FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

It was a good 9 hours later that Chris and Emily were startled awake by a loud blare. They squirmed, the noise forcing them awake. The noise was ugly and loud, like a jackhammer.

The two humans covered their ears, trying to block out the noise.

"Make it stop!", Emily whined.

As if to answer her wish, the noise ceased.

The two humans were panting heavily, looking around with groggy eyes.

"What the hell was that for?", Chris asked, running his hand through his black hair.

Before Emily could respond, the force field covering their doorway dropped and a couple of F-57 drones flooded into the room.

They drones exposed their weapons, blaring their signature noises at them. That prompted Emily and Chris to get out of bed, put on their shoes, and leave the room.

They traveled along a hallway and twisted and turned through several more. They kept a pace as to not experience the electrical surge of the drones' weapons. Eventually, they noticed that they met up with the other contestants and were all being led to the same place.

Finally, after all the contestants joined together, they finally came to a dead end several minutes later. Seeing as how if they went any other direction they would meet the wall of F-57 drones, they waited, dreadfully wondering what else was suppose to happen.

Suddenly, the wall in front of them clanked and opened up, making a grinding noise as the doors shifted apart. Past the doors, several seats lined up the sides of the space. Again, the drones blared their ugly noises and forced the contestants into the space.

The crowd had no choice but to enter and take a seat, as there was nothing else to do.

Everybody swarmed to take a seat, not wanting to anger the drones. The aliens sat next to their respective person from their planet. Chris and Emily tried to sit down but another alien would beat them to it. Pretty soon, they were the only two left. The two seats were not next to each other, but at opposite ends of each other. They looked to each other quickly before going to the seat closest to them.

Once they were seated, the drones floated back as the doors grinded to a shut, leaving the contestants in a dreadful silence, in the dim light of the room.

Suddenly, a dropping noise was heard, followed by engines roaring to life. They were then jolted sideways as they took off. It was then that the humans realized that the room they were in was a space vessel, transporting them to God knows where.

The whole ride was spent in silence. Everybody kept their heads down, avoiding eye contact with everybody else. Chris was sitting next to a weird alien. It was greenish in color, with 3 nostrils and weird looking skin. Chris could only describe it as a lumpy pillow of sorts. It was breathing heavily. Chris gulped quietly, trying not disturb it.

After 30 agonizing minutes, they were slowly pulled sideways as the vessel slowed down. The engines were louder as they came to a halt. The vessel thudded as they reached their destination. The engines hummed down as they turned off. The doors clunked and cranked as they unlocked and opened, light pouring into the ship.

They all slowly got up and walked down the ramp. Since Chris was seated near the door, he was the first to see where they were. Chris was in awe at his surroundings.

The sky was a light shade of lavender and the air felt thinner. As he stepped off the ramp and onto the ground, he looked down and noticed the ground was a dull silver. It felt firm under his feet but not like the way dirt would feel. It almost was akin to stepping on metal. As he looked all around him, he noticed that there were many different levels of the ground at different angles and altitudes. They were all supported by thin pillars that jutted out in different directions. Some were long and thin while others were short and thick. They resembled platforms of sorts. Some were broken while others seemed strong enough to support an elephant. It continued on for as far as the eye could see.

As the rest of the group poured out, they too took in their surroundings. What surprised Chris was that there was no other signs of life on the planet besides them. Once everybody exited the ship, it started its engines and took off abruptly.

The contestants were alarmed that they were left stranded. Suddenly, the edge of the patch of silver ground they were standing on raised up in blue light. It enclosed all around them and coalesced together, forming a dome. Chris figured this light was the same light that covered their doorway in their cell that prevented them from leaving.

A screen appeared right in front of them. It was Sor-dnaal, smirking at them.

"Hello, contestants. Today marks the beginning of the 1st round. We are on the planet Grall Prime. This planet was once inhabited by a race of aliens. But they could not thrive here since most of the ground on this planet is unstable and could collapse at any given minute. There colony is just on the horizon to your left there."

As Sor-dnaal explained, he gesticulated towards the colony he was talking about, prompting the group to try and see it for themselves.

"Also, what made this planet unfit for them, was that every year or so, the sun would throw off vast solar flares that scorched anything within its reach, which partially causes the formation and instability of the ground."

As he said that, the contestants grew worried and looked down at their feet and surroundings.

"Your task is to race to the city before the annual solar flare reaches you, which will occur in exactly 78 rotations. The city has escape pods which will seal you inside and prevent you from harm, however, there are only 16 of them. We shall see who is more willing to survive by the end of this round. Timers are located around the area which will tell you how much time you will have left. Good luck, and may the strongest of you all survive and move on to the next round", Sor-dnaal finished triumphantly.

Suddenly, a timer phased into existence, replacing Sor-dnaal. When it appeared, it started counting down: 78, 77:22, 77:21, 77:20, etc. As soon as it started counting down, the force field containing them disintegrated.

It took but a brief moment before the contestants started racing. The more hesitant ones didn't take off immediately as the others did. When the contestants reached the edge, some of them stopped right at the last minute while about half of them jumped off the edge. However the Valrax, being one of the two species in this competition to have wings, took flight and sped toward the city, leaving the others behind. The other species--quadrupedal bat-like creatures with retractable wings known as Rwerwes-- followed suit.

Some platforms weren't that far and all of them made it, albeit some landed more roughly than others. That still didn't stop them from staggering back up and continuing the race. The remaining contestants looked at each other and jumped off the current platform--all except for the humans.

"Come on Chris! There's no telling how long we have! We have to move as fast as possible!", Emily shouted before taking a deep breath and jumping to the next platform.

Chris steeled himself over. This was it. He had to move, or else he would die. And he had to move quickly! He glanced at the time and realized that it just passed 77:15.

"That clock is moving quickly!", Chris thought nervously.

Starting in a light jog, he exponentially went to a sprint and jumped off the platform. A moment later, he landed and stumbled a bit before balancing himself. A brief look towards Emily let her know that he was ready to continue.

Both humans then sprinted and jumped from platform to platform, trying to catch up to the aliens that were ahead of them.

They were currently in last place, and the nearest alien ahead of them was a slug-looking creature. It left a trail of slime wherever it went. They passed that one with ease and passed its counterpart in no time.

Soon they came across of field of platforms. The contestants were hopping from platform to platform, trying to reach the city. Chris and Emily weren't that far behind the bulk of the contestants. However, a distant crashing sound caught everyone's attention.

One of the aliens ahead of the pack jumped onto a plate, which immediately collapsed under his weight. He screamed as he plummeted into certain darkness. The aliens next to him looked down at him nervously, and slowed down, wary of which platforms would be next.

The contestants were confused as to how to cross the platforms. They started crossing them slowly, testing the strength of a platform before traversing it. It was at this time that the humans caught up to the rest of the contestants.

Emily and Chris paused, watching the rest of the aliens struggle.

"There has to be a quicker method to see which platform is stable or not", Emily gasped.

Chris looked around, trying to get his bearings. Suddenly he noticed that there were slim, long, grey beams scattered among the platforms. They were about the size of pole vault sticks, but slightly thicker. They were most likely the beams that support the platforms.

"But why leave these out here?", Chris pondered.

"Come on Chris! We have to survive!", Emily exclaimed as she gently pressed her foot on a neighboring platform before hopping on it and repeating the process.

Chris looked between the platforms and beams before he came up with an idea. He rushed to the nearest beam and picked it up. It didn't feel that heavy but he didn't care. He walked up to a random platform, raised the stick high in the air, and slammed it down hard. That caused the platform to falter and break apart. Chris then approached another platform and did the same thing, but this platform didn't break.

"What are you doing?!", Emily asked.

"I'm testing how strong the platforms are. If they can withstand the impact of this heavy beam, then they can withstand our force when we step onto them", Chris explained. He stepped onto the unbroken platform and did it again. He continued this until he got the hang of it and sped along the field hastily. He made his way over to Emily.

"Come on, let's go!", Chris asserted. Emily leaped onto his platform and followed Chris as they zigzagged around the group.

The rest of the aliens watched in shock as Emily and Chris meandered their way across the field, distinguishing the bad platforms from the good ones. The rest of the contestants decided to copy Chris' plan and got beams of their own. But by then, Chris and Emily had covered a good amount of distance.

The desolate city was within reach as they came to the end of the field.

"Yeah we got this Chris! We just have to get into an escape pod and we're safe!", Emily shouted with glee and she jogged to the city.

Chris followed suit.

Soon, they were at the entrance to the city. It was a small city. Honestly it looked like a big colony of sorts, with small, pointy shaped buildings scattered throughout the area. It reminded Emily of tents.

They passed through the entrance, searching the place for the escape pods.

"Right there!", Chris pointed out.

True to his word, there were escape pods about 50 yards ahead of them, all lined up. A clock was displayed above that, telling the time of 10:14. They were gonna make it with time to spare.

They smiled as they approached their salvation. Their joy ended however when 4 bronze spheres focused on them. These spheres were surrounding the pods in a square. The spheres extended a thick rod from their bodies and hummed a quick noise before firing yellow bolts at them.

Emily and Chris yelped as they ducked behind the small buildings surrounding the pods. They felt the impacts of the blasts as they rained fire on them.

They glanced left and right and noticed that the Valrax and the Rwerwes were also hiding behind the tents. They glanced back and forth at each other, not moving.

After a few seconds, the spheres stopped firing.

Chris and Emily caught their breaths as the regained their bearings. Chris looked at the 4 aliens who had a head start, but he tilted his head when he noticed that one was missing.

The missing alien was the male Valrax.

"What was his name...Eone?", Chris thought to himself. After a quick moment, he realized that he probably died from the spheres' bolts. He didn't know why, but he felt saddened by Eone's death. He couldn't explain it. He was about to delve on it more when, out of the corner of his eye, one of the Rwerwes tried to move but flinched back when one of the spheres noticed and fired another bolt.

It was at this time that Emily uttered something that made Chris' eyes open wide in realization. "Man, we can't move with this things firing at us. We will probably die if these tent-things weren't in the way",

Emily voiced.

"That's it!", Chris blurted out.

"What?".

"Here, help me pull this off", Chris directed as he turned to face the building they were hiding behind. He grabbed one end and pulled, surprised that it started to bulge out a little. It started to give when Emily added her strength. Then with a clank as one of the walls of the building was jerked free.

It was heavy and wide, but with two people holding it, it was manageable.

"What are you gonna do Chris?", Emily hesitantly asked.

"Like you said, if it wasn't for these tent-thingies we would've died. So these should protect us", Chris explained.

Inhaling a huge breath of air, Chris sidestepped to his right, exposing himself. Immediately, the spheres began firing at him. At first, he was jolted when they started firing, but was relieved to find out that the wall was strong enough to withstand the bolts. Emily noticed this too, and started moving in tandem with Chris.

"Hey, those spheres can only shoot so far", Emily commented.

"What do you mean?"

"They can't rotate their arms too low. They stop when their arms are pointed slightly downwards. I guess that's what the other arms are for: to make up for the other spheres' limited range of fire", Emily pointed out.

"We need to shut those down then if we want to make it to the pods, but if we turn our backs to reach one of the spheres, the other 3 will kill us!", Chris grunted, struggling to properly hold the wall.

Just then another wall joined them, blocking out the gunfire. The two Rwerwes and the female Valrax, Solara, were holding the panel.

"We must work together to survive!", Solara shouted, in a silky voice.

"We need to shut down those spheres then. Only then can we make it to the pods!", Chris shouted back.

"Cover us! I can take care of the spheres!", Solara responded.

Chris and Emily huffed as they soon were back-to-back with the other panel, blocking fire from all sides. They slowly made their way to the first sphere. When they reached the pole, Solara went to the foundation upon which the sphere resided on and banged on it until a small door opened up, mangled by Solara's strength.

She reached her hand into the foundation and yanked back a fistful of colorful wires until they snapped free. That resulted in the sphere to power down and lower its arm, smoke sizzling out of the end from the recent firing.

"Next one!", Solara yelled.

Again, they moved to the next sphere and did it again. At this time, the rest of the contestants arrived and scurried behind the buildings when they were fired upon.

By the time Solara's group disabled the 2nd sphere, some of the other aliens figured out what they were doing and disabled the 3rd and 4th spheres.

Once all the spheres were disabled, it was a frenzy trying to secure a pod, as they were only big enough for one person.

Everybody was either pushing, screaming, or fighting their way to a pod. Emily snuck her way around two aliens fighting for a pod and locked herself in there, as they were distracted with each other. When they saw her in the pod, they roared in fury and darted around, looking for another pod.

Chris tried several times to get into a pod but was denied harshly. It was like a mosh pit; There was bodies moving around everywhere. Pretty soon, all he heard was doors closing and locking. He panicked. He was going to die here, after coming so far.

But then, a miracle appeared before Chris. A pod to his left was open, and so was a pod to the left of that!! He figured that 2-3 more people died, meaning that the remaining contestants alive equaled the same amount of pods. In fact an extra person might've died, which would account for the extra empty pod.

He rushed to the pod nearest him and was about to open it when he spotted something. To his right behind his pod was a grey arm. The body that it was attached to was hidden behind one of the tents.

Chris knew he had seen that arm before. Its clawed fingers reminded him of someone. He gasped when he realized who it was.

"Eone!", Chris said to himself.

He glanced at the clock. Time was almost up as it passed 2:13. He glanced at Emily, whose pod was across from him. She was giving Chris a bewildered look, as if scolding him for not getting into the escape pod already. He glanced to the empty escape pod to his left, then to Eone, and back at Emily. He looked down, closed his eyes, and sighed.

He rushed out of his pod and towards Eone. He was shocked to see that his right wing was completely shredded and wasn't moving.

Chris knelt down quickly and put his head to his chest.

"Okay, you're alive...I think", Chris concluded.

He looked back up at the clock as it reached 1:19. Chris wrapped his arms around Eone's shoulders and with a stifled groan, dragged his unconscious form to the extra pod.

"Come on!", Chris huffed. He looked at the clock and it was at 0:22. He was running out of time.

He dragged him faster and opened the door to the escape pod. Huffing and puffing, he hoisted Eone up onto himself before leaning him into the pod. Eone thudded against the back of the escape pod and slid down against the side of it.

Chris stepped back--since the pod automatically locks itself when it recognizes a lifeform--and glanced at the clock one final time. His heart stopped when he saw the clock pass 0:06. His body went into overdrive. Adrenaline flowed through his veins as he dashed to his pod and locked himself in as the time expired.

Everything was still; nothing happened.

This continued for a couple of seconds before suddenly, a flash of light engulfed the horizon. Everyone shut their eyes. Chris turned away as his escape pod started rumbling, the solar flare emitting a rumbling noise as it scorched the planet.

The solar flare didn't die out until about 10 minutes later. Chris kept his eyes shut patiently until the rumbling noise died out. When there was no sound again, Chris opened his eyes.

The new environment before Chris shocked him. What were once the greyish, unstable platforms were nothing but cracked pieces of dry dirt that blew away in the wind. The purple sky was now a light blue.

Abruptly, their escape pods shook once more. Chris glanced up and saw that the other pods and his were being lifted up by the same blue light that first abducted him.

What should've been on Chris' mind was relief at passing the first round. He should've been thinking about how he could prepare for the coming rounds. Instead, what took up most of his thoughts was the fact that he rescued another alien. Another alien that was suppose to be his enemy, but they barely knew each other. They didn't hate each other. In fact, none of the other contestants had probably never even met each other before this, and now they had to kill each other, or die trying.

"Why did I rescue him?", Chris whispered to himself. He groaned when he realized that there could be consequences to his action. He could only hope that nothing would come of it when they return to the ship, even though he highly doubted it.