FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

In her room, Penny took a sip of cider from a glass mug. Her typing on the laptop was interrupted as that odd noise in the floorboards made another long creak. Waiting for a while, she shook her head. Yawning, she closed her laptop.

The cider was delicious but became rather "meh" once it cooled off. The last of it she tossed out the window. But in return, there came a loud slurping sound from the grass outside as if the liquid was greedily sucked down a drain. Penny was positive she was hearing things, until the grass began to part as something moved unseen through it toward the window.

She slammed the window shut, closing the curtains and shutters, then backed up to the other side of the room.

"Okay! So maybe there is something weird going on here..."

-

The weather was beginning to take a turn for the worse. The wind picked up, whipping sheets of snow over the lodge as it began to fall steadily. The light inside didn't seem to have quite the reach it should have. Shadows lingered in the corners of the long hallway.

"Now this looks wayyy creepier," Blaire said as she started down a hall.

Right on cue the lights flickered and a creak sounded from the floorboards. The wind outside swirled up to a crescendo and then died out. There was a rustling sound that brought her attention to the window.

"Oh no way! Are you guys seeing this?"

Right outside the window something was sitting cradled in the grass. It was a pokeball, but one encrusted with dirt and mud. It twitched suddenly to one side. She blinked, not entirely trusting her eyes. Then it twitched in the other direction as a freshly caught pokemon struggling to break free.

"This is super weird. What do you guys think is inside?"

It was then she noticed a chill breeze blowing her hair. Had the window been open the whole time?

She didn't have time to wonder. As she leaned down for a close up shot of the pokeball, fingers curled up out of the soil to wrap around it. She gasped, as another hand shot up from the soil and seized her by the hand. A face broke from the soil, rotting and misshapen where dirt clods clung to the zombified head.

Penny rounded the corner just in time to see Blaire leaning out the window. An oddly shaped figure on the other side. Something nudged her leg as it rushed by.

A purple glow surrounded Blaire, causing the shadowed form to shoot downward though its rotted hand still held on to her. Shadows emerged from the floorboards, lashing at the espeon. The pokemon was roughly tossed against the wall and Blaire was sucked out of the window and into the windy night. Penny could see the grass parting as it shot off toward the forest. She had a pretty good guess as to where it was headed.

But, what about that strange pokemon? She turned, locking eyes with it as it climbed to its feet.

Hello?

"Uh...hi. I guess you'd be the one to ask what that was?"

That was...him. Buried Alive. He's been dead so long he no longer has a name. He was a miner once, when the peak was called Old Thunder. According to the old folk tale, the miners struck a fossilized lightning bolt one day. Incinerated them, left their old bones energized dancing through the caves. True or not...he was the result nonetheless.

"That sounds...well, anyway. What about you?"

I'm quite real. I've been living here in the lodge, trying to keep that thing from abducting anybody. I am called Midnight

"Midnight? Sounds like you should have been an umbreon,"

Hehe. Well, I had to go and evolve in the daytime. That rival of yours...she has a spirit similar to my own. I've been watching her and she's got me well...rather interested

"Blaire? Ah right. I suppose I ought to go rescue her.."

She tilted her head this way and that, thinking hard.

"It's the right thing to do after all," She decided through gritted teeth.

I will come with you. Perhaps with another strong mind, we can put Buried Alive to rest for good

-

They ran through the night as the wind whipped at them. Penny followed Midnight as the espeon darted along sometimes lost as a cloud covered the moonlight. She released Buzz to light the way a little better.

"Any idea what that thing wants with humans?"

Midnight didn't break his stride, Not sure. Maybe he eats them, maybe something worse..

The forest was a maze of shadow that she didn't recognize despite being up here only hours prior. She could see the outline of the decrepit route markers. Huffing, she leaned on one as the old cottage came into view. Its mere presence dimmed the light emanating from Buzz and he winked out.

Midnight looked up at her. A nod and the two of them started toward it.

The old cottage moaned as the wind blew snow off its roof and directly into their faces. Driving forward, Penny reached the door with her breath coming out in puffs. The temperature had plunged in the last few steps. The door swung open and she stumbled across the threshold.

Immediately, the surroundings became well lit, warm as a bright and well furnished interior manifested with a thunderclap.

He could be anywhere. Keep an eye out

They proceeded forward into a living room, centered on an improbably tall fireplace. A pile of pinecones within popped sending embers out onto the stone platform it was on. A black shape took form, rising from beneath the embers and extending its hand outward.

Buried Alive, a silhouette of black soot with only white teeth standing out. A crooked arm raised a pokeball and it burst open with shadow, congealing into a formless, hazy void drifting before them. The thing opened its mouth, drawing in with a cold breath. It came no closer, but the surroundings seemed to begin stretching and falling in to the black hole being created.

This will take both of us. Think of bright things and focus on the shadows

The espeon stood before Penny and released a translucent purple beam, glowing at a point where it scoured into the creature. Penny's eyes glowed as well, as the psychic energy expanded and began to push back the ghost toward its rotten trainer. Swirls of light and energy warped the surroundings as the floor rumbled. A light began to glow within the shadowy being, growing brighter until there were no more shadows. The thing was forced back into Buried Alive and the two of them disappeared in a blazing column of ghostly white shooting up the chimney.

Both Midnight and Penny slumped to the floor from the psychic drain. The espeon didn't even have the strength to talk, but he wagged his tail as Penny walked unsteadily over and drew a potion out of her pack.

"I, ah...might need to take a nap," She said, "I don't know where Blaire could be.."

Midnight nodded.

I'll find her now that the foul being is gone. I thank you. If you'd like a new addition to your team, I would be honored to follow a brave trainer with a good heart

She pat him on the head, "Oh? I thought you'd want to be Blaire's pokemon?"

Not quite what I had in mind for her..

His eyes shined a moment and then he dashed off up a set of stairs.