FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

It was the following morning and Adam found himself with the professor, his dad and Barry as they traveled down the highway. They had spent last nigh at Vern's house, but it soon became clear they couldn't have stayed there for long. The mayor had called a press conference that morning and Barry's face was plastered onto every television in the city. Apparently they blamed him for some of the damage to the downtown area, which was ridiculous. Except for smashing the front of a building that ended up being leveled by a pair of rockets anyway, he hadn't done much beyond cracking some of the pavement. Totally understandable all things considered.

Adam hadn't escaped notice either, having been designated a "person of interest." Apparently the FBI had been called in and who knows what other 3 letter agencies nobody was even supposed to know existed.

As of now, his college semester was on hold, perhaps indefinitely. Adam wasn't at all happy about that, he did need his education after all, but there wasn't anything he could do about it just then, so instead he decided to focus on the task in front of him.

"So, where exactly is this base of yours anyway professor?" He asked.

"It's located on an old airstrip just a few miles outside of the city."

"Oh, that sounds pretty cool."

"Well it's been abandoned for the better part of 15 years. Not exactly luxury accommodations. It's going to take a lot of work to get it running again."

"There's food there, right? I'm starving," Barry cut in.

"You just had breakfast big guy. How can you still be hungry?"

"Yesterday really wore me out, and besides us bears gotta eat a lot to keep up our physique," Barry replied, patting his belly a couple of times.

"If by physique you mean packing on absurd levels of fat, then I suppose that's true," Jack offered.

"That's exactly what I meant. You foxes are way too worried about being thin. Goes for humans too. I'll never understand it."

"Hmm, that makes two of us then," Jack replied.

"We're almost there," the professor announced.

Adam strained to get a good look out of the windshield from his position in the back seat. He saw them turn off of the highway and onto a dirt road. Judging by the debris scattered in their path, nobody had traveled this way for a very long time.

They eventually came to a gate of sorts with a large sign hanging on it that read 'Condemned.' The professor stopped the car before getting out to open it. He unlocked it easily enough, but when he tried to swing it open it caught on some overgrowth. Undeterred, he pushed into it and managed to create a space wide enough for their vehicle to fit through.

Returning to his seat, Vern gently coaxed them forward through the gap. They continued on down another length of dirt road for several minutes longer, eventually coming to a rise. As they crested it, Adam got his first good look at the base.

Stretching out before him was a massive complex. The most notable feature was the runway, overgrown as it was, which ran straight down the middle flanked on either side by several airplane hangars, along with what looked to be a warehouse or two and finally a control tower near the end which had been set a few hundred feet off to one side.

It was clear that not all of the dilapidation had been cause by time. The tower's radio antenna had somehow been torn off and was sticking nearly straight up out of the ground near the base of the structure. Random holes dotted nearly every building. The runway even had a large crater blasted into the center of it. Clearly a battle of epic proportions had been fought here long ago.

"This is place looks awesome! How long do you think it will take to get everything running again?"

"It does? It's a total wreck you silly fox. No wonder it's been abandoned for this long since it's hardly worth anything," Barry said.

"Yeah but I bet it'll be great once we've gotten it all fixed up," Adam offered.

The professor lifted the handle and cracked his door open, "first thing I need to do is get the power back on. There's a reactor in the bunker underneath the airfield. It should still be functional even after all this time."

"There's more underground? You've been holding out on me Vern. We should have come here right away," Adam chastised him.

The professor sighed, "I was hoping we wouldn't have to. I was rather enjoying my retirement actually. But I guess that's all over with now. Just give me a minute to go inside and check on a few things out. Stay here," he said as he stepped out of the car.

Adam watched him walk slowly over to the control tower door, clear away some brush and try opening it. The door promptly fell off of it's hinges and lay in the dirt. He shook his head before ducking inside.

"Say dad, you fought here right? You know, during that last battle years ago? What was it like?"

Jack sighed, "brutal. Some of our people died that day son. We don't like to talk about it even after all this time."

"I'm sorry I asked."

"It's ok. You can't help being curious. I was like that at your age. But some things are best left alone. Maybe later on I can tell you more. It's just that seeing this place after so long has brought up a lot of memories, both good and bad."

Adam looked over at Barry, who was fidgeting nervously. "What's up big guy? Something on your mind?"

"Uh...yeah actually. I was wondering about how your dad had the same powers you did."

"You know I'm sitting right here Barry if you had something you wanted to ask me," Jack said.

"Yeah. Sorry about that. I just wanted to know what it was like, being able to get bigger anytime you wanted and all."

"Awful."

"But I thought you liked being big?"

"I did, that's the whole problem. It was a constant temptation for me. I'm glad to be rid of it honestly. Do you know how hard it was to avoid walking around like that permanently?"

"How is that even a problem?"

"Because, even if you somehow convinced everyone else to tolerate you and the army didn't show up to put a stop to it, eventually you're going to step on someone or something purely by chance. It's too dangerous to stay at that size for any longer than you have to."

"But, it's not really that hard to control yourself at..."

"The last bear who thought that trashed half the city. And if you must know I was deadest against you being on this team, and still am. You're a liability."

"DAD! That's not fair. Barry's doing great now. I'd trust him with my life."

"Then you're just as crazy as the professor is."

Barry barred his teeth, but before he could say anything the runway lights flickered on.

"Oh good, it looks like the power's back on," Adam said. A few minutes later the professor returned to the car. "Alright, everyone out."

They complied and were soon assembled in front of him.

"Jack, now that we've got power, I need you to take your son into the warehouse over there and start his training right away. Me and Barry will work on cleaning this place up."

"Now wait just a minute here..." Barry huffed

"That wasn't a request," the professor interjected.

"Oh ok. I see how it is."

Rather then respond, Vern turned toward Jack who looked like he had something to add.

"You sure about that V? It looks like the base needs a lot of work. Maybe we should just concentrate on getting it sorted first?"

"No, we don't have enough time for that. The syndicate isn't going to wait much longer. Adam has to be ready to get the exotic matter back as quickly as possible before they can make use of it. He's the only one with a chance of getting in and out of there in one piece."

"Fine. Come on son. We've got work to do," Jack said as he started off toward the hangar.

"Fantastic!" Adam replied, following close behind.

"We'll see if you still feel that way after I'm done. This isn't going to be easy."

They reached the building, but rather than use the door they simply stepped through a large hole in the wall right next to it.

The inside of the warehouse was almost completely empty, save for a few crates near the middle.

"Alright Adam. I'll take your word for it that you've gotten the hang of resizing stuff. But that's only part of your power. There's a lot more you can do with it."

"Oh really? Like what."

"Not only can you change the size of objects, you can also alter their mass without changing their volume. Basically you can manipulate weight."

Adam was silent for a moment with a look of deep concentration on his face. Finally he spoke. "Dad, do you have any idea who useful that is! Please show me how."

"That's why I'm here. I want you to pick out one of those crates. If it works anything like it did for me than you've been pushing on something inside of yourself and directing it into an object with a precise size in mind and it simply changes to fit that mental image."

"Yeah, that's pretty much exactly how it works."

"Well, this is a bit different. Instead of pushing, you need to focus on the object and pull. Either you visualize yourself pulling energy out of the crate to lower it's mass, or you focus on the crate pulling energy out of everything else to increase it's mass. I want you to try decreasing it first."

"Sounds simple enough. How light should I try for?"

"any weight is fine. I'll be surprised if you..."

Adam didn't even hesitate as he zapped the crate.

"Uhm, ok, no need to rush son. This took me a long time to get the hang of."

Adam walked over and tapped the crate and it flopped over onto it's side. Then he tried picking it up. It was made of thick wood and should have weighed 20 pounds at least, but it felt much closer to a half of a pound. It was practically floating.

Adam lifted it up and balanced it on a single claw before spinning it around as fast as he could like he might have done to a basketball.

"I'm impressed. You're doing great!"

"Yeah, now let's try the other way," Adam said. He started by pushing the crate into the air with his claw. It arced up halfway into the rafters before it began to lazily drift back to the ground. Before it could come down on it's own, Adam zapped it again.

It immediately slammed into the ground and cracked the concrete floor, sending out bits of wood in all directions. Luckily none of them hit the two onlookers.

"Whoa, easy there Adam. Next time use a bit less force."

"Maybe I'll try infinite mass next. I've always wanted to..."

"NO! If you do that you'll..."

Adam laughed, "you seriously thought I was going to create a black hole? Come on dad cut me some slack here. I'm not an idiot."

"Sorry son, but I couldn't take the risk you weren't joking. Please don't do that again. It's really not funny," Jack said, but Adam noticed the smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

"If you say so. Anyway what was the other thing you needed to show me?"

"Oh, yeah about that. I'll be right back. I need something from the car."

Adam waited patiently for a few minutes before his dad returned carrying a small beach ball.

"Dad, why did you feel the need to get one of those?"

"I heard about what happened the other day on the beach. I figured using an object you had previously messed up on resizing for your training might help you overcome two issues at once."

"Well, I'm all over that now. But what exactly is it I'm supposed to be doing with it anyway?"

Jack put the beach ball down in the center of the room, "easy. You're going to make it smaller, but you're going to control the speed of that process. Make it happen slower than it usually does. There will be times where you don't want something to increase or decrease in size too quickly."

"I see. So how do I do that trick?"

"When you push, try to visualize it as a slower process instead of doing it all at once. I'm sorry, but that's about the best way I can explain it. Just give it a shot and you'll get it eventually I'm sure."

"Alright," Adam said and closed his eyes. He raised his paw and tried concentrating as hard as possible and pushed, but instead of forcing his power into the ball all at once, he tried to slow down the speed that happened. It seemed to work as the beach ball shrank from a foot in diameter to about an inch like he intended, but it did so at a slightly slower rate than usual.

"Great job! Now practice some more until you can fully control the rate of change."

Adam did, and increased it's size back to normal, but it did so at a very slow rate. The process took about 10 seconds instead of the usual half a second or so.

"Great! Now try to make it a bit bigger. Only have it grow slower than normal."

"Sure thing dad," Adam said, smiling.

He raised his paw and pushed, yet nothing seemed to happen. "Hmm, I must have messed it up somehow."

"It's ok, try again. You'll get it."

Adam did try twice more as quickly as he was able, but the beach ball stubbornly refused to change it's size.

"Well, it's understandable you'd get stumped on something son. Why don't you take a break and we'll pick this up again after lunch?"

"Yeah, great idea dad. I guess I'm just worn out or something."

The two left the warehouse then and walked back outside. They soon found Barry sitting in front of the control tower, head tilted down towards the ground.

"Oh hi Barry. Is everything ok?" Adam asked.

"Not at all. The whole time I was inside all the professor did was sit there and tell me where to put stuff. This day is really starting to suck."

"Really? Well how would you like to go grab a bite to eat?"

Barry looked up at his friend, "you really think Vern will let us use the car?"

"Oh, we don't need the car. I can get us there way faster anyway, if you want."

"Oh really? And how are you going to do that?"

"Easy!" Adam said, and promptly increased his height to a good fifteen feet.

"Ah that's cool and everything, but I fail to see how that helps us."

"It's all under control big guy. Just hop on my back, and whatever you do, do NOT let go."

Barry walked over and stood behind Adam, "How is this going to get us into the city? Even at this size you're still going to be pretty slow, especially carrying me."

"Do you trust me Barry?"

"Well, yeah I guess so."

"Then hop on. Or I'm going without you and I can't promise to bring any food back with me..."

Barry climbed up and latched his arms around the base of Adam's neck. "I can't hold on like this for long. What are you going to do anyway?"

"It'll all makes sense in a minute. Just remember, do NOT let go of me no matter what."

It was at that moment that Adam reduced both of their masses to near zero. The effect was immediate and they both rose into the air with a surprising amount of speed.

Barry began freaking out right away. "What is going on Adam! Why are we floating!"

"Take it easy. I've just reduced our weight to almost nothing. You know how helium balloons float? Well we're pretty much doing the same thing now that we're both lighter than air."

By now they had risen several hundred feet into the air and were still climbing fast.

Barry clutched Adam's shoulders tighly, "oh, so we're balloons now? Are we gonna...uh...pop?"

Adam laughed, "nah, we're just really low density at the moment. We're rising because of it. Don't worry, it's totally safe."

"I hope you know what you're doing fox. I'm getting kinda scared up here."

"We just need a bit more height is all. Another minute at most."

"What are you planning?"

"It's probably best if you just close your eyes and hold on tight. And whatever you do, don't look down. I've got this all under control."

Seeing that he had reached the proper height, Adam restored both his and Barry's mass to about a third of normal levels. Immediately the two tilted forward and began dropping through the air straight down.

"Adam, we're falling!"

"I know big guy. All part of the plan. Just hang on!"

"Why do you keep calling me big guy! I don't feel very big right now hanging onto you!"

Adam didn't respond and instead spread his arms and legs just as he had before when gliding. It was much simpler this time because he had plenty of height to work with. It wasn't long before he had the two of them racing towards the city off in the distance.

**********

"You let the two of them leave just like that? What were you thinking?"

"Hey. By the time I knew what the kid was planning he and that stupid bear were 50 feet off the ground. I don't even think they heard me yelling at them. Besides I kinda wanted to see what he had planned. I really wish I had thought of that trick back in the day. It looks really useful."

"Did he at least do well with the training?"

"Oh yeah, he did just fine. Only he had a problem when he tried increasing sizes slowly for some reason and nothing happened. Other than that everything went smoothly."

"Hmm. Nothing happened? You're sure? That shouldn't be possible. I'd better go have a look," the Professor said as he started off towards the warehouse.

Jack followed and just before they stepped inside he offered, "I'm telling you, it didn't work. That beach ball is still sma..."

His jaw nearly dropped to the floor as he stepped into the warehouse and saw that the beach ball he had left sitting there maybe a half hour ago at a mere 1 foot in diameter had grown until it was halfway to the rafters.

"What...the...F..."

"JACK! This is not good. We need to pop this thing NOW. It's still growing, and if this works the way I think it does the rate is exponential. There's a utility knife in the glove box of my car."

The two raced outside and retrieved the blade, hurrying back to the beach ball as fast as possible.

"Oh great, it looks like it gained another 10 feet while were outside. Hurry up!" Jack shouted.

The professor extended the blade and stuck it right into the side of the pool toy. But nothing happened. No hiss of air, no deflation.

"Damn it, the wall thickness has increased proportionately with it's diameter. We need something a lot stronger. I have an idea..."

**********

"I really appreciate this Adam," Barry said as he munched on his cheeseburger. Only next time try and give me some more warning when your plans involve something crazy, like flying"

"You'd have never gone along with it had I told you everything and you know it," Adam replied, who was himself sipping on a soda.

"Well, yeah that's true I guess. But now that we've got our lunch, what's next?"

"It's a surprise," Adam held up a paw before Barry could interrupt him, "don't worry, you're going to love this one. I promise!"

**********

"A flamethrower? Really Vern?"

This is serious Jack. If we don't stop this thing soon it's going to grow until...how many times did you say he zapped it again?"

Jack looked at the ground, "three."

"THREE! This thing could end up the size of the whole city at that rate! Burn it now!"

"You got it," Jack said as he fired up the flamer thrower and unleashed a torrent of flame into the side of the beach ball. It immediately began melting, though the fumes made it kinda hard to see exactly how effective it was.

"This shouldn't take very long. It can't be more than 5 feet thick at this point."

Jack continued his efforts, but it seemed he had gotten well passed 5 feet into the side of it with no luck. He found he had to back up several times while trying to burn it for some reason "I don't know Vern. Shouldn't it have popped by now?"

"Jack, STOP!"

"Why? I've almost got it."

"We have to get out of here right now! The heat is making it grow faster!"

Jack shut off the flamethrower and looked up. The beach ball was already pressing into the rafters and growing at an incredible rate. The two of them ran outside before turning around to watch in awe as the roof of the warehouse was blown completely off from the internal pressure.

"You need to call Adam right now and get him back here to shrink this thing. I've only got one more option I can think of, and if this doesn't work the entire base is going to be crushed within the hour, and the city not long after. Where is he!"

**********

"Pass the popcorn."

"Sure thing big guy. You enjoying yourself so far?"

"Oh yeah, this is pretty great. Really action-packed. Thanks for bringing me here."

Adam's phone rang.

"You gonna get that?"

"Nah, it's just dad. We'll talk to him after the show is over with. Until then we might as well enjoy our break."

**********

By now the beach ball had completely outgrown the warehouse and even knocked the walls down. They didn't have much more time as it was gaining a foot in diameter every second at least.

The professor handed jack a small rectangular object, "C-4? Are you kidding me Vern? At this rate you'll blow up the base before that thing crushes it."

"It's the only thing that might penetrate deep enough to deflate it at this point. Take it over there and put it on the thing CAREFULLY. It might shift at any moment, and you don't want to have that roll over you, trust me."

Jack hurried over and climbed into the ruins of the warehouse. He walked over to the beach ball hesitantly before gently sticking the explosives to the side of it. The moment he did the ball shifted, a little at first and then much more as it rolled out of the warehouse and onto the runway.

Jack ran back to the professor and watched it's progress.

"It's headed for the control tower! Blow it now!"

"That's a bad idea V..."

"Do it!"

Jack pressed the remote detonator. They heard a thunderous boom and the ball deformed sharply when the force of the explosion compressed it, but it did not deflate in the slightest. The two onlookers watched as the beach ball was blasted high into the air.

Jack took a couple of steps back, "uh-oh. It's coming right for us...RUN!"

They both spun around and ran down the runway as fast as they could, looking over their shoulder several times to watch as the monstrous pool toy bounced behind them. It's weight was so great now it actually shook the ground quite a bit as it did so. Apparently it was growing at a ridiculous rate as well, having absorbed the energy of the explosion.

It continued bouncing along the runway, coming closer to them all the time. There was no chance of sidestepping it either, as the ball was now so massive that it was crushing the hangars on both sides of the runway every time it hit the ground.

It bounced yet again, and the force was so strong that both Jack and the Professor lost their footing and fell to the ground. They both looked up helplessly as the beach ball completely blocked out the sun as it slowly glided through the air.

"It's going to land right on top of us!" Vern yelled.

Jack watched it fall through the air. It must have weighed hundreds of tons at this point, and there would be no surviving it. He closed his eyes and raised his paws by reflex. After what seemed like an eternity he felt the ball hit him and...he caught it.

His eyes snapped open. The ball was now back to it's normal size resting between his two forepaws. He briefly wondered how this could be possible before he got his answer.

He felt something hit the back of his head before looking down to see what it was. "Wow, that's some pretty big popcorn."

He looked up onto the roof of the only hangar left standing and saw Adam and Barry sitting there with a massive bucket of popcorn directly between them which had no doubt been resized at least once.

"Hey guys, did you miss me?" Adam shouted as he waved a paw lazily in the air.

"YOU! Were you here the whole time?!" Vern yelled up at them.

"Yup. I told you that you were going to be in trouble, didn't I?"

"You did this on purpose?! The entire base is ruined you crazy fox! That's it, you're off the team!" The professor punctuated this by drawing his hand across his neck.

Adam and Barry jumped off of the hangar, landing gently on the ground before he increased their weight back to normal.

"You might want to hold off on that Vern. I brought you a present."

"Oh really? I doubt there's anything you could possibly have brought me that..."

Adam held up a massive diamond which glinted brightly in the sunlight.

"Oh my. That must be worth..."

"A couple million dollars?"

"Easily. Ok fine, you can stay. But you're on probation."

"Vern, you should call a truce and quit while you're ahead," Jack offered.

"Ahead? That beach ball destroyed everything except the control tower. Even the runway is ruined! How am I ahead!"

"Because my son is clearly not somebody you want to mess with, and right now you two are even. I'm just not quite sure what I did to be involved with this prank of his."

Adam tiled his head towards Barry.

"Oh. You were really that upset over that?"

"Yeah I was. He's my best friend dad, of course I was going to stick up for him."

"I guess I can understand that. It wasn't fair for me to judge him for the actions of that other bear, who shall remain nameless. I'm sorry Barry, you're not a liability. Welcome to the team."

"That's all well and good, but we STILL have a big problem now with the entire base wrecked. It could take months to get it all rebuilt."

"Vern, don't worry about it. It'll be as simple as putting legos together."

"Wait, you mean?"

"Yes, those buildings will be much easier to fix after I've shrunk them. Then I'll just make them whatever size you think we'll need after we've patched them up."

"Adam, you're a genius!" Vern exclaimed.

"We've still got to get the exotic matter back. Son, I think you're quite ready for your first real mission," Jack said.

"Really? Thanks dad! I can't wait!"