FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

We had to get out. We had to get away. Every instinct screamed at me to get out of here.

They were supposed to be Badniks on the game screen though. Why did they suddenly resemble the demonic Sonic?! The music that was playing from the Game Gear didn't help the mood either; the echoing of Sonic's impending death by drowning was like a countdown to disaster.

I managed to look past the one with the black jacket, peering towards where the front desk was. I saw that the old man was face down on the desk, wide eyed, and had a noticeable bruise at the back of his head. They must have knocked him unconscious before he could call us.

Another worry going through my head was why they were here. I hadn't seen them on the game screen when I took the time to look around. Though questioning that right now wasn't on the list of things to worry about. I could tell by the looks on their faces that they were there for something.

No... They were there for us.

"Hey kid," the one in the jacket spoke up. His eyes were fixed on me. I felt like a chill went up my spine from that cold stare he gave.

I managed to gulp my fears down while facing them. "Uh... H-hi. We were just passing on through," I managed to utter at last. God... I felt like I was pulling out needles in my gums with each word.

"Really, now?" The burly figure in the overcoat probed, his eyes resting on my Game Gear at hand. "Huh. That's an interesting game system you got there."

Rick pulled me over with a nervous laugh, smiling with a quiver on his lip. "Yeah, hahaha! I can't get the guy here to put it down for the life of me!" He blurted unctuously. Obviously, he was having the same worries as I was.

The two Black Eyed Sonics on the screen simply let out a screeching cackle as the two men stood there. The jacketed figure would step closer. "Maybe we can have a look at it? I'm sure we would love to play..."

'CHING CHING CHING!'

'RUN!!!'

That put all of us in a shock when my game did that! I took a look at the screen again. Wait...

Omochao?!

He was floating right behind us as if pointing in a given direction. The game giving out a flashing arrow animation was enough to follow up that guess!

"GET EM!" One of them yelled out.

That was the signal we needed to start running!

I didn't have time to ask questions about my game.

I just knew I had to keep running with Rick. We ran right down the opposite end of the hall, away from those two creeps rushing at us.

My Game Gear ended up chiming again.

'HEY!'

I looked at my Game Gear while running, noticing Omochao hovering over a lever up ahead. I looked up ahead to notice a fire alarm just ahead. I only hoped it would slow these guys down!

My hand reached out to the thing, grabbing it, and yanking it down in one single motion while running. Charmy's sprite grabbed at the lever in high speed flight, pushing at it, and causing it to change position before flying away. The screen showed a couple of waterfalls suddenly pour down onto the scenery. Meanwhile, the fire alarm ended up screeching as the emergency sprinkler system activated over the two behind us.

The two bruisers ended up stalled for a moment, soaking wet by the sprinkler system, as they try to regroup and catch up again.

Hopefully we can keep them busy until the police arrive, I thought to myself. IF they would arrive...

I had no time to worry. The delay in their movements was enough for us to rush to the back door of the Apartment complex. I slammed the door after Rick was out. It took us a while to catch our breath after that.

"Wh..what are ... what are we ... gonna do? We're gonna get killed!" Obviously, I was worrying my head off.

Rick would pat my back before nodding at me. His breaths were ragged in tone. "Don't worry. That game ... it just pulled a miracle for us."

Relief didn't last long.

We heard the back door slamming in motion. The noise jarred us out of our moment as I grabbed a nearby trash can to bar the door with. It wasn't much but it'd have to do!

But my Game Gear had other plans.

'OVER HERE!'

The notifications were simple. I took a look at my game to notice Omochao hovering over some clubs. I take notice of that, gazed up, and saw some garbage in the back alley we were in. There, I took notice of some ply wood and sturdy pipes at the corner.

I think I knew what this game was intending. I just hope it could be pulled off.

I walked over towards the junk, knelt down, and grabbed one of the pipes tightly in hand.

Sure enough, that door was being slammed harder and harder. However, the life threatening music wasn't as prominent. It felt like we were ready to take on what was there. That, or it felt like the danger level of our predicament became less prominent. Maybe we could get out of this.

I wouldn't hope too much while waiting my chance. I ushered Rick to the wall opposite of me while we waited at either side of the door. I held my pipe tightly in worry. My forehead was beading down with sweat profusely. I just hoped we could get out of this.

'GET READY!'

Damnit... this was feeling like a mini game. Only, if I failed it, the price was my life. I only hoped the noises in the apartment were loud enough to drown Omochao's annoying chimes.

The door broke open, knocking the trash can across the alley way to the opposite building, and the jacket tottering guy was stepping out first. He looked around the alley way back and forth. The over-coat wearing figure was coming out of the door way, looking towards Rick. When he did, Rick followed up with a swing of the Ply wood at his head.

I thought the swing had knocked the guy out, considering he fell back and knocked his head into the hallway wall. The other guy turned around in panic, noticing us there, as I swung the pipe at him square on the forehead in panic.

Luckily, he didn't have time to react fast enough. That one swing was enough to send him falling back. Rick followed up with a swing of the ply wood, smacking him on the side of the jaw, and hopefully knocking him out too!

God. I thought I saw him spit out a tooth when he got hit. We actually beat up two people.

I stared wild eyed at the guy on the concrete ground. My eyes were quivering with slight tears forming. Rick had to hold my shoulder to calm me down.

"Hey," Rick murmured. He shook me a bit to snap me out of my fears. "We better get out of here."

He had the right idea. But I couldn't leave just yet. I had an idea of my own.

This game. I remember when it started tracking Rick and Annie after they touched it. Maybe ...

I had to try. Crazy as it seemed, I could not miss this opportunity.

I reached down to one of the guys that lay unconscious on the floor.

As I did, Charmy on the game screen reached down to some broken up mechanical bodies. However, it looked like their sprites turned back to Badniks after the fight. All the while, I wondered what more there was to this game.

I touched the game console onto his hand, noticing the screen flash and flicker as a loading image came up. When it did, a new selectable character appeared on the screen.

The image was that of an ostrich-like mechanical badnik. The red plumage on top of the head, and overall design, was enough to give me hints that this was Scratch. The metallic body was spotted with rust, though. Parts of his body looked ready to fall off. The eyes the sprite had were black as before, dotted with red tiny pupils on either eye.

I could only imagine what the other guy would be. I went over to do the same to the one inside the sprinkler spraying hallway interior. I managed to place the Game Gear on his hand with the same effect. When his 'character' showed up, it was the recognizable Grounder. His coloration was ... off. The green had faded into a putrid gray, along with the same eye type as the Scratch sprite.

After that, the generic badnik sprites they both had turned into these deformed Scratch and Grounder sprites. If this game was keeping track of us, then it would help us keep track of these assholes.

Rick wasn't even able to give me time to gather my thoughts when he pulled me up. "Come on, we got no time! We gotta get Annie!" He urged.

I paused at the mention of Annie. I looked back over at him in confusion. "What do you mean?!"

"You remember that freaky computer? It showed our sprites on there, and Annie was on there too!" he yelled back.

I had to regain my senses when I remembered that. Charmy, Ray, and Amy were on the selection screen back at that computer before it vanished.

I had no time to argue about this. So, we ran off, away from the scene, to try and get to Annie fast.

Everything was set into motion in ways that defied explanation. Even now, this game started to feel stranger by the moment.

But this game ... This game was seriously getting out of hand.