FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

It all happened so quickly. Once loaded onto the ship, the zoomed off to their next planet. 40 minutes of dead silence later and they landed gently. Chris was surprised that he didn't get motion sickness all throughout this endeavor in space. He knew it was something trivial to think about, but it took his mind away from the reality of it all. Perhaps these aliens have found a way to diminish motion sickness on this spacecraft. Or perhaps it was due to the Gnaxsus running through his system.

The last ten minutes of the voyage, he knew they had arrived. Although he couldn't see anything besides the dim interior of the vessel he could feel an invisible weight press down gently on his frame.

"Gravity", Chris thought to himself.

It puzzled him that he felt more heavier than before. In fact, he tried moving his arm up and it felt like a small weight has been strapped to it.

"Heavier gravity", Chris concluded.

His train of thought was interrupted as the space vessel landed with a rumble. The door opened up to a greenish-yellow sky. He looked around at the other contestants and noticed the 8 empty seats on the vessels. He sighed as he got up and stepped off of the ramp, putting more effort than usual to move.

As his eyes adjusted to the light, he noticed that there were a few clouds in the sky. What surprised him was that these clouds looked nearly identical to the ones back on Earth.

Looking up, he noticed that right next to the bright, circular patch of light from the nearby sun, there was also the faint arc of a close by planet. It was bluish in color with shades of red and white. It took up about 1/3 of the sky and was faintly translucent. The ground felt hard yet soft in some places, almost like stepping on clay. Either than that, the planet was pretty desolate, much like the others they competed on.

Just then he felt stunning burn thought out his entire body. It felt as if someone was squeezing him tightly on all parts of his body. He hunched over in pain. It felt like his eyeballs were being squeezed out of his sockets.

He looked around and apparently he wasn't the only one. The other 11 contestants were also cringing in pain. Just as quickly as it started, it stopped suddenly. Chris felt a slight pinch all along his arms, legs, and chest. However, he noticed that he was more sensitive along the veins and arteries of his body than along the edges of his limbs.

"What the fuck is going on?", a contestant asked.

Chris looked up and regarded the strange creature. It was greenish looking and had dips along its body. He looked kind of simple except for his head, which was adorned with many frills, large and small. After a moment it clicked in his brain. The creature was one of the Eyrastaz. And by the sound of his voice, it was the male. He remembered it had to be-the female died in the last round.

The bluish dome blossomed into existence and encased them as if on cue.

"The planet you are on is called Ozard-N3. It is home to the Phain. They are the first creatures to inhabit this planet. Although, evolution has left them with no eyes, thus they their movement relies heavily on auditory and olfactory responses from the environment."

"Their only food source are acidic crystals located deep underground. Your task is to retrieve one of those crystals and bring it to the checkpoint", Sor-dnaal explained as he pointed to an unknown location somewhere in the distance, until a beam of red light shot up into the atmosphere.

"To make things interesting, I have linked your nerve cells to 3 other contestants, so this will be a team effort. The first 2 teams to reach the checkpoint will move on to the quarter finals. May the best contestants advance."

The ethereal dome dissipated, marking the start of the 3rd round. All the contestants stood there dumbstruck, not knowing what else to do.

"What did he mean by our nerve cells are linked?", the female Dhifgos asked.

"If are nerve cells are linked, then that means-", Solara began but was cut off as she roared out in pain.

Simultaneously, 3 others winced in pain. They all looked around and realized that one of them was dragging his claws across his arm, drawing blood. It was the male Ren.

"It means that if one of us feels pain, so do the other 3", the male Ren, Tauron, finished.

"So if one of us dies...", the female Dhifgos stated. She didn't need a response to know the answer.

The contestants looked at each other, trying to deduce who were their teammates.

Tauron, Solara, and 2 others looked at each other, realizing that they were one of the teams.

"Come on!", Tauron shouted as he began to run. The other 3 obeyed and followed swiftly, dashing off to complete the round. That left 4 males and 4 females to figure out who comprised the other 2 teams.

Eone suddenly turned to his right and punched a contestant hard in its midsection. Her, Chris, and 2 others doubled over in pain.

Chris clutched his stomach as he felt a sudden force slam straight into his gut. He groaned in pain as he felt the pain linger there. He glanced up and shot Eone a hateful glare.

Eone regarded him with a neutral expression, however his subtly agape maw indicated that he didn't expect to hurt him. Eone didn't know if that glare was because of what he just did, or because of what he did back on Wroxstyl. Whatever it was, he didn't have time to figure it out. He and 3 other people had to survive.

"It looks like our deal has to wait", Eone thought to himself.

Him and 3 others soon left. The male Eyrastaz left with them, leaving Chris with...

"No...", Chris whispered as he realized who was on his team. It was that bug. That bug that killed Emily.

The Quezznar noticed too and smirked at him. His pincers curled in the most sickening ways as he smirked, making him look evil.

"It looks like we're stuck together", it said.

Chris scowled at the creature as he got up.

"I'm going to kill you...", Chris glowered.

"For what? Being smart? It's not my fault you didn't realize I was playing dead", it chuckled.

"We don't have time for grudges right now. We need to work together if we want to survive", another voice asserted.

Both Chris and the Quezznar turned to the new voice and realized it was the male Akkrozs.

"That's the one who..", Chris recalled, blushing a bit as he remembered watching him fuck the female Akkrozs from his planet.

"And what do you propose we do then?", the Quezznar said sarcastically.

"Well, we need to get one of the crystals from the Phain", the last member of their team spoke up. It was the female Dhifgos.

"Obviously you stupid fleshbag", the Quezznar responded.

"You ridiculing others will not ensure your survival Quezznar", Thraal commented.

"Well how are we suppose to find these Phain? None of us know what they look like or where they reside", the Quezznar complained.

"We know that the crystals are deep underground", the Dhifgos spoke up.

"Can you provide anything besides information that had already been stated?", the Quezznar asked rhetorically.

"The only thing we can do is pick a direction and hope we find one of these Phain. That's our best option", Thraal decided.

"And who made you leader?!", the Quezznar snapped.

"You want to be leader? Fine. I don't know what you did for a living, but I am a hunter back on my planet who knows how to track. Just remember that it's not just your life you're risking, but all 4 of our lives. Like I said, our best-no...our only option is to walk and find a Phain. Unless you have a better idea", Thraal challenged.

The Quezznar grimaced and looked away.

"Great. Now let's go", Thraal commanded as as he started walking.

***

An hour passed with no sight of a Phain or any of the other teams. Chris and his teammates had been traversing the gray planes of Ozard-N3 with no Phain in sight. Their hopes of finding one were dwindling.

"This is hopeless!", Kagoro fumed.

Earlier in the hour, they told each other their names. Kagoro was the Queeznar and Tallula was the Dhifgos. As Chris was walking, he was able to discern how similar these aliens were to some fictional characters he knew.

Thraal reminded him of the Pokémon Machamp. Although, he didn't have the yellowish lips, the 3 red frills atop his head, or blue-grayish skin. Thaal had arylide yellow skin that turned into marigold orange near his shoulders. He wore a weird black cut-off tee that stretched all the way down past his shins. It was like he was wearing a dress of some sort. Chris couldn't tell.

Tallula reminded him of an anthropomorphic fox he met at a renaissance festival in high school. Why a man decided to wear a fur suit at a festival like that with no air conditioning whatsoever was beyond him. Tallula was slim with rust orange fur and apple green underbelly. She wore 2 pieces of brownish peculiar clothing. It seemed like it was 1 pieces however a thick diagonal slice had been cut out, making it 2 pieces.

Last but and most certainly least to Chris was Kagoro. He reminded him of Gregor from Frank Kafka's The Metamorphosis. He would be a perfect description of the grotesque bug. He wouldn't mind stepping on him. He wore no clothing at all. Then again, it's not like he could see Kagoro's...genitalia. In fact, his armored back seemed more appropriate than clothing anyways. He couldn't imagine what Kagoro would look like in a T-shirt.

Speaking of which, Chris looked down at himself and realized he was still wearing jeans and a T-shirt that he wore to the club before he got abducted. Gosh, how long has it been? 3 days? It seemed more than that to Chris. All he wanted to do was go home and be lonely again than participate in this horrible tournament, but what choice did he have. He was stuck with all of them. He had to work with these 3 strangers if he wished to survive.

"So what do you all do?", Tallula asked. She was immediately answered with silence. After a moment, Chris spoke up.

"What do you mean?", Chris asked.

"What do you all do back on your home planet?"

Another brief silence filled the air before Thraal responded.

"I'm a hunter for my tribe."

"What about you?" Tallula asked Kagoro.

"What does me telling you my role society help us survive?", Kagoro retorted.

"It doesn't. But it is a good way to pass the time."

Kagoro sighed, which sounded like a low clicking noise to Chris. "I'm a purger in my society."

"What is that?", Thraal questioned.

"I get rid of anyone who is not liked. My superiors give me the order of who needs to be purged and I follow through."

"Really?"

"What if you don't want to get rid of someone?", Chris asked.

His question took Kagoro by surprise. He expected the human to remain silent throughout this whole endeavor.

"My personal feelings are irrelevant. If I let my emotions get in the way of my task, then I risk getting purged."

"So you are a mercenary", Chris surmised.

"No. I did not state I kill for money. When I purge, I don't kill someone every time. Sometimes I force them to leave, or make them pay until they make up for whatever it is they didn't fulfill. I don't offer any service. I don't set the terms. I don't have no say in the matter. If I have an order, I carry it out. And I am a good purger."

"So he is a henchman basically", Chris thought to himself.

"And what do you do besides asking questions?". Chris detected a hint of malice in Kagoro's voice. Then again, he figured the bug always talked like that.

"I'm just a caretaker for the elderly on my planet."

"You have elderly?", Kagoro asked.

"Well, yes. Do you not have elderly were you are from?"

"No. My species has a relatively short life span. I'm surprised I haven't died yet; I'm nearing the end of my lifespan. Although, if I die I can't say I haven't done anything with my life. I have provided for my society, I have passed on my genes to my offspring. I basically fulfilled my role."

Chris registered that in his mind, contemplating dark thoughts concerning the Quezznar.

"Chris."

"What?", Chris uttered, snapping out of his stupor.

"What do you do?", Tallula inquired.

"I'm...studying to become a toxicologist."

"And what would that be?"

"Someone who studies poison and its effects on the body."

"Why would one want to study something that leads to death and sickness?", Thraal inquired.

It took a moment for Chris to formulate an answer.

"So that we can better understand life and protect ourselves from poison, enabling us to live our lives to the fullest."

Silence again permeated the air between them. Now that Chris thought about it, he really wasn't studying to become one. All he took were the basics like chemistry, biochemistry and physiology. He wouldn't be studying how to become one until maybe next semester or the semester after, if he even lived that long. If wished to do that, he needed to work with a caretaker, a hunter, and a henchman. Chris just hoped he would win this tournament and go back home. Little did he know this tournament would change his life forever.