FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

How much longer? I quickly look at the clock up on the high school classroom wall. 10:30 it read. All of the other students in the classroom were rambunctious, excited that the final seconds of the school year were ticking away. Mr. Rammus had given up on quelling the crowd, just idly looking at his laptop on his now spotless desk. It seemed like everyone was all too excited to get going on summer vacation. The room was filled with laughs, squeals, and loud shouts. Everyone buzzing with energy. Everyone except the two of us.

I look to the desk next to me, Chris reading the introduction manual, with another one of those stupid grins on his face. I wish I can be as excited as he is. Well, I suppose I was. But he didn't have my nervousness.

"Dude, this thing is going to be fucking awesome!" Chris said, flipping through a few pages. He turns, and noticed my bland behavior "Ryan, what's wrong?"

The rowdy students continue rioting, in a sense, "Nothing. Just thinking about it."

Chris quirks an eyebrow "It's going to be awesome! And we're going to get paid for it! If anything I would expect us to pay to be a part, but we're getting a ton of cash for it. All we have to do is play a game." he swishes his black hair to the right.

He was right. But it felt depressing in a sense. They were going to be wasting their entire summer on the thing. Granted, it was something I was totally psyched about, but still. Something felt off about just being absent from the real world for 60 days. But I was going to be with my best friends. This was an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

My thoughts were interrupted by a bell signaling the freedom of the students for the summer.

"See ya guys later!" Mr. Rammus proclaimed.

Everyone immediately became louder, as they charged out the door towards their awaiting vacation. Chris and I followed, walking down the vanilla halls while he continued flipping through the manual. He laughed, shaking his head.

"This is almost too good to be true...I can't believe this is actually real...it's like some crazy shit from the future! Like something from a sci-fi movie."

Chris's energy did make me crack a smile. It was pretty cool. The concept of a virtual world and all. Who knew something like this would be available in only 2016? We continued on, being passed by the horde of energized adolescents. The two of us emerged out of the large building, near the carpool lane as all the other students drove out. The sudden harsh sun made me flinch.

"Your mom's over there" Chris said gesturing to a waiting car a few feet away. We knocked on the door, and it was promptly opened letting me and Chris climb into the back.

"Hi Chris, hi Ryan." I immediately noticed the lack of energy in my mother's normally happy tone. I can't blame her really. I was going to be gone for almost the whole summer.

The ride back to my house was quiet. Everyone was full of anticipation. Raw excitement. Fear of the unknown. The school year had seemed to drag on, but this day had finally arrived. The silence dragged on even when we arrived home. When we walked in and dropped our stuff on the ground. Chris's mom was present, probably to say goodbye. As she pulled him into our living room, I could hear the frantic whispers of his mom saying goodbye.

Mom walked in, closing the front door behind her and stood beside me. I glanced at her. Her frizzy brown hair, and deepened wrinkles. Probably from the stress of this trip I was going on.

"Are you really sure you want to go Ryan?" She didn't even make eye contact. We had been through this argument many a time.

"Yea" I replied simply. I walked up into my room, where the uniform I was expected to wear waited for me.

It was horribly plain looking. A pure white t-shirt, and white pants. But they were made of a very odd material. Smooth like sportswear, but it had a rough texture to it. I quickly changed into the outfit, and looked around my grey room. This was it for 60 days. I shuddered at the thought.

Back downstairs, Chris was in an embrace with his mother. He was also in the same white uniform. My mom was standing by the door, looking outside. When the pair peeled apart his mother instantly barraged him with worry.

"I know they said no luggage, but I could pack you some food or something. Ooh! Make sure you have your phone and-"

Chris just groaned and tilted his head back "18 mom. I can take care of myself." They exchanged a few more words after.

I checked the time again. 11. The truck would be here soon. I pointed out the time to them, and they nodded as we made our way to the end of our driveway and waited.

Small conversation picked up. I guess it was the panic of soon being separated for so long. We just discussed about what was going to happen while the two of us were away. None of us were really prepared for this situation.

We stood out there waiting for about half-an-hour trying to wrap our minds around the circumstances, when the enormous coach bus turned the corner and began driving down our suburban street. The thing was a double decker, and was huge, but strangely silent for a vehicle its size. The color was also pure white, much like our uniforms, except for the emblem saying Data Industries on the side.

While the bus came towards us, Mom and I exchanged a sad look. Despite the arguments leading up to this, it didn't change the fact we would miss each other. We hugged, as the coach pulled up in front of us. Both me and Chris detached from our moms.

"Say goodbye to Dad for me" I said as I pulled away. Mom nodded, and wiped away a tear. But she stepped back, leaving Chris and I to face the journey before us. The two of us faced the coach. The door slid open smoothly, revealing a young bus driver wearing a similar outfit of white.

He looked at us, and then began typing on what seemed to be a touch-screen on the dashboard.

"Names?" he asked with a pleasant tone.

"Ryan Harrison."

"Chris Matterson."

After punching some more things in, the driver looked back at us smiling. "Welcome to Data Industries you two, come on in." With a final goodbye, we stepped onto the bus.

The inside was wonderfully air conditioned. It looked like the interior of some space shuttle thing. It was white, with some black stripped designs. The first floor was semi-crowded; about half of the seats were taken. I also heard voices coming from the slim stairwell, meaning others were seated up there. It looked like people were making friends with each other already. Chris and I looked to see if any of our friends had already made it on, and that's when I spotted Sarah all the way in the back. She smiled and waved us back.

Her orange hair was straight and pulled back into a ponytail which lazily sat on her back. She also had freckles across her nose from the summer sun. Sarah had saved us the big bench seat in the back, making room for us and our two other friends that would be joining us.

"Hey" she greeted with a smile.

"Dude this is so crazy!" Chris said taking in the whole bus. The coach began driving again, taking us with it.

"Yea have you guys looked at the introduction manual they sent us? This thing looks wild!" she said.

"I know! It's going to be awesome!"

I smiled and remained silent, watching the two of my friends exchange with each other. It was obvious that everyone was getting excited for this trip. The bus occasionally stopped at a house, picking up more people.

"What's up guys?" The three of us looked up. It seemed like the newest arrival was none other than Cole. We all greeted him, and soon the four of us were laughing and joking. It honestly felt like just another day in school. That's why I'm so happy I'm able to do this side by side with my friends.

Soon, Lilly boarded as well, gingerly smiling at us.

"Hey! The gang's all here!" Chris exclaimed. Lilly waved her finger in a circle, showing her sarcastic enthusiasm.

While all of us sat there, chatting, the bus began filling up to capacity. All of the kids were wearing the same outfit as the five of us. After about 45 minutes of gathering other teenagers, the driver made an announcement over the clear speakers.

"Hello, there all applicants, and welcome. We have gathered all participants in Data Industries experiment, and we will now be departing to the Data Labs now. We should be arriving in about three hours."

The five of us looked to each other, then the packed bus. Everyone was chatting, buzzing with anticipation. My friends went back to joking and laughing.

"So who read the introduction manual?" Chris asked.

"Yea man, it was so cool! I put post-it notes in it, marked down pages, and studied it!" Sarah exclaimed, in a nerdy lisp mock-tone. Lilly and Cole erupted into laughter. I smiled as I peeled away to look out the window.

Two and a half hours passed by quickly for me. The excitement in the bus had died down to a silent atmosphere, everyone either sleeping, whispering, or just looking out the window. The outside highway is passing by in a blur, just like my thoughts. Everything was going to change. I can't believe this whole scenario is actually real. It just blew my mind.

I glanced over, and saw my four friends napping. They were all sitting up straight, leaning their heads together. Except for Chris, who was lying across their laps. They were all out cold. I laughed silently and went back to looking out the window.

What is this going to be like? They said it would be like any other game...just from a different perspective. It seemed crazy that out of 12 million applicants, the 5 of us were chosen. Over the past weeks, my imagination has gone all over the place as to what this was going to be like.

Someone shifted next to me, I turned to see Lilly yawning awake.

"Hey there..." she said through a deep yawn.

"Hi" I replied, turning back to the window, watching the passing highway.

"What's wrong grumpy face?"

I forgot about that adorable nickname she calls me.

"Just thinking."

"Really, you don't say? What are you thinking about?"

I huffed. "This, the whole thing."

"Yeah. Sure is weird." Lily squeaked.

The coach speakers buzzed. "Applicants, we hope you enjoyed the ride, but we will be arriving at Data Industries in less than 3 minutes. Please prepare."

The sudden announcement woke up my other friends, and they started the waking up process. Chris sat up, stretching. All of the bus passengers were bracing themselves as well. That's when I saw the building out the window.

"Holy shit fuck unicorns..." I muttered.

It looked like a fortress. The building was at least 7 stories high, and branched out into a series of smaller structures, connected by suspended wings. With an enormous emblem over the main entrance. The coach pulled across, pulling up to the main entrance, where two sliding doors were constantly opening and closing, due to the traffic of official looking workers going in and out.

Chris gave a cat whistle behind me to the impressive foundation.

The door of the bus slid open, and the driver stood facing the teenagers. "Alright, welcome to Data Industries! As you all know you have been selected to participate in an exclusive psychological experiment, the first of its kind. This foundation will be your home for the next 60 days. I'm sure you have a lot of questions right now, but please wait until we reach the matrix chamber to ask them. So please follow me."

We gave each other a puzzled look. 'Matrix chamber?' Cole mouthed. Everyone filed out in a line to the outside sidewalk in front of the entrance. I could barely hear anything over the sound of busy workers entering and leaving, and the screams of the near bye highway.

All of the students surrounded three people standing in front of the entrance, waiting for us. In the middle was a tall man, wearing what appeared to be regular clothes, jeans and a sports top. On either side of him there were two elderly looking scientist ladies tapping away on tablets.

"Greetings. Thank you for attending today." The man had to raise his voice to be heard over the background noise. "During your stay here, you may call me Father. And I am responsible for you for the next 60 days. Please follow me." He turned and our entourage followed him inside. My friends and I found the nickname weird but stayed close together.

The inside looked almost like any other business office. There was a great big lobby, which branched off into multiple lobbies, rooms, escalators and elevators. All of which had scientists, technicians, and white collars constantly moving into and out of them. There were multiple electric billboards high up on the walls. The ceiling was all the way at the top of the seven stories, made of designed glass. The hundred-some applicants looked incredibly out of place in this crowd.

My friends and I followed Father like sheep, as he guided us down a hallway, with one wall as glass, giving us a view of the campus. The local workers didn't even take much notice of us. Eventually, our group arrived in front of what looked like a closet door. It was a double metal door, but looked incredibly old and beaten down, with scratches and rust.

I exchanged curious looks with Chris and Sarah. "Is he going to do anything?" Sarah asked.

Father just stared at the expired door for a while. After a few minutes, the door opened, a hunched over man that was at least 80 came out of the closet, pulling a big yellow bucket with soapy water behind him. 'Janitor' was stitched across his blue uniform.

"Hello Father." The man wheezed.

"Evening Carl."

They said nothing else, as the man closed the closet and pulled the bucket away down a hall. We all began muttering, unsettled at the odd exchange. A couple of applicants tried to ask him questions, but everyone fell silent as he spoke.

"Transmission Authorization. Destination: Matrix Chamber. Authorization Level: Overseer. Identity: Father."

All of a sudden, there was a high pitched whining screech, as the sounds of metal shifted came from the door. Everyone was trying to crane their necks to see what was happening.

After the noises stopped, Father reached forward and opened the door. Everyone gasped. Instead of the shaggy janitor closet, the door opened into a neon white tiled hallway. He casually walked forward followed by his two assistants. We all followed the 5 of us side-by-side, the doors closing automatically behind us. The confused conversations died down to frantic whispers.

After walking down the hall for a while, we arrived in a massive chamber, the 100-some participants looking around the room in awe. The 'matrix chamber' was enormous, about 300 yards long, and the ceiling soared over our heads. The tiles were a radiating white, with harsh lights beaming down in addition. I glanced up seeing a massive observatory deck jutting out from the ceiling. It was filled with an array of computers and other screens, and many Data Industries employees were buzzing around, preparing for the experiment.

In the room there were a lot of large capsule things that were suspended off the ground by tables. I guess that's where we'll be playing the game. It looked like there were a roughly an equal number of capsules as there were teenagers.

When everyone settled into the giant room, Father turned to us, "This is where we part ways. My lovely assistant Imogen here will be guiding you for the rest of the way, as I have preparations to attend to." His stare turned icy cold. "Just know, that whatever you do in this game, I _will_know about it. So don't disappoint me." He turned and walked away, heading up to the observation deck. One of his assistants followed, as the other one stayed where she was, and drew her attention from her tablet to the group of teenagers before her.

"Hello!" Her tone was much more upbeat than Father's. "So isn't this super exciting?!" A few kids murmured in response. "Well, I'm going to just go over a few things, and we'll let you jump right on in!"

Imogen looked back down to her tablet in-hand. "When the game begins, you'll get to design your character, and choose multiple traits for them. This is much like any other massive multiplayer game you have played before, just a bit more dynamic. You will all begin at level 1, and the maximum level is level 300." She grinned. "Statistically speaking, only one of you will reach that level, so don't worry too much about leveling up. There is no major story arch, but there are plenty of other tasks and quests to keep you busy. So, build you character, amass your money, complete quests, form parties, and become the best player you can be."

"Then what's the point of this whole thing?" A kid shouted from the back. A few others muttered in agreement.

"Simple, during this entire process, Player versus Player options are very restricted. However, at the 50 day-mark, a secret area known as 'Arena for Divine Kings' will be unlocked. You will have 5 days to find its location. Then, a large tournament will take place, and one player will emerge victorious. This player will receive a 300,000 dollars bonus."

Holy shit, what?!?! "Through all of these events, we will be conducting a large amount of experiments, since the goal of this initiative is to perform psychological evaluations. We also have other campuses participating, so there will be a grand total of 10,000 players." Imogen examined the crowd. "Any questions?"

Whatever questions were asked was drowned out by the excitement of the mentioned 300k reward.

"Very well! Good luck everyone!"

Imogen and the other assistant both followed where Father had gone. Then a large amount of Data Industry employees emerged from doors, and began guiding applicants to their respective capsule, laying them down onto their back. I saw Cole, Chris, and Sarah quickly disappear, as assistants began hooking them up to their machines.

I felt a hand on my shoulder, and I turned around to see another young guy, probably in his 20's. His black hair was brushed to one side, almost covering his right eye. He gave me a smile.

"All right dude, you ready?"

I let out a weak 'yeah'.

He laughed "Well then let's get you started."

He led me to my own capsule where I laid down. I stared straight ahead in nervousness as my 'assistant' began typing things in on the side of the capsule, which began letting out metallic noises and sounds.

"Nervous dude?"

"Yeah, kind of scared shitless right now."

The guy shrugged, "Don't sweat it man, it's going to be fun!"

As he was saying this, he fixed a helmet onto my head, which latched on tightly at my temples. The thing was smooth and almost felt like plastic, like a bike helmet. I started breathing quickly, panic setting in as the game loomed closer.

Suddenly, the assistant quickly hovered over me so his mouth was just by my ear, and he latched onto my shoulder with a death grip with his hand, making me yelp in pain.

"Whatever you fucking do, do NOT go to the 'Arena of Divine Kings'."

Fantastic, that'll help me calm down.

I didn't even get to ask a question before he pulled away, a glass door began sliding shut above me. What the hell was going on?!

With a 'SSSSSSSSHHHHHHHH' the door slid shut, sealing itself, and cutting of any chance of me getting out of here. Looks like I'm doing this. As soon as the door was shut, all other noise was blocked out.

The only thing I could hear was my breathing, and the light hum from the machine. The onlysensations I felt was the helmet on my head , the fabric of my clothes, and the uncomfortable metal of the capsule. For a few minutes I just stayed like that, starting to get a sense of claustrophobia. Soon a full 15 minutes ticked by of me lying in my coffin. What's wrong? Why wasn't anything happening? Are my friends okay?

But then, there was a gentle 'beep', as a feminine voice said, "Welcome to, 'The Kingdom'."