FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

All sorts of emotions danced through Mike's mind as he

looked out of the taxi window and at the private house standing before him. It

was nearly twice as large as any of the other homes he had seen dotting his new

neighborhood, but had been placed on the round end of the cul-de-sac.

"Well, lucky contest winner, we have arrived," the driver of

the red-and-blue vehicle announced with practiced enthusiasm. "What do you

think?" The young man wanted to ask her how he managed to end up here from his

dorm room, but refrained, believing that she had no idea who or what it was

that knocked him out.

"It sure is... impressive. The owner must be really rich," he

said. "This is where I'll be staying?"

"Actually, you are the new owner. You may or may not know

this, but this home is the grand prize of the sweepstakes you entered. I'm

actually a little bit jealous." The driver stepped out of the taxi and opened

his door to let him out. "Come. Now is the time for you to step out and enjoy

your new locale."

He couldn't hold it back any longer. "How did I get here?"

None of this seemed familiar to him at all. All he could remember was entering

his dorm room, then being blinded by a flash of light. "Hold on... Sweepstakes,

miss?"

"Wow, they were right. You were so excited when you found

out you won that you passed out from sensory overload. They decided to deliver

you here to surprise you. It'll be better if you enter your new home." Deciding

to leave things at that, he exited the vehicle and grabbed his black backpack. "I

must say, you have a rather unusual style of dress."

"A black hoodie with white fuzz on the inside, a pair of

black jeans, a pair of white sneakers with red highlights, black hair... I don't

know what you're talking about." He noticed that she wore a grey jumpsuit that

made her appear to be the more unusual one between them. She pulled out a pair

of keys from a pocket and gave them to him.

"All black is just so dreary... Anyways, I had best be off.

Perhaps we will see each other again." She entered the driver's seat and drove

off. It was then he realized he was in a place he had next to no information

about. All he knew was that the region had anthropomorphic pokémon (or pokémorphs

for short), beings that looked to be a fusion of pokémon and human traits. He

headed inside to assess his situation.Mike took a seat on the first chair he could find to review

his information. According to a note left on a table by someone known only as

A.S., he was the lucky winner of his college's sweepstakes contest, with the

prize being a year-long stay in a new region, with a house all to himself. Apparently,

the previous owner had given away their home before moving on. Mike would have

liked the way things turned out were it not for three things that kept him from

feeling any joy from this situation.

For starters, he never entered his name into the

sweepstakes. In fact, he knew it was going on, but at the time, he had no idea

what the prize was or if he was eligible. The young man didn't care much for

contests like the one his college held; winning them was not something that

happened even once in his 21 years of life. Being a long way from home with no

idea of how he got there inspired a bit of fear within him. He pondered the

notion of someone kidnapping him before his pokégear rang.

"So, Michael, how do you like it?" Mike recognized

the voice instantly.

"Benjamin? Ben! I'm in a faraway place and I don't know

how I got here. What happened to me?" He mentally slapped himself for allowing

a little panic to creep into his tone, no matter how much sense it made.

"Eh, you'll snap out of it eventually. Everyone

does."

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

"You're still hyped over that win of yours, aren't you?"

"What? No! Listen, I didn't even enter that contest. This

just has to be a fluke."

"What about that house of yours?" Ben teased. "Are you sure

that's a fluke too?"

"I mean, the house is very nice and all, but I'm not

supposed to be here. I know it. How did I get all this?" Mike sighed to himself

in exasperation; this conversation was going nowhere. He looked at the note

again, noticing the words "trainer license required" in the middle.

"Michael Rumfield, right?"

"Yeah, that's my full name. You know this. Who put my

name in that ballot, and why?"

"Aww, Mike... Can't you stop looking a gift rapidash in

the mouth? This is a rare opportunity for you! Sure you're in a country full of

those things, but look on the bright side. That house is supposedly upper-class

fancy, which means you'll be living the good life for a full year. On top of

that, you get college credit too. Shoot, I wish I was there instead of you."

"Ugh. Here's the weirdest part. It says that only

pokémon trainers are eligible for the prize, but I'm not a trainer. I chose to

further my education after I turned 10 instead of go on a journey. I never

caught any pokémon."

"Well, you did return that one vulpix to his

family yourself a while ago, though I don't know why. Frankly, I think you should have

given him to the police and let them handle it, but that's just me."

"Huh? I doubt the police would be that helpful to them," Mike replied, followed

by another sigh. He harbored a slight, instinctual distrust of the police when it came to pokémorphs for reasons he wasn't entirely sure about. "They're just pokémon with some human traits. Point is I

never caught anything, as far as I know."

"Hey, while you're there, you think you could get some DNA for me?"

"...You have officially stopped making sense. You're

beginning to freak me out, man." What in the world was Ben talking about?

"Kidding, kidding, but they really are dangerous

freaks, and you're in a region full of 'em. You had better be careful." With

that, Ben hung up, and Mike put the pokégear away. He shook his head, tired and mildly worried about things.He had to admit, the private house he was going to be

spending a whole year in was rather lavish compared to the quaint setting the exterior boasted. It had two guest bedrooms, a master bedroom, and two bathrooms,

not counting the master bathroom. The white-tiled kitchen was fairly large and

sported a breakfast nook with four tall stools in front of it. The living room

had two red loveseats and a fireplace with logs ready to be burned. A clear pool full of water stood at the rear

of his new home. Next to that was a jacuzzi which seemed large enough to hold three people comfortably. A greenhouse stood a few feet away from the pool, though there were no plants to be seen inside it. He concluded his tour of the home at the basement,

which happened to be the only place in the house that had no furniture and dim lighting. Mike whistled, impressed by the overall

condition of the place."The last owner of this house must have been one rich

son-of-a-gun. It's like a miniature mansion," he commented. As impressed as he was, however, it did nothing to stave off the constant feeling of dread and nervousness gnawing away at him. On his way up

the stairs to the first floor, his eyes stopped on a plaque on the back of the

door. "Take care of your land, and it will take care of

you," the plaque said. At the bottom of the plaque were two letters, an A

and an S. "Just who is this A.S. person? Why is he or she so important?" he wondered. He returned upstairs into the master bedroom and set his pack on the bed. He wasn't too surprised to discover that his entire wardrobe was in the walk-in closet. Whoever it was that put him here clearly had no intention of letting him leave so easily. He was about to step out of the room when he tripped and fell onto the carpeted floor. "Darn it, Mike. You have to be more careful," he chided

himself. He sat up and looked at the object he tripped over. It was a small,

black, metal box with a large touch screen on its top. "Huh? How could I have

missed this? And where did it come from? This isn't mine." He briefly

considered if someone might have snuck in to leave this here before noticing a

small, white slip of paper attached to it and unfolding it."Thought you could use some protection. Let me know if it

works. -Ben," the paper read. Ben. Now that he thought about it, Ben sure had

been acting strange ever since that contest had been going on. He came off as somewhat creepy when it came to pokémon, but had his moments of genius, and only had humanity's interests at heart. He wondered if he was part of yet another plan of his before the sudden glow of the touch screen caught his attention. He tapped it and was shown a screen with five black dots on a

graph. "DNA signature required for verification. Please press your fingers to the black dots." Although he was startled by the sudden voice, he followed the request, curiosity guiding him to press his left hand's fingers to the dots. After he did so, the display changed to show a footprint. "Signature nearly acquired. Please step here," the machine requested. He hesitated for a moment before following

the message, curiosity getting the better of him. As soon as he did, a shock ran up his leg and coursed through his entire body. He yelped out of surprise and pain and attempted to step back, only to find that he had lost control of his legs. Soon enough, the shock subsided and he stepped back, clutching his heart and breathing heavily. He quivered."What in the world was that?" The sensation coursing through him was a familiar one that he, in his spare time or when doing some heavy lifting, was used to triggering on his own. This time, however, it felt foreign. Some kind of energy ran

through his being, but instead of feeling boosted from it, he felt exhausted. He leaned onto a wall to support himself and gather his thoughts."Signature verified.

Welcome, Michael Rumfield. Tech System waiting on your command.""Tech System? What in the world

is that?" The tingling sensation soon faded, but his curiosity still remained.

What happened to him? He looked at his hands, but could not spot anything different. Internally, however, he felt more... capable. Mike had no way to describe it in any way other than feeling different. Before he could do anything else, he fell to the floor. The exhaustion had become too much for him to bear and he soon fell asleep.