FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Seeing the academy for the first time was one of Yelena's proudest moments. She had walked with her head held high. Greeting her on the first day to the academy was the bright sunlight and a soothing light breeze.

All that went through her mind was that she earned this. Her success at being at the top of her class, proving her intellectual mind and her talent in combat, did not come without a tremendous amount of effort. It all led to her being admitted to this military academy, the same academy that the infamous Pilot Sky himself had trained at. Few had the honor to be accepted to the school.

Wearing her cadet uniform, Yelena blended in with the other students that were wandering around the campus. The others were chatting to their friends, or hurrying off to another part of the academy, which made Yelena's bold and confident walk stand out more. She didn't care though, she was proud to finally join the ranks of where legends have trained. Not to mention she was a couple years younger than the rest of the cadets.

Confidentially she entered the admissions office, and briskly approached the front desk. Sitting behind it was an elderly coati, staring at the screen of her computer.

"Cadet Cassander, reporting," Yelena barked. She stopped and stood tall in front of the desk while the coati glanced up at her with a smile.

"Welcome, cadet," she said. "Do you know your serial number?"

Having been given the number only a few days ago, the meerkat hadn't had time to memorize it so she pulled out her PawPad and looked it up. She handed the small device to the coati to allow her to enter in the number.

"Thank you," said the coati, typing the numbers in. She hesitated when she finished before retyping the numbers again. "Classified? That can't be right. Please have a seat cadet while I call the sergeant."

Yelena obliged and sat down next to the front desk. But she was worried that her admission to the facility was already having unexpected complications. She heard the coati chat on the phone but couldn't make out what she was saying. From the tone though, Yelena knew that whatever was wrong wouldn't be an easy fix.

"Please remain seated," said the coati after she was finished on the phone. "An officer will arrive shortly for you."

"Is there a problem?" Yelena asked from her seat. She was still worried. After all, why would an officer come see a cadet on her first day?

"The officer will explain everything," said the coati, not to reassuringly. She gave the meerkat back her PawPad before returning behind the front desk.

With no other alternative, Yelena sat and waited while she watched the minutes tick by. The coati was obviously uncomfortable with Yelena still there as ten minutes went by. Then twenty minutes.

The thought that this might be some sort of test entered the meerkat's mind. But was it a test of patience or a test of innovation?

Nearly forty minutes have passed before an ununiformed ermine came through the front doors of the office. He was older than Yelena but not old enough that he'd be unfit for military service.

"I'm here for Cassander," the ermine told the coati. The admissions representative pointed over at the confused meerkat.

"Cadet Cassander?" asked the ermine after approaching Yelena.

She stood to greet him. "Yes sir."

"I'm trainer Tiriaq Dewitt," the ermine introduced himself. "Follow me and I'll explain on the way." With the meerkat in tow, the ermine walked out of the office and away from the academy facilities.

"Sir, where are we going?" asked Yelena, seeing the academy she always dreamed off shrink in the distance.

"We're heading to a more private facility," answered the ermine. "The training exercises there will be far more intense than the standard classes. Do not worry, Cadet, all your questions will be answered."

Tiriaq had led her down into an underground parking structure. He told Yelena to get in the car, and once she did they drove off. The drive remained underground for the majority of the time until they stopped at a gated road. The guards there allowed them to pass and they drove up on the surface again, travelling on a dirt road now.

Yelena remembered feeling disappointed being taken from her dream school to some unknown facility that was hidden out in the forest.

"You were chosen to train here because of the potential we have seen in you through your tests, including the P.E.T., the Preparation Evaluation for Toddlers that you took quite a few years ago," another trainer had explained to her. This one was a fox, who was even older than the ermine who drove her here. "You'll take most of your standard classes at the academy but every weekend you will return here for specialized training. The test here will be physical and mental, and they will be the hardest tests that you've ever taken. You were chosen with a very select few to come here to train. We have high expectations from you, Yelena Cassander."

Later that day she was placed in a dormitory with another dozen students on the secret facility. The first week she returned to the academy for her classes, but when she was taken back to the hidden facility that weekend, she saw the white fox for the first time.

She was walking across the yard toward her underground dormitory when a ship landed across the yard. From it came out several soldiers in a terribly rough shape and in the arms of one of them was being carried an unconscious arctic fox, fur as white as snow even in the summer heat. The fox must have been no older than five years old.

Yelena thought it was strange, maybe that the soldiers found the child after some sort of natural disaster and couldn't bring him to the hospital for whatever reason. She didn't think much on it while her classes that weekend started, these classes being less academic and more combat strategy simulations.

She was teamed up with her roommates in these simulations. She didn't remember many of the exercises but often the simulation would be in her favor one way or another. Regardless of the situation or how she adapted, her opponent that she assumed was a trainer or some sort of computer program, always defeated her and her team.

The next week returning her to regular classes went by smoother as she became accumulated to the new environment. Every weekend though she was put in simulations that she could never win. Rumors had started to spread around that they weren't there for their own training but the specific training of one cadet.

Yelena didn't listen to those rumors, and didn't like to hear them. Despite her stubbornness to ignore the rumors, after a month had passed she learned that there was a specific cadet that was receiving all the attention at that private facility.

One weekend she was in the gym, training on the floor with one of the trainers. She punched and kicked at a sand-filled bag while her trainer instructed her on her technique in one way or another. After a couple hours of several grueling exercises, Yelena was putting away some equipment when she saw the fox again.

All of the other students had left the gym by now. The fox was walking on his own, heading straight for the sparring floor but had the escort of the same ermine that picked Yelena up from the academy on her first day.

Curious, Yelena watched from the shadows of the gym while they wandered over. She was surprised when Trainer Dewitt started to train with the arctic fox, by doing some warm up exercises. She had originally thought the fox was a refugee of some type but in fact he was a student, separated from the rest of them.

After ten minutes of warming up, two more trainers came into the room. Within another five minutes, they positioned themselves on either side of the arctic fox who had also disengaged his warm-up exercises with the ermine. They all took a stance.

Yelena remembered thinking that they weren't going to fight the small fox, when the poor thing had no chance of winning beating three adults who were three times his weight. The thought was preposterous but what else could they be readying for?

Seeing the first trainer move was alarming, because he moved with speed and accuracy that could critically injure the tiny fox. The fox however dodged the attack by jumping back but the next trainer coordinated with the first and kicked out. The attack was blocked, but the force sent the fox reeling back and the two trainers moved in to attack.

That seemed to be what the fox was waiting for. The trainers were walking, shifting their weight from one paw to the other. The fox sprung back, and kicked one of the trainers paw just as it was coming to the ground. The trainer was thrown off balanced and fell to the ground.

Yelena watched, stunned, while the fighting continued. The fox had no hope of winning if unless the trainer made a mistake, and the fox spotted each mistake and exploited it while dodging and blocking serious blows. Even with one of the trainers jumped back, the fox jumped after him and again threw off his balance making him fall on his back. It was almost a desperate style of fighting but the fox showed no sign of acting out of desperation.

At the end of the fight, the fox was beaten and panting but the trainers didn't look in any better condition. Some of their limbs were even sprained when the fox used his own weight to compensate for his lack of muscle.

Yelena didn't go unnoticed though, and when the training for the fox was over, Trainer Dewitt escorted her out along with the fox. A mere kit, being taken more seriously than her who had spent long hours studying and fighting to be accepted to the academy. And that she was being used to help train this kit. She couldn't help but to glare at him while they walked out of the gym.

Ten years have passed since that day, and now she was watching over the fox like a little brother of hers.

"Ready to go?" she asked when the fox approached her. He had just come down from speaking on a sanctuary on a burned planet near the Black Line. The Creeper infestations was eradicated but it had left the planet a barren and fiery wasteland.

"Yes, I will be glad to be finished with these speeches," admitted the white fox.

"They are the only reason why General Vale agreed to our trip back home," she reminded him of that, turning to follow the fox back to their shuttle.

Yukiomaru didn't respond. Yelena noticed a change in him, that even though he was suppressing it, he was smiling and his step seemed to be filled with excitement. It was the last stop that they had to make before returning home.

After the short flight off planet and docking with Drach'n Fury again, the fox was relieved of command but he requested to speak with her in his room.

"Fury, keep watch for the next few hours please," Yukiomaru requested once Yelena and he were in the privacy of the Admiral's quarters. "Yelena, I'm a bit concerned about the state of Canidera. I assume that most of our homes are gone now, including our academy."

"Yes, but Jun Fa said there'd be a place for our crew," Yelena said.

"Do you think he'll greet us personally?" asked Yukiomaru rather suddenly. "Do you think he'll be exited to see me?"

Behind the closed doors and in the privacy of his room, Yukiomaru was unable to contain his excitement anymore. Not only was he chatting more than she was used to but he also was more excited to see Jun rather than going home. During the conversation, she couldn't help but to smile at the true naïve nature of the fox.