FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Maia's car looked like it had fallen out of a time rip. She left it parked against the backdrop of stone monuments and paper walled houses at the gates to the higher grounds. The branching stone pathways shifted to steep narrow stairs accessing private groves and temples that stairstepped their way up the slopes of the mountain. No matter how high one climbed, there would always be obelisks or sloping temple roofs peeking over the trees higher up.

As distant as this world had been lately, Maia knew exactly where to go. With the pokeball launcher strapped over her back, her heels dislodged dried pine needles and leaves piled on the steps. These turned to cherry blossom petals at the heart of the grounds. Over the stairs appeared the pagoda there, its distinctive shape shadowed against a deep red and orange sky.

Paper lanterns burned sparsely inside the pagoda. They chased the shadows out from the darker corners while the remaining sunlight angled through the front entrance to trace straight down the main hallway, a path of glossy mahogany planks.

The barrel of the launcher probed its way through the curtains. Maia cut into the dark chamber beyond with a sliver of sunlight as she stepped through.

Candles burned at varying heights all around the room. Steps led up to a raised circular platform at the center. A cluster of red and orange paper lanterns dangled over this resembling a chandelier and emitting just enough of a glow to reveal the figure sitting in meditation there on a pile of cushions and entwined with streaming incense smoke.

Dressed in her usual kimono, Kuni sat with her back toward the entrance. As soon as Maia's eyes fell on her mother, the woman raised a hand and spoke.

"I know why you have come. But go ahead and say your part,"

"It's me," Maia said flatly.

Kuni turned herself around, adjusting her glasses as she leaned forward. She smiled but had no comment or question about the bulky gun that her daughter wielded.

"Ah! Maia my dear! You're home a little sooner than I expected,"

"I'm curious about this Pokemon I've been dreaming of. He wants to see me, right?"

"Oh, he's seen you,"

In the corner of her eye, Maia noticed a pair of candle flames. For a moment not sure why her attention was drawn to them. But soon enough they shifted. Stepped closer and a canine face emerged.

It was no dream and no trick of the lighting now. Nojukubi in true fur and flesh was now before her. He was a head or so taller than a normal Arcanine, body carried like a broad barrel on muscular legs and big paws spreading under his steps.

A scar ran down his broad, fanged muzzle and another traced in an arc over his shoulder. Whatever he was running around fighting must have had some wicked claws though clearly not enough to bring him down. Trailing him was not only his tail but a set of huge nuts swaying halfway to the floor. He swung them around with a bit of a flourish in his hips as he walked, as if proudly brandishing his masculine energy. Some time after tearing her gaze from the giant balls, she noticed eyes of burnished bronze. Narrowed, in a smug expression.

Without words, it told that all was going to plan. Like he knew this meeting was going to happen, just as surely as the mark on her butt had been placed with his magic. If he had a taste for Human women then this process had played out before and Maia was supposed to just run up here like another obedient little concubine to his beck and call, and submit herself for whatever this big beast wanted to do with her body.

"We'll see about that,"

With the pokeball launcher pointed at him, it was her turn to smirk. Her finger encircled the trigger, tightened. But then a paper fan came whirling out from left field and bonked her on the head, stunning her for a couple seconds.

"Don't you dare, young lady!" Kuni said sternly, "I break my back all day to clean up in here and you want to start a fire fight! Take it outside!"

The scolding even had Nojukubi's ears lowered.

Kuni slapped a switch at the base of an obelisk and an electric buzz hummed across the room. Patterns glowed below their feet, revealing that the lower floor around the platform was paved with teleport tiles. Something Kuni used to send trainers off to different trials before facing her.

In the next moment, all the candles in the background shot upward and launched themselves like shooting stars. Space was folded and the temple interior flashed out of view.

Maia blinked and she was suddenly at the center of a circular courtyard outside, the tangibly cooler air sweeping over her.

She turned, taking aim at a deep glow in the corner of her eye. Not the Arcanine but the glow of late afternoon sunlight low over the horizon. The courtyard was ringed with squat stone lanterns. Two of them behind her flared to life with a whoosh of rushing flames. As she whirled on the noise, Nojokubi appeared sitting between them.

She raised the launcher and fired. A hollow thunk! sent a masterball at high velocity toward him but he leapt aside, strafing around the courtyard at a run as Maia struggled to keep the sights on him. He let his tongue loll out and put on a burst of speed just before she fired another shot. The masterball sailed by in his wake and slammed into a statue of a meditating monk holding two pokeballs. It obliterated the statue's head in a scattering of pulverized stone chunks.

"Holy- Did they even test this thing?!"

Two more lanterns lit up and in a flash Nojukubi blinked between them, now speeding directly toward Maia. Fiery streaks kicked up under his paws as he blazed across the courtyard. Cherry blossom petals were stirred up, ignited in burning embers that scattered behind him.

At the last moment before colliding, he leapt over her. The maneuver was successful in startling her and she fell backwards onto her rear. But also just managed to squeeze the trigger. A masterball nailed the flying Arcanine right in the midst of his fluffy underbelly.

"Gotcha!" Maia declared as she sat up and pushed the launcher off her. With a triumphant cackle and mad grin, she trotted over to where the master ball sat rocking sporadically back and forth.

He had no chance now-

With a shattering sound, the space in front of her was abruptly filled. Instead of taking possession of the masterball, her reaching hand pressed against a huge, broad and immovable chest. Fingers laced through incredibly downy fluff as he looked down at her with amusement. She froze in place, staring ahead as the whole of her vision was filled with the burly Arcanine. It should have been impossible for any Pokemon to escape that ball. The unusual one she was facing now, craned his head down and placed a brief boop of a smooch directly on top of her head.

Turning, his fluffy tail brushed across her face as he then strolled down the path. She watched the massive creature and flexing muscle beneath his pelt as he moved. He peeked over his shoulder, eyes glinting in triumph as they caught her gawking. She was in awe at the male specimen, her hair tussled and blouse blown open to reveal her lace cupped chest. That was probably not going to discourage his smug attitude and she could have sworn that he even winked at her.

A cackle sounded from atop one of the nearby staircases. Her mother had been watching.

"Hm. You've managed to impress him," Kuni said, "He's never courted such a feisty mate,"

"I've impressed him huh?"

Mai brushed a lock of hair out of her face and then hastily fastened a couple buttons so as to not flash her bra around. A peek over her shoulder revealed that the Arcanine was out of sight.

"I only came up here to do some testing of my own. For your information. And his,"

"You wish to understand him," Kuni said as she came to the bottom of the steps.

"Yeah," Maia's reply was unsteady at first, "I-I mean...I'm a Pokemon researcher. That's kind of what I do,"

Of course her mother already knew as much. Also knew an alibi when she heard one.

"You won't understand him by becoming his trainer,"

-

The door slid open on a small shack sitting just beyond a shrine gate. The interior was of simple stone tiles and barren of any furniture or other decorum except for an altar doubling as a fireplace against the far wall. Maia stood in the doorway, arms impatiently crossed as her mother stepped up to the altar and removed the lid on a short, squat stone urn sitting within it.

Kuni bowed her head toward perfectly uniform ash piled like light gray sand with a single pebble of red crystal sunk a ways into the top.

"When the fire has burned out, the ash is left behind. It speaks the story of the fl- Do NOT roll your eyes at me, young lady!"

This said without so much as turning her head.

"I didn't!" Maia returned, even though she totally had.

"Embarrassing me in front of the spirits.." Kuni grumbled and then pointed at a cushion on the floor, "Look, what you need to do now is sit here. Meditate on what has brought you back here after all this time. Answers and understanding which you seek, will shine like a flame in the dark,"

Maia sighed as she kneeled before the altar and her mother departed. Hands on knees, gaze straight ahead at the urn waiting for some ghostly flame to bloom and reveal the secrets of Nojukubi and his strange influence on her. The world outside hushed as if to respectfully leave Maia alone with her thoughts.

Nothing happened. Nothing continued to happen until her patience ran out. Getting swept up in this whole situation was crazy- maybe she was even crazier for playing along.

She could get up and storm out of the shrine. Then trip over a loose stone at the top of the stairs. As steep as the ground was, it would plummet out from under her as momentum carried her forward. Soon enough she'd be flying down the mountain like an arrow with arms sweeping out behind her, shouting into the wind as it whipped at her clothes and hair.

The ballistic trajectory would carry her on a collision course with the pagoda, smashing through the wooden walls. Into the central chamber where her mother meditated. Looking up, making eye contact with her flying daughter among the burst of wooden debris and broken beams before she continued on her flight path to smash through the other side. The pagoda imploding in on itself in her wake and collapsing in a cloud of dust leaving her mother sitting confused out in the sunshine.

Sailing over the rest of the slopes Maia would arrive at the main gate of the shrine to at last smash into the ground. But somehow she knew, her landing would be softer than expected. Caught and rescued at the last second by a big fluffy orange and black cushion.

...wait.

Maia slumped back to lay on the floor, pinching her nose with exasperation.

"Damn it! I can't even keep you out of my daydreams now!"

-

Lantern light shined in the dark waters of the pond as Maia hugged her arms over her chest, stepping out into the small courtyard behind the pagoda. Standing in the cool night air without a scrap of clothing.

"To purify one's self is a basic first step of any ritual," Her mother said.

Kuni let the words hang in the air a bit before turning to Maia with a more blunt tone.

"But really it's just a formality. It won't really wash away lewd thoughts, at least not for long,"

Maia blushed and averted her gaze. Kuni only shrugged and went to prepare the water, dumping stone pots filled with various oils, soaps and essences.

"Ugh. Fucking cold out here-"

Maia only meant to mutter this to herself but her mother's ear caught it. With a resounding smack and a yelp, she corrected Maia with a blow to the bare butt from the wooden handle of her fan. Maia's tight rear end jiggled a bit from the impact and she straightened up, snapping to attention.

"A shrine maiden with such a foul mouth? Shameful! Get in the water already,"

Stepping down, the cold touch of the water wasn't making things any more comfortable. She gasped sharply as her mother poured more directly over her head. But she held off from any further complaints.

-

The high vantage point of the rocky ledge afforded a full view of the shrine grounds. The smell of smoke laced invisibly in the breeze as it rustled Nojukubi's fur. The Arcanine tilted his nose briefly toward the scent and then lay down at the edge of the outcropping.

Resting his head on his paws, a glint of firelight danced across his eyes. His awareness spread out, reaching to any flames among the land below and infusing with countless torches and lanterns. Even a pile of dying embers was enough. Through the many angles where flame flickered, he could keep watch for negative spirits or troublesome ghosts. But the ghost sun was full that night and the shadows usually kept quiet during this time of the month.

Now he searched for that feisty Human, daughter of the Shrinekeeper. He had spotted her several months ago, when she came to stay for a couple weeks at the shrine for a break from whatever she did down in the city. One glimpse of her striding through the cherry blossom grove and the redhead was haunting his dreams, blocking his path in the astral realm. As fiery there as she was in the waking world.

In his mind's eye, shadows parted for the flames of a torch as he located her. She had just been whisked behind a privacy screen inside a chamber of the pagoda. The shape of her silhouette made him wish he had been a little sooner to arrive on the scene.

"..mother, what in the world am I supposed to do about that?!"

"Here. Just adjust it a little and quit fussing!"

The sound of rustling fabric and a huff from Maia later and all was in place.

"This outfit...it's so-"

"It's perfect," Kuni said firmly, "You won't have to wear it for long anyway,"