FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Futureland, a name used so often that it should be put in a book. That's what Joseph thought as he rode with his family towards the themepark, the Panther's tail twitched in annoyance as they drove towards it. If it were up to him, they'd be on their way to a real amusement park, but it wasn't up to him. It was up to his bratty younger brother as he had won the family's game of rock paper scissors.

"We're going to Futureland, we're going to Futureland, we're going to Futureland!" His twin siblings sang in the back like a broken record, Joseph could barely contain his annoyance as his dad pulled them into the parking lot.

His dad called out to the family as if they didn't know, "We're here!"

The twins freaked out, cheering and mewling in excitement as the car pulled into a parking spot. Joseph rubbed his forehead, ready for the family trip to be done with already. As his parents climbed out and he stepped out, his mom grabbed his arm and pulled him to the side. She whispered in an annoyed voice, "I saw that look, don't make this trip about you, alright?! I know that you didn't want to go to this place, but we're here to have fun as a family!"

Yanking his arm away, Joseph muttered his begrudged agreement and watched as his dad purchased tickets for the whole family. At his dad passed him his ticket the older Panther muttered quietly to his son, "If you act good today, I'll give you some extra cash and you can go get that game you've been saving up for. But that's only if you act good, do you understand?" The seventeen year old sighed and nodded, excitement blossoming in his chest. Now it was all worth it to go to the park.

As the family passed through the gates of the park, they looked at the remarkable spectacle of a futuristic world that could be. The twins freaked out as they saw the different rides and setups around the center of the park, the one that caught their attention the most though was the automatic fish catcher. The pair ran over to look as a specialized fishing pole used a sonic pulse to find where the fish were in a pond and proceeded to catch them with a remote hook.

Joseph watched at the fish dangling on the hook with mild amusement as it flopped around on the line, as the teenager looked around the park he noticed that the park had a lot of adults and younger children but had a shocking amount of teenagers missing.

As his tail twitched in wonder he looked at his parents who were standing close behind the twins to make sure that they didn't get in any trouble, Joseph approached them and quickly tapped his mother on the shoulder. She glanced back at him, "What's up hun?"

Joseph quickly swept around the park with his hand, "Do you see any other teenagers?"

Her muzzle turned down in an angry scowl, "If that's an attempt at sarcasm..."

But Joseph quickly shook his head, "No, I'm honestly wondering. Do you see any other teenagers here?"

Now interested, his mother glanced around and she scratched her chin. "Huh... that is odd, none of the usual teenage workers are here either..." She was going to observe for longer but when one of the twins decided to take a hop at the fish on the hook, she lost all interest in the dilemma of the missing teenagers.

Rolling his eyes, Joseph walked away from his family and walked through the park's main square. As he walked past the vendors, he noticed that all of the usual college hires were gone, in their place were robots that resembled animals. Their fur was nonexistent as their metal exterior resembled the color of their fur and their bodies were polished to a vibrant shine, the Panther walked up to one curious, his green eyes flashing from the gleam of sunlight bouncing off of the metal of a Leopard robot.

The Robot's eyes glowed with an eerie blue glow as Joseph grew near; the body looked exactly like a real Leopard Anthro's save for the lack of fur and the creepy eyes. The Panther blinked as he realized that the robot was actually tracking him with its head, "That... is creepy..." He muttered.

The Leopard robot suddenly started to talk in an eerily real voice, "Welcome to the basketball game, would you like to try a paw at the game?" As it spoke, it's jaw moved up and down as if it were really speaking and it had picked up a ball from the table that it was next to and was mindlessly tossing the ball between its hands. The whole while, its head tracking every one of Joseph's movements.

Joseph's hackles rose as the robot spoke, its voice didn't sound recorded at all, it was as if it were a real creature. He shook his head, his hand clenched up into a ball, "I'm fine, thanks."

The ball stopped as soon as he declined, the Leopard robot's eyes seemed to glow a brighter color before it answered. "Alright, thank you for dropping by the basketball booth." Having said what it needed to say the robot set down the ball back on the table and stiffened up as it looked forward with the eerie blue eyes.

Families moved past the whole event as if nothing were happening, as Joseph walked away from the robot the Leopard's head moved to track him once more.

Back in the main hub of the park, a monitor pinged as workers typed away commands on computers. A tired looking Kangaroo glanced at the monitor before he sat up stiff, "Sir!" He called out to an imposing looking Jackal.

The dog slowly walked across the room, workers glancing at the Kangaroo to see what was so interesting. As the Jackal looked at the readout on the computer, a grin spread across his face. "Well everyone... looks like we have an active teenager in the park..."

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Dropping by the park's food court, Joseph grinned as he spotted some delicious looking burgers. (Non-cow brand of course) He approached the court and smiled as he saw the back of the cook of the burgers, "Excuse me?" He jumped as the cook turned to reveal that it was a robotic bull wearing a "Kiss the Cook" apron.

"How may I help you sir?" It said with an almost comical British voice.

Joseph jumped and felt his stomach drop, something was really creepy about how realistic all of the robotic creatures. He knew that the apron was supposed to lighten up the whole atmosphere for the kids, but it only showed how really eerie the whole robot thing was... His tail was rigid with anxiety as he started to speak to the robot, "I'd like a burger... please."

The robot nodded, his horns seemed to be discharging little jolts of electricity every now as he bent over and picked up a burger and setting it on top of a bun. It glanced up at him, the blue lights glowing brightly as it observed him before asking. "Would you like any condiments sir?"

Joseph felt anxiety building up, the robots were seriously creeping him out with the way that they all seemed to be observing him. "Ketchup, Mustard." He said briefly, his lungs felt like they were seizing. The bull nodded before putting on the condiments and handing him the burger.

"Have a good day sir." It said before looking at him oddly for a moment quickly turning around to continue its work once more.

Walking away to a table nearby, Joseph dug into the burger his whiskers twitching with delight at the taste. The Panther didn't notice cameras nearby stopping their usual scan to focus in on him. As he ate, the robots at local stands also looked at him, their eyes zooming in.

As he licked the last of the condiments off of his lips, Joseph looked up to see his family walking past. He waved his hand and they all noticed him and smiled as they walked up, "Enjoying lunch?" His dad asked as they slid in around the table. Joseph nodded and the twins whined.

"We want fish..." They whined in unison.

Joseph's mother chuckled as she patted the two kits on their heads, "We'll get you some fish then." She looked up at Joseph and smiled, "Why don't you go ride some rides while we're eating? Once we're done eating we'll find you, alright?"

Joseph nodded and started to stand but as he was about to leave, he glanced back at his dad who was fiddling with his hands as his mother was walking away with the twins. "Hey dad."

His dad looked up, his whiskers twitching absentmindedly. "Yeah Joseph?"

Throwing a look over his shoulder, Joseph leaned in. "Does it feel like the robots are watching you?"

The older panther looked around with a confused expression on his face and shook his head as he turned back to his son, Joseph sighed and scratched his head laughing lightly. "Sorry, I think the blue eyes are unnerving me.

Joseph waved to his father as he walked away, his attitude much more cheery now. Though even as he relaxed, cameras followed his every movement.

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The sun was rising high in the sky as Joseph stepped out of a tram, he whistled through his teeth as he walked through the park. Even though he had started out dreading the park, it wasn't so bad now that he was actually there. Save for the creepy robots, the place was actually pretty fun. He had tried out a futuristic rollercoaster which in all honesty wasn't that futuristic, but it was one heck of a ride.

As he walked through the park, a sudden smashing noise made the panther jump. Sprinting right towards him was one of the otter robots, "Holy!" Joseph screamed out as the robot slammed into him, thankfully the machines were made out of a very light metal that didn't weight much more than your average person. Even so, Joseph was winded by the collision. "G... get off of me!"

But the otter wrapped its hands into his shirt and pulled him close and let him see that its eyes were blood red, it pulled his ear close and whispered. "Get out right now!"

Joseph was terrified, "W... why?!"

The robot's face was placid but even so, there was something about it that reminded Joseph of a scared kid. "They changed us; they've been changing each of us when we got here..."

Tired of the robot's rambling, Joseph gave a large heave and shoved the machine off of him. "Leave me alone!" He shouted at it, as he stepped back men in white coats ran past him and picked up the robot and placed something to its head and pressed a button. At the press of the button the robot's whole body stiffened up and his eyes blacked out before turning back to blue, it stood up and one of the scientists hissed something at it.

The otter turned towards the frightened Panther, "I apologize for my prior actions sir, please come with these fine technicians and they'll guide you towards the park's administration for a sincere apology."

The panther brushed himself off and looked at the technicians who were giving him odd glances and shook his head, "I'm fine, thanks though." He quickly turned and walked away as fast as he could, even though the robot had apologized he knew that something was up. Joseph rushed towards the entrance and a realization passed through him, the streets were thinning out rapidly. "W... what's going on here?" He muttered in confusion.

As Joseph approached the gate he watched as the last of the families walked through the gate and it closed behind them. His hackles started to rise as he rushed towards the gate, "Hey! Wait, I'm still in here!" But the adults and kids were being rushed away by members of the park staff who looked back at him with sinister grins, "So... somethings wrong here..." He muttered in horror as he started to glance around the park. There was no more doubt about it, all of the robots were looking at him. Their eyes glowing an icy blue, Joseph bared his teeth as his tail started to puff out.

The loudspeakers above suddenly squawked as they came to life, "Hello my dear panther, I am the owner of this park." Joseph's eyes narrowed as he glared at the loudspeaker which continued to talk, "I am going to need you to come to the main technician center at your convenience."

Anger sparked through Joseph, "At my convenience?! You locked me in here, what's this all about?! Your robots have been watching me all day, I know!" But there was no reply from the loudspeaker. The panther glanced at the front gate and walked up to it, he was about to try to climb it but the loudspeaker squawked again.

"And before you, my dear guest, try to climb that gate. Let me inform you that all gates in the park are electrified as soon as I flip this switch." The audible sound of a switch being flipped went through the speakers, "Oops, looks like the electricity is on. If you'd like to risk it, feel free my little panther."

His paw still near the gate, Joseph could feel his fur standing on edge just being near the electrified surface and he sighed before stepping back. "Fine... I'll play by your rules... whoever you are..."

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After following the signs, and a few 'helpful pushes' from the robots, Joseph walked into the technician's building. Stepping in, he saw tubes lining the walls which were empty. "What are these for?" Joseph asked, his voice echoing slightly in the apparently empty building. After taking a few more steps inside, the door slammed shut behind him causing him to jump a good foot in the air. The panther turned around and tried the doorknob, but it was locked tight. "What do these guys want from me?!" He shouted taking the time to slam his foot into the door but that only resulted in his foot aching horribly.

The panther sighed and turned back around, the room was dark except for the lit up tubes. Lining the walls were computers that occasionally flicked with green lights, they seemed to be leading Joseph somewhere. He sighed and shrugged, "I don't have anywhere to go anyways..." He started to walk following the green lights. He glanced at the floor and noticed that the floor was made of mesh metal, he could see underneath pipes and wires leading to the tubes that were lit up with dim lights underneath.

Joseph looked at the tubes once more, "Those things must be important if there's so much in here just for them..." The Panther's eyes finally adjusted to the darkness, though there wasn't much to be seen. There were a few desks with computer monitors on them and coffee mugs on them, "This place is like the business office from heck..."

The lights led to a door that had a sign with words scribbled on it, "Come on in." A shiver travelled up Joseph's back, "This is wrong..." He muttered but he opened it up, as he stepped in it was far too dark to see. Then lights lit up everywhere and the panther was blinded, after a moment of painful blindness he was able to see that he was in one of the tubes that he had seen in the room previously.

"Wh... why am I in here?" He questioned, surprisingly he got an answer for his question for once.

"You're here to become one of our robots."

Joseph looked out past the glass of the tube to see a room full of scientists and a technician, standing right in front of the tube though was a savage looking Jackal. He was wearing a fancy looking business suit, his eyes were an awful looking black. The panther was terrified now, he attempted to leave through the opening he had come in through but the door had slid closed behind him and wouldn't open. The panther turned back around and glared at the jackal, "You said I'm going to become your robot?" The jackal nodded, "So... that otter outside?"

The jackal sighed and paced in front of the tube, "A new recruit, sadly we had messed up on his programming somewhere and he was able to break out. Though we've fixed up that problem, now he's one of our most loyal robots."

Biting his lip, Joseph only had one thing to ask. "Why?"

A chuckle rolled from the Jackal, "Well it's quite simple my good panther. You see, for a long time teenagers were the only ones that I could hire. And they weren't cheap in the numbers that we had hired, so my technicians had an idea. Why not get free labor?" He grinned at his technicians and then looked back to Joseph with a look that only spelled trouble for the teenager, "So I got them started on a special project, how to make robots. After a lot of experimentation, it proved to be a flop."

He looked sad for a moment before a savage grin once more spread across his face, "But then I came upon a realization, what if instead of making a whole line of robots from nowhere. How about I make robots out of something we already have?"

A whisper came from Joseph's lips, "Teenagers." The jackal nodded. Joseph closed his eyes tight and opened them as another question came to mind, "What about the families?"

The jackal smiled, "Oh that? That's actually quite easy, you see I just have to do one thing to families. I just make them forget about that one lousy teenager." Joseph couldn't believe it, but a small video appeared on the inside of the tube and he watched as a pair of technicians put his parents and the twins into seats before setting helmets on their heads and turned on a switch.

After a minute, the helmets were removed and his family sat up dazed. One of the two technicians held up a picture of Joseph, "Do you know this panther?"

The family looked at it for a few seconds before shaking their heads, "Never seen him in my life, should I know him?" Joseph's mom asked, and a knife of pain pierced his chest.

The jackal laughed as he saw pain streak across the teenage panther's face, "Don't worry my boy, soon you won't care about family." He snapped his finger and one of the technicians pressed a button which activated a tentacle which picked up Joseph by his wrists and picked him up. Another press of a button and Joseph blinked as a silver liquid started to fill up from the bottom of the tube. The Jackal chuckled as he approached the tube, "I guess before you're changed I should tell you who I am." Joseph shook his head but the jackal didn't listen, "I am Reginald Furth, your new master."

He then turned away and walked away to allow the liquid to do its job, Joseph gasped as the liquid touched his feet. All of the nerves in his feet suddenly exploded in pain and then they were gone, a coldness spread through Joseph's body as the liquid slowly consumed him piece by piece. He tried to pick up his tail to avoid getting it covered in the silver liquid but as soon as a little bit of the liquid touched the tip of the tail, the appendage turned numb and sank down into the liquid to get submerged.

Joseph shouted out, "Let me out! I don't want this, please! I just want my family, dang it, I just want my stupid twin brothers!" But his shouts fell on deaf ears; the technicians had left from the room to let the machine follow through its steps.

It was a horrible sensation for Joseph, slowly losing all feeling in his body. The liquid felt cold for the brief few moments that he could feel it, like he was being submerged in ice water. The liquid made its way up his chest, his clothes being burned away by the liquid along with his fur. As he lost feeling in his neck, Joseph let out a heart broken scream as he lost control of his neck and his head right into the transforming liquid.

There was no more sound as the liquid traveled up his arms and filled to the very top.

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Reginald tapped his foot as the liquid was drained; the restraints were the only thing visible for a moment until they saw hands. The claws were hanging out, now a stainless steel, while his paws were the pitch black that his fur had been but they were also made of the polished steel of a robot. As the liquid drained more and more, it was revealed that Joseph's body had been turned into one of the robots.

After all of the liquid was drained, Reginald spoke for the first time. "Joseph, look at me."

For a moment the panther didn't do anything before picking his head up, his eyes the blood red color that the otter had earlier. "W... what have you done to me?" He asked in a tearful voice, though his face was cool and collected.

Grinning, Reginald touched the glass of the tube. "I have made you better my boy, now hold still while my technicians install your new OS. Joseph called out in pain as a hand pulled the back of his head open and a small needled connected to his motherboard. Reginald rolled his eyes, "Stop being so dramatic, you can't feel pain."

But it wasn't true, Joseph could feel the pain of his subconscious being altered by the installation. After a minute, displays and readouts appeared in his vision. "T... this isn't right..." He muttered.

Reginald sighed and glared at one of the technicians, "Please deactivate his voice box for now, I hate it when they try to make me feel bad."

Suddenly Joseph's voice wouldn't come out anymore, his voice had indeed been deactivated. Reginald smiled as he looked at the panther, his eyes still red. "Say goodbye Joseph, in just a moment you'll be Panther Unit One." He looked back at the technician, "Do it."

Joseph's mind was awash with his thoughts.

Don't do this, I'm a living creature I can think for myse...

Error, rewriting memory subroutines.

No... I'm Joseph... I lived as a real life panther with fa...

Park Routines set, purging short term memory.

My... my brothers... my parents...

Family history deleted.

I'm Joseph... I have friends at school.

Friends list deleted, purging school memories... complete.

I'm Joseph... I lived...

Life deleted.

Joseph... Joseph...

Joseph deleting... deleting... complete. Panther Unit reinstalling...

I am Panther Unit...

Park Role Written.

Panther Unit runs Fishing Booth.

Obediance Subroutine complete, Panther Unit is ready.

Panther Unit looked at its master, the restraints put him down as his eyes flashed to a blue color. "Master, Panther Unit is ready for duty."

Reginald grinned, "Good, prepare for recharging Panther Unit One."

Panther Unit nodded and powered down, its eyes going black as the tube it was in slid out of the room to get into line with the other tubes.

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The twins grinned at their mom and dad as they ran by the fishing booth, "Why don't we fish?" It'd be a year since they'd last visited the Futureland park, for some reason they couldn't remember leaving the year prior but they didn't really care. They had decided that it'd be a good time to go again, they walked up to the fishing tank and a familiar face greeted them.

The father chuckled, "Look guys, it's a panther just like us." Panther Unit looked at the family and a process ran through its head for just a moment before the mind wiping chip kicked in and any thoughts that could've arisen were crushed and its obedience subroutine kicked in, "Welcome to the fishing booth, would you like to try your hand at fishing?" It asked blankly pretending to fish as its eyes burned with a bright blue light.