FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Across the shallow river, three armed soldiers in high tech exoskeleton were patrolling the dropship. All around it was clear, with no cover and well lit by the sunlight. It was a very defensible landing zone, and heavily guarded.

Yuri, pressed flat in the dirt several dozen meters away looked on with nothing but his eyes. Their tests have grown more difficult since they escaped the ruined world of Lutracha. Here, they were dropped separated again but with nothing but their fur.

It didn't take more than a day to learn that they had teams searching for them, testing Yuri's stealth to the maximum. He avoided, and in one case, defeated all the search teams but they were armed in high tech gear that denied Yuri to reuse the gear and he even refused the clothing.

For the past week, Yuri has been watching the dropships of the search teams land in various landing zones. They landed in random locations but always in a well defensible location, which made it possible for him to predict where a dropship would be located. By counting his heartbeats, and dividing them up into hours, he also learned that a dropship stays on the ground for no more than three hours before the search team returns and leaves.

Counting his calm and slow heartbeats now, he knew the search team was still an hour off and would not be able to make the rendezvous. A.J. found Yuri a couple weeks ago but they were never in the same place at once. They worked as pack while separated unless to exchange information.

Watching the guards walk around the perimeter of the landing zone, Yuri noticed that they were too casual for being so few in number. It was almost a lure for the wolf pup, with two of them chatting for a couple minutes every now and then leaving large blind spots. Yuri was confident that he could board the ship, take out the pilot and seal it off before the guards even knew what was going on but without his pack's consent, he didn't move.

A breeze brought A.J.'s scent to Yuri, so he slowly back away from the dropship until he was confident that he was hidden behind the foliage. In a low crouch, he followed A.J. without ever actually seeing him. They couldn't risk meeting each other until they were safely away from the landing zone. After three kilometers away from the landing zone, Yuri finally caught up with A.J. at their designated rendezvous, a lake.

While both wolves were naked, Yuri was covered in fresh mud but A.J. was clean. His musk wouldn't have been detected unless he was clean but it is a large risk because without cold mud the thermal goggles can detect A.J. easier.

A.J. crouched on a large boulder watching and listening while Yuri made his way to the water and removed the drying mud from his fur. Neither said a word until half an hour later when the drop ship was seen flying off, staying low to the trees.

"I tracked them and I think I might know where they are looking for one of the others," said A.J. looking at Yuri who was now lying comfortably in the long grass. "They're checking the mountain passes so someone must have moved into the mountains."

Yuri glanced at the northwest horizon where the nearest mountains were located. "Isn't the desert on the other side of those mountains?"

"After a few more miles of a dryer forest, yes," answered A.J. He was dropped off in the desert, so he had to come over the mountains. The wolf climbed down from the boulder and lied down next to Yuri. "The search party had no information on them again and they're very resistant to interrogation."

Yuri allowed a small crooked smile before he shared what he had learned. "The dropship was guarded only by three this time. I think they're trying to lure us now."

"We should start climbing the mountain," A.J. suggested obviously annoyed at the notion. Climbing the mountain again wasn't a very inviting thought for the young wolf, especially since they had no clothes to help keep them warm in the higher altitudes.

With the older wolf leading, the pair ascended the mountain for the next couple days. Avoiding the search parties and staying hidden underneath the canopy, it was a very slow process. By the fourth day, the pair regrettably reached the frigid temperatures of the high altitudes.

Fresh snow covered the ground, froze up streams and lakes and made it increasingly more difficult to avoid the search parties. During nights, the two wolves had to huddle together to stay warm because they did not dare risk a fire.

Once the trees started to turn to evergreens, A.J. resumed tracking the search parties to learn where they think another pack member is. They eventually learned that they were searching all the caves near water sources.

A week of conducting their own search, A.J. and Yuri were walking together in search of a shelter for the night. Snow was falling lightly, while the grey sky continued to darken with the day transitioning into night.

"They're persistent up here," mentioned A.J., his arms folded tight across his chest. "Someone is up here. We have to find them before the search parties that there's more of us up here."

"Are they still checking the caves?" asked Yuri.

"Yes," A.J. replied. "I'd suggest that we sleep in one once in a while if they weren't checking all of them."

Yuri onto a frozen stream that had a small layer of fresh snow building up on it and slipped slightly but easily regained his footing. Behind him, A.J. stepped onto the stream cautiously but froze when a loud crack echoed out into the air. Yuri turned just in time to see A.J. fall through the ice with the shattering sound fill the night.

A.J. frantically scrambled to the side of the stream, but couldn't get out. Yuri hurried over to the ice, lied in the snow and reached his paw out for his pack mate. The wolf grabbed his paw and Yuri pulled back with all his strength. A.J. splashed and fought with the ice, desperate to get out of the frozen waters.

Escaping the water, he landed on top of Yuri, grabbed him and held tight. "Sorry," stuttered A.J. "So.... Cold."

"Come on," encouraged Yuri, getting to his hindpaws and helping A.J. up as well. He hoisted A.J.'s arm around his shoulder, to help him walk while A.J. tried to stay warm by keeping as much contact with Yuri's body as possible. "We have to get moving. If there's a team nearby they would have heard that."

A.J. was gasping and stuttering, trying to fight the cold and breath at the same time. The water on his fur started to freeze solid. It wouldn't take long for him to fall in to a state of hypothermia shock.

"I'll build you a fire," encouraged Yuri, eager to find some sort of shelter nearby. "You'll be warm soon enough. You just have to stay awake for a little longer."

"No," stuttered A.J. his teeth chattering together. "You go. I'm sorry."

"I'm not leaving you behind A.J." Yuri insisted, he stopped and set A.J. down next to a tree. "Especially after all those times you saved me. We're a pack, and I'm not going to abandon any of my pack mates."

Yuri sat down next to A.J and commanded the wolf to climb into his lap. Arms wrapped around the larger wolf, Yuri listened and stayed alert while A.J. shivered, losing the fight to the cold. Nearly an hour went by, with A.J. struggling to stay awake but he was beginning to experience moderate symptoms of hypothermia.

A distant yell was heard followed by sounds of a struggle. Yuri listened, unsure to attempt to move with A.J. dying or stay there and hope that they go unnoticed.

"Yuri, A.J." a voice from the darkness spoke. It was Mary. She hurried toward them, picking up A.J. by the arm, who subconsciously attached himself to the new heat source. "We heard the ice break but couldn't find you for nearly twenty minutes." She carried A.J. and led Yuri off into the woods away from the struggle. Yuri notices that unlike the two male wolves, she wore torn clothing around her waist.

"A.J.'s getting worst," said Yuri, with a paw rubbing A.J.'s shivering back. "We need to build a fire as soon as we can."

"He'll be alright," said Mary. "There's a hot spring not a kilometer from here. Alex will take care of the search party that's been following you two."

"Following us?" Yuri questioned.

"They were hoping you'd lead them to us," answered Mary. "I've been tracking you two during the day for a couple days. We weren't going to risk showing ourselves until we knew for certain that they knew all of us were up here."

"Kaitlin's here too?" asked Yuri. A.J.'s shivering grew more violent.

"Yes," said Mary, stopping for a moment. She set down A.J. just enough so Yuri can help carry him. "I need your help, we need to hurry."

Hurrying, Mary and Yuri managed to find the hot spring and they placed A.J. in the steaming water. He continued to shiver and huddle against himself but Yuri also went in the water with him and tried to comfort him.

"He's going to have a terrible fever," stated Mary. "You stay here and take care of him. I'll go check on Alex. Kaitlin will be back at dawn." Without another word she ran off into the woods. There was no more snow falling from the sky and the stars could be seen as the storm passed.

"Are you feeling better yet?" asked Yuri, looking down at A.J.

"Warmer," he replied through his calming shivers. "But I feel terribly sick."

The warm water was a very welcome relief to Yuri after nearly a week of being in the cold mountains. A.J. still felt as if he was radiating cold but it was fading.

While the night continued, Yuri struggled to stay awake while A.J. slept despite his persistent sneezing. They remained in the water, Yuri making sure that A.J. doesn't slip in and drown, even after the sky started to brighten up and Kaitlin returned.

"Yuri, A.J.!" she exclaimed excitedly. "I knew it was you two. A.J. is always looking after you Yuri."

Yuri nodded with a smile before he said, "A.J. fell in the ice. He's been suffering through hypothermia all night but now it's just a bad cold."

"Poor A.J." said Kaitlin, lowering her voice. She seemed to be well dressed, wearing oversized clothes and even a helmet, despite its communicators refusing to work for her. "According to plan, Alex and Mary will meet us at our rendezvous at noon. I'm to take you there but we have time so A.J. can sleep for now."

She stripped off her stolen clothes and slipped in the small hot spring as well, wading over to the two male wolves. "Want me to hold him up? You look exhausted."

"Don't we need to keep a lookout for search teams?" Yuri questioned, passing A.J. over to the she wolf.

"Nah, they're reeling from us right now," said Kaitlin, carefully taking Yuri's place without disturbing the sleeping wolf. "Alex and Mary are probably assaulting one of the landing zone right now. We've been on the offensive since we heard A.J. crash through the ice last night."

"You were waiting for us then?" asked Yuri, stepping out of the water and shaking out his body. The frigid air was cold to his wet naked fur but it wasn't intolerable.

"We were hoping that you two would help us but the situation demanded immediate attention," Kaitlin said. "Besides, they thought they had you two and weren't expecting us to go on the offensive. They didn't even know the whole pack was up here so it was the perfect time to attack."

"How far is the rendezvous?"

"About five kilometers, but we have until noon. Get some sleep. If A.J. isn't recovered enough I may need your help to carry him."

Finding the warmest area outside of the water, Yuri lied down a curled up to sleep. With the soft noise of the hot spring bubbling the lack of A.J.'s sneezing, Yuri feel asleep in less than a minute.

When he woke to a loud sneeze and a splash, he noticed that a couple hours have gone by and the sky was well lit with no clouds in sight. Groggily, he rubbed his eyes and sat up, looking back at the hot spring. A.J. was there alone, gnawing on some root and Kaitlin was dressing herself in the large clothes.

"We should get moving," suggested Kaitlin. "Just in case those two are ahead of schedule."

"Lead the way," said A.J. carefully stepping out of the spring. He shook off but it seemed to cause him pain.

"I have forward," said Katilin. "Yuri, you have the rear. A.J. just follow me."

"I'm not completely useless," he said but agreed nonetheless. They left the hot spring behind and headed further up the mountain. They were in a close formation, close enough for them to chat but the three wolves kept alert of their surroundings. After an hour, A.J. fell back just enough to chat with Yuri. "You stayed up all night with me?"

"Yes," replied Yuri. "This time I took care of you, instead of the other way around."

"Thank you Yuri," A.J. said with a shy smile before he sneezed again. "I really appreciated it. That makes up for the time you let a search team sneak up on you two weeks ago and I had to beat them all with my bare claws."

Yuri chuckled. "I keep telling you that I was trying to bait them. Come on, let's hurry and get to this rendezvous."

Kaitlin set a new pace and the wolves gained ground very quickly. Three kilometers ahead, another hot spring lay in their path but this one was much larger and well placed against a steep cliff. Beside it was a small field, hardly large enough for a drop ship and not nearly as defensible as the search parties' landing zones.

"There's a underwater route that leads into a hidden cave and it's very easy to hide from the search teams in there," Kaitlin informed the two wolves. "It's also very warm. Anyway, we'll be staying here until noon when the other two should be back with our ride off this planet."

"I must admit, that if not for the search teams, I am tempted to just stay here," said A.J., stepping into the hot spring. "I'm getting tired of these tests and this planet is very nice."

Yuri didn't say anything; he's felt the same way many times since arriving here. The air was still cold, so he followed A.J. into the hot spring and dived in. He resurfaced and settled for sitting on a soft patch of sand near the shore.

"They'd search for us like never before though," said Kaitlin, pacing on the shore and keeping an eye on the tree line. "Life on the run isn't for me. And I don't want to leave all of you behind."

"I agree, that's why it never actually appealed to me," A.J. responded gloomily but his smile didn't take long to return. "And we'd never have a chance to beat one of Dr. Rea's impossible challenges. They're in some ways kind of fun."

The sun rose higher in the sky and Yuri could estimate that it was about two hours until noon when a dropship was announced to be flying over trees.

"Submerge, quickly," Kaitlin insisted, while she retreated to the nearby foliage.

Yuri and A.J. dived deeper into the spring and turned to watch the dropship circle the hot spring before landing in the nearby clearing. The wolves held their breath until they saw the smaller stature of a preteen wolf. Resurfacing they saw Mary and Kaitlin guarding the dropship while Alex stood in front of them, lending a paw to help them out of the water.

"Good to see you two are okay," said Alex dressed like his two peer wolves, in nothing. "This mission is over, let's go."

They all boarded the dropship and with Mary piloting, they were heading off world. Once they broke atmosphere, the monitor screen in the cockpit turned on, with Dr. Gilda Rea there. She didn't look amused.

"Congratulation pack," she said in her familiar unenthusiastic tone. "You've managed to beat yet another one of my tests and escape Fellorian. You have done well and exceeded many expectations by avoiding our search teams and escaping undetected by them. I am confident that you five will no longer have to deal with my tests after today."

"Thanks for dropping us naked in the sweltering heat by the way," A.J. rebuked. "I suffered from hyperthermia and hypothermia for your science experiment."

"I was in the snow," commented Kaitlin.

The ermine's annoyed expression deepened and she ignored the remarks. "Once you return, Chief Colin wants a word with you five. Most of you are now thirteen so you'll be graduating from our academy. You'll be reassigned to the carrier Drach'n Breath that'll be joining the flagship Drach'n Fury which is currently beyond the Black Line. Dr. Rea, out!"