FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 1

Ughhh...this is so boring. She thought to herself as she stared at the clock in the room, _ Just ring already, you stupid bell!_

This was the last class of the day, and then onto Spring Break! She could kick back and chill out for a week with no homework and do pretty much whatever she wanted for a whole week without being pestered about half-completed homework or dosing off in class by her teachers. Just an Algebra test was blocking her path to the exit. She was almost done, but then would still have to wait another 10 minutes before the school was let out.

Twirling her long, dark brown hair and tapping her foot was helping the time passed as she thought about what was planned for the next week. Trying some new unfamiliar drug with her friends called 'DMT' would probably be the highlight of it. The four of them usually passed time smoking weed and gorging themselves on whatever food they could make and find. It was all in good fun and never ceased to be entertaining.

Despite very sluggishly walking to the teacher's desk to turn her test in and doing the same on the way back, only a minute had passed. 1:57. Another silent groan.

There was also some concert that Lynn wanted her to see with her, but it was 18+, and neither of them had had any ideas as to how to get themselves in there without paying off the security with money they didn't have, or doing less desirable things.

Riiiiiing! The bell finally went off, interrupting her thoughts before they got to a place she really didn't want to think about. "YES!" She yelled, "Finally, I'm out of here!", grabbing her bag and running out the door, not caring if people stared because of her outburst.

Fresh air and sunshine felt nice after being cramped in dank rooms all day, cramped in desks more suited to elementary school students. "Hey, Paige, over here!" she called out to her friend, who had been talking to a classmate. The short, blonde girl looked around for a moment before spotting where her name had been called from. Saying a few more words to her classmate, she rushed over with a smile.

"Thanks for that, I think he was hitting on me, and I wasn't sure how to say no if I had to," she said.

She laughed some, earning a red face from Paige, just making her laugh more.

"Shut up! I'm not used to boys talking to me like that..." She trailed off awkwardly. "Anyways, how did your test go?"

"Hell if I know, let's get out of this place!" She said with triumph. "Where was it you wanted to go again, Paige?"

"You really should care more about your grades, you know..." the only response was a non-chalant shrug. "It's the Aurora Spring Fair, remember? It happens every year. So let's go meet my mom in the parking lot."

They were to the Aurora High's parking lot, in the van, and on their way in just a couple minutes. "Thank you so much for picking us up, Mrs. Barron, how was your day?" She greeted Paige's mom with her parent-friendly smile.

"You're welcome," she started, but as usual, she had a little more to say. "Just know that you won't be staying out late, because she doesn't need to be around any other shady characters."

Oh yeah, that smile never worked with Paige's mom, "Haha, funny as usual, Mrs. Barron."

"That wasn't nice, mom!" She complained. "Grades aren't a reflection of character."

After some awkward silence, Paige and her talked the rest of the half-hour or so drive from there. When they got out, they said their goodbyes. As with anytime she was with Mrs. Barron's daughter, she was given the look that said "I will know if try to pull something behind my back." She returned the mom's stern look with a glowing and probably less-than-reassuring smile before the two teens went on their way.

They spent most of the time standing lines way too long for rides that were quite frankly, just a little lame. Next was food. Oh so healthy and not-at-all overpriced carnival food. A giant corn dog for her, a grease-soaked slab of Canadian bacon & pineapple pizza, plus huge cups of soda for each.

Paige was holding her stomach and making a face as they walked away from the undercover dining area. "I think I'm going to be sick."

"Told you a little thing like you shouldn't be eating so much." It was true; the blonde was the shortest one in her group of friends, by four inches. "We missed a few rides. Maybe it would be a good time for the Scrambler?"

Groaning and ignoring her friend, she went on, "Let's just go look at some of the tents."

Many of them had necklaces, small inflatable things, key chains, spin the wheels where you didn't win anything cool, stuff that looked like it was rejected for an infomercial, and various other cheap things that didn't catch either of the girls' attentions.

They were starting to get tired when they came across a table that finally drew their eyes for the right reasons. There were old Gameboy Color and Gameboy Advance games laid out throughout the table. The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Donkey Kong, Harvest Moon, Fire Emblem; they were all there! All except one, the most important and best game ever on the GBA: Pokémon.

There was an old lady sitting there hunched-over, apparently in charge of the shop. Her eyes were closed and she did not appear to be reacting to any of the buzz going on at the fair.

Looking to Paige she quietly started, "Um, is she as--"

"How may I help you pretty, young children?" Apparently awake, the woman's rough voice frightened them from their confusion. She had some sort of shawl over her head and wore a boring dress that sort of made her look like a blob without much shape. Her olive skin looked rough and her hair was not at all brushed. There was also an odd odor emanating from the area.

Looking at each other for a moment, unsure if they wanted to stick around and talk to the strange, excited woman, Paige urged her friend to speak, too nervous to herself. Rolling her eyes, she tentatively spoke. "I noticed you have a fine assortment of games here, and..." The lady eagerly nodded. "I can't find any Pokémon games on the table--"

"Oh yes, I have! Wait here, girls." Leaving with a smile, she disappears behind a curtain for a moment before reappearing with the exact same expression on her face. In her hand were several bright, multi-colored cartridges of two different shapes. From left to right there was Pokémon Red, Pokémon Silver, Pokémon Yellow, and the only small cartridge was Pokémon Sapphire.

Looking them all over quickly before making her final decision to make sure they weren't broken, she asked, "How much ar--"

"10 dollars American," the hag interrupted again.

Well yeah, what else would we be giving you? Pounds? "Here, I'll take the one on the far right." She grabbed it before the lady did and instead putting the $10 bill she had in her hand. They got out of their as quickly as they can. After they had walked away far enough, she grumbled, well, there goes my weed money for this weekend."

"At least this will last you longer. Oh, I think my mom is calling. Yeah, it's her," Paige takes out her phone, and after some "Mhms" and "Yeahs", she hangs up. "She's at the same place she dropped us off and wants us to hurry over so she doesn't get a ticket." There's a short pause before she quietly says, "But, uh, let's never talk about that ever again, okay?" the girl shivers, disturbed by their encounter with the creepy old woman.

"Agreed." The rest of the walk to the car is carried out in awkward silence.

After some more awkward silence in the car, and Paige assuring her mom that everything is okay and they had a great time, they finally started talking again. "What are you going to name yourself?" The younger Barron looked to her friend, who had a look of confusion. "In Sapphire, what are you going to name your character?"

"Oh! I hadn't thought about it what to name myself, but I do know I want to start with Treecko; he's so cute!" She almost always started with Treecko because they seemed to battle the best of the three starters.

Giggling, her blonde friend said, "Only you would think a lizard is cute," to which she received a stuck-out tongue in response. "Hmm... How about Meri? It's Finnish for 'ocean'. It seems appropriate since Kyogre created the oceans and all."

"And only you would know Finnish words. How do I spell it?"

"M-e-r-i!" Paige merrily said each letter.

Taking it out of her pocket, she stared, taking in the sight of the translucent blue cartridge. Wait, what the hell is this? It wasn't a crack or a scratch. Kyogre's colors had been changed. The white was still in the right place, but the red and blue had switched places. She must not have noticed when she was at the table because of how freaked out she was by the foreign woman who had sold it to her. Crap, it must be a hack, she thought, frustrated. _ That's the last time I trust an old woman at a carnival._

They reached her home about 7 and was promptly kicked out of the car. "Thanks again, Mrs. Barron, you're totally awesome! Bye, Paige, see ya around, girl!"

Mrs. Barron just rolled her eyes and drove off while her daughter called out, waving and smiling. "Byyyye!"

Opening the door and walking inside, she announced her presence, "Hey, I'm home!" and as usual, her parents were not. Being greeted with the usual silence, she threw her backpack on the floor. Normally, at this point, she would also throw her pants off, run to the computer, open the window, smoke a bowl, and look at porn with a hand between her legs. However, tonight was different. Tonight she would be playing a third generation Pokémon game for the first time in several years, and she was excited, even if it was a hacked game.

She sighed and then said aloud to herself, "Oh well, it's not like we can go back now...or really want to, for that matter."

Despite how it looked on the outside, the intro and start screen were completely normal. She went through Professor Birch's introduction to the Pokémon world making herself a girl, as she had always done. _What was I going to name myself? Oh yeah!_Thinking back to the car ride home, she typed the name into the game, "M-e-r-i!"

She ended up naming her rival Seth. It didn't really matter much, so one of the default suggested names was suitable.

Her character was in the back of the moving truck for a few seconds before it opened up. Stepping out, the feelings of playing Pokémon Ruby in the past, bringing with it floods of nostalgia. Going through all of the familiar motions of setting the clock, not quite catching her dad on TV, meeting her neighbor, saving the Professor with her beloved Treecko, and being sent to fetch his son were all the same as before. Exactly like I remembered, she let her inner grin show. It wasn't like anyone could see her grinning like an idiot in this empty house.

It was easy to make it to Oldale town in no time. All she had to do was defeat a single Zigzagoon and catch another on the way for its Pickup ability. Now that she was here, she could do the glitch she had discovered on her second time playing through the game. She never told anyone about it, so it had stayed her special little secret.

There was a guy who would block the way to route 102 because he thought he saw a rare Pokémon's tracks, but it turned out to be nothing after you beat your rival and got the running shoes. It was an accidental find. She walked over to where the tracks were, but then hit start on accident. It wouldn't let her exit out of the menu, so she decided to use an escape rope because why not? When she went to the Pokémart for the first time, she found that she 999999 Pokédollars! Since then, she has always done the trick. She saved her game in preparation before doing it, just in case she messed it up.

Pressing the left directional button she walked right to where the jerk was studying his own footprints. Before he could turn and bitch at her, she pressed start at the perfect time. First try, yes! Now time to use an escape rope and get my money. It was just a couple seconds before she found the needed item and used it.

The screen was black for a second, as expected. But when it took longer than five seconds, she got worried. "Damnit, I should've figured something like this would happen."

She was about to turn it off and skip the glitch the next time, but heard a beep. There was text on the screen. Reading it, it looked like it had to be a joke and a warning put in by the hacker who had made it.

"YOU HAVE ATTEMPTED TO DEFILE A SACRED AND BEAUTIFUL WORLD.

CHEATING IS UNFORGIVABLE. YOU WILL BE TAUGHT THAT

CHEATING COMES AT A TERRIBLE PRICE. INSTEAD OF LETTING

YOU INFLICT FURTHER TERRIBLE CONSEQUENCES UPON THOSE

AROUND YOU, YOU WILL SUFFER INSTEAD.

THERE IS NO CHANGING WHAT YOU HAVE DONE. NOW, YOUR

PUNISHMENT HAS ARRIVED. ONLY CRUELTY WILL TEACH YOU."

"What the fuck?" she laughed a little. "Time to turn it off--"

---

Everything was black. Her head was pounding all over. "God, what the hell happened?"

Realizing her eyes were closed she opened them to find the sun shining with a painful intensity, practically stabbing her eyes. "Owww..." She groaned. Blocking the sun from the window with her hand, she looked around her room. Except it wasn't her room. It didn't look like a hospital room either. Then where was she? Her heart was beginning to race as she looked wildly around the room for any sign of familiarity, any sign that this was some weird prank.

A woman's warm voice called from somewhere else in the house she was in, "Meri, breakfast is almost ready!"