincea found it out ASAP, but really, I am tired of the people not noticing who did it when it is clearly obvious. So I had her put two and two together and ta-da, the antagonist is revealed. I know many of you saw it coming. Sure, it wasn't sublet, but then again, this wasn't intended to be super amazing subtle plot. It was just an idea that I felt that it could work.

Oh, and as a side-note, this would be a prequel to Shattered Dementions (Spelling is intentional), but...not sure if it is canon. I mean, this is one of three ideas that works to explain a key thing about a character in Shattered, but not sure what one to use. I mean, I will likely take elements from this for the other ideas, but eh...I'll leave it for now. Cross that bridge when I get there.

Overall, despite the flaws in it...I consider this a success. I pushed myself to create a character I have never done before, a plot that while many have done before, I have never done before. This was practice. I enjoyed myself on this.

(Also, if you are curious as to what Jincea sees when she does that Sonic pulse, click here: http://www.gabeswebsite.com/images/metroid_prime/mp2_echo_visor.jpg Kinda like that)