FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Two weeks after we had been mutilated and warped into bionic creatures, Draco spoke that we were part of a large expedition to a new planet.The planet was quite varied, the terrain different and the inhabitants unknown.This large expedition was so all the original Hunted got a chance to work together. As we arrived at Central,me with a large variety of stuff in my day pack, we walked down the corridors to the Great Hall. Compared to the last time I had been here, it was quite a surprise how vast it was, the size had seemed smaller when bursting with a multitude of creatures.

In the centre of the room was Silverine, and around him were all the Hunted, and Devlin. Doran was sitting on a bench, Winslo was practising his Levitation, Grant was upside down, standing on his arms. Nagoya was yet again playing with his pistol. Time Dancer was sitting on the floor, Brendan beside her. Valmeero was standing beside Silverine, as was Devlin. All of them were kitted up with packs and weapons. All of them had C.E.O. pistols, the light ray guns Marksman had shown me, but they all had cultural weapons and clothes as well.

Winslo was dressed in a flowing robe of black, which clashed very nicely with his white fur. The collars and hems were gold, as was a complex rune on the back of the robe. In one hand, he held a great staff of wood.Grant wore very light clothes, which was more than Thomas, who only wore a pair of shorts and running shoes.Thomas had his own pistol, while Grant carried a whip, which was tied to his belt. Valmeero was dressed impeccably in a dark silver shirt, and black trousers, and had a long dagger in his belt. Brendan was also topless, his stunning gold chest being covered with fabric would have been sacrilegious. He had a long sword, and this being a dragon, long meant one and quite a bit metres, and it was strapped over his back. Time wore very plain clothes, and while she had nothing on her belt save the ray gun, I swear there was a mace made out of some silver metal strapped to her bag. The mace was about half a metre in length, the club end about the size of a fist, and it was ruby red and silver.Doran wore a very nice crown of gold, and carried a short sword.

We clustered around Silverine, who was standing in front of a small table. He spoke as we came over.

"Ah, the last Hunted.Welcome, Alduin."

"Greetings Silverine.What planet have you got in store for us?"

"Oh, it should be interesting.We have sent Abby down there for about half a minute, and it is a fairly nice planet to visit. According to our scans, we have also located many creatures, some of which are of a decent size indeed."

"How big?" Thomas Nagoya asked.

"We believe the larger ones are about fifteen metres in length, and maybe some more."

Time Dancer shrugged.

"Dominant life form?"

"We are led to believe there is a four foot tall, bear like creature, capable of the odd primitive technology.They appear to carry spears, by the screen shot we got of Abby's camera, except definition was a little difficult, because the shot was about three miles away, and only by super enhancing it we got the picture."

Draco leaned over me.

"What is the climate like?"

"Surprisingly tropical, about twenty eight degrees.Atmosphere is O² rich, but there's more silicate in the air than average.Double sun system, but despite this it can get very cold. Abby mentioned she had arrived in a valley, the same place we will beam you down, and the mountains around are occasionally white with snow."

"Sounds picturesque." Doran commented.

"The landscape is, we don't know about the native creatures."

"So your mission, should you choose to accept it..." I quoted. Silverine managed a smile.

"Is to rendezvous with the natives, and find out about them. That includes the larger beasts, and the little bears.Due to the positioning of the two suns, there is only a few hours of darkness, and you shall arrive there just before then, so you might want to use your time before sunset to set up camp."

We grouped together into teleporting bunches. More than three around a teleporter was not recommended, so Time, Doran, Simba and Devlin all used their bands, and we held onto them. I held the silky soft arm of Time, and felt the unpleasant sensation yet once more. I will never get used to it. We landed slightly harder than usual, and three of us fell over as a result of the landing, and everyone else stumbled.Then we looked around.

The first thing that came to my mind was Louis Armstrong, and immediately started singing softly as I looked at the awe inspiring sight.we were in the middle of a deep valley of lush green. To our right looking up the valley, was a long river of clearest blue.The grass was long, lush and healthily green. The tall mountains were, well, tall, and each was capped with snow. I looked up.

"I see skies of blue, and clouds of white, the bright blessed day, indeed lit by two suns." I stopped halfway through the verse as I saw the huge twin balls of flaming gas in the sky. Val came over to me, and looked at the mountains.

"Alright, what are you singing?"

"Oh, just a song by an old singer. It's called 'What a wonderful world'." I said with a slight smile. Valmeero nodded.

"It's a nice tune, and very apt."

As I walked towards a ridge of trees, I skipped a few generations to U2.

"It's a beautiful da-a-a-ay!" I sung softly, looking among the trees for fauna. There were a few brightly coloured birds, and many insects, but nothing like either of the two we were told to look out for. Dev, Draco, Simba, Thomas and Brendan were all pulling out tents of camouflage green and brown,and the rest jumped in and got involved. I went over to Draco, and saluted him, for the show of it.

"Permission to do an aerial of the landscape, Draco?"

Draco looked up.

"Actually, that's a good idea. I've got a special camera that we can attach to your underbelly, so we can see what's around."

I changed, consequently disappearing below the level of the grass. Draco bent down, and firmly gripped the underside of my plane form, placing something against it. He opened up a laptop in his backpack, and looked at the screen.

"Excellent. Go ahead, Alduin."

I started the engines, the whine followed by the roar of power.

"Hmm, this has to be a first." I commented drily."I can't actually see where I'm going."

"Well, if you go straight ahead, you've got about three miles of rolling grassland, not a tree anywhere.And reminder, don't strafe any nearby villages. Keep high up."

"Yes, sir." I replied over the din, and let rip. The grass behind me caught fire, and I surged through the undergrowth. They could tell where I was, because of the furrow I was leaving.A million blades whipped against me, but I rose elegantly, and into the sky. Behind me, Winslo cast an ice spell on the grass that was blazing.

I soared into the air, going to about one thousand feet by the indicators in my cockpit.First I headed for the mountains, banking sharply, and rising. I couldn't see directly below me, but never the less I was recording everything. I decided the best way would be to treat this as a grid, go from A1 to A10, B10 to B1, and so on.I had to climb to about fifteen thousand feet to clear the mountains, and then some. After I had flown back and forth across the valley, I headed towards the large expanse of flatland. From up here, I could see we were encamped in a valley directly perpendicular to the range of mountains, and at the very edge of distance, I could see a sea or large lake. Doing a few angled flights to show the view of the mountain range, I next started flying over the flatlands for about ten kilometres in either direction.

Again, my view was limited, but after another fifteen minutes of grid work, I banked towards the valley, and saw a cluster of trees from which smoke was rising. I made a pass directly overhead, but still fairly high up, and then flung myself into the valley. I turned along the furrow I had caused at take off, and landed right next to it, becoming, in effect, a scythe, as the grass broke against my wings. It stung in the same way a mosquito bite would. I came to a halt, and changed into my bionic form. They had finished putting up the two man tents, and were busy starting a pair of campfires, thanks to Brendan and Devlin. I walked over. Time was hammering the last peg in, and looked up.

"Jeez, what happened to you?"

"Long story, Time. Anything happening?"

"Well, if you want dinner, it's being made. You could lend a hand."

"Hey, I was doing aerial reconnaissance."

Draco walked over to me, and plucked the miniature camera from off my chest.

"Excellent. Missed a few spots, but we have about a hundred square kilometres of space mapped out."

"Have you seen the village?"

"Time and Valmeero already spotted the smoke, just after you took off. It looks to be a reasonably big village, hidden in the cluster of trees. According to your pictures, they have a dyke around the village, and a stone wall. What sort of defence is needed around here?"

"No idea, Draco, unless those larger beasts are hostile." Doran replied.

"How long range is your empathic abilities?" Time asked him.

"About half a mile when I'm concentrating.I can't see or feel anything from here." Doran nodded at her. We shuffled over to the blazing campfires. Thomas was cooking a stir fry of some sort, and Grant was making some kind of dish involving meat. I sat down next to Brendan, and promptly collapsed backwards, looking up at the fading light in the sky. Brendan watched with some amusement as I fell backwards.

"Tired?"

"Just about." I replied from the position.

We ate well, but after an hour, we were interrupted as Doran lifted his hand into the current conversation.

"Hush. I can feel someone watching us."

We stopped speaking, as everyone looked around. Valmeero, with his wolf eyes, spotted it first. He was opposite me, and started looking keenly over my shoulder. I lowered my rifle, and picked up my torch.

"I think I'll go for a walk." I said, in a huge fake voice. I went over to the left of where Val was looking. I then scooted around behind. Doran stood up, and headed directly to the creature's position, inside the cluster of trees.

I swung my torch around casually, and I could see the reflection of the bear's eyes, for an instant. I could hear a small growl of surprise,the eyes disappeared, and then saw Doran sneak behind him. I came over, as there was a cry.Doran cursed, and the small figure came pelting towards me. I shined the torch directly at him, and he stopped in fear.

He was about four feet tall, and very bear like. His brown fur was suitably grubby, so he blended in well with the terrain. His eyes were black, and in his paw like hands, he held a short spear, which was a piece of wood with a flint on one end.

"Hold fire, junior." I said gently."I'm not going to hurt you."

Yeah, I'm two feet taller than him, holding an exceptionally bright light pointing at him, and I'm not going to hurt him.

Doran came behind him, followed by Time Dancer, who was holding a burning branch in her hand like a torch. Doran's eyes glinted like amethyst in the flickering lights, and he bent down to the scared bear.

"Can we help you?"

"Who are you?" First question, well it had to be. But before Doran or I could speak, Time Dancer turned on her charm.

"I'm sorry, Euarctos creature.Doran knew you were watching us, and we wanted to know why. He and Alduin are going back to the campfire, is that quite clear?" She raised her voice at this last point, and Doran meekly nodded, walking away. I gave her my torch, and took the burning brand back.

Draco asked me as I came back.

"Well?"

"It's one of the bears."I said simply."Time's got it all under control."

She arrived ten minutes later, tossing me the torch. I caught it as she spoke.

"The tribe saw our fires, and he was conscripted to see what was here."

"Who forced him, and what is the leadership like?" Thomas asked.

"It appears they have a chief, but they have a witch doctor, who normally gives advice and orders."

Simba repeated this into his microphone.

"So, junior was told by this effective Grand Vizier to find out what the fires were about." I asked.

"In essence, yes."

"Well, we'll head over there tomorrow. There shouldn't be too many problems." Draco replied, leaning back.

As night fell even more, Devlin grouped us into pairs for the tents.

"Draco and Simba, Doran and Time, Alduin and Valmeero, Thomas and Grant, Winslo and Brendan, and I'll sleep under the stars." he laughed.

None of us disagreed, it was a good set up. So as we got into the tents, Val folded up his wings, and lay down on what appeared to be a dark purple air mattress. His kit was on one side, mine on the other. I got into the vestibule, zipped up the zip, and came into the inner tent.

I've never slept particularly near someone well, especially in a tent, but neither does Valmeero, so we got on well. Eight hours of peaceful sleeping later, we were woken by Winslo, who's method of waking people up was quick and effective. Lob a pyrotechnics spell into the tent, sit back, and wait. What the people inside experience is waking up, being flash blinded, and half deafened for three seconds. I felt Valmeero's wings unfold, and one hand grip my arm tightly. I shouted.

"If I come out and that bunny's still here, I'm going to kill him!"

Winslo made himself rather scarce for ten minutes, getting some water from the river. It was a good five minutes walk to our right looking up the valley, and Magnetic North, according to the small compass in my Swiss army knife. This didn't mean much, but at least I could navigate reasonably well on the ground if Draco said to go Due East.

So we ate breakfast. My watch was completely fine, except that it said it was about ten o'clock at night.One sun was high in the sky, the other coming over the mountain peaks. It looked truly wonderful. The snow either side glowing with warmth and vibrance. The sky was clear, and after breakfast, where, it appeared, several of our party were still half asleep, not used to sleeping in tents.

Thomas, who had been trained in the snowy tundra of his planet, was not one of them, and he walked around the surrounding area, disappearing into the long grass. None of use who didn't have tech or magical abilities had any idea where he was until he sprung at me, about quarter of an hour later. I was suddenly pitched forward, spilling the remains of my coffee, and falling on the ground.Thomas laughed on top of me.

"You alive?"

"If you get off me, I'll show you just how alive I am, and also how annoyed. You spilt my coffee."

Thomas didn't get off, because of that, so I rolled him off, drew my rifle, knew it was uncocked, and thus pointed it at him.

"We were saying?" I said, shouldering my rifle. Thomas rolled his eyes.

"You still had no idea I was coming."

"Thomas, none of us had any idea where you were, save for perhaps Doran."

This argument finished, we packed up breakfast, and after ten minutes of collecting day packs and gear, we started briskly South. We walked for a good two hours, and then came to a small forest I had located from above. We skirted it, and I worked out we were half an hour to the small town populated by bears.

Turns out, they were giving us a welcome party. Or, rather, an unwelcome party. As we skirted the forest, the large flat grass land on one side, broken by the river half a kilometre away. Doran stopped.

"They're all around us." he said. I drew my rifle out, pistols and ranged weapons were likewise drawn.Draco scanned the area with his scanner.

"There's about one hundred and fifty of them.They are good at this, they're all closing in time." he said.

As he did, they all stood up. The path we were following sprouted three of them, and the rest stood up from behind trees, up from the grass and the like. Most of them had spears, a few even had bows. As we watched them all erupt from the ground. One stood on the path. This one had the whole regalia. A long staff with a crystal on top was in one of his hands. A necklace of beads, bones and a large barb on the front adorned his neck. He wore a loin cloth, as did the rest of them, but this one had little pieces of bone or something, so where ever he walked, the bones would click menacingly together. He wore a primitive mask as well.

"Do you think that's the witch doctor?" Valmeero asked Time.

"I'd guess so.Do you think he's here to welcome us?" Time asked back.

"I don't think so." Brendan replied.

The witch doctor pointed at us with his staff.He did not look happy. This was not a Care Bear, this was a Kill them, and burn their bodies sort of bear.

"Demons! Demons in humanoid form! A curse on all of you! The gods scorn your existence, your tools of fear and hatred. They will send a plague upon this world. The Suns will obliterate the sky, and a great famine will sweep across the land!"

I crossed my legs, and leaned over to Grant.

"I think he's enjoying this."

"Yeah, I've known a few priests in my time. Frothing at the mouth, they were." he replied. The witch doctor saw this, and motioned with the stick.

"You speak naught but lies, false creature! Keep your forked tongue behind your black teeth! It is pointless to resist, for the god's power is unimaginable. All shall perish, believers and non alike, unless the evil is wiped out of existence. Kill them all!"

"I repeat, why is nobody every glad to see us!" I replied, grabbing my rifle.I fired a round between to two charging bears, and blew the centre-piece and about a foot of wood off the top of the staff. It was knocked out of the witch doctor's hand, and he looked in astonishment. The two bears stopped charging, as did the rest.

Draco winked at me as I turned round, and then roared in anger.

"Will you stop firing that rifle at every creature we come across?"

"I'm sorry!"I shouted back,"I forgot where I was, or maybe it was because all of them were charging at us!I can do it again if you want!"

"Is that so!You always use your rifle for your first resort!"

"And you! You and your flamethrower, your pistol, your claws, and yet you claim to be a pacifist?You by yourself could kill all of them, and probably will if they attack again, and yet you have a go at me because I blew the top of a staff off their witch doctor." I shrieked.Draco's wings unfolded.

"Yes, but I don't want to harm them!"

"Neither do I, but if I don't, we'll all be killed. Is that clear?I will shoot to kill if necessary."

"Are you saying killing is necessary?" Draco roared. We were practically face to face, and then the witch doctor interrupted.

"Silence!"

We turned, still fuming with fake anger. He was suitably thrown off by our little argument, which was the point, and he spoke slowly.

"O.K., demons, you have power, so do we, so let's both not use them, yet." he added emphasis on the last word, and then continued,"so who are you, and where do you come from?"

Devlin stepped forward. Covered by the hell fire dragon's bulk, I turned and winked at Draco, who covered up a smile. The others were also grinning, and trying to hide the fact by various ways. Winslo was coughing desperately to avoid laughing, Valmeero had his paw over his mouth so no one could see the smirk.Time had one of her secret little smiles wide across her complexion, and Doran had covered his face with his paws, and was shaking in silent laughter.

"We are explorers from another galaxy, sent here to find what exists on this planet." Devlin spoke, bowing to the witch doctor." We set up camp over there, and lit fires, because it was getting late."

"You have methods of transportation?"

"We do." Devlin confirmed. The witch doctor debated, rubbing his mouth with a paw.Doran spoke.

"There's another creature lying low in the grass." he sounded confused, waving a hand in one direction. Most of us turned, and Time spotted it first.

"What the hell is that?"

It rose on her speech, and we all saw what it was. Fifteen metres long, five high, it looked like a black, eight legged creature. It's spider like head looked at us, deciding which creature looked the most edible, and it's tail came up and over it's back, the barb at the end hanging menacingly ready to strike. It looked like the same kind of thing the witch doctor had on his necklace.The bears nearby scattered.

We didn't, and I sighed as I drew my rifle.

"Oh joy, it's a giant scorpion." I said, kneeling and pointing it at the scorpion. I didn't fire, in case it ignored us.It seemed confused, having never seen creatures like us around, but it finally charged, at Time.It came forward at an alarming rate of knots, closing the distance, and it lunged forward, the tail slamming into the ground as Time cart wheeled sideways.As the monster turned, I fired a round at it's chest.

There was an explosion from the gun, and then the agonising sound of a ricochet. Sparks flew where the bullet impacted on the scorpion's armoured carapace, and my round went skyward. A groove had been carved out as a result. The scorpion stopped chasing Time, and turned to look at me. Everyone else drew pistols, and started firing. The charges had little effect against the monster's armour, and it charged at me. Brendan blew a flame at it, and it turned to charge at him. With a huge swing it swung on it's mighty clawed legs, and succeeded in bowling Grant down. Thomas was firing at the body with his dual pistols, hitting the same spot with unfailing accuracy. Winslo dumped a fireball on it, which it seemed to shrug off. Devlin and Draco copied Brendan, and fire washed over the creature.

O.K., it was now officially mad. It turned at it's first assailant, me, and charged. As I tried to jump aside, it hit me with one of it's giant legs, in the side. I was thrown backwards, my gun arched around, and landed two metres away. I tried to scramble to my feet, but the scorpion hit me again with a leg.Then it coiled it's tail, and prepared to strike.

Valmeero, what you did was suicidal, but I thank you never the less. The wolf/ dragon hybrid ran up, and grabbed the beast around the neck, stabbing at it with his short sword. The scorpion reared, and stabbed at Val with it's tail. It hit his lower arm and then itself, the barb brushing the skin of the wolf, and Valmeero was knocked off. It poisoned itself slightly, and stopped fighting in confusion. I rolled, grabbed my rifle, and fired.

The bullet erupted from the gun, and impacted just underneath the chin of the monstrous scorpion. The unarmoured skin tore, and the bullet passed straight through the head before disappearing out the other side.

There was a long pause. The creature tottered slightly, still unaware it was dead, and then fell. I grabbed the dazed Val by his shoulders, and hauled him out of the way. The scorpion managed a few vague steps forward, and then collapsed, it's great bulk crashing down on where we had both been.I grabbed the wolf's arm, and as he looked in slight surprise, started drawing blood from the wound with my mouth.

"Hey, no vampires touch my blood, thank you." he managed weakly.

I felt a very bitter taste on my tongue, and as I spat, a clear liquid had mingled with the blood. I repeated the process three times, sucking the poison out of the wound. Val lay back as I let go of his arm, and I drew my water bottle to get out the acidic tang.Time was consoling the shaken witch doctor, the rest were around the two of us. Simba drew a a flat pad attached to two wires, and placed it on Valmeero's arm.

"Alduin's drawn most of the poison out." he declared.He drew a vial from his pocket, and told Valmeero to swallow the contents.As Valmeero's right arm was numb, he grabbed the vial with his left, and drunk it. After about half a minute, he flexed his arm.

"The poison's gone. Cheers for that Simba, Alduin, even though it looked like you were partaking in my death."

I smiled." Hey, you stopped it flattening me, least I could do."

"So now what?" Val asked.

"Good question."Brendan replied. "What's with devout over there?"

Time was engaging the witch doctor in conversation, in low whispers. The bear was very intelligent, in it's own way, and was thinking very hard,we could see his brow was furrowed in mental taxation. Several of the spear bears had come back cautiously, amazed that the scorpion was dead.

It was at this point when a second scorpion appeared over the ridge, hearing the death of it's comrade. Time looked at the arrival, and whispered.

"How far is it to your home?"

"About half an hour."

"Damn." she cursed."Brendan shouted.

"Everyone group up, let's grab a few bears each."

So with groups of fifteen on each teleporter, we all landed in a large heap inside the confines of the bear's town.The more weight a teleporter moves, the harder everyone is let down when they arrive, so not a single person stayed on their feet. The teleporters stood up quickly, and disappeared again, going to fetch the remainder, while those of us who were still there started shuffling the bears out of the way.

We had landed in the town square, which was a wide area which consisted of mainly nothing. It was rectangular, the length about twice the width, and the width being a good twenty metres. We hauled the stunned bears, and the un-stunned were motioned away, as the teleporters re-arrived with about a dozen bears each. The teleporters collapsed again, and struggled to their feet.

"I've never tried that before." Time dancer wheezed, massaging her ribs.

"I'm not surprised."Devlin replied, sitting up."Not that often you have to evacuate a village from one place to another."

The witch doctor turned to a bear with a plain stick in his hand.

"My chieftain, these creatures are not as evil as we believed. They have helped us defeat the scorpions, and actually killed one of them with their weapons!"

"Oh, so now we're the good guys." I mumbled. Nobody heard this save for Valmeero who was beside me,"You'd have thought we were meant to invade and massacre the population half an hour ago." Valmeero smiled.

"Well, saving the tribesman from death could have had something to do with it."

"How's your arm?" I asked, non-commitally.

"Fine, thank you."

"It's a trick we have on earth, if someone is bitten by a snake, or stung by a poison, then you suck out the poison through the wound.Makes me look like I'm finishing you off, but you get the drift."

"Yeah, thanks about that."

"I said not at all. It was about to mince me into the ground, and you distracted it."

The two bears discussed something very quickly and quietly, and then the chief nodded to us, and disappeared into his hut. The witch doctor turned, and spoke.

"My lords and ladies, this place is yours for however long you intend to stay here. Tharlarctos will show you around or little town."

A paler bear than the rest came forward, bowed in slight apprehension, and we nodded and smiled. The witch doctor turned, and left the square. The other bears followed suit. Our little guide came forward.

"Masters, what shall I show you?"

"Well, shall we start at the front gate, and work our way around?" Simba suggested.

Tharlarctos lean us down the length of the square, and we came to a gate, with two watch towers on either side. It reminded me like one of the wooden Roman forts a good two thousand years ago. Their was a footpath beside the spiked wooden fence, which a bear could look over. On the other side, as I climbed up for a better look, was a steep, I mean steep, try sheer, drop into a moat, minus water. This was the dyke that protected the town, Tharlarctos explained, from the giant scorpions, which the bears named Hell beasts.

A few people looked at Devlin, and he was whistling under our gaze, but we moved on to the small houses. They were all the same, about one metre and a half high doors, two metre ceilings, wooden, and inside there were invariably bunks and boxes for holding items.We were led to a bunch of five, and were told that we could use these to sleep in.

"Oh good."I replied."Who's coming back to camp with me to strike tents?"

Brendan, Time, Draco and Thomas decided to come, and as we came to the end of the square, I said.

"Right, I'm off."

Draco nodded, and I transformed into my F-22 form. All the bears who saw this backed away, and then more so when I fired up my engines. The ground was not stone, just plain ground, but all the grass had been cut to a minimum.As I rolled along the grass, gathering speed, all the bears watching tried to make themselves unnoticed. I took off, and sailed through the air, flying only about eight metres above the ground. My primary concern was looking out for more scorpions, because they were very dangerous, and if there was one around, we needed to know. I made two passes around the camp, and then spoke into my grille, which had a line to Draco's walkie talkie.

"Draco,Tin-man here. The camp is empty all round. No monsters anywhere."

"Thank you Tin-man, there in five seconds." he acknowledged. I landed on my previous runway, and changed into my bionic form. Already the others were there, and we started taking down the tents and scattering things around, so it looked as though we hadn't been there. This last bit was chiefly Thomas' job, because he was the expert at concealment, and this was a piece of cake to him. The only thing we left was my flattened runway of grass, which wouldn't have made any difference, because any tracking creature would only smell the faint smell of burning. Half an hour of busy work taking down the tents, followed by half an hour of camo, and then they teleported back.