FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Near midnight, as employees worked overtime to hasten the progress of the coming raid, Kenjo entered the weapons room in his usual black outfit after being out for hours, where employees worked over tables. He approached one of his supervisors watching over their work from a distance by the entrance. He was in his early twenties, wearing yellow safety gear with clear goggles around his neck. "How are things looking?"

"We have twenty AR's made, ammunition for weeks, pistols... We're about ready, just need to finish wiring the C4 for our grand entrance."

"When we tear it down, it will be historical. The present may see us as terrorists, but the future generations will know heroes."

He nodded. He felt the movement should have a name by now in that case, but Kenjo never considered it. To him, a name would bring the movement unwanted attention and potential trouble. "Has Aika given you your confirmation yet, sir?"

"Not yet. I need it as we only have one chance to strike. If we don't catch Kado with his pants down, he will flee, but we cannot lose Aika. She's our only connection to the inside and releases info important to the cause. If she wants out, she will break. Keep it up."

"Will do, sir."

Kenjo next walked a few doors down and stopped at one made of steel with thick bolted locks to prevent it from being broken into. He knocked.

After Kenjo was identified, the door was unlocked and opened. "Just in time, boss. Come in." His employee pulled down his tee to appear presentable.

Kenjo was able to hire a former ethical hacker to work on his behalf. His room was adorned with shelved computer parts and pokémon figurines from various regions and had a bed and a restroom by the door. He didn't live in it but spent a lot of time working. "Have you made progress?"

"Heck yeah, come look." He pushed up his glasses and sat in his chair, rolling to his computer and logging on.

Kenjo stood aside.

"Took me weeks, but I found the private site, a backdoor, and got the owner's login. It looks promising. Uh, but if it doesn't work on the off chance, it'll probably set me back to the drawing board, and we'll be caught." He opened the doc he saved the info in. "User is KaMeishu. Password is Ni5h1daUn0v4, which is actually strong by password standards. That was not easy to crack, let me tell you." He chuckled.

"Hm... Brilliant work, Zeke. Access to the database will aid our cause greatly. Sit idle until I ask Aika if she knows anything of this."

"Got it, boss," Zeke said as Kenjo exited.

He walked up to his room, sighing as he entered. "Your brothers and sisters will be free soon, Zavvi. We're almost ready." Kenjo saw his zoroark standing by the couch.

Zavvi would fight alongside the rest of the group when the time came to strike. He watched Castelia devolve from a bright city where people and pokémon harmonized into a depressing one with a dark secret no one talked about. There were ways to deal with pokémon causing crime without punishing the entire species. Zavvi couldn't understand how anyone that worked for Unovanish could send pokémon thousands of miles away.

Kenjo threw water over his face in the restroom and dried it with a towel. He held it in place, and when he pulled it down and saw his reflection in the mirror, his expression wore sorrow.

There was a reason he started this movement six years back. A personal one.

Nine years ago, when he was nineteen, he owned a dewott. Mara was one of his best friends. Kenjo had raised her from an oshawott he'd caught at fifteen. Keep in mind, Unovanish had established themselves in Castelia a year prior and vowed only to remove pokémon with evidence they weren't clean.

~

Kenjo opened and rubbed his eyes, his right hand resting atop the bedsheets. Mara wasn't beside him. It was 6 p.m. They'd taken a nap after being out all day looking at residences for rent. Kenjo was excited to move out and start a new chapter with her.

He threw on a tee and shorts and left his room. He assumed she was somewhere around the house; however, Kenjo didn't see her anywhere, even after scanning every room both upstairs and down. The front door was cracked open, which Kenjo closed as it was unusual. "Mom!" He went up to her room and knocked on her door.

"Un?"

He heard her muffled voice. "Mitsukaranai Mara iimasu. Kanojo o mita?" Maybe she'd know where Mara was.

"Soto o chekku."

"Wakatta." He went back downstairs. It wasn't out of the ordinary for Mara to be outside. She enjoyed sitting out on the front steps sometimes. Kenjo opened the door, and usually, he'd see Mara, but he didn't. He stepped off and looked both ways down the road. "Mara!" Had she wandered? Kenjo didn't want to worry yet. It was unlike her, but she could be in the vicinity.

He spent almost thirty minutes walking through the neighborhood and shouting her name, receiving either curious or annoyed stares from people. Mara was nowhere to be found. The sun had gone down, and now, Kenjo was beyond worried.

He jogged toward the Central area, just in case she went far for some odd reason. "Mara!" That was the loudest he'd shouted so far, and still, nothing resulted. He was about ready to cry. Castelia was massive, but he couldn't panic yet.

He walked tirelessly for another hour, even asking various people if they'd seen a lone dewott roaming. Kenjo sat on a bench by an alley. He didn't know what to do. His parents were likely worried about him now, as he hadn't told them where he went, but he couldn't go home without Mara.

He heard ruckus come from an alley nearby, and at this point, Kenjo was desperate. He stood and peeked into it. There was a red cargo box tucked against the left wall. That was where Unovanish stored captured pokémon. Kenjo entered the alley, eyeing his surroundings until reaching it as he felt uneasy. He heard more banging source from inside. Kenjo was curious, although he doubted an innocent pokémon like Mara had been kidnapped. "...Hello?"

Then he heard it. Something that broke his heart, confused and enraged him to no end. It tore his previous doubt apart.

"Dew..."

"Mara?" Her cry was helpless, dull, and full of fear. "Mara, why are you in there?" She wasn't wild. It didn't make sense. Kenjo fumbled with the lock holding the door together and tugged at it. He couldn't free her without the necessary tools, and his father had something to cut the lock. "Mara, I'll be back. I'm gonna get you out of there!"

So he ran home, not stopping even for a moment, and arrived out of breath to his parents standing in the front yard.

"Ken, doko ni ikimashita ka? We were looking everywhere for you."

"Tell you later." He ran past them and into the house, opening the closet by the stairs and sifting through a toolbox. Kenjo couldn't tell his parents. They'd stop and question him, which he had no time for. He'd already left Mara for almost twenty minutes. "Got it." Kenjo grabbed the bolt cutter and ran out the door with it. "Sugu ni modotte kimasu," he said to his parents before backtracking to Central. He'd be quick and didn't want them worrying.

Everything was spinning, not only from exhaustion, but his world felt warped. Kenjo couldn't imagine something like this would happen to him.

He was steps away within fifteen minutes, lightheaded and wheezing from running. His legs were numb. "Mara!" Kenjo turned into the alley and saw the cargo box's door wide open. It was empty. Mara was gone. He dropped the cutters and felt everything spin faster than before. He felt as if he'd pass out. He didn't know where to start. Kenjo looked around frantically, running out of the alley and scanning crowds of people to no avail. Mara was gone.

~

Kenjo hung the towel up and walked to his room. He'd never see her again. He'd never get closure. Hopefully, Mara was living a decent life in whatever region she was in, but it never ceased to pain his heart daily. Zavvi was also a capture. He was the first pokémon Kenjo broke free.

Ever since the day Unovanish stole Mara, Kenjo knew it was full of employees desperately trying to fill their quotas. Revenge wouldn't give his dewott back to him, but it would allow his city to breathe again.