FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

(A story I'm working on right now. I'll be sitting around doing some form of work or another, then I'll zone out and this is what happens when I zone. For those of you looking forward to the Solaris story I've promised, stay tuned. My friend's out of college and should start to work on her portion of everything soon. Story time! =D))

"Kit, get up already!" called an older, female voice. Beneath the panther blanket on his bed, Kit grumbled, shifting his weight slightly before trying in vain to go back to sleep. With a sigh, he gave up and pushed the covers off. Climbing out of bed, he marched groggily out of his room and down the steep split-log stairs of their old A-Frame house. Before he ever reached the bottom, he could smell the bacon sizzling in a pan in the kitchen.

"About time you're awake!" His mom said, smiling faintly. "I was beginning to think my son had fallen into a coma!"

"No such luck..." Kit grumbled, rubbing sleep from his eyes as he sat down at the table. His stomach growled, reminding him that he hadn't eaten much at all since lunch the previous day. The moment he saw the plate of bacon touch the table, which was when he had learned he could dig in without being reprimanded, he launched himself at it, loading most of the entire plate onto his own. "Where're the eggs?" He asked and he bit into a fistful of the juicy, chewy meat.

"We're out." His mom replied, her tail flicking as she filled a glass with milk. Though Kit would've preferred to get his own food, he had to admit that hot, fresh bacon and milk was better than cold cereal. "I'm going to the store today, so I'll pick some up."

"Cool." Kit said around a mouthfull of bacon. Swallowing with some difficulty, he said, "While you're gone, why don't you grab some cinnimon rolls?"

His mom placed her finger on her chin and turned her eyes to the ceiling, pretending to contemplate. "I don't know... They're so expensive now..."

"Aww, c'mon!" He mewled, not at all ashamed to sound like a kit. He did consitantly enough that he and most of his friends were used to it.

"Oh, alright. But you have to walk Mr. Phillips' daughter to the bus stop."

Kit blinked in surprise. Mr. Phillips, or Kent, as he insisted Kit call him, was a new fox on the block, and though he himself was always out and about, Kit had never seen a vixen at all. Curiosity overrode his usual 'Yeah, no prob.' response. Instead, he swallowed his last bite of bacon and said, "Kent has a daughter?"

"Oh, I forgot you've talked to him already!" His mom laughed, shaking her head. "Yes, he does. They only just moved in monday, and you know there was no school until today, so I guess that, until today, he hadn't really thought of it."

"That's weird..." Kit muttered, one of his ears lopped down, the other perked up into the air. "How would he not really think about his own daughter?"

"Oh, I don't know." She confessed, sitting in the chair across from him. "It surprised me, too, but he insisted that someone he trusted take his daughter, and he wouldn't let anyone else near."

Kit snorted, then stood. "Well, if I'm driving her, I'd better get dressed now."

"Driving her? Oh, no no no, you're just..."

"It'd be a whole lot easier just to pick her up and drive her to school, mom." he said as he took the stairs three at a time. "And don't touch that milk! I'm still gonna drink it!"

His mom's hand retreated from the glass, and she smiled to herself. "Boy has eyes in the back of his head when it comes to food..."

Kit groaned as he searched through his closet, looking for a pair of jeans that weren't from the last ice age. Failing in that, he padded over to his dirty clothes basket and saved a pair from the dreaded washing machine. Pulling them on over his crimson boxers, he fished a black shirt from his dresser. On the front left pec and across the back it had "Motercycle Chop Shop - Custom Bikes, Because we have to." Pulling it over his head, he grabbed a pair of socks from the top drawer, then slid it shut. Throwing them on the bed, he padded out of his room and over to the bathroom. He glanced at himself in the mirror, shrugged, and grabbed a comb. Glancing again at his messy brown hair, the frosted blond tips glowing gold against his black fur, he took a second to measure himself as compared to a few years ago. His hazel eyes scanned every inch of his face. Then, satisfied, he dragged the comb through his hair, creating some semblance of combed hair. After loosing about half his hair to snarls, and breaking a tooth off his comb, he padded back into his room. He slid his socks on, then stepped into his hiking shoes, which he left loosely-tied so that he could get them on in a hurry.

Hoisting his bag onto his back, he padded, slightly uncomfortably, back down the stairs. Plucking his keys from a peg, he turned and said, "I'm out of here, mom!"

"Don't forget to give me a hug!" His mom said as she bustled into the kitchen from the front room. He grinned and wrapped one arm around her neck, grabbing the glass of milk on her other side.

"See ya, mom." He said, kissing her cheek then rushing out the door before she could notice the glass.

Jumping off the low porch, he jogged over to his '08 Mustang. It was certainly an old model, but it had plenty of speed in it, thanks to a little tinkering, and he knew it would get him where he needed to go in a hurry. Pulling the door open, he chucked his bag in the back and set the glass in the cupholder. He took a moment to look over the front seats of the car.

The seats themselves were covered in dragon-print seat covers, and on the floorboards were dragon floormats. The steeringwheel, too, was dragon, covered, and all the red and yellow on the inside matched easily with the red paint on the outside.

Sliding in, Kit started the car and threw it into reverse. Backing out, he turned the wheel, shifted up to drive, and gunned the engine the entire way up a hill in their road. He slowed and took a left at the top of the hill, driving for a few seconds before taking another left and dropping back down into the vally this area was set in. He glanced around at their community, the so-called "A-Frame Village," named so because every actual house was an A-Frame. Grinning, he pulled to a stop in front of Kent's place. It was the second biggest house in the village, next to his own. Switching the car into park, he stood and padded to the door.

"Come in, dear Kit!" Called Pamela, Kent's wife, before Kit ever had the chance to knock. Shrugging, he opened the door and padded into the front room, where his heart proceeded to stop.

Along the walls were masks of varying origins, from greek to celtic to what Kent claimed was Mesopotamian. Under these were spears, axes, knives, and other examples of tools from that civilization at that time. But it wasn't this that stopped him cold, nor was it the sight of Kent getting his red-furred arm bandaged up. Both were familier sights, as Kent had invited him in numerous times, and often sparred with his wife with real weapons.

No, what stopped his heart was the beautiful blond-haird vixen sitting on the couch, looking shyly at him.

Her fur was a soft red, like someone had thrown just enough white into the mix. Aside from the bridge of her nose and everything above her eyes, her face was a pale, creamy color, tinted pink from the rush of blood in her cheeks. Her ears, hands and feet were all dipped black, and he almost wondered if she'd been dipped in ink. Then his hazel eyes found her pale blue ones, and all else ceased to exist.

"Oh, how rude of me!" Kent said, though Kit was only half listening. "Kit, this is Terra. Terra, this is Kit, the boy I was telling you about."

"He's... A cat..." She murmered, her voice like warm honey. Kit wondered if he would be allowed to stay here if he fainted.

"Yes, I told you he was." Kent said, laughing. To Kit, he said, "She has a thing for cats. Better watch your tail, or she might just steal it!"

"Daaaaad!" She whined, standing up.

"Oh, I don't think we'll have a problem with missing tails." Kit said, barely keeping his cool. She was wearing a blue t-shirt and a pair of blue jeans, and he could have swore an angel had fallen to earth. Shaking his head, he stepped back outside and said, "Gas isn't cheap, and I left my car running. 'Sides, we're going to be late. Talk to you later?"

"Sure, sure." Kent said, grinning. "Take care of my daughter, she's the only one I got."

"You make it sound like we're going on a date." Kit joked, watching Terra as she padded past. He was so focused on the vixen that he failed to notice the strange glint in Kent's eyes. When he turned back to wave, just before he got in his car, he was too far away to see it.

Shifting his car into gear, he accelerated up the hill and on down the long gravel road, stopping only briefly before hitting the blacktop and accelerating to an easy 55 MPH.

"So, you're Terra?" Kit asked, now that he didn't need to worry about hitting a pet.

"Yes..." She murmered, looking out the window. Kit grinned.

"Your dad's a bit overprotective, isn't he?"

"Yeah..." She agreed, nodding slightly, her shoulder-length hair swaying.

"Wonder why he chose me?" Kit said, merely thinking aloud.

Which was why he was surprised when she said, "Because he trusts cats. I don't know why, but all his friends from our old town were cats."

"Weird..." Kit muttered.

"Weird." Terra agreed, turning to look at him. Kit forced his eyes onto the road, afraid that he would be too drawn to her eyes or body that he would end up crashing. He noticed that, despite her dad, she didn't take much precaution for her own protection, not even attaching the seatbelt. Her eyes were glued on him, and when he glanced over, he found that her eyes were soaking in the sight of his body.

"Eye rape...." Kit said, quietly, his voice quivery. Her eyes snapped up to look at him, growing large.

"No, I wasn't..."

"EYE RAPE!" He squealed, jerking the wheel side-to-side. She screamed and clutched the door. Grinning, he straightened them out and said, "Don't worry, it happens often enough. Just try not to stare in school. The other girls might get jealous." He winked, grinning, and she offered a small smile in return, though the blush was much more evident. Kit glanced towards the road. "Ah shit! Hold on!"

The breaks squealed as he smashed the pedal, and the skid marks joined many others that had made part of the lane completely black, as he spun the wheel. The car spun 90 degrees, then accelerated into the school parking lot.

"I miss that thing almost every day." He grumbled, cursing how the turnoff came right after a bend in the road.

"Don't... Ever... Do... That... Again!" Terra gasped.

Kit glanced over, then burst out laughing. Every hair on her pelt was standing on end, and she was gripping his seat in a deathgrip. The seat's death, that is. "Easy now, let the chair have some air! And don't worry, you'll get used to it. All my other friends have." He pulled to a stop in front of the school. "There ya go, little lady. Right to the front door."

She nodded, still shaking and looking twice her size. She managed to open the door, swinging her pack over her back and padding into the school. Grinning, Kit hit the accelerator and the vehicle jumped forward, closing the door.

It took Kit a good ten minutes to get to his parking place near the gym then over to his first period class. So, as he walked in, late as usual, he was unsurprised as the teacher clicked "Tardy" on her large-screened computer. Shrugging, he made his way to his seat and slouched into it, already drifting into sleep. Family and Career Finances, the most boring class of the day, gave him a chance to catch up on the sleep lost not 35 minutes before.

He woke just as the bell rang. Grumbling, he hefted his bag onto his shoulder and padded out into the hall, already packed with students.

"'Lo, Kit!" He heard someone call, and turned to see Justin Black, one of his best friends, jogging up. He was a small, lithe leopard with huge amber eyes and long, unruly hair dyed white, a metal loop through each of his eartips. He was wearing typical punk clothes, far too big for his body but not quite big enough to fall off. Once, someone had said he looked like Cloud from Final Fantasy VII Fur Edition, and since then he'd had the nickname Cloud.

"'Sup, Cloud?"

"Nothing much, man. Dude, you seen that new girl?"

"Which one?" Kit asked as he opened his locker and pulled out his algebra book.

"That vixen... uhh... Terra!"

"Yeah, I've seen her. Drove her to school this morning."

Cloud's already round eyes went even wider. "No way!"

"Way." Kit grinned, slamming his locker shut.

"No wonder she was so pale. I could see her skin even under all that fur."

A hundred different images burst into Kit's mind, but he pushed them away and hit Cloud playfully with his tail. "Ah, shaddup, ya overgrown poka-dot nerd."

"Who you callin' a nerd?"

"Maybe the guy covered in poka dots." Kit said, laughing.

Shrugging, Cloud said, "Hey, what do you get when you drop a piano on a military base?"

"What?" Kit asked, letting himself be pulled in.

"A Flat Major. What about when you drop a piano into a mine shaft?"

"Don't tell me..." He began, but Cloud cut him off.

"A Flat Miner!"

Both felines laughed, then Kit clapped his friend on his back and said, "This's my class, bro. See you fifth." Not really hearing his reply over the noise in the hall, Kit padded into Math. Or, at least, he started to pad in. For the second time that day, his heart stopped.

Sitting right next to his chair, listening to a surprisingly-animated wolf named Amy, was Terra. She looked up when he walked in, and her bored expression immediatly dissappeared. He padded over to his seat and slumped down, dropping his bag beside him. Leaning his chair back on two legs and using his tail for balance to stay that way, he said, "Did you have her last period, too?"

She nodded, and Kit cringed in sympathy. She giggled, and Amy's eyes immediatly went wide. Kit blinked a few times, then cursed inwardly. "Great... By the end of fourth period, the whole school'll think we're dating." He grumbled, and she giggled again. He knew that her laughing wouldn't help their case, but he really didn't care. Her laugh, so much like the tinkling of bells, intoxicated him. Unfortunately, the teacher chose that moment to walk in.

"Okay, class, settle down!" she said, her human voice grating on the feline's ears. She glared at him as she walked to her desk, effectively killing his buzz. Facing forward, he dragged his math book from his bag.

"Alright, turn to page 243 and do one through eighty-three." The entirety of the class groaned, though they weren't surprised. They were always being loaded down with obscene amounts of homework for the weekend. Obscene because there was way too much to do in one period, homework because everyone was too busy thinking about what was going on that weekend to do the work. The left-hand side of the room soon erupted with talking, but of course, it wasn't until Kit tried to ask Terra what she was doing that weekend that the teacher got onto anybody.

"Kit Black, just WHAT do you think you're doing?"

Kit jumped, then turned to look at the teacher. "Uhh, talking...?"

"You have work to do, young man!"

"But they're all talking!" Kit exclaimed, motioning towards the students on his left side.

"They're DONE with their work!"

"They havn't even started!"

"One more word out of you, young man, and you're going to see the principle!"

Kit sighed and turned to stare blankly at his book.

"That's so unfair..." He heard Terra murmur, and nodded in agreement.

The rest of the period passed in a blur, as did third and fourth periods. When Kit finally came back to himself, he was listening to Cloud talk about how he was going to wipe the floor with some paintball team.

"Sounds cool." He said, glancing anxiously at the clock. It was 12:03. Twelve more minutes and he would be in lunch. His stomach growled, alerting him to the fact that, despite his huge breakfast, he was starving.

"Kit, you alright? You seem kinda... I dunno, different."

"Does being in love count as different?" The black cat asked, shocking his friend into momentary silence.

"You're in love?!" He exploded, when he got his voice back moments later.

"Keep it down!" Kit hissed, glancing around at the rest of the class.

"Who's the lucky kitty?" Cloud asked, his voice back down to a descrete volume.

"Uhm... Not a kitty, actually."

"Then who's the lucky puppy?"

"She's a real vixen." Kit said in response. He knew his friend wouldn't pick up on the hint, but had decided to throw it out there anyway. Of course, sticking with his usual curve, he missed the hint completely.

"Damn, that hot, huh? I wouldn't mind seein' her if she's caught your eye."

"No way!" Kit said, sounding shocked. "You'd try to steal her away the moment you saw her!"

"So?"

Kit shook his head, shoving his book into his bag and hefting it onto his shoulder just as the bell rang. "You're clueless." He said, chuckling. Cloud followed along behind him as he walked to lunch.

"So who is it?"

"Can't tell you." Kit said, already prepared for the onslaught.

"Please?"

"No."

"Aww, C'mon!"

"No."

"I'll give you a cookie."

"No."

"Tell me."

"No."

"I will beat you."

Kit snorted. "Good luck with that."

"I'll tell the whole school."

"Like they'd believe you?" Kit asked, shaking his head. He was a well-confirmed loner, from a girl's standpoint, anyway.

"C'mon, man, I'm your best friend!"

"Best friend you may be, but you're also the one that got the only two girls I've gone out with for the past six years to dump me to go out with you."

"I won't do that this time. C'mon, man!"

"Look, just drop it. Maybe later, OK?" How little he knew of what was going on at that moment outside the school grounds.

Kit looked around as they walked into the lunchroom, his eyes immediatly being drawn to the small crowd of students that clustered around the vixen he'd brought to school. Though she was talking animatedly to everyone around her, her wide, smokey blue eyes were constantly scanning the room. Their eyes locked, and the smile that had been forced moments before became much more natural.

"Yo, I'm gonna go show the new girl the best places to sit." Kit said as he took off, chucking his back onto the stage to his right, along with dozens of others. Cloud just shrugged, floating off to find the object of his desires for the weekend.

As Kit jogged up, Terra disentangled herself from the knot of kids that had surrounded her.

"Hey!" Kit said, grinning.

"Hey," Terra said, looking just past his head for a moment. Then she closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and sighed. Only then did she re-open them to look him right in the eye. Kit felt himself drifting free of the restraint of gravity, and would have been lost forever in the space of her eyes had she not said, "So, uh... What's there to eat?"

Kit blinked. "Huh? Oh. Oh!" He laughed as what she said registered. "You want hot ham and cheese or something vegitarian?" He asked, looking over to the two lunch lines.

"I think I'll take the hot ham and cheese." She said, licking her lips. He grinned.

"Go find us a spot, I'll get the food."

"Alright, thanks!" She smiled a smile that made his heart skip a beat before padding off to find a table.

Shaking his head, he stepped into the shorter of the two lines, his own hunger now driving him onward. He quickly gathered their food and punched in his number code. He blinked and looked up as he heard a scattering of screams from the lunch room. "What's going on now?" He wondered, a faint smile on his face as he walked out into the main lunch room. Several kids were at the windows, pointing outside and talking to eachother. Kit shook his head, then scanned the tables until he found Terra, sitting in a circle of kids. Only the seat immediatly to her right remained unfilled. He grinned and padded over, setting the tray that held their food down.

"Oh, hey Kit!" Said a tabby cat, her long brown hair falling fluidly down her back. Her golden eyes failed to hide the curiousity she felt. "What're you doing here? I didn't figure you would want to talk to the new girl."

"He got me lunch." Terra said, smiling as she plucked one of the several foil-wrapped sandwiches from his tray. He shrugged, dropping into his usual public appearance. He picked up another Ham and Cheese and tore half the foil off, biting into the sandwich.

"No way!" gasped a pretty dalmation sitting beside the tabby. "Kit's, like, a loner, though!"

"Loner?" Terra asked, her ears perking up.

"Yeah. He only ever hangs out with one or two friends." The Dalmation looked suddenly uncomfortable. She looked anywhere but at Kit. "A lot of us figured he was gay..."

Kit gagged, nearly choking on the bite of ham and cheese he'd been swallowing. Terra giggled and patted him on the back. When he recovered, he shook his head at muttered, "gay..."

"I TOLD you he wasn't!" The tabby said, giggling hysterically.

"How was I supposed to know? Ever since I came here, I havn't seen him go out of his way to be with a girl!" The Dalmation hurried to defend herself.

By this point, the tabby was close to falling out of her chair, she was laughing so hard. "Leah, I TOLD you! Remember?"

Kit blinked, wondering what she meant. Then he remembered. Her name was Tabby, a result of parents who were too caught up in what humans once called the anthros. Back in the fifth grade, they'd gotten together. He sighed. "You're the one who tried to go to bed on the second date." He said, taking another bite. "And when I said no, you got all hissy and left."

Tabby's eyes flew open, and she looked around at the girls around her, who were now staring at her. "D... Did not!"

"Did she really?" Terra asked, staring at Kit.

Kit used all his self control to keep from getting lost in her eyes again. "Yup." He answered simply, putting on a mask of calm disregard.

"Hey, Kit!" Cloud called from across the lunchroom, making Kit's ears swivel to catch the sound. "Dude, come look at this! There're armored vans all over the place outside!"

"Armored vans?" Kit wondered aloud, crumbling the foil from his first sandwich and snatching another before standing to go see what his friend was talking about.

"Wait a sec!" Terra squeaked, plucking another sandwich for herself. Then she stood and ran to his side, quickly sliding her hand into his. Together, Kit and Terra made their way to Cloud, leaving the rest of the girls to gossip about what they had just seen.

"Holy crap..." Kit heard Cloud saying as they neared. "Are those guns? Holy... Oh my god that's an RPG!"

Kit's stomach dropped to someplace near japan, and he was already reacting when he heard Cloud yell, "Everyone, DOWN!"

Spinning, he wrapped his strong arms around Terra and flung them both to the ground. He heard and felt Cloud land beside him. The next instant, a massive explosion sent chunks of brickwork and plaster down on them. Immediatly, the cafeteria erupted into screams as everyone dove for cover. Beneath him, Kit felt Terra sobbing in fear. He was glad they'd landed with him on top, because otherwise she'd have been the one to get hit by all the debris.

He struggled to move, realizing two things One: he couldn't hear. The explosion must have blown out his eardrums, in which case his hearing would slowly come back to him. Two: He, Terra and Cloud had been buried under a complete section of wall. It was much like a very shallow tent, encasing them with rubble without hurting them. Shafts of light told him that there were plenty of ways out.

"You OK?" He heard Cloud ask after a few moments.

"I'm fine..." Kit answered before collapsing into a coughing fit.

"Terra?" Cloud asked, probably just realizing who it was that Kit had protected with his own body.

"I'm Okay..." She weezed. "Kit saved me."

"Yeah, well, a knight's gotta do what a knight's gotta do." Kit whispered as he heard booted footsteps on the wall above them. "Quiet... Listen...."

"Everyone down! We're here for the new girl! Tell us where she is and we won't kill you!"

"Does he mean you?" Kit whispered, moving so he could see Terra's face.

"I... I don't know... What have I done?"

"Nothing." Kit assured her, wiping away a tear as it made a track down her dust-covered face.

"Where the hell is she?!" The man yelled again. Kit winced as the human speaker's voice grated on his ears.

"We need to get to your car, dude..." Cloud whispered, reminding Kit that he was there.

"Yeah..."

"That's a guy from daddy's work." Terra whispered suddenly. Kit blinked.

"C'mon, lets get out of here... We have to run if we want to get to the parking lot safely. And now isn't such a bad time to do it."

"Where is she god damnit?!"

"I vote we circle around outside. More cover." Cloud said.

Kit nodded and pulled himself onto his hands and knees. Terra crawled uncertainly out from under him, and ahead of him, Cloud's form blocked out the light from the holes that potentially lead outside.

After what seemed like hours, the three friends made it to a hole big enough for Kit, the biggest of the three, to get out. They slid out quietly, immediatly slipping into the bushes just outside the gaping hole from the RPG. Kit came out last, slipping quietly across the rubble and in beside his friends.

"Where was everyone?" Cloud wondered aloud as they drifted from bush to bush and sliding under windows.

"Hey, yeah, there wasn't anyone in the cafeteria, was there?" Kit muttered, just load enough for the other two to hear.

"I hope they didn't get hurt..." Terra murmured, chewing on her thumb. If circumstances had been different, Kit would have laughed and made fun of the apparent habit. As it was, he settled with grinning to himself as he lead the way to the parking lot.

Cloud, with his superior hearing, was the first to hear the eerie moan coming from the gym.

"guys... I think we found the rest of the school..." He muttered, stopping them. Kit perked his ears, then shivered and pulled them close to his skull to help block out the noise.

"I hope that's not them." He said, his pelt prickling. How was he thinking so clearly when so much was happening? Why were any of them? If anyone had asked him what he would do if someone with an RPG blew a chunk out of the cafeteria wall and he was safely buried under the rubble, he would have said get as comfortable as he could and wait until the cops came. Now, here he was, on his way to his car with escape in mind, and screw the consequences.

"There it is." Terra muttered, pulling Kit out of his own mind. She was pointing to where he'd parked his car, right near the exit near the gym.

"Great..." Cloud muttered. "We'll have to make a run for it. Kit, got your keys out?"

Kit dug around in his pocket and pulled out his keys. Nodding to Cloud, he said, "Time to see if running track got me ready to dodge bullets."

Cloud nodded to Terra. "What about her?"

Grinning, Kit scooped her up in his arms. "I got her. On three. One... Two... Three!"

Immediatly, the two felines broke cover, dashing with astonishing speed across the open parking lot.

"There!" A voice nearby yelled. Kit's mouth narrowed into a thin line as he watched the gunmen start to pour out of the gym.

"I hope you left it unlocked!" Cloud gasped, stumbling as a chunk of asphalt at his feet was torn up by a bullet.

"Don't fire! They have the girl!"

With a grunt, Kit, tossed Terra Cloud's way. She hardly had time to squeak before she was again in a cat's arms. "Passenger side!" Kit gasped, sliding across the hood of his car. Tearing open the door of his car, Kit leapt in, not bothering to close the door himself. The engine rumbled to life just as the passenger side door slammed shut.

Kit looked over to Cloud and Terra and grinned. "Hold on, and try to keep your lunch!"

The tires squealed as the car tore forward, kicking up smoke and, as they passed onto the gravel of the baseball field's parking lot, rocks. Kit spun the car in a complete 180, sent up a silent prayer to whatever god was watching, and rushed the gunmen.

As he'd hoped, they leapt aside as he neared, unwilling to be run over. And as he'd feared, they opened fire on his car as it took first to the exit road, then to the main road, adding another black streak to the solid black band stretching across the road.

The friends breathed a collective sigh of relief, watching the school dissappear behind them. Of course, leaving the gunmen behind would be harder.

"Kit... They don't want us to leave..." Cloud said, eyes on an armored van that was slowly, steadily gaining on them.

"Are you SHITTIN' ME?!" Kit yelled, hitting his steering wheel. His aggrivation became even more apparent when he realized that the milk from this morning, which had sat in the car since he'd gotten out, had spilled out in the commotion and had stained his seat covers.

"Dude, what're we gonna do?!" Cloud asked.

Kit passed him his phone. "Speed dial 3. Ask for Tek. Tell him I'm having an off day and that I'm bringing armed company to his doorstep, so he should have a surprise ready."

"Tek? As in make-hydrogen-yourself Tek?" Cloud asked, holding down 3 until it began to self-dial. "As in blow-up-half-the-school Tek?"

"Who else?" Kit grinned as he drifted into a turn, sliding onto a bridge across the river. "He's smart. Stupid, but smart. If anyone has surprises just lying around, it would be him."

"Hey, I need to talk to Tek. What? No, I'm Kit's friend. Yes, THAT friend. Hurry!" Cloud huffed and glared at Kit. "What have you told them about me?"

Kit put on an innocent face. "That you were a cool guy."

"That's a poka-dot nerd?"

No response.

"That's whiter than sour cream?"

Snicker.

"That--"

"Enough! Keep telling me and I'll do their job for them and crash the car!"

"Yeah well-- This Tek? Hey, this is Cloud. Yeah, Kit's friend. He's bringing armed company, and he wants you to get some surprises ready. What? Oh, uh, Kit, Big or small?"

"Something for an armored van."

"Uhh.... Something for an armored van... Right... I'll uh... I'll tell him."

Cloud slowly lowered the cell, staring straight ahead.

"He wants me to tell you to let them get within ten seconds of you, or it'll miss."

"No problems there," Kit grunted, spinning the car onto a narrow road. He watched the unusually agile van skid around the turn, quickly accelerating up behind them. "What the hell is that thing? It's like a tank on crank!"

Cloud chuckled, breaking his shocked appearance. "Tank on Crank? That's a new one."

"Look at the thing! All it's missing is a turret!"

"It's a girl tank." Cloud said, somehow managing to keep his face straight.

In the back seat, Terra giggled.

"How'd you get back there?!" Kit asked, glancing back at her.

"I rolled. When you hit that last turn, I kind of rolled back here."

Kit decided that now was no time to question how she defied all the laws of the universe by asking just HOW she'd rolled AGAINST the turn, concentrating on keeping the vehicle on all four wheels as it shifted from paved road to gravel. The needle read almost 90.

He grunted as they went around a loose left turn, going far to close to the ditch on the outside of the road, courtesy of the washboard effect in that area.

"Damn, he sure lives way out here," Cloud said, watching scenery rip past in an emerald green blur. Kit just nodded, turning before the road to Tek's house even arrived, bouncing them across a corner of some farmer's field before going back onto the narrow 'road.'

"You guys might want to hold onto something." Kit said as he took a right turn that was almost challenging at 15 Mph, and was damn well near impossible at 75.Then they cut across what could only be described as a trail through the woods, jerking the three friends around in their seats. Then, fiinally, their car passed from the closed-in tree-lined path and became the driveway it had been all along, sliding along one side of a field to a farmhouse from before Adam and Eve, and a trailor that had seen better times.

"I thought he was gonna do something?!" Cloud gasped as the neared the farmhouse.

Almost as if in answer, a hard thump hit the three friend's ears. Behind them, the van was lifted into the air by a mushroom cloud of flames. Then the vehicle itself detonated, becoming nothing more than the extension of the flames. With a sigh, Kit finally eased off the accelerater. The Mustang slowed to a stop just outside the farmhouse.

Cloud was staring at the flaming husk that had been the van. "So..." He said.

"He told me the other day that he'd found a new compound, similar to the C12 the military uses today. But it takes a while to detonate, so it had to be primed by something else. That something was us."

"What if the delay had only been a fluke?"

"We'd be the ones that were toast. C'mon, I'm hungry."

Turning the car off, Kit slid out of the car, graciously helping Terra out of the back. She bobbed her head in thanks, and together they circled the car and headed towards the farmhouse.

"Dude!" Came a male voice from somewhere to their left, where the trailor was located. Kit turned his head to see Tek, a small, weak-looking reddish-blue wolf, jump from the top of the steps that lead to the door of the trailor. Grinning, he raised his hand for a high five. Kit promptly punched the hand.

"About time you do something other than eat, sleep and play video games, ya useless lump!" Kit laughed. Then the two friends dropped into a conversation on the finer points of the trigger mechanism he'd used.

The four friends soon made their way into the farmhouse, scrounging around in the pantry and living room's shelves for food. When they'd thrown enough together, they collectively sat at the overburdened table to eat.

"Oh, I just realized! Tek, this's Cloud and Terra. Guy and gal, this is Tek, the criminal mastermind behind everything that's gone wrong in life until now."

"You give me too much credit." Tek laughed, shoving Kit. "I only did most of it."

Terra giggled. "Nice to meet you, Tek." She said, nodding to him. Cloud, sitting across from him, just shrugged and took another bite of the conglomeration of foods that were perfectly fine alone, but for some reason looked completely unappetising when thrown together.

"I'm glad you've all had such a grand time on today's adventure." Said a new voice, making all four jump. Kit and Terra, sitting side-by-side, spun as one, speaking at almost the same time.

"Kent?!"

"Daddy?!"

"My name's not Kent." The fox said, staring coldly at the four of them. "I am Proffessor O'Neal. And none of you are what you seem."

Cloud laughed, though he'd stood up, a sure sign the cat was getting ready to fight. "if we're not what we seem, what are we? Oh, no, don't tell me! We're actually data in some virtual world called The Matrix, and Kit here is The One, chosen to save all of humanity. Am I right?"

"Only in that Kit is a Chosen One." Proffessor O'Neal said, shaking his head. "In fact, all four of you are, which is surprising. How did you four, origonally so far apart, get drawn together here? Until I met Kit and heard about you two," He waved at Cloud and Tek, "I had no idea. But this is woking out very well, actually."

"What's working out well?!" Kit yelled, putting one arm protectively around Terra's shoulders.

O'Neal tut-tutted. "Now now, that's no way to speak to your supperiors. Initiate program seven seven dash two. Project Zephyr."

Terra felt Kit stiffen beside her and tilted her face back to look up at him. She yelped as she saw a silver tracery glow in his hazel eyes. The color slowly shifted, until Kit's eyes were pure gold.

"Initiate program seven seven dash three. Project Zephyr." Again, Kit's eyes began to change, the whites of his eyes darkening until they were pure black. Terra whimpered.

"Shut up!" O'neal yelled. "You're nothing but an experiment! You're next. Initiate program O--"

"NO!" Kit yelled, breaking free of whatever trance was holding him. Rage boiled in his now-golden eyes, and when he moved, the motion was a blur. Leaping onto the back of a couch, he leapt from there across the narrow space between the kitchen and the front door. He extended blood-red claws, and grabbed O'Neal by the neck. With a wild, primal growl, Kit forced him down on the ground, digging those claws deep into the flesh. Then Kit lifted him into the air and spun, flinging him through the door and out into the dirt. In an instant, Kit was on him, physical changes appearing as he moved. Slowly, the pale white of his lower jaw, throat and stomach turned blood red, as did the tip of his tail. His entire frame seemed to bulk out, and if one were looking at his face, they would see his canines growing longer, until they reached his chin.

O'Neal, though his throat was badly mangled, began to laugh. "Excellent," He wheezed, a wild look in his eye. "I get to test you out in combat so soon!"

With a feral yowl, Kit flung himself at the fox. But mid-way through the leap, he was hit hard from the side. He and the blur that had hit him flew sideways, through both walls of the trailor and the bed in between. The two landed in a blur of black and crimson, and when they finally seperated, Kit paused. His bloodlust-driven mind registered who he was facing an instant before the name left his lips. "Sara..."

Before him was a short, lithe-looking wolf, her fur blood red mixed with ice blue, much as Kit's was black with red. The difference, however, was that ice blue was her natural color.

"Yes. I must say, she was the most receptive to the gene therapy." O'Neal said as he walked up, holding a bloody rag to his throat. "She's an animal now, though. It killed her mind, I'm sorry to say." He shrugged, not looking sorry at all. "Sara, kill."

Sara howled, the sound making Kit shiver, then lunged at him, blurring with speed. Kit barely had time to breath before her fist slammed into his face, sending him spinning. Cringing, he reached out and dug into the groung with one hand. Angered that her prey had recovered so easily, Sara ran forward, swinging at him again.

But Kit wasn't there. His movements blurred, and suddenly he was behind her. Animal rage had taken him over again, and the animal knew how to kill far more effectively that she did. With a snarl, he leapt forward, his arm blurring towards her. She yelped in agony as his hand passed through her back and chest, extending from her breast with something big, red and beating in his hand.

In one movement, Kit crushed her heart and withdrew his arm, turning slowly to face O'Neal. He had a wild grin on his face as he brought his bloody arm up to inspect. Keeping the grin, he let his tongue extend from his muzzle to rest on the tip of one of his claws. Then he drew it across his claw, finger, hand and arm. A look of pure extacy rested on his features for a minute as he stood with his eyes closed, stopped in the final stages of the lick. Then he dropped his arm and looked at the professor, a wild glint in his eyes. "More..." He gasped, stepping forward. Taken aback, O'Neal took a step back.

"MORE!" Kit yowled, rushing forward. O'Neal had no time to react before Kit's clawed hand penetrated his stomach.

"Daddy!" Terra screamed as she ran out on the porch of the house.

O'Neal cackled despite the blood that began boiling from his jaws. "I'm not... Your... Father.... Bitch!"

Losing the wild look, Kit's whole body stiffened. His wild grin slowly turned to an angry frown. "She's not a bitch." He said, his voice cold. Then O'Neal gasped as Kit did something to his insides. Then, slowly, he relaxed. With a sigh, he murmured, "You are... Truly... The Zephyr..."

Kit dropped him disdainfully, ripping off a piece of his clothing to wipe the blood off his arm. "Your blood isn't worth my time." He spat.

"Kit..." Terra whimpered from somewhere behind him. He spun, claws ready to skewer her. But for once, he was too slow. Terra stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him. He stood completely still, staring at nothing. Then he began to change back. Soon, he was back to normal, if a little blood stained.

He wrapped his arms around her slim body and whispered, almost silently, in her ear.

"I'm sorry..."

"It's OK, Kit..." She whispered, clutching him harder. He gently pushed her away and looked her in the eye. Her smokey-blue eyes stared into his hazel ones. Satisfied, Kit nodded.

"I'm... Glad..."

Without another word, he pitched to his side, falling heavily on the grass.

"KIT!!!"

((Whoo. My first full-length story that's not a RP. XD Yes, I have a twisted mind, I know. And for once, I can say I'm satisfied with how my own work turned out completely. And for you Yiff lovers, I think I'll add some in to Chapter 2. Please leave comments and suggestions. Your feedback helps me get a better grasp of what to add to or work on. >_>_<_< Not that I've gotten much at all in my career.))